Honesty is such a lonely word

Commenter ralphus39 apparently took issue with my list of favorite films from 2009, saying "you have horrible taste." The funny thing is that I might agree with him.

I have been writing about films for much of my life. I began writing reviews for my family, as a hobby, in my early teen years, and wrote them for publication in my high school and college newspapers. I have periodically filled in for the Daily Herald's fine film critic, Dann Gire, in the nine years I have worked here, in addition to the two blogs I now (attempt to) maintain and one blog that has since folded. As each year passes, my taste in film changes, and I inevitably find myself wanting to revise reviews I wrote years ago. (Did "American Beauty" really deserve those four stars I gave it in the Daily Eastern News?)

But that's to be expected. Our taste evolves or de-evolves as we do, and the Sean Stangland of 2009 doesn't feel the need to show reverence for a movie just because it's "important," or "affecting." When I go to the movies these days, I want to have fun. And I'm going to try to be honest about that.

I suspect that not all film critics are honest with their readers. If they were, I bet movies like "Star Trek" and "Drag Me to Hell" would have shown up on many, many more top-ten lists. It would seem many film writers discount films that are merely entertaining even if they are among their favorites of the year. (Dann and his Chicago-area brethren, like Roger Ebert, Michael Phillips and transplanted NY Times writer A.O. Scott, don't seem to have this problem.) And that's what someone writing his or her personal opinion should be giving us in such a list: ten favorites, not ten movies he or she thinks we should support for whatever political, moral or intellectual reason.

But separating the personal from the intellectual can be difficult. In October, on my long-neglected personal blog, I listed my top 100 movies of the last decade and tried to consider both personal and intellectual arguments for placing each movie where I did. Looking back at it now, I have to question whether I placed Steven Spielberg's "A.I." at No. 1 because I honestly believe it's the best film of the last ten years, or because I feel its bad reputation has been unfairly bestowed by people who didn't really understand the film. "A.I." is an intensely personal movie for me, and among my all-time favorites, but will I still be watching it years from now with the same enthusiasm I have for something like "Gladiator," "The Fellowship of the Ring," or even "Star Trek"?

Speaking of "Star Trek" ... I paid to see that film in theaters seven times. I have watched it on DVD at least seven more. I listened to the soundtrack album incessantly for much of last year. My most enthusiastic conversations about film in the last year have been about that movie. So why is that not No. 1 on my list? Is it because I just can't bring myself to call something so admittedly frivolous and "meaningless" the best film of the year? Probably. Is that honest? Perhaps not, but I do honestly believe that "Up in the Air," "Inglourious Basterds" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox" are great films that I'll be enjoying for years to come. Each spoke to me on a personal level, and each sent me out of the theater feeling better than I did when I went in.

Maybe in the age of instant global communication, we all have horrible taste. Anyone with a computer (or a BlackBerry, for that matter) can deliver his or her opinion on just about anything to the global community at any time. With so many people expressing their own taste, who can we call the tastemakers? The trendsetters? The people whose opinions really matter? Maybe we can't anymore. Maybe all we can do is find a writer whose style and wit we enjoy, and who at least attempts to be honest with his or her readers.

And maybe, just maybe, we should retire the phrase "guilty pleasure" and celebrate the fact that things that fall into that category are, deep down, what we enjoy the most. Do I look like a fount of intelligence and wit if I tell you I like Lady Gaga, "The O.C.," Finnish symphonic metal, "Shanghai Knights," Billy Joel and Disneyland? No. But at least I'm being honest with you.