During May I saw how greed lies to justify itself. And then there were books read and films viewed. Life is stranger than fiction.
Among the greatest hits was Luis Buñuel’s film Él (1955), This Gun for Hire (xxxx), and Richard III.
As well, I watched the Apple TV series Pluribus, the 1988 remake D.O.A., the 2016 Verhoeven film Elle (M’s suggestion), and the series The Penguin. Meh.
May 2nd
— Alien 3 (1992), 144 min. (Assembly Cut)
Directed by David Fincher; written by David Giler, Walter Hill, and Larry Ferguson, based on characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett.
Starring Sigourney Weaver, Charles S. Dutton, Charles Dance, Brian Glover, Ralph Brown, and Paul McGann.
Released in the United States on May 22, 1992.
Viewed the Assembly Cut version on HBO Max, with 30 extra minutes! of the most hated of all of the Alien movies.
— Alien Resurrection (1997), 114 min. (Special Edition)
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet; written by Joss Whedon, based on characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett.
Starring Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Dominique Pinon, Ron Perlman, Gary Dourdan, and Michael Wincott.
Released in the United States on November 26, 1997.
The Special Edition
May 3rd
— Pluribus (2025), “We Is Us”
Directed by Vince Gilligan; written by Vince Gilligan.
Starring Rhea Seehorn, Karolina Wydra, Carlos-Manuel Vesga, Miriam Shor, Peter Bergman, Karan Soni, and Allan McLeod.
Aired on Apple TV+ on November 7, 2025.
— Pluribus (2025), “Pirate Lady”
Directed by Vince Gilligan; written by Vince Gilligan.
Starring Rhea Seehorn, Karolina Wydra, Carlos-Manuel Vesga, Miriam Shor, Samba Schutte, Menik Gooneratne, and others.
Aired on Apple TV+ on November 7, 2025.
— Pluribus (2025), “Grenade”
Directed by Gordon Smith; written by Gordon Smith.
Starring Rhea Seehorn, Karolina Wydra, Carlos-Manuel Vesga, Miriam Shor, and guest cast including Thor Knai and Robert Bailey Jr.
Aired on Apple TV+ on November 14, 2025.
— Pluribus (2025), “Please, Carol”
Directed by Zetna Fuentes; written by Alison Tatlock.
Starring Rhea Seehorn, Karolina Wydra, Carlos-Manuel Vesga, Miriam Shor, Jeff Hiller, and Soledad Campos.
Aired on Apple TV+ on November 21, 2025.
Began watching this on my father’s recommendation. He had spoken about it with me at two different times, telling me about the plot in some detail.
And I was hooked by the first episode.
But if you know me, you know that “being hooked” makes me uncomfortable.
Also, I became frustrated after the first episode that the character with whom I was stuck, through this series, was the character Carol Sturka played by Rhea Seeborn.
This is not the person I want to spend the apocalypse with.
And things that were really interesting, such as the idea that Carol’s angry tirades could affect the Others such that they would experience seizures, were left unexplored.
May 4th
M watches this show and I complain about it, but I watch it with her. In part, I’m kidding, but also, I really do (1) dislike Jason Segel and (2) think everything is too happy happy joy joy good endings (okay, Maya died, which I knew was going to happen).
Predictably, my favorite character is Harrison Ford’s.
— Shrinking (2024), Second season
Directed by Bob Shitlips; written by Bill Shitlips.
Starring Jason Segel, Harrison Ford, Jessica Williams, Christa Miller, Michael Urie, Luke Tennie, Lukita Maxwell, Ted McGinley, and Brett Goldstein.
Aired on Apple TV+ on October 16, 2024.
— Pluribus (2025), “Got Milk”
Directed by Gordon Smith; written by Ariel Levine.
Starring Rhea Seehorn, Karolina Wydra, Carlos-Manuel Vesga, Miriam Shor, and others.
Aired on Apple TV+ on November 28, 2025.
— Pluribus (2025), “HDP”
Directed by Gandji Monteiro; written by Veri Blasi.
Aired on Apple TV+ on December 5, 2025.
— Pluribus (2025), “The Gap”
Directed by Adam Bernstein; written by Jenn Carroll.
Aired on Apple TV+ on December 12, 2025.
— Pluribus (2025), “Charm Offensive”
Directed by Melissa Bernstein; written by Jonny Gomez.
Aired on Apple TV+ on December 19, 2025.
— Pluribus (2025), “La Chica o El Mundo”
Directed by Gordon Smith; written by Allison Tatlock.
Aired on Apple TV+ on December 24, 2025.
May 5th
— The Taming of the Shrew, Act 4
Petruchio primarily tames Kate in this act, I think, as he tortures her with garments that he will send back and food that he believes to be overcooked, leading them to fast.
Did you know that Harold Bloom vehemently claimed that Kate is deeply in love with Petruchio? It’s true.
Whereas the much-less-credentialed reviewers (yeah, that’s a funny one, right, calling Bloom a “reviewer”?!) on Goodreads were horrified by how non-woke Taming is.
— The Penguin (2024), “After Hours”
Directed by Craig Zobel; written by Lauren LeFranc.
Starring Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz, Deirdre O’Connell, Clancy Brown, Michael Kelly, and Shohreh Aghdashloo.
Aired on HBO on September 19, 2024.
— The Penguin (2024), “Inside Man”
Directed by Craig Zobel; written by Erica L. Johnson.
Aired on HBO on September 29, 2024.
— The Penguin (2024), “Bliss”
Directed by Craig Zobel; written by Noelle Valdivia.
Aired on HBO on October 6, 2024.
I think that Colin Farrell has been celebrated for this role, but I am not terribly impressed. Of course, Farrell bears significant facial prosthetics. And in so far as a very good looking man has been made into a quite ugly one, I suppose that is something. His role is interesting, and some compare it to that of Bob Hoskins in The Long Good Friday (1980).
That seems like a considerable stretch. Hoskins’ character was at his moment of triumph when everything came falling down, all due to no special error of his own. Instead, a colleague had made a very serious enemy of the IRA and Hoskins’ character suffered the consequences.
May 6th
— Con Air (1997), 115 min.
Directed by Simon West; written by Scott Rosenberg.
Starring Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, John Malkovich, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, Colm Meaney, and Monica Potter.
Released in the United States on June 6, 1997.
I mean, what was John Malkovich thinking exactly? According to the unimpeachable IMDB, money.
I like to think that without having made this, he wouldn’t have been considered for Burn After Reading.
Did I ever tell you that once I sat next to John Malkovich on the subway in New York? I was reading Nietzsche, preparing for a class I was teaching at Hunter. He seemed piqued by what I was reading, but did not provoke conversation. For my part, I never talk to celebrities because I always end up feeling like a fool afterwards.
— Finished The Taming of the Shrew.
This is such a perplexing play. Harold Bloom thinks that Kate has fallen in love with Petruchio and that is the reason for her obedience. But it does seem at odds with her presentation in the first act. Her deep cutting wit. And Petruchio’s taming is not torture, per se, but is definitely maddening. Nothing to eat, nothing to wear!
Natasha Korda is very insightful on these things with attention (at times pedantic, but it’s an occupational hazard) to OED definitions and Baudrillard and Bourdieu and class distinctions between the married partners.
I sort of loved how in the fifth act when at first Lucentio’s pedant “father” doubles down on being the pater when the actual pater appears.
May 7th
— Greg Rucka, Lazarus: The First Collection, Image Comics.
Eh, not bad, I guess.
May 8th
— D.O.A. (1988), 97 min.
Directed by Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton; written by Charles Edward Pogue, based on the 1950 film D.O.A. by Russell Rouse and Clarence Greene.
Starring Dennis Quaid, Meg Ryan, Charlotte Rampling, Daniel Stern, and Jane Kaczmarek.
Released in the United States on March 18, 1988.
Watched first 30 minutes, then rewatched all of it with M. This film is included in the ’80s Remakes (and Their Originals) on The Criterion Collection.
— RoboCop (1987), 102 min.
Directed by Paul Verhoeven; written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner.
Starring Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O’Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, and Miguel Ferrer.
Released in the United States on July 17, 1987.
Watched the last hour.
May 10th
— Speed (1994), 116 min.
Directed by Jan de Bont; written by Graham Yost.
Starring Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Dennis Hopper, Joe Morton, Jeff Daniels, and Alan Ruck.
Released in the United States on June 10, 1994.
First 45 minutes.
So Jeff Daniels is Keanu Reeves’ sidekick? Wow. What a world we live in. Equally incredible is the fact that a sequel to this piece of shit was made (which I have not consumed in whole, even though I was once a fan of Jason Patric, a long long time ago after he was in a Jim Thompson adaptation).
— The Taming of the Shrew: A Norton Critical Edition, essays
— Richard III
Written by William Shakespeare; edited by John Jowett.
Published by Oxford University Press, 414 pp.
Act 1, Scene 1: “winter of our discontent …”
May 11th
— NYRB on nerd-bully Bill Gates, Iran …, Liza Minelli, Marat, J. Hoberman’s new book, Walter Lippmann biographies
— Elle (2016), 130 min.
Directed by Paul Verhoeven; written by David Birke, based on the novel Oh… by Philippe Djian.
Starring Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Anne Consigny, Charles Berling, Virginie Efira, and Judith Magre.
Released in France on May 25, 2016.
M wanted to watch this, so we watched it. Isabelle Huppert leads the cast, so that is undoubtedly in its favor. But that may be all. I mean, Paul Verhoeven (May 8th!) …
— Natasha Korda on domestic economy in Taming of the Shrew
May 12th
— Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda, Monstress, Vol. 1: The Awakening, Image Comics, 55 pp.
I took this up, on a lark, after reading the ebook version of Lazarus through the Free Library’s collection and then finding someone recommending this series.
But I am not sure that I was the person to whom this reviewer was speaking.
At some point I really liked comic books and they captured my adolescent imagination. But I am not an adolescent any longer. The only series that I have enjoyed over the past decades was Fables, unfortunately composed by a virulent Zionist, I understand. It was still great.
— Gerd Gemünden, Lucrecia Martel, University of Illinois Press, 28 pp.
Gemünden celebrates the way Martel refuses to use focus and composition in the same diegetic patterns normally expected. So the image includes hands pouring wine, for example, but not the person who is pouring the wine. And sounds are included that are not immediately part of the ensemble constructing the scene.
I’ve seen everything that Martel has made to present, including La Ciénaga, The Holy Girl, The Headless Woman, and Zama. Something new is coming out shortly, but I do not think it is a dramatic film.
May 13th
— Liu & Takeda, Monstress, 67 pp.
— The Searchers (1956), 119 min.
Directed by John Ford; written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the novel The Searchers by Alan Le May.
Starring John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, Natalie Wood, and John Qualen.
Released in the United States on May 26, 1956.
Watched the first 30 minutes. Interested in how Ethan (Wayne) was portrayed as deeply suspicious of Indians, a Confederate, and possibly a criminal. As well as — I found this elsewhere — there’s something in the air between his character and his brother’s wife Martha. The way they embraced made me think this as well, in passing, but then I forgot about it.
But it’s really a film about the threat of miscegenation.
— Richard III, Act 1 Scene 2
May 14th
— Robin Hood (2010), 140 min.
Directed by Ridley Scott; written by Brian Helgeland and Ethan Reiff & Cyrus Voris.
Starring Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, William Hurt, Mark Strong, Oscar Isaac, Danny Huston, and Max von Sydow.
Released in the United States on May 14, 2010.
Terrifically boring. I suspect that Scott was selected for this project because they wanted the film NOT to be boring. If so, they failed.
I watched the trailer before I watched this — had never seen it before — and it is scored with rock music, actually. I had thought maybe the same would be in the movie (let’s not explore what that might mean) … and there is a little bit of this, where the singer during a dance is yelling like a rock star might (not to mention the music’s tempo, which is far from that of what we would think period music).
Oscar Isaac gets to play a bad guy, so there’s that. And William Hurt and Max von Sydow! Meh.
The part where von Sydow’s character tells Robin (Crowe) that his father was a philosopher and had written a sort of social contract … by which he meant an actual contract and talked about rights and yada yada (not a natural rights polemic).
— This Gun for Hire (1942), 81 min.
Directed by Frank Tuttle; written by Albert Maltz and W. R. Burnett, based on the novel A Gun for Sale by Graham Greene.
Starring Veronica Lake, Robert Preston, Laird Cregar, and Alan Ladd.
Released in the United States on May 13, 1942.
One of Alan Ladd’s first films and definitely his first work with Veronica Lake, with whom he would make The Glass Key (1943) the very next year, based on the success of this film.
Ladd’s character is quite unique, with an emotional wherewithal that is not disturbed by the attentions of Lake’s character.
— Finally finished the long Act 1 Scene 3 of Richard III
May 15th
— Finished Liu & Takeda, Monstress.
Will not be returning to find out what happens in the next collections of issues.
— NYRB on Dunne’s Vegas, the Jewish Bund movement, repatriating Native American skeletons from grave sites by an Indianan (no pun intended, okay, maybe a little), Hong Kong literature, pop music and sexuality, Atget prints
— La Ciénaga (2001), 103 min.
Directed and written by Lucrecia Martel.
Starring Graciela Borges, Mercedes Morán, Martín Adjemián, Leonora Balcarce, and Daniel Valenzuela.
Released in Argentina on April 19, 2001.
Watched the first 30 minutes with M, but we had to stop because she was tired (on the night shift).
— The Penguin (2024), “Top Hat”
Directed by Kevin Bray; written by Vladimir Cvetko.
Starring Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz, Deirdre O’Connell, Clancy Brown, Michael Kelly, and Shohreh Aghdashloo.
Aired on HBO on October 27, 2024.
— The Penguin (2024), “Great or Little Thing”
Directed by Jennifer Getzinger; written by Lauren LeFranc.
Aired on HBO on November 3, 2024.
I guess I missed an episode … meh! I did think that “Top Hat,” when we learn that our feckless protagonist actually put his brothers to death, changed things a lot.
— The White Lotus (2021), “Arrivals”
Directed by Mike White; written by Mike White.
Starring Murray Bartlett, Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario, Fred Hechinger, Jake Lacy, Brittany O’Grady, Natasha Rothwell, Sydney Sweeney, Steve Zahn, and Lukas Gage.
Aired on HBO on July 11, 2021.
First watched 10 minutes, then stopped it, then continued watching next 20 minutes, then stopped it. I’m not really sure what the interest is in this show … I’m still waiting.
May 16th
— Deepwater Horizon (2016), 107 min.
Directed by Peter Berg; written by Matthew Michael Carnahan and Matthew Sand, based on the article “Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hours” by David Barstow, David Rohde, and Stephanie Saul.
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O’Brien, and Kate Hudson.
Premiered in New Orleans on September 16, 2016.
This film dramatizes the human toll of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform explosion that occurred on April 10, 2010, with emphasis on the 11 lives that were lost that day.
This film does NOT address the greater environmental and economic catastrophe that occurred as a result of the explosion, the latter being an event unsurpassed in scope, to my knowledge — even though it is now mainly a figment of historical imagination (the latter not being something I condone, but do feel required to mention) …
I watched this because I was searching catastrophe movies and this came up repeatedly and had relatively high ratings. I’d never seen it because I thought, do I care?
But my profound cinematic akrasia pushed me forth (that and a fair amount of ennui).
Why Did You Watch This? The Spectacle
Turns out that there are respects in which it is factually in error. Shocking! Some dramatic license taken. But I think I was watching it for the spectacle. That’s what I wanted, and that’s really the essence of a catastrophe movie.
Spectacle is why we watch films like The Day After or The Day After Tomorrow or even The Lord of the Rings: we desperately want to see destruction in scale. This is why 9/11 was so visually captivating and traumatizing.
— Plate Tectonics, Chap. 4
— Richard III, Act 1 Scene 4
Richard’s executioners put Clarence to death after a comical exchange about conscience.
— Deadwood (2004), “Here Was a Man”
Directed by Alan Taylor; written by David Milch.
Starring Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, Molly Parker, Brad Dourif, John Hawkes, Paula Malcomson, Robin Weigert, and Powers Boothe.
Aired on HBO on April 11, 2004.
Keith Carradine is featured in these early episodes of season 1 playing the role of Wild Bill Hickok, who has come to Deadwood with Calamity Jane (Robin Weigert) and Charlie Utter (Dayton Callie). These latter characters will last through all 3 seasons. Hickok, however, is killed in this episode by Jack McCall, played by Garrett Dillahunt.
Before ANYTHING I should probably say that Olyphant’s character (Seth Bullock) is probably the least interesting. He doesn’t get great lines and is basically the eyecandy. But you love him. He’s the moral anchor, along with his partner Sol Star (John Hawkes). But fucking everyone in this is excellent. And they have an incredible set of scripts to assist them. During the second season especially, in my humble opinion.
Carradine’s Hickock impresses you with his profound personal exhaustion. He’s pursued by the legacy of all of the men he’s killed, and it weighs heavily on him. He comes, ostensibly, to work a claim, supposedly. But mainly he’s just preparing for death through whiskey and poker.
This is Carradine’s best role since Nashville, I surmise.
Equally impressive is the actor Garrett Dillahunt who plays Jack McCall, his killer. Now Dillahunt doesn’t get as much time nor the opportunity to exploit it, but the producers clearly paid attention because they brought him back in the second season to play the fascinating character of Francis Wolcott, a sort of emissary (who is also a serial murderer) for George Hearst.
David Milch, the show’s creator, brought Dillahunt to play a role in his next show, John From Cincinnati (along with Dayton Callie and Paula Malcolmson).
May 17th
— Plate Tectonics, Chap 5 and into Chap 6
The rigidity of the lithosphere.
— The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), 178 min.
Directed by Peter Jackson. Written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson, based on the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien.
Starring Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, and Liv Tyler.
Premiered in London on December 10, 2001. Theatrical release in the United States on Dec. 18th.
Watched the “Extended Edition” on HBO Max, which is according to IMDB the “Blu Ray Extended Edition”: 3h 49m (229 m). There are two other Extended Editions, both of which are shorter.
— The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), 179 min.
Directed by Peter Jackson; written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair, and Peter Jackson, based on the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien.
Starring Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Christopher Lee, Brad Dourif, and Miranda Otto.
Premiered in New York City on December 5, 2002.
Blu Ray Extended Edition (according to IMDB): 3h 56m [236 m]). I only watched the first hour on HBO Max.
May 18th
— The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Blu Ray Extended edition (3h 56m [236 m]), Watched the remaining 2h and 36 minutes.
There is a scene that I do not believe was included in the theatrical version in which Gimli and Legolas are comparing body counts — YES, comparing body counts! — and Gimli sets up Legolas by asking him first and then one-uping him: Oh, you had 42? I had 43.
Then Legolas shoots the dead soldier/Orc that Gimli is sitting on and says, 43!.
Gimli: He was dead already!
Legolas: He was twitching.
No doubt you are aware that no less than motherfucking Falstaff also takes credit for having killed a(n already) dead soldier in Henry IV, Part 1.
— The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), 201 min.
Directed by Peter Jackson; written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson, based on the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien.
Starring Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, John Rhys-Davies, and Liv Tyler.
Released in New Zealand and the United States on December 17, 2003.
Blu Ray Extended Edition (4h 24m [244m]) on HBO Max.
Watched everything, including the 10 minutes crediting the original LOTR fan club members.
May 19th
— The A-Team (2010), 117 min.
Directed by Joe Carnahan; written by Joe Carnahan, Brian Bloom, and Skip Woods, based on the television series created by Stephen J. Cannell and Frank Lupo.
Starring Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton Jackson, Sharlto Copley, Jessica Biel, and Patrick Wilson.
Released in the United States on June 11, 2010.
Watched on AMC with continual commercial interruption.
Note to self: never hire Joe Carnahan to write or direct any movie, ever!
— Taken (2008), 90 min.
Directed by Pierre Morel; written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen.
Starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Katie Cassidy, and Holly Valance.
Released in France on February 27, 2008.
The god of cinematic akrasia undoubtedly plans my punishment for this infraction.
— Deadwood (2004), “The Trial of Jack McCall”
Directed by Ed Bianchi; written by John Belluso.
Starring Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, Molly Parker, Brad Dourif, John Hawkes, Paula Malcomson, Dayton Callie, and others.
Aired on HBO on April 18, 2004.
Okay, I claimed above that Seth Bullock (Olyphant) was the weakest character on Deadwood, and there is some justification for this.
In this arc of episodes, he’s deeply affected by Hickock’s death. This is interesting because Hickock is the closest thing that the 19th century had to a celebrity. So one cannot help but wonder if Bullock’s sympathy for Hickock is separate from the awe connected to a legend.
Regardless, he mourns the person he’d identified as a friend, but his masculine character is not one to openly express his emotions. Instead, the emotions surface in anger and frustration.
Despite this, one senses his emotional turmoil, perhaps even his own personal frustration in being consumed by this anger.
— Deadwood (2004), “Plague”
Directed by Davis Guggenheim; written by Malcolm MacRury.
Aired on HBO on April 25, 2004.
— Richard III, 2.1-3
King Edward tries to resolve discord in his court, to which all present agree, and then Richard shows up, announces that Clarence is dead. Edward promptly dies. Richard schemes to disenfranchise Edward’s children from the throne.
May 20th
— Richard III, 2.3-3.6
— The Far Country (1954), 97 min.
Directed by Anthony Mann; written by Borden Chase.
Starring James Stewart, Ruth Roman, Corinne Calvet, Walter Brennan, John McIntire, and Jay C. Flippen.
Theatrically released in the United States on February 12, 1954.
Watched distractedly while doing other things on Movie TV. Didn’t realize this was a Mann film — and one that I had not seen!
I’m a big fan of the Mann-Stewart collaborations.
I mean, I liked Stewart’s early work, but I think in the end his work with Mann is what he will be remembered for, at least as an actor. As Jimmy Stewart, it will undoubtedly be his early work … but as an actor, he’s finally reaching for something in his Mann and Hitchcock collaborations (save The Man Who Knew Too Much [1956], which is a fucking travesty. It’s amazing that this film, so fucking tone deaf, was made BETWEEN Rear Window and Vertigo, arguably the best films Hitchcock ever made).
The Far Country possesses one of the weirdest Stewart characters, a cowboy that seems to have no regard for anyone else save a woman that is clearly exploiting him. He’s not really up for doing the right thing, generally, and has to be guilted into helping people caught in an avalanche, to cite just one example.
May 21st
— Buñuel from E to L (2025), 23 m.
A video transcription of an article written by Jordi Xifra on the Buñuel film El.
— Deadwood (2004), “Bullock Returns to Camp”
Directed by Michael Engler; written by Jody Worth.
Starring Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, Molly Parker, Paula Malcomson, John Hawkes, Brad Dourif, Robin Weigert, William Sanderson, Kim Dickens.
Aired on HBO on May 2, 2004.
Kristen Bell appears in this episode as a young girl traveling with her brother to find her father. Before she was Kristen Bell and shilling for Carvana …
(I don’t think much of Carvana. To me not driving a car before you purchase it is the acme of consumer stupidity. The car becomes just a short-term panacea for whatever psychological crisis you have, not a major purchase that should be made with caution.)
— S/Z
Written by Roland Barthes.
Published by Hill and Wang (1970), 271 pp.
Read first 10 pp.
Reading this book is like a deep breath of fresh air. Perhaps because when I started all of this I was doing literary analysis: that was my ground swell.
The source material is great (apparently Bataille’s recommendation led to Barthes choosing this), and the analysis is fascinating.
— Richard III, 3.7
May 23rd
— Twisters (2024), 122 min.
Directed by Lee Isaac Chung; written by Mark L. Smith, based on a story by Joseph Kosinski.
Starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Maura Tierney, and Sasha Lane.
Released in United States and Canada on July 19, 2024.
Gripping, no doubt. And hilarious in the line, “you don’t run from your fears, you ride them!”
What planet did Glen Powell come from?
— The Day After Tomorrow (2004), 124 min.
Directed by Roland Emmerich; written by Roland Emmerich and Jeffrey Nachmanoff.
Starring Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emmy Rossum, Sela Ward, Ian Holm, and Kenneth Welsh.
Released in United States on May 28, 2004.
A run of disaster/catastrophe films, no doubt. I love Chekhov’s wolves missing from the zoo.
— Venom (2018), 112 min.
Directed by Ruben Fleischer; written by Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg, and Kelly Marcel.
Starring Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, Reid Scott, and Jenny Slate.
Released in United States on October 5, 2018.
Obviously, I was struggling to occupy myself … anticipating anxiety to come.
May 24th
— Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), 95 min.
Directed by Stanley Kubrick; written by Stanley Kubrick, Terry Southern, and Peter George (based on the novel Red Alert by Peter George).
Starring Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, and others.
Released in United States on January 29, 1964.
You haven’t seen this?!
It is reasonable to ask how this film screens today. I suspect most might find it tiresome, slow. In comparison to the expectations of contemporary viewers, these comments may be accurate.
— Dickens, Great Expectations, Ch1-4
— Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), 97 min.
Directed by Andy Serkis; written by Kelly Marcel.
Starring Tom Hardy, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Reid Scott, and Stephen Graham.
Released in United States on October 1, 2021.
Andy Serkis directing! Not really memorable. I’m surprised that they could get Hardy to do this. This character is sort of made for him, it’s true, but still, it’s a comic book character. They just most be overflowing with money over at the MCU.
May 25th
— Él (1953), 92 min.
Directed by Luis Buñuel; written by Luis Buñuel and Luis Alcoriza, based on the novel The Priest by Mercedes Pinto.
Starring Arturo de Córdova, Delia Garcés, Aurora Walker, Carlos Martínez Baena, and Manuel Dondé.
Theatrically released in Mexico on July 9, 1953.
Watched this after and because of the Bunuel from E to L viewed on the 21st. It is a very good film, and it’s interesting that the bell tower scene inspired Hitchcock’s Vertigo, so I read somewhere.
— Plate Tectonics, finished Ch 6
May 25th
— Dashiell Hammett, The Glass Key, Chap 1
The Glass Key was one of the sources for the Coen brothers’ 1990 film Miller’s Crossing, which also happens to be one of my favorite films of all time. I think it’s a brilliant film all about friendship and its limits and “et’ics” … (and I freaking love Jon Polito in this).
The novel was made into a film twice, once in 1935 and again in 1942. Everyone knows the latter, with Alan Ladd and Victoria Lake and Brian Donlevy. No one seems to know anything about the original, directed by Frank Tuttle. And there are only 3 available DVD copies of it IN THE WORLD, according to WorldCat.
Reading it, I’m a little uncertain if I’ve read it before. I think I have. I’ve definitely read Red Harvest before, everyone loves that story. Also an influence on Miller’s Crossing, it’s said. Everyone loves the Continental Op.
— Out of the Past (1947), 97 min.
Directed by Jacques Tourneur; written by Daniel Mainwaring (as Geoffrey Homes), based on the novel Build My Gallows High by Geoffrey Homes.
Starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming, and Richard Webb.
Released in United States on November 25, 1947.
— Plate Tectonics, 10 pp of Ch 7
May 28th
— Dashiell Hammett, The Glass Key, Chap 2
— Finished The Tragedy of Richard the Third.
Written by William Shakespeare; edited by John Jowett.
Published by Oxford University Press, 414 pp.
Is it really a tragedy? The original title was “The Tragedy of Richard the Third”, which is the way those awesome early literati would write! Oh for those days once more!
I had never read this before and was glad that I had finally done so. Apparently, it’s one of his longest and is frequently trimmed in order to be performed.
— Kiss of Death (1947), 99 min.
Directed by Henry Hathaway; written by Ben Hecht, Charles Lederer, and Eleazar Lipsky (story).
Starring Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray, Richard Widmark, and Taylor Holmes.
Released in United States on August 27, 1947.
Richard Widmark’s Tommy Udo apparently inspired many. He is haunting, to be clear. To see what he wore, read this.
— Trapped (1949), 79 min.
Directed by Richard Fleischer; written by Earl Felton.
Starring Lloyd Bridges, Barbara Payton, John Hoyt, Douglas Kennedy, and Steven Geray.
Released theatrically in United States on October 1, 1949.
I think Bridges is pretty good in this. His looks make him seem pretty sharp, but he’s deeply questionable.
May 31th
— Bruce Springsteen, “Born in The USA” YouTube
Explaining to Lu who is The Boss. A vestige of yesteryear. Of course, the Boss may now be different from Bruce Springsteen.
This anthem was incredibly popular in the mid-1980s. But why was it popular?
For example, apparently Reagan and other conservatives championed this song, despite the fact that it is clearly a kind of protest song.
The Wikipedia article on the song foregrounds the point that this song has been widely misunderstood. Listening closely to the lyrics, one should understand that the singer is stating that being born in the USA kind of sucks.
And yet, that chorus of “Born in the USA” is so infectious that I believe people sing that and think that they are singing the song, and not the rest of the lyrics, which discuss confused mandatory military service in Vietnam followed by unemployment upon returning.
Perhaps the misunderstanding is written into the song, I opine.
