Monday Miniatures: The Toxicity of the City

Peter Dinklage in The Toxic Avenger

Welcome to Monday Miniatures, where I tell you about some of the stuff I’ve been watching in the past week that I wouldn’t otherwise get to share.

The week of Sept. 1-7, 2025:

Caught Stealing, directed by Darren Aronofsky

How I watched it: In theaters (AMC Burbank 16)

Fun but ultimately empty is how I would describe Aronofsky’s latest, a scuzzy romp through the criminal underworld of 1998 New York City. I had a great time while I was watching it, and I think Austin Butler is a movie star, but I left the theater feeling like I’d enjoyed a wonderful buffet of desserts and wishing I’d had a full meal.

For a long time, I would have called Aronofsky one of my favorite directors. Requiem for a Dream was an absolute revelation to me the first time I watched it, and his first five films (Pi, Requiem, The Fountain, The Wrestler, and Black Swan) comprise one of the most emotionally arresting and visually inventive filmographies of the past three decades. Noah is a biblical epic with ambitions that outstrip its accomplishments, and Aronofsky feels a little lost in all the CGI. And, I love mother!, but now, eight years on, its box office failure feels like it may have broken the director a bit.

It all led to The Whale, which despite its two Academy Award wins, feels like the most anonymous movie Aronofsky has made. And now, we get Caught Stealing, which is less anonymous than it is a well executed imitation of other filmmakers and films, specifically Martin Scorsese, Guy Ritchie, and a whole host of post-Quentin Tarantino ’90s crime films. It’s not bad. It’s a lovely time at the movies. But, it’s not the director I fell in love with all those years ago.

The Toxic Avenger Unrated, directed by Macon Blair

How I watched it: In theaters (Alamo Drafthouse DTLA)

I am glad I watched the original Toxic Avenger the previous week, as this film is loaded with so many winking nods and knowing callbacks that it feels almost required in order to have a passing understanding of Blair’s remake. 

Blair won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance with his debut feature I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, which is a good film that I liked but which I believe is mostly remembered for representing a watershed moment in the shift to streaming supremacy. Netflix bought it out of Sundance and put it straight onto its streaming service a month later, bypassing theaters entirely. Before that, the idea of the top prize winner at Sundance not playing in theaters would have been unthinkable. Now look where we are.

As suggested by the “Unrated” portion of the title, Blair’s followup effort has endured a similarly strange release journey. After premiering at a number of fall festivals in 2023, the film was deemed by one distributor “unreleaseable” due to its violent content. This is absurd on the face of it, as the film is no more violent than a John Wick movie, which suggests to me distributors were scared off by the film’s tone and its environmental message.

Blair nails the Troma tone, the practical gore effects are fun (even the poor CGI shots lend a Troma-esque quality), and Peter Dinklage is inspired casting as the unremarkable custodian who becomes Toxie. In fact, the whole cast is wonderful, including Jacob Tremblay and zola. star Taylour Paige as Toxie’s allies and Kevin Bacon and Elijah Wood as the nefarious enemies.

An interesting change for this updated version is that in the original, the gym rat bullies and the corrupt politicians polluting the town are separate antagonists. Here, they are one in the same, with Bacon playing Bob Garbinger, a corrupt business tycoon running a fitness empire built on supplements that not only don’t work but which in fact poison the town. Bacon is a perfect meathead, playing a type that will seem all too familiar to those of us living through the current moment.

I had a great time with this movie. It honors the original while improving upon it and finding something new to say using a classic character, which is about the best we could ask for from any remake.

Ms. 45, directed by Abel Ferrara

How I watched it: Criterion Channel

This was not my speed. I appreciate Ferrara’s whole thing and that many people jibe with it, but it’s not for me. I find it thematically shallow and exploitative for the sake of exploitation, particularly this film, which concerns a mute seamstress (Zoë Lund) who is sexually assaulted multiple times and goes on a bloody rampage of revenge through the dilapidated streets of early ’80s New York City.

The whole rape-revenge genre is fraught, of course, and Ferrara just isn’t the filmmaker to have a sensitive or nuanced take on the material. He seems more interested in contriving an ending in which he can have Lund dress up as a sexy nun – with a gun. It’s all a little boys-only boarding school fantasy. Lund is fine as the lead, but she doesn’t have anything interesting to do.

Dangerous Animals, directed by Sean Byrne

How I watched it: Shudder

This is a movie about a serial killer who uses sharks as his weapon of choice. If you didn’t know, now you know. Heckuva premise. I had wanted to catch this one in theaters when it was out earlier this summer but could never work it into the schedule. So, when it premiered on the Shudder streaming service Friday, I watched it first thing.

It starts off with a bang, then takes its foot off the pedal for a large chunk of the first half. We get some ho-hum character development and some hokey dialogue, but our heroes, played by Hassie Harrison and Josh Heuston, are certainly likeable enough by the time we get to the bloodletting. And, if we’re being honest, that’s what we’re all here for in the shark-wielding serial killer movie, yes? Well, on that front, it delivers.

Jai Courtney plays that killer in a performance that’s pitched to the back rows, and it’s perfect. He’s having so much fun that he practically insists the audience have fun, too. We get a few cutaway shots to Courtney by himself, celebrating his latest kill, and while I will leave you to discover the details yourself, trust me when I say those moments are worth the price of admission in and of themselves.

Again, the movie does drag a bit until the final act, and because much of the action is set on a quite small boat, some of the sequences can start to feel a tad repetitive. There are only so many ways to stage an escape on a set with three basic looks. I will say that one of those sequences features an escape from handcuffs that I have never seen before and which absolutely shocked me in the best way. Points for originality there. Overall, despite a relatively brief runtime (98 minutes), the movie could have been tighter, but the promise of the premise is fulfilled, so it’s well worth a watch.

Hamilton, directed by Thomas Kail

How I watched it: In theaters (El Capitan, Hollywood)

If you have followed the site at all over the past five years, you will be aware of my abiding love for Hamilton, both the musical and the filmed stage production, which has been available on Disney+ since 2020. This past weekend, Disney finally released it into theaters, as had always been the plan until the pandemic hit. I will have more on this in a separate piece on the site this week, so be on the lookout for that. Until then, all I will say is that if you can see this in theaters, do see it. It’s magical.

Weekend at Bernie’s, directed by Ted Kotcheff

How I watched it: AMC+

This rewatch was inspired by the season finale of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s excellent AppleTV+ show The Studio, in which Rogen and Co. must parade around the passed-out-drunk executive that owns their studio as though he is alive and awake. Bryan Cranston won an Emmy this past weekend for his work in the episode, which is a tremendous feat of physical comedy.

That feat derives directly and almost whole cloth from the work of Terry Kiser as the titular Bernie in this ’80s farce par excellence. I couldn’t guess how many times I have seen this movie, which we owned on VHS when I was growing up and which was in fairly constant rotation. As a child,I loved Andrew McCarthy’s wacky, fun-loving Larry. Of course, as adults, we gravitate toward the anxious, put-upon Richard (Jonathan Silverman). But, on this watch, I specifically paid attention to Kiser as the dead body at the heart of the film, and he is magnificent.

There are some jokes that don’t stand the test of time – In an ’80s comedy? You don’t say! – such as when the fake suicide note suggests Larry is going to get a sex-change operation, which he immediately equates to being called a drag queen. Unfortunate stuff, and frankly, a little out of sync with where we were even in 1989. But, generally speaking, it’s all in good fun, and if you can’t laugh at the sight of a lifeless corpse water skiing, you might be as dead as Bernie.

Interesting to note Kotcheff had one of the more prolific and versatile careers of his time, bouncing among period dramas, thrillers, action, and comedy with a fair amount of facility. He is responsible for filming one of the great Australian masterpieces in Wake in Fright, a terrifying descent into madness that I highly recommend if you have not seen it. But, he certainly will be best remembered for launching the Rambo franchise with 1982’s First Blood, a more interesting, introspective movie than you remember it being.

Kotcheff died in April this year, just three days after his 94th birthday. Rest in peace to a talented journeyman who left his mark on the industry.

Fall of the House of Usher(s): 10 Most Anticipated Movies

Ruben Ostlund's Palme d'Or winner, The Square

Labor Day has passed, the film industry’s official end to summer, and this will go down as the worst summer box office in 25 years. Labor Day weekend was the worst on record. Grosses are way down, which means, given the steep rise in ticket prices, attendance has fallen off a cliff. Studios will fall all over themselves, trying to figure out where they went wrong, then come back next year and repeat the same mistakes. Analysts will present their theories, and some will be compelling, others less so. Ultimately, cause and effect will remain murky, and business will proceed as usual.

There certainly is not one answer to this problem, if we want to call it that, but if I may humbly suggest a possibility: This summer’s movies just were not that good. Audiences see good movies. This is a fact of moviegoing. People go to films with positive reviews and see movies their friends like. Should a movie tick both boxes, so much the better. Over the past four months or so, there has been a dearth of films that meet either category, let alone both.

As someone who spends much of his life in theaters, even I have had a hard time getting excited about any of this year’s crop of films thus far. I hope soon to take a deeper dive into the year so far – both the highs and lows – but suffice it to say I am ready for the fall movie season, when smart movies made by and for adults rule the day.

Last year’s list featured what would turn out to be some of the best films of the year, including Martin Scorsese’s Silence, which was the No. 1 most anticipated film and finished at No. 2 on our year-end best-of list. Beyond that, there were Jeff Nichols’ Loving (No. 3 most anticipated) and Ava DuVernay’s 13th (No. 8), which both earned honorable mentions. I have no doubt we will be talking more and more about the following films in the months ahead, so without further ado, Last Cinema Standing’s 10 Most Anticipated Movies of the Fall:

10. Downsizing, directed by Alexander Payne

Release date: Dec. 22

Payne really started to catch fire around Election in 1998. I was a little later to the party, going into Sideways blind and with no forewarning of the acerbic wit and naked humanity (and naked humans) I would witness. Since then, the director has refined his observational style and honed his ability to make us care about and root for even the schlubbiest schlubs. Here, he reteams with his Sideways and Election co-writer Jim Taylor to take on a fantastical science-fiction premise to which they will no doubt add a grounded sense of reality and frailty.

9. Suburbicon, directed by George Clooney

Release date: Oct. 27

A double-dose of Matt Damon to kick things off, this one looks like a wild ride indeed. If the trailer, particularly its final joke, gives you the impression of a latter-day Coen Brothers comedy – think Burn After Reading or Hail, Caesar! – there is a good reason for that. Joel and Ethan Coen share a writing credit with Clooney and his writing partner, Grant Heslov, on the script. While Clooney the director has tackled an array of filmmaking styles to varying degrees of success, this satirical take on suburban paranoia looks to be right in his wheelhouse. With the Coens jumping in, as well, expect this to be one you cannot miss.

8. Lady Bird, directed by Greta Gerwig

Release date: Nov. 10

Gerwig is the talented writer-actor behind films such as Mistress America and Frances Ha, and after appearing in three of last year’s best films – Jackie, 20th Century Women, and Weiner-Dog – she steps behind the camera with a chance to deliver one of this year’s best. This will be Gerwig’s first solo directorial effort – she co-directed the 2008 mumblecore comedy Nights and Weekends with Joe Swanberg – and she appears to be sticking firmly to what she knows, subbing in her Northern California hometown for her usual New York City milieu. With the promise of a great Saoirse Ronan performance in tow, Gerwig needs only to bring her consistently deft touch with human foibles to make this a sure-fire success.

7. Kings, directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven

Release date: TBA (Toronto International Film Festival

Halle Berry, in Kings

Ergüven, the writer-director behind the brilliant coming-of-age protest film Mustang, would at first seem an odd choice for this material. A Turkish woman with a French education would not likely jump to the top of most people’s list to direct a film about the Rodney King riots, and indeed, there has been controversy around Ergüven taking on the project. However, she proved with her directorial debut Mustang she is capable of making an angry, powerful film about tearing down the structures that oppress and dehumanize. If that is not precisely what we want from a film about the L.A. Riots, then I don’t know for what it is we are looking.

6. Battle of the Sexes, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

Release date: Sept. 22

Dayton and Faris do not work nearly often enough. The list of projects the husband-and-wife team have had fall through is extensive and storied. After breaking through with the influential independent hit Little Miss Sunshine in 2006, it took six years for them to return with the underappreciated romantic comedy deconstruction Ruby Sparks. It is now five years since that feature, and Battle of the Sexes arrives. The performances by Emma Stone and Steve Carell look to be stellar, the subject matter timely, and the approach dead-on. Dayton and Faris have been gone from cinemas too long. Let us hope they do not depart so long again.

5. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, directed by Martin McDonagh

Release date: Nov. 10

Another director gone from multiplexes since 2012, McDonagh’s absence can be attributed mostly to the fact he is a rock star in the theater scene. The famed Irish playwright has written and directed just three feature films, but each is an event, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri looks like his best chance yet for mainstream cinematic success. Although, if mainstream success were something McDonagh were interested in, I am quite certain he already would have achieved it. Operating in the darkest possible realms of comedy, as always, here McDonagh brings along Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, and Woody Harrelson for a journey that looks to be his most fun but most human yet.

4. Mother!, directed by Darren Aronofsky

Release date: Sept. 15

Not that she needs the help, but Jennifer Lawrence looks here to be getting the Black Swan treatment from Aronofsky, which is to say the director will run the “it” actress of her generation through the emotional wringer. Aronofsky’s most recent film, Noah, was troubled but unfairly maligned, mostly due to its impossibly high budget. This time, he scales back for the kind of psychological horror story that put him on the map in films such as Pi and Requiem for a Dream. Aronofsky is as much the stylist as ever, and Lawrence seems to be taking her gifts to another level. The combination of the two should produce nothing short of magic.

3. The Killing of a Sacred Deer, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

Release date: Nov. 3

Greek auteur Lanthimos made the jump to English-language features with last year’s wondrous The Lobster, in which he teased out career-best work from Colin Farrell. Farrell now is joined by Nicole Kidman and Alicia Silverstone for a film that won the best screenplay award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Co-written by Lanthimos and his The Lobster collaborator Efthymis Filippou, The Killing of a Sacred Deer seems to take the director’s icy, detached view of human endeavors and marry it to the intense thriller we might expect from someone such as Michael Haneke – think Cache or Funny Games.

2. The Square, directed by Ruben Östlund

Release date: Oct. 27

As the winner of this year’s Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, The Square would already be high on my must-see list. That it comes from Östlund only raises its profile. The Swedish filmmaker’s previous effort, Force Majeure, is among the century’s best films, a landmark of emotional exploration and familial disintegration that should be watched and studied for years to come. If The Square, the satirical targets of which seem fitting for our current era, equals or even nears those heights, it will be a transcendent experience.

1. Wonder Wheel, directed by Woody Allen

Release date: Dec. 1

My favorite filmmaker directing my favorite actress, there could be no film more anticipated for me. Allen’s late-career output at this point is famous for its unevenness. For every Match Point, there is a Whatever Works. For every Blue Jasmine, there is a To Rome with Love. I am a fan even of much of the director’s most slapdash work, while still admitting to some of its haphazard construction. The reason: Despite it all, Allen still has the potential to dazzle – Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Midnight in Paris being just two recent examples.

In Wonder Wheel, Kate Winslet is said to deliver a career-topping performance. The New York Film Festival has selected it as the closing-night film, not an honor bestowed lightly. It is scheduled at the height of awards season, whereas much of Allen’s work lately has been offered up as a summer trifle. For these reasons and more, there could be no other film at the top of this list.

*A quick note: Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film surely would have made this list if I could be reasonably certain it would come out this year. I cannot be. As of now, it has no official title and a tentative release date at the end of December. Anderson can work as long as he wants to make the best possible film, and when it finally does come out – with what is sure to be another brilliant Daniel Day-Lewis performance, I will be first in line.