Happy Leap Day! Due to a combination of computer malfunction and motivational malfunction, this year's New Year greeting is finished a bit later than usual. But while it may be arriving after both the Oscars and the Iowa Caucuses, it's days before Super Tuesday and weeks before the spring equinox.
As always, here are some things I encountered in the past year that made me happy. Please let me know of any enjoyable things you encountered last year that are worth seeking out!
Aaron Caplan
After a pawn shop owner takes possession of an old sword, his new inventory starts drawing attention from people who spend way too much time pursuing conspiracy theories on the internet.
It's nice to see that there are other people who aren't so good at being adults.
Two takes on the haves living upstairs while the have-nots live downstairs.
These two movies could make for a descent-into-madness double feature, where nebbishy guys with marshmallow centers snap, unhappily. Dogman stuck with me more, because it is so specific with its locations that you could find your way around that town without a map.
Perhaps due to my childhood devotion to reruns of Batman, I'm a sucker for big-lettered sound effects floating in midair. Scott Pilgrim offers up the video-game versions of Pow! and Smak! like some of that same sort of visual Greek chorus, superimposed over the story of another nebbishy guy with a marshamallow center (who doesn't snap this time).
I'm always impressed by movies with large casts where you can actually tell everyone apart. In this drawing room murder mystery, you can quickly distinguish all the suspects, even a nephew with only a few lines but immortalized by the quick description of him as "the Nazi child masturbating in the bathroom."
Booksmart (2019)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
Cold War (2018)
The Earrings of Madame de ... (1953)
Eighth Grade (2018)
Jojo Rabbit (2019)
Paddleton (2019)
Prospect (2018)
Russian Doll (2019) (Netflix)
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018)
Undone (2019) (Amazon)
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Here are some blurbs, straight from the
publisher: A mutation in Toxoplasmosis causes
menstruating women to turn into ferocious killer wildcats --
easily provoked and extremely dangerous. As panic spreads and
paranoia takes root, the fate of the world rides on the shoulders
of one twelve-year-old girl. Part Cat People, part The
Handmaid's Tale.
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Here's a really really good recipe from the Washington Post. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it!
Some people go to the state fair for the latest in batter-fried junk food. Me, once I get my recommended daily allowance of corn dog, I head to the hall of household gadgets. The timing was perfect, since at the end of a long day admiring the hogs and the butter sculptures, my feet were killing me. And I knew this had to be a good product because it goes to eleven!
