{"id":160698,"date":"2020-09-08T12:10:02","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T16:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=160698"},"modified":"2022-12-14T08:27:06","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T13:27:06","slug":"july-august-2020-viewing-diary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=160698","title":{"rendered":"July\/August 2020 Viewing Diary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let’s get to it. July and August have been very … extra. Movies are fine, but I am gravitating towards series, anything I can binge-watch. I get clicked into something that interests me, and then feel so relieved that I have three-four-five seasons to take up my time. That’s one of the reasons why I didn’t put one of these up in July. Just not watching a hell of a lot. I mean, if I counted all of the YouTube reactions, all the YouTube reactors, the insanely rigorous and entertaining hip hop YouTube community … that’s where I’m spending most of my time. I wish the landscape of film critics was as fun and as engaged as the hip hop commentary landscape. Just one example: Big Sean (whom I really like) dropped a new album on Friday with almost no warning. He teased it on his Insta, posting the track list<\/a>, and the world went NUTS. The YouTubers put up videos of speculation, rampant excitement, etc. It was a community event, a bunch of people from – literally – around the world, basically saying, “Holy shit, I am so excited” all at the same time. One song in particular got the most chatter: “Friday Night Cypher.” An old-fashioned cypher featuring a roll call of Detroit-area rappers, ending with Royce and Eminem, doing back to back verses. If you’re tuned into the rap world and the YouTubers who follow the rap world it was like a bomb went off. I suppose this happens when film critics get teased that a New PTA is in the works, a new Wong Kar Wai, a new whatever … similar bombs go off through the community. But … I don’t know. There’s less EXUBERANCE, in my opinion. So Big Sean’s album dropped on Friday, and ever since then everyone has been putting up videos analyzing each bar, talking about who had the best verse, etc. So yeah, if I counted each one of these videos for my “monthly viewing diaries”, it’d be 100s of entries long. In the meantime, here’s what I managed to get through in the last two months. <\/p>\n

The Chair<\/em><\/strong>, episode 1 (2014)
\nPeople who hang around a lot on YouTube are probably aware of the Shane Dawson Debacle. I got sucked into the drama, because there’s a pandemic and it was a stupid meaningless distraction. I was unaware that back in 2014 Dawson won a contest where he got to write\/direct and also star in his own movie – because yeah, that sounds like a good use of resources – and there was a reality TV series attached to the “film” “project”. Dawson was such a nightmare, so poorly behaved, so entitled, it was too cringey for me to watch more than one episode. <\/p>\n

Hamilton<\/em><\/strong> (2020; d. Thomas Kail)
\nOne of the big thrills of my life was going to see Hamilton<\/i> with Mum and Ben. It was such a memorable and intense experience. Mum and I holding hands during the opening number, Mum gasping with laughter next to me, getting swept away by the new-ness of it all, loving every single second of it. Those of you who’ve hung here for a long time know my feelings about Hamilton. I’ve probably written more about him than about Cary Grant! So the fact that this musical … with hip hop music … was becoming this THING … Hamilton finally going mainstream … was so FREAKIN GRATIFYING. And even better than that: how GREAT the show was. I was so glad it was GOOD. Equally awesome is the film, released this past July. I’m just so glad they decided to do it the way they did it: let’s just film the play itself, with an audience there. Let’s not try to re-think it for the movies, and “open it up”, and have them singing the songs as they walk through Revolutionary-era sets with muddy streets, and etc. Let’s just see the PLAY. The play that so few people have actually been able to see (especially because of the pandemic now, with national tours canceled. But it was hard to get a ticket even way back then. People were paying outrageous amounts for tickets. It was that kind of show.) I watched Hamilton<\/i> on Disney about 5 times in 2 days. Not an exaggeration. And I’ll keep watching. It captures that exhilarating experience I saw live, and I am so grateful it exists. <\/p>\n

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8 Mile<\/strong><\/em> (2002; d. Curtis Hanson)
\nWhen I knew I needed to write something about Eminem<\/a> (it had been building since the January release of his latest album), I watched 8 Mile<\/i> again. Just for fun. I saw it in the theatre a couple times when it was released. 2002 was The Year of Eminem, and – speaking as a traumatized New Yorker post-9\/11 – letting my obsession with Eminem FLOW in 2002 was like THERAPY. There was a hole in lower Manhattan. New York took much longer to “recover” than the rest of the country. Hell, years later there was STILL a hole in lower Manhattan. We were wounded. It happened here. We saw it. That hangover lasted. I’ve said before – The Eminem Show<\/i> dropped in 2002, into the insanity of that jittery year, and those overall jitters are in the album. The Anthrax line. You’d have to remember 2002 and the Anthrax scare to get how much he was speaking into the reality. The panic about Anthrax was real. Eminem had a lot on his mind. He was the biggest star in the world by then and he didn’t soften his blows. I mean, “Square Dance<\/a>.” That’s a political song: he’s already feeling the war machine moving into place, he’s furious, he already hated Bush – hell, he hated the Clintons and Gores too – (well, Tipper and Hillary) because they were heading up the fight against his lyrics. But he’s talking real shit here: when I hear this song, I hear 2002. I hear September 11. I get so frustrated by dummies who are like, “Wow, Eminem dissed Trump. He’s getting all political now.” You’re showing your ass. It’s okay to not know the past but at least know that you don’t know the past. 8 Mile<\/i> opened in 2002. So that year he had an album release AND a movie – based on his life.It’s a testament to how huge he was at the time that this didn’t seem like overkill. Just trying to look at things through a long lens. Like I said in the piece I wrote about him: there was a void in the culture leading up the Advent of Eminem. A huge void. He filled up that void, and it’s why his rise felt so endless. Down to brass tacks: 8 Mile<\/i> is really good and worthy of him. <\/p>\n

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Palm Springs<\/strong><\/em> (2020; d. Max Barbakow)
\nI was surprised by how much I loved this. It was very funny but it also has this melancholy aspect – a bittersweet thoughtful aspect – which took me by surprise. I recommend it. I reviewed for Ebert<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Flannery<\/strong><\/em> (2020; d. Mark Bosco)
\nA new documentary about Flannery O’Connor. I reviewed for Ebert.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Yes, God, Yes<\/strong><\/em> (2020; d. Karen Maine)
\nAnother nice surprise. A sweet and funny movie about a girl at a Christian retreat dealing with having sexual feelings for the first time. It’s got a super light touch but it’s about an important topic. I was a teenage girl once upon a time. I could have used a film like this. I reviewed for Ebert.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Straight Outta Compton<\/strong><\/em> (2015; d. F. Gary Gray)
\nI loved this movie. It did a really good job capturing the rise of NWA and how feared they were by TPTB. If that “fear” reached my consciousness, living in a little beach town in Rhode Island, then you KNOW it was widespread. But I loved all those guys, and continued to follow their various solo careers (and still do). I wrote about Straight Outta Compton<\/i> when it opened<\/a>. Haven’t seen it since and it holds up. <\/p>\n

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Once Upon a Time in Hollywood<\/strong><\/em> (2019; d. Quentin Tarantino)
\nGod, this movie. I love it so much. This is my 6th time seeing it, I think. Thank you, Quentin, for making it.<\/p>\n

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Every Little Step<\/strong><\/em>(2009; d. James D. Stern)
\nI had never seen this documentary about casting the Broadway revival of A Chorus Line<\/i>. It’s phenomenal. It includes the lengthy and grueling audition process, following a couple of different people. It’s a really great insight into how hard people work, and how difficult auditioning is – and you watch people improve, or take corrections – OR, NOT improve, and not be ABLE to take corrections. I laughed, I cried, it’s great. Not sure if you’ve seen it, but this new cast – the revival cast – now all in quarantine – put out a gorgeous video<\/a> of all of them performing the opening number from their various homes. Emotional.<\/p>\n

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\nPhantom Thread<\/strong><\/em> (2017; d. Paul Thomas Anderson)
\nI was actually afraid to see this again. I saw it the one time, at the Directors Guild (with the cast and director in attendance), and then wrote my first cover story for Film Comment<\/em><\/a> about the film. I loved it so much I was hesitant to revisit it. I put so much work and heart and thought into that cover story, it’s like I tapped out my interest. What fun it was to see it again! It’s so FUNNY. <\/p>\n

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I Used to Go Here<\/strong><\/em> (2020; d. Kris Rey)
\nI really enjoyed this film. Gillian Jacobs is wonderful. I reviewed for Ebert.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Jackass<\/strong><\/em> (2002; d. Jeff Tremaine)
\nInspired by a random Twitter thread, I decided to watch the Jackass trilogy. I’m not exaggerating when I saw they helped get me through August. I laughed so hard at Johnny Knoxville testing his rocket-skates I legit almost peed my pants. I haven’t laughed like that in a long long time and it felt like the laughter dissolved anxiety and worries, I felt LIGHTER afterwards. <\/p>\n

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Jackass Number Two<\/strong><\/em> (2006; d. Jeff Tremaine)
\nIt’s really interesting to see how the “jackasses” push the envelope here, doing things that push the boundaries even further (a fish hook through your cheek? a brand in the shape of a dick on your ass cheek?). I love these guys. The thing I get above all else is how so much of what they did was for each other<\/i> and that’s what really READS. <\/p>\n

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Jackass 3D<\/strong><\/em> (2010; d. Jeff Tremaine)
\nHeaven. Closing out with a Busby Berkeley-type musical number? Too much. Very emotional. Like I said: this trilogy helped me survive August. <\/p>\n

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\nHe Ran All the Way<\/strong><\/em> (1952; d. John Berry)
\nSuch a good film. John Garfield, and the family he’s holding hostage, Shelley Winters as the daughter who unwittingly invites this menace – who isn’t really a menace – into her home … The desperation and fear … This would work beautifully as a stage play, since it’s basically one set. Maybe it started out that way, I don’t know. <\/p>\n

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Red Penguins<\/strong><\/em> (2020; d. Gabe Polsky)
\nA fantastic new documentary about the Red Penguins, the Russian hockey team post-Soviet-collapse. The Wild West of early 1990s Russia. Gabe Polsky is an excellent director (see also: Red Army<\/i>). <\/p>\n

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The World’s Most Wanted<\/strong><\/em> (2020; on Netflix)
\nOh, you know I tore through every episode of this shit. <\/p>\n

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\nSpree<\/strong><\/em> (2020; d. Eugene Kotlyarenko)
\nI did not like this. It gave me a headache. I reviewed for Ebert.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Married at First Sight<\/strong><\/em> (2019; on Netflix)
\nShit got bad in August. I was desperate for a binge-watch and this came up on Netflix. I inhaled it. It’s actually a fascinating social experiment and I like the non-salacious and actually serious approach. <\/p>\n

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\nThe Vow<\/strong><\/em>, 1-7 (2020; d. Jehane Noujaim, Karim Amer)
\nAs is probably not a surprise, I followed this branding-sex-cult thing as it unfolded in real time. It’s right up my alley: mind control, powerful charismatic leaders, corruption, lies, cults. I had been looking forward to this. The approach is subtle, and requires patience (I like it for that reason). It doesn’t reveal all its cards in the first episode. You don’t get around to actually breaking down the persona of that asshole in charge until around episode 6 or 7 … like what a liar and grifter and con-man he was … You have to wait on that. It’s amazing all of the footage they’ve gathered together: the lectures, the classes, the interviews … Like I said, I’ve been very into this story and have seen a couple of the clips here, but much of it is brand new to me. Allison Mack, what the ever-loving fuck. I have more to say about this. The moment where Mack first met Keith R. is captured on camera. He literally dislodges her from her old life, her pillars, her belief system – during the course of their first meeting. You can SEE him do it. It’s so subtle, so sinister. And she was susceptible, she was searching, she was looking for meaning, etc. But he took from her THE THING she said that made her most happy (art) and made her question it. This literally happens in a 5 minute clip. She leaves the interaction altered forever. I want to write more about this because it shows how brainwashing works: it’s so subtle. He smelled her need, and deconstructed her with ultimate swiftness and she didn’t even realize it had happened. It’s a terrifying clip. <\/p>\n

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\nSex Education <\/strong><\/em> (2019; created by Laurie Nunn)
\nMitchell turned me onto this British series, and I flipped out. It’s so good and absolutely unimaginable in our Puritan-sex-negative-American landscape. I also just totally clicked in with all of these characters. Eagerly waiting for Season 3 although who knows if that is even in the cards anymore.<\/p>\n

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Love Fraud<\/strong><\/em> (2020; d. Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady)
\nBeen a big fan of Ewing and Grady’s work ever since Jesus Camp<\/i>, which is, legit, one of the most frightening movies I’ve ever seen. I’ve followed them through their years. Their latest is a mini-docu-series or whatever you want to call it about this guy who … well, he was married\/in love\/involved with multiple women at the same time, defrauding all of them. This wasn’t so much a “Dirty John” type scenario as it is its own weird hybrid. He did take money from these women, but not a lot. These were middle-working-class women. It seemed to have been emotional, what he wanted. Or maybe just a port in a storm. He would marry these women and then instantly change. The doc is fun because the women all find out about each other, update a blog devoted to his whereabouts, and hire a bounty-hunter-woman to track this guy down, for revenge sure, but also to save other women from getting entangled with him. <\/p>\n

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Chemical Hearts<\/strong><\/em> (2020; d. Richard Tanne)
\nA very serious teenage coming-of-age drama. I reviewed for Ebert<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Chasing Happiness<\/strong><\/em> (2019; d. John Lloyd Taylor)
\nSat out on the porch one night with Mitchell, drinking whiskey, and watching this documentary about the Jonas Brothers. I got educated! I have a couple of their songs, and their fame was so huge it of course reached my radar but … I had the wrong idea about them. Or, my ideas were really vague and not based on anything. I didn’t scoff at them, because I never scoff at what teenagers love: I’m way too close to my own teenage self (emotionally) to scoff at such strong feelings (particularly when it’s teenage girls having said strong feelings. I’m happy they have the outlet!) But I didn’t know anything about their beginnings, OR about what their stage show was actually like. Now I REALLY get it, now I get why their fan base is what it is. They will have that fan base forever. Mitchell is encyclopedic in his Jonas-Brothers-Lore, so it was a blast discovering them with such a knowledgeable guide at my side.<\/p>\n

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First Cow<\/strong><\/em> (2020; d. Kelly Reichardt)
\nLove Kelly Reichardt’s work and had been really looking forward to this. It’s excellent, a mournful gentle story about two men who pair up to make delicious biscuits for their rough frontier town, but these biscuits require stealing milk from the “first cow” in the territory. It’s about their relationship, but it goes much deeper than that. You could say it’s about America. The film hits hard but it’s not cynical, at least not about these two men. I loved this relationship.<\/p>\n

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Mattias & Maxime<\/strong><\/em> (2020; d. Xavier Dolan)
\nXavier Dolan’s latest feels like fanfic for a YA novel. Not that that’s a bad thing! The fanfic aspect of it is very erotic.I reviewed for Ebert.<\/a><\/p>\n

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I Am Woman<\/strong><\/em> (2020; d. Unjoo Moon)
\nHelen Reddy biopic opening this week. I will be reviewing for Ebert!<\/p>\n

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Fatima<\/strong><\/em> (2020; d. Marco Pontecorvo)
\nI thought this film was very good. I reviewed for Ebert.<\/a> Pontecorvo should be congratulated for what he pulled off here. <\/p>\n

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The Leftovers<\/em><\/strong>, Season 1, episode 1 (2014)
\nI started this a while back and fell off of it around episode 4 – for no particular reason. I decided to start it again after talking with Mikey, and he was singing its praises. It’s so up my alley I’m not sure why I fell off. This time it’ll stick. I need a binge-watch. Need something to occupy my brain over an extended period of time.<\/p>\n

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Let’s get to it. July and August have been very … extra. Movies are fine, but I am gravitating towards series, anything I can binge-watch. I get clicked into something that interests me, and then feel so relieved that I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2627,4,31],"tags":[2550,312,2544,2555,2493,2546,1555,233,2548,2680,276,2044,2560,2143,1168,2579,2566,2549,297,2637],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160698"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=160698"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161263,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160698\/revisions\/161263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=160698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=160698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=160698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}