Ken and Robin Consume Media: I Know What You Did Last Summer, My Mom Jayne, and the Best Killer Dog Movie to Watch on an Airplane
July 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
7 Faces of Dr. Lao (Film, US, George Pal, 1964) Greedy land speculator Stark (Arthur O’Connell) holds the town of Abalone, Arizona in a death grip until the mysterious Dr. Lao (Tony Randall) arrives with his Circus of wonders and oddities (all also Tony Randall). The great Charles Beaumont manages to adapt the barely-plotted (but highly Recommended) Charles Finney novel by adding the stock Western plot and a love story featuring Barbara Eden. William Tuttle’s makeup effects are stunningly good for the period, and (along with excellent performances by Randall and Eden) allow the strangely whimsical nature of this Taoist circus fable to come through. [CW: Yes Tony Randall is in yellowface, and yes it’s pretty jarring. Does it make it better that his Dr. Lao actually speaks perfect English, but uses stereotypical “coolie speak” to let fools fool themselves more thoroughly?]—KH
By a Man’s Face Shall You Know Him (Film, Japan, Tai Katō, 1966) The surprise identity of an accident victim prompts a disillusioned doctor to recall his reluctant role in defending a ramshackle market from Korean gangsters during the violent postwar years. Blood soaked melodrama envisions gang warfare as a continuation of WWII.—RDL
Love Lies (Film, HK, Miu-Kei Ho, 2024) Police interviews with a widowed obstetrician (Sandra Ng) and a smooth-talking young man (Michael Tin Fu Cheung) suspected of ensnaring her in a dating app fraud scheme reveal an unexpected relationship. Romantic drama with a side dish of crime procedural provides a charming star vehicle for Ng.—RDL
Madame de Sevigne (Film, France, Isabelle Brocard, 2024) After rescuing her from scandal by marrying her off to a cash-strapped noble, a 17th century countess (Karin Viard) obsessed with her daughter (Ana Girardot) expects her to abandon her husband and return to life with her. Miniature-scaled literary biopic paints a portrait of incorrigible fixation.—RDL
My Mom, Jayne (Film, US, Mariska Hargitay, 2025) Actor Hargitay interviews family members in her attempt to understand her mother Jayne Mansfield, who died before her memories begin and whose exaggerated sex bomb persona has always troubled her. Affecting and illuminating autobiographical documentary weighs the price of family secrets and compromises made in pursuit of fame.—RDL
Good
I Know What You Did Last Summer (Film, US, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, 2025) Five former high-school besties (Chase Sui Wonders, Madelyn Cline, et al.) negligently cause a fatal car crash and cover it up, but a year later find themselves stalked by a slicker-wearing killer. I remember the 1997 version being somewhat snappier and sharper, but Cline (and returning final girl Jennifer Love Hewitt) provide more depth to their characters than the previous bunch. A soft reboot that doesn’t offer any real surprises, though it annoyingly head-fakes and then soft-pedals the economic stratification that has hit even fictional towns over the last 30 years.—KH
Messiah of Evil (Film, US, Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, 1974) Drawn to the beachside town of Point Dune by her father’s strange behavior, Arletty (Marianna Hill) falls in with occultist-playboy Thom (Michael Greer) and gets menaced by a cult of undead or something. How much of the incoherent, slow-moving action is down to missing scenes and low budgets, and how much is intentionally dream-like atmosphere is probably unknowable. The eerie happenings gain power and authenticity by their very inexplicability and incompleteness, and the movie theater scene is one of the best horror scenes ever filmed, so there you go.—KH
Project Silence (Film, South Korea, Kim Tae-gon, 2023) Unscrupulous aide to the security minister (Lee Sun-kyun) attempts to take charge when he, his daughter, and other survivors of a vehicle pile-up on a foggy bridge are attacked by escaped bioengineered attack dogs created by the military. Creature feature built on a disaster movie framework with a layer of distinctively Korean political cynicism loses tension due to inadequate animation of its killer canines. However if you see it offered on a seatback entertainment system, it does hit that sweet spot between watchability and too good to watch on a plane.—RDL
