Nothing else to say
I’m tired
Tired of playing the game
Ain’t it a crying shame
I’m so tired
In Blazing Saddles (1974), Lili Von Sctup (the late Madaline Kahn) was tired of all the romancing (among other things), I am tired of this Award season.
As Disney/Pixar now approaches their 30th film with Hoppers, it has me looking back at previous films revolving around animals (especially when it comes to human interaction).
Except for the two masterpieces Finding Nemo (2003) and Ratatouille (2007), the rest of them have been, at best, passable (I also exempt 2001’s Monster’s, Inc., due to those characters being more fantastical than realistic). Add in the fact that the last truly great classic was 2017’s Coco (though I can see defenders of 2020’s Soul, which I do need to rewatch), and you can see why Hoppers has a lot riding on its shoulders.
It has been three decades since the original Space Jam made a splash in my young life (and even more so in my little brother Jeff’s life).
Nostalgia has blinded me from finding out if that film truly holds up or not (sorry to my nephews, but the same could not be said for the 2021 sequel), but it was, at the very least, a childhood milestone. Naturally, it made me interested in practicing basketball for a bit, yet my short height was holding me back (along with a childhood friend who, while talented, loved to showboat and win over me). Perhaps had GOAT come out in my childhood, things would be different.
Within the last year or two, I was given (without much warning) the duty of helping to organize a 20th reunion for my High School graduating class (set for the fall of this year).
Honestly, it is somewhat low-key (we are all just meeting at a bar for now), but the interactions with my fellow grads of 2006 will indeed be a unique blend of fear and excitement (since I am one of those heading the whole thing, I doubt I can avoid people much when I am there). If it is anything like the reunions shown in Chasing Summer, it will be much more fear than excitement.
It is no secret: in a world of ups and downs, 2025 had many more of the latter than the former.
Yet I will try to stay more optimistic, as I remember a moment from the 75th Academy Awards, when film legend Olivia De Havilland took the stage. As she was presenting the Past Oscar Winner reunion, she stated the following (and I am paraphrasing a bit):
“Much has changed in our world…but what hasn’t changed is our love for the movies, and their ability to inspire us and to help us through troubled times.”
Over two decades later, those words have not lost their meaning in the slightest.
For those unfamiliar, there is a story in the book of Genesis (specifically in chapter 19) that talks about a man named Lot.
He is told by an angel of the Lord to take his family and leave Sodom and Gomorrah before they are destroyed, and not look back. As they are leaving, Lot’s (unnamed) wife looks back, and turns into a pillar of salt.
About a week ago, director Joe Russo (who, along with his brother Anthony, has helmed many of the biggest films for the MCU) sent out a tweet about how “Worst of the Year” lists need to stop.
“You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to make even a bad movie — and the filmmakers have already suffered through negative reviews and audience feedback.
Focus year-end lists on movies you loved, not the ones you hated.”
“Our next movie is quite simply a masterpiece…”
So said Roger Ebert on one episode of Ebert & Roeper back in 2002. The movie in question was Spirited Away, and up until that point, my knowledge of anime did not extend beyond the Pokémon TV show.
Looking back at my Letterboxd ratings of the first two Avatar films, I realize that there is a slight decline.
That is not at all to say that “The King of the World,” James Cameron, is losing his touch as a filmmaker. His original world-building of Pandora and the Na’vi is so mesmerizing to see that it is becoming redundant to say so. In Avatar: Fire and Ash, the tradition of outdoing the previous film with truly special effects continues. The problem, as has been stated, is the writing (which is also by Cameron).
I know, I know. This is three movies instead of one.
Yet as the very overused meme would say, “one does not simply pick one of the films in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.”
Nothing else to say