What I'm Watching

This is a monthly post wherein I list the movies I’ve watched, the TV I’m watching and the music I’m listening to.

Movies I’ve Watched:

• Amazons (1986): Yes, I watched yet another Roger Corman fantasy film made in Argentina. This one was arguably of higher quality than some overall but its lowest moments were so bad. (Watch it for the climactic fight scene where you can see how spliced together it is.)

• Anaconda (2025): I’m glad this exists. It wasn’t as consistently funny as it could have been and the plot holes are immense. But it did make me laugh out loud enough times.

• The Australian Dream (2019): This is about a footie scandal in Australia that none of us here probably ever heard about. I suspect that, for Australians, there’s not much here. But for us Canadians, there’s a lot, if you can stand sitting through it. (It is about racism towards aboriginal Australians.)

• Bloody New Year (1987): Our choice for a, ahem, new New Years horror movie this year was not very successful. It never is, but this film, set in the summer time in Wales, didn’t really scratch the itch.

• Heartworn Highways (1976): Not released until 1981, this documentary about musicians who were so outlaw country they were almost too outlaw for outlaw country has some great moments and some historical performances. (The first time Steve Earle was ever recorded or filmed, apparently.) But it is pretty formless.

• I Am the Blues (2015): A great documentary about aging blues musicians who never really “made it” in the way that BB King et al. did.

• Intolerance (1916): When it premiered, it was probably the greatest movie ever made. (Features were only a few years old, if memory serves.) But, unless you want to see some of the craziest sets ever built, this is not really worth it 110 years later.

• Une journée d’Andrei Arsenevitch (1987): Chris Marker films Tarkovsky as he is dying and discusses his ouevre. For fans of Tarkovsky or Marker (or film analysis) only I suspect.

• Land of Doom (1986): An ‘80s post apocalyptic film shot in Cappadocia that decided that, because the scenery was so great, they didn’t need any sets.

• The Mad Monster (1942): This is a slow-moving mix of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (and probably something else). It is pretty short but somehow is still very slow.

• Magic Christmas Tree (1964): Somehow, this film - not the missing definite article - was the only Christmas film I watched all the way through this year. It is probably the worst Christmas movie I’ve ever seen, and the bar was already low. Probably only watchable in the form I saw it, via MST3K.

• "Tri pesni o Rodine" (2008): A triptych of stories about cities in Russia and how they view the past, present and future.

• "V temnote" (2004): A short about a blind man in Moscow, making baskets nobody wants. It’s very sad.

• The War Show (2016): This is an at times affecting, at times messy documentary about living through the Syrian revolution and subsequent civil war. It as been called, by some, a “road movie” and there definitely is a component of that, which both makes it unusual and, for me, a bit of a mess. For Sama, which I watched earlier last year, is much better.

• We The North: From Prehistoric to Historic (2025): Propaganda for the Masai Raptors regime.

• When Harry Met Sally (1989): We watched this on New Year’s. I hadn’t seen it in decades. Billy Crystal is too old for Meg Ryan.

TV I’m Watching:

• The American Revolution (2025): The new Ken Burns is, presumably intentionally, timely.

• Andor (2022): I watched the first season on a plane. I forgot to include it last month.

• Basketball: The Raptors are still over .500. They have games where they look great and games where a shitty team beats them handily. It is frustrating but they are something like 4th in the east right now, which means hosting a playoff series if they can keep ahead of Philly.

• Master of None (2015): I have watched one episode in the last month. I should try to fit in more but, as you can see, I’ve been watching an awful lot of movies.

• The Roosevelts (2014): Jenn hadn’t seen this yet so we watched it. Unlike my father, I’m not a fan of Teddy. And I have some problems with FDR. But, watching this for the second time I was reminded, at least they actually did stuff. You know, to help people. The Right is actively trying to hurt people and, in the US, make corruption the form of government. And The Left (if you can call the centrist parties which get elected here and in the States “The Left”) is just paralyzed and thinks that governing means doing nothing to upset anyone. Do stuff to help people! If regulations are the problem, get rid of them! It’s okay!

• Taskmaster: We watched their annual champions one-off and their annual celebrity one-off which was actually a two-off.

  • Australia: We are watching the latest season that is free on YouTube which is something like 2 seasons behind.

• Thomas Jefferson (1997): Watching this immediately after The American Revolution, it’s clear Burns has broadened his idea of who gets included in his histories. That’s a good thing.

Music I’m Listening to:

• AVTT / PTTN (2025): Mike Patton joins The Avett Brothers (what???) and I can’t say that I’m thrilled with the results, which sound exactly like what you’d imagine.

• Bach: Partitas, BWV 825–830 (1731): I’m listening to the Gould version because of course I am.

• Bruckner: Mass No. 3 (1868): I have a really hard time assessing masses as I so rarely listen to them.

• John Coltrane: The Classic Quartet - Complete Impulse! Recordings (1998): So this is only “complete” as pertains to the quartet performances, not Coltrane’s Impulse recordings. That’s… a little weird. Still, if you want to hear why Coltrane is one of the two greatest jazz musicians of the 1960s this is half (or a third?) of the story.

• D’Angelo: Black Messiah (2014): One of the great R&B artists of his era. RIP.

• Bob Dylan, The Band: The Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete 9 (2014): If you don’t know the story, it’s a bit of a long one. I’ll include it in my review.

• Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisande (1900): Before I listened to it, I assumed it was an opera.

• Howlin’ Wolf: The Chess Box (1991): The definitive compilation, I assume.

• Kodály: Cello sonata (1915): Very much my thing.

• Opening Up to Strangers: Photo Ops (2025): A great covers record - pop aand rock music from many decades (and Beethoven!) - done as gentle indie pop/indie folk.

• Puccini: La bohème (1895): The least of Puccini’s major operas, to my mind.

• Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil (1915): My understanding is that this is the piece of Russian Orthodox choral music.

• Ravel: Complete Piano Music (2008) by Michelangelo Carbonara: I can’t speak to the pianist but this really made me appreciate Ravel more than I did.

• Jimmy Reed: Mr. Luck: The Complete Vee-Jay Singles (2017): Significantly less essential than the Muddy Waters comp below.

• Shostakovitch: Symphony No. 5 (1937): I probably should be listening to a complete cycle, right?

• Various Artists: Anthology of American Folk Music (1952): I hope to have my review published soon.

• Muddy Waters: Rollin’ Stone: The Golden Anniversary Collection (2000): Essential listening for anyone who wants to know the story of the blues.