Bold are movies/tv. Bold Italics are Books
Recommended
Conclave — Loaded cast. Excellent palate … say what you will about the Church, but the uniforms are still impressive despite all the recent advances in technology. (A few centuries ago, it must have been even more so!) Arranging the shots was probably a cinematographer’s dream. I must admit I was also surprised at how respectful it was to the church. Flawed villains, but no rhetorical mustaches were twirled (in some points of view they were, but the mustaches were appropriate).
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Netflix) — I actually recommended the Manga during Covid.1 This is a D&D (or LotR) type story that begins at the end: What happens after you defeat the Great Evil as the Elf, and the rest of your party gets old and dies? This has magic and combat (often the weakest part), but Frieren is mostly a “cozy” story about memory. There are a few “too obvious” story beats, but also nice deviations from standard fantasy. Frieren retracing her adventure to try and understand people she spent “barely any time with” (a decade) has a tragic beauty.
Death’s Master / Delusion’s Master — Last time, I recommended Night’s Master and these are still good, but the main characters aren’t as impressive (which is perhaps why Azhrarn from first book keeps popping up in the best stories).
Donnie Darko — I vaguely remembered reading SlimeMold/TimeMold’s Dukakis Theory of Donnie Darko (really more rambling observations than theory) and it popped up on Tubi, so I rewatched it. I knew some of the scenes, but had forgotten the plot. What really struck me was how the loaded the cast was (most of whom were not famous … yet, many of whom went on to have good careers. Jake Gyllenhaal may have been a Nepo baby, but he’s hypnotic as Donnie, and probably needed therapy to stand up straight after filming. I got a neck ache watching him slouch).
Maybe
Blade Runner (The Final Cut) — I already considered Blade Runner great when the Director’s was released. I was in grad school and drove 30 minutes at night in the pouring rain to see it — probably the best way to get there. Blade Runner is probably my favorite movie, so for me this was a must-watch. But you’ll probably already know how you feel about it, and if you’ve seen the Directors cut …. for most people that will be enough.
The Devil’s Plan — See full review. (S2 Drops in early May)
The Prisoner (Original Series) — Rewatching this. Firstly, one of the all time great opening credits. (Good enough to have their own Wikipedia Page! Even the font design is excellent, and I don’t normally notice such things). Like I always say (now) about British TV — “They are usually nice and short, but however short they are, they should have been shorter.” Starts strong; quality drops after 5-6 episodes. The 2 part finale upticks (with the great Leo McKern) but alas, the landing is not stuck. Also the fact that there is only an ‘A’ story (instead of ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ like modern TV)2 means that when an episode drags, it really drags. (Definitely skip “The Girl Who Was Death” — 2 minutes of plot stretched into 50 with the worlds most tedious slow motion chase sequence).
Sum of All Fears — Perfectly cromulent Tom Clancy flick.
Maybe Not
Bondsman — Kevin Bacon as a bail-bondsman who gets released from hell as long as he recaptures rogue demons. Should be more fun than it is, but its not bad. One small favor — each episode is a lean ~25 minutes. I initially had this in Maybe as it was improving, but the ending was not great.
Devil May Cry — Watched two episodes of this anime. Might finish.
No / Turned off
The Good Cop — A mystery / detective series by the guy who did Monk. Most of the cringe, none of the charm. Also, the mystery wasn’t great in the episode I watched. Turned off.
Lords of War — This was my second attempt to watch, and second failure. Turned off.
Subservience — Even Megan Fox as a sexbot can’t save this. Turned off.
