Introducing: The Pajiba Movie Club
By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Miscellaneous | Comments (57)
We’re kicking off the new school year with one of our favorite suggestions from last week’s suggestion box. Yossarian suggested that we start a Pajiba Movie Club, which works similar to a book club. Except, presumably, unlike in 80 percent of book clubs, most of the people participating in the movie club will have seen the movie.
One of the quibbles Yossarian had with traditional movie reviews is that they are written for an audience that hasn’t yet seen the movie, and so spoilers are not revealed, which has a way of dampening conversation. Moreover, most of the people who comment on our movie reviews haven’t seen the movie yet: Many of the on-topic remarks center on whether the review sufficiently encouraged or discouraged the reader from seeing the movie (and on Pajiba, a large majority of you won’t see it until it arrives on DVD, anyway).
Pajiba would seem an ideal place for this: For the most part, our readers are intelligent and capable of thoughtful debate and there are enough of you to keep the conversation lively well into the night. As with all Pajiba posts, we encourage alcohol consumption.
So, this is how it will work: We will convene the Pajiba Movie Club twice a month (we may increase or decrease the frequency based on the popularity of the feature). The Movie Club movie will be announced two weeks in advance, and the movie must already be on DVD and available on Netflix. Two weeks after the announcement, one of our the writers will write a starter review (or we will repurpose an older review) to kick off the conversation, and the participants in that week’s Movie Club can discuss the movie among themselves in our comment section. You’ll be able to discuss in as much depth as you’d like, and with the understanding that the other participants will have already seen the movie so they’ll know what you’re talking about, which presumably will expand the conversation beyond: ‘I despise Tom Cruise and therefore refuse to see this movie.’
I’m going to suggest the first movie, Good Night, and Good Luck, which I chose simply based on the fact it was recently added to Netflix’s Watch Instantly so Netflix subscribers can watch it immediately on their computer. In future editions, however, I will choose a participant in that week’s Movie Club conversation to select the next movie. So, essentially, it will work more like a book club in that readers will also be able to participate in the selection process.
The first Pajiba Movie Club meeting will take place at 9 EST on Tuesday, September 22, 2009. For those who want to participate in the conversation, try and catch Good Night, and Good Luck between now and then. I will also offer the occasional reminder of the upcoming Movie Club and the selected movie.
Hope to see you here on the 22nd.
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Comments
Posted by: Snath at September 8, 2009 12:21 PM
This is a fantastic idea.