What I'm Watching

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

Movies I’m Watching:

• Between God, the Devil and a Winchester (1968): This is an adaptation of Treasure Island, believe it or not. That makes the plot way more interesting than your average spaghetti western plot.

• Black Bag (2025): I quite enjoyed this. I guess I have softened on these ultra-slick, stylish Soderbergh films. (I used to vastly prefer his “indie” films.)

• China 9, Liberty 37 (1978): I can’t remember when I added this movie to my list. Decades ago. But it’s hard to find so I never saw it. The main reason I think I picked up the spaghetti western 20-pack from my neighbours was to finally see this film. It’s not truly a spaghetti western, as the director is American (and had a bit of a reputation as an auteur). And this is a classic revisionist western, far from a typical spaghetti western in terms of plot and direction. It suffers somewhat from its production values and casting but it is far and away the best movie of the set. (So far, but what are the odds?) There’s a reason I added it to my list decades ago. It must have been on someone else’s list of the best ever revisionist westerns.

• The Fighting Fist of Shanghai Joe (1973): If you think this is a kung fu spaghetti western, you are correct. Would it shock you to learn that it appears the star may have actually been Japanese? As someone on Letterboxd said, the trampoline in this film deserves credit. Nutty.

• First Spaceship on Venus (1960): Though it’s bastardized from a Polish/East German film, this science fiction film really isn’t bad and is hardly deserving of the MST3K treatment.

• Il generale Della Rovere (1959): An absolutely wild story about a conman in Genoa near the end of WWII. What’s wild is that it’s based on a true story!

• God’s Gun (1976): I got really excited about this one because I thought Lee Van Cleef was a priest who was going to, like, shoot tens of people dead. But, alas, they get around that with what would be a spoiler.

• Honeyland (2019): This documentary about a beekeeper in Macedonia seemed so written to me that I reviewed it as a fictional film, not realizing it was a documentary. I am highly suspicious that the filmmakers were not involved in the creation of the conflict or in staging shots.

• How to Come Alive with Norman Mailer (2023): An interesting, albeit too-short, documentary about one of the more out spoken American public intellectuals of the 20th century is undercut by its last five minutes, which warns against woke censorship, as if that was the source of the fascist threat to America. Oops! (And you know Mailer, had he still been alive, would have been super worried about “woke” too.)

• It Can Be Done Amigo (1972): A spaghetti western comedy whose main character is based off of a character from the Trinity films, films I’ve yet to see.

• Persuasion (2007): The one Jane Austen novel I’ve actually read! So I’m not speaking out of complete ignorance in this review. For once.

• Sorceress (1982): This low budget ‘80s fantasy film is about an evil sorcerer and the twins destined to take him on. I have no idea where they got the title from. Quite entertaining.

• Trinity and Sardana Are Coming (1972): There are the Trinity films, which I am aware of. And the Sardana films, which I wasn’t aware of. This movie has nothing to do with either of them. Imagine you went to see Batman Vs. Superman and neither Batman nor Superman was in it. Sounds great, right?

• Untold: Shooting Guards (2025): The full story about the Gilbert Arenas gun incident. As Jenn said, any two other individuals and this probably doesn’t happen. What a ridiculous thing to happen.

• Waltz with Bashir (2008): A really creative documentary about memory and PTSD that is unfortunately extremely myopic.

TV I’m Watching:

• Baseball: If you didn’t know, the Jays are good! I couldn’t tell you the last time the Jays had this good a record this far into the season. (They’re on pace for their 5th best regular season ever, so it’s been a while!) So Jenn and I have been trying to catch at least a little bit of each game since All Star. This is a big change for us. Most years we just put it on when there’s nothing else and then we watch the playoffs. I’m actually starting to get familiar with some of the names of the players! It’s like 10 years ago! (I paid much more attention back then.)

• Billy Joel: And So It Goes (2025): As you may know, I do not like Billy Joel’s music. But I found this authorized biography actually quite interesting. It is oddly structured, as it’s only 2 very long episodes. But if a non-fan like me can find it interesting, fans really will.

• Hip Hop Evolution (2016): I have no idea if this is authoritative but it felt like it to us.

• A Murder at the End of the World (2023): Yet another mystery in an era of so many mysteries. But this isn’t your typical closed-room mystery (at least it isn’t so far, we got to episode two). The detective isn’t a genius, she’s gen z, shy and a hacker. It is telling two stories and one isn’t really a mystery - it’s a solved mystery - and we both just don’t care about the second story, told in flashbacks. (After we decided to give up, Jenn looked up the reveal and we are both quite happy we gave up.)

• The Residence (2025): I didn’t think I was a cozy mystery person. Jenn and I have debated whether this very silly and hyper-stylized mystery about a murder at the White House is a “cozy mystery” or a "mystery comedy.” Regardless, I was very entertained. But, as always with a Netflix miniseries, it’s way too long.

• Sirens: Survive the Island (2023): This is one of those bizarre Korean reality TV competitions. This one is only women, sorted by profession, who have to play an elaborate version of capture the flag with other competitions thrown in. We gave up two episodes in because it is even slower Physical 100 - a show we both genuinely enjoy - and just as repetitive.

• Taskmaster:

  • Taskmaster New Zealand: We are re-watching season 5 because we didn’t make it through the whole thing before the episodes disappeared from YouTube last time. We thought we had only watched 1 or 2 but it turned out we had seen at least 4 of them previously. The good news is I’ve watched so many episodes of this show that I didn’t remember most of it.

• Tennis: We watched the latter half of Vicky Mboko’s remarkable run to win the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers. (I hope they add third and fourth sponsors in the future so the name is even worse.)

What I’m Listening to:

• David Bowie: I was listening to Bowie for the first time in a while and I realized I had not reviewed all of his albums. This turned into thinking I needed to do this which turned into me reviewing all of the Nick Cave albums I hadn’t reviewed due to the concert I went to back in May. It took forever but I finally finished all his studio albums. I only reviewed a few live albums. You can find all of my Bowie reviews here. Here are the latest ones:

  • (with Trevor Jones): Labyrinth Motion Picture Soundtrack (1986): Even though I was the right age, I didn’t grow up with this movie. So I don’t care about this.

  • with Tin Machine:

    • Tin Machine (1989): This album is characterized by critics as the beginning of Bowie’s creative renaissance and “alternative rock.” It is mostly generic blues rock and not worth your time.

    • Tin Machine II (1991): This is definitely more interesting then the first record. If you listen to one Tin Machine album, let it be this one. Or whatever.

  • Black Tie White Noise (1993): I kind of like this weird dance album where Bowie plays the sax on every song.

  • The Buddha of Suburbia (1993): I find this TV soundtrack pretty innocuous.

  • Santa Monica ‘72 (1994, 2008): Maybe the best Spiders from Mars live album.

  • Earthling (1997): Despite how dated it sounds now, the hits from this record were one of my introductions to David Bowie in high school so I have fond feelings for it.

  • ‘hours…’ (1999): Pretty dull.

  • LiveAndWell.com (1999, 2021): From the Earthling tour.

  • Reality (2003): Kind of generic.

  • VH1 Storytellers (2009): Worth it if you want to hear some stories about people like Steve Marriott.

  • A Reality Tour (2010): Of the Bowie live albums I’ve heard, this one covers his career better than the others.

  • The Next Day (2013): Probably his best album since the mid ‘90s.

  • ★ (2016): Or rather this is his best album since the mid ‘90s. When it came out, I worried that his death would cause us all to overrate it. But nearly 10 years later I can say that it is one of his two best studio albums post-Scary Monsters. (The other is Outside.)

• Jackson Browne: Late for the Sky (1974): Even though I associate Browne with the Mellow Mafia, I wasn’t exposed to him much when I used to listen to Oldies or Classic Rock radio. So far I’m okay with it, he’s less polished than I assumed.

• Keith Jarrett: Solo-Concerts: Bremen and Lausanne (1973): If you don’t know, Jarrett is famous for supposedly improvising his solo performances without any idea of what he will do when he sits down at the piano. (And infamous for freaking out about audience noise.) I’ve always been skeptical of that story but his live piano performances of the ‘70s are almost always extraordinarily beautiful.

• “Joanna Newsom - Live @ The First Unitarian Church Sanctuary - Philadelphia, PA - 11-16-06”: I had to write a few reviews of covers of Newsom songs and this sent me to YouTube. I’d never watched her live before.

• Ravel: Piano Concertos: Ravel’s piano concertante all have different names and so I have to be careful when I’m listening to a collection that it actually contains the correct pieces.

• Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade (1888): He’s more famous for his orchestrations of Mussorgsky but I think this is his most well-regarded work.

• Sonny Rollins: Saxophone Colossus (1957): I was never a massive Rollins fan for whatever reason.

• Schumann: Symphonies: Not my favourite Romantic composer but maybe I’ll come around.

• Archie Shepp: Four For Trane (1964): This is a funny story. Even though Shepp was already somewhat established Impulse wouldn’t record him. So he convinced Coltrane to intervene and, for some reason he and impulse forced Shepp to record some of his recent work. (There are five tracks as one is written by Shepp.)

• Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor (1904): Somehow kind of amazed I hadn’t heard this one before.

• Stockhausen: Klavierstücke: Given the nature of these compositions, it’s hard to know which collection is close to definitive. But I just find one and listen.

• Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen (1876): Yes, I’m listening to the whole thing, all four of them. It’s easy to understand why so many composers reacted the way they did. This feels very close to modern.