Ithaca Film Journal: 2/12/26

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What I’m Seeing This Week: I’m going with Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie at Cinemapolis and Scarlet at the Regal Ithaca Mall. Other new movies at the Regal that I’d ideally like to see before they close include Crime 101; Dracula; Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die; and Wuthering Heights, which is also at Cinemapolis. There’s no way I can get to all of them, though, and it’s going to be next week before I catch any.

Also in Theaters: You have one last chance to see Magellan, my favorite new film now playing Ithaca, on the big screen at Cinemapolis today at 5pm! Here’s what I recently said about it on Letterboxd:

Just as the 28 Years Later trilogy may well turn out to be the closest thing we ever get to a movie adaptation of one of my favorite science fiction novels, this film is a beautiful cinematic rendition of the best idea from another, Orson Scott Card’s Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus. That book postulates that if just one or two things had gone differently, we could easily be living in a world where Mesoamericans “discovered” and subjugated Europe instead of vice versa; in Magellan, a trick played on Gael García Bernal’s titular conquistador by Ronnie Lazaro’s Raja Humabon and a late shot of the former in a metal carapace looking like nothing so much as a crab ready for the boil establish that this film’s civilizations were also on much more even terms than Western history books typically like to acknowledge. Another way I could have gone with this was “Dead Man with boats instead of trains.”

No Other Choice, which continues its run at Cinemapolis, will almost certainly make my Movie Year 2025 top ten list as well, and I also enjoyed Hamnet and Send Help, both of which are at both Cinemapolis and the Regal.

Special events highlights include a free screening of The Outrun at Cornell Cinema tonight which also includes free popcorn, a free “Family Classics Picture Show” presentation of A Night at the Opera at Cinemapolis on Sunday, and a free screening of Memories of Love Returned at Cornell Cinema on Wednesday featuring an appearance by director Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine. Finally, noteworthy repertory options include a “Galentine’s Day” double feature of All That Heaven Allows and Letter from an Unknown Woman at Cornell Cinema tomorrow, screenings of Hollywood classics Casablanca and Roman Holiday at the Regal on Saturday and Sunday respectively, and 40th anniversary presentations of Pretty in Pink there Saturday-Monday.

Home Video Recommendation: The New York Times recently published a helpful explainer on why, as two-time gold medalist Ted Ligety puts it, “ski racing is a sport where the favorites often don’t win.” It’s a great compliment to the realism of my second-ever “Drink & a Movie” selection Downhill Racer that the film is a great illustration of a number of its main points. As I said four years ago while the Beijing Games were in full swing, it’s also a great movie to watch right now when many of us are glued to NBC’s Olympics coverage because “Downhill Racer‘s subject isn’t just skiing or sports in general, but rather how sport is mediated through television.” That said, for as modern and ahead of its time as it appears in some ways, recent reporting by The Athletic *does* indicate that unlike Robert Redford’s Dave Chappellet, today’s American athletes probably know what a bidet is:

Medium shot in a bathroom of Chappelett in the background looking at a bidet in the foreground

Downhill Racer is now streaming on Prime Video with a subscription and is also available on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection.

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here. A running list of all of my “Home Video” recommendations can be found here.

Ithaca Film Journal: 2/5/26

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What I’m Seeing This Week: I am absolutely thrilled that Cinemapolis is bringing Magellan to Ithaca tomorrow! It clocked in at ninth on my “Cannes 2025 Films That I Am Most Eager to See” list and was the highest-ranked title that I didn’t think would ever open here, so even though they only expect to have it for one week, that’s more than I expected. Best International Film Oscar nominee The Voice of Hind Rajab begins a limited engagement there tomorrow as well. As a Luc Besson loyalist, I intend to eventually see Dracula at the Regal Ithaca Mall, too, but probably not until next week.

Also in Theaters: As was the case last week, you can currently see three films likely to make my Movie Year 2025 top ten list on the big screen locally. The mix is slightly different, though: Marty Supreme remains at the Regal and No Other Choice (which repeats as my TOP recommendation) continues its run at Cinemapolis, as does Arco, which as I recently noted on Letterboxd “features one of the most surprising and convincing, and thus extremely moving, depictions of an authentic gesture of love by a robot capable of genuine emotions toward its human ward that I’ve ever encountered in a movie.” Meanwhile, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which is down to one screening per day at the Regal, is my first favorite film of Movie Year 2026, and I also enjoyed Hamnet and Send Help, which both continue their respective runs at both Cinemapolis and the Regal.

Special events highlights include a bevy of free events at Cornell Cinema starting tomorrow with a screening of The Conversation, which Cornell professor Dr. Karen Levy will use as the basis for a discussion on “the social and ethical aspects of data-intensive technologies.” A four-part film series called “Exploring Ethnographic Filmmaking” then begins on Monday with a “Scientific Cinema” program featuring Four Families, Trance and Dance in Bali, and Groh Groh (Rehearsal for Rangda). Cornell professor Michell Chresfield will introduce the documentary In My Blood It Runs on Tuesday. Last but not least, a filmmaker Q&A will follow a screening of Rule Breakers on Wednesday. Finally, noteworthy repertory options include screenings of Total Recall, Letter from an Unknown Woman, and Ran at Cornell Cinema tonight, Saturday, and Sunday respectively, and Lost in Translation at the Regal on Monday.

Home Video Recommendation: My Loving Wife’s last Family (née Friday) Movie Night selection was The Cutting Edge, a childhood VHS staple for both of us. Although stylistically very much a product of the early ’90s, it held up way better than I expected and the girls liked it, too, although they were both frustrated by the fact that it ends with a kiss before we learn what scores Moira Kelly’s Kate Moseley and D.B. Sweeney’s Doug Dorsey received for their climactic pairs figure skating long program at the 1992 Winter Olympics:

I don’t remember this bothering *me* when I was a kid, but there’s a lot of fuss about an empty medal case, so I get it. Except! Here’s one thing that definitely did not ever occur to me before: the Albertville Games were the last ones held before the IOC split the Winter and Summer Olympics into separate four-year cycles, so this is the exact moment in history where it’s maximally plausible that Terry O’Quinn’s overbearing father Jack Moseley would be perfectly satisfied with a high score that set his daughter up to be one of the favorites at the Lillehammer Games just two years down the road! Anyway, The Cutting Edge is easy to find on DVD and is also available for rental and purchase on a variety of streaming video platforms.

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here. A running list of all of my “Home Video” recommendations can be found here.

Juxtaposition #14

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From The Tale of Silyan:

Close-up of Jana Coneva rubbing her eyes as a tear slowly streams down her face
Close-up of the smartphone that Jana is talking to her daughter Ana on
Long shot of Jana and her husband Nikola looking sadly at each other on their couch

From “Cold at Night” by the Mountain Goats:

On the third day, you said you felt sick
I could hear the clock tick
Well, the first thing you learn is that there’s always a clock ticking somewhere
(The first thing you learn is that there’s always a clock ticking somewhere)
And the next thing you learn is how cold it can get at night

Previous “Juxtaposition” posts can be found here.

Ithaca Film Journal: 1/29/26

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What I’m Seeing This Week: I’m looking forward to the screening of Orwell 2+2=5 at Cornell Cinema this evening and am also planning to catch Best Animated Feature Film Oscar nominee Arco at Cinemapolis, and Send Help either there or at the Regal Ithaca Mall.

Also in Theaters: You can currently see three films likely to make my Movie Year 2025 top ten list on the big screen locally! I’ve already written about No Other Choice, which continues its run at Cinemapolis, and Marty Supreme, which is there and at the Regal. I was also impressed by The Testament of Ann Lee, a visually and sonically inventive big swing anchored by a powerful lead performance by Amanda Seyfried that succeeds in translating the appeal of the Shaker movement her title character founded into contemporary terms–just switch celibacy out for polyamory and either veganism or temperance and their Niskayuna settlement starts to look like an 18th-century precursor to hippie communes and Silicon Valley. It’s at Cinemapolis, where you have two final chances to see my first favorite film of Movie Year 2026 as well, the surprisingly contemplative follow-up to this week’s home video recommendation (see below) 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which is also at the Regal. Noteworthy special events include part two of the Ithaca Underground Music Video Festival at Cinemapolis tonight and free screenings of the films Wisdom of Happiness on Sunday at Cinemapolis and Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat on Monday at Cornell Cinema. Finally, a solid week for repertory fare is highlighted by screenings of Total Recall at Cornell Cinema on Saturday, The Godfather Part II at the Regal on Saturday, and Groundhog Day at the Regal on Monday. The Lego Movie, which recently inspired me to post some musings on film criticism, is there in 3D tomorrow through Wednesday, too.

Home Video Recommendation: Here’s what I said on Letterboxd after I saw 28 Years Later at the Regal in July:

Don’t wanna be a post-zombie apocalypse quarantine British idiot. Curious to see where the Sympathy for the Infected plotline goes. Is this as close as anyone has come yet to making a movie version of A Canticle for Leibowitz?

Sentence #1 was originally intended as a jokey reference to Green Day’s “punk rock opera” American Idiot, but The Bone Temple actually does develop Jack O’Connell’s character into something very much like a evil St. Jimmy and his battle with Ralph Fiennes’ orange-skinned anti-Trump Dr. Ian Kelson for the soul of Alfie Williams’ Spike more or less follows the contours of the album’s plot. But while 28 Years Later arguably shares some of the same flaws that Robert Christgau pointed out two decades ago, “there’s no economics, no race, hardly any compassion” reads more as an inventory of facts than a critique when it’s referring to a story that begins with the end of the world. Which: this trilogy definitely *is* shaping up to be as close to an adaptation of Walter M. Miller Jr.’s classic sci fi novel A Canticle for Liebowitz, one of my favorites, that we may ever get! The first installment also features a terrific score by Young Fathers that like Fiennes’ performance should have been nominated for an Oscar and a number of unforgettably gorgeous-harrowing scenes like a race across a partially-submerged causeway under the aurora borealis. It is now streaming on Netflix and is also available on both Blu-ray and DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here. A running list of all of my “Home Video” recommendations can be found here.

Film Criticism Musings Inspired by The Lego Movie

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Close-up of Will Ferrell's The Main Upstairs holding a bottle of Krazy Glue which is in focus and he's slightly out of focus behind in a frame within a frame created by one of his Lego creations

The Lego Movie obviously exists to sell Legos, specifically sets based on high-value licensed IP like Batman and Lord of the Rings. This may not be such a noble goal, but as a parent I appreciate the pitch it uses. If my kids want to play with Gandalf but don’t have a Gandalf toy, they’ll make one out of whatever materials at hand, even if it takes all day. Which is awesome! But they’ll happily level up if you *give* them a Gandalf toy and spend that same amount of time creating a balrog or Saruman to fight him or turning their bedroom into a replica of the Shire. You might believe one of these two forms of creativity is superior to the other, but *I* don’t and I agree that one of the cool things about a Lego set is that it accommodates both: you can build what’s pictured on the box, or you can turn the minifigures that come with it loose in an entirely different world.

Most films come with the equivalents of box art and instructions and it’s silly to pretend otherwise. Cast and director interviews, posters, press notes, and previews all tell us how we’re meant to read the work, as do aspects of the text itself like dialogue, production design, and shot selection. To say that a movie appears or (even worse) claims to be doing one thing but is in fact doing another is to shoulder the burden of proof. If you don’t show your work, you can’t expect people to take you seriously. But in the same way that you can always take a set of Legos and make something else with it, so too do viewers reserve the right to do what they please with whatever they watch. It isn’t CRITICISM, though, unless you account for all the pieces supplied by the film, its context, and its creators.

So: yes to this horror movie is more entertaining if you think of it as a comedy–as long as you explain why and ideally what it means! This is the same as arguing that you can make what’s on the box if you want, but what’s on the box is super lame and you can use the pieces that come in it to make this other really cool thing instead. Absolutely yes to spackling a crack in narrative logic. And potentially yes as well to suggesting that Happy Gilmore 2 is a Rosetta Stone for understanding the mindset of American conservatives even if you disagree with the politics of the piece and its writer, provided it has explanatory value. But no, no, no to both stridently insisting on a One True Interpretation and completely ignoring the intent of the authors, even if we don’t need to treat their word as gospel. Criticism isn’t about either following a manual or just pretending you got what you really wanted for Christmas: it’s about putting whatever actually was under the tree through its paces and maybe pushing the envelope a bit.

Previous posts about film criticism can be found here. 

Ithaca Film Journal: 1/22/26

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What I’m Seeing This Week: Cornell Cinema is starting off their spring lineup with a bang and I’m exited to see the new 35mm print of 8½ that they’re screening on Friday and Sunday! I’m planning to catch The Testament of Ann Lee at Cinemapolis as well. Finally, while I’m also eager to see Orwell: 2+2=5, which plays Cornell Cinema on Saturday, I’m going to wait until it returns next Thursday.

Also in Theaters: With the unveiling of this year’s Oscar nominees later this morning, four contenders for my Movie Year 2025 list are now playing Ithaca: No Other Choice continues its run at Cinemapolis, One Battle After Another and Sinners have returned to the Regal Ithaca Mall, and Marty Supreme is at both. You can’t go wrong with any of them, but my *top* recommendation is No Other Choice, one of the most thoughtful and darkly hilarious takes on the A.I. revolution we’re living through I’ve seen to date. Meanwhile, Movie Year 2026 is off to a good start with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, part two of a mashup-up between Green Day’s album American Idiot and Walter M. Miller Jr.’s novel A Canticle for Liebowitz that I’m beginning to think MIGHT just be a pop culture near-masterpiece–ask me again after I’ve gotten a chance to rewatch the first 28 Years Later film! I also enjoyed Father Mother Sister Brother, which continues its run at Cinemapolis; ’70s throwback Dead Man’s Wire, which you can see at the Regal; and Hamnet, which is at both. I should probably also mention that It Was Just an Accident is playing Cornell Cinema tonight because I seem to be an outlier in not thinking it is one of the best movies of the year (even though I do agree that it’s an important work and that its very existence represents a monumental achievement considering the circumstances under which it was made and current events). This week’s special events highlight is the return of the Ithaca Underground Music Video Festival to Cinemapolis on Wednesday. Finally, noteworthy repertory options include the etymologically essential Gaslight at Cornell Cinema this evening, The Matrix at the Regal on Sunday, and the “final cut” version of Blade Runner there on Wednesday.

Home Video Recommendation: I often spend much of the last two weeks of each month watching films that are about to disappear from the Criterion Channel. Of the titles that expire on January 31, the clear cream of the crop is The Plot Against Harry. Here’s how I recently described it on Letterboxd:

Beautifully observed dispatch from the amorphous, arbitrary borderlands between disreputable and respected in Jewish New York City at the turn of the 1970s with a central message as relevant today as it was fifty-five years ago: don’t keep your boudoir photos in a ground-level drawer in the living room if you have kids!

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here. A running list of all of my “Home Video” recommendations can be found here.

Ithaca Film Journal: 1/15/26

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What I’m Seeing This Week: I’m excited to finally see No Other Choice at Cinemapolis! I’m also planning to catch 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple and Is This Thing On? there or at the Regal Ithaca Mall, and I intend to see Dead Man’s Wire before it closes at the Regal as well, but not until next week at the earliest.

Also in Theaters: Marty Supreme, which continues its runs at Cinemapolis and the Regal, remains the best new movie now playing Ithaca that I’ve already seen. I also enjoyed Father Mother Sister Brother, a perfect date movie for couples just starting to get serious, and Hamnet, a perfect date movie for couples with children, both of which are at Cinemapolis. This week’s special events highlight is the free screening of What’s Up, Doc? at Cinemapolis on Sunday. Finally, other noteworthy repertory options include screenings of Brick, Reservoir Dogs, and Lady Bird at the Regal today, tomorrow, and Wednesday respectively. You can also see Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King there on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday respectively.

Home Video Recommendation: As I mentioned in this space last week while recommending The Baltimorons, Movie Year 2025 came complete with not one, but two new additions to my holiday rotation. The other is Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point, which landed on a number of 2024 top ten lists, but never played theatrically in Ithaca and didn’t debut on a streaming service I subscribe to until after Oscar night, and therefore retains “rookie eligibility” in my book. It features absolutely stunning camera work by Eephus director Carson Lund, a non-seasonal soundtrack that pairs oldies music evocative of the idea of nostalgia paired with ghosts of Christmas past (red and green M&Ms! The same tree topper my grandmother had!) that I’m nostalgic for, and my favorite cut of the year, from this shot of Matilda Fleming’s Emily looking up at the suburban night sky:

To this one of her mother (Maria Dizzia) looking down on a winter “scene” like the one we put up every December:

You can watch it on Hulu and as of yesterday there were still 196 copies of a limited edition Blu-ray available from Vinegar Syndrome.

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here. A running list of all of my “Home Video” recommendations can be found here.

Ithaca Film Journal: 1/8/26

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What I’m Seeing This Week: I’m going with The Housemaid at the Regal Ithaca Mall and Father Mother Sister Brother at Cinemapolis. I intend to see Is This Thing On? at one of these two theaters before it closes as well, but not until next week at the earliest.

Also in Theaters: Resurrection is my favorite new movie playing Ithaca that I’ve already seen RIGHT NOW, but it unfortunately only has one show left at Cinemapolis today at 3pm. Marty Supreme, which continues its run there and at the Regal, is also a strong contender for my Movie Year 2025 top ten list, so at that time it will inherit the title. I enjoyed Hamnet, which soldiers on at Cinemapolis, too. There once again do not appear to be any special events worth noting, but repertory highlights include Labyrinth, which has 40th anniversary screenings at the Regal tonight through Sunday, as well as The Wizard of Oz and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, which play there Monday and Wednesday respectively.

Home Video Recommendation: Speaking of my top ten list, The Baltimorons, which is now streaming on Sundance Now, has basically locked up a spot on it. You may need to have lived in its namesake city to pick up *everything* it’s laying down (although then you’re also liable to be annoyed by some of the driving routes the main characters take like My Loving Wife was) but the wounded chemistry and perfect comedy timing of leads Michael Strassner (who is also credited as a screenwriter) and Liz Larsen has universal appeal. It also features excellent original music by Jordan Seigel that riffs on the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s beloved score for A Charlie Brown Christmas and other seasonal classics. After a first viewing The Baltimorons struck me as reminiscent of last year’s The Holdovers, with the main difference being, as I suggested on Letterboxd, “that here the heart is comedy with accents of pathos instead of vice versa.” While I felt much less of an affinity between the two films the second time around, they’re both welcome new additions to my holiday rotation. As is next week’s recommendation, actually, which: cliffhanger!

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here. A running list of all of my “Home Video” recommendations can be found here.

2025: The Mixtape, Vol. 2 + updated Top Ten Movies All-Time list

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Like always I’m going to wait until Oscar night to post my Movie Year 2025 “top ten” (it usually actually includes 11-15 titles) list to give critically-acclaimed films like Father Mother Sister Brother and No Other Choice time to make it to Ithaca before I make my selections, but as has also become traditional, I’m happy to share my 2025: The Mixtape, Vol. 2 Spotify playlist in the meantime! Just as Vol. 1 highlights the music I listed to the most between January-June, these are the songs that sustained me throughout the past six months:

1. Lia Ouyang Rusli – Happyend Theme (Opening)

Rusli has acknowledged that the late Ryuichi Sakamoto, whose “andata” led off my 2017: The Mixtape, Vol. 1 playlist, was an influence on her terrific score for Happyend, and when I discovered that its theme was split into “Opening” and “Closing” tracks, I knew I had my bookends!

2. Bruiser Wolf feat. Harry Fraud – Heart Broke

The wordplay isn’t exactly kid-friendly, but references to crème brûlée, Chevrolet, and Lamar Jackson make this track something of a family inside joke.

3. Amanda Shires – Maybe I

The first time she heard this, my youngest (who is more of a hard rock kind of gal) told me to turn it off . . . until Amanda Shires started singing, which caused her to immediately change her mind.

4. The Mountain Goats – Cold at Night

There truly is “always a clock ticking somewhere.”

5. David Byrne w/ Ghost Train Orchestra – My Apartment Is My Friend

An anthem for all us homebodies.

6. U.S. Girls – The Clearing

The first track added to this mix and still one of the best!

7. Kelly Moran – Chrysalis

Reminds me of a reworking of the Tord Gustavsen Trio’s “The Longing,” which I included on my 2022: The Mixtape, Vol. 1 playlist.

8. HUNTR/X – Golden

If you don’t have kids the correct age in your life, I doubt you realize just how much of a phenomenon KPop Demon Hunters was with the elementary school set.

9. Doja Cat – AAAH MEN!

I was born in 1981, so yeah: that sample works on me!

10. Jonny Greenwood – Perfidia Beverly Hills

The best track from maybe my favorite movie score of the year.

11. Tyler Childers – Bitin’ List

As I tweeted in July, this song “is *begging* to be used in a movie, maybe over an opening credits montage depicting our hero driving around with their arm hanging out the open window of a pickup truck?”

12. Lola Kirke, Peter Dreimanis, Brian Dunphy, Darren Holden and Jack O’Connell – Will Ye Go, Lassie Go?

It seems perverse to choose a non-blues song from the Sinners soundtrack, but this is a stunning rendition of a classic.

13. Jonathan Richman – David & Goliath

Another one by an old guy who’s still got it!

14. Jordan Seigel – After Hours

In which one major influence on The Baltimorons is acknowledged by the title of a track that sounds like an outtake from the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s score for another.

15. ROSALÍA feat. Dougie F – Porcelana

Perhaps the most cinematic track on this mix, including all the ones from actual movies.

16. Alex G – June Guitar

It was once summer and will be again before we know it!

17. Aiyana-Lee – Highest 2 Lowest

My pick for the Best Original Song Oscar.

18. Brian Dunne – Fake Version Of The Real Thing

“Born with a sword made of Bethlehem steel” might be my favorite lyric of the year.

19. STOMACH BOOK – FUKOUNA GIRL

Full disclosure: I had to look this reference up . . .

20. Kathleen Edwards – Need A Ride

. . . but “people get worked up about someone’s dad/trying to teach his kid how to open a can” I got completely on my own!

21. David Fleming – Vito

Great theme from an underrated movie!

22. Neko Case – Destination

The latest from a charter member of my mixtape hall of fame.

23. Lia Ouyang Rusli – Happyend Theme (Closing)

See above.

* * *

In August I was moved to compose my first “All-Time Top Ten Favorite Movies” list in more than a decade when I suddenly realized picking one film per decade for the 1910s-2010s minus the 80s gave me something that looked more or less correct. I guess whatever neurons are involved in such an exercise just needed a wake-up call, because they were firing again less than a week later when I found myself wondering if I should switch Stalker out for The Act of Seeing with One’s Own Eyes. Believe it or not people actually do ask me for these titles, including as recently as just a week ago, so I’ve decided to update it annually as part of this post. Which as you will see below has re-liberated me from the overly proscriptive model trap, so: hurrah! In alphabetical order:

  1. The Act of Seeing with One’s Own Eyes (dir. Stan Brakhage; 1971)
  2. Le Bonheur (dir. Agnès Varda; 1965)
  3. Groundhog Day (dir. Harold Ramis; 1993)
  4. Intolerance (dir. D.W. Griffith; 1916)
  5. The Passion of Joan of Arc (dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer; 1928)
  6. Pyaasa (dir. Guru Dutt; 1957)
  7. Stalker (dir. Andrei Tarkovsky; 1979)
  8. The Strange Case of Angelica (dir. Manoel de Oliveira; 2010)
  9. Wanda (dir. Barbara Loden; 1970)
  10. Wife! Be Like a Rose! (dir. Mikio Naruse; 1935)

First runner-up this time around was probably The Long Day Closes, but obviously the films I had to leave off to make room for the two newcomers were close too, as were All That Heaven Allows, Citizen Kane, The Searchers, and Kiki’s Delivery Service. I’m looking forward to seeing how this list continues to evolve now that I’m revisiting it on the regular!

* * *

As I said at the conclusion of my final “Drink & a Movie” post, I’m going alcohol-free for the duration of 2026, which makes further resolutions seem a bit superfluous. I do have a couple of goals for this blog, though, that I mention there as well. One is to edit that series into a self-published book. Another is to “keep up my pace of one illustrated longform post about movies per month on average.” The key word here for me is actually “illustrated,” not “longform,” since what I’m specifically hoping to preserve is being greeted with lots of screengrabs from my favorite films whenever I scroll through the landing page, but it will likely amount to about the same thing. I’m also going to try to be less of a MOVIE snob and watch a few TV series with My Loving Wife. Last but not least I intend to make a point of being less stingy with likes and comments to let everyone I enjoy reading know I appreciate them. So that’s what I’ve got going on. Thanks for stopping by, and Happy New Year!

Links to previous mixes I’ve posted about can be found here. Previous top ten lists can be found here.

Ithaca Film Journal: 1/1/26

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What I’m Seeing This Week: I didn’t go to any movies during my holiday travels after all but am hoping to make up for lost time over the next few days by seeing Resurrection (#1 on my “Cannes 2025 Films That I Am Most Eager to See” list) at Cinemapolis and both Marty Supreme and Song Sung Blue at either there or the Regal Ithaca Mall.

Also in Theaters: The Secret Agent and Hamnet, which continue their respective runs at Cinemapolis, obviously remain my top new movie recommendations. In addition to the titles listed above, I’m also still hoping to catch The Housemaid before it closes at the Regal. It’s another quiet week on the special events front, but noteworthy repertory options include John Wick at the Regal today, Ghostbusters there on Monday, and Mission: Impossible there on Tuesday.

Home Video Recommendation: New Year’s Day is a time for resolutions, but not everyone is actually going to change. The Conformist, which current Cornell faculty, staff, and students can view on Kanopy courtesy a license paid for by the library and which is available for rental on a variety of other platforms, is perhaps therefore not as incongruous a title to mention here as it may first seem. Here’s what I recently said about it on Letterboxd:

All surfaces, often literally–the camera will suddenly rack focus in the middle of a conversation between the occupants of a car to make sure we don’t miss its idle windshield wipers–and noteworthy less for any grand statement you want to read into it than the poetry of its constituent parts, such as a servant sneaking bites of spaghetti out of the bowl she just served her employers from, a low-angle tracking shot toward a car through giant fallen leaves blown by wind nowhere to be found earlier in the scene, and a blue sky baby room wall that says “yes, and . . . ” to the acres of marble which preceded it.

Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here. A running list of all of my “Home Video” recommendations can be found here.