Movies I Watched This Week (7/1/25 - 7/6/25)

PRE-ROLL

• congratulations, readers who enjoy this thing; I am now a Taskmaster convert. I watched the entire 19th season (with Jason Mantzoukas, among others, a contestant) over the course of a few days, and immediately fell in love. as the kids say, I Get It. for those who’ve yet to get into the series, all episodes are available on YouTube, and - as evidenced by myself - Season 19 is a lovely entry way into the series. give it a go! it’s Little Alex Hoooooooorne!

THE MOVIES

• CITY OF WOMEN (1980, dir. Federico Fellini). rented on Apple TV.

  • wrote about this for Cine-File. I love 8 1/2 and I love NIGHTS OF CABIRIA and I found this to be Just Okay. gorgeous images showcasing some rather simplistic second-wave-feminist ideas, but it ends in a really lovely fashion. it’s a good vibe at the very least! my primary takeaway is I need to watch more Fellini, so, hopefully that happens at some point soon!

    

• VIDEOHEAVEN (2025, dir. Alex Ross Perry). watched at Davis Theater.

  • for those hungry for a close-to-three-hour video essay chronicling the birth and death of the video store as Cultural Object, you’re gonna love this one. comprised entirely of clips from films and TV shows featuring video stores1, Perry’s film (his second non-fiction movie of the year!) is alternately academic and entertaining, with some trenchant analysis concerning the importance of video stores as social hubs and communal spaces, alongside the seeming reverence that artists have for these extant businesses strangely betrayed by, more often than not, their exceedingly negative depictions in media. again, very heady in a way that might be off-putting, but again, if you’re willingly signing up to watch a a close-to-three-hour video essay, you get what you pay for. will the video store (or the physical media store in general) make a comeback? maybe not like the old days (I see no Blockbuster-esque resurgence happening anytime soon), but I’m holding out hope, as I often do.

thanks for reading! tell me about your childhood video store! for my Taskmaster readers, what’s your favorite season? how the hell is Greg Davies so damn tall? until next time!