How to Make it to ‘The End of Oak Street’

August 15, 2026

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This is the end, the end of Oak Street, my friends (CREDIT: Warner Bros./Screenshot)

Starring: Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, Christian Convery, Jordan Alexa Davis, P.J. Byrne, Emily Kuroda, Anne Gee Byrd, Hudson Meek, David Alexander Kaplan

Director: David Robert Mitchell

Running Time: 99 Minutes

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: August 14, 2026 (Theaters)

The End of Oak Street is much like another movie that recently came out (i.e., Ice Cream Man) insofar as it features people waking up one day in a seemingly peaceful neighborhood to discover that they are now completely surrounded by danger. I have experienced this sort of transformation myself multiple times. But typically only in my dreams. I’m fairly certain it’s never happened in my waking life. Oak Street makes it look pretty fun, though, so I’d kind of like it to happen for real now. With guardrails in place, of course, but also sufficiently invigorating. Any chance you think we could make that happen?

Grade: 36 Oaks out of 51 Streets

Best Film Directors of the 2010s

June 24, 2020

jmunney Best of the 2010s, Best of the Decade, Cinema , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

CREDIT: YouTube Screenshots

I’ve got another extra-innings Best of the 2010s for ya. This time, the focus is on Film Directors, those folks who hang out behind the camera and let everyone know how they would like the movie to go.

Based on the eligibility rules of the poll that I submitted my list to, each director had to have at least two films come out between 2010 and 2019 to be considered. I made my selections based on a combination of how much I enjoyed their output and how much they influenced the medium and the culture at large.

My choices, along with their 2010s filmography, are listed below.

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This Is a Movie Review: Under the Silver Lake

May 11, 2019

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

CREDIT: A24

Under the Silver Lake is Inherent Vice crossed with The Shining.

Shaggy dog mysteries (which seem to exclusively be set in L.A.) have their charms, but they also have an underlying sense of frustration because the mystery is most definitely never solved satisfyingly, or at least not transparently. But they act like they want to solve the mystery. In the case of Under the Silver Lake, though, it’s clearly more satisfying to leave everything confusing. With his tendency to beat people up for minor offenses, Sam (Andrew Garfield) is certainly not a nice person, so it’s fitting that he doesn’t find all the answers. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t some sort of “conspiracy,” or at least conspiracy-ish happening or series of happenings, going on. Disappearing Neighbor Riley Keough may be part of only a small portion of the whole tapestry. Sam enters Shining territory as his experience of supernatural occurrences feel inextricable from the real thing. He seems to have crossed through a looking glass wherein he might as well have been a part of all this for all eternity, especially considering his aimlessness. It’s an unmoored journey that I enjoyed.

I give Under the Silver Lake 400 Numbers out of 500 Questions.