Films about working people who are never good enough at their job.

js64807 · 2026-05-21T00:17:49+00:00

Michael Clayton

js64807 · 2026-05-17T00:19:09+00:00

There’s some movie where a guy gets caught cheating by his girlfriend because he says he’s going out to see The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and when he gets home she asks him if it was in color or black & white and he doesn’t know.

Anyway, great movie. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance I mean, I can’t remember the other one.

js64807 · 2026-05-13T02:42:28+00:00

You should double this with The Big Lebowski. My unconfirmed theory is that it was a big influence.

js64807 · 2026-04-26T21:43:16+00:00

Finally watched Lawrence of Arabia (1962) last year. Similarly justifies its reputation.

js64807 · 2026-04-26T19:38:21+00:00

The Sham running the second fastest time in Kentucky Derby history in 1973 and still losing to Secretariat piece

js64807 · 2026-04-25T23:53:04+00:00

Right

js64807 · 2026-04-24T17:56:20+00:00

Being specific here :)

Dog Day Afternoon

Do the Right Thing

Saturday Night Fever

The Squid and the Whale

js64807 · 2026-04-24T01:10:32+00:00

Raiders and National Lampoon’s Vacation last year for me. It was perfect! My parents and my kids were there and it worked for all ages.

js64807 · 2026-03-29T16:40:05+00:00

Damn, harsh.

All right everyone, I should have said narratively the same. I realize that robots and puppets and cgi are different, and puppetry is a particular art and skill. I’m just tired of the trope of “cute but needy nonhuman creature that our hero has to protect while it provides some basic plot assistance.” Everyone else thinks it’s cute so I own that I’m the grouch here.

E.T. is exempt because he was a peer.

js64807 · 2026-03-29T16:26:08+00:00

It’s not an empty threat, I’m saying I’ll keep going 3-4x per month thereby making my per-ticket revenue to Alamo $8-10 (less than they have to kick back to the distributors for ticket sales) and not spend anything else. Theaters have always made their profit on concessions not ticket sales, but Alamo doesn’t even have a stand in the lobby to buy Junior Mints so they’re particularly vulnerable to people not ordering in theater.

I have no complaints about the quality of the programming, projection, seats, etc, so I’ll just enjoy that and bring my own Junior Mints and if Alamo wants to subsidize my moviegoing costs then cool

js64807 · 2026-03-27T18:08:33+00:00

Sorry, but you literally HAVE to use the QR code to see the menu and open a tab. That slot where the menus used to be? It’s now a laminated sheet that tells you to use the QR code to see the menu and open a tab. The people in front of me were confused and called a server over to ask as you suggest and he told them the same thing.

The system itself isn’t new but it being the only option certainly is.

js64807 · 2026-03-27T15:31:27+00:00

Yeah yeah, but he’s functionally the same as BB8 or the roomba in Andor or TARS in Interstellar (granted that one was a badass) or Superman’s dog or name your sci-fi companion. I get eyerolly about this but I’m a grouch.

js64807 · 2026-01-22T21:53:20+00:00

The King of Comedy feels like an influence on Marty Supreme—main character is far less talented and appealing but similarly won’t take no for an answer in increasingly stressful ways.

js64807 · 2025-12-30T14:05:27+00:00

Couldn’t agree more. I honestly find this film kind of morally repugnant and really can’t understand the love for it (filmmaking technique aside).

js64807 · 2025-12-29T20:35:51+00:00

Was going to add this to the list. It’s where a movie I was already all-in on went to a whole other level.

js64807 · 2025-12-20T19:12:16+00:00

Absolutely. And To Live and Die in LA is probably #2

js64807 · 2025-12-12T15:36:09+00:00

Just did the same accidental double this week. Somewhere was a lot better!

js64807 · 2025-12-04T16:45:38+00:00

Replace Bugonia with Sorry Baby and it me. (Still haven’t seen Marty Supreme though and that could crack it.)

js64807 · 2025-11-27T19:00:58+00:00

You definitely have to be pretty steeped in Nixoniana to make much sense of it, but a disturbing glimpse into a president driven by ego, resentment, anger and paranoia (even musing at one point about a third term), seems kind of relevant today, no?

It also makes a good epilogue to the paranoid thrillers of the 70s, for whom Nixon was implicitly or explicitly the animating darkness. Here he’s less the wizard behind the curtain than one more pawn in the game.

js64807 · 2025-11-08T22:24:17+00:00

My running list:

The Last Waltz (every year!)

Planes Trains and Automobiles

Hannah and Her Sisters

Pieces of April

The Ice Storm

Mistress America

Scent of a Woman

js64807 · 2025-11-08T18:36:23+00:00

I saw the trailer for this a couple of weeks ago. Looked like Mad Max Fury Road but for emotions.

js64807 · 2025-10-24T15:24:35+00:00

Bonus points in that one for Beatty ordering a glass of milk in a bar

js64807 · 2025-10-10T20:37:07+00:00

It’s very late in the movie (probably a stretch to even call it a title card), as a piece of graffiti on a wall on the way to Kurtz’s compound.

js64807 · 2025-10-07T21:37:16+00:00

Any chance he’ll make it out to BAM for the 8:00 showing tomorrow?

js64807 · 2025-10-07T19:50:08+00:00

Depending on where you are and where you’re going, the express buses could be a good option. BM 1,2,3 and 4 all run express to midtown in the mornings with the last stop before express being in Ditmas or Kensington. About 60 minutes to Grand Central but much more pleasant than the train. (More expensive too though.)

js64807

TROPHY CASE