Nothing else to say
I was a Junior in High School when the Terri Schiavo case made headlines.
From what I remember, it was brought up in at least one of my classes as a potential debate topic, and it also was something I thought could hurt the film Million Dollar Baby at that year’s Oscars (it didn’t). Being what introduced the world (or at least me) to the term “euthanasia”, the whole impact of the ordeal seems to have been lost to time.
Premise alone is not always the best way to intrigue me, but that is definitely what happen when I first saw the trailer for I.S.S.
There are a lot of positives and negatives to look back on in 2023 when it comes to cinema, both industry wise and personally.
Of course, Hollywood had a big dent in the year with two strikes (which I did support, for what it is worth), While they have thankfully ended, we will probably feel the fall out of them in this upcoming year (and possibly into 2025). Looking back at the amount of films I have seen (just shy of 80, which is more than I have done in previous years), I saw nearly 90 percent of them (whether in theater or streaming) by myself. It would really be nice to have my friends and family have a better schedule for me, but such is life.
In the past month, I found myself doing something I never imagined I would do in my time on this planet:
I started watching Hallmark movies.
My first was Holiday Road, followed by titles such as Christmas with a Kiss, On the 12th date of Christmas, A Biltmore Christmas, Norwegian Holiday, and Christmas on Cherry Lane. Much of this was “pressure” from my insistent (and wonderfully amazing) cousin Monroe.
I was definitely not expecting that.
Am I the only one who thought this after seeing Godzilla Minus One? Having been around for nearly seven decades and being in more than a dozen movies, Godzilla is nothing short of a cinematic icon.
(Note: All actors regarded to are in the English version of the film).
I’m not sure if I was too late in joining the Studio Ghibli band wagon when I discovered Spirited Away (which, after two decades, is still the best animated film of the century), but I have yet to jump off of it.
There is not as much shame as there used to be when I would admit to going into a movie thinking it was bad and it ends up being good (or vice versa).
I had more of a “mistaken identity” when watching May December. I’m not sure where I read it (or where I thought I did) but I went into the film thinking that the two main actresses, Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, were a married couple. Regardless of how I came to this false conclusion, it is not the case the new film by Todd Haynes, but that does not at all take away from the true film, with one of the more unique and admittedly disturbing premises in recent memory.
Just as I was a few minutes away from the theater to see Wish (the 62nd animated feature from the company), I thought to myself: How many times has that word been used in their past films?
Songs that came to mind include “I’m Wishing” from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), “A Dream is a Wish your Heart makes” from Cinderella (1950), and, of course, the king of all Disney songs, “When you wish upon a star” from Pinocchio (1940). If one were to make a word cloud of the dialogue (and songs) in Disney films, “Wish” would most likely turn up more than any other word (with the possible exception of “Dream”). With that logic, it seemed a movie like Wish would be inevitable to be released on the centennial of the most known movie studio in history.
Try as I might, my prior knowledge of Napoleon Bonaparte heading into the latest movie based on him is considerably less than normal (I was going to make a height joke here, but couldn’t think of one).
Aside from knowing him as one of the greatest generals in history, being considered short, and having a complex named after him, I knew nothing more (unless you count him being a fan of water slides thanks to Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure). Even still, it seems to make sense that director Ridley Scott, equally as fearless as Bonaparte (and in his mid 80s, no less) would make a film about the historical figure, which results in the film Napoleon.
There is a strong argument that can be made that we have been undervaluing Paul Giamatti.
My earliest recollection of him must have been his small parts in 1998’s Dr. Dolittle with Eddie Murphy and the war classic Saving Private Ryan (the same year). It was then in 2003 he got deserved claim in American Splendor and then his big break a year later in Sideways (two movies I have needed to revisit for some time now).
For some baffling reason, the only Oscar nomination of his career came in 2005 with Cinderella Man. Of course, he has been in his bad share of movies, but (at least from the ones I have seen) has yet to give a bad performance.
Nothing else to say