Film Diary (8.9.2026 - 8.15.2026)
Some rewatches and some new watches, some old and some new.
I want to write something on Southland Tales. I need to write something on Southland Tales. It would make total sense that my first longer essay on this new site would be on Southland Tales (as Sarah Michelle Gellar's Krysta Now says, "It had to be this way"). But for now, I'll be providing a few words on each film below.
Sunday, August 9th:
Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026):
I didn't pick up anything in particular upon this rewatch except for the amount of creative choices this movie made to better emulate the Spider-Man of the Sony video games, which is a wise choice. That very successful series seems to be an entry point for many people into the world of a smaller-scaled Spider-Man, becoming a clear reference for many when encountering new stories with the character.
Monday, August 10th:
Minority Report (2002):
My summer of 2026 was dominated by Philip K. Dick. My only previous experience with his work was The Man in the High Castle which I read in high school, several lifetimes ago, with all memory of it having been jettisoned from my mind in the time since. It wasn't until an obsession with Southland Tales inspired me to delve deep into his bibliography, starting with Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said (the most relevant to Southland Tales). It was only a matter of time before I moved to adaptations of these works.
For me, Minority Report stands out as a highlight in Spielberg's filmography; a taut and kinetic action thriller released in a post-9/11 America primarily concerned with the questions of ethics that arise within a surveillance state. Like most Philip K. Dick stories, there are moments of prescience that rely on a cynical (yet not unearned) reading of the relationships between people, power, and systems. The arc of technological advancement, when divorced from moral standards, will bend towards exploitation. Cameras performing eye scans on citizens use their findings for both police activity and personalized advertisements, with the complex systems also being used for misconduct by those in charge.
Of course, with this being a Spielberg movie, these concepts are implemented with craft and momentum. The set pieces dynamically snake through ramshackle tenement buildings, employee-free assembly lines, and businesses specializing in virtual reality pods that are made for violent or sexual escapist fantasies, giving a depressing snapshot of this all too familiar troubled society.
Total Recall (1990):
An undeniable comfort movie for me, watched with my father before he went in for heart surgery. He was with my mom in Mexico City when they were filming at the Hyatt, Metro, and Glorieta de los Insurgentes, and he loves telling the story of how he met both Arnold and the legend Ronny Cox in an elevator. My memories with this movie will always include this introduction, along with the one time I watched it on a VCR/CRT set-up while zonked out of my gourd and thought that everyone turned into claymation when shot.
Wednesday, August 12th:
Minions & Monsters (2026):
Came for the fun homages to the classics, stayed for the dumb slapstick. The animation looked absolutely incredible at points as well, with Dort being a strange highlight. He looks both animated and claymated, and I really enjoyed watching him stumble around. There's a lot for kids to go crazy over, but also a little something for daddy, with that little something being a nice (if surface level) appreciation of film history.
Thursday, August 13th:
The Stranger (1946):
A lean, mean, thrill machine. A masterclass in editing and cinematography, building tension effortlessly within its shadowy frames. The climax is a highlight, with Orson's fate at the top of the clock tower working as the cathartic spectacle promised by the rest of the film's relative sneaky dread. Though it is smaller in narrative scope that other Welles films, it holds a thematic weight and visual depth that has become a staple for the pioneering director.
Yes, Madam! (In the Line of Duty II: The Supercops) (1985):
A sort of platonic ideal for dumb as hell kung-fu schlock. Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock (inexplicably dubbed by an actress with a British accent) put in serious, intense performances that anchor the rest of the nutso side characters. John Shum and Mang Hoi co-star as two bumbling small-time thieves, with the latter having yet another inexplicable dubbed voice that sounds like a Peter Lorre impression. The highlight is Detective Dee director Tsui Hark as a literal Looney Tunes character, who at one point outsmarts a pursuer by somehow replacing himself with a life-sized dummy dressed exactly like himself with a bundle of lite dynamite stuffed into the mouth. Some incredibly good shit in this one.
Sunday, August 15th:
Southland Tales (2006):
A vital movie, filled with a compounding sense of dread and catastrophe that can only be felt in the real world. We've been ignoring the signs for decades, and now we're hurtling towards something inescapable. It had to be this way. I'm working on something longer for this beguiling, oversaturated sci-fi monster. It holds immense importance to me.
