Movies 2025 Movie Discussion Thread

[HarryArchieGus]

22 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

I took the afternoon off tomorrow to see Die My Love. Not for Predator Badlands. I'll be the only one in the theater for Die My Love. 

Very excited to say ‘I’m seeing it today.’ I’m seeing it at an ‘art house’ cinema that looks to have a sizeable audience. Curious if the multiplex goers will come out for a Lawerence-Pattinson vehicle. 

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....

Shadows and Fog (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

For a 'middle effort' from Woody Allen, Shadows and Fog isn't bad in some respects. The German Expressionism style the movie takes is really noteworthy - the film student in Allen shows how much he paid attention to the various directors like Fritz Lang, F.W. Marnau, and G.B. Pabst in creating the movie.

However, the story of the movie is essentially a chase. Kleinman (Allen) is brought into the chase at the start without fully understanding why. Irmy (Mia Farrow) wants out of the circus life she is in. The movie concludes with neither character receiving anything; Kleinman joins the circus, the killer that was being searched for is still on the loose, and Irmy and her husband Paul (John Malkovich) stay in the circus.

The chase resembles the chase found in Fritz Lang's M, but it never really has the stakes that M did. It then becomes a stylistic enterprise, for the sole proof that Woody Allen can make a movie influenced by German Expressionism. The other actors involved including Jodie Foster, Kathy Bates, Madonna, Kurtwood Smith, John Cusack, Julie Kavner, William H. Macy, John C. Reilly, Donald Pleasence, Lily Tomlin, and Wallace Shawn are barely given enough to even have character arcs; the scenes at the brothel were well filmed with a nice 360 pan around a table, but that's just it.

For the most part, Shadows and Fog is a lesser effort but that doesn't mean there wasn't anything worthwhile from it. As a comedy, it's among Allen's most neurotic. I had to shudder a bit at lines where Kleinman is called a 'vermin,' which unspoken speaks to Kleinman's Jewish religion and calls to mind what Nazis in Germany called the Jewish people (obviously, that wasn't completely intentional and Woody Allen does play a lot of his Jewish identity into his movies). The cinematography for this is where the movie stands out.

Breaking News (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Quite honestly, this movie should be talked about in equal measure with Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight.

A lot of the themes between the two movies are nearly the same: what does it mean in a country when criminals are able to sway the public through their actions and the police have no true control that doesn't result in manipulation.

After the incredible seven minute opening scene, the movie settles into three different characters at play. Inspector Cheung (Nick Cheung) who was at the scene and participated in the gunfight, Yuen (Richie Jen) who is one of the criminals involved in a robbery gang, and Rebecca Fong (Kelly Chen) who controlled the message and video footage being sent to the media.

A lot of the movie is carried through with the tension and release surrounding it. Johnnie To has a movie that's not just action all the time; Yuen and his cohorts run into Chun (You Yong), who is tasked with an assassination target. In moments of levity, they eat lunch with Yip (Lam Suet) and his children while the police also break for lunch (with fart jokes included of course).

The final 10 minutes is as exciting and well filmed as the opening seven minutes as Yuen tries to escape with Rebecca as his hostage and Cheung on his trail.

The movie never really dwells on the wider implications of media control and criminals controlling the media too; although there were moments that spoke to that as the criminals released photos that contradicted the police reports about their operations and Yuen communicating through a webcam to Rebecca and her team.

Breaking News has incredible action and cinematography and demonstrates how good Johnnie To is as a director.

Die My Love (saw in the theaters) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

Die My Love is at times the most boring "woman losing her senses" movie. At other times, it's delightfully unhinged and crazy. (At the showing I went to, two women that sat on the same row as I walked out when Jennifer Lawrence's character talked about her uncle sticking a shotgun up his ass and pulling the trigger).

The movie starts with a steady one camera setup as Lawrence's character Grace and her husband Jackson (Robert Pattinson) move through an empty house, looking at the rooms and at the kitchen. From there, the movie goes into a wild, maybe violent, feral imagery of sex and fire. Grace and Jackson have sex on the floor of the house. A forest fire is ablazed as the title appears.

When the scene cuts back, Jackson and Grace have a baby. Grace is not exactly the most stable person - she moves like a cat with a knife in her hand towards the baby in a carrier. The thought would be that she would stab the baby, but she puts the knife down.

Jackson and Grace's relationship on the surface would resemble Leonard DiCaprio and Kate Winslet's characters in Reservation Road. But we never feel a sense of disgust towards Jackson and a sense of sympathy towards Grace; in fact, the opposite is true. Grace is prone to imagination - during a phone call with Jackson while he's at a restaurant, she imagines Jackson and the waitress having sex. She herself has sex with a motorcyclist named Karl (LaKeith Stanfield) that it's truly unknown if it actually happened (although given how the character acts, I believe Grace is more prone to acting on her fantasies).

In one scene, Grace destroys a bathroom that conjures images of Isabelle Adjani in Possession, Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under The Influence, and Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion. Destruction is her canvas and she is merely the painter. Grace head butts a mirror on her wedding day while imaging (or possibly having) the hotel lobby attendant singing to her on a guitar.

With Die My Love, major actions of the movie seem like impulses. Like mentioned earlier, Jackson and Grace impulsively have sex. A similar impulse takes them when they decide to get married with John Prine's "In Spite Of Ourselves" as their wedding song - the song shows up later in a nice scene as the two are driving and they sing along. Impulse overtakes them as Jackson has Grace sent to a mental hospital to get cleaned up. Grace towards the end of the movie lashes out at Jackson for doing this in front of everyone upon her return. She also impulsively dives into a pool in her underwear.

The thing is, Jackson seems to have a handle on his impulses (or as much as we are shown that he does). He seems to want Grace to dial back her wild streak; it can be argued that it's not out of controlling Grace but to save Grace from herself. The characters never reach a compromise as Grace reflects on several different things throughout the movie such as moving into the house, her walking down the road in a wedding dress and busted open, and having sex before she sets a notebook on fire. The notebook causes a bigger fire.

Even after watching this, I'm not exactly sure I could say this is one of the year's best. Jennifer Lawrence's performance is one of the best performances; Pattinson honestly seems a bit dialed back with his character and there are a few scenes where he matches Lawrence in intensity.

But mostly, this is Jennifer Lawrence's world and we're just living in it.

Breakfast of Champions (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

It's really easy to hate Breakfast of Champions.

The movie feels the way that people describe Terry Gilliam's work in Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas and 12 Monkeys (which also had Bruce Willis) or Darren Aronofsky's work in Requiem For A Dream. This would be like if Robert Altman directed a movie similar to those directors' works. The difference is every character involved with this movie is stark, raving mad.

It's not going to make sense. It's not going to be logical. It's like a live action cartoon world where those involved are already at their wits' end.

Dwayne Hoover (Bruce Willis) starts the movie contemplating suicide. His wife Celia (Barbara Hershey) is watching channels until Hoover's commercial for his car dealership, Exit 11 Car Dealership, appears on television. The Dwayne on television has more confidence than the actual Dwayne that is shown does.

The next character introduced is Kilgore Trout (Albert Finney) who writes works near a desolate power plant and is written to come to Midland City, a non-descript town where Hoover resides. Harry Le Sabre (Nick Nolte), who works as a sales manager for Dwayne, has a fondness for wearing lingerie as he talks to his wife Grace (Vicki Lewis). Finally, Wayne Hoobler (Omar Epps) is introduced, as he watches Dwayne on television in a correctional facility.

The story threads for these characters come together like a car crash. Most of the movie is about Dwayne's anxiety and nervous breakdown; he sticks his fingers in people's mouths and asks them to tell him who he is. Harry Le Sabre, in a completely wild scene, comes running out of an ambulance while wearing lingerie.

While watching this movie, it made me think about what happened to Bruce Willis and Nick Nolte. Willis did terrible made for Blu Ray / made for VOD movies where he barely speaks and has an earpiece to feed him lines before he retired from acting. Nolte does parts where he doesn't even talk at all lately or barely have a part in the movie.

Hoover finally meets Trout in the last 10 minutes and goes completely unhinged; he begins attacking people and calling them 'machines.' He sees Francine (Glenne Headly) and calls her a 'fucking machine.' He calls Hoobler a 'trusting machine.' Trout has to get Hoover to come to his senses with Hoover hugging his wife and son Bunny (Lukas Haas) before the police arrive. The ending has Hoover being hauled away to jail for assault and Trout going into a mirror and disappearing from the world. "Make me young," Trout says as the movie concludes.

Breakfast of Champions, if you view it with the idea that its supposed to be a perfect adaptation of a novel, won't work on that level. It's like what Kubrick did with The Shining; Kubrick's movie wasn't a perfect adaptation either. But it's memorable, crazy, and adventurous film to watch.

The Trip To Italy (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

The Trip to Italy is a bit more sad compared to The Trip. I don't know if it's the distant between the first movie and this, Alanis Morisette's Jagged Little Pill being played, the Italian scenery, the Italian food, or the movie references this movie is loaded with (it spoils the ending to Roman Holiday if you haven't seen it).

Or it could be all of these.

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon have more of a friendlier relationship in this with Coogan being a willing accomplice as they go through Italy and eat a ton of incredible food (calamari in this looks positively tasty) with Brydon getting a part as a "mob accountant for a Michael Mann film" and Coogan talking with his son about Coogan moving down the street.

Stylistically, it looks no different from The Trip with shot selection, although it's a bit more evocative of Italian films that are referenced (La Dolce Vita and A Journey To Italy being the main ones with Beat The Devil thrown in as well). Plus, they return to the Michael Caine jokes at the start except with The Dark Knight Rises and how Caine's voice sounds even more different. "I've buried 14 Batmen, with their pointy ears and cowls."

It made me want to watch Italian films, so mission accomplished.

 

[odessasteps]

I read a lot of Vonnegut as a teen and would have thought BOC was unfilmmable. Have you even seen the film version of Slaughterhous3 Five from the early 70s?

[Andrew POE!]

23 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

I read a lot of Vonnegut as a teen and would have thought BOC was unfilmmable. Have you even seen the film version of Slaughterhous3 Five from the early 70s?

No, I haven't. I guess I need to do that and Mother Night as well. 

[odessasteps]

Looks like both are available to rent but not streaming “for free” at the moment. 

[HarryArchieGus]

13 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

Die My Love (saw in the theaters) - 4/5 stars

  Reveal hidden contents

Die My Love is at times the most boring "woman losing her senses" movie. At other times, it's delightfully unhinged and crazy. (At the showing I went to, two women that sat on the same row as I walked out when Jennifer Lawrence's character talked about her uncle sticking a shotgun up his ass and pulling the trigger).

The movie starts with a steady one camera setup as Lawrence's character Grace and her husband Jackson (Robert Pattinson) move through an empty house, looking at the rooms and at the kitchen. From there, the movie goes into a wild, maybe violent, feral imagery of sex and fire. Grace and Jackson have sex on the floor of the house. A forest fire is ablazed as the title appears.

When the scene cuts back, Jackson and Grace have a baby. Grace is not exactly the most stable person - she moves like a cat with a knife in her hand towards the baby in a carrier. The thought would be that she would stab the baby, but she puts the knife down.

Jackson and Grace's relationship on the surface would resemble Leonard DiCaprio and Kate Winslet's characters in Reservation Road. But we never feel a sense of disgust towards Jackson and a sense of sympathy towards Grace; in fact, the opposite is true. Grace is prone to imagination - during a phone call with Jackson while he's at a restaurant, she imagines Jackson and the waitress having sex. She herself has sex with a motorcyclist named Karl (LaKeith Stanfield) that it's truly unknown if it actually happened (although given how the character acts, I believe Grace is more prone to acting on her fantasies).

In one scene, Grace destroys a bathroom that conjures images of Isabelle Adjani in Possession, Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under The Influence, and Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion. Destruction is her canvas and she is merely the painter. Grace head butts a mirror on her wedding day while imaging (or possibly having) the hotel lobby attendant singing to her on a guitar.

With Die My Love, major actions of the movie seem like impulses. Like mentioned earlier, Jackson and Grace impulsively have sex. A similar impulse takes them when they decide to get married with John Prine's "In Spite Of Ourselves" as their wedding song - the song shows up later in a nice scene as the two are driving and they sing along. Impulse overtakes them as Jackson has Grace sent to a mental hospital to get cleaned up. Grace towards the end of the movie lashes out at Jackson for doing this in front of everyone upon her return. She also impulsively dives into a pool in her underwear.

The thing is, Jackson seems to have a handle on his impulses (or as much as we are shown that he does). He seems to want Grace to dial back her wild streak; it can be argued that it's not out of controlling Grace but to save Grace from herself. The characters never reach a compromise as Grace reflects on several different things throughout the movie such as moving into the house, her walking down the road in a wedding dress and busted open, and having sex before she sets a notebook on fire. The notebook causes a bigger fire.

Even after watching this, I'm not exactly sure I could say this is one of the year's best. Jennifer Lawrence's performance is one of the best performances; Pattinson honestly seems a bit dialed back with his character and there are a few scenes where he matches Lawrence in intensity.

But mostly, this is Jennifer Lawrence's world and we're just living in it.

I assumed we were on the same page with that number - tho, I'd have gone higher if I were starring it. This was not the 'most boring' anything at any times. I don't quite get that comment. You close by saying this is one of the best performances - where did she lose you to suggest the comment above? This was meditative at times to be sure. Pattinson isn't dialed back. Do you mean in comparison to Lawerence? I mean, of course he is in comparison. I thought he was pretty outstanding in doing what he needed to do. I'm more than fine with suggesting it's 'one of the year's best'. Another thoughtful heart-wrenching masterpiece from Lynne Ramsay. 

p.s. I think you've overlooked what makes Shadows and Fog so special. 

Edited November 8 by HarryArchieGus

[Andrew POE!]

3 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said:

I assumed we were on the same page with that number - tho, I'd have gone higher if I were starring it. This was not the 'most boring' anything at any times. I don't quite get that comment. You close by saying this is one of the best performances - where did she lose you to suggest the comment above? This was meditative at times to be sure. Pattinson isn't dialed back. Do you mean in comparison to Lawerence? I mean, of course he is in comparison. I thought he was pretty outstanding in doing what he needed to do. I'm more than fine with suggesting it's 'one of the year's best'. Another thoughtful heart-wrenching masterpiece from Lynne Ramsay. 

p.s. I think you've overlooked what makes Shadows and Fog so special. 

It took me a bit of time for me to be drawn into the movie. If I start to wonder what's going on with the movie or I'm looking at my watch, then it tends to lose me (although Die My Love's second hour more than made up for it). 

I meant in comparison to Lawrence. Jennifer Lawrence was on another level with her performance. She was like all those actresses I mentioned (that I need to just get off my duff and watch those movies - Possession/A Woman Under The Influence/Repulsion). 

I really loved Morvern Callar (I had reviewed it over a year ago when I started watching movies every day). I keep meaning to watch We Need To Talk About Kevin, but I'm not sure I'm mentally prepared for that. 

[odessasteps]

One of my Scottish pals saw the new Running Man today. Said it was good and had one amazing cameo. And looked a lot like Glasgow.

[The Natural]

https://metro.co.uk/2025/11/07/jeremy-renner-accused-threatening-call-ice-filmmaking-partner-24643370/

Bloody hell.

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....the most five star ratings in awhile. Apologies for The Long Goodbye review, wrote it after midnight. 

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30, watched Criterion Blu Ray) - 5/5 stars

Spoiler

McCabe & Mrs. Miller isn't really an 'anti-Western.'

It is a lot of things: it's a paean to rugged individualism, a screen against corporations and the greed of capitalism, and a realistic (well, within Hollywood at least) look at "the Old West."

McCabe (Warren Beatty) as a character enters on a horse and with a pack mule. He goes into a bar and is identified. The bar in McCabe & Mrs. Miller isn't like what is typically pictured in Westerns: it's cramped, it's dirty, it's dusty, it's loud, it's not built to look a certain way for beauty. The bar (and the town) is built by people who came from Northern Europe and never studied architecture. You're lucky the roof hasn't caved in on them, it's stayed upright for this long now.

The film is shot with a grainy, sepia tinged look everywhere - like Robert Altman didn't really create a movie in the 1970s, he was creating a movie that showed how it looked in those times. Prosperity and cleanliness weren't a thing for an average man; they had to mine the coal, build the railroads, blast the openings in the mines. Dirt, sweat, and tears are what is shown and the people involved aren't a pretty image of Americans.

McCabe upon his entry wears an enormous fur coat that's not even functional. He has his hat in a box on a pack mule; the act of putting it on is the height of ridiculousness. Most other Western heroes, like found in John Ford, Howard Hawks, and John Sturges, dress a certain way, act a certain way, and talk a certain way. You know who they are when they enter and they hold all the answers. McCabe holds none of the answers, but he thinks he has them.

McCabe is identified almost immediately as a man that shot someone at a poker game - "Pudgy" McCabe. "Why's he called 'Pudgy?' one of the people asked. "The guy he shot was going to be the next senator from the state," says another. McCabe, through his exit outside to take a leak, doesn't answer the questions. Through omission of response, he seemingly confirms the truth. He is the gunfighter, but he's absolutely terrible at gunfighting.

The thing with McCabe is he speaks almost in riddles. "If a frog had wings, they wouldn't bump his ass so much, you follow me?" McCabe says in response to nearly everything - and especially in response to the offer for his business from Sears (Michael Murphy) and Hollander (Antony Holland). The phrase by itself really doesn't have any meaning, but it shows the obstinacy in McCabe to not sell to the corporation.

I find it interesting the drink of choice for McCabe. The camera focuses on an egg before McCabe cracks it and puts into his glass of whiskey. The taste of that would likely be terrible - but it shows how much risk McCabe accepts; he gambles throughout the movie and gambles in his business. Through his efforts, where he is goes from a camp with a few tents to a town. This mirrors what was done during the production of the film as the town was built in real time.

What's interesting with McCabe & Mrs. Miller is the secondary character Mrs. Miller (Julie Christie) is introduced about 30 minutes into the movie. Mrs. Miller appears on a motorized cart that seems insanely slow and non-functional. "It took me six hours to get here," she exclaims. Mrs. Miller in comparison to McCabe is more intelligent in her dealings. "I'm a whore and I know an awful lot about whorehouses. [...] I'll do all the rest. I'll look after the girls, the business, the expenses, the running, the furnishing, everything." Mrs. Miller is more highly educated in comparison to McCabe, who may be functionally illiterate. "Your problem is you have your debits and credits on the same page." "...when a good whore gets time to sit around and think,four out of five times she'll turn to religion, 'cause that's what they was born with." Their relationship is built on there not being one - in most Westerns, the two characters would fall in love or develop a feeling of trust or connection. McCabe and Mrs. Miller's connection is only in the movie title - they are strictly professionals. Although McCabe develops feelings later in the movie that we never see, only hear McCabe talk about. Obviously, Mrs. Miller doesn't share in those feelings.

The music in the movie is from Leonard Cohen, who wrote songs that display the type of loneliness and disconnection the world depicted experiences. His songs function as a Greek chorus - the opening of the movie is "The Stranger Song," which could very well be talking about McCabe. "I heard you gave up the holy game of poker," as McCabe walks in to play poker with people he's never met. "Winter Lady" functions as a song about Mrs. Miller. "I'm just a station on your way/I know I am not your lover" perfectly describes Mrs. Miller and McCabe's relationship.

"Sisters of Mercy" is played a few times, especially after McCabe have procured women to work for him. The most beautiful scene I've ever seen in movies occurred while the song is playing. A person climbs up to a top of a church to place a steeple as McCabe and the women ride on horses through the clearing. The sunlight against the trees, the clanging of the instrumentation, and Leonard Cohen's "you won't make me jealous when I've hear they've sweeten your night" is transcendentally beautiful. Thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.

After McCabe refuses the offer from Sears and Hollander, three men arrive. Mrs. Miller warned McCabe about refusing it. "They'd no sooner shoot you and as you turn your back." Which indeed happens to a cowboy (Keith Carradine) on a bridge; the kid (Manfred Schulz) shoots him and the cowboy falls off the bridge. What's interesting is Butler (Hugh Millais) doesn't really seem threatening, but the implications make him threatening. "Oh I'm just up here hunting bears" he tells McCabe, who is obviously nervous about their arrival. Butler is telling the people in the bar how they can make more money. "You don't even know where the wealth of this town is."

McCabe talks to a lawyer named Clement Samuels (William Devane), in an obvious nod to Samuel Clements or Mark Twain. Clement tells McCabe that he should fight the corporation in court. "When a man goes into the wilderness and with his bare hands, gives birth to a small enterprise, nourishes it and tends it while it grows, I'm here to tell you that no dirty sons of bbitches are going to take it away from him." McCabe doesn't necessarily seem interested and seems more interested in survival. "I'm just trying not to get killed."

What's interesting with McCabe and his 'gunfight' with the three professional killers is it's not like what is done in other Westerns. It's not like High Noon, or Gunfight at the OK Corral, or any John Ford Western where people walk into a certain spot in town and stand there to shoot each other. McCabe is trying to avoid the gunfight and avoid the odds. He's a gambler, remember? He doesn't know much, but he knows his odds are against him. He takes out all three men out of sheer luck and with their backs turned. If it's not going to be fair, why fight fair?

What's interesting is during the gunfight, the people of the town are more concerned with a church burning down. Religion doesn't really play a part in their lives, it's more the symbolism of the church. After putting out the fire, they drink alcohol triumphantly. Meanwhile, McCabe succumbs to his wounds in the snow and Mrs. Miller looks wistfully forward at a small vase after smoking opium. It's not unlike the ending to Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, another Western that changes its approach and application of the language of Westerns; Butch and Sundance are frozen in time as the guns go off. McCabe & Mrs. Miller ends with Mrs. Miller staring into the vase, much like how Uncut Gems started with Howie Bling staring into the specialized gem. All of infinity, time, and space is found in that vase.

McCabe & Mrs. Miller is an absolute classic of filmmaking.

Dark Habits (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Compared to later Almodovar movies, this movie has a great premise that was later used in Sister Act, but it seems to lose its way really quickly after that.

It's unfortunate that Cristina Sanchez Pascual as the lead Yolanda is such a poor actress; a lot of her scenes lacked any sort of emotions and any sort of character arc. She reads the lines like she's bored and that's what's given.

Therefore, a lot of the story is given to the other actors - a lot of the subplots involve a sister shooting up heroin, snorting cocaine, feeding a tiger meat.

The emotional impact behind it and with the ending doesn't seem as earned as a result. With most Almodovar movies, there's an element of humanity even with the messed up characters. It's easier to connect with Antonio Banderas' character in Pain & Glory, or Cecilia Roth's character in All About My Mother, or Penelope Cruz's character in Volver. Almodovar as a director uses elements of what other directors (like Fellini, Hitchcock, Sirk, Bresson, and Rossellini) have done but with his own approach.

Dark Habits felt a bit like what John Waters would do early on in his filmmaking, but not nearly as extreme. It's like watching Desparately Living and the punches for it are being pulled back.

I'll perhaps have to watch more of Almodovar's early works to see what he was doing as a director and what changed for him.

Predator: Badlands (saw in the theaters) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

Predator: Badlands is Kurosawa coded. It's also very much a Western - one lone singular character named Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) is thrown out of his tribe by his father (Reuben De Jong) in a King Lear-type of moment and sent to a planet to hunt for himself a creature no other Yautja has killed. He's the type of character that would appear in a Clint Eastwood Western, a Toshiro Mifune Samurai epic.

The visuals on Yautja evokes Dune, Lawrence of Arabia, and Sergio Leone's "Spaghetti Westerns" as Dek fights with his brother Kwei (Mike Homik). Upon arriving on the planet, Dek meets Thia (Elle Fanning), a damaged synthetic sent from Weyland-Yutani Corporation as part of a search party. Their friendship is similar to what was done in The Last of Us and, earlier, Lone Wolf and Cub series from the 1970s. Dek regards Thia as a 'tool' until eventually they learn to trust each other. A great scene had Thia telling that a small creature views Dek as part of its tribe by spitting on him and Dek actually revealing what happened to his family.

Thia and Dek journey to find Dek's ship and to search for Tessa (Fanning) whose mission is to capture Kalisk and use it for the Corporation's purposes. Thia sends out a beacon which delivers Dek into the hands of Tessa and other synthetics. While trying to examine and extract a piece from Dek's brain, Thia uses subterfuge and speaks to Dek in his language. Dek is able to trick a synthetic to blow up an 'Yautja children's toy' in his face and flees out of the vehicle.

To me, the best scenes in the movie were towards the end. Dek learns from the planet Genna and uses what were dangers as weapons and tools. He crafts a weapon out of razorgrass, he creates armor from a creature on the planet, he uses seeds to attract a creature to ride on his shoulder. Dek then mounts an attempt with Bud, who turns out to be female and the offspring of the Kalisk. A really cool sequence had Thia (and her legs) killing two synthetics.

Dek and Tessa have a final fight with the momma Kalisk joining in. Tessa is thought to be swallowed up....until she freezes Kalisk from the inside and destroys it. Eventually Tessa is killed by Dek and the three prepare to confront Dek's father in a Ran style final battle. The movie's ending has a cliffhanger as the three are to fight Dek's mother.

The one thing I can say about Predator: Badlands is it tended to be a bit 'on the nose' with the themes of family and toxic familial relationships. Both Dek and Thia have damaged 'family' relationships - Dek's father didn't want him due to 'weakness' while Tessa didn't view Thia as equal until towards the end where she calls her 'sister' (but that was out of manipulation). Compared to a lot of sci-fi/comic book-y movies lately, Predator: Badlands told a complete story and had a lot of great elements to it. Some of the cinematography was a bit drab and was giving me flashbacks to Adam Driver's terrible movie 65 (in fact, some of the scenes seemed like scenes from that movie too).

I keep waiting for a director to make a Predator movie where the Predator speaks English and sounds like Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger at times and greets his fellow Predators with "You son of a bitch!"and "what's the matter? The CIA got you pushing too many pencils?" while the other Predators look confused. The premise would be due to this Predator finding a digital copy of the original Predator and the movie is seared into his soul.

Predator: Badlands isn't bad. Now I need to watch Terrence Malick's Badlands at some point.

Threads (Mubi, leaving on 11/19) - 5/5 stars

Spoiler

"(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up and down again!)
There’s no discharge in the war!" -Rudyard Kipling, "Boots"

It would be fair to say that Threads is both a five star movie and a 1/2 star movie. On a technical level, it's a bit low budget and tries to present a lower/middle class view of what happens in the aftermath of a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Ruth (Karen Meagher) and Jimmy (Reece Dinsdale) are a couple that decide to move in together after Ruth becomes pregnant with a view that she shouldn't have an abortion from both herself and her parents. The neorealist style the movie takes on is a credit to make the presentation affecting. Having a narrator makes it seem more like a documentary than a piece of narrative fiction.

What makes it 1/2 star is the fact that the movie functions as a piece of BBC produced media and has somewhat of a bias. The upper class aren't shown suffering the effects; obviously, those individuals would have a pampered existence in fallout shelters for 10 years down the line. Focusing exclusively on the lower and middle class turns the movie into 'trauma porn' - it's not a nuanced take and after awhile of seeing characters introduced earlier in the movie dying, it's a numbing experience. What happens to Jimmy and Ruth's parents is of little consequence since they die. I found myself yelling at the stupidity of older relatives unable to get down the stairs faster and people stealing food at grocery stores.

One thing to take issue with the fact that there would be an attack over the North Sea at 3 am US time from the Soviet Union; In this doomsday scenario, I think it would be more likely that the US and USSR would be attacking each other directly than trying to attack NATO countries to knock communications. The USSR would shooting themselves in the foot; knocking out communications in Europe affects them too.

The biggest issue is the ending. Ruth's daughter Jane (Victoria O'Keefe) gives birth to a child that's affected with radiation but is also the product of rape. The movie seems to have a view that women have to have children and men have to do work, even when an apocalypse has happened. Any sort of societal reset (that's something like 28 Years Later would show) never seems to change anything. The remaining people resolve to farm crops despite the nihilistic yield.

Despite all that, Threads is an incredibly piece of filmmaking and incredibly powerful work. I liken it to Testament (which I saw last year) that was produced by United States' PBS and concerns a family of three's response to a nuclear attack.

Mamma Mia! (Netflix, leaving on 11/15) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

After watching Threads, watching Mamma Mia seemed like a great idea.

Meryl Streep as Donna Sheridan and Amanda Seyfried as her daughter Sophie is absolutely perfectly casting; they both look like they are related and could really pass for mother and daughter. They both convey a chipper quality despite everything falling apart around them (Donna with running the villa and seeing the three men she never thought she would see again, Sophie with inviting the three men she wonders was her father to her wedding).

Watching this movie, I was somewhat saddened and yet glad I didn't know or date women like either Donna or Sophie. Sophie seeing her friends with an elaborate greeting is annoying to watch; Donna has a similar annoying greeting to her friends Rosie (Julie Walters) and Tanya (Christine Baranski). Then I realized this: this movie is not a movie for guys like me. It's just not. That's okay. It's still well made, almost Jacques Demy-esque usage of color and it has a female writer and a female director. This is a story for girlfriends and a movie for girlfriends. Those girlfriends do annoying things that are only funny to them and won't be funny to me as a guy.

The fact is, Mamma Mia never solves who actually is Sophie's father. The movie ends with this mystery never reaching a conclusion - but it resolves for its character. Sophie and her finance Sky Rymand (Dominic Cooper) will go around the world (with what money?) and Donna decides to marry Sam (Pierce Brosnan). And Colin Firth's character Harry, who had a night with Donna too, is gay all of a sudden at the end. I'm fine with gay characters, but that seemed a bit unearned, unexpected, and didn't make sense given the rest of the movie - just because a guy above the age of 40 is uncomfortable with women still doesn't make him gay.

But what's really great is how the musical numbers throughout the movie fit with the story and come in at logical times in relation to the story. "Dancing Queen" comes in at the right time as Donna is feeling down about herself. "Money, Money, Money" sets up Donna's situation with other people coming in as background singers. "Super Trouper" with Donna, Tanya and Rosie is a great moment as well. Meryl Streep doing great (although a bit out of breath) on "The Winner Takes It All."

So let's get to the drawbacks for Mamma Mia. Everyone talks about Pierce Brosnan's singing. It's a given that it's completely terrible. But I would say that Julie Walters is even worse than Brosnan singing wise - she has zero range and can't hit any notes. Colin Firth's singing is great in a Don McLean tenor voice way (honestly, he could do an album of 1970s soft rock songs from McLean, America, John Denver, and Ambrosia and it would be fine). "SOS" with Brosnan is absolutely the worse singing I've heard in a movie musical. The problem with Brosnan's voice is age; he is straining a lot. When he sings low in "When All is Said And Done," Brosnan is actually okay. He sings for his range. Then Julie Walters ruins it with "Take A Chance on Me" and egads it's bad.

So Mamma Mia is light cinema fluff. There's nothing deep about it at all. I loved the match cuts when Donna is in a bedroom as is Sophie. Also, the introductory scene with Sophie and her friends reminded me a bit of Bonjour Tristesse (honestly, that seems to be a cinematic short hand any time there's a movie on a Grecian island).

The Long Goodbye (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30, watched Kino Lorber Blu Ray) - 5/5 stars

Spoiler

What's interesting is how much The Long Goodbye has had as an influence on other movies. It practically predicted Andrew Garfield's character in Under The Silver Lake, except that movie used Bernard Hermann-esque strings throughout the movie. The opening scene with Phillip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) staring across at his neighbors being beautiful women was used in Under The Silver Lake and, before that, Body Double.

The Long Goodbye could be considered 'an anti-Noir.' With most noir films, there's a sense of danger and the lead character puts two and two together as to the chain of events. Marlowe is haphazard, aloof, clueless, and at the pull of everything else - the opening nine minutes have him going to a grocery store to look for cat food, but his cat hates it and wanders off. He is the precursor to Josh O'Connor's character from The Mastermind in some ways. Marlowe takes a friend named Terry (Jim Bouton) to the Mexican border from Los Angeles and ends up spending three days behind bars. His 'investigation' into what happened and his belief that Terry isn't dead doesn't turn up anything - it takes him to Roger Wade (Sterling Hayden) and Eileen Wade (Nina van Pallandt) but Roger drowns himself after a visit with Dr. Verringer (Henry Gibson) on account of a possible hypnotic suggestion. The money that's owed to Marty Augustine (Mark Rydell) returns back to him.

Marlowe only ends up going to Mexico because everything else was proven to be exhausted and finds Terry there. Marlowe, in the end, tells Terry that he was in jail. "That's what friends are for - I was in a jam."

The Long Goodbye works as layers of an onion are peeled back, Marlowe barely able to investigate what happened to Marty Augustine's money after being roughed up and seeing Marty's girlfriend get slashed and Marlowe being followed by the completely inept Harry (David Arkin), who works for Marty.

A lot of what happens to Marlowe delays him. He gets thrown into jail, he stays in the hospital after being hit by a car, he takes a bus to Mexico just to see the photos of Terry being 'dead,' and he tries to squeeze information out of Eileen as Roger drowns himself. In a really nice sequence, Roger and Eileen argue about Marlowe as almost a cross fade of Marlowe walking on the beach occurs.

The most incredible aspect of this is the cinematography from Vilmos Zaigmond; cross fades are used quite a bit as the shots offer practically a picturesque view of California in the 1970s.

The usage of the theme is ubiquitous and is almost a character, just like Marlowe's ability to light cigarettes. The theme really has a lot of usage and different scenes depending on what happens has a different version of the theme.

What I liked is how distinct all the characters, even secondary characters, are to this movie. Roger Wade walks with a chain and has a beard with a blazer. Marty Augustine wears golf shirts and is high strung. Eileen is wearing sundresses and hats a bit. Even Marty's goons are distinctive - Arnold Schwarzenegger has a cameo as a member of his crew.

The Long Goodbye is a great "New Hollywood" take on noir and detective movies.

 

[zendragon]

Saw two movies this week Nuremburg was really good and I wonder if it gets an Academy Nom for Russell Crowe, I kinda feel like films like this are important when we have things like Nick Fuentes being platformed by Tucker Carlson, but I doubt the right people will see it.

Also saw Christy which was a lot darker than expected, I remember her fight with Laila Ali. But another strong performance from Sidney Sweeny, reminds me of Dwayne doing The Smashing Machine and Margot Robbie doing Tonya

[Curt McGirt]

18 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

Possession/A Woman Under The Influence/Repulsion

9 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

Terrence Malick's Badlands

I'm still surprised when you say these things and I've seen something you haven't. We've talked about Possession before, but Repulsion is incredible. Terrifying ending. Badlands is just plain beautiful and you're gonna love that one a lot. 

Meanwhile I still haven't seen any Cassavetes, so don't feel bad haha

[J.H.]

Hard Times - God I love Charles Bronson and nothing says Chales Bronson like Charles Bronson as a 1930s bare-knuckle fighter brawling his way to the top!

Bronson plays Chaney, an old street fighter, along with fight fixer Speed (James Coburn), gets himself all the way to the top of the hill against Street, the king of the bare-knuckle world!

Sure, there is more to it than that but do you really care about the romance with Jill Ireland?

I mean, despite them being married, I really don't care for Bronson sharing his love life onscreen. It's a Charles Bronson movie dammit, save your love stories for a Ryan O'Neal movie!

Still, Hard Times delivers the hard hitting Charles Bronson violence you want from a Charles Bronson pic!

James

[Tabe]

14 hours ago, The Natural said:

https://metro.co.uk/2025/11/07/jeremy-renner-accused-threatening-call-ice-filmmaking-partner-24643370/

Bloody hell.

This is one time to take the accusations with a major grain of salt. 

[Curt McGirt]

5 hours ago, J.H. said:

Sure, there is more to it than that but do you really care about the romance with Jill Ireland?

Chaney doesn't either, so... 

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....

Nashville (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 5/5 stars

Spoiler

"You may say I ain't free / But it don't worry me"

Nashville is about life in America.

Nashville as a movie is all encompassing and it's difficult to say what exactly it is. It's a musical. It's a political film. It's a psychological drama. It's a dark comedy. It's a romance. It's a bilundgsroman. It's about the nature of celebrity, obsession, mental health, and the climate in America in the 1970s.

It's hard to talk about Nashville in the sense of character arcs. It's much like trying to describe Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and expecting to even do justice to its themes, its characters, its story.

Nashville has a ton of stand out moments. In fact, the 2 hour and 40 minute run time IS a stand out moment. After a chaotic intro where all the actors' name are thrown on screen and flashes by you, their pictures shown too, and various songs whizz by, it's almost an overwhelming and dizzying presentation, like something from a late night television informercial. The opening scene is incredible as the conflux of politics, of music, of personal drama, and of satire all come together at once. Hal Phillip Walker (the unseen Thomas Hal Phillips) has a truck that is broadcasting his message, advocating for the things that Donald Trump has advocated (although thankfully Walker doesn't blame immigrants for the problems of the country, and instead blames lawyers and the national anthem being written by a lawyer). In a studio, Haven Hamilton (Henry Gibson) sings a song of patriotism that makes Lee Greenwood blush while getting mad at a woman named Opal (Geraldine Chaplin) from the BBC is in the studio with a microphone. In another studio room over, Linnea Reese (Lily Tomlin) is recording gospel music with a choir and has two deaf children she is proud of.

Haven Hamilton as a character is manipulative and I would almost say he's the 'villain' of the movie. He uses his position in a community like Nashville to generate support for what he wants. He gets a musician named "Frog" released because he didn't like his piano playing. In a great scene, he meets Elliott Gould as Opal appears and puts a microphone in Gould's face before she is escorted out of the private event. Hamilton wants to campaign for Hal Phillips Walker and appears at the penultimate campaign rally for him.

Throughout the movie, mental health and mental illness is displayed; in a way, the characters find themselves exploited. Barbara Jean (Ronee Blakley) is trotted out at her first appearance arriving at an airport and collapses; she then stays at a hospital where she and her husband Barnett (Allen Garfield) argue about her appearing for performances when she really doesn't want to. Her scene where she appears and tells rambling stories about her life before being whisked off the stage is the height of her being exploited commercially and her needing mental health breaks.

It's not just Barbara Jean. Sueleen Gay (Gwen Welles) is not good at singing and has men promise her success. She appears at an event where she sings one of Barbara Jean's songs and is booed off stage. She then is made to do a striptease - for the men in Nashville and in the country music industry, they aren't interested in actual talent (or lack of talent sadly in Sueleen's case).

It made me think about the numerous pretty blondes and burnettes that were in country music in the 1980s/1990s; whatever talent they had was minimized as they maintained an image. Lorrie Morgan, a talented country singer, had a music video where her back was exposed suggestively for "Watch Me." Shania Twain sang about "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" and so much was talked about her belly button and her waist. It cultivated an image of Southern blonde Barbies and the actual people were ignored, the actual talent was left out.

Winifred (Barbara Harris) is another singer that's maligned and experiences the cruel viciousness of mental health issues. She meets Connie White (Karen Black), who is like the 1970s version of the numerous Barbie doll singers, who brushes past her and wants to try to get away from her. Winifred, at the end, is eventually given a microphone to sing in the aftermath of Barbara Jean being shot.

What makes Nashville a romance is the numerous women in Tom (Keith Carradine)'s life. He courts Opal, and calls Linnea Reese (Lily Tomlin) with calling her house numerous times. He also has Martha (the absolutely incredible Shelley Duvall) or "L.A. Joan" being around him too. In a way, Martha is like Penny Lane from Almost Famous, where she seeks to bring inspiration to mostly male singers. Linnea does finally go to a performance from Tom where he reunites with his band members Bill (Allan F Nicholls) and Mary (Cristina Raines), in a group that's a combination of Jefferson Airplane and Peter, Paul & Mary in some respects. Linnea sleeps with Tom as he phones his wife; leaving, he says it was 'room service' that was there.

The musical part of the movie is incredible; every song feels something that would be found on country radio and having the actors involved actually write and perform the music is even better. In a lot of ways, later musicals that had created music took their inspiration from Nashville. (Imagine how much better Emilia Perez would have been if the songs in that were of similar quality as what was in Nashville). Barbara Jean's songs seem like a cross between Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, and Tanya Tucker. Tom's songs (like "I'm Easy") feel like something from James Taylor, The Eagles, and other California country/rock crossover acts. Haven Hamilton's songs feel like something from George Jones and other 'older acts' in Nashville.

One sequence of scenes I really loved were the scenes where the various characters are shown attending church. Haven Hamilton sings in a choir as does Sueleen and it shows Barbara Jean in a choir under disguise. The various religion denominations are at play; in a lot of ways, politics and religion are almost mutually exclusive, especially in a state like Tennessee.

But let's talk about the final 15 minutes of the movie. It is simply incredible as Walker arrives for his speech, Barbara Jean and Haven Hamilton are performing a duet, and various people in the audience are shown. The camera pans around as it shows Opal, Kenny Frasier (David Hayward), Pfc. Glenn Kelly (Scott Glenn), and Wade Cooley (Robert DoQui). Kenny Frasier unlocks his violin case as the camera shows Barbara Jean and Haven Hamilton about to finish their song. Haven gives flowers to Barbara Jean when shots ring out. In a wide angle shot, Barbara Jean is shown falling over as Haven is hit in the arm. Kenny Frasier is shown pointing the gun and Glenn Kelly wrestles the gun away from him.

Another American tradition, sadly, has occurred. The assassination attempt. Walker and his team drive away as chaos swarms around what is happening as Haven Hamilton gets on the microphone. "This is Nashville, we can't let them do it, we have to show them what we're made of." The event doesn't end as Sueleen appears and sings "It Don't Worry Me." From tragedy springs defiance.

Such is the American way.

Nashville is a complete classic of a film. I'm not sure why it isn't spoken more highly of compared to other films in the 1970s.

All The President's Men (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 5/5 stars

Spoiler

www.npr.org/2025/02/26/nx-s1-5309725/jeff-bezos-washington-post-opinion-section

If All The President's Men happened today, it wouldn't have been printed in the Washington Post. Reporters like Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) would have been fired, forced to retract, or the internet echo chamber would have reduced them to being irrelevant when so many other things would have overwhelmed it. Nixon orders assassination of reporters with coverage critical of him. Nixon orders bombing of Democrat Party HQ. Nixon orders the military to arrest Democrat politicians speaking out against his bombing of the Democrat HQ. Nixon orders arrest of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein and the Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee (Jason Robards). Nixon orders the bombing of the Washington Post office. Nixon pardons the burglars. All of these nightmare scenarios would have happened if what the movie depicts took place today and if worse, baser instincts directed a Richard Nixon in 2025.

Obviously, of course, none of that would happen in actual 2025 and with the current Trump administration. The conservative movement in America has reduced reporters like Woodard and Bernstein to being afterthoughts, corporations and people like Jeff Bezos buying the Washington Post to stymie any investigative reporting and any counter narratives to focus on 'the greatness of America' and other euphemisms to drive the focus about rich white people sticking it to the rest of the country because they can.

The story of All The President's Men is a story of people not willing to talk about their involvement, their fear of being found out, their "he's not in the office at the moment, could you come back tomorrow?" It's not until the last 20 minutes of the movie does their reasoning make sense - CIA / FBI have involvement with the movement of money around. Woodward and Bernstein type notes to each while classical music is alarmingly loud. The apartment's bugged, there is surveillance. So every other person they talked to - was also being surveilled, bugged.

What Alan Pakula does with how this movie is filmed is make you wonder if someone will get killed, if Woodward and Bernstein would get killed. The incredible shot in the library as Bernstein and Woodward pour over checkouts as the camera pans further and further back is the height of paranoia. The audience is watching them as much as they are being watched. The parking deck scenes with Woodward and "Deep Throat" (Hal Holbrook) is perfection in cinematography from Gordon Willis; "Deep Throat" is not so much a person as he is a ghostly apparition from a horror movie.

Every name provided is a deeper pull into the rabbit hole; what starts with an arrangement of the burglars and their occupations (with one being part of the CIA) to what Howard Hunt checked out about Ted Kennedy from the White House library and the conversation with the librarian then claiming to not know anything to the usage of funds as a 'slush fund' controlled by five people is a labyrinth. Woodward and Bernstein are still working through their way through the labyrinth at the end of the movie. While Nixon is inaugurated for a second term, the two are typing away, writing the story.

The ending shows the end of the road, the end of the rabbit hole with Nixon resigning.

All the President's Men is a classic because of the components of the movie all build upon each other. A closing door in some cases cut to a new scene. Bernstein and Woodward standing in the shadows while talking to one of the sources. The entirety of the movie is carried by Redford and Hoffman, but a lot of the secondary actors like Jack Warden, Robards, and Holbrook build the credibility of the movie; they seem like actual people that were involved with what happened.

Christy (saw in the theaters) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

"There's no need to hide it/I couldn't hide if I tried to" -Romy, "Love Who You Love"

The worst parts of Christy is not Sydney Sweeney. Sweeney is surprisingly great, although at times unintentionally comedic. Sweeney as Christy Salters Martin tries to do what was done in better, more skillful sports biopics like the Scorsese homage I, Tonya and 2024's underseen The Fire Inside. Sweeney isn't an actress on the level of Margot Robbie, Scarlett Johansson, or Jennifer Lawrence; her performance is adequate but not transformative.

The biggest problems with Christy is how below average it does everything else.

A lot of the scenes have a very 'Netflix renactment' look to it; the world doesn't appear lived in or earned. The movie opens almost like it would be a Scorsese style film, with "Head Over Heels" playing as Christy Salters (Martin) stands in the ring. (The usage isn't as good or as memorable as Donnie Darko's though). Christy as a character is very queer coded and from the start of the movie she is a lesbian and is in love with Rosie (Jess Gabor). The trailers for Christy hide this fact probably a bit too much; a lot of Christy grapples with in the movie is her identity and her desire to conform to heteronormative standards.

Christy Salters has push back from everyone - her mother Joyce (Merritt Wever) and her coach turned husband James (Ben Foster) to a comical and buffoonish Don King (Chad L. Coleman). Christy Salters uses this to trash talk her opponents and calling them 'd*kes' and alluding to their girlfriends. When really, it's performative. The movie's arc in the back half acknowledges this. Christy developing a friendship with Lisa Holewyne (Katy O'Brian) and until she acknowledges her true feelings ("You played 'peek-a-boo' with this bitch") is the best part of the movie.

The thing is the movie takes a long time to get there.

Ben Foster as James Martin has a perverted, smarmy attitude that I find it difficult to believe that Christy Salters' parents would even trust him. The thing is the movie sets up James Martin too easily as the 'villain' of the story - the audience can recognize that Christy is being 'gaslight' before she does. The story aspects do indeed owe a bit more to 1944's Gaslight compared to other sports dramas.

What's rather annoying with the movie is the cinematography has a very flat, bland look to it. None of the shots in the movie are even memorable or interesting, save a lone shot at Christy's trailer on Bristol Speedway. The rest of the time the movie has an overly lit look, even in night time scenes. Everything is way too brightly lit and lends itself to being like a Netflix documentary rather than a narrative feature.

Christy sadly just won't get Sydney Sweeney nominated for an Oscar. In better hands and if it were more like I, Tonya, I imagine it would have been better. The writing at times is a bit standard, although I really did like the scenes after Christy was stabbed/shot and got herself out of there. The scenes from that point to the hospital to the end was inspired filmmaking.

Christy misses its targets.

 

Edited November 10 by Andrew POE!

[Curt McGirt]

As I said on the last page, All the President's Men feels like a memorial for a dead America. That level of accountability, of trust in the news, of journalistic transparency in the face of criminal obfuscation, it's all over. We were still reading papers up to the '90s but as soon as Murdoch went from the Post to the television, and everyone had access to the Internet, the whole shebang crumbled. Kids from Generation Z or whatever they're calling the youth of today should be forced to watch this just to learn what things used to be like. The topics feel as much an anachronism as all the indoors smoking Dustin Hoffman does. 

I'd take ten Nixons able to feel shame and regret, or at least feeling morally obligated to fake it for the public, over what we're dealing with now.

[odessasteps]

My memories of Nashville are forever tainted by see8ng an awful print of the film in one of my classes as an undergrad, it was so bad the professor apologized for it and thanked everyone who made it through to the end, if ever there was a film where bad sound can scar your viewing, it’s a movie with non singers singing.

as part of future pod research, watched Marriage of Maria Braun. If you have the criterion channel, there’s commentary for it by wim wendets and Michael ballhaus. Still a great movie I don’t know I’ve seen since a German film class in grad school. 

[Log]

This weekend, my boy truly became a man. He had his first viewing of Heat. He loved it. Said it’s the best movie he’s ever seen. He’s 8, but the boy watches tons of movies. 

[HarryArchieGus]

On 11/9/2025 at 12:25 AM, Andrew POE! said:

Dark Habits (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 2.5/5 stars

  Reveal hidden contents

Compared to later Almodovar movies, this movie has a great premise that was later used in Sister Act, but it seems to lose its way really quickly after that.

It's unfortunate that Cristina Sanchez Pascual as the lead Yolanda is such a poor actress; a lot of her scenes lacked any sort of emotions and any sort of character arc. She reads the lines like she's bored and that's what's given.

Therefore, a lot of the story is given to the other actors - a lot of the subplots involve a sister shooting up heroin, snorting cocaine, feeding a tiger meat.

The emotional impact behind it and with the ending doesn't seem as earned as a result. With most Almodovar movies, there's an element of humanity even with the messed up characters. It's easier to connect with Antonio Banderas' character in Pain & Glory, or Cecilia Roth's character in All About My Mother, or Penelope Cruz's character in Volver. Almodovar as a director uses elements of what other directors (like Fellini, Hitchcock, Sirk, Bresson, and Rossellini) have done but with his own approach.

Dark Habits felt a bit like what John Waters would do early on in his filmmaking, but not nearly as extreme. It's like watching Desparately Living and the punches for it are being pulled back.

I'll perhaps have to watch more of Almodovar's early works to see what he was doing as a director and what changed for him.

That's my lost Almodovar, and the Canadian feed didn't get it. Ha, I sense I'd have enjoyed it a little more. I like the breakneck speed of those early works. Not that I'm not happier that he slowed the pace in the years that followed.

23 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

I'm still surprised when you say these things and I've seen something you haven't. We've talked about Possession before, but Repulsion is incredible. Terrifying ending. Badlands is just plain beautiful and you're gonna love that one a lot. 

Meanwhile I still haven't seen any Cassavetes, so don't feel bad haha

Woman Under the Influence is the true masterpiece. The Cassavetes catalog is not easy viewing as I'm sure you know, but very rewarding. Especially rewarding with a copy of Cassevetes on Cassavetes to help process. Or was for me in my youth. 

I saw Possession at a local cinema for Halloween a few years back. I really liked the movie despite it being marred horribly by the hosts and regulars treating it like shlock - laughing at shitty times (a dead dog is never really funny outside of National Lampoon's Vacation) and weird cat calls. 

9 hours ago, odessasteps said:

My memories of Nashville are forever tainted by see8ng an awful print of the film in one of my classes as an undergrad, it was so bad the professor apologized for it and thanked everyone who made it through to the end, if ever there was a film where bad sound can scar your viewing, it’s a movie with non singers singing.

as part of future pod research, watched Marriage of Maria Braun. If you have the criterion channel, there’s commentary for it by wim wendets and Michael ballhaus. Still a great movie I don’t know I’ve seen since a German film class in grad school. 

Neat! I wanna check that out. First time out, I couldn't make it thru the first half hour of Nashville without constant frustration. I think that was on VHS. I got the Criterion Blu Ray later, and the addition of subtitles to my viewing made it pure loving joy. Like many ppl, this is one of my favorite Altman films. I had a similar experience with MASH which I loved on the second view after despising a few choices. I love re-evaluations. 

1 hour ago, Log said:

This weekend, my boy truly became a man. He had his first viewing of Heat. He loved it. Said it’s the best movie he’s ever seen. He’s 8, but the boy watches tons of movies. 

I returned to Heat this weekend after a contentious viewing years ago. I'd liked the film when I saw it as a kid. I saw it again in the early aughts, in the middle of the Boondock Saints College Critic Dudes era (which Marvel etc suggests never went away), and unfairly pushed a lot of what I felt were 'testosterone pictures' out of my purview. It's hard to believe I watched this at one point and actually disliked it. Such a fun movie. "A Great Ass!"

Edited November 10 by HarryArchieGus

[AxB]

The first time my son watched Heat, I think he was 13 or 14. He thought it was great. But he was freaking out over recognising some of the actors but not knowing where he knew them from. 

[Andrew POE!]

Goddamnit, I still haven't watched Heat! I guess I'm not a real man either. That may be my "New Year's Eve" watch for this year. 

[Curt McGirt]

Hell I just watched a good chunk of Heat again the other day because its making the rounds on TV again. It's incredible. 

The thing with the whole Boondock Saints Critic Movies For Guys Who Like Movies crap is that almost all of those movies (even Fight Club) are actually good, even great, movies; its just that the fanbase has latched onto them for stupid macho reasons because they are idiots. I did a self-reflection about this recently and thought "man most of these movies that I really really love are all testosterone-y and beloved by fools" but then just thought... fuck it. I like what I like. I can realize that True Romance is an immature teenage boy's fantasy writ large and still enjoy it unironically. At least I know that it is what it is, FFS. 

(The Boondock Saints is still only good for a single watch when you're in high school, though.)

EDIT: You know what just to dig a little deeper, when I was thinking about it before I realized that the common theme all those films have is that they're violent. I just like violent shit. I mean, look at the wrestling I prefer. It's not about machismo (of which I have, like, none), it's about violence and intensity of emotion and darkness. That's the kind of stuff I like in my movies and my music and my reading and I make no apologies for that. And that does not mean that's all I like, of course. It's just what I prefer. 

Edited November 10 by Curt McGirt

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....

Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (Criterion Channel, leaving on 11/30) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Creating a follow-up to a tremendous, career defining work like Nashville is an ardent task. Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson wouldn't be the same movie if it came earlier than Nashville or even earlier than The Long Goodbye. Having a movie like this release during America's bicentennial is a telling sign; the movie isn't interested in mythologizing the Old West or the start of modern America.

In fact, it's aim is to show that people like Buffalo Bill (Paul Newman) are built on lies and bullshit.

Lies and bullshit is the same as showmanship. It's a sleight of hand phrases to cover up for deficits of character that's as old as the early films of Hollywood. In the early scenes of the movie, the self-mythodology around Buffalo Bill depends upon who tells it. Ned (Burt Lancaster) says he found a scared boy named Cody and would call him "Buffalo Bill." Other people like Nate Salsbury (Joel Grey) and Ed Goodman (Harvey Keitel) share how 'heroic' Buffalo Bill is. The truth is William F. Cody isn't as big as he claims he is. It calls back to McCabe; "that man never killed anyone in his life."

The story of the movie is about the trappings of spectacle, of showbiz, and of the difficulties to maintain the illusion. Sitting Bull (Frank Kaquitts) and William Halsey (Will Sampson) arrive to join the show. Through Halsey, Sitting Bull is more interested in presenting the truth and then in presenting spectacle. "Bull's gonna suffer a worse defeat than Custer ever did. Custer could die. Bull's just gonna get humiliated," Cody tells Sitting Bull.

What Sitting Bull wants leads to him being fired: Custer's Last Stand was a sneak attack and the US military killed people, not that the Indians perpetuated the attack. Annie Oakley (Geraldine Chaplin) quits the show if Sitting Bull is forced to leave. Cody relents and the spectacle continues.

The movie changes and becomes more pointed with having President Grover Cleveland (Pat McConnick) and his wife Frances (Shelley Duval) arrive for a night time presentation and an afterparty. The scene announcing the arrival is a great scene with the entire company posing for a picture, only to disperse to hear the telegram. Grover Cleveland's arrival continues the myth-making: Cleveland views Sitting Bull firing his gun into the air as 'being a comedian' and the confrontation at the party shows what's always been the case in America: those in power aren't really interested in actually changing conditions. Sitting Bull has a simple proposal, but Cleveland immediately shoots it down and tells him to talk to his representative. Sitting Bull just walks off, feeling that Cleveland isn't interested in him. What I found interesting is the fact that we never learn what Sitting Bull wanted anyway.

Soon after, news spread of Sitting Bull's death. William Cody, in a scene that later recalls what Altman would do with Secret Honor, is alone in his office and talks with the ghost of Sitting Bull. Cody, in earlier scenes, is prone to deliver monologues to himself as a way to work up his courage. This is no different; Cody wonders why Sitting Bull can't be there and decides to continue the show.

The movie ends with Buffalo Bill perpetuating more lies and showing a 'final fight' between him and Sitting Bull, now played by Halsey. After all, the show must go on.

The movie shows the duality of showbiz and of actual events. After all, "History is nothing more than disrespect for the dead." What the United States built up for the bicentennial is a perpetuating of the myths, lies, and bullshit people passed around each other. The truth is often colder, scarier, and crueler than anything thought otherwise. Shows like Buffalo Bill's shows perpetuated the notion that the cowboys were heroes and the Indians were villains: this was done even in early Hollywood days with Westerns and with John Ford / John Wayne's Westerns. Having a delusional, drunk, and angry man like William F. Cody as the person to maintain the 'history' isn't going to be as popular as it would be otherwise.

The way the movie is filmed is a bit different than the sprawling, wide range of Nashville; a lot of the cinematography seems to be capturing the people in the moment as they move through the camp/show. In fact, the entire movie takes place at the setup event space for Buffalo Bill's shows.

Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson is a lesser classic from Robert Altman, but still a classic.

Inferno (Mubi, leaving on 11/19) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

It's probably not fair to start this without having seen Suspiria first, and without watching Tenebre, Phenomena, Opera and Mother of Tears after this.

Inferno functions as a dream in a lot of ways. The reasoning behind Rose (Irene Miracle) searching for the book about "The Three Mothers" isn't clear, but it's not going to be. Dario Argento does an interesting approach where two of the introductory characters including Rosie and Sara (Eleonora Giorgi) are killed before the end of the movie. Mark (Leigh McCloskey) is the main focus of the movie as he tries to retrace his sister Rose's steps before she was killed.

Eventually, he finds out the truth and the nurse (Veronica Lazar) is Mater Tenebrarum as she's seemingly left behind as fire consumes the building. Like Osgood Perkins' The Monkey, everyone seemingly dies by the end of the movie (except for Mark).

Oh and BTW, fuck Kazanian (Sacha Pitoeff) for drowning cats. He got what he deserved.

You Won't Be Alone (Peacock, leaving on 11/19) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Quite honestly, Goran Stolevski as a director has done very high quality feature films. This is the start to his run.

What's mentioned often is how the movie is similar to Terrence Malick's films (which is true and obvious - hushed voiceovers, nature scenes, and somewhat nonlinear story are hallmarks of Malick). I would add Robert Eggers' The Witch has an obvious influence on this and some elements of the movie are similar to Luca Guadagnino's Bones And All, which came out the same year.

The thing with You Won't Be Alone is it's very much a LGBTQ community metaphor - much like the cannibals in Bones And All, no one teaches Nevena (Sara Klimoska, among others) what it means 'to be a witch.' Her 'role model' as a witch Maria (Anamaria Marinca) has an abusive relationship with her and isn't interested in Nevena as a person actually learning to be a witch. The thoughts that are shared from Nevena in voice over are her inner thoughts - she does not speak.

As Nevena moves through and assumes bodies of other people, she learns things on her own. She learns of what men are able to take advantage of and gain just through virtue of being men. She goes through childhood again with assuming the body of Biliana (Alice Englert). As Biliana, she falls in love with Jovan (Felix Maritaud), a similarly muted man, that they share a physical and unspoken attraction to each other.

You Won't Be Alone literally has some of the best cinematography I've seen in awhile; there's a lot of usage of closeups and midrange shots and quite a few times, the movie has sound drop out while only piano music is playing. It as a movie is quite intense in terms of its emotion. Also, the transformation for Nevena is a scary bit of body horror as well as a literal hole in her body is shown.

The drawback with You Won't Be Alone is it does tend to move a bit slow and the movie's format can be a bit off putting at times. But once you get into its rhythm, You Won't Be Alone is truly great.

The Stendhal Syndrome (Mubi, leaving on 11/19) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

With giallo films, the hallmarks of them will always be the films of Hitchcock.

The Stendhal Syndrome is very much a Hitchcock film. It's the type of film that would take what was done in Strangers on a Train, in Marnie, in Psycho, in Vertigo (like countless other reviews mentioned), and in Shadow of a Doubt, but does what Hitchcock would never consider or do: the victim is the perpetrator.

The main character in this Anna (Asia Argento) goes through the worst suffering imaginable. The character is raped...twice. The perpetrator of her rape Alfredo (Thomas Kretschmann) seemingly knows where she is and what she's doing. The opening 30 minutes is just nuts and almost bad at times (honestly, turning off the movie after Asia Argento kisses a fish and Kretschmann stares through a bullet hole in a woman's cheek would have been a fine idea). It's just with this, Dario Argento keeps going and keeps turning up the heat with this movie.

Anna in this goes through at least 3 different identities. She starts the movie as herself, investigating Alfredo's activities in an art museum. What's interesting is she starts not seeming to know why she's there; it's not until later that she realizes that she's a police officer and realizes her own name. What causes her amnesia is an intense feeling of hearing voices from observing the paintings. After being raped the first time, she cuts her hair to much shorter length. The second time she encounters Alfredo, she adopts a wig; it's as though she wants to forget the entire person she was. Finally, after murdering Marie (Julian Lambroschini), she adopts a third persona: Alfredo. Anna doesn't realize until the end when she murders the psychologist Dr. Cavanna (Paolo Bonacelli) and Marco (Marco Leonardi) that the truth comes out.

What I found interesting is the choice of her boyfriend to 'start a new life' being named Marie. The connotation of Marie's name is it's female; but in France, it's both a boy and girl's name. The duality of the name is a theme for this movie: the duality facing a person. Anna's duality is both guilt and defiance; eventually, she allows Alfredo to take control in her mind. It would have been great if Anna indeed overcame everything that happened to her; but given what she went through, that's easier said than done.

The cinematography in this has elements of what's part of giallo: shadows over the face except for the eyes. It's a bit questionable (and even laughable) for the usage of CGI in the movie, but honestly, it's not that big of a deal. It's more typical of the movies of the late 1990s where they had more CGI in movies than before.

Still, it's an above average giallo film from Dario Argento. (Even though it's kinda creepy he cast his own daughter in this).

 

[Log]

I watched On Becoming a Guinea Fowl this past weekend. Beautiful movie that has a really unique voice. It's on HBO. Highly recommend it.