Michael DeNobile's Movie Reviews

THE PURPOSE OF LIFE: A REFLECTION ON THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (2013) Michael DeNobile reviews the 2013 film  The Secret Life of Walter Mitty  and its moral implications. To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of LIFE. One day, we may wake up and realize that we have not been or done anything noteworthy or mentionable. We get caught up in the mundane of our lives, time passes, and we allow it to slip away. We forget that we are truly unique—that no one of our chromosomal make up, born in the exact time and place we were, with our parents, friends, and family, thinking the exact thoughts when we thought them, experiencing the experiences when we experienced them, has ever, is, or will ever walk this earth, and because of that, by virtue of science we possess a unique place in the universe. And that we have this wonderful gift of a planet for us to discover, explore, experience, e...

 Movie seen on September 15, 2021, a return to Alamo Drafthouse (Yonkers) since the pandemic. TILTED: A REFLECTION ON THE FILM THE CARD COUNTER (2021) Michael DeNobile reviews the 2021 film The Card Counter and its moral implications. Movie seen at Alamo Drafthouse in Yonkers, NY. The last time Michael DeNobile went to his favorite theater (Alamo Drafthouse in Yonkers, NY) was to see Disney’s Onward in March 2020, the week before the world locked down due to the pandemic. It’s good to be back at the Alamo. Life can be unfair. While we must be responsible for and own up to our own choices, when our superiors condone and create an environment for those choices to flourish, it is unfair when only we are punished and not them. In fact, it is even more unfair when they are rewarded in the long run. The odds are always in the house’s favor, regardless of the game. And if you are able to count cards and stay under the radar, you can create a sense of harmonic justice in the universe if yo...

Movie seen on August 12, 2021 at Oswego 7 Cinemas in Oswego, NY. THE IMPORTANCE OF GREATNESS: A REFLECTION ON THE FILM THE GREEN KNIGHT (2021) Michael DeNobile reviews the 2021 film The Green Knight and its moral implications. Michael DeNobile wishes to ask his audience, how is it that something written over six centuries ago still has relevance today? Not only that—but how can something written by a poet we know nothing about have intimate relevance so many centuries later? Is goodness enough? Or must we strive for greatness? Michael DeNobile challenges this: why can’t it be both? What if the keys to greatness, glory, honor, courage, renown, lie in simple acts of mundane goodness? The keeping of a promise? Giving without expectations? Loving another without conditions? Companionship and hospitality, whether for another human being or for an animal? Michel DeNobile acknowledges that life is ever fleeting; its transitoriness makes every choice we make that much more important...

  Originally watched on July 6, 2021 WHAT DOES SUEÑITO MEAN?: A REFLECTION OF IN THE HEIGHTS (2021)  Michael DeNobile reviews the 2021 film In the Heights and its historical significance. "What does sueñito mean?" In the iconic Washington Heights community, what happens to a dream deferred? Join us as we sing along to the dreams of the barrio of a tale as old as time yet told in a new and exciting way. If you've ever struggled to attain a dream, this is the movie for you! In the Heights is more than a musical, and comparing it to West Side Story doesn’t do it justice for its historical significance. Michael DeNobile believes that it’s more akin to Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972). Here’s DeNobile’s argument: While there were Italian characters in American film prior to The Godfather and even some that depicted the plight and culture of the Italian American experience, it was The Godfather that popularized Italian American culture like no movie...

A REFLECTION ON THE FILM DOWNFALL (2004) Michael DeNobile reviews the 2004 German film Downfall, and its historical significance.  "For me, the terrifying thing is that he [Hitler] was human, not an elephant or a monster from Mars. If he had been a monster rather than a man, it would take the guilt away from other people--from his millions of followers. A monster is capable of anything, but everyone knows that one man could never have puled it off alone."  ~Bernd Eichinger, producer of Downfall History can get dirty. It's painted in shades of ambiguous grey, not black and white. Sometimes the stories are difficult to tell. Oftentimes, is can be uncomfortable to share. Michael DeNobile asks readers, how does one share one's own uncomfortable history, parcelling out the condemnation of what was wrong while salvaging pride in one's own culture and history? As an American, Michael DeNobile recognizes that telling stories of the Civil War, especially if you're some...

It's been over two years since Michael DeNobile’s last movie reflection. He apologizes for being away so long. This isn't an excuse but an explanation: life happened and then the pandemic (which you would have thought would have given him more time but it actually didn't). However, he is back and is going to do a COVID series of many of the things he binged while in quarantine. But let's come back with a bang... A REFLECTION OF (WHAT WILL HOPEFULLY BE SEASON 1 OF) DISNEY+'S BIG SHOT Michael DeNobile provides a reflection of season one of Disney’s new series, Big Shot. Sacrifice. If there's anything the last year has taught us, it's what we have and are willing to sacrifice. It has also put life into perspective. Survival. Both literally and metaphorically, the last year has also taught us about survival, as human beings, as families, as communities, as a society. Strength. It's more than just a Kelly Clarkson lyric, what doesn't kill you truly does m...

The Game of Thrones Collection Game of Thrones: All 6 Seasons These are quick links to my reviews of all 6 seasons of Game of Thrones: Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Season 6 ~Michael DeNobile

A REFLECTION ON SEASON 6 OF GAME OF THRONES Homecomings are bittersweet. While they bring us to a place of relative safety and security, they remind us of what we have lost and what we can never attain once again. Time is a commodity that, while gaining value over time, cannot be reimbursed once it is passed. Sometimes we can only go home for the weekend because we are not the person we once were. Our family just doesn't get it; we cannot be who we once were or we cannot be who they want us to be. And so, you must leave to set out on the next chapter. Other times, going home isn't a homecoming at all, empty of any sentiment, cold as dragonglass or Valyrian steel. Either way, home becomes a larger concept: home is where you love. In other words, that which you love the most becomes the place where home is. Recently, I was speaking with a Brazilian preacher from Rio de Janeiro who went back to Rio on a trip. He grew up there and had been living in the United States for a fe...

A REFLECTION ON SEASON 5 OF GAME OF THRONES We humans are stupid. We squabble over things we feel is of vital importance: power, pride, property, loyalty. Granted, individually these things can be seen as sacred, but when they distract and divide us, what good are they? They are nothing more than pillars of ash we struggle to hold on to. Institutions meant to uplift us can in their most radical forms harm us. Religion and economics, for example, can be uniting forces or they can destroy us from the inside out, until forces beyond our control decide our fate when it is too late to realize our faults. We fight wars amongst ourselves, pitting ourselves against one another for the most ridiculous of reasons: where and how one was raised, occupations, ideologies, whom we choose to love. We create value systems for who we feel is worthy and worth saving, condemning, ostracizing, uniting. Someone steals our toys, and we're plotting revenge before we are even certain we know who ...