TJ D.

Criterion streamer has both a Sammo Hung sampler and a Johnnie To Essentials? Good lord, I had to trade crumpled twenties to a guy at Grand Central for a decent VHS dub of My Lucky Stars. It is an age of miracles.

jonathan demme's THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE is a modern american masterpiece, a prescient slice of paranoia and disinformation that understood how much of our political landscape was, & will, be based on lies. honored to write about it for @bwdr.bsky.social.

www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2025/08/06/w...

“Defend your culture, no college required” is about as concise a summary of MAGA as you’ll find.

Tonight on the turntable, I’m spinning MF DOOM and Sufjan.

Of these six films in this round of our game, my wife and I picked several movies made by pains in the ass (Welles, Gilliam, and May). They all feature fantasy sequences or are fantastic in some way. They are also, as most great films are, windows into their time and also universal.

Good time.

The Trial itself is a nightmarish vision, just as Kafka’s novel was. Of all of Orson Welles’ films, this is the closest in tone and structure to The Other Side of the Wind—and both have a Felliniesque style, tone, and thematics.

So yes, this afternoon we fit in a 6th film for our game of Film Telephone. I picked Orson Welles’ adaptation of The Trial to follow Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17 given the kafkaesque nature of Mickey’s situation.

had Biden randomly wandered on the White House roof shouting at reporters about nuclear weapons, Jake Tapper would drop everything to pitch a new series of books and Hannity would anchor ongoing special coverage until 2029

but when Trump does it it's just Trump being Trump!

So you’re telling me the Wizard of Oz presented itself as a towering force of overwhelming technology, only to be unmasked as just some guy, off-screen?

I think we have at least one more movie in us… tomorrow lol.

A certain Kafkaesque follow up directed by the great Orson Welles.

I like this film more than many due to the fact I just find it hilarious. Bong gets the twisted workplace comedy he’s making, with plenty of sci fi woozits. It’s all held together by Pattinson of course, who may give the best double performance of the year?

Mary Shelley doesn't get enough credit for not only anticipating the silver-spooned narcissist techbro who recklessly creates technology without thinking through the consequences, but also for knowing that said techbro would be an absolutely terrible father.

Film #5: Sam’s pick is Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17. First watch for us since theaters, this film features an actor playing multiple characters like in The Wizard of Oz, both films have “otherworldly” settings, they feature phony leaders, and ragtag teams of underdogs are featured in both!

Hell yeah.

I could see the argument Don Draper voted for every winner post 60s EXCEPT Trump.

Wizard of Oz. Good flick.

(Not only a good follow up to The Fisher King but also Biollante—those poppies!)

BILLY WILDER predicts Streaming and AI and Silicon Valley assholes in 1986.

His last line here is a banger. A genuine message of hope.

Obviously every reason to be skeptical of this, but imagine how great a Tim Burton ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN would have been in 1992.

Don Draper said "I hate guns," opposed the Vietnam War, almost cried when JFK died, and gave a female secretary a copywriting job in the 1960s.

Neither he nor Homer Simpson would've voted for Trump. (Homer would've been talked into voting Dem by Lisa, then would've accidentally wrote in Joe Biden.)

No worries, I’ve seen the movie many times on TV, on VHS, on DVD, on Blu-ray. But my god even the sepia section is pristine.

(I picked this for obvious reasons, not least of which Robin Williams’ character tells Jeff Bridges’ he was there in his dreams when he wakes from a coma.)

Film #4: my follow up to Gilliam’s fantasy is the ultimate film fantasy—for the first time for me in 4K, The Wizard of Oz.

Gilliam’s most normal narrative is a great follow up to A New Leaf. A grimy take on romance to A New Leaf’s cynical one—both somehow reach a level of actual, sincere romance.

Busting up big corporations and tackling Wall Street’s greed.

Getting big money out of politics. 

Strengthening unions and fighting for higher wages.

Medicare for all, paid family leave, universal childcare...

This is the progressive populist agenda we need in America.

ha ha ha omg where's my #AdamDriver fandom at

I COULD NOT TELL this was satire until I looked at who posted it. ☹️😭😮‍💨

Film #3: Sam’s follow up to A New Leaf is The Fisher King.

Her reasons: nature titles (a fisher king is a bird), both feature an arrogant man who learns goodness with the help of a someone who looks at the world (and acts) differently, plus New York as a setting.

Always worth a revisit!

It’s as great as ever—Matthau at his best. When he got a great, funny, wordy script, he feasted, and he never feasted better.

Oh yes, I forgot, here is the list we’re choosing from!

Film #2: my pick to follow up Biollante is Elaine May’s A New Leaf, on the new Cinematograph 4K. This could work as an alternative title to Godzilla vs. Biollante!
Revisit, first time on 4K.

Plays so well as a Frankenstein flick, and the sections about Biollante herself are some of the best aspects of the franchise. The Godzilla mayhem also peak.