Dalton’s ranking of every Criterion release he’s seen, from worst to best:
4. Flow
3. KPop Demon Hunters
2. Godzilla vs. Biollante
1. Godzilla: The Showa Era Films
“It comes to you, this stuff just flies through the air, they send this information ‘beamed’ out over the fucking place, you just got to know how to grab it. See, I know how to grab it.”
Goddamn, what a shit fucking week. Rest In Peace to the incomparable Tom Noonan.
Rest In Peace, Robert Duvall
NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE (2025, Johnson): “This is gonna be a copyright nightmare.”
Genuinely one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. The runner with unreliable flashbacks made me laugh harder than anything else in recent memory. Run out and see this!
Now seated. Having now watched some (not all) of the series I feel adequately prepped for this.
Fresh sourdough loaf. Happy Valentine’s Day.
A film about a failed lesbian actress traumatized by the casting couch dreaming herself into the lead role of a prime time soap opera where the director who steals the woman she loves has his movie taken away by the shadowy Hollywood elite who destroyed her dreams. Billy Ray Cyrus is also there.
I made my threepeat appearance on the Marvelous pod to discuss the greatest film ever made. Even more Lynch impressions ensue. Check it out!
Life update: Dalton’s room now has a Kaiju Wall
Cause / Effect
Even the way he shoots a shot/reverse shot of a dinner table conversation is more visually interesting than most things made today.
Watched The Roses last night, which was absolutely dreadful, one of 2025’s worst. Followed that up with 1989’s The War of the Roses today, which is not only great but looks fan-fucking-tastic, a damning reminder of what studio films could be. DeVito is on fire here:
My Citizen app just alerted me of two people who don’t know how to use guns.
Full writing on this plus all our lists here!
www.filminquiry.com/staff-inquir...
For FilmInquiry, my Top 10 of 2025, plus some incredible honorable mentions.
For all its horror, I still contend this is the most life-affirming work of art I’ve ever seen.
Now seated for a religious experience.
“You've never seen fog before or what?”
Rest In Peace, Béla Tarr.
THE RESURRECTION OF THE GOLDEN WOLF (1979, Torū Murakawa): A Japanese salaryman sets out to screw over his own employer and leaves a trail of scorched earth in his wake. Yūsaka Matsuda is so impossibly cool & dangerous, a tightly coiled python perpetually on the verge of striking.
December 2025
Afternoons of Solitude
Artists and Models
Gamera vs. Jiger
Gamera: Guardian of the Universe
Gamera 2: Attack of Legion
Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris
Gamera the Brave
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Marty Supreme
The Mastermind
Panna a netvor
Resurrection
Just watched GAMERA 3: REVENGE OF IRIS and it’s some of the raddest, most Evangelion shit ever.
Great question! I’d say this is his Top Five, based on how many times he’s seen or wants to revisit them:
1. Son of Godzilla (1967)
2. Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
3. Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle For Earth (1992)
4. Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
5. Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)
As 2025 comes to a close, I wrote about watching every Godzilla movie with Dalton, my three-year old son. I then ranked all 38 films in the franchise. All this and more on my brand new Substack:
jaketropila.substack.com/p/my-year-wi...
New Ep! Rather than purchasing gifts for his loved ones, Steve filled everybody’s stocking up with whatever coal he could find on Tubi. We watched and discuss Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny, Bikini Bloodbath Christmas, and The Grinch that Stole Bitches. Enjoy?
www.optimismvaccine.com/episode/stev...
MARTY SUPREME (2025, Safdie): “I was born in 1601. I’m a vampire.”
The most compelling portrait of a destructive, single-minded force of nature since UNCUT GEMS. Every soundtrack cut & casting choice exemplary. Khondji, Lopatin & Chalamet on fire. Totally fucking exhilarating.
This holiday season, I watched and reviewed My Secret Santa:
boxd.it/cfVEd5
Rest In Peace Amos Poe, director of the terrific Alphabet City.
“Merry Christmas, 007.”
