Being the continuation of InstaPunk and InstaPunk Rules
Sudden Bout of Dragonfly Mode…
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Itstrikesme now and again. Can’t help it. Just try to control it…
I’ve only done one thing:
That’s all. I swear.
Okay. Couldn’t help it. But’s that’s all. Really.
I was working on my long postponed post about the best movies in the first 25 years of the 21st Century when this overpowering sense of ennui overcame me, and dissing the movies suddenly struck me as more important than debunking the big lies mass media tells about itself.
Working my way through it…
P.S. An old friend just checked in with an enhancement of my comic cover that blows mine out of the water. Couldn’t resist sharing it with you all.
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Below the Fold
What I had of the new/old post I was trying to finish:
Keeping My Promise about the Best 21st Century Movies
It’s that time of the year when movies are back in the news more than usual. The recent Oscars broadcast was chiefly notable for its record-low viewership, inane political rhetoric from the podium, and a crop of movies hardly anyone in the TV audience had seen or will ever see. Since then, we’ve had controversies about contentious acquisition deals involving formerly great Hollywood studios now failing because of calamitous financial losses. Entertainment wags write columns about the possibility that AI will be the final nail in Hollywood’s coffin. For the movie audience as a whole, it’s hard to miss the phenomenon of ‘A List’ stars appearing uncredited (AI or just unemployed?) in ads for household products and services.
Now there’s this. In today’s Breitbart News, a feature headlined, “Study: Films Helmed by Women Sharply Declined in 2025”. Here’s the lede:
Not going to get sucked in on this bit of misdirection. It looks like we’re being prepped for a Democrat-style changing-the-subject exercise to make oppression of women a blanketing excuse for the crop of diseases killing Hollywood. A 3-year trend away from female directors and producers is not the reason movies are dying. The movies are.
Here’s what I posted back in August of last year:
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The IMDb List
A month or so ago I heard an episode of the Cluck and Buck Radio Show (i.e., Clay Travis/Buck Sexton) discussing the lists of best 21st Century movies that have been popping up now that we’ve got a quarter of the new century under our belts. They weren’t happy with the names they were hearing. After a lot of what passes for manly banter between them they settled on The Dark Knight Rises as their pick for Number 1. It’s a better choice, I agree, than most of the titles on the list above, but the whole process of selection here seems sad. Even pitiful. I’ve seen exactly eight of the 21 movies shown here, and the only one I’d consider a candidate for the top spot is Lord of the Rings. I liked Lost in Translation’sinclusionon the list as well. That’s about it. Most of it seems like pretentious junk, overhyped sequels, and predictably dark excursions into some director’s disappointments with the universe. Not what I watch movies for.
I very much doubt that a list of the best movies from the last quarter of the 20th Century would include so many titles I’ve never seen, and I’d be willing to bet that that entire list would outrank all but one or two of the movies on this list. It’s unthinkable to me that I wouldn’t have seen, or even heard of, the movie picked as the Number One movie of this already momentous century. Nor am I tempted to see any of the movies on the list I haven’t seen because they’re on the list.
So what’s this post all about? I have my own candidate for best picture of our young century. I’m going to show you the trailer here and say nothing more about it except how to find it on the streaming services. Then I’m going to let it simmer here for a while to give those so inclined a chance to watch it, after which I will return and explain why I think it’s a great movie and Number One on our short list (also to be named later).
Sound fair?
Here’s the trailer.
Available to rent at Amazon Prime. Well worth the $3.79 fee.
See you later.
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And this where I took a break to collect myself and all I did was drink another cup of coffee at three o’clock in the morning…
Hugo really is a great movie. I will come back to explain why I think so. Eventually.
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Lake said…
Hugo is just outstanding, I agree wholeheartedly. Beyond the wonderful acting, story, and cinematography, I learned a great deal of movie history from it as a starting point. My top film is Arrival, personally.
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My top film is Arrival, personally.