Tuesday, August 18, 2026

Viewing Journal: 8/18/2026


336) 
BOORMAN AND THE DEVIL
(2026 dir. David Kittredge) Date Seen: August 18 2026



Monday, August 17, 2026

Viewing Journal: 8/17/2026



335) THE BRINK OF WAR
(2026 dir. Michael Russell Gunn) Date Seen: August 17 2026



Sunday, August 16, 2026

Viewing Journal: 8/16/2026



334)
PAW PATROL
        THE DINO MOVIE 
(2026 dir. Cal Brunker) Date Seen: August 16 2026
Rex & his little wheels were the dog's bollocks;
in fact, he & a few dinosaur concepts in this were probably the only rays of light within the whole dud. (FLEAK might be more nuanced disability representation for 2026's children's films) I'm just having trouble articulating exactly what it is that irks me about part 3's veneer & atmosphere w/o using caca words.

PP DINO DUMP is like that annoying kid that used to barge into the nursery playroom with his own set of toys, cut from a completely different color scheme & school of design than your toys. And then he'd insist his toys fit inside our Power Rangers MegaZord & then they got stuck & playtime became a big stupid mess. & that kid went home crying anyways -- In a visual sense THAT'S THIS MOVIE! Wall-to-wall ugliness.. And I'm still mad at these bootlicking canines anyway, because I feel like their newer flashier 3D look stole the Wonder Pets rightful thunder @ Nick Jr. (puts fists together "& I will have my venegeance"). Why is the base design model of all these dogs sculpted to look like a smirking wise-ass? Would a dinosaur not be fully justified wanting to eat these cutesified jerks?
**half satire. No one get all bent outta shape. 
Just busting balls**
I'm also "grumpy projecting" onto this movie because our poor senior pup Loula is suffering from bad CDS & is sadly only getting worse. Always hard having to say goodbye.
even on gabapentin + other meds, at sundown she paces the house in a panic like this. As if she'd seen a ghost :-(









333) WHAT WAS IN THE HAT?
[CO BYLO V KLOBOUKU?]
(1963 dir. Ludvík Kadleček) Date Seen: August 16 2026



Saturday, August 15, 2026

Viewing Journal: 8/15/2026



332) THE WRONG GIRLS
(2026 dir. Dylan Meyer) Date Seen: August 15 2026



Friday, August 14, 2026

Viewing Journal: 8/14/2026



Adult Swim's
331) THE ELEPHANT 
(2025 dir. many peeps) Date Seen: August 14 2026







330) TIPA THE ANT
[SKUDRIŅA TIPA]
(1976 dir. Ansis Bērziņš) Date Seen: August 14 2026
let's get one thing straight; Tipa was a public menace that needed to be taken down a peg or two.




Thursday, August 13, 2026

Viewing Journal: 8/13/2026



329) AMERICAN PACHUCO
: 
THE LEGEND OF LUIS VALDEZ
(2026 dir. David Alvarado) Date Seen: August 13 2026
truly fascinating & thoughtful stuff about the underrated American treasure & all-around chicano GOAT Luis Valdez.. Helmed & assembled by my badass former mentor at Texas Filmmakers Coalition denton.


Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Viewing Journal: 8/12/2026



328)
TEENAGE SEX 
& DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA
(2026 dir. Jane Schoenbrun) Date Seen: August 12 2026
No horror film probably since CHUCKY 5 has more intelligently—or more joyously—understood the slasher genre’s capacity to make queer celebration out of subversion.. & u can take that to the bank 🏳️‍⚧️



Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Viewing Journal: 8/11/2026



327) COUP DE TORCHON
(1981 dir. Bertrand Tavernier) Date Seen: August 11 2026
Isabelle Huppert got that irresistible mystique..
#Criterion #bluray


Monday, August 10, 2026

Viewing Journal: 8/10/2026



326) SEND HELP
(2026 dir. Sam Raimi) Date Seen: August 10 2026
Based off ads alone, you'd be forgiven for going into this expecting a maximalist black-comedy riff on the "Matilda Effect".. but this is Sam Raimi & his penchant for pushing things into kabuki territory can sometimes be a double-edged sword. It's always interesting to see if the politics of a piece can survive specific brands of silliness. Surrealists like Buñuel were masters of using absurdism to amplify political statements, but i'm not so sure with stuff like this and TRIANGLE OF SADNESS. A part of me feels like farcical excess can detract.. Rachel McAdams is dependably great in this, but O’Brien is operating at MACGRUBER levels of pathetic & infantile 🤣. Like he might as well be running around the island doing Three Stooges sound effects. & That is not a complaint. Btw I’ve been enjoying how many recent films (APEX, DANGEROUS ANIMALS, THE MENU) keep treating these misogynist self-help bros as inherently dopey & harmful to society. 
Potential spoiler blocked out - highlight to reveal: I was confused about whether SEND HELP's ending is supposed to be taken as nihilism & cynically materialist OR if it's a sincere girl-boss W.. The specific musical choice might have thrown off my tonal compass.

Even with my quibbles; It's always illicitly pleasurable to watch a master filmmaker like Raimi cook -- & one who remembers movies can construct meaning through actual pictures!




Sunday, August 9, 2026

Viewing Journal: 8/9/2026



325) ONE NIGHT ONLY
(2026 dir. Will Gluck) Date Seen: August 9 2026
trying really hard to be sexy and edgy and failing to be either.

"i don't want to look into somebody's 
eyes during the banging"
"I just want to - to Bang!" 










324) WARLOCK
(1989 dir. Steve Miner) Date Seen: August 9 2026
Surprisingly audacious movie considering its budget. & made all the better by the sheer luck of landing those 3 enormously charismatic leads: Julian Sands, Lori Singer (coulda swore she was Daryl Hannah), and especially Richard E. Grant; who even approaches genre pulp with the conviction of a man doing Henry V. I do feel like I need to say that this film is saddled with that dated & dogmatic equation of anything being vaguely witchy = Satanism. but whatever, that trend is almost an entire subgenre within western media. + there’s this subplot involving an aging curse Lori Singer's character gets that I think was supposed to worrying but it's so damn funny.. So there’s a buncha
tonal miscalculations throughout. Still, WARLOCK’s got enough energy and genuine risk-taking in it, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't immensely entertaining.







323) WARLOCK II: 
     THE ARMAGEDDON
(1993 dir. Anthony Hickox) Date Seen: August 9 2026
Hickox (director of WAXWORK) always does cool photographic stuff & showcases neat analogue vfx, so i'm sad to say I found this one dramatically static.