The first half of this movie is basically "28 Days Later but what if we had a huge budget?" and if that's all it was, it wouldn't be worth a single watch. However, once the action shifts to Jerusalem and we see the zombies doing that ant-colony thing, working as a single collective and overwhelming a fortified space that would be like *the* safe zone in any other zombie movie, it kind of lifts off the ground and takes flight…

This movie is so gobsmacking wild and dark and violent and over the top that it's hilarious thinking this was a PG rated tentpole movie released for families at the time - I have no doubt this would be R rated right now. Even then, it rips open the boundaries of current mainstream blockbuster style filmmaking. And I watched it fifty, one hundred times growing up. Loved it, still do.

I think on a scene by scene level, this is…

Casino Royale is the first Bond film that actually objectifies Bond rather than the women. It's fantastic.

And to be sure, these are women rather than "Bond girls" - there are no joke names like Christmas Jones or Pussy Galore and even the standard first-act, short-lived female character is drawn with intelligence and warmth, giving some real heft to the moment our hero inevitably loses her for one reason or another. When it comes to Vesper, we're made to see…

So the real world is beige, the Zone is colorful, Stalker dreams in beige, but his daughter Monkey sees in color.

Thinking about this last night on my 8th or 9th viewing of the film, especially now that I'm a father, I was thinking about how this could be viewed through the lens of parenting. About how Stalker discovered something wonderful, elevating, rapturous, something that changed his mindset forever and created a new peace with the world. He has been…