I saw a lot of great movies in 2016 (the best so far being Arrival) but there are still too many I need to see before I can do a best-of list. So I was thinking of doing a “best of 2015 list,” since I spent 2016 catching up on all the movies I missed last year. But there’d be nothing interesting about my list, as it would be pretty similar to any film critic’s best of 2015 list. So I decided to do a unique list. Continue reading
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
We’ve completed the original trilogy of social anxiety in Star Wars, but now it’s time to start from the beginning. A time when the Jedi ruled the galaxy… Until there was a disturbance in the Force, and the Dark Side began to rise. Continue reading
Little Miss Sunshine is about a family who goes on a road trip across the country to bring seven-year-old Olive to compete in a beauty pageant. Included in the group are two characters, Frank and Dwayne, who show signs of social anxiety, though in different ways and for different reasons. Continue reading
Predestination may be the most mind-bending time travel movie I’ve ever seen…and I’ve seen them all. It’s not the best time travel movie. I still prefer Primer, Looper, and of course Back to the Future. But Predestination is the ultimate exploration of the paradoxes involved in time travel. Continue reading
Ghost World is about two teenage hipsters, Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson), struggling to navigate the real world after their high school graduation. When Enid plays a prank by responding to a personal ad in the newspaper, she and Rebecca meet Seymour (Steve Buscemi), an older man whom they view as a pathetic socially awkward loser. Continue reading
The Station Agent is about Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage, pre-Game of Thrones), a quiet dwarf who tries to live isolated from society, but after he inherits a train depot, several people in the town invade his life of solitude. Continue reading
I’ve written about social anxiety in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope and Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. Essentially the Dark Side is social anxiety, and the Force is mindfulness. Now the time has come to complete the trilogy with Part VI – Return of the Jedi. Continue reading
The Chumscrubber is about Dean (Jamie Bell) a high school loner whose only friend, Troy, commits suicide. Dean has to deal with school bullies who want him to steal a stash of prescription drugs from Troy’s room. Plus, he and the other kids in the town have to deal with their parents, who aren’t exactly model citizens themselves. Continue reading
I recently rewatched Memento, and even though I’ve seen the film several times before, I was still blown away. Christopher Nolan is my favorite filmmaker. Memento, The Prestige, The Dark Knight, Inception, and Interstellar, are some of my favorite movies of all time. Continue reading
Punch-Drunk Love is a Paul Thomas Anderson version of a romantic comedy between Barry and Lena, two shy, socially awkward characters. Continue reading
T.Z. Barry 