Categories
3 1/2 Stars Movies

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (2024)

Prior to watching Kevin Costner’s first directed film in over two decades, I looked at my Letterboxd account to realize that this film would only be the eleventh western film I have ever seen in the theater.

Granted, this is largely due to my age (which is why my first “western” experience in the theater was sadly 1999’s infamous Wild Wild West), so it is safe to say all the westerns I have seen have been on a smaller screen. It was with this lack of big screen western experience and the fact that Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 has a 40% score on rottentomatoes (it was not screened for many critics, which is rarely a good sign) that I went to see the film,…and was actually surprised at it.

Categories
4 1/2 Stars Movies Vintage

Remember the Titans (2000)

The first time I discovered Remember the Titans was not until a year after its release, but it was just at the perfect time.

I was in 8th grade, so I would always be sure to hang out at the Friday night high school (DGS Mustangs!) football games with my friends. As a senior who played center, my older brother Adam would normally have some of the players over on weekends . It also helped that it was the year the school won it’s first (and so far only) State Championship in football. The second to last game of that season is still the best football game I ever saw, professional or otherwise. It was also when a player on the team had died the previous summer in a road accident. There are a lot of parallels between that time and this film (other parallels to be mentioned later).