Category: Reviews Page 1 of 71

“Jaws” on the 4th at the Last Picture House

On July 5, 2026

In Local, Movies, Music, News, Pop Culture, Reviews

“The Last Picture House,” July 4, 2026, “Jaws” under the stars…and the fireworks.

Cognizant of the fact that DJT has pretty much f****ed up the 250th anniversary of the United States, which, further hampered by sweltering weather nationwide, meant the Fourth of July was likely to be a wash, we decided to do something different.

That something different was a movie on the roof of the Last Picture House, after a dinner at a local restaurant (Bass Street Landing, Moline, Illinois) with great friends. While our friends are “regulars” and even have their own booth, we drove to the wrong location—one they moved from years ago. (Our bad.)

A lot of restaurants shut down on the Fourth of July. (Who knew?) We thoroughly enjoyed dining with our companions, but my ability to eat much was zilch, courtesy of Mounjaro. In honor of the occasion I drank 2 glasses of muscato (they didn’t have white zinfandel by the glass) and, post meal, shared a creme brulee. The restaurant has recently changed owners and has some options for smaller appetites, which is good if you’re me.

“Jaws” plays like a brand-new movie after 41 years (1975). Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and RichardDreyfuss were great. The John Williams score emphasized, again, how vital music is to set the mood of any film. I missed a similar signature theme in “Disclosure Day,” even though it was the Maestro who scored that one, too. The movie is set around the Fourth of July, so, a perfect choice.

One of the best things I ever did as a member of the Chicago Symphony was to invite my cousin Lois to come to Chicago back in 2008 and join me as John Williams directed the Chicago Symphony playing the themes from the famous films he scored.

My only non-positive remarks: there is no bathroom on the second floor/roof. It is 28 steps down to the lobby area rest rooms. Yes, they have an elevator. It is very slow; takes 70 seconds to get from floor #1 to floor #2 by actual second-hand on my watch. I noticed another old guy (who probably has diabetes, like me) who made 2 trips to the rest room, also. Shame on us.

If you spent 6 months unable to walk, climbing 120 stairs is not on your bucket list of “things you want to do.” Is it even on the list of “things I am ABLE to do? Well, yes. Although I spent 5 minutes in the elevator (2 trips up and down), I successfully climbed the 28 steps at the end of the movie, none the worse for wear. Initially, I was fearful of dehydration, since I passed out on the Red Carpet opening night of SXSW (2025), but by the time the movie began (8:45 p.m.) it was a balmy evening, perfect in many ways, one of which was being able to see the movie and at least four sets of fireworks simultaneously.

I highly recommend taking in a movie under the stars at the Last Picture House. Only caveat: I should have scaled down my intake of beverages. (Ahem).

“Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” Amuses & Makes You Think

By Connie Wilson

On July 4, 2026

In Movies, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Pop Culture, Reviews, Scary stories

Saw that Sam Rockwell (and Juno Temple and Michael Pena) were in “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die!” now streaming on Hulu (directed by Gore Verbinski) and we took it in.

I agree with whomever complained that the third act sort of ruined what was, up to that point, a charming and funny film written by Matthew Robinson. The cast was certainly a big part of my decision to give it a go, because I’m not a fan of Verbinski’s other movies, [like the first three “Pirates of the Caribbeans” films.] But ALL of the actors were spot-on and the dialogue was witty and entertaining.

Here is a synopsis of the plot from IMDB: “A ‘Man From the Future’ arrives at a diner in Los Angeles where he must recruit the precise combination of disgruntled patrons to join him on a one-night quest to save the world from the terminal threat of a rogue artificial intelligence.”

Sam Rockwell’s outfit, alone, was worth the price of admission. The take-down of the cell phone generation was hilarious.

I admit that the cloning of members of one’s family who have been killed in classroom shootings was crossing the line, but it crossed a line with some pretty funny stuff, even though the humor is predicated on one of the most tragic situations imaginable. The family that says they have lost FOUR children to classroom shooters—well, one was really a clone of the first child victim—was funny in the way that you wish the underlying horrifictruth di d not exist in reality. I still laughed, because the couple describing the loss of their children to school shootings pulled it off so well. All of the actors did—even the weird little kid that weakens the end of the Hulu offering.

I admit to liking almost everything that Sam Rockwell does, and, yes, I agree that there are echoes of “Twelve Monkeys,” a Bruce Willis/Brad Pitt film I thoroughly enjoyed.

This one requires you to think about the satire and respond with instantaneous merriment after which you can think about the dangers of A.I. or life in these unusual times.

“Wild Bill & the Bruisers” On Tour in Chicago on June 12, 2026

By Connie Wilson

On June 13, 2026

In Music, Pop Culture, Reviews, travel

Took in Wild Bill & the Bruisers show tonight in Chicago at the Broken Hearts Bar on Lake & Randolph. It was a fantastic high-energy, low-impact evening—except for when I nearly ripped poor Louis’s shirt off while dancing the two-step. (Something I have only done once before in my life. The dancing; not the ripping. I may have done the ripping previously a time or two. Louis is the white-haired gentleman who can be seen dancing, if YouTube will let me upload the clip, which is always dicey. Otherwise, use your imagination. Lewis is probably very happy that I am not a full-time local resident who might seek out his instruction. Also dicey.)

Louis (Lewis?) is a dance instructor somewhere nearby and a regular customer at Broken Hearts Chicago. Lewis, when asking me to dance, knew my first name. (I think Reily, who works at Broken Hearts Chicago, told Lewis my name and that I wanted to dance. I failed to get a picture of darling Reily, sadly. I may have captured Lewis in action, but, again, will YouTube let me make the video into a post? Always a question. If so,I’ll add it tomorrow and you can enjoy Lewis before I unintentionally attacked his shirt.)

I also didn’t get a picture of 25-year-old Atticus from California, who said he had an NDA that prevented him from having his picture taken. Atticus complimented me on my “great memory.” I think he was just surprised that someone as old as me could remember her own name, let alone the names of several of the bar’s patrons.

Lewis apparently thought I knew what the basic “two step” was prior to the dance invitation A: no.At one point, my little finger got caught in the snap closings of Louis’s shirt. (He was twirling me, at the time.) Not good for Louis’s shirt, and I definitely need better instructions for future two-step outings.

KATE

Kate & husband, from Wicker Park.

Kate and her husband of 10 years live in Wicker Park. She was seated near the photo booth and they were very congenial and said they had (originally) seen Wild Bill & the Bruisers in Nashville and knew they were very good. She mentioned other times that she and her husband had come out to hear Wild Bill & the Bruisers play. Wild Bill, the talented group lead, mentioned from the stage that the sound at tonight’s show (the trio has been on tour in New York, Ohio and elsewhere) was the best sound of the venues they have played while on tour.

BRIE

Brie was getting married in the morning. She looked very happy and Brandon, 23, was in town from Missouri for the wedding. I made Brandon take a turn on the dance floor, although he claimed to not know how to dance. My advice: “fake it till you make it.” So, we did, and, later he brought over a very pretty girl whom he described as the World’s Greatest Taylor Swift fan.

Also stopping by our table was the groom, Chosen, and Jason, the Best Man. Jason also sells cars in the Chicago area. He said he was planning on dancing with me, but the group then left to hit other bars in the area, so that didn’t happen. (After Lewis’s shirt incident, wise move on Jason’s part.)

The bride, Brie, on June 12, 2026, the night before her wedding,at Broken Heart Bar in Chicago. The groom, Chosen, and Best Man, Jason, smile for the camera.

Swiftie, Brie (the bride-to-be) and Brandon, at the Broken Hearts Bar in Chicago on Friday, June 26, 2026.

Wild Bill (Will) Allison of Wild Bill & the Bruisers on tour in Chicago on June 12, 2026.

Brandon Pickering, Connie Wilson, and Joshua Bailey at The Last Picture House on June 2, 2026.

“Stolen Kingdom” Doc Depicts Disney Black Market: Davenport (IA) Showing

By Connie Wilson

On June 3, 2026

In Local, Movies, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Pop Culture, Reviews, Texas, Uncategorized

Joshua Bailey and Brandon Pickering, appeared in Davenport, Iowa, at The Last Picture House on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, with their film about Black Market Disney merchandise, “Stolen Kingdom.”

Writer-Director Josh Bailey is 31. Producer/Cinematographer Brandon Pickering partnered with Bailey in Austin, Texas. where both have day jobs in television. They worked on “Stolen Kingdom” for 5 years. Bailey and Pickering are on a 13-city tour with the film that opened the Florida Film Festival (both are Florida natives). “Stolen Kingdom” has done well on the film festival circuit. It was also well-received by an enthusiastic crowd at this stylish boutique theater in the Quad Cities. Chicago native Shane Simmons, a fellow actor/writer/director joined the duo as moderator for the evening.

The “Stolen Kingdom” team included Joshua Bailey (Writer/Director), Producer/Cinematographer Brandon Pickering, Sam Fraser, and Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty (who wrote the score). They have created a well-paced, visually-interesting, absorbing documentary about obsessive behavior that caused one film subject to say of himself, “You look like a psychopath!”

FLORIDA ROOTS

Both Bailey and Pickering are originally from Florida (Tampa). Both worked at Disney (or Universal) theme parks as youths. Pickering mentioned Halloween Horror Night at Universal. He volunteered the information that he was fired. “We both dropped out of the same film school.” (Valencia College in Tampa, Florida). This in-depth knowledge of the Disney World was invaluable to the project. I hope it is not the only subject the two filmmakers are this dedicated to, because it demonstrated real creativity with good pacing, great photography and comedic verve. The entire project also represented a lot of time and effort. Just organizing the material must have been a Herculean task! And now they are on a 13-city tour to cities they have probably never visited, like Davenport, Iowa. (Welcome to the Quad Cities! I’ll see you in Austin.)

Some photography of shadowy figures was impressive artistically and finding Richard McGuire (AKA Southern Pirate), who throws out the batshit theory that Disney is running a “torture prison” on its abandoned island attraction, was Cinematic Gold. (Yikes!)As Bailey told interviewer Simon Thompson in a February 14, 2025 Forbes magazine interview:”I had grown up consuming this content, made by people like Adam The Woo and Leonard Kinsey, some of the previous generation of creators, so when it started up again, we were really intrigued by it.”

However, as Bailey said, “If we don’t have Patrick (Spikes), we don’t have a movie.” He also said, “We were determined to break this barrier of anonymity with Patrick. We met with him one night and gave him fake names.” (The meeting took place at a 7-Eleven behind the Customer Member Parking at the Magic Kingdom in August of 2018.) “We had thought about trying to do this ourselves as urban explorers at Disney against our better judgment, so we created all of these social accounts, and I think that gave him some kind of trust in us. I think we were the first people to meet up with him, figure out who he was, and be boots on the ground with him.

“Patrick told us, ‘I have this and that celebrity’s phone number on speed dial. I call them and say, ‘Hey, I have this prop if you want to buy it.’ So we got in his car and drove around the property. There are a bunch of public roads behind Magic Kingdom, office buildings, and other things, and we found the redhead animatronic that had recently been removed from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. He’s making calls, frantically texting people, and trying to make a deal. We don’t really know what was going on in his head. We left at about four in the morning, went home, and we were like, ‘This needs to be a documentary.'”

Brandon Pickering, Connie Wilson, and Joshua Bailey at The Last Picture House on June 2, 2026.

Patrick, himself, said, “I was the heart of the Black Market for a while.” He rattled on about being offered $75,000 for the Redhead from Pirates of the Caribbean and mentioned being offered $70,000 to steal Buzzy (which, later, he changed to $50,000, claiming he did not steal the animatronic figure). The off-the-wall scenes with the police interviewing Patrick and confiscating his phone and Patrick subsequently faking illness so he might be able to use a hospital phone: priceless black humor, The scenes are inter- woven skillfully, moving on to true tragedy as we learn of the death of Ed “Chief” Barlow, who died from malignant melanoma.

Hoot (real name – Dave Ensign) Gibson met Ed in 1986 and the two loved Disney’s parks, thinking that their jobs there would be a relief from high school bullies and teen age unhappiness. After signing on as Disney employees, however, they realized,”It’s basically high school in a different place.” Still, the two went adventuring in the abandoned attractions many times and became best friends. Dave’s grief at Ed’s passing is palpable. [The focus on these obsessed fans of abandoned sites was treated in a 2005 novel by David Morrell entitled “Creepers.” “Scavenger” in 2007 was the sequel. It’s a whole other world, Folks.] Hoot described himself as grief-stricken after Ed’s death. “I think I’m done being Hoot Gibson for a while. I just don’t care any more.”

We see Hoot scattering the Chief’s ashes at a Disney park.That is not a completely easy task for Dave. He was banned from Disney. Dave/Hoot’s take on stealing from the park is totally different from Patrick’s. Hoot/Dave spoke of stealing costumes and other expensive items as wrong; he seemed to consider it almost sacrilegious. He was genuinely touched and touching when he teared up while remembering his old friend Ed.

The film about a bizarre sub-set of people who obsess about visiting Disney and owning Disney memorabilia reminded me of another great documentary, “Secret Mall Apartment,” which was a hit at SXSW in 2024. https://www.themovieblog.com/2024/03/secret-mall-apartment-is-a-hit-sxsw-2024/

TRENDS TODAY

(L toR) Brandon Pickering, Shane Simmons and Joshua Bailey at the showing of “Stolen Kingdom” at the Last Picture House in Davenport, Iowa, on June 2, 2026.

According to Pickering, they used cameras from their day jobs in Austin television to keep cost(s) down. The film was made on a shoestring—less than $150,000. Currently, two films that are leading the box office on June 2, 2026, were also low-budget movies. “Obsession,” one of the two, rackedup $5.3 million, while the Big Budget film “Star Wars: The Mandalorian” took in only $2.2 million. Working your way up via YouTube is becoming one way for a filmmaker to make it in the industry. Another is to win big on the film festival circuit (Slamdance, Big Sky,et. al. qualify “Stolen Kingdom”). As ABC reported today, Generation Z may just save cinema; going to the movies is becoming fashionable again (along with buying at thrift stores.)

Jake Williams got a shout-out from the duo tonight and assisted some with the making of the film. He runs a YouTube channel (since age 17) that covers bankrupt and abandoned businesses. The two Florida natives —who said “we just found each other” (in Austin)— began their documentary about obsessive Disney fans (known as Pixie Dusters) in 2018, before the theft of Buzzy.

Buzzy had been sitting inside the shuttered attraction Cranium Command for eleven years before the 600-pound theme park remnant disappeared.

What happened to Buzzy?

That is a question that has other YouTube videos debating it. One of the filmmakers this night said, “It’s like the O.J. Simpson thing. There is literally no other suspect” (besides Patrick Spikes). Of course, any number of famous celebrity buyers could have purchased Buzzy via BackDoorDisney.We see Neil Patrick Harris describing a bit of Disney memorabilia that he bid on. Indirectly, Harris called out Jeff Bezos as another top bidder for a piece of Disney history. John Stamos admitted his own desire to own a piece of Disney history (his wife looked less thrilled with Stamos’ passion.)

DENOUEMENT

One famous purchaser who bought a bit of Buzzy’s clothing from Patrick was NBA basketball star Robin Lopez. Lopez was actually to be repaid $10,700 according to the 2020 court sentencing for Patrick Spike and his cousin. The duo was arrested in 2019 and the sentencing in 2020 (no contest) dictated $25,308 in restitution, including the Lopez refund and $6,703 to Disney. Patrick was also sentenced to 10 years of probation and 250 hours of community service.

The film will be rentable by August 1st and is available through Waterbox Video Store.

David Letterman Guests on Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show:” May 14, 2026

By Connie Wilson

On May 15, 2026

In Editorial, Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, News, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Politics, Pop Culture, Reviews, Television

David Letterman and Stephen Colbert atop the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater on May 14, 2026.

Tonight, May 14th, 2026, Stephen Colbert—approaching the beginning of his last week in what was David Letterman’s late night television show—had Letterman, himself, as one of his final guests. Dave showed up with the unattractive Father Christmas long white beard he has worn since leaving the air. (Lose the beard, Dave.)

It was a night of nostalgia, with Colbert paying tribute to Dave’s stewardship of The Late Show 33 years prior. Now, thanks to a president of the United States who is so thin-skinned that he cannot stand any criticism or mockery, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is going to be replaced with the late night comedians who previously followed in the wee hours (and were never that funny).

It’s a loss to late night show fans, whether you preferred Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyer or John Oliver (some might include Jon Stewart) and may signal the demise of late night shows, in general, as unscripted reality shows or late night comedians perfecting their routines is cheaper to put on the air. And we, the audience, are the losers, while DJT gets to further boost his extremely fragile narcissistic ego by killing one of the shows calling him out on his undemocratic and unpatriotic actions as president. [God help us all!]

Dave displayed photos of his new puppy, Doc, mentioned his son (who is graduating from college) and, after inquiring about the blue chair on which he sat, asked who owned the furniture. Stephen, of course, acknowledged that the chair Dave sat upon (and a duplicate blue one) were CBS property, as was Stephen’s own chair, which was an Eames. The Eames classic chair is “extraordinarly expensive” and vintage versions of the chair go for well over $10,000. “It is an expensive chair,” said the originator, who compared it to a well-worn baseball glove.

David Letterman and Stephen Colbert tossing watermelons off the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater on May 14, 2026.

Viewers got to see David Letterman and Stephen Colbert toss the two blue chairs and Stephen’s Eames classic host’s chair off the roof of the Ed Sullivan studio in New York City. They also tossed watermelons and Dave saluted Stephen, thanking him for all he was doing for the country in pointing out the gap between reality and fantasy that the current administration tries to foist on the public daily. (Remember: it’s not a war, it’s an “excursion”—which is probably a misuse of the term “incursion” by the dunderhead using it.)

LATE NIGHT WIth DAVID LETTERMAN

Many years ago I was in New York City for one of the Thrillerfest conventions. This was so long ago that Letterman was still sitting in the host’s seat. I did not have tickets purchased in advance. In fact, I had given no thought at all to attending a taping of “The Late Show,” but I wandered out of the formerly owned Trump hotel that is attached to Grand Central Station to take a walk in NYC.

At a traffic intersection I was approached by someone who wanted to know if I watched David Letterman’s The Late Show, and when I answered in the affirmative, I was told that—if I could answer a question correctly—I could attend that night’s show. The question was for me to give the name of the deli owner whom Dave frequently visited in person. Although my mind went temporarily blank regarding Rupert’s Deli, I was given so many helpful hints that I ended up queued up in the lobby entryway of the studio, being grilled on how to demonstrate appropriate enthusiasm when the host and guests appeared. This went on for a good half hour while we all patiently stood in the long queue, not much different than approaching the TSA agents at the airport.

A memento of my visit The Late Show with David Letterman (cursor pad).

My seat turned out to be about 10 rows from the left front portion of the theater–not too far from where Letterman and Colbert came to rest tonight in the audience, after 6 men removed all of the guest and host chairs to the roof. The night I attended, the guest was Eva Longoria, who tottered out on very high heels. I don’t remember much about the rest of the program, except that the studio was chilly, as has been pointed out. We were warned not to go downstairs to the women’s rest rooms that were located there, because the building was old and dipalidated and the plumbing might not be up to snuff.

From the remarks that Colbert made to Letterman while they were seated in the audience, that last bit of information is out-dated, because Stephen explained how ALL of the audience seats were replaced when he took over The Late Show in 2015. They widened the seats from nineteen inches to twenty-four inches. I would speculate that the downstairs rest rooms also received a facelift, because, as Letterman pointed out, the theater ceiling also had an extensive make-over, which Dave compared to the very ornate Bellagio ceilings.

I’m going to miss Stephen Colbert’s Late Night Show from the Ed Sullivan Theater, a venue of historic importance now being run into the ground by its owners at CBS. Courtesy of Wikipedia: “Colbert’s work as a correspondent on Comedy Central’s news-parody series The Daily Show gained him wide recognition. In 2005, he left The Daily Show to host The Colbert Report. Following The Daily Show‘s news-parody concept, The Colbert Report was a parody of personality-driven political opinion shows including The O’Reilly Factor, in which he portrayed a caricatured version of conservative political pundits, earning Colbert an invitation to perform as featured entertainer at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in 2006, which he did in character. This event led to the series becoming one of Comedy Central’s highest-rated series. After ending The Colbert Report, he was hired in 2015 to succeed David Letterman, who was retiring as host of the Late Show on CBS. Colbert hosted the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards in September 2017.”

David Letterman thanking and congratulating Stephen Colbert on his career helming The Late Show, which Letterman originated 33 years prior on May 14, 2026, one week before the show ends. CBS has buckled under to DJT in a clear violation of Freedom of the Press and the freedoms granted to Americans by our Constitution, which are being attacked daily by sycophantic followers of the current POTUS.

I will really miss the gentlemanly humor and intelligent repartee of Stephen Colbert. I would like to join David Letterman in thanking him for doing his best to defend our First Amendment Freedom of Speech in the face of the autocratic and bullying tactics of the MAGA crowd and Donald J. Trump. I pray that patriotic Americans will wake up to the damage being done to our Constitutional rights and freedoms by the current administration and some of them will grow a spine and stand up to the man who has, at the moment, perched the world on the edge of WWIII.

“Summer 2000: The X-Cetra Story” Screens at SXSW 2026

By Connie Wilson

On March 24, 2026

In Interviews, Movies, Music, Pop Culture, Reviews, Texas

“Summer 2000: The X-Cetra Story” won the SXSW Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature at SXSW 2026. Directed by Ayden Mayeri, it’s the story of a quartet of childhood friends who made a record when they were junior high school age (11 to 13) and it surfaced as a hit on the website Rate Your Music 24 years later. Said Director Mayeri, “This album being discovered is the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me.

The X-Cetra Story (Photo by Dessie Jackson).

”WRITER/DIRECTOR

Director Ayden Mayeri, who has 58 IMDB credits, has appeared in such films as Paul Feig’s “Jackpot!”, “Mr.Throwback,” “Cora Bora Comedy,” “Spin Me Around,” and is the Writer/Director of this award-winning documentary. After the unexpected fame of their album Et-Cetra, (made in 2000), Mayeri decided to try to get the foursome together again, twenty-four years later. Ayden admitted “I really missed hanging out with them and being carefree. She likened their reunion in Santa Rosa as “Our version of Backstreet’s Back.”

Ayden Mayeri

Ayden admitted that she wanted to recapture the unself-conscious feeling of her pre-teen years. It is captured via extensive videotaping by one of the girl’s mothers from back when the girls were 11 to 13, in 2000. Kudos to Editor Phil Rosanova and Audrey Leach, who drew the task of blending copious amounts of film and to cinematographer Barry Rothbart. The musician mother Robin O’Brien who had ties to the German music provider Akim and produced the girls’ maiden vocal efforts deserves much credit for the album existing at all, also.

Now 36, Mayeri described the era to The Daily Texan as “a journey of me trying to fit in.” She said, “It’s just me and my friends, living our childhood dream, putting our vision out in the world… It was crazy because we made this album in the year 2000 when we were 10 to 12 years old … we were immediately very embarrassed about it. We were like, “Let’s never talk about that again. We’re in junior high. Everything’s embarrassing. (We) don’t want anyone to know we did that.”

CAST

X-Cetra cast

Following “Rolling Stone’s” writing an article on their X-Cetra album of the early 2000s, the quartet of old friends gather in Santa Rosa and even write some new music. The film became a thumbnail character sketch of each of the four girls: Jessica Hall, Janet Kariuki, Mary Washburn and Ayden herself. The intervening years for each girl are related in a way that makes us care about them, especially since we’ve seen them when they were adolescents perched on the verge of high school.

EDGE OF INNOCENCE

The universal truth for all girls that comes throughis that dating and boys and being “cool” will change the relationships between these girls that formed earlier. The self-consciousness of youth will sometimes inhibit even those who are obviously talented at a young age. One of the reasons Ayden gave for making the documentary was this: “I think my greatest dream is that people feel free to be creative for no reason and to really go back and tell their younger selves that they’re great … I really wanted to show what girlhood feels like, and that’s why I’m reading from my diaries, and we’re talking about some kind of messed up stuff, because that’s girlhood”

X-Cetra cast

It was clear early on that Ayden was innately talented. But, as a lyric sung in the documentary asks, “Did I make you feel embarrassed when I’m something to be cherished?” This film allowed the four fast friends of 2000 to revisit and recapture the exuberance of their youth, via X-Cetra.

Jessica, for instance, shares that boys of their class harassed her with the nickname “titless” for a long time, while Mary—the youngest at eleven—was excluded from the group as high school approached because the other three were two years older. Brushes with parental divorce, drugs, relationships gone wrong—all are included and fill in the picture of who these four girls are and who they were in 2000 before life intervened.

DOCUMENTARY RESONATES

X-Cetra cast

The documentary struck a chord with the audience, which voted it the winner of the Audience Award at SXSW 2026. It resonated with me, as I taught junior high school students for eighteen years. I remember my own daughter’s early friendships and creativity when exactly the same age as these girls in 2000. The line, “Are you gonna’ live in that moment for the rest of your life?” was a good one, highlighting that the lives of the foursome have moved in separate directions.

Thanks to the parents who both filmed and recorded the girls at a young age, we can see the arc of their lives from 2000 to 2026. I’m sure their reunion to celebrate the unexpected success of X-Cetra the album was a great one.

This SXSW documentary was a joy for the original members of X-Cetra and it is a joy for the audience.

Ryan Gosling is Ryland Grace in “Project Hail Mary”

By Connie Wilson

On March 22, 2026

In Movies, Pop Culture, Reviews, Science and Medicine

Ryan Gosling has not had a release recently—not since “Barbie” in 2023, for which he was paid $12 and ½ million dollars (compared to the $29 million he earned for 2016’s “La La Land.”)to play Ken. “Project Hail Mary” was directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who are best known for “The Lego Movie,” “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” and the animated film “Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse.”

PLOT SYNOPSIS

Science teacher Ryland Grace wakes up alone on a spaceship light-years from Earth. As his memory returns, he discovers he is on a mission to stop a mysterious substance (an astrophage) that is killing the sun. It’s a desperate Hail Mary ploy to save Earth. An unexpected friendship with an alien dubbed Rocky ends up being crucial.

Those who read the book were among the most supportive, but also the most critical of the Drew Goddard adaptation of the Andy Weir (“The Martian”) book. I have not read the book, so I’m out of that debate.

Andy Weird book “Project Hail Mary” is the basis for the film.

THE GOOD NEWS

Anthony Whyte of “The Movie Blog” was correct in saying, “Project Hail Mary” is about learning how to understand someone completely different from you. He describes it as “a warm, funny, and genuinely heartfelt sci-fi film that reminds you why these stories work in the first place.”

If it works, that is. For me, it did not, but “Project Hail Mary” opened at $33 million domestically on Friday at 4,007 locations. If it reaches $77 million by Sunday it will be the best opening for Amazon MGM ever, eclipsing 2023’s “Creed III,” which garnered $58 million. This means that, just like my opinion of “Plantman & Blondie” at SXSW as weak, I am the one out of step with the mainstream. So be it.

TONE

Given the previous films from this directing team the humor was a given. That part works. However, for me the movie at times couldn’t seem to make up its mind if it’s a comedy or a save-the-world serious epic. With Gosling, who was so good at light humor in 2016’s “The Nice Guys” (as well as during his guest stints on “Saturday Night Live”),I went into the film fully expecting lightweight banter and wry humor. I was looking forward to that. Did the humor mix expertly with the seriousness of the save-the-world mission? That’s the question.

Films like “Crazy, Stupid Love” (2011) and “Barbie” fed into this expectation of a humorous good time. There is humor in “Project Hail Mary”—perhaps too much of it, since the entire film, like “Independence Day” or any previous Save the World movie—is all about sending a team into space to certain death, a suicide mission— to save the planet and preserve the universe. A team of three people will be launched into space to find out why astrophages are draining stars in the solar system.

What is an astrophage and why should we care?

THE SCIENCE

Ryan Gosling plays a middle school teacher with a doctorate in molecular biology who is drafted to save the world in “Project Hail Mary.”

The science is explained well as mentioned in Anthony Whyte’s The Movie Blog review. It’s easy enough to understand to the extent that we need to remember any of these sci-fi explanations. As someone who dropped out of chemistry after one day (and physics in two), it was plenty detailed enough for me. Judging from math and science scores on tests nationwide, it will be adequate for the average audience member.

As Anthony noted in his TMB review: “Visually, the film is strong across the board. The use of color and lighting stands out immediately. This isn’t the cold, sterile version of space we’re used to. There’s warmth here. There’s texture. It feels lived in. The camera work and transitions are consistently engaging, with some shots that genuinely feel like they were pulled straight out of a comic book panel.The cinematography and sound design are the real stars of the show.” Agreed. Cinematographer was Aussie Greig Fraser who is known for Dune: Part One (2021), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and 2012’s Zero Dark Thirty

SOUND

Co-star Sandra Huller as Eva Stratt has a fairly big part early on and sings “Just stop cryin’, have the time of your life. We can meet again some day, Somewhere far away from here.” The music, in general, is very good. The sound adds immeasurably in ratcheting up tension. Composer was Daniel Pemberton, who also did the music for “Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse.”

THE CAST

Basically, it’s a one-man play, as Ryan Gosling’s character is the only one of the three astronauts who survives the blast-off into space. The two supporting NASA astronauts don’t survive the trip out and we learn very little about them.

And here’s where I have to get off the fan bus.

RYAN GOSLING FILMS

Ryan Gosling.

I’ve been a fan of Gosling’s since his performance in 2001’s Sundance film “The Believer,” which won the Grand Jury award at Sundance over 25 years ago. There is not a red-blooded heterosexual woman alive who hasn’t seen “The Notebook” (2004) and loved the romance with Kate Beckinsdale. Gosling’s star continued to rise with “Half Nelson” (2006), for which he was Oscar-nominated as Best Actor in a Leading Role, followed by “Blue Valentine” (2010). “Crazy, Stupid Love” (2011) saw Gosling lifting Emma Stone in the fashion of Patrick Swayze in “Dirty Dancing” and teaching Steve Carell how to be cool.

Then came “Drive” in 2011, “The Ides of March” (2011), “The Place Beyond the Pines” (2012), “The Nice Guys” (2016) and “La La Land” in 2016, (which we all thought had won Movie of the Year for a few minutes on Oscar night, thanks to Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.) “ Blade Runner 2049”—often mentioned as Gosling’s finest film—came out in 2017 and 2023’s “Barbie” cemented Ryan Gosling’s status as a hunk whom heterosexual women want to see romancing an equally attractive female lead.

ROMANTIC LEAD?

Project Hail Mary

So, who’s the female romantic lead in this one? Answer: nobody. “Gravity” (2013) at least had Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in space together, without pursuing their romance. So, could we have that version of things in this sci-fi space movie, please? Ryan doesn’t have to get the girl, but could there BE a girl for him to potentially court? (Do people still use the term “court” in 2026? No? Okay. Their loss.)

That lack of a romantic sub-plot explains why there IS no girl, no romance, and way more emphasis on getting along with intelligent alien life forms in the universe—a trendy topic in today’s news. Give me back a leading lady that our 45-year-old hero can at least flirt with, please. And aim for “Gravity’s” length (91 minutes).

It didn’t work for me (and neither did “Plantman & Blondie” at SXSW) but different strokes for different folks.

FATAL FLAW

Ryan Gosling in “Project Hail Mary.”

THE MOVIE IS TOO LONG. WAAAY TOO LONG. This is an interstellar sci fi comedy drama based on a book by Andy Weir (“The Martian”) that is meant to be light-heartedly amusing while taking us on a space adventure. It’s not “Oppenheimer.” Much of the film involves talk of space and one highlight is Gosling’s dramatic walk in space to secure a predator that will neutralize the star-eating effect of astrophages.

But the film ran over 2 and ½ hours. While I enjoyed the friendship between James Ortiz’s alien Rocky, I would have liked the movie much more if it had a backstory involving Ryland’s love life—or lack of one. Not true to the novel? A valid defense, but I haven’t read the novel, and I wish I hadn’t spent 3 hours seeing the movie, despite my admiration for Ryan Gosling’s body of work.

“Phoenix Jones: The Rise & Fall of a Real-Life Superhero at SXSW 2026

By Connie Wilson

On March 18, 2026

In Humor and Weird Wilson-isms, Pop Culture, Reviews, Texas

“Phoenix Jones: The Rise and Fall of a Real-Life Superhero” at SXSW.

Director Bayan Joonam appeared with the documentary “Phoenix Jones: The Rise and Fall of a Real-Life Superhero” at SXSW and shared the six-year project with an audience that, for the most part, has grown up on/with social media. Bayan is best known for partnering with actor Rainn Wilson to translate SoulPancake’s mission into digital video on sites such as YouTube.

As Head of Production for SoulPancake between 2012 – 2018, Bayan led the development and creation of award-winning original programming such as SoulPancake on OWN, Kid President, and My Last Days, which led to nearly a billion views, multi-season television franchises, and acquisition by Participant Media in 2016.

SYNOPSIS

With “Phoenix Jones,” Joonam tells us the story of Ben Fodor, born 5/25/1988, who, according to Director Joonam, as Superheroes go, “Phoenix Jones, to me, is the most legit of them all.””In 2010, reports began surfacing of a masked vigilante in a black-and-gold Superhero costume stopping crime on the streets of Seattle. His name was Phoenix Jones. Armed with pepper spray, a taser, and a team of costumed crime fighters, Phoenix Jones quickly became an international media sensation. But when his true identity was exposed by the Seattle Police Department, the heroic image began to unravel and his team abandoned him.

During the Q&A following the film, Joonam acknowledged that he learned about Ben Fodor’s Phoenix Jones persona through Rainn Wilson, who starred in the 2010 superhero movie “Super.”Rainn portrayed a self-anointed vigilante known as the Crimson Bolt in the film. (“Super” did not do well financially, grossing only $593,933 against a budget of $2.5 million but it has since become a cult classic, particularly among fans who appreciate its subversive and unconventional approach to the superhero genre.) Rainn Wilson makes a brief appearance in the documentary to state, “I don’t think it’s a good idea to put on a costume and jump into a dangerous situation.”

STORY ORIGIN

Bayan Joonam, Director of “Phoenix Jones: The Rise and Fall of a Real-Life Superhero” at SXSW.

It is clear that Joonam, who learned of Phoenix Jones when working for Rainn Wilson (“The Office”) has given a lot of thought to creating this in-depth portrait of a troubled young man, whose biological parents gave him up for adoption. How much of his “abandoned at birth” story is real and how much is manufactured for effect is up for discussion.

What struck me was the charisma that Ben Fodor exudes could have taken him to the top of so many endeavors. He was adopted soon after birth by two loving Moms, Margaret and Susan, who adopted other troubled youths. Ben created an alternate version of his early life in which he spent 11 years in an orphanage. Director Joonam has also worked for Jay Z. It is not beyond the realm of the possible to think of a young man like Ben Fodor with such charisma utilizing it in a similar fashion as Jay-Z and becoming a shooting, rather than a falling, star,

His older (adopted) brother Caros Fodor quickly shot down Ben’s untruth about spending 11 years in an orphanage, and also physically fought him (and beat him) in an MMA cage match for money. Ben Fodor in costume is an imposing presence, but this documentary makes it clear that he is a very troubled one, despite his charm and charisma.

FREEDOM FODOR

Perhaps the most sane and well-adjusted person to appear onscreen is Ben’s young son Freedom, whom Ben obviously loves very much. Freedom says, of his father, “My dad is a person who really cares and is really damaged, and I saw that. Ben Fodor has extreme trauma.”

Son Freedom traced some of his father’s more recent trauma to the death of a young woman from a drive-by shooting that Phoenix Jones and his rag-tag band of vigilantes were attempting to police. They had gathered to fight crime in the streets of Seattle, headed to 5^th and Spring, the old federal courthouse, to “confront what was going on,,” when Nicole was shot. Phoenix said, “We just stood there and watched her die.”

The cinematographer documenting the superheroes fighting against crime, Ryan McNamell, filmed the exploits of Phoenix and his band of crime-fighters from 2011 to 2012 and called the death of the young woman “fucking terrifying.” (The film is dedicated to Ryan, who recently died.)

SUPERHEROES

The list of people—-“dorks all” according to one of them who called himself “crime interventionist, Midnight Jack” (“I’m one step away from homeless”)—who have donned costumes and turned out to fight crime is lengthy: The Watchman, Mr. Sticky, Knights of the Night (“The Office’s” Dwayne Schroot’s name for one), El Caballero, Purple Reign (who was married to Phoenix at one point) and L.A.’s Rock Hard. The list of superheroes—or poseurs pretending to be superheroes—would fill a novel; their stories are complicated and suggestive of severe, persistent mental illness.

Phoenix says, “I was fine before I did this. I’m not fine now.” He also admits “I think my life is just sort of out-of control.”

DENOUEMENT

Ben Fodor became the subject of an undercover police drug investigation on November 5, 2019, which led to his arrest for selling Molly and cocaine (2 lbs.) to an undercover agent at the Silver Cloud Hotel.

Phoenix’s supporters from “the old days” of 2010-2013 are struck by the ultimate hypocrisy of his arrest, since Phoenix Jones frequently railed against drug dealers and drug dealing. On January 29, 2020, Fodor pleaded guilty in a Seattle court and was fined $500 and time served. He retired from crime-fighting and announced that he was going to go to college to study criminal justice and business and then run for Mayor of Seattle. He did ask his attorney about the consequences if he didn’t pay the $500 fine.

His progress towards those lofty goals may be hindered by the fact that there are currently two warrants out for his arrest, for driving without a license and not paying the $500 fine handed down during the (furtively filmed) drug sentencing.

Director Bayan Joonam at midnight during the Q&A following the showing of “Phoenix Jones: The Rise and Fall of a Real-Life Superhero” at SXSW on March 17, 2026.

This was a very thorough and thought-provoking film that made me aware, once again that some people are much better liars than others. (See “Chili Finger” review.) I couldn’t help but think of the wasted potential of a personality as magnetic as Ben Fodor’s. How much of his crime-fighting was about sincere love for his community and how much was just someone desperately the limelight? Was it all just a focus on self-mythologizing and enjoying the spotlight that social media provides?

At this point, as reporter Jason Rentz said of Phoenix Jones, “People clearly do not trust you,” so there goes the political career—or does it? There are some personalities who lie repeatedly and their actions clearly contradict their words, yet devoted fans sycophantically continue to sing their praises in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. You won’t have to think very long or very hard to come up with a list that goes all the way to the top.

CONCLUSION

A thoroughly enjoyable 105-minute look at modern social media’s effects and the messed-up folks who live and die by it, as well as a thoughtful look at vigilante justice and the societal problems it presents.

“Birth Is for P*ussies” Screens at SXSW 2026

By Connie Wilson

On March 17, 2026

In Pop Culture, Reviews, Science and Medicine, Television

“Birth Is for Pussies” is TV pilot at SXSW 2026.

Hannah Healy—actress, filmmaker, and doula—brought a TV pilot “Birth Is For P*ssies” to SXSW. The series focuses on giving birth and is based on Hannah’s ten years of experience as a doula in New York City. Hannah is an actor, writer and director based in NYC and London. As an actor she most recently appeared as Charlotte Astor in season 3 of HBO’s “The Gilded Age”.

Producing the TV pilot with Hannah is Celine Sutter, a writer, director, and producer born and raised in New York City. Celine recently earned her MFA in Writing/Directing from Columbia University. The original score was provided by King Princess.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

The synopsis of the first episode shows a rookie doula (Hannah Shealy) thrust into her first birth with a mother she’s never met. After a rocky start, she quickly learns that supporting women through labor is messier, funnier, and more profound than any doula training could have prepared her for.

I found Hannah Shealy very sympathetic in the role. I also loved the Tribeca penthouse where Hannah visits a pregnant couple (Danny Defararri and Madeline Wise), an apartment which had a jaw-dropping view. I’m not a New Yorker, but I was in town when JFK, Jr., tragically died on July 16, 1999. Residents of New York City were leaving flowers in front of his Tribeca building. I wondered if this location might have been near where young John F. Kennedy, Jr. lived. The view and decor were opulent.

CONfLICT

For me, Madeline Wise had already distinguished herself in the SXSW film “Chili Finger.” She was equally good in this as the pregnant wife who doesn’t want her spouse to know about her herpes diagnosis. That might set up some conflict to come (during delivery) but conflict has to be there. If I learned anything at all from the University of Iowa’s Writing program it is that. Conflict is not as prevalent as I think it needs to be in a series about giving birth.

While Hannah was lovely and the mother-to-be in a less-ritzy part of NYC was as stressed as you would expect anyone would be if they were in labor, the conflict quotient for the brief episode I saw was slim. I’m no expert on giving birth ( as the line goes, “I don’t know nothin’ ‘bout birthin’ no babies”) but this series needs a serious elevation in the conflict levels or I fear it will be DOA.

TREND

Hannah Shealy.

On the plus side, I do think that Hannah and her producing partner Celine Sutter are on to something in the zeitgeist. For decades the United States was one of the civilized nations whose birth rate was holding relatively steady. Then Donald J. Trump began his anti-immigrant ICE raids. His daily quotas of picking up citizens and non-citizens on the streets of cities nationwide and ejecting them from the country has certainly contributed to statistics that show the nation’s birthrate — that is, the number of live births per 1,000 people in a given year — is down by more than 25 percent since 2007, when the decline began.

“We spent decades shaming women for having kids under the wrong circumstances, for not having their ducks in a row,” said one expert. “Now they are holding up their end of the bargain.” Almost half of the country’s 30-year-old women are childless.

“SIXTY MINUTES” DID A PROGRAM ON THE IDEA OF WAITING TO GIVE BIRTH

Putting off having children in order to finish school or establish one’s self or simply to live life a little before “settling down” has become the norm. As one expert said, “It used to be that the only people who put off having kids were college girls from more privileged backgrounds. But now it’s everybody, with teenagers and less educated women leading the charge. “

Women in their early 30s now have the highest birthrate of any group. A woman in her early 40s is more likely to give birth than a teenager. It’s too early to say whether those pregnancies will be enough to help the U.S. reverse the ill effects of a falling birthrate. The number of children born to women by the time they turn 44 hasn’t dropped at all.

BIO

Celine Sutter

In my own case, my mother gave birth to me at 38, which was considered quite old for the times. Mom was a working woman who supported herself until she married at age 30 in 1937. Given the fact she was born in 1907, that means she was way ahead of the working woman trend. Also ahead of “have children later in life” current trend.

We can assume that the birth control gains of the sixties and seventies (now being reversed by the GOP) which gave women control over their own bodies has contributed to women deciding not to give birth as soon. Maybe they were too young. Maybe they were unemployed or alone. Maybe their own mothers were struggling to give their daughters the future they never got to have, because they got pregnant in their teens. “Biology was destiny” for years—until the 1960s and the advent of the birth control pill.

CONCLUSION

I gave birth to two children, a son and a daughter born 19 years apart. I was pregnant at 22 and 42. My youngest, a daughter in her thirties, is now hoping to give birth in the immediate future. She and her partner actually lost a baby to a rare anomaly very recently. The odds of a re-occurrence of that are astronomically high.

She has had the opportunity I did not have to travel the world, find herself, and figure out what she wants from life, thanks to the birth control pill and the hard-fought Roe v. Wade right to a legal abortion, (which I fought for in the seventies.) Now legal abortion is state by state. The blue states are often being selected by the more educated citizenry (doctors, lawyers and other professionals) since those individuals want, for their wives and daughters, the rights that women enjoyed for fifty years, until the conservative stacking of the Supreme Court.

MOTHERHOOD ON FILM

I’ve noticed that recent films and TV shows—like “Night Bitch” or the upcoming “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” on television—are depicting a more realistic side of motherhood—one might say “warts and all.” There was also the Charlize Theron 2018 film “Tully.” “Birth Is for P*ussies” might fit right into that trend.

I’m all for informing women about the process of giving birth in a way that is more realistic than the one depicted in films like 2007’s “Knocked Up.” Perhaps “Birth Is For P*ussies” will educate us all. I’m all for informing women about all aspects of their sexuality.

“Chili Finger” Screens at SXSW on March 15, 2026

By Connie Wilson

On March 16, 2026

In Humor and Weird Wilson-isms, Movies, Reviews, Texas

“Chili Finger” at SXSW with Sean Astin and Judy Greer. (Photo by Cristina Dunlap).

Directors Edd Benda and Stephen Helstad brought the indie film “Chili Finger” to SXSW, which premiered on March 14 at the Zach Theater. I broke a tradition of decades of watching the Oscars “live” to journey to the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar on March 15th to see it. It was not the World Premiere, which took place May 14th, but it was only the second screening of this thought-provoking movie. It was worth stepping away from our annual Traveling Trophy for Oscar Predicting, which I am nominally in charge of (and, yes, there IS a real Oscar trophy—of sorts.)

This 100 minute character study starred Judy Greer, Sean Astin, Bryan Cranston and John Goodman, along with new-comers Madeline Wise, Paul Stanko, Sarah Herrman and Sara Sevigny. Writer/Directors Benda and Helstad are partners heading up Beyond the Porch productions, blending their Michigan roots and their shared USC educations to create independent films. “Chili Finger” was shot in Champaign, Illinois, in the heat of summer. It involves a fictional Wisconsin fast food chain, Blake Junior’s (they filmed in an old Hardee’s restaurant), to bring us a story based on reality.

“Chili Finger” cast members Madeline Wise and Paul Stanko during the Q&A for “Chili Finger” on March 15, 2026 at SXSW.

TRUTH TO FICTION

In March 2005, Anna Ayala falsely claimed to find a severed human finger in her Wendy’s chili in San Jose, California, creating an international scandal that cost the chain over $21 million in lost sales. Investigations revealed the finger was a hoax, traced to a colleague of Ayala’s husband who lost it in a workplace accident. Ayala was sentenced to nine years in prison for the scam. At the beginning of the film we are told: “Some of the events depicted in this film actually happened. Some did not.”

DOES THE FILM FLIP THE FACTS?

I had not read this synopsis: “When Jessica Lipki discovers a severed human finger in her bowl of chili, she recognizes an opportunity to seize control of her stagnating life. Jess blackmails the regionally-beloved fast food chain for $100,000 in return for Jessica and her blissfully ignorant husband Ron (Sean Astin) remaining quiet about the incident.”

When I entered the theater—abandoning the 98^th Oscar ceremony “live” for the first time since 1955–I had been too busy working as press at SXSW to read extensively about the film beyond its theme-revealing title. I realized it had its original inspiration based on the Wendy’s true incident, but I honestly did not remember what the outcome of the original chili finger discovery had been. Did the original diner who perpetrated fraud do prison time? Did not know. Am glad I did not know, going in, who was guilty of what—or if Judy Greer’s character was an innocent accused of something she would never do.

CAST

Writer/Director Steven Helstad of “Chili Finger” at SXSW. (Photo by Megan bailey).

I recognized going in, however, that this cast would be dynamite, and they were. (Questions about how they came to be hired abound.) Madeline Wise as Blake Junior and Paul Stanko as Trevor Stempor, two of the newbies, were also spot-on in their roles. The two Sarahs (Sarah Herrman as the pregnant girlfriend of Trevor and Sara Sevigny as Jackie, the server) were also good. Having a good script and good actors: a good start. Add to that the storyboarding, especially of the character Dave Pendleton (Bryan Cranston), and Cinematography by Cristina Dunlap, editing by Todd Zelin, sound design by Peter Bawiec and original music from Dan Deacon: Voila! Chili Finger: Fantastic Film.

Q&A

Paul/Trevor during the “Chili Finger” Q&A.

Paul Stanko told us, in the Q&A following the screening what it was like acting with John Goodman and Bryan Cranston. He said he was “so intimidated.” Paul added, “They were all wonderful people. They were all there to support. They elevated my performance. All I had to do was be there and say my lines.” He described the experience as “surreal” and “amazing.”

The shooting site, Champaign, Illinois, in June can be very hot and muggy. (No shock there. I live in Illinois half the year and grew up in Iowa.) Sara Herrman, who had to wear a pregnant belly on the first day of shooting, inside a trailer that was stiflingly hot and swampy, on a day when rain was pouring down, repeated her words from that first day of shooting [in a very small voice]: “It’s just so hot.”

Writer Stephen Helstad said he wrote the script during the pandemic; there were numerous drafts. What set the script above other scripts were the twists that come, one after another, as we invest in Judy Greer’s character of Jessica Lipki.

By the end of the film I began to wonder if Jessica would be able to live with herself—and with her husband Ron—after everything that has happened. Like Amy Madigan’s Oscar-winning character in “Weapons,” I almost feel as though there should be a follow-up film that focuses on how Jessica’s life plays out from the final frame forward.

JESSICA

Edd Benda and Stephen Helstad of “Chili Finger” on March 15, 2026, at SXSW.

Jessica is a small-town divorce attorney who seems too good-hearted a person to be a con artist responsible for trying to scam anyone. At various plot points Jessica demonstrates that she is not a “bad” person. She literally saves Dave Pendleton’s (Bryan Cranston in a scenery-chewing turn) life. Is this woman a con artist or not? That question lingered, for me, for quite some time. (*Remember: I’ve been attending late-night films and, also, fairly early films. I passed out in the lobby of the Paramount last year on Opening Night,after covering 3 Red Carpets from 4 p,m, until 2 a.m. Bear with me. I also had great empathy for the poor beer bottling employee who lost the finger in opening scenes after ripping my right thumbnail off at the Austin airport—an “avulsion”— in a bizzare luggage rack incident. These things only happen to me and made me the perfect audience for “Chili Finger.”)

Jessica demonstrates angst over the departure of her daughter for college (the dreaded “empty nest” that I avoided by having two children born 19 years apart. Family motto: “Every 20 years, whether you need to or not.”) It becomes clear that husband Ron is much more enamored of fast food at the local café than Jessica is. There may well be more cracks in the relationship as other truths surface. Ron is “in” to WWII and dancing the polka. Jessica seems less thrilled about these mid-life couple activities. There are musings about the supposed “joy(s)” of having children. Since the U.S. birth rate is at an all-time low (and most births occurring are to women over 30) that statistic percolated in the back of my brain (and also in the sub-text of the dialogue.)

AFFORDABILITY

Director Edd Benda of “Chili Finger” at SXSW 2026. (Photo by Ben Winchell).

The constant refrain of finances being tight comes to the surface over and over for all concerned. I couldn’t help but wonder if $400 to fly to visit their daughter in Philadelphia was enough. (Not right now, certainly). I wanted to ask what Ron was doing at “the mill.” Whatever it was, the smell lingers on the workers’ hands long after they leave work. Did he also work at the beer bottling plant? I noticed that Jessica is carrying an old-fashioned paper boarding pass at one point and thought, “Well, THOSE are on the way out!” (Because they are.)

GUILTY OR INNOCENT

Once again, I was grateful, going in, l that I didn’t know whether Jessica was guilty of being a con artist or not for a long time. Do yourselves a favor and don’t read the IMDB snippet before watching the film. How much more interesting the film becomes when you, as an audience member, are trying to judge whether a woman who seems as basically decent as Jessica could have tried to perpetrate fraud. Did she or didn’t she?

Edd Benda, Director of “Chili Finger”.

TRUTHS

Two truths that were underscored by this film, for me: 1) Some people are much better liars than others. (2) The “affordability” crisis that the majority of Americans are feeling right now is real. Since American voters were conned by a master con-man we now find ourselves facing an affordability crisis not unlike the one we faced during President Carter’s years in office.

To quote A.I.: “During Jimmy Carter’s presidency (1977–1981), gas prices in the U.S. more than doubled, surging from roughly 61 cents to over $1.25 per gallon by 1980. Triggered by the 1979 Iranian Revolution and subsequent oil supply shocks, consumers faced severe shortages, gas lines, and high inflation, resulting in a “crisis of confidence.”

Does any of that sound familiar? Probably not, if you are young. Trust me. It was brutal. A teacher of junior high schoolers at the time, the administration screwed our thermostats down to 60 degrees to save money. In Illinois. In winter. I was sick with strep throat for months. Having lived that gas shortage of 46 years ago, I sent the spouse to fill up my Prius tank here in Austin immediately. I remember what came next. (*Side note: one of my friends, Mary Beth Koob, was an Iranian embassy hostage freed by Carter after being held prisoner for 444 days. Ronald Reagan took all credit for Carter’s diplomacy in getting the hostages out alive.)

CONCLUSION

Believe me when I say that “Chili Finger” is a wonderful indie film that shows great promise. I’m looking forward to future films from these two filmmakers. As a former business owner in Bettendorf, Iowa (home to Scott Beck and Bryan Woods of “A Quiet Place” fame) let me heartily recommend that fans check out this film.

To the young filmmakers, if you’re still in town after “Chili Finger” finishes screening, I’d love to ask you some additional questions before you depart [or send them to you via e-mail.] Drop me a line. I’m here through May 15 (when Bruno Mars beckons at Soldier Field, Chicago.) I did not want to distract you tonight from fully enjoying a night of Triumph among True fans who turned out on Oscar night (3/15/2026).

Side-note: I did get a chance to (a) meet Edd’s Uncle (b) congratulate Director Edd Benda on “Chili Finger” (c) Tell Edd he resembled Seann William Scott of 1999’s “American Pie” vintage, which will date me even further(d)Talk to Hannah Shealy about her TV pilot “Birth Is for P*ssies.” (Excuse the rambling; repeated 3 a.m. write-ups are taking their toll.)

I hope that the filmmakers find this semi-review on my blog and drop me a line so I am able to send some additional questions their way and find out about their upcoming projects. Stay tuned for further developments (if any). Keep checking www.TheMovieBlog.com for a more “professional” approach to reviewing whenever I/we get around to it.

I also hope they fix the elevator in the parking garage, but that’s a very faint hope.