Movies
XX (2017)
It's hard to figure out if it's to the movie's benefit or detriment that it organizes its four short films in order of descending quality: the first two are, respectively, unnerving and uneasily hilarious, while the second two are, again respectively, slight and go-nowhere. Maybe the bigger problem is that the film's shorts only have a 50 percent success rate (though the stop-motion interludes are gloriously creepy and Jan-Švankmajer-esque). At least the one directed by Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent, aka the reason I watched this to begin with) is one of the good ones. Grade: B-
The Handmaiden (아가씨) (2016)
For a nearly pornographic movie about porn, it's classier than you'd think. The cinematic craft displayed here is impeccable, as is the acting—both of which do the film the fantastic favor of treating the story (a wild, twisty ride adapted from a novel but transformed significantly, I'm led to believe) in the heightened, almost comedic meter of high pulp. Park Chan-Wook (Oldboy, Stoker) is, of course, a natural fit here, his gonzo, energetic directing style played back just slightly enough that it doesn't feel anachronistic within its pre-WWII Korea setting. There are only two missteps, neither of them minor but neither movie-ruining, either. The first concerns the ending, which foregoes the delightful POV manipulation of the first 2/3 of the film and instead barrels toward its finish rather inelegantly; the second is the sex scenes. One (or two, depending on how we're framing this discussion--if you've seen the movie, you know what I mean) is a rather brilliant evocation of POV and conflicting emotional registers while at the same time being a kind of skeevy staging of lesbian characters within a hetero-male director's fantasy—they're literally re-enacting porn, which is an interesting point about the psycho-sexual effects of porn, but they're still re-enacting porn directed by a straight male); the other is just as skeevy and lacks that fascinating perspective angle. So the movie isn't perfect; but that doesn't keep it from being enrapturing otherwise. Grade: A-
Shadowlands (1993)
A warm dramatization of the relationship between C.S. Lewis and his wife, Joy Davidman, whose death led to Lewis's writing of A Grief Observed, as piercing and timeless a wail of grief as has ever been put to the page. Knowing films of this ilk—that being the inspirational weepy—I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and for there to be some hackneyed epilogue that would bring artificial uplift to this story, but astoundingly, none such moment exists. The film ends with Lewis, wracked by the thought of God as a sadist, weeping as both he and his step-son cry that they miss Joy terribly. It is, for once, a movie about death that's as respectful of grief as it is of the later healing. Grade: B+
Misery (1990)
Back when both Rob Reiner movies and Stephen King adaptations were still good (and often the same thing), something like Misery might have been more of an expected treat than the delight that it is to see it now in 2017. It streamlines one of Stephen King's best (look down the post, yo!) down to its core pieces, losing a tad bit of the richness of the novel but not losing an ounce of its vicious terror or pulp glory. And how about Kathy Bates? It's the only performance for which she's won an Oscar for, and that's absolutely right. There are some actors who only have one great performance in them, that one it seems that they were born to play, and as much as I like pieces of the rest of her career, especially her role in Shadows and Fog, which she played immediately following her role here, this is it, my friends. There's a reason why it's Bates and not an uncharacteristically forgettable James Caan or even the expectedly jovial Richard Farnsworth who gets plastered all over this film's marketing and iconography. It's her movie. Grade: A-
Au revoir les enfants (1987)
You don't set an easy-going boarding-school dramedy in occupied France during WWII just for kicks and giggles, so it's no surprise when the other shoe drops and Au revoir les enfants becomes a WWII drama. But lord, the specific way in which this movie tumbles into the broader horrors of its era is a knife to the gut, twisted mercilessly in its final minutes by the way it interrogates the culpability of small actions and the ramifications of even the most minor ways one can be complicit in evil. The narrator (director Louis Malle, whose childhood memories form the basis for the film) says he will never forget what happens here; neither will you. Grade: A
Television
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Season 3 (2017)
It's Kimmy's weakest season yet—the moment-to-moment dialogue is still a riot, but a lot of the recurring jokes (the weird robot stuff, Titus's cruise) don't land consistently. The plotting, too, is haphazard, already treading on that late-period 30 Rock crutch of making up for the lack of forward momentum with doubled-down absurdity. It's not so much that nothing happens, or that characters don't grow; the show has subtly moved Kimmy into being the wisest and most-competent of the main ensemble, and while considering that ensemble, that's might sound backhanded, it's a nice, subtle touch of growth for her. No, the problem is more that the show doesn't seem to know what to do with the ways the characters are changing: not just Kimmy but also Titus looking for new boyfriends, Jacqueline's quest to change the Redskins' name, Lillian's new love interest—these are all plots that bear fruit, but frequently, they also stagnate and meander. This is just most apparent with Kimmy, where it's becoming clear that the show increasingly doesn't know how to deal with the gravity of her traumatic background within the context of its increasingly silly universe. That's not to say the series isn't still enjoyable, though. As I've already said, the dialogue is still great, and there are a couple episodes (notably, a late-season heist parody) that rank among the show's finest. It's only natural for shows, even good ones, to meander after a while, I guess. Grade: B
Books
Misery by Stephen King (1987)
It's not a coincidence that one of King's best is handily under 400 pages. There is exactly the right amount of novel here, and the result is a book that capitalizes on King's strengths while being virtually free of every weakness—it even lands the ending, by golly! Misery is the sort of grimy, psychologically twisty thriller King specializes in when he's not in world-conquering mode, executed to near perfection. What's even more impressive is the rich metaphoric depth here: Annie Wilkes and Paul Sheldon are as compelling of characters as King has ever written, made even more potent by their archetypal and symbolic significance. On Writing is famously King's great book about writing, but Misery might be the better one. Grade: A
Music
Patti Smith - Horses (1975)
Like some mad-scientist fusion of a punk rocker with a beat poet, Patti Smith exploded onto the mid-'70s New York CBGB-adjacent scene, taking no prisoners and leaving no earth unscorched. Horses is a masterpiece that captures the spirit of NYC punk in all it's multifaceted, sonically adventurous glory. From the rock-'n-rolling "Gloria" (one of the all-time great rock covers) to the dissonant rapture of "Birdland" to "Land"'s epic rock-and-soul medley, this is the sound of rock artifacts being repurposed into harsh and exciting architecture. Grade: A
Television
It's Kimmy's weakest season yet—the moment-to-moment dialogue is still a riot, but a lot of the recurring jokes (the weird robot stuff, Titus's cruise) don't land consistently. The plotting, too, is haphazard, already treading on that late-period 30 Rock crutch of making up for the lack of forward momentum with doubled-down absurdity. It's not so much that nothing happens, or that characters don't grow; the show has subtly moved Kimmy into being the wisest and most-competent of the main ensemble, and while considering that ensemble, that's might sound backhanded, it's a nice, subtle touch of growth for her. No, the problem is more that the show doesn't seem to know what to do with the ways the characters are changing: not just Kimmy but also Titus looking for new boyfriends, Jacqueline's quest to change the Redskins' name, Lillian's new love interest—these are all plots that bear fruit, but frequently, they also stagnate and meander. This is just most apparent with Kimmy, where it's becoming clear that the show increasingly doesn't know how to deal with the gravity of her traumatic background within the context of its increasingly silly universe. That's not to say the series isn't still enjoyable, though. As I've already said, the dialogue is still great, and there are a couple episodes (notably, a late-season heist parody) that rank among the show's finest. It's only natural for shows, even good ones, to meander after a while, I guess. Grade: B
Books
It's not a coincidence that one of King's best is handily under 400 pages. There is exactly the right amount of novel here, and the result is a book that capitalizes on King's strengths while being virtually free of every weakness—it even lands the ending, by golly! Misery is the sort of grimy, psychologically twisty thriller King specializes in when he's not in world-conquering mode, executed to near perfection. What's even more impressive is the rich metaphoric depth here: Annie Wilkes and Paul Sheldon are as compelling of characters as King has ever written, made even more potent by their archetypal and symbolic significance. On Writing is famously King's great book about writing, but Misery might be the better one. Grade: A
Music
Like some mad-scientist fusion of a punk rocker with a beat poet, Patti Smith exploded onto the mid-'70s New York CBGB-adjacent scene, taking no prisoners and leaving no earth unscorched. Horses is a masterpiece that captures the spirit of NYC punk in all it's multifaceted, sonically adventurous glory. From the rock-'n-rolling "Gloria" (one of the all-time great rock covers) to the dissonant rapture of "Birdland" to "Land"'s epic rock-and-soul medley, this is the sound of rock artifacts being repurposed into harsh and exciting architecture. Grade: A
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