So This Is the New Year
A few words about plans
The last few days have been a bit more all over the place than I’d imagined, which has meant no new posts since last Friday, and likely not another one until this Friday. I’ve got plans to continue my Five-Star Three-Star series, but I’m also planning another paid-subscriber-only series for this month: Late Eastwood.
The trailer for Juror #2 was released yesterday. The film, starring Nicholas Hoult, is being called Clint Eastwood’s last. I have no idea if that’ll prove true, but after seeing the trailer, I am fully on board for this courtroom drama.
Funny thing about my excitement for Juror #2, though, is that I’m not some big apologist for Eastwood’s late-career work. I’ve got friends who are big into movies like Richard Jewell and especially The 15:17 to Paris, which from the sounds of it is almost an experimental film. Those friends have made the case to me that Eastwood’s quick-shooting production style has turned into something genuinely interesting, formally speaking. The difficulty of his politics, and also his relationship to his own western star image are just added layers of interest. But for whatever reason, I haven’t seen a new Clint joint since 2010’s Hereafter, a movie I know has admirers, but which I thought pretty risible. I feel compelled to catch up (going through the rest of Eastwood’s back catalogue is also a project I intend to do one of these days, but that’s more ambitious, and I’ve got other auteurist priorities).
Juror #2 is out Nov. 1, and for the next month, I will be watching the full run of J. Edgar, Jersey Boys, American Sniper, Sully, The 15:17 to Paris, The Mule, Richard Jewell, and Cry Macho. I very much look forward to learning what crying macho entails. Again, that’ll be for paid subscribers, so you know what to do…
I’m also planning on watching and writing about some horror movies, because it’s October, of course. Those will be free and kind of random. Really just whatever horror movie catches my fancy, but I thought it important to inform you I’m aware it’s Spooky Season, and I will be participating. I’ve got other, bigger plans professionally that I hope will come together soon enough, and that I can share with you in the coming months. I’ve also got personal plans, or goals (like getting back into reading novels again, fuck I’m undisciplined about that). I still plan on writing a mystery story, though that may take longer than originally anticipated. Plans are, naturally, on my mind as I contemplate the new year. The Jewish new year, that is. Not that I adhere to the Jewish calendar, or Judaism as a religion at all, but I still celebrate Rosh Hashanah, and will be celebrating tonight with family and friends. Apples dipped in honey, the whole deal. The important bits at least, togetherness and all that. As with any new year celebration, there’s a taking stock and a looking forward. I’ve got a lot to take stock of. It’s been quite a year. I am also trying to look forward to better things.
That can all be difficult given the state of things, both personally and globally. I see bombs raining down on Gaza, and on Lebanon, and on Israel, and perhaps soon on Iran, and I shake my head and wonder, what is it all for? I wrote last week about attending the funeral of my family member, Edith Orol, who died at 103. During the service, the rabbi spoke about the edict that we try to leave our corner of the world better than when we got here. Changing the world is no easy task, not on the macro scale, but not on the micro either. It is incumbent on us to try, though, for the sake of ourselves and others. Those living now, and those still to come. So you try, I’ll try, and chag sameach.