Ryan Gosling in Blade Runner 2049

Movies 2018

I have been summarizing the movies I watched from the past year for eight years. Movies 2018 has the most movies of any of them. Partially, this resulted from watching a handful of films via YouTube playlists. (The quality was fitting the medium.) Yet Movies 2018 also has a excellent slate of trips to the cinema.

Want action? Mission: Impossible: Fallout is bone breakingly good. Want to be scared? A Quiet Place will having you wishing you could scream in terror. Want to know what was the best movie I watched in 2018? You’ll just have to read on…

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The Last Jedi Luke Skywalker meme

Movies 2017 #TBT

The posting of Movies 2017 was planned for this time in 2018, however, my goals were too ambitious, and I forgot my focus. The annual movies of the year list is simply a way to remember and share what I watched throughout the year. And if they were any good.

Well, better late than never.

Thankfully 2017’s movies were high on ambition that succeeded.  Though I would not have been so bullish after the first movie of the year.

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Movie theatre marquee advertising The Hateful Eight

Mass Infantilization Plaguing Movies #TBT

A. O. Scott, the venerable, initialed movie reviewer and societal critic for the New York Times, wrote an article a few years ago on a disease he saw plaguing movies entitled “Open Wide: Spoon-fed Cinema.” Scott’s diagnosis: “Forty is the new dead” for cinema as mass infantilization engenders profit at the box office, while stealing profit from culture and the soul. I have thought a lot about this article off and on since its 2009 printing. Initially, I agreed Scott’s diagnosis was a chronic condition of Hollywood. Now I believe it to be a seasonal affliction. […]

Image of the movie posters for The Talented Mr. Ripley and Hell or High Water superimposed on each other.

Reel Comparison: The Talented Mr. Ripley and Hell or High Water

I recently watched two movies within the span of a week I had never seen before. Taken jointly, they articulate the economic anxiety many currently feel in society. They are the psychological thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) and the modern day western Hell or High Water. The movies are critically acclaimed and have strong ensemble casts. I hated Ripley. I loved Hell.

In a three reel comparison, the economic arguments of The Talented Mr. Ripley and Hell or High Water.
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Spilt picture. On the left, Tom Cruise Musicals Phantom of the Opera Logo on the right.

Tom Cruise Musicals

No Apologies Advocate and I saw “Phantom of the Opera” recently. After the show, amongst discussing the darker tone of Cameron Mackintosh’s national tour, the sumptuous sets, and the crowd-pleasing chandelier, we did a little research on Andrew Lloyd Webber. Amongst the standard biographical information came this revelation: Sir Lloyd-Webber has created a sequel to Phantom entitled “Love Never Dies.” […]

Banner stating "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story"

Rogue One: The Light and The Dark

The quality of the Star Wars movies has reflected the struggle of the Light Side and the Dark Side. The Original Trilogy and Episode VII dwell on the Light Side as quality films with minor quibbles. The prequel Episodes I-III inhabit the Dark Side as flawed films with minor moments of logic and excitement.

The family saw Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on Christmas Day and enjoyed ourselves. At dinner we had a discussion where we each stated one “Light Side” thing we loved about the movie and one “Dark Side” thing we wish the movie had done differently. Quickly it became apparent that while the Light Side things caused great smiles they were fleeting. What we discussed most were the Dark Side flaws in the movie. Mutually agreed upon flaws that fed on each other.

Rogue One is a Star Wars movie. But judging the quality of Rogue One necessitates embracing both the Light and Dark sides. Rogue One is an enjoyable, flawed film.

***SPOILERS WARNING*** […]