Good mail day. Both Amazon and Barnes & Nobel have good Kino sales happening right now. I picked up some 4K upgrades for films I like quite a bit.

1. THERE WILL BE BLOOD 2. PUNCH DRUNK LOVE 3. MAGNOLIA 4. PHANTOM THREAD 5. BOOGIE NIGHTS 6. HARD EIGHT 7. LICORICE PIZZA (only seen once) 8. THE MASTER 9. INHERENT VICE (only seen once)

@zachralston.bsky.social Have you seen THE LONG WALK yet?

The Fiery Furnacnes’ Blueberry Boat vinyl reissue limited to 500. OOP for quite some time, one of the best albums of the 2000s.

Trump will threaten the Soros-funded terrorist organization known as Gwar: Scumdogs of the Universe.

Yawn.

I slept on it and decided to cancel my Hulu/Disney/Espn subscription.

The new album DARK SKY RESERVE by Robin Kester is worth checking out if you enjoy chill, dream pop. Adrian Utley from Portishead is on guitar on several tracks.

David Frum on Jimmy Kimmel: "This is not cancel culture because it's not culture. It's state repression. It's an order from the government. Here is the script, you must read, if you do not read it, you will be taken off the air."

Good mail day. Hope this lives up to the hype.

Top Redford films that I haven’t seen. Probably going to watch THE CANDIDATE or JEREMIAH JOHNSON. Anyone want to make a strong case for any of the others instead?

They probably won’t lower the flags to half-staff for Robert Redford, but I can’t think of any celebrities with a less complicated legacy of advocacy for sensible policy and the arts. That he was also a talented actor with a taste for ambitious projects and an acclaimed director is somehow secondary

Let me check the integrity of my laserdisc player the only proper way: with my Milli Vanilli-sploitation porn MILLI VANILLA.

So… i was at an estate sale today and this was $10.

It’s not very good, but there is something very comforting about the new DOWNTON ABBEY film, especially after this shitty, horror-show of a week.

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER tickets are finally available to purchase from AMC.

Happy Birthday to the great Brian De Palma. Coincidentally, I’m reading “The De Palma Decade” by Laurent Bouzereau right now and I was very interested to read more about De Palma’s abandoned adaptation of “Cruising” and what he carved away from that script to put into DRESSED TO KILL.

Most popular films *with friends* on Letterboxd I haven’t seen, per decade: 20s: I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS 10s: None 00s: MILLENNIUM MAMBO 90s: None 80s: None 70s: None 60s: LE BONHEUR 50s: ORDET 40s: LATE SPRING 30s: BABY FACE 20s: A PAGE OF MADNESS 10s: INTOLERANCE

Somewhere along the way, Beyond Fest became a more essential and prestigious film festival than AFI Fest. I did not see that coming.

Perfect.

I hate this so much.

$20 less at Diabolik DVD. Apparently that crazy Shout! price was for the disc + poster?

#Top5FirstViews August 2025 1. LA CEREMONIE (Chabrol) 2. CHRISTMAS IN JULY (Sturges) 3. GENTLEMAN JIM (Walsh) 4. WHEN TOMORROW COMES (Stahl) 5. THE GANG’S ALL HERE (Berkeley) Fantastic month of movies.

everyone should watch Clearcut (1991)

RIP Graham Greene. Watch Clearcut.

Bjork - Bachelorette (Gondry) Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar (Gondry) Laura Branigan - Self Control (Friedkin) Nine Inch Nails - Closer (Romanek)

Good mail day. 4K from Shout. Don’t make me regret these Arrow.

These are some character names.

Crossed over into dangerous territory buying obscure VHS tapes when I come across them at the thrift store. Pretty sure this is a slippery slope towards buying a 19” CRT TV with built in VCR.

Good mail day. Some international sleazy exploitation and a vinyl box set with demos galore for one of my favorite albums by Nick Drake. Really exciting to dive into all of this madness.

I saw Clipse tonight and Kendrick Lamar came out.

THE LOVERS ON THE BRIDGE 4K restoration had a Janus logo upfront, so looks like we’ll be getting a Criterion 4K disc at some point (hopefully soon).

14 minutes into BLACK SWAN at AMC Theater are we still just have black screen (with audio playing). I complained, so have others. Fortunately there’s still probably 20 minutes of trailers for them to figure out the problem.

Seeing BLACK SWAN tomorrow and THE LOVERS ON THE BRIDGE on Saturday. The cinema is alive.

Say cheese…

I have this week off work and my first visit to a record store was an unqualified success. I’ve been looking for both of these for a long time. I’ve never seen this Ice Cube record in such good condition.

If you need a film with Terence Stamp to watch tonight—to celebrate his life and career—TOBY DAMMIT is terrific, it’s on Criterion Channel and it’s less than 45 minutes.

Underrated 70s 70: LOVING 71: THE BURGLARS 72: SWEET SUGAR 73: BONNIE’S KIDS 74: BUSTING 75: BITE THE BULLET 76: THE LAST HARD MEN 77: HITCH-HIKE 78: THE GREEN ROOM 79: NORTH DALLAS FORTY

Fun KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON crew shirt at the thrift store.

Good mail day. Two very good new releases: Teethe is Slowcore with some alt-Country elements from Austin TX and right is a dreamy, shoegaze record by Everything Else from the UK. I recommend both.

By far the most disturbing part of seeing WEAPONS last night was that there were two very young children in the theater watching it with me. I didn’t notice until a brutal scene of forced self-harm when the children started to vocalize their horror. They remained vocal for the rest of the film.

Seems like new indie rock has been stagnant the last few years but maybe we’re starting to see a comeback? I really like new albums by Teethe, Wet Leg, Hotline TNT and Lifeguard. Anything else good I’ve missed?

Where’d I get it: Not sure but I have two copies. Why’d I get it: Have heard good things about Reid. On Spotify: No! How many plays: 5 Verdict: Love this. Chilly singer/songwriter material with psychedelic touches. Sad it took Reid’s passing for me to finally get to it. 9/10 Keep or sell: Keep

Picked this up after rewatching the film last week. Howard Shore’s work with Cronenberg is always better than his work with anyone else.

***ANNOUNCEMENT*** Coming on November 24th on Blu-ray in the UK from #BFI: #TheHouseOfMirth (2000)! First time on Blu-ray for Terence Davies’s acclaimed adaptation, newly remastered by BFI. New York at the beginning of the 20th century.

Philip Seymour Hoffman as the preppy shithead in SCENT OF A WOMAN. Obviously James Gandolfini makes quite an impression in TRUE ROMANCE.

#Top5FirstViews July 2025 1. THIRTY TWO SHORT FILMS ABOUT GLENN GOULD (Girard) 2. THELONIOUS MONK: STRAIGHT NO CHASER (Zwerin) 3. 92 IN THE SHADE (McGuane) 4. BLUEBEARD’S EIGHTH WIFE (Lubitsch) 5. THE EDGE OF THE WORLD (Powell)

I saw CLOUD the other day at the Landmark Nuart Theater and they showed three trailers before the movie. I forgot what that was like, getting to the movie without 30 minutes of commercials and trailers. That was also one of the things I loved most about the Arclight Theaters.

Watched Michael Powell’s THE EDGE OF THE WORLD last night. God tier superimposition in this film. Incredible thinking of these trick shots being done in camera in 1937.