Ken and Robin Consume Media: The Woman King, Fleishman is in Trouble, and Inuk Kids on Bikes vs. Alien Monsters

February 21st, 2023 | 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

A Curious Boy (Nonfiction, Richard Fortey, 2021) Memoir follows the author’s progression from science-obsessed youngster in post war Britain to the advent of his career as the Natural History Museum’s renowned trilobite expert. A skilled science writer makes the leap to more personal writing, with evocative results.—RDL

Fleishman is in Trouble (Television, US, Hulu/FX/Disney+, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, 2022) A former magazine writer mired in suburban despond (LIzzy Caplan) recounts the divorce story of her college friend, uptight hepatologist Toby Fleishman (Jesse Eisenberg), whose hard charging talent agent ex (Claire Danes) has inexplicably ghosted him and their kids. Brilliantly acted and directed satirical drama of money, class, marital expectation and shifting perspectives. Read the excellent source novel first to see how differences in medium can radically shift the impact of an extremely faithful adaptation.—RDL

Slash/Back (Film, Canada, Nyla Innuksuk, 2022) Teen Inuk girls defend the tiny Arctic settlement of Pangnirtung from a gruesome alien menace. Fun kids on bikes creature feature with side dishes of empowerment and local Indigenous culture.—RDL

The Woman King (Film, US, Gina Prince-Bythewood, 2022) In 1820s Dahomey, the tough-minded leader (Viola Davis) of the Agojie, the kingdom’s cadre of women warriors, prepares for a war of liberation against the superior forces of the Oyo Empire and discovers an unexpected connection to a cocky but determined recruit (Thuso Mbedu.) Historical epic of stoic empowerment recalls David Lean and event pictures of the 60s, with the addition of energetically staged modern mass fight choreography.—RDL

Good

In the Earth (Film, UK, Ben Wheatley, 2021) During a deadly plague, a feckless biologist (Joel Fry) and his sensible ranger guide (Ellora Torchia) find folk horror and a research product gone violently awry in the woodland depths. Wheatley revisits favorite themes in this reduced-scale forest freakout.—RDL

Thunder on the Hill (Film, US, Douglas Sirk, 1951) When a party transporting a distraught young woman (Ann Blyth) to the gallows takes refuge from a flood at a Norwich convent, a problem-solving nun (Claudette Colbert) sets out to prove her innocence. Sirk forgoes his characteristic florid irony, devoting his technique to hide the stage play origins of this atmospheric investigative thriller.—RDL

Ken was on the road this week.

Ken and Robin Consume Media: Bardo, Gritty Korean Supers, and Twisty Structures from the Classic Mystery Era

February 14th, 2023 | Robin

Recommended

Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths (Film, Mexico, Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2022) Alternately arrogant and self-doubting documentarian (Daniel Giménez Cacho) experiences a surreal, scrambled version of his life as he prepares for a major awards ceremony. Nods to Buñuel and Fellini abound in this introspective spectacle of personal and national identity.—RDL

Haunters (Film, South Korea, Min-suk Kim, 2010) Goodhearted but luckless man (Gang Dong-won) discovers strange abilities of his own when a robber with mind control powers (Go Soo) murders his new boss. Cat and mouse thriller in the uncostumed gritty supers genre built on the reliable chassis of an underdog hero taking on a loathsome, frightening villain.—RDL

Hot Cash, Cold Clews: The Adventures of Lester Leith (Fiction, Erle Stanley Gardner, 2020) Before creating Perry Mason, Gardner wrote 65 stories (between 1929 and 1941) about con artist Lester Leith, who solves thefts before the cops could, then runs parallel cons (on the crooks and the cops) to hijack the loot. The seven tales collected here run this very fun, if intricate, formula in self-consciously brash pulp style. —KH

The Shining Hour (Film, US, Frank Borzage, 1938) Classy nightclub performer (Joan Crawford) marries a besotted sophisticate (Melvyn Douglas) from an old money Wisconsin family, only to discover a mutual attraction for his neurotic brother (Robert Young.) Family melodrama played without ironic excess, and with a sympathy for an antagonist (Fay Bainter, as the bitterly disapproving elder sister) who in a typical treatment of this material would be villainized.—RDL

Trial and Error (Fiction, Anthony Berkeley, 1937) Diagnosed with a terminal heart condition, Mr. Todhunter decides to murder a rotten person – but when Scotland Yard arrests someone else for the crime, he has to prove his guilt. Berkeley at his most arch, once more deconstructing the mystery novel right in the middle of its Golden Age. A trifle long, but it’s a good long. —KH

Good

Lost Bullet 2 (Film, France, Guillaume Pierret, 2022) Lino’s (Alban Lenoir) determination to bring down the drug smugglers who killed his brother threatens his unexpected transition from ex-con to cop. Continuations take more effort to set in motion than originals, so this engaging mix of hand-to-hand and automotive action lacks the precision wristwatch quality of the original.—RDL

Pathaan (Film, India, Siddharth Anand, 2023) Badass Indian secret agent Pathaan (Shah Rukh Khan) hunts terrorist mastermind Jim (John Abraham) with (or and?) Pakistani spy Rubina (Deepika Padukone). Ridiculously over-the-top action thriller hits every emotional beat on the map in between joyous fights and chases; imagine a Mission: Impossible flick that cared even less about grounded realism. Bump it up to Recommended if you’re already an admirer of SRK or Deepika. —KH

Okay

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Film, US, Ryan Coogler, 2022) Princess Shuri’s (Letitia Wright) mourning for her brother is interrupted by an argument by an invasion threat by Prince Namor (Tenoch Huerta) and his undersea kingdom. In addition to the usual MCU shoehorning in of extraneous characters, this struggles for momentum with a protagonist with an unconscious objective she is not pursuing, and an antagonist pursuing a fuzzy, strained objective.—RDL

Ken and Robin Consume Media: A Talking Shell, a Monopolized Sky, and a High-Stakes Prosecution

February 7th, 2023 | 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

Argentina, 1985 (Film, Argentina, Santiago Mitre, 2022) With a new civilian government holding tenuous power, a principled, irascible prosecutor (Ricardo Darin) takes the considerable risk of assembling a young team of lawyers to prosecute the generals of Argentina’s junta for their crimes against humanity. Political thriller legal procedural skillfully lays out the real world exposition while still leaving room for emotional punch.—RDL

The Black-Eyed Blonde (Fiction, John Banville writing as Benjamin Black, 2014) An alluring client hires wry Los Angeles detective Philip Marlowe to investigate the reappearance of her supposedly dead ex-lover. References Chandler more than Chandler would, but otherwise accurately inhabits his style, which is drier and more measured than we tend to recall. The basis of the upcoming Neil Jordan Marlowe film.—RDL

Loving Highsmith (Film, Switzerland/Germany, Eva Vitija, 2022) Documentary uses Patricia Highsmith’s diaries, voiced by Gwendoline Christie, as a springboard to explore the life and short-lived intense loves behind such works as Carol, Strangers on a Train, and the Ripley series.—RDL

The Man in the White Suit (Film, UK, Alexander Mackendrick, 1951) Naive chemist Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) topples Britain’s textile industry into crisis when he invents an indestructible, never-dirty artificial fiber. Mackendrick underlines the “innocent everyman against a dirty system” satire literally, filming the white suit glowing against the grime and mean-ness of the rest of the world. In a stable of marvelous Ealing Studios performers, Ernest Thesiger steals the show as the literally consumptive spirit of aristocratic capital. –KH

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On (Film, US, Dean Fleischer-Camp, 2022) Recently dumped documentarian (Dean Fleischer-Camp) shoots a film about the unexpected occupant of his AirBNB, a shy but talkative snail shell (Jenny Slate) and his fading grandmother (Isabella Rosselini). I was maybe prepared for this expansion of a viral video series to turn a rental house into a cavernous, melancholy realm, but not for the emotional wallop of its exploration of abandonment and grief.—RDL

Rich Man’s Sky (Fiction, Wil McCarthy, 2021) Four trillionaires control outer space thanks to governmental neglect, so the U.S. President sends an operative to infiltrate the solar shield project. Works both as refreshingly half-assed covert-ops narrative and as rich near-future worldbuilding, with letters from one of the monks on the lunar monastery providing an enjoyable Greek chorus. –KH

Good

Seven Sweethearts (Film, US, Frank Borzage, 1942) Brash reporter (Van Heflin) covering a tulip festival in a quaintly Dutch Michigan town led by its garrulous innkeeper (S. Z. Sakall) must fend off the attentions of his fame-seeking eldest daughter (Miriam Hunt) to woo his sweet-natured youngest (Kathryn Grayson.) Only Borzage could fill such fluffy nonsense with such genuine feeling, including glimmers of wartime gravity.—RDL

Ken and Robin Consume Media: Banshees of Inisherin, The Maestro Nostradamus Trilogy, and a Hollywood Double Agent

January 31st, 2023 | 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 Banshees of Inisherin (Film, Ireland, Martin McDonagh, 2022) On an isolated Irish Ireland during the Civil War, a brooding would-be songwriter (Brendan Gleeson) goes to extremes to end all interaction with his sweet natured bore of an erstwhile drinking buddy (Colin Farrell.) A substrate of Beckett underlies the pictorial naturalism of this bleak existential political parable.—RDL

Hollywood Double Agent (Nonfiction, Jonathan Gill, 2020) While working for Paramount as music director in the 1930s, clownish charmer and peripatetic striver Boris Morros signs on to spy for Stalin, later turning on his handlers as an FBI mole. Acutely reported account of a true story full of lies shows that any realistic account of the espionage world resembles the works of Armando Iannucci and the Coens more than it does John le Carré.—RDL

The Maestro Nostradamus Trilogy (Fiction, Dave Duncan, 2007-2009) Three mystery novels featuring the alchemist, astrologer, seer, etc. Nostradamus (the nephew) and his apprentice Alfeo in a 1590s Venice where magic works. Engaging pastiche of Nero Wolfe offers moderately compelling mysteries and rich setting and occult detail. Definitely inspirational for Swords of the Serpentine players. –KH

Reservation Dogs Season 1 (Television, US, FX/Hulu/Disney+, Sterlin Harjo, 2021) Four teens on an Oklahoma reservation plot their escape from rural despond to an imagined bright future in Los Angeles. Funny, moving, real, and occasionally magically real, this half-hour dramedy sets out a throughline and then structures each episode as its own evanescent short story.—RDL

Good

The Crazy Ray (Film, France, René Clair, 1923) Eiffel Tower attendant discovers a time-stopped Paris, meets a few other still-awake folks, and eventually discovers the mad scientist responsible. The first ever “awake in an empty city” movie deftly shifts emotional tone while depicting a fantasy of Paris, but its last act drags out to little purpose. Still, several individual scenes and shots retain surprising power even leaving aside their inspiration on later films.  –KH

Woman in the Moon (Film, Germany, Fritz Lang, 1929) Even though his project has been hijacked by an evil gold cartel, and the woman he loves (Gerda Maurus) has agreed to marry his second-in-command, a determined astrophysicist (Willy Fritsch) persists with his rocket flight to the moon. Because this is Lang, the first film to depict the romance of space exploration technology is also fundamentally about being trapped—physically, and, more importantly, with other people. A modern remake would radically collapse the ninety minutes of pre-blastoff setup.—RDL

Okay

Aelita, Queen of Mars (Film, USSR, Yakov Protazanov, 1924) As a corrupt supply official turns the head of his new bride, an astrophysicist daydreams of class revolution on Mars. Relegates the science fiction of its source novel to a dream sequence in favor of a satirical melodrama about people struggling to live up to revolutionary ideals in post-revolutionary hard times, and thus more of greater interest as a piece of early Soviet cinema than as a genre precursor.—RDL

The Crazy Ray (Film, France, René Clair, 1923) A handful of unaffected individuals enjoy a brief idyll when a scientific experiment plunges Paris into a time-stopped state. An exercise in futurist whimsy serves as a footnote in science fiction cinema and the career of its director.—RDL

Not Recommended

TÁR (Film, US, Todd Field, 2022) The supreme self-assurance that carried a superstar conductor (Cate Blanchett) to the directorship of the Berlin Philharmonic prevents her from adjusting to the reality of a looming scandal. Character study, written from a position of moral superiority over the protagonist it devotes two and half hours to, slowly descends from ambiguity to obviousness.—RDL

Ken and Robin Consume Media: Gritty Hong Kong Crime Drama, John Waters Fiction, and Dark Body Horror Supers from Takashi Miike

January 24th, 2023 | 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

Connect Season 1 (Television, South Korea, Disney+/Hulu, Takashi Miike, 2022) Young junkyard employee with grotesque regenerative powers (Jung Hae-in) loses an eye to organ traffickers, gaining unwanted insight into the activities of the serial killer (Go Kyung-Pyo) it has been transplanted into. Gritty body horror dark superhero thriller anchored by Miike’s mastery of the outré.—RDL

Hand Rolled Cigarette (Film, HK, Kin Long Chan, 2022) Veteran of the UK forces in Hong Kong who has been reduced to petty gangsterism (Ka-Tung Lam) reluctantly shelters a young South Asian man (Bipin Karma) secretly in possession of cocaine bricks stolen from his boss. Gritty, character-driven crime drama in crusty guy comes out of his shell mode escalates to an extended, crunching fight sequence.—RDL

Liarmouth (Fiction, John Waters, 2019) When her airport luggage theft business comes a-cropper, a contemptuous pathological liar provokes pursuit from her horny, dimwitted accomplice and wronged trampoline cultist daughter. Satirical, breakneck chase thriller, unfettered by the limits of the filmable, meets the new respectability and finds it the same as the old respectability, thus ripe for gleeful roasting.—RDL

The Mortal Storm (Film, US, Frank Borzage, 1940) When Hitler comes to power in 1933, Freya (Margaret Sullavan), daughter of a prominent Jewish medical professor (Frank Morgan), sees the difference between the two men who love her, a pushy Nazi (Robert Young) and an assuming pacifist (James Stewart.) Borzage devotes his poignant, mystical humanism to Hollywood’s effort to prepare American popular opinion for its entry into WWII. This is your great-grandfather’s antifascism, and pretty darn effective.—RDL

The Northman (Film, US, Robert Eggers, 2022) Viking prince Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) poses as a thrall and allies with a heroic Slavic witch (Anya Taylor-Joy) to avenge the murder of his royal father by the cruel uncle (Claes Bang), who has married his mother (Nicole Kidman.) Brutal spectacle fills the screen in this pre-Christian inversion of Hamlet from a story of action vs contemplation to one of choice vs fate.—RDL

Okay

The Mystery of the Blue Train (Fiction, Agatha Christie, 1928) On the verge of a divorce, American heiress Ruth Kettering is killed on the Blue Train from Paris to Nice; her father hires Poirot to find the killer. Flashes of mature character drown under lurid, sensationalized plot, generating no real atmosphere while the puzzle seems forgotten or almost arbitrary at times. Christie herself “downgraded” anyone who enjoyed this novel, so I guess we agree. –KH

Not Recommended

The Big Four (Fiction, Agatha Christie, 1927) Captain Hastings returns to Poirot’s London flat just as a mysterious courier delivers a post-hypnotic dying message revealing the Big Four – an international crime syndicate headed by a mysterious Chinaman of all things. Christie’s serialized attempt at Sax Rohmer fails as a fixup novel and as a surreal thriller and almost entirely as a mystery. If there’s a worse Poirot book, I hope I never read it. –KH