LICORICE PIZZA

Licorice Pizza (2021) directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. This coming-of-age romantic comedy shares some DNA with Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love, one of my all-time favorite films. It also shares some DNA with Dazed and Confused. But what is a "licorice pizza?" I'm guessing it's two things that are great on their own but likely not together. Or, perhaps an acquired taste. Things are beautiful and moving along and then something, usually an unexpected eruption of violence, shifts things. Although set in the 1970s, it also frequently nods to classic Hollywood. (And not always favorably.) I liked it. A lot. 

 

Streaming on Prime Video.

UKIYO-E

I have enjoyed visiting the Echoes of the Floating World exhibit at the Tacoma Art Museum multiple times, discovering something new each time.

This time, I was intrigued by woodblock prints by Kawanabe Kyosai, especially the one featured above, in detail. The museum has this triptych of prints titled as Comic One Million Turns of the Rosary. A book of prints I own titles it Comic Infinite Prayers. (Po-tay-to, po-tah-to, the joys of translation.)

The piece is political, expressing world events of 1864, and I'm glad for commentary from the museum and my book or I would have no idea what was going on. It's beautiful and weird, in its own right, but having a cultural context helps to infuse the print with even more power.

VERNARDO'S CIRCUS

The circus came to Tacoma. Vernardo's set up their tent at the edge of Point Defiance Park. Their show was a good mix of acrobatics, juggling and other shenanigans, and showmanship.

THE DEAD DON'T DIE

The Dead Don't Die (2019) directed by Jim Jarmusch. This is a zombie flick. It's also very much a Jim Jarmusch flick. It has a leisurely pace, deadpan humor, and breaks the fourth wall on occasion. It also has a few welcome surprises. This won't work for everyone but it works for me. 

Streaming on Netflix.

BARBARIAN

Barbarian (2022) directed by Zach Cregger. This is Cregger's first film, preceding Weapons, and it likewise nods to various films while taking those influences and "Frankenstein-ing" them into its own monster. Think The People Under the Stairs. Think The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Think the Buffalo Bill portion of Silence of the Lambs. Think the Morlocks from The Time Machine. There are also contemporary topics scattered throughout—urban blight, celebrity, accusations of rape, rental properties, always being in control of your drink. Bill Skarsgård's character is played well. This film has so many twists and turns, constantly undercutting our expectations. Excellent.

Will I ever stay in an Airbnb? Probably not after watching this.

(And you never go back into the fucking house!)

Streaming on Netflix.

HEREDITARY

Hereditary (2018) directed by Ari Aster. I needed to see this again, in the context of Weapons. I think they complement one another well. Aster foreshadows everything that will happen in the film, and most of it early. This is a well-crafted movie that almost requires, and definitely rewards, multiple viewings.

A masterpiece.

Viewed on DVD.

NOPE

Nope (2022) directed by Jordan Peele. There's no way to talk about this film without spoiling it, SO READ NO FURTHER if you have yet to see it.

I went into this blind so I didn't know what to expect. It's a rather different film from both Get Out and Us. The creature design is spectacular. This is Lovecraftian cosmic horror but with humans just serving as snacks. In many ways, it's a meditation on film and the film industry. Strangely enough, even though this film and Weapons share very little in common, they are similarly structured and presented, and build their tension and stories in a parallel manner. It plays across genres, dipping its toes in science fiction, horror, and westerns.

It takes a close encounter with a UFO and plays with it, which is perhaps the most intriguing element for me.

Can we control animals? Even those that are domesticated? (Better yet, do we have control over anything?) Can we control ourselves?

I liked it.

Viewed on DVD.

WEAPONS

Weapons (2025) directed by Zach Cregger. O.M.G. This psychological/mystery horror film is a slow burn until it isn't. Then it goes a bit batshit crazy. I went in knowing absolutely NOTHING about the film except for the fifteen-second teaser trailer from which the above image comes. I liked this film a lot.

There are nods to, and echoes of, plenty of other horror films, intentional or not. The People Under the Stairs. A Nightmare on Elm Street. It. Lost Highway. It Follows. The Exorcist. There are even some Stranger Things and The Scarlet Letter vibes. But it is definitely its own beast and work of art. And it may be trying to say something about school shootings. (Or at least I thought so until about halfway through.)

Chapters of the film show pieces of the story through the POV of one character or another. However scenes may or may not exactly line up the same way when in one chapter versus another. I think this is intentional, and it works well.

Seen at Regal Cinemas. (It had been a long time since I watched a movie in a "big box" theater.)