I’ve spoken about Atun-Shei Films before but his new seires on Gone With The Wind is already a banger at episode one.

I especially appreciate that he doesn’t flat out reject the film as a work of art because of it’s content. Instead he thoroughly breaks down how Margaret Mitchel was a complicated amalgamation of contradictions: Terrible racist, southern sympathizer but also a rebel against women’s prescribed roles in American life and, albeit weakly so, a southern critic. I have no intention to ever read the book, but anyone can watch the film and see it is art.

This video adds so much context as to why this book and more importantly, this film impacted culture the way it did. What’s also interesting is that the creators of the film thought they were making a transgressive film in part just by removing the KKK scenes. If that is not a barometer for progress I’m not sure what is.

I look forward to the rest of the videos.

I’ll be honest, Michael Mann is not my kind of guy. Whoa, whoa, chill bros, I’ve seen Heat and yes, it is one of the coolest shootout sequences in cinema. But it’s also about two old guys who refuse to retire even after they are past their prime -Too real ammirite? Yes, I’ve seen Thief. We pavement of NYC at night has never looked that good. But it’s main character annoys the hell out of me. I’ve never seen Collateral¹ but I have seen multiple YT Shorts where Tom Cruise does some proto-John Wick-esq moves to a My Chemical Romance song. I’m pretty sure I get it alright?

To be blunt, I find his movies to be all style and no substance. Not that I don’t enjoy style over substance movies² but his style screams “I have a good DP” and not necessarily good direction.

But last week I watched Manhunter and guys, this is a fucking movie.

This film just contains so much texture. Mostly because it’s based on Red Dragon by Thomas Harris, a book that people keep making into things. Where Mann’s other films fall short, almost every frame of this film seems to hold something more, some substance one might say.

Even the scenes that Mann excels at in his other films, -guys working on some sort of analog tech or device, bathed in primary colors, showcased in detail- is perfected here when FBI agents meticulously pour over a piece of toilet paper.

A lot is made of which is the better Hannibal Lector and it really is a moot point. Brian Cox is doing something very different from Anthony Hopkins just as Mads Mikkelsen deviates from them both. Which makes sense. As my friend Andrew pointed it out, the Lector character is rich, “there’s a lot to chew on.” BUT, if I had to choose my favorite would still be Hopkins. He is just faggy in all the right ways.

It wasn’t until later in the film that I realized that many of the shots from this film could be Edward Hopper paintings.

I really loved this film because it made me think of other art. It made me think of books and painters and music. People fear that if their art is not singular then it isn’t worth sharing when the exact opposite is true. Art is us, art is all of these things contained within our experience, that is why we share it and that is why is resonates.

I’m not sure that I’ll go back and rewatch Mann’s films but at least now when Heat inevitably comes up again I can “umm actually” in a Manhunter recommendation.

Warhammer 40K. So much Warhammer 40K.

In between my bouts with the olde English of Moby Dick I need to rest my brain with some schlocky sci-fi. Of course, 40k fills that void very easily. While my backlog of 40k books is a mile long I really wanted to give this new Dark Imperium “era” of books a try.

This new era of lore was kicked off in 2017 by Guy Haley with the book Dark Imperium (no shit?). It fleshes out the first major 40k lore upset since the Horus Heresy: The reawakening of lost Primarch Robute Guilliman.

cough, crickets

Lemme try to contextualize that as best I can: Primarchs are sons of the emperor that either all died or turned evil. For a “good” Primarch to return to the setting is a huge upset to the status quo. Most of the Primarchs are essentially legends in the present 40k universe. To have one walking about refuting or affirming the stories of the past can literally destroy sects of the imperial cult.

This trilogy mostly follows Guilliman as he comes to terms with the imperium rotted to the core. I will admit that I was hesitant to jump into these books. I enjoy my grim dark 40k and a Guilliman return felt a little too much like hope. But, satisfyingly, Haley does a great job making it hopeless. Great job.

I’m also onto the Belisarius Cawl trilogy. Which started weak with The Great Work but now in the second book Genefather, I’m fully invested. Mostly because it pulls in one of my favorite characters of the setting, rouge chaos scientist Fabius Bile (Real subtle name right?). The dichotomy of Cawl and Bile is really fun to read. Not unlike the banter between Trazyn and Orikan in The Infinite and The Divine, with slightly more humanity.³

It also reinvigorated my hate for Black Library and the forced scarcity of their books. Because I wanted to read more books in the new era and most of their books don’t make it to libraries. What I found took my breath away. Just Look at the prices of a paperback book printed in 2023…

$45 for three year old paperback sci-fi novel is insane and it’s all artificial market manipulation.

Oh shit, I just looked up a book that came out last year…

This is straight up extortion. I will be stealing these books from here on out⁴. Arrest me.

** “The way that America’s version of capitalism proves its utility is by adding up all of the profits created by the privatization of public goods without subtracting the value that has been destroyed by the same activity.”

** “I have been invited to appear on Dancing with the Stars — no thanks!”

** It’s shitty, but I also respect the effort and triteness of the troll.