#kyle cabral

[browsethestacks]

“The Crossing” by Kyle Cabral

They played in the morning,

and napped for an afternoon.

Then, they fell in love at dusk,

and walked together until midnight.

[kyleesie]

A Year in Review: Movies I Watched in 2016

Those of you who know me well know that I watch A LOT of movies. As a kid, going to the theatre was a family past-time, and my parents were my number one movie-watching buddies. To this day, it remains one of my favorite ways to escape reality and share time, experiences, and thoughts with those I care about most.

I started collecting ticket stubs when I was young, but it was an inconsistent endeavor and I’m pretty sure I’ve thrown all of them out by now. Only in the past couple of years have I become more strict about collecting. Now that I buy most of my tickets online, I still make sure to get them printed at the theatre when I arrive. For me, each ticket, each movie, was a memory of what I saw, who I was with, what I felt, what I thought, and what I did all throughout that day. It became a diary of sorts - that centered my life around the stories and worlds that I wanted to live in or tell myself.

It only recently occurred to me to keep an actual list of all the movies I’ve seen in one full year. I started doing so back in 2015, but like my ticket collecting, it was a half-hearted hobby, and I logged only the titles of the films I saw. So, in 2016, I set out to create a more detailed account and began tracking the theatres I attended, the date, the time, and who I saw it with. I later tacked on my own critic and enjoyment ratings, because, ya know, everyone has an opinion and I wanted to remember mine.

Anyway, pardon the self-indulgent writing, but without further ado, here’s the list, in chronological order, of all the new films I’ve watched in theatres from January to December in 2016:

The Hateful Eight: 70 mm Roadshow The Revenant The Danish Girl Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Deadpool Zootopia 10 Cloverfield Lane The Witch Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice The Jungle Book Captain America: Civil War X-Men: Apocalypse WarCraft Finding Dory The Purge: Election Year Ghostbusters Start Trek Beyond Suicide Squad The Secret Life of Pets Jason Bourne Kubo and The Two Strings Don't Breathe Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Boo! A Madea Halloween Pokémon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back Doctor Strange Arrival Moana Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Rogue One: A Star Wars Story La La Land Collateral Beauty Assassin's Creed

And here’s a breakdown of all the films, prioritized in order from best to worst in their respective categories:

BEST 5 MOVIES (must watch, they were awe-inspiring and revelational) La La Land Moana Arrival Don’t Breathe Kubo and The Two Strings

WORST 5 MOVIES (don’t bother, my brain was either shut off or died at some point) Suicide Squad Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Ghostbusters Assassin’s Creed X-Men: Apocalypse

HONORABLE MENTIONS (perfect or not, I kinda just really like them, so...) The Revenant Captain America: Civil War  Zootopia Collateral Beauty Rogue One: A Star Wars Story The Hateful Eight: 70 mm Roadshow 10 Cloverfield Lane Deadpool

BEST MOVIE OF 2016: La La Land WORST MOVIE OF 2016: X-Men: Apocalypse MISSED MOVIES (I really wanted to watch them, but didn’t get to) Nocturnal Animals Moonlight The Handmaiden Fences The Huntsman: Winter’s War Looking back on the year, I’ve come to realize that although I’ve become decidedly disillusioned by superhero movies and most animated films (namely Pixar’s films - sorrynotsorry), they will, most of the time, be well-produced and well-told stories, with enjoyable characters, and overall satisfying experiences. Regardless, that alone does not make them outstanding pieces of cinema. Superhero movies have become the blockbuster, tent-pole films of our generation, and while I’m glad Marvel has figured out a way to make them popular and profitable (with the exception of Fox’s X-Men franchise and DC, who both REALLY still need to get their shit together - still holding out hope fro Wonder Woman tho...), they’ve also now raised the bar for themselves. Nothing short of a genre-breaking/redefining superhero movie will stand out in the massive and masterfully crafted cinematic universe that they’ve created. Video game movies though, apparently, still have a lot to learn (PLEASE don’t fuck up the Tomb Raider reboot!) As far as animation goes, Pixar, for me at least, seems to be suffering the same stigma - all their movies are amazing and super well-made, but not really memorable. With that in mind, it’s ironic to me that the villain in my favorite film of theirs, The Incredibles, foreshadowed their current fate when he said: “When everyone’s super... NO ONE will be...” In contrast, although Disney’s movies aren’t exactly perfectly produced, it at least appears that they’re taking risks in the messages and themes of the stories they’re telling. They’re pushing and poking boundaries with cultural representation and social subject matter. Granted, their handling of such topics is still somewhat clunky and controversial, but I appreciate that their voice is evolving and adjusting to the modern world and diversity of people around it. Now that I think about it, it is that clarity, freshness, and uniqueness of voice that is probably the greatest common factor shared among my top 5 moves of the year. Whether it’s through style, themes, message, character, or literal language and vocals (or lack there of), each film expresses its story with a voice so clear that it rings out, distinct above the din of drama, and echoes still, strong as ever, inside my heart and mind.

Also, as I mentioend before, movies are one of my favorite ways to spend time with those I love while enjoying something I'm passionate about. So here's a short list of my friends and loved ones who've accompanied me the most on these cinematic adventures: TOP 5 MOVIE BUDDIES Sean (33 times) Raad (11 times) David (7 times) Stacey (7 times) Daniel (6 times) I don't know if I could ever thank Sean enough for basically watching every single movie with me this past year! The one film we didn't see together he still showed up to the theatre afterwards to wish me a happy birthday. THANK YOU, my Sean and stars! XOXO

[kyleesie]

Every now and then, my boyfriend will have these really random moments where he says or does something completely out of the blue. Sometimes they’re funny, sometimes they’re complete nonsense, but all of the time they’re just very uniquely him. They became such a frequent occurrence that I naturally decided to start recording them in hopes of one day making a little comic strip and sharing it with the world. I figured it would serve as really great drawing practice and be a cute way to chronicle and remember exactly What He Said.