It’s been just over five months since I updated this once-weekly newsletter, and let’s dispense with the bad news first: I’m not restarting it. Instead, I think I’ll drop into your inbox occasionally with some highlights of what I’ve been watching, which is what I’m doing today.
My time has been consumed by my podcast consulting business, my podcast Follow Friday, and the greatly appreciated return of movie theaters. Since June, I've already been back to the theater 18 times (!), and I have still more tickets already lined up for the weeks and months ahead. Feels good, man.
Here’s a selection from my movie diary since the last newsletter. As always, no spoilers in anything below. Follow me on Letterboxd for the full thing:
Not counting an adorable hour-long documentary about guinea pigs, my first movie back in theaters was Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jon Chu’s musical In the Heights, which I caught at a big chain theater, the AMC Metreon. The theatrical experience was pretty terrible, tbh, and I haven’t been back to the Metreon since, but the movie was great! Bummed that it bombed at the box office, and hoping it doesn’t get eclipsed by Spielberg’s West Side Story retread at the Oscars. Best Supporting Actress for Olga Merediz, please and thank you. ★★★★
The aforementioned Guinea Pig Diaries (★★★★) was part of a documentary film festival at my wonderful local indie theater, the Roxie, which is where I also caught Edgar Wright’s terrific music documentary The Sparks Brothers (★★★★) and an absolutely delightful doc called Alien on Stage (★★★★½). It’s about an amateur theater troupe in the UK that decides to adapt Ridley Scott’s original horror classic as a … low-budget Christmas pantomime? If you like funny, quirky documentaries, then make a point of finding this one wherever it lands on streaming.
Also caught at the Roxie: My first-ever viewing of Moonstruck, which will certainly not be my last. The only problem is that I saw it with a theater full of enthusiastic fans, who cheered for things like Nicolas Cage’s first monologue and Cher’s makeover. I think there’s a business to be had in selling crowd ambience tracks that sync up with movies you’re watching at home, a la that viral clip of people reacting to the big final fight scene in Avengers: Endgame. In contention for one of my favorite romantic comedies of all time. ★★★★½
After a long break, I kept plowing through the Fast & Furious franchise at home, and have now seen everything except the last two installments, Hobbs & Shaw + F9, both of which received middling reviews so I’m not prioritizing them. I see why people like these movies and I’ve had a good time watching most of them, but the only one that have inched past the line from “good” to “great” for me was Fast Five (★★★★), with Furious 7 (★★★½) in a close second place.
By contrast, I was lucky a few weeks ago to snag tickets for a one-night only return of Mad Max: Fury Road at my favorite theater, the Alamo Drafthouse. And my GOD does seeing this movie in a good theater make a difference. I originally caught it in a dingy old theater in Woodstock, Illinois, and I liked it then, but good projection & sound really elevates this cinematic experience to something like a religious event. ★★★★★
I rewatched all the Daniel Craig James Bond movies in the run-up to his fifth and final entry, No Time to Die, which was pretty good! If you’re not a completionist like me, then you only need to watch Casino Royale and Skyfall, and can skip the rest. But NTTD is a satisfying end to the past 15 years of Bond, and has revived my interest in the franchise after the so-so previous film, Spectre.
And briefly, the other new and new-ish movies I’ve seen for the discourse-minded among you: Shang-Chi (fine), The Card Counter (good), The Eyes of Tammy Faye (fine), Black Widow (good), The Last Duel (very good), The French Dispatch (very good), Last Night in Soho (good), Dune (great), and Eternals (fine). If you’re only watching one, make it Dune, and see it in theaters if you are able and feel safe doing so. That said, I look forward to rewatching it on HBO Max with subtitles on so I can hear anything I missed!
What have you been watching? Reply to this email to send me your recommendations!