2010s, Article, Coming Soon, Lists, News, Trailers

16 Most Anticipated Films of the Rest of 2018

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With the collapse of MoviePass over the past few weeks, it looks like I might need to be a little more picky in my choice of movies. I’m still going to hold onto it and I will try to use it as often as they will allow, but with service outages just about every night and no access to new releases, it will definitely be limited. Before the AMC Stubs A-List people come out of the woods to accost me, my closest AMC is about 80 miles away, so that is a no go. I’m waiting to see if Regal announces any plans, but in the meantime, I have signed up for Sinemia which allows me to see three movies a month in any format.

With that in mind, I took a look at all the upcoming films for the remaining five months of 2018 and tried my best to whittle it down to my top 15 most anticipated. There are probably three times this many that I will actually do my best to see. A lot of these only have a limited release announced and the word of mouth before and performance during that run will make the difference in whether they will ever see a national roll out. So this is me doing my part to make sure I get to see them in my neck of the woods. 

Eighth Grade – August 3rd

I figured I would cheat right out of the gate and make this list 16 instead of 15. Technically, this one hit a few theaters in July, but it hasn’t been near me until now. I haven’t seen it yet, but I am really looking forward to it. Comedian Bo Burnham makes his directing debut as we follow teenager Kayla (Elsie Fisher) as she maneuvers transitioning from middle school to high school. From the trailer it looks like something wonderful that I am going to love.

BlacKKKlansman – August 10

Spike Lee’s latest movie, produced by Jordan Peele, follows the true story of a real black police officer, Ron Stallworth, who managed to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan. This is the first I’ve ever seen of John David Washington who stars, but it also stars Topher Grace as David Duke as well as other big names like Adam Driver and Alec Baldwin. This one can join the list of 2018 films with a racially charged message (Sorry to Bother You, Blindspotting, and another coming up on this list).

Searching – August 31

I’ve heard good things about John Cho’s performance in this. It seems like he has the difficult task of holding it all together since it uses the same gimmick that we have seen a couple of times now (Unfriended), the whole movie occurs on a computer screen. 

The Predator – September 14

Director Shane Black (Hawkins from the first Predator movie), has taken the reins of the franchise for its latest chapter. Sure to be an entertaining viewing experience, the movie stars Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Sterling K. Brown, Keegan-Michael Key, and Jacob Tremblay.

The House with a Clock in its Walls – September 21

Jack Black is hit or miss. This could be bad like Goosebumps, but the kid actor (Owen Vaccaro) looks good and it seems like a cool concept. I’m more interested in this than the next Fantastic Beasts movie. That’s saying something considering the fact that I’m currently wearing a “Become an Obliviator!” t-shirt. 

First Man – October 12

Ryan Gosling and director Damien Chazelle join forces again after La La Land for this look at Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. With Gosling as Armstrong, the movie delves into the dramatic events leading up to the historic launch.

Bad Times at the El Royale – October 12

Drew Goddard’s (The Cabin in the Woods) latest movie follows the lives of seven troubled strangers as they stay at a rundown hotel in search of redemption. Jeff Bridges, Chris Hemsworth, Jon Hamm, and Dakota Johnson lead this star-studded cast. This could easily be either my favorite of the season or a jumbled mess. There is a thin line between the two.

The Hate U Give – October 19

Based on an acclaimed young adult novel of the same name, we follow Starr (Amandla Stenberg) as she tries to figure out the right path after witnessing her childhood friend die in a fatal shooting by a police officer. It sounds like the teenage version of the recent firestarter, Blindspotting. It looks powerful. 

Can You Ever Forgive Me? – October 19

This is a rare serious role for Melissa McCarthy. I’m always up for watching an actor stretch their creative legs and show me something I haven’t seen before. Apparently, this comes from the true story of author Lee Israel who began forging letters from literary legends when her writing career was in the doldrums. If it’s really good, we could see nominations come award season. 

Bohemian Rhapsody – November 2

Rami Malek (Mr. Robot) plays Queen front-man Freddie Mercury in this look at the band before its legendary Live Aid concert. Queen is usually my answer when asked for my favorite band, and Mercury is a very interesting figure that should make for a good watch. If all goes according to plan, Malek is looking at some major award season consideration for this one.

The Sisters Brothers – November

The Sisters Brothers are John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix. That’s enough to get me interested, but it looks like a dark comedy. This could easily be the year the John C. Reilly really breaks out. I’ve been waiting for it since Walk Hard.

Ralph Breaks the Internet – November 21

Six years after the original, Ralph (John C. Reilly) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) head off on a new adventure. This time they discover what’s out in the internet after finding a pathway through a wi-fi router. I’m hoping this is a sequel more like Incredibles 2 than Cars 2 or worse The Emoji Movie. It looks funny from the trailer and the internet creates a lot of fodder for humor, but my worry is that with as quickly as things move on the internet, this could feel stale by the time it hits DVD. 

Robin Hood – November 21

Taron Edgerton as Robin of Locksley back from the crusades with Jamie Foxx as his trainer/sidekick? Sign me up! We might be in for the best Robin Hood movie since Men in Tights.

Mortal Engines – December 14

Based on the Philip Reeve book, and written for the screen by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, this film is set in a world where cities are forced to move around in a constant chase to avoid being overthrown. Essentially, this is a real life game of Agar.io. It looks amazing, but if it is too complicated, it could end up like Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. It also doesn’t really have many big names to anchor it except Jackson and Hugo Weaving. 

Alita: Battle Angel – December 21

I got worried when this film moved from a July date all the way back to December. Hopefully, this was so it could get away from juggernaut tentpole films and find a better viewership. I’m not familiar with the original manga also known as Gunnm, by Yukito Kushiro, but James Cameron has apparently been attempting to get a film adaptation made for several years. Now he has finally produced it with Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) directing. It looks like we can expect some amazing visuals. Let’s just hope this movie about a fighting cyborg girl has a bit more heart and substance than the Ghost in the Shell remake. 

Welcome to Marwen – December 21

Based on the intriguing 2010 documentary, Marwencol, about how a man copes with a brain injury through creating a 1/6th scale World War II-era town in his backyard, Robert Zemeckis takes that story and glosses it up with CGI. It stars Steve Carell in the lead role. I expect this to be top of some best of lists at the end of the year. But Zemeckis’ barbie doll CGI could turn some away. Only time will tell. 

Which of these is your most anticipated? What did I miss? Venom? Into the Spiderverse? Let me know what you’re looking forward to in the comments section below!

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1990s, Article, Best Movie Bracket, Computer, Crime, Detective, Lists, Top 3

1995 Best Movie Bracket

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I have a theory that 12 years old is the greatest age. You are in the homestretch of your childhood and the world is at your doorstep. You haven’t quite entered the dreaded teenager phase where you start caring way too much about what other people think instead of just being yourself. Being 12 is great. 

As a part of that theory, I also think that the movies you see when you are 12 will stick with you and potentially even shape your future. Look back for yourself. What movies did you see when you were 12? I was 12 in 1995 and I remember having some of the best times of my life in a movie theater. It was a different time then and I recall getting dropped off at the theater at lunchtime with $20 and getting picked back up at 5 o’clock or so having binged on popcorn and soda and soaked in the flickering light of the cinema for two full films. 

I remember sitting in the theater as the lights dimmed for Toy Story, Jumanji, GoldenEye, Hackers, Batman Forever, Mortal Kombat, and A Goofy Movie. I remember sneaking into the theater for Se7en, Bad Boys, and Die Hard with a Vengeance. But my greatest memory in the theater was actually on the opening weekend of 1995’s Clueless.

My Greatest Theater Memory

I think it was my brother that took me to the theater when he was going to see Species or something like that. I got my favorite seat in those days which was literally front and center. I wanted my entire range of vision to be absorbed by the experience of the film. The house was packed and I had a group of what I can only describe as colorfully dressed punk rockers and skaters sitting there on the front row with me. The theater was a Regal Cinemas (as it still is to this day) and if you don’t know, Regal has a great intro video before all movies that make you feel like you are on a roller coaster zooming through popcorn showers and past waterfalls of Coca-Cola.

As the roller coaster came on the screen, I raised my hands to signify that I was ready for the ride with the confidence that only a 12 year old can muster. As I sat waiting for the coaster to pull out of the station, I looked around and it seemed to my 12 year old eyes that everyone was joining with me in this fanciful charade and we collectively swayed and gasped and screamed as if the coaster was 100% real. It was amazing. I shared a “gimme some skin” kind of handshake with the dude sitting next to me and we launched into Amy Heckerling’s wonderful teenage adventure. Even though I was just 12, I feel like that is the day I became a man, my cinematic bar-mitzvah. 

Best Movie of 1995

As I press on to determine the best film of each year to fill out my Best Movie Bracket, it’s very hard to separate my nostalgic feelings towards some of these films from my critical thinking. I have such great memories of watching my VHS copies of Powder, Braveheart, and Mortal Kombat, but while they may be a lot of fun, they are definitely not the best of the year. That honor belongs to… 

Win: Toy Story

Did you realize that there have been over 250 computer animated films released since Toy Story hit theaters back in 1995? What a way to start. If I look at Pixar’s canon of films, it is hard for me to count this gem out of the running for their greatest. It isn’t because the animation looks super realistic. I’m very glad they decided to go with toys because everything in this film feels plastic. However, the emotions that are conveyed certainly aren’t. 

Toy Story presents us with a buddy cop comedy featuring two leads vying for the attention of their boss. It also feels like a real-life situation for a kid who might feel as though they are being upstaged by a little brother or sister. The emotions of jealousy and anger and fear are well displayed on their plasticine faces, and it touches way down into the hearts of the viewers whether they are 8 or 80.  

Place: Se7en

David Fincher has made 9 feature films, ten if you count Alien 3 (Which I don’t). His experience with that film was so bad that he went back to directing music videos for 3 years and wasn’t sure if he would ever direct a movie again. When he did decide to come back, he created what is probably the most gritty and disturbing crime drama that you will ever see. Everyone asks what’s in the box, but there is so much going on outside of it.

Morgan Freeman is awesome as usual, this is the film that rocketed Brad Pitt into the stratosphere, and Kevin Spacey is a natural at playing the creepy sociopath. In fact, he gets to do it twice in the same year. The second was a better performance (if only because of screen time) but the movie itself fell just short of this one.

Show: The Usual Suspects

The director (Bryan Singer) and the lead actor (Kevin Spacey) may have shown their true colors as filthy scumbags, but that can’t keep me from loving the heck out of this movie. It has one of those twist endings that rivals The Sixth Sense, Soylent Green, and Fight Club, but this film has somehow flown under the radar to the point that you can actually find people who have not sullied their opinion of the film with spoilers. I’m certainly not going to spoil anything here, but Spacey is great as mild mannered Verbal Kint who serves as our narrator as we explore the crime ring led by the iconic Keyser Soze. 

What is your most memorable or transformative movie moment? What 1995 film is your favorite? What movies did 12 year-old you watch and love? Let me know in the comments!

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Article, Film studies, Longform, Syndicated

Crooked Marquee – Generation Wealth: Movies About Conspicuous Consumption

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The folks over at Crooked Marquee have given us a great analysis of a variety of movies about extreme wealth and privilege and how it poisons. I’ve included a sample from their post as they discuss the documentary Queen of Versailles by Lauren Greenfield. 

As the chasm grows between those who can’t afford to visit the dentist and those who spend a year’s worth of Ivy League tuition on a handbag, it is pertinent to re-examine films about the wealth and greed…

Nearly 10 years ago, Greenfield examined the Siegel family, the multimillionaire owners of the Westgate resorts, in her documentary Queen of Versailles. Greenfield unfolds their almost carnivalesque pursuit of the most ostentatious lifestyle possible. Their myopic, moneyed view of the world is absurd, such as when Jackie Siegel complains that her 10-person family is “bursting out of the seams” in their current mega-mansion. To assuage these devastating spacial issues, Jackie aims to construct one of the largest and most expensive single-family “houses” in the United States. At 90,000 square feet, it is more like a real-life Richie Rich palace, complete with 30 bathrooms, 10 kitchens, a bowling alley, ice-skating rink, and even a baseball field.

But the Great Recession of 2008 comes catapulting into the Siegel’s dreams like a giant wrecking ball, turning their life into what David Siegel sardonically dubs a “riches to rags story.” Struggling to cope with their reduced income, the Siegels are forced to sell their lofty castle for a mere $100 million. Some of their downfall is played for laughs, like when Jackie rents a car and asks who her driver will be, but for the most part Greenfield admonishes and pities her subjects. When they must let a few of their multiple nannies and housekeepers go, their home becomes a grubby, horrifying pigsty where pets are left to die and dog shit piles on the floor. Perhaps having a four-bedroom house would be a lot more manageable for the Siegels.

One of the most wretched moments in Queen of Versailles is when Jackie, in an attempt to save money, purchases Christmas presents at Wal-Mart. She grabs as many toys as she can without even looking, putting zero thought or heart into the gifts she is giving her children. When she returns home, one of the nannies puts a newly minted bike in the garage where it sits among at least 20 untouched others of the exact same kind. Toward the end of the documentary, Greenfield asks Mr. Siegel, who is sitting on a colossal and outlandish gold throne, what his hopes for the future are. “A plane. A yacht,” he stoutly replies. He does not wish for anything having to do with his family or any kind of human experience — he just has an insipid desire for more things. But it is never enough. One of Jackie Siegel’s former neighbors attests that “the American Dream is rising way up above what you started with.” But how much is too far? There is a stark line between living a life improved and one of bloated, fanatical avarice. Queen of Versailles shakes its head in horrified and bemused disbelief at the Siegels’ profuse spending habits and strikes a deft balance between mocking and sympathizing with them…

These films hammer home similar messages about how true happiness is interpersonal and not monetary. Yet filmmakers continue to return to this theme again and again, suggesting that society’s desire for wealth is an innate part of human nature that we will never shake off. And as Laura Greenfield says in Generation Wealth, it seems to be even worse in this Kardashian, #richkidsofinstagram age. “Greed is good” Gordon Gecko once snarled in Wall Street, but these films prove that greed is also hideous, sad, thrilling, and utterly intoxicating.

Generation Wealth: Movies About Conspicuous Consumption

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News

The Revolutionary Fall of MoviePass

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The End of MoviePass

We’re well into the second half of 2018 and it looks like the moviegoers dream experiment is coming to a close. Moviepass has run out of money and had to shut down or suspend service for around 3 million users twice in the last week.

This comes as no surprise to anyone who can do 3rd grade math. The average movie ticket in America costs around $9, and a MoviePass subscription lets users purchase as many as one standard ticket a day for the monthly price of $9.95 (or less if you pay annually). Meanwhile, MoviePass was still paying full retail price for these tickets. It’s obvious that this wasn’t going to work.

I kept waiting for them to announce that their pricing special was temporary and that they would be going back to their previous model that was closer to $40/month. Even if they let you try it for three months at $12/month then jacked your price up to $30/month if you chose to continue there would have been some financial possibility that they could stay afloat. But it looks like they are going to fade into oblivion like many other game changers. When was the last time you went on Napster to download an mp3? Often times, the revolutionary fire-starters don’t survive the blaze that they fan into existence.

Lasting Effects

They did not take into account the American appetite. We are gluttons. If we are given the opportunity to Super Size it, we will. If you put us in an all you can eat buffet we take it as a challenge. So, many people who might have casually gone to the theater once every couple of months got their hands on this card and started being a weekly regular because they had the freedom to do so. They didn’t even worry if the movie was really any good. They went because they could. I don’t think that we can separate the drastic rise in ticket sales to the content alone. As you can see in the chart above, the first half of 2018 saw ticket sales increase by 8% over the same time the previous year. That is huge since that number has been essentially on the decline since 2002.

I definitely got my money’s worth out of the $90 I paid for my annual subscription to Moviepass seeing 31 movies. My hope is that the industry will see that the appetite is there and will provide more financially responsible alternatives to continue to allow the gluttons among us to see their fill of movies at a reduced rate. Especially since we’re more willing to buy concessions and merchandise if we feel like we are getting a deal.

Alternatives

Perhaps other theater chains will follow in the footsteps of AMC who created their own subscription service called Stubs A-List. It lets you see up to 3 movies a week at any of their theaters for $20/month. This would be a good option if you have an AMC in your area. However, I don’t have one within 50 miles and I have heard rumblings that they are only going to continue service for 3 months after MoviePass dies then end their plans.

Theatrical trendsetter Alamo Drafthouse announced a waitlist beta test for a loyalty program but it has not taken off yet. I’m holding out hope for Regal Cinemas to create a program, but I have to do something in the meantime.

There is only one real competitor to MoviePass that is providing a similar service for all major theater chains. That is Sinemia.  They saw the woes that Moviepass was having and dropped their prices until September for a summer promotion. I have signed up for their three movie a month plan. That’s pretty close to my average anyway and it will run me $13.99/month. The upside is that I can see IMAX and other special screenings that MoviePass forbade, I can even buy tickets in advance. However, for some reason they have gotten little press and some bad reviews, I guess time will tell if they will last especially if their subscriber base begins to grow as rapidly as MoviePass’ did.

Since I only get 3 movies a month now, I’m going to have to be a little picky. I’m going to take a look at the remaining 5 months of 2018 and hopefully my three a month will give you my top 15 anticipated films of the rest of the year. What about you? Did you get burned by MoviePass’ surge pricing? Are you an AMC fan? Are you going to try Sinemia? Let me know in the comments!

 

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Website Content Questions

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I struggle with what to post on this website. I’m such a movie geek. I could easily blog about obscure movies, box office numbers, and formal analysis all day long. However, I want this to be a blog that people want to actually visit. Sadly, I don’t think the overwhelming number of people really care that much about those things. That is assuming that people actually care about movies in general anymore.

Every week, we get 3-4 more major films that hit theaters (not to mention the dozens of independent films and documentaries that fly below most people’s radar) and this constant barrage can be overwhelming. I would be happy to narrow it down for you and give you some suggestions for what to watch. But movies are like food and tastes vary wildly. A movie that I think looks laughable may be one of your favorites of the year. On the flip-side, I enjoy films that are a little strange at times and that may not match more mainstream interest.

So I am left asking my readers for their input. I’ll give you a few examples in a list. Let me know which of these you crave. Don’t forget to let me know the ones you couldn’t care less about or would rather read elsewhere. You won’t hurt my feelings.

Website ideas:

  • Coming Attractions – Movies that are more than a month away. Could feature trailers and production news.
  • Weekend Outlook – What movies are coming to theaters this weekend? Should I spend my money at the theater or just Netflix and chill?
  • New Movie Reviews – The staple that nearly every movie blog is centered around. Reviews of movies out in theaters now.
  • Classic Movie Reviews – Great older movies that you should find streaming or buy. These will generally be positive reviews. I’m not going to waste my time trashing a film that many have trashed before.
  • Streaming Reviews – A look at movies currently streaming on Netflix, Amazon, or other streaming services. Since they are essentially free to watch I could definitely get a bomb from time to time.
  • Movie Lists – Top 3, Top 5, or Top 10 of all kinds of different topics. These are fun to write and I hope that they will create some conversation since that is what this is all about.
  • Best Movie Bracket – This is a combination of classic reviews and movie lists. I’ve committed to finding the best movie of all time and I think the way to do it is through competition. I’m currently building my bracket by determining top movies for every year. Then the battles will begin.
  • If You Liked… – I haven’t done this one in a while, but I would take a well known film and suggest a handful of lesser known titles that are similar in some way.
  • Film/Scene Analysis – An in depth, sometimes shot by shot, look at a classic film to uncover what the director, cinematographer, and actors were doing and why it works. You get behind-the-scenes, film school knowledge without the student loans.
  • Box Office Predictions & News – How many millions is that new movie making (or losing) at the box office? I particularly enjoy predicting the top 5 for each weekend to see if I am understanding the trends and patterns that emerge.
  • Who did it Better? – With as many remakes and sequels that we are getting from Hollywood, I think that a side by side analysis of an original and a remake is fun to see who did it better and why?
  • Trivia – This can run the gamut from screenshot trivia, movie quotes, or interesting facts about actors or movie production. I’d love to make it a competition on the site, but it may be better to keep it confined to social media.
  • Discussion Guides – This is definitely more of a niche post, but as a pastor who loves movies I enjoy thinking of ways to use movies to provoke discussion on a variety of different topics. These could be used by families, youth groups, or pastors as a way to launch into deeper things.
  • Podcast/Vodcast – I have thought about turning any number of these ideas into a video or audio version. This makes me a bit nervous, not because I’m ashamed of my voice (although I’m not sure anyone wants to see my receding hairline), but because I think of myself as a fairly scripted person and just having dead air to cover all by myself is a bit daunting.

I think that is enough for now, but if you think of any others that would be of interest to you, let me know. You can leave a comment here or on social media, or you can even email me at logan@lifeatthemovies.com. Thank you for your feedback.

P. S. – Notice that I didn’t include anything about celebrity news. That is because I find that garbage intolerable. I could care less who is sleeping with who or why they are fighting or what their baby bump looks like. They are people, like you and me and they don’t deserve to have their every waking minute scrutinized by the media.

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1990s, Action, Alien/Monster, Best Movie Bracket, Comedy, Detective, Disaster, Drugs, Holiday, Lists, Science Fiction, Top 3

1996 Best Movie Bracket

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If you stumbled across this and have no idea what’s going on, you can visit my Best Movie Bracket Page and see what I’m doing here to whittle down a century of film into a bracket so I can determine once and for all which film will reign supreme as the best of all time.

Best Film of 1996

Bill Clinton began his second term after defeating Bob Dole and Ross Perot and DVD’s became a thing. Nintendo released the mostly forgettable N64, and the fear of Mad Cow Disease entered the global consciousness. 1996 was an interesting year. It was a year filled with lots of changes for me personally. I was becoming a teenager and my year started with Pauly Shore in Bio-Dome and along the way, I realized that I liked William Shakespeare through Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo+Juliet and I recognized that I would rather watch a movie like Sling Blade than the live-action 101 Dalmations.

However, after 22 years of watching films and a significant amount of cramming in the last month, I think I have come to a determination of the best films of the year. Obviously, best is a subjective term and if you ask me next week I could give you a different list altogether.

1. Fargo

Fargo would probably be my gut instinct pick for best film of the 90s and the Coen brothers are probably my favorite living directors (definitely my favorite directorial sibling team). So, it should be no surprise that this film is on the top of my list. I don’t think I will get a lot of argument about its inclusion either. Frances McDormand won Oscar gold for her performance as Marge Gunderson, and the Coens won for best original screenplay, but in one of the biggest mistakes in Oscar history, they somehow picked The English Patient as the top of the year and overlooked Fargo for 4 other categories.

I probably enjoy this film so much because of Marge Gunderson. Cathleen Falsani in her book The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers, says:

Marge is a Christ figure, a mouthpiece for God, willingly risking (with unfailing good cheer) her own safety in order to vanquish evil and restore moral order. In the face of death, she is, quite literally, a fecund life-giver, poised to deliver a child – and a new beginning – into the world. She could also be viewed as the Madonna, the gentle, willing vessel of the Lord. Perhaps her initials, M. G., even indicate this interpretation as Mother of God.

The Rev. Bob Barron, my friend and a catholic priest, suspects the film’s title, Fargo, describes Marge’s mission in life – to go far out to the margins in order to bring wayward sinners back to grace. “She represents Christ; she represents the church at its best,” Barron says. “She’s able to go out to the margins but she is not compromised by it. She’s not drawn into that world. She’s able to go into it in a very intense way; she’s not afraid of it…yet she’s not attracted to it, she’s not drawn into its power. And that’s what the church at its best ought to do.”

I’ve heard that the recent television version of the story is good, but I haven’t caught it yet. Let me know if it’s worth my time.

2. Trainspotting

Director Danny Boyle is exciting to watch. Some auteurs have a particular gimmick, style, genre, or theme, but Boyle is always keeping us guessing. He might give us a dark comedy about heroin use in Scotland, or he could tell us a true story about a hiker who gets trapped and is forced to cut his own arm off to survive, or any number of others like Slumdog Millionaire, 28 Days Later, Steve Jobs, Sunshine, or The Beach. Whatever the film, he does it with excellence as if he has always produced that type of film and he brings a visual style and a storytelling flair that is unmatched.

In Trainspotting, the story goes much deeper than heroin as it becomes a stand in for any number of vices and addictions, like sex, violence, or the mindless consumerism that fills much of our days. This is on full display in Renton’s opening/closing “choose life” monologue. Warning Strong Language!

Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed-interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life.

3. Independence Day

The other two were easy choices, but this one took a bit of reasoning. It might help that I sit writing this on the evening of July 4th as I listen to dozens of fireworks boom throughout the neighborhood outside. This film captured my attention for an entire summer and left me wanting more. It did for aliens what Jurassic Park did for dinosaurs. 

As I’ve said before, this Best Movie Bracket list isn’t always about the most critically acclaimed film. There are many different ways to measure the best. Financially and culturally, Independence Day won for 1996 and it left a mark that still resonates today. Alyssa Wilkinson writing for Vox gets to the heart of why I chose Independence Day over a half a dozen others vying for this bronze pedestal.

Independence Day is more product than movie, which isn’t really a strike against it: Like an amusement park thrill ride or a skydiving expedition, the experience of watching it is more about adrenaline and excitement than the artistic qualities of the movie itself. The catharsis of seeing the world destroyed (and then seeing the American president save it) was just right for its moment — when just enough optimism still reigned and computer animation was new enough that the images felt new and invigorating rather than dark and foreboding — and people loved it.

Movies like Independence Day partly succeeded because people could see the movie with their friends or family in the theater and talk about it at work, or over the backyard grill. It was cool and awesome and fun, and that’s all it needed to be.

And, like any good product, the success of Independence Day was a function of its then-pioneering marketing push, which set a template for future big-budget films. Today, selling your film to audiences isn’t just about cutting a good trailer and running it on TV during NFL games, and maybe getting a toy into Happy Meals. It’s about teaser campaigns and cross-promotion and stealth marketing and post-credits scenes that make people want to see the sequel that hasn’t even been shot yet.

All that money, all that marketing, all that big-budget spectacle: It’s quintessentially American, and quintessentially Hollywood. Love it or hate it, that’s the world that Jaws built and Independence Day made inescapable.

Honorable Mentions

So, where were you in 1996? What fond (or not so fond) memories do you have? Did I leave out one of your favorites? let me know in the comments below. You can also share what you enjoy about these or other top films on social media using the #BestMovieBracket. Thanks for joining me!

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Article, Director, Longform, Syndicated, Theology

Looking Closer – The Theology of the Coen Brothers

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Jeffery Overstreet and Matt Zoller Seitz are two of my favorite authors / movie critics. I value their opinions and their beliefs. So I was very excited to see that they sat down to discuss my favorite living directors (Joel and Ethan Coen) and talked about their view of God. You can read the full discussion over at Overstreet’s blog “Looking Closer.” 

Religion, while it binds communities and brings meaning through ritual, is ultimately not enough. I’m not willing to brand the Coens as “covert Christians.” And even if I did, the word “Christian” is about as meaningful anymore as the word “conservative” or “Democrat”, or the term “the American way.” It means a million things to a million people. But they are definitely drawn to a vision of the cosmos that resonates with my understanding of Christ’s teachings. That is to say that “righteousness,” the ways of religion, and the law-focused method of an “Old Testament” worldview, are ultimately insufficient.

We cannot earn our way to heaven by being good. We cannot save ourselves. The Coens know that “all have sinned,” and they know that “the wages of sin is death.” Everybody is likely to die miserably in their movies, whether as a result of their own evil or someone else’s.

But there is something out there, some kind of offer of grace, and when we glimpse that, goodness happens in us. We begin to love not for selfish reasons, but as a response, as a reflection, as if we are instruments being tuned up by something greater than ourselves.

No, I think that the clearest summation of their worldview comes from Mattie in their True Grit remake: “You must pay for everything in this world, one way and another. There is nothing free except the grace of God.”

If you enjoyed that snippet, I hope you’ll read the full discussion. And if that isn’t enough there is a whole book written on the topic of the Coens’ theology. The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers by Cathleen Falsani

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2010s, Article, Computer, Review, Syndicated

Looking Closer – Are Bob, Helen, Dash, Violet, and Jack-Jack still Incredible?

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Jeffrey Overstreet hits the nail on the head in his assessment of the latest from one of my all-time favorite action directors, Brad Bird. Incredibles 2 has made its box office splash and it was an enjoyable film but there was something that was nagging at me during the final act. When I read his review, he unveiled that sense of uneasiness. 

The Screenslaver’s convictions about what happens when citizens give up their agency, failing to use their democratic powers against evil, and sit around waiting for “heroes” to save the day, remain relevant to the story and worth discussing after the movie. It’s not a con, meant to distract us from the villain’s real concern. It’s just that the villain’s big secret is predictable and anticlimactic, and that speech — with its persuasively valid concerns — gets swamped by third-act action and mayhem. At the end, I’m struggling to reconstruct what the movie’s really all about.

Are Bob, Helen, Dash, Violet, and Jack-Jack still Incredible?

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2010s, Article, Film studies, Longform, Statistics, Syndicated

Crooked Marquee – Halftime Report: 2018 in Movies (So Far)

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I thought that I liked statistics, but the folks over at Crooked Marquee have put me to shame. They have taken a dive into a breakdown of the roughly 615 movies released in the first half of 2018. They divided the movies into three groups: wide releases (70), limited releases (443), and documentaries (102). 

They’re not looking for the best film, but are looking at who is making these films and where are they coming from both culturally and intellectually. One of the best stats that I saw was about where ideas for mainstream feature films comes from. It’s worth a click!

Halftime Report: 2018 in Movies (So Far)

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2010s, Drama, Syndicated

Christ and Pop Culture – First Reformed and the Theology of the Cross

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David McNutt over at Christ and Pop Culture shares a satisfying exposition of my favorite movie of the year so far, First Reformed. It is contemplative and spiritual. Don’t expect entertainment. This is like eating your cinematic vegetables. 

A Cinematic Theology of the Cross: Despair and Hope in Paul Schrader’s First Reformed

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"Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it."