Murtada Gives Thanks
Wednesday, November 25, 2015 at 12:50PM 
Hello it's me. Murtada. Adele and Aidy Bryant doing Adele are two things I'm thankful for this year. There is more
I'm thankful for...
...Nathaniel and The Film Experience. For the readers and those who engage in the comments. For this lovely oasis of a community.
...all the feelings Carey Mulligan made me feel this year. On stage in Skylight. On screen in Far From the Madding Crowd and Suffragette.
...the emotional high Meryl Streep gave me with the last few minutes of Ricki and the Flash.
...Dee Rees finally making another movie after Pariah.
...for the girls of Girlhood singing and dancing to Rihanna's Diamonds.
...movies that took my breath away. Sicario and Slow West.
...the quiet but tumultuous duet of Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay in 45 Years.
...dancing ladies; Olivia Colman in The Lobster and Zhao Tao in Mountains May Depart.
...seeing the most beautiful languid walking ever put on screen in The Assasin.
...Liev Schreiber's calm authority in Spotlight.
...Peter Sarsgaard making Black Mass tolerable for a few minutes.
...seeing Chiwetel Ejiofor in 3 movies this year.
... the nasty surprise in Nasty Baby. For provoking its audience and upending expectations of what a movie about Brooklyn hipsters can be.
...the joy in Tangerine.
...the tears that Brooklyn rung out of me.
And finally ........
For Carol.
For its many delightful and vocal fans. It’s a movement!
For Todd Haynes being in theaters after a long absence.
For Phyllis Nagy’s brilliant script. And for her warmth on Twitter.
For finally 'getting' Rooney Mara and falling in love with her.
For Cate Blanchett continuing her glorious return to movies which started with Blue Jasmine. For my own small fan moment with her.
Murtada Elfadl finally understood what magic was when he saw Debra Winger in An Officer and a Gentleman. He’s been mesmerized by movies ever since. From Khartoum, Sudan he decided to move to New York City when he got a New Yorker subscription at the age of 15. Many years later, the city remains his favorite place, he just wishes more movies in Arabic played here. He tweets and blogs as ME_Says.
Reader Comments (7)
That Cate moment just makes me giggle and swoon in delight
This is such a wonderful list for how full it is of cinematic joy, not just the everything of Carol, but that dance scene from Girlhood which gave me goosebumps. Such exuberant camaraderie!
Adele First - perfect choice,
Cate Last - perfect choice
The New Yorker - timeless.
Seconded with Elizabeth Debicki and the couch silde. I also loved when she was on her way to murder Henry Cavill but wrapped her hair up to make sure her it wouldn't be messed up on the high speed drive to the hotel. Just because you're about to kill someone, it doesn't mean you can't look fabulous while doing it. Honestly all her looks in that movie were the best.
(I still don't get Rooney Mara but I still haven't seen Carol.)
Great list :) I am happy to be part of the Carol movement! I wish I lived in America or the UK. The wait for the Australian release is really killllllllling me. I feel flung out of space, and not in a good way.
Thanks everyone for the kind comments and happy Thanksgiving.
So grateful for you, Murtada!