NEVERENDING FILM FESTIVAL #389

every movie ever made, in alphabetical order
(we’re in the I’s, with random anti-alphabetical cheats)

The Ides of March (2011)

Intrigue about the murder of Julius Caesar doesn’t much intrigue me, which is why I didn’t see The Ides of March when it came out. Turns out it’s just a dumb title, and the movie’s not at all about killing Caesar.

George Clooney directs, and runs for President in the Democratic primaries. Ryan Gosling is supposed to be the idealistic young man who learns the realities of politics, but c’mon, he’s the candidate’s press secretary — nobody gets that job before such lessons have been learned.

Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Marisa Tomei are featured, and Rachel Maddow does pundit play-by-play. It’s snarky stuff, the Hollywood version of realpolitik. Rewind your mindset to the pre-Trump era and it’s an acceptable drama, but in 2025 it’s as relevant as cherry pudding while someone’s drowning.

Verdict: MAYBE, for audiences who aren’t me.

♦ ♦ ♦

Idiocracy (2007)

From Mike Judge, who made Beavis and Butt-Head and King of the Hill and Office Space, this is the story of an average Joe named Joe, who’s selected for an experiment in suspended animation. Fast-forward a few hundred years, and Joe awakens in a world where everyone’s very, very dumb.

I saw and liked this movie 15 years ago, and America keeps getting stupider and stupider, so nowadays Idiocracy is frequently mentioned as a prescient glimpse of the Trump era.

Unlike Trump, it’s fun and funny, and the movie’s full of cringey dumb-people jokes, plus a layer of comedy aimed at famous brand names. Starbucks of the future sells handjobs, so Starbucks of the present probably didn’t pay for product placement. Carl’s Jr’s new motto is “Fuck you, I’m eating,” and Fuddrucker’s has renamed itself Buttfucker’s.

This is not brilliant satire, and not Judge’s finest achievement, but it’s a hoot, and you’d have to be stupid not to enjoy it.

Idiocracy is built on a right-wing canard, though — that America’s increasing stupidity comes from a rising birth rate among stupid people. In reality, the problem isn’t heredity, it’s environment.

Mass stupidity is what we get, when the right-wing cripples education, blocks abortion, underfunds anything that doesn’t keep poor people poor, and wins elections by strategically pushing lies over truth. We’re stupid and getting stupider because Republicans are in charge, and a stupider America is what Republicans want.

Verdict: YES.

♦ ♦ ♦

Idle Roomers (1944)

There’s not much to critically evaluate in a Three Stooges short, beyond “Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.” It’s Curly instead of Shemp in this one, and Moe’s hair is especially bad. Along with fuzz-top Larry, they’re three bellhops in a swanky hotel, where there’s a reliable laugh a minute, and it’s 17 minutes. You do the math.

Verdict: YES.

♦ ♦ ♦

The Mondragon Experiment (1980)

Here’s a documentary about industrial co-operatives in Spain’s Basque region, where the workers have direct say in the business’s operation, and share in the profits. Not coincidentally, these co-ops are more efficient than ordinary companies, with happier and more productive workers.

It’s educational, inspirational. Point taken: Our shitty world doesn’t have to be so shitty, when less shitty alternatives are allowed.

Verdict: YES.

♦ ♦ ♦

The Whip (2024)

An ordinary lady gets an idea — why not steal the little black book of secrets from Britain’s Parliamentary Whip? He’s the top-level political operative who literally knows where the bodies are buried, and his notebook is crammed full of scandalous secrets on virtually everyone in government, so if the lady and her good guy cohorts snatch the black book, why, everything could be leaked to the media, and all the bastard lawmakers would be out on their ears and rears.

This makes for an enjoyable British caper flick, wherein a handful of everyday dames and blokes topple the British government.

Be forewarned, however, that this is a fantasy of highly unlikely proportions. At every turn of the plot, everything goes right for the plotters. Success hinges on Parliament having virtually no security systems, and the infamous black book being literally a handwritten book, not a computer file with backups.

If it was this easy, heck, you and I could topple the government in an hour and 22 minutes. Let’s get to it!

Verdict: YES.

6/18/2025

Logo illustration by Jeff Meyer. No talking once the lights dim, and only real butter on the popcorn, not that fake yellow stuff. 

Neverending Film Festival

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