Mike's Memories

Walk with us now, as we revisit some of our favorite and personal memories about Mutant Reviewers!

NAME AND MRFH NICKNAME (IF ANY)
Mike. Known on the forum, AIM, MSN, Gtalk, Yahoo & Xbox live as "CheshireKat" or "CheshireKat5865". Known to the staff as "Newbie" or "Sandwich-boy".

TELL US ABOUT HOW YOU FIRST DISCOVERED MRFH, WHAT YOU THOUGHT ABOUT IT, AND HOW YOU CAME ON BOARD AS A WRITER.
It was early 2004. I was web-browsing around one am in the morning when I should've been working tech support for a well-known domain provider/web hosting company, (I don't recommend tech support under any circumstances, but the graveyard shift made it pretty much intolerable). Who can say what movie I was looking at on IMDB, because surely I can't remember. Whatever movie it was, I made the fateful choice of clicking the "External reviews" link and there it was:

Mutant Reviewers From Hell

There was no way in the world a site with a name like that was going to be passed over so I clicked the link, read the review and history was made. Geeky, nerdy, pop-cultury history. MRFH would from then on serve as my best friend through those lonely 10pm to 7am shifts, and probably more than anything else contributed to me losing that particular job. Eh, whatever, it was a temp position anyway. The well-written, well thought-out reviews echoed my own sentiments. Finally, here was a site of movies being reviewed by people who love movies, not critics who watched solely to pick the movie apart and give you a list of reasons why you shouldn't see it. I knew these people were my spiritual and intellectual kin. I had to add my voice to theirs.

I actually pseudo-applied maybe a month after discovering the site, and was informed by some guy named Justin that I would have to wait until a spot opened up, but thanks for my interest. So I waited, patiently, until the magic words appeared on the front page: "So long, Clare!". This was it... my moment, my destiny was within my grasp. I typed out the application, feeling the pull of providence and predestination. As the narrator said in A Christmas Story: "Never had the words poured out from my penny pencil so eloquently". I sent the review to Justin and awaited the realizing of my destiny... and then got rejected and watched as Nancy and Shalen were given well-deserved spots on staff. I wept, but kept my pain below the surface, pretending all was well, ignoring the pit of despair that my heart had become. I continued to visit the site, read the reviews and articles, and frequented the forum. Slowly my crushed dreams became a quiet determination, just a spark of defiance at my fate, growing in strength. Not even the addition of Al to the staff (seemingly without even a spot opening up) was enough to deter me. I would be a mutant. By all that is nerdy... I would be a mutant.

Then, it happened. Nancy left, choosing to focus on her studies, and just like that, my dreams of talking about movies online was once again within my grasp. I wrote with trepidation this time. I'd already been rejected twice, did I really have what it takes to be part of the elite? Was I really good enough, did I really belong here, or was it all a pipedream? Despite my misgivings, I went for it, pouring myself into my review for Batman Begins with passionate abandon. I hit the "send" button on gmail as I uttered the following prayer:

"Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if I was a good man or bad. Why I wrote movie reviews, or had to sit through films that would crush the spirits of lesser beings. All that matters is that Batman and Robin sucked. That's what's important! Valor pleases you, Crom... so grant me one request. Grant me Mutantdom! And if you do not listen, then to HELL with you!"

Some time later, an email was sent to me from Justin. I had to read it twice before I truly grasped and believed it's meaning. I was in. I was a Mutant Reviewer from Hell. Nothing would ever be the same.

SHARE ANY FAVORITE MEMORIES OF "BEHIND THE SCENES" MRFH EVENTS OR INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER MUTANTS.
Unfortunately, being the "baby" of the group I haven't yet gotten the opportunity to meet any of my fellow staff-members in person. More's the pity because my interaction with them through the site, via IM, and over the phone has been top-notch. These really are some great, funny, intelligent, awesome people, and I consider myself ridiculously blessed to be counted among them.

I have enjoyed chats with Drew and email correspondence with Sue and Al. I'm mentally planning a mini-summit with any midwest to western mutants who would like to accompany me to San Diego next year for Comic-con, and me and Drew REALLY need to get on that Mutant viewing. Mainly this is the best thing about being the new guy: all the stuff to look forward to.

WHAT WERE SOME OF YOUR PERSONAL FAVORITE ARTICLES & REVIEWS THAT YOU WROTE, AND WHY DO YOU LIKE THEM SO MUCH?
My Batman Begins review because it got me the job, and my 3:10 to Yuma review because it got the most positive feedback. Probably the most fun to write was my Sunshine review, because I went and saw it with a good friend of mine who is herself a brilliant writer, and we both had so much to say and so many hilarious comments after the movie, almost all of which made it in to my review.

On a side note, I'd like to encourage you forumites: keep up the feedback, good and bad. There are few things more gratifying for us than to hear that you enjoyed reading something we wrote, and I think I'm speaking for all of us when I say we do lose perspective sometimes and if something doesn't work, we seriously would like to know, rather than do it again.

SHARE ANY INTERESTING ENCOUNTERS OR E-MAILS THAT YOU HAD WITH MRFH READERS – GOOD OR BAD!
I think it's safe to say that I get corrected more than any other writer on staff, and it's also safe to say that probably a good thing and totally my fault. Though I did rather enjoy p'wning the one gentleman who attempted to correct my grammar, by editing the spelling and grammar of his complaint. In my defense, I did have to read it three times before it made sense. Oh, and the "Kitana/Katana" guy.

WHAT ASPECT OF MRFH DO YOU THINK MAKES IT UNIQUELY SPECIAL APART FROM THE REST OF THE INTERNET?
Most movie sites pride themselves on their arrogant superiority in knowledge of all things film, or else they're known for hateful, bile-filled message boards decrying all that is film and raging for Sam Raimi's blood over biological web-shooters. There's none of that here. The air of respect is like a breath of fresh air coming from sites like IMDB or Aintitcool news. The reviewers aren't critics, they're just regular people who happen to love films and are capable to discussing them intelligently. This shows in their writing. They don't write specifically to tick people off or get a reaction and they don't hate whatever comes out of general principle. They're geeks, and in this day and age when geeks are seemingly ruling the world, MRFH is like an oasis in the middle of the vitriolic wasteland that is the rest of the internet. Plus, the color scheme is really cool.

WHAT WAS THE WORST FILM YOU REVIEWED FOR MRFH, AND WHY?
Definitely Highlander: The Source. I went in with not even high hopes, just regular "Oh this, could be cool" hopes, and it still ate away at my soul. The frustrating thing was that at every turn I could see what the creators were trying (and ultimately failing) to do. The SciFi channel really needs to knock it off with the original movies and mini-series (Tin Man was a serious let-down) and trying to branch out into some more imaginative programming. Right now all they have is Battlestar Galactica and that's gonna be gone soon. They need to get on the ball.

IF YOU HAD A FRIEND WHO WAS TRYING TO GET INTO CULT CINEMA, WHAT FIVE FILMS WOULD YOU RECOMMEND TO THEM TO WATCH FIRST, AS A PRIMER?

• Stardust
• Across the Universe
• Time Bandits
• Big Trouble in Little China
• The Monster Squad

All genius movies not given anywhere near enough accolades by the viewing public. It took 20 freakin' years to get Monster Squad on DVD, I mean come ON!

HOW DO YOU THINK MRFH HAS CHANGED OR GROWN OVER THE YEARS YOU'VE KNOWN IT?
Since 2004, not a whole lot has changed. Staffers has come and gone. We did acquire Eunice and the Mutant News Annex Blog, which I think is one of the best things to happen to the site like, ever. It's changed for me in that I'm now a staff-member, seeing things from the other side of the curtain as it were, and getting to know the staff as personal friends. The look has been pretty much the same, though I think Justin has done a good job of streamlining the front page. It's really an inspiration how dedicated our fearless leader is to keeping this site the most visitor-friendly movie site around, and it totally shows.

IF MRFH HAD A THEME SONG, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
The show would open to 'Movies" by Alien Ant Farm. The closing credits would roll to "Sequence Erase" by the Aquabats.

ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO ADD? (STORIES, FAVORITES, QUOTES, ETC.)
"Do you wanna come with me? 'Cause if you do then I should warn you, you're gonna see all sorts of things. Ghosts from the past; Aliens from the future; the day the Earth died in a ball of flame. It won't be quiet, it won't be safe, and it won't be calm. But I'll tell you what it will be: the trip of a lifetime."