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Watched on Sunday May 4, 2025.

Fucking rocked. Also, I saw it with my son. First time we watched a movie together with a cunnilingus scene, historic moment.

Watched on Saturday April 26, 2025.

Watched on Thursday April 24, 2025.

Watched on Saturday April 19, 2025.

"Let off some steeeeam, Bennett!"

Watched this with my son. Hadn't seen it in a long while and it was way more like "Apocalypse Now" than I ed. Except with a 7-foot-2-inch alien.

Watched on Monday April 14, 2025.

Showed this to my son for the first time. Because it rules, obviously, and also because I want/need to eventually talk to him about the Use Your Illusion albums.

Realizing this is a PTA movie (like Magnolia) that I am going to feel differently about each time I watch it.

Watched on Thursday March 27, 2025.

Watched on Saturday March 22, 2025.

First time showing it to the kids. Also their first time hearing "A Quick One" and their first through 27th time hearing the word "handjob." Got a little choked up during the Faces but kept it on the down low.

I might write more about this later so I'll hold off on going too deep. But: This mostly worked for me. "Pavement snarkily skewered rock clichés, and then they eventually aged into being a generational rock band, so they require a film that similarly operates with ironic/sincere duality" — that's the concept, and it only seems like an obvious idea on paper. The Pavement jukebox musical, for instance, is a funny joke and also surprisingly effective on its own . (The biopic meanwhile seems more like a self-aware post-"Walk Hard" parody.)

Overall, this is still a band that keeps you at arm's length. And by "band" I mean Stephen Malkmus, the coolest and handsomest and most emotionally elusive and flat-out inscrutable indie rocker of the 90s. The sheer confusion (if not frustration) of being in a band with this guy — a brilliant artist and noncommittal professional — is only hinted at here. Perhaps that can be the focus of Pavements Part II.

Watched on Saturday March 22, 2025.

Watched on Friday March 21, 2025.

Watched on Friday March 21, 2025.

Watched on Thursday March 20, 2025.

My kind of movie. Stream of consciousness rock n roll 70s downer. Dustin Hoffman plays a suicidal folk singer who’s somewhat analogous to Bob Dylan but is closer to Phil Ochs. Overall vibe is amalgam of HEAD, CISCO PIKE and INHERENT VICE. Jack Warden lip syncs Ray Charles. Dom DeLuise plays an ant. Shel Silverstein and Dr. Hook show up. So does Barbara Harris and steals the show and my heart.

Watched on Wednesday March 19, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday March 18, 2025.

Hilarious!

We all know that BEETHOVEN is THE GODFATHER of naughty dog movies, and BEETHOVEN 2 is THE GODFATHER PART II of naughty dog movies. Which makes this the 1991 Christian Slater/Richard Greico vehicle MOBSTERS of naughty dog movies.

Andrew Dice Clay is the least problematic stand-up comedian associated with this film.

Watched on Sunday March 16, 2025.

Fell down a Woody Allen rabbit hole recently. Haven't watched his movies or even thought about him for a long time, but suddenly felt the urge to revisit. (I'm about to start reading the new massive Patrick McGilligan bio so surely that's related.) Because Woody made so many movies his filmography is more like a discography than a standard director's body of work, with many ups and downs and outright crazy disasters. I entered my Woody Allen phase in the early 2000s, which is like getting into Neil Young at the time of "Are You ionate?" I this movie in particular being meaningful to me, and I would defend it as an underrated gem against the consensus opinion that it's an awful film with terribly clumsy dialogue.

Just rewatched and ... it's an awful film with terribly clumsy dialogue! Damn! I wanted to defend this so bad! Nevertheless, I remain the sole occupant of the Radha Mitchell hive, hence the heart like with the two-star rating (which might be too generous).

Woody really did her dirty with these words! And she tries so hard with lines like "And if you have never been in a state mental hospital, languishing in a straitjacket, I wouldn't recommend one. Especially the one I was in (sips white wine) in the Midwest." (On the alcohol front, the phrase "single malt scotch" comes up so much that I wonder if Woody was getting production financing from Big Scotch.)

Sucks so, so much but my affection is real.

Watched on Saturday March 15, 2025.

Everyone calls this Woody Allen's 8 1/2 which is why I call it Woody Allen's In Utero.

Watched on Saturday March 15, 2025.

Watched on Saturday March 15, 2025.

Watched on Friday March 14, 2025.

Watched on Thursday March 13, 2025.

Watched on Thursday March 13, 2025.

No hyperbole: One of the more technically impressive movies I've ever seen.

Watched on Tuesday March 11, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday March 11, 2025.

Watched on Monday March 10, 2025.

First time watching it with my son. Six stars.

Watched on Sunday March 9, 2025.

Clints & Misdemeanors.

Assumed going in that a Dennis Hopper movie would be at least a little bit skeptical of the cops' POV but this ain't at all, homes.

Watched on Friday March 7, 2025.

Very weird documentary mixing interviews with real people and re-enactments featuring an actor performing as Phil Ochs. None of Phil's actual recordings are in the movie — it's all (quite good!) songs from the faux Phil. It actually reminded me of the fake documentary stuff that Todd Haynes did in Poison and I'm Not There, only this movie is like something that Haynes would have referenced in his own movies. Anyway: It's stuck in my mind, and will be for a while. (You can see this on YouTube, btw.)

Watching this before bed might have been a bad idea.

Felt inspired to rewatch this because I'm in the middle of Susan Morrison's new Lorne Michaels biography. Pretty interesting book! Apparently Lorne was buddies with Paul Simon and Mick Jagger before the first SNL even aired. Dude was a natural born operator and politician! Much more interesting than the sweaty and sorta lost Lorne in this movie, to be honest!

Anyway: I liked this more on Netflix than I did in a theater. Perfectly fine Netflix movie!

[Decrepit corpse of a man voice]: The most enjoyable Best Picture nominee I've seen!

Watched on Wednesday February 26, 2025.

Watched on Sunday February 23, 2025.

Watched this with my kids recently because 1) we recently saw HEAVYWEIGHTS and this movie is an unofficial sequel of sorts and 2) I wanted to use Rip Torn's character as an example of the corrosive impact of unchecked homophobia on one's health and psyche.

Frank Grimes (Jesse Eisenberg) and Homer Simpson (Kieran Culkin) go to Poland.