June rhymes with cartoon

(which has 21% relevancy) (make that 23%) (because of Scott Pilgrim)

.

June came in like a lion with the end of the film unit. And then dozens of hours on the road for a funeral and camping, not to mention an internetless norovirus quarantine and, in the end, just the movies you see. And, right now, I Love Boosters and Disclosure Day and Toy Story 5 and Supergirl are ALL in theaters.

Got some catching up to do.

'

ELSEWHERE
our dvd

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

Honestly, it does feel sixteen years old. But not in a bad way. It holds up but, for instance, the soundscape can’t speak to an audience of 17yrolds the same way it speaks to people who grew up with a great intimacy with certain digital ephemera.

Interestingly, one of my seniors said in her writeup that the sound it part of what makes the movie “timeless” which either means I’m very wrong or she doesn’t know what timeless means.

Readings: 1, 2.

ELSEWHERE
our dvd
until it froze on Susie’s face
then a series of pirate sites
until we found one that worked

Citizen Kane (1941)

It was great to watch this movie on a higher resolution. It really is amazing, visually. Why don’t more movies embrace depth like this. One student couldn’t believe it was old because it still feels creative here, now, in 2026. I love to look at it.

But I still can’t get behind it as being in the conversation for the greatest film of all time. I can’t even be persuaded it’s better than Casablanca. I mean. Come on.

But I also want to praise Welles the actor / the makeup team. He ages so much in this film and it holds up great.

Readings: 1, 2.


ELSEWHERE
our dvd
(this particular one,
criterion collection,
found unopened in a free pile)

Stray Dog (1949)

Watching this right after Citizen Kane I’m struck by how both Kurosawa and Welles are into depth. I feel like movies hardly ever use the frame’s potential depth as well as these two movies do. I’d like to see more of this.

I also love the protagonist’s connection to the gun used in the crimes and how and why that motivates him. That’s an emotional and philosophical element frankly not available to an American cop movie.

But Kurosawa’s visual sense is the true highlight here. He was good at this already. (This is the earliest of his film’s I’ve seen.)

Readings: 1, 2.


ELSEWHERE
our dvd

Vertigo (1958)

The break between class periods happend as Scottie was catatonic in the hospital. And that made me realize: Vertigo is kinda two movies. Movie one, The Mystery of Madeleine. Then the intermission in the hospital. Then movie two: Judy’s Secret. The begin kinda the same. They end kinda the same. And that symmetry is part of what makes this such an astonishing experience.

Some loved it, some were disturbed by it, some were left confused. But everyone had an experience.

Readings: 1, 2.


ELSEWHERE
our dvd
but it froze
so we watched some of it
on the same pirate site
we’d finished Citizen Kane on
but then we finished back on the dvd

Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

There’s nothing like finishing an ancient movie with a bunch of 17 and 18yrolds and seeing their delirious smiling faces and happy reactions to the bundle of joy we just wrapped up.

May Singin’ in the Rain offer its pleasures to centuries of future filmwatchers.

Readings: 1, 2.


ELSEWHERE
Kanopy

Memento (2000)

Fun to rewatch this, first time in over twenty years.

I didn’t really remember where it was going, but still, the ending wasn’t quite as satisfying. Maybe too much Nolan in the interim?

I bet this is movie is the best when you watch it immediately after watching it.

I probably won’t do that this time.

Readings: 1, 2.


ELSEWHERE
YouTube

Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)

For the last movie of the year, classes had the opportunity of voting to finish up with a terrible movie so we could discuss what went wrong. Two classes took me up on that. (No readings for the bad movies.)

This is, indeed, terrible. But it does have a handful of cool elements that could be something in a better movie. But the lousy sound mix, laggard editing, and general stupidity keeps the priest’s costume or the painting from working. Not that I’m surprised. I head that MST3K held off on doing Manos because they didn’t think they could successfully make it entertaining. I’ll bet they did just fine, but I’m not ready to watch it again. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

Indeed, if I offer bad movies again next year, I may need to swap the watched ones out.... We’ll see how I feel next May.


HOME
library dvd

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Huh.

I...don’t think I liked it.

I appreciated all the Raymond Chandler stuff. It had some funny bits. But it didn’t allow us to really like any of the characters. And it wants to be a comedy but the violence didn’t work with that. And it seems like Shane Black is to Jeffrey Katzenberg if sexy ladies’ nipples are to animated action sequences.

Also, it’s very 2005 in that they’re addicted to weird color-correction choices. You might think things are yellow because it’s a flashback. Or you might think yellow’s tied to a time of day. Or to an emotion. And you might be right. Or you just might be a human seeking a pattern because that’s what humans do.

Anyway. Are people still watching this movie in 2026?


ELSEWHERE
Internet Archive

Nukie (1987)

I think I last saw this circa 1991. It was so bad. My family is still making fun of it. Its awfulness binds us together.

I made it available as an awful film and the students in one class voted it in.

It’s still terrible.

And people worked so, so hard on it. Those alien suits were complex. They went to Africa. They had a helicopter. And they somehow got Glynis Johns. Glynis Johns! She was in Mary Poppins! “Send in the Clowns” was written for her! How did they get Glynis Johns???

You can see all the stuff they’re ripping off (most notably E.T. and The Gods Must Be Crazy) but they don’t understand what made their source material work in the first place. For instance, Nukie and the kid go flying before Nukie’s resurrection. That doesn’t work.

Anyway. It’s terrible. But it’s terrible in the way that forced us to regularly laugh in amazement.


ELSEWHERE
our dvd

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

It never gets old.


ELSEWHERE
Prime Vodeo

Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

Research watch.

Though it didn’t take me long to remember why plan had been to take the dvd with me on Amtrak. The wifi...’s not great.

It was interesting watching the last half of the movie with the video twenty seconds ahead of the audio.


HOME
our dvd

Rubin and Ed (1991)

Somehow I haven’t seen this (probably) in over twenty years. Which is insane. That’s so long that the film was basically a reminder of all the things Lady Steed and I used to quote to each other. Maybe now we’ll bring them back. With the help of sons two and three who watched it with us.

(Son One never saw it because Lady Steed kept saying they weren’t old enough. Guess now he never will be.)

Besides being one of the most quotable movies I know and hella weird (unless compared to other Trent Harris movies), it’s one of the hottest movies ever made, up there with Do the Right Thing and Stray Dog.

Honestly, I don’t love it as unabashedly as I once did, but I have nothing bad to say about it. Let’s all express our gratitude for Trent Harris and the band of nutjobs he assembled to bring this world to life.


HOME
our dvd

Toy Story (1995)

Seriously, how is this so good? I mean, I know “Luxo, Jr.” was a decade earlier and that, for a “computer company,” Pixar always cared a great deal about story, but it’s still a remarkable achievement. It’s such a good movie.

Incidentally, here are a couple great things I recently read about Toy Story. The first is about toy teleology and the second on how they learned to create people immediately following Toy Story.


HOME
our dvd

Toy Story 2 (1999)

Joan Cusack is a national treasure.