Another Day of Moviegoing at AMC Theatres...

Gettin' ready to watch Until Dawn today!

A Day of Moviegoing at AMC Theatres...

Gettin' ready to watch The Accountant 2 today!

Remembering GLADIATOR a Quarter-Century Later...

25 years ago today, I went to the AMC 20 theater inside Puente Hills Mall to watch Gladiator for the first time. Needless to say, the Ridley Scott-directed Roman epic starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix and Connie Nielsen was my favorite movie of 2000...and now one of my favorite flicks of all time. Along with the amazing action sequences—ranging from the opening battle in Germania and the re-enactment of the Battle of Carthage to Maximus' (Crowe) final showdown with Emperor Commodus (Phoenix) inside the Colosseum—you also had Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard's hauntingly beautiful music score, and the memorable quotes below:

"What we do in life, echoes in eternity."

"If you find yourself alone, riding in green fields with the Sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium...and you are already dead!"

"Are you not entertained?!"

"The time for honoring yourself will soon be at an end, your highness."

"Tell me what you've been doing, busy little bee, or I shall strike down those dearest to you. You shall watch as I bathe in their blood."

"Am I not merciful?!"

"The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor. Striking story! But now, the people want to know how the story ends."
Granted, I had to Google the exact wording to the 'Elysium,' 'busy little bee' and 'the general who became a slave' quotes...but you get the point. Gladiator was also one of the first movies that I talked about when I started my main Blog 25 years ago this October!

Gladiator II was my favorte film of 2024, but its 2000 Oscar-winning predecessor will always be a movie that significantly enhanced my passion for cinema. Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Another Day of Moviegoing at AMC Theatres...

Happy Star Wars Day! Gettin' ready to watch The Amateur this afternoon...

A Day of Moviegoing at AMC Theatres...

Gettin' ready to watch Thunderbolts* today!

A Day of Moviegoing at Regal Edwards...

Since I got off work early today, I decided to watch Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith on the big screen again!

A Day of Moviegoing at AMC Theatres...

Gettin' ready to watch Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (which celebrates the 20th anniversary of its theatrical release next month) today...

The last time I saw Revenge of the Sith at the movie theater was on July 10, 2005 (according to my personal journal)!

Another Day of Moviegoing at AMC Theatres...

Gettin' ready to watch Sinners today!

A Day of Moviegoing at AMC Theatres...

Gettin' ready to watch A Minecraft Movie today!

A Cool Bit of Casting That I'd Like to See for a Live-Action ROBOTECH Film...

So in the wake of her rising stardom after appearing as Mook in the hit HBO TV series The White Lotus, it occurred to me that Lalisa Manoban—best known as Lisa on the Korean pop group Blackpink—would be awesome as Lin Minmei in a live-action Robotech film!

For those of you not familiar with Robotech, this classic 1980's cartoon is an American adaptation of three Japanese anime series: Super Dimension Fortress (SDF) Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA. Minmei is a character from SDF Macross.

The reason why I think Lisa would be awesome as Minmei is because this Macross character is an idol singer and film star, just like Lisa in real life, who uses her songs to confuse enemy Zentradi forces as this alien species wages war against the humans living on the SDF-1 Macross spaceship (shown above).

Minmei would be an interesting role for Lisa, as the blue-haired singer is caught up in a love triangle with Rick Hunter (Macross' hotshot fighter pilot and chief protagonist) and Lisa Hayes, the ranking first officer aboard SDF-1.

Minmei would be a scene-chewing role for Lisa—especially when Minmei, or at least a hologram of her, flies off into battle to sing her enchanting songs as Macross Veritech fighters take on the Zentradi in deep space or on Earth.

There have been talks about a Robotech feature film for over 15 years now...with Spider-Man's Tobey Maguire initially taking the helm on bringing this cool animated series to the big screen. When Robotech does get greenlit for production (by Sony Pictures), hopefully Lisa will be considered for a role in this movie.

One can only dream!

So am I the only one who thinks that Lalisa would be awesome as Minmei in a live-action ROBOTECH film?#Macross #BLACKPINK #WhiteLotus pic.twitter.com/VAXz6RAqHM

— Richard Par (@RichTPar) April 14, 2025