It’s time for one more round of re-living certain moments I’ve experienced while watching movies.
“American Pie” 1999- I saw this bawdy comedy the first weekend it was in theaters. While it certainly earned its R rating, I found the teen sex movie to also be sweet, poignant and relatable to my own high school days of lust and wanting. And yes, Jim’s date Michelle sharing her post prom party revelation was a total surprise and a great belly laugh. A friend of a friend made custom T-shirts and I came up with an idea and he delivered. I asked for a white T-shirt with a drawing of a flute and under it the words, “And this one time at band camp…” I still have that shirt.
“Eyes Wide Shut” 1999- I heard plenty about director Stanley Kubrick and the making of this psycho-sexual thriller starring Tom Cruise and his then wife Nicole Kidman. I saw this one alone and remember it being one of the most disappointing movies I ever paid to check out. This film was not erotic, it was not enticing or exciting and the high pitched monotonous one note piano key playing used throughout it was annoying. Before seeing this flick but after reading Roger Ebert’s review of “Eyes Wide Shut” I easily predicted Nicole Kidman’s last two words that ended the movie. What a dull thud.
“The Blair Witch Project” 1999- As if seeing “Eyes Wide Shut” wasn’t bad enough, later that very same day I took a date to see this shaky camera mess. Two totally overhyped and under delivered movies in one day. And to make things worse, these two films were seen on the next to last day of my weeklong vacation.
“Winter’s Bone” 2010- I like how I fell into seeing the movie that made Jennifer Lawrence an actress to watch. I was on summer break and at the Landmark Theater in Highland Park to see an early afternoon showing of the charming film “Please Give.” While in line for my ticket I saw the poster for “Winter’s Bone” which was also playing there. I had not yet read any reviews but the movie’s display piqued my interest. I checked the show times and learned when my movie ended I’d have a half hour to kill before the next showing of “Winter’s Bone.” “Please Give” was a solid three star film and when it ended I went across the street to Michael’s Deli for a quick hot dog. I then came back to the Landmark, bought a ticket for “Winter’s Bone” and fell hard for such a realistic drama about the struggles of Rhee Dolly in the middle of rural meth land. This was not your typical Hollywood movie with its feel being like a documentary of poor white folks. My mother passed away the previous fall and driving home late that afternoon I thought of how much she would have loved the bravery young Rhee Dolly showed in “Winter’s Bone.”
“Uncut Gems” 2019- I knew very little about this movie before going to see it. All I heard was that this was a major breakout role for Adam Sandler as he played a fast talking degenerate gambler/jewelry dealer. Put it this way. The frenetic pace and intensity of this drama left me physically spent!
“Parasite” 2019- All I knew about this Academy Award winning movie was it involved a poor Korean family trying to get into the lives of a rich Korean family. It was crazy, with all the twists and turns this subtitled film took. I was engrossed with the characters and the whole story. This was another one of those movies where when it ended, people in the theater were talking to each other and remarking about how special and different this drama was.
NEXT BLOG- Wrapping up 2020.