weekend watchlist: an all man-(and woman)-versus-beast(s), all both-sides-of-the-pond special
In honor of the silly glory that is Idris Elba punching a lion in Beast. (First published September 4th, 2022, on Substack and Patreon.)
Monty Python’s Flying Circus
Beast (2022) movie review: he fights the lion
Idris Elba fights a lion. This is what we are promised and this is what we get. The purity is sort of beautiful. But is it a failure of the movie, or a success, that it treats such nonsense earnestly?
what is there to say about Harold Ramis? he was very fascinating
Ramis’s Groundhog Day, which he wrote and directed, might be the finest film comedy ever made…
The Grey (trailer)
“The lion is in the contract!” ”He fights the lion.”
‘Doctor Who’ blogging: “Let’s Kill Hitler”
After a few days to digest this and multiple viewings to comfirm my feelings about this episode, I am sad to say that it treads dangerously close to a point at which I want to disavow it as “real” Doctor Who and start pretending that it doesn’t “count.”
The Kentucky Fried Movie (review)
If I had been introduced to this film at a more impressionable age, I might today have pleasant adolescent memories of it that would color my grownup response to it today, and perhaps I could be kinder to a movie considered a comedy classic by some. But I wasn’t, I haven’t, and I can’t.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (review)
Gilliam gamboling freely through the public subconscious just doesn’t work, this time, on any level other than a meta one.
question of the day: What’s your favorite Monty Python bit?
The first episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus was broadcast 40 years ago this month — though the boys’ official site insists it’s the 400th anniversary. In honor of the occasion, the cable network IFC is this week airing a new six-part documentary, Monty Python: Almost the Truth: The Lawyer’s Cut. (I don’t get IFC … more…
classical movies are music to cinema’s ears
No, not classic movies: classical movies. September is Classical Music Month, the origin of which probably ties in to the whole “back to school, back to seriousness” idea. Which is sort of silly, actually: just because classical music is has stood the test of time doesn’t mean it has to be solemn. In fact, for … more…
Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery (review)
Warning: Consume with Alcohol Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery (starring Mike Myers, Elizabeth Hurley, Michael York, Robert Wagner) may be a movie best seen with a large group of somewhat drunk — or at least goofy — people. I watched the video stone sober and curled up on the couch with no one but … more…
