Previously On The MCU BREAKDOWN
I swore a self imposed embargo spending money on any further Disney financed Marvel projects. Thankfully @sam has come in clutch, our wallets remain untapped.

You're not me...

It's kinda strange that it's all over.

The foggy doppelganger Pepsi approaches. Like a furious nightmare, it floats towards me with waves of palpable malicious intent. Crashing into me like torrents on a stalwart shore, I wait.
It pleads with me, eyes filled with anger, hunger and desperation. Frustration emanates from his bleak visage. The spectre demands satisfaction.

Hello, Crystal Pepsi. Watching the latest and greatest in Marvel slop, huh? You know what to write about. Tap into that tired Internet critic well you love so much. I don't care how exhausted you are. Old movies are good, new movies are bad, right? Feed me. Get to work.

Against all negative expectations, whatever reservations I had going into the newest attempt from Marvel have totally melted away. However… I'm not going to sit here and lord about how the MCU is so back! This is an altogether decent movie imitating The Suicide Squad which was redoing Suicide Squad which was ripping off Guardians of the Galaxy. How many shadows can be cast before the original shape loses all meaning? They're killing off functionless nobodies(in the case of this film, a character just short of having no identity). They're constantly cracking jokes at each other's expense. It's the life of a scrappy anti hero with murky morality and no remaining familial ties. What does it mean to float through life as a weightless specter? With no anchor, no purpose, just a pit materializing at each meaningless task. The Marvel antagonists who live to see another day, take another crummy job and learn the wrong lessons. What's in store for them after this loss to the virtuous heroes? Corporate skullduggery in abundance and a destiny with the world's largest industrial evidence shredder.

The heyday of the Marvel films have long since ed. It's easy to sit here and critique popcorn cinema from my cliched cinema throne. It's impossible for these films made by committee to grasp at true cinematic greatness-just imagine 10 Valentina’s sitting around a table micromanaging the image of their heroes- the best we can hope for is this success right in front of our eyes. Thunderbolts is miraculously structured like an actual movie. Characters have arcs, jokes are plentiful but are at least all informed by personality rather than insecure references, serious moments are allowed to breathe rather than be interrupted by a quip making sure you're not scrolling TikTok in the theater. There's still a host of problems I had. Bob’s progression into Sentry felt far too abrupt and his God complex feels like it has 3-4 scenes of buildup missing. Ghost is a strange anomaly. A holdover from one of the least popular MCU sequels, a character without much sympathetic material. Oddly she is exempt from any of the flashback adventures. Her powers are almost always disabled by some sort of limiter, functionally what is she adding past snarks about an awful childhood and jabs at John Walker? Every other character is already doing that, the premise is set up on elimination of redundancies, so what's going on there? Schemer Valentina and her coffee brewing secretary are stolen right from the Sonic movies with only slightly adjustments. Power hungry despot senator makes for a neat antagonist but I felt the movie was far too scatted to do Julia-Louis Dreyfus justice. Same applies to her caffeinated cohort and the bewildering senator Bucky.

The temptation of darkness and depression, stagnation leads to a slow and idle death. Even the supernatural subterfuge begins to feel mundane when weighed down by kilos of unprocessed mental baggage. What defines this league of losers sharing the same limited "run and gun" skillset? Their shared connection to pain, long ignored and stifled trauma. Shoved down deep, skeletons gathering cobwebs in the closet. Bob, the one with the ability to bring these concealed secrets to the surface, hides the most startling revelation of all. Insecurity of inadequacy cannot be tackled alone. "These aren't the heroes we asked for but they're certainly the ones we needed." That's the false narrative that we, the naive citizens, are being fed at least. We hear that there is not true ideal of justice, that there's just a bad guys and a worse alternative. Quite the didactic mindset lofted by a posturing windbag we know nothing about. I think we're meant to draw the parallel to our scrappy group of colorless mercs turning from edge lord loners to Great Value™️ Avengers™️ . "Better" and "improved" and "real movie" is still not pushing the envelope all the way to good. This paradigm can't apply to everything, we can and should expect better even if this is the brightest light we've seen so far pierce the dark veil of mediocrity hanging over everything Marvel.

Road to Mission Impossible. A Tom Cruise Retrospective: 17 Days Remain.

Today's Objective: 🦁🐑🎖️
Parse Political Discourse and Save The Troops!

A film far too preoccupied with soapbox grandstanding, circular conversations and disted overall presentation. Instead of drawing attention to its many talking points, it becomes guilty of the exact practices it seeks to condemn. Young men are the victims of the hyper jingoistic American superstate. U.S. foreign policy keeping the country in a dubious position as global peacekeeper/epically nosy nuisance while avoiding our own problems on the homefront. Both of these taking points are majorly hypocritical, our eyes are drawn more to the opportunist senator played by Tom Cruise or the reporter played by Meryl Streep searching for her integrity or Robert Redford’s embarrassingly saccharine professor. Political apathy is not the correct course to steer, so let's convey this urgency to act through several dramatic droughts and endless mind numbing lectures. Young men are dying in futility for overseas American ventures, again. Politicians are taking advantage to seize power, again. Films are calling out this behavior without the self awareness to recognize what they obscure with their heads full of hot air. The debates feel properly emotive and we'll reasoned enough to seem realistic™️ but I can't help but feel disgusted by the disposability of the young soldiers. A herd of lions, full of potential, shepherded and led by a meek cabal of lambs. Which one are you, which one tells the story? Cui Bono? Cui gives a shit, it's got a fucking bow on it. An absolutely sterile, disconnected trio of meandering half arguments pleading for apathy to cease. An ironic success given I'm emotional and invested in how annoying this was to slog through. Everyone has a prepared essay of rhetoric to spout regarding their agenda, at first it's revealing and enticing, then you realize this is all the movie has to offer and your eyes begin to glaze like doughnuts. The senseless slayings of the promising students, the skeevy dealings of a self serving senator, the sorrowful epiphany of a has been journalist, a call to attention from a professor to his jaded yet hopeful student. Tepid. The kind of experience that presents so many different sides but doesn't prompt any thoughtful discussion. I feel like I'm being told what to think instead of being forced to come to my own conclusions.

Preaching, reaching, beseeching. An important conversation to have, action over displeased ivity, I just wish it was more interactive and less of a guided lesson plan.

Anime Films

Kirby's Nightmare In Dreamland

The detractors will pay for eternity. Their dreams of fame dashed and done in by the very devils they bargained with. Sacrifice everything to the ethereal, demonic voice. Memories of others as fodder for storytelling, the exploitation of the disenfranchised and disheartened. Entertainment disguised as propaganda, where have I heard this one before? These shallow pleasures will never fulfill hollow hearts and sunken souls, it will never be enough. The true stories come to us in dreams, flashes of brilliance empower and inspire one of a kind performances. Thrilling rock, dances bursting with emotional importance, and authentic ion born from years of mistreatment by a self serving system. It's not about reaching the peak of notoriety and reveling in the soulless riches, it's finding comfort in yourself and with another. Telling stories your way with all the individuality intact, the fragments of soul embedded in each piece shine bright and ignite a raging fire that could only be short lived in our cynical mortal realm. Eventually the bonfire will be rekindled, old friends will reunite.

The co-opted narrative may superimpose over the liberating counterculture of rock, the current istration finds it in poor taste to be reminded of the sins committed to secure such power, the story of the artists’ struggle is stolen. ‘Fame and glory are mine and mine alone’. The elements that resonated with people, the rhythm that magnetizes an enthusiastic audience is divine authenticity. The vulnerability to be honest, forthcoming and unique, true to your own artistic methodology. Everything is fiction, even the handsome visage lying beneath the famous mask. Stories are for others, better to keep the spirits of the past alive through honoring their talent than dying a slow death as the shogunate's favorite propaganda songbird. Art and expression regulated by the heads of state is simply mind control and obfuscation of information. Our stories, our dreams, our cherished partners; none of this matters to the cold manipulators who would trade anything for power. Their machinations will lead them to glory in the annals of history or splatter them on the wall, a stain better left forgotten. Sometime, somewhere, another epoch, the palace is there.

What begins as innocent scrolling descends into a perilous down the rabbit hole. Past the point of no return, leave sanity and general decency at the mouth of madness. Echo chamber Nazi bigots who would gladly post pictures of their skin and proclaim how “proud I am to be white”. The pungent smog of hate hangs over everything and overpowere my every sense. To them my crime is being born with dark skin, curly hair, and a voice deeper and richer than theirs ever will be. Social Media is the perfect mask to hide behind and reveal these truest and darkest beliefs. It terrifies me. These pathetic prejudiced pompous pigs can't bear the reality we live in. So they rebel and cry n word this and n word that. Abusing the privilege they'd surely deny possession of. What's red, white, blue and unbelievably ignorant?

To be different is to be targeted and discriminated against for the simple crime of existing. My history, my beliefs, my politics, my interests, they don't matter to these people. I am a statistic to them, I am another drop in the bucket of disposable ether to be disregarded in kind. It's in fashion to be a Nazi now, somehow. The ideologies are the same, we've just stuck it with a different label and adjusted the nomenclature accordingly. Kindness, comion and tolerance for those of us with different beliefs is apparently “wrong”. Now that anything of that sort is branded as woke, the witch hunt trigger word of the decade, I can't help but feel like I'm drowning in frustration and discombobulated confusion. It's always a discussion of politics. Centrists, alt rights, the radical left, pro Israel, anti-semitist, Blue Lives Matter. All of these causes, all of these conflicting viewpoints, how am I to complete a full work week INCLUDING the hour commute while keeping up with these topics. I was barely treading water before, now I'm drowning.

Hate is in vogue, empathy is é. Young men are becoming radicalized to despise the “other”. Mock that which does not fit into their narrow and propagandized worldview. Whatever doesn't mesh with the heteronormative, conservative fantasy of clean America is outwardly rejected and shunned. Guess who doesn't fit into that vision? If you feel the same, my heart goes out to you. I cry for you. I'm tired of these miserable miscreants peddling their philosophies as if they're anything more than repackaged excuses for racist idolatry. They want someone to blame for the plights of today and the easy targets have no protection. I'm tired of the growing popularity of “jokes” comparing us to apes. I'm tired of George Droyd. I'm tired of seeing this particular piece of rhetoric online: “Why are the Blacks so violent” or more commonly “They're naturally violent, they can't help it”. Everything relates back to politics, I know that. I know the word is ugly and carries negative connotations in a lot of contexts for a lot of people. I can't stress enough that this isn't me espousing my own ideas or beliefs or ill-conceived principles. I'm exhausted from working myself to the bone every day, every week, every month, every year. The road never gets any shorter. In the shoulder, waiting on the wings like an unwanted peanut gallery, the vultures perch and glare at me. I want to be acknowledged as a person. As a human being. Do they seriously think in all of their idiotic hubris that my darker skin and slanted eyes make me more violent and an agent of the “filthy commies”? When does it get easier? I don't know if I can take another sob inducing jaunt through the X mines. Movies have been less comforting of late, so I apologize for slowing down on reading posts, replying and writing in general. I'm more than a little lost and distressed. Take care of yourselves, please.

Je Suis Homme.

Personal Disney Ranking!
Essential Xanon or the eternal repeats

I'm not your little boy anymore, Dad! I've grown up! I've got my own life now!

I know that! I just wanted to be part of it. You're my son, Max. No matter how big you get, you'll always be my son.

Aftersun, for kids! The fears of youth: social insecurity and self consciousness, the possibility of becoming your parents, the uncertainty of developing identity. Max is in that precocious, precarious and pretentious phase of adolescence. Plenty of awkward fumbling, sweaty shenanigans and rebellious rambunctiousness to go around. Anything to not be a Goof right? Goofy’s side of the conflict becomes more relatable the older I get. The fears of adulthood: social insecurity and self consciousness, the possibility of your kids outgrowing you, the uncertainty of what used to be the closest possible bond between parent and child. Plenty of awkward fumbling, failed connections, heeding awful advice from good “friend” Pete and misplaced trust in the son he loved more than the world. “An incoherent mess”, reviewers said upon release of the Goofy Movie. Had they ever seen a movie before, I wonder? Goofy or otherwise?

It'll always be difficult to exist in social isolation, to be the one to stand out. Knowing that status is in part to the particular natures of our goofy parents creates something of a dissonance. The people we want to be might not be like the adults that raised us. The future seems set in amber, I feel my own father's temper and my mom's cruel indifference within me. Focusing on these negative traits and attempting to thwart destiny will only bring us careening closer to it. Goofy by way of Oedipus Rex.

The excellent character animation expresses how characters feel with grace, even in the spaces without dialogue. The uncomfortable silences, the things left unsaid. The suffocating dead air that follows an argument that went one remark too far. The editing, lighting use of color and overall cinematography further aid a film that already had stellar visual storytelling to begin with. The haunting phone call Goofy gets from Max's principal. The sudden cuts as the camera zooms in closer and closer. The walls are closing in, how well does Goofy really know his sweet son Max? The bathtub conversation between Pete and Goofy(or any conversation between these two for that matter, Goofy is gaslit). Pete holds all of the emotional ammunition, the time bomb ready to detonate and undermine all the trust Goofy has instilled in his son. Pete preaches for domination and fear over mutual respect and faith in a son. Max's dream sequence, the various musical numbers, the tender "Hi Dad!" soup scene. There's no kisses anywhere.

One day you might wake up and find that your idol, your parent, is someone you no longer respect. The possible reasons are numerous. I know for myself and Max it's the realization that the person we are becoming is seemingly incompatible with the fathers that raised us. Their love is smothering, their interests are a bore, it doesn't feel like they understand. As I get older, the paternal perspective grows in clarity. Goofy does want to connect, he does want to understand, he wants to be an active part of his son's life. The decoupling of their dynamic is tragic, as it is with any parent and child. Making the film a contemporary teen coming of age story has paid massive dividends in contribution to its cult status. Undeniably relatable for both central characters. A revelation into the vulnerabilities these figures can show or conceal in our lives. Whenever my dad would pick me up for visits, this would usually be on one of the manga Disney channels. The more years ed, the more I get out of the movie. Whenever I watch it I think of him. It's in that dopey smile, the juvenile jokes we shared. Part of him is in me, I can embrace that and be my own person. Seeing him eye to eye, for the first time.

Transformers Ranked

They literally call themselves Decepticons. That doesn't set off any red flags?

A fusion caught somewhere in between the two most prevalent influences grasping tightly on the film's non-committal identity. Both the 80s coming of age films it's so clearly inspired by and the Bay directed blockbuster toy commercials it's so desperate to replicate. Ideally these two would blend together like some sort of Neapolitan combo alongside the fully CG opening taking place on Cybertron. The plotlines instead detract from each other. Mechanical oil repels the supposedly wholesome healing magic of family water. Bumblebee transitions from stone cold killer and loyal soldier to amnesia stricken stainless steel pet. His infantilized state contraste against the post production action packed into and has this unintentional uncanny valley effect. This fully sentient mechanical organism crash lands on earth and now has to help an edgy teenager navigate her unprocessed baggage without the ability to speak. Charlie's plight feels like an emulation of so many film's past, the references are embedded in the text. Obligatory Breakfast Club worship, 80s referenced galore, the veil of nostalgia will not be pierced here. Younger brothers shuffling through hobbies are breakneck speeds. Karate, the dog, He-Man. Angsty rock. The awkward and often lonely solitude of a age just before the digital explosion. Easter eggs are an inappropriate nomenclature for references that aren't even subtle enough to be hidden. Bathe in the dim glow of memories best left in the crater.

I can respect how the general direction of the screenplay is evocative of a very fond nostalgia for what Transformers represents as a commercial product of the 80s-up to and including the film taking in 1987, the last year of the original Transformers animated series. All my gripes with the lack of synergy between Charlie's antisocial tendencies and Bumblebee's war refugee are to say they detract from the potency of their counterparts. I can't get invested in Charlie's loss and trauma when it hardly relates to the vague notions of Cybertronian rebellion. We don't know what Optimus means to Bee, Bee doesn't even know. There's little for us to work with, it's okay to leave something to the imagination but don't invest too much energon into an idea not worth scrap. At least this Great Value E.T. remake and illogical Transformers prequel could be seen as a showcase for the potential emotional catharsis these escapist fictions can provide for our problems. A film so uninterested in the Decepticon/Autobot dynamic, somehow managing to invest even more into the human element than its Bay-bound pregenitors, it always comes at the cost of any characterization for our favorite mechanized metamorphers. What do we love about Transformers? What do you love about them? What do I love about them? As a brand the conversation steers so far away from what the war waging factions actually mean and more what they can help puny humans work through. Colorful toys, destructive aliens, shapeshiting class conscious contraptions. Transformers can be anything, but I would still argue against one becoming a therapeutic house pet.

This is the sting of demanding a more conventionally approachable film relative to the Bay quintology. Bumblebee is so watchable, so desperate to be funny, so unsure of itself. All too willing to be anything than anything relating to the pre-existing negative reputation of its predecessors. Digestible but boring. Whatever questions we have about continuity are just not going to be answered. 😂

Thank you @tromafiend for linking the source and bringing this to my attention!

I try to make things people can relate to by talking about things that they're scared to open up about.

Kyle Mooney crafts a personally engraved photocopy of late 80s/early 90s ephemera that communicates an earnest ion for the era. This awkward, stilted and imperfect simulation of an instructional VHS tape is decree to remain truest to yourself. Expression from the truest possible source, inspired by the least of likely wellsprings, in a way that only the artist can truly deliver. Mooney sets us down gently and guided us through this grounded, yet clumsy world. Dreams of business, rudimentary music videos, and imperfect romances. The "real me" is easily suppressed by the daily grind, how many consecutive weeks in and out can it take before the creative spirit is totally crushed? I'll work on it after this weekend, I'll find love later, I'll sleep later, I'll live later. Being human is awkward, the "truest, realest me" fumbles from unintentional success to unexpected failure. What does it mean to sound human, to be human, to act human? What defines the "real, authentic" experience?

Don't suppress your talent. We're just getting started.

Anime!

It's a tradition, I must do something! I can't let my life's flame sputter out! This is the Zeppeli family spirit, from the past to the future! The human spirit!

A British man, Joseph Joestar, living in New York learns to embrace his mysterious heritage. Similar to his deceased grandfather, he has inherited the ability to rhythmically breathe in such harmony that it combats vampires! Together with his gathering of eclectic allies named after music groups, JoJo fights the enigmatic Pillar Men in order to stop their devious machinations. Legacy! Brotherhood! Honor! Sentimentality! The incalculable wheels of fate and the legacy leading up to each increasingly unbelievable result.

Each character is a multifaceted eccentric with a background depicting how each personality navigates their own understanding of these themes. Caesar, Wham, ACDC, Kars, Joseph, Stroheim, Lisa Lisa. All these characters are beholden to similar values but are thrust into irreconcilable conflict because of their different beliefs regarding these ideals. This is JJBA finally coming into its own identity. The truly bizarre, the sensational, the unparalleled idiosyncrasies. Joseph is the perfect transitionary character for this bridge of identity. Where Jonathon was a pillar of virtue, a boring but respected cardboard cutout of a man. Joseph is a rich spoiled prankster who makes quick work of the same adversaries that Jonathon would have struggled with. His ability is greater, his wit is quicker but the soul remains the same. He may not have inherited the Joestar manner but he does carve outhis own code of honor and respectful rivalries. Where Phantom Blood was a melodrama in metamorphosis to family drama to supernatural horror/shonen, Battle Tendency is almost fully a shonen. Complete with abrupt training arcs, intermittent sexism and a disposable person of color disguised as a "character". There are Nazis in the story and yet they might not be as racist as Araki unintentionally was with Smokey's original design. Ugh.

German science! Transhuman cyborgs and beings born of mystic magic. Which will prevail? The hamon s reaching optimum physical fitness and exercising their respiratory super powers?(As an asthmatic struggling through allergies currently, I wish I was so lucky). Unholy cyborgs toting rocket fists and machine gun torsos? Pillar men? What is the next stage of humanity?
Tornado arms, veins of hot lava, men with bone chainsaw blades. Bubble launchers, electric scarves, exploding cacti, sparking metal clackers. These are the prototypes for Araki's favorite template, the stand abilities. We'll discuss those later...

Is mortality weakness or strength? What happens to those deprived of family and legacy? What is the nature of strength? What happens to the ultimate being once it's reached the peak, what would solitude do to the flawed mind in a flawless body? The Pillar Men find fulfilment and mutual respect in their conflict with JoJo/Caesar. Their leader Kars seemingly does not and only finds satisfaction in his bid to ascend to the position of "Ultimate Lifeform". Not that his eventual success guarantees infallibility, his shortcomings were exploited by Joseph. Counter to what one might believe regarding the series' style of writing fights, conflict is not resolved through greater training or contests of strength. This might even be why from this point forward Hamon is rendered fairly irrelevant. JJBA from here forward are established as epic battles of intellect. Each player wielding their comically specific skillset in such a way that they can best their opponent using whatever innocuous piece of trivia Araki read online that week. Joseph Joestar breaks the curse and frees the earth from the plague of vampires and higher minded pillar men using nothing but his wits, heart and affable sense of humor. JoJo as we know it has begun to form.

This is how the whim of a studio executive changes everything in a moment.

Undeniably a labor of love and testament to the influence something like the seemingly insignificant or disposable Goofy Movie could have. The documentary is shackled by its own means, as insightful as it is to view analog footage from the time, its clear that certain talking points are left shallow and unexplored. Doors are left ajar and we are shuffled to the next topic without much time for rumination. There's discussion here about the intersection between art and commerce. Jeffery Katzenberg is both the villain of the film's development but also the one most championing for its potential success. Once he left, the crew felt like they had no one in their corner backing the project. These animated anecdotes elucidating on events from the time are endearing, one of the best parts of the whole documentary. Alongside the last 20 minutes being something of a mirror for fans, a collage of online positivity surrounding a film that has skyrocketed past cult classic, landing squarely as millennial canon alongside Pokemon, Friends, The Office, and the early 2000s cast of Saturday Night Live. There's so much valuable and unique background information here about the tumultuous production of a now beloved film. Had this movie not come out on Disney Plus, I would've loved an angle that was more critical of ambivalent executives. These towering arbitrators of art that demand celebrity casting just for the sake of it. The second life of art on the Internet once it's eventually made enough revolutions to settle into a more suited audience. Apparently Goofy Movie is the first Black Disney movie! I kind of almost understand what people mean when they say that but I'm mostly clueless honestly! Doesn't help that the documentary draws extra attention to this point but doesn't actually provide any insights into why that may be. What gravitates people to a movie like this? For that matter, what has kept me so in love with it for so many years? I think Kevin Lima correctly assesses the ideal mission statement in imbuing a simple character like Goofy with more complicated human emotions. A way for parents and kids to understand each other better through the process of Max and Goofy. The unforgettable music the palpable affection for Goofy, the love for animation. Despite my misgivings about a documentary being truly forthcoming once it's under the Disney umbrella, the enthusiasm is impossible to deny. This isn't some revealing quest for truth, it's not a clandestine investigation into the seedy inner workings of the largest entertainment conglomerate. It's a well produced tribute to a movie that meant everything to everyone involved. Both the filmmakers of this documentary and the cast & crew of a Goofy Movie. Every personal story in succession broke me down and I eventually began to cry thinking about road trips with my own goofy dad. Disney's Rorschach splatter in isolation but representative of the beauty in the subjective human experience. A Goof by any other name would be just as sweet but only Bill Farmer can bring the canine missing link to life in a way that resonates with so many audiences. It's a miracle authorship was maintained here as well as it was. Unafraid to stand out and meet you I2I.

What is the Goofy Movie to you?

Sweatiest Dude Contest. Rating? Imagine Wearing Those Robes at Mustafar 💦

My Favorite Movies 🌋⚔️🗳️

Dedicated to @sam who honored me by ing me in the theater 🧡. As well as to my mom who showed me this wonderful movie so many years ago. Everything worthwhile came from that lovely Blockbuster shelf. Sam has watched this with me THREE times and my mom has tolerated potentially HUNDREDS of ROTS rewatches. Love you both!

So love has blinded you?

Well, that's not exactly what I meant.

But it's probably true.

Love has blinded me to how awful this movie can be when approaching it with traditional criticism and even a generous suspense of disbelief. Characters allergic to subtlety, awkward deliveries populate almost every scene. The runtime bloats as we jog with lightsaber in hand from set piece to set piece. It's a truly dizzying affair even without Anakin doing barrel rolls from the jump! Still, these are easy marks, freebie love taps in a lightsaber duel I'll gladly fight for the rest of my life. For as easily recognizable as the "flaws" can be, the sheer sincerity and vulnerability of its open heart continue to attract me to it. My favorite film bathing beneath the binary sunset.

It's a tale of vague political intrigue. A tale of shattered friendships that will never be repaired, at least within this lifetime. A space epic with ambitious set pieces that later entries lack the imagination of technical acumen to top. Take your pick. The dog fight above Coruscant, the dino ride/Super Kenobi World shenanigans on Utapu, the juxtaposed simultaneous clashes between Yoda/Darth Sidious and Anakin/Obi-Wan. It's a tale of democratic institutions decaying from the inside out. These charismatic leaders engineering proxy wars to wrest control away from elected officials. The transformation of a united and allied Republic into an empire dominated by a shriveled manipulator and the weak willed chosen one resting underneath his thumb. Anakin's fate was decided before he ever really had choices. Provided with the wrong mentor, Qui-Gon was slain too soon and Obi-Wan was forced to mature too early. Anakin's life as a slave and the eventual death of his mother leave him with an increasing desire for uncompromising control. He has no place to vent his emotions, his continued search for guidance is met with mysterious mysticism. His mentors dismiss his emotional pleas for help with callous and stoic indifference. The Jedi are complacent, the Republic was corrupted, Anakin was never in a position to make his own choices. That's the tragedy, that's the force pull gravitating me back to this silly, self-serious disaster over and over and over and over. Peace at what cost? Order with what sacrificed? What infrastructures are holding conflicting interest obscured by their long standing legacy and blatant hubris? So many portends warn of Anakin's fate, analogs to his wheezing, walking metal coffin. General Greivous, Count Dooku, his own premonitions combined with his unregulated emotions lead him to unmitigated doom. All the sleepers wake from their self induced comas and ask: "When did Star Wars get political?". Servants of the empire are lulled into comfort by lies of fun stories with no subtext. It always has been political, emotional, dramatic, archetypal, Shakespearean and revisionist in nature. So, this is how liberty dies? The hero led astray by whispers of immortality and ultimate control.

What if the democracy we thought we were serving no longer exists, and the Republic has become the very evil we have been fighting to destroy?

Subvert Expectations Or Play Directly Into them?

Friendship cinema 🧡

Thank you @Val for the suggestion! I SWEAR I'm working on making these recommendations more routine. Feel free to throw down some more!

Okay is it just me or is this giving Texas Chainsaw Massacre?

I don't know, I've never seen that film. White people scare me.

But your daddy is white.

Exactly. And girl that's why every single time he gets mad, I'm like, “oh Lord her it comes: murder-suicide”

What a pandering nightmare. Intentionally following in the steps of the opening of Scream 2-killing off the two most famous stars to subvert expectations- the rest of The Blackening doesn't succeed in following up to that hollow homage. There's a great emphasis placed on comedy over horror, which would be fine if the balance between the two was stronger OR the characters escaped their stereotypical personality prisons. Most of the focus of the script is directed away from the titular board game, trivia that supposedly proves how "Black" someone is, and instead thrown at pithy quips and jabs between our cast. Unlike something like Scream, it rapidly becomes evident that the movie isn't actually going to kill anyone off. The tension ebbs. So maybe the comedy can compensate? Much like Spike Lee's sophomore film, Schoole Daze, there's an attempt to broach topics of colorism within the Black community. What does it mean to be Black? How can we determine the degree to which someone is Black, should that even be something we arbitrate? We get these ridiculous and hilarious arguments around the middle of the film that satirize these topics. "I'm biracial, I can't be the blackest! You guys are make fun of me for being white!".

Qualify your blackness through a series of Ludacris trivia questions or die. At first I thought this was meant to play into some sort of commentary on the modern experience of blackness. Constantly existing underneath the white gaze and forced into a box of ill fitting expectations. Be Black in the way society expects you to be Black. Cookout etiquette, know which black actors guess started amongst the pale cast of Friends, lambast anyone that s Trump. Each character could represent an angle of life as part of the Black diaspora but the mile a minute story and jokes>character approach to writing keeps the self awareness shallow. More traipsing around a horror movie setting and making drug jokes than acknowledging or illuminating the nuances of exclusivity versus inclusivity in the Black community. A self proclaimed self awareness comedy horror that doesn't have the wit or courage to follow through on its own intriguing premise. Play the game instead of playing yourself. Wasting Jay Pharaoh might be a sin worthy of revoking Tim Story's Black card. I'd bully Clifton too since he's the kind of close minded, self hating bigot that would sell out and craft a combustible narrative about black horror movie characters with personalities so flat they might as well be care bears. Are we meant to be angry? Are we meant to be hooting and hollering at the snippy gay character? Insight completely out of sight, there might be something right to shed light on in the right light, just not this site tonight.

Lonely Island Has Sure Attracted A Lot Of People....

There's no such thing as selling out now man.

As funny as the irreverent no holds-barred style of comedy can be, there's something hypocritical about this movie's sweet gooey center. The concept of a mockumentary depicting the volatile, vapid life of an egotistical pop star is rife with opportunities for parody. When the absurd takes center stage the script is at its funniest. Dog turd trust tests, off screen killer bees, lavish marriage proposals populated by wild wolves. Every gag of this sort is an absolute hit. It's the exact kind of joke that informs every Lonely Island song. No Homo, Jizz In My Pants, Motherlover, Dick in a Box. So when the movie makes bits out of that template, I think the comedy is really strong. It's rooted in character for one thing, Connor is the dumbest guy on the planet and has blind so blinded by his own hype, he can't see why he got so successful in the first place. Rapping about how a girl wants to get "fucked like Bin Laden" is not just patently ridiculous, it's hilarious that's what he thought a good song would be. Bonus points when the song actually sounds good to us beyond the screen. The problem I have then is thus: just like the sketches and nebulous realms of artifact contained within Saturday Night Live, the remaining stockade of jokes orbits around references and celebrity cameos.

There are numerous cuts to confidentials from recognizable names, characters played by SNL alumni, even Walter Jones of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers makes a surprise appearance!(That one made me happy, sorry for my hypocrisy 🖤). Often this kind of humor is alienating in the worse case, maybe someone watching doesn't know the person involved or there's an extremely specific reference that just doesn't come across right. More generously, even when we know everyone in here, aren't these the exact kind of people the movie is making fun of? Like all of these massively lucrative superstars are part of the bit, are they willing to also be made fun of like fictional scapegoat Connor? Are they willing to it the mountains of people they possibly stepped on to reach such titanic heights? Is it easier to just shrug it off and do this silly movie with the SNL guys? Probably. Is it easier to write this movie in a way that draws upon the main trios' friendship and dynamics(Samberg as the clear front man and de facto breakout from the show)? Probably. I'm laughing a lot at Connor overcompensating in his song about gay marriage to such a degree that he's rapping more about himself being straight than communicating an actual opinion on the topic. I'm groaning and rolling my eyes any time the camera turns back to DJ Khaled or Usher or Nas or Mariah Carey or.......

Tonight, on the Clamp Cable Classic Movie Channel, don't miss Casablanca, now in full color with a happier ending.

Hollywood Selfcest cameo fest

The final frontier for the American explorer. A tundra of unexpected wonder and patches to explore... Welcome to the gray miasma that is the dullest possible corporate superstore/shopping mall/center of commerce/food court/research lab/home away from home/hub of city culture/place where your dreams go comatose from excess. The hometown snapshot stands out amongst the urban demolition, gentrification and general steamrolling of any individuality. Clamp offers a place where business "gets oriented". Where art must be authorized by committee approval. Where garish gray and husks lacking personality are the norm. Squeeze the worthless planet for all its creative and resource based juices in a vice grip, worry about the consequences later.

When art and business forces, anything can happen.

Contrivances abound, the right people in the right places at the right time. It's like fate, it's like the hands of destiny clumsily and forcefully shove these characters back into their familiar roles. Comically reciting traumatic backstories, Gizmo learning from the movies, the juxtaposition of close knit hometown values against the hustle and bustle of economics born of the modern city. A truly vapid, vacuous CEO with the delusion his company is more important than it actually is. Clamp must offer anything and EVERYTHING, he thinks. Everything is mocked. Health food, surveillance, the casual availability of what can be found in a shopping mall. Gremlin variants gleefully burst from bubbling flesh like Gachapon, with just as many gimmicks to match. Flying Gremlin, Smart Gremlin, Gremlinette, Electric Gremlin, Phantom of the Mogwai, Veggie Gremlin, the list goes on. In Dante's less than surreptitious satire storm, the itemized list of Gizmo offshoots feels like a commercial for toys. The perfect match for the film's central ethos. More is more. More characters, more gremlins, MORE, MORE, MORE. Gremlins even interrupt the "film" in real time, managing to live up to their namesake and infest the artifice of movies.

There's a scene my mind always gravitates to when this movie comes up in conversation. Where the building staff are asking questions about Gremlin rules, basically poking fun at how ridiculous the particulars are. If you can't feed them after midnight, when can they eat? It's always after midnight, if not here, then somewhere else. It's not only a cute self aware moment, it's also representative of the problems that arise from sequel rot. Questions are raised, suddenly the sincere concept with wishy-washy rules is being interrogated and derided for all the wrong reasons. Incompatibility with traditional reasoning, art doesn't have to "make sense". So the question arises, what are sequels for? Why rip Gizmo, Billy and Kate from bliss and place them back into the spotlight? Back into the financial forays, in a hyper corporate world there can be no rest. There are no happy endings or closed books, just follow ups supplanted by "and thens". The franchise has to follow its own life cycle or die in the cocoon. Metamorphosed from a heartfelt indictment of selfish capital interest into a pleading and desperate warning of times to come. You like Gremlins right? You’d buy every single one of their offshoots in Funko form? Watch the netflix series? Play as Gizmo in Multiversus? It’s the same nostalgic bauble you from childhood. All the edges are sanded off, the personality overridden by excess and novelties. Gremlin or Looney Tune, all bow to the WB shield. We are the creatures, consume, riot, devour.

His whole mission is to leave the world better than he found it.

But I would always be “other”, no matter what I did.

I exactly where I was when I heard Kevin Conroy ed. It was my friend’s wedding, we groomsmen were all piled together into an elevator. The week’s activities had been so dizzying that the news hit me like an anvil. It was my birthday too, every year at this time, I can't help but think of him. My childhood idol, the voice that represented constant comfort throughout all my years, was gone in an instant. Nothing would ever be the same again without him. The voice I heard in my head when I read the comics, the benchmark by which I compared all other Batmen to. The sort of charisma that only comes once in a lifetime. His warm, heartfelt and genine cameos were a particular point of rest for me. His reassurance that the man behind the mask possessed humanity and care for his fellow man above all else. The same pathos he embodied in his performance as Batman, he practiced in real life as well. A man of two lives, unsure of his own identity and place in the world. Kevin best understood the dual identities of Batman innately, without even being aware of the character’s history or nuances beforehand. No other Batman performer in the prestigious Bat-Family has encomed so much of what I value about the character. Strength to be kind, enough patience to forgive, the perfect blend of brooding and shattered avenger with a beating heart. The mask of Bruce Wayne conceals the true face, Batman. There’s an emotional range Kevin covered over the course of his lauded career, no one else understood the character like him. There’s an intimacy he built over so many years of playing different versions of the same man. Drawing upon his own personal tragedies to more effectively evoke Bruce’s pain. Is Batman allowed to be happy? Is Bruce finding closure and settling down a betrayal of the life he’s chosen? Which identity defines him, which is the true man? The boy who lost his parents or the avatar of vengeance that roams the night? I think that Kevin understands how to convey and bring to life a character in a way that prompts us to think about those essential questions. His take on Batman humanized this near mythological figure and distilled what truly made him great. In a world of gods, aliens and super science gone wrong, Batman is the icon most representative of our struggles. The all time greatest Batman encapsulates that key value and magnifies it to unbelievable heights. Conroy’s career is bursting with moments that DEFINE public perception of the character.

I’m scared.

Now would be good.

Am I blue?

Get this MAN TO A HOSPITAL NOW.

I AM VENGEANCE! I AM THE NIGHT! I AM BATMAN!

It’s difficult for me to communicate my emotions about anything, it’s of vital importance that I speak in completely certain . Kevin Conroy’s Batman was my North Star. A fixed point illuminating a life of constant bleak oppression. No matter how bad things got, his continued adventures fighting fascist Supermen and Condiment Kings were always an escape. His triumphs in the face of insurmountable adversity, his unfaltering comion never bending to the blackhearts of Gotham. The perfect rational partner to Mark Hamill’s chaotic Joker. Thinking about how much joy Kevin has brought me across the years, name a time and place, I was probably doing something involving his performance. Rewatching The Animated Series or Justice League for the umpteenth time? I’m already making popcorn. Collecting all 60 billion riddler trophies in the Arkham games? I’ve already pulled up the exhaustive guide. Venture Bros. cameo, Yoga Hosers cameo, Scooby-Doo guest spot; that compilation is on loop my friend. When the Bat-Signal ignites the sky, it means the caped crusader patrols the rooftops. It means someone is looking out for the little guy, someone is going to make sure to the best of their ability, no little boy will lose his parents to a punk with a gun ever again.

It feels like superheroes have become so blase. The cinema has oversaturated them so everywhere else they're satired parodied with no remorse. The documentary itself feels more like a celebration of what Mask Of The Phantasm meant to the team as these various cast and crew expound upon what Kevin meant to them and how amazing he was. It only felt fitting info the same. Kevin's tenure remains a reminder of what a sincere approach can bring. The man behind the mask may change, everyone will have their own preference for how the Dark Knight and his playboy alter ego should be depicted. For me, the sensitive soul yearning for understanding trumps all else. A battle screeches in the night to ignite a young man's purpose. There can be no compromise in identity. Rest easy, protector of the night, you've sheltered me long enough. I can't write about you any longer without sobbing. I miss you immensely. There will never be another like you. You know as a kid I used to watch you with my father, Batman was my hero. And he still is.

Wes Anderson 5/5

The OFFICIAL Crystal Pepsi Top 250 🏨📚👃🏿

"You see, there are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity. Indeed that's what we provide in our own modest, humble, insignificant... oh, fuck it."

They mention the date October 19th a few times during the story and I thought that was a cute coincidence since that's my mom's birthday! I told her and now she's set to watch the movie this weekend. 😎

Nostalgia warps all into a warm, welcoming collage. Wes Anderson’s varying -isms color this twisty-turny adventure story into a tapestry of ideas regarding memory and displacement in time. Stories within stories, utterly detached from their original context. A young person visits the monument to an anonymous author, reading from their famous book which details the oral telling said writer transcribed from a hotel’s owner. Does your head hurt yet? Thanks to Wes’ auteur flair, swapping between settings is seamless. The hotel of the past feels like it was ripped straight out of a picturesque children's fairy tale. A venerated castle that could only exist within the protected vaults of nostalgic memory. Each additional orator distorts the narrative a little from its original telling. The nuances blur, the characters change, the story takes on new meanings.
There was a short period where everything made sense. Life was like clockwork, the clean organized hustle and bustle of the hotel. Was there truth in that fabricated nugget? Was perputing that lie a power beyond belief? Obscuring the continual rot of civilization is a great kindnessn and a dreadful curse. The hotel could be a stand in for a number of personal escapes, the concierge is an analogue of paramount proportions. The last refuge from a changing world. The ever spreading poison of man and the greed accompanying it. The oppressive shadow of fascism and the natural tragedies that follow. There are modern knights, honoring the illusion of the old comfortable ways, even when they themselves are clueless and ignorant of their concrete charms. A battle cry for people "born in the wrong generation". An embrace of ghosts and tall tales of a fairer time. Phantoms roam these hallowed halls, even in decline that inviting escapism lingers but its infallible efficacy has faded.

Monseuir Gustave navigates his life with uncompromising grace and etiquette. He is rewarded over and over again for his anachronistic comion, he does not bend to the fashionable cruelty of wartime. Often his dignity and respect is reciprocated, this trend continues until it crashed against the cold, harsh reality formed of a separate set of uncompromising values. The exception proved the rule, however. Now of all times, we can't bend to the monstrous tide of inhumane atrocities veiled behind the title of "progress". "Make America Great Again". As if such a period ever really existed, a banal and obvious propaganda rally. The ruby tinted glasses can blind us from properly comprehending our current reality, but there is a role for this fondness to play in guiding us forward. Inclusivity beyond measure, he may have been a micro managing womanizer but Gustave still managed to charm me. The echoes of the past reverberate from storyteller to storyteller. The enduring yarn from them to me to you, was there ever a truly simpler time? Evil encoraches upon the borders of fantasy. There's valor in confronting these injustices and equal virtue in aiding the escape of others from them.

Anime! 🦇🐸🫁

Leave me alone! Go away! I didn't attack them for your sake! I want to be a true gentleman! You were a damsel in distress, a true gentleman needs to be brave enough to go into a fight he knows he'll lose. But one day... I'll be strong enough to win…

Jojo was introduced to me by my high school crush. It was probably sometime in 2015 around the time the part 3 anime was wrapping up. I seeing memes on Tumblr of Jotaro looking out the plane window(just made myself feel dated in like 3 different ways haha). After 13 years running of on-and-off again romance with the series, it’s about time to revisit the animated adaptations of the beloved and one of a kind manga as we approach the release of what very well might be its greatest chapter. I’d love to hear from you guys about your personal experiences with the series. 🧡 👊🏿👻. If there's any additional JoJo stuff you'd be interested in seeing me talk about, like the live action film or OVA, I can do that too!

JJBA is the most prominent and popular work by mangaka auteur Hirohiko Araki. The man, the fashion icon, the vampiric legend. Phantom Blood is a tale founded in humble beginnings. Yet to really break from or subvert the battle shonen/seinen influences of its contemporaries. Jonathan looks and feels like Kentaro of Fist of The North Star. Dio taunts and waxes poetic about how many “pieces of bread one has eaten in a lifetime”. Rather than fighting Jonathan himself, Dio sends scores of jobbers. Just these zombie goons that are enacters of his twisted will. Jack the Ripper and Blueno are the worst of the bunch. Tarukus is one step up and Blueno feels like an actual character. This pair does also serve a thematic purpose and they make a smooth through line to the core of what Phantom Blood is about. Courage in the face of insurmountable odds. Nobility, honor and respect for one's adversaries in contexts that warrant it. Characters grapple with their own mortality, their own legacy, their own fates.

Araki nails this short but sweet thematic beefcake of platitudes regarding what truly makes an honorable gentleman. There's precursors to many longstanding motifs from here on out:
Will A.Zeppeli: the first mentor and the first of many deceased friends.
Speedwagon: the first unflinchingly loyal JoBro. It goes so far and long that it reaches almost to a comic degree.
Vampirism in general is the first of many transhumanist ideas. Generally, this idea that we could evolve to another level, a superhuman existence.

Despite this early success and the attractive idiosyncratic nature of JoJo's, I find that for me Phantom Blood still comes short on several fronts. Jonathan is far too much of a goofy goody. Dio’s rivalry with him and the various mentors that Jonathan is robbed off throughout the series are the strongest parts. Why is that so often sidelined for nonsense or hampered by the fact that this first section is so brief? Breathing really hard in order to vaporize vampires is really cool and all but can we get back to the character drama? I don't really like seeing these monk losers trounced by Dio aside from the humor of it all.
Jonathan. Paragon of virtue, unquestionably impeccable moral fiber, heart of gold, body of the gods, personality of cardboard.
Dio. Dire, in all of his short lived glory, is emblematic of everything I love and hate in this earliest part.

The two clash through the story and the best moments come from that. One favored by fate, the other doomed to an undesired destiny. The two are prisoners of legacy. Jonathan accepts the influence of his family, the tough love of his righteous father. Dio denies the wretched blood he shares with his drunkard dad. The traits they share he blinds himself too. Evil. Desperate. Prideful. Defiant of his circumstances. It would have been so easy to live without worry underneath the Joestar banner. But that was no life for “the Dio brando” He needed to thrive, to reign, to rule over any he deemed unworthy. Jonathan would rather uplift others, regardless of circumstance, only resorting to violence when it came to the defense of another. The two are excellent foils in a story founded in deceit and forsaking humanity. The juxtaposition of the indelicate, kind Jonathan and the polite but cruel Duo. Infallible honor remains steadfast in the wake of selfish opportunism. Jonathan’s familial pride, the respect and fealty he shows for his lineage far exceeds that which Dio only deserves for himself.

Something I've always tried to grapple with in of the series' overarching themes is the contrast between this earliest iteration of hamon(the ripple) and the far more iconic and lasting “stands”. Stands, as we'll discuss later, are physical representations of the human soul. I think in Phantom Blood, the battle between hamon s and the creatures of the night, is one of ideology as well. What is a gentleman? What is chivalry or bravery? Unlike the other characters who were warped into cruel cadavers by the stone mask, was Dio’s soul tainted by immortality? He cast aside his immortality to move beyond his human limits but he has already sacrificed so much dignity and tainted his soul with misdeeds. It's hard to say what was lost or what changed within him. In the world of JoJo’s, there's courage in sacrifice. There's freedom and serenity in entrusting your will to another. ing down from one person, the whims of fate are to be embraced, not denied. All of Jonathan’s victories are founded upon that principle. Dio's bittersweet triumph is precipitated by Jonathan literally welcoming his demise. Grace in defeat and trust in the next generation. Rest well.

Like you said, our fates may truly be one in the same. Now our lives are bound completely.

Spike Lee Ranked 🥛🚲⌚

"Only time it ends, Strike, that mission, when you six feet under."

Got to see this at the local community film center with some friends. Believe it or not the audience was almost entirely comprised of Caucasian senior citizens. It was oddly refreshing watching a film with an entirely silent crowd. There was a loose discussion afterwards and I attempted to brave my insecurities by adding my own two cents to the ring. Obviously everyone's perspective is valuable but this procession of white women bemoaning systemic educational issues through personal analogies and the lack of subtitles weren't describing the movie in the same light I was seeing it in. I was extremely nervous, trying to speak briefly and succinctly about what touched me about Clockers. Petrified, I sputtered out something that must have been somewhat coherent. My thoughts were spilling out of me like a tipped bottle. I was so nervous and hopped on caffeine, my feet were shaking but my hand was steady. I spoke my truth to the best of my ability and what follows are more fleshed out ideas I had during this rewatch. Humanizing films like this are crucial, especially now. My entire life I've felt like an “other than”, I still do. Maybe I always will. Movies like this, movies that capture nuggets or entire nuances of my reality, they get me extremely emotional.

Someone like Victor that follows the working man’s path will eventually get worn down and tired of keeping his head facing the ground at every conflict. Please and thank you can only get us so far. I see my own dad in Victor's exhaustion, I see myself in that frustration at the sight of a long, winding and endless road. Rest? Reprieve? Sanctuary? Where is it for people like us? My dad worked anywhere between 2-5 jobs at any given time in his life, he broke his mind and body for the ability to provide something for me and himself. He's a shadow of his former self and I dread that same thing happening to me. I feel my joy slipping, my connection to others withering on the vine. Clockers is a wake up call for those inexperienced in the inner life of a low level drug dealer. That's the surface level read, Spike always provides more. It's a story of perspectives, a Rashomon t done his way. ability is shuffled by everybody on screen. Strike can't articulate or recognize the importance of someone like Rosa Parks but will quickly play the race card when he thinks it can get him out of an uncomfortable situation. Errol, Rodney, Strike, Victor, all these characters are victims of systemic issues pushing them to this criminal life. Evading the law whether they did something incriminating that day or not, what steps were they ever going to be shown towards the way out? Inundated with media perpetuating the glory of ‘hood life and gangsta’ shit-Spike does love his low-tech video game parodies- coerced and groomed into the bottom rung of a ladder with no end. The pyramid with no peak in sight. As bleak and hopeless as the film's dynamics of cops and criminals may be at times, there's this constant reminder, this obelisk of innocence in Strike’s life. His incorruptible train set. The unabashed personification of youthful exuberance and sincere enthusiasm. A respect and love for the history of trains, absolutely no irony involved. Despite the complexities of the drug ecosystem, inadvertently dodging the machinations set into motion against him, Strike comes out clean. Harvey Keitel's Detective Rocco is still a dismissive and racist opportunist but he has at least made 2 right decisions. The cycle of surrogate father figures has continued, now Strike es something on to Shorty. But instead of glorifying violence and teaching him how to be hard, he shares a much richer inheritance. That pure love of locomotives. An escape from the city. Dreams of electric trains, VHS tapes and movies recorded on them. It's a fantasy ripped straight from my own tender childhood. Wake up and shake off that intoxicating malt flavor. the visions of innocence. I'm so tired.

Wes Anderson 4/5
Movies about Movies 🐆🦈🎥🐟

What happened to me? Did I lose my talent? Am I ever gonna be good again?

An endless ocean of doubts. Steve Zissou is a has-been in consideration of his potential status as a never-was. His loss and grief become the ultimate motivator to reinvigorate his sagging career, to patch his aching heart, to discover his raison d'être. Can the pulp legend live up to his own idealized cinematic image? Documentarians so avidly seeking to capture reality can crop enough out of the frame to distort anything beyond the false realms of artifice. Steve's callous attitude, self centered mindset and unappealing embrace of casual slurs betray the carefully edited and embedded image of a rigged yet intelligent adventurer. Smoking doobies on the job, flirting with danger AND the pregnant report asking questions his self doubt finds disturbing. Coupled with the loss of his most trusted companion and the sudden appearance of a man claiming to maybe be his soon, Steve Zissou spirals even further into despair and uncertainty. Double down on the doses of sensationalized exploration or candidly capture the buffoonery that's been around all along? The glory days are over, nothing makes sense anymore. The legion of interns and notoriety are ill serving comforts in the face of insurmountable inposted syndrome. Was I ever good? Did I ever succeed? What can I do, if not this? Suddenly all the pieces we've spent our lives hunting for don't click together. Steve feels like the kind of person that neglected personal connections and well roundedness for the sake of the craft and other transient vices. The auteur drowns in expectations, somewhere along the way he lost the simple pleasures and it became about the glory. The sincere and enthusiastic encouragement of his "son" and the continued of a constantly battered crew shine the light on what Zissou can do. the joys of exploration, of filmmaking, of art, of all things aquatic. Take the plunge and catalogue the bestiary of stop motion creatures with me. 🧡

We'll give them reality this time.

Sweatiest Dude Contest. Rating: Bringing The House Down. 🎸🧄🪕

Coogler's Waking American Nightmare

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.

Fool that I am, I drank a coffee before sitting down for the definitive black cinema experience of the year. Crossing my legs, clasping my hands together and focusing on the sweat laden upon Michael B. Jordan's beautiful creaseless forehead, I couldn't help but dash down the two flights of stairs to the theater's bathroom. Anyone in my position might be familiar with a little mini game to play in the theater. A little hop, skip and jump called "Is this a good time to go take a piss?". Approximating what scene is slightly less important to a degree that I could rationalize skipping out for as short a duration as I physically could. My mistake was choosing the moment directly proceeding the most striking sequence in the whole movie. Coming in halfway through felt like ing a concluding party. My invitation was sound and legitimate, my company valued and sought. Yet my attention turned elsewhere and I was held in a vice-grip by the unrelenting screech from my own bladder. I promise this ties into the movies.... Even half dizzy with confusion, post piss euphoria washing over me, this dazzling and unbelievable scene unfolded over me. I won't do the scene a disservice by literally describing what happens, just note that the film momentarily depicts an affectionate and sincere personification of something I've searched for my whole life. The totality of black history in harmony, unified by mutual harmonies. Spirits of past and future humming the same beats, haunted by the same tunes.

Sharing similar plot beats and themes to Dusk Till Dawn, Get Out, Def By Temptation, Final Destination, Nope, The Thing and several other legendary films I'm certainly ignorant of; Coogler's Sinners is a sorrowful hymn to the long suffering. Utilizing familiar tropes - the isolated last stand against a corruptive supernatural force, the loss of a sibling to said influence, the usage of supernatural creatures as allegory for racial commentary - Coogler builds and builds and builds a group of living breathing characters first and robs these characters of their long sought happiness after. It's easy for a horror film of truncated runtime to shortcut character development but this film dedicates several considered scenes to setting the stage for invetiable tragedy. We know something is going to go wrong, we just don't know when.

The deck has always been stacked against us. The rules of the game and the elusive win condition just out of arm's reach. Any whisper of happiness is a slyly concealed lie from white devils that seek to destroy us where we stand. Crime is no escape, religion is no escape, honest work is no escape, alcohol or any other substance of choice are no escape. The exits are covered, the lights are dimmed, options are dwindling. The blues are emphasized as this soulful, sincere expression of sorrow and frustration with injustice. The creatures of the night are attracted to this creative outpour, perhaps even the suffering it embodies. Unlike the music they sing, the hive mind they represent, the vampires can only sing vapid saccharine songs. Banjos and fake smiles. The promise of no pain, eternal life and a guaranteed place at the table. The wise survivors refuse this offer, complacency is no answer to inhuman infractions. Years of segregation, slavery, abuse and systemic oppression have built up scars. Scars that cannot and should not be forgotten. Our art bears these markings, the pain has toughened out battered skin. For all of that muck is integral to our identities, it is our history, I knew these vampires were evil before but saying "I don't see color." was next level demonic.

"Forgive those that would tres against us"? Hell no. "Turn the other cheek"? Hell no. There's a certain sequence in the last 20 minutes that screams bloody vengeance and justice in a way I find comfortably cathartic. It's easy to slide into the cinematic fantasy of killing ku klux klutzes but all that's changed in real life is swapping out the "grand dragon" titles for blue check marks on X. Coogler presents a binary selection of two choices in the nocturnal slaughterhouse. Without the supernatural intervention of the vampires, the smokestack twins and their community would have been unjustly slain. With the vampires, they can be "free" of suffering on this physical plane. But this pain is definitive of the black experience, it is our soul. There's dignity in our scars, power in our perseverance, wisdom in our community, and empathy in our bones. They can erase the sweet promises others made -friends, family, a place "just for us" to leave all earthly problems at the door- they can bring reality crashing down upon our hopeful, dreaming heads. They can appropriate our art for their cynical schemes. Vampire cults? Grocery store music? Eminem concert? Our culture is not your fucking costume. The core of the experience belongs to us and only us. Others can be invited in, others can in the warmth of the hearth. But that legacy we preserve is earned. The sun may set on one dream, not everything will work out the way we most desperately desire it to. Still, patience is a virtue, own your blues. Don't let anyone tell you how to process your grief. The promised day will come. Don't forget what your life is worth.

Wes Anderson 3/5

“You guys have it real easy. I never had it like this where I grew up. But I send my kids here because the fact is you go to one of the best schools in the country: Rushmore. Now, for some of you it doesn't matter. You were born rich and you're going to stay rich. But here's my advice to the rest of you: Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down. Just , they can buy anything but they can't buy backbone. Don't let them forget it. Thank you.”

This casual and under prepared speech connected with Max in a way no one could have anticipated. Almost an ode that feels specifically prepared for his humble home life. A verbal assault on nepotism and endorsement of perseverance. He dreams of a life of accolades through academic success. Leader, president and/or founder of several clubs. Every extracurricular is a venture to be taken to the furthest possible degree. Beekeeping, kart racing, stage productions of Serpico. All the ambition in the world and all the energy to enable others to perform but Max is academically inept. His affection for the Rushmore school is undercut by his own incompetence in social and educational affairs. Charismatic, emotionally intelligent beyond his years, but lacking in self awareness or empathy for others. This leads to a broad disregard for other people's feelings. His best friend is more of a lackey or a toady than a respected companion. His off-color relationships with adults in his life, combined with a general ambivalence or antagonism to kids his own age, paint the picture of a young man more mature than his age would suggest. He feels most comfortable amongst the company of the jaded father of rock chewing twins and the widowed schoolteacher trying to recover from her own romantic loss. In perfect proto Wes-Anderson-form Max is a flawed auteur making his way through a turbulent coming of age story. Failing upwards and earning his redemption after being pelted by rocks and attempting multiple times to con his way into Rosemary's life several times. Two taboo romances, a love triangle with two awful people serving as competing vectors converging on the same poor woman. Max, life just beginning, full of promise yet unable to realize his own potential. Herman, already in his twilight years, comes to realize how unfulfilled he feels living the epilogue of his own family journey.

I feel like I'm meant to be charmed by Max’s shenanigans, his affable demeanor and pathetic persistence in pursuing someone so completely forbidden to him romantically. His positive relationship with his father and deceased mother indicate to me a teenager that has to grow up too fast and skipped past several lessons in the process. I've seen it many times, many visits to the mirror cling to my memory like an unwanted parasite. There's something relatable to me about someone like Max, someone that feels so mature in some ways but manages to be incapable of going that extra bit further to true adult understanding. He's still a kid. His spectrum of maturity renders his aspirations into the catalyst for his transformation into a volatile time bomb. Enthusiasm for endless hobbies to what end? Dogged pursuit of the wrong woman for what reasons? Obsession and denial of realistic expectations or consequences, all in service of vindicating his childish fantasies. It's painful to not feel understood, that crushing isolation. Max is a true loner, the only ones that encourage his idiosyncrasies begin to date and he views that as a betrayal. An immature, contemptible and unfair accusation.

Watching a comedy without being able to laugh at the jokes or characters is an experience I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. These two petty peons fight for the affections of a grieving school teacher. The comedy is in the pitiable behavior, but I couldn't see the humor amongst a group of characters not bearing the usual Anderson whimsy. Rather than a group of eccentric characters inhabiting a larger than life world, we're left to follow one unbelievably unlikeable protagonist as he fumbles over and over and over. The inevitable second act low point comes and I just can't muster the energy to care about his plights. Children that are forced to grow up before the proper time are not in an enviable position. Maybe I resent Max because he reminds me of myself. The embarrassing and humiliating shenanigans of someone desperately seeking approval from all the wrong people. As much as Anderson's ever developing director's hand improves on a story I don't care for, Max's eventual redemption feels like a matter of course. Not an earned reward but instead the guarantee of the story's format. Sweet as the eventual conclusion may be, I wish the road to it felt a little more sincere and the central character was a notch more nearable. The entire experience feels like a love letter for latchkey kids everywhere. Independent youths thinking they understand the world much more they are able. Big fish in small ponds. Pleasant, peculiar characters are dangerously close to stalker weirdos. It's a fine line to ride and if the personality swells to a large enough size, that division will be eclipsed.

Subject to change and set to parameters even I am not fully privy to yet, I present to the best of my ability, a ranking of all the anime films I have seen since making this . Animation is a fascinating medium for storytelling and the films to come from this subgenre certainly offer a wide breadth of subject matter and approaches. What are your favorites? Have any suggestions for me? Are my takes hot doggy Doo doo? Be sure to let me know in all caps in the comments. 🧡

1. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
2. One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island
3. Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
4. Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie
5. Promare
6. Memories
7. Millennium Actress
8. Wolf Children
9. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
10. Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: December Sky

...plus 43 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

At the nexus between reality and dreams, the amalgam of tangibility and imagination, there is something else. Memories define our perception. What are we and how do we interface with our complicated, unreal world? Someone smarter than me might have some neat ideas about that...

• SSSS.GRIDMAN
• Total Recall
• Ghost in the Shell
• Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Inception
• The Wolf House
• mother!
• The Wind Rises
• Resident Evil: Retribution

...plus 65 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Feel free to leave suggestions here or on the original post!

When I was growing up, my dad was my lighthouse. A guiding beacon shining the way to safety and security. No matter how rough the waters were or how craggy the shores were, I believed he was the reliable mentor I could trust. Nothing really shook my faith in him when I was younger. I didn't ask questions of him, how could I? My mom raised me and my dad took me out to do “the fun stuff”. But when these activities actually happened, I was the problem. I wouldn't walk straight, I didn't drink beverages properly, I talked too fast and at the wrong volume. What did I do right besides being young and ignorant? The first exposure of my dad's mortality underneath the gilded armor of parenthood sticks out in my mind. When I was visiting him, I'd sit content in front of the TV. Happy to watch whatever infinite wonders waited for me channel surfing the open sea of networks I didn't get at home with mom. I'd watch a variety of different shows. You name it, I watched it. I can identify almost any carton from the 70s to present day with accuracy using the theme song alone. That's the power of being neurodivergent and falling under the sway of mind rotting magic screens. Anyway when I would watch The Powerpuff Girls or Totally Spies or Maya & Miguel; suddenly my dad had a problem with the programming. I could watch horror movies far out of my age range, graphic violence and sex is fine but “gender inappropriate” shows are a step too far. I feeling really ashamed. It's so ubiquitous in American culture. Boys are blue. Girls are pink. To break that rule is to invite ridicule and immediate social suicide. My own father would ask me: “why are you watching this, isn't it for girls?”. Obviously they are aimed at that demographic but what's wrong with me watching them or enjoying them? Would watching My Little Pony as a teenager elicit the same judgment as watching Arthur? No, it wouldn't. This month, I want us all to share and revel in the cinema of liberation. The films of revolution. The defiant defenders and excellent exceptions. These stories are windows into the souls of others, reminders that others can feel the way we feel. For me, this conflict of gender identity and emasculation was represented in two Persona characters. There’s catharsis and joy in that, I understand myself better as a result. I want to continue that self discovery and share that with you all. Conventional existence is for cowards! Tear the walls down and sign me up for mayhem.

• D.E.B.S.
• Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie

My name is CrystalPepsi! Greetings and salutations. This is a collection of the finest and most legendary of Pokémon themed cinema. Specials, films, anything in between? Name your favorite and I'll watch it! As a baseline, expect that we will be watching all 23 mainline anime films. Everything apart from that will be extra credit. Feel free to share suggestions in the comments or just leave your favorite Mons for fun. Hopefully by the end of this I'll be a Pokémon Professor of the highest esteem and not a raving lunatic mumbling nonsense about Pikachu....

1. Pokémon 3: The Movie
2. Pokémon: The First Movie
3. Pokemon Crystal: Raikou, the Legend of Thunder!
4. Pokémon the Movie 2000

I've finally seen enough of John Woo's work to organize my thoughts on each of his films relative to each other. He's made some of my favorite action movies of all time and also some movies that turn my brain to mush on . Dudes just being guys shooting endless baddies. Screaming in anguish, Woo loves his emotional protagonists and so do I! I loooove discussing his techniques and favored tropes. Share any thoughts you have if you wanna! <3

1. A Better Tomorrow
2. Hard Boiled
3. The Killer
4. Bullet in the Head
5. Hard Target
6. Last Hurrah for Chivalry
7. Windtalkers
8. Face/Off
9. A Better Tomorrow II
10. Mission: Impossible II

...plus 4 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

After the debacle with End of Evangelion, I ruminated on how much this project still maintained some merit. With encouragement from some, @Val in particular, I've decided to start the proceedings! So we all know the "prestigious" Letterboxd top 250, that funny little crown in the corner indicative of true crowd pleasing cinema. On *my* list, I'll be ranking and comparing these films by my own metrics and my own preferences. Is it pure artistic divinity, is it gilded overrated crap? This is purely my opinion and as always I fully invite and encourage discourse. I'll be starting with the films that I've already reviewed and discussed and slowly work my way around from there. Additionally this is the list, frozen and snapshotted as of 9/11/2024. I may watch supplementary films that change on the "official" list but for now I'll keep it to this 250. Remaining watches can be found here. Don't try to rationalize the ranking by rating, all numbers are made up B)

1. 12 Angry Men
2. Do the Right Thing
3. GoodFellas
4. Vertigo
5. The Thing
6. Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
7. The Elephant Man
8. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
9. Malcolm X
10. There Will Be Blood

...plus 52 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The cycle of nostalgia never ends. What once was a revered text visited over and over again is renewed after a long period of rest. After this rebirth, pulled screaming from the studio womb, are the films better than their originals or pale comparisons? Restrictions may or may not apply. Feel free to comment suggestions.

• The Thing
• The Thing from Another World
• The Thing
• The Fly
• The Fly
• Total Recall
• Total Recall
• Halloween
• Halloween
• Scarface

...plus 50 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Exactly what it sounds like. I have gathered the sweatiest dudes across all the cinema I've been lucky enough to see.

• A Better Tomorrow
• Venom
• Venom: Let There Be Carnage
• Crank
• Crank: High Voltage
• Dear Evan Hansen
• The Empire Strikes Back
• Magic
• Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
• Elvis

...plus 66 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I'm not sure how I got here. Maybe it started with Mission Impossible, I have fallen deeply in love with Tom Cruise. His android imitation of human behavior. His awkward emotions don't always feel genuine but they don't undermine his performances. He's ALWAYS putting his best foot forward. That's something I really respect.

1. Collateral
2. Eyes Wide Shut
3. Magnolia
4. Minority Report
5. Mission: Impossible
6. Born on the Fourth of July
7. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
8. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
9. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
10. Jerry Maguire

...plus 37 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Movies I've managed to see in a school setting and will eventually revisit! Lmk if you have personal attachments or memories of these, education related or not!

• Pineapple Express
• Coach Carter
• Kung Fu Panda
• Mulan
• Krush Groove
• The Matrix
• Hercules
• Pay It Forward
• Rudy
• Dancer in the Dark

...plus 44 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

"Say cheese, good direction Marty!"

1. The Departed
2. GoodFellas
3. Casino
4. Taxi Driver
5. Raging Bull
6. After Hours
7. The Last Temptation of Christ
8. The King of Comedy
9. Michael Jackson: Bad
10. Cape Fear

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A collection of self aware, irreverent films exposing the silliness and supposed affability of America's favorite dream factory. The Star studded stages, the behind the scenes talent, the mirror turned inward at the creatives. Movies about movies. Some of my favorites and some of my most reviled. Sit back, grab some popcorn and let screen take hold.

1. The Player
2. Singin' in the Rain
3. Millennium Actress
4. Adaptation.
5. Network
6. Boogie Nights
7. Sunset Boulevard
8. The Watermelon Woman
9. Inland Empire
10. Looney Tunes: Back in Action

...plus 27 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

You all know what it is. We've all seen em, maybe even specific entries multiple times over. Is it the death of cinema? Something more banal and innocuous? Or is Feige's constantly expanding reach going to encom all before crumbling to nothing? Let's talk about it.

1. Iron Man 3
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
3. Iron Man
4. Guardians of the Galaxy
5. Captain America: The First Avenger
6. Thunderbolts*
7. The Avengers
8. Ant-Man
9. Iron Man 2
10. Avengers: Age of Ultron

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My favorite films of all time. Relevant to me in more ways than one and impactful at one or more instances in time. Broadly speaking, any one of these could be thrown on any day and I'd happily sit through the whole thing with a smile. Each of these has a special place in my heart. Let's see how much room I can find. B)

• Deep Cover
• The Incredibles
• Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
• The Departed
• Starship Troopers
• GoodFellas
• Trainspotting
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
• Labyrinth
• Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: December Sky

...plus 55 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Mainline Disney films ranked (with some extras for fun!)

1. Teacher's Pet
2. The Emperor's New Groove
3. Lilo & Stitch
4. Aladdin
5. One Hundred and One Dalmatians
6. A Goofy Movie
7. Atlantis: The Lost Empire
8. Winnie the Pooh
9. Wreck-It Ralph
10. The Princess and the Frog

...plus 58 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Obviously I love transformers a lot! Infinite possibilities, infinite permutations. The humor and heart of beast wars, the earnestness of generation 1, animated's underdog remix of the formula. The movies are infamous in reputation. Undeniably flawed films, neither succeeding as films relative to themselves nor as adaptations of the toyline. I think each of them have something worth preserving and discussing. I'll at least be watching the 7 live action movies and the 86 animated film. If there's anything else you guys would like to see me talk about, let me know!

1. Transformers One
2. The Transformers: The Movie
3. Transformers
4. Transformers: 40th Anniversary Event
5. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
6. Bumblebee
7. Transformers: The Last Knight
8. Transformers: Age of Extinction
9. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

1. Harakiri
2. Come and See
3. Seven Samurai
4. High and Low
5. The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer
6. The Shawshank Redemption
7. Parasite
8. Yi Yi
9. City of God
10. Schindler's List

...plus 179 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Revolutionary Girl Utena
2. Cowboy Bebop
3. Berserk
4. FLCL
5. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency
6. Gunsmith Cats
7. PLUTO
8. TRIGUN
9. JUJUTSU KAISEN
10. Great Pretender

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Catalog of all the suggestions from pals so far! If you want to contribute, just comment below or here and lmk what you want to me to watch! 🧡

• Lupin III: The First
• In a Violent Nature
• 12 Angry Men
• American Beauty
• Power Rangers
• Fight Club
• Only Yesterday
• JFK
• Gentleman's Agreement
• The Insider

...plus 40 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Time to kick my ass in gear and aim myself towards some vague direction B). 40 directors, 5 films each. As I finish each director, I'll rank their entries here from most to least favorite!
Feel free to suggest any personal favorites or recommendations! Currently looking for 1-5 replacements so PLEASE hit me with recommendations! <3
Any regular friends on here can probably tell what I like. 🧡:D Let's say I try to finish this in 12 months? Who knows, I'm fickle.
Current Directors Finished: 14
Tony Scott! :D
Hiroyuki Imaishi! :D
Brian De Palma! :D
Francis Ford Coppola! :D
Michael Mann! :D
Stephen Spielberg! :D
Alfred Hitchcock! :D
Kevin Smith... :(
Paul Schrader! :D
David Lynch! 🧡 🫂 🫂 🚬
Oliver Stone! :D
Stanley Kubrick! :D
Wes Craven! :D
Paul Thomas Anderson! :D

• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
• Brokeback Mountain
• Hulk
• Life of Pi
• The Ice Storm
• Minority Report
• Raiders of the Lost Ark
• Catch Me If You Can
• A.I. Artificial Intelligence
• Jaws

...plus 170 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Quite the divisive filmmaker, Spike Lee has made some stylish films with a lot of idiosyncratic qualities. Sometimes, he's my best friend, other times he's my worst enemy. No matter what, he'll always have a spot in my heart.

1. Do the Right Thing
2. Malcolm X
3. BlacKkKlansman
4. 25th Hour
5. Jungle Fever
6. Da 5 Bloods
7. Mo' Better Blues
8. Clockers
9. She's Gotta Have It
10. Inside Man

...plus 7 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Mark Millar is probably the edgiest mainstream superhero writer. Some of the most iconic singleton runs of the century have come from him, at the cost of Hulk based incest and Blob cannibalism. Such a miserable cynical outlook has somehow led to a boatload of film adaptations. Probably because they take so many liberties with the source material. Let's discuss B)

I originally drafted this list as way to have a through line for the work of Millar. He's honestly kind of despicable and I don't want this to JUST be a platform for spite towards an artist I don't personally enjoy. Instead I'm going to be retooling this and collaborating with a friend to rank and discuss and manner of comic book movies. Any suggestion are more than welcome! Everything on here will be getting a review.

1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
2. Spider-Man 2
3. A History of Violence
4. Spider-Man
5. Logan
6. The Maxx
7. DC Showcase: Death
8. The Adventures of Tintin
9. Dredd
10. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

...plus 37 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

We come to this place… for magic.
When I'd hang out with my dad on the weekends or odd times during the week I'd watch a LOT of TV. Nicktoons reruns and CN classics were my babysitters. Throughout those years I'd catch a lot of features on the telly. There's nothing quite like watching half a movie you found interesting on the tube entirely by chance. Here's the bestiary of stuff I can ! Exclusive to films I first watched in this way.

• The Cable Guy
• Darkman
• Barnyard
• Die Hard 2
• Snakes on a Plane
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Monster House
• Monkeybone
• G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
• The Fairly OddParents: Channel Chasers

...plus 149 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Challengers
• The Punisher
• Born on the Fourth of July
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Adventureland
• Good Time
• All the Right Moves
• GoodFellas

A subgenre that shaped who I am today. The basis for my name, both CrystalPepsi and the numbers that follow. An influential collection of series, creators, and dudes in suits jumping through windows. Fundamental to my very core and my survival up until this point. I'm eternally grateful and want to do my best to celebrate what Toku is capable of.

• Ultraman: Rising
• Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider W & Decade: Movie War 2010
• Shin Ultraman
• Mechanical Violator Hakaider

Every Scooby doo movie I deem worthy of talking about ranked!!!!

1. Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island
2. Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog
3. Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost
4. Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon
5. The Scooby-Doo Project
6. Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders
7. Scooby-Doo! and the Cyber Chase
8. Night of the Living Doo
9. Scoob!
10. Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Labyrinth
• Midnight in Paris
• Speed Racer
• Stranger Than Fiction
• The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
• The Boy and the Beast
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
• My Cousin Vinny
• Teacher's Pet
• The Secret of NIMH

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

John Carpenter first changed my life with the Halloween theme alone and has since become one of my favorite directors! His run in the 80s is sort of untouchable but how does it all compare for me?

1. The Thing
2. Assault on Precinct 13
3. Big Trouble in Little China
4. Halloween
5. Escape from L.A.
6. Escape from New York
7. Starman
8. Prince of Darkness
9. They Live
10. In the Mouth of Madness

...plus 7 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Had this one cooking in my noggin for a bit. There's nothing like a well edited montage set to the absolute perfect track. The harmony of visuals and audio mixed in a way that has to be inspirational to the rapid waves of AMV and fan cam tiktok edits. Entries will have notation explaining where in the film the drop takes place and as always, suggestion are welcome. 😎 Here's the associated Spotify playlist! Will be trimmed and lengthened as we add to this! open.spotify.com/playlist/7KrgkkfCz77uLiiWPXvEWn?si=S3_ZlDSNQHWnby-eO7McRw%0A

• Kingsman: The Secret Service

  Free Bird, that is all. ✝️🔫⛪

• Trainspotting

  There's a number of good ones but Born Slippy never fails to warp me back to being 17 again. The world is simultaneously ripe with endless possibilities and rotten with dead ends. Let your feelings slip boy, but never your mask boy.

• GoodFellas

  Goodfellas is not JUST the definitive gangster film. It has some of the hardest hitting lead one for a song. "As far back as I can I always wanted to be a gangster". Rags to riches just goes IN. When the camera slowly zooms in on De Niro with sunshine of your love playing, I had no other recourse besides bowing to the movie and out crying, THIS IS CINEMA. You could probably pick any song from this film's soundtrack and I'd agree.

• Scarface

  Push it to the limit, the perfect song to score Tony Montanos's hasty rise to the top. The excess, the shameless embrace of this success. Beautiful.

• Fantasia 2000

  Thoroughly forgettable shovelware film BUT imagine the cheeky grin on my mug whenever Rhapsody in blue comes on. Magnetic, charming, dynamic, it's everything you could want from animation set to an absolutely foot tapper!

• American Psycho

  Would be hard to choose just one song from American Psycho(idk why I am doing this here since some of the rest had more but oh WELL). The absolute creme de la creme has to be the ICONIC Huey Lewis and the News scene. Absolute PERFECTION. It is, hip to be square.

• Brazil

  BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAZILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

• Midnight in Paris

  I watched this movie for at least 3 different classes in High school. I've heard Si Tu Vois Ma Mère so many times in an academic context yet hearing it is like coming back home. It's even my first saved song on spotify!

• True Romance

  Mob interrogation scenes are a dime a dozen. But playing classical music over such grisly proceedings adds that certain gravitas. The operatic dissection and destruction of one man. Dennis Hopper totally energizes the cringeworthy Tarantino dialogue with a certain unmatched spark. His performances melds with the soft strings to create something really special.

• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

  UH UH UH sicker than your average...

  I've always associated Biggie and hip hop with my dad. He's somewhat of an in-between mix of Aaron and Jefferson Davis so that scene in particular always hits me a certain way.

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Secret of NIMH
2. Anastasia
3. Rock-A-Doodle
4. The Pebble and the Penguin

Should this even be ranked? You decide, LOL. Feel free to suggest films! Pretty self explanatory grouping.

• Brief Encounter
• The Brave Locomotive
• Snowpiercer
• Thomas and the Magic Railroad
• The Polar Express
• Dumbo
• Kiki's Delivery Service
• The French Connection
• The Good, the Bad, the Weird
• Transformers: Age of Extinction

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Going through all the Snyder films with my partner. Here's how we feel about em.

1. Watchmen
2. Sucker Punch

Original List

Please do not ask for American Fiction 😭

1. Malcolm X
2. Chameleon Street
3. All By Myself: The Eartha Kitt Story
4. Watermelon Man
5. Fruitvale Station
6. Def by Temptation
7. Jungle Fever
8. The Watermelon Woman
9. Candyman
10. Is That Black Enough for You?!?

...plus 19 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

"They want black people [to be] what they want them to be. And nobody is man enough to go and say that. They want black people to be who they want them to be, as opposed to what they are. The black films now—so-called black films now—they're great. They're great films. But they're just products. They're not moving the bar forward creatively. ...When you try to make it homogenized, when you try to make it appeal to everybody, then you don't have anything that's special."

1. Boyz n the Hood
2. Baby Boy
3. Poetic Justice
4. Higher Learning
5. Shaft
6. 2 Fast 2 Furious

• Dr. No
• From Russia with Love
• No Time to Die
• Escape from New York
• Escape from L.A.
• The Rock
• The Deer Hunter
• Apocalypse Now
• Django
• The Fly

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My friend @sam and I were watching monkey related films every week. Doesn't have to be exactly on Monday. After a long break we are back and pumped to discuss the best in film based on our genetic cousins. Let the shenanigans begin 🍌 🐒 feel free to suggest movies!

• Congo
• Monkey Shines
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
• War for the Planet of the Apes
• Planet of the Apes
• Planet of the Apes
• King Kong
• Dragonball Evolution
• Buddy

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• GoodFellas
• Citizen Kane
• Good Time
• Dick Tracy
• Elvis
• Clerks
• The Spirit
• American Psycho
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
• Starstruck

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Criteria can be found here :)

• Batman Returns
• Green Book
• Die Hard
• Die Hard 2
• Jujutsu Kaisen 0
• Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider W & Decade: Movie War 2010
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: We Wish You a Turtle Christmas
• Eyes Wide Shut
• Gremlins
• Black Christmas

...plus 17 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

To celebrate Black History Month, I have a compiled a pool of movies to watch during the month. Rules are pretty broad but here are the main criteria. Any of these being in a movie qualify them for the list.
1. Black director, writer or protagonist.
2. Story or themes directly relating to Black life.
3. Movie looks good or fun lol.
Feel free to let me know suggestions!

• Friday
• I'm Gonna Git You Sucka
• Boyz n the Hood
• Shaft
• Training Day
• Black Panther
• Blacula
• Sorry to Bother You
• Menace II Society
• I Am Not Your Negro

...plus 29 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

"When I was your age they would say we can become cops, or criminals. Today, what I'm saying to you is this: when you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?"

• Hard Boiled
• Deep Cover
• Infernal Affairs
• The Departed
• The Killer
• A Better Tomorrow
• Heat
• Assault on Precinct 13
• Reservoir Dogs
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

...plus 8 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

One of the pillars of cinematic animation. It's hard to say anything unique about the feel or vibe of Ghibli that would be unique. We all know the comfortable and magical lunch scenes. The magic in and reverence of nature. Some of these movies I've seen countless times, some once, others never at all! Come with me as we discuss em all. 🧡

1. Kiki's Delivery Service
2. The Wind Rises
3. Grave of the Fireflies
4. Only Yesterday
5. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
6. Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro
7. Castle in the Sky
8. My Neighbor Totoro
9. Earwig and the Witch

We love dragon ball in this house! The rock solid foundation for many of battle shonen's enduring archetypes. The movies are interesting to me for a number of reasons, their long lasting presence mirrors that of the original series. Genuinely I can't say I much about the movies themselves but each one has an extremely memorable villain. Consider this a work a progress discussing the merits of these different movies. Lmk your favorites and thoughts in the comments!

1. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero
2. Dragon Ball Super: Broly
3. Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks
4. Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon
5. Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn
6. Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan
7. Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge
8. Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku
9. Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods
10. Dragon Ball DAIMA

...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Sam Raimi had a stranglehold on my childhood with the Spider-Man trilogy. In my teen years he expanded my imagination with Evil Dead. Now I want to look back and see what the master of zooms does for me as an adult!

1. Darkman
2. Evil Dead II
3. Army of Darkness
4. Spider-Man 2
5. Spider-Man
6. The Quick and the Dead
7. Drag Me to Hell
8. Spider-Man 3

As suggested by the Midnight Society, the selections so far for October! Will try to watch as many of these as possible with some additional goodies to match. Will section as I go and rank from most to least favorite. Feel free to add on the original post of here if you'd like! 🧡

1. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
2. The Thing
3. Night of the Living Dead
4. DC Showcase: Death
5. Cemetery Man
6. Rosemary's Baby
7. Little Shop of Horrors
8. Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island
9. Dark City
10. From Beyond

...plus 26 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Growing up I was always more fascinated by the obviously supernatural Freddy and Jason. These more high concept second generation slashers that brought major personality from them on in the genre. Without Carpenter's direction, script, music and with a track record as infamous as this series I'm interested to see how all of these turn out. The original duology and the Zombie remakes are all I've seen so far. Let the glacial carnage begin. 🗡️ @Val if I even enjoy one of these, I'll consider it a victory for Crystal Pepsi enjoyers everywhere.

1. Halloween
2. Halloween II

A comedian that's meant a lot to me at every stage of my life. Going to be watching all of his films!

• George Carlin: It's Bad for Ya!
• Dogma
• Jersey Girl
• Cars
• Scary Movie 3
• Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

• Aliens
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day
• True Lies

"I've been obsessed with this kind of visual storytelling for quite a while, and I try to create material that allows me to explore it."

1. Mission: Impossible
2. Scarface
3. Carlito's Way
4. Blow Out
5. Carrie
6. Phantom of the Paradise
7. Snake Eyes
8. Sisters
9. The Untouchables
10. Raising Cain

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Pixar needs no introduction. Here's how I feel about their filmography, almost all have associated reviews. I like all of em besides Cars 2 l o l .

1. The Incredibles
2. Ratatouille
3. Toy Story 2
4. Toy Story 3
5. Inside Out
6. Up
7. Soul
8. Monsters, Inc.
9. Elemental
10. WALL·E

...plus 18 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

So bad that they're good? Maybe. Earnestly mesmerizing to the eye, certainly. Films that confound conventional film interpretation. My favorite movies that are so awful they loop back around to being fun.

• Samurai Cop
• The Room
• Mission: Impossible II
• Premonition
• Congo
• Dreamcatcher
• Elvis
• Crank
• The Cookout
• Psycho

...plus 7 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.