ROOFMAN
I'm hesitant to even write about this movie, considering that I bailed about halfway through. I was at the movie theater on Tuesday, a cheap day, and I was struggling to find something that interested me. I took a chance on Roofman, and it was a major miss for me.
The premise of what I saw of the movie was that Channing Tatum is a chump ass dingus who can't take care of his family and who is constantly disappointing his ex-partner and daughter. There was some vague suggestion of military service (because he's a genius, you see... a genius whose only idea for supporting his family is robbing a bunch of McDonald's restaurants), but I didn't really get much of an explanation about that in the first half of the movie. Without "spoiling" much, he breaks out of jail and hides in a Toys R Us store. That's the movie's premise. I didn't get much farther than that.
It started somewhat interestingly, when it was about his life of petty crime and his attempt to break out of jail. As soon as it became a drama about him insinuating himself into the lives of the employees (specifically, Kirsten Dunst) of the Toys R Us, it totally fell apart for me.
I hated almost every character in the movie. On paper, Channing Tatum (I forgot the character's name) is a completely garbage person, and the only reason we're given to sympathize with him is that he's Channing Tatum and charming. Unfortunately, that charm wasn't enough to carry this mess. Peter Dinklage plays a cartoonishly mean retail tyrant of a boss, and Kirsten Dunst plays the Church pushing (presumably) romantic lead. I don't know that for sure, because I left before any of that could develop.
Lakeith Stanfield is one of the few lights in the darkness. He was far too good for this movie. He's fantastic in everything he's in, even crap like this.
When they started bringing Jesus into it, I felt like I'd stepped into something stinky. That's when I left the theater and went home. Fuck that movie.
THE DIPLOMAT (SEASON 3)
This show rocks. It's a Netflix show about an American diplomat to the UK, Kate Wyler (Keri Russell), and her complicated relationship with her husband, Hal (Rufus Sewell), and how they constantly enable and hinder each other. Hal is a political operative, making deals and strategizing, while Kate is the diplomatic brain of the operation, navigating the sticky, perilous work of maintaining relationships with her various counterparts in England.
One of the great things about this show — and there are many — is that every episode ends with you wanting to watch the next episode immediately. It's not just clever cliffhangers; it's emotional investment. You want Kate to succeed because she's trying to do what's best for everyone, maintain those relationships, and still satisfy her country's goals. She's a good person with good motives, even when she's forced to do shady things.
There's a lot of twisting and turning and surprises. There are a lot of people being sneaky and underhanded. It's just a complex but fascinating show. Plus, there are so many great character actors on it. The two leads, plus Alison Janey now, and Bradley Witford, Michael McKean, and Rory Kinear, who is one of my favorite actors working in television at the moment.
I don't honestly think about this show much when it's not on, but when it is on and there's a new season, I am 100% enthralled with it. I love that Keri Russell isn't playing a sexy character. She's a working, stressed-out professional woman who doesn't put much thought or energy into how she looks, devoting all that effort to saving the world from both political and literal wars.
It's a fascinating show full of rich, diverse characters, all with their own personal and political agendas. Every conversation is loaded with ulterior motives and deception.
One thing I was concerned about, going into this third season, was how they would make a show about Americans participating in political discourse with decorum and respect, when actual American politics is a circus of hedonism and sadistic, indiscriminate cruelty. And so so stupid. It's all so stupid. So how can they make a show about politics as usual?
Well, they made a show about how, even when politics is thoughtful and calculated, it's still intensely selfish, power-hungry, and cruel. These people, especially the Americans, are straight-up villains. That becomes clear especially in this season. Yet, they're humanized too. It's really a delicate balance that Debora Cahn, the showrunner, handles with expert care and surprising empathy, given how awful so many of these people can be.
Highly recommended. Good stuff.
SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE
Here's what you need to know about me. I loves me some Bruce. I'm not a fanatic, and I haven't listened to every album, because there are just a whole lot of them. I am, however, quite familiar with the stretch between Born to Run and Born in the USA. That includes the mysterious, enigmatic Nebraska, which is one of my favorite albums ever.
I became a Bruce fan later in life. I owned Born to Run as a kid and listened to it quite a lot, and I also had Born in the USA, though that wasn't my favorite record. It was good, but it was a little too 80s for me. I prefer Bruce with a guitar rather than a synthesizer. That's just me. I'll take the demo of Born in the USA over the studio version any day of the week.
So Nebraska is an important album to me. I read the book that this movie was based on, and while it was very involved with the minutia of recording that album, what I really connected with was Bruce's search for something real in the noise, as he says in the movie. That search for meaning. Especially by someone so tortured by his own identity. Fame and disconnect from the audience, trauma, and deep, unmanaged depression and anxiety fueled that record.
I relate to all of that very strongly.
This film was incredible. I went into it hoping it would be almost exactly what we got. An incredibly personal, intensely vulnerable, and honest portrayal of an artist deep in his own head, processing years and years of buried trauma and coming to terms with his own identity, mental health, and relationships to those people who made him the way he is, and those people trying to reach him then.
The only thing that didn't completely work for me was the character of Faye. Played by Odessa Young (who does a fine job with the role), Faye is a woman Bruce is dating while also keeping at arm's length. They make a big point to show how kind and thoughtful and romantic Bruce is with Faye, but then he's also distant, unresponsive, and even mean towards her. Which is all fine storytelling, but it didn't feel really important. It felt like, to me, they thought it needed a romantic subplot to appease the audience, and I didn't.
The thing is, she's an amalgam of a few different women that Bruce was dating at the time. This is a fair storytelling technique, and it gives the movie a way to illustrate how his depression and anxiety damaged his relationships, and frankly, just the shitty interpersonal skills that most genius artists suffer from. That ADHD ability to hyperfocus on one thing that's important to you, and the expense of everything and everyone else. So it wasn't a BAD thing, it just wasn't my favorite element.
I also relate to that desire to push people away while also desperately needing people. I relate to so much about this movie that it honestly left me shaken for the rest of the day. Now that I've had a day to process and come down, I'm ready to admit that I absolutely loved this movie.
Jeremy Allan White is incredible. While he's not doing an impression of Bruce's speaking style, he embodies him in a way I can't see any other actor doing. He IS Bruce Springsteen. From the singing and guitar playing to the attitude to the effortless coolness, he's everything I love about Bruce Springsteen in this role. He's tortured, brilliant, and sounds so goddamned great. There were moments in the movie where the only way I could tell it wasn't Bruce singing was because the studio-level production value of the recording was better than it was on the 4-track demo recorded in Bruce's bedroom in 1981 and released as the album.
When Jeremy starts playing the title song, Nebraska, it's seeing a ghost of young Bruce. I can't say enough about how much I loved this movie. I want to watch it again. Right now. This moment.
I don't know how well this movie lands with people who aren't as familiar with the material and the story as I am. It felt very much like a movie made specifically for me, Joe, Bruce Springsteen fan, and tortured artist. I can't speak to anyone else's experience with it, so your mileage may vary. Sandra enjoyed it, and she said she knew most of the music just from me playing it over the years.
I hope it does really well, and I hope that Jeremy Allan White gets an Oscar nomination and Jeremy Strong wins one. Strong played Jon Landau, Bruce's manager, longtime friend, and champion, and was the emotional rock that kept Bruce from exploding or floating off into the darkness.
It's just a beautiful movie and I can't say enough good things about it. Go see it, please, and come away with a new (or at least different) appreciation for The Boss and his journey.
ART
Just to keep y'all current, I've done a few drawings recently. Two for my sister, Delena, whose beloved feline friend Mimi passed away recently.
I drew Mimi and I drew the mythic Loki (as opposed to the Marvel Loki), who she's been quite enamored with lately.
then I also drew the first in what will be a series of portraits from Paul Thomas Anderson movies. This one is of Joaquin Phoenix in The Master.
I've also been writing. This year, an anthology of stories set in the world of Stephen King's novel The Stand came out. It was pretty successful, and now they're having open submissions for a new anthology, this time based on the book The Shining. I'm very excited about this and plan to write something for it. I have ideas. The stories have to take place before the events of the novel, so I'm picking a ghost and writing a story about them.
I'm also working on a couple of other writing projects. Still tapping away at my erotica story, Gut Feeling, and I'm brainstorming ideas for my Dee and Birdy Bloodletting book. I'm also writing the Scout Compton story about a vampire pop star.
So writing is busy these days. Drawing is busy. Going to a lot of movies. I'm just doing pretty well in general. Going to see Frankenstein this weekend, and I couldn't be more excited for that. So life is good!
Anyway, that's all I've got for now! I hope everyone is having a great weekend!