# Moviegoing with Bill
> Movie reviews and thoughts on the culture of moviegoing, from Hollywood South's independent film critic.
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## Pages
### About
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/about/
Last updated: 2026-08-10T06:05:15.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
It could be this blog's modus operandi of sorts, but I think of film criticism not as gate-keeping or even as something to be written with "consumers" in mind. Personally, all art is worth the time to think about, and that includes movies, even and especially the assembly line types. Reviews, criticism, or however we prefer to call the writing, I think of them as parts of an ongoing conversation that curates and encourages all the same.
If films can be thought of as mirrors held up to the world (which is arguable), does it make watching and talking about them acts of vanity? Maybe, and that could be ok. How else are we to learn about ourselves, others, and the relationships between them? It's a dialogue that's spoken, written, acted out, and tangible to no end. It's "pieces of time" to engage with over and over again.
A still from the "pieces of time" speech in Peter Bogdanovich's film **Nickelodeon*.
I've tossed and turned about my writing, blog after blog, for a long while now, and have reached the partial understanding that reviews are never finite, and that these conversation starters or continuations should be allowed to never conclude. There's comfort and fun in that.
Here at Moviegoing with Bill, readers and moviegoers alike will find my thoughts on movies as being like talking film with me, [Bill Arceneaux](https://www.billarceneaux.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), from before a screening to afterward, while hanging around the theater lobby or on the walk home. "An incredible simulation," maybe.
Previous publications that I've worked with.
It's always been a goal of mine to contribute, in some way, to moviegoing culture. To get people out of their bubbles and into a cinema, whether brick-and-mortar or home-based. To escape into something to be chewed on later. To talk with friends, family, and neighbors alike.
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---
Contact: [binxmoviegoer@duck.com](mailto: binxmoviegoer@duck.com) \- anytime.
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---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### BLOGROLL (and people/places/things I like)
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/blogroll/
Last updated: 2026-02-19T16:44:28.000Z
[WhoDatJedi Podcast | whodatjediAnother Star Wars podcast! From New Orleans!PodbeanPodBean Development](https://whodatjedi.podbean.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[SwampflixNew Orleans film blog & podcastSwampflixswampflix](https://swampflix.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[The FlytrapFeminist cultural criticism against the algorithmThe Flytrap](https://the-flytrap.ghost.io/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[Flaming Hydraa fiery writer-owned cooperativeFlaming HydraA.J. Daulerio](https://flaminghydra.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[The Film MavenNot an influencer, just an overworked, underpaid entertainment journalist talking about movies and what you should spend your money on.The Film MavenKristen Lopez](https://thefilmmaven.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[FUTURE SHOCK VIDEO](https://futureshockvideo.biz/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[ANTIGRAVITY Magazine - Your New Orleans Alternative to Culture.Your New Orleans Alternative to Culture.ANTIGRAVITY Magazine - Your New Orleans Alternative to Culture.the ANTIGRAVITY VOTER GUIDE TEAM](https://antigravitymagazine.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[SEFCAThe SouthEastern Film Critics Association is to represent–as an impartial, organized working unit–the profession of film criticism, and to recognize the highest creative achievements in the field of motion pictures, and thereby to uphold the integrity and significance of film criticism.
SEFCAOur Mission](https://www.sefca.net/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[Watch - Inside the ArthouseWatch or Listen to Inside the ArthouseInside the Arthousestephaniestarlightmarketingllc.com](https://insidethearthouse.com/watch/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[Formerly DangerousThe all-purpose home of critic and screenwriter Drew McWeenyFormerly Dangerous](https://www.drewmcweeny.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[Hope For Film | Ted Hope | SubstackWe need a vibrant alternative to mainstream culture, especially a non-dependent cinema ecosystem. Let’s build it together & examine what got us here in the first place -- including how we can each build our own sustainable & generative creative practices. Click to read Hope For Film, by Ted Hope, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.Hope For FilmTed Hope](https://tedhope.substack.com/)
[Breakfast All Day movie reviewsChristy Lemire and Alonso Duralde are longtime film critics who nourish your eyes and ears with twice-weekly reviews and movie/TV/pop culture discussions. Join us LIVE every Friday at Noon Pacific time. We’d love it if you’d subscribe and hit that bell button to join our community of engaged, passionate film fans. We used to be What the Flick?! Want to review a movie with us? Here’s how: We offer a service at Breakfast All Day called Table for One. You pick a film, we all talk about it together, then we send you the video to enjoy. It’s been so much fun and a great way to get to know our viewers better. To find out more about scheduling and pricing, email us at bfastalldaypod@gmail.com. For longer versions of our reviews, news discussions and more, listen to our Breakfast All Day podcast, here and in all the podcast places: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/breakfast-all-day/id1448539528 For ad sales opportunities, please contact us at bfastalldaypod@gmail.com.YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastAllDay?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[MZS PressThe arts bookstore from Matt Zoller Seitz, the film and TV critic (for RogerEbert.com and Vulture/New York Magazine) and the author of NYT bestselling books The Wes Anderson Collection, Mad Men Carousel, and The Sopranos Sessions and the only place to find The Deadwood Bible: A Lie Agreed Upon…MZS PressJudith Carter Executive Director](https://mzs.press/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[“You Saved One of My Best Pictures”: My Adventures with Peter Bogdanovich and his Lost, Last Picture ShowA story about a fan, his favorite filmmaker, and an eBay miracle changing the direction of film history.Tremble...Sigh...Wonder...iamjameskenney](https://tremblesighwonder.com/2022/01/20/you-saved-one-of-my-best-pictures-my-adventures-with-peter-bogdanovichs-lost-last-picture-show/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[https://www.patreon.com/honorszombie](https://www.patreon.com/c/honorszombie/posts?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) \- Scout Tafoya's page on Patreon
[AIRTIMEAirtime Online is an experimental and alternative streaming space hosting newly produced or existing visual projects by emerging and established artists. The online platform aims to share what we find inspiring with a global audience while highlighting one work at a time, paying detailed attention to the world created around the work, and storytelling.](https://airtime.world/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[It’s the PicturesA weekly entertainment newsletter on movies, television, and anime. An extension of the It’s the Pictures podcast.It's the Pictures](https://www.itsthepictures.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
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## Posts
### Selections from the 2026 Green Film Fest of San Francisco, Part 1
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/green-sf-2026-part1/
Last updated: 2026-10-13T13:12:23.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
As with the past few years, I've been happy to review films from the Green Film Festival of San Francisco - an in-person and virtual showcase for eco-friendly and environmentally conscious narrative and documentary movies. And so, of course, 2026 is no exception.
Over three posts, I'll go over six features and two shorts that, for differing reasons, best represent the programming of the fest, the messaging of the films, and the filmmaking behind the stories.
The Green Film Festival of San Francisco takes place from 10/15 to 10/22\. Click over to its [official website](https://greenfest2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) for the full lineup, online streaming options, and more.
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Movies like *Hen* aren't few and far between, despite its titular, non-human character or, rather, as few and far between as we think. The closest tale that comes to mind, somewhat, is David Lynch's most sentimental and, likely, best film, *The Straight Story*, which follows the familiar trope or genre of an individual going on an adventure and getting caught up a little in the storied webs of other people. *Hen* has the same absurdist bent by the very nature of following the world through the wandering and hyper-alert eyes of a chicken, but also shares with Lynch's work on the whole a thin veil of peace between a universe in the dark.
With *Hen*, an egg drops into a factory farm, cracks open, and releases a dark-haired bird who, by appearance, is set free and given rein to explore a region of Greece, wherein she learns of itself, what it's capable of, and what it ultimately wants in its own life. Beautifully, this is no cartoon or children's tale, as the animal is forced to witness strife and startling scenarios of human design. Personally speaking, this is, at least story-wise, on the level with the intense vibes of the actual animated movie *Zootopia* (yes, I consider that film a kind of horror).
Transplanting that film's attitudes with dramatic stakes, the poultry in *Hen* takes on a role of judgment at times, shifting from punishment to reward at times, even if by accidental serendipity, on the people she encounters and the actions she sees. I don't wish to give much away about what the humans do, except to suggest that there's some amazing awareness, awful atrocity, and awkward accountability afoot. From one farm to another, from one type of cruelty to another, the lead of *Hen* just wants to be itself and do what comes naturally, and be a mother.
There is darkness along this road, and in shocking brutality. There is also humor, which balances oddly with the chaos this film is accustomed to. Still, there's plenty to peck at in *Hen*, and thankfully it's not all pebbles. This is, indeed, a "straight story."
It's just led along by a chicken. **4/5**
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---
Oh, the tribulations of the wealthy. Oh, the woes of the treasured. *Don't Be Prey* doesn't earn any favors, in the current political climate or in any era, really, by being about a rich man who swims across sea channels to find happiness and get closer to himself. It does, however, maintain its strokes with easy and rhythmic tension, drawing not from personality so much as from genuine care for fellow people.
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It follows a man who has spent his life accumulating money, trying to do right by those who helped him along the way, only to falter under the pressures of industry and the anguish of mental illness. Under the impression he needed a realignment of control, he sets out to train himself for marathon swimming, with the first goal being that of the English Channel. Armed with a Speedo and a boat for his coach, he makes the swim after many grueling hours, with shaking pain and emotional shock hitting his visage and very soul upon leaving the water.
This is not where his story ends.
*Don't Be Prey* is set in what is, perhaps, the most dangerous environment imaginable, being the near-mysterious ocean. The swimmers here aren't seen as conquerors, no matter the warrior spirit that is often spoken of, but are fragile as glass and vulnerable as goldfish. It's in this way that the documentary captures its drama of sheer will against the strength of the current. Truly, it is astonishing the depths a person seeks to go, and not for the claim of fun or glory, but for the decoupling from the self to something greater.
I wish the movie had explored that more than the dude with cash doing dangerous things. No, I'm not against this man. By all accounts, he comes off as very likable and extremely generous toward those he loves and wishes the best for. A good person, he is. But where *Don't Be Prey* should've made these things clear, from his emotional and behavioral struggles to family fare, it fails by drowning in swim porn. And, it's safe to say, it's very good at presenting.
There might be a better film that was left on the assembly room floor, but as it is, *Don't Be Prey* is mostly all rah-rah and little bite (though some actual bites are shown, and they're horrific). My body felt a mild amount of discomfort while watching the swimming, so that was something of an interactive and relative accomplishment. What would've been better? The intangible terror of living. The crushing curves of rafting through existence. The paddling from birth to death. The man against the tides. The great metaphor.
Maybe next time. **2.5/5**
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### People with Disabilities Were Always the First of Many More
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/disposable-humanity-review/
Last updated: 2026-10-08T01:56:00.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
It started with an idea, as things always do. It was printed in ink, then sealed in an envelope as a legal document. It was executed as trial by order, as an experiment for a larger project. It was buried and nearly lost to horror and history.
Now, it's being exposed.
*Disposable Humanity* isn't so much a documentary in my mind - in a traditional sense - but rather a chamber piece on shrouds of mystery, the duty of discovery, and the lives of people who were considered "expendable" and "not worth living." We all know, even in the broadest of strokes, most of the events of the Holocaust as permitted and committed by the Nazis, but the origins of this large-scale mass murder, from the bureaucratic to the logistical, were first tried on a population of people with disabilities, the majority of whom were living in institutions and hospitals.
Already shunned and sheltered away from some of their families, this group was considered easy prey for practice and exploitation, at least by those in the most monstrous of thought and authority. Doctors and medical personnel were asked and ordered to participate in testing methods of collective euthanasia for the mere purpose of eradication, and plenty of them went along with it. But what of those who call for it to stop? Is there legal room to conduct the operation? And what about the public?
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Almost as if by cruel serendipity, *Disposable Humanity* connects the dots from Nazi Germany to the present, without ever having to make mention of or even name anyone specifically. I'm not suggesting exact behavior or projects, but rather that the corrupt, legally thin arguments used for doing harm in various ways are shockingly similar. For Hitler, it was signing a mere memo. For others, it's even easier. But it's of no consequence, as the film is focused purely on the people with disabilities who've been lost to such grim, never-should-have-been fates, on the researchers who continue to carry out their work, and the artists who do their best to keep history alive.
As someone from a family of advocates, I was particularly struck by the warmth of the movie's investigation through Europe, into the cold nature of industrial death. This warmth comes from everyone on and behind the camera, from the interviewed curators to the inquisitive filmmakers, who find themselves traversing sites of euthanasia and memorial throughout the region. Some are places easily accessible; others not so much. But every place holds an emotional punch that will never stop taking our breath away.
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For *Disposable Humanity*, the facts lay bare the informational extent, but the film tries to tie it all together with the human factor, and is most successful, despite the challenges of time gone by. They visit the old gas chamber rooms in still-operational institutions that also hold small but impactful memorials in parts of hidden-away hallways. Near-inaccessible on purpose? Probably not. Probably just done with wistful ignorance. Without people in mind.
And that's how it all was made possible. How the Holocaust was born. How you get away with killing lots of people. Choose those of secondary or third class, of little to no consideration, and don't ask questions.
It started with an idea, printed in ink, sealed in an envelope, passed around as a legal document, and executed with the efficiency of a Fanta soda plant.
And now, it's exposed. By people. With cameras, with will, and with hearts. Wheels and all. **5/5**
For more information on this film, please visit its [official website](https://www.disposablehumanity.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### To Dream the Impossible Dream, You Need Help
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/my-movie-starring-paul-dano-review/
Last updated: 2026-10-04T00:41:16.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Throughout Joe Bartone's My Movie Starring Paul Dano, the filmmaker character and his scheming "executive producer" constantly try to scrounge up money for their project, *Bear Naked Amazonians from Mars*. By hook and crook(edness), the feat is accomplished, but not without personal compromise and heartbreak. Bartone's movie, a clever-ish satire on the lowly dreams of Hollywood wannabes, and the friends and films along the way to lessons learned, is light on direct references to past classics, but there was one sly line, very subtle, that hit the bill for me.
A sly line that, in its own way, defined the entire experience.
First, there is Paul Dano. And by "is," I mean "isn't." A dream apparition comes to our main character, a vaping, frosted-tip, lives-out-of-his-car-in-his-ex-girlfriend's-parking-lot kinda guy, that tells him to make a movie and, if he does, actor Paul Dano will show up and make everyone involved a success. Now, it SHOULD be easy to blow off this guy and his grandiose long-shot of a maybe idea about a possible job for his barely hanging-on friends, but they begrudgingly go with it. With friends like these, who needs a cult?
Title cards separate chapters from one another, with short mockumentary (or "mocku") behind-the-scenes talking head interviews skewed throughout, showing just how these hapless personalities fit in with each other, while garage sets and cash grabs happen in the background. *My Movie Starring Paul Dano*, I admit, felt grating for the first twenty minutes, like one of those independent comedies that thinks it's funnier than people will ever understand. It almost - "almost," mind you - gave me second-hand embarrassment when introduced to its cast of goofs in its literal uphill cycle of characters opening scene.
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I'm happy to report - very happy - that it all paid off in spades. My word, everything from the opening to the Dano dreamscape to the jokes to the silly film-within-a-film itself, all threaded together from a loom of cleverness and creativeness. Those first twenty minutes clicked, and everything fell into place, like a Christopher Nolan screenplay.
"Like," of course, but *My Movie Starring Paul Dano* knows it's not *Inception*. For this class of filmmaking, Joe Bartone is at the top of the field. His characters grow, his story progresses by trip and trial, and his ending tightly knots a bow around what should become a fine example of indie storytelling.
That line, from the Uncle who just wants to watch *Wheel of Fortune*, who has the money to bankroll the production, is a fun reference to one of my favorite films of all time, [*American Movie*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R5ZnIkp-rQ&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). Both want booze with soda, and after some sips, say, "it's got a good taste to it." Life is simple in the end, and we all just want some Peppermint Schnapps with our Sprite. Or Vodka with Mountain Dew.
Both Uncles represent their respective movies by appearance and performance alone. They're happy to be around, in their trailers, reading poetry and thinking of Vanna White. When their nephews finally have something to screen to people, there's pride to be had and more to support, before getting back to routine.
It's nice to have friends. To have a cult. To have Uncles. To have people who believe in you and your dumb plans. Because in the end, they weren't dumb. **3.5/5**
[*My Movie Starring Paul Dano*](https://youtu.be/bh3EHovSNn4?si=HCbXnQ9bHOM7n3RK&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) is now available to stream on [Tubi](https://tubitv.com/movies/100058370/my-movie-starring-paul-dano?utm%5Fsource=web%5Fshare&utm%5Fmedium=Share&utm%5Fcampaign=copy%5Flink&utm%5Fcontent=title%5Fdetail%5Fpage).
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### Selections from Season 3 of the "Solutions Storytelling Project" Documentary Series
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/selections-from-season-3-ssp/
Last updated: 2026-09-15T17:17:25.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
For the past few years, the "Solutions Storytelling Project," a program from Video Consortium, has hosted in-person screenings and online streams of short documentaries highlighting various international communities. Upon viewing a few of the movies from the current season of the series - focusing on Asia - the project showcases stories about forward-thinking people in regions of the world that are in desperate need of problem solvers.
It’s progressive filmmaking from filmmakers and organizations, teaming up to enlighten, embolden, and engage.
An “odyssey of the mind,” if you will.
Previous incarnations of this film program covered parts of Latin America and Africa and are currently available to stream on the [Video Consortium online platform](https://videoconsortium.org/solutions?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). If the following selections from this third season are any indication, the world has a wealth of positivity that can best be described as hopeful.
Encouraging? That’s another. Inspiring, too:
***Arubara***
Directed by Manuel Alberto Maia
From the first few moments of *Arubara*, about the fishing community of Arubara Hamlet in Indonesia, my ignorant assumptions about small villages were immediately washed away. First, two women are shown taking notes and measurements of recent catches with rulers and smartphones, collecting data that will be used to plan future sea harvesting and fishing expeditions off their shore. Second, a family cooks meals while the kids talk about Minecraft. And third, the leaders of the fishers meet to discuss the gathered information and how best to move forward.
Indeed, these actions shouldn’t be a surprise to me, and yet here I am, intrigued by the reach that technology and applications have had in the farthest of places. They’re not using the latest and greatest data-collection devices, mind you, but rather what’s available on any modern-day phone. Cameras and calculators go a long way in determining the fate of a location these days, and do so in a near instant.
The people of Arubara Hamlet have fished as much as they can when the short begins, but choose to stop for a period of three months, in a strong effort to populate more fish and thus replenish their most vital resource. In the interim, they make do with old recipes, internet videos, and patience, with prayer doing some uplifting for the faithful.
With progressive use of technology also comes progressive views on religion, as the leaders of this village, in a group meeting, call for positive thoughts to whichever God everyone chooses to believe in. Such a wonderful structure to hold a culture together.
*Arubara* maintains its strong depiction of determination and mind-over-matter resourcefulness by forging trust and by simply being there for the moments that matter. It’s simple, it’s effective, it’s affecting. As lovely a story to tell as can be. **3.5/5**
***Arubara*** will be screening at the following film festivals in the
coming months:
[LandXSea Fest](https://www.landxsea.org/festival?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) \- September 11th to the 13th
[Lunenburg Doc Fest](https://www.lunenburgdocfest.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) \- September 23rd to the 27th
[Green Film Festival of San Francisco](https://greenfest2026.eventive.org/films/6a7c8097673342d45a583898?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) \- October 15th to the 22nd
***A Weaver’s Gaze***
Directed by Abhijit V
An artisan’s work is never finished, but rarely is it truly respected. In *A Weaver’s Gaze*, a handloom operator from India, the aging Faizul Hasan, reflects on his life’s work and labor, while describing family dynamics and ailing eyesight. Surely, making female garments (sarees) is quite the patient process, especially with the machine that he uses. His handloom, adorned with his name, has aged just like he has, but is still reliable despite the wear and tear. It clicks, it clangs, and strings along to the rhythm of his movement. Indeed, an artisan’s work.
This short documentary isn’t a profound film, but a resonant one all the same. Faizul uses his experience and familiar rituals to overcome his lack of clear vision, proving his worth at the clothing device to be as important as ever. A wealth of time and effort is depicted in *A Weaver’s Gaze*, and Faizul is full of both.
From the comfort of America, I found it hard to believe that this man had to purchase glasses from a street vendor, practically picking a pair by chance, and making do for years before finally being seen by a tent doctor. As quickly as he tells his story, the new glasses come through crystal clear, and Faizul presses on as if nothing had changed - though it had by a mile.
Straightforward with occasional flares of technical creativity, *A Weaver’s Gaze* made me appreciate the strong work ethic that comes from years of passion, the perspectives that a craftsman can have, and the conveniences that we take for granted in the Western world. With all the new ways of making products in bulk, fewer and fewer tradesmen are able to pass things on to the next generation of labor. Here’s to the next step. **3.5/5**
***A Weaver’s Gaze*** will have its world premiere at the [United Nations Association Film Festival](https://www.unaff.org/2026/films.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), taking place from October 18th to the 26th.
***From Fields to Flight***
Directed by Ipshita Bhattacharyya
Things like drone technology being used in rural areas to help with farming amaze me absolutely. As do feminist ideas spreading far and wide to old cultures. A young woman, Babita, explores her career choices and family future in *From Fields to Flight*, turning action into a living metaphor. Could it be that controlling such a high-flying piece of graceful technology at one's fingertips provides insight into stillness and forward-momentum for someone looking at their life’s trajectory?
Absolutely.
Babita hosts self-help meetings with other women from all over her region of India, taking her tale directly to others who share her desires and dreams. Babita, while acknowledging that getting married is important to her immediate family, wishes to reconcile her own opportunities first and foremost. She’s strong-willed but kind and polite with everyone, including her father, who is impressed with what she’s done for their community. It’s not asking much at all to respect a woman’s choices, and so goes it with her loved ones. Interesting.
*From Fields to Flight* is a perfect story that encapsulates everything right and regular with our time. Babita’s future isn’t set in stone, but her determination is tough as a rock. If she wants to remain a drone flyer, she will. Should she go to school somewhere else, she could. Getting married? No rush, but maybe it’ll happen.
For this softened male, she’s the role model that most of us could take lessons from. **4/5**
***From Fields to Flight*** will screen at the [Eastern Oregon Film Festival](https://www.eofilmfest.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) from October 14th to the 17th, and at [UNAFF](https://www.unaff.org/2026/films.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) from October 18th to the 26th.
***Remigia’s Lessons***
Directed by Jewel Maranan
Out in the mountains of the Philippines, there’s a grandmother in her 70s, Remigia, who lives in a state of balance, tending to her gardens and listening to the nature around her. She climbs hills, carries heavy bags, and eggs on those following her as if they’re stragglers holding her down, doing so with a toothless smile and a pep in her step. *Remigia’s Lessons* is a lovely and lively film that’s absolute zen and infinite delight. From this one woman, we can all glean meaning and motions about past, present, and future, with nothing lost in translation.
Remigia is never shown with a phone or any other electronic device, depending instead on pencils, paper, and the very integrity of her elderly form, which is amazingly versatile. Sure, she talks of her blurry vision, but adapts nonetheless. Routine? More like out of necessity. Things are as they should be, though things can always be better.
She’s asked about wealth inequality, for which she can only offer up the constant struggle between the haves and the have-nots, by way of a nature analogy. She follows the clouds for rain patterns and to determine what to do next, regarding her gardening and, perhaps, what’s coming for her tomorrow. *Remigia’s Lessons* is ethereal in this way, with a lush visual palette of fog, trees, and beautiful shots of the sky, all surrounded by the calming sounds of near silence.
For Remigia, silence is nice, but conversation is golden. She’s happy to let off the load of what’s on her mind, to philosophize in short moments, and to listen to everything around her. Attentive, she is. Attentive, we all ought to be more like.
An extraordinary film, *Remigia’s Lessons* is a small epic of almost Terrence Malick proportions, at least in its purposeful profundity. No, it’s not hyperbole - this movie is great. Take a knee, open your ears, and listen to the Earth for once. **5/5**
***Remigia’s Lessons*** will have its world premiere at [CineEco](https://cineeco.pt/en/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) – International Environmental Film Festival of Serra da Estrela, from October 9th to the 17th.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### 'Jamarcus Rose & Da Five Bullet Holes' Review: Could've Used More Baseball
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/jamarcus-rose-review/
Last updated: 2026-09-11T22:40:05.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Filmmaker Marcellus Cox, whose film [*Liquor Bank*](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/liquor-bank/) I previously reviewed, tends to make movies that follow a similar thread: the day-to-day struggle to overcome trauma from within the black community. To tell this kind of drama in one's own voice must be difficult for anyone to accomplish, but more so if you're a director of color, as these movies do come with racial stigmas attached - intended or not. Cox makes drama in the way that documentaries hope to capture honesty. His films aren't necessarily Werner Herzog's vision of "ecstatic truth," shooting instead to find the reality in fiction.
His latest, *Jamarcus Rose and Da Five Bullet Holes*, is no exception. Taking place over the course of an afternoon and evening in and around a neighborhood park, the film is about a young man who connects with his mentor from the Big Brother program, using the game of baseball to strike up conversation about past pain and future prospects.
The visual of pitching and catching between a young man and a grown-up, in the midst of a simple back-and-forth on maturity, makes for an intriguing dynamic that suggests the paths of both individuals. Where one is going, and where one is at right now.
While director Marcellus Cox continues to impress, *Jamarcus Rose* isn't without some criticism. The actor who plays Jamarcus looks a bit older than the character is suggested to be (though his age is never clearly stated), which threw me for a loop. He's good in the role (Duane Ervin), but there was built-in confusion from the beginning.
The screenplay features speeches that don't do the actors too well, playing into old and unsteady genre mainstays. Jamarcus's grandmother, for example, talks at length about keeping him off the streets, making her own point multiple times. This too is confusing and frustrating, as Jamarcus seems well adjusted already.
Not to say that a Big Brother isn't a good idea.
I won't spoil anything, but there is a twist at the late climax that was telegraphed from the first time Jamarcus and his Big Brother play ball. There is tension, there is mystery, and it's all at a storytelling crossroads, not unlike Jamarcus himself, kind of. What happens sprouts out shockingly, straight from the ether, only having been set up as a dramatic maybe rather than as an inevitability. Was it forced? Was it needed?
A movie like *Jamarcus Rose and Da Five Bullet Holes* could've used something more profound to end things with, something that speaks true to the relationships between experienced black men teaching and building up younger ones to reach their goals, whatever they may have. Instead, the film pushed more for honesty in another direction, one that is more indulgent than expected.
Trauma and pain are ultimately seen here as part of a locked chain that can barely be pried open, and not as a problem that family and community can help solve. And yet, this is a film of conversation and, at the very least, is one that's very much worth having. No matter how I feel about it on its own, *Jamarcus Rose and Da Five Bullet Holes* has space to grow. And, in that space, many possibilities can exist. **2.5/5**
*Jamarcus Rose and Da Five Bullet Holes* is [currently](https://www.laemmle.com/film/jamarcus-rose-da-5-bullet-holes?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) on a theatrical run.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### Three Questions for the 'American Doctor' Palestine Film Day Panel at Prytania Canal Place
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/american-doctor-questions-prytania/
Last updated: 2026-09-04T14:58:55.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Three doctors, working and thinking together in unbreakable unity, are featured in the stirring documentary *American Doctor*, about the strength and, unfortunately, the political nature of practicing medicine during an ongoing genocide. Right from the beginning, director Poh Si Teng is confronted with a bang, not from a bomb but from a question of victim dignity and "journalistic malpractice." Ultimately, she answers righteously, if timidly, by showing a photograph of dead Palestinian children, as one of the doctors had requested. He witnessed the atrocity firsthand, and now it must be shared with the world.
On September 4th, 2026, Prytania Theatres at Canal Place in New Orleans will begin screening this document(ary), and will [initially present it in a showing](https://www.theprytania.com/movies/american-doctor-2026-2?location=prytania-at-canal-place&locationKey=5&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) from the regional programming group [Palestine Film Day](https://www.instagram.com/palestinefilmday/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), where they'll have a panel discussion and Q&A. While director Si Teng won't be in attendance, nor will any of the depicted doctors, the panel will nonetheless likely deliver a great conversation.
The film itself, while focusing more on thought and testimony than on violent visuals of relentless bombing and gunfire from the Israeli army on civilians, medical personnel, and journalists - though it can't be avoided, and shouldn't be - is pretty damn damning of our various leaderships and institutions, and how doctors have to leave their work just to advocate for their patients and the mounting number of victims. *American Doctor* is about courage, sure, and shame too. And the weight of guilt carried by those who do so much, contrasted with the indifference and cold cowardice of those in a position to do more but refuse.
Charged with the electric intensity of confrontation, I can only offer up the idealistic suggestion that the film be screened on the sides of buildings throughout Washington D.C., in a viral shot at making elected officials, any of them, even only one, view some of it. Of course, this is dependent on Congress being in town and on the job at all. I don't know.
For the Palestine Film Day panel, I ask:
**What** can be done to reach more people in America with this or any alternative movie about what's happening in Gaza?
**Is** there a line between filmmaker and documentarian - fiction or non-fiction - when it comes to journalism?
**Can** cinema really win hearts and minds?
Empathy machines, I hope so.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### Good Riddance: 'Nimrods'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/nimrods-review/
Last updated: 2026-08-27T11:22:42.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Look, I get it. I remember what it was like to be an idealistic teenager. I can recall identifying with music and holding up musicians as heroes. And I love seeing concerts in movies. In good movies. Butter in…
Wait.
The pop-punk band Green Day did, indeed, provide some fun listening before I turned into my teens, looking up to my older brother's tape collection and all. Mud-slinging at nostalgia-driven concerts, music inspired by generational shifts and current events, and, of course, catchy lyrics that made us all bounce and nod in sync - the memories, I tell you. However "awesome" they were and still are, a motion picture based around them and what they represent to contemporary kids, I must admit, is a bit cheesy, and profoundly so.
It's called *Nimrods*, and appropriately so. Three high schoolers who have a Green Day-inspired band they call "Analog Dogs" are easily fooled into believing that they'll open for their heroes in a concert on New Year's Eve in Los Angeles. This kicks off a semi-wacky road trip of frustration and confusion, at least for those watching. We're led to believe that this gullible trio, who, I will agree, work well together as a threesome of proud and collectively self-absorbed young almost adults, are having the time of their lives that will resonate across the audience's board. While I can't speak for the few who viewed it in theaters, I can say that, for me, this movie fell on its face, straight over my bored - so to speak.
Fun cameos from *The Office* duo Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, plus an overlong but well-performed sketch with Fred Armisen, made some of the raw feelings of dreadful dislike for the duration somewhat tolerable, Fischer especially. There's a very minor sub-plot of the movie's lead and his family dealing with the death of their father, and the awkwardness of confronting the reality of moving forward without him. Out of the shameful and near classless use of rock song cues - which I suppose HAD to happen - and poor efforts in manufacturing excitement, this family dynamic between sons and mother and brother to brother are, absolutely, interesting. Terrific, even.
Too are moments when the group's naive dumbassery is fully fleshed out through reality checks from adults, like a concert security guard or, yes, Fred Armisen's motel manager. These are low-hanging fruits, but I take what I can get. And a lovely performance from Mckenna Grace, specifically when she consoles a scared and mushroom-high punk, had my heart from second to second. In fact, the ending, which acts as a curtain bow from the cast, taking place at a makeshift outdoor hangout spot, is the high point of *Nimrods*, because it's genuine and sweet, and not because the whole thing has met its end.
Look, I get it. I'm forty years old and, while still as uncomfortable and goofy as I was in my teenage daze, can only look forward to doctor appointments and familiar things. The fact that Green Day still makes people feel complete does give me chills. The good kind. And yet, an entire movie of misfits and mistakes, surrounded by the sounds of the band's hits, doesn't pack the same punch as it would've when I went day-to-day carrying a portable CD Walkman. Is this the movie's problem? No, but it becomes MY problem when the movie sucks. And *Nimrods* sucks.
Sorry, kids.
Sorry, past me.
**1.5/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### The First Wave of Flicks for the 2026 New Orleans Film Festival
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/noff26-firstwave/
Last updated: 2026-08-25T13:37:42.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Throughout every year, the folks at the New Orleans Film Society bring and screen an eclectic and diverse array of cinema to the local community through various programming trials. At the forefront of [event inclusion and accessibility](https://feaw.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) on the event circuit, they've made showtimes more than worth attending, but supporting too.
Flattery and flowery language be damned, New Orleans is a few theaters shy of becoming an arthouse cinema desert, despite some really great film series and dedicated managers doing their passionate best. This is why hubs such as our film society are important - to encourage moviegoing, to strengthen theatrical exhibition, and to showcase local filmmakers who work just outside of the industrial bubble.
This season is the time for the New Orleans Film Festival, run by our aforementioned film society, happening from October 22nd to the 27th, screening and streaming for locals and long-distance lovers alike. A documentary on the immortal singer Irma Thomas will open things up, followed by independent selections from across the world that will be screening in awards contention.
Having perused [the list of the first wave film selections](https://neworleansfilmsociety.org/lineup-events?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), I offer up an initial watchlist - feel free to click on the hyperlink above and build your own:
**Features** (narrative and documentary):
*The Peril at Pincer Point*
*She Keeps Me Young*
*Beware the Box Folk*
*Loves Company*
*Frogtown*
*King of the Chitlin Circuit*
*Last Night at the Palm Court*
*The Haunting of Pennhurst*
**Shorts**:
*Memory Replica*
*Good Neighbors Care*
*What We Carry*
*The Rougarou*
*The Messiah's Daughter*
*Sweat*
*Scissors*
*Bachelors Only*
*Before We Forget*
*Hummingbird*
Look out for more announcements at the [official NOFS site](https://neworleansfilmsociety.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
**Are you a filmmaker who submitted your work, past or present, to the New Orleans Film Society? Share your story by hitting me up at** [**binxmoviegoer@duck.com**](mailto: binxmoviegoer@duck.com)
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### Movie Night Letter #1: 'Clerks II'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/movie-night-letter-1/
Last updated: 2026-08-24T12:51:02.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
If there's one thing that I, your humble critic and fellow moviegoer, will never be found guilty of, it's self-publishing new articles with consistency. I believe that doing things until and past the last possible minute runs in my immediate family, and that it might be best to lean into it rather than forcing a fix. Of course, this blog still rests on its archive too often, making for a concerning effort from yours truly and a frustrating experience for you and yours.
So, what can a blocked-up writer do?
The one thing, the one tried and true method of influence, for me, has been to press play on a movie and let it run in the background as I make some writing right. Somewhere, I lost touch with doing that.
So, allow me to get back to what worked.
---
What's playing: *Clerks II*
Where: Movie Sphere on Roku's Live Channel
Twenty-five years since its initial theatrical release, and I'm still smitten with Kevin Smith's charming sequel to his classic cinematic achievement. I watched it thrice at the theatre, each time with the same kind of heart-skipping energy that only hits me when seated before a big screen.
Was this movie Smith's finest filmmaking hour? Some will say *Dogma*, but I hold *Clerks II* in high regard. Back to the well (so to speak), he lets the sentimentality and reverence come naturally to our Jersey minimum wage crew, and shows off with some crafty editing skills that didn't go unnoticed (but were likely underappreciated at the time).
No matter what raw feelings that any of us may have had with his third trip to convenience years later, we'll always have number two.
---
Are these "movie night letters" going to become a recurring thing? That's the plan, once per week, with my latest reviews to follow in the days after. Will it stick? As long as I keep pressing play.
---
LINKS
There appears to be another single-screen cinema in Louisiana, though whether it can compete with The Prytania in New Orleans is a tale for another day. Still, I'm interested.
[About Us — Spring Theatre - SpringhillSpringhill](https://www.springtheatre.com/about-us/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Indeed, Hollywood South is just about beaten down, in terms of high-to-mid-profile productions. Such a shame, but does the dream of a self-sustaining film culture continue? I'll have more thoughts on this later.
[https://veritenews.org/2026/08/11/louisiana-losing-most-film-industry-jobs](https://veritenews.org/2026/08/11/louisiana-losing-most-film-industry-jobs?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Justin Cox, *Star Wars* fanatic and writer among writers, uses AI as a tool for suggestive editing and workflows. Should we take his approach and find ways to be assisted by virtual assistants?
[Stop Choosing Sides on AIThis Just In: Holding two conflicting ideas about AI isn’t weakness. It’s the only honest position.Justin CoxJustin Cox](https://justincox.com/blog/2026/05/stop-choosing-sides-on-ai/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Is THIS my career pivot?
[Paid Media May Be the Missing Investment in Your Independent Cinema Marketing Strategy — FilmFrog — FilmFrogConsumer attention is fragmented across channels, devices, and platforms making it harder for independent, small and mid-sized exhibitors to stand out. The in-theater experience is still unmatched, but converting awareness into attendance often requires timely, targeted digital promotion. That’s wheFilmFrogBrandon Jones](https://www.filmfrog.com/industry-insights/paid-media?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
A piece of corporate COVID-19 pandemic response that I approved of.
[Community Theater: Walmart’s Drive-In Movies Brought People Together – but Not Too CloseIt’s a night made for a drive-in movie. Temperatures in the low 70s, a cool easy breeze, a clear sky dramatic in the twilight. On this postcard-perfect night in Bryant, Arkansas, Walmart customers Terry Wilburn and his wife are attending their first drive-in movie in, um, “it’s been awhile.”…Walmart Corporate Homepage](https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2020/10/28/community-theater-walmarts-drive-in-movies-brought-people-together-but-not-too-close?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
The New Orleans Film Society has some words about the state of film festivals.
[Hollywood Follows the Audience. Film Festivals Find the Artist. | New Orleans Film SocietyHome of Cinema in NOLANew Orleans Film SocietyTorie Nugent-Peterson](https://neworleansfilmsociety.org/2026/06/10/hollywood-follows-the-audience-film-festivals-find-the-artist/?utm%5Fsource=Master+MailChimp+Audience&utm%5Fcampaign=77312c6cf9-EMAIL%5FCAMPAIGN%5F2025%5F07%5F09%5F04%5F40%5FCOPY%5F01&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fterm=0%5F-e34cf7d65b-187935409)
---
ICYMI
[‘Method’ shoots and stabs its way to stardomMaking movies is murder. Watching them can be painful. This is somewhere in between.Moviegoing with BillBill Arceneaux](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/method-review/)
[Making THE Urban Thriller in ‘Meta Take One’Behind the scenes of an unrivaled filmmaking unravelling.Moviegoing with BillBill Arceneaux](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/meta-take-one-review/)
[The dusty tragedy of noir that is ‘Anywhere’The independent noir that runs a tragic and intriguing distance.Moviegoing with BillBill Arceneaux](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/anywhere-review/)
---
OTHER LOCAL CRITICS
[Coyote vs. Acme (2026)I’ve been going through a Marx Bros phase for the past week or so, which again has me thinking about how many Old Hollywood icons & archetypes were introduced to me via Looney Tunes as a …Swampflixswampflix](https://swampflix.com/2026/08/14/coyote-vs-acme-2026/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[https://www.myneworleans.com/movies-you-need-to-see-the-end-of-oak-street/](https://www.myneworleans.com/movies-you-need-to-see-the-end-of-oak-street/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[Movie Review: Super Troopers 3Where Y'at New OrleansBy: David Vicari](https://www.whereyat.com/movie-review-super-troopers-3?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
---
COMING SOON (to this blog)
*Nimrods*
*Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma*
*Donut Holes*
*The Last Picture Shows*
A report on Fantasia Fest 2026
And more words on the state of Hollywood South
---
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[Become a supporting moviegoer](#/portal/account/plans)
Have any thoughts on this post? Any questions? Concerns? Leave a comment, hit reply, or email directly at [binxmoviegoer@duck.com](mailto: binxmoviegoer@duck.com) anytime.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### Between Here and There: 'Anywhere'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/anywhere-review/
Last updated: 2026-08-09T00:43:52.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
It began with a punch to the gut and a bullet through a wall, and it ended with nefarious neglect and an act of grace. Everything in between was a noir-ish gas and a turn of several screws. This is the movie *Anywhere*, directed by Adam Seidel and starring the great Joshua Burge (*Relaxer*, *Buzzard*, Buster Keaton lookalike). Writers like to use “a tale as old as time” when describing familiar and profound scenarios, and, while that works here, there’s something more heightened about the film that elevates all descriptions about it. To put things simply, it’s a very good picture.
To put things with a bit more slickness, *Anywhere* is small-town dramatics with short-sighted destinations and scaled-up dreams. It’s an above-average film with above-average performances, from cast to crew to camera, that is just enough script and screen to give itself up to the gods of cinema and the beggars of criticism. Dust-covered, gritty here and there, and surprisingly violent for something that is fair and meek throughout, it’s not tough to suggest or state that this movie is a surprise and a half. How’s that for “slickness?”
At the center of this sordid tale from the smallest of small Oklahoma towns is a young roughneck who has just discovered his wife’s infidelity with his own brother - a dumb brute who speaks in thespian grandeur. Joshua Burge plays the quiet husband and betrayed brother with an intense stillness that would be ready to burst into extreme emotion at any moment, if only it weren’t all held back by an unacknowledged sadness. Not so much toxic masculinity in his case, but rather stunted confidence. Burge is brilliant here, as he always is, saying what he can’t express verbally with piercing stares and tightly pursed lips.
Equally excellent is the performance by Hayley McFarland, who plays the shifty wife, and the writing of her character. She doesn’t appear from the get-go as being a live wire, but certainly feels jilted enough to want to be one. And, by “jilted,” I mean the self-imposed kind. Or the made-up kind. McFarland shows shades of grift and darkness and sweetness in a package of petite power, wielding a chainsaw with the same ease as she longs for the beach.
*Anywhere*’s most shocking and startling moments come from this longing, and are captured with intelligent cinematography, shot by Adam J. Minnick. The eyes of the film move from set to prop to scenario to reminder ever so poignantly and purposefully, never taking over from the story proper but definitely making it stronger by working in sync. Noticeable but controlled.
Tragedy, triumph, tests, and trials. *Anywhere* is just about as timeless as a movie can get. Some places still use landline phones, and others are made up of diners and dives. These are the towns between towns. The voids between life and living. Anywhere? Almost. **4/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### Duh-Damned: 'Method'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/method-review/
Last updated: 2026-08-04T11:03:43.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Few things, close or far between, make me laugh harder than the story of “the duct tape bandit,” featured prominently on an episode of World’s Dumbest Criminals. Brief story short, it was about a Kevin Federline-acting loser who chose to wrap his head and face in duct tape, without any buffer from skin to glue. Caught, he proclaimed, strongly, that it wasn’t him.
Oops.
Similar feelings were felt when watching the slasher-ish *Method*, directed by and starring Chandler Balli. In this little independent production that could (and did), Balli plays an extension of himself - a director who is deadset on making a great horror movie. In his character’s case, it’s the third in a trilogy that features the monstrous killer Tapeface, whose mask is, yes, made completely out of duct tape. Thankfully for the real actor Travis Lee Prine, the covering is more like a helmet than anything, making it more comfortable than the true crime thief of prior.
*Method* could easily be of the Tubi variety, a horror that goes beyond its means only to be an embarrassing if passionate venture. Indeed, there are flubs and glitches here and there, from poor audio capture to lighting most difficult. But, technical issues aside, *Method* knows what it is, knows how to move in and out of its range, and knows how to break loose and go nuts when it ought to. If it were to be on Tubi, it’d be a diamond among the rough ones.
One by one, the cast of Tapeface 3 are knocked off for real by the two-man crew of director and lead villain, who participate in these murders as meek psychopath and auteur voyeur. *Method* acts as a comedy for its first half, with near slapstick antics in how bodies pile up and with the shifty and shady attitude of Balli’s unwieldy and off-kilter filmmaker within a film. His schtick gets grating after a while, but all of a sudden turns aggressively anxious as his hidden snuff movie gets out of hand. For the remainder of *Method*, the horror becomes frighteningly terrific and deviously disturbing, making me cringe and wince more often than not.
I’m reminded of the Netflix documentary *Don’t F with Cats!*, which made me look over my shoulder while watching. Mind you, I was more secure here than there with *Method*, but these types of people, from the crooked and crazy Tapeface to the uber-vaped director, do exist in our world and are bad days away from doing bad things. It’s amazing how such a tonal shift can change one's perspective and grant grace where there was little to none.
Astounding in its last moments but still somewhat cheap throughout, *Method* gets high marks for going the cinematic distance. Accentuate the positives, hide or deny the negatives. Surely, this is the kind of movie that will catch on with the late-night crowd of scrolling streamers and Insta-punks. Bandits be damned, duct tape works wonders. **3/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### Making THE Urban Thriller: 'Meta Take One'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/meta-take-one-review/
Last updated: 2026-08-02T22:27:42.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
It’s easy to say that the line between “passion” and “obsession” is razor-thin, but it’s difficult to pinpoint when talent justifies that very passion. In *Meta Take One*, a cinemaniac director struggles to complete his little opus of a movie over the course of a night, before a festival deadline the next day. Of course, the razor-thin margin comes into play early on, when during his shoot, someone literally gets shot. To him, it’s a beautiful moment on celluloid. To his less-than-a-handful crew, it’s high anxiety. An anxiety that I love to see, and one that I enjoyed experiencing with this gem of a movie.
Drawn up in black & white, with occasional moments of grainy color, *Meta Take One* depicts sociopathic chaos as being on the same level as unrestrained chemistry, that being between director and movie first, and second between director and actor. Making no mistake or confusion about it, for *Meta Take One*, the tragedy is in the hands of the man behind the camera, and that man is, at least, twofold.
Among the creatives in question, you’d think that the one who is a mere character would be the only obsessive featured. And indeed, John - played as stoic and unemotional by Ej Ezeruo - is a director on a one-man mission of artistic desperation. But that mission is a two-way street, shared by his leading man and tag-along Damon, who dreams of Hollywood stardom and to never go to jail (again). Damon is played by Ernest Emmanuel Peeples, and his turn is absolutely a star-maker. He portrays emotion not unlike someone shifting gears in their car, going from anger to distress to comedy, one by one, in the span of an entire scene, without drastically changing speed. This performance is an expression of an actor in a state of pure zen, showcasing without showing off. He’s great.
The duo, getting footage wherever they can while on their way to the project’s alchemist editor, are being hunted by the police and haunted by gangster henchmen in a dueling scenario of “who they would rather get caught by.” *Meta Take One* could be called an urban thriller, but this moniker only takes the film so far. Beyond the chase and past the passion, there’s an underlying nightmare to the picture that only lets up when momentarily disguised as a dream. It’s closer to Aronofsky’s *Pi* than Singleton’s *Boyz n the Hood*, and that trickery of genre is quite a treat.
John has talent, but it’s overinflated. Damon has talent, but it’s under-nurtured. The film they’re making is interesting, but it’s too anarchic to be completed. Such things as they are, there’s only one way for *Meta Take One* to end. And, while it’s a peculiar finale that doesn’t feel whole, it’s understood as being, at the very least, poetic. And what poets don’t have some anxiety when writing? When creating? I wouldn’t want to meet those who are relaxed, to say the most. **3.5/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### Fantasia Fest 2026 and New Trailers
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/fantasia-july19-newsletter/
Last updated: 2026-08-02T22:42:45.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
I know what y'all are thinking, having just opened this message in your inbox and/or browser:
"It's been a month - what's Bill got to say about that?"
Indeed, I took a dry-spell-ish break for reasons I'd like to address in an upcoming post, just in time for [Disability Pride Month](https://play-spark.com/collections/disability-rights-are-not-optional?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). Take that teaser to mean whatever you'd like, but know that I haven't stopped watching movies, taking notes, or even wondering why *Star Wars* isn't so exciting anymore - among other thoughts.
Here's what I'm going to answer in this edition:
[What am I planning on catching at this year's Fantasia Fest?](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/fantasia-july19-newsletter/#fantasia-fest-2026-my-planned-coverage-of-the-30th-anniversary)
[Which movie trailers have caught my eye as of late?](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/fantasia-july19-newsletter/#counting-the-previews)
Read along, leave a comment, [shoot me an email](mailto: binxmoviegoer@duck.com), and enjoy!
---
Follow along with these friends of Moviegoing with Bill for alternative film commentary and other cultural musings.
[Learn more ](#/portal/recommendations)
---
### Fantasia Fest 2026: My Planned Coverage of the 30th Anniversary
I've been very fortunate in that, for [past incarnations](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/zgradefantasia25/), the good folks at [Fantasia Fest](https://fantasiafestival.com/en/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) have let me view and review sets of [feature](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/fantasia213/) and [short](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/fantasia211/) selections from their [always incredible](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/fantasia24features1/) catalogue of international, classic, and obscure flicks. And, thankfully, for their 30th go-around, the incredible times are repeating.
Indeed, I've been taking it slow and steady with what I'm picking for coverage, but I do have some locked-in choices:
[*Our Effed Up World*](https://fantasiafestival.com/en/film/our-effed-up-world?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[*Godhead*](https://fantasiafestival.com/en/film/godhead?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) *\-* from the [director](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqgl9W9vFE0&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) of [*Hippo*](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/hippo/). I'm REALLY looking forward to this!
[*You Are the Film*](https://fantasiafestival.com/en/film/you-are-the-film?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) *\-* the writer of *Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes* helms this gaze into moviegoing time-shifting romance.
[*The Last Footage*](https://fantasiafestival.com/en/film/the-last-footage?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[*Colony*](https://fantasiafestival.com/en/film/colony?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Feel free to peruse their [program](https://fantasiafestival.com/en/festival-2026/program?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and hit me up with some picks of your own.
The event is now happening and runs through August 2nd.
---
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---
### Counting the Previews
The following embedded videos are movie trailers that have, for one reason or another, caught my attention. Hit play and find out why I'm excited for these soon-to-be-released films:
This is the latest from micro-budget NYC auteur and friend to all moviegoers, Sujewa Ekanayake, and is the follow-up to [*The Secret Society for Slow Romance*](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/slomance22/) and [*Cosmic Disco Detective Rene*](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/cosmicdisco/). Like most independent productions, his films have a style or, even, a memorable routine to them. A stamp, so to speak. The movies tend to focus on a handful of people who, in the midst of what they say are fantastical scenarios, spend their time pondering ideas and questioning things, which, strongly, is what separates us all from animals.
His cinematography of New York is gorgeous, and any perceived "flaws" in editing only make his projects all the more charming.
*53 Spaceships: The Code Breakers* [debuts on July 23rd](https://lumierecinemala.com/films/53-spaceships-the-code-breakers/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
Years ago, I was blown away by [*Broken Down*](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/brokendown/). Now, finally, Jessy Williamson's next feature, *Donut Holes,* is ready to premiere.
People maturing. Evolving. Caught in the stages of grief and struggling to move on. The problems of everyday life. The problems we all face.
I can't wait.
*Donut Holes* will hold a [VIP screening event](https://www.tickettailor.com/events/glasspictures/2300309?fbclid=IwY2xjawTHholleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeHKZiMSu7NwRq6SdYTulJT6JLis7EVeF1O1%5FdNKhmOC-GsIovn79d5QWazdI%5Faem%5FyUGvZxLY5jZ-t46MvhtHDA&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) on August 21st.
Why isn't there a movie based on the music of Lit?
I'll settle for Green Day.
Coming soon.
---
Coming shortly: Reviews of *Our Hero, Balthazar*, *The Odyssey*, and lots more.
Stay inboxed, as always.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### 'Backrooms' and 'The Travel Companion' | When Spaces and Places Manifest Discomfort and Delusion
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/the-travel-companion-backrooms-review/
Last updated: 2026-07-04T03:55:20.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
They both kicked off with question & answer (Q&A) sessions. In intimate rooms, hearing the same redundancies, and responding with equal if ego-driven gusto. It's all for their benefit, but opportunities give way to self-sabotage. Quickly. And thus, horror of their own making.
These two recently released films, *Backrooms* and *The Travel Companion*, both independent productions, share grand expressions of self-absorbed and insulated lead characters, whose individual fates could be seen in either happy or sad endings, give or take the audience's interpretation. The movies came back-to-back for me, and serendipitously, were threaded together similarly in how uncomfortable and awkward they became, the more they went further inward.
One gave me the creeps, the other some second-hand embarrassment.
Near-perfect cinema, I say.
First-time feature film director Kane Parsons, who has adapted his YouTube series from one world's stage to another, has almost outdone Lars von Trier's Depression Trilogy (*Antichrist*, *Melancholia*, *Nymphomaniac*) with a display of how psychiatry needs exposure therapy to reach answers that patients already knew. *Backrooms* is no backhanded move against modern mental healthcare, mind you, or even a full criticism. It works as a jumping-off point for mysterious interdimensional spaces to be found, explored, and lived in. It works as an exercise in discomfort, where confrontation is had against a large void, bouncing back onto the self.
In this way, *Backrooms* is brilliant in concept. Where the web series was more about lore and theory, the movie dives headfirst into a crafting of corners, or rather, places within that can be escaped into and held onto for a semblance of comfort. However, as the story progresses, things become clear that it's much less about the setting and more a story about characters. About the patient and therapist. About their hangups and their responses in a disorienting world. A world that is a heightened reflection of their own spaces and places in "reality."
In this way, *Backrooms* lives as a personal favorite film of 2026.
Lives, because cinema is indeed alive. By hook and by crook, movies are breathing things, with minds for expression or cravings for thought. The living vs. the undead. Art vs. zombies. Kane Parsons, at his very young age, seems to understand this better than more seasoned filmmakers who have begun embracing new yet very problematic technologies. Is *Backrooms* a revelatory reminder of true form cinematic possibility?
It could be.
Truer to cinematic form is the space of the film festival circuit, where up-and-coming filmmakers could potentially sell their projects to eager distributors, and, at the very least, be seen and enjoyed by appreciative moviegoers. *The Travel Companion* begins in a lineup of familiar indie filmmakers (I spotted Joanna Arnow), answering all too familiar questions, stale as can be, from pseudo-intellectuals trying to impress.
That single scene is the setup to the rest of the movie, where a would-be documentarian, in a creative rut, clings desperately to his roommate's job perks of free travel, to wander around and tell people his unrealized and unformed ideas. Pathetic in nature and self-humiliated by design, Tristan Turner's performance as Simon is a one-stop shop of arrested development in motion. He's committed, and he's absolute in a surprisingly memorable role.
Also surprising is the standout cinematography, beautifully captured by Jason Chiu, who sees New York and its denizens as a place for growth and boundless exhibition. Of course, Simon clashes with those elements so strongly that his very essence could make stray dogs roll their eyes.
Existing on the opposing genre plane of *Backrooms*, *The Travel Companion* is a cute comedy in the same breath as *Frances Ha*. Adult children trying to get by with a little help from their friends and a lot of assistance from their own lack of charm.
Both *Backrooms* and *The Travel Companion* are about spaces and places that feel infinite but are ultimately smaller than initially understood. I'm not sure which is scarier, as both are plausible nightmares in different ways. The corners where comfort struggles to work on its leads (both black men, for another thread) shrink in size the closer their own literal or figurative therapists (or shrinks) come. However painful and exhausting, confrontation and exposure must work as last resorts for these individuals.
The two movies have endings that can be seen as glass half full or empty, as happy or sad, depending on each viewer to decide. At least, that's how I understood them.
I say, near-perfect cinema.
*Backrooms* **(5/5)** is screening everywhere.
*The Travel Companion* **(4/5)** is currently playing in [limited theatrical release](https://thetravelcompanionfilm.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#watch).
---
Future reviews might be posted directly to the blog without email delivery, but will be linked to in other newsletter installments. If you'd like to leave a comment, sign in to the blog on a browser (mobile, desktop, etc) if you're a member. If you'd rather reply via email, hit me up at [binxmoviegoer@duck.com](mailto: binxmoviegoer@duck.com).
---
In case you missed it, I covered some selections from the SF DocFest this year. With your permission, feel free to peruse:
[SF Documentary Festival 2026 - Moviegoing with BillA collection of reviews from the 2026 SF DocFest.Moviegoing with BillBill Arceneaux](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/tag/sfdocfest26/)
I appreciate y'all being readers and fellow moviegoers! If you've been waiting to sign up for a membership or upgrade a current one, do so at your convenience - some good exclusives are on the way.
Coming soon:
*The Bride!*
*Disclosure Day*
Interactive Cinema
Catching up on Overlook 2026
and more
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### Fighting Against the Grain | SF DocFest 2026
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/end-isolation-review-sfdocfest26/
Last updated: 2026-06-14T21:46:13.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Ava DuVernay's documentary *The 13th*, which ties the end of slavery to the current state of the incarceration system in America (slavery in a different package), is what I immediately think of when the subject of prison abolition comes up, specifically in terms of cinema. It's a defining film for the movement, and hopefully started (and maybe still generates) many conversations and actions. There had been other films like it, of course, but Ava's name means a lot, and so does her technique for drawing empathy and love into a portrait that wasn't so beautiful before.
A gold standard it is.
The barely feature-length film *The End of Isolation* shouldn't have to be held to that standard, nor does it need to be anything but an example of activism that's still on the march, but, unfortunately, its quality welcomes the criticisms. Nitpicks? Technical issues? Yes, and they all add up to a movie that's a bit uncoordinated.
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Its title refers to solitary confinement and the efforts to end the practice, as taken upon by former inmates and political prisoners who have experienced such torture, not to average citizens who just want respect for their neighbors. The movie opens with a performance troupe that's touring the country with a play about the practice, showing an impressive stage layout and poignant performances to match. From here, however, things grow out of focus.
Less and less do we see of the play, and more and more we learn about a few specific prisons and their impacts on the lives of those inside and outside. Scenes and sequences don't quite move together, giving off a detachment from the material and making for something that feels like homework and not engaging.
A sad state.
[Leave comments by signing up](#/portal/signup/free)
The filmmakers of *The End of Isolation* are activists themselves and are likely more focused on the mission outside of the movie. As much as this is a glorified infomercial, the goals of these collectives of individuals are worth everything. For that, I can completely understand just putting out something, anything, to moviegoers of all backgrounds. The people documented, armed with their own words, are kind, knowledgeable, and righteous. They shouldn't be dismissed, and their articulation of history and experience should be embraced.
For that alone, *The End of Isolation* goes far. But what of the play? Not much is made of that, but we do see a prison get demolished. I don't remember that happening in *The 13th*. **2/5**
*The End of Isolation* is playing at the 25th SF Documentary Festival. Click on the banner below for more information.
[](https://sfdocfest2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### Not Clowning Around, Too Close for Comfort | SF DocFest 2026
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/fears-of-a-clown-review-sfdocfest26/
Last updated: 2026-06-01T09:36:32.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Before watching Jack Nicholson in the mid-1990s film *As Good as It Gets*, I never had a word or label for what made me stressed and anxious. OCD. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Knowing is part of the battle, and getting through it all can be hell (it certainly was for me).
A California clown with a clown museum that is being held back from opening, Steve, also has OCD. *Fears of a Clown* documents both his struggles to manage his almost business and his absolute illness, and the experience of watching his antics, issues, and triggers was as exhausting as going through exposure therapy all over again.
In Steve, the film has a subject as colorful as the paint on his museum and the stains on his clothes. He's kind, very nice, and talkative at a loud volume. It's straight and clear, from the beginning, that his OCD is very severe, repeating words and phrases and doing things in irrational patterns to keep away certain thoughts and images. It's painful and sad to watch, but somehow, through and through, Steve manages enough. Just enough.
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On its own, *Fears of a Clown* is a little pedestrian in parts, using a steady but simple take on cinematography to go about Steve's world. Nothing too bright for a while, but there are spots of intrigue, specifically in the editing and the design, that bring to life the kind of inner pain that most people might not understand.
Steve is a ball of fire and a blast of joy, but is always in danger of easily tripping up in front of others - city leaders, professionals, and customers - due to his behavior. Remember *The Aviator* with Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes? "Wave of the future" and everything? That's Steve, sans the wealth.
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Many times, I wanted to look away from the screen, feeling as though dry heaving might come along. Was I seeing myself in Steve? Maybe a little. Is Steve long-winded and sometimes grating? Occasionally. A psychologist tries to assist him, but in this one sequence, his leaps and bounds of repetition and compulsive "rituals" take over the session to a point of no return. In response, the psychologist, sitting sadly, acknowledges his pain and the weight he must be bearing.
Is *Fears of a Clown* a horror story for those like me? Not so much, but it definitely gets too familiar and too striking, too often. That's not anyone's fault, however.
In fact, horror this is not. Comedy this is not. Portrait this is. One that's as complicated as clowns can be. Truly, there's power in this film and its approach. Little charisma but all personality, *Fears of a Clown* pounds in the very definition of what OCD is and can be for any single individual, and the gravity of the debilitation it can have on enjoying life.
People like Steve, no matter how many pratfalls they take, are good to know. Getting to know him, even just a little, might change the course of someone's life. **3.5/5**
*Fears of a Clown* will be playing at the 25th SF Documentary Festival. Click on the banner below for more information.
[](https://sfdocfest2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### A Documentary Shorts Triple-Feature | SF DocFest 2026
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/triple-shorts-review-sfdocfest26/
Last updated: 2026-05-29T10:03:41.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
As part of the programming at SF DocFest this year (and every year), short documentaries are included as diverse cinema of differing styles and stories, perhaps even with a bit more freedom of expression when compared to more popular and mainstream features.
The following are reviews of three such short selections, representing a fraction of what is being shown at the event.
Enjoy:
---
Coming out as more or less a docu-cast prop-up report than a traditional documentary, *Hidden Levels: Machinima* is an entry (or episode) in a series that's produced by studios WBUR and 99% Invisible. Made up almost entirely of video gameplay footage, *Machinima* essays together a thread between the 1990s and the modern-day eras of gaming, and the creative flow of artistry in making movies within those virtual open-worlds. Real Metaverses, without the lost billions of bucks, where anything can be manipulated into storytelling.
The topic of machinima (video game cinema) started out of a boom of boredom and the partying of online pirates, ready to experiment like mad scientists, within widely accessible software. At this episode's center is the documentary *Grand Theft Hamlet*, a placeholder or template for the potential future of the genre. Filmmakers are interviewed in voice-over, gameplay matches the words and emotions, and the history of it all presents a small history of a form that hasn't quite met its moment or, rather, has many more moments to meet.
Cutely, this is a cheerleading escapade for renegade artists and lively thinkers, not unlike plenty of YouTuber propaganda videos that are uploaded all the time, but done more professionally. *Hidden Levels: Machinima* can already be [viewed in full online](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tsrKqrG50E&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), and I do recommend carving out thirty minutes to dedicate to some semi-deep diving into this niche.
Game walkthroughs can be boring for the uninitiated, but news on new cinematic forms is always interesting. **3/5**
---
Coming in with one of my all-time favorite uses of desktop cinema, *I Think About Birds* is a perfect example of resourcing space and utilizing time to an infinite advantage. The technique gives itself to the story, and the story feels along with the skill of the technique.
Am I being obtuse?
Director Johanna Gustin's docu-essay, sparked from her own hang-ups on getting older and loneliness, and her interest in toxic online commentary and the mating/relationship behaviors of birds, is crafted throughout high-speed YouTube and DuckDuckGo research, where her typing and clicking are only matched for velocity by the tracking of her vision. Her desktop is a force for longing and criticism of the information infrastructure of lifestyle video coaching.
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Men yelling at men about how to date and be alpha males, and women spouting about submission tactics to land the best of the most detached. The sheer volume of this bullying and bull\*\*\*\* content is nightmarish, but there's always the birds.
I'm left astonished by Gustin's visual wit, her sense for brevity, and her eye for impact. *I Think About Birds*, I'd like to think, will make my favorites list for the year. **5/5**
---
Coming around to finish things off, after such uber-positive films like *Batkid Begins*, is Dana Nachman with *The Second Life of Freddie Nole*. Vastly different from the two other films in this article, this is a more traditional documentary, with a follow-along and ride-along approach on an average day of a not-so-average man.
The subject is Freddie Nole, a former prison inmate who now runs a pickup and support service for individuals just getting out of the system and experiencing freedom once more. In some way, he's the first person of immediate contact on the outside, who goes to kindly lengths - from buying clothes to arranging phones - to make the first day out the best day of the rest of their lives.
It's hard to call a documentary "cheesy" or too inspirational, though I do understand that some reviewers and audiences might get hit with too much sunshine from this film. And indeed, sunshine describes the film and the man perfectly. This country, this world, and this time are in desperate need of good and positive coverage of people helping people. Of standing up and rising above. Of speaking truth to power. Of putting words into action.
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*The Second Life of Freddie Nole* depends solely on Mr. Nole and his genuine spirit of doing right by others. And, I must say, the movie makes things crystal clear in that effort. Twenty minutes might be asking a tad much for this, but such nitpicks are silly when in conversation about cinema that makes you smile.
I love that feeling. **4/5**
---
These short films (and more) will be playing at the 25th SF Documentary Festival. Click on the banner below for more information.
[](https://sfdocfest2026.eventive.org/films?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### Abortion Access For All! Forever? | SF DocFest 2026
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/human-shield-review-sfdocfest26/
Last updated: 2026-05-28T08:01:48.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
I've heard time and time again how America is "at a crossroads" in my time as a voting citizen. From the Iraq War and the Great Recession to the Tea Party and COVID-19, it all seems to fall on the voters to fix the mistakes that our elected officials have made. And, sometimes even, our non-elected ones.
Why?
Why does it have to be this way?
It doesn't.
*Human Shield* showcases a group of regular citizens who, through care and gumption, protect others - namely, women - from harassment and abuse, from car to door, on a day-to-day basis. They're clinic escorts for those seeking healthcare and maybe abortions, which, of course, is their business to sort with their doctors. Away from the ignorant eyes of extremists, rainbow-colored umbrellas and orange vests cover the clients from forced shame and potential retaliation. It's the most these volunteers can offer, but it matters so much.
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More often than not, I come across righteous documentaries like this one, armed with good intentions but full of filmmaking blah. These stories are massively important to hear and see, especially in the time of the SCOTUS and conservative-made collapse of Roe v Wade, but it's also important how they're heard and seen. *Human Shield* is, unfortunately, too long and overly been there/done that.
It's not bad or poor, just a bunch of meh, and I'm really sorry to write that. Redundant where it didn't have to be, and occasionally withheld when it should've let loose, *Human Shield*, as a documentary, is more focused on everything and everyone, and less on the subjects that share the title of the movie.
[Sign up to leave comments!](#/portal/signup/free)
Still, despite such issues with duration and problematic guiding, the film does manage to be compelling through and through. Honorable protests, brave community action in the face of belligerence, and the sheer heart of empathy and doing what's right give *Human Shield* things that can be missing from plenty of films in the medium. Things such as optimism. Things like truth to power. Things like perseverance.
While mostly happening in states that saw victory from Republican bigotry against women, there is some glossing over of the regions that, unfortunately, have passed heavy restrictions or outright bans on abortion rights. They're mentioned, but almost ignored. Was this a film of liberal fantasy-play? Not really, though the content could've and should've done a bit more to match the reach.
Of course, I'm not a filmmaker myself.
If *Human Shield* excels at anything, it's in its great passion for expressing the stakes of its central problem. America's problem. Our problem. Once more, it's up to voters to clean up and codify. Will we get the chance? Will we take the opportunity in droves?
I hope so. **2.5/5**
*Human Shield* is coming to the 25th SF Documentary Festival. Click on the banner below for more information.
[](https://sfdocfest2026.eventive.org/films?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### Surrendering to Possibility | SF DocFest 2026
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/waymondhall-review-sfdocfest26/
Last updated: 2026-05-27T02:03:24.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
It's interesting to me how, by its end, *The Surrender of Waymond Hall* develops from a story that's been told and lived far too often into a tale that resolves itself with both luck and grace - though those might not be the best words to use. I reveal this due to the film's intimacy and its clash with the common reality of the central conflict. Luck? Grace? Maybe they fit, but they sure shouldn't be placed so close together.
Where the movie opens and where it closes are in two nearly polar opposite environments and attitudes. Following around a young black man, Waymond Hall, as he plans to turn himself in to the police for a crime that he's been running from for a decade, the filmmakers have fertile ground to stand on, storytelling-wise. Such a dramatic moment of peril in a person's life, documented backwards and present, that almost always makes for a compelling view. For this crew, however, there are some unexpected turns and, with them, some very unexpected outcomes.
Yes, Waymond is a fugitive when introduced. Yes, his father spent most of his own life in prison for a similar crime. Yes, his children might have to bear the burden that he did growing up. But these are the only elements of the movie that come packaged with familiar variables.
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As things progress, the word "luck" comes about, and the kind of story this was becoming - one of black tragedy and generational trauma - quickly shifts into a world that's not so bleak. Complicated, but not as dark. *The Surrender of Waymond Hall* defies exploitation by sticking with its subject, stress and all, and only relenting in places where cameras can't go. I'm not sure if the filmmakers themselves got too involved in the life of their subject, but I do feel as though the film crafts the illusion of closeness for all to be haunted by.
Was it successful? Was it needed?
[Sign up and leave comments!](#/portal/signup/free)
Perhaps yes, perhaps no. There are contradictions throughout *The Surrender of Waymond Hall* that make for a confusing picture that is, against the odds, satisfying and humble. Amateur hour, this isn't, even when oddly formed and structured. Never frustrating, never inarticulate, but sometimes the intentions are difficult to decipher.
Naturally, the intentions aren't always relevant. Just know how things ended up from where they started. Be surprised, and live with the "grace." **3/5**
*The Surrender of Waymond Hall* is coming to the 25th SF Documentary Festival. Click on the banner below for more information.
[](https://sfdocfest2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### Brad’s Casa Is Your Casa Too | SF DocFest 2026
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/stray-embers-review-sfdocfest26/
Last updated: 2026-05-25T21:47:37.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Rarely will I pay attention to a review, no matter how good, that claims a movie to be a "meditation" on something. I've likely used this descriptor in the past (please don't scour the net for references), but I feel it's both overused and confusing, like saying a film "has a soul" or is "flawed." How are these things quantified in a criticism? The words have always escaped me, so perhaps I'm coming from a place of professional jealousy.
With *Stray Embers*, I might understand. Maybe a little.
In the immediate minutes of the Camp Fire aftermath in Paradise, CA, two men, Brad and Mic, who had just saved Brad's home with hoses and buckets of pool water, began setting up a recovery site for family, friends, and anyone displaced by the disaster. The flames took almost everything around them, leaving the home and land a dot of life amidst a field of ashes and smoke.
The film begins with gorgeous yet foreboding footage of, well, stray embers from far-off small fires, both introducing the concept of the story and the danger of what's to come. Did the filmmakers capture anything of the horror itself? How about Brad and Mic's heroic efforts? An interesting curiosity that's ultimately not important to the larger tale of being there for loved ones and neighbors.
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Too many post-disaster documentaries will incorporate archival news footage, trauma-porn, and people in emotional pain. Exploitation with good intentions? In *Stray Embers*, the concentration on action and assistance is staggering and unwavering. Covering three years of recovery, Brad's lively spot is a haven for the community - people, animals, and plants - and straight-up a life-saving measure in more ways than one.
Going beyond the tale is the original music by Daniel Freeman and Anthony Doyle, who compose such soothing and somewhat haunting vibes to accompany what has been and what will always be. For this reason, *Stray Embers* exists as a total immersion into the personal, not unlike a sensory deprivation tank.
Not unlike meditation.
[Leave comments and join the krewe!](#/portal/signup/free)
Could it be music alone that makes any work of art get under the skin? Not solely. *Stray Embers* has the cinematography, the cutting, the characters, and the commotion to combine with the composed to invite care and comfort. That's rare for movies. That's rare for documentary movies. That's what cinema needs. That's what we all need.
Jealous?
I'm happy. **5/5**
*Stray Embers* is coming to the 25th SF Documentary Festival. Click on the banner below for more information.
[](https://sfdocfest2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### The Family That Films Together | SF DocFest 2026
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/blood-guts-review-sfdocfest26/
Last updated: 2026-05-25T08:48:05.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
What toxic fans are to *Star Wars*, family is to horror. These two ideas can have opposing and swappable meanings, sure, but I do believe that where one would rather be ignored by its community, the other is embraced and expressed more articulately.
Beneath the brightest of days and within the darkest of nights - sometimes VERY dark - all sorts of things are revealed, from desire and pain to monsters held close. Horror. Sheer horror.
For the Adams Family of independent filmmakers, through genre births togetherness and artistry. *Blood & Guts* documents the exploits of parents John and Toby and their daughters Zelda and Lulu, as they make some gothic and macabre cinema, all the while wading through the tides of change, maturity, and small-town living. For them, family through horror is literal and figurative, but also real. VERY reel.
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A good opening sets up the thesis, and that's so true for this film. Introducing a fine-looking, if secluded-ish home on a hill, matriarch Toby, on the porch, answers the phone. Her husband, John, asks her to pick up some movie props from their lawn. Happily, she heads over and grabs bloody rubber limbs and heads, and places them on the porch near some skeletons and other "go away" paraphernalia. The title of *Blood & Guts* is earned here, but never really factors in anywhere else.
Still, what a way to establish who these people are.
Their films receive praise from the horror community for their resourcefulness, craft, and, of course, the fact that they're family-made. Zelda is the prodigy among them, almost existing as a soon-to-be fully blossomed young director herself, helping to guide and collaborate with her father's many visions. They cuss comfortably with each other and refer to one another by first names. That alone was a freakout to this traditionally-raised forty-year-old, but so was the level of technique and the kind of skillset that each member of this flock has. What they might lack in "etiquette," they more than make up for with talent and love.
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Purely a joyful romp, this documentary is. Sometimes messy, sometimes loosey goosey, but always heartfelt and fun. This isn't an *American Movie*\-level film, but why should it have to be? Throughout, the family rarely sees the kind of conflict that would make for expected dramatic movie watching, but that's mostly because they seem to have things pretty settled emotionally. There's nothing wrong that syrupy fake blood can't solve, nor is there anything too small to have a hug.
That's nice. Just nice. **4/5**
*Blood & Guts* is coming to the 25th SF Documentary Festival. Click on the banner below for more information.
[](https://sfdocfest2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
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### With Skin Stretched Thin, They Seek Serenity from Trauma | SF DocFest 2026
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/clovers-review-sfdocfest26/
Last updated: 2026-05-23T16:50:19.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
With lit-up joystick knobs looking like fortune-telling crystals, the video games at Clovers, a strip-mall gaming establishment, are played in a legal business limbo between arcade and casino. The customers turned regulars come in not unlike at a bar (or cinema), as an escape from the tribulations of living past their prime. It's a paid escape, of course, an illusion that's built by hopes and dreams and exchanged for cash, but it's also a friendly place, home to conversations and memories.
The master of ceremonies (or games), so to speak, is the manager of the place, Jenny, an ex-prison guard who was recently cut out of her job, for which she took great pride. Her story begins at the prison, making rounds with inmates, happily chatting with them while doing her duties. She's a bright spot of sunshine, as much as a person can be. Her badge removed, she ventures into an "in-between" role at Clovers, continuing her sweet dialogue with others, this time in the free world.
You see, the movie *Clovers* is an example in life as a metaphor for life, an expression of a person's station in society, no matter their needs or wants. It's interesting how the camera takes charge, moving and whipping around to direct the documented and very real people, to disguise documentary as a scripted story - a heightened truth? This ain't a Werner Herzog joint, nor a Ross Bros. picture, but *Clovers* does have an eye for charm and an arm for quick and clever composition.
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The other lead individual, a real character of sorts, is J.D., a middle-aged true-blue denizen of wherever he traverses, which is usually just Ashboro, North Carolina (where everything takes place). His face and forehead are tattooed, as is the rest of the drug-addled body he lives in. Mental illness and tragedy have plagued him for years, and he's now a walking totem pole, made of stillness and fragile balance. He comes in and out of Clovers more for talk and very much less for gaming, being as much a people person as Jenny. Kind of.
These two people are cosmically linked in how they look forward with sadness and hope, while being planted in time as smiling faces and sage-like counsels. *Clovers* is at its best as a film when concentrating on their given auras. Trying to tie into a larger and less subtle message is where things waver and wobble.
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Shot in the midst of the 2016 Presidential election and the first year of its aftermath, *Clovers* has an extended sequence where election results are viewed live, at home, by J.D. and the mother of a child they share. Where he is rational about what is likely to happen, she is ecstatic. Life is going to change for her and her own, and in a great way!
If it weren't for this deviation in the story, I'd be calling *Clovers* fantastic. As it stands, the sequence in question derails the movie, which has to play catch-up for the rest of its time. The tale(s) of Jenny and J.D. continue, and each in ways that confirm their perspectives on themselves and their general paths. One ends in self-realization, the other in self-satisfaction, at least in different ways.
It's a movie about the kind of human motion (not emotion) that's stiff and slow as one can handle. It's a beautiful metaphor for the revolving door of American life, and should be seen from both a personal and a collective mindset. Dammit, if it only weren't for Donald Trump, *Clovers* could've gone ahead and moved on from its games. **3.5/5**
*Clovers* is coming to the 25th SF Documentary Festival. Click on the banner below for more information.
[](https://sfdocfest2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
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### There’s More to the Sea Monkeys than Meets the Tank | SF DocFest 2026
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/amazingseamonkeys-review-sfdocfest26/
Last updated: 2026-05-22T10:54:37.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Those ads in the back pages of old comic books. Promises of "X-Ray vision" and hoverboats. Send some pocket change with the necessary clipping, and expect a package in a few weeks or more. Oh, the anticipation. The expectation versus the reality. Magic or manipulation? One and the same?
I wax oddly to begin this review of *Amazing Live Sea Monkeys*, to properly begin to articulate the immense surprise and startlement that I had in watching. Was this movie a trick, or maybe a miracle? This is the best documentary that I've seen in a number of years, and will likely rank somewhere as one of my favorite films of the year list. Mind you, fellow moviegoers, that I am not performing an act of hyperbole. It's a feat of great cinema.
Resting somewhere between other documentaries of excellence, from *Carpet Cowboys* to *Blood in the Face*, *Amazing Live Sea Monkeys* is a tale of light overcoming dark, and not of mere novelties or living, breathing "pets." Sure, at the center of this spectacle exists the little packets of live sea monkeys that, marketed to children, would create aquatic life before one's very eyes, using a mixture that only its inventor and living heiress knew/know. Outward from there, the film is both a scroll of secrets and truth and a manifesto for perseverance and remaking oneself from a bleak shadow.
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Its perfection comes from the kind of magic that only cinematic imagery and editing can provide, crafting a story of twists by turning what the camera captures into what the mind reveals to the viewer. Archives become connective tissue for portraits of dual personalities and how a life of struggle and success can become a platform for hate. On the flipside, modern fly-on-the-wall perspectives are then used, both in juxtaposition to and in aggressive competition with the footage and media of the past, to convey the result and the potential future of those left around to sift through the ashes of old.
No, *Amazing Live Sea Monkeys* is not some kindly and cheerful commercial for the nostalgia of a fun thing from a generation's childhood, so know that and mostly that going in. Know also that it is as profound a statement on human insecurity and living with the contradictions of family and cultural figures as films like *Citizen Kane* were. Yes, I went there.
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Time will tell if, and it's a big if, this movie will achieve such heights of reverence as the greatest film ever made, but without a shred of exaggeration, *Amazing Live Sea Monkeys*, at the very least, has in it the gusto and brilliance needed. The resonance? The technique? The grandiose? Judge amongst the crowd.
Nearly matching the trickery and trade from the playbook of *F for Fake* (another Orson Welles classic), *Amazing Live Sea Monkeys* ought to be taught in film schools as a contemporary piece of well-made documentary storytelling. Beyond that, it's just entertaining. Damn entertaining. **5/5**
*Amazing Live Sea Monkeys* is coming to the 25th SF Documentary Festival. Click on the banner below for more information.
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### Picking Up Apples on the Subway
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/dutchman-review/
Last updated: 2026-05-22T05:20:26.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Briefly, before I get on with Andre Gaines' *The Dutchman*, I'd like to express some thoughts about a film that came out a few years ago, *The Actor*. Much like the subject of this review, Duke Johnson's *The Actor* **also** starred Andre Holland in the lead role and **also** dealt with theatricality, time, and choices. Holland gets put through dramatic ringers that are in one moment vague and esoteric, and in others, unsubtle and broad. It was an ambitious picture, if confusing and frustrating.
For *The Dutchman*, an adaptation of the play by Amir Baraka, some of those words of criticism follow. Some.
A black businessman gets on a subway train, only to be aggressively tossed at by an incredibly sultry - and grossly so - white woman, who is desperately trying to seduce him to a nefarious end. Watching Kate Mara perform this mysterious succubus feels impressively bold and downright embarrassing to me, in fits and bursts, which may have been built in by the script (and perhaps the play), oddly enough. Why the bewilderment of second-hand humiliation? It's the tricks and the trade that Mara lets off. She's demonic here.
She provokes, pokes, de-underwears herself, and makes statements that grow more inappropriate and racist as the movie moves forward. It's less temptation and more self-punishment for Holland's "upstanding gentleman." I'm reminded of the line in *Glengarry Glen Ross* (another adaptation of another play) where Ed Harris, trying to get Alan Arkin to do some dirty work for him, explains why he's doing this, stating, "because you listened."
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This movie isn't a simple, straight line-by-line record of the play, but an innovative interpretation, melding the writing itself into the story, and the playwright himself as a character, played by the always great Stephen Henderson. It's as if Director Andre Gaines is trying to be faithful to the source while updating the material to modern day and attempting to conduct his own fantasy vision of it. I'm uncertain if he succeeded, but I'm sure that it was brash and daring to do all of that.
*The Dutchman* almost assumes that everyone knows of the play, the other versions of it, the original meaning, and has knowledge of its writer and his background. The racial relations theme is clear and as potent as possible, but the add-ons in this film don't particularly add up to much outside of being creative and being self-serving. It's an ok movie, but never as good or great as it tries to be.
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No, *The Dutchman* isn't terrible, nor is *The Actor*. They're just two examples of too much and not enough. **2.5/5**
*The Dutchman* is available on digital, for rent or purchase.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
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### What Happens AFTER a Hashtag Trends | SF DocFest 2026
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/whileblack-review-sfdocfest26/
Last updated: 2026-05-20T03:50:49.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Not in a million years would many of us have believed that more videos of police brutality, especially on black men and women, decades after Rodney King's beating on VHS, would be able to create any kind of cultural stir, considering the volume of media noise that's created every single day now. By this, I mean to describe a desensitized existence that would be indifferent to feeling anything for or speaking out about state-endorsed tragedies. The mass media machine had won, making much of us zombies of sorts, was the narrative sold to us, and one that I bought into.
I'd like a refund, please.
Films that cover social injustices sometimes come with a falsehood of what appears to some as being pre-packaged "hope-sploitation" by virtue of theme. Admittedly, judging a book by its cover or an article by its headline is a wrongheaded but often guilty-as-charged habit, and one that this critic must try to conquer more often. After all, pressing play or screening something, anything, can level a surprise before your eyes. Or just a good movie, like *#WhileBlack*.
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The title being a hashtag is a worthy provocation toward institutions and platforms looking to control black citizen storytelling and documentation. However, this is far from being a poke or a punch to the system. It's the truth, straight up and hard to put down. And indeed, the videos of what happened to Philando Castile and George Floyd were and are still difficult to watch, turn off, and engage with.
"Engage with." It's true, people hitting like buttons, heart emojis, thumbs downs, etc has become a too truncated and poor example of conversation about sensitive but must-discuss topics. Whether on purpose or not, platforms like Facebook have morphed communication into easy-to-understand bytes and easier to monetize "content." And what gets lost in the shuffle are those who made the media in the first place, and those harmed within. From black culture to black pain, it all becomes products to be commercialized.
*#WhileBlack* focuses almost entirely on the black women at the heart of Philando and Floyd's murders by police, Diamond Reynolds and Darnella Frazier, respectively. Not just having to wear the trauma of bearing witness to horror and the unbearable (but heroic) responsibility of documenting it, their lives were forever changed by the sheer reach of their uploads, forcing their families to uproot and move, losing out on school and growing up, and more than any one person should have to handle.
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To this movie's immense credit, it never exploits these stories or uses either of the two women as tools or stepping stones for something "bigger than us." *#WhileBlack* naturally stays grounded and Earth-footed, right alongside Diamond and Darnella as THEY tell THEIR OWN stories, with only mild and appropriate contrasting and juxtaposition here and there. This kind of thoughtfulness is often missed in similar documentaries, usually the ones that lack a certain discipline or general and genuine manners.
Careful but loud, assertive not aggressive, the film is rapturous. It has the kind of honor and truth that many elected (and un-elected) officials claim to have but never will. And, on a most personal note, *#WhileBlack* gave this critic things to always keep in mind: people hold cameras, people watch recordings, and people's hearts beat. Still. Even nowadays. For all days. **4/5**
*#WhileBlack* is coming to the 25th SF Documentary Festival. Click on the banner below for more information.
[](https://sfdocfest2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
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## ⚜️🍿
### An Artist's Cove That's Paved with Tunes and Booze | SF DocFest 2026
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/ifthesewalls-review-sfdocfest26/
Last updated: 2026-05-18T08:49:46.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Recalling my days working in a pizza kitchen, there was a guy - an ex-army guy - who would occasionally, usually when inebriated, talk about alien existence being covered up and, more interestingly to me, the idea of emotional sensations living long after circumstance in a particular place. Haunted houses are real, essentially. He was cool and all, leading roundtable chats over beer and alley cats that would wander around, purring and looking for food scraps. Still, however memorable these conversations were...
...they were over drinks, after all. And, likely, other potent chemicals were at play.
This is what I thought about when watching *If These Walls Could Rock*, a film about the apartment hotel known as the Sunset Marquis in Los Angeles. This was and still is, to some degree, the kind of place where artists - typically musicians - would come to when on tour, after local concerts, or whenever, to stay for small or extended periods of time, and party their f\*\*\*ing bodies off. Described as making "Caligula look like the Pope," the Sunset Marquis represents what was wanted by the owners - a plaza for creatives to converse - and what the rockstars did.
The film doesn't make this establishment out to be a slimy, seedy, gross haunted house (though it might just be), but more like a time capsule of emotional memory. Interviews with Billy Bob Thornton - who insists he's a musician and not an actor - and Slash reveal how the Sunset Marquis made for good times, bad times, and revelatory experiences. Almost spiritual, in fact.
What resonated the most here was the thought and the feeling that places are as alive as people, that memories are tangible, and while time passes us by, it can still exist, in some way, stuck to a person's reverence or disgust. Or both.
What is a drawback of the film is that the sentimentality it tries to convey in the end doesn't come off as natural when compared to the stories of debauchery and decadence that make up the whole picture. *If These Walls Could Rock* is fairly standard documentary fare that has enough flair to flash, but could've balanced the flavor that it ultimately forced. I got more from the stars talking about their own hangups than from the information about the cultural importance of their cute and very lived-in bungalows.
I have all the time allotted for any movie that comes my way, but little patience for unused talent and opportunity. *If These Walls Could Rock* fulfills more than disappoints, utilizing some lovely animated cartoon reenactments and lovelier editorial juxtapositions, not to mention the composition and production design of the interview settings themselves, from bars to junky rooms. Alas, I nitpick. Alas, I wanted more or, maybe, less. Shave or grow, I guess.
There were many tales to spin, the ones about rough and rowdy rockers of privilege, making life hell for hotel employees, and some ideas about the power that a time and place have in a man's mind and soul. Many, yet only some.
Is it a shame that I've lived sober for so long? Should I talk more about supernatural interdimensional space creature conspiracies? Maybe if I had a crummy but wild place to explore. Until then, I'll stick to my dusty yet comfortable office. **3/5**
*If These Walls Could Rock* is coming to the 25th SF Documentary Festival. Click on the banner below for more information.
[](https://sfdocfest2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
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### NOFX? No Problem? Your Problem! | SF DocFest 2026
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/nofx-doc-review-sfdocfest26/
Last updated: 2026-05-14T04:01:11.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Punk rocker "Fat Mike" of the band NOFX has got to be the most central figure of any music documentary there has ever been. *40 Years of F\*\*\*in' Up*, about the final tour and history of said band, should have a straight formula to follow, based on other films of the genre: talking head interviews, archival footage, present-day antics, etc. And sure, the movie does go with that flow for the most part. The other part, however, is Fat Mike himself, attitude and personality all the way.
For him, there wouldn't be any other way. For this film, there couldn't be either.
Mike formed the band, being its charismatic and long-talking member for its existence, taking things with a DIY (do it yourself) approach and a burning need to be free with expression. I suppose, in his case, DIY can be for pleasure AND business, as his methodology toward navigating the music industry proved very well for a band like his, from dives to stage-diving.
There's heavy cocaine use, there's snorting drugs off different surfaces, there's blood coming from both ends of the body, and interesting uses of rubber and leather that are spread (or sprinkled) throughout the film. Mike's film.
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For the first half of *40 Years of F\*\*\*in' Up*, it's suggested that Mike will be an arrogant antagonist, or the cross that would break the band's back, with his open drug use and occasionally erratic behavior. The other bandmates, while they've clearly lived lives of partying themselves, are shown as balanced and mature in these moments. But folks, it's mostly smoke and mirrors, clever and cheeky. A facade of limited sorts.
If there's one point that's not in the film's favor, it's how much of it focuses on Mike's perspectives. If there's a point that's completely in the film's favor, it's in how it uses Mike's attitude to tell the band's story and to direct itself. The opening few minutes set up something dramatic, only to pull the rug out from under to reveal that this is going to be a documentary of not-so-serious approaches to some serious reality and growing up.
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It's ok for Fat Mike to be an idol in his own movie because this is a movie about his own band. He and his bandmates love what they do and did, and through frustrations and fights, living and laughter - typical in any rockumentary - there is still an appreciation for where they are now and for what they've learned, and what they'll learn next.
It's radically close and personal, but only to the degrees that the band allows. And, frankly, they could stand to be a bit less open.
That just wouldn't be Mike. That wouldn't be NOFX. That wouldn't be punk.
Was *40 Years of F\*\*\*in' Up* an excuse to joke around through genre? If so, they did it right, blending real escapades with reel style. Fat Mike himself makes references to classic cinema like *Annie Hall*...while doing Vicodin. And booze. And looking haggard.
Truly, a central figure of any film of the genre there has never been. **3.5/5**
---
---
*40 Years of F\*\*\*in' Up* is coming to the 25th SF Documentary Festival. Click on the banner below for more information.
[](https://sfdocfest2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
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### The Fading Days of a Hollywood Star
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/watching-mr-pearson-review/
Last updated: 2026-05-13T02:01:52.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Somewhere before the middle of the independent drama *Watching Mr. Pearson*, I, as both a critic and a moviegoer, was left aghast at the conclusion of a scene. Despite having under an hour or so of viewing left, my sensibilities had possibly reached a peak of astonishment and amazement that I feared wouldn't be sustained by the remainder of the film. A small cast, a single setting, a simple premise, and already the standout scene has happened. What goes up must come down.
Finally, Isaac Newton is proven wrong.
One of the best features of the year, *Watching Mr. Pearson* might be described by some as a "surprise" of sorts. For sure, this is not a movie with familiar names. However, in all humility, audiences will feel as though they've known this world and these people forever. That's as close to a guarantee as I can ever give for something that I didn't find "surprising," but instead "fulfilling."
Allow me to assure those reading and those I encourage to buy a ticket that the movie, by no means, flies over anyone's head or looks down from a perch. Never does the talent or the crew overdo their skills, chew the scenery, or wear out any welcomes. *Watching Mr. Pearson* IS an easy projection that can and should be seen by anyone.
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It's about an old movie star who, while possibly sundowning in his mansion, has two caretakers looking after him. Posters of his prime adorn the walls like sadly placed mirrors or, for visitors, windows into a parade that has long gone by. They're pretty designs with big words and bigger faces, contrasted with the reality of the man's current state - or role - of an aged man who can barely walk.
Played by Hugo Armstrong as heavy and withered but never weak, the titular Mr. Pearson is an actor's actor of a different Hollywood. He was a professional, he was a stud, and he understood how much movies matter to people, taking on that responsibility with conviction and reverence.
The scene in question at the top of this review works as if it were written, directed, and acted like the grand thesis of its main character's place in life, both in that of others and his own. And there are many more scenes that, individually and collectively, could be plucked from the movie and used as examples of everyone else's persona and virtue, almost as if watching this is akin to a judgment day event. This is my flippant way of saying that *Watching Mr. Pearson* could well be a dramatic masterpiece.
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That scene, finally, happens around a game of pool, where Pearson plays out a scene from a movie of his - about a pool player - but here he's left alone, until a vision of his prime self from that movie comes in. The two knock around and do the business of one-upping each other, while using lines from the film they're acting out to argue one's diminished worth at the end of life. Nothing is seemingly resolved, but everything we need to know gets spelled out with the tools of cinema long past.
Don't go with *Watching Mr. Pearson* thinking that it's a single-acting showcase for Armstrong (though it is a showcase), and don't go with it thinking that the time spent will be for the tears only. This is a movie of surprises, honesty, and accolades. It's a film made by and for the moviegoing romantics, and that's a value that can only rise with time. Rise, and never fall.
Never.
**5/5**
*Watching Mr. Pearson* is currently playing in limited release. It screens in New Orleans on May 16th and 17th at [Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#:~:text=Saturday%20%26%20Sunday%2C%20May%2016%20%26%2017%20%40%207%3A00%20pm), presented by the filmmaker.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
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### Gun Control: What More Can Be Sa(i)d? 💪🇺🇸
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/school-duel-review/
Last updated: 2026-05-11T16:06:15.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
As much as *The School Duel* may remind people of *The Hunger Games*, it is most assuredly not a YA (young adult) movie. There are lines that can be drawn to *Battle Royale* and perhaps to other daring Japanese cinema fare, but as much as audiences prefer to be separated from discomfort by a gulf of fantasy, *The School Duel* is just too awfully plausible a scenario, given the state of America today. If anything, this is *Bowling for Columbine* 2: The Insane Solution.
With Presidents like Donald Trump, with Governors like Jeff Landry or Ron DeSantis, and with movements like "Make America Great Again," the precedent for utterly absurd fascism and violence as ritual has been made. *The School Duel* isn't a dystopic future, but a route to ruin.
Here, a young boy - considered to be of adult responsibility (and accountability) in this movie's state of Florida - is tormented by ruthless bullies and a school administration that treats troubled youth with contradiction and callousness. In one confrontation, a case of machine guns stands tall behind the desk of his principal, all the while he is being preached to about non-violence.
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Guns are everywhere, teasing and seducing teens (and younger ones) with their implications of power, strength, and virtue. Commercials across media hype the military and "the fight within," a slogan that's sold to the public as a reverse way of not dealing with gun control.
In fact, gun control has been outlawed as an option.
You see, to deal with the escalating volume of school shootings, the Florida of this film has instituted an annual "duel" event, where students volunteer and are selected to compete in a game of gunfire, in a twisted effort to cleanse anger from the collective souls of the youth, who are considered to be solely to blame for their mass deaths. The logic is silly, and the whole shebang turns into a televised competition, which breeds its own kind of rah-rah aggression among those who watch, eagerly and startlingly. Gambling? Probably. Pride? Sure. Killing as sport? Duh. And it must get worse every year.
*The School Duel* is rarely subtle, putting American values together with Christian rhetoric and iconography, with AR-15 symbols pinned on top. No Punisher logos are witnessed, but those would've been seen as "cliche" or "old" in the Florida of the movie. The most unsubtle figure is the state's Governor, played distractingly by Oscar Nunez. While he's certainly on board with the story, playing up the opportunistic and vile facade of a leader, he's also the accountant from TV's The Office. Apologies, but I'm just being honest.
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Words like kings and martyrs are tossed around as ranks and tiers to be won as medals, and indeed they are in the end. And boy, does it have an ending that left my jaw dropped. Showing people mowing their lawns while carrying glocks in holsters pales in comparison to funerals for child victims of gun violence, treated as celebratory victories for society at large. They die so we can live? Crowns of a different kind for the martyrs, it seems. Celebrity for the kings, it's certain. Money is spent, time is wasted, lives are obliterated, and nothing is learned.
When the troubled kid at the center of the film puts on a Burger King-like party crown while acting out a duel victory in the woods, I nearly cried. The sheer audacity left me speechless. *The School Duel* goes for the gut and never freezes when its target is in sight.
Shocked, shaken, and shook.
If UFC fights can be booked for the White House lawn...
**5/5**
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*The School Duel* is [now playing](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) in limited release. Also available for rent on Amazon.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### Let's Review the Vulgar Misery of a Most Aggressively Gross Movie
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/f-my-son-review/
Last updated: 2026-05-10T00:01:29.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
It's likely - VERY likely - that, whenever or if ever Todd Rohal's absolutely despicable film *F\*\*\* My Son!* comes around to digital or "physical" (eww) media, individuals will take, in solitary mass, a single solitary viewing based solely on its title. And that's fine, except for the solitary part. As with all movies, it's a theater, occupied by other cinema adventurers (or moviegoers), that is **the** prime place to watch a film, as a collective unit.
"Collective."
"Unit."
For *F\*\*\* My Son!*, that is **the only** prime way to watch it. This brings up thoughts on the [trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVs9wUDgy-I&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) for John Waters' midnight classic *Pink Flamingos*, which was, brilliantly, a one-by-one post-screening collection of audience member reactions. "What are these people laughing at?" the opening title card says. From there, it's just midnighters speaking to the camera, either shocked or amused, but expressing their thoughts and feelings with cuteness and charm. How could this be, from a movie where a man "whistles" from his butt?
Because people were watching together. As a collective unit. Whoever is doing the marketing and distribution for *F\*\*\* My Son!*, tailoring the rollout directly to a more arthouse audience, is doing so with this mindset. [The only preview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQzEbTYcBO0&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) video available is a mere glimpse - a justification for the title - of the misery to be unfolded on others. It states what it is and what it will be, but maintains a mystery all the same. The whole deck of cards is up its sleeve, only to be played when tickets are purchased.
Of course, a traditional theatrical run would be out of the question by virtue of the title alone, never mind its content. Carnival barking isn't by choice here.
Enjoying this review? [Leave a tip](https://ko-fi.com/billarceneaux?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) to show some ❤️
And of course it could never be. *F\*\*\* My Son!* is, for better and best, exactly what the title demands. It's a sideshow freak of a comic adaptation/interpretation, a satirical-ish horror on grindhouse and midnight exploitation cinema, and a torture porn flick that's distilled in pickle brine. It's not that people won't believe their eyes, but rather that their vision is clear: they got what they paid for, fixings and more.
Out of fear of spoiling anything, and out of delight from maintaining its pre-show hush-hush aura, just know that the movie is about a woman and her daughter who find themselves kidnapped and at the mercy of an elderly lady who requests...well, it's understood what is wanted, right?
Robert Longstreet plays the vile old lady in a gender swap role, with the commitment of someone who's not only dedicated to the assignment, but is absolutely humble about it. Longstreet is what makes *F\*\*\* My Son!* hold together as a film, carrying what would've only been an exercise in stinky sleazy style and adorable audacious aesthetic on his arthritic-laden back and gross goal-oriented terror.
[Sign up to leave comments](#/portal/signup/free)
Self-assured and self-knowing, director Todd Rohal plays out his latest not unlike his previous Adult Swim-esque flavored projects, from the ambitiousness of *M.O.P.Z.* to the surprise of *Uncle Kent 2*. *F\*\*\* My Son!*'s story is the ingredient that's foreign to his catalog, but his approach is just the same. It's irreverently awkward with the comedy, blending the morbid with the absurd to concoct a confection that's biting and sweet, if with a sinister angle and intent. Could Rohal be performing a prank? Is he being as genuine as a Todd Solondz (*Happiness*) freaky feature? Both?
Yes.
In its Wikipedia entry, *F\* My Son* is referenced with a link to a page about the Dan Aykroyd bomb of bizarre, *Nothing But Trouble*. This makes sense, though only on its face. Uncomfortable and strange comedies they are, but one was released mainstream, and the other went underground-like. Aykroyd's feature **was** a night of the living desperate (to kinda bring this back inverted to John Waters) regarding its release, while *F\*\*\* My Son!* **is** a monstrous meth addict on its way to the halfway house of a local cinema dive.
It knows where to screen and who to screen at. The title brings the curious in, but does the movie keep them in their seats? Only the brave will know, but they'll know collectively. As a unit. **3/5**
Follow the movie on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/fckmyson/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) or visit its [other links](https://linktr.ee/fuckmyson?utm%5Fsource=linktree%5Fprofile%5Fshare This is very bad. Handing CNN to Bari Weiss/David Ellison is very, very bad.
>
> — [Parker Molloy (@parkermolloy.com)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:hf7ezrajxadu7v3tzcyij424?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) [2026-02-26T23:07:22.759Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:hf7ezrajxadu7v3tzcyij424/post/3mfscridwus2u?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
At the end of the world, let it be known that Joe Dante's *Gremlins 2: The New Batch* proved to be prophetic. We're about to live in billionaire Daniel Clamp's world of mass(ively) consolidated media, automated skyscraper and all. Happy endings in full color and floor after floor of studio infotainment, meant to drown out the awfulness of the total portrait that'll hinder humanity: the total control of culture.
While nothing is final as of the publication of this post, it appears that [Paramount will be purchasing the assets of Warner Bros](https://deadline.com/2026/02/netflix-declines-to-raise-offer-for-warner-bros-1236738005/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), after Netflix dropped its previous winning bid. If things go through, this deal will give the very conservative and ultra-wealthy Ellison family ownership of a large cache of properties, from HBO to CNN, from classic cinema to moderate news programs.
On the face of it all, the average consumer might see this as more convenient than problematic, tightening their options for things to watch and potentially saving them some cash that would've gone to multiple streaming platforms. But, of course, the big picture - or total portrait - is that the vast landscape of our information flow will be funnelled through fewer and fewer hands, leading to the high probability of one vision that'll rule above all others.
And, in this era of right-wing misinformation, where cheating equals winning, and voters are expendable, a deal that'll let so few wield so much is absolutely dangerous.
How do we, as moviegoers, make a challenge to save culture at large?
It's such a headache to think about, especially since these services are difficult to avoid, and the cost of establishing something new can be too heavy a cost. Do we march and protest in public? Crackdowns on free speech and dissent are getting worse. Do we vote for better leaders? Many in charge currently want to restrict such rights and could very well succeed in different ways.
Is it possible to wait things out? No.
> The richest man owns X. The second and third richest men control Google. The fourth richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The fifth richest man owns The Washington Post. And now the sixth richest could soon take over both Paramount and Warner Bros. See the problem here?
>
> — [Robert Reich (@rbreich.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4u3hwe3p7oy3hoy3amlw7rp2?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) [2026-02-26T23:40:47.322Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4u3hwe3p7oy3hoy3amlw7rp2/post/3mfsena2dwk2h?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
No, I'm not suggesting defeatism or giving up, but when freaking Netflix was represented as being a hero in this battle, there's the feeling of slim pickings and little that can be done.
Little can be done, but little can mean a lot.
As moviegoers, we still have some choices:
- Buy tickets less and less from major chain theaters that exclusively play just the big pictures, and provide honest feedback as to why. Arthouse and independent theaters are still around, and deserve much support.
- Delete monopolized streaming apps and platforms for more physical media items. Invest in region-free DVD or Blu-ray players, and make your own home setup.
- Host community cinema clubs (online or in person), by whatever means (legal kinds are available), to foster communication, debate, and togetherness in the darkest of rooms.
- Build some [little free film libraries](https://www.freeblockbuster.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) in your neighborhoods. Contact businesses and ask permission to place one at their establishment.
- Engage online in what you're doing, what you're watching (and not watching), how it's being done, how others could do it, and more. Everyone's a critic, to a degree, so write anywhere and whenever. Message local journalists and pitch them stories. Why not?
- Vote. Seems "silly" or "cliche," but it matters. Local, State, and National. Look for candidates who speak about wealth taxes and breaking up monopolies. If none in your area are doing that, ask them where they stand. Contact your current representatives and leave messages (phone, email, letters) about these concerns. Become a nuisance. Become unavoidable.
- Seek out and watch documentaries and narrative films of all kinds, but especially ones on citizen action against corporations. It's a battle that's been won before, so do some research. Rent from your local public libraries and/or scour resellers and anyone else (critics, distributors, producers, filmmakers) who may know where to find something.
I'm one to talk (and write), but jotting this stuff down can help. And if you or yours have other ideas, go with them - and send some my way too.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### 'Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die' review - Consumption Caused Calamity
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/dontdie-review/
Last updated: 2026-02-23T12:00:30.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
In this era of humanity, where digital saturation in our minute-by-minute lives has become overly problematic, and where "AI" (supposed artificial intelligence) is building to a bursting bubble, there are maybe less than than a handful of films that I would say are meeting the moment in satire and skepticism. *Ready Player One,* for example, was a nightmarish backdoor dystopia under the veil of intellectual property joy, though ultimately its potential cautionary message was buried as inconsequential to the overall adventure of the piece. I could be waxing silly here, but that's just how I feel.
And, with how I feel about *Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die*, I could be trolling seriously. Director Gore Verbinski's return to filmmaking after an extended break has produced something of true consequence, something with comedic bite and profound imagination. Here, confusion and hope are used as weapons against an inevitable future of sleeping zombies and decayed landscapes, even if to be successful in saving us, we have to try and try again.
The great Sam Rockwell (not a dancing fool in this one) begins the film by entering the fray via time travel, arriving at a late-night diner somewhere in modern-day Los Angeles. Covered in garbage bags and looking haggard, his man with no name (so to speak) monologues of a danger to everything and everyone in the form of an anti-Christ level AI program, that'll trick the world into accepting the virtual to achieve control over the natural. He forms a makeshift team of mostly ordinary patrons - some volunteer, a few are just picked - to make a trip across town to disable and reform the technology, before things go zenith.
The team, scared and highly uncertain of what's happening, has been plucked from their own experiences with digital takeovers, involving scary teenagers armed with smartphones, to clones that walk and talk like living advertisements, to everyday detachments toward school shootings, and, in the end, abandonment of reality itself. Everything is illuminated by these character vignettes and those *Groundhog Day*\-style moments where Rockwell goes through the motions, expecting both defeat and having to repeat everything again and again (through returning to the same diner, at the same time).
It's a whip-smart and clever movie, where absurdity reigns, and anything is permitted to happen at any given moment. Sure, there are bits of tried and kinda true repeated tropes that hit the ending over the head like a brick, but the film's great accomplishment is in delivering surprise after surprise, even subverting a finale that almost dovetails into rah-rah familiarity - something that flips near-subservience for an expectation that moviegoers have been trained for, and goes for freshness over staleness.
Ladies and gentlemen, *Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die* is the first somewhat mainstream-ish great flick of the year. It also accomplishes a *Ready Player One* level of scope with a fraction of the budget and an amped-up rush of screenwriting. It gets the assignment. It meets our moment. It's not a challenge, but rather an escape, as some of the best blockbusters are. Funny through and through, darkly strange, and absolutely committed. To the loony bin that is our lives. **5/5**
*Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die* is currently playing in theaters.
For more, feel free to peruse my coverage of this year's [SF IndieFest](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/tag/sfindie26/).
Sign up to leave comments, subscribe to support.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### 'Dead Souls' review - West & Wild Observations
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/dead-souls-sfindie26/
Last updated: 2026-02-08T22:42:27.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
The grand and proto-independent filmmaker Alex Cox, whose movies often combine anachronisms with confusion and contradiction, has humbly presented what he states as his "last movie," *Dead Souls*. To what degree this is his last, I'm uncertain. A wink-wink of a tagline? An honest finale to a cooky career? Settled out in begotten parts of wild west-era Arizona, Cox is seated in both the director's chair and the body of the lead role, and, I feel, exists in the third role of a spectating spectre. A final outing for a wild spirit?
A mysterious collector of the dead names of Mexican laborers, Cox plays the newly arrived stranger in town, Strindler, who pays for his immigrant corpse listings with gold coins. Strindler masquerades with differing origins, from businessman to government agent to reverend, covering his tracks and trails in pursuit of these specific names. For someone seeking accuracy, he assumes ambiguity.
Crisp and clean cinematography overrides the dust and dirt of the West in a manner that alludes to both his present capabilities and past romances with genre-bending filmmaking. As the movie unfolds, a potentially biographical portrait of the director himself forms, or at least a memoir to which he has included cherry-picked selections from his life. All at once, Alex Cox's Strindler is written and performed not unlike a soulful vision of one's own existence, leaning through a nexus of time and place, trolling all the way to further escapades beyond this plane of living.
That's a mouthful.
Much in the mold of a mid-chapter William Burroughs book break, *Dead Souls* makes sense through nonsensical vagueness. It's a mystery through and through, but one that is made of answers and clarity. Each encounter rings of a past movie catalogue of familiar faces and themes, with contemporary meaning. There's not much difference in attitude or action between the late 1800s and the mid 2020s, as everything has been and likely will always be commodified and for sale.
*Dead Souls* is a dream of now. Sometimes too odd, sometimes too open to interpretation, but never without a cloudiness, slowly moving over pastures and people. A transfixing watch, timed to the tune of a pop-out bird clock.
Could this be Cox's final film? It's a sleight of mischief if so, perfectly articulated in ambiguity and the unnatural order of things. Such is to be expected from a playful patron of the pictures. **3.5/5**
*Dead Souls* will screen as part of the [2026 SF IndieFest](https://sfindie2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoing.rocks), from 2/5 to 2/15.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### 'Tooth Shop Fiasco' review - Oh, the Pain!
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/tooth-shop-sfindie26/
Last updated: 2026-02-08T22:42:37.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
What is the opposite of a movie? A wall? This is the question that I came up with during *Tooth Shop Fiasco*, a lighthearted comedy delivered from a hell born of confusion. At just over an hour in length, the film felt like it would go on forever, and likely could've if it were sentient. Thankfully, after being pulled apart and left disjointed, there was an ending that allowed for an escape. My escape. Back to reality.
Oh man.
I dare not "rate" *Tooth Shop Fiasco* any stars, choosing instead to give it a not-applicable status. This is not a "movie," but it's neither a wall. A quagmire (or fiasco) of every sort, it's about a teenage roustabout who is obsessed with going to his dental hygienist appointment and "partying." While anxiously waiting for that time to come, he wanders around, encounters some cooky do-nothing, worn-out scenarios of mass frustration, and kicking around green screen sets and iMovie title card messages from the filmmaker. I'm shocked, SHOCKED, that whoever was proudly in charge didn't go for a datamosh editing format. It's noise music that's crudely formed into what used to be considered cinema.
Apologies, but this made me mad. It's not the worst film of the year (thus far) as it's not a film, but as a jumble of mismatched scenes and individual sequences that add up to nothing, *Tooth Shop Fiasco* is B A D.
Is there **anything** nice to say? Well, those odd title cards of "thank you for watching" and "you rock," or some such phrases, were cute, and it was charming to have a director express sentiments of gratitude. Pride without fear of embarrassment is actually admirable and says a lot about someone, no matter their intent or talent.
Should any of the cast or crew read this, please know that it was actress Katie Folger, who played the frisky and nutty ex-receptionist, that made quite the show out of this hazardous presentation. She was committed and then some, playing an obstacle of a tiger to the main lead's appointment tale. It didn't go anywhere, but the record needle of the film's heartbeat did move ever so little, and in the right direction.
Without a shred of irony, maybe *Tooth Shop Fiasco* **should** be seen to be believed. It's not cult-ish like *The Room*, but it is inexplicable and inconceivable. If such things are of interest, consider this an escape from your life. **N/A**
*Tooth Shop Fiasco* will screen as part of the [2026 SF IndieFest](https://sfindie2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoing.rocks), from 2/5 to 2/15.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### 'All My Friends' review - Losing Touch
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/all-my-sfindie26/
Last updated: 2026-02-08T22:42:47.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
A story that follows the separation of two friends/lifemates, the independent film *All My Friends* is a tame exercise in cute annoyances and progressive goodbyes. It lingers, it longs, and it leaves without much to be said. Don't take these early words to mean that it's a boring picture, but rather one that extends past its expiration date.
Hmm, maybe that was harsh.
You see, *All My Friends* is about Allie and Jacob, two best friends and pseudo-bandmates who find their relationship at its end. They're an East Coast duo about to experience a whole country in between them when Allie gets a job offer in California. Jacob, as he is, behaves supportively on the outside, while clearly being a stick in the mud just under his skin. His dreams, no matter how fanciful or grandiose, always conflict with adult responsibilities, while Allie has her stuff together and is more than ready to move forward. And, frankly, move on. From Jacob.
To call *All My Friends* sad or bitter would be an almost sleight of sorts. The movie mostly moves from moment to moment as if going through the motions and preparing to get over itself, much like Allie. She doesn't dislike Jacob, nor does the film, but she's for sure at an end with him. How much longer must she humor his go-nowhere antics? Instead of being straight with him on this, Allie uses her new career opportunity as a way to reverse-engineer a guilt-trip on the guy, to make her leaving more accommodating. It's not an evil maneuver, but it is bitter. Jacob tries to act like a child, conversely, making the situation about himself. That's just sad.
No, the movie doesn't take a side, but it does observe how good of friends these two were, which is the least *All My Friends* presents. The most it does is create some sweet and odd attitudes between its leads, from revelations to resolutions. Things unsaid just floating in the air, waiting to burst like bubbles, but never releasing.
Never letting go? I get it. **2.5/5**
*All My Friends* will screen and stream (in-person and online) as part of the [2026 SF IndieFest](https://sfindie2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoing.rocks), from 2/5 to 2/15.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### 'Tom's 2nd Suicide' review - The Snickers Story
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/toms-2nd-sfindie26/
Last updated: 2026-02-08T22:42:58.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
I don't have much of a poker face, which is to say that it's easy to see how I'm feeling based solely on my facial expressions. Lifted eyebrows, cheek movements, smiles and frowns, all let people know everything they need to know about me, at any given time. This behavior is not something that I can suppress, so I lean into it as much as possible. Like a clown, or something.
A movie like *Tom's 2nd Suicide*, filled with clown-like attitudes, presents people who behave opposite of me. They're still in the face, they're slow to bodily respond, and they're dead-serious about everything. Not even Buster Keaton, the great stone-face himself, had a pace so tortoise-like. That man moved and was moving, despite his facade of stoicism, which belied his incredibly athletic and daring slapstick humor and ran rampant over expectations of the silent acting form.
However, while the few of *Tom's 2nd Suicide* never easily gesture or vocally inflect to one another, there's a clarity to their individual and collective humanity that acts in perfect synchronicity. This is a movie that's edge-of-your-seat tense without being overtly intense and absolutely hilarious without having a funny subject matter. It's a damn near perfect comedy screenplay, and a damn fine film.
A woman wants to take her life today, but is interrupted by her broken car, and a serendipitous bystander who knocks on her window, recognizing her predicament. The two drive around a quiet landscape to find a cliff for her to jump from, and all the while look down and out. Candy bar questions and sarcastically ambiguous but directly free answers make up their time together, as they move from mysterious motives to who-cares friendship.
The two speak with a light-hearted nature that only connected souls can, even when coming from vastly different perspectives and experiences. Writer & director Karni Haneman, who also plays the lead character, has crafted the kind of cinema that's deadpan without arrogance and lively without much activity. It's a simple movie that requires audiences to read between the lines in a world designed to be stuck in stillness. Imagine David Lynch's *The Straight Story*, but everyone is outwardly depressed and guarded, yet extremely emotive at the same time.
In a way, *Tom's 2nd Suicide* is as slapstick as it is surreal. No, there aren't multiple thwarted attempts at self-inflicted death like in Harold Lloyd's *Never Weaken*, but there are gags in conversation and depth in between movements. Without a single pratfall, the film makes laughter from the stern and personality from the odd.
It takes more muscles to frown than to smile, but why bother at doing either? **5/5**
*Tom's 2nd Suicide* will screen and stream (in-person and online) as part of the [2026 SF IndieFest](https://sfindie2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoing.rocks), from 2/5 to 2/15.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### 'The Invasion of the Barbarians' review - Beasts of History
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/the-invasion-sfindie26/
Last updated: 2026-02-08T22:43:08.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
There's no mystery to understand or anything amazing about historical drama movies that connect to modern real-life events, since a big piece of what makes cinema potentially incredible is its ability to build mountains and bridge oceans, of place and of time. This is no special feature, but rather a default setting, and it's beautiful. *The Invasion of the Barbarians*, set in 1939 Spain, certainly makes it easy to connect the dots from their fascism to contemporary fascism, even if in a Lifetime Movie Network kind of way.
Horror is horror, and war breeds it in barrels. The domestic and urban abuse suffered by everyday people, as depicted in this film, as a result of a violent government, is disturbing and all too familiar to anyone with an interest in history and movies about history. These kinds of stories can't be told enough, and deserve at least some patience when viewing. *The Invasion of the Barbarians* isn't above pulling strings on purpose, attempting to force tears out of even the hardest of men. For a film about ruthless control, resistance, and justice, why is that force necessary?
Jumping from 1939 to the current day with discombobulated pacing and confused reasoning, the movie follows a mother trying to protect an important painting from the fascist regime, businesspeople wanting that painting, and descendants reconciling the past with their own present. Such themes of passed-on pain, shame, convenience off the backs of others, and peace for generations prior make *The Invasion of the Barbarians* chilling and provocative. It's not another "the more things change" tale, expressing more of the capitulation and collaboration of normal people with atrocities in their communities than the atrocities themselves. Bureaucracies. Paperwork. Speeches. Demands. Justifications. All roads lead to one place, and that's a single grave.
What the film does too much is bluntly state its goals. Interrogation scenes flat-out speak as if a conversation over politics is taking place instead of an investigation about a painting. It's not subtle. Miles from it, actually. Actors might as well look into the camera and read thesis statements, and it's like this in almost every moment. History needs not to conduct clubbings when spreading a message; it just needs to be true. That truth can be shown in creative ways, even anachronistic or wish-fulfillment methods will work, but trading dialogue for constant streams of what's happening only hurts in the long run.
I can't say that *The Invasion of the Barbarians* is disappointing, but maybe I expected something scaled back or grander. There's good use of sets, finely polished production design, and powerful acting here and there, but those masks only provide cover for what could've been. More than crying, more than agreement through tragedy, what does this movie do to those who'll watch?
The watching will be ok though. It deserves that at least. Just think about it. **3/5**
*The Invasion of the Barbarians* will screen and stream (in-person and online) as part of the [2026 SF IndieFest](https://sfindie2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoing.rocks), from 2/5 to 2/15.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### 'I'm a Stranger Here Myself' review - Alienated Anti-Cinema
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/stranger-sfindie26/
Last updated: 2026-02-08T22:43:19.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
And Martin Scorsese says that Marvel movies aren't cinema...
No, I'm not calling out the independent flick *I'm a Stranger Here Myself* as beneath or poorer than big blockbuster slop counterparts, but there is some shaming in my words. You see, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, THINGS HAPPEN. There's conflict, there's action, there's resolution, and a whole universe to breathe in. Say what you will about quality, at least superhero films understand that maintaining attention and having a purpose is important.
Movies on smaller budgets have an uphill battle to fight against the behemoths of the industry, but they'll never break even or win, even a little, without having things occur on the big screen. *I'm a Stranger Here Myself* takes the cake as a frontrunner for the worst film of 2026 (I have yet to watch *Melania*). At what point does a critic stop trying to pull out their hair and actually go bald? I didn't hit that mark, but I certainly aged many years over the course of this anti-story.
Set on a single day in Los Angeles, a couple of unrelated things are followed, from lovers talking about who made a pot of coffee to two bystanders bickering about assisting an old man, to a woman who sells products she steals from porches. As in real life, some days don't have arcs, some days don't have lessons to be learned, and some days just struggle to move beyond meandering. Things can be boring, repetitive, and lackluster, happening over and over again. This is a movie about that.
And what a bad choice for a "plot."
Do things happen in between the non-things not happening? A moment when an elderly gentleman collapses from a panic attack, only to awaken with little to no bearings, comes near being something between somethings. Unfortunately, it doesn't count, neither in the grand scheme of the overall bore, nor contained to its own scene. The same with a man & woman chatting about dreams and pregnancies, where nothing moves forward. Words are said, the same ones, over and over, without ever reaching the next part of a conversation. *I'm a Stranger Here Myself* knows not what it does, but that doesn't mean it deserves any kind of grace.
Did the public school system fail a whole generation?
I feel like a stranger, but I'm all alone. **1/5** (by virtue of not being *Human Centipede 3*)
*I'm a Stranger Here Myself* will screen and stream (in-person and online) as part of the [2026 SF IndieFest](https://sfindie2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoing.rocks), from 2/5 to 2/15.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### 'SANTACON' review - Grown Up Punks
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/santacon-sfindie26/
Last updated: 2026-02-08T22:43:29.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
A trip to late 1990s New York City did well for a performance march by the Cacophony Society. This multi-city anti-capitalist group would use physical urban spaces to disrupt and confuse various systems of human control, most of the time as it pertained to consumerism. They were organized among the chaos produced, and they were fun as hell. [Burning Man](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrDZ%5FcRRZXw&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) was one of their many creations. So were cocktail parties in sewers.
And mass city crawls of people dressed as Santa Claus.
Indeed, *SANTACON* covers the heyday of this event, from the original crawl to its NYC glory day. The planners and the participants, now much older, are interviewed to recount their personal experiences, almost line-by-line, in detail, by the minute, of the initial programs. Their words are pieced together with analog video that documented everything, in the decade before the explosion of digital pocket camera availability. Everyone has a way to record life now. Everyone is a filmmaker. However, not everyone can be a disruptor.
What's made clear by the film is the generational gap between what the Cacophony Society did and what kids today are doing with what was done before they were born. It's staggering to see expressions of chainless goofs and satirical open dialogue by way of action, fast-forwarded to Spring Break-esque partying and obnoxious raving. That is damning the man, but more misguided than anything. More misinterpreted than what was hoped for.
Still, *SANTACON*'s interviewees don't dwell on what's arrived, but rather on what they shipped, through excessive video archives. An unbelievable storage locker of golden moments and person-to-person purity. Mostly, anyway. These Santas would shock average denizens at their high-priced troughs, would chant sarcastic phrases in malls, and have a blast trying to make a point with some absurdity. What a time to be alive.
The documentary itself plunders the footage through and through, but rarely questions or considers alternative points of view. It's all about the participants, and all from their perspectives. As a film, the end was decided by the time production began, it feels. In other words, the Cacophony Society is immediately revered in a way that could've poisoned most other movies.
Yes, this isn't about politics or controversies involving corruption, I get that. People talking with one another and showing themselves for who they were and who they are now, without negative judgment, is somehow refreshing here. But not once are they picked apart or explored any more than Santa Claus deep. That's a shame.
And yet, I don't care all that much. *SANTACON* is fun. Fun in all the ways that affirms youthful foils and spoils, and reinforces the belief that societal criticism can be had in impressively creative ways. Maybe they did party back then. Maybe those were parties.
A Mardi Gras on Christmas. **5/5**
*SANTACON* will screen and stream (in-person and online) as part of the [2026 SF IndieFest](https://sfindie2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoing.rocks), from 2/5 to 2/15.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### 'Tight & Nerdy' review - Why Can't We(ird) Be Friends
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/tight-nerdy-sfindie26/
Last updated: 2026-02-08T22:43:41.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
It's amazing to me just how much the offbeat and sweetly hilarious music of Weird Al Yankovic has resonated with people over the decades. Is it really so "weird" to spoof and make light of someone else's pop art? Of course not. Tape recorders and VCRs introduced kids at heart to make their own radio programs and fan films, mashing up original efforts with the previously made, into something entirely new.
For the documentary *Tight & Nerdy*, burlesque performances are a continuation of that tradition. A celebration of it, even.
These half-nude revues of dance, teasing, stripping, music, and story, featuring the music of Weird Al in both the background and foreground, are led by a "core four" of ladies, each evenly matched with one another's humor and passion. Throughout the film, the women deftly define their interpretation of burlesque by their personal experiences growing up in households of restrictions, trauma, and old understandings of what's "appropriate" in society.
It's easy to see how Weird Al's work could pierce through such depressing episodes of life, as, not unlike burlesque, his songs are meant to bring smiles to faces. Showcasing the absurd with firmly planted feet, *Tight & Nerdy* is a well-placed blast of thoughtful joy, turning boobs and rhinestones into acts of revelation. Making jokes from vulnerable spaces is rather brave, and braving all while nearly bare-assed makes it all the more courageous.
Out of the core four, it's Odessa's story that I attached myself to the most. Her personality is one of quick wit and precise delivery of fun attitudes, yet she is someone holding much emotional weight. Other than a back problem that could potentially end her performing days, her family history involves a lack of parental affection and survival through getting away from toxicity. *Tight & Nerdy* is an entirely open wound of a movie, especially when the women let the cameras into their off-stage worlds. Agreeing to make this film at all only further shows how inclusive, celebratory, responsible, and healing things can be when you mix weird with weird. When you get tight with other nerds.
Weird Al himself offers up observations throughout, almost always cracking himself up with silly but honest anecdotes and conclusions. It's the women, the core four of the troupe, who make the movie worth its words in spoof. When they visit the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota, it's a cackle of brilliance and a lovely day. How can adults maintain such childhood revelry, especially coming from different kinds of trials and tribulations?
It's not easy, but it is weird. **4/5**
*Tight & Nerdy* will screen and stream (in-person and online) as part of the [2026 SF IndieFest](https://sfindie2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoing.rocks), from 2/5 to 2/15.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### 'Barking in the Dark' review - Units of Strange
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/barking-sfindie26/
Last updated: 2026-02-08T22:43:53.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
"Post-modern."
"Post-Mo."
"Weird for the sake of weird."
The experimental musicians The Residents, performing across the art spectrum for over fifty years, aren't so much documented in *Barking in the Dark* as they are looked at. With awe, perhaps. If so, it's too much, at least for a so-called "documentary." The film acts more like a traveling home movie, treating its subject(s) like extended family to be observed as silly and cute.
It's uncertain if any one descriptor can describe this troupe, but *Barking in the Dark* doesn't bother, and that's just as things should be. The Residents can't be put in a corner, so acting like a single movie could do that would be wrong-headed. This is a challenge of concept, production, and editing, ultimately finding a resolution in a little over forty minutes of duration. What is there to say? What is left to plunder?
The legend and the lore of the group continue to be ambiguous, even when answers are obvious. The main focus of the film is Homer Flynn, the supposed manager of the eyeball-masked performers. He shows off items and props from the storage unit "archives," proud of a promotional package in particular that's a joke in itself and a laugh at the expense of others. Homer is a fine character, representing a hippie spirit that's fading now, but might be needed more than ever. Freak outs for everyone!
*Barking in the Dark* combines a performance piece with a concert film with an anti-documentary in a way that's confusing but appreciated. Any media about The Residents is exciting by default, and would be difficult to call "bad" by any means. It's short, it's fun, it's odd.
Give it a break. **3/5**
*Barking in the Dark* will screen and stream (in-person and online) as part of the [2026 SF IndieFest](https://sfindie2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoing.rocks), from 2/5 to 2/15.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### Movie Recs: Before the AI
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/daily-movie1/
Last updated: 2026-02-11T13:44:37.000Z
**Movie Recs** is a new series here at **Moviegoing with Bill**, exclusive to all supporting (**subscribing**) members. I offer up movies for an ongoing watchlist and continuous conversation. What and why, with commentary.
To read and engage, please consider becoming a subscriber at either of the supporting tiers, monthly or yearly. A supporting readership of moviegoers will help ensure a long contribution to indie film criticism.
Many thanks!
_This post is for paying subscribers only._
### 'C.R.E.A.M.' review - Romeo & Juliet's Icy Delights
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/cream-sfindie26/
Last updated: 2026-02-08T22:44:08.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
My knowledge of the rap group Wu-Tang Clan comes from pop culture outside of music (I know, I'm lame). Their appearances in movies, television, and video games have been interesting and sometimes funny (Chappelle's Show in particular), though, from my understanding, the music and writing that the group produces isn't to be doubted or debated for quality. Such is a similar sentiment shared by filmmaker Ryen McPherson and his absolutely absurd but very impressive film *C.R.E.A.M.*
With a short feature-length duration and a story about rival snow cone street vendors caught up in a pseudo/truncated *Romeo & Juliet* tale, *C.R.E.A.M.*'s conceit is that all of the dialogue has been pieced together from Wu-Tang Clan song lyrics. It's an incredibly profound concept that, in the end, the cast makes sense with Shakespeare's intent. Honestly, why stop the movie before an hour? Let it rip.
The confusion sets in with the honey-topped snow cone concentration and rivalry between businesses. On one side, with our Romeo stand-in, there's a truck and cone crew who know how to deliver and entertain customers. On the other side, there's a creepy and dirty truck of angry depressives, led by someone who reminds me of [Skeletor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cRWBSNVO54&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) from *The First Purge*. Armed with ice picks, the rivalry turns to violence, and cold-treat-crossed lovers turn to tragedy.
It's a shame that *C.R.E.A.M.* is awfully silly, as it nails its gimmick to the point of transcendence. Crafting together bits of songs and recontextualizing them to fit a dessert-twisted adaptation of something that's been told millions of times before is a feat that's worthy of all the shaved ice in the world. And yet, it's the very treats of the film that can't trick my cold heart.
How many licks does it take to get to the center of this pop?
Not many. **2.5/5**
*C.R.E.A.M.* will screen and stream (in-person and online) as part of the [2026 SF IndieFest](https://sfindie2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoing.rocks), from 2/5 to 2/15.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### 'Before the Call' review - This Young Man's Burden
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/beforecall-sfindie26/
Last updated: 2026-02-08T22:44:19.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Given the current global political climate, where countries conduct invasions and fascism spreads like wildfire, enlisting for military service - while noble - is a dangerous decision when living in such an "advanced" era. The South Korean drama *Before the Call* takes national service and violent conflict, and places the weight of everything on the shoulders of one young man. His moment is now, but voluntarily in his case. Flip a coin, and it seems like he's abandoning someone or something. That's quite the weight to carry.
The character Jinwoo lives as someone in a state of perpetual malaise, having just returned home from a stay in America. Throughout his last day as an average South Korean citizen, friends and family keep the pressure of his Western sojourn on, almost as their way of teasing and tisk-tisking. He left the spoils of the spoiled for an army in the throes of battle? On top of this, he's leaving them, just shortly after his homecoming. Tisk-tisk or shame? It's hard to say.
Single-take conversations, ingeniously resourced compositions in cinematography, and everyone offering him a drink, with a clink and a "cheers!" out of obligation and with confused sadness and frustration - no matter their demeanor - make up the bulk of *Before the Call*'s short feature duration. It's a classic "get in, get out" scenario, and it's done with maturity. Everything needed is up on the screen, and everything seen has room to breathe. An astonishing achievement in and of itself.
For a period, I struggled to find the right words for this review, mostly out of hesitation. My conclusion was clear, but I steered toward self-sabotage by waiting to begin typing. For Jinwoo, there is no waiting. There is no self-sabotage. There is no lack of clarity nor time for any of that. The right words, though? He doesn't quite have them. Are there any?
Against some initially mild impulses, I find myself smitten with *Before the Call*. The film is a cautious vision, allowing room for distance while questioning motive and sincerity. Beers, dinners, haircuts; rebirth or preparation for losing out on destiny? Or was this his destiny all along? Order amid chaos. There's nothing left to do but submit quiet goodbyes and accept the unknown. This was his choice, right? **4/5**
*Before the Call* will screen and stream (in-person and online) as part of the [2026 SF IndieFest](https://sfindie2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), from 2/5 to 2/15.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### 'Video Dreams' review - When a Movie Can Be Made, Make It!
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/video-dreams-sfindie26/
Last updated: 2026-02-08T22:44:30.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Are there too many documentaries about video stores? Too many tales of inspiration derived from shelves of VHS box covers? A glut of filmmakers learning their craft from watching endless marathons of tapes upon tapes?
Yes, but they rarely get tiring.
At least, not for VHS obsessives like me.
It's lovely to see how art inspires art, no matter the quality of the content from end to end, but how far does influence go? Thomas Seymour, the director of the *VHS Massacre* documentary series, busts open his experiences through a treasure trove of do-it-yourself creation in his latest, *Video Dreams*. Seymour doesn't mince words or hold anything back here, showcasing archives of behind-the-scenes footage from previous projects and never sugar-coating any negative feelings or observations.
More than his previous peeks into the video store's past, present, and potential future, *Video Dreams* asks and answers his own questions on inspired failures, hopes for success, and ultimate mind over matter efforts. It's an anxious essay, one of open wounds and long-term dreaming.
Cute and daring as it is, *Video Dreams* doesn't come wrapped in perfection. In what I presume is its final edit, the movie runs through with crackles and pops in its sound mixing, scattered use of title cards, and haphazard voice-over narrations that jump around like falling beans. On a technical level, there's much to be confused by and to chuckle at. So unfortunate, but so true.
However, much like the mixed and surreal structures of our own dreams, I can look at Thomas Seymour's film through the same veil that he looks at his own career; a series of acceptable failures and happy triumphs. While likely not planned, these overlooked issues in editing do speak for themselves and for Seymour's way of telling his own story. Meta? Not on purpose. Striking? All the same.
Passionate and proud, *Video Dreams* shines a light on its director in varying levels of vulnerability, something for which this critic finds absolutely brave. Flawed? I'm not sure that such a thing can be said for entries in cinema, even for the most expert of reviewers. It is rough around the traditional filmmaking edges, though, and while frustrating, purpose can be seen. Love can be felt.
And, in the end, isn't that what we need?
Excuse me as I cry. **3/5**
*Video Dreams* will screen and stream (in-person and online) as part of the [2026 SF IndieFest](https://sfindie2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), from 2/5 to 2/15.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### Now Showing: Trylon Cinema | Minneapolis, MN
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/nowshowing-trylon/
Last updated: 2026-01-24T23:31:18.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Who would've thought that movies like [*Shakedown*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCL6SQ8XD8Q&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and [*Road House*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oByMeAfwARs&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) could be screened as part of a community's anti-fascist resistance? Surely, this wasn't the original intent of the filmmakers or stars, and likely not the reason behind their programming by a Minneapolis movie theater, and yet here we are.
Today is the start of a horrible weekend in this country: extreme cold weather, extreme federally-approved street murder, and extreme indifference from political hacks. Minneapolis residents and American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were shot and killed by ICE agents, Pretti mere hours before this post, just for being concerned neighbors and active observers of federal government operations. Suffice to say, we should all be beyond concerned and, at the very least, ought to [contact our elected representatives](https://www.commoncause.org/find-your-representative/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
I have plenty of movies to review, all of which are on the way (including a collection from the [SF IndieFest](https://sfindie2026.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), happening in a few weeks), but in this moment, I feel like highlighting a place of good in the center of a siege.
[Trylon Cinema (@trylon\_cinema) on ThreadsTrylon Update: SHAKEDOWN IN 35MM and ROAD HOUSE will screen this weekend on Saturday and Sunday. We have decided to close on Friday in support of the general strike. Stay strong, Minneapolis.Threads](https://www.threads.com/@trylon%5Fcinema/post/DT0ZNV%5FkYYk?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
A few days ago, I asked on my social feeds if any Minneapolis movie theaters could be considered anti-establishment. When I ask this, I think of [Spectacle](https://www.spectacletheater.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) out of NYC or [Zeitgeist](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) out of New Orleans- though perhaps I'm using "anti-establishment" loosely. Still, only one responder came about, and their recommendation was [Trylon Cinema](https://www.trylon.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
This weekend, Trylon is doing a Sam Elliot double-feature of the previously mentioned films, the kind that exude cheesy machismo and wish-fulfillment justice by way of fists and throat rips. Movie programmers, under the thumb of injustice, might typically have documentaries at the ready as their immediate screen offerings, but Trylon chose to continue with what they probably planned a while back.
What other theaters should I spotlight? Leave a comment, send a reply, and let's connect!
In my mind, I prefer to imagine theater management getting together and discussing a plan for frustrated moviegoers, and ultimately landing on "Sam Elliot and Peter Weller knocking off bad guys from a motorcycle." Trylon Cinema is my kind of theater.
Beyond that, Trylon Cinema should also be a theater to support. A non-profit venue, they joined the recent [solidarity strike throughout Minneapolis](https://paydayreport.com/over-700-minnesota-businesses-closed-300-solidarity-actions-nationwide/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and all over, which saw businesses close and thousands of people marching in the cold. They used the leverage available to them, their screens and projectors, and went dark for a day. With theaters struggling for business, one day off can hurt.
My kind of theater, indeed.
[Join Trylon Cinema’s MembershipSupport Trylon Cinema monthlyKo-fi](https://ko-fi.com/tryloncinema?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Are independent movie theaters anti-establishment by nature? Is moviegoing an act of defiance?
Maybe.
At this time, [bread & roses](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftVpyoSUpt8&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
⚜️🍿
---
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[Leave a Tip](#/portal/support)
### 'Pointe Noire' review - No Such Thing as Half Cajun
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/review-pointe-noire/
Last updated: 2026-02-08T22:45:20.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Not unlike how an oyster shucker cracks open shells of seafood, the hyper-acadian travelogue drama film *Pointe Noire* takes it upon itself to explain an ever-fading culture and highlight a near-isolated community by way of opening doors, even if by a "crack" or two. Director [Pat Mire](https://www.patmire.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), one of the kings of Hollywood South independent filmmaking, has made a movie that succeeds at answering questions about the Cajun people while doing the business of entertainment- a feat worthy of beaucoup accolades.
Yes, travelogue this is. However, documentary this is not. And that is a symptom of an almost confused production. It's a haunting modern-day mystery narrative for sure, but one that feels like a PSA (public service announcement) for Louisiana. Maybe too much of a feeling?
Set practically on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico, *Pointe Noire* brings together two middle-aged rogues for good, a female attorney and a documentary filmmaker, with the goal of getting justice for a man who is in prison for a murder that he may not have committed. Folk justice, mind you. The two ask questions, revisit old footage, and are followed by shifty characters who'd rather the truth not come to light. It's perfect for a pulpy book to read over a few weekend afternoons.
[Leave a tip](#/portal/support)
[Become a supporting moviegoer](#/portal/signup)
Is it perfect for a movie, too? Nothing could be more perfect for cinema than a journey into the past of forgotten lore, amateur detectives sifting through clues and reading between difficult lines, romance and, especially, dramatic humanism told as seen and heard through a place where time stands still. Anything will stand still in such thick humidity, but we all age the same.
The two protagonists are essentially stand-ins for the real-life filmmaking couple Pat Mire and Rebecca Hudsmith, who have made a fantastical autobiography of their relationship, and cemented it in a film of saltwater magic. The filmmaker character, played by the stoic and mature Roy Dupuis (who has starred in some Guy Maddin flicks), is made of the quiet places that exist between metropolitan areas and cut from the cloth of pure Acadian design. For goodness sake, if a director ever casts a stand-in for themselves, they should go the Mire way and get a handsome loner who plays by his own rules.
My feelings on *Pointe Noire* being more encyclopedia **about** Cajun culture than a movie set **within** Cajun culture isn't completely without counterpoint. This is, most definitely, a cinematic tale, first and foremost. The opening sequence is a brilliantly cut together triptych, stitching together a story of how one's home and family can be close, even if far away. The mixing of music, the composition of the cinematography, and the precise editing make for a breathtaking vision that sets everything up with little said.
While I can't shake a handful of pieces here and there that overwhelm and distract from the story proper, I can state just how much love I have for *Pointe Noire* and its use of setting as character, and its stubborn but highly appreciated deep cuts into a community so isolated, somewhat secretive, and so ripe for storytelling. There's more to the Gulf Coast than seafood.
Look past the crawfish; everything can be found. **4/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
⚜️🍿
### 'After the Devil is Dead' review - The Waking Nightmares of Southeast Louisiana
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/after-the-devil/
Last updated: 2026-02-08T22:45:31.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
When it comes to independent cinema in Hollywood South, what comes to my mind first are features and shorts that are either magically whimsical or down and gritty--there's very little room in between, but it's usually filled with Mardi Gras documentaries. These are all films of skill and quality (usually), but in a region that's got more to say than just "who dat," my expectations only rise with every offbeat local flick that I thankfully screen or stream.
*After the Devil is Dead* is from filmmaker and analog horror YouTuber Paul Catalanotto of Tangipahoa Parish (Northshore New Orleans). His video channel, [Vintage Eight](https://www.youtube.com/@vintageeight?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), involves plenty of creepy video series and movies, mostly around topics of trauma and collective tragedy. With his latest, a brutal mind-sweeper of true crime and humid mystery, it's no wonder that Paul would venture into real horror.
The film follows a regional sports shop owner, the unassuming but effortlessly kind Michael Lester, whose family has troves of pain to absolve itself of. He and his siblings were the victims of an abusive father, a former officer on the New Orleans beat known for corrupt behavior. *After the Devil is Dead*'s bulk is about living under this man's thumb and standing before his striking fists, as he punishes children out of control and likely for his own guilt. He's a typical POS (piece of...something) with an atypical history behind him. There's not just danger in sharing a home with him; there are nightmares, too.
The movie is about the long-standing unsolved murder of his wife, Michael's mother. It was a tale told in whispers, the kind where whispers become an unspoken truth. More than likely, his father was involved, but do things go only that deep? Family secrets, drugs, dirty money, and the mob all factor into this sordid and awful thread that strings along from a monster too true to be reel - and a documentary that's too terrifying to be real.
But it's all real. A real horror.
Moments happen early on that harken to Catalanotto's analog videos, like the use of stock footage and props, blending design into document. There was genuine concern that such decisions would result in an exploitative feel, but everything fits into place and only heightens the fact that this is a waking nightmare. An adrenaline shot to the heart that turns minutes into lifetimes. For days, I was haunted by my viewing, with my thoughts asking, "What stories are left lurking under the fun veneer of Southeast Louisiana?"
Plenty.
Yet, for all of the inescapable human trials that the film puts forth, *After the Devil is Dead* gives comfort in that people like Michael Lester are around. Good people who seek the truth and find honesty in themselves. Who loves more than hates. Who can't help but be curious enough to air out laundry and let wounds heal. Who don't find strength, but wield the kind they already have.
This was a difficult movie to watch, so view with caution. **5/5**
[Visit this link](https://www.afterthedevilisdead.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) for updates.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
⚜️🍿
### Selections From the 2025 Green Film Fest of San Francisco, Part 4
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/greenff25-finale/
Last updated: 2025-12-16T06:44:08.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
For my first four movie reviews from the 2025 Green Film Festival of San Francisco, [please visit part 1 here](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/25greenff1/), [*American Dendrite* here](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/american-dendrite-green-filmfest-25/), and [*Outdoor School* here](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/outdoor-school-green-filmfest-25/). To learn more about the event and its screenings, [visit the official website](https://greenfest2025.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoing.rocks):
---
Diversity over riches. That's where true wealth can be found, according to the short documentary *The Congress*. This film doesn't really navigate the immensity of the issues facing indigenous people across the world today, but it does highlight a potential way of cutting through barriers and bridging conversations between cultures.
By letting people in. By giving their voices access.
Who knew?
Indonesia is home to thousands of individual cultures and communities, with their own land and their own groups of people. But, being spread far out over a near-endless amount of islands, there's difficulty in communicating. And so, an AMAN, or "congress" organization, was formed that would bring together member cultures from across the region to deliberate on anything and everything of concern, specifically to their indigenous populations.
A breath of fresh air for once in this overly political sphere we all live in, *The Congres*s seems to respect conversation and representation over petty behavior and exploitative investment. Daring too is its insistence on group conversation of straight up voting. This is a sticking point, as the movie flat-out says how voting only leads to people being hurt, and not having their perspectives respected and considered. Of course, voting STILL occurs (raised hands and some yelling), making the process not as different as the movie may wish it to be presented as.
Despite this confusion, *The Congress* does make clear that having wide participation in legislative priorities isn't just key for agendas to be formed, but for being listened to by groups who otherwise didn't know that you existed in the first place.
It may not come off as a "green" film overall, but *The Congress* is about societal environments and humanity learning to work with each other. Call me silly, but I think that's nice. **3/5**
---
It must be amazing to see what can happen in the great unknown, or to perhaps feel it. For an old man named Terry, an ex-Navy man and former Hell's Angels companion, knowing that feeling has meant more than the world he thought he knew could offer. An astounding revelation for anyone.
As suggested by its title, *The Last Dive*, Terry, in his 80s, goes on a final diving expedition with his wife and a crew of fellow ocean romantics, not just to have fun and see what isn't always seen, but to find a friend that he hasn't visited in twenty-some odd years. A Manta Ray he's named Willy, an animal that essentially chose him as a friend.
Banging on his boat, taking him for a deep dive ride, and lifting its wings to say hello, Willy took a man who's seen lots of tragedy and harm and changed his mindset in some most profound ways. Their relationship, while indescribable by a lot of standards, can be related to by even the coldest of hearts.
Made up of past adventures captured on VHS, tall tales and true legends told straight from Terry, and beautiful underwater footage, *The Last Dive* gets by on one man's final question and search for that answer at the end of his life, and then some. The film doesn't quite get cheesy or overly charming, though that's a bit built in by its very nature. And, if those things were to have become heavy, that still would've been fine. It would've been touching.
It WAS touching.
*The Last Dive* reminded me of a somewhat lesser version of Garrett Bradley's *Time* or even that Robin Williams movie *The Final Cut*, both due to their explorations into memory and expressions of waiting for something. For anything. For closure. Sometimes closure isn't what we're expecting. Sometimes we just have to take what we can get. Not everyone gets a happy ending, but we do get to choose how its interpreted.
To pull that from any film is an extraordinarily mature feat. To learn that from a fish is life-altering. Or maybe life-affirming. **3.5/5**
For more information on *The Last Dive*, visit its [official website](https://thelastdivefilm.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
⚜️🍿
### 'Outdoor School' (2025 Green Film Fest of San Francisco Selection Series, Part 3)
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/outdoor-school-green-filmfest-25/
Last updated: 2025-10-31T09:57:10.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
For my first three movie reviews from the 2025 Green Film Festival of San Francisco, [please visit part 1 here](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/25greenff1/) and [*American Dendrite* here](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/american-dendrite-green-filmfest-25/). To learn more about the event and its screenings, [visit the official website](https://greenfest2025.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com):
---
Sometimes, it's a good thing for a movie to "quit while it's ahead," you know? This isn't to suggest reward before defeat or a consolation prize of some sort, but instead a wish for any given film about serious domestic issues to know what to push, when to push, and where to stop. *Outdoor School* is one of those givens, I'm afraid, despite its kind heart and justice-minded message.
Telling a somewhat autobiographical story about a black boy growing up in mid-1990s Portland, Oregon - specifically on that "other side" of the proverbial train tracks - *Outdoor School* suffers from, dare I write it, **too much** grace and humility. For any critic who misses good natures and better angels, a movie like this ought to have been delivered from on high. There are details, big and small, that are incredibly appreciated and don't go unnoticed, describing a level of treatment that was carefully held for the production.
Still, it's a difficult watch, as there are only so many long and repetitive scenes that any person can take without wanting to call it a night.
And still, *Outdoor School* represents a lot about how being bent towards justice can make a movie mean so much more about its character.
A mother. Her daughter and son. An immediate escape from an abusive situation. Nowhere to go and little money to keep going. For any city - especially Portland - and for a country like America, this is a severely serious predicament for anyone to be caught in, and for any community to be actively aggressive to. If *Outdoor School* does any one thing well, it's in the punishing treatment of this family from their neighborhood of jerks. Bosses, doctors, and school officials are all looking for their cut of the same symbolic pie - from cash to being their human punching bags - and they can only see other people as withholding from them. A failure of solidarity and stepping up for those in need, this is.
The young black boy, Melvin, goes on a weeklong school camping trip that acts as both a way for a mother to protect one of her kids and for a kid to come of age. Here, in nature - the kind that typically only those who can afford it can experience - Melvin is taken under this wing by the wonderfully supportive actor Jahi Di'Allo Winston, whom I had previously seen in the short-lived Netflix series (also set in the 1990s) Everything Sucks. For *Outdoor School*, his role doesn't "suck," since he exists as someone who leads by example and represents the future potential that Melvin could achieve. Potential for being a good man, and potential for being a fighter who uses mind over matter. Heart over fist.
*Outdoor School* can be exhaustive in more than one burst of sadness and tragedy, and it is overall brought down as a result. But its angle on righteous justice and action, as taught through some lessons from nature and lots from elders, can't be ignored. This isn't a warm film, but it's honest. This might be too tear-inducing, but it's not without reason. This shouldn't be as long as it feels, but its message is well worth its weight.
A movie can be both not-so-good and for-sure-fine, right?
Yes. **2.5/5**
---
Stay tuned for part 4.
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
⚜️🍿
### 'American Dendrite' (2025 Green Film Fest of San Francisco Selection Series, Part 2)
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/american-dendrite-green-filmfest-25/
Last updated: 2025-12-09T07:35:21.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
For my first two movie reviews from the 2025 Green Film Festival of San Francisco, [please visit part 1 here](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/25greenff1/). To learn more about the event and its screenings, [visit the official website](https://greenfest2025.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com):
---
There is nothing more terrifying to me than the ocean of possibilities and impossible choices, as represented by bodies of water. Despite water being a place for birth, rebirth, and self-reflection, I tend to turn my head the other way, so as not to consider what lies within - at least not directly. The sounds of white noise are for sure soothing, but their seemingly endless beyond is just too overwhelming for me to think about.
*American Dendrite*, a Super 8mm shot interview documentary, looks to that beyond place, and moves as far past it as possible. Suffice to say, its filmmakers are braver than I. Or maybe crazier. Or more brazen.
The conceit of this film is not unlike a game of telephone, where one conversation is a reply to the previous entry, and so forth. The filmmakers travel down to the Mississippi River from Chicago, and all the way through New Orleans, right into the Gulf of Mexico. By the running water are towns and cities that are considered home, to varying degrees, by American individuals and couples, all with thoughts and feelings.
With a select few of these people making the cut, and with a long way toward the south to follow, *American Dendrite* appears to be more gimmick than grand experiment.
However, not unlike the portion of the country that's being documented, this could just be the most intelligent movie of this year, or maybe the decade. It's a fearless example of people and their attachments to things like country, God, and Mother Nature, all the while showing them as not being simply defined by any of those three elements. There's nuance and specificity, and there's a true melting pot all the way down.
Personally speaking, I was genuinely shaken by how profound the statements from everyday people were, no matter where they were from, where they were going, what they had just heard, or what was on the tips of their tongues. Everything that is spoken is incredibly articulated and soulfully explained. Where the rivers wind, where the toxins float, or where the plants grow, there's someone with something to add to the continuing discussion of humanity and home. Something beautiful, this is.
There was an expectation that *American Dendrite* would finish, once it reached New Orleans, on a note of optimism, or at least resiliency in the face of near insurmountable climate and economic odds. Instead, there are two incredibly emotional and punishing statements on migration and destruction. It is only when the movie reaches the Gulf itself that its thesis is revealed, and how our lives are contrasted to the water and to the Earth, from the perspectives of past, present, and future. Of time, which is running out or plenty of, depending on how things are seen by any one person.
As far as I can see, water remains a scary thing. It's a pool that I get nervous about looking into, and thus looking into myself. But the calmness can't be beat. The stillness can't be disturbed. The convenience can't be taken for granted. *American Dendrite* soaks in the dialogue and comes up for an air of humility.
Everything is appreciated, nothing is forgotten. **5/5**
---
Stay tuned for review pack 2.
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
⚜️🍿
### Two Directors, One 'Star Wars'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/twostarwarsone/
Last updated: 2025-10-26T21:46:29.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Oh, the places you'll go, Disney.
Oh, the things we'll all be forced to see.
Imagining *Star Wars* movies being helmed by great contemporary filmmakers like the resourceful and genre-diverse [Steven Soderbergh](https://www.theinsneider.com/p/steven-soderbergh-star-wars-ben-solo-david-fincher-adam-driver-nikki-glaser-judd-apatow-comedy?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and the edgy perfectionist [David](https://www.theinsneider.com/p/steven-soderbergh-star-wars-ben-solo-david-fincher-adam-driver-nikki-glaser-judd-apatow-comedy?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) [Fincher](https://nofilmschool.com/david-fincher-star-wars?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) feels like a dream of creative capital. This isn't to suggest that their flicks would be incredible, but the productions would, at least, be daring.
Potentially.
I recall the great black filmmaker and artist Terence Nance getting a deal to write and direct the [*Space Jam* sequel](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/space-jam-2-malcolm-d-lee-terence-nance-1202158193/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), only to be dropped due to "creative differences" with the studio. Nance is an independent maker of magic who had previously conjured up the film [An Oversimplification of Her Beauty](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GDpg4aDQaI&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and has gone on to produce a few music albums. He once set up a website that was a running stream of movie scenes, set to a chorus singing "[white people won't save you.](https://editmedia.org/teaching-material/white-people-wont-save-you-terence-nance-2018/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)" In my opinion, he would've crushed a *Space Jam* sequel, and brought down the theatrical house with him.
Unfortunately, the eventual film left critics [underwhelmed](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/space%5Fjam%5Fa%5Fnew%5Flegacy?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). A desperately silly and flat mashup, I heard.
It was a new verse, but the same as the first type of situation. Something that just happens too often in Hollywood with young filmmakers, especially ones of color.
Sodergerh and Fincher actually went to Disney with *Star Wars* pitches, each willing to make something fresh. Two filmmakers with clout and experience.
Only to be turned down by a monstrous machine. By the "white slavers" as George Lucas once called them. In George's case, he sold Lucasfilm and thus *Star Wars* over to Disney for an ungodly sum of cash. Was it out of exhaustion and probably frustration? Maybe he thought Disney would hand over projects to beave souls with vision?
They tried this with Rian Johnson.
I loved his effort, *The Last Jedi*, but certain executives, I guess, got terrified by uber fan backlashes, and went backward, forward, and stuck all at once.
Since *The Rise of Skywalker*'s release, there **have been** creative and bold stories made out of Disney's new mold, all on their streaming service. Two new theatrical movies are on the way, and with good but safe directors like Jon Favreau and Shawn Levy taking charge of those, I'm left with worry for **what could come if** their projects were to flounder.
Paul Schrader. George Miller. James Cameron. Artificial Intelligence and the future of cinema. Cheap productions for cheaper "films." No need for artistic conversations or compromises - just prompts upon prompts.
What's to stop any of them from going with...**that**? **They** **own** **it** **all**.
I say keep up the pitches, and keep the words coming. I say get rough and ready. I say express yourself against the machines, in whatever forms they may take.
Otherwise, the dream of creative heaven will be a nightmare worthy of [butts on screen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE5aKNAcU2I&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
⚜️🍿
### Selections From the 2025 Green Film Fest of San Francisco, Part 1
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/25greenff1/
Last updated: 2025-12-09T07:33:39.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
As a global community, we are living in a dire yet exciting time on Earth. There are numerous challenges posed by climate change, both present and future, including stronger storms, energy issues, refugee complexity, and general survival concerns.
As always, technology improves and moves forward. As always, ingenuity and the human spirit continue to overcome and save what we all have left - and what we all can gain.
The following films, from the Green Film Festival of San Francisco, represent, in different ways, our continued struggle to live together with one another and to live on the planet itself. These movies may vary in story and quality, in length and in genre, but I highly recommend, with any festival or programming series, that moviegoers be open-minded and available to discovery and revelation.
Enjoy this first part of a two-part series on this 2025 event - tickets and virtual passes are still available ([check here for showtimes and online access](https://greenfest2025.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com))!:
Official still from **Transamazonia*
## *Transamazonia*
When I consider a film like *Transamazonia*, I tend to attempt an audit of its elements or various puzzle-like pieces. Indeed, this gem of a movie, while a fairly straightforward narrative fiction, feels strongly like some kind of wonderful mystery, not unlike walking through a thick fog on an otherwise sunny day. It's made up of moments that, more than anything spoken, profoundly express the importance of atmosphere and performance, of stillness over action. And, while I do appreciate such moments, they do make it difficult to parse through.
In other words, this review, my fellow moviegoers, is one that I'm almost struggling with - how does *Transamazonia* rate, exactly?
There are nuances in star or number ratings, of course. I go by a five-out-of-five rating system, and tend to never use four and a half, as I don't believe that, when a film gets close enough to a critic's interpretation of "excellence," there is no half point between great and superb. Transamazonia is such a movie that confounds my very review routine, which can be a sign of something good or something bad.
I'm on the something good side here.
Directed by Pia Marais, *Transamazonia* follows the young teenager Rebecca, who, years before the main plot, was the sole survivor of a plane crash deep in the Amazon. When the movie began, it opened with a shot of a child's arm, lying near lifeless, from inside a seat, surrounded by rubble and debris. An ant or two crawls over her hand. When she awakes, she isn't scared, and she doesn't call for help. She's absolutely stunned into silence and blankness.
Having been rescued by a member of a local indigenous village, she is dropped off at a nearby sawmill, which from there kicks off her journey from little girl to mature faith healer, who the local, more "civilized" population refer to as "Miss Aspirin," many years later. As part of a small Christian missionary sect, she and her father conduct folk-singing sermons and preach about Jesus Christ, as she inspires all who see her.
Now, as a movie about environmental justice, *Transamazonia* lags behind its surface-level theme. You see, the very indigenous people that saved her are being terrorized by an illegal logging outfit, and its manager needs Rebecca's healing abilities to save his wife, putting her and her father in the direct middle of deforestation and maintaining any semblance of peace between the two cultures.
Played by an amazing Helena Zengel, Rebecca is both in doubt that she can help through faith alone, and if she even wants to help such a cruel man. *Transamazonia* relies almost solely on her shoulders as an actress, as she speaks a thousand words with her, yes, stillness. A facial scar from Rebecca's plane crash is seen as both a testament to her will by the desperate locals and as a point of her own exploitation and buzz, as her father, an almost equally great Jeremy Xido, has crafted, supposedly for the good of everyone. There are genuinely kindhearted motivations, but also some deep-seated personal problems of constant penance going on, which I recommend finding out and discovering when watching the movie.
Faith that's found, lost, mourned for, and reborn is what makes this *Transamazonia* a fine picture. Diving into water and coming back up is a regular motif of rebirth in most stories, and is used time and time again in the film. And all scenes of this act are important clues as to the real mystery going on. What heals more? Is it faith in the beyond or faith in the now? In people? In action?
I feel that there's more that must be written about *Transamazonia*, but for now, I must rate it. On the precipice of being near-greatness, the film plays as more character-driven than what I was hoping would be balanced with a CTA or call to action. It's potent, but not perfect. It's blatant, but brilliant.
But it may grow on me some more. **3.5/5**
---
Official still from **Ranger of the North*
## *Ranger of the North*
I remember the first time I watched Werner Herzog's *Grizzly Man*, based on the video diaries of environmentalist and bear lover Timothy Treadwell, very clearly. It was in a dorm room with a good friend of mine, both of us stunned by the humor and the drama of the piece. Herzog's perspective on nature has always been one of darkness and beauty, or rather, the unknown that lurks within the Earth.
J.R.R. Tolkien, author of 'The Lord of the Rings' series (books), shared a profound relationship with nature, too, if perhaps more lively. In *Ranger of the North*, a North American national park ranger stationed in the vast and fragile wilderness of Alaska compares himself to the Tolkien character Aragorn, as he traverses the wide landscape and the steadily happening destruction of the area caused by man-made climate change and the ripple effects brought upon by this terror.
This short film, a follow-along dialogue told in voice-over narration, walks and drone cameras with the ranger, as he waxes poetic about death and despair. About hope through action. About the end of his career and the beginning of a new path.
Somehow, despite the immensely flowery language and occasionally too cute cinematography and weepy musical score, *Ranger of the North* contains a grand truth that resonates warmly. Even if the end message that demands people do something is undercut by the rest of the film's talk of ever-continuing tragedy, there is, really, a special connection that is made between the movie and the viewer that makes its message work. And that connection is, of course, 'The Lord of the Rings.'
Were it not for the ranger's long walk through the trees and mountains, almost matching the dire trail of the fellowship in Tolkien's epic, *Ranger of the North* would land as merely another depressing escapade that would leave people feeling dour and uninspired. Instead, there's a challenge to humanity that, while a fraction of the movie's duration, is important.
And that means the world. At least, it should. **3/5**
---
Stay tuned for a review of *Outdoor School* next.
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
⚜️🍿
### Preview(s) | Green Film Festival of San Francisco + New Orleans Film Festival - 2025
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/green-noff-25/
Last updated: 2025-10-26T17:32:54.000Z
This is an exciting time at Moviegoing with Bill.
First, I moved the blog/newsletter from Substack to Ghost. It was an easy decision to make, but an anxious thing to do. Thankfully, the folks at [Magic Pages](https://www.magicpages.co/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) made things easy, smooth, and affordable. For members and subscribers, the only thing that has changed is that email newsletters will be going out once a week instead of with every article. For supporting moviegoers, there'll be a bonus email with special links and Movie Club recommendations. Be sure to sign up and subscribe.
Second, it's awards season, and many movies are coming my way - more than during the rest of the year. Expect reviews, listicles, and more.
Finally, I have press passes to two very exceptional film festivals, which begin screenings next week. Below, you'll find my coverage plans. Follow along, and enjoy!
---
[**GREEN FILM FESTIVAL OF SAN FRANCISCO**](https://greenfest2025.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Climate change, environmental issues, and tales of people caught in the middle of chaos and innovation make up the bulk of the documentaries and features being presented at this niche event. Some might get bored by a potentially repetitive series of docu-stories, but I find the whole lot fascinating and imperative to watch.
I'm planning on [reviewing](https://greenfest2025.eventive.org/films?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com):
*American Dendrite*
*Outdoor School*
*Transamazonia*
*The Last Dive*
*The Shepherd and the Bear*
*Ranger of the North*
*The Congress*
The festival takes place in person and online from October 24th to the 30th.
[**NEW ORLEANS FILM FESTIVAL**](https://neworleansfilmsociety.org/attend/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
In years past, I've been confounded by the catalog of selections that the New Orleans Film Society put together for their flagship event. Getting all up in my head, I'd struggle to find my own watchlist out of the plethora of independent Louisiana programming, and would stumble in covering anything.
This time, with the help of the fine programmers at the organization, I've completed a list of what I'll be catching and [writing about](https://neworleansfilmsociety.org/lineup-events/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#film-lineup):
*In a Good Place*
*Natchez*
*Piano Players*
*Amongst the Disquiet*
*West of Greatness*
*We Are Pat*
*Anywhere I Lay My Head*
*Bloodline*
*Last of the Shrimpers*
*Pharmacy Museum Tour, New Orleans*
*We Were the Scenery*
The festival takes place in person from October 23rd to the 27th, and online until November 1st.
---
Stay tuned!
In the meantime...
[Declaration of Independence: Crispin Hellion Glover on No! You’re Wrong or: Spooky Action at a DistanceOn the morning after the world premiere of Crispin Hellion Glover’s third film—long awaited by those of us who have traced the cult stalwart’s wholehearted and wholly self-funded directorial turn—I find myself strolling purposively through Central Park and into Times Square with the auteur himself, weaving our way past joggers, tourists and buskers, and drifting at one point into a bike lane (“I usually bicycle,” explains Glover, “so I didn’t even think about using the sidewalk.”). Our course is set for the IFC Center, where he has business to conduct in advance of the film’s run there.Screen SlateKeva York](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/declaration-independence-crispin-hellion-glover-no-youre-wrong-or-spooky-action-distance?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[Better the Devil You Know: Joe Wright on Mussolini: Son of the CenturyA timely eight-part miniseries, Mussolini: Son of the Century traces the evolution of fascism and a dictator’s rise to power. Matthew Thrift sits down with director Joe Wright to discuss the show’s vast production and its striking allusions to contemporary politics.MUBIMatthew Thrift](https://mubi.com/en/program-notes/better-the-devil-you-know-joe-wright-on-mussolini-son-of-the-century?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
---
## ⚜️🍿
### 'Liquor Bank' | Bothered by the Bottle
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/liquor-bank/
Last updated: 2025-10-18T08:02:05.000Z
Few things in movies concern me more than the notice "based on a true story." Such things come off as warnings in my mind, with impressions of silly sap and notes of overly melodramatic actions. Surely, a "true story" that "really" happened could, in fact, have been all of the above ways - it's just how reality works. How people work. When presented on screen, however, what was true tragedy can be turned into farce.
For the short film *Liquor Bank*, directed by Marcellus Cox, touches of melodrama feel appropriate. It's the story of an ex-marine (though, once a marine...) who is at the beginning of an alcohol relapse. It is also the story of his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor Baker, who acts as his guide through the support program. Here, these two young black men, in this shabby one-bedroom apartment, hash out topics like responsibility, decision making, and, of course, the drinking.
In a film like this, a ringtone doesn't just act as a notification for a call or message, but as an "alert" for something "alarming" that has or will happen shortly. Eddie, the ex-marine, wakes up to this cosmic-sounding beat, exhausted at the promise of a rough day to come. An empty bottle of beer, on its side, rests in stillness between the two. But nothing is really still in this picture, right? In any picture, really. So much said, simply shown, and without speech.
The arrival of Baker, Eddie's sponsor, doesn't appear to be the true wake up call of the film as it's meant to be, but don't take a soft voice to be so tender. Despite his big size, Baker doesn't intimidate with anything physical, which wouldn't help Eddie anyway. Rather, his primary position is honesty, even the aggressive kind. Assertive, true, and right on time.
Once the two men get together, *Liquor Bank* slows down and becomes about this pairing of performers in such a small environment, lightly ruffling each other's frustrated feathers. This is no stage play, and neither actor speaks to the back of the crowd. For the rest of the film, visual cues like the ones at the onset disappear, and all that's left are moments and the spaces they occupy.
Maybe there's too much care given to the movie after the first minute, or maybe there's not "enough" story to fill things out with, but *Liquor Bank* is, at all times, truthful and itself. There's no pretending or pretentiousness. It's made for the purpose of showcasing the kind of drama that anyone can go through, not necessarily to change lives. It's a movie, and that's that.
No flare, no manufactured excitement, and no force to be found with this film. Just moments, honest and noble. It doesn't burst with drama so much as it presents with a pulse. That's enough. **3.5/5**
*Liquor Bank* can be viewed on YouTube via the [Omeleto channel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQbtv13qXw4&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
⚜️🍿
### ‘Stripped for Parts’ Is Front and Center in the Fight for an Informed Society
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/strippednews/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T18:45:16.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
More than table dressing for crawfish boils, print newspapers serve, at their best, the greater purpose of informing the public of what’s going on around them and why—the news. It’s the fourth estate. They’re the towncriers, ringing bells against the oppressors, and alerting their neighbors of dangers to come—an entirely noble profession.
And yet, some see profit in their distress, and don’t care about harming the people behind the type or the citizens in front of the ink.
[*Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InN-Fo1Rjnc&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) covers the fight between reporters and vulture capitalists as both an interesting topic and a call to arms. Director Rick Goldsmith completes his trilogy of movies about the U.S. press with a documentary feature that, at heart, provides easy-to-digest information. Its human resources are, themselves, well-articulate and fairly charismatic (though that’s not so important to the film), knowing just what’s at stake should news deserts - areas without local reporting - grow across the country, and if a free press is greatly hindered.
That is a built-in understanding from the movie to the audience, well before any viewing. And that understanding is, indeed, fulfilled by its end. Nothing more, nothing less.
---
### “Why is journalism important?”
### “Because there are crooks.”
---
Hedge funds and millionaires with near-infinite cash and mostly lacking scruples are the clear-cut and mysterious figures of villainy in this picture of great caution, as they buy up large networks of local newspaper media, consolidate and outsource reporting with no care for people, and downsize jobs with the ferocity of lightning. To make some money, to save their wallets some change, and to control the flow of information. This is dangerous, and that danger is clearly outlined.
Does *Stripped for Parts* achieve anything with personality or value beyond the problem at hand? Not so much, but that would be, far and away, a massive detriment. Goldsmith maintains a strong sense of integrity throughout his film, not unlike the works of fellow director [Robert Greenwald](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXmnBbUjsPs&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), another muckraker. The journalists who are highlighted try their hardest to act as if they’re not part of the story, which they state comes naturally to them. But here they are, in fact, a story. And given [current events](https://apnews.com/article/jimmy-kimmel-show-suspended-charlie-kirk-ae43c600bd0f2a4c7d3c12077e91b211?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), this story is too important not to be heard.
While the film checks all the boxes of its medium, meeting the standards and practices of a fine and true tale, and going above and beyond by providing both data and even lists of organizations to support, *Stripped for Parts* could’ve gone more fire and brimstone—more doom on top of the gloom. That would’ve been tricky to make happen, admittedly, but it would’ve made for some greater and more impactful feelings. More urgency.
The film appears to be going about its distribution in a grassroots way, either by choice or by circumstances beyond its grasp. Aimed at academic and community screenings more than anything else, it’s going to be a hard “sell,” ironically. It’d be worth it, though. Worth every penny. **3.5/5**
For more information on *Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink*, visit the [official website](https://strippedforpartsfilm.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). **UPDATE:** It will begin streaming on [PBS](https://www.pbs.org/show/stripped-for-parts-american-journalism-on-the-brink/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) on 10/1.
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### FilmStack Inspiration Challenge #29 | 'MEGADOC'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/filmstack29megadoc/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T18:48:23.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
The first time I watched *Hearts of Darkness* \- Eleanor Coppola’s ultra-intimate behind-the-scenes document(ary) of her husband Francis making one of the greatest movies of all time, *Apocalypse Now* \- it was as a bonus DVD or, really, as a special feature to the box set of its subject. It certainly wasn’t a disservice to have it as a supplement to the main feature, but Eleanor’s film **IS** a main feature by itself. Above *Burden of Dreams* and anything director Kevin Smith can conjure together for his physical media, *Hearts of Darkness* is the definitive movie of its sub-genre.
For me, its stature is not because of the conflict that is depicted - Francis nearly going mad and out of his mind in the jungle, spending money and time on such a spectacle - but rather the influence that is evoked. Throughout its duration, there’s an uncomfortable feeling of tension and caution, as if things are so delicate that even the audience must remain calm. Afterward, however, when one can breathe again, there’s a sensation of weightlessness, like being on the Moon, that gives the personal impression that anything can be achieved.
Somewhere midway through, co-writer John Milius recalled going to Francis in an effort to bring about some sanity to the chaotic filmmaking. Milius left the meeting believing a Nobel Prize was possible, or so he says.
Now, allow me to flash forward from the 1970s to the 2020s, where Francis Ford Coppola is about to make a long-gestating passion project. Once again, he’s going all in on a risk, except that, more than with *Apocalypse Now*, the production is entirely funded by himself. To maintain independent control? Because no other studio would do this?
Maybe all of the above.
This time around, the observer of his newest movie isn’t his wife Eleanor, but fellow independent filmmaker and video evangelist Mike Figgis (*Timecode* and *Leaving Las Vegas*). What becomes of his casting as the “making of” documentarian is *MEGADOC*, released to theaters a year after its subject, *Megalopolis* (should the title be in all caps, too?).
Figgis states early on that watching and capturing everything that happens would be a challenge for him, as he had never been on another director’s set before. Indeed, Eleanor Coppola had this as an advantage over him, being not just a life partner but a comrade in crafting movies. In one of her two appearances in *MEGADOC*, Figgis asks her what he should do, and, kindly enough, she just says to do his best. A master asking for guidance, and the guidance being a question for the master to resolve within himself.
Did he find an answer? *MEGADOC* does capture almost everything from art department trouble to actors being cute and fussy, but more than anything, it’s a book about process through performance. Yes, a book. About a director searching for a thread of a story from another director’s in-progress story. And most interestingly, it’s a book without a satisfying ending. A happy one, sure, but one made out of desperation rather than found during the making. It’s a documentary that’s not about the conflict in another movie, but about its own limitations in discovering a story to share.
Does this make *Megalopolis* a failure?
Far from it.
Does this make *MEGADOC* a disaster? Far from that, too.
In bouncing back and forth between *Hearts of Darkness* and *MEGADOC*, I see a thread of individual challenges. Eleanor’s was not in finding a story to tell, but in dealing with the responsibility of being so close to the subject and getting pulled in too far. By contrast, Figgis was challenged not by being too close but by being too careful. The mindfulness he has with his camera, dead pixels and all, exudes gratitude and anxiety, and it’s as if he, while trying to make something of his own, becomes a cog in *Megalopolis* itself.
Was this intentional? Did Figgis accept this role? Yes and yes. Figgis as crew for Coppola as director for himself. Figgis as subject, capturing more of what isn’t on screen than what is in front of him. It’s a different kind of intimacy, entirely conceived and built in, not as a “fly on the wall” but more like a ghost haunting a house. Why is the spirit there, and why is it scaring people? What is Figgis doing, and why is he collecting footage? “That was very ‘Werner Herzog’ of you!” a cast member exclaims in one moment, while Figgis likely smirks.
It all reminds me of Coppola’s recent filmmaking experiments, as were jotted down in “Live Cinema and Its Techniques,” where he outlined and dreamed up ways to perform a movie beyond light on a screen. If *MEGADOC* is more text than picture and more notes than paragraphs or chapters, does that mean it’s an agent of its own chaos? Like Jazz music, perhaps (which makes up the score).
I could be reading too much into this book/movie, but *MEGADOC* is one of my favorite pieces of puzzling documentary cinema that I’ve seen since Alex Ross Perry’s [*Pavements*](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/sfindie25pavements/) and *Videoheaven*. Like how Coppola says that *Megalopolis* is a crazier production than *Apocalypse Now* at one point, *MEGADOC* is more of a struggling presentation than *Hearts of Darkness*. And, it’s in that struggle that inspiration arises. That a thread is found. That a prize is earned. **5/5**
*MEGADOC* is coming to [Prytania Canal Place](https://www.theprytania.com/movies/megadoc-2025?location=prytania-at-canal-place&locationKey=5&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) on 9/19 and [Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) on 10/3.
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### The New ‘Toxic Avenger’ Has Some Troma but Many Compromises
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/toxie25/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T18:49:57.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
It's always a miracle, a modern-day miracle, when a new Lloyd Kaufman film is completed and released. By "modern-day" I refer to the traditional U.S. theatrical distribution models, and how they're designed to hinder smaller, independent cinema, like from Lloyd's Troma Studios. Granted, while his brand of cinema - and typically those that come from his organization - are almost always guaranteed to be deliberately offensive and gross (just wait for my thoughts on *#ShakespearesShitstorm*), it doesn't mean that audiences should be denied discovery and potential fandom.
Some years ago, it was announced that director Macon Blair would take on a remake of Lloyd's beloved and most famous movie, *The Toxic Avenger*.
A miracle of sorts. Straight-up, actually.
Flash forward to 2025, Blair's *Toxic Avenger* has finally arrived, pushed by the folks at Cineverse, after being stuck in distribution limbo. A victory from on high.
It's just too bad that the movie didn't live up to certain personal expectations.
The remake, with "Unrated" affixed to the title, is more or less undeserving of being considered too raunchy or too extreme for a wide audience. While many limbs are torn off, while slime can be found all over, and while jokes are made of shocking situations, there have been other movies, new ones, that have gone further and been more disturbing. Heck, the original film, made in the 1980s and on a really small budget, featured a scene where a child's head was squashed by a car. Just a few frames of this exploding watermelon make all the difference - to this day - between what's allowed and what's out of bounds, culturally speaking. This new *Toxic Avenger* is toothless by comparison to its patriarch and to contemporary horror flicks. Even the new *Final Destination* movie surpasses with immense and intense kills and thrills.
From the [official website](https://toxicavenger.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
The great Peter Dinklage, playing the human and voice portion of the poor janitor turned monstrous radioactive hero - of which the creature part is played by the very brilliant actress Luisa Guerreiro - works well as Toxie's heart and soul, overcoming health care bitterness to confront the forces of local evil. His role, I assumed, was going to be used in a way to poke fun at big-time stunt casting, almost to the point of absurdity, as Troma would do. Instead, he's just a regular schlub that gets tiptoed around. When I watched the film's teaser trailer, a moment of ugly animal abuse was suggested, which would've pushed things into its billed Unrated category. Instead, the scene is saved when Dinklage rescues the cat in the nick of time.
I'm happy for Dinklage. I'm glad about the cat. I'm upset with the movie.
It's just all so...edgeless. More pop-punk than punk. Why do a remake of something so brash if it's not going to take that aspect to the next level? To be expected of a more Hollywood production, it's a fun facade of something it never could've been.
How deeply unfortunate.
Still, things are not terrible in Neo-Tromaville. Jokes around violence and situational satire abound, and are done in increasingly creative ways. Sound effects and background dialogue are, as in a Troma film, used extensively to lighten the mood and heighten the weirdness. And then there's the references to Lloyd Kaufman's filmography, using motifs galore as weapons of genuine affection. It's crystal clear that director Macon Blair wanted to pay tribute to the man behind it all, and tribute him he did, perfectly so. That stuff is brilliantly executed and truly done with love.
How awesome.
*The Toxic Avenger Unrated* is both compromised and sad. Both entertaining and sweet. It's blood without the gore. It's a fine roast without the sharp bite. I'm not angry, just disappointed, kiddo. And yet, things are going to be ok. Lloyd Kaufman and Macon Blair cameo together at one point, in a bit of approval or, at least, a receipt of the check handed to Troma. Either way, no matter what, people will watch this.
Another miracle. **2.5/5**
*The Toxic Avenger Unrated* is now playing in theaters.
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### Fantasia 2025 | Blood, Heart, and Cinema Give Life (and Love) to This Independent Darling
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/zgradefantasia25/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T18:50:53.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
Do you believe in “love at first sight?” I like to think that I do, at least when it comes to movies. This notion gets tested often with so-called classics of the form, enjoyed by many but ho-hummed by a few—myself included. And while my Letterboxd profile shows that I frequently like more than dislike, it doesn’t reveal the truth that, skin-deep, it’s all up in the air.
*I Fell in Love with a Z-Grade Director in Brooklyn* was love at first fin (the end), and I pray to watch it again. And again.
A jaded Japanese superstar, an overly optimistic and ever-excitable wannabe filmmaker Brooklynite, and a cast of local misfits make up this friendly feature about how, over a century after its birth, cinema can still make an impact on our lives, individually and collectively. It’s nice to be reminded of that.
In our waking life, going out to the movies has become a statement of grace and an act of rescue for a form of art and exhibition that is always threatened with extinction. *I Fell in Love with a Z-Grade Director in Brooklyn*, its title calling back to b-movie monster presentations from the 1950s and 60s, bursts at the seams with an agenda of love story and passionate art affair. Most noble.
At the center of Kenichi Uganda’s flick are the two leads, Ui Mihara as Shina and Estevan Munoz as Jack. Shina is bored, exhausted, and completely emotionless with the film industry in Japan, while Jack is head over heels with DIY renegade filmmaking and joyous film watching. Everything to Jack is fresh, new, and viewed through bright rose-colored glasses. Munoz’s overall performance as Jack does contrast a bit harshly with Ui Mihara’s Shina, who steals everything she can from every scene she’s in. Speaking little English and being lost in New York, she makes the scenario beautifully humorous, with a touch of serendipity and chance. She’s the pro to Munoz’s fun-living amateur. Harsh chemistry, but chemistry nonetheless.
---
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---
Jack attempts to make his movie, a romantic ghost story that flirts with Shina’s newly found enthusiasm for a career she previously couldn’t care less for, with an old consumer-ish camcorder and a ton of emotion blazing through him and his crew. With maybe $1,000 as his budget, given to him by Larry Fessenden, and a one-take mindset - Woody Allen by way of Ed Wood? - Jack makes up for first-time naivete with the speed and confidence of a high school A/V geek. Director Ugana might see a younger version of himself in this role, but any inkling of that isn’t represented in his own process and execution.
Ugana is the real deal, punk through and through, but efficient and resourceful as a GOAT.
And, as an aside, New York City hasn’t looked this good to me since the equally great and fairly whimsical (if manic) [*Pratfall*](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/pratfall/), reflecting its opportunity-filled skyline and street-level personality back at two will-they/won’t they lovers of all that is cinema, from corn-syrup blood to sticky theater floors.
Could it be that independent film has the power to save the theatrical experience, if given more of a shot? Beyond Fathom events and above poor showtime schedules, films like this should be the spark that inspires moviegoing at large. Films about films. Cliche much?
Why not?
Like The Monkees, I’m a believer. **5/5**
*I Fell in Love with a Z-Grade Director in Brooklyn* premiered at [Fantasia 2025](https://fantasiafestival.com/en/film/i-fell-in-love-with-a-z-grade-director-in-brooklyn?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### I Wasted Time Watching Ice Cube Scroll Through Alien Attacks and Zoom Calls, and You Can Too
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/waroficecube25/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T18:51:47.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
Giving “**hack** the planet!” a whole new meaning, the new *War of the Worlds* “film” “adaptation” has arrived via Amazon Prime, to totally and absolutely meme our s\*\*t up. It’s a meme factory, if the masses of internet jokers can make famed rapper-turned-actor Ice Cube’s visage into .gif artwork that is. The movie, only having been released roughly a week or so before publication of this review, has become the talk of the streaming conversation, topping the Prime watch chart and dropping its Rotten Tomatoes score to a quick zero percent. So bad, so enticing?
Yes, and it could be unstoppable.
Produced by screen-life genre evangelist Timur Bekmambetov during the height COVID-19 pandemic period, *War of the Worlds* could be seen as an experiment against environment and time, for which that is admirable. Through the perspective of a desktop computer and many FaceTime apps, the film rarely has any actor having to act with one another in the same shot, not unlike some of the shots in the production of *Sin City* from the mid-2000s. In that circumstance, it was a flex of filmmaking that fought actor schedules to a creative zenith. In this, the flexing is, apparently, purposefully built-in, making the team behind it all responsible for its poor qualities.
Photoshops of faces onto different bodies are reduced to half-assed copy & paste jobs. Integrating people onto green screen backgrounds and virtual special effects becomes a laughable and horrific task, embarrassing for both creator and viewer. Who cares if alien spaceships aren’t perfectly rendered when the video itself isn’t!
The picture was shelved for years, only to be dumped on the lot of us now.
Much like an alien attack.
---
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---
Alas, bad effects can be passed over if there are other bits of a movie that pick up the slack. Ice Cube, in what is on the surface one of the worst casting choices ever, plays a U.S. Government surveillance administrator, using his computer skills to do multiple things at once, from briefing the President to spying on his pregnant daughter’s refrigerator.
When the aliens attack Earth, shown on screen in shaky cam explosions and, in one awful case, real footage of the Deepwater Horizon disaster (please correct me if I’m wrong), Ice Cube navigates CNN and Fox News updates - told in bracing and startling mixes of real-time and time-breaking-fast forward - while using novelty toys to celebrate when something good happens.
“Hell yeah!”
“I got you!”
“Take that, you intergalactic…” something something.
You don’t cast Ice Cube to be subtle or stoic; you cast him because of his cadence and his grumpy energy. Indeed, he delivers. Of course he does. He’s the only one in the entire film to understand the assignment given, and he’s on fire. Unfortunately, not being applicable to just how terrible everything else is makes for a further detriment.
Fortunately, this detriment is also an attribute, giving the film something to be joyfully entertained by. *War of the Worlds* is only bad by its climax, when Amazon’s shipping and delivery services become the key to salvation, and all of the characters join hacker forces to control wi-fi and satellite-connected devices of all sorts. Until that point, it’s all so wonderfully meme-able, worth making fun of in a group watch setting.
This is the stupidest movie of the year, and for that, *War of the Worlds* might also give the most entertaining kick of any other flick in 2025\. Despite its low quality and lower quality scores, the movie succeeds. At crushing my depression. At keeping my interest. At crashing so thoroughly.
I hope that I’ve enticed as many moviegoers as possible to give this a look. The world is in shambles, and we could all use a ~~good~~ “bad” evening, filled with popcorn and chuckles.
But please, don’t choke on your fun. **1/5**
*War of the Worlds* is currently available on Amazon Prime.
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### Not Quite Their "First" Time 🔥
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/marvelfour/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T18:53:42.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
Come one, come all—girls and boys, children of all ages. Marvel Studios has released their latest feature film product(ion) with the fairly anticipated return adaptation of the superhero team, the Fantastic Four. After three previous iterations, one of which was never officially released, we finally have before our eyes and ears the cleanest and likely "best" version of the comic book characters, or so other reviewers suggest.
Slick, sleek, and with a retro space-age look, *The Fantastic Four: First Steps* goes a long way in using setting and appearance as proper footing for a heroic adventure fantasy. It looks different, feels different, and is different from previous bland-ish efforts from the near-powerhouse movie outfit and franchise. Superhero fatigue? Loss of luster? I say that there's plenty of creative material to plunder, and First Steps is a wonderful example of how to stand out from the crowded bloat.
It's action figure cinema at its most entertaining, rubber and plastic at one-hundred percent capacity. Playtime for the kids, nostalgia for the man children, and a fine afternoon out for the adults. Seriously, the movie captures what's right and true about its genre.
The recent [*Superman*](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/superman25/) film, from rival DC Studios, rewound these kinds of movies to an optimistic righteousness that early ones had. Does *First Steps* follow along? Yes. Surely, there's a fun, weekend morning cartoon atmosphere to the body of its story, from attitudes to villain.
Attempts by Mr. Fantastic (played by a stoic but exhausted Pedro Pascal) and the team to reason and negotiate with the world-eating Galactus fail to work as an initial act of diplomacy, leaving the crew to their next strategy of further non-violence. This is refreshing to witness, especially since the movie features The Thing, a member of the team who is made of rocks and stone, whose popular catchphrase, "It's clobbering time!" is embedded in our real-world collective memory (it's frequently used in the entrance of WWE wrestler CM Punk).
Going along with the theme of fighting as a last resort, The Thing is always reluctant to use his iconic exclamation. Only as a final option for a given situation. Such restraint is a "thing" of screenwriting and performance bliss.
All positivity aside, *First Steps* feels like a very good idea that's packaged in a sleight of hand, tricking audiences into thinking it's momentous when, actually, it's a stepping stone. A "first step," so to speak.
And that's ok, to once more use a phrase that I've written into the ground. However, overblown expectations of this movie as being "the best superhero film ever" or a return to form for Marvel Studios soured my thoughts. It's a lovely film, but it's not grand.
The editing and scene transitions look rushed at times, cutting around unfortunate revisions to subplots and characters, like The Mole Man, played by a briefly used but standout Paul Walter Hauser. I'd be willing to bet there was more of him in an earlier cut, but for whatever reason, his turn was mostly removed (committee thinking?). Detrimental and sad.
Entertaining as a popcorn-munching exercise, *The Fantastic Four: First Steps* is a proper cinematic turn for these once-cursed figures, and yet I contend that Roger Corman's production, the unreleased one, has a heart of gold that is missing from the remaining efforts. Still, don't be put off by that. Go see it and go enjoy it.
The carnival barker in me approves. **3/5**
*The Fantastic Four: First Steps* is now playing in theaters.
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### Dream Sequencing
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/journal1/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T19:21:26.000Z
### **June 28, 2025:**
Lately, I've been experiencing forms of strange, random serendipity in between dreaming and waking--that sweet spot in time when REM sleep (rapid eye movement) and collides with wide-open consciousness, when one is aware of both reality and unreality. Normally, the previous day's actions will spill into my dreamscape, forming some kind of story that incorporates other memories and images. Recurring or ongoing plots happen, sometimes in familiar sequence, but with somewhat different conclusions or revelations. What am I trying to tell myself? Am I telling on myself?
Instead of the usual, it's been rather unusual. Pleasant, but unusual.
It's all serendipity, these most casual and curious spots of moviegoing fluidity, or such as I want to call "it." In this sweet spot, particular pieces of media - so far films and songs - will play on shuffle and, often, integrate me into the play as both observer and character. Am I a character or am I a placeholder?
The most recent movie was Francis Ford Coppola's *Tetro*. I hadn't given it any thought whatsoever in time past, but here it was, in my mind, between dreaming and waking. Did I spot the DVD case's spine, which sits in a stack of other DVDs by my TV, at some point previous? Was that enough to bring about my space in its trailer, in its fuller scenes, and interactions with its actors and their roles in the story, separated and the same? Odd.
Maybe this is what a “slipstream” is. Maybe this is what Anthony Hopkins was getting at with his directorial effort. I'm referencing a deep and obscure cut that likely few have seen, of which I'm fortunate enough to be counted along with. I've never seen *Slipstream* on a big screen, but that's alright. It's alright, from time to time, to be lost in bewilderment, all alone.
This is a movie of solid-state bewilderment, only making sense to Sir Anthony Hopkins himself. Unlike David Lynch's *Inland Empire*, which came out around the same time, and which had an actual thread of a tale that was connected, even if loosely and strangely. Lynchian. *Slipstream* does everything but form a connection from points a to b to c. It replicates, in my opinion, media and memory association within REM and wake states. Clips pop up, dissolve, fade into one another, and form things new and old, much like a William Burroughs "cut up" text. Repetition, repetition, repetition. Anthony Hopkins stars in this too, and creates, and walks through, and rewrites his own life.
And death, of course.
Sometimes, if a movie makes technique and style the crystal clear name of its game, flavoring up a story that would've been boring in a traditional narrative, I appreciate its focus or lack thereof more than I normally would. They - colleagues - will say "style over substance" is bad. I say, sometimes, and if done carefully, style CAN BE substance. Style CAN BE story. How a story is told CAN BE as important as the story itself. More so? In some cases. Can that work too?
Occasionally.
*Slipstream* is on in the background as I type this entry. Choosing it and pressing play was a conscious decision, based on the serendipity of my dreams meeting waking "truth." Of my mind or my other self choosing, consciously perhaps, what movie I'll be relaying to myself as I come out of a nap. Or a full sleep. What is it called when one can control where and what can happen in a dream? No googling, please.
*Tetro* in my head, repeating its climax and the scenes I remember the most, on shuffle repeat as I act in it and watch from the outside. I'm in the theater, leaping sometimes into the screen and into the action, before jumping back into my seat.
All alone? With a movie, as fragmented as it is when in my strange trip, I'm never "alone." I'm with me, myself, and I. I'm with the screen and beyond.
I'm with the movies.
### Get Excited About Fantasia!: A Brief
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/25fantasiacurtain/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T18:56:11.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
Straight out of Canada’s excellent moviegoing culture, the Fantasia International Film Festival rolls around every year to deliver all of us from our foreign ignorance of weirdo directors and their flicks.
The shocking. The surprising. The startling. The strange.
In past iterations, I’ve been impressed by features like [*Mad God*](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/fantasia213?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and [*The Cod*](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/fantasia24features1?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)[e](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/fantasia24features1?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), and graced by shorts like *The Booth* and [*Sexy Furby*](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/fantasia211?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). The event has always been a major independent cinema resource.
In this present iteration, Fantasia looks to continue more of its “same old,” which, as a default presentation setting, is something I highly anticipate and recommend.
I’m looking out for the following:
[*Every Heavy Thing*](https://fantasiafestival.com/en/film/every-heavy-thing?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[*Buffet Infinity*](https://fantasiafestival.com/en/film/buffet-infinity?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[*Lifehack*](https://fantasiafestival.com/en/film/lifehack?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[*Fucktoys*](https://fantasiafestival.com/en/film/fucktoys?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[*The School Duel*](https://fantasiafestival.com/en/film/the-school-duel?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[*Obex*](https://fantasiafestival.com/en/film/obex?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
And I’m sure that I’ll come across more.
The Fantasia International Film Festival runs from July 16 to August 3.
Festival movie reviews - coming soon.
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### The Most Timeless of Comic Book Movies
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/superman25/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T19:19:23.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
Mere minutes before my feature presentation of the latest *Superman* flick began, I was privy to a trailer from the folks at Angel Studios. They make movies with a "wholesome" and Christian-ish bent, usually involving family values and underdogs, and sometimes straight up being about Jesus. This time around, they previewed for my audience, all packed into a 2D regular screen auditorium at a Movie Tavern sports bar cinema - one of only two operating movie theaters on the Northshore of New Orleans - a WWII drama called *Truth & Treason*. It's a story about a kid who starts a rebellion against the Nazis, amid aggressive arrests of Jewish friends and neighbors.
The standard Angel Studios level of schmaltz notwithstanding, I got a kick out of what was offered up. Whether intentional or not, *Truth & Treason* might get more conservative Americans to think a bit about the times they live in. But, for now, its timing of its debut, right before a film about a heroic immigrant saving the day in the USA, is most interesting on the part of this theater chain.
A sly act of defiance? A whip-smart promotion?
Sly defiance and smart promotion of thought can be seen all over *Superman*, the kick-off to the feature film slate from the new DC Studios, helmed in part by James Gunn of Marvel's *Guardians of the Galaxy* directorial fame. Gunn directs this entry tale into cinematic comic book lore too, bursting his colorful characters onto and sometimes through the screen, with the sheen and serenity of a Max Fleischer cartoon. After years of the so-called "Snyder-verse" takeover of DC movies, it's nice to see such brightness flashed back at us. If movies are mirrors held up to our worlds, what does *Superman*'s visual scheme say about us all? What does it say about our time and place? Our wants and needs?
Gunn gets geeks, but geeks don't get Gunn - at least, not all of them do. It's exciting to see such conversation about a movie, any movie, play out all over social and mainstream media, even if some talk is found to be infuriating. Superman punches through the noise as if it were harmful pollution, not because he was told to, but because it had to be done. Chat all day, but let's not lose the film itself.
*Superman* is great, and it might be the best movie of the moment.
Of the year? Possibly, but I think that, as the world teeters back and forth near the cusp of absurd disaster, it's more interesting for a film to be alive in this present, having something to suggest or recommend to an audience wishing for escape from fear, neglect, and ignorance. I'm not saying that *Superman*'s production was somehow "prophetic" about 2025 - not at all - but I AM, maybe, stating that this movie has achieved becoming timeless so very early into its theatrical release. This isn't hyperbole from me, but it could be an overdose of joyousness that I'm poisoned by.
Wholesome by virtue, righteous by mandate, and kind by determination. Superman, as a figure, has, to varying degrees, stood for hope and justice. David Corenswet, tasked with fulfilling this role on screen, takes to the assignment at first like a child wanting to do right by his parents. This is reflected in the story from the snowy beginning, but also by Corenswet's handsome looks and "love me" eyes. He's tough when needed, confident through and through, but in private, he has that "aw shucks" attitude that suggests some charming arrogance and slightly sad, delayed development of personality and promise. Always, he has his alien parents in mind, their words comforting him in times of pain, reminding him of what he's "meant" to be.
This is incredible. This is a *Superman* movie that, while doing the business of fun, of heroes and villains, of lights and colors, of discovery and revelation related to real world news...
...is able to be a movie of tricks, of facade, of confusion, and of doubt too. And it's able to include all of that without snapping any necks or toppling over buildings with reckless abandon. I could (and likely will in future articles) go over *Superman*'s other finer and finest points, but to me, for now, in this moment, I'm startled and happy to find an interpretation of the character that can grow out of the shadow of past generations and soar into one of his own making. Of his own choice.
This is but one aspect that makes the movie "timeless" to me. Immigration, fascism, corporate influence, the importance of journalism, idealism, and more all play huge parts in Superman's overall arc, from comics to radio to motion pictures. Those are tried and true. What adds that splash of thought for audiences big and small to chew on, more than simple current event connections and contrasts, is in who Superman is and who he can become. In who our protagonist is and who they can become. In who we are and what we can become in this moment or any moment at any given time.
I go back to that *Truth & Treason* trailer, and how it reverse punctuated *Superman* for me. While we were supposed to be chomping on our snacks through the previews, we were absorbing a story we already knew as being true. A story of oppressed people fighting against the horrors of the day. It's a different time now, a new present, but all too similar a moment. *Superman* screened, finished, and reset for more moviegoers to watch, while everyone else went to the parking lot to return home.
To return.
Home.
The same as before? I hope not. **5/5**
*Superman* is now playing in theaters.
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### 'Underground Orange' | Michael Taylor Jackson
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/underorange/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T18:58:37.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
It's such a beautiful thing, to me, when a filmmaking crew manifests something from their film into the real world. The team behind Michael Taylor Jackson's cute and excitable *Underground Orange* has on their [website](https://bajonaranja.com/manifesto/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) a "manifesto" that, if you expand from the movie, could be seen as a fiction born from a fiction. If this cancels each other out, does that make something true? Which one? Both?
I wasn't expecting a fanciful feature about an Argentinian anti-capitalist acting troupe to be as surreal as it would slowly become. Reminiscent of the movie magic conjured by Alejandro Jodorowsky, *Underground Orange* brought me into its life through whimsy and walked me into the sunset, questioning sensible reality. This goes by slowly but surely, as art blends with sensuality and politics mix with mystery. Too heavy for fun? Maybe.
Director Michael Taylor Jackson, who also plays the lead role, has made what is marketed as a "genre fluid" film, and I agree with that label. *Underground Orange* depicts its characters as a polyamorous and free-living collective, looking for ultimate creative and personal expression. And some political justice, too. I don't believe that Jackson's film or reel-y real manifesto advocates any kind of rebellion other than one of the mind, but it does use the yearning to change society as a wonderful reason to stage revisionist plays, such as one that's a mock trial of Henry Kissinger (one of the film's more impactful scenes).
Between a Kissinger death penalty fantasy and an ending that simulates dream walking with startling socialization, the rest of *Underground Orange* is a mostly well-captured and emotive hangout flick: less sex and more sensitivity, less action and more contemplation.
Wonderful wanderings and mindful meanderings cover up any confusion or repetitiveness that might linger in the movie. *Underground Orange* distorts genre, gender, and good gatherings with great (and proud) gusto. Could it be considered a slacker classic? No, and I wouldn't classify it as slacker, even if there's a joy in blowing with an articulated wind. *Underground Orange* is fun, and that's more than enough. Pushing its story into the world with false mission statements that are more truthful than needed? I'd call that overachieving. And that's ok. **3.5/5**
[*Underground Orange*](https://bajonaranja.com/manifesto/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) is currently on the cinema circuit and will screen at [Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) in New Orleans on June 20 and 21, accompanied by a live filmmaker Q&A.
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### SF Doc Fest | 'Zodiac Killer Project' | Charlie Shackleton
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/zkillersfdoc25/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T19:00:13.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
When I think about Netflix crime shows - not so much "documentaries" as we imagine them to be, but "shows" - it's not *Tiger King* that first comes to mind. No, I'm not above watching or being entertained by exploited dirt trash characters, it's just that there's a much better limited series event that's on the app channel. *Evil Genius*, about the infamous pizza delivery man strapped to a neck bomb, excelled in both revelation and surprise, not to mention in exploring truly demented figures. Why do I think of this one first? Perfection of the medium's methods, or the power of cliche? Are they the same?
[Charlie Shackleton](https://charlie.film/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), whose TikTok essay on criticism in today's short-form video era, was in some kind of pre-production on one such potential crime show series, when the financial plug was pulled on it. Making lemonade from lemons, a new film was born. *Zodiac Killer Project* isn't at all what the title sort of suggests. When someone learns of it, the first idea would be focused on the very real "zodiac killer," whose anonymity has haunted America for decades. However interesting of a subject THAT would be by itself, Shackleton has something else to present.
As an essayist and a filmmaker, Shackleton is clearly capable of self-reflection and humility. *Zodiac Killer Project* is his sketch of his would-be "show" that, in interchangeable sequences, he refers to as a straight-up documentary series and as a movie. David Lynch's *Twin Peaks: The Return* only suffered from that tug-of-war through its audience of fans and scholars. Here, Shackleton himself isn't "struggling" to wrap his head around the genre to label his new flick as; instead, he's bewildered and detached. The media never came to be, so it doesn't matter to him. He can call it multiple things, and all would be true. All would be accurate.
The real focus is on the art of filmmaking itself, specifically as it pertains to these kinds of crime shows. Made up almost entirely of b-roll footage of different locations, sometimes where real things from the story happened and sometimes just ones that fit the part both visually and emotionally, *Zodiac Killer Project* is both critical and cherishing of what is and what could have been.
Shackleton very much wanted to make something honest but stylistically cliched and entertaining, or heightened as it were. Not unlike a Werner Herzog documentary, where key actions are staged to tell something deeper about time, people, and place. Something that still counts as a documentary. If Herzog can do that and get away with it, why can't Shackleton and others use unrelated footage to simulate truth? Orson Welles said in his essay film *F for Fake* that most storytelling can in fact be different forms of "lying."
In the case of *Zodiac Killer Project*, as Welles said, "but not this time."
Throughout its duration, Shackleton narrates and chuckles about context, about what he would've done, how he would've done it and pokes fun at the mechanics of these genres. In an outstanding feat, the cinematography of the b-roll is composed brilliantly by combining timing with location, with objects and juxtaposition, as a means of subtle movement and as a way to provide some depth to Shackleton's free-flowing script. These visuals act as criticism and storytelling and lying too, with shots such as a building behind a gate representing a church behind bars. Resonating this is. Very much so.
Will cinephiles and critics appreciate Zodiac Killer Project more than average viewers with interest only in the sensation of the serial killer tale? Probably. On the whole, it's a movie that rocks the boat of assembly line of crime novelties, showcasing the creativity that can be found in every day and bottom-barrel techniques. With style and substance, with laughs and literature, a finer film than this is hard to find. **5/5**
[*Zodiac Killer Project*](https://www.zodiackillerproject.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) screened at the [2025 San Francisco Documentary Festival](https://filmfreeway.com/SanFranciscoDocumentaryFestival?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### Thinking About 'Happy Here and Now' and Making Discovery a Routine
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/happydiscovery/
Last updated: 2025-10-02T00:11:06.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
Rarely do I get to watch a previously unknown to me movie from a favorite filmmaker of mine. Director Michael Almereyda makes the kind of resourceful and experimental films that I wish to have shot during my teenage years (besides prank videos and Jackass knock-offs). His somewhat recent movies, *Marjorie Prime* and *Escapes*, were both surprising to me in how conflicts of memory and storytelling were presented - another rare feat of filmmaking virtue to me.
Be still my heart, Almereyda had, to my proud and prior knowledge, made a picture in the New Orleans area in the mid to late 2000s. Criminally under-known and almost completely unavailable, *New Orleans Mon Amour* is a dramatic romance set in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Its non-release status comes as a failure of the independent cinema dream, which is a fate that plenty have experienced. Looking at his catalog, Almereyda has gone through this before and, surprisingly, with a second New Orleans flick.
Made a few years before *Mon Amour*, before the storm that changed everything, *Happy Here and Now* ran through festival accolades and premieres, before being theatrically dumped a few months AFTER Katrina's landfall. This is a stunning scenario of circumstances, as there's an intriguing duality, a tale of two cityscapes, that is felt strongly in his two big easy films. *Happy Here and Now* is both about change and was produced on the cusp of great change, while *Mon Amour* has a sadness for what was and an excitement for what could be.
Huh.
As I stated above, *Happy Here and Now* is rare in that I had no idea of its existence, despite having elements of importance to me. I rented an [Amazon Prime stream](https://www.amazon.com/Happy-Here-now-David-Arquette/dp/B01D97U14U/ref=sr%5F1%5F7?crid=1UZXF96S35V3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.qyf9SHM1hnsG4uKtmHKddolmt4TdxfKELBYLg%5F70kGO3GhvBxbzyMBGO1C5g3i1j7mP4QeoH04xwUPhguRUUU0zEQE6Aymao-e3rzuZqRe1eFlvhyBgHaqrHiAKHtKISJuHQ7yzRhkYdHKtgOaSApm8rpiSDSOvEWXX2ZrmeKLPXrTR6et3fvMTh5qaWxcBqEd0564WwEFYiEcJxI12vXdkDZLKYo7y3u5iS6GjXEWs.TDBKl09ZhCxx4AN3s-V%5FyBp1eHuAfdDFMMOX44j96Pg&dib%5Ftag=se&keywords=happy+here+and+now&qid=1749982676&sprefix=happy+here+and+now%2Caps%2C133&sr=8-7&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), only to be puzzled by the heavily pixelated and difficult-to-see digital grain. The DVD, which I'm happy to now have, is slightly clearer, but also hazy. This "aesthetic" or unfortunate video processing plays into the story itself, believe it or not. David Lynch's *Inland Empire* and his other online digital experiments share both low-resolution visuals and high-revolutionary vision with Almereyda's tale of internet evangelism and collective loneliness shared between true individuals, making for a cocktail of timely production. There are no coincidences, just magic? Sure.
Huh.
This article hasn't been and isn't a review as it's a celebratory appreciation and affectionate affair with how one of my favorite filmmakers made two films in and about my nearby major city on both sides of a national tragedy that, in synchronized measures, challenge notions of setting cliche and non-linear videography. And, more importantly to me, it all represents the strange and lovely joy of searching and discovering new movie showings that one can have.
As *Happy Here and Now* makes clear, "The internet is where I'll meet my wife." It's also where the video store of now can be found. Algorithms be damned, keywords and message forums still have treasures just waiting to be revealed and to be plundered. Almereyda's New Orleans, a city with a tone of scandalous mystery and colorful characters, spoke of this future of the World Wide Web in a messianic and overly optimistic prophecy. While some things came true, other things are yet to be seen.
The messenger of such thoughts, a sincere but sad figure that may be an avatar for Almereyda himself (played by David Arquette in perhaps his best performance), isn't completely to be trusted or followed. He's at the center of the movie's troubles and is too wrapped up in his own head, living a false but admirably real life within internet chatrooms. A city of such partying and togetherness is the backdrop for those rebels who can't find happiness outside of their shotgun homes. Only inside the computer can they go deeper into themselves, using tech to build both facade and honesty. The true self letting go. Free.
And so, rambling on, I have come to what I already know, which is to expect the unexpected and to trust in the fact that everything can't be absolutely understood. Nothing is finite, and there are more things in heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in our philosophies. Almereyda's films have their own philosophies. Every director does. Every film should. And cinephiles need to explore beyond what they "know."
New Orleans has one [video store](https://futureshockvideo.biz/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), and it was only recently formed. Let the enlightenment continue.
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### Question of the Week, For Movie Theatre Owners and Managers
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/questiontheatres/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T19:22:00.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
It was twenty years ago, in my college days when a good friend of mine flat-out stated that we should start a movie theatre. Of course, this wasn't the first time that the idea had come across my mind, as since a child, I had always wanted to build a screening room in my home. At doctor appointments, in the waiting room, I'd read (or look at the pictures) home entertainment magazines, the kind of publications that were, more or less, meant to sell tech products to consumers. Products like projectors, screens, seats, sound equipment, and more. Front cover to back, it was all so entrancing, and still is.
College was a breeding ground for crazy movie programming, as I was part of a misfit group of students that would show wild independent, and foreign films to the surprise of anyone who happened upon our usually underground showings on campus--sometimes with permission, sometimes without. My good friend and I shared a similar macabre approach to choosing movies, selecting titles to cause a stir among our fellow student audience, almost to encourage them to leave on purpose. It was fun at the time to be so antagonistic, but my sensibilities have changed a little since then.
One night, years later, I went to a midnight screening at the New Orleans single-screen theatre, the Uptown Prytania, of the first Human Centipede movie. A gross flick meant to make people squirm that, indeed, caused all of us to choke back some bile at times. During one particular sequence, at the height of disgust, I recognized that the theatre owner and manager, Robert Brunet, was standing in the doorway of the auditorium, taking all of our reactions in and laughing. He was laughing.
I love telling this small anecdote, because it represents something that I love about going to the movies: the opportunity to share experiences, no matter how pleasant or disturbing. To be challenged and to feel.
And so, I have a question for you, theatre owners and managers. To all current, former, and wannabe ones:
Is there a line or limit to what movies you're willing to screen to the public?
Please feel free to leave a comment below, or email me at [binxmoviegoer@duck.com](mailto:binxmoviegoer@duck.com). I'll share the best and most interesting responses in a future post. You can remain anonymous if you'd like, though I'd be happy to let the world know of your cinema. Sharing is caring, after all.
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### Featured Contributor: The Hereafter Taste of Cherries
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/tastecherries/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T19:03:22.000Z
***Bill’s note: The following piece was submitted as is. Enjoy.***
---
## by [Philip Józef Brubaker](https://philipbrubaker.com/home?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
I married you because I thought that was what I was supposed to do. That was what God wanted me to do. At the time I felt differently about God. *Who is God?* I will try to remember how I felt at that time. In 2015, I thought God was a force; a series of coincidences that spoke directly to me, encouraging me to follow instructions, as if that were the only way. Now, I see God as a force encouraging me to follow my own path. The path of my own making. You were instrumental in helping me find my path. We walked that path together. *Who is God*, you said, back then. As if you didn’t know.
Is it a city of clouds, with a bearded white man in a flowing robe that sits atop a golden throne behind pearly gates? Is it a towering stairway that stretches high into infinity? Whatever it is, cinema seems to tell us that Heaven is separate from us all, in the clouds. But these are clouds that you can stand on with your own two feet, and you won’t fall through back to Earth.
But what if I told you there was another way to show heaven, that was not telegraphed in such a ham-fisted way? What if Heaven were absurd, a thinly veiled curtain protecting the way sausage is made? The Western clichê that Heaven is a place (as opposed to a state of being) was already parodied by Warner Brothers cartoons more than half a century ago. Haven’t we all seen Bugs Bunny strum a lyre while floating upward, a translucent apparition? And somehow that was funny? What if a master filmmaker could depict heaven as they saw it…or at least, how it seems to an original mind.
Now, I will watch *Taste of Cherry* (1997) one more time. I love the ending of that film, because I love the distancing effect it has on the viewer; drawing attention to the material of the filmmaking itself. But also, it is East Meets West: the Iranian landscape with soldiers training for a military exercise coupled with New Orleans style jazz music. I wonder how non-filmmakers felt about this ending when they saw it in 1997\. It's cryptic, and because I am a filmmaker, I worship it.
Driving around when you're supposed to be at work in the middle of the day when children are playing in the dirt. Day laborers desperate for an occupation. Abbas Kiarostami is no different than the schlockiest workman directors. He knows how to tug at your heartstrings. He knows the technical as well as the philosophical. Kiarostami, like Spielberg, knows children are cute, and men driven mad are compelling. And it’s hard as an American not to think about the San Fernando Valley when looking at the nightscape where Badii has dug his future grave. We’re thrust into this Range Rover that traverses dust-covered hills and switchbacks. What is this film trying to tell us?
At first, it appears to be about driving. The film is so mobile, the sound design seems like an accident, car horns punctuate the dialogue at decisive moments - was it planned that way? The driving scenes are perfectly exposed between the natural light inside the car and the outside world. Mr. Badii, the enigmatic heart of the film moves through space, his body floats and whirrs past a moving canvas of passing trees, buildings.
Movement is the quality that separates cinema from all the other visual arts. In 1997, we were still operating on the persistence of vision. Celluloid magic. Chemical alchemy.
As Kiarostami’s film opens, Mr. Badii picks up a young soldier headed to the barracks. "I had fun when I did my military service. It was the best time of my life.” Badii tells the soldier. Kiarostami mercilessly ramps up the homoerotic misdirection. The scene with the young soldier is tense as the older, more educated man seems to prey on him. The soldier seems simple, trusting. Vulnerable, even. Is he going to be taken advantage of?
Roger Ebert notoriously panned *Taste of Cherry* in a one-star review for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1998 calling it “excruciatingly boring.” What seems boring is actually textbook Platonic drama. A man wants something. His scene partner wants the opposite. Throw 20 spadefuls of dirt on my head. “Do I have to beg,” Mr Badii asks the soldier. “No,” he says. “You don't throw earth on someone's head.” “I'll give you a spade.” Mr. Badii says.
The soldier runs away. Badii stops to look at a group of soldiers march and chant; it comes after a murmuration of birds flies overhead. There’s no mistaking the contrast between the weathered faces of the men Badii encounters and his own smooth, prince-like features. Badii looks well-off yet he is the one driving around asking people to assist in his suicide. What does he have to be depressed about anyway? Kiarostami won’t tell us.
There is something darkly comic about a man who wants to kill himself being scared to climb a rickety ladder that leads to another man’s front door. When Badii does get out of the car, to coax a man making an omelette to off him, he asks, “You climb this ladder every day?” Does Badii really want to die, or does he just need some help?
The men Badii encounters don't have the mastery of language he has. Badii speaks poetically and with elegance and confidence. He is articulate. He just needs an inarticulate man to sling dirt onto his face. The men he picks up just want to make a living. Badii just wants to be the engineer his own death.
The wealthy Badii does eventually make progress. He finds someone to agree to his plan, an older man… but this man may only be indulging Badii's suicide fantasy.
How fun to drive around while other people have to work. What a privilege it is to make-believe your own death while others are forced to break rocks in order to break bread? Arid, windswept hills of the desert, where Badii has dug his grave glow at the break of day. He drives on a rocky road listening to his passengers pontificate about life. Life passes them by.
If the nature of cinema is movement, a film mostly about sitting in a car is the most cinematic of all, as the image constantly meanders through the frame of Badii’s rolled-down window.
After he finds someone to agree to assist in his suicide, Badii runs to what looks to Western eyes like the pearly gates of heaven. But, inshallah it is just the factory where his angel of death works. Nevertheless, it is one of the few places in the film which Badii runs to. Before long, he will lay in the earth. Who among us has not been like Badii in his grave, looking up at the clouds brushing the moon, while a dog barked in the distance? Even if we were in our warm beds at the time…
Let's pretend we don't know why Kiarostami ended his movie the way he did. Whether or not it was because he didn't know what to do, or he knew exactly what to do. There are explanations out there as to what the Iranian master was up to. If you've gotten this far in the article, its because you want to know what I think, and so I will give it to you.
After *Close-Up* (1990), all bets were off. Abbas Kiarostami, the poetic realist who won worldwide stardom with *Where Is The Friend’s House* (1987) is actually irreverent as goatfuck.
Badii lays down in his open grave at night. Thunder crashes. Lightning strikes. The clouds slice through the moon like Buñuel’s razor across a donkey’s eye. Badii’s eyes are wide open. He lays there, sedentary. Waiting to die. Death is a process, my mother says. Not an event. Taking your own life is another matter. Yet, Badii’s decision to die seems premature. He is healthy, his mind sharp. He is downright vital; full of vitality, in fact. He did not relent in his search to find a man to kill him. What drive, what verve. What passion. A life force. In no danger of stopping.
We all want to know what will happen to him. Will he die at the end of this film?
Kiarostami the trickster gives us something unexpected. The setting changes from a nighttime gravesite to hills during the day. And even a casual moviegoer would notice that the film looks different. The material quality becomes pixilated, like a home movie. As a filmmaker, I instantly recognized that it was low-grade video, not celluloid.
Why?
And where was Badii? Why are we looking at a film crew? The charismatic man in. sunglasses must be Kiarostami. The actor playing Badii walks into frame, places a cigarette in his mouth and looks down, perhaps going through the paces to prepare for a scene.
Suddenly, I am aware that we are now behind the scenes for the film I have been watching.
I hear music. And it sounds familiar to my Western ears, like a New Orleans-style blues number. It seems incongruous with the Middle Eastern sensibility. But again, the irreverence shows. We see soldiers reclining on a hill, playing with wildflowers. Their behavior is off-the-cuff; playful. Axis of evil, my ass.
What gall to end a movie like this!
Is it really the end?
You were there all along, you walked with me, not against me. You were in control, and I allowed it. You gave me your life in exchange that I would keep it well. How could I have betrayed you this way. But I can’t live without knowing the taste of cherry.
The title for this Palme D’Or-winning film comes from a line of dialogue a character speaks to encourage Mr. Badii to live. What would he expect of the hereafter? A land in the clouds. A big white man with a beard. A holy escalator straight to God’s lap. We speak only in cliché when we talk about life and death in America. After the movie ends, we watch the behind the scenes. Leave it to Kiarostami to make the end a peek, a semblance; a wart, a call to arms: a daisy in the ear of a soldier.
### The Herstory In 'Queen of the Ring' Is No Dullstory
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/queenring/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T19:04:39.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
Over the last decade, professional wrestling (“sports entertainment”) has gone through a kind of revolution with opportunities for female performers. From competing covered in mud to rolling around in lingerie, fans accepted that as the best medium for the women of wrestling to exist in: eye candy at best. It was a sad time to see this unfold, primarily during the late 1990s “Attitude Era” of World Wrestling Entertainment, which bled into the eventual remodel of their division where they were being called “Divas.” Sooner than later, fans demanded more, and the women had enough one-minute television matches.
*Queen of the Ring* starts at an awfully similar point in the halfway point of the twentieth century, when wrestling was being held at carnivals, but was absolutely dominated by men. In this movie, it’s depicted that a young woman, Mildred Burke, changed the face of the business with a troupe of ass-kicking heroines, all willing to bump, bruise, and beat each other, for fame and a better, more expressive life. We follow Burke as the lone figure at first, inspiring others with her gumption and charisma, not to mention her ability to take a punch, no matter if the hit was pulled or not.
One success leads to many, one voice leads to a chorus, and so on and so on, as in our real world, the WWE was forced to change tactics and let women wrestle with near equal treatment as men and in higher stakes matches. The same is reflected through years past and with the legend produced by cinema when one by one, small-town women witness Burke playing the role of a strong star, and want to sign up too. If this film excels at anything, it’s by not rewriting Burke and crew’s tale, no matter how the men in her life may have wanted to. The WWE would likely want to peg a man as giving the “Divas” a chance to crack the glass ceiling, but the responsibility is with the fans and the women. No amount of video editing or corporate propaganda can change that.
Emily Bett Rickards plays Mildred Burke with an anxious and enthused spirit, from introduction to end, and never lets up. It is in Rickard's attitude alone that *Queen of the Ring* is properly explained as ferocious and rushed in even measure. From time to time, the film trips over itself and struggles to get into its groove again, landing repetition with the smackdown of a top rope fall. Not rough around the edges, but rather a pre-chewed mouthguard at times.
What keeps everything compelling, from all of the trauma to the last main event, is that there’s a dedication by the actors - some of whom are real wrestlers (Toni Storm and Kamille are the prominent ones) - to keep the focus on the women. Even when history involving the industry creeps in, it’s to highlight women first and foremost. Whenever Mildred is challenged by her former lover, trainer, and business partner Billy Wolfe, she pushes back again and again with ten-fold energy. Josh Lucas as Wolfe is the roadblock to ultimate achievement and pride for Burke and her acolytes, and his range when fighting with Emily Rickard adds grave gravity to occasional redundancy. *Queen of the Ring* isn’t a well-paced or smoothly written film, but what it lacks in technical craft is made up for by genuine emotion and engagement. It understands how to tell a captivating tale, as the best matches in professional wrestling do.
An independent popcorn biopic? Yes, it is. *Queen of the Ring* defies expectations by being a mix of entertaining subject matter. History vs legend, sport as a metaphor for the human condition, gender dynamics, etc. Sometimes there is an awkward crossover of these elements, but never is there confusion. This is a clear-cut film with crystal vision and a strong heart that beats for both truth and triumphant fun. Yes, fun. **3.5/5**
[*Queen of the Ring*](https://www.queenofthering.movie/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) screened at the 2025 [San Francisco Independent Film Festival](https://sfindie.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and is now in theatrical [re-release](https://www.queenofthering.movie/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). It is also available for digital rent and purchase.
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### ‘Future Date’ Is the Meet Cute of Tomorrow!
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/futuredate/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T19:05:33.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
I’ve been reviewing independent films since 2011, and have seen many movies promising “cuteness” in one form or another. Cuteness, as we all know, is a spectrum of feelings, ranging from something resonant to something annoying. And, too often, I’ve been “annoyed.”
That being stated, I like to think that I’m very easy to please. In other words, being cute can be “just enough” to push me over the moon - so to speak. However, a cute flick can’t ride on that sweetness through to its end alone. There has to be chemistry, there has to be character, and there must be creativity.
In my happy view, actor Stanley Wong’s directorial debut *Future Date* is an awfully cute and absolutely cheery dystopically satirical romantic comedy of lovely proportions.
If you’re familiar with *The Big Short*, you’ll likely remember Stanley as Ryan Gosling’s math guy, who speaks to the camera for a few seconds to correct his boss’s insensitive ignorance. I’m familiar with Stanley from a film made over a decade ago, here in Hollywood South, called *Steve Chong Finds Out That Suicide Is a Bad Idea*. In that now hard-to-find movie, Stanley showed signs of perfectly awkward pathos and incredibly charming genuineness that most films miss (unless you’re a Woody Allen joint).
His *Future Date*, his whole responsibility this time around, is a true independent feat and an honest humanist treat. Here, Stanley plays Ry, a hopeless romantic searching for “the one.” Teamed with actress Shuang Hu as Ria, a young woman who just wants more space to live in, Stanley crafts a too-clear vision of Los Angeles (and perhaps the ultimate conclusion to our world) as a hellscape straight from the Detroit of *RoboCop*, only environmentally worse. While this vision may be set in a far-off future, I caught on early to the obvious message of a present-day L.A. being one that sucks to live in.
Cramped apartments, virtual greetings, shipped-in food, and apps galore are what young professionals already have to look forward to, and *Future Date* turns it up a notch. This is where the cuteness comes into play, and it’s both affecting and effective.
Entering a contest from the relationship app CNKTR, Ry and Ria log on to win a matchup that promises 1) real bonding and 2) a real house. From there, it’s nothing but these two and occasional intrusions from a holographic Johnny Pemberton that make up the bulk of the film. But trust me when I say that this is the bread and butter of *Future Date*. Two people trying to make sense of in-person sensations that everyone takes for granted now and swiping away the digital ads that everyone can relate to now.
Their clothes may be plain grey, their small windows may show a horrible landscape of death and destruction, and their virtual “friends” may be bought and paid for like a monthly subscription, but Ry, Ria, and humanity at large still need and deserve more than the facade of safety and security. *Future Dat*e entertains with the uncomfortable first-time touch between two people and excites with the request to head into the unknown and experience everything that comes with open uncertainty. Together, of course.
Such drama can heighten such comedy, making for one moving picture. Indeed, *Future Date* is a fine example of how one element elevates another, and another, and another. Drawing from natural personalities and dreams of better angels, the film is more cute than “cute.” It’s simply lovely and lovingly simple.
What more does one need? **5/5**
*Future Date* is now available for rent or purchase. It can also be streamed on [Tubi](https://tubitv.com/movies/100032389/future-date?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### For Good or Bad, These Are Men and Women of Action!
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/deeds3/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T19:07:18.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
Presently featured on its [website](https://hiyouarecurrentlybeingrecorded.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and playing on a repeated loop, the short film *Hi! You Are Currently Being Recorded*, premiering on April 20th of all days (smoke them if you got them), is the perfect execution of post-toke paranoia. Take a puff, enjoy the vibes, and feel followed for the rest of the day. Makes sense.
The story is simple enough, about a foreign female out-of-towner who, while trying to enjoy a joint and a neighborhood walk, is stalked rather aggressively by invasive warning signs and audible surveillance camera freak outs. Not used to America, the land of the suspicious and the home of the judgmental, this woman gets a full dose of “No Trespassing!” straight to the face, with no people around to assist and no end in sight.
Of course there wouldn’t be anyone else strolling with her in the film, going for a relaxing walk in the sun. In this fairly well-to-do looking neghborhood, where signs point out laws and regulations plus make demands and requests, where cameras politely make one aware of their presence and where helicopters hover from high above, there’s no room for joy. No room for a smoke. No room to breathe. Get back inside, dammit.
*Hi! You Are Currently Being Recorded* is no found footage flick as I thought it might be, though it does shift from standard narrative perspective to stranger point-of-view often, perhaps expressing what the woman is imagining all around her. Is she being followed at all? Of course. By a person? By time. If she’s recorded, then whoever has that video file can watch her later and forever, to do anything they wish with the images.
No person is safe from invasive technology, even if it’s legally allowed. Terms & conditions. Simply sensory and occasionally anxiety inducing, the film is more thoughtful than scary, its implications no more terrifying than the day before. But, puff puff give, it’s a movie that gets at one very important notion - that this surveillance state has everyone stuck in time. As the tech evolves, people just simmer in fear. Smoking pot does/doesn’t help, but I’d rather have it than not. **3.5/5**
---
Set against the American commercial tree planting industry in the early 2010s, [*A Thousand Pines*](https://athousandpinesfilm.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) traverses multiple states over roughly three quarters of a full year, and the Mexican migrant labor who make this trip. This documentary is not unlike others of its ilk, focusing on a few individuals, learning about their dreams and dire straits, how out of country work affects them and their families, etc. Where it differs from the others is in the intimacy and solidarity that it shares with its subjects.
Solidarity in the more empathetic sense, of course. We can all relate to hard work and long hours, and the noble tasks of doing so for the well being of loved ones. *A Thousand Pines* shows the human face and the laborious toll of such tasks, sticking with a crew of rural Mexican men who’ve made a work visa deal to cover the United States in pine seedlings for between $500 and $600 per week, during a tenure that spans quite the time away from home. What does this do to a man?
Dig a hole, place a seedling, stomp it down, do it again - thousands of times every day. Some get stuck with splinters, trucks break down here and there, language barriers become a burden, and fixing food in motel make-shift kitchenettes (bathrooms usually) every evening. Is there time to wind down? To have joy? To phone home? Yes, yes, and yes. Never too broken and beaten down, the men use pre-paid phone cards to handle family issues like utility and doctor bills via wire transfer (“Wal-Mart isn’t open at this hour”) and to check in on kids. They listen to music and enjoy sports on tv. The little things mean a lot.
It never gets into the political, at least not in a big or obvious way. Explanations of their limited visas come up, but it’s all so second language to them. They’re used to it and know where to go. However, *A Thousand Pine*s was a decade ago, and much has “changed” since then. I worry about their stories as they are now, and I hope for their prosperity.
This is a movie that’s always moving in more ways than one. The pace is fine, and the resonance to the men’s plight is finer. A documentary that’s like a hymn for community and better tomorrows. I like these kind of movies, and I wish more of these were made. Can a petition be made for congress to host a screening? That’d be nice. **4/5**
---
In the vast catalog of vulgar adult animation, *The Ballad of Straw-Hat Sam* will sit alongside the rest as a fairly funny and infinitely immature idea, born from those who enjoy a little bit of liquor, aka “the sauce.” There’s nothing to it but to do it in this film of fourth-wall-breaking serendipity, where violent but overall cool regular guys venture forth on an absurd journey for some great-tasting and legendary bourbon. This is not a film of nuance and easter eggs, but rather blunt objects and f-bombs.
Straw-Hat Sam comes across a writer he names Bucket (due to his own hat), and gains a sidekick in the process. The two face riddles, ghosts, beasts, and gore on their path to get a sip of some delicious bourbon. Body parts are dismembered, awkward lines from a lite edition of *South Park* are spoken, and crude animation wanders across real video backgrounds in this tome of adventure and creation and recklessness.
Thankfully, the film knows when to end, as it’s barely feature-length and anything more than fifty minutes would’ve been unwelcome. *The Ballad of Straw-Hat Sam* is enjoyable enough and creative through and through; it’s just that its shenanigans run dry in a gulf of awfully simplistic goofs. Granted, simplistic doesn’t mean bad, but here, it means underwhelming.
Still, there is a shine to the movie that compelled my attention. It has artistry and careful craft, and even gets inventive with some live-action actors who come and go often. I trust that the filmmakers will keep making cartoons and pushing the genre’s buttons—so long as their attitudes never give out. Never forget where you came from, guys. And never forget to cuss every other sentence. **3/5**
---
Astonishing. An ascending achievment. This is how I would describe Michael Townsend and crew’s artistic, adventurous, and amazingly dangerous escapade of building an apartment hangout space in a large operating mall. The fact that they were able to keep this project hidden and evolving for a few years is so straight up shocking, I’m jealous of what they did. Corporate takeover of city cultural spaces be damned, *Secret Mall Apartment* is one of the best films of the year.
It’s a kind of reverse heist flick, using incredible archival footage that was captured on tiny consumer grade non-video cameras to show how things came to be, how things grew, how things were used, and how things fell down. A treasure trove of anti-establishment re-development, *Secret Mall Apartment* isn’t merely a how-to or a what happened document of a sliver of time in early 2000s Rhode Island, as it’s also a biography of artist Michael Townsend himself.
Townsend is shown as this dream machine of a craftsman, using real spaces for realer expressions of interpretation and truth that are often temporary but always memorable. His apartment piece was used like a hub for other projects, to be used as a means to another means to an end. Bringing in cinderblocks, one by one, were used to create a wall that fully furnished this hidden but brilliant masterstroke. It’s breathtaking to the point of panic how Towsend’s team not only problem solved the mission but pulled it all off—at least for a time.
Pushing an armoir up a ladder into a dingy and dark spot, having gotten through security and public eyes, is almost too much work for…what? *Secret Mall Apartmen*t is about the charm and the fanciful ideas that make life great. That explain the times of which we live in. That relay what art means to the artist and the world as a whole. A documentary with such access and such a story to tell deserves kudos and accolades that are never-ending.
Before the internet dominated our lives, after a terrorist attack changed America, and while consumerism continued to invade and destroy, a group of misfits just did their thing, through gumption and action.
Phew. **5/5**
---
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### A Bunch of Goo Goo Muck(s): 'Baby Invasion'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/babyinvasion/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T19:09:45.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
And now, here we are. Have we reached the end of cinema as we know it? AI and VR evangelists have constantly poked around in filmmaking, and vice versa (like the works of Lynn Hershman Leeson). The concepts of collaboration between these two very young mediums are stunningly interesting and alarmingly awful all at once. Is it art if it was derived from a robot? The machine had to learn like the rest of us, potentially getting “ideas” from other more human pieces–legally or criminally. By “like the rest of us,” I mean exactly that. Inspiration is ok, influence is more than alright, and adaptation is acceptable. Just not from bots?
Perhaps video games are the bridge between the machine’s head and the human’s hand. Director Harmony Korine, always the provocateur (from Dogme 95 to James Franco), has released unto the world *Baby Invasion*, a vile and inexplicable presentation that is also a gaming experience unlike anything else in history. It’s all thinly wrapped around an incredibly short testimony from a female tech developer who, while wearing a headset/goggles combo, explains her disappointment and devastation in how an incomplete game of hers got leaked online and is now being used for malicious means, real and unreal. From there, the video frame rate speeds up, the senses get heightened, and off we go into over an hour of nightmare visions.
Visions, yes. It’s nearly impossible to lock down on the main perspective or protagonist of this film, as we shift from FPS (first-person shooter) to masked webcam viewers to live chatroom commentary to God himself. I’ve concluded that the true perspective comes from the real-world audience or, rather, witnesses, who see what was once considered an overload of information. We’re past the MTV Generation, folks. Windows and windows of video and play are absorbed and understood side-by-side, all the while handling multi-tasking like typing and drinking Mountain Dew at nearly the same time, only to then continue the hunt for something new to discover.
“Dystopian TikTok” is written by a “user” in the chat portion of the main screen of the “film.” How true. If *Baby Invasion* alludes to the young art of cinema, the young technology of AI and VR, and the users caught up in it all (which I believe it does), then short form films and mini-interaction with them is the new theater. Within a given app, your eyes can consume quickly, and your fingers can respond quicker. Swipe and move on. But *Baby Invasio*n, interestingly enough, removes these sensations and actions in favor of forced viewership. There is only one screen, and you can’t manipulate it with your digits. You just have to sit and watch. You must sit and watch.
By being neither a movie in the traditional sense, a video that can be moved around, or a game that can be played, *Baby Invasion* is both a contradiction and a subversion. And you know what? I love it. I want more of it. It trades in audible dialogue for running chat commentary and occasional in-game text boxes. It uses computer graphics, AI filters, point-and-click exploration, roaming machine guns, and windows galore in place of cinematography and editing. An almost entirely post-pro (post-production) movie, where effects might be hallucinations, where dreams are reality, and glitches are welcome.
At its end, I immediately thought about silent film directors Georges Méliès and Carl Dreyer, and how they worked magic and passion into their movies. The illusions of movement, the hand-painted colors, the tricks and treats, the drama and the angelic. Harmony Korine has achieved all of that in this ultra-modern flick. It is definitely a classic type of silent film, only its score is one of noise and beats, its intertitles come from chatroom users, and some of them say “on that no wipe grind.” King Vidor territory, I say. *The Crowd*, it is.
As it provocatively pokes thoughts out of our collective heads, this is a movie whose hypnotic trance can be frustrating and tedious to watch but entertaining all the same. Stimulating. Has humanity reached its artistic peak? The machine is just waking up, the cinema has only just been born, and video games are how we navigate the two. Harmony gets this harmony, and *Baby Invasion* is so much of that.
If there is a God, may they help us sort this out. **4/5**
*Baby Invasion* is available for digital purchase on [edglrd.com](http://edglrd.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and rent/purchase on Apple TV and Prime Video.
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### Say It Loud: 'Daaaaaali!' | New Orleans French Film Festival 2025
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/daaaaaali25french/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T19:10:46.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
What the hell is it with artists like Salvador Dali?
Surrealistic subjects are modus operandi for filmmaker Quentin Dupieux. He can make a [movie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVKgY1ilx0Y&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) about a runaway serial killer car tire into a thrilling comedy about storytelling and absurdity. He’s pretty prolific, making one weird piece of cinema after another as if it were easy—and maybe it is. So, it’s no wonder that he’d choose to make an off-kilter anti-biopic of surrealist artist Salvador Dali. What took him so long?
*Daaaaaali!* is about meek journalist Judith, who has scored a magazine interview with the eccentric man. He appears grandly, dismisses ideas, and walks away too soon after arrival. Somehow, he’s always convinced to come back and attempt another interview with the woman, either by metaphysical visitations from other versions of himself or just by people saying he’s a great figure and couldn’t possibly be greater. Egotistic doesn’t begin to describe these Dali’s.
What the hell is it with artists like Salvador Dali?
Dupieux, as usual, turns the genre on its head. Anti-biopic? Yes. But it’s also pro-biopic or, at least, pro-Dali. There are no “traditional” genre conventions that the film could’ve used for fodder here, as *Daaaaaali!* searches and finds itself in warps of time, place, and perspective. It’s about Dali in his prime, slightly aged, and elderly, navigating the dreams within dreams of a priest who may or may not be trying to manipulate him. Meanwhile, Judith could, herself, be another avatar. Or not.
What is it with artists like Salvador Dali?
All the way charming and hilarious to the point of being a distraction of its own making (a welcome one), *Daaaaaali!* isn’t a celebration or an explanation. It’s multiple trips down and up imagination’s wake, exposing and espousing the virtues of being weird, of observing weird, of being led by weird, and of admiring weird. In this way, it’s a perfectly natural and normal movie.
What is it with artists like Salvador Dali? Don’t expect to find out, but do expect to be left satisfied and smiling. **4/5**
*Daaaaaali!* screened at the [2025 New Orleans French Film Festival](https://neworleansfilmsociety.org/french-film-festival/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). It’s currently streaming on Mubi and is available for rent and purchase.
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### Over the Rainbow: 'Hazard'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/hazard/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T19:11:49.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
Deep in the Appalachia region of America, where coal miner pride is felt strongly, small communities are suffering from the opioid crisis—as are many others across the country. *Hazard* is a drama about one such town, devastated by economic depression and little to no resources. An area where nothing improves no matter how hard you work or how much you pray. An area where escape only comes from prescriptions and pharmacists, a booming industry for those that can get away with it.
And who can stop them?
*Hazard* is not a film about stopping these troubles in any significant way, nor does it offer any solutions in the long term. It’s kind of like *A Scanner Darkly* but starkly real, or rather set as real as things have been. A lone police officer with few others on his team struggles to contain and maintain the ongoing and worsening problem. His brother-in-law with dreams of leaving town is selling pills and using himself. His sister has demons of her own, and his nephew’s future is on the line. Will there be a conflict or crash?
Not really, as the cop isn’t the central figure of the film. I imagined a story where the brother-in-law Will - played with harrowing and shocking sadness by Alex Roe - would team with the cop to take down a syndicate or something, as was suggested toward the middle of the movie. But *Hazard* knows reality much better than that. Filmmaker Eddie Mensore knows that, in small-town America, there is no mob outfit or major drug ring. There are desperate dealers, immoral doctors, and blind-eye pharmacists, operating right out in the open. Mensore crafts and composes his film around this “Wild West” type notion of “it’s just how things are.” Hopelessness has won.
For example, a slow-moving shot of a woman in bed, from feet to face, features a fly that lands on her leg for a good while, before flying away. For a moment, she’s thought to have overdosed. She hasn’t, but an idea that began with an insect associated with trash and decay gave life to a tragedy in the making. Rooftops where accidental death or suicide is suggested, dark rooms for shooting up as empty spaces for shamed contemplation, and more offer a beguiling take on the drug epidemic genre. It’s a near masterpiece in mood and tension.
A similar story that was unfortunately titled [*Shooting Heroin*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUr4jjdxZiI&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), is the apex of bad movies about worse addictions. Schmaltzy and blunt as anything has ever been, that left me an angry wreck of a person and an enraged variation of a critic. *Hazard* is very thankfully well done, affecting, and tight.
It concludes sooner than expected, but maybe that’s a stumper for everyone to simmer over. Nothing is easy, cold turkey is dangerous, and assistance can’t always be depended on. Wrap up nicely, the film doesn’t. And that’s all too true.
Can we do better tomorrow? **3/5**
*Hazard* is now screening in the New Orleans area at [Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### Why ‘Nickel Boys’ Should Be the Best Film of 2024
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/nickelboysbest/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T19:13:20.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
With the 97th Academy Awards just a few hours away, it’s probably a silly time to go over 2024’s movies. As I’ve often said to friends, every year is a good year for film, and I believe that wholeheartedly. Call me a crazy romantic all you want, but I don’t care—this is how I feel, and I feel that I’m right. The only “fault” that I have with any given year is how tight the release schedule gets for award season releases.
This begins in the fall when critic considerations and organization lists are being both sought after and made up. So, a studio will put out the cream of their crop - so to speak - at this time, to stay as fresh as possible in our collective memories. However, not every critic can see everything or have access to anything, and not every city gets to screen such flicks in time for the end of any year.
Suffice to say, it’s a bummer.
As a voting member of a critic’s group, I’m extremely fortunate to receive some of these movies ahead of time and within the supposed comfort of my home office (bedroom). Sometimes, these films will be screened privately for us in a theater, and sometimes, we’ll have to press play ourselves. No matter how it’s done, we watch, absorb, and observe.
Is all this just to have award shows that use filtered filler for content, or so we can show off on Letterboxd? I like to think it’s about culture and community. I have to. I believe it—wholeheartedly.
Surely it is a silly time to go over the movies of the last year, but how about I pick one—THE one?
Filmmaker RaMell Ross, who has already played around with cinematic elements like perspective and genre in *Hale County This Morning, This Evening*, made not only the best film of the year but one of the greatest movies of this decade with *Nickel Boys*. The sheer technical achievement in its presentation and creation is unbelievable. Gobsmacked and bedazzled, I was left.
I watched this on the big screen thankfully, and I can’t imagine what would be lost in viewing this on a TV or computer. *Nickel Boys* has that immersive oompf that only happens in a movie theater and any chance to catch it that way should be secured. Of course, watch it however possible, as I could just be spouting entitlement.
The camera works as the eyes to the world, as the pathway to the soul, and as a trip and intrusion through memory. Certain compositions in the film, most from the direct visual perspective of two black male teenagers being held in a segregated “correctional school,” don’t just exist in the reality of the film, but in the emotional history of its main characters. Image and event associations bring up immediate reflections from the past, sometimes clouded in darkness, sometimes brought through light, sometimes as a sort of time travel, and sometimes implanted in their present-day gaze.
Some of the more extreme sequences, such as a brutal depiction of physical abuse, generate high anxiety and deep concern. Was it only because of how *Nickel Boys* was shot? Was it how upfront the camera gets to the trauma? Was it also how hard the sound design hits in these crushing moments? Yes to all, and that alone is startling. The story is compelling enough, but would most audiences, especially white ones, feel the pain as far as the movie takes it? Is it ok for the technique to take over the tale, at least sometimes?
Balance. *Nickel Boys* has that balance. Effects and affect. Holy cow, does it ever. **5/5**
So why is it that the film isn’t a buzzed-about contender for its Best Picture award at the Oscars? Was a nomination just a participation trophy?
*Nickel Boys* **should** be the best film of the year, and well beyond the Academy’s voting process. How come we’re not talking about this movie more? The best of the brightest of Hollywood South productions fell aside because of its limited release.
Gatekeeping? Availability. I see no conspiracy in holding the film back, but rather just a poor and stale strategy for getting people to see it. By strategy, I mean none at all. Or maybe I mean that it was dumped out of ignorance. Or confusion. How can *Nickel Boys* be properly sold to the public?
I say roadshow. I say make seeing it something special. I say take a cha…
Oops. I almost made myself chuckle.
Bummer.
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### They Can't Take Time From Our Wallets
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/timemoneycinema/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T19:20:18.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
> *“In my country, Colombia, they don't show trailers. They often present a short documentary, maybe 3 minutes, on local artisans or history, then on to the main feature.*
>
> *In the US, I came to movies late to not have to sit through too-loud previews, now I go on time. It's great.”* \- [@brooksrogers.click](https://bsky.app/profile/brooksrogers.click/post/3lj2ouytxq22c?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
When I went to my first chain AMC Theatres venue, Colonial 18 in the Metro Atlanta area, I slowly, but surely became exposed to lengthy pre-feature presentation advertising.
The multiplex wasn’t a new concept, but growing up, I was used to more regional groups, sometimes of the discount variety (dollar theaters). These had screening rooms where footsteps and popcorn chewing made the bulk of alternative noises for patrons to deal with. Sticky floors? Sometimes. Mildew smell? It happened. Rats? Just once. Noovie? Never.
To see movies without more products being pitched to us was the tradeoff to stale snacks and total convenience. That was the deal with the devil. And it was quaint, if also dirty to say the least.
But, another deal would eventually be made, and without crowds knowing. It would be a deal with the ad wizards. Things would get dirtier, to say the most.
Flash-forward to the present. In a recent article in [The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/26/india-pvr-inox-cinema-chain-fine-preview-ads?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), it was reported that a man from Bangalore sued a theater chain and won. The conflict involved him buying a ticket for a flick, but getting caught in the storm of ill-timed commercials that pushed the showtime by about half an hour. The court stated that “Twenty-five to 30 minutes is a considerable amount of time to sit idle in the theatre and watch unnecessary ads. People with tight schedules do not have time to waste.”
I don’t expect every multiplex to have perfect cleanliness or attitude, but I do prefer some kindness and professionalism. Rarely do I encounter bad behavior or negligence from ushers and clerks, but often the projection booth isn’t manned properly. Sometimes the sound will be out of sync. And more than likely, I’ll have to arrive half an hour early to ensure that I see the start of the film and that I enter a room with light.
We can make reservations for our seats, we can have snacks delivered to us, there are more cup and food holders, and I haven’t seen a rodent in a long time. But having to sit through pop stars trying to sell me lemon-lime sodas and smartphones? Having to watch byte-sized “interviews” with celebrities as conducted by too-nerdy and too-grating goofballs? What a waste.
A waste of my time and, according to a court in India, a waste of my money. Maybe someone should sue here in America. Has it happened already? It had to have, right?
I miss a time when cinema businesses were so desperate for cash that they offered not-so-costly tickets for more movies to watch. A time when escapism wasn’t so price gouged to death.
Maybe the desperation is larger now? Maybe it’s not the multiplex industrial complex so much as it’s a bottom-to-top/follow-the-paper trail greed. Or maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. Maybe I just want my dollar to stretch further.
Maybe I just want to see more movies on more big screens, and more times than I can count, with what little time I have on Earth.
Ad wizards can go to hell. I want to deal with the devil.
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### Everything Sucks: 'Pavements' | SF Indie Film Festival 2025
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/sfindie25pavements/
Last updated: 2025-12-09T07:34:28.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
Likely, there won’t be a more creative docu-criticism flick released this year than *Pavements*. “Docu-criticism?” Maybe I’m being flippant or downright dumb by NOT referring to the movie as an essay film (or docu-essay), but it’s just how I feel. *Pavements* is a full-blown criticism of musical biopics and run-of-the-mill documentaries, and its subject - the band Pavement - was/is a criticism of egotism and self-congratulatory artists, among other things. Does this mean that both elements are mocking everyone? Does this mean that their truths are flying over the heads of fans and audiences?
I think yes and yes.
And it’s brilliant to be so antagonistic.
*Pavements* comes from the craft of independent director Alex Ross Perry (*Her Smell*, *The Color Whee*l), who in years past has expressed frustration with filmmaking and breaking through to the next phase of his career. With this entry in his catalog, Perry is at his most fanciful and fun, perhaps shedding dramatics and embracing the whatever. Or maybe Pavement and its leader Stephen Malkmus rubbed off on him. Or maybe he’s now stuck in a 1990s time warp, flannel and all. He has remade Orson Welles’ *The Other Side of the Wind* by molding clay from a musical era of angst and apathy/lethargy, and to that point, his film says “sure.”
Where Welles’ final film had impressions of documentary filmmaking and some facade of meta-narrative on top of magical fakery, *Pavements* is, indeed, an actual documentary. And a play. And a movie within a movie. And an art piece. These four parts run simultaneously to the point of moshing into one another gloriously. Despite the visual noise, there is no madness to Perry’s method or some such speak. Everything makes sense.
He casts Joe Keery (*Stranger Things*, *Spree*) as Stephen Malkmus in a fake and almost prank biopic, performed in a satirically traditional and misread manner. He produces a musical play, turning the tunes of Pavement into an honestly sentimental and truly talented stage show. He showcases an oddity of a museum showcase of Pavement history, where artifacts and props are displayed with false importance and are gazed upon with true admiration. And then, there’s the documentary of the band itself, using archival footage travel backward and forwards, centered on an infamous appearance at Lollapalooza that came to represent the band in more ways than one. All of this earns *Pavements* a bonafide kudos and a round of applause, as I haven’t seen a movie before that tears itself apart and puzzles itself into a new shape in, really, ever. I think.
Could it be that *Pavements* will turn off fans of the band? I doubt it. The tone and attitude match the music to perfection. Could it be that fans of Alex Ross Perry will be confused? I…doubt it? It’s a curveball of a movie, both in general and for him to have made, but hopefully, those who recognize his name and have enjoyed his other films will sit down, listen, and watch attentively. I loved *Pavements*, but I’ll also admit to being a bit confused. That is likely a built-in wish from a film so filled with layers upon layers of reality, fiction, commentary, and criticism. What is true? What’s the intent?
Intent is irrelevant, but it can help to know. A little, anyway.
Orson Welles on his best day wouldn’t dare touch what Alex Ross Perry has done with *Pavements*. Come at me, film bros. **5/5**
*Pavements* screened at the 2025 [San Francisco Independent Film Festival](https://sfindie.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### Welcome, Strange AND All: Another Hole In The Head 2024
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/anotherhole24/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T19:17:35.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
As a new year begins, uncertain if it will be our last as we know it, I’m kicking myself into a stir of gratitude. There are new movies to watch weekly, new festivals to enjoy, and new film people to chat with all the time. This blog letter is a place for counting blessings and progressing as a writer and moviegoer—even if the movies vary in quality. But good or bad, the cinema always makes for a good time.
As old footage of David Bowie said on *Twin Peaks: The Return*: “We live in a dream!”
**Fleetwood Peaks*
And who would’ve thought that the dreamers from the Another Hole In The Head Film Festival, home to “weirdo” and eclectic movie programming, would conjure up pairing the music of Stevie Nicks to the sadness of Laura Palmer?
**Fleetwood Peaks** is no *The Wizard of Oz* / Pink Floyd mashup, but it’s a fairly interesting in concept simulation. Turning scenes and individual frames from the *Twin Peaks* collection into musically-driven visuals for some of the Fleetwood Mac song catalog is as much a trial to watch as a piece to ponder. Sleep never felt so good as when watching *Fleetwood Peaks*, and brain synapses were never as fiery.
The hour-long music video is more Fleetwood than Peaks, providing insight and possibility into the music at the expense of filmmaker David Lynch’s grand tale. More or less, *Twin Peaks* is a tool here, and it’s used weakly. Tunes will play in the full, usually sped up or slowed down to match the show's music - awkwardly I add - and from the band's live performances throughout the decades. Time plays a strong hand in each sequence, making one consider ideas of cosmic infinity and cruel fate. No matter how profound the video gets, it rarely knows what to do with such profundity.
*Fleetwood Peaks* is pretty but also pretty exhausting. I really wanted it to hit a “peak” of mashed-up threaded connectivity between the poetry of both mediums presented, but it never achieves the summit. Agent Cooper’s visage, in a long but paused take, will nod and move from side to side, as the song and live performance by Stevie Nicks and crew will dissolve and fade with much action. Laura Palmer’s spirit shivers at the thought of such waste but appreciates the effort.
---
And, of course, effort separates good movies from the bad. ***I Voted*** has plenty of effort, with little good as the result. This is a movie about the current political divisions in America, spurred on by the MAGA (Make America Great Again) “movement” and responded to by bleeding hearts and loud faux do-gooders. Subtlety is not on the docket here, and that’s ok. In fact, it’s both expected and necessary, as a project with a small budget must rely on script and themes.
However, reliance on certain tools of the trade becomes moot when the tools are faulty. All apologies, but *I Voted* is not meant for the watchlist ballot booth—so to speak. Set during a speculative 2024 Presidential election evening, with candidates not being named, a cast of characters ripped from imaginations fueled by ugly mass media are forced to deal with one another while their polling station is under lockdown (thanks to a cameo by Eric Roberts). Arguments reach fever pitches sooner than later, as “good old” Christians duke it out with trans college students, pure-bred racists, and military veterans. That’s the movie.
Grating and frustrating, *I Voted* only ever gets interesting when the personal clashes with the idealistic. The conversation about abortion is the film’s high point, where the women in the room, for a moment, bond with genuine empathy for one another, before the hate resumes. When the violent finale comes around, played to a truly laughable use of an anthem about America, goodwill is thrown away like snotty Kleenex. Could this be the point? Could it have been done better? Maybe and maybe.
---
May ***Voidcaller***, a sci-fi thriller of the cosmic horror variety, be the first fest selection to impress. Shot in black and white on film and about conspiracy upon conspiracy, it’s a semi-blast of mystery and murder—semi, mind you.
A woman with a lost memory struggles to find her sister in a foreign country. There are others with trouble remembering short-term experiences, who are eventually killed and removed of parasitic worms. A man is building some sort of machine, and a pair of murderers are on a vague quest. Eventually, these scenarios converge and reveal a modestly satisfying resolution, one that rests on the shoulders of technical prowess and ambiguity.
The movie isn’t ho-hum, but pedestrian might be an accurate descriptor. *Voidcaller* isn’t poor by any means, showcasing exactly how to spruce up a small production by accentuating its positives and specialties. Still, it’s all too soft and quiet, which may be troubling in tone but comes off as being a bit underwhelming.
---
**Dooba Dooba*
The overwhelming highlight of this screening series is, absolutely, with **Dooba Dooba**. Its title is off-putting, and 100% guaranteed the movie is more. Presented as a twist on the found-footage aesthetic - like a student-made PowerPoint project - *Dooba Dooba* is babysitting surveillance with voyeuristic and cult-like sinister attitudes. Wonderfully disturbing stuff.
A college-aged young lady is hired by overly-concerned and well-off parents to watch over their teen daughter who is afflicted with high anxiety and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). “Dooba Dooba” is a phrase the family uses to put their daughter at ease when they pass by her room, and the cameras, placed everywhere in the house, are for “protective” purposes. Darkness will be revealed, and scenes will get gross with certain kinds of wild implications.
It’s difficult to shortly summarize this *Dooba Dooba*, and even harder to review it without light spoilers. Let me say that this movie is highly recommended, and should be hunted down once it becomes more readily available. Set a Google alert if you must, or wait for a longer review to publish here—I’ll want to discuss it some more.
---
Throwback alert: More than anything, ***They Call Her Death*** is a celebration of grindhouse revenge-westerns that, beyond purely stylistic, is fun. Just fun. Here, a wife’s life is torn asunder when a bounty hunter guns down her husband. She sets herself on a path of vengeance against those behind her tragedy. Cold bloodiness, snap zooms, bullets galore, and tense conversations abound.
Successfully celebratory of genre, *They Call Her Death* is nothing more than that. And…that’s more than enough. Surely I am serious, even if nostalgic stories of movies have long gone pop-interest. But considering the conventions used and the tightness of production, *They Call Her Death* deserves much credit when it had a lot potentially going against it. An independent triumph for makers who are fans at heart and craftspeople in mind.
Clever, gory, thrilling, and glori-ous, it’s great to see small-time filmmakers fully embrace past cinematic conventions in a modern way. THIS is how you do it.
---
For time loop movies to work, look to *Groundhog Day* for how to do it right, or at least to gather the basic blueprints. ***And Through The Portal We Go*** offers up some comedic qualities of that classic, while presenting it in a new way. Where Bill Murray’s weatherman was joyless and sarcastic, we have three leads who are faking bliss and covering up passive aggression for being stuck in the mud.
Partly taking the piss out of the Heaven’s Gate cult suicides from the 90s, *And Through The Portal We Go* is about the final three members of an obscure cult who, on their final day on Earth, walk through a portal in the woods that promises a new state of being. Rituals and routines are followed, but the portal just sends them back to the start of the day. Hilariously, layers of personality are peeled away, from hive mind to individualistic, forming back into pettiness and wonderful resentment.
I like to think that the cast and crew just bought a short-term rental in the woods and filmed a movie over the scheduled period. Maybe it wasn’t exactly like that, but considering that this comedy is another example of fine single-setting filmmaking, the ingenuity is all the more fantastic. While things get overly sentimental and a bit dull by the end, *And Through The Portal We Go* rests comfortably alongside my favorites of the fest. Watching such seething annoyances filtered through the lens of death was a pure delight. Almost gold.
---
**The Lonely Ones*
Almost gold, but not quite. ***The Lonely Ones*** is another high-ish concept single-setting indie charmer about a spiteful couple who finds their apartment surrounded by pure bottomless darkness. Both “lovebirds” snip and snipe as they try to figure a way back to normal or just deal with the mysterious circumstances. Making puzzles, cleaning dishes, watching digital TV static, and sleeping all amount to what they were doing with their time before. Only now, it’s heightened.
Another movie with annoyed characters, *The Lonely Ones* misses the mark left by *And Through The Portal We Go*. Where that film used repetition and mean glances to make the quiet stuff loud, this film overdoes it on the dismissals and casual hatred, thinking those elements alone would be personality enough. Now, things do progress as the characters vent and let out their steam, but it’s too little too late. Roll with the anger, I say. Let them be at each other’s throats the whole story, with no breaks. That’s a personal preference, but one that would’ve made things better for me.
As it is, *The Lonely One*s is hampered by a tiny production and its “heavier than the rest” screenplay. There’s no arrogance, but rather desperation to please.
Don’t worry so much, right?
---
Right. ***Head Like A Hole*** knows this. It’s less a movie of worry and more one of sweaty anxiety and discomforting actions, what little there are. A man living out of his car applies to be a “researcher” at a residential home, told to examine a tiny hole in an average basement, every day. He’s paid very well and does as prompted by a boss with a voice meant for radio, but he has concerns that only grow with time.
Cellar dwelling isn’t easy, even if you’re being paid for it. By a cult? A private corporation? Both, it seems. Wearing “professional” attire and drinking lots of coffee, the few that participate in this hole-based project look more and more like…Mormons? Evangelicals? It’s a creepy movie, but also fun in a “huh?” way. Unrequited romance, don’t ask don’t tell tasks, bible-carrying attire, unnatural pleasantries, and other such peculiar things add up to a finale that, while explosive, is very unsatisfying.
Look, I love Church criticisms as much as the next bro, and I dig mind-melting movies about menial jobs, but *Head Like A Hole* gets cheap by crapping out into an anti-message ending that’s tinged with brutal snark in place of a resolution. Better than flicks that I would’ve made in middle school, but barely. Still, I kind of recommend this. *Head Like A Hole* is so odd.
---
What’s not odd are movies made with gaming and YouTube streaming in mind. Is it still found footage if we’re watching a faux live gameplay? ***Augmented*** is no first-person POV short film, but it uses that idea here and there. Wearing an AR (augmented reality) visor, a young man enters an abandoned building to play the equivalent of a Pokemon Go game, only to become part of some sort of sacrifice.
Bummer.
*Augmented* does do the visor perspective, but not all the time. It dares not to do what the great feature *Deadstream* did, which was to put GoPro cameras everywhere and use every lens possible to perform for a virtual audience of many. *Augmented* is more concept than execution, and that can be alright for a simple short. Unfortunately, this one is just not all that interesting. The story could’ve remained simple but also entertaining if it had played more into gaming culture and app technology. There is a virtual partner in the form of a dog that guides the player. There is a chatbot AI that is treated like a person. And users are commenting on the experience. Play into those elements more, and less on the spookiness that the player is exposed to. No reality vs virtual argument, just tool around with the medium some more. Or a lot more.
---
Finally, more would’ve been nice with **Hi I Just Moved Here**. Well, by “more” I mean more space to move around in. Too tight of a lacking story, *Hi I Just Moved Here* is too easy to digest, and too poor of a heavy-handed “horror” to put a dent in this man’s stone heart. A recently divorced woman moves into a lovely new home and is greeted by a mysterious VHS tape and a go-go neighbor.
She has a large collection of 90s movies at her disposal, but this doesn’t really play into the story at all, except to pique her interest in the found but untitled video cassette. She has nightmares about her ex-husband, but this also doesn’t really play into the story at all, except to maybe suggest danger in her future. And, indeed, there is danger. But like with *Hole In The Head*, this short leaps to its ending like a lemming following others off a cliff. Unlike *Hole In The Head* though, *Hi I Just Moved Here* is bland. Just bland. There’s a knife. There’s grime and blood. There’s a nice house.
That’s it.
I hate to end this dispatch on such a downer review, but consider the hype I have for *Dooba Dooba*. No matter the overall picture, it’s the little details that sometimes are more memorable. That sometimes is more meaningful. I’ll never forget *Dooba Dooba*. And that is full of meaning.
The 2024 [Another Hole In The Head](https://www.ahith.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) Film Festival ran throughout December.
### Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### ⚜️🍿
### Take My Wife, Please!: 'Nosferatu'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/nosferatu24/
Last updated: 2025-12-09T07:34:58.000Z
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---
# Dear Moviegoers,
Actress Fay Wray was lovely in the original *King Kong*, especially when the titular giant Gorilla stalked her through the streets and skyscrapers of New York City. A classic horror film “Final Girl” she was. Did we see her through Kong’s eyes or Kong through her eyes? I like to think all of the above, though this may be problematic in hindsight. “It was beauty that killed the beast” was stated by the in-story director and adventure charlatan, moments after Kong fell from the Empire State Building, after giving up and saving the love that was his blonde starlet.
Was it love? Was it rapture? He had a heart, but…
Roughly a century later, after many *King Kong* adaptations, quite a few vampire flicks have fallen upon us all. Vampires, those romantic bloodsuckers, share some common obsessions with the loveable ape. A male gaze, as it were. And few obsessive beings are as creepy and horrific as in the Dracula knock-off, *Nosferatu*.
I’ve spent two-ish paragraphs already setting up this review by way of an observation of King Kong’s interest in a single woman, and honestly, I could go further. In their ways, both films—the original versions separated by a decade and the new versions released just a few months apart—are linked by twisted visions of love and ultimate tragedy through coercing young ladies into taking part in a final sordid testament.
Filmmaker Robert Eggers, I feel, has crafted a version of *Nosferatu* that matches *King Kong*’s initial horror and eventual beauty through love most forbidden. It’s a startling take that burrows under the skin and refuses to leave without a struggle. Without being pulled out by an instrument. By force.
*Nosferatu* is an interpretation of the vampire mythos that couldn’t be more demonic or evil if it tried. In the film, Count Orlok—the titular Nosferatu—is a walking corpse with unnatural powers, living alone in a decrepit castle, accompanied only by the stench of death from the caskets of previous generations. He is brought to life by the call of Ellen, who, since her more impressionable years, has begged for affection in any form. She is now married to a good if naive man, who is suckered into bringing Orlok to his town and ever closer to his newlywed.
As performed by Bill Skarsgard, Orlok is a disgusting and menacing figure, speaking in the kind of deep tones that rattles bones. It’s the kind of acting that doesn’t require deep method behind the scenes, but does bring about a measure of tormenting attitude out of any man, especially the respectable ones. He’s more than scary; he’s real. He’s the embodiment of imposing force. He is Marvel’s Thanos, only instead of being genocidal, he’s a sex and blood pest.
This *Nosferatu* isn’t all performance, but everything here does lead back to the acting. From the shadows to the composures, from the pale life-draining lighting to the contortions of the cinematography, *Nosferatu* may honor the previous episodes by directors F.W. Murnau and Werner Herzog, but Robert Eggers and crew go for broke with a new variation, using modern technique and sensibilities. It’s certainly a movie for the moment. Contemporary completely.
Through actress Lily-Rose Depp, who has taken on roles from the simply silly (*Yoga Hosers*) to the awfully demanding (*The Idol*), *Nosferatu* is an accomplishment of tragic heroism. It’s the only way it could ever be like that, as the defeat of a monster must come from someone most vulnerable but pure. Lily-Rose is unimaginable and unrecognizable throughout the film, floating from scene to scene, possessed and yet in total control—a feat that must’ve been so difficult to present. Her Ellen is under Orlok’s charm/sway sometimes, but here and there is of sound mind and body when letting him in, granting access to her body but not to her will. That’s still her own, even though it’s being tossed asunder. Agency? Only in how much she likes this. How much? I shiver at finding an answer.
Taboo. Grace in the hard to fathom. Beauty in the grossness of sickening thought. There’s a word for this, but I refuse to type it. *Nosferatu* goes harder than *King Kong* and puts “It was beauty that killed the beast” into a shocking context, right up to that final shot. Both films are, yes, iconic, pushing the limits of the times they were made in. *Nosferatu* had to do more because we demand more from our media. From our movies. I hope audiences won’t regret just how deep they’ll be taken. I for one am ok with that.
Beware. **5/5**
*Nosferatu* is now playing in theaters.
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
---
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**If you liked this article, enjoy a few previous ones:**
[A Fine Chat with Leonard Aldous Gaxley about Remastering "Magnolia"Dear Moviegoers,Moviegoing with BillBill Arceneaux](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/p/magremaster)
[The Other-Worldly Instrument That Is "Arrebato"Dear Moviegoers,Moviegoing with BillBill Arceneaux](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/p/arrebato)
[Review(s) | 36 HOURS / MEMORY: THE ORIGINS OF ALIEN | Plucked Into ObscurityBoth movies are playing at Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge until October 17th:Moviegoing with BillBill Arceneaux](https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/p/reviews-36-hours-memory-the-origins)
### This Is Our Lives on (Billie) Holiday: 'Scrap'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/scrap/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:21.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
There are many great moments in the low-key domestic American drama *Scrap*, but few are as important as the story's setup. We are introduced to Vivian Kerr as Beth, as she slowly awakes from a deep sleep. She has an eye mask covering herself, designed with beauty lashes. She’s wearing pink silk pajamas and is ready to respond to her smartphone at a moment’s notice. As she sits up, we pull back to a brilliantly timed and conceived reveal: she’s in the backseat of her car, surrounded by clothes and toiletries. She is homeless, or as she will eventually put it, in the process of moving.
Most assuredly, I can say that *Scrap* is a very well-expressed and downright cute movie, but that would be to undercut what is an independent filmmaking triumph. Director and star Vivian Kerr, who I must admit to being in the dark about until this movie, accomplishes what bigger-name talents have attempted and failed at doing. It’s not easy having a camera pointing in your direction, nor is it easy to direct a camera at yourself, as expectations must be running high. To show restraint, control, and vulnerability all at once is a maddening undertaking. *Scrap* might not seem like a hard production to get through, but with everything so perfectly detailed and tailored, it couldn’t have been anything but hard to pull off. And yet, it does just that.
The film isn’t all about Beth’s turmoil, even if that’s at the heart of everything. She reconnects with her brother Ben, played by the great Anthony Rapp, at first out of inconvenience - she needs him to shelter her young daughter while she struggles to find new work after having been laid off. Ben has enough on his plate, between an unfulfilling writing career and trying to have a baby with his wife Stacy, but he treats the balancing act of problem-solving with steadfast adult obligation, no matter how exhausted he is.
---
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---
Through gritted teeth and heavy confrontations, the two siblings try to make it through past heartbreaks, revisiting and relitigating experiences as if found in an old scrapbook, which does come into play in one lonely scene. Is this where the title *Scrap* comes from?
The one instrument of bonding that the family has is via the music of Billie Holiday, whose songs pop into scenes to both pleasant surprise and silly fanfare. This might be where the ear should’ve met the editing, as Holiday’s tunes are used awkwardly here and there. Then again, what is more awkward than Beth’s efforts?
Ben is the surrogate parent, and Beth is the obvious brat. This is what *Scrap* has to work with, and that’s just enough for an engaging movie. However, Vivan Kerr and crew take things many steps further, with technical production prowess and genuinely tangible depth. I was startled by how connected I felt to the film, moving along with everyone on screen and tapping into the design and composition of everything else. Yes, Vivian, *Scrap* is wonderful. And yes, it’s an achievement that should be taken to the cinematic bank.
Pride can be a dangerous thing to live in, especially when your home is your car and your car has a broken window covered by a garbage bag. Rock bottom is no place for immaturity, and being well-off is no state for holding resentments. There is no sibling rivalry in *Scrap*, but rather a brother-to-sister challenge. Up for the task? By force, it seems. Adulthood sucks. **4/5**
[*Scrap*](https://scrapthefilm.com/index.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) is now available on demand.
---
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# ⚜️🍿
### No Sleep Until: 'Pratfall'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/pratfall/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:23.000Z
Official still
# Dear Moviegoers,
On the whole, I’m too anxious of a person to just walk around a cityscape, no matter how beautiful the concrete, the culture, and the crazies may be. Alex Andre’s *Pratfall*, a movie he wrote, directed, shot, and edited by himself, is full of those three C-words and is most definitely beautiful to watch. It is also most definitely stressful and up for some interpretation, perhaps of the loose variety. Walking and talking, eating and anecdotes, and heavy doses of coffee.
Think of the ending to the James L. Brooks film *As Good as It Gets*, where Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt kiss while waiting for a bread shop to open early in the late morning. How sweet that was. How about when right after, Jack’s character Melvin ignores an OCD moment, swapping it out for a happy time with his gal pal? Even sweeter. That is a New York City movie. The kind that would be advertised on tourism brochures (if such things exist there). Still, a good film.
*Pratfall* twists that up a bit, or rather pulls that rug out from underneath.
Starring Chloe Groussard as a naive French tourist stuck in Central Park with no money and no help, and the great Joshua Burge (*Relaxer*, [*Vulcanizadora*](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/fantasia24features1?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)) as Eli, a fidgety insomniac who’s always walking and always talking (to himself usually), *Pratfall* too is very much a New York City movie, but also slightly beyond the infinite definition of what that often means. It’s cultural and contemporary, charming and cute, and then…
---
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---
The weight of the film is carried by the two leads and camera operator (among those other titles) Alex Andre, as *Pratfall* attempts a walking tour of NYC, all the while doing the dirty of drama and showcasing a burgeoning and unlikely friendship. It’s amazing. I’m amazed at how such a small production could make such a small film feel large in scope. Is that the power of a city or a director and his cast? Both?
Joshua Burge performs his characters with legend and continues that trend with Eli. The young man whips out words like he’s a thesaurus and speaks sentences with tenuous connections to previous ones, like jumpy jumping-off points. He’s twitchy and wide awake, but he’s no *Taxi Driver* case—just a sad sack with confrontational friendliness. He’s a New Yorker. A cinematic New Yorker. A theatrical one. Burge gets it, as he always does. When he meets Joelle, it’s from a point of annoyance; he hates her “I Heart NYC” shirt. Feeling sorry for his aggression while hiding a deep loneliness, he agrees to show her his New York, pizza and museums and street vendors and all.
That is the vast majority of the *Pratfall*. The film is magic with many wonderful moments that combine fish out-of-water sightseeing with half-truths about city lore and tons of ramblings about anything, seen and unseen. I would normally say that we’re following these two, but Alex Andre shoots from in front, almost walking backward to present scenes as if they’re being guided from venue to venue. Maybe they are. Maybe something is willing them to Eli’s favorite haunts. This certainly wasn’t his idea to begin with, but he’s rolling with it anyway. After all, what else would he be doing?
There’s a stupendous effect that the charismatic combination of performances, cinematography, and soundtrack creates that never lets up. There are no redundancies, nothing is dull, and nothing breaks. It’s *Pratfall*’s always forward-seeking motion that keeps attention glued. And it’s the film’s romanticism and mystery that lurks behind our leads, being what **IS** following them.
I wouldn’t want to spoil the underbelly of *Pratfall* other than to say that the title plays its hand in one startling moment, completely turning the movie on its head and dropping everything built up to that point. Months later, I’m still contemplating the meaning of that. The idea of it is dark and hypnotic, and I’ll likely save my thoughts on it for another day.
For today, let us leave this review with the following: Joshua Burge is a king of acting and improvisation and attitude, and *Pratfall* is one of the best independent films of the year. It’s as good as it gets. **5/5**
*Pratfall* is now available on demand for rent and purchase. It’s also on [Tubi](https://tubitv.com/movies/100030766/pratfall?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
### The Very Unofficial Super Soaker Movie: 'Hippo'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/hippo/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:24.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
There’s something that I must first point out about approaching a movie like *Hippo*: One should go into it knowing nothing, and one should revisit it expecting nothing. This is a good general rule of thumb for most viewing habits to be completely enjoyable, but in the case of *Hippo*, it’s essential. The movie, on the whole, is a vulgarity of punk notions and taboo grotesqueness. It’s a trip into the dark woods of the late 1990s, where speculations on the new millennium ran rampant. It’s more than a peek at the remnants of a really nuclear family; it’s an atomic bomb dropped on America by weirdos, foreign and domestic.
Yes, this film is right up my alley. And I want to watch it again and again.
My first experience with it, on the festival circuit, resulted in a score of 5/5—an absolute personal favorite. And, in many ways, it still is. Narrated by the all-knowing voice of Eric Roberts, we see roughly a year into the lives of teenage siblings Hippo (Kimball Farley) and his adopted sister from Hungary, Buttercup (Lilla Kizlinger). Their Mother Ethel (Eliza Roberts) mostly keeps the two home and on the property, teaching them about the world’s beauties and ugliness in the most cyclical and protective ways. The brother and sister, essentially, are warped by this, and in separate manners. Buttercup is an Eastern Catholic who wants a child born from lust, and Hippo wants to play bloody video games on his N64 and train for a war that exists only in his head. For Ethel, she just confronts it all with baked goods and positive motherly kindness, even when her lessons are odd and damaging. She too is warped, from an encounter with a UFO during Hippo’s childhood.
How does this movie move? Where does it go? Read by Eric Roberts as a children’s book, the strangeness of *Hippo* comes completely from its character and characters, much like a Todd Solondz film. Here, director Mark H. Rapaport constructs a world just for this family, where they can live as delusionally as possible, insulated and protected from onlookers, but free to theorize on conspiracies and long for human touch most wrong as possible. The same can be said for Solondz’s movies, except that his oddballs are living out and about, only confined by their behaviors and feelings. But, both worlds are still very much by the laws and wills of their creators. That fact is both sickening and fascinating.
To wield such power over a time and place, over weirdos and misfits, like a mischievous god with too much time available for play, is dangerous for any one writer or director. Or worse, both. Its imagination most wild, and I’m cheering it on.
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If Hippo ever left the home he so proudly never leaves - as if a fortress of his making and not a prison of his mother’s mind - he’d be a danger to society. As the film progresses, this becomes clearer and clearer, edging closer and closer to a violent climax that, as Hippo would describe, is most “sexual.” Not literally, as he protects his fluids and “plasma” at all costs, to fight the alien invasion that’s coming.
Poor Buttercup. She just wants to get laid by him and bear herself a baby.
Phew.
Upon a second watch, where I went in “expecting nothing” to fully recognize things I missed the first time, I found the movie to be a bit held back, despite everything the characters do and everything they want. *Hippo* is an iron fist-ed presentation that’s happy and proud of what it is, and it should be. But it also doesn’t go far enough. It’s always trying to make up for missing dynamism by escalating the actions of Hippo and Buttercup, not to mention the voice-over by Eric Roberts, which both surpasses and undercuts the story at times. Maybe its world is too much of a space case, needing a softer technical style. A slower one.
The movie has the pills that the characters desperately need and takes them in doses. Too many? Maybe the pills aren’t for anyone in and of this film. Maybe it needs to speed up here and there, with little to no stabilization.
If it were up to Hippo and Buttercup, the only thing stabilizing anything would be bullets and sperm—which go hand in hand, really. Imagine that. **3.5/5**
*Hippo* is now available on Blu-ray at [Vinegar Syndrome](https://vinegarsyndrome.com/collections/all-partner-label-releases/products/hippo?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
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### Written in the Stars: 'Ghetto Children' | New Orleans Film Festival 2024
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/noff24ghettochildren/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:24.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
A city that celebrates anything and everything, all day and every day, without end has a certain “big easy” nature about it. New Orleans, of course. Parties. Dancing. Revelry.
A city of corruption, exploitation, and broken streets—figuratively and literally is too “big” and way too “easy.”
How do kids grow up in such an environment, under a cloud of good vibes and trauma?
Zac Manuel’s triptych documentary *Ghetto Children* may not speak of all that all the time, but should it have to when it’s on the tip of its tongue?
Manuel is known primarily as a great go-to cinematographer, with his most prominent work being his collaborations with director Garrett Bradley (*Time*). His feature film, originally proposed under the title *blood thicker*, marks a brilliant and expectedly inventive moment in his filmmaking career. Cut and shot with patience and virtue, his *Ghetto Children* reminds me of the phrase “every frame a painting.” Manuel, in the heat of every moment, finds the portraits that exist in our reality, from the mind, through his eyes and found in real-time. Grade A for astonishing ingenuity.
His movie follows three young rap artists: T.Y., Young Juve, and Lil Soulja Slim. They are the sons of famous rappers, all from the Cash Money Records era of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Over several years, this documentary covers the ambitions, anxieties, stumbles, and hopes of these three “ghetto children,” as life and maturity hit them like bricks.
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T.Y.’s father has been in jail for many years when the movie begins. He prepares for his eventual release while trying to stay out of trouble. Lil Soulja Slim’s father died when he was a child. Now with a child himself, what kind of life does he want to have now? What is he to do? And Young Juve, probably the more stable of the three, wants to be himself. His own man. Living in the shadow of your parents, your home, and your legacy, is a burden we all bear. To see this truth flash away at twenty-four frames a second can create wisdom or damage in someone. Both? Maybe, but that’s just too much to handle.
There’s a poetic tragedy and real allegory found with these kids as they turn into men. In the film’s most significant sequence, almost halfway through, we witness:
1. Young Juve preparing for a performance.
2. T.Y. getting arrested.
3. Lil Soulja Slim seeing his child being born.
Just as New Orleans is an almost tale of two cities, this sequence breaks *Ghetto Children* into two parts, the first where the boys are near invincible and the other where gravity does its job on them. Thinking back on their fathers, there’s a generation before and the generation they are now. Thinking back to Katrina, there’s the city before the storm, and the city after. All of this is linked as the three grow up and move on, and it’s startling just how thoughtfully presented it all is.
I like to imagine these young musicians thinking back on when they were toddlers, being with their families, and living free of responsibility in their early youth. Cuts from home archive footage easily break this, shocking these men as they try and sometimes fail to find the right words to express their feelings. Their music helps, but *Ghetto Children* isn’t about songs or art.
It’s about a city. It’s about young black men. It’s about shadows and fog. It’s a tree of life, frankly. It’s big, but not so easy—even if filmmaker Zac Manuel makes it look easy. **4/5**
*Ghetto Children* screened during the 2024 [New Orleans Film Festival](https://neworleansfilmsociety.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
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### Dignity Deserved: 'Nurse Unseen'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/nurseunseen/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:25.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
In the struggle to cut through misinformation and ignorance regarding COVID-19 and its pandemic, journalists and filmmakers alike have been doing their best to cover all possible angles of the ongoing story: some exploitative, some genuine. Take Alex Gibney’s *Totally Under Control*, which rocked the Trump Administration’s world with its exposure of corruption and poor response to the global emergency. Far and away, that was the best (and most important) film about COVID that one could expect.
**Was**.
Rightfully titled due to the limited news about the topic, *Nurse Unseen* reaches both hearts **and** minds, whereas other pieces of COVID cinema go for just the tear ducts. It’s easy to pull on strings for a decent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but it’s still difficult to tell an engaging and enlightening story about real people. Director Michele Josue’s accomplishment with this film is in her dedication to a marginalized community of Americans, to a noble profession, and to the kind of sensitivity required of a filmmaker who handles a subject most devastated and more heroic.
Female Filipino American nurses were disproportionally harmed by the pandemic, as often stated in this movie. They were also prominently at the frontlines of patient care, being directly in contact with the infected, and sometimes without proper CDC-regulated protective equipment—things as simple as strong N95 masks included. But *Nurse Unseen* is no undercover investigation into healthcare mismanagement or the very true aspect of Government negligence. Rather, it’s a whole portrait of America and what comes with being a caring citizen.
Yes, I mean that.
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Through immigration history that details things like colonization, escape from dictatorship, and opportunities elsewhere, to modern-day Filipino American families who host scores of female nurses and feel a duty to their neighbors and their country, the documentary has the heavy mission of getting personal and grasping large. Nurses are more than blood pressure takers, and people are never the stereotypes that may surround them. Facing racism, acts of violence, indifference from others, job-related anxiety, and emotional trauma, Filipino American nurses - from individual memories to collective experiences - push through pressure and break down walls all to care for their own loved ones and those of others. It’s a wide-reaching movie, spanning the past and present, not to mention the intimate and the universal. Everything a drama should be. Everything a movie can be.
A burden for some films, risking focus and pretentiousness in the struggle for greatness. *Nurse Unseen*, however, is a filmmaking victory that should be treasured. It cuts from elements that are macro and micro, from mighty and weak, all to the effect of splicing together a film that’s not just picture-perfect textbook quality, but above and beyond the call.
How? There are plenty of documentaries about under-appreciated groups of people, but many of them either feel too long, meander too much, or forget to establish and fulfill a thesis. Depressing to watch, they can be. *Nurse Unseen* can get sad and tragic but it sets everything up in the first ten minutes for a conclusion that’s triumphant for both the people and profession at its center and the filmmakers behind its camera. Marvel at the cinematic technique, at the beating heart, and the cherished smile that’s well-earned when things are said and done.
*Nurse Unseen* is the best American documentary about COVID-19 since *Totally Under Control*. Recognize. **5/5**
*Nurse Unseen* is currently playing in limited release and the New Orleans area at [Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
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### What Are My Five Favorite Horror Movies of All Time? (as of 2024)
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/fivehorror24/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:26.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
Yes, I have a listicle for y’all. And yes, it’s perfectly timed.
Please note that I find ranking all-time films to be very fun if also very stressful. After all, what are the best of the best? This changes every year, every month, every day, every moment. So, I always put in the extra bit of such rankings to be my “favorites” at a given time.
A cop out sure.
With that, in the interest of celebrating Halloween, here are my five favorite horror films, in no particular order—as of 2024.
Enjoy:
I started watching David Lynch films during my college years in the mid-2000s, and haven’t stopped since. There’s a tinge of anxiety in each of the ones I’ve seen (a recurring element that I like in my movie watching) and yet a rewarded feeling of hope and victory by the end. Rewarded for getting through the film? For endurance? Out of generosity from the filmmaker?
His last feature film - unless you “count” his recent Showtime mini-series *Twin Peaks: The Return* \- works as both a bookend to his first flick *Eraserhead* and the end to a trilogy that includes *Lost Highway* and *Mulholland Drive*. Any of the referenced three could’ve made this countdown, but I chose Lynch’s consumer-grade digital nightmare-scape instead.
*Inland Empire* is a movie that’s been memed online quite a bit, and not for its content but rather the eccentricity of David Lynch, when he promoted his star Laura Dern for a Best Actress Academy Award…with a Cow and a Lawn Chair. Acts like that make for his legendary personality and this film’s everlasting stay.
He was in the middle of a very creative period, uploading video projects to his website such as a series about people in rabbit costumes - also memed online. What came out of this almost word-salad exploration into an artist’s mind was *Inland Empire*, a tale set in Hollywood, and a journey through multiple stories and dreams and realities. Laura Dern goes through stages of hell filled with devils and screwdrivers, and comes out of it to unseen applause.
Throughout this trip are many scenes of visual terror, the best being a slow run toward the camera by Dern, whose face quickly contorts with a scream-like smile and wide-open eyes, directly into the camera. The film can be seen as an acid-tragedy, but can’t be ignored as a straight horror. It confuses, it confounds, it creeps.
Only recently did I build up the nerve to watch *The Texas Chain Saw Massacre*, for the first time, and in a theater. I knew the production stories, I read up on the sequels, and had some second-hand whiff of its general story, but had always avoided the full presentation.
Avoided.
I’m not certain why. For me, horror flicks with catholic iconography and “blasphemy” do damage to my psyche and courage more than monsters chasing girls around—and I’m not even all that religious. But this *Massacre*? Maybe it’s in the final shot of Leatherface twirling around with his weapon as the sun rises behind him. It’s unnerving to think about such next-door evil, such real-world behavior, and very intense aggression.
These people exist, in fits and bursts. That radio news blast about atrocities and murder at the beginning? We hear it and see it every damn day all over mass media.
Too timeless for words.
Once, I projected the original silent *Nosferatu* on a lecture room wall in college. Alone with my thoughts, reflecting on this public-domain DVD, I chuckled often at the brashness of the vampire’s dialogue and behavior. He just openly says how a man’s wife has a beautiful neck before hungrily staring at a slightly bloody cut.
This takes place during a contract signing for a real-estate deal.
It all would be such a loose comedy of scares if it weren’t for Max Schreck’s brilliant, grotesque, and dedicated performance as Count Orlock. The man under the makeup knows how to walk, how to gesture, and how to stare. He stalks souls, he seeks blood, and he longs for love. Ascending some stairs, his shadowy silhouette stuns one into breathlessness.
All it takes is one moment, one look, or one shot to put a movie over the top. This one has many.
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I’ll never forget its viral marketing. Its first trailer. My anxiety before the film played.
This, *The Blair Witch Project*, represented my fears of a post-OCD exposure-therapy future and the coming of maturity. I panicked in the theater, I upset my Mom and brother, but then would calm myself down out of guilt.
Afterward, I was most relaxed. The film was so impressive and creative, showing me a new way of making movies on the cheap and in the backyard. Or anywhere. As a kid videographer, this and MTV’s Jackass inspired my friends and I to do some crazy things in front of my Super-VHS camera.
Has the film remained scary? In many ways, yes. Terrifying even. I reflect on it differently now, but it still impacts me ever so, each time I think about it.
Another Lynch? You bet.
I picked *Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me* out of a Wal-Mart discount bin based on name recognition alone. When my friends and I finally watched it in an Uptown New Orleans loft, huddled together in awe, was when I knew how real nightmares had always been for everyone.
Trauma. Torture. Abuse. No rest for the innocent or the young. Ever.
Every scene is a portrait, filled with heroes and villains. With dreamers and their dreams. With monsters and their victims.
Why was this so unappreciated for so long? I read that it was booed at its premiere, with people expecting a sequel/conclusion to the famous television series that it was based on.
It’s a shame. Nothing ends. Ever.
---
Happy Halloween! (**and vote for Harris/Walz**)
# Sincerely (and spookily) Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿🎃
### Grow(ing) Up: 'Giants Rising' | Green Film Festival of San Francisco 2024
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/giantsgreen24/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:27.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
I don’t get the dismissal of nature that some people have. Remember how in the first Avatar movie, the corporate representative in charge of pulling resources from Pandora, laughs at the scientists who state how the trees are alive. “They’re just trees!!!!” Indeed they are, however…
*Giants Rising* covers the ins and outs of Coast Redwoods, a particularly strong and resilient kind of tree that grows incredibly tall (one is bigger than the Statue of Liberty), found along the California coast. Every facet of their existence, from the psychological impact they have on people to the genetic mapping of the trees themselves, *Giants Rising* is an encyclopedia in motion and is maybe the best of the best at it. Artists, indigenous people, conservationists, park rangers, and regular people come together to bark their tales and take root in everyone everywhere.
If I were an elementary school student, watching this movie on a rainy day in class, I’d be both excited for the time off, and intrigued by the history and the fascinating science behind these Redwoods—seriously. True, I was a quiet nerd-ish kid growing up, but *Giants Rising* held my attention now and likely would’ve piqued my interest then. For the other kids though, there would be shenanigans throughout. But that’s ok, as children behave like that. As adults?
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While the movie handles the subject of Redwoods with precision and clarity, providing a comfortable amount of information and personality, it does move along like a public channel documentary, with slightly better than elevator music, occasional stock footage, constant pleadings for preservation, and over-explanatory bits of data. Thorough, but a little much at times.
In no way is *Giants Rising* trying to talk down to and patronize anyone, but it does great in making sure that every aspect of the Redwoods’ majesty is fully studied and captured. Mission accomplished, I say.
Indeed, they aren’t “just trees,” but complex and living creatures, older than old and wiser than the best of us all. Count the rings. **3/5**
[*Giants Rising*](https://www.giantsrising.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) screened at the [2024 Green Film Festival of San Francisco](https://sfindie.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
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### A Biological Bore: 'Just Above the Surface of the Earth' | Green Film Festival of San Francisco 2024
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/abovesurfacegreen24/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:27.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
Ambitious and bold, but inventiveness without concern. This is how I would describe the docu-poem *Just Under the Surface of the Earth (For a Coming Extinction)*. I could also exclaim that it’s an immensely lost-in-translation cure for insomnia. I’m saddened to say that something ever so Lynchian and even late Godardian, on the topic of ecosystem research, is a major waste of time. So saddened. So very saddened.
Filmed with subjects in center or near-center frame, in crisply examined footage, *Just Under the Surface of the Earth* follows teams of researchers and analysts who document and measure any changes in the environments that surround us. No matter how big or small, every minute detail is recorded, often on spreadsheet paper, hand-done with pencil, and calculated by rulers and antennas. As these teams walk through bushes, sit in chairs, and climb on rocks, the sounds of what they’re observing dominate the attention—this is where the movie gets thick and interesting. Every beep, every cackle, every noise is carefully blended into all of the shots, making their trips more tangible, as if it’s all happening in real-time.
This is also where the film, unfortunately, fails and flails.
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Long stationary takes of people recording, documenting, and quietly listening make up the absolute bulk of what is shown, causing a ripple of pain and frustration. The first sequence to do this was given some grace, as in now way this would be the rest of the film, right? From there, it became clear that this would be the remainder. It’s shocking just how intense the movie makes its topic look and feel so unappealing. Sure, there must be long periods, in reality, of monotonous work, but must an audience be exposed to that? Can’t an audience experience a heightened version of this research?
For all of the dissolves, the special graphics, the poetic narration, and the wonderfully conceived portrait-like cinematography, nothing can help the fault of the loose editing and the vision of its direction. *Just Above the Surface of the Earth* means exactly what its title suggests. This is a film with little above the surface occurring. The insects, the animals, and their homes deserve better. **1.5/5**
*Just Above the Surface of the Earth (For a Coming Extinction)* screened at the [2024 Green Film Festival of San Francisco](https://sfindie.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
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### The Last Camera: 'Chasing Time' | Green Film Festival of San Francisco 2024
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/chasingtimegreen24/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:28.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
The planet’s health is damaged, and it is because of man-made climate change. Scientists and researchers have spent decades trying to sound the alarm and provide solutions, but from my perspective, photographer James Balog has had one of the better approaches to getting the word out and making an impact on people. *Chasing Time* follows James at the tail-end of his years-long project of capturing time-lapse footage of rapidly melting glaciers across the world, but more than that, the film also sees a man reaching his own personal finale in his life’s mission. What more can be done? Was it all enough? Who will press on?
This is a side-quel to the feature-length documentary *Chasing Ice*, and rightfully so is a bit shorter in length. *Chasing Time* has little left to say or state, other than that 1) Glaciers tell a story of a world in motion and potential collapse, and 2) The perseverance and effort of photographers and documentarians must be recognized and must go beyond this film. Beautifully shocking imagery makes up the bulk of this movie, acting as more horror than bittersweet sendoff for one man. On occasion, I mean.
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There is optimism. There is hope. There is still much to be done. There is always another picture to take. James Balog has realized many a tale in many a frame, but old age and cancer caught up to him, forcing an end to his project. We see as he and his friends dismantle their final operating glacier camera, slowly but surely taking apart its various protective measures and casings, before removing its SD card and viewing the last pictures taken. They don’t cry, but they do enjoy the scenery for one of the few times they ever have. Every other moment was work. Every other moment was a chance to enlighten others.
There’s nothing aggressive in *Chasing Time* regarding the climate, unlike narrative films such as [*Don’t Look Up*](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/dontlookup?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and fellow documentaries like *An Inconvenient Truth*. *Chasing Time* knows that we know what’s happening, but just wants to remind of of it and bear witness to the hastening disaster. Audiences watch Balog’s footage, mouths agape and in aghast. What can be done? What can they do?
No answers, no solutions, nothing easy. It’s all somber goodbyes and potential tomorrows here. And indeed, it’s gorgeous and majestic. But something is depressing in this, even when its message depends on showing some heart. That something could be throwing its hands up and just giving in, but that contradicts how it tries to mentor the next generation—which it does rather convincingly. *Chasing Time*, despite its mixed tones, still teaches plenty. And there’s plenty left to do. **3.5/5**
*Chasing Time* screened at the [2024 Green Film Festival of San Francisc](https://sfindie.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)o.
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
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### Waves of Action: 'The Cigarette Surfboard' | Green Film Festival of San Francisco 2024
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/cigarettegreen24/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:29.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
The cuteness of inventive DIY projects, the boldness to develop messages into objects for change, and the creativity to tell stories through the tangible—this is what *The Cigarette Surfboard* is about. Anchored around craftsman and California surfer Taylor Lane, this documentary follows his creation of the “Ciggy Board” and its impact on his community and himself. He travels the world, meets fellow surfers turned ocean and water activists, and rides waves both literally and figuratively. It’s all so nice if all so long.
The film acts as more of a travelogue diary and adventure of sorts, being informative for certain but also a tad redundant in places where it could’ve avoided such a thing. Too much surfing? Too much activism? Not enough of either amid too many fist pumps and crunchy waves?
A surfboard made mostly out of cigarette butts, or “Ciggy Board,” is Taylor Lane’s gift to the world and the Save the Oceans movement, specifically its surfer advocacy wing. People are fascinated and excited about his Frankenstein-like creations, as he gets other and more well-known surfers to ride on them and speak out. In this way, *The Cigarette Surfboard* is incredibly engaging, very smart, and totally rad. This is the kind of film that makes one root and holler for its central hero, who ends the tale by taking on a particularly nasty and infamous kind of wave at the climax, all to support his boards and his message of taking action for change. Recycling plastic? More like stop it from its source.
Of great note is the challenge faced by Hannah Bennett, who the crew visits in Fiji, as her waters are just covered and filled with plastic trash. She even surfs the plastic to make her point about the ugliness and the toxicity of it all. *The Cigarette Board* excels at showing more than telling. Where it falters is in doing so almost all the time and in the same way each time, through surfing footage.
Of course, one expects surfing footage in a movie that has the word “surfboard” in its title. A nitpick yes, but too boring it gets. Diluting its earnest message is only detrimental.
That noted, *The Cigarette Surfboard* is almost far and away so much more heartful than average. How groovy, my peeps. **3/5**
*The Cigarette Surfboard* was screened at the [2024 Green Film Festival of San Francisc](https://sfindie.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)o and is available to watch through the event’s [virtual portal](https://watch.eventive.org/greenfest2024?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) until the end of 10/27.
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
### Fishing & Living: 'In the Whale' | Green Film Festival of San Francisco 2024
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/whalegreen24/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:29.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
Few movies will ever match the kindly humanity of the 90s documentary *American Movie*, which might be my favorite of the form. Its subject, a small-time but absolutely dedicated independent filmmaker, pushes through to complete his latest project all the while being a humble person who loves his friends and family, even when doing so is difficult. *In the Whale* similarly accomplishes this feat, if more closely examined. No matter how though, the film is a frontrunner for best of the year, period.
Fisherman and lobster diver Michael Packard survived nearly being eaten by a humpback whale in the waters off of the Cape Cod region. A captivating incident, as it reminds us all of the fragility of life, the majesty and danger of awe-inspiring sea animals, and the spontaneity of pure luck. Michael experiences some momentary national celebrity but is most appreciated in his home community by fellow fishermen and residents, not just for his one-note story, but for who he is all year around.
Films like *In the Whale* come along rarely, but when they screen, smiles are mustered and tears are dropped. Astonishing with emotional impact, the movie merely uses Michael’s brush with an extraordinary death to just tell us who he is. And he’s a lovely, caring, and massively grateful man. Whenever the filmmakers attempt to pull his crazy tale up beyond the surface and into an all-too-grand atmosphere, humility and genuinely heartfelt feelings come through from Michael and those around him. No matter how hard the movie may try, its subject can’t help but be ever-so down the Earth. Michael is not playing director here, but perhaps indirectly he is guiding the production to a more graceful finish.
There’s also a deeply resonant spiritualness to *In the Whale* that is hard to deny. Michael reveals how he’s not particularly religious, but almost wants to be. The man is so full of love and light, that maybe such a connection to a perceived greater power would work as a filter to his most personal feelings of seasonal depression and potential monotony that comes with growing older. The Middle-Aged Man & the Sea, maybe? He never ponders in deep thought but he does think about his nature of regret and thankfulness. The film itself is quite subtle in visually capturing this, mainly just by focusing on Michael’s lightly-bearded face and doughy eyes, but occasionally does capture moments like his boat sailing into the sun.
There’s little subtlety with that shot but after a movie of poignant storytelling, specifically one with a single angle and many possibilities for redundancy, such profound cinematography can be excused, and even reveled in.
*In the Whale* is up for no cinematic rivalries, but I do think that it competes in my heart with films like *American Movi*e. Heck, this might be **the most** ideal American movie to release this year. Ideal. I like that. **5/5**
[*In the Whale*](https://www.inthewhalefilm.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) is playing theatrically and [virtually](https://watch.eventive.org/sfgreenfest2024?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) at the [2024 Green Film Festival of San Francisco](https://sfindie.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
### Searching for Lions, Finding Stones: 'Apple Cider Vinegar' | Green Film Festival of San Francisco 2024
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/acvgreen24/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:30.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
There’s something that reminds me of cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger’s work in the awfully friendly docu-essay *Apple Cider Vinegar*, and I believe that it rests in *Grizzly Man*. Much like that film, about Timothy Treadwell’s yearly journeys in researching and grandstanding with bears, *Apple Cider Vinegar* grasps its subject by the distance that it maintains throughout. When Zeitlinger filmed the forensic pathologist who had examined Treadwell’s mauled body, some feet away and centered in the frame, before pushing in as if to walk closer into his conversation space, he produced a confrontational sensation of being in the moment and locked in. However, we know this isn’t the literal case, as we are seated well after the fact.
When *Apple Cider Vinegar*’s director of photography, Jonathan Wannyn, shoots the footage, he does almost exactly *Grizzly Man*’s up-front but disconnected-by-time approach. Almost, as writer/director Sofie Benoot has added the most intriguing dimension that could be conceived.
With voice-over performed by our main character and very real/famous nature documentary narrator Sian Phillips, Benoot’s film is an accomplishment in perspective and attitude. In *Apple Cider Vinegar*, her thesis on stones from around the world and within our bodies as they relate to our relationship with the planet, Benoot gives a breath of air, like a whistling tune, to a calm and almost ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response)-like story. As the film wanders from volcano villages to roadside rock explorations to quarry workers in Palestine, Sian Phillips provides thoughts and observations pulled from her years of experience with pop-nature footage. Phillips never meanders, though she has the point-of-view of someone watching the same film that we’re seeing from the comfort of a computer desk at home.
That is exactly what is happening, actually. And it’s beautiful.
Almost in real-time with the running duration of the film, Phillips reacts to the looks and gazes of the people being shown, who then react to her as she coughs and moves around in her chair. It’s adorable. When the understanding that Phillips is not so much the all-knowing narrator but rather the traveling main vision and audience conduit kicks in, the engagement with geologists, civilians, and day laborers on screen becomes more tangible, and thus so do their own observations and feelings. It’s all about stones, and how these seemingly still objects are constantly in motion, and always telling where they’ve come from, where we’ve come from, and where things may be heading. Being able to touch and grasp that is a sensation unlike most.
There are no lectures, no classroom anecdotes, and no talking heads. Just conversations with others, just visitations with regular people, and just admiration for living things. Often, *Apple Cider Vinegar* will shift from its own footage to volunteer-piloted nature webcams from time to time, almost as Sian Phillips becomes momentarily inspired and expresses frustration and sadness on not being able to witness the animals and the environment that once dominated her career. Even tiny spiders being wiped off a camera lens will bring a tear to her eye.
Probably the cutest and most inventive festival-released documentary of this year, and likely an award contender. Likely. Probably. **4/5**
*Apple Cider Vinegar* screens both [theatrically](https://filmotor.com/apple-cider-vinegar/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and [virtually](https://watch.eventive.org/sfgreenfest2024?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) at the [2024 Green Film Festival of San Francisco](https://sfindie.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
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### The River Told Me So: 'Water for Life' | Green Film Festival of San Francisco 2024
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/waterlifegreen24/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:30.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
No, true democracy isn’t possible without participation from all communities, and there is no merit in withholding information from the people. The documentary *Water for Life*, about three Central and South American activists/advocates who are at the forefront of Indigenous land and river struggles against local governments and foreign corporations, proudly exclaims the facts and basic principles of what fully accountable leadership truly ought to be like. At no point in its nearly ninety-minute duration does the film ever waver or falter in the fight against corruption and the strongly-held belief in people power, no matter the dangers.
*Water for Life* is not breaking new ground as a documentary, as there are plenty of equally important and very well-made movies about the same or similar subject matter available to audiences with the click of a button. However, there is one difference that rings far and wide, and that’s in the specific personal focus on organizing and leading. Three individuals and their various collectives fight for the sanctity and security of their water sources, which they use for farming and life itself, not to mention feel a spiritual bond. Land rights and legal challenges are explained but aren’t the main story. Rather, it’s the advocates and their families, and how they deal - day to day - with the struggle to maintain livelihood and love in the face of intimidation and death.
It’s seriously a tale as old as time, to see average folks accomplish greatness while staring directly at ultimate power, never blinking once. *Water for Life*, narrated by actor Diego Luna, couldn’t be more hopeful and real if it tried. Assassination attempts, questions on terrorism and the root causes of rebellion, support for government coups, and “investments” in precious resources are all covered in easy-to-grasp words and actions. Simplistic, but never over the heads of anyone watching. A documentary that holds no pretentiousness or arrogant delusion in its message - wow.
Not much else needs to be said or written about this film that hasn’t already been said or written about documentaries of the same ilk and quality. This isn’t a ho-hum film, nor is it derivative. Such a thing would be difficult given its very tight and special approach to the movement leaders at its heart - it beats in a routine pattern but pumps just right all the same.
Not so much exciting as it is appropriately resonant, *Water for Life* elevates the conversation of progress and greed over people and justice in an above-standard way. We should be so fortunate to see such a film. **4/5**
[*Water for Life*](https://waterforlife.film/about/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) screens at the [2024 Green Film Festival of San Francisco](https://sfindie.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), both theatrically and through its [virtual portal](https://watch.eventive.org/sfgreenfest2024?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
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### Through His Eyes: 'Arthur Tress: Water's Edge' | Green Film Festival of San Francisco 2024
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/tressgreen24/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:32.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
The first impressions of photographer Arthur Tress, as seen in his self-titled documentary with the subtitle *Water’s Edge*, describe a man of almost too-loose imagination. His camera eye works in all spaces and dimensions surrounding us, which also means that his mind works in the same way. But is he scatter-brained? Is he manic? Not at all. This is a peek at a man of immense whimsy and lots of positive energy—the kind that might give an audience a secondary high. And that’s great.
We follow Tress as he, before and during the COVID-19 lockdowns, captures fictional moments that he quickly sees, kindly asks for, and carefully directs, throughout the San Francisco area. He routinely takes a ferry around, walks everywhere, and observes everything. For him, there’s truth that can be molded out of constructed scenes, such as adding props in the foreground of an abandoned building that’s in the background, or condensation and stains on glass. These images, often framed in a diamond shape, represent beautiful stories from each corner of a given frame. While Tress walks from antique markets to closed schools, he talks about history and the overall human experience, how all things have a life, and how all things can and do speak to each other and to everyone.
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A man in his 80s, Tress has seen an awful lot and has studied more. But it’s not so much his own life that’s of interest to *Water’s Edge*, but rather how he sees the world, how he spends his hours, and how he commands a given shot - no matter the concerning effort. Props fall out of place, he climbs up hills and on tables and goes flat on his back just to get at the heart of something that he knows is there. *Water’s Edge* keeps a friendly perspective on Tress, never once faltering to make him a deity or hero. He’s a sage for sure, and a storyteller foremost. His sense of self is full of humor and visions are well-articulated. There’s a method without any madness here.
A complete surprise and a welcome character of a film, *Water’s Edge* finds its one-of-a-kind muse and just lets him be. No interference, no disruptions. In this way, Arthur Tress almost acts as a mentor to the filmmaker, breaking from being a subject to becoming a co-director in his own right. And it is his right. And totally right.
Tress has a whimsical angle, but he deals with showcasing the honesty of reality through the filter of dreaming. And *Water’s Edge* keeps its real distance to create a reel world. His world. Our world. **4/5**
[*Arthur Tress: Water’s Edge*](https://www.arthurtressmovie.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) screens theatrically at the 2024 Green Film Festival of San Francisco, and is available until October 27th on the fest’s [virtual portal](https://watch.eventive.org/greenfest2024?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
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### Meow Without the Me: 'Cat City' | Green Film Festival of San Francisco 2024
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/catcitygreen24/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:32.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
Allergies to felines aside, the documentary *Cat City* did little to sway my feelings either way on the issue of open and roaming community cats. From time to time, I enjoy stories of how people from decades ago would deal with strays in rather colorful ways, and I am a supporter of animal health & welfare programs, but in my neighborhood? Outside my home? They’re a minor annoyance to me if anything, and a film about Chicago’s efforts to live with and/or control their own cat population was never going to register with my general opinions.
However, *Cat City* works best as a portrait of the people on the ground, doing their best to help the animals by whatever methods and laws allow. TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) programs are discussed at length as a solution to contain and maintain these feral and sometimes friendly animals. We see everyday and relatively average individuals team together to advocate and to take action on behalf of the cats and for their neighbors who prefer to have them around. There are no “cat ladies” in *Cat City*, just certified caretakers and elderly feeders.
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The flipside is presented by a few scientists, data collectors, and bird watchers, who refer to cats as “invasive” to the surrounding environment. Only at the end, with a monologue by a researcher, is any kind of middle ground stated. For its duration, *Cat City* is all personality, much like a, well, cat. There’s fun, there’s yearning, there’s genuine sentimentality, and there’s real-world depiction - showing the situation for what it is without dressing anything up. Unlike a cat though, the film has no claws, presenting its tale of two kinds of people more like a foreign novelty and less like a resource for connecting with others.
Sure, we see plenty of cats, and we see plenty of trapping action. Sure, we get to know some of the individuals and groups helping out and what their missions are. And sure, there’s some little talk as to how TNR policies can be detrimental. It’s all just not enough. More information? Maybe. More people? Ok. More cats? We have our fill, thank you.
*Cat City* appears to strive for understanding across the animal rights spectrum, but it doesn’t show a passion for the issue or provide a reason for its importance other than that some communities are somewhat involved. I wish the documentary was as excited about anything else as it is about capturing footage of cute cats. Anything else would’ve been welcome. It’s still cute though. **2.5/5**
[*Cat City*](https://www.cat-city.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) is screening at the [2024 Green Film Festival of San Francisco](https://sfindie.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). The film can be viewed on their [virtual portal](https://watch.eventive.org/sfgreenfest2024?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) until October 27th.
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# ⚜️🍿
### The Fight for West Virginia: 'Running for the Mountains' | Green Film Festival of San Francisco 2024
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/runningmtgreen24/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:33.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
Finding a documentary that’s the right balance between narrative and journalism can be difficult, but *Running for the Mountains* does the trick. It covers the century-long story of West Virginia’s existential battle over coal mining and how it fits in with our collective present and future. Advocates & citizens, politicians & corporate suits, make up a narrative of greater good vs powerful indifference and articulates the argument for transitioning to cleaner energy with true blue independent reporting tactics. Dark money & dirty politics, fought by dedicated activists with cameras. This is what documentaries are meant to be.
Now, some of what *Running for the Mountains* shows and tells is already well-known to the choir that the film preaches to. There is one very important scene though, where the filmmakers follow two WV (West Virginia) activists to Washington D.C., on a mission to visit their representatives and drop off packages of paperwork outlining evidence of toxicity from mountaintop removal operations. In one such delivery, made to Congressman David McKinley’s Chief of Staff Mike Hamilton, we witness how, in the background, the man effortlessly drops the research papers into a trash bin. This moment, captured with a keen eye covering all angles of the situation at hand - not just the POV of the concerned citizens - is of urgent importance to the voting public at large. However, will movers, shakers, and constituents be interested?
They should be, of course. Outside of film festivals and independent grassroots screenings though, I fear that West Virginia’s tale of environmental & political corruption will only be seen by a marching few and not a moviegoing many. This is the struggle of independent filmmaking & distribution, not to mention insulated storytelling. While directors Julie Eisenberg & Babette Hogan weather the climate of big-muscle intimidation and small-minded leadership to showcase a not-so-pretty picture of our present, and do so with incredible gusto, their film, unfortunately, is too location-centric, being more leaflet than pages-long horror.
*Running for the Mountains*, even with faults outlined, maintains a brave & bold attitude for the truth, which is what matters most. Thug police, jerk politicians -hello, Joe Manchin - and carefree exploiters of labor are all exposed for what they do and who they are, all to the point of asking & answering why things need to change for West Virginia's health & well-being. At the cost of courageous people’s lives, the American industrial age drove through this great state, only to be forgotten & dumped decades later.
West Virginia deserves better, and moviegoers need to know. If you show it, they will come. Will *Running for the Mountains* overcome such obstacles? **3/5**
[*Running for the Mountains*](https://www.runningforthemountains.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) screened at the 2024 [Green Film Festival of San Francisco](https://sfindie.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). The film can be viewed on their [virtual portal](https://watch.eventive.org/sfgreenfest2024?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) until October 27th.
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
### DVD Bogus Features: 'Go Swiftly Along'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/goswiftlyalong/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:34.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
With all certainty, it’s best to have a structured and well-communicated plan for developing any artistic material, no matter how loose one wants it to feel. In [Jason Foster](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/pregameqa?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)’s latest short film *Go Swiftly Along*, two actors and one director attempt a DVD commentary of their titular cult classic feature, only to hijack it with not-so-good memories and not-very-light feelings of the movie’s production—memories and feelings that perhaps would be best locked away for another day.
Ironically, it’s the juicy details and constant bickering that a true DVD commentary track is found. One that could very well eclipse the film being discussed and the marks they wish to leave.
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Jason plays the ever-so-stressed young filmmaker Benjamin in a bit of very interesting self-casting, playing the director of a fake film while being the director of this real film. Throughout the attempted recording session over a selection of deleted scenes, Benjamin easily loses any semblance of control over its production, over his former actors, and over himself. Throughout their combative conversation, where the softly heard excised scenes of the romance movie are our only visual resource, Benjamin pushes forward in defensiveness and divisiveness, revealing to the audience that he, not the studio or the cast that he blames in equal measure for his poorly received debut film, was the one that made it all fall apart.
Somehow and someway, *Go Swiftly Along* makes metal out of meta. I mean that from something fluid comes something solid. And from that something solid, comes something special. The layers to this film aren’t as understood on the first watch, where it’ll likely be taken as a fun gimmick for people getting loud at one another. By letting it simmer, the truth comes to the front. Fan expectations, director’s desires, actor’s opinions, the black experience in art, the romantic visual of removed movie sequences over newly created and now ruined material, and more. It’s not complicated, but complex.
Framed as much by its gimmick as a DVD commentary track as it is by the story of independent black creatives at large, *Go Swiftly Along*’s fifteen-minute or so duration says much about the frustrated attitudes and unfulfilled endeavors of three artists, “swiftly” I might add, with no hesitation and no second-guessing. I didn’t get the impression that the anxieties and hard feelings between themselves and their places in an uncaring industry were based on real and raw events, but rather from their struggles within communities that don’t necessarily foster positive artistic outcomes, whatever they may be. Is metro New Orleans one such community? Maybe there are downsides everywhere.
Like with his *In Search of…Pregame*, Jason Foster utilizes the unconventional to express the natural. It’s wonderful to witness, in almost real-time, a filmmaker coming into their own, and most brilliantly. His knack for making personal experiences, especially those that he writes, unexpectedly cinematic looks all so effortless and with the self-esteem of a movie veteran.
*Go Swiftly Along* represents the new feather in the cap of a great Hollywood South filmmaker. It’s a lighter movie than his previous ones, but only on the surface. Listen closely, watch thoroughly, and a bright vision will appear. Well, among the shouting, I mean. **4/5**
*Go Swiftly Along* will play at the [Duluth Superior Film Festival](https://dsfilmfest.org/short-films?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) on October 5th.
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
### When the Screen Was Bigger: 'The 4:30 Movie'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/430movie/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:35.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
As if *Clerks III* wasn’t enough for director Kevin Smith to explore where he’s come from and how far he’s gone in life, and more importantly with those he loves, the formerly big and now lighter-sized nerd from New Jersey has a new flick of the throwback kind: *The 4:30 Movie*. With me, expectations are always high for a new Kevin Smith film, no matter the perceived quality of his previous efforts. The man puts all his heart into everything he shoots and edits and, with a new lease on living after his near-fatal heart attack, doing what makes him happy on his terms is beautiful, right?
Now, I wasn’t much of a *Clerks III* [fan](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/clerks3?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), and I believe that its [trailer](https://youtu.be/0%5FlFOqQDRx0?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) was a much better film (Kevin is a very talented editor and can tell a hell of a story over a quick few minutes), but at least Smith swung for the fences with it. He cast friends and family, celebrated his community, and looked toward the future with fondness and optimism. The same can be said for *The 4:30 Movie*, only now he looks to youngsters to mix telling his story with telling their story.
It’s an entirely cute story, about three boys who spend their summers (and full years, really) watching movies at the local theater, often sneaking in throughout the day to the R-rated features, and enjoying the previews as much as the main presentation. When Kevin Smith's surrogate Brian - played by Austin Zahur - calls up his crush Melody - played by Sienna Agudong - to ask her out to a mid-afternoon showing of a *Fletch*\-ish movie, he kickstarts a day where he and his friends will begin to come of age.
In an alternate 1986, Austin and Sienna, as Brian and Melody, are adorable together and individually. They banter, they cuddle, and they explore as teens do and should. Plans change as time goes by, but you’ll always remember that one summer when such and such happened with so and so. *The 4:30 Movie* is absolutely this. Self-gratifying? Shameless? Yes. But so what? It works with this story.
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Less raunch and with more wholesomeness than expected, *The 4:30 Movie* is also a backdoor advertisement for Kevin Smith’s movie theater Smodcastle Cinemas, which is the main setting of the film. This is another love letter to his community, which is populated by Smith regulars and other familiar stars, who recognize the small-town story at hand. Like *Clerks III* but in more truncated ways, friends and family are here for the celebration, for the past, and a future of possibilities.
Of course, Smith can’t help himself to indulge in more than occasional references to real-world pop-culture references, like the Bill Cosby revelations and, yes, the expansion of *Star Wars*. These moments are when the movie becomes grating, and unfortunately can’t be avoided. They beg an interesting question though - why are we so passionate about his films? So critical, I mean? This goes beyond standard reviewing and into fanboy nitpicking, I feel. People get more wrapped up in Kevin Smith’s faults as a filmmaker than with, say, Michael Bay. THAT is more grating. Unless we’re talking about *Yoga Hosers*…
The best scene in *The 4:30 Movie* and, maybe Smith’s best-written scene in a long time is when Brian chats with a theater usher (clerk) behind the building. She talks about the great filmmaker Martha Coolidge (whose film [*I’ll Find You*](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/findyou?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) I’d like to re-review) and how she’ll move to film school soon. She inspires Brian’s future prospects, which he already knew but perhaps hadn’t accepted until that moment. For people like them, “movies make life make sense.”
There are fake trailers, which surprisingly are very accurate for their genre and style. There’s goofs and endearing speeches. There’s awkwardness in all the right places. There’s charm in spades too.
Cute. It’s just cute. Well done, sir. **3.5/5**
*The 4:30 Movie* is now playing in limited release.
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
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### They Almost Brought Gambit to Life: A Q&A with "Magic Mike" Dardant
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/gambitmagic/
Last updated: 2025-12-09T07:35:57.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
Within my college film group was a small but extraordinary legend of sorts, passed around as both a fascinating bit of local trivia and an intriguing source of jokes. Told many times over, it described a proof-of-concept sequence for a potential X-Men movie based on regional character fan-favorite [Gambit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambit%5F%28Marvel%5FComics%29?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
For almost two decades, on and off, I sought as much information as possible. Finally, with one text message, I got a contact: [New Orleans area magician Michael Dardant](https://www.michaeldardant.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
Also known as “Magic Mike,” the performer played a crucial role in this pre-Hurricane Katrina piece of comic book dreaming. Thankfully, he was up to answer several of my questions.
Now, what happened/what didn’t happen comes to light. Oh Gambit, how you could’ve come about cinematically much earlier. How you may have avoided your cameo in *X-Men Origins: Wolverine*. How you could’ve been part of Hollywood South royalty.
Enjoy!
---
**How familiar are you with the X-Men comics and movies?**
I became very familiar with Marvel comics around my freshman year of high school when I made friends with all of the other nerds. One particular friend, Chris Strong, was really into Comics. In fact, I remember when I went to his house he had all of his favorite comics in plastic bags pinned to the wall so essentially his wallpaper was made up of mint-condition comic books. The X-Men was my favorite series.
(not from the proposed production)
**How did the Gambit project come about and what preparations were taken to get it started?**
I always wanted to play Gambit in a film or really in any situation. I’ve been body painted as Gambit, played the character for the superheroes theme of the Fleur de Tease burlesque show, and, of course, went dressed as Remy Lebeau at Comicon. Because there had been (and is still) no particular movie script, I started thinking of ideas for a feature-length film about Gambit's backstory. One of my friends suggested that the only way we would ever get a production company’s attention to be able to get the option to use that character would be if we went ahead and filmed a scene that we could show them. so we started a film project to create about 10 minutes or roughly 3 scenes.
**What do you like most about Gambit?**
My favorite character was always Gambit. After all, I grew up in Cajun country so the accent was 2nd nature. Also, I was already studying things like pickpocketing and card throwing because of my endeavors to acquire skills as a magician. And, my favorite weapon to play with, for some reason, was always a bo staff.
**How did you feel about the independent filmmaking community in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina?**
I’ve been continuously impressed with a lot of the independent projects that have gone on in New Orleans and many of the students that have graduated from UNO. I was amazed at how many people wanted to get involved with this little venture. After Hurricane Katrina, I got even more sense of the amount of talent we had in the city as we began work on even bigger projects.
**What were some of your ideas for the project?**
Essentially, there was going to be a bar location with an elaborate fight scene. Some bullies were going to start something regarding a girl by a pool table, of course unaware of Remy’s skills. I remember one line of dialogue was going to be, “My drinks on him,“ as Gambit’s beer explodes all over the guy. One other interesting tidbit was that we plan to only put the mutants in sunglasses as a subtlety.
**How did the other actors take to it?**
So many people wanted to be involved and audition. It was tough to cast it because there was so much talent. So many people in any film community outside of Hollywood, California will go above and beyond just to get noticed or be able to add something to their reel. This can easily be taken advantage of, but at the same time indicates an amazing work ethic.
**What stopped the scene from being made?**
The main thing that stopped the scene from being made was Hurricane Katrina. We were just in the process of planning our shots when the city had to be evacuated and it would be months before we got back to anything relatively normal. What stopped the idea from continuing after that was the realization that it was very unlikely any of us would be able to get the option to use the Marvel character or be taken seriously if we presented a script, having no contacts in Hollywood. We had many other ideas for original projects that would prove to be a better use of our time.
**What are your thoughts on the Hollywood production of *X-Men Origins: Wolverine,* which was partially filmed in the city, and their version of Gambit?**
I liked the look of the character in the Wolverine movie, but of course, the accent was so off and any locals could tell that the French Quarter was created in a studio instead of on location.
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**Was there an effort to complete the project at a later date?**
While I never got back to the idea of filming that scene, I did keep adding to the script throughout the years and believe I do have a rough concept for a wonderful and unique feature-length movie. It would of course be filmed in New Orleans and in the Louisiana swamps.
**Any thoughts on actor Channing Tatum being cast as Gambit in *Deadpool & Wolverine*, even if in a cameo?**
Much like the appearance in the Wolverine movie, initially, I felt that the character was brought in just for cool points, and really had nothing to do with the overall plot. That being said, I have every reason and then some to hate Channing Tatum in the role. Remember that in addition to playing my favorite character of all time, he stole my stage name when he decided to make his stripper movie called *Magic Mike*! But I have to admit that some of his funnier roles have won me over throughout the years. I actually thought he did a great job playing the part and especially becoming the only actor in history to pull off the Cajun accent on film.
**What does the future hold for your movie career?**
I have no idea what the future holds for my movie career. It has been a roller coaster ride by far with many unexpected turns. I do feel that I’ve developed a desire to write more and I think writing will have a lot to do with my future. I would love to be able to present my script ideas to the powers that be if they are still planning to make a Gambit movie. Perhaps like *Loki,* I could be a Gambit variant! Maybe one day I could work with Channing Tatum. There was talk for years about having him play Gambit and the project was halted about three times because they never had a finished script. At one time, the Director planned on hiring me to not only help Tatum with vocal training but they were also aware that card-throwing skills were part of my magician repertoire as well.
**What does the future hold for Gambit, in your opinion?**
I have no doubt that with Channing Tatum’s love of the character, Ryan Reynold’s support of the character, and the fact that he has always been beloved by fans and considered to be the second coolest X-Men (second only to Wolverine), they will make a feature-length film about the Cajun Bad Boy if not one too many films as per usual.
**Is the world ready for a major Louisiana superhero blockbuster?**
If you had asked me a few years ago if the world was ready for a major Louisiana superhero blockbuster, I would probably have answered no, simply because it may be difficult for the world to understand what Cajuns were all about. But, ever since that show “Swamp People" created a love of the Cajun accent and intrigue for our culture, I believe a Cajun superhero would be embraced. Not to mention that the mystique of New Orleans is relatively untapped in the movie and television industry. Consider how little we actually have learned about the city in any of the last few decades of films. The majority of film projects that take place in New Orleans are usually set somewhere else.
**Any thoughts on the current state of independent filmmaking in New Orleans?**
I continue to have high hopes for the filmmakers in the Big Easy and believe it’s a simple matter of just getting noticed by the big wigs, to not only produce more down here, but also to hire more of the writers, directors, and actors from Louisiana that have proven themselves through their work and drive. We will always face challenges, but we are well-trained and prepared to take them on, as we are pretty used to challenges here.
**Do you have any favorite superhero movies?**
I have so many favorites, and it’s probably one of my favorite genres to begin with. I loved the original *Spider-Man* with Tobey Maguire and thought that it was really well put together. The best ensemble cast would still be the first *Avengers* which blew me away. I also loved *Iron Man* one because it was such a different take on a superhero character. The first *Deadpool* was one of the most unique and funniest in my opinion. And one of my all-time favorites is actually the animated, *Into The Spider-Verse*.
[](https://ew.com/deadpool-and-wolverine-gambit-secret-post-credits-scene-revealed-ryan-reynolds-8701767?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
(the other “*[Magic Mike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic%5FMike?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)*”)
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
### Movies & Emoji: A Q&A with the Creator of Moveme
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/movemeqa/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:36.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
For many months now, I’ve been fascinated with the ways that we discover new & old movies to watch, specifically over streaming platforms. With no one application perfecting the model, users (I feel icky typing that) probably consume (ickier) most of their content (ickiest) through idle previews while scrolling through which film to pick—likely without making a decision.
It’s happened to me. You?
Maybe search engines should meet us halfway. Maybe make the process of seeking out movies more of a virtual video store than poster after poster after poster to swipe away.
[Moveme.tv](https://moveme.tv/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) has been developed by Ben Polkinghorne to help lower the media noise and tune us all into how we’re feeling (or what we want to be feeling) at a given time. The site takes our emotions & moods (as words or emoji), runs them through personally set filters, and compiles a list of flicks and platforms to consider.
While Moveme is still a work in progress (long lists can feel daunting and may tire people out), I feel that Polkinghorne has crafted a most promising app for movie discovery.
Ben was kind enough to take the time to answer some questions about his work. Enjoy!
---
**What are your favorite moods for finding movies to watch, and why?**
I love to feel ‘inspired’. Movies are such a brilliant way to temporarily detach from reality. To not only forget the issues of the day but to give my mind a clean, inspired slate gives me a psychological boost.
I also love trying new - often weird - combinations of emojis.
I’m biased, but it never gets old!
😅🤌
**How did Moveme get started, and what is the ultimate goal of the service?**
I was struggling to find something good to watch. It seemed absurd that no one had solved the problem of content discovery. I became obsessed with trying to understand why… then it dawned on me.
What I want to watch changes, depending on my current mood and how I want to feel. I spoke to other people and realized this was universally true. Existing solutions fail to take this into account.
So, without knowing anything about anything, I set out to fix it. There were plenty of twists and turns but with the help of some very clever people - and a £50,000 Innovate UK grant, we were able to bring Moveme to life.
Our mission is to enable anyone to go on their desired emotional journey and create a better inner world for all. Our vision is to transform moods at the push of a button.
Movies are just the start.
**I’ve found that alternatives to your app, like** [**Mood2Movie**](https://mood2movie.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)**, have limited search & discovery functions. How do you feel about Moveme’s place in this niche market of apps?**
If we keep listening to our users, and keep helping them discover great movies, we’ll keep winning. We have an exciting roadmap and will continue to work hard to own the category.
While emotion-led recommendations are niche now, they are without doubt the future.
**ChatGPT’s AI system continues to grow in both learning and usage. How can** [**Moveme**](https://moveme.tv/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) **compete?**
We’re focused on emotion-led recommendations. This specialization lets us innovate rapidly, anticipate our users’ needs and continually refine our offerings to stay ahead.
Having said that, IP is also important. We filed for a patent in March 2021 that’s on track to be granted next year.
**In what other ways can Moveme assist or improve the film streaming and theatrical industry?**
We help people discover incredible films. Films that are right for them, right now. Films they ordinarily wouldn’t come across. Films that don’t have a blockbuster marketing budget but that deserve to be seen.
We help streamers by bringing their back catalog back to the fore. And we’re working on an experiment that if successful, will help the exhibition industry too.
**What role does physical media play in movie watching today? Will there ever be an added option on Moveme to find DVDs?**
I used to collect DVDs. The sad truth is I no longer even have a player… I think the days of mainstream physical media are over - for now. I hope one day they’ll be a vinyl-style resurgence. Let’s see.
As for an option to find and buy DVDs on Moveme— I can’t see that happening, but as with everything we’ll be driven by what our users want.
[](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
#### **📝 Indie film criticism needs some love. Consider becoming a new or supporting moviegoer at a special rate (50% off forever, good until the end of 2024) by clicking above today! 🍿**
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**What movie has been recommended the most? What moods have been used most often to find movies, and what does it suggest about users?**
Every user gets shown different movies, based on their location and streaming options. The top searches are:
Mind-blown 🤯
Adventurous 🌍🏔
Romantic 💋
Curious 🤔❓
Surprised 😮🎁
To me, this speaks to how movies can transform our mood to whatever we desire. They truly are a unique, powerful art form.
**Are you working on any other apps in the realm of film?**
No, but I do have a new artwork being exhibited in November that nods to emotions.
**How has the feedback been?**
The feedback we’ve had so far has been honest and helpful. We’re grateful for every comment, critique, or suggestion (please keep them coming!).
The ultimate compliment though, is this: People tell their friends. Who tells their friends. We launched Moveme over a year ago. Without spending a cent on marketing, every day since, without fail, we’ve had new users signing up.
We were shortlisted for the ‘Content Discovery’ award at the Video Tech Innovation Awards, had a cover feature and interview in TVB Europe and were mentioned at a major talk at the International Broadcasting Convention.
**Is streaming becoming too much like cable television packages, and what can be done by app programmers to help lessen consumer costs?**
Discovery is the biggest problem in streaming. There’s no shortage of content, it’s just impossible trying to stumble across the perfect movie -- unless you take your desired emotional state into account. So we solve that.
And with Moveme, you can specify if you’re happy to watch movies with ads. If you are, we can help you find the perfect movie for free, legally.
**What are your top four favorite movies of all time?**
In no particular order…
*Interstellar*
*Gladiator*
*Scarface*
*Alice in Wonderland* (1991)
**What is your mood at this given time, and what movies would you expect to find on** [**Moveme**](https://moveme.tv/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) **based on that mood?**
It’s 9 pm on Sunday night. I’m feeling grateful to have the opportunity to answer these questions. To bring the interview full circle, I’d like to feel ‘inspired’ heading into a new week. I’ll see what Moveme suggests - I’d like to discover a movie that I ordinarily would have never seen if I opened up any other streaming app.
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
### A Bunt Still Counts, Kiddo!
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/yougottabelieve/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:37.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
It’s too bad that *You Gotta Believe*—based on the true “Cinderella”-esque story of a baseball team of uncoordinated kids who took a chance, were coached like mad, and made it to the Little League World Series in 2002—is so terribly unfocused. The movie has all of the ingredients for a true-blue poignant and very fun sports story and is at times quite emotionally powerful. After all, for a man like myself who grew up a wide-eyed baseball fanatic, it’s hard not to show some tears when a game comes down to a wing and a prayer. But unfortunately, that one element, the emotional, is what walked *You Gotta Believe* from having an exciting win.
Luke Wilson plays a baseball-fearing, family-loving kid at heart who, right out the gate of the movie’s charming opening, is diagnosed with brain cancer. Of course, this is all based on real events and real people (as the pre-end credits sequence will tug on) but the order in which it’s all portrayed and the tone to which everything has is off-kilter and confusing. That opening, where the disorganized team of misfit-ish young boys struggles to play their last game of a terrible season, was oh-so-cute with a hint of knockabout and wholesome comedy—even the coaches, the dedicated Luke Wilson and the work-obsessed Greg Kinnear, express a chummy “aww shucks” relationship that would’ve worked better with what I assumed would be a lighter movie.
Instead, *You Gotta Believe* throws some wild balls, by moving harshly from sports hijinx to family moments to health scares to tragedy and back again. It’s overwhelming and frankly too much of everything that a movie like this could have, but shouldn’t have all of.
[](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
#### **📝 Indie film criticism needs some love. Consider becoming a new or supporting moviegoer at a special rate (50% off, good until the end of 2024) by clicking above today! 🍿**
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However loaded its bases get (apologies for the baseball puns and references) *You Gotta Believe* does two things consistently well: the technical and the true. As the team bonds over its sick coach, they play tournament game after game, winning and winning to the lyrics of the song “Rawhide,” producing a heck of a lovely toe-tapping and team-rallying montage. The movie tries to replicate this later on, but the near-perfect sequence stands tall with sincerity and creativity. The perspective goes from the players to the baseball itself from time to time, and song lyrics hang on the screen, bouncing along in order. Why couldn’t this be the whole film? Well, it kind of is.
For all of the confusion and the doubt, *You Gotta Believe* is a fine picture. Sure, I would’ve liked more of the kids training and playing and getting into scrapes. Sure, I would’ve enjoyed more scenes of tense baseball (there’s a great one at the climax) and maybe some more bonding over the game too. Is it all about Luke Wilson’s illness and his family, or is it about the team dynamic and how they overcame collective insurmountable odds? It’s a movie stuck in the mud but heavy with passion and striving for victory. An underdog by design. That’s well and good. And that’s just enough. **3/5**
*You Gotta Believe* is now playing in theaters.
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
### A Scout Tafoya Movie Marathon, Part 1: 'Epigenesis' + 'Hang the Pale Bastard'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/tafoya4part1/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:38.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
Why marathon four films by one independent filmmaker?
Why not?
Scout Tafoya - [video essayist](https://www.rogerebert.com/features/the-tenth-anniversary-of-the-unloved?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and [film critic](https://www.patreon.com/honorszombie?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), has quite a prolific resume of narrative movies under his cap (check out his [Vimeo channel](https://vimeo.com/honorszombiefilms?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)), not to mention feature-length [documentaries and other critical experiments](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/xenolithatlas?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
I understand that he’s decided to move away from no-budget filmmaking in favor of larger projects, and with that in mind, he has uploaded three more flicks for the on-demand audience. “Gay Post-Punk Odysseys.”
Not a whimper, but a bang.
Not going out, but raging on.
Enjoy the first two reviews in my four-film marathon - part 2 will feature a special entry, so stay inboxed:
---
Throughout my watch of *Epigenesis*, I couldn’t help but think about the hyper-kinetic and rave-like horror-comedy that was *Fried Barry* (now on Shudder). Imagine *Starman* mixed with the “Smack My Bitch Up” music video, and you’d be close to that movie’s aesthetic and tempo. In hindsight, the two films have only a tenuous at best connection, that being the sudden involvement of extraterrestrial beings in the lives of tortured male souls. Where *Fried Barry* features an alien experiencing Earth through a dirtbag's eyes, the *Epigenesis* creature acts more as a djinn or id, granting deep and dark wishes for the man it has attached itself to, usually involving violent retribution. While vastly different, the two movies do share the commonality of humor in dark places, perhaps where humor is needed the most.
Tenuous in the streets, “where it counts” in the sheets.
*Epigenesis* is about a blackmail ring that’s operated by young hustler Shane, who primarily uses cruising and strategic street placement to entice and ultimately threaten his wealthy and prominent prey. His reasoning isn’t so much from a lack of employment options, but rather a too personal understanding of the dynamic between vulnerable gay youth and pickup predators. He’s flipped the script, so why not enjoy the monetary benefits of his anti-heroics?
Gifford Elliott anchors *Epigenesis* with his “oh snap!” comebacks and painfully annoyed expressions in the face of bodily aggression and cosmic possession. The stranger things get, the more wide-eyed he becomes, the more Gifford’s Shane would rather just be eating expensive Chinese food. Gifford makes this movie his own and gifts it to anyone who comes across the play button.
Truer to the idea of accentuating positives and hiding negatives almost more than any other film ever (Troma movies come close), the occasional technical hiccups in *Epigenesis* \- from sound mixing to blurred focus - are somehow used to the advantage of the story. There’s always this feeling of someone or something watching from behind the bushes. Someone or something that is always adjusting to a given environment, and that is ready to pounce if given a push. Or an open opportunity. Focusing/refocusing sight, uncomfortable skin, off-kilter equilibrium, etc. If necessary, these effects can also represent Shane and his friends. Moreso than the creature, even.
There are burgeoning romances. There’s platonic love. There are denouements covered in alien goop. And there’s more than meets the eye to *Epigenesis*.
Aliens in the streets, entertainment when we meets. **4/5**
[](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/socialsub?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
#### **📝 Indie film criticism needs some love - Consider becoming a** [**new**](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) **or supporting moviegoer at a special rate - by clicking above - today! 🍿**
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From *Hang the Pale Bastard*
Did you know that director Scout Tafoya, at least when in character during his film *Hang the Pale Bastard*, sounds and looks like fellow cine-maestro Quentin Tarantino? This is an interesting element that I’m curious to figure out. Certainly, I can’t imagine that Tafoya was performing his central role as the titular pale bastard with “basterd” in mind, or with the opening walk of *Django Unchained* at heart. But there’s something to this. I think.
In *Hang the Pale Bastard*, Scout is led by a tied-up rope through cold and snowy woods, walking on an unsteady terrain of branches and rocks, by a nameless man covered in ambiguity, to a soundtrack reminiscent but not exact or similar to that of Jim Jarmusch’s *Dead Man*. Meanwhile, there are others - men and women of equal mystery - who are determined to find these two. Bounty? Revenge? They have their reasons, and most will be revealed by the end of the trip.
And what a trip it is. An acid trip? There is a climax that by itself would earn that description, bloodying the screen with colors and gore and hypnosis of sorts, for what feels like many minutes. But is the film acid anywhere else? Is it punk anywhere else? Does it…rock? Yes, yes, and yes. Long takes of monologuing against stone-faced silent types, scenes where two characters talk to each other as if in wildly different conversations, perfectly serene locations found likely by serendipity, and a script written like a poker hand. I’m tripping right now just writing about it all.
Flickers of flames and thin rays of sunlight hit the lens ever so wonderfully from time to time, bringing about tears and triumph. Is *Hang the Pale Bastard* artificially well-composed or shot by discovery and good luck? Both perhaps, but in the other films of Tafoya’s that I’ve seen, everything filmed is a revelation of the moment, either right then and there or seconds prior. That kind of mind’s eye for what feels right for a given scene is rare.
Scout and Quentin. What of that? Is there something to that? Does this something make *Hang the Pale Bastard* different in some way? Better or worse? My interpretation of things can be odder than most, but when I see a filmmaker making squinty faces and talking fast like someone cool and caffeinated, like someone nicknamed “Mr. Brown,” I draw connections. Scout as captive as Tarantino in a modern western being pursued by his own actors. There’s something to this. I think. **4/5**
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
### Attn: Free Subscribers ONLY - Discount Code, Good for 1 Week
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/freenewsub/
Last updated: 2024-08-10T21:34:41.000Z
Become a supporting moviegoer - it's a great time for it!
_This post is for subscribers only._
### Special Coverage: Fantasia Film Festival 2024, Part 1 - Features
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/fantasia24features1/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:40.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
We’re now in the waning days of the 2024 [Fantasia International Film Festival](https://fantasiafestival.com/en/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), where screenings are winding down and [award winners](https://fantasiafestival.com/en/news/jury-awards-for-the-28th-edition-of-fantasia?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) are being announced.
I’m very thankful to be doing more reviews for the event this year, and have come up with my own program of interesting selections - features & shorts (though there were others that I unfortunately dropped for time).
Enjoy!
---
Official still
All of the films that star Joshua Burge (*Relaxer*, *Pratfall*), that I’ve seen, are incredible. Few actors of the independent variety have such a streak of quality productions, not to mention a catalog of great performances. The man blessed with the face of Buster Keaton, Burge can evoke angst, anger, anxiety, frustration, and exhaustion with such aggressively calm unease, give or take to the roles he’s cast as. *Vulcanizadora*, directed by the equally great Joel Potrykus (*Buzzard*, *The Alchemist Cookbook*), continues this trend as set by such strong writing and brilliantly interpreted acting. This was my first watch from Fantasia 2024, and it blew me away, that only a homemade firecracker could.
Is the word “vulcanizadora” in the American dictionary, or any for that matter? I have chosen not to look it up, as it could alter my current thoughts on the film - which I prefer to keep as they are. In this moment, *Vulcanizadora* represents a complete shift from *Jackass: The Movie* to *Faces of Death*, which I feel director Potrykus has been working toward his whole career. If *Buzzard* was a shopping cart running into a curb without accountability for potential injury, *Vulcanizadora* IS that accountability. *Vulcanizadora* IS the apocalyptic reckoning and emotional adult fulfillment from years of teenage and man-child audacity. It’s worrisome and it’s right.
Starring Burge and Potrykus as two friends who embark into the woods and onto a beach with a special pact in mind, *Vulcanizadora* brought to my mind *Buzzard* once more, which had sequences of the two in simarly casted roles, just messing around as the hours on a clock slowly move forward. I recall Burge places Bugle snacks on a running treadmill, for Potrykus to eat quickly in order. *Modern Times* adjacent? Yes. In fact, that bit was on point with Chaplin’s film when it came to the early 2010s, when it came to young adulthood. Burge and Potrykus are a comfortably toxic and easily relatable pair, Burge being the dominant leader and Potrykus playing the nervous but dedicated follower. *Vulcanizadora* might as well be a spiritual sequel to *Buzzard* \- the two mess around as a proverbial clock moves all too fast, the two eat lots of junk food, and the two continue their toxic but heartfelt (more so here) relationship. From there, things get wicked. Things get serious. Things get real.
Blown away, I was and still am. I’m still in a state of shock, bloodied and second-hand shamed for having been the pre-version of these two guys in my mid-teen years. I’m thankful to have grown away from that, to have become a viewer of *Jackass* and no longer a replicator of it. I don’t have to “face” the “death” in *Faces of Death*, because I understand what the real world variation would be. Keep it on VHS and away from your hands. Grow up. Mature. **5/5**
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#### **📝 Indie film criticism needs some love - Consider becoming a supporting moviegoer (by clicking the image above) today! 🍿**
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Official still
To paraphrase and alter a famous line from beat author William Burroughs, “Everything is true, nothing is permitted.” *The Code* takes this act of making up and changing quotes from famous artists too, by beginning with an A.I. generated image of filmmaker Orson Welles, and an artificial quote that plays into the theme of the film (and transitions to its title as well, in a statement of all-too-cuteness). Going for broke boldness and brash abandon from the onset, *The Code* settles into what is THE visual language of our times - surveillance by choice. Cameras and microphones are all over, and whether directly or indirectly, we’re ok with that. For all of the terms & service agreements and the multitude of apps on our phones, this movie takes Edward Snowden’s tech nightmare and makes a romantic comedy out of it. And, indeed, why not.
In fact, why wasn’t this done as a feature film sooner? Has it?
I refuse to compare *The Code* to something that we’ve been sold as representative of a generation like *The Graduate*, but I will relate it to something like a Nora Ephron flick. Sure, there’s more than one shot of penises here, and quite a lot of swearing and some mild but positive depictions of sex, but Ephron seems to match in story. A young couple in the middle of sexual and romantic frustration rent a house in California to spend a week or so making a Covid-19 pandemic documentary, during that height of it all. Or so that’s the excuse. The girlfriend, played by a typically rambunctious Dasha Nekrasova (*The Scary of Sixty-First*, *Wobble Palace*), is armed with digital cameras upon digital cameras, as is her boyfriend, played by the male-gazed and paranoid Peter Vack (*Assholes*). Switching from perspective to perspective, from webcams to screen captures to security cams to everything possible and all the ways they can be used for communication and for observation, *The Code* is brilliant. F\*\*king brilliant.
When I emailed director Eugene Kotlyarenko (*Spree*, *0s & 1s*) about The Code, I brought up Alejandro Jodorowsky’s *The Holy Mountain* and *F for Fake* by Orson Welles. This is Eugene’s *F for F\*\*k*. This is his “is this life reality? No. It is a film. Zoom back camera.” This is his masterpiece. And, there’s no going back. No backsies, so to speak.
Surveillance state? Nah. State of us? Yes. Cinema is now in the hands of TikTok filmmakers and Instagrammers (yes, they are filmmakers), or at least users of all ages. At least individuals who were already minded that way. At least experimenters and dreamers. At least in the observers. At least in everyone willing to pay attention. Crack the code if you want, and heed the answer - however you understand it. **5/5**
More to come. Stay inboxed.
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
### Christian Flick Does Ok with a ‘Sound of Hope'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/soundofhope/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:40.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
When we first see the young teenager Terri, played by Diaana Babnicova, in *Sound of Hope*, she’s packing her things in a garbage bag, and leaving another foster home. Her case worker gives some heavy-handed shade to the foster guardian, but Terri moves along like this is all normal. Unfortunately, it is normal, and for many kids. *Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot*, for all of its wholesome Christian faith superiority, does get a few things right, by which I don’t mean “correct” but rather “true.” And Terri’s turmoil is the highlight.
Released by the message bearers at Angel Studios (who I’ve [covered before](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/squirrelsnuts1?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#:~:text=religious%20historical%20dramas-,Angel%20Studios,-%2C%20is%20standard%20blah)), this entry in their catalog is another dramatic retelling of a real story, punctuated by a post-movie reveal and speech from the real-life people depicted. This time, a small town, Possum Trot in East Texas, is front and center, with its tight community of mostly black churchgoers who make it their mission to adopt/foster as many needy children as possible. Seventy-seven kids come around, and for the most part, the town is successful at providing good homes for them. Not without some hiccups, as encountered by the lead characters and situation-starters of a preacher’s wife and her husband.
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There is voice-over narration from the wife that is at times both badly written and strangely accented as if to be universally southern. There are one too many performances of desperation, sadness, courage, and victory from the adults, each of which takes something away from the previously abused kids, who act their hearts out to portray pain and resilience in equal measure. The young actors are the heroes here, especially Diaana Babnicova.
Her role as Terri must’ve been quite a challenge. Terri deals with her trauma by behaving like a talking cat, by running out at night, and by rebelling in some disturbing ways. The cat stuff is treated by the preacher’s family as a kid-like quirk that’s met by them with patience and a lesson involving putting food out on the porch - clever, complex, and confusing. Babnicova grants *Sound of Hope* much redemptive power and greatly expands the drama and the selfless acts of heroism that the film attempts. She is incredible. Diaana Babnicova is incredible.
*Sound of Hope*, from what I understand, is part of a loosely connected franchise of “Sound” films, the first of which was *Sound of Freedom*, which covered the human trafficking of children. One could argue that American adoption programs are, at least when it comes to children of immigrants, legal trafficking of sorts, making *The Story of Possum Trot* a bit more complicated. Were the residents helping as part of a higher mission, or self-satisfaction? I say higher mission, at least as far as the movie tells it. Far be it for me to speculate further than the film’s eye view and blunt force call directly into the camera. It’s probably sincere. More than likely, as there have been many positive stories that have come out of Possum Trot’s goals. Truly the stuff of cinematic proportions, even with the speaking-to-the-pews thing - though maybe others will listen too. If so, it’ll be because of one character and one performance. **3/5**
*Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot* is now playing in theaters.
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
### Harmony Korine Has Turned "Florida Man Fantasy" Into Future Filmmaking with ‘Aggro Dr1ft'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/aggrodr1ft/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:43.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
It may be impossible for me to rate [*Aggro Dr1ft*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0%5FLDcKwbT2w&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) on my standard zero to five scale, or any traditional scale for that matter. Harmony Korine’s third trek (after *Spring Breakers* and *The Beach Bum*) into the soulful depths of the ever-memed “Florida Man” label - reserved for males who do wild & crazy things in the Southern state - is a one-of-a-kind movie for modern times, and perhaps a teaser for what’s to come for cinema sooner than later. Simply put, I’m just not ready to accept that *Aggro Dr1ft* exists, and I’m not prepared to fully comprehend what that means.
But…I’ll try.
The film is, from what I can gather, a battle of two demon-willed killers on the extreme ends of the “badass” spectrum. One is a grizzled middle-aged Miami hitman who spends his time inner monologuing and directly spouting pseudo-philosophical statements about life, love, and death, in between murdering wealthy gangsters and hugging his wife and children. The other is a masked body-builder type who kidnaps women, hangs around with a group of machete-holding little people, and air-humps a katana across his mansion. He too talks a lot, mostly to himself, and with semi-intellectual thought but vulgar vernacular expression.
It’s “An assassin’s work is never done.” “I came for my money. For my money. I came for my money.” “Love. Love. Love. Love.” vs. “Dance, dance, bitch!” “I smell you!” “Why can’t you kill me? You are a coward!”
Yes, these are indeed “Florida Men.”
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Get more from Bill Arceneaux in the Substack appAvailable for iOS and Android[Get the app](https://substack.com/app/app-store-redirect?utm%5Fcampaign=app-marketing&utm%5Fcontent=author-post-insert&utm%5Fsource=moviegoing)
More than them, feels like a “Gamer-Gate” to hell. Director Harmony Korine, always the provocative amateur auteur, shot *Aggro Dr1ft* with thermal camera lenses, bringing uncontrollable temperatures of colors and various kinds of compositions to the screen. There might be intended meaning or meanings to these images beyond their vibrancy, but more or less it’s at least or at most a serendipitous gimmick. Animations and digital face filters are added on top of everything to fully realize this vision, which I at first speculated was a test run at bringing Harmony’s concept of video gaming to what we currently call cinema. This makes sense, as the film does act like the great N64 game *Goldeneye*, with characters that behave like empty avatars who merely exist for the protagonist’s arc to complete. Of course, that game is light-years behind what games are now, so whatever Harmony Korine is thinking of implementing, is already a generation or so old - as he is too.
Or…does he have his finger on the pulse of video app user interests and attention spans? If so, this movie could be a brilliant exercise in a new kind of filmmaking. What would it be called? How would it be formatted? Given how movies are viewed in clips and remixed into memes over the course of minutes or even seconds, on phones, *Aggro Dr1ft* (aggressive drifting to a new cinema?) may have opened a window that can never be closed. Or…did it merely climb through an already opened one? As a “movie,” *Aggro Dr1ft* is almost egregious. With video game logic that’s made for vertical viewing, clip cutting, and social sharing, *Aggro Dr1ft* could be either prophetic or historical in some fashion. Or a time capsule. OR a nightmare.
Is *Aggro Dr1ft* a headache or is it hypnotic to watch? And does the story matter when your own eyes are rolled back into your head? I’m flabbergasted by everything in this movie but also impressed by its aggression to the positive sensibilities of visual aesthetics and general expectations of what movies are and can be. An ugly affair. **3/5 (rating updated from n/a)**
*Aggro Dr1ft* is now available for digital purchase exclusively on [edglrd.com](https://edglrd.com/watch/aggro-dr1ft?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
### RE: 'Gasoline Rainbow' and 'Queen of the Deuce'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/gasqueendocs/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:44.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
Dust.
I’m very allergic to dust. And shellfish too (I’m a Louisiana guy, and I’m allergic to crawfish dammit), but it’s the dust that really annoys me.
My home office space gets easily covered in it, no matter how often I clean—my computer monitor, television, books and DVDs, etc. And the fan blades? Oh boy…
This doesn’t make for the best remote movie screening environment, especially when allergic reactions occur—sniffles and red eyes mostly, lasting for days. Anti-histamines help, but can also come with complications, like sleepiness (even the non-drowsy ones do me in).
This dusty room. This dusty home theater.
What recommendations do y’all have for cleaning up and making sure that dust becomes less and less of an issue? Leave a comment below or DM me anytime.
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
And now, our movie reviews:
From *Gasoline Rainbow*
Wiley, Oregon is a place for sleepers, but not so much for dreamers. Adults live and die here, but the kids plot to leave and let live. *Gasoline Rainbow* is the latest non-traditional docu-narrative-is film from the Ross Bros, whose previous effort *Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets* has slowly but surely become one of my all-time favorites. I think what attracts me to how they capture and tell a story isn’t so much the improvisation of scenes, but the restrictions and boundaries they establish. With *Gasoline Rainbow*, the Ross Bros have given their subjects, a group of five high school seniors on a road trip to see the Pacific Ocean, not just a map and directives to follow, but a tale that the directors have given to these kids to tell in their own ways. A tale that they believe is theirs. And maybe it is.
Of course it is.
It has to be.
Right?
By every means am I suggesting an *Inception* level mind trip on the subjects, as *Gasoline Rainbow*’s appearance of spontaneity is but a construct of *F for Fake* proportions. Orson Welles took on the crossovers of art, magic, and fakery in that docu-essay, which confounds and compliments to this day - a fate that *Gasoline Rainbow* could see for itself. Here, the Ross Bros may have reached their stylistic zenith, finding comfort in confusing and no more noise in experimenting. Welles continued playing around with film up to his passing, but are Turner & Bill Ross destined for that kind of ending? For that kind of life? For that kind of dreaming?
Of course.
They absolutely are.
Right.
Kicking off as if a heist film, *Gasoline Rainbow* drives out of a secret midnight rendezvous, into a cool rundown van, and out into the great beyond of parties and fleeting but magical meetups. If it weren’t for the sincerity built into the direction, the film could’ve fallen victim to a Burning Man search-for-self as sold to consumers. Every moment in this picture transitions to the next by leaving behind curiosity and making room for personal growth little by little. Did the Ross Bros craft that for the kids, or did the kids do it on their own? More shadowplay than traditional movie, and more real than reel, *Gasoline Rainbow* is one of the more fascinating films of the year. That’s worth more than all the beads that Burning Man wishes it could sell. **5/5**
*Gasoline Rainbow* is currently streaming on Mubi.
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To have lived as royalty on 42nd St. in New York City must’ve been…pretty relaxed, actually. *Queen of the Deuce* highlights the life and adventures of Chelly Wilson, a Greek Jewish woman who made a living for herself through strength, attitude, and street know-how. To have gone thirty-eight-plus years in my being on Earth without knowing of Chelly’s existence is a complete embarrassment on my part. Her story is an absolutely fabulous section of the film exhibition history in America. It is a classic “make it here, make it anywhere” immigrant tale—almost straight out of the movies.
Chelly was gay but made marriage exceptions for men. Chelly could recognize trends, and seize upon opportunities in a split-second. Chelly was a tough cookie, who would fight Nazis decades before owning and operating a chain of adult cinemas. *Queen of the Deuce* is a great example of a documentary made with family endearment and admiration from strangers, considering all this woman did for her loved ones. With bags of cash lying about her simple apartment (above one of her theaters) and various wheelers & dealers coming around to see her, the best aspect of who she was is expressed here - aside from her tone of voice and iron will - in the family dinners and get-togethers that she would host. The film does transition from family and business perspectives with an editorial harshness, but this could just be how Chelly handled every week-by-week.
Official still from *Queen of the Deuce*
*Queen of the Deuce* was a true and delightful surprise of a documentary for me. Simple and awfully emotive. More than running movie theaters, Chelly’s story is one of rescue and survival, making deals with movers, shakers, and Government officials to secure safety for friends and family just as World War II was speeding up. And, despite how important movies were to her, only her own documentary could summarize who she was so properly: Once when she was sick, she was asked what someone could get for her to feel better. She responded with “A Nazi to shoot.” I’d buy a ticket to that. **4/5**
*Queen of the Deuce* is now available on DVD and on-demand.
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
### Nuts to the Squirrels, Of Course
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/squirrelsnuts1/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:45.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
We are well into June, and only now do I have some thoughts to articulate on the regional New Orleans area premiere of Peter Bogdanovich’s *Squirrels to the Nuts*. “Better late than never” might just be my motto, or maybe what is enshrined on the Arceneaux family crest - I’m not sure, but once I find out, I’ll provide an answer well past its relevancy.
This screening of *Squirrels to the Nuts*, as shown on May 29th at the [East Bank Library](https://www.jplibrary.net/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) in Metro New Orleans, was made possible through its discovery on eBay by film historian and instructor [James Kenney](https://tremblesighwonder.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). The film stands as the intended/Bogdanovich-approved version of *She’s Funny That Way*, the studio-mandated cut of his directorial vision.
I’ve been on a kick of Bogdanovich movies as of late, so this film and its serendipitous rescue from the trash bin is of special notice to me. I will likely write a more thorough piece on it, but for now, here are some bullet points on the screening that I attended:
The crowd at *Squirrels to the Nuts* in Metairie, LA.
- As always, moviegoers shuffled into the auditorium towards the officially listed showtime, but on this occasion, they did so with a comforting and light conversation between them. They caught up with one another, talked cinema, and were generally excited while also polite. Very refreshing.
- I was one of a few “young” moviegoers in the crowd, as the heavy bulk of the people attending were “young at heart.” Were they the market for screwball comedies? For Peter Bogdanovich films? Probably just for free screenings at their local library. This situation reminded me of an event for the silent film *Beau Geste*, which was screened at the Prytania Uptown many years back. There, I was **THE** youngest moviegoer seated. There’s either something magical about that or something somewhat sad. Where are the kids?
- The man at the helm of the projector was none other than the great movie programmer and cinema enthusiast Josh Stover, whom I had interviewed for a podcast at least a decade ago. He did great, as the images were crisp and bright, and the sound was vibrant and clear.
- This screening was free, likely due to legal voodoo that’s still being worked out. As James Kenney explained, we were attending the twelfth or thirteenth screening ever.
- Did *Squirrels to the Nuts* live up to the hype? Yes. It was a wonderfully cute and expertly crafted comedy of errors and romance. More to come (down the line).
And now, our movie reviews:
Official still from *Sight*
*Sight*, from the interestingly popular production company of religious historical dramas Angel Studios, is standard blah biopic fare that’s drowned in a bathtub of missing pieces and frustratingly corny anecdotes. From a novice view, it appears through its trailer as a somewhat kindhearted if hamfisted bar of soap, but this facade is only hiding an unfortunately poor movie. Fortunately, however, there are moments of buzz. Genuinely, there are.
This is the story of a Chinese boy who, after growing up through political turmoil in his home country, moves to America and becomes a respected eye doctor. Told across decades, simultaneously showing his past childhood and his present adulthood, Dr. Ming Wang (Terry Chen) faces challenging cases of eye trauma and even more challenging burdens of trying to solve these problems for every child he sees. Angel Studios, having a “based on a true story” tale to tell, takes advantage of the word “sight” to relate a personal message about faith - specifically in what is left in the air a little, though there is a tightrope between God and self that is never fully explored. An end credits coda from the real Dr. Wang does reveal the answer, but if checked out of the movie before then, *Sight* could mean more than Christian melodrama.
I don’t mean to be cold towards this genre, but these films from these studios typically end up being psalms as read to a parish. Grating and annoying. *Sight* does succeed in being a bit better than that, as actor Terry Chen is rather compelling as Dr. Wang. It’s too bad that the script is all too truncated, as if scenes and expositions were dropped at the service of attention spans, providing mere gists. For example, the China portions of the movie could’ve been rich but are limited in scope and fake complexity. The film skirts history a bit, and only cares about trauma, inciting incidents, and overcoming obstacles. Noble? On the surface, sure. At the service of what though? *Sight* is a sacrifice to an audience that a studio thinks isn’t interested in details. How sad. Too sad. **1.5/5**
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[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
The MoviePass bad guys. Photo by [Drew Osumi](https://celluloidjunkie.com/2022/02/11/moviepass-relaunches-with-original-founder-new-business-model-and-ambitious-moonshot/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
As a cheerleader for the app’s concept from its original beta beginnings and as a present-day supporter of the new iteration, I always felt that the story of MoviePass was more about the disruption and innovation of the theatrical film exhibition model. If the Max Original documentary *MoviePass, MovieCrash* ends up being the final word on this tale of idealist entrepreneurship and capitalist greed, then let it be one of warning, of caution, and optimistic gumption.
There’s indeed something poetic about this startup story, at least in terms of comeuppance and justice. Not without obstacles, both racial and corporate (though the two elements are connected), the movie makes itself more about the black app founders Stacy Spikes and Hamet Watt than the white hucksters who brought everything down, and rightfully so. Now, one could make the argument that *MoviePass, MovieCrash* is too lopsided in their direction, but I say it’s not nearly lopsided enough. Spikes and Watt evoke such inspiration and honesty that anything less than what the documentary has for them would be a disservice. This is a reckoning by film, where the villains deserve a public square shaming and the heroes deserve applause. And amazingly, it’s all true.
Maybe the documentary has pacing problems, maybe it stretches some of the drama, and maybe being a step above a VH1 Remember the 2010s? style special is not a badge to wear proudly, but *MoviePass, MovieCrash* sets wrongs right. The pen is mightier than the sword, so to speak. I appreciate it when films like this go above and beyond to not just present things as they happened, but also provide the answer for how these things will be remembered. The final word or a general gist? Somewhere in between, I think. And that somewhere is a fine place to be. **3.5/5**
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
### Special Coverage: The 2024 San Francisco Documentary Festival, Part 3
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/sfdoc24part3/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:47.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
Occasionally, I’ll review films from beyond the bayous of Louisiana and the Gulf South.
Well, more than occasionally. Often.
This time, I’ve been invited to give some thoughts on some of the films from this year’s San Francisco Documentary Festival, running virtually and in-person until June 9th.
I chose eight films from a grand slate of diverse cinema, the last two of which will be covered in this post. For more information and to buy tickets, [visit the official website](https://sfdocfest2024.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). Hurry before the event ends.
Enjoy.
And, in case you missed them, here are Parts 1 & 2 of the review series:
[Special Coverage: The 2024 San Francisco Documentary Festival, Part 1Dear Moviegoers, Occasionally, I’ll review films from beyond the bayous of Louisiana and the Gulf South. Well, more than occasionally. Often. This time, I’ve been invited to give some thoughts on some of the films from this year’s San Francisco Documentary Festival, running virtually and in-person from now to June 9th.Moviegoing with BillBill Arceneaux](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/sfdoc24part1?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[Special Coverage: The 2024 San Francisco Documentary Festival, Part 2Dear Moviegoers, Occasionally, I’ll review films from beyond the bayous of Louisiana and the Gulf South. Well, more than occasionally. Often. This time, I’ve been invited to give some thoughts on some of the films from this year’s San Francisco Documentary Festival, running virtually and in-person from now to June 9th.Moviegoing with BillBill Arceneaux](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/sfdoc24part2?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Official still from *Welcome Space Brothers*
What we as moviegoing earthlings have on our hands with a film like *Welcome Space Brothers* is something on the edge of universal entertainment and cosmic belonging. If nothing else, the various archival clips from the movies made in the 1970s and 80s by the Unarius Academy of Sciences group - an obscure but harmless collective of spiritual self-healers and UFO communicators - represent some grand bizarre and wonderfully outsider cinema. These strange and delightful flicks were only made possible by the teachings of Uriel, AKA Ruth Norman, and her dedicated crew of students and artists. Out of the ordinary, comes the extraordinary, and from the strange to the showcase.
*Welcome Space Brothers* features testimonials from current and former students and of course footage of Uriel/Ruth Norman in various self-interpretations of character which, for me personally, were some of the more engaging moments - to see the subtle cracks and semi-faults in someone so well-meaning and theatrically presented is satisfying in the way that learning of a parent’s mild youthful indiscretions is. They’re not perfect, and that’s great to remember. Unarius is most certainly not a cult, and not technically a religion either, because the students are all shown as being so aware and lucid, despite the whole “aliens are coming” thing. Presenting things more as an ongoing camp for kids at heart, *Welcome Space Brothers* treats Unarius very kindly, and perhaps almost too personally and too close. Almost. By no means is this film an advertisement or a recruitment piece, but it does hold itself together as a memorial for the group’s past and an appreciation of its present, which may or may not have been the best approach. I left my viewing uncertain.
[](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
What is true, however, is just how entertaining and endearing this movie is. There are lots of colors, lots of lights, lots of DIY (do it yourself) art, lots of creativity, and lots of heart, all from every individual in Unarius. When the spaceships ended up not landing on their property, I felt as disappointed as the collective was. If one or many had landed, however, such an event would only taint the reality of the artistic endeavors that these people lived through. It’s fun and games to finger-paint…until the paintings come alive. Then what? **3.5/5**
Official still from *23 Mile*
Set in the state of Michigan, primarily in the metro area of Detroit, *23 Mile* captures both the end of the world as we know it and the continuation of the same old same old in startling frames. It’s a video diary that begins as the COVID lockdowns began when the filmmaker makes a trip home to Michigan, and as various citizen activist movements begin. We are inundated with a barrage of so many protests and protestors and social media “journalists” and wannabe militiamen and so on and so on. When time stops and we’re all together in being alone in our homes, alone with ourselves in a world wide web of other-selves…shit gets real, real fast.
There’s the occasional interview with passersby and local TV reporters, just as everyone around walks the street refusing to mind anyone else’s business. *23 Mile* isn’t a documentation of a turning point in American history, but rather a first-class flight through unrelenting noise that has no rhyme or rhythm. *23 Mile* knows the lyrics and the music of political ideology all too well but is left absolutely flabbergasted and completely exhausted by the end of the frustrating year that was 2020\. It’s all screams upon screams about the pandemic to brutality to civil rights to economic rights to voting rights to the vote itself to one person leading us all. This film needs some electrolytes.
While the time was indeed crazy and, as stated before the end credits, things would only get crazier with what happened on January 6th, *23 Mile* finds control in the uncontrollable. With such an unwieldy and unholy setting for a story, and a difficult-to-navigate story too, the film, despite its video diary conceit, overcomes the overwhelming by accentuating the positives and eliminating the negatives. In other words, the final edit is superbly constructed and the story is ultimately well-guided. 2020 most certainly needed a guide who was well. At least the free-for-alls went back home and chilled out. For a time, anyway. **4/5**
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
### Special Coverage: The 2024 San Francisco Documentary Festival, Part 2
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/sfdoc24part2/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:48.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
Occasionally, I’ll review films from beyond the bayous of Louisiana and the Gulf South.
Well, more than occasionally. Often.
This time, I’ve been invited to give some thoughts on some of the films from this year’s San Francisco Documentary Festival, running virtually and in-person from now to June 9th.
I chose eight films from a grand slate of diverse cinema, two of which will be covered in this post. For more information and to buy tickets, [visit the official website](https://sfdocfest2024.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). Hurry before the event ends.
Enjoy.
And, in case you missed it, here is Part 1 of the review series:
[Special Coverage: The 2024 San Francisco Documentary Festival, Part 1Dear Moviegoers, Occasionally, I’ll review films from beyond the bayous of Louisiana and the Gulf South. Well, more than occasionally. Often. This time, I’ve been invited to give some thoughts on some of the films from this year’s San Francisco Documentary Festival, running virtually and in-person from now to June 9th.Moviegoing with BillBill Arceneaux](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/sfdoc24part1?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Official still from *Happy Campers*
Man, can Amy Nicholson find the most beautiful shots to get from a real-world scenario. Her film *Happy Campers* is made up entirely of beautiful shots, the kind that tells stories on their own, define the people that are featured, and move our hearts to beat at their fullest capacity. It may seem pretty difficult to gather such serendipitous compositions when shooting footage in any area, but the setting that Amy Nicholson has found, a happy-go-lucky waterside community, is completely covered, head to toe, with personality. She makes everything look pretty, makes the tale seem vast, and makes cinematography appear easy. That’s magic. Pure magic.
*Happy Campers* is about the last days of a trailer park neighborhood in Virginia, where seafood can be caught just feet away from your home and where smiles can be seen on every face. These are no misfits or weirdos or outcasts, but rather individuals and families who have found their collective oasis, their piece of peace as it were. As the clock winds down on their residences and the plans for re-development kick-off, everyone gets together for various hangouts and parties. Beer flows like waterfalls, truck beds are made into pools, and shirts fly off in the hot sun when playing horseshoes.
[](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
If this wasn’t going to be their final time with one another, the fun that’s had would’ve just been another routine day. Indeed, these people are happy, and not the manic kind. It’s all genuine, and so is the movie. Amy Nicholson captures all of the final moments as if *Happy Campers* weren’t a straight documentary, but a narrative in the way that the great *Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets* is. Talking head interviews occur, people recognize and acknowledge the camera, but all behave so naturally and so carefree. This is who they are, filmmaking be damned. This is their story, and it’s gonna play out however it may.
There’s a recurring motif of raised flags throughout *Happy Campers*, from Old Glory to Corona Beer advertisements. Usually in the far-off background, but always in the frame and always of significance. The flags are never really interacted with except in one or two instances of putting them up poles. There’s something about setting such things in place for others to see from long distances away, and never having to look up to know that they’re still waving in the wind. It’s not taken for granted in a bad way, representing instead a way of life that is richer than most. They’re here, they’re there, and that’s nice to know. **4/5**
Official still from *Dreambreaker: A Pickle Ball Story*
Pickleball. This is what we’ve all come to? Honestly, watching two parents and their star athlete child pray to Jesus for their wealth to be maintained and for the bubble of the new sports craze that is pickleball to never burst is a bit…well, a lot. *Dreambreaker: A Pickleball Story* is absolutely “a lot,” most of which is made up of behind-the-scenes corporate back and forth that’s less relative to the game itself and more of a neurotic breakdown involving money and status. For a roughly ninety-minute story of athletes who might as well be portrayed as social media influencers, as told by a video blogging hippie who lives in a yurt, expectations of what a sports documentary ought to be should be left behind. Too oddball to know how best to be presented, but too interesting to be unattractive, *Dreambreaker* is a strange and compelling film. About people who just want to play and have fun, about businessmen getting in over their heads, and about self-branding and representation.
There are moments when men with beer guts play alongside tennis greats, paddling at plastic balls to the thrill of enthusiastic spectators and potential sponsors. Amid conversations about professional contracts and organizational mergers that may or may not happen, is a dream that gets lost in the court. One that envisioned a compound for athletes to compete, to live, and to make a living. No wonder a lackadaisical guy living in the woods in a yurt has taken an interest in this thing. The dream of a sports utopia that pulled me in at the beginning goes away too quickly once profit and popularity are thrown into the mix. People aren’t watching these games on TV, but they are showing up in person. And with that, money can be made. And with money on the line, things can get nasty.
What was about a sport and then about the stars, eventually became about the owners and the investors and the media coverage - which happened primarily online over Zoom-like podcasts, with “reporters” likely on camera while wearing sweatpants. It’s difficult for me to see this documentary as being dramatic in some grand fashion, but somehow it is just that, only featuring people, players, and puppets that want to succeed so desperately in a fad so accessible that they’ve turned into so legitimate. Is this film really a “*Dreambreaker*?” No, but it does ask questions that the subjects can’t answer. At least, not at the moment. **3/5**
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
### Special Coverage: The 2024 San Francisco Documentary Festival, Part 1
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/sfdoc24part1/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:51.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
Occasionally, I’ll review films from beyond the bayous of Louisiana and the Gulf South.
Well, more than occasionally. Often.
[Special Coverage: SF Independent Film Festival 2024, Feature SelectionsDear Moviegoers, Occasionally, I’ll review films from beyond the bayous of Louisiana and the Gulf South. Well, more than occasionally. Often. This time, I’ve been invited to give some thoughts on some of the films from this year’s SF (San Francisco) Independent Film Festival, running virtually and in-person from February 8th to 18th.Moviegoing with BillBill Arceneaux](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/sfindiefeatures24?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
This time, I’ve been invited to give some thoughts on some of the films from this year’s San Francisco Documentary Festival, running virtually and in-person from now to June 9th.
I chose eight films from a grand slate of diverse cinema, four of which will be covered in this post. For more information and to buy tickets, [visit the official website](https://sfdocfest2024.eventive.org/welcome?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). Hurry before the event ends.
Enjoy:
Official still from *Film Is Dead. Long Live Film!*
Director Peter Flynn’s previous feature documentary, *The Dying of the Light*, ranks as an all-time classic of the form for me. Maybe it’s because the story is about the labor of film exhibition and more specifically projection, in all of its machinery and all of its light. Maybe it’s because Flynn made it all about education, excitement, and the evolution of a medium that is, indeed, nearly lost. Whatever the reason, I loved the film, and I relate strongly to Flynn’s obsession with the mechanics behind the cinema. His latest, *Film Is Dead. Long Live Film*! takes a spin-off approach to his previous release, this time visiting and interviewing those who save physical and chemical film, no matter the toll. Bleeding heart lovers seem to be his central and repeating characters.
*Long Live Film!* has been in development for some time now, having seen everything from the further expansion of digital technology to the COVID pandemic, and has come out the other end of trial and turmoil to screen in triumph. Thanks and celebratory congratulations belong to the collectors and the preservationists featured throughout the film, as without their collective personalities and passion, this would be a bland and redundant dud. *Long Live Film!* trails and tracks over new information, newly informed history, and new people, but it also drags with some antiquated anecdotes and familiar follies from the previous entry in Flynn’s mission. Happily, there’s plenty of thoughtfulness and more than enough life given to the movie through the subjects found and the collections offered.
Collector and projectionist Lou DeCrescenso, who was featured in *The Dying of the Ligh*t, reappears in a more prominent role, as a lover, an elder, and a torch passer of film. It’s his spirit, and that of every other character, that makes this documentary ever so presentable and always romantic. Give or take a few false endings and worn-out scenes, *Long Live Film!* remains a letter and a labor of affection, and a dire warning for present-day moviegoers to help save what is left of past movie image memories. **3.5/5**
Official still from *My Own Normal*
The life that couple Alexander and Orina live, as documented in *My Own Normal*, is likely one that is limited to a select few pairings, at least here in America. Alexander Freeman, the filmmaker and subject of this very movie, has cerebral palsy, which keeps him in need of assistive services from family, friends, and outside resources. He struggles with getting words out, but is more articulate than the average abled, and maintains the kind of eye contact that makes one weak in the knees. While a day-to-day struggle, his life is pretty remarkable and very much a spotlight for early intervention and social government programs. If only more individuals and families had open access to them.
*My Own Normal* does offer up some information here and there on how to advocate for oneself and loved ones, but is ultimately Alexander and his family’s story. He interviews his parents and his partner, asking straight difficult questions that result in pure honesty and sometimes uncomfortable revelations - which is exactly what every good to great storyteller is after. Is Alexander Freeman a great storyteller? He’s perceptive, he’s penetrative, and he’s directly palpable. Alexander Freeman is a real reel filmmaker, that’s for sure. And his movie is as tangible as a touch and a grasp. That’s indeed something that only a few artists can convey.
[](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Never a tear-jerker and never playing off of exploitative tropes - why should it have to? - Alexander Freeman has crafted his film as a domestic drama and as a family love affair, most personal and most clear cut. *My Own Normal* itself is not a call to action for everyone, but an eternal moment of ultimate clarity for one man. A journey, this is. **4/5**
Official still from *Who is Michal Jang?*
Have you heard of Michael Jang? There’s no need for confusion if you haven’t. Being confused is probably appropriate before viewing *Who Is Michael Jang?*. The man is a professional photographer and a self-gratifying punk at heart. For decades since art school, he lived a life of commercial work and family living. It was only in recent years that the photographs of musicians, celebrities, and life itself that he once flashed and developed were recognized for their composition and amazing style. This is a film that’s partially about discovery after the fact and is all a human profile in the present moment. Michael, many years past his artistic endeavors, remains playful and persistent in his pursuit of silliness. How fun!
Now accepted by skateboarders and art galleries alike, Michael’s photos were previously boxed up and remembered as something that he once did. *Who Is Micheal Jang?* confidently and creatively conjures a portrait of the artistic mind that can be difficult to tap into and the youthful soul that we all wish to maintain. For Michael, this all comes fairly easy. He asks police officers to handcuff him randomly, just for a personal video. He performs as a chef in a real restaurant because the character is vastly entertaining to him. More than his photography, this guy is an art piece all on his own.
Diving into Chinese-American history and family dynamics, as well as people living on the spectrum, *Who Is Michael Jang?* is only one of a kind because of its one-of-a-kind figure. Still, if about someone else, eccentric or not, the filmmaking would be as attentive and attractive as it is now. Of course, having Michael Jang helps. **4/5**
Promotional picture from *The Death Tour*
Doing a pro-wrestling tour of Canada might be a pretty standard culture shock for some grapplers, but driving around some Northern Canadian Indigenous reservations must be startling for up-and-comers in the sports entertainment industry. Called “the death tour,” independent professional wrestlers will brave intensely cold conditions, long drives on difficult-to-traverse roads, and perform for crowds in small communities. On the trip as featured in *The Death Tour*, a troupe of athletes visit reservation upon reservation, community centers, and schools, all to amaze audiences of mostly kids. Kids who have faced adversity, stress, and death that’s hard for anyone to fathom but all too familiar in these tight-knit towns. More than anything, this film is less about the wrestlers being on the road and facing physical and mental pain, but rather it’s about their go-get-them attitude when entering new places of heartache.
Hitting and pummeling one another in the ring, hugging and chatting with one another in the makeshift locker room afterward. Predominantly, these scenes are what populate the performance lives of these wrestlers. Their phone calls to family, and their stories of past problems - sometimes described in speeches to kids as part of community outreach - are what complete their individual and collective beings. That and acting for and reacting to the love of the children watching and yelling with joy. Rarely before has a sports-related documentary captured the very heart of Indigenous and hard-to-reach places, let alone expressed the love of pro-wrestling and the affection for larger-than-life characters most vividly and importantly.
The two wrestlers in the film that made a big impression on me were The Matriarch, an Indigenous female performer who showcases her heritage in the ring and is embraced wonderfully for it, and Massive Disaster, a male veteran of the industry for over twenty years, who couldn’t be more optimistic and more real if he attempted it. *The Death Tour* is never cold, never depressed, and never without something good to be said and done. The heart is a muscle, after all. **5/5**
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
### Five Movies for after Memorial Day! 🇺🇸 🍿
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/memorialday24/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:53.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
Sitting at my desk throughout Memorial Day, I couldn’t help but think of what’s been lost and what we’re struggling to regain and find in America. From reproductive health care to voting rights to school lunches, the fascist regressives and the fairly good do-nothings appear to be winning in setting the country back by several decades. Most of us know who we should vote for come November, even if begrudgingly, and all of us grasp just how needed a forward-thinking leadership is.
How much would it cost to run an all-day marathon of righteous political movies on a major television network, and what should be programmed to fill the broadcast? I recall filmmaker and satirical s\*\*t-kicker wanting to do a push to show his incendiary documentary *Fahrenheit 9/11* in the lead-up to the 2004 Presidential election, to remind everyone how awful “Dubya” Bush was, and to reverse course on many conservative (and liberal-enabled) programs, including the War on Terror. A novel idea, I think.
Can we go further? Can we interrupt scheduled shows on multiple channels for a special twenty-four-hour lineup of great and thought-provoking films?
No.
No, but it’d be cool if we could.
What we can do is recommend watchlists. I challenge American moviegoers to consider the issues important to them and to encourage friends, family, and neighbors to screen or stream some selected cinema - meant to inspire, meant to get people moving, and meant to fire up voters. Provide links, provide physical media, and provide context. Give it a shot.
Feel free to send along your election watchlists to me [by email](mailto:barceneaux@duck.com) or leave them in a comment below - I’ll be sure to relay these flick picks in a future newsletter. And if anyone wants to do a [letter exchange](https://on.substack.com/p/collaboration#%C2%A7host-a-letter-exchange) on this subject, I’m ready to play.
And now, our movie reviews. Enjoy.
---
A still from *Off Ramp*.
Directed by regional cinematographer ([*Open*](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/nolareview1?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)) Nathan Tape, *Off Ramp* was one of my most anticipated selections at last year’s [New Orleans Film Festival](https://neworleansfilmsociety.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). It’s about a journey of Juggalos, for Juggalos, by Juggalos, told in the tradition of a life-positive horror-rap melody. As an awkward teen, I once painted my face in the colors of the Insane Clown Posse (like a Juggalo does) for Halloween (while wearing a Limp Bizkit shirt. Don’t judge), so any independent film about the followers and the fans has me intrigued from the start.
Cut together here and there with footage of stray dogs and previous ICP events - known as “The Gathering” - *Off Ramp*’s strength is found in its script. Beyond the premise of two Juggalo misfits on a road trip from the deep south to an upcoming Gathering, there’s gold found in the interactions between the strangers and neighbors and enemies and lovers that populate the story, which hosts a few revelatory twists and joyful turns. That human spark and relatability amid Mississippi dumps and macabre beauty gives life to *Off Ramp*. All of its life.
In between often-heard voiceovers about “being family” within this community of face-painted outcasts, the movie overcomes any boring and redundant potholes by featuring fun scenarios and quirky supporting characters. The great actor [David Jensen](https://vaguevisages.com/2016/10/28/neaux-reel-idea-the-southern-sage/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), for example, plays an exhausted convenience store clerk who lives on the edge of southern poverty and Confederate pride. When one of our Juggalos buys a bunch of Faygo soda bottles (“Juggalo Juice”), the clerk gets into a monologue rant about how a birthday clown once abused his mother. This is a two-minute or so scene and is barely being paid attention to by one of the protagonists. The Faygo is of dire urgency, it seems. Moments like that are priceless. **3.5/5** (coming soon)
From the [trailer](https://vimeo.com/721100296?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) for *Scooter LaForge: A Life of Art*
The one-man-band filmmaker, artist, and zine maker Ethan Minsker has turned his gaze to fellow New York City artist and denizen Scooter LaForge, whose body of creative works are likely to catch the eye of anyone passing by from near or far. Minsker is no stranger to directing documentaries, as he’s made plenty that range from short to feature-length (including one about [himself](https://medium.com/zeroeffect/neauxreelidea-manincamo-fb72f7943b2f?sk=cbcdf89c5dd67ce40692e92cc052098d&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)). With *A Life of Art*, however, Minsker paints his own visual aesthetic and playfully positive attitude over a man whose own style of art would be enough color for any film. To call this movie colorful would be an understatement. It’s practically coated with sugar. And it’s delicious.
Scooter LaForge, as a subject, has a story that’s likely too familiar for particular viewers to resonate with - a seen there heard that kinda thing. But, *A Life of Art* if anything does on the whole shine via its own bright light and rainbow-colored arch. I feel that small-town kids will connect deeply with Scooter’s past and present tales, and I will suggest too that other moviegoers will find the urge to, at least, try finger-painting afterward. Minsker’s films tend to have that inspirational effect, the kind that makes one move and get some hands dirty. Add Scooter LaForge on top of that, and there may be some trouble. Good trouble, mind you.
*A Life of Art* goes from Scooter’s early days in New Mexico to his life in San Francisco to his new adventure in NYC. He goes over his responses to pain and tragedy, from personal to national to global, and how art - of every kind and at all costs - can heal and keep us all moving forward. If there’s a more optimistic and encouraging man and movie out right now, let me know. **3.5/5** ([now available](https://linktr.ee/scooter%5Flaforge%5Falifeofart?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) to stream, and for rent/purchase)
From the [trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA8cG45AZS8&t=6s&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) for *Mind Body Spirit*
The main character of *Mind Body Spirit* \- one of four that are on-screen - from beginning to end, goes from naive to insufferable to scared to finding “her power” in pretty smooth transitions. Of course, being a found-footage horror picture, finding one’s “power” may not be a positive. Indeed, actress Sarah J. Bartholomew - playing the lead Anya - has been given the difficult task of completely guiding us through this film while doing the business of guiding us through her role. She’s completely game and exercises her exorcism in the most welcome of ways. Gimmicky without being exploitative, a trip into the pathetic and lost self, *Mind Body Spirit*’s small scale opens up enough to be compelling and tense - at least here and there.
[](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
The camera situation in this found-footage flick is by way of social media video influencer tools and is rarely used for anything else, like wandering in dark places or crying out for help. Zoom-type conversations are made use of too, but the main conceit and reason for the season is in the yoga self-help videos that Anya (Sarah J. Bartholomew) is trying to develop. It’s all creatively dry and awkward for her until she discovers a book of spells that her mysterious Grandmother - whose old home Anya has moved into to begin a new life - has left behind. Guess what happens after?
A young woman who takes a strange and new path in life, only to find just how in over her head she is, made for some great dramatic tension and performance from Bartholomew, who again has to carry everything on her character’s frail shoulders. As a horror, *Mind Body Spirit* isn’t ho-hum, but rather tried and true. There are glimmers of genre evolution, using YouTube-style ad breaks at the right moments of fright, and the film overall never wears thin. It’s efficient, it’s well done, but it’s also, at least partially, stuck with conventions. That’s good, that’s ok, that’s to be expected. Not surprising. **3/5** (now available for rent/purchase)
From the [trailer](https://youtu.be/KVacS6T7jxs?si=jy2W8d3yLyEK8L7Z&t=95&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) for *The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed*.
It’s all too easy to be charmed by Joanna Arnow’s brand of sand-paper-dry and wonderfully awkward comedic compositions, and it’s easier to be confounded by all of that. In her first narrative feature, *The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed*, Arnow directs and stars as a young big-city woman, working in a tedious office job by day and holding a submissive BDSM relationship by night. This is a sort of twist on the idealistic businesswoman seeking more in life movie, and maybe it’s a twist of a knife to the belly. However sharp, it’s also a comfort and an affirmation for the detached yet living souls out and about in the world.
My interpretation of the film may be against the tide of other reviews, but I’m not worried about that. *The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed* is a modern laugh-out-loud classic that, oddly enough for me, recalled memories of Buster Keaton’s *Seven Chances*, specifically the rolling boulders sequence. In this film, Joanna presents and confronts the boulders not in a dance of anxious slapstick life and death as Buster did, but in a one-step out-of-the-way manner, for her to now observe the chaos from the safety of the sidelines, and to do so with a smile that doesn’t show. It’s great.
Silent film comparison aside, Joanna’s movie couldn’t be anything but a pure-bred talkie. There’s no music and no score - just immense quiet, just pronounced breathing, and just people figuring out what to say and how to react. Shot with this in mind, the film has an “every frame a painting” look to it, where at any given shot, a new story is told. And each of those stories makes for one of the best films that I’ve seen in years. **5/5** (now available for rent/purchase)
From the [trailer](https://youtu.be/teqCiI8mbJw?si=KnrAEpg1m68u5jsh&t=2&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) for *The Wheel of Heaven*.
Completing a cycle of meta-chaos and matryoshka doll storytelling, filmmaker and master of the cosmic weird Joe Badon has crafted his most awesome and best movie to date. I’ve previously been hesitant and lukewarm on his projects, as they tend to be under the lock and key of his brain, and often would tell a little too much of a tale. That being typed, I’ve always been intrigued by his films, his interests, and his progression as an artist. With *The Wheel of Heaven*, Badon has cracked an alpha code from deep within my very being.
Teased many moons ago with the prequel *The Blood of the Dinosaurs*, *The Wheel of Heaven* represents worlds within worlds, dreams within dreams, all to be toyed around and played with. A woman goes through multiple variants of herself, sometimes in a choose-your-own-adventure (or destiny) book, something just in her imagination, and sometimes in conversations between her very real actress self from behind the scenes and Badon himself. Confused? Don’t be. Just ride the wave? Sure, but it’s fun to try and figure this puzzle out. Think of it in the style of Anthony Hopkins’ *Slipstream* or David Lynch’s *Inland Empire*, only with more of a poker face.
One scene in particular, shown early on in quick clips, fits, and bursts, is my single favorite thing that Badon has ever made, within my favorite movie that he’s made thus far. It’s a horror birthing sequence, that plays alongside a children’s show set. Or maybe it’s happening in the future. Or in another film altogether, still being conceived as it is being presented. Get it? *The Wheel of Heaven* is spectacular in its do-it-yourself aesthetic and journey upon journey upon journey storytelling, which goes from meta to narrative to documentary as fast as a cut from a pair of scissors. And I wouldn’t cut anything from it. **5/5** (currently touring and coming soon)
---
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
### Reel Scenes, in Real Moments: ‘Showgirls’
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/showgirlsmri/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:54.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
Getting into a narrow tube and staying still for an hour, with sounds buzzing around me, might as well be my middle name. I’ve often proclaimed that I could withstand a trip to the planet Mars by myself, though now I add the asterisk that I might go insane in the process of staying awake and alive for so long. But one hour in a tube? Piece of cake.
I’m describing a medical procedure known as an MRI, which stands for **M**agnetic **R**esonant **I**maging. In my case, a recent trip in this machine was to scan my neck and my brain, to help determine the cause of body inflammation that I’ve been experiencing for some time. There’s also the possibility that I have something known as “Hyperreflexia,” a condition where my body’s reflexes are over-responsive. I’m not sure how the two illnesses (?) are connected, but hopefully, that will be determined in a follow-up appointment.
[](https://prod-images-static.radiopaedia.org/images/3892/250f2c53630e8ed64750391d0ae46f%5Fbig%5Fgallery.jpeg?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Ever since I first watched clips from *Rocky IV* on home video, I’ve thought of instances in my life in terms of film. It’s similar to word association, but in how anything that I see, hear, or feel triggers a memory of a movie scene. Every day, and almost every hour, I experience this sensation. In the days since my MRI procedure, I’ve come to accept the one movie that I thought of while in for that hour in the tubed machine and the one scene that played on repeat in my mind as it was being scanned.
And it gives new meaning to Magnetic Resonant Imaging. And Hyperreflexia.
---
Nomi Malone entered Las Vegas not with open arms so much as an immediate embrace. It was the perfect city for a chaotic and distressed young ingenue to make a life for herself. To reach for the stars. To use her body in more ways than one to get whatever she wanted, from burgers to Kyle MacLachlan.
I, of course, am describing the epic and the infamous film extravaganza known as *Showgirls*. The weekend before my MRI, I watched it in full for the first time, and instantly had my teeth blown into the back of my mouth, as what happens with a shotgun. This was no suicide or murder, but a revelatory discovery.
I recall the controversy surrounding the picture from its theatrical run (I was but a kid back then), and avoided the film as a result. All of the jokes and the memes took their toll on my excitement, at least for a few decades. But finally taking the plunge by pressing play, I was pleasantly surprised and disappointed in myself. Surprised by how endearing and engaging a movie of sleaze and greed could be. Disappointed in myself because of how long I lived without giving the movie a shot.
So much about *Showgirls* sticks out to me, from Robert Davi’s gross but somehow positive figure of emotional encouragement to Gina Gershon going all in and acting all out. However, there is one moment in one scene that has forever-staying power.
Actor Patrick Bristow has made plenty of supporting roles in flicks like *Transformers: Age of Extinction* and *Pain & Gain* (and better movies) - usually as a comic relief of sorts, but being superb in his few frames. *Showgirls* had him play an assistant in the movie’s highlighted dance revue called “Goddess,” which the lead character Nomi auditions for. During dance preparations, Bristow, as an assistant, does dance practice through drill sergeant-type badgering, at least in fits and bursts. He’d go from a likable helpful hand to a raving jerk in a flash. Brilliant.
[](https://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=57620705&t=w&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Actress Elizabeth Berkley, so young and seeking a breakout chance, took on Nomi with boldness and bravado, to the extreme. She’s fiery, ferocious, and feral. She grinds and she glows. She works it and flaunts it. Berkley as Nomi may have been a nightmare made in heaven, and that’s meant in the most complimentary and genuine of ways. Brilliant!
Let’s put the two performers together. Let’s see what happens.
---
In the MRI machine, there’s a plastic vice that your head goes in, there’s a moving platform that you are placed on, and a projected screen saver that plays on shuffle/repeats on the inside of the tube, right above your face. The earplugs go in, the soft and soothing music turns on, and the machine begins its job. For one hour, I stared at pictures of outer space, as loud cranks and alarms went off all around me. For the first phase of the procedure, I went in as I was. For the second phase, I was injected with a somewhat radioactive dye that would make my internal systems look much clearer. Talk about glowing.
Between moments of almost falling asleep and trying to stay as still as possible, I began to recognize and count the various sounds that the machine made. Some went off in sequences of ten, others went for more of a rhythm that impersonated speech patterns, by which I mean how words are pronounced and how many breaths are taken in a sentence. I couldn’t help but think of the conversations that this MRI was having with the attending medical professionals, oddly.
What would the MRI machine say to me, if given the opportunity?
---
For me, movies are best remembered by sensory reactions to clips. Not in the moment of first viewing, but in the bits (or clips) of reality that come after, which I feel are similar in some way.
In that medical procedure, between me and the noises that rang out, I heard what the MRI machine was saying to me: “THRUST IT!!”
[](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[](https://www.paypal.me/neauxcontent?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
It’s nonsensical to think this way, in that time, and in those words, but it was the truth. Some sounds matched the pattern and the repetition of that line of dialogue, and I couldn’t help but let it in and entertain me for all it was worth.
This scene comes when Nomi is practicing a routine for the show, which involves laying (or is it lying?) on the stage, and thrusting her sweaty midsection into the air, over and over and over again. The show assistant, yelling at the other dancers, focuses on Nomi as the camera pushes in on the two of them. He kept at it, in order, with “THRUST IT! THRUST IT! THRUST IT!!” as he stared into Nomi’s eyes, before finally screaming at her belly.
Oh, what we sacrifice to make it to the top of the mountain. To have a scrawny guy in a cardigan speak R. Lee Ermey's craziness into our stomachs. Into our intestines. Into our souls.
Ridiculous. Hilarious. Brilliant.
Memorable.
---
I wasn’t traveling through the solar system, nor was I going mad from radiation and tunnel vision. I was bewitched by Nomi Malone, by a little loud man, and by a bomb of a movie.
Thinking of mere seconds from a film like that can come at any moment and at any time for me. It just depends on my surroundings and my senses. A distraction? An escape? Cinema **is** an escape, but I hesitate to suggest it as a distraction. If anything, it’s an enhancement of my world and the way I see it. This is how I think. This is how I see everything. This is how I see everyone.
Maybe this is a symptom of Hyperreflexia. After all, movies come to me in the speed of a knee-jerk. Maybe we can all it Magnetic Resonant Imagining. After all, there’s a magnetism to these images that resonate with me.
See how I did that?
[](https://i0.wp.com/phantastiqa.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Nomi%5FElizabeth%5FBerkley%5FShowgirls%5FGoddess%5F1995.jpg?fit=900%2C506&ssl=1&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
---
If you enjoyed this article, may I recommend another:
[Filmmakers Salome Chasnoff and Susan Nussbaum on 'Code of the Freaks' and the Importance of Watching Movies with a "Piercing Gaze"Dear moviegoers, It’s now the second week of March 2021\. WandaVision wrapped up on Disney+ last week, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League comes to HBO MAX next week. We’re in the eye of a fandom storm right now, one that tends to push out other films and programs from being covered.Moviegoing with BillBill Arceneaux](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/codeofthefreaks?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
***And support a great cause, for a greater cousin, by clicking the photo below***❤️:
[](https://www.gofundme.com/f/warrior-with-a-heart-of-gold?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
### Let That Sweat Drip, Let That Sex Swing Ye 'Challengers'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/challengers/
Last updated: 2026-06-11T09:56:46.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
There is only sex and death. Everything else is negotiable. “What else is there to talk about?” Filmmaker Peter Greenaway’s [words](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/mar/18/peter-greenaway-nightwatching?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)/storytelling philosophy was on my mind when watching the tennis game at play in Luca Guadagnino’s *Challengers*, a film that’s been sold to us all on the stunning steam and bodacious bods of its three main players (or performers). Knowing that, according to Greenaway, there are only two important things in life, one of them being sex, is there room for anything else?
Well, at the center of the marketing for *Challengers* is a threesome make-out session between two young men and one young woman, which is suggested to go “all the way.” The theatrics are incredibly hot here, and for getting moviegoers into seats, any room for more could be bloating. And bloating is not hot.
The alluring Zendaya plays the equally dangerous mystery that is Tashi, a once sports prodigy turned coach due to a career-ending injury. Her client is her husband Art, played Mike Faist, who is in a champion’s burnout. The film starts as Art is confronted in a match by an old friend and Tashi’s ex-lover Patrick, played by Josh O’Connor. To the rest of the sports world, this is just a one-on-one match at a rinky-dink outing. To both the players and the coach, whose sex games in their youth led them to this moment, there’s more than what meets the tennis racket. More blue than green, if you catch the **ball** of my words. Shifting back and forth in time, from the match to past events, the film reveals more with what it withholds than anything it flat-out tells. *Challengers* is the zenith of cinematic show or tell, and it couldn’t be greater if it tried.
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Winks, nods, sunglasses, positions, deep breaths that are felt hard within the chest, not-too-subtle moments with food, and more. The tension on display weaved from and in between the film’s three lovers, is told maybe comically but shown very dramatically. I think what I’m getting at is that if it weren’t for Zendaya, Faist, and O’Connor’s chemistry and interpretations of self and one another, all perfectly unspoken, then *Challengers* would merely be a YA (young adult) farce. The movie moves across a decade or so, and we see the three characters age rather well from teens to (I think) late thirty-somethings. Makeup, clothing, and attitude go a long way.
Much has been written about Zendaya and her performance as Tashi, about how she’s better as script than on screen - so to speak, and about how Faist and O’Connor overshadow her. Those two are great, sure, but so is she. Zendaya has an aura in this film that could make her the all-powerful narrator who pulls the strings to her liking or an equally conflicted individual as part of a three-way tryst. This juggle of identity and ambiguity kept me on my toes, as she played into the expectations left by the film’s marketing, the expectations had by horny audiences, and the expectations from her past roles. She plays everyone against each other, ultimately toward one another, and to a fine and satisfying conclusion. Zendaya is the fire and the water.
Three adult lives, defined by one moment of teenage lust, complicated by a sport where going back and forth on movement is inherent, destined to never be known by anyone outside of their little triangle. It’s an intimate spectacle that grinds epically (in more ways than what is suggested). With that, *Challengers* is a film that ought to live on and repeat in different ways, over and over. It was a classic then, is a classic now and will be many more times later. Man, sex on the brain is just…so much better than death in mind. **5/5**
---
*Challengers* is now playing in theaters.
If you enjoyed this review, may I recommend another:
["Creed III" Swings Big and Lands HardDear Moviegoers, Adonis Creed, the heir to the Apollo Creed legacy and a legend in his own right, has retired from the ring, going out as champion, and settled down with his wife and daughter at the start of Creed III. He has traded in his boxing gloves for tea parties with his little one and has gone from training & fighting to coaching & …Moviegoing with BillBill Arceneaux](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/creed3?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
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### The Iconography of Batman and Gotham City, Reconstructed
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/peoplesjoker/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:24:59.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
The Joaquin Phoenix starrer *Joker*, that twisted adaptation of Batman’s crown prince of crime, for sure had its share of detractors and had caused much chaos among critics - applause for that accomplishment. No matter what though, it did make for at least one very interesting development of the character: comedic dissonance. The man’s understanding of jokes and what made them funny was the stuff of disconnected nightmares and sad attempts at being “average.” He was an alien witnessing humanity, and cracking under the pressure of figuring them out.
While there is almost no proper way to begin describing director Vera Drew’s take on the character in *The People’s Joker* without starting from a point of controlled anarchy, allow me to suggest that the film doesn’t just have humanity figured out, it does so with anti-comedy. With an edge. Yes, it has something in common with a Todd Phillips movie. Something in common that also surpasses the initial intention. Where Phoenix’s Joker doesn’t know that his comedy isn’t **right**, Vera Drew’s Joker the Harlequin knows the jokes are more **righteous** than anything. Both are aggressive, one on purpose.
My interpretation of *The People’s Joker* is that it’s a most intimate journal entry dressed in comic book panels, using and reforming the pop cultural icons and symbols of D.C.’s Gotham City, to fever dream its way into crafting an incredible coming of trans revolution. Vera Drew, who faced many obstacles from certain corporate entities in getting this movie seen, makes no apologies or concessions in achieving this one-in-a-million vision, going so far as to cast characters with computer-animated avatars. Like a puppet master. THE puppet master.
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I’m reminded of the long-since dropped #OccupyGotham remix video project that was proposed by the great visual essayist, the [Pop Culture Detective](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHiwtz2tCEfS17N9A-WoSSw?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) himself [Jonathan McIntosh](https://www.patreon.com/popdetective?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). It would’ve been a socialist turn of the knife on *The Dark Knight Trilogy* and how Batman might be (or is indeed) more protective of the wealthy status quo than real change for real people. Bad guys from across the Rogue’s Gallery would join in the protests, flipping Gotham on its head. This is now the legacy of *The People’s Joker*, though the film doesn’t need or have use for that. Indeed, its “Rogues Gallery” is featured, but they’re either well-meaning residents and dreamers or misfits with pained yesterdays and todays, just trying to make a life for themselves.
Oh, and Batman is a \_\*spoiler\*\_ grooming \_\*spoiler\*\_.
Provocative. Challenging. Confrontational. Hilarious. Daring. Personal without being esoteric. *The People’s Joker* is a one-individual presentation with some great community support, and that’s very difficult for a very small independent film of this kind. It’s such an open book of a story that just attracts everyone to it, and not just because of its true underground nature, the semi-likes of which haven’t been sort of seen since [*Escape from Tomorrow*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5dmaOAkq90&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) kinda took on Disney. *The People’s Joker* goes for broke and ends up with riches beyond expectation. Hopefully, for Vera Drew, that’ll mean high recognition and bigger budgets for future projects.
Dare I not proclaim *The People’s Joker* as being vulnerable? For me, in no way does intimate and personal, in this cinematic example, mean that Vera Drew and Gotham’s finest citizens are somehow starting, telling, and ending their tale from a place of harmed powerlessness. Vulnerability can have a power inside its wounded nature too, but I still don’t think of this film as vulnerable. It’s very open, sure, but there’s an uncanny confidence it has in finding itself and reconciling with the trauma of past and potential failure of a future that’s associated with coming out as a trans individual and trying to carve out a career for oneself. This confidence translates into power, which equals a story told on the filmmaker’s terms alone. That’s incredible. That’s brilliant. That’s strong.
It’s all so scary, and it’s not a joke. Not normally a joke anyway. *The People’s Joker* makes comedy from such uneasy emotional places while being serious about it. Why so serious? Why so funny? Why not. **5/5**
---
*The People’s Joker* is coming to [independent theaters](https://www.thepeoplesjoker.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) near you and is currently playing at [Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) in New Orleans - support the venue with a [membership](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/store/c2/Membership.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
If you enjoyed this review, may I recommend another:
["New York Ninja" Flips the ScriptDear Moviegoers, Existing for me in the same Universe as Troma films like The Toxic Avenger, the newly discovered, re-written, re-directed, and finally completed New York Ninja - released by Vinegar Syndrome - is of the same elements that cinematic dreams are made of. Granted, it doesn’t dive into over-the-top vulgarity and satire like Lloy…Moviegoing with BillBill Arceneaux](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/nycninja?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
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### Plenty of Plague, Few Pleasures in the "Perfect Sewer" of the Salton Sea
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/saltonseadoc/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:00.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
It’s been twenty years since the release of *Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea*, and it’s now a few days past Earth Day 2024\. But, I doubt the situation in the documented California region is any better. Former politician and very former musician/personality Sonny Bono had brought attention to the tragedy of the Salton Sea and the environmental issues that harmed the area with some pretty significant legislation, but any progressive movement that should’ve happened immediately had not happened as of twenty years ago. As of the ending of *Plagues & Pleasures*. As of the final words from filmmaker and narrator John Waters.
How sad.
How odd.
Sad and odd describe the documentary *Plagues & Pleasures* most perfectly. It’s a film that, for the majority of its short feature length time, tries to make the argument that the residents along the Salton Sea in California, just slightly away from the much cleaner Palm Springs, are madcap enough for a visit. The film also tries to set the record straight about just how much has been lost for the land and the living here, and how little time there is for them and the surrounding communities. A domino effect from the lake to the golf courses nearby.
More important of course is the safety and health of the so-called misfits that still reside by this water of dead but plentiful but polluted fish. John Waters was tasked to narrate *Plagues & Pleasures*, giving his weirdo sentiments and sensibilities to people that he would never look down upon - suggesting that we should never do so too. This is the movie’s masterstroke, though it is questionable to have Waters also talk about the damage to the lake and the economy when he is so much better at discussing and describing those who he’d love to hang out with.
Is this a hangout picture or a heartfelt testimony? I’m not sure. However fortunate or unfortunate, it is entertaining at least.
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No matter the confusion, *Plagues & Pleasures* gives us a few memorable but non-nicknamed characters to follow, such as a guy with an alcoholic beverage who loves his neighbors and an elderly woman who’s still alive. This almost full-time former resort town, aside from hosting several fairly average, slightly unique, but ultimately downtrodden individuals, does have at least one person in its back pocket for emergencies. Emergencies like when there’s no party happening or when an older gentleman isn’t showing his ass to everyone. That man is known as Hunky Daddy the Hungarian, and he’s rarely ever without a beer or a story. Or a dropped pair of pants.
What else can one do in such a low and desolate and forgotten area but drink? The kids that are left on the very cheap lots of land play around with kick balls in the dirt and break stuff, but that’s roughly it. As John Waters likely sees it, the Salton Sea is a cauldron of *Wizard of Oz*\-like proportions, as both a community of oddities and a place tucked away but, somehow, magical. Magical by way of toxicity. Toxicity that creates cartoons and caricatures out of normalcy.
John Waters wants to see these people happy. If that’s achieved by living in squalor, who is he to judge? But he and the film both make clear that things would be best if the area were healthier to live in. *Plagues & Pleasures* advocates for change and support, and that’s a wonderful gesture. Do I think that presenting a motley crew of a strange kind is the best way to bring appropriate attention to a depressing situation? I don’t know, and who am I to judge?
Oh, I’m a critic. How sad. How odd. **3/5**
*Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea* is celebrating the **20th anniversary of its release 🥳** and is available for free on KQED’s YouTube page (embedded above) and for rent or purchase.
If you enjoyed this article, may I recommend another:
[New Orleans Film Festival, 2022: "Causeway"(Note: Please excuse any background TV noises in the audio voiceover - I probably should’ve re-recorded, but maybe it’s livelier with the mistakes in it. Maybe.) Dear Moviegoers, Causeway, the new film from critical darling studio A24 and streaming service Apple TV+ (where it is now available to subscribers) is not so surprisingly not about …Moviegoing with BillBill Arceneaux](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/causewaynoff?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
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### 'Nat Bates for Mayor' Subverts Notions
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/natbatesdoc/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:01.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Beginning a documentary with footage of a toxic oil refinery incident can set the stage for a pretty bleak story. And one would expect that story to be primarily about a corporate and environmental disaster. However, in a movie with a title like *Nat Bates for Mayor,* there’s this automatic confrontation of expectations between the subject and opening thesis that forms, and a sense of confusion around something that is ultimately about local politics. It’s an odd thing to see at the get-go, especially since its scale is so well-defined and small…at first. But, as the film moves along, so does a fulfilling and thoughtful presentation on the complexities of race, political affiliation, and community sentiment toward area leaders.
Did I miss a juxtaposition at the opening? A deeper meaning? Maybe.
Nat Bates is an African American member of the Richmond, California political makeup, and is running to be Mayor of the city - a position that he held years prior. Nat is a heavy-set but fairly friendly individual, shaking hands and making bridge-building speeches to various groups around the area, calculated but not cold. I don’t believe that the documentary makes clear what party he belongs to (he appears to be more of a moderate that swings either way, though I could be wrong) but the man shows off like he’s a hero of the black working class. He’s a classic local politician, but I never got the feeling of him being a huckster. He’s honest about being endorsed by a corporation like Chevron. Proud of it even.
While *Nat Bates for Mayor* reads as if it’s going to be about Nat specifically or solely, he is a character at the center of something larger going on and is a point of reference for the documentary to bounce off of. It’s a film that never plays coy or sugar-coats anything, even when it’s letting what’s captured on camera speak for itself.
---
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---
On the surface there’s nothing “controversial” happening, just the business of running for office as usual. But what’s **usual**, as the movie makes clear, **should** be seen as something special. Nat, a black moderate-ish guy endorsed by a large contributor to the Richmond economy, is running against a white man on the local progressive ticket (seen meeting with Senator Bernie Sanders at one point) and a black immigrant novice running to change the regional system completely. As we get to know each man and their respective teams, we see that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to politics, and how there are things that break apart what a black politician is “supposed” to be, or how a so-called progressive can be as out of touch as anyone else. It’s all not so simple as donkeys and elephants. Not locally.
Making peace with an under-regulated entity like Chevron, a point of contention that some voters in the film have with Nat Bates, is explained as a potential way to fuel and fund the impoverished neighborhoods of his city, which used to be predominantly black but has long since been challenged in a tale of two communities scenario, where segregation is happening but is rarely called out for what it is. There could be conflict in Nat’s mind as to ideas of allegiance, but his overall attitude and swagger cover up and muddies any tells that he may have. I don’t think that the documentary is interested in personal human drama and arcs, but rather in straight depiction and careful definition of events which, as done here, can mean volumes.
Whether or not Chevron fixed the refinery issues or invested in poorer communities isn’t stated, as the film just stops once the election results come in and conclude. Where *Nat Bates for Mayor* began, on some dark archival video of a refinery accident, comes back around to a darker idea, one that is pretty true across the country: once the election ends, so does the attention and the fight. And the fight can be for many a problem, from corporate control to racial justice.
And, there it is. The answer. The juxtapositions. From tragedy to hope then hope to emptiness. As either end of the tale meets in the middle of the film, the documentary sees the whole picture of America and has only a presentation to offer - the answers are for us to figure out. **4/5**
---
*Nat Bates for Mayor* is currently on [Tubi](https://tubitv.com/movies/628075/nat-bates-for-mayor?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and is available for rent or purchase.
If you liked this article, may I recommend another:
[From Zapruder to 'WUSA'This post is part of the Bonus Features! exclusives here on Moviegoing with Bill, for supporting subscribers only. It has been made available free to read for all as a teaser of articles to come.Moviegoing with BillBill Arceneaux](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/zapruderwusa?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
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### In 'Jack Has a Plan,' Letting Go Isn't So Complicated
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/jackhasaplan/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:02.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
An ending with dignity. Not every movie gets that, and not every person gets to make that happen for themselves.
A man’s final years are documented by close friends and family in *Jack Has a Plan*,making for a rich, frank, and honest film. It’s confrontational and uncomfortable, but also peaceful and filled with celebration and uncut humanity. Immediately after viewing the film, I thought about celebrations of life and how I should live for the moment - so to speak. An inspirational tale of life. In hindsight however (not quite 20/20 but long enough), the story of Jack Tuller and his declaration of when, where, and how he wishes to pass away is most definitely about death and death alone. There’s no confusion about that nor is there room for calling this “a movie about life.” How awful it would have been to fall on the sword of cliche.
I don’t see death as being a negative necessarily, and neither does this movie. At least not within the context of someone making a proper plan based on health care, medicine, and thoughtfulness. Just like life, death can be horrific. But it can also be wonderful, can’t it?
Of course it can.
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---
It’s impressive how the filmmaker doesn’t waver or let his personal feelings intrude on Jack’s will to die. He certainly, from behind the camera, tries to express his disagreement with his friend’s choice, feeling that it might be rushed. Never do these moments take focus away from Jack in his film, and never are they emotionally manipulative toward the audience. Jack Tuller is appreciative of the concern of course, but still completely confident that he’s doing right by himself, and that’s that.
Tuller’s decision is based on his over two-decades-long battle with a brain tumor that will likely result in him losing basic motor skills and, as he emphasizes a lot, his memory. His experiences. His very being. As documented, Jack goes through signing documents that clarify his sound mind & body to choose when and where to
*Jack Has a Plan* leads up to Jack’s chosen final days with scenes of discovery and revelation. He ties up loose ends by meeting his biological father and by getting shunned by a mother he hasn’t spoken to in many years. It’s amazing just how intimate of a film this is, how close and personal it gets to Jack - beyond the tangible and into plenty of prickly territory - and how it’s able to maintain a sense of calm and personality that eschews the dour and the depressing, even in the most intense of scenes, like when the filmmaker, holding the camera by himself, spills his heart to Jack in rather close quarters. There is no bubble to hide in, there is nowhere else to go. *Jack Has a Plan* states that raw vulnerability isn’t just natural for a person, but key to being one. Key to being loved, key to loving others, key to living, and key to dying.
No matter the disappointments, the tears, the sorrow, and the pain, Jack remained happy. Appreciative, happy, and self-assured. How wonderful that is. **3.5/5**
---
*Jack Has a Plan* is currently on [tour](https://jackdocumentary.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
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### Fishbone Funk Around in 'Everyday Sunshine'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/fishbone/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:03.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
To call *Everyday Sunshine* a story of destruction wouldn’t be entirely accurate, but it also wouldn’t be completely incorrect either. The unclassifiable band Fishbone, who fused multiple sounds and genres to become something truly exciting to see live, indeed suffered from wild attitudes and wilder obsessions, which perhaps hindered the forward momentum of their potential success. The members aren’t presented as terrible people, but rather as free spirits who found common ground in an uncommon world. For brief moments, their music blares louder than much-needed internal conversations, and their conversations tend to lead to more music. The solution to any issue can be found in a jam session.
As a documentary, *Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone* is fair. As a concert film with more film than concert, it’s an earnest blast of personalities and punk. Now, Fishbone isn’t **just** punk. It’s funk, it’s jazz, it’s experimental. Ska comes close as a proper label, but even that doesn’t truly fit. None of the band members ever felt as if they truly fit in, from their childhood to their present days. As young African Americans growing up in Los Angeles, each with a need to express themselves most uniquely, it was almost destiny that they found each other and began to play together. To watch their evolution from the school system to the music scene is almost breathtaking, and to view their performances through archival videotape footage is nothing short of tense. When they played, they **preyed**. In this manner, they were **more** punk than punk.
---
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---
It may not break new ground in the field of filmmaking, but *Everyday Sunshine* doesn’t have to. Where the members of Fishbone represent themselves as a one-band revolution, this film represents itself as a fine depiction of its subject. By letting these real characters play their sounds and live their lives, *Everyday Sunshine* goes more for honesty than for answers. Who was Fishbone? Who are they now? Just listen. Just watch. There’s something very flattering about that. There’s something very freeing too.
Grown-up but not as mature as years prior, Fishbone’s lead singer Angelo Morris takes center stage. He’s all smiles and all passion, but just can’t quite crack adulthood. He lives in the home of his loving but conservative mother, his thoughts are always on the band and the music, and to him, his younger days were just last week. Time keeps on slipping, and that’s the real story of Fishbone. They should’ve reached the top and certainly deserved that recognition according to their peers. Instead, they sometimes play in front of small crowds in tight spaces, still known more in the L.A. area than on the world’s platform. Angelo’s vision? Angelo’s desire? Of course not, but his story makes for a greater band story overall.
A typical documentary in some sense, about a group of rockers who were and still are very atypical in all senses. So comfortable about such chaos. **3.5/5**
---
*Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone* is available for rent or purchase on Prime Video and Apple TV.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### 'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire' Breaks Ice (and warms up)
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/ghostsfrozen/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:03.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Despite some subversions in the new *Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire*, the kind that made it more of a lite-horror than a family adventure - though both “family” and “adventure” are included - this second foray into a sequel series from the 1980s classics does show some unfortunate but expected commercial aspects from the previous entry or, rather, the kind being shared by franchise-desperate studios. New weapons (toys) are introduced for new characters (action figures) to bust ghosts (play) with, like a Proton Gauntlet or Drone Ghost Traps. Old favorite side characters like Slimer are reintroduced, only with more green ectoplasm. Shiny and new! Remember this guy!? By and large, however, these are not deal-breakers for me. *Frozen Empire* has stuff to do for these things, all serving some level of purpose in the story - especially Slimer (finally).
Are there any deal-breakers in this new *Ghostbusters* movie? Well, the Spengler Family, along with the lovable teacher from before but now the potential step-father played by Paul Rudd, have moved into the New York City Ghostbusters headquarters, aka the Firehouse, which was reopened at the end of *Afterlife* (the “before” entry) by Ernie Hudson. They all live together, trying to maintain the old equipment and dusty rooms while cleaning the city streets from spirits and other paranormal entities. *Frozen Empire* even begins with an Ecto-1 chase to capture a renegade ghost. Whimsical destruction of light poles, windows, and pavement occurs, all to the annoyance of the Mayor, now played by *Ghostbusters* original jerk (and character actor of jerks) William Atherton, who orders the team to strip Mckenna Grace’s Phoebe - the youngest and most interesting new buster of ghosts - of her role.
What’s an odd young teen to do as a “normal” teen?
It’s hard to pinpoint what the main plot of *Frozen Empire* is since it’s mostly made up of simultaneous sub-plots. I suppose it’s the one involving the evil ice demon who threatens to release all of the trapped ghosts in the Firehouse to form an army to rule the world and bring about a new ice age. But, while this story blends and hooks into Phoebe’s, it also tries to be a whole film by itself - which wouldn’t be much on its own. Two teams forming a new one, new and old threats, family stuff, etc. It’s Phoebe’s solo arc that’s the very plot that all others hinge on. And the movie works because of this.
Phoebe gets a ghost friend in Melody, played by Emily Alyn Lind, who is equally lonely, frustrated, and with much attitude. Together, Lind and Grace (Phoebe) make for a chemically superb combination of angst and discovery through a new relationship. This is an unexplored country for a *Ghostbusters* project, and it’s very exciting. While things do play in fast forward sometimes, almost as if it’s in a crunch to be everything to everyone, *Frozen Empire* does get the basics right and its own evolution more so.
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It’s fun all the way and in better ways than *Afterlife*, which was nearly destroyed in hindsight by its ok-ish but very awkward Harold Ramis “inclusion.” It’s less of a cohesive cut than *Afterlife* too, probably having left some groovy (and maybe helpful) clips in the editing room - not to suggest that the movie is confusing, but there are some gaps here and there, likely where script pages may have been ripped out. It’s a give-and-take kind of flick, enjoyable to the last.
Does this put *Ghostbusters* on the “right” path, heading in the “right” direction? I don’t believe in so-called “course corrections” for franchise films, or for any film, really (except the *Star Wars* series of course, my one blindspot). I don’t know. Was *Afterlife* bad? I had some fun with it. Same with *Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull*. Remember that?
I find that, when it comes to my tastes in cinema, deal-breakers are hard to come by. Except for one in the case of *Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire*, being:
Why is Paul Rudd front and center on the official poster, when he’s not the main character? That’s weird, right? Almost breaks the deal. **3.5/5**
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### Suicide by Friends in 'Unfriending'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/unfriending/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:05.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Not unlike movies such as *The Invitation* and *The Last Supper*, *Unfriending* goes for presenting something disturbing with tension and humor. Mind you, this film, directed by [Bret and Jason Butler](https://subprod.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), **isn’t exactly** like those other flicks, as it has no A-list stars and is of the criminally underseen variety. These elements are no hindrances to the quality of the movie, as they add an “expect the unexpected” twistiness to the story while demanding attention to the performances in front and behind the camera. Where *The Invitation* was a thrilling horror, *Unfriending* is a cauldron of over-the-top comedy and distressing melodrama. Where *The Last Supper* had a premise that was almost bred for late-night cable presentations and video store rentals, *Unfriending* has theatrics meant for a bigger-than-TV screen.
In other words, *Unfriending* is an entertaining and welcome part of a darkly comic genre of cinema.
A group of young adult friends, led by a wannabe menacing and constantly annoyed host, have descended on his parent’s home to have an “intervention” of sorts for the most unlucky and meek member of this circle. They’re not wanting him to get clean from drugs, but rather get clean from their own lives…by convincing him to kill himself at the party. This mild or mid synopsis of mine makes *Unfriending* sound a bit too elementary I feel, but the film goes far in moving past any failed descriptions or summations of its plot. Really, what the Butler Brothers have accomplished with just a house, a few actors, a pool, and some props, just goes to show that all a filmmaker needs is imagination and ingenuity to make a successful movie.
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Actor Michael Pearson, who plays the pseudo-bohemian of the group, is my favorite standout of the featured film’s assholes (as the end titles prominently label them as). Pearson is all in with his privileged, carefree, and all-smiles white guy schtick, which I worried would wear thin in my head. Instead, his genuineness and dedication both flattered the movie and impressed me to no end. His character exists only to correct others pleasantly and to show off non-skills and non-trivia. He’s amazing. And the rest of the cast? Very good too. *Unfriending* would’ve been a slog if it hadn’t made me dislike the people in it.
*Unfriending* is made up of frustrations, snark, snobbery, bad intentions, and plenty of jerks. For any movie to be filled to the brim with such human ugliness and be comically clever from time to time has achieved an outstanding feat in my eyes. It’s paced very well given the emotional and tonal turntable the film sits on, and is just pretty darn funny.
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Now, there are reasons why bigger movies, like *The Invitation* and *The Last Supper*, could be considered in higher regard, but I can only think of one that was in *Unfriending*’s control, that is the cinematography. From the beginning to about the mid-way point, every shot is composed with fine technical staging and framed to say something more about what’s happening and who it’s happening to, like when the host is moving from the kitchen to the garage, from elegance to dirt and grunge, so he can both pour cheap box wine into premium-ish bottles and finish a simple errand his wife asked him to do, but in the pettiest of ways. Such movements are had throughout until one of the story turns brings about a shift in priority. When the drama takes hold and kicks into the next gear, a flat void in most of the shots is felt, making some moments feel a bit blander than they could’ve been. Of course, these closing scenes are more performance-heavy than what came prior, so maybe dialing things down in other areas was for the best. Maybe.
And maybe *Unfriending* is being unfairly compared to bigger movies in this review. Apologies, but it’s difficult not to think of similar projects when writing about this new one. *Unfriending* is as good if not better than other samplings in this sub-genre of macabre, and it deserves more than a save to a streaming queue or a space on someone’s video shelf. It deserves attention. **3/5**
*Unfriending* is currently touring the theater circuit, and is making a limited run at the [Zeitgeist](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) in New Orleans on a double bill with another Butler Brothers film, *Mourning Has Broken*.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
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### Little Budget, Big Laughs in 'Dad & Step-Dad'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/dadstepdad/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:06.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Having some heart is good for a filmmaker, but a funny bone comes in handy more often.
In Tynan DeLong’s hilarious feature *Dad & Step-Dad*, two men aggressively struggle to smile politely at each other through a family bonding trip. Accompanied by the young teenager Branson - played by the very adult Brian Fiddyment - Jim (the father and ex-husband) and Dave (new lover and potential step-dad) anti-bicker through cookouts and heart-to-hearts, attempting to one-up the other in their own eyes, though they feign that it’s all for Branson. Such actively passive-grudging and begrudging between adults tickles me fanciful and happy, no matter the scenario. We all age, but maturity is rarely achieved - a fact that *Dad & Step-Dad* understands and makes fun of constantly. Makes fun of it and uses it to a fine resonance in the end.
Director DeLong (along with a crew that includes Graham Mason, who made the equally great *Inspector Ike*) pulls off plenty of do-it-yourself tricks and treats here, mostly in setting and conversation. Never is the film boring, moving at a smooth pace that matches the speech and attitude patterns of its main stars, Colin Burgess (Jim) and Anthony Oberbeck (Dave). Often, the way the pair play off is in repetitive improvisational talk, where they’re saying the same things but with slightly different words and subtle to subtler tones. Once again, the grudging begrudging nature the “men” bring to this “vacation” isn’t just funny, but impressively constructed and crafted. Delong must’ve had a hell of a time coordinating and cutting *Dad & Step-Dad*.
In a home surrounded by a woody area, with a creek or two for mild fishing, the film takes place in a relaxing environment that’s perfect for uncomfortable comforting takes. Limited surroundings with limited resources, sometimes a detriment to a production, are more or less cutely blended into *Dad & Step-Dad*. It may be less about the design and more about the tools, as this piece of DIY (do it yourself) cinema is built upon the hard work of its small cast and crew. The smaller the better, the motion of the ocean, etc. The film may have a light amount of people around it, but *Dad & Step-Dad* is no featherweight.
It should also be said how this film represents itself as another absurdist emotional fare in the same way as something from the Cartoon Network programming block Adult Swim. The styles are completely similar, usually to a shocking degree. There’s linguistic dissonance from time to time, there’s odd casting and oddball characters, and there are unexpected but welcome moments of genuine if slightly off poignancy. *The Greasy Strangler* is a prime and extreme example of this connection, as are a plethora of TikTok meme-ic videos from overly creative new-wave non-filmmaker filmmakers. Whether they know it or not, and whether it’s noticed by the mainstream or not, we’re deep into a weirdcore time in independent cinema. And it’s brilliant.
Tickle me silly, *Dad & Step-Dad* is a late contender for favorite film of 2023, just barely sneaking in with its streaming debut on Kentucker Audley’s great service [NoBudge](https://www.nobudge.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). The funny bone is really reel, folks. And it’s not next to the druthers, but the heart. **5/5**
*Dad & Step-Dad* is now streaming on [NoBudge](https://www.nobudge.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and is available for rent and purchase on Prime and Apple.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
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### Witness as 'Hundreds of Beavers' Invade!
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/hundredsbeavers/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:06.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Immediately after watching *Hundreds of Beavers*, I thought about Tom Hardy’s [line of dialogue](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm%5F1bCpriRs&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) from his villainous role in the much more “serious” film that shares a similar setting, *The Revenant*. In response to losing a large amount of fur pelts during a vicious attack, Hardy is told to calm down and think about his life being saved. “Life? What life are you talking about? I ain't got no life! I just got a living and the only way I get to do that is through these pelts!" It’s a rather cold and true moment that resonates through the centuries and one that sets my feelings about career advancement straight. Something that, now, *Hundreds of Beavers* has thrown a wrench into.
From the folks behind *Lake Michigan Monster*, this film is an incredibly intricate thrill picture of heart and gags galore that has been unleashed unto the world, and I mean that in the most biblically epic manner possible. *Hundreds of Beavers* is about a drunkard turned heroic fur trapper who, through one happenstance after another, becomes a one-man wrecking crew against a burgeoning civilization of beavers. From loser to legend by way of a massive volume of animal violence, that’s hysterical to no end. A comedy in the infinite. Buzz be accepted, *Hundreds of Beavers* must be seen with others, and on a screen larger than a phone.
Calling the film a slapstick comedy, an accurate description, is just not enough for me. Above, I labeled it as a “thrill picture,” something I believe the great silent cinema figure Harold Lloyd would often call his stunt comedies. Hanging from a clock in *Safety Last!* was a classic move, established earlier in a story about a young man trying to make his way - or climb up - in big city business. *Hundreds of Beavers* is filled to the brim with such movements, building each little one up to ultimate effect, before its biggest accomplishment in pulling every joke and stunt together in a masterstroke of a finale. Breathtaking, brilliant, and bountiful.
None of this would work without the actions and the reactions between lead actor Ryland Erickson Cole Tews and the cast of beavers - by which I mean regular-sized people in large beaver costumes. When Ryland tackles or punches one or several of them, the impact is felt heavily, thanks to perfectly timed sound effects and visual cues like dust and snow flying off of the bodies upon each hit. From there, everything else belongs to the clever writing. Personally, I’m partial to what was created with the Beaver commune, as in a quick amount of time, they’re shown to have produced a unique culture with its science program and religion - all of which are used and abused by the single human after his pelts, and maybe a little bit of revenge.
It can’t be said too much just how excellent *Hundreds of Beavers* is at, well, everything funny. For example, the words of the film kill me every time: beavers, slapstick, applejack, trappers, and various onomatopoeia. Another example can be found in the repetition, expectation, subversion, and total pay-off of each individual and most painful gag. Without a doubt, *Hundreds of Beavers* will maintain the top spot for my favorite 2024 feature film, at least for several months.
Now, here I am, wanting to rewatch *The Revenant*. I’m on a pelt high right now, so maybe it’s for the best. *Hundreds of Beavers* is the pick me up, *The Revenant* is the bring me down, but both are welcome to kick me around anytime. However, while one is cold and true, the other is warm and…fuzzy? Warm and…surreal? How about warm and funny bone-destroying? All of the above, I guess. And thankfully, there’s a film that counters what *The Revenant* offers to my five and ten-year plans. In an optimistic way. **5/5**
*Hundreds of Beavers* is now playing in theaters, including at [Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) in the New Orleans area - and on an extended run.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
**P.S. -**
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### 'Circus of the Scars' Excites with Video Archives of Stunts and Shocks
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/scarcircus/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:06.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
No film, narrative or documentary, exemplifies the Superchunk song “Misfits & Mistakes” as much as *Circus of the Scars* does. I hold “Misfits & Mistakes” in pretty high regard, for its great name and the line “say you will, say you will, put all the random pieces together.” I’m not sure why or how, but that name with that line registers with me profoundly. And *Circus of the Scars* has everything to be expected of an older pack of misfits and mistakes, looking back on their lives, putting pieces together that they’ve held onto and maybe weren’t even aware of until now.
The Jim Rose Circus Sideshow at the center of this straightforward tale of twisted acts by pretty regular but cool people, begins shamelessly out of Seattle underground dives and venues. Initially a one-man performance of stunts, grossness, and anything for attention, soon enough grows into a tightly-knit troupe of freakazoids - The Torture King, The Enigma, The Tube Man, Mr. Lifto, etc. Each has specific looks with somewhat sickening but always amazing gimmicks, which become received - well or otherwise - by exploitative talk shows and sincere music festivals, bringing about disgusted looks from television audiences and grand applause from the kids at Lollapalooza. Of course, people eventually move on, some try to cling to what they can, and everyone gets older.
Such is life.
*Circus of the Scars*, in this way, could be seen as a fairly less-than-average story about an obscure and small genre of artists that navigated what was the 1990s. They came, they saw, they had fun, they went home, and here they are. Could this be the result of a COVID-affected production? Primarily cut and glued with just Zoom interviews and an overreliance on some rough but great VHS archive footage, *Circus of the Scars* might be judged by some solely on the merits of its wallet-less production. But these criticisms would be missing out on some special filmmaking.
Anything but ho-hum, even when the few personal conflicts that linger are treaded on lightly by the cast, *Circus of the Scars* has a magical and progressive look of the present and toward the future, with a humble attitude to a past of youthful adventures filled with startling skills of shock. There’s a sincerity that the performers all share, mostly in how their experiences made them who they are now, and the appreciation for all the lessons learned along the way.
Something so humble captured so purely - with just a camera, a microphone, and an interesting story to tell - can never be boring or cheap. There may be nothing new added to the lore of 90s America or to what it all meant then and today. But such exploration would only take away from the film, about a very rad group of individuals with things to say about what they did, how it felt, and what they think about that time, those places, and who they once were - and who they will always be.
Revel in the stomach-fermented bile beer. Behold the ink on The Enigma. Witness the feats of Mr. Lifto. And let Jim Rose be your charismatic barker as the show goes on. Superchunk plays in the background, and the crowd digs and dry heaves to the vibe. **3.5/5**
*Circus of the Scars* is now available on [Tubi](https://tubitv.com/movies/100014619/circus-of-the-scars?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
**P.S. -**
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### Special Coverage: SF Independent Film Festival 2024, Feature Selections
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/sfindiefeatures24/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:08.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Occasionally, I’ll review films from beyond the bayous of Louisiana and the Gulf South.
Well, more than occasionally. Often.
[Special Coverage: SF Independent Film Festival 2024, Short SelectionsDear Moviegoers, Occasionally, I’ll review films from beyond the bayous of Louisiana and the Gulf South. Well, more than occasionally. Often. This time, I’ve been invited to give some thoughts on a selection of films from this year’s SF (San Francisco) Independent Film Festival, running virtually and in-person from February 8th to 1…Moviegoing with BillBill Arceneaux](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/sfindieshorts24?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
This time, I’ve been invited to give some thoughts on some of the films from this year’s SF (San Francisco) Independent Film Festival, running virtually and in-person from February 8th to 18th.
I chose four feature films out of a grand slate of diverse cinema (streaming online/virtually until the 18th). For more information and to buy tickets, visit [sfindie.com](https://www.sfindie.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). Hurry before the event ends.
Enjoy:
Are lecture video production companies a thing? In a competitive content creation marketplace, it probably is. [*Sorry, We’re Dead*](https://watch.eventive.org/sfindie2024/play/65841ee16d028c00269e415f?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) shows such a business as a place of limbo for ex and present film students, where talent and wannabe skills are used to cover the silliness of misfit professors, speaking before bored audiences, doing mic drops in far too expected sequence. This is the busy life of one Lana Jing, who desperately tries to finish a long-labored screenplay.
Played with Daria-like conviction by Sarah Lee, Lana’s interactions with other people - the kind that annoys her constantly and without end - are filled with aggressive exhaustion, extreme sarcasm, and fourth-wall-breaking moments of film school lessons.
*Sorry, We’re Dead*, in its meta interests in filmmaking aesthetic and its great appreciation for cinema in general, reminds me of the difficult-to-find late 90s/early 2000s movie [*Enchanted*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDBi3Qt1FG4&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and the Woody Allen-obsessed [*Burning Annie*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw2XVxN%5FkGI&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), both of which involve college students trying to navigate their potential futures.
What starts as frustrating and grating quickly turns to charming and engaging, as the cringeworthy dialogue and inside jokes soon enough make sense and blend well into the overall narrative and the ultimate enjoyment of the story. *Sorry, We’re Dead* rises above a challenging premise just barely but successfully, and with a fine passion to boot.
An accomplished feat off the shrugging shoulders of Sarah Lee and the confidence of the film’s directed Alex Zajicek, this combination of vision and performance wouldn’t have been able to overcome its clunkiness without the two. And for a cute indie flick, how unfortunate that would be. **3/5**
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If one thing is made clear in the documentary [*No One Asked You*](https://watch.eventive.org/sfindie2024/play/6584aa0b5a495f002c0f8229?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), it’s that Lizz Winstead, comedian and creator of The Daily Show, is a brilliant, brave, and damn determined woman. Her activism and volunteering with multiple health care and abortion providers and pro organizations isn’t meant to put people to shame - far from it - but to inspiration towards individual and collective action.
If one thing is made clearer by the film, it’s that abortion should not be a scary or taboo word. Through the “Vagical Mystery Tour,” her group of colleagues and comedians would go from town to town, usually, ones strategic and important to the movement of protecting Roe v Wade and strengthening services, countering anti-abortion/so-called pro-life protesters with confrontational jokes and pointed arguments. To witness such in your face and incredibly proud moments makes me blush.
*No One Asked You* takes place in the few years before, during, and after the gutting of Roe v Wade by the Supreme Court of the United States, and the closing of The Pinnk House, a vastly important clinic in Mississippi. Holding court with regular women who’ve needed abortions in the past, some of whom had back alley horror stories, make for eye-opening shock and tearful awe. But, make no mistake about it, *No One Asked You* isn’t about sadness, but about the power of everyday women, men, and trans individuals to push forward and never stop.
This film isn’t just another entry in the progressive politics genre of documentary filmmaking. It’s truly special - a road trip of grand proportion. **4/5**
I never would’ve expected to find a kindred spirit of *Eraserhead* and *Pi* in a modern-day life in the Big City film, even if it involves expected existential dread. Shot on an iPhone, mostly in gorgeously composed black & white cinematography, [*In the Meantime*](https://watch.eventive.org/sfindie2024/play/658420ca592848005c7ad50a?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) makes for what could be an early favorite film of 2024 for me. It’s nowhere near a *Frances Ha* companion piece as it’s marketed as, but instead a domestic horror of time lapses and panic attacks.
Taking place over one year, a young woman who yearns to finish her writing projects, simply eeks out a life alongside her best friend and roommate. She goes from gig to gig, date to date, interaction to interaction, with a lack of interest and an immense level of stress and feigned politeness. Wine helps, and whining comes soon after.
The excellence of *In the Meantime* lies in its performances in front of and behind the camera, most impressively in the editing room. Cuts occur quickly, sometimes back and forth in time, but hold a rhythm that catches on and stays in your mind long after the film ends. These cuts punctuate punchlines and anxieties, drinks and dancing, realizations, and depressive episodes. For a bi-polar woman at the center, *In the Meantime* concentrates its technical abilities on replicating her emotional and thoughtful processes.
Unforgettable and piercing, effective and affecting, terrifying and triumphant, In the Meantime could be a classic. At some point down the line. **5/5**
The fear of the dark is but one phobia in [*Nyctophobia*](https://watch.eventive.org/sfindie2024/play/658de64b95ccc50088d34cec?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), a film that skulks around, dresses up, and battles with its very life force. Genre-bending? Maybe, but everything feels pretty comfortable with itself. Never did I get the hint of confusion in the filmmaker’s point of view or imposing style, which was always upfront and in focus. Always.
Actor Olivia Clari Nice is the sole character that we stick with, and does she ever have hurdles to jump. From little to no lines to read, occasional miming, and reliance on body language and gestures, Nice plays her lucid dreaming and nightmare-walking woman as if she is possessed to conquer insomnia and fear by way of past trauma and suggestive scenarios. Menacing figures in clown masks make up the beings that haunt her subconscious, as she walks up and down the stairs of a melting and ever-closing house. This is beyond anything on Elm Street. This has texture and is grounded with all too vivid imagery.
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However compelling the drawn-together etchings of these deep periods of sleep are, *Nyctophobia* is nothing more than its dramatic but esoteric storytelling. The story is held too close to the filmmakers, never letting anyone at all in on the illusions and the stakes that may or may not be around. The logic is of the natural occurrence of dreaming, not as a concept but as an understood source of potential pleasure and possible pain. Of a journey that makes sense to the dreamer on a deeply sensory level, and not in a structural one. For this, the movie rocks.
It also stands on unsteady ice. This could be built in on purpose, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing to include. I’m teetering between calling *Nyctophobia* good or great, and perhaps that’s a sign of quite the picture. Indeed. **4/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### Special Coverage: SF Independent Film Festival 2024, Short Selections
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/sfindieshorts24/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:09.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Occasionally, I’ll review films from beyond the bayous of Louisiana and the Gulf South. Well, more than occasionally. Often.
This time, I’ve been invited to give some thoughts on a selection of films from this year’s SF (San Francisco) Independent Film Festival, running virtually and in-person from February 8th to 18th.
Here are four short films that I chose out of a grand selection of diverse cinema (streaming online/virtually until the 18th). For more information and to buy tickets, visit [sfindie.com](https://www.sfindie.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
Enjoy:
Witnessing an actor throw themselves into a role with an all-or-nothing attitude is always - always - a gorgeous thing. In *Madame*, Ann Mayo Muir plays an elderly foster mother to a wayward little girl who, by sheer serendipity, gets a rude awakening and vulgar blossoming at the hands of this elder being.
Known only and preferably as Madame, this foster parent sets “rules and regulations” for the girl, which include silence, absolute obedience, and constant observation. The relationship that Madame establishes from their meeting to their breakup isn’t so much toxic as it is a mean and ugly mentorship in the ways of ruling the world through one’s image and intuition. The girl, seemingly innocent, sees and hears everything, learning more than we could at first imagine.
Ann Mayo Muir is a revelation of a tortured wicked witch type, one that has been burned by life and can only spread misery and rough lessons. The film’s style, framed with the eye of an old home movie camera and the feel of an early David Lynch project - perhaps The *Grandmother* \- adds a scream to her performance that, if left without such style, would’ve come off very uncomfortable.
With a strong directorial vision from filmmaker Kerry Muir (related?), Ann’s take is all the more powerful and scary. *Madame* is a crazy and wonderful marriage between director and actress, where both are synchronized together to an unsettling delight. Of course, Ann Mayo Muir is the tougher key to making the piece work, since Kerry’s vision is more or less dressing - at least it is here. Still, *Madame* as a creepy fairy tale and as a sad story of broken joy and twisted living, is stellar and fine. **4/5**
Called “incoherent” and “horrible” by a Letterboxd user, *The Grand Book* is an animated anomaly and a true example of dreamy imagination. For this shell-shocked critic, this film is a revelation and a revolution. It’s great.
Reminding me of computer graphics similar to the video game *The Sims* or the Adult Swim cartoon *Xavier: Renegade Angel*, *The Grand Book* indeed has an uncanny valley to its cast of bug-eyed and wide-mouthed characters. It’s a lot of startling creepiness for sure, but this element works in the film’s favor. Set in an early Twentieth Century-ish dystopia, *The Grand Book* refers to a running movie that is constantly on display for a city of citizens surrounded by silent film camera surveillance. Always being recorded and edited in real-time, everyday actions are immediately shown on screens placed throughout the city, for both the enjoyment and the terror of others.
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One individual, a young exhausted woman who sleeps on benches and experiences lucid dreams, is singled out by these cameras and ever-present spotlights as of particular interest, to her horror and frustration. Through various crossings with a psycho-analyst and a female entertainer, she comes to an understanding of her creative self and her ability to create and control worlds within worlds.
*The Grand Book* can be difficult to decipher, and that’s ok. It’s preffered. No dialogue is heard, as every interaction is only accompanied by instrumental music and foley, perhaps as another tool of this surveillance society - how strange. What is the meaning of *The Grand Book?* Is there one? Does it need one? Dreams within dreams within movies that look like open-world games that mimic silent-era cinema.
I can only compare this to the feeling of watching the trailer for the game *Bioshock: Infinite*, which blew my freakin’ mind. Same here. If you give yourself to *The Grand Book*, you’ll find many a great thing to think about and to dream about. Guaranteed. **5/5**
“Fuzzy Logic.” O.J. Simpson did it. Giving CNN the business. These are but a few things that master of the media hoax Joey Skaggs “performed” in the public eye circa the mid-1990s. Mr. Skaggs, under various aliases, would gather media attention through outrageous but somewhat believable actions, to fool the gullible news media, to expose just how manipulated and manipulative modern journalism can be, specifically the 24/7 news cycle.
In *The Solomon Project*, a first-person retelling of one hoax in particular, as told by an older and hairier Skaggs, the man himself stands in place for the camera, speaking softly but clearly for everyone to grasp. He tells of the grift involving a made-up artificial intelligence program, named The Solomon Project, that could determine better and more accurate outcomes of court cases, thus eliminating the need for a human jury. He sent out press releases and statements, claiming how he ran high profile cases - like the O.J. trial - through the program, and came up with answers that people wanted to he…I mean provocative answers.
When you can get CNN to come to a fake office with fake employees working on mocked-up computer programs, with a television crew, to produce a segment on a silly concept, you’ve proven yourself as a clever fellow. *The Solomon Project*, however, made up primarily of archive footage of the news segments and some behind-the-scenes clips, mostly holds interest in the subject itself.
Skaggs and his hoax make for a vastly interesting story, but without some much-needed personal and professional context - why must the news media be confronted and what exactly is the point of these acts? - the film is but a series of smoke and mirrors. There’s something genuinely off-putting about Skaggs and how he looks and talks today, which is merely just shown as is and never fully expressed or explored. There’s something about the news media today that’s also genuinely off-putting and dangerous, which here is just surface scratched.
Maybe *The Solomon Project* is just meant as a tease for something bigger. Maybe it’s setting up another hoax. Another performance. Another truth. Who knows. **3/5**
In this very unique but simple short, *Kala* bridges a gap between two brothers who feel driven apart by addiction and honor. More than that, it’s an example of language barriers that break through the visual palette of cinema and the rejuvenating power of water. Letting nature speak might be all you need for such a small story.
A dying father living in a secluded but beautiful part of Hawaii asks his son for some Kala fish, and to bring his estranged brother with him. The estranged one is willing but skeptical, as the other brother has a past with addiction and with hurting the family. The two go net fishing for Kala which swims just off the shore, and begin to reconcile their thoughts and feelings. Nothing more, nothing less, it’s a sweet story.
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What makes *Kala* special is in the language and the speaking throughout. The word Kala doesn’t just mean a kind of fish but is also a word for forgiveness - a rather clever and very personal way of conveying what the father wants. Everyone speaks with a thick accent of a Hawaiian dialect, which can be hard to understand at times. This barrier is superficial thankfully, as the body language and the vocal motions of the brothers are crystal clear and spot on. No matter how we speak or what we say, there’s a way to cull together what we mean.
Pretty straightforward, *Kala* has many a pretty shot of lovely coastal landscapes and currents, making one remember how water can also mean rebirth and new life. I might be easily taken by such wonderful cinematography and conception, but *Kala* does form it all to make an awfully easy script transform into a kind family film with depth and drama. Nature tells a tale. Just listen. **3.5/5**
Coming up next is a selection of feature films from the fest.
Stay tuned.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
### When Goode Met Hopkins in 'Freud's Last Session'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/freudlewis/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:10.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
To reference a line from the great *Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure*, as said by the movie’s Sigmund Freud, “What is a geek?” For all of that brilliant man’s intelligence, he couldn’t wrap his head around being made the butt of a joke in modern times. I know very little about the historical Freud’s sense of humor, but in *Freud’s Last Session,* the man himself can poke fun at others, sometimes aggressively, with great jest, and in all seriousness - often in the same sentence.
*Freud’s Last Session* takes place a few weeks before Sigmund Freud’s death by assisted suicide, just as war in Europe begins to break out (again). In a fantastically realized and truly grounded piece of fiction, the film is made up of a house call at Freud’s home in England by scholar and author C.S. Lewis, who is confused as to why he’s been invited. This confusion is never really resolved, as the two discuss subjects personal, professional, and profound, stopping only to listen for news on the radio or for Freud to rest from pain due to treatment for his oral cancer.
If Lewis ever met Freud, and if this meeting spanned a single day in a single location…it would likely look a lot less interesting and contemplative as this film depicts.
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Still, why let reality dictate such stories?
Why not imagine these two men hashing out their subjects and opposing beliefs on life and existence? And if it must be done, let them do it amid escalating continental drama and threat. Good manners go away when in pain, under stress, and grasping at straws - what a time for a conversation! I think what I’m trying to say is that I’m delighted for films like this. Like *Elvis & Nixon* too. Like playing loose and imaginative with details but staying fair and true to time and place. If I want accuracy, I’ll go to the library. At the movies, I’m looking for a different kind of study, and *Freud’s Last Session* is perfectly that.
Anthony Hopkins and Matthew Goode play Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis, respectively. Both actors are tuned in with the story and with each other so much and so well, that anytime the film cuts away from their conversation, I was a little upset. Not terribly so, but upset nonetheless. Hopkins is great as always, but maybe plays Freud as if using tricks and treats from past performances, still conjured together expertly. All credit where it’s due.
Matthew Goode is the standout for me, as his version of Lewis takes the brunt of Freud’s very being while smiling politely and smirking with the equivalent of an eye roll from time to time. Maybe he’s not so much playing an intellectual equal in Freud’s mind, but rather a placement for the other side of a church confessional - something Freud makes clear is preposterous, but is probably doing anyway. Goode is up to the task as Lewis, a man who is being both psycho-analyzed and primed for giving psycho-analysis by the master. Incredible premise, incredible writing, incredible acting. Notes: Not many.
Was this ever a stageplay? If so, it’s been converted wisely.
We never find out why Freud asks Lewis to come by and talk, and we aren’t that much closer to a clear answer at the end. Well, not one that’s fed to us. Both men, whether one is on a train for home or the other is confronting something hard to swallow head-on, conclude their time on screen by riding off into the darkness, with little light in sight. War is on the way, life is coming to an end, and trauma is all around. Bleak? Real. Fantastical? Sure.
What is a geek? Sometimes, a geek is just a geek. **4/5**
*Freud’s Last Session* is currently playing in theaters.
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### Not Even Forklifts Can Make 'Project Dorothy' Rise Above Challenges
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/forkliftdorothy/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:11.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
There’s a malfunction at the junction of *Project Dorothy* that no amount of heart can clear up. As an extremely low-budget independent sci-fi flick, certain expectations pop into place: single setting, few characters, poor effects. To overcome these limitations, a filmmaker has to accentuate their positives and hide their negatives. If Roger Corman could conceive, film, and complete pseudo-fantasy time travel pictures in a matter of days that are entertaining at the very least, then what’s stopping anyone else?
*Project Dorothy* is about two bumbling thieves who stumble upon an evil A.I. massacre in an abandoned factory that they desperately need to use as a hiding place. The older one, played with Lance Henriksen-lite vigor (Tim DeZarn) has a severe bullet wound in his leg, and the younger and non-witty/not-funny jokester (Adam Budron) walks around like an oaf. Nothing happens for thirty minutes/forever until a floating digital red face begins to taunt them into handing over a wi-fi dongle so that it can connect to the internet…and rule the world!
---
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This movie is not unlike watching paint dry with occasional drips that fall into one another. It’s boring and terribly made, to the point of being less than amateur and more grating than an overblown auteur. All three characters, including the all-knowing A.I., are dummies, unable to understand that wi-fi dongles won’t work without local wi-fi signals. The A.I. throws its voice everywhere and can learn quickly with its real and virtual camera technology, but its only “weapons” are two (or maybe three) forklifts and the ability to turn the lights on and off and laugh maniacally about that fact. This would be insanely hilarious if it weren’t treated so seriously, like a passion project.
I hate giving blisteringly bad reviews to small movies, but *Project Dorothy*’s only redeeming quality is that, in fleeting bursts, made me laugh a bit. Forklifts gone mad! Light bulbs! **WI-FI DONGLES!!!!** And then there’s the ending, which finds itself in a small patch (meant to be a field) of flowers. Remember that Cold War-era television commercial of the little girl moments before an atomic bomb blast? That, but backward, but sucks.
From movie cameras that shake by not being controlled properly to plot points about random necklaces, *Project Dorothy* should only be seen under the influence of uncontrollable bipolar laughter and maybe, just maybe, a few edibles - though be careful. Watch Roger Corman’s *The Undead*. That one knows where to draw the line and where to step beyond. **1/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing
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### Only Fools Rush in for ‘Fast Charlie'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/fastcharlie/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:12.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Pierce Brosnan’s charm can make almost any movie enjoyable. Almost. I remember the trailer for the family drama *The Greatest*, and how, during a particularly emotional moment on a beach, he delivers some heavy feeling with expressions one could just die for. Of course, his James Bond flicks were top-tier charismatic too, even the poorly considered *Die Another Day*. Indeed, the man is a star, and stars shine bright amid pure darkness.
What of a black hole?
*Fast Charlie*, a Gulf South revenge thriller, features Brosnan as a wise hitman with a difficult-to-decipher accent that comes off as a Saturday Night Live impersonation of Hugh Hefner. It’s funny to hear him say gang member names like Beggar, which sounds like “Be-gah!” in his interpretation. His character, Charlie Swift (the fast one of the movie’s title), is one of three in the film that comes off as normal and competent, the two others are played by a female taxidermist (Morena Baccarin) and his aging boss (James Chan). Everyone else, some youngsters, is weird or entirely stupid and baffling.
The opening features one such dummy shooting himself in the face by accident, and crashing his car into an electric pole. Brosnan looks on and shrugs with a sigh. *Fast Charlie* is made up entirely of shrugs and sighs, and is a pathetic genre attempt set in the humid Deep South. Directed by *Clear and Present Danger*’s Phillip Noyce, I suspect some anxious post-production cutting that may have ruined an otherwise simple tale of contract killers and humorously dark and sticky situations. Outweighing the sometimes fun scraps and scrapes of Charlie’s adventure is lots of dialogue about taxidermy and confusingly boring anti-twists in the story that turns dull into bad.
It’s just bad. So…why does it have a Rotten Tomatoes score of 88% (at the time of this writing)? Brosnan being there, perhaps. One fine chase scene in a hotel, maybe. Grace for James Caan’s final performance could be. I don’t know why others like *Fast Charlie*, but I do know why I don’t. And, frankly, that’s all I can offer.
This movie is a black hole for good talent, sucking out most of the interesting from what should’ve been a decent outing of a fun thriller. Instead, I couldn’t help but chuckle throughout to numb the ache in my heart. For that reason alone, I suppose I had an ok time with **Fast* Charlie*. Wham, bam, thank you, Pierce.
Such a shame, and such a waste of New Orleans-area effort. One of Charlie’s hideouts is a building that “nobody knows about” in the famous French Quarter. Inside was a very nice loft that shocked me big time, as it was NOT an Airbnb. That would’ve been useful for someone. Bad for the city, but at least it’s nice to look at and be around. **1.5/5**
*Fast Charlie* is now available for purchase and rental on demand.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
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### Blu is the Warmest Media
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/bluqa/
Last updated: 2024-01-06T23:53:04.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
As I look on my computer desk, I see the two custom USB media copies of the short film series *The Eyeslicer*. Out of the corner of my eye, I see DVDs of indie movies *Able Edwards* and *She Hate Me*. Behind me is a shelf of Blu-rays and box sets, including *Twin Peaks: The Return* and Abel Gance’s *Napoleon*.
I love physical media. I love watching movies with the audio commentary tracks on. I loved slowly walking up and down video rental aisles and staring at the cover art for what felt like hours.
Should it all go away today, leave it up to the independents to hold on to some copies.
What follows is a Q&A with *Boutique: To Preserve and Collect* filmmaker Ry Levey and with Dennis Bartok and Craig Rogers of the DVD label [Deaf Crocodile](https://www.deafcrocodile.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). Here, they discuss the state of physical media and what’s being done to save home releases:
**What is *Boutique* about, and what can film fans expect from it?**
**Ry Levey:** *Boutique: To Preserve and Collect* is a documentary on the history of physical media and the rise of boutique specialty collector labels and the roles they have played in film restoration, preservation, and elevation of underrepresented voices (Female, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and globally diverse).
**Best Buy recently announced that they’ll be ending DVD and Blu-ray sales this year. How much of an impact do you think this will have on the home release industry, and how dire were things before this?**
**Ry:** It's sad to see what Best Buy has done. I think many of these retailers had given up on physical media years back and, by doing so, stopped paying attention to the increasing resurgence in the marketplace. My hope is that some of the other big box outlets will reenter the space in light of things like the *Oppenheimer* 4K sellout, the increased concern of lost digital content, and the specialty collector boom. I'm cautiously optimistic.
**Dennis Bartok:** I'll be sad to see Best Buy get out of the DVD and Blu-ray business, the same way I was sad to see the major record and CD chains go under in the past 10 - 15 years, but clearly the business is constantly changing. I love shopping for physical media in stores, as well as online, and I'll fondly remember going to Best Buy to get the latest *Harry Potter* or *Pirates of the Caribbean* movies on Blu-ray on first day or release to watch with my son when he was growing up.
**Craig Rogers:** While it's sad to see Best Buy stop selling physical media - given they used to be the place to buy it, I don't think it'll change the landscape all that much. The vast majority of sales are done online and shipped to your home. Barnes & Noble and/or other brick-and-mortar stores will step up to fill the void. That said it's an odd-timed decision to get out of the physical media business altogether. Most reports are that physical media (speaking particularly of Blu-ray and 4K discs) is expected to grow in the coming year(s). Studios are discovering that subscription streaming isn't enough to fill the hole left by physical media and are starting to realize that the life cycle of a film has several significant stages - theatrical, physical media/tvod, and svod/avod - and each stage provides an opportunity to create buzz for the film. Why the studios decided to put all their eggs into the streaming basket and forgo all the other opportunities is a mystery to me.
**As an independent group, how difficult is it to find, restore, and release DVDs and Blu-rays of these obscure but fantastic films?**
**Dennis:** It all depends on the film, the cost of licensing it, whether it's been restored or not, the condition of the elements. We're incredibly fortunate that we have Craig as our in-house restoration wizard -- he brings incredible expertise and artistry to every restoration he works on from his long experience with IMAX, Cinelicious Pics and now Deaf Crocodile. A good example is the Croatian sci-fi/fantasy/comedy *Visitors From the Arkana Galaxy* that we released a few months ago. After a long detective search to track down the rightsholder and license rights, we discovered that there was no decent digital version of the film in existence. So we paid to have the best surviving 35mm elements scanned and audio transferred, and then Craig undertook the first-ever restoration of the film for our release. Most of our releases are restored in-house, and most films take around 1-2 years on average to license, restore and bring to market -- some much longer!
**Craig:** Tracking down the rightsholder(s) and elements can take a very long time. Negotiating with the rights holders can also take a very long time. Sometimes we are lucky and a newly restored version is available and we can license that (examples: *Zerograd*, *Cat City*, *The Tune*), other times we're starting at zero. We'll need to get the elements (picture and sound) scanned and launch a full restoration. Depending on the condition of the elements that alone can take several months. The good news is there's an endless amount of cinema out there to be discovered and I'm lucky enough to have Dennis Bartok. When we come across something cool that even he doesn't know about - that's super exciting. The man is a walking cinema encyclopedia (for the young ones: an encyclopedia was a series of books that contained vast information. It was what we had when we wanted to know something before Google.)
**In the interviews that you conducted, was there ever a sense of worry and anxiety about the future of film preservation and collecting, or do you and others feel that we are in good hands?**
**Ry:** I think there is excitement from collectors and fans, but full awareness of the fragility of the film medium from celluloid to even the digital formats, and how important it is to be aware of that. Cinema is still young in terms of an art form, and we've already seen technological changes that have impacted the medium. So, that understanding will be essential for cinema's future and its history's preservation.
**Do you think that mainstream physical media has a future for consumers? If not, what must be done by Deaf Crocodile and other boutique labels to save pieces of cinema and thrive among the streaming platforms?**
**Dennis:** Clearly there's still a mainstream market for physical media even if it's much smaller than in the heyday of DVD. Film fans love having physical copies of movies, and the growth of boutique home video labels like Severin, Arrow, Flicker Alley, Vinegar Syndrome and others shows that. There's even been a resurgence of interest in obsolete retro formats like VHS and 16mm, with some 16mm prints going for thousands of dollars on eBay recently. These are obviously very small niche markets but they show that people still love physical media. In terms of boutique labels helping to save or preserve cinema, that's a different question: most labels license movies for 5, 7 or 10 years maximum, and many aren't doing restoration or preservation of the materials, just releasing whatever version of the film is provided to them by the rightsholder. It would be great if there were more communication between the major film archives and boutique labels to ensure that any digital restorations undertaken by labels are properly stored and preserved archivally for the future.
**Craig:** Physical media constantly changes, but continues. I'm not concerned that it will simply go away. In fact, as I mentioned earlier, the outlook for blu-ray/4K is bright. I think you'll see more releases in 2024 than 2023\. Where I think boutique labels play a part is in keeping the smaller, obscure titles from falling through the cracks. The big studios will always take care of the classics. But access to everything is what's important. What was yesterday's forgotten film is tomorrow's rediscovery. Without access to these films how can anything be rediscovered? Access to the source materials so that companies can undertake restorations is equally important. Agreements can be worked out that benefit everyone. Negatives sitting in vaults doesn't help anyone.
**At what stage of production is Boutique in, and what can people do to help?**
**Ry:** *Boutique: To Preserve and Collect* is currently in the editing phase and on track to be completed this Spring. I'm excited to have a broader audience learn about these fantastic preservationist labels, the incredible experts elevating the collectible formats they put out, and the filmmakers, past and present, currently experiencing an elevated spotlight. We are currently raising additional funds with the support of a fiscal sponsor, From The Heart Productions, who allows us to offer tax-deductible donation receipts, so hopefully, we can offset some of the post-production and editorial expenses through that. Those interested in supporting can go to [**https://rblfdpr.wedid.it/campaigns/12043-boutique**](https://rblfdpr.wedid.it/campaigns/12043-boutique?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
**If you could find, restore, and release any title in history, what would it be and why?**
**Dennis:** Probably the long-lost complete versions of Orson Welles's *The Magnificent Ambersons* or Erich von Stroheim's silent masterpiece *Greed*. Two great films by two legendary directors that only survive today in reduced, cut-down versions of the originals.
**Craig:** Hmm...for the longest time my answer would have been David Lynch's *Lost Highway* or Todd Solondz's *Happiness*, but Criterion finally got both of those titles. Another on my list we'll be releasing next year. I've been pretty lucky with my wish list. I suspect the film I'll be the most excited about is one I don't know about yet. But I've got Dennis. He'll find it.
**How large is your movie collection, and what titles do you prize?**
**Ry:** I actually have had to downsize temporarily, but I still have a significant collection. There are just so many beautiful reissues of films I never thought I would see, thanks to labels like Vinegar Syndrome, Altered Innocence, Severin, Synapse, Kani, and so many others. Their presence has required the old guard labels like Criterion and Kino to step up their game; it's a great time to be a collector.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
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### Bill and Brandon Talk 'The Holdovers' and SEFCA's Top Ten
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/swampholdovers/
Last updated: 2023-12-28T22:10:02.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
I was a guest once more on the great Branon Ledet’s [Swampflix](https://swampflix.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) podcast.
On this episode, we discussed one of my favorite films of 2023, *The Holdovers*, and chatted about [SEFCA’s Top Ten List](https://www.sefca.net/2023?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)/some of the award winners. Embedded below:
What films should have made the top ten for our regional critics group? Thoughts on *The Holdovers*? Leave a comment or message me at [barceneaux@duck.com](mailto: barceneaux@duck.com).
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### 2. Monika Leska and Making Movie Events Accessible for All
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/accessnoff23/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:12.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
It’s exciting to me whenever I have an opportunity to learn more about new technology and new initiatives from movie theaters to make the moviegoing experience more [accessible](https://medium.com/zeroeffect/movie-theater-access-not-so-regal-c295748ee321?sk=adb2c70136fa4518340daa832766b76d&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and [inclusive](https://medium.com/zeroeffect/a-more-inclusive-cinema-q-a-w-michael-domangue-of-the-broad-theater-the-language-of-silence-d42753a24c64?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) for individuals with disabilities. So, you can imagine my joy when I found out about [The Film Event Accessibility Working Group](https://feaw.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) (FEAW), and that the [New Orleans Film Society](https://neworleansfilmsociety.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) (NOFS) would be a partner in the program.
With this year’s New Orleans Film Festival in the rearview mirror, I asked the FEAW coordinator for NOFS, [Monika Leska](https://feaw.org/about?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#5175fc34-40b5-4898-9ff3-a380435fffff), about the challenges in ADA compliance, in community outreach, in training, and in achieving such noble goals for local moviegoers:
**How did the FEAW come together, from concept to realization? Was there a specific moment or incident that inspired NOFS to join with other groups to form this initiative?**
The group was initiated by Cassidy Dimon, a filmmaker and event producer who currently serves as the Director of Programs, Events, & Accessibility for Full Spectrum Features in Chicago, IL. As a film professional with unilateral hearing loss, she has worked diligently to bridge the gap between accessibility and film events for the past five years. The film events/festivals have not been accessible to many patrons, and there were not many discussions happening on this topic between the film festivals. Cassidy sent an invitation to Fallon Young, NOFS’s executive director at that time, to participate in this group:
“Accessibility definitely seems to be a bit of a buzz topic in our industry lately, and I hear lots of folks talking at the filmmaker and field level about accessibility, but I haven't come across any operations folks that were getting together to talk about how we make our events and offerings more accessible. So I decided to put together a group of organizations and festivals to form an Operations Accessibility Working Group where we can share our knowledge and findings, help each other out, and eventually report back out to the community so we can all support each other in making our organizations and events more accessible to all.”
This was in May of 2021\. Fallon passed this on to me, as I had already been trying to implement our accessibility initiative within NOFS for some time, probably in 2019\. It was really great to see other organizations trying to do the same, so it was a perfect match for us. The pandemic has undoubtedly slowed our work in this area, but participation in FEAW, on the other hand, has accelerated it.
**What kind of preparation was involved in achieving FEAW goals for the 2023 New Orleans Film Festival?**
Our work with FEAW prompted us to set our goal to ensure that all films exhibited at the New Orleans Film Festival have closed captions. That’s not an easy task because, being a film exhibitor without a venue, we are not in control of this aspect, as we rely on local theaters to have the necessary equipment and for films to be delivered with caption files.
In the past, we “recommended” that captions be included with film exhibition copies, but in the last two years, we switched the language to “required.” We have added this requirement into our FilmFreeway film submission process, so filmmakers are aware while their films are being submitted for consideration, but the real execution happens when we accept films to the festival. Our tech and programming team reiterates the caption requirement. In 2022, we really didn’t have any tools to execute this mandate besides verbally asking for it, and we had 30-40% compliance. In 2023, we took it to another level and decided to add a condition to this requirement: to depend the exhibition fee payment on the closed caption inclusion with the film copy. That additional condition doubled the compliance; we have received captions with about 70% of films.
We were also able to review the captions during our QC process and work with some filmmakers to correct them if they were improper. We expanded our tech team this year, led by Mary Lynn Sylvan, to have Ted and Maureen join forces to ensure we had the capacity for the full review process. We will continue this effort until we reach the moment where all films have captions.
This is just half of the work because now we have to ensure that our screening venues have the capabilities to play those files and that they have operable equipment for audiences to use during the screenings. We set up some of our venues, and we can rent accessibility devices to equip them, but with local venues, we have to collaborate with them to make sure they are available during our event. Unfortunately, not all screening venues we use for the Festival have this feature, but we hope it will change.
**What kind of related training has NOFS provided to its staff?**
In the last two years, we have hired a Venue Operations Manager for NOFF - Woody Shticks - who has expertise in making events accessible, and he has been instrumental in making all staff understand what accessibility in practice means and how our events are or are not accessible. We have implemented accessibility concepts and the services we offer into Festival staff and volunteer training, and we continuously discuss how to improve access.
This year, I organized a professional development session for all our Festival staff with one of the “Accessibility at Work” panel speakers we hosted at NOFF - Laura Benge, the Accessibility Manager for Sundance Institute. This was an amazing opportunity for staff to learn from an expert and think about applying it in their work.
We know this is insufficient training for staff, mainly because our staff doesn’t come with any previous experience serving the disability community, but we are making progress each year.
**Did local consultants and advocates participate in the event?**
I haven’t done much to reach out to the local community in the post-pandemic years, as we were focused on building infrastructure at the Festival before we strengthened our community-building efforts. We plan to hire a local consultant from a disability community to run focus groups next year around the assessment and participation of people with different disability groups in our events. This depends on the grant we are writing, but we hope to find more resources for cross-collaboration with local organizations.
**If there is any one issue that can be done better or focused on more by NOFS, what would it be and why?**
Community inclusion is an area that we haven’t done much in. While we have a community partnership program, it usually focuses on organizations that relate to films we show that year, so it fluctuates yearly. We hope this program can be expanded to work with communities with disabilities yearly to provide free access to the New Orleans Film Festival.
**What advice would you give to New Orleans movie theaters and exhibitors when it comes to improving screening accessibility and inclusion? And for theaters with little to no room in their budget, what steps can they make with few resources?**
We are a non-profit organization with limited resources as local small business owners, and we both share the reduction of audiences after the pandemic. But prioritizing access to all can push us all in the same direction. We are very open to sharing resources and partnering to improve accessibility offerings at local movie theaters, as it also serve us. This year, we split costs with a local theater to install assistive listening devices in their venue, as it was essential to NOFS that they be available during NOFF. As a non-profit, we could spearhead grant writing focused on improving our event venues with accessibility features. Still, it needs to be a long-term partner project that benefits both sides. I'm sure small businesses also have access to federal resources that could assist them in funding their efforts to become ADA-compliant.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
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### SEFCA's Best Films of 2023
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/sefca2023/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:13.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
At the end of each year, members of the [Southeastern Film Critics Association](https://www.sefca.net/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) submit their ballots for the best movies released over the previous twelve months.
In the new year, I’ll post my personal best-of list (stay tuned and [subscribe](https://moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)), but in the meantime, give our collective announcement on the top flicks of 2023 a look, and leave a comment below:
### **Southeastern Film Critics Association Names *Oppenheimer* as the Best Film of 2023**
**Christopher Nolan’s chronicle of the Manhattan Project also earned Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Ensemble, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Score.**
Monday, December 18, 2023 – The Southeastern Film Critics Association (SEFCA) has named Christopher Nolan’s *Oppenheimer* as the Best Picture of the Year. SEFCA’s eighty-nine members, located across nine Southeastern states also recognized Christopher Nolan for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. Additionally, the film earned Best Actor for Cillian Murphy, Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey, Jr. and Best Ensemble for its star-studded cast that includes Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Aldren Ehrenreich, Jason Clarke, Tom Conti, Josh Hartnett, Kenneth Branagh and others. Behind the camera Oppenheimer took the top prizes for Best Cinematography (Hoyte Van Hoytema) and Best Score (Ludwig Goransson).
“This fall featured three big films from three grandmasters of cinema,” said SEFCA President [Scott Phillips](https://www.sefca.net/scott-phillips?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). “Martin Scorsese released *Killers of the Flower Moon*. Ridley Scott brought *Napoleon* to the big screen and Michael Mann hits theaters next week with *Ferrari*. Despite this bumper crop from heavy-hitting auteurs, Christopher Nolan’s film from six months ago is walking away with eight SEFCA awards. Oppenheimer is a stunning cinematic achievement. Our members recognized that in July, and they are rewarding it in December.”
When asked about the film year that was 2023, SEFCA Vice President [Jim Farmer](https://www.sefca.net/jim-farmer?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) said, “2023 will be remembered by many as the year that featured the commercial, critical and cultural phenomenon known as Barbenheimer. But it was also a season that offered a stunning amount of high-quality films, with master filmmakers near the top of their games, fresher faces making strong impressions and performers showing new dimensions. It was a pleasure to take in all that 2023 had to offer.”
Those “fresher faces” include writer/director Celine Song whose debut feature, *Past Lives*, lands at # 4 on SEFCA’s Top 10 of 2023, and writer/director Cord Jefferson whose debut feature, *American Fiction*, placed seventh in the SEFCA Top 10\. The diverse list also includes an animated film (*Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse*) and two foreign films (*Anatomy of a Fall*, *The Zone of Interest*).
Read SEFCA’s full list of winners below. Visit SEFCA on the web at SEFCA.net to learn more about its members as well as past winners. You can also follow SEFCA on Twitter at SEFilmCritics:
**Top 10 Films of 2023**
1\. *Oppenheimer*
2\. *Killers of the Flower Moon*
3\. *The Holdovers*
4\. *Past Lives*
5\. *Barbie*
6\. *Poor Things*
7\. *American Fiction*
8\. *Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse*
9\. *Anatomy of a Fall*
10\. *The Zone of Interest*
**Best Actor**
Cillian Murphy, *Oppenheimer*
**Best Actress**
Lily Gladstone, *Killers of the Flower Moon*
**Best Supporting Actor**
Robert Downey, Jr., *Oppenheimer*
**Best Supporting Actress**
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, *The Holdovers*
**Best Ensemble**
*Oppenheimer*
**Best Director**
Christopher Nolan, *Oppenheimer*
**Best Original Screenplay**
David Hemingson, *The Holdovers*
**Best Adapted Screenplay**
Christopher Nolan, *Oppenheimer*
**Best Documentary**
*Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie*
**Best Animated Film**
*Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse*
**Best Foreign-Language Film**
*Anatomy of a Fall*
**Best Cinematography**
Hoyte Van Hoytema, *Oppenheimer*
**Best Score**
Ludwig Goransson, *Oppenheimer*
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
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### 'Big Easy Queens' Ain't Riding on a Streetcar Named Desire
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/bigeasyqueens/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:13.000Z
[***Big Easy Queens***](https://www.infinite-abyss.org/bigeasyqueens?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)*is currently playing on the festival circuit.*
---
## Dear Moviegoers,
There are a few contradictions about the glam-horror-musical *Big Easy Queens*, which aren’t exactly detrimental as much as they are oddities. First and foremost, the film is set in the New Orleans underworld of the famous French Quarter but was primarily shot in Florida. Second, it’s described as horror but is mostly a melodrama-noir with little blood and guts. Taken together, these elements could be seen as disappointments, give or take. I see them as celebrations that go far and above to make a decent bowl of gumbo out of some cans of grocery-bought soup.
A talkie most assuredly, *Big Easy Queens* would be a confusing mess without its great length of banter and charmingly cute dialogue. Sure, the conversations border on grating at times, going on and on without capturing an ounce of the scares or action expected, but it would be a grave disservice to skip through or miss a moment. The three main characters, all performed in fabulously proud drag, discuss gang wars and vengeance between one another, with Southern camp and nightclub style. For a New Orleanian, watching these conversations take place between the glitz, glitter, and glamour of a French Quarter that’s ever so hyper-heightened and all too unreal, is revelatory and fun. Is this how people see the city as being like, or rather how they’d prefer it to be? Heck, it’s how I’d prefer it to be.
Love affairs, territory killings, mysterious murders, and a little zombie magic make up the story of Minnie and Mimi, the estranged sisters who must contend with a cloaked figure and the might of Poodles Makenzie, a queen of her gang. Jennifer McClain plays Poodles with heavy spunk and true dedication to the bit, making sure everyone grasps the sheer brightness of her power and personality. McClain is the central source of joy of *Big Easy Queens*, playing up a fantasy of New Orleans and the glam production of the movie with devilish glints in her eyes and a smile that indicates how much of a pleasure this is for her.
However amusing, *Big Easy Queens* doesn’t live up to the implications of its chosen genre. There’s **some** blood that gets spewed. There’s a **small** sequence involving **some** voodoo. There **is** a machine gun-decked bra that blows away a bad guy, **but** it’s a fleeting appearance. All in all, the film is more talking than walking. Still, this is not what I would call disappointing. Instead, I’d treat its occasional splatters of chills and thrills as delicate spices added to a big boil. Talking, talking, then GORE! Talking, talking, then VOODOO! It has just enough flavor to be a tasty dish.
Throw me something good, mister. *Big Easy Queens*? That’ll do. **3/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
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### Peter Sarsgaard Leads a 'Coup!' on a Wealthy Man's Life
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/coup/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:14.000Z
**Coup!* is currently playing on the festival circuit.*
---
## Dear Moviegoers,
A newly hired cook who calls his employer a “Nancy boy” under his breath might not have his own best interests at heart. Assuming that he’s got something to lose, of course. When the Spanish Flu ravaged the country in the early twentieth century, almost everyone had everything to lose…except for the wealthy. If a righteous man saw things from the outside looking in, then he could cause some big trouble. In *Coup!*, a fight between the haves and the have-nots ensues on the property of a wealthy family whose head of household, a left-leaning populist journalist, is on the brink of a potential political career. If there’s one thing he doesn’t need, it’s a class struggle in his home. Big trouble for sure.
A comedy with some melodramatic-type theatricality, *Coup!* Is a sweet surprise. Being fortunate enough to watch it early with the blessing of its filmmakers, I went into the movie knowing only that it starred the great Peter Sarsgaard, who plays the righteous man of mischief who enters the fray of a rich man’s comfort zone. Sarsgaard knows the assignment here and then some, playing a mysterious chef who stirs the household labor into a mini-union with charm, with volume, and with a smile for mischief. The closest role of his that I found comparable to this one, in my mind, was that of the timid and eventually monstrous scientist in *Green Lantern*. An odd thought, I know, but I swear that there’s a fun thread connecting the two. A thread that I will save for another day.
My point is, that Sarsgaard is having genuine fun with genuine purpose. He’s not chewing scenery for the sake of it, or chewing anything at all, but rather he’s finding the thrill and the chill within a character who has bottled up tragedy and now lives life by his rules, and all on the surface. A defense mechanism? Maybe, but no matter. It’s just an awesome performance.
Not to be outshined is Billy Magnussen, who plays a man with real money but fake ideals. He’s a high-profile journalist who types fire and brimstone about joining protests and demanding policy changes to the epidemic response. Of course, he’s nowhere near a protest nor is he in conversation with any politician, but that won’t deter him from crafting what he believes are white lies for the greater good. Straight out of Charles Foster Kane’s playbook really, but minus any spine or backbone. Magnussen gives life to someone oh so pathetic beneath everything, but all so prepared for trophy and triumph.
Absolutely does Sarsgaard’s cook have a field day with him, and relentlessly so. White lies turn to white privilege turns to scraping meat off the floor. *Coup!* is a paradigm shift done on one cursed soul, and Magnussen wears both the initial brash bravado of a hero and the eventual pitiful collapse of a loser with the burden of dragging a big stone across town. Heavy is the head, I mean. And heavy is how Magnussen treats the turmoil. Too heavy? Not at all, but loud enough for the crowd in the back row.
It’s a devious delight of a film, but if *Coup!* has anything going against it, the false endings would be that thing. As the story begins to close, rugs are pulled out from under, and the movie carries on. And carries on. It’s not annoying or frustrating, just a minor nitpick from someone who shouldn’t apply a fandom-style fan fiction mindset to things out of his control. But the dagger in *Coup!* had already turned multiple times, and a fitting finale was already in sight. Still, fret not, as what does end up happening is a fine coda on its own. Taken altogether, *Coup!* is a complete riot and completely entertaining. Anytime a rich jerk gets the shaft, you’ll find me having a good time. No trouble at all. **3.5/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
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### Long Live the Analog
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/analoghorrorqa/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:14.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
For some time now, I’ve been interested in the film genre of analog horror, which has often left me as confused as I am fascinated.
To better understand, I asked regional filmmaker Paul Catalanotto about his experience with the format, his YouTube channel, and how it all has bled its way into his comic book creations.
Enjoy:
**For those who may not know, please explain what analog horror is.**
I’m not sure how far down the rabbit hole you want to go, but according to Wikipedia, analog horror is a subgenre of horror fiction and offshoot of the found footage film technique, often cited as originating online during the late 2000s and early 2010s with popular titles such as *No Through Road*, *Local 58*, and *Marble Hornets*. It is commonly characterized by low-fidelity graphics, cryptic messages, and visual styles reminiscent of late 20th-century television and analog recordings. This is done to match the setting, as analog horror works are typically set between the 1960s and 1990s.
The name "analog horror" comes from the genre's aesthetic incorporation of elements related to analog electronics, such as analog television and VHS, the latter being an analog method of recording video.
I give you this generic definition because, to be honest, I feel like this is only scratching the surface. For me, analog horror is a way to bring often complicated mostly nonmainstream ideas and execute them in the simplest and most effective way possible. It is a very basic image and the story. That’s it. I often wonder if it’s a visual rebellion against the beautiful hyperrealistic movies that currently occupy the cinemas.
Since I’ve started this channel, a new subset of the analog horror genre has appeared called – digital horror. It is similar in presentation but uses more modern media. And I’m sure it won’t be long before the genre further evolves beyond that. However, all of it originated from the creepypastas of the early 2000s. But in my opinion, it’s all Internet Horror which comes in endless varieties. In the early days of YouTube when comedians were starting to make shorts, I remember reading a Wired article stating that no one is funnier than the internet. I think the opposite is true too. No one is scarier than the internet either.
This is the future of filmmaking. I believe more and more filmmakers will be discovered on YouTube and other online platforms. It’s already happened with the *Backrooms*, *Pixels*, and *Lights Out*.
**How did you come to make analog horror under your Vintage Eight label, did you have any inspirations, and what goals do you have going forward?**
[Vintage Eight](https://www.youtube.com/c/vintageeight?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) is more than just analog horror. It is horror that is both experimental and traditional. And it is not limited to just video, sometimes it’s comic books and novels. My goal with this channel is to constantly try new things. I’m okay with pursuing ideas that don’t always work. Sometimes an interesting failure can be more rewarding than a successful project. Vintage Eight is all about embracing the weird.
I started the channel for a couple of reasons. One, after making *The Thing Inside Us*, I quickly realized that no one cared that I made a movie for $250\. People were already doing interesting things for less than that online. Plus, the aesthetic I was going for was out of place among traditionally distributed movies. Without realizing it, I made a film that would’ve been better served as an internet horror.
Two, I read an article in GQ talking about *The* *Mandela Catalog*, which is an analog horror that got insanely popular. After watching the series, I thought I should give it a try, so I did with my first analog horror- *Boil Advisory*.
Third, I am tired as a filmmaker releasing projects that fail due to marketing. I think we as filmmakers often think of the movie first then where it will be seen second. This worked for Sam Raimi’s *Evil Dead*, but unfortunately, in today’s world, this is backwards. We need to find and cultivate an audience first then bring our projects to life. So going forward, I want to use Vintage Eight as a platform to produce more stories and to promote projects outside of Youtube. In 2024, I’m rereleasing my 2017 feature *Sacrilege* on the channel. Also, I’ve re-edited *The Thing Inside Us* under the new title *Married to a Sleepwalker*, and I will be releasing that project on Vintage Eight early next year as well.
**I’m enjoying the *It Lives in the Static* series so far, and your *My Comic Book Journey with Edie* video. Where do your ideas for these narratives come from, and does *My Comic Book Journey* count as an analog documentary (if such a genre exists)?**
I’m constantly trying to come up with new ideas. Most of them just come to me while I’m working on other things. My top analog projects on Vintage Eight are *The Children Under the House*, *The Tangi Virus*, *The Oracle Project*, *The Human Trials*, and *It Lives in the Static*. Currently, *The Tangi Virus* is my only million-plus project. However, the *Children Under the House* has been reviewed by YouTubers with massive followings.
Here are two reviews (you’d enjoy the second one):
Also, I turned it into a [book](https://www.amazon.com/Children-Under-House-Paul-Catalanotto/dp/B0BZF99RRF/ref=sr%5F1%5F1?crid=3T55DE81ARW3O&keywords=children+under+the+house+book&qid=1699674742&sprefix=children+under+the+house%2Caps%2C86&sr=8-1&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). I’ve sold over 327 copies as of today.
*My Comic Book Journey* falls under the second purpose of Vintage Eight, to promote my other works. However, the comic book story does happen in the same world as the other Vintage Eight stories. I felt like it was important to keep them related.
**What is the synopsis for your comic book *Edie*, and how does the 80s remake of *The Blob* (a pre-Hollywood South flick) fit in?**
From my pitch: After being transformed into a voracious blob-like creature, Edie Jones seeks revenge on the student that assaulted her and the people who covered it up. Unfortunately, Edie’s insatiable hunger won’t let her stop at just consuming the guilty.
Tone: Horror with elements of sci-fi.
Audience: Horror fans. Aged 16-35 Gory/graphic death scenes. Testing at Louisiana State University has shown that females in their early 20s enjoyed the book as well.
What makes it unique: Edie is a character-driven upgrade to a classic monster story that explores contemporary issues plaguing our teenaged youth.
As I said in the doc, I wanted to update the classic movie after finding out Blumhouse passed on it. Before that, I had heard they reached out to Rob Zombie and Samuel Jackson to update the movie. Since the 88 remake actually scared me as a kid, I thought I could bring something new to it.
***Sin City* is one of my favorite comic book to movie adaptations, mostly in its production and how the original comic panels were used as storyboards for shooting scenes. Do you see a connection between cinema and comics, and if so, how would you explain it?**
Absolutely, comic book and movies are intimately related. Comic book writers work as screenwriters and vice versa. Look at Marvel. That brand has opened the door on comic to movie adaptations. Plus, the movie business is so scared of spec scripts. Everything needs to be based on something now. Everything must have a proven audience, or it won’t get greenlit. Comic books are a great way to bring your scripts to life and try them out. See how a public might react to them.
**Please list your top 3 favorite movies/videos and top 3 favorite comics, and explain why they were chosen.**
Here's 4 Movies:
1\. *The Thing* – masterpiece. Carpenter’s best is arguably the best.
2\. *The* *Blair Witch Project* – this might be one of the most important movies in the last 40 years. It predicted the future.
3\. *Die Hard* – Best action movie of all time
4\. *Raiders of the Lost Ark* – Best action-adventure movie of all time.
Comics
1\. Batman – the world is divided into Batman fans or Superman fans. Of course, I like the darker superhero.
2\. Duck Tales/Uncle Scrooge – I grew up on the reprints of the Carl Barks’s stuff.
3\. The Sandman – I come back to the Sandman yearly. This is the best fantasy horror comic. Period.
**Please list your top 3 favorite filmmakers and top 3 favorite comic artists, and explain why they were chosen.**
Filmmakers
\- David Fincher – *Seven* and *Fight Club*. He understands the darkness in modern men.
\- John Carpenter – *Halloween* or *The Thing*. At his best, he changed the genre forever. Twice.
\- Steven Spielberg – You make *Raiders* then you get to be on the list.
Comic Artists
1\. Rob Guillory – he mentored me, so I’m a little biased.
2\. Todd McFarland – he paved the way for the other indies.
3\. Stan Lee – not an artist, but we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
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### 1. Bill and Brandon Talk About the 2023 New Orleans Film Festival
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/swampflixnoff23/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:14.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
The 2023 New Orleans Film Festival may have concluded about a month ago, but better late than never to begin our coverage of some movie selections from the event.
First up, I was a guest on fellow Southeastern Film Critics Association member Brandon Ledet’s Lagniappe podcast, over at his blog [Swampflix](https://swampflix.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). We kindly and casually discussed our favorite picks and offered up some fun and funny anecdotes on related subjects.
Always a good conversation (embedded below):
My reviews from the festival will be tagged as “noff2023” at the top of the homepage, and they’ll be published this week.
Stay tuned.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
To support movie reviews like this one, please consider becoming a subscriber.
[Subscribe now](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
### 'Zabriskie Point' Is Everywhere at Once
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/madzabriskie/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:15.000Z
**It’s a Zabriskie, Zabriskie, Zabriskie, Zabriskie Point* was generously made available for this review by the filmmaker, and has not officially been released anywhere as of this writing.*
---
## Dear Moviegoers,
“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.” - Willy Wonka
I know that Arthur O'Shaughnessy originally wrote the above line of poetry. Still, I think of it - and use it here - as being direct from Gene Wilder’s portrayal of the fantastical chocolatier Willy Wonka in the iconic musical *Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory*. In the film, Wilder/Wonka uses it as both an ambiguous answer to a dismissive statement and a beautifully spoken interlude of sincerity that breaks up a scene of childlike sloth and joy. This line came to me midway through watching Daniel Kremer’s brilliant essay film *It’s a Zabriskie, Zabriskie, Zabriskie, Zabriskie Point*, and I’m still at a loss as to why exactly it did. The easiest reason would maybe be that the line of poetry and Kremer’s film are superficially connected with their use of dreams and dreaming. The more difficult reason could involve my own interpretations of cinema, and my reckoning with being a “dreamer” myself.
Who knows? I do. Probably. Somewhere.
Filmmaker Daniel Kremer has crafted such an amazing work of biography, documentary, essay, argument, and almost damn near possession, that it should be considered an end-all/be-all moment of sorts in film theory and history. This is not hyperbole - it’s a movie that’s a grand statement with humble punctuation. It’s a mic drop without the arrogance. Stunning, it is all the way.
Of course, the assumed conceit and expected gimmick that’s suggested in the title, a mashup of the movies *It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World* and *Zabriskie Point*, is likely to be the initial hook for the video freaks and Youtube-Poopers out and about. But, Kremer goes so far as to not only use this element as the quote “low-hanging fruit” that it is but as a way to delineate the lines in the sand of American culture in the 1960s and a little beyond. The delineation comes early on with the assassination of JFK, which took place mere days after *It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World* released in theaters. The event only further cemented that film’s place as an escapist movie, as moviegoers sought comfort from grim reality. Where *Mad World* was representative of culture as it used to be - the “last Camelot film” as Daniel Kremer calls it - Michelangelo Antonioni’s *Zabriskie Point*, released at the tail end of the decade, showcased itself with a counter-culture that was on the edge of losing its assignment. Made before and way after a tragedy, the films share a close thread, that is where they were shot - Death Valley.
Daniel Kremer takes on the pre and post-advances in the cultural and cinematic revolution by way of making real what was tangible to him but that which is abstract to everyone else: his own dreams. It’s a personal film, as Kremer opens and uses throughout footage of a news report that he was featured in when younger, where his love for art films, specifically *Zabriskie Point*, is singled out. I can imagine the home audience watching that report being charmed and maybe a little confused in a cutesy way by his interests and obsessions as a child. No matter, as Kremer is just fine and adjusted. As an adult, with this essay film, he’s not making sense of any poor moments in his life, but rather he’s celebrating his interests and announcing them to the world with a punch of thesis and exploration. Death Valley is the landscape. The 60s is the general era. And cinema is the lens and the record. Kremer’s dreams are made of this, as is the medium of cinema itself, whether it or we recognize this or not. End-all/be-all. **5/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## ⚜️🍿
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### Odd and Bodacious Are the Words That Best Describe ‘Napoleon'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/ridleynapoleon/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:15.000Z
**Napoleon* is now playing in theaters and will stream on Apple TV+ later.*
---
If I had to peg any director with the last name of Scott to make an eccentric and weirdo historical biopic, it would be Tony. The one who made *Domino* and *Deja Vu*, I mean. For those two flicks, Tony Scott went with an acid-like style, going psychedelic and getting high at a top-grade speed. Granted, his subject matters involved bounty hunters and time travel, so perhaps his fast-paced and high-octane storytelling mechanics were better understood for that material. The other Scott, Tony’s brother Ridley, is known to take on more large-scale epics with big and boisterous details but also grounded in some traditional filmmaking methodology. In Ridley’s latest, *Napoleon*, I see someone expanding upon and letting loose with their inner gonzo, so to speak. I see a filmmaker cutting up and getting frisky, going so far as to tell a tale of legendary personality rather than a historical record of legend.
I see some of the other Scott.
Starring Joaquin Phoenix as the famously infamous French emperor and Vanessa Kirby as his love Josephine, *Napoleon* could be classified as a backdoor comedy. We see Napoleon move up the chain of command, victory after victory, and past his defeats and ultimate exiles. We see his relationship with Josephine move between different kinds of intensity and passion, sometimes in a single scene. And we also see a large number of small moments where Napoleon is very awkward and strange, but also intimidating in an unpredictable way. As we weave between fact, speculation, and interpretation, *Napoleon* as both a larger-than-life character and as a movie, is presented and performed as both an alien who is just learning of Earth and as an alienated period in time. It’s as unique as a snowflake, or as a strike of lightning.
How so? Everything bizarre in *Napoleon* hinges on actor Joaquin Phoenix as the man, on director Ridley Scott as the visionary, and on screenwriter David Scarpa as the sage. All three blend together into a concoction of something strange that’s disguised as something spectacular. Phoenix as Napoleon, in one scene, sits in a chair as if he’s doing a [planking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planking%5F%28fad%29?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) challenge. In another, he yells in frustration about world leaders thinking they’re so great because “they have boats.” And in other places, he runs like a child, accepts apologies like a baby, and tells tall tales as if he’s smarter than everyone else. After bombing an Egyptian pyramid, he inspects a mummy with almost erotic fascination and curiosity. Almost. I’m still pondering that one.
There are other comedic moments outside of Napoleon himself, like the politicians of the day bickering and fighting with each other to the point of running away screaming. I got Make America Great Again chills here and there, which was likely a tenuous and superficial response to the revolution and the loyalists. But, make no mistake, this is Joaquin’s show. He’s both a puppeteer and a puppet for the character he’s portraying and for the director he’s working with. And the film is all the more intriguing because of it.
Is this a satire? A farce? Who knows. *Napoleon* is dreary for its time and deranged for all of time. It doesn’t completely work as a whole, as the meshing of period piece with zany antics override one another. The battle sequences are tremendous and brutal, reminding me of the more intimate in scope Civil War tale *Emancipation*’s unbridled violence. But then, soon after the death, the blood, and the heartbreak, comes the gag humor. No fart jokes that I can recall, but they would’ve been welcome.
As a film with personality, *Napoleon* is pitch brilliant. Many times I smiled and laughed out loud, especially when the great Vanessa Kirby shows Josephine as being madly in love while also a little beside herself for being madly in love with the kind of guy that Napoleon is played as. If you can imagine her performance playing off of Joaquin’s as being a skit in a *Jackass* movie, where one or both of them are being pranked, then it all makes more sense. It all becomes better understood.
I’m likely embellishing somewhat or telling a legend of my experience watching this film, but all things considered, this is appropriate for Ridley Scott’s *Napoleon*. If anything, I’m rejoicing through imitation. Is Ridley imitating Tony with a bonkers movie of his own? Maybe a little, but he doesn’t hit the same notes as Tony would. Ridley wants his cake of history and eat it with a spork too. Tony would just embrace and move forward. Still, *Napoleon* is that one abstract that means a lot. A lot of…something. **3/5**
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### From Zapruder to 'WUSA'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/zapruderwusa/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:15.000Z
*This post is part of the* [***Bonus Features!***](https://moviegoing.rocks/t/bonus?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) *exclusives here on Moviegoing with Bill, for* [*supporting subscribers*](https://moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) *only. It has been made available free to read for all as a teaser of articles to come.*
---
## Dear Moviegoers,
I don’t remember who listed the Zapruder footage of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination as one of the most important films of all time, but that factoid has stayed with me for quite a while. Does it count as a documentary? As found footage? Newsreel? Genre probably doesn’t matter in this case, or in any case actually, but some classification would fill a void of sorts.
As a mere document, an accidental witness to tragedy and mystery, the footage refuses to fade from memory or give in to misinterpretation (if we ignore those who believe that the driver of the motorcade did it). It lives as both a record of history and as a spark for imagination and discovery. After all, not everything or everyone important to what happened was captured within the frames.
In 1970, the Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward movie *WUSA* was released to limited impact, and would eventually fall into obscurity (though it hasn’t disappeared [entirely](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl6O6LkPVKo&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)). A Southern potboiler set in the humidity of a racially divided and tense New Orleans, *WUSA* was, at one point, considered by Paul Newman as “the [most significant film](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie%5FHalliwell?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#Halliwell's%5FFilm%5FGuide) I’ve ever made and the best.” That statement may have been some marketing voodoo and general boasting from the star of the film, but it does hold critical merit in hindsight. I personally feel that *WUSA* is one of the better New Orleans set and shot films, pre and/or present-Hollywood South era of regional filmmaking.
Why?
The timing of its production and the heartbreaking if tepid connection with the Zapruder footage.
Paul Newman plays a nihilistic wanderer of the American landscape, who has now chosen New Orleans as his latest joint to settle down and set up shop. The first person he reaches out to is an old conman acquaintance, who has taken up preaching in a rundown church as his current grift. Sweating profusely and trying to make a buck in the most despicable of ways, the characters of *WUSA*’s New Orleans are beyond hope mostly, living because they have some remaining life to waste. For Newman’s laid-back and carefree leading man Reinhardt, why not waste away, get paid, and gain some notoriety in the process?
It’s amazing just how perfect the film’s setting of a Big Easy that’s long gone now was used to effectively host the powder keg that was and still is American political discourse and the false promise of change. When Newman’s Reinhardt takes a gig for the right-wing radio station WUSA as a conservative pundit and charismatic voice for the voiceless, he sets into motion a chain of events that leads to a big rally, where the keg inevitably blows up in his and everyone’s faces. However, in a city so “deep”ly rooted in white influence and corruption, a city of such displayed decadence, would anyone be surprised or even moved to action?
In *Lee Daniels’ The Butler*, the son of the titular White House butler goes from being a confidant of Martin Luther King Jr. to joining the Black Panthers and becoming a bit more militant than before. With so many high-profile murders of progressive leaders behind him, of course he would become more aggressive towards the American establishment. Who would blame him, really? In *WUSA*, Anthony Perkins plays a social worker and photographer who unravels a local right-wing conspiracy to disenfranchise black residents, and it all leads to the news station’s agenda of hate-fueled talk radio and demagoguery. Perkins, who I think of as having performed soft-natured if intense characters throughout his career, gives life to a man who has seen enough, and who finds hope with a gun in the palm of his hand. For *The Butler*’s son, a young black man, a gun would be an excuse for police to throw him away. For *WUSA*’s Perkins, a middle-aged white man, a gun is a topic of discussion at dinner - or on the radio - and only matters depending on who he’s pointing the gun at.
Perkins could be a hero or a villain depending on his target. For *WUSA*, it’s the radio station manager played by Pat Hingle, the man behind this neo-white power party. This, of course, would paint Perkins as a violent monster. A dangerous “libtard” killer, likely made insane because of left politics and ideas. He can’t just be a desperate man pushed to violence by the circumstances of his city and of his time - that might cause some pause for thought. The film comes to a head at this rally, sponsored by WUSA, with Newman’s Reinhardt as a guest speaker. Perkins fires shots from the catwalk and is ultimately beaten to death by rally attendees, while Reinhardt gives a fake valiant speech to keep the crowd fired up…if they’re listening at all. Make America Great Again is what comes to mind, only Paul Newman is a better speaker than The Donald.
So why bring up the Zapruder footage amid a walk down *WUSA* way? And why during Thanksgiving? Well, it was the 60th anniversary of JFK’s assassination on the 22nd of November, so that’s fresh on everyone’s minds. A Blu-Ray of *WUSA* sits by my TV set too. When thought about together, I have only Zapruder to jump to next, and what he captured. And everything that happened after. Everything that continues to happen. America hasn’t shaken off the shock of that moment, and likely never will. As a testament to the times it was recorded and was eventually made available, the footage **is** one of the more important films ever, the intention of the filmmaker being irrelevant. And while Zapruder’s home movie has become ingrained in America’s collective memory, *WUSA* has faded naturally, if unfortunately. There sure was a plethora of similar movies to come out in the ‘60s, ‘70s, and even ‘80s, but I consider *WUSA* to be among the best produced and most powerful.
New Orleans has only continued to decay since the movie came out, both in infrastructure and progress. Hope is still marketed when people promote the resilience of the residents, but it’s mostly lip service. Expanding on that, if New Orleans represents the country, and the city itself has been decomposing in the decades since JFK was killed, what of America today? Return to Zapruder’s footage, and you might find more than expected and more than desired.
*WUSA* ends with the following exchange, between a neighbor and Reinhardt, who is moving on to another city:
“Don’t worry, Reinhardt. Everything’s dying.”
“Not me. I’m a survivor. Ain’t that great?”
I’m sure Reinhardt believes that, and I sure want to as well.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
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### The Best Hollywood South-Independent Film of the Year is 'Open'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/nolareview1/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:16.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
I hesitate to call actor, writer, and director Miles Doleac’s (who recently starred in *Renfield*) latest film *Open* a comedy, but it is very funny. I pause before comparing the movie to *Scott Pilgrim vs. the World*, which the advertising campaign for it does, but it is very visual and very colorful. And lastly, I **won’t** stop myself from calling *Open* the best independent Hollywood South flick of the year, even though it’s November.
Doleac, whose [previous](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/dinnerparty?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) [features](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/demigod?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) have been horrors of deliciously demented delicacies, tries his hand at a quirky musical thriller - and the result is completely darling and truly absorbing. I found myself, many times, wanting to live in its world, where each movement is momentous and every conversation has charm. Not to mention, of course, dreams and hallucinations involve glam rock fantasies.
Real-life couple Lindsay Anne Williams and Miles Doleac lead *Open* as wife and husband Kristina and Robert who, after some relationship struggles and personal tragedy, mutually decide to safely date other people within pre-established boundaries. They are “open” at the beginning of the tale, in other words. While Robert plays things safe with a close friend, Kristina goes bold by hooking up with a faded television teenage hunk Erik, played by Jeremy London. Boundaries, way sooner than later, break apart for Kristina, who deals with everything through performing in her subconscious rock concerts. Attachments, obsessions, reality, passion, and love all come together to make *Open* such a memorable watch.
And the film isn’t exciting simply because it’s a departure for Doleac. It’s an extremely impressive and very surprising watch due to the stripping away of the expectations of genre, blending the best of all categories into one piece. The domestic drama at the heart of *Open* is fairly straightforward, but the way it’s told and the atmosphere in which it breathes give the story the kind of life that only a movie can. Part of this is the result of cinematographer Nathan Tape’s immersive and clever filmmaking, as well as, of course, the script by Doleac and Williams. Every movie is a personal effort, but *Open* must’ve been a particularly interesting endeavor for the two of them, to say the least. I could speculate about what the couple brought to the story from their real relationship, but that might be best suited for a podcast.
While *Open* is technically a musical, the songs aren’t really what’s important to the heightened emotional core of the film. For all of the razzle-dazzle of Kristina’s dream band - made up of everyone else in her life - what’s of most honesty is how Kristina thinks of them and how they’re behaving with one another, in her mind, that matters most of all. *Open* is a kind of anti-musical in this way, but the songs are still fun and enjoyable.
And there **is** finesse in this film, primarily when it comes to the acting, all across the board. Miles himself dials things closer to the chest while maintaining some of his trademark intensity, Lindsay Williams approaches Kristina as down to Earth but always looking up to the sky, and Jeremy London - who has called *Open* one of his favorite projects - absolutely kills his role as the ex-celebrity filled with neediness and desperation, crafting not-so-much empathy for him but for sure a lot of sad pity. London is great here and should be very proud of what he does.
Sometimes there is camp, sometimes there is drama, but always is it entertaining. Immensely entertaining. *Open* is my favorite of Doleac’s movies and is certainly a contender for independent cinema awards - at least, that’s how I see things. Recommended? Without hesitation. **5/5**
*Open* is currently in limited theatrical release and will be available on-demand and on DVD this month.
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### Movie Review: 'Sloane: A Jazz Singer'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/sloanedoc/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:16.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
There’s something about the documentary *Sloane: A Jazz Singer*, the chronicle of the now-late singer Carol Sloane, that reminds me of those ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) YouTube videos, where individuals speak very softly to provide relaxing stimuli to viewers. It’s a peculiar genre of videomaking to me, as its relationship between creator and audience is exposed as being very close and very intimate - which one could argue is the same with traditional filmmaking, I suppose.
This very relationship is also exposed in *Sloane: A Jazz Singer*, though in a more indirect way. Carol’s voice isn’t the relaxing aspect of the film, but rather it’s the collage of her life that is.
In the days leading up to a live recording of Carol’s performance at the famous Birdland venue, the elder musician goes over her experiences, her romances, her heartbreaks, and her triumphs to an ever-eager camera crew that follows her every move throughout her small home. At a few points, she gets frustrated with the closeness but is never angry about it. Even when demanding, she’s kind and humble, making for a cinematic figure that’s as purely wonderful as she is truly lovely.
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*Sloane: A Jazz Singer* is mostly a swift look into Carol’s life and career, and primarily through her twilight perspective. She looks back in hindsight on almost everything with fondness and light and is amazingly sensitive to each recollection. A vinyl recording of an early showcase brings her to tears, and leads her to tell filmmaker Michael Lippert that he “just broke her heart.” Few profile documentaries capture the kind of honesty and intelligence of a person’s very being as this one does, and it does it well. Incredibly well, even.
There’s a fly-on-the-wall aspect to the film, but we only go as far as Carol is willing to take us. She opens up huge, but even she has a limit to what can be shared. There’s even a limit to how far the documentary is willing to go too, only covering the few days before the big live performance. This is not a negative, mind you, but a positive. A slippage into the past and the present of Jazz music, this is. A peek behind the curtain of a life lived lovely, this is too. And so goes my ASMR feelings.
Maybe it’s the nature of Jazz, maybe it’s the intimacy of the audience to the passionate singing, or maybe it’s the small gap between subject and viewer, but *Sloane: A Jazz Singer* could pass more as ASMR than a documentary - if it wanted to. As a documentary, it’s complex if average. As an impression of an extraordinary woman, it’s enchanting if curt. Collages usually are, and that’s the type of quick trip this is.
Still, to leave this world by singing on your way out… that’s beautiful. **3.5/5**
*Sloane: A Jazz Singer* is currently touring the festival circuit.
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber ($2 per month / $22 per year).
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Movie Review: 'Shortcomings'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/shortcomings/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:16.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Someone recently wrote that Randall Parks’ feature directorial debut, *Shortcomings*, was reminiscent of the wave of independent films that was experienced in the 1990s. Certainly, his movie has all of the right elements - a meta love/hate relationship with modern cinema, a twist on the romantic comedy pattern, and a protagonist who is as unlikely to lead a movie as he is ultimately and truly relatable. This makes *Shortcomings* quirky, offbeat, and cool.
I’m unfamiliar with writer Adrian Tomine’s career as a comic artist (he adapted one of his stories into the screenplay for this film), but he makes for a great teammate with director (who appears in a cameo) Randall Parks, who himself is most recently familiar with nostalgia for 90s-ish cinema, having starred in the short-lived Netflix series *Blockbuster*. There, he played the manager of the last Blockbuster video store in operation. Here, he and Adrian Tomine are the facilitators for and the dreamers of the world of a jerk movie theater manager, who is due for a reckoning straight out of Sundance (the festival) filmmaking.
Justin Min plays the theater manager and lead character Ben, a young man who takes just about everything in his life for granted and treats everyone as avatars for his sometimes witty but often argumentative conversations. He’s not unlike the Kevin Smith-created (another Randall) video store jockey from the classic *Clerks* (a real 90s-era flick), only less nihilistically vulgar. Ben is, however, pretty aggressive, mostly passively and sometimes directly, which is pretty off-putting for a “hero” to be. But Justin Min doesn’t perform Ben that way, instead going for a more self-gratifying villain.
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Ben’s hangups are unloaded on his best friend, played with formidable energy and excellence by the great Sherry Cola, and his girlfriend Miko, whom he behaves overly cutesy with. Miko is like a crutch for Ben’s attitude and his station in life. No one should have to put up with that.
*Shortcomings* moves between the independent film meccas of Los Angeles and New York City, taking advantage of that indie (independent) feeling that is craved most endearingly by contemporary cinephiles, now and likely forever. And it works. There’s more at play in the movie, like Asian-American interpersonal relationships and their representation in media and culture, but really, down and out, this is a story about an a~~ss~~hole who tried ever so hard to force life on his own terms, completely missing the joy and the point of it all. He can’t stand most people, especially those who swoon over the latest mainstream tear-jerker knock-off film, like the satirical take on *Crazy Rich Asians* that screens at the opening of *Shortcomings*. This is Ben’s movie, dammit. He WILL be heard.
But does he have anything worthwhile to say, or is it just noise?
I wouldn’t label *Shortcomings* as one-note, as its performances and arcs are pretty bold, thanks to Justin Min, Sherry Cola, and Ally Maki - the girlfriend Miko. I would, however, suggest some pre-show homework before watching, like the aforementioned *Clerks*, *In the Soup*, or any Ed Burns-directed film.
This shouldn’t be necessary to appreciate any movie but try to see it as a good study of cinema that’s gone by.
Well, not completely “gone.” **3.5/5**
*Shortcomings* is wrapping up its theatrical run, and will be available on demand soon.
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber ($2 per month / $22 per year).
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Movie Review: 'Cosmic Disco Detective Rene'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/cosmicdisco/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:17.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
I tend to never give up on a movie, even and especially after the initial viewing. It’s always best to consider and re-consider thoughts on a given film. Now, if there’s a certain spark of something special, something that tickles and chills you nicely and stays around long after the film has finished, then that may be enough to warrant high praise. *Cosmic Disco Detective Rene and the Mystery of Immortal Time Travelers* has that something special, that very spark which tickles and chills all over.
And for those who don’t see or feel that very spark, it’s, unfortunately, their loss.
Roughly ten or so minutes into Director Sujewa Ekanayake’s previous feature, [*The Secret Society for Slow Romance*](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/slomance22?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), I began to understand the style and the language of its story and movements. From the get-go of the sequel, *Cosmic Disco Detective Rene*, I was fully prepped and hooked. An independent sensation, the film is, even in its best of times (of which there are plenty), pretty rough around the edges, so to speak. That is to be expected with such DIY (do it yourself) filmmaking that Sujewa employs and exploits, where snaps and crackles in the audio edits can be heard here and there, or when strangers walk in front of outdoor shots. But, unlike other indies (independent films) that try desperately to over-impress, *Cosmic Disco Detective Rene* gives specific pause and preference to what some would call “flaws.”
In many cases, I don’t believe that most acts of cinema have flaws - only misinterpretations, either from in front of or behind the camera or from those staring at a screen. With Sujewa’s movie, there’s no mistaking what’s happened and happening. There’s a clarity to its vision that grounds one comfortably, no matter the oddities that occur. *Cosmic Disco Detective Rene*, in this way for sure, is head and shoulders above more “polished” features, small or large.
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In the movie, Rene (Sujewa himself) taps into the waves of disco music that exist all around us - but are rarely perceived - to complete his contracted private detective work, to fix global poverty, and to figure out how best to improve the independent filmmaking infrastructure. He’s a busy guy, with big ideas. His girlfriend, played as attached to any given moment as anyone has ever been by the great Alia Lorae, also ponders things, but in multitudes and multiples. Together, they spend the film walking around Brooklyn, digging on vibes, being inspired, talking into their phones, and taking audio notes. There’s also a time bridge that keeps appearing in the neighborhood, and people appear to be walking and talking in reverse. It’s up to Rene to advise and look into it all, all the while zoning out and going zen.
This would be a slacker flick if the lead characters didn’t have so many projects on their respective plates. Here, we have an unusual and whole picture of a modern New York City bohemian couple, just being creative and loving life from a romantic perspective. What really clicks and stays in my mind is the bizarre and fanciful dialogue exchanges and conversations. One in particular:
“Nuclear weapons in Brooklyn… that might not be good for people.”
"Or most bodegas.”
It’s deliciously weird but caked genuinely with positive performance and cute satire. There are no obstacles in these people’s lives, just projects they haven’t thought up or planned yet. A hilarious triumph, I proclaim.
*Cosmic Disco Detective Rene* engages because of its indie nature, not in spite of it. Embrace the so-called flaws and explore any accidents along the way - to paraphrase the great Orson Welles, kinda.
Was Orson Welles a time traveler, and did he and Henry Jaglom ever go fishing on the River Styx? I will have to look into it.
More movies should think up such sentences. **4/5**
*Cosmic Disco Detective Rene and the Mystery of Immortal Time Travelers* is available on [Vimeo for a limited time](https://vimeo.com/ondemand/cosmicrene?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and will be screening theatrically as part of the [Indie Discovery LA Film Series](https://www.indiediscoveryla.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) soon.
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## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Review: They Shoot at Salesmen, Don't They?
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/bloodfordust/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:17.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Far be it for me to blush at the drop of a director’s name, but as of late, I’ve been pretty high on the films of Rod Blackhurst - at least two of them, anyway. His 2016 effort [*Here Alone*](https://tubitv.com/movies/549345/here-alone?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) is an incredible challenge to the zombie horror genre, as it twists and turns all around the expectations and assumptions of a dystopic virus thriller. His sense of exposing the vulnerable and intimate in the midst of horrific and bloody action absolutely captivated me, especially in between long stretches of quiet tension and slow-building conflict. I would compare Blackhurst to the great John Hyams, whose films *Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning* and *Alone* are bangers in their own right.
Coming soon will be *Blood for Dust*, which I was very thankful to catch recently. Starring Scoot McNairy and Kit Harington, the film follows a similar trajectory and pattern as *Here Alone*: Brief bursts of heavy action that punctuate stretches of eery calm, sad reflection, and tense silence. Both movies are also set in roughly unpopulated places, *Blood for Dust* being around the Montana region, along truck routes, lonely diners, and snowy landscapes. An empty neighborhood development is even used for the action climax.
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Scoot and Kit play polar opposite salesmen who share a past of shady business deals, the end of one opens the film with a suicide, pulling back from a man’s blown-out skull. Years later, both are hustling to get by - Scoot as Cliff, who tries in earnest to sell defibrillators, and Kit as Ricky, making cash by some black-market ways. Ricky involves Cliff in a drug-driver deal, as nobody would suspect a mild-mannered and meek guy like him of carrying illegal substances.
Of course, things go awry, and both men have to contend with the ghosts of their own pasts and the prospects that present choices will have on their potential futures. Desperate times, desperate measures. From bad to worse, to lucky - maybe.
*Blood for Dust* starts and ends on crime scenes, where one pulls back from the shot and one moves forward into a single image. I feel that these movements properly summarize the film, which for me is very exciting and bold. We begin with a revelation and finish with speculation. This is not a mystery tale, but these two clips do haunt and hold, suggesting so much by saying hardly anything at all. That’s the movie. It delivers a hard punch from such a small frame.
What if *Glengarry Glen Ross* had a gun thrown in the mix? Who would use it and how? I thought about this after *Blood for Dust* ended, and determined that director Rod Blackhurst wasn’t so much interested in the action - which does for sure get intense and bloody and detailed - but rather in the words left unsaid by the characters Cliff and Ricky, either from hesitation and exhaustion or by the inability to vocalize and choose what to say and when to speak. They talk with plenty on their minds but are too soft-spoken to get things out, especially Ricky. Kit Harington plays Ricky with self-made but maybe false confidence, and a lifetime of trauma hanging over his head. Scoot plays Cliff as guilty by circumstance, the weight of which he chooses to bear down hard on himself. When Cliff eats a strip joint burger, he does so without savoring or enjoying it at all, despite having all the time in the world in between sales calls: he’s just filling his stomach. He’s just trying to survive in America.
They’re just trying to get by.
It’s sad that bullets end up being the words Cliff and Ricky wish they had spoken, but such are the choices that we make and don’t make. *Blood for Dust* uses violence not as a means of resolution or justice, but as another stop on an interstate route. As another sales appointment. As another depressing burger to choke down. Set in the mid-1990s during the days of the Clinton administration, *Blood for Dust* can’t get away from Reaganomics and the wrath it wrought on the American dream. On the idea of success. It was violence all by itself, and one that’s still being felt.
To articulate this with a gore-splattered desk was a great way to kick off the film. Rod Blackhurst is one to watch out for. **4/5**
*Blood for Dust* screened at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival and is coming soon to theaters and VOD.
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## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### The Offscreen Scene
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/scene1/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:18.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
If there’s been a lack of reviews from this whole-hearted critic lately, the blame rests squarely at my bloody feet. Running around like a headless chicken, I’ve been accomplishing errands like mad and freelance hustling with great effort - though it seems, it hasn’t been great enough.
Gigs have dried up, applications left unselected, and specific future assignments might disappear completely.
Still, there are plenty of movies left to discover and plenty of words to write about them.
The following newsletter - what I hope will be a weekly exclusive feature - is made up of links, an essay, and a recommendation. This will be the pattern from now on, give or take. For free subscribers and general readers, only the opening piece and links sections will be available. For the full version, please upgrade with a paid subscription:
[Subscribe now](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
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## **Sharing is caring, but do so at your own risk:**
[Oh, to be an “influencer.”](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/aug/01/what-are-film-critics-for-today?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) Might being happy-go-plucky and social media savvy grant a critic more access? Probably, but for those critically-minded few (yet many), so much energy can turn into diabetes. And why catch that from studio publicists than from theater soda?
I’ve been whittling away at this book called *Seeing in the Dark: A Compendium of Cinemagoing* for some time now. It’s a treasure trove of entries from movie patrons of the past, and it makes me smile with every anecdote that I read. The Guardian reached out to the audiences of *Barbie* for an article that’s [similar in subject](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/aug/08/guardian-readers-cinema-etiquette-bad-behavior-anecdotes?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
*The Eyeslicer* series and *We’re All Going to the World’s Fair* were the start of something great from director Jane Schoenbrun. A new feature from her is on the horizon, but in the meantime, she directed and cut a wonderful music video for artist Lucy Dacus. Some *Wizard of Oz*, some romance, some dancing. So lovely!:
“I’ve always been interested in something we could call a non-narrative cinema. [I don’t really believe that cinema needs to tell you a story.](https://www.vulture.com/2023/05/peter-greenaway-on-drowning-by-numbers-and-his-long-career.html?fbclid=IwAR0jaHRxWtAyxagLU4uH1zC8IU348od5IFTqOuQOXLjD-skXwyNP1AYZ-Iw&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) I’m trained as a painter, and the very best paintings, I sincerely believe, are non-narrative. They are about statements, about ideas. And I took this particular viewpoint into the manufacture of cinema.”
“Movie theaters need to be about more than just movies.”
Do they? I mean, maybe a coffee stand or library, [but…](https://www.avclub.com/how-to-save-the-neighborhood-movie-theater-part-2-1850213637?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
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The former site of The Star Theater in Covington, LA. From [Mike Scott’s](https://www.threads.net/@moviegoermike/post/Cvztd4BLU2o?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) feed on Threads.
## **A Canyon**
In the Pre-Hurricane Katrina daze of 2002 Northshore New Orleans, I was in a state of flux. My family had just suffered a heartbreaking move, and I was bitter, seeking out any outlet at all to vent my frustrations and anger. Thankfully, the area had a few interesting movie theaters to visit - perfect places to find an emotional release in positive ways. Homes away from home.
There was The Holiday right across the highway, where I first watched *Attack of the Clones*. There was Causeway Twin, where I watched *Jackass: The Movie* on a severely scratched screen. And there was The Star, where *Rocky Horror* played on weekends at midnight. Regretfully, I never caught a showing at The Star, always passing it by for another day.
That day never came, as the theater would close, sit abandoned, and go through various ownerships and renovation proposals.
I always hoped to get a peek inside, to maybe film some kind of movie review show in the empty seats or at least take pictures. Unfortunately, many months after an [announcement](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/nostar?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) of the building’s transformation into a club, it was determined that the former cinema was beyond repair.
The Star was torn down recently, putting an end to my wish to go inside.
Wanting. It was something I was wanting to do but kept holding back on. Excuses would be made over and over, almost as acts of self-sabotage.
Director Paul Schrader and writer Bret Easton Ellis once teamed up to make the Hollywood-set lurid thriller *The Canyons*, by way of crowdfunding. At the time of its release, I wrote a pretty negative review of it for the now-defunct publication PROPAGANDA New Orleans. The article is no longer online (I don’t think) but I do recall being particularly disturbed in my writing on the film. Charged-up, it made me.
No matter my opinion, there was one thing in the movie that stuck with me all of these years later: the abandoned theaters. In between the scenes of erotic melodrama, there would be periodic shots of these palaces from the outside, showing ruins where once was beauty. I liked how these buildings were juxtaposed with hyper-sexual sequences of Los Angeles lovers and haters, and I liked the buildings by themselves, even if there were in distress. Moviegoing as a romantic if faded memory. There’s something sweet beneath the bitterness of that.
Same with The Star Theater. In the last few years of its standing around, I enjoyed driving past it and sometimes parking nearby, taking pictures of the out-of-order popcorn machine, and reading the futile flyers on the windows asking for help to fix the cinema.
I miss the things I never had the pleasure of experiencing…
…but I take comfort anyway, at least in knowing that these experiences were had by others. This isn’t technically the message of *The Canyons*, but I can’t help pulling that sentiment from my looking back on the movie. It’s what I do as a film critic, and what I do in general.
Sometimes, just writing about these things can rejuvenate and refresh my passion in the midst of personal and financial insecurity. Sometimes, just walking by a theater can do that too, even if there’s an empty lot in its place.
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From the [official trailer](https://youtu.be/7ertafcMYec?t=97&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) for *A Useful Life*.
## Movie Recommendation
**What: *A Useful Life***
**Where: Streaming on** [**Pluto TV**](https://pluto.tv/en/on-demand/movies/5c3cec984d28021518b3e98b?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
**Why:** Starring the late film critic and programmer Jorge Jellinek, this is the film that ignited my interest in cinema from Uruguay. It’s a tight but tender feature, about coming of age well past your prime but still with a pep in your step. Set in a Montevideo cinematheque, a theater manager who lives and breathes movies chooses to take an act of near-divine intervention - the possible final days of his work - to make real from reel the kind of romance he’s seen on screen many times over. It sounds sappy and happy-go-lucky, but there are stretches of challenging and thoughtful sequences, where the protagonist just takes things day by day without stopping to smell the roses so to speak, and enjoy life. The film doesn’t make his job appear lowly, nor does it dress it up for our or its own sake. It is what it is, and it has pros and cons. The potential for true romance is the beating heart in this picture, with a schlubby but lovable pursuit of a perfect match underway toward the halfway mark of the story. I think about this often, and how I can easily see myself living that life in some other universe or time.
---
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## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Art Over Everything
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/devilstongue/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:19.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
First-time feature filmmakers have it rough, especially if their name is Julian Gowdy. For most of these directors, there is this unspoken need and expectation to prove themselves as capable storytellers, no matter if they previously made short films or not. Gowdy’s film *The Devil’s Tongue*, meanwhile, had received a Covid-19 grant of about $10,000, which made up the entirety of his budget. On top of everything, for a filmmaker to work under the thumb of silly expectations and work with desperately needed emergency relief money, making a compelling and coherent movie is almost too stressful to achieve.
But achieve, Julian Gowdy has. His film wears all of its budget on the screen, in every scene, and through each performance. Rough around the edges here and there and sometimes a little lost in its own story, *The Devil’s Tongue* succeeds in an entertaining and sometimes unsettling manner.
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Director Julian Gowdy plays, in most meta form, a version of himself (also named Julian), struggling to complete a film that he seems to have been working on for years. He’s clearly in over his head, as his anxieties come from artistic dread more than the practical means of finishing a project. It’s in these scenes, when the camera lingers on his sad and stiff demeanor, that the movie stretches itself and comes to a slow slag. It’s hard to direct yourself, I imagine, but it’s worth noting since *The Devil’s Tongue* hinges so much on this character’s existential issues related to doing something greater than great. He comes off as completely full of himself, to the point of being unlikable from the get-go. His eventual fall from grace isn’t tragic, but inevitable.
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
That being said, the performances and the elements around Gowdy are quite good and even memorable. Actor Philip Bushman, who plays the adult son of a hot-shot Hollywood Producer, is particularly excellent. He spends the majority of his time chained to a throne, where he is waterboarded and degraded. His character is tricked into “acting” for Julian, and subsequently goes to a real dark and emotional place, expressing the kind of horror that can only come from experience and backstory. In a later scene, a drunk friend of his sits next to him, and they chit-chat about the woman who flirted with him earlier. It’s an amazing range from such an unknown performer, and I hope Bushman does more movies.
*The Devil’s Tongue* might be a bit amateurish in parts, but this goes along with its charm and its story. The film within the film is being shot on what I think is a VHS camcorder, which of course is an aesthetic and a prop on its own, expressing just how far below the ladder Julian is in the movie. There’s also a minor but important subplot involving sobriety, which, when involving Bushman, is quite heartbreaking and cruel. When the film gets hardcore is when it shines. When it brings out the devil is when the fun happens.
No matter how it was made, *The Devil’s Tongue* \- while it could stand to dial back the struggling artistic jerk tale and dial up the filmmaking as pain aspect - stands out as a fresh example of true independent filmmaking from a fresh new voice. Rough for sure, but unexpected and pretty daring too. Good job. **2.5/5**
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber ($2 per month / $22 per year, until 8/1/2023)
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Fantasia Fest 2023: On the Docket
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/fantasia23docket/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:19.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
When film festivals were forced to go virtual/online due to the Covid Pandemic, a whole world of movies opened up to critics who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend such events in person. This included me, as I tend to stay within the Southeast region of Louisiana (maybe it’s time to change things up?).
Fantasia Fest has, hands down, been my favorite of these newly opened-up festivals to cover. The movies they tend to showcase are international, independent, often weird, and sometimes underground.
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[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
While I don’t believe that this year’s event has a virtual platform for worldwide audiences (bummer), access to a wide range of critics has continued, broadening the scope of coverage for these diverse and eclectic movies exponentially.
If you can visit Montreal, Quebec from now until 8/9/2023, I highly recommend attending some theatrical engagements.
The following list of flicks represents what I plan on reviewing here on Moviegoing with BIll in the upcoming days/weeks. For the full list, click [here](https://fantasiafestival.com/en/festival-2023/program/movies?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com):
**Feature Films**
*Hot Dog Cops*
*Doomed America: The Films of the Ormond Family*
*Hippo*
*Max Funk: Pour ton funk seulement*
*Perpetrator*
**Short Films**
*Ball-Pit. Wednesday. Lemonade.*
*Pumpkin Boy*
*Pruning*
*Terrifying Holes Compilation*
*Write a Song About Heartache*
I can’t wait to share with you and yours my thoughts on these movies.
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber ($2 per month / $22 per year, until 8/1/2023)
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Safety Impossible!
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/deadreckoning1/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:20.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Actor Chris Evans may be the Captain America of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies (MCU), but Tom Cruise is, at the very least, the “[manifestation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5VlzVyOMa8&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)” of the good ol’ Cap for cinema itself. Spectacle cinema, sure, but isn’t that how the medium caught on fire (not to reference the nitrate film prints from that era)?
It’s interesting to me how Cruise’s latest blockbuster, *Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1*, ends with various action sequences on a runaway train, as the Lumiere Brothers’ 1896 short[*The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FAj9fJQRZA&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), which was a sensation when it screened over a century ago, is entirely of a train operating as it should. The spectacle in that film was both in the composition of the shot - which created the feeling of an actual train coming at the screen and the audience - and in the unexpected and surprising elements inherent in this new-fangled format of lights and chemicals.
Things aren’t so simple now, as movies like *Dead Reckoning Part 1* have massive production design, choreography, and stunts upon stunts being performed, all to grab attention and create awe. But the interesting thing that connects Cruise’s masterstroke of a film to the beginning days of cinema, in my mind, is **not in the illusion** of “reality” coming at you, but **in the celebration** of the reality that is happening before everyone.
On a deeper level, the story in *Dead Reckoning Part 1* uses what’s real and what’s a trick as a weapon on the senses of its protagonist, the ever-noble Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), who has taken it upon himself to save the world again and again, with little to no accountability, much like Captain America in the MCU’s *Civil War* flick. In this film, Hunt is out to destroy “The Entity,” which is described as a radical and possibly sentient Artificial Intelligence program gone rogue. While this Entity doesn’t go full MCU *Age of Ultron* (yet), it does use puzzles and past enemies to mess with Hunt’s head, forcing him to question his actions and strategies. It’s always learning and constantly computing all sorts of potentialities, in a grand effort to… we’re not sure (yet).
What I am sure of is that *Dead Reckoning Part 1* is a crowd-pleaser and then some. Just before the feature began, a moviegoer in my audience, seated in the front row, exclaimed, “I’ve been waiting a year for this!” to all that could hear. Whatever the box office results will determine, this mission, to pull the theatrical experience of cinema back from the edge of death, is an amazing hat trick that combines the tangible with the abstract. Alchemy? Almost.
Thank you for reading Moviegoing with Bill. Sharing is caring, so please send it around to family, friends, and followers.
Harold Lloyd in *[Never Weaken](https://youtu.be/rS5hmvpkF1o?t=1385&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)*
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
Not unlike how silent film era star and director Buster Keaton destroyed a real train in *The General* for its climax, Tom Cruise really drives off of a real cliff in *Dead Reckoning Part 1* for its climax and keeps up the action from there. There are other pieces too, much like in the gag and stunt-filled silent comedy *Never Weaken* starring the great Harold Lloyd - a movie where his character attempts suicide many times, only to be thwarted by chance and silliness. Cruise isn’t trying to kill himself now, and neither was Lloyd or Keaton back then. He is and they were living, to the absolute fullest. Of course, the two silent stars were doing so in their youthful prime; Cruise continues to amp things up as he ages. No amount of cinematic technique can hide the effects of time, so why not lean toward it? Why not run to it? Cruise does a lot of running, after all.
*Dead Reckoning Part 1* continues the *Mission: Impossible* trend of presenting the fantastical and exceeding expectations. For a major summer flick to force me to think about what makes cinema great says a lot about the people who made the movie and all of the parts at play. Yes, there is an illusion happening on the big screen, with many hands at work engineering the so-called magic. Imagineers? Filmmakers. But there is also a realness being projected, one that goes beyond the physicality and the weight of the stunts. It’s as simple as placing a camera near the front of a train, as it enters a station. That was real, but people also believed a train was really in front of them. The spectacle becomes true, and the story breaks out into our collective world. An entity beyond belief becomes belief.
This goes beyond Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom. There isn’t really a Captain America, right? Right. But there really is the cinema, and it can manifest all kinds of sensations. *Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1* isn’t merely a “see it to believe it” movie; It is also just a movie. And that’s spectacular. **5/5**
*Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1* is currently playing only in theaters.
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber ($2 per month / $22 per year, until 8/1/2023)
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Gone Sledding
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/yearofthedog/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:21.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
As a film critic for whom attending Al-Anon meetings might be therapeutic, I found *The Year of the Dog* to be confusing. Al-Anon, for those who don’t know, is a support group specifically for family members who are concerned about alcoholic loved ones. I haven’t been to any of these settings myself (not yet) but in my limited understanding of that program and of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) by extension, there’s no finish line to sobriety - it’s a one-day-at-a-time thing.
*The Year of the Dog*, an independent film about a man trying to reach thirty sober days, does make clear that it’s a one-day-at-a-time system, but it also can’t help itself by moving as per dramatic formula and ending on a “mission accomplished” ending. No, it’s not the President W. Bush of Addiction movies, but it does try too hard at being two different but conflicting kinds of stories.
Its protagonist, a man who is introduced as sleeping on a set of steps out in the cold, has agreed to a thirty-day sobriety goal before hopefully seeing his mother, who is dying in hospice care. He has a kind sponsor who lets him stay in a cabin on his large Montana property, where a stray dog appears. Taking the dog in, the man begins to train both the dog and himself to participate in both a weight-pulling competition and the community at large respectively. The sentimentality is heavy, but the film wears its heart on its sleeve. And that speaks volumes, for sure.
Thank you for reading Moviegoing with Bill. Sharing is caring, so please send it along to friends, family, and followers alike.
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
The confusion sets in as the film progresses to its overly and overtly tear-jerking crescendo, which more than suggests that the man isn’t just on a path to a better life, but rather that he has succeeded fully. All apologies, but *The Year of the Dog*’s arc isn’t one that I would call mature. It’s a juvenile thought to believe that a one-and-done cure for addiction can be found through the spirit of nature or by merely opening your heart to the wind, or something of that ilk. Maybe the movie is trying to suggest that the man - played with pretty real grace and vulnerability by Rob Grabow - has only begun his life-long journey, and is doing so from a good place, but I just don’t see or feel that.
The final scene is a perfect contradiction and exactly makes my main criticism. We see the man, with a woman who was previously a friend and is now a girlfriend, being pulled by a team of sled dogs. This likely represents the life path that he’s still on and in a wonderfully visual manner. However, there is also voice-over narration that implies all he needs he’s already found, and that all’s well ends well. The end.
Again - sorry, but no.
With an awkward soundtrack, real-world performances that appear well-grounded, and a good-intentioned if confused dramatic mindset, *The Year of the Dog* might make for heart-warming viewing for some but will definitely be frustrating for others - especially those working the twelve steps. Of course, I only have a limited understanding of the program, so I could be wrong.
Could be. **2/5**
*The Year of the Dog* is now available for rent or purchase.
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber ($2 per month / $22 per year, until 8/1/2023)
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### It Is Fine, Everything Is Fine
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/wildflower/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:21.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
I suspect that, at some point in the writing process, Matt Smukler’s drama *Wildflower* was titled something else. Suspect, of course. Wildflower suggests, to me, a movie about a lovely but free-spirited individual. *Wildflower*, as it plays, is more the story of a family that’s centered around a spunky but responsible teenager’s perspective. The poster certainly makes this clear, with the main character Bea (Kiernan Shipka) front and center, surrounded by the extended cast of people in her life. Maybe the title is a pixie-stick indie flick sales trick?
Who knows. The film is a narrative told partially from the inner monologue of Bea, who is in a coma but is still very much aware of things. Bea tells her tale in flashback, starting from birth to the present, going from her Mother and Father meeting to the accident that sent her to the hospital. Fairly straightforward and standard in setup, but certainly with that indie flick shakeup: Her parents have intellectual disabilities, and her entire family is at their wits ends about how to care for the three of them. Maybe the premise is a tear-jerking illusion?
No. *Wildflower* uses its potential sappiness and corny expectations as devices for performing a 180-degree flip from the first 10 minutes. This movie is not a pity party for Bea or for the family that argues over how to handle two disabled loved ones. This movie is a celebration of independence and living the best lives possible, no matter the obstacles, and no matter how corny that notion by itself might be.
Samantha Hyde and Dash Mihok play Bea’s parents - two confident and sure-footed people who, despite some struggle, get along in life happily. Bea, short for Bambi (named after her Mom’s favorite cartoon), spends her days between school and work trying to take care of household duties, playing a type of caregiver on top of being a teenager on the cusp of college. She’s particularly smart and could get into any university she’d want, but chooses to hold back out of a self-appointed obligation to her parents. But, of course, there’s nothing “wrong” with either of them. In fact, more than the extended family, they’re the only ones truly enjoying each and every day. They’re part of the community, they work, they drive, and they love each other. What’s the problem?
Thank you for reading Moviegoing with Bill. Please share this post with your friends, family, and follower - if you like it, of course.
Official poster for *Wildflower*
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
I was absolutely surprised at how sensitive this movie got with regards to the subject of and advocacy for independent living for people with disabilities, and how truly fulfilling it is. According to the limited background that I’ve done on the film, Writer & Director Matt Smukler based some of this story on his own life and experiences. I’d love to ask him some questions about *Wildflower* someday, but for now, I’m just happy that such a movie with such a wonderfully positive message about being independent and letting others become self-reliant exists.
Sometimes, *Wildflower* does get a little too sappy and sweet, and sometimes it does venture a tad bit into young adult novel territory, but it never gives in to these cracks and faults. Kiernan Shipka’s charm and sheer presence guarantee this. She plays mature spunk extremely well and has the kind of romantic forward-looking eyes that make a girl named Bambi a delightful reality. She plays Bea as not quite beyond her years but definitely with a stuck-in-the-moment attitude. She’s optimistic but with caution. She’s great here.
I’m glad that *Wildflower* hasn’t been marketed as a movie with a social messenger, as this would spoil audiences and sour them on the film as a whole. I’m also upset that there hasn’t been much if any marketing for it at all. If there’s not enough money in the budget for promotions, why bother with giving it a manic-pixie-dream-indie title? It just feels tacked on to an otherwise non-tacky movie. Whatever helps?
Ok. **3.5/5**
*Wildflower* is now streaming on Hulu and is available for rent or purchase.
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber ($2 per month / $22 per year, until 8/1/2023)
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Tribeca 2023: A Welcome Shield
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/americansikh/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:22.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
The animated short bio-documentary *American Sikh* reminds me of a scene from *Hollwoodland*, where Ben Affleck as actor George Reeves, is performing a live show for families in his *Adventures of Superman* television costume. After a smoke break, George gets into character for everyone but is almost immediately met by a gun-wielding child, who wants to see a bullet bounce off of his chest. Like on television. Many decades later, we have kids and man-children go nuts for superhero flicks, treating them as more real than reel. Is it a sadness? Is it a sickness?
In *American Sikh*, co-directed by Ryan Westra and star/narrator Vishavjit Singh, fandom is used against its worst aspects, forcing ordinary people to applaud, hug, and welcome someone normally seen as “different.” In the case of this film, that difference would lead the real-life Vishavjit Singh on a decades-long quest to find some level of community comfort and acceptance as an American citizen.
Throughout the animated story, Singh evolves from his first days in this country, where he eventually chooses to remove some cultural references to his past - notably ridding himself of his turban for a while - to his more recent years in New York City, where he molds his heritage with the superhero character Captain America. This evolution maintains its colorful and cartoonish heightened reality and exaggerated emotions with ease, only ever toning things down when Singh himself tones things up… by going out in public, wearing the costume of a character that he created, Sikh Captain America.
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
The occurrence of 9/11, in *American Sikh*, isn’t the punctuated or show-stopping moment that one would expect in a movie. For Singh, there certainly was an expansion of anger and fear toward him and other Sikhs after the attack, but he had already been experiencing levels of bullying for years. No matter what new trends he followed, what new clothes he wore, or what music he’d listen to, fitting in would be this difficult thing out of grasp. Post-9/11, the film has this beaten-down air of exhaustion and depression, and it’s really felt too.
It wasn’t until he stepped out as Sikh Captain America that people high-fived him and embraced who he wanted to be. Wanted, mind you. *American Sikh* is a superb portrait of an America that’s splashed with color and yet dark and grey in the creeks and corners. It’s a cartoon, but never cartoonish about its subject. How could it be? The film does great when providing relief and release to the overall goodness that Singh himself represents, and the relief that comes out of such a vulnerable and inspiring action - the cosplay - definitely feels good to witness. But as good of an ending as it is, the ending is all but a truncated one, skipping to a finish rather than walking to one. So much time is spent on his trauma, and so little time is spent on his success - in and out of costume. This may have been by design, to suggest that more work must be done in the cultural sphere to win hearts and minds, though it could also have been a sly move to pull on heartstrings. I’m not sure, but I’ll go with the former for now.
*American Sikh* doesn’t fully explore the sadness of how he gains temporary acceptance, but certainly shows it somewhat in its quick ending. Singh reflects on how, out of costume, he feels the weight of the world. Getting off of a subway train, a kid asks for his autograph, recognizing him as the hero from the day before. Yes, it’s a schmaltz move, and yes it can be seen as more reason to feel bad for America as it is today. But… it’s also kind of sweet. Maybe it doesn’t matter if we want the world to be like a fantastical comic book or not. Maybe it’s just enough to stand out and be bold? Maybe. George Reeves did disarm the kid with a simple speech about good vs bad, so… maybe. **3.5/5**
*American Sikh* is currently touring the film festival circuit.
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber ($2 per month, $22 per year - until 8/1/2023).
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### The Exhausted Ones
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/stayawake/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:22.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Rinse and repeat. This is the unbroken and depressing cycle of drug abuse as depicted in *Stay Awake*. Firstly, it should be stated, that this movie does not schmaltz-up painkiller addiction with tear-jerking scenes. In fact, while the addicted individual is the focus and usually the central discussion in most of the moments, this is really a film about how others cope with people who have such sicknesses. It may not technically be a sickness that goes viral (so to speak), but its torment can spread for a long while, day to day. Rinse and repeat.
Chrissy Metz plays a mother of two boys who are turning into young men and is also hooked on pills - as many in America are. Her introduction is one of grand sadness, showing off what she could be and would rather be, before falling into what she is at the moment. From cooking family dinners to being found half-conscious, while food is still on the stove. The music playing in the home is but a cruel punctuation to a many times played-out scenario, where she’ll be driven to the hospital for revival, while her sons both play a song guessing game to keep her from passing out. *Stay Awake* may not go “hardcore” into the drug scene - and why should it have to when the problem is in every neighborhood? - but I’d call it hard nonetheless.
Her two kids, one of whom with the assumed father figure role and the other who is moving off to college soon, have both seen enough tragedy for one childhood to ever bear witness to. If her body isn’t at home, they’ll search the streets and alleys at night for possible spots she may have nodded off. If they don’t have a car, one might be “borrowed.” It’s never by choice but by obligation and care. The siblings want so much to move on, especially when nothing seems to be working. Should they feel guilty? *Stay Awake* has no answers, and that’s good. It’s a movie that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the caring as if they’re in a swirling state of static, where their help is more of a crutch to the cared-for than it is helpful.
Maybe it was the compositions at night and the ones under fluorescent humming lights that made everything stand out here. Maybe it was the performances of Wyatt Oleff and Fin Argus (the siblings) who juggle the navigation of assisting their mother while living their lives that absolutely shook me. *Stay Awake* couldn’t possibly be better crafted as a family drama and as a coming-of-age picture than it already is.
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Outshining Chrissy Metz, who plays a character that’s always in the back of their thoughts, Oleff and Argus articulate so many feigned smiles and a lot of difficult-to-hide angst. They play their roles with sad walks but genuine happiness for one another’s accomplishments. They’re exhausted but enthused about the future, whether it involves their mother or not. They play things out with foresight and expectations for the worst to happen at first, before letting their guards down when the appearance of health comes open. The two traverse a tightly directed and lovely shot script with a presence of been there done that on the surface, and with a kernel of hopefulness on the inside that begs to be popped. A welcome home celebration scene in particular highlights this so well, that I nearly shouted the merit from the top of my seat.
An all too familiar story for many that’s done with measured doubt and uncertainty, and one that never gives up into triumph territory, *Stay Awake* is one of the more fantastically told movies on the subject of addiction that’s been made in recent times. Never overblown, always grounded when needed. Rinse and repeat. **4/5**
*Stay Awake* is now playing in [theaters](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Tribeca 2023: Bringing Out the (almost) Dead
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/kimsvideo/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:23.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
The positive sensation of searching shelves for movies to watch is still alive and well, especially in used media stores. The ghosts of video rental past haunt those aisles and linger in the hearts of all patrons, who I still observe holding wide-eyed gazes and joyful conversations with one another. This is the “human algorithm” as suggested in the tagline for the documentary [*At the Video Store*](https://www.atthevideostoremovie.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), a much-missing element from the now dominant mass of streaming services and gatekeepers - It’s one thing to be given recommendations based on your own taste, but it’s another to find previously unknown selections and discoveries. That’s the video store touch.
Director David Redmon - with his co-directing partner Ashley Sabin (both of [*Mardi Gras: Made in China*](https://www.carnivalesquefilms.com/films/mardi-gras-made-china?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) fame) is the unseen hand but always heard narrator behind *Kim’s Video*, a docu-essay hybrid about the New York City movie mecca Kim’s Video. The store spun many a film lover’s tastes and spawned many a filmmaker’s career, inspired by its massive amount of hard-to-find and sometimes bootlegged films. For David, it was home and a place to find peace from the voices calling him to make movies. Here, years after owner Yongman Kim closed his stores, David seeks to find out what happened to the collection of films that he fell in love with, leading him on a journey across the globe, inside different cultures and meeting sketchy individuals.
Watching *Kim’s Video* is a lively and sometimes tense time, filled with surprises and obstacles and victories throughout. It’s silly to think of, but that much is true, even when the film calls its own tale into question. David Redmon as the narrator is a reliable source of movie references, factoids, personality, and sincere intent, but as co-director, he very well could be a master manipulator, carving cinema not out of reality, but mostly from a script.
That is the nature of documentary essay films like *Bowling for Columbine* and *Grizzly Man* of course, where heightened cinematic truths are sought over simply reading the facts - and if accurate this would make *Kim’s Video* a masterclass in that style. If inaccurate, and if the events that unfold in *Kim’s Video* indeed happened as shown, then how beautiful and serendipitous. How playful and passionate. How wild.
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From foreign mafia involvement to international politics, and the filmmaking dreams of one businessman, *Kim’s Video* is truly revelatory, perfectly articulating the obsession of David Redmon in finding the fate of this treasure trove of films. His search, described as “quixotic,” isn’t just a fun investigation about an obscure subject, as it represents a deep yearning that I believe is shared by all patrons of the movies, and that is community.
David’s attachment to this collection in particular, more than to cinema in general, isn’t some special fancy to return to every now and then, but rather a timeless attempt to maintain a connection with others, sparing no expense - a connection through what is now a memory from his youth: the video store. However, while shopping for movies through shelf after shelf is to this day a fine collective activity, it’s not necessarily something that patrons will go to the ends of the Earth for, as they can always scroll through virtual carousels of film titles online. Indeed, David Redmon is tilting at windmills.
Keep tilting, I say. Scour the shelves and press play every day. This odyssey is one of persistence most palpable and thrills most exciting. Romantics will identify all the way with this trip, film lovers or otherwise. Confrontational, friendly, and spiritually independent, *Kim’s Video* personifies what’s personal and sacred to all of us - the importance of art and the need for art to be felt. Without this recognition, tapes, and DVDs would still be sitting in boxes at an obscure building in Italy. The video store touch lives on. Keep tilting. **5/5**
*Kim’s Video* is currently on the festival circuit and will be screening next at the Tribeca Film Festival, presented in part with [Lunchmeat VHS](https://lunchmeatvhs.com/blogs/blog/lunchmeat-to-co-present-kim-s-video-at-tribeca-film-festival?fbclid=IwAR1DpRT6c1FC7Vu%5F5XT8EuhFHEHp6YabXvgSnRaO55upsYw8LYBpu3NHvTg&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), on June 13th.
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Sailing Away
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/bristolfashion/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:23.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
The movie *Bristol Fashion* is a pretty lukewarm drama, but there is one scene that I believe leaves a profound mark. A young woman named Christina appears for a job interview at a New York City grocery store. It’s a cramped office, and the manager is a grumpy and impatient guy. Once the position of product stocker is offered, the manager requests a photo I.D. Christina hesitates before handing it over. “This says ‘Christopher’” he says confusingly. A moment or two later, he gets the situation without wanting to hear much else. Christina is transgender. From here, the manager quickly scurries about to finish the meeting and is even thwarted by a slow scanner/printer, making for an awkward silence. He shakes her hand, and that’s that. *Bristol Fashion* may not be perfect, but it’s in these scenes that great vulnerabilities are found, and a real story presents itself beyond the surface plot - or what little of it there is.
Christina is played by Lea Nayeli, who exudes dominating confidence and sad strength, despite and in spite of what is a disappointing script. She’s at the center of this film, and rightfully so. None of what works would work without her interpretation of Christina’s personality, which is a combination of toughness, snappiness, and friendly gestures. Nayeli presents this Christina as someone whose identity is first and foremost a lost person searching for herself. She’s trans, but that’s only an “issue” for a few jerks around her. She knows what she wants as her next move in life, but to get there she has to confront a few obstacles, namely those of a few insecure men.
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*Bristol Fashion* stretches itself incredibly thin on story, dragging things out so much that some scenes feel like a b-roll of extended cuts, like one where characters take some mushrooms and trip for a long time. Some threads go nowhere, others only exist as fluff, and the movie suffers as a result. Setups without payoff and payoffs unearned.
Still, there are sparks that come from its trio of leading actors. The other two, Raul Perez and Richie Di Frisco, play Esteban and Cadillac respectively, and make the story beneath the story very interesting. Esteban is the boatyard’s handyman and is lovesick for Christina. Cadillac is a friend of hers, a drug dealer, and an occasional lover. He’s also a wannabe actor, who lands a part in a local dinner theater production. “It’s a start,” he exclaims proudly, while Christina smirks. Esteban meanwhile is awfully cordial and forward about his feelings but has lofty and unrealistic expectations for a relationship that’s not going to happen.
Both men could be considered, in some ways, as losers of sorts - man-babies that seek comfort and assurance from anyone in their lives. However, why must that come from Christina? It’s not on her to make every man feel good about themselves, and her situation certainly shouldn’t mean an obligation on her part to comply. This is *Bristol Fashion*’s singular and best possible tale. Raul Perez and Richie Di Frisco supplement Lea Nayeli so well, that the film’s casting choices feel serendipitous. There’s chemistry throughout and in between the characters, making everything a pleasure to watch - even when things go on too long.
Make some scenes tighter and clearer, and *Bristol Fashion* would be a stellar sure thing of indie cinema. While the film treads water here and there, it does float and thrive from its triple-threat acting. In that way, I suppose the movie is a sure thing. It’s funny how things work out. **2.5/5**
Bristol Fashion is now available for rent and purchase on-demand and will be screening soon as part of the [Indie Discovery LA Film Series](https://www.indiediscoveryla.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### The Reel Iron Man
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/contentlofiman/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:24.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Not a week goes by when I don’t read a complaint or critique on the overuse of the word “content” as it applies to various art mediums. Concerning film, content is a nasty word, representing the worst aspects of corporate “progress” off the backs of independent filmmakers. *CONTENT: The Lo-Fi Man*, co-directed by two such indie misfits, weaponizes its satirical approach against the tide of control and endless/meaningless data-driven drivel, by finding inspiration from the past and getting candid with the next generation.
The short, from Brian Lonano (director of [*Gwilliam*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwj1YfHrNo0&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)) and Blake Myers (director of [*Disabled But Able to Rock*](https://vimeo.com/54153187?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)), kicks off with a singularity event, striking down on a video shoot from a Lonano himself, as he tries to discuss the classic Japanese sci-fi horror *Tetsuo: The Iron Man*. Lonano, in his professional jacket and an air of academia, is data-moshed into oblivion by an unseen force and transformed into a super self-promoter, also named Brian Lonano. From here, the new variant peppers in subscribe buttons and advertisement logos, and is whipped into a frenzy about “content.” Well, by force. A true whipping by the unseen force.
When the chroma keying is removed and the veil is lifted, Lonano #2 is revealed to be but a drone worker (or content creator), squeezing out gruel to eat on breaks and held at gunpoint by a gas mask-wearing guard, donned with two mouse ears on his helmet (laugh out loud). In *CONTENT*, artists are commodified to the fullest and lobotomized at the soonest - that is unless they give in. An escape, a meeting with underground filmmakers, and a confrontation with a robot, ultimately lead Lonano #2 to his ultimate destiny.
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What made *Tetsuo: The Iron Man* such a shock and so incredibly memorable wasn’t just its passion to “create,” but its hardcore and aggressive attitude. *CONTENT* isn’t aggressive or angry or even mean, but it does point out the weight that bears down on artists from industry gatekeepers, and the naive nature of some artists when dealing with corporate constraints and confinement.
Brian Lonano and Blake Myers are both formidable and practical filmmakers that I’ve had the pleasure of following for quite a while - two cool dudes who love anti-establishment sentiments, D.I.Y. props and designs, and buckets of blood (of course). Previous short films from Lonano and Myers, such as [*Crow Hand*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3XD0ROz5YY&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and the great mad science zombie tale [*Munching Your Motherfucking Nubs*](https://vimeo.com/18367263?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), are proof positive of their respective sensibilities as filmmakers and attitudes toward control.
*CONTENT: The Lo-Fi Man* is clever and quick, slow and low, fun and funny. It has plenty to say and make fun of, from the top down of the ~~content creation~~ filmmaking industry, from the owners and operators to the dreamers and guerillas. In the end, its most successful defense is offense, where inspiration is flattery and VHS is freedom. In this way, Lonano’s vision of doing a film appreciation video comes alive, and a Lo-Fi Man is born from *Tetsuo* tape-trading and found independent spirit. It may be a slap-happy and safely-violent continuation of a modern conversation, but its message is clear and confident: Don’t be content with “content.” **3.5/5**
*CONTENT: The Lo-Fi Man* is currently screening on the film festival circuit.
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Dirty Cops, No Donuts
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/memorialdaymassacre/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:24.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
There has been little to no change in how American media responds to strikes and protests, from a century ago to now. Clear as day, from print to broadcast, from decade to decade, decisions are made from the top down to control narratives and conveniently leave out crucial details of the ongoing struggle for civil and labor rights.
In the short documentary *Memorial Day Massacre: Workers Die, Film Buried*, the veteran journalist and filmmaker Greg Mitchell - who writes - picks apart a 1937 police attack on a steelworkers strike in Chicago, and attempts to right some wrongs in the process, by analyzing the suppressed and lopsided newsreel footage made from that Memorial Day tragedy. More than providing a timeline summary, Mitchell crafts both a lively piece of integral journalism and an easy-to-grasp story.
Whether it’s the veil of “objectivity” or the fear of being hammered by the bosses, most mainstream news often slants toward authority. Not always, but often. Not all, but most. *Memorial Day Massacre* centers on the shocking newsreel footage, taken by Paramount and meant for movie theaters, of police advancing on and attacking a striker’s picnic and march, beating and killing with coldly calculated brutality and fierce righteousness.
The footage was withheld at first before being cut down for a lopsided perspective that was sold as being balanced. “A plague on both your houses,” said President Roosevelt, making a Shakespeare reference when responding to the event and its aftermath. Was he fooled by the “balanced” take, or was he fooling himself?
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The documentary takes on a noble journalistic and storytelling cause but not without holding itself back a little. Even by today’s standards, Paramount’s newsreel of the event is a shock to the system. *Memorial Day Massacre* does great when bridging facts from in-between edits and when using archival audio interviews to help reset the context properly, making for a startling and urgent film.
However impactful, however informative, and however right it is, some further connections and contrasts to the current media landscape and the state of labor today would’ve been welcome. A nitpick yes, as the story of what happened and what was filmed is engaging alone. A silly and tedious nitpick maybe. While the final few minutes do discuss the news of now, it just doesn’t hold the same energy or interest as the rest of the movie.
Still, it’s the bulk of *Memorial Day Massacre* that is fascinating, about re-discovery and giving an explanation for present-day people. The song & dance of police violence was too familiar and routine then and is just as much today, but with the added visual text of the newsreel footage and the revelation of manipulation happening even way back when, this film is important, frank, and much-needed. **3.5/5**
*Memorial Day Massacre: Workers Die, Film Buried*, is [currently streaming on PBS.org](https://www.pbs.org/video/memorial-day-massacre-workers-die-film-buried-3hzo89/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). Greg Mitchell’s book supplement is [available for purchase now](https://www.amazon.com/MEMORIAL-DAY-MASSACRE-Workers-Companion/dp/B0C2SMCSFY?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Smart Phones by Smart People and Smarter Alecks
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/blackberry/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:25.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
It’s interesting to me how, in a scene that’s placed amid a character’s personal and legal turmoil, the co-CEO of a major phone company would scream at the board of a major sports organization for an extended period of rage, leaving them with the statement “I’m from Waterloo! Where the vampires hang out!” Now, this may or may not have happened as depicted (may not, more than likely), but it says a lot in a single line about the kind of story that the film *BlackBerry* is telling, and it’s mostly done through the seething frustrations and the desperate vulnerabilities that its actors portray. The movie, in this way, is oh-so-funny and oh-so-excellent.
It’s about the rise and ultimate fall of Research in Motion’s (RIM) revolutionary phone the BlackBerry, which was known for its convenient size, its function for easy on-the-go email and text-based communications, and of course, its built-in keyboard that was thumb-friendly- all with a lovable clicking sound. Things begin with smart but nerdy clods meeting a smart but wannabe business trendsetter. The camera moves around not unlike the voyeuristic and in-the-moment style of the tv show *The Office* (all versions), with emphasis-establishing quick zooms and documentary-like distance from its subjects. After an awkward but not unfriendly pitch meeting, Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton, the co-CEO in the opening of this review) offers up his corporate acumen to the motley crew of techies, led by Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and Doug (Director Matt Johnson). From here, misstep after misstep becomes success after success, but not without great will and effort.
*BlackBerry* is an almost feel-good underdog tale only in the sense of short-lived glory and the ultimate victory and vindication of just one character. It’s not really a cautionary tale, but rather a fantastical interpretation of what happened to whom and how. It might as well be a lost modern entry from *Esop’s Fables*, with a simple lesson to learn for sure, but so simple that it goes without saying. *BlackBerry* is at its best when it has room to breathe and space to get loud. It’s theatrical in the best sense of the word, and a finely shot and composed comedy of misfits and mistakes.
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The biggest misfit of them all in *BlackBerry* is actor Glenn Howerton, known for his role in the show *It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia*. As Jim Balsillie, Howerton goes up in volume, notch by notch, as the movie progresses, and not just vocally. Yes, he yells like an exasperated and eccentric R. Lee Ermey, but never cartoonishly. Iconic, but never like a comic strip caricature. Always on edge, Howerton is a blast to behold, turning a corporate shark into a classic tragedy. His Balsillie runs like Tom Cruise from tarmac to tarmac, screaming through his phone and at his terrified assistant, trying to ship-shape this mess of geekdom into something that he can sell. Should we build a commemorative statue of Howerton’s Balsillie in Waterloo? Absolutely.
Director Matt Johnson’s previous two features, *The Dirties* and *Operation Avalanche*, both extremely creative found-footage films, had a giddy nature to their productions. Is it because Johnson himself comes off as someone with the mindset of a kid in a toy store? Maybe. Is it because he’s having fun? Yes. *BlackBerry* follows suit but on a slightly bigger canvas with a more well-known cast (Michael Ironside plays the big and sweaty wound that assists RIM in its own destruction). Each of his films, in some way, deals with the act of filmmaking and blurring fact with fiction- or the other way around. In *BlackBerry*, this is an element that’s buried a bit in the writing, but it becomes all the more visible upon seeing the film multiple times. Johnson can’t help himself. He makes this very specific and kind of real series of events about filmmaking itself too, at least in its ability to craft and re-craft history in a malleable form. The pen is mightier than the sword.
“The world is a vampire,” sang Billy Corgan. But the vampires aren’t in Waterloo; they’re attacking it from the outside. Identity and perception, sacrificing for greatness only to be left as a footnote, stress upon stress, and Apple ruining some s\*\*t. *BlackBerry* is telling the tale of high school politics, Canadian insecurity, and man vs self in beast mode- and it’s all in every scene.
There’s a brilliant moment early on when Howerton’s Balsillie accepts an offer from Baruchel’s Lazaridis. Watching hockey, Howerton is staring past the screen, and almost directly at Baruchel from across town, starting right before he answers the phone. Howerton is impatiently showing his lack of weakness - I imagine the character practicing in the mirror how to do this - which is a weakness on its own. There’s confidence in recognizing your own hangups. Maybe things would’ve worked out better if these guys didn’t care so much about appearances. **5/5**
*BlackBerry* is now playing in theaters.
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Family (and cinema) Matters Most in "Only in Theaters”
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/onlyintheaters/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:25.000Z
#####
[Subscribe now](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
---
From the [official trailer](https://youtu.be/fafRYo2f6Rs?t=98&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
## Dear Moviegoers,
As shown in the wonderfully sentimental and devastatingly real documentary *Only In Theaters*, the marquees that adorn the outside of any venue can be used for more than just promotion, but also creative outlets. I found that even at the lowest point in this film for The Laemmle Family - owners and operators of the Los Angeles area arthouse cinema business Laemmle Theatres - their sense of humor would work as small kindly things for them to hang on to - especially as their worlds fell apart.
One side of a marquee would read “Now Playing: *Mask*,” directly referencing the facial covering mandates, while the other side would be mostly blank, as the theatres were closed. A piece of heart and soul rips away reading these signs as the days turn to weeks turn to months in the pandemic, and more so because the filmmakers would keep in touch over Zoom with Greg Laemmle, the President of the exhibition company and now gatekeeper to the family legacy, capturing his clearly stressed and weathered facial expressions and body language as he tried to work himself up with a hopeful message. He’d chuckle sadly, he’d smirk instead of cry. Sometimes, it’s just enough to smile and get someone else to do the same.
Movie theaters aren’t places to have kids babysat for a few hours, nor are they restaurants. At their best, theaters are collective exhibitions for memory and artistic interpretation, no matter if it’s a blockbuster on-screen or a foreign film playing. Laemmle Theatres in Los Angeles are beacons for such movies, from international pictures to independents to classics, and for generations had been bucking the whims of the more mainstream outfits, from Edison to AMC. Through storm after storm, from influenza to WWII to the Kennedy assassination to 9/11, they would have something on their screens, and someplace to escape to. There’s strength to the Laemmle name.
*Only In Theaters* greatly does justice to the cause of selling the moviegoing experience in the modern world, especially as Covid anxiety continues and streaming options rise. More than that though, the film is head and shoulders above the pack in the widening genre of theater documentaries, as it’s an American tragedy, an endless fable, and a Hollywood compromise. Admittedly, I’m a sucker for movies about movie theaters (like *The Dying of the Light* and Abel Ferrera’s *The Projectionist* \- both of which stand above the rest too), but *Only In Theaters* is really one of the best films released in 2023.
Perhaps there are one too many uber-romantic moments, like when famous filmmakers - some shown talking over Zoom on a laptop in an empty theater - wax on about how going out to the cinema changed their lives. Indeed, this documentary has those aplenty. Hell, everyone has their own moviegoing story to tell. Everyone has their own Covid-19 story or 9/11 story, and so on. What makes *Only In Theaters* a great film isn’t in its thesis of movie theaters being important to the human condition but in its commitment to telling this one story about this one family, put through the wringer, who happen to have been showing movies to people for over a century.
An ending is only **happy** depending on where you **finish** your tale. *Only In Theaters* doesn’t pretend or presume to know what the future will be like for this family, but it does know where its own resolution is. In the projection booth. With Greg Laemmle and his wife. Embracing.
No matter what’s happening anywhere on the planet, it’s warm in California and a movie is playing somewhere. This might as well be a tagline for *Only In Theaters* because it’s somewhat true, even if the meaning and manner change a little over time. Climate change and video streaming are ever-present realities, after all. What would make for a good marquee response to that? **5/5**
---
*Only In Theaters* is currently [showing](https://onlyintheaters.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) in limited theatrical release and on-demand streaming.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### A Holy Grail of "Morgus Presents" Has Been Found!
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/morgus-movie-theater/
Last updated: 2025-11-03T11:48:12.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
*The Wacky World of Doctor Morgus*, the 1962 feature based on the very real horror movie host Morgus the Magnificent, shot and set in New Orleans, was at the top of my movies to find. Thankfully, through many a Facebook Messenger chat, I tracked down the owners, living in the metro area, more than willing to let this little streaming app of ours press play on such an obscure title. Of course, I had tried to get some episodes of the 1980s revival of the horror host’s show, *Morgus Presents*, but that proved a bit trickier, and, after all, that was TV. We were after films.
That portion of Morgus history fascinated me, as it ended just before my time, but it was exactly the kind of presentation that would’ve hooked me: Goofy mad science antics in between cheesy sci-fi and spooky movies. Perfect Halloween fare? Perfect Saturday night fare! And it was a homegrown local staple too, like a series of furniture commercials or weathermen on the morning news stations.
This fascination peaked in the mid-2010s when, during an appearance at a New Orleans Book Fair for the now-defunct publication Propaganda NOLA, I was informed of a television special - one that tickled me thrilled just by hearing of it.
The producers of the first DVD volume of *Morgus Presents* and of the now OOP (out of print) home release of *Wacky World* came to the table where I had been greeting passers-by, with free DVDs to offer, and whispers of the show in question: An episode where Morgus and his faithful assistant Chopsley presented *Wacky World* from inside the lovely Prytania Theater Uptown, adding a semi-meta and almost *Mystery Science Theater 3000* (the classic comedy show that made fun of silly movies) element to the lore of these lovable characters.
Stunned, jaw-dropped, and gobsmacked, I listened intensely.
By the end of the episode, Morgus is arrested for his *Wacky World* crimes by the NOPD (New Orleans Police Department) and is rushed out of the theatre under arrest. How amazing. How maddening.
The DVD producers felt that the footage might have been lost during Hurricane Katrina (many an archive was indeed harmed or lost by the storm and its aftermath), but that a copy could exist in a special vault that the Prytania supposedly had.
As a film critic & writer, the story of lost Morgus the Magnificent media was a story that became most important to me over the years. As a lover of New Orleans history and of moviegoing in general, the media itself was like a holy grail of sorts.
Why?
0:00
/3:11
1×
Part 1
The crisscross of real and reel worlds, where fantasy clashes with reality. Two local histories with equally vibrant and memorable collective experiences, held within a single caricature of a TV special. Wonderful stuff.
The footage rested in my imagination, where I had interpreted the tale - possibly told to me second-hand - as being shot around the time of the original Morgus show
*House of Shock* when *Wacky World* came out. Perfect timing for a promotional piece, but also unfortunate as footage that old must be long since gone. Still, I asked around. Through contacts and various tips, I mostly went in circles, stuck at the beginning. A legend and only that.
At Louisiana Film Channel, the talks with the owners of *Wacky World* stalled multiple times, so I moved on to other films to obtain and other projects to work on. But, [do fish have dreams](https://youtu.be/s2Br8cbHWQs?t=77&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), as was asked in *Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans*? Do dreams come true?
Yes.
0:00
/2:06
1×
Part 2
Thanks to tape collector Charles Becker and a [Facebook post](https://www.facebook.com/lewis.daubin/posts/pfbid0Y6dhrru1onDYoqtFw4q2i6YZEDfCKdfvhS3k8MV9RwSgmBTHsqf27vmEahmgybdul) from the incredible archivist and technician Lewis D'Aubin, a VCR recording had been found, and in pretty good condition, too!
I calmly but shakily asked Lewis for a preview, but he did me one better: He’d send it to me whole. The video amounted to an introduction and an ending, laying out what I had been told about years prior, only instead of being performed in the 1960s, it was special from the early 1990s. Perfect nonetheless. From my understanding, the video will be cleaned up and placed on a future DVD release, but for now, to know that it still exists brings a tear to my eye.
Absolutely, does the footage live up to my own hype. Absolutely, is it cute and charming - as [Sid Noel always did for Morgus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd1Yg3SnQVs&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). Absolutely, it's fun and delightful.
Believe it or not, the legends we make up in our minds, the ones we maybe over-celebrate, the ones we maybe obsess a little about, sometimes are true. And sometimes, these legends give us something more than a tall tale to believe in: They give us fellows and friends to follow and to thank.
Enjoy.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
⚜️🍿
### It's a Wonderful Business: An Indie Brief
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/indiebrief1/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:26.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Many times a month, I receive email requests for reviews and ratings of various independent and underground films and shows. Sometimes I can catch up to them, sometimes they turn into catsup. This entry I call “An Indie Brief” because it’s just that: An independent fare briefing. Nothing too complicated, but hopefully fairly thoughtful enough. Enjoy.
---
It astonishes me to no end just how hard people - ordinary Joe Six-Packs - will go to make the next big thing in entertainment. Sure, the passion is impressive, and the ability to cull together resources is an effort not to be taken for granted, but if the end result makes for eye-rolling fodder and nothing more, then the notion of quitting when ahead comes to mind.
By no means am I suggesting that the makers of *Daddy’s Divas*, *Indie Rooftop*, and *The Greek Oak Guardian* should hang things up for good - the opposite, actually. Do and do and do again. That negative notion pops up from time to time in the audience, but don’t be discouraged, and don’t be disappointed, especially in yourself.
---
#### *Daddy’s Divas*
David Tittone is the star and creator of the web show *Daddy’s Divas*, of which I viewed the first three episodes. A Google search of his name reveals a filmmaker and a workout buddy in one package, and this carries over into his role in family television. He plays a newly widowed single father of one baby and two precocious and mischievous daughters, who intricately perform confusing and softened pranks on their teachers and their Grandmother. Every time they get into trouble, he shows up to either chuckle or look frustrated at the other adults for not understanding.
Tittone’s character is supposed to be an at-home personal trainer, and indeed the man is in shape, but his overall image belies his profession. Below the neck, he’s kind of ripped, or at least as much as a Dad bod can get. Above the neck, he looks like the middle manager of a Target, goofy and unassuming. The unintended juxtaposition made me laugh a little and even helped some of the intended jokes of the show, no offense to Tittone. His facial expressions aren’t particularly subtle and for the most part amount to guffaws and eyebrow acting (raised, lowered, exaggerated) but they do lend to the cheesy domestic affair of his show.
There are neighborhood bikers - some rough & tumble wannabes - who get their butts handed to them frequently by a young near-psychotic boy. At one point, the child rams his kiddie car at full speed into one of the bikers whose just trying to enjoy a drink by his mailbox. A drink of juice, I believe, but no matter, as he’s now concussed on the lawn.
*Daddy’s Divas* goes for some subversiveness but is never meant for real thorough viewing. This is the kind of show a parent might stream as the children come home from school, just to have it in the background until it’s time for *Spongebob Squarepants*. Now that’s subversive. The show feels awfully (not painfully) repetitive, but it’s also light and easygoing. Maybe the first season gets better as it moves along.
---
#### *Indie Rooftop*
Another TV show, soon to be released to streaming sometime soon, is of a similar community tone, but vastly less polished. *Indie Rooftop*, a docu-series on Chicago musicians, shot on the rooftop of a downtown building, is both a concert performance piece and a talking head interview setup with individual musicians, for roughly twenty-minute episodes. Starring Fana Hues, Fany de la Chica, and Louis King in their respective segments, what I viewed of *Indie Rooftop* may not, hopefully not, be the final cut.
For a show that’s all about talent and music, the expectation is that the audio will be clean and the footage will be smooth. Instead, there’s lots of noise interference from the wind (it’s in Chicago of course), distortions and feedback from the microphones, and non-descript/uninteresting composition and movement of both the performances and the interviews.
Editing and pace are also a problem, as the show comes off as overstuffed and stretched too thin. There’s talent, but not behind the cameras, and not on this project it seems. It’s a shame that the musicians have to play as if they’re trying to make up for the amateur production that surrounds them, as the songs they perform could’ve been wonderfully registered under a different team. Instead, *Indie Rooftop* is but a high concept with a low bar.
---
#### *The Green Oak Guardian*
On the film side of things, *The Green Oak Guardian* returns this critic to the wholesomeness of daytime made-for-tv movies. Similar to *Indie Rooftop* in a few minor technical ways (poor stock effects and odd ADR) and not too unlike *Daddy’s Divas* in a childproof way, *Green Oak Guardian* is a romantic drama about family, creativity, and redemption, that would be perfect for the Hallmark Channel if it had a slightly bigger budget.
The movie is about the adult daughter of a comic book creator, who too is working on panels of her own. The father’s claim to fame, The Green Oak Guardian, will be made into a feature soon, and the lead star - who looks suspiciously like Nathan Fillion - has just arrived in small town U.S.A. to both rehab his playboy image and to ask the creator for his blessing on the project. The daughter is skeptical and annoyed, but sooner than later sparks start to fly and hearts grow a few sizes bigger, ala a certain Grinch.
*Green Oak Guardian* is no superhero film, though there are some costumes and wonderfully drawn comic books to showcase. There is genuine charm between all of the actors, making for a chemistry that overshadows any bumps on the post-production side of things. However, even with some lovely exchanges and deep eye-gazing, there’s this all too humble community filmmaking camaraderie that oversaturates the duration, which could stand for some cuts here and there.
Sweet to the point of sugar shock, *The Green Oak Guardian* is a surprise of a very small movie with big city ambitions. Drop the stock elements, invest in some original content, sprinkle it in, and there’s a better film to be found.
---
#### *Burt Reynolds: The Last Interview*
Finally, I arrive at Rick Pamplin’s latest, *Burt Reynolds: The Last Interview*. Readers may remember that, some time ago, I reviewed his previous effort (which featured clips from this interview I believe) to the level of a Sonny Corleone street thrashing. Pamplin the filmmaker came off as too smug for anyone’s taste, and too proud to be that way. Here, Pamplin the fan and movie buff is more reserved than before, or rather more tolerable if unfocused.
The documentary is what the title suggests: a final filmed interview of Burt Reynolds. At the top of the movie, there are thirty or so minutes of information on Burt’s acting classes and history with local Jupiter, Florida theaters, from friends and family who adored him. This is no propaganda piece, I should say here, nor is it too fluffy to be of genuine interest. It’s a dedication, more than anything.
Burt is interviewed by Pamplin about Hollywood filmmaking and independent budget sourcing, but the star is clearly more interested in discussing his teaching efforts, his anecdotes, and his experiences. In this way, Pamplin is not up to the task of keeping his subject on point. I can see his conflict though, as how do you guide an elderly celebrity to keep up with your line of questioning, especially when you’re an uber fan of his work? Pamplin succumbs to Burt time and time again, but not without getting some fine thoughts and funny jokes from the man. *The Last Interview* isn’t enlightening, but it is a decent chunk of gold to see shine.
Things end with Quentin Tarantino going over Burt Reynolds’ reading of his *Once Upon a Time in…Hollywood* script, and his offering up of Burt’s place in cinema history and how important his films were to Quentin. Rick Pamplin can’t help himself here from gushing over Tarantino, showing his fanboy over his filmmaker. *The Last Interview* is overly sentimental at moments, but it’s also a treasure to watch and live in. A little charisma does go a long way, and Burt had plenty to go around. **2.5/5**
---
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---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Horror Arrives: My (late) Overlook Film Festival 2023 Review Report, 1
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/overlook23part1/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:27.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
For the last several years, the [Overlook Film Festival](https://www.overlookfilmfest.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) has filled a horror movie void in New Orleans that grew from the sad closing of the homegrown NOLA Horror Film Fest and has provided the area with preview screenings of soon-to-be-released genre fare that may or may not come back around upon regular theatrical approach. For a few days out of each year, moviegoers come far and wide to catch high and low-profile premieres that have consistently thrilled every time out, from in-person showtimes to the [virtual streams](https://nightstream.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) that were done twice during the Covid quarantines.
I chose ten films out of a pretty stacked slate of independent productions to watch and briefly review across two reports, the second of which is coming up soon. For now, enjoy the first half.
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
---
Quentin Dupieux continues his theatre of the absurd, his surreal circus of comedic errors with [*Smoking Causes Coughing*](http://www.magnetreleasing.com/smokingcausescoughing/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), the feature that the great auteur of filth John Waters described as stupid in the positive. Indeed, the film is pretty "stupid," though I'd rather play things nice by calling it a "farce." It's about a superhero team known as the Tobacco Force who, after obliterating a turtle monster with their gauntlet-mounted cancer-emitting rays, are informed by their superior officer - a rat puppet that drools a mysterious green liquid that the female teammates speculate is detergent - to go on a team-building retreat.
The beach battle is performed with no music or dressed-up cinematography. In fact, much of it is shot from a distance, expressing just how weird and awkward such fighting would be in reality. Moments like that, where the quiet part is yelled loudly across the screen, make *Smoking Causes Coughing* a hilarious ordeal to behold. Not a negative ordeal, but a conflict nonetheless, especially for a world oversaturated with comic book adaptations and conventions.
Dupieux and crew embrace the strange through various conversational segments and skits, told either over a campfire or by a fish being cooked on a grill. These skits, meant to be scary tales by the storytellers, are almost go-nowhere anecdotes with punchlines hidden in the behavior of the characters and not in the stories themselves. Of course, there's a punchline to the framework's main plot too, and it's also semi-go-nowhere. Almost, semi, nearly - but not without a porpoise.
Is that a joke? Maybe. Read into it what you will. **5/5**
---
The French Quarter holds many secrets and surprises around each and every corner and alley. But, as the lead in *A Street Cat Named Desire* plainly states with some annoyance to an attractive stranger from out-of-town, Bourbon Street isn’t close by. And neither is Kansas, sir.
This short horror entry is true magick and gothic-lite, haunting a place in New Orleans that all local workers recognize far too often: short respite. The lead is a bartender at a dive who just barely accepts a hookup with an ignorant but charismatic hunk. They fool around at her small but cozy home, then stop when he holds back from playing into her fantasy of loving. Things might've resumed later had her more regular lover and maybe roommate not spoiled the fun.
Is there voodoo? Is there transformation? How about deeds born out of exhaustion, frustration, and regret? All of the above. *Desire* isn't just a part of the film’s title or the name of a streetcar, as it's the central theme and the dangling fruit that's just out of reach in the movie. Such comfort may not be in the cards for a 24/7 workforce, at least not all of the time, but tomorrow night is another shot of drink and another shot at happiness.
It could happen. **3.5/5**
---
In a development of great creative haste, the anthology film [*Give Me an A*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21942272/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) has screened almost a year after the U.S. Supreme Court effectively overturned the landmark women's healthcare rights case Roe v Wade, which has now greatly hindered abortion care all over the country. This movie is made up of various short stories from an all-female directorial crew, and ranges, as all anthologies do, in interest and in quality. There are favorites and there are less than’s, but overall the collective feature is a triumph in skill and in urgency.
The short segments run from a minute or so long to almost ten full, each moving at an anxious pace, almost as if they're looking over their shoulders out of danger of being discovered. And for sure, there are tales here that depict the potential for religious rightwing dystopias if legislation isn't updated and enshrined quickly. Some people might see these bits and chuckle, believing the terror fantasies as being nothing more than just that: fantasies.
Thank you for reading Moviegoing with Bill. This post is public so feel free to share it.
To think this way is to dismiss art and ignore history.
*Give Me an A* is a challenging watch and one that understands how the repetition of the message, drawn in different colors from portrait to picture, is one of the best ways of playing to the mind's eye of people from all backgrounds and with shared experiences. Movies are empathy machines, right? Correct. The whole film is also challenging for its duration, which can become daunting. The filmmakers should be commended forever for how they pulled together such resources for such quick and responsive productions within productions, but it must be noted that to keep such high emotions running throughout one film, from beginning to end, across many individual stories, is a Herculean task, and will be too much to handle for any one viewer and any one filmmaker.
Of course, so is the pain of persecution. So is the panic of having rights stripped away. So is the depression of one's future being lost to someone else's beliefs. *Give Me an A* isn't meant to be easy. Maybe match it with a clear mind. **3.5/5**
---
Almost as if ripped from a classified roll of private Sputnik footage, *From.Beyond* unravels as a report meant solely for government agents of shadowy duty. It's a mysterious collection of data and observations on alien contact, from arrival to news broadcasts to depravity and experiments.
Shown in black & white and with flashy grain, *From.Beyond* performs a what-if scenario in a what-will manner, assuredly suggesting the events covered to be likely and inevitable. It's distressing to see tentacled blobs being treated as packs of meat and objects of twisted playfulness, especially considering how their existence sets historic and unprecedented meaning to life as it's understood.
Like a good Lars Von Trier or Werner Herzog film, Earth is an evil place in this short, and the technique of documentation/found footage-ish filmmaking here only confirms this idea. *From.Beyond* is all killer and no thriller, or rather it's “been there, but man did it just do that!?” Spooky images and ghastly suggestions are nice, though there is a black hole present.
I'm not speaking to a heart or soul element that’s needed, but maybe something more akin to a pitchfork. Ugly, but audacious. **3.5/5**
---
For three hours, [*We Kill for Love*](http://wekillforlove.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) dissects and picks apart the erotic thriller industrial complex of the 1980s and 1990s cinema, more specifically the direct-to-video (DTV) variants. This docu-essay-forensic study is a goldmine of the obscure and the obsessions in the world of softcore-lite thrills & chills, of noir-ish femme fatales and cool hunks with guns. It's an epic, quite frankly.
Not once during its duration did I feel overwhelmed or tired. Not once during the interviews and analysis did I lose interest and drift in thought to something else. Thorough to an infinite degree and academic in almost Pulitzer territory, this exploration into a hush-hush and purposefully underappreciated genre is an oh-so delight.
From actors to producers to critics, *We Kill for Love* goes over any and all angles on the subject, even maddening itself in the process. The film is kind of a character, a detective losing himself to the rabbit hole of his own investigation. As things progress, so does the chaos of what's being depicted and what's being felt. It's expressed with subtleness, but there's an awful weight carried over too. Somehow, someway, *We Kill for Love* turned a VHS industry of repeated covers and similar titles and stars, into a channel of discovery and revelation, of suspense and of cathartic curiosity. **5/5**
---
Five more are on the way. Patience, moviegoers.
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## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Join me on Notes
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/notesjoin/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:27.000Z
writer making notes
I just published my first note on [Substack Notes](https://substack.com/notes?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), and would love for you to join me there!
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
[Notes](http://substack.com/notes?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) is a new space on Substack for us to share links, short posts, quotes, photos, and more. I plan to use it for things that don’t fit in the newsletter, like work-in-progress or quick questions.
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---
### How to join
Head to [substack.com/notes](https://substack.com/notes?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) or find the “Notes” tab in the [Substack app](https://substack.com/app/app-store-redirect?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). As a subscriber to Moviegoing with Bill, you’ll automatically see my notes. Feel free to like, reply, or share them around!
You can also share notes of your own. I hope this becomes a space where every reader of Moviegoing with Bill can share thoughts, ideas, and interesting quotes from the things we're reading on Substack and beyond.
---
If you encounter any issues, you can always refer to the [Notes FAQ](https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/sections/14408747121940-Notes) for assistance. Looking forward to seeing you there!
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### Yes Shirt, Yes Shoes, No Seat
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/weeklymoviegoer1/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:28.000Z
Generated image of the prompt “People waiting in line at a New Orleans movie theater”
## Dear Moviegoers,
"This area is going to be filled with Lyfts in a few minutes," was said aloud. This wasn't too hard to believe, really, as the portion of this uptown New Orleans neighborhood had been covered with young out-of-state cinephiles and film fans just moments prior. The hangers-on who hadn't made the walking trek to nearby bars and coffee shops, made a few taps on their phones and, until their rides came by, would continue to make small talk and jokes, some awkward and filled with impatience, and others with a sense of camaraderie. After all, people waiting in line for a movie premiere share a common bond, one that is only strengthened when in a friendly city such as the Big Easy.
Outside of the [Prytania Theatre](https://www.theprytania.com/uptown?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), people wrapped slightly around the block, with pass holders - from press to filmmaker to all access kinds - dressed in either vamp-like gothic costuming or wearing shirts and hats that referenced favorite films. In my Superman Converse sneakers, slim-fit Wal-Mart jeans, and open-button dress shirt, I just smiled quietly, as the group inched closer and closer to the entrance. At my front was a filmmaker, whose movie would be playing the fest later that weekend. At my back, there was a couple and another filmmaker, engaged in conversation about their favorite horror and science fiction flicks. It was amusing to hear their takes on the *Alien* series and their interpretations of specific details from A24 studio projects. Here I was, a critic, with nothing to say but with every smirk to give.
I chose **this** 7 PM showtime at **this** venue on **this** opening night of **the** [Overlook Film Festival](https://www.overlookfilmfest.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), because of the parking convenience and the overall atmosphere of the event to be. If I didn't have to pay $10 to park downtown and if I could see the same film in a more comforting neighborhood setting, then I most assuredly would do just that. Sure, I could've seen this movie, *Renfield*, at an earlier time across town at the other theatrical presentation, but having been there and done that with many press-only screenings and small crowd seatings, I yearned for a lively night with lively people.
An hour before, I was crossing the Causeway bridge from the metro Northshore of the city, thinking of what was to come. [The trailer for this horror-action-comedy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrnpV4xh7-8&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) suggested goofs and buckets of blood and mayhem, elements that ought to make casual moviegoers blush with interest. As a writer who has seen plenty of corn syrup and ketchup in his time, I still get excited by such a promise, and why wouldn't I? On this night, however, I had something more I was seeking: being in a movie theatre at all.
It wasn't just that the film's star, the eccentric semi-local romantic actor of the shamanic Nicolas Cage would be attending, but that I would be in a packed room for the first time since the pandemic quarantine. I had been to the movies on many occasions in the aftermath of the relaxed health & safety rules of course but always socially distanced and a little nervous. This time, there'd be little room space and much more for stress. I had bought a mask online specifically for this evening, with a design that the festival programmers would, in my hope, get a kick out of - [the logo for the virtual festival](https://www.redbubble.com/i/mask/NIGHTSTREAM-2020-by-NIGHTSTREAMFF/57131225.9G0D8?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) that they had put on when we were all stuck at home. That was my "costume," I suppose, practical as it was, providing some protection from coughs and sneezes.
And yet, when I first approached the line, I took it off and placed it in my breast pocket for later. Social pressure? Maybe a little. I was enjoying the evening air a bit much and didn't want to miss its cool freshness. Upon entering the theatre, the mask would go on, I swore.
Festival volunteers casually check on us all as minutes turned to a full hour turned to late showtime. Mr. Cage had already appeared on the makeshift red carpet, though the hubbub was hard to pick up on from where I was standing. All I could hear was the wonderful discussions of the people around me, and their excitement over being at a **fun** premiere for a **fun** locally shot movie at a **fun** local theatre.
Mere moments before the Lyft drivers came by, a volunteer with an earpiece and microphone connected to her person, announced "Seats have been filled. Sorry.” My press pass, for the first time in my career, meant nothing. To be turned away sucked, but to have the professional exclusivity dismissed was more of a real bummer.
I love going to the Prytania Uptown. It feels like a safe place, more so than any other theatre I've visited in decades. Safe in that I can decompress and focus. Zen almost.
*Renfield* would play again at the downtown venue that evening, we were told. "That's in twenty minutes though," I think I heard. But it wasn't really the movie that we were missing out on seeing, as it was coming out theatrically later in the month. No, we were denied another night of sharing in that feeling of joy that only movies can deliver. Movies in movie theatres that is. The kind of feeling that matches bodily produced serotonin, and then some.
Making my way to the Causeway, I stopped for some chicken nuggets and fries. Would it fill up my unfulfillment? In a way, it helped. The line out front and to the side of the Prytania was awfully friendly and very cheery. We were excited to be around one another and to be together for a new movie. It didn't play for most of us, but there was much talk and many smiles still. In the midst of it all, I'd look up at the faded moon as the sun began to set. I missed a movie but caught the sky. For this shut-in, that means a lot. For this writer, that's something to convey. For this critic, well, maybe there's more to it than just a glimpse upwards. Or maybe the moon is sometimes just the moon.
In my opinion, a movie is rarely "just a movie." And even if it were "just," what a thing to be. Talk about a lift.
Generated image of the prompt “Nicolas Cage holding a movie ticket stub.”
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Does "How to Blow Up a Pipeline" Make a Statement on Making Statements? Yes.
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/howtopipeline/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:29.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
The worry over man-made environmental disasters is very real in the Gulf South, with oil spills and other consequences of a fossil fuel state having great potential to occur. Thus, a film like *How to Blow Up a Pipeline* should ring a few bells for those of us who live in the area.
From the director of the superbly crafted *Cam* (available on Netflix), *How to Blow Up a Pipeline* has what a viewer would expect from its title: young men and women of similar predicaments and values, taking it upon themselves to make a stand and strike against the oil industry, even if in a small but grand way, using DIY (do it yourself) methods - the kind that can be found easily on the world wide web. I'm using the WWW phrase to bring us all back to a time and place in the 1990s when plots and plans weren't relegated to the "dark web" or left on some unregulated forum. In the case of this movie, the protagonists aren't out for blood, but for manifesto and legend. For living on as a meme, to be retweeted and shared and, hopefully, repeated ad infinite. All to make the oil market destabilize a bit too.
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It'd be incorrect to suggest that any of these characters are naive or in over their heads, at least by the time the film completes its cycle of present action and past explanation of individual reasoning. One has developed cancer from living near these plants, one has lost a loved one from climate change, one is losing family land and property, and the others are angry at everything. They each have both minute and articulated motivations, done up in scenes of recruitment to the cause, which is to blow up a pipeline.
Now, I'm not making the film out to be simple-minded whatsoever, just resourceful. Everything develops to their respective crescendos pretty spectacularly and most dramatically, even and especially when understated or small in scale. Personal in scale, really.
*How to Blow Up a Pipeline* seeks a what rather than a why to manifest such acts at all. The constructive destructors of the film have their reasons, but there too is a dark emptiness they each ultimately must face: should they succeed, what next? What awaits?
This isn't really a call to arms. In fact, that would be awfully reductive and superficial to claim. The movie feels like a statement on making statements, and it’s a daring one at that. *Pipeline* takes a well-meaning band of righteous youngsters into an intense and thrilling ride of anti-corporate and pro-environment vengeance that results in uneasy answers of maturity and the challenging nature of explosive work with a little payoff - the full amount may not be seen in their time.
Never sanctimonious and never pretentious to the point of pretending to offer a true solution, it’s a ticking timebomb of a film, with people justifying their means that couldn't possibly go any harder if it tried. It unfolds with excellent attention to detail and a perfect understanding of pace and timing while doing justice to the characters and their collective/personal plights first and foremost. A grand feat that frankly humbled and challenged me, not to take part in such actions or to consider all reasons (everyone has one), but to think of the ultimate conclusions of a victory, and how life and time move forward no matter what.
What does it mean to sacrifice yourself for a cause with little effect? What does that detonate inside of you? What if nothing goes off when the button is pressed? Something has to give, right?
*How to Blow Up a Pipeline* is more than just a pipeline that is subjected to being blown up, it could be one of the more thoughtful movies of this current political climate. There's more to rolling a barrel of fertilizer up and down a dirt road, and sometimes a fuse isn't just a fuse.
Sometimes. And this is one of those times. **5/5**
*How to Blow Up a Pipeline* is now in theatrical release.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### In "Quantum Cowboys," Yuma is the Nexus of the Multiverse
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/quantumcowboys/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:29.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
For filmmaker Geoff Marslett, the nexus of all possibility doesn't just exist across our stars, as it also lives in Yuma, Arizona - at least during the age of the wild west, and for perhaps that one fragment of time and space. In his previous rotoscope animated live-action feature *Mars*, Geoff went into the cosmos and onto another planet to find the beginnings of new life and the burgeoning of new romance. In his currently released effort *Quantum Cowboys*, these things are discovered within the various multi-verses of the American desert. *Mars* was adorable and kind, which is exactly how I would describe *Quantum Cowboys*, through and through.
Mixing traditional live-action pieces with various types of animation and film formats, *Quantum Cowboys* is the story of two young men who go on a trip to Yuma, to determine the fate of a man thought to be dead, and if this confusion between the two is a matter of a Mandela effect scenario or something grander at play.
From here, things get a little complicated. Director Geoff Marslett isn't going for confusion or getting into anything convoluted, mind you. Quite the contrary, *Quantum Cowboys* is a pretty easy tale to tell and a story to follow. The complications come in the form of technical "chicken or the egg" details, and the weight of free will and decision-making. This isn't *The Matrix*, but these things do matter, especially since there is an architect figure watching over the events, from a command center, with a cat as his companion (a reference to Schrodinger’s Cat experiment).
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On their way to Yuma and towards their destiny, the two friends make enemies with David Arquette and make a new acquaintance in the mysterious Lily Gladstone, who sparks the film with charm and lights it all up with a can't-miss presence. There's even a fun cameo from *Repo Man* director Alex Cox - who has directed wild westerns of his own - as a drunk priest. Animation isn't always used, but whether it is or not, *Quantum Cowboys* looks and feels starry nightly and colorful, imaginative to no limit.
At the start of the film, there's a line of text that reads "Observation matters because art is the only record of memories." Indeed, helping the command center overseer is a crew of camera operators, driving and walking all over the place, making remarks on how if something isn't captured in some way, it never happened. What does this say about art? What does this say about surveillance? It's the relationship between subject, artist/record, and audience that gives *Quantum Cowboys*' central premise some power. That premise is the time-bending creation of worlds and universes by way of butterfly effect style choices. To repeat an action, or to take the road less traveled, two friends will find out that there's more to life than either side of a coin. Sometimes, there are three. Sometimes, there's a great infinity.
It must've been difficult to write a movie that uses heavy themes without going over heads in a pretentious daze, but Geoff Marslett accomplishes just that. *Quantum Cowboys*, like *Mars*, is a story about people through and through, and is also about the simplest of all solutions to some of life's problems: there's nothing to it but to do it. In other words, the most difficult decision to make is, somehow, the easiest and best. Effortlessly human-natured, would I call this an acid western, ala drunk priest and real-world director Alex Cox? More like a coffee pot western. Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose. **4/5**
*Quantum Cowboys* is currently touring the festival circuit.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### This Is a "Mind Leech" That Doesn't Suck
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/mindleech/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:30.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
One giant-sized leech. One small, snow-covered town. One police officer who nobody is going to believe when all is said and done. By this conceit, *Mind Leech* is a b-movie monster flick, and really in the most traditional sense. Not so much a throwback to drive-in makeout sessions, but rather an intriguing evolution of the Roger Corman formula.
I mention Corman not to suggest that *Mind Leech* was made on a bet or completed in a few days, but that its story has more reach than it should, making a potentially bland affair pretty bold. More or less, I'd call this film a contemplative drama creature feature, not unlike, to some degree, *Terror in the Swamp*. Where that 1980s movie's tragedy was concentrated on family, *Mind Leech* has a hold on human potential and achieving goals.
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After a good old boy corporate chemical dump in the nearby lake, an average leech grows over months to become a beast with mind control abilities - it sucks on your head and commands your body. Unleashed, the leech heads toward the ocean, to breed? To be free? All of the above? Whatever the case, it must be stopped.
The tragedies in *Mind Leech* come from small-town life and the wanting to move on to something bigger and maybe better in the world. From the ice fishermen who are the first to be attacked to the two lone police officers in town, everyone chats about their stations in life. These moments can drag, but I really appreciated them, as they provided some levity to the kills and some punch to the comedy of seeing people with a leech attached to their heads, roaming around confused and angry.
The leech itself could be seen as a catalyst for motivation and change, moving these stuck-in-life individuals to take action, if by force and removed of free will. The leech can also be seen as, well, a leech. And sometimes, it's just that. And when it is just that, it's fun.
Roger Corman made weird little movies on less than shoestring budgets, like *The Undead*, which involved time travel and hypnosis - interesting elements for such a small film. Bold. *Mind Leech* continues this pattern but never forgets that it's still about a giant-sized leech that can tap into human brains.
There is some confusion as to what exactly *Mind Leech* wants to be, but it's still able to produce some bloody, some sticky, and some thrilling sequences. Maybe the film wants to be a drama, or maybe it wants to be a semi-comedy. For me, it wasn't a horror. I had a ball, but I wasn't creeped out. Maybe my thoughts drifted towards the plight of the characters, pre-leech attack? Confusion, yes.
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The movie is such an oddity, and it's the type of flick that I live for. And, at a swift one hour and change, it gets in and gets out. Very good. **3/5**
*Mind Leech* is available for rent at [mindleech.com](https://www.mindleech.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Some Reflections of Guitarist Randy Rhoads Make This Documentary an Alright Riff
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/randyrhoads/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:30.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Jamming with your rock band in a family garage, making noise, causing a ruckus, and pretending to be "cool" if just for a few moments - what an after-school activity. For Randy Rhoads however, such activities weren't just for the moment, but for the passion and for a legacy. The documentary *Randy Rhoads: Reflections of a Guitar Icon* paints a crystal clear portrait of the man and his talents, which are, across each and every interview, stated as being great. And, by all accounts, he was a kind and generous soul too, wanting nothing more than to just play music. If anyone ever understood the language of music, it was him.
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Described in mythical tones and high notes, *Reflections of a Guitar Icon* treats Randy Rhoads as a complete and total legend, in life and death, for all time. And really, that's the main thing that this documentary has to offer. No matter how ecstatic and excited the interviewees are, they mostly just say the same thing over and over: Randy was great. This repetition gets annoying and frustrating at different points, as does the use of voice-over narration, which made the movie run much faster than it should've, leaving me with little to grasp onto. Randy was great, and that's just about it.
Where *Reflections of a Guitar Icon* goes from zero to sixty is when it showcases concert footage of a famous solo that Randy Rhoads was known for with Quiet Riot, called Laughing Gas. He riffs for what feels like a lifetime, loudly and proudly, going through diverse sounds, techniques, and emotions. The film stays with this sequence, never cutting to narration, and using an interviewee sparingly to describe why what Randy accomplished here was excellent. More of that would've been very welcome.
Randy tragically died in a joy-ride plane crash while touring with Ozzy Osbourne, cutting off his career and life awfully short. This event comes into the documentary right at the end, followed by ceremonies for the man that took place decades later. Placing his death at the end tip of the film was the best decision, as *Reflections of a Guitar* Icon is truly a celebration of legend, and a tribute to a life lived brightly.
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Down at the garage, kids become heroes to one another, and heroes live forever... until summer ends and college comes closer. For Randy Rhoads at least, summer never ended, and he played like a hero for as long as he could. This documentary isn't the best about the best, but it is a fine monument to man and music. To a legend, I'm sure that's alright enough. **2.5/5**
*Randy Rhoads: Reflections of a Guitar Icon* is currently available on demand.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### From Dinosaurs to Destiny, Joe Badon Builds "The Wheel of Heaven: Chapter One"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/wheelheaven1/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:31.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
"Determine your own destiny" is the new "choose your own adventure," it seems, at least as far as Joe Badon's first official entry in his new web series *The Wheel of Heaven* is concerned. Badon, a local New Orleans area filmmaker (and a weird wave of his own making) has taken another leap into the personal and the slightly esoteric, with a chapter (entry) that's as cosmic as it is mysterious.
Kali Russell, the director’s leading muse, plays various variants of a woman named Margaret (though her name also has variations between variants) whose existence is seen as though in a dimensional warp of a nesting doll structure. Sometimes, we see internal figures engaging with external characters, sometimes we see imagined roles as read from a book, and other times we're privy to Badon's behind-the-scenes and script table reads with cast and crew.
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From one verse to another, Chapter One of *The Wheel of Heaven* is relentless, making viewers aware that being on their toes is the proper action to take. No, not so much from a pins and needles sensation, but more of a what the hell will come next question and exclamation.
One variant of Margaret is a car mechanic who, after making an absurdly odd and hilariously drawn-out book purchase from an elderly curio clerk, takes a break from work to "determine” some “destiny.” Breaking her away from reading momentarily is a coworker who, covered in motor oil and with a cigarette in his mouth, repeatedly remarks how she has "hot tits" and, rather clumsily, stutters while questioning her book. This reminded me of the assassin scene from *Mulholland Drive*, where one dumb decision leads to one mistake after another. It's behavioral slapstick and fun folly. Here, Badon limits the duration of the folly but does potentially expand the imagination of the story that he's building. After all, how many variants of this mechanic exist in the multiverse?
*The Wheel of Heaven* has three more chapters to go. Joe Badon's trippiest fest yet, it'll be difficult to wait for the remaining entries. His prequel/preface to the series, [*The Blood of the Dinosaurs*](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/dinoblood?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), suggested so much with what may have been an anecdotal segment in the grand scheme of the series, but this one part of *The Wheel of Heaven* flat-out states that single anecdote is merely by itself. There's a part for everyone and everything, and a whole destiny left to determine.
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This is no Netflix Interactive outing, mind you. "Determine your own destiny" is but for those living within the series. For us, the story as it unfolds has been set in stone. For them, it's happening in real-time, being made in more real-time. The relationships between crew, cast, author, and audience are clearly defined here, but are also played with to an extent - at least, as far as our imagination and our choices are concerned.
If each of us are variants of Margaret, where would we go? How would we act and react? There's so much to plunder and so much more to behold. **4/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Film Fests Are on the March!
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/moviegoers2/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:32.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
***When I’m not reviewing movies or interviewing filmmakers and industry professionals here at this blog, I collect various links and bits of information from Google deep dives, Facebook feeds, and the like. These collections, which include anything and everything from articles to videos to showtimes, make up my weekly trips of film discoveries, regional and beyond. What follows is what I call The Moviegoer’s Diary. It’s a series in progress, so please bear with me as I beef things up.***
***Enjoy! :)***
[More Diary Entries, Please!](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
---
Local NOLA film fests for March 2023 - [The Overlook](https://www.overlookfilmfest.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and the [Black Film Festival of New Orleans](https://bffno.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). My recommendations from the announced lineups include:
- [*Give Me an A*](https://www.fangoria.com/original/give-me-an-a-female-filmmakers-unite-in-response-to-roe-v-wade-with-anthology-feature/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)(Overlook)
- [*Smoking Causes Coughing*](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/smoking-causes-coughing-review-quentin-dupieux/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)(Overlook)
- [*The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qFiw5VtmyI&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), with a live score by [Think Less, Hear More](https://thinklesshearmore.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) (Overlook)
- [*Big Chief, Black Hawk*](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/bigchief?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) (BFFNO)
- [*Biking While Black: Continuing To Ride Through Decriminalization, Disenfranchisement & Gentrification*](https://www.bikingwhileblack.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)(BFFNO)
- [*Assaman*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OxxrzDsAvk&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)(BFFNO)
Stay tuned for showtime and venue recommendations.
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---
Filmmaker and arthouse advocate Sujewa Ekanayake has a [GoFundMe fundraiser](https://www.gofundme.com/f/p8st6-cosmic-disco-detective-rene-slow-romance-2?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) for his latest project [*Cosmic Disco Detective Rene: The Mystery of Immortal Time Travelers*](https://youtu.be/%5F0lJz%5F7bqGA?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), which is a sequel to [*The Secret Society for Slow Romance*](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/slomance22?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). It premieres in May as part of his [Indie Discovery L.A. Film Series](https://www.indiediscoveryla.com/screenings?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
Share the link and consider sending him some support.
---
[Movie Poster Archives](https://www.movieposterarchives.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) has opened a gallery & gift shop in Gretna, LA, which is a wonderfully quaint exhibition space for viewing and purchasing various collectibles from posters to still photos. It’s also a research center and a screening room for an upcoming series that I’ll be helping to program.
Above is a short documentary on the project, from its beginnings by archivists Ed & Susan Poole to its current incarnation by Linda Thurman.
Consider becoming a friend of the archive [here](https://www.movieposterarchives.org/donations/friends/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), and reach out to me if you’d like to showcase a movie.
---
Coming to [Fandor](https://www.fandor.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) soon and currently available for rent is the creatively horrific head trip *The Outwaters*. I first found out about the film prior to a screening of *Terrifier 2* (which was one of my favorite theater outings of 2022). A recent watch, here’s my blurb:
Fun to watch and shockingly absorbing. Unrelenting. Dante Alighieri’s Memory Cards? Kinda. A life lived regretfully, flashing wildly before a camera lens. A found footage-absurdity and abuse, but why not? Applause all around. **4/5**
---
Coming up on my watchlist:
*B’Twixt Now and Sunrise: The Authentic Cut* (a Moviegoing with Bill exclusive review/report)
[Gain Access to Bonus Features](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[*Eyeballs in the Darkness*](https://tuxandfanny.bigcartel.com/product/eyeballs-in-the-darkness-blu-ray?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) (*Tux and Fanny 2*)
---
Local showtime to catch:
[Wildwood presents](https://www.wildwoodcinema.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) *The Untamed* at [Prytania Canal Place](https://www.theprytania.com/canalplace?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) on 3/23.
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---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### "Creed III" Swings Big and Lands Hard
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/creed3/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:32.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Adonis Creed, the heir to the Apollo Creed legacy and a legend in his own right, has retired from the ring, going out as champion, and settled down with his wife and daughter at the start of *Creed III*. He has traded in his boxing gloves for tea parties with his little one and has gone from training & fighting to coaching & producing. This path appears to be a little like its lead actor, Michael B. Jordan, and his turn as the director of this very movie, which is his first outing as a feature filmmaker. If his acting role and his job as a director are to be compared, I’d say that both are absolutely confident in their abilities, and still have room to accomplish greatness, no matter age or lack of experience. Adonis is barely past his prime, but Jordan himself is still there.
This *Rocky*\-less movie in an overall shared franchise with Sylvester Stallone’s sports series is pretty incredible. As with most threequels, it’s the story of going back to the beginning, of the past coming to the present, and having to finish up loose ends. On top of that framework, *Creed III* punches up, being the best-written, best-performed, and most dramatic entry yet. It’s big, it’s personal, and it’s strong.
Jonathan Majors plays Damien, an ex-con of about eighteen years and an old childhood friend to Adonis, who he hasn’t seen since being locked up. Transitioning back into society, he and Adonis hit things off awkwardly, but with some initial joy too. Majors is absolutely fierce, and it’s amazing how *Creed III* is just as much his movie as it’s Jordan’s, either intentionally or by sheer will & force. The movie is driven at full speed by both men’s performances, but it’s Majors who rules the picture.
---
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[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
---
Take their diner scene as an example. Damien is about to destroy a burger for the first time out of jail, and Adonis is practically shaking at seeing not just his friend, but his own childhood represented in front of his eyes. They catch up, and all the while Damien’s body language sends a signal of thick-skinned vulnerability and a bundle of nerves running through. When Adonis offers him a spot at his gym, Damien, who was once a Golden Gloves youth boxer, grins happily from ear to ear, before changing to a serious expression and sincerely thanking him. I believed Majors at that moment and sensed a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
“He’s telling you who he is. Believe him,” the gym’s coach says. But Adonis doesn’t heed the warning about Damien, and off we go into the dark of night.
While it was filmed for IMAX, and stunningly so - shot and lit to make the best use of blood & sweat glistening off of skin & muscle - *Creed III* has more in common with smaller independent films than I thought it would. This makes sense in hindsight, as Michael B. Jordan did work with Ryan Coogler, known for the first *Creed* and the *Black Panther* films, on the intimate *Fruitvale Station*. This is about characters, about people, first & foremost. Everything else, from the spectacle to the choreography, are just enhancements, excellent as they are.
There is a formula that is followed though, and things do get predictable around the middle of the film. Is it playing things safe? Maybe a little. But the efforts of Majors and Jordan in navigating the formula and making the predictable interesting & thrilling should not… will not be ignored. It’s hard to stare away from the screen when they’re together, and even harder when Majors is flying solo. *Creed III* could be an awards contender. It should be an awards contender.
The idea of a man in his mid-30s being able to retire makes me jealous, but it’s in a movie, so I’ll cheer along. Without Stallone, will audiences cheer too? I bet they will. It’s Michael B. Jordan’s story now, as Stallone himself said in the previous film. And it’s safe in his ~~hands~~ gloves. **4/5**
*Creed III* comes to theatres on March 3rd.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Through a Camera Uniquely, or How "Three Worlds” Dreams From Far Down a Rabbit Hole
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/threeworlds/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:33.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Amir Motlagh is the director of *Three Worlds*. He is also the lead actor, playing the role of a director, who may or may not be living inside another film or films that he’s making. What is known for certain is that this is his life: a chaotic concoction of messiness and mistakes, all of his own making. Or the director’s making. He’s the director. I think.
Confused? Don’t be. While *Three Worlds* is a true non-linear affair, making a straight story difficult to follow, there are feelings and impressions that line up well enough. It takes place in the homes of various Los Angeles denizens, from agents to psychiatrists, with Amir connecting the neighborhood dots by visiting them all. He moves from relationship to relationship, treating almost everyone he knows with impatience and near contempt at times. He’s only ever nice when working on a movie or when being with his escort. And with his girlfriend, he’s somewhere in the middle.
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Those are the dangling bits of what this film has as a standard “plot,” which by themselves don’t really add up to anything but bird goes tweet: A jerk treats those around him like jerks and doesn’t learn anything except that he’s a jerk.
But, once again, *Three Worlds* isn’t a traditional movie or even a traditional non-linear one. Motlagh cuts together documentary interviews with family members and friends together with personal home videos, in a move that comes off as pretty stunning. The subjects talk about acting out televised pro wrestling, making music for movies, and going to the cinema. These non-fiction segments go on for good stretches, meaning to the film just as much as the fictional ones do. Personally, they mean more to me than the story of the jerk filmmaker, though they do make that story better.
There are also moments where Motlagh himself has what appears to be computer code projected onto his face, and eventually is seen as undergoing a medical experiment of sorts. And he’s on a beach at one point. This version of Motlagh, I believe, is stuck between the story of the director and the interviews with his real loved ones, in a dimension or world of its own, one where he observes and sits or walks around in a stasis. He’s made a movie about himself, thinking about making a documentary and living regretfully as his worst possible persona, which is also a movie in itself.
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Films like this are rare and even more rarely are they not pretentious - full of themselves, really. I don’t feel that *Three Worlds* is full of itself or of “it,” but it is full of life, lived in and confused as can be.
Where Terrence Malick’s *Knight of Cups* walked, *Three Worlds* sprints. Where Orson Welles’ *The Other Side of the Wind* spoke, *Three Worlds* whistles. Motlagh’s docu-narrative-essay that’s both a sort of biopic and a rumination on the concept of memories and reality more closely matches Anthony Hopkins’ directorial effort *Slipstream*, in that both are admirably out of bounds and almost tragically esoteric. However odd, these films are also totally unique in their approaches to how the storyteller, the story, and the act of storytelling are crafted and balanced. Or unbalanced. They’re playing in a big toybox, and they’re having fun.
*Three Worlds* is more musically sensible at tearing down walls than it is at building up a sensible story, by which I mean that Motlagh’s movie is more right musically than it is right write-ly. Orson Welles said something similar and said it better. Still, I stand by my phrasing. **3/5**
*Three Worlds* will screen as part of the [Indie Discovery L.A. Film Series](https://www.indiediscoveryla.com/screenings?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). [Stay tuned](https://twitter.com/indiediscfsla?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Why You Should Watch "The Confined"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/whyconfined/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:34.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
The ideas behind Christopher Picone’s short film [*The Confined*](https://www.facebook.com/theconfinedfilm/) are as beautifully weird and they are vastly interesting. Spooky discoveries are all around, like when a projector appears, screening footage of a tortured character, as he struggles in pain, and in real time. It’s a haunting visual, even if rough around the edges.
*The Confined* is entirely rough around the edges which, while likely not intended as such, grants the film a quality and suggestiveness that belongs wholeheartedly to the passionate and imaginative filmmakers coming up in the world.
I’m reminded of David Lynch’s short *Scissors*, about an unseen group of friends in a movie theater. Creepy and crawly, and full of intrigue. Of course, that was made by a seasoned cinema veteran, but all the same, Lynch and Picone share that special knack for grasping at the fantastical and the ghastly.
Stars the award-winning Thomas J. O’Brien as Landry.
**Coming soon.**
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## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### "Day9" Gives a Lesson in Dealing with the Boss
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/day9/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:34.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
As a multi-millionaire manager of day laborers berates his crew, one of whom is teetering on making a life-altering decision, an interesting anecdote about the rock group Red Hot Chili Peppers comes up.
For this man of massive wealth, it was an affront that he paid the band lots of cash to perform at a private party, and “They only played five songs, and three of them sucked!" Surely, in the hot American desert, emotions run as high as the temperature. However, I can only imagine that this boss would’ve made that speech even in the most comfortable settings.
What an ass.
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*Day9* is the story of four workers doing a job digging out in the desert, for a rich man each of them has had past experiences. On day nine of their dig, each worker expresses their boiling animosity for him, played by Charles Maze. This short film is all his show, despite Maze only being a supporting character. The other four actors, while good, aren’t as interesting as Maze. His character, Dobroth, is an aging menace of a jerk, scolding everyone with specific insults and dirty words. To watch Maze work this magic is such devilish fun.
While being well composed - even using split-diopter shots quite impressively - and making lived-in use of the heated environment and the heated relationship between the employed and the employer, *Day9* only ever drifts when Maze isn’t onscreen, and when exposition becomes the one driver of action. The four diggers go over how they met Dobroth, how they don’t like him and wish to wring his neck or worse. That’s basically it until Maze’s Dobroth comes around and gets mad again.
Exposition be damned, the cast is game for turning standard and dull into interesting and chummy. It’s exploited versus exploiter, and there’s more of them than him.
More than fine and better than acceptable, *Day9* is good. Very good.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers?
I leave their score up to others. **3.5/5**
*Day9* should be released sometime soon.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### A Fine Chat with Leonard Aldous Gaxley about Remastering "Magnolia"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/magremaster/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:35.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
During Superbowl 2023, Dream Video Division / Movie Minute Enterprises will [present the entire stream](https://www.twitch.tv/dreamvideodivision?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) of their *Magnolia Remastered* project, in full and in sequence.
Over the previous several months, this “remaster” has released one and two-minute segments, day after day, tweet after tweet. Beautiful mashes and mixes, incredible artifacts and data, and some truly new perspectives on Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic L.A. drama.
The two ~~pictures~~ letters below were sent to me in a question-and-answer chat that I had with the project’s leader, Leonard Aldous Gaxley (or LAG), and are placed here in this post as they were received:
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Will there be more?
Surely.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### By Any Means, "Rome: Death to America" Seeks to Build Mind Before Militia
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/romeamerica/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:35.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
When I think about Kevin Ronca’s short documentary *Rome: Death to America*, I think of the following line from Frank Zappa’s song “Trouble Every Day,” and how it applies to the film:
🎵 As it applies to you and me
Our country isn't free
And the law refuse to see if all that you can ever be
Is just a lousy janitor
Unless your uncle owns a store 🎵
Ronca’s movie is a profile of African-American activist and revolutionary Rome, who is based out of his hometown of Detroit, Michigan. He is no “radicalized” figure, not from mass media anyway. If anything, he’s the inevitability of the mass neglect of his city and the surrounding neighborhoods and the livelihoods of his friends and family. The young man is an unapologetic (rightfully so) Communist, acting with his community to build up their spirits and, ultimately, his militia of direct action.
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Action to serve the people with shared resources and assistance, and action to overthrow the government, section by section.
“Trouble Every Day” might be my theme song for what I call my personal progressive ideology, but for Rome, it’s not enough and will never be enough. Inspiration only goes so far; match your talk with some walk, basically. The young man is challenging the liberal paradigm by being a strong-arm believer and not an armchair speaker. He may host a [podcast network](https://twitter.com/RevBlackNetwork?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), but his goals are bigger than that and bigger than him. He’s out for justice and, maybe, blood too.
*Death to America* tries to build its subject up as a surprise and as a shock, with its opening title introduction that escalates in the description, going from “[reformed gangbanger](https://twitter.com/UnholyRom3/status/1622800662328184832?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)” to “activist” to “and he wants to overthrow the government.” Ronca plays it right but cutely here, perhaps in a way to playfully soften but also enhance the blow of his subject’s mission, to an audience that hopefully would be instantly attracted. The documentary might only play to the choir of supporters that its underground streaming platform [Write Brain TV](https://www.writebrainstudios.tv/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) currently has, but I suspect with word of mouth and continued provocative programming, it’ll find a larger crowd to awe.
And with a person like Rome, leaving others in awe won’t be difficult. The film highlights his presence, which is paralyzing and powerful, calm but assertive and straightforward. While I wasn’t all that surprised by his words, it was his attitude that I was truly taken aback by. Maybe he’s fueled by anger as to how he and his neighbors have been treated and untreated by those with authority, but that aggression has only bred an individual more interested in providing free gas for people than pouring gas to start fires.
I’ve seen other movies that try to startle by showing people who have fairly or far-out extreme ideas (Rome’s ideas aren’t hard to understand) and *Rome: Death to America* is the tamest. This certainly contrasts a bit with what director Kevin Ronca attempts to find, as Rome himself, while intense at times, is pretty friendly overall. Community members chat with Ronca, stating just how helpful and how right Rome has been for them. While some point out just how bad policing and local violence have been, going so far as to flat-out say that there are more guns in their hands than in the hands of area cops - certainly something that feeds Rome’s assertion that he’s ready to throw down against the state - no threats are seen. At least, not from the subjects.
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The vast active neglect of their community comes off as the true threat and the true inspiration of activism, Communist advocacy, and of action for the general well-being. *Rome: Death to America* is a profile piece, but it’s also a document of discontent and grown outrage. It’s not something that we don’t already know, and it’s no warning, but a promise:
🎵 So I'm watchin' and I'm waitin'
Hopin' for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin'
Every time I hear 'em sayin'
That there's no way to delay that trouble comin' every day
No way to delay that trouble comin' every day 🎵
**3/5**
*Rome: Death to America* will begin streaming on [Write Brain TV](https://www.writebrainstudios.tv/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) to subscribers soon.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### And So, We Arrive at “Detective Knight: Independence”
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/independenceknight/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:36.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
It’d be far too easy to call *Detective Knight: Independence* \- the third entry in its cop trilogy - a “bad” film, which it most certainly is. Edward Drake continues to direct with desperation and a sprint-to-the-finish technical attitude that only those in debt express. Bruce Willis is merely a face to point the camera at, the story is confusing and irritating, etc. However faulty in the usual manners, another becomes more pronounced and utterly deplorable for this presentation: righteousness.
Filmmaker Edward Drake, who also wrote the screenplay, goes fire & brimstone with *Independence*, a go-for-broke outing from a go-get-my-coffee director. The movie opens with a bank robbery gone awry, shown through a point-of-view camera coming off of an assault rifle. From here, a rapid array of visual styles are ~~stolen~~ borrowed by Drake, in a shortsighted and superficial attempt to be bigger, be better, and “be” a real good flick.
Michael Bay. Tony & Ridley Scott. Antoine Fuqua. Imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery when their work is done poorly.
*Independence* is to be blamed entirely on the shoulders of its director/writer, who has at least made [one fairly entertaining film](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/dinoblood?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) before. Can’t one be enough, sir? He makes Jack Kilmer, the son of the great Val, act and move around like a burn-out in his lead performance.
The young man plays a rookie EMT who eventually becomes radicalized by a podcast and starts anxiously picking off people he stumbles upon while dressed awfully as a “cop,” which he too clearly is “not.” That simple costume design though, of a poorly buttoned-up and crafted police uniform, and Jack’s nervousness while wearing that clothing in public, are the only interesting merits of *Independence*. For an on-edge kid who has much anger and no plan, to walk about and sweat & shake when posing as he does, made for the film’s only memorable and positive note. It likely did not come from Drake, but who cares? It was actually a good choice.
Leading up to the 4th of July, to another heist, and to an extremely telegraphed finale, *Independence* concludes itself with the voice-over words, half said by Bruce Willis, half by a voice-over stand-in (I think, as it sounded like that): “Happy 4th, MOTHERF\*\*\*ER!! He he he.”
Considering how the first movie in his series, [*Rogue*](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/roguemarriage?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), tried its hand at making a fun but dramatic cop film already - and failed - I’m surprised at just how far Edward Drake would ultimately go to double-down and even triple-down on the ecstatic and fast. Ferociously, violently, and unapologetically does *Independence* go for thematic and action intensity, and in equal measure, it crashes into a brick wall of its own making. A brick wall constructed from a middling and unwieldy story. Maybe flashiness with a message would’ve worked had I been able to understand what the movie wanted me to at any given moment.
Cops are good? Cops are bad? Are they jerks with hearts or what? And do we sympathize with the kid or… Bruce Willis? The movie’s righteous eyes were bigger than its stomach, it seems. Let someone else carve up the turkey next time, Mr. Drake.
If you find yourself watching this, look out for the miniature clip-art version of Bruce jumping from car to car. That was funny. **0.5/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Scout Tafoya's "Xenolith Atlas" Deals with Depression and Content, Quarantine Be Damned
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/xenolithatlas/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:37.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
It's more than likely that Instagram and other apps of its kind don't so much measure where the world is at but, instead, they're screens upon screens - filters upon filters - that can shut out most of the world from where people are at individually, even collectively sometimes. This is an interesting thought as everyone comes to grips with what happened during the Covid quarantines, and the "content" that so many consumed in that period. [Imagine - all the people...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQK32bwvRuI&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
*Xenolith Atlas* acts as part video essay and part docu-narrative, where occasional but significant voiceover - softly spoken and ghostly quiet - comes the closest to being a literal protagonist, and where vertical videos become Herzog-like diary entries. To pinpoint just when or from where the film begins feels like a task or trial, and really feeds into whether or not this film is about one experience with depression or the global experience. I didn't hear the words Covid or pandemic once in the movie, nor did I ever see a mask worn. Months are counted and time becomes like a weighted necklace, getting heavier and heavier as the light turns dark. If I think of *Xenolith Atlas* as the dramatic variation on *Skinamarink*’s horror, then indeed we can begin from somewhere. And that somewhere is home.
A blast of social media video turns into an empty and blurry beach, behind a dusty and dirty window. A long stillness comes, where one spec of crud on the window is the focal point. Such specs on such windows run throughout the movie, becoming a motif not unlike floating dust and falling bubbles in Albert Birney/Kentucker Audley's *Sylvio*. These are moments of zen, like staring at a blank wall while the world turns around you. So many thoughts come alive, and I have to believe that there's peace found in these bubbles, these specs of crud, these pieces of dust in the sunlight. Home is where the story begins, and that can be on our phones and at the beginning of time itself; on a beach. Take that *Space Odyssey* and run with it, why don't ya?
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Filmmaker and critic Scout Tafoya, to whom I owe a review of his film *Eyam*, is at a height in his game so to speak, and I don't see a ceiling coming in the way. *Xenolith Atlas* is at its very best when struck by Scout's nerves, like when the voiceover says "It would be ironic if they killed you after all of this." He takes saved video from the late Jean-Luc Godard's [live Instagram Q&A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0iu0jUWc4U&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and juxtaposes it with a scene from *From Beyond* and a blank space in between, forming a triptych in lagging unison, where words fade and the screen takes control, perhaps from Scout even. This is what happens when too much time is spent with oneself. The screen becomes a filter, and the filter becomes a window. A window to what?
A song on a podcast plays, with the chorus "Hey, Larry, it's your best friend Jim!" sticking out. Mentally, I've been there. And clearly, the voice-over protagonist is in his own... hell? By the end of *Xenolith Atlas*, there's a sense of celebration that is expected or really that most audiences have been trained to expect from a dour tour. Indeed, there's a concert. Indeed, there's some upbeat music. But is anything better? I'm not sure, and I don't think the film is either. The last shot is of the wing of a plane, from a passenger seat, as it flies in operation. Blurred a bit, but the focus is again on a spec of something in the frame, or a blinking light just far enough away. While the attention economy acts as an escape in the present, it can still become a scheme down the line. No, this isn't hell. It's just Earth. It's just home.
From plane to plane, city to city, there are sights and sounds to remember in the vast noise of content, real or seen on a screen. A vertical one. Tafoya observes content in a time of grief and feels life in a time of content with the gestures and the strokes of a poet - sometimes borrowed from the best, sometimes off the top of his head. His *Xenolith Atlas* isn't just a brave and astute essay on living "in place" and out of space, but it's also one of the best examinations of the world as it is at this moment.
At *Xenolith*'s concert finale, Scout closes his film with a song that has the standout lyric "I don't want to see the world, I just want to see you." From there, the wing of a plane. Again. Whether it moves or not, the world has been seen and will continue to be seen through screens. What else will we watch when wide awake but zonked out in bed? **5/5**
*Xenolith Atlas* streams on [Recycled Screenings](https://recycledscreenings.com/xenolith-atlas?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) until the end of January.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### The Fun Soaked Slime of "Kids vs. Aliens"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/kidsaliens/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:37.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
To this day, after eating a bowl of Cap’n Crunch Berries, I instantly recall Saturday Morning cartoons. Not really specific shows, but rather just the concept of sitting on a carpeted floor and staring up at a big box Television set while eating breakfast. That trope has been repeated so often in media, that it’s now mostly burrowed into the action of shoveling cereal into one’s mouth. Nostalgia triggers, they are.
*Kids vs. Aliens*, about ragtag kids and teens facing off with aliens on a 1990s-set Halloween night, plays like it’s an antithesis to nostalgia triggers. Sure, there are references to collective childhood experiences here and there, but everything flies around so fast that there’s barely any time to recall any one generic act from the past. This is a film about making new memories and developing new triggers.
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
Director Jason Eisener adapted this movie from his short *V/H/S/2* segment *Slumber Party Alien Abduction*, which shares some of the same DNA. Some. *Kids vs. Aliens* is no unforgiving outing of relentless brutality and horror, but it is unrelenting in just how much fun it is to watch. Like with his previous feature [*Hobo with a Shotgun*](https://youtu.be/jSvURcer-8g?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), Eisener brings in bright lights and big colors, but here he pulls out much-oozing sinew and slime. If malevolent cosmic beings were allowed to compete on [*Nickelodeon Guts*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickelodeon%5FGuts?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), basically. Well, if you added the sinew and slime.
Pure escapism. The kids just want to make home movies and be left alone. The teens just want to party and be left alone. The aliens just… it’s unclear exactly what they want, other than human flesh, taken in ritualistic ways. All I know is that it’s up to big sister Samantha, played with spirit and a gung-ho attitude by Phoebe Rex, to save the kids, and it’s up to the kids to save the night, from the aliens and the super bully Billy, performed as a truly evil villain by Calem MacDonald. The kids here are a vulgar delight to behold, cussing and fighting their way through danger and near death at every turn, using fireworks, swords, and a wrestling ring to battle for their lives. Dammit, this is a hoot and a half.
Where Eisener cuts back from *Hobo with a Shotgun*’s blood, gore, and violent displays, and goes for a slightly lighter vision of *Slumber Party Alien Abduction*, he makes sure to amp things up with the music and the pace in *Kids vs. Aliens*. The beats go from electronic enthusiasm and wonder to heart-pounding anxiety and pure metal mayhem by the finale. A phenomenal array of brightness and sensory attack from every possible angle, visually and audibly.
I have no idea what this movie will trigger audiences to remember, or what action in years to come will trigger memories of this movie. I wouldn’t know that it takes place in the 1990s had it not been stated as such. I wouldn’t associate it with any collectively-had behavior, as the film is so specifically charged. It has kids. It has aliens. And they fight loudly. That’s it, and how wonderful is that? **4/5**
*Kids vs. Aliens* streams and screens starting this Friday, January 20th.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### “Detective Knight: Rogue” Is an Introduction to What Could Be a Flat and Confusing Trilogy
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/roguemarriage/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:38.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
For a movie that features middle-aged schlubs playing imposing or villainous characters, and leading men looking exhausted for the duration of their time on screen, *Detective Knight: Rogue* doesn’t exactly do itself any favors in appearing attractive. Of course, “looks can be deceiving,” and “it’s what’s on the inside that counts,” but when there are technical mistakes and general disarray found within, ugly becomes a proper description. This Bruce Willis barely-starrer and Edward John Drake-directed cop drama, part of the “[geezer teaser](https://www.vulture.com/article/randall-emmett-movies.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)” direct to VOD market, is just that: ugly. And tearing it apart would be too much like picking low-hanging fruit.
But, as a schlubby and tired individual myself, I can identify with the picture. In *Rogue*, the first entry in what will apparently be a trilogy, Willis plays the central detective known as Knight (the rest of his name escapes me), who fails to stop an armored car robbery that ends in his partner being shot multiple times. The partner is put in the hospital, but not before Knight just kinda stands around and looks unengaged as his bloodied friend suffers on the ground. The footage of Willis as Knight is made up of some fresh shots, some from behind a lookalike, and some that are somewhat shamelessly-used clips from a previous Edward Drake movie [*Gasoline Alley*](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/dinoblood?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). This is not without precedent, either as a geezer teaser or as a b-movie, but it is still frustrating and confusing.
It’s also not the fault of Bruce Willis, so let’s drop him from the rest of this review.
The aforementioned thieves, led by a pain killer-addicted young ex-football player, operate on-call for a dirty and shady rich guy, a mostly unshaven sloth, who requests highly sought-after sports memorabilia from the crew. There’s another detective, aside from Knight, that’s on their trail, but it’s difficult to understand what he’s saying due to his accent. His dialogue could’ve been cleaned up in post-production, but any and all audio work was saved for scenes that either didn’t need it or didn’t match the voice of the actor it was being done for.
When I wasn’t laughing, I was shaking my head at the missed opportunities with the heist team. They practice in a junkyard and execute their jobs in the most unpolished ways possible, without a shred of cleverness or fun to be seen or had. It’s not shocking, but it is disappointing just how far out of its own way *Detective Knight: Rogue* goes in not being good.
Convoluted, hard to understand, and just bad.
Knight does wear a werewolf Halloween mask to shoot some thugs at one point. That was somewhat cool. *Detective Knight: Rogue*, similarly, wears a mask too. A mask that it struggles to remove and can’t breathe in. Sorry fella. **1/5**
---
#### One More Thing: *Arranged Marriage*
Official still
In a nightmare-ish-looking college library, a young woman and her maybe-boyfriend/maybe assignment partner, flirt with one another as the lamps and lights on the building loudly turn off and on in creepy order. She goes to apply lotion and comes back to find a dead body. More lights flick on and off with heavy noise.
Then…a surprise arranged marriage ceremony! Quirky!
Then…more deaths. And more quirks. And so on.
The tone of *Arranged Marriage* is completely off-kilter and daringly demented. The young woman’s family is made up of the Indian community, and they all demand that she get married soon, and to someone that’s been chosen for her. Of course, she already has a boyfriend - not the dead guy from before - a naive white privilege fool who, upon coming to her home to make an introduction, is attacked in his eye and sent to the hospital. Still, he’s willing to give it another chance. After all, theirs is a different culture.
Is this a comedy slasher about cultural follies and family bonds, or is it some exercise in throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping some noodles will stick? Both are likely.
But just because there’s an element of daring doesn’t mean it’s good. It’s twisted but not twisty. There’s no mystery to the murders throughout, and there’s little to no successful humor. Aside from one oddball dance number, *Arranged Marriage* is entirely strange in what it wants to accomplish and what it wants to be. I don’t believe that it’s unsure, but I do think that it doesn’t know how to express itself.
There are lots of scenes with people eating, there are plenty of curious cultural cues, and there might be something deeper going on in the story that I likely missed. Might be. But I can’t say that I’m enthused to revisit the film anytime soon. Give or take, it’s an oddity, which I appreciate. But it’s also confounding and just plain off-putting. For its quirks and kills, *Arranged Marriage* just can’t pull its ambitions together. Ironically, it’s not a match made in heaven. Or hell.
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Dissect and Build Upon: A Q&A with Director J.M. Stelly
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/jmstellyqa/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:39.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
“One Night. One Director. Three Films.”
In what I can best describe as an indie horror overload, [The Manship Theatre](https://www.manshiptheatre.org/what-we-do/film?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) in Baton Rouge will showcase a presentation by [Louisiana Entertainment](https://louisianaentertainment.gov/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com): the premiere of three new locally-made movies, screening one after another, all on the night of Saturday, January 7th, at 6 PM CST.
This fascinating triple feature of thrills and chills comes from regional filmmaker J.M. Stelly, whose previous work has included various music videos, and the film [*The Demonologist*](https://tubitv.com/movies/516008/the-demonologist?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), which can be streamed right now on Tubi.
I asked J.M. some questions about making movies and what he’d like to watch on a date with a certain horror character.
Enjoy.
---
**I might be paraphrasing, but I believe that Orson Welles once said, “For a film to be right, it must be right musically.” As a director, what does this mean to you?**
**JM:** So for me, music is just as important and in some cases more important to a film than I think people actually realize. Take John Carpenter’s Halloween for instance. When he first screened the film, he didn’t have any music at all and it just wasn’t scary to anyone. The minute he added a score, it changed the mood of the film. It’s a rarity that a film comes along that has no backing score to it. No Country for Old Men did it but that movie had a vibe that didn’t require it. I’ve been a musician my whole life so all the music in my films aside from some of the music in The Demonologist is written by me. I find myself during the making of a film thinking about the mood of the music or soundscapes I want to add and because I edit my films by the scenes, it’s easy for me to dissect and build upon the scene with sound and music.
I’ve always been a fan of a more abstract approach to the music so it’s a mixture between composition and soundscapes. For Call of the Void, the music was highly important simply because the movie is structured like a silent film. In my opinion, it’s one of the most crucial elements to that film.
**What is it about horror filmmaking that you find interesting?**
**JM:** Horror is one of the oldest forms of storytelling. It’s a grand study of the human element and the deeper parts of our psyche. There are so many types of horror that don’t really get talked about much. I feel like a lot of horror films get lost in the commercial need for what’s popular. Jump scares are fun but they can become cheap after a while. Some of my favorite movies prey upon the thought process.
##### Trailer for *Abacus*, part of the Manship triple feature.
*Session 9* being one of my favorite films ever made. I feel like those filmmakers truly learned from films like *The Shining*. There’s no need to constantly push a jump scare on an audience. Sometimes just a slow move in a lit hallway can be just as terrifying. Suddenly something weird happens to the lighting. The sound design starts to creep into your subconscious and soon, a thing we’ve all been in our lives, an empty hallway becomes terrifying to you. Anticipation is just as strong a tool as all-out gore.
**From script to screen, what has the journey been like to get to your upcoming triple feature at the Manship in Baton Rogue?**
**JM:** So the journey to this night started back in 2016 when we made *Abacus*. My friends and I got together based on an outline and an idea I had for a long time. We spent two days making the film and eventually came back in January in 2017 to shoot outside scenes. I then sat and edited the first cut of the film and my co-producer and DP Jason Parker handled the audio.
I was never happy with the film. There was just so much wrong with everything and I don’t think at the time I had the skills to figure it out, so I put it on the back burner. I went off and made *The Demonologist* in the summer of 2017 and that dominated my life for a year. I work in the industry professionally doing other things so I ended up getting too busy to return to *Abacus*.
##### Trailer for *They Are Watching*, part of the Manship triple feature.
Fast Forward - - COVID happens. I wanted to make two more features mostly as a distraction from the world. So I made *They Are Watching* over the course of five days, which I also had to act in due to the pandemic and a month later Jared Bankens and I spent a week making *Call of the Void* at night.
Fast Forward once again to April of 2022 - - I decided it was time to not just finish *Abacus* but all three of the films. I tore each one apart, especially *Abacus*, and recut them. Re-Mixed the audio, did the scores, and did all the sound design. I even had to learn VFX for *Call of the Void*.
All three of these films were made with zero money. Everything was done using the resources we had. From locations and equipment to software. If there was something I didn’t know how to do, I taught myself to do it. It takes a lot of discipline and drive to do what was done with these three completely different films.
**What are some of your favorite music videos ever made? Do you feel that music is a good place to start for aspiring filmmakers and storytellers?**
**JM:** Every Tool video ever made. Tool has been such a huge part of my life. I’m also biased in saying that one of my favorite videos is one I directed called “Conjure” for the band Down. I tried to really capture that old-school ’70s horror vibe with that video.
I think that an aspiring filmmaker or storyteller should just create regardless of where it starts. Music is a great thing to have in the process but not everyone works that way. Inspiration should come from the world around you. Never just one place.
**How would you best describe the independent film community in Hollywood South?**
**JM:** Honestly I don’t know. I have friends who are independent filmmakers here and one, in particular, has called me several times to talk about the state of how people think and act in the community. Meaning that we don’t see a lot of people doing and more people talking about doing. I’m not as embedded in the community as you would think among my peers. I’ve always been the black sheep in every situation. However, I love supporting the community in any way I can.
##### Trailer for *Call of the Void*, part of the Manship triple feature.
I hope that we see a lot more investments into independent film in South Louisiana, but we have to remember it’s a business and I truly believe the modern filmmaker must understand the difference between the art form of filmmaking and the business of filmmaking. You can’t be complacent when it comes to creating something. If money is involved, you have to figure out a way to make that money back and make a profit. At the same time, I believe people should just create. That’s how you grow and move the art form forward.
**If you could pick one movie to watch with Jigsaw from the *Saw* films, what would it be, why, and where/how would you two watch it?**
**JM:** Jigsaw seems like a western type of dude. *Unforgiven* is a damn good one and we would probably watch it in his chambers as we keep tabs on the unfortunate souls that are trying to survive one of his traps.
---
For tickets and other information on J.M. Stelly’s films, visit [The Manship Theatre](https://www.manshiptheatre.org/show/an-evening-with-j-m-stelly?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) online.
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### The Woke Anti-Woke Movie Recommendation
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/moviegoer1/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:39.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
As I described in a [previous post](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/37anxiety?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), Moviegoing with Bill will begin publishing more often than has been average, very soon. While I don’t wish to force anything beyond my comfort zone, I do feel that now is the time. “Very soon” is “now.”
To kick things off, I have the following pilot in a new series of newsletter bloggings: The Moviegoer. Here will be home to recommended local showtimes and streamings, byte-size reviews, listicles and recommendations, links, and movie-related commentaries. It’s a work-in-progress, and will likely be tuned around a bit.
The plan is to do one each Monday and Friday, though that may also get tuned a bit. Wait, is it tuned or perhaps tooned? We’ll see.
Enjoy.
---
Photo by [Wesley Tingey](https://unsplash.com/@wesleyphotography?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
> KENNEDY: "I don't eat kale. You know why? Because kale tastes to me like I'd rather be fat!"
>
> — Townhall.com (@townhallcom) [ 3:20 PM ∙ Dec 5, 2022 ](https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1599785731177975808?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1599785731177975808%7Ctwgr%5Ea74957770b21fb0bab3fdc4f261cace15a635c87%7Ctwcon%5Es1%5F&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fboingboing.net%2F2022%2F12%2F06%2Fus-sen-john-kennedy-exposes-kale-as-a-gateway-drug-to-woke-ness.html&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)[](https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1599785731177975808?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
While I do appreciate Senator John Neely Kennedy’s commitment to being the embodiment of [Louisiana’s health concerns](https://www.google.com/search?q=louisiana+obesity+rate&oq=louisiana+obsesiry&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0i13i512l4j0i13i30l2j0i8i13i30l3.6884j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), his specific disdain for the green superfood kale, used as the worn cape of his hero pledge against “the woke,” is pretty weird and shameless, like playing to a base so against anything thought to be left-leaning, that the arguments and the beliefs come back around to being a version of the woke phenomenon after all.
I laugh, but I also wish the Senator and his lovely krewe a most honest welcome to this twisted state of thinking. Making what was a fantasy culture war into a really tangible self-celebration of “traditional values” is not a failure, but an adventure.
For them, I suggest the following cinematic viewing:
[***The Garbage Pail Kids Movie***](https://www.amazon.com/Garbage-Pail-Kids-Anthony-Newley/dp/B008K2SZ16/ref=sr%5F1%5F3?keywords=garbage+pail+kids&qid=1670830176&s=movies-tv&sprefix=garbage%2Cmovies-tv%2C104&sr=1-3&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Still, from [Cinapse](https://cinapse.co/the-garbage-pail-kids-movie-stinks-as-bad-as-it-sounds-like-it-would-blu-review-e4dac3a11ff0?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
- Please, take no offense to the title of this pick & flick picture, as it’s very much a tome on a community working together (in pseudo sweatshops) towards wholesome goals (of helping a young teen get with another young teen).
- Aliens from space, traveling in a garbage can (or pail), are very much a loving metaphor for being yourself no matter the cultural opinion, and for fighting against the persecutions of the social sheeple.
- The villain may be a money-grubbing bully, but where in history has such a bad guy won at all (wink wink)?
---
[“But ](https://www.polygon.com/23496796/avatar-cultural-impact-phooey?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)[*Avatar*](https://www.polygon.com/23496796/avatar-cultural-impact-phooey?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)[ is first and foremost a ](https://www.polygon.com/23496796/avatar-cultural-impact-phooey?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)[*movie*](https://www.polygon.com/23496796/avatar-cultural-impact-phooey?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)[, and it might just be the most movie-ass movie ever made.”](https://www.polygon.com/23496796/avatar-cultural-impact-phooey?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[“A Peter Greenaway interview is its own subgenre, with its themes and variations invariably featuring a proclamation of cinema’s inferiority and infancy next to painting.”](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/everythings-gone-greenaway-or-do-you-think-death-necessary?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
---
*Spirited Away*: [Prytania Theatre - Uptown, December 18th at 10 PM CST](https://www.theprytania.com/uptown/miyazaki-series?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
*Four Samosas*: [Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge, December 9th through 15th, 7 PM CST](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/calendar.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
*Santa Claus Conquers the Martians*: [Movie Poster Archives Gallery, December 15th, 6:30 PM CST](https://fb.me/e/3IVuxmhsn?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Follow Wildwood programming news on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/wildwood.cinema/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### There Are Many Jump Scares on the Path to Baton Rouge
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/emancipation/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:40.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, that all enslaved persons in the South were to be considered free by the United States, is the catalyst for *Emancipation*’s main action of escape, chase, and ultimately freedom for a slave and his family, of course; it’s in the title of the film. It is also an excuse for much cinematic horror, almost in the style of a slasher flick, if as one extended race through a virtual slaughterhouse. That is a slightly hyperbolic statement, but also pretty true. *Emancipation* might technically be a war picture or a thriller, but at heart, it is a fright.
Will Smith plays Peter, a man separated from his family and forced to work on a railroad for the Confederacy. Heads on pikes, chopped limbs, whipped skin, and piled-up corpses make up the smokey-grey environment from hell. Welcome to the Civil War. Welcome to the South. Ben Foster plays an infamous slave hunter who almost immediately recognizes Peter’s fiery attitude, sensing a potential matchup. And soon, in a split-second moment of rebellion and self-preservation, Peter is off. Having overheard of the proclamation, he is determined to make his way to Baton Rouge, where the Union army is stationed. From there, he will find and free his family by any means necessary.
Part of me wants to call this a historical acid horror, similar to *Apocalypse Now*. This label would and should be seen as silly to those who have yet to view the movie, but somehow it feels right. There are peculiar fantasy-like moments that make little literal sense, like Peter coming upon a plantation mansion on fire in the middle of the night. There are other oddities that play with what’s real and what’s a legend, and it’s all welcome. Director Antoine Fuqua and crew have developed into this tale of survival something much more than simple suspense; fear. Fear of dangers expected and unexpected, and fear of the future.
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Smoggy and foggy with cannon smoke and humidity, *Emancipation* just never lets up. Will Smith faces off with alligators, with relentless hunters, and eventually with a whole army, all of which challenged my eye contact with the screen. The movie looks ugly and dirty and is downright violent in a near-grindhouse exploitation way. Near, mind you. This is no *Django Unchained*. Actually, it’s more *Saving Private Ryan*’s D-Day sequence, if the Nazis were replaced with Leatherface. This fight for freedom is never ending and always brutal, which becomes somewhat exhausting, but rarely boring or unimportant.
Will Smith is, as always, a phenom. He is 100% dedicated to and absolutely taken with Peter and his journey. He sweats, he breathes heavily, he bleeds, and he keeps the faith. This was expected before my screening and was confirmed afterward. But it’s not Smith that makes the movie; he’s good, but not the end all be all. Is there a tinge of vanity in his film? Maybe, but no more than in Dwayne Johnson’s invincible *Black Adam* performance. And, if vain, so what? *Emancipation* delivers drama and terror with and against the grain of American slavery films, even when it’s a redundant sensory overload.
For me, this movie is made by its supporting cast and its themes. Ben Foster is brilliantly villainous, without a shred of decency displayed. He’s just so hateful and hateable. Not deliciously like Freddy in the *Nightmare of Elm Street* sequels, but like the horrific version of the character in the original movie. Mustafa Shakir as a black Union soldier is wonderfully stoic and strong, and Paul Ben-Victor as a smarmy Union bureaucrat is perfectly rounded and representative of the proclamation’s “fine print.” His performance in particular sets up and sums up the theme of everlasting and systemic oppression, where true freedom and equality are in sight but just out of reach. Where the formerly enslaved are still seen as mere objects, or “contraband.”
Fuqua is at his directorial best, Robert Richardson just kills it with the cinematography, and the production design is off the charts grimy and dirty, and dangerous. *Emancipation* should be great with all of the above at play but it is held back by being overdone, overexcited, and overwhelming. Taking in the scope of the threat and the massiveness of the pain being inflicted is too much for this movie to balance with what should’ve just been the fantastical and punishing chase. Instead of being one movie, *Emancipation* goes for making two or three at once and subsequently is just too much to handle and too hot to hold, no matter the thrills and chills.
And yet, the film deserves a special notation when the book on 2022 in cinema is written. Not for Will Smith’s public choices, but for being a movie that captures a time, a place, and a country’s fate for what it was and what it will be: horrific. **3.5/5**
---
*Emancipation* will begin streaming on Apple TV+ starting December 9th and is currently running a theatrical release.
---
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Join my new subscriber chat
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/chat/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:40.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Today I’m announcing a brand new addition to my Substack publication: the Moviegoing with Bill subscriber chat.
This is a conversation space in the Substack app that I set up exclusively for my subscribers — kind of like a group chat or live hangout. I’ll post short prompts, thoughts, and updates that come my way, and you can jump into the discussion.
**To join our chat, you’ll need to download the** [**Substack app**](https://substack.com/app/app-store-redirect?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)**, now available for both iOS and Android.** Chats are sent via the app, not email, so turn on push notifications so you don’t miss conversation as it happens.
---
## How to get started
1. **Download the app by clicking** [**this link**](https://substack.com/app/app-store-redirect?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) **or the button below.** Substack Chat is now available on both iOS and Android.
[Get app](https://substack.com/app/app-store-redirect?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
1. **Open the app and tap the Chat icon.** It looks like two bubbles in the bottom bar, and you’ll see a row for my chat inside.
1. **That’s it!** Jump into my thread to say hi, and if you have any issues, check out [Substack’s FAQ](https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/sections/360007461791-Frequently-Asked-Questions).
[Join chat](https://open.substack.com/pub/moviegoing/chat)
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Review: "I'll Find You"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/findyou/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:41.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Supposing that a movie could or should be partially considered on the quality of a filmmaker’s past work, *I’ll Find You* would be an easy recommendation to make. Its director is Martha Coolidge, who previously made seminal 80s flicks *Real Genius* and *Valley Girl*, two films that by themselves would increase interest in any of an auteur’s follow-ups. And Coolidge’s follow-ups have included the HBO drama *Introducing Dorothy Dandridge* and the Walter Matthau/Jack Lemmon starrer *Out to Sea*. Ups and downs? More like work, more work, and fine work.
And so, what is *I’ll Find You* in the scope of Coolidge’s catalog? More work.
The film tells the story of young opera singer Robert (Leo Suter) and his unrelenting pursuit to find his violinist love Rachel (Adelaide Clemens) in the midst of WWII Europe. This makes up the bulk of the story, from the early middle to the very end. At the start, it’s a film of longing, with Robert and Rachel trying to re-establish an awkward romance in the days just before war breaks out. The early scenes are set in Poland, at a music school for gifted children. It’s here that the two first meet as adolescents, and have a minor confrontation over a street performer and his muzzled bear. Sooner than later, the pair are arguing about music history and performance, and ultimately begin making amends and becoming friends. From here, we return to them as adults, making out and being with one another all of the time.
Thank you for reading Moviegoing with Bill. This post is public so feel free to share it.
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*I’ll Find You* has an almost fast pace throughout, stripped of anything that could be considered superfluous. What is seen on screen is the bare minimum for the plot to move along swiftly enough, and leave some breathing room for character growth. A tight script and a tighter cut, I’d be hard-pressed to find. Perhaps a result of the quickness here is how some moments are horrifically telegraphed and easily predicted, like when a German spills the beans on a Jewish hiding spot. Introduced just a few scenes prior, the character gains the trust of fellow musicians, then immediately - just feet away - speaks with two other double agents, front and center, about Nazi plans and what is expected to be done. “Ah HA!” I went, as the image of the inevitable flashed in my mind. Thankfully, that character is promptly executed by the resistance.
There’s plenty to like in the movie of course. Coolidge at her best is able to direct actors to incredible performances, the top two in *I’ll Find You* come from Stellan Skarsgard and Adelaide Clemens. Now, it’s a given that Skarsgard can absolutely rule a role, no matter the subject. He plays a famous tenor who mentors Robert and assists him in finding Rachel, going so far as to attempt to bribe Nazi officials for information. When his character sings before crowds, Skarsgard sells to a soulful degree. Is he “faking?” Probably, but he’s also not “faking,” playing from the chest and the heart with stunning ease. And Clemens, who comes out of her shell towards the end, left my jaw on the floor. She expresses the effects of silent pain and trauma so well; a subtle shake of her body made me shiver with sadness.
Coolidge may have had some work with *I’ll Find You*, but the film is not a work to watch. Despite a speedy pace and a somewhat troubled hold on the script, it all catches up once the performances are given a little bit of time to take in the air and live. From some surprises to other not-so-surprising parts, *I’ll Find You* goes from ho-hum to superb when given a chance. A chance from its director, and a chance from its audience. I don’t consider this “work,” but I suppose that, on occasion, “work” this can be.
That’s ok. **2.5/5**
*I’ll Find You* is currently streaming on-demand.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### New Orleans Film Festival, 2022: Podcasting with Brandon Ledet
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/swampfest22/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:42.000Z
From [Swamplfix](https://swampflix.com/2022/11/20/podcast-173-causeway-2022-noff2022/?fbclid=IwAR1SNsf%5Fwn%5FyaZdKPrfFlB-exDZyl793XWDhhIRAUt2NBqB3vMKVwaVBALo&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
## Dear Moviegoers,
Turkey Day this year was absolutely stuffed with food. I’m honestly unsure how I or my family are going to finish everything that we made and received.
The same kind of stuffed sensation goes for my awards season screener selections, which have been plentiful thus far. I’m absolutely thankful for the food and the flicks!
[New Orleans Film Festival, 2022: "Causeway"(Note: Please excuse any background TV noises in the audio voiceover - I probably should’ve re-recorded, but maybe it’s livelier with the mistakes in it. Maybe.) Dear Moviegoers, Causeway, the new film from critical darling studio A24 and streaming service Apple TV+ (where it is now available to subscribers) is not so surprisingly not about …Moviegoing with Bill](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/causewaynoff?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Believe it or not, I still have a few more movies to get to before finishing my review coverage of this year’s New Orleans Film Festival. One, [*You Resemble Me*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhTR%5F55U2dE&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), is beginning a theatrical run in the area at [Zeitgeist](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) tonight.
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
[New Orleans Film Festival, 2022: A Q&A with Jason FosterDear Moviegoers, The 2022 New Orleans Film Festival ran from November 3 - 13 (with both in-person and virtual showings). The following is a Q&A with filmmaker Jason Foster, on his short film In Search of…Pregame - a personal docu-essay piece that moves through home videos, past movie projects, present anxieties, and…Moviegoing with Bill](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/pregameqa?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
I’ll have that review sent and posted soon, but until then, I **did** do a guest spot on fellow [SEFCA member](https://www.sefca.net/members?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#/brandon-ledet)/local critic Brandon Ledet’s podcast over at [Swampflix](https://swampflix.com/podcast/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), where we chatted about the festival and more. It’s always fun discussing films with him, and I highly recommend listening in below.
Coming soon:
*Women Talking* \+ *Bones and All*
Albert Pyun’s *Brain Smasher…A Love Story*
Episode 1 of Joe Badon’s *The Wheel of Heaven*
And more.
[Subscribe now](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
I hope y’all’s Turkey weeks went great!
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### New Orleans Film Festival, 2022: A Q&A with Jason Foster
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/pregameqa/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:42.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
*The 2022* [*New Orleans Film Festival*](https://neworleansfilmsociety.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) *ran from November 3 - 13 (with both in-person and virtual showings).*
*The following is a Q&A with filmmaker Jason Foster, on his short film *In Search of…Pregame* \- a personal docu-essay piece that moves through home videos, past movie projects, present anxieties, and potential tomorrows, all told through a gaze of Basketball. For sure, it was among my favorite flicks at this year’s fest. I’m uncertain as to when and how Pregame will screen again but do follow Jason on his website.*
*Enjoy :)*
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**1) Not a *Cool Runnings* fan?**
**Jason Foster:** I can't tell you the last time I watched that movie. But when it came out in '93 (I was nine), I saw it in the theaters, and I was excited that my Jamaican culture was being represented and reflected on the big screen. Not to mention, at the time, I knew nothing of Jamaica having had a bobsled team. "It's educational and about Jamaica; you gotta take me, mom!" I might re-watch it soon. So...when the movie became a hit, and I would tell folks that I was from Jamaica, the first thing that would come out of most people's mouths was either asking if I had seen *Cool Runnings* (yes), a quote from the movie (how original), can you do a Jamaican accent (yes but not for you) or you don't have an accent (I'm sorry?) or some other uninformed question or notion about the country (There's electricity in Jamaica? One boy asked me in the third grade after I played a Bob Marley song for show and tell).
Eventually, a mere mention of the film would elicit a vitriolic Pavolian response from me. The question of whether or not I had seen *Cool Runnings* or known of its existence became an indicator, right or wrong, of the asker's ignorance which would be followed by a glib comment, no matter what I said in response. If you wanted to get a rise out of Marty McFly, you'd call him yellow. Back in the day, to get a rise out of me, all you had to do was ask if I saw *Cool Runnings*.
**2) *Pregame* feels like an amalgamation or reconciliation of various personal projects and feelings of yours, from an unfinished Jamaican piece that’s brought up to various family concerns expressed through photographs and audio, drawn up in a collage of sorts. How did all of it come about in this movie?**
**Jason Foster:** Thanks, and I promise I'm not trying to dodge this question or be truculent. I just made what I wanted to see. All the things that you see on the screen are me and from my mind. If I got excited by an idea during the edit, I would try it, and if I liked it, it stays in the picture, kid.
**3) You and Zac Manuel made some striking visuals, my favorite of which was at the end, of the line on the basketball court floor, during the conversation with your mother. Was there much planning for the cinematography, or was it improvised?**
**Jason Foster:** Zac Manuel and I are frequent collaborators. He's easily one of my favorite people to be around, film set or not, and his work and ethics are second to none. When I make the feature version of *Pregame*, which will be named *In Search Of...*He's shooting it! For *Pregame*, the only piece Zac filmed was the segment with my son and me back in 2016.
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
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I filmed the basketball court "scene" during the spring of 2020\. It was not too long after the NBA shutdown, which, if memory serves correctly, caused the rest of the nation to take it seriously. I still think some folks look at Rudy Gobert sideways for his microphone mishap.
At any rate, I thought the footage looked nice and used it in a very short film called *Requiem for a Season*. The city took most hoops off the backboards at that same court because of Covid. I thought footage of the lines was the perfect backdrop for my mother's interview. I have some thoughts on what the lines mean, but I'll keep that to myself.
**4) The long sequence of you shooting hoops by yourself, with audio from a Jamaican trip playing in the background, stunned me for various reasons. One reason, in particular, was the use of text-based commentary throughout, which showed both a sense of humor and some strong self-reflection. What did using the text mean for you, and why the home video-ish font?**
**Jason Foster:** Ultimately, it was a way for me to interact with the viewer and not have their experience be passive. As I'm bricking free throws left and right, perhaps deep down, I wanted the audience to be working as well. I didn't want to do a narration for various reasons, one being it lets the audience off the hook just a tad. So either you're engaged with the free throws, text, or audio. All three give you different perspectives, but it's all a piece of the same pie.
It wasn't a home-video font, but if you thought it was, we'll keep it at that. Can't give you everything, Bill!
**5) Few films I’ve seen have used reality and emotional memory as well as *Pregame*. What was the editing process like, and how would you compare making this film to other works that you’ve done?**
**Jason Foster:** Before *Pregame* was a proper film, I uploaded four out of the five segments to Instagram in August 2021\. It was a self-imposed exercise/challenge to post a basketball video from August 23-August 27\. For those who don't remember, Hurricane Ida hit on August 29, 2021, so my family evacuated, and I never uploaded the last segment, which most likely would've been vastly different than what ended up in the film. But the response to the videos was so positive that I strung together the four segments, did some additional editing, and ultimately completed the fifth segment. Overall, the process was easy because I made it for myself, had much of the footage already digitized, and had fun with it. On the flip side, I'm also dredging up these latent and not so latent, emotions around my father's passing, my mortality, and my family history. I'm also asking my mother questions about my father she probably hasn't answered in years. There would be some days when I would feel drained, and I'm thinking, "Damn, did I catch Covid?" Then I remind myself that I just spent a couple of hours thinking, writing, and editing things that I've kept buried for so long. I haven't made a film this personal, so nothing compares ([2 U!](https://open.spotify.com/track/5GHY1DFWKz3Prg2V0Iodqo?si=8c0d232f6b2c4a70&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)) to this other than the nuts and bolts of filmmaking.
**6) What movies would you recommend to audiences that want to see or have already seen *In Search of…Pregame*?**
**Jason Foster:** That's a great question. I didn't consciously try to emulate any particular film(s). That said, you can't go wrong with *Hoop Dreams*. I would also say watch your home movies, old VHSs, Mini-DVs, Hi-8s, etc. Digitizing my family tapes is how this film came into shape.
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## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### New Orleans Film Festival, 2022: "Causeway"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/causewaynoff/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:43.000Z
*(Note: Please excuse any background TV noises in the audio voiceover - I probably should’ve re-recorded, but maybe it’s livelier with the mistakes in it. Maybe.)*
## Dear Moviegoers,
*Causeway*, the new film from critical darling studio A24 and streaming service Apple TV+ (where it is now available to subscribers) is not so surprisingly not about our Lake Pontchartrain bridge. It is, however, a movie about personal progression. About moving forward from trauma and about giving oneself a sense of rebirth. Actually surprising, it’s a film with three lead characters, played by Jennifer Lawrence, Brian Tyree Henry, and yes, New Orleans itself.
After suffering a brain injury from an IED attack in Afghanistan, Lynsey (Jennifer Lawrence) is brought back stateside to begin rehabilitation with an aging nurse, before heading to her childhood home of New Orleans. Lynsey is a frustrated young woman, and it’s not simply because of her health, as things become clear when visiting her mother. Still reeling from her injury, Lynsey befriends car mechanic James (Brian Tyree Henry) who expresses his pain through exhaustion and distraction. The two click instantly and show each other great patience and greater understanding as if they had been old friends all along. It’s spectacular how Lawrence and Tyree Henry find each other and are able to discover the different but even pasts that their characters share. I prefer to think of their rehearsals as more like coffee dates or, rather, talks over drinks. Chums, they come off as. And oh so easily. It’s nice and lovely.
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
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What of the city? For me, New Orleans is just as much a character in the film, any film, as it is a destination or setting. Even in movies like *Jack Reacher: Never Go Back*, NOLA plays a part - like when Tom Cruise punches a man so hard he breaks his neck, it’s all during a street parade, while the fight happens on the rooftops of the French Quarter. There, the city was used colorfully. In *Causeway*, New Orleans is the reflecting pool for Lynsey and James. In other words, it’s a mirror to see their past selves and a sheen of clarity for their potential future. No resident, past or present, needs this movie or this critic to explain the trauma that has happened and still happens in the area, nor does anyone need to be told we’re resilient and can make tomorrow better. Of course.
In her feature directorial debut, Lila Neugebauer gets these frustrations so well. Never in *Causeway* is there presumption or smugness or naive optimism. Lynsey worked for the Army Corps of Engineers, doing projects involving water systems. James is an active member of his community, showing everyone a good time when necessary. They are but two individuals, working and living in a city of other individuals, who likely have similar stories to tell from the stoops of their own shotgun homes. *Causeway* is New Orleans through and through, and in the best possible way: By not being a tourist about it.
It’s safe to say that I really love the script here. And the observations. The direction? Maybe less vulnerability and foot-dragging on the themes of PTSD when it comes to Lynsey, James, and New Orleans, and more confidence in the characters. Lynsey has two parental-ish figures at this stage of her life; her rehab nurse played with grace by Jayne Houdyshell, and her biological mom, played with part detachment and part affection by Linda Emond. The contrasts are immediate, where the stranger is the “mother” and the mother is the “stranger.” One prefers to be a friend, and the other tries to maintain the boundary of being a friend. And what is James to Lynsey? I worried that Tyree Henry would be a magical catalyst existing just for Lawrence’s performance, but instead, both actors have weight and gravity to work with, no matter how quiet their scenes get or how open the movie tends to be. It’s all in the actor’s interpretation in this one. New Orleans performs as the anchor, and the people play everything else out.
The movie may put off some audiences due to its own nearly hands-off subtleties, especially for viewers who need a familiar resolution to experience. Technically, “resolution” isn’t as important in this film as are the connections and its forward motion, but I’d be willing to bet that closing a movie almost mid-page might confuse more than it fulfills. *Causeway* is an entirely fulfilling picture, where character balances with drama in a profound blend. Personally, I recommend gazing - just gazing, staring - at and into the film, and letting yourself take part in the conversations and the words unsaid between conversations and sentences. Brian Tyree Henry, as always, blows up the movie with grand charm, burrowing his way through the eyes, and moving progressively inward for a spell or two. Jennifer Lawrence is, as always, able to deliver just what a role needs and a little more. Never theatrical, but rightly real. And New Orleans, as always, isn’t just where parties happen; it’s where everything happens. It’s more like America than Superman. **4/5**
*Causeway* played at the 2022 New Orleans Film Festival, had a theatrical run at the Prytania Uptown, and is currently streaming on Apple TV+.
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## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Post 37 Concerns, Exposed
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/37anxiety/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:43.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
I’m now 37\. The *Clerks* reference speaks for itself. As most people do during their birthdays, I’ve been reflecting a little on my habits and experiences when it comes to writing about and watching movies. Allow me a moment before I recommend some links:
Currently, I’m hunkered down in the New Orleans Film Festival’s [virtual cinema](https://watch.eventive.org/noff2022?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), viewing some 2022 selections for review coverage at the [Bayou Brief](https://www.bayoubrief.com/author/bill-arceneaux/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) (coming shortly). It’s been a few years since my last in-person attendance at the fest (was it for *The Florida Project*?), and I feel so guilty about that. While the COVID pandemic gave me a “convenient” excuse to stay home, I worry that my personal anxieties have increased with time. And frankly, fellow goers, the home experience isn’t the same.
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
No matter my late-night Amazon searches for reclining office chairs with footrests, UHD TVs, and compatible wall mounts, I can’t turn my space into a theater. It’s not that it’s difficult to concentrate on the film being watched, but that the act of pressing play and making time has become something to be “pushed off” to another hour. And another. Then another.
What kind of a rut is this?
Thankfully, I live across the street from a sports bar-like cinema (Movie Tavern) that features pretty surprising programming from time to time. While money for tickets can and has been an issue on occasion (nabbing a [paid subscription](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) or [leaving a tip](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/moviegoerbill?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) does help) I do attend, and I do enjoy (a recent screening of *Terrifier 2* was particularly great).
It’s not the cash. It’s not a lack of interest. It’s this unexplainable anxiety that I’ve been dealing with ever since Middle School, and now it’s seeped into my favorite activity. I don’t believe that more medication will fix this (though my daily regimen does help). Solution?
Just do it.
Exposure therapy worked wonders at the height of my teenage OCD treatments, and it taught me that, while it’s easier said than done, going through your anxiety or fear over and over and step by step will produce a comfortable outcome. When one reaches the end of the process, one realizes just how simple and silly the scenario was.
With that, I plan to: 1) Think of my Substack not just as a blog but as a social media alternative for ongoing conversation, 2) Post more often, possibly daily, 3) Watch something - anything - and write about it, no matter if it’s a new release or not.
I’m going back to my blogging roots. Back when the idea of writing each day started as a parental request but quickly became a career path that I looked forward to. Back when I took to my keyboard and confronted my anxieties. And even further back, when I took every opportunity I had to go to the movies, in my room, or in person. In a way, I’m **anxious** to restart.
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Be sure to sign up for the [A11Y Project](https://www.a11yproject.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)’s [newsletter](https://www.a11yproject.com/newsletter/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) for online accessibility resource information.
[Phillipa Snow on Alien from ](http://goodnightsweetprince.rip/philippa-snow.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)[*Spring Breakers*](http://goodnightsweetprince.rip/philippa-snow.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)[.](http://goodnightsweetprince.rip/philippa-snow.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[John Wirt’s profile on Ed & Susan Poole and Linda Thurman’s efforts in archiving Louisiana film history in posters and prints.](https://countryroadsmagazine.com/art-and-culture/people-places/movie-poster-archives/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[A really well-done review of ](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/black-adam-movie-review-2022?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)[*Black Adam*](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/black-adam-movie-review-2022?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)[ from the great Matt Zoller Seitz.](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/black-adam-movie-review-2022?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
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---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### A Director is Conjured Back to Life in "How to Explain Your Mental Illness to Stanley Kubrick"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/kubrickmental/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:43.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
One message in Philip Jozef Brubaker’s docu-fantasy-essay *How to Explain Your Mental Illness to Stanley Kubrick* is that artists and filmmakers alike should treat depictions of characters with mental illnesses through a gaze of reality or, rather, average normalcy, as more heightened and violently-crafted performances can and do influence public opinion and misunderstanding. Brubaker’s presentation does have other messages, but this is its more general one. As a fellow critic of media, I prefer the following **alternate** one: The performances of “disturbed” individuals in cinema may not have started with famed director Stanley Kubrick, but certainly have become “Kubrickian,” both in front of and behind the camera. In other words (my interpretation) we’re all living within the master filmmaker’s vision, and we’re all on the precipice of cracking and breaking in the biggest and most dangerous of ways.
Kubrick’s vision, of course, is a fanciful lie.
Right?
Brubaker’s film essay, which was made during a bi-polar disorder relapse (and perhaps directly inspired by that incident) is a collage of non-linear chapters and sporadic deviations from its main theme, all told with footage from Stanley Kubrick’s famous and lesser-known works, with Brubaker and friends behind the scenes during the making of this very movie, and with conversations that Brubaker has with Kubrick himself, through archival footage and audio recording and even a friend that he casts as the director. Seated on either side of a couch, sometimes enjoying popcorn and sometimes tossing the contents around in fits of frustration and expression, both filmmakers watch and comment on various segments from his project. Brubaker will talk longer than his casted idea of Kubrick, who has been written as a short-speaking figure of intimidation with sure-footed assurance in his own knowledge. Still, Brubaker presses on, matching his version of Kubrick by turning past recordings against the director to humorous effect, making his case on his own terms.
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There are many clips of Kubrick characters like Jack Torrance and Private Leonard Lawrence, particularly when they’re raging and rampaging. In the case of Lawrence, Brubaker juxtaposes the role often with news footage of real-life mass shooters and January 6th insurrectionists, building cases for/against what is covered in news media and who gets to be considered a “victim” with mental health issues and who is labeled a monster. Provocative and on point in more ways than expected, *How to Explain Your Mental Illness to Stanley Kubrick* digs and digs at ugly consensus and brings out human individualism in a well-expressed feat.
Brubaker draws upon his personal life too, like how Kubrick’s films navigated him towards filmmaking and concerned him about the representation of those who are mentally ill in media. Home movies, private photographs, and intimate stories of trauma and rebirth come and go, as though he himself becomes stressed and exhausted to the point of switching back to classic cinema for a breather. His film feels very alive, even on second viewing. This isn’t what Francis Ford Coppola refers to as “live cinema,” but it sure feels as if it’s being made moment to moment in real-time. Point out a minute of meandering, and I’ll point out a minute in motion - one that’s like chatting with a close friend on an overnight hangout.
The conclusions that Brubaker comes to both reinforce his thesis and reconsiders it. His version of Kubrick, before returning to an other-worldly state, offers some final wisdom that appears to upend the essay on the surface, but really emboldens it within the soil. The main push for better, more interesting, and more challenging treatment of those with mental illness in film remains intact, but so does an opposing point that can live side-by-side for Brubaker: These are just movies. It’s a simple explanation, but also effective. Brubaker goes on to not just expand on it and toss out the dismissal of it as an “excuse” from accountability, but he also finds a way to shrink it all down to his own past and present health, in what I can best describe as the most impressively bold move that I’ve seen in independent film this year, so far.
A fanciful lie, Kubrick’s vision was? Of course and no. The story of cinema, right? **4/5**
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
---
*How to Explain Your Mental Illness to Stanley Kubrick* is currently on the festival circuit, having recently played during [Mental Filmness](https://mentalfilmness.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
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## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### No Cinema for the Covington Star
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/nostar/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:44.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Living on the Northshore of Metro New Orleans, there are less than a handful of movie theater options, and it can be rough finding any decent film programming. The local audiences tend to flock around big-star blockbusters and b-star lackluster religious flicks, based on what gets exhibited most frequently. This isn’t to suggest that independent fare is rare - those are more on the safer side - but it does highlight a difference between either side of Lake Ponchartrain, at least when it comes to movie selections.
The further away one gets from Orleans Parish, the further away bold film choices become.
It’s been a nice pie-in-the-sky dream of mine to help program a screening series here on the Northshore, and what better place to do it than the shuttered since Hurricane Katrina theater, [The Covington Star](https://tammanyfamily.blogspot.com/2016/06/history-of-star-theater.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
I pass by the former venue in Downtown Covington often, glimpsing at the dusty but still standing concession counter and the signs on the glass doors asking residents for archival pictures and information to assist in a potential restoration. On that front, nothing new had come about for some time, except for some legal entanglements and minor attempts at putting things together.
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Sadly, it seems time waits for no moviegoer, as some renovation will begin soon on the former theater… and a cinema doesn’t appear to be in the works.
According to a [nola.com article](https://www.nola.com/news/northshore/article%5F01c023c4-4b2b-11ed-b2f8-fbccb3b98687.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), plans call to fit into the building an upscale lounge and a “four to six-lane bowling alley,” with the potential for rooftop seating and musical performances. This section of downtown is set to become an “entertainment corridor” of sorts, with the Southern Hotel getting an expansion too.
In two years, the Covington Star may become a bowling alley.
Personally, I don’t have much connection to this past theater other than a general interest in reviving local cinemas and that before Katrina, I had planned on attending a midnight *Rocky Horror* screening there, and have regretted missing out.
The news is technically good since *something* will be made of this unused space, and that *something* will involve a favorite childhood activity of mine. However, it’s still sad to see happen. What could’ve been done with such a theater, is now left to mere imagination.
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---
#### One more thing: The experience of watching *The Take Out Move*
Official still
When a micro-budget movie comes off as looking and feeling like a mid-lower-budget film, there’s some unexpected and very appreciated talent at play. *The Take Out Move*, directed by Andrew Simonian, cost around $3,500 to make, and, from observing the minor concept, the one setting, and the very small cast, couldn’t have utilized its budget in a more efficient manner. Still, it’s a challenge to enjoy.
The film, about two young men sent on a mission to “take out” a young woman in many a silly scenario, has the maturity of a polo shirt with a popped collar. Add to that cargo shorts and flip-flops, and the set becomes complete, and the vision is all the grosser. Surely, the jokes could’ve been worse, and the redundancies more apparent, but there’s just too much to cover up with good cinematography and staging.
Yes, *The Take Out Move* looks really good and has well-timed, well-paced, and well-composed scenes from moment to moment, earning its just barely feature-length duration. And while the few actors are each gung-ho and cutely performing along, the screenplay just reeks of college bro power hour. It’s a story based on a play on words and a set of thematic expectations. Are the two men assassins? Dressed… like they are, I’d say no. What else could “take out” mean?
If this were a thesis film for some course, I’d applaud it. As a directorial debut, I can offer a pat or two on the back. *The Take Out Move* is a fine effort if exhausting at many a point. But, it’s hard to make a movie. Any movie. Especially to write one, no matter the spark of an idea. This one is thin and wears thinner, but Simonian has the technique and the craft to push through in future filmmaking.
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*The Take Out Move* is now available on-demand.
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## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Cinema Sanctuary: On Pasolini and "Teorema" with Professor Michael Syrimis
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/teoremaqa/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:44.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
*Cinema Sanctuary is a weekly film series held at the* [*First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans*](http://firstuuno.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)*.*
*The following is a (mostly) unedited Q&A I conducted with Tulane Professor Michael Syrimis - who teaches a course around the works of filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini - ahead of a recent Cinema Sanctuary screening of *Teorema (Theorem)*. Enjoy.*
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**1) It appears that, in the film, the well-to-do family that Terrence Stamp’s character visits can afford to have “problems,” by which I mean they’re mostly self-absorbed and seeking anything that makes them interesting beyond their wealth. How do you feel about that, and how does Stamp’s arrival and stay ultimately upend this facade?**
**Michael Syrimis**: We don’t get to know much about their lives before the visitor’s arrival, except the brief intro of each character in silent black and white (sepia), and the things they confess to him after he announces his departure. So, they are probably self-absorbed as you say, though I wouldn’t describe them as “seeking anything that makes them interesting” because both his attractiveness and the crisis they experience by having physical contact with him are things out of their control, and they all react to him in similar fashion even though they are defined (though minimally, in the brief intro) as different kinds of individuals (rational industrialist father; religious housewife; playful carefree son though somehow different than his buddies; daughter attached to father and family, into photography i.e. clings to “frozen” stable things).
The visitor’s presence is irresistible, they are drawn to him by some superior supernatural power, he can be taken, according to Pasolini, as God or Devil, or a mixture of those, and in any case, a mysterious/mystical invasive force. With him around, they lose any sense of stable identity, and the way they understood their previous lives, whatever those were, appears misguided and disingenuous to them now. He represents a forceful authenticity that cannot be defined and that unleashes their infinite internal worlds that they were never in touch with. The problem is: once he leaves, they cannot deal with this discovery, they don’t know how to handle it on their own because they don’t have the necessary mental, emotional, spiritual tools. That is because, for Pasolini, the bourgeoisie is so alienated, the body is so instrumentalized by the rationality of consumer capitalism, that, against the contact with the authentic (God? Devil? the unconscious?), instead of finding salvation, they resort to chaos and loss.
The only one who reacts productively to this power is Emilia, the maid, and the reason is, for Pasolini, that she is a poor peasant, so she becomes a saint. The peasantry, for Pasolini, is one of the places where authenticity, including the authenticity that the body carries within, still exists, as they are not yet contaminated by bourgeois capitalist values. If you have that “infrastructure” (like Emilia), you can benefit from this contact, becoming a saint and fertilizing the world with your tears (see the closing scene, when she’s partly buried while crying). But if you are fully determined by your bourgeois sensibility, you have lost your chance.
**2) Much like *La Ricotta*, I feel that *Teorema* is at least part comedy, especially when I think of the father’s plight. Of course, this farce is muddied a bit with straight drama, turning things into tragedy. For me though, the tragic here comes back around to being a little funny. Is *Teorema* comedic for you, why, and what do you think of Pasolini’s sense of humor?**
**MS**: Yes, I fully agree that there’s humor. Emilia, as a most diligent maid, becomes a caricature when she runs so urgently to dust off his cigarette ash that “happened” to fall on his crotch, minutes before she offers herself to him. Lucia is a religious housewife and is shown crossing herself, but we are looking at Silvana Mangano, a sexy diva who, 20 years earlier, had been launched as the Italian version of Rita Hayworth, here heavily made up and dressed in haute couture with trendy miniskirts as appropriate to her diva image. I think the contradiction between the two images she conveys can be humorous.
If you are referring to the father’s stripping naked in the middle of Milan’s Central Station – the other option being to follow a young man who’s luring him into the men’s bathroom – and then walking naked from there to Mount Etna in Sicily, yes, it’s funny. Of course, the unreality of the action doesn’t matter because the story is an allegory and many shots are metaphorical, such as the recurrent shots of the desert, which may stand for that authentic primal state that they face once they are in physical contact with the visitor, or else their inability to make something good out of that contact, remaining eternally in a “desert” state, which I think is what the ending represents with the father’s scream, which is kind of funny in itself. There is a lot of humor in Pasolini, from slapstick (*La Ricotta* and some other shorts) to irony, to dark humor.
His *Trilogy of Life* (*Decameron*, *Canterbury Tales*, *Arabian Nights*) are comedies, while his most disturbing and for many unwatchable last film *Salò* may be seen as a masterpiece of dark humor. I think his humor, however, often comes with the tragic. I also work on Luigi Pirandello, famous for his theory of “humor”, which refers to a person’s disposition for simultaneous yet contradictory perceptions of the same phenomenon, and where the clash can provoke laughter and sadness at the same time. I’m not sure if Pasolini wrote on Pirandello, but to some extent I think Pirandello’s idea can be applied here. For instance, the characters lose track of their own identity. Lucia’s clash between two images (promiscuous vs. religious housewife) is both funny and sad, while what’s also Pirandellian is that she clings to one identity – religious housewife – while being entirely unaware of the other – active sexual being – that is repressed until it explodes with the visitor.
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**3) An online comment that I recently read called Terrence Stamp a “thirst trap” in the movie, a literal one and a figurative one. Indeed, Pasolini focuses much on Stamp and his visage, specifically the crotch area in the more provocative framing - though, with Pasolini, it’s less provocation for him and the more daily grind. Is the director’s gaze in *Teorema* purely carnal, or does it function as both comedy against the family and drama for them too? Can this gaze have a moral and critical purpose as well? If so, what would it be?**
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**MS**: I would say it’s “both comedy against the family and drama for them too” because, yes, it also has a moral and critical purpose. Of course, we will never know if Pasolini’s personal gaze is purely carnal and all the rest is just excuses, but I would doubt that, given his vast amount of literary writing, films, and theoretical writings on cinema, all of which address sexuality and the body as primary loci of the authentic, the ideological, and the spiritual.
*Teorema* demonstrates the convergence of the three primary discourses that, according to critics, inform Pasolini’s work, namely: Freudian psychoanalysis (sexuality and instincts), Marxism (condemnation of the bourgeoisie and seeking truthfulness in the peasantry or “Other”); and Catholicism (contact with the mystical). He is so passionate about the idea of the body and sexual organs as a place where revolutionary potential is stored and ready to explode, and equally passionate on condemning consumerism’s transformation of the body into a money-making machine, that I would say the camera’s adoration of Terrence Stamp is more than just an excuse for Pasolini’s own sexual urges. The crotch shot becomes more common in his films following *Teorema* (see *Medea*, *Decameron*, *Canterbury*, *Salò*), but in his earlier films also the camera lingers on men’s faces or physical presence. Bodies and landscapes are sacred for Pasolini, and in accordance with some of his theory of the cinema as a “written language of reality”, the camera often lingers on the object as if it were trying to unleash some deeper hidden force from beneath the surface of the object.
After he made his first film, *Accattone*, some critics noted that he was inexperienced because the camera lingered too long on faces. Little did they know that this would become part of his auteur’s signature, and Antonioni would be doing something similar in the 1960s. Pasolini wrote somewhere that “nothing is more technically sacred than a slow pan.”
**4) I love the shot from the ground perspective and up of the family’s home caretaker in the sky, above her village. Still, I couldn’t help but immediately mentally reference Superman in Zack Snyder’s *Man of Steel*, who is framed similarly but completely more glorifying. It’s interesting how modern pop culture infects the collective and the individual consciousness, huh? Does Pasolini have this Superman effect on cinephiles in general (he does on me)? On you?**
**MS**: That’s a very interesting analogy between Emilia and the Superman character, and I find your question very interesting too, although I’m not sure I understand it fully. I assume you mean there is already an inherent continuity between Emilia and Pasolini. One could say that, like Emilia, whose tears fertilize the earth at the end, Pasolini sees his own work as one that offers the possibility of salvation to its viewer. In that sense, I assume you are asking if he may be seen as a kind of “superman”, perhaps from his own perspective, but also if he is seen as a “superman” by his fans. I would say it’s quite feasible that Pasolini may perceive his own work in this way. But I can say with more certainty that he is one of the main European auteurs of the modernist or “art cinema” era of the ‘60s and ‘70s and many cinephiles probably look at his cultural contributions with awe and admiration. Personally, after studying many of his works in some detail, although I do not agree with some of the ideas, I believe that my study has influenced my way of thinking to some extent.
**5) After Stamp leaves the household, the family cracks in personally different but vaingloriously epic ways. While the home caretaker’s change was pure, the family succumb to a sort of force, placing them in roles they treat as melodramatic and righteous, but are perhaps more poetic justice than anything. Going back to comedy, this is where I find Pasolini's humor and criticism of status systems, specifically labor vs the rich. Where does *Teorema* stand for you in Pasolini’s catalog of work, why, and what other worker class vs wealthy class type films would you recommend?**
**MS**: I think an answer to the first part of your question (“After…. than anything”) can be found in my response to your first one or two questions above. I hope I’m not misreading this part but let me know. As for comedy, I think I know what you mean, and I’d say yes. The family’s melodramatic reaction to the visitor’s departure brings out the contradictions that they’ve always carried within and repressed, and there is some comedy there, again in the Pirandellian sense that I tried to describe above, namely, in suddenly becoming aware of the falsity of the identity they always held as stable, while finding a new self that they are unable to manage and are led astray.
At the same time, you say the home caretaker’s change is “pure” – and I’d say it’s “productive” or “fruitful.” Yes, there is a sense of sad mockery of the bourgeois family here vis-à-vis Emilia who is able to undertake a noble mission. I have a difficult time categorizing his work because Pasolini’s style changes dramatically every few years, and *Teorema* belongs to what the critics have described as his cinema of “myth” (*Oedipus, Teorema, Pigstay, Medea*), with two ancient myths, and also two modern ones of his own conception, all of which are marked by the “aristocratic” modernist style that requires some familiarity with certain concepts for the work to be understood and appreciated.
I find *Teorema* to be one of his most impressive works, however, because it’s particularly original, creative, and has a clean stark quality in its mise-en-scene and in its mathematical and symmetrical narrative structure: here’s who each one is, here’s what each one does, and here’s how each one reacts. The question the journalist asks at the beginning, the “theorem” – Is it a mistake if the bourgeoisie, after a crisis, gives away its industry to the workers, because in this way it turns the proletariat into petit bourgeois? – is left unanswered, in my opinion, but we do know retrospectively that the answer is yes for Pasolini, because that is what his film *Salò* represents, the surrender of the “authentic” to the “inauthentic”.
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Follow Cinema Sanctuary on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/cinemasanctuary/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). If you have or know of an area film screening coming up - in person or virtual - reach out at [nolamoviereview@gmail.com](mailto: nolamoviereview@gmail.com)
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## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### What is Moviegoing with Bill?
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/whatis/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:45.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
In my time here on Substack - three years or so - and even prior on Medium, WordPress, and Blogger, I’ve struggled to properly define what exactly I wish to put out into the world. From name changes to writing scope, it’s been pretty difficult navigating through the noise of online movie reviews. There’s just… just so many of us, and only so much space to uniquely carve out as our own.
In Louisiana, part of the supposed “Hollywood South,” the space is much smaller, and even with few professional writers covering criticism, it’s still a tight squeeze for readership.
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free subscriber or upgrading to a paid one.
And it isn’t simply more attention or recognition that I’m after, but rather an expansion and grander appreciation of regional film culture, from movie-making to moviegoing. Could this be my attempt at self-validation and self-worth? It could be, but I really do wish for cinema to blossom more in this place of music and food.
Years ago, at a meeting of film minds in the offices of the New Orleans Video Access Center (NOVAC), an idea was presented that never got off the ground: An app that would act as an easily accessible calendar of movie events across the city, to avoid cross screenings and to create more efficient scheduling and attendance. While I’m not proficient at app development, I do 1) Have this newsletter blog, 2) Keep my ear to the ground, and 3) Have many contacts.
Awareness. I want to bring awareness. That Southeast Louisiana has and can have excellent film programming. That screenings happen in various ways, from theatrical to underground to virtual, in and around places normally passed by. That there’s a wonderful history of movie exhibition that’s waiting to be told and has yet to be sparked.
**Moviegoing with Bill will feature movie reviews and interviews of course and will share information on local cinema, from series and programs to the people behind them all.**
With that, I now have a theme for this newsletter blog. A mission. A space.
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If you know of or have a film screening - in person or virtual - that you’d like to get the word out on, hit me up at [nolamoviereview@gmail.com](mailto: nolamoviereview@gmail.com)
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### The Experience of Watching "Love in Kilnerry"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/kilnerry/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:45.000Z
**Note: Readers like you support this publication. If you can, please consider becoming a paid subscriber, or feel free to leave a tip. Many thanks :)**
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Official still
## Dear Moviegoers,
I once walked out of *Taken 2*. It’s difficult to get me to leave a theater, no matter the movie I’m watching, but sometimes, patience breaks and so does the mind. I stayed to finish *Paranormal Activity 4* in IMAX but just couldn’t take *The Hangover Part III*. Death is easy, comedy is hard. Very hard.
And bad comedy? Harder to watch.
*Love in Kilnerry* ought to be commended for the massive efforts of its Director and lead actor Daniel Keith, who turned a play into a film by raising funds himself, shooting teaser scenes himself, and completing production in a New Hampshire town that ultimately named a day after the film. It clearly meant a lot to many people, and indeed, that’s the one and only positive-feeling aspect that breached my cold heart while viewing it. Community made, community loved.
# Death is easy, comedy is hard. Very hard.
The film, about a small town with an aging populace who learn of the EPA’s plan to clean their water supply with a chemical that’ll increase everyone’s sex drive, is… is just not my cup of tea, first and foremost. Last and most importantly, it’s an unfunny running drip from a faucet. The closest movie it reminded me of was *Hope Springs*, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep. There, a couple seeks small-town therapy to bring life back into their marriage. It’s simple, it’s kind of cute, and it features a scene of attempted oral sex in a movie theater between the two leads. As tastefully done as it was, it was something of another era, trying to be something for a new crowd.
With *Love in Kilnerry*, there’s ok taste but too many awkward courtships and wannabe zany sexual encounters. It’s the oral sex in a movie theater sequence of *Hope Springs*, extended to two hours, and amped up a slight notch. Stretched as thin as a piece of paper, *Love in Kilnerry* tries way too hard to be humorous and goes way over its head to be sweet. Neither worked out. What is performed amounts to heavy theatrics and noisy antics, playing to the back of the room and up to the stage. But, louder doesn’t equal funnier.
Or good.
I didn’t walk out on this one, as I was actually rooting it on. There are some smiles that can be imagined from behind the camera, but all I could muster was an elongated frown. Some swear words were shouted from this audience of one, admittedly, especially with the knowledge that none of those words would help at all. I mean, the film didn’t give me diabetes, so why was I so upset?
# Stretched as thin as a piece of paper, *Love in Kilnerry* tries way too hard to be humorous and goes way over its head to be sweet.
Because bad comedy is painful to watch, even when it’s tried in earnest. *Love in Kilnerry* might be the most earnest film I’ve seen this year, but that score only goes to the mailbox and back. And the mailbox is right next to the front door.
At least it’s been commemorated with a day named after it. That goes further than my experience watching it.
---
*Love in Kilnerry* is currently on a roadshow theatrical run.
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
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### "Eradication” Creeps Its Way Under Our Face Masks
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/eradication/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:46.000Z
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## Dear Moviegoers,
It all starts with desperation. Two people in the woods, wearing protective gear, are racing away from an unknown force. Soon, they die. For context, things go backward to breaking news of a spreading virus. From here, there’s little that’s unfamiliar. In fact, it’s mostly exact, down to leaders telling the world that everything will be alright. Soon, fascism kicks in. Then… nothing. It’s now everyone for themselves. Quiet.
# …the worst-case scenario of our pandemic reality, drawing from our collective nightmares to find cinematic terror.
*Eradication*, the new Tubi original film, is the worst-case scenario of our pandemic reality, drawing from our collective nightmares to find cinematic terror. It’s closer to *28 Days Later* and *In the Earth* than real-world fears, but of course, this movie would likely not exist had COVID-19 not existed and ravaged lives all over. Exploitation? That’s a stretch, though maybe not inappropriate of a descriptor. The frights exhibited do depend a bit on our general anxieties of infection, but somehow and someway, *Eradication* takes it upon itself to express our fear of the unknown, unknowable, and what’s out of reach.
This is very much a surprisingly imaginative movie that properly trains the eyes on the thing that’s beating, instead of on the beat all alone. Another way of putting it would be that people are front and center, not fodder for a tale ripped from headlines. It’s a pretty dark tragedy, really. It’s like being trapped in the middle of the ocean or in deep space - that feeling of silence that’s overwhelming to the point of pain. *Eradication* is entirely that, and then some.
Still, there’s room to smooth out some roughness. Things are introduced, from drone devices to video communication to “dangerous people” to the relaxed ending that almost refuses to stop. The unknown unknowns, the things we don’t know that we don’t know, are slightly introduced anyway. Why do that? Such teasing, while doing the deed of end of the world-building, is not foundational, but supplemental. And mere supplements to something already stripped down can be too much to handle. Too cold to hold? Sure.
# It’s a pretty dark tragedy, really. It’s like being trapped in the middle of the ocean or in deep space - that feeling of silence that’s overwhelming to the point of pain.
Made with a tight crew, *Eradication* is an almost victorious film, conquering its story's limitations and production to convey genuine creepiness and startling humanity. It stands near the top of the heap of pandemic movies coming out now and rests as a piece of true entertainment. A Sunday afternoon viewing? Not so much. A trip to the cinema? Yes, if it weren’t exclusive to streaming with ads. Alas. **3.5/5**
---
*Eradication* is now streaming on Tubi.
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
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### There Are Questions in Search of Answers in "Sunspot”
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/sunspot/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:47.000Z
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## Dear Moviegoers,
I’m unsure as to the likelihood of such an instance, but in the case of *Sunspot*, director Brian Mihok has achieved a film on the same wavelength as Jim Jarmusch’s *The Limits of Control*. Few movies represent something so full of air and so full of ideas and questions as *Limits* does, even if - and especially if - it’s not a particularly well-enjoyed entry. For me, *Limits* has a certain lasting power despite not having, on purpose, much “happening.” *Sunspot* is very much exactly this, though its happenings are easier to grasp.
# It’s childlike by design, but it’s also an effect of living in a place and space that moves and orbits oh so gradually.
Described as having a “minimalist aesthetic,” *Sunspot* indeed utilizes its small-town USA setting and its overall ethereal whimsy to a maximum. It’s about low-income working-class friends and neighbors who just try to get by day to day, as experienced through the observations and the inquisitiveness of a young woman named River. Almost every conversation she has involves a few questions about the other person or persons she’s speaking with. It’s childlike by design, but it’s also an effect of living in a place and space that moves and orbits oh so gradually.
I wouldn’t classify *Sunspot* as a drama, even though it has the notions of one. Characters mostly just make somewhat kindly chit-chat in quiet and sporadic fits and bursts, rarely going above high whispers.
# And thus, *Sunspot* has a feeling of comfort about it. It’s a romance after all.
In one extended sequence, River takes a ride from a young man passing through. They end up spending the day together, walking through grass and woods, taking in the scenery, and falling for one another cutely. It’s fleeting, but it’s nice. That’s what this is - a fleeting but nice romance. With what? With growing up. With being. With being around others. That’s nice.
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[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
There’s a lag to both *Sunspot* and *The Limits of Control*, but with *Sunspot*, patience is not being purposefully tested, and it never feels as though it’s biding time (not that *Limits* is doing that). Both are complete visions from craftsmen, and both have questions that are asked but rarely directly answered, but only *Sunspot* has the feeling of familiarity, of the audience potentially recognizing these questions, as they’re the general ones that most people generally have when just going through the grind. And thus, *Sunspot* has a feeling of comfort about it. It’s a romance after all.
*The Limits of Control* is, to me, a comedy of dry sorts. While it and *Sunspot* share the fullness of thoughts and a void of convenience, they do differ in at least one way. I wanted *Limits* to finish quickly, but I didn’t want *Sunspot* to end anytime soon. Get to the punchline, but stay in love for as long as you can. This Brian Mihok guy is quite the filmmaker. Jarmuschian, even. **4/5**
---
*Sunspot* is currently touring the film festival circuit.
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
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### "Blonde” Shows Atomic Brutality, as It Forces a Fire Walk From Marilyn
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/blonde/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:48.000Z
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## Dear Moviegoers,
Reminiscent of the tortured life of *Twin Peaks* central character Laura Palmer, *Blonde* too takes its focused female lead - Marilyn Monroe - on an unforgiving ride through a nightmare-scape. It’s a punishing movie, a pulverizing movie, and a powerful movie. Sheryl Lee’s pained screams (as Laura Palmer) sounded, so Ana de Armas’s calls for “Daddy” (as Marilyn Monroe) could echo - so to speak. Sheryl Lee’s performance was and remains timeless, but what about Armas’s? Certainly, Marilyn herself was for the ages, but in *Blonde*?
Getting this out of the way now, *Blonde* has an unfortunate staying power. Unfortunate in that the film’s ugly moments - which is to say almost every moment - toss and turn in one’s mind, not unlike numbered balls in a lottery tumbler. Which number is your lucky one? More like which scene horrifies you the most. For this critic, it’s the one that takes place with a certain President. He’s never officially named (neither are most of the main men in Marilyn’s life), but all know exactly who he is. Duh. This may be the sequence that gave *Blonde* an NC-17 rating, in fact. Throughout the bulk of it, there’s a phone call happening and a news report on a television set, both in sync. We hear of an emergency, and see missiles rising and firing, all while Marilyn tries not to displease. After being, rather shockingly, slapped down from center frame to right of camera, she goes to the restroom. Here, in an intimate moment, she is interrupted by an outside voice. In response, she goes “Please don’t come inside.”
# Which number is your lucky one? More like which scene horrifies you the most.
I shudder at the thought of fully explaining what happened - though maybe I did just that. It’s not subtle, though how could it be? The suggestiveness on top of the obvious is so heavy, that it’s almost if not fully comical from a conceptual and a literal point of view. Did director Andrew Dominik interpret this from the fictionalized book this was based on or was it an original bit? I don’t know, but if the story weren’t downright darkly disturbing, I’d be laughing at the choices made by the filmmaker. It’s a caricature and it’s cartoonish, both at worst and best. Instead of joking (I’m not here, and wasn’t then), I applaud. Mostly. Kind of. With an asterisk.
By and large, *Blonde* is a great film. I may never watch it again, but it is great. Much like that lottery tumbler, with each and every scene that moves forward, the movie forces a horrible thought of expectation: How much worse can this get for Marilyn? For Armas? She is this Marilyn, almost possessed by her, but left without an exorcism. I doubt the production was a tormenting experience, but it feels as though Armas must’ve been put through such a ringer, as everything hinges on her. She’s game and absolutely throws herself into this vat of terror with courage and curiosity. I’m not sure if it’ll land her an award - hesitance may happen due to the film’s rating and graphic nature - but it should.
# Folks, it has the whole of history on its side, from past to future. It knows, and so does the Universe.
Stars recur as a common image throughout, from the sky to the microcosmos. For me, it represents what the ending of *The Assassination of Richard Nixon* represented - that these painful events mean nothing to the Universe. That nature is evil, and space wouldn’t blink about losing the Earth.
Huh. Thanks, *Blonde*.
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In Sam Fuller’s *I Shot Jesse James*, there’s a scene where Jesse is in a tub, bathing. His friend is standing behind with a gun, contemplating shooting him. Without knowing what’s going on, Jesse says “What are you waiting for? There’s my back.” He means for his back to be scrubbed. It’s a pretty clever moment and one that I like to revisit time and time again. *Blonde* has this same cleverness, but instead, I was the one needing a bath by the end. There’s no question as to *Blonde*’s technical and performance prowesses, as it’s bar none one of 2022’s best films.
Timeless? Perhaps for reasons it shouldn’t be. Will the grime of *Blonde*’s story live far past the excellence of Ana de Armas’s talented turn? Eww, if so. If the dirt overshadows the performances of the actress and crew, then something is wrong. With the film? No, though it does raise many eyebrows. Why is it so good at depicting such horrors? Folks, it has the whole of history on its side, from past to future. It knows, and so does the Universe. Still, I shudder. **5/5**
---
*Blonde* is currently in limited theatrical release and will debut on Netflix on September 28.
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
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### It’s a Beautiful Life at "Belle Vie,” Even When Way Past the Welcome
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/bellevie/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:49.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
There’s an overwhelming positivity to the documentary *Belle Vie* that is difficult to escape - not unlike a black hole, it’s a thing of no escape. Surely, the story of restaurant owner Vincent Samarco, trying to make his way in Los Angeles in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, could’ve been one of struggle and personal tragedy. Indeed, Vincent’s business struggles and suffers a drawn-out tragedy, but through it all, his French-born attitude, in the face of bankruptcy and loss of work, just dominates how he deals with everything. Does this man ever cry? *Belle Vie* likely didn’t have that kind of access to him, but one can imagine.
His restaurant, a wine and food bistro, was situated between a McDonald’s and a KFC, in an L.A. neighborhood that he just adores. The location was perfectly poetic, as his journey is of independence and DIY entrepreneurship. *Belle Vie* is a film of rolling confrontations and follow-alongs with Vincent, capturing him at his most personable and in character. Rarely does the camera ever veer to someone else (usually his wife, sometimes his chef), and when it does, we continue to get people looking at the bright side of such dramatic scenarios.
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Nobody dies of illness (thankfully), nobody gets mad, and politics are kept out. Idle hands are the devil’s playground, and Vincent is always busy, whether it’s fitting his bistro with Plexi glass dividers or building an illegal patio out back. He pops open bottles of wine and talks constantly about socializing and being part of the community. Constantly. Many times over. Normally, I’m all for positivity in the face of everything, but *Belle Vie* is unrelenting in this regard.
Where’s the expression of conflict? When Vincent is cleaning out his business after closing for good, he’s just focusing on each item he’s keeping and what they represent for him. What else are you thinking, sir? Let us in. Does *Belle Vie* bother to ask certain questions, or is the subject just very guarded? In between whimsical thoughts and commentary, Vincent will talk of legal issues, but then just shrug and go back to a picture hanging on his wall, or he’ll chat about how he loves people.
*Belle Vie* is titled after Vincent’s restaurant, so we know it’s about that neighborhood hub. And Vincent, of course, is the location’s primary orator, so he’s integral to the tale. Despite the fine outlook on life, the movie wears itself thin, even in the most interesting of eras and developments. The chef may get deported? Oh well. Massive debt? Let’s have a drink.
As a New Orleanian, I appreciate such feelings. As a moviegoer, give me more. Something more. Anything more. Otherwise, cut some fat and keep things lean. Some fat. Leave a bit, for taste. Right? Right. **2.5/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### With the Third "Clerks," Kevin Smith Draws From the Well Once More - Fresh Water or Fresh... Something Else?
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/clerks3/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:49.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
I watched *Clerks II* three times at the theater. Indeed, I really liked that one. Maybe because the lovable (in)convenience duo got a clean and clear happy ending that brought their story full circle and made their days the same for their ever after and beyond? Maybe it was Kevin Smith’s evolution as a filmmaker, and how he wielded a finely timed tale with exact cutting and photography?
Or maybe *Clerks II* was just hilarious and heartfelt. As perfect as a Kevin Smith movie could possibly be.
Now, we’re at his third outing. The heroes of the piece look a bit older, likely feel a bit older, but clearly have internalized some things since *II*. They’re more comfortable and friendly with each other and have settled into their forever roles at the store they now share. It’s a sweet way for Kevin to revisit his characters, as Dante and Randal have turned from somewhat shaky close friends to hetero-life mates… like Jay & Silent Bob. The two are alpha and omega these days, and they fully acknowledge this at their age. It’s adorable.
Heading into *III*, every fan is aware of Kevin’s massive heart attack from a few years ago, and how it changed his health and outlook on life. And, if you follow his social media, it’s been so lovely to see. The man appears to be in a wonderful place, so why not express that through his movies? Randal (a returning Jeff Anderson) suffers the same condition as Kevin did, and he too has a life-changing epiphany - to make a movie about his life. From here on out, Randal goes full Randal and shows off the youthful arrogance that he once had sort of shed. Sort of.
And Dante (Brion O’Halloran)? He has to deal with the consequences. Because of course.
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It’s not an epilogue or a complimentary supplement, but rather THE conclusion to this duo’s story. There's no going back now - IF we’re dealing with doing poetic justice to their lives. Their arcs. As has been said better by others, and paraphrased here, [1](#footnote-1)“no story has a happy ending unless you stop telling it before it’s over.” *Clerks II* had that happy ending and was a technical and comedic slam dunk. *Clerks III* retreads territory and cringes with lines and cameos and often feels oddly timed and telegraphed. And yet, there’s a bitter soft (not sweet) positivity to how it comes to a close. Does it feel too much of one? Too much for two convenience store jockeys? A little here, a little there. And that little goes a long way, for worse and better.
Yes, *Clerks III* does show a lot of the writer/director’s recent penchant for in-universe references and stylistic indulgences, but no, the film as a whole has enough emotional weight to bring things to a master stroke-type crescendo, and a little past that - though maybe this wasn’t the tale for anything of those sorts. Such big and grand scenarios, like graveyard dreams and heavy pity party confrontations, contrast in ugly and rough ways with the sleight of hand of having low-hanging sophomoric cracks. *Clerks III* isn’t all that funny really, trading in the hilarious conversational vulgarities of its past for the self-seriousness of its middle-aged present. By moving forward in maturity, the film and its leads move backward too.
It may be more screenplay than play for the screen, but as a final round with Dante and Randal, it’s a little beautiful. And a little goes a long way. There are surprises and there are shocks - Who would’ve thought that one small grocery could produce such heavy stakes and human investments? How could one not think that? - and everyone involved is gung-ho. To make a *Star Wars* reference and a Kevin Smith deep cut, *Clerks III* is indeed his *Empire Strikes Back* (as he once prophecized *III* would become).
It’s a kind of comedic drama. A… tragedy? Maybe. Things get sad, even weepy. Sappy in fits, large fits, but there’ll be genuine tears from the super fans, that’s for sure. Through Randal’s mission to make a movie about himself, we see Dante’s stresses come out, no matter how well he tries to repress them all. Brian O’Halloran and Jeff Anderson are, as before, on their game of course. But the game has changed a bit, and there’s now a calming nature here and there, where anger and sarcasm once dominated. The two have grown up, if by the forceful ravages of time. They’re exhausted until one falls on the ground in a sudden health scare. How about that.
As characters, Dante and Randal have assisted many other people at Quick Stop, greeting and ripping on them as they pass through in small moments. For them though, nothing is small. It’s their lives, after all. *Clerks III* ups the ante from the climactic jail sequence in *II* and delivers at least one powerhouse scene that’ll definitely rattle a little. Kevin Smith plunders and pillages his way through the film, even during the end credits, but I never felt once that the production was for relevancy or a search for dough. Rather, at this point, the man just wants to make movies with friends. That shines through here and is its main saving grace. It’s the large part of the little that goes to long lengths.
It’s all too silly to rank movies against one another (though it can be fun), so I won’t bother here except to say that while *Clerks III* isn’t a magnum opus (for me), it IS an ok movie. If it is a finale, it’s as true as could possibly be, and fair. Not perfect, but fair. Enough though. [2](#footnote-2)**2.5/5**
---
*Clerks III* is currently [being toured around](https://clerks3.movie/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) by Kevin Smith himself, and the film will play theatrically via [Fathom Events](https://www.fathomevents.com/events/Clerks-III?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) starting 9/13.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
---
1. Peter Bogdanovich, paraphrasing Orson Welles, in *They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead*. [↩](#footnote-anchor-1 "Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.")
2. The rating was changed from its original posting to reflect some updated thoughts and clarifications in the review. [↩](#footnote-anchor-2 "Jump back to footnote 2 in the text.")
### Documentary "Forced Change” Stalls and Stammers, but is Never Without Purpose
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/forcedchange/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:50.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
In the span of a few recent months, there’s been two Hurricane Katrina documentaries released: the one that’s had the most word of mouth *Katrina Babies* (now playing on HBO Max), and the one that’s being reviewed here *Forced Change* (now available on demand). Of course, the last few months have been hurricane season here in the Gulf region, and just last month was the 17th anniversary of Katrina’s landfall. Poetic timing, huh? Sure thing.
*Forced Change* and *Katrina Babies* don’t just share the theme of the storm itself, but the uprooting of New Orleanians to other locations. It’s a pretty powerful and heavy topic, to lose one’s physical and emotional attachments to place and memory, and it’s a fear that I believe everyone shares. Pure drama? Absolutely.
While this jury waits to produce a verdict of sorts on *Katrina Babies*, I can safely state that *Forced Change* is a formidable if stale film. The documentary follows a handful of families and couples, using home video of the storm and its aftermath plus after-the-fact interviews and story follow-ups, telling their collective story with well-paced precision and sincerity. Indeed, the sincere nature of the film is its strongest element, as the people - the survivors - aren’t just subjects, but active filmmakers in their own way.
In a strictly redundant pattern, one after another, each family and couple are documented - either by the film’s crew or by themselves - visiting their moldy and toxic homes, ravaged by the storm, to attempt a recovery of precious belongings and now faded memories. These moments are incredibly striking, as they, in their own ways, express exhaustion, sadness, and even some humor in response to the tragedy. This movie isn’t a traditional documentary - more amateur in the most positive sense - as its focus appears to be more on the stages of loss and grief and acceptance than what happened and why. Through this approach, there’s an achievement accomplished that’s simple but very prominent, and makes this tale stand out.
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Still, *Forced Change* doesn’t quite register as a complete vision. For certain, the “vision” of surviving one of the worst disasters in American history will never be “complete” - it’ll always be ongoing and left with an ellipsis at the end. As a whole though, the film just isn’t polished or very clean. What I mean is on a technical level. The same music is used again and again for transitions, sequences are repeated and repeated in succession (same story, different names), and at a brisk hour and some change, the duration just doesn’t keep up with itself. Minor issues compounded make for challenges in viewing and in feeling.
I felt plenty in *Forced Change*, but I fear that others will only have general emotions. The individual experience of two brothers cleaning out a damaged home was the one in the movie that I connected with the most. Even at such a peak tense time, my family and I would likely try our best to put on a good front about something so horrible, had we been in such a position (we were extremely fortunate during and after the storm). Despite the incredible diary-like footage that’s used sparingly, and despite its genuineness, *Forced Change* just doesn’t pack the cinematic punch that it deserves to.
Does it have to be so impactful? And what “impact” would it be trying to make? Is there a mission - a message? Maybe it merely just wants its story to be known. Seventeen years later, we’re still stuck in a moment. A moment that just barely budges. One moment, one story, plenty of storytellers, never-ending perspectives. *Forced Change* is a film without enough of a thesis or a finite ending. It just is.
That’s impactful by itself. I think. **3/5**
---
*Forced Change* is [now available](https://forcedchange.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) to stream on demand.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Courtney Barnett Plays Herself and Director (kinda) in "Anonymous Club"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/anonymouscourtney/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:51.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
At the start of Danny Cohen’s *Anonymous Club*, the rocku-road trip-mentary that also serves as a diary project, we see the film’s subject Courtney Barnett - the young Melbourne musician and wordsmith - autographing some items for an international fan. Courtney, with a smile and a little exhaustion but a willingness to please, obliges this male fan’s requests to sign a few things, including his shirt. He asks for song lyrics, which he knows by heart. Courtney, tired but still smiling, writes along with her marker to each line the fan recites. She knows the words at heart, but at this moment could use some caffeine.
Or perhaps she’s just nervous.
Still, she keeps on keeping on.
*Anonymous Club* follows the now thirty-something-year-old performer on a world tour, where she documents her thoughts and feeling into a dictaphone recorder, at the behest of director Danny Cohen, to serve as both emotional directions for the pace of the movie and as a creative voiceover to the scenes between the scenes. Courtney once more obliges, getting personal about her shyness and her sadness, even while everyone sings along with her. Especially while everyone sings along with her.
In the vast catalog of concert-like films and musician-based documentaries, *Anonymous Club* stands out mostly on the shoulders of its lead. Courtney Barnett just has a wonderful way with words on stage, but also a highly personable and relatable state of mind and soul when by herself. Danny Cohen, who worked previously as a cinematographer, captures such graceful and ethereal visuals with an eye for serendipity and thoughtfulness for the naturally lovely and deep. We see Courtney walk through street steam, smiling toward the camera, perhaps thinking about the shot that’s just been produced. Here, just as on the dictaphone, she’s in control of her story.
Why she isn’t listed as a co-director is beyond me, but Courtney nevertheless makes some flashy if maybe artificially manipulated footage. That’s fine, the special effects. The low-fi film look. It adds to the independent and behind-the-curtain feel that the movie goes for. Does it achieve this? By default, sure. By post-production, yes.
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Again, why Courtney herself wasn’t listed as a co-director is beyond me.
It’s not groundbreaking, nor should it have to be. Following a once in a generation artist is enough. Getting into her state of mind is a plus. And being directed by her moods and motions? Incredible. No knock to Danny Cohen of course, who keeps up with her pace and her modes of being through superb camera work and cutting. The concept is excellent, letting a subject record their own tale as it goes along, and Danny is an equal storyteller alongside Courtney. Nothing ever goes off of the rails, though there’s also not much else to go on except for Courtney’s inner monologues, echoing off the walls as she presses down on a button.
It’s a diary. It’s intimate. And that’s enough. Just… enough.
Could’ve used some caffeine. Or maybe it was too nervous for that. **3.5/5**
---
*Anonymous Club* is currently on the [theatrical circuit](https://anonymousclub.oscilloscope.net/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). Courtney Barnett will [perform in New Orleans](https://www.ticketmaster.com/courtney-barnett-new-orleans-louisiana-09-06-2022/event/1B005CC3AF5C5377?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) at the Joy Theater on September 6.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### "Three Minutes: A Lengthening" and "Sharp Stick" Show at Zeitgeist
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/threesharp/
Last updated: 2026-07-13T14:32:44.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
In just under five hours from the writing of this newsletter blog post, the “new” MoviePass will open a waitlist for its app’s beta program. As an early supporter and subscriber of the service - back when it cost $40 or so per month (the early days) - I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t a little excited; I mean, I **AM** up late, anticipat… writing about it. Of course, there are caveats and doubts.
Allow me to wax slightly with an abridged retelling of MoviePass history and what it might be now.
The spectacular fall of MoviePass weighs heavily on the paradigm-shifting wishful thinking that I’ve always had when it comes to the moviegoing experience. Surely, with ticket prices growing faster than the audience’s wallets, and the increased use of streaming, cinema needed/needs a bit of a revamp in its relationship with moviegoers, or “consumers” (ugh). However popular, the swift change from $40 to $10 per month with the benefit of unlimited movies was never going to be sustainable. It was fun while it lasted, but the lies and the debts piled up.
While the crash was a major setback to progress, it did lead to some theater chains adopting their own programs, like AMC Stubs A-List (which I had for a while, and would still recommend). The return of founder Stacy Spikes is a major positive, but with his return, comes some confusion. The new app includes his Pre-Sale program, which plays ads in order to “earn” “credits" towards purchasing tickets, on top of a monthly fee.
Oh, and there’s something about the Metaverse too.
I’ll have more to write about this new iteration and what it could mean for watching movies in Hollywood South very soon, but for now, as I wait on the waitlist to open, I’m wired on Dr. Pepper Zero, filled with some anxiety about the upcoming day’s work, and an urge to write some more, and more often.
Concluded at the bottom of this post.
---
#### An Investigation on the Found Footage That Won’t Forget
I wouldn’t call *Three Minutes: A Lengthening* haunting by any means, believe it or not. There is a scene towards the middle where, while describing the slow and horrific process of destroying the Jewish population of a small village in Poland, a few frames of home movie footage of the town square are focused on, slowly pushing into the grainy and distorted grounds of where people - adults, children, neighbors - were rounded up, beaten, and eventually transported to ghettos and concentration camps. This sequence is terrifying and will-breaking, but even in these worse moments, the movie still didn’t haunt me.
Quite the opposite, actually.
This film essay piece begins with the full breadth of a little more than three minutes of amateur film footage of an initially nameless village - soon discovered to be Nasielsk, Poland - where we see amused adults and precocious kids greeting the camera and its unseen operator, smiling into the lens and just living their lives in this interesting moment on a pretty average vacation stop. In late 1930s Europe. In a Jewish neighborhood. On the cusp of shattering tragedy.
*Three Minutes* has narration and interviews, but none of the participants are ever on screen. Instead, we only have frames of the footage itself - sometimes cleaned up digitally, sometimes slowed down and sped up, sometimes altered a little - as the primary component. The only one that matters. Who were these people? What were they doing that day? What happened to them exactly?
There is speculation. There are concrete answers. There’s a story told. An extraordinarily framed story out of seemingly average footage. Average at the time, extraordinary after fate had added a new context. Pre-WWII life, as it was there, as it was then, captured and printed.
Assembled, edited, and discussed over and over with new discoveries made from repetition and curiosities, *Three Minutes* is magic. Not sorcery, but magic. It turns old and decayed fragments of chemicals and celluloid into a living portrait of time itself, bridging the heart of cinema with the spirit of true storytelling. Not just true in the sense of documentary, but true in a more soulful or musical manner, where a beat runs through, and is felt throughout. With the purity of a campfire tale as told from memory and interpretation, *Three Minutes* is one of the more important movies in recent years and decades. Only the works of Bill Morrison compare, and even those similarities are tenuous.
Love through truth is what I felt and how I feel. Maybe it was the depth and degree of research put into the project. Or perhaps it was the neverending gazing at the faces of these individuals, at their reactions to a camera and their actions with one another, from pushing and hugging to confusion and smiling. It’s just who they were. Here they were. Here they always will be? At 24 pictures per second, even if movement is an illusion in the movies, they were still moved. By force. That can’t and should never be removed from the story.
And it won’t be. Just watch - one can’t help it. **5/5**
---
[*The Secret Society for Slow Romance*](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/slomance22?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) hits [over 10K views on Youtube](https://youtu.be/pU%5FB%5F7HAU%5FU?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). Congrats!
Memories of working at Video Library, the best video store in Athens, Georgia - from [The Reveal](https://thereveal.substack.com/p/tomb-of-the-unknown-video-store?r=rn8p&s=r&utm%5Fcampaign=post&utm%5Fmedium=web)
Inside the tremendous Soviet masterpiece [MST3K got wrong](https://www.polygon.com/23312264/the-sword-and-the-dragon-1956-mst3k-4k-restoration?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
---
From the [official trailer](https://youtu.be/fyXBwo-R0HQ?t=60&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) for **Sharp Stick*
#### Do You Find Me Beautiful?
I haven’t watched *Tiny Furniture*, and likely won’t anytime soon. Yet, if *Sharp Stick* is any indication, I really should. Lena Dunham’s latest is a biting and positive film of female sexual self-discovery and self-discovery in and of itself. It’s funny, it’s open, and it’s kind of timeless too.
A movie after my own heart from the get-go, it’s about a twenty-something young woman who, as someone who works with children with disabilities, makes genuinely emotional connections with almost everyone she meets. Not that her career automatically means that for her; she’s just naturally like that, and the job is a perfect fit. Kristine Froseth plays Sarah Jo, a name that already shouts innocence. She’s adorable and kind, but soon-to-blossom maturity is beckoning, and she’s ready to let it out. The patriarch of the family she’s currently assisting, played by the ever-great Jon Bernthal, catches her eye as a sweet and tender gentleman, which he certainly appears to be by all accounts. He’s great with his son, he’s polite and thoughtful, and he’s in peak physical shape. Of course, she falls for him, and way sooner than later, is in his arms.
Froseth and Bernthal have delicate chemistry here, born directly from their individual performances. She’s sweet, he’s sweet. She’s young, he’s experienced. Bernthal plays her advances towards him with caution but also, interestingly, with an almost… and I hesitate to type, but an obligation to fulfill? He’s not unwilling at first but does come off as someone who doesn’t want to disappoint or hurt anyone. Froseth isn’t a Lolita-type despite her youthful grace, but also isn’t meaning to be a homewrecker. She just wants to grow and love. Acted to perfection, Froseth expresses such confident emotional openness and eventual vulnerability - something that arrives with the territory of growing up.
*Sharp Stick* is bold, to say the least. Froseth’s Sarah Jo, with a supportive, if oblivious to her situation mother and sister, makes even searching for online pornography cute. “Two people having sex” in her search bar turns into finding POV videos of an adult performer role-playing as a tender partner, saying lovey-dovey words, and maintaining eye contact with the camera. This sends Sarah Jo cooing. She just wants to be held, to be comforted, and to be pleasured. That’s pretty positive, I think. Sure, things take a turn for her as they do in most stories of this ilk, but it happens through her special perspective. ABCs of sex acts, written on construction paper, and taped to her bedroom wall. Letters to the aforementioned porn star. She’s in her twenties, but young and girly at heart.
Forever like that? Don’t lose this element, Sarah Jo. Ever.
Lena Dunham’s film is well-edged and just rightly timed, expertly positioned to give its characters the chance to live and breathe, and the actors the room to explore and play. In the scene where the affair is initiated, a small laundry room that becomes even smaller and more intimate if still awkward, there’s tenderness and joy, but also uncertainty and doubt and chance. Had it been anyone else in that room, I fear that the scene wouldn’t work as it did. Bernthal makes flipping pancakes a romantic jester, even with his muscular build and boxer-like visage. He’s not playing against type - he IS **THE** type. Who else could play here? At this moment, I don’t know.
*Sharp Stick* has few faults, but even the ones it does have are at most simple and natural. It’s just a good movie. Child-ish? Not really. Sarah Jo is wise behind her years but smart at heart. Kristine Froseth has a gift for that, and playing off of the strong presence of Jon Bernthal so well, makes the gift that much grander. **4/5**
---
Both Three Minutes: A Lengthening and Sharp Stick will play at [Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) in New Orleans starting this Friday, August 26th. Be sure to support the venue with a membership purchase too.
---
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---
Three hours left - at the time of this writing - until the MoviePass waitlist opens. Maybe I’ll have another can of soda? A nap? Can I nap?
The anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall is coming this Monday, August 29th. With *Katrina Babies* and *Five Days at Memorial* now streaming, I think I’ll be writing something special. An extension of a previous essay about *Big Charity* and *Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans*.
Stay glued. Stay tuned.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Playing Soon, at an Inbox Near You
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/free25/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:52.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Apologies for this weekend intrusion, but I wanted to present all free subscribers of Moviegoing with Bill (and by extension The Hollywood South Indie) with the following deal to become a regular supporter:
[Get 25% off for 1 year](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Good until the end of this August, this 25% off coupon applies to everyone and anyone who signs up either for a monthly or a yearly membership, for a whole year of newsletter blogging on movies - from some mainstream to many independents to the home that is Hollywood South.
Click on the button above and feel free to forward this message to friends and family.
There’s also a tip jar, located at Buy Me a Coffee:
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Coming (or playing) very soon, from this newsletter to your inbox:
Video and audio commentaries of all sorts, from news to trailer reactions and beyond (early access to paid subscribers).
Reviews for Lena Dunham’s *Sharp Stick*, the “analog” horror picture *The Children Under the House*, *Three Minutes: A Lengthening*, *Clerks III*, and more.
Review reports from virtual fest-ing at Overlook and Fantasia.
A piece on how the Metaverse might impact moviegoing locally.
An essay on David Lynch flicks as watched by a New Orleans cinephile.
…and more.
With my current role as Content Director for the streaming platform Louisiana Film Channel (watch the great sci-fi comedy *Drones* [for free with your email address](https://louisianafilmchannel.com/zen/drones?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) or [sign up today](https://louisianafilmchannel.com/join?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) with coupon code **EMAILBLOG1**), I can be reasonably busy throughout a given week. Still, I plan on doing at least one post a weekday from now on. How about that?
With my new Apple Magic Keyboard, I have plenty in store for all readers.
Right now, I’m listening to:
Feels good. I wonder what would’ve happened if the musician (Terence Nance) got to direct his *Space Jam 2*…
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### "Potato Dreams of America" Couldn't Be Lovelier
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/potatodreams/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:53.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Giving new meaning to the term “pop culture,” *Potato Dreams of America* features a scene that doesn’t just define the yearning for a better tomorrow but articulates the awkwardness of sexual awakenings, and how when it happens, it’s never really the “perfect” time, but always the “right” time. The film has over-the-moon imagination, and is as adorable as it is hysterical.
The scene I reference involves an action movie, and while that action movie is not the classic *Commando*, I do want to write a bit about it here.
No matter how many times that movie pops in my mind, I always think of the video about an African [boy named Alex](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjykl1o-wiM&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) who retells the story of the film, with the kind of excitement that I wish I had when watching *Rise of Skywalker* for the first time. His enthusiasm is so infectious that it puts Schwarzenegger and the whole 80s catalog of rah-rah USA ass-kicking flicks into another stratosphere of thought. Why have these movies maintained such influence after all of these decades? What was it about the 1980s that just… just endures?
*Potato* is the tale of another boy, one from Russia nicknamed Potato, who too is enthusiastic about American movies and who too has quite a personality. He bucks authority, he’s bluntly honest and would love a color TV set. He lives at the tail end of the Soviet era, where uncertainty and hope could both be felt at any given time. The film distinguishes itself interestingly by not having the actors in the Russian portion of the story speak with an accent and, to another level, by using alternate actors for Potato and his mother when they eventually move to America - who do speak with an accent. In that portion, Potato is a shy teenager, whereas before he was a precocious pre-teen. Interesting, and we will learn exactly why this was done by the end.
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Until we get there, *Potato Dreams of America* is like a wonderfully dreamy Michel Gondry film remixed by Guy Maddin. Double the dreaming, double the trouble. Things are certainly more bizarre-ish and different when Potato is a kid in Russia than when he’s a teen in America, by which I mean this as an American observer. Things feel more natural and dare I type “normal” once he hits the United States. But of course I’d type that - I’ve never left this country. Perhaps instead of going from weird to normal for us, it’s the other way around for Potato.
Not perhaps. That’s exactly what’s going on.
Everything and everyone in this movie has such wonderful strength and confidence at heart, from the design and composition of sets and scenes to the performances by different actors of the same characters. *Potato Dreams of America* is a jewel of modern independent cinema, and a funny if very tender movie about finding comfort in the home and in oneself.
There’s a scene that gives new meaning to the term “pop culture” when Potato, sitting next to Jesus Christ on a couch, watches a pirated Jean-Claude Van Damme film on his static-y black and white Russian TV set for the first time, and discovers his sexuality in a moment of confusion and excitement.
Maybe that’s the key to the 1980s.
Confusion.
Excitement.
And then…
**4/5**
*Potato Dreams of America* is now available on VOD.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Trailer Commentary: Rob Zombie's "The Munsters"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/munstersreact/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:54.000Z
*(Author’s note: Do you like trailer reaction/commentary videos? Would you like me to do more? Leave your thoughts in the comments!)*
## Dear Moviegoers,
Watch the attached video, as I act and react to the new trailer for Rob Zombie’s peculiar-looking take on what too was peculiar way back when, *The Munsters*.
Also: You may notice the Zoom background in the video - it’s the logo for the [Louisiana Film Channel](https://louisianafilmchannel.com/catalog?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). And I’m running its on-demand platform.
Previously, I worked with this krewe as an acquisitions representative. Now, I’m Content Director. The role has a few other hats to wear, but basically, I contact filmmakers and curate the flicks for this subscription-based service. We’re playing Hollywood South-made or related films, with a preference for independent movies.
Movies like…
Local, regional, and worldwide audiences: Please [drop us your email address](https://louisianafilmchannel.com/zen/drones?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) \- to stay updated on LFC and to get access to this cute film today. For more films and the rest of our collection, [become a subscriber](https://www.louisianafilmchannel.com/join?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
Beyond that, keep your inbox tuned to this newsletter blog for more reviews and other notes!
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Joe Badon’s "The Blood of the Dinosaurs” Teases Something Great, With Something Great
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/dinoblood/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:55.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Grandpa Universe is a kindly old Nosferatu hand puppet, here to tell us about birth and the horror of entering a new world. Of transition. Purity is a youthful but oblivious and happy little girl, here to let us know how capitalists introduced oil to a new world. And Uncle Bobbo, a disturbed children’s TV host of the Norman Bates cosplay variety turned up to eleven, is here to present us all to his world of waking nightmares, both internal and external.
This is Joe Badon’s latest short, *The Blood of the Dinosaurs: A Prologue to The Wheel of Heaven*. And it’s damn near brilliant.
With his previous two features, Badon’s work confounded me quite a bit. *The God Inside My Ear* left me, at least initially, frustrated - what was it, and why couldn’t I figure it out? *Sister Tempest* left me, for sure, delightfully perplexed - why was it, and why couldn’t I shake it? With *The Blood of the Dinosaurs*, I think I may have settled on comfortable ground with the filmmaker from the Northshore of Lake Pontchartrain.
If *Eraserhead* met *The Lords of Salem*, that meeting would be close to *The Blood of the Dinosaurs*, at least in how it feels when watching.
There’s sarcastic aggression to the faux children’s show at the center of this story, which veers from tangent to tangent or rather segment to segment, as if we’re experiencing the thoughts and memories and prophecies of a tortured soul - which, I believe we are. Whose soul? It can’t be that of Uncle Bobbo, performed with crackling campfire and piercing eyes by Vincent Stalba. His presence, one that is a constant fright with some darkly humorous tones ala the films of Todd Solondz, is but a red herring, I feel, at least in this prologue.
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Yes, *The Blood of the Dinosaurs* is a tease, and it’s teasing something great, with something great. I don’t know what’s to come with *The Wheel of Heaven* short series whatsoever, and I think director Joe Badon is being playful about this notion. *Blood* starts with a quick cut of Joe being asked what this film is “about,” which moves immediately to the extinction of the dinosaurs - presented here as kid’s toys being nailed with fireworks. Exactly. Joe is that kid, and what this film is about is what all of his films are “about.”
And just what is that? Transitions, from one thing to the next. Birth, death, rebirth. The power to tear down and create anew. To make a movie.
I can’t express enough how much I enjoyed the camped-up, creeped-out, and cared-for nature of this film. From moment to moment, there’s something new to grasp. From within each moment, there’s something new to learn. And from the movie as a whole, there’s a director’s world being born once more. **4/5**
*The Blood of the Dinosaurs* is currently playing in film festivals.
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
#### Some More Things: *Movie Money CONFIDENTIAL*, *Just an Illusion*, and *Gasoline Alley*
Official poster
Whether writer and director Rick Pamplin made *Movie Money CONFIDENTIAL* (yes, the last word is in all caps) to be genuinely helpful or to appear as such is beyond me, but I’ll assume he was true for now. His interview documentary on how to make it in Hollywood as an independent filmmaker is a same old same old talking head of the best beats from the least interesting how-to books on the subject. I hate to say it, but there’s nothing CONFIDENTIAL in this document.
Pamplin, from the get-go, comes across as someone with a massive ego, claiming that he’s been victimized for years but, through this movie, will let you in on his secrets to success. He and his various behind-the-scenes friends are first on-screen most spectacularly riding on a luxury boat that’s slowly traveling past other boats that are currently docked. Was this rented? Is this his or owned by a friend? Whatever the case, the impression that *CONFIDENTIAL* gives is that it’s a get-working quick infomercial scheme, cooked up under the pretext of offering up & comers some advice and to show the “haters” that any movie can be made - you just need to follow their guide. Or really, **his** guide.
Hyped as having the final on-camera interview with Burt Reynolds, *CONFIDENTIAL* lifts itself up onto a pedestal that nobody cares to notice. It’s way too long and three sizes too small for what it has to say. This is a grand shame, as the subject matter would be of use to students and future filmmakers alike. Rick and his friends participate in a few lectures in the film, where they respond to real questions with few real answers and lots of real scene-chewing, mostly from Rick. The director stretches his film out so much more than any Stretch Armstrong figure has ever been pulled, it’s amazing.
What feels like *Birdemic* and a Kirk Cameron biblical picture, CONFIDENTIAL could’ve been something good and noble. There are talks with Louise Levison, who famously assisted in getting *The Blair Witch Project* out into the world, and she does provide helpful tips and inspiration… when she has a second to talk. It’s mostly Rick talking loudly from behind his camera, asking questions that he already knows the answers to. Because he’s been there. Oh boy, has he ever. **N/A**
Official promo card
I rather disliked *Three Eras*, the previous effort by the Meyers crew. It was an atrocious bore that came from and ended at nothing, much like life itself - if you ask Eric idle. Their latest, *Just an Illusion*, continues this trend, if with a slightly better touch. The film, billed as an experimental documentary, is a complete jumble of time and a total mess of video footage. It’s an editor’s worst possible scenario, and worst possible job.
Set over the course of 11 years, the Myers family, headed by the patriarch Tim, enjoy various trips down river on a rinky-dink boat, getting into all sorts of scraps and scrapes. It’s hard to say what this is outside of that description, as the film is so crazily undone. Text pops up here and there with no continuity or sense of purpose, well before and well after traditional appropriate bits. The story jumps from year to years ahead and prior, showing just how much nothing changes, ever, except for the illusion of what we perceive to be “time.” Just an illusion? More like absolute mantra.
*Just an Illusion* is only ok when considering how much of a passion project this was to the Meyers family. It’s clear how much they love movies and how connected they feel to cinema and to each other. I just… I just wish they’d pump things up a notch and watch some Youtube videos on editing and pacing. Their films really should be shorter and a little faster. Too often, they meander and just sit on their hands. It’s a bore of a chore. For sure. **1/5**
Official poster
Devon Sawa is no Mickey Rourke. Actually, nobody is like Mickey Rourke. I only type this as in *Gasoline Alley*, the wannabe gritty noir, too cool for school who done it thriller, Sawa’s character is mentioned as being a bit hard to look at. I disagree, but maybe my standards aren’t too high. I’m not sure.
The movie is about a tattoo artist with a heart of gold and a mouth full of booze and smoke who, after meeting a cute and conversational “working girl,” sets out to find her murderer and why he’s being framed for it. Two detectives, played with a lackadaisical attitude by Bruce Willis and a cheeky if too cop-ish accent by Luke Wilson, aren’t so much “on the case” as they are just there to be harassers and exposition givers. This is the Devon Sawa show, who really gives it his all in projecting a smooth cat with a fire inside his body. Really, he’s the saving grace.
*Gasoline Alley* isn’t boring or poorly made, but it is hard to follow. Developments happen without much to go on, almost as if scenes were cut from the final version of the film. It’s also a bit cheap and rough around the corners, like when a car chase occurs through a junkyard and over a large patch of dirt that sounds suspiciously like pavement when driven on.
Still, Sawa is very good here, as is his lone good guy vigilante story. Similar to *Drive* with Ryan Gosling? No, but Sawa is still pretty cool. And that’s worth a watch. **2/5**
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## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### “City of a Million Dreams” Plays as a Historian’s Seminar and as a Lover’s Romance
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/citydreams/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:55.000Z
*(Author’s note: The first public post for June, over twenty-something days in? Silly, I know. Lots happened privately, and lots to still complete. Not to worry - there’s plenty to write about!*
*Many thanks to everyone who read, shared, and supported the mini-fundraiser I set recently. Things are better now, and as always, if you like this publication, do consider sharing/forwarding it around and/or getting a monthly or annual* [*subscription*](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)*!)*
## Dear Moviegoers,
I’m ashamed to say that I was so invested in *City of a Million Dreams* that, by its ending, I was shocked at the passing of the central figure of the documentary, Deborah “Big Red” Cotton. The local blogger’s words, leaping off of her pages and brought to life through voice-over narration (by Andrea Queeley), were so resonant and very much in and of the moment, that I had become lost in them and in the accompanying film. The mass shooting at the 2013 Mother’s Day Parade, her subsequent surgeries, and, painfully, her untimely death was given new light here, which forced me to not just remember, but to re-contextualize.
Deborah Cotton, Dr. Michael White, and director Jason Berry form a trio of eyes and souls for the visual document that is *City of a Million Dreams*. What began as a retread of information that native New Orleanians already knew - the basics of 2nd Line Parading, the look and feel of the songs and dances, etc - became a cauldron of cinematic and cultural seasonings, boiling to a heightened temperature that everyone can appreciate and learn from. It’s all oh so good, and oh so surprising, just how Berry and krewe turned a book (and really books) into a film of grand history, tragedy, survival, and life.
The trio, or Holy Trinity as they could and should be called, of Cotton/White/Berry, tell the tale of birth, life, passing, and re-birth. Not **a** tale, but **the** tale. Beyond the parades and the funerals, beyond the music and the moves, there’s meaning, and it’s that meaning that is defined in this movie. Cotton/White/Berry represent words, music, and look, respectively, playing into one another and off one another in a rhythm of its own. *City of a Million Dreams* couldn’t be made without either or any of the three.
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Two heartbreaking occurrences put me directly in the line of sight, both involving musician and keeper of local musical history Dr. Michael White. Firstly, after the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, around when Deb Cotton poignantly points out that there was talk of abandoning the city altogether by government officials (thankfully that didn’t happen, at least not as it was suggested), Dr. White visits his ruined home, in complete disrepair. He tenderly but sadly puts on a protective mask - something that rings differently nowadays - as he walks through what was once his. Collections of culture, from rare music and movies to photographs and past lives. It’s terribly torturous to watch him not just list the destroyed items but to imagine his being so crushed by seeing it all like that.
Of course, though, this is New Orleans, as we are reminded. And in *City of a Million Dreams*, it’s made clear that in this city, we make light of our dark times. Dr. White, after witnessing such destruction and depression, goes to a musician’s retreat to conduct and produce new scores and sounds, as ideas came to him in “not a flow, but a flood.” Using such wordplay, dear readers, is just… so wonderful.
Through reenactments, through archival footage and photos, through interviews and music, through dance and tears, Cotton/White/Berry make *City of a Million Dreams* such a definitive delight. For this New Orleanian (if Northshore-based), who thought he knew much about the heartbeat, discovered that there’s more to this body than basic biology. “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,” [as it were](https://interestingliterature.com/2021/04/hamlet-more-things-heaven-earth-dreamt-your-philosophy-meaning/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). While it does work as a heavy tourism brochure from time to time, *City of a Million Dreams* plays with our own understanding of culture, of history, and of who we are, now and always.
Deb Cotton knew that there would always be something new to report about New Orleans, even and especially in each and every parade, no matter the similarities between them all. She kept the story going, twisting and turning it too. When she essentially forgave her shooter and wished the best, she defined “when they go low, we go high” well before it had even been said. What a way to see the world. What a way to dream.
What a way to live. **3.5/5**
*City of a Million Dreams* is now playing at [The Broad](http://www.thebroadtheater.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) in New Orleans and is running in [theaters and at festivals](https://cityofamilliondreams.com/contact/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) [across the country](https://cityofamilliondreams.com/see-the-film/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### A Mini Fundraiser
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/minifund/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:56.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Apologies for this non-review, non-news, and non-essay intrusion - but I’ve got a question for y’all.
Aside from this publication, I freelance write as often as I can. Starting very soon, however, I should have a very good, maybe salaried, non-writing recurring gig with a boutique/niche streaming app that has the potential to really benefit the local film community. Once the details come back to me, I’ll be able to relax and start celebrating. Right now, it’s slightly up in the air - 95/5 in my favor :)
In the interim, there's a tight spot I'm stuck in. Between fixing some health-related family credit/loan debt issues, I’ve got two bills to pay for the month leftover. Groceries are semi-covered, but these two bills (and maybe a car battery problem) will come due soon.
So…
Would y’all help me raise around $500?
If so, do visit any of the funding apps below, and tip what you can. If now’s not the best time, no worries - you can help by forwarding this email or sharing the information via social media.
[Fundraise - Paypal](https://www.paypal.me/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
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I’m also selling some books too.
[Books for Sale](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XremACk862kPce5CqLmVpch6KfwQwWHDJOzzfNOGMc0/edit?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
And, of course, consider becoming a paid subscriber too.
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Coming soon:
- Overlook Film Festival review coverage
- Notes on David Lynch films coming to New Orleans
- The first pick in the Movie Club
- A new Hollywood South report
Thank you so much for being a reader, and stay excited about more inbox posts on movies, direct from Southeast Louisiana!
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Thank You, Moviegoers! :)
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/freesub1/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:56.000Z
## Dear (free) Moviegoers,
I’d like to formally welcome y’all to Moviegoing with Bill - welcome!
Over the course of May - thanks to Substack’s new recommendations feature (primarily from the gracious [Thom Hartmann](https://hartmannreport.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)) - this publication has seen a significant influx of readers and subscribers, which has been awfully exciting to witness and has been personally rejuvenating.
Through this newsletter blog, as I wrote on the [About](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/about?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) page, it is my goal to review and report on the films of interest to and the events happening in and around Hollywood South, LA. There’s much to cover and much this community has to offer - we’re more than pretty faces!
It’s cool to find that there are moviegoers and readers - in and beyond the region - who are interested in staying up to date on my writing.
As Justin Timberlake said in *The Social Network*, “You know what’s cool?” [Supporting (paid) subscribers](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) would be.
Movies and writing are what make my world spin. They’re also how I make my living, or rather how I want to make my living. I freelance a lot, but if I could do it 100% for myself… that’s the dream.
No worries if you’d prefer to remain a free subscriber for now - gas prices are high, inflation sucks, and times are unsettling. If you’re on the fence or are completely interested in providing support, please keep in mind:
- There are three [supporting tiers](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com): monthly ($6), annual ($55), and super ($120) (also annual).
- All readers are members of my recommendation-heavy Movie Club at sign-up (the first post is coming shortly).
- No paywalls **at this time**, so let’s keep it that way!
I’d love to do a podcast and/or some video work here - maybe even an audio film book series? - but would only be able to with some new equipment and software. With your support, I could afford some travel to more regional film festivals, and be able to stay longer.
And, of course, I could pay utility bills worry-free.
Once again, there’s no anxiety meant by this kindly request - just a message to fellow moviegoers and readers everywhere to invest in independent film journalism should the resources be available.
I’m more than happy to have y’all here in any capacity. Together, let’s create a dialogue around Hollywood South, criticism, and the movies that we love and the ones that we hope to learn about.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
Feel free to message me anytime in the comments section of posts, or by [email](mailto:nolamoviereview@gmail.com).
### There's a New Cut of "People," and...
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/people2/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:56.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
> “The Director is dead!” - a trauma surgeon, *People*
I love returning to previously reviewed movies - sincerely, I do. When oh so many years have passed, and a familiar film pops up in my periphery once more - a film that I scored with a scour - I recall how I felt and, if maybe, my opinion on it would be different now.
*People* was a **1.5/5** when I rated it for [Film Threat](https://filmthreat.com/reviews/people/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) some five years ago. A New Orleans area-made movie, *People* at the time annoyed me with what I felt was a self-righteous smugness, with “no filter or central goal to say the most.” Folks, I don’t believe I was the **harshest** on this local film (I save that energy for *Human Centipede: Final Sequence* and Charlie Sheen’s *9/11*), but looking back I was for sure **harsher** on it than needed.
Bad mood?
Director Shane McGoey was kind enough to let me watch a new version of *People*, called *The Magna Moralia Edition* (up in full on [Youtube](https://youtu.be/55B7n2OwfHM?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)), and, I’m glad to report… it was alright. This isn’t a Roger Ebert / Vincent Gallo [review/re-review](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%5FBrown%5FBunny?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#:~:text=Upon%20his%20return,claimed.%5B16%5D) of *The Brown Bunny* scenario, but I did in fact get a fairer kick out of McGoey’s work this time around.
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Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Was it the changes made in its new cut? I think it was a fresh mindset and long gap between viewing that did the trick. *People* is established through a handful of vignettes or mini-stories, where troubled characters ranging from a young woman in a late-night psychiatrist rendezvous to a filmmaker losing his patience over a phone call, all eventually converge in an Emergency Room - where solace and care are the least of what they’ll find together. Each story can best be boiled down to being extended arguments and debates about human behavior mostly, smothered in the sinew of politics, current events, and general turmoil. These stories are showcases for actors and cinematographers, floating in and around an atmosphere of melodramatic theatricality.
Indeed, things go over the top and get a little trite at times. Sure, sometimes scenes drag a bit. However, these “faults” are pretty minuscule when one is invested in each vignette, and my favorite one, *Control* \- centered on four men having a bro boxing watch party at home - garnered the most investment. Beers, drugs, etc. Two of the men bicker about wars and corporations, slowly but surely flailing towards a fight of their own. The camera cuts back and forth between them, snapping along with their growing intensity, all the while flashing us with a silent and stoic man with a goatee, just trying to watch the TV. The juxtaposition that exists here made me chuckle and do a spit take or two.
Pretty perfectly performed, purposely precise. Simple in setting, campy and electrified in action, and captured with nothing to lose.
*People: The Magna Moralia Edition* is like *Clue* and Paul Haggis’s *Crash*, if they collided with one another during a college production of *Lysistrata*. Is there still some smugness from when I last watched it? A little, but it’s not without reason. And that reason being? Misery loves company, and company is plentiful. *People* is a film about the miserable as observed through a Snapchat filter that only the director can see.
But, “the director is dead.”
Death ain’t the end, and you can always make a return - no matter how late. **3/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### "Top Gun: Maverick" Soars to Large-Format Heights, and Never Falls
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/topgun2/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:57.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Why is the sight of Tom Cruise nearly losing consciousness during a stealth fighter speed test so accepted? Despite all of the military access that his latest venture and new legacy sequel *Top Gun: Maverick* was privy to, this opening scene was likely the more unbelievable stunt scenario. The production conceieved that mission, right? Maybe wink-wink from the Navy as to its secret programs, but I doubt now that Cruise was really in a flying and fully operational super jet.
Now, mind you. During the sequence, it was completely accepted as gospel.
Many things are understood from this Joesph Kosinski/Tom Cruise pairing, the best of which is Cruise’s role as a thrill picture-maker. Like when silent comedians Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd worked with gag writers to construct and plan out funny and exciting stunts, Cruise does so too - not for comedic purposes, but joyful ones. The man, his director, and his team all choreographed and established routines for himself and his actors to roll through while filming such amazing images of jet fighters in practice and in combat. Real pilots behind real actors in front of reel cameras at top speed conditions. What insurance company would sign off on this?
*Top Gun: Maverick* would’ve been amazing in a three-screen (triptych) or Cinerama-style presentation but, as it is with IMAX, it’s a knockout anyway. Large-format always trumps 3-D for me, and Cruise and crew exploit the largest canvas possible - the sky. My hands were embedded into my armrests too many times to count, hanging on in exasperation. Spectacular spectacle, with chills and thrills running throughout the body whole. Crying on cue is just part of the ride.
Writing of which, is this a manipulative roller-coaster or a high-profile dramatic actioner? Maybe it’s both. Martin Scorsese commented some time ago that Marvel films weren’t real cinema or cinema at all. The divide is here, but what of a bridge? Is *Top Gun: Maverick* that connection between a soap opera story and all that theaters can offer? Maybe. Has this been settled? As Tom Cruise’s Maverick says in the film, “Not today.”
The story itself, about Maverick’s regrets, guilts, and potential grace from it all, is pretty touching. Almost *Rocky*\-level touching. His one scene with Val Kilmer, who speaks through computer text and stares, is solid and jarring. Both men unite together and console one another with such positive emotional stakes, reminding me that any kind of tale can be compelling and relatable, even when dealing with the best of the best with little to prove. There’s always something to prove.
Some critics have assessed *Maverick* as in the mold of Tony Scott, the late director of the original film. While it does open with a tribute to his style and the 80s-era feel, *Maverick* moves thoroughly to a contemporary feel by the middle and to the finish. It’s a progression on what Scott made, not a reproduction. For a more accurate Tony Scott tone in a 2022 movie, see *Ambulance*.
Go big and go loud. That’s the key here. *Top Gun: Maverick* (or *TG:M*) is easy on the mind, heavy on the heart, and extraordinary on the eyes. It’s really the perfect kind of summertime film. It’s really the perfect escape from our day-to-day nightmares. For those few hours, there’s no doubt as to cinema’s glory. **5/5**
*Top Gun: Maverick* is now playing everywhere. See it large. See it loud.
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#### \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
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#### One More Thing: Notes on *One Road to Quartzsite*
Official still
MAGA flags. Confederate symbols. Dirt. This is part of the life in *One Road to Quartzsite*. Documenting the misfits and denizens of Quartzsite, AZ, *One Road* forms a loose narrative around a group of very real - almost too real - individuals and collectives, all just trying to get by in America. Made almost as if Harmony Korine’s *Gummo* were a blueprint (but not quite a manifesto), this documentary couldn’t be more tired and cheery if it tried. The kids, the campers, the elderly citizens, and the homeless young adults of the community are bonded by exhaustion and hope - exhaustion for what was before and what may be later, hope that what’s next will be great.
It’s a film of deserted refrigerators and camcorder diaries. Of precocious adventures and genuine solitudes. Of oddballs and mistakes.
And yet, it’s all very worn out.
*One Road* has one gear, and it’s awfully free-flowing. Not awful, just… a lot. The people captured - like rock collectors and nudist booksellers - are all unique and all hiding something special behind their rough and Trump-y appearances which, of course, are expressed as deceiving. Maybe deceiving on purpose? To not draw much attention? To just be left alone? Who knows, but it’s difficult to blend in when you stick out too much.
The film never gets out of this gear, and never really expands or probes; it’s just here for the scenery, it seems. And the scenery is ugly and beautiful all the same, sure. *One Road* rarely shows itself talking or engaging directly with its personalities, settling to just follow and observe safely. Too safely?
Birds go tweet, what else have you got? The birds are pretty though, so what else does one need? *One Road to Quartzsite* sought and found some peculiar people wanting to get by and be left to their own. That’s it. That’s it? Yep.
That’s ok, but oh what else could’ve been told with such individuals. For its effort, the film is fine, if too familiar around so much individuality.
We all want what’s best.
And? **2.5/5**
*One Road to Quartzsite* is coming soon to on-demand.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge to Fundraise for Outdoor Screening Space in New Arts Market
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/artszeitgeist/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:58.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Local film programmer Rene Broussard will be adding to his film exhibition routine sometime soon - should fundraising plans work out.
According to a new post on his [web site's homepage](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#:~:text=For%20the%20past,new%20venmo%20%40zeitgeistnola), his movie house Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge will manage scheduling and programming for a community event space that’ll sit next to the theatre.
This St. Claude Art Market, as listed by its developers The Meraux Foundation, will be [made up of](https://merauxfoundation.org/studio-arabi/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#:~:text=develop%20a%20two%20block%20stretch%20of%20vacant%20and%20underused%20properties%20along%20St.%20Claude%20Avenue) a “two-block stretch of vacant and underused properties along St. Claude Avenue,” and [will feature](https://merauxfoundation.org/studio-arabi/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#:~:text=studios%2C%20galleries%2C%20artist%20residences%2C%20and%20a%20theatre.) “studios, galleries, artist residencies, and a theatre.”
“The Meraux Foundation [has assembled](https://merauxfoundation.org/studio-arabi/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#:~:text=The%20Meraux%20Foundation%20has%20assembled%20the%20properties%20as%20a%20public%20interest%20project%20to%20accelerate%20the%20growth%20of%20the%20Old%20Arabi%20Cultural%20District.%20These%20properties%20are%20being%20leased%20to%20St.%20Claude%20Arts%2C%20which%20will%20operate%20the%20properties%20sublease%20spaces%20to%20artists%20of%20all%20types%20to%20populate%20the%20campus.) the properties as a public interest project to accelerate the growth of the [Old Arabi Cultural District](https://www.visitstbernard.com/play/old-arabi-certified-cultural-district?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). These properties are being leased to [St. Claude Arts](https://merauxfoundation.org/studioarabi/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), which will operate the properties and sublease spaces to artists of all types to populate the campus.”
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The foundation references Arnaudville, LA’s [arts and culture collectives](https://nunuaccollective.homesteadcloud.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), in the face of the Great Recession, as an example of how to revitalize struggling areas and neighborhoods with [creative placemaking](https://springboardexchange.org/the-arnaudville-experiment-creative-placemaking-and-economic-development-in-rural-louisiana/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
For Rene Broussard, this represents not just another avenue to grow Zeitgeist - our eccentric art-house alternative cinema - but to stretch his programming muscles some more. And while the construction works to completion, Zeitgeist [has begun](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#:~:text=Zeitgeist%20will%20be%20fundraising%20to%20buy%20a%20large%20outdoor%20projection%20screen%2C%20stage%20lighting%20and%20a%20new%20sound%20system.) “fundraising to buy a large outdoor projection screen, stage lighting, and a new sound system,” making this a second/side venue for Rene, and an upgraded return to outdoor presentations, which he undertook just when theaters were [allowed to slowly reopen](https://www.nola.com/gambit/film/article%5Ffe4b2a62-2526-11eb-9d25-af66415e7879.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#:~:text=adds%20drive%2Din%20screenings%20on%20the%20side%20wall%20of%20its%20space%20in%20Arabi.) during the COVID pandemic.
It’s not clear how much money will be needed for the space, but Zeitgeist [membership programs](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/store/c2/Membership.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and [donation efforts](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#:~:text=Memberships%20and%20donations%20may%20be%20made%20at%20the%20Zeitgeist%20Box%20Office%2C%20through%20the%20%22Support%20Us%22%20Page%20at%20the%20top%20of%20our%20website%3B%20through%20PayPal%20to%20rene%40zeitgeistnola.org%E2%80%8B%3B%20Zelle%20to%20%28504%29%20352%2D1150%20or%20our%20new%20venmo%20%40zeitgeistnola) are open and ready for collecting support.
Zeitgeist just celebrated its 35th year in operation this past November.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### What's Happened and Happening in Hollywood South, Report 1
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/happening1/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:25:58.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Every week and weekend here in Hollywood South, LA, there are screenings to attend, events to participate in, and filmmakers who accomplish magic. The following represent but a few stories of such things and such people, from this past week and for what’s coming up:
---
#### 2022 Film Prize Junior Award Ceremony Held
> “Once again, Film Prize Junior showed the world the amazing work of these young filmmakers and, once again, it was a record-breaker,” - Gregory Kallenberg, executive director of the Prize Foundation and Film Prize Junior
On May 15th in Shreveport, LA, the Prize Foundation and LFEA (Louisiana Film Entertainment Association) concluded their 2022 Film Prize Junior festival with an awards ceremony, where student filmmakers, teachers, and schools from Middle to High received recognition for their hard creative work and funding for further filmmaking programs.
The festival itself screened 79 movies from 48 Louisiana schools, during SRAC’s (Shreveport Regional Arts Council) ArtBreak! event. Of the 48 schools that participated, 23 were [Title One](https://www.studentdebtrelief.us/student-loans/title-1-schools/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#:~:text=A%20Title%201%20schoolwide%20program,come%20from%20low%2Dincome%20families.). All of the films shown can be viewed for free and in their entirety online at the [Film Prize Junior website](https://filmprizejr.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), along with a list of all winners.
According to Shadi Darzeidan, director of Film Prize Junior, the organization “maintains contact with participants from the beginning to the end of the process,” and provides monthly virtual workshops that cover “a broad array of relevant film topics led by industry professionals, including screenwriting, pre-production, video and sound editing, location scouting, marketing, and more.”
For Shane Stewart, MFA, who teaches [film & theatre](https://www.mckinleymiddlemagnet.com/performing-arts?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) at McKinley Middle Academic Magnet School for Visual & Performing Arts and assisted on the award-winning entry *The Love Note*, teaching filmmaking was sort of “fate.” “This is only my second year ever trying film, and I am learning as I go. It’s strange how I even got started doing any film in my class. I was in the library storage and stumbled across two really nice cameras and some other film equipment just in storage. I am not even sure why it was there, but I figured it should be put to use, so I got it all out, made sure it all worked and started researching how to make a film.”
His students have gone on to bigger schools such as Tulane and even Dartmouth, working on many high-profile plays and productions. What would he recommend to future students of his filmmaking course? “Avoid big chunks of dialogue! Show me don't tell me! And have patience! Filmmaking is time-consuming!”
Awards given during the ceremony included various media grants for the progress of these programs and special rewards for teacher sponsors.
---
#### Patois Screened *Powerlands* Documentary at The Broad
> “For this event, we were thrilled to highlight a film that connects issues of Indigenous rights and environmental justice, and collaborate with Residents of Gordon Plaza and United Houma Nation, who are on the front lines of these struggles.” - Jordan Flaherty, Patois: New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival
[The Broad Theater](http://www.thebroadtheater.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) hosted a screening of [*Powerlands*](https://powerlandsmovie.wixsite.com/website?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)on May 18th, which was presented by the [Deep South Center for Environmental Justice](https://www.dscej.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and the New Orleans film group [Patois](https://www.patoisfilmfest.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). The documentary, directed by Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso, covers themes from indigenous community displacements, exploitation by chemical companies, and stories from activists fighting the powers that be.
On the power of film exhibition, Jordan Flaherty of Patois commented, “We provide ways for people to take the energy they feel from the film and to turn that energy into action by supporting local organizing.”
The showing was also a benefit for [Residents of Gordon Plaza](https://gordonplaza.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and the [United Houma Nation](https://unitedhoumanation.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). Representations from these organizations also appeared after the event for a discussion on the film, along with the director and cinematographer.
Patois puts on screenings like this all the time and can be supported by visiting their [donations](https://secure.squarespace.com/checkout/donate?donatePageId=5e24985ef8b9515a76a74fe2&websiteId=5de7466a2a399c17e34aaa3d&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) page. The Broad Theater showtimes can be found [here](https://ticketing.useast.veezi.com/sessions/?siteToken=kw8k81c1gdyhh0x4e8k0e4nvy8&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
---
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Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts, join the Movie Club, and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.
---
#### The Great Anime Classic *Akira* Comes to the Outdoor Space at The Broadside, with Live Soundtrack Performed
> “We wanted to bring their show outdoors to the Broadside and *Akira* seemed like a natural fit because of its stunning visuals and atmospheric mood.” - Andrew Cirac, The Broadside
Shown with subtitles but without spoken dialogue and original sound, the Anime classic feature *Akira* comes to The Broad Theater’s outdoor music and film venue [The Broadside](https://broadsidenola.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) on May 26th.
It is to be presented with a live soundtrack, as performed by local band Think Less, Hear More. On the [box office page](https://www.simpletix.com/e/think-less-hear-more-presents-akira-ticket-106954?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) for the event, the band’s contribution to *Akira* is described as such: “While the players watch and cue off of the plot/movement/emotions **of** the movie there is no real effort to play the written score or provide foley **for** the movie.”
Below you’ll see a video embed for their live performance during another classic, *Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory*:
The English language dub of *Akira* can be viewed for free on [Tubi](https://tubitv.com/movies/405596/akira?start=true&utm%5Fsource=google-feed&tracking=google-feed), and is described by the synopsis, “A mysterious child with psychic abilities escapes his prison and inadvertently draws a violent motorcycle gang into a heinous web of experimentation.”
The Broadside has hosted similar live score screenings, including for the silent horror *Nosferatu*, [as performed by NolaTet](https://www.offbeat.com/news/nolatet-nosferatu-improv-score-silent-horror/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) \- which will return to the venue later this year.
Indeed, this is one screening not to be missed.
---
#### The Late Local Actor Michael Martin Inspires Run of Plays
> “If Michael found worth in a piece of writing, he was going to put it on stage come hell or high water.” - Charles Pike, playwright
*Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets* is one of the best films of the last several years and a personal favorite of mine. Lead actor Michael Martin, a dear friend, and community supporter of local film and theatre passed away [suddenly in 2021](https://www.bayoubrief.com/2021/05/03/some-thoughts-on-the-life-of-new-orleans-renaissance-man-michael-martin/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
Inspired by his many eclectic and diverse stage and screen contributions to the New Orleans culture, the [Streetcar Collective for the Arts](https://streetcarcollective.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) will debut their new theatre program folie à deux at [The Domino](https://dominola.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) in the Bywater neighborhood. Taking place from Friday thru Sunday on the weekends of May 20th and May 27th, the program will feature two plays over the course of each evening - *The Two Chairs*, a video installation, and an avant-garde theatre piece, and *Human Troubles*, a dark comedy set to live music.
Described on their [website as](https://streetcarcollective.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#:~:text=Equal%20parts%20night%20out%20at%20the%20theatre%20and%20evening%20spent%20at%20the%20cinema%2C) “Equal parts night out at the theatre and evening spent at the cinema,” folie à deux proceeds will go to Michael Martin’s husband Eric Webb.
Celebrate new theatre in New Orleans.
For Michael.
---
If you know of any unique film-related events and showtimes happening anywhere across Hollywood South, LA, send information along [anytime](mailto:nolamoviereview@gmail.com).
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Loyola Seniors Screen Their Films at Prytania - Canal Place Showcase
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/filmsenior2022/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:00.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
“For the last three years, I've been teaching film production at Loyola University,” says teacher and filmmaker [Adam Sekuler](https://www.adamsekuler.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), whose Music and Media - Digital Filmmaking department at [Loyola University](https://www.loyno.edu/academics/colleges/college-music-media/digital-filmmaking?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) in New Orleans will be hosting a Film Senior Showcase at the Prytania Theatres’s Canal Place location. Sekuler produces revelatory documentaries - like [*36 Hours*](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/reviews-36-hours-memory-the-origins?s=w&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and [*Tomorrow Never Knows*](https://www.bigeasymagazine.com/2019/04/12/neaux-reel-idea-tomorrow-never-knows-review/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)which I’ve previously reviewed - and is no stranger to shorts programming, having previously commissioned *Cinema-19* at the height of the COVID quarantines. On the evening of May 12th though, the graduating students of his digital filmmaking course will take focus on the big screen.
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When asked about this coming generation of filmmakers, Sekuler is nothing but positive. “If this class of filmmakers is any indication of the future, cinema will continue to burn brightly. I find that with each class of students, there is more and more sophistication about the mechanics and poetics of the moving image. They, fortunately, are entering a marketplace here in New Orleans where there are literally dozens of major feature film and television projects coming through every day.”
His students helped put on the [Crescent City Film & Arts Festival](https://crescentcityfilmfe.wixsite.com/mysite?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) this (and I believe every) [year](https://crescentcityfilmfe.wixsite.com/mysite/projects-3-1?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), of which the film portions can [still be viewed on their Facebook page.](https://www.facebook.com/crescentcityfilmandartsfestival) But at the senior showcase, the students won’t just be curating; the light of the projector will shine on themselves, with each having their own movie screened.
It may be odd timing for the event, as Prytania’s Canal Place is currently hosting several major theatrical engagements, including a near-breathtaking weekly program called [Wildwood](https://www.instagram.com/wildwood.cinema/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), starting just a half-hour after the Loyola kids begin their showtime. Still, with free admission and plenty of passionate spunk, these young filmmakers ought to benefit from such scheduling obstacles, at least by virtue of just being there.
Still from Keyla Blanco's film *Cariño*
As this graduating class enters the industry, Sekuler believes open arms will greet his students. “Thankfully the New Orleans independent filmmaking community continues to grow and it's a community filled with generosity. If they immerse themselves in the community, they should have no trouble being able to continue to produce work.”
While Sekuler touts [*Another Scary Movie*](https://neworleansfilmsociety.org/south-pitch/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#:~:text=Narrative%20Pitch%20with-,Another%20Scary%20Movie,-%3B%20both%20winners%20will) and *Jackie and Mel* as interesting selections that have already garnered local accolades, he shows no favoritism for just any one student. “…all of these films show that Loyola continues to produce amazing emerging talent. I know all of these students will do great things in the cinema and elsewhere. Their work is incredible and deserves to travel the festival circuit. All of them.”
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and exclusives, join a [weekly Movie Club](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/moviegoerbill?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.
The Film Senior Showcase plays at [Prytania’s Canal Place](https://prytaniacanalplace.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) on May 12th, 2022 at 7:30 PM CST. Admission is free and open to the public.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### "Facing Nolan" Does a Legend Pretty Average
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/facingnolan/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:00.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
It’s hard not to recommend anything in relation to baseball, at least for me. There’s something calming and oh so brilliant about watching these games, whether in person or on tv and in the background. *Facing Nolan* is a documentary that should be watched mostly in the background, preferably while in the kitchen, cooking up something fine. It is a calming film, sure, but also heavily unchallenging and deeply filled with almost only enthusiastic sports statistics. Can I impress more on its bland nature?
I’ll try.
Nolan Ryan’s legend is one of wholesomeness and good old charm, which comes through solidly. He was one of **THE BEST** pitchers **EVER** in the history of Major League Baseball, having played for teams from the Mets to the Rangers, striking out more batters and holding more no-hitter games than anyone before him and, likely, anyone ever after. For this fan, that’s almost more than enough of a story… to see in Youtube clips. *Facing Nolan* recounts his famous moments, one by one, through interviews with Nolan himself, his wife, former players, and the former owner of the Texas Rangers, George W. Bush. Upon W.’s appearance, I grimaced and could clearly be heard shouting “ugh.” Yes, the man who was once the President of the United States (he was not titled as such in the movie) gives a few winks and nods to the camera, being more lively talking baseball than when he was bombing and attacking an entire region of the world.
Do you see the good that baseball can bring about?
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As startling an aside as that intrusion was, *Facing Nolan* feels more like a piece of tofu than anything else. It reminded me of the ending from Clint Eastwood’s *American Sniper*, which was footage of Chris Kyle’s long traffic funeral procession. The feeling was similar, because of the solemn celebratory nature attached. Prior, we had seen “the legend” of Kyle’s in-battle kills and the toll they took on him and his family. The only difference with *Facing Nolan* is that it’s a celebration throughout, where only one or two conflicts are told. We do see Ryan’s family in spots, but very rarely. We do hear from players he faced off with, but not often. Nolan Ryan is the apex star here, and that’s it.
And that’s… ok. Kind of. It’s neat hearing him speak his side of the special games in his life, and it’s even better when his wife talks of their relationship and her own hardships - in fact, where’s that movie? - but despite being neat to watch, *Facing Nolan* never faces anything other than what is already known. Nolan Ryan was a great pitcher, and few men will ever come close to his glory. Here are his stats. See?
That being what it is, the film works as calming background fodder for lazy weekends. **2.5/5**
*Facing Nolan* will come to theaters [very soon](https://www.fathomevents.com/events/Facing-Nolan-?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
---
**One More Thing: Notes on *Three Corners of Deception***
I truly hope that the best potential final cut comes out of *Three Corners of Deception*. Starting with curiosity, I took a peek at this domestic drama/soap opera epic in what I can only assume was an unfinished edit. Of interest to those seeking comfort from injustices, *Three Corners* could work as a fine Lifetime Channel-style tale. However, as it is now, it barely works as a film.
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts, support my work, get access to exclusives and to join my [movie club](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/moviegoerbill?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), consider becoming a paid subscriber today :)
Directed by and starring Meleeka Clary, *Three Corners* opens on an unjust court ruling, before whiplashing into cut-up news footage of various real-world protests, with a few character inserts here and there. Meleeka plays a law professor version of herself, shown teaching classes with exhausted passion and some flubbed line delivery. Now, it’s not fair to her or her movie to rate and review it as a normal piece, as *Three Corners* \- at this moment - is very abnormal. Extremely obvious and poor ADR, amateur consumer-ish cinematography, hard editing, rough acting, rougher dialogue, etc. One bad element mounts onto another, onto another, onto another.
The story eventually morphs into a child custody battle, but it’s all so hard to follow as the lack of polish on the film is so distracting and in your face. The only grace in this cut belongs to Meleeka, who owns the variant character performed. There’s power in her ability, thrusting forward with some attention and attraction to a movie that is otherwise difficult to watch without. Still, a two and half hour movie (with nineteen minutes of end credits) cannot stand with only so little going in its favor.
*Three Corners of Deception* has yet to be released past a festival or two, so there’s still time to clean it up. It’ll be a tough job, but there’s a good film hiding, I feel.
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### Get Grunting or Get Gone with "The Northman"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/northman/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:01.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
The environment of *The Northman* is one of ice and fire, one where it’s difficult to imagine anything beyond cloudy skies, dirt & mud, windy days, and volcanic nights. And such an environment, of course, breeds a kind of man who fights as if dominated and possessed by the elements. Knights of ice and fire, they could be. Director Robert Eggers, after his previous effort *The Lighthouse*, continues his exploratory thread of male gender politics and bonds, if by way of ripped abs and pure vengeance. No matter how potentially challenging, his movie is a revenge action picture first and foremost, crafted out of iron and sorcery, delivered to a moviegoing world that demands the familiar and the colorful. Revenge is familiar **and** colorful, but the landscape is cloudy and bleak, smothered in the smog of smoke. This is a film that gives what is wanted, without any regrets, through an environment that’s as angry as it is awesome.
Nothing about *The Northman* is unattainable to standard observation. It’s all simple to gather if dressed up with the legend of spells and rituals. The young prince of a Viking kingdom goes on the run after witnessing the murder of his father and the kidnapping of his mother at the hands of his uncle, vowing to avenge his fallen family and to kill anyone and everyone in his way, living for nothing more. Growing up to become an ax-wielding pack of muscles in the form of Alexander Skarsgard, the prince covers his animalistic intent with the sheepskin veil of a mild-mannered slave in order to fulfill his fate and end his journey. A standard tale, but boldly told.
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# **“There were no** [**Viking atheists**](https://letterboxd.com/journal/norse-power-robert-eggers-the-northman/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)**,”**
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# **“The real world and the religious world were** [**absolutely the same**](https://letterboxd.com/journal/norse-power-robert-eggers-the-northman/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) **for them; therefore, it needed to be the same way for the film.”**
Skarsgard plays this prince with a hulking presence, speaking as if to grunt and shout - at least at first. It’s celebratory how well he’s able to transition the character back into a human being and thinking individual after years and years as an instinctual beast. It’s through both his long-form hunt and his meeting with a young handmaiden slave, played by Anya Taylor-Joy. *The Northman* bludgeons and brutalizes and casts much magic, but it’s in the performance of Joy, whose role is on a path towards freedom and life and genius, that a kind of grace is found. No duh, but absolutely fine as is. Joy shines with intensity when calm and control when intense. She’s come so far from her revelatory turn in Eggers’s *The Witch*, pushing herself further and further, if in baby steps. Slow and steady.
It would be a shame to write about the acting in this film without mentioning its best-performed sequence, between Skarsgard and Nicole Kidman. There’s a spectrum between Joy and Kidman’s female characters, both with a kind of push and pull on the prince’s very soul. Kidman’s queen and mother, when confronted by her son, becomes yet another obstacle and source of sorcery for Skarsgard to conquer. But, at this moment, he stalls like a stunned child. Kidman exerts such frightening and non-resonant power, by which I mean hardly anyone could relate to the game she’s playing. At least, no one would want to admit relating to that. And that’s an amazing feat.
When your movie begins with a foreboding shot of a premature (feels like it) volcanic eruption and a snarly and growly voice-over, you’re setting up for something that rarely could be lived up to. Something absurdly visionary, born of nightmares and male genetic jackhammering. True to this design, The Northman achieves this kind of ethereal environment and, surprisingly, another - something that resembles a high definition video game story mode. I couldn’t help but think of [*Crazy Samurai Musashi*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFZEHkY2GUw&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), a one-take sword-swiping escapade that’s more gameplay than narrative when watching *The Northman*. There is no second-hand experience with this film though; I didn’t feel as if I was impatiently watching my brother play something exciting. The excitement this time out was playing for me and me alone.
There’s a grand scene where Skarsgard has a petty name-calling fit with a Viking wizard type. It’s a blink and you’ll miss it moment, but incredibly hilarious. That was more than fantasy and legend. That was more than epic. That was fun. Great and fun. **5/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### It's May Day for "The Wobblies"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/wobblies/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:01.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
In 1979, the labor documentary *The Wobblies* was released, and subsequently, put all other films on its topic on notice. Powerful like a fist that’s worked on steel, co-directors Deborah Shaffer and Stewart Bird dropped their movie like a sack of bricks onto the cinema’s collective stage, having made what is likely the best pro-worker film of all time (all apologies to Sergei Eisenstein and Robert Greene).
Let it be that *The Wobblies* is a true movie of the 70s, and right at its tail end when New Hollywood was shifting to blockbuster filmmaking. It’s oh so charging to re-discover the notion of being radical when everyone else goes with the grain, and oh so enlightening to go into the past to prepare for the present and future.
The word “wobblies” refers to members of the I.W.W., the Industrial Workers of the World. Their goal was to represent and fight with all workers everywhere, not just skilled craftsmen. And by “fight,” I primarily mean picketing and “sabotage,” aka consciously lowering the efficiency of a job. Violence without being “violent.” I love it. *The Wobblies* covers labor striking and organizing in the early Twentieth Century, prior to and during the First World War, through interviews with the men and women who lived through it all. Decades may have passed for them, but they each speak spryly when recalling what was witnessed and what was felt. And feel, they sure did.
# **“What country are you a citizen of!?”**
# **“I am a citizen of industry!”**
*The Wobblies* achieves a depth much deeper than anything 3D filmmaking has accomplished so far, both because of its recent crisp and cleaned-up restoration (which looks impeccable) and of the resonance each story has. The now elderly workers don’t just say what happened during their struggle but accentuate what it all meant and what it all still means, primarily through anecdotes, detailed adjectives, weathered expressions, and music. It’s difficult to put into words, but seeing these older souls sing songs of resistance and solidarity that they’ve memorized by heart, to a camera crew eager to learn but who’ll never **really** “know,” is mesmerizing and rabble-rousing.
None of these interviews, however articulate and complete, would’ve been as impactful if it weren’t for Shaffer and Bird’s style of filmmaking. They use archival day-to-day silent footage and photographs with limited sound effects for recreation, as well as voiceover of speeches. Anti-union propaganda cartoons were found and placed throughout *The Wobblies* to startling effect and contrasted in this critic’s mind with the ideology of the workers themselves. I’m not afraid of the s-word “socialism,” nor am I against the progressive possibilities it represents - in fact, I consider myself a progressive. Still, some moments in the film did challenge my ideas about journalism, patriotism, communism, free speech, and so on. All or nothing? All for one and one for all of course, but… is there room for “but?” For those that saw brothers and sisters get attacked by the cops and soldiers of big business, it may have all been much simpler to understand. I’m thankful to have never experienced such atrocities.
I teared up and cried throughout *The Wobblies*. It may be interview after interview, but never is it redundant or boring. Never is it without action. The film moves and is always moving, in more ways than the one. Few filmmakers would dare make something like *The Wobblies* today, and that’s sad. Few filmmakers would dare make something like *The Wobblies* back then either, and it’s amazing that it exists at all. Then again, what does one expect when people aren’t treated well? **5/5**
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[*The Wobblies*](https://www.kinolorber.com/film/view/id/5219?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) screens across the country on May 1st, 2022 and will be released on demand on May 31st.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### There’s No Such Thing as a Too Difficult Question for a Critic: A(nother) Manifestivus
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/manifestivus2/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:02.000Z
There’s No Such Thing as a Too Difficult Question for a Critic: A(nother) Manifestivus
0:00
/200
1×
## Dear Moviegoers,
In the early days of Patreon, when I set reward levels so ludicrous but well-intentioned, I consulted with a good local filmmaker friend of mine about how I should operate this new support page for my writing work. Straight-up, she asked, **“Why is film criticism important?”** While I thought of an answer, she took to the restroom, likely confident that I wouldn’t be able to properly respond.
She was right.
Upon her return, I rattled off my reasons for why **I** love writing about movies, from breaking out the family typewriter in elementary school to express my thoughts on *Super Mario Bros* to pitching a small-town newspaper on why *Superman Returns* was excellent. Super, but not enough. Why is film criticism important **at all**, sir?
I still think about how flabbergasted I was so many years ago by her question, especially in my more depressing moments. Today, movie reviewing is treated and almost seen as a niche gimmick part of the news cycle, relegated to Youtube entertainment and outlandish "hot takes,” viewed mostly (not necessarily “read”) by gamers and geek **cult**urists alike. This is what it feels like at times, anyway.
Of course, reaching audiences where they’re at is not a bad thing at all. I’d love to Instagram and TikTok my work… if I could just figure out smartphone video editing and style. And what would be the publication title of such **content**? Would the username count? Do film critic organizations accept those? If the hits and views are big enough, maybe.
It’s not a **young** **creator’s** game, but it is a **savvy producer’s** one.
I just want to watch. I just want to read. I just want to type. I just want to write. Is there **still an audience** for what I want to do?
I believe so. I have to.
Why is film criticism important? When asked, my friend left to go to the restroom. To **escape**, if only for a **limited amount of time**. Is escapism not one of the main reasons for pressing play or sitting in front of a large screen in the first place? The bathroom stall is no screening room… unless you have a phone now. It can also be a place to think and write even. I should’ve thought more about her action of bodily relief - in the relevant query context, I mean.
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Film criticism, **I like to think**, is important because it too, much like moviegoing and bathroom breaking, is **an escape**. A round trip escape into perspective, into heart, and into thought itself. Film criticism, like the movies, can be a mirror to the world, both in specific places and as a whole. Film criticism is important as it articulates and appreciates all that movies can do, and **why**. **And how**. It’s important because so is **journalism**. So are **words**. So is putting words out **into the world**.
I think my friend would’ve been happy to hear that. And would’ve countered it somehow with another question. When it rains, it pours on one’s parade.
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So… where’s my manifestivus? What do I have planned for Moviegoing with Bill?
Going forward, this work in progress will attempt:
- To cover more of the local and regional film scene in Hollywood South.
- To publish more consistently and more often, maybe on specific days of the week.
- To bring more fun into the writing.
- To record audio versions of each and every future newsletter.
- To engage with all subscribers at every opportunity, with an open line of dialogue.
- To not overthink and hesitate too much. Again - this should be fun.
- To read more and showcase highlighted passages from the film books that I’m reading.
- To contribute more positively to the independent film community (even when giving a poor rating) and the film culture here at home.
If there’s anything I should add, please let me know at nolamoviereview@gmail.com.
Please do share around, consider getting a monthly or annual subscription, and forward along to a friend or two. I’m only able to make this work with support from readers like y’all.
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## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
### The Broad Theater Presents "Phony"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/phony/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:02.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
After watching *Phony*, the subject of the below review, I couldn't help but recall a very awkward conversation that I had a few months back with a local filmmaker.
I had reviewed a movie of theirs a few years ago and gave it a rather poor rating. This was brought up consistently throughout our call, almost to the point of shame, but mostly in good humor, I hope. Perhaps I was in a bad mood when I wrote my criticism, or perhaps that edit was actually pretentious, I don't know. Maybe both are true.
We talked as if we could see our pained smiles, feigning some kindly discussion at first, before settling into a friendly talk. I'm not sure why *Phony* reminded me of this. It's not a bad film (as I'll explain below), nor was the phone call a bad memory.
Have I been more difficult with the works of local filmmakers than those of mainstream attention?
Hmm.
---
> “When you really look at it, it’s just one world.” Powerful words made more powerful by the person saying them: [Superman. And Christopher Reeve.](https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2018/11/07/say-something-nice-superman-iv-the-quest-for-peace/amp?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
> Let’s talk about the [tiny movies](https://www.indiewire.com/2022/03/sxsw-2022-mark-duplass-small-movies-success-1234706686/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) in America.
---
#### *Phony* Ain’t Bologna
Being self-referential, being meta, can only bring about so much cleverness, if any at all. The iPhone shot *Phony* folds entirely on itself, commenting on its commentary on modern dating and the nature of gender-based lies and trickery, altogether existing as a confused and confusing piece of streaming fodder. Are these qualities built-in specifically? If so, why? Beneath the head-scratching is indeed something clever. Clever and bold even. But again... why all the fury of fakery?
While smartphone cinema is now pretty prevalent (shoutout to Steven Soderbergh and Sean Baker), it lives in the present as a new form on the medium - and a comment on the art of filmmaking too. If film is an illusion of movement, and digital video is an illusion of physical film, and digital video is now in the back pocket of just about everyone, does this make everyone potential illusionists? I say we already were. *Phony* at its best exposes this truth without directly stating or saying anything about it. It's just what it is. It's just an example of it. An excellent example of it. An extraordinary example of it.
*Phony*, on the surface, covers the ground of male chauvinism and exploitation through the excuse of filmmaking. Two friends, one a womanizer and the other a creepy cinephile with the constant gaze of a snooping masturbator, plot out a "documentary" experiment on dating and sexual relations, all to be filmed, with some twisted form of conscious and subconscious consent being a central thesis. How far can they go? *Phony*, at least the first half, is a near-horror picture, where the friend behind the cameras seems to have a need to have relations vicariously through his more active friend, who himself appears put off but obligated to take part. It's disgusting but fascinating to watch all the same.
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Things take a hard turn at a point, and the whole world crashes. This is where an *F For Fake* moment occurs, where Orson Welles reveals he's been lying during the previous few scenes, revealing the magic but not the mechanics. In *Phony*, the mechanics and the magic are clearly visible, if convoluted and oblong. The film tricks everyone, from the audience to itself, losing control of its own conceit to either craft a new one by accident or by hopeful chance. Take your pick, but however it happened, *Phony* entertains and challenges with what is and isn't questionable or answerable in relationships, in deception, and in cinema.
The better angels are in its favor, despite some difficulty in comprehension and communication. The efforts are true, as are the talents. *Phony* surprises in cinematography, in acting, and in honesty. It's not afraid to depict people as being their worst or their dumber selves, especially when trying for charm and charisma. It’s practically a masterwork in personality and identity deception, whether it set out to be those things or not. Irrelevant somewhat, but important to consider.
Why go so far to fool only to be foolish in fake faking? One wonders and wanders. **3/5**
*Phony* will have a theatrical premiere in New Orleans at [The Broad Theater](http://www.thebroadtheater.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) on March 26, 2022\. Tickets are [available here](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/phony-movie-premiere-tickets-259685144257?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
---
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## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
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### My Unofficial Entergy Movie Watchlist
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/entergymovies/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:03.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Rarely one to have his keyboard on the pulse of what’s happening (parts of this post will likely be somewhat outdated after a day), it’s been very difficult to concentrate on movies when there’s such storm devastation that friends and family have suffered as the result of tornadoes in and around New Orleans on March 22nd, 2022.
To help support the efforts of people and groups on the ground, be sure to check out this [Twitter thread](https://twitter.com/whodreamedit/status/1506476015312203780?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and this link to the folks at [Beanlandia](https://www.kreweofredbeans.org/?mc%5Fcid=78a948cc67&mc%5Feid=b666ed87f6&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) (Krewe of Red Beans).
Of course, movies present us all with an escape and, in some cases, support. Rene Broussard’s [Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) in the Metro NOLA area of Arabi was thankfully spared any significant damage in the most recent storm. Unfortunately but understandably, the main power company for that part of the region, Entergy, [hasn’t set a proper time](https://www.facebook.com/groups/39711969172/posts/10160013267204173/?%5F%5Fcft%5F%5F[0]=AZWO-W5Kv9dC-iuv%5Fla5SDiwScdiwcZI9StBWifaZYmcAyRTJsGMkVTenfWxrKhsTXY9XAo5lcAyioGvMeQnHQTliq1QjgAj5qVybmay6%5F9OqMeCO3aN4GGkXwQuue0C90i%5FVkTjtFZzODcc45qXu%5FaPjPD6O8OnHFWb0-F8PQaloQ&%5F%5Ftn%5F%5F=%2CO%2CP-R) for electricity to be [restored to the cinema](https://www.facebook.com/ZeitgeistTheatreAndLounge/posts/5057537781007750?%5F%5Fcft%5F%5F[0]=AZU1GmFKw4tXsaElN3sQAXU8rguAhTdOVm0a8Zx8iGO%5FA4DBb7ENdUwWjg45tO6GBwP2jSjUNbBYDHPPPbdNXaFTaMiBbSgVhl8kPE-ETWlc%5FHlffM8JbhapUpKID%5FUv%5Fu0zMTQeT-djpGEP4I0dOKuI&%5F%5Ftn%5F%5F=%2CO%2CP-R), denying performances and exhibitions to occur, and denying the community [a place to charge devices and to have cool daytime shelter](https://mailchi.mp/zeitgeistinc/syifrlfnc7-1319722?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#:~:text=At%20that%20time%2C%20we%E2%80%99ll%20avail%20the%20theatre%20to%20local%20residents%20in%20need%20of%20power%20or%20daytime%20shelter.):
> Ever since we moved to Arabi, it’s been a dream community. So many have welcomed us with open arms and we feel for those who lost their homes and businesses. We’re doing our best to organize and support those in our Arabi community and hope to host a fundraiser soon for victims of the storm as soon as we have a better sense of our return to semi-normal operations. Sending love out to all of you in our community displaced by this terrible disaster.
[Get 7 day free trial](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
In the meantime, as a humble critic and devoted fan/follower of New Orleans moviegoing (and moviegoing in general), I would like to offer up the following “unofficial” movie watchlist for the higher-ups at Entergy Louisiana. Be entertained, be open-minded, and be inspired. What films would you like to add? Reach out at nolamoviereview@gmail.com and let me know. Enjoy!:
#### The “We Power Life” Film Queue
- *[Tesla](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4U-23TOKms&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)* (Michael Almereyda)
(alternate clip from *The Prestige*)
- *[YERT](https://www.yert.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com): Your Environmental Road Trip* (Ben Evans)
- *Lowland Kids* (Sandra Winther)
- *Norma Rae* (Martin Ritt)
Be sure to support Zeitgeist’s excellent year-round programming with a [membership](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/store/c2/Membership.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
And please do share this post and/or forward this email along to friends, family, and followers. More coverage is on the way!
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
Read Moviegoing with Bill in the Substack appAvailable for iOS and Android[Get the app](https://substack.com/app/app-store-redirect?utm%5Fcampaign=app-marketing&utm%5Fcontent=author-post-insert&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
### "Little Satchmo"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/lilsatchmo/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:04.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
When a person is referred to as being someone with “complexities,” rest assured that, nine times out of ten, this is a soft excuse for poor behavior. An attempt to rewrite some wrongs. But what happens when the writing-over of the wrongs coincides with the acts themselves in real-time, and whose narrative does this become?
In the documentary *Little Satchmo*, Sharon Preston-Folta takes the legend of Louis Armstrong and folds herself into it with stoicism and assertiveness. Not beneath it or around it, but into it. She is the only child of the jazz player and a living secret that had been kept from the public since her birth in the 1950s. Here, Sharon provides a trove of special details, from personal observances and experiences to letters and pictures, that makes for a film with a dueling duo of lead characters - herself and her father’s supposedly wholesome legacy. A feat of layered insight and strength that takes a sadly shadowed scenario and projects much-needed light onto it, this is.
The story is completely from Sharon’s perspective (some brief alternate narration does occur), never one to waver or weave with anyone else. After all, this is her story now, shared only with an archive of second-life items from a charismatic musical genius. Items and objects. While she never states it in *Little Satchmo*, it’s visually suggested that Armstrong treated his affair with the arm’s length approach of someone with a precious collection in their possession, to be handled delicately and as he and only he wished. Sharon acknowledges the lack of a true dad in her childhood but does come to the conclusion that, in the end, she and her mother Lucille “Sweets” Preston had a place in his heart. A place on a shelf? This is a question without a definitive answer and is thankfully only broached here and there in the film, as it clearly was over the years for Sharon too.
It’s a documentary of many repetitions, but never a dull moment is had. Told with poetry and poignancy from both subject and camera, *Little Satchmo* stakes out the claim for a filmmaking style that cuts deep without crossing lines and challenges with modest placement of shots over anything emotionally exploitative. While the filmmakers could’ve easily just had Sharon in a talking head position, they instead present a movie made up mostly of private pictures and letters and presents, sometimes placed very particularly throughout her home, with either her or her father’s voice-over hitting simultaneously. This staging highlights the truth behind the myth, the power of memories, the desperation of control, and the proud righteousness in announcing yourself to the world. I wonder how such dynamism will be achieved in future films, with social media and emails being more and more prevalent. With image filters?
*Little Satchmo* is awfully candid and clearly splendid. Other critics might see the lack of other interviewees as an issue, but not I. To focus entirely on Sharon was key to being such an animated but intimate movie. Without that, it could’ve been too familiar. It’s a foreign feeling to see the pedestaled as being just people with problems, but it’s true. A wonderful world this is, but it’s not without some “complexities.” Not taking a photo with your only child? Not as complex of an act, really. **5/5**
*Little Satchmo* is currently making a [theatrical run](http://www.thebroadtheater.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and will be in Season 7 of [Reel South on PBS](https://www.reelsouth.org/stories/season-seven-expands?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). Support the movie by visiting its page on the [Southern Documentary Fund website](https://southerndocumentaryfund.org/little-satchmo/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
---
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---
And now for something a bit different:
[Dennis Hopper Didn't Go Punk with "Out Of The Blue" - Punk Went HopperDear Moviegoers, “Do you believe that movies are also magic?” is asked of filmmaker Dennis Hopper by fellow auteur Orson Welles, in the documentary spinoff to The Other Side of the Wind, Hopper/Welles. A high and drunk - yet pretty lucid - Hopper responds, after downing a drink and with both an eye-roll and some exhaustive appreciation, “…right.” I’m unc…Moviegoing with Bill](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/outofblue?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
---
Read Moviegoing with Bill in the Substack appAvailable for iOS and Android[Get the app](https://substack.com/app/app-store-redirect?utm%5Fcampaign=app-marketing&utm%5Fcontent=author-post-insert&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
### I Sea the Laughs That They Imagined
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/crabs/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:04.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
The immediate attention grabber for the modern 1950s monster movie throwback *Crabs!* is found on the poster itself. It’s of a beach that’s infested with little crabs, following a giant crab, heading away from the shore. When noticing the skin tone sand, the scabby colored dots, the position of the crease, and some of the beach textures and shadows, another perspective comes up. Venereal disease suggestive imagery? Despite this tease, the movie isn’t some gross-out fest ala Troma or even a straight-up horror.
So what’s the deal with this? What is it?
In one scene, the hero Philip (Dylan Riley Snyder, *Life During Wartime*) says to his best friend and love interest Maddy (Allie Jennings), “That’s a mighty fine pussy you got there." They're dissecting cat carcasses for a class project. His apology comes immediately, and things move on to a throwup gag. It was difficult to tell exactly how to feel about this scene other than awkwardness. *Crabs!* isn’t crazy crude, no matter how much it would rather be. Immature for sure, ignorant sometimes, but not dirty. Not very.
A sex scene on the beach does open the film, but I still wouldn’t call it dirty.
*Crabs!* is focused on a group of so-called outcasts, made up of Philip and his cop brother, Maddy and her teacher mom, and the foreign exchange student Radu. During prom night, all must deal with a horde of deadly crabs. Ranging in size, the creatures descend on their town in droves. They bite, they kill, and they get behind the DJ booth to pump up the jams. Whatever angles that were being developed before the attacks don't matter so much after, leaving Philip “overcoming" his disability (he's a wheelchair user), and Radu speaking "funny" as the bulk of the "action."
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*Crabs!* handles Philip as someone burdened by disability. It’s a silly notion that's wrongheaded to write, but it’s also on the low end of the ableist totem pole. Philip is clever and confident and goes to absurd and silly lengths (satirical of the genre?) to be independent. Not bad, but there's some cringe. And, while silliness is one modus operandi of the movie, being sweet is the second.
I mean it.
With some kindly and cute lovey-dovey behavior between friends turned lovers, *Crabs!* is best when letting moments occur between Philip and Maddy. The teacher mom and the cop brother share some nice scenes too, letting everyone have some joy on prom night. Their chemistry is genuine and sincere, and when things settle down long enough for the actors, something special happens. It’s nice.
Then the crabs come in.
And so does Radu.
Chase Padgett plays Radu with the attitude of one man taking on a whole army. Ultimately though, he runs low on gimmick by the end of the story. It's as if director Pierce Berolzheimer banked his movie all on Radu, the one character that the cheap comedy hinges on. Padgett is no marathon man, but damn does he go full blast as the foil, falling into the role with surprising ease.
Still, ease up a bit.
Or lighten up.
Should I take this advice too?
I’m uncertain what *Crabs!* is, or rather what Berolzheimer wants it to be. It’s so unwieldy and wild, down to the opening title credits that refuse to finish on its own beat. But, whenever it falters, there’s fun and fancy to be had. There’s plenty of romance, plenty of blood and guts, and some playful mad science too. This is sugar high cinema. In fact, the movie is much like a confectionary treat, but only of the first batch kind.
*Crabs!* burns fast and thoroughly before pooping out hard at the climactic battle. That’s what the movie is - a rush and a much-needed come down, all in one package. How might that read on a poster? **2.5/5**
*Crabs!* is currently touring the film festival circuit. Coming soon.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
---
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
---
Something that’s actually gross:
[Film Maudit 2.0 (2022) with "Tower Rats"Dear Moviegoers, A cacophony of antagonistic antagonisms make up the bulk of Tower Rats, a mixtape “best of” catalog from Troma-inspired fans and filmmakers, as released by, of course, Troma itself. The lovable lugs of the grossest of gorefests and gut-punches, Troma’s dedicated base of indie pick & flick artists are nothing if n…Moviegoing with Bill](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/towermaudit?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
### The Panic Is on in "Kimi"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/kimi/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:04.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Thankfully, Steven Soderbergh’s *Kimi* doesn’t fall into the usual trappings of techno-terror flicks, somewhat like the recent *Child’s Play* remake. In that film, A.I. assistant software turns into literal nightmares of American excess, where a monopoly was ultimately undone by a foreign laborer’s legitimate outrage. Now, *Child’s Play* wasn’t really some backdoor or front door socialist tome, nor was it much of a Capitalistic horror - especially considering it was part of a “franchise.” It was fun first and foremost, but also somewhat juvenile in its depiction of technology in general, and how **haywire** things can get when the evil switch is flipped on. There is no such switch on *Kimi*’s smart devices, which exist in a grey void of on-demand service. Users, on the other hand, are more easily defined as good or bad, but never do they imprint such traits on their A.I. tech. The Kimi of *Kimi* hears only what is allowed, pending terms and conditions acceptance.
Though, nobody actually reads those.
It’s a world where moderators listen in on bits and bytes of sound all in the name of making improvements, which appear to be skirting the legal and moral lines of privacy if such a thing is still real. There’s a chain of command in the contracted businesses that work within Kimi software operations, middle management to freelance programmers, and back again. In our present-day Covid world, remote work has never been so fully realized in a movie, as webcam sessions and text messages blaze throughout the working hours with the startling efficiency of true blue at-home professionals. Spike Jonze’s *Her* had a sociable and interconnected media cityscape as its environment which, while it had its own complications, was a bit ideal. Director Steven Soderbergh takes that ideal setting, and pushes it into this reality, to full background effect. Protests occur, a virus spreads, and the vulnerable have their safe spaces while maintaining plenty of contacts. The time and place of our new lives isn’t the whole story here, but it is what accentuates the story.
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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Corporate bureaucracy, shady dealings, hoops to jump through, and violence to run from make up the thrills to be had in *Kimi*. It’s a procedural in remote contractor day-to-day life, nooks and crannies exposed, done up like an Alfred Hitchcockian suspense picture. And it’s brilliantly done.
When our hero Angela, played by Zoe Kravitz, goes to meet with a company higher-up played by a facade of comfort in Rita Wilson’s body, the tension is clear. Something bad this way comes, but not just because it’s that point in the film. Angela waits patiently for this department head to return to the office, believing that things may be resolved with her suspicions regarding a potential crime she came across in an audio file. She waits, she veers around corners and waits some more. This isn’t just building to a moment of action, mind you. It’s a slice of life used as a storytelling weapon against what is expected to happen next. There’s no jump scare, no musical sting, or any other dressing up. Just Angela and the pressure of the clock ticking.
As photographed by what I believe is Soderbergh’s alias, *Kimi* is captured with both cunning grace and tailored patience. It’s shot and paced with a one-thing-at-a-time mentality, where each and every scene is treated on an individual basis, with individual needs, for a collective whole. There’s still a throughline of tone and composition that’s followed on, it’s just all handled with careful craft as things unfold. When it’s time for Angela to “make her move” as it were, she requests that Kimi play “Sabotage” from The Beastie Boys at high volume. A more standard movie would’ve used the song as the soundtrack to a fight scene, but *Kimi* places it directly as just part of the room she’s in, as a distraction that’s taken advantage of. Again, the smart devices of the movie aren’t the canvas that the film is painted on - it’s not *The Net* \- but objects placed in the portrait. And the portrait is of a suspense thriller. Soderbergh and crew are ever so wistful in their competence, their understanding, and their craft. They make things look so good and so easy, it’s only natural to fall head over heels in pleasure for a movie this great.
It’s oh so amazing too how powerful Zoe Kravitz is here. Her Angela has the impatience and go-go attitude of a case of Red Bulls, using her large-windowed ex-factory apartment as if it were the city that surrounds her. She has a gym, a theater, a restaurant, a doctor’s office, and even a dedicated assistant, all within reach. But, idle hands are the devil’s playground, and any act of stillness leads her to panic. She makes a production out of preparing for a breakfast date, showering, and collecting items as if she were avoiding something with being busy. The moment she’s ready to open the door, she hesitates and succumbs hard to the weight of her pain.
She will be forced to act and keep her momentum moving later on, and when it happens, *Kimi* takes a dive into some neatly rushed but calmly lensed sequences that match her pounding heart and worried breathing - or at least that’s what we imagine. Kravitz fast walks and holds herself tight as she’s being tracked, but slowly loosens up as the danger becomes more material. Anxiety and trauma can’t really be punched, but people can. And you know… that’s cathartic. Why can’t that be healthy in some way (smiley face emoticon placed here)?
There are other points to be made about *Kimi*, like how the film treats Seattle under Covid, but I’ll save such analysis for either another time or another writer - a better one, really. *Child’s Play* came up in my head first after viewing, and it is what it is: fun. *Kimi* is what it is: thrilling. One handles contemporary technology more maturely, and the other goes for full-on fantasy. Both are right, but a robot uprising is not something to worry about in a Steven Soderbergh movie - not yet, anyway. All we have to fear are the strangers across the street, and more so the ones further down. Kimi just plays music and makes phone calls. Keeps it simple.
*Kimi* is now streaming on HBO Max.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
Thank you for reading Moviegoing with Bill. This post is public so feel free to share it.
---
A movie that also deserves a good theatrical run:
[The Impact That "This Is Not a War Story" Hopes to Make is GreatDear Moviegoers, Just before the climax of This Is Not a War Story, the platonically-connected characters of Will and Isabelle are camping out by a nice fire. After a whole movie’s worth of trying to speak and failing to articulate what they want, the pair begin to open up some. In one particular moment, Will expresses his distaste for Holl…Moviegoing with Bill](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/notwar?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
### On Douglas Trumbull's "Brainstorm"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/ripbrainstorm/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:05.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Having sat on my digital purchase of *Brainstorm* for many months, I can now state how regretful I am for having not watched it as soon as possible. Later than never, I suppose, but why wait? Tomorrow is not guaranteed, after all. In fact, that could be the hidden tagline for the film, as it deals in both death and life, specifically the experiences of each, as far as we know anyway. Midway through, there’s a character who suffers a heart attack and dies. I’ve always felt manifested sensation to scenes like that, but here, in its prolonged take of pain, that feeling was a bit more pronounced.
As designed by director Douglas Trumbull, *Brainstorm* achieves such experiences beyond the confines of Cinerama-like roller-coaster riding, through large-scale photography, through intimate captures, and through a story that, in one sense, is a carnival trip. In another sense, it’s a pretty straightforward romantic drama and techno-morality play. When combined with such vision and such application of large-format filmmaking, elevation occurs past popcorn thrills to memorable chills. It’s some kind of masterpiece, rivaled only by the works of James Cameron (yes) and Terrence Malick (for sure). Phil Trippett, and Ang Lee - who has been working very hard at furthering what Trumbull did with *Brainstorm* \- can be added to the list too, but this is no competition mind you. The hare is running for show, but the tortoise is going for pride. Just imagine how much further film as a medium can reach.
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Never schmaltzy, *Brainstorm* connects the dots through its most aware cast, specifically Christopher Walken, Louise Fletcher, and Natalie Wood. Fletcher is the master Jedi, guiding the other actors together through her haze of stoic cigarette smoke and driven purpose of her character. She’s the peanut butter, with Walken and Wood being the raisins on the celery stalk, if you will. Expressions of ecstasy and empathy come through as clear as the view from one’s window, and this is where the scope of the film is really at its most effective and evocative. Without the punch from the cast, the pack from the effects and the photography would mean only so much. *Brainstorm* isn’t interested in “so much.” It wants as much as possible, and more even.
The plot involves the creation of a sensory reality headset, through which users can experience various environments and palettes, from the breeze of the wind to the taste of a steak. But this isn’t enough of a breakthrough in the possibility of communication, as they discover memories, emotions, and interpretations can be processed through the device. Military use? Sure, but that’s so simple and awful. Let’s expand minds.
Trumbull’s message to Hollywood? Probably. The man, in real life, just kept working on visual effects and photography tech, pushing the form as far as he could, as independent as he was. Faster frame rates and new 3D capabilities could bring things to a new level for filmmaking and exhibition, but will there be gatekeepers? A military to tightly control it all?
That heart attack scene will haunt me for a good long time, and rightfully so. Just calling back to it gives me chest pains. Such recall was explored in *Brainstorm*, and to a pretty sharp effect. Film is still in its infancy, with many more worlds to cover. To traverse such territory with such movies is an absolute pleasure, one of which I am thankful to be part of, for as much limited time as I have on this plane. We should all have such gratitude.
Keep on rocking, Trumbull - wherever you may be.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
---
Similar. Kinda:
[This "Implanted" Flick Is a Flash Drive Not For SavingDear Moviegoers, For a movie like Implanted - about an A.I. chip that takes control over a person’s life - to be made a little after the bigger budgeted film of a similar premise, Upgrade, must’ve been a tough one to swallow for the cast and crew, as their project will forever be compared to an already well-received thriller. Through much p…Moviegoing with Bill](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/implanted?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
### Storytelling Never Improves Across All "Three Eras"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/3eras/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:05.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
There’s an ambitiousness to *Three Eras* that I’m unable to deny but all too reluctant to acknowledge. With the resources of a community theatre one-man stage play, the film uses Buster Keaton’s *Three Ages* \- itself a satire/spoof riff on D.W. Griffith’s *Intolerance* \- as direct inspiration. It’s clear that there’s a reverence for Buster, with one of the lead characters being named after him for example, but it’s also painfully obvious just how in over their heads - and up their own certain somethings - the filmmaking team of Jay and Mark Meyers are, much like the newlyweds from Buster’s *One Week*.
But *Three Eras* is no honeymoon or divorce proceeding, but rather a loveless marriage that lives on well past the point of no return.
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The movie is told over three different periods of human existence, from caveman times to the old west to the present, with a Grim Reaper-dressed version of Father Time as the narrator. This visage of a boundless overlord comically has his red lipstick smeared into his fake beard, and for some reason is held on by the camera in a number of unnecessary shots, where he looks forward, confused as to what to do next. I know the feeling.
*Three Eras* stars the Meyers filmmaking duo as timeless salesmen throughout each vignette. Real estate is the product - caves and the like - but each variation of the schemers has no charm or skill. Or shame. Jay Meyers plays the main talker of each piece, endlessly talking and saying nothing of value all the same. It’s one failure after another in *Three Eras*, and I don’t just mean the message of the film, should it have one (it doesn’t, but acts as if it does). Instances of office chairs not even being covered up in old west sets could be looked over if everything else weren’t so intensely insufferable and full of hot air. Both Meyers either think too much of themselves or not enough and at the extreme ends of that spectrum, I feel.
The final segment, set now, is definitely some of the worst minutes of movie watching I’ve ever experienced, and I’ve seen Brian DePalma’s *Redacted*. Here, real-estate mogul man-babies try to become social media influencers by way of talking over one another and mocking the man filming them. That is it. For the whole segment. That. Is. It. No forward movement other than constant cross-talk with no action or animation or point other than being filler.
Maybe both Mark and Jay Meyers had fun with their friends and crewmembers and just wanted to make something. Maybe not maybe, but for sure. I have that to lean on, and nothing else. *Three Eras* isn’t so much a laid egg, but a buster not well taken. Get up and try again - the next fall might be worth it.
*Three Eras* will be making the festival run before a streaming release later in 2022.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
---
This one was a bit better:
["Beyond Paranormal," Behind HumilityDear Moviegoers, Maybe I should have watched Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth instead… For fans of decapitations, Beyond Paranormal does indeed deliver, sharing at least this one feature with the most recent Shakespeare adaptation. Of course, not all head choppings are created equal, and there is indeed a gulf between the two ve…Moviegoing with Bill](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/p/bpmovie?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
### “American Insurrection” Isn’t the Movie You Think It Is
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/usinsurrection/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:06.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Don’t let the title of the film *American Insurrection* fool you - it is not about 1/6/2021, nor is it really all that significant to today’s toxicity specifically. Not… not completely. Certainly, it’s marketed with an exploitative poster and trailer, serving itself at the altar of fellow liberals and anyone who has ever been profiled in any way. It’s not subtle, and the same can be said for the whims and ways of the story too. However, beneath the manipulation, there’s a fine domestic thriller afoot, with some interesting twists and turns. Better than those Lifetime Movies, but no *Children of Men* \- what is, honestly?
Set in an America where white supremacy has become the blatant creed of the governing administration, where volunteer white militias scour the land for barcoded or “branded” people that have been deemed threats to the country, *American Insurrection* takes place mostly in a cabin in the woods and is primarily focused on a group of formerly/somewhat privileged lefties, living in hiding, awaiting a move to Canada. As a progressive myself, let me just state that this movie is pretty hokey. Not in the themes themselves, but in the handling of its themes. This stuff could very well happen here in the U.S. as it has in other countries and in other times, but the perspective is a silly facade for what could’ve been an intelligent allegory. What *American Insurrection* sees as being righteous is really just as flat as a Pepsi. While I can applaud the difficulty in not featuring a stand-in leader for Trump or W. Bush, I just can’t get on board with a movie so in love with how presently prophetic it feels it is. Calm down, you’re not the first film to tread this territory.
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Still, not all is bad. If *American Insurrection* succeeds at anything, it’s at being a backdoor zombie film. Think of those in hiding as survivors trying to wait out the ever-growing hoard outside of their shaky circumstances. Think of their interpersonal issues and hangups. Think of their hopes and dreams. This group may not bicker like the one in *Night of the Living Dead*, but they are running out of time, out of patience, and out of reason. A bomb waiting to explode.
It’s odd just how balanced *American Insurrection* becomes, going from pretentiousness to profound pathos by the halfway mark. This is accomplished on the shoulders of its performers, who by and large carry a poorly drawn premise to something heavy, at least eventually. Through and through, this is a cast of deeply complicated and flawed individuals, as thin-skinned as everyone else, and definitely not heroes by default or by political identification. Armed with some fully emotional performances, *American Insurrection* is able to slightly overcome the trappings of its own mighty self-importance. Not too little, and not too late. Absolutely welcome.
If only the film had understood its strong points much earlier, I’d be gushing over it instead of frowning because of it. After such drivel for the first half, such great conflict and actual humanity come forward in the remainder. *American Insurrection* is a very confused picture, and maybe not even a very confident one. Still, it pulls through and sticks a landing. Not the one it wanted, but one nonetheless.
Why that title though? It’s just so tacky and ill-fitting as if accepting defeat to the Redbox machines. If so, what a sad ending.
*American Insurrection* is now on-demand.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### Film Maudit 2.0 (2022) with "The Timekeepers of Eternity"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/timemaudit/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:06.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
In the least hyperbolic and most genuine of attitudes, allow me to state that *The Timekeepers of Eternity* is the second-best animated film of 2021, right behind *The Mitchells vs. The Machines*. It may not seem obvious at first, as it opens with an introduction to a character played by the previously and presently whacky Bronson Pinchot which, going into the movie knowing next to nothing, threw me for a loop. This can’t be an “original” work, right?
Wrong.
Sort of.
Aristotelis Maragkos has re-edited the mid-90s television miniseries *The Langoliers*, which has attained immortality through Youtube and various gifs in the years since its initial broadcast, mostly for everything involving the performance and the plot around Pinchot. Having only seen this version of the story, I can only imagine how out of place he may have been before. Here, for Maragkos, Pinchot is the key to the whole thing. He’s the focus of this cut and the new nexus that the whole story now flows through, and in only a bit over an hour of duration.
Pinchot, with awfully over-the-top writing and an insanely coked-out backstory by one Stephen King (thank you, sir), knows exactly how unhinged to go, and how he’s being presented as being. *Timekeepers* matches and expands his energy, treating it with the seriousness and urgency of a nightmare, though it’s clear that when it was filmed, Pinchot had a sharp awareness for how weird and manic he took his role of Craig Toomey, an unstable businessman heading to Boston for an important meeting. He’s the perfect Stephen King actor, and a brilliant force for Maragkos to snip his scissors around.
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This film is animated. How? By printing each frame of the new edit on black & white paper, manipulating and tearing the material here and there, and recording in a stop-motion style. This makes for an incredibly textured watch, most literally. The ripples on the paper pop in and out as if film grain. The tears are strategically torn around and into the characters and their environment, telling a story of their own and in sync/in juxtaposition with the movie proper. *Timekeepers* is a work not unlike those by Bill Morrison and Jodie Mack, who both tend to deal with repurposing things into a new kind of context and life. Where Maragkos differs slightly is that he’s repurposing something that’s been recontextualized once over already.
Clips from the original *Langoliers* exist mostly as memes now, and mostly of Bronson Pinchot’s Toomey. There’s irony in “liking” *Langoliers* as a campy and bonkers show and a strange but fascinating appreciation for actually liking it. However one feels, Maragkos turns all of it into horror in the vein of the terror-scape that is the film *Begotten*, only he chooses not to go silently. How could he when he’s got a voice like Pinchot to work with?
In no way is *Timekeepers* a mockery of memery, but rather a revelation of it, going further than most. Maragkos has made tangible that something special about *Langoliers*, flipped through it, and found just what about it that can attack and pierce through hearts. It would be funny if it weren’t so terrifying and uncomfortable. It would be ripe for more memes if it weren’t so truly artistic. It would be dismissed if it weren’t so original.
Frankly, *The Timekeepers of Eternity* is ridicule proof. Love it and love it.
*The Timekeepers of Eternity* screened at [Film Maudit 2.0](https://www.filmmaudit.org/about?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
---
Also referencing memes:
[Fantasia 2021 with "You Can't Kill Meme"(Note: Moviegoing, whether it be at the theater or at home, brings about some expenses. If you enjoy this blog/newsletter and are so inclined to support it, please do follow along, subscribe, leave comments, and share it around. Many thanks!)Moviegoing with Bill](https://www.billarceneaux.com/p/fantasia2122?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
### Film Maudit 2.0 (2022) with "Tower Rats"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/towermaudit/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:07.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
A cacophony of antagonistic antagonisms make up the bulk of *Tower Rats*, a mixtape “best of” catalog from Troma-inspired fans and filmmakers, as released by, of course, [Troma](https://www.troma.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) itself. The lovable lugs of the grossest of gorefests and gut-punches, Troma’s dedicated base of indie pick & flick artists are nothing if not courageous, and self-congratulating. “Let’s make some art!” is the ongoing mantra of the studio, and indeed Troma continues to pump out visceral visages from every open orifice available, but to what ends does *Tower Rats* hope to “make” “art?”
All of them.
Compiled by the kindly unconventional Kevin Walter, [*Tower Rats*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsRyUnDvEiA&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) doesn’t follow a typical narrative or any at all. It’s not unlike those bootleg [VHS compilations](https://www.bekindrewind515.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) of old commercials and weird tv and film moments from the past that one might find for sale through Instagram searching, only here… it’s directly and indirectly from Troma. As a special edition video from an obsessive archivist, in that style, *Tower Rats* is a romp. A ratty, rotten, and rollicking romp. As a film, well… it’s a self-reach-around.
Despite some very aggressive and ugly moments - from knife butt-cracking to expletives thrown around an outdoor restaurant to, yes, bodily fluid licking - there’s nothing toxic about the presentation. It’s all in good fun, and is awfully genuine in its playfulness, even and especially when things get awful. *Tower Rats* won’t induce sickness in those who enjoy the *Jackass* movies, but it may cause some flash-forwarding through the more grody segments - and maybe a rewind or pause here and there, just to prove that what’s happened did in fact happen.
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Loud and proud is the stamp and stench of Troma, which for sure deserves some pats on the back. After many decades, they’re still around, doing their green sliminess to full effect. In *Tower Rats* though, the branding is all up and down the screen and in the tone of each clip (no scenes in the traditional sense). This is the conceit of the film, and it’s lovingly upfront about it, but I wonder how much further the creators could’ve gone had they not toed the line a bit. No restrictions on what they performed are noticed, but what if fewer studio references and more imaginative disturbances?
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*Tower Rats* is no *Gremlins 2* meta-commentary mind you - it’s too heartfelt about Troma to feel tied up - and its intentions aren’t to burn anything down, but to expand, believe it or not, what’s possible for filmmakers and fans, professionals and amateurs alike. It’s just oh so pure, even when face-down in its own puke. Kevin Walter’s dizzying hall of spectacle is straight out of the carnie tent, far away from the carnival. The public just isn’t ready for this reality, but it’s the one most deserved. Looking around any street corner will prove that.
This chunky escapade ought to make for one of those “get a load of this!” kind of college dorm nights, but anything less would be an insult. *Tower Rats* doesn’t go down well, but it hits spots that most films just don’t or won’t reach. For that, for those who dream, and for those who have the tools to birth creativity into this world, Troma has an inspirational collage of highs and lows that’ll turn heads and stomachs to end and begin everything. Just… just be careful.
*Tower Rats* screened as part of [Film Maudit 2.0](https://www.filmmaudit.org/about?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
---
Similar to this review:
[Here's To Those Wet and Wild OnesDear Moviegoers, There are few films or video projects I’ve seen that I’d truly classify as "unsettling.” All-around shit-kicker Wigwolf has made The Wet Ones, and while it may not be at the top of my 2021 favorites, it does rank rent-free as one of the more unique entries. A full-blown rating is not applicable here.Moviegoing with Bill](https://www.billarceneaux.com/p/wetonesqa?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
### Film Maudit 2.0 (2022) with "Straight to VHS"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/mauditvhs/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:07.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
I wasn’t quite convinced that either the direct-to-rental flick *Act of Violence in a Young Journalist* or, the documentary of which I was watching, *Straight to VHS*, were truly real, at least not until the ending. *Straight to VHS*, with all of its trickery and treats, felt as though it were a commentary on obscurity and obsessions inside of a mockumentary, which would’ve been just fine on its own. However, as the film progressed, so did the assurance of its honest if embellished approach. Not to suggest that a mocked-up doc is just a lie, or that there can’t be honesty in lying, but this particular movie is true to its word and, yes, to its subject matter and to itself. It’s real, folks. Really reel.
Starting off with an auto-tracked trailer for that video-shot film at its center, *Straight to VHS* sets things off like the spirit of a paranormal investigation, sort of. In his feature directorial debut, Emilio Silva Torres wields his affection for lost and found cult cinema like a kid showing off his Christmas toys. But Torres isn’t just a show-off, as he’s genuinely dead serious about his research and his passion. Seeking out any information he can on the production of *Act of Violence* and its director Manuel Lamas, proves very difficult, with participants unwilling to discuss matters on camera or at all. I suspect that some of these obstacles were true, but how they’re articulated suggests, yes, some “storytelling.”
It’s the legend of the hunt we’re seeing, not the loneliness of the search.
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Phantasmagoric and challenging, this documentary delves into surreal horror, morphing often as if a monster going through a transformation. I’m a sucker for Uruguayan cinema, and this flick goes right to my heart. The walls break here and there, cracking open new perspectives of the story, and new ways to trick and treat. Why can’t the film be “straight?” Because beasts aren’t always bad, and hunters aren’t always noble. A man making this movie (not necessarily **the** director but **a** director) finds Lamas through some home movie tapes and some all too creepy communications through time and VCR. Only fire can quell this realized facade, and only rewinding can move things forward.
Living and breathing in a *Twin Peaks*\-like world, Torres’s search for Lamas takes on different forms as it goes through three different chapters, each designed as its own genre, all fitting the same overall tone. First comes the doc, then the horror, and finally the sentimental thesis. So much playing at play, but does the substance match? Yes.
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
Discovery of another film and of the making of itself, *Straight to VHS* is both progressive and self-aware. It comments on its own style and reasoning for its style while crafting a tale out of what it finds in and around *Act of Violence*. Is this all aggression? Is the film a violent act? Maybe a little, but sensitively done at least - if that’s possible.
Beyond Werner Herzog, beyond David Lynch, *Straight to VHS* might be a new kind of way to make and understand documentary and essay filmmaking. The only other film in recent memory to compare this to would be *Landlocked* (which was also screened at Film Maudit 2.0). Both films are real and reel or, to put it another way, both films are true and truer. Truer? Honest. About? With *Straight to VHS*, it’s memory and magnetism, it’s nostalgia and obscurity, it’s lost and found, it’s death and birth. Not life, but birth. Suddenly, I’m blushing.
F is for Fake, and E is for eject. It could be that Torres and Lamas are one and the same indeed, or that both share the same cinematic body. Was Lamas a fiction of Torres? Vice versa? The tape finishes, and auto rewinds before ejection. Before escape.
Write that down, someone. Make it real.
Oh, wait…
*Straight to VHS* is currently touring the festival circuit. It was screened at [Film Maudit 2.0](https://www.filmmaudit.org/about?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
---
You can find my thoughts on *Landlocked* below:
[Going Into the Nightstream, 2021 Review PackDear Moviegoers, While the 2021 edition of Nightstream may have concluded already, and while its own future is uncertain as its central festival organizations plan comebacks for next year, the virtual genre event still lingers in my thoughts. The following is a pack of four reviews of movies that, I hope, everyone will seek out s…Moviegoing with Bill](https://www.billarceneaux.com/p/nightstream2021?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
### "Beyond Paranormal," Behind Humility
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/bpmovie/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:07.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Maybe I should have watched Joel Coen’s *The Tragedy of Macbeth* instead…
For fans of decapitations, *Beyond Paranormal* does indeed deliver, sharing at least this one feature with the most recent Shakespeare adaptation. Of course, not all head choppings are created equal, and there is indeed a gulf between the two versions of the one extreme act. *Beyond Paranormal* shouldn’t be rated the same way as *Macbeth*, but a kind comparison of its horror to another? It fits in volumes.
Such vulgar audacity is on display in this pure oddity of ideas and absolute confusion. For starters, the contrast of the title “Beyond Paranormal” with the premise, a couple recording their scary domestic hauntings with camcorders and the like for a production crew and online audience, suggests a smugness and overconfidence that only opens itself up for ripe ridicule. They’re “beyond” any “paranormal activity,” and any similarities with other movies are purely coincidental. I don’t technically blame the filmmakers for trying this, as it is but one of many bold chances they take. However, sometimes you win, sometimes you… well, you make *Beyond Paranormal*.
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There are times when the genre of the film itself isn’t completely clear, with scenes and tones that just don’t click. There’s a new media producer - some wealthy-ish wannabe mogul with bling in his teeth - who is totally overblown and obnoxious and off-key. The boyfriend, a writer with a penchant for strange visions of a waking life that’s so nonsensical it becomes a joke of its own, shifts moods from one scene to the immediate next, going from supportive and kind to drunk and aggressive. And the conspiracy/mythology plot of future primitives time-traveling through impregnation (I think) is just too much. Too hot to handle, too cold to hold, *Beyond Paranormal* has multitudes alright, and none of them add up to anything but exhaustion and irritation.
Despite never knowing what the movie is doing or where the story is at (don’t worry, because it’s “beyond paranormal!” Spooky!), the film does have at least two “saving graces,” with one being pretty memorable. The girlfriend, a struggling Youtuber actress who takes on a gig of recording her life and preparations for her next role, round the clock in her home, is played with an interesting ferocity by Cortney Palm. Sometimes there’s a bad reading or two, but no matter how awkward, it plays into her character of a somewhat vapid and all the way vulnerable woman seeking stardom and attention. Even when doing over-the-top spirit possession, she leans into the energy full blast. In a production this weird and poor, that’s gutsy.
And for that memorable or “iconic” thing that *Beyond Paranormal* has? Well, if one can make it through to the ending, you’ll know it when you see it. Troma, eat your heart out. Literally.
Where *Tragedy of Macbeth* and *Beyond Paranormal* likely differ in the decapitation department is where I can properly describe the folly and the fun of this whole ordeal. Both stories use their moments of high bloody terror as a sort of comeuppance, but only one movie, *Beyond Paranormal*, does it mostly to show off. “Look what I just did!” as if to say. Like a dog bringing a dead bird, in its mouth, into the family home. A gift that nobody wants or asked for, but it’s there in its filthy and gross truth.
What a shame.
*Beyond Paranormal* is currently available on-demand.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### "Broken Down” Is the Best New Orleans Film to Screen This Year (So Far)
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/brokendown/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:08.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
We may no longer be living in 2021, but the films of last year remain a force for some of us. And few movies have as much resounding force as *Broken Down*. At a most superficial level, one could see this picture as a response to the Covid pandemic - about an agoraphobic man, confined to living in a closed-in space by stress and fear. Certainly, but one would also be missing more, much more, about this incredibly kind-hearted film. Thinking outside of the lockdowns, thinking past the collective pain of the present, this might be a tale of prophecy for this new year. In this way, *Broken Down* kicks off the new theatrical calendar with help and hope.
Hopefully.
Sam Cobean plays Harold, a man who is suffering from a major nervous and emotional breakdown and has been for five months by the time the story begins. Surrounded by filth in his beat-up and stationary vehicle, Harold’s only person-to-person contact with neighbors, family, and friends, comes only when he has the immense courage… to roll down his window. Pay no mind to that ellipsis, as his act of opening up at all rings true for so many of us with high anxieties. Cobean conveys such panic and pathos through each and every limited movement he can make inside of a car. It’s crucial for him to balance feelings of pity, empathy, frustration, and of love that viewers will likely have for Harold, as otherwise, the movie would be nothing more than a tear-jerking gimmick. Cobean’s visage isn’t some mirage, and neither are his cries of anguish or his smiles of occasional joy. Harold is flesh and realized to perfection. In another variant of my OCD life, I could’ve been him.
Taking place solely on a neighborhood street in New Orleans, one with cracks and potholes - not unfamiliar in the city - this film is as much about community as it is about Harold. The movie begins with overhead drone shots of abandoned and dilapidated buildings and properties, setting up for the inevitable reveal of the grungy car. It’s an ever so meaningful opening, challenging too, in how it encourages confrontation from an outside/in perspective on place and people. This all comes back around when the closing of car doors and the ascent of the camera give off an air of something much different from where the film first began. From end to end or, rather, end to beginning.
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It’s beautiful too how *Broken Down* shows concern for its neighbors, no matter how “eccentric” or in pain they are. A young kid befriends Harold by just sharing smokes and some stories, opening the man up slowly but surely. Harold’s friends and family want immediate results - for him to leave the car - but this one kid just wants the guy to be comfortable and take baby steps. To be supportive and to offer positive alternatives. As someone who has been through exposure therapies and many a panic attack, it’s absolutely heartwarming to see personal experiences and understandings reflected so well in a movie.
Without grandstanding at all, *Broken Down* uses New Orleans in a most welcome way. Every street tells a story, and this is but one of many. There’s no mention of Mardi Gras or Saints games, no [“gumbo parties”](https://www.nola.com/entertainment%5Flife/movies%5Ftv/article%5F95907632-3ef9-5dee-9cf3-3732c2372c79.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) or any other confectionary dressings to play up the location. It’s all so gentle, so intense, and so profound through such a small scale. It’s intimate, and will likely be the best New Orleans film of the year that will be 2022.
This movie is not a response to life during Covid but can be an escape into ourselves during these uncertain times. Do people want to spend more time inside of anything? Inside of themselves? For another year?
I hope so.
Hopefully.
*Broken Down* is touring [theaters](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and available [on-demand](https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Down-Sam-Cobean/dp/B099NM5DQR/ref=sr%5F1%5F1?crid=3L7FV5KZU6W19&dchild=1&keywords=broken%20down&qid=1627608751&s=instant-video&sprefix=broken%20do%2Cinstant-video%2C199&sr=1-1&fbclid=IwAR294KRSs5StozoJQoNrJQanTmklbCCjOgQRy1kG1lKrpYdOvnEWksqxetM&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
---
Best New Orleans film of 2021:
[American Black Film Festival 2021 with "Big Chief, Black Hawk"Dear Moviegoers, It’s not difficult at all to recognize that there are a plethora of Mardi Gran Indian documentaries out in the ether, nor is it hard to observe that each share the common denominator of upbeat joy. Hardships are discussed here and there, but for the most part, the films are exploitations of bright feathers and co…Moviegoing with Bill](https://www.billarceneaux.com/p/bigchief?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
### Empathy Is Urged and Changes in Habits Are Urgent in “Look Away, Look Away”
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/lookaway/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:08.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
There aren’t many documentaries that attempt to appeal to the better angels within everyone, usually just speaking to and screeching at the choir so to speak. *Look Away, Look Away* is a kind of rarity in how genuine empathy is the central approach to its storytelling and story-gathering, especially on a most divisive issue. Often imitated but never really duplicated, empathy here shouldn’t be confused with agreement or positive platforming, as the film does in fact hold judgment for some of its subjects. By empathy overall, I mean that there’s at least an understanding, however uncomfortable, that the filmmakers acknowledge and grasp as part of a community and maybe as part of themselves. It doesn’t mean they like it of course, but *Look Away, Look Away* isn’t a personal exorcism of the privilege that its director holds, but an exploration into two sides of a whole state, not to mention the distress experienced in both.
This docu-essay follows the trials and turmoil over the Mississippi state flag, the last one in the country to feature the Confederate emblem. As of now, the flag has been changed from its longstanding holdout, but *Look Away, Look Away* is not written specifically by the victors of this conflict. Most of interest in this story is the challenging nuances that both the change the flag activists and the pro-confederacy advocates have within their groups. As state legislators choose cowardice over action most often, it's left to the people to rally and get to work. *Look Away, Look Away* doesn’t give special treatment to the activists, even if the filmmakers are clearly on their side, choosing instead to figure out who is supporting what, why, and if there’s more behind it all. Most definitely, there’s more. Always more.
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*Look Away, Look Away* teeters between muddled vision and straight-up piece of activism from time to time. The “activism” I mean is of its own making, the kind that might look down on others with a facade of connectivity and humanity. But it never does this, no matter how close it gets. It’s a light example of true soul searching and a great example of balancing its own feelings with the acceptance necessary to speak with those that are different. Or despicable.
The film begins with South Carolina taking down its state flag in the wake of tragedy, and ends on a similar mark. It’s never detailed why it takes horror to create change, but this isn’t an issue with the movie, but rather with society in general. We wait until it’s too late and/or until we’re shocked into politically correct movements. It’s a sad fact, but *Look Away, Look Away* isn’t concerned with this as it’s already well felt by everyone - it’s just how things are. What it does concern itself with are the good and easily angered people caught in the middle of all the years debating and rallying.
Perhaps the film’s most poignant moment happens towards the climax when a prominent group trying to change the Mississippi flag burns a Confederate flag in public. The founding member of the organization walks away in discomfort, explaining later that the act upset her as being way too aggressive. Granted, a man on the pro-confederacy side would be seen in the film attacking protesters in New Orleans at one of the monument removals with no remorse, but the point of the founding organizer was that not everyone on the other end of the spectrum acts out so violently, being more generally ignorant than outright hateful. Why stoop to the extremes when it’s best to rise above, basically.
The “reckoning” in the movie's tagline doesn’t exactly happen across the board in Mississippi, but with some habits around a symbol altered, perhaps some minds will open up. *Look Away, Look Away*, in the end, finds some ground with a few people on the pro-Confederate emblem side of the coin, who come off more articulate than expected, speaking volumes about where certain heads are at in these times. Up their own asses? Sure, but such a setting isn’t exclusive to those on the right - it’s a narrow avenue that goes deep and up only. And the further you go doesn’t guarantee any kind of enlightenment or accomplishment. It’s just what it is.
*Look Away, Look Away* is available [on-demand](https://www.lookawaylookaway.com/watch-now?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### The Other-Worldly Instrument That Is "Arrebato"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/arrebato/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:08.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
At the very end of *Arrebato* (*Rapture*), horror director Jose - now a witness to the cinematic experiments of one obsessed acquaintance Pedro - fiercely lays in a bed, in front of a Super 8 camera that’s filming directly at him. Blindfolded and shaking uncontrollably, he’s faced with this conclusion like that of an execution, except there are no soldiers with guns. Here, it’s just a camera, running on automatic, using itself as a tool for death.
Stunning as it is, the film acts as though its maker had only ever seen one other movie before shooting. This is no disadvantage, I feel. Ivan Zulueta is the director of *Arrebato* or, rather, conductor. Not musically, but electrically. His role is more as a conduit, an intermediary from one plane to ours. *Arrebato* has such a psychological grasp on attention that isn’t much dissimilar to that of a cult leader or a tightened rope around the waist, just guiding all by force and will. Zulueta is the wrangler, and the movie is his corral.
Recently restored after decades of rough exhibition, *Arrebato* is no dream or nightmare. Believe me when I write that it’s indeed happening. Jose is our protagonist, though not really an altogether likable one. He’s down on his career as a b-movie horror director, and very pessimistic of his place in the form. He’s also a heroin addict and in a toxic relationship of love and hate with Ana, whom he got hooked on the drug of choice. They spend one uncomfortable evening watching experimental films from Pedro, a young auteur that Jose met only twice. Accompanying the reels of footage is an audio cassette of Pedro’s narration, playing over the silent scenes that have been sent to Jose. This is about Pedro’s discoveries and experiences in filmmaking on Super 8, all becoming increasingly unhinged and manic, though none of it really started from a place of calm.
Moviegoing with Bill is a reader-supported publication. To learn of other strange flicks and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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*Arrebato* works as a *Nosferatu* type picture in motion, and not just in its use of mystery, dread, and vampiric behavior. There are frames of red that Pedro finds while filming himself sleeping for hours and days on end. He was already a recluse, but dives further after enjoying a minute of “normal” and “average” living, choosing now to wear sunglasses during the day, hunch when walking, etc. He doesn’t appear to be after blood, living just to gather more blood-red frames. An obsession with learning how to film becomes an obsession with what’s in a film.
What is occurring? There’s lots of sexual tension for sure, between everyone and everything, from Pedro and Jose to the camera and anyone in front of it. *Arrebato* observes the world and everyone in it as objects and objectifiers, to be manipulated by… well, by the camera itself.
This is a dangerous and challenging film, made with every possible ounce of passion that can ever be mastered by any individual. Memorable? More like burrowed and embedded. Why is it a danger? *Arrebato* is hypnotic and piercing, and may repeat and loop inside the minds of those who watch. Such repetitions aren’t healthy, as the film clearly details. It’s as much a warning as it is an entrancing temptation. Like drugs. Like sex. Like… cinema?
I’m sure that Ivan Zulueta had seen other movies beforehand, but *Arrebato* does feel as though he only had peeked in at one other. The one I suspect he saw? *The Great Train Robbery* from 1903\. The one with the man firing a gun directly into the camera. Maybe Zulueta wanted to turn things around literally, but within his own created world.
They all die. They disappear and reappear, over and over. *Arrebato* is unlike anything that ever has been and ever will be watched, because it adds a new definition to film and filmmaking. But it can’t be looked up in a dictionary. It can only be seen in movement. **5/5**
Available at [Vinegar Syndrome](https://vinegarsyndrome.com/collections/frontpage-partner-labels/products/arrebato-altered-innocence?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and on-demand.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### Some Kind Of Wonderful, "Licorice Pizza" Is
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/licoricepizza/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:09.000Z
Some Kind Of Wonderful, "Licorice Pizza" Is
0:00
/200
1×
## Dear Moviegoers,
From its adorable high school meet-cute of seemingly serendipitous fate at its opening, *Licorice Pizza* lays the grounded work for a coming of age romantic adventure. To call this a comedy doesn’t feel big or appropriate enough, as the film is one journey after another, strung throughout a forever circle of friendship and fondness and affection. Comedy ensues for sure - direct and sometimes awkwardly - but it’s the growing charms between boy and girl that are more pronounced than anything, of course. And those charms are defined by the ups and downs experienced in a world of immature and awful adults.
An adventure!
Paul Thomas Anderson has crafted yet another masterpiece, this time in the vein of *Bringing Up Baby* meets *The Goonies*. Well, almost meets *The Goonies*. Screwballs are all around, from the characters to the overall attitude of the picture, primarily in the adults of the film. Against a grain, *Licorice Pizza* reverses roles by having grown-ups play as adolescents, while the teens and twenty-somethings are those with more wisdom, at least for the two leads, and at least in fits and bursts. The movie has a loosey-goosey sense of being and a strength of awareness from moment to moment, which absolutely bonds our fools together, who aren’t nearly as self-absorbed and nuts as everyone around them.
I’m reminded of the trailer for Martin Scorsese’s *Bringing Out the Dead*, and the push-in on a security guard's face, saying with assurance “Don’t make me take off my sunglasses!” That movie is distinctly different from P.T. Anderson’s of course, but that one moment shares a similar kind of humor - almost manic but completely sharp. *Licorice Pizza* is entirely sharp, guided by a mind revisiting a time and place changing but stuck in a particular mood.
A manic one? Yes.
For sure, it’s the chemistry between Cooper Hoffman (the late Philip Seymour Hoffman’s son) and Alana Haim that pulls focus. The world through their eyes and each other through their feelings are equally alive, as environments difficult but worth traversing. The two play roles with an age gap (Hoffman being the fifteen-year-old and Haim being a young adult in her twenties), something seen as controversial (predatory even), but their relationship never crosses the line. It’s all so sweet and fair, mostly just one of strong affection and easy love than anything too much to handle. It’s as nice as a kiss on the cheek.
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The two are portrayed with inverted roles as the film moves along, with Hoffman becoming more serious and Haim becoming more naive than either was at the beginning. This is due to their interactions with the aforementioned zany and problematic adults that inhabit the tale, specifically Sean Penn and Bradley Cooper, who play versions of well-known figures in 70s California, filled with no responsibility and all nerves. Their supporting performances are stand-outs, being strange and unhinged, but writing for myself, it was all about Hoffman and Haim and how they witnessed and reacted to everything, between the two and outside of their relationship.
Where *Phantom Thread* was a romantic horror of sorts (or horror romance?), *Licorice Pizza* is indeed a romantic screwball adventure, hilarious and lovely. Every P.T. Anderson film, especially *There Will Be Blood*, has dealt in forms of heart or in a void of it. Most movies do actually in some way, but with Anderson, in this outing, he’s full-tilt heart. Not innocence, not “soul,” but heart. And at the heart of *Licorice Pizza* is an adventure, just not of the *Indiana Jones* kind. Not really.
Maybe as whimsical. As "giddy as a schoolboy,” to reference a certain flick. **5/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### Thriving Small, Living Large
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/supersmall/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:09.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Chew on this while you can.
Ready?
The original *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* feature film, from the early 90s, was the highest-grossing independent film for about a decade. This fact was my introduction into the world of indie filmmaking - yes it was - and things haven’t been the same for me since.
Every day now, I learn of a new film that breathes outside the mainstream systems, outside of the blockbusters, that exudes such passion despite and in spite of all kinds of odds. Film festivals are in abundance thanks to the proliferation of online venues (as predicted and championed by filmmakers like [Arin Crumley](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8rRFFi%5FstY&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)) and the kind of in-person curiousness that remains from the mid-90s indie daze out of Sundance. And while distribution has become a bit more accessible, there’s always the anxiety that a film will go unwatched and unloved, ultimately to be removed entirely and shelved as a memory.
New technologies, same problems. Well-curated video stores acted as a kind of film school for many, from Quentin to Kevin, and a place to exhibit to, like Troma and those wicked underground horrors. Still, in the end, it was the corporate monster of Blockbuster that put an end to Mom & Pops (and ultimately itself), becoming the one-stop shops to rent Steven Seagal flicks from. Mostly Steven Seagal flicks, in fact. Maybe *Tetsuo The Iron Man*, if you were lucky.
Indies have always had to fight for their place at the table and for their piece of the attention pie. Face facts - the studios and platforms just have more resources, and as time goes by, they commiserate more and more, accumulating properties and talents like mad.
The original *TMNT* (*Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles*) was both an anomaly and a product of what was to come. The first entry was an extremely successful independent production that many people hold in lovely regard to this day, but it all came at a cost - sequels, and remakes. Franchising, as Peter Venkman from *Ghostbusters,* got excited about. Not to suggest that *TMNT* was a pure and "holy” entity from the get-go, but it does represent the classic “drop in quality” trope that plenty of films in a series has.
“You can’t beat the original.” Not every sequel can be *The Empire Strikes Back*, another interesting anomaly mind you. For the sake of conversation, let’s stick with the radioactive animals.
There’s just something that nags at my brain about *TMNT* being the highest-grossing indie for many years. It’s quaint to think about a relatively low-cost comic book movie being such a hit now, in this era of mega superhero films, with bankable stars and incredible visual effects, designed and crafted like water cooler discussion, but for young and young at heart fanbases. The sheer level of domination that this genre now has over all others is nuts, driving obsessives to completely force studios to change things mid-making. It’s rabid out there.
From *[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles](https://www.screengeek.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles.jpg?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)*
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Is *TMNT* responsible? No. Tim Burton’s *Batman*? Not really. *Blade* or *X-Men*? I don’t know. But when an even smaller movie than *TMNT*, *The Blair Witch Project*, overtook its financial record in 1999, it showed that with the right marketing strategy and creativity, any filmmaker and film can reach the masses and change shake an industry, at least for a time.
*TMNT* represented both the potential for indies to break through and for money-making interests to sacrifice quality for quantity. *Blair Witch Project* shook things up, but also suffered a similar franchising fate ultimately (though I rather enjoyed the recent *BW* sequel/reboot).
A microbudget beat a bigger indie. An indie beat a comic book movie. Attention and quality combined equaled success for all involved, no matter what their futures held. *The Matrix* movies came from humble filmmakers, and still rock. Artistry can be found in the MCU, and new styles have been toyed around with in the DC universe.
There can be a bridge between the small and the large. Between the micro and the galactic. There’s room for both if an effort is made.
#### A *Secret Society* Engages Through Isolation
Some of the best efforts being made on the indie scene, past or present, is in the resourcefulness found within minimal production tools. This is a "no duh” statement, but one that for the most passionate and tragically hip among us, is completely true. Call it grassroots, call it underground, call it backyard or non-union, call it whatever - the filmmakers who inhabit these spaces go for broke out of their own realities. No money? Nothing to lose!
I think of the Peter Bogdanovich film *Nickelodeon*, and how it featured a "patent war” between the independents and the ruling studios, back in the very early days of silent cinema. I think of John Waters, and how he’d show his early dirty work in hyperlocal and ironic places, like churches. I think of how Zachery Oberzan, in his apartment, by himself, [made an adaptation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFnVmzsGRXI&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) of *First Blood* completely solo.
I think of these things and I smile because they represent how certain "restrictions” go only as far as you’re willing to accept. Sometimes, there’s a freedom to do anything when you have to start from zero. And what more of a ground-up approach can one start from than during a pandemic.
Filmmaker and supporter of all things independent, Sujewa Ekanayake, directed [*The Secret Society For Slow Romance*](https://www.slowromancemovie.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), made during the Covid-19 lockdowns in New York City. Like many storytellers across the world, from Tik Tok to Vimeo to Youtube to beyond, Sujewa used isolation as a source of imagination and a setting for something honest about the times, and progressive thinking about the future.
*Secret Society*, for its [early lags and repetitions](https://www.billarceneaux.com/p/slomance22?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), is a superb display of positive reinforcement of ideal ideas among the artist community, as represented by two individuals (Sujewa and his co-lead Alia Lorae). Shots are easy, simple, but effective, sometimes drifting effortlessly and with whimsy from conversation to cutaway. The two just talk and talk over dinner and drinks, over long moment-to-moment stretches of time, about what they want to accomplish, how to accomplish it all, and what impact these accomplishments can have on the world. It’s a sunny film on the inside, even as the world has turned dark everywhere else.
The short film anthology [*Cinema-19*](https://vimeo.com/437355512?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) was composed of multiple diaries and experimental clips, all during lockdown too, and [*Quaranstein*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BL5jp1F4zY&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) looked to tell the stitched-together tale of Frankenstein’s Monster, in pieces, from horror and sci-fi filmmakers all participating remotely. Both projects were expressions of creatives coming together to make art, either as a means of describing interpretations of events or to just entertain. Like them both, *Secret Society* was made out of global tragedy and with a mind to observe and entertain, but as a network of one and in a single home setting, Sujewa’s film reached for something that was actively optimistic and positive.
From *The Secret Society For Slow Romance*
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I don’t believe that it was just Sujewa’s genuine personality and outlook that drove the more idealistic aspects of his film, but rather it was also the contribution of his DIY means and stripped-down aesthetics that made *The Secret Society For Slow Romance* such a beaming picture. Under the pressure of his brand of filmmaking and the environment which everyone was experiencing together at the time, this "pick up a camera and shoot” attitude only bred into the film a further need to remain and project such brightly lit thoughts.
#### Not As *Fast*, But…
If there is one superhero film that I’d describe as being truly slow-moving, it’d have to be *Zack Snyder’s Justice League*, aka the #SnyderCut. This sounds silly, as most of the movies in this genre are all too quick to hit their massive endings, but I feel that Snyder’s edit, which worked as his improved do-over as well, fits this bill - and not just because of his fast slo-mo tendencies. There are character-establishing action sequences that, while extravagant, are paced and paired down, to allow room to breathe and take in what’s happening, and to capture each and every movement of reaction and body language. He came a long way with this version of his vision from framing Clark Kent in front of a Jesus Christ portrait in [*Man of Steel*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKuhnRdTxUY&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) \- not to suggest that he’s completely moved past these grandiose and brash compositions, but… eh.
For sure, there is an artistic craft to be found in major blockbusters. For the money being spent and the many people being hired, there has to be. Signatures and decisions are drawn into the canvas of every frame built, sometimes challenging committee mandates that, without a strong enough voice of opposition and clarification, can bring down a film to an assembly-machine package. Most comic book movies do feel this way, with repeated story beats and types of villains, to standard cliches and fake sentiments plotted to jostle us in our seats, not to make us think for a time after.
Independent filmmaking isn’t always so pure, sometimes just copying more popular cinema but on a smaller scale to gain some kind of attention. But, every so often, you get something truly unique.
*Fast Color* was and still is an under-the-radar and under-appreciated superhero indie that is more a family drama turned origin tale than anything. It’s not really based on any specific property and is not an adaptation of anything that came before (though there may have been some inspiration from the X-Men character Storm). Director Julia Hart made a movie of grand spirit and personal stakes that didn’t nab the attention it sought, but nonetheless is a fine example of a combination independent film and superhero blockbuster, minus the box-office takeover.
From *[Fast Color](https://imgix.bustle.com/uploads/image/2019/3/14/ce7d96df-85eb-4c35-87d0-cf4e2379b591-screen-shot-2019-03-14-at-125822-pm.png?w=800&fit=crop&crop=faces&auto=format%2Ccompress&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)*
It’s a story of a dried-up Earth, now in a massive water shortage and worldwide drought. A mysterious young woman played by a tormented and on the run, Gugu Mbatha-Raw has abilities that can alter the weather around her, however, she feels this is a curse and not a blessing. Through family mend-making and revelation, she eventually discovers the strength within to pursue the potential of helping and changing the world. *Fast Color* too moves slowly, but without the crutch of or patience for Snyder’s four-hour duration. There are generational lessons to be learned here, and forgiveness to be had, both of others and of the self. It acts as if there is no time like the present to tell its story, and it’s right.
Its desert landscapes and desolate towns work as a boon for the dread and dead feelings of the planet it lives on. When the colors as suggested by its title brighten things up spectacularly, you see how flashes and splashes of lights, simple as they are, can make fireworks for the senses, more than a fight between good and evil ever could. It may not always be as easy as that. We could all just be in a grey, trying to get along as best as we can. Maybe superheroes don’t have to punch others to save the day.
Maybe films don’t always have to be huge to be bombastic.
\_\_
There is much that both independent filmmaking and blockbuster spectacle can learn from one another. An attention and quality gap exist between the two, but it doesn’t have to be this way, and not even for all that long. Some may feel that indie storytellers signing on for the Marvel Cinematic Universe is just an example of "selling out,” but why can’t it just be a case of someone being rewarded with keys to the kingdom, so to speak. Being given a larger sandbox to play in, in a way. Perhaps this is always what they wanted. Let them have it.
There is artistry with either size of motion pictures, and there is also, frankly, the potential for garbage. No matter what, remember that a mutated turtle comic book flick and a film shot in the woods swapped the highest-grossing independent recognition, and both held onto this record for a chunk of time.
We’re not in an *Endgame*. Not yet. A girl from Idaho can make the most important film ever with just a camcorder and a dream, as much as James Cameron can push special effects boundaries with something like *Avatar*.
Keep the faith.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### "Don't Look Up" Depicts Our Unfortunate Now and Accurate Undoing
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/dontlookup/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:10.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
There were some things about *Don’t Look Up*’s handling of its themes that reminded me of Robert Rodriguez’s *Machete* feature, believe it or not. In the *Grindhouse* spin-off, Robert DeNiro is a corrupt Senator running for re-election, on a pro border wall/anti-immigrant platform. He presents himself as a strong Texan, but is as fake as it comes. The film is about vengeance in the midst of a grand conspiracy plot, but in a race to its finish, the “vengeance” of its title character grows from an individual to a community. Heavy-handed? Sure. *Machete* felt like a poor b-movie replicant, being a major letdown from its impressively awesome fake trailer. But its handling of the grander political and human rights themes, however rushed and however thick, somehow were the best parts. When DeNiro gets his comeuppance, the catharsis is real and deserved, at least in movie terms.
Adam McKay’s *Don’t Look Up* works in a similar manner. It’s loud, it’s aggressive, and its approach is drastic. But, so are the times we’re living in. A perfectly violent escalation of our entire species as it stands, done up satirically and painfully. The best kind of satire, for me anyway.
The story of a comet on a direct collision course with Earth - a “planet killer” scenario - happening during perhaps the worst mode of our modern political and mass media climate, was crafted by both McKay, the director of comedy classic *Anchorman*, and David Sirota, publisher of the newsletter/political accountability outlet [The Daily Poster](https://www.dailyposter.com/dont-look-up-is-here/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) (of which I’m a subscriber, full disclosure). With two fairly progressive mindsets, you’d think the film they’d create would be a bit more of an optimistic call to arms, to change our ways.
Indeed, through its brutal honesty and observations, *Don’t Look Up* does offer some pointed teachable moments, like listening to scientists and not celebrities turned politicians, or maybe lay off the infotainment gas pedal so much. Of course, for any reasonable resident of this world, these things should be obvious. Sometimes though, we miss what’s right in front of our noses, and even the most reasonable of us can be easily fooled.
Movies tend to work well as reflections of a given moment, reflections of where we’ve been and where we’re at and, ultimately, who we are. After all, the motion of a film is a mere illusion - they’re just pictures sped up in sequence. And each picture, each frame, tells a story.
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What is *Don’t Look Up* telling? Well, it’s yelling most of the time, and at high volume. Leonardo Dicaprio’s astronomer ends up screaming quite a bit, in particular at a crucial turning point in the tale, for quite an extended period of time. Before, it was more out of anxiety. Extreme anxiety (no duh). Dicaprio is at his best when he’s vulnerable, and here his vulnerability is defined by his desperation to get people to just hear the facts and heed the warnings. In a movie of A-listers all giving fine turns - especially Meryl Streep as the Blunder in Chief - Dicaprio is the most resonant. He has to be. The world and all of humanity need him to be.
Is he a Fauci? Eh. Is Streep a Trump or a Palin? Eh. These are mere superficial comparisons. Really, the characters do draw some through lines to real figures, but ultimately are amalgamations of people and principles - of intelligence and hubris. *Don’t Look Up* excels at using its imagined reel reality as a playground for exercising and flexing some tough to tread representations. It could’ve easily gone too far overboard into straight parody, but instead lands just outside the boat, being a farce and “an inconvenient truth” (so to speak).
Like any good zombie flick, the villains aren’t really the undead, but those living souls trapped together, making poor choices and letting their worst natures come out. *Don’t Look Up* may share more in common with *The Brainwashing of My Dad*, a documentary about a man who has watched too much Fox News, than *Dr. Strangelove* \- of which most viewers will likely contrast with.
Don’t bother with such thoughts. Both are about the end of the world. Both are about impotent and incompetent leaders. But both are also of their own eras. *Strangelove* ended up being pretty timeless though. *Don’t Look Up*? Maybe eventually.
For now, let’s just sit back and consider our votes, our actions and inaction, and ourselves. Danny Trejo won’t come to cut us down, but Jack from *Titanic* will have a meltdown before us all. And that could make all of the difference. Could. **4/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### The Fool Faces Tomorrow
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/deadlook/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:10.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
If there was ever a contender for an east coast set apocalypse of the self ala *Southland Tales*, it’d be Onur Tukel’s *That Cold Dead Look In Your Eyes*. Much like Richard Kelly’s prophetic spoof and dramatic comedy of American culture post 9/11 and present-day war, Tukel takes inspiration from new technologies and old ways of self-destruction to weave a comic tragedy of someone who ought to know better. In Kelly’s film, that someone is the whole of humanity. In Tukel’s film, that someone is a Frenchman lost in New York City. And where both feature hallucinations and creepy visions of techno-corporate control, it’s only *That Cold Dead Look In Your Eyes* that feels bolder - by going smaller.
The film follows Leonard, a wannabe cosmopolitan who is stuck crashing on what used to be his mutually owned couch. However, due to a humiliating and selfish act, he’s on the edge of losing everything, now living at the mercy of his ex-girlfriend, who actively wants him to leave. He works at a neighborhood restaurant, but is a terrible cook. He rides a groovy motorcycle, but can’t make the payments. He complains a lot, while walking with a suspicious wound on his side. Just about everyone hates him, and are bothered by even having to remind him of this fact, multiple times, and often in the same conversation.
He’s the definition of an impotent loser, and it’s glorious to watch the final phase of his downfall.
It should go without typing that director Onur Tukel has more to express than the joy of watching someone face the consequences of their actions and inactions. His film is funny in a sad and awkward way, but also fantastical, lived-in, and downright odd. It’s strange, but only because most everything else is established normal if heightened at first. Why are they speaking French in NYC? Why do some characters look like they belong in a body horror picture? What’s the deal with the wifi routers? When things go bizarre, and they do so very proudly, there’s still some even footing to explore it all on. Familiar if alien, pretty domestic yet universal all the same. Deep down, we’re all a missed check and a bad misstep away from being Leonard. That’s what matters most here.
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Almost everyone In Leonard’s life at this stage is either emotional, sick, horny, or violent. There’s little nuance in his relationships with people, as everything and everyone clearly torments his vulnerable spirit. I’d call this a haunted conscience flick, but it operates as a precursor to a zombie disaster too. *That Cold Dead Look In Your Eyes*, indeed, is "of the living dead” very much. Where are the spooks? They’re coming, just not in this story.
Not fully.
But they’re coming.
The New York City of the film feels awfully big yet stunningly specific and controlled, as if only a few observances of the massive metro community were expanded upon and pronounced for this story, and might just be best represented by one role in particular. Alan Ceppos plays the father of Leonard’s ex, and is living in her apartment on a visit. He’s a supposedly still famous photographer, who speaks in whistful lyrics but clogs toilets and has loud, gross sex with anyone and everyone. His performance here is lit like never-ending flash paper, just burning all the way through. An art hustler trying to be important once more, he contrasts with Leonard very well, even if he’s on the opposite end of the pathetic spectrum. In his case, he’s proactive, while Leonard is a knockabout red button just a centimeter from being pushed.
Black, white, and French all over, this movie is great. Effing great. Bizarre but not so absurd, it’s a story that folds in on itself before opening back up again with a new perspective and a fresh beginning. It’s fiction that feels real. It’s scary but not really a horror. Its protagonist is unlikable, but schlubby enough to be kind of endearing. *That Cold Dead Look In Your Eyes* rakes its creativity over hot coals with confidence, and is willing to go again and again. Like *Southland Tales*, only… more so.
It’s funny to me how the one character in the movie that only speaks English is the restaurant owner played by Max Casella, an actor who I’d say really represents NYC with just his body language. He wears the twentieth-century of the city with every step he takes and every button on his shirt that’s opened.
This is the way a world ends. **5/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### Somehow, Someway, 'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' Was Mostly Ok - Then There's the Indie 'The Party'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/afterlifeok/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:11.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
As of this writing, it’s the early morning hours of Thanksgiving 2021 - a time when many of our families are still scrambling to finish meal preparations for a finish around Noon or so. Of course, it’ll become a day for spending time with loved ones from close-by and all over, which will be sometimes lovely and sometimes very awkward. It’ll be a day for counting our blessings and what we’re all thankful for in life and love.
Personally speaking, I’m thankful for the health and well-being of my father, who has had a rough time these last few months. He’s doing better, having the best possible support system around; family. Doctors, too.
Personally speaking, I’m also thankful to the over eighty readers that signed up for my publication, being a support system of a different kind. I certainly hope that my humble work has been as enjoyable to read for y’all as it has been fulfilling to write. I’ve set up a page on [Buy Me a Coffee](https://buymeacoffee.com/moviegoerbill?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) for anyone who can’t become a [paid subscriber](https://billarceneaux.com/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) yet, to leave a tip or [buy a requested review](https://buymeacoffee.com/moviegoerbill/extras?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) for any movie they’d like me to cover. As an independent writer and freelance contributor, it can be difficult to maintain a consistent income, so any amount helps. Right now, these are the best ways to fund what I do.
For those interested in exclusive posts, another Laissez Les Cinema Rouler! newsletter is on the way, with a possible podcast series to boot - though I’m still developing that. I’ll be writing about a certain Parker Posey and Michael Madsen TV movie/pilot about Dr. Frankenstein, set in a foggy and humid New Orleans. It’s a groovy little story, and my take is coming up.
Groovy little takes.
#### X-MAS May Mark the Spot
Disney+ just dropped the first two episodes of its Marvel Studios *Hawkeye* series don’t you know, and only about two hours into it, things seem alright.
In this post-Thanos defeated Universe or, rather, recovered America, it’s now X-MAS season, complete with hero-worship in the form of musicals and merchandise. It’s unclear if any of our MCU figures are receiving any profit from the sale of their likenesses - one can only hope it’s all "public domain” or "creative commons” and not as cold as in the shocking and stunning *The Boys* \- but at least Clint "Hawkeye” Barton wishes to move on - at least from the awkward bathroom selfies with fans.
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From the [official trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VYb3B1ETlk&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
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The series is a New York adventure with college kid Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) a maybe reluctantly-privileged athletic prodigy who accidentally revives the legacy of Ronin, the hidden persona that Barton (Jeremy Renner) took on during the five years when half of the Universe had been wiped out. He violently took on and took out various underworld characters, in a rage-fueled by the loss of his family. But now, with his wife and kids back, he just wants to have a nice Christmas and a nice life.
Like with any show, the initial first few bits aren’t always a good indicator for how things will progress. There’s a feeling-out process usually. With these Marvel Studios productions, however, it all feels like an extended film, separated by chapters. *Hawkeye* feels feature-lite, both in scope and in tone. Some explosions sure, some capers that need solving yes, and a grand opening where an impressionable young Kate witnesses Hawkeye’s iconic moment from the battle of New York indeed, it’s all oh so fluffy and cute.
Of course, how does one make a pizza dog work without being cute? How does Hawkeye find himself in a LARP without being fluffy? How do winks and nods occur without being light? *Hawkeye* may go further, but full-blown dark isn’t too likely. Maybe "Thanos was right” scribbled on the edge of a urinal is about as far as that attitude will be taken. And that would be far enough.
#### Going to *The Party*
Going too far is the indie flick I was recently privy to, *The Party*. I don’t often see movies that try to spin off styles and ideas from a high-strung and high-concept youth in danger film like *The Rules of Attraction*, but here we are. Directed by Kevin Stevenson from a novel by the late Tom Leveen (whose personal story is [quite tragic](https://butterfliesmovie.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)), *The Party* is a teen *Crash* (Paul Haggis) kind of collage, taking place over the course of one evening, before, during, and after "the party.” Often too wordy but never very defining, the film is stifled by too much and not enough writing, making for a stuffy and stilted story.
Each high schooler has the ability to break the fourth wall and speak directly to everyone on the opposite end of the movie screen, in over-written and in-over-its-head monologues. Almost talking head-like in nature, these addressed-to-the-audience moments are never lazy or misfired - they’re always well-intended and delivered with good hearts - but they’re perhaps too passionate and occasionally… cringing to watch. Do teens think to themselves in these ways? Sentences, statements, and loud questions are spoken as if it’s an early 90s Nickelodeon show, only with added vulgarities - both in attitude and in the childishness of the writing.
The actors, all of them, put in what they can, but often will go so far emotionally and so strictly to what’s on paper that everything said and done just feels hokey, no matter the seriousness of the given scenarios. One such would be in an ideal football hero who is haunted by the memory or the imagined ghost of a dead relative who died overseas in the military. In one worn-out welcome sequence, this poor kid is tormented by this visage of a spirit, in ever-escalating and confusing ways. What was a small supporting role all of a sudden becomes integral to the whole story. And his big scene in front of a mirror is just unfortunate.
*The Party* is saved somewhat by an excellent score, mixing Christmas (yes, another seasonal tale) music with electronic beats, and very impressive visuals. The sounds thump in every scene, matching exactly what these teens are feeling outwardly and throwing at the screen. The camera has a specific way of capturing peril and pleasure in equal measures, often getting profile shots of those speaking to us, but usually following along silently but kinetically. The aforementioned haunting scene is lit in fluorescent hues, with the lights blinking in strobes, inducing a sense of a mental state and the juxtaposition of a party going on with pain and trauma being experienced. The palette is fine and finessed, colorful and clear, giving life where there’s often something lacking. Many things lacking, even. Our eyes see the illusions of the movie, and are transfixed.
Official still
The film inches towards interesting themes, but never follows through. A gaggle of bros talks about killing an ex-girlfriend, only to discuss how "sensitive” their lead guy is, despite his pure anger towards her and the profound heartbreak he’s in the midst of. His buddies, one in particular, almost have more than affection for him, hinting not so quietly at some repressed or unrequited love, but again *The Party* never gives in. Maybe the film just didn’t see these things in itself. Maybe it was too concerned with the big picture that it lost sight of the little details. Too bad. **2/5**
#### No Ectoplasm? No Problem.
Too much of anything can be bad or good, depending on what it is. *Ghostbusters: Afterlife* is technically the third film in the original series (or "prime” timeline), but could also be seen as a soft or hard redo? Reboot? Re-sequeled-make? Decades after the Carpathian popped out of a painting only to get covered in a slime of sorts, *Afterlife* has moved from being a straight sci-fi comedy of schlubby crack-pots and con-men turned heroes and into a wide-eyed Spielbergian clone of corporate mascot-present. It’s a film of lost possibilities and found joy. A mix of emotion, really. A push and pull between sad and ok.
I lean towards ok.
Mostly.
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In a not-revelation, Egon Spengler (the character formerly played by the late great Harold Ramis) has passed on, and his daughter and grandchildren have moved into his lonely and creepy-ish farmhouse of tricks and treats. He believed trouble was coming, and spent years preparing for it. Traps, proton packs, and the Ecto-1 come back into play, slowly being rediscovered by new precocious misfits. His young granddaughter acts here as the lead, performed with astute charm and biting personality by Mckenna Grace. Her character, more than any other, is what provides *Afterlife* its successful piece. Not its lone piece, but perhaps its main one.
The movie, while certainly fitting in with this new era of filmmaking style - a good thing since the 80s are no more - is too heavy on the nostalgia to be more than a single viewing experience - a bad thing since it should just be itself. Absolutely, it hits many fine marks, like a ghostbusting scene across a small town main street, but also lands on some disappointing territory, like a Wal-Mart monster escape and some second-hand retread of the first film. There’s goodwill done, and exhausting ads placed, like those papers that rest on the McDonald’s trays, letting you know of what’s available on the menu and what’s coming soon. It’s a movie where the trailer is overall better. Great, in fact.
Still, many things work. Like when Egon’s lab is revealed, or when the kids test the proton packs out. *Afterlife* can be fun. It can also be its idea of fun, which isn’t so enjoyable. But things are mostly good. Mostly ok. Even that one scene we all knew was coming at the climax. The one I dreaded, but was ultimately fine with. It worked, when it shouldn’t have. And that’s ok. **2.5/5**
Stuffing or potatoes? Take your pick.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### Dennis Hopper Didn't Go Punk with "Out Of The Blue" - Punk Went Hopper
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/outofblue/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:11.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
“Do you believe that movies are also magic?” is asked of filmmaker Dennis Hopper by fellow auteur Orson Welles, in the documentary spinoff to *The Other Side of the Wind*, *Hopper/Welles*. A high and drunk - yet pretty lucid - Hopper responds, after downing a drink and with both an eye-roll and some exhaustive appreciation, “…right.” I’m uncertain if he doesn’t care or doesn’t care about not caring here, but his nearly grunted reply, more than the full response that followed, said so much. About how he felt regarding Welles’s further statement of “people believing anything in movies,” about older generations trying to figure out the newer ones, and about effing around with your chance at understanding by asking such questions.
Hopper was sincere at that moment, as was Welles. Personally, I loved the question that was asked, and maybe Hopper did too in some way. Maybe he loved it so much, he blew off the answer.
There’s magic everywhere, at least for those who seek it. Those who make it? Maybe awareness is irrelevant.
The newly restored, cleaned up and gorgeous scan of Hopper’s forgotten *Out Of The Blue* is making the theatrical rounds after many decades, and now lives as a sort of “where have you been all of my life” kind of watch. It’s a tough and rough story of youth in revolt against the world, and adults in rage against responsibility. It’s challenging from the get-go, but oh so worth the grilling upon its explosive conclusion. Think Orson Welles’s *The Trial* by way of Fear’s Saturday Night Live riot concert. *Out Of The Blue* wasn’t supposed to be what it turned out as, as Hopper fell into the directing role after the former was canned. What came out was nothing short of hardcore. Nothing short of classic.
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It’s the story of Cebe (Linda Manz) - a name play on CB radio - and her father, played by Hopper himself. When the film opens to Neil Young’s sad but free theme song, singing the line "it’s better to burn out than fade away” feels not just as a prophecy for the fate of our characters, but as an observation for a given place in time. And that place is always now. Driving a semi-truck with a young Cebe dressed for Halloween (I believe) as some cross between a clown and a Raggedy Ann Doll, Hopper drinks and gets all too "cute” with his daughter. It’s played up as a drunk dad doing too much at once, but really is also a peek at something darker to come. His truck slams into a school bus filled with kids, in a piece that’s horrifically rendered with dummies and trashed metal. It burns into the brain.
Some years later, when her father returns from prison and picking up his behavior where he left off slowly but steadily, Cebe has taken to the punk lifestyle, with an affection for the souls of music who left this mortal coil early or eerily, from Elvis to Johnny Rotten. She, now a very young teen, is prey for adult predators, being leered at by creepy friends of the family and others she comes across. She handles herself by drifting into the city, smoking pot, getting into concerts, and into all sorts of trouble - her only comfort security comes in the form of a sucked thumb and a teddy bear.
Both she and her father are bonded in this self-destructive way, but as he goes further and further down the barrel, she moves further and further away from him, getting closer and closer to a repressed realization. *Out Of The Blue* indeed comes out of the gate with a reckless and restless mood, but it’s measured. The performances are all lit with heavy flames, especially from Manz’s Cebe. She’s ready for anything here, and goes as far as any actor ever has or ever can. And Hopper, of course, feels as if in a controlled way, very untamed and untethered.
It’s a loss for words that I’m experiencing in describing just how powerful the film is. Photographed and framed with a beautiful eye that matches that of the best modern artists, the shots and images of a heightened truth - of magic - certainly rivals the grit and grime of the real-feeling tragedy. Early on, Cebe goes to visit her mother at the diner she works at. Seated at either side of a table, the mother explains why she has lovers while Hopper is in prison. Between them, in the background, is one of her lovers, a "provider” that’s being emasculated before his eyes and ears. He looks on here and there, only to anxiously return to his paperwork. *Out Of The Blue* is filled to the brim with such emotional scenes, charged by every element available in cinema.
Even magic. Like Orson Welles said of believing anything in movies, *Out Of The Blue* is Dennis Hopper’s continued efforts at doing so his way. He did it before, and did it again. "… right.” **5/5**
**Visit *Out Of The Blue*** [**online**](http://www.outofthebluedennishopper.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) **for more information**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### This "Implanted" Flick Is a Flash Drive Not For Saving
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/implanted/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:12.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
For a movie like *Implanted* \- about an A.I. chip that takes control over a person’s life - to be made a little after the bigger budgeted film of a similar premise, *Upgrade*, must’ve been a tough one to swallow for the cast and crew, as their project will forever be compared to an already well-received thriller. Through much perseverance though, and the luck of having finished shooting just before the Covid lockdowns, this small indie came to life, and is now available to stream. Automatically, it’s accomplished.
However raw the making of was and how worse it could’ve been, and no matter the achievement of being completed, *Implanted* is a confusing and confounding watch.
I will not contrast the film with that of *Upgrade*, though such parallels would only be natural to draw. Set in a grungy and industrial New York City, the story gets going rather quickly. Too quickly, in fact. The opening credits roll, then suddenly stop for a collage of glitch art and words flashing on-screen, like “malfunction,” “intelligence,” and "money.” This is after the title has been scrolled and before any traditional end to the initial text has happened. Immediately, we’re thrust into the protagonist Sarah’s world, where she’s been living with this A.I. for a few days now. She’s homeless and eating breakfast on the street, but is comforted by the program called LEXX… until all hell breaks loose, just a few minutes later.
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There’s apparently no time to waste or breath in *Implanted*, as the conflict hits asap. Thievery, murder, and health checkups are on LEXX’s agenda, all the while reminding Susan how in control her programming is. Straight up, around every corner, and in every nook and cranny, LEXX just blurts out that she has all the power, and not Sarah. There’s little for the actors to work with, so most settle on either their own instincts or some form of overly-heightened emotion, usually with an f-bomb or two dropped. The evil of LEXX is never really explained, other than she (or it) wants to be free. There is a duo of corporate suits who exploit terms and conditions when signing on desperate people to the operation of installation, and it is suggested that they know more than they’re letting on, but there is no discovery or revelation made, and no deeper motive explained.
There’s just LEXX, and there’s just her "in control.”
Absolutely empty and awfully repetitive, *Implanted* is a sheer trial to watch, and a disappointment across the board. For a premise with such potential, it succumbs so easily to anxious editing and second-guessing. Still, anytime a film is done, it’s worthy of some accolade. And considering the odds, *Implanted* deserves what it can get.
Man, *Upgrade* was a good movie. **1.5/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### "Belfast" Mon Amour, or One of the Sweetest Films of the Year
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/belfast/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:12.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Some could draw parallels between Alfonso Cuaron’s *Roma* and Kenneth Branagh’s *Belfast* in their scenes of (like the name of this newsletter blog) moviegoing. For Cuaron, going to the cinema in his film is represented as a solemn place not so much for escape but for contemplation. A temporary reprieve, but one that gets under the skin and into the soul. For Branagh, going to the cinema in his film works as both pop enjoyment and long-form possibility. A kid in all of us, eyes wide and smiling from ear to ear, caught up in the excitement of fantasy and what could be. The black and white aesthetic that both movies share holds a tenuous connection, but indeed it’s in the act of watching and feeling that bridges the cultural gap.
With *Belfast*, I sense another through-line to *Roma*: A possible Best Picture nomination. The Oscars, as can be argued, shouldn’t be a barometer for quality or relevancy, but maybe for one night, it’s ok for pats on the back.
Telling a story with the Northern Ireland "troubles” of 1969 as a backdrop, the movie is about a young boy nicknamed Buddy who, as a precocious and whip-smart child, is witness to many a dangerous circumstance. At the opening of the film, which begins in modern-day color before transitioning to a black and white past, Buddy and his pals are playing throughout their Belfast neighborhood, where adults look on and admire while going about business. Suddenly, things go deadly quiet, and a mob enters the scene. The camera swirls around Buddy, just as an explosion occurs in front of him. This sequence reminded me a bit of the one in *City of God*, where the protagonist teen is caught between two gangs, armed only with a camera. Here, Buddy only has his innocence and a choice to make at quite the fork in the road.
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Played by a spunky Jude Hill, Buddy eavesdrops on his parents as they discuss what to do, sneaks by local adults as they either worry or exploit, and tries not to cause too much of a ruckus. Hill is the perfect foil for Buddy’s experiences during this time, exhibiting genuine fear and anxiety when warranted, and cutely adorable "aw shucks” moments ala how grown-ups believe their own childhoods were like. Call it a *Sandlot* or *Stand By Me* effect, but maybe movies have shown us all how we want to imagine that we were like Buddy at that age. I wasn’t, but he has the right attitude.
*Belfast* is a delight that knocks down whatever emotional walls have been built up inside, making what must’ve been very personal to the director almost as personal to the viewer. It’s great, and an instant favorite film of the year.
What helps break down the aforementioned walls is most assuredly the strong performance of the ever-concerned and lovingly tough mom of Buddy and his brother, played by Caitriona Balfe. She delivers such passion throughout, and the camera is just so attracted to her magnetism, going long on her takes, capturing every bit of what she’s wearing on her face - stress and all. She’s as intense and real as a parent can be, but never mean or big about anything. There are figurative punches she throws, and sometimes it feels as though the hits are coming from those in front of the screen too. She acts for everyone, and like with her character’s family, she holds everything together.
When Buddy and his family go to see *Chitty Chitty Bang Bang* at "the pictures,” the single 2D showcase of cars flying off of cliffs, makes them feel as though they’re immersed in IMAX. Or maybe, they’re playing it up for the kids. Or maybe, it’s the woo of the movie. Or maybe it’s all of the above. Maybe for the duration of that time at the theater, they’ve become kids again. They’ve become like Buddy, sitting small in his big seat, looking up at possibilities.
That’s what Belfast was like. That’s what home was like. **5/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### "New York Ninja" Flips the Script
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/nycninja/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:12.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Existing for me in the same Universe as Troma films like *The Toxic Avenger*, the newly discovered, re-written, re-directed, and finally completed *New York Ninja* \- released by [Vinegar Syndrome](https://vinegarsyndrome.com/collections/frontpage/products/new-york-ninja?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) \- is of the same elements that cinematic dreams are made of. Granted, it doesn’t dive into over-the-top vulgarity and satire like Lloyd Kaufman’s classic, but the spirit of 80s style in-over-its-head street fighting nonsense and *Death Wish 3* villainy is vibrant and irreplaceable here. All style and all about its style, *New York Ninja* is super camp and super sincere.
The film’s footage was found unedited and without sound, score, and script materials. For those who sought to finish it now, they must’ve loved this peek into the NYC of their retro imaginations. *New York Ninja* is all imagination in fact, crafting audio, dialogue, and music nearly from scratch, with ideas borrowed from genre pictures of its decade’s ilk. It’s pasttime informed time travelers fixing the past with their tools of tomorrow. An amazing feat.
The story is pretty classic: A man loses his wife to street thugs, vows revenge in the face of police indifference, and becomes a marketed hero to the common citizen. Martial arts, throwing stars branded with the hero’s name, "I Heart New York” stickers adorned over dead bodies, a human slavery ring being run by a plutonium-powered sicko, and more make up the meat and bones. It’s a peculiar flick even for 1984, but with wide eyes gazing back to the days the producers wish they had lived in, *New York Ninja* is treated both with reverence and laughs.
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Everyone in post-production is clearly having fun, following the lips and expressions of the on-screen actors for some divine inspiration. This comes out in the cutting and the voice direction, which clearly highlight the silliness the completists see today. The bad guys grunt and laugh like maniacal Beavis and Buttheads, and the chosen footage goes at length on odd visuals - like holding on a scene where cops leave a corpse in the trash. The movie has the same attitude as kids overdubbing commercials with their camcorder pointed at a TV set. It’s childish, but still pretty fun. What would you expect?
While there is a seriousness to the love being had for *New York Ninja* in our world, it feels like the original filmmakers wanted a major hit in yesterday’s life. That’s the dream for all, of course, and it just makes the creators all the more like dreamers of dreams. Seeing merch and swag within the story and winks being tossed through the camera is adorable, especially when played up as sweet and plausible. When *Ghostbusters* did it with balloons and toys in their movie, the joke was clear. Now, as a mega-franchise that’s been marketed to death, it’s more mouth-watering than funny. Did Gordon Gecko win?
It’s very interesting as *New York Ninja* \- this mad monster of b-movie creation that shouldn’t be - is presented after all of this time with the true romantic notions for an era gone by that studios are now trying to capture (and usually failing at) for films the likes of *Ghostbusters: Afterlife*. We’ll wait and see on that one, but the trends aren’t in its favor.
Some things just can’t be repeated or duplicated, and sometimes trash can hold treasure. It’s true. **3/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### Lots of Talk and Sex During "The Last Days of Capitalism"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/lastdays/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:13.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
A high-rise Las Vegas hotel operates as a sort of "Garden of Eden” in Adam Mervis’s film of fake relationships and faker economics with real stakes, *The Last Days of Capitalism*. One could draw comparisons to the snake’s offer of a ripe apple from the forbidden tree, but this wouldn’t be entirely the point. In the movie, a man makes many a transaction with a woman (their various names are spouted about with childish abandon), with the understanding of sex and conversation - of which there are many of both - to occur over the course of one weekend. If there is an apple here, who is taking it and is doing so a sin at all? In this Vegas, things blur but can result in consequences. Long-lasting ones, even. Especially.
The title might be seen as a pretentious explainer and summation for what goes down and what is ultimately resolved through these two individuals, but this too is a mirage. A blur. Not real, but with things to lose and win anyway. I thought much about the stripping scene in *Closer*, where Clive Owen begs with cash to know Natalie Portman’s real name. To know something "true.” No answer could make him whole, as he’s merely just occupying his own space. And while money itself has questionable actual value, the pursuit of it is all too "honest.”
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*The Last Days of Capitalism* tries to reach some startling revelation of this pursuit, but there’s only the same old message to be expressed by the end. What isn’t the same old would be in how the man and woman reached this end, and how their carnal business of push and shove concludes. Performed by actors Mike Faiola and Sarah Rose Harper, the film is a total showcase for debate and speech, and the two holding this tug of words are all game for the action, Harper being the standout (not that Faiola is a weak link). Dialogue centers on reality, fantasy, and indeed capitalism, and the complex cross-sections of the three. At times, the chatting is just a means of filling time for the characters, of running out a clock, or just keeping time moving. Time can be bought, but more time can’t be allotted, no matter how much wealth is around to spare.
This could be a confusion of mediums, meant more for the stage than film, but through some wonderfully moving camera motion and precise cutting, the story maintains its grasp on its chosen form. When the man and woman have a cocaine binge that ends in a rendition of “America the Beautiful,” the breath of the anxiety and the intense pulse of the scene is given true life with few edits and flowing concentration for composition. When the party ends and the man is vomiting, everything slows to a comforting crawl, this time with a trained eye and peaceful patience. It lets the actors act and just be.
If there is ever a time to let acting alone, it’s in the very personal. *The Last Days of Capitalism* is able to cut through any faux thematic depth by way of great performance and greater capture. Subtlety exists mostly with the actors here, who find meaning in the grand ideas the story thinks it has. They made the apple of Eden into something of a modern definition and found how to attach it to themselves and their views of one another the world around them and, boldly, the worlds they’ve made up. It’s a means to an end, and an end they created is better than the one written for them. That’s paradise. **3/5**
---
From the [official trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFdy4W4z-%5Fc&t=100s&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
#### Some Notes on *Tango Shalom*
I’m not particularly religious or even all that knowledgeable of the inner details of many practices of faith. Prior to this writing, I asked for advice from a good friend and colleague on the matter of *Tango Shalom*, of which she has strong thoughts. The characters in the film, as it is, would not, in reality, do any of what the protagonist Hassidic Rabbi does. This is, of course, important in understanding the contradictions and potentially ignorant fantasies of the movie.
The film is one of some idealistic and kind interfaith actions, for which I do wholeheartedly support. Stuck in some financial turmoil, a normally strict but well-meaning Rabbi is presented with a way to earn much-needed relief: to dance the Tango in a competition. However, touching another woman is absolutely prohibited by his community. Seeking counsel, he visits leaders of other area religions, looking for the answer he wants to hear - that it’s ok to do this performance.
Overly sentimental and too much of a feel-good story, *Tango Shalom* plays things loose and all too easy with building cultural bridges, no matter how lovely such things are and can be. It’s difficult for me to say if it’s right in its depiction, though I honestly have little opinion on the real-world applications. As a progressive, I’m alright with people branching out from boundaries, and highly respect those with strong codes of conduct. My friend finds that the movie is a misrepresentation of aspects of what she believes, and that must be taken into account when watching movies like this. I’m uncertain if people from this community participated in the making of *Tango Shalom*, but such a fact is mostly superficial to what’s done.
There are some smiles to be had though, credited to the length to which the Rabbi goes to Tango without breaching his morals and to the awkwardness that ensues, but unfortunately for *Tango Shalom*, there’s little else.
Still… I’d like to see more stories that try to explore connections within and between faiths of all kinds, and most genuinely. But when your sincerity is of one note, so is the effort clear, of which it is poor. **1/5**
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### The Impact That "This Is Not a War Story" Hopes to Make is Great
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/notwar/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:13.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Just before the climax of *This Is Not a War Story*, the platonically-connected characters of Will and Isabelle are camping out by a nice fire. After a whole movie’s worth of trying to speak and failing to articulate what they want, the pair begin to open up some. In one particular moment, Will expresses his distaste for Hollywood’s approach to War. And after listing off some well-known pop military flicks, he states matter of factly, "… f\*\*k *Saving Private Ryan*.” I could go on the Film Twitter train and criticize this line, about how the character and the filmmaker Talia Lugacy just don’t understand the nuances and themes of Spielberg’s movie, or some such silliness. However…
… such an act would be a waste of space and a betrayal of sorts. *This Is Not a War Story* is, as described by Lugacy in an [article on Talkhouse](https://www.talkhouse.com/reflections-on-the-making-of-a-hybrid-film-this-is-not-a-war-story/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), a hybrid film that combines a cast of actors with real people - real U.S. Military veterans, that is. Lugacy’s craft here is at once dynamic, loose, and controlled, at least by way of finding the right compositions in the right improvisational moments. She portrays the female veteran character Isabelle, one of only a few roles cast with actors. With this perspective of being in scenes herself, the director is able to be immersed in all real-world tales and experiences from very real individuals who faced down too real scenarios of genuine horror. Isabelle is played with a tough front covering a wounded spirit, seeking a way to just be. To perform a role is one thing, to perform as director and actor is another, but to be the director and act as a person who is acting herself is pretty stunning.
The film follows her, Will (played by Sam Adegoke), and a "ragtag” group of veterans as they make paper-based art from transformed uniforms. Idle hands are the devil’s playground as has been said, but what of hands that have previously dealt out terror in the name of \_\_\_\_? They must continue to work, huh? That’s the burden of those who survived battle in *This Is Not a War Story*, and that’s what they’ll have to do time and time again. Peace may never be theirs to carry.
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The nature of this film’s soulfulness is overwhelming, and rivals that of the psychedelic "this is Vietnam” picture *Apocalypse Now*. Never boastful or content, This Is Not a War Story isn’t merely anti-war, but pro-now. Pro-now in what way? Through confrontation. This movie is now, and their stories are always now. Never is the film without an experience to tell from the vets. As they shred old uniforms, they go over what they saw, what they felt, and what’s happening today. Time blurs at a point in the movie, and the narrative feels like that which has been and will forever be told - only, this is the actual first time. It’s hybrid sure, but also determined. Resolutions are a privilege, it says. All of them.
When Isabelle breaks through some major anxiety and faces the mother who disowned her upon enlisting, there’s no comfort to be had or, at least, not in the easily understood way. As the mom applies makeup and pops a few pills, she turns ugly speech into heartbreaking u-turns. For Isabelle, there’s no happy "ending,” as her story will never end. It’ll live past her life even, and exist within many others. But life does move, and always forward.
Why don’t we get these kinds of films pushed more? If the pen is mightier than the sword, then movies like this can stir discussion of what has been ignored and set aside for a day that’ll never come. This isn’t a depressing movie, even if I’ve made it out to seem like that. Revelations come with talking and, really, just being there. With graceful tact, technical prowess, and a proudly assertive voice, *This Is Not a War Story* mashes real people and real worlds with loud cinematic bravado. It’s a film that’ll be around should anyone want to watch and listen or, rather, should anyone know it’s around.
Oh, it’s around. Like *Saving Private Ryan*, only… will it be passed by? **5/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### There's No Such Thing as Too Many Funded Critics
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/sirp/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:14.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
When I initially jumped on Substack about two years ago, I had already gone through multiple blogs with Blogger, Medium, and WordPress. My [Rotten Tomatoes profile](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/critic/bill-arceneaux/movies?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) has a few remnants of these online zines and outlets and, staying the course as the fickle pickle I can be, this pattern of zany changes includes the very newsletter of which y’all are reading. Sometimes I wait to post until it feels right, sometimes I launch before finding proper footing, sometimes I go back and switch things up. Nothing has to be static, not even movie reviews.
Especially movie reviews.
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I started this career over ten years ago with a tweet to local writer and fellow film critic Mike Scott: "How does one get to write movie reviews for a living?” if I remember correctly. Years later, the question has become “How does one get paid to write movie reviews on their own terms?” It’s nice getting freelance pay here and there, but on a recurring and consistent basis would really… really free up some anxiety and, ultimately, produce a bundle of healthier work.
This is the goal for the foreseeable future: To gain at least two hundred paid subscribers - monthly or yearly - through Substack, by posting more articles more frequently, by keeping colleagues and my network of friends updated, and by participating as an active supporter within that network.
So it’s not simply for personal growth mind you, but for helping to further a new initiative called the [Support Indie Reviewers Project](https://diyfilmmaker2.blogspot.com/2021/10/support-indie-reviewers-project-sirp.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), or S.I.R.P. I’m already supporting multiple writers and publications on Patreon and do plan on increasing those pledges asap, but it’s the mission of S.I.R.P. to get everyone from filmmakers and writers to distributors and moviegoers to chip in and strengthen the film community of arts journalists.
If a tree falls and no one is around, did it make a sound? If a movie is made and no one covers it, did it screen, and will it screen again?
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I want to help keep the projectors heated and the screens lit. I want to keep the conversation going, no matter how tedious or challenging it can be. And I need support to do so. I need readers like you to make an investment. $5 per month or $60 per year. If two hundred romantics can do so here, we can do so everywhere, and the culture will thrive because of it all. Because of all of us.
Let’s never find ourselves static or stuck. Let’s moviego together.
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---
#### The Schmaltz and The Sincerity of *klutz.*
From the [official trailer](https://youtu.be/6g4ssOfy3GU?t=3&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Soaked in the tears of its own accomplishments but also a well-produced fantasy drama, this is Michelle Bossy’s *klutz.*, a story about grief and progression. This is a short of melodramatics at their lightest value, reaching more for an ethereal attitude than one driven by heavily-motioned pathos. For this, the film works most splendidly. If only it didn’t feel so happy with itself from the get-go.
A writer in mourning over her deceased sister tries to get a children’s book on grief and memory as literal super abilities published, only to hit roadblock and confusion after roadblock and confusion. Certainly, the frustration feels as real as can be - after all, who hasn’t been misunderstood? - but the tears expected to be shed feel forced upon by a movie over-written and oh so under-congratulated. I wouldn’t go so far as to claim *klutz.* as pretentious, but that descriptor is closer to true than it should be. That being so, is the film an achievement of some sort? Does it leave a mark, so to speak?
Yes and yes.
For every ounce of pride expressed, *klutz.* demonstrates a reason to love it. Before an ending that’s maybe too clean (if extremely well shot), we have a wonderful vignette that merges three meetings into one. In each meeting, our lead goes through the same song and dance over her book, only for each editor to come to the same exhausted conclusion of refusal. Unlike similar practices of such scenes, *klutz.* leans the annoyance of having to repeat oneself multiple times into the pain of losing a loved one. A high and a low, at once and in sync. With that, the movie warps through anything problematic before and after, having at least worked one major wonder that rivals the biggest of features.
A lovely tried and true portrait that frames sadness as just one step toward moving on, if such a thing is ever possible. No need for a pat on the back as that’s been taken care of, but it was much deserved I’m certain. **3/5**
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### American Black Film Festival 2021 with "Big Chief, Black Hawk"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/bigchief/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:14.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
It’s not difficult at all to recognize that there are a plethora of Mardi Gran Indian documentaries out in the ether, nor is it hard to observe that each share the common denominator of upbeat joy. Hardships are discussed here and there, but for the most part, the films are exploitations of bright feathers and colorful culture - no matter who makes them. They’re not necessarily “bad” of course, just… repetitive and… creatively lost.
The subject matter matters so much to the communities who participate, that capturing what’s been captured before feels like a missed opportunity at new angles to highlight. Filmmaker Jonathan Jackson has never been one to miss such angles or speak up about them, and his feature doc [*Big Chief, Black Hawk*](https://www.bcbhfilm.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) is a stellar example of cinematic exploration and storytelling integrity.
The movie follows the Mardi Gras Indian tradition with open ears, wide eyes, and full hearts, letting those who live in the culture and understand it truly explain and express what they want about it. Jackson sets the parameters between talking-head interviews and providing real-world events the room and air needed to be, but the individuals and families who he showcases have the respect to speak their knowledge and experiences in their own way. It’s a challenge indeed to balance real truth with reel truth, to let moments happen, and to compose them in the same film, but Jackson achieves such grace with pride and confidence. This director acts as both confidant and composer, with great weight held high.
*Big Chief, Black Hawk* tells the story of black New Orleans through the maturity of Terrence Williams Jr. and the perspectives of those around him. Terrence is a young Big Chief of the tribe Black Hawk Hunters, and carries his role as leader, both in and out of Mardi Gras, with grand humility and understanding of responsibility. As told by interviewee Dow Edwards of the Timbuktu Warriors tribe and other local organizers and researchers, oppression and storms from all fronts have put the black identity of the city in jeopardy, and have placed the very history and spirit of this beat on the shoulders of Terrence and his peers.
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Generations bleed from the present to the next in this film, and it’s oh so beautiful. Drone footage of city streets is first made to look like miniatures through photographic trickery, but as the story progresses to its finish, the neighborhoods come into clarity, matching the growth being felt. We witness a Black Lives Matter protest preparing to start, slowly focusing on Terrence and his apparel - a vision that combines black resistance with Mardi Gras Indian heritage and power. The camera moves slowly and patiently around, framing each second with strong meaning and big thoughts, until it lands once again on Terrence, as he begins the march. For a while, the film followed him as a kid, shooting either from slightly above or at eye level. Here, it’s carefully watching his back and, before long, looking up at him and his forward stepping. It’s powerful.
More than the other films on this subject, *Big Chief, Black Hawk* isn’t built on hope so much as it’s concluded on measured optimism. There’s no second line music scoring the scenes or people gushing and blushing over a culture they visit once a year, but rather there’s definition to what it’s all about, what’s at stake, and who will fight against the tide of ignorant development and construction built over destruction.
Jonathan Jackson’s remarkable production doesn’t go above and beyond, nor does it have to. It’s all so natural, as his vision is trusted by the voices documented. It’s their story AND HIS film, not BUT HIS film. Is the camera an eye in the head of the poet? In *Big Chief, Black Hawk*, Jackson’s eye reads the words of the poets covered, and heightens the lines that tell the tale on scale. Big scale. And what could be bigger than the battle over one’s story, of one’s history, of one’s freedom?
In a film that breaks down conflict against culture and shows what community sews up in conversation, the biggest chance that’s taken by *Big Chief, Black Hawk* is in betting on itself. It never fails by giving way to pop genre tactics, treating those who’ll watch not as commodities but as potential allies. You don’t make friends with faux platitudes, just satisfied customers. Repeat that strategy, and you’ll have too many of what was a good thing. *Big Chief, Black Hawk* returns to what’s good in documentary filmmaking, and going back would be a terrible disservice. **5/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### Going Into the Nightstream, 2021 Review Pack
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/nightstream2021/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:16.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
While the 2021 edition of Nightstream may have [concluded already](https://nightstream.org/nightstream-2021-announces-audience-awards-and-closes-out-second-edition/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), and while its own future is [uncertain](https://twitter.com/NightstreamFest/status/1448709195566514180?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) as its central festival organizations plan [comebacks for next year](https://twitter.com/TheOverlookFest/status/1448728055594328068?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), the virtual genre event still lingers in my thoughts.
The following is a pack of four reviews of movies that, I hope, everyone will seek out sometime.
Enjoy!
---
Official still
#### Not So *Shapeless* At All
A flick set in the New Orleans musician community that isn’t a documentary or a cookie-cutter rise to stardom story? *Shapeless* appears to be after this writer’s heart. I yearn for genre films that are set and shot in the region (hopefully conceived here too) and even more for bold brashness and creativity that breaks through any and all limitations. Certainly, in director Samantha Aldana’s feature film debut, we get most of those. Most.
Lensed by the great cinematographer Natalie Kingston, *Shapeless* doubles as a tale of self-destruction and a drama that toys around within living nightmares, making for a tragically potent and poignant kind of horror. It all comes into focus on a mental health exploration that dives head-on through eating disorders, self-sabotage, uncontrollable obsession, and dangerous anxiety. Kingston finds these genuine personal horrors from behind and inside corners, composing our lead character at angles that place her at different edges of the frame in some of the more lonely and thoughtful scenes. The protagonist’s life is oblong and stuck within the boundaries of disease, so it’s clever to show just how these parameters are defined, and how close she can come to recovery. And while there is plenty of grand technique to go around in the film, I can’t help but feel that it’s accomplished on overdrive, perhaps as a cover for too little story.
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Actress Kelly Murtagh’s Ivy, a singer by trade, is presented as absolutely alone in her illness, unwilling to let anyone else in. Out of shame or maybe some twisted form of relief, Ivy keeps her affliction secret throughout, hiding everything from friends and colleagues, including her horrifically realistic-looking visions of mutation. Much is left unsaid and unexplained, and all for the better. Murtagh is left to express this turmoil without the crutch of exposition, pulling herself into every moment of pain with the energy of a thunderbolt, delivering a performance that’s as honest as it is visceral.
*Shapeless* is a feature, but it operates as if it’s meant for a shorter duration. Maybe it didn’t feel the need to go far in the fantastical horror realm, and maybe sticking to the real fright of a real issue was a good decision, but with only a tease of special effects body transformation, and a story begging for more to work with, ninety minutes is almost a stretch. A lack of confidence? It is a debut, so this may be the case. It’s too bad that some punches were pulled, as one more good hit to the gut would’ve been welcomed.
Still, with what is available, *Shapeless* does throw out some curves to the face. It’s a movie less concerned with satisfaction and more concentrated on depiction and heightened truth. Nothing is easy with mental illness, and to see it so laid bare is profoundly heartbreaking. Maybe we’ll get more exploration down the line. Maybe. **3.5/5**
---
Official still
#### Sinew Drips from the Skin of *After Blue (Dirty Paradise)*
You know, it’s possible that director Bertrand Mandico might, just might, have some issues with women. Not necessarily of the negative variety, but definitely some of fascination, at least to the point of obsessive perversion. At least. Based on his films *Apocalypse After* and his latest *After Blue (Dirty Paradise)*, Mandico enjoys diving into the nitty-gritty of sexuality and sensuality, from a female perspective circa his male imagination - thus the perversions come into play. And his imagination runs incredibly wild, indeed. Especially in *After Blue*.
This second feature directorial takes place on a distant planet, where only women can survive the atmosphere. They’ve lived here long enough to form colonies and cultures and, most aggressively, pent up desires. The film follows a hairdresser and her daughter, as they are forced into a mission to kill one Kate Bush. Not the singer mind you, but a witch-like being who causes destruction everywhere. It’s certainly played up, her name, as it’s always said in full when in reference. Commentary on the real counterpart? Probably just some joke for the better or, for worse, some serious but esoteric element.
This world, called After Blue, is one of grand design. Every set piece is gorgeous and breathtaking at once, from stage and set-piece to small details. Everything has a lived-in story to it, I like to think. The time it must’ve taken Mandico and crew to conceive and develop this setting and environment was clearly well worth it and then some. However pretty and deeply visual, however impressive and incredibly envisioned, and however embedded it becomes, *After Blue*’s main attraction is in its weirdness, which is both an attribute and an albatross.
Kate Bush, here, is a lusty and dangerous figure of androgenous entanglement, exciting the hairdresser’s daughter to a fault. She explains many times to an unseen figure, into the camera, how attracted to and scared of Kate Bush she is. This journey she’s on with her Mother, who too explores some sexual inclinations if more timidly, couldn’t be more interesting or more complicated. If *After Blue (Dirty Paradise)* is good at anything, it would be just how intriguing and odd it is. If the film is bad at anything, it would be in why and so what.
Duh, movies don’t need to be "about” anything nor must they satisfy every mark available. For sure though, they ought to add up to something for someone. And this equation, for me, no matter how well-constructed, is a touch too much math.
And softcore porn. Just a tad too much.
Though, it’s well done. And well performed. And memorable. And appreciated. **3/5**
---
Official still
#### It’s a Family Affair in the VHS Memory-scape of *Landlocked*
Some see attachment to nostalgia as unhealthy in [*Landlocked*](https://www.instagram.com/landlocked%5Ffilm/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), but this is not how I would describe the film. It’s a movie after my own heart, being oh so dedicated to the equipment, the aesthetic, and the feel of home videotapes and VHS cameras. Through these items, characters get to visit their childhoods and peek into their individual and collective pasts, where the viewfinder of a shoulder-held camcorder becomes the telescope of a time gone by. There’s good in this journey, and danger to be found too. But it’s not so much that "nostalgia” itself is harmful, but perhaps that searching for some after the fact resolution isn’t wise, at least potentially.
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
This is a most spectacular exercise in family filmmaking, unlike anything I’ve watched before. Written, directed, and starring members of the Owens family, *Landlocked* could be in a genre of its own making. There are three brothers - one of whom is our protagonist - who visit their old family home before its planned demolition. Mason, the sibling who left town, returns to collect a few things and spend a few final days within the walls. Already, with Mason sleeping in his old bed, among emptied rooms and dust bunnies, there’s a clear missing link in his heart. Fetal position sleeping rarely lies. Soon enough, he finds the camcorder that belonged to his deceased father and boxes of blank tapes which, after toying around, can essentially break the bonds of time and capture living memories that exist not unlike ghosts that haunt.
It’s all so minimal in *Landlocked*, and all so easy too. The details of the video edit bay and the camera, from adjusting to light and plugging in cables to changing the date and time, are pretty remarkable for a modern film to showcase with ease. Its atmosphere is ripe with emotion, vibrant with stillness, and filled with mystery. *Landlocked* is both refreshing to see play out and terrifying to experience, as a real family performs reel versions of themselves, bending reality to the hilt. I can’t confirm if their real home movies are really used as the time-traveling tapes, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
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I remember a friend telling me that shadows of the past, based on heavy emotional events, can be sensed in given spaces. For *Landlocked*, instruments are needed and symbolically important. VHS cameras bring back the chills of Christmas, the worries of the first days of school, and the togetherness of family, because that’s what they would often record. Static analog and auto-tracking are associated with the past, no matter when the tapes are made. This can be fond and can be scary. And sure, creeps and villains had access too, but there’s no fooling around like that in this film - it’s a family effort and a family affair, dealing with what was and what will inevitably be.
Stuck to the screen, fingers on the remote and at the ready to rewind or pause, *Landlocked* isn’t against nostalgia or nostalgics, but rather it’s wary of searching and searching boxes and bins for what’s already inside and in front of you. There’s something very sweet to that, and something very big about a family participating in it. Bold, this kind of filmmaking is.
As a horror, it’s striking. As a drama, it’s deeply affecting. As a memory, it’s far from fleeting. **5/5**
---
Official still
#### To the *Infinite Two Minutes*, and *Beyond*!
The cutest movie of this or any year. A top ten favorite!
It’s difficult to write this review for *Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes*, as I worry about getting some sort of sugar shock from the positive and sweet nature of the movie and my thoughts on it. For a feature film so clever, smart, and fairly short, *Beyond* couldn’t and shouldn’t be too much to handle. And yet, here I am, about to gush over it and all over this post.
Perhaps we keep this one a bit brief?
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Screens staring at screens within streams upon streams provide a look into the future, two minutes at a time. A cafe owner and his friends stumble across this, and quickly turn their fascination into a near-abuse of the Universe. Near, of course. *Beyond* works more or less as a means for laughs and genuine sweetness, not all that differently from *One Cut of the Dead*, another mostly one-take flick. It’s staggering the skill involved to shoot this sucker, from the timing between actors and cameras to comedic punches and stings. What rings the most impressive about the film though, would be its sincerity.
Absolutely, *Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes* is joyful and a kind of hymn to filmmaking and living for today. For all of the anxieties of modern life, it’s a blast to be reminded of stories so pure. The movie isn’t anything more than what it is, and that kind of clarity of self is humility at its finest. Sure, themes can be plucked from it, but just let it be itself - a comedy, and a romantic one too.
It makes the heart flutter to know that films like this can still be made, from the silent *Sherlock Jr.* to now. Indeed, both that one and this one are movies of trickery and stunts, of love and hilarity. When you can reach the highs of Buster Keaton, you’ve done well. Very well.
Now, some taffy. **5/5**
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### The Funny Slog of "The Secret Society for Slow Romance"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/slomance22/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:17.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
It’s always a hard day’s night when shortly after the beginning of a film, you’ve begun to turn negatively towards it. Harshly so, even. Sujewa Ekanayake, the most prolific of independent filmmakers and most considerate of tweeters, will be releasing his latest effort, *The Secret Society for Slow Romance*, sometime in early 2022\. With the large landscape of New York City, a very limited setting, and only two actors (himself included), his film I can only imagine will be a hard sell for tickets. Think of the diner scene from *Death Proof* but… longer. I’m sorry, but that’s what came to mind in the first half-hour of the film.
Remain vigilant and send out invitations to as many writers as possible. Cause a stir, as is said. This is how you win.
Indeed, Sujewa’s style does just that. Win. In his previous outing, [*Werewolf Ninja Philosopher*](https://www.billarceneaux.com/p/review-wnp.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), similar frustrated thoughts swirled around for me. Shots of the lead walking around New York would extend really long, existing mostly to break up some one-on-one chats where things would be pondered about in film nerd speak. This cycle would continue over and over. However, a shocking saving grace eventually came up: If this is on purpose, then it’s damn near brilliant. It’s comedy at the expense of anti-expectation fulfillment and slapstick at the expense of a critic’s patience. It’s art-house absolutely, and solely bound for that scene.
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Sujewa stars opposite Alia Lorae in *Secret Society of Slow Romance*, where more film nerd discussions are front and center. They both play indie playmakers of the workaholic kind - Alia’s character having made hundreds of underground flicks, and Sujewa working on multiple ideas at once. Between quick cutaways of the same plant on the same shelf to break up what is action here, the two just discuss movies, life, world problems, and new ventures. “That sounds good,” “Interesting,” “That could be,” “I should watch that,” are all said on shuffle and repeat, in each chapter, at every table talk (the actors also never change seated position). But, while this might cause headaches for some, it only solidifies a winning directorial style, and in a very upfront manner.
*The Secret Society for Slow Romance* is bold to the point of lovely absurdity, living as an ever-escalating comedy of illusions, of lightened heights, and of packed-in small talk. The on-screen couple, cinephiles as presented in both the newbie and the eager beaver way, chat with one another at great length and at great repetition as a way to almost represent opposing ends on a scale of positive thinking. Both characters are confident and ambitious, but come with different disciplines and means. There’s no room for faults, errors, or “stinkin’ thinkin’” with these two unabashed liberal movie romantics, which is at times admirable and exhausting. For sure though, it’s what living with a progressive for twenty-four hours a day would be like (I know, being one).
It’s the ultimate “life in the time of Covid” movie, too. Of course words and sentences would repeat, of course attitudes and behaviors would recur, and of course attention would sometimes move towards the same objects in the same room, day after day after season. This film is the perfect expression of what it’s been like in lockdown for creatives and wannabes, from the pain to the awkward optimism shared collectively.
It’s a bit reminiscent of Steven Doughton’s *Buoy*, which had a woman who, while doing minor chores across her home, holds a phone call with her unseen brother. It was a wonderful showcase of minimalism and drama, all the while being just what it was - a phone call. *The Secret Society for Slow Romance*, within its doldrums of a jazzed-up and excitable duo and gorgeous NYC skyline photography, captured at just the right moments of a given day, makes the case well for picking up a camera and just going. Just recording. Just moving where and when you can.
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
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It’s not a movie meant for the multiplex, but why bother with those venues? Aim for the brick walls in alleys and the microcinemas in eclectic neighborhoods, and you’ll find an appreciative audience, I think. Is that an attitude? It’s a reality and a strategy. Don’t be like the rest, and keep the goers on their toes, with or without explosions.
Still, it remains a hard sell to get people to sit through such ninety minutes as described above. If you can, as recommended, you’ll find a film of kind days and lofty ideals. What else can a movie imagine up? **3/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### This "Demigod" Never Lets Up
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/demigod/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:17.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
The superbly intense actor and filmmaker Miles Doleac has followed up his satirical yet totally effed-up midnight flick [*The Dinner Party*](https://www.billarceneaux.com/p/dinnerparty?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) with another movie that's more than worthy of the 80s/90s weekend video rental. *Demigod* exists on that all too fun plane of monster makeup vibrations, of lived in witchery worlds, and of survival of the fittest tales that make tape heads and VHS freaks weak in the knees. No, it's not a gorefest or a campy romp of cheese and silliness, but in riding that line between genuine drama and playful spooks, *Demigod* achieves a fair broadness that can be applied to kids sneaking away with video boxes, and to their babysitters.
Beyond the crutch of being "effed-up" - not that being so can't be grand - *Demigod* feels like a major accomplishment. Based on his two previous directorial outings, including *Hallowed Ground* (a film that I panned perhaps a bit [harshly](https://www.bigeasymagazine.com/2019/06/12/neaux-reel-idea-hallowed-ground-review/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)), Doleac has always expressed interest in metaphor through the occult. In *Demigod*, he's reached an apex of sorts in his filmmaking talent, covering male domination at the expense of female strength in a world lacking justice. A half man half beast woodsy demon, built up as this powerhouse of horned evil, is serviced by a coven of witches that live deep in the forests of Germany. It depends on them for sustenance, with little to nothing given in return. This is a relationship involving chauvinism and slavery, under the veil of protecting a cherished landscape and a tortured planet. The setting of a lonely piece of Europe, removed from civilization and monuments to the past, holds special significance as this untouched and untainted place, where this monster is king hunter, and all who enter are his prey or the tellers of his very force.
Something about it all spells out "insecurity" to me. A false idol, perhaps.
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Doleac gets at this message by way of being a warning and a reminder of what has been and what could be the oldest story to ever be told: a big lie used to exploit others. This is no atheist scrape, mind you. In fact, *Demigod* is all faith, just in and of different things. More or less, the film is an accomplishment of capturing truth through genre, minus any and all pretentiousness possible. Give credit where it's due to a tight vision and tighter strokes on a steady canvas.
There's a weight to the atmosphere throughout the movie, one that is possessed by a visual prowess for what needs to be seen and what should remain hidden. Not in and out of frame, but accentuating positives and eliminating negatives. For any odd audio mixing, there are a plethora of incredibly lensed shots of suspense, fulfilling a main element that all horror films must maintain. There's clarity in the darkly lit sequences and the scenes that glow from moonlight and fire. The opening domestic bits have more subdued photography and composition, floating around with the curiousness and the exploration that our protagonists walk through. This of course gives way easily when things move faster and scarier, always emphasizing what must be focused on and what must not be acknowledged at any given time. Sure, sometimes movements slow down here and there - one long static track almost wastes patience - but never is *Demigod* without action of some sort.
The beast that dominates the legend of this environment, in every second of film it's in, is shown from either far away, from behind, or slightly obscured. For sure, this is to hide any flaws in the costume, but it ends up working in the movie's favor. This monster represents many unsavory parts of man, so leaving its full visage up to imagination makes it all the more key. Resourceful, charming, and effective. Not to mention its voice and eyes - the stuff of purebred creature feature.
Movies made in the woods don't usually spark much confidence, as this is often a desperate act of no-budget creation that leads to boredom. However, *Demigod* never lets up its attitude, its meaning, or its entertainment. Of the independent spirit and at the mercy of equally independent conditions in a time of pandemic, Doleac and crew pull off a hail mary in resourcefulness and in obstacle jumping, in any and every form. Those who worshipped the VCR in their younger years appreciated such efforts and such passion. We still do. **4/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### "18 1/2" Is Farce at Its Best, and Then Some
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/18half/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:17.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
A silly scene of distraction and action during the listening of a most bombastic bombshell of a tape recording makes all the difference in the world. Calling it whistleblowing slapstick, Dan Mirvish’s *18 1/2* \- in reference to the runtime of the gap in the infamous private recordings of President Nixon’s secret meetings - is a cute and anxious picture of an era steeped in uncertainty and ripe for goofballs. This isn’t to suggest that the film is completely a comedy, but it does, for lack of a better phrase, take the piss out of some high profile shameful behavior, and the hysteria bred around it.
Anchored by a diverse cast of independent players, from Vondie Curtis Hall and Catherine Curtin to Richard Kind and the voice of Bruce Cambell (as Nixon) to a whip-smart screenplay that’s strong with the force of farce, *18 1/2* is quite a gem. Following the discovery of the gap tape within a tape, a tense mystery and dangerous escapade of fault and folly unfold between a sad but eager journalist and an idealistic transcriptionist, as they try, try, and try to find a damn audio player at a lodge for Honeymooners and lovers. Of course, they’re surrounded by colorful types, who are relentless in their kind but inconvenient attempts at matchmaking the pair together.
Indeed, the film shifts gears easily, without ever sacrificing tone. A light of melodramatics and theatricality does imbue each frame, giving off an attitude of romantic high-wire walking throughout, working between genre and could-be love or, at least, one-night stand-ing. Hearing Nixon spill the beans on increasingly terrifying schemes and plots for almost twenty minutes does get one worked up and frisky…
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Should there be any fault in *18 1/2*, it would be found in its ambition and indulgence. It’s never overwhelming or intolerable, but noticeable are wicked moments of almost forced bizarreness - almost - that stick out loudly and proudly. Do you movie, but tread lightly. A dinner sequence in the middle of the film drags things down a bit, despite some good and genuine tension, mystery, and growth. This is where the wonderful performances come into play, making an overly extended set-piece work somewhat in tricks and treats. There are other scenes of strange red-herring playing that don’t add up to much, but again the actors are gung ho.
Gorgeous cinematography and movement, attributed to the contributions of the great independent spirit Elle Schneider (who can be briefly spotted as a beach hippie) absolutely sweep the climax off of its feet, elevating the activity - which ranges from voyeuristic to fight capture - to sheer brilliance. Flat out impressive and affecting, bringing my attention from average to glued.
Mostly sweet, always moving, and exceptional in talent across the board, *18 1/2* is less of a surprise and more of an of course. Mirvish and company brought out their best with the kind of creativity that causes such blush. Nixon sucked, but was at least worth a ribbing and more. *18 1/2* goes past being funny and settles on being… itself, very confidently, and thankfully not confidentially. Audiences ought to see in it what I saw. **4/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### Little Static Found in "V/H/S/94"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/vhs94/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:18.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
Jennifer Reeder’s wraparound story in the latest horror anthology *V/H/S/94* may not be the best performed or most dynamic of the series of shorts, but it does provide something more than mythology building for this entry in the found footage genre exercise: ecstatic edge. It follows a SWAT team as they penetrate what they think is a warehouse-sized drug den, only to discover the remains of an analog video-based horror house cult - perhaps a group obsession that may as well be a drug - that engages in black market effed-up artifacts. Dead bodies and bloody mannequins litter the Church and prison-esque environment, leading one officer to exclaim “We need a gravedigger!” in all seriousness. No irony or sarcasm. Camp and cheese certainly exist in this collective film, as does awareness for what’s happening and how silly it all is, but there’s something near undefinable underneath the slapstick gore and impressively creative captures. Cross my heart and hope to die, *V/H/S/94* represents all that is good and decent in cinema, despite and in spite of anything that grates the face.
It’s all about the vision and the craft of each filmmaking team involved, and how they interpret the challenges and the freedom of found footage. There’s still a lot of ground to potentially explore in this kind of storytelling - *Spree* and *Operation Avalanche* come to immediate mind - and *V/H/S/94* is up for the tasks. For example, Chloe Okuno’s opening offering, about a news report on a storm drain monster, shifts perspective with madcap invention. We see an actual (in the world of the film) broadcast news segment, then Raw footage, then an infomercial bit, before rounding out with another news segment, straight out of *The Howling* with its explosive finale. Ryan Prows’s final flick of the project, about a bumbling but dangerous militia looking to do an Oklahoma City-like act of domestic terrorism, is presented as a propaganda advertisement and a *Jackass* escapade of doofus after doofus playing Rambo and getting drunk. Prows nails the video aesthetic in scary detail, from visual to feel, not too far away from bootleg copies of the Heaven’s Gate pre-suicide testimonial.
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These productive behaviors, these experiments in progressive imagination, make one yearn to shoot some video too, and fart around with friends and maybe strangers. Inspirational really, but the film is not without some strikes. The more aggressive segment, from Timo Tjahjanto - whose *V/H/S/2* bit was a showstopper - is more fantastical than faithful to video. That’s ok, even great to do, but its overload of video game shooters and *Tetsuo: The Iron Man* monster movie sensibility feels the least appropriate of the bunch, or rather least matching, while also being the most bombastic and loud. Not pretentious at all, but certainly a show-off of spectacle. A nit-pick this is, as it’s awesome to behold, just a bit overtoasted.
*V/H/S/94* has recurring acts throughout, with two that have exact endings and two whose endings are remixed but similar. Nothing is redundant here, but there is some muddling around with the overall theme, which toys around with celebration of escapism to an “often imitated never duplicated” message regarding nostalgia for that which auto tracks. And something about final girls taking control over genre, though this isn’t as clear as could be.
With an over-reliance on swear words and a lovely level of sinew and gore, *V/H/S/94* is the best of times and kind of the less of times, to varying degrees. It’s a blast. It’s near great. It’s sometimes grating. It comes with baggage. Clunky, but so were videotapes. When they dropped, there was a chance that a piece of plastic would chip off, and a worry in the moments before hitting the floor that it wouldn’t play later. But it was usually ok. After all, stores were in abundance at one time, and shelves were well stocked. *V/H/S/94* revels in this remembrance of relic, and takes it as far as it can go. Not all is made of our joy for this past, but all exemplify a groovy tomorrow with killer tales to tell. And kill they will. **3.5/5**
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### "Another Girl" is Not Very Sporadicus
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/anothergirl/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:18.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
It’s a tall ask for explanation and clarity, isn’t it? The film *Another Girl* has title credits that work as an invitation into the world that’s about to open for us: A collage of female faces next to their text messages that they sent to their obsessed-over fictional book character, like fan and hate mail. This information isn’t known well at first, as the film credits run behind the messages, overshadowing their visibility and readability. It’s a big no-no that could’ve and should’ve been fixed in post-production editing. Or… not done at all.
*Another Girl* follows in the footsteps of a previous frustrating watch I had, called *IRL*, a movie of grand pompousness and creeps so strong, [a shower and a fire to clothes was needed.](https://medium.com/zeroeffect/reviewirl-ea4c913ff410?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) That’s harsh, sure, as *Another Girl* isn’t riddled with as many wide faults, but it’s all too similar to what I felt back then. Sorry, but it’s true. A film about a young woman with severe depression and trust issues, sharing memories and events with a strange online user who may or may not be the same fictional character from above (breaking dimensional boundaries in some manner of physics that I can’t comprehend fully), should be engaging and profound, one would hope. *Another Girl* is confusing instead. Confusing and turgid.
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Actress Sammi Hanratty plays the lead with gusto and force, in the film’s only real positive element, aside from some gorgeously lit and shot scenes. She gives life to a wounded woman on or past the brink of reality, heartbreakingly so. Unfortunately, the focus isn’t on her performance, but her words and actions. Writer and Director Allison Burnett - who adapted his own novel for this and probably catered the production too - must’ve felt it fit to give no context to the introduction into our lead’s life and struggles. Yes, it’s understood that she teeters between sadness and suicide, between poor choices and comprehension of what’s real, but I was thrust so hard and so far into her situation, and without any life preserver that explains anything, that I was just lost and constantly shouting questions at the screen. Who is this book character she cares so much about, and why does she believe it’s literally alive? Huh? What? Where am I? More than that I yelled out, believe it or believe it.
A film doesn’t have to give a direct clue to anything, but anything to grasp would’ve been nice. Such a perplexing lack of coherence for a script so full of confidence. Overconfidence, but still.
No, *Another Girl* isn’t *IRL* level bad, but bad it is. Or maybe unfortunate is the better description. A scene early on has our protagonist being the victim of a college guy’s lame and terrifying pickup line. She waxes cute and with false wit, striking an oddly alien conversation that leads to a horrific relationship that starts with sex and ends with desperation. It’s sad, how much of a misfire this is. Just sad. **1.5/5**
---
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### The Nutriaman Reloaded
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/1nutriaman/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:18.000Z
Mickey Rourke as Randy the Ram, prepping for something new, in a shot from *[The Wrestler](https://youtu.be/HbH8ciRYulU?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)*
## Dear Moviegoers,
It’s October now. Time to prep for Halloween, time to watch some spooky films, and time to… revamp the newsletter a bit.
Or to… finally do a newsletter.
In between regular reviews and some interviews, I’ll be doing this new series, which will be exclusive to paid subscribers. Pieces will be concentrated on Hollywood South regional movie culture, from retrospectives of area filmmaking to memories of cinema past.
As always, if you have suggestions or thoughts to share, send them along.
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
If you like what you read, do pass these posts along.
And if you’d like to support this publication, consider becoming a monthly or yearly subscriber, or leave a supporting tip.
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Let the movies roll!:
[“What an opportunity it would have been to cast the likes of Egyptian actor Amr Waked or French-Algerian actress Lyna Khoudri in these roles. Instead, we get Javier Bardem doing whatever the Arab version of Blackface is.”](https://english.alaraby.co.uk/features/dune-escaping-realm-cinematic-arab-subversion?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) \- Hanna Flint, on the latest *Dune* adaptation
[Did you know that a ](https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/taxi-driver-video-game?utm%5Fcontent=buffer80de8&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&utm%5Fcampaign=buffer)[*Taxi Driver*](https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/taxi-driver-video-game?utm%5Fcontent=buffer80de8&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&utm%5Fcampaign=buffer)[ first-person shooter was planned at one point? Eww.](https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/taxi-driver-video-game?utm%5Fcontent=buffer80de8&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&utm%5Fcampaign=buffer)
[“‘Only in Theaters’ is not a promise or a friendly reminder anymore: It’s a forceful shove,”](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/only-in-theaters-threat-covid/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) \- Kenneth Lowe, on the restrictive model of movie exhibition
[An ](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/osmosis-jones-body-horror/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)[*Osmosis Jones*](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/osmosis-jones-body-horror/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)[ story.](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/osmosis-jones-body-horror/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
---
#### Picks for Film Fest Flicks
The lineups for the 2021 editions of [Nightstream](https://nightstream.org/2021-lineup-announcement/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) (our [Overlook Film Fest](https://www.overlookfilmfest.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) participates) and the [New Orleans Film Festival](https://neworleansfilmsociety.org/film-guide/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) have been announced, and each list expresses an interesting and wide diversity in story and filmmaker.
According to the New Orleans Film Society, forty movies from Louisiana directors will be in competition at the New Orleans Film Festival - 66% of those are directors of color, and 40% are women/gender non-conforming. And of course, Nightstream’s virtual celebration of the worldwide weird and wicked in cinema represents how these events can be more inclusive for audiences.
Of the films announced, I’ve made a list of ten overall recommendations. Movies that I’ll for sure be catching, and that I think everyone should too (all of my NOFF picks are in the Louisiana category):
- *Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes* (Nightstream)
- *Chip & Kevin Make a Movie* (NOFF)
- *Landlocked* (Nightstream)
- *Happy* (NOFF)
- *Poser* (Nightstream)
- *Shapeless* (NOFF + Nightstream)
- *The Laughing Man* (NOFF)
- *This is Gwar* (Nightstream)
- *Mary Queen of Vietnam* (NOFF)
- *Mother Schmuckers* (Nightstream)
Nightstream runs from October 7th through the 13th, and the New Orleans Film Festival goes from November 5th through the 14th for in person screenings - 21st for virtual.
---
#### Watching Joe Catalanotto’s *Terror in the Swamp* on VHS
With the assistance of interviewee Cassie Catalanotto, I profiled her father, the legend of “Lil Joe,” for the [Bayou Brief](https://www.bayoubrief.com/2021/04/20/little-joe-catalanotto-a-daughter-reflects-on-hollywood-souths-independent-pioneer/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) some months back. Joe, who unfortunately passed away September 25th, was the quintessential independent filmmaker, and a pioneer of what homegrown Hollywood South is and could be. Cassie’s regaling of Joe’s exploits in the music and moviemaking industries floored this wide-eyed critic, as he indeed was witness to such historic artistry. A master craftsman of his behind-the-scenes trade, Joe’s adventures weren’t just things to mythologize, but to respect among workers all over.
The following review, of his 80s made creature feature *Terror in the Swamp*, from a VHS I purchased over Etsy, is my humble attempt to pay some level of tribute and honor to the man behind the lens. The film is also available on [Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ8geA4F0tM&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), but I hope that an approved restoration will hit streaming and home physical release one day. Until then, enjoy, keep his family in your thoughts, and [support film crews everywhere](https://www.facebook.com/cassie.days.31/posts/907174256850636) in this time of uncertainty**:**
From [Horror and Sons](https://horrorandsons.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/swamp4.jpg?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
If *Rodents of Unusual Size* \- the documentary about the environmental real-world terror of the rodents known as Nutria - didn’t put the concern over Louisiana coastal protection in your heart and mind… neither will the classic, horrifically underseen and all but forgotten *Terror in the Swamp*, aka *Nutriaman: The Coppasaw Creature*. I admit to having waited far too long in watching this flick, almost in hesitation that it somehow wouldn’t live up to the hype I had created from the research I had done over the years. Every bit of information I learned was absolutely charming to my affinity and admiration for my Cajun/Creole heritage, not to mention its independent gung-ho spirit of production.
And yet, it lived up to it all, despite the odds. Despite the difficulties of shooting in a bayou. Despite the resources needed and perhaps unavailable. That’s the movie in a pecan shell: Despite it all, it was effective.
*Terror in the Swamp* isn’t much of a monster movie, as the only clean shot of the half man half Nutria comes towards the finale, and in one of the few flat moments of the film. We’re not scared nor are we all that concerned with the safety of our protagonists from the monster. However, I contend that the final picture wasn’t really meant to be full-on horror, but rather a nature and cultural film with a blend of genres, from government procedural to comedy to straight drama. The “horror” is a mere excuse to get beautiful movements of the Houma swamps, document thick accents, drink plenty of beer, shoot some guns, and blow up a shack.
Is that enough to satisfy audiences outside of Southeast Louisiana? Perhaps not, but whatever. Charles B. Pierce’s *Boggy Creek* films, for example, showcase the Texarkana environment in the b-movie mold too, though maybe to a more sleep-inducing end (no offense). *Terror in the Swamp* is never boring. There’s always action and movement, there’s always technique and crafts, and there’s always heart on display. Enough to satisfy those who appreciate such things? Yes.
Shots of the game warden, played by one Billy Holliday, as he stands proudly at the front tip of racing boats, make for whimsically fun frames, which I smiled at. The attitude of his performance in these shots reminded me of George Washington making his way across the Potomac River - seriously, they had the same air of confidence. Bold I say, if somewhat (or a lot) overdoing it. There are many scenes that do the business of style and substance over story, as the story itself isn’t as meaty as the skill of those not facing the camera. But again, there’s nothing boring here.
Characters range in personality, from deep bayou hunters and trappers to local officers and professionals to, well, aggressive drunks. And a mad scientist with plans to beef up the fur industry, of course. Exposition is really the only way we as the audience learn of the inciting incidents, through talk between two swampland brothers and two swamp-based scientists. There are no true blue antagonists or mean-spirited people in the film - everyone has a motive, some positive and some slightly more negative, but they’re all just trying to make their way in this region of the world. In this environmental crisis. In this age of Reaganomics, not to suggest any deep meaning, mind you. It’s a movie all about character and characters, about personalities and charm above all else, even at the sacrifice of basic story structure.
There are much greater than expected moments, all due to creative cinematography and composition. A helicopter flying right behind a boat, the first-person sight from behind the creature’s eyes, and the bright views of such crisp if muddy waterways. Even the cutting is sophisticated in places, especially the opening, which builds tension with mere shots of animals and ADR animal and monster noises. Once again, craftsmen and craftswomen at work and on point.
It’s no reel of perfection, but never is a scene without something happening, and never is the film without some resourcefulness. *Terror in the Swamp* never succumbs to the easy failings of fellow flicks of its kind. It may be set in a swamp, but it knows its way around for sure, They knew the tale was on the short side, so the team made sure the movie was, well, a movie and then some. Atmosphere, attitude, and action. Get in, and get out. What more could you want? A monster? This ain’t *Jaws* folks, despite some familiar music being used.
Despite it all. **3/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### Is "Prisoners of the Ghostland" Too Much, Or Not Enough?
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/ghostland/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:19.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
One of my proudest moments in movie recommendation was when I advised a good friend to watch *AntiPorno* on Mubi. It was his introduction to director Sion Sono I believe, and the subsequent chats we had proved how much of an impression it had made on him - we still talk about it, a few years later. Sono is one of the more important filmmakers the world has at the moment, absolutely, with movies moving so fluidly from the intensely weird to the most grounded of character. Never strange, even when dealing around it.
It’s no wonder that he and someone like Nicolas Cage would cross paths someday. Why not now, of all times?
*Prisoners of the Ghostland* goes whole commando with Cage, and not just because he’s nude under a leather outfit that’s outfitted with specially located explosives. The poster for the film even says so, with a direct quote from Cage, hyping the movie up to the Moon and beyond. If Cage ranks it like this, then it must be good, huh? While there’s clarity in the main gimmick and the world that all of the performers breathe in, there’s also danger in the general conceit, and some muddling that is too challenging for its own good. Or at least, for mine - though that blame falls on me.
Here, Sono plays with the cinematic mythology and meme-making that audiences have developed for Nicolas Cage over the decades. He’s **the** “irreverent” actor, so people have high expectations now for gifs and oddities from him. But, he’s no Zoo animal, and there’s no right to making a Lemur look cute for your selfie (though they are pretty cute all the time). Thankfully, Sono and Cage are dialed in with one another, crafting a performance and a reaction that rival Herzog’s *Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans* in how legend and unhinged collide and cooperate. “I’m radioactive” Cage proclaims in a moment of revelation, standing in front of a giant clock at the base of an exploded nuclear tower. For certain, he’s untouchable by way of being vulnerable and sensitive to the feel, affecting all around him. Radioactive.
*Prisoners of the Ghostland* itself, however, could use less radiation. A little less, I mean. It’s camp, yes, and solidly down to Earth in many fits and bursts (subplots about honor, family, and betrayal ring all too true given the few minutes of time allotted), but also awfully reliant on, you guessed it, Cage. He’s not just a centerpiece, but the entire show. There are set pieces of big beauty placed in designs of such wonderful intricacy - where everything must’ve been decided upon oh so carefully - but the focus is always on how one actor responds to it all. The story of a mission against time to reclaim an escaped woman for a boundless but impotent gangster, in the midst of a timeless land of anachronisms and hopelessness, plays second fiddle to how one cult responds to one man’s responses to another man’s interpretation of one man’s career and life. Sure, there’s depth to this world, and sure there’s plenty for everyone to chew on after (no scene-chewing, by the way - it all feels “appropriate” for this flick), but it all adds up to the number one. Indeed, *Prisoners of the Ghostland* is a romp, a full-tilt example of all cinema has to offer, of course. But, like the song, this is the loneliest film that Sono will ever do. Maybe.
Why riff so much on Nicolas Cage? Why the fascination and the exploration? Why is he number one?
Nicolas Cage is one of the more important actors we have in the world right now. That’s why. And letting him rock out while a director rocks in, is worth a group of tickets. *Prisoners of the Ghostland* is an AntiBlockbuster, deconstructing and reconstructing through time and frame, with both the power of this medium and the sins left to be documented by this medium.
If Nic Cage is radioactive, then Sion Sono is a toxic avenger. And all will be right, if the two meet more often. Give or take. **3/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### Filmmaker Rachel Boynton Chats About the Power of Cinema and Storytelling When It Comes to Lost Causes
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/boyntonqa/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:19.000Z
*(Note: Moviegoing, whether it be at the theater or at home, brings about some expenses. If you enjoy this blog/newsletter and are so inclined to support it, please do follow along, subscribe, leave comments, and share it around. Many thanks!)*
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---
From the [official trailer](https://youtu.be/f3nm9d8Jpqc?t=31&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
## Dear Moviegoers,
Rachel Boynton’s docu-essay *Civil War (Or, Who Do We Think We Are)* crosses some paths with the filmed poem-anthology piece *Many Fires This Time* ([covered in another Q&A some months back](https://www.billarceneaux.com/p/quesstime?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)). Both deal in past trauma, living wounds, and the future of thought, and both feature the outspoken poet A Scribe Called Quess.
In Boynton’s film (now on [Peacock](https://www.peacocktv.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)), Quess is briefly interviewed during a Confederate monument removal in New Orleans. When asked about the South, he bluntly and matter of factly states “Fuck the South.” Now, some might hear that and take offense, but I felt that this was more of a statement on something larger. Quess wasn’t just expressing disgust, but more stating how racism isn’t merely a Southern thing. It’s not exclusive to one region of America.
Indeed, Boynton and her movie seek to educate others on and to find answers about the past success of re-framing the Civil War by Confederate sympathizers, and the challenges in breaking down walls of “heritage” and access to information between generations and races. An astounding feat for one to achieve, if possible:
**Bill Arceneaux: In your film, storytelling plays a large part in how Confederate sympathy and understanding were sold to everyone post-Civil War. What medium for you is the most significant and powerful manner to change or set collective opinion, and why?**
**Rachel Boynton:** In America, it’s changed over time. Immediately after the War, textbooks, statues and popular literature all played a huge role in building and selling the Lost Cause myth. When Hollywood rose up, you saw it seep into film from the very start— in *Birth of a Nation*, *Gone With the Wind*, and all those westerns centered on former Confederates and Confederate-sympathizers (*Vera Cruz*, *Red Mountain*, *The Outlaw Josey Wales*, etc. etc.).
In *Civil War (or, Who Do We Think We Are)*, I spend a lot of time in classrooms, because I’m interested in how we’re teaching this history to our children now; what we learn as fact at a young age has such a powerful influence over how we understand the world. And of course, you can’t forget the stories that have been passed down in families over the generations. Maybe that kind of storytelling is the most powerful of all.
But remember: we also need to spend time thinking about the silences—the narratives that haven’t been told or that were purposefully ignored. Whose stories weren’t written into our textbooks? Why were their stories erased? An absence of a thing can be very hard to notice—but that absence echoes and infects how we see.
**BA: Buster Keaton’s *The General*, considered a masterpiece of silent cinema, takes a sort of neutral approach towards the depiction of both sides - seen as opposing but respected soldiers - but by the end, the lead signs up for the Confederate army, in a show of manhood and pride. How do you feel about such well-criticized classics that have perspectives which conflict with modern views, lightly or heavily?**
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**RB:** *The General* is a product of the time in which it was made; it needs to be seen in its historical context. That neutral approach—which you can see even in official US government films— was the direct result of the white North and the white South trying to make some kind of peace after the war. That attitude seeped into all the arts—books, poetry, film. Black stories were ignored, unless they were told from a white perspective. All sorts of people were left out of the narrative – including women and anyone who wasn’t deemed white. It’s not that these people didn’t play a role in the history; they just weren’t given a voice in the telling.
But this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t watch the film. How we feel about it might change over time, but it remains an important cultural work. There is an idea in America right now that maybe we shouldn’t engage with work that offends us or that gives voice to values we disagree with. I think this is incredibly dangerous. We have to be critical. We have to be open to points of view we haven’t thought about before. But we also have to be willing to be uncomfortable. Art exists to hold up a mirror to the people who see it— and we may not always see things that make us feel good, but hopefully what we see can change us for the better.
**BA: Your film has a great empathetic approach towards everyone, even when there’s clear disagreement. Never did I feel as if the camera was looking at anyone cock-eyed or with pre-conceived judgment. Was the production a challenge for you in directing the attitudes of yourself and your crew, or was everyone pretty open to observation?**
**RB:** Well, the crew wasn’t much of a crew. We were two people—Nelson Walker (the cinematographer) and myself (I directed and did sound). When I got access to the very first school in December 2015, the first call I made was to Nelson. We had never worked together, but I had met him when I was looking for DPs to take to Nigeria with me for my film *Big Men* and I remembered him as someone who was remarkably open to the world and to other people. *Civil War* is an intimate look at some of the most uncomfortable topics in American culture, and we’re talking to people in their living rooms and in all sorts of private spaces. So I knew it was vital to find a DP who was generous of spirit, humble in front of the unfamiliar, and who was an incredibly good listener. Nelson is all of those things in spades.
**BA: I honestly can’t think of many movies, off the top of my head, that are set during Reconstruction (aside from parts of *Free State of Jones*). Why do you think there aren’t more, and what would you like to see them explore?**
**RB:** The films that do focus on the period after the War are usually focused on a Lost Cause/Old South narrative (see the list of movies above). But until very recently Reconstruction wasn’t taught in American schools—it was literally skipped over. So it’s not surprising that people who are old enough to write and make movies haven’t focused on it. My husband is a fiction filmmaker and as I was making *Civil War* I kept trying to sell him on the idea that he should make a Reconstruction epic. I’m attracted to the post-apocalyptic chaos and the rapid social change that were all happening in tandem, and I pitched him all sorts of ideas, but I won’t write about them here, because I’m still holding out hope that maybe he’ll make one of them someday…
**BA: Do you have any favorite films that challenge people to express empathy, and why?**
**RB:** The first one that came to mind when I read your question was *The Act of Killing*. It’s a masterpiece.
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
---
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### Fantasia 2021 with "Mad God"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/fantasia213/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:20.000Z
*(Note: Moviegoing, whether it be at the theater or at home, brings about some expenses. If you enjoy this blog/newsletter and are so inclined to support it, please do follow along, subscribe, leave comments, and share it around. Many thanks!)*
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---
[Official still](https://www.madgodmovie.com/madgod-film-stills?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
## Dear Moviegoers,
It was to my recent and very pleasant surprise that I learned filmmaker and visual artist Phil Tippet had crafted Jabba the Hut and the Rancor for *Return of the Jedi*. Of course! Those most alive creations were first to come to my mind when watching Tippet’s long-gestating love affair of a movie, *Mad God*. It’s a film of horrible beauty and beautiful horror. It’s a film of monsters and imagination. It’s a dream and a nightmare. It’s all I could ever ask for.
This selection was no easy watch, but truly it was one the more satisfying and fulfilling movie experiences I’ve had in some time - even if viewed on a computer (large format theatrical, the kind that only museums used to host, would’ve been incredible). The almost ninety-minute feature of stop-motion chaos represents every available tool at cinema’s disposal, from the days of Georges Melies to the production of the original *King Kong* to *Star Wars* itself and, yes, to the making of video games like *Bioshock*.
There’s an open-world feel to *Mad God* that I couldn’t shake, almost interactive with joystick control. For sure, the only thing I was holding was my breath, but there was this built-in world so overwhelming that I begged to explore some more. The best movies and likely the best video games play with the illusion of worlds without end, without limits. This trickery borders on sorcery here, crafted and controlled by a true “mad god” in Tippet.
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It would be silly to attempt a full description of the tale that unfolds, but a snippet I’ll try:
> An explorer dives deep into an underworld of beasts and slaves, of torture and of iconography, driven by a mission and a map.
*Mad God* is almost entirely just a loose framework for a grand-scope exercise in creation, told with no real dialogue, but effects and behaviors most universally understood. The film taps into a language of the collective mind, something so tightly entrenched in all of us. It’s silent. Silent cinema. A throwback? It’s an interpretation of it. It’s a form of it. It is it.
Rich and boggling, *Mad God* surely will turn some people away, but it is for audiences everywhere. This is no movie that restricts itself to a set few - yes there’s darkness and disturbances, but what of our day-to-day lives? What of news broadcasts and short-form videos from across the world? This film wasn’t made “for the fans,” but for anyone.
While there are plenty of sequences to take away, my favorite occurs towards the end. A troll-like alchemist goes to his telescope, and views an old, somewhat “erotic” silent reel. He rubs his eyes, returns to the device, and views atomic bomb explosions. Stunning. It’s the history of humanity and the world as it is, through a device that shows us everything. I could mean telescope or movie projector. Or both.
Probably both.
There’s so much power for film to wield. We haven’t even scratched the surface. **5/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
---
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### Fantasia 2021 with "You Can't Kill Meme"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/fantasia2122/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:20.000Z
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---
Official still
## Dear Moviegoers,
I’ll likely never watch *Inception* without thinking about *You Can’t Kill Meme*, from now on.
Hayley Garrigus’ film is described as an “anti-documentary,” which I can both see and not see. On one hand, *You Can’t Kill Meme* is fiercely an essay, clear cut from thesis to finale, and in superb fashion. It blends kind and empathetic interviews with desktop and screen-life-style filmmaking, crafting from a pile of media a sculpted and remixed vision that runs the collective world through a piercing perspective. On the other hand, can’t a documentary **be like** an essay? Theo Anthony does it. Michael Moore made a career from it (if by way of confrontation). And of course, *F for Fake* exists atop them all. *You Can’t Kill Meme* gets awfully close to being an achievement in the Wellessian mold, but is still an achievement by itself.
The film makes real the texture and contours of internet memes, specifically in the power of user communities to rally together creative symbols and signs, and make of them a new iconography from which influence can occur IRL. “Memetic magic.” Or is it “magick?” Can a simple graphic riff on *The Simpson’s* change a voter’s mind? Yes, but just explaining that isn’t simply what director Hayley Garrigus is after.
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*You Can’t Kill Meme* is cinematic alchemy. The movie takes what sounds like very abstract concepts and movements that involve thoughts and ideas and behavior, and makes them feel totally tangible. One could almost reach out into the ether and give Pepe the Frog a hug (not that you’d want to). It moves from digital and virtual spaces and forums, and into the “real” world not so smoothly, but in a way to almost mimic being unplugged from an *Avatar*. Rude awakenings, really.
Well, not too rude.
The presentation goes out of its way to make its private subjects feel at ease and at home, not just as an interview tactic, but out of genuine care. These aren’t unstable people, no matter how out of bounds or interdimensional their thinking might appear to be. In fact, each individual that’s given time to talk is incredibly articulate and intelligent. They are the magicians and the lightworkers of this and other worlds, creating reality and truth from and of various forms.
Memes, as shown here, feel like a sorcerer’s version of exposure therapy, something of which I went through as a child. You think something long and hard enough, even practice it, and the scenario appears to become real when facing it. It’s similar to this, but not exact, as there’s a voodoo nature to “willing” Hillary Clinton to get sick on the campaign trail, among many other spells.
*You Can’t Kill Meme* is both for the newbs and the admins (am I getting that right?), being easy to digest from the opening to challenging and confounding at the closing. We’re all susceptible to manipulation and propaganda - it just so happens that nowadays, it can happen on a mass scale in a matter of minutes by a Discord server of goofballs. Never discount or underestimate anyone, especially those you look down on or disagree with. Just because you’re not alt-right, doesn’t mean you’re alright.
*The Matrix* is real, and it’s been *Incept*ed into existence. May Kek have mercy. **5/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
---
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### Fantasia 2021 with "The Booth" and "Sexy Furby"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/fantasia211/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:21.000Z
*(Note: Moviegoing, whether it be at the theater or at home, brings about some expenses. If you enjoy this blog/newsletter and are so inclined to support it, please do follow along,* [*subscribe*](https://moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)*, leave comments, and share it around. Many thanks!)*
---
From the [official trailer](https://vimeo.com/335662947?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
## Dear Moviegoers,
Lo and behold, just a month or two after watching Abel Ferrera’s wonderfully friendly and bro-tastic *The Projectionist* and just a few days before a planned viewing of *Searching for Mr. Rugoff*, do I find myself hitting play on another peek into the world of film exhibition - of a sort, mind you. This sort is the kind that brings up fluids, germs, choice, and liberation even. And its roots go all the way back to the early days of cinema.
Michael Arcos’ short documentary *The Booth* is a brisk six-minute explainer of the impact on and importance to communities that adult video arcades can have. Interviewees - only referred to by job titles or personal passions - talk of their first sexual encounters, the hush-hush discretion inside of a booth and, believe it or not, an interesting sense of being with others despite the walls separating the various channels of pornography. Learn to cruise, be with a close friend, share an experience, etc. A stool, a trash can, a monitor, an array of buttons, and a money machine. Is it odd that a sense of togetherness and connection can come from such a cynical depository?
Not at all.
*The Booth* runs through its subject a little too quickly, but does break from the traditional formula here and there to stretch and flesh itself out. The style of static television sounds and VHS analog filters criss-cross over and over, perhaps juxtaposing the get in get out nature of dropping a coin and dropping a load business model with this idea of freedom in secret just around the corner. The owner of one arcade seems too happy-go-lucky and loose to be a stuffy suit, “saving” street cats and letting them live in the back rooms while showing jubilation at the latest vibrating dildo contraption he has to sell.
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Darkness and shadows play a part in the film too, with the camera having to navigate through such mystery and danger to reach the light of an adult video arcade. Not always subtle and with little time to be subtle, *The Booth* excels when hitting on that certain sweet spot of exposing consumerism and community, the kind of action that’d make any critic just… well, just get excited. I want to add this to my collection of movies about moviegoing. I want to watch it again. I want another trip to this [Kinetoscope](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetoscope?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
We spend but a few moments in *The Booth*, but I imagine that’s par the course for a standard video arcade visit. No judgments. Leave only footprints, take only memories.
And don’t pick a booth with any holes in the wall. **4/5**
---
From the [official trailer](https://vimeo.com/562044956?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
The voice of Sky Elobar is pretty recognizable to this *Greasy Strangler* fan. When he popped up this time, I flipped. Indeed, *Sexy Furby* has much in common with Jim Hosking’s demented film, specifically in the harsh but easy tonal shifts and the sense of not knowing if you’re watching a comedy or a horror. *Sexy Furby* fits both labels, but is not a simple watch. An unforgettable watch, but not an easy one.
A suicidal young but middle-aged dressed woman attempts to kill herself by way of wheelchair stabbing, but sees in the distance a man-sized Furby, who changes her life drastically. He breaks into her home one night, and proceeds to engage in sexual pizza cutting routines on his doll-like body, in exchange for hard cash that comes out of his limbs. The woman gets out of debt, finds her sexual awakening, feels love, feels boredom, feels murder, finds the lord… man, *Sexy Furby* is packed with multitudes.
Don’t let the title throw you off any, as *Sexy Furby* is inventive, wildly thoughtful, and utterly nuts, all at once. It could be pinned down a bit as a Moebius strip-type journey of discovery and revelation, or a piece on our relationships with toys as we blossom into adulthood. Or, and I might be reaching, it could be exactly what it is: bizarre.
All of the above, I suggest.
*Sexy Furby* takes the cake in providing surprise after surprise, and feeling as fulfilling as it does, paced impeccably and timed just right. For a movie with at least two scenes of Furby love, it’s not too pleasant on the eyes or the mind. But neither was *The Greasy Strangler*. Or any John Waters flick. Nothing worth having is ever “easy.” Hyperbolic? Absolutely, and rightfully so. *Sexy Furby* deserves some over-exaggerated accolades. All of them, actually. There’s strength in the strange, satisfaction in finding some strange, and success in ending stranger than strange. For *Sexy Furby*, for us all, that’s foolproof. **4/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
---
*(Note: Moviegoing, whether it be at the theater or at home, brings about some expenses. If you enjoy this blog/newsletter and are so inclined to support it, please do follow along,* [*subscribe*](https://moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)*, leave comments, and share it around. Many thanks!)*
### Movies on Movies with "The Film of Her"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/filmofher/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:21.000Z
*(Author’s note: Moviegoing, whether it be at home or at the theater, brings about some expenses. If you enjoy this blog/newsletter and are so inclined to support it, please do follow along,* [*subscribe*](https://www.billarceneaux.com/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)*, leave comments, and share it around. Many thanks!)*
*(One more note: The following is part of a series of posts called *Movies on Movies*, which will bring up attachments to films about film, and the acts of watching and thinking about film. In other words, it reviews movies about movies with movies on the mind. Or something. Read along, won’t we?)*
---
From *The Film of Her*
## Dear Moviegoers,
It’s been some time since I picked up my copy of Hanns Zischler’s book [*Kafka Goes to the Movies*](https://www.amazon.com/Kafka-Goes-Movies-Hanns-Zischler/dp/0226986713?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) for another good read, but understandably, I’ve been preoccupied with my own obsessions with going to the movies - at home mostly, pandemic be damned. And yet, despite keeping this book covered in a thin layer of dust on my shelf, I often mentally refer back to it in some way.
And recently, it was a viewing of Bill Morrison’s wonderful short *The FIlm of Her* that did it. Twofold.
Like Abel Gance’s *Napoleon* and Crispin Glover’s *It is Fine, Everything is Fine!*, I had long-listed *The Film of Her* as a mostly unseen favorite, having only watched a clip or two here and there. Not that it was terribly hard to find before - Director Bill Morrison had it streaming on his site for a time (it’s now available on DVD [here](http://icarusfilms.com/if-fher?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)) - but that maybe I wanted to keep it elusive and out of reach for “fun,” as a game of sorts. What did the title mean to me? The synopsis? The style? It wasn’t so much judging a book by its cover as it was dreaming up a picture before seeing it. Yes, this is one of many ways I occupy my time. Always on movies, and in different ways, folks. It’s been this way since childhood.
And having now watched the film (thanks to Bill Morrison’s kindness), I feel as though this odd form of dreaming is embedded in the story presented, as well as Kafka’s feelings toward early film itself, inside and outside the theater.
*The Film of Her* is part documentary and part fantasy, almost like a sweded flick straight out of Michel Gondry’s *Be Kind Rewind*. At the end of that movie, the neighbors of this struggling video store band together to encourage the creation of a VHS tale on a local historical figure, telling the legend more than the “reality.” Reality. Why not make their own, especially if it’s all of theirs?
*The Film of Her* melds together the real story of a Library of Congress clerk who, in his own voice-over words, saved a treasure trove of paper film - copies of early cinema, saved for the sole purpose of record-keeping - from being destroyed by fire, with that of the imagined dreams of said clerk, who may have saved this history on the off chance that he’d see “her” once more. At the beginning of Morrison’s work is a presentation of the big bang, both for life in the universe and for this wicked and wonderful medium, which goes from nature to the manufacturing of the storage film stock, from trees to paper rolls. And, with that, so is the birth of a new kind of memory and a new kind of dreaming.
The clerk seeks out “her,” an unnamed image of a woman in an early stag-like movie that he saw once, which brings up true flutters of the heart for him. He’d risk job and harm for “her,” if it came to it. “Her” is his memory, as forged by frames in the illusion of movement through light on a screen, now stored on paper in what may potentially be the only copies left, and they’re being sent to the fire for space-saving measures. The real clerk describes standing in front of a truck, holding it up from reaching its destination of destruction, while the imagined clerk - voiced by an unseen individual - talks of “her.” It’s never expressed as an improper relationship between man and image, though what else could it be, really, if not that. Romantic? Certainly, the gesture of saving these films was, but the yearning of seeing “her” once more? Maybe it was the birth of something else. Something we’ve seen too many times in contemporary times…
Twofold did *Kafka Goes to the Movies* come up for me. 1) Kafka’s exposure to the cinema would alter his work and how he saw the world, and 2) He too had a fascination with “her.” In a review of the book for [The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/feb/16/classics.film?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), Joanna Griffiths notes about the author Hanns Zischler:
> “He suggests Kafka 'plunges into the cinema... seeking and longing for meaninglessness. He goes to the movies to forget'. But it is cinema as one of the fabulous sights of the modern city that comes through most vividly.”
Attending comical parodies and scandalous silents, in between strolling down red-light districts (just strolling, of course) throughout Europe, Franz Kafka comes off more as, well, a Joe Schmoe looking for entertainment than anything. And what he got would be interpreted as more than that, as something that profoundly affected him, no matter the subject of his viewings. Had he lived now, watching something like *Holmes and Watson* \- while a punishing Kafka-esque experience in itself - might have left him thoroughly in thought and with some enjoyment. Not so much for the “meaninglessness,” but for the flickering lights and those dancing fools jumping on screen. Within the poor nature of what’s being watched is the yearning for escape itself. And escape is provided.
Bill Morrison gets this absolutely in *The Film of Her*, interpreting a clerk’s heroism as a means to explore memory, dreams, and even a bit of obsession with the moving image which, more or less, is an obsession with dreaming and remembering. Kafka took part in this, no matter expectations we may now have for him to have viewed the classics, ala Don Lockwood’s fake retelling of his upbringing in *Singin’ in the Rain*. We all have our vices, some strange and some familiar. In the end, we’re all looking for “her,” and never will we want to forget.
Keep the rolls around. Keep the memories alive. Keep on living.
## Sincerely yours in moviegoing,
## :)
---
*(Author’s note: Moviegoing, whether it be at home or at the theater, brings about some expenses. If you enjoy this blog/newsletter and are so inclined to support it, please do follow along,* [*subscribe*](https://www.billarceneaux.com/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)*, leave comments, and share it around. Many thanks!)*
### Over Twenty Years Later, "Woodstock 99" Formally Explains THAT Weekend Event
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/woodstock99/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:21.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
> “… it’s not our fault.”
\- Fred Durst, walking off stage
> “Why not!? That’s the REAL question.”
\-Shirtless white male concert-goer, as others tear down the festival barrier wall
I would listen to my *Woodstock 99* 2-Disc CD, in my room, alone, quite often going into the start of the 2000s, usually bouncing from DMX and Creed to Our Lady Peace and Lit. Of course, Metallica would pop on, but that was for when I did jumping jacks and the like. Limp Bizkit? This live album didn’t have a certain popular song of theirs on it, so I’d go to my *Significant Other* CD instead.
Yes, I was into Durst, Borland, and crew for a short period of time, even going to an Atlanta concert just before the end of 1999\. Thankfully, I stayed in the high-up seats. Looking on at the moshpits and clouds of pot in the air, I had a spectator’s privilege of witnessing the rage without being deep in it. I’d stand up here and there, mostly for “Nookie” and “Faith”, but the majority of my time was spent seated, overwhelmed by the loud noise and the young adults acting out - those of whom some in my Middle School classes would wish to emulate in the coming years.
A good friend of mine who I met at college in 2005, described nostalgia for the 90s as some kind of mass delusion - a horrible decade for culture, he’d say (though I’m paraphrasing). These were the years he and I grew into teenagers during. And these pre-9/11 turn of the century days were… a f\*\*\*ed time too. Welcome to paradise.
The new HBO documentary *Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage* fully articulates with grand hindsight and maturity just how f\*\*\*ed a time it really was. It’s an apocalyptic vision for sure. Bordering on being a period-piece slasher flick, the film combs through so much material and utilizes such a fine array of modern commentators and journalists - all of which brutally criticize and contextualize everything that went down - that any hope of reaching the credits with some comfort or fond feelings for that decade and for the state of which we were in/are still in… become obliterated.
To as much of an extent as the documentary could push - and push it does - this coagulation of mostly white young adults are depicted as both product and victim, as both marketing tool and marketing prey, stuck in that sour spot between two eras in America: Reaganomics and “Dubya”. When Kid Rock performed, he spoke of the Clinton sex scandal, declaring the President as “a pimp.” He likely didn’t care about that situation, but the crowd cheered and roared at his words anyway. Did they care? Probably not either.
So… why be that way?
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Festival promoter John Scher was openly interviewed in the film, but presented such a radically different narrative of the event than what everyone else was watching and discussing, to the point that he might as well have worn a hat saying “Out of Touch” and a shirt saying “#Deflect.” He does himself no favors when claiming no one was really hurt, that only a few sexual assaults were reported, and that any problems were Fred Durst’s fault. I wanted to point Scher out as THE villain here, but it’s in his favor that the documentary goes for more of a gut punch than him. And punch in the gut, that man sure deserves.
In that 2-Disc Live Album set I had, we hear Scher towards the end, asking for everyone to calm down on the last night. Then, Red Hot Chili Peppers kick in. Why include that audio bit in your CD release? Were the promoters trying to act as if the fires and riots and sexual assaults were just an experience to have been had? Listen to what you missed out on, I suppose.
Why be this way?
“That’s the real question,” sir.
It’s as if nihilism and greed met, sold a decade of kids some overseas-made plastic junk, told them what to listen to, riled up some old people to rant against their rebellious tendencies, held an event with the weirdest lineup ever under an unforgiving sun with little to no safe or affordable amenities and infrastructure… and put out a CD celebration of it all anyway.
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Why be this way? Why? Who cares. Nobody cares. Nothing else matters, so a song says. Get a horde of kids who think they believe this, and see what happens when they’re treated to roll in “mud” for a high-priced, once in a generation “experience." Pfft. The 90s really were the worst, and things indeed have morphed onto different platforms, from the crowd-surfing wood boards to message forums to Insurrection attempts.
The movie works so well as both tragedy, horror show, and critical essay, that I shook with sadness and anger for a few minutes after. That weekend wasn’t just summed up, that decade wasn’t just summed up - they were stuff meant to break. Expand on that, and you’ll find yourself in dangerous territory.
*Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage* has more nuance to it than my review suggests or even covers, cutting in footage and music at just the right moments in interviews to pinpoint and lay down exclamation marks to the meaning of it all. It’s a long-form story with a short-form sense of humor and power, rivaling the energy packed into the unassuming package of a firecracker. It’s a loud and intelligent production absolutely, but…
…is it wrong to say that I kinda prefer the official concert VHS over this documentary? That tape had multiple levels of meta going on, being a story inside a lie inside another story, and so on. Couldn’t be duplicated. Should never be. **3.5/5 (though 4/5 might be my rating down the line)**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
### Fashionably Woke Young Women Want to Make a Movie in "For Your Consideration"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/foryourwoke/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:22.000Z
## Dear Moviegoers,
“We look like we’re having so much fun!” Indeed, in the short film *For Your Consideration*, fun for the rich and relentlessly privileged of a tragically exclusive Los Angeles is but a fantasy for the sake of fantasy. Living vicariously through ones own vicariousness, really. Living at the speed of and need for influence, absolutely. Grabbing coffee with friends (or like-holes) is just another opportunity to make a post, not to enjoy coffee and conversation. What would they talk about, anyway?
Poppy Gordon’s short begins with a young woman doing outdoor yoga at her L.A. abode. The camera shows her content self preparing for pose and using an elaborate mantra-creating device to find inner peace, but I’m wondering about the rest of her insulated neighborhood and those outside the gates. A slow zoom, a pause for an idea, and an interruptive text - sent. Thus is the start of a maybe movie within a real movie.
A roundtable-style chat with gal pals of different types - from the loyal one to the informed one to the “ethnic” one (I’m using the language and shamed whispering of these characters) - is the setting for a power-broker session of would be film producers, developing and shooting down one another’s ideas for a proposed movie of staggeringly and ever-escalating fake wokeness. *For Your Consideration* is, in this way, a satire through and through. It’s also a plucky horror and an empowering drama on how “accomplished” dramatic cinema can come from such vapid origins.
So… satire again.
It’s funny to me how the young women pitching and working on a movie with each other believe that the end goal of an Oscar is, somehow, a win. If they’re so connected and so social media savvy, they’d grasp something like #OscarsSoWhite as being a bad thing (on top of many other award show criticisms). Perhaps it’s not that they don’t grasp it, but that they really don’t have to worry about it. After all, people will keep watching these celebrations, and keep patting themselves on the back. When the topic of prison reform comes up, the excitable loyal one looks over at their (yes, their) black friend, approvingly suggesting that she “knows.” “Why would I know anything about prison?” That’s why she’s in the group, folks. That’s why.
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I laughed, I got disgusted, and I laughed again. *For Your Consideration* draws upon familiar notions of L.A. “elites” and dials it all up by letting the characters just… just be characters. It’d be so cartoonish if it all hadn’t been played so convincingly. Some truly startling performances, these are. Dangerous even.
And the film they’re planning? Visuals pop up of what it could end up being, in various stages of tone, from dark drama to tear jerker and back again. The final vision of this film could actually be bold enough for an Oscar, and that’s… that’s not odd whatsoever. These are the seeds of hit movies, the fruits of which are only enjoyed by these types. It’s an inconvenient truth of sorts. The only thing odd here is that the coffeehouse roundtable might also be a secret excuse to diss and be catty, only because the virtual means to do so are already present. The damn devices are in their hands.
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It’s all in their hands.
*For Your Consideration* excels on its surface and surprises with what’s underneath. A comedy on the ground, a shot of coffee just below. A shot, mind you. Who has time for a full cup? What would we even talk about, anyway? **3.5/5**
## Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
## :)
Photo by [Danielle MacInnes](https://unsplash.com/@dsmacinnes?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/coffee?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText)
### When You Gotta Go...
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/toilet/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:22.000Z
### Dear Moviegoers,
Back in the 1990s, when peeing was just beginning to become potent film devices, Oliver Stone opened his shock-glock portrait of America as it was then and where it was going - *Natural Born Killers* \- with his two leads peeing in the desert moonlight. Merciless romancers and romantic murderers. How did they reach this start? The desert at night set, with its artificial soundstage-ish beauty, is a place for reminiscing on their youth, when they met, and the birth of their killing spree. Mickey Knox stands with his back to Mallory, as she squats on the ground, both smiling during their moment of dual release.
The most immediate recall to a peeing sequence of significance for me would be when one of the white-collar workers of OCP in *Robocop* quickly finished relieving himself, zipped up, turned to camera at groin level, and revealed that urine had seeped through to the crotch of his pants. His rush out was to avoid the office wrath of a villain being mocked so openly, having heard it all from his seat on “the throne” in a nearby stall. A mere comedic moment, not just. It did the business of that timid character well, not to mention of the tension in that scene. One can’t avoid a tough conversation by eroding a urinal cake forever, you know?
What is it with going to the bathroom in movies? Maybe it’s a generational thing, as those making pictures now must’ve grown up questioning why their screen heroes never had the time to “go.” Maybe it’s a taboo thing, seeing what we’d rather not talk about in public. Maybe such visions say more about a character and a moment than one would notice.
Of this current generation of filmmakers, and as far as this subject of discussion is willing to go, Janicza Bravo, in just two feature films, is the one with the best-crafted scenes of this nature (Ari Aster [comes close though](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlNrNYxRWkw&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)). And of many other natures too, of course. I mean this genuinely, as her work is damn near that of an alchemist - taking anything and making it rain gold. Golden showers, but not… well, you know. Her sense of humor is more twisted than most, grounded on Earth with a clear sense of surroundings - people and places. Every scene she’s conducted, thus far, has been ever so precise in its balance of all available elements and performances.
In a recent group chat, I used “Scorsese-tier” to describe what she had done with *Zola*. She took the God’s eye view of the climax from *Taxi Driver* and hung it over two women using a bathroom. A different kind of violence for sure, but perhaps equally provocative.
> [\[](https://www.vulture.com/2021/06/janicza-bravo-interview-zola-is-a-horror-show.html?utm%5Fsource=tw&utm%5Fmedium=s1&utm%5Fcampaign=vulture)[*Laughs*](https://www.vulture.com/2021/06/janicza-bravo-interview-zola-is-a-horror-show.html?utm%5Fsource=tw&utm%5Fmedium=s1&utm%5Fcampaign=vulture)[\] I love body stuff.](https://www.vulture.com/2021/06/janicza-bravo-interview-zola-is-a-horror-show.html?utm%5Fsource=tw&utm%5Fmedium=s1&utm%5Fcampaign=vulture)
Her first feature effort *Lemon*, a comedy of one big error of a man, romped along in my mind for a few years without once reminding me of its sneaky toiletry. But now, having seen *Zola* and having read some interviews with Bravo, I’m of the suspicious inclination to revisit from the depths of my memory these few but rather special scenes.
*Lemon* has two, though only one involves pee - and it’s not in a bathroom. But it counts. It’s another opening scene, where the camera spins slowly around a living room, with a tv on in the background. The programming appears to be a foreign interview documentary with a black woman describing violence on screen. Once we settle on our… protagonist… he’s slumped and sleeping in a sitting position on his couch, and has peed himself at some point prior. The tv remains on and indifferent to him, but I am forcefully focused on his wet bed bottoms and the circumstances of his soiled introduction.
There are at least two interpretations that can be had. The first might be that it’s a comment on his insignificance in the universe and the universal disgust most people may eventually feel about him. While more important things are happening (the tv in the scene), he’s peeing in REM. Of course, this disgust turns true throughout the film, as his amplified antics are seen in a string of questionable motivations.
The second is likely more obvious, being a mere “this is who we’re following” scene. For sure, it could be just a Farrelly Bros-type gag, but if we’re to think of unzipping the fly and unleashing the subsequent torrent as a means of understanding character, then this can’t just be that. It can’t. It can’t. Especially since nothing was open, and there was no fly.
Where *Lemon* rested on its urinal relations, *Zola* excelled with about three of them. The one mentioned briefly above had the two lead women sitting in their side-by-side stalls, passing toilet paper to one another, before revealing the color of their fluids when they got up. According to Bravo:
> [I thought](https://www.vulture.com/2021/06/janicza-bravo-interview-zola-is-a-horror-show.html?utm%5Fsource=tw&utm%5Fmedium=s1&utm%5Fcampaign=vulture) there was no clearer way to paint a picture of who these two women were than by seeing their urine and what their hygiene was in a bathroom. You see their piss and their relationship to how they use a toilet, and you know everything you need to know.
Let’s peek in on the mysterious pimp character, known as “X.”
X has two quickies at the John, both times done loudly, both times done with moaning and grunting. Still, he sounds pleasured and relaxed. The color of his pee is to be speculated on, but he does have one discolored eye throughout the film - sometimes yellow-ish, sometimes green-ish. Is he harshly holding in water? Does he not have time to go? No. He runs and races around, making money and staying hydrated I assume, only relieving himself when nearby his women, door open and all, loudly going and more.
Why?
Here, it’s not just character, but overall mood and atmosphere. X likely uses the open door policy as an intimidation tactic, insecurely executing it as a means of asserting whatever power he thinks he has. The character Zola sees right through it, of course, being our observer. It could also be a sloppy quirk of his, as it’s established that he’s not necessarily the most connected or proficient pimp in Florida - Zola even up shines him at one point, impressing and demeaning him.
For Zola, this just adds to the overall road trip of gross mystique. She never gets too attached to anyone or anything during the events, just seeing and assuming. This detached observance, when encountering X’s peeing, makes for both awkward tension and uncomfortable imaginations. What’s really going on? Who are these people? Why is he peeing that way?
Having meaning behind a bathroom action (or any action) - pretentious or no? F.W. Murnau’s *The Last Laugh*, while not about peeing at all, takes its proud protagonist into the tortured position of bathroom attendant, where he is to work in for the rest of his life. In that classic silent, a bathroom is considered a taboo place, and being its servant, being assigned to it, says much about someone’s lowly status, now becoming an outcast and laughing stock. Why else would you be hired for such a role? Filth. Disgust. Foulness.
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The setting of a bathroom is not necessarily one of dirt and impotence. After all, in toilet humor romantic comedy *Deuce Bigelow*, the titular character’s father is an attendant, and seems to be quite happy and at peace. Almost a century after *Last Laugh*, we’ve gone from the bathroom as a place of limbo and near death to being just a place to do “business.” Now, we’re focused on this business. From outside the stall to between the walls, things have gotten more personal and intimate seemingly, though it can only go as deep as the director can see.
Murnau saw much depth in this place, and Stone saw some in the act. Bravo sees this place, adds space, and makes more out of the act than something needing to be flushed. In a way, *Last Laugh* was a sound effect away from being *Duece Bigelow* \- thankfully it was made when it was. *Lemon* and *Zola* both include a noise or two, and they fit right in, without undercutting anything.
Her stories feature taboos among various kinds of disgust and distaste, but her films are never gross or dependent on the low-brow. Both *Lemon* and *Zola* take the high roads, especially when getting most uncomfortable and downright sick. Her films involve mystery and mystique in the strangest and unexpected of places. That includes places of “business.”
Harmony Korine once expressed interest in screening his film *Trash Humpers* into the bowl of a toilet.
Why?
Why not?
### Sincerely yours in moviegoing,
### :)
Photo by [Jasmin Sessler](https://unsplash.com/@jasmin%5Fsessler?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/toilet?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText)
### Now Playing/Streaming | Our Addiction(s) for the "Nasties"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/censorofcrisis/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:23.000Z
### *Crisis*
All roads flow between Detroit and Montreal in the opioid-industrial-complex thriller *Crisis*. From the making of the drugs to the trafficking and selling of them, this is a film of grand purpose wrapped in easily digestible tablets, covering only the symptoms it’s meant to handle. So to speak, of course.
In less cutesy terms, *Crisis* is as complicated as its lead casting. This makes sense, as the real opioid situation is equally troubling. Three stories are at play, two of which converge head-on, but all are connected by present struggle and a potentially damaging future. We follow an undercover agent as he tracks a series of fentanyl pushers, played with no-nonsense by one Armie Hammer. His life is but a string of problems, as he frustratingly puts out one fire before taking care of another (I’m writing of the character). He seethes with impatience, boiling at any mention of possible wrinkles in his plans. I’d be lying if I suggested that Hammer’s performance is on either extreme end of the acting spectrum - holding steady at average for the most part - but if the needle were to shakily move either way, it’d be towards scene-chewing.
Towards, mind you. And that’s ok. Gary Oldman also stars as a teacher and a scientist who stumbles on data that suggests a new drug could be more dangerous than fentanyl, and will be pushed into the market soon. Oldman too teeters towards eating scenes, but like Hammer, is held back just enough by the A-list cast around him, knowing how and when to push his buttons. *Crisis* hinges on performance, but not necessarily on the shoulders of the actors, at least not simply. The ensemble is used well as dressing, with occasional outbursts of shouting matches and aggressiveness at flexing their chops, but the film stands out from the others of its genre by articulating a specific environment and tone throughout.
Set in Detroit and Montreal primarily, the film is blanketed never with sunshine, but the stark coldness of the region, and cloudy skies of brewing storms. Watching *Crisis* almost felt like getting a pressure-system headache at times, but not in a negative way. This isn’t a hard-to-follow movie, but it is a movie of complex weight and stress. The cinematography only accentuates this, being particularly rich and brisk all around. It’s the most subtle aspect of the film, right in front of Evangeline Lilly.
Lilly plays a former pain-killer addict, who now seeks to understand why and how her son died, and wants retribution for this injustice. Where the other two leading men got dangerously close to clobbering their roles, Lilly performs with a striking resonance that’s as on the spot as one could want. She gets in over her head ever so quietly but not so expertly, as she’s just a suburban mom after all. Still, she does her arc with graceful motion and subtle emotion, even when her character breaks down here and there.
It’s pretty standard fare honestly, lifted up by the sheer will of its cast and the talent behind the camera. Somewhat muddled in its message but accurate in its heart, *Crisis* doesn’t knock down any doors, but does bring to the weekend-watch crowd some excitement inside some real-world problems - something certain members of the acting ensemble know all too thoroughly. So to speak. **3/5**.
***Crisis* is now available to stream.**
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### *Sound of Violence*
Head explosions and silly kills mixed with the obsession of feeling more than the time before. These few aspects help make cinema come to life for a select group who enjoy, well, the little things. Some smell roses, others dig it when *Robocop* blasts a businessman out of a skyscraper window. I personally love it all, with only the slightest of reservations.
*Sound of Violence* receives both love and reservations from this writer, I’m happy to report and afraid to type.
It’s a film about a young female audiophile who, based on a very specific trauma in her early childhood, now kills people to achieve sounds of ecstasy. Sounds… of ecstasy. For her, of course. She sets a trap, she collects her prey, she sets up her microphone, and she gets to work. Pretty simple, right?
Not so much.
Jasmin Savoy Brown plays this young woman as an obsessive so laser-focused, it suggests something stunted or developmentally delayed about her - which makes sense, given the opening minutes of the movie. There’s a pattern of PTSD that follows her and what was of her family, but instead of being haunted by it, she’s invigorated and excited. Indeed, Brown projects from her character some excitable tendencies at the very idea of music and audio projects, especially those concerning her new killer work. And her new work? It gives her such thrills, and such sights.
The moments of *Saw*\-like murders and orgasmic-sensory-overloads, the meat and potatoes of this meal of a motion picture, mash and clash pretty difficultly with the more dramatic and “average” bits, and this may be by design. If so, it’s a bold choice to have a scene of a homeless man being tortured slowly with a meat tenderizer that’s controlled by a DJ station, in the same story as a tender sequence where two women express positive affection for one another. Juxtaposition! Rough edges can still be sharp, you know. But they can also come with tetanus.
The contrasts aren’t really a problem, but the amount of them is. Only once can I recall when a balance is struck, that being when the young woman brings her death music to her college class, and plays a track to a shocked room. They’re all left disgusted, and she’s left embarrassed. At this point in the film, we’ve been privy to some strong “will they/won’t they” scenarios between her and her roommate, the hesitation of which coming entirely from her side. The shock from her classmates translates both to her external self-expression and her internal hidden self. It’s a shame that only one comes out, and it’s the murderous one.
*Sound of Violence* is, above all else, a love story, between two female roommates. It blossoms ever so adorably only to ultimately crash with such felt heartbreak. This heartbreak leads to an ending that I would’ve made up in college in one of my excursions to Waffle House with friends. It’s straight-up from the *Tetsuo: The Iron Man* playbook, if slightly at an angle and maybe not as extreme. Not as extreme, but extreme nonetheless. The film is almost the literal interpretation of that “Tired/Wired” meme on Twitter and elsewhere, and that’s the best way I can describe it. Sometimes it gets lost in its own making, sometimes it triumphs. There’s no in-between.
Played as a concoction of allegory and violent viscerals, inside of which is a landscape of explosive sexual awakening and a painfully realized mix of strength and self-loathing, *Sound of Violence* is a lot to absorb, a lot to think over, and a lot to smile about, even if wickedly. Especially if wickedly. **3/5**.
***Sound of Violence* is now available to stream.**
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### *Censor*
Prano Bailey-Bond’s *Censor* leaps over many bounds to land high on my favorites of the year list - though, if you have a keen eye for such ratings, you’d know that this isn’t too hard to achieve in my case. I’m not difficult to please, but I do seek to be challenged more than anything. Challenged in my tastes, my senses, and my understanding of cinema and what it can be. *Censor* does this, and with much power.
Set in the very real era of England when movies of ill repute - “video nasties” as they were called - suffered from the blame game of the country’s problems. We follow Enid, a stuffy perfectionist of a government censor, whose job it is to review films for violence and sex, and either reject them for viewing or mandate edits to be made. She seems to mandate edits more than reject, suggesting some kind of fondness for the overkill she witnesses day to day. She also comes with the baggage of being traumatized by the disappearance of her sister when they were kids, something which confronts her head-on in a new film she’s tasked with watching.
From there, whatever rails that existed previously are magically removed, and *Censor* barrels into uncharted depths.
To call this Lynchian would be too easy, and to call this acid might be too much. It’s trippy, but not for the sake of it. It’s dreamy, but not without a plan. *Censor* feels so incredibly crafted and constructed, to such a perfect pitch, that it’s scary. Individual scenes and subtle movements will evoke the most detailed of atmospherics, while the collective whole leads to a downward spiral into freakish victory and deviously careful views between the seams.
One such movement is a mere walk down a dark hallway, that bleeds into the next environment with cautious esteem. Enid walks to the camera and turns down a hallway, only for the camera to then walk over and turn with her, slowly following into the darkness. Was the missing sister in the back and front of Enid’s mind watching her for me?
Maybe. Maybe not. But I like to think maybe.
That’s it. I won’t go any further into *Censor* right now, for fear of spoiling too much. A movie of great style and greater substance, all to service a story of thrills and an audience seeking chills.
Challenge accepted. **5/5**.
***Censor* is now playing in** [**theaters**](https://www.prytaniacanalplace.com/movie/censor?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) **and available to stream.**
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### Movies are Lies, and Time Doesn't Make the Heart Grow Fonder (this is not a book title)
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/amusementlight/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:23.000Z
### *All Light, Everywhere*
The resolution of photographs and films from the early days of both inventions always strikes me hard. There’s a beauty to these fragments of time and narratives of mind and memory that can’t ever be compared to modern video. Is it the chemicals used in developing the pictures and movements that accentuate such magic? Is it the controlling eye of the poet holding the camera? The camera itself? It’s argued in Theo Anthony’s latest film essay *All Light, Everywhere* that everything photographed is a kind of lie, or rather a truth that’s different from what the photographer and the observer may intend and perceive respectively. I still wish to believe it’s all in the chemicals and the format, but as is said often, “Wish in one hand, and…”
When I think about old silent films, like *The Great Train Robbery* and the scene of the man firing a gun at the camera, the basic tale of, well, a thief shooting directly at me, comes up. It’s a simple premise that could be contrasted with gimmicks and attractions like 3D presentations, but *All Light* straight up tells us that there are complications inside this simplicity: Where is the camera? Who and what is behind the camera? What is the camera capturing and for what purpose? When all questions are considered, worlds of stories and truths open up and crumble at the same time. Director Theo Anthony bounces from one setting to the next - a body camera manufacturing plant, community surveillance meetings, police training classes, etc - to heavily question various states of control, from what is exerted by the state to those inherent in day to day photography. That gunman in the old movie continues to shoot my way, but there’s a blind spot that I’m not catching. Or can’t catch in the parameters I’ve seen it in.
No, my brain is not hurting nor are my eyes straining.
*All Light, Everywhere* isn’t merely impressive in making a clear argument for thinking past that which we think we see, it’s shocking too. We get a tour of Axon, a company that makes tasers and camera technology for law enforcement, from a very excitable and convincing hypeman. At the start, he opines the virtues of an open floor plan in the main office. “Transparency,” he says. Immediately after, he points to another office that sits above the open one, which is surrounded by dark black windows. The need for these windows at all? To show that some things are best not exposed, he suggests, thus contradicting himself and stating out loud the thesis of the film being made at that moment. At once, we’re seeing stories being formed by all available players: Capturer, device, subject, and observer.
*All Light, Everywhere* isn’t an acid trip, but it is a trip nonetheless, one that is as open-minded as it is confident in argument and form. Theo Anthony’s direction doesn’t command anyone or anything, and doesn’t have to. His film informs through mostly just watching and recording, letting the information gathered speak volumes, only accentuated with an eye for composition and a teasing brain for all that’s in and not in the given frame. It’s pretty stunning.
When a cop can view footage before giving testimony, the tale changes to match what is and isn’t fired upon by the lens. New worlds begin, old ones crumble.
Through subtle and patient camera movement and editorial pacing, and through voice-over confrontation of history’s inconvenient facts, *All Light, Everywhere* captures with grand humility the troubling nature of perception and storytelling, not to mention the weaponization of both. It’s not just the best documentary-like application of Orson Welles’ *F for Fake*, but probably the best film of 2021\. This is no political treatise mind you, as it’s entirely essay and consideration from start to finish.
As a critic, I’m almost confounded as to how a review for this one ought to go, but having just written it, I suppose I have the answer. My answer. My story, or view of it anyway.
Is it a lie? Screenshot this page and consider the angles. Light is everywhere, so expose my blind spot, please. **5/5**.
***All Light, Everywhere* is now playing in theaters.**
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Official still
### *The Amusement Park*
In the heavily animated documentary *Birth of the Living Dead*, where the late great filmmaker provocateur George A. Romero goes over the making of his classic *Night of the Living Dead*, one story of his from early on in his career pokes out from the grave - so to speak. He tells of doing production work for *Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood*, specifically the episode where Rogers has his tonsils removed. We see, rather painstakingly, clips from the show, now with an eye for just how absurdly creepy it all is. Romero then states with a smile how that was the scariest thing he was ever part of.
This sums up Romero to a fault.
His movie *The Amusement Park* does this as well, the film itself and its new status. Having been mostly lost for decades, the good folks at IndieCollect were able to clean it up and restore it, in an *Other Side of the Wind* kind of scenario (though much easier to release). It’s a movie born from a contracted assignment - an educational picture on ageism as wanted by the Lutheran Society - and taken well past its creative extremes, becoming something both on point and completely unexpected. It’s an accomplishment in hired production work, a grand experiment in independent filmmaking with limited resources, and a lesson in how for us to go forward creatively we should look back attentively.
Romero continues to teach.
The movie reminds me of Jim Henson’s *The Cube*, and George Lucas’s early plans for *Apocalypse Now* \- renegades being renegades, in a time of massive change (the late 60s, early 70s). *The Amusement Park* follows an elderly gentleman who, after being warned not to go outside by a disheveled old man in a white room, chooses to step on through and visit an amusement park for a lovely day. Things go downhill quickly, as his time in the park reflects what can be “looked forward to” for all older individuals. This is the story of the film, bookended with two pieces from lead actor Lincoln Maazel who tells us, out of character, the real conditions that will be faced by real people. Indeed.
For this bleeding heart, *The Amusement Park* is as bizarre and terrifying and uncomfortable as any movie can be. The gentleman experiences such abuse and discrimination and ignorance, all while trying to give everyone around him politeness and the benefit of the doubt. Of course, everyone has a limit before being weighted down by punishment. We witness flashes of the Grim Reaper on various rides, almost direct the man around the park, preparing him for an afterlife as unfair as his time on Earth. Crueler than that, employees and customers are either indifferent or aggressively hostile towards him, treating him like trash and cattle in fits and bursts.
It’s amazing too how the location is composed by the photography and the cutting to really emphasize the terror of the amusement industry that goes hidden behind clown makeup and balloons. It outdoes *Escape from Tomorrow* in this manner, never having to add evil graphics to already evil-looking Disney park designs. There’s creepy ambiance and sounds throughout, there’s incredible tension that only compounds with each minute, and there’s startling but simple sadness and tragedy that’s granted by the finish. It’s no wonder the Lutherans turned the film away for being too horrific.
Mind you, this is no Eli Roth venture into torture porn. I didn’t mean that when the word “horrific” came up. I meant that *The Amusement Park* uses our basic fears and anxieties and brings them to the forefront in a place most odd for such things to be experienced, but also most communal as well. I’m thankful Romero didn’t choose a movie theater as the setting.
*The Amusement Park* packs quite the punch, making for an impact that’s more excitable than disturbing. After viewing, I was left wanting to applaud the film and its makers, as it lives both as testament to talent and a landmark of punk before punk. It’s confrontational and great. It’s George A. Romero to a satisfactory conclusion. **5/5.**
***The Amusement Park* is now streaming on Shudder and playing in** [**theaters**](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)**.**
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### Riding and Driving in a (Time) Loop on the "Drunk Bus"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/riding-and-driving-in-a-time-loop/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:24.000Z
From its opening scenes, when the titular bus reveals an ad on its side that reads “Ignite Your Future,” and when a drunk college girl defecates most foul on board, *Drunk Bus* is in absolute comfort at bringing on the heavy familiar notes of youth in crisis and the raunchiness of college “life.” For driver Michael, a young man stuck in a self-stated and self-imposed “time loop,” where everyday night is exactly the same, right down the street lights, this “living” is more or less neither here nor there - it just is. Is it a long-form waiting game, angrily staying still for an ex that just won’t show? Is it punishment for something he didn’t do or offer? In *Drunk Bus*, the answer is all of the above. FML for this guy.
The film’s online description suggests influences from the director’s past experiences, making what happens all the more interesting and dynamic but, even without knowing of its personal attachments, it remains very engaging. Michael, as played by Charlie Tahan, is the proto-every guy, performed with a striking balance of pathetic sadness and tragic moments of shining vulnerability. His role is a tightrope between two evenly aligned traits, but Tahan is game, tapping into our anti-nostalgia for those anxious days of blossoming maturity. Without his commitment to the exhausted protagonist in all of us, we’d be left with paint by numbers. This is a film of two strong personalities, facing down the all too familiar - in story and in production - with courageous fire.
Alternatively on-screen is Michael’s new bus security Pineapple, a punk-ish Samoan with face tattoos and a beaming attitude of intense positivity through aggressive action and intimidation. He’s the ultimate exposure therapy friend, rivaled only by Ferris Bueler himself, but this time played by a man really known as Pineapple. He’s kind and understanding if in our collective faces and rough around the edges. He’s exactly the kick in the ass that Michael needs, spouting off inspirational quotes from Dwayne Johnson and spinning details of a mysterious backstory that only perpetuates his legendary status. I don’t doubt that this man is playing a part in a movie, but conversely, I do doubt that this isn’t a part for him. It’s just him. And that’s amazing, to inflict true reality onto a semi-fictional character. Cross the streams.
Never to drag and never to lose itself in too much style, *Drunk Bus* is near tour de force if not fully fulfilled in that sense. It’s a tight and clever story, elevated by the charms of the two main players, and the clash between what has been told before and what is left to say. The film has much to say and express, but fails to head but us with it all. Things flow and roll pretty naturally, breathing fresh air into the almost adulthood coming of age tale. The environment is the same, but the land is scaped differently. Subtle? Not always, but it’s in the right places.
Dare I suggest that *Drunk Bus* is touching? Effective for sure, but emotionally resonant? And is there harm in admitting this? Yes, yes, and… maybe, but that’s alright. Pineapple would not only approve, but make a demand of it. He’s the most progressive bear of a man I’ve witnessed on this side of the Earth in a long while. If I’m Michael, I’m as terrified as I’m am invigorated and refreshed. That time loop is unforgiving, but having someone in your corner helps, especially when it’s yourself. **4/5**
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### "Royalty Free" Demands Creative Access for All
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/royaltyfree/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:24.000Z
> “Everyday, I get to do a thing.”
Composer Kevin MacLeod isn’t necessarily one to humblebrag about his philosophy towards music distribution, but he’s also not very modest. In the documentary on his music *Royalty Free*, MacLeod’s description of how he feels about his work litters the landscape of his story, a film that is paved with triumph through persistence of vision and a pinch of smugness. MacLeod is certainly not fake, being a clear genuine soul who just wants to create, but if there’s anything that *Royalty Free* gets spot on with its observations on the man, it’s in his stubborn attitude towards art in general.
Does he deserve to go along with it all? Yes indeed.
*Royalty Free* is at its best when it’s covering MacLeod’s work alone. Undoubtedly, we’ve all listened to his music somehow and somewhere familiar. A friend labeled the sounds as “library music,” which might technically be true, but kind of diminishes what’s being done. His compositions range across the spectrum, and are widely available through his [website](https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) as under the Creative Commons attribution(s). It took some years, but MacLeod makes a nice bit of money and gains a nice bit of recognition through his method of self-release. For him, “royalties suck” and art ought to be as accessible as possible. And gosh darn it, his art is quite good.
The documentary excels here, utilizing graphics and key interviews to explain the pros and cons of what MacLeod accomplishes - which can be touchy for other composers and musicians who don’t offer their catalogs as open as he does - and his day to day exercises in creativity. For example, he once re-scored a Cirque Du Soleil performance out of sheer annoyance with their version. He experimented with digital instruments and sounds to change the tone and focus on movies like the original *Nosferatu*, just to show how important music is to film. There’s nothing scatterbrained about him, but there sure is a type of madness going on.
Only in a few instances does *Royalty Free* flail and get muddled, and it’s mostly all at the end. It tries to get under MacLeod’s skin more deeply than before, asking personal questions on mental illness and adversity. In one scene that in any other film would’ve been left on the cutting room floor, the director pushes and pushes MacLeod to express some further emotion, to which MacLeod responds by making a clapboard gesture. The edit obliges, and just transitions back to the music. It’s awkward and out of place, but good intent was there, even if it ground the film to a halt most unnervingly.
Kevin MacLeod is such a great subject for interviewing, and *Royalty Free* really lucked out in holding conversation with him. As personable and likable as he is, the documentary matches him just about exactly - it’s a film of such great heights of positivity and idealism, giving gravity to not just one such bleeding heart, but to all. Does this mean that *Royalty Free* is stubborn too? Not at all. MacLeod puts his foot in his mouth once or twice, and the film doesn’t shy away. When discussing scoring movies, he suggests “ignore the director.” Be careful with that, Kevin. Be careful. **3.5/5**
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### "RK/RKAY" is Lovely and Kind, and That's That
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/rkrkay/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:24.000Z
*Dear Moviegoers,*
*Indeed, the blog/newsletter’s name has been updated once more, and subscription options have been re-added. Enjoy.*
:)
[About](https://www.billarceneaux.com/about?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[Subscribe now](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
---
Official Still
In reading the official press liner notes for *RK/RKAY*, it becomes clear as to what films that the filmmaker used as reference. Woody Allen’s *The Purple Rose of Cairo* comes up, as does the Spike Jonze/Charlie Kaufman *Being John Malkovich*. Indeed, Rajat Kapoor’s meta independent feature - where he plays a version of himself who is then confronted by a created character version of himself - looks like those two and sometimes feels like those two, but is very much from one person’s mind and shared heart. Shared, in how he recognizes that everything is borrowed, and it always takes a village.
With *Purple* *Rose of Cairo*, *RK* connects mostly with the living nature of cinema, changed up here as the act of filmmaking itself instead of the performance of exhibition. It’s romantic very much to the sheer attraction and wonderful reflection that production and editing can bring, and to the catharsis in watching a finished cut. With *Being John Malkovich*, *RK* connects in making the improbable literal, when the imaginary becomes animated all of a sudden. Like flashes of light. These films do share common traits, but in *RK/RKAY*’s case, the difference is big enough to make its own stand. That difference being Rajat Kapoor’s alternates.
This is the story of RK (Rajat Kapoor as himself but maybe not totally himself), a famous actor and director in India who is working on his latest project, where he plays the leading character Mahboob. After coming under schedule and under budget, he finds creative difficulty in the editing room, which manifests when Mahboob escapes the confines of his world and walks into RK’s.
Having read the synopsis beforehand, I was not expecting such a twist. I imagined a more psychological crack happening, as opposed to a more magical one occurring. Still, it was a lovely moment when Mahboob changes his fate and just walks out and wanders. When he eventually meets his maker, it’s no happy introduction. There’s confusion, aggravation, and some anger, which only compounds day by day as Mahboob moves in with RK’s family, and charms everyone around him. Rajat Kapoor as RK and Mahboob must’ve been quite a challenge, as both men couldn’t possibly be more different in outlook and attitude. nor more strongly and tightly connected. No matter the circumstance, Kapoor was most assuredely up for his own task, playing himselves and directing himselves (as himselves too) with natural confidence and passionate effort.
Which man is the id and which is the primary? Is one determining the other’s destiny? Maybe that doesn’t matter, but it’s neat to think about. But, this is no headtrip. For all of the references and influences and logic that appears to be confounding, the film is ultimately pretty simple. Very simple. It may not be basic, but it’s also not too bold.
The title of the film brings up three things in my mind: The director’s name, his character names, and RKO Pictures which, interestingly enough, connects us to Orson Welles, who himself dabbled in the meta and the deeply personal from time to time. It reminds me of Welles describing *The Other Side of the Wind* in *They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead*, specifically how the movie within the movie would be a Welles picture masked as his avatar - or maybe that was vice versa. But audiences need not be too concerned with these predicaments, which likely mean more to the director than anyone else, as *RK/RKAY* is as easy of a watch as movies can get, and more enjoyable than most. The story as a Russian nesting doll of arcs stacked upon one another actually flows exceedingly well, even triumphantly so.
It’s not difficult to love *RK/RKAY* as a critic or as a general moviegoer, since the film isn’t at all speaking above any of us. In fact, it’s not even at all reaching farther than it can see. *RK/RKAY* is certainly lovely, certainly kind, and certainly that’s that. And… that’s ok. Maybe deflating, but ok. There’s an almost zen quality to the film that’s infectious, as it all seems so at peace. It uses past markers as influences yes, but does the film take more than it gives? No. In fact, this is a film about giving, whether it’s in new beginnings or striking ends. And I’m sure Rajat Kapoor’s work has influenced some new beginnings for future filmmakers, giving them ground to launch from. Where he stood, they may build higher. That’s nice. 3.5/5
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### Chris Rock is One Good Part of "Spiral"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/spiral/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:25.000Z
Don’t bite your tongue, people. If *Spiral: From the Book of Saw* is the start of a new side-quel series in some kind of *Saw*\-verse, we can only expect a continuity that swaps the Donnie Wahlbergs for the Chris Rocks, but keeps the same tortured mechanisms - from props to story. Bigger names, suffered plots, same old same old expectations and payoffs. To go boldly into the breach of horror with a clever eye isn’t what the filmmakers usually go for with this, and likely isn’t what most audiences prefer. Just have creepy bad guys put other bad guys in rough contraptions, and let us grab onto our armrests in suspense, please. The gimmicky carnival approach isn’t unheard of or unwelcome, but remove anything from the formula and replace it with next to nothing, and you’ll take a downward dive even further than you thought you would.
There’s a copycat Jigsaw killer out and about, targetting former and current cops for their transgressions, capturing them not so much for “lessons” to be “learned,” but for more twisted reasons, under a veil and facade of insight through pain. Each crime scene that Chris Rock’s detective investigates is brutally visceral and bloody, impressively and excessively so. Familiar horror director Darren Bousman revels in these sequences, lighting and composing them with highlights and atmospherics that are terribly missing from every other scene in the film, which looks and feels mostly ugly but thankfully quick. When Rock approaches a parked car that could potentially hold a clue, there’s a briefly heated color palette with a yellow-ish glow that bathes around him, intensifying the heatwave hovering over the setting and the broiling anger and trauma within his body. Sadly, these bits are few and far between.
Everything in *Spiral* is hinged on Chris Rock’s appearance. Not performance mind you, but appearance. His sheer showing up in a *Saw* film has all of our attention, and no matter how well he acts (and he does a damn fine and fun job), we’re more transfixed by this casting fact than anything else. It’s an interesting kind of exploitation to be sure, one that executive producer Rock participates in gleefully. I’m not against it, but did a *Saw* project, all things considered, need his hook? Or even Samuel Jackson getting hooked up, so to speak? Yes and maybe no, of course. As a moviegoer, sure. As a neither here nor there casual acquaintance of this series… eh. That’s just me.
Beneath all other criticisms of *Spiral*, there’s this unfortunate attempt at having something to “say” going on too. Crime reform, policing policies, racial equity, etc - you’ll get a headache keeping track of what the film feels and what we’re supposed to feel at a given moment. *Spiral* is a stinker of a thinker, going out of its way and over its head in forming a not so eloquent statement on modern times. Stick to the traps of pain, and stay away from the trappings of a message - at least with this kind of movie. It all started with mysteries and twists, so keep that going, no matter how silly they might end up being. As long as the kills are effective, most else will be smoothed over. Keep it simple.
By the very end, I was genuinely laughing out loud at how far off the rails *Spiral* went. It turned into a literal spiral of chaos, only to crescendo as it could: confused brutality with mixed messaging and an exclamation point of punctuation. It was quite a sequence, uncomfortable to watch and to absorb it probably represented, but that last shot of a man screaming in drained terror summed up everything. *Spiral* isn’t good, but it does have less than a handful of good pieces, which ultimately made my first post-vaccination screening an odd joy. Very odd.
It’s borderline offensive to senses and sensibilities, it’s a poor passing of problematic progression, and yet it makes for a decent watch. One decent watch, but still. Sometimes, even the bad flicks can make for a kind of decent pick. Kind of “decent.” **1.5/5**
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### The Broad Returns! | The Monday Reels - 5/3/21
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/mondayreels1/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:27.000Z
### **Dear Moviegoers,**
Photo by [Erik Witsoe](https://unsplash.com/@ewitsoe?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/watching-movies?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText)
What is this? What am I doing?
Why it’s a newsletter of course. Finally!
Reviews, news, links, interviews, essays, suggestions - combinations of all coming today and in future editions!
The Monday Reels, plus other weekly posts.
Enjoy!
:)
*Also: I’m searching for film articles from alternative media writers of Louisiana past, perhaps dating back to the 60s. Any help on this would be wonderful.*
---
### **Reviews: *The Mitchells vs The Machines*** (5/5)**, *The Outside Story*** (5/5)**, *Best Summer Ever*** (4/5?)
Still from *The Outside Story*
Going into **The Mitchells vs. The Machines**, based solely on a few stills and the Phil Lord and Chris Miller attachment, I assumed it would be a pretty meta and hyper romp. Like *The Lego Movie* before it, there is indeed a statement or two being made on expression and creativity. At the center is of course a story about a maturing daughter heading to college - film school, actually - and her father who wishes to connect with her like when she was younger. Mixed in are the rest of her family who root them on and, for good measure, a global robot domination plot. My assumptions were mostly correct, though I’d go a side-step further in concluding thought: *The Mitchells vs The Machines*, packing adorable and dramatic punches throughout, is a film of fireworks and razzle dazzle, that pushes the action of loving support for one another to such great heights. I loved it, absolutely.
When an A.I. assistant is rendered “obsolete” by its manufacturer/creator, pure revenge runs red, and all humans are subsequently collected by robot minions for expulsion into deep space - but at least they have free wifi. It’s up to The Mitchells, the last human holdouts, to save the world, but what will happen after, should they succeed? Does this company get in trouble for its destructive product? We do see some regret from the face of the company, and attempts are made at reconciliation with his now evil program (whom he brushed off rather coldly), but the movie never settles this: The A.I. is now mad, and must be given a kill code.
What I’m getting at is not a negative, but a weird positive. It’s an example of how *Mitchells vs Machines* circumvents (or “subverts”) what we expect to happen, and replaces that with some beautifully constructed consequence within such fantastical scenarios. The world that our main character Katie, who wishes nothing more than to attend college and get on with “her people,” is heading into is one that doesn’t compute with her excellent understanding of movie tropes and standard character arcs. This is the manifestation of her father’s worry for her, that disappointment and failure might be in store.
Everything here is placed upon the shoulders of their conflict with each other, and the ultimate lesson of moving on without moving away registers well. More than well, even. It’s a stunner of a cartoon, with much heart to be felt, much hilarity to be enjoyed, and much headroom for repeat explorations - which is highly recommended.
Not to be completely outdone in the progressive department is the sweet New York neighborhood trek ***The Outside Story***. Bryan Tyree Henry plays a freelance video editor for Turner Classic Movies, who lives the life of a hermit. Even when he was with his girlfriend, played by the outgoing Sonequa Martin-Green, he preferred just being home in a shell of sorts, surrounded by movies and work and takeout. On this day, when his now ex-girlfriend is coming by to pick up her boxes, he accidentally locks himself out of his safe space. With no shoes, little phone battery, little patience, and an assignment coming due, he’s not exactly up for meet and greets with those he lives around.
But meet and greets are up for him.
This film is a delight. Brian Tyree Henry is the everyman protagonist of anxiety and radiating charm, which grows along with his appreciation for his fellow residents. I’ve been waiting to see some more wonder from Henry ever since his turn in *Child’s Play*. Yes, the horror remake. There, he was a cop on the trail of gruesome murders. Here, he’s a neurotic film buff, wishing to get back to being alone. The connection between the two is in how those characters treat their neighbors. At the start of *Outside Story*, while apprehensive, he’s still polite and sweet. He becomes more and more at ease with himself, and assists others in their troubles as they assist him in learning about himself. *Child’s Play* featured pieces of this kindness, but I’m happy to report that it’s all on full display here.
It’s just an overall dose of vitamin c, this movie is. You feel happier and better than before viewing. *The Outside Story* is a film of lovely performances and lovelier attitudes. Brian Tyree Henry and every other cast member, including the spark that is Olivia Edward - the little kid he befriends - are so very incredible in what is a dramedy of relationships and community and self. Kind of *As Good as it Gets*, but dare I say… better?
Then, there’s the spectacular drop of sunshine that is *Best Summer Ever*, produced by the crew at Zeno Mountain Farm, as featured in the documentary *Becoming Bulletproof*. In that behind-the-scenes film, Zeno’s philosophy of inclusion and performance in motion pictures for individuals with disabilities was a revelation. It’s a camp, but also a production house. *Best Summer Ever* is the culmination of all they’ve worked towards, and I love how much attention it and they have been getting.
It’s a musical romantic comedy. Think *Grease* mixed with familiar high school drama beats, and you’ll have an idea of what to expect. Still, expectations should be left at the box office. *Best Summer Ever* isn’t just song and dance, but also a comedy - sometimes subversive even - and genuine joy. The cast is mixed with those who are disabled and those who are not, but everyone is treated as equally as can be, by which I mean some are heroes, some are villains, and some are supporting players with their own stories to be told one day. The level playing field here is one of pure representation, showcasing that anyone can be a sweetheart or a jerk, no matter what. I feel that this is one of the central points of the film, on top of making a fun movie of course.
Fun, if not particularly revolutionary. It doesn’t have to be, but other reviews staking this claim are maybe overhyping what is an above and beyond community picture. It’s awesome to watch indeed - especially the two sports commentators, who just laugh and trash talk almost everything - and does have everyone working together in front of and behind the camera (as showcased in the striking end credits), but I’m just a bit uncertain at this time as to its rating. If a four out of five is where I settle, what prevented me from going all the way? I don’t always have an answer to that, just a feeling that points me to a number.
I noted that *Best Summer Ever’*s greatest achievement is in laying the framework as to what inclusive productions can be like. It’s a go big example for sure, but so what? Get loud, and make demands already. For being so bold alone, the film deserves recognition. For being a blast, it should be watched by as many people as possible, near and far. It could very well make impressions on certain suits and certain hearts.
---
### **Links**
[Movie novelizations](https://www.okwhatever.org/topics/culture/mike-sacks?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) were cool, huh?
“In an age of conglomerate-owned indies and A24ification, [Kotlyarenko](https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/eugene-kotlyarenko-is-telling-gods-honest-truth?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) is unabashedly off-leash, not unlike Andy Warhol with his B-movie pulp.”
The tale of Orson Welles’ “[frozen peas](https://www.wellesnet.com/frozen-peas-the-full-story/?fbclid=IwAR26FaaZQqgVx76mqvN9d0uTwg8AvwZZ%5FmbA8WoAVO9fKWplVrgRJfV8klc&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)” commercial outtake.
Film Crit Hulk on Zack Snyder’s [superhero films](https://www.patreon.com/posts/49444785?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
“The brilliance in [Greene’s documentary](https://www.hammertonail.com/features/greene-bisbee-17/?fbclid=IwAR2C94rBKJC3CNXy6QMTyM1ZzvktMrSXNvZWlupV48H3Wz5XZITz3qEHj2w&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), however, is that you have reenactors showing flickers of comprehension over the injustices inflicted upon others.”
---
### **Q&A: Director Nicholas Jarecki on his film *Crisis***
From the [official trailer](https://youtu.be/9QZr8wLPUlA?t=44&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
***Crisis* is a moral thriller set in the opioid era of the war on drugs. What’s the difference, for you, between a movie like *Traffic* and your latest film?**
*Traffic* was a seminal film that looked at the cocaine problem with an emphasis on the Mexican border. It operates in the tradition of the great multi-narrative pictures like *21 Grams*, *LA confidential*, and more. These movies have their roots perhaps in the work of the director Robert Altman who inspired us all with multi-plot classics like *Nashville*. As these films have become more rare today through the emphasis on television, I wanted to harken back to this kind of storytelling because it can put a spotlight on social issues seeing how we are all connected and the problems we face together.
I think *Crisis* has a unique focus on the domestic troubles we have with opioid regulation, and the power of big companies like pharmaceutical manufacturers to have so much impact on the American people. While we deal with cross-border issues in Canada, really we focus on the impact to users and their loved ones, and that’s a worldwide problem.
**Stories of this ilk can easily fall into traps of preachiness and redundancy. In your roles as writer and director, what difficulties if any did you come across with conceiving and executing this film without getting caught up in these traps?**
I’m never a big fan of villains in films, especially when we deal with issues that confront us as a people. It’s too easy to point the finger and say “those are the bad folks responsible.”
Usually, social problems like drug addiction and opioid promotion are rooted in a cultural issue, how we tend to react as a society to things we want. Is there a magic pill to make life troubles easier?
Given this, I thought it was important to give voice to the position of certain pharmaceutical companies which may be that any progress made is good progress, even if it isn’t perfect. I also wanted to explore the good that law enforcement tries to do even in a failing war on drugs, and I always love the anti-hero films from the 70s and their conflicted characters. I tried to draw my leads including Evangeline Lilly‘s vigilante as complex and not easily defined heroes. Like Gary Oldman’s whistleblower, she considers herself to be doing the wrong things for the right reasons.
**All things considered with the genre of this picture and the red flags now associated with star Armie Hammer, has the distribution and release process been different and perhaps more careful this time than with your other films?**
As a filmmaker, I really try to focus on the movie! My first job is just to deliver you a good entertainment and an enjoyable experience. That’s where the majority of my energy goes since it’s difficult to achieve even that and the audience is always the judge of whether you serve them properly.
Independent film distribution has been challenging for quite some time. How do you get non-standard films out into the marketplace and get any real attention for things that are not easily understood premises and films that try to ask larger questions? this is something we have been struggling with for a while. The rise of streaming has helped in some ways and hurt and others. For instance, I think it’s more difficult than ever to get an independent film into theaters, and the pandemic certainly didn’t help.
That was the major challenge for us, how to build awareness during the pandemic, and even if audiences would want to watch a story about opioid abuse with so many other troubles in the world going on. But I think they demonstrated a high level of interest in this topic, because everyone knows somebody involved with addiction. That, more than the issues of any cast member or the screening format was what mattered.
We’ve been lucky to have excellent performance with audiences seeking out the film because it speaks to them on some level. They’ve helped the film reach number one on iTunes and earn high grosses in theaters as we continue to open around the world where they are available.
Ultimately, I think the public is a good judge of what moves them, more than any distributor, technology system, or cultural writer. They vote with their dollars and they do what matters to them. I felt the film would have a life because addiction crosses all walks of life. Everyone has a friend or family member that has had trouble at some point. These are real issues we need to face and hopefully the film advances that discussion in some way.
**The *Crisis* cast is filled with pretty high-profile talent. How does a director handle such an ensemble, and how much is creative compromise part of the production process?**
I’ve been very lucky throughout my career to work with wonderful actors, from Richard Gere in *Arbitrage* to Susan Sarandon, Brit Marling, Nate Parker, Tim Roth, and in this film such an incredibly diverse array of talent. I’m a big believer in rehearsal and exploration with the cast. They bring so much to their roles, and I like to work with them during the exploration process in an improvisational fashion, to see what they want to add to the text.
From there we distill it and they bring it to life on set. As a director, you’re lucky because you have the editing room as yet another step in the creation and I even like to bring my actors in there to share their ideas.
As far as compromise, it isn’t with the actors; they are always a joy. The issue is always time because it’s a function of money and you’re working in independent film with a limited budget. So it’s always a race against the clock and what can you get before the sun goes down since you can’t come back tomorrow. That said, these challenges often have a way of forcing you to think more creatively and I believe it’s true that these limitations often result in a stronger picture.
**What’s your favorite whistleblower movie, and why?**
I really love *The* *China Syndrome* with Jane Fonda and Jack Lemmon, two of my favorite actors. It also has a strong early performance from its producer Michael Douglas. I like the idea of Lemmon as a man so consumed with blowing the whistle that he’ll actually take the whole place hostage. I think you can see I like extreme characters, who act boldly and decisively and perhaps a little wild. There’s something exciting in watching that in a movie. Some of these problems we face, like the opioid issue, don’t lend themselves to easy solutions. We’ve got to fight to fix them because they’re hurting so many that we love. When I was making this film I heard a phrase in my head sometimes that said: “maybe if you want to change the rules you have to break the rules.” At least in a movie— why not?!
***Crisis* is now available on VOD and DVD.**
---
### **News Brief(ly)**
After over twelve months of being [closed](https://www.nola.com/entertainment%5Flife/movies%5Ftv/article%5Fe89dbf36-cde2-11ea-956f-a3560bdb599b.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), New Orleans’ Broad Theater has [reopened](https://mailchi.mp/thebroadtheater/httpsmailchimpthebroadtheaterthe-broad-theater-newsletter-12120-half-brothers-the-prom-ma-raineys-black-bottom-2573330euniqid?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). While audience capacity will be at 50% for the time being, the programming and long wait for neighborhood showtimes to return, ought to bring dedicated moviegoers back. Their outdoor venue [The Broadside](https://broadsidenola.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) continues to host musical performances and some film screenings, now with relaxed mask rules due to [CDC updates](https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/27/health/cdc-mask-guidance-fully-vaccinated-bn/index.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) on those who’ve been vaccinated, and the state’s subsequent dropping of its [mask mandate](https://www.theadvocate.com/baton%5Frouge/news/politics/legislature/article%5Fee86ee3c-a789-11eb-b398-8fabb5499c91.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
Meanwhile, former Broad Theater manager Michael Domangue is preparing the launch of his movie club [The New Vitascope Film Society](https://www.newvitascope.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). His group will be setting up out of Twelve Mile Limit for the time being, with a film series based on celebrity Kings of Bacchus, from past Mardi Gras celebrations. Support is encouraged on their [Patreon page](https://www.patreon.com/NVitascope?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) (Full disclosure: I’m a patron).
And Film Prize Jr, “The South’s largest student film festival,” which took place in mid-April, have announced the [finalists and winners](https://filmprizejr.com/winners/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) of their event. Awards were given to filmmakers across Middle Scool and High Scool categories, whose works can still be viewed on the official website.
---
### **Showtime Suggestions**
***Theaters***
[Prytania - Uptown](https://www.theprytania.com/prytaniatheatre?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com): *Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street*
[The Broad](http://www.thebroadtheater.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com): *About Endlessness*
[Prytania - Canal Place](https://prytaniacanalplace.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com): *Army of the Dead*
[Zeitgeist](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com): *Berlin Alexanderplatz*
***Streams***
[Mubi](https://mubi.com/films/labyrinth-of-cinema?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com): *Labyrinth of Cinema*
[Louisiana Film Channel](https://louisianafilmchannel.com/programs/new-orleans-mon-amour?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com): *New Orleans, Mon Amour*
[Tubi](https://tubitv.com/movies/514713/american-hero?start=true&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com): *American Hero*
[Means TV](https://means.tv/programs/rukus?categoryId=20464&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com): *Rukus*
---
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Until next time…
:)
### Float On: "Paint" and "Touch"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/floaton/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:28.000Z
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### ***Paint***
Official Still
*Paint* is about a trio of young artists living in NYC, who must navigate their work, their business, and themselves, while attempting to stay true to their own creative ideals. From school, they’ve set forth to an epicenter of civilization, only to struggle in adapting and compromising to this new world. This real world. As a critic of art, I can certainly see the promise of another coming of age movie about young bohemians - no matter if they’re naturals or wannabes - as these stories do tend to ring a bell with those of my ilk. But do excuse me if I experience another *Art School Confidential* headache, even if it’s ever so mild.
No, *Art School Confidential* wasn’t bad. It rubbed me the wrong way, yes, but I feel that this sensation was intended. That the film was built to annoy. And that, I can appreciate with a smile.
*Paint* isn’t annoying so much as it’s generally bland and mixed up. Here and there are moments of provocation and confrontation that could’ve forced some much-needed movement out of our three stuck-in-their-own-muds (forgive my maybe cuteness), but instead are left in as brief interludes that changed nothing. This, I can only tilt my head at with a frown.
Can it be turned right-side-up?
This is a movie hinged on its characters and their complications: A young man working on a project involving his mother; his friend, helping the project along but getting too close; and their female friend, dealing in self-sabotage and self-destruction. *Paint* has all of the makings for a classic drama of personal and inner conflicts, all interesting in their own ways. And the performances are pretty strong too, especially that of Olivia Luccardi, who pulls such harmful energy and unwieldy passion from her character Kelsey. While the film does get too oblong for its own good, her role alone pieces enough together around her to hold on well for the duration. We may end the story on Quinn, the ever-broke and self-righteous guy who the movie kind of picks as its zen center, but the spirit belongs to Luccardi’s Kelsey, the wild card always on edge but always wishing to do better and do right - if it wasn’t for the cycle she’s usually in.
Again, there is conflict and, with that, darkness. *Paint* may lose its flame one time too many, but it does know when to light the candle, and who to do it with. There is blandness, sure, but it’s never boring. One scene in particular, where a drug exchange gets too personal and too scary for one of the leads involved, cements this. The film has the ability to push buttons and generate conversation greatly, though following up is its main hurdle. Interestingly, as a whole, it has a lot in common with Kelsey’s personality.
A wonderful element, or a happy accident? Doesn’t matter. My frown has leveled out a bit. It’s ok.
---
### ***Touch***
Official Still
No matter anyone’s opinion, once you’re the first at something, your name is written into history. Filmmaker Aleksandra Szczepanowska is the first Western woman to direct an independent film in China, and nobody can or should take that accomplishment away. Her latest film however - shot and set in China - *Touch*, comes very close to, at the very least, erasing critical goodwill, I’m afraid.
Szczepanowska performs behind and in front of the camera, as both director and as main character Fei Fei, a married woman in the midst of domestic drama. There is a sense of control that Szczepanowska weilds well across both roles, having to be in command of herself, her character, her movie, and everyone else. She clearly has strength in expression, playing her role with sad grace and desperate anxiety in many fits and bursts, and confidence in the story she’s responsible for as its creator. And her character Fei Fei, a western white woman wanting to become a permanent Chinese citizen, has a pretty unfamiliar and striking arc suggested. It’s in everything else where her film falls apart.
She plays a woman who’s torn between two men, her wealthy husband and her blind massuese. One provides her with a comfortable life, and the satisfies her more intimate wanting. Never does *Touch* go full sensual though. In fact, this is a mostly prudish film, tip-toeing around sensations associated with massage, physical contact, interactions, etc. We weave in and out of her double lives by way of a mostly wandering camera, shooting everything with an eye and ear for the moment its currently in. This style only works in a few instances, notably around the ending, where the story takes the hardest turn I’ve seen in quite some time. And the editing? Rough, as if cut with an old razor. Scenes end too soon, some too long, and sometimes we never know if what we’re seeing is literally happening or in proper sequence. This does sow doubt in our minds towards Fei Fei’s grasp on reality, but that may have been unintentional.
Indeed, there is a turn that happens with neck-breaking speed, tripping *Touch* from drama into horror most intensely. Expectations go out the window, and the film begins a freefall from which it doesn’t recover. All bets are off, and nothing afterward makes any sense. Tension? Lost. This genre swap has an unprecedented feeling to it, as I’m not sure I’ve witnessed anything like it in a movie before. Usually, there’s a tonal throughline that assists in transitioning from one track to the next, but *Touch* skips every beat and just does the dirty. Bold, but again it’s likely unintentional.
Technically, watching *Touch* was fun. It was never all that clear what was around the corner, it was progressively incoherent, and I could, without hesitation, press play again just to confirm it all. This doesn’t mean that it’ll go over the same way with anyone else, but I suspect most honest reactions won’t be too far off. *Touch* may not be good, but it is memorable. And for Szczepanowska, no critical goodwill should be taken away.
Seriously, I’m ready for her next efforts.
---
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:)
### Best, Brightest, Or What?: "Beast Beast" and "The Glint of Darkness: Revolution"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/beastglint/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:29.000Z
***Movies Du Monde* is paywall-free, but is easier to produce with support from moviegoers all over. If you like what you read here, be sure to share and sign up. If you like what you read, do** [**subscribe**](https://www.moviesdm.substack.com/subscribe) **or** [**leave a tip**](https://www.paypal.me/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)**. All feedback is welcome, so don’t hesitate to** [**reach out**](https://www.twitter.com/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)**!**
---
### ***Beast Beast***
Still from *[Beast Beast](https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/beast-beast.jpg?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)*
For the first two-thirds of *Beast Beast*, there’s this overwhelming sense of impending doom, spread across the lives of its three main characters - two high schoolers and a young man. It recalls the power of films like *Dark Night*, which worked similarly as a mystery: Who is going to be the one to crack first, and how hard will they fall through? The tension is almost unbearable at times, but when it finally reaches its climax, everything… goes medium. Not flat or face-first, just equal to where it already was and will lead to. The tone is maintained, but it never rises or relaxes. It’s just a straight line.
Each of the main players involved come from complicated homes, are terribly creative, and are dealing with the pent-up frustrations that are so prevalent for younger adults. Emotions run high, and so do their actions, which can easily determine the course for their future. A boy, a girl, and a young man. A shy skateboarder, an enthusiastic and bubbly actress, and an amateur how-to Youtuber focused on gun safety. There’s this central aspect of performance and documentation that circles around the three, each with their own way of expression and their own relationship with what they do. They want to be seen and recognized, feeling accomplished and accepted. In the end, this is what we all want.
*Beast Beast* tries for relevancy and does reach it, but at the expense of being borderline mediocre. It’s a notch above, relying on the power of its actors to carry on, but the film doesn’t fully engage to any other level, nor does it want to surprise and excel - at least not in an above and beyond way. Not mediocre, but not altogether exciting either. It doesn’t have to excite mind you, but the resolution is built to such a high closing release, that anything other than an explosive and true finale would feel like potential missed. And that’s what happens.
The movie introduces to the world Shirley Chen, whose story isn’t just the pin holding everything together, but is indeed the shining spot. Her role is that of an acting student, preparing for a play at school and experiencing a sweet first love in her real life. She’s excitable and kind, but brews many emotions under her skin. Unlike the two male main characters, her emotional baggage is more unwieldy: Her home is neither broken nor neglectful nor unsupportive. She’s just a bundle of nerves, trying to be the best depiction of her class assignment as possible. What Chen brings is more than just lived-in - I suspect that she really was an acting student in school - it’s honest. Chen is playing it likely as herself, but it’s a version of herself that feels previously hidden from the world and locked up out of vulnerable fear. Fear of being hurt, and fear of hurting.
Here, she’s going for both. And once she does, unwieldy turns to heightened focus, attacking like a laser.
The film goes a long way in making us care for the three, especially the skateboarder Nito, played with generosity and shy charm by Jose Angeles. He’s absolutely affecting, again by being an open version of his own self. The same can be said for Will Madden’s Adam, the third player in this drama. If *Beast Beast* is grand at anything, it’s in pulling truth out of these connected individuals, and in making all of us empathize honestly with them, no matter what they do. It’s wonderfully magical in this way, without any trick attached. Unfortunately, aside from some good pacing and lovely cinematography, this is where the grandness stops.
*Beast Beast*’s final third loses its way, and loses us a bit too. It’s not an embarrassment of an ending, but rather a steady and too-even line. Nothing more or less, nothing gained or taken away, just a finish that doesn’t live up to everything good prior to it. It’s oblong. It’s just kind of ok. It’s what it is.
---
### ***The Glint of Darkness: Revolution***
Official Still
Awfulness comes in many unfortunate forms. With *The Glint of Darkness: Revolution*, it arrives in a most boring if well-intentioned one.
From what I understand, *Glint of Darkness* was made by an engineer who wishes to make bigger budget actioners. It’s from a dreamer out of India, who likes thrillers and fighting flicks. This is clear in watching the short fifty-minute film, but so is an inability to shoot and cut together something exciting or coherent.
The movie rolls along in beautifully filmed black & white, lit with a sense of place and an eye for coolness. It also stumbles every few but close together steps, with difficult and choppy technical gaffes, with action sequences devoid of comprehension from all angles and perspectives, and with bursts of silly exposition that feels tacked on at the last minute, only to let us in on very little to what’s possibly happening.
*Glint of Darkness* appears to be about a big conspiracy involving a group of spy super soldiers and the investigative journalists looking to expose them, but really is just people moving from parking garage to street corner, talking in empty statements and lacking emotions about hard drives and danger. This danger often involves men who confront, chase, and slightly fight the so-called protagonists, but usually end up being poorly choreographed and confusing slap fests, ending in awkward walk-offs and uncomfortable jump-cuts to the next scene. The film feels both unfinished and ill-produced, misguided and in over its own head.
I’ve read that the filmmaker wishes to make more movies, longer with larger stakes and designs. Don’t we all wish to go bigger and better. Sadly, passion doesn’t always come out well in what we make, and sometimes we jump before being ready for the fall. *Glint of Darkness* has some well-lit and stunning shots that impress highly, but makes no real sense and is only a hair away from shot-on-video backyard cinema - though, in those movies, there’s at least eagerness to put on quite a show. *Glint of Darkness* feels hesitant and anxious on top of being ignorant in how best to tell its story. Passion can go a long way, but it must be reflected back to us somehow. It can’t ever be left to chance or good intentions.
---
***Movies Du Monde* is paywall-free, but is easier to produce with support from moviegoers all over. If you like what you read here, be sure to share and sign up. If you like what you read, do** [**subscribe**](https://www.moviesdm.substack.com/subscribe) **or** [**leave a tip**](https://www.paypal.me/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)**. All feedback is welcome, so don’t hesitate to** [**reach out**](https://www.twitter.com/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)**!**
### From Pan to Pan: "In the Earth"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/intheearth/
Last updated: 2021-04-19T12:30:16.000Z
***Movies Du Monde* is paywall-free, but is easier to produce with support from moviegoers all over. If you like what you read here, be sure to share and sign up. If you really like this, please do** [**subscribe**](https://www.moviesdm.substack.com/subscribe) **or** [**leave a tip**](https://www.paypal.me/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) **\- you’ll get access to comments and discussions. All feedback is welcome, so don’t hesitate to** [**reach out**](https://www.twitter.com/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)**!**
---
### ***In the Earth***
Official Still
It shouldn’t always be up to a Lars Von Trier or a Werner Herzog to express just how actively and aggressively negative nature can be to humanity - when it’s not being indifferent, I mean. What lurks in the heart of men can easily be found in isolation, deep in the greenest of shrubbery and the vastness of land. Director Ben Wheatley’s approach to such territory appears to be to take psychedelics and hope for the best or, at least, a learning experience - for both characters and audiences alike. He’s not doing anything by way of Gaspar Noe, tripping us all into the visual horror of “enhanced” living, but rather exalting in the beautiful terror of the natural Earth.
If Von Trier is eerily at ease, if Herzog is stoic, and if Noe is impatient when it comes to this understanding, Wheatley is just happy to see it all go down.
Not in flames, mind you, but for it all to happen. To witness or, in the case of *In the Earth*, to create.
While it was made in near secret during our ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, limited to four main actors and one main setting - the woods - likely as a resourceful tactic for ventilation and an ironic one in b-movie vibes (shooting in nature has been a bane and a boon for no-budget schlock filmmakers), the film is loud about everything we’ve all been dealing with and observing since 2020\. It’s set at a time of a similar viral strain, where coming close to out-of-the-way villages and buildings brings upon everyone with sanitary equipment, health surveys, and blood tests. Immediately, with no question, some annoyance, and absolute compliance, they allow themselves to be sprayed down with some chemical agent. These moments are funny if only out of real frustration of this being familiar, cathartic out of virtue of the more extreme measures taken. One can only hope that the sprays are not derived from many decades past (DDT is safe, kids!).
A scientist and a park ranger go on a hike into the woods, to drop off some supplies at a research station. The running theme here is isolation, as this first couple of people have experienced personal trauma with having to be left on their own for intervals of time, only to be thrust back into limited conversation and relationship with others of the same pain, on a trip of further isolation. It’s as if the planet is laughing at us, as we go from frying pan to frying pan, struggling to cook or be cooked. Struggling for a finish. For an end. Is *In the Earth* the stove? Sure.
It’s uncertain if the film is mythologizing our collective experience with disease and death here, and if so what that ultimately means for the tale and for the movie from a moral standpoint, but it’s clear that it’s a jumping-off point for pure survival and occasional torture of the senses. When things go bad to worse, from light and sound overload to amputation, from pseudo-spirituality to pseudo-science, we’re shocked to the level of cringe and to the response of straight-jacket laughter. *In the Earth* works as a morbid comedy of harmful errors, while also diving into the business of shared fear for the uncharted, for the unexpected, for the lived-with, and for the lived-in. On the surface, it’s pandemic. Under the dirt, it’s the nuts and bolts of that which makes us all wake up in a fright and walk around in an anxious daze.
One could confuse *In the Earth* as exploitation, but this would be a jagged interpretation and a major deviation. It and its filmmaker may revel in the darkness of our environment (of our making or of what we live within), but the film never suggests that it’s a devious porn. Rather, I’d compare it more closely to a creature feature than anything, if a stylish and more genuinely scary one. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s sad (and/or both at the same time), and more often it’s thrilling by way of horror. An exquisite b-movie, it is.
What is the world doing to us? What have we done to it? Are we doomed? Who's to blame? When will it end?
Make it end by whatever means!
Only Peter Graves can save us, but he’s no longer around.
When does the UFO crash?
*In the Earth* is a playset, and the kid at the helm is a step ahead of his parents and doctors. Acting out? Maybe, but it’s not from anger or from a place of disobedience. It’s from his imagination, and he’s seen more CNN than Sesame Street as of late.
---
***Movies Du Monde* is paywall-free, but is easier to produce with support from moviegoers all over. If you like what you read here, be sure to share and sign up. If you really like this, please do** [**subscribe**](https://www.moviesdm.substack.com/subscribe) **or** [**leave a tip**](https://www.paypal.me/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) **\- you’ll get access to comments and discussions. All feedback is welcome, so don’t hesitate to** [**reach out**](https://www.twitter.com/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)**!**
### Poet A Scribe Called Quess Talks About Struggles Under Oppression In His New Film
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/quesstime/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:31.000Z
### **Q&A: A Scribe Called Quess, Poet from** [***Many Fires This Time***](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/many-fires-this-time-we-the-100-million-film-premiere-tickets-149610036647?utm-medium=discovery&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&aff=escb&utm-source=cp&utm-term=listing&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
**Bill Arceneaux:** What does the James Baldwin-inspired title Many Fires This Time mean to you and to We the 100 Million?
**A Scribe Called Quess:** For me personally, Uncle Jimmy is a literary ancestor, elder, godfather. So, when I was searching for a good title for the movie, I literally looked over my shoulder while sitting at my desk and saw his book on my bookshelf, “The Fire Next Time.” It made me remember something that I’ve thought for years, since the early 2000s when I first read it and got into his work, which was that we were living in that fire that he spoke of. But in light of the last few year’s developments, I really had to say that fire was manifest manifold. There are many fires this time. It ain’t just the uprisings against racialized violence (and for that matter, yesteryear’s struggles weren’t limited to just that either). But now it’s every facet of racialized violence from dilapidated infrastructure to environmental racism to housing scarcity. And it’s multiethnic in its onslaught which is to say every so-called race gets it and even working-class and poor white people too.
When we really look at it, it’s always been this way. Even yesteryear had several resistance movements (the American Indian Movement, the Chicano Pride movement, the Young Patriots, the feminist movement, and Gay Pride movement) that were all bolstered by the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. But in this season, it seems that people are starting to understand a little more clearly (I’d like to hope) how connected our struggles are. And this lends itself to the possibility of mass mobilization like we saw last year. So, for the 100 million people and growing—it’s actually more like 140 million now—living in economic insecurity, it’s a bit more possible for us to zoom out and see each other as kindred in struggle and build solidarity from there.
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**BA:** The movie ebbs and flows wonderfully with the words and sensations of the poets featured, cutting in and out with the faces and actions of silent characters. What is it about poetry that works so well across the full spectrum of art, from text to film?
**Quess:** I like to get a little biblical—or better yet, spiritual on that one. “In the beginning there was the word, and the word was with God.” All of the oldest spiritual traditions have upheld the power of the spoken word as a gateway to (or from) the heavens, as a conduit to our greatest power as humans. One of the oldest religious traditions, Yoruba or IFA from the area we now call Nigeria, had several words for that power. One of them is *afose* which basically translates to the power of the word. Their word for light was *ala*. Their word for magician was a contraction of the two: *alafose*. So a magician was literally someone whose words shed light. Somewhere between my traditional Christian understanding of the written and spoken word, and the understanding I glean from African spiritual traditions, I look at poets as conjurers of divine light gleaned from our highest levels of vibration and understanding. The word is our tool to wield that light. Where *Many Fires* is concerned, it informed Jason (Foster)’s videography, Jeremy (Guyton)’s choreography, free (feral)’s scoring. It’s said that poets are the midwives of reality. We birth consciousness with the word. And the rest of the collaborating artists walked that consciousness into new forms… sound, light, movement.
**BA:** Organizing against economic inequity is a major challenge all the time, absolutely. What gets people to act, for themselves and for others?
**Quess:** I think people are motivated by their material conditions. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. So imagine what desperation will get you. When systems fail you, when worse yet, they violently assault you, you have to invent defense and ultimately a new system that serves you. That’s what makes you stand for you and those you identify with. But the key in getting folks to stand with and for others is making them see their own struggle in others’. To expand the lens of identity.
To understand the commonalities in our struggles if for nothing else by understanding the commonalities in the sources of our oppression. When we can identify not just ourselves, but the systems oppressing us and call them by name: hetero-patriarchy, classism, racism, capitalism—and understand how each of those systems builds off of each other to form the multi-layered oppressions we contend with today, well then we can understand how our liberation is caught up in each other just as much as our struggle. How none of us are free until all of us are.
The movie was built off of processes that honor that knowledge. Processes like story circles, passed on to us by our late great New Orleanian ancestor John O’ Neal who used stories to help us see one another in each other’s lives. He did this with the Free Southern Theater back during the Civil Rights era and passed those skills down to the good folks at Junebug Productions who introduced me to the story circle method along with John himself. I literally not only went back to some of my old Junebug collaborators (like Jason, Jeremy and free) to make this film with me, but I also used story circles as well as Augusto Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed pedagogy to conduct workshops with folks around the country as we built this. The goal was to get folks to see and hear one another’s struggles through story and theater games. And in the end, we hope they’ll all see a bit of each other’s connected struggles in the final film. We hope this builds solidarity. Or at least plants the seeds for it.
**BA:** At one point, the topic of information access is brought up, highlighting a 1% strategy of buying community publications just to shut them down and cut off the spigot of news and coverage that connects people to everyone and everything. What can readers and journalists do to combat these takeovers?
**Quess:** Support independent media and grassroots organizing that is not funded by big capital. These are the voices we’re trained to look away from by the big multi-media conglomerates that run the world’s entertainment. There are literally only [5 major companies](#slideid=52525096) that have monopolized modern media. And their vice grip control trickles down to the smallest levels of communication just like big banks and corporations do. It’s basically imperialism on the media front. Better yet, it’s imperialism’s media arm because all of these big companies are beholden to or in business with the same big banks and corporations that control the material resources of the globe through imperialism. So, it’s in their interests to perpetuate the narratives of materialism and consumerism rooted in hetero-patriarchal and racist ideals that ultimately uphold capitalism and oppress and divide the working class. It’s in our interest as working-class people to tell our stories to each other honestly, to politically educate ourselves to shed the baggage of ruling class ideology, and as we discover our truest selves and tell those stories, to continually support each other’s independent grassroots work in pushing those stories out to the world.
*Many Fires This Time* is an attempt at doing such. But there are many more. And in order for them to succeed in getting out into the world and changing the narratives, the people’s values need to be aligned with freedom struggle, with anti-capitalism, anti-racism, and against all forms of oppression towards a more liberatory politic that grants economic equity and access for all and the end to all forms of specialized oppressions designed to divide us. Only with a more clear and politically informed mindset will we be capable of making informed decisions about what we lend our ears, eyes, attention and power to. Once we have that though, the necessary collective knowledge of self, we can work towards creating the material world we want and need much less the media that reflects it.
**BA:** I loved how advocates and individuals of various backgrounds were met with and let into this project for participation. What difficulties are there in opening up and getting involved with those you may disagree with on some or many issues?
**Quess:** It’s a lot of what I mentioned in the last answer. Which is the challenge of releasing the baggage of ruling class ideologies. There may be white folks who don’t like me or distrust me because of what they’ve heard about Black folks. I may feel the same about them. But when we can dig deep enough through story exchange to acknowledge that the same capitalist system hell-bent on greed and exploitation that’s disenfranchising them of their homes and jobs in Kentucky due to Big Pharma replacing Big Coal for example, is the same one disenfranchising me and my people of a football field of wetlands every 100 minutes in Louisiana while creating environmental crises like Cancer Alley that creates neighborhoods like Gordon Plaza (the 2nd highest cancer-causing neighborhood in our state) and in Louisiana it’s all due to Big Oil and the petrochemical industry, well then we can see that we have a common enemy. A common source of oppression—the rich white ruling class. And when we can understand that that class has been around since this country’s inception (and even beyond) and has deployed the false ideology of white “supremacy” (actually rooted in notions of inferiority and manifest as the toxicity that is our present system/circumstance) then we can peel back the illusions and establish a shared understanding. Understanding can breed solidarity and then we can work together in such.
**BA:** In this film, I observed a certain power in the sharp-edged and assertive spoken word performances, which says to me that the best time to act and to speak is now. Is this ultimately what *Many Fires This Time* hopes to convey?
**Quess:** Yes. It’s always now. I’m glad you got that from the film.
---
Register for free to experience the online premiere of *Many Fires This Time* on April 24th, 2021 - featuring the film, moderated panels, and a Twitch dance party - [here](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/many-fires-this-time-we-the-100-million-film-premiere-tickets-149610036647?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
### Author Ben Beard Answers Questions on Southern Fried Cinema
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/benbeard/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:31.000Z
***Movies Du Monde* is paywall-free, but is easier to produce with support from moviegoers all over. If you like what you read here, be sure to share and sign up. If you really like this, please do** [**subscribe**](https://www.moviesdm.substack.com/subscribe) **or** [**leave a tip**](https://www.paypal.me/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) **\- you’ll get access to comments and discussions. All feedback is welcome, so don’t hesitate to** [**reach out**](https://www.twitter.com/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)**!**
---
### **Q&A:** [**Ben Beard**](https://www.bwbeard.com/about?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)**, Author of** [***The South Never Plays Itself***](https://bookshop.org/lists/books-of-moviegoing-interest?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
**Bill Arceneaux:** The pen being mightier than the sword so to speak, what part do movies play in the understanding of the American South, for both Southerners and non-Southerners alike?
**Ben Beard:** The South is a real place, and it’s also an invented idea.
This is the starting point of my book. The idea comes to us from dozens of sources, but movies were such a powerful cultural force in the 20th Century, I’ve chosen to focus on them. (I also love cinema, almost as much as life itself. And writing about early 20th Century drama isn’t as sexy or exciting.) The early movies dealing with the South as often as not gave us nostalgia for something that never existed, a pre-Lapsarian Eden.
I wrote this book in part to work through my own ambiguous feelings towards my home. I was born in Georgia, grew up in Florida, and educated in Alabama. I didn’t get north of the Mason-Dixon line until I was in my 20s. I set out to write a fun-to-read alternative history of the movies, focusing on the South and its representation. I ended up with an alternative history of the South itself. Only in America. As Scorsese put it, numerous times, our movies, ourselves.
The early Hollywood moguls—to a man, born poor, Jewish, and foreign-born, except for Harry Cohn—were empire-builders, myth-makers. For reasons both simple and complex, they bought into a vision of America that they knew was false, sold a set of myths, about the South in particular, that cemented a number of notions into the minds of the viewing public.
There was even a sub-genre of plantation films in the 1930s; Langston Hughes even wrote one, *Way Down South*, and it is a wild, Dionysian movie. Most of these films, including *The Cabin in the Cotton*, detail a way of life that was laid back, pleasurable, and filled with contentment, almost always overlooking the enslaved people who did all the work and suffered murder, assault, dismemberment, and physical and psychological oppression.
The lies were often by omission, but this doesn’t make them any less harmful. Which brings us to *Gone with the Wind*. Margaret Mitchell wrote the novel as a defense of her heritage, as she saw it, and as an attack on the mainstream narrative of the Civil War. She knew what she was doing. She framed the story of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler as emblematic of the South. A gun-runner and a plantation owner. Does anyone really identify with these two characters? We do. In part because the film is so well made, the art and costume design of MGM, the lighting, the sets, all with David Selznick frantically micromanaging every setup and every scene, writing memos on every frame of film, and shooting some 80 hours of footage. (A diet of Benzedrine, cigarettes, and bananas will do that to you.)
The movies give us a number of simplistic lenses to view the South. The South as another country. The South as a violent, racist backwater. The South as abandoned by God. The South as a playground for the landed rich. The South as a haven for a better, simpler way of life. The South as a place filled with religious crazies. Okay, this last one is kind of true.
The point: the South as we conceive of it doesn’t exist without the movies. No one sets a film in a Southern milieu unless they want to comment on the South itself, or as often as not, use the setting as an extra character, causing mischief or violence or just plain weirdness in the background.
The movies often treat the South as a monolithic thing, as if the beaches of Miami and the farms of the Mississippi Delta have anything in common, or the raucous blues clubs in Memphis and the seedy military outpost in Columbus, Georgia. This is wrong, but I get it.
The best films dealing with the South don’t peddle these ridiculous clichés. The best films dealing with the South evoke an entire world. *Mud*. *Slingblade*. *My Cousin, Vinny*. *Cat on a Hot Tin Roof*. *The Little Foxes*. *Queen & Slim*. *Wise Blood*. *The Southerner*. *Moonlight*. The best films dealing with the South deliver scenes that pop with local color, celebrating—or excavating—little truths behind or inside the decades of lies.
For a long time, the White Southerner on-screen was either racist, a dumbass, violent, or all three. Black Southerners were depicted as lazy, folksy, wise, and complacent. Women were contented with their place, just happy doing housework, or beaten into submission by the hardship of their lives. (Or if it’s a Tennessee Williams play, undersexed and consumed with desire.)
This narrative has in recent years been corrected. *12 Years a Slave*. *The Free State of Jones*. *Mudbound*.
The Southerner has to come to terms with the history of the South. Otherwise, we face a kind of race madness. If you elide slavery and segregation from the American story, nothing about our country makes sense. The non-Southerner has to accept that racism is an American problem—much easier now that the police are shooting black people in every state, and the new shows like *Them* and *Lovecraft Country* detailing racism in the 1950s in Los Angeles and Chicago and Ohio; I love *Them*, by the by, but it is a grueling and punishing piece of pop horror—and that the South has given us the blues, jazz, rock, and country music, along with some of the best American writers and most of the great singers and musicians.
**BA:** D.W. Griffith’s *The Birth of a Nation*, no matter what everyone feels or wants, is forever tied as the seed of modern American cinema and the depiction of the American South. Has there been any film or video essay that comes close to addressing and confronting that movie’s place in our history?
**BB:** *The Birth of a Nation* built Hollywood. It was the first blockbuster, an enormous moneymaker, and brought Louis Mayer into the business of producing. It invented a lot of the language of movies. And it is irredeemably evil. It caused actual murder in the world. The KKK reformed after the popularity of the movie. I was biased against it from the start, as I don’t care for silent cinema—I know, it’s sacrilege for cinephiles to admit it, but I just don’t care for the aesthetics, except for some of Buster Keaton, *Nosferatu*, and *The Passion of Joan of Arc*—but the movie was more disturbing than I even expected. The black characters are vile caricatures, indolent rapists and violent marauders. God.
We can’t ignore it. We can’t pretend that our country is something it isn’t. But like the great Propagandhi song from the 90s, we have to “focus a moment, not an approval.”
We have to deal with this movie through context and careful study. The best response is probably *BlackKklansman*. In film school, Spike Lee watched it with his fellow students, and afterwards all anyone could talk about was the action scenes and the formal innovations. Lee was fuming. What about the racism and violence? What about the film’s political point of view? In *BlackKklansman*, he intercuts footage of the movie with the dumbass Klansmen cheering and hooting and laughing. The Klan does show the film in celebratory gatherings; a friend of mine, Randall Williams, attended a screening back in the 1980s and reported on it at the time.
Any defenders of this movie should keep that in mind: KKK members watch it as a laudatory ritual.
Finally, I loved the beginning of *Long Shot*, when Seth Rogen plays a Jewish undercover reporter and at a neo-Nazi group, at the beginning of the movie, he introduces himself. “Heil. Heil, everybody. White power . . . *obviously*.”
**BA:* Trash Humpers* comes up towards the end of the book. What is the significance of Harmony Korine’s misfit and miscreant cinema as it relates to the landscape of the South?
**BB:** Harmony Korine is a wonderful director in part because he doesn’t seem to give a shit. *Gummo*, set in a post-storm Ohio somewhere, feels like the out-of-the-way places of the South, a weird, sometimes funny, study in grotesques. If there were crime, or more cruelty, it could be a Flannery O’Connor story. But it’s *Springbreakers* that really hits home. It captures the zeitgeist, of a failing America, hollowed out somehow through hedonism and technology, the false promise of beauty and the weird ritual of turning young people into objects, commodities to be traded. I love this movie. It’s almost an essay, but also filled with fiction. It follows four college girls as they travel south robbing banks and ending up in a drug deal gone sour with a white rapper played by James Franco. It’s rich and contradictory and wonderful and it gets at true things in our culture, in Florida, in America.
Korine gnaws on the strangeness of the South. The house of Crosses in Prattville. The cryptic messages adorning church billboards. The drive-through liquor stores. The busted out old oil towns. The garish, twilight, busted-out shopping malls and isolated gas stations. *Trash Humpers* is a profoundly disturbing movie, intentionally ugly and unsettling. I would save this film for Korine completists.
**BA:** Do people inform the movies or do the movies inform people?
**BB:** Movies inform people. They speak to us from different eras, different value systems, different countries. Their image sticks in our cellular memory forever. You can’t unwatch a movie. Yes, people make them, but then they take on a life of their own. D.W. Griffith didn’t want the KKK to reform and start lynching people; by all accounts he was a nice man and a visionary artist. But that’s what happened when *Birth of a Nation* was released. Art outlasts people. Movies change over time—without changing at all, one of the conundrums of cinema—but reverberate through our culture, our music, TV, novels, plays, conversations. People think movies have lost their cultural cache. Really? Trump, running for re-election and at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, was talking about *Gone with the Wind* and *Parasite* at his rallies. HBO took it off their streaming services for a week to add a little intro, a people went nuts. The movie is over 80 years old. The past isn’t dead, eh? As Faulkner says, it isn’t even the past.
**BA:** When I lived in Georgia for a time, I’d see *Gone with the Wind* merchandise stands and kiosks at almost every potential tourist stop. Is this a film that truly deserves such recognition? What would you say if places started selling Buster Keaton’s *The General* t-shirts and bobbleheads?
**BB:** Back to *Gone with the Wind*. I don’t know. It speaks to something in us, the indomitable spirit of Scarlett. It also gave Southerners a view of themselves that was tough, resilient, a land of survivors, victims of an over-reaching federal government. Does this sound like how southerners view themselves today? It is a very fine movie, technically. The colors are beautiful. Gable and Leigh are sexy. I prefer the avaricious *Little Foxes*, but I love William Wyler. Why not *The General* as the seminal piece of southern celluloid? I have no idea. Pat Conroy captured the book and movie’s appeal the best, saying it had an element of the attack, a rejection of the commonly held view. And it changed history.
**BA:** “Movies don’t change, yet they change all the time.” I suppose the same can be said for history too. Is it film and art that ultimately molds and remolds our visions of the South, or are we just stuck with the ghosts and sins of the past, no matter what?
**BB:** We are stuck with the ghosts; we call them movies. Most of the actors from the classic era are dead. Their likenesses are trapped in surreal time loops, re-animated whenever we hit play. They act out their roles in the prescribed manner. They can’t learn, or change their mistakes. They go through the tragic flaws of their characters, passing along the myopia to each successive generation.
But the South has been the source of a reckoning, and a re-imagining of late. With *Queen & Slim*. With *Mudbound*. With *Just Mercy*. With *Free State of Jones*. There’s room in the ether for black directors and writers to get their own piece of the land, cinematically, and this is leading to other voices, too. We’re getting a deeper view.
I’ll finish with *Mudbound*. The film follows two families, one white and one black, who live near each other in late 1930s Mississippi. Henry McAllan is the white farm-owner, trying to build a life for his family during the Great Depression, besieged by outside forces, including natural disasters. He is a character right out of Faulkner, and historically, the hero of the movie. But in this movie, he isn’t the hero. In many ways, he’s the villain. His desires turn him cruel and callous towards the black sharecroppers on his land. He is their tormentor. He refuses to see the system that enriches him at their expense. He’s a hero in his own mind, a self-made man, but the very devil to the black families he is systematically destroying.
I quote a writer in the book who says slavery is the hidden engine of American discourse. We can’t forget, but we won’t remember. So we have this ongoing tragedy—shootings, mass incarceration, defunded public education, etc.—that requires Americans to grapple with the past, and present. Our culpability. The ways we’ve benefited from the system. We have to engage in some kind of conversation around reparations. Ibram Kendi calls bigotry an existential threat. I agree. We can’t scapegoat the South—either externally, as is often the case with the movies, or internally—to absorb all of America’s racial sins. But we can’t duck them either. So what do we do? I’m hesitant to peddle clichés, although being kind and extending empathy never hurt anyone, but really, we have to find ways, systemically, to make the field level and to make some attempt at righting the vast wrongs.
Damn. I wanted to end on a joke.
---
***Movies Du Monde* is paywall-free, but is easier to produce with support from moviegoers all over. If you like what you read here, be sure to share and sign up. If you really like this, please do** [**subscribe**](https://www.moviesdm.substack.com/subscribe) **or** [**leave a tip**](https://www.paypal.me/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) **\- you’ll get access to comments and discussions. All feedback is welcome, so don’t hesitate to** [**reach out**](https://www.twitter.com/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)**!**
### It's On: How I See the New Orleans of "Panic in the Streets"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/its-on-how-i-see-the-new-orleans/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:32.000Z
### **The New Orleans of *Panic in the Streets***
**Join the #NolaMovieNight conversation, as presented by** [**The Historic New Orleans Collection**](https://twitter.com/visit%5Fthnoc?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)**, on April 12th at 7 PM CST, on Twitter.**
In the horror movie host vehicle *The Wacky World of Doctor Morgus*, New Orleans is featured first and foremost as the home for the main character. It’s treated as an incidental location for those unfamilar with the city, but for residents and lovers all over, importance is found: “Fight Mental Health” a poster reads on Morgus’ wall; There’s a bar he frequents, where other misfits and miscreants hang out; A slapstick car race occurs throughout city, showcasing old and new infrastructure. New Orleans is a city of and for characters of many sorts, informaing on and informed by such oddballs.
Some movies give the city a mere surface level appreciation, but there are more than a few that show it as a portrait for something bigger. The 1950 release *Panic in the Streets* is one such film.
Let’s forget the all too relevant plot of stopping a potential disease outbreak for a moment - if that’s possible. Technically, it’s the thrust of the story, but there’s more going on. *Panic* is an anxiety attack of errors, a thrilling near-comedy that could’ve been resolved most quickly without the worry over worry. And in post WWII America, fear itself was oh so easy to give oneself to.
I always saw the Japanese Interment Camps as a cop out to fear myself, but the greatest generation had so much piled on to deal with and overcome, you’d think certain lessons would be learned. Five years later, and a film set in a humid den of cops and robbers would see and foresee this current and coming panic. Whether it be economic or moral, manufactureand for control or self-sustaining and out of control, we’d be fueled by and with inequites attacking our very lives. After such a war, what’s left? Where do you go?
A port city of grand culture becomes the almost epicenter of a plague breakout in the story, investigated by police and consulting government doctors, and being unknowingly almost apread by two-bit hustlers. Storylines following these two groups of authority, major and minor, state and street, converge in one of my favorite chase scenes of all time, but not before relationship turmoil and the pressures of the times compound on everyone, under the heat of a muggy city - perfect for a dangerous disease to fester.
It’s no coincidence that the movie begins above a jazz hall (Preservation?) and over a card game involving immigrants and local hoodlums. They’re all seeking an edge that’ll get them one step closer to a better life, no mattter the cost: An immigrant gets sick on his way to a new land; two shakedown artists desperately get caught up in a scheme for unkown maybe riches; a government medical officer is distracted by family duties; and a career policeman struggles with control over something higher than his pay grade. Gaining a heads up on the narrative would be a boost in confidence for all of these men, but releasing any kind of a lead to anyone is a no go. And yet, relaxing and easing up would’ve truly helped and resolved things quicker.
For Dr. Reed and Blackie, easing up was never an option. Reed, the man leading the 48-hour contact tracing search, might be a family man by appearance and obligation, but struggles with duty to health and country, inside and outside. His wife tries to spell things out for him, and maybe he’s receptive, but the desperation for an overthought answer just may consume him. Blackie, the thug leader of his small part of the world, is the inverse. On top, he’s a man in total control, keeping those around him on a gripped leash. At the bottom, of course, he’s as reactionary and impulsive and cowardly as anyone could possibly be.
Both Reed and Blackie share the command thread of being on the hunt for something just out of reach. Safety, security, health and well-being sure, but also some vindication that all they’ve done and all they are isn’t for nought. This is what keeps men up at night. This is what keeps them cruel to each other. This is what happens under pressure, humid and sad. Welcome to the Gulf South.
Fear. Tension. Control. All feed into one another.
New Orleans is indeed an epicenter, but for something entirely unexpected yet outright honest - America in a time of great uncertainty. What did we win? What’s been lost and are we seeking it? Like the best cinematic representations of any city, the mood and the ethereal are spot on, amid action and behavior. During the chase, a cop is told not to shoot anyone. Immediately, he voices an argument, as if to say shooting is his main function. I’ve heard stories of the New Orleans Police Department from this period that still wrestle inside me. The scene at the port, full of sweat and absolute desperation for escape, is a thesis for everything the movie is about. For everything New Orleans is about. For everything we were about back then and even now.
This is a city in America and of America, for better and worse and more. Misfits without mistakes, sweat beading down our brows, and the goal of a tomorrow at all pouring out of our pores. The panic is on, then and forever.
**Come back to this post often, as I may edit in some additional observations and clarifications, and catch the film at 7 PM CST on April 12th on your favorite streaming service or home release.**
### A Bloody Trip: 'The Dinner Party'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/dinnerparty/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:32.000Z
### Watchlist
It’s Baseball season! What films go well with curveballs? Here’s a few that come to mind:
- ***The Sixth Sense*** (indeed, the pop-twist of a generation)
- ***Match Point*** (may never watch again, but stands as a turn from a shocking knife)
- ***F for Fake*** (a picture of influence, advancing editing technique for the better)
- ***Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker*** (a startling wreck that you refuse to look away from)
- ***Parasite*** (\*spoilers\*)
---
### Links (to read & watch)
[Poor Jamie Kennedy](https://www.thedailybeast.com/comedian-jamie-kennedy-on-how-he-ended-up-in-the-anti-abortion-propaganda-film-roe-v-wade?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)?
Film Crit Hulk on[ Z. Snyder](https://www.patreon.com/posts/49444785?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Behind the curtain of [North Korean flicks](https://www.filminquiry.com/secret-history-north-korean-martial-arts-cinema/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
*The Burbs* [are coming…](https://www.filminquiry.com/burbs-anti-paranoia/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
---
### ***The Dinner Party***
From the [Official Trailer](https://youtu.be/sUspfhUksDE?t=44&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
The horrors of white-flight, from the city to the safety of savagery.
Filmmaker Miles Doleac, who was recently seen most superbly as a German WWI officer in the limited series *Watchmen*, seems to have a thing for cults and the occult. *Hallowed Ground* involved a sort of Neo-Confederate backwoods of Mississippi type death group, while *The Dinner Party* is all about the supposed societal elites. It’s an interesting concept to explore for certain, how people of differing beliefs can share the common thread of power through darkness.
In his latest, Doleac goes with a facade of decadence as both a cover for evil deeds and a wall for the rich to cower behind. *The Dinner Party* had me talking back softly to the screen, running a commentary through the more heightened portions of the presentation. These included not just bloody gore or pure unadulterated disturbances, but cheeky snobbery and subtext too. We see early on one of the hosts preparing a dish, only to be criticized by another. His comeback statement is so effortlessly catty, I cackled in delicious delight. This is a movie of such devilish and devious delights, more of a satire for the duration than a straight horror, making for a viewing that’s fun and ghastly.
A married couple is invited to a fancy private engagement, where the promise of making connections has potential for success. The husband is horribly nervous, but more controlling of his young wife than of himself. Who of the two will see the most punishment? Sometimes, *The Dinner Party* does follow standard genre tropes of course, but deviates from formula with its characters and its own personality. Up until the final third of the film, the upper-class individuals exert their wants and desires with gusto, clearly having done all of this many times over. When the tables turn, they become scared and in search of a safe space. When choosing weapons to protect themselves, they find a utensil drawer, never expecting such a scenario to occur.
The pompousness is off the charts with this crew, and they deserve whatever comes to them.
There is a climactic surprise in store, one that is of the sharpest of needle-drops I’ve ever witnessed. It completely changed my overall rating of the movie by half a star, but it was a bold choice none the less. One of the best surprises of the night though goes to the unwavering near-fantastical and tense morbid comedy on display. Guests snip and snipe, awkward stories are told, and everyone is just barely holding on to sanity. It’s grand to behold.
Beyond the parody aspects, the characters (except for the husband) seem to share a common experience with trauma, primarily involving family and upbringing. There’s a path for the wife to choose ultimately, and the guests seem willing to grant her an answer. This is the other best surprise, and it still has me thinking heavily.
Sometimes succumbing to survival narrative trappings, sometimes surpassing expectations of similar independent fare, *The Dinner Party* is a streaming standout. Doleac is one twisted creator, looming over his figures with a pleased and wicked eye. I gather that much in the least, and that he’s having fun in the most. *The Dinner Party* is fun absolutely, but don’t watch with your Grandmother - unless she’s up for some kinky and sick s\*\*t.
---
***Movies Du Monde* is paywall-free, but is easier to produce with support from moviegoers all over. If you like what you read here, be sure to share and sign up. If you really like this, please do subscribe or leave a tip - you’ll get comment access in exchange. All feedback is welcome, so don’t hesitate to** [**reach out**](https://www.twitter.com/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)**!**
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### And Now, the 'Godzilla vs. Kong' Feature Presentation
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/zillakong/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:33.000Z
# Dear Moviegoers,
The day has arrived, and *Godzilla vs. Kong* has been released in theaters and on HBO Max - for the next month, anyway. I planned a wonderful short series of columns (a pre-show of sorts) in anticipation of the film, going into exciting and odd observations about the trailer and the previous entries in this franchise, but…
I’ve begun a video series project for the new streaming platform [The Louisiana Film Channel](https://www.louisianafilmchannel.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), where I recommend and review one movie per episode. A work in progress, here’s our pilot:
Now that the band-aid has been ripped off, maybe a *Godzilla vs. Kong* post-show series?
No shrug gifs - I’ll save that idea for later.
---
### Watchlist
What movies go well with jerk politicians caught up in serious criminal sex offenses? Here’s a list:
- **Primary Colors** (don’t get in a huff because this is a film “loosely” based on the Clintons, ok - though apologies for kicking the list off with *that* scandal)
- ***Beavis and Butthead Do America*** (another Clinton era gem, but chosen this time for the appearance of a certain Floridian representative whose in trouble at the moment)
- ***The Bad and the Beautiful*** (an excellent film that should be seen in any context, but listed here for the mid-movie “I like to feel cheap once in a while!” scene)
- ***What Planet Are You From?*** (an otherwise awkward comedy of such great and underrated heights, but one too many shots of Garry Shandlings’ butt and him playing with his mechanical genitals, to be honest)
- ***Borat Subsequent Moviefilm*** (lmfao)
---
### Links (to read & watch)
“The [series finale](https://www.indiewire.com/2021/03/superstore-finale-nbc-america-workplace-ending-1234625668/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) comes at a time when even the Sandras of the world, who already value the jobs they have and do them well, are on shaky ground.”
Start a [Free Blockbuster](https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/free-blockbuster-community-video-rental-hub?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) pickup/dropoff point in your town!
[A story on the making of](https://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some%5Fcame%5Frunning/2021/03/when-it-was-announced-a-few-years-back-that-the-french-director-bertrand-tavernier-would-be-returning-to-english-language-fil.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) *In the Electric Mist*
Maybe I should give *Crazy Samurai Musashi* [another look](https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/the-action-scene-crazy-samurai-musashi-and-the-meta-formalism-of-the-very-long-take?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
---
### *I Blame Society* (with a small bit on *Reel 2*)
Official still
The disturbing entry in the found-footage genre known as *Reel 2* is likely something that won’t be matched for a long while. Watching it during this year’s 24-hour Unnamed Footage Festival stream, I nearly gagged multiple times in what I can best describe as a heavy metal thrashing on all that could use some spoiling and soiling. Granted, this was not nearly as much of a hellscape as *A Serbian Film* (something I refuse to watch again), and it was the technical prowess of the editing and cutting choices that held my interest through and through, but *Reel 2* really pressed some dusty buttons of mine.
Keep on pressing, and you just might ring a bell.
One of the higher-profile selections at the Unnamed Footage Fest was the recently released *I Blame Society*. I actually was turned on to this one weeks prior, through a very clever, curious, and crushing trailer that suggested more than a mere dark comedy. Indeed, it is dark and it is a comedy. It’s also wicked and wrathful, delivering criticism in ways that no average critic could (or probably should attempt). It reminded me of a scene from the classic documentary *American Movie*, where one of Mark Borchardt’s brothers labeled him as a potential serial killer. He was being serious, but to the audience it was more a window into Mark’s relationships with his family and with himself, and less a literal warning.
*I Blame Society* isn’t a warning either - not necessarily - but it has the strong passion of one. Starring the writer and director Gillian Wallace Horvat, the film is made up of old footage from a failed personal documentary project, and now new ongoing footage that tries to complete said project. She’s working from a statement that one of her friends made, that she would make for a perfect serial killer. First, Gillian talks to loved ones about this on camera, only to be embarrassed and humiliated by her approach and the awkwardness of the questions. Time passes, and she returns to it all, armed with GoPro’s, poisons, and smiles.
Clearly, the film must come from a place of frustration, and in my opinion, acts on this rather healthily. Lemons into lemonade… that then is poured onto open wounds. The biggest sting in the film happens over a job opportunity meeting with two young white men, who have essentially positioned themselves - and have been accepted without question - as middle-men for Hollywood productions. They scout and outsource a “diverse” “array” of “creatives” to help conceive “inclusive” stories. Their pitch to her is absolutely infuriating, as they not only don’t really listen to Gillian at all, but throw around words without understanding their definitions or applications. They create buzz, and that’s all that’s needed to know.
It’s Frankenstein’s Monster leaves film school and enters the movie industry in *I Blame Society* \- though as cute as I like that description, it’s a total stretch. After watching, the title of the film takes on a rich sarcasm: A play on the old “it’s the fault of society” trope. To those two middle-men that Gillian’s career prospects rest upon, they may take a title like this at face value. Read between the lines, and you’ll understand that it’s a rib from the filmmaker and the killer in the filmmaker’s film. She’s isn’t just saying “you don’t know anything,” but rather she’s screaming it from rooftops, and like bloody murder too.
It might beat us over the head a bit, but never in the scenes where it counts - like when a man gets beaten over the head. *I Blame Society* is a stellar independent standout and a creative exercise in making a point with the edge of a knife - all without burning any bridges. Sharp. Pretty sharp. Pretty damn sharp.
(Now available [on-demand](https://crankedupfilms.com/iblamesociety?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com))
---
### ***Godzilla vs. Kong***
From the [official trailer](https://youtu.be/odM92ap8%5Fc0?t=136&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
For this review, let’s attempt to forget the previous MonsterVerse films. Sure, this might be better understood with them in mind, but what’s to understand? It’s Godzilla fighting King Kong.
This is not to diminish the film in any way. Director Adam Wingard, from *The Guest* to *V/H/S/2* to *Death Note*, is very much an aware filmmaker. Say what you will and rate however you want, but he approaches and conducts his movies with a clear understanding of what they are and how they should be played. *Godzilla vs. Kong*, his biggest film to date, is absolutely in the more playful fare of his catalog. It’s no Michael Bay *Transformers* flick, where human characters run around and talk like sugar-high dolts. It’s also not Guillermo Del Toro’s *Pacific Rim* (though it comes close), where people come together for the good of the world in such fantastical ways.
No, this is a Wingard joint. And here, the beasts run the show.
There are people, of course. There are organizations and arcs from previous franchise films (which we won’t be thinking about), absolutely. But, they’re all performed with the main task in mind: to build up the creature battle to end them all. It’s hard for Kong or Godzilla to exposit motives, so Millie Brown and Rebecca Hall take on those duties, as do others. Still, imagine a movie where the only humans we see are the ones running away from damage. Where it’s all from the perspective of the “monsters.”
This one almost is that. Through amazing details in texture and movement, through great choreography and even greater writing of the iconic beasts, *Godzilla vs. Kong* is exactly what many of us have been waiting for - more or less. Two behemoths with easily understood and even poignant struggles, rumbling over the ruins of major cities, taking the humans helping them on an adventure one could only imagine. No talking and no b.s. - just a swelling score, scouring looks, and balled-up fists.
It’s the little things, like Kong popping his shoulder into place against a skyscraper, and the staring contest of dominance between him and Godzilla, that make this movie a gem. Things that only true creatives would think of, from animators to performance capture actors to the director. How would Kong react here? When Godzilla gets up, is there a grunt? How do we express spite and frustration with these two? Going back to the original *King Kong* stop-motion production, these were the thoughts of the entire crew, from the music of Max Steiner to the imagination of Willis O’Brien. It all continues to be applied to this day, and *Godzilla vs. Kong* is a true testament to those beginnings.
*Shin Godzilla* is certainly great too - and I recommend everyone buy that disc now - but for those seeking a *Rocky*\-style catharsis in these troubled times (ain’t they all troubled?), few blockbusters this year will be more cathartic. Or fun. Or empathetic. Or relatable.
Action figures come to life, play on the screen, and live on as memories that now live rent-free in our hearts and minds. *Godzilla vs. Kong* is exactly what you think it is and exactly what you want it to be. It’s not brainless, nor should you shut your brain off when watching. Don’t just see that action; feel it. It’s like a painting come to life, for goodness sake.
It’s a movie. Duh.
What’s to understand?
# Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
# ⚜️🍿
### A Series of Fortunate Boner-isms: 'Donny's Bar Mitzvah' and 'Bad Trip'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/donnytrip/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:34.000Z
Dear Moviegoers,
As I type this out with an annoying sinus toothache and an odd explosion sound that just hit in the background (really), I’m thinking about the various self-sabotages in my life, and the day-to-day struggle with anxiety.
It’s been since roughly the Third Grade that I’ve experienced such heavy stress and nervousness, enough to hold me back from enjoying life. Sometimes it keeps me from watching movies, sometimes it keeps me from chatting with friends. Social media has become a crutch to this, where I now trade in thoughtful comments for the like button, out of fear of confrontations - good and bad.
Yesterday, a work colleague gave me a nice pep talk. He said the right things and gave me the right directives to follow. Somehow, a block has been lifted. I recorded a video project with ease and got over some worry over my on-camera visage.
I’m also watching movies more per day than I had been previously, and writing a lot more. It’s only been a short time, but I feel very good - despite my sinus issue of course.
The following column is a double review of two very present-Adult Swim/confrontational comedy flicks, both that went a long way in boosting my personal confidence and inspiring some late-night typing. It helps too that I have a Freewrite Traveler to work from, which is quite easy on the hands and the word length.
Be prepared for some toilet humor talk. Be prepared to relax a bit.
Enjoy!
:)
(apologies, but there’s no watchlist or links for this edition - they will return though)
---
### ***Donny’s Bar Mitzvah* and *Bad Trip***
Official Still
Honestly, I never thought that I’d see anything that would rival the toilet humor classics of the 1990s era Farrelly Brothers, but here we are, and I just have. Now, I don mean a movie that’s gross for the sake of being grosz - like the Shamwow Guy’s flick *The Underground Comedy Movie* \- or a cheap cash grab knockoff - like a Happy Madison “film” - but rather, something with a genuine passion for the effort it takes to go all out, to go puke or go home. To raunch and then some.
We’ve come a long way since *Porky’s*.
*Donny’s Bar Mitzvah* and *Bad Trip* are as subversively hilarious as movies can get, and in the most visceral of ways. Blunt force confrontational comedy, these are, and there’s no going back.
In *Donny’s Bar Mitzvah*, we have a *VHYes* type format, where an old tape is picked out of a collection of home videos, and watched with frustration by unseen viewers. It’s a semi-professional videography and editing gig of a young man’s bar mitzvah, that captures everything for posterity. Everything. The style is never consistent, as we go from found footage-ish perspective to family event sentiment to narrative storytelling all too quickly, and often within the same scene. This can be confusing, but it doesn’t totally matter all that much. Its bursts of fun come not from the production’s craft so much as it does from the antics as a whole.
Adults party hard here, right out of the gate. One guest vomits when surprised and excited, another is a sex fiend, and one more is an agent in disguise, seeking out a literal “party pooper.” This is the definition of juvenile jokery and overly (way overly) whacky situations of the dangerous kind, going from butt plug beer chugging to cell phones in orifices to kids wearing dildos unknowingly.
Sometimes, the sheer gall of the vulgarity can be too much to handle, but so can the ever frequent belly laughter that makes one hurt and hurt hard, There is some nuance in the movie, mostly around Donny and the stoner valet, but that’s it: this is pure traumatic boner raunch, for best and better. I’d even venture to go Tromatic, as some gags reach Lloyd Kaufman and *Toxic Avenger* levels of nuts.
This will put off many audiences, even those inclined to watch a genre like this. But for those who’ve come to appreciate late-night hijinx programming, they’ll find much comfort and chill. Flat out awesome, flat out terrifying, flat out uncontrollable and untamed - though maybe it should be at times.
[Scene Still](https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/bad-trip.jpg?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
On the Netflix side of this equation, the brilliant Eric Andre takes his absurd version of in your space invasive hilarity and blows it up with dynamite. *Bad Trip* has been released finally, and the wait was more than worth it. It’s a movie that ought to win a Nobel peace prize, for its skill in conducting prankery within a narrative framework and for its commentary on modern Americans.
Two pals go on a road trip to visit the woman of one of their affections, ala *Dumb and Dumber*. Along the way - while being hunted by the prison breaker Tiffany Haddish, who is at her A-game excellence here - the duo gets into scrapes and incidents involving real people, improvising the script to match the emotions going on at a given time; Gorillas that don’t know the meaning of the word no, cowboy bar patrons that get massively vomited on, blenders that chop hands into bloody hunks of matter, and musical numbers that only piss off mall consumers. It all makes up this brilliant conceptual experiment.
The landscape of our melting pot is on display too, showing we the people as we really are and who we can be in given moments of anarchy. Some pray, some cheer on, almost all record with their phones at the ready for anything to happen. Citizen journalism or trying to catch social media views and favorites? These aren’t the more disturbing elements, but sometimes they can be questionable: a handful show disdain and dislike, while many more than expected show sincere care - like a conflicted maintenance man who witnesses Haddish escaping from a jail bus, or a guy who attempts to deescalate a volatile post-car explosion argument. Even the first guy we confront, a Car Wash customer, is absolutely cool and willing to help the schlubby Eric Andre in a compromising predicament (his clothes get ripped off and his crush is hanging around nearby). Good people are out and about, folks. And the not-so-good ones? No judgment, as who’d blame them in these trying scenarios, in this trying time. It’s all so nebulous, but all so revealing too.
The cinematography of the hidden cameras has got to be the most breathtaking technical achievement I’ve seen in a while. To get such reactions from ordinary individuals and fit them within some cinematic story confines, is nothing short of spectacular. Eric Andre, Tiffany Haddish, and the rest of the cast get much recognition, but much more should be bestowed on the direction and the crew who made it all possible. It takes a team to fool a public.
*Bad Trip* is a celebration - not unlike a Bollywood film - of dumbassery that will only get greater with age. It tops my current favorites of 2021 list, and likely will be rivaled by only a few other movies. It’s loud, it’s louder, it’s loudest. It’s brave, it’s horrific, and it’s stunning in every way. Sheer grand genius of this nature is hard to find - be thankful it found us.
Two vulgarities, never too vulgar. Two gag pictures, never too disgusting or to be disgusted at. Still, they’ll push and push. Move with them, I suggest.
---
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### A "Good" Screenplay? That's Subjective, Sir: 'The Mimic'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/mimic/
Last updated: 2021-03-25T03:58:07.000Z
Dear Moviegoers,
Writers have it rough. Critics have it unusual. We like what we like, and that’s that.
Below is a review of madness, where what I should dislike, I kind of enjoyed. Slightly enjoyed, but still.
Let’s get to it
(apologies, but there’s no watchlist or links in this edition)
---
### ***The Mimic***
Official Still
> “It’s ok to borrow from each other, but what we must never do is borrow from outselves.” - *The Other Side of the Wind*
Within the first ten minutes of *The Mimic*, the smoggy smell of smug hit me hard. It’s a confusing picture, one that is more frustrating than entertaining, despite being about a subject that’s after my own heart: the working mind of a writer. That it is about something close to me grants the film some leeway, especially considering how smug we writers, indeed, can be. It’s not entertaining - it’s us.
*The Mimic* follows a writer known as The Narrator who, upon meeting a strange man known as The Kid, becomes obsessed with both the idea of sociopaths and with exposing this thirty-one-year-old “kid” as the blank slate he’s perceived as being. Oh, and he’s working on a screenplay that may or may not be this very movie, that’s being written in real-time, by himself and/or by outside forces.
Overly challenging wouldn’t begin to describe the complicated structure of this oddball comedy piece, but the words fit - even when its own words fail into a turgid mess of a flood of flippantness. Scenes come, stay too long, and leave as quickly as carelessly as the wind, possibly to soothe a much-needed gratification our filmmakers may or may not need. Starring Thomas Sadoski (formerly of *The Newsroom*) as The Narrator, *The Mimic* would be awful and snobbish if it weren’t so on point about the typecast of writers. Instead, it’s awfully snobbish. That’s different, and can be ok.
Is it ok? Sure.
The Narrator’s relationship with The Kid is made up of long back and forth dialogue contests, where The Kid will answer questions with questions, angering the hell out of his frustrated counterpart. This plot of “figuring out” The Kid is only matched by the plot of *It’s Pat: The Movie*, where a neighbor becomes obsessed with Pat’s ambiguous sexual identity. Here, The Narrator confronts this kid with consistently maddening observations that psychoanalyzes both of them.
To what end, and why should we care?
Maybe we don’t have to care. Maybe the ends are just the means. The Mimic reminds me of Anthony Hopkins’ directorial debut *Slipstream* \- a movie that I love unconditionally - in that, according to Hopkins himself, it was meant to make people angry. It was meant to be a difficult endurance of a watch. This may not be the intention of *The Mimic*, but it’s the result for sure.
From bizarre fourth wall breaks to scenes within scenes to settings crashing into one another as if to mean something - something we the audience aren’t privy to - *The Mimic* is a hair away from being a wreck of confusion, but manages to thrive off of its novelty, its sideways handling of subject matter, and its cast being able to roll with everything without missing beats. It’s a feat inside a nesting doll of arrogance, with enough color to make it attractive.
Is this a “Snobs v Slobs” review? *The Mimic* doesn’t really have one particular crowd in mind, at least not by personality. It’s meant more for career choice or, rather, career fate. It’s for writers. We can read between its lines easily, but some of us will see and appreciate the craziness within the cockiness, and find some familiar solace in that and that alone. Barely, but it can be found.
We’re a type, eh?
---
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### Do You Even Punch Through Walls, Bro?: #TheSnyderCut of 'Justice League'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/snyderjustice/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:36.000Z
Dear Moviegoers,
It’s been days since a certain movie dropped, so of course, I’ve chosen now to write about it. Better late than never? I think so. Time doesn’t have to be of the essence, right?
I’m currently working on a short-form video project for The Louisiana Film Channel, one that I’ve found myself stumbling over a bit. Thankfully, a morning pep talk from our editor has me excited and pumped. This office will become a makeshift studio, darn it!
Other planned posts for this week include ones on:
*Donny’s Bar Mitzvah*
*The Mimic*
*Atomic Cover-Up*
*I Blame Society* and the Unnamed Footage Festival
Let’s get to it.
(apologies, but no watchlist or links for this edition)
---
### ***Zack Snyder’s Justice League***
[Official Still](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/UZHidqc4kfnlGnSfyvf8T0beM4o=/0x0:1306x780/1200x800/filters:focal%28510x192:718x400%29/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus%5Fimage/image/69007013/Screen%5FShot%5F2020%5F08%5F22%5Fat%5F6.34.20%5FPM.0.png?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
I’ve read that one of the best scenes in Zack Snyder’s new cut of the *Justice League* film is the slo-mo car crash rescue sequence introduction of The Flash. Absolutely, this addition is a welcome change from what we saw in theaters. Barry Allen, changing time and space to save the life of a young love at first sight, admires a woman as she falls through the air… hot dogs from a nearby cart surrounding her. Barry grabs one of many, before taking her out of the path of destruction. It’s an odd moment to behold - which is the exact word to describe watching this - that’s just barely missing overly comedic subtext, but ultimately works in The Flash’s favor. We learn everything we need to know about him in mere minutes, as he dashes dashingly across the screen, from his sense of humor to his wanting to who he is deep down.
#TheSnyderCut has quite the sordid history, dating back to before its theatrical version. Books have and will be written about this story, but as of now, it’s clear who was assuredly wronged: director Zack Snyder. His vision for *Justice League*, as it streams now on HBO Max, is a grand example of decadent indulgence and mastery of craft, one that would’ve been a hoot to see splashed across IMAX.
It works as a cross-section between spectacle and experimental, displaying all that a single director has worked an entire career to achieve. This is Zack Snyder’s magnum opus - a testament to the new gods of pop culture in the best and worst ways. Perhaps they deserve this treatment, to be shown as holier than thou and atop a pedestal too high to view from the ground. Perhaps we see through them as false images, arrogant know-it-alls. Perhaps we see ourselves in their boots.
No matter what, it’s a scream. It’s a phenom.
Eight parts make up the movie (six chapters with a prologue and epilogue), which in this on-demand world, carries a startling context in episodic and feature-length presentation. Of course, with a four-hour runtime, and being made available in homes first and foremost, occasional breaks to pause and go for the bathroom are most welcome. Maybe it’s less an evolution of the medium and more a return to the epics of old. Maybe both?
Ray Fisher’s performance of Cyborg gets the brunt of the heart in the movie, with perhaps the most resonant arc of the heroes. “I’m not broken, and I’m not alone” will be a line that’ll stay with me forever. It’s so well earned and so impactful when it happens, having been built from the ground of despair and depression to revelation and personal triumph. Cyborg in *Justice League* is not unlike Hulk in *Avengers* as both have more empathetic roles in their groups, without really stepping on any toes. I don’t mean to compare Whedon to Snyder, of which there is no comparison - Snyder’s cut is “superior” in every way, even at its most pretentious and dragged down.
One might suspect ill will with the studio for getting raw with the original cut in the first place, but I see Snyder’s feelings as being more sentimental. Throughout the film, there’s a theme of undoing the wrongs of the past. There’s Batman’s guilt over Superman, Cyborg’s accident and subsequent transformation, The Flash being able to actually turn back the clock, etc. Every player involved, hero and villain, want to make right a mistake of some sort. If tomorrow is indeed another day, Zack Snyder likely sees things as brightly as that, after all he’s experienced personally and professionally, expressed here through the figures of cartoon legend.
*Zack Snyder’s Justice League* wants to be and is epic, but as part of a trilogy with *Man of Steel* and *Batman v Superman*, it creates a near-perfect whole. Near, mind you. Each movie can’t help but go for that apocalyptic tone which Snyder seems to dig too much, buildings collapsing with ease and the overall mood being pure brood and deep sadness, but interestingly enough, *Justice League*, the finale to this piece, dives the least into the pool of darkness.
It gets graphic, it gets violent, but never true blue horror, even when it could and should go for it. This isn’t really a story of hope on the face of it, but of action. Action in both the visceral and literal sense, and action in the determined and assertive sense. Snyder works best when bold, and *Justice League* is bold to an absolute. Same with *Batman v Superman*. Same with *Man of Steel*. For all of their collateral damage, the films aren’t betrayals of character, just unfamiliar cinematic left turns of attitude for superhero storytelling. Gloom doesn’t sell too well unless you’re Lars Von Trier, but why can’t comic book movies go that route? Why can’t we explore the worst of a hero’s journey, especially when the best has been thoroughly shown elsewhere?
This new *Justice League* is a riot of brash properties and mighty strength, which goes back and forth from great to overwhelming to great again to self-gratifying to cathartic. I can finally say, for the main DCEU Snyderverse flicks, that there is one entry that earns its reach for the sky. And it’s the one we never were meant to see.
---
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### Filmmakers Salome Chasnoff and Susan Nussbaum on 'Code of the Freaks' and the Importance of Watching Movies with a "Piercing Gaze"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/codeofthefreaks/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:37.000Z
Dear moviegoers,
It’s now the second week of March 2021\. [*WandaVision*](https://ofthosewho.substack.com/p/wandavisionintro) wrapped up on Disney+ last week, and Zack Snyder’s [*Justice League*](https://ofthosewho.substack.com/p/supercompare) comes to HBO MAX next week. We’re in the eye of a fandom storm right now, one that tends to push out other films and programs from being covered.
Coming soon, I’m going to begin a streaming picks column, where I’ll find two films from one platform that are more than worth the price of a subscription. Underseen, less known, and never considered - let’s check them out.
For today’s newsletter, I offer up the following:
- A movie watchlist
- Links (to read & watch)
- Q&A with Director Salome Chasnoff and Writer Susan Nussbaum (*Code of the Freaks*)
For your approval of course. Should you enjoy, do consider sharing, signing up, and subscribing.
Should you disapprove, feel free to [tweet](https://www.twitter.com/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) at me anytime.
:)
[Subscribe now](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
---
### Watchlist
This past weekend, our Senate passed The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, without a single Republican vote. For those GOP Senators, I have a selection of films for recommended viewing with their constituents:
- ***The Florida Project*** (families shouldn’t have to be pushed into living out of a dingy motel, especially near the “happiest place on Earth.”)
- ***City Lights*** (Chaplin’s beautiful romance picture is also an example of a failed society, in how the poor must struggle and fight on their own, for their own)
- ***Capitalism: A Love Story*** (granted, no Republican would show up for this one, but maybe if we advertised a false showing of a Kevin Sorbo movie… )
- ***Elysium*** (it’s silly and on the nose, but rings true in many ways - especially at its most ridiculous)
- ***Parasite*** (a class system like this - or at all - shouldn’t be)
What would you pick?
---
### Links (to read & watch)
“I’m really haunted in my dreams [by guilt and by people returning from the dead.](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/metaphysical-edging-guy-maddin?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) I really love those dreams.”
On Leslie Epstein’s book [*Hill of Beans*](https://www.wbur.org/artery/2021/02/26/leslie-epstein-hill-of-beans-casablanca?fbclid=IwAR0WWW4kQAndlKH3QSwOgH8yjkOyHMd3b2mVfhvCagdnBNmPqFR%5FNuAZLzQ&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
“He wants to be the knight in shining armor. It’s a commendable instinct. But Ford’s film [illustrates why](https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/the-must-see-test-pattern-is-a-warning-for-good-guys-trying-to-be-heroes?fbclid=IwAR3XKMrB33YhjgRYoGsHkQnu%5FqxN4CtuO3cxKTJaqkJjB6rMHmTnNR5rqFo&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) his noble intentions are all wrong.”
Can [Film TikTok](https://us5.campaign-archive.com/?u=43175ffadd10a314510384941&id=91f34f5037&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) Save Film?
---
### Q&A with Director Salome Chasnoff and Writer Susan Nussbaum of [*Code of the Freaks*](https://www.codeofthefreaks.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[Official Poster](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d572fcaddec710001b90765/1595981463119-MFH55GCLNFROCK1ZULN4/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kFHXwHyjj-2o6xKjBOLCNvJZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZUJFbgE-7XRK3dMEBRBhUpwSOrBalJaCOWvzhdlENxD9kwaf%5FjkJK9-XZkx0MukCB-sOvwvns%5FV83JqCsWcz%5FGE/CodeoftheFreaks%5FPoster%5FSmall.jpg?format=500w&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
**Q:** One of the last pieces of criticism offered by the guests in *Code of the Freaks* is that no film has completely gotten disability representation right. For you, are there films that have come close?
[Salome Chasnoff](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d572fcaddec710001b90765/1584299882947-E88C3HTZ7USCYAIV3OY1/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kL3k5HhfPzGSFYH%5F1iabZbhZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZamWLI2zvYWH8K3-s%5F4yszcp2ryTI0HqTOaaUohrI8PI00yFdUr3ImMXcuU1U%5F92QeIhjIeC3SvDJYtp2Iog6qkKMshLAGzx4R3EDFOm1kBS/Salome.jpg?format=500w&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), Director of *Code of the Freaks*
**Salome:** Some wonderful films have come out since *Code of the Freaks* was in post-production. *Crip Camp*, a documentary, offers a glorious, loving history of crip activism. *Chained for Life* – not the 1952 film about the conjoined twin who kills her husband but the 2019 film about the actress who struggles to bond with her disabled co-star – is a completely original film, bizarre, funny, full of feeling, and a powerful challenge to the norms of representation.
[Susan Nussbaum](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d572fcaddec710001b90765/1584301001872-TT5VMTLA9BEWIVDCTXCV/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kPmLlvCIXgndBxNq9fzeZb1Zw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZamWLI2zvYWH8K3-s%5F4yszcp2ryTI0HqTOaaUohrI8PIFMLRh9LbupWL4Bv1SDYZc4lRApws2Snwk0j%5FRSxbNHMKMshLAGzx4R3EDFOm1kBS/Susan+Nussbaum.jpeg?format=500w&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), Writer of *Code of the Freaks*
**Susan:** I liked *A Quiet Place*, a sci-fi film about a family including a Deaf daughter (played by a terrific Deaf actor,) that must defend itself against an invasion of aliens whose main survival skill is their highly developed sense of hearing. Just a really good movie that I liked a lot. *The Sound of Metal* was also an ingenious story about a drummer with a heavy metal band (a low-key yet dynamite Riz Ahmed) who suddenly loses his hearing and pins his hopes for “recovery” on cochlear implant surgery. While awaiting the procedure, he stays at a sort of deaf rehabilitation place run by Paul Raci (a wonderful actor who grew up with a foot in both the Deaf and hearing worlds.) The film defies every previous Deaf or disability-themed film by refusing to become mired in some treacly inspirational plotline. It succeeds on many levels that I don’t want to spoil except to say, you’ve never seen this movie before.
**Q:** What were some of your favorite statements and responses by the interview subjects?
**Salome:** I loved how several interviewees ponder the meaning of the film’s title in relation to their lived experience of crip community. No one statement tells the whole story; but together, they combine to give a rich picture. I also appreciated the discussion of *The Sessions*. Alyson Patsavas observes that in adapting Mark O’Brien’s short story for the screen, the plot is changed in several important ways. Like his queerness and his desire for kink are erased, and the relationship with his therapist gets written as a heterosexual romance because disabled desire can’t exist on its own, outside of heterosexual romance. Riva Lehrer further notes how in movies having sex with a disabled person is, at some level, an act of charity. There are so many ways in which Hollywood gets disability wrong, but sex is on the top of the heap.
**Susan:** I appreciated Mike Ervin’s thoughts about comedy. Tekki Lomnicki’s fantasies about a movie she’d like to see were a riot and there were several really important comments from a few people on the very rare and mostly crappy sex scenes involving disabled characters. The sheer absence of sexuality from depictions of disabled characters is infuriating. I think the interviews as a whole worked to open the eyes of viewers, both disabled and non-disabled, who previously never understood the extent to which they’ve been brainwashed about our real (disabled) lives.
**Q:** When it comes to disability representation, what is your preferred method of presentation?
**Salome:** The focus is always on who is playing the role; are they disabled? We need to look at the whole picture: the writing, the directing, the cinematography, the editing – everything that comes together to tell the story. Because until we see stories that are nuanced, that run the gamut of disability experience, it doesn’t matter who’s playing the role. So, I don’t have a preferred method of presentation. I value whatever is truthful, humanizing, engaging, and well done. I love when people go out on a limb to tell a unique story.
**Susan:** Since maybe 97% of disability-themed films are written, performed, directed, and produced by non-disabled people, I think changing some or most of those factors would be a good start. I’m not saying all disability-themed movies are garbage, but they’re all problematic in many or at least a few ways. I think one can possibly understand better when looking at the revolution in race-themed films. Compare the racist stock characters dusted off and thrown onscreen for so long. Only until Black artists were able to take control of the process did the films become really mind-blowing.
**Q:** What challenges if any did you experience in the making of this film?
**Salome:** We encountered two main challenges: money and money. I say two rather than one because raising the money was hard; but in addition, potential funders who might have supported the film told us they didn’t appreciate our snarky, community-driven approach. They wanted to see an inspirational hero’s journey, exactly what we were deconstructing. Our message is that we’re in this together and there’s nothing inspiring about it. Ultimately, our community made the film possible; we raised the entire budget through crowdfunding.
**Susan:** I agree with Salome.
**Q:** There’s mention in the documentary of how critics and audiences should develop a “piercing gaze” for film. I’ve always felt that no movie is merely a popcorn movie. Have moviegoers been conditioned to think against thinking? If so, what effects on discourse have you witnessed?
**Salome:** Everyday life is harder than ever, and people understandably look for escape. I know I do. But I find that audiences are becoming more critical and they are demanding better films, especially young people. I’m an academic as well as an artist so I may not be the best person to ask about this. That said, it seems that when it comes to disability representation, viewers are addicted to the inspirational narrative. It’s like a drug. It just feels so good. And they can’t see what’s wrong with it no matter how many different ways I try to explain it.
**Susan:** I think the movies teach people how to think. Like pop music, all the songs sound similar but when one comes on the radio you feel like singing along and you know all the words. And the backup. In the case of disability-themed films, they are so formulaic that they resemble, and imitate each other. Your brain knows exactly what’s coming. You’ve got the able-bodied best friend character teaching disabled characters to “get over themselves” scene. You have the gimpy bride walking down the aisle with the able-bodied guests crying with joy scene. The cure scene, the sad but brave death scene, the overcoming scene – it’s the cheapest of cheap thrills. We’re all a part of Pavlov’s experiment. I caught myself being sucked into a movie recently I really liked until I realized that it had pressed all my buttons. It was based on a book I liked a lot and had great actors in it. And a great soundtrack. I was so ashamed of myself. Of all people, I should know better. Doesn’t mean you hate the movie, just means you’re onto the movie.
---
(Here’s a [list of resources](https://www.codeofthefreaks.com/resources?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) for those wanting to learn more about disability representation)
[Subscribe now](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
---
***Based out of “Hollywood South” New Orleans, Bill Arceneaux has written about movies and moviegoing for publications like Big Easy Magazine, Film Threat, Bayou Brief, Occupy, and others since 2011\. A member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Rotten Tomatoes approved, his favorite films range from APOCALYPSE NOW to ROMAN HOLIDAY, depending on which way the wind blows. Find out about his latest exploits on Twitter at*** [***@BillReviews***](https://www.twitter.com/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)***,***
### Fun 2 Fleeting: 'Coming 2 America'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/coming2america/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:37.000Z
Sitting as an audience of one, at home, watching *Coming 2 America* makes for a disappointing and rather sad experience - the film being disappointing, the lone viewer having the sad showing. Online, other critics have pointed out that the movie would likely play very well with a crowded screening, applause ringing for every familiar face and reference. This would work much like going to see *Next Friday*, a not-so-good sequel upon revisit, but a fun one when watching with lots of laughing people. Here, going with the flow of the group would be beneficial for both the film and the moviegoer.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many groups watching *Coming 2 America* together. Unfortunately, it’s just streaming. Unfortunately, it’s mostly underdone.
Not tacky with the costumes or cast, mind you. Indeed, every character extends their personality and their emotions at any given moment with what they’re wearing and how they’re wearing it all. This is a credit to designer Ruth E. Carter, who as always puts her passion for cinema and for extending the story onto and outward from the people within, into every design she conceives. For *Coming 2 America*, she’s challenged with multiple strings, from the time gap between movies to the cultural differences between American and multiple African styles, to matching the tonal resonance each scene is meant to project. She’s working overtime, and working with fire.
Eddie Murphy was the stoic fish out of water type in the original, soaking in a new setting with courage and even some aloofness. In this sequel, he’s primarily just stoic and static, with little room to budge. Of course, his character Akeem is decades older and a father now, so don’t dismiss his steadiness with tiredness. The regular players like John Amos and James Earl Jones are wonderful to catch, but the members of the cast who truly shine are the women, from original cast member Shari Headley and the profoundly perfect Leslie Jones to the younger crowd of Kiki Layne and Nomzamo Mbatha, who are downright badass and electric in equal measure.
But, for its slightly over ninety-minute duration, *Coming 2 America* is first, foremost, and nearly entirely a nostalgically inclined rehash, flipped on its own head at an uncomfortable angle. Things happen - many times, over and over - just for the sake of being pointed out as something we would recognize. Lines of dialogue are lifted wholesale, characters come back just to repeat bits they did before, and scenes from the original play again in flashback - which go on longer than needed. The story itself has little stakes, and what arcs that do exist are resolved ever so quickly. A movie like this shouldn’t rely almost all on fluff, but it does in more ways than expected - despite some cleverness and moments of real celebration.
One clever joke involves the almost bride from the arranged marriage at the beginning of the original. Here, after all these years, she is still hopping and barking like a dog. New jokes, like one involving a circumcision ceremony, are most welcome. And the finish of the film, a big wedding reception of old and new faces, is absolutely darling. There are spots of silly reference during the party, but it’s all in good fun and not show-stopping, as it was in other scenes.
They were always in good fun. The whole movie is in good fun. And everyone making it is having fun, very clearly. It doesn’t entirely work, and it does become grating too many times, but *Coming 2 America* is not without its charms, and not without some genuine bright spots. Some are fewer and farther between than others, but at least we have them.
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Someday soon, hopefully, we’ll have some crowds to watch movies with. Movies like this one. And it’ll all be fun, through and through.
---
***Based out of “Hollywood South” New Orleans, Bill Arceneaux has written about movies and moviegoing for publications like Big Easy Magazine, Film Threat, Bayou Brief, Occupy, DIG Baton Rouge, OffBeat Magazine, The Hammond Daily Star, and others since 2011\. A member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Rotten Tomatoes approved, his favorite films range from APOCALYPSE NOW to ROMAN HOLIDAY, depending on which way the wind blows. Find out about his latest exploits on Twitter at*** [***@BillReviews***](https://www.twitter.com/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)***,***
### Up, Up, But Still Close By
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/supercompare/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:37.000Z
> “Hi, Lois Lane. Welcome to The Planet.” - *Man of Steel*
The finale to the Christopher Nolan produced, Zack Snyder sci-fi superhero film *Man of Steel*, **bleeds** ok enough into Superman lore. Of course, I’m not meaning the climax, where an all too unnecessarily epic fight of sheer destruction and obliteration occurs, ending in a neck snap heard around the world (the snap did bear some dramatic weight at least), but the closing sequence, when Clark Kent arrives at The Daily Planet. Granted, this version of his journalist persona is more a hunk with glasses than the awkward personality he’s typically introduced as having, but it works all the same. He’s found his place in this world, and is ready to get started.
The opening to the new CW TV show *Superman & Lois* works extraordinarily as a **primer** for who Clark was, is, and has become - all without the flash of a two-and-a-half-hour action overload. We go from spaceship discovery to upbringing to the first appearance as a hero to marriage to present, with a most wholesome voiceover from the man himself. Roughly five minutes into its first episode, and we believe a man can fly all over again. Not to suggest that this will be the same or better than the Christopher Reeve series…
*Man of Steel*’s a movie, yes, and has different expectations, sure. Cinema can be bombastic as it’s on a bigger screen than television, which can be serialized and has to grab attention between commercials in more dramatic ways. Totally understandable, but they’ll be compared for depiction all the same.
SnyderVerse v ArrowVerse? Not completely.
A 4 hour cut of Zack Snyder’s *Justice League* is coming to HBO MAX soon, and the teaser trailers that have been released appear to suggest a more aggressively bleak picture than the theatrical cut, which was a shabbily put together wreck, at least in terms of Superman, post-death and present resurrection. All over Snyder’s version of the Man of Tomorrow, there’s wall-to-wall religious allegory and symbolism that scream with the force of a hammer hitting a head, and this new *Justice League* will likely not let up. It would be tiring if it weren’t so profound in its persistence, but silly it remains.
In our first episode, *Superman & Lois* presents our hero and renegade journalist team in family mode, reckoning with the turmoil and rewards of raising twin teens, navigating a flailing job market for writers and newspeople, and saving the world from time to time. There is a weight constantly on Clark, a man who feels needed at every moment, but by contrast to Snyder’s *Batman v Superman*, it doesn’t have an air of apologetic burden. He’s happy to help, ecstatic even, but does have personal problems as anyone would. And that balance of responsibility with a near all-powerful individual takes on a new angle when he becomes a husband and a parent. There’s something relatable here.
*Batman v Superman* has a montage where Superman is being a hero, usually in biblically lit slow-motion, looking exhausted and sorry. He even drags a boat through ice, with an anchor on his shoulders. One event after another, his **spreading of hope** is more **a campaign in living a dour fate**. He doesn’t dread his position, but maybe is confused at everyone’s criticism of him, good and bad. He can’t quite figure us out, and ultimately finds a second wind through the one person that does figure with him, Lois. He’ll sacrifice himself for her, and for the world too.
How are these depictions similar? Are they at all?
They take place in different stages of Superman’s life and show him in wildly different scenarios, but the show does share some heart with its more blunt counterpart. Both costumes look alike, for starters. There are lens flares and reaches for epicness here and there. Surface level, mostly.
The one major common thread is Lois and his relationship with her. In *Batman v Superman*, Lex Luthor pushes Lois off a building. Immediately, Superman flies across the world to catch her safely. In *Superman & Lois*, as he’s falling from space with kryptonite embedded in his chest, he hears a beacon initiated by Lois. He’s revived and, without hesitation, pulls the shard out of his body and makes it home as Clark.
[Subscribe now](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Why did Lois call him? Their sons were in trouble. Superman, falling to potential death, was brought back for a family emergency. No matter the action pieces or the extravagant overload of style, the Snyderverse does understand the attachment and affection these two characters share for each other, and the Arrowverse understands how to show a “you are my world” moment without having to say it.
In all likelihood, if the bigger movies were to do the family story, there’d be some Cain and Able arc going on. In all likelihood, if the show were to do some high-stakes action, it’d be on a much simpler and smaller level. One extreme is better than the other for audiences, so it’s up to you dear readers to choose your preference. Where *Man of Steel*, *Batman v Superman*, and the teasers for the new *Justice League* cut go large and in charge, *Superman & Lois* would never trade Earth for the sky. It wouldn’t and shouldn’t have to, as there’s room for both. More than enough room.
> “No one ever dreams of the problems, but every life has them - even the extraordinary ones.” - *Superman & Lois: Pilot*
Both movie quotes from Lois are excellent, but one is sweet and to the point, while the other breathes deeper and lingers longer.
Take your pick.
---
***Based out of “Hollywood South” New Orleans, Bill Arceneaux has written about movies and moviegoing for publications like Big Easy Magazine, Film Threat, Bayou Brief, Occupy, DIG Baton Rouge, OffBeat Magazine, The Hammond Daily Star, and others since 2011\. A member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Rotten Tomatoes approved, his favorite films range from APOCALYPSE NOW to ROMAN HOLIDAY, depending on which way the wind blows. Find out about his latest exploits on Twitter at*** [***@BillReviews***](https://www.twitter.com/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)***!***
### With the Current: 'Somewhere with No Bridges'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/nobridges/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:38.000Z
## Watchlist
What movies would you’ve recommended to Senator Ted Cruz on his shameful flight back from Cancun?:
- ***Alive*** (a little stress can go a long way)
- ***Snakes on a Plane*** (too on the nose?)
- ***National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation 2*** (the horror)
- ***Totally Under Control*** (something he is not)
- ***Unaccompanied Minors*** (eh)
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
---
## Links (to read & watch)
[“The general perception that people can essentially order whatever movie they want from home is flat-out wrong,” ](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/style/vhs-tapes.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[“Documenting these worlds does more than highlight history that could otherwise be lost; it preserves a time when users were creators and not products.”](https://hyperallergic.com/623695/preserving-worlds-means-tv/?utm%5Fcontent=bufferc1ef0&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=facebook&utm%5Fcampaign=buffer&fbclid=IwAR2hoeZfJdhOm0pupCvq2ajxocPASs3eNTb8i1JsYXqccCr5xvDM5tckSKg)
[“One doesn’t so much see Everson’s film on a lark as one signs on for it, with the hope of fringe benefits.”](https://cinema-scope.com/features/perfect-game-kevin-jerome-eversons-park-lanes/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[“Is it possible to find something good about Dan Aykroyd’s legendary horror/comedy bomb?”](https://thespool.net/anniversaries/nothing-but-trouble-review/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
---
## *Somewhere with No Bridges*
Official Still
By the sum of all accounts, fisherman Richie Madeiras was widely felt to be a joyful spirit for the people of Martha’s Vineyard. *Somewhere with No Bridges* is never without a glowing word or wonderful gaze of reminiscence about this man, making it something more than a film; It’s a grand eulogic essay on the effect that a person has on a community as a whole, and vice versa. And what are we all without our respective communities? Who will remember us when we’re gone? Will we be missed? These questions and sentiments come and go with the calm fury of the tides.
Director Charles Frank crafts this very personal story (he’s an extended family member) of a man long gone as if he were painting with two hands - one with the brush, the other to steady it all. We hear his voice-over now and then, as even he ponders what this film is and what it will become. This unease is at its highest display towards the end, when scene after scene feels like a proper finale, only to punch us further in the gut. This isn’t a terrible way of making a movie, as sometimes stories like these have a loose life of their own. As Charles hunts for the heart of his project, we follow along unseen but understood in the back of his mind. We’re with him, even if not there.
As Richie’s family recounts his life with such bright happiness and color, Charles cuts in home video and old photographs of the man in the prime of his life, being with friends, his family, and his children. These are the kind of videos and photos that have timestamps in the corner and notes on the back, set up ahead for remembering fondly. One can’t help but long for such fragments of time - the type that **feels** a bit more tangible, but is **just as** fragile as memories themselves.
But while the film’s approach is fragile, its story and its aesthetic are not. *Somewhere with No Bridges* isn’t completely linear, but it’s never difficult to understand. More or less, the through-line is director Charles Frank’s efforts in not just telling us who Richie was and why he is so beloved, but also what makes Martha’s Vineyard so vividly alive. There are slow sweeping shots of the ocean and its coastline that can’t go on long enough. There’s a calming air that everyone breathes in, even as winds pick up and storms come in. When a story of how a dear friend removed an arm sling to make a snowball to throw at Richie’s headstone, the reason as given was “Richie hates snowballs.” These are the moments that make the movie truly special, when it breaks away from being about one person to being about everyone left around. It’s not just a eulogy or a meditation, but a living ghost tale. A place without bridges indeed.
This is Richie’s story, but also that of a community and their environment, almost at once trying to find if and how one makes the other. People carry memories and lives with them, but maybe places do too. Maybe there’s a stamp in a corner of a beach, or a note out in the water. *Somewhere with No Bridges* loses itself in fits and bursts, but that’s not a too bad; it’s only human. It’s a living quality. And in a movie all about living qualities, would you expect anything different?
Find out more about the movie [here](https://somewherewithnobridges.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
[Subscribe now](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
---
***Based out of “Hollywood South” New Orleans, Bill Arceneaux has written about movies and moviegoing for publications like Big Easy Magazine, Film Threat, Bayou Brief, Occupy, DIG Baton Rouge, OffBeat Magazine, The Hammond Daily Star, and others since 2011\. A member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Rotten Tomatoes approved, his favorite films range from APOCALYPSE NOW to ROMAN HOLIDAY, depending on which way the wind blows. Find out about his latest exploits on Twitter at*** [***@BillReviews***](https://www.twitter.com/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)***!***
### A Look at 'Crestone' and Some Other Oddities
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/crestone/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:38.000Z
***(Note: In the last newsletter, I began by listing a “fun” movie watchlist, to stir conversation. Let’s continue the trend!)***
Q: For those who wish to #DitchMitch McConnell, what monster-ish (or monstrous) movies would help fire up the cause?
A: The following recommendations:
- ***The Horror of Party Beach*** (a movie guaranteed to get people out of their seats and into the streets. because it’s boring)
- ***The Undefeated*** (remember Sarah Palin? well, here she is again. a media monstrosity)
- ***V/H/S/2: Slumber Party Alien Abduction*** (as terrifying as stalling relief legislation for petty reasons. or for no reason)
- ***It*** (the Tim Curry adaptation. why? his version of the clown entity was just so definitive. so evil.)
- ***Brahms: The Boy 2*** (Mitch kinda looks like the doll, right?)
Can movies move people to political and community action? What creature features and other horror flicks would you pick?
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
---
## Links (to read & watch)
[*Nothing But Trouble*](https://thespool.net/anniversaries/nothing-but-trouble-review/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)[ turns 30](https://thespool.net/anniversaries/nothing-but-trouble-review/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
“‘[… why don’t you watch my film before you judge it?’ Sia tweeted in November, when outrage about the movie’s casting started to percolate. Well, I have watched the film, I am judging it, and it’s awful.](https://slate.com/culture/2021/02/sia-movie-music-autism-golden-globes-review.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)”
[Sion Sono on ](https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2562500/is-nicolas-cages-latest-movie-his-wildest-one-yet-the-director-has-thoughts?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)[*Prisoners of the Ghostland*](https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2562500/is-nicolas-cages-latest-movie-his-wildest-one-yet-the-director-has-thoughts?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[Richard Kelly on ](https://www.thedailybeast.com/when-the-rock-and-a-porn-star-tried-to-save-the-world?ref=author&fbclid=IwAR2ipVXHv4G%5FRDKNX2D4Rr1sKClfUc2lPk7fVVnxKTXXz5Pc2dbfear1WfA)[*Southland Tales*](https://www.thedailybeast.com/when-the-rock-and-a-porn-star-tried-to-save-the-world?ref=author&fbclid=IwAR2ipVXHv4G%5FRDKNX2D4Rr1sKClfUc2lPk7fVVnxKTXXz5Pc2dbfear1WfA)
---
## Review: *Crestone*
From the [Official Red Band Trailer](https://youtu.be/VCdPHcWJjEw?t=94&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[Subscribe now](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Marnie Ellen Hertzler’s *Crestone* could very well be the best modern expression of the line “Haven’t you heard of ‘suspension of disbelief’!?” from the film *Ed Wood*. At no point in what can be best described as a bender of a picture, is there a stable definition of **what it is**. One will struggle to find the words and to take their eyes away from the screen. *Crestone* is absolutely engrossing and undeniably unclassifiable, and it may be the first purest play of and on cinema to kick off the 2020s.
From the get-go, we hear Hertzler’s narration of what is being seen and what she’s feeling, sometimes in real-time, sometimes in post, sometimes both at once. The world of the film feels out of time but not out of continuity; this can be attributed to Hertzler’s direction of and participation in the story and the editing skills of one Albert Birney (co-director of *Sylvio* and *Strawberry Mansion*). This tight community of Soundcloud rappers and Instagrammers, making music and living by the flight of their fancies in Crestone, Colorado - a desert of sand and dirt, almost carved out of nowhere - truly appear as though they live at the end of the world, at the edge of time itself. And maybe they are.
*Crestone* bleeds and blurs from real to reel so shockingly well, it’s difficult to tell where it started from or when it ended. There is little plot to write about, and yet it has a plot in the most primordial way possible. There’s more in common here with early cinema than you’d expect, being as manipulative and dreamlike as a Melies fantasy. It’s an illusion, a sleight of hand.
Special effects are superimposed in some sequences of true improvisation, not much different from how a DJ would remix a song or two. These elements pop in and collide as if guided by some cosmic sensibility. Put it here, do it there. It all adds depth to what behaves more like music at times, which makes sense due to the score crafted by Animal Collective, the folks behind the abstract *Oddsac*. But while some of this appears foreign and strange, there’s a natural feel that makes everything work. A serendipity of real-time filmmaking and what is likely real-time editing.
The best scenes that suggest what the film may in fact exist at the opening and ending, which act as sort of legends for what’s to come and what’s been left behind.
At the start, the camera observes a marijuana plant as it bobs and weaves with the wind. The camera follows suit in a deceptively wild manner, one that could be seen as an amatuer’s interpretation of handheld. However, the focus of the shot and the movement of the camera has a mastery of observation at its disposal. Here, we are told to concentrate on where our eyes are expected to be directed, which can vary in a single take and change at the flick of the wrist. Within this very of the moment documentation, a clear control of direction is happening. We later see the subjects granting Hertzler accommodation by letting her direct some of their routine activities. Of course, as she explains, they’re all high school friends, so not much is out of bounds or unreasonable.
At the end, when things have either fallen apart or triumphantly begun for these young plugged-in musicians - depending on a glass is half full or empty/big bang expanding or receding argument - one member of the crew has slid into a maybe abandoned home through a window. We cut here and there as if this were an average narrative, no longer just following these men and now potentially contradicting Hertzler’s real-time filmmaking statement (Did she enter the house first after learning of their intentions? Is she directing as they act on instinct? Are they acting?). We get a shot of a mirror which, a moment later, the camera acts as the eyes of. The man peers into the mirror, observing his visage as we observe his actions and his environment.
Indeed, this is now the literal explanation of art as a reflection of ourselves in a mirror. *Crestone*’s one moment of obviousness is also its most victorious, as **it** looks into our characters and **they look into it**. What do they see?
There’s an expedition into a cave that proves striking in a disturbing way too, when they encounter an entity that may be dead, may be otherworldly, or may be themselves. Sometimes, Hertzler throws in a collaborative curveball, but never are they totally out of place. Everything is illuminated, exterminate all rational thought.
Amidst the decay of stray homes they ransack and the squalor of which they’ve chosen to live in (a GoFundMe campaign attempts to build up their efforts), this group strike quite the relationship with the movie being made, which is itself looking for its own thesis. Not struggling, not trying, but looking. One imagines *Crestone* as being a form of what Francis Ford Coppola has imagined as “live cinema.” It’s not exact to that, but **it is** a **living** piece nonetheless.
It’s living.
*Crestone* is now [playing theatrically](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and also [available on VOD](https://linktr.ee/crestone?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
---
***Based out of “Hollywood South” New Orleans, Bill Arceneaux has written about movies and moviegoing for publications like Big Easy Magazine, Film Threat, Bayou Brief, Occupy, DIG Baton Rouge, OffBeat Magazine, The Hammond Daily Star, and many more. He is Rotten Tomatoes approved, and a romantic for that flickering light. His favorite film often changes from APOCALYPSE NOW to ROMAN HOLIDAY, depending on which way the wind blows. Find out about his latest exploits on Twitter at*** [***@BillReviews***](https://www.twitter.com/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)***!***
### Sundance at Home with 'A Glitch in the Matrix'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/sundance-at-home-with-a-glitch-in/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:39.000Z
What movie sequel titles go well with second impeachment trials? These few come to mind:
- ***Die Hard 2: Die Harder* / *Die Hard with a Vengeance*** (death is not wished on anyone - the titles just make it all sound cool when you think about it)
- ***The Empire Strikes Back*** (whose the empire in this scenario? all answers are likely right)
- ***Return to Oz*** (“tis a silly place”)
- ***Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country*** (we’re in some uncharted territory here)
- ***\_\_\_\_: The Snyder Cut*** (everything up until now has felt so… )
Who else will be watching? What else will you watch?
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
---
## Links (to read & watch)
[Ouch.](https://www.filmfreakcentral.net/ffc/2021/02/malcolm-marie.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[“a niche built squarely in the midpoint between the spiritual and fandom communities, populated by people who believe wholeheartedly that they can project their consciousnesses into alternate realities — largely fictional ones.”](https://hyperallergic.com/615655/reality-shifting-tiktok/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[RE: The Punisher’s logo](https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/punisher-skull-logo-marvel-capitol-riots?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[“](https://shadowandact.com/the-meteor-man-superhero-movie?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)[*The Meteor Man*](https://shadowandact.com/the-meteor-man-superhero-movie?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)[ was always supposed to be a film that was different from traditional superhero fare.”](https://shadowandact.com/the-meteor-man-superhero-movie?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
---
## Sundance 2021, Part 2: *A Glitch in the Matrix*
Official Still
There was always something about *The Matrix* that never sat well with me. When Morpheus is leading Neo through a crowd of people on a populated city street, he’s laying out a strategic and scary idealogy: That one should keep their guard up, as anyone still connected to the system is a potential enemy. This is followed through on when Neo and Trinity attempt to break Morpheus free from a trio of Agents, and massacre a large group of guards with sleek gunfire and surgical coldness.
The thought is that those still “connected” are essentially the real threats, since an Agent can pop out of them at any moment. In another way of thinking, they are threats because, at every moment, their worldview will present direct challenges to the righteous. It’s a great action film with much provocation for anyone to enjoy, but the implications and themes are terrifying.
[Subscribe now](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Rodney Ascher’s *A Glitch in the Matrix* is somewhat similar to Chris Smith’s *Collapse*, in that both films do discuss troubling subjects with seemingly troubled subjects, but are ultimately dramas on the human condition to question reality itself, and what such an act does to a person and a people. *The Matrix* does this to an extent, but from the point of view of fantasy. *Glitch* takes this fantasy on headfirst and without judgement, letting the interviewees - shown wonderfully with superimposed avatars - talk and talk and talk straight into their webcams, expositing on their understanding of and backstory to their belief in simulation theory, the idea that we’re all living in a digitized world within a hopefully real world.
The chats themselves are almost all in extended long takes, where the people inside their animated avatar filters go on personal tangents of memories and logistical processes, only broken up with animated reenactments here and there - another kind of simulation. These takes feel confrontational, like we the audience are the direct listeners (which we mostly are) but never adversarial or harsh. We empathize and relate to each individual, even author Philip K. Dick in archival footage, not just because of their overall calm and friendly tones, but because deep down we can see their side a bit. We can see ourselves in their seats, feeling the same way.
*Glitch* is a data mosh on our singular and collective souls - if such things exist. Perhaps they do exist just by virtue of being brought into this review. One step leads to another leads to another, but that doesn’t make those steps significant to a whole necessarily, unless that whole represents an overly engaged observer. This is perhaps best shown in the Joshua Cooke segment, where an animated tour of his teenage home is laid upon his retelling of a particular tragic incident. He’s awfully matter of fact here, but never indifferent - it’s what it is. An engaged observers ourselves, we’re completely stunned by this revelation, upending or even affirming our notions about *The Matrix* and media itself.
Are we **free** from morality if reality is but a construct? **Can** we do anything? What is holding us back, and do we want to do **literally** anything if “**freed**”? Rodney Ascher definitely has a way of bringing out these anxieties and doughts and hesitances oh so naturally, but never lets it all contradict or complicate the heart of his film. After all, it’s not **real**ly about simulation theory, but about people. About how our minds and hearts work. About whose in control. About us.
Is this a companion piece to *The Matrix*? Not really. It’s not even a criticism of it. It does, however, play with our brains a bit. *A Glitch in the Matrix* goes for the head by way of the heart, or maybe vice versa. Superb and startling, breathtaking and compassionate. Not an ode to dreamers of dreams, but a fine cup of coffee with them anyway. Could Neo have done the same with any of those guards? Sure, but time is of the essence. Unless you believe that time is but a construct too, of course.
### Sundance at Home with 'We’re All Going to the World’s Fair'
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/sundance2021part1/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:39.000Z
It’s funny to me how my last in-person moviegoing experience was at the start of our current pandemic, and it was for a movie about time being turned into a weapon of war. As our new [President Joe Biden](https://ofthosewho.substack.com/p/a-watchlist-for-joe/comments) has made clear, a “wartime” approach is needed to get us through COVID and, unfortunately, we can’t roll back the clock to just before the spread.
I watched *Tenet* double-masked and at a theater just down the street from my home, and it was [the most stressful viewing](https://medium.com/zeroeffect/neauxreelidea-tenet-d34b9522a6f8?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) I’ve ever had at a most convenient showtime. Too many complications and rules, too many variables of jerks not wearing coverings, too loud audio, and not loud enough dialogue. Plus, I was breathing heavier due to the two masks on my face.
This is not the best time, whatsoever, for people to gather in closed quarters. We still want to movie**go**, but how can we do this when we can’t **go** out?
It’s likely that, for the next year or more, virtual screenings will be how we **go** to the movies. Unless a drive-in is nearby, your internet connection will be the best box office available. But with bonus Q&A’s and short presentations being included, there exists a chance for innovation and re-engagement. Maybe it won’t be IMAX, but to be fair, most modern IMAX screens weren’t ***really*** IMAX.
Your home may not ***really*** be a theater, but it **can be your** cinema. At least, for a time.
---
## Links (to read & watch)
[Thanos was no environmentalist, y’all.](https://medium.com/humungus/how-to-explain-supervillains-to-republicans-3b10622aa9b9?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
["Films take years to make, and meanwhile years keep slipping by. Years that could be spent doing something else, something less agonizing, less financially draining, something with fewer moving parts."](https://www.talkhouse.com/the-long-road-to-strawberry-mansion/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[An evolution (and a statement) in disability narrative storytelling](https://www.indiewire.com/2021/01/4-feet-high-review-1234612679/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[“And yet, even as this reality makes these films all the more devastating, it also makes them all the more miraculous.”](https://crookedmarquee.com/to-never-leave-on-goodbye-dragon-inn-and-bloody-nose-empty-pockets/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
---
## Sundance 2021, Part 1: *We’re All Going to the World’s Fair*
From [Sundance.org](https://fpg.festival.sundance.org/film-info/5fd038e12885b8421b946614?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
In a world of windows, how deep can we gaze? This can and has been asked of cinema ever since its inception of course - in one form or another - from silent to sound to 3D to now. Does film have a future, and if so… how long will it last? If you listen to Peter Greenaway, it’s already dead. If you listen to Christopher Nolan, it’s very much alive. Did theatrical exhibitions start out of the carnival tents? Should this be where film returns? Did it ever leave? These questions keep swirling days after watching *We’re All Going to the World’s Fair*, a movie that’s structured inside of and through screens and windows and frames of all sorts. How it captured such perspectives and shifts might be the singular answer to each of the above queries.
It’s the story of a teenager who we know as Casey. Her nebbish visage belies her colorful bedroom, seen through the eye of an unfeeling computer camera. Glow in the dark stickers and a lovable question mark adorn her walls, as she practices to her monitor what she’ll be saying and doing for a new video. We see her preparation a few more times in the story and in different settings (her bedroom, some snowy woods, etc), either from a far away voyeur position or as her direct audience. Our view of her in these particular moments is stationary but not static; she can come on over and engage whenever she wants, but it’s up to her if and when.
*World’s Fair* is at the direction of The Eyeslicer’s Jane Schoenbrun, whose work on this one can only imagine was most complex. It’s reminiscent of Eugene Kotlyarenko’s work with social/unsocial media in his movies, but vastly different in approach and resolution. Both filmmakers get at the human heart of it all, but where Eugene goes for the critical point, Jane aspires for an embrace. *World’s Fair* treats its subject and subjects with reverence and compassion, especially at their darkest times.
Casey (performed by the debuting and excellent Anna Cobb) takes on the “World’s Fair Challenge” in that opening scene, and will record her behavior and feelings after taking it. It’s akin to a “Bloody Mary” goof, only played up by online users as a body horror experience. And indeed, the horrors come. Casey’s videos grow and change as she grows and changes, letting herself go in increasingly dramatic and disturbing ways. These uploads never turn totally tragic or outright violent, but we feel strongly for her and for ourselves in these scenes. They suggest bad turns that may arrive in her future, but also potentially positive and healthy ones. Casey is awfully brave in her shell-breaking, no matter if reality is breaking for her or not. While it’s hard to imagine Casey having a life outside of this online one, it’s clear that she must, since we’re only viewing what she’s allowing us to. It’s all so courageous and subversive to be sure.
The film has three main characters: Casey, a middle-aged man known as JLB, and the audience. Sometimes we’re active to the other two, sometimes we’re left in the cold as the creators connect just with one another. These connections are mostly found in views of each other’s videos, but in representing people watching, at least it all makes for one feeling less lonely. But only “less.” This is a film of great and grand expression, transforming and challenging our own ideas and beliefs of art, of ourselves, and of others. *We’re All Going to the World’s Fair* is certainly a picture in a frame specially made, but through this frame and whatever screen we choose to watch it on, it absolutely complicates our notions of what cinema is, if and how it can or should expand, and just how many perspectives are too much for us to live through.
Answer: You can never have too many perspectives, but never lose grasp of your own and of where you are.
Thanks, cinema!
### Hank Azaria Between the Toes: The 'Godzilla vs. Kong' Pre-Show, Part 1
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/gvkpreshow1/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:40.000Z
**This is the first part of my *Godzilla vs. Kong* pre-show commentary. Here, I’ll be looking at different and odd aspects of other big-monster-flicks and how they may relate to the upcoming feature-presentation. Hit me up on Twitter** [**@billreviews**](https://www.twitter.com/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)**, consider some subscription support, and share all around!**
**Many thanks :)**
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From [Fandango Movieclips](https://youtu.be/jB9WGpVrYBs?t=105&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) on Youtube
It was like magic.
Once King Kong nailed Godzilla with a sweet right-hook to the face, once Chris Classic’s song “Here We Go” hit, and when both creatures sized each other up for a fight - featuring a campy-ish snap-zoom on Kong - the recently debuted trailer for *Godzilla vs. Kong* had this critic’s heart. The designs were beautifully rendered for what will be a straight slug-fest action film between two animated (or performance captured?) characters, and with a simple but effective tease at their rivalry, relationships, and potential arcs (yes, they can have arcs), the big selling point of the movie as laid bare in its title may just be enough to smooth over any possible rough-edges in the human plots.
We have a contender, dear readers.
But, let’s go back to 1998’s *Godzilla* for a moment. If we’re to talk about something so anticipated, we may as well get into something that just… just didn’t live up to it all.
Those alive way back then will recall the teasers of an elderly New York City fisherman, running for his life as Godzilla crashes into a pier. This glimpse of course was shown in its entirety in the final film, too “good” to not expose everyone to again, maybe. Still, it was exciting as a preview, and got many to react with intrigue and gasps (back when theaters debuted the teasers first).
There was another spot though, one that floated a more comical feel. One that summed up the overall movie in just about a minute or so. A news cameraman played by Hank Azaria, hearing some pre-9/11 noises and shakes, busts out of a diner to capture what’s going on. In the rain, under cover of a storm, the monster obscurely appears before him, as it steps forward. In fright, he screams as the gigantic foot lands inches away from him. Now turning a corner, Azaria, mouth aghast, cackles in an awkward laugh-like yell, almost directly at the audience.
After first viewing at the multiplex, my personal reaction was to exclaim “Oh, my God!” (not too dissimilar to my response towards *Anaconda*) to my father, who just kinda shrugged it off. Months later, when *Godzilla* hit VHS, it would become his favorite go-to-sleep movie - same for me. Years later, after that special effects spark had worn off, I’d recall that Azaria foot-sequence with more reverence than others would give it.
Why?
It wasn’t just because it was from a big-scale monster movie, the same genre that I’d spend a long-time searching for down video store aisles, nor was it because that movie was all that good. Really, it was an effective, fun, and somewhat relatable “moment” to anticipate, made memorable by the short-scenario presented and that unique cackle. In the end, the campy prevails, and monster movies reign, having some inkling of what they truly are: spectacle.
We look forward to *Godzilla vs. Kong* not because it’s a too serious political/religious/cultural allegory like *Batman v Superman*, nor because it’s a drawn-out and super-tense human drama like the first entry in this new Monster-Verse was (which I rather liked a lot).
No, this is more akin to that near toe jam scene with the man who voices on *The Simpsons*. It’s more akin to that *King of the Monsters* scene where Sally Hawkins got obliterated from being stepped-on (she didn’t have Hank’s luck). It’s that sizing up bit between the two. It’s that snap-zoom and that song. It’s that freaking right-hook to the kisser. It’s the camp, the silliness.
If *Jackass 3D* could make a turd projectile represent everything good about that depthful format, then *Godzilla vs. Kong* can easily be a reel fine piece of work.
Can, mind you.
From [Fandango Movieclips](https://youtu.be/jB9WGpVrYBs?t=81&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) on Youtube
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### for the love of gore, man!
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/psychogoreman/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:40.000Z
It’s fun to see kids do the darndest things, so to speak. For example, the film *Psycho Goreman* features a little girl talking to a cross with Jesus on it. She’s been a bratty little beast of sorts up until now, but at this moment is made humble by horrific events and an iconic image. But what appears to be the start of prayer soon turns sacrilegious, as she declares allegiance to a super-powerful evil alien being, in a show of shocking aggression. To cap it all off, she…
… well, you’ll just have to watch. *Psycho Goreman* is full-tilt edgy, letting its lead child actress, Nita-Josee Hanna, go completely foul-mouthed and borderline vulgar with her little girl demands of others and completely monstrous attitude against any/all authority. What is seen in the film’s trailer is but a minor visage of her absolute domination, let loose from the very beginning to the most satisfying conclusion. Nita-Josee takes to her character Mimi with courage and glee, where one can only imagine the reveling she must’ve taken in being allowed to just explode. This is **her** film.
Of course, this ecstatic sci-fi delight isn’t merely sold to all off the shoulders of a kid (though it could be), being a romantic marriage of practical effects, costuming, and makeup design. It’s clear just how much filmmaker Steven Kostanski (part of the Astron-6 crew behind *Manborg* and *The Void*) not only loves those 80s “alien meets Earth kids” adventure films, but even more so the mechanics behind the craft. Each space warrior featured (and there are many) have their own specific look and movement, as much products of the puppeteers and craftsmen as they are the actors under the latex. As a director, Kostanski doesn’t just exude that feeling of a wide-eyed youngster staring up at a movie screen, but also commands all elements - no matter how silly or campy or gooey - with love and confidence.
The young at heart will fall before *Psycho Goreman*, adoring its sense of humor and playful horror all the way through. In one such sequence that embodies everything great about the film, the lead kids and titular alien overlord are out and about in a playground when confronted by two ill-prepared policemen. Immediately, they draw their weapons, only to be disposed of with ease. One goes boom, the other goes minion. This half-living cop, half-melting man walks around in utter pain, mumbling gibberish with a permanent expression of bafflement on what’s left of his face. Imagine the henchman from *Robocop* who melts after being doused in radioactive waste, but forced to live that way at the whims of a little girl and her alien slave.
It’s as hilarious and demented as you’d think, maybe ten times more.
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
A complete crowd-pleaser that earns all the comedy credit with every gag it delivers, and a cheek-ish throwback to a decade too often mimicked, *Psycho Goreman* kicks 2021 off in the best cinematic way possible. It’d be a classic video store pick, if such places were still in abundance. It’d be a wonderful screening to sneak into, if more theaters could safely stay open. As things are, the film is still a gas. Contemporary sharp-edges mix with Adult Swim absurdism to birth something inspired by childhood and performed as only the universe can influence.
Is this meant for all ages, or only the grown-up few? That’ll depend on the parents, for sure. Just know that, should you watch without the little ones, they may hold it against you.
(*Psycho Goreman* is now available [on-demand](https://ondemand.drafthouse.com/film/night-creatures-presents-psycho-goreman-watch-party-qanda-virtual-hangout/?utm%5Fsource=facebook&utm%5Fmedium=paid-social&utm%5Fcampaign=alamoondemand&fbclid=IwAR1jkch1a0jYUAQG3CKDh4NglaJgJ9knMPp6jN8%5FdzXjAO4cONftjzAaV48))
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### a vision of wanda, the first third
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/wandavisionintro/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:41.000Z
**Of Those Who* is an independent newsletter of film criticism and moviegoing. Please visit the* [*About*](https://ofthosewho.substack.com/about) *page for a primer on what this is, support by sharing/*[*subscribing*](https://www.ofthosewho.substack.com/subscribe)*, and feel free to send along any feedback.*
*Support Your Cinema(s)* :)
---
[Subscribe now](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
---
*(Writer’s note: Yes, this is a *streaming tv series* review, but all things considered with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I felt it’d be fun to explore this expansion onto smaller screens. And no, I won’t be tackling the Twin Peaks: The Return as cinema debate - *at least not now*… )*
From [Official Trailer 2 for ](https://youtu.be/UBhlqe2OTt4?t=76&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)*[WandaVision](https://youtu.be/UBhlqe2OTt4?t=76&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)*
After some fun and very impressive IMAX 3D special engagements for preview clips from the first *Guardians of the Galaxy* film, Marvel Studios tried to one-up with a two-episode premiere cut of their new television show - set loosely within their cinematic universe - *Inhumans*, which had been shot specifically for large format. While visually grand, the experiment flopped due to lack of interest and, frankly, word of mouth around its overall quality. It took chances, but was a pretty painful experience to observe and absorb.
In the years since, streaming services have reigned and, with the introduction of Marvel’s home on Disney+, are only getting bigger and going more for broke. In this era of Covid-19, what was big is now going small and, almost literally, more intimate in their invasion of our spaces.
We’re now near two years since *Spider-Man: Far From Home*, and understandably (given the state of the world) are just now being introduced to Phase 4\. How would they followup Peter Parker’s post-*Endgame* adventure? With another bold chance.
*WandaVision* follows the mysterious exploits of the newly arrived to town couple Wanda Maximoff and Vision, a woman who can bend reality with her mind and a walking man-computer-bot with phasing abilities. Of course, having followed the past several films in the long-running franchise series, we know who these individuals are - former Avengers who’ve suffered through much tragedy (including a stunningly brutal death) - but what we don’t know or understand yet is where they are now and why they’re here at all.
The town of Westview, over the first three episodes, shifts palettes from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s television sitcom format, borrowing some (or a lot) from title graphics and musical cues to the cinematography and compositions themselves. From a sheer appearance standpoint, *Wandavision* thus far looks unlike anything the MCU has produced prior. Some modern audiences may not fully appreciate the aesthetics or their nuances, which go above and beyond simple nostalgia and into stylistic replication and storytelling weapon, but that’s alright. Perhaps there’s room for Wikipedia research and Youtube watches in between streams?
Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany’s chemistry as Wanda and Vision respectively has grown considerably, especially considering they really only had two movies worth of a relationship. Here, they play the nuclear couple with delightful glee and, in the high points, slight but pronounced sadness. Clearly, something is wrong in/with this town, and it's not just some *Blue Velvet*\-like inherent issue with suburbia. There’s a conspiracy afoot.
[Leave a comment](#ghost-comments-root)
TV commercials break into the proceedings, dropping in clues and potential red-herrings, such as “Hydra” and “Strucker". Each of these episodes ends with a quick glance at something just past *WandaVision’s* existence, from outside observers and monitors to helicopters above and more. Juxtaposed with the decade’s past sitcom life, these brief moments of more familiar MCU territory are more welcome and much larger scale than normal. Aspect ratios widen, cameras move differently, and everything expands. It’s a simple trick, but one of grand impact for what is a major bet for Marvel Studios.
Where *WandaVision* goes from here will be debated for the next two weeks, but the show will likely, hopefully, continue its push towards a new avenue for the superhero genre, especially as it navigates the pixels inside our various screens. Serialized filmmaking is the “thing” now, and that’s fine. More than fine.
Just be careful. You’re past the previews now.
---
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### ... is the mind-killer
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/minorpremise/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:41.000Z
**Of Those Who* is an independent newsletter of film criticism and moviegoing. Please visit the* [*About*](https://ofthosewho.substack.com/about) *page for a primer on what this is, support by sharing/*[*subscribing*](https://www.ofthosewho.substack.com/subscribe)*, and feel free to send along any feedback.*
*Support Your Cinema(s)* :)
---
[Subscribe now](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
---
Official Still from *Minor Premise*
Few of us have ever had a headache in the manner that lead character Ethan experiences in the film *Minor Premise*. When they come on, the camera shakes with heavy fervor, the frames fade and split into one another, and he eventually collapses through time, awaking moments later to him, but hours later for everyone else. The sheen of sweat glistens off his face and neck disgustingly, almost as if he’s in a David Cronenberg movie, and in a few more seconds he’ll turn into BrundleFly. Ibuprofen was never meant to relieve this level of pressure.
*Minor Premise* is no small (or minor) achievement. It’s independent all the way, and resourceful to a fault. The majority of the story takes place in Ethan’s home, where in his basement laboratory, he’s working on the next iteration of a memory capturing machine. It is his goal to identify and isolate certain memories, with the result being a new and improved person/consciousness. Unfortunately, he’s also a helpless and self-loathing drunk who, during a routine bender, tests the device on himself and, subsequently, unleashes ten different fragments of his being in his one body.
M. Night Shyamalan’s *Split* tackled similar territory with a dangerously fantastical edge and “understanding” towards personality disorder, but what this film does instead, while also fantastical, maintains a more sci-fi feel, never taking a definition of mental illness and manipulating it for horror and thrills. Whether that worked in *Split*’s case is up for debate, but *Minor Premise* remains in a state of gritty personal turmoil, bringing Ethan’s multiple emotions - powered strongly by the attached memories he must reckon with - to a heightened and terrifying degree. He’s running against a clock to both bring himself back to a default setting and to complete his work, only he’s the explosive his efforts are working to outpace, and one part of his consciousness wants full control.
As a whole, the story is pretty simple. A protagonist with personal problems must race to solve a bigger problem before it’s too late. *Minor Premise* takes this “premise” (sorry) and amps it up with efficiently crafted effects that evoke the pain and stakes involved, and the very performance at the center of everything. Sathya Sridharan breathes sadness, spirited anxiety, and self-destructiveness into Ethan’s soul so well, one might feel more for the actor than the character he’s portraying. But not to worry, as Sathya is in absolute command, even when Ethan gets closer and closer to ultimate oblivion. The more he and the role he’s been casted into continue downward into this experiment - “this” being his performance and his performance’s plot - the more the line blurs between real and reel.
The trickery at play in this movie is staggering, and never lets up. Kudos to director Eric Schultz and actor Sathya Sridharan for creating such chaos and madness for an audience to absorb and stress along with. Never does the science jargon go over our heads, as the focus is more on Ethan cracking into pieces and time being against him. Rarely do movies express the look of emotional memory so inventively and so well, and even more rarely use it as a weapon to fight expectations.
This is no *Split*, and that’s good for both films. Such individuality deserves grand merit.
(*Minor Premise* is now on VOD)
---
*(Writer’s note: I’m ending doing posts as split issues for the time being, in favor of an article per weekday format. Maybe a zine is down the road?)*
---
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### "that's impossible, even for a computer!"
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/issue5intro/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:42.000Z
**Of Those Who* is an independent newsletter of film criticism and moviegoing. Please visit the* [*About*](https://ofthosewho.substack.com/about) *page for a primer on what this is, support by sharing/*[*subscribing*](https://www.ofthosewho.substack.com/subscribe)*, and feel free to send along any feedback.*
*Support Your Cinema(s)* :)
---
Photo by [Piotr Makowski](https://unsplash.com/@maqov?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/death-star?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText)
It’s been a while since my inherited VCR had been used for anything other than dust collection, but just the other day, I popped in my tape of the 1995 home release of *Star Wars: A New Hope*. No matter my feelings on the other films in the series, *Episode IV* holds that special spot of being **the** more heartwarming entry. We go from clear and present danger to the unknown to longing to adventure to rebellion and to destiny, over the span of about two hours, building to a well-deserved celebratory ceremony for our heroes and, by extension, our better selves.
After forwarding through the Leanord Maltin interview with George Lucas, I hit upon a peculiar occurrence: the movie was in total black and white. Now, as a VCR child, I knew to do a quick forward/rewind combination to fix the issue - which worked - but, after the events of January 6, 2021, this momentary disturbance (in the force?) sprung to mind some thoughts that I felt would make for a decent opening to this latest issue.
The pilot Wedge Antilles, at a briefing on how to destroy the Death Star, remarks “that’s impossible, even for the computer!” in response to the logistics of the mission. Luke Skywalker, the idealistic farmboy who’ll soon learn much about himself and his place in the Galaxy, reassures against this doubt immediately with kind confidence.
Far be it for me to go all Randal Graves from *Clerks* here, pondering on independent contractors caught in the crossfire, but I see something interesting about the themes in *Star Wars*, the temporary stripping of the film’s color by way of hitting play, and what we all witnessed happening at our Capitol.
It all reminds me of an old column (that’s no longer online) by filmmaker Alejandro Adams on the defunct Fanndor blog Keyframe, where he wrote on an out of sequence/serendipitous remixing of a screening for *The Tree of Life*. By accident and without intent, this reordering glitch of sorts had recontextualized parts of the film and added new dimension to something widely accepted as a masterpiece of cinema (Adams didn’t agree but did love the change-up and prospects). Around the same time, filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola had been experimenting with what he dubbed as “live cinema,” and even toyed with real-time editing of his movie *Twixt*.
There’s a wonderful romance to such discoveries, to such unexpected territory that suggests a cosmic sort of life built in to film.
In the case of the 1995 cut of *A New Hope* and its opening scene being seen in black and white, I pull an interpretation as guided by some unseen hand. Not that something or someone **wanted me** to **see** something in a **new** way - it’s still by happy accident - but real-world events mixed with analog technical issues and days old reflection, made for a revelation.
The colorful scene of Luke’s response to Wedge’s concern and the colorless siege on the rebel’s ship by the Empire at the beginning, played side by side in mind, adds uncertainty to the defined and provides clarity to the foreign, more so and perhaps primarily as a result of current events.
We’re thrust into this Galaxy far far away with the image of a small band of freedom fighters being hunted by the imposing force of tyranny. Troopers storm ahead with blasters firing, paving the way for their momentary commander to stroll on through. This is now reminiscent of President Trump having peaceful protesters pushed back most aggressively just so he could walk to a nearby church and hold up “a bible” for cameras. In black and white yet clear as day, the villains are front and center.
In the face of such brutal and ignorant behavior, what can those hoping for balance do to confront the horror of the clear-cut? The mission briefing later, in full color, has a looming grey over it, best represented by the apprehensive Wedge and the potential of a planet crushing assault by a fully occupied Death Star. Luke, in the eye of it all and with little evidence to his contrary, sees the possible from his humble experiences back home and from what he feels to be true.
Of course, we all know how this turns out.
It may be tenuous to suggest any dots that connect Death Star to Parler instigators, Antilles to shocked observer, and Skywalker to \_\_\_\_, but there’s something righteous too. There’s something to unity through the fight for justice that just might pull us all through the Covid era and this Trump climax. So many on either “side” have passed, but no matter where anyone stands, the push for accountability and truth over false power and repugnant divisiveness must go on.
The odds will only be in our favor as long as we’re quick to recall who we were and when we remember bulls eyeing womp rats back home. “It’s not impossible.”
---
Aren’t movies great?
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Stay safe and mask up!
:)
### issue 4, part 3: another one bites
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/issue4part3/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:43.000Z
**Of Those Who* is an independent newsletter of film criticism and moviegoing. Please visit the* [*About*](https://ofthosewho.substack.com/about) *page for a primer on what this is, support by sharing/*[*subscribing*](https://www.ofthosewho.substack.com/subscribe)*, and feel free to send along any feedback.*
*Support Your Cinema(s)* :)
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**The following is the first in a series, where we crack open the mind for a bit and, through very rough and very odd scribblings, take a gander at some moviegoing notes that I’ve made.**
**Here, we have chicken-scratch on the short-form Youtube web-series *Wheelchair Werewolf*, from** [**Joe Avella**](http://joeavella.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)**:**
**Done using Google’s PhotoScan app.**
---
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---
Happy New Year!
:)
### issue 4, part 2.2 (bonus): fried goodies
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/issue4part22/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:43.000Z
**Of Those Who* is an independent newsletter of film criticism and moviegoing. Please visit the* [*About*](https://ofthosewho.substack.com/about) *page for a primer on what this is, support by sharing/*[*subscribing*](https://www.ofthosewho.substack.com/subscribe)*, and feel free to send along any feedback.*
*Support Your Cinema(s)* :)
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Review: *The Ringmaster*
Cook Larry Lang is exactly the kind of gentleman that this critic would very well be glad to become in his later years. He’s hard working, he’s attentive, he’s shy, he’s humble… and he makes some incredible onion rings. There’s certainly a story to be told around him and those in his community who notice his service and fried snacks. *The Ringmaster*, however, isn’t exactly that story. Too bad, but not “bad.”
The documentary - which one could mistake for a scripted tale of errors - is focused on the efforts of Zachary Capp who, after receiving an inheritance, chooses to pursue his dream of filmmaking. At almost every turn, friends and crew alike try to make suggestions on how his grand onion ring production should go about, from subject handling to story length. Indeed, they’re all right in different ways, but Zachary pushes head on his way. Larry and his rings, the original topics of the film, quickly becomes the setting for Capps’ ego, lined with one too many good intentions.
*Ringmaster* feels often like a rough DVD bonus feature, with some harsh edits and occasional off beat pacing. Still, it’s never dull, nor does it ever favor just entertainment over fascination. It hosts both qualities, even as things don’t turn out the way Capp wanted. Interestingly, he’s not the credited director here, making this a movie about the making of an almost movie about onion rings.
Capp pulls out all the tricks for Larry who, most obviously, is uncomfortable with this attention. Through each escalation, things get more and more cringey, as Larry’s anxiety can be felt through the screen and under our skin. Zachary Capp certainly wanted to help Larry and the Lang Family, but didn’t think of any consequences or complications, at least not before acting. Thankfully, he’s no Troy Duffy, and this is no *Overnight*. In that behind the scenes blunder on the director of *The Boondock Saints*, we see a bartender bring out his unearned maniacal nature to the forefront, hurting those closest to him with every move.
Again, Capp is no Duffy. We do see lessons learned, or at least acknowledged. The man is a recovering gambling addict, and this problem likely came out in his unfortunately too close documentation. *Ringmaster* is a consistently resonant mishap madcap of mistakes and moments. We don’t technically root for Capp to complete his goal of a happy ending, just for him to get real and maybe reel too.
Thankfully, he may have seen all of that through. Just via someone else’s movie.
*(*[*Now on VOD*](https://theringmaster.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)*)*
---
10 Favorite Films of 2020 (in no particular order)
**The Others of 2020**:
*Spree*
*Inspector Ike*
*Lapsis*
*12 Hour Shift*
*Hopper/Welles*
*Tesla*
*The Last Blockbuster*
*Survival Skills*
*Possessor Uncut*
*A Ghost Waits*
**The Top Faves of 2020**:
- *VHYes* \- Inventive. Wonderfully absurd and tender. “Found-footage” goes beyond aesthetic and into the mind’s eye dreamscape.
- *Da 5 Bloods* \- Delroy Lindo for the win, all the way. The trailer alone was award worthy.
- *The Twentieth Century* \- Acid on ice! Guy Maddin took a vacation, and some stranger ones came in. A fantastic phantasmagoria.
- *I’m Thinking of Ending Things* \- Them car conversations a good movie make.
- *Time* \- Such beautiful editing and cinematography. Will this be shown in schools?
- *Bacurau* \- Should also be shown in schools, but maybe more urgently. It takes a village, for sure.
- [*Alone*](https://letterboxd.com/billreviews/film/alone-2020-1/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) \- Resourceful to the max, tense without limit. As solid and perfect as a movie can be.
- *Soul* \- Dare to challenge, dare to take on the abstract.
- *She Dies Tomorrow* \- Challenges too. Dares too. Abstracts a bit more. On the spot.
- [*Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets*](https://www.bayoubrief.com/2020/11/11/recommended-viewing-bloody-nose-empty-pockets-at-the-31st-new-orleans-film-fest/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)\- One last hurrah as a world ends. Jukebox tunes, memories, anecdotes, and spirits. Hearts will flutter.
---
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---
Happy New Year!
:)
### issue 4, part 2: blunders. some.
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/issue4part2/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:44.000Z
**Of Those Who* is an independent newsletter of film criticism and moviegoing. Please visit the* [*About*](https://ofthosewho.substack.com/about) *page for a primer on what this is, share/forward around if you like what you read, and if this has arrived in your inbox by mistake, do click unsubscribe at the bottom of this letter.*
*Support Your Cinema(s)* :)
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Review: *WW84*
We’ve strayed a long way from No Man’s Land, folks.
In its own way, *Wonder Woman 1984* is an actual no man’s land. Not in the gender sense, as the love of a boyfriend (or “man”) seems to be what super smart and super confident women crave the most here. Rather, it’s meant in the “please don’t go there” sense, and the “why did you have to go there?” sense.
*WW84* is the latest from Warner Bros’ DC Cinematic Universe, which has provided a strong opposing array of quality, from the dark depths *BvS* and the wreck of *Justice Leagu*e, to the colorful heights of *Aquaman* and the first *Wonder Woman* \- you either really like or really dislike these new DC films. Unfortunately, for *WW*’s sequel, the needle points ever more than slightly towards the dislike direction. It’s a stunning disappointment, despite the clear effort from many involved to strip out potentially bland action tropes for potentially stronger arcs. It didn’t work so well, but…
…
The film, set decades after the first, takes place in 1984 Washington D.C., and begins with a jewelry heist at a poppin’ shopping mall. The thieves come off as coked-up and way too over the top, which can be appreciated given the times of the movie. Excess and selfishness are big themes throughout and, when thought on some, the real villains. Of course, Wonder Woman can’t punch themes, so she’s needs something and someone more tangible, like a desperate and out of his depth burglar who has taken kid hostage in a mall. The pace of the escalation in this scene is so brutally quick, and the style so campy, unintended laughter will be expected.
Most of *WW84* is like the mall heist, even as settings change and revelations are made. Gal Gadot and Chris Pine are both back as Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor respectively and, while the chemistry between the two is ok, their antics and actions leave much to be desired. Pine spends maybe 80% of his time looking doughy-eyed and in awe, as his spirit has possessed the body of another handsome man and is now taking in the world of his tomorrow. He mostly just looks on and gasps with a smile. Gadot looks on lovingly. When not fighting baddies, this is the extent of their relationship now.
The plot, about a stone that can grant all kinds of wishes, leads to so much chaos in the world of the story, and so much confusion. When everything is in shambles, our President asks for… well, it’s the Cold War, so take your guess. It’s all so comical, and yet so on point. This was the 1980s. This is America. This is humanity. It’s all absurd, but kinda true.
*WW84*’s shining light comes with Pedro Pascal’s Maxwell Lord and Lucian Perez who plays his son Allistair. Lord is a wannabe tycoon who is supremely unsuccessful. His office building, likely a rental, is hilariously in disrepair with papers on the ground and desks overturned. His life is on the brink, and at one point is even called a loser behind his back and in a huff. Again, another moment paced with hilarity, but thankfully punctuated with brilliant acting and riffing from Pascal and the little Perez, whose father and son arc is the saving grace in all of this. We identify more with Lord’s Twilight Zone experience than with Wonder Woman’s attempt to save the world from him. The emotional punch from his finale is so grand, most will likely forget that the movie isn’t solely about him.
*Wonder Woman 1984* produces more jeers than cheers, but at least has some fine flashes of boldness and resonance in fits and bursts. There are literal fireworks, but not much actual wonder. Were they even looking at fireworks during the shoot? Cause it felt empty. Like how most malls are today. If those storefronts and food courts could talk, what would they say? “Why did you come here?” Who knows.
*(on HBO MAX and* [*in theaters now*](https://prytaniacanalplace.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)*)*
---
Review: *Soul*
It’s amazing how when you hear the music in Pixar’s *Soul*, you’d never think of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. This isn’t a disservice to Reznor and Ross’s scoring prior to this film, but rather a testament. Their work on this animated tale of what makes life so worth living takes us from such great heights to such contemplative places, all with jazzy tunes that strongly match each emotional beat. Again, not that they couldn’t do this before, but the sounds they make here aren’t what most would picture as coming from them.
In a nutshell, this very unexpected aspect is what makes *Soul* so, well, soulful. It represents the film through and through, from abstractness to clarity.
The film is about a music teacher (Jaime Foxx) who, after an accident just hours before a jazz gig, finds himself in the afterlife, on a space escalator going into a bright light. Our souls are represented as small but fluffy-ish forms that look more like fun candy than ghosts, and the coordinators of this afterlife are friendly one-dimensional etchings that look over everything, or at least try to. Through happenstance and persistence, our teacher finds his way back to Earth, only to be accompanied by a soul in training (Tina Fey), who doesn’t see the point in learning or finding that “spark,” or certain something that makes us all human.
*Soul* follows in the footsteps of *Inside Out* with its focus on things that are difficult to express and explain. Here, it’s the bells and whistles of living and feeling. Of going with your flow and of finding the why to match your who. It’s a stunning film to look at and even more spectacular one to absorb. Everything has color, texture, sheen, and life. Every environment, every person, every being. Pixar has made the intangible tangible, even if it’s all speculative.
There’s richness all around, from the jazz clubs to the barbershops to the street pizzerias to the land of lost souls. Everything is so vibrant and full of density and weight, gracefully going a long way in making us comfortable and more importantly open to the ideas expressed. It really is a bit of a shock for a Disney property to take any stance whatsoever on what happens after we die, especially in a time when global markets are considered and even more especially when this release was made via streaming. It’s a gamble for sure, and not necessarily a safe one.
Thankfully, chances were taken, and the daring prevailed.
*Soul* will go hand in hand with films like *Defending Your Life* and *Groundhog Day*, and might just become a classic like those two, in time. Right now, it stands as one of 2020’s best and more important year-end flicks. We could all use a little bit of what this movie is all about, quite frankly. And even if animation of “kids” movies aren’t your thing, listen to the music anyways. It’ll get you moving at least, and shock you at most. \_\_\_\_ is supposed to make you want to dance. Find that \_\_\_\_.
*(on Disney+ now)*
---
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Happy Holidays!
:)
### issue 4, part 1: The The's
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/issue4part1/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:45.000Z
**Of Those Who* is an independent newsletter of film criticism and moviegoing coverage. Please visit the* [*About*](https://ofthosewho.substack.com/about) *page for a primer on what this is, share/forward around if you like what you read, and if this has arrived in your inbox by mistake, do click unsubscribe at the bottom of this letter.*
*Support Your Cinema(s)* :)
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(Base) Photo by [Andraz Lazic](https://unsplash.com/@andrazlazic?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/typewriter?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText)
Part 1: *The Sounding*, *L’Autre* (*The Other*), *The Last Blockbuster*
Part 2: *Wonder Woman 1984*, *Soul*
Part 3: *Wheelchair Werewolf*
w/ *The Ringmaster*, *Wander*, 10 Faves of 2020bonus
Enjoy!
:)
---
Review: *The Sounding*
Oh, to be an aging scholar, living off the coast of Maine, answering life’s questions through the words of William Shakespeare. That is no takedown mind you, but a jealous curiosity. Something or somethings may in fact be missing from our lives, and that could be found in the whimsical exploration of the unknown that is right in front of us. In books. Off the coast of Maine.
Again, this is not a knock against *The Sounding*. Not a total one, anyway.
Actress Catherine Eaton’s feature directorial debut is certainly a beautiful look at life lived on our own terms, no matter how others try to force conformity upon it. Eaton plays Olivia, a woman who hasn’t spoken since childhood. She’s immensely intelligent, social, and even playful; just no speaking. Her grandfather requests the aid of a young man who he wants as her advocate upon his death. Almost immediately upon meeting, Olivia and her potential guardian are smitten with one another, though physical affection only comes about during a play performance on her grandfather’s birthday - a simple but surprising kiss. Without warning, his relationship to her is compromised. But maybe, this intervention of sorts was at the hand of something divine.
Stunningly, Olivia speaks, but only through lines of Shakespeare. Eaton does amazing work here, finding the right passages to match the right circumstances to strengthen the right movements of both acting and photography. When Olivia is committed to a psychiatric facility, her trauma manifests in such brilliantly designed ways, taking iconic words with their old context and embuing them with something altogether new. Taking on the duties of lead actor and first-time feature director must’ve been a challenge, but Eaton makes it feel oh so easy, even at its most stressful.
Her depiction of a woman who may or may not have a unique form of obsessive compulsive disorder is pretty spot on, though the message is iffy and skewed some. Olivia carefully chooses her language through torn pages and scribbled on skin dialogue, and desperately seeks respite when all is taken away. It’s all in an effort to get her to talk by herself and thus get her out of the facility - a mistake her new advocate admits to shamefully and races to correct with the gusto of a man on horseback.
*The Sounding* at times tries to have its cake and eat it too, in suggesting that plenty of disabilities could potentially be their own whimsical journeys from which more “normal” people can learn from… while also showing how these personal issues can have severe detriments. Olivia can live independently and well, but is also **not** a device for what has been labeled as **inspiration porn**. *Sounding* teeters uncomfortably on this ledge, only to balance itself just barely at the end with some interesting revelations and consequences.
That early scene with the kiss during a play is replicated a bit minus the kiss towards the end, when the young man confronts and challenges Olivia with his own Shakespeare, which reaches such an emotional if almost tacky crescendo when he finally begins to understand her. It took about ninety minutes just to get back to the beginning, but Catherine Eaton makes it all so worth it with just a few gestures and some excellent compositions.
*The Sounding* is impressive in its performances and emotional maturity, but does flail ever so carefully when it tries to express its own meaning. Sometimes, if you have nothing good or thought-out to say, don’t speak. Not everything needs explanation. The final shot of our leads walking passed the corner of the far distance said it all without a single word. That’s impressive and all we needed.
Oh, to live in Maine and talk in Shakespeare. Oh, to circle back to where you started.
([Now on VOD](https://www.thesoundingfilm.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#new-page-2))
---
Review: *L’Autre* (*The Other*)
*L’Autre* (*The Other*) is described as “an intimate portrait,” suggesting a close relationship to paintings and photographs. Indeed, if every frame of film is a painting, then this sentiment is true with this movie. The compositions throughout its dreary depiction of Paris - as seen from a creaky and suspiciously secluded home - leave one with the sensation of sadness without the hanging cloud overhead. That cloud is firmly positioned within the story, thankfully for the audience’s sake.
It’s the story of Marie who, after the sudden death of her beloved father, quits her passion of dance to become a haunted wanderer of sorts, at least for a time. Upon meeting the photographer who was the last to interact with her father, she falls in love and lives a life sprung from trauma. From here, things swerve.
Greatly swerve, but never unnaturally.
In *L’Autre*, living characters posses their environments almost as ghosts, slipping through the bonds of their time, appearing and even participating slightly in past and future moments. Marie’s family home becomes a vessel for this slippage and for her mind, where her life unfolds with every door she opens and walks through. Sometimes she’s barely visible in the background, sometimes she’s an older version of herself, sometimes she sees the lives of others, sometimes she’s speaking to herself through time itself.
You follow?
This is no “odd for the sake of odd” kind of French film, as this structure does benefit Marie and her story of acceptance. This benefit doesn’t come in the end only; it’s throughout. *L’Autre* is several strokes of an inquisitive brush, allowing the guiding hand to find its own fate as it paints. That may be too lofty of a line, but it fits, I feel. What started as mostly just people smoking and looking annoyed, surely became something rich in atmosphere and creation, crafting a space for its characters to blend and bleed into its heightened but simple setting.
There’s nothing cavelier about the film, yet it’s also not loose. It’s tight, but not constricting. The style never becomes the centerpiece and never overwhelms whatsoever; it’s always at the service of Marie and her evolution through grief. Intimacy is maintained, through slick direction and slicker framing. Long hallways, staircases that appear to spiral upwards, slowly turning camera movements to convey a tense unraveling to come, and even horror-like pallette’s of color and height. It’s all so uneasy but oh so resourceful and welcome.
*L’Autre* is a tension-riddled haunted house film that’s surprising in many rewarding ways. Many paintings, but never too many.
(Currently on the film festival circuit)
---
Review: *The Last Blockbuster*
We talk so often of Blockbuster when video stores are mentioned, but rarely of its destructive iron-fisted grasp on the lifeline of Mom & Pop shops. It was the Wal-Mart of movie rentals, and frankly needed to go away. Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman, anytime he’s interviewed on the subject, speaks in appropriately bitter and awfully correct tones, about how his films and those of other independents were muscled out and effectively blacklisted. When we feel nostalgic for video stores, maybe we feel for that era moreso than the corporate monster.
*The Last Blockbuster* covers so much ground, from fondness to facts, from context to character, from today to tomorrow. It’s a documentary of those last holdouts, those almost Don Quixote’s who live only as long as the windmill keeps spinning. It’s a massivive feel good film, and one that’s a truly happy surprise.
Celebrity talking heads who used to work at Blockbusters across the country speak truthfully of past video clerk shenanigans, from Jaime Kennedy to, of course, the ever so humble Kevin Smith. But these stars are no match for the true shining light that is Sandi Harding and her family. Sandi and crew operate the last remaining video store to continue on with the Blockbuster name. It’s the only one now, an independent franchise survivor in these on-demand streaming days. Sandi is a testament to customer service above and beyond, to human curation of media, to love of community. *The Last Blockbuster*, while sometimes obsessive over her store (as it should be), is really all about her, from her Bend, Oregon home to her childhood memory storefront.
A Bend film critic speaks here and there with grand enthusiasm for the days gone by and the maybe days left ahead, singing the praises of Sandi all the way. One such sequence involves a most creative performance of one such monologue, where he and Sandi perform a transaction and, more importantly, a one on one connection. And yes, in fact, many kindly chats about movies have happened from across a counter or in an aisle. There’s just something about the tangible. There’s just something about being there.
Netflix & Chill? Fine, but it’s a bit dirty. At least with physical media, wooing is part of the game. This is the conceit of the great Ron Funches, who gives some of the best insight in the film. We learn so much throughout, about the 2008 economic collapse deciding the fate of video stores as they were, about the trials and tribulations of family businesses, about customer service, about trust and honest, and about, well, love. For movies and for each other, even and especially when you’ve taken the last copy of *Robocop* for you and yours.
*The Last Blockbuster* will hold a special place in the hearts of many, and not simply for its use of the Blockbuster logo - a source of contention for the Lloyd’s of the world - but mostly for its depiction of community, its explanation of why physical media was/is important, and how we lose when algorithms and committees take over the employee recommendation shelves.
Save the tangible! Save the dream.
(Watch the film on VOD and [order the blu ray here](https://bendblockbuster.com/product/last-blockbuster-movie-pre-order/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com))
---
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### issue 3, part 3: (Bronson) Pinchot
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/issue-3-part-3-bronson-pinchot/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:46.000Z
**Of Those Who* is an independent newsletter of film criticism and moviegoing coverage. Please visit the* [*About*](https://ofthosewho.substack.com/about) *page for a primer on what this is, share/forward around if you like what you read, and if this has arrived in your inbox by mistake, do click unsubscribe at the bottom of this letter.*
*Support Your Cinema(s)* :)
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Review: *Death Wish Revision*
Of all the revenge-fantasy films out in the American action genre (and there’s plenty), the *Death Wish* series has inspired much derision, excitement, and fright from all five of its films, no matter how campy and silly they progressively get. Charles Bronson’s Paul Kersey is a messenger of both the concept and embodied figure of death itself, going from well-off and sickened bleeding-heart liberal to grief-stricken and sick serial killer, moving from guns to bombs to bazookas to poison as if he has an “aw shucks” grin the whole time.
It’s amazing how the first film works as a somewhat serious tale of a man gone mad, and how the franchise quickly moves from there into the gross celebration of killing, quite steeply. These movies aren’t *Network* level self-fulfilling prophecy types, but neither are they “just” actioners.
There are multitudes. Multitudes.
Filmmaker Jorge Torres-Torres (*Shadow Zombie*, [*Fat Tuesday*](https://www.bigeasymagazine.com/2018/06/01/about-fat-tuesday/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)) constantly surprises with his various revisions (or fan-edits) of different film series, from *Friday the 13th* to *Evil Dead* to *Star Wars* \- where his story is exclusively from the Droids perspective - adding and pulling out satirical and dramatic angles that otherwise would’ve gone on unlabeled. *Death Wish Revision* continues this trend but in a much grander capacity, by using media from over 250 films and songs, to not just express his vision of Kersey’s journey, but to end the year that was 2020 by cathartic means.
[](https://www.ahith.com/post/death-wish-revision-live-friday-night-8pm-pst-on-another-hole-in-the-head-2020-film-fest?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Streaming at the [Another Hole in the Head Film Festival](https://www.ahith.com/filmfestival?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) until December 27th
The video essay - and indeed, this is more essay than supercut - begins where *Death Wish* starts: on the beach. A moment of cute romance between two adults, at the end of the world. The presentation is entirely (save for a few special scenes) bathed in ugly grey tones, stripped of any kind colors, from beginning to conclusion. There are few and far between points of respite for us and Kersey, though the escalation of killing kicks in at roughly fifteen to twenty minutes in; before then, we (us and Kersey) all have moments of consideration, reconsideration, and time to breathe and just stop. Of course, the audience can’t. And with that, neither can Charles Bronson.
*Death Wish Revision* doesn’t cover this psychological territory ala *Funny Games* or ala anything else, but there is a component that has infinite staying power: *Death Wish* as a virus. *Jason Goes to Hell* gave us a variation of this idea, but Jorge Torres-Torres one-ups with the frightening thought of the very series being an illness, one that can infect as much as it entertains, or rather infects through “entertaining.” It’s never overtly stated, but with a few glances and walk-aways and voice-overs, it’s announced how Kersey/Bronson isn’t simply true damage incarnate, but that his actions and his legend are feared as things that can possess us too.
He is death. There is no light. Give in.
That is a half dramatic and half satirical notion of course, especially as Revision continues on, we see Kersey/Bronson’s physique go from in-shape older gentleman to much older and obviously slower and tired man. **He’s** what **we fear?** Yes, and why not? Torres at times plays pretty loose with whether he’s being funny or not. One such sequence blends together Kersey/Bronson at dinner with colleagues and the iconic *When Harry Met Sally* diner scene. As everyone eating watches news of a vigilante on the loose in the city, a woman coos and orgasms to the breaking story, while Kersey/Bronson smirks and eats.
Laughs are had in many parts yes, like when police are beating up Kersey/Bronson, RoboCop appears behind glass, walking down a hallway. He never appears again, but the image from that scene in Friedkin’s *Cruising* \- the interrogation/intimidation scene - cropped up in the mind, and embedded long enough to create not just laughs, but genuine tension.
Amazing editing.
There’s horror, there’s comedy, there’s drama, and there’s craft to be seen in *Death Wish Revision*. You’ll appreciate and despise the series all over again, while absorbing some wonderful and sometimes crass humor and criticism. This unbridled orgy of violence is finally dealt with at the end of 2020 in the only way we can think of; explosions. How sad, how disgusting, but…
… why not?
---
Stay tuned! :)
[Newsletter Tip Jar](https://www.paypal.me/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
### issue 3, part 2: Skate! or...
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/issue3part2/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:46.000Z
**Of Those Who* is an independent newsletter of film criticism and moviegoing coverage. Please visit the* [*About*](https://ofthosewho.substack.com/about) *page for a primer on what this is, share/forward around if you like what you read, and if this has arrived in your inbox by mistake, do click unsubscribe at the bottom of this letter.*
*Support Your Cinema(s)* :)
---
Review: *Mr. Marvelous*
When watching Zack Snyder’s *Watchmen*, a feeling of cringe tends to wash over one’s eyes every time Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Comedian pops up. It’s painful to write this about Mr. Morgan, but his performance relied too heavily on gruff and grunts, making it feel too one-note and unusual. For a movie so “epic” and “visionary,” it just couldn’t get right its most central figure - at least not from its actor or its direction.
The short film *Mr. Marvelous*, not having the resources of Snyder’s production or the grandiose sense of proclaiming its own brilliance beforehand, does more in just over ten minutes than *Watchmen* tried in almost three hours. Now, this is not a Comedian adaptation, nor really all that inspired by *Watchmen*, but what it shares and transcends is the sense of time gone by, the sense of identity, and the potential that every tomorrow can bring.
Mitch Landry plays the titular Mr. Marvelous who, decades after his heroics have ended, now works dead-end jobs. His current role is that of a thankless Mall Santa, whose time involves humoring babies that cry and scream in his face. His introduction is in slow-motion, where the farther we pull back from his fake-bearded face, we see the struggled ho-ho-ho’s covering for his near tear-filled eyes. He walks with heavy shoulders, a large gut, and weakened knees, not put down by the job so much as the weight of life. He’s exhausted.
This is *The Wrestler* of superhero tales.
Mr. Landry gives such pain and life to a character we’re with for only a short time. Even when confronting a robbery attempt in his home - which is where we learn of his past - his now aged and limited powers and strength can barely shield us and himself from his overwhelming sadness. An estranged relationship with his daughter, a life alone, and trinkets from the past placed on his bedroom wall as if to remind him of good days on his bad nights, adds up to a most impactful story.
This is a film of wonderful craft.
*Mr. Marvelous* at times feels like an extended music video, with a pace that matches the down and out songs with the very presence of Landry. There’s undoubtedly a rhythm to the cutting here, and an eye for what’s working at the moment and where the focus should be in the next. An impressive direction is incredibly refreshing, and director Evan Falbaum leads his MovieSauce crew to a successful outing.
Not every Xmas makes for a happy occasion, but sometimes they can be exactly what we need, even if for a moment. Call it *Watchmen*, call it *The Incredibles*, call it *The Wrestler*. You’re right. But it’s also just *Mr. Marvelous*. No comedian needed here.
This movie is indeed a marvel.
(Currently running the [festival circuit](https://www.instagram.com/moviesauce/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com))
---
Review: *Rom Boys*
It’s truly amazing how one space can bring about so much history and love. *Rom Boys: 40 Years of Rad* showcases the singular skatepark Rom, based in a suburb of London. It’s an English Dogtown absolutely, pulling together such a diverse array of athletes and artists, and enthusiasts from all over the world. With a design that’s as mature as it is rough and aged, Rom has birthed many superstars of skating, and many more memories and creatives.
If these half-pipes could talk.
If this film were a bit shorter.
There is a greatly interesting history to this park that’s covered rather well in *Rom Boys*, by those who lived it, bruises and accomplishments all. Unfortunately, that history is stretched a little thin. Too often, the documentary uses modern-day b-roll of skate tricks to compensate for essentially the same story being told by different people a few times over. The themes may change, but the message remains the same: this park is special. Indeed, but that can only carry a movie and the audience’s collective attention so far.
Drama occurs during filming, when the park suffers quite a functional disaster. Whole sections are left in disrepair, and the future of the property left uncertain. The veterans of this sacred place band together to save it through various fundraising and advocacy/outreach means. These acts are lovely to watch, but again wear so easily.
*Rom Boys* presents a history and a culture with meaning beyond the pop exposure. It deserves credit for keeping the land alive, but the film itself never really picks up a pace. It’s just stuck.
Still, if one is to get stuck in any place, let it be at Rom.
(Currently streaming on VOD)
---
Many thanks!
:)
[Subscribe now](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
### issue 3, part 1: A Slight Change, Alright?
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/issue3/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:47.000Z
**Of Those Who* is an independent newsletter of film criticism and moviegoing coverage. Please visit the* [*About*](https://ofthosewho.substack.com/about) *page for a primer on what this is, share/forward around if you like what you read, and if this has arrived in your inbox by mistake, do click unsubscribe at the bottom of this letter.*
*Support Your Cinema(s)* :)
---
---
Are things looking a bit “sketchy” around here?
Indeed, I’ve done things up a bit: Taking direct inspiration from Brandon Ledet’s [Swampflix](https://swampflix.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), I’m attempting my version of a digital zine look, by way of a Substack newsletter. With my Mobiscribe device handy, I’ll chicken scratch some doodles for post and article titles, and maybe even include some bonus movie notes too. Dig it?
I’m also updating the format from three separate columns to an overall theme for each issue, with movie reviews and moviegoing being the top - or sole - themes in mind. Some issues will be spread over a few posts or “parts,” and some will be comment threads.
Feedback is always appreciated, so don’t hesitate to let me know [what you think](https://ofthosewho.substack.com/p/thread1/comments).
Many thanks!
:)
---
Review: *The Twentieth Century*
It’s hard for any one American to successfully name a Canadian politician, especially with a century removed from their time in office (the same goes with our own representatives, unfortunately). Thank goodness for being able to lean on Google and Wikipedia, but a movie - even a biopic - need not require much or any textbook reading to be understood. This is most definitely the case with *The Twentieth Century*, though to label it as a biopic would be too restrictive.
This film is more Giorgio Moroder’s *Metropolis* by way of a *Tron* acid trip as delivered by *Dr. Caligari*. Its genre? That may also be too restrictive.
*Twentieth* is entirely a madman’s *Be Kind Rewind* sweded-style nightmare-vision of Canada, both then and maybe even now. “Then” is the late 1800’s, a most tumultuous and anachronistic time, that bends and tears at the fabric of a whole country, either at the will of its historical lead character William Lyon Mackenzie King (played with wonderfully limp-wristed courage by Dan Beirne), or through the collective memory and spirit of all contemporary history. Dare not presume, either going in or coming out, that any hard factoid will be had; truth occurs, only insofar as we’re willing to trust the madman telling this tale. And this truth slashes away with nationalism, propaganda, heartbreak, and giving in to puppetmasters for a shot at false destinies.
It’s a wonder, for sure.
As a feature directorial debut, Matthew Rankin went high and achieved higher. His sets have sharp edges, his world is bizarre yet all too possible (and maybe familiar), and his characters are grounded despite their stylistic surroundings and larger than life personalities. It’s uncertain if Rankin is the madman himself or just his messenger, but the message as written and delivered is one of a cuckolded and repressed past that continues to bleed into a present of cold showers and cockeyes. Canadian manners and stereotypes matter not here. What is most concerning in *The Twentieth Century* would be the fact that, under the thin ice we all walk on, the only thing underneath is just the reflection of ourselves. Or they and themselves, rather.
Rather? Maybe this is us as we prefer. If not, what would we do to change?
It’s everything. This movie is everything.
(Catch a stream [here](https://thetwentiethcentury.oscilloscope.net/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).)
---
Review: *Insert Coin*
In the years prior to his passing, Roger Ebert had written some on whether he felt video games could/should be [considered as art](https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/video-games-can-never-be-art?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), taking on the thesis response of “no.” It wasn’t with malice, but the comments from gamers certainly were. In the years since, documentaries like *The Power of Glove* have released, giving quick rundowns on game tech history and where the industry might be heading. *Insert Coin* follows this trend most lovingly and truly devoted, both to entertaining and slightly disappointing effect. No matter though, as films like these (and many more) have provided more than enough evidence to the contrary of Ebert’s thoughts - something I can only speculate he’d approve of.
Joshua Tsui’s tracing of Midway Games, from the arcade days to the console wars to its end, is heartening and even enlightening. 90’s kids will appreciate the very detailed behind the scenes look at the making of games like Terminator 2 and Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam, which featured in-motion characters - photographed on VHS - fighting and competing to the buttons and keys of players. Some might be upset to learn of the business strategies embedded in these games, meant to manipulate people to keep playing and keep pumping quarters, but really this isn’t technically any new information, just presented against the backdrop of childhood nostalgia. Of course, that changes the pitch of the gut punch.
*Insert Coin*’s hero is Eugene Jarvis, the so-called “Godfather of Video Games,” and rightfully so as the documentary present. The man beams and smiled with the enthusiasm of a man much younger and wide-eyed than he should be, and laughs as if cynicism hasn’t hit his life as of yet. The man just wants to create and have fun, whether it’s getting away with putting fountains of blood in publicly available games or insider stories that amuses him to no end. This is where *Insert Coin* excels, by letting the artists tell their own perspectives of their own experiences that helped shape their own industry and medium.
If the film has any kind of “flaw,” - if movies have flaws at all - it would be in its neutral pacing. Never dull, but sometimes a drag. Tsui is clearly driven by a passion for this story, turning on his camera and letting his subjects be friendly and relaxed enough to share with him and the world at all, but long stretches of time go by with just talking heads and not much else. What Midway accomplished and what ultimately happened to them is all very interesting, but a little music and a little oomph can go a long way in the downer parts. Too bad.
Video stores and coin-operated businesses are sorely missed in the droves of which they previously existed, but it’s always nice to look back and learn more. *Insert Coin* does this well, as a joyful act of exploration and treasure hunting. Indeed, games are art, most especially the mechanics of which they’re made. Maybe exploding heads and ripped out spines are juvenile, but since when is that a disqualification? And who determines that? Just be more like Eugene Jarvis. Just enjoy as much as you can. Just play.
(Playing now at [Alamo On Demand](https://ondemand.drafthouse.com/film/insert-coin/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and [virtual cinemas](https://www.insertcoindoc.com/screenings?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com))
---
Review: *Mank*
Watch *Mank*. It’s terrific!
(Now playing on Netflix and at [The Prytania Theatres at Canal Place](https://prytaniacanalplace.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com))
History can and should be bendable, especially for dramatic effect, and as long as it’s done towards a heightened and ecstatic truth. *Mank* certainly goes for the gold in rewriting *Citizen Kane*’s birth at the expense of Orson Welles, and while that is truly a silly travesty… it works for the movie. A little, anyway.
The film is of course about the process of and the backstory to screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz writing the script for what would become *Citizen Kane*, long considered the greatest American film ever made. For any Wellesian fellow out and about, this is a fine note, but *Kane* isn’t even thought of as Orson’s best by these devotees (watch *Chimes at Midnight* or *The Trial*, why don’t ya). With the resurgence of his legacy that has followed from the Netflix (of all places) releases of the previously unfinished *The Other Side of the Wind* and *They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead*, plus the run of a new piece called *Hopper/Welles*, it’s not a total surprise that *Kane* would be revisited, and by one David Fincher.
*Mank* doesn’t entirely look or even really feel like what a “Fincher film” traditionally would, at least not on the surface, and maybe that’s just due to the story itself. However, this is absolutely a work of Fincher’s playing with non-fiction fiction, even when it’s at times more *The Good German* than *The Social Network*.
It succeeds at reaching for blacklist status through virtue of tearing down the Hollywood house of old, but somewhat falters on unsteady feet when it gets too witty for its own good. Now, this is about a screenwriter, so some writeful grace is extended, but only so far. It’s a lovely-looking, sounding, and performed tale that’s scathing and cross-eyed, pointing up at the Hollywood sign and giving it a light middle-finger.
Anti-capitalist? Sometimes, but really it’s more idealistic for convictions and honesty than straight-up detailed about its politics. *Mank* is embroiled in a system of stabbing, backstabbing, fakery, riches at the expense of suffering, more suffering, and otherwise good people forced into impossible scenarios. Herman witnesses the whole range, and tires of it to the point of hitting back in one of the best examples of “the pen is mightier than the sword.”
For this, the movie wins a thousand times over.
There’s tension, there’s confrontation, there’s the romance of friendship and naivete well past the years where wisdom sets in, and it’s all so lit with colorful attitudes and engagements. A Best Picture contender in a normal year, certainly.
But poor Orson, shown as a brute opportunist (which he likely was for a time) and nothing more, is ever so hurtful. It may assist the film and that’s good in its own right, but… it’s still not right. A temper tantrum at the end seals the rude deal, and a tail ending war of sore words only leaves a bad taste. Cut that down, and there’d be more agreement over *Mank*’s greatness.
And it is great. To a point, anyway.
---
## **LAGNIAPPE - (Q&A) | Chris Henson, writer & social promoter**
[](https://www.instagram.com/p/CFqgYLeFc-f/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
**1) For you, what makes Hollywood South special?**
Obviously, New Orleans (and Louisiana in general) is just so unique and vibrant. People here are passionate about making art and having fun, which gels together to make for a pretty interesting and diverse filmmaking scene. It’s been a few years since the big Hollywood South boom and I think we’ve settled into a nice and more manageable groove (pandemic notwithstanding) of Hollywood interlopers and dedicated locals making movies. A big thing is that strong local presence–of not only filmmakers and skilled crew members, but just people passionate about movies and building a local film community.
**2) As a critic, what aspect of a movie would you, more often than not, latch onto in a positive way?**
I’m not sure I will ever feel completely comfortable being a critic. It is something I certainly enjoy doing, but often feel a bit self-conscious about. There are a few great movies, there are some bad movies, and then, there are a whole lot of just okay movies in between. What do we have to say about those movies? That’s always the struggle. And that’s why a film’s review often came down to how a movie made me feel. It may seem obvious or broad (and likely it is), but isn’t it the ultimate point of all movies?
I latch onto films that give me something extra or lasting to connect with. Was I still thinking about the movie afterward? Did I feel the urge to discuss it with friends, read more about it, discover what other critics have to say about it? Would I watch it again, how soon, and what new things would I discover?
As a critic, we are asked for our immediate opinion on movies. And while I understand the need for that instantaneous fulfillment and realize it is unavoidable, it always leaves me feeling like my reviews are a little incomplete. It’s like: Here’s what I thought of it today, but if you *really* want to know what I thought of the movie, ask me again in a couple of months (or even years). I need to start a blog called A Year Later Movie Reviews, maybe then I’ll feel more satisfied.
**3) The NOLA Film Events handle has been going strong for many years, promoting local film news and events. Why did you start in, has it filled a void, and will it evolve in the near future?**
I started NOLA Film Events as a way to better promote my reviews and articles behind a more general and easily identifiable brand than just myself–and it worked. A lot of what I was writing back then was what the New Orleans Film Society or local theaters like Chalmette Movies and Zeitgeist were showing. Really cool and interesting films that most people hadn’t heard of, much less knew where they were playing locally. I wanted to create a go-to source for local film happenings like that, not what was playing at the multiplex. And while I like to cover everything with a New Orleans or Louisiana connection, including those major Hollywood productions that film here, NOLA Film Events will always focus on those local events, films, and filmmakers that need a little more light shined on them.
As for the future, I’ve always wanted to build it into something bigger, but life always has a way of humbling you a bit. Maybe one day I’ll get my act together.
**4) What was it like for you when first being introduced to the regional collective of critics, and what advice would you give writers looking to break in?**
Being a “blogger” doesn’t open a lot of doors for you. So I worked my way up by making connections with the people who run local theaters and film orgranizations. They needed the press as much as I needed credibility. I am indebted to people like Ellis at Chalmette Movies and Rene at Zeitgeist, as well as Clint and others at NOFS who invited me to press screenings and introduced me to others in the film community. And once I was a part of their circle, I was able to worm my way into the small collective of local critics at press screenings or local events.
Going to those events and engaging with them in the press line on the red carpet or huddled together after screenings is always enjoyable. We writers and critics are always quiet and reserved, standing a bit off from the crowd. It can be intimidating, but seeing the same people over and over again at these events, discussing movies with them, engaging with and sharing their work online, and most importantly, sharing a love and appreciation of movies–all go a long way in forming that bond.
**5) What’s your favorite movie related to Louisiana in some way (shot here, set here, or tied to here in some way), and why?**
Oh man, a nearly impossible question to answer. *Miller’s Crossing* maybe? Although that filmed here, it wasn’t set in Louisiana. So, maybe *JFK*? *Eve’s Bayou*? *Sex, Lies, and Videotape*? *Down by Law*? I can’t say *12 Years a Slave* is my favorite movie, but it is probably the best Louisiana-made film. *Interview with a Vampire* has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. Can I just say Season 1 of *True Detective*?
### Issue #2: The Second One
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/issue2/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:48.000Z
**Of Those Who* is a weekly-ish newsletter that’s typed-up and sent-out straight from muggy and magical Hollywood South. Please visit the* [*About*](https://ofthosewho.substack.com/about) *page for a primer on what this is, share/forward around if you like what you read, and if this has arrived in your inbox by mistake, do click unsubscribe at the bottom of this letter.*
*Support Louisiana Cinema* :)
---
Photo by [Charles Deluvio](https://unsplash.com/@charlesdeluvio?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/netflix?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText)
Welcome once again to **Of Those Who**, written & edited by yours as bylined, [Bill Arceneaux](https://linktr.ee/barceneaux?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
It’s pretty understood that when a new television series premieres, it’s best to give the show a few episodes to find some footing before outright dismissing or accepting it. The same is true for this newsletter.
I’ve updated the purpose of each of the three columns featured from here on out:
- THE REVUE will part spotlight and part review a truly independent Hollywood South film. It can be new, recent, or older/obscure.
- THE MOVIEGOER covers my thoughts on the experience of moviegoing, observed as regionally as possible. This will include theater memories, innovation, news briefs, and more.
- THE Q&A is where I ask local industry people a series of five questions, focused mostly on their area of expertise.
I’m still working out a better - or actual - publishing day, and will update everyone on that asap.
Ready for the next episode in this first season?
---
**THE REVUE | *A Dream for Sale***
The following video description for Jonathan Jackson’s latest film *A Dream for Sale* does more than meets the eye:
> A scientist invents a machine that can record her dreams. Isn't every movie a dream for sale tho?
Certainly, this is a short that isn’t simply an adaptation of a poem by Nik Richard. There **is** a flowing sense of poetry to this photographically strong piece of work - assisted by the voice-over reading of the poem of the same name - but *Dream* is **also** about the evolution of a filmmaker and his craft of filmmaking.
That last sentence in the above description works in the mind as a director’s statement, which might likely be part of the foundation of the film itself. *Dream* uses light and nature to the point of profound truth. What’s an illusion and what’s tangible blur together, eventually giving way to the understanding of both being part of a whole, not a clash of foreign objects. Here, our director articulates not just the discovery in the story, but what he himself feels every time he hits record.
If any two things can be said about Jonathan Jackson’s films, it’s 1) They’re aggressively confident, and 2) They’re excellently paced and shot. With *Dream*, Jackson and krewe took inspiration from a poem seemingly about understanding and crafting one’s own reality, and gave it visual life through the juxtaposition of the cosmos and a black female scientist who seeks to enter her REM (rapid eye movement) life.
It’s all so creatively and cleverly drawn up, never once giving way to perceived literal interpretation. Not wanting to merely “adapt,” Jackson takes Richards’ writing and evolves it from one thing into another. Early on, there is a metaphor about a butterfly just knowing what it is and what it can do. Of course, butterflies start as caterpillars, who then break their way through growth and into nature with such beauty. Not to suggest that Jackson previously was a caterpillar - [far from it](http://occupy.com/article/push-establishment-two-black-directors-filmmaking-trump-s-america?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) \- but that there is a clear growth in his strengths as a filmmaker. A clear tightening of his confidence. An even clearer vision of expectations for him in the future.
> Isn’t every movie a dream for sale tho?
Capturing dreams on paper and through her VR goggles, the scientist in the film could be seen as a stand-in for Jackson himself, but it may be best to roll with the idea of similarities over straight-up avatars. Maybe the film and the filmmaker are one and the same, or maybe one is a creation of the other. A dream of the other. I don’t know, and maybe it doesn’t altogether matter which comes first. Maybe just being is what’s important.
---
**THE MOVIEGOER | From *Tenet* to Now**
[](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tZs8kzkslNQ/maxresdefault.jpg?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
*Tenet* lives right at the top of my favorite flicks from Christopher Nolan. Yes I dig action, even when non-sensical. Especially when non-sensical. Of course, with a story involving time itself as a weapon, is any action “sensible?”
The act(ion) of seeing this film - which was not made available to those of us wishing to not risk being near others during the current pandemic - in theaters, criss-crosses between non-sense and sense like mad and **likely** **says something** about a person too.
I did watch *Tenet* at a cinema around the block from my home, on a day where and at an hour when there’d be less of a chance for other people to be seated nearby. Of course, while my room was empty for a while, someone did come in. And they sat behind me. And didn’t wear their mask for most of the runtime.
I gave in to boredom to see the movie in the oddest and somewhat most stressful of circumstances. here and there, I was checking my surroundings and breathing heavily under both of my face coverings. It reminded me of the panic attack I had when watching the *South Park* movie with my older brother, afraid that our parents would appear behind us. This is not the ideal moviegoing experience.
When the *Tenet* trailer was released, it made a debut over the online game Fortnite. Some of us joked on Twitter to #MakeTenetOnFortnite or some such hashtagging, but really, why not? Why not make the movie accessible for all, in various formats, across various platforms, for lovers all over? If [Wonder Woman 1984](https://variety.com/2020/film/news/wonder-woman-1984-hbo-max-release-1234804411/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) can do it after the fact, why couldn’t Nolan step-up and take the initiative?
[The New Orleans Film Festival](https://watch.eventive.org/noff2020?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) is wrapping up its 31st annual event this weekend, and it’s been a ball of sorts. Virtual screenings, virtual panels, virtual introductions, etc, and all watchable on my Roku! The recent [Nightstream Festival](https://nightstream.org/code-of-conduct/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) \- which combined multiple horror fests in a wonderful act of unity - featured virtual lounges for critics to meet one another, on top of Discord chatrooms and the like. And as of late, I’ve been doing virtual double-features with good friends over apps like [Kosmi](https://kosmi.io/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
I can remember there being a virtual marketplace for independent films, where one could curate their own screenings and festivals, contact the filmmakers and work out fees. It was called [Simple Machine](https://nofilmschool.com/2013/09/simple-machine-closing-gap-between-filmmakers-and-venues?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). For a now defunct local publication, I helped set up a showing of *See You Next Tuesday* through this service at the also now defunct theater Indywood. It was a night of hiccups and fun, all thanks to innovation in the moviegoing community.
Will virtual gatherings become more social than in-person? I miss going to the video store and talking with friends and family in front of shelves and vhs boxes. I miss hanging out before and after a screening. I miss the reviews on the ride home. I miss a lot of what was once tangible.
Can there be texture to what’s over the web? If stock markets can change on the whim of a President’s tweet, then… yes. And it can be in the positive.
Still, I support an economic stimulus for struggling indie theaters & venues, of course. I continue to help promote showtimes at local cinemas, some now with [outdoor](http://broadsidenola.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) [components](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). But will I return to an actual seat in an actual theater anytime soon?
I want to. I really want to.
Will [The Prytania](https://www.theprytania.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) play Fortnite with me?
---
**THE Q&A |** [**Courtney Young, film critic**](https://twitter.com/filmvibes?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[](https://www.instagram.com/p/CGFxlqhlFqh/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
1) **For you, what makes Hollywood South special?**
For me, I love everything about Hollywood South because it's home. I love seeing film crews around my neighborhood, because I know it's good for the city.
2) **As a critic, what aspect of a movie would you, more often than not, latch onto in a positive way?**
If a movie makes me feel a certain way, something I can almost relate to, I latch onto it immediately. When I first saw *Silver Linings Playbook*, it was the first movie to make me feel okay about having a mental illness. It made me feel okay about myself, and it just happened to be an excellent movie all around.
3) **At your site** **, you tend to use plenty of GIFs within your already colorful reviews. Same with your Snapchat and Instagram posts. How do you feel about these multi-media tools enhancing your articles, and what differences if any are there between your style of criticism and those of old-school print journalists?**
I feel like my style IS very colorful both visually and verbally. I like to say my attention span is too short, so I try to make my reviews as engaging as possible for other people like me. I never could get into old school print reviews, because it was literally so black and white. I think we have so many useful tools (like images, gifs, videos) now that a review never has to be boring.
4) **The Louisiana movie review scene is heavily dominated by white men (the same can, unfortunately, be said beyond the state). In the current landscape of entertainment journalism, how would you suggest publishers work on this, and what advice would you give to local writers who may face relevant obstacles?**
I think Hollywood is making progress with this...slowly but surely. I think they just need to spotlight women and minorities more, because there's a lot of great content out there by diverse writers/actors/etc. My advice would be to keep going forward despite the setbacks, because opportunity is always there.
5) **What is your favorite movie that has a Louisiana connection, and why?**
My favorite Louisiana-shot film is *The Curious Case of Benjamin Button* ... I think it was just such a terrific story with a beautiful homage to the city of Nola. It gave me all the feels of the city while telling such an intriguing story.
---
Many thanks for reading!
:)
### Issue #1: The Return, or (That Election Night Distraction)
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/issue1/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:49.000Z
**Of Those Who* is a weekly newsletter by independent film critic & writer* [*Bill Arceneaux*](https://www.twitter.com/billreviews?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)*, typed-up and sent-out straight from muggy and magical Hollywood South. Please visit the* [*About*](https://ofthosewho.substack.com/about) *page for a primer on what this is, share/forward around if you like what you read, and if this has arrived in your inbox by mistake, do click unsubscribe at the bottom of this message.*
*Support Louisiana Cinema :)*
---
[The dead speak!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et6gDWMZ7pU&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
And what was titled differently twice before is now titled something else once more.
Welcome to **Of Those Who**, a weekly newsletter of independent movie reviews, of the latest on the moviegoing beat, and of happenings in Louisiana showtimes. Lead writer & editor is yours bylined Bill Arceneaux.
Following a three-column format, this newsletter aims to impress upon and inform film buffs of all locations on the movie-loving culture of “Hollywood South” Louisiana. The indie flicks reviewed are those that have/will/should/already come through the region in some fashion - be it theatrically or virtually. Reports on local venues and on news as it relates to how we all engage with movies will also be gone over, as will cinematic events and releases hitting the state asap.
Honestly, sending this pilot issue out in the last few hours of 2020’s U.S. Presidential election is kinda funny in how we’re all more concentrated on that than anything else. And of course, in the time of Covid, movie***going*** has… changed. But there are still movies. And there are still ways of watching them. And when things get rough, we can always count on that flickering light.
Same writer, new publication name, not so dead after all.
Let’s get into it.
---
## **“It Was a Grave-Yard-Smash!”**
[](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Halloween%5FMorph%5FMan%5Fon%5Fthe%5FPorch%5Fin%5FNew%5FOrleans.jpg?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
For the last few months, a friend of mine from the old [Movieboozer](https://www.movieboozer.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) days and I have been doing double and triple features over the shared viewing app [Kosmi](https://kosmi.io/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com). During October, we concentrated our attention on some obscure and classic horror selections. I’d pick *Demons*, he’d pick *Arsenic and Old Lace*. I’d pick *The Video Dead*, he’d pick *Piranha*.
Not being a city that gives in completely to fear - even when it’s reasonable - New Orleans indeed got in on our fun and celebrated Halloween via the familiar if now truncated ways. And, of course, some of our theaters programmed to match the season.
During its hosting of [Screamfest](https://screamfestla.com/nola?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), [Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) promoted the microbudget feature [*A Ghost Waits*](https://www.aghostwaits.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), which I had only heard about in passing.
[](https://pbs.twimg.com/profile%5Fbanners/4843063611/1598842825/600x200?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
The film, which is the directorial debut of Adam Stovall, is a clever blend of misfit romance and resourceful production. It can easily be compared to movies like *Beetlejuice* with regards to its love and creative affinity towards the supernatural, but really it’s more like an Andrew Bujalski joint. Within a small budget and surrounded by a compact cast and crew, it has a most casual attitude that breathes well and lightly. Everything is so comfortable here, even when the scares come and the pathos hit hard; it never actively goes beyond its reach or looks down from a perch. Such craft and awareness combined are so wonderful to witness.
*A Ghost Waits* tells of a lonely but happy-go-lucky handyman who, while on the job and in need of a place to crash, kills two birds with one stone and stays at the house he’s fixing - whose previous tenants moved out of in a haste. Furniture moves from time to time, a voice speaks to him, and soon an apparition appears for a final spook… or so it thinks. Jack (MacLeod Andrews) quickly goes back into the property, to the dismay of spectral agent Muriel (Natalie Walker). Her job is to haunt this house, and she takes this purpose seriously. But of course, the two lonely souls and hearts under the same roof quickly learn from one another, ask questions of themselves, and fall for each other, all in direct conflict with their “assigned” meanings in life… and afterlife.
There are sequences that are shot and cut with such bold wit, you’d suspect a more seasoned director were in charge. Stovall leads his team and conducts this story not effortlessly but also not strictly structured. It almost appears to come from a waking dream that’s been altered to fit budgetary parameters. Muriel is first seen with Jack while he is playing guitar and singing, but only from just behind her shoulder, as she slowly stalks with inquisitiveness. The moment of her eventual reveal is built with such welcome tension that even something as routine as a pizza delivery scene is treated and struck with importance. Nothing is wasted.
When a film can deliver frights AND fun, spooks AND cutes - all at once - it’s easy to give it all of your heart and then some. A Ghost Waits is a pretty perfect movie, and should easily be listed as one of the best to be released in such a drab year.
[](https://pbs.twimg.com/profile%5Fbanners/891925030463918080/1530318765/600x200?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
On the outside looking in, and currently available as a streaming selection, is the documentary [*Wolfman’s Got Nards*](https://thesquaddoc.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
As directed by the lead actor of the movie this doc covers (Andre Gower), *Monster Squad*, *Nards* is more half love letter and half self-congratulatory road trip. We follow the now adult stars of the maybe/for sure cult classic as they share some behind the scenes media and stories, before launching into a massive wave of fan-non-fiction.
That’s pretty much it, but that’s also all it needs to be.
The film is rather sweet, even when it bevels in the middle and gives way to patting itself on the back for the decades later success *Squad* experienced years after the original release. This attitude almost got annoying, until it became apparent how humble everyone involved was and remains, and how they treat this celebrity to this day - visiting fans in hospitals, going on screening tours, smiling all the time, being positive, etc.
The making of material would’ve been nice to stick with a little longer, but this *Best Worst Movie*\-ish showcase of what happened after is still entertaining and uplifting. *Best Worst Movie* had some edgy sharpness to its *Troll 2* team portrayal, mostly due to that movie being considered… not so good. The comparison though stands, as both docs share how their respective original films made such an impact on those who’ve viewed and re-viewed them decades later.
The sheer power of art in any form, folks. Any.
---
## The Prytania’s Revival of Canal Place
[](https://www.facebook.com/PrytaniaCanalPlace/posts/107688341119187?%5F%5Fcft%5F%5F[0]=AZV-vRu-yaVD-%5FJqg%5Fxb-G5qe%5Fn2Ibm5YA2ShdVLmwMhd9T3tOiZokH30%5FewZocUndtZJlkc8W%5FpyGMS7i2yV5mVm0ZBXAvqL3MHZKo4THu5KXH%5Fzxj0G7eoCXPX13oGzONdfj51ujCE%5FBYdviZGtI6CzRnfsNVe2SR1o8aOApAjYJETC6GQ1bfvISoC950giGY&%5F%5Ftn%5F%5F=%2CO%2CP-R)
It’s exciting times for moviegoers in the New Orleans area, despite and in spite of Covid-19.
Yes, [Regal Cinemas have closed across the country](https://www.regmovies.com/static/en/us/corona-virus-response?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), and [AMC is facing severe financial troubles](https://variety.com/2020/film/news/amc-theaters-debt-bankrupt-1234821469/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) but, not to my surprise, indie theaters have upped the anty in terms of service and programming. The Broad has set up an outdoor screen and events stage called [Broadside](http://broadsidenola.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), [Zeitgeist](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/store/c2/Membership.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) has begun doing drive-in showings, and all open venues - even at limited capacity - have added [health and safety protocols](https://www.cinemasafe.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) at their own expense. Of course, they’ve all been hit hard by the pandemic, and have tried different methods for staying in operation.
In a complete shock to the system, The Prytania, the last surviving neighborhood theater in the city, has made a deal to run the shuddered Canal Place Cinema, which had been [sitting empty on the mall’s top floor for well over a year](https://www.fox8live.com/2019/05/21/theaters-canal-place-closed-good-this-week/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com#:~:text=NEW%20ORLEANS%2C%20La.,about%20what's%20causing%20the%20closure.). Now called [Prytania Theatres at Canal Place](https://www.nola.com/entertainment%5Flife/movies%5Ftv/article%5F6fa558aa-0ef1-11eb-a846-cfd0557263b6.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), this new iteration of the previously upscale moviehouse will be gaining the old charm associated with going to the concession stand yourself, and not having waiters rush in between aisles with crackers and cheese. Add to that the excellent programming efforts of the Brunet Family & Company, which in this critic’s mind presents multiple layers of excitement.
My favorite recent moviegoing memories have been due to the array of curated films highlighted at The Prytania over the years. From my first venture at the theater with *Grindhouse* to a bombastic *Alien* double feature to the silent revue of *Beau Geste* to the celebration of life that was *Rhapsody in Blue*, The Brunet’s have consistently delivered a combination of mainstream, indies, oddities, and everything throughout for many memories had before a single-screen.
Imagine that but with nine rooms. Nine lights. Nine screens.
Wear a mask, distance appropriately, and stop by on November 6th at the edge of the French Quarter!
---
## Current & Coming Attractions
[](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Restored%5FSpring%5FTheater%5Fin%5FSpringhill%2C%5FLA%5FIMG%5F1524.JPG?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
- *Sister Tempest* continues its festival run with a drive-in screening at the [Lost River Film Fest](https://www.facebook.com/SisterTempest/posts/660039814702374?%5F%5Fcft%5F%5F[0]=AZWT67VdGesUwuqmw5tmdaJxs5OISOI2euD7xM6qpEvFhfVi3K8LamRKaayhul9QxnjPC6U16i8MlVjX%5FSVVm1xJ0wFRNQxvFcgkWl9QOZ3p3BDTHKysuW-3215v1svn-w2vofOrROfBBCOcIW25-gbsOzFzuFiiZNHAj3lVy2TEf20QG0CTQaJrufsJV6xuvlF0yh%5FjY9pJbMBMso5jztqy&%5F%5Ftn%5F%5F=%2CO%2CP-R) in Texas on November 8th. More virtual and Louisiana showtimes coming soon (including a review in another issue).
- *Election* screens at the outdoor [Broadside](http://broadsidenola.com/event/election/2020-11-05/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) on November 5th, just in time for that post-election hangover to maybe begin going away.
- The [31st New Orleans Film Festival](https://neworleansfilmsociety.org/film-guide/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) goes virtual and outdoors from the 6th to the 22nd. Nab your passes now!
- *Cinema-19* \- the Covid inspired short film anthology as co-created by local filmmaker Adam Sekuler - remains [streaming on Vimeo](https://vimeo.com/437355512/42049580ac?mc%5Fcid=53720ad061&mc%5Feid=646846e4ff&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) after its Zeitgeist appearance. It will stay online until the end of 2020.
- The newly remastered [ACTION USA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1G-f%5FV0WgY&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) explodes onto [Zeitgeist](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) starting November 13th.
---
Many thanks!
### The H is Silent
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/the-h-is-silent/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T19:28:49.000Z
A toothed-up Hugh Jackman bellowing lines from Nirvana’s *Smells Like Teen Spirit*, while in dated pirate garb, somehow made, for better and worse, a very memorable *Pan*. Joe Wright’s prequel-ish adaptation of the children’s classic was bombastic at least, misguided and **awful**ly indulgent at most, but still sticks with me in ways that other, more conventional movies, don’t and never will.
It’s the *Jupiter Ascending* effect, really. It’s the unchecked creativity of it all.
Just this past week, a trailer for the next Benh Zeitlin joint - *Wendy* \- dropped, and almost immediately, there was a storm of criticisms levied online. Below are two of my favorites:
> @billreviews He's obsessed with Spike Jonze's "Where The Wild Things Are". Also, there were folks that felt "Beast..." was way overrated. I'd even bet that not one human being watched it more than once.
>
> — Jonathan Isaac Jackson (@jonisaacjackson) [ 1:53 AM ∙ Nov 7, 2019 ](https://twitter.com/jonisaacjackson/status/1192258694148435969?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)[](https://twitter.com/jonisaacjackson/status/1192258694148435969?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
> Benh finally has a breakthrough and calls his producer: “I’ve got it! It’s a modern fairy tale about poor people who escape to a world of fantasy when things get too hard.”
> “Did you uhh...read the synopsis of your first movie again?”
> “...no.”
> \*furrows brow, writes check anyway\*
>
> — Scout Tafoya (@Honors\_Zombie) [ 5:32 PM ∙ Nov 6, 2019 ](https://twitter.com/Honors%5FZombie/status/1192132716734689280?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)[](https://twitter.com/Honors%5FZombie/status/1192132716734689280?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Indeed, *Wendy* appears to be a rehash of that *Beasts of the Southern Wild* style. **Appears**, of course.
This appearance of redundancy is “strong”, but is it obnoxious?
I don’t believe that a movie being pretentious is necessarily a qualifier for the trash heap. Yes, when someone or something speaks over our heads, as if from a mountain top to us lowly peasants, the message is delivered with an edge of presumption and rudeness. But what of the message? Was it right? Righteous?
I often think back to Francis Ford Coppola being interviewed on the set of *Apocalypse Now* about completing his vision for the story, and how he said that when a film doesn’t live up to itself by the end, when it doesn’t resolve, it’s unforgivable (excuse my paraphrasing).
This is why we have critics. To debate with each other, to express observations to the world, to comb over every shot and frame. Whether or not Benh’s *Beasts of the Southern Wild* “stuck its landing” (so to speak) will vary from person to person. No film is universally praised - no matter what Rotten Tomatoes may have us believe.
*Beasts* got me at a somewhat difficult time, when a family member was in the hospital recovering from surgery. The relationship between father and daughter in the movie, from him looking after her to her feeding him fried fish on his death-bed, was all particularly moving. Sure, we can argue over the Hurricane Katrina-lite plot, and the fact that the filmmaker is not from the area (a sore spot for some local writers) but then we would miss out on so much else being done.
Unity in community. Maturity through journey. Courage over fear. There’s more to The Bathtub than just fireworks and quirks.
Is it too heavy on magical realism? Are Benh’s thoughts on the region lofty to the point of eye-rolling? Maybe. Was *Beasts* a complete and fully realized vision, for better and worse? Within that *Jupiter Ascending* effect, that “unchecked” quality shared by misfits aplenty, Benh ranked, even with just this one feature, as an imagination to watch out for.
Like *Pan*, only less panned.
*Wendy* **looks** bombastic. *Wendy* **might** tread familiar themes. We’ll only “**know**” once it releases next year. Keep indulging. Dig deep, dig often, and rise to your self-made legend, especially when wrong yet righteous.
Go for broke. Go for Coppola.
### Review(s) | HUMAN CAPITAL / THE RIOT ACT | It's All In the Imperfections
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/reviews-human-capital-the-riot-act/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:50.000Z
[Subscribe now](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
***Human Capital***
If there is one takeaway from Alex Wolff’s recent filmography, it’s to never let his character drive a car. Bad idea.
At once, *Human Capital* is a film centered on selfish and vapid grownups, seemingly looking after their families but really keeping their own interests and mistakes and triumphs as personal as possible. As a whole, the movie is a juxtaposition of the failures and missteps of parents with the growing maturity and fading innocence of their children. These themes are expressed well enough here, mostly from its experienced cast (Liew Schrieber, Marissa Tomei, and Peter Sarsgaard) who do everything and anything with the material - and in surprising ways - but all too often we feel a stiff blow of dullness.
Schreiber and Tomei are near brilliant as parents from opposite classes of wealth. As a father, Schreiber is impotent and unable to connect with his daughter but does mean to do right by her and everyone else - if only he had more time. When attempting to make a large business investment, he fudges some paperwork while drinking a small glass of alcohol (I assume grocery store scotch). The speed with which he laps up and swallows down the booze was an inspired choice, showing just how desperate this man is to gain some courage, lie, and make a buck. Pathetic, he is.
As a mother, Tomei is somewhat loving and light, saying and doing the right things for her kids (a son and a set of twins - Schreiber has a daughter and is expecting twins), but suffers from the “trophy wife”/”stay at home” syndrome levied upon her. She seeks hobbies and causes but is turned down frequently by her wonderfully jerk-ish husband (Sarsgaard). When an affair presents itself, she plunges into it with loud gusto, all the while a horror movie plays on tv. Another kind of pathetic, if more aggressive.
*Human Capital* is more or less about bad decisions, even the ones that have good outcomes. These two parents will ultimately determine the fate of their respective families by way of an almost *Crash*\-esque time looping/”we’re all connected” tale. Almost, mind you. This is a variation on that genre, more lowkey than its predecessors. Indeed, we might be connected, perhaps oh so tenuously, but a line draws us together for sure. All it takes is one moment.
The reason for this season is in the impeccable cast. Again, everyone fires on all cylinders, even the teen roles like that of the troubled Alex Wolff. Here, as an outsider type, is exploited for his awkwardness at least two times, but does find some comfort in one individual. Fate breaks things apart, and the parents do even further damage. For their families? For themselves? For justice? Sometimes, there are no winners in life. Just schmucks.
For *Human Capital*, a movie made up of schmucks that appear better than us but are more depressed and sad than most, I can only offer light cheer. For certain, it’s a chance for these veteran actors to carve out and chow down on something with meat, even if they have to provide all of the bite. Muddled at best, mediocre at half best.
No, it’s not a bad film. But remember, next time, don’t let Alex Wolff behind the wheel. Please.
**RATING: 3 / 5**
---
***The Riot Act***
Late century/early century vaudeville acts, passionate murder, burning vengeance, and a ghostly spirit should make for something extraordinarily interesting to watch. Indeed, *The Riot Act* is quite the watch for sure, but not in the way its crew wished for. No, this movie is near discount bin quality with eyes that don’t match the size of its own stomach. The efforts of everyone involved are bold, but the resources to achieve an overall vision don’t come together.
A poor stage act, this is.
Brett Cullen stars as an opera theater owner who, over one evening, ruins the lives of a lead actor and of his daughter, two lovers he chooses to break up over societal class reasons it would seem. We see Cullen’s eyes as the only part of his face lit, in a classic lighting scheme I loved. Steam and fog cover the train station from which the inciting incident occurs. Visually, from a design perspective, things are right. It’s when everyone other than Cullen talks that the movie falls to pieces.
From the vaudeville company leader - an over actor the likes of community theater or fresh out of college - to side characters who can’t choose an accent for a given scene, to the too digital video look of an era gone by that throws the feeling of everything off by massive measures, *The Riot Act* is pretty terrible. It feels more like a thesis project or high school production that lucked out with a slightly big-name star willing to perform. It’s an unfortunate disappointment, given the initial production value of its opening sequence. Nothing else even comes close to being as good as those first few minutes.
With all of my pseudo-might, I wish whole-heartedly to state that the acting and the writing could’ve and should’ve been on par with the environment, the costumes, and colors. But, here we are. With a movie not as bad as Asylum films, but awfully too close for comfort.
There’s talent somewhere beneath it all, and maybe one day it’ll come out in spectacular fashion. That day was not this day, however.
**RATING: 1.5 / 5**
---
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### Review(s) | 36 HOURS / MEMORY: THE ORIGINS OF ALIEN | Plucked Into Obscurity
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/reviews-36-hours-memory-the-origins/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:51.000Z
[Subscribe now](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
Both movies are playing at [Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) until October 17th:
***36 Hours***
When [*Caniba*](https://medium.com/@billreviews/review-for-what-do-you-crave-928a075e121?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) was released year or so ago, my immediate reaction was “stunned”. With that viewing, I noted that I had finally seen a film so aggressively human and nonchalantly scary, that unease was too light a word to express my feelings. Static shots of an old cannibal’s face, still with his dead stare, charming grin and eerily quiet apartment adorned the majority of the runtime, doing more than expositing solely on his ravenous act of murder but giving us everything that comes with our obsession with him and his actions. For a short time, it was my favorite movie of that year.
Somehow, and in an “of course he would” way, filmmaker Adam Sekuler has done to birth in *36 Hours* what was done to macabre legacy in *Caniba*.
It’s not an easy watch, nor should it be. We literally spend an abridged thirty-six hours in a hospital room with a young woman in the final throes of pregnancy, and just about every moment, from arrival to “arrival”, is punctuated with hypnotic breathing, whispers and whimsy talk to calm down a potentially tense scene. Family and friends are there for comfort and support, but what else can they do that the doctors and nurses are already on top of? Take the occasional picture and just sit with her, basically.
Stillness.
Interspersed throughout this procedural documentary/diary are shots of the woman, full belly and naked, in nature. Here, she performs some interpretive dance in place, sweat beading off of her skin, awkwardly and disturbingly making motions that are both pretty and painful to watch. In my mind, I now cut to the birthing scene, the end of the thirty-six hours, where we see her legs spread wide and contorting face struggling to follow directions in pushing out and breathing in.
> The baby’s not the monster; **I’m** the monster.
She says the above line when just chit-chatting with those around her, making light and poking fun at what’s to come. I think of Sekuler’s previous entry on death, [*Tomorrow Never Knows*](https://www.bigeasymagazine.com/2019/04/12/neaux-reel-idea-tomorrow-never-knows-review/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), and consider the thematic juxtaposition at play, even if side by side. It would be far too easy to compare that movie with something like *Caniba*, but I would make the argument that Sekuler wasn’t interested in the dying state so much as he was with the end of life.
*36 Hours* too deals with the end of a life, but more a phase of it and into a new one of maturity and motherhood. Yes, a baby is born, and it’s wonderfully emotional once it comes into the world, but the time we spend is in and with this woman’s visage and perspective, which brings up in equal parts moans of joy, fright, and hurt. These stages give way to something new, which will have to live on in our imagination, as the credits roll as soon as time runs out. This new thing will be exciting, will be terrifying and will be difficult, but more than worth it, we can only assume.
This is no “how to give birth” PSA, no instructional film or anything of that sort. In some manner, it’s a horror based in the anticipation of the inevitable unknown, of what lurks in the mid-section of a young lady, just waiting to burst out in violent beauty. It’s only scary for her, but we’re left exhausted if only vicariously. The explosion into life was momentary for us but for her?
Maybe only a dance can reveal that answer.
Maybe *36 Hours* isn’t exactly *Caniba* or on a *Caniba* level, but it doesn’t have to be.
Maybe *Tomorrow Never Knows* is the better movie about life.
Maybe it’s too quiet and too still, invoking boredom more often than evoking the concoction of emotions that comes with birth.
I’d still claim to be “stunned” by some of it.
**RATING: 3 / 5**
---
***Memory: The Origins of Alien***
> In 1979, they brought fear to life.
Did they? **Right** **then**?
My cinephile tendencies are to bring up films like the original *Nosferatu* or thrill pictures in the vein of *King Kong* spectacles. Hell, even footage of a train coming at the screen pre-dated *Alien*. Hyperbole indeed.
Yet, let’s not wash this movie away so easily.
*Memory* doesn’t start as one would expect from a documentary. Ancient ruins. A future hellscape with advanced mutants, maybe humans, skulking around a ship? Then, we get talk about sci-fi and *Alien*. Why not? Why not throw us into the breach of narrative darkness blindly, only to plunge out towards interviews and behind the scenes type meanings? Impressive use of… trickery? Of the horror genre itself?
There are certain behaviors and attitudes meant to be read between the lines in Ridley Scott’s/Dan O’Bannon’s *Alien*, a seminal classic of Lovecraftian nightmares that was, absolutely, a product of its time. Critics, filmmakers, actors, and scholars are brought on board to discuss aspects of the movie, from early pre-production to final theorizing on what scenes and even frames were doing on conscious and subconscious levels.
*Memory* is no *Room 237*, and that’s both a compliment and a detriment.
Man, would this have been all the more interesting with delirious conspiracy-laden reads of visual texts and tenuous connections that would make [Alex Jones](https://www.vice.com/en%5Fca/article/8x4eq3/everything-alex-jones-got-right-and-wrong-about-alien-covenant?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) blush. But man, am I also thankful that such silliness was ultimately kept off the screen.
We dive somewhat into myth and collective/hive creativity, and what a truly crazy good combo these men and women made when brought together to make something fairly unprecedented. *Memory* goes deep enough on what’s beyond the film, but not too far-out into a realm of whacky, where tales of divinity and pie in the sky thinking could’ve potentially ruined the proceedings (though it would’ve been fun to watch). It’s an attempt at putting together a philosophical case-study and a production log on *Alien* at once, which succeeds without having cake and eating it too - even if that comes close to fruition.
Geeky but not too niche. Heavy but not over our heads. Choppy but never muddled. Appreciative and eager.
*Alien* was and still is an anomaly of sorts in cinema, but did it bring “fear to life”? Brother, it expressed it through and through. Sister, it took it to a heightened plane. But fear was and will always be with us, breathing down our necks.
**RATING: 4 / 5**
---
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### Review | JOKER | Arthur's Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Life
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/review-joker-arthurs-terrible-no/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:51.000Z
It was in my college days, the mid-2000s, when I first watched the GG Allin documentary *Hated*, directed by one Todd Phillips. It was quite the spectacle for a wide-eyed early twenty-something to watch, especially in the early discovery days of youtube, where videos of the obscure and the extraordinary were blossoming. For all of the antics shown, the grime and the poop throwing, the yelling and the cutting, there was also this… tenderness and sweet vibes that radiated from this man of punk, for whom true freedom was, in his mind, achieved. Phillips has, since then, done mostly boner comedies, but here and there will offer up some subversive - sometimes dude-bro-ish, sometimes truly dark - filmmaking within the business of Hollywood goofiness.
So, of course, he would do a standalone take on the origins of Batman’s arch-nemesis, *Joker*.
And, of course, it would be highly divisive.
And, of course, it would be a “problem”. So much so, that police are going [undercover at screenings](https://deadline.com/2019/10/joker-movie-theaters-new-york-police-plan-opening-weekend-undercover-1202749565/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) opening weekend.
This movie won the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion this year, so there **must** be **something** to it, **huh**?
Indeed, *Joker* is a rarity, and I don’t just mean for a major studio to bankroll. It’s a movie that pretty openly finds common ground with its central character, never once having to sell its own soul to do so, but genuinely invites him in any way. While not a documentary, there is a similar *Hated* approach here, where the filmmaker teeters between fly on the wall fascination and joining in on the chaos directly. In one scene, where Arthur Fleck - the mentally and emotionally unstable party clown/wannabe comedian (Joaquin Pheonix) - in full Joker makeup, with a pretty heavy plan laid out for him to execute, dances and stomps his way down a long and steep set of street stairs. It’s creepy, it’s crawly, and yet somehow freeing to watch as someone unhinged reaches a moment of zen.
Make no bones about it, Joaquin Phoenix isn’t really playing a comic book character here. This is as if *Combat Shock* had a comic book spinoff planted onto it. Or if someone found a way to take the video diaries of Ricardo Lopez (the Bjork stalker) and adapt a “villain” tale onto it. I wrapped quotes around “villain” because it’s quite “easy” to make a mentally ill or insufficiently cared for individual into a “monster”. Sometimes, the problem really is society. Sometimes, the problem really is in the lack of social services. Sometimes, a person is tossed through the cracks. Does this make for a fun superhero-ish story? And fun for who?
Phoenix is a revelation in this film and absolutely reminds me of people I’ve met in life (even recently) that have been abused, neglected, and left to fend for themselves. For Fleck, a murderous moment that could’ve happened to anyone ends by way of triumph when he gets the courage to kiss a girl. Before that, he runs away, takes a deep breath, and does a kind of waltz. There are many instances like this where our understanding of morality is upended by the very tone of Fleck’s actions and what it all means for and to him. Does this make *Joker* inappropriate or vile in some way?
I think Phillips - a most woke to woke culture guy - is trying to depict a tragi-comedy in such a bending manner that people across the political and philosophical spectrums don’t know how to react other than to express disgust. And, really, rightfully so. It’s totally understandable, especially when turning perspective and expectation on their heads on a global stage. *Joker*, at least through Phoenix, is a disturbing but somewhat courageous portrait of someone who loses everything but somehow wins most victoriously - at least, in his mind. Think *Brazil*, sort of.
The message(s) within the off-kilter tone can be distracting to the character piece, especially when you consider that the event that creates Batman in this film might turn him into a Punisher than a caped crusader. Maybe in these fits and starts, Phillips injects too much to play with. “Kill the rich!” reads a protest sign during a near riot. “They’re clowns!” a wealthy guy says on tv. Is it reductive to place people into only these two categories? Or is it that, amidst the noise and the fury of these battling ideas and ideals, those in the middle must make their own way through it all? Like a gallery of rogues or a league of sorts.
*Joker*, minus the controversy and the poor statements, by itself, is mostly a one-man show from Phoenix, with a touch more going on than expected. It’s uncomfortable, it’s righteous, and likely deserves most of its accolades. Will I be joining the Best Picture campaigning, in a year when *Avengers: Endgame* might be considered for top Oscars?
No, I don’t think I will.
What a weird timeline we’re in, right?
**RATING: 3.5 / 5**
### Review | KNIVES AND SKIN
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/review-knives-and-skin/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:51.000Z
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**NOTE: The 1st profile piece from “Cinema isN’T Dead” is coming up soon, and will focus on filmmaker Bill Morrison. If anyone has any suggestions for future posts on the people, places, and films that are keeping cinema alive, feel free to message me anytime! :)**
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[](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8234892/mediaviewer/rm1952016896?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
> You treat girls like shit.
Perhaps not a horror in the “traditional” sense (or even slasher way as the title suggests), *Knives and Skin* \- which screened at The Overlook Film Fest a few months back - somehow fits well under the umbrella of this genre. It’s a noir, but not really a mystery (less whodunnit and more whenwilltheshoedrop). It’s dramatic, but too tense and awkward-ish to be a drama ever so simply. It’s Lynchian, but more distinct and tapped into something more personal than borrowed. Horror feels right, but not in the “what’s lurking around the corner” way. Rather, this is a daymare of secrets and sordid details, of leftover emotions often unchecked and non-deliverable.
No jump scares, just ourselves and those around us, flawed as ever.
Director Jennifer Reeder (whose work is highly admired by [The Eyeslicer](https://medium.com/rogue-sagan/the-radical-film-team-we-need-now-c0e3e9f002a2?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)) has culled together something haunting and ghostly, without the haunts or the ghosts. It’s a tale of a missing high schooler and the friends and family left to absorb her disappearance into their lives and environment. What exactly does an event like this do to people? To children still growing and maturing? How does it feel among our already complicated lives? The missing girl, Carolyn Harper, becomes background to the tale of a community that moves on, no matter the struggle and ignorance involved. Some, like her Mother, can’t do that so easily. Often, she is seen wearing her daughter’s clothes over her adult clothes, with wet mascara running down her face. She seeks anything - a smell, a clue, a memory - that could bring her a step closer to Carolyn.
Meanwhile, ex-friends and other high schoolers are preparing for a dance coming up. We see their interactions with one another, we understand their individual personalities, their goals, desires, doubts, lusts. Rarely do they ever speak of Carolyn directly, and yet her disappearance is clearly on their minds. The families of these kids all have interconnected, sometimes resolved sometimes left open issues of their own, but the focus is always on this set of teens and how they’re dealing with what they’re not talking about.
Reeder imbues musical elements into the story, moments that each resonates at different clips, fitting the contextual dressings of their moments. The two I was most drawn towards were renditions of “Our Lips are Sealed”and “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”, one sung **at** their music teacher/mother of Carolyn in a matter of factly/mild shrug kind of manner, the other sung **to** her in a most comforting way. “Sealed”was around the beginning, and I suspect was chosen to express the tragic nature of the Mother’s fruitless efforts in searching and the temporary unwavering attitude from the other female students. Temporary, of course. Time has a way of breaking down walls and revealing a truth hidden.
*Knives and Skin* may be a female-heavy story, one that goes from trauma and sadness and grief to maturity and encouragement and victory for the girls and women at play, but to single-out its strong feminism might detract from the growth that every character undergoes, specifically the impotent and immature jock who kicks things off. All throughout, he hides shame and other deep feelings with brute bullying and typical chauvinism. Still, he’s just a developing kid, and Reeder gets that. By the end, after being dealt a blow from his mistreated girlfriend (the quote that began this review), he continues to cover, cower, and hide what he’s really experiencing, usually with his letterman jacket - now adorned with an everlasting statement of how he treats the opposite sex.
Absolutely, Jennifer Reeder has mixed together in a cauldron made just for this movie, quite the colorful, bright, and dense concoction of offbeat soap opera-ish teenage pathos, all without that schmaltzy tear-jerkiness. *Knives and Skin* bends genre to its will and brings up emotions that were subtly held deep inside us all, to the goosebumps that cover our arms.
My eyes were watered down some multiple times, and I only noticed when catching my image in the glare off the screen. I could attribute this to allergies, but I’d like to think this movie achieved something grander than a scare, and probably more shocking. After all, this is a horror.
**RATING: 5 / 5**
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### Review: THE NIGHTINGALE
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/review-the-nightingale/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:53.000Z
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[](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4068576/mediaviewer/rm726507265?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
I’m not usually nervous going into a movie, but I was with *The Nightingale*. No, it wasn’t because of what I had heard would be **featured** and **depicted**. No, it wasn’t because of *The Babadook*. What spurred my anxiety was the anticipation of having to review something that bent so powerfully on themes of race, gender, trauma, and revenge. It’s quite the personal responsibility to get right with yourself and with your readers on such subject matter and subtext. Indeed, dear audience, this was **not** an **easy** watch. It never goes the route of *A Serbian Film* for certain - a movie that kept upping the vile and bile all the way til the dirty conclusion for the sake of some pretentious nonsense - as everything in *Nightingale*, the ugly and the beautiful, is at least honest, no matter how brutally so.
Interestingly, in my mind at least, I compare this to the Paul Haggis Best Picture winning *Crash*, which I suppose no film should be contrasted with in good measure. *Nightingale* never panders or reassures its white privileged viewers with scenes of reconciliation so sappy it’d make a tree melt and buckle, even when showcasing the worst of white male dominated humanity and power. Instead, what begins as a simple revenge tale quickly turns itself on its head, revealing just how in over her head our lead is, and just how much more she must learn for the sake of her soul.
Our lead is Clare, played by Aisling Franciosi in what is assuredly a heartbreakingly vulnerable, positively aggressive turned assertive, and absolutely invincible performance. She works in what is essentially an indentured servitude type labor camp in early 1800s Tasmania, now almost fully under British control. She’s Irish and, with her husband and baby, seeks her freedom, but is under the ruling thumb of a petty and mad Lieutenant. This “man” wields his power much like a demolition firm uses its wrecking ball, or in how massively endowed adult performers are requested to behave for the camera. That is to say, while his evil shows more than Snidely Whiplash, it’s vastly more believable than in that cartoon way, probably because 1) We’ve all heard of it and 2) Some have felt all too much of it.
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It feels true because it **IS** true.
Tragedy strikes early and hard, in a fashion I dare not describe in specifics or spoil a ghastly. Immediately, Clare demands justice, going so far as to wander into the unknown wilderness with a young aboriginal guide named Billy, played with straight fire, disdain for “authority”, and ever escalating self-confidence by Baykali Ganambarr. She calls him “boy” often and harshly, as that’s what she’s used to and all she understands. He shrugs it off, even as the word stings. Sooner than later though, both will bond over mutual hatred for the British Army - who have taken equally from Clare and Billy - and this bond will go from being based on hate to being based on what’s righteous and right.
*The Nightingale* deals in the horror of murder and pillaging, of taking and taking some more with no remorse whatsoever. In one haunting scene early on, when Clare is being abused, she looks upon a fire that cackles and burns with calming rage, somehow giving her a moment to breathe. In another, there’s a shared moment between her and a local villager despite the fact that they didn’t and will never meet. Both are experiencing traumatic events in different ways, but look up at the night sky, and see the bright stars and immense heavens. There may be an indifference that the universe has to our suffering, but we don’t have to be indifferent to each other.
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We could draw lines from this film to our current society, of course, but I would argue that *Nightingale* is a bit broader than that. At least, in some respects. Certainly, President Trump comes to mind when we think of encouraging an environment that breeds aggression towards those seen as minorities, but that may be too simplified. Even within all the rhetoric, there’s some nance missing from the punditry conversations. *Nightingale* understands this, Jennifer Kent gets this, and goes for the throat with complications, with contradictions, with changes of heart, with motivation, with it all. People are imperfect, you know.
This is a film rich and complex in humanity, specifically what we are ultimately boiled down to when stripped of everything, and what lengths any of us will go to take and/or to make right. For this, it is breathtaking and astounding, harsh but real, and open to any and all criticisms. Just when you think *The Nightingale* won’t go any further, it does, but only in so far as the characters are. And you’ll be surprised just what lurks inside a person’s very spirit.
This is, for now, my pick for favorite film of 2019\. Grave, stark, but important. Never looks away from anything.
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Aboriginal villagers here don’t speak English, but are subtitled. When speaking out, crying out for their families and for safety, all the while the men in power smiled in smugness and behaved in and with disgust, I nearly threw up in anger and true shock.
We’re better than this, aren’t we?
Then why repeat?
**RATING: 5 / 5**
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### Review: WHAT YOU GONNA DO WHEN THE WORLD'S ON FIRE?
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/review-what-you-gonna-do-when-the/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:53.000Z
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While many members of the Gulf South black community are featured in *What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?*, from single mothers to small business owners and Mardi Gras Indians, the most outspoken would be The New Black Panthers for Self-Defense organization. Director Roberto Minervini’s film is surprisingly given front row access to this pretty aggressive group - not to suggest that they don’t have every reason to be aggressive. He captures everything from induction meetings, genuine community outreach, armed door to door investigations, and protesting in the face of police brutality - which does go down. They’re righteous but… kinda terrifying too. And it was only afterward that I looked them up on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s [website](https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/new-black-panther-party-self-defense?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), where I unfortunately confirmed some not so great suspicions about their mission statement.
*World’s on Fire?* isn’t at all about agreeing or disagreeing with anyone. In fact, the camera crew maintains a strong “fly on the wall” type angle towards who and what is being documented. It comes strikingly close to tipping its own scale and flat-out endorsing solidarity with the extremists, but is able to achieve a balancing act that works for the best. For the most part, I was nodding my head with those shouting “black power!”, but when the word “zionist” came up, and when a citizen’s inquiry into a neighborhood murder involves live machine guns meant to intimidate, I grew curious as to Minervini’s thesis.
In the times of Trump, white supremacy has been both indirectly and most directly encouraged, running rampant across the country in dangerous and ever-increasing numbers. This is a world on fire most assuredly. And how does a class and race of people act and live in such a burning environment? We see, through a few side stories in 2017, set mostly in the New Orleans region, the harsh realities that are reconciled with and heartbreakingly understood, not to mention the lengths individuals and masses go to just to survive, thrive, and grasp onto some form of justice. The New Black Panthers are but a small portion of the story, but the piece they inhabit represents a potential future for my two favorite characters.
There’s a child and a bar owner, followed separately, who caught my attention in a way most resonant. The child, an older brother, does his best to avoid trouble in and around his home, while obeying the words of his mother. However, the dangling carrot-like curse of his formerly incarcerated father looms overhead, as troubles in school crop about. It’s clear that his younger brother looks up to him, but what isn’t is just how the older one is able to handle such great and influential responsibility. When he says “kids your age don’t shoot,” it’s a devastating but honest observation. The sheer weight of this world lays heavy on his shoulders.
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The woman, who runs a bar on the brink of closing, does her best to keep her family and friends close and out of the cold embrace of a region that’s indifferent to them at best, and awfully violent to them at worst. Almost everyone she meets gets a personal story from her, some philosophical and inspiring anecdote on life and morality that always rings true and always comes from a genuine heart. She too wears stress, but in her case it all comes out through teardrops, cracks in her voice, and awkward smiles during painful recollections. Normally, she’s pretty stoic, but it’s in these climactic moments that her vulnerability shows strength in overcoming the tragic.
*World’s on Fire* isn’t as lyrical or as well-composed as *Hale County This Morning, This Evening* \- the vastly superior documentary narrative hybrid - in fact, I was wishing for more of an editorial voice in this picture, but despite needing some trims in the runtime, the film accomplishes a story more interesting than others of the genre. Perhaps in being too plain, Minervini and crew stripped themselves of power and gave it back to the subjects. Or maybe they were flexing a vision of sorts, one that mimics naturalism within documentation, by way of just floating in and out of conversation and revelation.
On this, I’m confounded.
The New Black Panthers of Self-Defense are indeed troubling, especially in what Minervini chooses and doesn’t choose to show us, from the glimpses of machine guns to that utterance of a Jewish slur, assuredly forcing reactions and connections from the audience. Proper context would’ve been nice, but honestly, we already know the condition of these things as of late. Just look out your window. What do you see? People trying to get by, but being put down in one form or another. Down the block might be their past, up the street their future. What will determine the direction they go?
This film doesn’t know nor does it choose to. What does *World’s on Fire* go for instead? A convenience in being a spectator and anxiety in observation. It’s afraid. We’re afraid, too. The subjects? No time to be.
**RATING: 3 / 5**
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### Fighting Against an Ugly Tide w/ Marshall Curry & Claudia Katayanagi
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/fighting-against-an-ugly-tide-w-marshall/
Last updated: 2025-09-28T19:27:03.000Z
[](https://static.politico.com/dims4/default/a736928/2147483647/resize/1160x%3E/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.politico.com%2Ff5%2Ff9%2F89e97c914498a185f560642e2d7d%2F160505-donald-trump-media-ap-1160.jpg&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
In just one recent example of President Trump making a hateful and dangerous statement, our leader of the free world stated that Jewish-Americans who vote Democrat show “Great disloyalty”:
In the same week, he declared himself a “[chosen one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzlxrPC%5FE%5FU&t=3s&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)”, without a shred of humility or humor or irony.
This is not nor should it be normal. As I write this, families are being separated into detention centers, some for [extended periods of time](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-administration-to-end-limits-on-child-detention-2019-08-21?mod=currencies&ref=moviegoingwithbill.com), and are being denied [basic rights and care](https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/19/trump-administration-sued-medical-care-immigration-centers-1467605?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
I’ve always been curious as to how and to what degree film can speak and show truth to power and create genuine change, especially considering and even in spite of tentpole blockbuster movies that get all of the attention.
Filmmakers [Claudia Katayanagi](http://www.abitterlegacy.com/filmmaker-bio?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) and [Marshall Curry](http://www.marshallcurry.com/about.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) were kind enough to answer a series of questions about their work, about the power of cinema, and about the weight of history that hangs over all of us.
Don’t expect this current White House to screen their films anytime soon:
***Bill Arceneaux:* When I first heard of your film *A Bitter Legacy*, I reflected immediately on FDR’s shameful internment camp decision in a modern context. All that came to mind was Guantanamo Bay and the prison industrial complex. Now, a few years later, we have the Trump-made crisis at and near the southern border, plus the ICE raids and deportations. What similarities - if any - to what happened during WWII are you seeing in the news today?**
***Claudia Katayanagi:*** The contrast in the feelings and the mood in the world from when I started my film more than 6 years ago to today, 2019 is so stark as to be almost unbelievable. I thought, as I originally began the research into the incarceration of the more than 122,000 people of Japanese ancestry after Executive Order 9066 that I would better understand what happened to my own family members, my parents, grandparents and extended family.
At the time, no one in my immediate family would talk about the deeper issues at work, or the deeper feelings they experienced when everything was taken from them; their businesses, property and most importantly, their dignity. What started as more personal research, developed into a much broader, in depth study of the forces at work at that time.
Behind the government euphemism of “relocation”, we now know that racism, greed, and to some degree fear and envy were fueling this unlawful, and unconstitutional imprisonment. In my film, *A Bitter Legacy* we learn how important the concept of “control” was to the U.S. Government in keeping so many people compliant. Those who questioned the legality and constitutionality of this incarceration of so many American citizens were quickly taken away from their families, isolated in various detention centers across the country and many were tortured, beaten and even shot and killed. Professor Roger Daniels called Tule Lake Segregation a precursor to Guantanamo. Rendition happened. “Gestapo-like methods” were used to place Japanese American men into “Citizen Isolation Centers”. (U.S. Acting Solicitor General Philip M. Glick 1943)
Today, history is being repeated daily. Family members are being separated from each other, held in “detention centers”, labeled enemy aliens, placed in deplorable, crowded, filthy and unhealthy conditions. These are people who legally are seeking asylum.
***BA:*** ***A Night At the Garden* might be the most evocative and truly shocking found/repurposed footage-like movie I’ve ever seen, especially given the current political climate in this country. Your work on it was very subtle but incredibly strong. As the director and editor, how did you balance your own eyes and voice with those of the original cameraman? Do you believe full objectivity is possible when making a documentary, or must some editorial response exist?**
**Marshall Curry:** I don't think pure objectivity is possible when making a documentary -- though some documentaries are fairer and more accurate than others. In the case of *A Night at The Garden*, I didn't have any interest in following the intention or point of view of the original camera operators. In fact I tried to make film that would subvert the original intention of the filmmakers. It's my understanding that the film was shot by the Bund -- the American Nazi group who held the rally -- as a propaganda film that would make the group seem heroic and inspirational. It was to be a sort of American Leni Riefenstahl production. I wasn't interested in making that at all, and in fact I wanted to highlight the darkness and danger behind the tactics that the group was using -- the scapegoating of minorities, the cheerful violence against protesters, the distortion of the symbols of American patriotism, etc. So I replaced the original jaunty martial music with a soundscape that was much darker and more foreboding. I also did things like slow down the attack on the Jewish protester so that the audience would have an opportunity to see his face and connect with his fear. But the material is powerful because it is not interrupted with too much outside editorializing. We don't cut to present day historians or activists explaining how terrible this group of Americans were. I thought there was power in letting the audience just watch it and struggle with hard questions for themselves.
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***BA:* I understand you’ve spent some time shooting footage at some of these camps and the surrounding protests. Could you explain what you’ve witnessed and captured?**
***CK:*** I have met them. I have filmed asylum seekers in Texas near the border with Mexico. I have crossed the Rio Grande by foot with other Japanese Americans in the attempt to meet, hear their stories and help these asylum seekers. I have met mothers who have lost their children in this inhumane process of separation of families. I have experienced their pain, and seen their tears in person.
We can read about their stories in major news media daily. We see news stories of nationalists yelling and screaming their hatred in such horrifying ways.
In contrast to this, there are movements seeking peaceful, and more positive outcomes. I and now along with numerous other filmmakers, have been documenting Japanese American groups who understand in ways most people don’t, what needs to be done today.
While on a pilgrimage to a former Department of Justice prison in Crystal City, Texas with 9 Japanese American who were themselves children imprisoned in Crystal City even after the end of WWII, I filmed many of them talking of the pain their families experienced, the trauma some of them still carried with them, in the form of PTSD and of the healing that comes from not only talking to others who went through the same trauma, but from finding a way to help other immigrant groups today.
Tsuru for Solidarity is one such group. Tsuru is the Japanese word for crane. The origami folded cranes have become a symbol for this movement, a symbol of hope and freedom. The recent peaceful demonstration in Fort Sill, Oklahoma organized by this group was filmed and shown on Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now show.
[https://www.democracynow.org/2019/6/26/japanese\_americans\_against\_child\_jails\_at](https://www.democracynow.org/2019/6/26/japanese%5Famericans%5Fagainst%5Fchild%5Fjails%5Fat?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[https://www.democracynow.org/2019/6/28/japanese\_american\_activist\_i\_was\_imprisoned](https://www.democracynow.org/2019/6/28/japanese%5Famerican%5Factivist%5Fi%5Fwas%5Fimprisoned?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
***BA:*** **The ending to Spike Lee’s *BlackKklansman* also features repurposed footage involving the growth of Nazism in the U.S., but from all too recent (and very brutal) events. Do you feel a duty or obligation to make movies that shine a light on this darkness?**
***MC:*** I think we are in a very dark time around the world. There's a rise of hateful demagoguery in India, Venezuela, the Philippines, and other countries -- and in America. I think it's really important for filmmakers, writers and regular citizens to shine light on it because I think that it's easy to wander slowly into a world where we don't want to be. I think that humans are very vulnerable to leaders who are funny and mean and rally them with patriotic symbols and rhetoric that blames minorities and outsiders for our problems. So we need to remind each other to be vigilant and defend the things that we care about -- democracy, respect, decency, truth, free press.
***BA:* Smart phones and cloud-based editing tools have become mighty resources in news gathering and holding those in power accountable. Have there been any relevant documentaries or films that you’ve seen recently which made an impact on you? Are there any contemporary filmmakers whose work you would recommend audiences seek out?**
***CK:*** A week or so after this original protest at Fort Sill, more local groups organized a larger protest there and a week after that the U.S. Government decided not to use the facility to imprison immigrants. A small victory.
Smart phones and cloud-based editing tools are being used on a massive scale to help capture events as they are happening. I have used my smart phone to film an event many times, where there simply was not sufficient time to get my professional camera person on location in time. When dozens of other participants are filming, the governmental forces have a much more difficult time in trying to control the narrative of what is actually occurring on the ground.
Cases in point are the recent Hong Kong and Puerto Rico protests which demonstrated what a powerful perspective Smart phones provided. This makes the impact of this footage much more immediate and visceral.
Within the Japanese American or Nikkei community, there are many film makers who have or are making a huge impact not just on the Nikkei community, but now out in the wider audience.
Emiko and Chizuko Omori, with *Rabbit in the Moon* – 1999 are my heroines for telling the incarceration history from a more in depth, yet personal perspective. Satsuki Ina, who has also become a powerful spokesperson in the current activism against the jailing of migrant and refugee children on the border is a filmmaker, *Children of the Camps* \- 1999 and *From a Silk Cocoon* \- 1999\. Frank Abe has produced an award-winning film *Conscience and the Constitution* \- 2012 revealing the almost untold story of the largest organized resistance to the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans and the suppression of that resistance by Japanese American leaders.
More currently, filmmaker Konrad Aderer with *Resistance at Tule Lake* and Evan Kodani, and Jon Osaki, *Alternative Facts* \- 2019 are at work showing how Japanese Americans are standing up and speaking out in protest to the forces on the Alt-right, or “Nationalists” today, as am I.
[Sign up now](https://www.moviegoing.rocks/subscribe?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
***BA:*** **I enjoyed *Captain America: The First Avenger*, but I also thought it was cheap to wash away the Nazi aspects of the comic book for the movie. Do we underestimate the importance of history in our modern society?**
**MC:** I can't speak to the *Captain America* movie, but I think we definitely have a poor understanding of history, which makes us vulnerable to making the same mistakes. It's not helped by groups that strip difficult chapters out of our children's textbooks or by propagandists like Dinesh D'souza who intentionally peddle false history for political gain.
***BA:*** **No matter what we’ve learned yesterday or what will likely happen tomorrow, it seems as if we’re doomed to repeat the bitter mistakes of years gone by. How can film combat this?**
***CK:*** Films are a very useful tool for not only informing people of history, but if done well, can touch people in their hearts in ways that the printed word alone cannot.
Films can sometimes be seen as mirrors of our own selves, our feelings, our thoughts and our common humanity. We can recognize common threads with other cultures when we see people just like our uncles, aunts, or grand-parents in the same type of events, like weddings, births, celebrations or soccer games. Visuals can have an enormous impact on the human spirit. The first view of Earth from Outer Space which made us all realize that despite the spats which sometimes escalate into war, we all on this one planet as one human race. Perhaps we should make peace and ensure that this planet can survive. Perhaps by seeing outside our individual neighborhood for a little bit, we can learn to talk to others and work together for a common good, like peace and prosperity for all.
***MC:*** I don't believe in fate, so I don't think we are ever doomed. It's entirely up to us to choose one path or another. In the past we have made terrible choices as a society and we have also made brilliant, noble, inspirational choices. In 1939 thousands of people showed up to cheer for Nazism in America, but thousands more pushed back and made sure that the government was run by FDR and not a right-wing hate-monger. In America we are lucky to still have the levers of power in reach if we will just do the hard work of grabbing them. It's a matter of sharing information with our fellow citizens and then engaging in practical political activity that wins elections. That's how history gets shaped – for better or worse. Late in his life, Isadore Greenbaum, the protester who ran out on stage that night, was asked why he stood up, and he said, "Gee, what would you have done if you were in my place?" It's a question for all of us.
### Review | OPHELIA
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/review-ophelia-html/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:55.000Z
Reminiscent of a child flatly stating "I told you so!", the final coda of *Ophelia* feels as if it's delivered from up on a pedestal, speaking down to all of us who perhaps needed a lesson or two. Now, I don't mean the climax, mind you - which is fantastically realized and heartbreakingly experienced - but rather the last message before the end credits. The kind that repeats its thesis, expands on it, and sums everything up in a nice bow, without much care for how it'll look in doing so. This being Ophelia's perspective, an alternative take on Shakespeare's classic *Hamlet*, I'd have no issue with such reminders, had they not just been given to us most visually and most grand.
*Ophelia* is all Daisy Ridley's show (not to take anything away from the other players), who presents a range of stoicism and wisdom that is difficult to convey, especially in a character we already have preconceived notions about. Ophelia has long been considered as a poor woman gone mad by the drama unfolding around her, but here is shown having great strength, compassion, and morality. She is quick to call out those bullying and doing evil, and won't think twice about kneeing someone in the crotch. This is not done as a gimmick on the filmmakers part, despite this being the era of #TimesUp and the madness of President Trump matching King Claudius hand in hand somewhat. No, *Ophelia* may ride the line carefully, but is most assuredly its own tale.
With a score filled with whispers most haunting, *Ophelia* has a richness in design, from top to bottom. The colors are vivid, the eyes of the director and cinematographer are focused on light and shadow wonderfully, and the composition of every shot and frame matches the gravitas of the moments being depicted. Suffice to say, the craft on display is second to none, expressing the tragedy of what happened and more interestingly what could've been. Ophelia, had she been listened to at all, could've reasoned the kingdom to safety or, at least, Hamlet. But dear, the fates in our hearts conspire most deviously.
There is much made about studies of science by the men, and any such studying or learning by women is deemed witchcraft. This idea of it being a man's world most unforgiving reminds me of the recent *Wild Nights with Emily*, which featured Emily Dickinson's work being twisted by men in position's of power, and how the truth took time to be unveiled. Perhaps too much time, really. *Hamlet* may have fallen into myth (much like many other tales of old) and become truer than intended, but *Ophelia* does no damage in re-interpreting the narrative and, with it, forcing new observations on the history.
Still, did we need such redundancy in the end? The finale was so brilliantly rendered, only to be slightly soiled in the last few seconds. Soiled, but not spoiled. *Ophelia* is a great adaptation, and indeed interjects with a message that isn't heeded by the formerly main characters. Being Ophelia's take, however, she can only offer so much. Indeed, poison is all over the castle, and maybe it's best to head for the nunnery.
On your terms, I mean.
**RATING: 3.5 / 5**
### Review | WEREWOLF NINJA PHILOSOPHER
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/review-wnp-html/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:55.000Z
You don't go into a movie called *Werewolf Ninja Philosopher* expecting... well, with any expectations, really. It's almost an uncharted territory kind of thing, where even the trailer and synopsis doesn't (and shouldn't) prepare you for the viewing you'll be having. That's rare and, for this film, very on point. *WNP* (as I'll refer to the movie as) works as a zany romp through the self-important, self-aware, and uber-intelligent streets of NYC by way of a satirical Jim Jarmusachian take on *The Naked Gun*, if that makes any sense whatsoever.
We follow a man, a werewolf ninja philosopher known as "Werewolf", as he walks his way through the streets and subways of the city. These establishing and transition shots make up the bulk of the action, ultimately existing as the story itself really. In between these calm moments of slow-mo strolling, we get a semblance of a plot: There's a killer on the loose, murdering art-house filmmakers, and an NYPD liaison has hired Werewolf to investigate. His skills involve speaking ponderings into his smartphone notetaking app - about the values of pumpkin pie and from what perspective to appreciate what random theme comes into his head - and chatting with ex and current lovers about potential suspects. Gossip basically, but from an inquisitive pov.
*WNP* is absolutely absurd, making time and effort to f\*\*k with its audience in groovy and surprising ways. Repetition of shots and sequences, music loops and shuffles, hard to hear audio, single/long takes with what appears to be accidental misreadings of lines (Werewolf says "time tavel" before correcting himself at one point), and mysteriously odd footage of a woman in a park that doesn't seem to lead anywhere all point to a movie poking fun, making fun, and being fun of its own stylistic comings and setting.
Perhaps the NYC Indie Film scene does suffer from pretentiousness on occasion (or on many an occasion) for better or worse, but no matter if observed as a pro or a con, director Sujewa Ekanayake understands and expands on these notions with a comedy that is straight up silly and awkward, representing the finer points of DIY filmmaking and the fewer finesse elements of cinematic invention.
Having black & white photography that harkens back to old detective flicks and to what some expect to see from some indie films of old, and an attitude most confident and sure-footed despite and in spite of its goofy handling (or intentional mishandling of themes and tropes), *WNP* stands as something that few may tap into and "get". I suspect that its wavelength will turn some people off, but for these individuals, I can only express some genuine sadness for not making it through to the end. One-sided conversations on missing Llamas, asking a film critic if she "likes movies", and other peculiarities occupy the mind-space of this rather uniquely structured and chuckle-inducing film. *WNP* almost wears out its welcome, until you understand that enduring some of it is part of the point.
Meta for the crowd that is tired of meta, aware for those who feel too woke, and rather crazy to think about, *Werewolf Ninja Philosopher* is the hard to believe surprise of 2019 that I was looking for. Hard to believe that I could be so turned upside down by a film and that such a film could speak to my own weirdness so acutely. It's a rarity for sure.
**RATING: 3.5 / 5**
**Visit** [**Sujewa.com**](https://www.sujewa.com/werewolf.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) **for info on the movie and learn how to bring it to your local theater.**
### Interview | Zac Manuel (15th Patois NOLA Film Fest)
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/interview-zac-manuel-15th-patois-nola-html/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:55.000Z
It's a film festival with a mission. It's a collective of our local best & brightest in cinema. It's an effort to instigate change and enlighten minds.
The Patois New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival enters its 15th year with their 2019 event, from March 21st to the 24th at The Broad Theater in Mid-City. For a city with so few movie venues, we certainly make up for it with productions as well as fostering a film culture - something many of us have worried about sustaining since the inception of Hollywood South. Now, what might a "film culture" in a city like New Orleans be? More than entertainment and blockbusters, we hope.
Filmmaker, cinematographer, and Patois Collective member [Zac Manuel](https://www.zacmanuel.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) was kind enough to answer a few questions I had as the festivities approach. You can see showtimes and purchase tickets [here](https://www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/3943304?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com):
***Bill Arceneaux:*** **What makes New Orleans the best place to host Patois, both politically and culturally?**
***Zac Manuel:*** New Orleans is probably the most culturally rich city in America, and I think where we are in American society, the culture that we’ve built and maintained is becoming more and more visible. Our culture is Black, our culture is queer, our culture has been victimized and commoditized for years and years. And yet, we’ve been able to create so much beauty and individuality as a culture, and through our culture comes our collective identity and the truth of our history. For me, Patois is New Orleans, and New Orleans is Patois. I couldn’t see this festival taking place anywhere else in the country.
***BA:* Each year, the fest is able to find some surprising and previously unknown selections for programming (*Mr. Gay Syria* being one such pick). How do you sift through the noise and clutter to find the best movies that will represent the Patois mission? Is there criteria for films to meet? Are documentaries easier to discover in this field than narrative features?**
***Zac:*** True, there are a lot of films out there, and even a lot that fit into the social justice category. I think that we like to be a bit more discerning in how we choose our films, and thus we do have a criteria for curating our lineup. Of course, we’re looking for films that have social justice or civil rights angle, and we want to show films that engage with contemporary issues and can add to current political and social dialogues. But we take it a step further and prioritize films that are made and produced by people of color, women, and LGBTQ filmmakers. We want the work we show to mesh with our collective politic, which is hard left-leaning, progressive, and maybe what some people might call radical.
***BA:*** **The concept behind *The Infiltrators* \- people deliberately getting caught at the U.S. / Mexico border to investigate what happens next - fascinates me to no end, especially given the potential danger involved in such a project. As festival organizers, is there fear of retaliation from those with opposing views and interests?**
***Zac:*** There’s always an inherent danger in exposing a truth, but that’s a risk I think the filmmakers and the subjects of the film have taken the brunt of. As organizers, I don’t feel so much we are in danger, but rather we have a responsibility to show work that exposes these important truths about the ways in which our country unjustly operating. I welcome those who don’t agree with the ideals of the film to buy a ticket, watch it, and have a conversation with the filmmakers afterward. Maybe then they can start to empathize immigrants going through detention centers.
**BA:** **Critic Matt Zoller Seitz likes to say that all films are political in one way or another. If this statement is to be believed, does it mean that cinema is potentially made up of propaganda? Is this a bad thing?**
***Zac:*** I think in order to be propaganda, you have to be skewing the truth, or like in the case of Confederate monuments, purporting an alternate truth entirely. There’s a monolithic nature to propaganda that, to me, communicates an inherent falseness, or a simplification of a narrative. So, no I don’t think film is propaganda, at least not the kinds of films that we show. I guess I could say that a Marvel tentpole film is propaganda for heteronormative, patriarchal social politics and American imperialism, then made successful by its ubiquity. The films we are showing prioritize the discovery of truth, often times a messy, nuanced truth, and are meant to correct and add to the over-simplified conversations we find in mainstream media.
***BA:*** **What does Patois hope to accomplish this year specifically, as we head into the early stages of Presidential campaigning against Trump?**
***Zac:*** It’s Patois’ 15th year, and we’re also just coming out of the 300th anniversary year of the founding of New Orleans. More than fighting against Trump and his politics explicitly, it’s more important now than ever before to provide a platform for people of different experiences, people historically and currently maligned and persecuted - women and femme identifying peoples, people of color, people with disabilities, queer people. In the short amount of time that we have to do this festival, the hope is to contribute to the empowerment of a greater and totally inclusive and empathetic consciousness. To me, it feels like we’re a small part of a larger societal shift, and we’ll continue to do the work so that eventually this movement is just the new norm.
### Review | SUMMER OF 84
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/review-summer-of-84-html/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:55.000Z
From the team that brought us the very inspired, gruesome and romantic *Turbo Kid*, comes a more direct romp into 80s era horror, *Summer of 84*. When considering their previous sci-fi-ish post-apocalyptic adventure of arrested development into superheroism, you shouldn't forget the love present - and not just the kind between the female robot and laser-armed boy. This is a filmmaking group that absolutely digs nostalgia for the age of John Hughes and *Return of the Jedi*, but not so much in easy to catch references, but rather mood and feel. And that's where *Summer of 84* excels. In mood and feel.
The story is pretty much *Goonies* meets *Rear Window*, where a suburban kid and his group of early into puberty/early into teen-ness friends investigate a next door happy-go-lucky cop for being the serial killer currently haunting the area. Davey, the lead snoop, is the more mature of the group, choosing not to talk about girls they know in sex gossip ways and behaving more level-headed in general. Of course, when it comes to this mystery, he's overly determined and fanatical. In Ipswitch, Oregon, there's not much to do for these boys but fawn over models and go bowling. Davey is different, letting his mind wander and go to places he should otherwise not go. Without his sense for the outrageous though, we would not have a movie, and he might never learn a lesson.
*Summer of 84* sees Davey as adorable if too curious as well, thinking he should just join others his age in growing up and not dragging his friends into potential danger or, at least, trouble. There are consequences for every action, and they will hit no matter how old you are - no age discrimination in that light. Living in the 80s may be a time some, like in *Ready Player One*, wish they had grown up in, but the truth - beneath Reagan politics, corporatization and coke bloat - is that looking at something with rose-colored glasses doesn't mean all is so rosy. Remove the filter for the reveal, and you just might lose that happy ending you expected.
Violence doesn't really factor in until late, and when it does, there is a hesitance to show it off completely. We see gore through a VHS (or beta) camera, we see stabbings in the dark and what the camera operator finds, he or she moves away from. Perhaps the filmmakers are expressing the unwillingness to stomach the fruits of labor (theirs and the characters), and perhaps it's a chance to give/not show the audience, expecting nostalgia, the things they weren't wanting to know. It's much to chew on, with a smack in the face finale that forces growth in all of us but may not have been ideal considering the sneaky suspenseful fun had in the hour and a half prior. Since when does a movie have to be "ideal" though? Can't it just be a story?
Last year saw the release of the slightly similar yet dramatically superior *Super Dark Times*. That was set in the 90s, and dealt much more with shame, responsibility, guilt and becoming an adult all too fast. *Summer of 84* holds its cards close to the chest for a long time, only barely letting on to what it's about in a few instances. And what it's about is pulling the rug out from under everyone. It's about the adventure becoming all too real and not being played by kids rules. It's about curiosity killing the cat, figuratively. The movie keeps its mood and feel throughout, but underscores it with stark and harsh wake-up calls. Buzzkills.
Fun in the moment but all too ugly up close in memory. The 80s, am I right? It excelled at that.
**RATING: 4 / 5**
*Summer of 84* is now playing in [New Orleans at Zeitgeist](https://www.zeitgeistnola.org/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) for a one week run.
### Review | BLINDSPOTTING
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/review-blindspotting_17-html/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:56.000Z
In America's not too distant future, former economically depressed cities and neighborhoods will be lined with (white) Airbnb's, (white) liberal cafe's and (white) people crowdfunding startups. In this future-scape, gentrification won't be a thing but a chicken wing; locals moving down the block - or several blocks - will be standard migration practices, as "opportunities" turn into serving the needs of those who took it all from a culture/community they'll never truly appropriate. This is a sci-non-fi tragi-comedy of grand complexity. This is *Bliindspotting*.
Set in an Oakland of today, Collin and Miles are two lifelong friends and area residents, breathing and bleeding their surroundings with equal parts pride and heartbreak. They see, throughout their daily moving company routines, the ever-changing look and feel of the city. Before we get to know them, the movie opens on a brilliantly edited/juxtaposed montage of split screen city footage, showing on one side the established community, the other side with changes occurring from graffiti cleanup at best to people losing their homes at worst. Sometimes the images are drastically different, sometimes they swap sides and sometimes they blur. This is the Oakland atmosphere for the sake of the film, our understanding of the story and the reality of many places across the country. Collin and Miles - Miles specifically - call all of this out in amusing yet increasingly hostile/frustrating ways.
Collin is a soon to be off probation African American. Miles is white and a little nutty. While they may be good friends and almost brotherly to one another, there is still an unspoken rift between them. This rift, the focus of the film, is the divide between people - economical and cultural, sure, but really boils down to racial, the factor beneath all factors. *Blindspotting* deals with this in both organically comical and striking dramatic ways. All is fun at first until you peer a bit more closely. Jokes are made about a white cop shooting an unarmed black man to death in front of Collin, but it slowly haunts us (and him) as the film develops, becoming more of a problem and less of an "it just happens" kind of thing. Jokes are made about the white gentrifiers until a party is thrown and revelations are made that make everyone uneasy about their new digs. Jokes into contemplation. Damn.
We see Oakland in mid-transformation, with restaurants and other businesses beginning to cater to the whims and wants of its new citizens, who find the area "charming" and relate to it only the way an insecure poser would. These new amenities, like food delivery apps and other services, serve three functions here; to make "at home" those who'll bring money to the area, to keep them at arm's length or beyond from the community they're harming and to force a state of servitude and acceptance to these "transplants". *Blindspotting* nails the inherent problems in this scenario without flatly pointing them out - it's left to the viewers to observe and report. Someone must be pulling the strings on the populace, but if so, how do those at street level deal with it all? What Paul Haggis tried to do with *Crash*, *Blindspotting* does and puts the Best Picture winner to shame while doing it. As things come to a head (and they do, greatly), we feel the tension between and around the characters. A bomb of emotions, ready to go off at any point. Maybe it needs to be detonated.
The science here is in the socio-economic playground of Oakland and its people. It's non-fiction because it feels real and of the next moment, just ahead. And jokes go hand in hand, believe it or not, with intense human drama and thematic tragedy. This is *Blindspotting*, and it could be the best movie of the year.
While recent releases *Sorry to Bother You* and *BlacKkKlansman* deal in race to different degrees - absurd/surreal and fiery/incendiary respectively - neither feel as tragically grounded or anxiously today as *Blindspotting*. Maybe it's the comfortable, confident and lived-in friendship of Collin and Miles, maybe it's the naturally satirical world they live in or maybe it's the ripped from outside our windows version of life we see unfold every day that makes this movie as comforting, as dramatic and as warm as it can get. *BlacKkKlansman* is marketed as "fo real", to which I'd counter with "reel-y real". That's an auteur's accomplishment, certainly. *Sorry to Bother You* is "sur-real", being a vision and expression than anything. *Blindspotting* is just "real", period.
**RATING: 5 / 5**
It may have left New Orleans theaters already, so catch it on VOD streaming soon!
### And Now, Without MoviePass ...
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/and-now-without-moviepass-html/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:56.000Z
As I travel back to birth, past Jupiter and around the end of (my) time, I tend to think about previous assertions and lofty dreams - sometimes my own, sometimes of others. MoviePass falls under both categories but, unfortunately, is no longer a dream I wish to be part of. It's not a nightmare for me, a moviegoer, just a pointy stick poking the back of my head. A frustration, really.
For four years, I was a member. From $30 to $40 to $10 per month, I was a member. When they had good customer service, I was a member. Now, like a third party candidate thrust into the spotlight, the little engine proves it couldn't go the distance. I'm sad and disappointed, though not without some form of optimism (as is usual with me), and I don't just mean that because of my recent purchase of an AMC Stubs A-List plan - which has been running very smoothly thus far.
If you click on the "support / shop" link at the top of this blog, you'll be lead to a crowdfunding page called BuyMeACoffee.Com. Similar to Ko-Fi.com, but with the added bonus of allowing users to sell directly to audiences through special links. It's a new site, still growing, but one with much promise. Maybe it'll get absorbed, maybe it'll fall. Whatever its finale, it will have made a point.
Same with MoviePass.
Alternatives have/will pop up, continuing to change the landscape of cinema. And I'll be there to wrap my head around it all.
But I'm afraid, with MoviePass, I've gone as far as I can go. Still, I want to buy a mug from their store ...
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
RECENT WORK (beyond the blog):
[\- A Kubrick-Topia](https://www.bigeasymagazine.com/2018/07/17/neaux-reel-idea-a-kubrick-topia/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[\- On George Lucas](https://www.bigeasymagazine.com/2018/07/24/neaux-reel-idea-the-lost-lucas-part-2/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[\- ](https://www.bigeasymagazine.com/2018/08/07/neaux-reel-idea-rodents-of-unusual-size-review/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)*Rodents of Unusual Size* Review
[\- Interview with John Mese](https://www.bigeasymagazine.com/2018/08/01/acting-brando/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
[\- ](https://www.bigeasymagazine.com/2018/07/01/movie-review-on-the-seventh-day/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)*On the Seventh Day* Review
[\- Interview with Jim Francis](https://www.bigeasymagazine.com/2018/08/01/pressing-forward/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com)
### Review | 24 FRAMES
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/24frames-html/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:56.000Z
It's a personal shame of mine that I've taken so long to watch an Abbas Kiarostami film. Some of his movies are in my Fandor queue and I've read nothing but glowing recommendations from others. Blame the over-saturation of available media or blame my own procrastination and/or one-dimensional notions of what I should be excited to see - whatever the case, I was finally initiated into the Kiarostami-Verse by way of his final project, *24 Frames*. In a strange way, the film, released after the death of the director, works as a sort of self-eulogy of sorts for both his career goals and visions of life. There's a strong sense of sadness that overwhelmed me most of the time, but never did I cry or wince. Always, I was transfixed an glued to the screen. Pure, without pity and with great purpose, the film lays bare complex thoughts and questions on cinema/art, existence/environment and the heavy indifference felt between.
*24 Frames* has been described as "experimental", and perhaps it is by virtue of peeling techniques and concepts from the past and pasting them on a modern canvas for the audience of today, but something about that word feels off in this context. Is it an experiment to revisit the origins of a medium? To discover where we've been, where we are and where we're going? Through the digital manipulation of twenty-four short, mostly wordless stories, expressed outwardly from before and after a frame or photograph, we get something more akin to a magic lantern show. The projectionist is Kiarostami, who brings about the light and shadows with the fore-knowledge of a master showman, exercising images in delicate and graceful motion. Experimental? Maybe. What does that make us?
The stories (frames) shown are set in and around moments of natural beauty and grand serenity. Birds and Deer are common characters, flying and grazing about at complete peace. From here, drama sets in. We see in one story a Cow laying by the beach, possibly dying, as other cattle move along without concern. The waves crash, the current pulls on the water and animals go about their business as a being is struggling to maintain its hold in this world. While this bit ends with a twist, the real shock was how enthralling and entertaining it was to stay on one shot, basking in the illusion of motion, while all we have to hold our attention is the environment and the direction of an unseen force bringing this about. It's startling to realize what a crazy wonderful facade cinema is and has become when all it takes to grasp our hearts and minds is what is happening outside a window.
Breathtaking and transfixing, I am left feeling something bittersweet. There is a sadness to *24 Frames*, but never a tragedy. We see the chaos of philosophies on art and life colliding, but never does it get confusing. It's a struggle for sure, and we are probably in the middle of the rope tug, but there's enough slack for an answer to come for all. I for one felt a loss of some naivete, something that is learned over time and can, thankfully, be unlearned. Ironically, for us to progress in our understanding of film, a regression to a former state of thought might be necessary. A state where anything and everything can be a story and even non-stories carry the weight of one's world.
Bravado and massive imagination make *24 Frames* the magic trick and truth bomb that it is. I don't want to speculate on lofty and silly curiosities like Kiarostami knowing he was close to the end and plotting something stunning to go out on so to speak, but the film leaves us to ponder about the auteur's intentions, no matter how irrelevant they may be. It's only natural to consider all possibilities, but in doing so, you might be missing the forest for the trees. And that would be quite the shame.
**RATING: 5 / 5**
***24 Frames* screens at** [**Zeitgeist**](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/24-frames-by-abbas-kiarostami-tickets-45183967463?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) **in New Orleans from April 20 - 25.**
### The 2018 GNO Film Fete - Recommendation Roundup
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/gnofilmfete18-html/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:56.000Z
While nothing can quite replace Timecode: NOLA, [The GNO Film Fete](https://www.facebook.com/TheGNOfilmfete/) (classic French for "festival") looks to fill the void by showcasing a diverse selection of locally conceived and produced short films. This year, the fete will take place at [Chalmette Movies on Sunday, April 15th](https://www.facebook.com/events/1718591431534000/), and will run about 90 or so minutes of pure cinema.
Director of the fete Carl Johnson gave me a preview of the programming, allowing me to compile a trio of flicks you should look out for:
***Black and Blue***
John Swider directs this gem of generational/familial maturity and responsibility with swiftness and looseness. Starring the great Lance Nichols, *Black and Blue* is the telling of a young man and his grandfather, dealing with a very recent and tragic death. It's not often we see a wonderfully sentimental, progressive and non-schmaltzy depiction of men comforting one another over grief, so this was a welcome surprise. Lance Nichols delivers the single best point - a monologue about memory and overcoming adversity - at the base of an empty baseball field. I swear, this man can work with just about any character and dialogue (remember *Left Behind*?). Heartfelt, absolutely.
[BLACK and BLUE - Teaser](https://vimeo.com/176399250?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) from [inDEPTH Media](https://vimeo.com/indepthmedia?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) on [Vimeo](https://vimeo.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
***How to Sell a Broken Heart***
Jonathan Jackson is a local "rebel without a crew", so to speak. His *Dvrker: Infinity Room* is a stark and clever thriller of aggressive politics and wish-fulfilling fantasy. So, when I heard he was making a short featuring Satan ... Shot and cut (those words were chosen specifically to evoke a violent feeling) with visceral visual purpose, *How to Sell a Broken Heart* is an imaginative and thematic exercise in playing with "what if?" and setting. New Orleans is home to a bohemian Devil, oozing with sexuality and sneaky wisdom - a combination too dangerous for any one being. It's fun, though I can only dream of what a longer feature would conjure up.
["How To Sell A Broken Heart\*"](https://vimeo.com/249798414?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) from [The Colored Section](https://vimeo.com/thecoloredsection?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) on [Vimeo](https://vimeo.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
***Ripe Figs***
Maybe the best short of the bunch (and the only one without a video available online), Artemis Preeshl directs a provocative, engaging and splendid movie where every frame may just be like a painting. *Ripe Figs* is set in the classically humid plantation era of the deep south, where a Motherly figure is looking after a quiet young woman, who yearns to explore the world and be romanced. Fruits - specifically the age appropriation of them - are used as both an expression of time and of a child coming into womanhood. With a rich color palette and expert timing/pacing, *Ripe Figs* is heavy with longing and implication, a wealth of content that doesn't come along as often. Thankfully, it has landed in our delighted laps, as if sent from above.
### Review | THEY REMAIN
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/theyremain-html/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:57.000Z
Truly "Lovecraftian" cinema - movies which express the tone and atmosphere of H.P. Lovecraft's cosmic horror work - can be difficult to find at their most effective and evocative. Unkown unknowns (things we don't know that we don't know) don't always fit well into a narrative story structure and telling a non-linear/abstract story isn't so simple.
However, filmmakers go forth and try anyway, producing projects like *From Beyond* or even *Stalker*. Movies that, beneath the surface level ambiguity and deconstructed through-line plot, tell something we feel as being honest and sense as terrifying by virtue of being entrapped in a scenario of unfamiliar territory. Peeking behind the curtain, witnessing what lurks in the shadows, and so forth. *They Remain* is host to these themes and visions, done up spectacularly in near micro-budget fashion. Where physics and logic go out the window, so does social etiquette and humanity - constructs that are shed to discover what exists away from what we understand. From what we know. Or, from what we think we know.
Following two scientists - a military type male and a "by the book" female - sent on a laboratory mission to study biological anomalies as a result of a mass death/cult tragedy, *They Remain* starts and ends with very little exposition, or explanation of what's happening. It's up to the audience to infer from dialogue and behavior what exactly this duo is up to, who sent them, why, etc. This may seem daunting and exhausting from the get-go, but once you reach the finale, satisfaction should set in. The film is 100% gung-ho with its mystery, never once revealing the poker hand it holds. With much confidence and bravado in direction, Philip Gelatt breaks ground on hallucinatory colors and imagery quickly and without regret. We start struggling to grasp what's on screen and end by coming to our own conclusion(s). There's just enough in *They Remain* to conjure up an idea but not enough to really "know".
William Jackson Harper is outstanding as the one character we try latching onto. He begins as a "prepared for anything" soldier and, as things occur at different paces for any mind to handle, he unravels and transforms. In any other film, his predicament would gather talk within the story about his sanity and state of being, but *They Remain* chooses instead to pummel him and, subsequently, us, with sensory overloads and nightmarish depictions of memory and/or the future. His perspective slowly turns unreliable, but we never switch things up. It's always on him to navigate the tale, no matter the obstacles harming him.
Do events change people? Places? If so, how? And by who or what? *They Remain* is not a movie of answers, but revelations do come. Not easily, but they do come. The screengrab on this very review features one of the best shots of the film, where the camera focuses on ants crawling on a plant, then re-focuses on the man, whose face is framed deep in the bushes, stalking and thinking. The implications of this moment are staggering, suggesting but never flat-out stating what the mission really is, and who or what is really being examined.
Lars Von Trier. Werner Herzog. Philip Gelatt. All three directors depict nature as a force all by itself, potentially or absolutely evil. Out of all the planets we've observed, the one we know the least about is Earth - at least, that's what I've read. We don't know of alien life, we know little about ourselves and less of our "purpose" and if there is one. Few films reflect these notions as the terror and anxiety they are. *They Remain* is oblong and perhaps "above" traditional storytelling, but what it hammers home is the overwhelming chaos of our Universe. An opening quote from Lovecraft himself doesn't hurt, but maybe that was a step too far.
**RATING: 4 / 5**
***They Remain* screens in New Orleans at** [**Zeitgeist**](http://www.zeitgeistnola.org/calendar.html?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) **now until April 19th.**
[They Remain trailer](https://vimeo.com/254231116?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) from [Will Battersby](https://vimeo.com/user4639629?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) on [Vimeo](https://vimeo.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com).
### A More Inclusive Cinema: Q&A w/ Michael Domangue of The Broad Theater & THE LANGUAGE OF SILENCE filmmakers Caterina Picone and Mary Kim Hoang
URL: https://www.moviegoingwithbill.com/inclusivecinemainterview-html/
Last updated: 2025-09-27T23:26:57.000Z
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is supposed to guarantee that anyone can have reasonable access to most if not all places around town (among other important things). Unfortunately, movie theaters - home to the universal language that is cinema - haven't caught on completely. Sure, there are ramps and handicapped seating, but even those can be abused and paid lip service to. And what of enjoying the film itself? Are on-screen captions or descriptive audio devices easily requested?
Bucking these regressive trends, local New Orleans filmmakers [Caterina Picone and Mary Kim Hoang](https://www.facebook.com/losfilm2018/) got in touch with Michael Domangue and management of [The Broad Theater](http://www.thebroadtheater.com/?ref=moviegoingwithbill.com) to set up an open caption screening for the recent flick *A Quiet Place*. I chatted with all three by email about the event that came on Thursday, April 12th, the community response and what theaters can do to further the goal of a more inclusive film culture:
**\- Cat, you recently did some research on accessible and inclusive screenings and tech availability at movie theaters in the city and surrounding area. What did you discover? Did you get any negative pushback from anyone?**
Caterina Picone (CP): When I first started working on *The Language of Silence* I was curious about how Deaf people saw and experienced movies. I began exploring different ways of making screenings accessible, I really just started Googling questions I felt like I could never verbally ask a Deaf person, like: “how do Deaf people watch movies?” “Where can you see movies with captions?” “How do you use closed captioning devices?”
Although I was researching the different devices, I was really more interested in how the Deaf community responded to using the devices. After scouring Reddit and YouTube comments, I got the overwhelming feeling that the general consensus was: “whelp it’s better than nothing...”
I remember deciding that I must try it myself, so I started cold-calling theaters around the greater New Orleans area. I never received an outright negative reaction from any theaters, but I called about eight theaters between the North Shore and the West Bank and only three could give me definitive answers. The AMC in Elmwood put me on and off of hold for over twenty minutes and then hung up on me Regal Cinemas in Covington provide the new Sony closed caption glasses where the captions are projected directly in front of your eyes and the Theaters at Canal Place offer the closed caption devices that stick in viewers cup holders and display the captions via a small screen.
Overall the experience was ostracizing from the rest of the audience and really separated me as a viewer from the film. The glasses were the least obtrusive spatially, but the captions were so bright and close to my face it was uncomfortable to read. I also get motion sickness quite easily and the glasses really didn’t bode well with that, the subtitles and film were moving at different rates and created a disorienting experience.
The next, more widely used device the “Captiview” was a different sort of awful. The first problem I encountered was that the device took up the entire cup holder - if you’re in a row full of people (like I was that day) you can’t just take up two cup holders. The Captiviews captions lagged the entire film and the “adjustable” neck of the device was weak it wouldn’t stay in position which caused me to twist my neck around to try to read the captions. In the end, I just completely abandoned the device.
**\- Since opening, what has the demand been like for more accessible showings (sensory friendly, open captions, audio descriptions, etc)?**
Michael Domangue (MD): Demand has been light but consistent. When opening the theater we knew that certain accessibility options would not be available to us at the beginning but we worked hard to go above and beyond ADA standards to make it easy for everyone to come to the theater. Now that we have two years under our belt we are looking at reaching those we haven't yet before.
\- **What happens at an open captions event? Is the technology to provide these screenings available for all movies, or just from a few studios?**
MD: The only difference with an open caption screening is all the dialog and some descriptive events are printed on the screen. The audio is played at the same level as any other screening. All major releases by the big studios send theaters a closed caption and open caption version of the film on the same drive. The amount of technical work it took for us to do this screening took less than 30 minutes. I will say that incorporating portable captioning devices, which is our end goal is much more technically involved and will require retrofitting all of our screens with new equipment. We do not have a solid timetable for getting this in place, but sometime this year is not an impossible goal for us to reach.
**\- As it relates to Hollywood and the cinema, how far have we come since the ADA passed and how much farther do we have to go? Are movies, indeed, a universal language?**
Mary Kim Hoang (MK): Although we’ve come far since ADA was first signed into law in 1990, we still have a long way to go! Right now it seems like most places are doing the minimum required by law, which in all reality isn’t enough in many cases.
CP: I believe that like music, the visual language of cinema is universal. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stopped paying attention to captions of foreign films because the visuals were not only striking; but because of the combination of amazing performances, moving soundtrack, and masterful use of that visual language. This perfect combination should create the groundwork for a beautifully told story, that dialogue can only enhance. Dialogue is a vital part of cinema, but in my mind, it should always take the backseat. A character’s goals, motives, and truth should lie within their action - not verbal exposition.
Concerning ADA, I’m not extremely well versed; but it is my understanding that theaters are really behind the times and not inclusive to Deaf or blind audience members. Our goal as a production is to not only create a film that can be enjoyed by any audience member but partner with local businesses - like the Broad Theater- and organizations in order to create spaces where all films can be enjoyed.
**\- How has *A Quiet Place* been doing? Where does it rank among recent progressive cinema, like *Black Panther*?**
MD: A Quiet Place is one of those rare films that has been increasing in demand as the week goes on. Word of mouth is very strong for the film and we are moving it to our largest screen for its second week, which is also a very rare thing for us to do.
**\- When I went to see *It* last year at an AMC, I sat next to a blind man who depended on his friends to describe the action on screen. What experiences have either of you had with big chain multiplexes providing/not providing assistance?**
CP: My only experiences using or trying to find chains with captioning devices was when I was doing my research. After using both options, neither of them were really comfortable and it became clear why we don’t see more Deaf audience members at chain megaplexes. I know I want my films to be seen by the widest possible audience. I love film and I love seeing them in theaters — I think everyone deserves that right.
Every day there is a new article mourning the death of cinemas and how average movie going is no more. How do chains attempt to fix this? By adding fancy bars, luxurious lounge chairs, and 4DX shaking chairs blah, blah blah. Why not appeal to members of your audience that are dying to see movies in theaters? Offer open caption screenings and invest in audio assistive software for blind audience members.
**\- You've often said that, as a team, The Broad bends over backward for all moviegoers. Has the theater faced any challenges or frustrations in building such a universal environment?**
MD: I think the biggest challenge has always been and will always be providing a mix of films that satisfy as many people in our community as possible. It means playing Blockbusters, documentaries, foreign films, the latest Tyler Perry film, and awesome horror movies like *A Quiet Place*. There are those who just want us to be an arthouse theater or a mainstream theater and we are very happy being neither and both.
**\- The Broad is planning regular open caption screenings due to the audience demand since making the initial event announcement. Do you both believe that this will spread throughout the local community of theater owners? What can moviegoers do to push this along?**
MK: Thursday night was a success! I hope others like AMC, Regal, and Cinemas see how OC (open captioning) can allow Deaf people to enjoy just like everyone else on a regular basis.
CP: The Broad Theater has been simply amazing. I mean all of this really started with a simple Tweet: “are you showing *A Quiet Place*? Would you be interested in hosting an open caption screening?” That was all it took. Michael messaged me back and said they were interested and would be back in touch about it. Before I knew it, it was official.
I hope open caption screenings will spread throughout the community. We personally hope to partner with more locations throughout Lafayette, Shreveport, and Baton Rouge to make more OC screenings possible; but I don’t believe it will happen as quickly as people would like.
One of the perks of the Broad Theater is that they are locally owned and managed - there is no corporate or overhead for a special event besides the local owner; because of this, it took less than two hours for the event to be solidified. With larger megaplexes or chain theaters you have to contact corporate who has to contact PR or whatever to see if this is a “good move.” To us, and thankfully the Broad this is an amazing move - and I think it really showed.
**\- What kind of feedback or audience stories do you have from putting on these inclusive showtimes?**
MD: Anytime we get to invite people to the theater who haven't been there before it feels less like work and more like a calling. We want as many people as possible to enjoy a night at the movies and the response we get for all of our special screenings is nothing less than pure joy. It's a great feeling.