One of the handful of new features I'm working on incorporating into the site in 2012 (some I've already introduced) are short *critics-eye* looks at films we've talked about (old and new), and those that we haven't (old and new), like the one I embedded below.

I certainly won't call myself a master (far from it; I'm still watching, reading, listening… learning); however, that certainly won't stop me from utilizing and applying what I do know. We can always have a discussion afterward.

It's rare that I'm able to sit and watch a film without thinking much about what I'm seeing, hearing and feeling. I tend to look at films with a critical eye when I'm watching, which makes it difficult to really enjoy anything, because my brain is constantly working from frame to frame. I can't help it 🙂

Not that there aren't movies I enjoy; there are. But the majority of them were made before 1990. A lot of what I see today I find more annoying, and a waste of time – especially what comes out of the dominant studio system.

Anyway… I appreciate the below video from film critic Jim Emerson of the Chicago Sun-Times in which he gives a very detailed look at the first half of the car/truck chase sequence in The Dark Knight, analyzing how Christopher Nolan put it all together and whether the filmmaking grammar makes sense.

It's about 20-minutes long, but worth a watch. And I post it as an intro to what I'm planning to incorporate myself next year (thanks Rob Fields for the link):