WEAPONS is unfortunate

First off, a nitpick purge: it's not structured like magnolia.

  I can see clear wisps of its inspiration (ensemble cast, hyperlink, dopey cop with a mustache, "what do kids know?") but the comparison to its structure, specifically, makes me wonder if people have... actually...seen magnolia...recently...?

  Multiple times throughout Weapons the narrative restarts in a non-linear fashion, featuring alternate scenes based on differing perspectives.

  magnolia is, in the humble opinion of this narrator, the opposite:

Strictly linear, no narrative restarts, no alternate scenes playing out multiple times.

  I will contend that I got huge Frank and Earl vibes when Archer was crying by his son's bedside and it was just as moving. That's a lie: I would have found it moving if I could have fucking seen what was happening.

  I don't love how the rest of the movie looks but, holy God, the lack of lighting and color during night/dark indoor scenes is unforgivable. That lifeless muck retroactively tarnishes anything I do like about the script, performances, etc., which is quite a bit. It has such a great set-up, an incredible villain, a climax for the ages, outstanding tonal shifts, and a devastating ending that negates any clean narratives about trauma.

  Putting Alex's chapter after everyone else's makes for a more effective climax. We spend so much time navigating comedy and horror that Alex's domestic drama feels like a funeral for any of the 'fun' we were having. So by the time Gladys is screaming through the neighborhood pursued by killer kids, it's fucking satisfying. Which, in turn, makes the ending such a stroke of genius: Cregger pleases the crowd but then asks if it's enough and immediately tells us it isn't. And he makes us sit with that.

  But, again, I can't give him too much credit because I only like these choices on paper. As Mike Stoklasa put it, with a joke I'm very jealous of, "Zach Cregger achieved night-for-night." There's little value to Weapons' aesthetic choices.

  In an ironic twist, the most effective scare (and the most lasting image) was an accident. From an interview with make-up artist Leo Satkovich:

"It was through a routine touchup that the lit-up scene came about: Filmed onstage in a tiny room, the goal was to utilize VFX overlay so Matthew could seamlessly transition into Gladys, meaning the two performers had to be tucked into the bed’s blankets just so. After nailing Madigan’s position, Satkovich went in to add more lipstick.

'I’m crawling over lights, crawling under lights, under flags. There’s so much stuff in this room … And I couldn’t see because the room was [so dark]. I think it was a grip that used their iPhone light,' he recalls. 'When DP Larkin Seiple reacted, everyone’s first thought was trouble, but he and the VFX team liked the look, and the shot stayed'."

   Lol at "I couldn't see" but wow, who knew? Who knew that LIGHTING would be a good thing?? Go figure. Actually, no, that's not enough: seeing what's happening shouldn't be the baseline. It should be lit with purpose, it should be artful and creative, not merely visible.

  So Now Then

  There are stories of coincidence and chance and intersections and strange things told. Maybe that iPhone light wasn't an accident.

2025: The Lists

25 FAVORITES OF 25

1. One Battle After Another (Anderson)

2. 28 Years Later (Boyle)

3. Resurrection (Gan)

4. Marty Supreme (Safdie)

5. The Shrouds (Cronenberg)

6. Caught By the Tides (Zhangke)

7. Sentimental Value (Trier)

8. Sinners (Coogler)

9. The Secret Agent (Filho)

10. Magellan (Diaz)

11. Reflections In A Dead Diamond (Catett/Forzani)

12. Weapons (Cregger)

13. Cloud (Kurosawa)

14. It Was Just An Accident (Panahi)

15. Train Dreams (Bentley)

16. Eephus (Lund)

17. The Mastermind (Reichardt) 

18. Wake Up Dead Man (Johnson)

19. Sorry, Baby (Victor)

20. Black Bag (Soderbergh)

21. Eddington (Aster)

22. Friendship (DeYoung)

23. Die My Love (Ramsay)

24. No Other Choice (Chan-wok)

25. The Testament of Ann Lee (Fastvold)

Special Mention: The Voice of Hind Rajab

Favorite score: The Young Fathers, 28 Years Later

Runners up: M83, Resurrection

Daniel Blumberg, The Testament of Ann Lee

Favorite music cue: Beware of Darkness by George Harrison (Weapons)

DISCOVERIES

There were two destinations I kept frequenting in 2025- the western and Hong Kong cinema. There were off ramps to other genres too but those were the two I kept circling back to.

The string of Westerns will make sense next year. John Ford, Howard Hawks and Anthony Mann are classic movie royalty and 

The Golden Princess acquisition by Shout Factory and the streaming of a bunch of Hong Kong action films on the Criterion Channel helped me check off so many of those films I always heard of and wanted to see but just didn't have access to. Ringo Lam, Tsui Hark, John Woo, Johnnie To, Lau Kar-leung, Sammo Hung became names that constantly cropped up on my journey. 

With the final Mission: Impossible being released, I decided to watch all the movies. Outside of the first two, I hadn't seen any of them. Of the new group of films, Fallout and Rogue Nation were most impressive. 

Comedy classics ranging from screwball (Ruggles of Red Gap) to satire (Top Secret!) to Dirty Work helped fill in some of the gaps.

As far as horror was concerned, silent films like Dante's Inferno and A Page of Madness reiterated my love for the visual form. While the films of Larry Fessenden (thanks VS!) were a quiet revelation. 

Movies that don't quite fit into the above categories were Mike Leigh's Secrets and Lies, a film I sought out from his filmography specifically because I was so knocked over by Marianne Jean-Baptiste's performance in Hard Truths. 

Diane Keaton's passing prompted me to seek out and watch Warren Beatty's epic Reds. A film of hers I watched during the beginning of the year, Looking For Mr. Goodbar confirmed her as not just one of the greats, but someone who was fearless and diverse, turning in a dark, complex performance in the same year she did Annie Hall.

Peter Watkins passing similarly caused me to seek out The War Game. Punishment Park is an all time favorite and The War Game is every bit as good. Should be mandatory viewing for everyone in a time where we have so many nuclear weapons stockpiled. 

All of these discoveries were wonderful. But the one filmmaker that knocked me on my ass and made me re-orient my views on what film could do was none other than Frederick Wiseman. I saw 23 of his films in 2025 and intend on watch the rest of them in 2026. Each one has showcased brilliant editing, endless compassion for humans and the art of visual storytelling. 

Other Favorites (in order of when I watched them): 

A Perfect World (Clint Eastwood, 1993)

The Bridges of Madison County (Clint Eastwood, 1995)

Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939)

Looking For Mr. Goodbar (Richard Brooks, 1977)

Nothing But A Man (Michael Roemer, 1964)

The Crazy Family (Gakuryu Ishii, 1984)

Noises Off... (Peter Bogdonavich, 1992)

Ruggles of Red Gap (Leo McCarey, 1935)

Winchester '73 (Anthony Mann, 1950)

PTU (Johnnie To, 2003)

Macumba Sexual (Jess Franco, 1983)

Dishonored (Josef Von Sternberg, 1931)

Eastern Condors (Sammo Hung, 1987)

Full Contact (Ringo Lam, 1992)

Red River (Howard Hawks, 1948)

Dog Star Man (Stan Brakhage, 1965)

Secrets and Lies (Mike Leigh, 1996)

Sparrow (Johnnie To, 2008)

The Act of Seeing With One's Own Eyes (Stan Brakhage, 1972)

Window Water Baby Moving (Stan Brakhage, 1959)

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (Christopher McQuarrie, 2015)

Wheels on Meals (Sammo Hung, 1984)

A Moment of Romance (Benny Chan Muk-Sing, 1990)

Love Hotel (Shinji Somai, 1985)

My Darling Clementine (John Ford, 1946)

Electric Dragon 8000V (Gakuryu Ishii, 2001)

The Big Country (William Wyler, 1958)

Dirty Work (Bob Saget, 1998)

Wagon Master (John Ford, 1950)

O.C. and Stiggs (Robert Altman, 1987)

Dirty Ho (Lau Kar-Leung, 1979)

City on Fire (Ringo Lam, 1987)

Mermaid Legend (Toshiharu Ikeda, 1984)

Peking Opera Blues (Tsui Hark, 1986)

Top Secret! (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, 1984)

Cafe Flesh (Stephen Sayadian, 1982)

Wendigo (Larry Fessenden, 2001)

The Night of the Hunted (Jean Rollin, 1980)

A Page of Madness (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1926)

The Demon (Brunello Rondi, 1963)

Curse of the Dog God (Shinya Ito, 1977)

In the Dark (Clifton Holmes, 2000)

Dante's Inferno (Giuseppe de Liguoro, 1911)

City on Fire/Prison On Fire/School on Fire (Ringo Lam, 1987/87/88)

Night of the Juggler (Robert Butler, 1980)

Reds (Warren Beatty, 1981)

The Tarnished Angels (Douglas Sirk, 1957)

Re-Wind (Hisayasu Soto, 1988)

The War Game (Peter Watkins, 1966)

A Better Tomorrow II (John Woo, 1987)

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osborne (Walerian Borowczyk, 1981)

Tiger On the Beat (Lau Kar-leung, 1988)

TELEVISION

1. Pluribus

2. Andor

3. The Rehearsal

4. The Chair Company

5. The Pitt

6. Shifty

7. The Bear

8. The Righteous Gemstones

9. Severance

10. Alien: Earth

BOOKS

FICTION

1. There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm

2. Shoot Me In the Face on A Beautiful Day by Emma Murray

3. Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon

4. So Tender the Killer by Matthew Kinlin

5. The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre by Philip Fracassi

6. Silicone God by Victoria Brooks

7. The Squimbop Condition by David Leo Rice

8. Doom Is A House Without A Door by Logan Berry

9. Baby Bruise by Danielle Chelosky

10. Cartoons by Kit Schluter

Favorite Non-Fiction I Read in 2025: One Day, Everyone Will Have Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

TOP 15 NON-2025 BOOKS

1. Satantango by Laszlo Krasznahorkai

2. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

3. Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz

4. Ubik by Philip K. Dick

5. A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oe

6. Frisk/Try by Dennis Cooper

7. Vineland by Thomas Pynchon

8. My Struggle Vol. 5 by Karl Ove Knausgaard

9. The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark

10. Autoportrait by Edouard Leve

11. Collected Works Vol. 1 by Scott McClanahan

12. The Magician by Christopher Zeischegg

13. Blind Owl by Sadeq Hedayat

14. The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson

15. Log of the S.S. the Mrs. Unguentine by Stanley Crawford

Ordinary World - Duran Duran

Good Poster Art

   The quality of studio posters are on the upswing while fan posters have gotten increasingly worse.

  Most Fan Posters amount to very little. When they're not pastiche/reference slop, they're typically esoteric visual puns that reek of desperation. They want, so badly, to be perceived as 'clever' but garner nothing more than an "ah-ha" in the viewer. Or, worse: woefully ill-fitting font, textures, and imagery misrepresenting the movie. Absent is a sense of awe, intrigue, mystery, et all purely alluring spectacle.

  And I used to eat up the former, too. I thought this was the coolest fan poster ever:

  But now I look at it and I'm like "Yep...that sure is a shark fin, alright............." It's definitely clever but that only gives it the illusion that it's intriguing. It grabs my attention but it can't sustain a hold on me. I especially hate the narrow and weightless font, a baffling change that subtracts from it.

  I was going to post the original here for contrast but I don't need to: It's already conjured in your head. It's so simple, so evocative, so textured, and concise. Same goes for the Silence Of The Lambs poster (which is the greatest poster of all time), I don't need to show you what's already in your frontal lobe right now! And that's an example of a poster that has the best of both worlds: it's just as eye-bugging as it is clever. There are layers and complexity to it but it also manages to be subtle and concise at the same time. It's a remarkable one sheet.

Meanwhile, a fan poster:

  

    So I decided to celebrate some of the best Studio-mandated posters that have come out this decade. I've wanted to do this for a while now, especially since we're dangerously close to most studios using generative A.I. to make, upscale, or touch-up posters (like A24 did with Civil War in 2024).