We watched Gremlins again for the first time in more than 10 years. A few things stood out:

• Apparently, back in 1984 you could be 24 and a Vice President of a bank and it wouldn’t be considered a parody.
• Billy Peltzer is… simple-minded? Stupid? Having an aw-shucks-gee-wheez personality is one thing, but an adult behaving like a grade schooler is just being reckless.
• Mr. Futterman comes accross as someone who would, if he were around today, wear a red baseball cap and vote for Trump. Yet back in 1984 his thinking was that anything foreign was broken by default and inferior to American-made. Today, ⊕ Not my own view, to be clear. it is the US of A that is broken and overtaken by superior Asian and Arab infrastructure. Xenophobia will allways adjust to the current moment.
• Did they shoot the town scenes on the same set as Back to the Future? They did come out within a year of each other.
• Speaking of other movies: the next time we watch I will try and count all the references, obvious and hidden, to other movies. It seemed like every movie Spielberg made until then had a call-out.
• The little green mosters hijacking Futterman’s snow plough as the full Gremlins soundrack blasts for the first time was as thrilling as I remembered it.

It kind of made me want to see Gremlins 2 again, as bad as that sequel was on first (and only) viewing.

🎥 Triangle of Sadness

• Part 1: A masterpiece of dialogue, acting, pacing, everything. Give it an Oscar for the best short film.
• Part 2: Physical comedy brilliance. Absurdity starts creeping in.
• Part 3: So on-the-nose. Did Kusturica make this?

Would still recommend.

Singin' in the Rain is my all-time favorite movie so its thorough deconstruction was a joy to watch, listen, and read. 🎥

(Found via Dan Cohen’s blog, which I have just rediscovered. I look forward to finding other hidden treasures in my RSS back catalog!)

British Film Institute’s once-per-decade survey of Top 100 movies of all time is out, and it is great. Any list that has both Singing in the Rain and Mulholland Drive in the Top 10 is my kind of list! 🍿

Today I learned that the IMDB rating of This Is Spinal Tap… goes up to 11!

Many thanks to Russ Roberts and his recent critique of utilitarianism for pointing this out. The essay itself is a perfect Thanksgiving weekend read for both its topic and length.

Guillermo del Toro is single-handedly saving Netflix, first with his Cabinet of Curiosities, now with Pinocchio. I have my popcorn ready.

Turning Red for adults. It works.

🎬 Luck (2022) was a disappointment in every respect. The awkwardness started with the initial dancing video and continued through the end. My 9 y/o sort-of liked it, but she’d like anything with cats in it (and Bob is a poor copy of Jiji).

Trite and predictable, with stilted animation, convoluted storytelling, and a general feeling of awkwardness that drowns the few good early scenes. We were re-watching Ratatouille for what feels like the 56th time last weekend and it is ridiculous how much better it is in every respect despite being 15 years older. Luck… will not be getting a re-watch.

🍿 Turning Red: like Bao meeting The Mitchells… to produce something less artistic then either, but at least fun to watch. Mid-March release sounds about right.