That’s mostly the reason I started doing letterboxd. I’ll occasionally throw on some old movie that’s popped up on some streaming service for an evening and my partner will say “uh, didn’t we watch this 6 months ago?” and, yeah, we had, and I just lost it amongst the constant stream of input.
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I’ve enthusiastically suggested movies and shows we’ve watched, though the whole pandemic watching is a bit of a blur to both of us.
Recaps from the day prior were made for me.
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Unicorn Wars (2022 -Dir. Alberto Vasquez)
Take Apocalypse Now, only a little less thoughtful and a little more ‘edgy’. Now load it up with religious ‘holy war’ baggage and warnings about fascism. Got that? You can imagine that movie.
Now imagine that movie in the universe of a Lisa Frank school folder.
That’s the gimmick. An epic “war is hell” picture, complete with cynical, corrupt commanders, religious zealots, and all the psychological damage war does to soldiers, all through rainbow colored teddy bears and unicorns.
And it’s an interesting, amusing gimmick. It’s more substantive than something like Happy Tree Friends, an internet product of an earlier time that used the same schtick, adorable fuzzy wuzzy animals beating on each other. But director/writer Alberto Vasquez tries to pack a LOT of ideas into 92 minutes, and can’t quite sustain it. As a result, we get a film that drags in places, and yet still feels scattered.
Which is not to take away from its considerable achievements. The animation is very good, and the unicorns’ painterly, Ghibli-esque magic forest contrasts with the more straightforward line-and-color of the teddy bears’ world. The whipsaw between characters with names like Colonel Fluffy and and the Cuddly Wuddly twins going through boot camp and eventually into combat is effective, even if it can’t quite prop up the whole enterprise.
If the central concept sounds interesting or amusing to you, there’s definitely enough here to make a watch worth your while. But if the idea already makes you roll your eyes, your feelings are unlikely to change.
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The Diplomat, Netflix
Proof that a thriller can be compelling without Fists, Guns, or Explosions (or can it?). Great performances, better writing. the inventible absurd plot twists can be absolved.
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What do people think about Will Trent? I find it watchable. Hope it gets renewed.
She looks familiar, what has she been in?
That’s Keri Russell, who was in The Americans. The Diplomat is on my list.
Her husband and costar from the Americans, Matthew Rhys, stars in the excellent Perry Mason. It’s set in 1930’s LA and is the prequel to the very popular tv series that ran in the 60’s. It’s very different though!
I know, and have watched that show with gusto.
They’ve put a very 21st century sensibility onto characters that would be very confused about who they were in the 1930’s. Della and Perry were always an unspoken romantic thing and Paul Drake, Perry’s detective, looked like some Germanic screen star. Maybe the Hamilton Burger character, the DA/prosecutor who lost every case to Perry, could be that guy in the 1930’s…Anyway they do a great job of portraying Los Angeles with all its growing pains and it’s natural beauty.
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I like both actors a lot, but it was my PIC who “made me” watch Perry Mason. I have almost zero memory retention for movies and shows these days, and I’m not familiar with the 1960s show - is it based on an older graphic novel? Obviously also not a big comic book nerd here 
Of course, plenty of lesbians existed even well before the 30s - one could even say since the beginning of time, but for the sensibilities of the 1960s (and apparently still nowadays, depending on one’s location) this would be unthinkable to suggest, for sure.
The original Perry Mason series was based on the Perry Mason detective novels by Erle Stanley Gardner. 82 novels and 4 short stories. They were originally adapted for film and radio before getting a TV adaptation. The Raymond Burr series ran from '57-66, with Burr reprising his role in 26 more tv movies between 85 and his death in 93.
I just looked all this up on wikipedia. I was never a big Perry Mason viewer, except when I was home sick from school and that’s what was on UHF when all the networks were showing soap operas.
I always mixed up Perry Mason with Ironsides, which also starred Burr as a wheelchair-bound former police chief who consults with the cops to continue to solve crimes. (Which, now that I think of it, is basically the log-line for Monk)
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I watched Will Trent because I read Karin Slaughter’s books. I had to keep watching so I could see Betty. If it’s renewed I would keep watching.
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Oh yes, not saying they didn’t exist just funny if you’re familiar with the 1960’s show. Perry and Della were definitely a thing and I believe get married in one of the movies they made based on the series. No comic book ties, just very popular easy reading detective books. I grew up in a very gay friendly part of LA and for me as a kid, it was a very normal relationship. And I’m talking a long time ago in the 1960’s/70’s.
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I watched when I was a kid and you ALWAYS knew that Perry would win the case usually with a big last minute courtroom scene and Hamilton Burger would always lose.
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I watched the early PM as re-runs in the late 60’s and even now, I can catch the originals here and there. The drama, the roles, the scowls, the fashions, the CARS! I never got into PM’s later works. He was quite a private character and an incredible orchidist.
I’ve started watching The Diplomat. It’s tricky for me to watch and not want to “fact check” its politics initially, since it seems to be dispensing with certain things for drama, but after the table setting of the first two episodes, it leans into drama and becomes enjoyable.
I’m also a fan of Keri Russell and her husband, Matthew Rhys, although Perry Mason isn’t available where I am. The Diplomat has a lot of solid actors in it which certainly makes it fun to watch as well.
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PM was so popular it got spoofed on The Flintstones! Perry Masonry and Bronto Burger. LOL
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One for the noir fans! I found last night on Amazon Prime Video!
The Killing (1956), directed by a young Stanley Kubrick. Starring the great Sterling Hayden and featuring a who’s who of character actors and B movie stalwarts. Bonus: Rodney Dangerfield as “Onlooker”!
Clocking in at a taut 85 minutes, The Killing is a great heist caper flick.
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It really is, and is where, I believe, he was introduced to Sterling Hayden, who would go on to play Gen. Jack D. Ripper in Dr. Strangelove.
The only other really early Kubrick that’s somewhat available is Killers Kiss, which I’ve never found a copy of. There’s a couple of other early shorts and one VERY early feature called Fear and Desire, a war movie, which Kubrick denounced in later years, calling it “Amateurish. Like child’s drawing. on the fridge”
Now I REALLY wanna find a copy.
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