Ken and Robin Consume Media: The Muppet Show, Train Dreams, The Rip
February 10th, 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.
Recommended
10 Rillington Place (Film, UK, Richard Fleischer, 1971) Born fall-guy Tim Evans (John Hurt) and his wife take the flat upstairs from soft-spoken serial killer John Christie (Richard Attenborough). This true-crime film builds its horror through implacable realism and Attenborough’s reptilian performance. Fleischer made it as a critique of the death penalty, but his political agenda remains well below the deliberately cruddy aesthetic and straightforward script.—KH
Cyborg She (Film, Japan, Kwak Jae-young, 2008) Shy nerd (Keisuke Koide) falls for super strong artificial human from the future (Haruka Ayase.) Starts with the question “What if Terminator was a rom com?” and wends its way through genres from there.—RDL
F1: the Movie (Film, US, Joseph Kosinski, 2025) Rootless, risk-taking driver (Brad Pitt) returns to Formula One racing after a thirty year absence, butting heads with his up-and-coming teammate (Damson Idris.) Technically astounding upgrade of the Bruckheimer aesthetic to the current era adroitly explains the opaque details of its chosen sport.—RDL
The Hut (Film, South Korea, Lee Doo-yong, 1981) When the son of village big shots falls into a coma, a poised young visiting shaman (Yu Ji-in) traces his illness to the escaped ghost of a man his family wronged a generation ago. Scathing drama of privilege and retribution.—RDL
The Muppet Show (TV special, US, Disney+, Alex Timbers, 2026) 50th anniversary revival of the 1976-1981 series cleverly does almost nothing to update the original format, being a 30-minute variety special featuring pop star Sabrina Carpenter, backstage chaos, and entirely random Muppet sketch comedy. Cameos by Maya Rudolph and executive producer Seth Rogen grate far less than one might think.—KH
Train Dreams (Film, US, Clint Bentley, 2025) The idyllic happiness of taciturn timber cutter (Joel Edgerton) and his smitten wife (Felicity Jones) forebodes doom. Lyrical metaphysical tone poem in the Terence Malick mode.—RDL
Good
The Rip (Film, US, Joe Carnahan, 2026) Everyone is a cop and a suspect when an elite but beleaguered Miami drug squad, including rule-flouting leader (Matt Damon) and his increasingly wary right hand (Ben Affleck), discovers a twenty million dollar cash stash in a suburban attic. Solid cop paranoia flick with a deep cast throws back to the mid-budget thrillers of the video store era.—RDL
