Hi, and welcome to the Accidental Ticket-Holder - my very own film-critique megaphone. This is unexplored territory for me - my first blog. The Accidental Ticket-Holder will be devoted to movie-minutiae, notes on films, directors, writers, performances, stuff like that. Basically I'm a frustrated film-critic who lacks the time and wherewithal to actually write film criticism. Hell, these days I barely get the time to go see a movie. So, what you'll get here won't be full-blown expositions about the latest big-budget Hollywood epic or slick thriller out of France. These days I'm more interested the lost bits - the fragments that fall through the cracks.

Blogs are often full of self-indulgent waffle, and this one is probably not going to stray too far from the formula. I can be as beligerant and opinionated at the next guy, and I just know you're out there itching to read what I have to say about any old thing that comes up. Promise I'll try to stay on topic, and I'll try to keep it more-or-less intelligent. And I'll try to keep the typos down to a minimum.

It's my intention to put up a post or two a week - around eight or ten times a month. Between work, study and relationship-maintenance, I figure I can probably keep to this schedule. If anyone wants to write to me, that would be just swell. I'll even try to write back (if it doen't conflict with my busy posting schedule).

So, to kick off - Manhattan. I was thinking about that wonderful scene at the very end between Isaac (Woody Allen) and Tracy (Mariel Hemingway), when Tracy has just told Isaac he has to learn to trust people, and the camera lingers for a few seconds (it seems longer) on Isacc, looking... well, I used to think penitent ("I screwed up - I'm sorry"), but now I'm leaning toward plain-old anxious ("Yes, yes, of course you're right - now can we get back to the part where thingsweretickingalongnicelythankyou). For a guy who professes to lead such an examined life, he seems to be a little cavalier about the important things. You have to wonder if Manhattan II wouldnt have been pretty much the same story, just with Mia Farrow in the Diane Keaton role. Though maybe Tracy wouldn't have stuck around for that long.