Viewing Journal: 8/24/2026

344) TONY

(2026 dir. Matt Johnson) Date Seen: August 24 2026

A surprisingly stock coming-of-age movie considering the talent involved.. Banderas & the guy from HOLDOVERS are pretty good in it though. Matt Johnson's ability to block shots seems to have dropped off some since BLACKBERRY.

Viewing Journal: 8/23/2026

343) MUTINY

(2026 dir. Jean-François Richet) Date Seen: August 23 2026

Aside from a few inventive kills this was mostly a disappointment for me. Shame too, because I've enjoyed a lot of Richet's english language actioneers in the past.. SHELTER from earlier this year is a much smoother Statham flick.

342)

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS

(2001 dir. Rob Cohen) 3rd Viewing: August 23 2026

25th Anniversary @ Cinemark

Always surprised when people still cry "shot-theft" over Joseph Kahn having the same 3D CG shot in TORQUE of nitrous & petrol flying through the engine combustion chamber. Cohen lifted the idea directly from Kahn's own 90s VW "Turbonium" commercial. + every other oil company duplocated that one ad nauseam still to this day.. (even if Kahn had borrowed the idea, I don't really see what the problem is. Especially within movies built entirely around images of vehicles) Shots like that are fun for a reason = why people reproduce 'em.

Viewing Journal: 8/22/2026

341) 

THE RIVALS OF AMZIAH KING

(2026 dir. Andrew Patterson) Date Seen: August 22 2026

Patterson finally following up his excellent debut THE VAST OF NIGHT with something! & it's a great one too --alive and assured in a way not too many films have been for me this year.. The opening hour of RIVALS OF AMZIAH KING are especially a storytelling thunderclap. (It also features McConaughey's best performance since KILLER JOE)

Viewing Journal: 8/21/2026

340) 

THE MAGIC FARAWAY TREE 

(2026 dir. Ben Gregor) Date Seen: August 21 2026

based on some of the promotional stills I'd seen for this, I was worried it was going to look like wall-to-wall mismatched lighting & chromakey blurred edges for the majority runtime, like the 2010s Disney ALICE movies or OZ THE GREAT & POWERFUL. Loads of that ambient occlusion is thankfully missing. & just also as an overall family fantasy story, MAGIC FARAWAY TREE is a pretty swell time at the movies. British humor compensates for a lot too.

Viewing Journal: 8/20/2026

339) SUPER TROOPERS 3

(2026 dir. Jay Chandrasekhar) Date Seen: August 20 2026

Was hoping one of these POLICE ACADEMY movies would eventually climax with a Waco like standoff between these chuds & an armed sovereign citizen type group.. an all-out "War of the Imbeciles" bloodbath. That's the lowbrow EDDINGTON alternative the country deserves.

338) MANHUNTER

(1986 dir. Michael Mann) Date Seen: August 20 2026

"The Final Cut"

4K & 40th Anniversary

Just to be clear, Mann's 1986 cut of MANHUNTER is a flawless 5 out of 5 star masterpiece in my eyes --it's specifically this new cut i'm giving 4 point 5 to.. I do love the overall better sound mix, new dialogue, & especially love the longer moments with Hannibal, but I am not a fan of the modernized colorist changes to almost every other frame. They're fascinating to look at but aesthetically unnecessary imo.. I hope the eventual blurays also have a 4K of the theatrical cut included & not just this version.. And who drops their neon credits?! Come on!

Viewing Journal: 8/19/2026

337) THE LAST HOUSE 

(2026 dir. Louis Leterrier) Date Seen: August 19 2026

So many studios right now want their own A QUIET PLACE-type family in supernatural jeopardy hit & Netflix in particular releases like one of these per year. THE LAST HOUSE does have quite cool world-building things throughout & an atypical central threat as the antagonist; but all the melodrama is way too overwrought & obvious. It's a very hammy film. I eventually just didn't care what happened to the family either way.. It at least has some fun creature VFX. 

I'm glad AQUAMAN's brother finally got his revenge on all us surface dwellers.

Viewing Journal: 8/18/2026

336) 

BOORMAN AND THE DEVIL

(2026 dir. David Kittredge) Date Seen: August 18 2026

a fascinating autopsy of one of the biggest critical bombs in film history, EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC. & John Boorman essentially confesses here that he believes he overly intellectualized the themes of the book to the point where the material no longer resembled the type of possession horror audiences had come to expect. I've always found PT. II to be a sonically & visually beautiful piece of work, it just has a load of dramatically goofy stuff crammed into it that ruins the overall tone (hence why I always filed it under the "Close But No Cigar" section on my Favorite Horror Movies of the 70s list, because it's just too unique of a mess to dismiss as completely lusterless). Imagine a film being a beautiful string composition & it's being performed live at a symphony house, but a percussionist on stage keeps accidentally knocking crap over and distracting everyone -- That's kinda what THE HERETIC is like.. But brothers & sisters, I’d take a sincere, gorgeous, Morricone-scored wreck over all the soulless focus-grouped franchise things that come out now.

Viewing Journal: 8/17/2026

335) THE BRINK OF WAR

(2026 dir. Michael Russell Gunn) Date Seen: August 17 2026

Historical dishonesty aside, this thing is one uninspired movie to look at. The actors are doing everything in their power to elevate a stuffy script.. It's just another nostalgic myth made to comfort aging neo-cons & shit-libs who miss having some semblance of leadership in the Oval Office. Reagan only looks competent now compared to the molten porta potty we're trapped with.

Score one for the Gipper !

Viewing Journal: 8/16/2026

334) PAW PATROL: 

        THE DINO MOVIE 

(2026 dir. Cal Brunker) Date Seen: August 16 2026

Rex & his little wheels are 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 & overall 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 his toy got broke getting crammed in & 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 vengeance"). Why is the base design model of all these dogs sculpted to look like a smirking wise-ass? Dinosaurs would 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 anxiety fits at night. & it feels like nothing we do can calm her.

even on gabapentin + other meds, she at random paces the house in a spooked 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

Scarecrow & his hat clearly represent Czechoslovakia as a whole. & all them meddling jerks? well it was 1963, so.. you do the math

Viewing Journal: 8/15/2026

332) THE WRONG GIRLS

(2026 dir. Dylan Meyer) Date Seen: August 15 2026

Pedro & Man have some serious new competition

Viewing Journal: 8/14/2026

Adult Swim's

331) THE ELEPHANT 

(2025 dir. many peeps) Date Seen: August 14 2026

this was something of a revelation for me personally, & i can't believe I hadn't even heard of it until now. I've been kinda out of the Adult Swim loop since Mike Lazzo's departure. Thank you to my sister & brother in-law for exposing me to it because I loved it & thought it was uniquely hypnotizing. & because it's anthology-style directed by four current titans of animation (respectively; Pendleton, Rebecca Sugar, Jones-Quartey, & Patrick McHale), it's got a rare visual imagination that morphs from moment to moment. It even reminded me of Masaaki Yuasa’s MIND GAME マインド・ゲーム  (yes it's THAT great) only more occupied with themes of self-actualization. "To thine own self be true" & whatnot.

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.

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.

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 🏳️‍⚧️

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

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 obvious 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!

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.