Ken and Robin Consume Media: The Substance, Dali’s Tarot, Evil, and The Twelve
September 24th, 2024 | 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
Dalí. Tarot. (Tarot, Salvador Dalí, 1984; Nonfiction, Johannes Feibig, 2019) An oversized deck packed in a velveteen slipcase with a full guide to each card in the accompanying guidebook, this is a Tarot for showing off first and using second or never. Fortunately, Dali’s interpretations of the cards (generally involving collages from bits of older paintings) are worth showing off: the best images truly unlock something personal in the archetype, and even the laziest ones (Dali was forced to finish the deck by a lawsuit) show a playful irony absent from most decks (and from the po-faced guidebook). The book tries its best to source the collages and talk Jungian bafflegab, which is really all you want from it, and the whole production almost justifies its hefty pricetag.—KH
Evil Season 1 (Television, US, CBS, Robert and Michelle King, 2019) Forensic psychologist with four young girls and a badass dark side (Katja Herbers) teams with empathetic, psilocybin-ingesting priest in training (Mike Colter) and sardonic techie (Aasif Mandvi) to evaluate potential possession cases for New York’s Catholic diocese. Brings exorcism horror to the occult investigation procedural with puckish humor and a cunningly interwoven case-of-the-week and continuity elements.—RDL
Ponniyin Selvan Part 2 (Film, India, Mani Ratnam, 2023) Swashbuckling princeling (Vikram) races to stop a complex conspiracy to assassinate the Chola emperor and his warrior sons. Though a couple of its many plot threads could have been more neatly tied off, the conclusion of this stunning-looking action adventure historical epic thoroughly blockbusts all the same.—RDL
The Substance (Film, France/UK, Coralie Fargeat, 2024) When her crass producer (Dennis Quaid) decides to replace her, a celebrity fitness instructor (Demi Moore) undergoes a weird science treatment that horribly replicates a younger counterpart (Margaret Qualley.) High focus photography and moist sound design fuse into a tactile filmgoing experience in a gleefully unsubtle Kubrickian body horror satire portraying beauty standards as a social force prompting women to make war on themselves.—RDL
The Twelve: The Complete Series (Comics, J. Michael Straczynski & Chris Weston, 2008-2012) Twelve random third-tier superheroes succumb to a Nazi suspended-animation booby trap in 1945 Berlin only to wake up in 2008 as curiosities. Straczynski tries with some success to get inside the head of the Twelve and their diverse responses to their condition, while plotting a good old-fashioned superhero mystery story around their group. Weston’s clean, unfussy art perfectly complements JMS’ post-Watchmen narrative.—KH
Good
Dangerous Crossing (Film, US, Joseph M. Newman, 1953) When a woman’s (Jeanne Crain) new husband goes suddenly missing after their embarkation on a transatlantic honeymoon cruise, the ship’s doctor (Michael Rennie) doesn’t entirely buy his colleagues’ assumption that she is delusional or pulling a scam. Shipbound psychological film noir rooted more than most in 50s sexual politics, based on a John Dickson Carr story.—RDL
The Princess Warrior (Film, Mongolia, S. Baasanjargal & Shuudertsetseg Baatarsuren, 2021) Determined Mongol princess Khutulun (Tsedoo Munkhbat) defies patriarchal expectations to recover the Golden Sutras, symbols of her family’s legitimacy, from the treacherous forces of the Yuan Empire. Ambitious martial arts historical epic from an emerging national cinema, with ninjas. Aka Princess Khutulun.—RDL
