Emotion is the gateway drug to all cinephilia.

Has anyone else been following Slate's Movie Club over the last few days?  Lots of interesting discussion (though not as good as ours).  I wanted to post something that Matt Zoller Seitz wrote recently and get your reactions.

Emotion is the gateway drug to all cinephilia—and I don't just mean the "That movie rocked!" variety or "Dude, that blew!" variety. I mean real cinephilia, which is endlessly curious and always on the search for the next innovation, the next curveball, the next epiphany. That comes from feeling—from personal response. Nobody falls in love with movies because some director framed a shot in a particular way or slyly quoted F.W. Murnau. That stage of appreciation always comes second or third or tenth in a cinephile's evolution. No, people fall in love with movies because they speak to them honestly and directly and with eccentric conviction, like new friends they really didn't expect to make—people who just sort of came out of nowhere and made them realize, "Oh my God … I'm not alone! Somebody else gets it."

When I think about it, this has been my experience with both films and books.  I am interested to see what others have to say.