NicheCaesar

Hey y'all, time for a poll!

I've been looking through things I can do to promote Glaring Admissions and hopefully grow the community we've got going here, and I realized that it may be worth posting segments from the podcast as standalone videos. That way, people can find specific moments in the episodes that appeal to them without having to commit to the, admittedly long and maybe intimidating, episode lengths.

So my question to y'all is, yay, nay, or eh (pronounced ay)?

1 week ago | [YT] | 4

NicheCaesar

Howdy everyone! I'm back again with a poll and announcement!

The announcement is that Raekwon and I will be putting out another Glaring Admissions this Sunday at 11am EST about 1996's Trainspotting! You can watch it right here on this channel, or listen to it on your favorite podcast app via the Glaring Admissions/Media Obscura RSS feed.

As for the question, this is a bit of a meta one about your viewing habits!

How do you typically watch my videos? And, if you wanna go the extra mile in your answer, please comment specifying if it's how you watch other people's videos too, or if it's exclusive to the ones on this channel.

1 month ago | [YT] | 4

NicheCaesar

Howdy everyone! It's time for your weekly housecleaning for the channel, along with our weekly poll!

First, the housecleaning:

Raekwon and I are hoping to record our Trainspotting episode this week, so it's your final chance to drop a line or review of the movie in the comments here for the chance to have your thoughts shared on the show! So if you've seen the movie and wanna share what it means to you, here's your chance!

Second, the poll:

With The Odyssey out in theaters, I've gotta know: Have you seen it yet, do you want to, and (if you'd like to comment with more details), where do you land on the IMAX 70mm vs standard projection vs IMAX digital of it all?

Feel free to keep reading for my general thoughts on the film itself (pasted from my Letterboxd).

I personally saw the film in IMAX Digital and was happy with the framing. In fact, I actually think that the film was framed just fine for the format and that some of the cropping that occurred (such as with the giants we see in the trailer) actually made for better visual storytelling. That said, I'm curious about the full frame experience and do hope it comes out on physical media along with the cropped version of the film!




Anyway, here's my Letterboxd review (4.5/5 stars and a like):

Trigger warning for anyone with sensory issues: maybe wait for streaming. The film is extremely loud (my watch clocked a max of 115db, which is right at the level to cause actual hearing damage), and there’s an extended scene with flashing lights for 3 minutes straight. Love Nolan as I do, the guy seriously failed the accessibility test on this one. Bring earplugs if you have them, as well as sunglasses and a hat to block your vision with. I would’ve been in serious trouble had I forgotten to.

I thought it was weird when Robert Pattinson looked at the camera and kept saying he wanted to make Ithica great again. Dude does a solid Trump. Really got the narcissistic cowardice down.

An untold evil is unleashed on an unsuspecting city at war (Oppenheimer) while the protagonist struggles to remember the past, which is presented to us out of order (Memento with a bit of Tenet) and his city burns from within in his absence (The Dark Knight Rises). Meanwhile him and his men go on a journey that requires every bit of ingenuity, craft, and deception they can muster (Inception/The Prestige), as well as whatever assistance they can find (Dunkirk) to get home (more Inception). Also there’s a lot of guilt and denial laced into things (even more Inception and Memento).

Yeah, this is literally the apex of Christopher Nolan’s career. It is everything every film he has ever made has been building to, and it’s going to be the Everest I doubt he’ll try to summit from this point forward. To the point where it operates more as a sequel/expansion of his previous work as opposed to a strictly faithful adaption of the source material, which I’m fine with. I would not be shocked if his next film is a much more lowkey effort.

Weirdly good double feature with Oppenheimer when you consider that film a call that The Odyssey is responding to.

Focus issues were certainly something. I’m sympathetic as a guy who works with cameras and often works in low light situations, but sheesh. If those shots were the best takes they had, could you imagine how the other ones looked?

2 months ago | [YT] | 4

NicheCaesar

Howdy everyone! A brief update on the next Glaring Admissions episode!

Unfortunately, Raekwon and I have had to pivot off of doing Memento due to some scheduling things. However, we both really looked forward to covering the film (and I honestly already whipped up some great thumbnails for it lol) so we'll hopefully circle back around to that movie in the future if there's enough interest in it!

Because of this, there won't be an original episode getting released for July, and we'll be back in early August with a brand new episode. The subject? 1996's Trainspotting!

As always, we want to hear from you guys about what you think about the movies we're covering, so if you'd like to leave a brief paragraph or two about your thoughts on the film, feel free to do so here in the comments! Likewise, if you haven't seen it before, feel free to let us know (and why if you'd like) in the comments too! Who knows, we may reference you in the episode when we record in a few weeks!

In the spirit of that, here's an impromptu poll to gauge whether or not you've seen the movie/what you think of it!

Question: Have you seen Trainspotting, and did you like it?

Feel free to elaborate, or to drop a glaring admission (an iconic or famous movie you've never seen) of your own, in the comments if you'd like!

2 months ago | [YT] | 4

NicheCaesar

Happy Sunday y'all! Here's a fun little poll question to get the week started!

Who here has seen Supergirl and, if so/if you haven't yet, what are your thoughts on it? Feel free to sound off in the comments. I'll be pasting my Letterboxd review of it below.





Supergirl (3.5/5)

The worst person you know is going to claim the lukewarm reception this is getting is proof that there's a woke Hollywood agenda that people are either completely sick of, or are brainwashed into supporting this movie by.

So I ultimately liked this movie, at points a lot even, but I am also so confused by what’s going on here. This is like three different scripts for the same premise duct taped together, right? Because, like, it totally feels like it. Either that, or WB had chunks of this reshot. 

At once, this is an origin story, a revenge story, a grief story, and a buddy cop story. And parts of each of those work, but I just wish they picked one or two of those angles and actually fleshed them out. 

Whatever. It’s fine. It feels a bit slight, but I do like the cast and characters just fine. If I had to nitpick, I guess I’d question why Lobo is in this and gets as much screen time as he did, though. Because, while I loved the character and seeing Jason Momoa do his impression of Michael Keaton’s Betelgeuse<i>, </i>he doesn’t really add anything to this. In a lot of ways, he’s emblematic of a lot of this movie’s problems. A lot of world building that doesn’t serve the story.

Also the whole subplot involving human trafficking on that planet felt so strange to me. It was such a heavy concept to introduce to your movie about superheroes and dogs that can fly to then do nothing with. Like, it felt a little like an empty gesture to go “this is horrible! We have to help!” then barrel forward with the story.

2 months ago | [YT] | 2

NicheCaesar

Howdy everyone! Time for your weekly poll! This one is geared towards the content I put out on this channel, as I'm in the middle of trying to find a level to which I can continue to work on stuff for the page that's more sustainable on my side.

As I'm sure a lot of you have noticed, I've taken a huge step back in the past year from this channel due to my job. That took this channel from being one where I could realistically put out a podcast (or commentary track) every month alongside a 45-60 minute video essay every month to one where I could put a video essay out every 3-5 months and sprinkle a few podcasts in.

So my question to everyone is:

How are we feeling about that? Are we liking the podcast format with clips and a more conversational tone? Would we rather stick to just video essays two, maybe three if we're lucky, times a year?

Feel free to sound off in the comments/drop your feedback on the format(s) if you'd like! I can't promise I'll take every suggestion, but I'm not one to shy away from constructive feedback! You're also welcome to drop feedback about specific things within the videos too if you'd got any notes you feel like elaborating on.

3 months ago | [YT] | 4

NicheCaesar

Who here has seen Disclosure Day and, if so, what did you think? Heck, even if you haven't seen it, what do you think of the film based on the trailers and clips out there?

Here's a pull of my thoughts on the movie, written right after I caught it in IMAX. Tl;dr at the end.

DISCLOSURE DAY (2026) 3.5/5 plus a heart.


This movie is seriously going to divide people but I think it’s got so many great things going for it and that it’s messier/sloppier aspects are, much as in Close Encounters, a part of the point. That “sloppiness” is very human, and this is ultimately a film that is, counterintuitive as it may sound, about people. Not aliens. People.

Without spoiling anything, imagine a film that takes the basic idea of the aforementioned Close Encounters (which explored the idea of a Watergate level scandal involving aliens) and updated it for 2026. The Epstein Files, the repression of information in general, a looming war. Imagine all of that being tossed into a blender and shaken around before getting turned into a smoothie.

Parts of it drag and feel unnecessary, and the film is way more complex than it needs to be as far as the intricacies of the actual aliens and their effects on us goes, but I also cannot pretend to be arrogant enough to want to change anything about this. I heard multiple people in my aisle cry at multiple points of this toward the ending, and the emergence of the credits came with a strong applauses. Yes, there was a guy next to me that wouldn’t get off his phone, but that was bound to happen anyway. Basically, the final act make up for the faults of the rest of it (though some of those underdeveloped parts also would’ve been great had we cut one of the storylines and just let them cook more).

Ultimately, it’s good! You may roll your eyes at chunks of this or hear people call it dull and uninspired, but I think the core message of empathy and communication is a fundamental one in Spielberg’s work, and that this film has its place in his canon for how he explores it. It won’t change the world, but this and Close Encounters are the yin to each other’s yang. In a recent podcast I did on that film, I said that Spielberg couldn’t make that film the way it is had he done it in any other time than 1977, and this proves it. Disclosure Day is a more cynical, yet somehow still hopeful, spin on that story and explores angles that a younger Spielberg simply would’ve never considered.

If I had to compare this to any other film as far as its approach goes, it’s Megalopolis. Like that film, it’s very much a “throw everything and see what sticks” film that doesn’t always make sense or “work” in a literal sense, but has a level of ambition and gumption where it counts that it ultimately works emotionally. It also contains a lot of allusions to his other films, including a fun leather glove bit that’s almost like the inverse of the one from Raiders!



TL;DR - It's good! Very flawed and jumbled/too complex for it's own good at points, but there's a good movie in here for sure. Spielberg still has that spark he's known for when it's needed most and moments of this film (especially toward the ending) feel transcendent. It'll definitely push your ability to suspend your disbelief though, but that may be the point on some level.

3 months ago | [YT] | 4

NicheCaesar

Happy Monday, everyone! Just posting to remind everyone that I've got a new video out right now! It's a review and retrospective of 1977's Close Encounters of the Third Kind!

I think it's one of the best podcasts I've done yet so, if you haven't seen it, be sure to check it out. Also, don't forget to enable notifications for new uploads on this channel if you wanna get a message every time I post in the future!

I'll be back in a month or so with another podcast about 2001's Memento, and back with our weekly poll question in a few days!

3 months ago | [YT] | 6

NicheCaesar

Happy Monday, everyone! I've got your poll question of the week and the next video announcement!

First the announcement: I'll be back this Sunday with a brand new episode of Glaring Admissions! It's about Steven Spielberg's 1977 sci-fi masterpiece Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and it's coming out to celebrate the release of his latest flick, Disclosure Day! That'll be out at 11am EST right here on YouTube, as well as on the Media Obscura/Glaring Admissions podcast feed.

And now your questions of the week!

Are you going to/are you excited to see Disclosure Day? Feel free to vote below, then flesh out your answer in the comments!

See you this Sunday in the comments to the next podcast episode!

3 months ago | [YT] | 3

NicheCaesar

Howdy y'all! Back with a poll for you to answer and ✨an audience participation opportunity for the next Glaring Admissions episode✨. Poll question at the bottom of this post!

The last poll I ran on this channel helped Raekwon and I lock in 1977's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" as our next episode, and with it, we thought it would be fun to hear about your first time watching it (or if you haven't seen it before, why you think that is). So if you'd like to participate and maybe have your answer read on the show, feel free to drop it in the comments here by Saturday May 23rd! And if you don't get to it in time, no worries! We invite you to leave your answer on the upload itself once its out, or to join in our continuing discussion of the movie in the comments of that video when it's out!

As for this week's poll, here it is!

Which of the following Spielberg movies would you run (not walk) to your closest IMAX theater to see? It doesn't have to be your favorite (or the "best" one), just the movie that would make you stop what you're doing and buy a ticket for you and your friends as soon as possible. Feel free to expand on your answer int he comments if you'd like!

4 months ago | [YT] | 3