by Michael Lyons
It seems like a copy-and-paste introduction from last year, but - wow! Did this year fly by!
At the end of each year, we look ahead and we also reflect. For the latter, I continue a "Screen Saver" tradition of celebrating some movies that celebrated anniversaries and reached some significant milestones in 2023:
Frozen (2013) - 10 Years
This re-telling of The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson by Walt Disney Feature Animation recaptured the classic fairy tale glory for which the studio was known. It rightly became their first blockbuster to explode across the zeitgeist since The Lion King.
With stunning animation, beautiful songs, gorgeous singing (Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell), and lovable comic relief in Olaf the Snowman (Josh Gad), Frozen deserved all the accolades.
And Disney rightly won't "Let it Go," transforming the film into a franchise that, a decade later, still weaves a magical, Elsa-like spell on so many.
Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) - 20 Years
Uma Thurman is an assassin who has been double-crossed and left for dead by her fellow assassins and vows revenge in this first of a two-part epic that is emotional, gripping, outlandish, and represents some of Quentin Tarantino's best - and most trademark - work.
Schindler's List (1993) - 30 Years
One of the most powerful films ever made. A real-life story of businessman Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who saved countless Jews from the unspeakable horrors of the Nazi regime in Germany by employing them in his factory.
Ralph Fiennes is evil personified as the lieutenant who oversees the concentration camp, and the black and white photography only adds to the proceedings feeling as raw and awful as history tells us.
This Steven Spielberg masterpiece leaves its indelible mark in our hearts and minds and, three decades later, still stands as an important testament.
Trading Places (1983) - 40 Years
Two wealthy businessmen and brothers (Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche) connive a successful broker (Dan Aykroyd) and a loud-mouth street hustler (Eddie Murphy) to trade places. The two men's lives are played with, as the "haves" and "have nots" soon learn more about each other and society itself.
Full of hysterical moments (Murphy being "educated" by Bellamy and Ameche is still classic), but director John Landis film also harkens back to classic Hollywood films from the likes of Preston Sturges, and a time, just forty years ago, when comedies also provided a window into our own world.
Grease (1978) - 45 Years
In the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical that seemed to give birth to 50s nostalgia single-handedly, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John are still wonderful and it's all still as much fun and irresistible to sing-along to as it was all summer of 1978.
This is pure movie-watching magic. Grease is still the word!
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) - 60 Years
Are you looking for your favorite classic comedian? They're all here!
With this all-star film, which gets funnier with each viewing, a group of strangers goes on a hysterical multistate spree looking for money that's buried "under a big W." And director Stanley Kramer created a one-movie-genre that has never been duplicated: the epic comedy!
Shane (1953) - 70 Years
When it comes to the big-screen Westerns about another era and from another era, they don't get better than Shane.
Alan Ladd created an iconic character in the title role, as the mysterious stranger who rides into the life of a homestead family and changes their lives forever. Master director George Stevens perfectly balances the smaller moments, such as the connection between Shane and the young boy Joey (Brandon deWilde), with the larger beauty of the Western landscape.
And then there's that heartbreaking conclusion to the film. It's a classic masterpiece.
Red River (1948) - 75 Years
Another brilliant Western, this one a glowing example of the silver screen.
John Wayne and Montgomery Clift shine like true movie stars in this story of the tension that builds and drama that erupts during a cattle drive from Texas to Kansas.
Director Howard Hawks gets incredible performances from the entire cast that includes Walter Brennan, Joanne Dru and Harry Carey, Jr., and sweeps the audience along masterfully in the adventure.
Considered by many to be not just one of the best Westerns, but one of the best films of all time.
And, there is a brief look back at just some of the many movies that celebrated milestones during the past twelve months that just sped by us. Consider any or all for a fitting film festival to kick off 2024.
Wishing everyone a Safe and Happy New Year!
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