Hello and welcome to another edition of Five Cool Things where I talk about all the interesting, fun, and yes, cool things I came across in the last couple of weeks. Here in Oklahoma things are brutally cold and snowy. I can’t say these things will make it any warmer where you are, but maybe they can make you forget about how numb your toes are for a minute and put a smile on your face. So let’s get started.
Ludwig
David Mitchell is a well-educated, middle-class, rather fussy Englishman. In Ludwig, he plays a well-educated, middle-class, rather fussy Englishman. The part was literally custom-made for him. However, whereas the real David Mitchell is a comedian and actor, John Taylor, the character he plays in Ludwig, is a reclusive puzzle-maker. He creates crosswords and other word puzzles under the pen name Ludwig.
Buy David Mitchell: Back StoryHe has a twin brother, James, who is a detective for the Cambridge police. When James goes missing John is tasked by James’ wife, Lucy (Anna Maxwell Martin), to investigate. For reasons best left unexplained in this post, she fears letting the police know about the disappearance. John then pretends to be James at the police station.
Naturally, he’s sucked into various murder cases. Naturally, his puzzle-solving mind can solve them. After a few episodes, you start to wonder just how many murders a day happen in Oxford, a city whose population is less than 200,000. Then you start to wonder why all the murders are set up like puzzle boxes. Then you remember this is just a silly television series and you enjoy yourself. I found it delightful.
The Gone
There is nothing particularly original about The Gone. It mostly feels like it was made from all the cliche parts of modern British detective shows. It is set in a picturesque, isolated village (in this case Mt. Affinity, New Zealand) where two Brits have gone missing. A detective from a nearby city (who also has ties to the village) is called to investigate. Some out-of-towners have come to the village and set up a new business, much to the chagrin of the indigenous people. An Irish detective has been sent in to help and there is also a pesky reporter snooping about. That sounds like dozens of other recent British crime shows I’ve seen over the last few years.
I’d like to say The Gone elevates that rather tired material, but I’d be lying if I did. And yet here I am writing about it. The thing is that cliche formula works for me. I like a cozy mystery set in a beautiful location. I prefer my mysteries to be solved over the course of a season rather than be wrapped up tidily after 45 minutes. The Gone does what it does quite well, even if it isn’t breaking new ground. Sometimes that’s exactly what I want.
Jackson Browne Performs “These Days” on Austin City Limits
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAw-nY8hL6c
Jackson Browne is one of those guys who has a lot of songs that I like, but who I’ve never really dove into. A friend of mine recently sent me a bunch of concert recordings from Browne and I’m starting to really dig the guy.
Buy The Very Best of Jackson Browne CD“These Days” was written when he was just 16. Nico recorded it in 1967 and it is her version I first learned. I heard it on the soundtrack to The Royal Tenenbaums. She was in her late 20s when she recorded it. I mention their ages because it is a song full of longing and regret. It is a song made to be sung by an older man. In this performance, recorded a couple of years ago, you can hear how Jackson truly feels those words now. He’s lived them. It is a beautiful rendition.
Conclave
I’ve long been fascinated by the history and rituals of the Catholic Church. I’m slightly obsessed with all that pomp and circumstance. I also love a good mystery. Conclave supplies both of those things.
Buy Conclave 4K UHDWhen the Pope suddenly dies Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) must call a conclave bringing in Cardinals from all over the world to elect a new Pontiff. But what if the likely winner was secretly dismissed by the Pope just before he died? And who is this new guy who has papers proving he is also a Cardinal, but no one has ever heard of him? The film is full of mystery, intrigue, and drama. It also has a stacked cast including John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, and Isabella Rossellini. You can read my full review.
The Substance
As a fan, I love to see horror movies garner awards nominations. The Substance is one of but a handful to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It won’t win, and I’m not sure it should. It worked best for me as a blood-soaked, gore-filled horror movie while its attempts at cultural critique were too blunt to be effective.
Buy The Substance Blu-rayDemi Moore stars as Elisabeth Sparkle, an aging actress who takes some black-alley drugs in order to make herself more beautiful and relevant. Instead, it creates a new person, one that literally rips herself out of Elisabeth’s spine. This person calls herself Sue (Margaret Qualley) and she immediately outshines Elisabeth in every way. She takes her job as an exercise show host, she gets all the publicity, and she quite literally starts sucking the lifeblood out of her.
This is not some arty-farty horror movie that tries to elevate the genre. The Substance revels in its sloppy, goopy horror effects. I loved that aspect of the film. I didn’t particularly care for all the ways it beats the audience over the head with its not subtle at all critique of how Hollywood treated ts female stars.
You can read my full review.
Black Bag
Steven Soderbergh is so prolific as a director and producer it is easy to miss what he’s doing. This trailer dropped a couple of months ago and I completely missed it. He’s proven himself a capable genre director with films like Haywire and Contagion. They might be the best film he’s ever made, but they are sturdily made and super entertaining. Black Bag is a spy thriller starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbinder and this trailer gets me excited for it to come out.
