I have vivid memories of seeing the trailer for The Phantom Menace for the first time, and dissolving into a puddle of tears and emotion. Of course, it was 1998, so it was on the big screen instead of on my phone, but the new trailer for Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens still had the same effect all these years later. You can see the trailer on the big screen this weekend in front of any movie at 30 select theaters across the country, or you can see it right now right here. Check it out below and read on for my thoughts and analysis.
If I’m in a situation where I’m being completely honest, my answer is usually that Hook is my favorite film. It’s my de facto favorite movie, as it were. It’s the movie that means the most to me, and that I connect with in a way that surpasses all others. I think it’s a brilliant and remarkable movie, with some of the best sets ever created for the screen. I could (and probably will) write an essay about Hook’s brilliance, but I’ll save that for another time. I feel like Hook has been unfairly maligned through the years (it has a 29% on Rotten Tomatoes), though it does have a cult following. Even Spielberg has said critical things of it. I’m pretty defensive when it comes to Hook, because it does mean so much to me, so I often will name something else if I feel like there’s going to be an argument about it. On the other hand, I like defying expectations, and for a film buff to pick a critical flop from the 90’s as his favorite film often surprises people. I give this answer a lot when people who know that I’m a film buff ask me the question. But it is, in fact, my favorite film, even if it’s not always my answer. 
Jurassic Park is, to me, a perfect film, one of a very small handful of films which can not be improved in any way. 
I’ve never had a spot on the anti-Star Wars prequels bandwagon. When The Phantom Menace came out in 1999, I was 14 and a huge Star Wars fan. I was too young at the time to go to a midnight showing, so I had to wait all day to see the film that evening, and I could not sit still. By the time the 20th Century Fox fanfare started playing, I was in tears, and stayed that way through most of the film. I remember everyone in the theater enjoying it immensely, laughing and cheering throughout, and I saw it again two days later. Needless to say, I’m a Star Wars fanboy, and while my 28 viewings of the Star Wars saga films in the theater are not anything close to a record, it’s safe to say that I was in no way disappointed by the prequels.
The Love Pirate 