Posts Tagged ‘Ken and Robin Consume Media’
Ken Consumes Media: Classics and Rarities from Noir City Chicago
September 10th, 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.
The Pinnacle
Odd Man Out (Film, UK, Carol Reed, 1947) Wounded in a Belfast payroll robbery, IRA leader Johnny McQueen (James Mason) tries to survive and escape the hated British police cordon. Begins as crime thriller and ends up in wild Expressionist passion play, so you have to hold on for the run and trust Reed in the many key change-ups. A superlative cast, shot mostly on location by Robert Krasker (his first cinematographer gig), superb but never intrusive musical score, and a nearly impossible blend of existential comedy and agony.—KH
Recommended
Brute Force (Film, US, Jules Dassin, 1947) Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster) is determined to escape Westgate Prison, and sadistic guard captain Munsey (Hume Cronyn) is determined to break him, or worse. A crew of Hey It’s That Guys given life and individuality by a terse, economical Richard Brooks script keep the “society is prison” theme from lumbering what in the end remains a super-violent (for the era), compellingly watchable (for any era) thriller.—KH
Hardly a Criminal (Film, Argentina, Hugo Fregonese, 1949) Impatient gambler José Moran (Jorge Salcedo) defrauds his company for a big payoff, counting on doing his maximum six-year sentence and coming back for the dough. Salcedo deftly and charmingly walks the scoundrel-scumbag line through a film that likewise dodges between neo-realism and noir for 88 packed minutes.—KH
Ossessione (Film, Italy, Luchino Visconti, 1943) Tramp Gino (Massimo Girroti) stops at a roadside trattoria to seduce Giovanna (Clara Calamai), the wife of the loutish owner Giuseppe (Juan de Landa), and the lovers plot his murder. Uncredited adaptation of the James M. Cain novel The Postman Always Rings Twice deletes the legal subplot in favor of giving Gino a foil (Elio Marcuzzo) representing male freedom through irresponsible homosociality (at least). The result is an oddly formalist melodrama shot in neo-Realist style, which works much better than it sounds like it should.—KH
The Postman Always Rings Twice (Film, US, Tay Garnett, 1946) Tramp Frank (John Garfield) stops at a roadside diner to seduce Cora (Lana Turner), the wife of the cheap owner Nick (Cecil Kellaway), and the lovers plot his murder. Untangles the James M. Cain source novel somewhat, at the cost of narrative clarity and breathing room, but remains a foundational feast of noir. Hume Cronyn almost walks away with the part of Keats the lawyer, but this is Lana Turner’s film throughout.—KH
Victims of Sin (Film, Mexico, Emilio Fernández, 1951) Nightclub dancer Violeta (Ninón Sevilla) takes in another dancer’s abandoned baby by pimp Rodolfo (Rodolfo Acosta) and destroys her life. Best-of-breed rumbera film (think “rhumba noir morality play”) provides plenty of dancing and musical numbers — seldom has the melos been better in any melodrama. The story, by contrast, expands and contracts at seeming random, accentuating the somewhat surreal feel established by cinematographer Miguel Figueroa.—KH
The Window (Film, US, Ted Tetzlaff, 1949) Perennial fibber Tommy (Bobby Driscoll) sees a murder from the fire escape but his parents don’t believe him. Driscoll’s Oscar-winning acting job propels a terrific juvenile version of the Hitchcock plot, this one based on a Cornell Woolrich story, through a Greenwich Village superbly shot on location. Paul Stewart and Ruth Roman excel as the murderers, although Hitch probably wouldn’t have let them turn quite so desperate and stupid quite so soon.—KH
Zero Focus (Film, Japan, Yoshitaro Nomura, 1961) When her ad-man husband Kenichi (Koji Nambara) disappears from a business trip to Kanazawa, newlywed Teiko (Yoshiko Kuga) unravels secrets of his past. Almost flawless noir mystery makes the most of the cold natural sea and snow of Ishikawa prefecture, along with Kuga’s restrained, internalized acting. Nomura’s focus on process, system, and trains puts one in mind of a Japanese David Fincher.—KH
Good
Cast a Dark Shadow (Film, UK, Lewis Gilbert, 1955) Edward “Teddy” Bare (Dirk Bogarde) murders his elderly wife and sets his sights on feisty barmaid-turned-rich-widow Freda Jeffries (Margaret Lockwood). Retains too much of the drawing-room staginess of its source material, but every so often achieves genuine grue or rich dark comedy. Enjoyable, if mostly predictable; Bogarde and Lockwood are by far the best things in it.—KH
Don’t Ever Open That Door (Film, Argentina, Carlos Hugo Christensen, 1952) Two minor Cornell Woolrich stories become two halves of a portmanteau suspense thriller: a man’s sister driven to destruction by a mysterious phone caller, and a blind woman’s criminal son comes home at last. The surprise endings don’t, but the visuals stay hopping and inventive throughout thanks to cinematographer Pablo Tabernero.—KH
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Noir City Chicago 2024
September 10th, 2024 | KenH
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.
Robin is RVIFFing this week, as you can see by perusing his posts from the front couches.
The Pinnacle
Odd Man Out (Film, UK, Carol Reed, 1947) Wounded in a Belfast payroll robbery, IRA leader Johnny McQueen (James Mason) tries to survive and escape the hated British police cordon. Begins as crime thriller and ends up in wild Expressionist passion play, so you have to hold on for the run and trust Reed in the many key change-ups. A superlative cast, shot mostly on location by Robert Krasker (his first cinematographer gig), superb but never intrusive musical score, and a nearly impossible blend of existential comedy and agony.—KH
Recommended
Brute Force (Film, US, Jules Dassin, 1947) Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster) is determined to escape Westgate Prison, and sadistic guard captain Munsey (Hume Cronyn) is determined to break him, or worse. A crew of Hey It’s That Guys given life and individuality by a terse, economical Richard Brooks script keep the “society is prison” theme from lumbering what in the end remains a super-violent (for the era), compellingly watchable (for any era) thriller.—KH
Hardly a Criminal (Film, Argentina, Hugo Fregonese, 1949) Impatient gambler José Moran (Jorge Salcedo) defrauds his company for a big payoff, counting on doing his maximum six-year sentence and coming back for the dough. Salcedo deftly and charmingly walks the scoundrel-scumbag line through a film that likewise dodges between neo-realism and noir for 88 packed minutes.—KH
Ossessione (Film, Italy, Luchino Visconti, 1943) Tramp Gino (Massimo Girroti) stops at a roadside trattoria to seduce Giovanna (Clara Calamai), the wife of the loutish owner Giuseppe (Juan de Landa), and the lovers plot his murder. Uncredited adaptation of the James M. Cain novel The Postman Always Rings Twice deletes the legal subplot in favor of giving Gino a foil (Elio Marcuzzo) representing male freedom through irresponsible homosociality (at least). The result is an oddly formalist melodrama shot in neo-Realist style, which works much better than it sounds like it should.—KH
The Postman Always Rings Twice (Film, US, Tay Garnett, 1946) Tramp Frank (John Garfield) stops at a roadside diner to seduce Cora (Lana Turner), the wife of the cheap owner Nick (Cecil Kellaway), and the lovers plot his murder. Untangles the James M. Cain source novel somewhat, at the cost of narrative clarity and breathing room, but remains a foundational feast of noir. Hume Cronyn almost walks away with the part of Keats the lawyer, but this is Lana Turner’s film throughout.—KH
Victims of Sin (Film, Mexico, Emilio Fernández, 1951) Nightclub dancer Violeta (Ninón Sevilla) takes in another dancer’s abandoned baby by pimp Rodolfo (Rodolfo Acosta) and destroys her life. Best-of-breed rumbera film (think “rhumba noir morality play”) provides plenty of dancing and musical numbers — seldom has the melos been better in any melodrama. The story, by contrast, expands and contracts at seeming random, accentuating the somewhat surreal feel established by cinematographer Miguel Figueroa.—KH
The Window (Film, US, Ted Tetzlaff, 1949) Perennial fibber Tommy (Bobby Driscoll) sees a murder from the fire escape but his parents don’t believe him. Driscoll’s Oscar-winning acting job propels a terrific juvenile version of the Hitchcock plot, this one based on a Cornell Woolrich story, through a Greenwich Village superbly shot on location. Paul Stewart and Ruth Roman excel as the murderers, although Hitch probably wouldn’t have let them turn quite so desperate and stupid quite so soon.—KH
Zero Focus (Film, Japan, Yoshitaro Nomura, 1961) When her ad-man husband Kenichi (Koji Nambara) disappears from a business trip to Kanazawa, newlywed Teiko (Yoshiko Kuga) unravels secrets of his past. Almost flawless noir mystery makes the most of the cold natural sea and snow of Ishikawa prefecture, along with Kuga’s restrained, internalized acting. Nomura’s focus on process, system, and trains puts one in mind of a Japanese David Fincher.—KH
Good
Cast a Dark Shadow (Film, UK, Lewis Gilbert, 1955) Edward “Teddy” Bare (Dirk Bogarde) murders his elderly wife and sets his sights on feisty barmaid-turned-rich-widow Freda Jeffries (Margaret Lockwood). Retains too much of the drawing-room staginess of its source material, but every so often achieves genuine grue or rich dark comedy. Enjoyable, if mostly predictable; Bogarde and Lockwood are by far the best things in it.—KH
Never Open That Door (Film, Argentina, Carlos Hugo Christensen, 1952) Two minor Cornell Woolrich stories become two halves of a portmanteau suspense thriller: a man’s sister driven to destruction by a mysterious phone caller, and a blind woman’s criminal son comes home at last. The surprise endings don’t, but the visuals stay hopping and inventive throughout thanks to cinematographer Pablo Tabernero.—KH
Ken and Robin Consume Media: The Killer (2024), Hundreds of Beavers, and Dench on Shakespeare
September 3rd, 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
Hundreds of Beavers (Film, US, Mike Cheslik, 2022) After beavers sabotage his cider operation, trapper Jean Kayak endures epic pain and humiliation to gather enough of their pelts to marry his trading post sweetheart. Fusing the aesthetics of Chuck Jones, National Film Board of Canada animation, and Guy Maddin, this surreal, bonkers black-and-white near-wordless slapstick comedy featuring actors in plush mascot outfits easily wins the title of most Canadian film ever made by an American.—RDL
Long Live the Missus (Film, China, Hu Sang, 1947) A woman propels her husband’s business career with a few strategic white lies, only to have him take up with a gold-digging girlfriend. Cynical comedy of manners from the last moments of the short-lived Shanghai commercial movie industry. Aka Long Live the Mistress! —RDL
Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent (Nonfiction, Judi Dench & Brendan O’Hea, 2024) Longtime Shakespearean actor-director O’Hea prompts Dame Judi to discuss and divagate on every Shakespeare part she’s ever played, which is most of the female roles. Lovely blend of theater reminiscence, hard-headed acting advice, and the best kind of Bardolatry.—KH
Thelma (Film, US, Josh Margolin, 2024) Stubbornly independent nonagenarian (June Squibb) evades the scrutiny of her protective family to hunt down the scammers who ripped her off, with scooter-equipped old friend (Richard Roundtree) in tow as voice of reason. Affectionate, observant indie comedy doubles as sly parody of techno-thriller tropes.—RDL
Wigs on the Green (Fiction, Nancy Mitford, 1935) An upper class office drudge, unwillingly accompanied by his charming weasel friend, head to the Cotswolds in search of heiresses to marry, setting their sights on a teen fascist nitwit. Laugh-out-loud satire of the romantic folkways and political obliviousness of the upper crust assumes the reader is capable of supplying the needed moral context.—RDL
Okay
The Killer (Film, US, John Woo, 2024) Pursued by a maverick Parisian cop (Omar Sy), a formidable assassin (Nathalie Emmanuel) protects a singer (Diana Silvers) she accidentally blinded during a hit. Reconfigures Woo’s 1989 heroic bloodshed classic by taking a handful of images and plot points and starting over, with more plot and talking, and much less momentum and melodrama.—RDL
Under Paris (Film, France, Xavier Gens, 2024) Mutant super-mako Lilith inexplicably follows traumatized marine biologist Sophia (Bérénice Bejo) to Paris, where idiot shark-simps and vaguely helpful cops get chomped around her. Paris looks nice, and I counted two effective shots, but this Netflix chum coasts on people’s love of shark cinema and nothing else.—KH
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Under Paris, and Cynical French Espionage
August 20th, 2024 | Robin
Recommended
Forgotten (Film, South Korea, Jang Hang-jun, 2017) Weird dreams alert a mentally fragile student (Kang Ha-Neul) that something is amiss in his family’s new home and with the older brother (Kim Mu-yeol) he idolizes. Reality-shifting twist on the wrong man thriller offers up a bleak puzzle box for those willing to forget how hypnosis works.—RDL
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Film, US, Wes Ball, 2024) Son of a chimp chieftain (Owen Teague) must take on the mantle of leadership when the soldiers of an ambitious gorilla king (Kevin Durand) interrupt their search for a knowledgeable human (Freya Allan) to enslave his clan. Refreshingly solid story construction reigns in a CGI-dominated adventure that builds its set pieces from a clear but not belabored character throughline and never stops to wink at the audience.—RDL
Le Silencieux (Film, France/Italy/UK, Claude Pinoteau, 1973) MI5 kidnaps Soviet physicist Anton Haliakov (Lino Ventura), born Clement Tibere, to force him to identify Soviet spies in the British fusion program in exchange for repatriation to France—from whence the KGB had kidnapped him 18 years previously. This provides the cynical setup for an existential thriller, pitting one man against a KGB kill notice. Ventura husbands his tough interiority against every kind of stimulus; his performance combines paranoia and desperation with intelligence, the only human response possible. [Released as Escape to Nowhere in the US.]—KH
Spectre: Sanity, Madness and the Family (Film, France, Para One, 2021) After receiving audio recordings of sessions between his family members, several of them schizophrenia suffers, and the musician and spiritual leader who subjected them to years of damaging experiments in altered consciousness, the filmmaker, himself a composer, undertakes a musical journey to understand their mysteries. Mesmerizing first-person documentary set on the borderland between avant garde culture, visionary experience, and cult abuse.—RDL
Under Paris (Film, France, Xavier Gens, 2024) Traumatized marine biologist (Bérénice Bejo) and jut-jawed river cop (Nassim Lyes) team up to save a pre-Olympic swimming event from a giant shark and her parthenogenetic brood, who have taken up residence in a flooded section of the Paris catacombs. Seine-based Jaws homage plays its finny, victim-chomping thrills without a hint of irony.—RDL
Okay
OSS 117: Panic in Bangkok (Film, France/Italy, André Hunebelle, 1964) America sends its most French agent, Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath (Kerwin Matthews), to investigate chicanery with medical supplies in Bangkok orchestrated by fashionable psychiatrist Dr. Sinn (Robert Hossein). Lumbering second installment in the Bond-ripoff film series provides ample Bangkok location footage during the interminable interstitial scenes between anticlimactic faceoffs.—KH
Not Recommended
The Devil’s Bath (Film, Austria, Severin Fiala & Veronika Franz, 2024) Young peasant bride (Anja Plaschg) in 1750 rural Austria sinks into depression after failing to adjust to her new dreary life with her domineering mother-in-law (Maria Hofstätter) and ineffectual husband (David Scheid.) Historical realist folk horror takes much longer than needed to establish the conditions for its unforgettable final sequence.—RDL
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Deadpool & Wolverine, Longlegs, and the Best Hong Kong Martial Arts Film in Years
August 13th, 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.
The Pinnacle
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Film, HK/China, Soi Cheang, 2024) Undocumented, hard-punching newcomer to 80s Hong Kong (Raymond Chan) washes up in Kowloon’s lawless Walled City tenement, where he gains a benefactor in a benevolent triad boss (Louis Koo) with dangerous peers (Sammo Hung, Aaron Kwok.) Gritty crime melodrama (with a touch of the supernatural thrown in, because hell yes) harks back to the 80s-90s classics to dish up the best Hong Kong martial arts movie in years.—RDL
Recommended
Deadpool & Wolverine (Film, US, Shawn Levy, 2024) To save his timeline from extermination by a rogue time agent (Matthew Macfadyen), Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) recruits the worst Wolverine variant (Hugh Jackman) and takes an unwanted journey to a void populated by heroes and villains from discarded continuities. Dials up the self-referential quips, comic ultraviolence, and veering tonal shifts worthy of 80s-90s Hong Kong cinema to prove that mocking fan service is the most powerful fan service of all.—RDL
Deadpool & Wolverine (Film, US, Shawn Levy, 2024) Rather than abandon his doomed timeline for the “sacred” Marvel timeline, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) finds “the worst Logan” (Hugh Jackman) to serve as its new anchor. MCU continuity is finally garbage enough to let the original* Deadpool concept (mocking Marvel Comics continuity) work, and Levy has a meta-story big enough (Disney’s trashing of the Fox-Marvel franchises) to support a big quest picture. Lots of in-jokes and buddy murder-comedy bits fill in the run-time more than acceptably. [*Original to Keith Giffen, when it was called Ambush Bug.] —KH
Longlegs (Film, US, Osgood Perkins, 2024) Fledgling FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) joins veteran fed Bill Carter (Blair Underwood) to hunt a mysterious serial killer (Nicolas Cage) who instigates murder-suicides in Oregon. Perkins spends two acts building a thoroughly unsettling experience, full of too-wide angles and Monroe’s hyper twitchiness against an expressionist Nineties Northwest background, before kind of wrecking it with an over-expository final act. The performances (especially including Cage’s) and Andres Arochi’s camera work keep it Recommended even if it doesn’t achieve the full nightmare takeoff it maybe should have. —KH
Streetwalker (Film, Mexico, Matilde Landeta, 1951) Mercenary industrialist’s wife (Miroslava) toys with a lover (Ernesto Alonso), unaware that he is the pimp of the sister (Elda Peralta) she scorns. Noirish melodrama with skillful big acting reverses sex trade tropes.—RDL
Good
My Blueberry Nights (Film, France/Hong Kong, Wong Kar Wai, 2007) A break-up sets a young woman (Norah Jones) adrift and into the lives of a dreamy New York cafe owner (Jude Law), a Memphis cop (David Strathairn) trying to drink away the hurt of his failed marriage to an emotionally careless ex (Rachel Weisz) and a Vegas-bound poker ace (Natalie Portman.) The US setting and Anglo-American acting style mesh unevenly with Wong’s evanescent, hyper-romantic style but, boy, none of these performers has ever been better lit.—RDL
Okay
Living on Velvet (Film, US, Frank Borzage, 1935) Romantic socialite (Kay Francis) tumbles into an impulsive marriage with a charming pilot (George Brent) whose survivor guilt has left him irresponsibly directionless. Gives the actors an interesting relationship to play but, like many 30s movies, tosses off its third act with a sudden and unconvincing external resolution.—RDL
Ken and Robin Consume Media: High-Strung Reality Horror, French New Wave Fantastic Realism, and the Dawn of Canadian Art Forgery
August 7th, 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
The Creatures (Film, France, Agnes Varda, 1966) Staying in a seaside town after his reckless driving cost his pregnant wife (Catherine Deneuve) the use of her voice, a bluff science fiction writer (Michel Piccoli) discovers that a mysterious mood-altering device is affecting its residents. Quietly compelling blend of the fantastic with social realism achieves a tone so idiosyncratic it can only be described as Vardasian.—RDL
L.627 (Film, France, Bertrand Tavernier, 1992) Frustrated narcotics cop (Didier Bezace) keeps pursuing significant drug busts in a Paris police force plagued by incompetence, brutality, chronic underfunding and bureaucratic paralysis. Not a mystery or thriller but a naturalistic slice of life portrait of a man mired in, and compromised by, a system that has identified the wrong problem and is only trying to look like it’s sort of trying to solve it.—RDL
Possession (Film, France/Germany, Andrzej Żuławski, 1981) The psychic backwash from the marriage breakdown of an uptight spy (Sam Neill) and his emotionally disintegrating wife (Isabelle Adjani) destroys those around them, spawns monsters, and threatens reality itself. The relationship at the heart of this hysterically pitched reality horror is so agonizing that the eventual appearance of a slime-coated pupal abomination provides a note of relief. Be sure you’re watching the 2020 restoration, which fixes audio problems with the ADR that marred the previous digital print.—RDL
Good
The Great Canadian Art Fraud Case: The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson Forgeries (Nonfiction, Jon S. Dellandrea, 2022) A stolen box of ephemera once belonging to a forgotten Scots-Canadian painter puts the art collector author on the trail of an early sixties trial for flogging works bearing the forged signatures of iconic Canadian masters. Brings out the naivete of a suddenly blossoming art market and the brazenness of the gallerist and auctioneer who flooded it with sloppily disguised fakes.—RDL
The Vanished Elephant (Film, Peru, Javier Fuentes-León, 2014) Ex-cop crime writer (Salvador del Solar) investigates a mysterious stranger (Lucho Cáceres) posing as his detective protagonist and trying to frame him for a series of murders. Reality-bending neo-noir creates a Borgesian puzzle.—RDL
Ken and Robin were off at Gen Con but Robin had some reviews stockpiled.
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Classic SF, Classic Yuen Biao, and a Book About a Classic Vampire Film
July 23rd, 2024 | Robin
Recommended
Deathworld (Fiction, Harry Harrison, 1960) After its ambassador pressures him into breaking a casino, a psi-assisted gambler travels to a staggeringly hostile planet, finding that it is not what it seems. Type specimen for pulpy, action-packed problem-solving science fiction.—RDL
Dreadnaught (Film, Hong Kong, Yuen-Woo Ping, 1981) Cowardly laundry assistant (Yuen Biao) attracts the ire of a berserk fugitive in Peking opera makeup as the venerable Wong Fei-Hung (Kwan Tak-Hing) fends off the schemes of a rival martial arts instructor. Biao has never had a better showcase for his acrobatic prowess than this radically tone-shifting kung fu comedy. Kwan makes his 77th (?) and final appearance as iconic hero Wong Fei-Hung, a role he first took on in 1949.—RDL
Martin (Nonfiction, Jez Winship, 2016) Almost stream-of-consciousness narration of the 1977 George Romero near-Pinnacle film, providing production notes and critical observations along the way, reading more like a transcript of a really good DVD commentary track than a conventional work of film scholarship. If it has a flaw, it’s Winship’s desire to find ever more angles from which to admire the film; some of them seem a bit more forced than others.—KH
Sword of the Beast (Film, Japan, Hideo Gosha, 1965) On the run from his clan, a betrayed samurai (Mikijiro Hira) seeks the refuge of a mountain where prospectors risk the death penalty to pan for gold. Jidaigeki action with a noir sensibility, shot in stark 60s style.—RDL
Good
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (Film, US, Mark Molloy, 2024) Veteran maverick cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) receives a distress message from old pal Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), leading him back to the west coast, an uneasy partnership with a local detective (Joseph Gordon Levitt) and a reckoning with his estranged defense lawyer daughter (Taylour Paige.) Smart craftsmanship and an understanding of the beloved original provides a solid baseline for this too-old-for-this-shit sequel.—RDL
The Gang’s All Here (Film, US, Busby Berkeley, 1943) Brash army officer (Phil Baker) woos charming singer (Alice Faye) but complications ensue when his financier father (Eugene Pallette) arranges for her show, topped by fruit-hatted sensation Dorita (Carmen Miranda) to rehearse at their Hamptons manor. Letting Berkeley, and his penchant for turning dance numbers into reality-breaking flights of abstraction, loose in Technicolor brings into focus his status as a key exponent of 20th century modernism.—RDL
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Tong Wars, Fassbinder Noir, Korean Cooking 101, and a Japanese Crime Jazz Musical
July 16th, 2024 | Robin
Recommended
Killers on Parade (Film, Japan, Masahiro Shinoda, 1961) Fresh-faced newcomer (Yûsuke Kawazu) wins a competition against eight outlandishly garbed assassins to perform a hit for a corrupt construction firm. Breezy crime jazz musical with an undernote of war trauma radiates early sixties cool.—RDL
The Lower River (Fiction, Paul Theroux, 2012) Unmoored after a late life divorce, a stolid Massachusetts menswear merchant makes an ill-considered return to the remote Malawi village he idealizes from the time he spent there in his twenties as a Peace Corps teacher. Precisely told narrative of literal and conceptual captivity.—RDL
Martha (Film, Germany, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1974) After the death of her father, an unworldly librarian from a wealthy family (Margit Carstensen) weds an eccentric engineer (Karlheinz Böhm) who subjects her to a systematic program of psychological abuse. Fassbinder’s satirically heightened riff on the domestic noir, based on a Cornell Woolrich story, savages patriarchal marriage norms and the German upper class.—RDL
Simply Korean (Nonfiction, Aaron Huh, 2022) YouTuber Huh presents about 100 recipes for the beginning Korean cook, and so far I haven’t hit one that isn’t clear, delicious, and relatively simple. If you’re past the beginning stage of home cooking, this gets you past the beginner stage of Korean home cooking. A must-get if you have a good Korean grocery available nearby.—KH
Tong Wars: The Untold Story of Vice, Money, and Murder in New York’s Chinatown (Nonfiction, Scott D. Seligman, 2016) Lucid account of the conflict between Chinese criminal organizations that led to four violent gang wars between the late 19th and early 20th century in New York City and beyond. Deploys contemporary research methods to peer through obscuring layers of racist mystification, revealing groups who to a surprising degree wove themselves into the city’s power establishment, one with Tammany Hall and the other with their reformist opponents.—RDL
Good
Dicks: the Musical (Film, US, Larry Charles, 2023) A company merger unites two sales department jerks (Aaron Jackson, Josh Sharp) in the realization that they are identical twins separated at birth, leading them to seek the remarriage of their eccentric parents (Megan Mullaly, Nathan Lane.) The supporting cast (also including Bowen Yang and Megan Thee Stallion) outguns the writer/leads in this exuberantly foul-mouthed, out-and-proud stage adaptation, which delivers big weird laughs before running out of steam.—RDL
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Late Night With the Devil, Burgess Does Bond, and Oliver Sacks
July 9th, 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
Late Night with the Devil (Film, US, Colin Cairnes & Cameron Cairnes, 2023) In a bid to reverse his spiraling ratings, a weaselly talk show host (David Dastmalchian) invites a medium, a debunking magician and a demon-possessed girl and her handler onto his Halloween episode. A fun stew of 70s cultural references serves up a fresh angle on Satanic horror, with Dastmalchian joining the ranks of character actors capable of carrying a movie.—RDL
Night Games (Film, Sweden, Mai Zetterling, 1966) Brooding scion (Keve Hjelm) brings his fiancee (Lena Brundin) to his family manor, prompting his reckoning with his chaotic upbringing at the hands of his erratic, hypersexualized mother (Ingrid Thulin.) Drama of trauma and escape framed in stark sixties modernism, with an extraordinary final sequence skewering the supporting cast of decadent hangers-on. Shocking in its day and still shocking now, so look for content warnings.—RDL
Oliver Sacks: His Own Life (Film, US, Ric Burns, 2019) Having completed his memoir and learned that he has months left to live, the renowned neurological clinician and author sits down for a biographical interview. Sacks’ personal presence reveals elements obscured in his written works, making the surprising details of his early flailing and delayed acceptance.—RDL
Tremor of Intent (Fiction, Anthony Burgess, 1966) Adventurous British agent spectacularly bungles his assignment to retrieve an erstwhile school chum, a scientist who has defected to the Soviet Union. Brings unexpectedly deep characterization and Catholic eschatology to an outrageous, stinging satire of Fleming, Greene, and le Carré.—RDL
Good
A Thousand Billion Dollars (Film, France, Henri Verneuil, 1982) Conspiracy turns to murder when obsessive journalist Paul Kerjean (Patrick Dewaere) investigates a multinational’s attempt to buy into a French electronics firm. Pointed political thriller slackens the pace compared to Verneuil’s previous efforts, but maybe that’s because the score is a piano quartet and not by Ennio Morricone.—RDL
Okay
How to Rob a Bank (Film, US, Stephen Robert Morse and Seth Porges, 2024) True crime documentary describes the career of Seattle bank robber Scott Scurlock, who hit 19 banks between 1992 and his suicide during a police standoff in 1996. Though touted as a different kind of crime doc, it’s the same talking-heads, fat cops reminiscing, reconstructions in filter, and occasional map you’ve seen a thousand times. The case itself is pretty interesting, though.—KH
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Doctor Who, The Bikeriders, Hundreds of Beavers
July 2nd, 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
The Bikeriders (Film, US, Jeff Nichols, 2024) Chicago girl Kathy (Jody Comer) falls hard for brooding biker Benny (Austin Butler) but resents his loyalty to Chicago Vandals cycle gang boss Johnny (Tom Hardy). Nichols piles on the distance from his romantic story of girl-vs-masculine-ennui, but the individual vignettes that take the place of narrative still pop with power and (thanks to cinematographer Adam Stone and to Butler’s cheekbones) beauty. In fairness, that certainly is one way to adapt a book of photographs into a film. Perhaps drops to Good for viewers more annoyed by the unnecessary interview-as-frame-story and less enthralled by Nichols’ impressionistic recreation of 1960s Chicagoland.—KH
Crisis Negotiators (Film, China/HK, Herman Yau, 2024) When conspirators in the HKPF frame him for murder, an intense hostage negotiator (Lau Ching Wan) becomes a hostage taker himself, demanding that an ex-colleague (Francis Ng) be called out of retirement to handle the operation. Like any Hong Kong flick with a police corruption storyline these days, this gritty, crackling remake of 1998’s The Negotiator has to present itself as a pre-handover period piece.—RDL
Guilty Bystander (Film, US, Joseph Lerner, 1950) Boozehound ex-cop (Zachary Scott) hunts for his kidnapped son, leading to a tangle with a smuggling ring. Film noir notable for a grotty portrayal of down and out life unusual for its period and a rare tough guy role for Scott, better known for playing suave weasels.—RDL
Hundreds of Beavers (Film, US, Mike Cheslik, 2022) After beavers destroy his applejack distillery, Jean Kayak (Ryland Brickson Cole Tews) must pit his wits against them (and other mascot-costume animals) to survive and become a trapper. While flooding the zone with jokes, this combo animation-live action flick revels in twists and turns that ultimately pay off. “Charlie Chaplin crossed with Looney Tunes” is a solid log-line, but the zaniness and invention on display in this silent slapstick comedy transcend mere retro homage.—KH
The Settlers (Film, Chile/Argentina, Felipe Gálvez Haberle, 2023) In 1901 Tierra del Fuego, a young Mestizo man (Camilo Arancibia) serves as a guide for a tortured Scots ex-soldier (Mark Stanley) sent by their mutual boss, a big time sheep rancher, to wage war on the area’s indigenous Selk’nam population. Hard-hitting, evocative Western historical drama contrasts the stunning beauty of the landscape with the depravity of its characters’ actions.—RDL
Good
At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul (Film, Brazil, José Mojica Marins, 1964) In a remote village, the murderous, blaspheming undertaker Coffin Joe (Marins) exultantly bullies the menfolk and creepily preys on women. Brazil’s first horror film, which launched Coffin Joe as a multimedia icon, presents a culturally rooted yet personally idiosyncratic take on the gothic.—RDL
Kalki 2898 A.D. (Film, India, Nag Ashwin, 2024) In the final (?) year of the Kali Yuga, the floating Complex dominates the last city Kasi, seeking fertile women to breed a mysterious energy keeping its tyrant alive. Pregnant SUM-80 (Deepika Padukone), mercenary Bhairava (Prabhas), and immortal warrior Ashwatthama (Amitabh Bachchan) find themselves caught up in ancient prophecy. The normal fight choreography and about half the props are kind of terrible, and it doesn’t justify its nearly three-hour run time, but the boss fights and chases are pretty great, and the lash of cosmicism from Hindu eschatology is a trip. If you can imagine a Hollywood that made the equivalent of Dune from the Book of Revelation you can imagine this film and the Telugu film industry; also like Dune Part One, this movie would get Robin’s Incomplete rating.—KH
Okay
Doctor Who Season 14 (Television, UK, BBC/Disney+, Russell T. Davies, 2024) In their exploits across time and space, the ebullient, empathetic fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and his youthful, down-to-earth companion Ruby Tuesday (Millie Gibson) encounter multiple iterations of a mysterious woman (Susan Twist) and investigate the mystery of her parentage. Davies’ return to the franchise finds his key strength—spotlighting his leads’ charisma and establishing a connection with the characters—still in place, and his main weakness—disregard for the structural demands of the problem-solving genre adventure—so glaring that he has written it into his story arc.—RDL
