Mind Candy

I just finished Collective on Hulu, and it was amazing and devastating. It starts with a fire at a nightclub in Romania in which dozens of people die. A local sports reporter begins to investigate why so many people died in the hospital AFTER the fire, and starts to uncover a massive web of corruption. The unfettered access the documentarians had to the reporters and the minister of health seemed almost unprecedented. But be warned: this is a hard film to watch, with one shot that will stay with you for a long time.

David Sedaris mentioned in his master class how excited he got when a new Ann Patchett novel dropped, so I decided to give one a try. I read The Dutch House and I kind of fell in love. I have since read Bel Canto and Commonwealth, and I will most definitely read everything she has written. Her writing makes even small characters seem alive, to the point where it's sometimes hard to tell who the protagonist is. The worlds feel as big as real life. 

I watched Another Round on Hulu. I don't see what all the fuss is about. The characters were thinly drawn, the plot was silly, and I didn't really like it.

Nomadland, on the other hand, was amazing. So beautiful, so self assured. Just a great movie that I'm eager to watch again.

I've been watching all the Paul Thomas Anderson movies in order to discuss with a group of friends, and I was reminded how great There Will Be Blood is. I know, it's like saying, "air is good to breathe," but damn, that movie is almost perfect, though Daniel Day-Lewis's acting in the final scene was a little silly. Then I watched The Master, which I had loved when I saw it in the theater. I'm not sure what I loved about it the first time, but this time I found it disjointed and oddly purposeless. I didn't find either main character very interesting. I don't need them to be likable, just interesting.

Last Chance U: Basketball was just as good as its predecessors. What a great series.