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Watched on Monday May 19, 2025.

Watched on Sunday May 18, 2025.

Watched on Monday May 5, 2025.

It's possible this is all in my head, but it really felt like everyone in the parking lot leaving this screening was being extra tentative and cautious.

Rickwood Field t-shirt sighting.

Watched on Wednesday April 2, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday April 1, 2025.

Watched on Friday March 28, 2025.

Maybe the most somber crowd I've ever been in leaving a theater.

Watched on Sunday March 16, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday March 11, 2025.

Watched on Saturday March 8, 2025.

Watched on Monday March 3, 2025.

Watched on Sunday February 23, 2025.

I wasn't into horror movies when this came out. So, I never saw it in the theater, have no idea how it played for a crowd way back in the innocent days of 2003, but in the year 2025? In 35mm? An incredible experience with a crowd.

Watched on Sunday February 16, 2025.

Watched on Sunday February 16, 2025.

Watched on Thursday February 6, 2025.

Watched on Sunday February 2, 2025.

Adrien Brody picking up a cat gets it an extra half-star.

Watched on Thursday January 16, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday January 14, 2025.

Watched on Sunday January 12, 2025.

Watched on Monday January 6, 2025.

Watched on Monday January 6, 2025.

Watched on Sunday January 5, 2025.

Watched on Sunday January 5, 2025.

Watched on Sunday January 5, 2025.

Watched on Sunday January 5, 2025.

Watched on Sunday January 5, 2025.

Watched on Sunday January 5, 2025.

Watched on Saturday January 4, 2025.

Watched on Friday January 3, 2025.

Watched on Thursday January 2, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday January 1, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday December 31, 2024.

Watched on Sunday December 29, 2024.

Watched on Friday December 27, 2024.

This is insane, and I had a great time.

Watched on Wednesday December 25, 2024.

Am I giving it more credit than it deserves because the title makes me laugh whenever I think about it? Who can say?

Watched on Friday December 13, 2024.

Watched on Sunday December 8, 2024.

Watched on Sunday December 8, 2024.

I missed this during its run, but when the Tara Theater announced they were doing a screening with a Q&A with Francis Ford Coppola afterward, I felt like I had to. I mean, the guy had an absurd run of films in the '70s.

It was fun hearing him talk for a while. The movie, however, is not my thing. Kind of a rambling metaphor with strange ideas behind them, where dialogue and voice-over just sort of explicitly state things that don't need to be explicitly stated. But hey, Uncle Francis went out and did it, and I can respect that, I think.

It was wild being able to look down about 6 rows in front of me every once in a while and see Francis Ford Coppola watching his own movie. That's a really interesting and singular experience that I can say I had now.

Watched on Sunday November 24, 2024.

Watched on Sunday November 10, 2024.

Watched on Sunday November 3, 2024.

Watched on Saturday November 2, 2024.

Watched on Saturday October 26, 2024.

[Note: Still ranked by how much I enjoy them, not necessarily quality.]

For whatever reason, I decided I wanted to re-watch all of the Friday the 13th movies, as well as watch the few I hadn't seen. Don't question me! I've been locked in my home for a year. I'll do whatever I want.

Last time I binged these, I made the ill-advised decision to watch 7 of them, 6 of which I'd never seen before, over 3 days. It will probably surprise you to know that this may not be the optimal way to view films and retain anything from them. My pace this time was far more acceptable, and it has resulted in some unsurprising changes, as well as more of the series sticking in my brain.

Prior list from my brain-wrecking binge is here!

1. Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan

   So much insanity. I love it.

2. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

   Honestly just a fun slasher movie. Extra points for a good dog named Gordon being there. The Crispin Glover dance scene may be my favorite thing in the entire series.

3. Friday the 13th Part 2

   Maybe the best actual movie in the whole series? (Although 1, 2, and 4 are all pretty close in objective quality, I would say.)

4. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives

   I enjoy this one quite a bit!

5. Jason X

   Falls a bit for me with increased cheap horror in my film diet and more familiarity with the Friday the 13th series, but still a lot of fun for me.

6. Friday the 13th Part III

   Love the score, and have to recognize the addition of the mask.

7. Freddy vs. Jason

   So stupid, but the ending is a total party.

8. Friday the 13th

   Don't kill a snake for your stupid movie and this would be higher. (Like, near the top of this pointless list.) That scene might be my least favorite in the whole series and puts a damper on an otherwise really good entry into low-budget, knock-off horror.

9. Friday the 13th

   Kind of pointless and odd at times, but I think I liked aspects of it better than I might have expected. Still, too serious of an entry for a film series primarily about an adult zombie child that cannot be killed just trying to murder anyone that steps foot near his dungeon and shrine compound.

10. Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood

    Adding a note just so 7 won't feel left out: Terry Kiser is there. That's something?

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A topic that comes up just about any time I discover someone has an appreciation for bad movies. Here are my top 4 so-bad-they're-good movies, except in one notable case where it's just so bafflingly bad that I respect the hell out of it. These are objectively not well-made movies, but I still love (3 of) them.

To me, a good bad movie has a level of earnestness that you have to appreciate. Someone had an idea and a vision. Maybe the idea wasn't great, or maybe in someone else's hands it could've been really, legitimately good. But they make weird choices, and a lot of things just don't work. This all adds up to a charm that I respect, and often really enjoy. Movies that are winking a little too hard at how bad they are aren't enjoyable. Intentionally bad just doesn't feel as good.

I'm of the opinion that possibly the worst crime you can make in making a movie is to be blandly, boringly competent. If you can't be legitimately good, at least be an interesting failure of trying to do more than you may have been capable of.

See notes for more details about why they're here.

Honorable Mentions: Birdemic: Shock and Terror, Fateful Findings, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, Hard Ticket to Hawaii, Jason X, Pieces, Showgirls, Troll 2, Uninvited, Weekend at Bernie's II, Zaat, Zardoz

• Chopping Mall

  A long-time favorite. A really tight 76 minutes. Never boring. Features the most insanely on-the-nose line delivered as straight-faced as humanly possible. I love it so much.

• Miami Connection

  The most entertaining bad movie ever made? It's just so great from start to finish. A kung fu rock band fights drug pushers or something? What's not to love!

• Sleepaway Camp

  Almost too competent in some ways, but definitely not a really good movie, although it is insane and that end is amazing.

• Things

  A movie so bad, you'll hardly believe it exists. Unlike the other items on this list, I can't imagine trying to watch this alone; this is a group watch only kind of movie. It's baffling at every turn. You sit and watch the things that happen, and it never gets easier. And it did it all on a budget that's somehow above $0. It's amazing.

Notes: I still haven't seen Jason Goes to Hell, Freddy vs. Jason, or the reboot. Ranked by how much I enjoy them, not necessarily quality.

I embarked on a three day journey to watch as many of the Friday the 13th movies as I could. This is very stupid. I saw that they were leaving Hulu, and I only had a few days to watch them before that. Normal people would let this slide, maybe watch one or two if they were in the mood, and then just watch the others some other time.

Not me. I get a stupid idea in my head, and I put myself through hell to see it to its conclusion. I had seen Part 1 a few times. So, I skipped it. The others of the first 8, though, were there for me, and I went out of my way to sit through all of them.

On this binge of the Jasons, I noticed some things. For starters, all of these movies are basically cheap garbage. The first few do some insane nonsense to try to keep them in line with what I assume they assume is what draws people to these: the Voorhees family. That's why the entire mythology of Jason and how he even functions as an ostensible biological being gets so out of hand. I make reference to it in a couple of the individual reviews, but on the Jason X episode of How Did This Get Made? Jason Mantzoukas asks a couple of times, pointedly, "What is Jason?" And it's honestly a great, and completely unanswerable, question. He's a zombie? He's a child, but then a man? He's entirely and singularly focused on murder for increasingly inscrutable reasons? He's a supernatural force that can never be destroyed, but only thwarted for brief periods?

So, the series starts out trying to play seriously, sort of, at least in its own . Sometime around part 6, it leans nearly fully into horror-comedy campiness. At its best, it's kind of a funny, over-the-top run of tropes. At its worst, it doesn't know how to handle any characters and leaves you having to root for a murderer because he's the only character with any sort of personality, and he doesn't have much.

Most of these blur together. They don't do enough different or interesting to stand out. Very few of these have anything that sticks out. The better ones usually do. The only one that really does anything different but doesn't really benefit from it is Part 7, with all of its telekinesis nonsense.

My brain is fried.

1. Jason X

   This is probably actually the worst one in the series that I've seen, but I love it so much. At least I have fun watching it.

2. Friday the 13th
3. Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
4. Friday the 13th Part III
5. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

   Only this high because Crispin Glover is here, and everything is better when Crispin Glover is around.

6. Friday the 13th Part 2
7. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
8. Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
9. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning

The main commonality appears to be nostalgia.

When I think of others that I have stopped to watch just because I see them on cable, I'll probably add them.

• Clueless
• Jurassic Park
• Jaws
• Halloween
• Back to the Future
• Star Wars
• The Empire Strikes Back
• Weekend at Bernie's II
• Forrest Gump
• Bull Durham

...plus 4 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My favorite films of 2018.

The list is subject to change with new viewings, although I may not come back and edit. Notable films I haven't gotten to see yet: Cold War, The Rider, and Shoplifters.

Honorable mentions, in alphabetical order: 1985, A Quiet Place, Black Panther, Hale County This Morning, This Evening, Halloween, Hold the Dark, RBG, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Suspiria, Widows, You Were Never Really Here

1. Annihilation
2. The Favourite
3. Burning
4. Madeline's Madeline
5. Roma
6. Hereditary
7. The Other Side of the Wind
8. Minding the Gap
9. the Girls
10. Shirkers

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A ranking of the features I saw at the 2018 Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham, AL. On the schedule, but saw previously: Three Identical Strangers and Hot Summer Nights.

1. Wild Nights with Emily
2. The Guilty
3. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
4. Skate Kitchen
5. The Legend of Cocaine Island

Tried to watch a crapload of movies over the weekend when my Shudder trial subscription was running out. This was probably ill-advised, and my brain may never be the same. Here's the tally!

Films watched: 8
Films watched for the first time: 7

Best film: Battle Royale
Honorable mention: Tenebre

Worst film: Blood Feast
Honorable mention: Escape from Tomorrow

Most fun film: Sleepaway Camp
Least fun film: The Stendhal Syndrome

Biggest realization? That at least one of the following is true: I don't like giallo, I don't like Argento, or Shudder only has some of Argento's worst films.

Films below ranked based on a combination of merit and enjoyment.

1. Battle Royale
2. Sleepaway Camp
3. Tenebre
4. Blood Feast
5. Inferno
6. The Prowler
7. Escape from Tomorrow
8. The Stendhal Syndrome

Maybe not the best, but my favorites of 2017.

I think the order is roughly accurate as of 12am, March 5th, 2018, but is somewhat fluid, at least outside of the top handful.

1. The Shape of Water
2. Blade Runner 2049
3. Get Out
4. Phantom Thread
5. Lady Bird
6. Dunkirk
7. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
8. mother!
9. Okja
10. Brigsby Bear

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.