“All the anxiety we bear with us, all our thwarted dreams, the incomprehensible cruelty, our fear of extinction, the painful insight into our earthly condition, have slowly eroded our hope of an other-wordly salvation. The howl of our faith and doubt against the darkness and silence, is one of the most awful proofs of our abandonment and our terrified, unuttered knowledge.”
Trying to figure out what this all means might be as useless as the two main characters trying to…
“So far, so good…”
This must be that absolute cinema everyone keeps talking about. I’m still wrapping my head around some of the camera work—the bathroom scene and dolly zoom mainly—but beyond shots that belong in a filmmaking hall of fame, it’s an insanely bold critique of urban disparities and the cycles of violence they perpetuate. Almost 30 years later and this depiction of a broken society remains relevant and accurate. “Hatred breeds hatred.”
Easily one of my favorite watches this year. I’ll be recommending this to every stranger I meet. Hang it in the Louvre.
Back in July 2018, I got the chance to catch a Real Madrid preseason game—the first match of the post-Ronaldo era. It also happened to be Vini’s debut. I didn’t know much about him, other than that he was this 18 year old Brazilian kid some people were hyping as the next big thing. The game itself ended up being a stinker against a horrible United side, but I always Vini’s performance as the silver lining—something I could look forward…
This is where the fun begins—but not really, since the next trilogy nearly fumbled the entire franchise. Yes, it’s flawed. It could’ve easily been split into two movies. It’s almost cheesy and overstuffed enough for me to make a lasagna joke, but I know better. This is a masterpiece of Shakespearean proportions. The rise and fall of a hero. Anakin’s arc is the blueprint. Name a more iconic descent in modern pop culture. Really glad I got to rewatch this in theaters. Shout out John Williams—“Anakin’s Betrayal” goes double platinum on my Spotify at least once a year.
