Tag: movies (Page 5 of 12)

Shows and Movies

Cobra Kai, season four
See here.

B+

Narcos: Mexico, season three
A very good wrap-up to the series’ three-year look at the Mexican drug cartels of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Typically great casting and writing. This had some similar themes as season five of The Wire. It pulled in the press, which is an important part of any story of the Mexican drug wars. The most compelling angle of the season, Mexican cop Victor Tapia’s quest to find who is snatching and murdering women who work at factories near the US border, somewhat mirrored Jimmy McNulty’s search for who was murdering prostitutes in the final season of The Wire. Both felt out-of-place. Tapia’s timeline was staggeringly emotional, especially as you saw it slowly wearing him down (he looked like a sad, Mexican Aaron Rodgers). But the writers never really connected it to the main story, even by making Tapia share info with the DEA in exchange for help with his investigation.

Word is Narcos as we know it is complete after six seasons. However, the creators do have a new series in the works that will feature Sofia Vergara as Colombian drug queen Griselda Blanco. ¡Sí, por favor!

A-

14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible
Nepalese climber Nimsdai Purja attempted to climb the 14 tallest peaks in the world in seven months. This is the story of that quest. It’s pretty badass. I bonded with my girls’ orthodontist because we both watched it the night before I took L in and we started talking about it.

A-

The Bourne Legacy
I tried to watch this on one of our flights home from Hawaii, but the HBO Max app kept glitching and I gave up. It does not stand up to the level set by the Matt Damon Bourne movies. Jeremy Renner doesn’t run as weird as Damon, but he still runs kind of weird.

B- for the movie, B for Remmer’s running

The Power of the Dog
This got crazy critical buzz. It was too arty, slow, and oddly sexual for me.

B-

Eastbound & Down, season two
Stupid, stupid shit. But good stupid.

B+

Red Sparrow
I guess it’s been too long since I read this novel, one of my favorite spy books of recent years, because a lot of this seemed unfamiliar to me. Or maybe they changed a lot. Man, was this violent. Like uncomfortably violent at times. I liked the book, so I liked this, although reading the critical response section of the movie’s Wikipedia page it seems a lot of critics did not like this movie. Jennifer Lawrence was spectacular, though. The critics and I agree on that.

B+

Killing Them Softly
A slow burner of a crime movie about two deadbeats who rob an illegal card game and have to face the consequences. Scoot McNairy, who was terrific in Narcos: Mexico, plays a completely different and unexpected character here. Brad Pitt is solid. Ray Liotta does Ray Liotta things. But James Gandolfini’s aging, alcoholic hitman steals the show. As a whole, the movie tried to be too artsy at times.

B

Station Eleven
Based on Emily St. John Mandel’s critically acclaimed novel, which takes place during and after a flu pandemic wipes out much of the world’s population. I read the book several years ago, and am pretty sure I enjoyed it. Apparently I didn’t remember much, because a lot of this was new to me. I guess that’s what I get for reading 50-ish books a year.

Turns out, after reading some articles about the show, there were a lot of changes made, including two MASSIVE alterations, when adapting the novel for TV. All came with Mandel’s approval, which I found interesting.

It was wonderfully shot, has amazing music, and does an excellent job working on the viewer’s emotions. The entire series leads up to a specific moment, and that moment is amazingly restrained and should absolutely slay anyone with a heart. It also had one of the most delightful scenes in recent prestige TV history. This was a creepy, strange, and beautiful television experience. I don’t think everything totally worked, but it was very good.

A-

Apollo 13
I stumbled across this one afternoon and was transfixed for the next two hours. Even though I’ve seen it plenty of times and just watched it a year or so ago. Never gets old.

A

All Madden
Ostensibly a summation of John Madden’s professional life – it first aired about a week before his death – it also felt like a 74 minute homage to my generation’s childhood. So many memories bubbled up as I watched.

A

Curb Your Enthusiasm, season eight
I had heard Curb lost its mojo after season seven. Still, I decided to give season eight a whirl one night and was pleased I did. Clearly not as good as season seven, but it was still pretty, prettttty, prettttttttty good.

A-

Shorts

Our Universe is SO big, it’s mindblowing!
Science!

A

Hear the Otherworldly Sounds of Skating on Thin Ice
L and I watched this old favorite after she made cool sounds on the ice in our front yard one morning.

A

25 Facts You Didn’t Know About Seinfeld
Most of these were old trivia to me, but I still learned a few things. I dock it a full letter grade, though, because the narrator doesn’t know how to pronounce Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ name correctly. Come the fuck on, dude.

C+

Springboard: the secret history of the first real smartphone
I had a Handspring Visor and loved it. This is a great look back at how the Handspring company defined what handheld technology would be in the 21st century, and how it laid the groundwork for the iPhone-led smartphone revolution.

A

The Vega Brothers | Official Trailer
There have long been rumors that Quentin Tarantino planned on doing a movie centered on John Travolta’s and Michael Madsen’s Vega brothers. Here is a brilliant fake trailer for said movie, using footage from other films.

A

One-Minute Time Machine
Hilarious. Also don’t fuck with time.

A

Exit Strategy
Speaking of fucking with time. This short is creepy and touching.

A-

Adam Granduciel of The War On Drugs Breaks Down “Occasional Rain”
Since I have no musical talent, I’m always fascinated with how artists get from an initial thought to a recorded song. So I love shit like this.

A

Podcasts

The Prestige TV Podcast: Station Eleven Final Thoughts
First time listening to a Spotify podcast. This was a useful tool when collecting my thoughts about Station Eleven.

A

The Prestige TV Podcast: Ozark: Where We Left Off
I fired this up before I dove into the final season of Ozark. Not as helpful as the Station Eleven episode, but still a decent refresher.

B+

Holiday Stuff

The Office, Christmas episodes
I wrote about them last year; they get a collective A
Christmas Vacation, A
Elf, A
Office Christmas Party, B+
Die Hard, A

Community, “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas”
This was the Community entry on a list of best Christmas TV episodes I found. I hadn’t seen it since probably its initial airing. It should be a classic for everyone. It is to me now.

A

8 Bit Christmas
An adult remembrance of the childhood lust for a particular Christmas present. Sound familiar? Yes, there are a lot references/common elements to/with A Christmas Story. It works because that lust is universal, whether you’re talking about a Red Ryder BB gun or a Nintendo NES. This has an especially poignant and affecting ending.

B+

Movies and Shows

The Hunt for Red October
After watching Die Hard, I figured why not watch another John McTiernan masterpiece. First time watching this in a long time. Still great.

A

Three Days of the Condor
One of the all-time great spy movies, and since it takes place in December and there are Christmas songs in the background, I guess it can be called a Christmas movie if we use Die Hard rules.

First time watching. It was slow, like a lot of ‘70s movies are. And I did not buy Faye Dunaway suddenly falling for Robert Redford after he kidnapped her and tied her up to keep her captive. I know he’s RR, but have some respect for yourself, Faye. But the last 15 minutes are a pretty good mind-fuck and redeem the film. The relatively young Dunaway was pretty fetching!

B

Spider-Man: No Way Home
The girls and I hustled to the theater about two hours after L’s Christmas break began to catch the latest appearance by our friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man.

The multiverse thing worked in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Why not try it with Tom Holland and his crew? I never watched any of the Andrew Garfield movies, so his presence didn’t mean much to me. It was kind of cool to see Tobey McGuire on screen again, though.

I’m not big on the whole MCU thing, so lots of references are lost on me. Overall the story was decent. The lengthy denouement was surprisingly affecting. So I was entertained but I’m not sure I loved it. I liked the first two Holland movies more, though. L said it was her favorite of the three Holland movies, but she’s a sucker for recency bias.

B+

Spider-Man: Homecoming
Our New Year’s Eve movie of the year. Probably L’s fifth or sixth time watching it. I wish Spidey’s suit still talked to him.

A-

The Harder They Fall
Owes a lot to Tarantino, but another good entry into the crowded field of modern, revisionist Western movies.

B+

The Beatles: Get Back
Look here for my thoughts.

A

Holiday Baking Championship
A great field of competitors this year, probably the best final four ever. I figured Adam was going to win from the beginning. He has amazing skills, but he was a little smug for my tastes. I was pulling for Sabrina. And Jose really grew on me. He was so surly and bitchy at the beginning but morphed into one of the most interesting competitors.

A

By Dawn’s Early Light
This was one of the final movies made about a fictional, largely nuclear, World War III before the fall of the Soviet Union. Released in 1990 on HBO, it featured a stellar cast. It got good reviews at the time. Today, it feels pretty damn cheesy. The ending is just flat weird. But I do love a nuclear apocalypse story. Darren McGavin, A Christmas Story’s Old Man, as the momentary president with the fate of the world in his hands was a nice surprise.

C+

Seinfeld
I’ve been trying to catch a few episodes of Seinfeld each week on Comedy Central. Nothing systematic about it, so they are all out-of-order. I’ve often said that Seinfeld doesn’t hold up the same way shows like Cheers did because it had so many specific pop cultural references. I still wonder about that, at least as far as people who weren’t alive in the ‘90s watching the show and getting everything. I have to admit that those little moments very much worked for me, though, and the show remains a classic.

A

The Alpinist
Crazy documentary about climber Marc-Andre LeClerc, a young Canadian who took the free-soloing that Alex Honnold is famous for to another level. Insane views of insane climbs.

A-

T in the Park 2016- Frightened Rabbit (Full Set)
I’ve watched this several times before. YouTube offered it up again and it seemed like a good way to kill 75 minutes or so.

A

Talks at Google: Scott Hutchison
It led me to this, again something I’ve watched before, where Scott talked to Google employees about two months before his death.

A-

Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed
An accounting of Ross’ rise as an unlikely pop culture icon and the mess that his estate turned into after his death. Both inspiring and depressing. I had no idea he recorded his shows in Muncie, Indiana!

B+

Shorts

NPR’s Delicious Dish: Schweddy Balls
I actually skipped the SNL Christmas special, if it was even on, this year. I’ve been annoyed for ages about how it is pretty much the same show every year. So I spent a few nights watching some classic Christmas skits on YouTube. This one remains my favorite.

A+

A Tree a Minute: planting 1440 trees in a day
Big Gums: Sleeping in my 100 year old Gum tree
Beau Miles and trees.

A-, A-

The Driver is Red
An animated, mini-doc about the capture of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.

A-

How A NY Times Reporter Collects Royalties From Hundreds of Musicians
Obviously you have to be careful with one-sided accounts like this, but it still seems like some shady shit.

A-

Madeira Island – A Destination for all Surf Lovers
One of the waves that William Finnegan wrote about in Barbarian Days.

B

Paul Rudd’s Best Saturday Night Live Sketches (So Far)
Good stuff.

A

Podcasts

The Story Behind Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over”
One of my all-time favorite artists discussing my all-time favorite song, along with the rest of his career? Hell yes I’m listening to this!

A

Movies and Shows

Blondie – Apollo Theatre, Glasgow, 1979
This is AMAZING! Debbie Harry in her white-hot prime. The freaking drummer is insane, doing his best Keith Moon impression in his gold lamé suit.

A

The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Supremacy
The Bourne Ultimatum
I hadn’t watched any of these since the third installment came out in 2007, when I watched all three in three days. I repeated that over three nights last month. They still hold up really well. It was good to be reminded how much they influenced the Daniel Craig-era Bond movies.

Also, Matt Damon runs weird.

A-, A-, A-
Damon’s running: C-

Eastbound & Down, season one
I’ve never watched this, but have seen the Will Ferrell blooper collection plenty of times. One of my brothers-in-law and I like to repeat “Let the boy watch!” anytime we are together. This was about what I expected: dumb yet hilarious.

B+

The Commute: A four day paddle to work
Beau Miles up to his usual bullshit. I wish I had his adventurous spirit.

A

Old School
I caught the last half to two-thirds of this on Comedy Central one night. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve watched it. It holds up, although I wish I had been watching the un-edited version.

A-

Arrested Development, season one.
Before our trip I was looking for something to watch and decided to blaze through season one of this classic. I’m repeating myself, but this hold up, too. Quite well, in fact. Funny seeing Will Arnett back before he started working out and got biceps.

A

The Report
Red Notice
The Trial of the Chicago 7
These are the three movies I watched on our flights to/from Hawaii.

The Report fits right in with movies like State of Play that are focused on what should be boring investigations yet translate quite well into cinematic drama.

Red Notice was kind of dumb, but mindless entertainment and perfect for a plane. And I’ll watch anything with Gal Gadot.

The Trial of the Chicago 7
This was surprisingly funny. Not in an Old School way, but more in an “I expected this to be awfully heavy and I’m laughing way more than I thought” kind of way. Aaron Sorkin FTW, obviously.

I haven’t read, yet, about how historically accurate it was. But I enjoyed the hell out of it. Terrific acting all around, headlined by Sacha Baron Cohen, who continues to amaze me with his range.

A-, B-, A-

Shorts

The War On Drugs: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
So freaking good.

A+

Wake Turbulence From a Paper Airplane
Science! Beautiful science.

A-

‘The Green Reapers’
Unexpectedly awesome.

A-

Middle Kids – Records In My Life
One night I was watching a lot of Middle Kids vids and came across this charming piece from their early days.

A

Birds with Arms
On the one hand, it’s a bummer this is only 30 seconds long. On the other, it might get dumb if it was 60 seconds long.

A

Every Aston Martin in James Bond Explained
Ooooh, this is some sexy shit.

A

Roast Charlie Sheen – Jeff Ross
Jeff Ross Takes Bruce Willis to the Cleaners – Roast of Bruce Willis
Jeff Ross – Drew Carey Roast
Jeff Ross Gets Brutally Honest with Caitlyn Jenner (Full Set) – Roast of Alec Baldwin
Jeff Ross – Roast of Pamela Anderson
Jeff Ross – Roast Of James Franco
Another late-night binge. I stumbled across one of Ross’ roasts and spent the next hour or so working through some of his best.

A

How I Grew Up in The Coldest Town on Earth
No thank you. Tuck this away for when we go through a stretch where it doesn’t get above freezing for a week or two to remind yourself how good you have it.

B+

A whale saved my life
What an amazing story!

A+

Podcasts

Song Exploder: The War on Drugs
Adam Granduciel talking about the making of the single “I Don’t Live Here Anymore.” This is great, complete with segments of the various stages of demos the song went through. I especially love the tidbit about him leaving in a vocal flub because he could never come up with a lyric that fit that moment.

A

James Bond’s Spycraft Sound — Switched On Pop
Another piece that dives into the science behind music. It traces the common DNA on the music of the James Bond series.

B-

A fast start slowed by baseball playoffs and the beginning of the NBA season.

Movies and Shows

Halloween Wars
Halloween Baking Championship
It’s holiday baking season, bitches!!!! L and I only made it through a couple episodes of Halloween Wars, so it gets an incomplete. But S and I wrapped up HBC on Halloween night. Renee was a shocking winner. Adina had been the best baker the entire competition, Guillermo came on strong late, and I was sure they were ahead of Renee in the final bake. I thought this year’s crop of bakers was lacking in charisma, which detracted from the season.

Incomplete, B+

Barry
Holy shit! I’ve heard about this show for years and thought I knew what I was getting into. Boy was I surprised!

Bill Hader plays a hitman who stumbles into an acting class while chasing a target. He becomes enamored with the class and joins it, all while trying to leave his previous life behind him. I assumed it was about the hilarious issues of navigating this change. There was plenty of that, for sure. I did not know it would be soooooo dark and his efforts to leave would be, largely, fruitless. Not knowing that was coming made the payoff even better. Some GREAT supporting characters, especially Anthony Carrigan as NoHo Hank.

A

The American
I remember this getting a lot of mediocre reviews when it came out. One of those best recent espionage movies lists I found over the summer suggested it was worth a re-evaluation.

It was just sooooo slow and soooooo lacking in dialogue and real action that it was tough to sit through. Clooney does a great job with a character that is very different from any other he has played in his career. But when we watch Clooney, we want the Clooney Charisma, which is no where to be found.

B-

Casino Royale
Spectre
My pre-No Time to Die studying.

A, B-

Sicario
I’ve lost track of how many movies and shows I’ve watched and books I’ve read about the war on drugs in general and the Latin American drugs trade in particular. Many of them grapple with the morality of law enforcement’s efforts as they battle drug producers and traffickers. And they almost always show how law enforcement face a difficult battle given the restrictions they operate under. As tempting as it is to let them loose without limits, as a society we face the question of how we prevent that lack of oversight from spilling into other aspects of law enforcement.

I think Sicario did as good a job as any of those other works I’ve digested at getting into the meat of that quandary. It’s really cool that Benicio Del Toro has gone off the reservation to make a significant hit on a Mexican cartel. But he’s also done it in a super illegal manner, one that Emily Blunt’s character is not willing to give her approval to. Sicario doesn’t provide an answer to the debate. I think it’s much easier to have a concrete opinion about a scenario in a movie setting than in real life.

A-

Shorts

Stable Rollers
Science! When I watch stuff like this I always wonder about the trial-and-error that went into discovering these issues when, for example, the first trains were built. I assume a few trains were lost in testing before the shape of the wheels was perfected.

A

Ocean Depth Comparison
Dope. I always though the Caribbean Sea was fairly shallow, so I learned something.

A

Signing 1,812 books after sleeping in a ditch
Beau Miles can make anything interesting and unique.

A

Flat Earth FC
This was a funny little piece, until I learned the club transitioned to being anti-mask and anti-vaccine after Covid hit. Probably not a surprise a new owner has stepped in and rebranded.

B+

How the 3-point line is breaking basketball
This title of this piece is a little judgmental; just because the game has changed drastically doesn’t mean it’s broken. And I hate to sound like an old man and reflexively decide that, because the game is different now than 20 years ago, that means something it wrong with it. But this is an informative primer for those of you who may not follow basketball and wonder what all the fuss about the three-point shot is.

B+

Devil’s Teeth
A short about Ron Elliott, who dove for sea urchins around the Farallon Islands off San Francisco, an area notorious for being populated by Great White Sharks. A little too moody and lacking in sharks for me.

B-

Daniel Craig Answers Questions About James Bond 007
“Don’t be s***!” Daniel Craig’s advice for the next James Bond
Daniel Craig & Lashana Lynch Answer the Web’s Most Searched Questions

Thank you, Daniel Craig, for your service.

A-, A-, A-

How Radiohead Wrote the Perfect Bond Theme
Too much music theory for me. Can’t believe I’ve never heard this song before.

B

10 Things Jason Sudeikis Can’t Live Without
Disappointing no Kansas/Kansas City items are in here.

F (OK, B+)

This LEGO build will blow your mind
What kind of sorcery is this?

A

Somehow I did not watch a single movie last month. I think that was mostly due to paralysis by too many choices. There were plenty of nights when I scrolled through the various streaming services we pay for, searching for a movie that jumped out at me for 30–45 minutes then gave up and watched a show.

Movies and Shows

The Office
I got into a little Office jag in late August and it continued into last month. I ended up setting the DVR to record everything Comedy Central was showing, thinking I would work through the good seasons in order. It wasn’t until I was deep into season three that I realized CC either doesn’t own rights to all the shows anymore, or were only showing parts of whole seasons. That said, I knocked out most of season two and big chunks of seasons three and four over the past six weeks. I could just flip over to Peacock and watch any episodes I want. Despite being Xfinity customers, it still takes forever for Peacock to load and then find what you want to watch.

A

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
The show’s final season, delayed by Covid and rewriting to bring in some police reform plot lines. Ending with an hour-long Heist episode was a great way to go out. Always a solid show with moments of brilliance, but never completely great.

B+

Bobby and Giada in Italy
The first two episodes I watched in August, which took place in Rome, were wonderful. But the final two in Tuscany were even better. I don’t think it’s possible to film bad TV in Tuscany. Giada is 51, you know. That’s some crazy stuff right there.

A-

Archer
I’ve watched the first two episodes of season 12. I’m interested to see where it goes with the agency facing big money problems and Lana’s husband willing to back the firm. Must she stay in a marriage she doesn’t want to be in to save her career and the careers of her coworkers? Oh, and Archer is physically impaired, which has already led to all kinds of funny stuff.

B+

Lost Track Atlantic, episode four
Torren and Ishka end their journey in West Africa. They only casually mention it, but it sounds like their trip took place in early 2020 and was cut short as Covid was forcing the world to shut down. Once again this is filled with dazzling images and a wonderful soundtrack.

B+

The N Y Friars Club Roast Of Chevy Chase
Sometimes the old YouTube algorithm spits out a beauty. I had read somewhere that this roast was particularly savage. I didn’t think it was any worse than others I’ve watched. A younger, less well known Stephen Colbert steals the show.

B+

Ted Lasso, season two.
The four episodes in September featured three that ranged from good to very good, and one that was completely confusing and distracting. You can read my Lasso thoughts here.

A-

Shorts

Why You’ll Fail the Milk Crate Challenge
I’m just lucky that I haven’t seen one of these that resulted in a grotesque injury, right? (Please don’t send me any of those.)

A-

Every Sport a Bowling Ball
A lot of these are pretty dumb but the field hockey one made me laugh.

C+

Guerrilla Grazing
Very mixed feelings about this. Admiration and respect to this dude for living his life this way. At the same time, it seems kind of insane to live this way. He’ll be laughing at me when our society collapses after the next presidential election.

B+

The Ice Ball
This is fascinating, although I’d like to have seen more about how the ice houses work. As in, see them in the middle of the summer when the ice has been stacked for months yet it is still providing cooling and refrigeration.

B+

The Diamond
This did not go as I expected. Filmmaker Caitlyn Greene profiles people who hang out in an ancient volcano in Arkansas looking for diamonds. I figured it would be a profile of wacky people who spend their time digging through mud in hopes of finding life-changing jewels. Somehow she got her subjects to share intimate details of their life, making this a compelling watch.

A-

Senegal’s circular gardens hold back the Sahara
Who knows if this, or projects like it, have any chance of working. But relatively simple methods that allow locals to attempt to reclaim their land from climate disaster need a lot more attention and support.

B+

Run the Line: Retracing 43km of hidden railway
My Beau Miles video for the month. I enjoyed his encounter with the local police as he ran through private property to retrace an abandoned railway.

B+

This Alligator Will Die From 860 Volts
Electric eels are no joke.

B

Podcast

SmartLess
An old friend recommended this on Facebook. It might be the best thing anyone has recommended to me this year. Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes talk to other famous people. I guarantee you will laugh your ass off if you give it a try. I’m working through old episodes. Favorites so far are George Clooney, Will Ferrell, and Conan O’Brien.

A+

Movies and Shows

Patriot
“John Lakeman,” his professional name, is dealing with a lot of stuff. He’s trying to sway an election in Iran to prevent the country from gaining nuclear weapons. He’s attempting to pose as an expert in industrial piping as his cover, something he is woefully unprepared for. His boss at the piping firm hates him. Just about every one of his coworkers is on his ass for one thing or another. A detective wants to question him for murder. And there are at least four deaths on his hands. All this from a mission he did not want after suffering a mental breakdown.

Heavy shit.

Which probably makes it an odd thing to say this is one of the funniest shows I’ve watched in recent memory. There is a strong Fargo/Cohen Brothers vibe to it. Just about every moment of tension and violence is undermined by ridiculously hilarious dialogue and a cast full of kooky-as-fuck characters. The writing is top notch. The cinematography is stunning at times. The actors, both primary and supporting, are outstanding.

I loved this show, and can’t wait to watch season two. I can see how it would be frustrating for some viewers, though, since it is so oddball and artistic at times.

A

Lost Track Atlantic
Episode 3
Torren and Ishka continue the adventures through Northern Africa. As always, stunning visuals laid over a terrific soundtrack.

A-

Only the Essential: Pacific Crest Trail Documentary
On one hand, a beautiful accounting of an amazing trip. I think this is beyond my physical abilities these days, but long hikes like these still intrigue me. On the other, the narration is so monotone and bored-sounding that it detracts from the impact of the images.

B-

Pearl Jam Live from Rome, Italy June 26th 2018
Love it when I run across some random PJ show that is insanely long and offers both high quality video and audio.

Pearl Jam No Code Concert, October 17, 2014
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of their No Code album, the band put this show up for free last weekend. Sandwiched between a rousing “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” and 22 other songs, the band played the entire No Code album in order.

A+, A

Untold: The Malice in the Palace
It’s kind of crazy there hasn’t already been a deep dive into the infamous brawl between the Pacers and Pistons in November 2004. This was really well done, although to be clear it was told from the Pacers’ perspective, since Jermaine O’Neal was a producer. I don’t think that completely changes how we should judge the brawl. But it does show that the Pacers weren’t a bunch of thugs mindlessly attacking fans, which was the message most of the media carried in the aftermath of the fight. The players should have made different decisions and avoided the disaster that derailed what may have been the best Pacers team ever (although perhaps they were destined to flame out with the combination of personalities on their roster). But this program shows that nearly every escalation was caused either by fans or by the woefully inept security.

A-

The Dissident
An accounting of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudi security forces. This is disturbing on many levels. I was even reluctant to watch knowing that filmmaker Bryan Fogel had access to the official Turkish documentation of the murder. Fortunately for viewers, he only shared the transcripts of the audio the Turkish police recorded.

Fogel spends a little too much time on Saudi dissident Omar Abdulazziz, who believes Khashoggi’s vocal support for him was what led to his death. It is also immensely frustrating that Saudi Arabia does enough for our country’s economy in various ways that our government, under leadership of both parties, continues to refuse to hold the Saudis accountable for the long list of horrible things they do.

B+

Zodiac
I don’t remember this movie at all from when it was released. And apparently it was one of the best reviewed films of 2007. That’s what having kids will do to you!

Glad I got to it, though. It is a first-rate thriller, combining elements of both a standard police mystery and a journalistic hunt for the truth. Which, as we learn at the end, despite decades of investigation, the mystery of the Zodiac Killer remains unsolved.

A

Bobby and Giada in Italy
I could do with less Bobby Flay, but Giada De Laurentis cruising through Italy eating incredible food? Sign me up!

B+

Shorts

The $7BN Megaproject to Save Venice
I don’t know, seems like Venice might still be fucked.

B

Audi R8 vs RS e-tron GT: DRAG RACE
It’s crazy how fast electric cars are getting.

A-

The Largest Black Hole in the Universe – Size Comparison
Science!

B

What if THEY played drums on Toto’s AFRICA instead of Jeff Porcaro?
This would probably make more sense if I was a drummer and knew who half of these people were.

B

One Woman’s Mission to Get Vaccines to Her Rural Alabama Town
American hero.

A

Podcast

Consequence of Sound’s The Opus
The Opus celebrated the 30th anniversary of Pearl Jam’s debut Ten album with a look back at how the band came to be, how the album was recorded, how visual art was a huge part of the band carving out their niche, and how a show at the end of their first tour set them up for stardom. Fun to listen to if you’re a fan, but it also felt a little light and brief rather than exhaustive. Which, I suppose, most people interested in this will have already consumed other deep dives into the history of Ten.

B+

Movies and Shows

The Night Manager
This was a bit strange, and thus I’m not sure how to properly rate it. Based on a John Le Carré novel, and updated for the modern age, it follows a night manager at an Egyptian hotel – and former British Army officer – as he stumbles into an affair with a woman connected with international arms dealers. She is murdered, he moves on in his career, and eventually runs into the man he believes responsible for the woman’s death. He contacts a British official who tracks arms dealers and is recruited to infiltrate the network. He does, gets deeply involved, and, eventually, earns a measure of revenge. He also has sex with the main bad guy’s girlfriend.

Where I struggle is in how the series was presented. It comes across as very British, taking its sweet time getting to action. This was most notable when nearly two full episodes early on were devoted to sleepily setting things up. When you have just six episodes to tell a story, this seemed like a waste. But perhaps they were just being faithful to the original story. The finale is also structured far differently that I believe it would have been if the series was made in America.

B

One Night in Miami
Oh, I am mad at myself for not watching this sooner, because it was excellent. After winning the heavyweight title, Cassius Clay joins his spiritual advisor Malcolm X in his hotel room; good friends Sam Cooke and Jim Brown join them. Rather than a party, it becomes an evening of discussion.

The four leads – Leslie Odom Jr., Aldis Hodge, Eli Goree, and Kinglsey Ben-Adir – are all outstanding. But Ben-Adir, as Malcolm X, was phenomenal. Which is saying something, since arguably the defining performance of Denzel Washington’s dazzling career was his turn as Malcolm X. I can’t say who was better, but Ben-Adir moved me greatly.

There was also a line, spoken by Clay when he and Cooke sneak out for a drink and are discussing the meaning of power. He says, “Power means a world where it’s safe to be ourselves.” This movie takes place in 1965. It is sad that we’re still trying to get our country, and our world, to a place where everyone feels safe to be themselves.

A

Spotlight
A lighthearted film about the group of investigative reporters from the Boston Globe who broke the story of the Catholic Church’s cover-up of sexual abuse by priests on young parishioners. Yep, super lighthearted. It was really well done, which is tough, because journalism isn’t always the most dramatic of material to base a movie on.

A

Gunpowder Milkshake
Over the last year I have now started and given up on just two movies. Both were Netflix productions with casts filled with established stars. The first was the Will Ferrell-Rachel McAdams vehicle Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. And now this. I didn’t think you could go wrong with Karen Gillan and Carla Gugino heading a deep cast. But this, which is kind of a send-up of the style of movie I watched in June such as Atomic Blonde, just never works. It can’t commit to being silly. It has weird violence that is neither slapstick nor grotesque. I gave it half an hour then ejected for something else.

Incomplete

Tropic Thunder
That something else was this, which is how you do a satire. It was some funny shit. Robert Downey Jr….how did he not win an Oscar for his performance?

B+

Snowden
I totally forgot this was an Oliver Stone film until the end credits rolled. That explains why it was so mega-paranoid! The whole Edward Snowden affair broke at a moment when I wasn’t following the news very closely. I remember not being sure what to think about him and his actions. That remains true. Is he a hero or a traitor? I think the truth is probably a little of both. Which sums up the age we live in: we want to give the government leeway to protect us, but that freedom will always get pushed beyond its intended boundaries, by administrations we both like and loathe. The cat is probably well out of the bag and there’s really no going back at this point. I did not like how the real Snowden gets pulled in for the film’s final scene.

B+

The Usual Suspects
I was scrolling through Amazon Prime one night, looking for something to watch, and came across this classic. Which I probably haven’t watching in a good 18–19 years. There are some dated elements to it, and the impact is nowhere near what it was at the first viewing. But it still holds up pretty, pretty well.

A-

Ted Lasso, season one
I had to go back and watch the OG before the new season began. So many perfect scenes. So many moments that people have written about over the past year that hit harder the second time. Rebecca and Keeley’s relationship is one of the greatest things ever put on TV. Such a great collection of characters and acting performances. Barbecue sauce.

A+

Ted Lasso, season two, episodes one and two
No complaints about the new season so far. Roy Kent is a fucking treasure.

A

Lost Track Atlantic
Episode One
Episode Two
My old pals Torren Martyn and Ishka Folkwell set off on another epic surf journey, this time through Europe down to Africa. Until a massive storm approaches the African coast and they chuck the European part to experience the incredible waves the storm produced. Some pretty spectacular surfing, some amazing cinematography in general, all built upon an insanely good soundtrack. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

A

Shorts

Junk Cabin: Secretly building my wife a COVID office
I forgot to watch a Beau Miles video in June. Shame on me. In the first of these, he attempts to secretly build an office for his wife on their farmland during the early months of Covid lockdown. The result is kind of amazing.
A Mile with May: Adventuring with my daughter
Awwwww, Beau takes a walk with his daughter around his property.

B+, A-

Rap Fans React to The Cult- She Sells Sanctuary
Not what I expected. I thought this would be one of those videos where Black folks freak out when they hear classic rock songs for the first time. Those are fun, but they often seem a little performance-arty. But this couple are true music fans, and interested in hearing new things. I love the way they honestly and openly take in one of my favorite songs of all time and, by the end, are looking to check out some more music by The Cult.

A

One Breath Around The World
A mesmerizing film featuring world champion free diver Guillaume Néry.

A

Is Apollo 11’s Lunar Module Still In Orbit Around The Moon 52 Years Later?
Science!

A

Talk Watches with Jason Heaton
I’ve become a little addicted to the The Grey Nato podcast, in which Heaton and co-host James Stacey talk about watches, diving, cars, and adventuring. Here, Heaton talks about some of the watches in his collection. I have a few watches and have been toying with adding some more, but I’m looking at cheap watches that look nice. I’d love to have a collection like Heaton’s.

A

Movies and Shows

Big Shot
Coach Korn and his band of merry basketball warriors triumphed. In that, there was no surprise. It was the trials and travails along the way that made their journey compelling. Will Coach Holly be on their arch rival’s bench next year? L and I hope there is a season two so we find out. Jessalyn Gilsig could coach my team anytime.

B+

Spring Baking Championship
Finally finished this. The thing about these baking competition shows is the best folks almost always win. Which is how it should be. But, sometimes, the best baker slips up. That happened this year, when Veruska, who was clearly the best of this season’s bunch, had a poor showing in the semifinals and got sent home. Still, Keya was a worthy winner based on her finals performance.

B+

State of Play
In May I started working through a master list of best espionage films I cobbled together from various lists gathered online. I don’t remember this at all from when it came out, so it was totally new to me. Russell Crowe was excellent as a Washington reporter looking into the mysterious death of a congressman’s aide. That congressman, played to smarmy perfection by Ben Affleck, just happened to be his college roommate, which led to interesting angles. Suspenseful, but the story tried a little too hard to be tricky and twisty at the end. Robin Wright Penn and Rachel McAdams were also excellent, and Jason Bateman filled a very Jason Bateman-ey role.

B+

42
L is a big fan of Chadwick Boseman. She watched a feature about him and wanted to go back and catch up on his films she had not seen. We started here. Both the sisters drifted through early in the film and S decided to educate them on who Jackie Robinson was. All the girls scoffed, “MOM, we learn about him in school!” Given the current state of education, and all the snowflake conservative parents who can’t let their kids be introduced to different perspectives, you can’t fault S for thinking it would be verboten to discuss Robinson’s role in breaking down racial barriers. Props to St P’s for doing so, although we hear there are some asshole younger parents in the parish who will probably find it offensive that we celebrate the end of segregation.

The girls were taken quite aback and how naked and ugly the hate thrown toward Robinson was, though. It’s good for them to see that, and understand a lot of that raw hate is bubbling back up again.

A-

For All Mankind, season two
Season two of this alternate history of the space program jumps ahead from 1975 to 1983. Episode one begins with a fun “summary” of how the world had progressed over those years. Ronald Reagan defeated Ted Kennedy in 1976 and was reelected in 1980. John Lennon was shot at but survived; Pope John Paul II did not survive his assassination attempt. The US hockey team was crushed by the Soviets in the 1980 Winter Olympics. Prince Charles married Camila Parker Bowles rather than Diana Spencer. And, later, one of the biggest real news stories of 1983 plays a major role in the second half of the season.

More importantly the US and Soviet Union have large, constantly-populated bases on the moon and the space programs are massive parts of each country’s budget and national mission. There are near-constant flights to and from the moon, ferrying replacement crews and supplies. In 1983 tensions are climbing, though, and they reach a peak late in this season that pushed the nations to the brink of war both in space and on earth.

This season did a fine job showing how the weight of the program weighed on the people involved in it, from the astronauts and administrators of NASA to their families and friends.

The space stuff is, again, cool. The whole What If premise of the series is even more fascinating this season as it is total fiction. Who knows what would have happened had the US and USSR pushed each other in space into the ‘80s? Without any real history here, the writers could really go crazy. And they did, in the best possible way.

There were a few downsides to this season. I did not like one plot line in particular. It was telegraphed through much of the season and when it finally happened, I was greatly disappointed. I also kept doing the math on how old some of the characters really were, too. Could a guy who flew in the Korean War really have been an active NASA pilot in 1983? And would his wife looked as hot as she did? There were a few moments of clunky writing, too. And the massive earth/moon confrontation the entire season was built around got resolved way too easily.

Those quibbles aside, it was a really good season, culminating in two final episodes that had tons of fast-pulse moments.

One reason I started watching the show was someone, I forget who, that I follow on some platform mentioned that the season was good but the plot twist that comes late in the finale just blew him away. I had that in the back of my mind while I’ve watched these 20 episodes. Even so, I was totally blindsided when the twist hit. I had no freaking clue it was coming, and the final scene that leads up to it plus the reveal were outstanding.

The closing sequence for the season shows boots on Mars in 1995. So I guess we know where we’re jumping to next.

Season two expanded on, and improved on, the base season one set. That puts a lot of pressure on season three to continue that arc.

A

Luca
The latest Pixar movie. It doesn’t live up to the classics, but it’s a perfectly fine way to spend a couple hours with your kids. Or with your house guests who are 6, 3, and 2.

B

Raya and the Last Dragon
Another family movie we watched with our guests.

B

Back to the Future
L noticed that the Back to the Future movies were disappearing from Netflix on June 30 and wanted to try to watch them all in their final three days. We got about halfway through the first before she went to bed Sunday night. Then she finished it without me the next day. Rude! She didn’t have time to get to parts two or three, so kind of a failed exercise.

Even watching only half, this will always be an A+

Atomic Blonde
The Old Guard
Why not finish the month with a double dose of Charlize Theron kicking ass? Atomic Blonde was absolutely amazing in every aspect. The story. The visuals. The soundtrack. The general vibe. And Charlize kicking commie ass in Berlin in the final days before the Wall came down.

The Old Guard was much slower to get going and only redeemed itself with a solid last 20 minutes. A very interesting premise: immortal warriors who heal themselves from any wounds and have lived through, in some cases, thousands of years, are being targeted by a British, Big Pharma Bro in hopes of harnessing their genetic secrets for his financial gain. But it’s a chore to get to the payoff scenes, and some of the dialogue seemed almost an afterthought. The end is all about setting the base for a series of sequels to follow. Not sure they will be high on my list.

A
B-

Shorts

Juggling From Above
Mesmerizing

A

Jumping from 25,000 feet without a parachute
Nope, nope, a thousands times, nope.

A

Lovely shutter sounds of 18 cameras from 135 full frame to 810 large format
Who knew there were so many different shutter sounds for cameras? That Rolleiflex 3003 near the beginning is bonkers.

B

What Really Happened at the Hernando de Soto Bridge?
I think our political leaders in Washington should watch this. Knowing damage like this is probably present at countless other bridges around the country, it might give them the kick in the ass they need to agree on an infrastructure bill.

A-

Audi RS e-tron GT v Tesla Model S: 571-mile Scotland-to-London RACE & REVIEW!

I watched some of Mat Watson’s car videos during my research process and they were always entertaining. This piece is a terrific comparison of two sporty, high-end electric vehicles, the Audi e-tron and a Tesla Model S, driving over 500 miles through the United Kingdom. I did not consider EVs at all in my research process. That may change the next time I need a new car.

A

Audi RS e-tron GT v Porsche Taycan Turbo – which is best?

And then this dropped the last week of June. I may have to subscribe to Carwow’s videos, because I really like Watson’s work.

A

Restoring a Tissot 1853 watch
This is pretty impressive. Taking a watch that seems to be utterly destroyed and, through meticulous effort, making it not only run again but look beautiful in the process.

A

Great White Sharks in Infrared & Footage You’ve Never Seen Before

Meh. I mean, it’s cool to see great whites just kind of cruising and being normal. But, come on. When it comes to great whites we want carnage.

B

Movies and Shows

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Hard to believe this movie came out in 2002. And that I’ve managed to not see it in those 19 years!

Based on the “autobiography” of game show creator and host Chuck Barris, it details both his efforts to make it in the TV biz and his – likely – fictional life as a CIA hitman. Reading things written about the movie upon its release, there were real questions about how much of the movie was true. I guess later Barris said he never actually worked for the CIA. But that’s exactly what someone who was a government hit man would say, right?!?!

The delight of the movie was Barris’ The Gong Show days. I freaking loved The Gong Show when I was a kid. Oh, and Sam Rockwell was amazing.

A-

Spy Game
Robert Redford and Brad Pitt in a spy thriller that takes place both in the heart of the Cold War and the years immediately afterward? Sure, I’m in.

B+

Jumanji: The Next Level
L and I watched Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle last summer. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. As for the sequel, it didn’t quite live up to the first but it was still a good enough way to spend 90 minutes with my daughter.

B-

Community, season one
Rolling Stone dropped a 100 Best Sitcoms of All Time list in early May. It reminded me of the brilliance of Community, one of my all time favs. I had forgotten how it started with a clear sense of purpose, exceptionally strong characters, and some brilliant writing. Season one had some understandable unevenness, but by the end of the year, it was firing on all cylinders.

A-

Spring Baking Championship
Still working through this. I have two episodes left.

B+

Big Shot
L found this new Disney+ series about girls high school basketball. John Stamos plays a legendary men’s college hoops coach who left Wisconsin in disgrace after throwing a chair and hitting a ref. He attempts to reboot his career at an exclusive, all-girls school in La Jolla and is forced to navigate a world very different than where he came from.

It has some nice moments but reaches a little too far at times. L and I laugh because the team’s super star player, while athletic, has the worst looking jumper you’ve ever seen. Always hard to cast shows where actors have to be players.

Stamos’ character also seems to be very much modeled on Rick Pitino. Or maybe it’s just because Stamos looks a little like Pitino that make his mannerisms seem Pitino-esque. We started watching four weeks into the series so were able to binge to get caught up but are now waiting for the weekly drops of new episodes.

B

For All Mankind, season one
I heard mixed things about this show when it first dropped on AppleTV+. Recently, though, a couple people I follow expressed praise for it, so I decided to knock it out before my free year of the service ran out.

It is a retelling of the space race as if the Russians reached the moon first, and the US was left scrambling to catch up. The alternative history stuff is kind of cool. The political elements are played up just enough to be interesting without overwhelming the main space story. The space stuff is pretty well done, although there are a couple things that occur in the finale that I’m not sure could actually happen.

In the end, the show is pretty compelling and entertaining, anchored by a handful of excellent acting performances. I’m going to keep watching into season two.

A-

Shorts

Apple vs The Paradox of Choice!
If you make something cool, Apple just might come and crush you.

B

Shadows in the Sky
Stunning time lapse videos of clouds and storms.

A

Colette: The French resistance fighter confronting fascism
This amazing and somewhat overwhelming piece won the Oscar for best short documentary this year. It details the trip of Colette, a 90-year-old French woman whose entire family was part of the resistance during World War II, traveling to the concentration camp where her brother died in the closing weeks of the war.

A

How Long Should Your Naps Be?
I think they miss the correct answer, which always seems to be 15–20 minutes longer or shorter than you actually sleep.

B

Leslie Odom, Jr. teaches Philly Slang
Delightful

A