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F This Movie! — TV & Film
F This Movie!

Movie love for movie lovers.

Latest Episodes:

Review: THE BRUTALIST Nov 22, 2024
by Rob DiCristino
“Dreams slip away.”
If you plan to buy a ticket for The Brutalist at any point over the next few weeks, you probably already know a few things about it: You probably know that Brady Corbet’s period drama runs more than three-and-a-half hours in length, including an intermission and epilogue. You probably know that it’s the first major film in decades to be shot in VistaVision (a horizontal variant of 35mm usually used for big-budget adventure films) and that it premiered at the Venice Film Festival — where Corbet won the Silver Lion for his direction — projected on twenty-six reels of 70mm film. You might even be familiar with brutalist architecture, a school of midcentury design that molds large slabs of concrete into rough and angular shapes that give the structures they produce a cold, resolute, and oppressive look. Brutalism favors texture and substance over gloss and aesthetics, making it fitting subject matter for a devastating epic that reveals the harsh reality of the immigrant experience and the wasting rot at the heart of the American Dream.The first of The Brutalist’s two massive acts begins in 1947, when Hungarian architect and Holocaust survivor László Tóth (Adrien Brody) sets eyes upon America for the first time. Though we cannot imagine the horrors that have forced László to these shores — we only know that he left a wife (Felicity Jones as Erzsébet) and a niece (Raffey Cassidy as Zsófia) mired in bureaucratic red tape in Budapest — Corbet abruptly drop-kicking his camera to reveal an upside-down Statue of Liberty leaves us less than convinced that those horrors have come to an end. It’s a decidedly unsubtle bit of foreshadowing that we’re compelled to ignore, however, when László’s cousin Attila (Alessandro Nivola) recruits him as a partner in his fledgling furniture business. Attila is the very picture of assimilation: He’s Americanized his name — Miller, not Mueller — married a blonde shiksa (Emma Laird as Audrey), and enthusiastically surrendered to the wonders of capitalism. With László’s genius now at his disposal, Attila intends to build an American empire of his very own.
Their first opportunity comes from delightfully-WASPy Philadelphia industrialist Harry Lee Van Buren (Joe Alwyn), who wants to surprise his father (Guy Pearce as Harrison) by turning his beloved study into a proper library. Though initially taken aback by the presumption of such a poorly-scrubbed immigrant, the imperious Harrison soon recognizes László’s talents and appropriates them in the design and construction of a massive multipurpose community center atop a hill in nearby Doylestown. Supposedly a memorial to his late mother, the center will actually serve as a monument to Harrison’s self-declared victory over free enterprise, a grand offering of fealty to American exceptionalism. But as László reaps the rewards of this arrangement — including sufficient political influence to secure Erzsébet and Zsófia passage to the United States — he must also endure the throes of opioid addiction, his wife’s painful osteoporosis, and the crushing weight of a traumatic past he suspects will never truly leave him in peace.That past haunts The Brutalist as it marches through a second act paralleling the community center’s erection and the Tóths’ disillusionment with the nation it means to celebrate. “We tolerate you,” Harry Jr. boasts after too much liquor. “They don’t want us here,” László is forced to conclude. Erzsébet, for her part, sees these Americans for the opportunistic cretins they are, figurative and — eventually — literal rapists who never had any intention of welcoming László’s kind to the fold. When Harrison’s entrepreneurial vigor finally sours into paternalistic rage, László realizes that he can no longer stomach the hypocrisy of a country that claims to have earned the treasure it pilfered as the rest of the world was bleeding to death. Corbet literalizes this molestation in a clumsily-staged final sequence as blunt and obvious as his first look at Lady Liberty, and your mileage will vary on whether or not he needed have brutalized us in such bold terms just to make a self-evident point about the caustic relationship between management and labor.
Eager Letterboxd Bros shouldn’t fret, however, as The Brutalist is nonetheless an achievement worthy of both its demanding running time — if anything, it might have benefited from a few extra minutes to smooth out a needlessly hurried climax — and of Adrien Brody’s stunning lead performance. All cheekbones and sinew, Brody imbues László with the sheepish altruism we’ve seen in treacly Hollywood immigrant stories and the haunted desolation suffered by survivors of real-world atrocities. But rather than jamming these attitudes together cacophonously, Brody keeps them in conversation as László grapples with whether or not America is ultimately worth his trouble. He’s well matched by a sterling Guy Pearce, who balances Harrison’s turgid entitlement on the right side of charming up until the very moment it needs to become terrifying. It’s the best work either actor has been given the opportunity to do in many years, a pair of front-running performances poised to lead an awards season sorely lacking in any serious contenders.And though The Brutalist is principally driven by its remarkable scale, a verticality of both form and structure that complements a decades-spanning epic about the intersection between industry and identity, Corbet and co-writer Mona Fastvold save its most profound revelation for a quiet epilogue that puts László’s work in a startling new context. If all art is rooted in autobiography, if the very act of artistic expression is fundamentally a personal and political exercise, then the Doylestown project is not an expression of the Van Burens’ glory but of László’s pain. It’s a prison he’s built for his trauma, a holy site at which he can exercise the demons that have plagued him since his arrival. But as he tries and fails to take hold of an American Dream held just out of his grasp, it becomes a monolith to the incompatibility of his past and present, a reminder that power and peace are not given to anyone; they are taken. Stolen. The America of The Brutalist is built on hate, fear, and jealousy, and László has more than sufficient experience with all three to know just how to memorialize them in slabs of cold, unforgiving concrete.
The Brutalist is in limited theatrical release now.

Review: THE BRUTALIST Nov 22, 2024
by Rob DiCristino
“Dreams slip away.”
If you plan to buy a ticket for The Brutalist at any point over the next few weeks, you probably already know a few things about it: You probably know that Brady Corbet’s period drama runs more than three-and-a-half hours in length, including an intermission and epilogue. You probably know that it’s the first major film in decades to be shot in VistaVision (a horizontal variant of 35mm usually used for big-budget adventure films) and that it premiered at the Venice Film Festival — where Corbet won the Silver Lion for his direction — projected on twenty-six reels of 70mm film. You might even be familiar with brutalist architecture, a school of midcentury design that molds large slabs of concrete into rough and angular shapes that give the structures they produce a cold, resolute, and oppressive look. Brutalism favors texture and substance over gloss and aesthetics, making it fitting subject matter for a devastating epic that reveals the harsh reality of the immigrant experience and the wasting rot at the heart of the American Dream.The first of The Brutalist’s two massive acts begins in 1947, when Hungarian architect and Holocaust survivor László Tóth (Adrien Brody) sets eyes upon America for the first time. Though we cannot imagine the horrors that have forced László to these shores — we only know that he left a wife (Felicity Jones as Erzsébet) and a niece (Raffey Cassidy as Zsófia) mired in bureaucratic red tape in Budapest — Corbet abruptly drop-kicking his camera to reveal an upside-down Statue of Liberty leaves us less than convinced that those horrors have come to an end. It’s a decidedly unsubtle bit of foreshadowing that we’re compelled to ignore, however, when László’s cousin Attila (Alessandro Nivola) recruits him as a partner in his fledgling furniture business. Attila is the very picture of assimilation: He’s Americanized his name — Miller, not Mueller — married a blonde shiksa (Emma Laird as Audrey), and enthusiastically surrendered to the wonders of capitalism. With László’s genius now at his disposal, Attila intends to build an American empire of his very own.
Their first opportunity comes from delightfully-WASPy Philadelphia industrialist Harry Lee Van Buren (Joe Alwyn), who wants to surprise his father (Guy Pearce as Harrison) by turning his beloved study into a proper library. Though initially taken aback by the presumption of such a poorly-scrubbed immigrant, the imperious Harrison soon recognizes László’s talents and appropriates them in the design and construction of a massive multipurpose community center atop a hill in nearby Doylestown. Supposedly a memorial to his late mother, the center will actually serve as a monument to Harrison’s self-declared victory over free enterprise, a grand offering of fealty to American exceptionalism. But as László reaps the rewards of this arrangement — including sufficient political influence to secure Erzsébet and Zsófia passage to the United States — he must also endure the throes of opioid addiction, his wife’s painful osteoporosis, and the crushing weight of a traumatic past he suspects will never truly leave him in peace.That past haunts The Brutalist as it marches through a second act paralleling the community center’s erection and the Tóths’ disillusionment with the nation it means to celebrate. “We tolerate you,” Harry Jr. boasts after too much liquor. “They don’t want us here,” László is forced to conclude. Erzsébet, for her part, sees these Americans for the opportunistic cretins they are, figurative and — eventually — literal rapists who never had any intention of welcoming László’s kind to the fold. When Harrison’s entrepreneurial vigor finally sours into paternalistic rage, László realizes that he can no longer stomach the hypocrisy of a country that claims to have earned the treasure it pilfered as the rest of the world was bleeding to death. Corbet literalizes this molestation in a clumsily-staged final sequence as blunt and obvious as his first look at Lady Liberty, and your mileage will vary on whether or not he needed have brutalized us in such bold terms just to make a self-evident point about the caustic relationship between management and labor.
Eager Letterboxd Bros shouldn’t fret, however, as The Brutalist is nonetheless an achievement worthy of both its demanding running time — if anything, it might have benefited from a few extra minutes to smooth out a needlessly hurried climax — and of Adrien Brody’s stunning lead performance. All cheekbones and sinew, Brody imbues László with the sheepish altruism we’ve seen in treacly Hollywood immigrant stories and the haunted desolation suffered by survivors of real-world atrocities. But rather than jamming these attitudes together cacophonously, Brody keeps them in conversation as László grapples with whether or not America is ultimately worth his trouble. He’s well matched by a sterling Guy Pearce, who balances Harrison’s turgid entitlement on the right side of charming up until the very moment it needs to become terrifying. It’s the best work either actor has been given the opportunity to do in many years, a pair of front-running performances poised to lead an awards season sorely lacking in any serious contenders.And though The Brutalist is principally driven by its remarkable scale, a verticality of both form and structure that complements a decades-spanning epic about the intersection between industry and identity, Corbet and co-writer Mona Fastvold save its most profound revelation for a quiet epilogue that puts László’s work in a startling new context. If all art is rooted in autobiography, if the very act of artistic expression is fundamentally a personal and political exercise, then the Doylestown project is not an expression of the Van Burens’ glory but of László’s pain. It’s a prison he’s built for his trauma, a holy site at which he can exercise the demons that have plagued him since his arrival. But as he tries and fails to take hold of an American Dream held just out of his grasp, it becomes a monolith to the incompatibility of his past and present, a reminder that power and peace are not given to anyone; they are taken. Stolen. The America of The Brutalist is built on hate, fear, and jealousy, and László has more than sufficient experience with all three to know just how to memorialize them in slabs of cold, unforgiving concrete.
The Brutalist is in limited theatrical release now.

Reserved Seating: LIBERTY HEIGHTS Nov 21, 2024
The review duo who are creeped out by Ben Foster.

FTM 749: ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES Nov 20, 2024
Everything Patrick and Adam Riske do they do it for you.
Download this episode here.
Listen to F This Movie! on Apple Podcasts.
Also discussed this episode: A New Leaf (1971), Mikey & Nicky (1976), The Heartbreak Kid (1972), Taking Care of Business (1990), Fantasia (1940), Memphis Belle (1990), In Good Company (2004), Urban Cowboy (1980), Escape from L.A. (1996), Marnie (1964), Juror No. 2 (2024), Most Wanted (1997)

Johnny Deadline: 12 Bald Heads in Movies Nov 19, 2024
by JB
“Look at that! Two bald men in the back of the room.
Put your heads together, make an ass of yourselves.”
--Rodney Dangerfield
This week, friend of the site Lauren Keliher posed an interesting question to members of the F This Movie staff: “Please help my brain. What movie is this: a man and woman are kneeling on a bed in white underpants. The woman is slathering the man’s bald head with some sort of condiment (Mustard? Ketchup? Mayo?) with a rubber spatula. Maybe mid-'80s? That’s all I've got.” It was enough to send us all tumbling down that particular rabbit hole, and I began to search for an answer. Her fevered imagination even provided us with an “artist’s rendering” of her fever dream:It wasn’t the strange bald man getting his head shaved while traveling on a city bus in Bill Murray’s Quick Change, was it?
No.
Was she thinking of George Costanza dipping his bald head in oil and rubbing it all over a private nurse on Seinfeld?
No.
So many wrong answers. Would our dear Lauren ever be satisfied?
SPOILER ALERT: She eventually found her answer, but you, dear readers, will need to wait until the end of the column. (Or just scroll down there right now. You’re a baby, I can’t control you.) Suffice it to say, all this spatula nonsense got me thinking! About baldness.
I am a bald man. I don’t say this proudly. I wish I had a full head of hair. Nature just threw me a dirty curve. Most days, my vanity and my chilly pate necessitate a baseball cap. I own dozens; I once heard them called “the rock-and-roll toupee.” I pine for my high-school days when I had both a harvest gold DYMO label maker and a full head of hair. Bright red! Go figure.
Here is a crazy list of memorable baldies in the movies. Note how many are villains. Hollywood typecasting at its worst.1. Gert Fröbe in Goldfinger (1964). Poor Auric Goldfinger—if only he had a full head of hair and were just a little more attractive to women, he would not have to pay Shirley Eaton to be seen with him; he could drop the criminal mastermind shtick; and he'd be free to enjoy a life devoted to mint juleps, race horses, and mineralogy without MURDERING SPIES. If only...2. Joe Pantoliano in Amazon Women on the Moon (1987). In one segment of this hit-or-miss sketch comedy film, sad sack Joe is featured in a commercial for getting your bald head "loomed"—that is, having plush carpet stapled to it. Hilarious. Hey, you can swim in it!

3. Persis Khambatta in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Demi Moore in GI Jane (1997), and Natalie Portman in V for Vendetta (2005). These three beautiful actors shave their heads for roles in big budget Hollywood movies and they get all the attention. I lose my hair through stress, heredity, and attacks from nesting crows, and I am consigned to the Bald Men Dust Bin of history. (Single tear.)
4. Ben Kingsley in Gandhi (1982). Poor Mahatma Gandhi—if only he had a full head of hair and were just a little more attractive to women, he would not need to diet so severely in an attempt to protest colonial politics; he could drop the national martyr shtick; and he'd be free to enjoy a life devoted to Lamb Vindaloo, Dal Makhana, Pakora, Kofta, Korma, Biryani, Kebabs, and grandchildren. If only...
5. Lawrence Tierney in Reservoir Dogs (1992). Tough customer Tierney, who actually had several real-life “brushes with the law” after his initial fame in low budget films noir, found it hard to get along with the cast and crew of both Reservoir Dogs and Seinfeld. The latter cast was afraid of him, for real, and he and Tarantino almost came to blows during the former film’s production. Could his lingering bitterness over shedding his leading man locks have had anything to do with his sourness and rotten attitude? A character in Reservoir Dogs describes Tierney as looking like Benn Grimm’s The Thing in the Fantastic Four comic books. Locks beats rocks, baby.6. Gene Hackman in Superman (1978). If only he had a full head of hair and were just a little more attractive to women, Lex Luthor would not have wanted to hatch a scheme to blow up the entire West Coast, turning Arizona into prime, ocean-front real estate. He could have focused on personal enrichment classes; invested in daddy-issues therapy; and worked on healthier relationships with both Miss Tessmacher and Otis. If only...7. Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now (1979). If only he had a full head of hair and were just a little more attractive to women, Colonel Kurtz could have turned his attention to any number of things beside “The horror, the horror!” of his shiny bald pate. If only...8. Max Shrek in Nosferatu (1922). Have you seen this fucker? This movie is more than 100 years old. This guy is still terrifying! Hollywood knows this. A remake is being released this Christmas. Does the baldness have something to do with it? You bet your sweet ass. "Smooth head, German dread" says everyone.9. Curly Howard in The Three Stooges shorts. History records that young Jerome Lester Horwitz willingly shaved both his moustache and his head when asked to join the family comedy team when brother Shemp dropped out to go solo. History also records that "ladies' man" Jerry was not happy when the very catalyst of his fame rendered him well-nigh repugnant to women. This fact is not helped a bit when one factors in my pet theory: what most American women really hate about the Stooges is that they accurately portray how men behave with no women around. A double whammy. Maybe he was just a victim of soicumstance?10. Claude Earl Jones in I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978). AND WE HAVE OUR ANSWER! It turns out that Lauren was thinking of the scene in Robert Zemeckis’s film debut in which hooker Kristine DeBell slathers gunk on client Claude Earl Jones, playing condiment-curious “Al.” I couldn’t find this actor’s name anywhere online. I resorted to spinning the Criterion Collection disc to discover who was playing this small but memorable part.
In watching the scene, I noticed that the character of Al was not quite bald; thinning certainly, but not full chrome-dome. Could Al have come up with the cure for baldness?! Could paying sex workers to slather your skull with hot dog dressings be the answer that every bald man on the planet has been waiting for?!
I had to find out. Now we wait and see.

Johnny Deadline: 12 Bald Heads in Movies Nov 19, 2024
by JB
“Look at that! Two bald men in the back of the room.
Put your heads together, make an ass of yourselves.”
--Rodney Dangerfield
This week, friend of the site Lauren Keliher posed an interesting question to members of the F This Movie staff: “Please help my brain. What movie is this: a man and woman are kneeling on a bed in white underpants. The woman is slathering the man’s bald head with some sort of condiment (Mustard? Ketchup? Mayo?) with a rubber spatula. Maybe mid-'80s? That’s all I've got.” It was enough to send us all tumbling down that particular rabbit hole, and I began to search for an answer. Her fevered imagination even provided us with an “artist’s rendering” of her fever dream:It wasn’t the strange bald man getting his head shaved while traveling on a city bus in Bill Murray’s Quick Change, was it?
No.
Was she thinking of George Costanza dipping his bald head in oil and rubbing it all over a private nurse on Seinfeld?
No.
So many wrong answers. Would our dear Lauren ever be satisfied?
SPOILER ALERT: She eventually found her answer, but you, dear readers, will need to wait until the end of the column. (Or just scroll down there right now. You’re a baby, I can’t control you.) Suffice it to say, all this spatula nonsense got me thinking! About baldness.
I am a bald man. I don’t say this proudly. I wish I had a full head of hair. Nature just threw me a dirty curve. Most days, my vanity and my chilly pate necessitate a baseball cap. I own dozens; I once heard them called “the rock-and-roll toupee.” I pine for my high-school days when I had both a harvest gold DYMO label maker and a full head of hair. Bright red! Go figure.
Here is a crazy list of memorable baldies in the movies. Note how many are villains. Hollywood typecasting at its worst.1. Gert Fröbe in Goldfinger (1964). Poor Auric Goldfinger—if only he had a full head of hair and were just a little more attractive to women, he would not have to pay Shirley Eaton to be seen with him; he could drop the criminal mastermind shtick; and he'd be free to enjoy a life devoted to mint juleps, race horses, and mineralogy without MURDERING SPIES. If only...2. Joe Pantoliano in Amazon Women on the Moon (1987). In one segment of this hit-or-miss sketch comedy film, sad sack Joe is featured in a commercial for getting your bald head "loomed"—that is, having plush carpet stapled to it. Hilarious. Hey, you can swim in it!

3. Persis Khambatta in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Demi Moore in GI Jane (1997), and Natalie Portman in V for Vendetta (2005). These three beautiful actors shave their heads for roles in big budget Hollywood movies and they get all the attention. I lose my hair through stress, heredity, and attacks from nesting crows, and I am consigned to the Bald Men Dust Bin of history. (Single tear.)
4. Ben Kingsley in Gandhi (1982). Poor Mahatma Gandhi—if only he had a full head of hair and were just a little more attractive to women, he would not need to diet so severely in an attempt to protest colonial politics; he could drop the national martyr shtick; and he'd be free to enjoy a life devoted to Lamb Vindaloo, Dal Makhana, Pakora, Kofta, Korma, Biryani, Kebabs, and grandchildren. If only...
5. Lawrence Tierney in Reservoir Dogs (1992). Tough customer Tierney, who actually had several real-life “brushes with the law” after his initial fame in low budget films noir, found it hard to get along with the cast and crew of both Reservoir Dogs and Seinfeld. The latter cast was afraid of him, for real, and he and Tarantino almost came to blows during the former film’s production. Could his lingering bitterness over shedding his leading man locks have had anything to do with his sourness and rotten attitude? A character in Reservoir Dogs describes Tierney as looking like Benn Grimm’s The Thing in the Fantastic Four comic books. Locks beats rocks, baby.6. Gene Hackman in Superman (1978). If only he had a full head of hair and were just a little more attractive to women, Lex Luthor would not have wanted to hatch a scheme to blow up the entire West Coast, turning Arizona into prime, ocean-front real estate. He could have focused on personal enrichment classes; invested in daddy-issues therapy; and worked on healthier relationships with both Miss Tessmacher and Otis. If only...7. Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now (1979). If only he had a full head of hair and were just a little more attractive to women, Colonel Kurtz could have turned his attention to any number of things beside “The horror, the horror!” of his shiny bald pate. If only...8. Max Shrek in Nosferatu (1922). Have you seen this fucker? This movie is more than 100 years old. This guy is still terrifying! Hollywood knows this. A remake is being released this Christmas. Does the baldness have something to do with it? You bet your sweet ass. "Smooth head, German dread" says everyone.9. Curly Howard in The Three Stooges shorts. History records that young Jerome Lester Horwitz willingly shaved both his moustache and his head when asked to join the family comedy team when brother Shemp dropped out to go solo. History also records that "ladies' man" Jerry was not happy when the very catalyst of his fame rendered him well-nigh repugnant to women. This fact is not helped a bit when one factors in my pet theory: what most American women really hate about the Stooges is that they accurately portray how men behave with no women around. A double whammy. Maybe he was just a victim of soicumstance?10. Claude Earl Jones in I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978). AND WE HAVE OUR ANSWER! It turns out that Lauren was thinking of the scene in Robert Zemeckis’s film debut in which hooker Kristine DeBell slathers gunk on client Claude Earl Jones, playing condiment-curious “Al.” I couldn’t find this actor’s name anywhere online. I resorted to spinning the Criterion Collection disc to discover who was playing this small but memorable part.
In watching the scene, I noticed that the character of Al was not quite bald; thinning certainly, but not full chrome-dome. Could Al have come up with the cure for baldness?! Could paying sex workers to slather your skull with hot dog dressings be the answer that every bald man on the planet has been waiting for?!
I had to find out. Now we wait and see.

Adam and Alison Watch Christmas Movies: MEET ME NEXT CHRISTMAS Nov 18, 2024
by Adam Thas & Alison Thas
Back for the 2024 Holiday Season!
Adam: We are barely into November and Netflix is dropping Christmas movies daily, so we decided to get in on the action with 2024’s Meet Me Next Christmas. Let’s talk about screenplays real quick. In a basic screenplay, your main character goes through a life-changing event that alters their normal world. You then give them an objective and place hurdles in front of them on their way to the objective. It’s a formula that has worked for a hundreds of years, and Meet Me Next Christmas is no different. Within the first few minutes, Layla (Christina Milian) has her life change and needs to obtain a Pentatonix ticket. Along the way she meets interesting characters that aid her in her journey. Some of these characters work (like the cousin who performs in drag) and some of them fall flat (the rich socialite couple), but the movie mixes enough of it in that it’s entertaining. When following this simple screenplay format, Meet Me Next Christmas was on a fine trajectory, but then they add the “twist.” I put “twist” in quotations because it really is a twist you see coming from several miles away; however, I think we should add some points for creativity and veering off the normal path of so many of these movies. I do wish I had a nothing but positive things to say, though. Most of my issues besides some characters or jokes that don’t land have to do with the Pentatonix. For clarity, I think the Pentatonix themselves were great and were able to poke fun at themselves for laughs that were among the best in the movie. It feels like in the original draft there was no band and that the ticket was an item to drive the plot forward because the entire Pentatonix storyline feels jammed in. In the movie, the Pentatonix follow the drama of Layla and the pursuit of her ticket through a series of text messages apparently sent to them by Teddy (Devale Ellis). While it works as a way to get the band involved with the plot, it is forced to the point of absurdity.
Normally I would put Meet Me Next Christmas in the “fine” category but I’m attempting to update my lingo so we will just call it “mid.” If you like these type of holiday rom-coms, you’ll like this one. There is dancing, Christmas music, great decorations, a nice performance by Pentatonix, and a plot that is more unique than most of the other movies in the genre.Alison: For the first movie of the season, this wasn’t a bad way to start. The movie exudes holiday charm, thanks in part due to the many Pentatonix Christmas songs sprinkled throughout the film. The two main characters, Layla and Teddy, are likable from the jump. Their motivations and actions are easy to understand, which isn’t always the case. As the movie went on, I found myself looking forward to scenes with the secondary characters, such as Teddy’s cousin or the Pentatonix, and growing less interested in Layla and Teddy’s storyline. Like most holiday movies, the plot hits the traditional beats with a twist or two thrown in for good measure. Layla is so focused on getting the Pentatonix concert tickets that she inevitably puts herself and Teddy into some undesirable situations. Teddy, driven to get a good review so that he isn’t fired, allows himself to go along on these crazy escapades. As each mishap occurs, we viewers are supposed to see just how sincere and kind these two are as well as why the two of them would make the perfect couple. I think this predictability weighed the movie down, causing it to drag at times. We all know where the movie is heading and we all have a pretty good idea of what the eventual resolution will be. The only thing missing is how those pieces are going to move into place and the extra scenes in the second act of the movie do nothing to develop or flush out the third act. While this movie lacks some zip, it is enjoyable and would be a great movie to be on while wrapping presents or addressing holiday cards.Adam’s List:1) Holidate (2020, Netflix)2) Love Hard (2021, Netflix)3) Your Christmas or Mine (2022, Amazon)4) Holiday Calendar (2018, Netflix)5) Snowed Inn (2017, Hallmark)6) The Princess Switch (2018, Netflix)7) Falling for Christmas (2022, Netflix)8) The Knight Before Christmas (2019, Netflix)9) EXmas (2023, Amazon/Freevee)10) Midnight at the Magnolia (2020, Netflix)11) The Christmas Train (2017, Hallmark)12) Holiday in the Vineyard (2023, Netflix)13) Meet Me Next Christmas (2024, Netflix14) Christmas Under Wraps (2014, Hallmark)15) Reporting for Christmas (2023, Hulu)16) The Princess Switch 2: Switched Again (2020, Netflix)17) A Christmas Vintage (2023, Amazon)18) The Noel Diary (2022, Netflix)19) The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star (2021, Netflix)20) One Royal Holiday (2020, Hallmark)21) Christmas on the Farm (2022, Hulu)22) Holiday in the Wild (2019, Netflix)23) Pride, Prejudice, and Mistletoe (2018, Hallmark)24) A Perfect Christmas Pairing (2023, Amazon)25) Three Wise Men and a Baby (2022, Hallmark)26) Best. Christmas. Ever. (2023, Netflix)
Alison’s List:1) The Princess Switch (2018, Netflix)2) Your Christmas or Mine (2022, Amazon)3) Love Hard (2021, Netflix)4) Holiday Calendar (2018, Netflix)5) Falling for Christmas (2022, Netflix)6) Holidate (2020, Netflix)7) The Christmas Train (2017, Hallmark)8) The Knight Before Christmas (2019, Netflix)9) Holiday in the Vineyards (2023, Netflix)10) Meet Me Next Christmas (2024, Netflix)11) Midnight at the Magnolia (2020, Netflix)12) Christmas Under Wraps (2014, Hallmark)13) Pride, Prejudice, and Mistletoe (2018, Hallmark)14) The Princess Switch 2: Switched Again (2020, Netflix)15) EXmas (2023, Amazon/Freevee)16) Snowed Inn (2017, Hallmark)17) Reporting for Christmas (2023, Hulu)18) The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star (2021, Netflix)19) One Royal Holiday (2020, Hallmark)20) The Noel Diary (2022, Netflix)21) Three Wise Men and a Baby (2022, Hallmark)22) A Christmas Vintage (2023, Amazon)23) A Perfect Christmas Pairing (2023, Amazon)24) Christmas on the Farm (2022, Hulu)25) Holiday in the Wild (2019, Netflix)26) Best. Christmas. Ever. (2023, Netflix)

Adam and Alison Watch Christmas Movies: MEET ME NEXT CHRISTMAS Nov 18, 2024
by Adam Thas & Alison Thas
Back for the 2024 Holiday Season!
Adam: We are barely into November and Netflix is dropping Christmas movies daily, so we decided to get in on the action with 2024’s Meet Me Next Christmas. Let’s talk about screenplays real quick. In a basic screenplay, your main character goes through a life-changing event that alters their normal world. You then give them an objective and place hurdles in front of them on their way to the objective. It’s a formula that has worked for a hundreds of years, and Meet Me Next Christmas is no different. Within the first few minutes, Layla (Christina Milian) has her life change and needs to obtain a Pentatonix ticket. Along the way she meets interesting characters that aid her in her journey. Some of these characters work (like the cousin who performs in drag) and some of them fall flat (the rich socialite couple), but the movie mixes enough of it in that it’s entertaining. When following this simple screenplay format, Meet Me Next Christmas was on a fine trajectory, but then they add the “twist.” I put “twist” in quotations because it really is a twist you see coming from several miles away; however, I think we should add some points for creativity and veering off the normal path of so many of these movies. I do wish I had a nothing but positive things to say, though. Most of my issues besides some characters or jokes that don’t land have to do with the Pentatonix. For clarity, I think the Pentatonix themselves were great and were able to poke fun at themselves for laughs that were among the best in the movie. It feels like in the original draft there was no band and that the ticket was an item to drive the plot forward because the entire Pentatonix storyline feels jammed in. In the movie, the Pentatonix follow the drama of Layla and the pursuit of her ticket through a series of text messages apparently sent to them by Teddy (Devale Ellis). While it works as a way to get the band involved with the plot, it is forced to the point of absurdity.
Normally I would put Meet Me Next Christmas in the “fine” category but I’m attempting to update my lingo so we will just call it “mid.” If you like these type of holiday rom-coms, you’ll like this one. There is dancing, Christmas music, great decorations, a nice performance by Pentatonix, and a plot that is more unique than most of the other movies in the genre.Alison: For the first movie of the season, this wasn’t a bad way to start. The movie exudes holiday charm, thanks in part due to the many Pentatonix Christmas songs sprinkled throughout the film. The two main characters, Layla and Teddy, are likable from the jump. Their motivations and actions are easy to understand, which isn’t always the case. As the movie went on, I found myself looking forward to scenes with the secondary characters, such as Teddy’s cousin or the Pentatonix, and growing less interested in Layla and Teddy’s storyline. Like most holiday movies, the plot hits the traditional beats with a twist or two thrown in for good measure. Layla is so focused on getting the Pentatonix concert tickets that she inevitably puts herself and Teddy into some undesirable situations. Teddy, driven to get a good review so that he isn’t fired, allows himself to go along on these crazy escapades. As each mishap occurs, we viewers are supposed to see just how sincere and kind these two are as well as why the two of them would make the perfect couple. I think this predictability weighed the movie down, causing it to drag at times. We all know where the movie is heading and we all have a pretty good idea of what the eventual resolution will be. The only thing missing is how those pieces are going to move into place and the extra scenes in the second act of the movie do nothing to develop or flush out the third act. While this movie lacks some zip, it is enjoyable and would be a great movie to be on while wrapping presents or addressing holiday cards.Adam’s List:1) Holidate (2020, Netflix)2) Love Hard (2021, Netflix)3) Your Christmas or Mine (2022, Amazon)4) Holiday Calendar (2018, Netflix)5) Snowed Inn (2017, Hallmark)6) The Princess Switch (2018, Netflix)7) Falling for Christmas (2022, Netflix)8) The Knight Before Christmas (2019, Netflix)9) EXmas (2023, Amazon/Freevee)10) Midnight at the Magnolia (2020, Netflix)11) The Christmas Train (2017, Hallmark)12) Holiday in the Vineyard (2023, Netflix)13) Meet Me Next Christmas (2024, Netflix14) Christmas Under Wraps (2014, Hallmark)15) Reporting for Christmas (2023, Hulu)16) The Princess Switch 2: Switched Again (2020, Netflix)17) A Christmas Vintage (2023, Amazon)18) The Noel Diary (2022, Netflix)19) The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star (2021, Netflix)20) One Royal Holiday (2020, Hallmark)21) Christmas on the Farm (2022, Hulu)22) Holiday in the Wild (2019, Netflix)23) Pride, Prejudice, and Mistletoe (2018, Hallmark)24) A Perfect Christmas Pairing (2023, Amazon)25) Three Wise Men and a Baby (2022, Hallmark)26) Best. Christmas. Ever. (2023, Netflix)
Alison’s List:1) The Princess Switch (2018, Netflix)2) Your Christmas or Mine (2022, Amazon)3) Love Hard (2021, Netflix)4) Holiday Calendar (2018, Netflix)5) Falling for Christmas (2022, Netflix)6) Holidate (2020, Netflix)7) The Christmas Train (2017, Hallmark)8) The Knight Before Christmas (2019, Netflix)9) Holiday in the Vineyards (2023, Netflix)10) Meet Me Next Christmas (2024, Netflix)11) Midnight at the Magnolia (2020, Netflix)12) Christmas Under Wraps (2014, Hallmark)13) Pride, Prejudice, and Mistletoe (2018, Hallmark)14) The Princess Switch 2: Switched Again (2020, Netflix)15) EXmas (2023, Amazon/Freevee)16) Snowed Inn (2017, Hallmark)17) Reporting for Christmas (2023, Hulu)18) The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star (2021, Netflix)19) One Royal Holiday (2020, Hallmark)20) The Noel Diary (2022, Netflix)21) Three Wise Men and a Baby (2022, Hallmark)22) A Christmas Vintage (2023, Amazon)23) A Perfect Christmas Pairing (2023, Amazon)24) Christmas on the Farm (2022, Hulu)25) Holiday in the Wild (2019, Netflix)26) Best. Christmas. Ever. (2023, Netflix)

2K Replay: CLOSER Nov 18, 2024
Winner for “Best Director” (Mike Nichols) at the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards.
• Best Scene/Moment (tie): The back-to-back scenes of Jude Law getting his comeuppance from Clive Owen and Natalie Portman.
• Best Song (tie): “The Blower’s Daughter” by Damien Rice and “Smack My Bitch Up” by The Prodigy.• Best Merch: A “Closer (Brown) Movie Promo Shirt (XL) (Never Used)” for $11.00. This shirt looks comfortable! You should get it for the holidays to give to someone special in your life. It’s like saying without saying “Hey, I wanna get Closer with you.”
• Director Grade: Closer was directed by Mike Nichols.
Great Movies: The Graduate
Good Movies: Biloxi Blues, Working Girl, Primary Colors, Closer
OK Movies: Wolf, The Birdcage, Charlie Wilson’s War
Bad Movies: Regarding Henry
Unseen By Me: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Teach Me!, Catch-22, Carnal Knowledge, The Day of the Dolphin, The Fortune, Gilda Live, Silkwood, Heartburn, Postcards from the Edge, What Planet Are You From?
Overall Grade: B+
• Double It with This 2004 Movie: Ocean’s Twelve
• Year 2004 Movies to Trailer Before Them: Alfie, Garden State, King Arthur
• Color of Night or Closer? Tie.• Mall Movie? No way. This is prestige territory. I doubt Mike Nichols even knew what a mall was.
• Only in 2004: Natalie Portman as Keyser Soze.
• Scene Stealer: This is tough since they’re all basically leads. I guess Clive Owen. He sort of sucks up all of the oxygen in his scenes.
• I Miss: Relationship dramas for adults.
• I Don’t Miss (tie): Strip clubs and people cheating on me.
• 2004 Crush (tie): Julia Roberts and Natalie Portman.
• 2024 Crush: Natalie Portman.• What I Thought in 2004: This movie found me at the right time because I was reeling from a breakup when I saw it in 2004 and was happy to be in the company of people who felt just as miserable as I did.
• What I Think in 2024: It holds up really well, which was surprising. It’s one of those cases where a 104-minute movie feels like it’s 45 minutes because the performances are so good and the conversations are interesting. I wish Hollywood still made movies like Closer. It’s almost darkly comedic because the four principal characters are so cruel to each other.

2K Replay: CLOSER Nov 18, 2024
Winner for “Best Director” (Mike Nichols) at the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards.
• Best Scene/Moment (tie): The back-to-back scenes of Jude Law getting his comeuppance from Clive Owen and Natalie Portman.
• Best Song (tie): “The Blower’s Daughter” by Damien Rice and “Smack My Bitch Up” by The Prodigy.• Best Merch: A “Closer (Brown) Movie Promo Shirt (XL) (Never Used)” for $11.00. This shirt looks comfortable! You should get it for the holidays to give to someone special in your life. It’s like saying without saying “Hey, I wanna get Closer with you.”
• Director Grade: Closer was directed by Mike Nichols.
Great Movies: The Graduate
Good Movies: Biloxi Blues, Working Girl, Primary Colors, Closer
OK Movies: Wolf, The Birdcage, Charlie Wilson’s War
Bad Movies: Regarding Henry
Unseen By Me: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Teach Me!, Catch-22, Carnal Knowledge, The Day of the Dolphin, The Fortune, Gilda Live, Silkwood, Heartburn, Postcards from the Edge, What Planet Are You From?
Overall Grade: B+
• Double It with This 2004 Movie: Ocean’s Twelve
• Year 2004 Movies to Trailer Before Them: Alfie, Garden State, King Arthur
• Color of Night or Closer? Tie.• Mall Movie? No way. This is prestige territory. I doubt Mike Nichols even knew what a mall was.
• Only in 2004: Natalie Portman as Keyser Soze.
• Scene Stealer: This is tough since they’re all basically leads. I guess Clive Owen. He sort of sucks up all of the oxygen in his scenes.
• I Miss: Relationship dramas for adults.
• I Don’t Miss (tie): Strip clubs and people cheating on me.
• 2004 Crush (tie): Julia Roberts and Natalie Portman.
• 2024 Crush: Natalie Portman.• What I Thought in 2004: This movie found me at the right time because I was reeling from a breakup when I saw it in 2004 and was happy to be in the company of people who felt just as miserable as I did.
• What I Think in 2024: It holds up really well, which was surprising. It’s one of those cases where a 104-minute movie feels like it’s 45 minutes because the performances are so good and the conversations are interesting. I wish Hollywood still made movies like Closer. It’s almost darkly comedic because the four principal characters are so cruel to each other.

Weekend Open Thread Nov 16, 2024

Review: GLADIATOR II Nov 15, 2024
by Rob DiCristino
What we do in the original film echoes in its sequel.
There are filmmakers and there are filmmakers, and Sir Ridley Scott is the latter. That’s not to say that he should top the list of canonical masters or that his resume isn’t without its blemishes, of course. But even as he approaches his ninetieth birthday, Scott has remained relentless in his output, and through that relentlessness has exemplified the difference between using a medium to serve an idea and using an idea to serve a medium. Put simpler: He’s a proper fucking Director, a workhorse whose compulsive need to make movies is far more powerful than the particular aesthetic or creative merits of any individual project. Ridley Scott doesn’t wait for inspiration to strike; he straps on a helmet, grabs a baseball bat, and chases inspiration down until it’s bound, bleeding, and begging for mercy. And again, does this reckless disregard for caution occasionally backfire? Absolutely. For every Blade Runner, there’s a Legend. For every Last Duel, there’s a Napoleon. But as long as Ridley Scott is breathing, he will be making movies, and far as I’m concerned, that makes him one of the good guys.His latest is Gladiator II, the long-gestating follow-up to your step-dad's favorite historical action epic. A generation after Maximus Decimus Meridius sacrificed his life for the glory of Rome, the callous negligence of twin emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) has driven the empire into disarray. More concerned with expanding their boundaries than feeding their subjects, Their Majesties send General Acacius (Pedro Pascal; for those keeping count, that’s now two of Marvel’s Fantastic Four) to conquer new territories and bring the rowdy colonies to heel. When one of these campaigns costs Lucius (Paul Mescal) his wife (Yuval Gonen) and his freedom, he’s brought before Macrinus (Denzel Washington), an ostentatious slave merchant who offers him a chance to earn that freedom back by fighting in the gladiatorial pits. As Lucius plots his revenge on Acacius, Queen Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) recognizes the Russell Crowe-shaped specter around this ruthless warrior and wonders if her past misdeeds have finally caught up with her.
And if all you’re looking for is another dose of the grand, violent, colorful spectacle that permeated throughout the original Gladiator, then you’re sure to have a great time with the sequel. Loved the tiger fight? This has a baboon fight! Loved Maximus’ opening battle with the crossbows and trebuchets? Guess how this starts! Wasn’t it awesome when Maximus unified the gladiators against the chariots? Guess what Lucius does against galleys when the Coliseum is flooded with shark-infested water! The whole thumbs-up/down thing? Yup. And if this all sounds a bit dismissive, well, it kind of is! It’s frustrating when a legacy sequel bends over backwards to imitate the essential beats of its predecessor, as if our most precious cinematic memories could ever be reduced to boxes on a checklist. Audiences may think they want the familiar, but filmmakers should know better: We don’t want to see Gladiator again. We want to feel what we felt when we first saw Gladiator again. There’s a difference.But before you dismiss Gladiator II as more nostalgia bait — the bread and circuses of our deteriorating cultural landscape — remember that this is a Ridley Scott joint, and Sir Ridley would rather be caught dead than sleepwalk through a production that bears his name. Even his worst films have a redeeming flavor of weirdness, and this is no exception. While its plotting may be derivative, its final act may be thematically incoherent, and its leading man may lack the charisma that turned Russell Crowe into a superstar, Gladiator II is still an exceptionally well-crafted piece of blockbuster entertainment, a juicy cheeseburger made all the more satisfying because it never thinks it’s filet mignon. Does the film play fast and loose with history? Yes. Does Scott make up for it by having a guy get stabbed through the Adam’s apple with a wooden sword? He does! Can you literally feel him getting bored around the two-hour mark and rushing his way to a too-tidy climax? Yes. But does a syphilitic princling also appoint his pet monkey the first consul of Rome? You’d better fucking believe it.And since we’re believing in things, let’s turn our attention to Denzel Washington, perhaps the most captivating special effect in Scott’s not-inconsiderable arsenal. Washington is having a blast as the conniving Macrinus — dancing around in ornate robes, fiddling with gaudy jewelry, and making fuck eyes at so many bare-footed Roman senators that we imagine the health of the empire may very well rest on how often he’s vini vidi-ing his vici. While Scott never has the patience to develop his character arc thoughtfully or deliberately enough to make his reveals and double-crosses land the way they should — again, we need time for gladiators to be impaled by rhino horns, and I respect that — Washington is such a joyous on-screen presence that we can’t help but forgive these narrative indiscretions. And so while Gladiator II is by no means a great film, it is further evidence that Ridley Scott is still expert at understanding his assets and playing to his strengths. Not every outing is a masterpiece, but they’ll all try to be entertaining. Rest assured, you will be entertained.
Gladiator II hits US theaters on Friday, November 22nd.

Review: GLADIATOR II Nov 15, 2024
by Rob DiCristino
What we do in the original film echoes in its sequel.
There are filmmakers and there are filmmakers, and Sir Ridley Scott is the latter. That’s not to say that he should top the list of canonical masters or that his resume isn’t without its blemishes, of course. But even as he approaches his ninetieth birthday, Scott has remained relentless in his output, and through that relentlessness has exemplified the difference between using a medium to serve an idea and using an idea to serve a medium. Put simpler: He’s a proper fucking Director, a workhorse whose compulsive need to make movies is far more powerful than the particular aesthetic or creative merits of any individual project. Ridley Scott doesn’t wait for inspiration to strike; he straps on a helmet, grabs a baseball bat, and chases inspiration down until it’s bound, bleeding, and begging for mercy. And again, does this reckless disregard for caution occasionally backfire? Absolutely. For every Blade Runner, there’s a Legend. For every Last Duel, there’s a Napoleon. But as long as Ridley Scott is breathing, he will be making movies, and far as I’m concerned, that makes him one of the good guys.His latest is Gladiator II, the long-gestating follow-up to your step-dad's favorite historical action epic. A generation after Maximus Decimus Meridius sacrificed his life for the glory of Rome, the callous negligence of twin emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) has driven the empire into disarray. More concerned with expanding their boundaries than feeding their subjects, Their Majesties send General Acacius (Pedro Pascal; for those keeping count, that’s now two of Marvel’s Fantastic Four) to conquer new territories and bring the rowdy colonies to heel. When one of these campaigns costs Lucius (Paul Mescal) his wife (Yuval Gonen) and his freedom, he’s brought before Macrinus (Denzel Washington), an ostentatious slave merchant who offers him a chance to earn that freedom back by fighting in the gladiatorial pits. As Lucius plots his revenge on Acacius, Queen Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) recognizes the Russell Crowe-shaped specter around this ruthless warrior and wonders if her past misdeeds have finally caught up with her.
And if all you’re looking for is another dose of the grand, violent, colorful spectacle that permeated throughout the original Gladiator, then you’re sure to have a great time with the sequel. Loved the tiger fight? This has a baboon fight! Loved Maximus’ opening battle with the crossbows and trebuchets? Guess how this starts! Wasn’t it awesome when Maximus unified the gladiators against the chariots? Guess what Lucius does against galleys when the Coliseum is flooded with shark-infested water! The whole thumbs-up/down thing? Yup. And if this all sounds a bit dismissive, well, it kind of is! It’s frustrating when a legacy sequel bends over backwards to imitate the essential beats of its predecessor, as if our most precious cinematic memories could ever be reduced to boxes on a checklist. Audiences may think they want the familiar, but filmmakers should know better: We don’t want to see Gladiator again. We want to feel what we felt when we first saw Gladiator again. There’s a difference.But before you dismiss Gladiator II as more nostalgia bait — the bread and circuses of our deteriorating cultural landscape — remember that this is a Ridley Scott joint, and Sir Ridley would rather be caught dead than sleepwalk through a production that bears his name. Even his worst films have a redeeming flavor of weirdness, and this is no exception. While its plotting may be derivative, its final act may be thematically incoherent, and its leading man may lack the charisma that turned Russell Crowe into a superstar, Gladiator II is still an exceptionally well-crafted piece of blockbuster entertainment, a juicy cheeseburger made all the more satisfying because it never thinks it’s filet mignon. Does the film play fast and loose with history? Yes. Does Scott make up for it by having a guy get stabbed through the Adam’s apple with a wooden sword? He does! Can you literally feel him getting bored around the two-hour mark and rushing his way to a too-tidy climax? Yes. But does a syphilitic princling also appoint his pet monkey the first consul of Rome? You’d better fucking believe it.And since we’re believing in things, let’s turn our attention to Denzel Washington, perhaps the most captivating special effect in Scott’s not-inconsiderable arsenal. Washington is having a blast as the conniving Macrinus — dancing around in ornate robes, fiddling with gaudy jewelry, and making fuck eyes at so many bare-footed Roman senators that we imagine the health of the empire may very well rest on how often he’s vini vidi-ing his vici. While Scott never has the patience to develop his character arc thoughtfully or deliberately enough to make his reveals and double-crosses land the way they should — again, we need time for gladiators to be impaled by rhino horns, and I respect that — Washington is such a joyous on-screen presence that we can’t help but forgive these narrative indiscretions. And so while Gladiator II is by no means a great film, it is further evidence that Ridley Scott is still expert at understanding his assets and playing to his strengths. Not every outing is a masterpiece, but they’ll all try to be entertaining. Rest assured, you will be entertained.
Gladiator II hits US theaters on Friday, November 22nd.

Reserved Seating: HOMICIDE Nov 14, 2024
The review duo (with special guests Jan and JB!) who are looking for treasure in all the wrong basements.

FTM 748: ROMY AND MICHELE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION Nov 13, 2024
Patrick and Doug invented Post-Its.
Download this episode here.
Listen to F This Movie! on Apple Podcasts.
Also discussed this episode: Civil War (2024), You're So Not Invited to Bat Mitzvah (2024), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Gilda (1946), Heretic (2024), My Old Ass (2024), Heartbreakers (2001)

2K Replay: THE NOTEBOOK Nov 12, 2024
by Adam Riske
Winner for “Best Kiss” (Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling) at the MTV Movie Awards.
• Best Scene/Moment (tie): When Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams kiss in the rain (it won that MTV award for good reason) and when James Garner says “That’s my sweetheart in there. Wherever she is, that’s where my home is.”
• Best Song: “I’ll Be Seeing You” by Jimmy Durante.• Best Merch: A For Your Consideration DVD for The Notebook for $89.99. What a deal!
• Director Grade: The Notebook was directed by Nick Cassavetes.
Great Movies: N/A
Good Movies: The Notebook
OK Movies: She’s So Lovely, Alpha Dog
Bad Movies: John Q.
Unseen By Me: Unhook the Stars, My Sister’s Keeper, Yellow, The Other Woman, God Is a Bullet
Overall Grade: B-
• Double It with This 2004 Movie: Before Sunset
• Year 2004 Movies to Trailer Before It: Mean Girls, The Phantom of the Opera, Wicker Park
• Color of Night or The Notebook? Tie. They’re both very romantic.• Mall Movie? Nah. This is a movie you bring a date to if you’re shooting your shot after taking them to The Cheesecake Factory. Fancy theater all the way.
• Only in 2004: Kevin Connolly as value-add in the friend role.
• Scene Stealer (tie): Joan Allen and James Marsden.
• I Miss (tie): James Garner and Gena Rowlands.
• I Don’t Miss: Nicholas Sparks adaptations.
• 2004 Crush: Rachel McAdams.
• 2024 Crush: Rachel McAdams.• What I Thought in 2004: I can’t really remember but I believe I thought The Notebook was somewhere between okay to pretty good back in 2004. I was mainly crushing on Rachel McAdams because how could you not? I didn’t like Ryan Gosling in this movie because he was trying to steal away someone’s woman which had just happened to me in real life, so I wasn’t sympathetic.
• What I Think in 2024: I like it more now than I did in 2004. It’s good melodrama and I love the four lead performances by Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner, and Gena Rowlands. It’s sad but very romantic and involving. I’m glad I revisited it.

2K Replay: THE NOTEBOOK Nov 12, 2024
by Adam Riske
Winner for “Best Kiss” (Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling) at the MTV Movie Awards.
• Best Scene/Moment (tie): When Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams kiss in the rain (it won that MTV award for good reason) and when James Garner says “That’s my sweetheart in there. Wherever she is, that’s where my home is.”
• Best Song: “I’ll Be Seeing You” by Jimmy Durante.• Best Merch: A For Your Consideration DVD for The Notebook for $89.99. What a deal!
• Director Grade: The Notebook was directed by Nick Cassavetes.
Great Movies: N/A
Good Movies: The Notebook
OK Movies: She’s So Lovely, Alpha Dog
Bad Movies: John Q.
Unseen By Me: Unhook the Stars, My Sister’s Keeper, Yellow, The Other Woman, God Is a Bullet
Overall Grade: B-
• Double It with This 2004 Movie: Before Sunset
• Year 2004 Movies to Trailer Before It: Mean Girls, The Phantom of the Opera, Wicker Park
• Color of Night or The Notebook? Tie. They’re both very romantic.• Mall Movie? Nah. This is a movie you bring a date to if you’re shooting your shot after taking them to The Cheesecake Factory. Fancy theater all the way.
• Only in 2004: Kevin Connolly as value-add in the friend role.
• Scene Stealer (tie): Joan Allen and James Marsden.
• I Miss (tie): James Garner and Gena Rowlands.
• I Don’t Miss: Nicholas Sparks adaptations.
• 2004 Crush: Rachel McAdams.
• 2024 Crush: Rachel McAdams.• What I Thought in 2004: I can’t really remember but I believe I thought The Notebook was somewhere between okay to pretty good back in 2004. I was mainly crushing on Rachel McAdams because how could you not? I didn’t like Ryan Gosling in this movie because he was trying to steal away someone’s woman which had just happened to me in real life, so I wasn’t sympathetic.
• What I Think in 2024: I like it more now than I did in 2004. It’s good melodrama and I love the four lead performances by Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner, and Gena Rowlands. It’s sad but very romantic and involving. I’m glad I revisited it.

Johnny Deadline: Comfort Movies I'm Glad I Own Nov 12, 2024
by JB
Ahhhhhh! Settle into the warmth and coziness of shiny metal discs and reliable Hollywood entertainment, all available at a moment’s notice! Lose yourself in ephemeral, transitory pleasures that will keep you from pondering THE FUTURE!
Sometimes, things don’t turn out the way you want, but that’s just how the world works. The smart money will self-assess, make a plan, make a man, make a plan of a man, a canal and yet another plan; then spend the next few years cocooned in a self-imposed exile of dreaming and streaming, DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K. Yay!
Panama.
What follows is the tip of my comfort iceberg: a scattershot blueprint of next week's escape from real reality into a deeper reality, a reality that will exist only in my cerebral cortex for the next 34,000 hours. The following movies will do nicely as a high-octane movie Mai-Tai, a kind of video narcotic—a “JB’s Little Helper,” if you will. Wheeeeeee, off to Filmland! Of course, I will check back weekly to bring you this column, fellow Movie Lovers. Before I drop out, I will just drop in... to see what condition my condition is in.
The Beatles: The Eye of the Hurricane: American Tour 1964Boy Howdy, am I ever glad I got over my childish reticence to buy bootlegs decades ago. Forget about the morality, think of the fun! I have been hearing much ballyhoo lately about the upcoming Disney+ documentary, Beatles '64, set for release on November 29. My anticipation for the doc is somewhat diminished because my Eye of the Hurricane disc contains ALL extant news and documentary footage taken during said tour, so in essence I have already seen the new doc’s “rough draft.” Suck it, Disney.
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra & The Lost Skeleton Returns AgainI placed a few choice audio clips from these two tasty gems on my latest Halloween CD, and some recipients enjoyed the clips so much they were moved to seek out the films themselves. I sometimes forget how much I love the work of fellow Monster Kid Larry Blamire and how unique and special his little low-budget wunderfilms truly are. You can check these out of the YouTube machine... but I own the discs, baby!
The AIP Beach Party FilmsWhy aren’t all of these American treasures available on Blu-ray disc? Beach Blanket Bingo is. Bikini Beach is. Muscle Beach Party is. Pajama Party is. So where in the hell is Beach Party, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, Ski Party, and The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini?
I'm lucky enough to own a few. You will get your hands on my 2007 Frankie & Annette DVD set when you pry my cold, dead, surfing fingers from it.
Pure American cheese. The best one is Bikini Beach. Long live Eric Von Zipper.
When Comedy Was KingRobert Youngson and his wonderful compilation films represented an island of respite in my misspent youth. Channel 9 (WGN) in Chicago showed them A LOT. When I was twelve or thirteen, I had an unquenchable thirst for silent comedy and these were my... thirst quenchers. Youngson originally assembled these compilations for theatrical release in the 1950s and '60s. They were a sensation, garnering rave reviews and impressive box office returns. He made eight, and each one is a delight: The Golden Age of Comedy (1957), When Comedy Was King (1960), Days of Thrills and Laughter (1961), 30 Years of Fun (1963), M-G-M's Big Parade of Comedy (1964), Laurel and Hardy's Laughing '20s (1965), The Further Perils of Laurel and Hardy (1967), and Four Clowns (1970). I plan to pop in my WCWK DVD this week and yuk it up for old times' sake. Every one of these, except the MGM compilation, is also available on the YouTube machine. Huzzah!
52 Discs of Mystery Science Theater 3000Some people hate these guys. I love them to pieces. Sometimes when I watch an old movie that I have seen a hundred times, listening to THEIR voices talking over the movie helps drown out MY OWN VOICES talking over the movie. Ahhhh, the sweet release of sarcasm!
The original team has since split up: Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy formed Rifftrax. They release discs as well as appear live in shows carried by Fathom Events to theaters nationwide. Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff appear as “The Mads” in internet-only riffing shows carried on a website hosted by their parent company Dumb Industries. (Last Tuesday, they made fun of JB-favorite The Giant Gila Monster.) You can watch them live or purchase and view their riffing shows after the fact. I wish the five of them would reconcile but, hey, you can’t reheat a souffle.
Well, those are some of my first "comfort film" choices. The calculator app on my smartphone machine tells me that I will need approximately 17,000 movies to get through the next four years. After all, I avoided the COVID pandemic by essentially locking myself in the basement for 24 months. (I am many things, but I am not stupid; I quickly figured out that COVID’s favorite lunch was fat old men!)
My Blu-ray/DVD collection and I am up to this newest challenge. Remember, I am an American.

Johnny Deadline: Comfort Movies I'm Glad I Own Nov 12, 2024
by JB
Ahhhhhh! Settle into the warmth and coziness of shiny metal discs and reliable Hollywood entertainment, all available at a moment’s notice! Lose yourself in ephemeral, transitory pleasures that will keep you from pondering THE FUTURE!
Sometimes, things don’t turn out the way you want, but that’s just how the world works. The smart money will self-assess, make a plan, make a man, make a plan of a man, a canal and yet another plan; then spend the next few years cocooned in a self-imposed exile of dreaming and streaming, DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K. Yay!
Panama.
What follows is the tip of my comfort iceberg: a scattershot blueprint of next week's escape from real reality into a deeper reality, a reality that will exist only in my cerebral cortex for the next 34,000 hours. The following movies will do nicely as a high-octane movie Mai-Tai, a kind of video narcotic—a “JB’s Little Helper,” if you will. Wheeeeeee, off to Filmland! Of course, I will check back weekly to bring you this column, fellow Movie Lovers. Before I drop out, I will just drop in... to see what condition my condition is in.
The Beatles: The Eye of the Hurricane: American Tour 1964Boy Howdy, am I ever glad I got over my childish reticence to buy bootlegs decades ago. Forget about the morality, think of the fun! I have been hearing much ballyhoo lately about the upcoming Disney+ documentary, Beatles '64, set for release on November 29. My anticipation for the doc is somewhat diminished because my Eye of the Hurricane disc contains ALL extant news and documentary footage taken during said tour, so in essence I have already seen the new doc’s “rough draft.” Suck it, Disney.
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra & The Lost Skeleton Returns AgainI placed a few choice audio clips from these two tasty gems on my latest Halloween CD, and some recipients enjoyed the clips so much they were moved to seek out the films themselves. I sometimes forget how much I love the work of fellow Monster Kid Larry Blamire and how unique and special his little low-budget wunderfilms truly are. You can check these out of the YouTube machine... but I own the discs, baby!
The AIP Beach Party FilmsWhy aren’t all of these American treasures available on Blu-ray disc? Beach Blanket Bingo is. Bikini Beach is. Muscle Beach Party is. Pajama Party is. So where in the hell is Beach Party, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, Ski Party, and The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini?
I'm lucky enough to own a few. You will get your hands on my 2007 Frankie & Annette DVD set when you pry my cold, dead, surfing fingers from it.
Pure American cheese. The best one is Bikini Beach. Long live Eric Von Zipper.
When Comedy Was KingRobert Youngson and his wonderful compilation films represented an island of respite in my misspent youth. Channel 9 (WGN) in Chicago showed them A LOT. When I was twelve or thirteen, I had an unquenchable thirst for silent comedy and these were my... thirst quenchers. Youngson originally assembled these compilations for theatrical release in the 1950s and '60s. They were a sensation, garnering rave reviews and impressive box office returns. He made eight, and each one is a delight: The Golden Age of Comedy (1957), When Comedy Was King (1960), Days of Thrills and Laughter (1961), 30 Years of Fun (1963), M-G-M's Big Parade of Comedy (1964), Laurel and Hardy's Laughing '20s (1965), The Further Perils of Laurel and Hardy (1967), and Four Clowns (1970). I plan to pop in my WCWK DVD this week and yuk it up for old times' sake. Every one of these, except the MGM compilation, is also available on the YouTube machine. Huzzah!
52 Discs of Mystery Science Theater 3000Some people hate these guys. I love them to pieces. Sometimes when I watch an old movie that I have seen a hundred times, listening to THEIR voices talking over the movie helps drown out MY OWN VOICES talking over the movie. Ahhhh, the sweet release of sarcasm!
The original team has since split up: Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy formed Rifftrax. They release discs as well as appear live in shows carried by Fathom Events to theaters nationwide. Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff appear as “The Mads” in internet-only riffing shows carried on a website hosted by their parent company Dumb Industries. (Last Tuesday, they made fun of JB-favorite The Giant Gila Monster.) You can watch them live or purchase and view their riffing shows after the fact. I wish the five of them would reconcile but, hey, you can’t reheat a souffle.
Well, those are some of my first "comfort film" choices. The calculator app on my smartphone machine tells me that I will need approximately 17,000 movies to get through the next four years. After all, I avoided the COVID pandemic by essentially locking myself in the basement for 24 months. (I am many things, but I am not stupid; I quickly figured out that COVID’s favorite lunch was fat old men!)
My Blu-ray/DVD collection and I am up to this newest challenge. Remember, I am an American.

Director Essentials: Francois Truffaut Nov 11, 2024
by Patrick Bromley
The father of the French New Wave!
There's probably no way to talk about Francois Truffaut or French cinema without coming off like a pretentious douche, so I'll just say this: he is and has been my favorite non-English filmmaker since I first saw Small Change in high school French class. A versatile and oft-underappreciated filmmaker (Quentin Tarantino himself calls Truffaut a "bumbling amateur" and compares him to Ed Wood) -- as well as a critic, screenwriter, and sometimes actor -- Truffaut's career lasted only 25 years; he died of a brain tumor in 1984 at the age of 52. At a time when Ridley Scott is making movies into his 80s and Clint Eastwood into his 90s, it's hard not to think of all the work we were denied by an older Truffaut. He's one of the true giants of the cinema.
If there are, as I believe, Truffaut people and Godard people, I am wholeheartedly a Truffaut Person.
1. The 400 Blows (1959)Francois Truffaut didn't exactly explode onto the scene with his first film, because he was already a celebrated film critic who had made his name tearing down the establishment of the French film industry. That didn't make his autobiographical debut The 400 Blows any less revelatory, announcing him a serious filmmaker and basically kicking off the French New Wave of the late 1950s and early 1960s. The movie establishes Truffaut's style, which is self-aware and formally loose but primarily focused on emotion and humanity. I'd call it one of the best movies ever made except that I think the next movie on this list is even better. The 400 Blows became the first in a series of films to follow the main character Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) throughout his life from adolescence to adulthood: the 1962 short Antoine and Colette, Stolen Kisses (1968), Bed and Board (1972), and Love on the Run (1979). Richard Linklater's Boyhood and the Before series both draw heavy inspiration from Truffaut's Doinel films.
2. Jules and Jim (1962)Truffaut's most famous film -- and also his greatest -- is the story of two best friends (Oskar Werner and Henri Serre) and one woman (Jeanne Moreau) who fall in and out of love and partnerships over the course of 25 years. Few movies are this alive and exciting as they begin and as sad as they end. Jules and Jim perfectly captures the experience of being alive that way. The black and white widescreen cinematography is even more gorgeous here than it is in The 400 Blows and the score by Georges Delerue is one of the five best scores of all time. The more times I see this (I show it in class a couple times a semester) the more I realize it's one of my very favorites, a wonderful film about the promise of youth and the realities of adulthood. Of all his films, I'd argue that this one is the key to unlocking Truffaut.
3. The Soft Skin (1964)I was conflicted about putting this one on the list because Truffaut revisited this kind of psychological romantic drama (RomDram) a few times over the course of his career and I couldn't decide which movie best represented his variations on a theme. I'm going with his fourth film The Soft Skin because, while it seems only slightly less autobiographical than a later work like The Man Who Loved Women, it feels influenced by Hitchcock, whom the director worshipped and had just interviewed extensively (as read in the collected book Hitchcock/Truffaut, later adapted into a documentary). It tells the story of an ordinary married man (Jean Desailly) who decides to leave his wife when he falls in love with a much younger flight attendant (Françoise Dorléac, the older sister of Catherine Deneuve). Though it was nominated for the Palme D'Or, The Soft Skin divided critics and was one of the director's least successful films at the box office, only gaining recognition in later years (its addition to the Criterion Collection didn't hurt). Wild that Truffaut was still a relatively young man when he made this one, as it feels like the work of an older filmmaker, one with a life lived of mistakes and regret.
4. The Bride Wore Black (1968)Fuck Quentin Tarantino's opinion, this movie rules. Truffaut's most overtly Hitchcockian effort finds a newly married woman (Jeanne Moreau, reteaming with the director after Jules and Jim) vowing revenge on everyone responsible for gunning down her husband on their wedding day. From its dark premise to its icy approach to its attention to suspense to the way it slowly drips out information to the Bernard Hermann score, this is the closest Truffaut ever came to approximating Hitchcock (weird that Hitchcock isn't really one of my guys but acolytes like Truffaut and Brian De Palma totally are). The similarities are by design. It's a bummer, then, that Truffaut himself expressed disappointment with the finished film when reflecting on it years later; because this was an early color effort, the director often engaged in arguments on set with cinematographer Raoul Coutard and couldn't pay as much attention to the performances or the tone as he would have liked. It will still always be funny to me that Tarantino shit-talks a movie (that he also sometimes claims to have never seen) in which a wronged Bride seeks bloody revenge in a series of murderous set pieces -- one that came almost 40 years before his own.
5. Day for Night (1974)Truffaut's delightful movie about the making of a movie, extremely well-worn territory for the big screen but rarely told with this much joy and genuine affection for the art. Most entries in this genre depict making movies as an impossible struggle, an existential crisis of warring egos and agendas desperately trying to being art to the screen. There's a little of that in Day for Night -- actors can be difficult, schedules don't go as planned -- but it's all treated as part of the puzzle and approached with enthusiasm and positivity. My favorite moments are the little ones that tell us about Truffaut the director (also playing the director in the movie), like a collection of his favorite film books on which he allows his camera to linger or the scene in which his character is seen sleeping and dreaming of nothing but movie theater marquees. Cinema is king!
6. Small Change (1976)Another expression of pure cinematic joy from a filmmaker who expressed more cinematic joy than most, this time centered around a group of schoolchildren living in Thiers in summer 1976. Like he had done years before in The 400 Blows, Truffaut makes a movie that doesn't just depict childhood but feels like childhood and all of its shades, from silliness and whimsy to first love and heartbreak to the darkness and tragedy of abuse. Loose and semi-improvisational but never less than totally charming, Small Change wound up being one of the director's most celebrated and successful films. It's a masterpiece, one of several Truffaut made during his too-short career.
7. The Last Metro (1980)There are many hallmarks of a Truffaut film in this, another of his critical and commercial successes: a period setting (in this case WWII), a love triangle, a story of artists fighting to make art. Catherine Deneuve -- reuniting with Truffaut after the great Mississippi Mermaid (which I honestly should have included on this list, dammit) -- and Gerard Depardieu star in a story of a group of actors and artists staging a play at a small theater in Nazi-occupied France. This feels in many ways like Truffaut's most adult and sophisticated film; gone is the youthful exuberance, the looseness of improvisation, the determination to tear up the rules of cinema. And, yet, The Last Metro is still a movie about creating art as an act of protest and rebellion, an act around the rest of life can and should revolve. This was the newest movie to me out of everything on this list and I'm sad it hasn't been in my life for longer because it's so good.
8. Confidentially Yours (1983)Truffaut's final film before his untimely death the following year is a real return to his early days of paying tribute to his idol Alfred Hitchcock in a much more playful way than some of his more recent output (in the second half of his career, he developed a certain tendency to make some movies not unlike what he once criticized the French film industry of making: period dramas based on literature with an air of self-importance). Fanny Ardent, the director's partner during the making of the film (and mother of their daughter Josephine) plays a secretary investigating some murders her boss is accused of committing. In a career full of creating great female characters in his movies, Ardent's Barbara is possibly my favorite. She's the prototypical Truffaut heroine: smart and funny and capable and romantic and totally human. That's the thing about Truffaut. He was a humanist. The great ones often are.

Director Essentials: Francois Truffaut Nov 11, 2024
by Patrick Bromley
The father of the French New Wave!
There's probably no way to talk about Francois Truffaut or French cinema without coming off like a pretentious douche, so I'll just say this: he is and has been my favorite non-English filmmaker since I first saw Small Change in high school French class. A versatile and oft-underappreciated filmmaker (Quentin Tarantino himself calls Truffaut a "bumbling amateur" and compares him to Ed Wood) -- as well as a critic, screenwriter, and sometimes actor -- Truffaut's career lasted only 25 years; he died of a brain tumor in 1984 at the age of 52. At a time when Ridley Scott is making movies into his 80s and Clint Eastwood into his 90s, it's hard not to think of all the work we were denied by an older Truffaut. He's one of the true giants of the cinema.
If there are, as I believe, Truffaut people and Godard people, I am wholeheartedly a Truffaut Person.
1. The 400 Blows (1959)Francois Truffaut didn't exactly explode onto the scene with his first film, because he was already a celebrated film critic who had made his name tearing down the establishment of the French film industry. That didn't make his autobiographical debut The 400 Blows any less revelatory, announcing him a serious filmmaker and basically kicking off the French New Wave of the late 1950s and early 1960s. The movie establishes Truffaut's style, which is self-aware and formally loose but primarily focused on emotion and humanity. I'd call it one of the best movies ever made except that I think the next movie on this list is even better. The 400 Blows became the first in a series of films to follow the main character Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) throughout his life from adolescence to adulthood: the 1962 short Antoine and Colette, Stolen Kisses (1968), Bed and Board (1972), and Love on the Run (1979). Richard Linklater's Boyhood and the Before series both draw heavy inspiration from Truffaut's Doinel films.
2. Jules and Jim (1962)Truffaut's most famous film -- and also his greatest -- is the story of two best friends (Oskar Werner and Henri Serre) and one woman (Jeanne Moreau) who fall in and out of love and partnerships over the course of 25 years. Few movies are this alive and exciting as they begin and as sad as they end. Jules and Jim perfectly captures the experience of being alive that way. The black and white widescreen cinematography is even more gorgeous here than it is in The 400 Blows and the score by Georges Delerue is one of the five best scores of all time. The more times I see this (I show it in class a couple times a semester) the more I realize it's one of my very favorites, a wonderful film about the promise of youth and the realities of adulthood. Of all his films, I'd argue that this one is the key to unlocking Truffaut.
3. The Soft Skin (1964)I was conflicted about putting this one on the list because Truffaut revisited this kind of psychological romantic drama (RomDram) a few times over the course of his career and I couldn't decide which movie best represented his variations on a theme. I'm going with his fourth film The Soft Skin because, while it seems only slightly less autobiographical than a later work like The Man Who Loved Women, it feels influenced by Hitchcock, whom the director worshipped and had just interviewed extensively (as read in the collected book Hitchcock/Truffaut, later adapted into a documentary). It tells the story of an ordinary married man (Jean Desailly) who decides to leave his wife when he falls in love with a much younger flight attendant (Françoise Dorléac, the older sister of Catherine Deneuve). Though it was nominated for the Palme D'Or, The Soft Skin divided critics and was one of the director's least successful films at the box office, only gaining recognition in later years (its addition to the Criterion Collection didn't hurt). Wild that Truffaut was still a relatively young man when he made this one, as it feels like the work of an older filmmaker, one with a life lived of mistakes and regret.
4. The Bride Wore Black (1968)Fuck Quentin Tarantino's opinion, this movie rules. Truffaut's most overtly Hitchcockian effort finds a newly married woman (Jeanne Moreau, reteaming with the director after Jules and Jim) vowing revenge on everyone responsible for gunning down her husband on their wedding day. From its dark premise to its icy approach to its attention to suspense to the way it slowly drips out information to the Bernard Hermann score, this is the closest Truffaut ever came to approximating Hitchcock (weird that Hitchcock isn't really one of my guys but acolytes like Truffaut and Brian De Palma totally are). The similarities are by design. It's a bummer, then, that Truffaut himself expressed disappointment with the finished film when reflecting on it years later; because this was an early color effort, the director often engaged in arguments on set with cinematographer Raoul Coutard and couldn't pay as much attention to the performances or the tone as he would have liked. It will still always be funny to me that Tarantino shit-talks a movie (that he also sometimes claims to have never seen) in which a wronged Bride seeks bloody revenge in a series of murderous set pieces -- one that came almost 40 years before his own.
5. Day for Night (1974)Truffaut's delightful movie about the making of a movie, extremely well-worn territory for the big screen but rarely told with this much joy and genuine affection for the art. Most entries in this genre depict making movies as an impossible struggle, an existential crisis of warring egos and agendas desperately trying to being art to the screen. There's a little of that in Day for Night -- actors can be difficult, schedules don't go as planned -- but it's all treated as part of the puzzle and approached with enthusiasm and positivity. My favorite moments are the little ones that tell us about Truffaut the director (also playing the director in the movie), like a collection of his favorite film books on which he allows his camera to linger or the scene in which his character is seen sleeping and dreaming of nothing but movie theater marquees. Cinema is king!
6. Small Change (1976)Another expression of pure cinematic joy from a filmmaker who expressed more cinematic joy than most, this time centered around a group of schoolchildren living in Thiers in summer 1976. Like he had done years before in The 400 Blows, Truffaut makes a movie that doesn't just depict childhood but feels like childhood and all of its shades, from silliness and whimsy to first love and heartbreak to the darkness and tragedy of abuse. Loose and semi-improvisational but never less than totally charming, Small Change wound up being one of the director's most celebrated and successful films. It's a masterpiece, one of several Truffaut made during his too-short career.
7. The Last Metro (1980)There are many hallmarks of a Truffaut film in this, another of his critical and commercial successes: a period setting (in this case WWII), a love triangle, a story of artists fighting to make art. Catherine Deneuve -- reuniting with Truffaut after the great Mississippi Mermaid (which I honestly should have included on this list, dammit) -- and Gerard Depardieu star in a story of a group of actors and artists staging a play at a small theater in Nazi-occupied France. This feels in many ways like Truffaut's most adult and sophisticated film; gone is the youthful exuberance, the looseness of improvisation, the determination to tear up the rules of cinema. And, yet, The Last Metro is still a movie about creating art as an act of protest and rebellion, an act around the rest of life can and should revolve. This was the newest movie to me out of everything on this list and I'm sad it hasn't been in my life for longer because it's so good.
8. Confidentially Yours (1983)Truffaut's final film before his untimely death the following year is a real return to his early days of paying tribute to his idol Alfred Hitchcock in a much more playful way than some of his more recent output (in the second half of his career, he developed a certain tendency to make some movies not unlike what he once criticized the French film industry of making: period dramas based on literature with an air of self-importance). Fanny Ardent, the director's partner during the making of the film (and mother of their daughter Josephine) plays a secretary investigating some murders her boss is accused of committing. In a career full of creating great female characters in his movies, Ardent's Barbara is possibly my favorite. She's the prototypical Truffaut heroine: smart and funny and capable and romantic and totally human. That's the thing about Truffaut. He was a humanist. The great ones often are.

Weekend Open Thread Nov 09, 2024

2024 Awards Season Round-Up Part II Nov 08, 2024
by Rob DiCristino
More cinematic delights for cozy autumn nights!
1. Kneecap (Dir. Rich Peppiatt)What if Trainspotting but for Irish Republican hip-hop hooligans? It’s a reductive description for Rich Peppiatt’s ferocious and hilarious Kneecap, sure, but it’s also a decent enough way to gauge whether or not you’d be willing to join Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, and JJ Ó Dochartaigh — the real-life band Kneecap playing themselves in a fictionalized version of their rise to fame — on their drug-infused, socio-political crucible to preserve their Irish language and heritage through the power of music. "Every word of Irish spoken is a bullet fired for Irish freedom,” says Naoise’s father Arlo (Michael Fassbender, whose glorified cameo probably helped the film get made in the first place), and our boys are ready and willing to serve on the front lines, happily upsetting the Belfast establishment and any other United Kingdom sympathizers who might stand in their way. Delivered mostly in Irish (or Gaelic, if you like), Kneecap is a spectacular anthem of personal autonomy and artistic expression. If you only see one movie on this list, make damn sure it’s this one.
Kneecap is now available on PVOD.
2. Wicked Little Letters (Dir. Thea Sharrock)Look, is Thea Sharrock’s Wicked Little Letters going to be a major awards contender? Probably not. But is it a fastidious bite of foul-mouthed British absurdity that you should catch up with on Netflix over the holidays? Absolutely! Olivia Coleman is Edith Swan, a devoutly-Christian spinster living with her parents in a village just outside 1920s London who becomes the recipient of insulting anonymous letters riddled with expletives so cock-eyed and bizarre that they’re worth watching the movie just to hear them said aloud. The town authorities immediately point to single mother Rose Gooding (a rip-roaring Jessie Buckley), whose predilection toward hearty drink and unbridled obscenity — not to mention her recent falling out with Edith — makes her the most likely suspect for their authorship. Rose protests, of course, kicking off a raucous comedy of manners that gives two of our very best actresses a chance to play a lighthearted game of thespian chicken that’s well worth a hundred of your minutes over the waning days of this year of our lord 2024.
Wicked Little Letters is now available on Netflix.
3. Fancy Dance (Dir. Erica Tremblay)Lily Gladstone’s Best Actress Oscar dreams may have gone unfulfilled with last year’s Killers of the Flower Moon — due to category fraud more than anything else; that’s a supporting performance, folks — but she remains a commanding screen presence whose ability to embody a particular kind of delicate strength is sure to keep her among Hollywood’s best and brightest for years to come. Her latest is Erica Tremblay’s Fancy Dance, a thoughtful drama about Jax (Gladstone) and her teenage niece Roki’s (Isabel DeRoy-Olson) search for Roki’s mother, who disappeared from their home on Oklahoma’s Seneca-Cayuga reservation some weeks before. Flower Moon comparisons are inevitable, of course — especially as it also deals with law enforcement’s indifference toward missing minorities — but Fancy Dance is actually better proof of Gladstone’s fitness to carry hefty dramatic weight. Jax is a moral authority, yes, but that morality is crafty, fluid, and more than a bit negotiable. It’s a strong performance worthy of another — perhaps more appropriate — nomination.
Fancy Dance is currently streaming on Apple TV+.
4. The Wild Robot (Dir. Chris Sanders)If you’ve been less than inspired by 2024’s selection of animated films — although Despicable Me 4’s $964 million in grosses suggests that at least some of you must have gone back for seconds — might I offer Chris Sanders’ delightful adaptation of The Wild Robot? It’s the story of Roz (Lupita Nyong’o), an all-purpose “helper” robot who washes up on a remote island where there are no human customers around to assign her tasks. Searching for purpose, Roz takes guardianship of a tiny gosling named Brightbill (Kit Connor) and enlists the island’s animal population (the likes of Catherine O’Hara, Mark Hamill, Bill Nighy, Pedro Pascal, and many others) to help him grow up strong and learn to fly in time to migrate south for the coming winter. Though it loses its way a bit in the middle act — trading a storyline that supported the thematic crux of the piece for a broader one about interspecies cooperation that doesn’t hit quite as hard — The Wild Robot is a beautifully animated and thoroughly heartwarming portrait of parenthood in all its chaotic glory.
The Wild Robot is in US theaters now.
5. Ghostlight (Dir. Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson)The team behind 2020’s Saint Frances returns with another disarming black comedy about life’s infuriating tendency to carry on expecting things of us even after we’ve suffered a major tragedy. Dan (Keith Kupferer) is a fifty-something construction worker reeling from his teenage son’s recent suicide, a pain he’s shoved down far enough that neither his rebellious daughter (Katherine Mallen Kupferer) nor his dutiful wife (Tara Mallen; yes, Ghostlight is a real-life family affair) have any hope of ever accessing it. When a bout of misplaced aggression finds him laid off and listless, however, a chance encounter with Rita (Dolly De Leon) offers Dan an opportunity to finally process his grief: A part in a community theater production of Romeo and Juliet. Warm, wry, and well-observed, Ghostlight reminds us of our responsibility to share our pain with those we love and encourages us to channel it into something beautiful, something that respects that pain without ever surrendering to it. And hell, if we can learn a little Shakespeare along the way, that’s just a nice bonus.
Ghostlight is now available on PVOD.

2024 Awards Season Round-Up Part II Nov 08, 2024
by Rob DiCristino
More cinematic delights for cozy autumn nights!
1. Kneecap (Dir. Rich Peppiatt)What if Trainspotting but for Irish Republican hip-hop hooligans? It’s a reductive description for Rich Peppiatt’s ferocious and hilarious Kneecap, sure, but it’s also a decent enough way to gauge whether or not you’d be willing to join Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, and JJ Ó Dochartaigh — the real-life band Kneecap playing themselves in a fictionalized version of their rise to fame — on their drug-infused, socio-political crucible to preserve their Irish language and heritage through the power of music. "Every word of Irish spoken is a bullet fired for Irish freedom,” says Naoise’s father Arlo (Michael Fassbender, whose glorified cameo probably helped the film get made in the first place), and our boys are ready and willing to serve on the front lines, happily upsetting the Belfast establishment and any other United Kingdom sympathizers who might stand in their way. Delivered mostly in Irish (or Gaelic, if you like), Kneecap is a spectacular anthem of personal autonomy and artistic expression. If you only see one movie on this list, make damn sure it’s this one.
Kneecap is now available on PVOD.
2. Wicked Little Letters (Dir. Thea Sharrock)Look, is Thea Sharrock’s Wicked Little Letters going to be a major awards contender? Probably not. But is it a fastidious bite of foul-mouthed British absurdity that you should catch up with on Netflix over the holidays? Absolutely! Olivia Coleman is Edith Swan, a devoutly-Christian spinster living with her parents in a village just outside 1920s London who becomes the recipient of insulting anonymous letters riddled with expletives so cock-eyed and bizarre that they’re worth watching the movie just to hear them said aloud. The town authorities immediately point to single mother Rose Gooding (a rip-roaring Jessie Buckley), whose predilection toward hearty drink and unbridled obscenity — not to mention her recent falling out with Edith — makes her the most likely suspect for their authorship. Rose protests, of course, kicking off a raucous comedy of manners that gives two of our very best actresses a chance to play a lighthearted game of thespian chicken that’s well worth a hundred of your minutes over the waning days of this year of our lord 2024.
Wicked Little Letters is now available on Netflix.
3. Fancy Dance (Dir. Erica Tremblay)Lily Gladstone’s Best Actress Oscar dreams may have gone unfulfilled with last year’s Killers of the Flower Moon — due to category fraud more than anything else; that’s a supporting performance, folks — but she remains a commanding screen presence whose ability to embody a particular kind of delicate strength is sure to keep her among Hollywood’s best and brightest for years to come. Her latest is Erica Tremblay’s Fancy Dance, a thoughtful drama about Jax (Gladstone) and her teenage niece Roki’s (Isabel DeRoy-Olson) search for Roki’s mother, who disappeared from their home on Oklahoma’s Seneca-Cayuga reservation some weeks before. Flower Moon comparisons are inevitable, of course — especially as it also deals with law enforcement’s indifference toward missing minorities — but Fancy Dance is actually better proof of Gladstone’s fitness to carry hefty dramatic weight. Jax is a moral authority, yes, but that morality is crafty, fluid, and more than a bit negotiable. It’s a strong performance worthy of another — perhaps more appropriate — nomination.
Fancy Dance is currently streaming on Apple TV+.
4. The Wild Robot (Dir. Chris Sanders)If you’ve been less than inspired by 2024’s selection of animated films — although Despicable Me 4’s $964 million in grosses suggests that at least some of you must have gone back for seconds — might I offer Chris Sanders’ delightful adaptation of The Wild Robot? It’s the story of Roz (Lupita Nyong’o), an all-purpose “helper” robot who washes up on a remote island where there are no human customers around to assign her tasks. Searching for purpose, Roz takes guardianship of a tiny gosling named Brightbill (Kit Connor) and enlists the island’s animal population (the likes of Catherine O’Hara, Mark Hamill, Bill Nighy, Pedro Pascal, and many others) to help him grow up strong and learn to fly in time to migrate south for the coming winter. Though it loses its way a bit in the middle act — trading a storyline that supported the thematic crux of the piece for a broader one about interspecies cooperation that doesn’t hit quite as hard — The Wild Robot is a beautifully animated and thoroughly heartwarming portrait of parenthood in all its chaotic glory.
The Wild Robot is in US theaters now.
5. Ghostlight (Dir. Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson)The team behind 2020’s Saint Frances returns with another disarming black comedy about life’s infuriating tendency to carry on expecting things of us even after we’ve suffered a major tragedy. Dan (Keith Kupferer) is a fifty-something construction worker reeling from his teenage son’s recent suicide, a pain he’s shoved down far enough that neither his rebellious daughter (Katherine Mallen Kupferer) nor his dutiful wife (Tara Mallen; yes, Ghostlight is a real-life family affair) have any hope of ever accessing it. When a bout of misplaced aggression finds him laid off and listless, however, a chance encounter with Rita (Dolly De Leon) offers Dan an opportunity to finally process his grief: A part in a community theater production of Romeo and Juliet. Warm, wry, and well-observed, Ghostlight reminds us of our responsibility to share our pain with those we love and encourages us to channel it into something beautiful, something that respects that pain without ever surrendering to it. And hell, if we can learn a little Shakespeare along the way, that’s just a nice bonus.
Ghostlight is now available on PVOD.

Reserved Seating: FORGET PARIS Nov 07, 2024
The review duo who ordered the veal piccata.

Friday Night Double Features Vol. 47 Nov 06, 2024
by Adam Riske and Patrick Bromley
New double features to be thankful for when you carve your turkeys.
Double Feature 1:
Adam: #1: Taking Care of Business (1990)
Patrick: #2: Armageddon (1998)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Regarding Henry, Gone Fishing, Joy Ride
Patrick: Theme: Written by JJ Abrams
Patrick: It’s pretty incredible to me that before he became a producer and director and all-around titan of Hollywood, JJ Abrams was a pretty mediocre screenwriter of pretty mediocre movies. Except Armageddon. And Joy Ride. Those are good. I thought a night dedicated to the least successful aspect of his Triple Threat status might be fun…or, at least, educational. Also, I couldn’t think of other movies that depended on a Filofax for their plots, otherwise it would have been Filofax night at the Cinemarink.
Adam: It’s weird that Abrams' directorial career is objectively better than his output as a screenwriter and yet I’d much rather revisit some of the movies he’s written than rewatch the ones he’s directed. Filofaxes rule. At least in the initial rush. Once you need refills it loses its luster.
Double Feature 2:
Patrick: #1: The 400 Blows (1959)
Adam: #2: Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: The Bad Seed, Blackboard Jungle, Girls Town
Adam: Theme: ‘50s Juvenile Delinquency
Adam: I’ve owned The 400 Blows on Criterion Blu ray for years but have never watched the entire thing. I didn’t think it was bad or anything, I just watched the first hour and then moved on to something else and never went back to it. In short, I need the excuse to watch it in a theater to ensure I finally see The 400 Blows. I think theming it this way will help since I’ve seen Rebel Without a Cause a few times, so I know I have a movie I like waiting for me at the end of the evening. BTW…. have you seen The Bad Seed? I watched it for the first time this Scary Movie Month and couldn’t believe how weird the last 2 minutes of that movie were. It ends (SPOILER) with the kid being struck by lightning, the cast coming out to take individual bows like it’s a play and then the actress playing the mother being all “come here you” and play-acting spanking the girl who played her evil daughter to show the audience everything’s okay and it was all just make believe. All movies should end this way, especially The Mist.
Patrick: You’ve totally sold me on The Bad Seed because I need to see that ending. I do hope you’ll watch The 400 Blows and that you like it because it’s a favorite of mine, as douchey as that sounds. I really like the pairing of Rebel Without a Cause, too, so that we get both a French and an American look at the same theme. You’re very good at this!
Double Feature 3:Adam: #1: Lady in the Water (2006)
Patrick: #2: The Wicker Man (2006)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Employee of the Month, Deck the Halls, Basic Instinct 2
Patrick: Theme: 2006 Razzie Nominees
Patrick: Hear me out: until the Basic Instinct 2 trailer, I feel like this Razzie-themed lineup had our number. These are movies we like or at least – as in the case of Lady in the Water – find to be fascinating failures. I just rewatched that one hoping for the magic viewing, and it hasn’t happened yet, but I continue to want to study it. I feel like these two movies would play well together and further prove that the Razzies are stupid and impossibly lazy in their choices. Also, Basic Instinct 2, aka Risk Addiction.
Adam: This is the double feature I’m most excited about. I’ve only seen Lady in the Water once and that was in theaters so I’m eager to revisit it at some point soon. I’m also a fan of The Wicker Man remake, which is creepy, funny and weird. This is a collection of gems…and Risk Addiction.
Double Feature 4:
Patrick: #1: That Thing You Do! (1996)
Adam: #2: One Fine Day (1996)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: Down Periscope, The Truth About Cats and Dogs, Jingle All the Way
Adam: Theme: 1996 20th Century Fox Comedies
Adam: This would be a pleasant evening at the movies. I love That Thing You Do! and like all the movies in the trailer block to varying degrees. I chose to pair the headliner with One Fine Day because I want to give it another shot (it’s fine, but it’s also one of those movies I always want to watch because it shows off New York in an appealing way) and it would be nice to bask in movie star glow for the night.
Patrick: I haven’t seen One Fine Day since a sneak preview back in 1996 when I couldn’t get into the Mars Attacks sneak preview because it was sold out. It’s fine? Watching it second after That Thing You Do! would actually work really well because there’s no pressure for it to be good or substantial, only – as you already pointed out – pleasant. It’s at least that much.
Double Feature 5:Adam: #1: The Bodyguard (1992)
Patrick: #2: For Love of the Game (1999)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Message in a Bottle, Bull Durham, The Upside of Anger
Patrick: Theme: Costner Romances
Patrick: Looking over Kevin Costner’s filmography, it’s amazing to me how few straightforward romance movies he made. I couldn’t even fill out a whole night at the Cinemarink without dipping into his sports movies, which are sometimes sneaky romances. Because it’s our theater, I think we should show the Full Frontal cut of For Love of the Game because of courage.
Adam: Costner should make a movie called Courage Under Fire but instead of it being about the Congressional Medal of Honor it’s about brave studio executives letting Costner show his 35mm junk or at least a DCP (aka Dick Courage Print).
Double Feature 6:
Patrick: #1: Belly (1998)
Adam: #2: Ticker (2001)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: House Party 3, Hav Plenty, Bamboozled
Adam: Theme: Movies Featuring Members of TLC
Adam: I don’t have much history personally with Belly other than being aware of its reputation (especially the opening sequence which is all anyone talks about when talking about Belly). I usually don’t like showing DTV movies, but I couldn’t resist pairing Belly with Ticker because they both star Nas and the double still fits my theme. Were you a fan of TLC? I really liked them back in the '90s, especially the CrazySexyCool album. I miss Left Eye.
Patrick: I wasn’t much of a TLC guy, though I did like Left Eye. I’m in favor of following Belly (that opening is great) with Ticker because it’s a Pyun! And it has Ice T which means sooner or later we will end up doing a podcast on it.
Double Feature 7:Adam: #1: Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael (1990)
Patrick: #2: A Scanner Darkly (2006)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Destination Wedding, Alien Resurrection, Great Balls of Fire!
Patrick: Theme: Underrated Winona
Patrick: This was an easy theme to come up with because I had just tweeted about Underrated Winona in honor of her birthday that just passed. These movies all rule and she rules in them.
Adam: I love Winona Ryder and have always wanted to see Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael. I’d also like to watch A Scanner Darkly again, which I remember being solid. Winona’s just underrated in general. I know the internet loves her (which trust me I’m happy about) but it seems like they don’t know why they love her when people who’ve always loved her understand what makes her special.
Double Feature 8:
Patrick: #1: Goodfellas (1990)
Adam: #2: Something Wild (1986)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: Unlawful Entry, Cop Land, Narc, Observe and Report
Adam: Theme: Great Liotta
Adam: Fairly obvious but sometimes the best double features as an experience are the ones that are the least clever. I miss Ray Liotta. There’s really not many actors of his generation (and especially this generation) quite like him. He was always tough and often threatening but it also felt like such a win when he played a sensitive or nice or moral guy. He had a real spark on screen and it’s a shame he didn’t catapult off Goodfellas to become a bankable leading man for several decades. That’s not to disparage his career, which was eclectic and noteworthy. I just always thought he was overshadowed e.g. how was he not nominated at least for Best Actor in Goodfellas? What the hell more does a guy need to do?
Patrick: Having just shown Goodfellas to a film class, I completely agree that Ray Liotta should’ve been nominated for his performance and probably should have had another 5 or 6 more nominations over the course of his career. He was the absolute best and I’m so sad he’s gone. He was supposed to be Harvey in The Substance, maybe the only thing that could make that movie better. Did you ever see Heartbreakers? OMG is he funny in that movie. Now I want to marathon Ray Liotta movies.
Double Feature 9:Adam: #1: Double Team (1997)
Patrick: #2: Broken Arrow (1996)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: The Expendables, Furious 7, Predator
Patrick: Theme: Action Movies with Athlete Co-Stars
Patrick: A lazy theme, for sure, but a good excuse to double two ‘90s action movies that would be a blast to watch back-to-back. Dennis Rodman and Howie Long have about the same amount of screen presence, which is to say not much. Howie Long fares better in Broken Arrow because he’s asked to do less, but Rodman is more fun because he has so much stupid dialogue. Next month we can do a double of the starring vehicles these supporting roles launched them into: Firestorm and Simon Sez.
Adam: This would be so much fun. I’m a bigger fan of what Rodman is doing in Double Team than Long in Broken Arrow but Long also has the fake death over the radio (which is terrible but all the actors in the movie are complimenting him on) and he has a dope Wilhelm Scream towards the end.
Double Feature 10:
Patrick: #1: Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987)
Adam: #2: Coupe de Ville (1990)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: Streets of Gold, America’s Sweethearts, Christmas with the Kranks, Freedomland
Adam: Theme: Joe Roth: The Whole Bloody Affair
Adam: Joe Roth has a cool ass career. Not only has he produced countless movies, but co-founded Morgan Creek, founded Revolution Studios, and was an executive at Caravan Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Walt Disney Pictures. He also directed Christmas with the fucking Kranks (which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year). Let’s do a career retrospective tonight on his career as a director. I’ve never seen Coupe de Ville, but the cast is intriguing enough (Daniel Stern!) and it will be nice (?) to revisit Nerds II since I know I’ve seen at least some of it on cable in the late '80s many times while never having seen the original movie.
Patrick: This theme is worth doing just because the name of the night is so funny. I’ve never seen Coupe de Ville, so that gives me an excuse to be excited. Nerds in Paradise is one of those movies I like by the end because the credits song (“Back to Paradise” by .38 Special) convinces me the movie was better than it was. Do you think we can get Joe Roth to come do a Q&A?

Friday Night Double Features Vol. 47 Nov 06, 2024
by Adam Riske and Patrick Bromley
New double features to be thankful for when you carve your turkeys.
Double Feature 1:
Adam: #1: Taking Care of Business (1990)
Patrick: #2: Armageddon (1998)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Regarding Henry, Gone Fishing, Joy Ride
Patrick: Theme: Written by JJ Abrams
Patrick: It’s pretty incredible to me that before he became a producer and director and all-around titan of Hollywood, JJ Abrams was a pretty mediocre screenwriter of pretty mediocre movies. Except Armageddon. And Joy Ride. Those are good. I thought a night dedicated to the least successful aspect of his Triple Threat status might be fun…or, at least, educational. Also, I couldn’t think of other movies that depended on a Filofax for their plots, otherwise it would have been Filofax night at the Cinemarink.
Adam: It’s weird that Abrams' directorial career is objectively better than his output as a screenwriter and yet I’d much rather revisit some of the movies he’s written than rewatch the ones he’s directed. Filofaxes rule. At least in the initial rush. Once you need refills it loses its luster.
Double Feature 2:
Patrick: #1: The 400 Blows (1959)
Adam: #2: Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: The Bad Seed, Blackboard Jungle, Girls Town
Adam: Theme: ‘50s Juvenile Delinquency
Adam: I’ve owned The 400 Blows on Criterion Blu ray for years but have never watched the entire thing. I didn’t think it was bad or anything, I just watched the first hour and then moved on to something else and never went back to it. In short, I need the excuse to watch it in a theater to ensure I finally see The 400 Blows. I think theming it this way will help since I’ve seen Rebel Without a Cause a few times, so I know I have a movie I like waiting for me at the end of the evening. BTW…. have you seen The Bad Seed? I watched it for the first time this Scary Movie Month and couldn’t believe how weird the last 2 minutes of that movie were. It ends (SPOILER) with the kid being struck by lightning, the cast coming out to take individual bows like it’s a play and then the actress playing the mother being all “come here you” and play-acting spanking the girl who played her evil daughter to show the audience everything’s okay and it was all just make believe. All movies should end this way, especially The Mist.
Patrick: You’ve totally sold me on The Bad Seed because I need to see that ending. I do hope you’ll watch The 400 Blows and that you like it because it’s a favorite of mine, as douchey as that sounds. I really like the pairing of Rebel Without a Cause, too, so that we get both a French and an American look at the same theme. You’re very good at this!
Double Feature 3:Adam: #1: Lady in the Water (2006)
Patrick: #2: The Wicker Man (2006)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Employee of the Month, Deck the Halls, Basic Instinct 2
Patrick: Theme: 2006 Razzie Nominees
Patrick: Hear me out: until the Basic Instinct 2 trailer, I feel like this Razzie-themed lineup had our number. These are movies we like or at least – as in the case of Lady in the Water – find to be fascinating failures. I just rewatched that one hoping for the magic viewing, and it hasn’t happened yet, but I continue to want to study it. I feel like these two movies would play well together and further prove that the Razzies are stupid and impossibly lazy in their choices. Also, Basic Instinct 2, aka Risk Addiction.
Adam: This is the double feature I’m most excited about. I’ve only seen Lady in the Water once and that was in theaters so I’m eager to revisit it at some point soon. I’m also a fan of The Wicker Man remake, which is creepy, funny and weird. This is a collection of gems…and Risk Addiction.
Double Feature 4:
Patrick: #1: That Thing You Do! (1996)
Adam: #2: One Fine Day (1996)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: Down Periscope, The Truth About Cats and Dogs, Jingle All the Way
Adam: Theme: 1996 20th Century Fox Comedies
Adam: This would be a pleasant evening at the movies. I love That Thing You Do! and like all the movies in the trailer block to varying degrees. I chose to pair the headliner with One Fine Day because I want to give it another shot (it’s fine, but it’s also one of those movies I always want to watch because it shows off New York in an appealing way) and it would be nice to bask in movie star glow for the night.
Patrick: I haven’t seen One Fine Day since a sneak preview back in 1996 when I couldn’t get into the Mars Attacks sneak preview because it was sold out. It’s fine? Watching it second after That Thing You Do! would actually work really well because there’s no pressure for it to be good or substantial, only – as you already pointed out – pleasant. It’s at least that much.
Double Feature 5:Adam: #1: The Bodyguard (1992)
Patrick: #2: For Love of the Game (1999)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Message in a Bottle, Bull Durham, The Upside of Anger
Patrick: Theme: Costner Romances
Patrick: Looking over Kevin Costner’s filmography, it’s amazing to me how few straightforward romance movies he made. I couldn’t even fill out a whole night at the Cinemarink without dipping into his sports movies, which are sometimes sneaky romances. Because it’s our theater, I think we should show the Full Frontal cut of For Love of the Game because of courage.
Adam: Costner should make a movie called Courage Under Fire but instead of it being about the Congressional Medal of Honor it’s about brave studio executives letting Costner show his 35mm junk or at least a DCP (aka Dick Courage Print).
Double Feature 6:
Patrick: #1: Belly (1998)
Adam: #2: Ticker (2001)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: House Party 3, Hav Plenty, Bamboozled
Adam: Theme: Movies Featuring Members of TLC
Adam: I don’t have much history personally with Belly other than being aware of its reputation (especially the opening sequence which is all anyone talks about when talking about Belly). I usually don’t like showing DTV movies, but I couldn’t resist pairing Belly with Ticker because they both star Nas and the double still fits my theme. Were you a fan of TLC? I really liked them back in the '90s, especially the CrazySexyCool album. I miss Left Eye.
Patrick: I wasn’t much of a TLC guy, though I did like Left Eye. I’m in favor of following Belly (that opening is great) with Ticker because it’s a Pyun! And it has Ice T which means sooner or later we will end up doing a podcast on it.
Double Feature 7:Adam: #1: Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael (1990)
Patrick: #2: A Scanner Darkly (2006)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Destination Wedding, Alien Resurrection, Great Balls of Fire!
Patrick: Theme: Underrated Winona
Patrick: This was an easy theme to come up with because I had just tweeted about Underrated Winona in honor of her birthday that just passed. These movies all rule and she rules in them.
Adam: I love Winona Ryder and have always wanted to see Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael. I’d also like to watch A Scanner Darkly again, which I remember being solid. Winona’s just underrated in general. I know the internet loves her (which trust me I’m happy about) but it seems like they don’t know why they love her when people who’ve always loved her understand what makes her special.
Double Feature 8:
Patrick: #1: Goodfellas (1990)
Adam: #2: Something Wild (1986)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: Unlawful Entry, Cop Land, Narc, Observe and Report
Adam: Theme: Great Liotta
Adam: Fairly obvious but sometimes the best double features as an experience are the ones that are the least clever. I miss Ray Liotta. There’s really not many actors of his generation (and especially this generation) quite like him. He was always tough and often threatening but it also felt like such a win when he played a sensitive or nice or moral guy. He had a real spark on screen and it’s a shame he didn’t catapult off Goodfellas to become a bankable leading man for several decades. That’s not to disparage his career, which was eclectic and noteworthy. I just always thought he was overshadowed e.g. how was he not nominated at least for Best Actor in Goodfellas? What the hell more does a guy need to do?
Patrick: Having just shown Goodfellas to a film class, I completely agree that Ray Liotta should’ve been nominated for his performance and probably should have had another 5 or 6 more nominations over the course of his career. He was the absolute best and I’m so sad he’s gone. He was supposed to be Harvey in The Substance, maybe the only thing that could make that movie better. Did you ever see Heartbreakers? OMG is he funny in that movie. Now I want to marathon Ray Liotta movies.
Double Feature 9:Adam: #1: Double Team (1997)
Patrick: #2: Broken Arrow (1996)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: The Expendables, Furious 7, Predator
Patrick: Theme: Action Movies with Athlete Co-Stars
Patrick: A lazy theme, for sure, but a good excuse to double two ‘90s action movies that would be a blast to watch back-to-back. Dennis Rodman and Howie Long have about the same amount of screen presence, which is to say not much. Howie Long fares better in Broken Arrow because he’s asked to do less, but Rodman is more fun because he has so much stupid dialogue. Next month we can do a double of the starring vehicles these supporting roles launched them into: Firestorm and Simon Sez.
Adam: This would be so much fun. I’m a bigger fan of what Rodman is doing in Double Team than Long in Broken Arrow but Long also has the fake death over the radio (which is terrible but all the actors in the movie are complimenting him on) and he has a dope Wilhelm Scream towards the end.
Double Feature 10:
Patrick: #1: Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987)
Adam: #2: Coupe de Ville (1990)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: Streets of Gold, America’s Sweethearts, Christmas with the Kranks, Freedomland
Adam: Theme: Joe Roth: The Whole Bloody Affair
Adam: Joe Roth has a cool ass career. Not only has he produced countless movies, but co-founded Morgan Creek, founded Revolution Studios, and was an executive at Caravan Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Walt Disney Pictures. He also directed Christmas with the fucking Kranks (which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year). Let’s do a career retrospective tonight on his career as a director. I’ve never seen Coupe de Ville, but the cast is intriguing enough (Daniel Stern!) and it will be nice (?) to revisit Nerds II since I know I’ve seen at least some of it on cable in the late '80s many times while never having seen the original movie.
Patrick: This theme is worth doing just because the name of the night is so funny. I’ve never seen Coupe de Ville, so that gives me an excuse to be excited. Nerds in Paradise is one of those movies I like by the end because the credits song (“Back to Paradise” by .38 Special) convinces me the movie was better than it was. Do you think we can get Joe Roth to come do a Q&A?

Johnny Deadline: Regarding CALIGARI Nov 05, 2024
by JB
Last week’s Kino-Lorber 4K release of this essential title gives me all the excuse I need to finally write about it.
I have waxed quizzical on this website and on our podcasts about the mysterious “Samsung Channels” that came with my new TV and are meant to fool the naïve into thinking that they are getting cable for free. The television defaults to these channels once it connects to the internet machine. There are hundreds if not thousands of them, and I’m assuming Samsung itself collects the advertising revenue. One channel shows episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show—and ONLY The Dick Van Dyke Show—on a continuous loop, twenty-four hours a day. Who exactly is that channel for? Dick Van Dyke himself? Last weekend I discovered, quite by chance, a channel dedicated to Portlandia. It's a continuous loop of Brownstein and Armisen, keeping my TV weird.So it was that I was able to revisit, against my will, the show's sketch about The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. (Kudos to Portlandia for airing a sketch that revolves around a 100-year-old silent German film.) Fred Armisen plays a mail carrier. Carrie Brownstein plays a woman in love with her Netflix DVD-by-mail subscription. Fred insists that Carrie needs to see The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. She finally orders the film and it arrives in the mail. Carrie hems and haws: she's about to watch it, but there is something better on network television. She starts the movie, only to fall asleep within seconds. Finally, one night, she watches it and... loves it. SPOILER ALERT FOR A THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD COMEDY SKETCH: There is a curse attached to the film! Anyone watching The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari BECOMES A MAIL CARRIER AGAINST THEIR WILL UNTIL SUCH TIME AS THEY ARE ABLE TO CONVINCE SOMEONE ELSE TO WATCH THE FILM.
Beware.The Plot in Brief: Franzis (Friedrich Feher) sits on a park bench with an older man and proceeds to tell him a strange story. Franzis had a friend named Alan (Hans Heinrich von Twardowski) and they were both vying for the hand of Jane (Lil Dagover). One day a carnival comes to town and the trio happily attend. They make their way into the tent of a sideshow, where the unusual Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss) and his somnambulist, Cesare (Conrad Veidt), tell people’s fortunes. Alan naively asks Cesare how long he will live, and Cesare responds, “You die tonight.” From there, things only get worse.
FILM TRIVIA NOTE: Conrad Veidt, who plays Cesare, would later play Major Strasser in Warner Brothers’ Oscar-Winning Casablanca.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is justifiably famous for bringing the world of expressionist art to the cinema. The sets, the furniture, the costumes, and even some of the actors’ make-up are rendered in stark, high contrast black and white, with painted shadows appearing everywhere in a most disturbing way. This would seem like a gimmick if it were not inextricably bound to the film’s plot and themes. How the Expressionist look of the film is tied to the film’s plot is a spoiler that I will NOT divulge; suffice it to say that the film is like “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”I recently purchased the new Kino-Lorber 4K disc for two reasons: I enjoy watching old silent films in 4K and feel that by purchasing them, I am encouraging more video companies to stick their toes into these particular HDR waters; and I was intrigued to hear the brand-new score contained on the Kino disc. Jeff Beal wrote this new score, which premiered at Carnegie Hall earlier this year, and he also provides a score-specific audio commentary on the disc.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I liked Beal’s commentary more than his score. I wish more silent titles on disc offered multiple scores; it really does afford the viewer the chance to watch the film again as a whole new experience. Between the new Kino disc and the previous Eureka! 4K edition, I now have five score options for viewing the film: the Eureka! release includes the 2014 score by Cornelius Schwer and a 2019 score by Uwe Dierksen & Hermann Kretzschmar; and the Kino disc has Beal's new 2024 score, a 2014 score by Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, and "music” by Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky. That is an embarrassment of riches! For the record, my favorite of the five is the 2014 score by Cornelius Schwer. What can I say? I am old school.AN ANNOYING AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL PAUSE: This film and I go way back. At the very beginning of the VHS era (Era.) most videotapes were priced for rental: they all cost more than $100 because the studios wanted to soak the video rental stores that would then rent them out multiple times. An exception to this was a series of cassettes I first found at my local K-Mart—Film Classics! These were films that had slipped into the public domain. They were a much more reasonable $10 a pop: It’s A Wonderful Life, The Birth of a Nation, Nosferatu, The Gold Rush, Night of the Living Dead, His Girl Friday, Metropolis... and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. I bought and enjoyed them all.When the film was first released on laserdisc, it was in a compromised presentation. According to silentera.com (Era.), “This edition’s video transfer utilized a 35mm print struck in Russia, probably from an early generation nitrate duplicate negative. However, in the silent era and from country to country, there was no worldwide standard for the position of the image’s frame in relation to the film’s perforated sprocket holes [...] Caligari was apparently shot with a camera that placed the horizontal frame line centered on two of the perforations. When the Russian print was struck, some anonymous Russian film lab technician failed to adjust the film printer to allow for the difference in frame lines. The result was a print with a visible frame line running through the image; most of the bottom part of the picture was at the top and a sliver of the top of the picture was at the bottom.” I remember buying the disc and being very disappointed by this flaw. Future pressings featured a sticker warning prospective buyers.
The new 4K does not have this framing flaw. How could it? That laserdisc fiasco was over 30 years ago. Will this be enough to make you want to watch (or rewatch) The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari? You tell me. (Seriously, tell me in the comments.)
Although I have seen this film about a hundred times, I wound up watching it twice this past month—once for fun and once to check out the new Kino disc, transfer, and score. That makes TWO cursed mail carriers that I have now SET FREE!

Johnny Deadline: Regarding CALIGARI Nov 05, 2024
by JB
Last week’s Kino-Lorber 4K release of this essential title gives me all the excuse I need to finally write about it.
I have waxed quizzical on this website and on our podcasts about the mysterious “Samsung Channels” that came with my new TV and are meant to fool the naïve into thinking that they are getting cable for free. The television defaults to these channels once it connects to the internet machine. There are hundreds if not thousands of them, and I’m assuming Samsung itself collects the advertising revenue. One channel shows episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show—and ONLY The Dick Van Dyke Show—on a continuous loop, twenty-four hours a day. Who exactly is that channel for? Dick Van Dyke himself? Last weekend I discovered, quite by chance, a channel dedicated to Portlandia. It's a continuous loop of Brownstein and Armisen, keeping my TV weird.So it was that I was able to revisit, against my will, the show's sketch about The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. (Kudos to Portlandia for airing a sketch that revolves around a 100-year-old silent German film.) Fred Armisen plays a mail carrier. Carrie Brownstein plays a woman in love with her Netflix DVD-by-mail subscription. Fred insists that Carrie needs to see The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. She finally orders the film and it arrives in the mail. Carrie hems and haws: she's about to watch it, but there is something better on network television. She starts the movie, only to fall asleep within seconds. Finally, one night, she watches it and... loves it. SPOILER ALERT FOR A THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD COMEDY SKETCH: There is a curse attached to the film! Anyone watching The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari BECOMES A MAIL CARRIER AGAINST THEIR WILL UNTIL SUCH TIME AS THEY ARE ABLE TO CONVINCE SOMEONE ELSE TO WATCH THE FILM.
Beware.The Plot in Brief: Franzis (Friedrich Feher) sits on a park bench with an older man and proceeds to tell him a strange story. Franzis had a friend named Alan (Hans Heinrich von Twardowski) and they were both vying for the hand of Jane (Lil Dagover). One day a carnival comes to town and the trio happily attend. They make their way into the tent of a sideshow, where the unusual Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss) and his somnambulist, Cesare (Conrad Veidt), tell people’s fortunes. Alan naively asks Cesare how long he will live, and Cesare responds, “You die tonight.” From there, things only get worse.
FILM TRIVIA NOTE: Conrad Veidt, who plays Cesare, would later play Major Strasser in Warner Brothers’ Oscar-Winning Casablanca.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is justifiably famous for bringing the world of expressionist art to the cinema. The sets, the furniture, the costumes, and even some of the actors’ make-up are rendered in stark, high contrast black and white, with painted shadows appearing everywhere in a most disturbing way. This would seem like a gimmick if it were not inextricably bound to the film’s plot and themes. How the Expressionist look of the film is tied to the film’s plot is a spoiler that I will NOT divulge; suffice it to say that the film is like “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”I recently purchased the new Kino-Lorber 4K disc for two reasons: I enjoy watching old silent films in 4K and feel that by purchasing them, I am encouraging more video companies to stick their toes into these particular HDR waters; and I was intrigued to hear the brand-new score contained on the Kino disc. Jeff Beal wrote this new score, which premiered at Carnegie Hall earlier this year, and he also provides a score-specific audio commentary on the disc.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I liked Beal’s commentary more than his score. I wish more silent titles on disc offered multiple scores; it really does afford the viewer the chance to watch the film again as a whole new experience. Between the new Kino disc and the previous Eureka! 4K edition, I now have five score options for viewing the film: the Eureka! release includes the 2014 score by Cornelius Schwer and a 2019 score by Uwe Dierksen & Hermann Kretzschmar; and the Kino disc has Beal's new 2024 score, a 2014 score by Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, and "music” by Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky. That is an embarrassment of riches! For the record, my favorite of the five is the 2014 score by Cornelius Schwer. What can I say? I am old school.AN ANNOYING AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL PAUSE: This film and I go way back. At the very beginning of the VHS era (Era.) most videotapes were priced for rental: they all cost more than $100 because the studios wanted to soak the video rental stores that would then rent them out multiple times. An exception to this was a series of cassettes I first found at my local K-Mart—Film Classics! These were films that had slipped into the public domain. They were a much more reasonable $10 a pop: It’s A Wonderful Life, The Birth of a Nation, Nosferatu, The Gold Rush, Night of the Living Dead, His Girl Friday, Metropolis... and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. I bought and enjoyed them all.When the film was first released on laserdisc, it was in a compromised presentation. According to silentera.com (Era.), “This edition’s video transfer utilized a 35mm print struck in Russia, probably from an early generation nitrate duplicate negative. However, in the silent era and from country to country, there was no worldwide standard for the position of the image’s frame in relation to the film’s perforated sprocket holes [...] Caligari was apparently shot with a camera that placed the horizontal frame line centered on two of the perforations. When the Russian print was struck, some anonymous Russian film lab technician failed to adjust the film printer to allow for the difference in frame lines. The result was a print with a visible frame line running through the image; most of the bottom part of the picture was at the top and a sliver of the top of the picture was at the bottom.” I remember buying the disc and being very disappointed by this flaw. Future pressings featured a sticker warning prospective buyers.
The new 4K does not have this framing flaw. How could it? That laserdisc fiasco was over 30 years ago. Will this be enough to make you want to watch (or rewatch) The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari? You tell me. (Seriously, tell me in the comments.)
Although I have seen this film about a hundred times, I wound up watching it twice this past month—once for fun and once to check out the new Kino disc, transfer, and score. That makes TWO cursed mail carriers that I have now SET FREE!

24 Hours of Movies: Demi! Nov 04, 2024
by Patrick Bromley
A marathon of movies devoted to one of the great movie stars of my lifetime.
The critical and commercial success of this year's The Substance suggests the coming of a full-on Demissaince, She's an actor I've always liked (and was one of my earliest celebrity crushes) but one who rarely gets recognized for her talents as opposed to the stories surrounding her movies -- shaving her head, stripping on Letterman, the Vanity Fair cover, etc. Let's give Demi her due.
10 am - About Last Night... (1986, dir. Edward Zwick)While we won't be starting at the beginning, we'll start near the beginning. This '80s romance, based on the David Mamet play Sexual Perversity in Chicago, casts Brat Packers Moore and Rob Lowe as a young couple navigating their way through romance and co-habitation in the Windy City. The two stars are tremendously appealing in a story of people just trying to their best -- no villains, no mean behavior, no misunderstandings, just mistakes made by young lovers afraid of being in love too fast. This movie isn't singularly responsible for making Demi Moore a star, but it is, I suspect, when people really started to take her seriously.
Noon - Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003, dir. McG)Weird that this was kind of billed as Demi Moore's "comeback" movie despite it being released 20 years ago when she was still a big star. She's -- spoilers -- the big bad in McG's follow-up to his surprisingly good big-screen Charlie's Angels reboot. I haven't seen the sequel in a number of years, so programming it into this marathon is my excuse to revisit it because I remember liking it a good deal less than the original. In my memory, Demi Moore was the best thing about it. Her casting is very clever, as she is at once able to pass the torch to a new generation of starlets while also trying to kill them for being younger and more marketable. It predates The Substance by 20 years but is talking about some of the same things.
2 pm - A Few Good Men (1992, dir. Rob Reiner)I love that at the peak of her post-Ghost powers, Demi Moore was savvy and self-aware enough to surround herself with the very best and join one of the most amazing ensemble casts of the 1990s under the direction of one of the two best ensemble directors of the time. She doesn't have a great part to play in the movie, but her very presence elevates the movie to a certain pedigree (as does the presence of Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Kevin Bacon, Keifer Sutherland...you can go about 20 names deep into this cast and still strike gold). They could have probably cast someone of lesser talent and fame, but the filmmakers' Hammondonian insistence on sparing no expense suggested that this was a project with which everyone wanted to be associated.
4 pm - Mortal Thoughts (1991, dir. Alan Rudolph)For as much as they were the power couple of the late '80s and early '90s, Demi Moore made only one movie with then-husband Bruce Willis, and it's fascinating that it's this movie. Part neo-noir, part "women's picture" throwback, the movie tells the story of two Jersey hairdressers (Moore and Glenne Headly) who are questioned by police when one's abusive husband (Willis) is killed. It's a really good movie, but pretty non-commercial and finds Moore and (especially) Willis playing very much against type at a time when they were both huge stars. Moore also produced for the first time, stepping up to pay the cast and crew out of her own pocket after producers tried to shut the movie down because the original director (Claude Kervan) was fired. Stories such as this make me like her even more.
6 pm - G.I. Jane (1997, dir. Ridley Scott)This military drama, combined with Striptease the year before, represents the apex of Demi Moore testing her celebrity and pushing it as far as she could albeit in very different ways. Once again transforming herself physically (which might have gotten talked about more if people weren't so busy praising Robert DeNiro and Christian Bale for the same thing) to play the fictional first woman to join an elite Navy squad (not unlike the SEALs), Moore got more attention for shaving her head than for her very good performance in a movie that's also pretty good. It's unfortunate that the disappointing box office was further evidence of her commercial decline, because both she and the film deserved better. Few actors who achieved her level of success in the '90s were willing to take the chances she took.
8:15 pm - Ghost (1990, dir. Jerry Zucker)Let's devote the Primetime Pizza slot to the movie that made Demi Moore the biggest actress in the country, a sleeper phenomenon that no one really saw coming. I certainly didn't, and was dragged kicking and screaming to see it with a group of friends as a kid. I loved it, of course, and went on to see it six more times before it left theaters. I don't love it like I did as a kid, but that's on me and not the movie. Patrick Swayze carries the movie as the titular ghost and Whoopi Goldberg's supporting performance won the Oscar, but without Moore as the film's beating heart I'd argue it doesn't achieve the level of cultural and financial success it did. When she lifts her face and lets one tear roll down her cheek? Money in the bank.
10:30 pm - The Seventh Sign (1988, dir. Carl Schultz)We'll pivot to horror as Demi Moore stars in a too-soggy supernatural offering as a pregnant woman who learns of the coming apocalypse. As a Demi fan, I like her performance in the movie because she commits (as does the movie, which puts its money where its mouth is when it comes to biblical catastrophes), but the rest of the performances are uneven and director Carl Schultz has a better handle on the visuals than on the drama. I like that Demi never totally turned her back on the genre; it's where she started and where she eventually returned, as we'll see in just a few hours.
12:15 am - Parasite (1982, dir. Charles Band)The midnight slot goes to a relic from early in Demi Moore's career -- her first feature starring role, to be exact. She plays a lemon farmer (!!) who befriends a scientist carrying a deadly parasite in a post-apocalyptic dystopia. Future Empire Pictures/Full Moon Features CEO Charles Band directs -- in 3-D, no less -- and the movie is mostly junk, but it's the kind of junk that goes down perfectly at this point in the marathon. According to Band's autobiography Confessions of a Puppet Master, he and Demi Moore entered into a relationship around this time, so there's that.
1:45 am - Nothing But Trouble (1991, dir. Dan Aykroyd)The only time anyone should watch 1991's Nothing But Trouble -- aka Valkenvania, aka the sole directorial effort of star Dan Aykroyd -- is at 2am after already watching at least 12 hours of movies. It's the kind of comedy that only works if you're not sure if you're dreaming. Moore and Chevy Chase play a couple of assholes who get stranded in a crazy town; John Candy plays multiple roles and Aykroyd himself appears buried under prosthetics (and a penis nose) as The Judge. If it were at all possible, I would program the long-rumored "gore cut" of the movie, which was at one point crazy violent before someone decided the gore might not play with the comedy (disagree) or that the movie should be a PG-13. I have no idea why Demi Moore agreed to do this movie.
3:15 am - The Substance (2024, dir. Coralie Fargeat)Ok it's a bit of a cheat because it's so new, but the movie is now streaming on Mubi and VOD so I say it's fair game to watch during the overnight section of our marathon. Demi Moore's latest comeback has earned her possible Oscar talk for the first time in nearly 30 years, all the more amazing since it's in a horror movie -- and not just any horror movie, but one of the most insanely over-the-top and disgustingly goopy horror movies in the last 30 years. Her performance in the movie is fearless and introspective and personal and sad and funny and this is currently my favorite movie of the year, perfect for this time of night/morning. My head will explode if this winds up getting any real awards consideration.
5:45 am - One Crazy Summer (1986, dir. Savage Steve Holland)As we shake off the overnight cobwebs, let's wake up to some Savage Steve Holland absurdity. This is my second favorite of the SSH trilogy (behind Better Off Dead but ahead of How I Got Into College), reuniting the director with John Cusack in the tale of a summer romance and a boat race. Demi Moore seems a little lost and miserable here as Cusack's muse, but she plays a musician and we do get to hear her sing, which carries a certain novelty. The movie is a ton of fun -- one of my favorite teen comedies of the '80s -- and will hopefully help return us to Earth after The Substance makes our heads explode.
7:15 am - Striptease (1996, dir. Andrew Bergman)I don't think we can program a Demi Moore marathon without including Striptease, because it's one of the movies she basically willed to happen during her superstar '90s run: she stars, she produces, she helped shape the material (sanding the rough edges off of Carl Hiaasen's source novel to make the main character more sympathetic), she sculpted and reshaped her body knowing that it would be not only on display in the film but that it would be at the center of all the marketing. It's too bad she worked so hard and did so much in the service of a star vehicle that's not really worth her talents.
9:15 am - Now and Then (1995, dir. Lesli Linka Glatter)We'll cap off our marathon with a '90s YA dramedy movie I love despite not being the target audience at all. Moore produced and narrates (as well as stars in the wraparound, playing the adult version of Gaby Hoffman) this story of four best friends who come of age in 1970 Indiana. Though it's too episodic and all the gimmicky adult stuff (of which Moore is a part) isn't needed at all, the performances of all four young actors -- three of them well-known child actors and future stars -- are incredibly winning and strong, and I like Glatter's sense of time and place. Maybe it's weird to wrap up a Demi Moore marathon with a film in which she plays only a supporting role, but thanks to her role as both producer and narrator, she presence still manages to loom large. Plus it's just a nice movie. Let's end with a nice movie.

24 Hours of Movies: Demi! Nov 04, 2024
by Patrick Bromley
A marathon of movies devoted to one of the great movie stars of my lifetime.
The critical and commercial success of this year's The Substance suggests the coming of a full-on Demissaince, She's an actor I've always liked (and was one of my earliest celebrity crushes) but one who rarely gets recognized for her talents as opposed to the stories surrounding her movies -- shaving her head, stripping on Letterman, the Vanity Fair cover, etc. Let's give Demi her due.
10 am - About Last Night... (1986, dir. Edward Zwick)While we won't be starting at the beginning, we'll start near the beginning. This '80s romance, based on the David Mamet play Sexual Perversity in Chicago, casts Brat Packers Moore and Rob Lowe as a young couple navigating their way through romance and co-habitation in the Windy City. The two stars are tremendously appealing in a story of people just trying to their best -- no villains, no mean behavior, no misunderstandings, just mistakes made by young lovers afraid of being in love too fast. This movie isn't singularly responsible for making Demi Moore a star, but it is, I suspect, when people really started to take her seriously.
Noon - Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003, dir. McG)Weird that this was kind of billed as Demi Moore's "comeback" movie despite it being released 20 years ago when she was still a big star. She's -- spoilers -- the big bad in McG's follow-up to his surprisingly good big-screen Charlie's Angels reboot. I haven't seen the sequel in a number of years, so programming it into this marathon is my excuse to revisit it because I remember liking it a good deal less than the original. In my memory, Demi Moore was the best thing about it. Her casting is very clever, as she is at once able to pass the torch to a new generation of starlets while also trying to kill them for being younger and more marketable. It predates The Substance by 20 years but is talking about some of the same things.
2 pm - A Few Good Men (1992, dir. Rob Reiner)I love that at the peak of her post-Ghost powers, Demi Moore was savvy and self-aware enough to surround herself with the very best and join one of the most amazing ensemble casts of the 1990s under the direction of one of the two best ensemble directors of the time. She doesn't have a great part to play in the movie, but her very presence elevates the movie to a certain pedigree (as does the presence of Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Kevin Bacon, Keifer Sutherland...you can go about 20 names deep into this cast and still strike gold). They could have probably cast someone of lesser talent and fame, but the filmmakers' Hammondonian insistence on sparing no expense suggested that this was a project with which everyone wanted to be associated.
4 pm - Mortal Thoughts (1991, dir. Alan Rudolph)For as much as they were the power couple of the late '80s and early '90s, Demi Moore made only one movie with then-husband Bruce Willis, and it's fascinating that it's this movie. Part neo-noir, part "women's picture" throwback, the movie tells the story of two Jersey hairdressers (Moore and Glenne Headly) who are questioned by police when one's abusive husband (Willis) is killed. It's a really good movie, but pretty non-commercial and finds Moore and (especially) Willis playing very much against type at a time when they were both huge stars. Moore also produced for the first time, stepping up to pay the cast and crew out of her own pocket after producers tried to shut the movie down because the original director (Claude Kervan) was fired. Stories such as this make me like her even more.
6 pm - G.I. Jane (1997, dir. Ridley Scott)This military drama, combined with Striptease the year before, represents the apex of Demi Moore testing her celebrity and pushing it as far as she could albeit in very different ways. Once again transforming herself physically (which might have gotten talked about more if people weren't so busy praising Robert DeNiro and Christian Bale for the same thing) to play the fictional first woman to join an elite Navy squad (not unlike the SEALs), Moore got more attention for shaving her head than for her very good performance in a movie that's also pretty good. It's unfortunate that the disappointing box office was further evidence of her commercial decline, because both she and the film deserved better. Few actors who achieved her level of success in the '90s were willing to take the chances she took.
8:15 pm - Ghost (1990, dir. Jerry Zucker)Let's devote the Primetime Pizza slot to the movie that made Demi Moore the biggest actress in the country, a sleeper phenomenon that no one really saw coming. I certainly didn't, and was dragged kicking and screaming to see it with a group of friends as a kid. I loved it, of course, and went on to see it six more times before it left theaters. I don't love it like I did as a kid, but that's on me and not the movie. Patrick Swayze carries the movie as the titular ghost and Whoopi Goldberg's supporting performance won the Oscar, but without Moore as the film's beating heart I'd argue it doesn't achieve the level of cultural and financial success it did. When she lifts her face and lets one tear roll down her cheek? Money in the bank.
10:30 pm - The Seventh Sign (1988, dir. Carl Schultz)We'll pivot to horror as Demi Moore stars in a too-soggy supernatural offering as a pregnant woman who learns of the coming apocalypse. As a Demi fan, I like her performance in the movie because she commits (as does the movie, which puts its money where its mouth is when it comes to biblical catastrophes), but the rest of the performances are uneven and director Carl Schultz has a better handle on the visuals than on the drama. I like that Demi never totally turned her back on the genre; it's where she started and where she eventually returned, as we'll see in just a few hours.
12:15 am - Parasite (1982, dir. Charles Band)The midnight slot goes to a relic from early in Demi Moore's career -- her first feature starring role, to be exact. She plays a lemon farmer (!!) who befriends a scientist carrying a deadly parasite in a post-apocalyptic dystopia. Future Empire Pictures/Full Moon Features CEO Charles Band directs -- in 3-D, no less -- and the movie is mostly junk, but it's the kind of junk that goes down perfectly at this point in the marathon. According to Band's autobiography Confessions of a Puppet Master, he and Demi Moore entered into a relationship around this time, so there's that.
1:45 am - Nothing But Trouble (1991, dir. Dan Aykroyd)The only time anyone should watch 1991's Nothing But Trouble -- aka Valkenvania, aka the sole directorial effort of star Dan Aykroyd -- is at 2am after already watching at least 12 hours of movies. It's the kind of comedy that only works if you're not sure if you're dreaming. Moore and Chevy Chase play a couple of assholes who get stranded in a crazy town; John Candy plays multiple roles and Aykroyd himself appears buried under prosthetics (and a penis nose) as The Judge. If it were at all possible, I would program the long-rumored "gore cut" of the movie, which was at one point crazy violent before someone decided the gore might not play with the comedy (disagree) or that the movie should be a PG-13. I have no idea why Demi Moore agreed to do this movie.
3:15 am - The Substance (2024, dir. Coralie Fargeat)Ok it's a bit of a cheat because it's so new, but the movie is now streaming on Mubi and VOD so I say it's fair game to watch during the overnight section of our marathon. Demi Moore's latest comeback has earned her possible Oscar talk for the first time in nearly 30 years, all the more amazing since it's in a horror movie -- and not just any horror movie, but one of the most insanely over-the-top and disgustingly goopy horror movies in the last 30 years. Her performance in the movie is fearless and introspective and personal and sad and funny and this is currently my favorite movie of the year, perfect for this time of night/morning. My head will explode if this winds up getting any real awards consideration.
5:45 am - One Crazy Summer (1986, dir. Savage Steve Holland)As we shake off the overnight cobwebs, let's wake up to some Savage Steve Holland absurdity. This is my second favorite of the SSH trilogy (behind Better Off Dead but ahead of How I Got Into College), reuniting the director with John Cusack in the tale of a summer romance and a boat race. Demi Moore seems a little lost and miserable here as Cusack's muse, but she plays a musician and we do get to hear her sing, which carries a certain novelty. The movie is a ton of fun -- one of my favorite teen comedies of the '80s -- and will hopefully help return us to Earth after The Substance makes our heads explode.
7:15 am - Striptease (1996, dir. Andrew Bergman)I don't think we can program a Demi Moore marathon without including Striptease, because it's one of the movies she basically willed to happen during her superstar '90s run: she stars, she produces, she helped shape the material (sanding the rough edges off of Carl Hiaasen's source novel to make the main character more sympathetic), she sculpted and reshaped her body knowing that it would be not only on display in the film but that it would be at the center of all the marketing. It's too bad she worked so hard and did so much in the service of a star vehicle that's not really worth her talents.
9:15 am - Now and Then (1995, dir. Lesli Linka Glatter)We'll cap off our marathon with a '90s YA dramedy movie I love despite not being the target audience at all. Moore produced and narrates (as well as stars in the wraparound, playing the adult version of Gaby Hoffman) this story of four best friends who come of age in 1970 Indiana. Though it's too episodic and all the gimmicky adult stuff (of which Moore is a part) isn't needed at all, the performances of all four young actors -- three of them well-known child actors and future stars -- are incredibly winning and strong, and I like Glatter's sense of time and place. Maybe it's weird to wrap up a Demi Moore marathon with a film in which she plays only a supporting role, but thanks to her role as both producer and narrator, she presence still manages to loom large. Plus it's just a nice movie. Let's end with a nice movie.

Weekend Open Thread Nov 02, 2024

Review: ANORA Nov 01, 2024
by Rob DiCristino
Call her “Ani.”
The cinema of Sean Baker is the cinema of survival. His characters are hustlers and grifters, rise-and-grind ne’er-do-wells scraping and clawing at the edges of polite society who routinely risk life and limb just to secure the basic conveniences that the rest of us take for granted. Across his filmography — painfully human and often hilariously transgressive fare like The Florida Project, Tangerine, and Red Rocket — Baker illustrates the systemic inequalities that make a lie of the American Dream, the punishing distance between ends that his characters can’t ever seem to make meet. You might not think of these people as heroes, necessarily — hell, it’s hard to feel anything but contempt for someone like Red Rocket’s reckless narcissist Mikey Davies — but Sean Baker isn’t interested in sugarcoating the way our economic realities often force us to compromise our moralistic fantasies. Colorful, eccentric, and vulgar though they may be, his misfits are just mirrors held up to the masses, an honest reflection of anyone in the audience brave enough to look back.His latest misfit is a twenty-three-year-old Brooklyn sex worker named Ani (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood standout Mikey Madison), whom we meet mid-lap dance at an upscale Manhattan strip club called HQ. Ani — no one dares call her Anora — has the exact mix of beauty and ferocity necessary for this particular hustle, an effortless blend of allure and authority that keeps her clients pinballing between the ATM and the VIP room for hours on end. She also happens to understand Russian, which makes her HQ’s MVP when the hard-partying son of a powerful Russian oligarch (Mark Eydelshteyn as Vanya) and his entourage come to play. Ani makes quick work of Vanya — whom we sense has never worked a day in his life — and agrees to meet him for a more intimate one-on-one at his opulent Brighton Beach mansion. Within minutes, Vanya is pitching Ani a Pretty Woman: $10,000 to be his girlfriend for the week. Hell, 10K for a few jittery thrusts between Call of Duty sessions for seven days? Ani’s no dummy. But that’ll be 15K, Vanya. In cash. Up front.
That’s where the Pretty Woman comparisons end, though. Ani is a Sean Baker creation, after all, which means that while she’s happy to cash in, she isn’t about to forget every lesson she’s learned in her short but arduous life. She’s not going to give up her hard-earned agency just because Vanya proposes marriage during a drug-fueled excursion to Vegas. Oh, she says yes, of course — how many times do I have to tell you that Ani’s no dummy? — but this transaction will be executed on her terms: Three karats, Vanya, maybe even four. Still, after years of being forced by circumstance to harden herself to genuine vulnerability, Ani does begin to see a crude facsimile of love in this arrangement, so much so that when Vanya’s handlers (Yura Borisov, Vache Tovmasyan, and Karren Karagulian) show up with orders to annul the marriage — compelling Vanya to flee the house on foot — our recalcitrant missus refuses to accept a settlement and instead joins the goons on an odyssey into the city to find their idiot princeling and make things right before his parents arrive in the morning. True love or not, Ani will get her due.Humming with all the bravery, honesty, and rebellious enthusiasm that has colored Baker’s filmography from the beginning, Anora is his finest work yet, a transcendent indictment of the dehumanizing power of capitalism doubling as a riotous, madcap comedy far too high on its own kinetic energy to waste time preaching on a soapbox. We don’t need to be told that Ani is making a catastrophic series of mistakes, and Baker never once looks down on her for doing so. We don’t need to be told that Vanya is a spoiled brat who wouldn’t know a lasting consequence if it came up and kicked him in his coke-addled nuts, and Baker never once pretends he’s going to change. We don’t need to be told that these henchmen dragging Ani across the Big Apple are just working stiffs trying to get by, and Baker never once pretends that they’re cackling villains with sinister intent. That’s because Baker’s universe is populated by human beings, imperfect and exhausted, banding together to survive the chaos unleashed upon them by an ignorant, uncaring ruling class. In other words, us.Mikey Madison was born to play Ani, and it's a privilege to watch her become a movie star in real time, to see her walk the delicate line between youthful belligerence and pregnable grace with such poise, confidence, and — if what must have been months of pole-dancing classes are any indication — strength. Mark Eydelshteyn delivers some of the film’s funniest lines and gives Vanya a childlike exuberance that has to be seen to be believed, but it’s Yura Borisov has who has the hardest job of all, that of a nearly-silent sentry whose inherent moral fortitude begins to make a kind of conciliatory sense out of all the madness around him as the night goes on. His Igor’s attention to Ani’s well-being starts as a slow simmer before boiling over into the most heartbreaking ending of the year, and it’s through their interactions that Baker’s thesis develops into his ultimate statement on class solidarity: We’ve all been seduced by opportunity, but those of us who work — be it sex work or any other kind — will continue to do so, and it’s how we share that burden that will determine the true value of our lives.
Anora hits wide theatrical release on Friday, November 1st.

Review: ANORA Nov 01, 2024
by Rob DiCristino
Call her “Ani.”
The cinema of Sean Baker is the cinema of survival. His characters are hustlers and grifters, rise-and-grind ne’er-do-wells scraping and clawing at the edges of polite society who routinely risk life and limb just to secure the basic conveniences that the rest of us take for granted. Across his filmography — painfully human and often hilariously transgressive fare like The Florida Project, Tangerine, and Red Rocket — Baker illustrates the systemic inequalities that make a lie of the American Dream, the punishing distance between ends that his characters can’t ever seem to make meet. You might not think of these people as heroes, necessarily — hell, it’s hard to feel anything but contempt for someone like Red Rocket’s reckless narcissist Mikey Davies — but Sean Baker isn’t interested in sugarcoating the way our economic realities often force us to compromise our moralistic fantasies. Colorful, eccentric, and vulgar though they may be, his misfits are just mirrors held up to the masses, an honest reflection of anyone in the audience brave enough to look back.His latest misfit is a twenty-three-year-old Brooklyn sex worker named Ani (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood standout Mikey Madison), whom we meet mid-lap dance at an upscale Manhattan strip club called HQ. Ani — no one dares call her Anora — has the exact mix of beauty and ferocity necessary for this particular hustle, an effortless blend of allure and authority that keeps her clients pinballing between the ATM and the VIP room for hours on end. She also happens to understand Russian, which makes her HQ’s MVP when the hard-partying son of a powerful Russian oligarch (Mark Eydelshteyn as Vanya) and his entourage come to play. Ani makes quick work of Vanya — whom we sense has never worked a day in his life — and agrees to meet him for a more intimate one-on-one at his opulent Brighton Beach mansion. Within minutes, Vanya is pitching Ani a Pretty Woman: $10,000 to be his girlfriend for the week. Hell, 10K for a few jittery thrusts between Call of Duty sessions for seven days? Ani’s no dummy. But that’ll be 15K, Vanya. In cash. Up front.
That’s where the Pretty Woman comparisons end, though. Ani is a Sean Baker creation, after all, which means that while she’s happy to cash in, she isn’t about to forget every lesson she’s learned in her short but arduous life. She’s not going to give up her hard-earned agency just because Vanya proposes marriage during a drug-fueled excursion to Vegas. Oh, she says yes, of course — how many times do I have to tell you that Ani’s no dummy? — but this transaction will be executed on her terms: Three karats, Vanya, maybe even four. Still, after years of being forced by circumstance to harden herself to genuine vulnerability, Ani does begin to see a crude facsimile of love in this arrangement, so much so that when Vanya’s handlers (Yura Borisov, Vache Tovmasyan, and Karren Karagulian) show up with orders to annul the marriage — compelling Vanya to flee the house on foot — our recalcitrant missus refuses to accept a settlement and instead joins the goons on an odyssey into the city to find their idiot princeling and make things right before his parents arrive in the morning. True love or not, Ani will get her due.Humming with all the bravery, honesty, and rebellious enthusiasm that has colored Baker’s filmography from the beginning, Anora is his finest work yet, a transcendent indictment of the dehumanizing power of capitalism doubling as a riotous, madcap comedy far too high on its own kinetic energy to waste time preaching on a soapbox. We don’t need to be told that Ani is making a catastrophic series of mistakes, and Baker never once looks down on her for doing so. We don’t need to be told that Vanya is a spoiled brat who wouldn’t know a lasting consequence if it came up and kicked him in his coke-addled nuts, and Baker never once pretends he’s going to change. We don’t need to be told that these henchmen dragging Ani across the Big Apple are just working stiffs trying to get by, and Baker never once pretends that they’re cackling villains with sinister intent. That’s because Baker’s universe is populated by human beings, imperfect and exhausted, banding together to survive the chaos unleashed upon them by an ignorant, uncaring ruling class. In other words, us.Mikey Madison was born to play Ani, and it's a privilege to watch her become a movie star in real time, to see her walk the delicate line between youthful belligerence and pregnable grace with such poise, confidence, and — if what must have been months of pole-dancing classes are any indication — strength. Mark Eydelshteyn delivers some of the film’s funniest lines and gives Vanya a childlike exuberance that has to be seen to be believed, but it’s Yura Borisov has who has the hardest job of all, that of a nearly-silent sentry whose inherent moral fortitude begins to make a kind of conciliatory sense out of all the madness around him as the night goes on. His Igor’s attention to Ani’s well-being starts as a slow simmer before boiling over into the most heartbreaking ending of the year, and it’s through their interactions that Baker’s thesis develops into his ultimate statement on class solidarity: We’ve all been seduced by opportunity, but those of us who work — be it sex work or any other kind — will continue to do so, and it’s how we share that burden that will determine the true value of our lives.
Anora hits wide theatrical release on Friday, November 1st.

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Download this episode here.
Listen to F This Movie! on Apple Podcasts.
Also discussed this episode: The Grudge (2004), The Descent (2005), Terrifier 3 (2024), Smile 2 (2024), MADS (2024), Azrael (2024)

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