121/2553. Saturday Night (2024)
Just like Unfrosted, I very much enjoyed this obviously fictionalized semi-historical story, an "inspired by true events" tale of the first Saturday Night Live episode determined to squeeze in as much of the early show's lore as it can manage. Think of it as a worthwhile celebration of the founding of an American institution.

122/2554. The Willoughbys (2020)
A Netflix suggestion I'd never heard of. It has the feel of a film adapted from a children's book, though as I learned, the source is a YA novel, not an illustrated art book. It's cute.

123/2555. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
This story has exposition, rising action, and then the animated equivalent of an escape from Cloud City. I've often defended Empire Strikes Back as having the best world-building of any Star Wars film, but maybe I've been overly kind to its ending. This film has a similar structure (with a somewhat stupider set of villains), and I found the lack of any plot resolution very, very irritating.

124/2556. The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)
A triumph of style over substance, by which I specifically mean plot and art design over characterization. The entire human race faces extinction, and all the potential victims are kept at such arm's length from the audience, it's hard to give a shit that their pocket universe is set to be pruned by a purple giant who eats babies. It's a crime that FF are presented as icons, not the endearingly dysfunctional family of charismatic, relatable people that sold bunches of comics in the 1960s.

125/2557. 'G' Men (1935)
The film that gave FBI agents their nickname is worth watching only because Jimmy Cagney (as a former gangster turned federal policeman) is always worth watching.

126/2558. Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
Friend James described this movie as "2% fight in a minivan in a forest and 98% not worth watching." I might adjust those odds slightly in the minivan's favor, but only slightly. It really is just a bunch of nostalgic fan service for preexisting Marvel stans. (And seriously, you'll never convince me that anyone has ever really liked Gambit.)

More to come.

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I got into a polite disagreement about the relative merits of Breakfast at Tiffany's with Friend Ken, who admitted he has never much enjoyed movies from the late 50s through early 70s. Breakfast at Tiffany's aside, my uncultured friend is not entirely wrong. Obviously things did start to go a bit stale as the American Studio System died a slow death, but that doesn't mean there weren't movies worth watching in the 1960s. For example:

1960: Inherit the Wind with Tracy and Kelly taking turns stealing scenes. The Apartment deserves its Oscar for its sharp script, but I still prefer to watch (and listen to) The Magnificent Seven.

1961: Judgment at Nuremberg is still topical, as evidenced by the fact they just revisited it. I'm particularly fond of Murder, She Said, a fantastic whodunnit with a great theme. Of course, I hear Breakfast at Tiffany's is also pretty good.

1962: To Kill a Mockingbird. If you don't like that, we can't be friends (although I cannot tell you how many times I've watched The Music Man and Gypsy).

1963: Lilies of the Field has Poitier at his best, but I'm a sucker for Charade (which is not a Hitchcock film; his 1963 effort is The Birds which I also like very much).

1964: The Umbrellas of Cherborg is simply brilliant (best movie of the decade?), and if you like musicals, also A Hard Day's Night. Everyone has already seen Goldfinger, right? The template for all action spy movies to come.

1965: Bunny Lake is Missing. Yes, it's a lesser Otto Preminger film, but I'll take lesser Preminger over the likes of The Sound of Music and Doctor Zhivago any day.

1966: A Man for All Seasons won Oscar for a reason, but the tide is turning from the hackneyed films of yesteryear and there are a bunch of films from '66 that have entered enduring classic status, including Batman and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

1967: Hotel. I just love it. Actually, there's a lot to love about '67. I'm especially partial to In the Heat of the Night and the original Peter Cook/Dudley Moore Bedazzled, but you could throw a dart at most movies released this year and not come out too badly.

1968: The Phantom Tollbooth, because I grew up with it and was idly thinking about Subtraction Stew just yesterday. And while this is the year of Bullitt which stands up really well as an action film, I'd recommend The Swimmer as a hidden gem.

1969: Putney Swope is well outside the envelope of what came before it, but so are so many of the films of the year. I've seen quite a few movies from '69, when the cultural turmoil of the decade really starts to creep into almost everything, and I don't enjoy most of them, including the ones you're probably thinking of. I did, however, enjoy If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium and Z.

That's nothing like a complete list of worthwhile '60s movies, but the only way to find out what you'll really like is to start watching. Good luck, Ken.

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Netflix month continues!

116/2548. The Electric State (2025)
The amazing CGI visuals might actually be the film's core weakness because the shallow plot and cliched characters (and disinterested actors) just aren't strong enough to support the emotional weight inspired by the shattered remnants of a world destroyed by consumer culture. It very much feels that the creators never fully bought into the End Times Capitalism their film visualized. I must mention that the robot's Alamo, an abandoned shopping mall in the middle of what is supposed to be the Sonoran Desert, was fittingly filmed in the now-demolished North Dekalb Mall where I shopped and worked throughout the 1990s.

117/2549. The Happytime Murders (2018)
Contemporary reviews for this film weren't kind, but as a fan of buddy-cop crime movies, SNL-style humor, and Muppets, I was fully on board. Comedy is always very subjectively received, but I think it works.

118/2550. Unfrosted (2024)
Normally, I'm no fan of historical fiction, but hysterical fiction, sure. Recommended by friend Randy (who was always a Seinfeld fan), this fictional history of the creation of the Pop Tart is, I'm happy to report, a darn funny movie, especially if you are already familiar with the history of the era. And what a cast!

119/2551. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)
This one put me to sleep. Not that it's bad, but I felt it was a little slow to develop in obvious directions. I certainly enjoyed the original shorts, but none of the longer films has held my attention long. Maybe I've seen all the Wallace & Gromit I need to see.

120/2552. Fixed (2025)
Okay, full disclosure: I've never been as admiring of Genndy Tartakovsky's animation as many of my art school peers. I was encouraged by the cast, but this is like a dumber, less self-aware or artistically engaging Fritz the Cat. I did not finish it and would encourage no one else to start it.

More to come.

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Netflix animation fest 2025!

110/2542. The Wild Robot (2024)
I spent too much of the movie wondering how the engineering of the robot was supposed to work, but once I got past that (or, more accurately, once I forced myself to recognize that the talking robot was just as unreal as the talking animals), I was charmed by the characters and appreciated how genuine the sentimentality felt compared to too many other tear-jerkers. A great piece of art and a worthy Oscar rival to Flow (which I still liked better).

111/2543. Paddington in Peru (2024)
By far the worst of the three Paddington movies but only because the first two are so truly great. This one remains quite watchable, especially thanks to Olivia Coleman's over-the-top surreality and Hugh Bonneville being Hugh Bonneville. (Although honestly, given the choice, I'd much rather re-watch either of the others for the tenth time than this one again.)

112/2544. Nimona (2023)
This might be my second favorite movie seen in 2025 after Kpop Demon Hunters, though I admit this is tailor-made for my specific interests. Nimona literally takes every medieval fantasy RPG-genre cliche and turns them inside out yet (mostly) avoids the cynicism that typically accompanies such deconstructionist approaches. Pay attention, Disney: this is the right way to turn a villain into a protagonist hero! I really, really liked it.

113/2545. Dog Man (2025)
Some children's animated movies manage to give something to the adults in the audience. Not this one. Though the art design is clever, the plot is just too thin (and the mute protagonist too bland) to hold my attention. If it had been an hour and half shorter, it could have made several amusing shorts. But as a feature? Yawn.

114/2546. Klaus (2019)
I watched this animated Christmas movie only because Netflix recommended it after I watched the series of animated movies above. I admit it's got some great animation and design (and Jason Schwartzman is perfect for his part), but Christmas... bah, humbug.

115/2547. The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)
Despite being a COVID-era movie, the "Evil Artificial Intelligence delivered through social media conquest the world" angle of this otherwise boilerplate coming-of-age adventure story could have been pulled straight from any 2025 clickbait article. None of the characters struck me as particularly unique or memorable, but maybe I've just seen the basic Hero's Journey plot too many times. I suspect this really sparkled with its target audience of tweens, as I would have loved it if it existed when I was twelve.

More to come.

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105/2537. Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (2025)
I don't like the only movie theater in my town, so Mom and I drove up to Peachtree City to catch the third Downton Abbey movie. Again, the stakes are delightfully small (Is Mary to be a social pariah... again? Will they have to consider selling the Abbey... again?) I liked this more than the second, especially because it took such great pains to tie up every possible loose end. Sure, it was a bit weird to spend so much time in London without visiting Lady Rosamund, but it is a big cast and some sacrifices had to be made, I suppose. (Look at me mentioning relatively minor characters when my introduction to the whole ensemble was the short primer that ran in theaters before the first movie. As usual: late converts are the most zealous.)

106/2538. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More (2024)
This Netflix-exclusive Wes Anderson quadrilogy was the whole reason I wanted access to Netflix in the first place. Essentially monologue recitations of Roald Dahl's writing (like an incredibly elaborate staging of Peter and the Wolf), it is neither Anderson's best nor most engrossing work, though I admit that I'm not a particular fan of Dahl. However, Anderson fan that I am, I considered it an elaborate tech demo of what he might try in a bigger, better production.

107/2539. Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
It takes about thirty minutes for this spoof of 70s/80s camp movies (a la Meatballs) to reveal its truly lunatic, absurdist heart, but once it does, it becomes immediately obvious why it has reached such cult success. (And what a cast!)

108/2540. Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)
"Play Jaja Ding Dong!" The ABBA is strong with this one. What was most striking to me while watching was how almost every character, even Will Ferrell's selfish protagonist, meant well from their own point of view. Even the secret murderous antagonist. Even the romantic cad played by Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens! Great music and endearing performances from people who clearly have a soft spot for the real Eurovision made for a great time.

109/2541. Pee-Wee's Big Holiday (2016)
The last Pee-Wee movie was clearly made with a smaller budget and a lot of CGI, but Paul Reubens still makes it work by evoking the good natured manchild Pee-Wee Herman of years past. (Have I ever mentioned that Pee-Wee's Big Adventure was the first DVD I ever bought? I have? Well, I'm mentioning it again. It's that good.) What a great character he was.

More to come.

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Recent circumstances conspired to take away my TCM but grant me a month of Netflix access. So, at the recommendation of Friend Ken, I started at the top:

104/2536. KPop Demon Hunters (2025)
If you wondered why Google reported that 6 of the top 10 Halloween costumes for 2025 were characters from this movie, the answer is simple: it's good. Very good. So good, in fact, I cannot believe that Sony and Netflix didn't negotiate a more traditional box office release. The creators learned all the right lessons from George Lucas's usual box of tricks, taking inspiration from a bunch of long pre-existing concepts and designs, blending them into a story of good versus evil in a lived-in world, and pouring the results into a time-tested, character-first dramatic format that is comfortable and rewarding to viewers. For extra Star Wars vibes: like Fox in '77, Netflix seemed totally unprepared for the flood of demands for kids' merchandise. History may not repeat itself, but it sure as hell stutters.

As amazing as John Williams is, what Star Wars does not have is pop songs. It's no accident that the Kpop soundtrack has had a very catchy (and plot advancing) song from the fictional Huntr/x at the top of the Billboard global charts for 15 weeks and counting. A song, I'll point out, that has a one-word title:

Golden

Kudos to all involved; I hope you like printing money. (Count me in for a Derpy Tiger Funko Pop! figure, if ya'll can ever actually get them to market.)

More to come.

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Super Heroes

Sure, technically the song title on the musical and movie soundtrack are two words, but Rocky Horror is British. Here in America, home of Superman and Spider-Man, we spell it as one word (sometimes, at Spider-Man's insistence, with a hyphen). So I'm counting the song as a one-word wonder.

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97/2529. Love and Monsters (2020)
This post-apocalyptic adventure film, in many ways gentle enough to be a kids movie, set my anxiety level to "full," mostly because the sidekick on the traditional hero's journey is a dog who clearly lost her mistress when the world ended. Note to producers: "uplifting" adventure movies shouldn't start this sad.

98/2530. My Darling Clementine (1946)
John Ford's classic interpretation of Wyatt Earp and the OK Corral has a couple of love stories grafted onto the protagonists, and neither feels particularly organic, especially while Utah's Monument Valley is filling in for Tombstone, Arizona, two locations that look nothing alike. The story of the most famous shootout in history has been told much better in films since.

99/2531. So Long at the Fair (1950)
Less a mystery story than a gothic horror, this overly-long Twilight Zone episode succeeds at atmosphere, but golly, the sudden stop at the end is painful.

100/2532. The Lost World (1925)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself introduces this silent precursor to the genre of stop-motion monster adventure films that will eventually give us King Kong and Ray Harryhausen. Like all adaptations of the source material I've seen, it's dull in the middle.

101/2533. Winter Kills (1979)
It's not immediately clear that this conspiracy theory thriller is intended as a satire of its genre until after the first reel, and I still can't decide if that's madness or genius. In either case, a better director and cinematographer (and much bigger budget) could have made a cinema classic here instead of just a bonkers B-movie.

102/2534. The Harvey Girls (1946)
TCM loves to play this movie, and now I get why. It's bubbly, and Judy Garland is great. I'm glad I watched it.

103/2535. Forty Naughty Girls (1937)
The last Hildegard Withers mystery movie from RKO, and for very good reason. Edna May Oliver is sorely missed in the title role, as ZaSu Pitts' Withers is dull and clumsy, completely unworthy of the audience's sympathy. Blech.

More to come.

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"Anomaly Detected" reports Google Analytics. It seems Google expected 9 visitors to Wriphe.com on Friday, and I got 38. Can I account for that difference? No. Maybe a whole bunch of people tuned in to read my take on What's New Pussycat? Come to think of it, maybe some 21st-century surveillance AI flagged me for putting the terms "student bodies," "having wonderful crime," and "murderers among us" in the same blog post. If so, whoops, I did it again.

I don't look at the site analytics often, and I would have thought that 38 was a huge aberration. (According to my phone, I literally only ever communicate with about a dozen people, and that includes my dogs' vet and "friend" Keith who said he was going to buy us tickets for today's Dolphins vs Falcons game in Atlanta then didn't and threw a party without inviting me instead. Not that I'm bitter. At least now I don't have to spend time and money on the Dolphins. So thanks, Keith! What a pal!) But looking at the year-to-date snapshots, 38 appears not quite so deviant. It looks very much like I commonly have over 20 visitors a day in 2025. I'm sure I have no idea who most of you are or why you would be interested in any of my pretentious whining about football or my so-called "friends," but you're welcome here

In fact, I had 345 visitors on August 17. I would assume that was the leading edge of a Denial of Service attack, although the day before I did post about my family's Scrabble history, so maybe that showed up in some Google News feeds, and I caught some stray boardgame fan lookie loos by accident. To those people I offer my sincerest apology (13 points).

Huh. Now that I really walk though the dashboard, I find I am getting a surprising amount of traffic (14% of all site hits) from China. To the best of my knowledge, I don't know anyone in China, so that does seem a bit weird. I don't think that I post a bunch about anything Chinese, but a quick search does reveal 32 posts matching the word "China." There are not quite 3000 posts in the history of this site, so that's a healthy 1%. Disproportionate to the number of hits, sure, but also more than I would have expected. In any case, ni hao to my China people!

The real question is whether any of these analytics serve any purpose. I think the answer is no, at least in regards to Wriphe.com. As you probably know if you're reading this, I don't tailor my blog posts to anyone's interests but my own, which is probably why Google thought I should have only 9 visitors. Seems to me that's still 9 more visitors than I deserve. More often than not, I wonder why I bother posting anything at all, and it's rewarding to know that at least 9 of you are paying attention. Or at least clicking through to see if I'm a murderer. Even if you're all just web crawling spiders, thanks for dropping by.

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91/2523. Dulcy (1940)
Your enjoyment of this comedy of errors will be directly proportional to how much you enjoy farcical stage comedies of manners. It's well put together and the actors seem to be having a good time, but the shenanigans felt too artificial for my tastes.

92/2524. Student Bodies (1981)
This loving parody of slasher films is exactly the style of comedy that would make Anna Faris a star two decades later. So I guess the reason it isn't wider known is the limited budget. I got a few chuckles out of it.

93/2525. Having Wonderful Crime (1945)
I couldn't escape the feeling that this film was trying a little too hard to recreate The Thin Man, placing undue emphasis on the detectives instead of the many crimes that seem to pass through their wake. (I'm still not sure the central whodunnit makes any sense.) It's not bad, exactly, so much as it never feels like the chemistry between the leads is quite right. (Miscast? I'd say yes.)

94/2526. Murderers Among Us (1946)
It's a dark story of Berliners in the days immediately after the close of the second World War coming to terms with their recent past, specifically a protagonist who feels compelled to kill his former senior officer he feels has gotten away with war crimes against civilians. Sure, war is hell, but so is its aftermath.

95/2527. What's New Pussycat (1965)
Nope, I couldn't do it. I've tried three times to watch this movie, and I just can't push through it. The acting is too broad; the characters, too unpalatable; the script, too silly. Peter Sellers is always terrible when given too much leeway, and I never care for Woody Allen's nebbish neurotic. Sorry, Paula Prentiss, you deserved to be in a better film. Blech.

More to come.

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