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Watched for this week's Movie Ladder Podcast. Episode #282.

Watched on Tuesday May 27, 2025.

Very fun but absolute nonsense. The plot and editing structure are baffling at times. However, full theatre on a Monday Night. I had a good time. Go movies.

Rewatched for this week's Movie Ladder Podcast. Episode #281 with guest Shut Up Tim.
creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/the-movie-ladder-podcast/episodes/Star-Wars-Episode-I---The-Phantom-Menace-with-Shut-Up-Tim-Ani-May-e334ikv

Cleaning up my Letterboxd Watchlist.
I when this movie came out in 1993 on HBO and what a sensation it was, as the country was still deep in the throws of the AIDS Crisis. The movie was critically praised at the time, and was nominated for dozens of Emmys. It won "Most Outstanding Made for Television Movie." A Category that no longer exists.
The perspective of the epidemic in this film from the Doctors and the Researchers trying to cut through all the bureaucratic red tape so that they could actually try to save lives feels just as relevant now in a "Post Covid" world. It's frustrating as hell at points with it's POV.
The movie's biggest flaw aside from the POV feeling a little one-sided, is that it ends before the story is even over. It cuts itself short due to it being made while the band wsa still playing on. It gives the movie an "educational" feeling to it's release in 1993/94 rather than being a full story.
The cast is really incredible, filled with dozens of All-Stars, even in tiny roles. HBO waited 20 years to follow this up with The Normal Heart, which is a stronger movie overall for me.

Kind of paint by numbers ruse and fall of a business Documentary. A few exciting talking heads, but no time is spent on anything exciting they had to say about their experiences in Tower Redords.
It is definitely a bummer how the music consumer technology has changed. I miss having CDs and Tapes in some ways. But the modern convenience has just made them irrelevant. It's more a bummer for tye artists than anyone that the album revenue stream has been so diminished by digital progress.

Movie Ladder Suggestion: Like A Rolling Stone. The life and times of Ben Fong-Torres.

Cleaning up my Letterboxd Watchlist.
Filling in a Steve Martin Blindspot.
This film should really be revisited and restored to match the Black and White film quality & audio between the 1982 and the archival film footage being used for the classic film noirs. It would make it so much less jarring. The idea just feels way too ahead of it's time to make it work the way it should.
I have at this point scene or at least recognized all of the cut-away films used in the classic noir scenes, so that made me appreciate the attempt much more than the execution. I imagine if you have seen very few of them it's just confusing and nonsensical. For me there was a lot of "Leo Pointing GIF" in here.
The noir satire of Steve Martin's comedy and narration works well at times but man, there's some really bad beats in this too.
The dueling breakdown of the plot at the end between Reiner and Martin at the end of the film, is pretty funny.
Ultimately, I do like what the movie is trying to do, far more than the execution. Movies about movies are always fun.

Movie Ladder Suggestion: Play it Again Sam

"It was a train that took me away from here
But a train can't bring me home." - Train Song
Library Ladder Challenge 2025 Bonus Pick for Concert/Music Docs.
I've never really listening to Tom Waits the artist. I've seen him in plenty of movies, and know his voice and style by reputation or mimicry. This concert was quite the experience to attempt to understand the man, the myth and the artist.
I'd like to see more artists try to sing their songs in to a megaphone in front of a microphone. Most of them wouldn't sound better when they do it like Waits does.
It's really hard to give something that feels this experimental a "Rating" so I'll just leave it at I liked it, and I had a good time with Tom Waits.

Watched for the 2025 Criterion Challenge.
Comedy is hard. Satire is even harder. This movie holds up so well almost 40 years later because everything it's commenting on still feels so relevant, just in new ways.

"Rebellions are built on hope."
Obligatory Rewatch after Andor Season Two...
Holds up pretty well aside from a few awkward diagologue nitpicks after the events of Andor that don't totally track. But hey, nothing's perfect, and they really did their best to lead us right in to this, just like this one leads right in to Star Wars (Episode IV).
The first half of the film is a little shaky, as we get things going, but once we leave Jeddha and galvanize Jin to answer her "Call to Adventure" it's all gas, no breaks through to the end.
This is just another baton in the great plotline of the larger Star Wars story, but it's a pretty entertaining baton .
We may never get the Rogue Squadron movie we deserve but the Battle of Skariff is a pretty decent substitute for it.

The irony of seeing this by myself a few days before my birthday is not lost on me.

Watched for the 2025 Library Ladder Challenge Prompt: "Make your own kind of music." Music Docs & Concert Films.
This was my favorite category I came up with this year for a reason. All bangers, no skips in this concert.
Lindsay Buckingham's audio is a little rough some times when he's on vocals, it's just quieter and a little muffled, but not sure if it's just bad streaming quality.
There are some really great visual moments in the performances with this group. So much tension and so much history. There were beats that feel like they were lifted from this directly in to the Daisy Jones and the Six TV Show a couple years ago.

Maybe Lumet shouldn't have stuck so tightly to the court transcripts when crafting the screenplay for this one. It's a bit narratively messy. It's pretty rough. However I will say, every time I think I'm fully out on the movie, something in the Vin Diesel performance pulls me back in just a lil bit. His performance of the closing argument is really great actually. Too bad it's at the end.
Lumet knows how to stage a great looking courtroom. Linus Roache is cranked up to 11+ as the DA, a role he's pretty familiar with from his Law & Order days.

Watched for the 2025 Criterion Challenge.
"Force does make leaders its true, but you forget one thing, it also destroys them."
I came here for the Heroic Burt Lancaster performance which delivered in spades. I was not prepared for the utterly chilling Hume Cronyn performance as the Captain of the Guards.
I love a good prison movie especially when it has a strong POV and thrilling escape or attempt at it.
The movie spends a lot of time getting you invssted in all the prisoners in Cell R17, so that when the climax hits, you feel every moment of it and their fates.

Movie Ladder Suggestion: From Here to Eternity.

Rewatched for this week's Movie Ladder Podcast. Episode #280 with Guest ShutUpTim.
creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/the-movie-ladder-podcast/episodes/Ponyo-with-Shut-Up-Tim-The-Sea-was-Angry-e32qb9h

Cleaning up my Letterboxd Watchlist. Streaming on Hulu.
Solid "Garbage Sci-Fi" staring two of my favorite people in Sophie Thatcher and Pedro Pascal. This feels like a straight to video, Blockbuster DVD secret gem type of movie that would have felt like a hell of a find to 90s me. It still has a bit of that magic as a streaming find. v Lone Wolf and Cub survival story on an Alien Planet with these two actors feels a little on the nose, but is a pretty good time. At only 98 minutes, I actually would have enjoyed this being a little bit longer and spending more time with these two. Luckily I've got plenty of other spaces to see both of them!

Movie Ladder Suggestion: High Life (Also on Hulu, also released in 2018, with a similar post, and a movie I did confuse with this one back when I watched it.)

An interesting commentary on the idea of "celebrity" and "Show Business" through one of it's Pioneers in Buffalo Bill Cody.
Newman's performance as Bill seems to be commenting on his own career and celebrity as well. He's fantastic in this as the titular legend Bill Cody. Newman even pulls off the magnificent locks of long hair which is not a look you'd expect him to be able to rock so well.
The music and score a really great. I love how the live music of the band and the opera are used throughout. Altman is so great at making his films feel immersive and lived in.

Movie Ladder Suggestion: The Greatest Showman

Watched on Sunday May 11, 2025.

Watched on Saturday May 10, 2025.

Watched on Saturday May 10, 2025.

Watched on Saturday May 10, 2025.

Finally caught up with this from the Filmspotting Podcast Lumet Marathon, sliding it in to my personal Movie Ladder for the year.
This movie is a bit of a slow burn pot boiler, as Treat Williams' Detective Danny gets deeper and more tangled up in the incredibly complicated web of this detective story.
Overall enjoyed it, but the plot is so dense I found my mind wandering quite bit and getting a bit lost.
There are moments that Treat Williams looks like Colin Farrell, he'd be great in a remake of this.
Great to see Bob Balaban, James Tolkan and Lane Smith,, some of our greatest movie "that guys" in this. Never knew James Tolkan ever actually had hair! A shocking revelation.
Speaking of hair. There are some epically bad haircuts and or wigs in this movie.

Movie Ladder Suggestion: The French Connection

Artists deserve more cool spaces to make art and express themselves. Michael Townsend is a legend.
Unfortunately we live in a world where there are fewer and fewer spaces for art every day.

Movie Ladder Suggestion : Faces Places

Ok fine this was a good movie and I'm kind of mad about it.
However. As a total theater dork. This movie works incredibly well as a prequel to Angel's In America.

"You know how to whistle, don't you Steve?"
Just electric energy everywhere around Bogie and Bacall.
Walter Brennan is a true come with guy.
No one puts together a great film quite like Howard Hawks.
The rebellion and message of this movie have aged like the finest French Bourdeux.

Movie Ladder Suggestion: Cabaret.

"Everything's spoiled, including our dispositions."
What's not sour is how effortlessly cool Bogie and Bacall are in this film.
Robinson is a terrific heavy as to be expected but I really clung to the Lionel Barrymore performance which was really the heart of the movie for me. His physical performance and way he reacts to everything that unfolds before him is just magnificent to watch.

Movie Ladder Suggestion: Bad Times at the El Royale

Watched for the 2025 Criterion Challenge.
"No, not in the Cupid Room!" Good to know Hitchcock still had his biting sense of ironic humor even in his final films.
"Do I look like a sex murderer to you?" Dude, do you really want me to answer that honestly?. Ya kind of do.
The silent reverse tracking shot employed about an hour in to the film, is one of the coolest and most haunting things in any Hitchcock film.
Definitely Hitchcock's second "meanest" film after Marnie.

Movie Ladder Connection: Gone Girl.

Watched for the 2025 Criterion Challenge.
"One can't suddenly show up out of nowhere and expect to be a father."
Movies about theatre will always be a draw for me and this Ozu film has drama on and off the stage. The travelling theatre troupe at it's center is filled with both the best and worst personality traits of artists. Despite my personal connection to the theatrical elements, this may be however, the most disconnected emotionally I've felt from an Ozu film. It didn't resonate for me as deeply as some of his other works. Maybe because the characters in this film all feel like they're constantly putting on a performance within the performance even when off stage? Maybe that's intentional? Ozu is a master at melodrama but this one was just a bit too much for me.

Movie Ladder Suggestion: Kiss me Kate.

Watched for this week's Movie Ladder Podcast. Episode #279 with Guest AllixO.
creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/the-movie-ladder-podcast/episodes/Noah-with-Allix-O-Epocryphal-Storms-e32g5i2

I'm not going to sit here and say "The MCUS is back! " But...this was a good "first step" in the right direction to something fun and interesting. It's an ice change of pace from what we've been getting. The characters feel like real people, and maybe that's because it's leaning to hard in to the fact that these people are not superheroes. They're the Leftovers.
I want to watch this again divorced from any pre-conceived expectations or baggage from past MCU, just to see if that's possible. I think it's an incredibly strong film all on it's own.
There's just something magical in this cast on screen together, anchored by actors who we love and appreciate in so many other things outside of the MCU in Sebastian Stan, Florence Pugh, David Harbour and Wyatt Russell.
It did strike me very funny and hard to get past a little that Lewis Pullman's character's name is Bob, when his call sign in Top Gun Maverick was also call-sign "Bob." I know that the name is comics cannon but it just struck me so oddly. I couldn't stop thinking about it every time they called him "Bob."

Watched on Sunday May 4, 2025.

Library Ladder Challenge 2025 May Bonus Watch. U2 Song Titles.
Don't be fooled by the song title. This movie is not about Those Troubles. These troubles are much more intimate and of the heart.
The performances are great and there's some real anxiety at work here around Glenda Jackson's Alex as she navigates her complicates family and relationships. I wish we'd spent the whole movie with her babysitting her nieces and Nephews though. That was the best part and gave me my own new anxiety being a fairly new Uncle myself.

Watched for the 2025 Library Ladder Challenge Prompt:
Watch a film that shares its title with a U2 album or song.
PRIDE! In the name of love!
The cast of this movie is pretty unbelievable. A veritable who's who of amazing UK & Irish Talent. The subject matter and the themes are just as important as when the movie is set in 1984. Revolutions and change take cooperation, comion, ion, and understanding. Oh, and a hell of a lot of bravery.

Movie Ladder Connection: Harlan County USA and It's A Sin.

Rewatched for this week's Movie Ladder Podcast. Episode #278.
creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/the-movie-ladder-podcast/episodes/Moonrise-Kingdom-The-Island-of-Misfit-Boys-e3263nj

Watched on Thursday April 24, 2025.

Watched on Saturday April 26, 2025.

Watched on Sunday April 27, 2025.

I will give Evans this. He shoots the actions scenes like it's a Zombie movie and that's pretty cool visually and stylistically. If the hordes of bad guys were actual zombies knstead of humans this movie would be so much better. Instead it feels grotesque in the worst way.
I do love me some Oluphant, Hardy, and Whitaker but they're so wasted in this absolute mess of a plot.

This gets an extra half star just for the dynamic between Affleck and Barnthal. The relationship between the two brothers, Braxton and Chris gives the movie more energy, humor and personality than The Amateur from earlier this year. Ironically, Bernthal is also in that movie.
Could this movie have been 30 minutes shorter? Absolutely. But whatever, still had a solid time at the movies.

It's impossible for me to separate Luther Vandross from the memory of riding in the car with my mom as a kid and her cranking up the volume every time a song of his came on. He's just undeniably awesome and demands your attention.
It was great to learn more about him here, especially his early work on Sesame Street and with Bowie. I had no idea.
The movie could have been even longer to be honest. It does feel like it's breezing through way too fast for a man of such legendary musical history.

Jack Quaid looks so much like his dad it's viscerally upsetting to watch him do everything he does in this film. Great job by a casting director who knew what they were doing.
Sophie Thatcher, Lucas Gage and amd Harvey Guillen really give this film their all and it's so great to see them here after spending so much small screen time with them. I'm invested in their characters because of my investment in them as actors from WL, YJ and WWDITS. I'd follow them all just about anywhere.
There's parts of thus that are intentionally infuriating and mind numbing. However, I think the execution of the ideas is so much better here than in a film like Don't Worry Darling or The Beast.
Ps. I'm glad I knew nothing about this film going in. I think that greatly enhanced my reaction ans experience.

Linklater's forgotten film, that I think is actually a hidden gem, and deserves to be reevaluated.
Richard Linklater brings out the best in Jack Black, Shirley McClaine and Matthew McConaughey. There's some really great dark comedy here, and Linklater uses the "mockumentary" style to great effect. Linklater loves a Texas Monthly story that he can sink his teeth in to, and this is a pretty good one.

Movie Ladder Connection: The Music Man

A perfectly fine way to spend two hours on a rainy Saturday when you're on the verge of taking a nap on the couch.

The best parts of this movie are only made better after 7 Seasons of Clone Wars. Other things you kind of just have to yoda,yoda past.

This review may contain spoilers.

Paul Schrader wrote this? That just doesn't feel right.
This movie doesn't know what it has in the young Tommy Lee Jones for much of it. He's just not there. This could have been a full bromantic vengequest with TLJ and Devane for so much of it. And that's what I was hoping for. Instead, we only get it at the end.
One thing I said about the last Paul Schrader film I watched, is that his films always feel "Soulful." He is unlocking something about the human spirit and condition. This movie doesn't have that at all for the most part, outside of the inial portrayals of PTSD.

Movie Ladder Connection: Hard to Kill.

This is kind of a weird flex for TLJ. I'm not really sure why he made this? Maybe he just always wanted to direct a western? It's certainly inline with the dark-neo westerns of the 2000s and "aughts." The cast is top to bottom great, I'm always happy to see Grace Gummer and Miranda Otto do anything. There are a few shots and moments in the film that show great filmmaking style and acumen. However the movie gets pretty graphic and upsetting at moments in ways I'm not sure were totally necessary to sell the story. It also sells itself as being one thing and then slowly chips away at it until it becomes another, more disappointing conventional thing.

Movie Ladder Connection: Bone Tomahawk .

The way this is shot is just breathtakingly gorgeous. Truly impressive from Kelly Reichardt. Also an impressive small ensemble of actors who you know or soon will shortly after. Bruce Greenwood and Will Patton are two of the great "that guys" of Cinema. Paul Dano really stood out to me because he always does. Just like you should always caulk your wagon when playing the Oregon Trail.
This felt at once like a throwback to the westerns of the 40s and 50s and something wholly new and personal to Reichert. They always say your first film is your most personal. I imagine Kelly Reichert spent a lot of time playing The Oregon Trail, and watching old westerns.
This movie is quiet and slow, but everything feels so deliberate. Precise. One wrong move and you wind up with a broken Axel, and that was always the worst on the trail.

Best Movie Ladder Connection: How The West Was Won.

Watched for the 2025 Criterion Challenge.
A classic noir by way of .
There's nothing particularly "flashy" about our lead, contract killer Jef. He's calm, and cool, almost too calm and cool. He's just a man who wants to know what his mission is, and when he's gonna get paid. When one job goes wrong, it's bad news for all involved, including him.
I really loved the performance of François Périer as the Superintendant/Lead Detective. He reminded me a lot of Walter Matthau in Taking of Pelham 1-2-3. That same beleagured energy.
I really liked how the story unfolded even though there were a moments I thought played out a little too slowly. The score never makes you feel tense, anxious, or excited. I would have liked that a bit.

Best Movie Ladder Connection: Ghost Dog, Way of the Samurai.

Rewatched for this week's Movie Ladder Podcast. Episode #277.
creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/the-movie-ladder-podcast/episodes/Mud-Junkyard-Kids-e31sgb9

They should remake this movie and tie it in with the show Fire Country.

I don't know how or why this got made, it's such a weird movie that's been put in the dustbin of history, despite a premise that was actually pretty popular in the late 80s and early 90s. "What if the ghost of someone you love got to return to earth and hang out and influence your life?
I'm not sure why Spielberg wanted to make this movie, it doesn't really feel like him in any way. I'll be very curious to listen to the Blank Check pod on this and try to get some insight there.
John Goodman is the only real bright spot here and he's doing his best, but man, there's just not much to work with.
The movie is just kind of boring and nonsensical.

• Sinners
• The Ballad of Wallis Island
• Black Bag
• Companion
• Friendship
• Mickey 17
• Thunderbolts*
• Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
• September 5
• Warfare

...plus 6 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My Fifth Year Participating in Ben's OG Criterion Challenge!
His Parent List:
letterboxd.sitesdebloques.org/benvsthemovies/list/the-criterion-challenge-2025/

Welcome to the fifth annual Criterion Challenge where we celebrate The Criterion Collection! Can you believe it has been HALF A DECADE? When I started this challenge, I never expected it to hit the ground running as fast as it did, so thanks to all of you for participating. I wanted this year to mix in some categories throughout the years as well as be even more collaborative. I took many of your suggestions and turned them into categories. It’s a very exciting line-up for 2025!

But first, time for the rules:

There are 52 categories. The goal is to watch any Criterion released film based on the categories below between 1/1/25-12/31/25. Your choices can be any films released by Criterion on 4K, Blu-ray, DVD, VHS, Laserdisc, or ones that have been featured on The Criterion Channel streaming service (although I'd prefer you choose films they've actually put out themselves).
The films can be watched daily, weekly, or monthly, and in any order! Watch them at your own pace, but you have to finish by 12/31/25.
I would like for all picks to be first time watches, but will leave that up to you.

Don't forget to visit The Criterion Collection for all your film needs, and they have a pretty sweet streaming service for endless options to choose from when you're struggling to find things to watch.

HUGE SHOUTOUT to Josh and Criterion Closet Picks for their amazing lists which helps this process be much smoother.

Now...what you all have been waiting for...

Categories:

1. Watch a film from the CC40 Boxset
2. Watch a film from the year you were born
3. Directed by Robert Altman
4. Watch a film that would be your first choice in the Criterion Closet
5. Great Soundtracks
6. John Turturro’s Adventures in Moviegoing
7. 1920s
8. Watch a film that will be added to the physical collection in 2025
9. 1930s
10. Andrew Garfield’s Closet Picks
11. 1940s
12. Celine Song’s Top 10
13. 1950s
14. Watch a film from the Criterion Channel’s all time favorites lists
15. 1960s
16. Watch a film that is currently out of print from the physical collection
17. 1970s
18. William Friedkin’s Closet Picks
19. 1980s
20. Spine #451-499
21. 1990s
22. Documentary
23. 2000s
24. Janus Contemporaries
25. 2010s
26. Bill Hader’s Second Closet Picks
27. 2020s
28. Noir and Neonoir
29. All Time Top Criterion Closet Picks
30. Criterion Releases Never Picked in the Closet
31. North American film
32. Ayo Edebiri’s Closet Picks
33. Wim Wenders’ Adventures in Moviegoing
34. South American film
35. Random Number Generator (Google random number generator, set values from 1 to whatever number Criterion has listed last here. This number will change as more releases are announced so please keep up to date by using the link I have provided as I will not be updating each time Criterion makes announcements. Watch whatever movie corresponds to the spine number you are given.)
36. AAPI Filmmakers
37. Watch a film shorter than 80 minutes
38. European film
39. Cult Movies
40. Isabella Rossellini’s Adventures in Moviegoing
41. Winona Ryder’s Closet Picks
42. African film
43. John Carpenter’s Top 10
44. Horror
45. Asian film
46. Dark Comedies
47. Rachel Kushner’s Adventures in Moviegoing
48. Australian film
49. Female Filmmakers
50. Ben Wheatley’s Closet Picks
51. A film by a director whose work you have not seen before
52. Watch any Criterion film from your watchlist

Helpful Links:
The Complete Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection by Spine Number
Every Film Available on The Criterion Channel

1. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

   Watch a film from the CC40 Boxset

2. Out of the Blue

   Watch a film from the year you born (1980) on the Criterion Channel.

3. 3 Women

   Directed by Robert Altman

4. All About Eve

   Watch a film that would be your first choice in the Criterion Closet
   Movies about Theatre People. Movies about Fame. These are in my personal wheelhouse. Plus Bette Davis just slaying bitches.

5. Menace II Society

   Great Soundtracks

6. Divorce Italian Style

   John Turturro’s Adventures in Moviegoing

7. Girl Shy

   1920s

8. Drugstore Cowboy

   Watch a film that will be added to the physical collection in 2025

9. The Only Son

   1930s

10. Happiness

    Andrew Garfield Closet Picks

...plus 27 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Under the Skin
• Nightbitch

  She only comes out at night. She's a man eater.

• The Substance

  You're perfect now change.

• A Different Man

  Transformative Performances of 2024.

• Pocketful of Miracles

  A different woman.

• Jezebel

  Bette the Beauty.

• Now, Voyager

  Bette Davis Eyes

• Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte

  Charlotte's Secrets and Eyes

• The Little Foxes

  Bette's Big Finish.

• The Memphis Belle

  Wyler is the Belle of the ball.

...plus 11 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.