The Getaway (1972)

It's not the absolute most memorable heist / action movie of the era (I've seen it before years ago but only figured that out partway through) but it's got great leads, great music, and tons of that early 70s style I love.

The Gleaners and I (2000)

Meandering is OK if that's your goal, and I'm glad I stuck through this artsy documentary because the meditative setting and tone were really lovely, and the theme (reusing garbage in general, and saving food from waste in particular) is one that's resonated with me my whole life. 

Our Dollar Your Problem by Kenneth Rogoff

This technical dive into geopolitics, currencies, and international finance had a tough balancing act to pull off, and it honestly did it pretty well - dry and technical enough to mostly explain its topics, cut through with a few choice anecdotes and name calling to not be super boring, broad enough to give a useful perspective overview without getting too abstract - I wouldn’t recommend it to someone unless they like thinking about interest rates and foreign currency exchange tho. 

Contagion (2011)

This impressively prescient viral outbreak thriller saw it all coming 9 years early, and for that it was well worth the watch, but as a movie it pulls its punches and spins off too many subplots and never really coheres into a great story. 

Payback (1999)

I've watched two other movies recently that both had this problem of being a little too cartoonish and serious at the same time, like pick a lane - torture and murder don't mix so well with slapstick and superhuman strength - or maybe they do, if the tone is right, and Payback just has a bit of a tone problem, but I will say to conclude this very long short review that seeing early Mel Gibson, before he went nuts, you really remember why he was such a star.

The Wild Bunch (1969)

I found this classic western cartoonish and tedious, and all the main characters looked the same to me.

Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon

Maybe not a Pynchonian masterpiece, maybe not always the most responsible or serious of his ouvré, but certainly, if what you're reading Pynchon for is that subtle brain massage coupled with that deep, actually profound understanding of man, and people, and places, Against the Day is a rollicking good time, a confusing and absurd mess of emotions, a variety of trips to a wealth of scenes well worth the effort, so if I could offer only one piece of advice, it'd be to stick with it.

The Dead Don’t Die (2019)

Love Jarmusch and all his friends (swinton, murray, etc etc) and they’re so fun to watch, but it’s baffling how bad the writing is in this silly zombie movie. 

Notorious (1946)

I think Ingrid Bergman really outshines everyone else in this classic old Hitchcock, so to that extent it’s delightful, and it has all the best Hitchcock subtleties and clues; like most of his movies I’m not always the most captivated by the plot itself but this one is a lot better than North by Northwest. 

The Quick and the Dead (1995)

It’s sad that the talents of such great actors were wasted on this cartoonish silliness. 

Drive-Away Dolls (2024)

A fun lark that I had to watch because Ethan Coen, and it’s nice but unpolished; it could never live up to the true Coen classics but it has a little of that old magic. 

Lilith’s Brood by Octavia Butler

A unique adventure in literature; a startling philosophical investigation cloaked in sci-fi; a straightforward, unsurprising story that will somehow sneakily have you pondering deep questions years later… I guess what I appreciate most about Butler and this trilogy is just how different it all is, and how it never tries to be like anything else. 

Mickey 17 (2025)

Compared to the impeccable Parasite, Bong Joon Ho creates a new film totally different in setting and style and yet totally similar in pace and wackiness, absolutely delightful and political, a true celebration of the average midwit dude, and yet maybe not meant to be read into too deeply.

Eephus (2024)

Not really a movie designed for me, since I’m not a big fan of baseball or related endeavors, but this was a poignant look at a small slice of a small town in a big small moment, and as such it felt really real. 

Novocaine (2025)

It’s a mediocre action movie and perfect for scrolling through if that’s what your brain requires (and it gets kinda macabre by the end in a cool practical effects way), and also another mass media example of ex-special forces troops becoming criminals. 

Seeing Like a State by James C. Scott

This historical treatise has a lot of notoriety but I found it unnecessarily dense, and ultimately flawed, in that its focus on states and state power ignores a related discussion of capitalist power, such that altho there is a useful perspective to glean here about how a drive for social legibility can transform a society, I wouldn't recommend the book overall.