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Dazed and Confused is up there with the best in the coming-of-age genre. It's retained its power and charm 30 years past its making and still feels fresh and young. Watching it recently, I had trouble finding a main theme: avoiding conformity, not taking life too seriously, the bonds of friendship? I don't think there is one — it's just an aimless hang and a nostalgic look back on when things were a little better and a little worse for high schoolers. What the movie does have is a packed car of brilliant performances from its soon-to-be-star-studded cast. Sure, we all love McConaughey, but he's actually barely in the movie. The majority of the film follows lead actors who never made a big splash afterward, and it's the side characters who went on to greatness. What a bunch of characters! Rory Cochrane, Parker Posey, Adam Goldberg, and Ben Affleck provide memorable, quotable moments that are locked in my memory more firmly than my own experiences in school. The music is great and the cinematography is better than you remember. Take a look at the foosball drop shot when the Emporium is introduced. I had to rewind a couple of times to figure out just how they got a moving camera behind and inside the table. It's something that would be done with CGI these days, but back in the '90s Linklater and his indie peers had to build fun shots on the cheap. I'd argue Dazed and Confused remains a perennial favorite because of its craftsmanship in cinematography as much as its famous performances. This is the movie where the universe all came together, man. I've never met someone who didn't enjoy this movie, alright?

"The Grey Fox" is one of the prettier Westerns I've ever seen and came as a pleasant surprise. I expected an action-filled heist movie, and instead got a slow-paced, philosophical film closer to "McCabe & Mrs. Miller." It is filled with sweeping shots of the Pacific Northwest, hazy and transcendent, and seems to always capture the light of the veranda at just the right moment. It's a movie that feels absolutely authentic in its creation, with period clothing, automobiles, trains, and sets. Where a lot of movies feel constructed, "The Grey Fox" feels well lived-in. If they gave an Oscar for location scouting, surely "The Grey Fox" would have won. Richard Farnsworth always finds himself playing quiet, earnest personas, whether it's in "The Natural" or Lynch's late gem "The Straight Story." Here he plays that character best as Bill Miner, the "gentleman bandit" using old tricks to rob trains in the new century. He's instantly liked by old ladies, young boys, and even the local constabulary. Farnsworth is also the only person who can wear a mustache better than Sam Elliott. As much as I enjoyed the movie, it certainly runs into a wall near the end. The climax is delivered through title cards reminiscent of silent film. In fact, many portions of the movie steal liberally from classics like "The Great Train Robbery" and "The General." While this makes for a beautiful, referential film, it doesn't always make for an exciting one. Maybe that's the point. Train robbing doesn't need to happen every day, just when you get bored enough with the doldrums of the moment.