Watching 2024

It was a big year for YouTubing (is that even a word) and catching up on old movies that I missed when they first came out.

The Big Dig – video documentary about the stupefyingly expensive project to bury Boston’s infamous Central Artery. It transformed the city but traffic still sucks.

Loki Season 2 – Another dud from Marvel

Echo – Still another dud from Marvel

Armageddon (Ricky Gervais) – Stand up comedy performance. He’s funny and often crude but has some interesting insights.

The Enemy Below – Classic black-and-white WWII movie with US skipper Robert Mitchell playing cat and mouse with a German u-boat. Ripped off by many other movies and TV shows (including Star Trek)

Barbie – Let’s just say, I’m not the target audience for this one.

Two NFL Championship games and the Super Bowl (my total football watching for the year) – I’m not the target audience for this one but the nachos were good.

Chinatown – Another classic, this one I had never seen. Damned fine movie.

The Conversation – Another classic from the 70’s that I managed to miss. Gene Hackman, the character actor’s character actor, delivers a stellar performance along side a cast of even more great character actors.

Old Boy – Super creepy Korean film from 2005. Somehow this didn’t win any Academy Awards.

The Greatest Night in Pop – Documentary about the making of We Are The World. Some singers I’d dismissed come off very well. Weirdest moment: Bob Dylan had to be trained to sing like Bob Dylan by Stevie Wonder.

The Marvels – Yet another dud by Marvel.

The Two Popes – Two popes with different philosophies talk for two hours. And it works because Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Price are wonderful.

True Detective – I watched all four seasons Seasons, but seasons one and four are the keepers. Season one has Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in an acting tour de force. Season four has Jodie Foster and Fiona Shaw and that’s all you need.

My Cousin Vinnie – Still another old film I missed when it came out. Marisa Tomei won an Oscar for a speech about muscle cars of the 1960s.

The Academy Awards – Because it’s a must

Dunkirk – Christopher Nolan’s film about the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Forces trapped on the beach at Dunkirk.

The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) – Okay, now I get it.

The Acolyte – A Star Wars dud. Good costumes, though.

Sherlock – Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Holmes and Watson with Andrew Scott (the Hot Priest) playing Moriarty in a BBC series set in modern times. Starts out strong but gets somewhat formulaic after about five episodes.

More Olympics than I ever want to see again – Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky. For hours and hours.

Hit Man – A vehicle for Glen Powell. Yeah, he’s handsome but his performance didn’t float my boat.

Monsieur Spade – Sam Spade retires to a village in France. So obviously a crime needs to be solved. Clive Owen plays Spade. I had a hard time buying into his casting. Entertaining though.

From Russia with Lev – A documentary from Rachel Maddow about a Ukrainian grifter who became a key player in Trump 1.0’s shenanigans in Kyiv. How he got within 200 miles of the president tells you all you need to know about Trump’s competence.

The Rick Rubin Interview with Rick Beato -YouTube video about the hip hop music fan who started Def Jam records from his NYU dorm room. He produced dozens of great albums by artists ranging from Run DMC to Johnny Cash.

A ton of baseball games including several at Nationals Park – The Nats were interesting until the All Star break. After that they folded like a fitted sheet.

Mat Ryder’s Trans Am Bike Tour videos on YouTube – Inspiring day-by-day account of a Welshman’s trek across the US. Coffee, beer, and Sour Patch Kids can get you a long way.

Sheelagh Daly‘s YouTube channel – Sheelagh’s first bike tour was from Scotland to Croatia. I can’t even.

Endurance – National Geographic documentary about the finding of Ernest Shackleton’s ship that was crushed by ice on a 1910s expedition to Antarctica. I’ve read two books about the failed expedition but still found this fascinating.

Mat Ryder’ Great Divide Mountain Bike tour videos on YouTube – Ryder did this before his TransAm (and after hiking the Appalachian Trail). A bit less polished than the TransAm video but entertaining nonetheless.

Beatles ’64 – Rehash of their first trip to the US using mostly film from an old documentary. Padded by outtakes from the documentary. Other than cleaned-up live performances (thanks to Peter Jackson and Giles Martin) this is not worth the time.

Aftersun – Paul Mescal blew me away in Normal People and he delivers another great performance as a clinically depressed dad on holiday with his tween daughter. Very slow paced and artsy.

Walking from Boston to New York City on the Old Post Road – A YouTube video of a man who walks the walk. Pretty interesting since I have either lived or visited much of the route. Lots of gorgeous old New England clapboard houses, stone walls, and graveyards. Also, traffic and scuzzy businesses.

The Kennedy Center Honors – My wife is a Deadhead so this was must see TV for her. I was more interested in Bonnie Raitt who deserves all the accolades they can throw her way.

All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain: A one-man tour de force in which Patrick Page takes us through the progression of villains in Shakespeare’s plays. I’ve seen Page as Iago and King Lear and was blown away by those performances. This event exceeded my already high expectations.

Conclave – A terrific movie for grown ups. Ralph Fiennes leads a splendid cast as the cardinal who runs the election of a new pope. Cardinals are not birds; they’re snakes. A very, very good movie.