Sunday, August 31, 2025

It was a Cineplex 5-dollar weekend this weekend, so I saw three movies.

FRIDAY - Jaws 50th anniversary in the IMAX

Jaws is my favorite movie. I make no secret about that. I won't get into all the reasons why Jaws is the best movie ever, but trust me, I have plenty. I will say that seeing it in the IMAX is a treat. The picture is so much clearer, and you can see all of the little details that you might have missed watching it at home.

All of the little googahs and whatnots in Quint's shack, the various weird conversations happening all at once, just all of these subtle layers and nuanced character moments. While Jaws doesn't feel particularly dated to me, it is definitely a product of 70s filmmaking, with Steve's Robert Altman influence front and center. It's the kind of filmmaking that really means something to me. Where every shot tells a complete story or reveals something. It's amazing. Really amazing.

This was my third time seeing Jaws in IMAX, and it's always a wonderful experience. I find new things to appreciate with each viewing.

SATURDAY - Caught Stealing

In case you missed the note, Austin Butler is kind of awesome. He's one of my favorite young actors working now. I have yet to see a performance from him that was any less than spectacular. From Elvis to Feyd-Rautha, he's one of a new slew of interesting character actors. Austin Butler, Bill Skarsgård, Mia Goth, Paul Dano, Jesse Plemons, Barry Keoghan. So many talented character actors are starring in fun and unique films right now.

This movie is full of weird and fascinating actors. Zoe Kravitz proves once again that she has all of her parents' charisma and talent, and then some. She's impossibly captivating and one of the best parts of this movie. Matt Smith is doing his goofiest, dirtiest English punk guy with a mohawk and all. Vincent D'Onofrio and Liev Schriver are particularly fun as Hassidic mobsters killing everyone and everything in their path.

Austin Butler is having a Nic Cage moment, and I couldn't be happier for him. The parallels to classic Coen brothers movies like Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski, about average people in extraordinarily messed-up situations, are clear and greatly appreciated.

All in all, it's a fun, entertaining, well-made, and surprisingly heartfelt movie about doomed people trying their best to find some light in the darkness. I loved it.

SUNDAY - The Toxic Avenger

Like many young horror fans in the 80s, I had a weird and probably unhealthy relationship with Troma films as a kid. I saw The Toxic Avenger when I was probably far too young to watch a movie that features a blind woman being sexually assaulted in a fast food restaurant and a small child getting his head crushed. These were intentionally trashy, fairly edgelordy, but sometimes downright mean movies. The Toxic Avenger, specifically, was a kind of revenge movie about a town full of psychopaths and mutants made deranged by the toxic waste poisoning their water supply. So in that way, it was kind of a progressive story, with enviromental and anti-capitolist themes. The villains of the Toxic Avenger movies were always greedy, corporate and politcal monsters exploiting the people of Tromaville. But still... you know, pretty irreverent.

I remember talking with my mom about The Toxic Avenger as a kid, probably around 11 or 12 years old or so, and her saying "Is that the guy who raped the blind woman?" and I was horrified that she would think that. I said "No, that was the BAD guys. Toxie only kills bad people!" as though it should have been obvious how the lines of good and evil were drawn to someone who only saw a few minutes of the movie.

But that's how The Toxic Avenger was. The good guys are average, every day sad sacks, and the bad guys are really bad. And gross, and deliberately painted as bad people. So it's got that going for it.

All of that said, let's be real, these aren't good movies in the classic idea of what makes a movie good. They're cheap, low budget, deliberately off putting movies whose job is mainly to entertain you by digusting you. There's a place for that. I don't hate it, but I haven't felt the need to rewatch The Toxic Avenger in the last 25 years or so.

Which brings us to The Toxic Avenger, the remake. It stars... Peter friggin Dinklage as Toxie, and by god, it really works. He's fantastic. He does a great job. It's cool too because, I think his height was mentioned once in the movie, and not in a negative way. It doesn't even factor into the story at all. They made an action movie where a little person plays a leading role without making fun of little people. Right on.

This movie manages to take the character and the ideas that were just sort of tossed around in the original, and distills them into an actual point of view. And it's hilarious. There's that. The jokes are ridiuclous and over the top but funny. I found myself laughing all through this movie.

I especially enjoyed Taylour Paige as JJ. I wasn't familiar with her work before but she's got loads of charisma and is funny too.

Kevin Bacon and Elijah Wood play villains in the movie, which seems appropriate for both of those guys. Especially Kevin. I mean, Elijah will do anything, but Kevin Bacon seems to really pick his movies based on (I believe) the kind of movies he'd like to watch. Because he does a lot of weird shit, and I respect it. Even if he does kind of rip off Gary Oldman's EVERYONE yell from The Professional.

Alright, enough about movies!

DANNY - The Audio Book!

The narrarator I work with finished recording and editing the audiobook for Danny. I'm giving it a final listen and then it's gotta process through Amazon and it should be available very soon! I'll send out another email when I have an actual release date for you. Raechel really came through with this one. There are a lot more characters to juggle and various weird accents and voices, and she brings a lot of creativity and flair to my writing.

Alright, that's it for me! until next time, Adios, señor, (and señoritas! and No binarios!)

PS

ONE LAST THING

Shout out to Luisa Guerreiro, who played The Toxic Avenger's physical performance. Peter did the voice, but she was hilarious as a physical comedic performance. Majorly impressed.