The Shelf: An Introduction

With the summer movie season ending, the last few weeks have been underwhelming at the movies, and this past weekend was no different. I did go to a movie, but since it was "Howl's Moving Castle," an almost 20-year-old anime, and I know my audience, it was not worth reviewing right now; I have plans for the Studio Ghibli movies. Instead, I decided to start a series I have been thinking about for a few years. I am calling it The Shelf. 

I am still a big believer in physical media. In the past few years, that has only become more important with streaming services removing shows and movies with no warning so they don't have to pay royalties. HBO had done this so many times in the last two years that when I had the chance to buy the incredible series "Station Eleven," I did just in case they ever removed it from Max. All this is a long-winded way of saying that I own a lot of physical media. 

With so many movies and TV shows, space is at a premium. Most of my movies are in sleeves and not in cases. If I keep a movie in it's case, it is because there is something extra special about it. There are currently nine movies on that shelf, and besides two that share a star, they don't fall into one specific category. They are, in alphabetical order:

• Arrival

• Baby Driver

• Booksmart

• Everything Everywhere All At Once

• The Flordia Project

• Knives Out

• Logan

• Mad Max: Fury Road

• Short Term 12

In the coming weeks, I am going to watch and write about each of these movies. I cannot guarantee it is going to be the next nine weeks, but I can commit to the next nine times I don't have anything else to write about. These will not be reviews. Instead, these will be me reflecting on what it is about these movies that make them worthy of "The Shelf. "Next week, I will talk about "Arrival."