'Statesman' movie critic won't settle for the shallow review

By Ann Passey

June 27, 2005 | Creativity flows through his veins. From dancing to eating, every activity in his day is done with a creative perspective in mind.

Casey T. Allen. One colleague guessed the T stood for theater, since drama is a part of Allen's everyday life.

Allen reviews movies for the Utah Statesman, a position he has held since early January, a position he says he loves.

"As a child my siblings were all much older than I was, so I spent much of my childhood alone," said Allen. "I was left to entertain myself in very creative ways."

Through watching his three older siblings as a child, he began to appreciate many different creative outlets. His older brother and sister were involved in theater, and he too became involved in stage productions.

Allen began participating in theatrics in high school. Musicals quickly became his favorite.

"For a drama you don't need to know how to do anything but recite your lines and learn where to go on stage," said Allen. "In a musical you also have to master singing and dancing, as well as memorizing your lines."

It was a wonderful outlet for a tenor voice that he began to develop at a very young age by singing to his grandmother.

For his entire life, Allen's grandmother lived just down the street from him.

"Since I was so much younger than my siblings I would ride my bike down to her house and visit her," said Allen. "One of my favorite activities was to sing for her. She was hard of hearing and encouraged me sing very loudly and I've just never stopped.

"I also spent a great deal of time as a child watching movies since it was an activity I could do alone," said Allen. "Movies became a wonderful creative outlet."

Allen doesn't just watch movies, he analyzes them. A discussion of the movie follows every film he watches.

"I like to watch movies and discuss the messages they give us," said Allen. "It seems very unfulfilling to just watch a movie and then do nothing afterward.

"To talk about a film after watching it gives it a lot of validation, and a lot of closure," said Allen. "It provides a lot more understanding and appreciation for what you've watched."

Often times when you ask someone how a movie was, they will simply answer that is was good or bad.

"Good," said Allen, "is an insufficient answer. No professor would allow that as a valid answer for that kind of question.

Instead, Allen said, they should give an opinion of the movie and some information about the movie, and most importantly, how it made them feel. For instance, Allen watches a lot of movies and although he doesn't like them all he has very concrete reasons for not liking them.

Westerns are his least favorite.

"The real values in that genre are why I don't really get it," he said. "The quintessential cowboy expresses values of life that I have so much difficulty accepting or understanding. They have a casual attitude about the future and work. They seem to be really good at reveling in the spontaneous things. It's risky, and it allows for a greater possibility for danger."

In short, he said, cowboys are not the kind of people that would carry planners.

He also struggles with westerns because of the time period most of them take place in.

"We're influenced to appreciate more modern and contemporary films," said Allen. "Films that move at a faster pace and don't require you to think a lot, but just show a lot of fun. Fun ways to be violent, fun ways to be sexy, instead of giving us real ideas about how to live our lives, or ideas about how to love other people."

Allen's favorite film is Moulin Rouge.

"It displays so many things throughout the movie in such an original way," he said. "You look at characters, dances, scenes and songs in such unorthodox ways. The director gives a perspective that is just so out of this world."

Allen doesn't care if moviegoers like or dislike the films they see, but ultimately he believes that going to see the movie is only half the experience. The other half comes from thinking about what you have just seen and felt.

Writing movies for The Statesman has given Allen a chance to expand his writing style from the typical writing he does. He is an English major with an emphasis in professional and technical writing, and reviewing movies provides a little variation from the day to day writing he is expected to do.

"You don't think of a lot of ways to be creative in technical writing," said Allen. "You have to think of ways to be understood, which can be very challenging sometimes."

Allen, in his opinion, doesn't fit the stereotype of the typical technical writer.

"Really, it's a bore alert," said Allen. "Most of these people are the kinds of people who will stay in the computer lab as long as they can on a Friday night until the lab employee makes them leave."

Allen is not one of these people.

"I'm a little different. I'm original. I behave dramatically. I have a lot of facial expressions, and when I'm speaking to other people I use a lot of expression when I speak."

Close friend, Emma Mecham, couldn't agree more.

"When Casey talks to you it's as if the conversation he is having with you is the most important conversation of his life," said Mecham. "He has a lot of different facial expressions; typically there is a lot of gasping. When Casey speaks to you he commands your full attention, and gives it in return.

"A conversation with Casey is like no other conversation you will ever have," said Mecham. "He will almost always maintain body contact, and he has a new facial expression every five seconds. It's not uncommon to receive two hugs in the duration of a five minute conversation."

Mecham also says that watching a movie with Allen is unlike any other movie experience you will ever have.

"While watching a movie with Casey, he makes you think about the movie from all different angles. He really causes you to internalize the film. Watching a movie with Casey is unlike any other experience I have ever had."

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