Archive for the ‘Audio Free’ Category
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Spider-Verse, John Wick, and a Masterful Homage to Hong Kong Neon
June 6th, 2023 | 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
A Light Never Goes Out (Film, HK, Anastasia Tsang, 2022) Grieving widow (Sylvia Chang) discovers that her late husband (Simon Yam), one of the last craftsman of Hong Kong’s once celebrated neon sign tradition, has secretly kept his shop open and even taken on a dedicated apprentice (Henick Chou.) The two great stars of this drama of loss and memory show how little an actor of genuine presence need do to bring profoundly moving moments to the screen. Nostalgia for the city’s heyday of neon provides a safe way to regret Hong Kong’s constricting present.—RDL
Recommended
Broken Lullaby (Film, US, Ernst Lubitsch, 1932) Remorse-stricken French WWI veteran (Phillips Holmes) goes to Germany to visit the grave of the soldier he killed, stumbling into a bond with his fiancee (Nancy Carroll) and father (Lionel Barrymore.) The master of sophisticated comedy makes an atypical excursion into serious drama, with alternately hard-hitting and moving results.—RDL
John Wick Chapter Four (Film, US, Chad Stahelski, 2023) When a freedom-seeking John Wick (Keanu Reeves) starts knocking off leaders of the assassin’s guild, a reluctant former colleague (Donnie Yen) and a mercenary outsider (Shamier Anderson) come looking for him. Masterful series course correction stages gobsmacking action set pieces, makes full spectrum use of Yen as both fighter and actor, and, most importantly, remembers that John Wick should be heading toward the bad guys, not running away from them.—RDL
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Film, US, Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson, 2023) After saving the cosmos, Spider-Man [Miles Morales] (Shameik Moore) yearns to reconnect with Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) and the other Spider-Men of the multiverse, but the villainous Spot (Jason Schwarzman) wants to secure Spider-Man’s respect and comeuppance. Wisely spending far less time in Morales’ sub-Pixar home dimension, this movie flows through an extravaganza of animation styles reinforcing the riotous diversity of Spiders-Man that Miles inherently embodies: is tragedy necessary for heroism? Scriptwriters Phil Lord & Christopher Miller spend the runtime delightfully on jokes, spectacle, and Spider-bits so we don’t get an answer to that question, but we do get enlightenment arcs for Miles and Gwen, which is enough excuse to grade this film Recommended instead of Incomplete. –KH
Good
Identification Marks: None (Film, Poland, Jerzy Skolimowski, 1965) Directionless failed ichthyology student (Skolimowski) kills time before reporting for his stint in the army. Skolimowski’s first feature cobbles together an evocative New Wave slice of life on a sub-shoestring budget.—RDL
Symphony for a Massacre (Film, France, Jacques Deray, 1963) Suave crook (Jean Rochefort) fails to account for the inevitability of things screwing up when he rips off a satchel of cash from his partners. Laconic crime flick from the peak era of Gallic existential cool.—RDL
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Succession, Barry, and Fast X
May 30th, 2023 | 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
Succession Season 4 (Television, US, HBO, Jesse Armstrong, 2023) An inevitable surprise development leaves Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook), and Roman (Kieran Culkin) struggling against and alongside one another for control of Waystar-Royco in the wake of Mattson’s (Alexander Skarsgard) takeover offer. Takes time for character moments both empathetic and razor-edged as it rattles through its compressed timeline to a fitting well-scheduled conclusion.—RDL
Recommended
Barry Season 4 (Television, US, HBO, Bill Hader and Alec Berg, 2023) Chickens come home to roost after an imprisoned Barry (Hader) and Fuches (Steven Root) turn on one another. A left-field midseason gambit unsettles expectations as our hitman protagonist faces inevitable punishment, along with the audience that has been trained to root for him.—RDL
Barry Season 4 (Television, US, HBO, Bill Hader and Alec Berg, 2023) The final season opens with hitman Barry (Bill Hader) in jail and the rest of the cast in flux. Where they come down is the question the series answers, according to its abiding moral principle: honesty. That doesn’t make for comfort viewing, and the jokes are thin on the ground, but it’s a compelling ending to a terrific show. —KH
Taylor Tomlinson: Look at You (Standup, Netflix, Kristin Mercado, 2022) Tomlinson returns with a more revelatory, personal set focusing on her mental health – and the best jokes include “six minutes on my dead mom” and about wait times on a suicide hotline. She’s great at incorporating her physical stance and movement as part of her delivery, as well as the timing and vocal control I highlighted last review. –KH
Who I Am (Nonfiction, Pete Townsend, 2012) Guitarist/songwriter for The Who critically assesses his personal failures amid the artistic triumphs of his decades-long rock god career. Lucid account of the collision between a compulsive, addictive personality and the temptations of the arena rock era.—RDL
Good
He Thief, She Thief (Film, Italy, Luigi Zampa, 1958) Determined young woman from the literal wrong side of the tracks (Sylva Koscina) must choose between a charming ex-con from the neighborhood (Alberto Sordi) or the handsome, apparently decent new boss (Ettore Manni.) Koscina is the protagonist of this amiable comedy of class mobility, but Sordi is the star, which becomes a problem when the second act abandons her throughline for his con-man hijinks.—RDL
Okay
Ant Man & the Wasp: Quantumania (Film, US, Peyton Reed, 2023) Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and the ant family are sucked into a subatomic realm, where they confront exiled time warlord Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors.) Checks the boxes on almost all of the flaws of recent MCU outings, so I’ll pick just one to mention: it takes more than an hour to give the protagonist his goal.—RDL
Incomplete
Fast X (Film, US, Louis Leterrier, 2023) Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa) seeks to punish Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) for the death of Dante’s father in Fast Five by attacking … his family (!!). After 141 minutes of inane dialogue, mediocre CGI instead of cool car stunts, unearned callbacks to the first nine better films, and halting, nervous direction, we’re basically back where we started except all 23 characters have been introduced. Momoa’s decision to play his villain for extreme camp is at least something fun to watch. –KH
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Guardians of the Galaxy, Sisu, and Early Michelle Yeoh
May 23rd, 2023 | 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 Elusive Avengers (Film, Soviet Union, Edmond Keosayan, 1967) During the Russian civil war, a stalwart teen, backed by his sister and pals, seeks vengeance against the White Russian death squad leader who killed his father. Strikingly composed, rousing action flick with a conclusion that puts its gunslingers on a quite different path than a classic Western would.—RDL
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 (Film, US, James Gunn, 2023) After Rocket is critically wounded in a battle with Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and the Guardians must wrest his override code from animal-torturing utopian social engineer the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji). Gunn returns to his visually inventive style for a Marvel film that somehow doesn’t choke on its extended backstory, possibly because said backstory offers enough genuine emotional connection to balance the Guardians’ brand of careening meatheadedness. —KH
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 (Film, US, James Gunn, 2023) To save a critically injured Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Peter (Chris Pratt) snaps out of his romantic self-pity to lead the Guardians against the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji.) Clear goals and motivations for the protagonists and antagonist, an understanding of how superhero fights ought to advance narrative, a full color palette, image contrast, actual fight choreography, and a balance of comedy and genuine emotion make this the strongest MCU film in a long time.—RDL
In Search of the Third Man (Nonfiction, Charles Drazin, 1999) Drazin goes deep into studio records, interviews, and memoirs to uncover the story of the making of Carol Reed’s Pinnacle thriller. He manages to respect the legends of Greene and Welles without falling for them, which is a neat trick even before he gets to the wonderful backstory of the film’s “Fourth Man,” zither maestro Anton Karas. –KH
Magnificent Warriors (Film, HK, David Chung, 1987) Whip-wielding biplane pilot (Michelle Yeoh) teams up with a handsome spy (Tung-Shing Yee) and a wandering grifter (Richard Ng) against Japanese occupying forces in Bhutan. Upbeat martial arts war flick built as a star vehicle for Yeoh, who dispenses charm and ass-kicking in roughly equal proportions. Newly available on Blu Ray in a beautifully restored transfer.—RDL
Taylor Tomlinson: Quarter-Life Crisis (Standup, Netflix, Marcus Raboy, 2020) 25-year-old Tomlinson combines approachability with disdain in a remarkable set on mostly unremarkable topics (weddings, dating, sex, parents). Her tight control over timing and vocalizations (once you notice her accent code-shift you can’t un-notice it) makes me think that as good as she is now, she’ll get to Mulaney or Seinfeld levels in the next decade. –KH
Good
Sisu (Film, Finland, Jalmari Helander, 2023) In occupied Lapland, Nazis, not knowing who they are fucking with, steal gold dug up by a battlescarred prospector (Jorma Tommila.) Ultraviolent, Leone-besotted action flick whose cartoonish reality level does not quite sync with the grimness of its tone.—RDL
Switchblade Sisters (Film, US, Jack Hill, 1965) Quick-reacting street fighter Maggie (Joanne Nail) earns admittance to the girl gang auxiliary of a high school criminal organization, earning the jealousy of its reigning sixteen-year-old queenpin Lace (Robbie Lee.) Proudly shocking 70s exploitation fare escalates to all-out urban warfare. AKA The Jezebels.—RDL
Okay
The Jackal (Film, US, Michael Caton-Jones, 1997) FBI Deputy Director Preston (Sidney Poitier) releases IRA terrorist Declan (Richard Gere) from Federal prison to assist in the manhunt for the Jackal (Bruce Willis), an assassin after a high-value target. The opposite of competence porn, its sole joys are the fun Willis has switching between costumed personae and the flashes of Carter Burwell’s score that survived the hamfisted editing. –KH
Madeleine (Film, UK, David Lean, 1950) In 1857 Glasgow an affair between a respectable young woman (Ann Todd) and a French ne’er do well (Ivan Desny) leads to a murder trial. As part of its critique of constraining class mores, this true crime drama keeps its protagonist opaque and thus difficult to engage with. Lean regarded this as his weakest film.—RDL
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Renfield, Air, Patton Oswalt, and Judy Blume
May 16th, 2023 | 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
Air (Film, US, Ben Affleck, 2023) Hardheaded Nike basketball scout (Matt Damon) puts his career on the line to sign an endorsement deal with a young Michael Jordan, discovering that the truly formidable player is not a competitor at the better-funded Adidas and Converse, but the athlete’s mother (Viola Davis.) Rollicking business procedural with strong ensemble cast bravely commits its visual look to the worst browns, blues and oranges of the 8Os.—RDL
Hunt (Film, South Korea, Lee Jung-jae, 2022) An assassination attempt on South Korea’s dictatorial president touches off a mole hunt that puts the heads of the KCIA’s domestic and foreign branches (Jung Woo-sung, Lee Jung-Jae) at each other’s throats. Reconfigures the events of the country’s tumultuous 80s into a high action, twisty-turny political thriller.—RDL
Judy Blume Forever (Film, US, 2023) Documentary profiles the pioneering YA author, whose policy of depicting the truth for teenagers has made her a target of censorship ever since her breakthrough novel appeared in 1970. Highlights include animated collages and interviews with women who corresponded with Blume as struggling teens.—RDL
The Ninth House (Fiction, Leigh Bardugo, 2019) Secretive Yale society Lethe House pulls strings to admit Galaxy Stern because she can see ghosts, a handy talent given their remit to keep an eye on the other eight Yale magical secret societies. A somewhat start-and-stop narrative and slightly too-overt magic notwithstanding, Bardugo delightfully layers secret magic onto the (mostly) real history and architecture of Yale in a strong sorcerous whodunit. –KH
Silver Screen Fiend: Learning About Life From an Addiction to Film (Nonfiction, Patton Oswalt, 2015) Engaging memoir describes Oswalt’s rise through the comedy ranks by way of a crippling film addiction in the late 1990s. Part autobiography, part life-lessons, part film brag, never less than interesting and often compelling. —KH
Good
All Four Wimsey Novels of Jill Paton Walsh (Fiction, Jill Paton Walsh, 1998-2014) Walsh completed a Sayers manuscript and then wrote three more detective novels featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and his wife Harriet Vane, in the pastiche tradition that I certainly can’t throw stones at given my Holmesian and Lovecraftian bents. In that tradition, then, they perform adequately although the language (of course) slips from the Sayers standard. The second and third books have close to proper Sayers-style twisty plots (book two borrows a bit from Christianna Brand tsk tsk) although Walsh’s real priority is fanfic about the Wimsey marriage. –KH
Renfield (Film, US, Chris McKay, 2023) Inspired by honest cop Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina), Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) decides to confront his codependent relationship with Dracula (Nicolas Cage). Recasting the Dracula-Renfield relationship through a self-help lens may not guarantee reliable comedy (it does not) but it somehow lets us see a really dangerous Dracula, revealed by and/or despite Cage’s camp and mugging. –KH
The Suspect (Film, US, Robert Siodmak, 1944) When his rage-filled wife dies, a long-suffering tobacconist (Charles Laughton) in love with a supportive younger woman (Ella Raines) faces questions from a supercilious Scotland yard inspector (Stanley Ridgers.) Mix of drama and thriller places film noir themes in an Edwardian setting. Held back by an ending that loses track of the audience desires it has established.—RDL
Not Recommended
The Tall Men (Film, US, Raoul Walsh, 1955) Capable cowhand (Clark Gable) and aspiring cattle magnate (Robert Ryan) vie for the affections of a big-dreaming survivor (Jane Russell) as they drive a herd from Texas to Montana. Love triangle western doesn’t so much develop its central conflict as suspend it for most of the. running time to instead gaze at cows in all their Cinemascope majesty.—RDL
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Brooke Shields, Better Call Saul, and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
May 9th, 2023 | 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
Better Call Saul Season 5 (Television, US, AMC, Peter Gould, 2020) Now doing business under the name Saul Goodman, Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) draws closer both to Kim (Rhea Seehorn) and the drug cartels. The previously yawning interest gap between the show’s two halves finally closes as Jimmy’s storyline converges with the Breaking Bad crime drama prequel elements featuring Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks).—RDL
Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields (Television, US, Disney+, Lana Wilson, 2023) Actress and model Shields looks back on her life’s tough moments and the strangeness of her 80s super-fame as a poster child for sexualized childhood.—RDL
Good
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (Film, US, Tom Gormican, 2022) Flailing movie star Nicolas Cage (Nicolas Gage) reluctantly accepts a lucrative offer to attend a party thrown by a shady, rich businessman (Pedro Pascal.) So meta that its dialogue calls out its own central flaw, that it is more interesting when Cage and Pascal are doing character moments than during its rote comic thriller beats.—RDL
Okay
The English (Television, US/UK, Amazon, Hugo Blick, 2022) Pawnee ex-cavalry scout (Chaske Spencer) reluctantly assists English aristocrat with a valise full of cash (Emily Blunt) in her quest for vengeance against the man who killed her son. Early momentum earned from a mastery of neospaghetti western gestures sputters when it reaches its flat, contrived conclusion.—RDL
Five and Ten (Film, US, Robert Z. Leonard, 1931) Finding herself a fish out of water in New York society, the ambitious daughter (Marion Davies) of a discount store titan falls for a louche architect (Leslie Howard) with an old money name. Melodrama of top tier American class struggle relies on its soggy B-plot featuring a self-pitying brother for resolution.—RDL
Ken is on a mission in space.
Ken and Robin Consume Media: John Mulaney, The Warner Brothers, and Armageddon
May 2nd, 2023 | 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 Brothers Warner (Film, US, Cass Warner, 2007) Documentary profiles the four Polish American Jewish siblings who founded and ran the Warner Brothers movie studio. The filmmaker convincingly argues that the grit and social consciousness that distinguished the studio’s classic output came not from its production head, credit-hogging vulgarian Jack L. Warner, but her grandfather, straight-arrow, avuncular company president Harry.—RDL
Digging Up Armageddon: The Search for the Lost City of Solomon (Nonfiction, Eric H. Cline, 2020) During the interwar period, a changing team of bickering archaeologists dispatched by Chicago’s Oriental Institute excavates, and occasionally mutilates, the multi-city site of Megiddo in Palestine. Copious documentation allows the author, who himself has worked the site, to intersperse archaeological discoveries with a case study of seething personal rivalries.—RDL
Gangubai Kathiawadi (Film, India, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2022) Woman sold into a brothel (Alia Bhatt) rises to madam, then local politician, and finally ahead-of-her-time advocate for sex workers’ rights. Bhatt’s movie star presence anchors the proceedings as they shift from underworld epic to inspirational crowdpleaser.—RDL
Hunger (Film, Thailand, Sitisiri Mongkolsiri, 2023) Young cook (Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying) who works at her family noodle restaurant comes down with a case of ambition when she is recruited to work for a harshly demanding superstar chef (Nopachai Chaiyanam.) Visually striking workplace drama Infuses the humble striver subgenre with an atypical class consciousness.—RDL
John Mulaney: Baby J (Stand-up, Netflix, Alex Timbers, 2023) Mulaney breaks down his addiction, intervention, and rehab experience in a not-always-successful blending of his perfected straight standup and the confessional standup subgenre – I suspect doing a routine while sober may be throwing off his reflexes somewhat as well. However, there’s lots of Mulaney-style diamonds in here, and I was reduced to helpless laughter by his re-read of a very coked-up interview with GQ he gave two days before going to rehab. Don’t count Baby J out, in other words. –KH
Good
The Gentlemen (Film, US, Guy Ritchie, 2020) Weaselly journo Fletcher (Hugh Grant) attempts to blackmail consigliere Raymond (Charlie Hunnam) with the truth about his boss, weed kingpin Mickey (Matthew McConaughey). Hugh Grant gloriously chews scenery all around the wooden Hunnam, but the problem with a movie told almost entirely in expository narration is a certain remove that weakens seemingly strong individual bits. A pleasant haze of reminiscence for old-school Ritchie fans, but not primo. –KH
In Search of Tomorrow (Film, US, David A. Weiner, 2022) Five-hour documentary on the SF films of the 1980s generally makes do with lightweight talking heads (though John Carpenter, Joe Dante, and Ivan Reitman bring it) and generous highlights as it goes year by year through the pinnacle decade of the art form, with the occasional thematic blurt. Mostly enjoyable in a “hey it’s that thing I recognize” way for me, but probably a fine primer for those unfortunate enough to have been born after the Reagan Administration. –KH
Not Recommended
Deep Fear (Film, France, Grégory Beghin, 2022) Recent graduates plunge into horror after joining their affable dealer on an unauthorized urban exploration of the Paris catacombs. You know I wanted this to be good, but unfortunately they couldn’t set it in the iconic, funerary part of the catacombs, and the horrors the heroes encounter are perfunctorily imagined.—RDL
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Picard, The Mandalorian, Tetris, Beau is Afraid
April 25th, 2023 | 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 Case of Hana & Alice (Film, Japan, Shunji Iwai, 2015) New arrival at high school bonds with her reclusive neighbor from one grade up as they bumble through an investigation into the latter’s supposedly dead classmate. The anime format confers a level of idealization on a sweet, naturalistic comic drama of burgeoning friendship.—RDL
My Way (Film, South Korea, Je-kyu Kang, 2011) A champion marathoner (Jang Dong-Gun) is sentenced to serve in the Japanese military, where he and his friends are forced to fight against the Soviets in Mongolia under the command of his fanatical former athletic rival (Joe Odagiri.) Moments of bombastic sentimentality bookend hellish, impressively mounted battle sequences across three theaters of war.—RDL
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 (Television, US, Paramount+, Terry Matalas, 2023) Picard (Patrick Stewart) discovers that the son (Ed Speelers) whose existence Crusher (Gates McFadden) concealed from him ties into a conspiracy to topple the Federation. Though larded with Easter eggs, the throughline of this rousing valedictory remains rooted in character, bringing the TNG cast forward from where we last saw them and then giving each of them a new arc to complete.—RDL
Good
Kill Boksoon (Film, South Korea, Sung-hyun Byun, 2023) Renowned killer (Jeon Do-yeon) faces her greatest challenge yet—understanding her increasingly closed-off teen daughter (Esom.) Blend of family drama and assassin conspiracy actioner slowed by an excess of tertiary characters and subplots.—RDL
Okay
The Mandalorian Season 3 (Television, US, Disney+, Jon Favreau, 2023) Mando (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu assist Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) in her bid to reunite the Mandalorians and resettle their homeworld. Backburners the established premise of the show in favor of a new one without taking the time to invest the audience in it.—RDL
Tetris (Film, US, Jon S. Baird, 2023) Scrappy entrepreneur game publisher Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton) battles Communism and Robert Maxwell (Roger Allam) to secure rights to Tetris in 1988. Completely anodyne produpic (a biopic, but for a product) coasts on nostalgia for falling bricks in between entertaining skirmishes with bad guys who hate products and capitalism. Cleverly leans into its garbage CGI so I can’t hate on that too much. –KH
Exercise Extreme Caution
Beau Is Afraid (Film, US, Ari Aster, 2023) Simmering neurotic Beau (Joaquin Phoenix) faces increasingly surreal obstacles on his journey to visit his overbearing mother (Patti LuPone). This paranoid reality-horror dark ride rivets the viewers’ attention almost nonstop through its three-hour runtime thanks to Aster’s terrifying comic and visual instincts and Phoenix’ whipped-dog performance. The mathematical opposite of Everything Everywhere All At Once, it is not a puzzle to be solved or even a message to be learned but an ordeal to be undergone. Do not watch it if you can’t enjoy watching suffering and cruelty. I mean it. –KH
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Scream VI, Furies, and Exploding Teenagers
April 18th, 2023 | 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
Furies (Film, Vietnam, Veronica Ngo, 2023) Desperate young woman (Dong Anh Quynh) earns her place in a squad of female martial artists determined to bring violent reprisal to the sex trafficking gangsters of Ho Chi Minh City. Neon-lit hard action puts women at the center of the traditionally masculine thematic territory of the heroic bloodshed subgenre.—RDL
If We Were Villains (Fiction, M.L. Rio, 2017) Ten years after going to prison for killing his classmate, former drama student Oliver Marks tells his arresting officer what really happened that night at Dellecher Classical Conservatory. Shakespeare, the college novel, the murder story, and the theater novel crash together in rising waves of action, passion, and revelation. It’s not quite Donna Tartt’s Pinnacle The Secret History, but that’s the closest comparison I can make. –KH
Lingui, the Sacred Bonds (Film, Chad, Mahamat Saleh Haroun, 2022) Devout, poor Muslim single mom (Achouackh Abakar Souleymane) reluctantly assists her defiant teen daughter (Rihane Khalil Alio) in seeking an abortion, which is illegal in Chad. Specificity of place and culture and a lively color palette distinguish this neorealist social drama.—RDL
Manchurian Tiger (Film, South Korea, Lee Doo-Yong, 1974) Dapper, laconic taekwondo fighter (Han Yong-Cheol aka Ian Han) arrives in Japanese-occupied Harbin to play two rival gangsters against one another. Sly martial arts riff on Yojimbo and Fistful of Dollars features a Korean political angle and Han’s beguilingly laidback ass-whupping style.—RDL
Spontaneous (Film, US, Brian Duffield, 2020) When members of her class of high school seniors succumb to a plague that causes them to suddenly explode in showers of blood and viscera, sardonic Mara (Kate Langford) tries to embrace life and first love with adorable geek Dylan (Charlie Plummer.) Teen dramedy goes surprisingly hard at its body horror premise.—RDL
The Westerner (Film, US, William Wyler, 1940) Honorable saddle tramp (Gary Cooper) tries to mediate between homesteaders and vigilante cattlemen led by hanging judge Roy Bean (Walter Brennan.) The gay relationship between the leads barely counts as subtextual in this friends-turned-foes western drama.—RDL
Good
Banacek Season 2 (Television, US, NBC, George Eckstein, 1973-1974) Self-satisfied freelance investigator of impossible crimes Banacek (George Peppard) now has an ongoing foil in ex-lover and rival investigator Carlie Kirkland (Christine Belford) who mostly only yells at Banacek and slows things down even further. However, the puzzles and guest stars remain fun and thrilling, especially in the episode where Banacek gets romanced by Linda Evans while trying to find a race horse that vanished mid-gallop. –KH
Scream VI (Film, US, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, 2023) The four survivors of the previous Ghostface killing spree (Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jasmine Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding) move to New York City for college, but a new Ghostface follows them there. Not quite as tight a mystery as the previous movie, with a hot-and-cold cruelty that doesn’t really cohere. But the urban stalks, as predictable as they are, still work pretty well, the writers show the weight of the franchise interestingly, and Ortega’s lively presence carries the movie over the Good line on her tiny back. –KH
Ken and Robin Consume Media: John Wick 4, 70s AI Horror, and a Classic Auteur Collision
April 11th, 2023 | 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
Colossus: The Forbin Project (Film, US, Joseph Sargent, 1970) Dr. Charles Forbin (Eric Braeden) has just designed Colossus, a supercomputer wired into the American nuclear weapons grid, but he built it too well. Surprisingly riveting, fast-paced computer-paranoia thriller with touches of Faust and Frankenstein almost seems relevant again in these days of AI panic and superpower confrontation. –KH
Come and Get It (Film, US, Howard Hawks & William Wyler, 1936) Bullish lumberjack (Edward Arnold) sets aside the woman he loves (Frances Farmer) to further his ambitions of logging wealth, later succumbing to romantic obsession for her identical daughter with his old-time best friend (Walter Brennan.) With producer Samuel Goldwyn off sick, Hawks transformed Edna Ferber’s sententious novel into one of his trademark tales of camaraderie on society’s rough hewn fringes. When he recovered, Goldwyn fired him and forced Wyler to restore as much of Ferber’s multi-generational saga as he could. Yet the results are surprisingly alive, proving that troubled shoots only lead to terrible results ninety-nine times out of a hundred.—RDL
Hotel Mumbai (Film, Australia, Anthony Maras, 2018) When gunmen invade a luxury hotel as part of the coordinated 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, staff and guests, including an intrepid cook (Dev Patel) and an entitled newlywed (Armie Hammer), struggle to survive. Tense docudrama thriller uses disaster movie script structure as foundation for Paul Greengrass-style ripped from the headlines procedural.—RDL
Good
Every Anty Boisjoly Mystery (So Far) (Fiction, P.J. Fitzsimmons, 2020-2022) 1920s London clubman and layabout Anty Boisjoly solves impossible crimes, generally to clear the good name of a friend, aunt, or elephant. Fitzsimmons aims for “Bertie Wooster as Peter Wimsey” and gets about two-thirds of the way there, mostly. The mysteries are generally neatly done in their own right, and Boisjoly’s great blessing as narrator and detective is less his banter and piffle than his reliable good nature, which makes for pleasant reading. –KH
If These Walls Could Sing (Film, US/UK, Mary McCartney, 2022) Documentarian profiles Abbey Road studios, which she has known since she was an infant. For her dad, Sir Paul, the magic lay in the equipment; for John Williams, the acoustics; for everyone else, the mystique established by the Beatles.—RDL
John Wick: Chapter 4 (Film, US, Chad Stahelski, 2023) Granted dictatorial power to eliminate John Wick (Keanu Reeves), the snotty Marquis de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård) conscripts his only equal, Caine (Donny Yen). Fully descended (or ascended) into animated cartoon territory thanks not least to ridiculous bulletproof suits and an Arc de Triomphe shootout featuring over-CGI’d (and apparently massless) cars, this final entry in the franchise lives on half the set-pieces, an excellent turn as “the Hunter” by Shamier Anderson, and a blessedly clear end goal at long last. Dan Laustsen’s cinematography repeatedly exceeds itself as well. Reeves grinds himself down to play a John Wick stripped of almost all humanity, but there’s no point in psychological realism in a film with no other kind on display. –KH
Ship of Monsters (Film, Mexico, Rogelio A. González, 1960) Having captured monstrous specimens from elsewhere in the galaxy for the man-starved planet Venus, a duo of immodestly clad astronauts (Ana Bertha Lepe, Lorena Velázquez) land their rocketship in Chihuahua and set their sights on a fibbing vaquero (Eulalio González.) Engagingly nutty musical comedy horror SF whose titular monsters look like rotting, cancerous rejects from the Krofft brothers workshop.—RDL
Okay
Enys Men (Film, UK, Mark Jenkin, 2023) A volunteer (Mary Woodvine) alone on a rocky Cornish island in 1973 comes progressively unglued. There’s so much to like in this film, from the 16mm film it’s shot on, to the 1973-style direction, to the thoroughly unnerving sound design juxtaposed with beautiful nature photography, that it’s a shame it doesn’t cohere. I don’t mind the refusal to explain, but inexplicable should not be a synonym for meaningless. –KH
The Road to Singapore (Film, US, Alfred E. Green, 1931) In colonial Singapore, a cad with a heart of gold (William Powell) pursues the passionate neglected wife (Doris Kenyon) of a cloddish doctor (Louis Calhern.) Sweaty worldliness pervades a Pre-Code melodrama, based on a stage play, that fades a bit in its resolution. Not to be confused with the later Hope and Crosby vehicle Road to Singapore.—RDL
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Parlett’s History of Board Games, Boston Strangler, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
April 4th, 2023 | Robin
Recommended
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Film, US, Laura Poitras, 2022) Documentary interweaves a biographical profile of groundbreaking photographer and chronicler of the 70s/80s NYC gay underground scene with a procedural study of her recent activist campaign to strip the Oxy-peddling Sackler family of its philanthropic associations in the museum world. Poitras ably overcomes the challenge of having too much essential material to assemble into one nonfictional narrative.—RDL
Boston Strangler (Film, US, Matt Ruskin, 2023) Driven reporter Loretta McLaughlin (Keira Knightley) teams with established pro Jean Cole (Carrie Coon) to break the story of the Boston Strangler serial killings and the incompetence of the local police investigation. Feminist true crime docudrama stands in the shadow of Zodiac but earns a bump to Recommended status for the script’s handling of the case’s tangle of uncertain resolutions.—RDL
Fahrenheit 451 (Film, UK, Francois Truffaut, 1966) In a totalitarian future where drug-dulled Americans refer to their widescreen televisions as family, a diffident member of the book-burning squad (Oskar Werner), egged on by a dissident neighbor (Julie Christie) who looks a lot like his conformist wife (Julie Christie), nurtures a secret yen for reading. The unemphatic mix of satire and political horror in this adaptation of the classic Ray Bradbury novel aroused confusion in its day but plays as absolutely contemporary now.—RDL
The Forgery of Venus (Fiction, Michael Gruber, 2008) After taking part in a study of the drug salvinorin, a failing artist hallucinates himself into the life of Velasquez and agrees to forge a previously unknown companion to the master’s Rokeby Venus. Art world literary thriller with touches of reality horror lends credence to its more fanciful plot developments with authentic portrayals of character and painting technique.—RDL
Parlett’s History of Board Games (Nonfiction, David Parlett, 2018) A partial revision of his 1999 Oxford History of Board Games, Parlett manages to squeeze a startling amount of information into a relatively small (375 pages) book. Even in 1999, the book had just missed the rise of Eurogames, and a brief overview of “Today’s Games” in this volume still takes us barely into the 1980s. However, for virtually everything before that, Parlett makes a superb first recourse. –KH
Good
Flashpoint (Comics, DC, Geoff Johns & Andy Kubert, 2012) Barry Allen awakens to find himself powerless in a world without Superman where Wonder Woman and Aquaman’s apocalyptic war threatens global survival. Solid by-the-numbers comic suffers from its origin as the frame story for a bloated DC crossover event; its non-Flash beats occasionally feel thin and somewhat unearned. The basis for the upcoming Flash movie. –KH
Flight Command (Film, US, Frank Borzage, 1940) Achievement-chasing newbie (Robert Taylor) joins the Navy Hellcats squadron, ruffling his fellow flyers when he gets too close to the commander’s wife (Ruth Hussey.) Peacetime military drama was part of Hollywood’s, and Borzage’s, morale groundwork for America’s entry into the war.—RDL
You Never Can Tell (Film, US, Lou Breslow, 1951) Dog reincarnates as a human detective (Dick Powell) to clear his human ward (Peggy Dow) of his poisoning death. The painstaking setting of its fantasy rules is not on the agenda for this extremely peculiar comedy.—RDL
