I might prefer The Witch even though I prefer the aesthetic and setting of The Lighthouse more. It's really splitting hairs, they're both excellent. Very similar to how I feel about Hereditary and Midsommar. My favorite could change on any given day.
The Holdovers — 8/10 Alexander Payne is one of my favorite directors. For the first half of this film I was like, "well, this is surprisingly lighthearted." At this point I should know better. "I think they're putting something in my food" sucked the air out of our theater Dominic Sessa was impossible to look away from. Absolutely incredible for his first film performance. Giamatti is absolutely hilarious. I think the holiday setting will keep it from being one I rewatch as often as Election, Nebraska and Sideways, but it's definitely worth seeing this holiday if you can. Very much a "take your dad to the movies" after Thanksgiving dinner kind of film. The composer is based here in Portland. We were lucky to go to a screening where he and an ensemble played a few pieces from the film before the movie and shared a bit of his process, which was an extra special treat.
I think it'll be easy to rewatch throughout the year as christmas is just the setting but it's not a christmas movie really
I'm halfway through Inland Empire. Really enjoyed the first hour, but it's starting to drag for me. Can't wait to cleanse my brain of high-art by binging the 2010s Planet of the Apes trilogy after this.
Inland Empire - 5.5/10 I really liked the first hour of this -- a genuinely frightening psychological haunted house of sorts -- and I like the last half hour in theory. Some amount of that middle section is probably necessary to show Nikki's descent into insanity, but 90 minutes of it...? Indulgent even by Lynch's standards, so it makes sense that this is for Lynch fans and no one else. I wish I was more of one, as the digital video aspect of this is genius. Lynch is like the reverse of that Godfather III quote for me: Just when I think I'm in, he pulls me back out.
Ive had to recently admit to myself that I often dont love Lynch and or dont exactly feel rewarded or entertained by plenty of his work. Blue Velvet is on a short list of my favorite films and I enjoyed seasons 1 and 3 of Twin Peaks even though I think the latter has plenty of frustrating moments. Still havent seen Inland Empire but I always wanted it to be something worth seeing when I finally get around to it. I think I kinda know its actually just going to be a mess though. I do appreciate his vision and will always at least be passively interested.
Lynch's atmosphere and mood work for me, of course, and I've learned to judge my feelings on his work more on that than anything else. It's his actual plots where I struggle the most. Something like Blue Velvet works for me because it's relatively straightforward, but trying to make sense of the middle hour and a half of Inland Empire was just too much for me. The credit song/dance sequence seems to point to it being a career-spanning work, so if you don't have that much invested in him, I don't think it will do much more for you than it did for me, unfortunately. I've come around to mostly liking, or at the very least respecting, everything else he's done. And I respect this to some degree, but it still feels incredibly indulgent in a not-so-endearing way.
I LOVED this. Like so, so much. It cut really close to the bone for someone who teaches at his old high school though.
Inland Empire is one of my favorite films. After my first watch, I immediately watched it again, read blogs, and watched it a third time. It’s pretty deep with lots of interpretations. Here’s my favorite: HALFBORN (an inland empire analysis)
Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire - 6.5/10 After Cyber Chase, the straight to video movies go back to monsters being people in masks. This was just ok, a typical Scooby mystery. But the Hex Girls from Witch’s Ghost returned, so that was cool.