Justin Cecil's Blog

  Not too long ago I mentioned a brief, bizarre nude scene in the Werner Herzog film “Heart of Glass.” Personally I’m not against nude scenes in movies at all, but I feel like they should at least kind of fit into the story and make sense. For this article I now want to discuss another strange nude scene from another European film, this time from the 2004 French movie “A Very Long Engagement.” “A Very Long Engagement” stars Audrey Tautou and was directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, both of whom were involved in “Amelie,” one of the first foreign films I ever saw. Jodie Foster, who is fluent in French in real life, also plays a supporting character. It tells the story of Mathilde, a sickly but beautiful young woman cursed with polio, who tries to find her presumed dead lover during the trials and tribulations of World War I. Throughout the film Mathilde meets soldiers and their lovers who suffered during the war, and there are several scenes showing the horrors of the First World W...

  “Animation can explain whatever the mind of man can conceive. This facility makes it the most versatile and explicit means of communication yet devised for quick mass appreciation.”           - Walt Disney           I’ve always been a big fan of animation. Like many children growing up I of course watched my share of cartoons and animated films, although I think I took it slightly further. As a child learning to read I began to devour books about pioneers like Walt Disney. As I grew into an adult I also grew into a fan of cinema, although I kept watching animated films and added to my knowledge about them. In fact I oftentimes found some animated films, whether or not they were primarily meant for children, to be more mature (especially thematically) than many comedies and other movies meant for a more adult audience (think of much of Adam Sandler’s work).   Recently I saw two animated works that not only e...

            “Everybody Loves Raymond” was one of those sitcoms that I grew up watching with my family. The acting and writing are great, and they have excellent episodes and scenarios. But as I grow older I find myself having a slightly harder time rewatching many of the episodes. Granted there are a lot of episodes that I think are absolute gems and still hold up, making me laugh out loud, such as the one with the Civil War reenactment, the one where they all discuss the meaning of life, and Marie’s sculpture. But honestly a lot of them now make me almost kind of cringe. As I look back on many of the episodes of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” I think to myself, “This marriage has no reason for being. Raymond and Debra need to get divorced.”             As I watched it growing up I thought to myself, “Well I guess this is kind of what marriage is like.” I thought this with mixed emotions to say the least. G...

           This is the third part of a series of blog articles. The first in the series can be read here . * * * Currently I am living abroad, teaching English to children in Hohhot, China. Even with the pandemic and all of the craziness of this year, I think this is probably the happiest I’ve been job-wise. But let’s go back a bit. After college I worked a couple of part-time jobs, working mainly as a sign twirler and at a college bookstore. Then I got offered a position as a gardener at the Baha’i World Centre in Israel (I had fallen in love with the Baha’i Faith in college). While I was there, I was honestly happier than I ever was in college. I explored places I had barely even dreamed about, and meet new friends (many of whom I’m still in touch with) from around the world. I worked hard underneath the Sun, with sweat constantly pouring down my body, but I was doing work I was proud of. I honestly felt like I gained a lot more from living in Israe...

This is the second part of a series of blog articles. The first in the series can be read here. * * *             I took a variety of electives in high school. During my freshman year I took another art class. The following year I took a keyboarding class. During my junior and senior years I took a mix of acting, photography, and sculpture. I also participated in multiple clubs after the school day was done, my favorite being Asian Club. Outside of class I fell in love with movies and the idea of filmmaking, renting both classic and foreign films from the local Blockbuster, developing my taste in them. I also dreamed of international travel, and began looking deeply into the possibility of backpacking through Europe.             By the time I graduated from high school I was debating between two main careers. I was considering going into filmmaking, maybe even becoming a ...

            I was born in Corpus Christi, Texas back in 1987. My Dad was in sales while my Mom was a former flight attendant (a job she would later return to). I had grandparents that had been in the military, and later on worked in hotels and grocery stores. Now I am currently living in China, teaching little kids English.             Did any of my parents or grandparents imagine that I would be here, doing what I’m doing now?             How did I get here? * * *             When I was a child, I had a plan already charted out for me. I first dreamed of being an astronaut at eight, and by the age of ten, I thought that I had the whole thing, practically my entire life, planned out perfectly. I would get a Bachelor’s degree (if not higher) in either engineering or one of the sciences, ...

            I came across a news article on my Facebook feed , and was reading some of the comments on it. The article and the comments were in response to the latest Christopher Nolan movie “Tenet” being pushed back until a later date. At least one of the commenters was saying that maybe it’s time movie theaters go extinct, like the way video rental stores are virtually non-existent. They reasoned that with the advancements in home media technology, and with the addition of this pandemic, that it was time to be done with movie theaters for good.               Personally I think movie theaters still have a place in our society, and should continue to exist.             Granted, at this point in time I think it’s beyond wise for movie theaters to withhold putting their films into theaters, thanks to this pandemic. And there have been a few ...