Ken and Robin Consume Media: A Different Man, Will & Harper, and Ghost Stories from a POW Camp
March 25th, 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.
The Pinnacle
Danton (Film, France/Poland, Andrzej Wajda, 1983) In the second year of the revolutionary Republic, charismatic faction leader Georges Danton (Gerard Depardieu) challenges the tightening grip on power held by his icy, ruthless rival Maximilien Robespierre (Wojciech Pszoniak.) Stirring historical political thriller doomed by its incisiveness to a state of perpetual timeliness..—RDL
Recommended
The Alabaster Hand and Other Stories (Fiction, A.N.L. Munby, 1949) Collection of Jamesian horror tales written while Munby (an antiquarian bookseller by trade) was held in a German POW camp unsurprisingly amps up the nostalgic tone of James’ work, sometimes at the expense of horror. Munby’s ghosts prove more susceptible to laying than James’ do, but several of the stories (especially “Herodes Redivivus” and “The White Sack”) transmit real dread, and even the “happy ending” tales pass through excellent grue.—KH
A Different Man (Film, US, Aaron Schimberg, 2024) Would-be actor with extensive facial tumors (Sebastian Stan) undergoes treatment rendering him traditionally handsome, only to lose the playwright (Renate Reinsve) and starring role of his dreams to a chipper bon vivant (Adam Pearson) unfazed by his own similar condition. Mordant satire of inner versus outer acceptance with a 90s NYC indie vibe.—RDL
Trial Run (Fiction, Dick Francis, 1978) Bounced from the turf by a “no glasses” safety rule, astigmatic gentleman farmer and former steeplechaser Randall Drew succumbs to royal pressure and travels to Moscow to quash a rumor ahead of the Olympics. Francis’ thriller pace and well-sketched characters keep this not-quite-spy story intriguing, and make for a zippy read to boot.—KH
Will & Harper (Film, US, Josh Greenbaum, 2024) Will Ferrell goes on a heartland road trip with longtime co-writer Harper Steele to check on the status of their friendship, and her relationship to the down and dirty haunts she used to favor, now that she has come out as trans. Warm, funny buddy road documentary of awareness and acceptance triggers halcyon recollections of the late Biden era.—RDL
Good
Aavesham (Film, India, Jithu Madhavan, 2024) Seeking help against bullying upper classmen, three engineering students (Roshan Shanavas, Mithun Jai Shankar, Hipzster) establish a surprising bond with a flashy but insecure gang kingpin (Fahadh Faasil.) Punchy action comedy finds, in the neediness of its leading frenemy, a fresh spin on the in-too-deep-with-the-mob trope.—RDL
Korea: The Impossible Country (Nonfiction, Daniel Tudor, 2012/2018) Introductory survey of all things South Korean, from film to K-pop, from shamanism to an economy built from nothing to powerhouse on a structure of centrally-planned mercantilist capitalism. Useful and illuminating, though its arrangement by topic results in considerable repetition, as so many elements of South Korean life owe their character to the same events.—RDL
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning (Film, US, Christopher McQuarrie, 2023) Ethan (Tom Cruise) and his team pursue a McGuffin granting control over a rogue AI which has hired an old enemy (Esai Morales) to counter him. McQuarrie expertly performs the mission he has assigned himself in his run on the series, to configure bedrock genre elements for maximum momentum and brio. Ironically this, the movie audiences decided to punish for two-parter syndrome, could have, with the merest of tweaks, stood on its own.—RDL
