GrahamS.

About halfway through it. Will finish it tonight and give more thoughts then. I will say I’m loving Michael Shannon’s performance—I pretty much always love his performances—but it did remind me of this: in other words, it was very Michael Shannon-y (another great underseen performance by him was on the HBO shor Room 104).

It’s a metaphor. It’s just too bad that Gene Simmons was so miscast.

I also enjoy when they mix it up more and would like some bigger-budget flops thrown in. it also seems like they are picking these low-budget movies because they’re available for free if you’re an Amazon subscriber. I have a love-hate relationship with Amazon (mostly hate) and wish they would move away from it. Amazon has produced some great independent movies/shows and employs some of my friends ((positive), but their business model had run many great bookstores into the ground and has impacted Seattle in not-so-great ways. i’m off on a tear. Sorry. I’ll spare you a Bezos rant. And —to be truthful—I’m also a bit of a hippocrate because I ordered a Kindle Fire this summer but I primarily read library books on it (Fuck you Bezos, I’m sticking it to the man!).But it would still be nice to move away from crappy movies that are only available on Amazon.

He was talking SUPER fast. He said he was having a bad week and sounded stressed. As someone who lives in Seattle, I was.not directly affected by the insane fires but I was very much affected by the smoke. We were told to stay indoors and keep all our windows closed as much as possible. I can’t imagine what it’s like in California/more directly impacted areas. But it’s been miserable here and the smoke only just cleared today after almost two straight weeks. long story short, I totally understand why he’s talking at double-speed.

I just happened upon it because it was posted on the Unspooled FB Group. I only saw about 1/2?hour of 31/2 hour marathon, but it was very funny. I wish they’d promoted it more. it is available to watch whenever you want on Twitch. You do have to download the app and set up an account. june does make a guest appearance!

Sorry to hear it. If you dont mind me asking, how old was she?

The A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips blurb—“SEE IT!”—is presented with such intensity that I’m worried that they’ll hurt my family if I don’t.

I’m sorry to hear about that. Take care of yourself while traveling.

I’m sure you all have already seen these, but as a short (or as a shirt, which is what I originally typoed): I humbly submit this:

I admire the idea of this post but I recently listened to an old episode of Raised by TV where Jason was a guest. On it, he gave very in-depth reasons for his dislike of ALL social media (he basically views it as a profound waste of time and has never embraced any iteration of it). Good luck trying to get him to start a TikTok account! I agree it would be fun to see, but I think it would take far more than $100, unfortunately.

Are they bracing for some transphobic comments?

I could try to describe this soundtrack, but here’s a link to an oral history. My only issue with this article is that the writer said De La Soul’s song had a bummer vibe when I think the exact opposite is true. Here’s the article: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/judgment-night-soundtrack-oral-history-1993-rap-rock-summit-722094/ Here’s a link to the album: https://open.spotify.com/album/1qwrbuNLtDcuj2myhuESlh?si=zr3KUlNLQOuhoO03M-XyAQ not every song may work for you but there’s some gold here. The Sir-Mix-A lot/Mudhoney song has a true HDTGM-style mystery wrapped in it because on the surface level it’s terrible and cheesy but there’s a possible subversion at play and they’re making it intentionally cheesy. I think you will be able to solve the mystery by the end! I will also say every rapper seems genuinely tickled by this and gives it their all. Standout—for me—were the Cypress Hill/Sonic Youth Cyprus Hill/Pearl Jam, De La Soul/Teenage Fanclub pairings, but it’s all worth listening to a bit of each track (there are some that don’t work for me, but I still appreciated them). Also, I don’t know if you tell from my description, but this is a VERY 90s-sounding album. i haven’t seen the movie. I’m kinda tempted now.

I love that little movie. Saw it on DVD from my video store (back when those existed—sob). It was actually made for a TV show that often showed real documentaries, but Jackson’s film was a subtle, absurdist spoof that was totally different from his usual stuff. If I remember the details for the DVD extras correctly, New Zealanders were pissed because they felt duped. it was sort of a War of the Worlds radio show-type scandal.

Holy shit, this is the preview for the movie. I would never in a million years have put this movie and this soundtrack together.

I just listened to the De La song again and I was right. This is a De La diss track that’s very funny if you listen through the riffing at the end.

I’m glad you drew a line in the sand as to the realism of this movie! I will stand with you so I don’t have to watch it and I will plagiarize your reason so I don’t have to come up with my own (can you plagiarize a reason? Maybe that’s a topic for another time). i think this episode had some of my favorite tangents of the year. Can we get more hour + long episodes of barely related tangents? As I look out of my windows—in Seattle—at a wall of smoke that is trapping me inside, I need more amusing tangents to distract me from the flaming shitstorm that is 2020. (probably lame) Jokes aside, I hope people on the west coast (and everywhere,really) are staying safe and I am truly sorry if you are caught up in this environmental nightmare.

I’m a special ed instructional assistant and I give support to everyone in this fucked-up situation. Trying to figure out online learning in front of a computer for 7 hours a day FUCKING SUCKS. Everyone I know is doing their best while simultaneously stressing the fuck out. It took me the better part of a week to figure out a problem that I could have figured out in 5 minutes if I wasn’t dealing with it online. Dealing with the minutiae of Microsoft Teams/Excel/Schoology/SeeSaw is NOT why I chose this career. sorry for venting. Happy school year! Good luck to everyone!

All of the Police Academy sequels. The Exorcist II Jason Vs. Freddy or whatever it’s called.

Yeah, I like these actors but I think this casting is largely an insane case of misjudgment. Scarlett Johansson as Audrey?? Give me a freaking break. Give someone undiscovered a shot if you’re going to do it at all. It will probably be a CGI mess. personally, I’d rather have Chris Evans in a Scott Pilgrim spin-off where he keeps playing that douchey skateboarder (just to throw out something completely random).

I wanted to call attention to this movie because it blipped across my radar before the pandemic hit, but I didn’t really know much about it until I watched it tonight. Now, if you can get on it’s oddball wavelength, I think it’s one of the funniest comedies to be released this year. All of the actors are awesome (particularly the Maeve Higgins and Barry Ward) and it mixes (and subverts) horror and rom-com cliches in clever and funny ways. Obviously taste is subjective and it got decent—not rave—reviews, but I’ve been watching some heavy films lately (I pretty much watched Relic and She’ll Die Tomorrow back to back for some fucked-up reason) and this was a film that I was thoroughly, unexpectedly entertained by. With the world the way that it is, it was a refreshing distraction, which right now is a small miracle. But maybe I’m just a sucker for movies where Will Forte plays an inept Satanist. P.S., I don’t recommend judging it by the trailer, it just makes it look weird and dumb.

I’m bumping this because I would rather watch this than Velocipastor.

I almost wrote—via typo—I’m Thinking of Ending Thongs! That would have been a very different movie. Anyway, I read the book—which I admired in parts but overall didn’t like—about a week before I saw the movie and I’m glad I did. It gave the movie—which I liked better than the book—a framework that the movie doesn’t have as you’re first watching it. It frees you from wondering where the fuck the plot is in the movie. I can see why this book appealed to Kaufman and the subject matter is definitely in his wheelhouse. I just wish he would partner back up with Spike Jonze or Michel Gondry or somebody. I enjoy the films he directs on a cerebral level, but they’re cerebral on a level that’s almost totally closed off from accessibility. He’s never made a film that I’ve disliked, I just think he needs a partner to pull him out of his own head. At least the movie is periodically funny if you can get on its wavelength (the book is NOT) and the acting is great. Both the book and movie are overlong and fairly pretentious at points, but it’s worth watching if you’re a Kaufman fan/want something weird and experimental.

Is this your next choice?

The Back to the Future tag line is just pure corporate greed. Unless the two films somehow share a universe? Is this one of the alternate timelines for Marty McFly? P.S., when I tried to write “Marty” on my phone, I somehow typed “Znartg.” Clearly the better name.

I’ll be honest—I didn’t make it much past the 45 minute mark. I agree with everything that’s been said—this is something that should work on paper but is totally inert on film. I generally like Paul Schrader a lot—or at least find his films interesting—but this felt like having your dad write/direct his idea about what rock was like in the 80s while your dad was in his 40s and came from a super-strict religious upbringing that he rejected and the result is that the movie feels like an after school special. With the acting, it was hard for me to judge the performances because no one in the cast was able to shed their iconic cultural images. Having Joan Jett-bad girl rock star—next to a long-haired Alex P. Keaton/Marty McFly era Michael J. Fox in a band where they are siblings is fucking weird. Add Gena Rowlands and Michael McKean to this and you have a movie that reminds you how great these people are in other projects but are not jelling in this one. Also—since this film is set in Cleveland—it was impossible not to wonder when Spinal Tap was coming by. Overall, it’s a film that I’d been curious about since I like everyone involved and I can check it off my list. Wish it had been better, but oh well. If you want a really good blue collar Schrader movie, Blue Collar—with Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto—is streaming on STARZ or is easily worth a rental.