So this is it (doo wop)

.

It's 12:08 pm on New Year's Eve and I don't see any books lying around that I'm likely to finish by midnight so I'm calling it at 117 books in 2025. So a pretty average year, I think:

2007—90
2008—124
2009—108
2010—62
2011—94
2012—82
2013—129
2014—103
2015—126
2016—66
2017—144
2018—116
2019—100
2020—115
2021—131
2022—145
2023—136
2024—129
2025—117

Anyway, who cares. That probably better predicts how many comics I read than how intellectually stalwartly I lived.

Next year will be the twentieth (!) year I've engaged in this process. Which is not an easy number to understand. I guess the next big one after that will be when I've been doing it half my life.

But I try not to think about this too much because what I wouldn't do to have lists of the books I read before I began all this. What did I read that I don't remember when I was eight or ten or fourteen or twenty-seven?

Well, it's fine. Someday we'll all shuffle off to that great night bookmobile in the sky and that will be that.

One my favorite writer died in the past week, one who's only appeared once in one of these lists but who I've written and spoken about plenty over the years (example). We just watched his funeral and parasocial relationships may be strange but they can be healthy.

Next up: another year. It should look a little different. I'm curious what number it will end at.

☞

112) Giant Days: Volume Two by John Allison with Lissa Treiman and Max Sarin, finished December 3

If this had been volume one instead of volume one, I would not have read volume two. It's fun enough but it's really just sitcom logic at this point. Characters gain skills as needed so an issue's plot can be executed and then those traits are lost, ne'er to be recovered.

I already checked out volume three so I may well read it, but . . . I have a lot of other stuff checked out too. So we'll see. 

two or three days 

☞

113) Taproot by Keezy Young, finished December 19

This book seemed like it was going to be one of the queer-friendly nonstories that's flooding the market at the moment, but I'm happy to say it did have a story and, above that, it wasn't normal boring pre-formed plot, either. The love story was on a different set of rails from the horror element which, as it ends up, wasn't actually horror anyway. The story set me up to expect some of the same tired crap I feel like is everywhere (the comics I have not finished, yall) but it's playing a much higher level of game and I respect it.

(Incidentally, checked this book out of the library because it didn't have Keezy's latest book which was promoted on a best-of-2025 list.)

Anyway, the story's about a fellow who can see ghosts (one of whom is in love with him) and the unexpected problems that infect reality when you can, in fact, see ghosts. 

one sit 

☞

114) The Last Flower by James Thurber, finished December 20

I own so much Thurber. But this may be the simplest way to understand his beauty and melancholy.

Of course, most people are just looking for the jokes.... 

one go 

☞

115) Bowling with Corpses & Other Strange Tales from Lands Unknown by Mike Mignola

 This might be my favorite Mike Mignola book. I'd have to look through old reviews to check, but I love this new world he's created and the anthology of stories that fit into it. I love his loose and ragged art—a sort of studied sloppiness that only someone who has mastered his craft can pull off. At the back of this volume is an alternate version of one of the stories that is just in his black and white without Dave Stewart's colors and it's a marvel to behold. The man uses so much ink.

One useful way to consider Mignola is how he deals with the beautiful and the monstrous. For instance, his nudes—there are naked women in this books; some are likely beautiful some maybe not, but it is their interiority and their abstract existence of shadows an life that define them—not the curve of a breast. And on the opposite scale, sight horrifying and unpleasant too are defined by their context and their abstracted qualities.

I hope many more of these volumes appear. 

If for no other reason than for more commentary from ducks and cows.

 about fifty hours 

☞

116) Initial D Ominbus 1 by Shuichi Shigeno, finished December 25

I first heard of this on the Comic-Con floor where I picked up a promotional image because the kid looked like me in the Nineties and his car looked a lot like my first car, an '87 Accord.

 

Anyway, I didn't see it out, but I've been curious about it ever since and so when I saw this 500pp opening at the school library, I grabbed it to read over the holidays. Manga speeds by, after all, even something this thick.

It's about what I expected in that its mostly adolescent and post-adolescent boys racing cars. I like the blase hero who became a master at the drift in a way that keeps him from appreciating his awesomeness. It ends just before his second big race and it was all pretty exciting stuff.

My main complaint is the way the female characters are treated in the book. It feels rather like Shuichi Shigeno included them only because it's a rule and not because he wanted to. There's only one female character of note and this very boy-friendly book has one panel that for any redblooded heterosexual 14yrold will not only, necessarily, be a pornographic event, but will likely remain so for months, years afterward. It's very hot. I wanted to include that panel here so you to can be shocked at to its inclusion in what is other words a very kid-friendly book, but in the end decided it might do the same to my blog that it did to the blog.

But that's not the worst thing. This pretty high-school character is largely written "fine" EXCEPT (and it's a big EXCEPT) that in an underexplored subplot she's the victim of an Epstein-like character. She seems blissfully unaware that there's anything untoward about accepting large amounts of money from a rich old "dad" for getting naked in hotel rooms. I suppose in another thousand pages or so her honor will be defended by the series' hero (unless the series forgets her existence by then which, honestly, seems more likely), but for now the whole thing is a bizarre extra piece left in the box.

Looking for the right image to include (I didn't find it) I learned that this manga began back in the mid-90s and has become an anime and, twenty years ago, a live-action movie. So with luck we can chalk the disrespect given femanity to a former time, but man. It's wild that this was apparently the only way they could think to add a feminine aspect to a boy book. Woof. 

three or four days

☞

117) Giant Days Volume Three by John Allison and Max Sarin (et al), finished December 27

Happy to say I liked this one much more than volume two. The writing has picked back up and the expressiveness of the art is delightful. I've come to like these three girls quite a lot and wish them well. Which is exactly why I've carved out a possible exception for them in my no-library-books-in-2026 rule. 

perhaps a week 

☞

 

 

 

Previous books of 2025
(and years more distant)

Turn it up to one hundred eleven

.

My eleventy-first book's a spot of manga, but on the journey there we do some popular litcrit, some drama, some Dave Barry, some Austen sequelry, and lots more comics, only from the English-speaking word.

The good news is, it's not too late to ask for one of these for Christmas. 

.

102) How to Read Novels Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, finished November 18

It's hard to tell from the review, but I was pretty ecstatic when I read Foster's How to Read Literature Like a Professor a decade and a half ago. And I've been repeating that ecstatic review (and perhaps getting more ecstatic?) ever since, to get high school kids to read it. And now I've finally read another in what is now a decent-sized series.

This one feels much more high-brow to me. I can't imagine making an entire class of students read it. Individuals? Sure. Some would take to it. But not everyone.

I enjoyed listening to Foster talk about books he likes, but I don't think I liked it nearly as much.

But I say all this having underlined almost the entirety of chapter 12 and thrusting notes into the margins about what to make students do with his rant on sentences.

And if you move through my copy you'll find lots more marks than just that.

And then there's all the snippets I added to Wikiquote including three on this page.

So now that I think about it, I guess I liked it quite a bit!

about fifteen months 

☞

103) Major Barbara by George Bernard Shaw, finished November 30

I haven't read Shaw since college, circa 1998, Pygmalion. I believe I liked it.

I had two copies of Major Barbara at school so when Lady Steed's book group chose it I brought them home. She read the play proper and I read Shaw's screen adaptation. (They were not the same book!)

I really loved it. I really don't know how to feel about it though.

For one thing, I'm not sure how serious Shaw is about the winning philosophy. I suspect he basically believes it, but his mouthpiece—a purveyor of human death and misery—is a curious person to preach the gospel of ending death and slavery. And Shaw's simultaneous tearing down of both religious and secular pieties and granfalloons while doing so through England's most brutally successful capitalist caused me all sorts of conflict. I don't know, in the end, where the play stands.

Me, I disagree with it far more than I agree with it, but Shaw is much too good a writer to allow anyone to leave with a clear sense of what is the most right and what is the most wrong. In a way, it's a tragedy of moral collapse. But the characters don't see it that way at all. Have they maintained some sort of morality? Will they be able to change the world (whatever they imagine they mean by that) with the resources of capitalism? Or is the elephant charging along as they whistle some moralish excuses?

Sad I'm not in the book group. I look forward to experiencing the conversation secondhand.

OH I FORGOT: One thing I meant to talk about (until the themes pushed everything out of my head) is how funny it was. honestly, it's much like Oscar Wilde albeit the jokes are more frosting here than cake. Regardless, it was funny in both dialogue and character.

about a week

☞

104) Sweet Tooth Compendium by Jeff Lemire, finished November 24

I'm a big fan of this story. It's dystopian and dark, bloody, violent, but in the end it is also life-affirming and about heroisms both big and small. It's a story about family and civilization and hope. And it's utterly wonderful.

This is the entire original run in a single volume (a whopping 915 pages!) which means we follow Gus from childhood to old age without needing to switch books.

I'm a big Lemire fan but I've read Sweet Tooth more than his other books (at least twicish before); I reread it this time because I learned there's a new addendum that came out and I wanted the old fresh before I attacked the new. It'll show up here soon.

Anyway, he's a terrific writer and his art is so evocative even when it's tamed down as it is (mostly) here to be DC-friendly. Re-recommended without reservation.

 

perhaps a month

☞

105) Space Bear by Ethan Young, finished November 25

About what I expected. Sort of a Missile Mouse–light. No words but heavily mythopoeic metaphors for feeeelings.

Good fun for kids. 

a night 

☞

106) Are Comic Books Real? by Alex Nall, finished on November 26

I have a strict rule that I won't read comics out loud more than once (at most) per kid. Lil'cee recently found this one and has been reading it and, knowing I hadn't read it to her before, asked me to read it to her. So I did. Doesn't take long, it's pleasant, and, bonus, I could censor a bit as I read. (Mostly one memory of a bad day of teaching that involves fs and ss and ns.)

Anyway. It's still pretty good. 

an evening 

☞

107) Sweet Tooth: The Return by Jeff Lemire, finished November 26

This is only a fraction the length of the original Sweet Tooth (see above) and, without neglecting good character development etc, leans much more heavily into the mythopoeic elements of the story. This is about all time being one great round and all stories being one story, etc. It takes place 300 years after the events of the original story and has, indeed, many echos. But it is not the same—even though the point is that yes, actually, it is the same story.

two or three days 

☞

108) Giant Days: Volume One by John Allison with Lissa Treiman and Max Sarin, finished December 3

Fire across the hall from my classroom the day before the strike so I'm in the library. And, in the library, I decided to take seriously the big display advertising the Giant Days series of comics. And it is excellent.

Lissa's art has a rougher and looser line than Max's but once accustomed to Matt's cleaner, tighter lines, I got to like it about as much.

It's the story of three freshmen girls at an English university in the 2010s and their various adventures. It's overthetop and comedic while grounded and true to life. I honestly loved it. I'll have to check out volume two over the strike.

 
This collection includes two stories writer and drawn by John Allison as appendices and they were right to put them in the back. He's competent, sure, but the style is still uncertain and the writing is less grounded. He worked out the kinks in story, character, and setting, then dumped the fun info into a subonepage flashback. Artistically, that was the right choice. And we get to enjoy his fun original version afterwards.

Anyway. Terrific. 

☞

109) The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet by Katherine Cowley, finished December 13

Let me start by saying I'm excited to read volume two of this series. The way it ended was satisfying plotwise, sure, but it was particularly satisfying in a way I did not expect. (Look at this page's source code [eg ctrl+u] for spoilers as to why.)

Writing a sequel to a beloved classic is fraught territory, however. For instance, perhaps I loved bits about the Bennets while other things perhaps did not match my reading of the characters or the world or whatever. Some changes I don't mind (eg, setting aside Austen's apparent disinterest in global events), some changes I understand (eg, taking pleasure in exploring details of the Regency era that would not have been worth stating aloud in a novel written contemporaneously), some I disagree with (eg, modern editing's requirements for regular dialogue tags).

But should a modern sequel to a beloved classic be beholden to it's themes and style? The the former I say barely. To the latter, I suppose not, but when it's a book I know as well as Pride and Prejudice (I may well have taught it to over a thousand students by now) there's no getting over my persnickitiness. This is the danger, of course, in writing sequels to beloved classics and there's no way around it. In my mind, getting me to love the ending regardless is the real win here. But that's spoiler territory and there's an extra step to see all that.

two or three week 

110) Class Clown by Dave Barry, finished December 13

Dave Barry is one of the great American humorists and this valedictory lap / writerly memoir is as fine an introduction to the man and his work as it is a final chapter (Allegedly). A lot of stuff here I remember (perhaps from a different angle) and many things that feel new (even if they are not), but regardless—for a lot of people of my generation, if we ever write anything funny, we cannot escape his influence.

(Incidentally, it was nice to hear him cite his own influences—and for one of them to be halfread on my nightstand!)

If you like him or humor or memoirs or just need a nice time, this is an easy book to recommend. Even though it is valedictory, I think this is my recommendation for anyone reading him for the first time.

(Well, anyone who's an adult and reading him for the first time.)

It was great to hang out and listen to our jokedad reminisce about times we'll never see again. 

a couple weeks 

☞

111) One-Punch Man 01 by One and Yusuke Murata, finished December 18

It's astonishing that a jokey webcomic leaning into how dumb overpowered superheros are has become an enormously popular franchise in its own right. Seeing the first volume lying out at the school library made me want to try it on and it is, indeed, pretty delightful. I do wonder if it's still silly come volume, say, 32, but here in volume 1 it's all about knocking out monsters with one punch, sexy mosquito ladies, and being more upset about forgetting take the trash can down to the street than seeing a mountain-large snowman out for blood.

I mean. What's not to like? 

before and after school 

☞

 

Previous books of 2025
(and years more distant)

Maybe movies, maybe films

.

May is always a good month. It's the month AP English Literature and Composition turns into AP Writing about Film (if CollegeBoard doesn't like this, then they can tell my school to end classes after AP testing). So I'm guaranteed a few good things packed into whatever's getting watched anyway. You can probably guess which are which.

Plus, we went to theaters to watch to underperformers that were actually really great and which each make strong argument for a stunt-team Oscar. Rumor has it that's finally happening. If this is the year, expect them both to get nominated.

And now: On with the show.

.

HOME
Prime Video

Hunting the Northern Godard (2013)

Small town ennui, Quebec style. The film tries to play with visual lanugage in an interesting way but it mostly comes off as revealing the lowness of the budget. The lead is beautiful and the mom is an incredible actor. Otherwise, meh.

Wildly, I recognized the pub band. I thougth I was wrong because in the movie they were Les Tragédiens, but I was right. It was Les Breastfeeders.

Please deliver my hipster cred directly to the door.

HOME
Internet Archive

The Arizona Express (1924)

I found this via Bluesky recommendation and boy oh boy was she right. This movie's incredible! It made me laugh and gasp and I could never guess where it was headed next. It's one of the most edge-of-my-seat thrillfests I've seen recently. Plus it amnages to be classic typical 1920s boilerplate at parts and really cool shots and amazing action sequences later. The murder scene was very cool and [SPOILER REDACTED] and [SPOILER REDACTED] and [SPOILER REDACTED] were topnotch film- and stuntwork.

My main complaint from a hundred years later is that all the women look the same. They have 1920s brunette bobs with dramatic eye makeup and teenytiny cupidbow lips. It wasn't until the good girl dressed like the bad girl (turning her into Some Like It Hot Tony Curtis) that I was able to pick up on the differences of class and morality that the clothing was supposed to be projecting.

I was riveted, people. Riveted.

THEATER
Rialto Elmwood

Hundreds of Beavers (2022)

I just heard of this movie. Its slow crawl through theaterspace happens to have it in town these past two weekends. Some of the kids really wanted to see it but "not tonight" which is fine because it was only convenient at the Elmwood which is an old theater diced into four tiny theaters with too-thin walls. Also, it's more expensive. We don't go there very often. But it seems like once a year they're the only place with the movie y'wanna see.

Anyway, the movie is wild and fun and surprising. It doesn't draw on silent comedy alone, but also video games (from Frogger to Lemmings) (and beyond), Orson Welles, you name it. It gets existential. It gets horror. It goes all over the place. It's been called "a hilarious slapstick comedy in the vein [of] Looney Tunes and Adult Swim cartoon[s]," and that seems about right.

Don't know how you'd manage it, but if you can get a full theater to see it in (ours had six people), I think you'll laugh your head off. We merely laughed a lot.

THEATER
Hilltop Cinemark

The Fall Guy (2024)

Look: I'm not here to argue this movie is great or important or whatever. But it was pure fun, a great ride, a joy factory. And that counts for a lot. We need escapism that's quality and this movie delivers. I loved it.

And it may actually prove important for one reason. It makes the argument, and well, that stunt teams deserve Oscars. Everyone seems to feel that Oscar may finally be about to happen. I don't see how The Fall Guy can do anything but accelerate that.

(Also, Metalstorm looks terrible.)

(Also, I want that neon suit.)

HOME
library dvd

The Nice Guys (2016)

It keeps getting brought up and since we watched Ryan Gosling doing action and being funny in The Fall Guys it seemed time to finally finally watch it.

And it was fun stuff. With lots of sex, violence, and alcohol, to boot. If you're into those sorts of things.

The dramatic irony of the villain's motivation fell a bit flat for me, but otherwise the film felt very true to me. And the party was straight out of the era. (One of the scarier badguys may have even been modeled after the fellow from that older movie.)

ELSEWHERE × 2
our dvd

Pride & Prejudice (2005)

I love this movie. And it holds up so well.

How do I know?

Because teenagers love this movie as well.

QED, baby.

ELSEWHERE × 2
our dvd

Frankenstein (1931)

I love it.

It has precious little to do with the book.

This viewing, however, I had some breakthroughs in my own long-gestating adaptation (not that the world needs another). I'm already about halfway through a treatment.

ELSEWHERE
Prime Video

Love & Friendship (2016)

Not sure I loved it as much as before but perhaps that's simply because high-school students tend not to laugh when they think something's funny.

💀

ELSEWHERE
Prime Video

Paterson (2016)

Split this into two days. After day one I wasn't so sure about it. By the film's conclusion however I'd come around. The scene with the Japanese tourist was wonderful.

I think the best poem was the girl's. I'm not sure if that was intentional.

But the slow rotation of daily life. And the important question of how art fits in. And how art's importance is realized. These things are addressed with a measured lovely calm.

HOME
library dvd

Simon of the Desert (1965)

First, I didn't expect Luis Buñuel to be so coherent. While I won't deny the term surreal, it moved from point to point from beginning to end. I was startled by how it ended—or perhaps by when it ended—bit otherwise it made sense.

And for a guy who made atheism such a key part of his identity, for all its satrical tinge it seems to be saying things worth saying and from a place of, even if bemused, understanding.

HOME
library dvd

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

It's possible to know all the reasons why a movie changed the game and still not quite understand it. I take it this violence was worse than what had gone before and I guess I can see the counterculture vibes and undercurrent of optimistic nihilism and certainly the look is cool. But it's hard to believe it was as huge and important as it was, even if I see echos in movies near and far.

So I went back and read Roger Ebert's review. He was a young guy then and he was one of the few contemporary critics who predicted Bonnie and Clyde's position in movie history. And reading his analysis, I'm convinced.

It is a good movie. Maybe a great movie.

And it's saying something we still need to hear.

HOME
Paramount+

Days of Heaven (1978)

I came in with so many misconceptions. I thought this was the Wild West. And I also thought it was Badlands. And that Richard Gere wasn't in it. None of that is true.

Although it continued on past where I thought it would end (twice, overall this has a pretty straightforward plot. But it pauses to take in the beauty of the landscape both at large and in microcosm. And the images are so powerful that it feels like it's a fully s*y*m*b*o*l*i*c as a less plotty film like The Tree of Life.

I really wanted people to be a tad more clever. A tad better at lying. Or at being honest. Or at thinking ahead. Or recognizing what moment they're in.

But I suppose real life isn't like that.

And then the locusts come.

Anyway. I loved it. So when I say it felt as long as Tree of Life, I mean that in the best way possible.

HOME
Paramount+

Tropic Thunder (2008)

I remember reading a review in one of the altweekly's that were still nice and thick when this movie came out. It was the first of years and years of praise. It's generally considered one of the best comedies of the new century. Smart and hilarious.

Now, Ben Stiller can be a skilled director but this movie really suffered from me having watched Every Frame's Edgar Wright video earlier today. Now, Tropic Thunder isn't as bad as the examples cited in that vid but it doesn't really use the medium for comedy that much. And the second half largely turns into an '80s action film. Oh. Which reminds me of another Every Frame. Why can't a movie be both funny and action-packed? I bet Ben would do a better job today.

Anyway, I lauched a few times in the first ten minutes and once in the last ten minutes. But . . . it's not that funny a movie. I guess it scratched an itch or something in 2008 but I don't think generations that missed it in theaters will be that impressed.

A lot of ink has been spilled about Robert Downey, Jr. in blackface and Ben Still in "full retard" (mostly favorable) but I think favorable because the film comments on both of these and uses them to make fun of actors. But I've only ever heard positive takes on Tom Cruise's comic turn. But he is in full animalistic Semite costume and that's just who is character is in this movie. How have I never heard about this? I thought he was just bald but it's much, much more than this. Elizabethan nose and red-wig updated for the 2000s.

But the main thing is I didn't think it was funny. Sixteen years people have been talking up this movie. Cannot meet the hype.

ELSEWHERE
our dvd

Spirited Away (2001)

Did you know the Disney dvd has two separate English-language subtitle tracks?

ELSEWHERE
our dvd

The Iron Giant (1999)

Tear report: fewer this year. None actually left my eyes.

ELSEWHERE
Tubi

Freaks (1932)

Honestly, I don't think it's that great a movie. But I do appreciate the humanity it gives the freaks themselves, even if, perhaps, that's not the "right" answer. The siamese twins and the armless woman are simply presented as beautiful women, albeit with a twist. Frieda is the very picture of dignity throughout.

It's possible that audiences have matured enough that now we can identify with people once intended only to be looked at, but I have to believe that's what Browning had in mind all along. He was a circus guy. Not every normie hates the freaks. I think he knew what he was doing. It doesn't reflect well on the contemporary audience that the film was so upsetting it was pulled from theaters.

ELSEWHERE
our dvd

It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012)

Don's touring the movie now, doing Q&As. I'm bummed the SF show was sold out by the time I heard about. I wish I could have gone.

HOME
Tubi

Grendel Grendel Grendel (1981)

John Gardner's beloved novel turned into this strange thing. (The Wikipedia article includes the phrase "Because of its limited appeal.") The character design reminds me a bit of Sixties animation like Yellow Submarine. The colorblocking reminds me of the first draft of a digital animation or perhaps the back of the cel. It has needless songs like an 80s featurelength toy commercial (aka Care Bears or My Little Pony). It has 70s philosophizing characters. It has occasional bloody violence and a bit of full-frontal nudity (thank you, only human female) but otherwise feels like it's aimed at children.

The movie's been largely forgotten (consider the length of the Wikipedia article or that zero screenshots are available on the IMDb page or that there is no critic score on Rotten Tomatoes) so I'm not certain how I came to put it on my to-watch list. (I had it narrowed down to this, Birds of Prey or Rashamon; I suspect I chose wrongly...)

I don't regret watching it. It's an interesting experiment. But I'm not surprised that it proved a dead end in the evolution of animation.

HOME
library dvd

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

I suppose a movie can only blow you away by exploding your expectations but once, but even in our living room this is an amazing experience. And then we stayed up over another hour, well past midnight, watching half the special features, because the boys wanted to know more about how.

I love that. Movies are amazing.

Give stunt folk their own Oscar!

HOME
our dvd

Pride and Prejudice (2003)

The 7yrold picked this out and . . . did not like it. The 14yrold also watched and found it . . . varied in quality.

I last watched the first half when I showed it to a class, gosh, over eight years ago? They didn't want to finish it the second day.

It's entirely possible it's been 18+ years since we last watched it. And if I can see it's not quite the gem I once thought it was, I still enjoy it. And the amount of nostalgia it inspired in me and Lady Steed would get it a pass even if it were terrible, which it is not. It has a number of perfect moments (use of color, character, quotable lines). Not for no reason did I once imagine Andrew Black making a Byuck movie.

It's also exquisitely 2003 in music and fashion and Provo. I mean. I was there. You can see my apartment in one shot. I would know.

THEATER
Cinemark Century
Hilltop 16

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

So I loved it. But I'm not sure it quite works without having seen Fury Road. And I thinkn George Miller knows that since the credits are intercut with major plot points from Fury Road, which is the true end of Furiosa's journey.

That said, the worldbuilding is good. The villain is good. The two actors playing Furiosa are good. The new relationships are good. The action is good.

In fact, I could praise all those elements to high heavens. My only real complaints are surprising ones (why did they use cg on someone climbing a wall or getting on a horse?). In short, I liked the movie a lot. But if I hadn't just watched Fury Road, I think it would have been much less satisfying.

But really: two excellent Furiosas. Excellent stakes. Excellent dilemmas. Great movie.

Just no Fury Road.

HOME
Tubi

Moonstruck (1987)

I like how this movie is about mature people and mature relationships. That said, the suddenness and impulsiveness of the main relationship is confusing. And thus I'm not quite sure why I find this movie so deeply satisfying. But I do.

Also, parts of it are wonderfully funny.

ELSEWHERE
Kanopy

L'Age D'Or (1930)

Like a lot of famous-for-being-shocking works of art, is it?

I mean, there are some startling images and some silly stuff, but that's all par for Surrealism. Maybe we're too far away? But Un Chien Andalou came out first and was wildly popular. And then this one was banned for decades. Why?

I know the historical answers. But it's still mysterious.

Showing it to a room of high-school seniors was instructive. Some hated it. Some were bored. Some were startled. Some were confused.

But I don't think any of them were quote-offended-unquote.

UPDATE: I just read all their write-ups and yes. Plenty were offended. 100% hate rate. A couple called for it to be banned again. So maybe I'm just jaded from too much time in the Surrealist swimming pool.

ELSEWHERE
Tubi

The Kid (1921)

In my opinion? It's the least of Chaplin's features (keeping in mind I haven't seen The Circus or Limelight), but it is still charming and wonderful and, important when considering which to show a kid, only an hour and costars a brilliant child (of whom Chaplin said he was his favorite costar).

That said, perhaps a bit too sentimental to be the first you show teenagers.

ELSEWHERE
Kanopy

Lady Bird (2017)

It's a beautiful movie.

And not the same movie to each watcher.

Your age does make for very different experiences.

I'm not surprised teenagers love it entirely and hate it deeply. But I'm glad the ratio seems to be about 5:1.

ELSEWHERE
YouTube

Disney Channel's Theme: A History Mystery (2022)

I've been looking forward to the new Jim Henson documentary that drops today, so when I saw a Slate headline saying that the ultimate Henson doc was already extant and made for YouTube, I wanted to watch it. Weirdly, Slate didn't link to it. So I went to the YouTuber's channel and, for some reason I can't explain, I watched this one instead. I don't even know that four-note mnemonic! I'm too old to have watched Disney Channel in the Oughts!

But I did love watching Kevin Perjurer (unfortunate surname for a documentarian) track down lead after lead. It's a solid example of what "doing research" is like.

I've seen a couple shorter Defunctland videos before. Maybe I'll make space for more feature-length ones too. Certainly, there are topics that interest me more than this one.

I've run out of September-film puns (2022)

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September proved to be an unusual month. I saw a bunch of movies in the theater—but none of them were new! And I ended up watching four movies in one afternoon/evening stuck on campus by myself. Also: two movies movies proposing where-babies-come-from ideas that . . . are not particularly biologycentric. Mix and match!

HOME
library dvd

Storks (2016)

This is an absolutely delightful work of popular entertainment. It's funny and surprising and smart and moving and it's completely happy just being those things. I think I liked it even better this time, even though I wasn't holding a baby!

One weird experience watching the endcredits was saying, "Oh! Lord & Miller worked on this movie!" followed immediately by, "Oh. Steve Mnuchin worked on this movie."

Another curious observation is that all the major cast are Famous Actors except the emotional core of the film for which they cast a voice actor. Innnteresting.

ELSEWHERE
someone else's harddrive

Ocean's Eleven (2001)

This is a movie I will never stop loving. And I imagine that, no matter how many times I may see it, I will be impressed with how cool it it. The dialogue is cool, the lighting is cool, the editing is cool—it's just cool. All the way through.

But I've seen it enough times now that its coolness doesn't stop me from seeing its flaws. Flaws that overwhelmed (for me) Twelve, Thirteen, and Eight, are only now starting to chink away at this excellence.

This has happened before. Probably the same year Ocean's Eleven came out, I watched Radioland Murders for the, I don't know, twentieth time? And suddenly brightness and brilliance, it's wit and speed, could no longer cover the few story flaws.

I haven't watched it since. Not because I think I won't like it anymore. Not even because I'm sad that I might not be able to enjoy it purely. But simply because it's kind of a hard movie to watch, you know?

Anyway, I need an oral history on Ocean's Eleven. Was Tess in the original script? Or perhaps a suit insisted on a romantic subplot? Or maybe Soderbergh just wanted to work with Julia Roberts? Or maybe an earlier draft had some backstabbing instead of the crew watching the fountain together to Debussey. I don't know. But a couple pieces don't fit quite right together.

I forgive it. Because I love this movie and it has brought me much joy. But I'm also okay letting it sink into my past. Sometimes memories are as wonderful as relivings.

HOME
Disney+

Moana (2016)

It's too hot to do anything and no one could agree and the youngest kept asking for Moana. So Moana it was.

Which is fine! I like Moana!

Most interestingly, this is the first time the little girl has sat all the way through. She kept leaving the room for Storks, but somehow the giant crab and lava monster were bearable.

Maybe this is why kids rewatch movies.

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Tubi

Love and Saucers (2017)

David Huggins is a fellow who has been having alien encounters since his childhood. I'm familiar with him from a seven-minute 2008 documentary I sometimes show students. This time the kids did some googling and discovered this feature-length look at the man and his work and I decided I would check it out.

Woo.

Anyway, if the seven-minutes crosses the line of school-appropriateness (probably) this one's waaaay beyond that line. Although I like where it goes a great deal, the paintings of his sexual encounters are much too graphic for school. Sorry, kids.

I do recommend getting that Wholphin, though—the interview with the filmmaker is better even than the doc. Plus it includes a few other of my favorites including a sweet Dutch apocalypse and my philosophy of life, suddenly in black and white.

HOME
library dvd

Boss Baby (2017)

I'm irritated at how Boss Baby has become a hiss and a byword, a shortcut for bad kids movies. It's nothing of the sort! I didn't think so in 2017 and today I am here to defend it anew.

First, it's clever. Visually, it's inventive with lots of throwbacks to earlier forms of animation. It's emotional core is effective. The satire is barbed but innocent.

So don't be mad that it was nominated for an Oscar and something else was not or because Oscar voters are notoriously animation-ignorant. Just judge it on its own merits. You're gonna like it.

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Prime Video

Macbeth (2018)

So this Macbeth is shot entirely on greenscreen and is very artsy—characters always walking on invisible staircases and the camera moving from one literal proscenium to another to another. There's a conceit I don't quite get of an old man watching and old filmprojector. It's . . . interesting. A little distracting that the main actor seems like a lost Helmsworth brother. Lots of excellent yelling.

One more bad way to introduce students to Macbeth. Quite a lot of those, it would seem.

THEATER
AMC Bay Street 16

Jaws (1975)

Now that I think about it, why is Jaws in theaters now?? It's 50th is just a couple years off. But whatever.

Son A's first favorite movie was Jaws but we haven't watched it in a long time and this new IMAX!!! 3D!!! rerelease seemed like a rare opportunity that should be snatched. So off we went to our local IMAX. (Which is not true IMAX with the truly enormous screen—you have to cross the Bay for that—but still much bigger than we usually sit under!

I'm still glad we went. It was great to see the movie at such detail and, let's remember, it's just a really good movie. And watching it made me want to play my son's game again.

The funny was that Son A, afterward, was all like, "I didn't know it was scary! Why did I like that when I was little?"

I guess we'll never know.

THEATER
Cialto Cinemas
Cerrito

Bullitt (1968)

The Cerrito is having a slew of excellent old films from late last week to late this week. Sadly, this is the first I've made it to (the ticket jockey told me no one came to Sullivan's Travels! I am outraged!) but I hope to see a full half of them before week's out. Three of them (Sullivan's Travels, The Mummy, Treasure of the Sierra Madre) I've seen recently so it doesn't feel that pressing though I would love to, yes; two I haven't seen before (this one and Touch of Evil); and one I haven't seen in a very long time and very much want to give another chance to but alas, I have a dentist appointment (The Birds).

Anyway, Bullitt! All I knew about it was a) Steve McQueen b) San Francisco c) perhaps the greatest car chase ever filmed. So that provided a set of expectations that were met but another set of expectations that were completely ignored. For instance, this is a very quiet movie. The motion is assertive but the sounds largely refrain. Not much score. Not a lot of dialogue. Most of what you hear is diegetic.

And that car chase is terrific. I felt it in my gut as they were going up and down San Francisco's hills.

And the mystery? I didn't even realize there was a mystery until Bullitt began to unravel it. (I also like that he doesn't go by "Bullitt"—he's mostly called "Frank" or "Lieutenant.")

In short, this is a good movie. Not what I anticipated but thoughtful and fun. It's also an incredible time capsule of the moment and that could be reason alone to check it out. The clothes, the cars, the reimagined race relations, the cutting-edge technology, the beatniks (but no hippies!)—it's just cool to look at. A little time capsule to a cooler era, and you when you simply watch a movie, you don't risk getting murdered.

THEATER
Cialto Cinemas
Cerrito

Touch of Evil (1958/1998)

I hadn't seen it before so I suppose starting with the 1998 reedit, intended to bring it back in line with Welles's vision. I just mention it in case you're wondering which version I watched or whether I have notes of comparison to share.

Anyway, it was good. I was unsettled throughout and, frankly, I surprised how little I knew going in. It's rare I see a movie knowing so little ahead of time.

The dark characters are dark and the camerawork is dark and, even as noir goes, this is supernoiry. And it's fascinating that the hero is Mexican (ish). I feel like I need to eat something and read something before I can wrap what I think about it, but I'm certainly glad I saw it. This is a movie that can open conversations.

THEATER
Cialto Cinemas
Cerrito

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

A great film to revisit—and this time on a big screen! Terrific movie. I took Largesse with me and he dug it too. There are just so many great moments and elements. The acting and the camera work. The way it deals with other languages and death. Largesse particularly appreciated a camera move at the bar revealing a mirror.

Maybe it's because this was the only one I was revisiting, but of the Cerrito's old-films marathon, I think I may have enjoyed this one most simply because the joys of revisiting of an excellent film have another depth than even discovering a great film for the first time.

In other words, it's a shame I can't go see Bullitt again!

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my dvd

It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012)^×2

Watching this so shortly after reading Slaughterhouse-Five the similarities are striking Bill(y) is in and out of hospitals, may have a hard time seeing reality accurately, time is unstuck, memories are questionable, the structures are even Tralfamadorian, "brief clumps of symbols separated by stars."

It gets more complex and beautiful and no less funny with each viewing.

HOME
library dvd

M*A*S*H (1970)

So Lady Steed haaaaaated this movie. The sexism, the lack of plot (it is a true Hamlet), the confusion, etc. In other words, the things people loved about it when it hit theaters fifty years ago.

I didn't love it myself, but I will say that I deeply appreciate it. I love the way Altman makes films and I'm on the hunt for the Altman film that will rank among my alltime favorites. I want to try out Nashville next, but it might be a while before I have a companion to watch it.

It's wild that this cast was nearly unknown when the movie arrived. Donald Sutherland? He's so Donaldy Sutherlandy! Elliot Gould? Same deal!

It's true that there's a lot of ugliness here, but, well, war. And the past. I don't relish any of it, but the movie felt very true to me and I wager it gets funnier each time you see it. Plus, I loved the meta conclusion.

So, yeah. I liked it. And the good news is there are a lot more Robert Altman films to work through yet.

(If you're wondering, I saw Popeye as a small child and was a bit traumatized by it; Lady Steed and I have seen together Gosford Park, The Company, and Prairie Home Companion, all of which we liked well enough—rather how I liked this one; and I have also seen The Player, which may be my favorite to date. Though one moment in The Company may be one of the last movie memories my brain gives up at death.)

HOME
Disney+

Brave (2012)

First time I've seen this since watching it at Pixar campus shortly before its original release. That wasn't a terrific viewing since we had a constantly terrified 5yrold in tow which muddled the experience. My memories have since been supplanted by the remaining annoyance that Brenda Chapman had the movie taken away from her and wondering what might have been. Which is a supposition which presumes the film we got is subpar but, really, it's pretty great. I found it funny and moving. It's not one of the Great Films or anything, but it is a winner. (Literally, in many cases.)

ELSEWHERE
Primewire

The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

My gradually growing collection of seen Macbeths adds a beautiful and strange and particularly interesting member—still not a great option for showing sophomores before the play, but great.

It's interesting to me that people who make a film of Romeo and Juliet aspire to clear storytelling but Macbeth's filmmakers straightup assume you know the story already and just want to see what spin they'll put on it. They are rarely clear unless you already know the beats.

Luckily, I do! Which is why I can tell you while the cinematography is busy getting all Kurosawa/Wiene/Bergman, the actors are relishing their lines without wasting our time. And the shuffling of characters is interesting, too. Famously, all three witches are played by the same person—but she also plays the old man who delivers the news of cannabilistic horses. And "Ross" shows up all over the place. He's the one speaking to the old man (usually Ross) the third murderer (a mysterious character at any time) who then saves Fleance's life and he's at Macduff castle and then with Malcolm (both of these are Ross as written) and after Macduff kills Macbeth, it is this Ross who then carries the head to Malcolm and leads the crowd in cheers (Macduff). He's kind of everywhere, and his distinct profile ties him to the witches in eerie ways.

Anyway, if you like Macbeths, don't miss this one.

ELSEWHERE
Tubi

The Boyfriend School (1990)

This is a movie I saw for rent on VHS plenty of times as a teenager and it neeeeever tempted me. And then I completely forgot about it. Completely. So when I was listening to How did this get made? and they covered it, it took long looks at the poster art before I recognized it. (I think I knew it under it's other title, Don't Tell Her It's Me?) But they made me think it would be worth checking out.

I don't think I would have liked it at age fifteen (and it does have a bunch of absurd bits) but it holds together at least on a Disney Channel level and featured some big laughs. Plus, who doesn't like Shelly Long?

I hate the concept (romance-writing sister decks out brother as foreign heman to trick girl into loving him), but as these things go, it was delightful. No doubt it will help to keep your expectations low, but you'll have a good time.

(ps: how did that hermaphroditic sex mannequin make it into a PG-13 movie???)

ELSEWHERE
Prime Video

Frances Ferguson (2019)

Not sure when I first heard about this, but as I was just scrolling through movies I've watchlisted, it was the promise of a Nick Offerman narration that made me click it this time. And it's a good narration. And the title character occassionally interacts with him. Not the character on the screen, but her voice. It's an intriguing idea, but not enough was really done with it.

That said, it is the writing that makes the movie work. It's very low budget though the money's spent well. It does have a couple actors I recognized, David Krumholtz and Martin Starr, but mostly nobodies doing good work. Fun things are done with words on screen and, as I said, the writing is consistently good.

It's the story of a sad woman, working as a substitute teacher, who sleeps with a kid at the high school. She gets arrested, goes to prison, gets out, remains sad. As a character study, it is quiet. It lets us sit with this woman in her sadness and her lack of direction.

It's a quiet film with wit and depth and precious little flair. But isn't that something we all need now and then? It can't be Iron Man and Godfather *a*l*l* the time.

ELSEWHERE
Prime Video

Teacher of the Year (2014)

From the poster and other marketing, you will likely assume that this is a film about teachers behaving badly. And there's some of that. The robotics teacher is awful and the college counselors are so far into jokeland it's like they're in another movie, but this mockumentary as a whole has intelligence and even some nuance. It manages to even provide a moving ending.

But that moving ending is not without its complications. The eponymous teacher of the year accepts the devil's bargain and betrays the good he stands for. His motivations are understandable and possibly even noble, but still. The devil will take his due.

Which is to that for all the aspects that are overthetop or silly, Teacher of the Year still manages to say something meaningful about the way our society and education intersect.

ELSEWHERE
Kanopy

Dog City (1989)

Some introductory facts:

Narrated by Rowlf.

A breathless puns-per-minute ratio.

Jim Henson doing a Marlon Brando impression.

A tough-talking rubber ducky.

I don't recall hearing of this before seeing a bit about it at the Jim Henson show at CJM. And I remain a little unclear whether this is a "tv movie" or an episode of a longer series. I think it depends on how you measure things?
Fun discover: a character whose last name is Them. It's not pronounced the same as my Byuck protagonist, but what a thing!

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