I remember watching Cheers a long time ago and one of the most striking things about it was how most of the cast members were regular-looking people. It made the show feel so much more immersive.

Or compare the Danny Devito Matilda to the Netflix one. The original had actors like him and Pam Ferris whereas the newer one just cast more conventionally attractive actors and then caked them in awful makeup. I have absolutely no idea what they were thinking with Emma Thompson's version of Ms. Trunchbull. It was fucking distracting how uncanny she looked.

The Coen Bros. also did a great job of casting a pretty wide net of actors. Usually, when they cast handsome actors like Clooney, him being handsome was an actual plot point.

I’ve always cherished the ending of Stand by Me. Rob Reiner’s decision to let Richard Dreyfuss pause and reflect on his lost friends is one of my favorite moments in film. There’s a brief moment of sorrow as he remembers the boys he grew up with, but that quickly gives way to a warm smile when his attention turns to his own children.

I like to think he’s reminded of how much his experiences at twelve shaped the man and father he eventually became. I imagine he also wonders what sort of adventures his own boys get into when Dad isn’t around. The stupid things boys do together, the foul language, fights, arguments, fascination with cigarettes and beer, and all those little acts of rebellion that we once considered stepping stones into manhood.

At that age, boys are so eager to become men, even though they haven’t the slightest idea what that really means. Most of us eventually grow out of those foolish notions and discover that being a man has far more to do with responsibility than anything we thought was important at twelve. Becoming a father probably drives that lesson home more than anything else.

I think there’s something wonderful about the idea that Gordie, having experienced everything he did with those boys, now gets to watch his own children grow up and make their own memories. He knows there are conversations they’ll have, secrets they’ll keep, mistakes they’ll make, and friendships they’ll cherish that he’ll never be privy to. Just as his own father probably knew very little about what happened during those two days in the summer of 1959.
Of course, there’s now a horrible irony in watching this scene after the murders of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, with their own son accused of killing them. Reiner gave us this beautiful reflection on childhood, growing older, and fatherhood, only for his own family to suffer something so unimaginable. It’s difficult to watch that final scene, with a father smiling at his boys, without thinking about what happened to the man who brought it to life. I can’t imagine anything more heartbreaking for a parent than having the child you raised become the source of such tragedy.

The ending also reminds me of Sean Durkin’s The Iron Claw (2023), particularly its final moments involving Kevin Von Erich and his sons. Both films have a way of making you think about the boys we once were, the people we’ve lost along the way, and how becoming a father changes our understanding of our own childhood.
I suspect these endings mean something very different to a twelve-year-old boy than they do to a grown man with children of his own. When I was young, Stand by Me was a movie about four boys having an adventure. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to appreciate that it’s just as much about the man one of those boys eventually becomes.

Beautiful, bittersweet filmmaking. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of watching it films like that.

Curious to hear what you folks think, as I just discovered this subreddit this morning over some coffee and a cigar. Fall weather always makes me sentimental.

We have all been there. You put something on, the opening hook is an absolute masterclass in filmmaking, and you’re sitting there thinking you’re about to witness a straight-up classic. Then the second act hits, the plot flies off the rails, and by the credits you’re just angry you wasted two hours.For me, it’s Ghost Ship (2002). That opening wire scene on the cruise ship deck is legendary. Cold, shocking, and brilliant. After that? Standard, forgettable bargain-bin horror that completely throws away its best idea.What’s your ultimate example of an opening that wrote checks the rest of the film couldn't cash? Drop it below.

I learned from Sylvester Stallone’s memoir The Steps that Rocky and Taxi Driver were paired together in 1976.

That’s one hell of a night at the cinema.

So if you could programme your own double feature, what would you choose?

One rule: both films have to have been released in the same year.

It can be because they complement each other, clash spectacularly, share actors/directors/themes, or simply because you’d want to watch them back to back.

Spoilers for The Apartment (1960).

Baxter borrowing Fran's compact to check his new bowler hat is such a nasty little turn. He's trying to look like someone who belongs upstairs. Then he recognises the broken mirror he found in his apartment, and suddenly knows who Sheldrake has been bringing there.

What gets me is that he's looking at himself when the connection lands. The apartment arrangement has helped him get the office and the hat, but now there's a person he cares about on the other side of it. His lovely promotion comes with a very small receipt.

Is that moment mainly heartbreak for you, or also the first real crack in the version of himself he's been trying to sell? I think Lemmon leaves room for both.

Apologies if such a topic was done here before recently because lately I wanted to explore the kind of movies that are about setting up elaborate heists on places like iconic casinos since basically I was looking to get into the heist genre.

Like what I would like to see is if there is a heist movie about English people looking to pilfer a casino for fun as their target is the casino with the most money value to it where the job is to get in and walk away with a huge pile of cash since I enjoy movies about phantom bandits as a concept.