5 Off My Head: Siri Says 2008

Now that the festival rush of Fall 2025 is behind me I've been feeling the nagging sensation to check back into our long long too-long running series of "Siri Says" posts -- the last one I did was back in January! These posts have gotten increasingly sporadic as the remaining years have dwindled -- when I checked what's left this morning I saw there were only five years out of one hundred left for us to do. Do what, you ask since it's been so long since I've done one? Well the idea is that I had my phone choose a random number between 1 and 100 and then I picked my five favorite movies from the year that corresponds. Once we got down to the teens the process changed a little because it took too long for Siri to get to a number I hadn't already done, so I wrote the remaining years on slips of paper and picked one with my eyes shut. And that's how we ended up with the year 2008 today.

It's the last year of the Aughts we had left to do -- another decade crossed off! And this is another year when I was actively blogging here at MNPP so there's documentation of my thoughts on 2008's movies already -- click here to see what my favorite movies were at that moment. My list now, seventeen years later, has changed a little! Not entirely, but some. So let's get to it. I give you...

My 5 Favorite Movies of 2008

Synecdoche, New York

(dir. Charlie Kaufman)

-- released on October 24th 2008 --

Let the Right One In 

(dir. Tomas Alfredson)

-- released on December 12th 2008 --

In Bruges

(dir. Martin McDonagh) 

-- released on February 29th 2008 --

The Fall 

(dir. Tarsem Singh) 

-- released on May 30th 2008

Lake Mungo 

(dir. Joel Anderson) 

-- released on June 18th 2008 --

-----------------------------------------

Runners-up: Wall*E (dir. Andrew Snanton), The Wrestler (dir. Darren Aronofsky), Wendy & Lucy (dir. Kelly Reichardt), Mister Lonely (dir. Harmony Korine), Funny Games U.S. (dir. Michael Haneke), The Chaser (dir. Na Hong-jin), Timecrimes (dir. Nacho Vigalondo), Happy-Go-Lucky (dir. Mike Leigh), [REC] (dir. Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza)...

...  Teeth (dir. Mitchell Lichtenstein), Encounters at the End of the World (dir. Werner Herzog), The House Bunny (dir. Fred Wolf), The Ruins (dir. Carter Smith), Doomsday (dir. Neil Marshall), Cloverfield (dir. Matt Reeves), Hunger (dir. Steve McQueen), Reprise (dir. Joachim Trier)

What are your favorite movies of 2008?

I'm Makin' Like Austin Butler's Ass...

... and bouncing!

(Okay yeah Caught Stealing might've been just okay but it's definitely got its merits, for sure.) Anyway as the title cheekily infers I'm gone, peace, outta here. I've got to get back to the film fest grind. I actually did think I was going to be here for most of tomorrow but now something I can't miss has come up and so I'll actually be away all day tomorrow too. Boo! Hiss! That said more NYFF reviews (following the one earlier today for Pillion huzzah) will be dropping at some point, and I'll try to make those clear here, or on social media, or perhaps I'll just poke my head out of the top of whatever hole I'm currently buried in and scream something to that effect. We'll see! How exciting! Bye til then!

Austin Butler's Ab Emporium

Yet another gift from me to the Austin Butler appreciators out here -- a few more gifs from the video of that beefcake-centric Men's Health photoshoot I posted a couple of weeks ago. Because how else am I going to grab your attention and direct you to a four day old review for a movie that came out and did mediocre business at the box office? Yes in case you missed it over the holiday weekend you can read my thoughts on Darren Aronofsky's Caught Stealing over at Pajiba here -- it's a perfectly fine movie. Which means compared to Aronofsky's last abomination this feels like a revelation. Okay -- "revelation" is still an extremely strong word choice given the film, but hey's at least it's not The Whale -- thanks kee-rist for small miracles. And now that you've all finished clicking that link and reading my review you may hit the jump for a couple more gifs of them unholy abs of Austin's...

Austin Butler's a Healthy Man

A gratuitous Men's Health photoshoot is the ultimate test of my willpower and so I I think I can finally say with full throated truth today that -- Austin Butler? Does absolutely nothing for me. I've been saying that for the past few years but these sweaty half-naked gray-sweatpanted photos really seal that deal -- he's never gonna do anything for me if these photos are stirring jackshit this morning.

I mean clearly his body is ripped. Shredded, even! I'd give anything to be in this kind of shape just once in my life. But it's not jealousy. It's more... bafflement. I just don't get the appeal. I saw someone on social media say something the other day about him emitting this crazy charisma in person and... okay? I find his entire persona off-putting if we're being honest, which is why I found Ari Aster casting him as a cult leader in Eddington very funny. Because what an empty vacuum to find one's self sucked into.

Which is to say I think he was used well by that movie; I also think Jeff Nichols used him well in The Bikeriders, where his macho man-of-few-words posturing concealed absolutely nothing -- a child. That's also why I don't think he was good in Elvis or Dune Part Two -- those characters needed to actually be more than a blank facade. (Then again with Baz who knows.) Feyd-Rautha though needs to transmit insanity and menace and Butler always felt like a kid playing dress-up. To me. (That said -- Sting wasn't much better. That role has never been cast right.) Anyway! This is all stuff I've said before and I don't mean to stop anyone from enjoying these photos if he stirs something in you. I'm seeing Darren Aronofsky's Caught Stealing next week so maybe... something will stir there. For now hit the jump for what we've got so far...

Don't Go Stealing My Heart

I am really angry at myself for wanting to watch Darren Aronofsky's new movie Caught Stealing after watching the just-dropped trailer because of a few reasons -- One! Darren Aronofsky just came off the absolute worst movie he's ever been associated with with The Whale, which was offensive trash that should be scorched from the Earth. Two! Caught Stealing stars Austin Butler, and even if Austin Butler's body looks like it does above I have found him insufferable as a performer in let's say 95% of the projects I've seen him in. He's a pout-mouthed try-hard and he gets on my nerves. (He was awful in Dune -- I will brook no alternative opinions!) And finally -- Three! Yesterday Aronofsky threw his shitty hat in the shitty A.I. ring and he can go fuck himself for that shitty shit.

There are still tickets to see Mr. Aronofsky speak in person at a screening of his masterpiece REQUIEM FOR A DREAM at Tribeca in a couple of weeks, and I am sure there are places around there where you can buy heads of lettuce and tomatoes too

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— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) May 20, 2025 at 2:52 PM

But also -- God. Damn. It. This trailer is SO New York, and can't help being a stereotypical New Yorker and loving movies that look like they are SO my hometown. Aronofsky's not a poseur in this respect either, he's a native Brooklynite and every time he makes a movie set here -- Black Swan, Requiem For a Dream -- he really captures this city in a way that only somebody who knows and loves this dirty foul wonderful insane place could. Also Zoe Kravitz and Matt Smith and Bad Bunny all look like a ton of fun and I like those guys. SIGH. Watch for yourselves:

Caught Stealing is out on August 29th.

Tell me what you think about it in the comments...

Caught Butlering

The thing about Austin Butler is... it's complicated. On the one hand I'm not at all convinced he's the huge talent he's being sold as these days. I didn't think he was all that great in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis. He was fine, he did what was asked of him; unfortunately Baz didn't feel like digging beneath the surface. But even more annoying to me is I'm really finding the reaction to his performance in Dune 2 completely overblown -- Feyd-Rautha is a role that any actor could have managed to make an impression with, especially with that make-up job, and I didn't feel Butler went particularly beyond that. Having now seen the movie twice I can confirm that initial impression -- he felt yet again to me like a lightweight playing dress-up. I did not sense legitimate menace or threat from him for a second of that performance.

But there is another hand! The other hand is that I did like him a lot as Tex Watson in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. And having seen Jeff Nichols' upcoming movie The Bikeriders a very very long time ago I thought he was a stand-out in that as well. It's a character that's all surface cool and sexy while being kind of a dumb nothing underneath that, and hey whaddya know he pulls that off. So... it's complicated. Like I said. 

Which leads me to today's complicated news -- Deadline is reporting that he's teaming up with Darren Aronofsky for a crime thriller called Caught Stealing, based on a 2004 book by Charlie Huston (thx Mac). It's about "a burned-out former baseball player... unwittingly plunged into a wild fight for survival in the downtown criminal underworld of ‘90s NYC." The book cover says it's got a "wrong man plot worthy of Hitchcock" and lord knows I love me one of those -- so if Darren Aronofsky wasn't himself coming off of his worst movie (by leaps and bounds) I might be excited about this right now! 

Alas the stench of The Whale still lingers, and a big part of me worries that nobody involved in the making of that piece of shit really got what a piece of shit it was given that its lead still won Best Actor for it. Aronofsky, who's given me some of my favorite movies of ever, really has to win me back with this next one. A lot's on the line! And casting Austin Butler isn't exactly the homerun I want it to be. But fingers crossed anyway. I hope the boys do deliver a proper Hitchcockian wrong-man movie and we can all skip together hand in hand into the future like one big happy family. Let's keep the dream alive. Let's do it for this guy:

Play With Me

I have been lousy about linking from here to all of the lists I've been rounding up at Mashable over the past few weeks, so a reminder: you can see all of my Mashable pieces if you click on this link. The above gif of Daniel Craig in Tomb Raider is a reference to my most recent one, where I told all the people of the world "The 10 Greatest Movies Based On Games," see that one right here. It's been a stellar couple of years for people finally figuring out what to do with video-game adaptations in particular -- we'll see if that carries over to the Super Mario movie, which I am seeing tonight! (I have my doubts, and they are shaped like Chris Pratt!) Here's that movie's trailer if you haven't seen it yet:

A Whale of a Tale

Spoiler alert -- I didn't much like Darren Aronofsky's new movie. Which is a rare occurrence for me, as one of his biggest way-back fans, on-board with his brand of nutty extremism since Requiem For a Dream. Yes I even adore mother! dang it. But The Whale didn't really work for me, and I dive into why with my review up today at Pajiba. It's not a total wash -- Hong Chao is really wonderful once again (made me wanna go watch Driveways for the 100th time, it did), and Fraser might not give the endless-standing-ovations performance that I was promised but he's very touching (especially in his scenes with Chao) and it's been ace to see him given the chance to show he's capable of more than he's been asked to do in the past. I won't be furious if he wins the Oscar, even if I think there are much more worthy winners at play...

5 Off My Head: Give 'Em Ellen

I wonder if I have never done this in the going-on-20 years I've been blogging this blog because there are still too many performances I have never seen? But I scanned through my Ellen Burstyn archives just now and it turns out that no, I have somehow never done a list of my top five favorite performances from one of my all-time favorite actresses, and that's ridiculous. It's obscene! Both the fact that I have never done the list and the fact that there are still so many of her performances I need to see. Either way it's Ellen's 90th birthday today (which came up in that video I posted from Darren Aronofsky's The Whale premiere last week) so let's just do it now. None of us are getting any younger. And I should note that the top performance listed below is actually what I consider to be the greatest performance in the history of film. She owns that, for me. 

My 5 Favorite Ellen Burstyn Performances

Sara Goldfarb, Requiem For a Dream (2000)

"In the end it's all nice."

Lois, The Last Picture Show (1971)

"I guess if it wasn't for Sam I'd have missed it. Whatever it is. I'd have been one of them amity types that thinks that playin' bridge is about the best thing that life has to offer."

Edna, Resurrection (1980)

"I'm sick to death of trying to get you to love me."

Chris MacNeil, The Exorcist (1974)

"Christ, I don't even smoke grass."

Alice, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)

"Sexy for Phoenix."

-------------------------------

What are your favorite Ellen Burstyn performances?

Requiem For a Fraser

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Last night I attended the NYC premiere of Darren Aronofsky's new movie The Whale, which was a groovy thing to do indeed -- above you'll see some video I took of Aronofsky introducing his star Brendan Fraser and also giving a shout-out to one of the world's greatest actresses who was in the audience. No hints on my thoughts on the film yet, so don't ask -- I'm reviewing it for Pajiba next week when it's hitting theaters and you'll hear from me then. For now here is the trailer though, which I'm shocked to realize I hadn't posted yet:

A Man For All Reasons

Although his role in Pearl was small I sure did like getting to stare at David Corenswet some alongside Mia Goth's tremendous work in that terrific Ti West entertainment, and yesterday came news that we'll be getting more opportunities of that sort, phew -- Deadline's reporting he'll star in a new FX series from producers Danny Strong (aka Buffy Nerd Jonathan Forever) and one Darren Aronofsky called The Answers, based on the 2018 book by Catherine Lacey (anybody read it) which they compare to The Handmaid's Tale. Here's the plot:

"... set in the near future, where a heartbroken young woman, Mary, joins an enigmatic experiment that promises to hack love, but after moving into an idyllic, secluded location with her fellow female participants, she and the other women start questioning what’s really happening in the experiment, and why they’ve all been tasked with dating the same mysterious man, Christopher Skye (Corenswet). Christopher Skye, a movie star, is a man of contradictions. When we first meet him, we are so taken with his talent, charisma, and raw power, we absolutely believe he is one of the world’s most eligible bachelors. However, the more we get to know Christopher, the more we see his wild neuroses and his deep despair. This is a man who, on the surface, has everything, but underneath feels empty."

Sounds like Sci-Fi The Bachelor, right? Well even though I am sure there's a traumatic twist I can think of far worse things than being forced to date David Corenswet. Far, far worse things. They better have really awful things up their sleeves is my point. I mean Oscar Isaac was really fucking evil in Ex Machina and they barely got me on the robot's side on that one, given how blisteringly hot he was while simultaneously being so evil. Hey don't glare at me -- I was irreparably scarred by childhood trauma, I'm allowed to have some sordid impulses dammit. And believe me I'm much more boring in practice than in theory.

Aaaanyway this isn't the only prestige series back on a recent bestselling book that Corenswet has lined up -- he's also co-starring opposite Natalie Portman no less in Lady in the Lake, an adaptation of Laura Lipman's 2019 novel about a housewife in 1960s Baltimore who tries to solve the murder of a woman that nobody's trying to solve. This series is being run by Alma Har'el, director of Honey Boy, and has already finished production. And then there's a romantic film called The Greatest Hits that David is starring in with actress Lucy Boynton, which I only bring up because the two of them were photographed romping on a beach in their underpants back in October and I forgot to post it! Goodness gracious! So hit the jump for a couple dozen photos of David Corenswet in soaking wet boxer briefs, if you please...

5 Off My Head: The Pfeiffer Lady

The one and the only Michelle Pfeiffer, who is turning 64 today, can be seen at the moment on Showtime's The First Lady series, giving in my consideration the best performance on the show as Betty Ford -- I'll admit up front that I went into the show being pretty unfamiliar with Betty Ford, besides the the Cliff's Notes stuff with regards to alcoholism etc, so I don't have a person in my head that I have been comparing her to. But she's giving by far the most human and grounded performance...

... on the series, which is admittedly a bit of a mess. (Oh Viola, what are you doing?) Anyway what's new -- Michelle literally never puts in a bad turn, and yet she continually goes under-appreciated. I'm just glad she's working consistently again after taking so much time off to be with and raise her kids. So let's celebrate her here on her birthday today, with a list I am shocked to admit I've never done before...

My 5 Favorite Michelle Pfeiffer Performances

Selina Kyle, Batman Returns

"It's the so-called 'normal' guys who always let you down. 

Sickos never scare me. Least they're committed."

Angela de Marco, Married to the Mob

"Everything we own fell off a truck!"

Woman, mother!

"This is all just... setting."

The Countess Ellen Olenska, The Age of Innocence

"Don't make love to me. 

Too many people have done that."

Elvira, Scarface

"Don't toot your horn, honey, 

you're not that good."

Runners-up: French Exit, Where is Kyra,

The Fabulous Baker Boys, Stardust

What are your favorite Pfeiffer performances?

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

The Fountain (2006)

Isabel: For every shadow, no matter how

deep, is threatened by morning light.

I listen to Clint Mansell's magnificent score for The Fountain all the time (indeed I saw him perform it live once inside a church here in NYC and it nearly blew my head off) but I'm only just now realizing here on the film's 15th anniversary that I probably haven't sat down and watched the film itself in nearly fifteen years? I should fix that! It's a good movie for the holidays, maybe I'll watch it over Thanksgiving break and report back. What are your thoughts on The Fountain for its 15th anniversary, if any? Fans?

A Time For Mothers

This still feels like kind of a weird time to wish people a Happy Mother's Day because there is still -- in case you'd forgotten or maybe you just woke up from a coma (in which case I love that you came to MNPP first!) -- a pandemic happening, and relational activities should remain constrained. No parties, people. But personally I am now a vaccinated person, and my mother and my grandmother are now vaccinated people, and so I am going to upstate New York next week to see them for the first time since... like nearly two years ago? I'm pretty emotional about it, don't get me started! But that's not this weekend, that's next week, and I'll surely mention it when it's happening. For some of you though, maybe you're safely seeing your Moms this weekend? And it's to you people, and to all the actual Moms, that I say Happy Mother's Day. Also Bye til Monday!

Which Is Hotter?

Did y'all see yesterday's news of Darren Aronofsky's next film? His first project since mother! broke our brains in 2017 will be The Whale, an adaptation of a play by Samuel D. Hunter that's about a 600-pound gay recluse who tries to reconnect with his daughter. And yes that sentence is a lot, I will give you a moment to take it in. The play was apparently well critically received. Anyway my immediate first thought was, "Oh god Christian Bale is gonna gain all that weight isn't he," but it turns out that Aronofsky had another actor in mind, and he's already been cast, and yes the above photo spoils all of this build-up -- Brendan Fraser, former Mummy hunter and Encino Man will play the role. Although Fraser never stopped working this project obviously marks a step-up in the notable department since his heyday -- mother! might've been, you know, confusing to audiences or whatever (although I will defend it to my grave) but Darren Aronofsky is still Darren Aronofsky, so prestige, no matter how bonkers, is expected. Anyway I don't know what to expect of this project but we've missed Brendan and I hope this risk pays off. We'll see! Until then...

survey service

He Picked Me, Mommy

I've got a couple of big pieces that've gone up today that I must now share -- and I'm going to do it in separate posts because hey, more posts that way! First up! For The Film Experience I wrote about Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan here on its 10th anniversary... okay its 10th anniversary is actually on Thursday, but I wrote about it today. If you feel the need to wait until Thursday to read it when you've got your ceremonial swan costumes on for your already-scheduled Zoom celebrations I totally understand. Anyway I am specifically writing about Natalie Portman's terrific work in the movie, and I dropped the bait that she deserved her Oscar on purpose because I knew y'all would take it, haha. I mean I think she did deserve to win, I didn't make that part up. I just so rarely wander into Oscar conversations of my own free will and I know that's a take some people have issues with. Me I say viva Portman! She got her statue and then went and became an even riskier actress after it, making us all blessed.