Mental Health Watch: Bedlam (1946)

Watched:  08/14/2026

Format:  TCM on DVR

Viewing:  First

Director:  Mark Robson

Well, this is *weird*.  Somehow, unintentionally, I watched two movies by the same director in the same day, the other being Valley of the Dolls.  Mark Robson everybody.  Apparently he made Patty Duke cry a lot.  I wonder if he made Boris Karloff run away weeping.

This is an historical drama with large dollops of political commentary and a dash of the horror film - we do have Boris Karloff in the movie, after all.

The movie is essentially about a young woman, Nell (Anna Lee), who is the protegee of the porcine Lord Mortimer.  Mortimer is a rich idiot living well in the world of 1770's-ish England.  He sees himself as a generous fellow, and one of the things he does is employ Sims (Boris Karloff) to manage a lunatic asylum, which has a different name, but is commonly called Bedlam.  

"Bedlam?" you say.  "Doesn't that mean chaos... or... crazy...?"  Yes.  And guess where we got that word, humans of 2026?  Yeah, the English language is a wild ride and I am sure this will make some well-meaning people very cross, indeed.

Anyway, two things happen.  1.  Nell considers herself a stone-hearted jerk immune to the suffering of others, surely a useful tool in an era where people were in rags begging for scraps as you rolled by in your gold plated wagon pulled by local urchins.   She visits Bedlam, which the rich do for their personal amusement.  Back in these days we called the mentally ill "idiots" and "fools" and it was all a good time. However, Nell is horrified.  Shit is bad in the badly run lunatic asylum.   2. She meets a Quaker who was also there to take work as a mason.  He says "I can tell you're secretly a good person", which she denies.

However, Nell *is* a good person with a conscience.  She seeks to use her favor with Lord Mortimer to improve the lot of the inmates, but Sims convinces Mortimer this will be costly and if he spends the money, he'll lose favor in the Royal Court (of King George.  Boo.  Go, America!).  

Sims contrives to have Nell put in the asylum.  

There is *a lot* going on here which, 20 years ago, would have seemed like a hyperbolic echo of the misguided ways of the past, and now just feels like "oh, yeah, totally".  Rich people?  Who can't see other people as human?  Almost impossible to imagine.

It's a good movie!  Well acted, hits all the right beats, tells the story in 80 minutes, in-and-out.  This sort of movie is my bag, baby.  And Karloff's fate is some prime "Val Lewton was here" stuff.  

  

60's Watch: Valley of the Dolls (1967)

Watched:  08/14/2026

Format: TCM

Viewing:  First

Director:  Mark Robson

This movie was not for me.  I did not enjoy it.

I imagine in 1967 this was quite a thing, and I can understand the cultural moment and the reason why people cared.  Young women engaging with foul language, occasional partial nudity and frank depictions of sexual relationships.  It's the earliest I can remember a studio movie being this blunt about sex, drugs and Hollywood.  

Like much of the 1960's, it feels weirdly naive and you can't shake the feeling you're just watching a lot of dumb people making bad decisions.  And that can be a movie.  And, indeed, it was.

The movie follows three women.  Patty Duke plays a girl who gets discovered, becomes a star of screen and stage, and gets hooked on pills - which she calls "dolls".  Sharon Tate plays a woman who is hot but untalented, and who marries a guy and has to put up first with his sister/ manager, and then his chronic condition.  And then Barbara Parkins plays a good New England girl who becomes a secretary, then just seems to hang around her former agent as his girlfriend.  

The movie is mostly about why taking a bunch of pills is a bad idea, why letting an older guy use you is a bad idea, and why porn as a career is maybe not ideal.   

I didn't like a single character nor care what happened to them.  That's not true - Susan Hayward uses her middle-aged-crankiness to good effect as an aging actor who hates Patty Duke.

It just feels like a very long soap opera, but was probably revelatory at the time.

I *think* that what I wanted to see was the quasi-sequel, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, which famously is written by Roger Ebert and directed by Russ Meyers and sounds like a fever dream that took the brown acid. 

This movie was so tedious, it took me four viewings to finish it.  But finish it I did.  Why?  I kept thinking something good would happen.  And it didn't.  

I was mostly bored to tears.

I just wish Patty Duke's cousin had also been in this movie.

Epic Watch: The Odyssey (2026)

Watched:  08/09/2026

Format:  Regal Westgate

Viewing:  First

Director:  Christopher Nolan

Well.  I'm the last person you know to finally see The Odyssey (2026).  All I can say is: You Oughta-See It!

Fortunately, you can't really spoil The Odyssey unless you haven't attended high school in a number of western countries.  (An hour after I typed this sentence, Jamie, unprompted, offered up she doesn't think she read it, but she still knew all the story beats, but wasn't sure why.  I assure you, I have not been, like, babe.. babe...  and then Odysseus?  He disguised his guys like sheep to get out of that cave!) 

I'll keep it short, because enough has been said about the movie.  

Yes, I liked it a great deal.  I haven't read any version of The Odyssey in 35 years, but it hit the beats I remembered.  So, check.

Catch-Up Watch: The Menu (2022)

Watched:  08/08/2026

Format:  Library DVD

Viewing:  First

Director:  Mark Mylod

While watching The Menu (2022), I kept thinking - this is a movie that wants to be a "fuck the rich" movie, but doesn't seem to want to actually say what the problem is.  

For all it's aspirations, the movie only occasionally rises above any other flick where people are held hostage with increasing horrors inflicted upon them.  It has lofty goals as a social commentary, of making poetic commentary about food and nourishment and art - And you've likely seen better.  It's stylish and sets itself up as comment upon the exploitation and pretentions of the elite, but then has nothing to say about it beyond a college freshman ranting in their dorm room.  Nor does it turn the lens back on those inflicting the damage - the cult-like crew of Ralph Fiennes' kitchen who have happily gone along with the plan that drives the movie, who had to know what they were signing up for if they wanted to work in Michelin star restaurants. 

Gangster Watch: The Public Enemy (1931)

Watched:  08/07/2026

Format:  TCM on DVR

Viewing:  First, as it turns out

Director:  William A. Wellman

I was positive I'd seen The Public Enemy (1931) either in film school or a few years after.  For your purposes - I had never seen this movie, and I am genuinely surprised by this fact.  I do like a genre deep dive and this is a classic.

On reflection, I am positive I've seen Little Caesar (I remember the "is this the end of Rico?" bit), but far less so that I've seen Scarface.  But I will likely give those a spin soon as those movies, along with The Public Enemy, were the breakout crime movies that basically locked in gangster pictures as part of the talkie-era.

The movie is Pre-Code, and I'm sure if I looked it up, sure seems like it would have helped drive the creation of the Code.  There's some straight up sexual allusions in the movie, violence that surpasses what would come later, and despite the book-ends on the film assuring the audience that "this is bad!  We're not glamorizing these people!" it's absolutely at least making a life of crime seem exciting while it lasts.

Coen Bros. Western Watch: True Grit (2010)

Watched:  08/06/2026

Format:  BluRay

Viewing:  Second

Director:  Coen Bros.

Shortly after watching Supergirl, which was based on a comic that was clearly an homage to the novel and/or movies of True Grit, I decided to listen to the audiobook to better remember details and ponder the differences.  After, I suggested to Jamie that she read through my paperback.  The book is short, and Jamie reads about a book a week, I think.

And, lo, it came to pass that Jamie asked to re-watch the 2010 movie of True Grit, which I had not seen since the theater.  Fortunately, I'd picked up the BluRay on the cheap at some point in recent years.  

The Coens' work has often been homage.  Miller's Crossing is Dashiell Hammett.  Big Lebowski is Raymond Chandler stoned to the gills.  A Serious Man is the book of Job.  O Brother, Where Art Thou? is The Odyssey.  But they have done straight adaptations, like The Lady Killers.

True Grit (2010) is most famous as a John Wayne film, but is a book by Charles Portis.  In 2010, this version was well-received, I believe.  I recall seeing it and liking it quite a bit, and was impressed with this young girl, Hailee Steinfeld, who played Mattie Ross, and recall I hoped she'd get more work.  (spoilers:  she did.)

Music Watch: American Pop (1981)

Watched:  08/05/2026

Format:  TCM on DVR

Viewing:  First

Director:  Ralph Bakshi

Jesus.  Wish I'd seen this 30 years ago.  

Oddly, this movie was on TCM because it was a selection by actress Pamela Adlon, who was guest-hosting this film and Fame.  I don't know much about Adlon, but I think we could hang based on her description of her movie watching. 

A sweeping, multi-generational story starting with a turn-of-the-century Russian shtetl to the 1970's stages of American rock arenas, American Pop (1981) is a singular work of art.  I'm kind of pissed at whomever told me in the 1990's that I didn't need to see it.

Anyone with a love of 20th century American history, particularly pop culture (see the tag line for this blog) should give American Pop a spin.  It's a movie told in montage - but with mixed media, illustrated montage, combining cell animation derived from rotoscoped character work, stylized paintings, stock film footage, and more.  

Music Watch: 24 Hour Party People (2002)

Watched:  08/03/2026

Format:  Criterion

Viewing:  First

Director:  Michael Winterbottom

Somehow in the past two weeks, I was in a group chat (in theory about Texas football) where the folks were discussing 24 Hour Party People (2002), which I'd never seen.  Then, an artist I follow on socials was discussing it this last week. When I saw it was recently added to Criterion, I decided now was the time.

A while ago I took to watching some documentaries on YouTube (of varying professional quality) about bands I like, or liked once upon a time.  And it became clear that while I am aware of bands and some of their music, I sure don't know much about what it's like to come up in the British music scene.  You get a real feel for how small England really is sometimes with how the music scene there is treated like a popularity contest with winners and losers and how much bleed over there is between fan bases.  

24 Hour Party People covers the rise of the Manchester music scene, from the mid-70's to the early 90's.  I vaguely remember it coming out but in 2002, I was a busy bee.  And, frankly, a small film about a music scene I wasn't that into wasn't the biggest draw.

Spidey Watch: Spider-Man Brand New Day (2026)

Watched:  08/02/2026

Format:  Regal Cinema

Viewing:  First

Director:  Destin Daniel Cretton

Look, I'm respecting that the movie-advertising is asking that we not discuss this movie publicly on social media, so I'm doing what I can here.

HERE THERE BE SPOILERS

Canon Watch: Addams Family Values (1993)

Watched:  07/31/2026

Format:  YouTube

Viewing:  Unknown

Director:  Barry Sonnenfeld

Absolutely one of my favorite comedies.  And, why, 30 years later people still talk about Wednesday Addams.  

Still, a movie where everyone is bringing something special.  

No real reason to say much about the movie today, so I won't.  But just give it a whirl and spot a pre-fame Tony Shaloub as a sailor in a bar, a Broadway famous Christine Baranski - just before she appeared in Cybill and was launched to media fame, as well as Nathan Lane as the desk sergeant, before Lion King made him a thing.  

It's unbelievable Raul Julia passed a year later.

Jamie reminds me we did a podcast on Addams Family.