150 Favorite Films of 2000-2015 (That Isn't Lost in Translation) Announcement

July 5, 2000. I was browsing on the net like everyone else did where one of my obsessions at the time was a song by Leona Naess called Charm Attack which I had seen a lot on MTV2 at that time. I wanted to know more about her where I went to a fanpage and stumbled upon this website called Epinions.com where I learned that if you signed up to write a review, you could get paid. It was the first review I wrote and during those years, I would evolve from writing music reviews to writing about films and so on. I was very popular in the world of music and in film not only for my opinions but in my evolution as a writer. After 9 years of having a good relationship and being quite successful while making some decent money. Things started to sour in the fall of 2009 where it wasn't about getting late checks but also finding myself feeling constrained and compromised by my work and with the people who were running things at that time.

In 2006/2007, I signed up for a Blogger account thinking it would be a platform to write other ideas but with the exception of a review of Hotel Chevalier and a few music reviews. I rarely used it during that time from 2007 to 2009 and I wasn't sure if I would use it properly. Then 2010 came and with the weight of my own depression that was looming over me at the time and a sense of frustration with Epinions.com over not just being paid but being paid properly and actually have more control on what I wanted to say. I found myself leaning towards the blogging and just as I had hit my 10th Anniversary at the site on July 5, 2010. I had this epiphany where I had done so much and had written more than 1600 reviews on film, music, books, and a few other things but with very little to show for. There were things I wanted to do but I didn't have the avenue to do that at Epinions.com as I was also frustrated by the sense of stupidity that was emerging over the quality of the writing and everything else. For that, I told them to fuck off and never wrote for them again as I would also be relieved that the site finally crashed down on its own bullshit last year.

I think if it wasn't for this blog, I would probably be stuck and not really go anywhere. Yet, turning this blog into Surrender to the Void wasn't an easy task as I had to re-familiarize myself with the world of writing reviews and also needed new things to do. There, I was able to create things such as the Auteurs series, lists, and all sorts of stuff. Plus, I was able to expand myself into different kinds of films and review things I wasn't able to do in Epinions.com. It's amazing that I've managed to not just find creative freedom but an outlet that is far more fulfilling.

Five years later and more than thousands of posts and all sorts of crazy shit. The time has come to make a list of films that I have seen and loved for the past 15 years. This isn't a definitive list of the best films of those fifteen years but rather a list of films that I certainly loved that had come out in the past 15 years. Yet, there's a reason why this list is referred to 150 Favorite Films of 2000-2015 (that isn't Lost in Translation). For anyone that has read my work and now of my love for that film will be spared from me talking about how great that film is. For anyone that isn't familiar with my work and will wonder why that film isn't in the list, just read this. So this month will be devoted to 150 of these films that I've selected as it will be told in five parts. Some of you know might now what the top film will be while others won't. That is part of the fun about these lists as there is no clue into what might be on top and what didn't make the final cut.

© thevoid99 2015