The Friday Article Roundup
Articles from around the Internet to keep the holidays from repeating on you.
Better than Fruitcake Crumbs, it’s:
Resolve to be a friend to the FAR in the New Year! Send articles to be featured throughout the next week to ploughmanplods [at] gmail, post articles from the past week below for discussion, and Have a Happy Friday!
Crooked Marquee’s Chelsea Spear makes the case for adding Night of the Comet to the canon of Christmas movies:
The feelings of desolation in Sam’s monologue extend to the film’s cinematography and production design. Though Night of the Comet begins ten days before Christmas, the holiday season is only glancingly mentioned in dialogue. As the girls walk through Downtown L.A., stray holiday decor appears in the background and snippets of Christmasy music weave through the score, adding to the eeriness of how empty the neighborhood is. Seeing a Christmas tree and a tinsel garland at the edges of a department store where the girls try to forget their troubles—just before being kidnapped by a trio of comet zombies—underscores how young our protagonists are and how lonely they must feel at the most wonderful time of the year.
There’s end-of-year best-of lists aplenty, but the editors of RogerEbert.com focus on the best examples of craft in movies this year:
Mansell’s score [for Love Lies Bleeding] clocks in at a lean eight tracks, but it packs a ferocious punch, often channeling the otherworldly longings of its heroines. It is slippery and elusive, often shifting tempos and instruments in a couple of seconds. Consider the nearly eight-minute opening track, “Louville,” a protracted medley of ambient synths and hypnotic drones. It has its own arc, its crescendo of textures and harmonies mirroring the ways we can get easily lost in new love before it drops to a primal, yet composed howl about two and a half minutes in. It echoes how how Lou and Jackie’s love is complicated through proximity to Lou’s criminal family.
For Polygon, Austin Goslin and Toussaint Egan inventory memorable recreations of movie scenes in video games:
The game: Scarface: The World Is Yours (2006)
The movie: Scarface (1983)
How playable is it? Objectively, Scarface: The World Is Yours is one of the strangest games ever released. Aside from just having a combat resource called “balls,” where Tony Montana can enter a “blind rage” when his “balls meter” is full, the game’s oddness is only compounded by the fact that it’s a sequel to the movie — which, by the way, ends with Tony Montana dying in a hail of bullets. In order to amend this, the game’s first level is a re-creation of the movie’s ending, where Tony is supposed to die in a firefight. In the video game version, however, Tony shoots his way out of his mansion, mowing down dozens of would-be killers before escaping and continuing his criminal empire with players in control. To be clear, the game’s not very good, so neither is this level. But as far as playable re-creations of famous movie scenes go, it’s a success.
At The London Review of Books, Chal Ravens talks about EuroVision winners turned international phenomenon ABBA:
The Anglo-American pop-rock canon had by then established templates for Great Artists – anguished bluesman, impassioned diva, troubadour poet, with an optional Pop Art wink for the big-city kids. Abba, by contrast, were portrayed as Brill Building factory hands pumping out cheap hits for mass consumption. At the peak of worldwide Abbamania, British reviewers sneered at the ‘almost glacial atmosphere’ of their concerts, where these ‘shrewd manipulators’ rolled out ‘single after single with robot-like precision’. Abba were no more than empty vessels. ‘They say we have no soul,’ mourned Björn, the band’s de facto spokesman, ‘but in Europe, and especially in Sweden, it’s a different kind of soul.’
About the writer
C. D. Ploughman
The weary Ploughman is a writer and filmmaker, focusing these days on documentary and educational projects. He obsesses over movies with his very patient wife and children.
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The Friday Article Roundup
An assembly line of this week's pop culture writing from around the Internet.
Lunch Links
State of the art special effects, little attention paid to plot - what's changed over the past 120 years?
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The Friday Article Roundup
A catty roundup of great pop culture writing from the past week.
Department of
Conversation
What did we watch?
Babylon 5, Season One, Episode Thirteen, “By Any Means Necessary”
I’ve been looking forward to this one. It’s simultaneously very clever, very moral, and very naive. There’s a strong undercurrent of blue collar working class mentality in this show – even moreso than on Deep Space Nine – and this strike plot is the biggest dive into it (there’s a great moment where the strike leader casually drops a reference to the fact that workers have been calling in sick as an alternative to striking, and they all start coughing). Even the fact that one of the main characters is a cop breaking up the strike doesn’t count as a point against it; Garibaldi is clearly edgy about having to do this.
The Earth representative dangles the threat of the Rush Act – named out-of-universe after Rush Lumbaugh – over the workers, a legal move that allows those who invoke it to do whatever they want with the implication of violence. Sinclair’s solution is to use it to give the workers everything they asked for and give them amnesty for their violent responses. This ties into his solution for the G’kar and Londo subplot; the latter has been withholding an important religious item, and it resolves too late for the former’s important ceremony.
Sinclair observes that, if the ceremony must be performed in his home planet’s sunlight (or, failing that, at the exact same time), G’kar still has time to take advantage of light speed. This and his clever subverting of the Rush Act are a classic nerd move: the rules lawyering. Sinclair, twice, takes the literal wording of a rule to manipulate the situation he wants. Now, in my experience… people fucking hate that. Very few people like the phrase “by your own logic”; even when it’s correct (probably especially when it’s correct), it makes them feel weak and stupid.
It’s a nerd fantasy to think you can completely get away with that; generally, accepting the awkward logic other people run under is the fastest way to make allies, and is a useful definition of empathy. In fairness, it does end with Sinclair having made some powerful, angry enemies.
TIL that a major character in this show is named Sinclair. And since the Henson Company did effects for this show, I guess I’m just stuck imagining him as the dad from Dinosaurs now…
One False Move – Two ruthless drug dealing murderous criminals, one with his Black girlfriend in tow, flee LA for the Arkansas hometown of two of them, and two of LA’s finest recruit the seemingly naive local sheriff to help plan for things. But things are not what they seem. This somewhat brutal and occasionally beautiful neo-noir was Carl Franklin’s first feature following apprenticeships with Roger Corman and AFI, and it’s a very solid piece of moviemaking. The story, co-written by Billy Bob Thornton, gives Franklin a very good framework and also an opportunity to raises questions of race. The only flaws here are the decent but never great performances by Thornton as one of the bad guys and Bill Paxton as the sheriff. Some essential level of angst is just not there. But the rest of the cast is quite strong. It continues to be a shame that Franklin never made it as a movie director. He’s done well on TV, but the big screen is where he belongs.
Cinematic Titanic, “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” – Yup, Joel came back to this cult “classic” and Trace Beaulieu’s reaction to being told he needs to see this again is priceless. The gang does a solid job coming up with new riffs, and extra points to J. Elvis Weinstein for reminding everyone that some people celebrate Hanukkah. Though I wonder if Joel really wanted to do this so have essentially retract all the dumb Pia Zadora gags. (“You know, I remember it used to be hilarious that Pia Zadora was in this, but I can’t remember why…”) As for the movie, I will say once again that it’s not THAT bad, and that I can see kids liking it unironically. Besides, if Santa Claus can team up with Batman – yes, that is a thing now – he can conquer Mars.
Kojak, “Dead on His Feet” – One of Kojak’s squad is killed in the line of duty, and his partner vows to bring the killer to justice while facing terminal cancer. A bit melodramatic, naturally, but well constructed. Guests include Harry Guardino as the dying cop, Joanne Linville as the dead cop’s wife, and Malachi Throne as the bad guy.
Aw, I think Paxton is great in One False Move. He is just smart enough to know he’s stupider than he should be for his job, and devotes those smarts to not thinking about this. It turns out he has a noirish past and that catches up to him, but he’s the one screwing himself over.
Santa teamed up with Batman? When? Where?
Last year and again this year.
https://www.amazon.com/Batman-Santa-Claus-Silent-Knight-%25282023%2529-4-book-series/dp/B0CLKX8FW2
It’s funny. I am not Santa-averse enough to ignore Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, but won’t touch Batman-Santa Claus with a ten foot pole.
I didn’t know Santa investigated murders. I guess he has to keep busy doing something the other 364 days a year.
It’s all part of figuring out who’s naughty and who’s nice.
Isn’t that the actual reason he’s running a spy agency in Red One?
I refuse to learn anything about Red One.
NYPD Blues — end of Season 3, Sipowicz falls off the wagon and climbs back on with a little help from an Orthodox priest and the power of prayer (which is really the prayer of powerlessness). It is not badly done but the crime stuff here is so much better, two brothers caught up in a murder and younger innocent bro Neal McDonough (such a baby!) is refusing to roll over on older bro Tobin Bell, making his second appearance (as a different person though) on the show. This is primal shit and Bell is the absolute fucking man here, standing up to the cops until it’s clear he has to stand up for his brother, the show revolves around dialogues of convincing and manipulation and Bell’s working of McDonough is superb, it ends with him getting what he needs and shooting the bird to the cops who put him in this situation of need. There is still juice here.
Dodgeball — somehow had never seen this and when you’re sick on Christmas you want easy laughs. A decent time, always good to see Justin Long in pain, but as a comedy it is more impressive as a time capsule, just on the edge of Apatovian style — this means it’s short but also not as sharp and heavily cameo-reliant (and time capsule-wise, Lance Armstrong!). Vaughan is merely fine, Stiller is funny but a little goes a long way, Bateman is very funny although it’s odd to hear his most famous line here in a quasi-stoned tone instead of his Bluthian smarm, and Gary Cole should be on Mount Rushmore for his Just Barely Legally Distinct From Al Michaels work here, I honestly thought it was the man himself at first. Dry as toast and hilarious every time, the movie would fall apart without him.
Matchstick Men — every good con movie has a point where you can in retrospect realize what is going on, this movie thinks it puts this point maybe midway through when it really does so a quarter of the way through. So while it is well-made and perfectly pleasurable, there is 90 minutes or so of waiting for the shoe to drop and the machinations aren’t clever or fast-paced enough to cover this. Mamet is a high bar to clear and Scott and co. comfortably walk under it, and there is a solid ending here that is undone by the actual last minute of the movie, blecch (if anything, this feels like a certain late 90s Fincher movie in terms of character development). But the performers are fun throughout, Cage especially. Got my money’s worth.
Dicktown S1E1-4 – I like John Hodgeman and David Rees on podcasts, and they’ve long flogged this short-episode animated series they created about an Encyclopedia Brown-esque boy detective (named John Hunchman, hee hee) all grown up and still doing investigative work for teenagers alongside his former bully. The animation is serviceable at best, but poor enough I’d prefer this as a radio play. Turns out the concept is probably the funniest part, with too many of the gags turning on some variation of “kids these days” observations that already feel old only a few years later, or the “botched insult” anti-humor that was old the moment somebody attempted it after the 90s. Oh well, the episodes are short, at least.
Festive viewing:
Gavin & Stacey – I had never seen a single episode of this mostly-beloved British sitcom, but my family wanted to watch the finale and I thought it was kind of funny to watch it with absolutely no context. It was OK! Some pretty tired sitcom plotting (ah, one of the main characters needs to be saved from the evil woman he’s on the verge of marrying because his true love is one of the other main characters, gotcha) but plenty of funny individual moments. I have no intention of going back to watch the rest of it though, haha.
Doctor Who – I thought this was absolutely lovely, possibly my favourite Ncuti Gatwa episode so far? I love “character has to spend extended period of time in a particular place due to a wrinkle in time travel logic” plotting, which is admittedly a small niche but I’m sure I could think of at least a few others. Some excellent guest characters and the emotional stuff really hit me in the Christmas.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Must Fowl – pretty good! I think these stories will always work better for me in a shorter form to be honest, but this was an entertaining 75 minutes with some very good visual gags.
nosferatu (2024). Incredible. Some thoughts:
– eggers is consistently committed to occupying a non-contemporary mindset and handling even fantastical subject matter straightforwardly with no winking. No little jokes about plague deniers here. Everyone has the mindset of a fin de siecle german.
– incredible performances across the board. Hoult is always at home in period dress. Defoe plays the van helsing character with a down to earth weariness. Bill skarsgard brings an uncanny physicality to orlock. Lily-Rose depp is a revelation; all you have to do to beat the nepo-baby charges is take on incredibly challenging roles.
– this is an incredibly horny movie. The coppola dracula is also horny, but in a really performative, showy way.
– beautiful cinematography, lots of deep shadows. The people long for chiaroscuro.
ap bio
The episodes that were released in peacock are in netflix now. We’re in season 3. In one epusofe episode glenn has a complete psychic break over saying the phrase “thoreau thought that that.” It’s a real tour de force from howerton.
updated list of my eggers dream projects:
– moby dick: defoe as ahab, anya taylor joy as ishmael, hoult as starbuck, garfield as stubb, mcbourney (herr knock) as flask, skarsgard doing mo-cap and for the whale
– a christmas carol: defoe scrooge, hoult cratchit, garfield young scrooge, taylor-joy christmas past, skarsgard christmas future, skarsgard christmas present, depp belle
– till we have faces: anya taylor joy psyche, a and w skarsgard as cupid, depp as the queen-narrator.
– the bigfoot: the VVitch but in the pnw circa 1850, with an entirely different version of religious mania and isolation, literally any of his regulars in any role.
– the volsunga saga. Too obvious to make skarsgard play sigurd again, but a focus on the sigmund-signi-siggeir love triangle (and siggeir’s mother as the werewolf) would be great.
– the iliad. Getting a nolan odyssey and a eggers iliad would be too great. Like moby dick, the popular conception of the story does not fully grasp the eldritch horror side of the story. You’ve got apollo shooting plague arrows through the camp. The gods instigate fights for their own amusement. And there’s loads of beefy old guys eggers can have deliver large amounts of gore, as well as pagan rituals he can get weird with.
I feel like Eggars is the best case scenario for the type of person who knows the type of button that should be on the overcoat of Civil War generals or something, always using his interest in the period to deepen a story, not to replace it.
yeah, he uses it to make the world feel real and the characters’ minds feel real but alien, and then piling supernatural uncanniness on top of that.
He’s on The Movies That Made Me this week and goes into his obsession to period detail a bit.
just listened to that I did not expect mary poppins and home alone to be such big influences. I now desperately want to see an eggers children’s movie.
Nice to hear the good notices for Nosferatu. I’m not generally a horror or monster movie fan, but it sounds like this is something I would like.
My wife does not like horror at all, and I watch it only occasionally, and she still has really liked all the eggers movies she’s seen. She had not seen the vvitch, as the only one that is likely actually too scary for her.
Football
Not really in the foreground, to be honest, other than the overtime sequence between Pittsburgh and Toledo. And that game went to six overtimes, so it was pretty thrilling.
More Christmas episodes
Did some more Bob’s (seasons 12 and 13), some more American Dad! (“Minstrel Krampus”), The Office’s “A Benihana Christmas,” and the season 3 Superstore Christmas.
The latter does have one of my least favorite trends in the show, the “Amy tries to prove she is/isn’t something everyone knows she isn’t/is.” In this case, that she’s capable of getting wild and cutting loose. At least it ends up somewhere very funny, with Amy’s Girl Power Squad riding motorized carts to confront Adam.
Also, I think whether or not they were religious iconography, Glenn should quite rightly have a problem with Dina punting store decorations around the store.
On American Dad!, I really like that the Christmas episodes half are part of this bizarre, elaborate continuity with Santa as a murderous, amoral psychopath in a blood feud with the Smiths, and Stan’s dad Jack responsible for trapping and then becoming Krampus; and the other half involve some kind of alternate reality, heaven, time travel, Edge of Tomorrow situations, things of that nature.
The Shield, “Spanish Practices”
I don’t know why the episode was called this. Maybe that was the name for the aborted spinoff focused on wherever Hiatt ended up, since Alex O’Loughlin created such a powerful character in such a small amount of screen time.
Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade
“Thus ending the Indiana Jones franchise once and for all.”
“But-”
“ONCE AND FOR ALL!”
What Did We Listen To?
1001 Albums etc. – only a little progress due to Christmas taking up a chunk of the week, but it was mostly good stuff – John Lennon’s extremely raw solo debut, more Sabbath and Led Zep, plus Deep Purple “In Rock” which was a lot more fun than I expected based on the couple of huge Deep Purple songs I knew previously. Also The Carpenters, who are just such sweet ear-candy, I cannot resist. The standout though, and quite comfortably my favourite first-time-listen from the list so far, is Neil Young’s “After the Gold Rush”. I’m aware that getting extremely into Neil Young in your early 40s might possibly be a massive cliché but I appear to be doing it anyway, this album is wonderful.
Blank Check – started working on the Twin Peaks: The Return episodes but they’re making me really want to rewatch it. Such a big time commitment though!
Screen Drafts – they did a “non-Christmas holiday horror” draft with Samm Levine from Freaks & Geeks as a first-time guest. Some really odd picks but a fun listen!
In Rock is such a great rebooted debut by a band. It’s the Mark II lineup everyone loves.
It’s always strange when I know one or two songs by a band but I know them so well that I never need to hear them again. No shade on Smoke on the Water, it’s obviously iconic, but it also sounds like a guitar lesson and I would never listen to it on purpose. Most of the songs here were a lot more fun and theatrical than I expected, wailing vocals and harmony guitar solos. Good stuff!
“Most of the songs here were a lot more fun and theatrical than I expected, wailing vocals and harmony guitar solos. Good stuff!”
I don’t know much Deep Purple but I have Rising, the album by Ritchie Blackmore’s band Rainbow, and it is that shit at Dio-led levels, it totally rules.
I only know one Rainbow song too (I don’t think I even need to say which one). I feel like I may have underestimated Ritchie Blackmore, but there’s more Purple on the list to come so I’ll see how that goes.
Child In Time! ‘Nuff said!
All right, After the Gold Rush is my favorite Neil Young album, so I guess that makes up for some of your previous errors in judgment.
Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll course correct back into madness shortly.
Well, I’d like to think you’ll largely enjoy the same albums from the 70s that I do, especially moving toward punk, post-punk, and other artsy types (well, mostly David Bowie) from classic rock.
I also don’t know what’s actually on the 1001 list, so maybe I’ll look it up.
I made a note of all the albums I’ve heard before when I made my version of the list, they’ve been few and far between so far but when I hit 1977 I’ve suddenly heard about half the things on the list, haha. Still plenty of room for surprises though.
I feel like there’s a really strong chance you’ll have already heard most of my favorites, in that case. Maybe not, though. And it does, I think, increase the chances that if you haven’t heard one of my favorites, you’ll be less inclined to like it, so I’m prepared to be offended all over again.
I’m curious to see if the punk albums hit harder than ever after sitting through a decade’s worth of prog.
I dunno, it sounds like you’re at least five years on the list from course-correcting into Madness.
Non-Christmas holiday horror? Wouldn’t the winner just be Halloween?
It was technically “non-Christmas, non-Halloween holiday horror” but my brain condensed Halloween out of the title because I don’t consider it to be a “holiday”.
The top ranked movie was still a bit of a foregone conclusion (Jaws) but the other picks were all over the place.
Eh, nothing really new. Mostly Christmas music, some classics (“O Holy Night” bangs, and I like the key change in “Do You Hear What I Hear,” although I haven’t found a particular version I like best yet) and some particular favorites (Ray Charles’ version of “Winter Wonderland,” The Waitress’ “Christmas Wrapping,” for example). And some of the songs for my top-40 coming out soon so I can actually write something intelligently about them rather than from half-memory.
Hey Friends, What’s Up?
Whee, we just had a small adventure. The smell of gas wafted up from our downstairs neighbor’s apartment, and we needed to leave for a while as Con Ed and FDNY investigated. Fortunately, it was just a burner improperly turned off, but it is not fun to have to run out into the cold. And it is it good to see how fast the authorities respond. (Our neighbor was not home, which is good in that she didn’t pass out and bad in that the firemen had to break her locks. I expect her to be angry at us, but we did what we needed to.)
My back is starting to feel better after a week of stops and starts. I went to urgent care and it was diagnosed as a glitch in my left sacroiliac joint. I was prescribed five days of muscle relaxant, have been using a heating pad, and not doing exercise yet. I can’t use the couch or lie down to do anything but sleep. It’s been a drag, but a manageable one right now. Hopefully, it will continue to heal and I won’t need PT.
And on vacation for the holiday week, but my wife doesn’t get off till the following week since she works in a fundraising office. (I suspect I have co-workers who are in the same boat.) My current boss keeps sending notes about changes for next year’s holiday cards. Which is not my responsibility and is not urgent, but is like “stop obsessing already!”
I would think your neighbor would be happier not having their apartment filled with gas than angry about a broken lock, but I suppose rationality doesn’t always win the day.
We don’t know her that well, but we spent years listening to her argue with her late husband to the degree that we called the cops (which was a dick move given what cops are like but we were scared it would turn violent). So we know she can have a temper. (New Yorkers are accurately infamous for barely knowing their neighbors.)
Holiday visits are just about over, headed back today. Now a relatively leisurely New Year’s, which sounds pretty good. Had a terrible cold that I’m just now feeling totally over after over a week of coughs and runny noses. Luckily nothing more severe than that, so it didn’t interfere with our plans other than make me mildly irritated the whole day. Oh, and the Ploughboy got sick yesterday which botched some extra time with my sister’s family. But for our family around the holidays, that’s getting off light, and we’ll take it.
Spent a couple of days visiting family, as soon as I arrived I became paranoid that I hadn’t put enough food into the automatic cat feeder. Turns out I had. Phew. Nice to see everyone, nephews on good form especially the two-year-old who is great fun. The main gift that I received was a new kitchen bin, which I think is pretty compelling proof of middle age.
Back now and annoyingly I still have to work a couple of days before the end of the year, they should be quiet at least.
Hahahahaha, are you now a Proper Bin Man?
Sadly the new bin, while larger, is not big enough that I can use it to dispose of the old bin.
Ugh, yesterday I finally started to get over my illness enough– after a good ten days– that I could see the end on the horizon… and then yesterday my wife came down with what is probably the same thing I had. I still don’t know what it was. I tested negative for COVID twice and I got my COVID and flu vaccines updated just before Thanksgiving. Hopefully it’s not as serious or long-lasting for her. It’s been way too long since I’ve been able to seriously get out of the house, and even longer since I could get to the gym.
Looks like my work project has more for me to do over the holiday than I anticipated. I’m still gonna finish my end of year writing, though. And I need to get back to playing poker, too. I haven’t hardly played down the stretch of the year. I haven’t played at all in a month, I only played three sessions in November, and I haven’t put in a full Sunday schedule since September. I’m just trying to clear everything off my plate and get my health and well-being right before I get back to it. With the raise with the new firm, I shouldn’t really need to withdraw anything I make for a while, and my bankroll is at a size where I’m on the verge of a breakthrough to move to some higher stakes, so if I get back to spending some time studying and playing, I feel like I could break through to a point where I’m making somewhat significant money, or at least getting myself in position to head back to the WSOP in 2025.
Oh, right, and it was Christmas. Other than being sick, not bad. We ordered a dinner package from a local BBQ place instead of cooking the whole thing ourselves (we made some sides– well, my wife did; I more “did the dishes afterward”), opened some presents from my mother-in-law, had a good talk with her, messaged some other friends and family as well. Forgot to eat dinner Christmas Eve and accidentally got a little drunker than I meant, though. Oops. Hopefully I didn’t embarrass myself. It will be nice when we’re able to travel during the holidays again.
Colds this year are not fucking around, and pneumonia is apparently the hot sickness of the season. Bad times! We got hit by the cold stick and while we’re doing better it is a lingerer.
Yeah, I’m not terribly surprised I got sick with the insane amount of traveling and time in crowds I spent a couple of weekends ago, but it usually doesn’t last this long, which has made it hell of annoying that it’s scuttled so many of my other plans for my free time. I’m still not 100%, but starting yesterday it seems to have cleared up significantly, so I’m holding out hope I’ll be better-better as soon as tomorrow.
Well I fucking hope it wasn’t this.
https://apnews.com/article/bird-flu-louisiana-mutations-cdc-a870a8d4d86d3dd95f4c0d5c7e9edee5
We have one of those guys in Vermont, apparently! Probably no big deal.
RSV maybe? High-pitched cough? Usually not serious in non-vulnerable populations but it lasts forever.
Ugh, I guess it could be… I had a really sore throat for a long stretch too though, on top of the runny nose and coughing, a bit feverish, and yeah, pretty tired a lot. Doesn’t totally match the RSV symptoms I looked up, though. Either way, it’s suuuucked!
And now, for the inaugural Media Magpies Year of the Month Update!
(God, this place feels more like home already)
We’re starting 2024 by returning to 1947! That means you can be as cool as all these people:
TBD: John Anderson: T-Men
Tentative: John Anderson: Nightmare Alley
Jan. 2nd: Cori Domschot: Christmas Eve
Jan. 3rd: Gillian Nelson: Walt Disney’s HUAC testimony
Jan. 9th: Cori Domschot: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Jan. 10th: Gillian Nelson: Straight Shooters
Jan 16th: Cori Domschot: The Farmer’s Daughter
Jan. 17th: Gillian Nelson: Sleepytime Donald
Jan. 23rd: Cori Domscot: Down to Earth
Jan. 31st: Pluto’s Blue Note
And coming in February, you can sign up to write about anything from 2016!
TBD: Bridgett Nelson: Rogue One
Feb 7th: Gillian Nelson: Queen of Katwe
Feb. 14th: Gillian Nelson: Milo Murphy’s Law
Feb. 21st: Gillian Nelson: Pete’s Dragon
I’ll also throw my hat in the ring for Life of Pablo, The Nice Guys, and/or Popstar. And mayyyyybe Odd Man Out if I can squeeze it in by the end of next month.
I believe I’m on the hook for… either Black Narcissus or Black Orpheus. Whichever is 1947 and not my Movie Gift.
Narcissus it is! When should we schedule it?
I’ll do Miracle on 34th Street sometime late in the month.
Let’s say the 27th?
Sure