WORLD SERIES, BABY!! ⚾

Most recent addition to my collection. Yes, the Jays game is on and you can see the reflection on the packaging. 📽️

AFTER THE HUNT – I’ll admit to liking this film even if I don’t entirely agree with it ideologically. Luca Guadagnino isn't interested in engaging w/ the film's many hot-button issues. He is interested in showing overeager intellectuals stumble outside the safety of abstractions with these topics. 📽️

#NowWatching 📽️

THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 2 – I was among the small minority who enjoyed CHAPTER 1 and held out hope for the 2nd part of this trilogy. But now, I’m questioning whether I gave that 1st chapter too much credit. I shan’t give in to my completist tendencies - Chapter 3 will have to carry on without me. 📽️

My #LastFourWatched 📽️

#NowWatching CC: @amyb8888.bsky.social 📽️

THE SMASHING MACHINE – Kinda hated this film and its risible script. Emily Blunt’s character exists only to take care of Mark Kerr or to argue with him. Those are her only two functions. She has no interiority, and the film doesn’t even complete her arc, treating her as a footnote in the epilogue. 📽️

@falen84.bsky.social Welcome back.

At my fave cinema for THE SMASHING MACHINE (dir. Benny Safdie). #NowWatching 📽️

35 years ago today, this erotic thriller hit Toronto cinemas. They really don’t make them like this anymore: stylish, tense, and, yes, scandalous. Of course this one is in my BluRay collection. 📽️

ORWELL: 2 + 2 = 5 – There’s a dizzying amount of information in this essayistic documentary. Here's a film that uses George Orwell’s words as a lens to explore our present moment. It jumps around frequently – across ideas, timelines, and geographies – it oversupplies and we're expected to keep up. 📽️

La de dah forever. 😭

#NowWatching ORWELL: 2+2 = 5 (dir. Raoul Peck) 📽️

Didn't much care for this at TIFF so I’m a bit surprised to see it has an 84% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

My #LastFourWatched 📽️

Unflattering pic of me after completing today’s Run for the Cure 5k in Toronto. It shouldn’t be this hot in October! #CIBCRunForTheCure 🏃‍♂️

Toronto today. ⚾️

One Banger After Another. #MyLastFourWatched. 📽️

Just checked out the first episode of #DirectorsTakePodcast. So pumped for @hwoodminotaur.bsky.social and her new show, where she + her cohost chat with filmmakers about the movies they love.

It’s launch day for the #DirectorsTakePodcast!! 🎬 Join me as I talk to your favorite directors about their favorite #SonyPictures films… starting with writer/director Zach Cregger celebrating #Adaptation. Listen to the first episode now – available wherever you get your podcasts! 🎧 🎙️

50th Anniversary screening of COLD JOURNEY (dir. Martin Defalco). #NowWatching 📽️

The 4K UHD presentation of UGETSU is flawless. Even better than the 4K restoration I saw on the big screen in 2017. 📽️

Round II. This time in 70MM IMAX. 📽️

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER - Coulda been called CHASE INFINITI. Now it makes sense why this skipped the Fall festival circuit. PTA was being generous. Dropping this alongside the other festival premieres would've been unfair. He knew it would outclass the competition. Round II in 70MM IMAX shortly. 📽️

Today’s flick pick. 📽️

STRANGE DARLING opening with “Shot on 35mm” only pays off if the final title card reads: “...by Giovanni Ribisi.” Now that’s a twist ending. 📽️

My #LastFourWatched. I swear I love movies. 📽️

Makes me happy logging into lboxd and seeing all these 5-star ratings. Even the one film that isn't quite there feels like it could be after another watch.

Didn’t make it into the Criterion Mobile Closet at TIFF. But I did make it into @baystreetvideo.com. And exercised restraint.

Liked WEAPONS but not nearly as much as others. The mystery is so much more interesting than the explanation (which drags down the final chapter). Still, I'm glad this is a hit. I'd like to see more original, non-IP flicks have this sort of box office dominance. 📽️

Finally catching up with this one. #NowWatching 📽️

My #LastFourWatched. Bad way to close out an otherwise great festival. 📽️

My Top 5 Films of #TIFF50: 1. TRAIN DREAMS (dir. Clint Bentley) 2. SOUND OF FALLING (dir. Mascha Schilinski) 3. IF I HAD LEGS I'D KICK YOU (dir. Mary Bronstein) 4. HAMNET (dir. Chloé Zhao) 5. BLUE HERON (dir. Sophy Romvari) Complete ranked list - letterboxd.com/jeratthemovi... 📽️

NUREMBERG - Feels appropriate to see this on the final day of #TIFF50 when all the awards are handed out. Any audience member who sits through this film’s astoundingly bad writing with a straight face deserves an award. 📽️ 🏆

Final Day of #TIFF50: - NUREMBERG (dir. James Vanderbilt) - SHE HAS NO NAME (dir. Peter Ho-Sun Chan) - TO THE VICTORY (dir. Valentyn Vasyanovych) I'll then share my faves of the fest. And then zzz.

SOUND OF FALLING – Mascha Schilinski’s astonishing ambitious second feature drifts between four generations of families over the course of a century, all of them occupying the same German farmhouse. The past does so little to better equip each successive generation. This is a major film. #TIFF50 📽️

FRANKENSTEIN - The movie Guillermo del Toro was born to make is a perfect distillation of his artistry and craftsmanship. Call it a love story between filmmaker and Frankenstein’s creation. Love the philosophical underpinnings here – no question as to who the real monster of this story is. #TIFF50 📽️

lol at the man at this screening criticizing a film at the fest for not giving us an authentic childbirth scene.

Day 10 of #TIFF50: - FRANKENSTEIN (dir. Guillermo del Toro) - KARMADONNA (dir. Aleksandar Radivojević) - SOUND OF FALLING (dir. Mascha Schilinski)

IF I HAD LEGS, I’D KICK YOU - My fave performance of the year: Rose Byrne’s explosive, unflinching portrait of a mother on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Dir. Mary Bronstein keeps us locked in the protagonist’s headspace. The threshold for ‘maximal intensity’ only increases throughout. #TIFF50 📽️

Rose Byrne during the Q&A of IF I HAD LEGS, I’D KICK YOU. #TIFF50

THE CHRISTOPHERS - Went into the 9 a.m. screening with 4 hours sleep and was quickly jolted awake by this wonderfully penned two-hander. The filmmaker who teased retirement in 2013 has a major 2025 with PRESENCE + BLACK BAG and now this. All so different from each other. Except in quality. #TIFF50 📽️

My #LastFourWatched. One great film after another this week. 📽️

KOKUHO - Gorgeous. + proof film industry folks don’t know what they have. This flick set in the world of kabuki premiered out of competition at Cannes with 2 screenings. It went on to become the 2nd highest grossing live-action film at Japan’s box office. Could be headed to the Oscars next. #TIFF50📽️

THE FENCE - Even lesser Claire Denis warrants consideration. And sure, the dialogue might be occasionally stilted (something may have been lost in translating the French play to English text). But it’s fascinating in the ways it doesn’t work: in cranking up the film’s peculiar atmosphere. #TIFF50 📽️

Day 1838 of #TIFF50: - THE CHRISTOPHERS (dir. Steven Soderbergh) - WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY (dir. Rian Johnson) - IF I HAD LEGS I’D KICK YOU (dir. Mary Bronstein)

HAMNET – Another film from the fest where I literally felt my heart break. The best films this year seem to be in conversation with each other (e.g., using art to confront seismic grief). This is Jessie Buckley’s movie - it’s an astonishing performance and the film rests on her shoulders. #TIFF50 📽️

Day 8 of #TIFF50 - HAMNET (dir. Chloe Zhao) - THE FENCE (dir. Claire Denis) - KOKUHO (dir. Lee Sang-il) Spending the entire day at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. Way up in the nosebleeds for movie #1.

If schedules allow, the perfect #TIFF50 double bill would be: MY FATHER’S SHADOW + BLUE HERON.