Spielberg – HBO documentary that is too long and too vapid. Its best on his early work and the commentary by Lucas, Scorsese, Coppola, and de Palma during that period is entertaining. There’s a good documentary waiting to be made on that group. The main insight I gleamed is how little prep he likes to have on set, preferring to put himself into positions of uncertainty.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez – This is epic. There will be more on Marquez in the coming weeks. He has an incredible ability to tell you what is going to happen and then completely usurp your expectations of how you get there by growing a character or a relationship in an unexpected direction. The complete Buendía family tree at the beginning of the book is an apt metaphor for Marquez’s approach. Ultimately quite pessimistic.

Black Panther – As refreshing and exciting as it is to see this pan-African created Marvel film, it is still at the end of the day a Marvel film. I’d rank it near the top of the pile.

National Symphony Orchestra: Brahms’ First Symphony

My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman – Normally my cynicism would devour a show so hagiographic about its guests; but, there is a certain boldness in a talk show blatantly choosing such an approach with a highly curated guest list. As if to say, “These guests actually deserve attention. Now let me tell you why.” The first episode with President Barack Obama succeeded, properly placing him in context of the civil rights struggle. This month’s George Clooney episode doesn’t nearly reach the same heights, though I was surprised to learn about Clooney’s humanitarian exploits and his breadth of knowledge in general.

Annihilation

The Joel McHale Show – (with Joel McHale). Fans of The Soup rejoice, its back on Netflix. Once McHale builds up steam, usually around midway through an episode, a certain delirium sets in with the studio audience that is contagious to the home viewer.

Illumination – Polish film from 1973 directed by Krzysztof Zanussi. It follows a young Polish man from the moment he’s admitted to college for Physics to the age of 30 when he is married, has a child and has just completed a PhD. Zanussi utilizes an unusually high shot count (~every 5 seconds) with each conveying slivers of the immense intellectual and emotional development that goes on during this time period. The film is ostensibly about the horrors of having to make these long-term decisions at such a young age in a rigid Communist satellite bureaucracy; but in todays Western context I find this is a relevent concern. More on Zanussi in the coming weeks.

Bob le flambeur