Here’s what I watched and read last week…
MOVIES
Godzilla Minus Zero (2026), directed by Takashi Yamazaki, is an excellent follow-up to Godzilla Minus One, which was one of my favorite films of 2023. The new film is not as great as the first, but there are a lot of amazing scenes, with some of the best special effects I have seen in a long time. Much like the first film, the story has a lot of heart and soul. I highly recommend seeing it on the big screen.
Bicycle Thieves (1948), directed by Vittorio de Sica, is one of the quintessential neorealist films from Italy. I teach this one for my film course, introducing students to what is called “the realist style.” If you are interested in learning more about Italian cinema, I highly recommend Peter Bondanella’s book.
Guncrazy (1992), directed by Tamara Davis, is an okay film. I think what I enjoyed the most was her visual style. Drew Barrymore is also very good in it. But as a whole, it is an average B-Movie.
The 400 Blows (1959), directed by Francois Truffaut, is a film I teach in my class on the French New Wave. This is one of my favorites films by Truffaut. The film’s on-location shooting is greatly influenced by Italian neorealism. Blurring the boundary between documentary and fiction was a key trait of the French New Wave. It is also a great example of personal storytelling. This is a must see if you are interested in world cinema.
Making Marie Antoinette (2026), directed by Eleanor Coppola, is an excellent documentary that documents Sofia Coppola’s work over the course of the 57 days she spent making the film. If you are curious about filmmaking, I highly recommend it. The movie is currently available to stream on Mubi.
BOOKS
I finished The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury by Sam Weller this weekend and thought it was an amazing book. What stood out to me was not only how much time Bradbury dedicated to his writing, but also how much he struggled to get his stories published when he was younger. I found this book to be very inspirational—it shows that you have to work very hard at your craft if you want to be a writer. Weller’s book is a must-read for Bradbury fans.
