Mike From the Internet

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Media Bites – January 2019

I caught up on some of the movies that we didn’t get to over the holiday break that we hadn’t seen throughout 2018. Here’s my wrap up of some of the movies, television shows, music, and other media that I’ve consumed and thought was worth sharing for the month of January 2019.

Movies

Bad Times at the El Royale – Jon Hamm was really good as a southern gentleman type for his opening monologue in the lobby, and then the movie went crazy from there. Lots of characters, lots of angles, lots of secrets. I really enjoyed it the movie, and even though it got a little messy as it went on it was still really solid and enjoyable for me.

Vice – I’d only recommend watching this movie if you want to sit in a theater and be angry for 2 hours, and then for the rest of the night. I’m kind of kidding, but the movie was really good. The cast was amazing in their roles, and Christian Bale’s transformation into Cheney – not just look, but his speech, mannerisms, everything – was definitely worth the price of admission, and his Golden Globe win was well deserved.

On the Basis of Sex – A biopic on the Notorious RBG didn’t need a hard sell for us. Felicity Jones was very good as Ginsburg, and the rest of the cast was good too. I particularly liked Justin Theroux, but I usually do. I’m generally not a fan of biopics where the subject is still alive and active in their work, but for the times we are living in I think the movie was warranted.

Mid 90s – I wanted to see this since it hit the theaters, but the timing never worked out for us so we had to wait for streaming, and it was worth the wait. I really enjoyed this movie from front to back. I really didn’t know what to expect going in. I knew it wouldn’t be a typical Jonah Hill movie, and that was fine with me. And the score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is also great.

Minding the Gap – A documentary made by a kid focusing on his small group of skater friends growing up in a small town in the rust belt and watches as they grow up in a community dealing with their rough upbringings, no hope for the future, and finding their place in the world as men, and dealing with what it means to be a man. Really interesting doc, and was on Obama’s list of top films of 2018.

Obey Giant – I’m a big fan of street art so when I came across this doc on Hulu I had to watch it. I wish it dealt more with the art and not so much Shepard Fairey’s life and legal problems stemming from the Obama HOPE piece, but it was still really enjoyable.

Active Measures – Wooo. Okay, so what I said about Vice applies here too. This is a doc that examines Putin, his background and rise to power in Russia and then Russia’s meddling across the globe in the years following – including Trump going as far back as the early to mid 80’s. Two things up front: if you don’t believe any of the Russia/Trump stuff, you’re living under a rock. Even if it is discovered that there was no collision between Russia and Trump directly in the campaign (which is highly unlikely) there is definite evidence that Russia meddled in our election through social media and other means. The second thing, wherever you fall on the did they collude/didn’t they collude front, this doc probably won’t change your mind. You’ll either write it off as “fake news” or get even angrier that we knew all of this and half of the country still elected this criminal.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – Yeah, I saw it again. Yeah it was still awesome. Maybe even better the second time. The animation and style was both groundbreaking and beautiful, the writers nailed the characters, and the message was perfect.

TV

We haven’t been watching a lot of TV sine Ali is now it what seems like week 54 of an ER rewatch. I *think* she’s almost done, so we’ll get back to our regular shows soon. I’m also rewatching 30 Rock for the first time in a few years. This is definitely an under appreciated show.

Pete Holmes: Dirty Clean (HBO) – I’m usually not a fan of stand up comedy, I don’t know why, but it doesn’t do it for me most times. This special, however, had my howling. Definitely check it out if you have HBO.

Crashing (Season 3) – Speaking of Pete Holmes, his HBO show crashing is back for season three, and it’s still just as good as the past two seasons.

Music

Comics

Marvel Knights 20th Anniversary – I’ve read the first five issues and I’m really enjoying it. The storyline is the world forgot who super heroes are, including the heroes themselves. It then follows Bruce Banner, Frank Castle, Matt Murdoch and others as they slowly piece things together. There’s one issue that I haven’t read yet, which is the finale. I’m kins of bummed it’s only six issues, but also glad it wouldn’t drag on and lose itself in a longer run.