Ken and Robin Consume Media: KPop Demon Hunters, The Gorge, and Anglo-Saxons vs Vikings
August 12th, 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 Devil’s Eye (Film, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman, 1960) The devil (Stig Järrel), his eye inflamed by the existence of a young woman (Bibi Andersson) about to marry as a virgin, sends the damned souls of Don Juan (Jarl Kulle) and his servant (Sture Lagerwall) back to Earth to effect the necessary seduction. Chiefly through Kulle’’s silently ravaged affect, Bergman uses the ostensible elements of a comedic fantasy for an exploration of suffering as acute as any in his filmography.—RDL
The Gorge (Film, US, Scott Derrickson, 2025) Traumatized snipers, one west bloc (Miles Teller), the other east bloc (Anya Taylor-Joy) fall in love from opposite sides of the monster-filled secret canyon they’ve been stationed to guard. The stars turn up all the sizzling charisma a technothriller romance creature feature needs, and then some.—RDL
KPop Demon Hunters (Film, US, Maggie Kang & Chris Appelhans, 2025) A demon-fighting superstar trio’s battle against a boy band from the underworld threatens to reveal the lead singer’s dark secret. US-made, Korean-set animated supernatural action musical that folds anime visual tropes into 3D is a kicky triumph of cultural diffusion.—RDL
The Wolf Age: The Vikings, the Anglo-Saxons and the Battle for the North Sea Empire (Nonfiction, Tore Skeie, 2018) Violent 11th century kings Æthelred, Olaf Haraldsson, and Cnut battle for silver and territory in England and Scandinavia. Stirring, uncluttered narrative history depicts medieval warfare as a busIness model.—RDL
Good
Portrait in Black (Film, US, Michael Gordon, 1960) Neglected socialite Sheila (Lana Turner) conspires to murder her cat-loving husband with his doctor (Anthony Quinn) but complications ensue. Undistinguished semi-noir thriller surprises with great San Francisco location shots, and tries to pull off “everyone in the household has a secret” storytelling to mixed effect. The stacked cast also includes Sandra Dee, John Saxon, Richard Basehart, Anna May Wong, and Ray Walston all emoting up a storm.—KH
The Reluctant Adventures of Martin Jerrold Trilogy (Fiction, Edwin Thomas, 2004-2006) Barely competent poltroon Jerrold (a Royal Navy lieutenant) gets thrust into Napoleonic adventures—clearing his name in a smuggler murder in Dover, hunting an escaped French prisoner, and stopping the Aaron Burr conspiracy—against his will, and resolving them likewise. Sub-Flashman novels begin readable and slowly come into their own with the third book, but that’s all there was.—KH
Summer of 69 (Film, US, Jillian Bell, 2025) When the guy of her dreams becomes available, an adorably nerdy high school senior (Sam Morelos) hires a brusque but kindly stripper (Chloe Fineman) to teach her his reputedly favorite sex move. Female buddy comedy puts a sweetly affirming spin on a raunchy premise.—RDL
Okay
Aenigma (Film, Italy/Yugoslavia, Lucio Fulci, 1987) Comatose victim of a cruel prank (Milijana Zirojevic) possesses an incoming college student (Lara Lamberti) to act as a vector for lethal, hallucinatory psychic attacks on her tormentors. Fulci’s surreal disregard for mimetic realism provides some interest within a repetitive structure.—RDL
