January 3, 2017
Happy New Year! It has been widely noted that lots of bad things happened in 2016. So amidst the wreckage of the postwar world order (and with no Prince, yet), why not ease your mind with my annual list of enjoyable cultural artifacts encountered last year? In no particular order, as always. Let me know what I should seek in the future!
Aaron Caplan
When couplehood is compulsory, single people are required to check into a resort where they must find a mate that shares their defining characteristic. (A lack of binocular vision due to lack of sight in the right eye, perhaps?) If you don't pair up, you're turned into the animal of your choice, hence the title. Oddly, the reviewers said it wouldn't be a good date movie. They must prefer boring dates.
When aliens visit Earth, the Army turns to nation's best linguist, who learns that life is worth living even with the painful bits.
Two suspense movies about attractive young nonconformists finding themselves in locked houses with scary older white men who will do them harm (including in Green Room a neo-Nazi Patrick Stewart). Essay topic: how much do they resemble today's politics?
This comedy-noir, set for no particular reason in the 1970s, deserves a spot on the list for many things, but especially these two bits of immortal dialogue.#1:
You know who else was just following orders? Adolph Hitler!
#2:
Tween-age Daughter: Dad, there are whores here and stuff.
Father: Don't say "and stuff." Just say, "Dad, there are whores here."
A rhapsody about the joys and pitfalls of living in your imagination.
How to be an ethical bank robber.
The Coen Brothers show how little moments of life-changing redemption can sneak into tawdry places, like Hollywood studios.
It ain't easy growing up poor, gay, black, skinny, and with a drug-addicted single mother. But you can meet some nice people along the way, some of them drug dealers.
Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)
Midnight Special (2016)
Manchester By The Sea (2016)
The Shallows (2016), paired with Open Water (2004)
Son of Saul (2016)
Weiner (2016)
The Witch (2016)