Recent theatrical viewings

[M.10rda]

Yeah, the math is fuzzy w/ the passage of time. The German head scientist looks about 10 years older at the end of the movie, that's about it. I still liked it.

[Dr. Whom]

A Useful Ghost (2025)

This is a bait and switch movie. It starts out as a deadpan comedy about possessed electrical appliances, and then suddenly switches to commentary about the bloody crackdown on the opposition by the Thai dictatorship in 2010.
Other themes include labour conditions, homosexuality (with quite a bit of man on man sex), the pressure of family expectations and being a Thai with Chinese heritage. At times funny, touching and thought provoking.

If this movie is anything to go by, Thai people are very matter of fact about ghosts.

[Rev. Powell]

It's a bit ragged but I liked A USEFUL GHOST. Currently my 3rd-ranked film of the year overall and my top foreign film.

[Dr. Whom]

I liked it a lot, and we need more villains like Dr. Paul

[Rev. Powell]

LIFE HACK (2025): A team of young hackers scheme to steal millions in bitcoin from an obnoxious tech guru, with the scheme recalled "screenlife" style (i.e. everything is seen on either a computer or phone recording). Nifty high-tech heist movie that moves too fast to fact check. Blink and you'll miss it moment: when Kyle hacks Heard's email account, one of the messages is from "J Epstein." 3.5/5.

[Jim H]

Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) (2026) - Yeah what a title.  My wife likes Billie, I actually do too to a lesser extent, but what really happened is Jim Cameron co-directed it and she used that to get me to take her to it. 

But, it was still a fairly entertaining concert film.  We did see it in 3D, and as always it doesn't seem to work very well for me.  It's like I only partially see it in 3D - I hypothesize it has something to do with my right eye being very dominant and seeing color slightly differently.  But whatever.  That aside, the production is good, you get some well-crafted framing and camera usage, and Cameron himself appears and interviews Billie a little.  It's not exactly deep, but it's literally a pop star concert film, so not really expected.  One interesting thing is how they use the endless numbers of concert goers filming as part of the framing (I swear, it must be 1 in 3 people at any one time), probably the only choice these days.  But god damn, would that make her concerts utterly miserable for me!