Hi! My name is Sam Guilford and I am an 18 year old college student at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Movies are my favorite form of art and my favorite way to spend time when I am not working on other projects. I’ve loved movies since a young age and my first two favorite movies were Wall-E and Finding Nemo. Right now my favorite genre is detective movies and I especially love David Fincher’s dark noir detective movies like Seven and Zodiac. Within the dark detective genre I also love movies like Matt Reeves’ The Batman (2022) and Denis Villenueve’s Prisoners.
It’s not all dark for me though! Three of my favorite movies right now that are not as dark and depressing are Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky, Damien Chazelle’s La La Land, and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Some other things I absolutely love in movies are dynamic characters who become stronger or morally better people throughout the film through obstacles; my personal favorite is Finney from Scott Derrickson’s The Black Phone.
Some other things I love about movies are how transcendent the experience of movies can be for viewers. If I have a long day of classes in San Antonio I can sit down and be transported to a tour bus for a 1970s rock band, be a superhero trying to save a city from the biggest threat since last month, or even go back to high school as two cops trying to bust a drug ring. Movies can deliver experiences of professions and things that you may never do in your life and that is what is so magical about them.
I started this blog to be more intentional about processing the movies that I watch and to both understand myself and the art form better. I absolutely love Cinematography as well as a good story and a lot of my reviews will be based around these two aspects. At least twice a week I will watch a movie and try to process what the director is trying to do and my takeaways from a world standpoint. I want to expand my worldviews and become a more empathetic person through movies and I am thrilled that you are joining me for this ride!