The Greatest Comedy Show of All Time?

All the Information is on the Task

Flack (2019)

If you’re going to do celeb culture then it better be hard-hitting satire, and Flack delivered.

Searching Amazon video, I saw Anna Paquin’s name, and I knew she’d be quite discerning about her next role. With so much sex, drugs, and bad behavior it’s a two-season long train crash, and I wish there was more.

These are the people fucking over our world, the paid liars whom the other paid liars go to when they fuck up. It should be depressing, but it’s damned funny and twisted at times. Some of the moments are so tense, it’s hard to believe it’s just a TV show about publicity.

What ties it all together, thematically, is the frailty of human nature. Everyone’s on a journey to screw up somewhere. That much shines through, and so many possibilities present themselves, for perpetrating and for redemption. It’s quite a good show, if you like that sort of thing.

The Menu (Review)

The second I saw that was Anya, I was sold. She’s just the top. I’m also a fan of films about cults, and so this was absolutely the first thing to see as soon as it became available.

The best horror/drama films retain a connection to reality, feasibility. I don’t usually go in for that hocus pocus nonsense, #unimpressed. But, if they can keep it plausibly possible then I’ll keep watching.

As I said, I would watch Anya all day, even when the love interest she arrives with is the most annoying prick ever, and you just want a good old horror-film end to him as soon as possible. I suspected it would be a slow-burn, and it was. Half the film before things ramp up, but there is quite a bit of setup and characterization, and I did appreciate that.

An eccentric restaurant for the over-privileged is a great idea for a cult. Add in a touch of class struggle, Norman Bates’ mother, and a bunch of liars, and it does succeed in what it set out to do. No spoilers.

Cult Classic: The Brothers Grimm

This is a magnificent movie, and leaving HBO in a couple of days.



I never knew that Terry Gilliam directed this, and so it is something special. Gilliam has it working on multiple levels, and yet manages great story-book payoffs as the Western viewers expect.

It’s a such a smart, raw film, with real violence and its consequences, real poverty, power disparity, torture, belligerence, arrogance. The acting is phenomenal–Heath Ledger & Matt Damon as battling brothers, the most famous brothers of their age, and begins in the world of the rational. They are con men, charlatans, swindlers.

But magic is real. And it’s enough to carry you away to a most deadly forest.

I love how Terry Gilliam is someone you can trust to deliver some intelligence and a moral compass. Stark contrast to a similar-appearing film called Hansel & Gretel.

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Cult Classic: The Road Warrior

Leaving HBO at the end of this month, you have time to catch it now.

This film is possibly the greatest action thriller ever made. The stunts put Hollywood to shame. Everything is real, kinetic, and life-endangering.

Whether or not you like Mel Gibson, he brought Mad Max to the world, and his world is brutal, chaotic, and sublime. The Road Warrior stood as untouchable for thirty years until George Miller delivered Mad Max: Fury Road in 2015, and we had something to finally compare it to.

The Humungous

The opening montage sequence is a bit dated in its style, and perhaps underwhelming as an opening. Start at the first frame after it, however, and all bets are off. The music also seemed a tad old school, but the action is jaw dropping and center stage.

The plot of The Road Warrior revolves around a siege, that of an old oil refinery in the desert, surrounded by The Humungous and his dogs of war. The refinery people have a small society, straining to keep civilization going in contrast to the scavengers of the wastelands. Max must decide which world he belongs to.

And he’s not a great guy.

But he’s not a bad guy either.

What he is is a damaged guy for a damaged world. And he keeps his word.

It’s interesting how everyone sees value in him, but not himself. He seems to consider himself worthless, a rat scavenging guzzoline wherever he can find it. That’s all he’s capable of aspiring to.

I cited The Road Warrior as a major influence on my 2014 novel Transfixion. There is also a siege and with a school bus lodged across the front gate of a school. I made sure there was a truck/car chase sequence or two as well. It truly was effective, if you believe the readers.

It’s not all about Max. Supporting characters make this movie. Top spot goes to the feral kid, whom you have to stop and just cheer for. The feral kid is amazing. We’d never seen him before or since, and he’s perfect. Max’s gyrocopter-flying sidekick is also a key man in the story. And the helicopter afforded magnificent aerial shots of desert chaos that make sense, and so you never think twice as to why they have all these grand overhead views. It’s just magnificent filmmaking.

The Road Warrior is must-see cinema. End of discussion.

Cult Classic: Caddyshack Still Holds Up

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Mostly. It’s a Harold Ramis movie, and the visuals keep things chugging along so well. He really was a brilliant filmmaker.

I didn’t used to appreciate this film, because it can get very silly at times. The performances are over-the-top and then some. But now looking back at all those top comedy nutballs having the times of their lives, it’s a joy. They let them go hog-wild, in the era of Animal House, and so many gags pass so quickly, like machine-gun fire.

And now it’s right on HBO, if you have it, and their search function is convenient.

Caddyshack holds up because it’s a class-conflict story. The waspy elite scum are the targets, and even they can’t stand each other. Awesome to behold. Plot ramps up and up, and yeah, it’s got a secret weapon, a bit of an underground character.

More on Top Gun 2: Flailing Empire Needs Propaganda

The tens of thousands of men, women and children bombed to death by craven American 'top guns' will never see this Tom Cruise movie. Only the brain dead will applaud it. https://t.co/RQApF7BdSl

— John Pilger (@johnpilger) June 8, 2022

Top Gun: Maverick’ And The Military-Entertainment Complex

We’re Number One–on movie screens.

Belfast (Nominated for 7 Oscars)

(Nov. 24, 2021)

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This unexpected drama delved into the lives of war children. I couldn’t help but see the parallels with Syria: religious extremism, atrocities, and gangs of opportunists moving in and taking over to rule through terror.

The story rang true and may have been. It was a small story about a much larger tragedy. The best part was the kid. He was good, and I heartily recommend this movie.

The bulk of the film is in black and white and kind of a dull, washed-out greyness. I hoped for a bit more literal contrast, but they opted for an ugly world, generally. Aesthetically, this was a drawback, but the intent is obvious.

The religion made my blood boil, and it was only a minute part of the tale. It’s just such child abuse to grant raving meatballs dominion over kids to brainwash them and terrorize them into compliance and obedience. Clearly child abuse, psychological damage, the results end up on the evening news in place after place.

The Irish can always be counted on to deliver loads of character, charm and wit. We can certainly use more films like this one.

DEMIGODS Review

The Expanse Has Concluded

J. Giambrone

(at Amazon Video)

At Season One I was hesitant. It did have a different aesthetic than later. The Blade Runner stylings annoyed me (even Blade Runner had moved on), but it left a cliffhanger. That cliff was pretty high.

So, the sci-fi people already will have seen it, but civilians I cannot say. This is a hell of a ride. At this point, I think it should be on a short list of the best stuff on TV, along with Westworld.

Story dragged slightly in the middle but then came on like big-screen blitzes. Wow. And emotional to boot. This is a 5 S-star series.

The world has been meticulously thought out, the physics and design of future crafts and living situations. Also the politics is quite advanced for the sheeptato crowd.

What more do you want to know?

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Dave Chapelle: The Closer

Much controversy surrounds Dave Chapelle’s longtime feud with the Trans community.

The feud is so inflated and over-the-top that even Terry Gilliam was canceled for simply endorsing this Netflix special. I find it hard to fathom how such a tiny minority of the population could wield such power over creative expression, but here we are.

Firstly–Dave is hilarious. He’s as sharp as they come. This is a funny special, but it’s also coldly calculated, meticulously delivered, and political. We do learn, and I hope this isn’t a real spoiler, that The Closer means his last stand-up special for some time. This is all the Chapelle you’re gonna get, so check it out.

I’m pretty much in agreement with Dave and not outraged about anything he’s said. I don’t care for having my pronouns, nouns, verbs, or adjectives dictated by random people who want to stick them in my face. Just fuck off with that. There’s an air of arrogance to these “social justice warriors”, belligerence even, that is distasteful at first sight. While you may be going through–whatever–it’s not my problem. Don’t make it so.

And so, Dave brings it all back to race in America, and he’s lived it. He’s not pontificating. He’s just telling it like it is for the most part. The only place you can hear the truth about anything these days is at a comedy club. There’s no truth anywhere else that I can locate, except maybe here at the Political Film Blog…

Midsommar – Review

J. Giambrone

Okay, so the most trite buzzline imaginable is: Wicker Man for anthropology students. Now I know that’s reductionist assholery, but on a base level it could be perceived that way. They are literal anthropology students doing anthropology student stuff. This does bog it down a bit. And while some of the horror aesthetics annoyed me at the beginning, I was turned around when the contingent made their trek to northern Sweden.

THE WICKER MAN (1973)

Because, while The Wicker Man was firmly set against the return to pagan ritualism, Midsommar seems on the fence. Where spills and chills poured naturally from the conflict against the English detective and his invasion of their lands, in Midsommar it’s not all malevolence–or is it? There’s a sales pitch that accompanies the human sacrifices. I did like that part.

And the unstated anti-sales pitch for American “bros” and their culture deserves a nod. The…

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