Quick Reviews and Stuff: September
HELLO SWEATER/SPOOKY SEASON I AM READY FOR YOU
Movies
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015): If you’ve done any reading on Scientology there isn’t much here that’s new to you, save for the genuinely creepy Weirdo Scientology Rally footage, and learning more about L. Ron Hubbard himself. But man, if you weren’t already convinced that everyone involved in Scientology is some combination of brainwashed, blackmailed, and/or just plain evil, this could get you across the finish line.
In a Violent Nature (2024): Conceptually, this is so different from any other horror movie, but the execution really didn’t do it for me. The production values are very cheap — like on the one hand I am glad this seems to have been achieved with practical effects but the practical effects also looked so amateur — and it feels like this was the first time in front of a camera for most of the cast. The acting was just so bad. I don’t mind the slow horror style, but I really struggled with the final product. I think there were lots of missed opportunities on this one, but I appreciate the audacity.
Speak No Evil (2024): A pair of doormats create their own problems. A remake of a recent Danish film, a “pretending everything is okay so as to not rock the boat” couple goes to visit a more adventurous young couple that they met on vacation; horror ensues. I think the trailers give away too much, and given how ubiquitous the trailer was, it was impossible to go into this and not be able to basically chart out how the story would go. Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy are both great as the most passive, indecisive, useless parents I’ve seen on screen in a while, which is definitely the point of their characters but that doesn’t make them any less infuriating. There’s a giant gaping plot hole after the big reveal that still irritates me, but I have to hand it to James McAvoy for being so good at playing an absolute psychopath.
Maggie Moore(s) (2023): Direct-to-video vibes only with a cast of actually famous people. Trying for a Fargo sort of situation but really just comes across as awkward, and manages to turn serious things like child exploitation and antisemitism into things you’re supposed to laugh about. I’ve got nothing against dark comedies but this absolutely did not work. John Hamm is lucky he’s hot and charismatic because it’s probably the only reason I didn’t turn this off.
Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed (2023): An honest and intimate look at a songwriter who routinely rips his guts open on stage, night after night. A fascinating look behind the scenes at his writing and recording process, and how that intersects with the benefits/challenges of having his then-wife Amanda Shires as part of his band. I could have done with either less of the COVID narrative or with more digging about what Isbell and company were going through at that time, but I imagine a pandemic happening in the middle of your documentary shoot probably throws all your plans out the window. I most appreciated the looks at his life pre-fame and the beginnings of his career. All the relationship stuff hits a little different in 2024 though, with Isbell and Shires divorcing now. Oops.
Fire of Love (2022): Like volcano romance ASMR, thanks to the gravelly narration of Miranda July. Uses archival footage of volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft to tell the story of their relationship, their shared passion for volcanoes, and their eventual deaths. An intriguing look at two very unique, very well-matched people. A bit slow, a bit meditative.
The Devil’s Bath (2024): This isn’t technically a horror movie but it might as well be. Based on true stories of actions that women were punished for in 18th century Austria. (Being more specific than that is a spoiler, I think.) Anja Plaschg is fantastic as Agnes, a newly married woman struggling with the transition to wife, complete with meddling mother in law, oblivious husband, and confusing societal expectations. Plaschg captures Agnes’s frog-in-boiling-water life with such empathy and horror. Not always an easy watch, but well worth the time. Content warnings for child death and animal death.
The Substance (2024): I am so torn on this. Demi Moore is perfect casting as an aging star who is told by the industry that she’s past her prime at just 50 years old. I would watch Margaret Qualley in anything. Dennis Quaid is legitimately repulsive. But I personally would have preferred if this had just played it straight as horror/thriller rather than leaning increasingly hard into camp/satire, which, as I watch more films that lean on that, I’m learning that I’m very picky as to what works for me in that regard. Every beat of the movie is well telegraphed from the very beginning so by the time you get to the final twist, honestly, it’s just exhausting. I can easily see this becoming a cult classic kind of movie, though — I’m envisioning a Rocky Horror-style sendup with costumes and stuff. Speaking of costumes, I’m sure it costs a zillion dollars, but I’ve gotta know where to get that bright yellow coat that Elisabeth/Sue wears.
Books
Another tough month for books. It’s partly just that my brain is currently full of raccoons and partly that, since none of the books I’d been reading had been catching my interest, that I just keep starting new once and now have like five different books going in various stages of completion.
The Woman in Me, Britney Spears — Two things can be true at once: Britney Spears has absolutely been let down by the people in her life who were supposed to raise her, support her, care for her. And she has also produced a very not-good book that is full of contradictions and potentially casting her as an unreliable narrator in her own life. I understand her desire to tell her own story, in her “own words”, after having her own agency taken away for so long, but her ghostwriters and whoever else worked on this with her did her dirty by not refining the story more. It is a very readable book, I finished it in just a few reading sessions, but that doesn’t mean that it was enjoyable.
Her Body and Other Parties: Stories, Carmen Maria Machado — A perfect read for the start of spooky season. Short story collections don’t always work for me, but the greatest thing about them is being able to split up reading into short bites. For whatever reason, I’ve been struggling to have the attention span to really get lost in a book lately, so the short story format was really helpful for being like, listen just read like 20 pages and then you’re done and you haven’t left off in the middle of anything. I didn’t connect with all of these, some I think were a bit too abstract for the point to really sink home for me, but Machado’s talent is undeniable. For an added bonus, I ended up reading “Eight Bites” the same day as I watched The Substance, and the parallels in the two stories about women trying to excise parts of themselves and the self-hatred that many women experience was uncanny. Based on Goodreads reviews, a lot of people hated the Law and Order: SVU inspired piece but honestly, as a lover of weird fan fiction, that might have been one of my favorites.
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Other Stuff
September had a lot of music going on for me. Evanston Folk Festival, a surprise Bright Eyes concert, Riot Fest, Andrew Bird and Madison Cunningham doing their Buckingham Nicks show, a last-minute ticket acquisition to see Dashboard Confessional, plus volunteering for a few different shows at the Old Town School of Folk Music.
If you don’t know me in real life, what you may not know is that before I dove into covering hockey, I was a book blogger, and before that, I wrote about music. Going to live concerts took a nose dive for me once I got into hockey, as the freelance thing that paid Some Bills ended up taking priority over the fun hobby work that paid zero dollars. Live music has always been so important to me, though, particularly through some really rough times in my life. After making the decision to mostly “retire” from covering hockey, one of the greatest things that opened up time for was checking out more shows, and I’m so glad I’m back.
Riot Fest in particular was so much more fun than I’d expected. I feel like I’ve almost aged out of big outdoor festivals like that, but aside from some small annoyances (why only one water station and why so far away from everything else), I had a blast! Everyone for the most part was very chill in the crowds I was in, even the very enthusiastic Fall Out Boy teens, and the weekend provided for some unforgettable moments, like the giddy circle pit that opened up during a set by Saxsquatch, a man who dresses up like-you guessed it-a sasquatch, DJs and plays the saxophone. Or the couple who got married in the crowd during Something Corporate’s set. Or the two women I saw in Philadelphia Eagles hats who started shouting GO BIRDS at each other from across the crowd. Just good vibes all around.
“butter” John Stamos at Riot Fest
This month was also heavy on me finally getting to see bands that I’ve loved for literal decades but just never quite made it a point to go see before. Something Corporate and Dashboard Confessional were huge favorites of late high school/early college-era me; the former only toured for a handful of years before going on a hiatus and I think only once ever came anywhere near me, the latter I remember mostly playing clubs I couldn’t get to because they were in Pittsburgh. The stars just never aligned for me to see Fall Out Boy before. Bright Eyes, I’d been putting off just because of the solid 50/50 shot that Conor Oberst may not put on a great show and do I really want to pay to watch an intoxicated man sing songs? (The Chicago show was pretty good, covering both old and new songs; unfortunately they had to cancel the rest of their shows this year because of vocal troubles for Oberst.) It’s felt so good to be at these shows, surrounded by other elder millennials, enjoying the songs that soundtracked much of our young adulthoods. (Except for Fall Out Boy, where I was by far the oldest person around in the section of crowd I was in. You can’t win ’em all.)
Here are some songs from old favorites and new-to-me bands that I enjoyed last month.
What’s Next
Given that it’s October, I probably will be focusing on some more spooky movies this month, because ’tis the season, right?
October itself is a hugely busy month for me: a quick trip up to Milwaukee for some hockey, a trip to San Francisco for a wedding, some Mountain Goats shows around the midwest and also one in New Jersey because lol why not, probably some other stuff. I’m cramming a lot into that San Francisco trip, too, as it’s also Fleet Week and I’m going with some friends to tour Alcatraz and there’s a dumpling festival and Something Corporate just happens to be playing while I’m in town. I love when I get to go do a thing to see my friends and do a bunch of other extra stuff. It’s thrilling!
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