Punch-Drunk Love: Totally changed my opinion of Adam Sandler

★★★★--Saw this at the IU Cinema on Valentine’s Day, a perfect date night. Maybe my favorite Adam Sandler movie, depending on the day. Either that or Uncut Gems or Jay Kelly. This, however, was the one that was most interesting. For people that weren’t alive or paying attention back in 2002, it’s hard to stress the degree to which Adam Sandler’s performance was shocking. I’ve walked out of multiple Sandler movies. One, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, I actually asked for my money back. Sandler was thought of as an unhinged physical comedian. That was his schtick and that’s all we got for the decade from Airheads up to this. Extremely funny, but niche and not serious. PDL plays to his physical gifts and lets him tone it down. That is until his character explodes, which happens multiple times throughout the film. 

My rubric is one star each for acting/casting, story, creativity, and signature/style. I then have one for vibe. I’m a pretty easy grader. No half star bullshit. Fucking commit. This is four stars because the story is a bit thin and doesn’t do a great job of making you believe that someone could be instantly in love with Sandler’s character, Barry Egan, despite his many red flags. Cast and characters are amazing though. 
 
Philip Seymour Hoffman is incredible. One of his best smaller roles as a wannabe tough guy. He talks big on the phone and when people are walking away, but when confronted, he doesn't want any part of that. When him and his cronies try extorting Barry for calling a phone sex line, Barry wants them to lay off. Hoffman's character goes apocalyptic. "SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP! Shut up; will you SHUTUP SHUTUP! SHUT SHUT SHUT SHUT SHUTUP... SHUTUP! NOW!" he says. It's over the top but amazing. Dude steals every scene. Emily Watson is fine as the love interest. Luis Guzmán is always underrated. And Gayle "The Snail", aka Mary Lynn Rajskub, is great as Barry's overprotective, only slightly less neurotic sister. 
 

Only other person I'll mention is Robert Smigel, who plays Barry's dentist brother-in-law. In my mind he is a comedic genius. He's the voice of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, was a long-time Saturday Night Live writer, and was the mind behind SNL's "TV Funhouse" cartoon shorts. If you haven't seen those, they are pretty incredible. They include classics like the crowd-pleasing The Ambiguously Gay Duo, The Michael Jackson Show which probably wouldn't fly today, and my personal favorite The All-New Adventures of Mr. T ("I need work, fool!"). In addition, he co-wrote, mostly with Sandler (who also starred), Hotel Transylvania and Hotel Transylvania 2 (which I love), and Leo... And the unfortunate You Don't Mess with the Zohan. It's also worth mentioning his work on the brilliant The Dana Carvey Show, a magical, incredibly funny show that kicked off the careers of Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert. It was insanely controversial, but amazing, and Smigel was a big part of its "success". It only last about a month because all the drama surrounding it. 
 

It’s mid-tier Paul Thomas Anderson, but that means it is just fantastic instead of an absolute classic. In my mind, One Battle After Another and There Will Be Blood are battling it out with Zodiac, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood as the greatest film of the century. The Master, Licorice Pizza, Inherent Vice, and Phantom Threadare all five star movies for me. Below those I have Punch-Drunk Love just below those incredible films. I’d rate that and PTA’s previous two, Boogie Nights and Magnolia, as four-star flicks, and his first, Hard Eight, I’d put at three. Just my personal list though.
 
PTA is one of the best when it comes to the balance of needle drops, sound, and score. It’s an emotional language in this film. The song “He Needs Me” makes the dude feel fragile and vulnerable. Even though I have no patience for dudes who can’t take care of themselves, that need a mom out of their lover, Barry Egan gets a little bit of a pass. That said, there is no way that this could end happily for him. Sort of the Titanic problem. For it to be a real love story, dude has to die because there is too much shit for them to overcome.
 
Overall, it is a very sweet and tender love story. First time I remember talk about autism on film where the person wasn’t treated like a superhero, which was pretty cool. Sandler does a great job of making you feel the dude’s social anxiety and frustration. Good balance of danger and humor that really makes you go through a lot of emotions during its runtime, and after. And it is visually stunning.

Top 10 of 2025: 3. Eddington

★★★★★--Another film that I absolutely adored that I suspect will be in my top 10 for the decade. A Covid movie about mask mandates, political divisions, and unwillingness to compromise, even when it means death. 

Shares some DNA with Needful Things, except the thing that they all want is a speck of power.  We basically see a man whose desperate grasps for authority results in further loss of power/control, a guy that can’t get out of his own way. He’s not the only one, of course, as everyone lives in their own separate reality. Everyone realizes there is something wrong, but what that is and who they blame is different, even though in the end, they all have the same enemy. 

Great performances from a great cast—Joaquin Phoenix, Deirdre O’Connell, Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal, Austin Butler, and others—another Ari Aster home run. His fourth film—Hereditary, Midsommar, and Beau Is Afraid—he hasn’t made a bad movie in my book. For me, this and Midsommar are my favs. 

Killers of the Flower Moon: Fucking White People - A Harrowing Tale of Greed and Racism

Killers of the Flower Moon - Martin Scorcese - 2023

Fucking white people. Based on a nonfiction book, which, fucking great.  

Gist is people of the Osage Nation discover oil on their Oklahoma land and make it rich. They are given money as part of a “headright.” Money for nothing, as the whites who move to the area say. The richest among these white folk hatches a plot to kill the Osage off, one by one. The law doesn’t care, with the sheriff basically telling him to quit making it so obvious. But the FBI comes to town and unearth all the bullshit. Real feel good Christmas watch, this one.  

De Niro’s character is the worst kind of racist. Acts like he is racially sympathetic and is meanwhile killing the Osage for money. Saying they are “getting money for doing nothing” behind their backs. The basic sentiment for people then and now, though inherited wealth (if you are white) is collectively fine.

Really important flick that is super infuriating. This would be my top film almost any other year. Might be after a few rewatches. I’m coming in fresh.  

Lily Gladstone is amazing and should and will win Best Actress. Love the reservation chic look, by the by. DiCaprio and De Niro are stellar as well, though they playing some real fuckers. Martin Scorses is still coming in hot after all these years. Masterful filmmaking.  

The Stranger is a unique, intense crime drama that's worth your time

 The Stranger - Thomas M. Wright - 2022

★★★★-The Stranger is a film that masterfully conceals its true tone, leaving audiences intrigued and guessing for most of the movie. Within its absorbing narrative lies an irresistible character study of two enigmatic men, both harboring complex secrets. One grapples with the haunting consequences of his past, while the other wrestles with guilt, striving to preserve his identity while masquerading in plain sight. This is unlike any crime thriller I've ever seen, that's for sure. 

Crime thriller written and directed by Thomas M. Wright. Based on a true story, which is fucked up. Comes from the non-fiction book The Sting: The Undercover Operation That Caught Daniel Morcombe's Killer by Kate Kyriacou.

Stars Joel Edgerton as the undercover and Sean Harris as the target of the investigation. Recognize Edgerton from Prometheus, The Green Knight, and a few of the Mission: Impossible movies. He works with Edgerton a lot. Harris played Tom in The Great Gatsby, was Gordo in the movie The Gift, and Boy Erased (the last two he also directed). They are both phenomenal.

HERE BE SPOILERS... Gist is a cop goes deep undercover to try to pinch a suspected child murderer in an insanely elaborate sting operation. His mission is to befriend the prime suspect and get a confession about the guy's involvement in the abduction.

At first, you question if the police are investigating the right man. Slowly start to see how the guy is a real monster, whether he did it or not. The elaborate covert operation all out induces a confession. Again, whether he did it or not. As portrayed in the film, he was probably guilty, but how they built their case was beyond fucked, and was likely entrapment. 

Overall: The film immerses viewers in a gloomy atmosphere of distrust, characterized by brutal language and a haunting soundscape that adds to the tension. With a tightly told mystery at its core, the movie captivates audiences with building tension, enhanced by outstanding the lead performances. It stands out from the average crime drama by offering a more challenging and intriguing experience. Impressive and disciplined storytelling is paired with stark visuals, creating a compelling cinematic journey. There is a powerful image of the guy smoking in a parking lot with the cops looking at him with disgust.

If you enjoy slow-paced films delving into tough and serious themes based on true events, this is a must-watch.

Throne of Blood - Akira Kurosawa - 1957

★★★★★-Over the course of three decades, Japanese director Akira Kurosawa masterfully crafted three Shakespeare-inspired films: Throne of Blood, an adaptation of Macbeth, set in feudal Japan, The Bad Sleep Well a crime noir thriller based on Hamlet, and Ran, an epic samurai tale inspired by King Lear. Each of these films showcases Kurosawa's exceptional talent for blending Shakespearean themes with the rich cultural tapestry of Japan.

Watched all of these Shakespeare inspired films for a Shakespeare Tragedies seminar I took in college. It was one of my favorite classes. We also read a lot of Samual Beckett along with the six Shakespeare plays we focused on: Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear (my favorite), Macbeth, Othello, and Richard III. There were some others, of course, Merchant of Venice and The Tempest, for example, which are technically comedies, but are both as dark as they come. Anyway, this was my favorite adaptation, at the time. We'll see how I feel now. The class really opened up my eyes to Kurosawa. I love his films. 

(Side note, for this class we all had to present on something Shakespeare related. I did pop culture Shakespeare, really going into detail about the film Scotland, PA, which is also based on Macbeth. It is incredible and hilarious. I also talked about pornography based on the Barb. The one title I remember was A Midsummer's Night Cream, which sounds like something that would make me vomit. I got an A+ in that class and would kill for that professor, by the by.)

Throne of Blood was Kurosawa's first reimagining of Shakespeare's work, transporting the plot from Medieval Scotland to feudal Japan, cleverly infusing elements from Noh drama. Noh is a classical Japanese dance-drama that dates back to the 14th century and remains a major theater art in Japan today. It is the oldest theater form still regularly performed. Noh integrates masks, costumes, and props in dance-based performances, relying on highly skilled actors and musicians to convey emotions through stylized gestures. The plays often draw from traditional literature, with supernatural beings transforming into human heroes who narrate captivating stories. Iconic masks represent various roles, from ghosts to deities. Pretty cool shit. 

The film stars the iconic Toshiro Mifune and Isuzu Yamada, in the Macbeth and Lady Macbeth roles, respectively. Mifune's portrayal of a man unraveling is something to behold. Imagine this is a dude's first day ruling shit and he goes insane and starts fighting ghosts that aren't there. I imagine this wouldn't go over well. When he has his freakout moment in the forest and receiving prophecy, it truly is masterful filmmaking. Ghostly, strange, full of rage and madness. This is Macbeth at its finest. A raving lunatic with the enemy literally at the gate, taking arrows from his own army like he's Scarface. 

Remember the last circle of hell in Dante devoted to this type of shit. Chewed on by Satan with Brutus, Cassius, and Judas shit. The scene where the guards getting blamed get shot with arrows and chased off is messed up. 

The Lady Macbeth role isn't as strong as the Shakespearean version. In this, she shows up suddenly and is immediately like, “kill your lord, yo.” Feel like maybe he is relying on everyone to know the story or something. Plus, she is constantly swishing around in her little Geisha getup. Hearing that 24/7 would make me want to murder, too. 

Classic Shakespeare meets feudal Japan. The film more or less retains the essence of the play. Gist is a warrior who, upon hearing a prophecy from a witch in the wood and with the prodding of his ambitious wife, kills his lord to consolidate his power. Despite the changes in setting, language, and creative liberties taken, the film is widely regarded as one of the most exceptional film adaptations of the play. Universal story shown in a uniquely Kurosawa way with a uniquely remarkable ending.

Overall, the scale of the film is staggering for a production outside of Hollywood in the 1950s. I still love nearly every second of this film. Could have been shot yesterday for all I know. It looks incredible. Samurai look is a good one. I might dress and do my hair like that. The prophet dance is a really tense and great scene. Think there could have been some more character development overall. Less than the Shakespeare plays, for sure. But that is a minor complaint. Highly recommend. 

BlackBerry, the silly, scrappy Canadian tale of corporate hubris and hilarity

Blackberry - Matt Johnson - 2023

★★★★-BlackBerry is quite the smart, scrappy flick that oscillates between silly and deadpan in the best possible way. Canadian indie flick. I loved it. One of the best films I've seen this year. Story, pacing, dialogue, acting, and characters are all fantastically executed. Film grabbed me from the very beginning. 

Gist of the film is a fictionalized account of the creation of the BlackBerry line of mobile phones by co-founders Douglas Fregin and Mike Lazaridis, along with investor Jim Balsillie. With all these corporate movies of late, the film shows a Canadian company that changed the world, but it's not Air. This isn't a positive portrayal. It's a company that got too big for its britches and caused its own destruction through hubris, skirting the law, and self-sabotage. 

Stars Jay Baruchel (This is the End, She's Out of Your League) as Mike Lazaridis and Glenn Howerton (Dennis Reynolds from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) as psychopathic co-CEO Jim Balsillie. Others include director Matt Johnson, Michael Ironside (Scanners, RoboCop), Saul Rubinek (Unforgiven, True Romance), and Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride)in supporting roles.

Directed by Matt Johnson and co-written by Johnson and producer Matthew Miller. Loosely based on the book Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff. 

Howerton elevates what would have been a solid flick into a great one. He plays his usual sociopath, only with more rage. Like a dead-eyed predator. Yet, there is still a lot of humor in that misguided rage. He comes off as a guy that might physically attack the people that work for him he is so quick to hilariously fly off the handle, asking them to do the impossible. He's worth the watch alone. 

Oppenheimer might end up being the best movie of my lifetime - Christopher Nolan - 2023

★★★★★-Barbenheimer is fucking here! Initial thoughts after seeing Oppenheimer as early as possible. An easy five star movie. Nolan has gone full nuclear. Couple of reviews had built it up to something between The Social Network and Citizen Kane. It's better than both. We are talking earthshaking cinema. Everyone walked out of the theater silent, mesmerized, and in awe. 

This is a man that knows his place in history. With his expression and gaunt, hollow face, he looks like a man that's cursed. 

Cillian Murphy as Oppie is incredible. No doubt he'll be up for all the awards. Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, and Robert Downey Jr. are all great. Of them, I'm thinking Damon will probably see some recognition at awards season. Florence Pugh is maybe a little underutilized, but is stellar every second she is on-screen. Figure she might see some nominations as well. Also have solid work from Kenneth Branagh, Josh Hartnett, and Rami Malek, among others. Lastly, Casey Affleck has a small but pivotal part. Thought he was still persona non grata. Seeing him breifly took me out of it, but his character is an unbelievable asshole, so that fits. 

Seeing it in IMAX 70mm is an experience. I even found where he said where to sit, “right near the front, middle of the third row,” and sat there. Unreal. Believe the hype.

Two minor complaints. 1.) I thought the movie was a little too long. Feel like it maybe could have trimmed a bit off, and been a little tighter. 2.) Was expecting it to be way trippier. Wish Nolan would have leaned into the abstract maybe a little bit more. But I still loved it. Heard people asking if they really detonated an atomic bomb for the film, which is insane, but that is how good it look. 

Favorite scene is after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Oppenheimer addresses the people on the base, telling them what has happened. Everyone, including him, is completely shell-shocked. Nolan does an incredible job of replicating that feeling on screen. Music and sound are perfectly utilized here (and throughout) as well. 

Stellar film. Having seen it a few times now, I truly believe this overtakes There Will Be Blood as the greatest film released in my lifetime. For me, probably ever. A must-watch. 

The Prestige - Christopher Nolan - 2006

★★★★★-"Now you're looking for the secret. But you won't find it because, of course, you're not really looking. You don't really want to work it out. You want to be fooled." OMFG. This blew my fucking mind in when I saw it in 2006. Knowing the twists and stuff just made it more mind-blowing this time around. Holy shit, this is a great movie, and Christopher Nolan is fucking sick. 

Gist of the movie is Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale play magicians in late Victorian era England. They start out as friends before becoming rivals. It all starts when Jackman's wife, played by Piper Perabo--who will always be the Coyote Ugly girl to me, dies in an on-stage accident. The bit is one where Bale and Jackman tie her up, and she is submerged in a tank of water. They do this bit a lot, apparently, but this time something goes wrong, and she can't get out and drowns. Jackman blames Bale. It starts this whole thing that keeps escalating. Meanwhile, they are both creating the ultimate illusion ("they are illusions, Michael, a trick is something a whore does for money"). 

The cast is fucking sick. Not only do you have Bale and Jackman, but you also have the ever-lovely Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Andy Serkis, David Bowie (perfectly cast as Nikola Tesla), and Michael Cain (who's always bomb). 

Movie is completely fucked. Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale's characters are fucking horrible human beings. Dudes that hate each other so much that they would rather see the other fail than live happily. What the fuck, man? Get over your shit—some Cure at Troy type stuff. Jackman definitely distances himself in the all-time prick department, though, come the end of the movie. 

Ok. Fuck it. Huge spoiler. Dude gets a machine from Tesla that was supposed to teleport Jackman from one place to another. Instead, it clones whatever is in the device. So Jackman starts cloning himself for the trick. How does he deal with all these clones of himself? He kills them. Every night. Kills a clone. It isn't super clear, but he might be killing himself and letting the clone live. It's weird. Anyway, this eventually leads to him setting up Christian Bale for murder. Also, there are two Christian Bale's living one life. This movie is a huge mindfuck, and you can never be sure which version is which, but one of the Christian Bales, I'm pretty sure, is evil. All the Hugh Jackmans are evil, though. This movie is crazy and fucking genius. Also, seriously complex. If you want your mind seriously fucked, watch this and try to figure out which brother is which at different points in the movie. 

Rewatching all of his flicks again, sort of in order. All of them are great. However, so far, this one is my second favorite, after Interstellar. 

In the Heat of the Night - Norman Jewison - 1967

★★★★★-First ever viewing of this profoundly outstanding film. Skilled direction and compelling performances. Deserves its stop on the AFI Top 100. 

Set in a racially tense small town where a black detective, Virgil Tibbs, from Philadelphia helps solve a murder. That's the gist, but it's deeper than that, going into racial inequity in the deep South while telling a compelling story and not getting preachy. It refrains from contrived inspirational moments, thank fuck, and instead presents complex, flawed characters. Truly masterful filmmaking. 

Stars the Sidney Poitier as the black detective opposite Rod Steiger (On the Waterfront) as the racist sheriff. Commanding performances from both of them indeed. I got more impressed with Poitier as the movie went along. He drips poise and dignity. Sort of hard to believe he didn't even get nominated for an Academy Award for this performance. Feels like a glaring omission that he wasn't for a timely film about Southern racism. Though Steiger's performance also really blew me away as well and he definitely earned his Oscar. 

Others you might recognize include Lee Grant (Damien: Omen II, Mulholland Drive) who is a real beauty who holds her own, Warren Oats (Badlands, Stripes, The Wild Bunch), and a young Scott Wilson (he was Herschel in The Walking Dead,one of the killers in In Cold Blood, and had a small but memorable part in one of my favorite horror comedies of all-time in Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon).

As much as any movie I can think of, the setting is also a character in the film. Feels like an authentic, hot and grimy small Southern town. Every scene is vivid, gritty, and real. 

The racist stuff can be pretty hard to watch. People in this town just lose their minds seeing a black guy. Pretty disturbing that this is how it was and probably still is in some parts. Multiple attempts are made on Virgil's life. The most powerful scene, for me, was when he goes with the sheriff to question the richest guy in town. Out front there is a racist statue and he employees black people in menial jobs that he obviously doesn't think highly of. He tells Virgil, while in his greenhouse, “Of all the orchids in this place, you should prefer the epiphytics. I wonder if you know why.”

“Maybe it would be helpful if you'd tell me,” Virgil says.

“Because, like the Negro, they need care and feedin' and cultivatin'.”

Uh, yeah, thanks for that insight, bra.

When Virgil questions him about the murder, the guy slaps him. Virgil, without missing a beat, slaps him back. Incredulous, the guy asks the sheriff what he is going to do about it. When it's clear he isn't going to do anything, he says he could have had him shot for that not long ago before crying like a punk. We then get one of the many attempts on Virgil's life, this seemingly unconnected to the slap. 

So, yeah, great film. All this said, however, the end was sort of a letdown. Builds and builds and then it's over. Also, for a hot shot detective, Virgil's police work and theories seem pretty suspect. Still though. Best movie about the South I can think of. Available on the Criterion Channel.

Amsterdam - David O. Russell - 2022

★★★ - Christian Bale, John David Washington, Margot Robbie, Robert De Niro, and an amazing supporting cast. David O. Russell directing a period movie about Nazi supporters trying to overthrow democracy in America in 1933.  What’s not to love? 

Turns out a decent amount. Totally a hot mess with a hard-to-follow plotline that jumps around through time and makes little sense. However, I still really liked it. This is definitely a minority opinion.

The cast is just too good. In addition to those listed you've got Ed Begley Jr., Rami Malek, Mike Myers, Timothy Olyphant, Chris Rock, Zoe Saldana, Michael Shannon, Anya Taylor-Joy (the young woman from The Witch and Split), Taylor Swift (forchristssake) who isn't bad, and more. Plus, I am a total sucker for a period piece from the first half of the 20th Century.

There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson - 2007

★★★★★- I think about this movie almost daily. Can interpret the film in about five different ways: Daniel never loved anyone and what he says to HW is a revelation, that he really loves HW chose his fake brother because HW seemed dangerous and this is his big life mistake (which is why he kills his fake brother [also why he’s obsessed with Eli being a false prophet]), that he loved HW but his drinking and rage made him crazy, that he deals with pain by throwing himself into his work which just makes him angrier over time, or that he has always been miserable and wants others to be miserable because of his success. This is all Daniel Day-Lewis, who is in another league. Everyone else suffers from this performance. This is the best performance ever. No shit. 

This Jordan-esque Interpretation was how I saw it this time. “I have a competition in me. I want no one
else to succeed… I look at people and I see nothing worth liking.” Once his son becomes his competitor, he takes that shit personally. Never has there been a more complicated father-son relationship on screen. So good. 

We get glimpses of Plainview losing control several times up to the end when he completely fucking loses it in the greatest meltdown of all time. I have a little of that competition in me on my worst days. This isn’t comforting. 

Maybe my favorite scene is when Plainview runs HW in his arms after the accident. Then he runs to the well. “ What are you looking so miserable about,” he asks rhetorically. “There is a whole ocean of oil underneath our feet and I’m the only one that can get at it.” HW OK? “No he isn’t.” 

Less complicated is what’s going on with Daniel and Eli. These absolutely hate each other. Daniel treats Eli like an idiot who he has no respect for the beginning. Then he goes to that sermon, immediately realizes he’s full of shit, but also that he’s the one he’s gonna have to deal with. “And if I have no teeth I will gum you!”

If you don’t watch this masterpiece at least three times, you can’t even have a discussion about it. There is so much to take in through every second of the film. I love it. Truly. It is my favorite movie of all time maybe. 

Phenomenal soundtrack. When the music plays, it is on. It’s chilling. I listen to it often. The cinematography is crazy too. We are mostly distant and when we get closeups, it’s uncomfortable and ambiguous. 

Jesus fucking Christ. I rewatch it whenever I hear anyone mention it. Plainview goes through hell and he ends up a reflection of that. Absolutely profound. A goddamned masterpiece.

Kajillionaire is the greatest movie of all time

You want us to be false fakey people. We don’t make pancakes, or wrap up little birthday presents. Or call you “sweetheart”, or “baby”, or do a little dance. Man, this movie was great and heartbreaking. This beyond strange heist movie/family melodrama touches on the transactional nature of relationships. I definitely cried a little bit and haven't stopped thinking about it since I watched it two weeks ago. 

Rotten Tomato Consensus: Whether you see Kajillionaire as refreshingly unique or simply bizarre will depend on your cinematic adventurousness -- and fans of writer-director Miranda July wouldn't have it any other way.

Discovered Miranda July, the writer/director, whilst reading The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2007. There is a scene in there from the script for Me and You and Everyone We Know. Scene: Pair of brothers, six and 14 years old, have a joint online chat with a woman of a sexual nature. The woman starts getting into poop play, and the boys start escalating it, eventually creating this emoticon "))<>((" and talk about "pooping back and forth, forever," where he would poop in the woman's butt, and then the woman would poop in his butt, and back and forth they would go. Well this chick gets into it. I thought it was pretty funny in written form. So I sought the movie out. Did not like. Especially didn't like that scene. No fucking thanks. 

But figured I'd give this Kajillionaire movie a try after reading an interview with July in the New Yorker or somewhere pretentious like that. She seems cool, and the movie definitely intrigued me. 

Gist of Kajillionaire is that Old Dolio--that name, I know--played Evan Rachel Wood from Westworld, lives with her parents played by Debra Winger (Terms of Endearment, An Officer and a Gentleman) and Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under, The Shape of Water) in an office building filled with junk next door to an industrial laundry mat or something. Part of their arrangement is they have to clear the suds that seep in from the ceiling every night. They be scammin'. Split everything three ways, which is important at the end. About to get evicted for being three months behind on rent, they've got to come up with something big to earn the $1500 in back rent. Old Dolio comes up with a plan to get the money by scamming an airline by claiming her bag was lost (also, they got the tickets through another scam). On the plane, her parents meet a young woman looking for a bit of excitement, this character played by Gina Rodriguez from Annihilation. She and the parents hit it off and invite her into their crew, using her to get another string of scams off the ground. Old Dolio and her's relationship slowly evolves as the one she has with her parents crumbles. 

Poor Old Dolio. Really feel for her. Gets no love from her parents and actively fuck her over. She is just looking for someone good to connect with that will open up their heart to her. Just wants to crawl up there and feel a little warmth, which she's never had. She is a pretty broken woman, but she is trying. 

Evan Rachel Wood is so good in this. She really hurts my heart. She is so awkward and so broken by her parents, and everyone really. Total MVP of the movie. July paints one hell of a picture though. Reminded me, in some ways, of Slums of Beverly Hills. Similar vibe, liked this better though, which says a lot. Everyone in the cast was great, a definite testament to July. Jenkins is always pretty much perfect and is again as this huge prick of a dad, Rodriguez shows a ton of range, and Winger is cold as ice. Worth checking out, for sure. 

Cookie's Fortune is the worst movie of all time

Cookie's Fortune. Nobody in this family commits suicide. Suicide is a disgrace. Only crazy people commit suicide. Man, this movie is a bunch of bullshit. Hey, quick thought, can this movie use the word "cookie" a few more times? That would just really touch me.

Robert Altman movie. He of the M*A*S*H*, The Long Goodbye, and Nashville fame. Second of his movie's I've watched this week. Gosford Park, the first, was sort of meh. Gave it the greatest of all time, but I think that was bullshit. It was a garbled mess. This is so much worse. I don't think I care for Robert Altman. RIP.

Congratulations

Solid cast includes Ned Beatty, Glenn Close (who I guess won the movie), Charles S. Dutton, Lyle Lovett, Julianne Moore, Niecy Nash from Reno 911, Patricia Neal, Chris O'Donnell, Liv Tyler, and Courtney B. Vance.

Gist of this movie is Cookie, who is this rich old senile broad played by Particia Neal, kills herself. Her sister, maybe (I'll get into that later), played by Glenn Close, and niece, Julianne Moore, find her, destroy evidence, and make it look like a murder. Charles S. Dutton gets blamed. Shit goes off the rails.

Man, I can't get over what a shitshow this turned into. After it gets wrapped up with Glenn Close getting charged with the murder because of a fuckton of physical evidence she leaves behind, they drop this bombshell that would have ruined a better movie. As this was already shit, it made my head throb. Basically, the end becomes this fucking mess of a garbled family tree out of nowhere for no fucking reason. The whole movie, Glenn Close is Julianne Moore's mother who is Liv Tyler's mother. Then, they get some complicated blood evidence and, like, I thought it meant that either Glenn Close was Liv Tyler's mom or Patricia Neal. But I have no idea because Liv Tyler starts saying stuff like "my daddy is my uncle, my sister is my aunt, my daughter is my sister, my momma is god knows who." It's the end of the movie, what are we doing here? Let's make everyone question who they are related to in the most confusing way right here before rolling credits. What the fuck is happening? I don't know who shat who out, and I'm not sure most the characters know either.

Lot of bullshit with this movie. Julianne Moore's character is real dumb. Like practically drooling dumb. But she is the star of this play within the movie (Oscar Wilde's "Salome") and is this amazing actress. No one comments on how dissonent this is so I'm guessing that it is just Julianne Moore going for it and being sort of out of character. Also, everybody pretty much knows that Patricia Neal committed suicide, but Moore and Close couldn't get their stories straight, so the law is like, ha, you dumb bitch, you are fucked now. So basically, everyone is just okay with Glenn Close wrongly going away for murder, and they know it. I mean, she is terrible. But so is this movie.

Joker is the greatest movie of all time

Joker. I used to think that my life was a tragedy, but now I realize, it's a fucking comedy. Pretty damn solid. Might even be transformative to the superhero genre like The Dark Knight and Heath Ledger's Joker performance was in 2008. However, don't see the flick as rewatchable as those Christopher Nolan Batman flix. I mean, you never really forget that you are watching a guy suffering from serious mental illness that society doesn't give a shit about. Not my idea of a movie I want to watch a whole lot. Like Taxi Driver, which everyone keeps comparing it to, in that way, but worse.

Rotten Tomato Consensus: Joker gives its infamous central character a chillingly plausible origin story that serves as a brilliant showcase for its star -- and a dark evolution for comics-inspired cinema.

Gist of the movie is that Arthur Fleck, a mentally disturbed aspiring comedian, basically completely loses his shit after getting pushed to his breaking point. After getting jumped for the second time in the movie, he kills some stock brokers in self defense but guns another down as he is trying to escape. From there it is all down hill as he becomes an icon for the oppressed of Gotham City.

Stars Joaquin Phoenix as Joker (aka Arthur Fleck) and has a notable appearance from Robert De Niro as late night talk show host Murray Franklin. Something cool about having De Niro in the film is that it connects all the allusions to Taxi Driver (maybe De Niro's most memorable role) that are in the film. Both take place at the same time and Joker references this by talking about the garbage strike. This isn't laid out in Taxi Driver but it was filmed during a massive garbage strike in the mid 1970s in New York City. That is the reason the city looks like such shit in Taxi Driver and Travis has his whole fixation on washing away all the trash.

Other people you are likely to recognize are Zazie Beetz (a pretty lady who was in Deadpool 2) as Joker's love interest, Frances Conroy--whom you may remember as Ruth Fisher in Six Feet Under--plays Joker's mother (Penny Fleck), and Marc Maron whom I always assume is incredibly famous but no one seems to really know when I geek out whenever he shows up in anything (he is only the star of GLOW, Maron, and the host of WTF?, sorry he isn't Ben Shapiro or Joe Rogan or whatever). Then there are several "that guy"s like Glenn Fleshler who plays this monster clown coworker of Fleck's. This guy is brutally killed in everything I have seen him in including True Detectives (he is the serial killer in the first season) and Barry (he is the leader of the Chechens). Then the little person, an actor named Leigh Gill, was in Game of Thrones and Fantastic Beasts is somewhat recognizable but I think is mostly because he was the other little person in GoT.

Ladies!

First off, Phoenix was pretty great. Not anyone going to make a convincing argument that he didn't win the movie. It is nuts. Also, interesting stuff written for his character. One of the coolest things is the allusion to the 1928 film The Man Who Laughs which the Joker character from the 1940 Batman #1 comic was the obvious inspiration. Like the title character from that film, who looks exactly like the Joker, Fleck laughs despite the really fucked up shit that goes down around him. He has this disorder that resulted from severe childhood trauma where he would laugh uncontrollably when in extremely uncomfortable situations (which is how he ends up on Murray Franklin's show). I think I may have this for all I know made up disease, by the by (see my review for Pet Semetary, but I won't get into it here. He then can't really laugh when things are actually funny but sort of fakes it. As an aspiring comedian, we see him at a comedy club taking notes and such and faking a laugh like a second off from the audience in an obviously fake, not getting it way. I find that sort of shit extremely off putting. It is one of several ways that they show us that he is not in control. Another way comes after he starts his crime spree, killing for the first time. He is kind of freaking out but definitely sort of digging it. He goes to a filthy restroom to compose himself and does a sort of beautiful dance that is really something. Reminds me of a mime or a marionette. This stuff was really good shit.

As far as De Niro's character goes, he is a Johnny Carson type Pushing a civilian over the edge like that is pretty fucking gross. He wasn't asking to go viral. You are sort of on board with that shit, his rage. Then he shoots the guy in the face and at least I was like, "whoa buddy." Sort of like when Mike Tyson was all "I'm the best ever; there's never been anybody as ruthless" and I was all "yeah." "My style is impetuous." Yeah! "My defense is impregnable!" Yeah!!! "I'm ferocious. I want your heart." YEAH!! "I want to eat his children." Hold the fuck up, man, I'm not signing up for all this now. Same shit. Shoot a guy in the face on TV. Talk of butchering and eating a baby. Not quite at that level. Though we'll see how this Trump thing goes. Maybe in a year I will be. Anyway. Love that they do this shit. You see this in a lot Batman comics and graphic novel, Joker going on talk shows and then murdering people, and it is portrayed really ingeniously here.

Other things that are of note is what an asshole Thomas Wayne is. Dude is a one-percenter and is finally fucking portrayed like it. Fuck him. I always thought he was secretly a prick. If I have to watch him die in the same way for the 10th time on film, it better offer something. This totally does. Another thing is this twist that happens. Totally didn't see that shit coming. I think it is obvious that there would be one but this was not one I was expecting. Enough said there.

Complaint is did it need two goddamn endings? The first one was solid. The second was complete shit. Not going to give it away in detail but this is sort of a spoiler. It is like the studio and all the rich fucks that had say were like, "I'm a little uncomfortable with this ending, we have to make sure everyone knows he is in Arkham." Horseshit.

Overall, though, the film is a really fascinating study of how when pushed to the breaking point and politicians and agents of order just keep pushing, shit will go the fuck down. I would say if you ignore the second ending, it is a call to action of sorts (or maybe more of a warning). It says that we are fucking living this shit. The film doesn't fuck around with that. This may take place in the 1970s, but this Gotham is Trump's American. Burn the mother fucker down.