Show threadSargothJun 25, 2025

To alleviate the rumors: last week's #FridayMovie was cancelled due to me re-enacting Midsommar, and this week's is cancelled for reasons stemming from the worrying words "computer won't start"

As consolation, I will give you that the most midsummer movie of all time is Melancholia (2011)

It also serves as an opposite to Armageddon (1998). All movies have an opposite, whether they warrant one or not. Figuring out which it is, is a fun and creative pastime for all ages

Show threadSargothJul 1, 2025
It returns! The #FridayMovie tradition, which asks you to pick on of four options that may or may not make sense, is now back on its eternal recurrence rotation
Oh hey I've heard about that one
13.3%
Bollywood bangers
26.7%
The soundtrack made me do it
53.3%
Subtitles required
6.7%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothJul 8, 2025
Fear not, for the #FridayMovie poll returns. Whatever you might be thinking, whatever you might be up to, whatever nonsense the world might force you into - here are four options that you, personally, have 100% agency to pick
Samurai, hai
25%
Everybody was kung fu fighting
33.3%
OMG you haven't seen that one!?
16.7%
Tumbleweed thumper
25%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothJul 15, 2025
Denizens of the ultraworld! It is time to pass judgment on which fate shall befall your humble announcer this week in the #FridayMovie poll. Choose wisely! Or better yet - choose evilly!
Cheese cavalcades
26.7%
Notable flicks about cats
33.3%
Noir noir
20%
The soundtrack made me do it
20%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothJul 22, 2025
Explorers of the infinite multiverse! It is time to coalesce your infinite selves into one singular action - geographically situating the weekly #FridayMovie poll! Think carefully, lest the location spell DOOM for us all!
Paris (dimension 1)
0%
Paris (dimension 2)
33.3%
Hong Kong
44.4%
Taipei
22.2%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothJul 22, 2025

I realized that it has been a while since I updated the list of previous winners, so I updated it. If you find yourself in want of an extremely selective list of movie recs for a rainy day, here is one

*This list is incomplete. You can help by adding to it

https://longersky.com/2025/01/16/a-semi-randomized-list-of-movies-to-maybe-watch-sometime/

A semi-randomized list of movies to maybe watch sometime

A while back I started a thread on Mastodon, wherein I every week post a poll where four movie titles duke it out. I then watch the winner under ritualistic and ceremonial forms on friday evenings.…

More longer friend see that sky?
Show threadSargothJul 29, 2025
Genderfluids, gendersolids and gendergasses! The time has come to put the heavy duty mining equipment aside and vote in this week's #FridayMovie poll, the outcome of which will determine the fate of one singular evening
OMG you haven't seen that one?!
23.5%
Tumbleweed thumpers
11.8%
Salacious samurai
35.3%
Noir noir
29.4%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothAug 5, 2025
Hwaet! Hear ye, hear ye! Let it be known that the #FridayMovie poll is on, with alternatives shorter and more unpredictable than ever!
Old
20%
New
0%
Song
60%
Goof
20%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothAug 12, 2025
Incongruous instantiations of the Nous! The eternal recurrence is recurring, and so here is this week's #FridayMovie poll. I present to you these four verbose verisimilar vermillion options
So that's where that sample is from
60%
You really haven't seen that one? For realsies?
13.3%
An egg boiled so hard the shoe leather seemed soft
20%
Please watch something from this century for once
6.7%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothAug 19, 2025
Assorted elemental beings from the material plane! We have tabled this motion many a time, but the period of waiting is finally over! Thus, this #FridayMovie poll is all about picking a lucky number
10
15.8%
47
47.4%
50
15.8%
79
21.1%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothAug 26, 2025
Aetheric arithmeticians! It is time to succumb to the temptation of becoming a number station! And so we enumerate this week's #FridayMovie poll options
5
5.9%
12
17.6%
39
41.2%
123
35.3%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothSep 2, 2025
Harboring herbivore haberdashers! Hark now, and channel your immense powers of name recognition into picking one of the four options in this week's #FridayMovie poll. Heave ho!
Tilda Swinton
53.8%
Elliot Page
15.4%
Maggie Smith
30.8%
Oscar Isaac
0%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothSep 9, 2025
Fellow wayfarers! I am in need of directions! And so I ask you to pick one of these directors for this week's #Fridaymovie shenanigans. Forward! No, the other forward!
Rosselini
16.7%
Coen (one or several)
25%
Godard
8.3%
Fellini
50%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothSep 16, 2025
Loquacious locations! Enable your geolocators and fire up your geoguesser turbines, for it is time to vote in the weekly #FridayMovie poll. The winner gets a geo!
Taipei
0%
Budapest
0%
New York
0%
...SPAAACE!
100%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothSep 23, 2025
Magnificent monstrosities! We have the fortune and privilege of being able to choose the monster of this week in the #FridayMovie poll. Give it your best dramatic and/or cheesy scream!
Plants
29.4%
Zombies
5.9%
Ants (one or several)
41.2%
Amoeba (one or several)
23.5%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothSep 30, 2025
Rumtumrugging rumtumtuggers! It has been a while since the #FridayMovie poll simply featured four unadorned titles, so this week we are doing just that. Think once, think twice, then vote hard!
Rebels of the neon god (1992)
23.1%
La vie en rose (2007)
30.8%
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
7.7%
The grand Budapest hotel (2014)
38.5%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothOct 7
Seeing how it is spooktober, and that I haven't witnessed any movies with Bela Lugosi (except for Plan 9, which doesn't count), I figure - let's give the #FridayMovie pollsters the unmitigated power of deciding just which kind of first impression I'm gonna get. Spook choosily!
Dracula (1931)
60%
White zombie (1932)
20%
The black cat (1934)
6.7%
Ninotchka (1939)
13.3%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothOct 14
Spooktober spooktinues! Seeing as how I haven't witnessed any Vincent Price movies, I thought it a prudent moment to allow the wise #FridayMovie voters the honor of deciding my first impression
House of wax (1953)
30%
House on haunted hill (1959)
40%
House of Usher (1960)
30%
House of the long shadows (1983)
0%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothOct 21
It is a truth universally recognized that a week needs a monster. So does this one. Ergo, the #FridayMovie poll this week asks: which monster should grace us with its unmistakable presence?
Plants
0%
Zombies
0%
Spooky futuristic architecture
100%
Birds
0%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothOct 28
I can feel the Halloween spirit grow inside me! And around me! And me! This week's #FridayMovie poll is all about spooky plants, who may or may not secretly be more spirited than they ought to be
The thing from another world (1951)
16.1%
Invasion of the body snatchers (1956)
25.8%
Attack of the mushroom people (1963)
9.7%
Day of the triffids (1963)
48.4%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothNov 4
Gamers! Movie buffs! Curious fellas who like to see what this button does! Your wisdom is required. For this week's #FridayMovie, I have found four movies that are referenced - more or less explicitly - in video games. Thus, the question is: from which game shall we follow the not so subtly pointed finger?
Fallout New Vegas
19%
Mass Effect
23.8%
Red Dead Redemption 2
14.3%
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
42.9%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothNov 12

Life events conspired to cancel the #FridayMovie poll this week

but, fear not dear viewer, this low-stakes ancient tradition will return next week, at full strength and with undiminished signal, so stay tuned and feed your friends

Show threadSargothNov 18
Heavenly bodies! Since I recently saw Angel's Egg, I got inspired to make a bewinged #FridayMovie poll. Thus, I present to you these four befeathered and bechoired options. Follow your divine inspiration and choose wisely
Heaven can wait (1943)
40%
Der himmel über Berlin / Wings of desire (1987)
50%
Fallen angels (1995)
0%
Angel-A (2005)
10%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothNov 27

I dreamt I posted it, but didn't post it
aka
there is no #FridayMovie poll this week, and next week is sidetracked by me watching Princess Mononoke on the biggest screen in town

this seems like the way

Show threadSargothDec 2
a reminder that there will be no poll this week
but stay tuned, for the future is yet arriving, and we have an infinite amount of fridays ahead
Show threadSargothDec 9
Meows to the meow god! We rejoice as the #FridayMovie poll returns in full glory, wasting no time in shedding unimaginable amounts of floof on unsuspecting bystanders. And why would anyone suspect anything, seeing as how this lineup is all full of cats!
When the cat comes (1963)
12.5%
That darn cat (1965)
37.5%
The cat returns (2002)
33.3%
Legend of the demon cat (2017)
16.7%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothDec 16
Toot that horn! It was suggested that this #FridayMovie be unicorn--themed, and lo! It is in fact unicorn-themed. So toot those horns, bang those drums and honk those stonks!
Black moon (1975)
7.1%
The last unicorn (1982)
42.9%
Legend (1985)
35.7%
Unicorn store (2017)
14.3%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothDec 23
Liminal salutations! This week's #FridayMovie falls in the nebulous, ambiguous, polyvalent days between christmas and new year's. These are days defined by a diffuse blend of indeterminacy and a definite sense that things are definitely coming to an end. Thus, I present to you, four ways to end all years
On the beach (1959)
15.8%
The day the earth caught fire (1961)
15.8%
Fail safe (1964)
26.3%
Silent running (1972)
42.1%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothDec 30
Prefigured futurities! Seeing how this is the first #FridayMovie poll of the year, we will follow tradition and vote for which mood will set the tone for the months to come. Therefore I present to you four mood pieces, each radically yet subtly distinct
All that heaven allows (1955)
27.3%
The 400 blows (1959)
45.5%
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, (1975)
0%
5 centimeters per second (2007)
27.3%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothJan 6
Waxed poetics! As this year is already over the moon in all categories, metaphorically speaking, I reckon this week's #FridayMovie poll should be all about our beloved lunar orb. And so, I present to you, these stellar options, which may or may not include hints of extraplanetary skullduggery
Capricorn one (1977)
44.4%
Moonstruck (1987)
44.4%
Interstellar (2014)
11.1%
Fly me to the moon (2024)
0%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothJan 13
Stellar stochastics! Last week's poll was disturbed by the dual interference of network difficulties (it was literally DNS), sunspots (probably not DNS), and the fact that the result was a tie. Thus, for this week's #FridayMovie poll, we will redo the last one, albeit slightly remixed. Behold! The sky is full of stars!
Capricorn one (1977)
20%
Moonstruck (1987)
50%
Interstella 5555 (2003)
30%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothJan 20
Malleable marylebones! We are approaching the cool zone and somehow someone has already given us a residence permit. As such, we have all been given a (1) vote in this week's #FridayMovie poll. Choose, and shiver!
Westworld (1973)
23.1%
Dark star (1974)
38.5%
The taking of Pelham 123 (1974)
30.8%
Cloud (2024)
7.7%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothJan 27
Fabulous phantasms! This week we take a detour on the #FridayMovie poll into the domain of prominent and unsubdued fashion icons of the recent past, with these four unparallelizable options:
Barbarella (1968)
12.5%
Zardoz (1974)
45.8%
Tank girl (1995)
25%
Spice world (1997)
16.7%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothFeb 3
Mycelial musicality! We continue our fashionable #FridayMovie detour by veering into the uncharted lands of 30s musicals. Choose which manner of centennial earworm will live on in me, and do it with impeccably choreographed style
42nd street (1933)
22.2%
The gay divorcee (1934)
55.6%
Top hat (1935)
11.1%
Show boat (1936)
11.1%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothFeb 10
Sensorious sentimentalists! We fought the law, and it is not altogether unfair to say that the law won, albeit barely. The winner of this week's #FridayMovie poll, however, is fair and just and emotionally well-regulated indeed
Rebel without a cause (1955)
0%
12 angry men (1957)
38.5%
Butch Cassidy and the sundance kid (1969)
30.8%
Rebels of the neon god (1992)
30.8%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothFeb 11

A fun part about this being a once a week thing is that each entry on the list happened at a specific time, and so when I read it I go
oh yeah, that movie was that week, when such and such happened

History truly is a process in the present
https://longersky.com/2025/01/16/a-semi-randomized-list-of-movies-to-maybe-watch-sometime/

A semi-randomized list of movies to maybe watch sometime

A while back I started a thread on Mastodon, wherein I every week post a poll where four movie titles duke it out. I then watch the winner under ritualistic and ceremonial forms on friday evenings.…

More longer friend see that sky?
Show threadSargothFeb 17
Frolicking fromages! In order to make an omelet, you have to crack some eggs. And in order to decide the outcome of the #FridayMovie poll - the highest-stake election of any week - you have to vote for at least one of these potentially French titles. Bon mot!
Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962)
46.7%
Le samouraï (1967)
53.3%
Vive l'amour (1994)
0%
La vie en rose (2007)
0%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothFeb 24
Canonical classicists! This week's #FridayMovie poll hones in on a particular time, exactly 87 years ago, for arbitrary reasons. Your vote, however, is not arbitrary, and so I ask you to choose with random precision
The cat and the canary (1939)
20%
Dark victory (1939)
50%
Gone with the wind (1939)
20%
The wizard of Oz (1939)
10%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothMar 3
Citizens of the universe! This week's #FridayMovie poll presents you with these four spectacular space extravaganzas, specifically selected to sound spuriously and speculatively scientific!
Airplane! (1980)
22.2%
The adventures of Buckaroo Banzai (1984)
36.1%
Repo man (1984)
13.9%
Galaxy quest (1999)
27.8%
Poll ended at .
Show threadSargothMar 6
and the winner
of the most voted on poll since this here thread began
is
The adventures of Buckaroo Banzai across the 8th dimension
Show threadSargoth
I'm going in
Mar 6 at 6:41pmWeb
Show threadSargothMar 6
I do love me an expositionary text crawl
Show threadSargothMar 6
We have a go for liftoff
Show threadSargothMar 6
"Cap'n, did he just get out of the car on fire, paint a tunnel onto the mountain, get back into the car, and speed right on through the mountain, collapsing the tunnel behind him?"
"Pretty much, yeah"
Show threadSargothMar 6

Modern science is usually conceived of as taking place in clean, sterile laboratories, far away from the experience of common folks. In the 30s, however, you could set up you experimental interdimensional hypercar superlaser skunkworks in any affordable abandoned warehouse in the less reputable industrial district you wanted, and/or could afford on a minimum wage

Also, minimum wages were way higher back then, due to decades of inflation. You could afford to do madcap science on a single wage

Show threadSargothMar 6

Fun fact: in the times before computers and calculators, there used to be books that were nothing but tables and tables of trigonometry. If you needed to do a certain calculation, but didn't quite have the time to go through all the motions, you could look up the correct number and go from there

The oversized spineless book depicted here is not too far off from what such publications used to look like

Show threadSargothMar 6
We were promised a science fiction future, and this is what we got
Show threadSargothMar 6

I love how this movie has gone from 1) plausible-deniability area 51, to 2) a mental asylum of some description, to 3) New Jersey

'tis a good thing we got that initial text crawl, it might've been confusing otherwise

Show threadSargothMar 6
I feel we have forgotten this important message in these trying times
Show threadSargothMar 6
One of the enduring aims of this thread is that readers will somehow be left with less context about the movie than before they read it, and so I present to you
Show threadSargothMar 6
tfw you're in a Mood but people somehow show up anyway wanting to be helpful
Show threadSargothMar 6
moments later
Show threadSargothMar 6
logging on
Show threadSargothMar 6
the mystery has been revealed
Show threadSargothMar 6
Mister Freeman, come with me if you want to live
Show threadSargothMar 6

this movie came out seven years before Terminator 2
a feller could be forgiven for thinking that some Influences might have occurred (John Connor, yoyo/cyberdyne, etc

also: logging on

Show threadSargothMar 6
person: can you explain the story of this movie real quick?
me: no
Show threadSargothMar 6
and then the cybervoodoos from Neuromancer show up
don't worry about it, it makes more sense here than in Neuromancer
Show threadSargothMar 6
her: I picked up a nice vintage machine at the flea market. it even came with the manual!
the vintage machine:
Show threadSargothMar 6
it worries me that this is more paperwork than were issued before recent events commenced
Show threadSargothMar 6
still preferable to using a LLM, tbh
Show threadsleet01Mar 6
@sargoth "1, 2, 3, 4, 5? That's the same combination as my luggage!"
Show threadsleet01Mar 6
@sargoth I'm not sure if the set dressers were consummate professionals who could get any wacky item the director/ AD requested... or just brought stuff from their homes to use as props.
Show threadSargothMar 6
@sleet01 they had at least one watermelon
Show threadsleet01Mar 6
@sargoth Oh, yeah. This was a foundational work for a specific group of people, read, "nerds".
Show threadIrenes (many)Mar 6
@sargoth oh, well, that answers everything
Show threadSargothMar 6
@ireneista we no longer have to live in wonderment and confusion
Show threadIrenes (many)Mar 6
@sargoth strictly speaking we were only ever doing so by choice
Show threadsleet01Mar 6
@sargoth From my recollection, watching "The Brother From Another Planet" after this did not help clarify anything at all but it did feel of a piece.
Show threadsleet01Mar 6
@sargoth What's great about New Jersey is that he's both a wannabe cowboy _and_ a huge fan of the Hong Kong Cavaliers from way back. Like, this is his childhood dream job.
Show threadBlake C. StaceyMar 6
@sargoth Buckaroo Banzai is what you'd get if you pretended that a whole franchise of YA novels and/or superhero comics existed, that they had been adapted into a Cinematic Universe, and that you're jumping into the 12th or so movie in that series without having seen any of the others.
Show threadSargothMar 6
@bstacey truly a great postmodern work
Show threadsleet01Mar 6
@sargoth Words to live by. Except for the disincorporated.
Show threadWeird SocksMar 6
@sargoth
Should I rewatch it? I think I've waited too long now. It's probably just all cringe.
Show threadSargothMar 6
@ohmu the thing about getting older is that you can let go of the category of cringe and just let things happen at you, with a renewed sense of appreciation
it's great
Show threadWill DeakinMar 6
@sargoth this is neither The Circle Jerks nor Iggy Pop. I would be interested in finding out who it is though.
Show threadMister DaveMar 7
@sargoth and i just wanna walk away sometimes
Show threadsleet01Mar 6
@sargoth Before there was "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" there was "Since I Don't Have You".
Show threadsleet01Mar 6
@sargoth Keep in mind, this movie came out a year before Back to the Future.
Show threadDJ Sundog from the *new* toot-labMar 6
@sleet01 @sargoth and is so much cooler, despite box office receipts haha
Show threadHTTP 1.1/418 TeapotMar 7
@sargoth Sined. Sealed. Delivered.
Show threadsleet01Mar 6
@sargoth You are in for an _experience_.
Show threadSargothMar 6
@sleet01 so I have been told
I am anticipating in real time
Show threadGiflianMar 6
@sargoth a classic
Show threadPassengerMar 6

@sargoth

I once heard Buckaroo Banzai described as "a comic-book movie stuffed with callbacks for the true fans and impenetrable to the lay viewer, but there's no comic book and no true fans."

Show threadSargothMar 6
@passenger somehow, the comic books exist in canon