Hi! I’m Alli –
I am a huge cinephile and I love to talk about movies. I put up my film reviews here, but really, the idea is to have conversations about them.
I am a wife and mother of two teenagers, all based in the city of Chicago. I am a Chicago theatre critic at Entertaining Chicago and discuss mental health, empowerment, and recipes at Dancing Through The Rain.
I have always loved movies and have watched many. At the beginning of 2024, as I was tracking my films in the diary of my Letterboxd account, my son commented on how I’d watched basically one per day for a month. I thought about it for a second, said, “Really?? Well, I can do that!” and committed to watching 366 “new to me” films by the end of the leap year. I finished 2024 having watched 391.
“New to me” films mean any movie that I have not seen before. Whether it was made in 1945 or 2025 doesn’t matter to me – as long as I’ve never seen it before, it counts.
I will watch almost any genre, except horror. I do not enjoy jump scares or that type of viewing, so unless it is a film that is more drama/mystery with a touch of horror, you won’t see those here.
I am known to be a crier. If a movie, play, or piece of music floods me with emotion, tears are going to show up. Most often I cry happy tears over sad tears, but anything that affects me deeply will likely see a little moisture.
I also prefer to go into films blind. I do not read about them or study the cast and crew beforehand. I like to experience it as naively as possible.
I try very hard to watch movies for exactly what they are. I am not concerned with whether something was “Oscar bait” or any positive or negative press or politics around a film. Of course, I’ve heard some of it because I exist, but I will never let that get in the way of watching a film for the film’s sake. It is an art that deserves to be appreciated, so give me all you’ve got!