Damon Packard is the Los Angeles-based filmmaker behind such underground classics as “Reflections of Evil,” “The Untitled Star Wars Mockumentary,” “Foxfur,” and “Fatal Pulse.” His AI-generated work recently appeared as interstitials for the 18th annual American Cinematheque Horrorthon and can be enjoyed on his YouTube channel. After a long day making movies or otherwise making ends meet, he likes to unwind with late-night excursions to the multiplexes and art house cinemas of greater Los Angeles.
May 20, "Obsession" (d. Curry Barker), AMC Century City 15This movie is exactly the kind of hollow, dystopian misery porn that brainless contemporary culture keeps walloping with praise. I found it tedious, annoying, and dull.
I know this has nothing whatsoever to do with De Palma’s "Obsession," but at least DePalma's film (and its inspiration, Hitchcock's "Vertigo") knew how to seduce you with mood and atmosphere, mystery and romance. I'll take a single dreamy close-up of Genevieve Bujold in soft diffusion filters over an hour of a possessed, shrieking, creepy, clingy girlfriend.
At some point in the last act, there was a lot of screaming and noise in the theater, and they shut the film off because someone had a seizure or something. So I was spared suffering through the rest.
As I left, I heard Bernard Herrmann's music in my head. I watched the paramedics arrive. They all looked jaded and took their time pushing the gurney into the elevator. I walked past the huge "The Mandalorian and Grogu" forest planet display they have out front of the AMC Century City, and Herrmann's music seemed to keep following me.
And then I saw her. A Geneviève Bujold look-alike drifting silently past the Funko Pop claw machines in a cream-colored coat, soft curls glowing under the multiplex exterior lights. She turned slightly, just enough for me to catch the resemblance, and then vanished onto the escalator like the ending of a forgotten De Palma dream.
May 29, "Backrooms" (d. Kane Parsons), AMC Century City 15You know you're in trouble when the first two minutes are instant boredom and the rest doesn't get any better. Yeesh, what a waste — ultimately an endurance test to get through. Not a single interesting moment or idea.
I like that actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, but what the hell is he doing in this? Not only is he miscast, but he's above this kind of tripe.
When I hear them praising 'Disclosure Day,' I'm like George C. Scott in 'Hardcore' when he finds out his daughter has been abducted into the porn industry.
I would have hoped a 20-year-old boy-wonder director would bring the reckless energy to make something at least half watchable, but nope, just as horrible, bland, lifeless, dull, and dumb as every other thing the clueless moron masses who wouldn't know what a good film was if their life depended on it flock to.
Sam Raimi was 21 when he made "Evil Dead"; Steven Spielberg 24 when he made "Duel"; Orson Welles 25 when he made "Citizen Kane"; Bernardo Bertolucci 22 when he made "Before the Revolution"; Louis Malle 23 when he made "Elevator to the Gallows." Now THOSE were great films.
Spielberg is now 79, and "Disclosure Day" looks like a bland, generic, insipid pile of direct-to-Tubi junk. But is it really age and vitality, or is it that nobody can write good stories any more? Or that nobody would finance one if it even existed?
RELATED: Mission: Impossible (to sit through); Final Dud-stination; RIP Joe Don Baker
Mike Malloy/Damon Packard/Cinerama/Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images
June 2, "Pressure" (d. Anthony Maras), AMC Century City 15
Just when you thought every WW2 story had been exhausted over the last 80 years, along comes this little $5 million production set within a world of dueling weathermen!
What immediately sounds like mundane, made-for-cable fodder turns out to be a surprisingly terrific and engaging little movie, with an interesting perspective and new take.
Mostly due to the things you rarely see in films these days: good writing, good music, good direction, and interesting characters. Superb performances and casting all around, even for the initially perceived as a terribly miscast Brendan Fraser, who gives it his all and wins you over in the end. Special mention to the lovely Irish actress Kerry Condon, who makes a perfect 40s military babe.
Nothing phenomenal, but as far as mainstream theatrical releases, it is one of the best I've seen this year so far and a reminder some people still know how to make proper films (even if they are shot on the Arri Alexa 35 and technically shouldn't be called "films").
June 6, "The Doors" (1991, d. Oliver Stone), Vista Theater HollywoodCaught a late show in 70mm last night. Which looked beautiful but seemed to be missing the subwoofer channel or something. The sound was all high and mid frequencies, zero low end. Not sure what the deal was there, a print issue or something not switched on? A projectionist might know the answer.
I really like this film, and it always brings back certain feelings and memories of sneaking onto the set with my friend Chad and joining the background actors at 3 a.m. at the Whiskey back in 1990. The cult worship of Morrison is not dead; there were girls screaming in the theater. The Vista still has a bag-checking policy; therefore I always make it a point to sneak in food and drink just on principle
June 12, "Disclosure Day" (d. Steven Spielberg), AMC Burbank 16Caught a nice and empty 11:30 p.m. showing of "Disclosure Day" last night. Talk about a moronic, bland snoozefest. The latest major mega-embarrassment from an aging cine-Boomer. So incredibly dumb, dull, and out of touch that you just sit there half awake in a stunned stupor, taking it all in while trying to stay awake.
How anyone can actually defend this is beyond me. It never ceases to amaze: No matter how awful some new mainstream pile of garbage is, there are plenty of defenders — people (clueless, brain-dead walking software programs) who have zero proper film knowledge or education or interest and wouldn't know one way or the other.
When I hear them praising something like "Disclosure Day," I'm like George C Scott in "Hardcore" when he finds out his daughter has been abducted into the porn industry. Oh, never mind, that's another film and actor you've probably never heard of.
The John Williams score is good. Spielberg may not have it any more, but Williams still does.
June 17, "The Furious" (d. Kenji Tanigaki), AMC Marina Marketplace 6
Caught a late show of this this mostly pretty darned awesome and entertaining Hong Kong action film.
It feels very much like the kind of creative (and at times goofy and hilarious) Hong Kong martial arts exploitation films we were getting in the 1980s. With a lot more blood and violence.
Top-notch fight scenes, even if they get a little overlong in the third act (which is typical). American action movies that borrow from Hong Kong can never come close to the real deal, and this here is seventh-generation Asian action fight choreography done right.
The AI lip sync is a completely flawless and amazing tool, for those who have never seen it. (I'm pretty sure with all the idiotic knee-jerk AI hatred right now, they don't want people to know they're using it, even though it's impossible to tell.)
Only wish I saw this in a better theater instead one of the few non-upgraded multiplexes in this area, with muddy images and weak sound. It's stuff like THIS that should be dominating the premium screens.
Still, I'm grateful we get little surprises like this in an otherwise predictable world.
VERSAILLES, France—President Donald Trump's trip to France began with meetings at the G7 in Évian-les-Bains and culminated in a dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palace of Versailles, where nearly 107 years ago a treaty was signed to officially end World War I.
The post Trump the Peacemaker: POTUS’s Efforts on Iran, Ukraine Dominated G7 appeared first on Breitbart.
Vice President JD Vance, whose Friday trip to Switzerland for U.S.-Iran peace talks was postponed owing to another bloody exchange between Israel and Hezbollah, paused to reflect and speak with the host of BlazeTV's "Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey" this week about the current political moment, where he's coming from, and where America might be headed.
Besides discussing chicken farming, the need to emulate the enduring hope of Christian martyrs, what Catholics and evangelicals can learn from one another, and what messaging changes the pro-life movement should make to win the "persuasion battle," Stuckey and the vice president broached the correlated topics of the Iran deal and Israeli influence in American politics.
'Outsized' Israeli influence? 'Israel derangement syndrome'?Stuckey noted that the right has been roiled by a disagreement — especially in the wake of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk's assassination — about whether "Israel has an outsized influence in the U.S."
'Already, the critics of the deal are being proven wrong.'
Vance, who on Thursday blasted Israeli critics of the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding and insinuated that Israel had previously sabotaged the peace process via escalations in Lebanon, told the BlazeTV host, "I certainly think that Israel, like a lot of other countries, tries to influence American politics. I sort of take that as a given."
The vice president noted further that "American leaders have to be very careful that when we pursue something, we're doing it for America's best interest and not for any other country's best interest," adding that "it's just not true" that America's interests are always aligned with Israel's — or with the United Kingdom's, France's, or any other partner's interests, for that matter.
Vance cited the ongoing disagreements between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over how best to bring the Iran war to a close as illustrating the occasional divergence between the two nations' interests.
RELATED: Trump signs Iran deal, blasts 'fools' after meltdowns by Sens. Cruz and Cassidy
Ken Cedeno/AFP/Getty Images
While cognizant that criticism of Israel and Israeli influence sometimes "bleeds into Jew hate" and that "sometimes criticism of the Israeli government can be expressed in a way that's anti-Semitic," Vance — who has faced intense criticism by Iran hawks and Israeli officials this week — underscored that it's just "not the case that every criticism of Bibi Netanyahu's policy decisions leads to anti-Semitism or is anti-Semitic."
The vice president identified two "critical mistakes" he perceives advocates for Israel routinely making: first, failing to delineate between American interests and Israeli interests; and second, "always conflating criticism of a particular government with Jew hatred — because if everything is Jew hatred, then nothing is Jew hatred."
Stuckey generally agreed but highlighted an ideological condition she has observed on the right — which she termed "Israel derangement syndrome" — in which certain critics of Israel attribute all of their problems to the foreign power, its influence, and its people.
Vance affirmed that "both are bad" but suggested he has been "particularly sensitive" in recent days to Israeli influence and criticism of America's resistance to it because of his defense of Trump's decision to end the Iran war.
Clarification on the Iran dealDemocrats in Congress, Iran hawks, Israeli officials, and some Republican lawmakers have complained incessantly this week about the Iran deal.
One of the chief concerns raised about the deal is the sixth of the agreement's 14th points, which states, "The United States of America undertakes with regional partners to develop a definitive, mutually agreed plan with at least $300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran."
Vance noted, "It's not our money."
A source with direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters that the fund is a private investment vehicle and will not include any government money or grants. Companies around the world have reportedly agreed to commit financing.
President Donald Trump said this week that the U.S. was "not investing; we're not putting up 10 cents."
"The biggest misconception, by far, is this idea that the deal has all these benefits to Iran," Vance told Stuckey. "The underlying way that it's structured is that they don't get any of the benefits — not a single thing — unless they perform a change in behavior."
With their military destroyed, their ability to threaten their neighbors largely diminished, their nuclear program and ability to enrich uranium "gone," and their economy in shambles, Vance said the Iranians are in a "tough spot." They now have the choice between getting "quite literally nothing" besides further turmoil — or behaving like "a normal regime," developing a positive relationship with the U.S., and securing investment from Qataris, Emiratis, and others in the region.
As for whether the deal will bear fruit, Vance cited the resumption of bloodless, toll-free maritime traffic down the Strait of Hormuz over the past few days as a good sign.
"Yesterday, we got more oil out of the Strait of Hormuz than we have at any point since the beginning of the conflict," said Vance.
"Already, the critics of the deal are being proven wrong in some of what they're saying that the Iranians have gotten but also what the United States has gotten."
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Supporters of Karmelo Anthony have coined a new dance dubbed the “Austin Bop.” The TikTok trend emerged recently, where participants dance to a rap song by artist 600Notti titled "Austin Bop (stabbing my chest)" by making repeated stabbing/thrusting motions (sometimes using real knives) to mock his 2025 murder by Anthony.
BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock calls it “satanic.”
“This feels spiritual. This feels plotted and calculated,” he said on a recent episode of “Jason Whitlock Harmony.”
Playing multiple clips of Anthony supporters performing the sadistic dance, Whitlock urges his audience to analyze this trend through a “spiritual warfare” lens.
“There is a crisis, a pandemic of satanic behavior, chaotic behavior,” he says, “and I'm sorry, I have to put a color on it because there is a particular color that's being brainwashed into thinking that violence against white people is justified and violence and conflict about any and everything is justified and normal.”
These are the same people, he argues, who are claiming that Anthony acted rightfully in self-defense by stabbing Metcalf, who was unarmed, for pushing him.
“They need an exorcism,” he declares.
“This is a brain rot and a lunacy ... a mental illness, a sickness, a reprobate mind, and a culture that is producing reprobate minds — a culture that has no respect for life,” he continues, enraged.
This participation in and support for objective evil we’re seeing in the black community, he says, is the result of making race one’s core identity.
“We have an anti-white racism problem in America. No one wants to talk about it,” he says.
“Everyone wants to pretend like, ‘No, no, we got black racism. Didn't you hear? Someone said the N-word someplace and that's racism.’ No, what racism is is when a child murders another child and based on race, one group says, ‘Well, no, that was actually self-defense, and we need to be merciful and graceful with the child that did the murdering, and we need to mock [the victim] and his family,”’ he rails.
While the escalating violence among young black people is a multifaceted issue, Whitlock places much of the blame on music.
“There is a form of music that escalates conflict, promotes satanic energy, promotes nihilism, promotes violence, unrepentant violence — and it's called hip-hop,” he says.
“We're programming kids for their own destruction and for the destruction of this country.”
To hear more, watch the full episode above.
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An illegal alien is accused of raping a 16-year-old girl in a random attack in Long Island, New York, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials reveal.
The post Sanctuary New York: Illegal Alien Accused of Raping 16-Year-Old Girl in Random Attack appeared first on Breitbart.
Large crowds in Seoul accusing the leftist-run government of South Korea of election fraud marked two weeks on Thursday of protests in front of an Olympic sports complex used to tally ballots in the June 3 election.
The post South Korea: Protesters Mark Two Weeks Denouncing Election Fraud After Widespread Ballot Shortages appeared first on Breitbart.
Why must Jewish blood be shed as proof of the very real threat Iran's terror proxies present?
Hardly the "drones shot into the desert and dropped harmlessly" as Trump described the hostilities.