2021 In Film

Every year, I take the month of January to catch up on as many of the films I missed throughout the year as I can. This post/list/sleep aid is the result of my annual maniacal start to the new year. And yeah, I realize it’s nearly February but the academy has only begun their own voting process. So shhhhhhhhhhhhut it.

One of the final films on my list to see was Spielberg’s remake of “West Side Story.” This one always seemed like a bad idea. Why remake something widely regarded as a stone cold classic? Now, specifically for me, West Side Story holds a special place in my heart. This was a family film for me growing up. Both my parents were fans and showed the film to my brother and I beginning when we were still pretty young. For my mother to be a fan was no surprise. She liked cool things like Martin Scorsese and David Lynch.

Quick side note: My mother really was my introduction to two of my all-time favorite directors in the two aforementioned gentlemen. As a small kid, I was really into Star Wars. I also loved to read and so my mother figured I’d like Dune. That was my introduction to David Lynch. I didn’t just watch movies, I would also read the boxes in the rental store and study the opening credits. Dune was based on a book and so I immediately had respect for it, lol. It was directed by David Lynch and I knew that was super important because it was the final name listed. Okay, Dune rocked this little kid’s socks and Lynch was on the radar.

I was still too young to really dive into Lynch though, lmao. I remember my parents renting Blue Velvet and me trying to sneak into the hallway to catch some of it because I was most definitely not allowed to watch that one yet myself. Next up was Twin Peaks and I remember my mom being really into the show and though I didn’t understand a lot of what was going on, it was Lynch and the guy from both Dune and Blue Velvet and so I watched some of it too. Those who know me know that in the years since, Lynch has established himself as my all-timer and Twin Peaks rivaled perhaps only by LOST as my favorite piece of visual entertainment ever.

But I digress.

We were discussing 2021 in film and I just whisked us away to the 1980s for two separate tangents. Back to tangent number one. The real kicker was that my father loved West Side Story. “But dad, it’s a musical.” My father was always your prototypical country boy tough guy. He was happiest watching Robert Redford trudge through the snow for three straight hours. He loved Chuck Norris and shit like that.

And…a musical?

Yep.

So West Side Story was the rare treat where the entire family could bond over something we all pretty much equally enjoyed. My skepticism of the remake remained for a long time. Yeah, I know it’s Spielberg and he’s responsible for my favorite film of all-time. Hell, He’s responsible for probably two of my top three films of all-time. Double hell, he’s probably got a half dozen films in my top twenty five. What the hell was I worried about?

Spielberg hasn’t seemed like himself in a long time. A loooooong time. In recent years, it’s felt like he’s either lost the rhythm or the joy. Well, even if it was only for one film, he regained it all back because the West Side Story remake is an absolute triumph.

This triggered another thought: Man, I haven’t seen “The Outsiders” in a long time. And I’m happy to report that in recent years, Coppola has revisited his film and added scenes back in — scenes deemed unnecessary to the runtime when originally released. Adding these scenes back in allows the story to focus on what was always most important: the relationships between these damaged and sensitive boys. It helps show the macho antics as armor and the giant rumble near the end of the film as the useless exercise in toxic masculinity that it always was. If you haven’t seen the film before, or haven’t seen it in a long time, first read the book. Always read the book. But then go ahead and check out “The Complete Novel” version of the film. I think you’ll be glad you did. (The courtroom scene is still hilariously terrible though)

And now, several million words into this manifesto, we have the films of 2021. First off, 2021 electrified me as a film lover way more than 2020 did. These twenty five films I liked quite a bit and there are fifteen more that I’ll add on at the end that I also really enjoyed. There are at least seven films on this list that I love enough to have already purchased on disc or plan to — maybe more. But enough is enough and it’s time for the list.

1. DRIVE MY CAR – This is the most recent film I’ve scene and caused me to completely rewrite everything about this list. (Full disclosure: I always anticipated this though) The moment I read about this film coming out of Cannes, I was in. The trailer was great and it was based on a short story by Haruki Murakami, one of my all-time favorite authors. Still, I was blown away by the humanized beauty of what I saw for three hours the other night. The film is full of moments where humans are human and that’s all. It’s simple and profound. It will make you smile and laugh and cry real, deep, emotional tears. A film about the highs and lows of life and how trying to subdue yourself into the middle road can lead you nowhere. Cigarettes hanging out of the sunroof. Those who’ve seen it know what that means.

2. C’MON C’MON – A film where Joaquin Phoenix plays a documentarian who is tasked with taking care of his young nephew for a few weeks. Until I finally saw Drive My Car, this was firmly at the top of my list. Joaquin Phoenix is everything anyone could ever want in an actor. His range, both intellectual and emotional, is fucking limitless. He is as good an actor as I have ever seen and this may be my favorite ever performance from him. Another film about human beings trying their best to be human beings. And another film that made me weep.

3. THE GREEN KNIGHT – Art. This film is like an interactive art exhibit come to life. Mesmerizing and deeply strange and perfectly told. Every single shot in this one feels like it could hang on the wall of a museum. Seriously dropped my jaw. Dev Patel is one of the most underrated actors working today and I hope he and David Lowery continue making art together.

4. WEST SIDE STORY – My favorite Spielberg film since…I don’t even know? Munich (seriously underrated Spielberg) or Minority Report? Nah, it’s better than those. Saving Private Ryan? Nah, I think I prefer this to that one as well. Schindler’s List? Okay, maybe there’s the line. Still, that was nearly thirty years ago but also marks the moment where I feel like Spielberg became a bit more serious and eventually his worked suffered as the message began to smother the joy of the work. For me, he recaptured nearly all of the joy and cleverness from his 70s and 80s output with West Side Story. It’s only sad to me that it released during a pandemic where a ton of new eyes have yet to find it.

5. THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH – The best adaptation of this work I have ever seen. Another jaw dropper. Minblowingly beautiful for every single second of it’s runtime. Joel Coen laid waste to anyone even thinking of adapting Shakespeare. Someone asked me: How was Denzel? And I was like: The fuck? I just told you to see this at all costs, that it’s a masterpiece and Denzel fucking Washington is playing Macbeth. How do you think he was?

Okay, I wasn’t quite that mean about it but for real? It’s Denzel and yes he crushes it. CRUSHES it. Also, Corey Hawkins delivers what should be a star making performance in this as Macduff.

6. LICORICE PIZZA – Paul Thomas Anderson has yet to make I film I haven’t dug. I feel like he’s one of those filmmakers whom I occupy the same mental wavelength with. Licorice Pizza is no different. There’s been a ton written about this film already and I disagree with a lot of it. I can see where the criticisms are coming from but I personally feel like the film was aiming at something totally different. I’m not going to get into it all here — maybe later, around late March perhaps? But this was maybe the funniest film of the year. Cooper Hoffman. This was his first film? Alana Haim. This was her first film? Jesus Christ these two had insane chemistry together and total command over every scene. And there’s Bradley Cooper who gave this year’s most hilariously over the top performance. Every single second of Cooper in this is a riot. He damn near steals the entire film in about four scenes. Another future purchase for me.

7. THE POWER OF THE DOG – The first third of this film, I thought Campion had seriously miscast the role of Phil Burbank with Benedict Cumberbatch. Whoops. Jane Campion deserves to win every directing award handed out for her work on this film. I’m glad to see she was nominated by the DGA already. “The Power Of The Dog” unfolds like a really great, challenging book (which it was based on). Campion sets each scene with precision and every actor in the film each give subtle yet profound performances. This one surprised me.

8. NIGHTMARE ALLEY – Bradley Cooper again! I’m a huge fan of Guillermo Del Toro. He’s on that list of: show me nothing just tell me where to be and I’ll see it. Nightmare Alley is like a rotten onion of a movie where each layer gets peeled back to reveal a little bit more of the worst of mankind. It’s marvelous and the most gorgeous movie of the year. Also my favorite film score of the year. Also easily the best final scene of any film this year. Fucking haunting.

9. THE FRENCH DISPATCH – I love Wes Anderson. And this was maybe the most Wes Anderson film Wes Anderson has ever made. It’s almost like he could sense someone was about to make a “Wes Anderson type” film and said to himself: well, allow me to set the bar a little higher. Loved it. Give me more. I hope Bill Murray lives forever.

10. PIG – The surprise of the year for me. I’m a huge fan of Nicolas Cage. He never stops and more importantly he’s never stopped giving a damn about his work. He is always “all-in.” If you’re a filmmaker and just hired Nicolas Cage, you’re getting 100% of him. I have an immense amount of respect for Cage exactly because this is his outlook. He’s amazing. And “Pig” ended up being a completely different film than I thought it would be, albeit a much better film. It completely subverts genre conventions and plays with the dead carcass of those old thoughts. Plus, this is the best Nicolas Cage performance in DECADES. Hey Academy voters, nominate him you cowards!

11. RAGING FIRE – Donnie yen. Nicolas Tse. Abandoned church fight with a sledge hammer. You’re welcome.

12. DELIVER US FROM EVIL – Operatic violence only the way the eastern hemisphere can deliver these days.

13. BOILING POINT – Single camera shot drama about the owner/chef of a restaurant on a busy night. Stephen Graham is one helluva actor.

14. THE HAND OF GOD – From the director of “The Italian Beauty.” More unbelievable Italian artistry on display by Sorrentino. Another one that snuck up on me.

15. THE HARDER THEY FALL – Jonathan Majors is poised to be a HUGE star. Great dialog. Great cast. Cool as fuck. Great time. Plus: Delroy Lindo!

16. DUNE – Yes I talked about the Lynch version earlier. I realize that wasn’t a great adaptation of the novel. This one is. Epic filmmaking from Denis Villeneuve.

17. VAL – I love Val Kilmer and I miss him being in movies. This was a true treat from one of my all-time favorite actors.

18. Roadrunner – I cried the day Bourdain died and I’m getting emotional typing these words now. I cannot understate how much of an inspiration Bourdain has always been for me. I miss him so much every single day.

19. GODZILLA VS KONG – Big dumb fun with just enough heart. A script that knows to just get out of the way and also that Kong should be a part of the emotional core of the film. What do you want me to say? I love Kong.

20. LAST NIGHT IN SOHO – A weird one for me. Super fun, messy movie. I dug it a lot but still probably my least favorite Edgar Wright film. I’m not dissing it because I’ve liked all of his work and he’s another filmmaker where my only question is: what’s next and where do I need to be?

21. THE SUICIDE SQUAD – James Gunn cracks me the fuck up. He just does. I’m laughing right now thinking about the animation of how King Shark runs. It’s fucking hilarious. I laughed so hard, like three minutes in that I missed the next five minutes. Plus, it’s now spawned the Peacemaker show and that one is pure chaotic joy.

22. CANDYMAN – I like this one. Very pretty to look at. Felt like a cool idea for a legacy sequel.

23. COPSHOP – The attitude on display makes up for anything else this film might lack. Carnahan can be hit or miss for me but this was a definite hit. A good, old fashioned, 70s throwback of a stupid action flick. It’s good.

24. OLD HENRY – Another western? Hell yeah, another good one. I will beat the drum of Stephen Dorff until I die. He fucking rules and he’s a great villain here. Another good, old fashioned film.

25. WEREWOLVES WITHIN – Sam Richardson is one of the funniest people on the planet. He’s currently killing it on After Party for AppleTV+. Formerly killing it on Veep and Detroiters and anything else he’s been in. This is a cool, silly, sarcastic as shit, funny movie.

That’s the top twenty five. And now for fifteen more I enjoyed (in alphabetical order so you know I went to school and shit).

Antlers, Belfast, Don’t Look Up, No Sudden Move, No Time To Die, North Hollywood, Shang-Chi, Small Engine Repair, The Beta Test, The Card Counter, The Guilty, The Last Duel, The Matrix Resurrections, The Super Bob Einstein Movie, Vacation Friends.

I’m tired now. I’ve wasted enough of your time. I’m gonna go do something else now. Next week…I don’t know…I’ll figure something out. Until then, love each other.

The Oscars – A Little Now And Then

Every year, right in time for the Oscars ceremony, I usually write two pieces about film. The first one details the current nominees and supposes who the winners would be if I had a vote. The second one details the ceremony from a decade in the past and examines how our perception of those past nominees has changed in the subsequent years. This year is a bit different. I’m combining both posts because in my research I’ve discovered that I don’t have much to say about the 2011 Oscars ceremony and I don’t feel like I care much about this year’s crop of nominees. Perhaps it’s pandemic brain setting in. I’ve seen most of this year’s films (save for Minari) but in many of the categories, I just don’t see one nominee standing out amongst the pack. As for the ceremony ten years ago, I’m going to detail that right now.

In February of 2011, the 83rd Oscars ceremony took place, celebrating the best of film from 2010. Usually, this is where I pick apart the winners and dissect where public discourse has led these films in the ten years that have passed. I’m shocked to report that, since I began this yearly project, the 2011 Oscars is perhaps the most time-accurate ceremony I’ve yet researched. I believe there would be differences now but the overwhelming majority of previous winners would still hold onto their statues today. The top two prizes are the only differences I can conceive. I do not think The King’s Speech wins best picture anymore. No way. The same goes for Tom Hooper as the best director winner for helming The King’s Speech. Those honors would now go to David Fincher for his work on The Social Network. For my money, I also believe The Social Network would now walk away with the best picture statue as well. It’s funny to me, after taking The Social Network off of my own top ten list from ten years ago. A strange thing happened the moment I chucked it aside and claimed it to be a film I’ve thought very little about in the years since: I haven’t stopped thinking about it. The film is oddly prophetic for the society we find ourselves in. I don’t think Academy voters would be able to deny it any longer. As for the rest of the big winners: Firth would still win, Portman would still win, Bale still wins, and Melissa Leo (although with stiff competition from Weaver) still wins. I went through the entire list and couldn’t come up with a single compelling reason for any of the previous winners to lose their prize today. I honestly never thought this project would produce a ceremony so accurate, a decade later. But this is why I’m so fascinated with said project.

On to this year’s crop of nominees. I carefully sketched out the hopefuls and asked myself: do I really care about this race? The answer was almost always no. This isn’t to say that there’s zero resonance for me, it’s more akin to these works not separating themselves from each other. Now, for ten of them, I do have clear favorites and I’ll go over them now.

For Best Picture, I like this crop of nominees quite a bit. The weal link here is The Trial of the Chicago 7. That said, Judas & The Black Messiah, Promising Young Woman, and Nomadland are my clear favorites. Out of this group, Nomadland struck the deepest chord. It’s a film of exquisite tranquil beauty while hiding a storm of pain beneath the surface. It was clear to me then that it was the best film on this list and that sentiment still holds true.

Best Director is a killer crop of nominees. The most recent of them I’ve seen is Thomas Vinterberg’s work on Another Round. He pulls a lifetime of thought and feeling out of his actors, anchored by (maybe the best in the biz) Mads Mikkelsen. He made this a race but Chloe Zhao’s confidence in herself and trust in her actors carries the day for me and she better win this statue on Sunday night.

Stepping back to Vinterberg again, Another Round will and should win the International Feature Film Oscar on Sunday. What an incredible film about the galaxy of life we still have inside of us somewhere, even when we feel lost and hopeless. The film also features the most pitch perfect ending to any film I saw this past year. Marvelous.

Cinematography is another category I have strong feelings about. Nomadland wins this in a landslide. Easy peasy. If you haven’t seen the film, google the trailer and tell me I’m wrong. For argument’s sake, Judas & The Black Messiah also features some exquisite camera work.

The writing nominees also catch my feelings. Kemp Powers’ great script for Regina King’s One Night In Miami is my pick for adapted screenplay. The film depends on words more than any other film nominated and the words are all very, very good. The original screenplay category better damn well go to Emerald Fennell for her incisive writing on Promising Young Woman. God damn! What a fucking movie! One of the best scripts in quite some time.

Supporting Actor is a mixed bag for me. First, I love Lakeith Stanfield but I’m confused over him being in this category and not Lead Actor. In Sound Of Metal, Paul Raci takes what could’ve been a simple mentor role and turns it into a career defining performance. It is minimalist perfection. My vote, however, would go to Daniel Kaluuya for his performance as Fred Hampton in Judas & The Black Messiah. This dude never puts a foot wrong. He’s going to need a warehouse to store the hardware he will accumulate over his career. What an actor.

Supporting Actress is Maria Bakalova all the way. The moment I saw the new Borat film, I predicted this moment. It was as clear as a freshly washed window to me. Hoy smokes, this actress came out of nowhere and delivered my absolute single favorite performance of the year. It is simply astonishing work. Let me repeat: astonishing.

Lead Actor will likely see the late Chadwick Boseman be honored for his work in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. I can’t argue that because it’s the performance of his short yet illustrious career. My personal preference is for Riz Ahmed to win for Sound of Metal. I love internal performances and Ahmed gives one for the ages. He’s an actor currently showing us he still has miles to go before fully mining the depth of his talent and I cannot wait to be right there in the front row for his journey. Riz Ahmed, my second favorite performance of the year.

Lead Actress is Frances McDormand. I don’t even know how to elaborate on that. She is an actress of such immense power and depth that she can mesmerize without saying a single word and she does a lot of that during Nomadland. Working in tandem with her director, Chloe Zhao, she somehow sums up so much of America in a two hour runtime. It’s McDormand all the way for me.

That’s it folks. The rest of the categories just don’t hold any favorites for me. Maybe Mank’s production design or Nomadland’s film editing, but that’s it. Regardless, the ceremony will give us plenty to argue about for years to come — it always does. I’ll be back on Friday to discuss some new things happening and then I’ll return to poetry next week. Until then, love each other.

The Life OF A Novel AKA An Idiot’s Guide To Livin’

Still nothing. Instead of watching any of the films I mentioned last week and in lieu of beginning my next long form project on the Coen Brothers, I’m still being as random as possible. Easily distracted, that’s what they call it and that’s what I am — no question. But, you may ask, what have I been doing?

I finished my novel and that has been enough for this week. Countless revisions later and now I am…comfortable with the book. I don’t think I’ll ever be fully satisfied with anything I write but there comes a point where you have to ship your little mutant baby off to school. My novel began as an eighty-eight thousand word screenplay, twenty two years ago. The title was so pretentious that I am not going to share it here. A production company in England told me it read like a mashup of Conan The Barbarian and Animal House. I thanked them. They told me that it wasn’t a compliment. I worked on something else. The story always stuck in the back of my mind but I left it for awhile. Then, Muse released their album, The Resistance, and closed the album with a three part rock symphony called, Exogenesis. A spark ignited. I pulled the screenplay and made changes — many, many changes. The screenplay was dead and in it’s place appeared a one hundred and twenty-five thousand word novel. It sucked. I knew it and anyone brave enough to read it, knew it. Time to make changes. I chopped some nonsense from the novel and then had a one hundred and ten thousand word beast. I called my agent to see what we could do about this but found out he’d apparently died in between my projects. The agency wasn’t looking to represent literary writers, only screenwriters. My goose was cooked. Time to make some new rounds but to no avail. Something with the novel still bothered me, something was missing — I wasn’t saying what I wanted to say and didn’t know how to say it. I shelved the novel. I returned to writing short stories and making blog posts. Writing depression set in as I’d given up a writing gig that was beginning to pay in order to pursue the novel and I’d failed. I couldn’t see the way out.

The way out is through — always.

We can fast forward to the year 2020. I found myself again giving up a good paying job in order to move clear across the country — from New York to El Paso, Texas. Time to write. I finished two short stories quickly and then set my sights on a new novel. Going to my file of ideas, I started picking one which connected. Nothing connected right away but something unexpected wormed its way back into my brain. The Violent Winds. I began writing short stories involving my main characters as a way to better understand them. This method worked wonders and my voice finally found itself. I knew how to tell this story. Blasted out an outline. Completely scrapped all previous versions of the novel and started over from word one. I wrote like a demon and then revised. And then revised some more. And then revised again. And then thought maybe I’d revised too much so I revised again. I’m done and it’s pretty close to how I always wanted this story to be told. It’s me and it’s from me but it’s also a bit of itself and it’s weird in a way I didn’t initially expect but it’s a lean and mean eighty-two thousand word reading machine.

So that is, as they say, that. We’ll see what happens. First things first, I need a new agent.

Segway aka what I originally thought I’d be writing about today.

I watched the 2019 French film, Les Miserables this week and thought it was pretty good. An interesting story about police brutality. I also re-watched several favorites like Hot Fuzz, On The Rocks, and Heat. All great but Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood really stuck out for me this week. Now, I saw this film twice in theaters and have probably watched it six or seven more times since then. I love the film and now I know exactly why: it represents exactly the type of movie which no longer gets made. I miss movies that are movies. I miss not being sold something by some giant corporate entity while watching a movie. QT makes movies about people and movies about people living their lives, ending up in interesting situations. I miss those the most. So, here’s to you, movies not trying to sell me shit and only being about your own shit, I salute you.

Next week, who knows? I’m about to start a new novel. Two ideas have raced to the front: a crime novel and a memoir. A memoir? Lmfao. Well, I am an idiot and I’ve done some idiotic things in my younger life and when I wrote all of those things down, I thought maybe there could be something there. We’ll see. I’ll probably begin writing both at the same time because, like I said, I am an idiot. Until then, love each other.

A Wednesday In February aka The Birthday Party Fiasco

The intention was to fill in with a few supplemental weeks before launching into the next Friday series. I was leaning toward the Coen Brothers. That’s eighteen films. That’s a lot. Now, I love the Coens, even their lesser works are wildly interesting but eighteen gave me pause. I’ve seen them all and know what to expect but four and a half straight months?

Maybe I’m just being a baby.

Still, I never sat down and put anything on. I was planning on watching Ghostdog but didn’t. I could’ve chosen Moonstruck or The New World — all films I own and love and have been meaning to do a rewatch on. I did none of it.

So, what do I have to talk about today?

I could talk about the impeachment trial but it will only serve to aggravate me. When you see a trial and on one side is a multitude of mild mannered, measured, plain spoken people while on the other side is a group of maniacs, yelling in absurd riddles AND THEN knowing that over seventy million people support the group of wannabe con artists, it’s tough to not fly into a rage myself.

Thennnnnnn what?

So yesterday, a friend of ours had a birthday. The celebration took place over skype. Wine, Prosecco, etc. was being consumed WHILE SETTING UP THE GET TOGETHER. Yeah, that went well. More booze. Tons of laughs. I kicked things off by getting stoned and quickly bowing out of the festivities to find something to watch. Maybe a Coen Brothers film? No? Too easy and obvious? Oh, I know, I watched Ghostdog or any of the other films I listed at the top. No, I did not. I put on Friday.

And you know this…man.

But it was on USA and the cursing was all edited and I cannot be bothered with that nonsense. Turned on HBO. Showtime. STARZ. The Spectrum channels.

“Give me something!” I yelled.

Boom. White Men Can’t Jump.

I love this movie. I love how cool Wesley Snipes is. I love how almost cool Woody Harrleson is. When I was thirteen and this film originally released, I was in love with Rosie Perez. The script is great and really nails the camaraderie of playing basketball — the competition (even with your teammate(s)) and the shit talking. I grew up playing a ton of basketball — lucky enough to have my own hoop and paved halfcourt area to play. Did I play in parks and the streets? Yep, did that too. I remember how annoying it was to see the chain link nets because kids would either destroy or steal the knitted nets. It also destroyed your ball. A friend of mine had a portable set up that we’d pull out into the street and run two-on-two tournaments all day long on Saturdays. White Men Can’t Jump captures all of this and it was a great two hours yesterday.

But the party!

Yeah, it was still going on and my wife had moved onto her second (third) bottle of wine. I was still pretty smacked — adding Prosecco to the weed will do that to you. I needed another movie.

Flip those channels. Flip, flip those channels.

Seven. Motherfucking. Psychopaths.

Here. We. Go.

Martin McDonagh is one of my favorite writers (and now) filmmakers. An Irish playwright going the Hollywood route and he’s three for three in my book. In Bruges is one of my all time favorite films. Go watch it. Do you hafta? Do you HAFTA? OF COURSE YOU DON’T FUCKING HAFTA! But you should. Seven Psychopaths was his second feature, smack dab in between Bruges and Three Billboards. Colin Farrell plays an alcoholic screenwriter. He’s suffering writer’s block. Sam Rockwell is his best friend, an actor, also the ring leader of a dog napping ring and he’s something else as well (spoilers). Christopher Walken is another friend who’s a part of the dog napping ring and oh baby does he have a past. Woody Harrelson is a gangster who is the victim of the latest dog napping. Tom Waits shows up as a weirdo with a rabbit and an ominous way of speaking. The dialog is insane (the eye for an eye debate is a favorite of mine). The performances are all great and Walken, my god, Walken is so good in this.

So that movie ended and the party finally began to wind down. But the booze wasn’t finished (and neither was the weed). My wife passed out across the bed. I watched a few episodes of Arrested Development.

And then at some point in the night, our chihuahua shit all over the couch.

That was my Wednesday, folks.

And now here I sit, on Thursday. Couch cushion covers out of the washing machine and drying. My wife is recovering and I am here trying to figure out what to write about.

You’re welcome, America.

Next Friday, hopefully something about film. Until then, love each other.

The 2010 Film Retrospective

Time is the ultimate determiner when it applies to the quality of a work of art. I’ve spoken about this at length and so I’ll spare you the details this time around. I’ll just get right to the business of the 2010 film retrospective and we can analyze where my film thoughts were a decade ago versus where they currently sit.

Back in 2010, my top ten films of the year were as follows:

1. Let Me In

2. Never Let Me Go

3. Winter’s Bone

4. The Social Network

5. Inception

6. Animal Kingdom

7. Black Swan

8. True Grit

9. Carlos

10. The Ghost Writer

Looking back, this was an interesting year which left many films very close to one another in my mind. It actually reminds me a lot of 2020 and because of that, I released a top twenty five instead. Ten years later and I’ll give you this off the bat: only five of these films will remain and only three of those will remain in their current slots. Let’s start at the bottom and work our way up.

The Ghost Writer. A nasty little slice of a thriller with great turns from both Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan. I still like it but it’s the first casualty. In it’s place, I’m going with Ben Affleck’s awesome crime flick, The Town. I watch this one way more than The Ghostwriter and it never fails to deliver. Really good action film.

Carlos. Is it a movie or a mini-series? Who cares. I put it on my list ten years ago, mostly because of Edgar Ramirez’s committed performance. It’s the second casualty on the list and is replaced by Animal Kingdom — our first film to move spots. It stays in the top ten but falls slightly from six to nine.

True Grit. I adore the Coens and, for that matter, Jeff Bridges. This was a very straight forward adaptation from them and a very good one to boot. It just doesn’t have resonance with me. Good film but it’s gone and replaced by another mainstay falling a few places. Inception. I still love it but it falls a ways from five to eight.

Black Swan. This is our first film which stays exactly where it was ten years ago. Aronofsky is nothing if not interesting and his films always produce thought long after the credits have rolled. Natalie Portman goes next level in this one.

Animal Kingdom. See Carlos. It’s still here but the Australian film about a family of criminals potentially being taken down from the inside falls from six to nine. Still, it made Joel Edgerton and Jackie Weaver pretty famous in the states. The new number six film is one I hadn’t seen before making my list back in 2010. It’s the completely psychopathic South Korean serial killer film, I Saw The Devil. If you like films unafraid to go dark, this one goes daaaaarrrrrrrrk.

Inception. See True Grit. I still love it but it falls from five to eight. Let’s replace it with the Sofia Coppola film, Somewhere. I’ve always had a soft spot for Stephen Dorff as an actor and here, he’s never better as a drowning famous actor in charge of his daughter for a few weeks. Goodness gracious this film is awesome.

The Social Network. Gone. I love Fincher but this one is firmly in the “I respect it but don’t really like it” category. It leaves me cold. I’ll lose it in order to give some more love to Toy Story 3. The third entry in the Pixar series is the best and made me weep like a baby by the end of the film.

Winter’s Bone. This baby stays right here. It still cooks with gas and made a star out of Jennifer Lawrence. Also, John Hawkes is one of the most underrated actors of the past twenty years. He’s incredible as her uncle unafraid of the dangers her investigation is beginning to unearth. What. A. Film.

Never Let Me Go. The biggest surprise but this is the final film to be excised from the list. Crazy, right? My number two film is completely lopped off? Maybe it was my sentiment for it being based on an Ishiguro novel but it’s not a film I’ve thought a lot about in recent years. I guess I’ve let it go. Instead, Miike deserves some love with another film I hadn’t yet seen when making the list: 13 Assassins. This film flat out knocked my damn socks off. A mediation on hate and violence and what the idea of revenge can do to people. The final forty five minutes or so are completely bananas. See it, please.

Let Me In. It stays right here. Ten years later and this film is still the best 2010 had to offer. I know it’s not a popular opinion and just for clarity, I had already seen the original it was based on, Let The Right One In. I actually prefer the remake. Why? First, it leans into the horror a bit more while maintaining the awkward coming of age story. This version is way, way scarier. Second, and more importantly, Richard Jenkins. He makes every movie better just by being on screen and he provides the entire heart and soul of the story here. Not all American remakes are bad and this one is actually better than the original. Fight me.

Ten years later and there we have it. I’ll continue to do these every year. It’s fun to look back and search yourself for how you currently feel. Five stayed. Five left. Two switched spots. Here’s the updated list:

1. Let Me In

2. 13 Assassins

3. Winter’s Bone

4. Toy Story 3

5. Somewhere

6. I Saw The Devil

7. Black Swan

8. Inception

9. Animal Kingdom

10. The Town

See ya Monday. Until then, love each other.

My Favorite Films Of The Pandemic Year 2020

The past twelve months has afforded me a monumental amount of time for self reflection — and free time. I turned forty one years old this past year and up until the end of February, I lived my entire life in New York. The start of the year saw my wife and I sell our home, pack up and drive across three fourths of this country to El Paso, Texas. The Elp is where my wife was born and where a majority of her side of the family still resides. It was time. I had become disillusioned with life in the North East. It wears on you and slowly sucks you down into the muck with the rest of the emotional terrorists taking up residence in the dirt. I gave up a good paying job (one I no longer enjoyed doing) and we came with ideas to maybe start some sort of business ourselves. I was also determined to give my writing a serious shot once more. The idea of writing for a hokey list making website again didn’t interest me so I restarted this blog — what you’re reading right now. Maybe we’d do a podcast, maybe I’d take another stab at fixing my novel which, by the way, was how I lost that hokey side gig writing for that list making website in the first place. Long story short, 2020 had other plans for us. The pandemic set us all back, washed up on a shore of circumstance and feeling like we were somehow still at sea.

There were a few positive developments during this trying time. For one, I’ve been able to spend nearly every single day with two of my nieces after taking on the responsibility of aiding them in their online schooling. I also completed two short stories and my novel is in the final polishing phase before ultimate completion. I worked hard and I’m proud. I also raised ten puppies from literal birth this past fall and found homes for nine of them before keeping one for myself. I love all of my pets, the ones still with me and the ones I’ll never forget but I love my new baby girl more than I’ve ever loved an animal before and I think it has a lot to do with raising her since the actual day of her birth. These are the things I must focus on to keep charging ahead into an uncertain future. Film helps. It’s always helped better than most. Films, books, games, etc. these are the things that have always helped to keep me sane, unwind and reflect, and on many occasions, inspire me to do more myself.

When I was in college, I had no clue what I wanted my future to hold. I was stuck. Music was a passion and I thought production may be the way. Yeah, a music producer sounded pretty good. I also loved film and thought that perhaps film school would be the way. I was accepted at NYU but got scared by the tuition bill I’d be responsible for. I decided to begin at community college in a music curriculum and then transfer, either to a dedicated music school or perhaps finally to NYU. I crashed out. Took money in front of me and decided to live my life in the here and now. Hell, this path led me to my wife which completed my transformation into an actual human being. I don’t know how much of a decent person I’d be had I never met her and maybe I’m still not even that decent of a person but I do know this: I’d be no less than 50% more of a shitty person had we never met.

So why am I telling you all of this? Because films are stories. Films can transport us anywhere throughout time and space and make us feel connected to something bigger. Because I never stopped loving film and attempting to understand filmmakers and their wants and desires. Because I’ve never stopped trying to understand my own. Another blessing fo 2020 was the free time afforded to pursue these delights. The funny thing is, it still wasn’t enough time to do and see and read and experience it all. Theaters being closed meant that I couldn’t get to a screening of films I really wanted to see like: Nomadland or Minari. I also ran out of time (for the purpose of this post being anywhere near relevant) to see Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series on Amazon. Still, I did get to see a lot and I my feelings for many of these films are so similar, I decided to make my year end list a top twenty five — this way I could share a few words for each of them.

With that behind us, and eight hundred words under the belt, I present you with my favorite twenty five films of the pandemic year 2020:

1. POSSESSOR – Brandon Cronenberg crafted the pinnacle of 2020 cinema for me. I’ve already watched this film three times. Andrea Riseborough plays an assassin who mind controls other people to kill her targets for her. Christopher Abbott stars as her latest victim when everything goes wrong. Trust me, you’ve probably never seen a film quite like this one.

2. PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN – Carey Mulligan should definitely be preparing an Oscars speech for her performance as a revenge fueled woman aiming to make predatory men fear their ways. This film flat out knocked my socks off. I didn’t want it to end.

3. DA 5 BLOODS – I love Spike Lee to death. He’s never lost his adventurous spirit as a filmmaker. This is his best film in over a decade and his cast is nothing short of brilliant. Delroy Lindo is finally getting some justified reverence for his talent while Jonathan Majors, as his son, is in the midst of becoming a movie star. You add in Wire alums like Isiah Whitlock and Clarke Peters (who’s nearly Lindo’s equal in this) and yeah, something special. Chadwick Boseman is great here too in one of his final roles.

4. SHIRLEY – Elisabeth Moss is ridiculously talented. Two completely different roles in 2020 with this one and the Invisible Man and she knocks both of them out of the park. Her range is immeasurable. Here she plays writer Shirley Jackson in the midst of a potential mental breakdown. The film plays like a river cutting through rocky terrain. You’re never quite sure what’s real and what’s imagined or even what will happen next. Great stuff.

5. UNCLE FRANK – I love Paul Bettany and Sophia Lillis is a star in the making. The rest of the cast is also superb in this drama about family secrets which can breed hate and the forbidden love they don’t understand. “You’re my big brother, Frank.” Tears.

6. TESLA – This film is fucking nuts. Featuring two acting treasures in Ethan Hawke and Kyle MacLachlan as Tesla and Edison during their electricity war. Note to Hollywood: This is how you do a biopic!

7. THE VAST OF NIGHT – Andrew Patterson is one to keep an eye on. Watching this film reminded me of a young Spielberg and I don’t throw that around lightly. There’s a tracking shot in the middle of this baby that is equally breathtaking in it’s ability to capture the vibe of a small town and mind boggling in how it could have possibly been accomplished. Please watch this film, it is soooooooooooo good.

8. MANK – Fincher is the man and this was a career long passion project for him. Gary Oldman is (no surprise) phenomenal as the titular Citizen Kane writer and the dialog flies at you fast and furious. Awesome flick about the writing of an awesome flick.

9. SWALLOW – This film crept up on me. I wasn’t too sure about it throughout it’s first half but it’s one that sneaks into your brain and takes up residence. I knew I liked the film by the time the credits rolled but it was in the days after, where it still occupied my thoughts, that I realized I loved the film. Terrific lead performance in this one.

10. THE PAINTER AND THE THIEF – I’ve already specifically written about this film right here on this blog. An incredible doc about the human spirit and the capacity for forgiveness.

11. SOUL – It’s Pixar you fools! This one made me cry. (Not a shocker to those who know me)

12. I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS – Charlie Kaufman is my kind of madman. This film explores grief and regret like few films you’ve ever seen. Jessie Buckley is great but Jesse Plemmons is just the best god damn actor who doesn’t get enough recognition for his work. Seriously, Plemmons is almost always the best part of any movie he’s in.

13. TENET – I love Nolan. He makes big dumb action movies that actually have a working brain. Tenet is one that’s all about technique and the crafting of a film and less about story or character. Not my favorite Nolan but still a really fun movie. Also, I don’t know why people found the story so hard to decipher. It’s not that complicated.

14. ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI – Regina King shows great command over her actors and it’s a necessary skill because this film relies solely on that particular skill. Overall, feels more like a stage production than a film but it’s still very good. The actors playing Malcolm X and Jim Brown are the standouts.

15. BLACK BEAR – This is a film about a break up caused by infidelity. This is a film about making a film about a break up caused by infidelity. This film is crazy in how it manages to worm itself into your brain. Aubrey Plaza is incredible and Christopher Abbott is becoming one of my new favorite people to see on screen.

16. SOUND OF METAL – Speaking of people I love to see on screen, Riz Ahmed is extraordinary as a drummer in a hardcore band who is going deaf. Music is his life and he must learn to readjust and accept his fate. Olivia Cooke is great as his band mate/girlfriend and Mathieu Amalric shows up as Cooke’s father in a few poignant scenes. Also, Paul Raci as Ahmed’s deaf mentor is amazing. This is a well crafted, tight film.

17. PALM SPRINGS – Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti play two people stuck in a time loop at a wedding they don’t wish to be at. Add in a maniacal JK Simmons as someone else stuck in the same loop and you’re bound to have some diabolical fun. This was a breath of fresh year in 2020.

18. ON THE ROCKS – Right now in my life, after David Lynch, Sofia Coppola is my favorite filmmaker. I love the way she writes and I also love how she captures the essence of emotion on screen. Here, she teams back up with Bill Murray (the g.o.a.t) for a little madcap family mayhem about a father and his daughter attempting to catch a suspected cheater. Coppola shoots the living shit out of New York City, to the point where I swear I could smell it through my screen.

19. THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW – A horror film. A creature film. A crime film. A family film. Snow Hollow is a superbly written “horror” film that eschews convention at nearly every turn. It also features the late Robert Forster in what I believe is his final screen role. Oh yeah, it also has a scene involving a kitchen oven that made me laugh harder than any other scene in a movie this past year.

20. MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM – A new August Wilson adaptation and this is another good one. Though, these films sometimes come across a bit pedestrian as stage to screen adaptations, this one is still worth your time. Chadwick Boseman gives the performance of his career in this.

21. HAPPIEST SEASON – Kristen Stewart is usually great and 2020 was another stellar year for her with this film and the horror film Underwater releasing earlier on. Mackenzie Davis deserves to be in everything and the same goes for Dan Levy. This one is a holiday themed rom-com with some real bite to it. Smart writing and clean direction help deliver a film worth revisiting year after year.

22. HOST – Perfectly captured life in lock down while delivering real terrifying results in under one hour. Scary as hell right to the last moment.

23. #ALIVE – Word is that this was filmed during the pandemic and it makes glorious use of the pandemic as a backdrop (and as sort of character itself). I’m a sucker for a zombie flick and this is one of the best in recent memory.

24. TIME TO HUNT – A film about a group of friends, struggling to make ends meet, executing a dangerous heist of a casino and the fallout as a result. And what a fallout it is. In the wake of their brazenness, they are hunted by a killer who will stop at nothing to punish them. As the film goes on, the killer reveals himself to be after more than just the completion of a job. The film drags on too long, had it been about thirty minutes shorter, this probably would’ve been in my top ten but it’s still really, really good.

25. I’M YOUR WOMAN – Have you ever seen a crime story where the main character’s wife is used as nothing more than a prop? Did it annoy you? This is your movie. A fresh take on the typical male dominated genre, I’m Your Woman follows the wife of a thief and killer as she fights to figure out who her husband actually was while fighting off the people he supposedly ripped off. Rachel Brosnahan is very good and the film is never not interesting.

And there you have it, folks. I’m off to hopefully finish the polish. Who knows what next Monday holds? I certainly don’t. I’ll be back on Friday with a 2010 film retrospective. Until then, love each other.

David Lynch Friday #11 – The Wrap Up

Here we are at the end of the road only to find out we’ve been trapped in an eternal hallway. Lynch’s work never ends and I think that’s one of the main reasons I love it so much. There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t spend at least a small amount of time pondering explored themes of one of his films. And I can tell you all for certain that Twin Peaks in particular is always occupying a small amount of my consciousness.

His work is amorphous, like trying to catch and keep flowing water. Sure, you can get your hands on it, in it, around it but can you ever really get a firm grip? Can you keep it? This right here is the journey and the destination, together forever. We travel these roads, these dreamscapes, these hellscapes and once we reach our destination, we find out we’re searching for something totally different than when we first set out. To some, this is maddening but to others, like me, it’s refreshing and creatively invigorating. Lynch is my biggest artistic influence and the biggest takeaway from this project is that I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

But for everyone else, what was this all about? What did we learn?

To begin, you’ll likely never hear better use of sound in film than when watching a Lynch project. He is obsessed with sound and the stories that can be told with only ambiance. He has no equal in this regard. Lynch also likes to create a labyrinthian anxiety in his films. Many of his characters and us, as the viewer, often feel stressed out and claustrophobic throughout his work. The world is closing in on everyone and this creates a palpable sense of terror. He’s known as the “weird guy” and while this seems astute on the surface, he actually isn’t that weird. Lynch shows us the world as it truly exists. The notion of weird and normal is a construct created by us, greater society, as a way to compartmentalize feelings and place everyone and everything in easy to understand categories. This is not truth. No, the truth is that this world is wondrous and strange. Take the time to stop and simply exist amongst this planet and you’ll see all the odd and obtuse things you originally thought only existed in “weird films.” This reminds me of a line in Lynch’s Wild At Heart:

This world is wild at heart and weird on top.

I love that. I love that it normalizes individuality, which is something society has taught us to restrain. The more of us who refuse to restrain, the more interesting this world will become.

The last thing I’d like to present as a takeaway is that Lynch exudes love in his films. He is a romantic and no matter how dark his films get (save for one) love can and often does, prevail.

And now, the final thing, and this is for the ones who love and study Lynch and his work. Lynch somehow created a universe of his projects. They all exist together and this only recently came into view for us. When he and Mark Frost first returned to their world of Twin Peaks, we were excited to see them continue their darling. What we didn’t see coming was how Lynch would use this opportunity to comment on his own career. This project afforded me a wonderful chance to comb over his work and experience things anew. I began to pick up on little bits I originally missed and now could see how Lynch incorporated all of these little bits into his Twin Peaks universe. Or perhaps we should just call it a Lynch-verse.

And finally, my rankings but for the record, there isn’t anything here I don’t like and most of it, I completely love but here goes:

10. Dune – If only they had let him get crazy with this one.

9. Wild at Heart – Cage and Lynch and Defoe equals unbridled mania.

8. Erasherhead – His first film and one of his most impressionistic.

7. Inland Empire – I’ve finally come around on this one and can’t wait to dive in further.

6. The Elephant Man – A film of such beauty. Not only in it’s execution but in its humanity.

5. Lost Highway – His most nihilistic film. A nasty slice of noir pie.

4. The Straight Story – Heartwarming to the max. Impossible not to fall in love.

3. Blue Velvet – One of his most complete visions. Undeniable masterpiece.

2. Mulholland Drive – His best film. Masterpiece. Works on every single level.

1. Twin Peaks – My favorite thing ever. The biggest influence on my creative life. I don’t count Fire Walk With Me on its own, comfortable with its place among its television siblings. The fact that Lynch and Frost were able to return and end things on their own terms means the world to me as a fan. Twin Peaks is both Lynch’s greatest achievement and the culmination of his entire career.

Next week, I’ll be posting a retrospective on my top ten films from 2010. I’m willing to bet that some changes are coming. Next, I’ll be going week to week with some random films I’ve marked for rewatch. After that, I’m thinking about digging into the Coen brothers — that should be loads of fun. Until then, love each other.

My Favorite Television From The Pandemic Year 2020

We all had a lot more time than usual to watch television over the course of this past year. Still, this being a new golden age of the medium, I didn’t get a chance to watch all of the shows I intended to give a go. Shows like: The Good Lord Bird, The Queen’s Gambit, and season two of The Boys are still on my to-do list. The rest of this list is comprised of shows I watched and enjoyed for various reasons. They also either premiered, or primarily aired new content in this pandemic year of 2020.

First, my honorable mentions. These are the shows I really enjoyed but because of some arbitrary ruling on my part, they didn’t quite crack my top ten. In fact, list making is kind of crazy, is it not? I’ve been making lists my entire life as my anxiety riddled brain has required this action in order to function. I have lists of books to read, games to play, and movies/tv to watch. I have lists of everything media related I’ve ever consumed, ranked in some way or another. My brain depends on this level of order and websites like Letterboxd and Goodreads have been godsends to me. Anyway, here goes.

The HMs: THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR – I adore Mike Flanagan’s work. He’s a horror aficionado with an enormous heart. This is why he’s been the most successful adapter of Stephen King’s work. Here, he oversaw a heart wrenching ghost love story that worked on every level. TALES FROM THE LOOP – Amazon got in on some awesome sci-fi storytelling this past year. Tales is a show more admired than loved but it’s themes revolving around loss of innocence and grief dug deep. LOCKE & KEY – An adaptation of Joe Hill’s brilliant comic series hit me in just the right spot. Perfectly cast. HIGH FIDELITY – Zoe Kravitz is incredible in this show and it’s an absolute fucking travesty that Hulu canceled it after its debut season. DEVS – Alex Garland is a genius and this short series smoked the new season of Westworld in every conceivable way while covering many of the same ideas.

And now, onward.

10. PRIMAL – Genndy Tartakovsky is a masterful storyteller. Samurai Jack is an all-timer and Primal looks likely to join it’s older sibling in many hearts and minds. This show debuted it’s first five episodes over a year ago but finished it’s season one run recently. It’s about a caveman who lost his family in violent fashion and a dinosaur who lost her family in violent fashion. They team up to survive in a harsh landscape that never relents. Impressionistic to the max.

9. RAMY SEASON 2 – Hulu’s Ramy is a brilliant show. It’s eye opening and thought provoking while still being hilarious. I love every single character in this show and especially love how the show can give entire episodes to side characters without missing a beat. Truly special.

8. LOVECRAFT COUNTRY – Jonathan Majors is a fucking movie star in the making. This show is batshit crazy and tonally all over the god damn map. And I loved every second of it.

7. THE MANDALORIAN SEASON 2 – Improves on season one in every conceivable way. Great villains and even better cameos. Favreau and Filoni are rounding out an entire universe here and it’s something to behold. The Boba Fett reveal was amazing but the appearance of Ahsoka (maybe my favorite Star Wars character) had me near tears. I’m not even broaching the finale for those who’ve yet to see it.

6. LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE – Kerry Washington gave the performance of the past decade in this gem from Hulu. This should be required viewing for white people in order for us to see the ignorant mistakes we continue to make with anyone and everyone who doesn’t look like us.

5. WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS SEASON 2 – The funniest show on television. Everything about Jackie Daytona was incredible. Colin’s power trip was insane. The ghost episode left me on the floor. The Superb Owl episode had me howling. In the end, however, Guillermo stole the show all season and finished with one hell of a shift in the power dynamic. Bravo.

4. TED LASSO – The show we all needed during quarantine. Hilarious and heartwarming in equal measure. The show is cast perfectly and written just as well. I cannot overstate the positive energy that flows from each episode of this show.

3. WOKE – The most recent show I’ve watched. Lamorne Morris is one of my favorite people to watch and listen to on camera. The dude has impeccable timing. He was easily the best on New Girl and stole the show in Game Night. (The glass tables bit still kills me to this day) Here, he’s playing a heightened version of a real person and the results are phenomenal. The show is equal in it’s delivery of jokes and it’s need to amplify racial injustice. Brilliant, BRILLIANT show.

2. HOW TO WITH JOHN WILSON – I’m a New Yorker who moved to Texas this year. I miss home more than I ever thought I would. John Wilson perfectly captures New York City and the maniacs who call it home. My wife and I binged the entire season in one afternoon and we’re dying for more as soon as possible, please and thank you.

1. DESUS & MERO – Again, these guys are on my books list and now this list for the same reason: they make me feel like home isn’t as far away as it feels. Watching these two bullshitters (like so many people I grew up with) late at night, while a little stoned and laughing my ass completely off, has been the most fun I’ve had all year. New season in a few weeks!

Annnnnnnnd dismount! We’re done. Go fight with each other on twitter. Just kidding. Stop fighting with each other.

Next week, games. Until then, love each other.

My 10 Favorite Books Of The Pandemic Year 2020

If there was a silver lining to 2020, we’re still waiting to find out what it was. I’m kidding but not really but we’ll pretend I am. If there WAS any sort of silver lining through the pandemic year, it was that quarantining led to an abundance of time to absorb different forms of art and media. In the next four weeks, I’ll be sharing my favorites in books, television, gaming and film. We’ll start with books and according to my Goodreads, I read sixty eight books and over twenty thousand pages this year. I remember beginning early with Alan Moore’s nearly 1300 page doorstop of a novel, Jerusalem. He’s so talented that I actually think I hate him. I am definitely intimidated by his seemingly limitless ability. I also mixed in plenty of comics, which is nothing new for me. Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez found some extra creative life out of their Locke and Key series and Hill himself released the awesome, Basketful of Heads. We also received the final run of issues for both, Sex Criminals and Gideon Falls. So yeah, 2020 delivered more beautiful art and writing from three of my favorite comic series ever. We also received the first issue of, The Last Ronin, the astonishing new take on TMNT.

As for the rest, I mixed in some nonfiction with my fiction (still skew heavily toward fiction). Read some memoirs like Greenlights and another one which will be on the list. Didn’t get to as many as I would’ve liked but I like to think that those are good problems. Overall, I didn’t really read a bad book this year and that is always a welcome occurrence. Caught up on some of the backlog, read some new stuff and even revisited some old favorites such as The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

But enough blathering on, these were my favorite reads of the pandemic year 2020.

HONORABLE MENTION: FIND ME by Andre Aciman – The sequel to the beloved Call Me By Your Name catches us off guard by spending the first part of the novel with Elio’s father as he embarks on a newfound journey of love. We then meet an older Elio and eventually catch up with Oliver and it isn’t until late in the novel that the two lovers from the first novel reunite. Regardless, Aciman writes with delicate affection for life and love and he treats us to another special offering.

10. MADI: ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE FUTURE by Alex Di Campi and Duncan Jones – This was a Kickstarter project for a graphic novel that would serve as the final part of a trilogy Jones began with the films, Moon and Mute. Di Campi and Jones create a story that is equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking while being joined by dozens of the best artists in the business (each drawing approximately six pages of this project) ultimately crafting something wholly unique.

9. ANTKIND by Charlie Kaufman – A book about a film that takes a few months to view. A book about a man losing everything in his life, even his mind. A book about destruction, about hope, about love, about anger, about anxiety, about depression. It’s a big one but we should come to expect nothing less from a man so full of ideas that his first book has almost too many. Somehow, Kaufman may end up on two different year end lists for me this go around. His brain is one of a kind.

8. THE LIVING DEAD by George Romero – The sign off from an all-time great. Romero was still pushing at the boundaries until his dying breath and this novel, his final work, ties off his decades long zombie saga with an insane amount of depth and heart. This is a must read for any horror fans out there.

7. FAIR WARNING & THE LAW OF INNOCENCE by Michael Connelly – So a cheat, I know. Maybe we should instead focus on how it’s possible Connelly can release two books of this ridiculous quality in the same calendar year. First, He finally brought Jack MacEvoy back for those of us who were sorely missing the dogged reporter and this one was a doozy. Connelly’s best villain since The Poet. Second, Connelly released another Mickey Haller thriller and this time, everyone’s favorite defense attorney was tasked with defending himself…in a murder trial. Again, Connelly is supernaturally prolific.

6. BROKEN by Don Winslow – A book of six stories that all represent some broken aspect of the American dream. Winslow not only never disappoints, he’s getting better and more incisive each time out.

5. HOLLYWOOD PARK by Mikel Jollett- A memoir about fathers and mothers and their sons, about abuse, about addiction, about growing up, about losing your shit, about perseverance, about humility, about the grandiose nature of life, a little bit about a cult and a whole-lotta-bit about love. Jollett writes with a painter’s touch — like words aren’t enough.

4. UTOPIA AVENUE by David Mitchell – This not being number one on my list is indicative of how struck I was by the next three novels. Utopia Avenue is a masterpiece. I loved every word. I wish I actually knew these characters, especially Elf. I fucking love her so much. It’s the story of a British psychedelic rock band in the midst of rising stardom in the 1960s. Oh but it’s also about so much more than that. It is the essence of life. It is about a centuries old demon trying to kill one of the characters due to a vengeful blood lust. It’s about a hundred other things. Mitchell finds ways to tie this novel to almost every single other novel he’s written. It’s like a magic trick that brings the reader nothing but joy.

3. CONSIDER THIS: MOMENTS IN MY WRITING LIFE… by Chuck Palahniuk – Chuck finally sat down to write a novel about writing. It’s the most entertaining, helpful, and useful book on writing that I have ever read. It is my new bible and has already helped improve my own craftsmanship. A must read for any writers out there.

2. GOD-LEVEL KNOWLEDGE DARTS: LIFE LESSONS FROM THE BRONX by Desus and Mero – These two have been my saving grace this year. They are, at once, hilarious and incisive. They cut through any and all bullshit while they bullshit. I moved form New York to Texas this year and these two have kept me feeling like home isn’t too far away. Between their show on Showtime and this book, they’ve helped me stay sane. Easily one of the funniest books I have ever read.

1. BLACKTOP WASTELAND by S.A. Cosby – This motherfucker right here. This badass, fucking razor sharp stiletto of a novel right here. Blacktop Wasteland is a crime novel like we haven’t read before. Sure, there are echoes of Walter Mosley and Elmore Leonard in these pages but Cosby isn’t as laid back as those two. No, he wants it all right there, right up front. His characters aren’t just cool, they’re real. This is an important distinction and it’s what separates the pretenders from the contenders. Perhaps this isn’t the best analogy because Cosby ain’t even a contender, he’s got a boot up on that throne. This baby cooks with gasoline from page one, never lets us go and never lets any of its characters off the hook. I haven’t been this excited from my first experience with a writer since I read Ken Bruen’s The Guards. Cosby is that. Fucking. Good.

That’s all I got, folks. Keep reading. Next week will be television (spoiler alert: Desus and Mero pop back up). Until then, love each other.

David Lynch Friday #1 – Eraserhead

Eraserhead. Been awhile. Like much of Lynch’s work, Erasherhead benefits from time and exposure. The more time you spend with the film, the more you will get out of it. This was Lynch’s feature film debut, way back in 1977 and in the spirit of total honesty, it’s a miracle anyone saw this film and then decided to give Lynch money to make a second feature. This isn’t a knock on the film, it’s a wonderfully complex work and supremely assured for a debut feature but the film is also a nightmarish puzzle box. It is not easily digestible and at times it’s even a bit offensive to the senses. Lynch is challenging his audience right out of the starting gate, a trait that will never abandon him.

Watching it again now, after Lynch was able to revisit Twin Peaks, it’s clear that there is a lot here that either exists in the same universe of Twin Peaks or at least the universe of the Black Lodge. Erasherhead will be a major talking point when we wrap this project up with the sure-to-be massive post featuring everything Twin Peaks. For reference:

The apartment lobby floor is the same as the Black Lodge.
Electricity is prominently displayed throughout the film.
The electric, old-fashioned humidifier looks a lot like Phillip Jeffries.
The tree growing in Henry’s apartment looks exactly like THE ARM from the Black Lodge.
There is also a small photo of an atomic bomb explosion next to Henry’s bed.

So yeah, we will be revisiting all of this because I feel like I am on the verge of some new, mind blowing Twin Peaks revelations. But we will get back to that at a later date.

One of the themes of Erasherhead is that of parenthood and specifically fatherhood. The opening scene with Henry’s face superimposed over some kind of cosmic egg is an easy to grasp metaphor for the paranoia of parenthood. Lynch loves the technique of superimposing and still uses it to this day as a filmmaker. Jack Nance also has a face made for closeups — I swear it’s as malleable as clay. It says, “what have I done?” This could also be Lynch working through his feelings on birthing an idea and creating life in art.

An undervalued aspect of Lynch’s work is how funny it often is. Erasherhead is full of body horror and psychological torment but it’s also hilariously uncomfortable. Lynch uses black and white photography to cloak the film in shadow, like there is a looming, negative force overseeing everything. This also serves to exude a silent film vibe. It’s like if Charlie Chaplin were cast in Nosferatu. I love this. The dinner scene where Henry visits his girlfriend’s family is uproariously creepy. Everything is there to be considered normal but it’s all heightened enough to be off. The catatonic grandmothers cigarette. The tiny chickens and enormous carving knife. Then comes the blood. Then comes the tiny chicken seizures. Later on, Henry literally loses his head and some kid runs over and steals the severed head. Again, wild and hilarious. The kid then sells the head to the pencil factory where they turn it into a literal eraser head. I am not making this up.

So, what could this all mean?

There is more than just a singular theme — this is true for all of Lynch’s work. Sure it’s about fatherhood but it goes deeper. It touches on how children are our soul transferred into a new being all while being born of our own faults and demons. It’s also about how alien-like babies are and Lynch establishes this in the most heightened way possible. Lynch is also commenting on nature versus industry. We are inundated with images of machinery and general industry encroaching on and diminishing nature. Lynch then gives us plenty of background scenery depicting nature attempting to reclaim its place by invading the characters’ homes.

This brings me to one final conclusion: Erasherhead is very spiritual. Lynch drives us through an intense white light and I think he’s depicting how birth and death are the same. He then pushes us through a soupy mess and into a puddle that turns into a black hole. This is him differentiating between duty and desire — daily life and intense lust. I’ve also contemplated the possibility that the barnacled man is Henry’s grown-up son who has trapped his father in some kind of nightmare purgatory of his own creation. It’s like an eternity being forced to live through all of your own failings.

In the end I think that part of the film is Henry’s subconscious shown to us as real life. Henry is full of self doubt and this is best represented by the baby. The infant is a slimy, hideous creature who resembles ET in the worst possible way. Here’s the thing: the baby doesn’t actually look like how we see it. The baby is a manifestation of Henry’s self doubt. Parents worry, especially with newborns, that there is something wrong with their child. Their baby is different in a bad way. It’s a trick the mind plays on its subject. This is where Erasherhead leaves us, with Henry attempting to free his child by murdering it — killing his self doubt. Lynch hits out at life as an all encompassing process.

Birth. Life. Failure. Sex. Duty. Murder. Death.

Next week, The Elephant Man. Until then, love each other.