Dustin

We're here today in the hopes that you will see the light. But if you do not see the light, we will bring the fire. ~Ayanna Pressley

My 9 games that shaped who I am. #My9Games my9games.net

Just saw "The Odyssey" in IMAX, so it seemed like a good time to redo my personal ranking of Nolan's films. 1 Interstellar 2 The Dark Knight 3 Inception 4 The Prestige 5 Memento 6 Tenet 7 Oppenheimer 8 Dunkirk 9 The Odyssey 10 Batman Begins 11 The Dark Knight Rises 12 Following 13 Insomnia

Mo Brown claims victory over Bill Magnarelli in NY Assembly primary

So help me, if there is a Supreme Court vacancy during Trump's term and the Dems do a bi-partisanship push to support the nominee instead delaying until 2029... Also, if we get a miracle trifecta in 2029: Expand the Court, Term-Limit the Court, and enact vacancy time-limit.

Do I... like pro basketball now? Damn.

If you don't like me at my best, you're gonna hate me when the tinfoil on the top of my yogurt splits when I peel it back.

2025 was a huge movie year for me. 220 new-to-me movies, 253 total watches. Saw some great new rom-coms (a genre I was never big on), great noirs, some surprisingly bad Christmas movies, and some amazing new horror films.

It was a weird year, musically and otherwise. New stuff, new-to-me stuff, and earworms: this is what I was listening to on repeat in 2025. youtube.com/playlist?lis...

@merriam-webster.com After the Democratic party cave last night, can I submit the word "bootlicker" as my nominee for word of the year?

Weird how if I charge $20 to get into a venue/event, that's fine, but if I charge $20 to get out I'm committing a crime.

You should block the MAGA government-created Bluesky accounts. Do not engage them. Do not give them a single scrap of what they want.

Found in House Republican conference: 219 able-bodied adults who refuse to work.

Some great atmosphere and truly grotesque body horror shine in a glacially paced 2 hours of confusing non-linear, long-winded narrative. It's creepy over cohesive. A clunky pastiche of early 2000s J-horror and found footage, it's 20 years late to the party and didn't bring anything new. 1/5

An inclusive horror comedy that has plenty of laughs and feels, and looks great throughout. The big sticking point is that it's teenage+ themes of identity, guilt, demonic possession, and the prison industrial complex are at odds with a tone, style, and narrative more akin to a kids movie. 3/5

AI thinks music is a sport, so I don't think we should let it run Social Security. Or anything else, for that matter.

Plot, dialogue, acting, cinematography, wardrobe: all of it is bad. One of the worst high-budget disasters I've ever seen. Every corner that could be cut, is: no character has purpose beyond bad exposition, the camera cuts to avoid VFX shots, the ADR is inexplicably awful. Morbius was better... 0/5

Fuck me, that was painful. This cycle of abuse in the guise of inspiring greatness cuts to the bone in every scene. We watch a determined young drummer destroy himself to get the approval of his sadistic mentor and a chance to be the best. It sticks with you, interpreting the final performance. 5/5

While it has some funny and iconic moments, this day-in-the-life comedy is just as boring, stupid, and pointless as it's inspiration: Clerks. The ending is trying to say something, but it's muddled at best. "Beat a man with your fists, not a gun" is as close to a lesson as it gets. 1/5

Anyone who says "this isn't what I voted for" as their 401k crumbles: welcome to the opposition, glad you made it. But admit to yourself that this is exactly what you voted for: a conman who bankrupts his companies and screws over his partners.

The post-apocalyptic detective story of S1 is abandoned in favor of a split story: a nerfed lead does fetch quests while the Silo spends 10 episodes trying to figure out if a rebellion is happening. The characters all suck and each episode is filler that ends with an empty mystery box. Bad. 1/5

The history is really interesting, including the sometimes ham-fisted inclusion of Ian Fleming, but the narrative falls flat over its 2h runtime. The tension of war and threat of discovery (à la Valkyrie or Spy Gone North) is mired by unnecessary side plots and a misplaced love triangle. 3/5

A really strong satire of American capitalism's exploitation of black voices. A lot of touching character moments and cringey comedy centered around Wright's conflicted black academic in a white-focused world. The ending, though pointed, is jarring and loses the heart-felt character drama. 4/5

What if a character arc was a straight line that blips a bit in the final 10 seconds? The performances are good despite the characters being unbearably awful - except Igor & Garnik. The film is bloated and gratuitously eye-fucks Madison, while painting a picture of sex workers as gold-diggers. 1/5

Bong Joon-ho is back with biting and timely social commentary, cool creatures, and his trademark dark humor. It's a solid movie, but runs about 20 min too long and has some wishy-washy character arcs. Pattison does a great job (x2) and Ruffalo eats the scenery as space-Trump. 4/5

What if The Twilight Zone, but poorly written and made on an 90s kids TV show budget? The logic of the film is confusing at best, the twists are comically dumb, the set design is nonsensical, and the acting is pretty awful throughout. Derivative of the many, many better time travel stories. 1/5

The interesting thing is by carrying out the analogy, it gets more true: Otho then does bring the ghosts back to life... badly, causing them to rot in front of their eyes because he doesn't know what he's doing.

A promising concept gets mired in "hit my head amnesia". The series of events are mostly fun and cleverly written, except for "quirky misunderstanding where I fuck my friend's supposed girlfriend, hahaha". The humor is there sometimes, but chained to very stupid characters aside from Madonna. 2/5

It's like a noir, but the private dick is boring and the femme fatale is invested in therapy. Fonda is great, despite her terrible haircut. The story moseys along, revealing the villain way too early and then waits an hour for the protagonists to catch up in an anti-climactic finale. 2/5

NCAA Men's Final 4 prediction. Championship: Florida vs Duke Winner: Duke

NCAA Women's Final 4 prediction. Championship: UCLA vs Texas Winner: UCLA

A satire that goes the correct distance into farce and is more relevant now that it was in 2018. Lots of funny moments and a WTF turn in the 3rd act. It has a few loose ends in the narrative, like characters who just stop existing once they've served their purpose, but overall a fun, dark film. 4/5

Well shot, but incredibly slow and doesn't have any plot to speak of. It starts with a woman clinging to her nomadic lifestyle instead of dealing with her trauma and ends the exact same way. Instead of tackling the exploitation it glimpses, it romanticizes the hardship that leads people to it. 2/5

Really enjoyed this witty, snarky, and heartfelt love-story of exploding teenagers. Written (quite presciently) before COVID, it captures the confusion of being young and uncertain of your future. Afterward, found out it was from the writer/director of "No One Will Save You". He's one to watch. 4/5

Overthrowing a single rich man's life for legitimate reasons that are revealed in the end. This had the common satire problem of mixing it's message: it points fingers at the rich for escaping COVID while exploiting the working class, but also downplays the necessity of the shutdown. 2/5

[Chuck Schumer replaces Arnold in Terminator 2] CHUCK SCHUMER: Come with me if you want to die. (holds out hand)

How this 40s-era Western was made in 1962 is beyond me. That said, it's good. It's a standard Western with a cool narrative device and a lot of over-acting. It's not anything different from Westerns that pre-date it and it's got nothing on the spaghetti Westerns that would soon follow. 3/5

Some movies you just pick apart the logistics of the scenario instead of being engaged. It's the Helm's Deep battle and a location swapped Escape from NY on a sci-fi channel budget. Lots of awkward shots with action happening off-screen, bad stunt work, confusing editing, and bad ADR. 1/5

@governorwalz.mn.gov & @ayannapressley.bsky.social 2028? I would vote for that ticket in a heartbeat!

Holy shit. As a movie, it's okay - it's too long and the story is so-so. But, as a statement, it's fucking amazing. The speech at the end almost moved me to tears because it was so relevant 85 years after it was filmed. Go watch it right now. 3/5 - but 5/5 on substance alone

There's a lot crammed into this 1h 41m runtime. Reflections on death, loss, and grieving, moments of subtle humor and raging absurdism, a coming of age story, and a platonic love story. Self-destruction and knolling as therapy. Not ideal, but it's the journey this guy is on. 4/5

Which do you prefer for scoring a March Madness bracket? Standard: 1-2-4-8-16-32; which favors picking the winner and undervalues early upset picks. OR Fibonacci: 2-3-5-8-13-21; which puts less value on picking the winner and increases the value of picks in early rounds.

Starts with intrigue and then bogs down with endless scenes of naturalistic dialogue that add little to the plot. The mystery of the conversation is drip-fed to the audience, culminating in a weird premonition scene and a reveal that isn't all that interesting. Coppola just Coppola-ing. 2/5

Anyone catch the bearded belly dancers in the AI Trump Gaza video? Think he noticed when he posted it?

Another low budget sci-fi film with an interesting concept shooting itself in the foot by trying to explain too much and be mysteriously vague at the same time. The editing is choppy and, although the film is too long, feels like huge chunks of plot have been cut out. Shallower than it thinks. 1/5

Trump voters were so worried about losing the American way of life that they voluntarily installed an idiots version of Nazi Germany, and thus surrendered the American way of life.

Unlike most rom-coms, this star-crossed couple is instantly likable and you want them to get together. It still suffers from their willingness to be awful to their friends and fiancés, but again, in this instance I support it. The plot leaves lots of strings, but it's a fun ride. 3/5

The immediate premise of "red-pill guy attacks woman's personality" is countered with "woman is actually not great either", then further twisted with "actually, everyone in this town sucks", culminates in "then they fall in love". An aggravating, cringy affair masquerading as a quirky romance. 1/5

Too many unlikable characters, too many boner-comedy jokes crowbarred into place, and too little plot entwined with inconsequential side stories. The rom is lifeless outside of the "Melt with You" montage and her choice between two stupid boys isn't interesting. No real conflict = boring. 0/5

If you made a rom-com where romance was confused with stalking and the closest you got to comedy was a father telling his son to mind his own fucking business, you would produce this movie. A woman abandons a good relationship for a fictional one and Hank's son is a hellspawn. Just bad. 1/5