It’s weirdly easy to forget, but Neal and Dell make it home at the end of Planes, Trains and Automobiles. The film is so much about the journey that it always strikes me funny to remember that they end up in that foyer with 90s sweaters and love surrounding them. For Neal, it’s about returning to his kingdom, and for Dell, it’s about finding a new place to settle into. Leave it to John Hughes, there’s a powerful message delivered when Steven Martin jumps off that train to find John Candy sitting alone in the station. It might be the birth of the bromance, but that’s for a different article.
Obviouly PTandA is one of only a couple dozen Thanksgiving-themed movies (Rocky totally counts, right?), so it’s a nice annual touchstone for the lengths we go to in order to be in the same turkey-centric room with the people we love.
It’s becoming a bit of a tradition around here to give thanks (which is something I’d be thankful for if it didn’t cause a paradox that resulted in Bruce Willis coming from the future with gold strapped to his back), but it’s also nice this time of year to remember that we only have to go as far as our computers to be surrounded by FSR’s friends and family. Although it makes the turkey part trickier. This year, we Rejects – including Landon Palmer, Kevin Carr, Allison Loring, Christopher Campbell, Nathan Adams, Robert Levin, Kate Erbland, Luke Mullen and me – compiled a list of the cinematic stuff we’re most thankful for.
Without further mush, here it is. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
What We’re Thankful For in 2013
That people are almost done talking about the ethics of Man of Steel’s climactic fight
Steven Soderbergh’s un-quiet retirement
The wide-release provocation that was The Counselor
Whatever the hell was going on in Computer Chess
Steve McQueen (both of them)
Frances Ha, Blue Jasmine and Enough Said
Netflix’s emergence as a creative hub
The McConaughssance
The miserable failures of R.I.P.D., The Internship, and The Lone Ranger
Being mad as hell and not taking it anymore
Walter White’s chemistry demonstration
That the Fast & Furious franchise has somehow rebooted itself to make one of the most entertaining films of the year – with more to come! With Statham!
More minion action in Despicable Me 2 and an all-minion movie on deck
Breakout performances from Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now) and Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station) that make That Awkward Moment required viewing just to watch these two acting powerhouses being silly together
The music Cliff Martinez created for Only God Forgives and Spring Breakers
The promise of a mustachioed Peter Dinklage
Calvin and his pal Hobbes
That the scene of Ryan Gosling stripping down at the police station in The Place Beyond The Pines was released
Every line said by Biaggio in The Kings of Summer
Discoveries waiting to be made on the Sight and Sound list
Every flavor of Cornetto
Emma Watson’s Bling Ring American accent
A new film from Richard Curtis (About Time) to give Love Actually a run for it’s feel good money
Another Anchorman movie
Not talking about Fight Club and not talking about Fight Club
Brie Larson in Short Term 12
Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club
The rise of the orange tabby, thanks to Inside Llewyn Davis
The Zone (it wants to be respected)
Harryhausen’s stop-motion mastery
Movies that make us cry without very clearly setting up a “here is a big scene that will make you cry” scene, like Captain Phillips, Her, 12 Years a Slave, and yes, even The Best Man Holiday
Good kid actors who herald in a new generation of talent we can all appreciate, like Tye Sheridan, Nick Robinson, and Ty Simpkins
Films that make food sexy again, from the pies of Labor Day to the pasta of Blue Is the Warmest Color
That there are more Star Wars movies coming (still)
Vimeo’s continued push to help indie filmmakers
The Teutonic Titwillow
Randomly finding a new favorite
The Marvel Cinematic Universe
International box office (which saved Pacific Rim)
Groucho’s grease paint eyebrows
Schwarzenegger/Stallone returning to movies (even if they are bombing hard)
Award screeners
That the It’s a Wonderful Life sequel seems to have been killed
Blofeld is back!
Hi-def, big screen, 3D TVs
Annapurna Pictures bringing us new films from Harmony Korine, Wong Kar Wai, Spike Jonze and David O. Russell in the same year
Joel Hodgson bringing back the Turkey Day tradition of watching cheesy movies with the Mystery Science Theater 3000 crew all Thanksgiving day
Greta Gerwig run-dancing to David Bowie
The fact that it’s the kick-off of Home Alone watching season
What’s in the box
Jamie Foxx rocket launching things out of a moving car while playing the President
Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker getting to play the leads in a feature film
James Wan bringing some credibility back to mainstream horror
Blu-ray drives and streaming apps on both next-gen consoles
Barnes and Noble Criterion 50% off sales
Roger Ebert’s thoughtfulness and joy (we miss you, man)
Amazon Black Friday deals
Lars Nilsen’s programming for Austin Film Society
Casablanca on Blu-ray
The weekly Criticwire Survey
That the teddy bears in Die Hard and The Hunt for Red October are the same bear
Seeing The Long Goodbye for the first time, what an incredible film
Seeing Chaplin’s City Lights for the first time, amazing
Megan Ellison
All of James Franco’s shit (not his career, his Spring Breakers scene)
The wonderful films of Les Blank, even if it took his death to appreciate what all he’s left us with
That heavy discussion of documentaries never ends, nor does it ever cease to be easy nor boring
Drive-ins, for when you have an infant who can easily sleep in the backseat and you don’t want to waste money on a babysitter but want to go to the movies with your wife
Remakes not physically replacing the original (unlike say a special edition that wipes out the existence of an original preferred version of a film)
Sarah Polley
Saying “Yes” when someone asks if you’re a God
Alamo Drafthouse coming to the New York area
The Inside Llewyn Davis soundtrack
Brilliant, big-budget blockbusters that aren’t about superheroes (i.e. Gravity)
Video stores like Video Free Brooklyn, that continue to fight the good fight
And what are you thankful for?
