Movies I Watched This Week (7/28/25 - 8/3/25)
PRE-ROLL
- it's August! it's officially Almost the End of Summer! bizarre stuff.
- i caught wind of this recent interview with everyone's favorite crank of a playwright, David Mamet, on the Talk Easy podcast. for a number of completely valid reasons, most left-leaning/progressive folk want nothing to do with the vitriolic conservative histrionics of Mamet. yet I found Sam Fragoso's earnest interrogation here quite compelling, asking - in good faith - how Mamet, one of the 20th century's greatest chroniclers of hustlers and con men, effectively became a victim of his own game. if you have the stomach for it, it's a compelling watch/listen, and it ends in a truly satisfying way, with Mamet - for better or worse - showing his true colors.
THE MOVIES
- TANGERINE (2015, dir. Sean Baker). watched at Music Box Theatre.
- caught this screening as part of the Art House Convergence 2025 Conference, where director Sean Baker was present to introduce the screening, participate in a post-show Q&A, and be an overall advocate for the importance of arthouse cinemas and the theatergoing experience in general. all the more frustrating that this particular 35mm print of TANGERINE kept breaking down between reels. the magic of the movies, folks! all that pretense aside, TANGERINE remains a lovely film, a gorgeous balance of comedy and drama, putting two black trans sex workers at the forefront of a screwball comedy that's filmed impeccably and ends on a stunning bummer of a closing scene. easily one of Baker's best, and a joy to revisit any time of year.
- THE KEEP (1983, dir. Michael Mann). watched on Blu-Ray.
- kooky stuff here! after emerging fully formed with his debut feature, the expert crime thriller, THIEF, Michael Mann took a bizarre sidestep into the land of the paranormal with THE KEEP, a film I can lovingly describe as "incomprehensible." the first 20-ish minutes are stunning table-setting; breathtaking production design and chilling atmosphere, bringing you into this frightening world, and then The Plot begins and things go flying out the window. one of the rare films I actually wish was longer (it comes in at a lean 96 minutes, and feels like it was trimmed down from a 2-hour original cut). a very strange early Ian McKellen performance. a bit of a let-down for a film one could describe as "evil ghosts attack Nazis," but i'm glad I watched it, and I'm not shocked as to why, but it would've been fascinating for Mann to head back into the horror/fantasy realm.
- THE NAKED GUN (2025, dir. Akiva Schaffer). watched at AMC Evanston.
- YESSSSSSSSS.
this film had one goal; Be Funny. and boy oh boy, did it hit that goal and then some. I'm a huge fan of the Zucker/Abrams/Zucker gag-first school of comedy (AIRPLANE!, TOP SECRET, and the original THE NAKED GUN are sacred texts to me), and it's a style of comedy that has sadly gone out of fashion. what a thrill then to see this new legacy sequel/reboot bring it back with full force, with two fantastically game leads in Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson, and a full commitment to joke-forward, nonsense filmmaking. too many jokes to highlight here (and I wouldn't want to spoil the fun for anyone), but the extended love montage sequence in the middle of the film is a tough one to beat. our entire theater was cackling throughout, and applauded at the end. the people demand comedy in theaters, dammit!
- YESSSSSSSSS.
thanks for being here once again! any good watches this week? what's making you laugh these days? what problematic artist should get earnest pushback against their work via podcast interview next? until next time!
