Recent Movies, TV, and Other Media

A non-exhaustive list of notable media (movies, TV, books, music, etc.) that I’ve watched, read, listened to, or otherwise ingested.

Movies

Longlegs (2024) – Dripping with dread, this movie lingered with me on the drive home. Bleak, slow, with some delightful spooks, but ultimately empty and lacking substance. I really liked this leaving the theater, but it soured over time — still, there are some stretches in here that are top-notch compared to its contemporaries.
Late Night With the Devil (2023) – Overall a decent descent into madness. A late night talk show host on the outs accidentally brings the devil on air. What’s not to like about that premise? Unfortunately, the production team decided to use AI for a few interstitial images instead of, you know, paying a real artist to make real pictures. Especially insulting after sitting through what felt like 10 entire minutes of production logos at the movie’s opening.
The Player (1992) – Very noirish. A man, fearing his own demise, sets out to escape his fate — meanwhile blundering right into that very same fate. The ending is so cynical, so biting, it retroactively made what was still a very enjoyable movie into something else entirely. It was fun to watch a movie about people who make movies, and feeling their love for The Movies bleeding through every frame.
Nowhere (1997) – I can’t really describe this, except for stealing the byline: 90210 on acid. Wild, queer, colorful, anarchic, angsty, surreal. It took a second to click, but once it did, I was locked in for every minute.

Preacher (2016) – Based on a comic book series, a criminal-turned-preacher gets an extraordinary power and stumbles onto a world of vampires, crypto-fascist organizations, angels, the Saint of Killers, and a Hitler escaped from Hell. Among other things. I really liked the first season, which was all about people fighting with themselves to be better people. Can you change your nature? Is it even worth the struggle? In subsequent seasons this fell to the wayside in favor of plot-heavy storytelling, which was still fun, just less so.

Night Work (by Thomas Glavinic) – A man wakes up one morning and finds he’s the last person on earth. Scratch that, last living animal. No birds, no dogs, not even any insects. There’s a dread that suffuses the first hundred or so pages that I won’t forget. While I appreciate the direction the rest of the book took, it wasn’t entirely for me, but I understand it’s partially my own expectations dragging me down. I wanted a little more of the surreal, weird, spookiness that was promised and hinted at in the beginning.
Unconditional Parenting (by Alfie Kohn) – While I am generally not entirely supportive of “gentle parenting” for nebulous reasons I won’t get into here, I still found a lot of wisdom in this book. It communicates clearly how to get across to a person (not just your children!) that your love for them is unconditional, and how to make a relationship feel less transactional in the process. And I’m all for any modern book that pushes parents to improve (as people and as parents), be more self-reflective, and foster healthy attachment with their offspring.
Worm (by Wildbow) – I’m not even remotely finished with this. It’s long. 7,000 pages long. That’s 1.6 million words long. But the chapters are in neat, popcorn-sized bites, easy to chew through in those random stretches of day when I don’t want to watch something but still have some time to kill.

The Menzingers – On the Impossible Past (2012) – This has slowly transformed into a no-skip album for me. Nostalgic, but not pining. It’s not just about who we were, but who we could have been.
The DSM IV – New Age Paranoia (2024) – Retro sound, new age angst. Synthy, sometimes operatic, gloomy and gothy. Definitely not for every mood but still a good listen.