More Random Shit I Watched in the Last Few Weeks
Another post, another series of random things I watched and have feelings on
Bonjour. I’m again writing snarky snippets on some films and TV I watched recently. I’m writing this on the way to vacation and will be in locations featured in some stuff I watched. (It’s Dragonstone, I’m going to Dragonstone.) Maybe I’ll do criticism again, maybe I won’t! Sue me! Without further ado, here’s more random shit I watched in the last few weeks.
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces, and The Secret History of Twin Peaks
The Twin Peaks rewatch continues with Fire Walk with Me, a 1992 prequel film to the original series that is the most devastating yet beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. The content, centered on a character we know dies who spent much of her life experiencing the most vile abuses, may suggest otherwise, but perhaps no other film loves its protagonist as deeply and empathetically as FWWM. Additionally, I’m unwell so am consuming all the Twin Peaks media out there. I dabbled in The Missing Pieces, a 90-miunte collection of deleted scenes from FWWM featuring more characters from the TV show and that’s a nice vibe! I’m also listening to The Secret History of Twin Peaks, an epistolary novel investigating centuries of otherworldly spookiness surrounding the titular town. The book is winningly bizarre: one section connects a ring from FWWM to the supposed scheme to assassinate Merriwether Lewis (as in “and Clark”) in reference to the actual theory his suicide was staged? Excellent. Give me more of that nonsense, please. I keep threatening to go long on Twin Peaks. Maybe I’ll see you again in 25 years.
A Quiet Place Part II and A Quiet Place: Day One
I did not like A Quiet Place, John Krasinski’s quasi-horror post-apocalyptic family drama he stars in with Emily Blunt. While a Blunt showcase as Krasinski gifts his wife a role she can act the shit out of, the film never rises above barely competent genre fare because it’s directed by a jar of mayonnaise in a turtleneck who wants to be Steven friggin’ Spielberg. The same applies to Part II, which, while demonstrably worse, at least has Cillian Murphy’s big arms in a tight t-shirt. On the other hand, Day One, a prequel about the franchise’s initial alien invasion, is a grim, surprisingly trenchant meditation on death. Writer-director Michael Sarnoski, working from a story he conceived with Krasinski, adds a welcome human touch to the films, anchored by Lupita Nyong’o’s powerhouse lead performance. I genuinely did not expected to find the quiet (ha ha) story at the film’s core as moving as I did. Here’s hoping Krasinski learned something from his prequel’s architect for Quiet Place Part III.
Captain America: The First Avenger
We’re showing the Marvel Cinematic Universe to my girlfriend’s kid brother. (I say “we” when I’m solely to blame.) We recently got to Captain America’s first film, and I’ve always had such affection for it. Its heart is so deep and pure, and it’s filled with pitch-perfect performances, especially Chris Evans as the best of the main Avengers. I’m also such a sucker for the ill-fated romance with Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter (one of my all-time crushes). The movie has more on its mind than some of its later MCU counterparts: once a week I think about how Steve Rogers is chosen to be Captain America not because he is jingoistic but, as my beloved Stanley Tucci says, because he cares about the little guy; or how the instant Steve gets the Captain America serum the Senator who funded the project uses him not for saving soldiers but to lead a theatrical campaign selling war bonds. It’s got ideas about America! Steve had a date! I love this movie so damn much!
Ren Faire
Lance Oppenheim’s three-episode HBO documentary about the impending retirement of the octogenarian who found one of the world’s most successful Renaissance Fairs is presented so rivetingly. Oppenheim works with his theatrically inclined subjects to recreate their emotional reality via elaborately literalizing abstract feelings – at one point, a dragon appears to a character as if from a hallucination. Though its artistry sometimes exceeds its narrative grasp, Ren Faire proves a shockingly prescient examination of how gerontocrats surround themselves with yes-men whose power struggles damn their kingdom to ruin. Something I’m sure Biden knows nothing about!
The Bear
The F/X series about Chicago restaurateurs struggling to better themselves via creativity and community is my favorite thing on TV; it’s also one of the medium’s most celebrated current works, beloved among audiences, critics, and awards bodies. The recently released third season has received mixed and ambivalent reaction, with which I’m disappointed to say I generally agree while remaining positive overall. The triumphant, miraculous second season celebrated the human ability to change and grow, yet season 3 finds its characters stuck in a rut trying to answer “now what?” While realistic – change really doesn’t happen overnight – The Bear, previously so propulsive and tense, becomes more recursive and circular. The show is a bit more self-indulgent, as it risks overdosing on cameos and montages set to kickass needle drops. Individual episodes of season 3 (e.g., “Tomorrow,” “Napkins,” and “Ice Chips”) rank among the series’ best, and I appreciate one of the most popular shows on TV willfully challenging its audience. (“Think you like Carmy? Then here’s an episode that’s one giant montage functioning as a previously-on sequence reflecting how he traps himself in a prison of his own self-loathing.”) Unfortunately, that challenge doesn’t always make for satisfying viewing. I still adore The Bear, as there’s nothing on TV like it, especially when it is its best self; I’m hard on the show because I know what it can be. (I again threaten to go long in another piece!) I finished the season equally satisfied and frustrated that, despite many stellar moments, little progress was made. My hope is that, in hindsight, the darker, weirder, and more ambitious season 3 sets the table for a rapturous, electrifying fourth season. (An idea somewhat supported by their having concurrently filmed part of season 4.) Time will tell, but every second counts, chef.
Odds and Ends
In light of its second season, I vented frustrations with House of the Dragon’s first season in my last post. Turns out, the new HotD…. rips? It’s kinda terrific? Guess I’m eating my words like that one dragon ate that other dragon!
Janet Planet is a wonderful, moving portrait of loneliness starring Julianne Nicholson’s Janet, single mother to Zoe Ziegler’s adolescent Lacy. This is the film debut of Ziegler and writer-director Annie Baker, and both are quietly excellent. It’s remarkably specific, which makes it all the more frustrating the film was in theaters for five minutes. Support cinema for adults, you cowards!
The Hunger Games is the only YA franchise I ever really fucked with, reading the whole trilogy in a single week in high school. (I was an actual child for Harry Potter, which I don’t consider YA.) Sure, it had regular YA trappings, but I always appreciated Hunger Games for its ideas on power, media, and revolution. Suffice it to say, recently revisiting the first film cemented its status as Good™.
Plus, Stanley Tucci!
Jeff Nichols’s The Bikeriders has many talented actors doing very silly voices while looking very hot (e.g., Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, etc.). Its unfocused story meanders, but, when you’ve got these hotties doing those voices, I’ll have a good time.
Regretfully, I’m a defender of the film Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 and am all in on Kevin Coster’s ridiculous endeavor of investing nearly $40 million of his own money to shoot and release four westerns back-to-back. Chapter 2 was recently delayed without a date, and I hope all the Horizon films Costner intends to make gallop into theaters, that sick freak.
Richard Linklater’s Before Trilogy is as enchanting, painful, and miraculous as you’ve heard. I don’t have more to say beyond that they (especially the ending of its Paris-based middle Before Sunset) are the greatest shit on earth.
The Aristocats is a delightful if slight Disney romp; Julie & Julia is a pleasant treatise on finding yourself featuring two things I love to look at (French food and Stanley Tucci) and Meryl Streep reminding us that, even though she’s one of the most celebrated actresses of all time, we may somehow underrate her.
What’s with all the shit I watched set in France? Au revoir!
