Here’s what I watched and read last week…
MOVIES
One Battle After Another (2025). An outstanding film by Paul Thomas Anderson—possibly one of my favorites of his. The performances are incredible, especially Sean Penn’s. The cinematography is also excellent. The movie has a western vibe to it. Even the title evokes the feeling of a western. It is so cool that a major studio financed the film. Definitely one of my favorites of the year. Anderson should be nominated or win the Oscar for directing.
28 Years Later (2025) isn’t quite on the level of the original, but it’s still a solid zombie film. As you’d expect, it’s extremely dark and gruesome—so intense at times, I had to look away! Anthony Dod Mantle’s cinematography is stunning. He absolutely deserves an Oscar nomination this year for his work.
The Conjuring (2013) was terrifying! I had to watch it in parts because it was so intense. Great work by James Wan—there’s definitely a Poltergeist meets The Exorcist vibe going on. That said, I did wonder how the family didn’t know there was a basement in the house. But it didn’t matter—the horror totally worked on me. I’ll probably check out the other films in the series.
Panic Room (2002). I wrote about this film for my book, Cinema of Confinement, so it was fun to revisit it. In the book, I explore how films set primarily in a single location sustain viewer engagement without resorting to ‘filmed theater.’ Panic Room, along with other films like The Shining, Room, and 10 Cloverfield Lane, were among the works I analyzed.
Escape From New York (1981). Classic John Carpenter. I love the way he uses space to create suspense. Might be my favorite score of his.
Signs (2002). Very good apocalyptic film. Very suspenseful, especially the scene in the basement! I love Shyamalan’s early films.
Stealing Home (1988). I caught this on the Criterion Channel as part of a Jodie Foster spotlight. It’s not a bad movie—though at times, it leans a bit too sappy. After watching it, I read that the reviews were terrible. Roger Ebert even called it one of the worst films he’d ever seen, which I thought was hilarious. That said, I thought Foster was great.
TV
Task, Episode 4. Another great episode. I was curious how they were going to pull it off, but they did—and with a big twist. Such a strong show so far. Stephen King was spot on to say that this is a crime story with soul.
We just finished Black Rabbit and thought it was really good. The performances by Jason Bateman, Jude Law, and Troy Kotsur were outstanding. They should all be nominated for an Emmy.
BOOKS
The Winter Crone: The Arcane Tales of Tamsyn Pride by Natasha Bache. I really enjoyed reading this. The world-building was rich, and it was a pleasure getting to know the characters. There were some great surprises and twists along the way, and the writing was beautiful throughout. I’ll definitely be reading Book 2.
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