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Letterboxd Diaries—February 2022

I’ve noticed that the review format I’ve been using for the last year, e.g., Letterboxd Diaries—January 2022, has started to feel restrictive. Confining myself to a handful of sentences to encapsulate my thoughts about entire films doesn’t feel like the best way to talk about them.

From now on, the links included with the movie titles in these Letterboxd Diaries will send you to my review on Letterboxd. This way, I can write as much or as little about these films as I want. I can stop worrying about these posts ballooning into the size of a small novel. Also, there can be multiple paragraphs. Exciting!

Total movies watched: 24.

Favorite movie of the month: Funny Face. I really loved Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, but it’s a tv show and not really in the spirit of this part.

Least favorite movie of the month: Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

Be sure to follow me on Letterboxd! 🎥

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If this last week has shown me anything it’s how valuable time away from news and social media sites can be.1

There’s a fine line that can be tread between being informed and being obsessed. It’s far easier to fall into being obsessed.

  1. Or just the internet in general. ↩︎

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Title Card: Her (2013)

The title card from the film, Her.

Her was written and directed by Spike Jonze. It was released in 2013. The titles were designed by Geoff McFetridge.

The film was produced by Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze, and Vincent Landay, along with Annapurna Pictures and Stage 6 Film. 🎞

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My very best wishes to Ukraine and its people, and to all the people in the world who are hurt by the selfish whims of murderous, heartless thugs.1

  1. To say and do the very least. To say more: Fuck Putin. ↩︎

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A Tense Zoom Call. Then Shock and Anger as Industry Reacts to Oscar Category Cuts ↗

A week ago, Oscar nominees from branches including editing, sound, and makeup and hair […] were informed that their categories would not air live on the telecast […]

During a virtual town hall with the nominees from these categories, the Academy dropped that bombshell. I recall this being a potential action in 2019. Back then it was cinematography, film editing, live-action short, and makeup and hairstyling. That idea was quickly nixed due to the rightful outrage it inspired.

Eight categories are set to be spurned come the night of this year’s show; the winners will be given their awards before the broadcast. They’ll be shown in edited clips sporadically throughout the night. Those slighted categories are:

  • Animated short
  • Documentary short
  • Film editing
  • Live-action short
  • Makeup and hairstyling
  • Original score
  • Production design
  • Sound

Instead of featuring better presenters, fewer time-fillers,1 nominating more diverse artists, having fewer commercials, and taking the ego of the organization down several notches, they’ve decided that the real problem is giving air time to too many non-sexy categories.

If the Academy, or ABC (or both for that matter), can’t understand how essential those categories are to the craft of filmmaking, then what are they even doing? Many of them are what made movies into the creative and financial force that they are today. How can the Oscars be considered the truest arbiter of quality in the industry when they keep trying to slight the artists that helped legitimize them in the first place?

I appreciated this opinion made by tv writer Chris Schleicher the first time this nonsense came up:

The Oscars get shit for being elitist but they are one of the only awards shows that televises winners in the craft categories. This decision is reprehensible. Shame on the Academy. Shame on ABC.

Still rings true today.

  1. I’m looking at you, endless musical numbers and montages. The only thing that should be pre-recorded for the broadcast is the In Memoriam segment. Otherwise, just get to the next award winner! ↩︎

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If Elizabeth Debicki doesn’t one day play Audrey Hepburn in a movie, then there’s just no sense in this world.

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I’m falling down, down, down a significant personal knowledge management rabbit hole. I should have known better—don’t even think about using something like Notion if I value my time. If only present me could go back in time and warn past me!

UPDATE: Isn’t this a funny coincidence!

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Wild Beasts was probably the best British band of the last couple decades. They never achieved the fame and recognition they deserved.1

I think this video of them playing their song Wanderlust on a 7,866 pipe organ is a good encapsulation of their brilliance. Talk about a staggering instrument. 7,866 pipes? Are you kidding me?

  1. Maybe I should aim to change that? ↩︎

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Title Card: Ikiru (1952)

The title card for the film, Ikiru.

Ikiru was written by Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, and Hideo Oguni and was directed by Akira Kurosawa. It was released in 1952.

The film was produced by Sôjirô Motoki, along with Toho Company. 🎞

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In the Unlikely Event of My Death

Consider these my final wishes. My lawyer will not know what to do with them as he is a tech-illiterate nonagenarian with great amounts of ear hair and a cough that can best be described as bubonic. It will be up to you to ensure he sees these words. Fair warning, he believes a computer is literal magic and will wheeze “BAH!” whenever you try to bring it up.

Inform my closest family and friends of my passing. Do not dare tell my greatest enemies. They know what they did…

If my body is found headless, alert the Highlanders. If you can only find one of them in all your searching, then run like your life depends on it, because it will. This fearsome being will have become too powerful.

If I’ve been turned into a zombie, I’ll probably be ravenously hungry. Please offer your brain for my sustenance. We’re friends, right? A good friend would sacrifice themself for the benefit of their undead pal.

Otherwise, cremate most of me in the fire of a thousand suns. Take my ashes and mix them with gunpowder, deposit the explosive blend into an urn made of knotty oak, and shoot me straight up into the heavens out of a cannon. May the resulting fireworks delight the still-living down on earth and flutter my incinerated remains like snow on the heads of everyone in a 10-mile radius.

Bury the rest of me underneath the shade of a verdant ash tree on a hilltop that looks like the quintessential Windows XP desktop wallpaper. If he is dead, bury the corpse of Bob Barker next to my plot. If he is still alive, deaden him up some and refer to the previous sentence.

I wish to have a cadre of high-quality cats, dogs, and people of all types pay their respects to me before my momentous send-off. Should any of them feel the strong desire to give my waxen face a lick, then damn it, let them lick.

Include many impressive guns and swords in my ceremonial tribute so I might arm myself in the potential afterlife. You never know when one of the departed might have to take out a vengeful god.

I demand whatever living members of ZZ Top there are to play the songs of Led Zeppelin at my funeral. Zeppelin had better songs, but ZZ Top had significantly better beards. Alternatively, make the members of Zeppelin grow big, bushy beards. Those two things together would make for the single best performance in the history of music. You’re welcome.

All of my money is tied up in pickle currency. That is, I have amassed a staggering amount of antique and artisanal pickle jars, the majority of which once held dill gherkins. Much like Beanie Babies and any cryptocurrency, they will only be worth something for, conservatively, two and a half days. After that exhilarating time passes, they will become a burden.

Don’t clear my browser history.

I have a number of plain, monochromatic t-shirts. Please see that those go to any dull minimalist you know, along with the message, “With regards from one of your own.”

Whoever finds the hidden key in one of my desk drawers must find the lock it belongs to; this will be your new goal in life. Nothing else will be as important. Complete your momentous task, or I will never stop haunting your ass. I have no idea what that lock is locking.

I will have taken on a massive amount of debt before my demise. You’ll have to navigate hours worth of phone tree hold cycles with credit card companies to sort all that out. Hopefully, it’ll all get canceled, but I make no promises. As a reward for the hard work, enjoy your new jet skis and high-end stereo equipment!

Mount Seanmore. Get to chiseling.

I have always wanted to learn how to play the banjo but never put in the time. Mostly because I’ve never mustered up the courage to be seen with a banjo. Honor my memory by gifting my alma mater’s music department with 3-5 professional banjos. Encourage the creation of a bluegrass club.

My movie watch list has ballooned to over 900 items. It will surely continue to grow. Find one person to watch all of those films. Alternatively, find at least 900 people to watch one apiece.

Enact a successful campaign to have my death date recognized as a cherished holiday, local only is fine. Ensure that there are annual remembrances with balloons, cake, and lamentations of women.

Should the fabled Walt Disney cryogenic treatment exist, turn me into a meat popsicle. Do not hesitate to do this; who knows how long my brain will last after my heart stops. When the cure for death is discovered, as it must, revive me immediately. My reborn, immortal self will send your descendants a personalized thank you card from Trader Joe’s and a mid-tier Edible Arrangements fruit bouquet. The card will feature an illustration of French dogs riding penny-farthings and holding baguettes. The bouquet will be mostly cantaloupe.

That should cover everything, save for one last note: To my wife, I love you… and your butt.

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The adorable love story behind Wikipedia’s ‘high five’ photos ↗

A delightful story full of intrepid sleuthing and a great resolution. The charming images throughout the piece are what make the nonsense du jour of the internet worth dealing with.

Finger guns! 👉👉

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‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Takes Down ‘Avatar’ to Become Third-Biggest Movie Ever at Domestic Box Office ↗

By Rebecca Rubin at Variety:

After weeks of speculation over whether or not Peter Parker had the legs to bump the people of Pandora from bronze, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” collected the remaining $1 million on Monday to push “Avatar” — and its mighty $760.5 million at the North American box office — to fourth place in the record books.

It would be difficult to overstate how impressive this feat is. Not only has Spider-Man: No Way Home knocked Avatar off its third-place perch, it’s done so amid a worldwide pandemic.

Can you imagine how much more of a behemoth this film would be if so many people weren’t feeling hesitant about spending extended time in crowds? Perhaps it could have unseated one of the top five highest-grossing films of all time! As it is, that seems unlikely—No Way Home would have to earn another $200 million, and soon, to have a chance of replacing Avengers: Infinity War. That’s a tall order, suggesting Avatar’s monumental lead in this particular metric is safe.1

This is still a neat day, though, and an impressive accomplishment. It couldn’t have happened to a better film.

  1. Maybe it still has a shot, though? Who knows what the future holds… ↩︎

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I got some eyeglasses retainer hooks and now I don’t want to live without them. My glasses won’t fall down, even when I’m sweaty!

I’m thinking I should look into a glasses strap next. I can evolve into my final form of “old guy who’s sick of fussing with things.”

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Sigh. Am I going to have to figure out what a/the blockchain is?

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It’s amazing how a good, sharp knife can improve the entire experience of preparing food. Instead of struggling through it all, the blade glides. Dinner doesn’t feel like a chore when you’re amazed by how it feels to slice and dice.

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Title Card: Dr. No (1962)

The title card for the film, Dr. No.

Dr. No was written by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, and Berkely Mather and was directed by Terence Young. It was released in 1962. The main titles were designed by Maurice Binder and the animation was done by Trevor Bond.

The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, along with Eon Productions. 🎞

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The band that has impressed me the most over the last few years, Big Thief, just released their new album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You.

There’s some brilliance, both expected and surprising, in there. I love it.

The cover for the Big Thief album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You.

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‘Futurama’ Revived at Hulu ↗

Good news, everyone!

From Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter:

Nearly 10 years after it signed off, Futurama has been revived for a 20-episode run on Hulu[…]

I’ll take any Futurama that anyone ever wants to give me. It was and continues to be one of the best shows to ever grace television.

Co-creator Matt Groening says:

It’s a true honor to announce the triumphant return of Futurama one more time before we get canceled abruptly again.

A part of me also wonders why this is necessary; the final episode from the original run wrapped things up in the nicest possible way.

UPDATE: It was close, but John DiMaggio is involved, too! Now it can proceed.

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The 94th Academy Awards nominations were announced today. On the whole, it’s a fair collection of some great films. This awards ceremony could always use more diversity—they’re still struggling to recognize enough non-white cast and crew—but it’s not a bad year in this sense.

As usual, I’m falling behind on the nominated films that I need to see before the ceremony; I’ve only seen 15% of them so far. I’ve been watching many older films lately and haven’t gotten a chance to see most of what’s on this list. My reluctance to go to the theater the last couple years hasn’t been helping remedy this situation either.

What I need to see, and soon:

I was delighted to see Drive My Car nominated in so many categories: Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Directing, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film. I’ve heard nothing but good things about this film; I want to see it more than nearly anything else on the list. It’s unusual for an international feature film, and a Japanese one at that, to be recognized so broadly—this is the first to ever be nominated for Best Motion Picture.1 They tend to do well in the Best International Feature Film category.

From what I can tell, I would expect Dune and The Power of the Dog to do well, the former especially with its technical nominations. Dune will have a tough time with any of the major categories; the Academy is never favorable toward science fiction. Perennial Oscar favorite, Steven Spielberg, could do it again. If there was ever a film with Oscar bait written all over it, West Side Story would be the one; the original did win big in 1961.

There don’t appear to be any clear standouts among the acting categories. That should make for some exciting and surprising wins. I’m rooting hardest for Kristen Stewart for her work in Spencer. Who else did a better job this last year?

I have a soft spot for cinematography. This category always gets my rapt attention, and this year will be no different. The artistry and originality on display are astonishing, and every single nominee could easily walk away with the statue. It’s such a tough category that I’ll have an impossible time choosing a favorite. I believe Bruno Delbonnel is one of the greatest of all time, though, so make of that what you will…

I’m an unabashed fan of this awards ceremony. It has some salient issues that I believe they’re making an effort to address, albeit slowly. I’ll still be tuning in and celebrating every winner. It’s going to take place on March 27 in the lovely Dolby Theatre.2

  1. The last couple of years have been good to Korean cinema, though. Parasite and Minari have brought that country positive and well-deserved recognition. ↩︎

  2. How they’re going to deal with COVID is anyone’s guess at this point. I don’t think they’ll want to show any empty seats, so they’ll probably be cramming people into that large space. ↩︎

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‘Reacher’ Renewed for Season 2 at Amazon ↗

Per Amazon, the show is already one of their top five most-watched shows of all time[…]

I’m not even two episodes in and I’m already loving this adaptation. Give me all of this Reacher that you’ve got, Amazon. Just hook it to my veins!