108. Val Kilmer in a comedy about deadly tech
I.
Real Genius opens with a series of illustrations and blueprints of weapons that humans have been making and using since prehistoric times. The film then cuts to a promotional video for a space weapon capable of pulverising people on Earth with a powerful laser beam. The intention is for this to become the US Army’s new, state-of-the-art weapon. Now it just needs to be built.
This is taking place at a university, where the country’s brightest students are racking their brains over complex formulas and problems to make lasers more powerful. The purpose of this is unknown to them – and, for a long time, irrelevant. One of them is Chris, played by Val Kilmer who passed away this week. He is super-intelligent, but all he wants to do is party and chase girls. What’s more, he’s cheeky. For instance, he has to face the professor, who says: “When I brought you in here, I thought you’d be the next Einstein, but…”. Chris interrupts him: “Then I went to the barber.”
Chris is put in charge of the 16-year-old prodigy Mitch (Gabe Jarret), who is his complete opposite in every way. Naturally, they grow closer as the film progresses.
Real Genius is a delightful eighties comedy that has somewhat unfairly faded from the collective cinematic memory. There is a strong focus on student life, but the film is also about the responsible use of new technology. Now, forty years after Real Genius was released, there are still no clear agreements on the use of AI in weapons, for example. In the film, the group of young nerds takes action – who does that in reality?
- - -II.
Once you’ve watched Severance, you might as well keep your Apple TV+ subscription for a while longer for The Studio. It’s a new series from Seth Rogen, who plays the brand-new studio head Matt Remick at production company Continental. Remick sees it as his calling to make good, multi-layered films – the sort they don’t make anymore – but finds himself up against men in suits who are only interested in making as much money as possible.
In the first episode, maintaining a healthy balance is already causing problems. To become studio head, Remick had to promise to make a film about the Kool-Aid soft drink mascot. His boss thinks it could be just as big a hit as Barbie. But then again, turning it into a simple rubbish film is beneath Remick’s dignity. He asks Wes Anderson’s manager if he might be able to help. “You want to ask Wes Anderson to make a Kool-Aid film?” the manager exclaims. “He’ll fire me via Zoom from Liechtenstein, or wherever he is!”
He’s convinced Scorsese to make a Kool-Aid film (albeit via an absurd detour) and then Remick doesn’t dare tell his boss, so he lies, which gets others into trouble. Accompanied by a constant jazz drumbeat, Remick gets himself into ever deeper trouble. At times, it’s Uncut Gems in Hollywood.
You soon realise: this is the most unsuitable studio boss there is. Someone who loves films so much that he doesn’t dare make tough decisions. He wants to be loved by actors and directors, even though as a producer you never really are. The crew only talks to him to secure more budget.
There are now three episodes on Apple TV+, all of which stand on their own. So far, the series is at times a delightfully scathing commentary on the film industry, with good jokes that are sometimes dragged out frustratingly long. A huge cast of Hollywood stars has been assembled, all of whom are willing to poke fun at themselves. A good start for The Studio, but I do hope the upcoming episodes have more to offer than just the producer digging himself deeper and deeper into the same hole.
- - -PS.
YouTuber Eddy Burback makes excellent videos about the inconveniences of modern technology. He does so in a light-hearted yet confrontational way. In his latest video, he tries to get by without a smartphone. An unoriginal idea, but well executed. “Build your own silence” – lovely.
- - -I was at the film premiere of A Minecraft Movie and came out absolutely knackered. That film has such a pace – I haven’t built up enough TikTok skin for that. The film is otherwise mediocre, with surprisingly little ‘mining’ and ‘crafting’. The plot sees a supposedly talented boy end up in the Minecraft world, where he’s told that the creative possibilities are endless. In theory, he could really flourish there, but the only thing he makes is a potato shooter. That might be a commentary on the generation that’s being completely worn down by an overload of phone stimuli. But I don’t think so.
I miss John Wilson, from the brilliant HBO documentary series How to with John Wilson. MoMA made a short film about the New York artist. It’s inspiring to see people doing what they want. And here’s a lovely one: “Documenting without purpose is really important.”
- - -Blogger and professional wanderer Craig Mod appeared on Tim Ferriss’s podcast. Mod is an excellent storyteller you could listen to for hours, which is why the interview is split into sessions of about two hours. In it, Mod tells, among other things, a bizarre story about how he became possessed by a spirit in Tibet. It also covers his life in Japan, productivity and creativity. “Eight hours of walking, taking photos and talking to people is the maximum I can manage,” he says. “By then I’m radically and utterly bored, yet fully present. In the evening I write down what I’ve experienced straight away, because you forget everything so quickly. Otherwise it just evaporates.”
Episode 1 and Episode 2. Also as a podcast.
On Goodreads it says I’ve read thirteen books so far this year. I’ve covered a few of them on this blog, but not all of them. A short selection:
- James by Percival Everett. A retelling of Huckleberry Finn, this time from the perspective of the enslaved James. Reads like an adventure film, is at times intense; highly recommended.
- The White Book by Han Kang. A fragmented collection of short essays on loss, coming to terms with grief and vulnerability. Not an easy read, but very beautiful.
- Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion. A collection of articles Didion wrote in the 1960s. In some respects a product of its time, but what a writer she was. I’ve annotated it endlessly. “My husband likes my family but is uneasy in their house, because once there I fall into their ways, which are difficult, oblique, deliberately inarticulate, not my husband’s ways.”
Seth Meyers and Paul Rudd are drinking in the daytime. I had a laugh.
- - -The first trailer for The Naked Gun is out. It will be the first Naked Gun film since the death of lead actor Leslie Nielsen. Liam Neeson plays his son. The first trailer looks promising. It includes, among other things, a good OJ Simpson joke.
- - -You’ve just read my 108th weekly blog, written between 31 March and 6 April 2025. Subscribe to my free newsletter to receive this blog in your inbox every Sunday.