Eric J - Review
Demon (2015)
Demon WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
★ 6.5 6 ratings
马辛·弗罗纳 actor: 卡翠娜·赫尔曼 / 伊泰·提伦 …
other title: 邪魔 / 新郎着了魔(港) …
2015 film by Marcin Wrona
Watched
Sept. 3, 2026
Sometimes the real horror is the collective generational trauma of a group of people, but it's also probably mostly being possessed by the spirit of the dead bride you just found on your newly inherited property just before getting married on its grounds.

A really great movie I look forward to having many rewatches with.
All The Haunts Be Ours 2 Owned Blu-Ray Alone
Sept. 3, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of Demon
Steel Magnolias (1989)
Steel Magnolias
★ 7.5 13 ratings
赫伯特·罗斯 actor: Sally Field / 多莉·帕顿 …
other title: 钢木兰 / 常伴我左右(港) …
A young beautician, newly arrived in a small Louisiana town, finds work at the local salon, where a small group of women share a close bond of friendship and welcome her into the fold.
Watched
Aug. 31, 2026
Saw this in the theater with my wife as a Dolly Parton tribute dealio. Not a dry eye in the place when the credits rolled.

I've mentioned before that I've seen this a bunch and I love it, but the best part of this viewing were the whispering older women behind us.

Shelby (Julia Roberts) has a baby in the back half of the film, a little boy with the whitest blonde hair you've ever seen and is named after his daddy, Jackson (Dylan McDermott). It's the only baby in the whole movie.

After Shelby beefs it, her mom (Sally Field) asks her family "Where's Jack Jr?" "Aunt Fern's watching him" answers one of her sons/Shelby's brothers. She leaves the hospital to go pickup Jack Jr. from Aunt Fern's. When she arrives, the aunt comes outside with Jack Jr. - the only baby in the whole movie with unmistakable white blonde hair - and the toddler runs to his grandma.

Lady #1: "Well now who's this baby?!" (genuine confusion in her loud whisper)
Lady #2: "That's Julia Roberts boy, Sally Struthers went to go pickup her grandson."

YOU DON'T KNOW WHO THE LITTLE BOY IS AND YOUR FRIEND CALLED SALLY FIELD "SALLY STRUTHERS." ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

Anyway, great movie that will hold up forever.
Redford Theatre Wife
Aug. 31, 2026 Review Two reviews - a review of Steel Magnolias (may contain spoilers)
The End of Oak Street (2026)
The End of Oak Street
★ 5.4 51 ratings
other title: 逃出绝命街 / 橡树街的尽头 …
After a mysterious cosmic event rips Oak Street from suburbia and transports their neighborhood to someplace unknown, the Platt family soon discovers that their very survival depends on them sticking together as they navigate their now unrecognizable surroundings.
Watched
Aug. 29, 2026
The type of movie that summers are made for - are begging for, even. A whole lot of fun that has enough unexpected turns to keep things feeling fresh.

If you're looking for a good time at the pictures, I can't recommend this more highly.
American Multi-Cinema List Wife
Aug. 29, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of The End of Oak Street
Tony (2026)
Tony
★ 5.7 9 ratings
other title: 토니 / 安东尼·波登 …
An Anthony Bourdain biopic that takes place during the summer of 1976, when a young Bourdain has a life-changing summer in Provincetown
Watched
Aug. 27, 2026
Tony is a nice little finely told fictionalized early-years biopic that is really quite good for most of its runtime, and then ends in a bit of rushed-feeling "wrap it up!" fashion.

It's well shot and well acted and overall well done, but I guess I wanted more from it, whatever that might've entailed.
Alone American Multi-Cinema List
Aug. 27, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of Tony
Magnet of Doom (1963)
L'aîné des Ferchaux
★ 6.6 5 ratings
other title: 费尔肖家的老大 / L'aîné des Ferchaux …
A down on his luck French ex-paratrooper turned amateur boxer takes a job as a private secretary and bodyguard for a corrupt French banker who is on the run from French authorities.
Watched
Aug. 26, 2026
Melville's first foray into color is also his first major misstep for me since 24 Hours in the Life of a Clown (1946). Not because of the color! But there's quite a bit that could be tightened up or removed entirely and the film would be far better for it.

What seemed like a story that could be a taut little tale about a guy on the lam and his assistant turned into a bit of a rambling travelogue.

Still some good moments, but not Melville's best.
Criterion Channel Jesse
Aug. 26, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of Magnet of Doom
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026)
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma
★ 7.6 102 ratings
other title: 미아즈마 캠프에서 생긴 일 / Adolescência, Sexo e Morte no Acampamento Miasma …
After years of slapdash sequels and waning fandom, the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed over to an enthusiastic young director for resurrection. But when she visits the original's star, a now-reclusive actress shrouded in mystery, the two women fall into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium.
Watched
Aug. 25, 2026
For me, the film-making on display here is much much greater than the sum of the story's parts. I was having a great time taking it all in until I wasn't, and then it just kinda kept going. Perhaps, to an extent, that's sorta the point (and in more ways than one?).

Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder are both terrific, and I appreciate how much love and attention went into fleshing out and creating the world of Camp Miasma and its "franchise", I just wish I cared more about the plight of the characters themselves.

(I'm oscillating wildly between 2.5 and 3.5, and if I think too hard in either direction I'm pulled that way, so I'm sticking with 3.)
American Multi-Cinema List Wife
Aug. 25, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma
First Blood (1982)
First Blood
★ 8.0 270 ratings
特德·科特切夫 actor: Sylvester Stallone / 理查德·克里纳 …
other title: 第一滴血 / 兰博 …
When former Green Beret John Rambo is harassed by local law enforcement and arrested for vagrancy, he is forced to flee into the mountains and wage an escalating one-man war against his pursuers.
Watched
Aug. 19, 2026
I can narrow down the last time I watched First Blood to sometime between 1995 and 2002, so it's been a minute. There were a few moments I remember vividly, more that I'd forgotten about completely, and watching it in 4k was as though I was watching it anew all together.

As my good friend Jesse pointed out, it's a strikingly well shot movie - you can almost feel the damp cold PNW winter. (Merry Christmas to Rambo, by the way!)

But then you also get a great cat-and-mouse manhunt going on that evokes Southern Comfort (1981) (lensed by the same cinematographer, Andrew Laszlo!). It's also hard not to see how the beats of this movie may have inspired the pacing of the The Fugitive (1993), or how Eddington (2025) may have even taken a page out of the ending, here.

Everyone is great, but Dennehy and Stalone are on point! (I couldn't not tear up at Stalone's final moments alone with his Col.)
4K UHD Jesse
Aug. 19, 2026 Review A Review - a review of First Blood
The Ninth Heart (1979)
Deváté srdce WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
尤拉伊·赫兹 actor: 奥德·帕夫尔卡 / Anna Malová …
other title: 第九心脏 / Deváté srdce …
Martin, a poor student, volunteers to go on a quest to find a cure for the princess Adriana, who is stricken with a strange illness. Unknown to Martin or anyone else, the princess is actually under the spell of the powerful magician Andlobrandini, who is preparing a rejuvenating elixir made from the blood of nine men's hearts.
Watched
Aug. 18, 2026
The beauty of this film is that it looks and feels like a child dreaming up a fairy tale and then explaining it to an adult. It's a very lush word and I mostly enjoyed it.

The biggest issue for me might be that, not unlike the first time I watched Born of Fire (1987), I was actually pretty tired and fairly comfy and the movie is a little slower and so I could feel myself dozing off to a dreamland of my own.

A rewatch in a more awakened state is in order.
Blu-Ray All The Haunts Be Ours 2 Owned Alone
Aug. 19, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of The Ninth Heart
Wake in Fright (1971)
Wake in Fright
★ 8.1 19 ratings
特德·科特切夫 / Ted Kotcheff actor: Gary Bond / 唐纳德·普利森斯 …
other title: 内陆惊魂 / 假期惊魂 …
Awe-inspiring, brutal and stunning, Wake in Fright is the story of John Grant, a bonded teacher who arrives in the rough outback mining town of Bundayabba planning to stay overnight before catching the plane to Sydney. But his one night stretches to five and he plunges headlong toward his own destruction. When the alcohol-induced mist lifts, the educated John Grant is no more. Instead there is a self-loathing man in a desolate wasteland, dirty red-eyed, sitting against a tree and looking at a rifle with one bullet left...
Watched
Aug. 12, 2026
A guy trying to get back home from work for a holiday break descends into madness from being stuck in his own personal hell, a small town of some of the friendliest, sweatiest, smelliest roughneck folk that he just cannot escape.

There's a scene in the back half that probably goes just a little too far, but it was the early 70's in the Australian outback, who can really say what's right or wrong? (I mean, it's kinda wrong, but it certainly does bring everything to its tipping point.)

Great acting, beautiful scenery, nearly unintelligible men drinking and drinking and drinking.

I haven't stopped thinking about this one all day; one of those "no reason not to give it 5 stars" movies, for sure.
4K UHD Jesse
Aug. 12, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of Wake in Fright
Stop Making Sense (1984)
Stop Making Sense
★ 9.2 43 ratings
other title: 别假正经 / 別假正經 …
A concert film documenting Talking Heads at the height of their popularity, on tour for their 1983 album "Speaking in Tongues." The band takes the stage one by one and is joined by a cadre of guest musicians for a career-spanning and cinematic performance that features creative choreography and visuals.
Watched
Aug. 9, 2026
Total, unbridled joy. An amazing performance that feels both big and intimate.
4K UHD Owned Wife
Aug. 10, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of Stop Making Sense
Old Joy (2006)
Old Joy WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
★ 7.9 88 ratings
other title: 올드 조이 / Antiga Alegria …
Soon to be a father, Mark feels the pressure of domestic responsibility closing in, so he is more than happy to accept when his old friend Kurt proposes a camping trip in the Oregon wilderness. During their time together, the men come to grips with the changes in their lives and the effect on their relationship.
Watched
Aug. 9, 2026
Missed connections. Separation anxiety. Sorrow is nothing but worn out joy.

Good one, Kelly.
Aug. 9, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of Old Joy
American Psycho (2000)
American Psycho
★ 7.8 652 ratings
other title: 美国精神病人 / 美色杀人狂 …
A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.
Watched
Aug. 8, 2026
Among other things this movie does incredibly well, this is probably very much what just completely losing it is like, and Bale plays it wonderfully.

And props to everyone, really, for filling the movie with great performances.

It's been at least 15 years since I've seen this, and I'd say it holds up nicely!
Jesse Blu-Ray Got It From The Library
Aug. 8, 2026 Review A Review - a review of American Psycho
Night Moves (2013)
Night Moves
★ 6.4 25 ratings
other title: 어둠 속에서 / ナイト・スリーパーズ ダム爆破計画 …
The story about three radical environmentalists coming together to execute the most intense protest of their lives: the explosion of a hydroelectric dam.
Watched
Aug. 6, 2026
I'm working through the Kelly Reichardt filmography. I didn't really pay attention to who was in this but where I watched it had a different image and I saw that there's a brooding Jesse Eisenberg; and I think, no, wait...yes, there's Dakota Fanning; and then a Reichardt staple John Magaro, of course. Great actor.

Thirty minutes in, I'm waiting for John Magaro to show up. An hour goes by, and I find it interesting that Peter Sarsgaard has near equal screen time as Jesse and Dakota, but there's still no Magaro; maybe John is pivotal in the back half.

The movie ends, and I'm like "Well where the hell was John Magaro?" and I look it up, and he's not in it. The guy that I think is Magaro in the image is Sarsgaard. I'm an idiot.

Anyway, it seems that even lesser Reichardts (in my estimation) are still solid and really good. Like Meek's Cutoff (2010), we're plopped into the thick of things and it's pretty tense from beginning to end. I wasn't as moved as just about all the other Reichardt's I've seen so far (maybe waiting for Magaro to show up plays into that), but two hours well spent nonetheless.
The Innernette Alone
Aug. 6, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of Night Moves
Dogtooth (2009)
Κυνόδοντας
★ 7.5 226 ratings
other title: 狗牙 / Κυνόδοντας …
Three teenagers are confined to an isolated country estate that could very well be on another planet. The trio spend their days listening to endless homemade tapes that teach them a whole new vocabulary. Any word that comes from beyond their family abode is instantly assigned a new meaning. Hence 'the sea' refers to a large armchair and 'zombies' are little yellow flowers. Having invented a brother whom they claim to have ostracized for his disobedience, the uber-controlling parents terrorize their offspring into submission.
Watched
Aug. 3, 2026
Half-star bump up on rewatch.

I forgot how entirely messed up this is.
4K UHD Owned Alone
Aug. 3, 2026 Review Two Reviews - a review of Dogtooth
Anchoress (1993)
Anchoress
other title: 女隐士 / 女隱士
In fourteenth-century England, peasant girl Christine Carpenter is so attracted to a statue of the Virgin Mary that the local priest (who lusts after her) suggests she be walled up in the church as an anchoress, a holy woman with responsibility for blessing the villagers. But when the priest has Christine's mother tried as a witch, she digs herself out of her cell, a crime for which the punishment is death.
Doulos: The Finger Man (1962)
Le doulos WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
★ 7.8 55 ratings
other title: 眼线 / Le doulos …
1962 film by Jean-Pierre Melville
Watched
July 29, 2026
A terrific and twisty (though not convoluted) crime drama. Who can you trust when you're surrounded by double-crossing, finger-pointing hat wearers? In the end, loyalty is secured, trust is regained, and then death comes for us all.

Some really great long takes of dialog spinning around a room, characters you cheer for (and against), and one incredible car...accident... make this one easy to watch. And easy to love.
4K UHD Jesse
July 29, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of Doulos: The Finger Man
Videodrome (1983)
Videodrome
★ 7.7 172 ratings
other title: Experiência Alucinante / Vidéodrome …
As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon "Videodrome," a TV show dedicated to gratuitous torture and punishment, Max sees a potential hit and broadcasts the show on his channel. However, after his girlfriend auditions for the show and never returns, Max investigates the truth behind Videodrome and discovers that the graphic violence may not be as fake as he thought.
Watched
July 28, 2026
A movie just bursting at the seams (metaphorically, but also kinda physically) with so many ideas about so many things - most of which aren't answered and only bring about more questions - and done so spectacularly well. Despite the leap in technology between what we have today and what's on display here, things grappled with 43 years ago (crazy!) feel just as fresh and relevant in the here and now.

And a beautiful 4K transfer from Criterion makes it just so easy to see how the screen truly is the retina of the mind's eye.
Owned 4K UHD Alone
July 28, 2026 Review "Initial" Review - a review of Videodrome
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie (2025)
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie
★ 8.4 18 ratings
other title: 너바나 더 밴드 더 쇼 더 무비 / 尼瓦那乐队秀:电影版
When their plan to book a show at the Rivoli goes horribly wrong, Matt and Jay accidentally travel back to the year 2008.
Watched
July 25, 2026
A little tiny miracle of a movie.

If you've got a best friend, you won't even notice getting older.
Hulu American Multi-Cinema List Alone
July 25, 2026 Review Two Reviews - a review of Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie