Hamnet is the Pick of the Week

I watched The Rider at the Circle Cinema in Tulsa. That’s our cool little arthouse theater. They show all kinds of films – new independent films, silent films, classic noirs, and midnight movies. I love the place. I caught The Rider because my family was out of town and I wanted something to do. I don’t think I knew much about it at the time but was knocked out by it.

It was directed by Chloe Zhao, and she immediately became someone to watch. Her next film was Nomadland, and it is really great as well. Then she made The Eternals, a Marvel movie that is hated by just about everyone. One assumes she did it because she got paid well and that money will help finance future films, but who knows? I didn’t see it.

Her latest film is Hamnet, a film about William Shakespeare and his wife, Anne Hathaway, as they deal with the loss of their young son, whose name is the movie’s title. That grief is generally said to have motivated Shakespeare to write Hamlet, perhaps his greatest play.

The reviews for the film have been very good and it is up for an Oscar next week. I missed it in the theater but I’m excited to watch it now and happy to make it my pick.

Also out this week that looks interesting:

Piranha: Joe Dante directed this low budget thriller about some government-modified piranhas that accidentally escape and attack a summer camp. It is a film that used to air on cable TV back in my day, and I’m sure I watched at least parts of it multiple times, though I’d be hard pressed to tell you anything about it. Shout Factory is giving it the Steelbook anniversary treatment.

Cobra Kai: The Complete Series: I’ve not watched any of this series that brings back many of the characters from the Karate Kid films, but I know a lot of folks that love it.

The Swordsman Trilogy: Trio of wuxia films is getting a boxed set from Shout Factory.

Chainsaw Man: My daughter has been getting into manga over the last few years. One day I saw this book in the store and jokingly recommended it to her. Because what could be cooler than a dude with chainsaw hands? She didn’t want the book but has since seen some of the series. Now there is a film. It is about a kid who makes a deal with a demon and gets those crazy hands.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Season 3: My wife and I started season one of this series, but have yet to finish it. I like it, but we got distracted. It follows Captain Pike, who helmed the Enterprise before Kirk took over.

The Running Man: Oh, I wanted this to be really good. Edgar Wright directing a Stephen King book should have been awesome. Instead it was just okay. Glen Powell stars as a man who signs up for a game show in a terrible future where he has to survive for several days without being caught. If he’s caught, he’ll be killed. If he survives, his family will get some much-needed money.

Zootopia 2: The first film was a fun little romp about talking animals trying to solve a crime. This time around more animals will try to solve a different case.

Five Cool Things and “Fairytale of New York”

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With all the holiday happenings I forgot to post this when I wrote it. I’ll actually have a new Five Cool Things here in a couple of days. I hope everyone had a good holiday and that we are all refreshed and ready to conquer a new year.

For this post I’m talking about the new Knives Out movie, the new Running Man movie, a new to me song from a band I’ve never heard of before, a newish song from Hayes Carll and a Christmas song from The Pogues. You can read all about it over at Cinema Sentries.

More Pickups

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My daughter has outgrown dolls. My wife, however, has grown into them. She learned to sew probably 15 years ago. She used to make herself various outfits, but once my daughter was born she began exclusively making her dresses. But my daughter no longer likes dresses (she prefers black pants and hoodies now) and so my wife has started making clothes for the dolls. She’s really gotten into it and even has an Instagram account for it (and she would be thrilled with more followers if you are into that sort of thing) She does a great job, even if I find the whole grownups play with dolls thing a little bit strange.

Anyway, there is a little toy shop that she likes to go to for bargains on Barbies and accessories. She wanted to go today and we made a family outing of it. They have other collectibles and other random stuff. I found a copy of Pitch Black and Fargo Season 2. Pitch Black is a surprisingly good little sci-fi/horror film that briefly made me think Vin Diesel was a good actor. Fargo is a terrific television show based on the wonderful Coen Brothers movie of the same name. Or at least the first two seasons are excellent, I still haven’t seen past that.

Afterward, we dropped by a Goodwill and I picked up The Black Box and The Running Man. I recently watched Bosch, the TV series, and quite liked it so I’ve been reading the Michael Connely books the series was based on. I’ve only read a couple of them but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read. I’ve only been into Stephe King for a few years now but I am steadily working my way through them and I always buy the ones I don’t have at any used store we visit.

Spa is a comic book that I’ll be reviewing soon. It is utterly bizarre and it doesn’t make much logical sense, but the artwork is really interesting (and bizarre and horrifying).

Have you all picked up anything interesting lately?