About two years ago, Blood In, Blood Out (1993) began to stream on Hulu. This was a topic of conversation between family and friends. Was this really happening? Only a few of us had VHS copies of the film. Maybe someone somewhere had burned it to a DVD when that was still a thing, but otherwise, it was mostly unavailable. Yet, it was a movie we all knew well. Who are we? Well, if Miklo, El Gallo Negro or VLF aren’t familiar to you, then you might not be part of the “we.” I will say this, there was never a Hastings (what, you still haven’t googled Hastings?) in either Amarillo, Albuquerque or Santa Fe that didn’t have Blood In, Blood Out all checked out on a Friday or Saturday night. Actually, I would bet some of us who have the VHS probably just never returned it to said Hastings.
Anyway, when Blood In, Blood Out returned to us, Shea Serrano shared an article that came up on one of my feeds and got me curious. Who is this Shea Serrano? He’s a journalist; he’s from San Antonio; he loves Blood In, Blood Out and he’s hilarious. So in the name of research, I bought Movies (And Other Things).
Let’s see. What’s the book like? It’s like devouring it all in about five hours while avoiding grading 39 online finals is what it’s like. It’s like laughing so loud the cat gets bugged and jumps off the couch is what it’s like.
Here’s some sample chapter titles:
“Who’s the better tough guy movie dog owner?”
“Were the Jurassic Park raptors just misunderstood?”
“Which movie death hurt you the most as an adult?”
“Which race was white-saviored the best by Kevin Costner?”
Think through these questions. You know you have ideas. Many of us are probably already thinking about John Wick and trying to figure out the trajectory of the Jurassic Park universe. Maybe you’re thinking My Girl, or Coco or in my case Carlito’s Way. Carlito almost makes it out. The billboard. The beach. Almost. Or maybe when Jimmy sees Chucho die in Mi Familia? And Costner? Does “Do you see that I am your friend?” ring a bell? Anyone?
All I’m saying is it’s so fun to read a book about movies by someone who genuinely loves all movies. There are pages upon pages dedicated to The Fast and the Furious franchise and the Halloween franchise and Face/Off and other seemingly random choices except they’re not. He’s arranged them perfectly and it definitely makes me think how random my own favorites would be. What questions might I come up with? Who knows?
What I do know is it’s fun trying to figure out who gets to sit at lunch with Regina George and exactly how traumatizing the opening to most Disney films is. Seriously, who okayed some of those first fifteen minutes of children’s films? Well, now that I think about it, it’s whoever okayed Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Return to Oz, The Last Unicorn, and Red Dawn to be marketed to elementary school students.
The list goes on and on. C’mon. You know you want to. Ask some questions. Make a list.
Wolverines unite! Gen X por vida!
Patricia Marie Perea 