A thread to discuss movies, TV shows, etc. that you’ve seen in 2025.
One thought on “Movies 2025”
To Kill a Mockingbird (1959)
Dir. Robert Mulligan
Starring: Gregory Peck, etc.
75/100
Putting aside whether the film is a great work of art or not (at least for now), if the American entertainment industry made films and TV shows like this, they would fulfilling the responsibility they have to the larger society. To me, the entertainment industry are the storytellers and myth makers that provide answers to key questions in life–for example, what is really important in life? How should one live? What does it mean to be a man or woman? What do good friendships and romantic relationships look like? etc. I’m not saying they intentionally try to do this–I think these things occur, whether they intend to answer these questions or not–and for the most part they don’t handle this in a responsible way.
If they did, Mulligan’s film adaptation would be a good example, especially Gregory Peck’s Atticus Finch, who not only provides a great role model for for males, but also convincingly portrays a quiet dignity that is admirable–something that I don’t think Jimmy Stewart, a great actor who turned down the role, could not do–at least not as effectively in my opinion.
Having said this, the film did have some flaws for me. For one thing, it did heavy-handed, didactic moments, a la Father Knows Best–moments when the patriarch literally imparts life lessons to his son or daughter. Also, I’m not really keen on the white savior motif. But Peck is so good in this that I can overlook these flaws.
This is a film and a novel that schools should require for American high school students.
To Kill a Mockingbird (1959)
Dir. Robert Mulligan
Starring: Gregory Peck, etc.
75/100
Putting aside whether the film is a great work of art or not (at least for now), if the American entertainment industry made films and TV shows like this, they would fulfilling the responsibility they have to the larger society. To me, the entertainment industry are the storytellers and myth makers that provide answers to key questions in life–for example, what is really important in life? How should one live? What does it mean to be a man or woman? What do good friendships and romantic relationships look like? etc. I’m not saying they intentionally try to do this–I think these things occur, whether they intend to answer these questions or not–and for the most part they don’t handle this in a responsible way.
If they did, Mulligan’s film adaptation would be a good example, especially Gregory Peck’s Atticus Finch, who not only provides a great role model for for males, but also convincingly portrays a quiet dignity that is admirable–something that I don’t think Jimmy Stewart, a great actor who turned down the role, could not do–at least not as effectively in my opinion.
Having said this, the film did have some flaws for me. For one thing, it did heavy-handed, didactic moments, a la Father Knows Best–moments when the patriarch literally imparts life lessons to his son or daughter. Also, I’m not really keen on the white savior motif. But Peck is so good in this that I can overlook these flaws.
This is a film and a novel that schools should require for American high school students.