My Year of Free Movies

Go see this in the theater as soon as you can, and before you hear a lot more about it. Spoiler free thoughts below. This film is a masterpiece, and that is all you really need to know, but I've tried to gather some thoughts here. To write about this experience and film while not spoiling anything for you is difficult, so apologies if this lacks substance. The basic gist of the film is simply that a family of four is struggling to get by when an opportunity presents itself. The son, played by Woo-Sik Choi, gets an in with a well-to-do family as a tutor. This opportunity grows into something unexpected. First bit of advice: don't let subtitles scare you, maybe you have never seen a foreign film, or have a hard time getting used to reading a movie. You'll forget you are doing so within about 5 minutes, it's that good. The characters, every single one of them is astonishingly well developed and believable. The dialog is fantastic. Second bit of advice: the title could...

Up next in my Year of Free Movies is '1917' which just got 10 nominations for the 2020 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. This one is not to be missed. However, my first advice, sit a bit further back in the theater if you are at a larger screen. The camera movements are fast and continuous so my eyes bugged out a bit. The movement, likely due to digital print was blurry/choppy at times and that is likely an indictment on the technology, not the filming. Taking place over the course of one day, April 6, 1917 in WWI this film is a visual stunner. Meant to be seen as one continuous camera scene, and is masterfully executed. If this doesn't take the Oscar for "Best Cinematography" it would be a shame. You'll find yourself immersed in the details as if in the 3rd person, feeling like you are following along in the horrid trenches of war. Its jarring at times. The extras in the trench scenes are the unsung heroes of this film. There are seemingly hundr...

Up next in my year of free movies, thanks again Essex Cinemas, is 'Little Women.' Amy, my fiancee, asked to see this one, and I'm always happy to see just about any movie, especially when free dollars. I came in with zero expectations, and little knowledge of the story. Everything I know about 'Little Women' I learned watching 'Friends.' Thanks Joey! So again, I was coming into this story only knowing what Joey and Rachel disclosed about Beth, the whole thing was new to me. I've since learned there is a previous adaptation featuring a personal favorite actress Winona Ryder and I'll probably have to check that out. One thing you will learn about me, is in my advanced age of 40 I cry, a lot. Even commercials make me cry these days, so this film was no different. I spent the last hour in varying stages of tears - both happy and sad. The first 30-40 minutes of this were tough to sit through if I'm being honest. It had weird flow, and no one ...

Oh Hell Yes! First up in my year of free movies at Essex Cinema is ' Knives Out ,' trailer below. This film stars James Bond, Detective Sonny Crocket, and two Captains (Von Trapp and America) among other fine people and is directed by 'The Last Jedi' guy  (I don't care what you thought about that film, but I enjoyed it). So you know you are in for the good stuff! SPOILER ALERT, I'M NOT SPOILING ANYTHING. Anyway, I had little knowledge beyond the trailer going into this. I wanted to catch it before it left theaters because I've been hearing people enjoyed it. I was, admittedly a bit concerned because I do see Daniel Craig as pretty much only Bond, but he was great in this even with his...surprising accent, which the film does a good job making fun of so I'll not bother.The trailer also provided me with deep nostalgia for the movie 'Clue' which I loved, and I was again worried this might try to copy that formula, but this whoduneit stood o...

It's 2020, and I'm going to see a bunch of movies. FOR FREE. I won a year of free movies from Essex Cinemas and plan to write a little bit about each one for fun, so this is where you'll find them. I like writing, I like movies, and I won't take either very seriously.  Stay tuned for more! Meanwhile, go give the good folks at Essex Cinemas a follow, a like, a share, or a high-five when you go visit them for being so awesome. A quick look of some of the films on my list for 2020. What are some that you are looking forward to? Little Women- In Theaters Now Knives Out- In Theaters Now 1917- 01/10/2020 Color Out of Space-01/24/2020 Gretel & Hansel 01/31/2020 Birds of Prey- 02/07/2020 Mulan- 03/27/2020 No Time to Die- 04/08/2020 Black Widow- 05/01/2020 Wonder Woman 1984- 06/05/2020 Top Gun-Maverick- 06/26/2020 Ghostbusters-Afterlife- 07/10/2020 TENET- 07/17/2020 Bill & Ted Face the Music- 08/21/2020 Dune- 12/18/2020