My Movie Journal is Better Than Yours

DVRfest 2026 (11.10.26 - 11.16.26, 8 movies)

Date Viewed	Movie	Director	Notes
11.10.26	The Odyssey	Christopher Nolan	Oh shit, did I actually watch a movie? Well hold onto your buts because I'm about to watch a shitload of movies. It's DVRfest 2026! My annual personal film festival commemorating another year of keeping this journal intended to catch up on stuff I've been meaning to watch and clear the (now figurative) DVR of saved movies. I believe this is the 22nd one of these that I've done. This is maybe the longest-running thing... I've ever done? So this year I'm leaning in. I've got... a lot of movies I want to watch, a verrry loose schedule, and took time off work so let's go! Opening night is me catching up on the big summer movies. Just like Barbenheimer, I'm watching two moves with Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jon Bernthal. Starting with The Odyssey. I didn't really care to see The Odyssey in the theater. Yes, I'm sure the IMAX experience was worthwhile but... my whole thing with new movies sucking these days is the stories are crap. I'm looking for a new story, not the oldest story ever. This movie reeked to me of desperation like the epics from the 50s when Hollywood panicked over TV. Chris Nolan doesn't make movies anymore, he saves the entire movie industry. Long gone is stuff like The Prestige or even Inception because now he has to make a movie big enough to cast every working actor and create FOMO around seeing some cool oceans scenes shot in 70mm. So what's watching this at home like? Well, as expected, it was decent. I'm not gonna sit here and write that it's a bad movie. Objectively, it's a good movie. The production and cinematography are exceptional and (for the most part) score and (for the most part) performances are good. It's long but hey it's an epic right? Epics are supposed to be long. Highlights for me were John Leguizamo and Robert Pattinson. I found it funny that for all the hubbub around Elliot Page and Lupia Nyong'o they're in the movie for like 90 seconds. Agamemnon's in there for 90 seconds, Zendaya's in there for 90 seconds. But you know, it's not called The Side Characters... so it stands to reason that Matt Damon's taking up most of the screen time. Where it fell short of me was where the realistic take on the more fantastical or mythical elements collided. Like I've never thought about the dudes actually in the Trojan horse before... but now that I've seen some shots of people crowded in there it trips my logic detectors big time. Like if people were pissing and shitting in there how come none of the legion of people dragging it into Troy noticed hey this horse smells like shit? Hey how come this fucker's way heavier than it should be? Why's it wobbling around when we try to stand it up? Why's it snoring? Same goes for the cyclops scene. Like big man's gonna eat two rando soldiers then take a nap? Or if he thought they were sheep why did the sheep have helmets? And dude's got an eye, could he not see? Stuff like that reads fine when it's Homer telling his homies a story but if you're trying to make it real and spend all this time talking about a to-scale puppet in the cave (side note: no shit. when it was lying down that body moved super weird and when it was the actor the waves looked too small) and you're asking us to believe it's all real... is a bundle of hay really gonna fool anyone that the clunky armor-wearing soldiers with their metal swords is really a sheep? I'll stop there because I recognize it's a mythical ancient poem so stuff like that, like them getting lost in the not-even-an-ocean is believable because the gods are real and all that. So I won't talk about the 7-feet tall dudes lumbering around like the giants in Terry Gilliam's Lost in La Mancha. But it didn't wholly work on me. And then there's the sound design. I remember Oppenheimer's soundscape being intense but pretty good. This one felt sloppy to me. At least I could hear the dialog (with my headphones on). Ok, I will say. the bow strike sound was very good. The scene where Odysseus strings the bow was very good. And my problems with the mythical treatments was still not terrible. It's just a story I know by osmosis. I saw the Armand Assante mini-series back in the 90s and have been good ever since. Nothing in here was ever going to surprise or thrill me. The next one though.... nope it probably won't surprise me either but I feel like I gotta get through it. These first two really feel close to homework but who knows. Maybe I'm in for a treat?
11.10.26	Spider-Man: Brand New Day	Destin Daniel Cretton	This summer it seemed like the same 3 or 4 actors were on a press tour for like 10 months. Like the A list has dwindled to so few people that everyone is in every movie being made. So I think that fatigue dampened my interest for this new Spider-Man movie. I've kind of been on hiatus with marvel but I do think the Spider-Man movies have been good and I think Tom Holland is great, but it's kind of like the Avengers after endgame, No Way Home was such a home run that where do you even go after that. Well with this movie I guess you go to organic CGI webs cuz there's a lot of em. I'm pretty meh on this. I didn't especially love the black-eye spidey stuff, everyone other than the punisher (and jean grey) are glorified cameos. I guess you can't call the hulk fight a cameo but it did seem specifically injected to pad the runtime, and Jean Grey felt injected just to seed the new x-men. This one more than the previous 3 felt like continuations of marvel's meta more than standalone films which is a shame. But you know... I think I'm just fatigued on comic book movies in general. I dipped my toe back in, didn't find anything I was missing, now I can check the box and move on. And it's already pretty late. I think I've only got 1 movie left in me. I'm shifting the double feature I had planned and watching a different horror movie instead.
11.10.26	Resident Evil	Zach Cregger	This was pretty fun! I didn't play a ton of the game so I didn't really catch any references (presuming there are a lot of references) but I thought it felt like a video game experience in a good way. Different locales are kind of like different levels. I don't know if RE had huge jumbles of limbs but Inside sure as hell did and this reminded me a lot of that game in that regard. Austin Abrams is well-cast and pretty funny with his realistic reactions. I think that's most of what this movie is: realistic reactions to crazy stuff happening. And that's opening night. I don't know if I have more thoughts or not because I'm dead tired. I remember liking this feeling a lot... fighting to stay awake, drifting into that heavy-lidded haze where the movie takes on even more ethereal qualities where time extends or slows down as I'm halfway asleep. Thank goodness this was a tight 90, because it also feels great to go to bed.
11.11.26	Lifeguard	Daniel Petrie	Day Two of this year's DVRfest follows a theme I've long threatened to do but always run out of time: a non-criterion physical media day. It's not just Criterion titles on the "unwatched" shelf of the collection, and some of these things have been collecting dust since forever. But this year it's grown a bit thanks to watching several "physical media high council" videos from ringer. Their recs got me to buy a small stack sight-unseen and they've been sitting there in a dark corner of my room while I play video games every weekend. But not today! Special shout-out to vlc player. For probably a decade or more I struggled during the criterion random roll days of these festivals trying to find a piece of software that plays blus and is not a complete piece of shit. I bought the Power DVD license... they came out with a new version and wanted me to buy it again, then the old version stopped working. I found some freeware app, but it didn't support stuff like, i dunno, MENUS. It's always been a hassle to play these on my computer, having to, like, take a guess at which video file is the movie and play it independently and stuff. At the end of last year I discovered VLC would play blus as long as I had the right codec so this year I'm putting it to the test and first impressions are that it just works (as it does playing every other video format). I got a menu, i could use my mouse on it, and the volume's not shit. I love vlc player. Ok. Let's start with this 1976 title starring a brown-haired Sam Elliot where he plays a lifeguard in LA. According to the commentary, this is the birth of the Sam Elliot mustache. I really liked this. This came out a couple years before I was born but it captures the vibe I remember as a small kid going to the beach and moreso this feels like what it was probably like for my parents before I came along. The beach movie was very much a thing in the 60s and this shares some of that - there's some nudity and lots of hot girls and guys in their skimpy swimsuits - but really this movie is a pretty in-depth character drama. This reminded me a lot of that movie Redneck Miller that Tarantino showed at the alamo way back when in that it goes harder and brings much more depth than it has any need to. But first, the beach-life fantasy that this movie opens the film with is utterly intoxicating. Elliot's a lifeguard, peak physical condition with a hairy chest and crazy tan (he looks a little crispy in a few shots early on but for the most part I'm serious about this tan. It's crazy). He has casual sex with playboy playmate stewardesses on their layovers, drives around town in his corvette stingray, living that perfect southern california livin. And when a super young Kathleen Quinlan shows up playing a 17 year old and starts lusting after him you might think ok, this is what this movie is. And it sort of is? But there's also more. Elliot's character starts to feel his age, he bumps into an old high school buddy who's making bank selling porsches, he goes to the reunion where some people have become successful, and with all these pressures to give up the no-future lifeguard gig and start to get serious about a career, he's feeling pretty torn. Anne Archer, looking unbelievable, is the embodiment of that yearning since she's divorced and has a nice house and works in an art gallery and also practically throws herself at him but wants him to move up the ladder and start selling those damn porsches too, man. There's a great scene of some kind of beach competition where he's not as young as he used to be and realizes it and Elliot's performance is amazing. I'm so used to seeing him as a cowboy or soldier or whatever it's great to see him as just a dude. Quinlan's also great as the girl. It took me quite a while to see the older her in there she's so young, but she does a lot with her role. But what really seals the deal for me (spoiler alert) is the ending. The choice he makes feels true and earned and you understand. And, I love how the movie leaves things vague but offering my own thoughts here, if he went to Anne Archer and was like "i'm a lifeguard. I'm good at it. Take it or leave it," she's fine with it. Just as long as he doesn't tell her he screwed a 17 year old. Or that he's, like, kinda fine with the perverts exposing themselves on the beach or camping out in the ladies' room or the kids trying to pull off women's bikinis in the water. But you know... different time and all that. So yeah, another weird feeling for nostalgia on my parents' behalf. It really did seem pretty fun to live in LA in the 70s. This is fun. let's throw another disc on.
11.11.26	Hollywood 90028	Christina Hornisher	Next up is this exploitation film about a photographer who strangles women meeting a nice girl on a porn shoot and developing a relationship in the cold hard unforgiving big city. A lot has changed in 20 years, man. This is the type of movie I would've raced to the Alamo to see on a Wednesday night circa 2006 or 7 because while it's certainly in the exploitation genre with the tits and murder, it's also got some other things going for it which makes it a bit of an unpolished gem. Back then it would've been a rare discovery, virtually unknown in most circles, and only available on bootleg VHS or perhaps someone ripped it and put it up on cinemageddon or karagarga. Now, it's available in a 2-disc set from a 4k restoration with a criterion-level essay in the booklet and an accompanying CD of the score. I honestly don't know if that's better or worse. Yes, it's available for all to recognize what makes this film worth talking about, but the thrill of the hunt is gone. No more snobby bragging rights to find a copy. Also no excuse to see it if you want to, or at least buy a copy and let it sit on the shelf for 10 months. So like many low budget films through the years, this movie has some amazing location photography, particularly of the old bunker hill victorian mansions (at their lowest state, looking condemned and perhaps days away from demolition) and the hollywood sign when it was all tagged up because you could just go up there and hang out. Another interesting aspect about this movie is that it's made by a woman who wrote and directed it, and according to imdb it's the only feature-length she was able to make. Maybe I'm projecting but the sex part of the sex and violence is photographed a bit more tastefully in my opinion than your average fare. The scenes where the main guy is photographing the nudie films in particular manage to be provocative but not vulgar. The special features include snippets from an X-rated cut of the film (not altogether uncommon from what I understand, where hardcore scenes may be inserted to extend the film's run in porno houses) and those are 1) not hardcore, but 2) artistically shot. I think I actually preferred the X-rated versions because they served the scenes better. And before you call me a pervert, we're not talking about seeing full penetration or anything. You don't really see anything more than in the main cut other than more provocative poses and maybe more skin, like peoples legs and torsos or whatever. I mean there are boobs for sure but... you know, what, let's move on. Many aspects of the film do betray a shoestring budget and cheap construction, like the lighting's not always functional and it's all post sound so often scenes take on more of a montage feel because the dialog plays over footage of people facing away from camera or, in some cases, like running away from the camera but they still sound close right in your ear. And the score does sink in after a bit but there are a couple passages, particularly the beginning titles, that rely on this dischordant piano that reeks of cheap 70s softcore or something. There are other tracks that aren't so bad though. At first I was wondering why in the hell they included a CD for this crap but by the end I got it. It's not like Goblin doing Susperia or Deep Red or anything but I bet fans of 70s scores would find value there. And... without spoiling anything... I have to say the ending hit. It's one thing these cheapo films can do so well is to throw a total shocker in there and cut the film like 30 seconds later. Which biker movie was it... Black Angels maybe? I remember seeing one biker movie at a Weird Wednesday where there's this big fight at the end and then I think someone dies or something explodes or something? and the end credits play over these reaction shots of all the characters at the fight looking shocked like "wtf just happened" then the movie ends. That's pretty sweet. ok... time's getting away from me via distractions like fixing something to eat and taking the trash out but I'm hopeful I can keep chugging and get some more movies in tonight. Let's see what's at the top of the pile.
11.11.26	Badge 373	Howard W. Koch	In the wake of The French Connection's success, we know that Popeye Doyle goes to France to keep chasing Fernando Rey (in The French Connection 2), and we know that Buddy leads a unit going after bad hombres (in The Seven-Ups), but what about the real cop that Popeye Doyle was based on? What did that guy do? Well, I guess he showed off his hatred of Puerto Ricans in Badge 373. Robert Duvall plays Eddie (while the real Eddie plays his sergeant Scanlon), who kinda-sorta pushes a guy off a roof and gets suspended, then his partner dies under suspicious circumstances so, you know, he figures that out. I mean, The French Connection was such a huge hit that it spawned a whole genre of 70s NYC cop moves (and Italian equivalents) and to be honest I've liked almost all of the ones I've seen. I'd never heard of this one though until Vinegar Syndrome released it under their cinematographie line so I bought it. I mean, Robert Duvall tough cop action drama? I liked The Outfit, how bad could this be? Well, I think now the reason this isn't talked about alongside those others is it kinda sucks. It's like 40 minutes too long, there's no real driving force. they have a set piece chase sequence trying to replicate William Friedkin's but with a bus that just didn't work for me at all. And on top of it all, the big score that Duvall uncovers really confused me. A local bookmaker's lining up a deal to send guns to Puerto Rico for a liberation movement? Granted, I know nothing about Puerto Rico, but "Puerto Rico Libre" is not a phrase I'm familiar with. Haven't they been a US territory since forever? Were they going to liberate themselves from America? I do sort of know there was a huge influx of Puerto Ricans into New York City around that time but for whatever reason that didn't pack as big a punch as discovering the source of heroin coming in from France. Usually this is when I fall back on the wonderful location photography - NYC in the 70s is a particular cinematic favorite of mine - but this was mostly in the dark and/or rain. I dunno... just didn't connect with me really. Back to the shelf it goes.
11.11.26	Roar	Noel Marshall	This one's been on the shelf since Drafthouse Films was a thing. It's pretty notorious due to the film involving real wild animals and multiple injuries while shooting, but I think I didn't realize just how many fucking lions are in this movie. It's too many lions! I'd be freaked out if a movie had this many house cats in one room. It's like a joke how many lions there are. They're the movie. There's barely a story here. it's just lions. The story about the movie and how it was made is way more interesting than the story in the movie, but really it's just an hour and a half of lions. Some tigers, jaguars, cheetahs, elephants, what have you, but mostly lions. The first 20 or so minutes is extremely anxiety inducing. Like, this could have been Grizzly Man but with lions. Really it's astonishing that it wasn't? To be honest I'd always left this on the shelf because I thought I knew its deal and actually sitting through it wasn't necessary but I was wrong. It's overwhelming how crazy this movie is. And there's like light-hearted playful music going on throughout the hole thing which is also bizarre. I mean the movie's not a horror movie or anything but the idea that this would be like a family film to take kids to? There's a message in the beginning titles saying no animals were harmed in the making of this picture, and another protracted message at the end reiterating that the lion deaths in the narrative of the film were not real. But the lions eat an entire zebra carcass on screen! One of them drags the fucking zebra's head into the house. There's like thirty lions covered in blood in the living room of this house and they thought it would play for small children? What the fuck? Astonishing. Amazing that this movie exists. Amazing that someone thought to make this movie. I know there's a strong conservationist message behind this, and I'm all for that, but not in the house, man! Although it's funny for how massive and ferocious these creatures are, once they close their eyes and stick out their tongue a little bit they're adorable. As long as they're not covered in the blood of their kill that is.
11.11.26	Out There Halloween Mega Tape	Chris LaMartina	Rounding out the night is this sequel to the WNUF Halloween Special that I saw a couple years ago and liked enough to buy a copy. This one follows the same formula like you've found a random VHS tape recorded off local cable but aims for a 90s vibe rather than 80s. And just like the Halloween special, the execution of these fake commercials and local news bumpers is top notch. The packaging is also great with a slipcase that looks like a vhs case. Just like the first entry, I feel like there's a few too many ads; the ad-to-real-show ratio is pretty high, but I guess it really doesn't matter too much if you're watching an ad or show since it's all in good fun. This is short because i'm falling asleep. I liked it maybe not as much as the first but it's still fun.