3.5 stars out of 5
Dear Hollywood:
I demand bigger roles for Alana Haim. She was so good in Licorice Pizza! But then in One Battle After Another, Alana didn’t have much more than a cameo, and in The Mastermind she just stood around looking disappointed. I know, I know, acting is a secondary career for her; maybe she’s choosing smaller roles to allow herself time to record and tour with her sisters. But at least give her a starring role in-between album promotion cycles; we don’t want to waste these opportunities!
The Drama is a step in the right direction for Alana Haim. It is clearly a co-starring, supporting actress role: the female in the best-friend couple of engaged Zendaya and Robert Pattinson. They had met cute and are in the home stretch toward their wedding, when some information comes forward that sheds new light on their relationship and whether they should get married at all. Now, I’m not going to ruin the twist for you though apparently, just like with Project Spoil Mary, the most recent trailer tells you way too much! Dear Hollywood, STOP DOING THIS!!
The movie is also a step in the right direction for writer/director Kristoffer Borgli. I had had high hopes for his Dream Scenario (starring Nicolas Cage) yet found it merely OK. Here, he crafts a story that is dark, funny, and uncomfortable. It does feel a little bit undercooked, holding it back from being a really good movie, but The Drama is enjoyable throughout.
Credit also goes to the actors, of course. Zendaya continues to blossom as an actress. Here she gets to freak out a bit while trying to hold her upcoming nuptials together, Robert Pattinson is believably awkward and may be this generation’s Hugh Grant. Alana Haim has fun being judgmental and a little vindictive and nasty – she’s your friend’s significant other who never really buys in to the couples-friends dynamic. And Mamoudou Athie as the best man is very good as a supportive friend and peacemaker and does some very funny wordless physical work trying to get Pattinson to STOP TALKING.
Music plays a small but key role, and it was cool to hear New York legend Moondog on the soundtrack.
So if you’re in the mood for a cringey comedy, head to The Drama.
Movie Review: The Drama
Movie Review: Exit 8
4 stars out of 5
Once I got over the disappointment that Exit 8 wasn’t a movie about driving to Hightstown and East Windsor on the New Jersey Turnpike, I really started to enjoy it. I know we’re in an era where an increasing number of motion pictures and TV shows are based on video games. I am not a gamer (there are 4 games on my phone, and 2 are Scrabble variations) and I had not heard of the game Exit 8. Yet I was intrigued by the concept of someone stuck in underground subway walkways – as anyone who has tried to get from the F train to the PATH at 14th and 6th would understand.
The plot, and there’s not much of it: A guy in Japan is taking the subway to work. As he gets off the train, he receives a call from his recent ex. She’s at the hospital, she’s pregnant, she’s deciding what to do… and he loses the signal. He’d better exit the station. Through exit 8. Except… he can’t find it. And realizes he’s going around in circles.
For a while, this comes across as an extended Twilight Zone episode. And if you like that sort of thing – which I do, very much – then the movie is pretty enjoyable. (And most of the signs in the station are in Japanese, making it even more delightfully confusing for us non-Japanese viewers.) But writers Genki Kawamura (who also directed) and Hirase Kentaro keep adding slight differences, which in the movie are called anomalies, which slowly raise the stakes, and raise the level of the drama. Kawamura maintains a claustrophobic vibe throughout, with touches of horror and comedy.
How much of this was straight from the video game? Well, and this must be a compliment to the filmmakers, because I spent $2.99 to download the game as soon as I got home. Of course I couldn’t figure out the controllers, because I’m an old goat. But it looks very much the same as the world in the movie. And it also looks very much like the upcoming movie Backrooms, which seems to be the same concept except in a deserted Raymour & Flanigan’s. Yeah, I’ll probably see that too.
Aquariukm Playlist, 4/22/26
EPISODE #689: CLOUDS II
Richard Lloyd— “Get Off of My Cloud” [ALTERNATE THEME]
The Tisburys — “Water in the Clouds”
Pale Lights — “We Are the Clouds”
Eric’s Trip — “Cloudy”
The Jayhawks — “Clouds”
The Anderson Council — “Sitting on a Cloud”
The Resonars — “No Black Clouds Float By”
Freezing Hands — “Shitbird Clouds”
Sensational Country Blues Wonders — “Head in the Clouds”
Golden Apples — “Waiting for a Cloud”
Ringo Deathstarr — “Cotton Candy Clouds”
They Might Be Giants — “How Now Dark Cloud?”
Daniel Johnston — “Blue Clouds”
Radiator Hospital — “Big Cloud”
Pavement — “Brink of the Clouds” [Peel session]
Staple Singers — “Uncloudy Day”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Aquarium Playlist, 4/14/26
EPISODE #688: EVERYWHERE
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
James Mastro — “Everywhere”
The Plimsouls — “Everywhere at Once”
Pylon Reenactment Society — “Flowers Everywhere”
Hypnolovewheel — “Everywhere Nowhere Girl”
Keeley — “Echo Everywhere”
The Muffs — “Everywhere I Go”
Sabu — “Everywhere I Go”
Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris — “Everywhere I Go”
The Call — “Everywhere I Go”
Mudhoney — “Creeps Are Everywhere”
The Sapphires — “Our Love Is Everywhere”
The Beatles — “Here, There, and Everywhere”
Sarah Dougher — “Everywhere West”
Fleetwood Mac — “Everywhere”
Billy Bragg — “Everywhere”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Aquarium Playlist, 4/7/26
EPISODE #687: BULLS AND COWS
Kait Eldridge — “Like a Bull” [ALTERNATE THEME]
The Delevantes — “Long About That Time”
Heavenly — “Portland Town”
Heavenly — “Lemonhead Boy”
The Lemonheads — “Deep End”
The Lemonheads — “If I Could Talk I’d Tell You”
Lucinda Williams — “Low Life”
Lucinda Williams — “I Just Wanted To See You So Bad”
Peter Holsapple — “That Kind of Guy”
The dB’s — “Big Brown Eyes”
The Cure — “Drone: Nodrone”
The Cure — “In Between Days”
X — “Sweet Til the Bitter End”
X — “The Once Over Twice”
Bob Mould — “When Your Heart Is Broken”
Hüsker Dü — “Makes No Sense at All”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Movie Review: Project Hail Mary
4 stars out of 5
I feel like I’m about to write a negative review. Which is crazy, because I liked this movie. Look, I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. The thing is, I wanted it to be great. This movie was promoted for such a very long time. Months and months. I was so excited to see this movie. I love Ryan Gosling!
Project Hail Mary is not a great movie. As a general rule, films with two directors are not great. A great movie is one person’s vision. Not some other guy saying, “Whoa what if he says DUDE right here” or “You know what bro, I think I’m a woman” (Wachowskis only). Phil Lord and Christopher Miller previously directed The Lego Movie, and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and the 21 Jump Street movies. That filmography does not really have a trajectory toward greatness. Family-friendly entertainment, sure. And I think that’s what Project Hail Mary is.
Also, can I please say there were one too many trailers? Trailer 1 was wacky: Gosling was all “hey I’m not qualified to be an astronaut” and they’re all “but you’re the only who can save the planet” and he’s all “D’ohhh!” Trailer 2 was, I think, Gosling encountering life in outer space. Ooh so there’s a twist. But then trailer 3 GIVES THE WHOLE FREAKING MOVIE AWAY. There’s an E.T.-like alien in this thing. There’s a goddamn New York Times article explaining how they make that puppet move and talk. And I get it: With all that cash and bitcoin they blew on advertising, the studio wants to MAXIMIZE ITS AUDIENCE. And revealing the cutesy creature makes you that much more likely to BRING THE KIDS. And buy branded merchandise.
It’s a good movie, despite having no surprises whatsoever. Gosling is terrific. Let’s have more movies starring Gosling. The science mumbo-jumbo is mostly understandable. The main thrust of the movie is not Astrophage-powered rockets but is in fact friendship and what we’re willing to do for true friends. I think I was supposed to get teary but i did not get teary, and I am a weepy motherf’er.
Marcus from The Bear is in this for a little bit.
If you haven’t seen Project Hail Mary yet and still want to, adjust your expectations and go. And let’s hope Lord and Miller have a falling out like the Safdies.
Aquarium Playlist, 3/31/26
EPISODE #686: SPRING 2026 (BUTTERFLIES)
The Who — “Happy Jack” [acoustic; ALTERNATE THEME]
Wizard Brain — “Butterflies/Early in the Mornin’”
The Jam — “The Butterfly Collector”
Dolly Parton — “Love Is Like a Butterfly”
Erroll Garner — “Poor Butterfly”
The Equals — “Butterfly Red, White & Blue”
The Smittens — “On the Back of Butterflies”
Wallflower — “Butterfly Kisses”
Raymond Scott — “Beautiful Little Butterfly”
Anika Pyle — “Monarch Butterflies”
Anika Pyle — “City Butterfly”
Blonde Redhead — “Misery Is a Butterfly”
Wussy — “Rainbows and Butterflies”
Bob Mould — “Siberian Butterfly”
Sonic Youth — “Drunken Butterfly”
Suzi Quatro — “Free the Butterfly”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Aquarium Playlist, 3/24/26
EPISODE #685: DOUBLE SHOT TUESDAY
Mike Delevante — “When You’re Around”
The Delevantes — “Long About That Time”
Heavenly — “Portland Town”
Heavenly — “Lemonhead Boy”
The Lemonheads — “Deep End”
The Lemonheads — “If I Could Talk I’d Tell You”
Lucinda Williams — “Low Life”
Lucinda Williams — “I Just Wanted To See You So Bad”
Peter Holsapple — “That Kind of Guy”
The dB’s — “Big Brown Eyes”
The Cure — “Drone: Nodrone”
The Cure — “In Between Days”
X — “Sweet Til the Bitter End”
X — “The Once Over Twice”
Bob Mould — “When Your Heart Is Broken”
Hüsker Dü — “Makes No Sense at All”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Jack Silbert, curator