september

Books

The Word for World is Forest

An interesting take on colonization, and how destructive humanity can be.

Unconquerable Sun

I’m not too familiar with Alexander the Great but I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It was long, but never felt like a slog. Quite a few rad space battles and exploits.

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch

A meandering, funny book about being accused of witchcraft in the 1600s.

Movies

You Were Never Really Here

This is like the most grim John Wick. Well shot, but damn, it was grim.

Palm Springs

Unbelievably charming. My accidental JK Simmons fest continues with a far more fun character of his, and a solid Connor O’Malley. The best thing I can say about this is that it made me want to fall in love.

Whiplash

If the goal was to make every character absolutely insufferable, then this was a great success. The way the film obsessed over the sweat and blood conjured by JK Simmons being one of the most abusive characters on screen was fascinating. Not a fun movie. Because I’m a “such jazz head” I did enjoy the musical interludes.

Heat

Absolutely rad except for Kilmer’s ponytail. The dna of this film is in so many heist films for the past 20 years. Al Pacino talking about butts blew my mind.

Old

If you drink every time someone says older or younger you will die.

Prisoners of the Ghostland

Checkov’s ball bomb. This was silly, but ultimately didn’t live up to Sono’s other work. If this was his first film we could say “oh, that guy makes ok schlock,” but I had pretty high hopes.

It Comes at Night

Not a great movie to watch during a pandemic, but definitely a tense one.

Escape from New York

Rewatched to listen to Blank Check. It’s hilarious to me that Kurt Russell is a libertarian.

Annette

Adam Driver is the worst joker yet. I don’t like musicals but this was so bizarre I enjoyed it.

Wrath of Man

Much more interesting than I first imagined. A wild ride of a revenge film.

Kate

A solid film. MEW should be in more action movies—imo she should take over Mission Impossible or something. Stylish and fast.

Malignant

Schlocky in a very 80s horror way. Not really scary at all, but just a bit silly and gory.

Naked Singularity

Fun and slightly surreal take on a heist and an underdog lawyer story.

The Colony

An interesting post-apocolyptic tale with bits of Waterworld and NK Jemison’s Emergency Skin. I would’ve loved to know more about how the Earth stayed habitable, but that likely would be the long TV version of this story.

Ex Machina

Such an amazing film. The claustrophobic nature of the whole thing really enhances the haunting performances.

We Need to Do Something

I like what it was trying for but it didn’t capture my attention or really deliver.

Antiporno

I haven’t watched a Sono film in a while but man, it’s still a wild ride. I think Suicide Club is still the absolute best, but the absurdly surreal structure of this one was delightful.

Sisters with Transistors

Wow I knew very little about the history of women who pioneered electronic music. This was cool and full f amazing music.

The Forever Purge

Definitely the best of the purge films. A lot of action, and some solid, if not well-fleshed-out characters.