Welcome to Life Lessons Through Film or Everything Important in Life I Learned at the Movies. I appreciate your interest, and hope you come back many times.

All of us love good stories, especially those we can relate to. If you’re like me, I am much more moved and motivated by a story I can relate to than a sermon (church or otherwise), regardless of how adept the preacher is at delivering it. There were various times growing up where my parents – who loved me much and only wanted the best for me – would lecture me about something I did or didn’t do, and urged me to change my behavior – or else. Sometimes my parents delivered those lectures with raised voices, and sometimes not, but the result was usually the same. I often changed my behavior, if at all, only to avoid punishment. In short, nothing really changed much.

On the other hand, a good story, especially one on film, gets me thinking and often motivates me to change, whether it’s my behavior, how I feel about other people, or just to think more deeply about something in an attempt to better understand the world. After many years of this process, I came to the conclusion, everything important in life I learned at the movies.

The purpose of this blog is to share with you some things about life I have learned from watching movies. And for good measure, I will sometimes throw in something related to musical theater (my other favorite mode of entertainment). I will try not to get too preachy, but instead, let the movies speak for themselves. My real hope is the movies I talk about will get you to think a little more, maybe help change behavior for the better, or at least increase our understanding about each other. Yes, like John Lennon, you might say I’m a dreamer. But I hope I’m not the only one.

Where possible, I will try to add a movie clip or two from the movie I am talking about, keeping in mind, when it comes to technology, I’m still pretty much a luddite (maybe that’s why I’m named Ludlow).  And copyright laws might prevent me from posting all the clips I would like to, especially from new releases.

My goal is to post something twice a month on average. Since I still have a day job, the timing might be erratic at times, so I urge (and appreciate) your patience. And like all good blogs, please comment with your ideas, thoughts and suggestions, even if it is only to tell me I’m full of it. Even a Siskel and Ebert thumbs up or thumbs down will be appreciated.

See you at the movies!