iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

With 50 mins left… Follow my Letterboxd to see the full week, reviews in alt-text. boxd.it/b3JeX #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched #FilmSky🎞

Backrooms. This movie reminds me of the Shining crossed with a video game. I’ve played games where rooms autogenerate and felt the existential dread evoked by feeling lost in an endless interior; the game Doom felt like this often. I’ve also visited furniture stores that can have vast showrooms with a similar effect. The choice of business is an inspired one. The film also reminds me of the Shining, because it’s about being trapped in a liminal, uncanny space. The liminal space sets between the public and the private, like at a Hotel, where you have a rented room, that promises privacy, but less ownership than a leased place. The public encroaches on the private creating an uneasy sense of being between and betwixt, a liminal space that the Shining captures so well. Backrooms also has this quality. The uncanniness of the space come from Freud’s take of the incongruence of the familiar and unfamiliar simultaneously, just like how furniture stores want you to imagine home setups, but the repetition of types of rooms and furnishings in a large showroom creates a bizarre effect, the juxtaposition of the homey against an industrial retail warehouse space. The dread this evokes Backrooms makes the most of in its MC Etcher Minotaur’s labyrinth.
2. The Masque of the Red Death. From a baby ballerina getting slapped, to a party of novels being forced to act like animals—this quirky Roger Corman period piece loosely adapted from Poe is among horror icon Vincent Price’s Shakespearean performance best.
3. Sinister II. Unfairly maligned, the story made sense and has well defined characterization, a good horror movie of its type that went down easy.
4. Obsession. A fairly unique horror movie that’s probably the best of the year besides my favorite, the Bone Temple. Obsession examines the nature of desire instead of just trauma. The monkey’s paw style wish that seemed to me to deliver something other than what was asked for.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Is it just me, or does Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen looks like Buster Bluth wandered into the background of an album cover shoot wielding a chainsaw?

The cheap trick album cover for Dream Police.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

My last 4 watched with 30 minutes left in the Devil’s Mouth. Follow my Letterboxd to see the full week, reviews in alt-text. boxd.it/b3JeX #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched #FilmSky🎞

The Odyssey, Nolan again beings verisimilitude to timeless fantasy, and retreads The Dark Knight Rises with the classical sword and sandal OG inspiration. Bruce Wayne has much in common with the tales of brave Ulysses.
Bonnie and Clyde—an American Odyssey that pushed cinema violence forward in a way Pauline Kael could approve.
City Lights. This movie has a lot of clever sequences, and uses sound for humor despite being arguably a silent film otherwise. The Charlie Brown adult voice makes fun of the mere idea of speaking. Chaplin masterminded it all; he even sang the score and had a composer notate his singing. The film provides the blueprint for even today’s comedies.
Masters of the Universe. The Male Barbie movie, it should have timed its release better with the Odyssey and made a go of another Barbenheimed— the Masterssey. Mattel studios formula seems to be taking the piss out of their properties while also celebrating and touching upon what people like; this take on the character while less deep than the Barbie movie in its exploration of gender, does have a theme about the main character using a non-toxic HR professional’s approach to masculinity to a world of barbaric fighting and high fantasy adventure.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

!!!!Happy Juneteenth!!!! …our newest federal holiday, but the celebration originated in Texas on this date in 1866. When the right acts like it’s a new, made-up thing, I ask, “is that so, Fatso?” Then play this: youtu.be/HqPfSWEFMtc?...

youtu.be

"Juneteenth Jamboree" - Fatso Bentley

YouTube video by oobleckboy

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

I needed to cleanse the palate after I ate something rancid on the night of the full worm 🪱 moon. 🌕 Alt-text for mini-reviews. Follow my Letterboxd to see the full week: boxd.it/b3JeX #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched #FilmSky🎞

Big Trouble in Little China. John Carpenter’s Action-Comedy-Horror hybrid that combines low fantasy, tales of Taoist Magic immortals, and Kurt Russel’s John Wayne impression (as Jack Burton) to create a singular masterpiece that maybe shouldn’t work, but entertains front to back.

The Rock. Perhaps Michael Bay’s best work, I revisited this along with Face/Off and Con Air recently. This held up for me due to its stellar cast and sound story. It’s 90s action at its best that puts Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, and Ed Harris to excellent use. The bio-weapon scene at the top is an especially savvy and effective character introduction for Cage that helps raise the stakes for the entire movie.

Sonny & Jed. Sunny! ☀️ Sunny! Sergio Corbucci ended his Spaghetti western career with one of his best, a two hander between my favorite actor, Tomas Milian, and the great Susan George, who’s also remembered as the young wife in Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs. There’s a really great meta-scene of Milian digging in to a plate of spaghetti for Corbucci to make a meta statement about the spaghetti westerns he helped define, second only to Leone (albeit many prefer Corbucci). Telly Savalas plays an antagonist whom nonetheless rides the western hero horse (being lawful evil if not lawful good) and pursues our outlaw couple as a blind bounty hunter; their showdown scene in a corn silo is one of the best in all of Westerns. Sonny and Jed’s relationship exemplifies the Hegelian master-slave dialectic, if that’s not too obtuse—point being it’s a satisfying arc that could inspire many a term paper or critical essay. But more than that, it’s fun.

Blood of the Werewolf’s Claw. One of the worst movies I’ve seen. I watched three werewolf movies on full moon night (March 3rd). This was the worst of the three. And the lunar eclipse hid behind rain clouds so I didn’t even seen the worm moon turn red. Doggie dung.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

During one of these movies, I treated myself to a Martin & Lewis shake (which likely cost more than $5 even without labor). Alt-text for mini-reviews. Follow my Letterbox to see my full week: boxd.it/b3JeX #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched #FilmSky🎞

1. The Northman. One of the most cinematic movies ever made, which plays like a compressed GOT season. Nicole Kidman plays a 10th C 20.
2. Pulp Fiction. Check out the big brain on Brett, but it’s Phil LaMarr best known for his voice work, who really loses his head. It’s so weird in the credits Kathy Griffin plays herself.
3. Boogie Nights. I remember the change over to the 80s being a bigger tonal shift, the movie going from fun to sad. The effect remains but it’s less pronounced somehow now that I’m middle aged and have seen more of the world.
4. Grimsby. Donald Trump getting AIDS raised the star rating a 1/2 star right at the end. Some jokes I noticed Cohen had recycled from SNL “Celebrity Jeopardy” misreading “therapist as “the rapist” or the Ace Ventura Rhino scene that gets one-upped by a line-up of ejaculating elephants. SBC still takes comedy further in the shock factor than anyone besides maybe Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Happy Ki-Ki-Ki…Ma-Ma-Ma… Day. Now watching: Heart ❤️ 👀 Eyes Alt-text for mini-reviews. Follow my Letterbox to see my full week: boxd.it/b3JeX (The best film I watched this week of the 10 others besides my last 4 reports: Shogun Assassin). #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched #FilmSky🎞

1. Caught Stealing. Raised by Baseball obsessive, I developed an allergy to the game; yet it plays such a minor role in this excellent thriller that balances Aronofsky’s humor, style, and love of the disgusting to make one of his most popcorn friendly, crowd pleasing movies. It’s somewhere between his style and Paul Thomas Anderson’s aesthetic.
2. I love Sorcerer. This under-appreciated Friedkin thriller has a more taut plot, but plenty of great Friedkin shots; it’s short, fast, never bores, and plays out as the best cat and mouse story (often a drag) I’ve seen. Benicio Del Toro may win an Oscar this year, but performances like this show how under-appreciated he is. Tommy Lee Jones has played this kind of character before, which may hurt the film, but never as convincingly. The Hunted has outstanding verisimilitude.
3. My Bloody Valentine. A classic 1981 slasher from their heyday made in Canada that manages an intriguing mystery and plenty of slasher kills. The police work and town’s need to put on a Valentine’s Day dance (not a thing) after years of not being a thing due to a tragedy, strain credulity; yet it’s an entertaining movie of its kind with plenty of fun for those with an antenna tuned to this fuzz-prone frequency.
4. Friday the 13: Part II. A quirky 81 slasher watched on a Friday the 13th in February which would freeze over crystal lake; this film takes place in 1984, set 5 years after the first, as that’s another Friday the 13th with a July. From Alice to Ginny, it’s got a quirky charm and 2 of the best kills—wheelchair and window—that makes it my favorite of the series, especially with Jason’s “the Town that Feared Sundown” Bag-head design. I watched the Fear Fest Joe Bob presentation.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

4 Werner Herzog Produktions with his best Fiend (who’s thankfully now the evil dead). Alt-text for mini-reviews. Follow my Letterbox to see my full week: boxd.it/b3JeX #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched #FilmSky🎞

1. Klaus Kinski portrays a Brazilian gangster turned Cracker Cobra Verde who ruins the life of his plantation owner employer who didn’t know he’d invited an outlaw home; dispatched on a suicide mission to restart the slave trade the British ended (and enforced the prohibition of), Cobra succeeds in enslavement, and sets himself up as a bush king; it’s a complicated critique of colonial ills.
2. Fitzcarraldo. While I prefer Aguirre that has a shorter runtime without a wasted frame, only a filmmaker of Herzog’s ingenuity would match the determination of his character and actually move a massive boat over an Amazonian mountain to jump rivers. The real tribes people make the film too. I find the Opera stuff a little hard to take as it’s hard to believe headhunters would be slotted by the sound of a victrola record over the loud river. Still, it’s another masterpiece with a fraught shoot due to intense naturalism; yet I believe Herzog could have even moved the mountains.
3. Kinski as a soldier driven mad by the establishment; it’s Herzog and Kinski’s shortest collaboration, yet also a long time for what’s a cinematic murder ballad. I found the dialogue confusing but it ends strong.
4. Nosferatu the Vampire. Herzog pays homage and improves upon FW to make the best vampire movie ever made. The timing of Kinski’s movements and exhausted anger driven madness make the most believably sociopathic Count Dracula rendition of them all. The man was a monster, but a genius at capturing a captivatingly evil presence. I admire Herzog but find Kinski talented albeit loathsome. Luckily, he’s dead so I watch these in good conscience knowing Klaus reaps no reward.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

My last 4 watched, with a middle 2 from Mr BIG. Alt-text for mini-reviews. Follow my Letterbox to see my full week: boxd.it/b3JeX #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched #FilmSky🎞

My last 4 watched on Letterboxd.
1. Johnny Mnemonic. Set 3 years ago, in a cyberpunk future steeped in Orientalism, Keanu first honed his Clint Eastwood impression. It’s an interesting mix of floppy discs and prescient futurism concerning the “data wars” and other good guesses. Henry Rollins plays the other Spider not in Avatars and Ice T, the Ice killa as heavenly resistance.
2. the Magic Sword. A lose retelling of St George and the Dragon by Mr Big. Basil Rathbone as the evil sorcerer opposition, and Dr Frank from 2001: a Space Odyssey (Gary Lockwood) as Sir George; he’s playing 20, was 23 and looks like he’s going on 47. Estelle Winwood as George’s witchy adopted mom steals the show; it has a low budget charm for 1962 albeit it was behind the times even then, low-budget.
3. The Last Drive In edition of The Spider also directed by the Magic Sword’s Mr Big. It’s an entertaining Tarantula/Them rip off, a nature strikes back eco horror pic that even has a Rocksploitation reanimation, a sub-genre by the 80s, or more recently “Dead Ant.”
4. Train Dreams. See Letterboxd for my thoughts. It’s a great neo-western steeped in naturalism that takes full advantage of the dreamlike nature of cinema. I now how 2 best picture nominees to see, Hamnet and Sentimental Value.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Catherine O’Hara was the funniest comedian alive, a genius. I loved her WTF interview. Her “uh-oh” when being asked about college made me laugh so hard, as did Beetlejuice I&II, the Guest movies, A Nightmare Before Christmas, Home Alone, After Hours, Wild Robot, Wyatt Earp… youtu.be/6eMyUyOgSHw?...

youtu.be

WTF with Marc Maron - Catherine O'Hara Interview

YouTube video by theflyby

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

My last 4 watched—best picture nominee bun, zombie meat filling; it’s a newish movie sandwich. 🥪 Alt-text for mini-reviews. Follow my Letterbox to see my full week: boxd.it/b3JeX #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched #FilmSky🎞 #oscars #28yearslater #onebattleafteranother #bonetemple #thesecretagent

My last 4 watched on Letterboxd:
1. One Battle After Another. Thomas Pynchon inspired hippie conspiracy theory satire that offers action, suspense, and a lot of laughs. Both sides get shown in all their goofy glory, but only one side has something worth fighting for.
2. 28 Years Later. I may bump this one up to 5 stars as everything that I still had questions about gets resolved by…
3. 28YL: the Bone Temple. I’m a big fan of Nia DaCosta’s and Jordan Peele’s collaboration on rebooting Candyman. She makes another horror masterpiece in this follow up to Danny Boyle’s film. Both share a screenplay by the best screenwriter working today, Alex Garland. Garland delivers and while it’s easy to pit which movie ranks above the other, this seems akin to the original Star Wars trilogy, that without New Hope, you couldn’t have an Empire Strikes Back. In a way, the original trilogy is like 3 acts in one long film, and this film reminds me a lot of Empire in how it’s a brilliant continuation that raises the artistic stakes while leaving us wanting more.
4. The Secret Agent. It’s an interesting story which all made sense by the end, but while it adds up, the sum isn’t much; the deliberate pacing takes 4-5 more minutes for each scene to play out than it needs. This could easily be compressed and improved into a 2 hour movie. The ending seemed to optimize anti-climax. For a best picture nominee, I expected more, yet at its best, there’s some memorable scenes, story ideas. A lot of parallelism gets drawn which makes it feel like a rhyming poem that seems to hold a cryptic mystery but one could also summarize it and fairly hear in reply, “that’s it?” The performances sold a lot of the movie, but there’s a lot of fat. The Brutalist compares except that film thematically matched the subject matter of building a grand structure that seems overwrought but has meaning, whereas this had less claim to the length.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

My last 4 watched on Letterbox, awards bait might be the theme 🎣 🎞️ Alt/description for mini-reviews. Follow my Letterbox to see my full week: boxd.it/b3JeX #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched #FilmSky🎞

My last 4 watched on Letterbox
1. Bugonia. I’ve seen a lot of this Director’s work, Yorgos Lanthimos, and I often find it uncomfortable albeit unique. I found this movie more rewarding albeit I’m not sure about the reversal-on-a-reversal end, that implies conspiracism belongs in the marketplace of ideas and isn’t a rotten fruit.
2. Lucky. His secret will stay with me, but I hope the body of 90 year old HDS will not; the cameo by David Lynch setting up his will to leave to his tortoise hits harder now.
3. The Bad Guys 2. I love the voice cast, and while I’m older than the main intended audience, this has plenty of heist and spy movie references to make it fun for adults. I especially enjoy Marc Maron as Mr Snake—Marc’s a good guy but he plays a great bad guy. He always makes me laugh and never phones it in by just sounding like Marc. I also needed something lighter after…
4. Marty Supreme. Maron first introduced me to the Safdie bros, this being Josh’s solo effort; like a lot of their work, there’s great character and dialogue moments, but they always give way to unrelenting action that’s thrilling yet bleak and pretty hardcore. Marty and those he encounters aren’t always “likeable” but they’re always “compelling.” I’d take a million Martys over boring, likeable but forgettable protagonists. Also, Timothee has a surprisingly poor complexion when shot in extreme closeups, yet it’s a pretty brave and real performance not to hide imperfections under that Dune CG or makeup miracle working. That’s a little bit unkind to comment on, nor would I have noticed if not for the Sergio-Leone-if-he-could-shoot-pores cinematography, but it’s pretty cool for a leading man to allow a less than photogenic approach. We had a bacterial POV of the cast. Also, fun to see a cameo from the golden voiced Ted the once homeless man. Get that SAG insurance, Ted!

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Bob Weir. The other lead singer of the Grateful Dead, the Dead, the Dead and Company, WolfBros, and Ratdog. Fuck Cancer. And like Alice Cooper, forever love the Dead. ☠️ 🌹 🥀 🐻 He takes Cassidy’s driving method to the grave. youtu.be/3WLTs_LyPKA?... #music #musicsky #theotherone #bobweir #rip

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

My last 4 watched. Shock and Awe I missed when released due to War on Terror fatigue, but it’s a great Rob Reiner movie about the Knight Ridder reporters who did right, as fake reporters like Judy Miller had their evil way with the world. boxd.it/b3JeX #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched #FilmSky🎞

My last 4 watched posters for Shock and Awe, The Ballad of Wallis Island, New Year’s Evil, and Jonah Hex.

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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

Imagine watching Sinatra, son of Dolly & Antonini born in Genoa & Sicily, respectively, and Martin, son of Gaetano & Angela, born in Montesilvano, Italy & Ohio respectively, (Angela to parents born in Monasterolo, Italy), and crusading against the value of children of immigrants to the U.S.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

My last 4 watched, Christmas horror is my reason for the season. My thoughts are in the alt-text. Please follow my letterbox if you like my takes: boxd.it/b3JeX Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays or you-do-you & that’s coo’ too. #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched #FilmSky🎞

1. Don’t Open Till Christmas. This UK Christmas horror film inverts the serial killer Santa, trope with a Giallo style killer who hunts Santas. A fraught production with a lead quitting makes the movie feel listless in that it’s lead-less. The first guy on the call sheet tried to direct then quit; the screenwriter took over then drank on the set until they fired him. Other storylines then take precedence, after the lead cop leaves, and while we do get a complete story, the highlights are the seedy juxtapositions against Christmas of sex and violence. Investigations sometimes turn over so it weirdly helps the verisimilitude having a third person universal pov, rare in film. There’s an especially great London torture museum sequence.
2. Martin Starr as a dad who inherits a farm in Norway, uprooting his kids and their stepmom. The young boy adjusts when he meets the nissen who lives in their barn. Christmas gnomes that eat porridge and represent Scandinavian ancestors, we often see in the US too. This horror comedy that’s a lesser Gremlins won me over more on a second viewing, but also has some pretty obnoxious jokes targeting reasonable European criticisms of American cultural violence. I also find that the ending, the elf’s change in heart after calling in reinforcements, wasn’t really earned. The elves forgive their slaughter a little too easily after such a bloody battle, and sometimes main character armor keeps the logical thing from happening.
3. Elf in the Hood. This came across like a student film that needed another re-write, most scenes playing like a first table read by apathetic participants in a class. There’s some okay SFX for a indie.
4. Better Watch Out. This movie has an amazing turn and while it cheats a little for its reveal, and has moments I can pick apart, overall it’s so fun and so much works I don’t really care. The pacing really makes it fun too, fast paced and action packed. Darkly funny too. It’s a top 5 Xmas horror for me.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

I had a smudge on my phone that looked like a human skull. I wanted to take a picture of it using my camera phone, but obviously can’t. So then I almost took a screenshot until I realized the smudge wasn’t part of the displayed image. So instead a wet wipe has robbed prosperity of great art.

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Marko Silberhand @markosilberhand.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

. In memory of a truly great . . . ... Rest in Peace Rob Reiner 💔 🙏 💔

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

#music #musicsky #tuccac #xmas #christmascarols #christmasmusic #underplayed #musicchallenge #nowplaying #vinyl #advent #adventcalendar #musicadventcalendar Thanks to everyone who has engaged so far! Were a little pass the halfway mark to 🎄! (My shopping is not done 😬), 💵 boycotts & blackouts…

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

I try to be a charitable audience, but I had to watch 3 great movies rid the taste of Killer Christmas Elves, an all-time irredeemable. Claudia Jennings motorboating on the Bayou, me-o-my-o, Howie’s best work, and traumatic tales of Lincoln’s birthday. #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched #FilmSky🎞

The posters for the worst Christmas horror movie since Silent Night Blood Night, the redneck masterpiece from husband and wife proto-Coen brothers team Ferb and Bev Sebastian, Gator Bait, staring playboy playmate serial Rolling Stone dater and Bowie roommate, Claudia Jennings and The Gremlins duology—two classic Christmas movies from Joe Dante that fill up the frames with more fun ideas in a single frame than some films have during their entire runtime, with classic performances by Dick Miller, the other Thomas C Howell aka Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates Kline, and Howie Mandel as Gizmo.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

Day 6. The last Day of Theme #1 with the classy “1st Lady [back when that was a compliment] of American Song”— #EllaFitzgerald www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aEK... Bonus: Hotta Chocolatta www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0Vq... #music #musicsky #nowplaying #vinyl #musicchallenge #TUCCAC #adventcalendar

Day 6 of the Underplayed Christmas Song Advent Calendar 2025: Ella Fitzgerald’s Good Morning Blues. Ella rides a horse drawn Santa slay loaded with wrapped presents and Santa stands of the horse’s back clutching Ned Flander’s expert-level hot cocoa from the Simpsons. Ella Fitzgerald bonus track: Hotta Chocolatta. I included a link to the live Ed Sullivan performance. It’s Christmas adjacent but a great way to add variety to a playlist that offers a break from the word “Christmas” while evoking a great drink of the season. Good Morning Blues doesn’t get played much as an Ella Christmas deep cut, but there’s few misses when it comes to Fitzgerald.

Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas cover with Ella in a green dress, leaning in, chin in hand; a deep red vinyl pulls out from the cover.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

A Rock Legend’s latest concert film shot in the Circus Maximus. The Cold Full moon 🌕 inspired — this week has gone to the dogs. 🐕 Last Drive-In presentation of Bad Moon on my friend’s b-day. #lastfourwatched #letterboxdfriday #letterboxd #filmsky #films #movies 📽️

My letterbox last 4 watched. Werewolf Santa eeked out a 3/5 “I like it” due to the Joe Bob animated opening; it’s highly flawed. I’m glad to finally see Good Boy after being too busy to catch it in theaters.

Joe Bob Briggs animated in Werewolf Santa.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

🤮 the baby talk of Scary Merry Carey? Simply 🤢 of Wonderful Xmastime? Fear not! While annoying, notorious standards persist, torturing tasteful retailers, good Christmas music exists! For 24 days in December, I will post an under-played Xmas song as a digital advent 📆. #musicsky #adventcalendar

The Underplayed Christmas Carol Advent Calendar 2025, a naughty list you wanna make. For the next 24 days and maybe Xmas time permitting, I commit to introducing or reminding you of a lesser known Christmas banger of the song variety. If you’re sick of overplayed standards, freshen up your holiday playlist with some Christmas music you should anticipate hearing. At the end, I will provide a score sheet and answer key where you can tabulate your (self-reported albeit Krampus is watching) score of “knew-it-already” picks. A high music knowledge score will be the consolation prize 🏆 for not learning a new great tune. 🎶

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Nat Cassidy @natcassidy.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

One of the most important works of literature in my life. This play opened my eyes to what was possible in drama, in comedy, in philosophy, in performance, in conversation with the past. My first play was an almost direct homage and I’ve been chasing it ever since. RIP to a true genius.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

While I’m not the audience for this movie, and its intended viewership seems to love it, the oxymoronic title still annoys me. And not in an Annoying for Pleasant way. Or in a Painful for Soothing way. Or in a Dumb for Smart way. But in a what for oh kind of way. No disrespect to its fans.

media.tenor.com

a lightning bolt is coming out of a white object

ALT: a lightning bolt is coming out of a white object

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

1. Christmas Evil 2. The Last Thanksgiving. 3. The Last Waltz 4. Black Friday See the alt-text for movie mini reviews. The Last Waltz and Thanksgiving—“Happy Thanksgiving,” the Band. #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched #FilmSky🎞

1. Christmas Evil. The Last Drive-In presentation. The original killer Santa movie with some pretty great songs no indie could afford today. John Waters helped repopularize the movie and Joe Bob sold me on its quirky charm.
2. the Last Thanksgiving. A recent, indie slasher that has its moments. Linnea Quigley’s makes it worth it as the one patron who keeps a doomed diner crew from leaving early for the holiday; her kill is very Quigley-esque.
3. The Last Waltz. Happy Thanksgiving! The high-mark of classic rock and roll, filmed at the Winterland ballroom on the Thanksgiving Day of 1979; the audience had to pay the then high price of $25, double a high priced ticket then, to attend one of the most important concerts ever, resulting in Martin Scorsese’s best rated film; but included in the price they got the Band, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Dr John, Bobby Charles, Ronnie Hawkins, Eric Clapton, the Staples, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, Neil Diamond, Joni Mitchell, Paul Butterfield, Ringo Starr, Ronnie Wood, and even beat poets Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Michael Mclure—and included in that $25 was a full Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. Some complained about the high price, but today it’s hard not imagine feeling anything but gratitude this miracle concert happened. Forever young and immortality preserved, one of the most important rock docs outside Pennebaker.
4. Black Friday. Devon Sawa and Bruce Campbell in a fun holiday horror comedy. A few plot holes hold it back, but I’ve watched it most Black Fridays and always enjoy it. On my third watch, I should probably bump it up a half-star.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

RIP 🪦 Jimmy Cliff The Harder They Come is the best reggaexploitation 🎦 ever, towering above classics like Rockers and Babylon. Cliff’s a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee—an incredible discography. I saw him perform live, including better versions of other artists tracks from his 🎞️soundtrack.

Young Jimmy Cliff as a pot dealer reggae man printed on a record puck. He’s backgrounded by bullet holes on a Jamaican flag, and has a wide collared leopard print shirt like any respectable Jamaican from the 1970s.

Jimmy Cliff belting out a song in concert, against a black background, clutching a mic in a stand; he raises one arm, and wears and orange t with a black star.

Jimmy Cliff in studio in the Harder They Come laying down the grooves of one of the most famous and well-regarded soundtracks ever, inspiring endless covers.

A sepia yellow image that’s a famous still of Cliff squaring and shooting, legs spread, from The Harder They Come.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

I 👀 2 fun kid 👦 protagonist led X-mas 🎅 horror 🎦 showcased on the Last Drive In, Edgar Wright’s latest, and a bizarre albeit captivating New 🇩🇪 cinematic classic from the great Herzog. Now 👀ing: Frankenstein (2025), the bull’s latest. So far—41/2✨ #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched #FilmSky🎞

The Running Man — Edgar Wright’s one of my favorite directors and he succeeds again with the year’s second Richard Bachman adaptation that writes a different ending, but adapts what’s best from the original, improving on already solid source material.
Rare Exports. A Fin kid takes on the Finnish Santa that’s a lot more Krampus like despite Lapland (where Europeans tell their kids Santa lives instead of the North Pole) having Santa village where the big man takes after Clement Clark Moore’s “Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas” iteration of Claus. This movie instead uses the Christmas folk horror of Finland with an interesting reveal, and offers a truly unique holiday action-horror-comedy hit. No other movie I’ve seen depicts the Sami people who travel between Scandinavian countries hearing reindeer, the first animals humans domesticated.
Even Dwarves Started Small. Werner Herzog’s all little person comedy art film where he cuts his teeth, advancing New German cinema. The movie provides a lot of interesting moments and imagery but it’s ultimately not the perfect triumph of Aguirre or Nosferatu. But if you ever want to see little people crucifying a monkey, and a chicken eating another chicken, you’re in luck.
4. 3615 code Père Noël aka Dial Code Santa Claus aka Deadly Games aka Game Over aka Hide and Freak. The French Home Alone that likely inspired Hughes. This kid lives in a much cooler mansion and faces a more psychotic intruder, that itself takes inspiration from Christmas Evil, Don’t Open Til Christmas, and the Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise; the mom’s works at the French equivalent of a Gimbles-like dept. store giving a nod to Miracle on 34th Street too—asking what if a Santa wasn’t just delusional but truly as dangerous as Mr Granville Sawyer said. A loveable diabetic Grandpa helps sell the stakes, and the kid also seems like a Frog version of the Frog bros from Lost Boys—pint size 80s action movie hero kids. It’s fun.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

I’ll always remember the great cloudfare outage of 2025 when I couldn’t update my Letterbox diary for a full 10 minutes.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

It’s amazing that if an ape wears a suit and grooms its hair how many people won’t understand it’s still just a gibbering ape. 🦍 🦧 👨 🧍‍♂️

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

I saw Todd Snider play live. He was one of the last folkies carrying on the message song tradition, a def raconteur and poet. Police arrested Todd for refusing to leave a hospital when unable to breathe, then died days later of walking pneumonia. youtu.be/F5hlil50vi4?... #musicsky #rip #toddsnider

youtu.be

Todd Snider - Conservative Christian, Right Wing, Republican, Straight, White, American Male

YouTube video by Farm Aid

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

If we can’t have campaign finance laws because they limit speech, maybe we should require instead that political donations require a matching, discretionary fund to payfor the winner’s agenda. Pay $55 million to beat Mamdani obligates you to give his agenda $55 million in funding.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

I don’t know who the latest Fox blonde is—I block Fox—but I saw this excerpted clip and now can’t unsee this: #fox #election

A blonde on Fox mouth tweeting blonde things.

ATweety Bird plush toy looking stylish in a suit. This house has no dog.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Ok, weirdos. NOW that Dia de los Muertos finished, you can post the Mariah Carey nonsense without a block. Her minions need to stop that crap, ignoring the day of the innocents and day of the dead. Carey ought be linked only with New Year’s Eve, the 1 time she entertained. youtu.be/lJKooIkqHRI?...

youtu.be

FULL VIDEO OF MARIAH CAREY'S 'MASSIVELY EPIC' PERFORMANCE AT NEW YEAR'S EVE 2017

YouTube video by John Nacion Imaging

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Reposted by @trwesterman.bsky.social

Jay Troyer @gr8flbluejay.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

Día de los Muertos Luis Tapia, American (1950- ), Doña Sebastiana La Maestra, Will Take Your Requests (Death Cart), 2001, carved and painted wood with horse hair; 31 1/4 x 40 x 22 1/2 in, Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, USA

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Day 31: 🎃 1. Jack-o (Splatterween tLDI special) & 2. Idle Hands That’s it for the challenge! While I lagged behind, I logged big # s See my letterbox for 🌟-ratings and reviews; also alt-text… boxd.it/b3JeX #31DAYHORRORCHALLENGE @nofspodcast.bsky.social #filmsky #horrorsky

Halloween Night Day 31 placard for the 31 Days of Halloween Horror Challenge written over a cemetery silhouette backlit by an orange-tint sunset.

My Letterbox Diary.

1. The Halloween Tree bridged Halloween ween and Halloween Day. It was good to hear Bradbury’s voice again.
2. Jack-O. I watched the Last Drive In presentation from Splatterween. Darcy’s right—it’s fun!
3. Idle Hands. Buried by Columbine, this 90s horror comedy masterpiece boasts Jessica Alba at her peak hotness, scream King Devon Sawa doing Lucille-Ball level physical comedy, and Seth Green with the face of 90s kids Elden Henson at their funniest, and true to life, like popeye’s spinach, Anton’s devil spinach saves the day! This is one of my all-time favorite movies that’s a time capsule of the 90s where everything works. I love every frame.

Seated on a couch left to right, Zombie Mick with a bottle impaled in his forehead, Anton knits 🧶, Zombie Pnub cradles his severed head in his lap as smoke comes out of his neck. Snack bags and soda cans litter the table in front of them.

Jessica alba in an angel Halloween costume dances at the school’s Halloween dance Offspring played.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Day 30: 🧒 👹 1. Something Wicked This Way Comes. 2. The Long Halloween Deluxe 3. Monster Family 4. The Halloween Tree 🌳 🎃 See my letterbox for 🌟-ratings and reviews; also alt-text… boxd.it/b3JeX #31DAYHORRORCHALLENGE @nofspodcast.bsky.social #filmsky #horrorsky

Kid-Friendly Fright Day 30 placard for the 31 Days of Halloween Horror Challenge 2025 written over a cemetery silhouette backlit by a green tinted sunset.

My letterbox diary.
1. Something Wicked this Way Comes. I hadn’t seen this Disney adaptation since childhood but always loved Ray Bradbury’s book more; he kindly signed one for me I own to this day.
2. Batman: The Long Halloween Deluxe Edition. Two 90 minute parts, OLED reactive, and in my top 3 favorite Batman adaptations ever made.
3. Monster Family. Baba Yaga dispatched by Dracula turns a family into their Halloween costumes until they learn self-love and family. It’s a pretty standard contemporary fairy tale—love breaks the witch’s curse.
4. The Halloween Tree. This bridged the end of the day into Halloween. I’d also not revisited this Ray Bradbury written Hannah-Barbara style animated film about a meaning of Halloween since my childhood.

A monster costume party invitation from the computer animated Monster Family that coincidentally set on the day I watched it, October 30th!

The Halloween tree. Pumpkins and Jack o lanterns dangle from the black gnarled branches viewed from below.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Day 29: 💵 🏰 1. The Tingler 2. The Old Dark House See my letterbox for 🌟-ratings and reviews; also alt-text… boxd.it/b3JeX #31DAYHORRORCHALLENGE @nofspodcast.bsky.social #filmsky #horrorsky

William Castle Day 29 placard for the 31 Days of Halloween Horror Challenge 2025 written on a cemetery silhouette backlit by an orange tint sunset.

The director William Castle casts a less impressive shadow than Hitchcock, but stands in a suit in front of a white screen. The cc reads “I am William Castle, the director of the motion picture you’re about to see.”

A Charles Addams (of Addams’ family fame) drawn old dark house entrance tinted purple with the super “Directed by William Castle” overlaid.

Only two. I appreciate more than I enjoy William Castle. He’s a fascinating movie impresario who created a unique niche. The stories about his movies surpass the movies themselves. I like far more the Bob Clark produced movie Popcorn I watched on Dee Wallace day that mentions Castle as the inspiration by name of the kind of horror gimmick festival the film kids recreate as a fundraiser before getting slashed by the phantom of the theater serial killer, the man behind the masks. I’ve seen William Castle’s the House on Haunted Hill and already watched Rosemary’s Baby this Halloween season, which Castle produced (sadly not on creepy neighbor day). These two—the Tingler and The Old Dark House—I set aside for today. The Tingler almost made weird science day before I settled on mad neurologist scientists, evil brain movies, a mad science sub-genre. Vincent Price elevated that movie. Tom Poston did his best in the Danny Kaye type project, a sort of proto-Clue horror film in the Old Dark House. It’s zany, campy fun and I get why John Waters especially called Castle his “god.”

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Day 28: 👻 🏠 👁️ 🚫 🙈 1. Black Phone 2 2. They Live Inside Us 3. Ghost Team Hard. I’ve seen most great 🏚️ movies. My favorites ranked: boxd.it/OwIdy See my letterbox for 🌟-ratings and reviews; also alt-text… boxd.it/b3JeX #31DAYHORRORCHALLENGE @nofspodcast.bsky.social #filmsky #horrorsky

Haunted House (I Haven’t Seen) Day 28 placard for the 31 Days of Halloween Horror Challenge 2025 written over a cemetery silhouette backlit with a purple tint sunset.

A haunted house movie I’ve seen many times that tops my favorite ghost movies list on Letterbox. An illustration of Shelley DuVall, red eyed and crying, holding a baseball bat, in front of the Shining’s famous orange hexagon carpet design.

An illustration of 3 kid classic sheet ghosts standing behind an iron gate under a full moon on a snowy night.

My Letterbox for Haunted House I haven’t seen day. The problem with this category, is it’s hard to tell if it’s a haunted house movie for sure until you see it. My choices were more defined by a day-long, citywide power outage as Black Phone 2 was the only ghost movies I could see as even the cell tower couldn’t function with a whole city on data. Ghost Team was the strongest movie of these three, and They Live Inside Us was the most on topic, I suppose. Anyway, I’ve seen most of the great haunted house movies already. I’ll put a link to my favorite ghost films in the post.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Day 27: 1. The Sentinel 2. The Girl Next Door 3. The Crazies See my letterbox for 🌟-ratings and reviews; also alt-text… boxd.it/b3JeX #31DAYHORRORCHALLENGE @nofspodcast.bsky.social #filmsky #horrorsky

Creepy Neighbours Day 27 placard for the 31 Days of Halloween Horror Challenge 2025 written over a cemetery silhouette backlit by the green tint of a setting sun.

My letterbox Diary for Creepy Neighbor movies.

1. The Sentinel. Creepily intrusive neighbors turn increasingly terrifying as we learn of their terrifying backstories. Then there’s the recluse neighbor upstairs neighbor, an old priest always staring down from the top apartment in the building, staring down with his milky cataract stair. Then there’s the hellish neighbor downstairs, a gate to Hell, so Satan and his assorted demon minions also count as pretty creepy.
2. Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door. Bested by only Stephen King and Joe R Lansdale among his generation of horror writers, Jack Ketchum mastered the genre and had a lifetime achievement Bram Stoker award to back up his top-tier bibliography. This movie, while masterful, anyone with a heart will find challenging, and like many of the scariest movies (Zodiac, Silence of the Lambs, the Sound of Metal)—many will say it’s a drama or a thriller instead of horror as if horror only belonged to unserious ghosts and goblins. Ketchum does the near impossible in taking an unthinkable crime and making the abuser behind the torture understandable albeit never sympathetic or relatable. But we learn how the rare psychopathic female thinks and creates, inculcates male abusers. It’s like a tour of the MAGAt factory to find out how rightards are made. This seems like a plausible origin story for a Pete Hegseth type. It walks you through the kind of torture and murder by neighborhood that makes most sane people go “how could that even happen.” Yet Ketchum also brings a sensitivity to it never losing sight of the victim’s humanity.
3. The Crazies. George Romero’s non-zombie horror movie (or living zombies in a way) that while slow-paced still blends Romero’s sadly prescient hippie conspiracy social commentary into a pandemic outbreak thriller about neighbors driven mad by a bio-weapon leak. Living through the COVID pandemic made some choices strain credulity, but still a solid film worthy of reassessment overall.

A joker poster with a creepy neighbor looking in a window captioned “creepy neighbors. The reason doors have locks.”

The creepiest of neighbors, this peeping tom weirdo. A still of Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window.

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trwesterman.bsky.social @trwesterman.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Day 26: 🎃 1. Hollow Gate 2. Pumpkinhead 3. The Pumpkin Karver 4. Carved Stay away from Pumpkinhead, unless you’re tired of living— through “meh” movies. See my letterbox for 🌟-ratings and reviews; also alt-text… boxd.it/b3JeX #31DAYHORRORCHALLENGE @nofspodcast.bsky.social #filmsky #horrorsky

Pumpkin on the Poster Day 26 placard on the 31 Days of Halloween Horror Challenge 2025 written over a cemetery silhouette backlit by a tinted orange sunset.

Evil pumpkins with fangs, rotting pumpkins on the vine, glowing Jack o lanterns, and unlit Jack o lanterns too, from the Factory of Terror Haunt.

A Pumpkinhead on a giant skeleton with a glowing light blue mouth and glowing orange eyes at the Factory of Terror haunt.

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