Bye Bye, Birthday

So ends another era. Oh, it's not significant in the grand or even minor scheme of things, but it was indeed a personal time for me, a tradition I kept for 28 straight years.

What I refer to is that every birthday, I would go to the cinema and (hopefully) enjoy a celebratory movie of choice. Sometimes this would be so important to me that I would pick a movie months in advance so we were living in the era of announced release dates for major films as though they were national holidays. Such is the modern day world of movies.

This ritual of mine, almost OCD in nature, began with special Christmas movie, something to cap off the end of a long holiday, the best of these being THE GODFATHER PART II and THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING in successive years. That practice began to be more difficult to maintain over time since I usually attended with a friend and, considering it was bloody damn Xmas, I began losing movie companions. Going to a movie by myself that night seemed to be a lonely and kinda creepy experience. Not that I had any qualms about flying solo any other time, my go-to modus operandi (my rationale was that I knew I wasn't going to talk during the movie). But Christmas night...I passed. I thought I'd feel like an outcast elf. 

Years passed and I finally decided to make it a birthday thang, beginning in 1993 with a perfect choice for me -Joe Dante's MATINEE, a sensational tribute to the films of William Castle set smack dab in the middle of the Cuban missile crisis. And yes, I went alone. 

This became like a special gift I could give to myself, something to give myself a break, pat on the back and reward myself for making it though another year. It allowed me to head into the next 363 days on a more or less positive note. Thus, this annual celebration of me was off and running.

Over time, my failing memory has caused me to momentarily (I hope) forget several films I've seen over the years, an unfortunately side effect of the passing of time. But I remember most of them and my track record for excellent film choices was pretty stinkin' good if I do say so myself (and I can because I have this blog) They are:

The aforementioned MATINEE, FROM DUSK TO DAWN, THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY (one right after the other), LA LA LAND, AVATAR, THE SHAPE OF WATER, PAN'S LABRYRINTH (all hail Guillermo!), BIRDMAN, STAN AND OLLIE, THE ARTIST, DJANGO UNCHAINED and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. A couple of times, I'd up the ante with two movies on consecutive days as with NEBRASKA/THE WOLF OF WALL STREET and BLACK SWAN/TRUE GRIT.

Not a bad list, but there were a few clunkers like Peter Jackson's remake of KING KONG and THE FORCE AWAKENS, but they weren't crappy enough to ruin my day, just my taste buds. (See previous blogs; KONG-FOUNDED and THE FORCE WAKES UP AGAIN)

In 2020, I caught Sam Mendes' 1917, the last time I've set foot in a movie theater. While it wasn't the best of the bunch by any means, not even anywhere near my top ten, I was grateful to be able to have seen it on one the biggest screens in the area, a fine presentation that I certainly appreciated.

This year, it all came to an end. On January 29 (my birthday in case you want to get a head start on next year with the gift-giving), our illustrious governor Kate Brown of Oregon lifted the restrictions on movie theaters, allowing them to re-open with a ridiculous caveat. The theater capacity could be no more than 6 people. Well, isn't that just ducky. It would be unless you were a theater owner. Now it wouldn't matter to me really since I don't mind an empty auditorium all to myself. But in support of movie theaters in general, I say thee nay. Besides I ain't that comfortable eating in a restaurant, let alone sitting in the dark with a bunch of strangers. Not yet anyway, no matter how much I miss it.

So this year I still saw a new movie,  a very good thriller called THE LITTLE THINGS directed by John Lee Hancock and starring Denzel Washington, released simultaneously in theaters (somewhere) and HBO MAX. Another new normal that they assure is only temporary, but try getting that genie back in the bottle even at gunpoint.

The movie theater, as we once knew it, is fading away, another casualty of this life and time and another one to place in the loss column. 

Happy birthday to me.

Happy Birthday to Me

Every year when I hit this mile post known as my birthday (or rather it hits me), I treat myself to a special movie of choice, a present and tribute to me, for me and by me. I honestly don't recall when this tradition of mine began, but I do know that I started to keep track as far back as 1993 when I took in Joe Dante's sweet little piece of nostalgia MATINEE.

Over the last quarter century, I've made some damn good choices film-wise, many of which I regard of some of my favorites of all time, a list so long it would be impossible to chronicle due to its sheer heft.  Among those birthday movies have been the aforementioned MATINEE, David Lynch's THE STRAIGHT STORY, Danny Boyle's SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, Darren Aronofsky's BLACK SWAN, The Coen Brothers' NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, Sam Mendes' REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, Peter Jackson's LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy (one three years in a row), Alejandro Innaritu's BIRDMAN and oh so many more.

Birthday Movie 2007 was Guillermo del Toro's PAN'S LABYRINTH, a magical piece of work I admired so much that I have been anxiously awaiting a follow-up (or through) from this visionary director. Unfortunately, his subsequent efforts have underwhelmed and frankly, tried my patience.

Until now.

THE SHAPE OF WATER is flat out magnificent. This is why I go to the movies. Del Toro's innate and abundant sense of wonder shows in every single frame of this fantastic film. This is something recent cinema has lost, buried beneath overdone and used CGI with nothing else to back it up such as story, character and, most of all, heart. At its core, WATER is a love story. Del Toro's heart lies in the passion he coveys in his vision, execution and the art form itself.

His tall tale, set in Cold War-era Baltimore, concerns the non-traditional relationship between a mute cleaning woman and an aquatic man-like creature. Outwardly, it may not be the most original concept, especially if you reduce it down to a mash-up of CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and SPLASH with a little BEAUTY AND THE BEAST thrown in for good measure. But del Toro's take on the proceedings, adding characters like Richard Jenkins' closeted artist (my choice for the Best Supporting Actor over Sam Rockwell) and Sally Hawkins' Elisa, the big fish's gf, as well as some wonderful homages to cinema itself, warmed my soul as no other film has in recent memory. There are nit-picky flaws here and there which kept from from being that absolutely perfect jewel, such as Michael Shannon cast once again as the heavy, though, thankfully not in a merely stereotypical sense.Maybe I appreciate these rough edges since they are honed down by some gasp inducing visuals and emotional points that embedded this film into my internal film vault forever. I floated out of the cinema in a state of bliss on yes, the shape of water..

Bravo, Guillermo. I'm sorry I doubted you. And thank you. I couldn't have picked a better birthday film for myself and THE SHAPE OF WATER was the perfect gift. I hope Oscar smiles upon you.