Alone
Tony (2026) Douban Eggplant.place Skybridge IMDb TMDB
Tony
other title: 토니 / 安东尼·波登
An Anthony Bourdain biopic that takes place during the summer of 1976, when a young Bourdain has a life-changing summer in Provincetown
Aug. 27, 2026 watched
Tony is a nice little finely told fictionalized early-years biopic that is really quite good for most of its runtime, and then ends in a bit of rushed-feeling "wrap it up!" fashion.

It's well shot and well acted and overall well done, but I guess I wanted more from it, whatever that might've entailed.
Aug. 27, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of Tony
Alone American Multi-Cinema List
The Ninth Heart (1979) Douban IMDb WikiData TMDB
Deváté srdce
director: 尤拉伊·赫兹 actor: 奥德·帕夫尔卡 / Anna Malová
other title: 第九心脏 / Deváté srdce
Martin, a poor student, volunteers to go on a quest to find a cure for the princess Adriana, who is stricken with a strange illness. Unknown to Martin or anyone else, the princess is actually under the spell of the powerful magician Andlobrandini, who is preparing a rejuvenating elixir made from the blood of nine men's hearts.
Aug. 18, 2026 watched
The beauty of this film is that it looks and feels like a child dreaming up a fairy tale and then explaining it to an adult. It's a very lush word and I mostly enjoyed it.

The biggest issue for me might be that, not unlike the first time I watched Born of Fire (1987), I was actually pretty tired and fairly comfy and the movie is a little slower and so I could feel myself dozing off to a dreamland of my own.

A rewatch in a more awakened state is in order.
Aug. 19, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of The Ninth Heart
Blu-Ray All The Haunts Be Ours 2 Owned Alone
Night Moves (2013) IMDb Douban Min reol TMDB WikiData
Night Moves
6.4 (25 ratings) director: 凯莉·莱卡特 actor: 杰西·艾森伯格 / 达科塔·范宁
other title: 어둠 속에서 / ナイト・スリーパーズ ダム爆破計画
The story about three radical environmentalists coming together to execute the most intense protest of their lives: the explosion of a hydroelectric dam.
Aug. 6, 2026 watched
I'm working through the Kelly Reichardt filmography. I didn't really pay attention to who was in this but where I watched it had a different image and I saw that there's a brooding Jesse Eisenberg; and I think, no, wait...yes, there's Dakota Fanning; and then a Reichardt staple John Magaro, of course. Great actor.

Thirty minutes in, I'm waiting for John Magaro to show up. An hour goes by, and I find it interesting that Peter Sarsgaard has near equal screen time as Jesse and Dakota, but there's still no Magaro; maybe John is pivotal in the back half.

The movie ends, and I'm like "Well where the hell was John Magaro?" and I look it up, and he's not in it. The guy that I think is Magaro in the image is Sarsgaard. I'm an idiot.

Anyway, it seems that even lesser Reichardts (in my estimation) are still solid and really good. Like Meek's Cutoff (2010), we're plopped into the thick of things and it's pretty tense from beginning to end. I wasn't as moved as just about all the other Reichardt's I've seen so far (maybe waiting for Magaro to show up plays into that), but two hours well spent nonetheless.
Aug. 6, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of Night Moves
The Innernette Alone
Dogtooth (2009) IMDb Douban TMDB Fantastika Skybridge WikiData
Κυνόδοντας
other title: 狗牙 / Κυνόδοντας
Three teenagers are confined to an isolated country estate that could very well be on another planet. The trio spend their days listening to endless homemade tapes that teach them a whole new vocabulary. Any word that comes from beyond their family abode is instantly assigned a new meaning. Hence 'the sea' refers to a large armchair and 'zombies' are little yellow flowers. Having invented a brother whom they claim to have ostracized for his disobedience, the uber-controlling parents terrorize their offspring into submission.
Aug. 3, 2026 watched
Half-star bump up on rewatch.

I forgot how entirely messed up this is.
Aug. 3, 2026 Review Two Reviews - a review of Dogtooth
4K UHD Owned Alone
Train Dreams Goodreads Douban Skybridge
Train Dreams
author: Denis Johnson publishing house: Picador 2012 - 5 other title: Train Dreams A Novella
Denis Johnson's "Train Dreams" is an epic in miniature, one of his most evocative and poignant fictions.
Robert Grainer is a day laborer in the American West at the start of the twentieth century--an ordinary man in extraordinary times. Buffeted by the loss of his family, Grainer struggles to make sense of this strange new world. As his story unfolds, we witness both his shocking personal defeats and the radical changes that transform America in his lifetime.
Suffused with the history and landscapes of the American West--its otherworldly flora and fauna, its rugged loggers and bridge builders--the new novella by the National Book Award-winning author of "Tree of Smoke" captures the disappearance of a distinctly American way of life.
Aug. 2, 2026 read
You're sitting at the bar, minding your own business, when the old coot a few seats down starts telling stories - anecdotes, really - about some other man's life. No one's really paying any attention, but everyone is listening to him talk. That's kind of how the first half of the book read to me; I didn't really care, but I kept reading anyway.

When the old coot takes his leave, another guy further on down the bar picks up where the old coot left off, and weaves in some mysticism. I can't speak for anyone else, but the back-half of the book is where I start getting excited to see what happens next.

It's a letdown of minor proportions, but I suppose that's how it goes sometimes.
Aug. 2, 2026 Review A Review - a review of Train Dreams
Alone Got It From The Library
Videodrome (1983) Douban WikiData Eggplant.place IMDb TMDB Skybridge
Videodrome
7.7 (169 ratings) director: 大卫·柯南伯格 actor: 詹姆斯·伍兹 / 索尼娅·史密茨
other title: Experiência Alucinante / Vidéodrome
As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon "Videodrome," a TV show dedicated to gratuitous torture and punishment, Max sees a potential hit and broadcasts the show on his channel. However, after his girlfriend auditions for the show and never returns, Max investigates the truth behind Videodrome and discovers that the graphic violence may not be as fake as he thought.
July 28, 2026 watched
A movie just bursting at the seams (metaphorically, but also kinda physically) with so many ideas about so many things - most of which aren't answered and only bring about more questions - and done so spectacularly well. Despite the leap in technology between what we have today and what's on display here, things grappled with 43 years ago (crazy!) feel just as fresh and relevant in the here and now.

And a beautiful 4K transfer from Criterion makes it just so easy to see how the screen truly is the retina of the mind's eye.
July 28, 2026 Review "Initial" Review - a review of Videodrome
Owned 4K UHD Alone
The Odyssey (2026) Bangumi IMDb TMDB Skybridge Douban WikiData
The Odyssey
7.8 (372 ratings) director: Christopher Nolan actor: Matt Damon / Tom Holland
other title: 오디세이 / オデュッセイア
Odysseus, the legendary King of Ithaca, embarks on a long and perilous journey home following the Trojan War. Throughout his voyage, he is forced to confront the whims of gods, mythological monsters, and trials that stretch both his cunning and his humanity to the breaking point.
July 23, 2026 watched
A beautiful looking movie that is merely fine. (I added and deleted "soulless" a half dozen times. I swapped it with "joyless" a few times, but that didn't feel right either.)

The best kind of Benny Safdie role (you barely see him, he barely talks).

Robert Pattinson is a little scene stealing sonofabitch.

My face lit up and I said to myself "I forgot she was in this!" when Mia Goth appeared. When the movie ended, I thought "That's it? That's all Mia got?"

I don't know who I would've replaced Matt Damon with, but I would've.

My favorite parts were the times when Odysseus plucked the string on his bow and the sound was incorporated into Ludwig Göransson's score.

That and Circe having her way with the boys. What can I say? I love a witch.

When they traveled past the Sirens and all but the score cuts out, the song reminded me of Björk's "The Anchor Song" That's now been in my head for three days (Björk, not the score).
July 25, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of The Odyssey
Dolby Alone American Multi-Cinema List
The Seventh Seal (1957) Douban TMDB IMDb WikiData
Det sjunde inseglet
8.7 (425 ratings) director: Ingmar Bergman actor: Max von Sydow / Bengt Ekerot
other title: 제7의 봉인 / 第七の封印
When disillusioned Swedish knight Antonius Block returns home from the Crusades to find his country in the grips of the Black Death, he challenges Death to a chess match for his life. Tormented by the belief that God does not exist, Block sets off on a journey, meeting up with traveling players Jof and his wife, Mia, and becoming determined to evade Death long enough to commit one redemptive act while he still lives.
July 21, 2026 watched
It has to be about 25 years since my first -and only - time seeing this, and it's a lot funnier in the middle than I remembered.

Beautiful shots, a group of real characters, fun and thoughtful dialog, and a heck of an ending.

Good one, Ingmar.
July 21, 2026 Review "Initial" Review - a review of The Seventh Seal
Criterion Channel MovieClub Alone
Suzzanna: The Queen of Black Magic (2024) TMDB IMDb
Suzzanna: The Queen of Black Magic
director: David Gregory actor: Suzzanna / Joko Anwar
other title: 苏珊娜:降头女王
A documentary about Suzzanna, "the Queen of Indonesian horror" - an actress who starred in many of the country's most iconic and beloved horror pictures.
July 20, 2026 watched
A well done doc that's 70% about Suzzanna, famed actress of many an Indonesian film (including Sundel Bolong), 15% about Indonesia proper and 15% about its film industry.

I think the 30% not about Suzzanna was actually quite informative and I really appreciate its inclusion.

And it turns out that Suzzanna had quite a life, so that was great to learn about as well.
July 20, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of Suzzanna: The Queen of Black Magic
Owned Alone All The Haunts Be Ours 2 Blu-Ray
White Song (2006) IMDb TMDB
White Song
The most famous of Indonesian ghosts, the Kuntil Anak, tells the story of Raesita, the batik artist, whose heavy grief after the death of her husband draws the ghost to her. They seduce each other into a deadly dream world. Raesita's own desire for oblivion moulds perfectly to the Kuntil Anak's desire to save her from the pain of life. But it is Raesita's unborn child, and its desire to live, that the Kuntil Anak has not counted upon.