Agatha and the Truth of Murder: ⭐️⭐️⭐️: An entertaining “what if” exploring what might have happened when Agatha Christie disappeared for eleven days. In this, she finds herself playing the part of one of her own detectives, trying to solve a murder…or two.
TV And Films
The shows and movies I like (or don’t).
Original Audio? Commentary? Why Not Both?
I’m watching the new 4K restoration of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and one of the nice things about this release is that not only are there commentaries, but there are subtitles for the commentaries (this is a very rare thing, unfortunately). So I can watch the movie with the original audio, but pop on the subtitles for one of the commentary tracks to read that as I watch.
At which point Prairie looks at me and says, “Oh my god, you’re such a nerd.”
Yup.
🖖
Meatloaf Again?
Content warning: Morbid, dark humor.
Seems the Weber grill company sends out regular “recipe of the week” emails, which I’m sure are pre-written and pre-scheduled and just go out automatically.
Today’s was for BBQ meatloaf.
They had to apologize.
“Meatloaf again?”
Also: I honestly did not know until today that Meat Loaf was a vaccine-denying Trumpublican and (at least according to a lot of online scuttlebut) very likely, and unsurprisingly, died of Covid-related complications.
I can simultaneously be disappointed at the death of a long-time favorite musician, be disappointed that he got sucked into MAGAland, and think that it’s his own damn fault for dying that way — which makes it even more disappointing, because it’s quite likely that it was preventable.
🎥 Jungle Cruise
Jungle Cruise: ⭐️⭐️⭐️: Exactly what it purported to be: A Disney action/adventure with The Rock and Emily Blunt having fun playing in the Disney sandbox and making bad jokes. Perfect lightweight and low-stress entertainment for a lazy Sunday afternoon.
We watched two films today. If we can keep up this momentum, we’ll watch 730 over the next year!
To be clear, we are not going to keep up this momentum.
🎥 No Time to Die
‘No Time to Die’: ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2: Definitely one of the top two Daniel Craig Bond films (along with Skyfall), and a good end for his arc. His hasn’t been my favorite tenure (on the whole, too many of his entries went too far into the “gritty and realistic” approach), so it was nice for the final one to be one of the more enjoyable entries. I particularly appreciated the coherent and well-lit action scenes, all too often a rarity these days (particularly noticeable just after watching The Matrix: Resurrections, which had confusing and underlit action scenes that were often difficult to follow).
🎥 The Matrix: Resurrections
‘The Matrix Resurrections’ ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2: I’m going to have to do some thinking and reading on this one, and possibly re-watch it at some point. I very much enjoyed the first half, with all the de-/re-construction of the original trilogy. The action in the latter half could probably have been cut down a good chunk, it rather dragged on, and I’ll admit to being confused about just what was going on and why (Neo and Trinity are…super-batteries? But only when connected in parallel? Something?). But my first impression is that while it doesn’t reach the heights of the first, there was more about it that I liked than that didn’t work for me.
📚 54/2021: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte ⭐️⭐️⭐️
📚 53/2021: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Photostory by Richard J. Anobile ⭐️⭐️
The Matrix Resurrections: Why the Matrix movies never stopped being relevant:
The Matrix has a complicated legacy. It’s probably the most influential American movie since Star Wars came out in 1977 (and it is now almost exactly as old as Star Wars was when The Matrix came out), and it’s by far the most popular piece of art created by trans people. But its sequels were divisive, and its ideas about questioning reality have influenced political reactionaries in dangerous ways. Now, with a fourth film in the series coming out on December 22, it’s time to go back … back to the Matrix, across five eras of the franchise’s history.