A Cinematic Thanksgiving

The Movie Things That I'm Thankful For

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It is a day to spend time with family, rest, watch football, and be grateful for all of the wonderful things that life has given you. Though you may be reading this after the holiday, these piece is an idea that I had Thanksgiving morning.. I’m going to list what I’m thankful for, but it won’t be your typical statements of gratitude like, “I’m thankful for my family and health.” Of course I am thankful for those things, but I would also like to share what cinematic things that I’m grateful for. So, here we go…one hundred cinematic statements of thanks…

1. I’m thankful for Zoey Deschanel telling her brother (and all of us) in Almost Famous, “One day you’ll be cool.”

2. I’m thankful for this hat that Kate Hudson wears in Almost Famous.

3. I’m thankful for the goosebumps that this scene gives me, whether it was it was the first time I saw it or the hundredth.

4. I’m thankful for Philip Seymour Hoffman as Lester Bangs telling William (and us) that we’re uncool.

5. I’m thankful for Philip Seymour Hoffman in Mission Impossible 3, the one movie villain that this 36-year old is still terrified of.

6. I’m thankful for Philip Seymour Hoffman holding the boom mic in Boogie Nights.

   

7. I’m thankful for the opening scene of Boogie Nights.

8. I’m thankful for cinematic portrayals of cocaine, especially when it involved Alfred Molina.

9. I’m thankful that we have a movie character named Dirk Diggler.

   

10. I’m thankful for Mark Wahlberg being in the 2003 remake of The Italian Job. Great cast and fun movie. Edward Norton and Charlize Theron are in it too. I kind of want to steal some gold bars. Mini Coopers have never been so cool.

11. I’m thankful for Baby Driver and I’m especially thankful for the opening scene of Baby Driver.

12. I’m thankful for the one time that I saw a 30th anniversary showing Heat in a packed movie theater. They delayed the start of the movie by 15 minutes so everyone could get their snacks and get seated. I’m thankful for that too.

13. I’m thankful for the quote, “The action is the juice.”

14. I’m not thankful for every real life version of Waingro. That man is a psychopath. I’m thankful that he’s fictional.

    

15. I’m thankful for Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro sitting together in a diner.

    

16. I’m thankful for The Dark Knight being the comic book movie version of Heat.

17. I’m thankful for the entire Dark Knight Trilogy

18. I’m thankful for Christopher Nolan.

19. I’m thankful for Interstellar.

20. I’m thankful for how the music of Interstellar makes me feel.

21. I’m thankful for Matthew McConaughey.

22. I’m thankful for Matthew McConaughey’s book, Greenlights. It inspired me.

23. I’m thankful that Matthew McConaughey and I both share a love for U2’s Rattle & Hum.

24. I’m thankful for Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in True Detective Season 1.

    

25. I’m thankful for True Detective Season 1 feeling like a big movie even though it’s a show.

26. I’m thankful for a movie called White Men Can’t Jump because I’m a white man and I can’t jump. I feel seen.

27. I’m thankful for 90’s fashion.

    

28. I’m thankful that Rosie Perez won Jeopardy!.

29. I’m thankful for Wesley Snipes as Willie Mays Hayes.

30. I’m thankful that Willie Mays Hayes is an all-time movie character name.

31. I’m thankful for this scene.

32. I’m thankful for baseball movies, but you guys already know that because I’ve written about a lot of baseball movies.

33. I’m thankful for other sports movies, like Creed.

34. I’m thankful for the time of my life when Creed came out. It still deserves all of the Oscars.

    

35. I’m thankful for Michael B. Jordan. He’s really handsome and charismatic.

36. I’m thankful for the scene in the second Space Jam when Sylvester the Cat runs into the locker room and says he found Michael Jordan, and Sirius plays, and LeBron looks like he’s excited to play with his childhood hero, but it ends up being Michael B. Jordan, and Daffy Duck says, “We couldn’t get Michael A. Jordan so we got Michael B. Jordan!” That movie is not good, but that scene wrecks me every single time.

37. I’m thankful for the movie Sinners.

38. I’m thankful for Hailee Steinfeld as a vampire.

    

39. I’m thankful for blues music.

40. I’m thankful for the greatest day of your life.

41. I’m thankful for that night that my wife and I saw The Lost Boys at the drive-in.

42. I’m thankful for Tim Cappello hip thrusts.

    

43. I’m thankful for Kiefer Sutherland, Jami Gertz, and Alex Winter as vampires.

    

44. I’m thankful for Philip Seymour Hoffman in Twister.

45. I’m thankful for the moment when Cameron Frye was pushed over the edge.

    

46. I’m thankful for Godzilla because my son is super into Godzilla and I was super into Godzilla as a kid so it’s something that we share together.

47. I’m thankful for movies that take place in New York City.

48. I’m thankful for Uncut Gems.

49. I’m thankful that Adam Sandler, Kevin Garnett, and LaKeith Stanfield were all on screen together.

    

50. I’m thankful for A24.

51. I’m thankful for that moment when I walked out Moonlight and I sat in my car thinking because that movie impacted me so much.

    

52. I’m thankful for Moonlight winning Best Picture instead of La La Land.

53. I’m thankful for this meme.

    

54. I’m thankful that I read the Project Hail Mary book. It is one of the best sci-fi books that I’ve ever read. It is one of the best books that I’ve ever read period. Everyone should read it.

55. I’m thankful for the upcoming Project Hail Mary movie.

56. I’m thankful for Ken in the Barbie movie.

57. I’m thankful for this moment where I’m realizing how grateful I am for Ryan Gosling.

58. I’m thankful for Barbie offending all of the insecure Republican men out there.

59. I’m thankful for this scene in Barbie.

60. I’m thankful for Barbenheimer.

61. I’m thankful for movies that counter the romanticization of war.

62. I’m thankful for a movie as big as Apocalypse Now! that I named my Substack after a quote from it, but I’m do intimidated to write about it because I’m afraid that I won’t do it justice.

63. I’m thankful that Marlon Brando was born in Omaha, Nebraska.

64. I’m thankful for Marlon Brando refusing the Best Actor Award in 1973 and for sending Sacheen Littlefeather in his place. Real ones protest.

    

65. I’m thankful that The Godfather and The Godfather Part II are the greatest seven plus hours that anyone has ever put on film.

66. I’m thankful for the weight that Al Pacino carries at the end of The Godfather Part II.

    

67. I’m thankful that Al Pacino gave the greatest speech in sports movie history.

68. I’m thankful for the moment when Jamie Foxx is moved to walk towards Al Pacino.

69. I’m thankful for Django Unchained.

70. I’m thankful for movies that force us to look in the mirror and see our history for what it was. 12 Years a Slave is a movie that does that best.

71. I’m thankful for Omar in The Wire. Omar is the best character in the greatest show of all-time.

    

72. I’m thankful for this quote from David Simon when he was asked about using AI in his work:

    

73. I’m thankful for Terminator 2 and that it warned us of our AI hellscape way back in 1991.

74. I’m thankful for James Cameron taking the science-fiction horror movie Alien and turning it into a science-fiction war movie called Aliens.

75. I’m thankful for my Xenomorph tattoo even though it hurt like hell.

    

76. I’m thankful for the time I met a mom and her two kids by the Alien egg movie prop in the Museum of American History in Washington D.C. and she told me that her daughter’s name is Ripley and her son’s name is Ash.

77. I’m thankful for Harold Ramos collecting spores, molds, and fungus and I’m thankful for Bill Murray’s vertical when rushing to flirt with Sigourney Weaver.

78. I’m thankful for comedies that make you laugh so hard that you can barely breathe.

79. I’m thankful for that happening the very first time that I saw The Hangover.

80. I’m thankful for this scene in The Hangover.

81. I’m thankful for Bradley Cooper making the most self-indulgent film in history to win himself an Oscar, even though he didn’t win it.

    

82. I’m thankful for Lady Gaga winning the Oscar instead.

83. I’m thankful that I just found out that Lady Gaga was in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For so that I can transition into the next thing that I’m thankful for….

84. I’m thankful for Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing the same person in Looper, a movie that we don’t appreciate and talk about enough.

85. I’m thankful for Rian Johnson making Looper and then having a bold vision for Star Wars that too many people sadly rejected.

86. I’m thankful for George Lucas and the original Star Wars Trilogy.

    

87. I’m thankful for two specific movies that take place in sandy places.

88. I’m thankful that Denis Villeneuve pulled off two masterpieces with Dune Parts One and Two.

89. I’m thankful that we’re getting a movie adaptation of Dune: Messiah.

90. I’m thankful for Timmy Chalamet as Paul Atreides.

91. I’m thankful for Timmy Chalamet.

    

92. I’m thankful for another Hans Zimmer score.

93. I’m thankful for Mad Max: Fury Road.

94. I’m thankful for the Coma-Doof Warrior.

    

95. I’m thankful that the current President is nothing more than a Great Value Immortan Joe and he’ll go down in history as a bigger failure than the real Immortan Joe.

96. I’m thankful for Home Alone and Home Alone 2. Watching them are the biggest highlights of the Christmas season.

97. I’m thankful for the moment my son went bonkers when he saw the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

98. I’m thankful that next year I’ll have a daughter to share movies with. I hope she ends up loving movies as much as I do.

99. I’m thankful for the moment I see my wife smile when we get done watching a great movie for the very first time together. It’s beautiful.

100. I’m thankful for movies and the people who make them.