Letterboxd — Your life in film

I honestly don’t have much to say about this other than it was a lot of fun. I love political satires like this. This was a low-key loaded supporting cast (Judy Greer, Lena Headey, Domhnall Gleeson, Ike Barinholtz) but the leads (Woody Harrelson & Justin Theroux) shone the brightest, especially the former. Also, similar to some of the themes Succession chose to hit (gonna miss that show), the timing of some of the underlying messages is impeccable. This is also just…

This was one of the few instances in which I’ve read the book before the movie (other than Harry Potter lol). But one of my New Year’s resolutions that I’m actually trying to accomplish this year is to read more so I actually read this book earlier this year. I also remember seeing the trailer for this last fall in an AMC but never actually saw it get a theatrical run, at least not in my area. 

Regardless, this was…

This is a reminder of why I wish I made time to catch more of these specials as they come out to get a better appreciation for the topical humor. He had a lot of COVID references that were still funny but probs would’ve slapped a lot more had I seen this 2 years ago. 

Random tidbits: That stage intro with his daughter was super cute too. I also dug the shoes he was wearing. The repeated helicopter interruptions were…

I find it hilarious that arguably the best installment of this franchise is the one that doesn’t feature most of the “family.” 

This is such a big improvement from the original. The dialogue is still a tad on the corny side at times but not nearly to the degree as the original. The cinematography was so much crisper. This features a low-key banging soundtrack too. And the Bow Wow appearance doesn’t feel nearly as cringe as the Ja Rule one (who…

Drafthouse’s curated preshow for this wasn’t their best work I’ll admit but still entertaining: robot themed ads, an ad for a random remake of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, trailers for The Big Sleep & Winston cigarettes that I’m not sure how they tied in. They even had a “robot lives matter” ad in the style of a Sarah McLachlan backed ad asking for $18/month to save robots. 

In terms of the actual movie, I’ll just repost my previous thoughts because since I figured it’d…

Honestly, I feel like this wasn’t for me. I loved all of John Mulaney’s previous work and I’m super happy for him that he’s cleaned up his life. But an entire special of him talking about it is not what I was expecting. Obviously he had to address it & I figured he’d do a few bits on it. But an entire 80 minutes on it is not what I was expecting. Don’t get me wrong, he still made me laugh…

I had a similar experience with this as I did with Aftersun. I have a lot of respect for this movie: it’s well-crafted & incredibly acted but just didn’t emotionally resonate with me the way it seems to have with everyone else. But the performances really are as stellar as advertised. Obviously Fraser got the Oscar for this but I thought every single actor/actress here was outstanding, especially Hong Chau. 

And I want to reiterate that despite this not resonating with me…

Let’s get my complaints out of the way off the jump: the writing was as corny & predictable as you’d expect (though to me it’s silly to actively complain about it, feels like you should know what you’re signing up for with movies like these), the CGI was definitely bad (not sure if there were budget restraints), and the editing was super choppy at times. 

I was super excited when Adrien Brody showed up (I didn’t know he was in this…

The one thing I give Ari Aster the most credit for is his originality. No one makes movies like him. Like there is nothing out there like this. And even within his own filmography, he has three such distinct movies. And I mean that as a massive compliment. 

I admittedly didn’t understand anything that was going on. Yet everything felt intentional. It felt like you could freeze any scene & point out small details that all served a purpose. There were…

So this rating is admittedly extremely biased. As big of a basketball fan as I am (& I’m sure many others here too) it felt like there was no chance I wasn’t gonna love this movie. And this met the hype. 

Drafthouse’s curated pre-show for this was right up my wheelhouse. They showed clips from movies featuring characters wearing Jordan’s like Forrest Gump, White Men Cant’t Jump, George in the Jungle. They also showed a highlight reel from Jordan’s rookie…

Part of me doesn’t believe he had six martinis before the show but then again maybe that’s why it was only 36 minutes lol. 

I wanted to list out a bunch of his jokes that cracked me up but I guess that’d ruin the special for whose who haven’t seen it. I will say though he extensively discussed what it’s like being married to a Puerto Rican, that material was gold. So was his stuff on COVID. 

3 random, inconsequential…