I stopped watching movies since everything good is on line, the experience is too expensive, and movie makers are too woke - every story has to have a gay couple now, even if it is utterly irrelevant to the storyline. I'm not anti-gay, I think the relevance has to be there or it's just virtue signaling, which is shallow and fake .
Good article about Alfred Hitchcock. He was great. So many in Hollywood were back then. Hollywood is rapidly disappearing now though due to AI which is advancing exponentially in all areas. I believe it’s the only thing that can save humanity. No way can our flawed nature survive with the weapons we now have.
“He instead pointed out in his movies that ordinary people are all too tempted to embrace the madness of intellectuals.”
“Psycho and American Wickedness”
“Hitchcock told dark stories of contemporary America because he saw dark things coming.”
That was very good. Awful though how unstable human nature is. I believe that only AI can save us from self destruction plus now even Mother Nature is turning against us especially in the Middle East and Asia. Countries like Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and northern India have ever worsening droughts, flooding, and heat waves with humidity so bad it’s like the people are being cooked alive. Last week I saw a video of Iran which said they’re in the 5th year of a drought, are rapidly running out of water and there are days now when the temperature reaches 127 degrees. These areas are becoming unlivable.
“Flash Floods in Hong Kong; Worst August Rain Since 1884.” (6 min)
Not sure about this movie given its taint of woke.
Brolin - mother law is that satan in a dress Barbra Streisand
Garner - starred in The Assistant directed by a woman (!) named Kitty (!) about a Harvey Weinstein (!) type movie head of a culture of sexual harrassment (!) and is married to Foster the People rocker whose most famous song is "Pumped Up Kicks" about gun violence (!).
You don't seem to know what "woke" means. A Jon Waters movie starring Divine is not "Woke", nor is Rocky Horror Picture show, nor is A Raisin in the Sun, but methinks you would label the such. Begin with knowing the difference between a woman heroine (ala "Alien" or "Super Girl") vs a woman girl boss (a la "She Hulk").
I know sorta how I would describe woke but not necessarily what would qualify.
Woke is whatever on any given second offends Trump and thus his followers. In an odd but amusing twist, they seem somehow even more woke than the usual jokesters, taking much abridge with everything and anything - oh, the umbrage, often caught in vrial videos. To appear not too "snowflake" though, they bro and swagger through their disdain of anything that's not straight and "normal" looking.
What offends is sometimes obvious and sometimes not. In a rare occurence, perhaps not yet seen, at least to this magnitude, Epstein seemed to offend maga but for obvious reasons, not Trump. Say what?! For a sec, maga seemed to come to their senses and realize that the guy they elected was not going to expose the deep state but rather a part of it. Then they came to their maga senses, and are busy as bees finding OBAMA! scandals and the like. Deflection, distraction & Donald. The 3 words to swear by.
Now, I realize this extreme behavior is repeated on the left side naturally and that the more extreme beliefs and obsessions are held by a small portion of society. Thanks to our ever lovin' social media, including blogs like these, these vitriolic, hateful comments made to our fellow Americans and humans get magnified far beyond their value.
Great review! I think you’re my favorite writer on here, though I don’t watch horror. That said, as a kid, I saw Psycho, Rosemary’s Baby, The Birds, Wait Until Dark, and most Hitchcock films—mostly to spot his cameo. You’re spot on about movies nowadays. IMO, some great (and vastly overlooked) films last year includes A Complete Unknown and Fly Me to the Moon.
I like the idea of combining your commentary and your Hollywood offerings. You could then charge a higher amount for Free Thinking. Or you could create a “Premium” Free Thinking price that gives interested parties access to the “Hold Him in Your Armchair/You Can Feel His Disease” Hollyweird stuff. I would be one of those interested parties.
Sasha, the Tip Jar does not appear if you get to a POST from an email (which is the common way for a subscriber, for sure, as that is how we are regularly alerted) or from a link like on realclearpolitics.com. You have to know to click on the center icon of Sasha Stone (w hummingbird) to get to your home page to there find the banner that includes the Tip Jar. So you need a link to that on every post, at the top or at the bottom before comments. Steve Hoffman
I would be interested in your cut on "Together," which I just saw because they wouldn't admit me late into "Seven Samurai" in an ongoing Kurosawa retrospective. I would be curious about your cut.
The script tosses out some woke terms, but then the two lead actors are 30-something urbanites, and this would be in character. The movie really isn't about that, though. It explores the tension between living for oneself and becoming "one flesh" (literally) with a spouse or partner in the context of a creepy, predatory rural cult.
I'm glad I saw it once, but I don't think I am going back soon.
I stopped watching movies since everything good is on line, the experience is too expensive, and movie makers are too woke - every story has to have a gay couple now, even if it is utterly irrelevant to the storyline. I'm not anti-gay, I think the relevance has to be there or it's just virtue signaling, which is shallow and fake .
Good article about Alfred Hitchcock. He was great. So many in Hollywood were back then. Hollywood is rapidly disappearing now though due to AI which is advancing exponentially in all areas. I believe it’s the only thing that can save humanity. No way can our flawed nature survive with the weapons we now have.
“He instead pointed out in his movies that ordinary people are all too tempted to embrace the madness of intellectuals.”
“Psycho and American Wickedness”
“Hitchcock told dark stories of contemporary America because he saw dark things coming.”
https://lawliberty.org/psycho-and-american-wickedness/
Thanks for the great article! I always love Hitchcock, and this was an interesting perspective on Psycho!
That was very good. Awful though how unstable human nature is. I believe that only AI can save us from self destruction plus now even Mother Nature is turning against us especially in the Middle East and Asia. Countries like Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and northern India have ever worsening droughts, flooding, and heat waves with humidity so bad it’s like the people are being cooked alive. Last week I saw a video of Iran which said they’re in the 5th year of a drought, are rapidly running out of water and there are days now when the temperature reaches 127 degrees. These areas are becoming unlivable.
“Flash Floods in Hong Kong; Worst August Rain Since 1884.” (6 min)
Firstpost. Aug 9, 2025
https://youtu.be/1MGOYSoz8_k?si=bUA1KTOzb5Usl17V
I see good movies with a married coupla guys aint too popular amongst yer maga crowd.
Not sure about this movie given its taint of woke.
Brolin - mother law is that satan in a dress Barbra Streisand
Garner - starred in The Assistant directed by a woman (!) named Kitty (!) about a Harvey Weinstein (!) type movie head of a culture of sexual harrassment (!) and is married to Foster the People rocker whose most famous song is "Pumped Up Kicks" about gun violence (!).
You don't seem to know what "woke" means. A Jon Waters movie starring Divine is not "Woke", nor is Rocky Horror Picture show, nor is A Raisin in the Sun, but methinks you would label the such. Begin with knowing the difference between a woman heroine (ala "Alien" or "Super Girl") vs a woman girl boss (a la "She Hulk").
I know sorta how I would describe woke but not necessarily what would qualify.
Woke is whatever on any given second offends Trump and thus his followers. In an odd but amusing twist, they seem somehow even more woke than the usual jokesters, taking much abridge with everything and anything - oh, the umbrage, often caught in vrial videos. To appear not too "snowflake" though, they bro and swagger through their disdain of anything that's not straight and "normal" looking.
What offends is sometimes obvious and sometimes not. In a rare occurence, perhaps not yet seen, at least to this magnitude, Epstein seemed to offend maga but for obvious reasons, not Trump. Say what?! For a sec, maga seemed to come to their senses and realize that the guy they elected was not going to expose the deep state but rather a part of it. Then they came to their maga senses, and are busy as bees finding OBAMA! scandals and the like. Deflection, distraction & Donald. The 3 words to swear by.
Now, I realize this extreme behavior is repeated on the left side naturally and that the more extreme beliefs and obsessions are held by a small portion of society. Thanks to our ever lovin' social media, including blogs like these, these vitriolic, hateful comments made to our fellow Americans and humans get magnified far beyond their value.
Great review! I think you’re my favorite writer on here, though I don’t watch horror. That said, as a kid, I saw Psycho, Rosemary’s Baby, The Birds, Wait Until Dark, and most Hitchcock films—mostly to spot his cameo. You’re spot on about movies nowadays. IMO, some great (and vastly overlooked) films last year includes A Complete Unknown and Fly Me to the Moon.
For what it is worth, in my work, which is international, I find it helpful to separate publishing units and vectors.
I like the idea of combining your commentary and your Hollywood offerings. You could then charge a higher amount for Free Thinking. Or you could create a “Premium” Free Thinking price that gives interested parties access to the “Hold Him in Your Armchair/You Can Feel His Disease” Hollyweird stuff. I would be one of those interested parties.
Sasha, the Tip Jar does not appear if you get to a POST from an email (which is the common way for a subscriber, for sure, as that is how we are regularly alerted) or from a link like on realclearpolitics.com. You have to know to click on the center icon of Sasha Stone (w hummingbird) to get to your home page to there find the banner that includes the Tip Jar. So you need a link to that on every post, at the top or at the bottom before comments. Steve Hoffman
I would be interested in your cut on "Together," which I just saw because they wouldn't admit me late into "Seven Samurai" in an ongoing Kurosawa retrospective. I would be curious about your cut.
The script tosses out some woke terms, but then the two lead actors are 30-something urbanites, and this would be in character. The movie really isn't about that, though. It explores the tension between living for oneself and becoming "one flesh" (literally) with a spouse or partner in the context of a creepy, predatory rural cult.
I'm glad I saw it once, but I don't think I am going back soon.
Checking out this site! Looking good!