“The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” – Original 1948 New York Times Review

I just got through watching John Huston’s 1948 adventure film, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, starring Humphrey Bogart and currently sitting at #120 on IMDb’s Top 250 Movies list. A cursory search for commentary on the film turned up the original 1948 review in the N.Y. Times, which ends with a strange sentence.

To the honor of Mr. Huston’s integrity, it should be finally remarked that women have small place in this picture, which is just one more reason why it is good.

Indeed, women barely factor into the 2 hour runtime of the film. Every speaking role is male. The tale is certainly steeped in masculinity, manifesting as naked ambition, paranoia, and a deft commentary on the soul-warping power of greed. Perhaps the reviewer simply thought that the fairer sex were simply too good to be an integral component of a story so bleak, rugged and philosophical. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Via The New York Times

Ten Years on: Alopecia by Why?

Here, we got the razor-sharp lines Wolf had been penning for years focused and condensed into the setting of a band firing on all cylinders, creating a record that’s catchy, memorable, challenging, inventive, playful and very, very dark. All the energy and innovation the Anticon members had shown in their past came together on Alopecia, and it remains just as vital some ten years on.

Source: The Fangasm: Alopecia by Why? / In Depth // Drowned In Sound

Extreme points of Earth – Wikipedia

Volcán Chimborazo — By Dabit100/ David Torres CostalesPictures of Ecuador [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons

I’m a sucker for Wikipedia articles like this one listing off a number of extreme points on Earth. Fascinating to think about the difference between the highest peak above sea level (Mount Everest), as opposed to point farthest from the center of the planet:

The point farthest from the Earth’s center is the summit of Chimborazo in Ecuador, at 6,384.4 kilometres (3,967.1 mi) from the center of the earth (the peak’s elevation in relation to sea level is 6,263.47 m (20,549 ft)). This is because the Earth is an oblate spheroid rather than a perfect sphere: it is wider at the equator and narrower between the poles. Therefore, the summit of Chimborazo, which is near the equator, is farther away from the center of the Earth than the summit of Mount Everest (the summit of Mount Everest is 2,168 m (7,112.9 feet) closer, at 6,382.3 km (3,965.8 miles) to the Earth’s center).

Source: Extreme points of Earth – Wikipedia

The Strange Case of the Missing Joyce Scholar – The New York Times

Two decades ago, a renowned professor promised to produce a flawless version of one of the 20th century’s most celebrated novels: “Ulysses.” Then he disappeared.

Michael W. Manahan ~ 1956-2018

I put together a retrospective, memorial slideshow for my dad. It will be playing at the Visitation / Viewing on Wednesday, June 13, 2018 (tomorrow) at the Deck Hanneman Funeral Home in Bowling Green, OH. Hours: 3-7pm.

Music: Various piano performances from David Nevue and George Winston.

The Disarming Love of Mister Rogers

If anything, Rogers’s simple message feels more revolutionary today than it did 50 years ago. In a culture dominated by the notion that you’re in a constant race and you’re always falling behind, that you always need to work harder and produce more, the space and time to be liked exactly as you are feels like the most precious gift imaginable.

Source: The Disarming Love of Mister Rogers

Ripping a CD Audiobook in iTunes 12.7

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There is an Apple Support Discussion thread about this issue here: Ripping a CD Audiobook in iTunes 12.7

iTunes version 12.7 no longer allows you to batch-edit the “Media Kind” metadata attribute of a ripped audio file. Ergo, it is no longer possible to easily rip a series of CDs comprising an Audiobook straight into iTunes 12.7 and then batch-convert them to an iTunes Audiobook format for ease of use on iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc.

Fortunately, all is not lost, and there are a couple of methods to get around this frustrating, new lack-of-a-feature in iTunes 12.7

Method 1 – using iTunes & Finder

1 iTunes Import Prefs

If you want to rip an Audiobook from a set of CDs, you’ll need to import each disc in AAC format first. iTunes will consider these .m4a files “Music” and you would be able to edit one file at a time and change the Media Kind from “Music” to “Audiobook” from within iTunes, however, you will NOT be able to select more than one track and/or more than one Disc and batch edit them.

2 Show in Finder

So instead, after you have finished ripping every disc of your Audiobook into iTunes with the AAC Encoder set to Spoken Podcast, you’ll want to click on one of the tracks on one of the discs and use the command, “Reveal in Finder” (⇧⌘R)

2 Finder Prefs

Next, go to the Finder Menu and choose, “Preferences” (⌘,)

3 Finder Prefs

Check the box marked, “Show all filename extensions” and uncheck the box marked, “Show warning before changing an extension” (optional)

Unchecking the second box will save you a LOT of time and clicking on a dialogue box which will pop up for each and every file in the subsequent steps.

4 Select All Rename

Now, since you’ve already revealed the files in the Finder, go ahead and select all of the .m4a files and choose, “Rename n items…”

5 Find and Replace

In the “Find:” box, type .m4a
In the “Replace with”” box, type .m4b (this is the filename extension iTunes 12.7 will recognize as an Audiobook)

6 Dialogue Box

If you did not uncheck the box, “Show warning before changing an extension” earlier under the Finder Preferences, you’ll get a warning dialogue box. No big deal, but you’re going to have to click the button, “Use .m4b” once for every single file you’re trying to batch rename… which could take a long time.

Once the files have been successfully renamed with their new extensions, you can add them back into iTunes by choosing, “Add to Library…” (⌘O) from the File Menu.

7 Media Kind Info in iTunes

If you’ve done everything right, you’ll be able to Get Info on one of your Audiobook tracks and see that iTunes now recognizes it as such. You’ll also note that, for whatever reason, iTunes will allow you to change the “Media Kind” to some other type, even when selecting an entire Audiobook. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Method 2: Audiobook Builder

Turns out that there is a pretty nifty app that makes this process more convenient and allows detailed control over the elements of digitizing an Audiobook. Merging multiple tracks together, creating chapter markers and specific metadata tags is pretty easy with this app.

It’s called Audiobook Builder (App Store)

During the time I wrote this article, I used Audiobook Builder to import and format several Audiobook CD sets with success. The ability to stitch together the many tracks across multiple CDs and turn them into “Chapters” inside of one, single file is quite nice. The app can import directly from CD or import files that have already been transcoded in another program, such as iTunes.

There are a number of other features which I have not yet explored entirely, but on the whole, for $5, it’s well worth purchasing, especially if you have a collection of Audiobooks on CD.

Swan Songs: Music for Your Final Exit – Apple Music Playlist

NPR’s All Songs Considrered compiled a user-generated list of 100 songs that people would like to have played at their memorial service / funeral / wake / what-have-you… you know… when you’re dead.

Swan Songs: Music For Your Final Exit

I recreated NPR’s Spotify playlist in Apple Music:

https://embed.music.apple.com/us/playlist/swan-songs-nprs-all-songs-considered/pl.u-JNLGsl6G6l

Some great songs on this list. Also a few head-scratchers (at least in my mind).

I also compiled a few of the songs which I think personally are most fitting for such an occasion. Apple Music Playlist (much much shorter than 100 songs) below:

https://embed.music.apple.com/us/playlist/swan-songs-joels-apple-music-playlist/pl.u-a9q0SRGoGR

2017 – The Year in Review – Music

2017 was a great year for music – as many musicians took up the mandate to go forth and create art that speaks to the mind, heart and soul in the face of a geo-political landscape being haphazardly ripped up by an infantile narcissist.

There were much-balleyhooed releases from Arcade Fire, Beck, Chad VanGaalen, Cold War Kids, David Bazan, Destroyer, The Drums, Fever Ray, Frankie Rose, girlpool, Guided by Voices, Jeremy Enigk, Johnny Jewel, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Kelly Lee Owens, King Krule, Lali Puna, LCD Soundsystem, Lorde, The National, Nick Hakim, Pallbearer, Phoebe Bridgers, Rostam, ShitKid, St. Vincent, Sweet Baboo, Thundercat, Vagabon, The War on Drugs, Why?, The xx, and Zola Jesus… but none of those are in my personal list of the top 15 albums of the year.

I listened to 119 albums in 2017 from almost as many different artists. Here, then, is my short list of the top 15 albums of the year:

15. Hand Habits – Wildly Idle (Humble Before the Void)

I’ll sing it to you softly, it’s so terrifying
When I hold you like a flower
I hold you like an hour glass
I hold you like you’re the only thing I love

~ Flower Glass

Hand Habits is Meg Duffy. Wildly Idle (Humble Before the Void) is her first studio album.

14. Ariel Pink – Dedicated to Bobby Jameson

Pop up goes the weasel
Bobby’s mind has thinned
And I’m the best dressed and they’re not
That sorry ’cause I never came out

~ Do Yourself a Favor

This album is named after Bobby Jameson, whose stage name was Chris Lucey. He was briefly a fixture of the protest music scene in the 1960s. His origins remained mysterious for many years, as he faded from the scene and became an alcoholic homeless bum. Eventually, he overcame the alcoholism and lived for the better part of 20 years in obscurity with his mother in San Luis Obispo County, CA, before launching a series of autobiographical YouTube posts, which he kept up until his death in 2015.

Ariel Pink is Ariel Marcus Rosenberg. Dedicated to Bobby Jameson is his 11th studio album.

13. Sufjan Stevens – The Greatest Gift

As the mystery of the cross
Asa Lovejoy lost the toss
And the fountain in the rain
Where my sorrow still remains
So I run to my friends and lovers
I lay down my life for my brothers
As I abide in peace
So will my delight increase

~ The Greatest Gift

Sufjan Stevens’ devastating Carrie & Lowell was my top album of 2015. Here, he presents a series of outtakes, demos and remixes of songs from that album, along with one or two b-sides.

The Greatest Gift could be considered to be his 13th studio album.

12. Waxahatchee – Out in the Storm

I hoped howling out all this truth
Would be liberating
But all the pity spills from the seams
And everyone questions the unseen

~ No Question

Waxahatchee is Katie Crutchfield. Out in the Storm is her fourth studio album.

11. Big Thief – Capacity

What did you tell me Mary
When you were there so sweet and very
Full of field and stars you carried all of time
Oh and heavens when you looked at me
Your eyes were like machinery
Your hands were making artifacts in the corner of my mind

~ Mary

Big Thief are Adrianne Lenker (guitar, vocals), Buck Meek (guitar), Max Oleartchik (bass), and James Krivchenia (drums). Capacity is their second studio album.

10. Fleet Foxes – Crack-Up

White oceans roar
A frightened fool stokes heatless fire
But if you need to, keep time on me
If you need to, keep time on me

~ If You Need to, Keep Time on Me

Fleet Foxes are Robin Pecknold, Skyler Skjelset, Casey Wescott, Christian Wargo, and Morgan Henderson. Crack-Up is their third studio album, and first full-length since 2011.

9. Father John Misty – Pure Comedy

There’s no one old on Magic Mountain

~ Magic Mountain

Perhaps the most politically-charged album on my top-list. Father John Misty seems to have a lot to say about the worldviews which dominate our headlines today… only trouble is, it’s pretty nigh impossible to discern his own worldview from the content of his lyrics. Ah well, music can be largely subjective and I’m not too concerned with deriving meaning from it at every turn… but when the whole point of a record seems to be to make a kind of statement, perhaps it would help to be a little more concise. In any case, this is a record which captured and held my attention.

Father John Misty is Joshua Michael Tillman. Pure Comedy is his third studio album under the moniker.

8. Fletcher Tucker – Cold Spring

The world I long for stays hidden
Clouds shroud the gates

~ Buried on the Wind

Fletcher Tucker’s haunting, psychedelic-drone-folk album Cold Spring was assembled over the course of four years in Big Sur, CA. It is a beautiful record. See him in the album art, above? You may have to squint. Don’t take my word for it; instead, go and read Aquarium Drunkard’s excellent write-up.

7. Kevin Morby – City Music

Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, Tommy
They were all my friends… and they died.

~ 1234

Kevin Morby was the bassist for Woods and the frontman for The Babies before embarking upon a solo singer/songwriter career. City Music is his fourth solo studio album.

6. Trevor Sensor – Andy Warhol’s Dream

I’m gonna be someone tonight

~ The Money Gets Bigger

When consistency is pitted against talent, consistency is usually going to win. Happily, in the case of Trevor Sensor, we have someone with a consistent penchant for belting out raucous, crowd-pleasing power ballads AND the talent to assemble something new from the potholes and well-worn ruts of this road-most-traveled: rock music. His gravely, muppet-esque singing voice makes every song so much more world-weary and enjoyable.

Trevor Sensor is… Trevor Sensor? Andy Warhol’s Dream is his debut album.

5. Temples – Volcano

Standing up like a wild impala
Standing down like a weekend martyr

~ Oh the Savior

The U.K. has been the source for many of the world’s most storied and influential bands: The Zombies, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Hollies, The Kinks, The Who, The Sex Pistols, Joy Division, The Clash, The The, U2, Radiohead, Coldplay (gasp!), Elbow, Keane, Klaxons, Wild Beasts, Harry Styles- the list goes on! Temples should be added to that pantheon, ’nuff said.

Temples are James Bagshaw, Tom Walmsley, Sam Toms, and Adam Smith (not the Wealth of Nations guy). Volcano is their second studio album.

4. Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly & James McAlister – Planetarium

Tell me I’m evil
Tell me I’m not the name of love
Tell me I’m evil
Tell me I’m not the face of God

~ Saturn

Step aside, Gustav Holst, there are some new kids on the “music of the spheres” block. And they pray for us.

3. Julien Baker – Turn Out the Lights

Cause if you swear that it’s true then I have to believe
What I hear Evangelicals say on TV
And if there’s enough left after everyone else
Then why, then why, then why not me?

~ Happy to be Here

Julien Baker’s spare arrangements, coupled with her Sunday-morning-service vocals and raw, deeply-personal lyrics, make Turn out the Lights a powerful record.

Turn out the Lights is Julien Baker’s second studio album. She is merely 22 years old.

2. Radiohead – OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 2017

I won’t run away no more, I promise

~ I Promise

20 years ago, Radiohead released OK Computer. 20 years later, the album still stands as a massively influential artistic achievement. The entire extra album’s-worth of b-sides solidifies its reputation as a legend.

Radiohead are Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O’Brien, and Philip Selway (and also- shhhh- Nigel Godrich). OK Computer was their third studio album when it was originally released in 1997. Since then, they have released 6 more proper studio albums.

1. Bombadil – Fences

I raise up my binoculars and
I see everything everywhere
I see detail, of that, I’m sure
But I don’t see me, and that hurts the most

~ Binoculars

Bombadil previously topped my list of albums in 2013 with their 4th studio album, Metrics of Affection. I went to see them perform at the Casbah in San Diego on June 19, 2016, prior to the recording of Fences. There, they performed many of the songs that would end up on the album. They even performed with a brand-new microphone all of the band members were pretty stoked on. Each one of them took turns on various instruments and all of them lent vocals by clustering around their shiny new mic. After the show, I chatted for a bit with band-member Daniel Michalak, who is a super-pleasant dude. Fences came out in March of 2017 and has been playing non-stop in my car, my house and my headphones ever since.

From tender love ballads about the mysterious mathematics of love, to excoriating an American Evangelical Christian base who bought into a campaign of hatred, bigotry, naked avarice and plainspoken evil, Bombadil’s sixth full-length has it all. Laden with pleasant arrangements and plenty of hooks, the subject matter of each song can range from adorable sentimentality to withering criticism. For me, Fences is an album that never gets old.

Bombadil are Daniel Michalak, James Phillips, and Stacy Harden. Fences is their sixth studio album. It was recorded at Tiny Telephone with John Vanderslice in San Francisco.

…

Listen to a playlist of some of Joel’s favorite songs from 2017 on Apple Music:

https://tools.applemusic.com/embed/v1/playlist/pl.u-Vk1dtj868j?country=us

Full list of music Joel listened to in 2017:

Actress – AZD
The Afghan Whigs – In Spades
Aimee Mann – Mental Illness
Aldous Harding – Party
Algiers – The Underside of Power
Alex Lahey – I Love You Like a Brother
Angel Olsen – Phases
Arcade Fire – Everything Now
Ariel Pink – Dedicated to Bobby Jameson
Baths – Romaplasm
Beach House – B-Sides and Rarities
Beck – Colors
Big Black Delta – Whoru812
Big Thief – Capacity
Bill Benzel & Jim Earp – Mainland Style
Bing & Ruth – No Home of the Mind
Biosphere – The Petrified Forest EP
Bob Dylan – Triplicate
The Bob’s Burgers Music Album
Bodies of Water – Spear in the City
Bombadil – Fences
Bonobo – Migration
Briana Marela – Call It Love
Chad VanGaalen – Light Information
Chuck Johnson – Balsams
Cold War Kids – LA DIVINE
Cut Copy – Haku From Zero
Cut Worms – Alien Sunset EP
David Bazan – Care
David Bowie – No Plan EP
Derek Webb – Fingers Crossed
Destroyer – ken
Dirty Projectors – Dirty Projectors
Don Bryant – Don’t Give Up On Love
The Drums – Abysmal Thoughts
Elbow – Little Fictions
Father John Misty – Pure Comedy
Feist – Pleasure
Fever Ray – Plunge
Fleet Foxes – Crack-Up
Fletcher Tucker – Cold Spring
Floating Points – Reflections – Mojave Desert
Four Tet – New Energy
Frankie Rose – Cage Tropical
Future Islands – The Far Field
Gas – Narkopop
Gaussian Curve – The Distance
girlpool – Powerplant
Gordi – Reservoir
Grandaddy – Last Place
Grizzly Bear – Painted Ruins
Guided by Voices – August by Cake
Hand Habits – Wildly Idle (Humble Before the Void)
Hello Shark – Break Arms
Hoops – Routines
Jean-Michel Blais & CFCF – Cascades
Jens Lekman – Life Will See You Now
Jeremy Enigk – Ghosts
Jlin – Black Origami
Johnny Jewel – Windswept***
Josh Ritter – Gathering
Julien Baker – Turn Out the Lights
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – The Kid
Kathryn Kluge & Kim Allen Kluge – Silence (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Kelly Lee Owens – Kelly Lee Owens
Kevin Morby – City Music
King Krule – The OOZ
Kraus – End Tomorrow (2016)
Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein – Stranger Things 2 (Original Series Soundtrack)
Lali Puna – Two Windows
LCD Soundsystem – american dream
Liars – TFCF
Lo Tom – Lo Tom
Lorde – Melodrama
Miya Folick – Give It To Me EP
The National – Sleep Well Beast
Nick Hakim – Green Twins
Nightlands – I Can Feel the Night Around Me
Pallbearer – Heartless
Perfume Genius – No Shape
Phoebe Bridgers – Stranger in the Alps
Psychic Temple – IV
Radiohead – OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 2017
Real Estate – In Mind
Rostam – Half-Light
Run The Jewels – RTJ3
San Fermin – Belong
ShitKid – Fish
Silver Fleet – Demo
Slothrust – Show Me How You Want It to Be
Soley, Sin Fang & Örvar Smárason – Singles 2017
Spoon – Hot Thoughts
St. Vincent – MASSEDUCTION
Steady Holiday – Terror EP
Sudan Archives – Sudan Archives EP
Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell Live
Sufjan Stevens – The Greatest Gift
Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly & James McAlister – Planetarium
Sweet Baboo – Wild Imagination
Sylvan Esso – What Now
Temples – Volcano
Thundercat – “Drunk”
Tim Heidecker – Too Dumb for Suicide: Tim Heidecker’s Trump Songs
Timber Timbre – Sincerely, Future Pollution
Tom Rogerson & Brian Eno – Finding Shore
Toro y Moi – Boo Boo
TORRES – Three Futures
Trevor Sensor – Andy Warhol’s Dream
Vagabon – Infinite Worlds
The War on Drugs – A Deeper Understanding
Washed Out – Mister Mellow
Wavves – You’re Welcome
Waxahatchee – Out in the Storm
Why? – Moh Lhean
William Eggleston – Musik
Withered Hand & A Singer of Songs – Among Horses 1 – EP
Woods – Love Is Love EP
The xx – I See You
Zola Jesus – Okovi

2017 – The Year in Review – Film & TV

In 2017, I watched something like 132 films, short films and television series and miniseries. Of those, only 9 were viewed in the theater. Movie-going, as a general recreational activity, seems to be waning in this age of all-streaming-everything-everywhere. Everyone wants to hook up a vacuum tube to the contents of your wallet with their own, proprietary streaming service. For my part, I subscribe to Netflix, HBONow, FilmStruck, Mubi, and Prime Video. Sheesh. Of those, FilmStruck has got to be my favorite, if only for its wide array of hard-to-find, classic art-house cinema. Oh, and they’ve got Criterion, so there’s that!

2017 was also the year in which I finally watched James Cameron’s box-office shattering epic Titanic for the very first time. I sat though it twice. Subsequently, I watched Roy Ward Baker’s A Night to Remember, but that’s going to be fodder for a different piece of writing another day…

Without further ado, here are 15 of the best films I viewed for the very first time in 2017:

15. It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

When, in 1962, Stanley Kramer set out to shoot this insane, star-studded, comedy-chase-caper with nearly every famous comedian alive, few people would’ve predicted that he could pull it off. The original cut of the film clocked in at somewhere around 5 hours… I viewed the Criterion Collection edition which is only a paltry 197 minutes long. Shot all over the place in Southern California, the film contains a collection of comedy and action set pieces that I defy any modern film maker to replicate without leaning heavily on CGI.

Unwisely, the film was remade in 2001 by Jerry Zucker as Rat Race. While the original shines with the brilliance of a thousand dying suns… when pitted against Zucker’s re-imagining, the later film winks like the power light of a VCR in standby mode.

I hope they screen it again in 70mm someday. Jonathan Winters’ scene at the gas station is the stuff of legend.

14. The Trip

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon “play” themselves on a cross-country trip to the north of England to review a number of local, high-end restaurants. With the framing of a documentary / film essay, the talents of Mr. Coogan and Mr. Brydon are put on full display as they get on each others nerves, chat about poetry and the dramatic arts, and compare career moves. Ultimately, the film seems to be a meditation on the idealistic fantasy of a poet, or so-called “romantic” person leading a lifestyle unfettered by trivial concerns, giving way to the realization that relationships are more important than professional accomplishment.

There are two sequels to this film, The Trip to Italy and The Trip to Spain. I also watched the former during this year and very much look forward to viewing the latter as soon as I can.

13. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

The eighth entry in the ongoing commercial saga that is Star Wars is one of the best films in the entire franchise. Drawing obvious comparisons to The Empire Strikes Back, Rian Johnson’s singular foray into a galaxy far, far away as both writer and director is many things, but I fear the audience will likely be split on how “satisfying” the story is for all of the fans who imbue every corner of every frame with deep, speculative significance.

In many ways, the whole point of The Last Jedi seems to be to demystify The Force and wrest it from the grasp of the dualistic orders of the “Jedi” and the “Sith,” choosing to restore it to its original place: in the hands of everyone. Please note the broom. The Force isn’t some magical essence that you can ‘get’ or that some people are just ‘born with’ – The Force is a great equalizing force that anyone can wield, if they practice at it. Sure, there are wise old ‘masters’ with esoteric knowledge of the many powers granted by The Force, but that doesn’t mean they get to hold some kind of metaphysical monopoly over it. TLJ seems to be most concerned with removing all of the scaffolding supporting maniacal fanbase expectations so that the audience well and truly will have no idea what to expect next.

Perhaps people rely too much upon popular culture to give them an identity.

12. Phantom Thread [in 70mm]

In what is reported to be Daniel Day-Lewis’ final film, he reunited with writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson to tell the fictional tale of a renowned designer of ladies dresses in Postwar London.

Reynolds Woodcock is the character Day-Lewis brings to life, and he may perhaps bear a mysterious curse, a spiritual mark left on him by his late mother, for whom he designed a wedding gown. Also starring Lesley Manville and Vicky Krieps, this is a film of quiet power and a surprising quantity of amusing moments which never failed to elicit audible laughter from the audience I saw it (presented in 70mm) with in Los Angeles.

This may be Paul Thomas Anderson’s most straightforward narrative endeavor since Punch Drunk Love. There are many similarities between the two films, and cinematic homage is paid to Altman, Hitchcock and Kubrick.

11. La tortue rouge (The Red Turtle)

A remarkable animated film from the Dutch filmmaker Michael Dudok de Wit. Produced by Studio Ghibli in Japan, this fairy-tale unfolds with almost no dialogue of any kind. A hypnotic experience.

10. Stalker

A major restoration of this film was released by Criterion in 2017. Andrei Tarkovsky’s final Soviet film is a mesmerizing, deeply philosophical journey into the unknown… but perhaps not the unknowable. Stalker is a technically impressive feat, containing numerous inventive techniques. The film has been a major influence on cinema since its release.

The through-line of Stalker, we might surmise, is emblematic of a schism between East and West, yet at the heart, lies The Zone – a place of truth and revelation. Can anyone be willingly led to it? Or does the journey offer too many opportunities for self-aggrandization and despair?

This film is best watched alone. And uninterrupted. Cinema at its finest shows the audience themselves.

9. The Big Short

Films can bring to light issues in ways that newspaper articles, judicial inquiries, and Police investigations simply cannot. In the case of The Big Short, this amounts to encapsulating the nucleus of the recent financial crisis in the US and presenting it in a way that is all at once sardonic, hilarious, and sobering.

More than anything, though, this film underscores what happens when people PAY ATTENTION. There are constant happenings in day-to-day life which deserve our undivided attention, however, we allow ourselves to dismiss or ignore them and rationalize that no one person has the mental capacity to grasp every current event as it unfolds. The Big Short provides the welcome reminder that, for every 999,999 people going about their business in abject oblivion, there is 1 who has taken a moment to stop and PAY ATTENTION.

8. Midnight Special

Jeff Nichols’ 4th directorial effort is a heart-pounding sci-fi road-trip epic that culminates in a thought-provoking way… perhaps an allusion to the eternal nature of the human soul which is encased in the mortal flesh of the human body.

Nichols’ prowess as a filmmaker and storyteller is on full tilt as the story unfolds. This is what Hollywood needs more of: skilled filmmakers who are deft with their thematic elements and don’t beat the audience over the head with sentimentality and preachy, dogmatic suppositions. If you have a sensitive spirit, this film will touch you. And you won’t need it to validate your opinions or core values.

7. Coco

Having explored the nooks and crannies of childhood nostalgia with the Toy Story series of films, and shown us the post-human landscape of Wall-E and delved into the nature of memory and human emotions with Inside Out, Pixar has turned its attention to a new, kid-friendly subject matter: death.

Yes, death, that cold eventuality that will come to claim us all, Ebenezer Scrooge-style. Except, with Coco, we have the colorful, cultural veneer of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) ~ a distinctly Mexican holiday that may even trace it’s origins all the way back to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl (say that five times fast) ~ to stave off the macabre nature of the subject matter.

No, really, Coco, isn’t about death, per se. It’s about memory and the power of familial bonds (or lack of familial bonds). This film is impossible to view without shedding real tears. If you find that you can watch it without crying, then I think you may need to go see a psychiatrist or something, because you’re goofed up if this doesn’t get your water works flowing.

6. The Fugitive

This is a list of films I’ve never seen before, jeez. Stop saying, “I can’t believe you’ve never seen it!” and go get a dribble cup.

Yes, up until Anno Domini 2017, I hadn’t ever seen The Fugitive. Blame my parents. They were super restrictive and judgmental about what I could or couldn’t see growing up. And then… blame me for not bothering to pop this one in the old trusty DVD player for a solid 10 years after moving out of the house. It has Harrison Ford in it, for crying out loud! How could it NOT be incredible!?

5. A Face in the Crowd

Elia Kazan’s film, based on the screenplay by Budd Schulberg, is a riveting tour de force. Andy Griffith, yes, Sheriff Andy of Mayberry, in his first film role, plays Larry ‘Lonesome’ Rhodes, an Arkansas drifter who is propelled to the heights of national fame. As his fame and power expand exponentially, Rhodes is gradually revealed to be a narcissistic megalomaniac, drunk off his own celebrity. Believing he can do or say no wrong, he ascends higher and higher.

This film has obvious and bone-chilling parallels to our present circumstances in America. Yet, I don’t think even Budd Schulberg could have predicted the measure of the ambivalence and self-assured ignorance of large segments of the American public. Lonesome Rhodes may be a despicable, selfish, evil human being… but who in the American public ever truly cared about moral character or personal integrity? Surely there are other criteria which matter more, when assessing the value of a public figure? He’s popular and speaks out on what people want to hear, right?

I think he’d be right at home, here today.

4. Time Piece (1965)

Jim Henson made a short film in 1965 and it was nominated for an Academy Award. I had never even heard of it, until this year.

Time Piece is a Kafka-esque short film about being trapped in the mundane prison of daily life. Told in a series of syncopated edits, set to the rhythm of a ticking clock and sometimes the beating of a human heart, this is one of the most highly-creative, unique and unsettling short films I have ever seen. Jim Henson has long been one of my childhood heroes, but here, 52 years later, he has shown me his ingenuity and bravery as an adult. Inspiring.

3. I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore

Elijah Wood & Melanie Lynskey reunited on-screen for the first time since Over the Garden Wall for Macon Blair’s directorial debut, a Netflix exclusive (yay, Netflix).

The premise is simple enough: a woman’s house is burglarized. The woman vows revenge upon the burglars. She enlists the help of her neighbor in finding and exacting justice upon them. Things don’t quite play out the way she has fantasized that they will, though.

With this film, Macon Blair has established himself as one of the filmmakers who may claim themselves to be heirs apparent to The Coen Brothers. Here, he tackles concepts of trespass, malcontent, violation and fear, all within a cinematic construct which is by turns humorous, quirky, melancholy and horrifying. Is this world merely a shadow realm through which we all must pass? Does anything we do here truly matter?

2. Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Taika Waititi’s third full-length feature, starring Sam Neill and Julian Dennison, is a charming, offbeat tale of two fugitives on the run from the short, stubby arm of kiwi law. This is the kind of picture that pushes every button in seemingly random fashion, until the entire elevator panel is lit up like a Christmas tree. The cumulative effect is a heartwarming story of love, sacrifice, and unassailable machismo. I haven’t seen Waititi’s 4th film, yet… a little indie feature called Thor: Ragnarok, but I’m keen to do so.

1. Twin Peaks: The Return

As the old adage goes, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” ~ often attributed to Edmund Burke, although it may be a paraphrase of various other famous persons from history…

Twin Peaks: The Return could be described with an inversion of that quote, something like this, “For evil to be defeated, all that is necessary is for good men to be unwavering in doing something about it.”

For anyone who was a fan of the 1990 television series that only ran for two seasons, spanning 30 episodes before it was canceled, the news that original series creators David Lynch and Mark Frost had been given a truckload of money by Showtime to bring the series back to life was a huge surprise. Expectations certainly ran high. Lynch took more than 4 years to write, cast, shoot and edit the “third season,” as it came to be known, of a show that originally began airing more than 25 years ago.

Finally, the release was set for 2017. Many of the show’s original cast returned to reprise their roles in the new season. As Laura Palmer told Agent Cooper in backwards-speak in the Red Room, “I’ll see you in 25 years.”

Not less than three cast members who appear in the third season died before the first episode aired, including:

Catherine E. Coulson (Margaret Lanterman, “The Log Lady”)
Miguel Ferrer (Agent Albert Rosenfield)
Warren Frost (Dr. Will Hayward)

Additionally, Harry Dean Stanton, who reprised his role as Carl Rodd, a character who appeared in the feature-film prequel, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, died on September 15, 2017, less than two weeks after the last episode aired on September 3, 2017, at the age of 91.

The themes on parade over the 18 hour arc of Twin Peaks: The Return are varied and multi-faceted, and the show never loses its mystique or charm, nor its palpable sense of dread.

For me to describe anything in the show is really going to be a fool’s errand – you have to watch the original series, then watch Fire Walk with Me and The Missing Pieces (if you can), in order to be able to fully appreciate what Lynch has done with The Return.

Dozens of scenes occur over the course of the show which could be plucked out and showcased as vignettes or short films all their own. Mulholland Drive feels more like an extended side-story episode from Twin Peaks now, after seeing this.

…

Alright folks, those are my top 15 “films” of 2017. Here’s looking forward to unearthing more great gems from the past in 2018!

Full List of Joel’s 2017 viewing:

Regular = movie watched on a TV or other small screen device
BOLD = denotes theatrical viewing
Italic = denotes a “television series” or “mini series”
Underlined = denotes a short film (30 minutes or less)

7 Days in Hell
Adventure Time: Seasons 8 & 9
Affliction
Alexander the Grape (1965)
Anne with an E: Season 1
Archer: Seasons 6 & 7
Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Seasons 1, 2, 3
Bernie
La belle et la bête (Beauty and the Beast) (2014)
The Big Short
Black Mirror: Seasons 1, 3
Blade Runner: 2036 Nexus Dawn
Blade Runner: 2048 Nowhere to Run
Blade Runner 2049
Blade Runner: Blackout 2022
Blood Simple.
Carnal Knowledge
Cat and Mouse (1960)
Central Intelligence
Coco
Coda
Cube
The Dark Knight
David Lynch: The Art of Life
Death of a Salesman (1985)
Death Note (2017)
Denial
The Discovery
Doctor Strange
Documentary Now: Season 51 (Season 2)
Dog City (1989)
A Face in the Crowd
Fantastic Planet
Five Came Back
The Fugitive
The Gang’s All Here
Game of Thrones: Season 7
Genius
Get Out
Gravity Falls: Seasons 1 & 2
The Great Dictator
The Great Muppet Caper
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction
Heaven’s Gate
Hauru no Ugoku Shiro (Howl’s Moving Castle)
The Hudsucker Proxy
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Hymyilevä mies (The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki)
I Don’t Feel At Home in This World Anymore
I’m Not There
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond – Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton
The Keepers
The Kid Stays in the Picture
Kubo and the Two Strings
The Last Man on Earth: Season 1
The LEGO Batman Movie
The Leftovers: Seasons 1, 2, and 3
Lighthouse Island (1989)
Living with Dinosaurs (1989)
Logan
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Edition)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Extended Edition)
The Man in the High Castle: Season 2
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Masterminds
Midnight Special
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Moana
Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke)
Monster Maker (1989)
Mr. Pickles: Seasons 1 & 2
The Muppet Christmas Carol
Muppets from Space
The Nice Guys
A Night to Remember
No Country for Old Men
Nuit et brouillard (Night and Fog [1956])
Pete’s Dragon (2016)
Phantom Thread [in 70mm]
Platoon
Porco Rosso
The Prestige
La tortue rouge (The Red Turtle)
Rick and Morty: Season 3
Ripples (1967)
A Room with a View
Run, Run (1965)
Sausage Party
The Secret of Kells
A Series of Unfortunate Events: Season 1
The Shape of Water
Sicario
Silicon Valley: Season 4
Something Wild
Song of the Sea
Speilberg
Spotlight
Stalker
Star Trek: Voyager: Seasons 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
The Station Agent
Superjail: Seasons 1 & 2
T-Men
Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta (Castle in the Sky)
Time Bandits
Time Piece (1965)
Titanic (twice)
Tour de Pharmacy
The Trip
The Trip to Italy
Trollhunters: Season 1
Twin Peaks: Seasons 1 & 2
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
Twin Peaks: The Return
U.S. Marshalls
The Visitor
Wedding Crashers
Welcome to Collinwood
Wheels That Go (1967)
The Wind in the Willows (1987)
Wonder Showzen: Season 1
Wreck It Ralph
Xavier: Renegade Angel: Seasons 1 & 2
The X-Files: Season 6
The Year Without Santa Claus
Zero no Tsukaima: Season 1
Zero no Tsukaima: Season 2
Zoolander 2