98/2668. Dames (1934)
You have to watch an hour of not very entertaining romantic comedy to get to the giant Busby Berkley finale play-within-a-play. But it's worth it.

99/2669. The Kid Detective (2020)
A dark, dark take on the elevator pitch "What happens to Encyclopedia Brown when he grow up?" It shares the cynical comedic sensibilities of Inherent Vice, and I'm sure it would horrify most Donald J. Sobol fans (which is kind of the point). I enjoyed it.

100/2670. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026)
Despite what I'd read in reviews, I found this sequel more engaging than the first, probably because it leans harder into Easter Eggs from games deeper in the Mario Bros. canon.

101/2671. Gunga Din (1939)
I was constantly distracted by the studio's choice to have Indian Gunga Din played by a 40-year-old white man, which makes him seem more like someone with a mental handicap as opposed to an adventurous boy. Otherwise, Cary Grant is fine as a British sargent.

102/2672. Destination Tokyo (1943)
Cary Grant is also fine here as a U.S. Navy captain, though the too-long picture felt unfocused for a wartime submarine slice-of-life melodrama.

103/2673. The Man Who Laughs (1928)
This is the movie Bob Kane credits in his 1989 autobiography, Batman and Me, as the inspiration for the Joker in 1940's Batman #1. Specifically, "a 'photo-play' edition of [the Victor Hugo source novel], made from the screenplay," illustrated with a "photo of Conrad Veidt as Gynplaine." Given that almost everything else in Batman and Me is bullshit, this story probably is, too. (Kane couldn't even be bothered to verify that in the original French, Hugo named his character "Gwynplaine," which is how it is spelled on the silent film's English intertitle cards.) I don't care for the Joker, and neither did I care for this movie. Pacing is too slow in all the wrong parts, and I learned only after the fact that the unearned "happy" ending is a Hollywood rewrite of Hugo's original (but not particularly better) intent. At least now I've seen it and don't have to watch it again.

More to come.

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Happy birthday to me! Look, I'm not saying 51 is old, but this past Saturday I wore a cotton sock slightly sideways inside my sneaker and the toe seam left a bruise on my foot that would make you think I dropped a safe on it. A cotton sock was tougher than my foot. That never happened when I was 49.

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I had vowed to myself that I was not going to mention the Miami Dolphins again during the 2026 season, but ESPN quotes Miami Dolphins linebacker Jordyn Brooks saying "Miami has the 'right guys' in the locker room and things will not 'unravel' as the season progresses," and I cannot let that go. I just don't know what that's supposed to mean.

Does having the "right guys" mean the NFL's cheapest active roster is the one the General Manager wanted? Maybe you haven't realized it yet, Jordyn, because you're the third highest paid player in the locker room, but if management gets its way, they're just going to replace most of those "right guys" with different, more expensive guys who are actually competent at football. Why, with a little luck, in just a few more seasons the Dolphins might actually be back to a roster capable of winning 8 games a season again. That'll be cool.

Does "not unraveling" mean the players will maintain level heads as they "compete" to lose every game? Sure, the team is only two games into the season, but they already have a pretty good grip on the second worst for/against points differential in the NFL (behind only the Atlanta Falcons, who literally have no starting quarterback) with no evidence they even want to improve. There's already ample evidence the coaching staff is calling plays to ensure the other team wins, a strategy traditionally called "tanking."

(To be fair to the coaches, this intentionally losing strategy is likely mandated from the top of the organization. Owner Stephen Ross has a well-documented history of meddling to ensure his team has the worst possible performance. I wish I was kidding about that.)

Anyway. I will redouble my efforts to ignore the Dolphins until such time as they are once again worth watching. At the current rate of "progress," that should be sometime in the 2030s.

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Today is the official "Batman Day" as declared by DC Comics, whose press release encourages you to celebrate by buying their newest Batman comic, Batman of Two Worlds, for the surprisingly reasonable price of $2.99. That's not bad for 2026. I mean, these days $3 will barely buy you a half gallon of gas (or half a copy of any monthly issue of Detective Comics). Take what you can get, Bat fans.

Here at Wriphe.com, we will celebrate with the best One Word Wonder in television history:

Batman

Whap! Biff! Oooof! Take that, Matlock.

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WALTER: "What do you call it when you feel like everything sucks and maybe being alive isn't worth it anymore?"

MOTHER: "Normal."

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