The Conjuring: Last Rites

5 September 2025: I am tired in my bones, but so glad that Amy and I went to see the latest (and last?) Conjuring movie this evening. So much fun. I would watch a million more of these movies. Keep 'em coming!

East of Wall

15 August 2025: Went into East of Wall knowing nothing about it except that it had good reviews and that I really liked a couple of actors in it. What a beautiful film--in every sense of the word! 

Weapons

9 August 2025: I really enjoyed Weapons, a completely original movie that you should just settle into, confident that you have no idea where it's going, but you are in good hands. It's scary and gross and sad and moving and funny. It knows just how much detail to give to let you know what you need to know. And the ending? Most other movies would add an extra scene or beat or something. This one, though? Perfect. 

Nostalgia machine...

1 August 2025: Amy and I saw the new Naked Gun movie tonight. I laughed a lot--so many dumb jokes!* An added bonus: the movie worked like a nostalgia machine for me, bringing me back to watching these movies with my siblings when we were kids. 

*One joke landed with a real thud for me, though; we do not to be dropping the r-word back into things.

"Superman is the angel of our best nature"

11 July 2025: I saw Superman last night and really enjoyed its open heart and its faith in goodness and simply doing the right thing. Walter Chaw says it all so much better than I could--and does so much more. Check it out. 

Here's the piece's ending: "This country made a promise to me once–and the promise I made back to it, before I got so sour, is that I would care about others. That every life mattered to me, that making peace mattered, that standing up for the persecuted was not only my duty but also my absolute privilege. And, in particular, that I would not turn away from my responsibility in mourning. Blessed are those who mourn: they haven’t forgotten how irreplaceable every single life is. Blessed are the merciful, and those who are poor and hungry for fucking righteousness. Up up and away, motherfuckers, time to fly."

The Life of Chuck

15 June 2025: When a movie opens with Walt Whitman, it has my attention. And The Life of Chuck is a sweet and moving film that earns its evocation of the Good Gray Poet. I found myself tearing up and smiling and just really loved it. 

Nineteenth-century snark...

13 June 2025: Laughed out loud at this bit about nineteenth-century American poet Phoebe Cary (sister of Alice): "Once asked whether she and her unmarried sister had ever had their hearts broken she replied, 'No, but a great many of my married friends have'" (qtd. in Petrino 200).

Interesting to think about especially after seeing Materialists this evening.

Work Cited

Petrino, Elizabeth A. "Speaking Double: Parody as Resistance in Nineteenth-Century American Women's Poetry." Studies in American Humor, vol. 10, no. 2, 2024, pp. 186-207.

Nickel Boys

4 May 2025: I finally watched Nickel Boys today and really liked it. I read the book when it came out and realized that more of it stuck than I thought. This might seem like a bit of a strange comparison, but the adaptation reminds me of Fun Home's journey from graphic memoir to musical. The adaptation is faithful, but also so distinctly itself. Nickel Boys (the movie) is so beautiful and plays with perspective in fascinating ways. 

Sinners

30 April 2025: Holy cow, is Sinners a fun movie! Believe the hype. Scary, beautiful, sexy, and so smart. 

The Friend

6 April 2025: I wasn't sure what to expect from The Friend, but I really enjoyed it--even as it made me sob. I told Amy after that maybe one of my favorite genres is "smart classy people in New York showing how lovely it would be to live there." Add some deep meditations on complicated relationships, writing, and pets? I am seated. 

Black Bag

17 March 2025: Even though my day was long and busy and even though I slept really badly last night, I was happy to join Amy for a movie tonight (our first movie in weeks!). Black Bag is so much fun--smart, funny, sexy, and tight (93 minutes). Great way to spend the evening!

Heart Eyes

7 February 2025: Made it through the week of conferences. Tiring, busy, at times stressful, but also really rewarding and fun. 

Also rewarding? Taking a little break to see Heart Eyes this evening. What an absolute delight of a movie! It nails the rom-com and slasher tropes. Terrific acting and chemistry from the leads. And under two hours? So much fun. 

Hard Truths

26 January 2025: I make no secret of the fact that I am an easy movie crier. I mean, I cried during Presence and would have cried more when it was over, but didn't want to look too strange leaving the theater. So perhaps it isn't surprising that I cried more than once watching Hard Truths. And my goodness: the folks upset about Marianne Jean-Baptiste not getting an Oscar nomination are absolutely right. (And Michele Austin, too!)

Halina Reijn...

25 January 2025: I really enjoyed this episode of the Death, Sex, and Money podcast. It's an interview with Halina Reijn, the filmmaker behind both Bodies, Bodies, Bodies and Babygirl. She's such an interesting person and what she and Sale (the host) had to say about Babygirl made me think about it all over again. It's really a fascinating movie. Kind of can't wait to see what Reijn does next. 

Presence

24 January 2025: Boy, did I really like Presence. When the end credits started rolling, I said to Amy, "I think I just need to like, cry for ten minutes?" (I didn't, but could have.) I need to think about it a lot more, but it really moved and surprised me. 

One of Them Days

18 January 2025: A low-key lovely Saturday, I think? Got up early-ish (for a Saturday), ran some errands, did my weekly housework, and even started working on the book proofs and edits. By mid-afternoon, my to-do list was pretty much done. 

Since the weather is looking bad for tomorrow, Amy and I decided to see a movie today instead of tomorrow (alas, no free popcorn from Regal on "National Popcorn Day" tomorrow). We saw One of Them Days, which was silly and funny and really hit the spot. It was also kind of cool to see a movie celebrating Los Angeles, particularly Black communities in Los Angeles, at this moment in time, with so much of the city suffering. 

After the movie, we had dinner (where I would have made my dad proud, using a pretty good coupon). Back home now, watching Brooklyn 99 reruns and just relaxing. Again, usually, with a snowstorm approaching, my mood might be more somber, but so far, it's okay. 

These kinds of posts are, I know, kind of boring and "laundry lists" that don't take too much creativity or thinking, but every once in a while, I don't mind them as kind of snapshots. 

Nosferatu

4 January 2025: Really enjoyed seeing this movie today, especially because Carrie and James joined Amy and me. 

My mood is still not the best, as I wrote about yesterday, especially with a winter storm on the way, but today was a pretty good day all things considered.

Now it's Christmas...

22 December 2024: Realized I hadn't yet watched one important film in my personal Christmas canon. Remedying that now as I finish a letter of recommendation.

Anora

16 November 2024: Finally got a chance to see Anora today and really loved it. Like every has been saying, Mikey Madison is transcendent--but there isn't a bad performance in the film. I laughed a lot more than I thought I would and will keep thinking about this one for a long time, I bet. 

Heretic

10 November 2024: Heretic isn't exactly an enjoyable movie, but it is satisfying and smart. Squint hard enough and you find some comfort after all that has happened this week. It's a kind of comfort that comes from realizing how exausting and damanging shitty dudes with overinflated egos who have ideas about faith or (or a lack of faith) are--and how much when love it when a woman calls them out on it.