(BP)

I apologize for being mean. We’re all in Hell. I’ll leave you all to it.

Not using the devices that you need to literally exist in the modern world or even ethical shopping is a smidge harder than simply not watching people pretend to beat each other up.

Clown argument

Yeah, I can’t control what trashy people think about, you’re absolutely right. I assure you that I couldn’t live with myself working for somewhere I thought did evil, so I don’t. It’s not always easy, but it’s worth it.

I don’t watch AEW either. If someone can’t even find the integrity to stop watching people play-fighting they’re going to have a hard time making real sacrifices as the world moves on from what it used to be. Wrestlers can work wherever they want, I don’t have to respect them for it.

Anyone who watches or works for WWE is an amoral insect.

Speaking of Robin Williams, one time we put on World’s Greatest Dad when my sister-in-law was over because she said she’d been wanting to see it. Halfway through, after some heavy shit goes down, she asked when John Travolta was going to show up. Yes, she thought the movie was Old Dogs.

825 Forest Road: Found footage auteur Stephen Cognetti, creator of the Hell House LLC franchise, directs his first traditional narrative feature. Cognetti has a talent for creating spooky scenarios and shooting them to maximum effect, and there’s a few of those moments here. The problem is it’s otherwise a rather tepid American J-horror (vengeful spirit curses small town and takes out an ensemble cast in a series of disjointed vignettes.) Even the scenes that work are mined from very similar moments in the Hell House movies. I was disappointed that Cognetti doesn’t stretch himself artistically, and he shows here that he needs a writing partner to mold and define his ideas. He has a new non-found-footage Hell House movie coming out next; that franchise has its ups and downs, but I’m still hopeful Cognetti will learn from his mistakes on this picture. **

I haven’t but I should. I’m aware of a lot of the set stories like Stanley spying on the production after he was fired and Brando trying to rewrite it so Moreau is part whale and has a blowhole.

Murray’s deadpan is so good. He’s at his best when his character thinks he’s smarter than everyone else. Sometimes the character revels in it and sometimes it makes them absolutely miserable. His movies where he’s being a plain old doofus are hit or miss for me. While we’re talking comedy and 80s westerns, Three Amigos! John Landis should’ve been in jail instead of making it, but he made it and it’s good.

I think that’s one of the movie’s larger issues. There’s quite a bit of it where it feels like earnest, contemplative, high minded sci-fi in the vein of A.I. or Gattaca, but it’s consistently deflated by humor that was either a studio note or Robin riffing on set. Dramedy Robin Williams hardly ever works. He needed the guardrails of a consistent tone, plus directors and editors who weren’t precious about his schtick and would be willing to leave it on the cutting room floor.

The characterization of Cecile in Cruel Intentions makes it feel like the other characters are taking advantage of someone who’s mentally disabled. It’s insane.

Williams appeared in some dogshit movies in the last decade of his life, but he also gave some great performances in imperfect but fascinating smaller films. I think he’s excellent in World’s Greatest Dad, Boulevard, The Night Listener, and The Final Cut. Also, shoutout to his very faithful adaptation of John Irving’s The World According to Garp.

Paul Walter Hauser is Ed Junior? That movie is going to rip. I cannot wait.

If a movie stars Maria Conchita Alonso, it is most certainly watchable.

Kilmer’s impression of Brando towards the end of Moreau is probably the highlight of the movie. That and the little goblin guy that Mike Myers based Mini Me on.

Man, The Simpson’s was already at the end of its golden era when South Park debuted.

I’m just happy that Gallo suffered all of the Brown Bunny backlash and Chloe Sevigny got to keep working. I don’t care about the movie, but Gallo brought his workprint to Cannes and then said some heinous shit about Ebert’s health when Roger gave the cut a (very) negative review. Ebert even ended up giving the later theatrical cut a thumbs up. Contrast that with Rob Schneider, renowned for his bad movies and even worse opinions, who Ebert never had anything kind to say about in his reviews. He sent Ebert flowers when Roger got sick along with a kind card he signed from, “Your least favorite movie star.” Also, if you want to see Gallo in a true blue post-Tarantino crime turd check out Truth or Consequences, N.M.

He got pigeonholed into being the fast talking little stinker, which just came off smarmy once he was in adult leading roles. The same thing happened to Broderick. It was less than a decade after the last BTTF and he was a TV actor again. I think the back half of his movie career would’ve turned around as he aged into more mature roles if not for his illness.

I’ve always loved this sketch.

Look at him go. An enormous talent.

The Stab franchise continues to play a pivotal role in the rest of the series. Also, I should have listed Parker Posey among the positives in my previous rundown of the movie.

The quote from the student’s father is heartbreaking.

It’s the weakest of the entire franchise. Both a victim of post-Columbine Hollywood self censorship and a creative effort to put a fine point on it as the finale of a trilogy. Still not that bad, and I enjoy the rest of the sequels.

I have no idea what to make of Dennis Hopper as a director, aside from the symptoms of major burnout. Such a bizarre body of work.