Seth Harris

Movie Review – Jackie Brown

Jackie Brown (1997)
Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino

Saying a lot has been written about Quentin Tarantino’s films would be an understatement. I think it would be safe to say that Jackie Brown is the film the least written about or regarded with the least awe. It was the filmmaker’s follow-up to Pulp Fiction, and such “next movies” can fail to live up to eager fans’ expectations. Brown is a far more muted picture than we have come to expect from Tarantino. There are a few loud stylistic flourishes, but for the most part, the picture is entirely character-driven. The result is something that still feels very fresh despite being made twenty-five years ago. Other movies will age poorly, but Tarantino’s work always feels like it could have been made today.

Patron Pick – Betty Blue

This special reward is available to Patreon patrons who pledge at the $10 or $20 monthly levels. Each month, those patrons will pick a film for me to review. If they choose, they also get to include some of their thoughts about the movie. This Pick comes from Bekah Lindstrom.

Betty Blue (1986)
Written and directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix

Certain movies don’t take long to reveal that they were written by a man who has difficulty seeing women as anything other than to make a man feel good about himself. Betty Blue is such a movie, rife with all the cliches of French cinema. That doesn’t make it a disposable, awful film. It comes across as more comical with how severe and melodramatic it sometimes takes itself. The film is also a great example of a very particular subgenre of cinema called Cinéma du look. The term was coined by critic Raphaël Bassan in 1989 and has been applied to the films of Luc Besson and Leos Carax. It’s style over substance, spectacle over narrative. It’s slick commercial aesthetics with a focus on the alienated in society. It’s also very male-gaze-y.

Movie Review – Chungking Express

Chungking Express (1994)
Written and directed by Wong Kar-wai

The Chungking Mansions is a building located in Kowloon, Hong Kong. It was intended as a residential building but ended up being partitioned into many independent low-budget hotels, shops, and other services. There’s a mix of selling directly to the public and wholesalers from these businesses. Because it has become so unlike its original intent, the Chungking Mansions are often compared to the now-demolished Kowloon Walled City. Wong Kar-wai grew up in the Mansions, and their densely packed environment shaped his sensibilities as a filmmaker. So many people in such a small space meant many stories, relationships, and conflicts.

PopCult Podcast – Problemista/Civil War

This is a wildly divergent A24 double feature. One film is a comedy about the immigrant experience in NYC. The second follow journalists through a war on American soil.

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Heinrich’s Call of Cthulhu Guide to Carcosa Part Three

Heinrich’s Call of Cthulhu Guide to Character Creation
Written & Designed by Heinrich D. Moore
You can purchase it here

Heinrich’s Call of Cthulhu Guide to Carcosa
Written & Designed by Heinrich D. Moore
You can purchase it here

Read our previous adventure into Carcosa starting here

Today we introduce a new character to enter Carcosa. Once again, I used Heinrich’s Guide to Character Creation which made an even more fascinating person than my last run. I cannot get over what a great tool this is for making complex, layered characters with backstories just as interesting as any adventure they get into. Without further ado…

Comic Book Review – Starman Omnibus Volume Two

Starman Omnibus Volume Two (2022)
Reprints All-Star Comics 80-Page Giant #1, Batman/Hellboy/Starman #1-2, JSA: All-Stars #4, Starman #44-81, Starman #1,000,000, Starman: The Mist #1, Starman/Congorilla #1, Stars and STRIPE #0, and The Shade #1-12
Written by James Robinson with David Goyer & Geoff Johns
Art by Tony Harris, Peter Snejbjerg, Mike Mayhew, Dave Ross, Mike Mignola, Mike Mckone, John Lucas, Brett Booth, Lee Moder, Cully Hamner

The second half of James Robinson’s Starman is mainly comprised of two storylines: Stars My Destination and Grand Guignol. Intermixed within are Times Past stories, filling in gaps in the backstories of the Golden Age Starman and Scalphunter. There’s a brief interlude for the DC One Million crossover that Robinson still uses to build on the legacy themes so prominent in this work. It should also be noted how popular Starman was at this point. It was enough to warrant a crossover with Batman and Hellboy. That’s amazing for a character who took his bow in the last issue of his series and hasn’t been seen since. Very few comic book superheroes get this sort of finality to their story. Yet, DC has never brought Jack Knight back.

Movie Review – Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)
Written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman
Directed by Robert Zemeckis

There will never be a film like this one again. Warner Bros. and Disney allowing their characters on screen together makes it a rare event. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was a celebration of classic American animation, both in the characters featured but also in animation legend Richard Williams overseeing that part of the production. Watching it now as an adult, it is surprisingly straightforward. It follows the noir genre closely with its plot while letting the tone be set by the zany premise. The story takes place over two days, and there’s never a lull; the pacing keeps us moving along with the characters, leading up to a very memorable conclusion.

Movie Review – The French Connection

The French Connection (1971)
Written by Ernest Tidyman
Directed by William Friedkin

It’s not the story that compels you to keep watching. It’s the lead performance by Gene Hackman. It’s the bleak atmosphere of a decaying New York City. It’s the sense that no matter how this turns out, no one really wins. The rot will just keep spreading. Reactionary cinema had its Golden Age in the 1970s. Most of those depicted the rogue cop or the street vigilante as a bastion of “real justice,” pushing aside those pesky civil rights laws to “get the job done.” You might lump The French Connection in with something like Dirty Harry, but that would be a mistake. Dirty Harry revels in Callahan’s sadism and hatred of pretty much all humanity. Popeye Doyle is not someone we’re meant to admire. He’s an animal we’re observing who stalks and hunts vulnerable prey, invoking the Law as his justification. He doesn’t care about the Law, though. This is about ego.

Movie Review – The Conformist

The Conformist (1970)
Written and directed by Bernardo Bertolucci

Time and again, people in the States seem to conflate fascism with iconography. Yes, that is undoubtedly a piece of the ideology, but its believers are clever enough to know that continuing to wear swastikas and black leather while goosestepping isn’t going to sow seeds anymore. The danger of fascism is how much like the mundane & ordinary it can appear. This is where “I was just following orders” emerges from. You can be a mild-mannered civil servant, just signing the papers across your desk and filing them correctly. Nothing wrong with that, right? If those papers are in connection to greenlighting death camps or murdering political dissidents, then it doesn’t seem like you are “just doing your job.” You are carrying water for a type of thought that seeks to annihilate every last atom of humanity in us.

TV Review – Kingdom: Exodus

Kingdom: Exodus (Mubi)
Written by Lars von Trier and Niels Vørsel
Directed by Lars von Trier

I just can’t hate Lars von Trier. I think he’s a massive asshole, and he often has a horrible sense of humor. However, I find his work enjoyable…mostly. He’s frequently on the cusp of a breakthrough but then misses the point. While David Lynch’s Twin Peaks inspired the Kingdom series, I do not think this comes close to that masterpiece. Part of this is Lynch’s willingness to grow and change as an artist. Von Trier, instead, has entered his grumpy old man phase, and Exodus puts much of that on display. It’s eye-rolling & annoying. He has such a cynical viewpoint in the way he ends this story. Lynch wrapped up Twin Peaks: The Return with a dark ending, but it’s clear he doesn’t see things as hopeless.