Rodney&Roger's Happy Cinematic New Year!

Faithful blog-readers,

     Those of you who followed my coverage of the Sarasota Film Festival know that new posts were being published at least once and sometimes twice daily. Though I was somewhat intimidated by the prospect of daily posts, the pressure turned out to be good for me and I was able to produce consistent work. Alas, since the festival has ended though, I have (obviously) dropped off on my writing. Anyone who has followed me from Rodney&Roger's inception knows that failure to meet my goals for the blog has unfortunately been a recurring theme. From my extended absence after the first three posts, to my inability to finish any of my Globes Predictions, to my still un-finished Director's Series, and lastly (and most recently) to my incomplete Festival Reviews -I'm not always the best at finishing what I start.

     But this blog and I are each a work in progress. With every failure, I learn. I've come to value the proverb, "Don't bite off more than you can chew." And I'm actually discovering what it takes to be able to "bite off" more, and still manage to "chew it". From the beginning there has been much progress: I do write with much more consistency and regularity (rarely does a month go by without at least one post), I have made time to re-format and update the website itself (hooray for pictures!), and as of today the blog is up to almost 1200 views (at the start, I never dreamed of passing 1000).

     Having made it through the 2011/2012 awards season and not giving up after the Globes, having blogged almost daily throughout an entire film-festival (with nine total posts!), and with plans to collaborate and cross-promote with another blog (details to come later), I feel that I and Rodney&Roger are ready to take on yet another year in film -and with Cannes marking the start of the 2012/2013 cinematic year this week, this post serves as Rodney&Roger's Happy Cinematic New Year!

     So to start the "New Year", I want to wrap up and complete some things from "last year", and talk about what is to come for the blog "this year". Regarding the Sarasota Film Festival, I saw 27 movies. I only blogged on the first 8, leaving 19 films to be reviewed. Today I'm going to list the 19 unreviewed films and announce my star-ratings for them. My next post will be my review of Think of Me accompanied by my interview with its director Bryan Wizemann. Following that, I'll be sporadically posting reviews on other notable festival films -but not necessarily in any particular order. Before I move on though, here is my list of the unreviewed festival films along with my star-ratings:

The Intouchables * * *
Las Malas Intenciones * *                                
Mosquita Y Mari * * ½
Darling Companion * * ½
Goodbye, First Love * * *
Your Sister's Sister * * * ½
Elena * * * *
Policeman * * ½
The Loneliest Planet * * ½
Leave Me Like You Found Me * *
In Our Nature * * *
El Premio * * ½
Arcadia * * *
Francine * *
Think of Me * * * *
The Day * * ½
Keep the Lights On * * * ½
Compliance * * *
Little White Lies * * * ½

     Also carrying over from last year (and even earlier), will be the final three articles promised of my Director's Series. In addition to that, I'll be fishing out of storage and finally publishing my review of Christopher Nolan's Following. And now for the fun part: what is to come...

     My good friend, former room-mate, and fellow blogger Robert Vostad just started a new blog called Spiritually Outclassed. He is challenging his readers to accompany him on a journey through all 66 books of the Bible in just one year. In addition to posting on his discoveries as he dives into each new book, he plans to also blog some of his everyday thoughts on spirituality, Christianity, and the American culture we live in. In keeping with his plans for Spiritually Outclassed, and mine for Rodney&Roger, we have been discussing the idea of watching globally relevant, morally subjective, and ethically complex films (open to or even requiring spiritual interpretations) and then recording conversations together regarding any of the moral or cultural implications suggested by their content or craft. Some film titles have been thrown around and discussed, but considering his current temporary absence from the country, I won't divulge anything or concrete any conversations as official until we can solidify our plans together. But, providing that things pan out, our video-conversations will be a new and exiting addition to each of our blogs.

     With that, I'll reiterate Rodney&Roger's Happy Cinematic New Year! and express my excitement for my adventures in film with you all in this "new year" to come!

P.S. For complete up-to-date coverage of all the goings on at the Cannes Film Festival this week, check out Barbara Scharres' (Roger's Cannes correspondent) festival blog here.