Round-up 29: Catching up!

As the Fall weather finally comes to fruition for us here in Western New York, I’ve felt a change of the vibes, and for the better. As I noted in the last update, the landscape seems to be fizzling out a bit as it comes to the intensity we were all feeling a month or so ago now. This brings me a bit of inner peace. Not complete, but enough to go about seeing the world in a bit better light.

I’ve weirdly sort of come around on Fall. I used to be a desperate despiser of the season as it, to me, only served as a precursor to the dreaded dark months of Winter to follow. As I enter the middle section of my twenties, however, I’ve come around to it. The changing colors, the more comfortable outdoor temperatures, and of course, football all day on the weekends. It has also been a most ideal combination to watch films in the evening. I went through a decent selection the past couple of weeks, so without further ado, let’s get into them.

I started off finally getting around to the new Darren Aronofsky flick, Caught Stealing (2025) starring Austin Butler. This was an especially interesting watch, and I had a feeling it would be from the trailers. For those unfamiliar, Aronofsky’s filmography has been long centered around character dramas that venture in the very dark sides of humanity. His most popular effort of late put Brendan Frasier back on the map with The Whale (2022), a par for course depressing journey of an overweight man eating himself to death. Caught Stealing goes in the completely opposite direction, being a comedy/thriller surrounding gangs, Hassidic hitmen, and the grungy alleyways of New York City in the 90s. Butler portrays a burnt-out baseball player with long past dreams of going pro as he gets roped into a crime scheme by his apartment neighbor. While very funny and engaging, it still reeks of classic Aronofsky with the brutal graphic violence, drugs, and depressing throughline with the presented themes. It is difficult to talk about the plot without spoiling key aspects, so I will keep it light in that department, but just know if you’re a fan of fast-paced, violent dark comedies, then this will be right up your alley. Great watch overall, and one I could definitely see myself giving some more love down the road.

I mentioned last time that I was reading through Franz Kafka’s The Trial, and upon finishing it, I decided there would be no better time to watch Orson Welles’ adaptation of the same name from 1962. I was entirely unsure of what to expect from this, given how difficult I assumed it would be to adapt during my reading. The story of The Trial follows one Josef K., a young bank executive who is woken suddenly one morning to a pair of suspicious officers who declare that he has been placed under arrest pending trial. The crime he has committed isn’t given as he tries to make understanding of the absurd practices of the court he faces. This adaptation brilliant meshes together the various fragmented misadventures of K. as he attempts to get through his trial. Almost all of the major scenes from the novel are virtually faithfully adapted to the screen, with some notable exceptions. My biggest gripe with how Welles changes the source material has to do with its wild conclusion that felt random and quite frankly half-assed. I understand the final moments of the novel are difficult to interpret, but this analysis was just absurd. Very enjoyable, and as a newfound Kafka fanatic, I will be doing some more analysis of the two sometime in the near future.

My next viewing was of a classic that has been kicked down the road for far too long. We lost Gene Hackman this past year, the legendary actor and star of The French Connection (1971), directed by William Friedkin. This film is dark and gritty, and exactly the kind of realistic action/thriller I live for experiencing. Hackman portrays Popeye Doyle, a tough-as-rocks narcotics agent on the tail of a big international heroin score. Moral ambiguity plagues the themes of the story as Popeye breaks rules and pushes the envelope in his pursuit of bringing down the bad guys. There is an extended action sequence in the middle of the film that had my jaw on the fucking floor the entirety of its runtime. It just kept going and going and going and I loved every second of it. The acting from Mr. Hackman cannot be overstated. This was his magnum opus performance from what I’ve seen. The finale of the story was a bit jarring and underwhelming unfortunately; without much closer, but otherwise this is a must-see crime film that set major precedents for what was to follow in the genre. The mere fact this came out in 1971 is insane to me. They got away with some really creative and ambitious shots throughout. A banger of a flick that checks almost all of my boxes.

I haven’t given a lot of love to the filmography of Quentin Tarantino as of late, so I felt an urge to go back and rewatch Reservoir Dogs (1992). This was, for the longest time, in my top three Tarantino films, and I don’t really know what I was getting that from. If I had to guess, it was probably the raunchy dialogue and graphic violence that had me on the edge of my seat, bu

t upon revisiting the film, I found quite a few instances of it not holding up to my previous merit. The classic tale of a group of criminals banding together for a big jewelry store heist is incredibly well written, and I’d argue one of his better screenwriting efforts, but the direction is wonky and reeks of the young age he had when he made it. Compare this to the maturity displayed by Paul Thomas Anderson around the same age and time period, I don’t see much excuse for it. Quentin is undoubtedly a fantastic writer and director, but Reservoir Dogs remains one of his weaker titles. Still wildly entertaining and a brilliant use of the resources he had available to him at the time. A little bit of Hollywood luck helped him out too.

I also rewatched one of the greatest comedies ever made, Blazing Saddles (1974), by the maestro of comedy, Mel Brooks. This is up there as one of those forever comfort films that will always make me smile. The searing commentary on racism is never heavy handed, but rather steeped in absurdist comedy. It’s come to my attention that this isn’t a very well-known movie amongst my peers. For those unfamiliar, Blazing Saddles follows a young black man named Bart in the “wild west” of America, where racism and slavery moreover still ran rampant. Following a ridiculous conspiracy set up by the local government, Bart is appointed the new sheriff of Rock Ridge, with the intent of dividing the town and forcing the people out. Bart must then face off against the racist townsfolk while simultaneously making sense of the conspiracy against the town itself. Gene Wilder supports as a washed-up sharpshooter who ends up being Bart’s side kick of sorts, serving up witty one-liners like it’s nobody’s business. An absolute riot from start to finish, and one that if you haven’t seen, I cannot recommend enough. Very happy and proud owner of a 4K Blu-ray for this one too.

The remainder of the last couple of weeks was spent working pretty diligently on my film project, of which I’m very excited to share more details about when its ready. I did have some more flicks on in the background to keep the thoughts at bay though. I rewatched the new Naked Gun (2025), and again, was sort of let down by what it could have been. Still a funny movie, but nothing I’d return to again and again for laughs. To get in the Halloween spirit, I was trying to find some “lighter” spooky movies to start the month. I ended up going back to my childhood by watching the live action Scooby-Doo movies from the early 2000s. The first one was much better than I remembered it to be, very engaging and fun for all ages. The second one was less so, but still in the same realm of enjoyment. A friend of mine told me that the original was intended to be an R-rated adult version of the source… That’s a rabbit hole I will definitely be diving into.

With that, I will leave you all for now. As always, I deeply encourage participation in the comments below. What have you been watching recently? Are there any big names in the coming months you’re most excited to see? Until next time.