October Movie Ritual: Tradition, Timeline, Themes

I'm a music teacher, but I didn't always consider music my calling. Some of the professions I wanted to pursue (in no particular order) were: Writer Actor Singer English Teacher Psychologist The movie Split, starring James McAvoy, appealed to the version of me that would have chosen to be a psychologist. I've always been fascinated by the brain's ability to protect itself. From something as simple as justification for questionable behavior, to denial of reality, to projection, the brain really works overtime to ensure the survival (if not the thriving) of the human person. This can be a double-edged sword. In the movie, James McAvoy's character, Kevin, has Dissociative Identity Disorder, more commonly known as split personality. In most instances of multiple personality disorders, a person has two to four distinct and separate personalities . Our antagonist, Kevin, has 23.  Dissociative Identity Disorder, according to the National Institute of Health , is primarily...

  A long time ago, before streaming services, people were at the mercy of what TV stations and cable television providers happened to be showing at a specific time. My parents didn’t see the point in paying for TV, so we didn’t have cable. Our Halloween watching options were limited, but one that we watched with some regularity was Disney’s version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. I’m not sure if it ran every year or if my mom just recorded it on VHS so we could watch it, but it was a staple Halloween movie for us as kids. It was so much so that I know many of the songs by heart, even now that I only watch it around once a year. It wouldn’t be until a few years ago that I found out that it was narrated by none other than the Christmas crooner himself, Bing Crosby. I also had no clue until several years ago that it was made as a double feature, the second feature (Mr. Toad) of which I still haven’t watched. Even more surprising to me, I discovered just this year ...

I fell in love with my field and profession because of reading stories at an early age. I would immerse myself in Westerns during the long winters in North Dakota, favoring in particular stories by Louis L'Amour. An element of storytelling that has long held my fascination is setting. I've been known to choose a story and a movie just because of the setting. This purpose is exactly why I selected  A Haunting in Venice.  This movie is equally charming because of its lead actor, Kenneth Branagh. He stars in one of my top five favorite movies in  Hamlet,  so I was willing to trust this movie.  I'm not   exactly in love with  A Haunting in Venice. Interestingly, it's because we don't get enough glimpses of that setting. I wanted to experience more fully the darker side of Venice. Every place has a darker side ; it's a missed opportunity in a horror movie not to experience fully this darker side. When   drafting my own stories ,  I try my   v...

My family and I went to  Black Phone 2  last night at Meghan's request. It was Tuesday night, and in our town of Bismarck / Mandan that means "cheap movie night" at the local theater .  Meghan is the second oldest in our family and really wanted to see   this movie with us. Her   reason was because we had just watched the   first one as a family a week ago. She felt it fitting to watch the sequel as a family, although I now suspect her real motive was because she has a crush on one of the actors from the first installment of this horror classic. I really enjoyed the first one, so it didn't take much to convince me to go to this one. Only our youngest, Henry, couldn't go because he's a bit too young for horror movies that are rated R. My expectations were understandably low going into this movie, given the less-than-extraordinary success rate of movie sequels in our day and age. But I was surprised. In fact, this movie inspired a realization about sequels. S...

I tell people often (and mean it when I say) that I had the best childhood a kid could hope for. I mean, come on! I grew up on a farm with lots of trees, open spaces, and ample resources to adventure through my formative years. I built so many tree houses, forts, play weapons, and other-such products of my imagination that I still find myself missing those items. I had two parents who were together for us kids; I had plenty of siblings to challenge my view of myself as the center of the universe. I wouldn't trade anything from my childhood. Well, maybe I could have done with a few less chores. But even those chores likely had meaning--we know they do for everyone.  I am reminded of childhood because of the movie  It.  This movie takes me there, as it does all of its followers. There's a reason they've made so many different  It  movies. Our childhoods will always provide a needed adventure.      

As I was watching  Crimson Peak,  I was reminded that movies aren't just about their stories; they are about their awe-inspiring sets, too. I'm quite ashamed to make this observation, as it's quite obvious when you think about it. Yet, somehow, I tend to forget this. I think the obsession with visual effects over the past few decades has shifted my appreciation for effects to story. And while I still believe story matters more, I also want to be fair when I evaluate movies for their attempts at trying something different with their visuals.  Crimson Peak  checks all of the right boxes for visuals. It's an escape we want to make ourselves, even when there is danger everywhere in the movie.  I loved the visuals of the movie, yes. But what about the story? On its surface, the story should have also been a monument in film-making. We have an attempt to be original with a plot: a duo villain with clear, understandable motives. A female lead who's incredibly likeable....

It's not often anymore that where I watch a movie matters more than what the movie is about. When I was a kid, where I watched a movie probably did matter more. Watching a movie at a friend's house, for instance, was probably far more important than what the movie was about. This has not been true for many years in my life, however--until this weekend.    This weekend my wife and I adventured to Sica Hollow State Park in South Dakota for a late October camping trip with my sister. It was 29 degrees when my wife and I settled into our tent for that night. We watched our latest horror movie,  The Burbs,  on our laptop as the temperature continued to drop. The wind was quite strong, and somehow this felt like the perfect setting for a horror movie. Our choice of horror movie was not anything too exciting, of course. But that didn't matter.  What a great place to watch a movie!  Just prior to watching our movie, we had enjoyed a campfire together with some grea...