Sorry to all my RT friends for not replying on any of your reviews.

For the past month and a half, I've been trying to catch up on all my favorite t.v. shows and by working all day, I get home and am so tired, I really haven't been seeing very many movies (around 40 so far this year).  But the season is up for most of my shows (Thursday night's NBC lineup is just about to end, as well as just about all the FOX network's shows -- why did they have to cancel "The Chicago Code" and "Lie to Me"? They were such intriguing shows from "The Shield's" creator, Shawn Ryan).

But as of this weekend, I began attending the cinema again by going on a marathon of movies, starting with the great "Bridesmaids" Friday night  (the best film I've seen so far this year), then catching "Fast Five" (unbelievably thrilling) Saturday morning.  Then in the afternoon, watching "Everything Must Go" (Will Ferrell's getting a Golden Globe nomination at the end of the year) and "Meek's Cutoff" (WTF?).  And I closed the weekend with the exciting "Thor" (how can I miss the beginning of the summer blockbusters?).

As for those of you who consider me hard on some movies that most people seem to love ("Shutter Island", "The Fighter", "Gladiator", and "Babel" are sooo overrated) and wonder why I like movies that other people can't stand (I really enjoyed "Battle of Los Angeles", "The Crazies", "Legion", "Rambo", and thought "MacGruber" was hilarious!), I thought I'd share a little about myself to anyone that sometimes wonder, what's up with this guy Epi, and why is he such an a-hole?

Well, let me introduce, or re-introduce myself. My name is Epi, and my wife and I reside in the great state of Texas.  And regardless of what is protrayed in movies, people who live here do not all wear ten-gallon hats, wrangler jeans, cowboy boots and speak in texan accents.  I was born in 1972 and am a devoted movie fanatic. The first movie I remember seeing at the theater was "Star Wars" back in 1977, when my aunt and older cousin took me to watch the event movie of the summer.  From there, I was hooked!

I was at the movie-plex every weekend from then on.  Sure, I would also see films on television, but I learned at a very early age that there is nothing like watching a film up on the big screen. "Midnight Express", "The Black Hole", "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and "Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan", "E.T.", "The Original Star Wars Trilogy", "Tootsie", "Friday the 13th Parts 1 to 10",  "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" when it was released for its 10 anniversery back in 1984, the original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and all it's sequels, "Back to the Future", "Pretty in Pink" (don't laugh),  "The Karate Kid Part 2", "The Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn", "True Lies", "Aliens", "Speed", all the "Lethal Weapon" films, all of the "Rocky's" -- the first "Rocky" was released on a double-bill with the release of "Rocky II" back in 1979. "Rain Man", "Dances with Wolves", the original "Clash of the Titans",  "The Untouchables", and all the best picture nominees from 1990 to 2010 -- I've seen all in theaters. 

I was really lucky with "The Last of the Mohicans", "The Hunt for Red October" and "Terminator 2: Judgement Day" -- I was able to catch them up at the IMAX theater in San Antonio, Texas back in the early '90s.

I even saw movies at the theater that some people never even heard of: "The Final Chapter: Walking Tall", "Coma", "Magic", "The North Avenue Irregulars", "The Main Event", "When a Stranger Calls" (the original 1979 version), "Prophecy", "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century", "Time After Time", "The Warrors", "Popeye", "Saturn 3", two funny yet dated, and possibly very un-politically correct George Hamilton films called "Zorro, the Gay Blade" and "Love at First Bite", "Time Bandits", "Funhouse", and "The Incredible Shrinking Woman".

From the early '90s, does anybody remember the horror movies, "Dr. Giggles", "The Lawnmower Man", "Body Parts", "Popcorn", "The People Under the Stairs", or "Candyman"?  I remember taking my high school girlfriend to see all those films at the theater, and "Candyman" was the only one that made us a little scared of looking in the mirror.

I never even considered limiting myself to forgettable movies as well as big summer blockbusters.  I recieved my first movie magazine in the mail back in the spring of 1988, and it just so happened to be the Academy Awards edition of the Premiere movie magazine.  I got hooked on it and made my predictions -- "Broadcast News" to sweep all the major awards (except for best director, which James L. Brooks wasn't nominated) -- I was wrong. "The Last Emperor" took home all nine categories it was nominated in, including best picture and director.

After that, I went to the library and vigorously studied everything about the Academy Awards, and have been for the past 23 years. 

To tell you the truth, I'm not biased when it comes to movies. I'll see just about anything -- comedies (Blazing Saddles), chick flicks (Pretty Woman, Steel Magnolias), horror movies, musicals,documentaries, westerns, period pieces, animated, fantasy, foreign, classic black and white films.  You name it, I'll see it. I can't stand Adam Sandler, but I'll eventually get around to seeing his newest film.

The point of all these movies is that any person can look at these films today and either laugh at them or just plain dismiss them. Especially with all the CGI used and of how much blood and gore the MPAA is willing to unleash onto the screens these days.  But to overlook any film of the '70s, '80s, '90's and 2000's, or to miss any film, good or bad, released up on the big screen is really a disservice to the filmmakers.  I don't want to just see a movie, but I want to also experience it.  So tell me, do you think watching  "Avatar" up on IMAX 3D is the same as watching it at home?  To tell you the truth, it was amazing when I saw it at the IMAX, but I tried to watch it at home, and I had to shut it off after about an hour because it just wasn't....well, amazing anymore.

Younger people nowadays look at movies such as any of the Rocky's or Rambo's or even the original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Friday the 13th", and laugh at them and cannot comprehend why people my age hold these films in such high regard. But then again, many of these people weren't there at the height of these movies' popularity, and to be caught up on all the hype and excitement. When the original "Rocky" (which is still a great movie -- even though its' sequels got lost in their own self-importance of the era that was the 1980's) came out, I admit, I was a big fan.  And yes, I still love this movie and can watch it over and over again. Rocky Balboa was a definitive icon of the late seventies and early eighties. Then "First Blood" came out, and another pop-cultural icon was born (if you have ever read the book, "First Blood", you'll find the movie more believable than the book, but just as entertaining). 

From then on, it was an Event when a Sly Stallone film was released.  But then again, anything from the 80's seemed to be an event.  Then the 90's began and Scorsese was back on top with "Goodfellas" (I'll never forget the opening sequence -- when Henry Hill, Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito pop open the trunk to find Billy Bats still alive, and Tommy goes after him with a knife and Jimmy with the gun -- everybody in the theater gasped and then were silent.  After Henry closes the trunk, says that classic line and the credits start rolling, somebody in the audience finally said, "What the fuck?").  A couple of years later, Eastwood was also back on top as a filmmaker (Unforgiven), and then came Tarantino.

I remember going my local art-house theater in the spring of '93 and watching "Reservoir Dogs" (after being in release for six months, it finally made its way down to Texas). I'll admit, at first, I didn't get the movie. It threw me for a loop with its constant chatter, continuous use of '70s music, and extreme violence (this was 1993, after all).  I just didn't get what made this movie so special.  It came out on video the next month and I watched it again with some friends and I got it. I understood what was going on what I missed the first time around. Tarantino had introduced us to a new type of vocabulary and from a small cult classic emerged a cultural phenomenom. 

The 1990's was a new decade, and like the '70s, it sprung a new kind of director.  It was the dawn of a new era of filmmakers: Richard Linklater, Gus Van Sant, Reginald Hudlin, Quentin Tarantino, Allison Anders, Carl Franklin, Ang Lee, Robert Rodriguez, Kevin Smith, Todd Haynes, Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson, Todd Solondz, Curtis Hanson, Alexander Payne, David Fincher, Doug Liman, and Spike Jonze.  Seeing any of their films was definitely something I could not overlook. 

In 1996, "Taxi Driver" was re-released in theaters for its 20th anniversery and I just had to take friends of mine that had never seen it to the theater to experience this classic.  They loved it so much that when, in 1997, "The Godfather" was re-released for it 25th anniversery, I took them to see that at the theater.  After seeing it up on the big screen, I just couldn't believe how amazing it looked.  From then on, I made it a mission to catch every film I could up on the big screen, good or bad. 

After decades of watching films, as you get older, you learn to appreciate films much more than when you were younger.  That's why I can never give a film lower than a 10 percent rating.  For me, a movie can unbelievably bad, like Adam Sandler's "The Waterboy", or 2009's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (a film I feel is the worst film of the '00's), to this year's "Sucker Punch" (which is also very insulting to viewers -- all fx, no plot or humanity), but you have to admire the filmmakers for at least attempting to make a unique vision.

But also one of the benefits of being older is that you get all the pop-cultural jokes and nostalgia that are dished out in shows like "Family Guy", "Psych", "American Dad", "Freaks and Geeks" and "The Office", as well as the films of Judd Apatow ("The 40 Year-Old Virgin", "Knocked Up", "Funny People" and his produced "Bridesmaids").  Many younger people didn't get the brilliant comedy of "Hot Tub Time Machine" or "Tropic Thunder", but in the end, those films depended on the "you just had to be there to get it" factor.

When it comes to unique visions, written as well as filmed, many people will have their choices of inspirational filmmakers: but mine are spread from Coppola to Scorsese, Spielberg to Tarantino, and P.T. Anderson to Woody Allen.  But that doesn't mean I'm going to forget about Pedro Almodovar or Guillermo Del Toro, or David Fincher, the Coen Bros., Roman Polanski, Akira Kurosawa, George Lucas, Michael Cimino, Robert Altman, Alan Parker, Ingmar Bergman, Michael Mann, Ang Lee, Spike Jonze or Michel Gondry.

Well, that's pretty much me in a nutshell.  Other than my life consisting of work, t.v., and movies, there may be much more to me than this (like I can't stand when people text in movie theaters, and I WILL let them know), but I can't think of any right now. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, but I think I covered pretty much everything I wanted to say.

Thanks for reading!