Fall Is Officially Here.

I just received the first DVD screener from the West Coast, which, as many of you veterans of this blog realize, is the beginning of "Report Card" season. It will extend until just about the time the major awards are given out.
For the uninitiated, "Report Cards" are my version of movie reviews, written from the point of view of someone who hates to read movie reviews.
This is because most movie reviews reveal way more about a movie than I want to know.
Like for instance, the plot.
I will never reveal the plot of a movie in my Report Cards.
I will tell you as little as I feel you need to know about a movie and still give you enough of a sense of whether or not you should want to see it.
The screeners that I receive are sent to me because I am eligible to vote for various awards.
And I watch the movie. On my 60 inch flat screen.
They are promotional tools for the studios.
These are the films that they consider to be award-worthy.
I see just about every movie that opens this fall and winter that fall into that category.
It's been my experience that about half of them are.
With each Report Card, I pose a series of questions that I ask myself, and attempt to answer them, hopefully adding some humor along the way.
It's the same questions for every movie, generally from the point of view of a screenwriter.
There are many examples of Report Cards from last year's films on the blog for you to check out the nature of the questions.
Each category is graded.
From A+ descending all the way to F.
And finally there is an overall rating.
If you read my Report Cards and then see the movie, and agree with me often enough, then I am providing a valuable service for you.
If you predominantly disagree with me, it's probably a waste of your time.
But you'll probably be entertained anyway.
I am adding a couple of new questions this year:
Did the director put such a personal stamp on it so that no one else could have made it? (Hint: the more the better.)
and
How long does it take to establish the film's locale? (Hint: the sooner the better. You don't want to sit there and keep asking yourself "Where are they?")
So the next post will be this season's first Report Card.
Welcome back to movie land!

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My books, "Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download it.
They can be downloaded on IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is that you can't sign one.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.

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