Chicken and Rice.
There's nothing better.
Welcome back, everybody!
Just a quick breakdown of the blog for any new readers:
I ramble for a bit and give an update on my life and what I’m thinking about this week
I talk about the movies I watched recently (usually in the last week but I’m still catching up)
I do some rankings, ask some hypothetical questions (ex: what are the chances my dad cries while watching this movie?), and then I give my no frills, no jokes review
We ignore grammar errors here at the blog. Give me a break.
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What’s up, everyone? Long time no see.
Wait, no it’s not.
Yeah, you got that right, now that like is back to normal I’m gonna be getting out 2 blogs a week going forward. I’m not promising that it’s gonna happen every week, but I’m going to try my very best. I love writing these, even if they take hours and hours, so there’s no excuse for me not to get them published more regularly.
Being that this is the second blog of the week, I don’t know what to write for the intro. I’m planning on giving a recap of my mini road trip in next week’s blog and I’m working on my 2024 “That’s a Wrap”™ (patent pending) for either next week or the week after. I did the same sort of recap of everything I watched in 2023 and it was a great time, so I’m running it back.
I’ve decided that I’ll use this intro to wax poetic about the best dinner on planet Earth. I eat it at least 3 times a week and have been doing so for the last 2 years now.
Chicken and rice is the best dinner you can make and don’t let anyone tell you differently. Let me explain why.
It’s versatile: you can add any type of sauce to this meal to change the type of cuisine it belongs in. Teriyaki, avocado-based, bar-b-que based, etc. You can make it Mexican, Asian, and everything in between.
It’s easy: It’s literally 2 ingredients.
It’s inexpensive: Probably the best part.
It’s tasty: This is also very important.
It’s a good base: You can add other things in to change it up if you’re feeling fancy (cheese, vegetables, guacamole, etc.).
It keeps: Make a lot and put what you don’t eat in a tupperware. Congratulations, you now have lunch (or dinner) for tomorrow.
It’s adaptable: No one said you had to make the chicken the same way every night. And who says no to some fried rice here and there?
There truly are no cons to chicken and rice. There’s a reason people have been eating it for 3,000+ years (yeah, I did my research).
My personal method:
First, I put a pot of water on the stove to boil
Next, I take a full chicken breast and chop it into pieces. Yes, I am aware that this may be unorthodox. A reminder that this is a safe space.
I then spice the fuck out of each of those pieces. It’s important to get every side for maximum coverage.
By this point the water has boiled so I add my rice. I personally use brown rice, but that’s just me.
Cook da chicken.
Once the chicken is done (I like it a little brown and crispy on the outside) and the rice is done I put it all in a big bowl.
Everyone has a bowl like this. I always think of Jason Segel’s bowl in Forgetting Sarah Marshall:
Once the chicken and rice are in this bowl, I add whatever dressing I want, stir it all up, and then feast.
You simply can’t beat it.
Here's a list of movies/docs you should check out (in no particular order):
Since this is the 2nd blog of the week I’m gonna put my movie recommendations here directly. Check these out this weekend if you have a movie/date night.
Trust me.
Escape From Alcatraz (1979): I’m in a Clint mood since I just watched his most recent movie right before I wrote this blog. Based on the famous escaped convicts from Alcatraz that they never caught, this is on the shortlist for the best prison escape movies of all time.
All the President’s Men (1976): A prime 70s conspiracy movie about the Watergate scandal and the journalists at the Washington Post who investigated it. Paul Newman and Robert Redford’s chemistry is off the charts.
Them! (1954): As apocalyptic events seem to happen more and more often, it seems like a perfect time to check out this Cold War, nuclear anxiety classic about giant ants.
War Games (1983): Keeping in the Cold War, nuclear anxiety theme, check out pre-Ferris Bueller Matthew Broderick playing a computer geek who accidentally hacks into the NORAD computer and threatens to start World War III. It’s tense, it’s thrilling it’s funny, and it’s very 80s. You can’t go wrong.
Liar Liar (1997): Jim Carrey is a douchey lawyer who suddenly loses the ability to lie. Need I say more?
And as always, go check out The Vault if you need something to watch. It’s got everything I’ve watched since 2018 on there with my reviews. I’m almost done with 2024, they’ll all be up there soon.
Alright, on to the blog.
Movies count for the year: 16
Doc count for the year: 0
The Brutalist (2024)
AKA: Life is pain.
Wow.
What a movie.
I don’t really know where to start with this movie, so I’ll start with the process of getting to see it. Here are some quick bullet notes:
This movie took over 7 years to make
It has a budget of less than $10 and is over 3.5 hours long
It has a built-in 20 min intermission (huge for the program)
It’s already made money at the box office, which is amazing for a movie like this in the year 2025
It’s also amazing cause it’s barely showing anywhere and is in very limited-release
It’s been nominated for 10 Oscars and is frankly somewhat of a phenomenon
That doesn’t cover it all, but that’ll do for now. What is most important to know is that this movie somehow got made and is somehow making money. I don’t think you guys realize how awesome that is. It’s a 3.5-hour movie that didn’t feel like 3.5 hours (at least to me) and you cannot believe that it cost less than $10 million when you’re watching it. The fact that they were able to pull this off at this scale while movies like Red One have $250 million budgets and look like ass, just goes to show what you can do with effort, time, and true passion. Very cool stuff.
Now for a quick discussion about the recent controversy surrounding this movie. A report came out the other day that AI was used to help make this movie. Obviously, this raised some red flags. AI is a huge question mark for the entertainment industry and was a major reason why the actor’s and writer’s strikes happened a couple of years ago. So when people heard that AI was used to make this movie (a fact that only came to light as what can only be described as a smear campaign now that we’re in full Oscars season swing) people kind of freaked out. I didn’t even know about it and didn’t notice it in the film. You know why I didn’t notice it? Here is what they used AI for:
To help with a 30-second voiceover scene to help enhance Adrien Brody’s Hungarian pronunciation (a notoriously difficult language to speak)
To come up with building plan ideas that were then sketched out and added to before being included at the end of the film
This is a tough one to judge. On one hand, I thought the AI use would be way worse, the way people were talking about it. To me, I think the voice enhancer is kosher. Brody agreed to it, it’s still his performance, etc. The building plans one starts to ride the slippery slope because AI is like a termite. Once it gets into your house (which it already has, much more than it did in The Brutalist) it doesn’t get out of your house until it takes the whole thing down. Not entirely sure if that analogy makes sense but what I’m trying to say is, that even if AI is used in minuscule ways like in this scenario, that will lead to more and more use, until jobs are taken and human elements disappear. AI is not necessarily a bad thing and is something we have to get used to unfortunately, so we just need to learn when and when not to use it.
At the end of the day, as I said, this only came out and is a big deal because this film is a big contender for Best Picture. If I were to guess, the PR team behind another contender probably leaked this news. To that, I say, I don’t care. If Anora can’t win Best Picture (not very likely at this point) I hope this wins Best Picture. Anything but Emilia Perez or Wicked. I know I talked about Wicked a few weeks ago with Best Picture and how I would never watch a movie again if it won, but if Emilia Perez wins I may have to rethink my entire life and career path. I haven’t seen the movie (don’t plan on it either) but I’ve seen clips, and from what I’ve seen I simply do not understand how this movie is winning awards. Truly baffling.
Ok, one more thing about The Brutalist real quick. I saw this with my friends Adelaide and Gage at The Vista Theater (one of Tarantino’s theaters) in 70mm the other day. It’s the only place that was showing it in that format (the best format for film nerds) so it was a must. It was Thursday night, 7:00, and it was a completely packed house. The first person I saw upon walking into the lobby?
Jeremy Allan White.
I saw him in the lobby when I first walked in and silently freaked out. He also made me feel like a giant. Anyway, I continue to my seat, we watch the first half of the movie, and then intermission hits. Adelaide is, at this point, basically salivating at the chance to see JAW, stands up immediately, and scans the crowd like The Predator for her prey. She clocks him heading outside for a cigarette so we hang out until he comes back in. Turns out, he had been sitting 2 rows behind us the entire time. That’s LA for you. Famous people: they’re just like us. Just in case you don’t believe me, Adelaide took some photos to document the moment:
See him?! No? Let me zoom in for you. Computer: ENHANCE
See him now? Still no? Alright, how about a different picture?
There. You have to see him now. Still no? Computer: ENHANCE
Still can’t see him?
I can’t believe you don’t see him in either of these photos. Oh wait, yes I can. I can believe it because Adelaide took quite possibly the worst covert photos of all time. Both times she managed to take a photo with someone’s head positioned directly in front of Jeremy Allen White like she’s trying to get a clear image of Bigfoot.
I swear he was there though. I wonder if he liked the movie.
Ranking of Celebrities I’ve seen while going to the movies in LA:
Jeremy Allen White: He sat 2 rows behind me at The Brutalist.
Judy Greer: I held the door for her and her husband. I was going to see Sonic the Hedgehog 3 by myself. I don’t know what they were seeing but it wasn’t Sonic the Hedgehog 3.
Do They Say the Title of the Movie In the Movie: Nope. I was expecting them to though.
Chance My Dad Cries While Watching This: 64%
No, But Really: This movie definitely lived up to the expectations and the hype. While it may not be exactly on par with other “American epics” like The Godfather, it is truly a stunning movie that had me floored and locked in the entire time. It also didn’t feel like 3.5 hours, which is a huge accomplishment for a movie like this. The acting was incredible, specifically Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce, and it’s a movie that has stuck with me and has made me think more about it ever since I saw it. Very devestating film though, so be prepared.
Saturday Triple Feature
This past Friday, Adelaide sent a great idea into the group chat: go to Universal City Walk and see three movies in a row. When she asked for any takers I volunteered because:
I had no other plans
In the immortal words of Pat Bev:
So a plan was made, timing was executed flawlessly, and tickets were bought. You might ask: “Why didn’t you just theater hop?” That’s a great idea, except that we’re in LA, which means that the theaters were pretty much sold out.
Side note: if you like going to the movies I cannot recommend AMC Stubs A-List more. It’s $25 a month (pricey, I know) but that gives you the ability to see 3 movies a week for free. That’s up to 12 movies in a month for $25. For me, it’s one of the best purchases of my life, right up there with Spotify Premium. Tickets here in LA already cost $22+ so if you see one movie a month it already pays for itself. Back to the triple feature.
We were all set to go, which meant I had to earn my 8 hours of movie-watching on Saturday morning. I got outside, took a long walk, and played some basketball before doing my best Batman impression and adopting the darkness. Let’s dive in.
The Last Showgirl (2024)
AKA: Las Vegas looks like a terrible place to live.
First on the docket was The Last Showgirl. Frankly, this was the movie I was least excited to see. If we’d missed this one I wouldn’t have really cared to be honest. But we went, (we were 6 minutes late) and it was pretty much right where my expectations were at going in. What I took away most from this movie were 2 things:
Living in Las Vegas looks terrible
Francis Ford Coppola has provided jobs to so many people in his family
Let’s go through these in order.
Going to Las Vegas is fun. I have now been 3 times, and each time has been very enjoyable and I’ve done some very fun stuff (seen Dead & Co, watched the Skins reach the NFC Championship game, etc.). The key to every single one of my Las Vegas visits?
None of them have been for more than 36 hours.
With every vacation, there is an expiration date. This expiration date is different for every place you go. It just so happens that the expiration date for Vegas is the shortest for any place on planet Earth. Which is why I can never wrap my head around living there. Major props to everyone who does (someone has to I guess) but why you’d subject yourself to 100+ degrees in the summertime and to the hoards of tourists who visit every day I do not know.
Alright, quick convo about Francis Ford Coppola.
There is no one other person in Hollywood to have provided more jobs to his family than FFC. The term “nepo-baby” is thrown around a lot, especially in the film industry, but the Coppola’s have the monopoly on that term till the end of the time.
Sofia Coppola (FFC’s daughter): an accomplished director. Also the worst part of The Godfather III apparently (I haven’t seen it).
Roman Coppola (FFC’s son): an accomplished producer/director and frequent Wes Anderson collaborator.
Gia Coppola (FFC’s granddaughter): director of this movie and others
Talia Shire (FFC’s sister): Adrian from Rocky and Connie Corleone from The Godfather. Convenient casting there.
Jason Schwartzman (FFC’s nephew): Actor, frequent Wes Anderson collaborator (I’m sensing a pattern), also in The Last Showgirl. Hmm, more convenient casting.
Nicolas Cage/Nicolas Kim Coppola (FFC’s nephew): you guys know who Nicolas Cage is.
Those are all the important ones at least. So there you have it, FFC is responsible for the mo-
Wait. I can’t believe this. How did I not know this before?
This whole time I thought FFC was the Don Corleone of the Coppola brood, but in reality, it all started with his father, Carmine Coppola. Carmine was a composer and provided the music for some of FFC’s most iconic films (The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders, and more).
The output from this one family is preposterous. They’ve been nominated for 24 Oscars (14 for FFC) and have won 8 (5 for FFC). They’ve been Hollywood royalty since 1972 and I’m sure they’ll continue to be for generations to come.
It must be nice to have connections like that. When your father or grandfather made The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II, and Apocalypse Now back-to-back-to-back-to-back you’ve basically won the lottery.
Do They Say the Title of the Movie In the Movie: They do! It took a while but they seal the deal in a toast scene near the end.
Chance My Dad Cries While Watching This: 6%
No, But Really: This movie is kind of a nothing burger for me at the end of the day. That’s not to say that I didn’t think it was a perfectly fine movie, which it is, I just think it didn’t have anything to say. Now, I will say that this movie was given no favors by what I watched immediately after it (Nickel Boys, The Substance) because compared to those films, this movie is many tiers lower. I liked the cast of this movie a lot (I’m still not entirely convinced that Pamela Anderson is a good actress; the jury is still out) but I don’t think it looked particularly good and the story was, like I said, kind of a nothing burger. If I’m gonna watch a movie about an aging performer who is losing their livelihood but doesn’t know how to do anything else, I’ll go watch The Wrestler.
Nickel Boys (2024)
AKA: First person POV masterclass
Wow.
What a movie.
When I say that we went straight from The Last Showgirl to Nickel Boys, I mean that we had 5, maybe 10, minutes between the two. As I’m processing what I just watched and trying to form opinions about it I’m watching the title cards for Nickel Boys come up on the screen. And literally within 3 minutes, it was clear that this movie was 1000000x better than The Last Showgirl. There was nothing TLS could do about it. How could it know that it was going up against a prime heavyweight? Hell, I didn’t even know that it was. But that’s what Nickel Boys was. It’s a movie that has only gotten better in my mind since I watched it. I can’t stop thinking about it and I want to watch it again, which is high praise.
While there are components of NB that are pretty classic when it comes to plots, this movie is truly one of the most uniquely told movies I’ve ever seen. It was a bit jarring at first, but after a few minutes, I got used to it and was locked in completely. When the movie ended, all I could do was give one of these:
Followed by one of these:
Followed by one of these:
Followed by my best Alonzo Mourning impression:
I don’t have much more to say. I’m glad this got a Best Picture nom cause more people are getting to see it (including myself) and it’s one of the best movies I’ve watched from 2024. Check it out if you can.
Do They Say the Title of the Movie In the Movie: Close but not exactly
Chance My Dad Cries While Watching This: 25%
No, But Really: The more time that goes by since I watched this movie the more I am amazed by it. It’s one of those films that you want to rewatch pretty much right away, which is pretty high praise. It’s a tough, emotional, draining story, but what draws me back is the style in which it is told. It’s done in one of the most unique styles I’ve seen in a movie and while it did fuck with me at first, I got used to it pretty quickly and was enraptured by it the entire time. Highly recommend it to anyone and everyone.
The Substance (2024)
AKA: Don’t get old in Hollywood.
This movie has been floating in my orbit since it came out in September. To be quite honest, it looked like the exact kind of movie that I would never see. I’ve made it clear on this blog that I’m not the biggest fan of horror movies, and this looked like a combo of that along with some of the grossest shit I’ve ever seen in a movie. Update…
Pretty much, yeah.
But here’s the kicker: I liked this movie. It wasn’t my favorite movie of all time, hell, it wasn’t my favorite of the three movies I saw that day, but for fans of body horror, this has to be an instant classic. Again, being quite honest, one of the only reasons I saw this movie the other day is because it got nominated for Best Picture. It’s got essentially no chance to win the award, and in a better movie year I don’t think it gets a nom, but damn if it isn’t a cool nomination.
In the history of the Oscars, 7* horror movies have been nominated for Best Picture:
The Exorcist (1973)
Jaws (1975)
Silence of the Lambs (1991)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Black Swan (2010)
Get Out (2017)
The Substance (2024)
That list was put together by the fine people at Screen Rant. In my opinion, it’s completely wrong. Let’s go through it.
The Exorcist? Obviously a horror movie. 1/7
Jaws? I can see why it gets lumped in, but let’s be real here. Jaws is a thriller/adventure movie with some scary scenes mixed in above anything else. No points. 1/7. Next.
Silence of the Lambs? Another one that toes the line between horror and thriller. For the sake of this argument, and because it’s one of the 3 movies to win the Big 5 Oscars, I’m gonna give it the horror classification, but just by a hair.
2/71.5/7The Sixth Sense? Again, this is definitely more psychological thriller than horror. I take back what I just said about Silence, I’m awarding both of these half a point towards the total. 2/7
Black Swan? I’m the least familiar with this one. But from my understanding (and from some brief googling) I’ve established that this is, yet again, a psychological thriller movie with some body horror mixed in. After being generous with our last two entries I’m awarding this no points. 2/7
Get Out? I’m sensing a trend here. Sure, this has horror elements, but this is a thriller above anything else. In the spirit of this exercise, I’ll give it a half point because it’s awesome. 2.5/7
The Substance? While not a traditional horror movie (it’s as much black comedy as it is horror), it definitely qualifies. 3.5/7
So, we’ve now established just how rare an Oscar nomination like this really is. Of the 7 “horror” movies nominated for Best Picture, it really boils down to 2 legit horror movies (The Exorcist and The Substance) with a bunch of thriller/horror movies mixed in as well. Like I said, it’s a very cool nomination. Also, looking at this list, there are some all-time classics here. Great company to be in overall.
The funniest part about this movie was what happened after walking out of the theater. See, before the movie, Sophia, Adelaide, and I grabbed Johnny Rockets for dinner. Sophia was joining us for the last movie of the day, The Substance. During dinner, I joked to Adelaide that we were having a true downer of a day at the theater; we weren’t seeing any “fun” or “happy” movies. Sophia didn’t understand what I was talking about because she thought The Substance was exactly that: fun and happy. Adelaide looked at each other, made a silent agreement not to tell Sophia anything about what she was getting herself into, and changed the subject.
We rushed through dinner to get to the movie in time and since we bought tickets at pretty late notice, the three of us weren’t sitting together. Actually, a more accurate statement would be that Sophia wasn’t sitting with us. Alright, so the movie starts, I’m watching through my fingers and audibly gasping for a lot of it, and eventually the credits roll and the lights come up. Adelaide and I start to leave the theater but we can’t find Sophia. We honestly thought that she had walked out halfway through the movie once she figured out what she’d gotten herself into. While this would have been hilarious, she didn’t do that. Instead, we found her on the escalator. She was pissed at us for lying to her (she could have done one Google search before she chose to join us but didn’t) and apparently, she had her head in her lap for most of the movie.
What a great way to end a full day at the theater!
Bonus: Sophia’s message to the gc drive home. Good to see that she accepted some fault.
Do They Say the Title of the Movie In the Movie: Like, 10 billion times.
Chance My Dad Cries While Watching This: 0%
No, But Really: I walked out of the theater after seeing this movie gasping. While not a typical horror movie, the body horror aspect of this film is truly some of the most haunting stuff I’ve seen; it's insane. The fact that this got nominated for Best Picture is also pretty cool, I’m not gonna lie, purely for how original it is. What they were able to pull off here is incredible, especially on the budget they had, and the acting from Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid is pretty top-notch. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you before watching this movie: You might be watching it through your fingers.
-I love da movies.
—I don’t know what I’m gonna do on Sundays now
—-Chicken and rice is the best dinner you can have