My Recent Media Diet, The Late 2020 Edition
Forgive me reader, for I have been lazy. It’s been 7 months since I’ve shared a list of the movies, books, music, TV, and podcasts that I’ve been watching/reading/listening to, uh, recently. But I’ve been diligently keeping track1 and so here’s everything I’ve consumed since early May. Warning: soooo much TV and soooo many movies (and bad ones at that) and very few books. At the end of most days — after work, parenting, cooking yet another meal I’m not actually in the mood for, and constantly refreshing Instagram — I just don’t have enough left in the tank for books. (Oh, and as usual, don’t pay too much attention to the letter grades!)
Winds of Change. A fun ride but ultimately kind of empty? (B)
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. Perhaps not what you’d expect going in — thought-provoking on almost every page. (A)
The Ezra Klein Show — Madeline Miller. Super interesting, especially if you’ve read Song of Achilles or Circe. (A-)
Godzilla. This was sort of the tail end of my pandemic disaster movie film fest. (C+)
Fetch the Bolt Cutters. I love that this exists but it is not for me. (B-)
The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel. I knew it was coming, Thomas Cromwell’s downfall; it’s historical fact after all. But somehow the actual moment shocked me, despite Mantel’s careful foreshadowing over hundreds of pages. (A)
Normal People. No way in hell was this going to be as good as the book, but they somehow did it. Stellar casting. (A-)
Fleabag Live. I wanted to love this like I loved the TV show but could not get into it. (C+)
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Whatever else you might think about the third SW trilogy, the casting was fantastic. (B+)
Partysaurus Rex. One of my favorite Pixar shorts. (A-)
Iron Man 3. The only MCU movie I hadn’t seen. It was…fine? (B)
Dunkirk. A masterpiece. (A)
Arrival. Another masterpiece. (A)
Kursk. This should have been better. (B)
Harry Potter at Home. My kids and I listened to this in the car and loved it. (A-)
Watchmen. After admitting I’d stopped watching after a few episodes, several of you urged me to keep going. I finished it but still was not as dazzled as everyone else seemed to be. Maybe if I’d read the graphic novel? (B+)
Against the Rules with Michael Lewis (season two). This season was all about coaching and may have been even better than the first season. (A-)
The General. A silent film masterpiece from Buster Keaton. The kids were a little bored at first but ultimately loved it. (A-)
The Endless. Solid sci-fi horror. (B)
13th. A powerful argument that slavery is still constitutionally legal and alive & well in the United States. (A)
Ida. Beautiful film. (B+)
The Last Dance. I grew up watching and rooting for Jordan and the Bulls, so this was the perfect nostalgic entertainment. Jordan comes off as both more and less of a dick than I remember. (A-)
Da 5 Bloods. This was a mess. (C+)
Undone. Inventive animated sci-fi with plenty of plot left for season two. (B+)
Celebrate Your Body (and Its Changes, Too!): The Ultimate Puberty Book for Girls by Sonya Renee Taylor. Borrowed this from my daughter to brush up on how to help her approach some changes coming down the pike. (A-)
Beyond Meat. I snuck some of their ground “beef” into a casserole to try it out and see if the kids would notice. They didn’t at first, but once I told them, the three of us agreed that it was not that tasty — and definitely didn’t taste like beef. Plus I had an upset stomach until noon the next day. (C-)
Knives Out. I enjoyed this much more the second time. (A-)
Honeyland. A maddening microcosm of modernity. (A)
The Conversation. Maybe this hit me on an off-night? (B+)
The Great. Super fun show from the screenwriter of The Favourite. (A-)
Hamilton. Obviously better in person (and 4 years ago), but the performances and music are so great it doesn’t matter. (A)
Slate Money — Modern Monetary Theory. Really interesting alternate way of thinking about the economy, federal debt, inflation, and taxes. They kinda jumped right into the middle of it though, leaving this interested MMT beginner a little baffled. (B)
12 Monkeys. So very 90s. Brad Pitt is great in this though. (B+)
Cloud Atlas. An underrated gem. (A)
The Old Guard. Engaging and built for a sequel. But what isn’t these days? (B+)
Cars 2. I’d only ever seen the first 2/3s of this because my then-4-year-old son was so upset that the onscreen baddies were going to kill Lightning McQueen that we had to leave the theater. (B-)
Nintendo Switch. Such a fun little console that doesn’t take itself too seriously. (A-)
Greyhound. Not Hanks’ best effort. (B)
Radioactive. An overly complicated movie about a complex woman. (B+)
Ratatouille. The scene where Ego takes his first bite of ratatouille still gives me goosebumps. (A)
The Speed Cubers. Heartwarming story. (B+)
Project Power. Incredible that they were able to turn the story of Henrietta Lacks into a superhero movie. (B+)
Pluto TV. Am I the last person on Earth to find out about this app? Dozens of channels of reruns that you can’t pause and are interrupted by ads, just like old school TV. I’ve been watching far too much old Doctor Who on here. (B+)
Folklore. I don’t really get Taylor Swift and that’s ok. (C)
This Land. Excellent and infuriating — this had me yelling at my car radio. (A)
13 Minutes to the Moon — Apollo 13. Not as good as season one about Apollo 11 or Saving Apollo 13, but still compelling. (B+)
Black Panther. Had to rewatch. Rest in peace, Chadwick Boseman. What a loss. (A-)
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney. Anything she writes, I will read. (A)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. I had forgotten how slow this starts, but once it gets going it’s completely gripping, even the quiet parts. (A-)
Contact by Carl Sagan. First time I’d read this in many years. Did not resonate as much as it had in the past. (B+)
Contact. They should have sent a poet. (A-)
True Grit. Hailee Steinfeld is fantastic in this. (A)
Being John Malkovich. Terrific performance by Malkovich. This was a favorite movie of mine for years but its impact on me has lessened. (B+)
Reply All, Country of Liars. The origin story of QAnon. But let’s just say there are some unreliable narrators in this story. (B+)
Jurassic Park. A blockbuster masterpiece. (A)
50 First Dates. One of the very few Sandler comedies I really like. (B+)
I’m Thinking of Ending Things. Really did not vibe with this one. (C+)
Pride & Prejudice. I am a huge sucker for this film. (A)
MASS MoCA. Took a day trip down here back in October. My first museum since Feb. Sol LeWitt, James Turrell, Jenny Holzer, great building, virtually no one here on a weekday — very much worth the 6-hour RT car ride. (A+)
Palm Springs. Groundhog Day + 50 First Dates. (A-)
Kona Honzo. After getting a taste of mountain biking on a borrowed bike, I upgraded to this hardtail. Had some really great rides on it but also stupidly crashed, landed on my face, had to go to the ER, and got 9 stitches on my chin. Would not recommend crashing (stupidly or otherwise, but especially stupidly), but I liked mountain biking enough to get back on the bike a couple of weeks later. (A-)
My Octopus Teacher. As I said previously: “It’s such a simple movie but it packs a surprising emotional wallop and is philosophically rich. Even (or perhaps especially) the bits that seem problematic are thought-provoking.” (A)
His Dark Materials. I like the show but the main character is so irritating that I don’t know if I can keep watching… (B+)
You’re Wrong About — Princess Diana. I never fully understood the appeal of Princess Diana but now I do. Excellent 5-part series. (A)
Human Nature. Documentary on Netflix about the discovery and potential of Crispr. (B+)
The Booksellers. Was ultimately not that interested in this. (B)
Ted Lasso. Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood + Major League. Who knew you could make radical empathy funny? (A+)
The Queen’s Gambit. So well done in almost every way. (A)
Haywire. Solid Soderbergh thriller. (B+)
Enola Holmes. I will watch almost any Sherlock Holmes adaptation, riff, or spin-off. (B+)
The Trial of the Chicago 7. I loved this. Classic Sorkin and great ensemble cast performance. (A)
Zama. Maybe surrealist film is not my cup of tea. (B)
AlphaGo. I’d read a lot about the events in this film, but seeing it play out was still gripping and surprising. This and My Octopus Teacher would make a great double feature about the shifting definition of what makes humans human. (A)
The Way I See It. Pete Souza reflects on his proximity to power. (B+)
The Queen. Had to watch this after the Princess Di You’re Wrong About series. (B+)
Lego Star Wars Holiday Special. Is this canon now? If so, I have some questions. (C)
Carol. Holy shit, wonderful! I think I held my breath for the last two minutes of the movie. (A+)
Song Exploder. TV version of the OG podcast. The REM episode was great. (B+)
Rogue One. I wouldn’t call this the best Star Wars movie, but it isn’t not the best Star Wars movie either. (A-)
Little Women. Rewatched. I love this movie. (A)
Tenet. Primer + James Bond. Maybe the pandemic has made me dumber, but this totally confused me. In a bad way — it could/should have been simpler. (B)
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson. A masterful examination of the skin color-based caste system of the United States, compared and contrasted with the caste systems of India and Nazi Germany. (A)
Past installments of my media diet are available here.
People have asked so here’s the extensive system I use to keep track of everything: the Notes app on my phone.↩
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