griggs79
Celluloid Junkie
Member Since: 14 Nov 2024
Location: London, UK
Bio: https://letterboxd.com/griggs79/
Recent Ratings
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Winter Kills (1979) - Rated 03 Sep 2025
"In Winter Kills, Jeff Bridges headlines but John Huston dominates as a Kennedy-like patriarch—eccentric, imperious, swanning in bathrobe and swimwear, gifting brass knuckles, taking transfusions. The film is a chaotic mix of thriller and farce, yet somehow holds together. Coherence isn’t the point—it’s the surreal bravado: Sterling Hayden in a tank, Huston draped on a flag, Elizabeth Taylor drifting by in silence."
Brewster McCloud (1970) - Rated 03 Sep 2025
"Brewster McCloud masquerades as a stoner comedy but hides an allegory of America’s bruised idealism in the ’70s. Bud Cort dreams of flight under the Houston Astrodome, his fragile contraption a parody of Apollo’s rockets—counterculture Icarus bound to crash. Altman surrounds him with grotesques, running gags, and debuts from Duvall and Kellerman, before ending in a circus of absurdity. Messy, funny, and haunting, it’s a cracked mirror of a nation chasing flight but bracing for collapse"
Thirteen (2003) - Rated 03 Sep 2025
"Thirteen plunges into the volatility of teenage coercion—rebellion curdling into manipulation, with “I love you” as control. Reed and Wood are startlingly convincing, their friendship veering from giddy liberation to obsession that warps self-image. Raw and uneven, sometimes too eager to shock, the film still feels authentic. It’s an uncomfortable watch, tracing how playacting at adulthood can consume, leaving bruises exactly where they land."
Goin' South (1978) - Rated 02 Sep 2025
"Goin’ South coasts less on polish than on the cast’s fun. Nicholson directs himself as a scoundrel saved from the noose by marriage, playing it broad and absurd. Lloyd, Belushi, and DeVito barely register but dive into the silliness. The standout is debuting Mary Steenburgen, who owns the room with wit and steel. Messy and uneven, it’s a Western played for laughs, getting by on sheer cheek."
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) - Rated 02 Sep 2025
"School films swing between fantasy and trauma; this one tries to stitch both but the seams show. The Perks of Being a Wallflower follows Charlie, an awkward new kid folded into a group of older misfits who offer music, friendship, and belonging. Logan Lerman is fragile, Watson and Miller add spark, but the script leans into clumsy earnestness. Moments of poignancy sit beside PSA-style beats. And pretending no teen knew Bowie’s Heroes? Nonsense."
Trash Humpers (2009) - Rated 02 Sep 2025
"“Just because you can doesn’t mean you should” sums up Trash Humpers. Korine’s VHS parade of masked misfits smashing TVs and humping bins plays like basement footage no one wanted. It’s provocative at first, with grainy chaos and grotesque energy, but shock curdles into monotony. DIY nihilism flickers, then drowns in repetition. Defiantly anti-cinema, it may thrill some, but for me it was more endurance test than invention."
The Toxic Avenger (2025) - Rated 02 Sep 2025
"I called the original Toxic Avenger a grungy gore fest saved by campy excess. The 2023 update is slicker, with budget and stars, but polish drains the fun. The first thrived on trashy chaos; this one plays it straight, sanding off the grime that made it perversely alive. Nods to satire feel self-conscious, not anarchic. Less toxic, more tepid—a mop with no mess."
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995) - Rated 01 Sep 2025
"Adolescence is rarely pretty, and here it’s a horror show. Welcome to the Dollhouse follows Dawn Wiener, played with heartbreaking awkwardness by Heather Matarazzo, nailing every slouch and stammer. A pre-social media Eighth Grade, except the parents are just as petty. Solondz shoots with deadpan bite, bleakly funny and painful at once. A sketchbook more than a canvas, but brave and bitter—no wonder it won Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize."
The Roses (2025) - Rated 31 Aug 2025
"Sometimes the best part of a film is who you watch it with. The Roses played to a full house after Colman and Cumberbatch dashed in late for a breezy intro, priming the crowd. The film’s glossy and funny—more Cosmo Kramer than Kramer vs. Kramer—though its stars aren’t stretched, coasting on charm over depth. Still, with laughs landing and the audience leaning in, it made for a great night out."
Fresh (1994) - Rated 31 Aug 2025
"Fresh follows a twelve-year-old who treats street life like a chess match—running drugs, scheming with unnerving calm, and outgrowing childhood too soon. It sets up as a thriller but plays as a grim puzzle, every move tightening his trap. The chess metaphor is heavy-handed, yet the inevitability stings. Performances are restrained, sometimes muting impact, but the film is smart, bleakly inventive, and memorable—cool, calculated, and a little too careful."
