Heat
The trouble with getting older is that even when you've seen films like this before, that 'before' could easily be 20+ years ago, as it is in this case with me and Heat. Loved it when I first saw it but I think the last time I saw it I was about 16? Insane to me that it's taken this long to get back around to it.
This time, however, I think I may have watched it under the perfect circumstances. It was Friday night, little man was in bed, wife had gone up to bed to read, I had the TV to myself, a whisky in my hand and just happened to spot that this had not long started on Sky Cinema. I'm not sure I would have planned to watch it had I sat and scrolled, but something about the choice being made for me made it all the more enjoyable.
Heat is a masterpiece, and I genuinely don't say that lightly. Everything about it is perfect to me, and now that I've watched it when I'm a little older, I'm noticing so much more. The moment that stuck with me this time around is the tunnel near the end of the movie. Saturated in bright, white light, Neil McCauley is moving towards what most likely would be a happy ending. He's out, he's away, he's breaking free of the self-imposed cycle that only ends in death and self-destruction. It's within his reach. Then, as you watch his face, you can see that he can't change who he is. It's always 'one last thing' that turns into another. He's greedy, he's stubborn, he wouldn't know what to do outside of this life, it's all he knows. A decision is made, his chance of a happy ending fades, and he descends into darkness once again.