From the Couch Hole: When the Singer’s Gone / Let the Song Go On

Previously on FTCH, the Blade Runner believes in miracles of the dragons domain. The impossible mission of the ghost protocol was for braised steak chips. This week was buoyed by a short four-day work week. There’s something about Memorial Day that puts me mentally in the summer frame of mind of my youth. The books I read, the movies I watc,h and the music I listen to reflect a different mood for three months. It’s also a moving time of year. By moving, I mean that Dee, Caleb, and Christian are each moving to new residences between May and July this year. This week Poirot says, “All I know is that it’s curtains to our friendship.” The Rogue Nation chooses s’mores creamer over chocolate-covered, pretzel-sandwich cookies. Remember, good night and have a pleasant FTCH.

Pop Culture Ephemera

• Agatha Christie – Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case (1975) (Directed by Pocket Books): “Everyone is a potential murderer-in everyone there arises from time to time the wish to kill-though not the will to kill.” – Poirot. This last Poirot mystery is the 44th time that Christie allowed the rascal, Hercule Poirot and his partner Captain Hastings to attempt to solve a mystery. The book was written in the early ’40s when Christie feared for her life during WWII. It was meant to be published after her death but was released for publication in 1975. It’s interesting to write a character for almost 35 years already knowing the last adventure of the character.
  
  Poirot’s last case put him and Hastings back at the house, Styles, where they solved their first mystery together. Like some of the best Christie mysteries, this is a version of a locked-room story. Poirot knows the identity of the murderer, “X”. He puts Capt. Hastings in charge of stopping a murder before it happens, not knowing who will be killed or himself who the murderer might be. It’s a tightly plotted story that unfolds quickly. It’s definitely worthy of being a finale. Few writers get to give their most famous character a loving send-off. It’s great that she was able to do it at a time when the character was still at the height of popularity.

Buy Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case

• Agatha Christie’s Poirot – “The Adventure of Clapham Cook” (1989) (S.1 E.1) (ITV): “It is to me, Hastings, a little reminder never to despise the trivial, hein, but the undignified. A disappearing domestic at one end, a cold-blooded murder at the other.” – Poirot. Based upon a 1924 Poirot story, this is a great start to the series. David Suchet perfectly captures Poirot’s balance of humor and intelligence. Imagine being so perfect from the start that you would fill the role from 1989 to 2013. The mystery is the simple disappearance of a cook that turns into a more serious case of a missing body. Hugh Fraser as Captain Hastings makes a wonderful straight man to Poirot. The case is just what you want to inspire the desire to binge more episodes.

Buy Art Garfunkel – Angel Clare CD

• Art Garfunkel – “All I Know” (1973) (from Angel Clare): “We both bruise too easily / Too easily to let it show.” Written by the great Jimmy Webb. The simple piano start before Art’s vocals and the instruments of the Wrecking Crew. It would be a #1 hit on the Adult Contemporary before I ever know what that meant. I became familiar with it in the late ’70s when he did a great version of it on Saturday Night Live (NBC). It’s been a big part of lots of Quiet Storm type of radio shows. I love simple songs. This pleasant song has made me smile for decades.

• Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) (Directed by Christopher McQuarrie): “Hunt is uniquely trained and highly motivated – a specialist without equal – immune to any countermeasures. There is no secret he cannot extract, no security he cannot breach, no person he cannot become.” – Alan Hunley. IMF is disavowed by the government. Ethan and his team are on a mission to save the world from a virus/bombing/nuclear explosion. There are people you thought were good guys who betray them and bad guys who turn into good guys. There are motorcycles, masks, and earpieces used to infiltrate difficult situations and there’s a guy (wait, sometimes two) who has a computer that can open doors, use cameras, and give real-time directions to Tom Cruise. The series has turned into Tom Cruise as Tom Cruise instead of Ethan Hunt. He’s more Jackie Chan than Ethan Hunt at this point with the addition of more humor. The original concept of a different director putting their own unique vision to the action story is gone. McQuarrie is here to put the series into a predictable pattern for the next few films. Three distinct action sequences – the opening scene where something goes wrong on a mission, the middle scene where something important is stolen/lost, and the long finale chase scene with the most explosions. Oh yes, lots of running. Tom Cruise running just barely ahead of a drone camera above him. Give the audience what they want (for the fifth time).

Buy Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation Blu-ray

• Friendship (2025) (Directed by Andrew DeYoung): “I can see the future. And it’s full of pals helping pals.” – Craig. If you know Tim Robinson’s work, you know this is going to be an uncomfortable comedy. If you don’t know Tim Robinson’s work, it’s painfully obvious from the initial scene with Craig (Robinson) and his wife (Kate Mara) at a couple’s cancer-survivors meeting. There are moments, especially in the second half of the film, that become like a series of unrelated skits. The majority of the film is a cringe with elements of real laughter (the audience laughed louder than I’ve heard in years at some of the best scenes). The film does a great job of fleshing out the characters in such a way that no one is completely good or completely bad. Its core is the friendship between Craig and Austin (Paul Rudd) and how relationships that aren’t organic just don’t work out. The humor isn’t for everyone, but this will stay with me until the end of the year more than any film I’ve seen so far in 2025.

Best of the Rest

• In 2010, Jimmy Webb, the writer of “All I Know,” lured Linda Ronstadt out of her recent retirement to do a duet of “All I Know.” His voice was never one that I loved, but you add one of the best female vocalists of her generation and this cover turns it into another classic. There is an element of class that Ronstadt’s voice adds to all of her projects. This is a great song.

• Entertainment Weekly (3/28/97): “Best Commercials of All-Time” #19: Diet Pepsi “Apartment 10G” (1987): “Listen, if you don’t have a Diet Pepsi. / No, no, I got it.” This era of Diet Pepsi ads looked like films. I guess that was the point of casting Michael J. Fox and director Rick Levine. I’m convinced these sets were taken from either films or other television shows. The word is that Fox got $2 million a year for three spots for Diet Pepsi. Not groundbreaking enough to make my own Best Commercials, but it’s hard not to respect DP for committing to top-tier advertising as the choice of a New Generation.

• The summer might be just starting but don’t fear, you have something to look forward to. Mark your calendars for the return of Season Four of The Bear (FX). Put June 25th on your calendar with an extra star since it appears that all of the episodes are dropping at once. “I don’t want you to hide from things because you can.”

Sunday Morning Tuneage Flashback

• On the Sunday Morning Tuneage from 6/4/2007 to 7/12/2009, I ranked my 100 Favorite Films of All-Time. I did one per week with the arbitrary rule that they had to air on television that upcoming week. It ended up being a pretty representative list in retrospect. A few were ranked out of order, but I stick with that list for that point in my life. The 2009 stats check out.
  
  6 – Alfred Hitchcock films.
  5 – Steven Spielberg films.
  4 – Stanley Kubrick films.
  4 – Billy Wilder films.
  
  I’m going to attempt the impossible over the next 20 weeks. I’m going to use that old list as a template and rank five films a week, without planning it all out ahead of time. Remember, these are “favorite” and not necessarily “best” movies. Enjoy critiquing me along the way.
  
  2025 Running Stats (#6-100)
  • 4 – Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
  • 4 – Directed by Steven Spielberg
  • 3 – Directed by Terry Gilliam
  • 3 – Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
  • 3 – Directed by Rob Reiner
  • 3 – Directed by Quentin Tarantino
  • 3 – Directed by David Yates
  • 2 – Directed by James Cameron
  • 2 – Directed by Charlie Chaplin
  • 2 – Directed by Coen Bros.
  • 2 – Directed by Brian De Palma
  • 2 – Directed by William Friedkin
  • 2 – Directed by John Hughes
  • 2 – Directed by Terry Jones
  • 2 – Directed by Stanley Kubrick
  • 2 – Directed by Sergio Leone
  • 2 – Directed by Kevin Smith
  • 2 – Directed by Billy Wilder
  • 1 – 1900’s
  • 2 – 1920’s
  • 2 – 1930’s
  • 4 – 1940’s
  • 6 – 1950’s
  • 9 – 1960’s
  • 22 – 1970’s
  • 17 – 1980’s
  • 18 – 1990’s
  • 9 – 2000’s
  • 4 – 2010’s
  • 1 – 2020’s
    
• FAVORITE MOVIES OF ALL-TIME (2009)
  • 10. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
  • 9. Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
  • 8. Planet of the Apes (1968)
  • 7. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
  • 6. Casablanca (1942)
    
• FAVORITE MOVIES OF ALL-TIME (2025)
  • 10. Vertigo (1958) (Directed by Alfred Hitchcock): This film is one that shows me something upon each viewing. I think I found this confusing upon my first viewing as a teen. I now watch it every decade, and I’ve read as much about this film as almost any in my Top 100.
  • 9. The Graduate (1968) (Directed by Mike Nichols): This was one of my first reviews for Cinema Sentries. I’ve always liked the film. Watching it with a critical eye gave me even more appreciation for what this film means socially and politically for the late ’60s as America got on the bus for the ’70s.
  • 8. Saving Private Ryan (1998) (Directed by Steven Spielberg): There needed to be more war films on this list. The Vietnam films of the previous decade had given the genre a much different look. The plot of this film won’t win any awards. The film looks more authentic than any war film has any business looking. It’s masterful.
  • 7. The Deer Hunter (1978) (Directed by Michael Cimino): Spielberg captured WWII in 1998 by returning to the battle. Cimino changed the game by capturing the horror of Vietnam by showing us the mental toll of the war. Just five years on from the return of most of the veterans from Vietnam.
  • 6. No Country for Old Men (2007) (Directed by Coen Bros.): I mentally had this spot reserved for Fargo (1996). There are good reasons for that film to be here, but upon further consideration, this film has everything that I love about these directors. The aspect that puts this ahead of some others is that this is a western at heart, a modern western, but all of the things I love about the genre are there. It’s probably the best “good guy vs. bad guy” of the Coen-Universe.

Buy No Country for Old Men (Criterion Collection) Blu-ray

1975 in Review

• June – Superman#288 (DC Comics): Cover by Dick Giordano. Art by Curt Swan. Written by Cary Bates. “Ter-rific! It’s like listening to the real Clark Kent… himself! I guess this means– We’ve got a mild-mannered computer running the Galaxy Building! Ha-ha-ha!” – Steve Lombard. A computer with Clark Kent as a secret identity. It’s a rather brilliant concept that I only remember for this single issue.
• June 3 – Congress approves new rules to go into effect on July 21st. The new rules end separate physical education courses for girls and boys and makes it illegal to ban pregnant students from the classroom.
• June 21-27 – The Jeffersons (CBS) had just finished a successful 13-episode initial season and was gaining in popularity during summer reruns. The show was #4 in the ratings. It would only hit those heights one more time (#3 in 1981-1982).

What the Hell Did I Put in My Mouth?

“All my plans
Have fallen through
All my plans depend on you
Depend on you to help them grow
I love you and that’s all I know” – Jimmy Webb