Adrienne Lopez
I have loved movies since I was a little girl. My first vivid movie memory is of John Travolta and Olivia Newton John singing to each other as the T-Birds and Pink Ladies danced across the big screen in Grease. If you think I’m dating myself, that’s okay. Yes, I’m a child of the 70’s, who grew up in the 80’s, watching Molly Ringwald and the Brat Pack run amok in John Hughes movies and the beginnings of the country’s obsession with superheroes like Batman. In the first half of the 90’s, I was in college, where I earned a degree in Art History and took every film studies course offered across multiple departments. It was the age of Quentin Tarantino, Tim Burton, ghosts, dinosaurs, serial killers, psychopaths, and films based on female friendships. In classes I studied Fellini, Antonioni, Godard, and other European greats, as well as Akira Kurosawa. I wrote a paper about the use of the Death character from Ingmar Bergman’s moody 1957 Swedish classic The Seventh Seal, in the 1991 box office hit Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey and another about the use of a nonlinear timeline in Pulp Fiction. I gobbled up American classics like Citizen Kane and It Happened One Night, as well as coming of age stories like The Outsiders. I saw Robert Rodriguez’s $7,000 marvel, El Mariachi and was given three different perspectives on the Odessa Steps sequence from Sergei Eisenstein’s still-relevant Battleship Potemkin, as it was shown and discussed in my film classes in the Art, English and Communications departments within weeks of each other. I used to joke that I spent the whole of my last semester at college in the dark!
Not only did I get to see a lot of movies to which I may not otherwise have been exposed, but I learned how to really WATCH them. I find it fairly impossible now to see a movie just for pure escapism, as I can’t seem to turn off the critical eye that was developed thirty years ago. I find myself looking for lighting tricks, foreshadowing, the significance of colors in costumes and sets, slight shifts in an actor’s body language or a shift in camera angle.
Like many people, I got through the pandemic with the help of movies, either streamed or from my own DVD collection. For the past several years, I have also been dealing with ailments including Fibromyalgia and Lyme. That has left me with even more time to watch and think about movies. So, I have decided to start sharing what I love with anyone who’s interested. I can’t promise that I’ll stick to a strict schedule, but I can say that I’ll introduce, or reintroduce, you to some great films. They won’t be the latest blockbusters. There are plenty of websites and magazines to turn to for those. But I’ll highlight movies you may have seen long ago, should have seen but didn’t, or never heard of. There are also a lot of excellent short films and documentaries online and I’ll steer you towards some of my favorites. They pack a lot of entertainment value into a little bit of time. I will also profile actors, directors, and other artists in the film industry. Hopefully, you’ll watch some of my recommendations and let me know what you think, either through this site or on social. And check out my latest polls, puzzles, and quizzes for a bit more fun!
Just so you know, I am not going to be writing formally. I’d rather keep things light. And I can’t promise to be PC (that’s too subjective now, anyway) or even PG, so I apologize in advance if you are offended by films or writing containing crude humor, foul language, sexuality, real issues or people who may not look like you. That’s life, and if it bothers you, click the X in the top right corner of your screen.
Some final notes…yes, of course Girl on Films is a reference to the 1981 Duran Duran song, Girls on Film. I was a huge fan! It was Dr. David Shapiro who really taught me the most about understanding the artistic medium of film and I think of him fondly as I write for this site. I also need to thank my husband, Joe, who keeps this site up and running and operates the “Concession Stand.” And thank YOU for spending time with me and the movies I love.
Adrienne Lopez