National Pride [Dunkirk]

I hadn’t watched Dunkirk since I saw it in theaters. But I have always desired to revisit it, knowing, as with all of Nolan’s films, the re-watch would be rich in reward, unraveling layers of complexities and understanding that the ‘spectacle’ of the first watch overpowered (Tarantino’s word in his ‘Rewatchables’ episode). And I wasn’t disappointed. Dunkirk resonated

The Dance [Pride and Prejudice]

Jane Austen was a trail blazer for plenty of reasons, but I am imagining one of most mainstream ideas that she captured first and arguably best was keeping two characters, destined to be together, maddeningly far away and desperately close, and then yanking and pushing those characters closer and further away.  This is the premise

Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave! With a box of scraps! [Iron Man]

I love great movie lines. My love for movies was carried on the back of quoting movies with my friends as we drove around aimlessly from fast food restaurant, to store, to movie theater, to someone’s parent’s basement. I have already shown this love for movie lines in previous posts (Mediocre [Mad Max: Fury Road]; How

Can We Talk About [Kingdom Of Heaven]?

Be without fear in the face of your enemies I didn’t have a ton of interest in watching Kingdom of Heaven Be brave and upright that God may love thee And then for some reason, I got a hankering for a sword and sandal film Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death

[Midnight Sky] Is Very Mediocre, So Lay off

Before watching Midnight Sky, there were the criticisms on Twitter, which do not hold enough weight to make me not watch a movie that seems intriguing, but they are enough to temper my expectations. And maybe it was these tempered expectations that allowed me to enjoy the movie, but enjoy it I did. Midnight Sky the

Can We Talk About [Back To The Future]?

Wait a minute. Wait a minute, Doc. One movie transcends time and space like no other. Are you telling me you made a time machine… It transcended the ’80s.  Then it went back and transcended the ’50s.  And ever since its release, it has been transcending every time period since. …out of a DeLorean? And

The Apache Relays: The Greatest Upset In Camp History [Heavyweights]

The 90s movie classic Heavyweights is a feel-good comedy that discus-tosses body shaming into the lake like an Apache Relay trophy and then asks viewers all across the world to judge people by their character in order to make them feel good about who they are, which will lead to better decisions and a healthier life.

How can you not be romantic about baseball? [Moneyball]

I once saw a high school baseball coach setting up a baseball field for a game. He walked back and forth from the pitcher’s mound to the dugout as he removed one weighted block from the tarp which protected the mound and walked it to the fence by the dugout. With each block, he carefully

The Scout Scene [Moneyball]

Few movies are able to communicate their main idea, using only one scene, better than Moneyball does when Billy Beane first meets with his scouts and talent developers. The scene is perfect. The film had established the depths to which the Oakland A’s had fallen in the wake of their team’s pilfering at the hands of richer

I Got Hitler On My Mind [Jojo Rabbit]

Due to the strangeness of certain decisions in the film, as well as an overarching public narrative about it being too odd, it’s easy to dismiss Jojo Rabbit as ludicrous and silly. This is especially true in the beginning of the film, before it descends into more familiar WWII terrain (heavy despondency and meta-commentary about how we