Hello and welcome back to the Weekly Recap! It’s been a few weeks, but there’s been a lot going on.
I’ve launched a Movie Club on this Substack, and I also started a podcast with fellow Substacker Mike Bowers of The Queer Factor. The podcast is called Agree to Disagree with Mike and Colton and comes from the many conversations we’ve had about movies where we have very differing opinions on them. You can find it on most major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The first episode is looking back on Barbenheimer weekend, and we just finished recording our second episode about the animated feature nominees for this year’s Oscars. After that, we’ll be talking Dune: Part II!!!!! One of us is excited!! Thanks for those that have already listened, and I hope the rest of you will check it out.
Let’s look back at the past month, though, and catch up on the recaps!
FILM
Highlight: Rear Window | 1954 | Alfred Hitchcock | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Professional photographer L.B. ‘Jeff’ Jeffries breaks his leg while getting an action shot at an auto race. Confined to his New York apartment, he spends his time looking out of the rear window, observing the neighbors. When he begins to suspect that a man across the courtyard may have murdered his wife, Jeff enlists the help of his high society fashion-consultant girlfriend and his visiting nurse to investigate.
Jimmy Stewart is one of the best to do it. Assisted by Hitchcock’s superb direction and Grace Kelly’s stunning talent and beauty, Stewart gives us a brilliant performance in a thrilling movie. It had been a minute since I last saw this, but it struck me more than I remembered having been stuck the first time I saw it. The self containment of the story is brilliant and unsettling, giving a perfect set to explore a fetish of cinema since its start: voyeurism. This is a movie about movies without actually being about movies, which is why it’s brilliant! We are all Jimmy Stewart’s Jeff, as we watch multitudes of lives on the screen play out. Some real, some imagined, but all as powerful as the other. It might be my new favorite Hitchcock.
The Making of the Two Towers | 2003 | Costa Botes
Great special feature!
The Pirate | 1948 | Vincente Minnelli | ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This was so silly and fun! I love a good ole’ classic movie musical, where there’s not a ton of stakes. It’s just about the ‘lols,’ dancing, and singing; all of which are great!
Barbie | 2023 | Greta Gerwig | ⭐⭐½
This was for the podcast! For more thoughts, you can listen here!
The Graduate | 1967 | Mike Nichols | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This is considered a classic for a reason. More thoughts here on the Movie Club post.
Oppenheimer | 2023 | Christopher Nolan | ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
Like Barbie, this was a rewatch for the podcast. It’s very good!
Robots | 2006 | Chris Wedge | ⭐⭐⭐
I was folding laundry and wanted a movie to put on. Max had this recommended, and it’s been so long since I saw it, that I was compelled to watch. It’s a perfect laundry movie.
Sleeping Beauty | 1959 | Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reitherman, Clyde Geronimi, Les Clark | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This OeuvReport will be out soon! Suffice to say, this is another Disney banger.
This is Me…Now | 2024 | Dave Meyers | ½
Watched as part of my pod cohost’s Bad Movie Musical club. This might be the worst one I’ve seen so far. Is it even a movie? I don’t think so, but I’m not sure where else to put it.
Robot Dreams | 2023 | Pablo Berger | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I adored this so much. I was so emotionally taken by the complex story. I’ll share more thoughts on the second episode of the pod, coming out on March 4th!
Nimona | 2023 | Troy Quane, Nick Bruno | ⭐⭐½
Another movie for the pod that I was very not into. I love the graphic novel, but really didn’t like this adaptation. Hear more thoughts on the pod.
Y Tu Mamá También | 2001 | Alfonso Cuarón | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Another Movie Club watch, this might be my favorite of the bunch! It was such a revelation. I’m so happy to finally have this watched. Read some more here!
Speed | 1994 | Jan de Bont | ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
Happy 30th! I saw this on the shelf of Vidiots, my local video rental store, and needed to watch. It was nice because a friend of mine, host of Syndicated Cinephiles, had never seen this incredible piece of 90s action film history. Which we remedied! It’s so goofy, but so much fun. I love it for what it is…which is a fun ride.
Monsters vs Aliens | 2009 | Conrad Vernon, Rob Letterman | ⭐⭐⭐
Another laundry movie (I need to make a list of movies I’ve watched while doing this chore)! I was inspired by the choice of Robots last time and went with another 2000s, forgettable family movie. I actually kind of love it for the classic monster movie homages and weird non sequitur jokes.
The Favourite | 2018 | Yorgos Lanthimos | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The final film of the movie club (this post will be up soon, I promise), was a rewatch of a movie I loved when it came out, and loved even more on this watch. Look forward to more thoughts coming soon.
SCAM Girls Movie Club
In the Mood for Hate
Happy Together | 1997 | Wong Kar-wai | ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
Wong Kar-wai, don’t miss. Despite some not great pre-production tales, our programmer told us (one of the actors did not know he was going to be doing a gay love scene until he was already on location for shooting). This movie was a bleak, yet incredible look at one of the most toxic relationships I’ve seen on film.
TV
Highlight: Sherlock, Season 4 | ⭐⭐⭐½
The fourth series begins with the nation’s favourite detective, the mercurial Sherlock Holmes, back once more on British soil, as Doctor Watson and his wife, Mary, prepare for their biggest ever challenge — becoming parents for the first time.
The final season of Sherlock was the weakest, for sure, but still mostly good. There were some frustrating developments and rushed plots, but the acting was still ace and Toby Jones got to be an outrageous villain. The music and editing is also still some of the best in television. If I had watched this when it aired, I think I would have been much more offended by this. But having watched the series in its entirety in a shorter amount of time helped lessen the impact of the mediocrity of this season.
In Progress
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Season 1, Episodes 4-7
Naruto, Season 1, Episode 1-10
Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024), Season 1, Episode 1
Books
In Progress
Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-Earth | J.R.R. Tolkien — On hold
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter | Brandon Sanderson — 5%
The Big Read
Dune | Frank Herbert — 68%
The Weathered Tome Society
American Gods | Neil Gaiman — 47%
Games
Highlight: Portal | PC | Valve | ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Aperture Science is a secret weapons research organization in competition with Black Mesa. Chell is a test subject at the “Enrichment Center” facility who awakens to find an A.I. construct called GlaDOS requiring some tasks to be completed. They are testing the Aperture Handheld Portal Device (aka Portal Gun) which is able to create portals in space, allowing Chell to move from one point to another without actually crossing the distance.
It’s been a long time since I played this, so it felt like playing it for the first time. This is a great puzzle platform game, that is eclipsed by the sequel, but deserving of our attention still. The story is simple, but the dialogue is hilarious, especially given how dark it gets, with GlaDOS cracking jokes about your impending death.
NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… | PS5 | PlatinumGames | ⭐⭐⭐
This was more intriguing storywise than the gameplay offered. I found it a little boring and tedious most of the time. The story was rich and interesting, though. I did look up and find there’s 6 ending!?! Each one requiring an additional playthrough. There’s some intriguing stuff it does with those additional playthroughs, that I find very cool, but not worth playing the game to experience first hand. I’m content to just know it. Without spoiling too much, there are some novel things the game does with the player save state that correlates directly to narrative events.
Halo: CE | PC | Bungie, Inc. | ⭐⭐⭐½
I’m playing through the Halo series for the first time with a friend, and this was a cool look into the beginning of the modern shooter. It wasn’t amazing, but it’s fun to see an early iteration of one of the most popular type of game made — first-person shooters.
Video Games
NieR: Automata | PS4 | PlatinumGames
Persona 4 Golden | PS Vita | Atlus
Dragon Age: Origins | PC | BioWare
Diablo IV | PS5 | Blizzard Entertainment
Music
十二次元 | 2023 | Queen Bee
I first found Queen Bee from the opening to an anime, Dororo. I then fell really in love with them once I learned their singer voiced one of the leads in a top ten movie of 2022 — Inu-Oh. It’s a great album.
Game Night, Vol. 2 | 2024 | Various Artists
I listened to this mostly because an artist I love, insaneintherain, was involved. This was a fun album of some funky, jazzy video game covers.
Dropout Boogie | 2022 | The Black Keys
Not sure why, but I was craving some Black Keys music, and this was an album I hadn’t listened to. It’s a solid one for sure, nothing incredible, but solid music.
Kingdom Hearts — HD 1.5 ReMix | 2023 | Various Artists
Finally, Square Enix and Disney released an album for this twenty-year-old game. It’s very good and drips with nostalgia for me.
YouTube
Patrick (H) Willems is consistently one of the best movie essayists on YouTube. The first video of his new season is a great one! If you love The Muppets, I think this should be a must-watch for you!
What have you taken in this last month? I’d also love to hear any thoughts in the comments if you’d taken anything in I wrote about.
Thanks for reading. Til next time!
— Colton