Nothing else to say
Only a few days ago did I finally get around to seeing Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center from 2006, dealing with the true story of two men recovered from the wreckage (played by Nicholas Cage and Michael Peńa).
Stone is definitely one to take risks, but even he was in murky waters when tackling a film that centered on the one day that signified all other days of the 21st century (and five years later, no less).
Of all the teachers I’ve had in my life, I’ve always find myself talking a lot about my acting professor in college, Professor Kathryn Gately.
Of course, part of that is a bit of bragging (she did after all have students such as Amanda Seyfried and the late James Gandolfini), but one moment in time during a class stuck out to me.
It is odd to think of, but Marvel is almost going to have more movies than I have in years on this planet (according to wiki, they will have caught up to me by 2027).
(This of course does not include the TV shows, Limited Series, and what not).
While I have no proof of it, it does seem like the advent of social media has made people more hypersensitive to spoilers.
While my dad famously never wanted to know anything about the movie he was going to see aside from the start time and theater number (he did not even want to know the title), this was most apparent to me in 2019, when I saw a little movie called Avengers: Endgame. One of the biggest cinematic events of my lifetime, I was unaware of the fact that just mentioning the fact that the film dealt with time travel spoiled it (at least for a friend of mine).
A few hours prior to seeing Ryan Coogler’s newest feature, I was in a conversation with my co-worker Dante.
He accused me of conforming with the critics. He challenged me to supply him with films that I disagreed with the majority of the critics (and in which nostalgia could not play a factor). Well Dante, what timing you have sir, because I am here to say I am not the biggest of fans of Sinners, possibly my hottest of takes since my original view of Get Out in 2017 (note: I rewatched Get Out, and atoned for my mistake.)
When you think about it, there are some things in life you would not know about if it weren’t for certain movies.
I’m not talking about historical/biographical films, but more about films that get into the daily lives of people you never knew about.
There is a moment in the classic Citizen Kane where elderly Jed Leland (Joseph Cotten) says to the young reporter “I remember everything. That’s the greatest curse ever inflicted on the human race: memory.”
This quote ran through my head not long after the opening of Warfare, which tells us that what we are about to see is not based on any documented story so much as it is the memories of those who engaged in it. It won’t take long to have you agree with the idea of memory being a curse after the events unfold in the film.
From what I remember, it was a mix of the kids at my church, my little brother Jackson, and (mainly) my cousin Cooper that introduced me to the world of Minecraft.
There was something about the game that just made digging and building so refreshing. Had I stuck with it, I am sure I would have made many a great thing. Then, of course, Cooper poured lava over the movie theater I constructed in the sky that took me an hour and a half. Sigh.
For many a reason, I avoided a lot of horror films during the first decade of the century.
This is not to say because I was fearful, but mainly because all the films I heard I had heard of ended up being lousy (it was only until much later that I would finally go back and see the likes of the first Saw film, Let the Right One In, and some of The Conjuring films).
In the 1988 classic Cinema Paradiso, one of the last pieces of advice that Alfredo (Philippe Noiret) gives to young Salvatore (Marco Lenardi) is not to give in to nostalgia.
When one sees that movie (and one should), one realizes a sense of irony, so much of the film is about nostalgia (pumped up by an immaculate musical score by Ennio Morricone). It is this type of sentimentality that drove me to an idea of sorts as I approached 2025: my top 25 movie milestones from the first 25 years of the century.
Nothing else to say