No Country for Old Men is not just a crime thriller or neo-Western; it’s a sparse, haunting meditation on determinism, morality, and the fragility of human order. Its themes have deepened in resonance as I’ve aged and witnessed increasing moral erosion and systemic absurdities.

Although Indigenous Australian and Japanese spiritual traditions arise from vastly different geographies and histories, both share a profound reverence for land, ancestors, and the unseen presence of spirits.

Hayao Miyazaki’s film Spirited Away, in which Shinto beliefs and Japanese imagination animate a story of spirits, purification, and balance.

Cry-Baby and The Breakfast Club represent two ends of the spectrum in cinematic portrayals of youth. Waters’ film thrives in camp excess, parodying rebellion as style, while Hughes pursues authenticity through dialogue and emotional revelation.

John Waters’ Cry-Baby (1990) and Tim Burton’s Wednesday (2022) present two very different examples of how subculture is portrayed and received. While Cry-Baby remained a niche cult parody of 1950s delinquent culture, Wednesday became one of Netflix’s biggest hits, mainstreaming gothic and outsider aesthetics for a global audience.

Toy Story is a heartbreaking experience. At its core, it is about the death of a parent, attachment, acceptance, and letting go - but told through the eyes of a child, with imagination, fun, and humour.

In both Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and Hot Fuzz (2007), belief is not simply an internal idea held by characters - it is a force that shapes identity, controls communities, and drives narrative change.

“Witness me!” A battle cry and one of the last cinematic memes I can remember. Sure, movies are re-made and copied and in a way, those are memes too, but I mean a real meme - a line of dialogue that’s quoted and said by thousands of people in their daily lives for years - that line that is instantly recognisable or tickles your memberberries.

Villeneuve constructs a cinematic universe in which nature is not conquered, but worshipped. The film critiques imperialism, industrialism, and religious manipulation yet never loses its sense of awe. It is science fiction that re-enchants the world, reminding us that even in a deterministic universe, there is mystery, agency, and meaning.

Dune positions free will not as an innate human right, but as a fragile illusion sustained by culture, belief, and ignorance of deeper systems at work.