This week on Someone Else’s Movie, I welcome screenwriter, producer and now novelist Aaron Barnett, who’s a Bluesky pal I’ve been hoping to land for a while. And with his new movie Mutiny opening this past Friday and his novelization of the Matthew Bright movie Freeway arriving Sunday from Echo On Publications, this seemed like the perfect time to have him on.

Aaron chose State of Grace, Phil Joanou’s 1990 crime drama about an undercover cop who comes back home to Hell’s Kitchen to infiltrate the Irish mob, because it’s now run by his childhood pals and he’s also still in love with their sister. Sean Penn is the cop; Ed Harris, Gary Oldman and Robin Wright are the mob family and John Turturro is Penn’s short-tempered handler, and the combination of those actors is nothing short of incendiary. But it had the misfortune to open against GoodFellas, and its home-video release was messed up by Orion Pictures’ financial troubles, so State of Grace never really built an audience. But I’ve loved it ever since the press screening, and Aaron is even more of a defender, so here’s an hour of us talking about why you should catch up to it. And you really, really should.

Subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Podcasts or your podcatcher of choice, or download the episode directly from the web and listen to it while you sit at the bar, trying to figure out how the hell you’re going to get yourself out of this.

Another way to stall for time is to catch up on Shiny Things, because last week I reviewed the new 4K restorations of Severin Films’ The War Game and Threads and Warner’s Mars Attacks!, because the world can end in a lot of different ways, thank you very much.

I also tackled It Ends, HBO’s Lanterns and the return of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia in Friday’s What’s Worth Watching missive for paid subscribers, because I am conscientious like that. This week’s edition will include my exclusive review of Coyote Vs. ACME, which you are going to want to read … and for just five bucks a month, you can! Update that subscription, I beg you!

Also, if you’re reading this on Tuesday and you’re in Toronto, maybe come down to Harbourfront Centre for this summer’s second-last Free Flicks screening? Tonight we’re showing Beach Blanket Bingo,  the 1965 Frankie and Annette trifle that represents a very different approach to the summertime movie. It’s also the only film in this season’s lineup that’s older than me, so that’s fun.

Join us, won’t you? The popcorn is free, and the chairs are limited, so bring your own if you’re able. And if you can’t make it tonight, please join us next week for our last screening, This Is Spinal Tap. I honestly can’t believe we’re getting to play that one.

And before that, I’m going to be hanging out with yet another Aaron: Aaron Reynolds, whose ongoing Effin’ Birds project has kept thousands of people sane in a decidedly insane world. Aaron is back at Fan Expo this weekend, and he’s invited me to join him Friday at 6pm for another edition of Bootleg Safari, the very silly panel where he tries to find some beauty — or at least some artfulness — in objectively bad knockoff merchandise.

My appearances let him focus on movies, so my previous panels have focused on Alien and Jaws knockoffs; this time, we’re looking at the Raiders ripoffs that clogged drive-ins and grindhouses in the early ’80s. As always, we play by Alien Vs Predator rules: Whoever wins, we lose. Won’t you join us?