iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Matt Strohl

Brandon Polite @politephilosopher.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

Check out my interview with @strohltopia.bsky.social on his most recent book, Hard to Watch: How to Fall in Love with Difficult Movies (link in the comments)!!! We focus on how algorithms harm our tastes and how to resist them, the values of humility and boredom, and much more. youtu.be/GJRFHSoe7pA

youtu.be

Ep. 81: Resisting Algorithms & Appreciating Difficult Movies | A Discussion with Matt Strohl

YouTube video by Philosophers Discussing Art

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Reposted by Matt Strohl

Die Hard On A Blank & 48 Hours of Buddy Movies! @diehardoab.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

This week we are by joined by @strohltopia.bsky.social to talk CHILL FACTOR, a pretty mediocre movie that nevertheless leads us to a conversation about how we engage with art and cinema! Also, ice cream puns! t.co/GyPvDN6P44

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Had a great time talking CHILL FACTOR on Die Hard on a Blank.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

In honor of Émilie Dequenne's passing, here is Mouret's LOVE AFFAIR(S), a great film that has still not been widely released in the USA or on disc. She is extraordinary in it. drive.google.com/file/d/1jfWj...

drive.google.com

Love.Affairs.2020.1080p.HBO.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264.HUN.FRE-PTHD.mkv

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

By tradition, the Strohl family posts our cinematic year in review on Oscar Sunday. Here it is for 2024, including my top 25 with commentary as well as lists of favorites from my beloved wife, @angelastrohl.bsky.social, my brother Josh, and my sister-in-law Isabel. strohltopia.com/2025/03/02/s...

strohltopia.com

State of the Cinema 2024

As is our tradition, we have waited till Oscar Sunday to put together the Strohl family year-in-review. One new development this year is that after six years of marriage, Angela decided to change h…

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

I’ve got the Potato Cut in hand and I’m going in for round two. I loved the version of Meiyazhagan on Netflix, but it was a bummer to learn how much was cut out for the streaming release.

krislovesmovies.substack.com

Cutting Out the Soul of Meiyazhagan

A Companion Piece to Meiyazhagan Potato Cut

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Reposted by Matt Strohl

Angela Strohl @angelastrohl.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

This is a painting from last month, Still Life of Jewelry Box, Candlestick, Pearls and Perfume 24” x 20,” Oil on Canvas

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

In which Seymour Cassel comes out of the closet to Judd Nelson and then Nelson says many very homophobic things.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

It’s rough around the edges, but I can’t emphasize enough how much I loved Power Paandi, about an old Tamil stunt man searching for another chance at happiness. (It’s on Netflix, which for all its faults has an excellent selection of 21st century south Asian films.)

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Reposted by Matt Strohl

tnyfrontrow.bsky.social @tnyfrontrow.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Great news for the Dwan Patrol: one of his long-unavailable best, The River's Edge, is now on Prime Video (an exemplary work in the fascinating subgenre of the modern Western) (word x2: www.newyorker.com/culture/rich... www.newyorker.com/goings-on-ab...

newyorker.com

DVD of the Week: “The River’s Edge”

Richard Brody on Allan Dwan"™s "The River"™s Edge" (1957).

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Watching obscure Gary Daniels DTV movies on an airplane, the guy next to me keeps looking at my tablet. When we land he says “You’ve got some great movies on your little box there, I haven’t seen American Streetfighter in ages!” (It has 265 logs on letterboxd)

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

Woohoo. Christy is organizing this, he’d be the one to check in with if you have any questions about location or whatever. I expect to show up and just be led around.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

Headed to Houston this week, will give an academic talk for the philosophy department on Friday but there will also be a public event on Thursday where I’ll give a 30-min talk along with a PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE screening and then Q&A.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

Favorite first viewings for January. Really went for it, best month in a long time for me.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

I was on the fence about watching FLOW, but was quickly won over by an African Queen homage with a cat and a capybara.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

I love that instead of some fluffy “Taylor Swift and philosophy” thing, Brandon has brought us a deep dive into the metaphysics of re-recording.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Starting with low hanging fruit in Tamil and Malayalam. I do want to try to watch some more stuff in the 1950-1975 range but there is a lot of newer stuff readily available.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

One of my goals for this year is to watch more Indian movies than French movies. Angela developing a crush on Dhanush is really helping the cause, though she’s also lobbying to finish the Brisseau filmography (and she won’t have to twist my arm on that one).

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

Man, that Paul Schrader movie messed me up. I did not know what I was getting into.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

Misuse of the Italian “finger purse” hand gesture emoji (🤌) has gone on too long. It absolutely does not mean “that’s delicious” or *chef’s kiss*. It means “what do you want?” or “get to the point” or “what the hell do you mean?” or “what the hell are you saying?”

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

It’s pretty funny because I use my cousin’s profile on my uncle’s account. He mostly watches anime and various serials but his recommended titles are wall to wall Indian movies because of my influence on his algorithm.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

If you like fun, Rifle Club is on Netflix. Malayalam siege thriller set in the Western Ghats. Great style. I was hooting and hollering.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

My 2024 new release favorites as of now. I had Close Your Eyes on my list last year or it would be #1.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

Favorite first viewings for 2024, loosely ranked. Letterboxd link below.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

By the way this is going it looks like it will sell out on passes, might be the new normal.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

But the whole system is a little bit of a bummer because my family lives in Rochester and now they can’t simply come to one or two movies and sit with me.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

I would have gone for an aisle seat on one of the side sections because those seats are bigger and I have very broad shoulders, but those were all gone by the time I looked. Went for 6th row center, which is far enough back to at least be able to read the subtitles in my peripheral vision.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

FYI. There are still like 4-5 prime seats available. The second row is open but it’s bad. It’s not elevated above the first row so the person in front of you will likely obstruct your view.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

But I’m sure the people shelling out 325 six months in advance are serious about this and at least I’ll be surrounded by people who care and not the obnoxious hipsters rushing to give Vidor a 1 star review on Letterboxd.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

Well the festival has grown and I’m sure the old guard is resentful that they now have to stand in line for an hour to get even a subpar seat, but waiting in that line is a great way to make friends. Also I don’t want to see every movie from the same vantage.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

I was ignoring the Nitrate Picture Show emails, assuming I had months to get a ticket, but heads up: they are selling assigned seats this year for an extra $125 and nearly all the good seats are already taken. If you want a decent seat, it’s fairly urgent.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

Gloomy Sunday, house to myself, time to pop the cork on one of the movies I’ve been saving the longest.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

Yeah you really feel the pull of the transgression. I don’t think anyone is better at discomfiting eroticism than Breillat. If you like FAT GIRL, she made a meta-film SEX IS COMEDY about filming the sex scene with young actors.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

There’s a good joke buried in there about a science nerd not knowing how to flirt but it’s fumbled.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

I’m scraping up the last of them now, really enjoyed ASHBY with Mickey Rourke as a terminally ill CIA assassin in the middle of a romcom, though the love interest is not great even by Emma Roberts standards and he is the central character.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

The premise “Legally Blonde except it’s Emma Roberts as a cultural Floridian who leaves the salt life behind to join a NASA training program under false pretenses” should be a slam dunk, but it was severely fumbled. Deeply disappointing. I badly want to see a better version of this movie.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

“Needlessly” only in the sense that the movie didn’t need to exist at all, but very much essential to what it’s doing (which is indeed very provocative).

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

Fat Girl is polarizing because it’s aggressive and taboo-breaking, definitely give it a spin.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

It’s a big day for the nerds in your life (I am going to devour this).

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

This piece on HERE from Keith Uhlich is really good. keithuhlich.substack.com/p/here

keithuhlich.substack.com

Here

Boomer, heal thyself

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Thanks so much, dude. Very moving response.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

This means a lot coming from Nick, a philosopher whose work has been very inspiring to me.

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Kendrick Lamar comes out as a Zemeckis fan.

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Reposted by Matt Strohl

Sarah Manvel @cairdiul.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Rupert Sanders is underrated and THE CROW should not have been sunk by people expecting a straight remake of 1994. Its tender heart meets the current moment battleroyalewithcheese.com/2024/08/the-...

battleroyalewithcheese.com

The Crow: The BRWC Review - film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

People seem to have expected this version of The Crow to be an adaptation of the one with Mr Lee, and are surprised that instead Mr Sanders has provided...

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Matt Strohl @strohltopia.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

My wife loved this and was then terribly disappointed by the original, which she had never seen before, and I can absolutely see where she’s coming from.

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