Sunday, July 4, 2010

Back to the Future

In a movie filled with many of them, the best moment comes not in time travel related special effects sequence, but rather when the wimpy George knocks out Biff and the camera flashes to Lorraine, as she is lifted off the ground, and knows she has found her density (as George would call it) and we know that the young Marty will continue to exist and hopefully make it back to 1985 (the second best moment is his return trip). Back to the Future is now 25 years and anyone who has taken it cannot say that they have been touched in one way or another by the film. Aside from being a technical achievement of its time, it is a movie filled with characters we remember, relate to, and care about caught in a silly time travel plot that makes sense, that we care about, and that actually has us rooting for the hero (at a midnight screening last night, the crowd exploded in applause during the scene I described). Robert Zemeckis has crafted a masterpiece with ingenious scripting, casting, music, effects, and presentation. In scouring internet reviews today one critic said that it must be the most carefully scripted film of all time, a thought that I was wondering during the film. Another critic said, "if you don't like Back To The Future, it's difficult to believe that you like films at all."
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