Round-up 32: More PTA Glazing

Another couple of weeks of the never-ending grind. Things have been going pretty great, that being said. I do not want to get ahead of myself at all, but I may have finally gotten a long-term career-type job lined up for myself. I’m very hopeful, especially with how much work I’ve been putting into myself on the sidelines. In the meantime, I have been playing an ungodly amount of Battlefield 6. Sincerely the most fun I’ve had playing a video game in years. I still remember bringing home my copy of Battlefield 4 home after months of begging my parents’ permission. What a wonderful feeling to travel back in time and get those intense feelings of nostalgia. I remember being in gym class with my now-best friend, we didn’t know how close we’d get at the time, but we had shared interests. Anyways, I’d always whine to him about my excitement to return home to “play Battlefield 4 and eat chips and salsa with a Diet Coke”, and we’d have a chuckle about it. Now, in the present, I’ve been coming home from work and school at the end of the day and unwinding with an adult carbonated beverage, food (often chips and salsa, for nostalgia-related reasons), and as many matches of Battlefield as I can stomach. It feels amazing to revert back to my childhood, even if just for a couple of hours here and there.

But I digress, let’s get to the good stuff; what did I watch since the last round up? I started with another recommendation from a close buddy of mine: Hell House LLC (2015), an indie horror joint made with predominately found footage. I actually enjoyed this more than I expected, and not only was I not super nauseated by the shakiness of the camera movements (as many of this subgenre have before), but I found it to amplify the effectiveness of the scares throughout. The plot follows a group of reporters from the NYC area who travel upstate to a small town to get the story on the anniversary of a tragic massacre that occurred at a haunted house some years prior. The story then toggles between present day, and the night of the massacre, with a heavier emphasis on the past first. This was the most entertaining aspect of the film, because while the first third may come off as boring slow burn to pad the runtime, it later proves to be very impactful in the scares. This is a film that makes the most of a limited budget in all the right ways, and I’d say a promising debut for its production team and director especially. Great editing is the icing on the cake; multiple moments where documentary-style footage is cleverly inserted, again to the aid of the story. Must see horror!

Next, I finally, finally got around to witnessing Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia (1999). You’d think with all the glazing I’ve been doing of the man with the recent release of his generational masterpiece One Battle After Another (2025) that I would’ve seen this already. Uh, apparently not. There is so much I could say about this film that it deserves its own dedicated breakdown, when I have the time or energy. But until then, let me first say that this has some of the greatest dramatic performances of all time. I will regretfully forget some, but the ones that have stayed with me were William H. Macy, as the grown-up whiz-kid turned eclectic burnout; Phillip Seymour Hoffman, as the emotionally attentive nurse; Julianna Moore, as the aged it-girl married to money; and of course, Tom Cruise, as a late-night TV host for the incels of the 90s. The film cleverly weaves together the lives of countless characters beyond these as they deal with grief, regret, romance, aging, and most of all, a desperate desire to connect with others. What really hit me in the moments as the credits finally rolled, was how fast the pacing of the film was. It has a legendary three-hour runtime, yet somehow feels like two. This is a similar case with his other films as well, notably One Battle After Another, as previously mentioned, but also with Boogie Nights (1997) and There Will Be Blood (2007) too. I was texting my best bud about my experience as I reached the finale (he had seen it before me), and he made a crack that got a good chuckle out of me, “now you’d think that this is the climax… but, actually- “. And what’s especially funny was, I really did think that was the climax at the time. I paused the film only to see I had another hour or so to go. The actual climax left me with my jaw on the floor, but I won’t say too much there out of fear of accidentally spoiling something for those that haven’t seen it. What I will say is holy shit, this is in PTA’s top three of his entire filmography. Absolutely masterful, and equally impressive that he did this in fuckin’ twenties.

My brother has been watching some sports documentaries in between games recently, and knowing my interest in basketball, he told me I should give one on Netflix a try. Not having much to do that evening, and it being rather late at the time of recommending it to me, I decided “why not?” Untold: Malice at the Palace (2021) is an hour-long sports documentary recalling the events of the infamous brawl that took place during an NBA game in the fall of 2004 between the Pacers and Pistons. Home turf for the Pistons, just outside of Detroit, turned into a brutal brawl between players and fans in the stands after an unruly agitator threw a drink at Ron Artest, forward for the Pacers, all following an on-court scuffle between himself and Pistons center Ben Wallace. Mind-blowingly enough, there were no security or police present at the time, so the fighting went on for a number of minutes before a large police presence arrived to quell the chaos. The game never was finished, with a final score of 97-82 Pacers-Pistons, forty-five seconds left on the clock in the fourth. Tensely edited when it comes to the actual footage of the fights, but it definitely was padded hard on the runtime with mindless commentary on surrounding events and people not fully involved in the main story. That being said, I’d call it a fun watch for any basketball fans out there.

I don’t think I’ll be rocking any boats with my rather harsh review of this next one. I have been a long-standing fan and supporter of Luca Guadagnino, however, his most recent film, After the Hunt (2025), is a huge swing and an even bigger miss. To his credit, it’s not entirely his fault, and I will get to that pretty quickly. Before I do, let me say what I did happen to enjoy about this flick. The numerous confrontation sequences between the main characters are brilliantly directed by Guadagnino, and even more powerfully acted by the leads, Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, and Andrew Garfield. That was what made this watchable to any degree, the wonderful and gripping acting from those named. In particular, I found Garfield’s performance to be the most unhinged; possibly Oscar-bait, but I’ll bite on it. Now, for what sinks the ship: the writing from one Nora Garrett. I did a brief check on her credits on IMDb, only to find out that this was her first major gig. I struggle to say there’s any potential here, because this plot was all over the place. Hitchcock couldn’t save this fucking script. Characters have motivations that they lose within scenes of each other just to randomly pick up again way later on. And the dialogue, good Lord, what sort of person writes this stuff? Mindless academia jargon mixed with contemporary issues so heightened in drama it could literally only come out of the Los Angeles bubble. And all this to say, the biggest issue I have with the film is its final moments, which fizzle out into absolutely nothing. This film is only worth it for its lead actors. Guadagnino needs to choose his writers better!

The morning as of writing this, I had my final film assignment for the course I’m wrapping up this semester with. Boots Riley, of The Coup fame, wrote and directed Sorry to Bother You (2018), a dark comedy, drama, and commentary on the state of capitalism in an alternate-reality of Oakland, California. This one, I had seen before, a number of times actually, as there was something about how weird and quirky the writing and editing was that really clicked for me. The story follows LaKeith Stanfield as Cassius Green, a young man struggling to get by with his artistic girlfriend (played by Tessa Thompson) as corporatism lays waste to what used to be. He gets a job at RegalView, a local call center, where he quickly rises to the top levels, uncovering evil conspiracies around slavery, union-busting, and just evil, greedy behavior in general. This film is very colorful, not just in the literal sense, which it very much is (there’s actually a joke involving colors late in the runtime that consistently cracks me up), but also in its approach to relaying the concepts and clear themes being communicated to its audience. The musical qualities of Riley shine through immensely in this regard, and the film is much better off for it. Whereas my previous watch lacked any sort of substantiative ending, this one has a clear vision that has an impact, at least on myself. Stanfield’s performance in absolutely hilarious and always very locked-in when he needs to be, dramatically speaking that is. Supporting cast of Thompson, Fowler, Crews, Cross, Glover, Yeun, and even Armie Hammer of all people deliver a fantastic ensemble that enrich the insane world they inhabit. With the exception of a couple of very graphic sequences of (male?) nudity in the latter half, this is a fun watch and I encourage anyone interested to dive in head first. You won’t regret it.

I also rewatched a few other films, however these were done more in passing than anything else. My new obsession after last time, The Holy Mountain (1974) got another viewing, and that was mostly because I had to do another written assignment on it, but was still just as enjoyable the second time around. One Battle After Another was what I went to immediately following my watching of Magnolia, just because I literally cannot get enough PTA at the moment. I still need to see Hard Eight (1996) and Phantom Thread (2017), and then I will have completed his filmography and I can finally do a ranking. Pink Floyd’s: The Wall (1982) got some love too, a crazy watch, but one that any die-hard Floy fan has to experience at least once. Fun animations throughout too.

The Buffalo Bills, my home team, has been keeping everyone on edge week after week lately. Honestly, now that I’ve bought into the hype, I understand the endless tension around it. Stressful stuff, no lie. I haven’t even had the wherewithal to watch much NBA, with the Battlefield 6 grind and all that going on in the background. If you watch the league, are there any teams I should be looking out for? Beyond that, what movies have ya’ll been watching? Any hot takes on the films I reviewed this round up? Participation encouraged, as always. Until next time.