tonight's movie was SLC Punk! and i loved it! i'm a huge Matthew Lillard head ever since i watched Hackers at the age of six and became enamoured with it. i still am, to be fair. seriously, if we are friends in real life there is a 100% chance that i will ask you if you want to watch Hackers at some point. anyway, i had heard of SLC Punk! for years now with people regarding it with a lot of fondness. i never checked it out because ????? but that's the beauty of these semi-nightly viewings of movies i've never seen, i can fix that now! and i think if i watched this back then i might not have gotten it. the beauty of SLC Punk is in how uneven it is. it modulates from manic party energy to snide disregard of society and culture to existentialist crisis over identity and the self and it pulls it off so well but also pulls it off in a way where if Matthew Lillard's portrayal of Steveo missed even one beat, it would all fall apart. this movie lives and breathes based on Lillard because he is our guide through this world and all it's rituals and compromises and fears and he does it perfectly. this isn't to say the rest of the cast doesn't pull their weight. Michael Goorjian as 'Heroin' Bob is a perfect foil to Stevo who begins the movie as a hardcore motherfucker who is quick to anger and slow to settle, but as the movie moves forward, Bob begins to act as a way forward for Stevo. Jason Segel's Mike is also a great counterpart, a normal looking friendly guy who is ready to throw down with extreme violence at the drop of the hat. Annabeth Gish as Trish is a character i wish we got to spend a little more time with, but her role in the story is also really well done, as the bohemian goddess that all the 'tribes' want to be with. there are many other characters i loved in this movie (Eddie! Mark! Stevo's dad who sucks!) but i also want to talk about other elements of the movie! like the soundtrack, which is perfect. you would think it would just be hardcore punk the whole movie but they really mix it up with some new wave and ska. it's fantastic and fits the time period of 1985 extremely well, as my old punk rock journalist dad can attest to. the style and look of the movie in terms of how it's shot is also really amazing, with some incredible use of jump cuts and using Lillard as an insert to narrate to the viewer the events. i especially loved the way this movie shot all the parties, which are inundated with a real genuine feeling of energy throughout. im really glad i watched this movie and im glad i waited until i was who i am now to watch it. because even when it gets dramatic and misses the mark a little bit (i wish we had just a couple more scenes to set things up for the ending but that's neither here nor there), i still deeply enjoyed this funny, manic, sincere picture of making the best of a shitty time in a shitty place.