Good morning,
Movies are sick.
This is just going to be a blog where I talk about some movies I’ve seen recently and why they’re sick.
Why? Because there are some sick movies I’ve watched—both in the theater and at home on my own when my fiance went out of town for a week—and I want to talk about them. And this is my blog so I’m going to talk about them.
I will not be writing about movies that are not sick. The following are movies I’ve seen recently that are not sick.
Dune 2 (2024): This movie stunk. It had trucks that drove on sand. Definitely not sick.
Annihilation (2018): Atmospheric and filled with dread in the exact way that I love, but not sick.
Snack Shack (2024): Fun (albeit ragged) but not sick.
The Savages (2007): Solid but not sick.
Civil War (2024): Thought-provoking and smartly structured, but not sick.
Enough Said (2013): Charming, realistic, with a great sense of place, but not sick.
Hard Eight (1996): Looks great, but not sick.
Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 (1974): Fun but not sick.
Metropolitan (1990): Not my cup of tea. Not sick.
OK, now for all of the movies that I’ve seen recently that were sick. Maybe you’ve seen a bunch of these and think they are sick as well. Or maybe you haven’t seen some of them yet and you’ll watch them and think they’re sick.
The Taste of Things (2023)
The Taste of Things is sick. This movie has one of the most engrossing opening sequences in (my) recent memory. This movie made me lean forward in my seat and crane my neck during every cooking scene in order to decipher what ingredients were being used. This movie is about French cooking and French food and cooking are sick. Read Dirt by Bill Buford if you don’t believe me.
Perfect Days (2024)
Perfect Days is sick. This is a movie about a man living his everyday life as a janitor in Tokyo. This movie’s sound design can only be described as Realism. This movie used music incredibly well (even Patti Smith and that’s no small feat) and it sounded amazing in the theater. This movie had one of the best written scenes I’ve watched recently: the entire film hinged on it and they nailed it. This movie made me appreciate being alive.
Manchester by the Sea (2017)
Manchester by the Sea is sick. In fact, I watched it when I had the flu. When I (and probably you) saw it the first time, I thought it might be the saddest movie ever made. But watching it again, this movie manages to be very funny both before and after it becomes unbearably tragic. This movie has maybe the best acted scene in the history of cinema. This movie, despite being incredibly sad, creates a real and true world that you want to return to despite the sadness. This movie is like life.
You Can Count on Me (2000)
You Can Count on Me is sick. This movie should be talked about more as one of the best films of the past 30 years. This movie has Laura Linney doing amazing things as a lead actress. This movie has Mark Ruffalo being like so many guys you’ve known. This movie makes you feel like you’re living in Upstate New York no matter where you’re watching the movie. That’s because this movie, like Manchester By the Sea, is made by Kenneth Lonergan and Kenneth Lonergan understands that part of what makes a movie great is that it takes place somewhere.
Ten Things I Hate About You (1999)
Ten Things I Hate About You is sick. This movie is a classic teen comedy/rom com with an excellent party scene. This movie is so weird on so many levels. For example, why is Alison Janney in this movie? And what is the point of her character aside from making jokes about sex and genitalia? This movie has the one good use of Julia Stiles and makes you wonder if her career could’ve been different. This movie has David Krumholtz acting at another level than basically everyone else in the film and when you watch him you realize that he walked so Oscar Isaac could fly. This movie has Heath Ledger just being a young movie star and shit he died over 15 years ago and he was only 28 years old.
Straight Time (1979)
Straight Time is sick. This movie doesn’t come up often as one of Dustin Hoffman’s best films but it should. This movie has his best performance. This movie looks so real and so good it makes your heart hurt. This movie has some of the tensest robbery scenes you’ll ever see. This movie has Harry Dean Stanton operating at the peak of his powers. This movie has moments like these:
As you can see, this movie so clearly sick. It has become one of my favorite films of all time.
The Last Days of Disco (1998)
The Last Days of Disco is sick. I am, admittedly, not a Whit Stillman fan. But this is less a Whit Stillman movie and more a rewatchable hang out movie—closer to his Richard Linklater side than his Wes Anderson side. This movie has an excellent soundtrack. This movie has an unbelievable performance from Kate Beckinsale. This movie features so many types of people I experienced during college and living in New York after college. This movie has Chloe Sevigny doing an impression of so many women I knew in New York. This is a movie I wanted to rewatch immediately after I finished it.
The Master (2012)
The Master is sick. This is not Paul Thomas Anderson’s best movie (There Will Be Blood, 2007) nor is it my favorite of his films (Phantom Thread, 2017). When this movie first came out, I watched it in the basement at my parents’ house and dozed off. Not this time. This is a much simpler movie than it was originally made out to be but it manages to be riveting. (It’s really a rough draft of Phantom Thread which I believe is deeper, more unsettling, and more artfully done.) That’s probably because the acting is so sick and the movie itself is beautiful to look at.
Sorcerer (1977)
Sorcerer is sick. This movie was made by William Friedkin who made The French Connection (1971), The Exorcist (1974), and Blue Chips (1994). This movie starts off with four mini-movie prologues that are all gripping in their own right before turning into the actual movie. This movie involves driving damaged nitroglycerin through a jungle in trucks that are basically falling apart. This movie has a scene known as “the bridge scene” that lives up to its reputation. The scene makes you sweat sitting on your couch and you can’t believe they actually filmed the scene with actual people and actual trucks on an actual bridge in an actual river. This movie features Roy Scheider very often looking like this, which makes it by definition a sick movie.
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
This might be the sickest movie ever made. I say that knowing full well that there are two rape scenes in this movie that are incredibly hard to watch. In fact, one of them made me faint when I watched it when I was younger. In fact, I can’t watch either of those scenes even now. This movie follows characters who are not good people and that might make it hard for a lot of people to watch.
But this movie is, like a good novel, objective in the way it presents the people it follows. This movie doesn’t glamorize violence or crime: it shows the toll it takes on you and the people in your life. This movie is ultimately about friendship (and the limits of friendship and the lengths you will or won’t go to for your friends and how that can warp your sense of self) and the nature of memory and time. This movie plays with time perhaps better than any other film. There is a popular theory that most of this movie is actually an opium dream. This movie features a young Jennifer Connelley playing a role that is the embodiment of the childhood love you can never forget. This movie has, I think, the best score of any movie ever made. This movie is Sergio Leone’s best movie. This movie is nearly four hours long. There is also an extended director’s cut that is four and a half hours long. There is also a never-released version that is rumored to be six hours long. When I watch this movie, it makes me feel a specific way that no other movie can ever emulate.