Do two overlapping shadows become darker?

Perfect Days — 4/5

I think not only is life fragile, as stories like to remind us, but also our view on life is fragile. We create routines, our perfect days, and once something disrupts that, the control you've inserted onto your life in terms of personal narratives is set on fire. O, your life might be better. O, your life might be worse. To the left and right of you, as inconsistencies set in, is a more perfect day, or a lesser one. Over here is judgement; over there is connection. (Both carry potential to be the same thing.) Do you choose a consistent life, or a more curious one? They both carry light and shadow, and we get to choose how much of each we want in our life, but we don't get to choose either's absence. I see myself in Hirayama's chosen life; beautiful, until it's skewed by those forces beyond our control, and from there, we must find our way back to center, and whatever new routine is waiting on the other side.

Strange trails, hidden paths.

Train Dreams — 3/5

Joel Edgerton stars as A Decent, Hard-Working Man Whose Love Was Pure And Whose Life Was Marked By Loss. It aims to be be Pretty™, and achieves it, sure, even if the result is just one large dead girlfriend montage. But as a resonant, emotional movie, it fails on its two recurring themes. "Does this act of innocent ignorance curse my life?" haunts him until it disappears totally. "Does this man's life in totality have meaning?" is only really brought up by the narrator, who gives the movie a feeling that it wants to be more whimsical than it is. Where it succeeds, though, is operating at that place between "this is the old world" and "this is the new world." Old tools, hard times become new tools, easier times, in a blink. You could have told me this movie was based in the 1850s until suddenly we're in the 1920s. It's that feeling of "gradually, and then suddenly." You're in a forest, and then the forest is gone, and you were too busy chopping down all the trees to notice. And in the way the movie moves you through that forest, you can understand how people get lost in the world. Take your eyes off of it for a second, and it's gone.

The places I would be

if I wasn’t me.

— I Wanna Feel Pretty by Greg Mendez 

What is given may be taken away at any time.

Hamnet — 3/5

Shit, guys, I went a full fucking year of questioning this movie's title without anyone telling me that Hamnet's the name of the fucking kid. I guess I should have watched the trailer? And now I know, and a weight has been removed from my shoulders. Life blooms. 

The last 45 minutes is a good movie. The power of narrative to process powerful emotions? Putting ourselves into our art as a way to let go? A good story as pathway to immortality? Bro, sign me up, let's fucking go. And then the first hour and 15 minutes is a love story between a manic playwright dream boy and a... (re-reads notes)... a witch? Okay, she's a witch. It's a weird fucking love story, bros. Willy Shakespeare doesn't come across as tortured so much as flighty, a flirt, a flake, until the end when he's, uh, placed his emotions into this play. Had this been 'a story of a man who can't express himself except in his art,' I'd be like "good on you." But no, this is a story about the wife who's left behind, who barely knows what's inside her husband other than that he accepts her, who was strong until love's attachment weakened her, and then he gets forgiven because he's placed all the things he could not give her into a powerful work. The movie feels like a forgiveness of a wayward partner because they are an artist, which I can buy, except the portrayal of him for much of the runtime is kind of just "shitty guy."

And now we're off on another journey.

Man on the Run — 2.5/5

Given a fairly new interest in Paul McCartney [cough cough, looks at Alex], I watched this. It feels like the attempt of this movie is to reframe Paul McCartney as not the soft boi that he very much superficially appears to be. Behind those puppy dog eyes: He disappeared! He disagreed! He dissolved the legal entity known as The Beatles! If that was the movie's attempt, I guess it successfully does that. So while this movie feels like a movie licensed and approved by the official estate of Paul McCartney, a chance to raise the idea of Wings in anyone who might view them disparagingly, I'm also not really sure I understand why he'd like to come across as very talented, and also a bit cold and oblivious. I think the movie, in its way, showcases very clearly what he was and wasn't without the three other people whose names will always be connected with him: very talented, preternaturally so when given the right box.

And gatekeepers, and norms.

Bugonia — 3.5/5

Do I like this? I think it's interesting. I think for 4/5s of its running time, it accurately captures the faith of knowing without not quite knowing; trying to hold on tight to a barely graspable idea. I think the ending is much bolder and less ambiguous than most people might have gone for; I think others would have chosen an easier way out. I think it proves that Yorgos Lanthimos is always a compelling director worthy of being watched. But also I'm not sure what to think. It reminds me of when I watched 'Poor Things,' where there was this feeling that there should be something bigger here, a larger analysis to be gleaned, a thing to take out of the theater into conversations. But it all felt like it was right there on the page? They both are movies that makes not obvious choices while also feeling obvious. 

Also the alien spaceship was shaped like a jellyfish and I saw a jellyfish, bro, it was in my dream, bro, we saw the same thing, bro, the collective consciousness, bro.

Like a knight, but sadder.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms — 4.5/5

I am such a fucking sucker for kind-hearted people, "so shines a good deed in a weary world"-type shit. I am touched profoundly when I watch the things that execute this well; I have a cosmic feeling coursing through me, something in my core starts vibrating, indicating to me that above all things, in a world of middle paths and grey areas and unknowns and both sides have a point, that there is a right choice and a true path that cuts straight down the middle, like a knife in the heart of man. This show brings me to that, while also being charming and funny!! Peter Claffey has such a gentleness to him, the spirit of Andre the Giant if not the inherent idiosyncrasy. It is a thing that is so good that I don't really need any more of it, lest the purity gets stained.

A straight line

speeding through a world of middles.

Pretty sure he used to be a terrorist.

Wonder Man — 3.5/5

Feels fresh, feels distinct, feels smart to bring back Ben Kingsley in his delightful role as Trevor Slattery. It builds a unique world. And I'm not sure I like the guy in the middle of it? He's anxious, he's selfish, and, like, not in a fun way. You can see the seeds of 'typical movie star as superhero,' but it lacks the overt charm for that to work. He's too serious. You kind of need a Marvel-styled characterization to anchor this, a Chris Pratt-styled 'talented idiot at the center.' But it's just 'wounded boy at the center' — he's an actor, not a star. So then Trevor becomes the much-needed partner for that personality. By the penultimate episode, as Trevor starts to take a backseat, I realized that I'm not sure I really care to see this guy again. Which is kind of inverse to the Marvel experiment, no? Not even the movies, just the entire character-driven industrial complex of their entire organization. Stories as vehicles for characters you want to return to over and over again. And while this was good, and enjoyable, I'm not really that excited for where Wonder Man shows up next.

Ay shawty, let me holler at you.

The 2026 Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts — varied/5

The Three Sisters — fine, 2.5/5
Forevergreen — bad, 2/5
Butterfly — bad, 2/5
The Girl Who Cried Pearls — beautiful, good, and then bad, 3/5
The Retirement Plan — good, 3.5/5

and then a special airing of Eiru, which I enjoyed well enough, 3/5

Overall, and as usual, amazed that these chosen movies are deemed the best we have to offer. 

 

When he do the wiggle.

Burlesque — 2.5/5

A silly little thing where a woman of indomitable self-belief enters others' orbits, makes their lives better against their will, makes admirers of enemies, lets bad men down gently, and apologizes for nothing. Why would she? Everyone is better for having known her, so as long as that continues to be true, bad actions are then turned good and no questions need be asked of herself. In my future treatise on the Age of Assholes in which we currently reside, 2010 may have been the starting point.

Failed in respect of fellowship.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World — 3/5

Exciting Adventures At Sea. Tbf, it made ocean combat seem thrilling, and it made me feel that if I were to be living in the 1800s, reading something like this by candelight, I would be absolutely compelled. But also somewhere between now and when it came out in 2003, I feel like this movie has built a slow burn of cultural appreciation that led me to watch it in the first place, but also led me to believe there was something more here. Not really. It feels like a series of short stories that altogether form a larger story, and I guess that's fine enough 4 me.

Second chances to the elderly.

F1 — 3/5

All these years later, Hollywood figured out that we like Brad Pitt when he's charming. It's fun! For the first half anyway. But then you start to think that the movie's about more than him, like maybe about teamwork and mentoring new talent, but nah, he outweighs everyone, Kerry Condon the only one who can keep up with him in the charm offensive. He's a movie star, that's what movie stars do, they anchor a big production; sometimes that means slowing it down. 

Who would want to survive on their own?

Predator: Badlands — 3/5

Five minutes in, and I realized I had very strong opinions about what this franchise should be. I don't like that they have a name ("Yautja," dafuq), I don't like they have cultural traditions. All I need to know is that these are the baddest dudes alibe (sic). They have cool masks. They hunt for sport. And you are the target. Tell that same story over and over again, and I will keep showing up. But you know what, guys, it won me over!! Broken android and a broken alien trying to be better than what life has dictated for them. It's woke Predator with a manic pixie synthetic girl and it's a little annoying and a lot of fun. The fuck do I know.

So that I can find this later.

Keywords: Peter Pan, poem, Wendy, mom