Viewing Journal: 6/30/2026

269) 

 MYSTICS IN BALI  [LEÁK]

(1981 dir. H. Tjut Djalil) Date Seen: June 30 2026

I'd like to thank my sister's gf & IN SEARCH OF DARKNESS 3 for continuously recommending this one for me. LEÁK's a wonderfully batshit & creative little oddity from Indonesia. Sometimes what you lack in technical prowess, you can make up for with raw meat tentacles.

Viewing Journal: 6/29/2026

BATMAN & MR. FREEZE: 

267)    SUBZERO

(1998 dir. Boyd Kirkland) Date Seen: June 29 2026

pretty good, but sometimes feels more like a lengthy season finale rather than a proper feature film (unlike MASK OF THE PHANTASM).. This movie has some quality 3D model compositing with traditional 2D animation.

Viewing Journal: 6/28/2026

266) IT’S ALIVE

(2009 dir. Josef Rusnak) Date Seen: June 28 2026

I forgot for a moment that Platinum Dunes sort of kicked off the newer horror reboot wave we're still going through back in the early Aughts.. Ever since; lots of opportunistic schlockmeisters have tried to get their mitts on the rights to a ton of classic cult movies. & Larry Cohen's landmark 1974 original gets shit on pretty bad here.. + As a lover of great creature design, I think it's especially sinful in this movie that the producers/filmmakers barely even tried to dream up a new monster baby concept.

265) IT’S ALIVE III: 

    ISLAND OF THE ALIVE

(1987 dir. Larry Cohen) Date Seen: June 28 2026

Gonna tell my future kids this is the true Garbage Pail Kids movie. but execs forced a title change.

Viewing Journal: 6/27/2026

264) POETIC JUSTICE

(1993 dir. John Singleton) Date Seen: June 27 2026

I forgot Janet was a good actress.. The film overall is kinda messy & trying to say sooo many things at once, but all the stuff about grief and macho bros being lame is right on. + how it depicts everyday people just running into communicative breakdown so quickly with each other -- considering modern America.. that last part just hit way heavier now in Anno Domini MMXXVI 💔..  

I miss John Singleton.

#Criterion #bluray

Viewing Journal: 6/26/2026

263) IT LIVES AGAIN

(1978 dir. Larry Cohen) Date Seen: June 26 2026

"That's my sweet baby Roy"

- Dr. Steve Brule

dammit this was a massive step down after part one.. might even be the lowest I've ever rated a Larry Cohen joint.

Viewing Journal: 6/25/2026

262) SUPERGIRL

(2026 dir. Craig Gillespie) Date Seen: June 25 2026

Liked it almost as much as Gunn's own SUPERMAN from last year. + in a lot of ways, at least in terms of image propulsion & sheer chutzpah, it's the DC film I was hoping CAPTAIN MARVEL would be in 2018 for Marvel.. Also, dammit -- I really hate to nitpick something so seemingly trivial as this; but there is an apocalyptically bad needle drop in this movie where a slow twee folk cover of Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle" comes on (during a slo-mo action sequence no less) & it mades me cringe so powerfully, Me thinks I heard the Gorilla Grodd chuckling from on high.

The song is so out of place, the Wife & I almost had to hold back audible disgust when it occurred. & the original '01 single itself would've slapped in that moment anywayz! Wtf were they smoking?

⬇ actual audio of my reaction in the theatre ⬇

Viewing Journal: 6/24/2026

261) 

WELCOME SPACE BROTHERS

(2026 dir. Jodi Wille) Date Seen: June 24 2026

Jodi Wille finally finished this gem! Rod Ascher told me about it like 5 years ago in a way that made it sound like it was close to completion then! but yeah, WELCOME SPACE BROTHERS is a delightfully trippy little space doc & I was surprised by how kind & moving it all is. The film clearly acknowledges that these people are religious oddballs, but it somehow does so without ever feeling like it's punching down at them.

Viewing Journal: 6/23/2026

260) HUNGRY 

(2026 dir. James Nunn) Date Seen: June 23 2026

kinda remarkable how many"When Animals Attack" horror scripts are patterned entirely after Greg McLean's ROGUE! There's also something so cute about hippos. Even if one were eating me I'd be tempted to pet its ears.

Viewing Journal: 6/22/2026

259) WEST INDIES: 

THE FUGITIVE SLAVES OF LIBERTY

(1979 dir. Med Hondo) Date Seen: June 22 2026

Completely wild & funny gorgeousness -- Which is surprising considering the musical's subject matter is the long malignant af shadow of colonial bigotry.. & like that oddly poetic barn embers scene in SINNERS, this film also converts proud cultural history into a large surrealist dance party.

#Criterion #bluray

Viewing Journal: 6/21/2026

259) STAR WARS: 

THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU

(2026 dir. Jon Favreau) Date Seen: June 21 2026

I still enjoy this tv show's narrative concept of "Lone Wolf and Cub" within Have Gun -Will Travel CBS, and there's still plenty of charm and adventure surrounding the 2 title characters to make anything they appear in an easy watch; But this one's leap back to theaters exposes just how TV-bound its filmmaking had gotten, (especially in Mando-centric dialogue scenes) with several flat-looking "Russo brother"-ish shots and uninspired edits that never feel worthy of the big screen. & I fear maybe traits like that become inevitable once an i.p. has become this product-ified. I had a flashback to the 2008 animated CLONE WARS thingy while watching the first half of this. Even though the concepts and character models from that animated film were later put to great use on television, it was arguably not up to snuff with even the lesser live-action Star Wars films up to that point.. MANDALORIAN AND GROGU picks up for a bit in its 3rd act when the baby gremlin puppet and his new Anzellan friends go on a rescue mission, but even that didn't last long enough. So overall, i'd say the film's an okay sci-fi adventure serial, but I was personally hoping for a great one. We're settling for familiar comfort instead of taking full advantage of the medium.

↓ personal ranking 

of "The Star War" films ↓

*1. RETURN OF THE JEDI 

                      (1983) ****1/2

2. EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980) *****

3. STAR WARS / NEW HOPE ('77) *****

4. THE LAST JEDI (2017) ****

5. REVENGE OF THE SITH (2005) ***1/2

6. Ken Stephenson's animated 

 "THE FAITHFUL WOOKIE" (1978) ***1/2

7. THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015) ***1/2

8. SOLO (2018) ***

9. ROGUE ONE **1/2

10. EWOKS: BATTLE FOR ENDOR **1/2

11. ATTACK OF THE CLONES **1/2

12. THE PHANTOM MENACE **1/2

13. THE RISE OF SKYWALKER **1/2

14. MANDALORIAN & GROGU **1/2

15. CARAVAN OF COURAGE: 

              EWOK ADVENTURE (1984) **

16. THE CLONE WARS (2008) **

↓ & what the heck 

let's rank the tv too ↓

*1. Tartakovsky's CLONE WARS 

  "2D micro" (2003-2005) ****1/2

2. THE CLONE WARS (2008-2013) ****

3. TALES OF UNDERWORLD (2025) ****

4. MAUL: SHADOW LORD 

                           (2026-present) ***1/2

5. VISIONS (2021-present) ***1/2

6. MANDALORIAN (2019-2023) ***1/2

7. ANDOR (2022-2025) ***1/2

8. TALES OF THE JEDI (2022) ***1/2

9. AHSOKA (2023) ***

10. REBELS (2014-2018) ***

11. BAD BATCH (2021-2024) ***

12. TALES OF THE EMPIRE (2024)  ***

13. DROIDS (1985) **1/2

14. BOOK OF BOBA FETT (2021) **1/2

15. RESISTANCE (2018-2020) **1/2

16. THE ACOLYTE (2024) **1/2

17. OBI-WAN KENOBI (2022) **

18. SKELETON CREW (2024) **

19. YOUNG JEDI ADVENTURES 

                          (2023-2025) *1/2

20. EWOKS (1985-1986) *

21. HOLIDAY SPECIAL excluding

"FAITHFUL WOOKIE" segment (1978) half star

258) 

PROJECT WOLF HUNTING

(2022 dir. Kim Hong-sun) Date Seen: June 21 2026

For its first 15 minutes or so this movie flirts with the energy of a forgotten late-aughts straight-to-DVD action dud; w/ a little too much uninspired staging & jittery edits. But once that main zombie killing machine escapes -- Merciful heavens.. It mutates into a gleefully unhinged spectacle of arterial spray (whose complete devotion to carnage is weirdly admirable).

Viewing Journal: 6/20/2026

257) BLADES OF THE GUARDIANS:

WIND RISES IN THE DESERT

(2026 dir. Yuen Woo-ping) Date Seen: June 20 2026

Woo-ping is back, baby!!

256) HIGH ART

(1998 dir. Lisa Cholodenko) Date Seen: June 20 2026

a very sad lesbian romance about the intersection between creative people and self-destructive drug use. & also how the desire to be sought after & successful can (& will) always crush a specific type of dreamer. In a nutshell; How the art world can potentially turn someone's work into a commodity but then exploit that person who made it.. Really hauntingly good early stuff by Lisa Cholodenko. & the whole cast is crazy good!

#Criterion #bluray

Viewing Journal: 6/19/2026

255) GIRLS LIKE GIRLS

(2026 dir. Hayley Kiyoko) Date Seen: June 19 2026

movie's just whatever (standard Sundancer coming-of-age stuff), but this Thai-American gal who plays the unrequited love interest, Myra Molloy -- she's got singular screen dynamism! ♫ cue the Gary Wright "Dream Weaver" song ♫ ..

Here’s to hoping Hollywood recognizes what it has in her. & they don't completely waste her talents like they've done many Southeast Asian actresses before.

Chicago Superfans call this film 

"GURL-ss  Like  GURL-ss"

254)  A BLIND BARGAIN

(2026 dir. Paul Bunnell) Date Seen: June 19 2026

A well photographed strange little hallucination —but, man, i fear it's doing the solemnity = substance thing too hard.. Also runs out of steam close to halfway point.

¯\_( - _ - )_/¯

Viewing Journal: 6/18/2026

253) LEVITICUS

(2026 dir. Adrian Chiarella) Date Seen: June 18 2026

So it clearly uses the ever-approaching curse thing & aesthetics of D.Robert Mitchell's IT FOLLOWS as a launchpad —but to cry plagiarism over that would be pedantic & also wholly misses a charm of movies, which have literally always copied / borrowed / stolen from each other. + When the Spawned from flicks are good (HALLOWEEN to SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE), they turn that cine-loot into something wonderfully their own.. I feel like LEVITICUS is to IT FOLLOWS what JACOB'S LADDER is to OCCURRENCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE. 

Also: fair warning, this is a deeply troubling film. It left a bruise on my mind.

Viewing Journal: 6/17/2026

252) THE FURIOUS

(2026 dir. Kenji Tanigaki) Date Seen: June 17 2026

Fair Warning: If you pass thru Thailand -- 

beware of that bald dirty "Ho". who uses his thick skull like a battering ram.. Boy ain't right in the head.

Viewing Journal: 6/16/2026

251) DISCLOSURE DAY

(2026 dir. Steven Spielberg) Date Seen: June 16 2026

At this point Spielberg's just having a swell old time constructing all these signature oners / multi-plane dioramas. Those shots continue to wow, and more impressively, seem to go on longer and longer with each new film. He's always been one of our greatest natural visual storytellers, but all this modern movie tech has only made his work more expressive. Towards the end of the 2nd act of DISCLOSURE DAY there's a big revelation sequence involving the unlocking of repressed memories that genuinely inspired wonder for me and my wife. & one wrong note & the moment i'm referencing could've easily slipped into either overly spooky Whitley Strieber "Communion" territory or something just way too goofy. Screenwriter David Koepp and Spielberg maybe sprinkle a little too many cutesy Capra-corn character beats into this thing for my personal taste, but none of them hurt the film nearly as much as the final act’s compulsion to over-explain itself. Plot & character revelations that could've been so much more otherworldly & awe-inspiring without voiceover explaining so much of what was going on (imagine if in CLOSE ENCOUNTERS @ the Mothership arrival part a character kept interrupting via voiceover to elucidate like they were reading a children's fable); There were even 2 parts where the dialogue and score got so syrupy -- I started worrying we were wandering into "KICK THE CAN" territory, but thankfully the film would always rebound (that aforementioned segment from TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE being the only Spielberg directed bit I consider truly mediocre & beneath him). His sentimentality always works for me until he stops trusting the strength of his pictures.

Viewing Journal: 6/15/2026

250) POWER BALLAD

(2026 dir. John Carney) Date Seen: June 15 2026

I know Carney's stuff is all sort of considered a thematic shared universe, but instead of one his other titles, the movie this really reminded me most is 2007's MUSIC AND LYRICS oddly enough.. It's like a way better more charming version of that. 

Rudd's a national treasure.

Viewing Journal: 6/14/2026

249) WAR MACHINE 

(2026 dir. Patrick Hughes) Date Seen: June 14 2026

Someone make Metal Gear Solid already..

Viewing Journal: 6/13/2026

248) STOP! THAT! TRAIN!

(2026 dir. Adam Shankman) Date Seen: June 13 2026

I'd be open to hearing a queer neo-minstrelsy framework lobbed at this one. But the thing that really bothered me was all that generative a.i. shit outside of the train windows WTF.. Especially when it'd be so much cuter and GAYER to just use old black & white rear projection out there. Someone get me RuPaul in a remake of Almodóvar's I'M SO EXCITED!, then we'll talk turkey.

Viewing Journal: 6/12/2026

247) JINSEI 無名の人生 

(2026 dir. Ryuya Suzuki) Date Seen: June 12 2026

Profound in its own way as termite art.. JINSEI's awe-inspiring in its 100% homemade DIYness, & as a story, it's an unusual meditation on the fragmented self + capitalism. Maybe it does get a little too bullheaded in how existentially surreal it wants to be at parts, but I never found it outright indecipherable. It actually has a lot of parallels to Folman's THE CONGRESS.

It's a bummer that bad stuff that happens to us when we're young never really leaves completely.