What I watched this month…
High school of the dead — raunchy, silly violence, cliche zombie story (Zom100 is much better zombie story); watched 2/3 of season
The Gentlemen — second half of season 1 feels particularly strong; Guy Ritchie’s frenetic editing and snappy dialogue and hipster soundtrack; the stakes feel low (comfortably remote & protected British upper crust); didn’t feel a strong connection to any specific character except maybe the Asian pothead; some aspects of Saltburn
Dark Matter — interesting concept, though wished there was a more obvious antagonist; also I kept confusing which world was which when they switched without context or obvious signals (maybe intended)
Ninja Kamui — like many Japanese anime, find it hard to continue watching after premise novelty wears off; a bit Japanese John Wick
The Covenant — entertaining and heartfelt; a solid Jake Gyllenhaal performance; nice Homelander cameo; I have the impression every American military film in the last 2 decades is about the Middle East and with benefit of hindsight, it just feels more and more bizarre — like wtf were we even doing there?
Gyllenhaal remains one of my favorite Hollywood actors particularly Nightcrawler and End of Watch
High Card — another great Japanese anime premise but didn’t feel the story was building towards a meaningful climax; inspired by Kingsman (the shop is even called Wizardsman); quite camp; stopped halfway through; I wish they allowed card holders to accumulate multiple cards and thus gain greater and greater power (like Highlander…there can only be one…)
House of the Dragon S2E1 — will reserve judgment until the season is farther along; initial impression is they’re trying to give everyone equal screen time, and with so many characters, which means you can’t really sink into any of them
Inuyashiki — easily this month’s highlight; another great Japanese anime premise, but this one also has good story, character development, plenty of twists; a weird and dark sense of humor; emotional and evocative art; your simple and eternal contrasts (young versus old; good versus evil); also maybe the most chilling depiction of mass murder psychology I’ve seen
Here was last month’s.