for reels: January 2021
A monthly look back at my movie diary on Letterboxd.
Welcome to for reels, a monthly look back at my movie diary on Letterboxd // Today, I’m looking back at January 2021 //
Gee folks we made it through the first month of Reagan’s 11th term here we go (sorry, last month I watched that new Showtime docu-series The Reagans and it did a killer job reminding me how much we’ve been stuck in Reagan’s “America” all these years, which put me in. a. moooooood that’s clearly lingered). And seein’ how things are about as COVIDy as ever round these parts, I ain’t done much in 2021 other’n what I did in 2020: watch movies in a never-ending fever dream of sight sound and motion, night after night, week after week. The heart aches and the mind keeps on racin’.
So my watching habits have been about as sporadic as ever, a mad swim through a formless web of cinematic interests, curiosities and comforts. Some days I start to feel burnt out on movies, fed up with what feels like the only obsession I’ve held onto through this long dark winter. But then somehow I still get something out of everything I watch, even if it’s only a potent vibe or a bang-pow-zoom kinda feeling that pierces through the quar-haze for just a moment. Hey what else is there amirite?
Anyway, here are some fake awards for 10-ish notable joints from my January diary.
Best New Movie: The Empty Man (2020)
Since we’re only a month into ‘21 I’m still doin’ catch-up on 2020. And I had a great time with this 21st-Centruy-MLM/cult/asmr horror joint. Shot in 2017, held up in the Disney/Fox merger, then dumped in October during the pandemic, The Empty Man has just started showing up on folks’ radar. Director David Prior’s filmography is mostly making-of documentaries for David Fincher’s movies (from which Prior seems to appropriate an ultra-digital coldness to great effect), and this movie definitely feels like someone fully shooting their shot while they have the chance. Much appreciated, mostly successful, and totally serviceable. Hope Prior gets to do another.
Worst New Movie: The Little Things (2021)
Didn’t have particularly high hopes about this one, but hey I got HBOMax and it’s a new Denzel thriller so why not. Started out ok but slowly devolved into mmmm nah. Denzel is good as always, but also not doing more than pickin’ up the paycheck. Jared Leto does some entertaining Jared Leto shit, and I honestly have no idea what Rami Malek is doing in this role. The final act is a deflated shit show. Consider this an “I watched it so you don’t have to” situation.
Best New-to-Me Movie: Opening Night (1977)
Has there ever been a better actor than Gena Rowlands? I know I’m late to the game here but I’m slowly but surely catching up on Cassavetes and other than The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (probably the only Cassavetes film you’d label Andycore), Opening Night has been the cream of the crop so far. Forget everything you’ve ever thought about movies where famous actors play fictional famous actors. Nobody’s ever done this the way Gena Rowlands does it. Pretty indescribable. I dunno if this sounds corny or not but real-life couples who make movies together can achieve really special, magical things.
Most Pleasant Surprise: The King of Staten Island (2020)
Liked this one a lot more than I thought I would. I’m honestly kind of perplexed by everything I heard about it not being laugh-out-loud funny. I lol’d pretty hard through the whole thing, and when I wasn’t laughing, that shit felt authentically human and compelling from beginning to end. Yeah, there’s a sweetness to it, but it feels earned. It’s too long (Apatow, ya know?) and would be better if cut down to like an hour 40, but most of it still worked on me. It felt pretty fresh to see the Apatow ouvre filtered through the world, class of characters, and brand of humor that Pete Davidson brings to the equation.
Most Rewarding Rewatch: Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019)
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood hasn’t been available to view at home for that long but that hasn’t stopped me from already making it a cornerstone of my annual-rewatch canon. Come to think of it, my Tarantino viewing in general has settled comfortably into a back and forth between OUATIH and Jackie Brown Both are great stoner/hangout movies that hum comfortably on the same frequency as Fast Times, Dazed and Confused, The Big Lebowski and the like — occupying space you feel you’re helping to create as you marinate in it. Every time I watch OUATIH I end up jotting down notes on my phone. Real “get something new out of it every time” type deal. When you find a movie that repeatedly works on you that way it’s like having a dope imaginary friend that changes with you inside your head as you move through life. Everyone needs a movie that hits like that.
Best Meta Text: Last Action Hero (1993)
Rewatched and subsequently plugged this one at the top of the month. In case you missed it, Last Action Hero is a self-referential ‘80s-action romp on cartoon-acid that’s ripe for re-evaluation and broader admiration. Both the Deadpool and Adaptation of its time. Seems like people (especially those of us who grew up with it on daytime cable) have been showing up for this one a lot lately, which makes me happy. Still massively underrated though. Check it out if you ain’t already.
Accidentally Timed with Paul Newman’s Birthday: Slap Shot (1977)
The film that begs the question: would Paul Newman and George Roy Hill be doing Deadpool today??
Nah but I kinda loved this one. Been meaning to watch it for literally over a decade, lifelong fan of Hill & Newman’s prior collabs, The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Ended up watching it the night before Paul Newman’s birthday, not planned but very cool. Went in kind of blind to the movie’s cult status. Obviously it’s aged terribly in about every way you could imagine, as a raunchy r-rated dude sports comedy from the late ‘70s would, but Newman man. Don’t know what compelled him to make this movie but he really cooks in it. Might be my new fave performance of his tbh. The Hanson brothers are also timelessly hilarious, as are many of the movie’s best and funniest moments. Slapstick always delivers. Intoxicating proto-Dazed and Confused hangout vibes as well. Plus, the working-class politics buried deep within all the lude crude dude revelry, pretty on point. Checks out seein’ how in Hollywood, earnest class-oriented conversations tend to emerge through the exploitation lens first.
“I’m listening to the fucking song!!” LOL
Holds Up but Hits Different: Fight Club (1999)
Watched this for the first time since college and, I gotta say, that Tyler Durden guy is not very cool lmao.
Evergreen Tech Horror: Videodrome (1983)
Threw on my Videodrome Criterion blu-ray ‘cause the aesthetic of our current Videodrome reality wasn’t quite doin’ it for me. Seriously though, hard not to watch this in 2021 while considering the state of social media and tech and all that and think, “yeah… we’re fucked.” Long live the new flesh.
Last but not least: A Star Wars run y’all should try out (if you’re into that sorta thing)
At the top of the month, the Mrs. and I crushed some Star Wars again (it’d been a while since our last dose ya know?). We started in chronological order with the prequels at the tail end of December and though I didn’t make it all the way through to Return of the Jedi, which I think is where Jenna left off, I was able to catch Revenge of the Sith, Solo, Rogue One, and A New Hope chronologically, which I’m pretty sure I hadn’t done before. If you’re into trying out different Star Wars viewing orders and all that shit, I highly recommend crushing these four back to back. Makes for an interesting and rewarding transition from the CGI-crystalline sheen of the prequel world into the rundown rough-and-tumble world of the original trilogy. It’s particularly astounding how effective the two standalone “Star Wars Story” movies are at gluing it all together, connecting unexpected dots and expanding the universe in ways that also feel appropriately specific.
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