Been meaning to give this a rewatch since finishing The World is Yours, Glenn Kenny’s excellent book on the film, last month. A few stray thoughts on a movie near and dear to my heart that I’ve seen way too many times:

The book notes Pacino’s insistence on doing multiple takes, including some to warm up, something which exasperated his collaborators but is interesting to note in light of his performance here. Particularly during his outbursts, you can see how…

On the last day before my Disney+ subscription expired, I decided to revisit what is likely my favourite live action film that Disney proper ever produced. The genius of this movie is that it understands that realism was never in reach for its state of the art for 1982 special effects, so instead it embraces their limitations wholeheartedly. The set pieces have a purified linear sense of movement. The cyberscapes in which most of this movie is set are abstracted…

Yesterday somebody on Bluesky was posting about the failed congressional campaign of Shirley Temple, who was defeated in the primary by moderate Republican Pete McCloskey, who somebody else posted about noting that despite his stance against the Vietnam War, suggested declaring war on North Korea to strengthen the US’s negotiating position during the USS Pueblo incident. And then I hopped over to Wikipedia to do a bit of reading, as this is an event at least in my perception has…

I would not call this one of Jimmy Stewart's best films, but it does make good use of his aw shucks likability and especially that quiver in his voice when his soul is unwavering in its conviction even when his body and mind try to fill him with doubt. Stewart heads also appreciate his old man makeup at the bookends and the terrible beard he grows to evoke the horrors of solitary confinement. I'll also disclose that I picked this…