(2026 dir. Sam Raimi) Date Seen: August 10 2026
TOBY'S PRIVATE WATCHLIST & THOUGHTS ON FILM.. PLEASE DON'T READ THESE
Monday, August 10, 2026
Sunday, August 9, 2026
Viewing Journal: 8/9/2026
(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. & it's 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 that Lori Singer's character gets that I think was supposed to worrying but it's honestly extremely funny.. So there’s a bunch of tonal miscalculations throughout. Still, WARLOCK’s got enough invention, 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 & features neat analogue vfx, so i'm sad to say I found this one dramatically static.
Saturday, August 8, 2026
Viewing Journal: 8/8/2026
AND THE PRISONER
(2026 dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa) Date Seen: August 8 2026
On the surface Kiyoshi's newest plays like a surprisingly breezy samurai whodunit about reason + the self-deception people practice to justify their violence. But we quickly realize all that detective procedural stuff about solving murders becomes existentially far less simple during a clusterfuck of a war; Where truth itself is clear as mud.. All that's left is just a bunch of competing RASHOMON-like narratives.
Friday, August 7, 2026
Viewing Journal: 8/7/2026
321) GAIL DAUGHTRY
& THE CELEBRITY SEX PASS
(2026 dir. David Wain) Date Seen: August 7 2026
Zoey, Miles, & Ben Wang make great new additions to David Wain's recurring ensemble.. But we especially do not deserve Fred Melamed. The reservoir of untapped comedy potential that guy represents.
Thursday, August 6, 2026
Viewing Journal: 8/6/2026
BRAND NEW DAY
(2026 dir. Destin Daniel Cretton) Date Seen: August 6 2026
As an action movie, this was a huge step up from DD Cretton’s last Marvel outing YÁNGZǏ & THE QUEST FOR GOLDEN TREASURE, + I dug the darker lighting and the way Peter’s erased personal life occasionally approached the existential devastation of something like The Shining Girls. But man, in its latter half this movie goes overkill on those unearned catharsis scenes! Every other emotional beat hitting the record scratch so somebody can deliver a soap-opera speech full of the mushy vague platitudes.. I guess if you dig cornball sentimentality you'll lap that up -- but i felt like genuine sentiment wasn't within.
also: this is not a dig at BRAND NEW DAY's narrative details, but i do wish one of these things would've visually depicted the "Neogenic Nightmare" Peter went through on the old animated series! That "Man-Spider" thing scared us to death as kids. But I fear maybe ol' Sony has become a little too namby-pamby now to try anything like that. When it comes to superhero/supervillain stuff, they're almost like the Rod & Todd Flanders of movie studios.. (Look at what they did to Carnage)
Wednesday, August 5, 2026
Viewing Journal: 8/5/2026
(2026 dir. John Suits) Date Seen: August 5 2026
After years cutting his teeth on director-for-hire schlock, this director (Suits) has clearly picked up some mint filmmaking chops along the way; 'cause this is a downright handsome western and it even manages to be thrilling at parts. Some of the editing & narrative pacing could’ve been tighter, but I hope he keeps trying adventurous stuff like this.
More Mackenzie Foy in lead parts! (she was the child version of his daughter in INTERSTELLAR).
318) DRAGON GIRL
(2020 dir. Katarina Launing) Date Seen: August 5 2026
Tuesday, August 4, 2026
Viewing Journal: 8/4/2026
(2026 dir. Hirokazu Koreeda) Date Seen: August 4 2026
While clearly lesser Koreeda, I still found it to be aight food for thought for most of its runtime. Comparisons to Spielberg's A.I. are obvious, but the film it really brought to my mind was Julie Delpy's MY ZOE (2021). Where you kinda want to strangle the adults in the family for being so selfish & shortsighted.
Monday, August 3, 2026
Viewing Journal: 8/3/2026
BLACK BOX [FLIGHT 298]
(2026 dir. Steven Quale) Date Seen: August 3 2026
Like 2010's ALTITUDE, this had some potentially cool & spooky ideas thumping around. But almost everything the director & his team does with them lacks inspiration. The cinematography is particularly ass. There's scenes within an air traffic control tower that are lit like a DeVry commercial.
same director did that fun 3D FINAL DESTINATION 5 back in 2011..
it's difficult to wrap my head around.
Sunday, August 2, 2026
Viewing Journal: 8/2/2026
(2026 dir. Gregg Araki) Date Seen: August 2 2026
if Araki is the Gen X Alt-Rock John Waters, then this is his PECKER '98.. A whole heck of lot less stylish & transgressive than what we'd usually expect from him. but at least it's accessible & funny for the most part.. + anything sex positive with Olivia Wilde in it is potentially titillating
Saturday, August 1, 2026
Viewing Journal: 8/1/2026
(2026 dir. Mark Jenkin) Date Seen: August 1 2026
after ENYS MEN, Jenkin thought it was high time he made a film about Boats 'N Hoes.
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