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If you want a reason to be anti-war, just look at Elvis Presley's life. I have to wonder what he would've done had he not gone into the army. The pills, his mother, the reworking of his good all American boy image, and those shitty pictures. King Creole (1958) is genuinely a good film and his best-if he could've followed that track the movies would've been good. I felt like this movie was a little bit overblown at first, but some really good talking heads like Baz Lurhman and (RIP) Robbie Robertson. Bruce Springsteen crushing on Elvis Presley on Ed Sullivan, this is what is meant by icons only. Also Robbie and Bob Dylan watching the 68 Comeback Special together is crazy to me. I've never heard those Elvis audio clips as clean as they are presented in this, so that's really cool. We also get a lot of emotion from Priscilla, which I love seeing. This doc also goes into territory none of the other ones I have seen in regards to race and the movements that he did not engage in. Finally!! I had been wanting to rewatch The King (2017) since the election as I still think it'' is the best analysis of Elvis and the United States. I love Elvis doing his gospel work. I am also the biggest fan of (the good sections) the Comeback Special (the ring & gospel parts). Overall, a very good doc and I know I'm gunna cry when I visit Graceland next year. I dont think most Elvis docs give him the humanity and emotions this one does. Humans are complex and interesting and I think that Elvis Presley is a very unique person to study to delve into what it means to be a complicated human. To my surprise, Conan O'Brien said my favorite stuff. As I have said before, say whatever you want to about Elvis, his life and music, but it always comes back to If I Can Dream from the 68 Elvis Special.

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Insane watch in 2024. What a thorny film and for that I say, huzzah! Plus as always, Barbara Stanwyck is so magnetic. So so many angles to analyze this story from! I can see this as a really unique film with a feminist lens (Barbara's words needing a man to gain any attention and her only being in it for the money in the beginning #girlboss). Very odd religious themes throughout. There are just too many political lenses to use to analyze this film as well, whether you're a republican, libertarian, anarcho-communist, socialist, or a democratic. I am turning the idea of "going soft" by being a part of the system as monologued by the Colonel and the odd pride of not needing charity. I think everyone deserves a friend like the Colonel. Gary Cooper sure can play awkward well. I'm also thinking about how I tend to not believe that the ends justify the means. A crooked foundation is still ill-intent, even if good gets done. Not to say it discredits the good. What I will be reminded of is to not put individuals on pedestals, to not blindly trust media or politicians, and to try to get to know my neighbors. If it's worth dying for, its worth living for. Such zippy editing for a long film.

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My aunt compared this to a Grimm fairytale, which I think is apt. I love what it says about how we treat ourselves. Yes, there is the obvious commentary on youth and beauty (this movie really loves butts) but what stands out to me is really the commentary of how we treat ourselves (and given the opportunity of seeing ourseves from an out of body place how we'd potentially act) and the disrespect for balance we have. Loved how this was filmed and the use of food. They just had too much fun that third act. Oscar for Demi Moore now.

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I fell in love with Kacey Musgraves and dubbed her my queen in 2014 after I saw her do Follow Her Arrow on the Grammys that year. I finally saw her live on this tour in Boston (Sept 7th 2024) and it was astounding. I have never seen such immaculate arena production. I went as far as to purchase tickets to go see her again with my sister in Texas, I even got plane tickets, and then realized I have a gig to sing at that eve! But Kacey really is that good. I was gooped and gagged at the show. I cannot believe she did Family is Family (an absolute anthem in my household) in this set! Before playing that song, watching this could not live up to my experience of seeing her live. I truly laughed, cried, my mouth was agape, and when it wasn't on the floor it was singing along to this angel. The way that this show only solidified how much I love Deeper Well. Jade Green was a highlight for me (a song that hadn't grabbed me when I listened to it just off the record), but honestly Cardinal blew my mind so entirely, I was hooked from the opening. The lift!! Having Kermit during Lonely Weekend made me laugh so much. Then all of the B Stage material just had my soul ascending. I had thought The Architect was going to wreck me but it was Follow Your Arrow. I was surprised by how much Golden Hour material there was and only Justified from star-crossed. Her songs throughout her career have always meant so much to me. Also huge shout-out to Julia for being my friend and being down to go to this! I love you, Julia! We had bonded over how Deeper Well, the song, had stirred our souls. Right song, right time. This song gave me the strength to leave my band of 10+ years because I was no longer getting anything out of it. I have harkened it to a John Prine song and that's what I've always loved about Kacey, her ability to build on the past and the tradition of country music. What a special weekend. I regret not seeing Kacey sooner. Forever, My Queen. I ended this viewing like I ended that show, sobbing over Rainbow, and the belief that it will all be alright.

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I implore you to watch this with the Dungeon Calling commentary watch-a-long track: "Bonus - There Can Only Be Fun" www.dungeoncalling.com/bonus-there-can-be-only-fun/ I was laughing very very hard. I love hearing what these guys pick up on. High fantasy, low humor, indeed. Thank you, Dungeon Calling!!!!! <3

The thing is that I love Christopher Lambert from Subway (1985) and his brooding eyes. I would live in that crazy apartment and wear pastels with him. I couldn't imagine watching this without a commentary track, but I think I love this film because of it. What a chain of movies to see with x the man with the x-ray eyes (1963), then to go to Madame Web (2024), then this film! This movie is so bonkers, I truly can't bring myself to give it a five star rating but I had a five star time watching it with my pals.

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This is a movie I really like bathing in. I like the stilted performance from Lee, the singing from Longlegs, and the visual choices, even if I feel like plot-wise they needed a warrant to got to the barn and she would've gotten taken off the case way sooner. I love what it says about feeling like you're not actually in control, especially with a weird religious mother. I also love the weird themes of motherhood, generational trauma, and memory. I keep thinking about how Lee's father is not in the picture at all. I seem to see a new devil outline everytime I watch it! This movie is all vibes to me! The sound design in this is especially wonderful. My pal Susan said she thought Longlegs on video taped looked like bloated Elvis, while my friend Meredith said he looked liked Lana Del Rey. I just love Longleg's devotion to the edges of glam rock. The whole film is incredibly tense. Gimme more movies with Tulpas! This is what Barbarian could only hope to wish to be. It feels like Twin Peaks, Chucky, and The Silence of the Lambs had a baby. Don't listen to that satanic rock 'n' roll music, folks!

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Maaaannnn, I loved everything about this until the concert ended. Josh Harnett: Star. Saleka Shyamalan: STAR! I loved the themes of fandom, and fatherhood! It was also quite dark. The only place I'd rather be at than a movie theater is a concert, although I'm more of a club/venue kinda goer rather than an arena show, and never a festival set! Why did so many people leave the show so many times? I loved everything they put together to craft a popstar. This was more a kin to Split than a premise like Old or The Village, and I felt like there wasn't really a quintessential twist! For a while I really thought this was a 5 star banger for me but the post concert stuff was just a little too much. Great final scene though! M. Night will always be one of my favs and he really loves a beefcake, huh. This movie is just so fun!

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My aunt sat down and watched this with me this year. I put it on as I shopped depop for new snow pants because I got the main theme stuck in my head. Honestly this whole soundtrack is wonderful, as is the cast. I've waxed about watching this with my mom in a previous year and how much it made her laugh and it was a very similar experience with her sister this evening. Despite them not talking for this past year, it was fun to see their similar reaction to this film I have seen countless times. We both noted how the mail room buddy of buddy said he was 26.

Watched this while & after decorating my mom’s Christmas tree because my coworker texted that he and his wife were watching it and so I asked my step-dad if he liked it, as I was wondering what movie to put on. He said he’d seen it probably one hundred times. My mom absolutely cackled at this movie, which she probably hadn’t seen in ten years. We rented it from the video store back when it first came out, and my family arrangement looked different. Holidays are usually kinda rough with my family, and this year is different in its struggles, but I’ve been really looking forward to Christmas coming. I associate this movie with my step-mom and her daughter, my best friend from high school turned step-sister (the first time we hung out out of school was me going to her mom’s to watch this-I brought a cylindrical tin of gummy life savers), so it dawned on me that what was familiar for me felt uncharted at my mom’s tonight. I still always associate the line, “smiling’s my favorite” with a childhood friend of mine. I also saw this movie for what it is: beautiful nuerodivergent christmastime escapism. That is just what was needed tonight as we were all feeling quite sensitive. When Santa arrived in Central Park, my mom audibly said, “wow, look at that.” I’m thankful to be here and I’m thankful for this stupid little flick. & I mourn the time lost.

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I so wish I could give this two bloody thumbs up, but alas the tired trope of a pervert dresses in women's underwear was present. Besides that, it got huge laughs from me and my friends. Fav line has gotta be the child in the play turning to the audience to say, I didn't even know they were dead! What a budding comedian. Aisling Bea, you are a star (I already knew this from my BritCom obsession-but, she's Irish!)!!!!!! Overall, whatta twist! I really liked the subtle notes of tourism and the disrespect, very Midsommar lite. This is like Hot Fuzz meets The Wicker Man.

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"The night demon has supped of your good wife’s blood and shall return for the rest" Loved the first third of the film. No scenery left, it all was all chewed up! Overall, I liked how visceral it was. Good reminders about the importance of public health and women's healthcare. Kinda hate the treatment of women in this. Reading through the 2016 draft of the script made it seem like Thomas and Ellen were a worse fit together. I wish it stuck up more for it's female characters. My boss likes to say how much he hates vampire content because it's "really just a stand-in for something else" and this was not at all subtle with that. A mustache was a bold choice.

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This was an incredible incredible show. I saw Alok open for Jonathan Van Ness a couple years ago and I am just captivated by the way they perform stand-up, in their capable hands it is elevating the artform and so brilliant. Go follow them on all social media and sign up for their newsletter because you will start becoming a better human by opening your heart and mind to their framework and body of work. Astounding material and wonderfully filmed.

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A profoundly sad film with knock-out performances in a meandering (& not in the compelling way) glamorous facade. After an extremely taxing week I've had, complete with panic attack inducing discussion of family trauma, this was a bit of a rough watch and hit some nerves that are incredibly raw for me right now, coupled with trying to change my sleep schedule which has just created a lack thereof. I share this for context about the state of mind I'm coming into this viewing with. A sense that I am barely holding it together myself. For this, I'll start with the negative elements that I think make this not a great movie. Showgirls (1995) ran so this could plie, and do not get me started on the music choices (not good). I had a similar feeling towards the end of this watch as I did with Vampire's Kiss (1988) i.e. oh, we're watching someone's descent into madness. Shelly is, as the kids online say, delulu. BUT, and here's where the positives lie, Pamela Anderson is sensational. As is Dave Batista. And Brenda Song (holy wow, let's get her in more stuff). The casting for this was absolutely inspired (Jamie Lee Curtis, Kiernan Shipka, and Billie Lourd (who is looking more and more like her momma <3). This was an amazing role for Pamela Anderson. And I think the same for Billie Lourd. The catharsis that these roles must have offered, just based on their own life stories hit me deep. I also feel very akin to Shelly and her willingness to be there for people, and what people might call her naivety, and I think part of what I mean by that, is that the parts of me that I feel are shared with Shelly are the parts of me that I get from my mom. A sensitivity to those around us and an insecurity to excel and shine. So I really see a lot of my mom in Shelly (Shelly's got to be a Capricorn). There's so much in the relationship between identity and what you do and what your dreams are. I was not expecting this film to ultimately be about motherhood, and that is not at all a detriment to the film. I just don't like the awkward editing and the stylistic choices, and even some of the dialogue felt strange. I typically am very much here for a meandering film, but it felt too spectacular (which the intentionality of that is not lost on me) stylistically. The campy quality didn't quite feel like it was in on the joke, so I found myself rolling my eyes and there was a lot of nervous chuckling (some lady left with about ten minutes of the film left). There was a certain grace lacking, especially when it came to the total eclipse of the heart sequence. It just made for a distracted, over-developed, barrier from the fact that this really could have been incredible or Oscar worthy. As we were getting into it, I did think to myself, how lucky are we to be seeing a cult-classic in the making? So for that hope for the future of this film, and the fact that this hit me so deep after the week I've had, I raise a glass to The Last Showgirl.

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I had been looking forward to seeing this one last year but couldn't catch it at any of its showings throughout the state so when I saw another local theater was going to be showing it with the filmmaker, Charles Light, musician of much of the soundtrack, Patty Carpenter, and one of the film's subjects, Verandah Porche, I knew I wasn't missing it again. I am a sucker for VT on film, whether it be as a setting and not filmed here (often), or set and filmed here (rare), or filmed here as somewhere else (typically). I love Vermont so so much and it's in my blood, my Irish ancestor 5. This film sums up the Vermont attitude of, you can do whatever as long as you keep it on your farm. What fertile ground for hippie communes and alternate ways of living. But also, only if you have the means and privilege to do so. Which this film doesn't completely address, but there's a lot it does address. I'm so glad that this film is imperfect, and that it showcases imperfect people (individualistic, biased, straight-up prejudiced at times). The conversation after the film talked a lot about where we are today, and how time can move at the blink of an eye, and if we can use the lifelines all around us to not repeat our mistakes. I told the musician, Patty Carpenter, that just last night I was having a conversation with a friend about the question: Are we better at community building now than in previous troubled times? Because the answer feels increasingly like a big fat, no. It seems like we're living in an age where instant gratification rules out over everything and we like things to be labeled either good or bad. Building community is sacredly neither instant, easy, or binary. A beautiful reminder in here that we need to know our neighbors. This movie mostly reminded me of the importance of imperfection and how hard work is needed, even if it's imperfect or the goal isn't actually universally agreed upon. They didn't always divulge to each other what brought them to the farm, but they rolled up their sleeves (at least the women did) and toiled. Imperfectly. All of this is to say that I think this movie would get 5 full stars from me in all it's rough blurry-focused realness, if it didn't sadly employ so many AI generated images. The irony of utilizing a cold imperfect technology that is zapping the planet of water and electricity to short cut having actual content appalls me deeply, especially when there was so much beautiful vintage footage in this. I could forgive some of the enhancement of older images but I just cannot wrap my brain around the ethics of using AI in a movie about back to the land anti-nuclear hippies. I told Patty that on the way to the theater we were listening to Jackson Browne. The Fuse, off of The Pretender, has been the perfect psuedo-disco track about trying to maintain hope balm over my recent struggles. So seeing him in this film felt so synchronistic and I had started to wonder if they'd talk about the No Nukes shows once Sam Lovejoy's story came into frame. I was telling my dad, as we walked to dinner pre-movie, I just found a version of After the Deluge from Joan Baez's 75th birthday celebration that is fantastic. My dad showed me Jackson Browne when I was in high school because Nickel Eye covered These Days and it became a fast top favorite song. It is also because of my dad I was familiar with the phrase, No Nukes, although the rally he attended had to do with the use of nuclear weapons. Patty told me that Jackson's moments in the film are what brought a tear to her eye on this showing this evening. Powerful stuff that brings me back to the sentiment my dad shared on the way to the theater, that a lot of his songs have more bearing on today than even when he wrote them. This was the right time to see this film, and with people I deeply love. Just some really beautiful synchronicity for me. It is bolstering and I need that. The world's small, Vermont is smaller.

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Hearing David Lynch describe something as, "So Beautiful," will always hit me deep. What an amazing documentary. It should have been a series for every era of his life. I am so sad he's gone. It truly is such a sadness. My pal Pat and I remarked on how unpretentious David is with his words, and how I just trust what he says as truth. I had never really considered what he thinks of himself so getting a bit of a window into that reminded me to not just see amazing people as legends, that everyone is a full human. He has left creatives so much and his impact can never be measured. Thank you, David. May we all keep the art life.

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Ughghgh I remember thinking this was a masterpiece when I watched it almost 10 years ago for the first time. Summer after my first year of college, I had checked it out from the library, was watching it in the middle of the day, and of course my dad sat down right as Rita and Betty sleep together for the first time. I remember saying, it wasn't like this before! I dont think he stayed to watch the rest of it with me. This time, watching Rebecca Del Rio at Club Silencio really did something to me. So beautiful. I also wonder if this is maybe Angelo's best work (I know, I know Twin Peaks, but there's just something on another level here). The way this movie plays on what it means to dream is just perfection. I don't know if I appreciated that the first time I saw it like I do now. Also so much about Hollywood nepotism. I think there's a lot to this I appreciate now even more then when I first saw it, although I recall saying I thought it was the best sci-fi film of the decade. This movie is so much more than that though.

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I watched this for a super special 100th episode of Subtextual Podcast: Congrats on 100, my beautiful podcasting fairy godmothers!

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/call-me-by-your-name-2017-100th-episode-extravaganza/id1597822346?i=1000670356160)

This was my first time watching this film. It wasn't quite what I expected. In some ways I feel like I was the last hold out on seeing this movie from the gay film canon! I am not the biggest fan of Timothee Chalamet nor the actual cannibal, Armie Hammer. This is a rich text as they say. The color palette is so lovely. I was first grabbed by my fav sculpture, the sleeping eros, being used in the opening credits. I was also intrigued by all the flies and how they often signify decay in art. I loved the line, "is it because they're gay or because they're ridiculous?" in regards to the gay family friends that come to visit. There's perhaps a bit of fleshing out the father's past history or at least hinting at his feelings of acceptance around homosexuality. I found the relationship between Ellio and his dad really interesting. They're very close and I was pretty caught off guard by how candidly they often talk to each other. I'm just glad that I'm not at the stage of where my emotions are so raw and impulsive. His speech at the end is quite moving, although I'm not convinced a parent would be all that supportive of their child hooking up with this older man. The age difference between Ellio and Oliver is weird but I think part of the point is that this is not meant to be a perfectly healthy relationship or a lasting one. I honestly expected it to be more predatory and was surprised by how respectful Oliver acts (in the beginning-granted he's got a fiance at home...) I think the takeaways from their flawed relationship of not living in shame of your identity (Oliver helps Ellio to also embrace his Jewish identity as well as his sexuality) is an important one. Repression just means you can't control the way the feelings you're repressing manifest. This comes to a boiling point with THE peach scene, which you can't be in the orbit of this film without knowing that there is a peach scene. Ellio has so much shame about lusting over this man and it drives him to use a peach as a stand-in for Oliver (the bruised peach himself as we see earlier in the film). When Oliver comes and really matches Ellio's freak (to quote the kids these days), Ellio breaks down. It's a powerful scene and shows radical acceptance of the thing you feel ashamed about, and also just Ellio's uncertainty about how he really feels about himself and sex. We've seen Ellio having such a lazy privileged summer where he's had ample room to do nothing but eat fruit, transcribe music, go out with his friends, and swim (insert, God I wish that were me meme here). I think peaches in general are really interesting in that each one has a pit and that enjoyment cannot last. Every rose has its thorn, every peach has its pit. The way that we see Oliver eat and drink throughout this movie is very telling of his character in contrast to Ellio (the eggs, the apricot juice, etc.). Oliver is Dionysus/Bacchus and Ellio is Apollo. During their time together they learn from each other and call each other by their own name, thus allowing their roles to reverse. Ellio is allowed to live in his temptations (Dionysus/Bacchus) and Oliver is learning more about music and art (Apollo). The phrase "Call Me By Your Name" also relates to the "our house is your house" statement from the mom and Ellio's comment, "my room is now your room." I also see it relating to the act of transcription i.e. identifying and naming notes. I think in a way Ellio transcribes himself anew during this film. At the heart of this lies a lot about bravery. Bravery in one's identity when you're missing community, and the bravery required to identify and call something by it's name, and then to be able to welcome in someone else with your own name. Call Me By Your Name is an invitation to communion and in a way gives a sense of completion (this is moreso in the sense of, in the search for oneself, and being able to see oneself in another, and less of, in a flawed, you complete me, kind of view). Call Me By Your Name has a lot to do with self-knowledge and closing the distance between someone else and yourself.

TLDR: My man Oliver got Ellio into 80's new wave and that's all that matters.