A Brief Introduction and a Q&A

Hi, Everyone:

My name is Pete Croatto, and welcome to the first of what I hope will be many installments of What I'm Watching. I am a movie critic for Home Media Magazine, Primetime A&E, and filmcritic.com and this blog will not only provide samples of my work, but offer a glimpse of my daily movie-watching life and other fun tidbits. I hope you enjoy it.

Here's a brief Q&A session so you know a little bit about me and this blog. Enjoy.

Q: What's your background?
A: I'm basically a movie geek with a good vocabulary and a goodly amount of writing experience. I've also written for Publishers Weekly, The Star-Ledger, mediabistro.com, Deadspin.com, The Trenton Times, and a boatload of natural health magazines.

Q: Are you going to review movies daily?
A: As of right now, no. I work a second job for the sweet, sweet health benefits and I'm working on other freelance writing assignments. Time is tight, bro. The site is pretty much for friends to see my reviews and to wax poetic in general on movies--that means (possibly) book reviews, interviews with film critics, and the occasional funny post or two. We'll see how it goes.

Q: I'm a girl; don't call me bro.
A: Good for you.

Q: What are some of your favorite movies?
A: Here are five quickies released from the last 20 years: Goodfellas, Boogie Nights, Pulp Fiction, Die Hard, and Frankie & Johnny (from when Al Pacino didn't bellow his lines).

Q: This isn't going to be a film snob site, is it?
A: No. My hero is Roger Ebert, and his reviews were smart, witty, and always welcoming. I've used that as my guide and I haven't been steered wrong yet....Plus, I have PCU and American Pie in my DVD collection. How could I be a film snob?

Q: Who are your three favorite actresses?
A: Naomi Watts, Kate Winslet, Maggie Gyllenhaal. How good is Mags? I'm watching the Batman sequel because she's in it, and I was not the biggest fan of Batman Begins.

Q: Who are your three favorite actors?
A: I've spent like fifteen minutes trying to think of an answer I'm satisfied with. Let's just stick with three that I really like: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kevin Kline, and Gene Hackman.
Think about it: Have you ever seen Gene Hackman give a crappy performance? And it seems like he's been around since the dawn of time.

Q: What's the inspiration for the site?
A: My brother Dave came up with the idea, which is based on Nick Hornby's series of articles (on books) for The Believer. If it's half as good as what Hornby produces, I'll be elated...The ultimate goal is to provide a fresh look at movies and the moviegoing process that doesn't read like it's written by an illiterate fanboy or a self-serious film knob.

And with that, let's start...