Ken and Robin Consume Media: Blossoms Shanghai, Ben-Hur, Mel Brooks
April 7th, 2026 | 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
Blossoms Shanghai (Television, China, Tencent Video, Wong Kar Wai, 2023-2024) Charismatic financier (Ge Hu) and his loyal band of friends, including a self-willed restaurateur (Yili Ma) and an adorable trade office functionary (Yan Tang), weather the booms and busts of China’s early stock market years. Wong’s lyrically rendered, nostalgic melancholy underpins a slick, gorgeous, food-loving, business soap.—RDL
Recommended
Ben-Hur (Film, US, William Wyler, 1959) Unjustly condemned to slavery, Jewish prince Judah ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) seeks revenge on his Roman boyhood friend turned persecutor Messala (Stephen Boyd). Hollywood spectacle combines Roman epic with “a tale of the Christ,” a combination that necessitates a difficult dramatic turn in the final act. Probably as good a film as could be made from the source novel, thanks not least to Christopher Fry’s uncredited dialogue rewrites. The chariot race is, in fact, everything you’ve heard: one of the ten, or maybe five, best action sequences ever filmed. See it on the big screen next Easter if you can.—KH
Death of a Corrupt Man (Film, France, George Lautner, 1977) Cops and conspirators target a crooked legislator’s loyal business partner (Alain Delon) when he comes into possession of a diary full of compromising information. Hitchcockian political thriller pits a tarnished wrong man against competing sinister forces.—RDL
Falling in Love Like In Movies (Film, Indonesia, Yandy Laurens, 2023) Middle-aged screenwriter (Ringgo Agus Rahman) pitches his producer a romance about a middle-aged screenwriter pining for his recently widowed high school crush (Nirina Zubir). Winning, dialogue-driven meta-narrative rom com contrasts film conventions with the relationship realities.—RDL
Green Rain (Film, South Korea, Jung Jin-woo, 1966) Smitten young maid (Hie Mun) allows a rich swain (Shin Seong-il) to think she’s an ambassador’s daughter, scarcely suspecting that he’s really a ne’er-do-well mechanic. Ironic romantic drama with an acerbic tone that lives on today in the films of Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon-ho.—RDL
Mel Brooks: the 99 Year Old Man! (Television, US, HBO, Judd Apatow & Michael Bonfiglio, 2026) Celebratory two-part biodoc covers Brooks’ three careers as TV writer, movie director and Broadway darling, plus the beautiful love stories of his marriage to Anne Bancroft and friendship with Carl Reiner.—RDL
