Return of 7 Days in May

I'm getting bored with using this space only as ads for various podcasts, so I want to try something different. More exactly, I want to bring back something that I tried a while ago and lost interest in. Which is a weekly recap of what I've been doing the previous seven days. Putting the 'log' back into blog, so to speak.

I like the format of the discussion on After Lunch's Lounge episodes, so I'll follow that for these recaps, too (which will also let me use them as reminders when preparing for Lounge discussions). I expect the blog will mostly be what I've been watching, reading, listening to, and recording, but I hope to also include personal thoughts when I have them. I'm making an effort lately to lead a more integrated life. I've always been fairly open with stories about my family and whatnot, but there are topics that I've purposely held back on - politics and religion, for instance - and I'm going to try removing that barrier. 

My thoughts on politics and religion are complicated and I don't want to spend a ton of time each week trying to explain myself perfectly, so it's going to be a bit of a struggle for me to find the balance between brevity and clarity, but I'd like to try. And I won't have something to say about every hot topic of the day. A foundational belief for me is that people and issues are complicated and nuanced and conversations about them are best had in person and with as much specificity as possible. I'm not a fan of hypothetical situations or trying to extrapolate someone's entire character and motives from a contextless quote. So when I don't think I have enough information to talk about something, I'll keep quiet about it. But I'm also going to try to be braver about expressing opinions that I'm pretty confident in.

What I've Been Listening To

I mentioned on the Lounge a couple of times that I'm going to see a couple of my favorite bands in September: The Ocean Blue and Echo and the Bunnymen. To that end, I've made a schedule to let me relisten in depth to both bands' discographies by concert time. I'm listening to an album from each band every day, repeating Ocean Blue's album for a couple of weeks while changing out the Echo and the Bunnymen album every week.

Ocean Blue's album this (and next) week is See. It's a departure from their first three, which were made while the band was under contract with Sire. See is the first album from Mercury Records and the band is experimenting a bit. It still has David Schelzel's beautiful vocals and clear guitar that I love, but some of the tracks have a harder, fuzzier sound that would worry me if I wasn't already familiar with where the band headed from here.

The current Echo and the Bunnymen album is their self-titled release, which was their fifth studio album. A lot of bands release self-titled albums as debuts, but it takes guts to do it later in the band's career. Naming an album after the band is a statement: 'This is us. This is who we are.' That kind of bravado is expected right out of the gate when the band is working to be noticed. Making that statement later on suggests (at least to me) that everything that came before was more or less practice. Now we've arrived. And in Echo's case, that's absolutely correct. I love individual tracks from their previous four albums, but Echo and the Bunnymen is perfect. Every song is great and memorable. Every song sounds like what I think of when I think of the band.

What I've Been Reading

I haven't read at all this past week, sadly. Been trying to catch up on TV, which leads me to...

What I've Been Watching

I went on a week-long road trip with my family over Memorial Day weekend just as new seasons of both Stranger Things and The Orville dropped. And that was only the first drops from a firehose of new TV and movies that I've been struggling to catch up with the past month. In addition to things I needed to watch for various podcasts, I really wanted to rewatch the first three seasons of Stranger Things before starting Season 4. I didn't rewatch Seasons 1 and 2 before watching 3 back in the day and I think it affected my opinion of that season. I wanted to go into Season 4 with the rest of the story fresh in my mind.

And I'm so glad I did, because it reminded me how much I love the show and El in particular. Millie Bobby Brown can put me in tears with just a look. It took me a long time to catch up, but I did and now I've seen all of Season 4, too. Without spoiling anything, I'll say that I mostly love Season 4. We can talk spoilers in the comments, if anyone wants to, but I do have gripes. The fourth episode though, 'Dear Billy'... I watched that thing three times and it wrecked me all three, in the best way.

Saw this week what is currently my favorite movie of 2022. I loved Downton Abbey: A New Era. Way more than the previous Downton film and I think that's only partly due to seeing this one in the theater (I watched the earlier one at home). But that is a factor, I'm sure. I teared up just seeing the estate on the big screen as the theme played. That wasn't the last time I wished I'd brought a tissue, though. I had a bit of a headache by the end from trying not to audibly sob.

The dual plots work great. Half the cast goes to a villa in France to uncover a mystery there, leaving the rest of the characters to work with a film crew using Downton as a shooting location. Both plots are charming and dramatic and more believable than the royal visit of the previous movie.

I had an issue last movie, too, with Tom's new love interest coming out of nowhere, but now that that's been established, I love her. I love every character in this thing and they all get their due. Big sigh.

I also watched a documentary called Bitterbrush about a couple of women who work as hired hands on various ranches. The movie covers mostly their time on one, especially remote ranch and I loved spending time with them; getting to know them and what their lives are like. The loveliness of the relationships is second only to the beauty of the film's photography.

I spent a little time early on confused about the actual work and business of what they were doing, but the film reveals enough about that by the end that I felt up to speed. Just an exquisite piece of work.

Finally, I checked out The Bob’s Burgers Movie. I've only seen one episode of the show, because Evan picked the 100th episode to watch in After Lunch's 100th Episode celebration, but that one episode was enough to make me want more, including seeing this in the theater. And what a delightful experience. It's sweet, funny, mysterious, thrilling, and a great musical to boot.

What I've Been Recording

After Lunch welcomed back old friends Carlin Trammel and William Bruce West to discover who the Ultimate Fictional Musician is in a Battle of the Fictional Bands. We each nominated four bands or solo musicians to face off against each other, Sweet-16 tournament-style. It was a super fun episode and I especially loved editing in musical samples from each artist (huge thanks to Rob for tracking most of those down). 

I'm caught up on the current season of The Orville, but didn't mention it above because all my thoughts are captured on the Planetary Union Network podcast where we're commenting on each episode as they come out. TV episodes are released on Thursdays and our podcast discussions come out usually the Tuesday after. So this past week's podcast was on 'Gently Falling Rain' and its humongous revelation. 

Finally, the latest episode of Seriously Felicity came out on Friday, about the Season 1 episode, 'Happy Birthday.' This is such a personal, passion project that I don't ever really even imagine that we have much of an audience, but I'm learning that we do. As I was finishing editing this one, I got a very nice email from a listener telling me that he likes the show and wondering when the next episode was coming (the release schedule has been pretty sporadic, especially lately). And then once I released it, I noticed that we got a lovely Apple Podcasts review from a fan. I'd be doing this one even if we had zero listeners, but it's so great to hear that people are listening and connecting with it. 

10 Short Stories I Read in 2018

When it comes to short stories, I'm mostly about horror, but I'm also a sucker for a Christmas Western. Here are the short stories (and a novella or two) that I read last year:

"The Captain of the Pole-Star" by Arthur Conan Doyle



As a Sherlock Holmes fan, I was disappointed by this mediocre ghost story. Or maybe I just expected more from Conan Doyle. "Captain of the Pole-Star" is great at creating a mood, it just never pays off with a satisfying revelation about why these events are happening.

My favorite ghost stories are always also mysteries: learning why a haunting is taking place so that it can be resolved. Conan Doyle is usually great about pulling back the curtain on a mystery, so that's what I wanted here, too. Instead, he leaves the details vague, which is perhaps meant to be unsettling, but I just found frustrating.

"The Canterville Ghost" by Oscar Wilde



Diane and I saw a theatrical version of this story earlier in 2018 and that sparked interest in seeing the TV movie with Patrick Stewart as the Ghost. I decided I needed to finally read Wilde's story over Halloween.

There are some truly spooky elements, but Wilde is more interested in the satirical contrast of American and British cultures than he is in creating dread. It's a fun and funny story, but I prefer the gothic tone and philosophical exploration of The Picture of Dorian Gray.

"Lot No. 249" by Arthur Conan Doyle

This was more like it. After being discouraged by "Captain of the Pole-Star," I loved the mystery and growing horror of "Lot No. 249." It's easy to figure out what's going on ahead of the main character, but that doesn't diminish the extremely cool Old Oxford setting, the excitement of the main character's finally figuring it out, and a crazy great description of his being stalked by a truly dreadful creature.

"The Doll's Ghost" by F Marion Crawford



Unnerving and emotional. A doll "doctor" sends his daughter out into the London streets to make an evening delivery, but she doesn't come home. As a parent, I found it extremely unsettling. As a lover of ghost stories, I found it beautiful. One of my favorites of the year.

"Room in the Dragon Volant" by J Sheridan Le Fanu



A fun setup with a mysterious room in an inn that people keep disappearing from. Unfortunately, the protagonist is stupidly gullible and delivered from the threat against him by exactly 0% of his own ability.

"The Empty House" by Algernon Blackwood



In November, the little bookstore I go to put out a display of little books of Christmas Ghost Stories designed by the cartoonist Seth. After helping read a Christmas ghost story for the Weird Christmas podcast, I was all for following the advice on the books' covers and reviving the Christmas tradition of reading spooky stories for the holiday.

The first one I read was "The Empty House," a simple, but effective story about a woman and her nephew who decide to investigate an allegedly haunted house in their neighborhood. There aren't any mysteries or twists, but Blackwood's descriptions are super creepy and stuck with me after I finished the story.

"The Diary of Mr. Poynter"by MR James



I'm not sure that the story about a hair monster totally makes sense, but dang James conjures some creepy imagery.

"The Crown Derby Plate" by Marjorie Bowen



So good. Probably my favorite of the year. It's about a woman who goes to an old house to inquire about a missing plate from a set she bought at an estate sale. It's spooky and humorous with a great ending.

"Christmas Eve on a Haunted Hulk" by Frank Cowper



The final ghost story of the season for me. It's about a guy who goes fishing and winds up stranded on a spooky, derelict boat. It's nicely atmospheric with great details and I like how it leaves the backstory ambiguous. The narrator bugged me though, both in his defensiveness about his story being disbelieved and his foolishness in getting into the mess he got into in the first place.

"A Journey in Search of Christmas" by Owen Wister



I finished out the year with this sweet story of a cowboy on holiday who starts out looking for drink and maybe revenge (though not the kind you'd expect), but finds Christmas instead.

22 Comics I Read in 2018

I don't have a good way to count individual, single-issue comics that I've read over the year, but I also read a bunch of graphic novels and collections. I mentioned in the overview the other day that Bill Watterson's The Complete Calvin and Hobbes was both the longest book I finished (it's three volumes) and the most liked by other Goodreads users. There's nothing to say about the strip that the world doesn't already know, but I was reminded that Watterson is a brilliant cartoonist who's equally excellent at both humor and warming hearts. Reading the series 23 years later, though, I was struck by his observations about culture and how little has actually changed. Social media has amplified some ugly aspects of human nature, but Calvin and Hobbes is a powerful reminder that our biggest problems have always been there.



I also started Charles Schulz' Peanuts archives with The Complete Peanuts, Vol. 1: 1950-1952. Early Peanuts is so awesome. Charlie Brown isn't yet the loser he'll become; he's just one of a group of kids who enjoy each other while occasionally giving each other a hard time. He's an equal member of the group and often an instigator in teasing and mischief.

Initially, the group is him, Shermie, Violet, and Patty (not Peppermint; the other one whom nobody remembers these days, but recognizes when they see her). And Snoopy is there of course, but he's not clearly identified as Charlie Brown's dog until later. He begins as just sort of a neighborhood dog whom everyone takes responsibility for.

Schroeder, Lucy, and Linus are all introduced in this volume (in that order). They each come into the strip as a precocious infant or toddler and then quickly grow into about the same age as the other characters until Schulz decides he needs another younger character and brings in the next one. It's fun to see baby Linus and Schroeder, but it's even more fun watching baby Lucy. She's a high-spirited handful from the start, but not the crabby fussbudget that she'll eventually grow into. The cartoons are often laugh out loud funny, but always sweet and of course well-drawn.



I read several Marvel Masterworks volumes last year, starting with Atlas Era Jungle Adventure. I got partway through the first volume, remembered that I'd read it before, and my memory was that it doesn't get any better than the first couple of stories. I love jungle adventure and I love female characters, but the Lorna stories are especially sexist. She falls for a horrible chauvinist who disrespects not only her, but explicitly all women at every opportunity. The text specifically calls him her "friend" and pretends that this is a normal, healthy relationship. It's gross. The art's pretty good, but not great enough to carry me through the rest of it.

After that, I dug into the early Marvel superheroes, starting with the first three volumes of The Fantastic Four. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's work on it was as imaginative and exciting as everyone says. It was thrilling to finally read the introductions of Doctor Doom, the Skrull, Puppet Master (and with him Alicia Masters), Impossible Man, the Watcher, and of course the reintroduction of the Sub-Mariner. There's also the first meeting between the Thing and the Hulk, which was super cool.

The constant sidelining of Sue Storm got tiresome, so I still look forward to seeing that change in future volumes. There's a panel in Volume 2 where Reed defends Sue's value to the team by talking about how she keeps up the morale of the male members. Yuck. "Different times" and all that, but it's a huge distraction for me. Volume 2 wraps up with Fantastic Four Annual #1, which is a cool way to close. It's a huge, exciting story in which Sub-Mariner has finally found his lost people and leads them in an invasion of New York City. That battle has some truly exciting moments, even by today's standards.

Then Volume 3 stands out for including the FF's portion of arguably Marvel's first crossover event, though it wasn't heralded that way. It's a sprawling story around the Fantastic Four, the fledgling Avengers, and even the mysterious, new team known as the X-Men as they try to figure out what to do with each other as well as the random destructiveness of the Hulk and Sub-Mariner. And it's quite good.

Speaking of the Hulk, I read the first volume of his adventures, too. Jack Kirby's version is my favorite look for the character and all the art in this collection is a joy. There's one non-Kirby issue, but that was drawn by Steve Ditko, so it's great, too. What's interesting about these stories is seeing Kirby and Stan Lee figuring out how they want to handle the character. He's gray in the first issue, green in the rest, and Bruce Banner's transformations are triggered by everything EXCEPT his emotions. It starts as a nighttime change and by the end of the collection it's something that Banner and the Hulk control with a machine (although an unpredictable one that seems also to have a negative effect). There's also a weird issue or two where the Hulk is mind-controlled by Rick Jones. I'm looking forward to reading other volumes and seeing how long it takes to settle into a status quo for the series. It's all over the place in the beginning, but that's not a complaint.

And finally, for Marvel Masterworks, I finished the first volume of The Avengers. It was a great idea for a series and super fun for the first several issues. The status quo changed constantly with the Hulk's leaving and coming back and leaving again and being chased by the other members and then Captain America shows up... But the series settles into a rut for the last few issues collected here. Once Baron Zemo and the Masters of Evil show up, they keep coming back with various other villains as allies. Captain America's angst and declarations of vengeance against Zemo are especially wearisome.

Over on the DC side (though they weren't DC comics at the time), I read a couple of collections featuring the Captain Marvel family of characters: The Shazam Archives and The Shazam Family Archives. Fawcett's Captain Marvel has been a favorite character of mine since watching the Saturday morning live action TV show in the '70s. He's got an awesome costume and I love the concept of a younger person (a teenager in the TV show; a young boy in the comics) turning into a Superman analog by saying a magic word. This was my first time reading his original adventures.

CC Beck's art is lovably simple, but exciting. That's the highlight here. And just the joy of seeing the same villain, Dr Sivana, reappear over and over again in spite of being constantly defeated. He becomes an awesome archenemy just from sheer, relentless repetition.

Unfortunately, that repetition backfires when it comes to the tone of the collection. The villains' schemes are mostly fun and inventive, but all the stories are the same kind: secret villain has scheme, Billy Batson investigates, uncovers villain, and defeats them as Captain Marvel. They'd be fun read a month at a time, but they were hurt by reading together in a collection like this. I'm curious to get to stories featuring Tawky Tawny and some of the other crazy supporting cast, but hesitant to pick up the next volume. I decided to try some Captain Marvel Jr and Mary Marvel instead, which led me to Shazam Family.

I was initially disappointed to see how heavily skewed Shazam Family, Volume 1 is towards Captain Marvel Jr. I like Mary Marvel much more, but she's only got the one story in the collection. And sadly, there is no Shazam Family Archives, Vol. 2.

But even though it was a much deeper dive into CMJ's early adventures than I wanted, I had a ball with those stories. I even liked them more than the early adventures of Captain Marvel himself. Mac Raboy's realistic art style was way ahead of its time, making CMJ's comics look more like they were created in the '70s than the '40s. And even though the stories rely heavily on two particular, recurring villains (Captain Nazi and Mister Macabre), the plots and settings of those stories vary enough that I never grew bored the way I did with the Captain Marvel volume.

The final collected volume I finished was Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan: The Jesse Marsh Years Omnibus Volume 1. Sadly though,  I couldn't finish it. I expect to struggle through a certain amount of racism in old Tarzan stories, but it is so prevalent in these tales and often coming directly out of Tarzan's mouth, which is not something I'm used to. Marsh's linework is quite good though, so there's some enjoyment to be had just flipping through the drawings.



Finally getting to graphic novels, I started the year with the first two books in Mike Maihack's fun Cleopatra in Space series: Target Practice and The Thief and the Sword. I enjoyed Maihack's webcomic with the same character and premise, but that was a very light adventure and I wasn't confident that the printed version would have the emotional weight I wanted from a graphic novel. It does though. Target Practice is not a collection of the web strips and Maihack knows the difference between the two formats and makes the right changes.

The web comic made sure that there was an action beat or gag on every new installment/page, where the graphic novel is an immersive experience. It gave me the time I wanted to get to know Cleo, her environment, and her friends, and to relate to her predicament. It's still action-packed, super cute, and very funny, but now all of those things are surrounding solid characters.

The Thief and the Sword is a strong follow up. It has all the same charm, plus it expands the universe. I wasn't crazy about the new, thief character, but he's potentially redeemable. My only complaint is that it ends on a cliffhanger. That's not exactly a dislike though, because I'd wanna read the next one anyway.



Koma: The Voice of Chimneys is a short volume about a young chimney sweep who meets a monster. It's building to something bigger, so it was impossible to tell what I'm going to think of the plot, but I like the main character and the art is fantastic. The design of the creature is both spooky and affecting. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.



You know I'm all about the pirates, but while Barracuda, Tome 1: Esclaves is beautifully drawn, I don't like any of the characters and the tone is oppressively dark. I'm not reading any more of this one.



I've always admired Rick Geary's linework, but this is the first book by him that I've read. Most of his stuff falls into the category of True Crime, which isn't a genre I enjoy, but this is full-blown fiction featuring one of my favorite actors as the detective. It's an engaging riddle and though I was a little disappointed with the solution itself, I was thrilled with the way it was revealed. I would love to see Geary create more Louise Brooks Mysteries.



Lovely art. Fun characters. It's a bit densely packed for my taste (and eyesight; small panels) and I don't feel like Delilah is as much a character as an idea for a character, but I quite like Mr Selim (the Turkish lieutenant) and I'll be reading the next volume.



Lovely art depicting deep characters in a romantic setting. But while the characters are varied and complicated, I'm not actually all that interested in most of them. Or maybe it's the absence of a central plot that I'm reacting negatively to. I wonder if subsequent volumes begin to develop a stronger story with character arcs. I'm just not decided on whether I want to find out enough to continue the series.



I've been a fan of Kickliy's work for over a decade and it's been fun and rewarding to watch him grow as a cartoonist and storyteller. Perdy is a very naughty Western with great characters, intriguing mysteries, a bawdy sense of humor, and - most of all - a gorgeous visual style. As "Volume 1" suggests, it's not a complete story, but it's a satisfying read and I can't wait for the next installment.



I read the first volume in single issues and was captivated enough that I just bought the rest of the series in collected volumes when I had a chance at a sale. Terry Moore's drawing is always exceptional and he set up a great mystery in Volume 1 around why a dead woman's body was left half-buried in the woods and why she came back to life. Volume 2 answers most of the mystery in order to reveal a conflict that I imagine the rest of the series will work to resolve. Sadly for me, the conflict isn't as intriguing as the mystery was, so I'm not going to rush into Volume 3.

But Moore's skills in creating rich characters and mood are great enough that I enjoy being in the moment with his stories even when I'm not pulled forward by the plot. I will eventually come back and read more.



Butch Guice's art is always great. He has a grounded, realistic style that's just as convincing when he's depicting mythical creatures as when he's drawing everyday people and objects. He's the perfect artist for this kind of Harryhausen-influenced story. And the events of the story are pretty great. There's a mystical island filled with awesome creatures to run away from.

The characters are fine, but they're fairly standard archetypes and no one stands out as a favorite so far (though the villain shows signs of being more than he seems). It's only the first volume, so I'm hopeful that the characters grow on me as they continue to be challenged by the island and their mission on it. It's a good start and I'll keep reading.



Finally, I'm a big fan of Bryan Talbot's steampunk, talking animal mysteries and the way the characters develop and the situations build on each other. I'm an even bigger fan when he's clearly drawing inspiration from James Bond as he is in this volume. Can't get enough of this series.

Pop Culture Retrofit | National Lampoon's Vacation Western

Pop Culture Retrofit is a great idea for a podcast. Each episode, Christian and DiGio take a movie or TV show and imagine what it would be like in a different medium or genre. So: what if The Breakfast Club was a Disney animated movie with talking animals? Or The Da Vinci Code was a game show? Or Die Hard was more appropriate for cats? It's not just a great concept; it's hilarious.

Sometimes they have a guest and for the latest episode they let me come on and help think of ways to turn National Lampoon's Vacation into a Western. I had a blast and laughed a lot. You need to check this out.

45 Movies I Missed from 2017

Wow. This is my longest "missed" list since I started doing these posts in 2013. That's partly because this was a great movie year, but it's mostly because the way that I've watched movies has changed. I've gotten pickier about what I care to see in the theater, so I've only seen 39 so far of the 2017 films that interest me. Another factor is that some of these actually haven't been released yet, except maybe in festivals. That's always the case with some every year, but this year seems especially heavy in that category.

I tend to be about six months behind when catching up to these in home viewing, so I might try something new this year and revise my rankings around July when I've actually seen everything. In the meantime, this list will explain why some movies didn't make it into my rankings. And as usual, I'm listing them more or less in the order that they were released.

The Last Face



This one's mostly about the cast. Theron and Bardem play relief workers trying to help an area during a revolution and I'm curious to see director Sean Penn's view on that story.

Planetarium



This one's also about the lead actors, but they play sisters who claim to see dead people, so that sounds cool, too.

The Limehouse Golem



Bill Nighy in a Ripper-esque movie in which the murders may be the work of a golem. I really wanted to see this around Halloween, but couldn't get my act together.

City of Tiny Lights

Looks like a modern film noir with Riz Ahmed (Rogue One) as the detective. I'm not sure what Billie Piper's doing, but I'm betting that I'll love it, whatever it is.

The Big Sick

Kumail Nanjiani always makes me laugh and I've heard great things about this non-traditional romantic comedy written by him and his wife, Emily V Gordon. Plus: Holly Hunter!

Planetary Union Network | Bruce Broughton and "Majority Rule"

On the latest Planetary Union Network, we had the pleasure of interviewing composer Bruce Broughton, who wrote not only the Orville theme, but tons of classic movie scores from Ice Pirates and Monster Squad to Silverado and Tombstone. He was a great guy to talk to and I love the passion with which he answered my question about the many scores he wrote for Disney theme parks. The best part though is when he talked about the difference between scoring Westerns and Science Fiction and then demonstrated on the piano! The episode is worth listening to just for that.

But if you're into The Orville and wanna hear us talk about "Majority Rule," my favorite episode since "About a Girl," then there's that, too.

Hellbent for Letterbox | Barquero (1970)

Pax and I continue our love affair with Lee Van Cleef by talking about this Spaghetti-inspired, American-made thriller co-starring Warren Oates, Forrest Tucker, Kerwin Mathews, Mariette Hartley, and Marie Gomez. And in "Whatchoo Been Westernin'?": DC Comics' Jonah Hex/Yosemite Sam Special and the Billy the Kid episode of Brad Meltzer's Decoded.

7 Days in May | Big Golden Child in Little China

Brimstone (2016)



I'm gonna mention this on an upcoming Hellbent for Letterbox, but even then I'm not gonna say too much out of fear of spoilers. I watched this only knowing the IMDb summary and that was a pretty great way to go into it: "From the moment the new reverend climbs the pulpit, Liz knows she and her family are in great danger."

Learning why Liz is afraid pulled me into the movie, but what kept me there were the powerful performances, the gorgeous cinematography, and the intriguing, non-linear way that the story unfolds. It's a dark, disturbing tale, but it's so engrossing.

Unfortunately, there are a couple of specific moments as the film's wrapping up that I just couldn't stick with. Just quick things, but they were unbelievable enough that they ungrounded a movie that was otherwise all too real and scary.

Rogue One (2016)



This was the last of my rewatches of favorite 2016 movies.

I liked it quite a bit the first time, but I'm enjoying Rogue One more every time I watch it. This time it got me interested in watching it in context of the entire Star Wars series, so I'll probably try to do that before Last Jedi comes out.

The Golden Child (1986)



One of my favorite Eddie Murphy movies. A fun fantasy-adventure story with a hilarious and cool hero, an awesome villain (Charles Dance), and tons of memorable lines. And I'm still in love with Charlotte Lewis.

Big Trouble in Little China (1986)



Rewatching The Golden Child got me wanting to see Big Trouble in Little China again, mostly because of the shared actors. I'd never made the connection (not even in 1986) how similar they are and certainly didn't know that Big Trouble in Little China rushed production to beat Golden Child to the theaters.

I still think that the similarities are superficial and I'm a fan of both. Big Trouble in Little China takes more chances though and is a crazier, more fun experience for it. It's hard to tell if the movie knows how awful its dialogue is and is in on the joke, but I like to read it that way. It's certainly aware of its tropes, because it's playing with them and turning some of them upside down. I was afraid this wouldn't hold up, but it totally does.

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)



I really wanted to like this because of how much I love all three of its main stars, but unfortunately it was another reminder that I really don't like screwball comedies that aren't What's Up, Doc?. This one almost entertains me (it certainly has its moments), but...

Look, any complaints I make are going to be about things that are specifically related to the genre. It would be like complaining about a horror movie because it's too scary. You would be perfectly justified telling me to just avoid the genre in the future. And one of these days, I'll remember to follow that advice.

Lured (1947)



A brilliant thriller. I love I Love Lucy, but I love Lucille Ball in these early, serious roles (see also: Five Came Back) even more.

In this one, Ball plays a dancer whose best friend goes missing, most likely as the victim of a serial killer. When Ball contacts the police, she's offered an undercover job. The killer lures his victims through personal ads in the paper, so the cops send Ball out to answer various ads and see if they can sniff out the murderer.

What I like is that not every ad leads to the murderer (of course), but that they're all interesting. It becomes almost an anthology, with Ball involved in multiple stories and situations. Boris Karloff plays one ad-placer (not telling if he's involved in the larger case or not) and George Sanders is a nightclub owner whom Ball would love to work for once the case is solved. The rest of the cast is great, too, especially Charles Coburn, Cedric Hardwicke, and George Zucco. And Alan Napier (Alfred to Adam West's Batman) has a small part as one of the police detectives.

Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947)



I didn't care for the one Dick Tracy serial I saw starring Ralph Byrd, but so far his feature movies are great. In this one, Boris Karloff plays the title villain who takes over a gang of bank robbers that uses freeze gas to commit crimes. Karloff feels dangerous, Byrd is charming, and Anne Gwynne's Tess Trueheart is resourceful and helpful to the case. There's actual mystery-solving and some cool twists. I'll be seeking out more of these.

7 Days in May | Arthur and Austen

King Arthur (2004)



This post is about stuff that we watched the week before our Britain trip. Didn't watch any movies while we were traveling.

One of the things I wanted to see in England was Hadrian's Wall, so what better way to celebrate and learn about it than the totally historically accurate King Arthur?

I kid because I love. Not many people like this version of the King Arthur story, but it's probably my favorite. It's a cool idea to set it during the Roman occupation of Britain with Arthur being a Roman officer and his knights are indentured soldiers from the conquered region of Sarmatia. They protect Roman interests in Britannia by manning Hadrian's Wall against the Celtic Woads. Merlin is a Woad and so is Guinevere.

Calling it "the untold true story" is ridiculous, but the movie is clever and fun and the cast is awesome. Clive Owen plays Arthur, Ioan Gruffudd is Lancelot, and two of my personal favorites - Keira Knightley and Mads Mikkelsen - play Guinevere and Tristan. Guinevere kicks so much ass and Tristan is basically every fantasy RPG character I've ever created. There are tons of other great actors in it, too; more than I want to list.

On top of all that are some great set pieces and a thoughtful, touching exploration of loyalty and duty.

Northanger Abbey (2007)



We didn't get as many Britain Trip movies watched as we wanted to, but since one of our stops was Bath, we wanted to sneak in at least a Jane Austen. Austen spent time in Bath (though she didn't actually like the town much) and used it as a location in a couple of her novels. Northanger Abbey is one of those and since it's a commentary on gothic romances - a genre our whole family enjoys - it felt like a good way to introduce David to Austen's stories.

There aren't many adaptations of it, but the 2007 BBC version is pretty great with or without competition. It stars Felicity Jones (Rogue One) as the main character and does a great job showing how her world view is affected by the books she reads. If you've read the novel, you know that Austen wasn't a huge fan of gothic romance (I forgive her) and that Northanger Abbey isn't so much a parody of them as it is simply making fun. But to get there, the movie lets us into the main character's imagination and uses cool, gothic imagery to do it. It's the closest Austen gets to genre work, so it's a great introduction to her (even though the movie wasn't actually filmed in Bath).

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)



Technically, I watched this out of order since it's the second of Ford's Cavalry Trilogy, but I accidentally watched it last ('cause I forgot that Rio Grande was one of them and not just one of the billion other John Wayne movies named after rivers). Really though, I think it fits best as the final in the series.

The other two are in black-and-white, but Yellow Ribbon is in color, so it looks more modern. And John Wayne isn't playing the same character he does in the other two, but an older officer who's getting ready to retire. Ben Johnson, on the other hand, does play the same character he does in Rio Grande, but in Rio Grande he's a raw recruit and he's obviously more seasoned here. So if we're trying to put together some sort of chronology to this weird, extremely loose trilogy, Yellow Ribbon ought to come last.

It's a good film, but my least favorite of the three. The plot meanders and circles back on itself and I'm never super invested in the romantic triangle of Joanne Dru, John Agar, and Harry Carey Jr. I probably would've been more interested if Dru's character had been played by Shirley Temple from Fort Apache, but that's just because I love Shirley Temple. Dru does a fine job; it's just that Carey's character never really has a chance, so there's not really any tension around that part of the story. Mostly it's just Dru and Agar pretending not to like each other and Carey suffering the fallout from their shenanigans. Not that I feel bad for Carey, because he's pretty unlikable.

I also didn't feel the weight of bad orders like I did in the other two films. Wayne's superior officer does direct Wayne into questionable activity, but it's not like anything that Henry Fonda or J Carrol Naish make him do in Fort Apache and Rio Grande. But that also makes it the most pleasant of the three films. That's not a compliment (the grittiness of the other two are what I like most about them), but it's a true statement and John Wayne is typically charming (and in an atypical way for him) and Ben Johnson even more so.

The Gunfighter (1950)



Every Gregory Peck Western I watch makes him more and more my favorite Western star. In this one, he plays a gunslinger who visits a town for reasons I won't spoil. He has enemies hot on his trail, so the town marshal - who also happens to be an old friend of Peck's - is trying to get him to leave, but Peck insists on staying until his business is concluded.

Peck is awesome in it and it's another great movie that tears down the fantasy of gunfighting as a glamorous life. Unforgiven got a lot of praise for doing that as if it was some sort of new innovation, but the more Westerns I watch - like the original Magnificent Seven and even Young Guns II, for crying out loud - the more I realize how ununique Unforgiven was in that regard.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)



A classic and a favorite that I wanted David to see. It's too pretentious to be my all-time favorite '50s space invader movie (I like more cheese in them), but it's really well done and I love the design of the ship and of course Gort. It's an essential part of the science fiction canon.