The Kids Are Alright

Friday night’s movie fix, courtesy of Netflix by mail, was a blend of serial killer/ghost story: The Black Phone (2021). The familiar plot concerns the abduction of children, early teens, in an area of Denver. The latest victim is contacted individually by the ghosts of four kids on a supposedly dead phone in the sealed basement in which he is kept. Although the narrative’s path is obvious, director Scott Derrickson, who co-wrote the screenplay with C. Robert Cargill, manages to maintain suspense. It is based on the short story by Joe Hill, son of Stephen King. The film’s best aspect is the young leads, Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw, playing brother and sister of an alcoholic father whose wife committed suicide. The tone is bleak, no punches pulled, the cruelty the young inflict ugly. Suspension of disbelief is required. Ethan Hawke plays the psycho, masked until the final moments. I did not recognize anyone else in the cast. James Ransone is excellent as the coke addled brother of the killer, as is Jeremy Davies as the father of the kids. The latter won an Emmy for his work in the TV series Justified. 165,000+ users at IMDb have rated The Black Phone, forging to a consensus of 6.9 on a scale of ten. It was phenomenally successful at the box office. Produced on a budget estimated at $18 million, it returned $161+ million worldwide. Running time is 1:43. Derrickson seems headed for a terrific career, having also direct Doctor Strange (2016). Anyone uncomfortable with such subject matter and violence should pass. Here are the leads in character. Thames has nine titles under his name at IMDb, McGraw 29. Photo from Google Images:

Glad to see someone’s doing well financially. From nypost.com: “Jackpot! Adele to make $2M a night with Vegas residency, sources say.”

Excerpts from an NYP article by Robert Holden: “In 2021, the city saw its worst year ever for overdose deaths, 2,668… Since 2019, drug deaths are up 78%… 1,400 illegal cannabis shops operate in the open.”

I suppose someone would dub my noting this as racist: “Eagles’ Jalen Hurts receives master’s degree from Oklahoma.” How refreshing. Kudos, Sir. Photo from GI:

Chip Bok cartoon:

Not much action at the floating book shop on this muggy, cloudy day. My thanks to the woman who bought Black Boy by Richard Wright, and to the young man who purchased Plato’s Republic; and to the eagle-eyed guy who doubled back and overcompensated me for the Michael Jackson Thriller CD. I added a lot of music to the inventory, including best-ofs several famous artists. I guess I should cease being surprised at people’s indifference or the presumption that junk is being peddled.

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