Watched two more epis of The Last of Us, including The Episode. Guess we’ll be sticking to it.
Who knew Nick Offerman was such a good dramatic actor?
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That episode destroyed me. Wait for the one in the mall.
Epi 1 of season 2 wasn’t that great tbh, but I’ll continue watching.
Oh, we’re still in the first season.
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From time to time we return to enjoy the first few seasons of Father Brown, with the indomitable Mrs. McCarthy, sly Lady Felicia, and always willing Sid.
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1st season was excellent.
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We def found it more captivating than the first time around. Same experience with Breaking Bad.
We be weird 
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Disembodied (1998) - dir. Willam Kersten
Connie Sprouts has an alien parasite living in her body that consumes people and transforms them into weird, semi-conscious blobs. Connie would probably be bothered by this, but her brain is being stored in a jar on the bedside table.
Filmed in 16mm, there’s a super low budget, handmade charm to this acid-trip horror comedy, very akin to the grubby works of Larry Cohen (It’s Alive, The Stuff) or Frank Henenlotter (the Basket Case series). Gooey latex effects and primitive stop motion animation complete the atmosphere.
If that sounds at least interesting enough to you to want to have a look, then there’s a lot of fun to be had. It’s certainly an original concept, and even within its own weird genre, it definitely doesn’t go in any sort of expected direction. But really, this is for the sort of folks that used to haunt the dusty corners of video stores, or attend things like Midnight Film Festivals and wax poetic about Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
I can’t imagine many people taking the trouble to seek this out, and that’s ok. It will absolutely be worth while for those who would bother doing so in the first place.
3/5 tentacles emerging from facial deformities.
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Dead Mail (2024) - dir. Joe DeBoer, Kyle McConaghy
Some time in the early 80’s in Central Illinois, a postal inspection team finds a scrap of bloodied paper with a partial address and a message “Help. I am kidnapped.” A methodical dead mail investigator, Jasper, decides to look into it. What isn’t generally known is that Jasper has a friend in Oslo, an optician, Renée, who for some reason has access to what was then a very primitive version of the internet, mostly found only at universities, government orgs, military sites and the like. An ability to, say, search for all the addresses along a certain road that have a particular car registered there in would have felt like an enormous amount of power in those days.
This is also the tale of Josh, a builder of homebrew synthesizers who hopes to turn his project into a job at one of the large Japanese manufacturers, and his encounter with Trent, an enthusiastic fan of his work.
The perspective shift doesn’t happen in a way you’re expecting, and there’s some real, genuine tension generated both by a moody score and quite inventive camera work. The production design and costumes are outstanding. Those of use who remember the early 80’s can attest to the abundance of brown and harvest gold. The pacing could have used a little nip and tuck. At an hour and fortyfive, the back half starts to drag a bit.
Still, excellent performances all around by the very small cast. The whole film feels intimate. There are 4 or 5 (depending on how you count) locations, maybe 6 or 7 characters with names and meaningful dialog. A testament to maximizing ones resources and fully utilizing what little you have.
Currently on Shudder in the US
4/5 three cent stamps
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But… is it a horror flick? 
People get hung up on definitions and labels. Is Silence of the Lambs a horror movie? A thriller? A crime procedural?
Dead Mail falls into a similar category. There are no weird monsters, no severed limbs or acid to the face or extreme physical damage. But there someone doing not at all nice things to someone else, and it’s the audience’s hope that they’ll be caught before something worse happens.
Much like Lambs, it’s not a “Whodunnit?” Were shown very early on what “it” is and exactly who done it. Rather it’s a “Howcatchem?” And a fairly entertaining one at that, though I admit the really careful recreation of that early 80’s atmosphere gave it a bump up in my evaluation. I’m a sucker for thoughtful production design.
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I’ll check it out! Thanks for elaboratin’ 
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We did a double feature of Novocaine and The Monkey last night. Neither movie will make you any smarter, but given everything going on right now (BF still dealing with the layoff and I saw my mom for the first time since we placed her in the nursing facility), we needed a healthy does of dumb and adult beverages.
Jack Quaid does a perfectly fine job as an everyman who falls for the wrong (but, ultimately, right) girl. He’s really grown on me since his debut in The Boys. The main villain was played by Ray Nicholson, Jack Nicholson’s son. So, we got a chuckle watching two nepo babies duking it out in the final battle scene.
BF and I are big time Stephen King fans and we got a hoot and a half out of The Monkey. You have to take it more in the spirit of Creepshow than It. Osgood Perkins (speaking of Hollywood children) had the right idea in that, given the cursed object was a toy, all the related murders should be over the top ridiculous, as the director. It also had all the usual King hallmarks - good/evil twins, 50s rock and roll, a setting somewhere in Maine, and the focus he often has on the relationship between kids and their parents. Looking forward to a rewatch at some point!
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We have Plex, which has some streaming tv built into it (there’s also the ability to manage one’s own digital library of tv, movies, and music - this is BF’s baby. I just reap the benefits!). One of the channels is 24/7 Iron Chef Japan, so I am sipping some Bowmore and settling in for a little marathon! #winning
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We loved watching the OG IC (dubbed). The jury was always a treat. One actress’s excited exclamation of "OOOH! LEEEEEEEKS!’ when presented with the secret ingredient has become a running joke at casa lingua.
You’d be surprised how often it can be used in conversation 
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Binging on Columbo today; “The Greenhouse Jungle” right now.
It includes this scene, which never fails to have me laughing like a lunatic.
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Rick Steves’ Art of Europe–The Renaissance.
Reviewing all my art history class faves.
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The Last of Us S2E2. 
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We are watching Season 3 of Dark Winds.
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