(2026 dir. Giselle Bonilla) Date Seen: September 20 2026
Annoying in that very particular way only a Sundance hit can be.. Rob Lowe's pretty good though.
TOBY'S PRIVATE WATCHLIST & THOUGHTS ON FILM.. PLEASE DON'T READ THESE
Sunday, September 20, 2026
Saturday, September 19, 2026
Viewing Journal: 9/19/2026
(2026 dir. Paul Greengrass) Date Seen: September 19 2026
Working poor audiences across most of the Western hemisphere are carrying a palpable appetite for stories about revolt -- decades of scorched-earth austerity policies in our countries propped up a neo-feudal class of corporate sovereigns. & despite the movie's faults, UPRISING gives all that accumulated fury a cathartic outlet. It helps that the cast is also exceptionally good. (+ As far as Greengrass films go, this was a significant improvement over his last disaster picture)
Look, it ain't no BATTLE OF ALGIERS but it's gonna have to do for now.
Friday, September 18, 2026
Viewing Journal: 9/18/2026
SHAUN THE SHEEP: THE
BEAST OF MOSSY BOTTOM
(2026 dir. Cox / Walker) Date Seen: September 18 2026
A wicked little clockwork of cotton ball ovine, monsters, & shadows! + easily my favorite movie in the SHAUN series so far.. It also stands as proof that Aardman are still masters of visual narrative. They can wring more comedy from one cocked eyebrow than lesser animations manage with thousands of words & optical noise.
Thursday, September 17, 2026
Viewing Journal: 9/17/2026
(2026 dir. Agnieszka Smoczyńska) Date Seen: September 17 2026
377) BATMAN KNIGHTFALL
PART 1: KNIGHTFALL
(2026 dir. Jeff Wamester) Date Seen: September 17 2026
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Viewing Journal: 9/16/2026
THE END OF OAK STREET
(2026 dir. David Robert Mitchell) Date Seen: September 16 2026
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Viewing Journal: 9/15/2026
(2026 dir. Jorma Taccone) Date Seen: September 15 2026
Monday, September 14, 2026
Viewing Journal: 9/14/2026
(2026 dir. Rhys Frake-Waterfield) Date Seen: September 14 2026
Sunday, September 13, 2026
Viewing Journal: 9/13/2026
(2026 dir. Adam Wingard) Date Seen: September 13 2026
372)
THE TRIP [I ONDE DAGER]
(2021 dir. Tommy Wirkola) Date Seen: September 13 2026
Saturday, September 12, 2026
Viewing Journal: 9/12/2026
(2026 dir. Walker / Auen) Date Seen: September 12 2026
370) NITRATE KISSES
(1992 dir. Barbara Hammer) 2nd Viewing: September 12 2026
Friday, September 11, 2026
Viewing Journal: 9/11/2026
(2026 dir. Maclain Nelson) Date Seen: September 11 2026
368) ONE LAST SHOT
(2026 dir. James Nunn) Date Seen: September 11 2026
Thursday, September 10, 2026
Viewing Journal: 9/10/2026
(2026 dir. Na Hong-jin) Date Seen: September 10 2026
"Devil Hulk" from The Immortal Hulk & "Cooper" from SUPER 8 (2011) ain't got time for a bunch provincial Earthling bumpkins. Arguably one of the more exhilarating pieces of action filmmaking for the whole of 2026.. I do worry though that Neon's marketing campaign for it is leaning a little too hard into horror. HOPE's clearly a horror hybrid, but I wonder if they're running the risk of genre-drift backlash with more mainstream audiences. (whatever gets arses into theatre seats I guess)
"I think Hope Davis starred in that -"
"THAT'S NOT HOPE!!"
Wednesday, September 9, 2026
Viewing Journal: 9/9/2026
(2026 dir. Macon Blair) Date Seen: September 9 2026
365) NIGHT OF THE DEMON
(1980 dir. Wasson / Ball) Date Seen: September 9 2026
Tuesday, September 8, 2026
Monday, September 7, 2026
Viewing Journal: 9/7/2026
(2026 dir. Marianne Elliott) Date Seen: September 7 2026
For a live theatre person, Marianne Elliott's got a surprisingly voluptuous eye for the camera. I was completely carried along by these two & the chaotic little journey they were going on --and then it just sort of evaporates into nothing in its last stretch. Maybe that’s how the book also ends or maybe there was some deep existential point that I completely missed.. 2026 is shaping up to be a great year for Gillian Anderson.
362) THE SUN NEVER SETS
(2026 dir. Joe Swanberg) Date Seen: September 7 2026
Normally Jake Johnson is Joe Swanberg's secret weapon, but this time it's Dakota Fanning who's his saving grace. It's some of the most thoughtful & believable work she's ever done i.m.o. & I wish her part wasn't stuck in such a mid-tier Swanberg film. He's not formally as bad as he used to be in the early days, but Jesus Christ, could someone remind him films are usually a visual medium.. As a youngster when one of his movies didn't work for me I'd always say he was like if Éric Rohmer had been a bad dramatist. Now when he plops his work just feels like "prestige tv" filler (w/ great under-the-radar performances).
Sunday, September 6, 2026
Viewing Journal: 9/6/2026
(2026 dir. Elegance Bratton) Date Seen: September 6 2026
It thankfully doesn't have that "Only White Cops Can Fix Racism" aftertaste that MISSISSIPPI BURNING had, but at least that movie tonally knew what the hell it was! this one gets very goofy in the midst of being about one of the most fucked up times in U.S. history.. Not a complete drop-off for director Bratton (post THE INSPECTION), he is doing some cool stylistic shit here --I just wish the material was handled differently considering all the talent involved.
Mark's Bulb Nose > Mark's Bald Cap
360) A USEFUL GHOST
(2026 dir. R. Boonbunchachoke) Date Seen: September 6 2026
this takes some very big risky thematic & storytelling leaps & didn't feel like it always landed them. But I'm just glad anyone is trying to make paranormal non-horror like this in 2026 that is contemplative in any way.
Saturday, September 5, 2026
Viewing Journal: 9/5/2026
(2026 dir. Ridley Scott) Date Seen: September 5 2026
In 2011 I remember reading a Game Informer article on The Last of Us PS3 while the game was still in-production & the piece completely tiptoed around mentioning zombies being in the story & mostly emphasized that a huge portion of gameplay was going to be about scavenging materials in a wasteland while trying to evade other humans. That's kinda what this movie was like. & my stupid Horror-centric brain kept chiming in, "so when them zombies show up?".. So I definitely need to give it another go when it eventually comes out on video. I feel like I was unfairly in the wrong mindset for it
Friday, September 4, 2026
Viewing Journal: 9/4/2026
(2026 dir. Poh Si Teng) Date Seen: September 4 2026
this has to cease.. It can't go on forever, right? b.d.s. doesn't feel like it's doing anything.
Thursday, September 3, 2026
Viewing Journal: 9/3/2026
(2026 dir. Stefan Ruzowitzky) Date Seen: September 3 2026
When this movie commits fully to action it becomes remarkably effective: the crew of villains are colorful like comic-book goons & Joel Kinnaman and Danny Huston remain reliably persuasive as (respectively) classical leading man and heavy. But I keep noticing this weird thing happening in many action movies lately where the editing only pops awake whenever people start firing guns & then gets positively clunky when characters actually have to talk. You can almost smell a meddling producer in the cutting room snapping & repeating “pick up the pace." ICEFALL also has a glaring visual smudge on what would've otherwise been it's main action centerpiece. They spent all this money to put actors on an enormous sound stage so the frozen Montana lake could end in an artificial blurry blue-screen mess. It’s just ice and snow. That's a white floor & a horizon. With a fraction of this budget FALL (2022) was able to at least give off the illusion that characters might be at the mercy of outdoor elements (Anyone remember TREMORS 6's natural light desert-in-a-snow-wig trick?). I know I’m being obsessive & annoying about this, but I had been watching a visually gritty wilderness thriller & then all of a sudden ATTACK OF THE CLONES (2002) was trying to sneak up in the background.. It's not a realism thing; It's a tonal & optical consistency thing.
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