MICRO REVIEWS: I can’t get no satisfaction, so I’m now using TWITTER to pick up the slack in between the big movie reviews! by COOP

Posted on May 18th, 2010

Homer Simpson: “You know something Marge, it’s not that tough being a film cricket.”

Me: “Bull@#$%!”

Contrary to popular belief it actually IS hard being a film cricket… I mean critic. A tough market shares some of the blame but a lot of us bloggers also have other jobs/projects/responsibilities burning on the stove. Then there’s family obligations, staying fit, the thankless job of single-handedly managing a website, not to mention the million other chores that keep us from spending our precious time at the keyboard (like we actually have to go out to see some movies for instance). For those of us who live in the sticks, the challenge of actually SEEING films can be magnified x 10. Then getting it to the publisher on time to make the paper while I’m juggling screenwriting, creating teaching documents and about a dozen other projects. What am I getting at here?…

Inevitable burnout.

If you’re a movie blogger yourself or committed to writing regularly in general, you know exactly what I’m talking about. I’ve certainly been at some points during the last year or so where a minor technical glitch, a harsh comment or even a stiff breeze could have easily ended my patience for writing reviews. Now I’m not saying my ego is fragile (far from it) but when the tangible rewards are small, it can be difficult to find a steady stream of motivation. Positive encouragement from friends, family and random readers help a great deal but what really charges my capacitors is a new challenge.

I see far more films than I have the time to write full reviews (or even short capsules) on. Due to the frustration of these opinions going to waste, I have come up with a satisfying, yet simple solution…

“MICRO REVIEWS” on Twitter.

Add me on Twitter…

*Slaps forehead* Not sure why I didn’t think of this before. It can’t be that original of an idea and I’m sure some critics are doing this already, but if I can’t write a full review on every movie I see, I can at least ‘tweet’ a micro review of the rest in less than 140 characters. I’ve been using Twitter primarily to advertise the full reviews on my site, but using it for that sole task is inefficient when the resource has far more potential for mass-publishing.

Yes this is totally a ‘Duh’ moment but until now I’ve never seen much value for Twitter beyond keeping up with what John Mayer, Paris Hilton (and other so-called “celebrities”) are thinking. Now it’s MY turn. Eat it, Mayer!

So that’s the plan. Tweet the Micro Reviews I don’t have time to write full reviews for and then post a collection of those tweets at least once a week on the site. It’s a win-win situation and I’m excited about it because it’s actually FUN to see what movie info I can fit into that limited space. They are like haikus (which I hate) but without the annoying restriction on syllables. Who knows, maybe it’ll get some discussions going so I can elaborate a bit more.

Wanna subscribe to my MICRO REVIEWS? Follow me on Twitter. Trust me, I’m going to post a lot of them and if I start seeing an increase in readership in the next few months, this WILL become a permanent thing.

Here’s one of my first…

MICRO REVIEW – LEGION: Amazing concept. Angels + weapons = BOOM. Weak execution. All characters unlikable. Wings clipped. 2&1/2 stars.

Now THAT’S satisfaction!