BLOG SPOT #14: Generation Film!

Welcome once again to Blog Spot, where I temporarily cease from vapid self-promotion to bring others' works to your kind attention. This month we return to the amateur sphere of reviewing, following last month's plug for Stuff You Like, and turn our attention to Kyle Bruehl's website, Generation Film!.

One of the pitfalls of film reviewing is that you allow your reviews to descend entirely into ill-informed rants about your opinion, written in such broad and hyperbolic strokes that it ceases to have any value, as art, information or entertainment (apart from the ironic kind). Both professional and amateur reviewers can be guilty of this - just look at Rex Reed - and in my experience having your own website can be the tipping point that causes such a descent. And before you say anything, I've been guilty of this too, although more with WhatCulture! than on this blog.

The good thing about Generation Film! is that it doesn't fall into this trap. The site is clearly the work of a passionate amateur, but it doesn't feel impulsive or cluttered with unnecessary lists or widgets. Kyle wants his reviews to do the talking, and he has a lot of interesting stuff to say. His reviews are technically accomplished and he takes his time to carefully sketch out the fine details of any film he's reviewing.

Kyle also gets a crucial balance between the need to be (or at least appear) objective and the desire for subjective opinion to draw in a reader. Kyle is a Film and TV Production graduate, but his reviews are not overly dry or clinical - he doesn't, for instance, assess a film entirely by how well a given scene is lit. His tone is measured and professional, calmly explaining his reasons and resisting any urge to descend into fanboy-ish squeeing or seething even if it's a film he feels passionate about. It's an admirable quality which makes his reviews very readable.

You can access all Kyle's reviews at Generation Film! here. To get a good indication of his content, you can read his recent review of Pacific Rim here (I like it more than he does). He's also very active on Twitter @GenerationFilm1. Happy reading!

Daniel