Ken and Robin Consume Media: Companion, The Shrouds, Dr. Mabuse

May 13th, 2025 | Robin

Ken and Robin Consume Media is brought to you by the discriminating and good-looking backers of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Patreon. Each week we provide capsule reviews of the books, movies, TV seasons and more we cram into our hyper-analytical sensoriums. Join the Patreon to help pick the items we’ll talk about in greater depth on a little podcast segment we like to call Tell Me More.

The Pinnacle

Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (Film, Germany, Fritz Lang, 1924) Impulsive, none-too-bright hero Siegfried (Paul Richter) gains invulnerability from dragon blood and makes an underhanded bargain in exchange for the hand of a king’s sister (Margarete Schön). As he did for so many genres, Lang creates a foundational text of fantasy cinema, in this case slyly undercutting the nationalist overtones of the source material.—RDL

Recommended

Agent of Vega and Other Stories (Fiction, James H. Schmitz, 2001) Thrilling SF tales of intrigue seem strong but unremarkable until you check the dates and discover that Schmitz is writing near-transhuman stories of duplicated consciousness, technical and informational near-omnipotence, human-weapon-ship symbiosis, and borderline nanotech between 1949 and 1963, mostly with female protagonists. The Agents of Vega sequence (included) handles the seemingly impossible task of cracking good espionage-adventure in a universe with omnipresent telepathy; Schmitz’ first (1943) story “Greenface” by contrast is just very capable man vs. monster horror-SF.—KH

Companion (Film, US, Drew Hancock, 2025) A shocking incident at a Russian mogul’s secluded manor reveals leads a drippy dude’s (Jack Quaid) devoted girlfriend (Sophie Thatcher) to the awful discovery that she is in fact an android programmed to adore him. Thatcher’s yearning, quicksilver performance goes straight to the horror hall of fame in this ingeniously twisty, comic reversal of robot terror tropes.—RDL

Drinking History: Fifteen Turning Points in the Making of American Beverages (Nonfiction, Andrew F. Smith, 2013) The development and reception of 15 beverages from cider to bottled water reflects on key developments in US history. Food historical overview dense with shareable factoids.—RDL

Escape (Film, South Korea, Lee Jong-pil, 2024) On the final day of his decade-long military deployment, a determined North Korean sergeant (Lee Je-hoon) makes a break for the south, pursued by a childhood friend turned twisted high-ranking officer (Koo Kyo-hwan.) High-energy chase thriller set against the soul-killing backdrop of the present Kim regime.—RDL

The Shrouds (Film, Canada/France, David Cronenberg, 2025) When his weird high-tech cemetery is vandalized and hacked, a grief-stricken entrepreneur (Vincent Cassel) becomes enmeshed in conspiracy, which his late wife’s neurotic sister (Diane Kruger) and her paranoid ex-husband (Guy Pearce) might help him solve, or might be implicated in. Cerebral, dialogue driven technothriller, unsettling in its placidity, strips body horror of its metaphorical layer.—RDL

Good

Kill Me Again (Film, US, John Dahl, 1989) In debt to a loan shark, a traumatized Reno P.I. (Val Kilmer) agrees to fake the death of an alluring client (Joanne Whalley) who has not told him about her briefcase full of stolen mob cash. Sparely written neo-noir, shot in a restrained version of 80s style, suffers from a couple of ending problems, one of character motivation and the other of genre philosophy.—RDL

The Return of Dr. Mabuse (Film, West Germany, Harald Reinl, 1961) Newly collected on Blu-ray with the other 1960s Mabuse films, this first non-Fritz-Lang chronicle of the criminal mastermind/disguise artist rackets along from murder to murder as Inspector Lohmann (Gert Fröbe) and FBI agent Joe Como (Lex Barker) doggedly piece together the somewhat over-complicated truth. Seldom a dull moment, but not a particularly exciting film.—KH

Okay

The Invisible Dr. Mabuse (Film, West Germany, Harald Reinl, 1962) The third in the revived Mabuse postwar series is something of a misfire, with the mastermind going all out to get an invisibility device from its inventor, who uses it mostly to creep on an actress (Karin Dor). The low stakes, decentering of Mabuse, and galumphing presence of Lex Barker (returning as FBI agent Joe Como) in the lead all contribute to an air of pointless effort rather than Lang’s cool surveillance paranoia.—KH

Knight and Day (Film, US, James Mangold, 2010) Rogue manchild/superspy Roy Miller (Tom Cruise) uses, meets cute, and then serially rescues and endangers bystander June Havers (Cameron Diaz) in what Mangold apparently intended to be an action update of (near-Pinnacle) 1963 screwball thriller Charade. Cruise and Diaz pour their considerable charm into a black hole of a script, relieved by the occasional cool spy bit. Potentially recoverable if you watch it as a blackly humorous parody of every other 1990s/2000s action movie.—KH

Ken and Robin Consume Media: Slow Horses, Blitz, and a Benedictine Occult Investigator

May 6th, 2025 | Robin

Ken and Robin Consume Media is brought to you by the discriminating and good-looking backers of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Patreon. Each week we provide capsule reviews of the books, movies, TV seasons and more we cram into our hyper-analytical sensoriums. Join the Patreon to help pick the items we’ll talk about in greater depth on a little podcast segment we like to call Tell Me More.

Recommended

Blitz (Film, UK, Steve McQueen, 2024) Worried single mom (Saoirse Ronan) sends her son (Elliott Heffernan), who is sometimes bullied because he is black, out of London to avoid German bombardment, only to have him jump from the evacuation train to return to the city. Stunning depiction of life under falling bombs pairs the epic with the personal.—RDL

Honor Among Lovers (Film, US, Dorothy Arzner, 1931) Playboy financier (Fredric March) makes a clumsy play for his beloved personal assistant (Claudette Colbert), driving her to the altar with her weaselly beau (Monroe Owlsley.) Concisely told drama of power and class highlights the pained realism of Arzner’s treatment of romance.—RDL

Slow Horses Season 4 (Television, Apple+, 2024) An assassination attempt on his mentally failing grandfather (Jonathan Pryce) takes River (Jack Lowden) on a rogue mission to France and an unwelcome family secret. Strips away the large scale threat part of the series formula for character-driven suspense, though that means Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) and Diana Taverner (Kristen Scott Thomas) have less to do this time.—RDL

Good

24×36: A Movie About Movie Posters (Film, Canada, Kevin Burke, 2016) A new generation of illustrators pay homage to the classic pre-90s movie poster era, inflaming collectors’ passions and wallets with hip, stunning screenprints. Zippy, historically tethered arts scene documentary.—RDL

HIT: The Third Case (Film, India, Sailesh Kolanu, 2025) Supercop on the edge Arjun Sarkaar (Nani) gets embroiled with a serial-killing cult, and even his trusty interrogating bat may not be enough to get the answers. City-hopping crime flick expands into melodramatic gore, ending in a festival of edged weapon combats and cameos from the first two HIT (Homicide Intervention Teams) films. Fans of picking a lane and sticking to it likely bump this bloody mulligatawny down to Okay.—KH

The Horror of Abbot’s Grange (Fiction, Frederick Cowles, 1936) A collection of (mostly) ghost stories misleadingly marketed as “in the M.R. James tradition.” Cowles, a folklorist rather than an antiquarian by tendency, provides blunt and often physical horrors in tales with simple structure and language. The best of them, “The House on the Marsh,” “One Side Only,” and “The Bell,” are quite effective shorts; others provide good scares somewhat vitiated by explanations or exorcisms. The Benedictine Father Placid delivers some of both, in several tales; he’s an under-rated ghost-breaking occult detective.—KH

Okay

The Empty Man (Film, US, David Prior, 2020) Guilt-stricken ex-cop (James Badge Dale) investigates the disappearance of his ex-lover’s daughter and its connection to an urban legend and a conspiratorial cult. Compelling composition and staging distinguish a graphic novel adaptation packed with competing elements. I really wanted to like this, for its Esoterror vibe and another reason I shouldn’t spoil.—RDL

Not Recommended

The Phantom Carriage (Film, Sweden, Victor Sjöström, 1921) The drinking buddy (Tore Svennberg) who started a disease spreading reprobate (Sjöström) on the road to perdition appears on New Year’s Eve as the Grim Reaper to explain why he must now step in as next year’s herald of death. Lauded as a world classic and early fantasy essential, but the script is a straight-up Salvation Army temperance tract.—RDL

Ken and Robin Consume Media: Sinners, Havoc, Wolfs

April 29th, 2025 | Robin

Ken and Robin Consume Media is brought to you by the discriminating and good-looking backers of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Patreon. Each week we provide capsule reviews of the books, movies, TV seasons and more we cram into our hyper-analytical sensoriums. Join the Patreon to help pick the items we’ll talk about in greater depth on a little podcast segment we like to call Tell Me More.

Recommended

Broken Rage (Film, Japan, Takeshi Kitano, 2025) Shambling hit man (Beat Takeshi) comes under police pressure to lure his clients into a drug bust. Kitano’s ongoing ethical struggle with the popularity of his violent yakuza films gives rise to a dual structure, where the same story is told twice, first seriously and then absurdly.—RDL

Dodes’ka-den (Film, Japan, Akira Kurosawa, 1970) Poverty grinds down the residents of a Tokyo shantytown. Kurosawa’s fundamental humanism and wild color design leaven the bleakness of the source material.—RDL

Havoc (Film, UK, Gareth Evans, 2025) In a city of corruption, a remorseful cop (Tom Hardy) races to scoop up the son of the politician who owns him (Forest Whitaker) before vengeful triads get to him. Thundering, kinetic action set pieces and Hardy’s left-field acting choices ring variations on classic cop noir themes.—RDL

Layer Cake (Film, UK, Matthew Vaughn, 2004) Cocaine trafficking middleman (Daniel Craig) seeking to get out instead gets two annoying-to-impossible assignments from mercurial mob boss Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham), and things spiral thusly. Somewhat more straight-faced and straightforward than Guy Ritchie’s earlier London crime films, Vaughn relies instead on propulsive energy and the real stakes of the plot. Colm Meaney’s turn as Jimmy’s second-in-command is only the top of the superb supporting roles on display, along with the tannest Michael Gambon has ever been.—KH

Sinners (Film, US, Ryan Coogler, 2025) The Smokestack Twins (Michael B. Jordan) return to their Mississippi Delta hometown from WWI and Capone’s Chicago to open a juke joint with secret weapon pure bluesman Sammie (Miles Caton). But you know what happens when you reject Chicago: God punishes you with Irish vampires. Coogler and composer/music coordinator Ludwig Göransson synthesize music, action, and story in a way that even most musicals struggle to achieve, while also providing a rich slice of Delta life and a superb vampire movie. If anything, it feels almost over-full of goodness; I await the inevitable three-hour-plus director’s cut with anticipation.—KH

Sinners (Film, US, Ryan Coogler, 2025)Twin brothers (Michael B. Jordan) return to Mississippi after a stint in Chicago’s 30s gangland to open a juke joint, little suspecting that their opening night star attraction (Miles Caton) has drawn the attention of music-appropriating vampires. Delta blues culture nerdtroped with patient assurance and passionate energy.—RDL

Good

Diamond Island (Film, Cambodia/France, Davy Chou, 2016) WIthdrawn young man from a rural village gets a construction job in the big city and reunites with his secretive brother, who has joined a circle of rich kids. Chou pushes against the limitations of contemporary neorealism in a lushly photographed slice of life drama.—RDL

Okay

Pontianak 100kg (Film, Malaysia, Shuhaimi Lua, 2023) A food-obsessed girl (Aya Amiruddin) returns to her native village as a plus-sized pontianak, who devours the locals’ food while the mayor (Kazar Saisi) frets. Ostensible comedy defangs the female-revenge horror of the cannibal-vampire ghost into a series of fat jokes and Scooby-ish fleeing. As a core sample of Malay horror-comedy, I hope it’s a flawed one.—KH

Wolfs (Film, US, Jon Watts, 2024) Both called to the same hotel room to clean up the same dead not-prostitute (Austin Abrams), two fixers (George Clooney, Brad Pitt) trade dick-measuring bits and bits of information. A tonal mess that compulsively vitiates its own meager stakes for mild approval, it eerily embodies the “made for streaming” slop movie despite the considerable charm Clooney and Pitt exhibit throughout.—KH

Wolfs (Film, US, Jon Watts, 2024) All is not what it seems when two fixers (George Clooney, Brad Pitt) are forced to work together to whisk away a hotel room corpse (Austin Abrams.) Genial reminder of how good the movies that inspired it are.—RDL

Ken and Robin Consume Media: Crisis on Infinite Lupins

April 23rd, 2025 | Robin

Ken and Robin Consume Media is brought to you by the discriminating and good-looking backers of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Patreon. Each week we provide capsule reviews of the books, movies, TV seasons and more we cram into our hyper-analytical sensoriums. Join the Patreon to help pick the items we’ll talk about in greater depth on a little podcast segment we like to call Tell Me More.

Recommended

The Adventures of Arsene Lupin (Film, France, Jacques Becker, 1957) Notorious gentleman thief (Robert Lamoureux) flirts with an aristocratic spy (Liselotte Pulver) while hoodwinking rich art collectors, eager-to-please jewelers, and the German Kaiser (O. E. Hasse.) Lavish celebration of style and luxury in glorious fifties color.—RDL

Noryang: Deadly Sea (Film, South Korea, Kim Han-Min, 2023) As the 16th century Imjin War drags to a close, genius admiral Yi Sun-Sin (Kim Yoon-seok) defies his Ming allies by demanding a final engagement to destroy  withdrawing Japanese fleet. Final installment in the Yi Sun-Sin trilogy devotes a long first act to complicated three-way politicking, with factions within each force, all of which are needed to fully follow the rousing, extended naval combat sequences that follow.—RDL

Good

Arsene Lupin (Film, US, Jack Conway, 1932) Crusty Sûreté chief (Lionel Barrymore) pursues a spendthrift duke (John Barrymore) who he suspects is the wily gentleman thief Arsène Lupin. Agreeable pre-Code crime romp uses the Maurice Leblanc character to occasion a double shot of Barrymore.—RDL

Lady of the Train (Film, Egypt, Youssef Chahine, 1952) On discovering that she has not in fact been killed in a train crash, the degenerate gambler husband of a beloved singer pressures her to lay low so he can collect the insurance money. Wild plot turns keep coming in this noir-adjacent musical melodrama.—RDL

Oh, Canada (Film, US, Paul Schrader, 2024) Dying of cancer, an American expat who made a career for himself as a documentarian in Canada (Richard Gere) sits for an hijacks an interview conducted by a former student (Michael Imperioli) into a confession to his wife (Uma Thurman.) Adapting the structure of the Russell Banks source novel (Foregone) to film is a heavy lift, though Gere turns in an impressive performance. Set in the slightly alternate universe that vibrates into being whenever Americans set movies in Canada.—RDL

Okay

Lupin Season 3 (Television, France, 2024) When a mysterious foe kidnaps his long absent mother, Assane again follows in the footsteps of fictional master thief Arsene Lupin to fake his demise. Dutiful recapitulates the structure of season 1 & 2, making some off-putting choices for its protagonist without asking him to reckon for them.—RDL

Ken and Robin were both on the road this week. Like a true gentleman mastermind, Robin banked some capsule reviews for this exact eventuality.