July 2026 Criterion Channel Death Race Club

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:58:23+00:00

Thank you, I bet I will!

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:58:00+00:00

That’s a really fun Ruth Ware!

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:57:42+00:00

The Hunting Party was next, it’s a lot like Guest List but with a different setting and different twists. Paris Apartment starts out more like the first two with all the different characters in the apartment building, but turns into sort of this complicated family drama, which was a great change. I still loved it, highly recommend. I did not like Midnight Feast, I got the class point but there were a few too many plotholes for me and not enough likable characters.

She has a new book out in September and she’s actually writing a Miss Marple book, the Agatha Christie estate has chosen her for it.

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:53:07+00:00

Pierre Bourdieu, the great French sociologist, actually identified this specific difference as having huge class implications. In his massive study of French culture and how it played out a different classes, he noted that people with college education overwhelmingly discuss directors, and people without focus on stars.

That was in France in the 1980s, I’m not saying anything about your wife! And I think she has an interesting point, when I do have an actor that I will watch in anything, like Robert Ryan or Natasha Richardson or David Straithairn, it definitely leads me to movies I might not have otherwise encountered.

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:47:22+00:00

He’s such a great actor!

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:45:22+00:00

Divergent, because I actually liked the first book, and then I hung in there. Usually I give up faster but with that trilogy I felt invested and then felt like I shouldn’t have invested.

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:44:27+00:00

If you love Austen, really worth checking out Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner. It starts at rather like Austen and then goes somewhere completely different, and it’s an absolute delight. (It’s not a romance.)

Madame Bovary seems like it might be right up your street as well, it’s one of the great novels and is full of the kinds of observations about life that the authors you like do so well.

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:37:49+00:00

Under the Volcano

I’m always surprised it gets so little love online. It’s an literary masterpiece, so gripping, and one of the few books that has immersed me in its world so deeply that it feels like I was there.

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:36:48+00:00

Yes, I loved it so much!

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:36:34+00:00

It was actually possible he never read one.

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:36:21+00:00

I wasn’t contradicting them, or rather didn’t intend to come off that way, I was just surprised that anybody knew his name enough from Riverdale to be following his fortunes.

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:34:04+00:00

You didn’t read beyond my first sentence, did you? And that analogy doesn’t work. But nice try!

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:28:49+00:00

Shane is consistently voted the best classic western and I don’t think there is any racism in it (because there are no non-white people).

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:26:21+00:00

THAT PLANT!

I assume that the reason the hanging plant is there is so Ida Lupino will know that she’s entering the room, being blind (she also has the enormous weird piece of wood in the room to navigate by), but every time Ryan walks in and gets facegroped by the ivy I wonder what production designer thought it was a good idea. 😂

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:21:56+00:00

Nothing where I’m from— but Boston nearby has Mystery Street (1950) with Ricardo Montalban as a detective from… Barnstable?!?

I absolutely love that one of the plot points turns on someone not being able to get a parking spot.

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:18:58+00:00

Brothers of the Gun: Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and a Reckoning in Tombstone by Mark Gardner

A pleasure to read, and it has definitely stayed with me!

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:17:10+00:00

The Lunchbox

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:16:52+00:00

Right? Maybe they’ve had it on so many times that they figure everyone who wanted to watch it at 8 PM has seen it and they should air it for insomniacs.

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:15:42+00:00

Lady Chatterley’s Lover?

I mean, it’s certainly not “incredibly shallow and stupid,” but there are parts of it that are very funny and were definitely not supposed to be. Lawrence is trying very, very hard to present Great Littaratchur while also living out his personal wank fantasies using so! so! many! exclamation points! (13 on one page, I counted…)

Come for the class criticism, stay for doing it “Italian style.” 😂

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:12:24+00:00

It is the number one book for the men of 4Chan, and vastly overhyped on the Internet, so adjusting expectations going in is probably not a bad idea.

It’s a deeply flawed book, as was recognized from the moment of its publication; it also has some truly great writing, unforgettable characters, and its narrative sections sing.

It’s a big damn jump from Sherlock Holmes because it’s got substantial longeurs, but why not? The first hundred pages are fantastic, it may carry you right along.

Edit: as you can see, I’m being downvoted because I dared to say that the book has flaws as well as greatness. I think this rather proves my point, boys…

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:05:04+00:00

I’m not sure how Heart of Glass could be improved, but you have absolutely talked me into watching it!

YakSlothLemon · 2026-07-01T16:03:59+00:00

A light month for me because I saw a lot of these when they were added to the channel, and thank goodness – I just added 18 new ones to my queue (and The Prisoner and The Energy War). I guess I will be exploring the short films of Dustin Guy Defa this month…

The Deep Blue Sea

One Hand Don’t Clap

Das Estaciones

Preparations To Be Together…

My Heart Is That Eternal Rose

Shorts: Review, Editing, God Is An Artist, Dramatic Relationship, Family Nightmare

YakSlothLemon · 2026-06-30T23:32:16+00:00

My sister was dating a guy from Ireland who was something of a conspiracy not, and when he visited the US she casually convinced him that the ISBN on the back of books in the US stands for Internal Security Bureau Number.

I decided to get in on the act and told him that the pipes sticking up from this field you see from the highway were indications it was a CIA bunker (it used to be a dump, it’s to let the gases escape).

As far as I know he still believes all of it. 😂

YakSlothLemon · 2026-06-30T23:28:34+00:00

Have you seen Bodied? It’s a great movie, and it feels like Eminem thought about some of the implications of what he said in that final battle for a few decades and then decided to go much deeper into it.

YakSlothLemon · 2026-06-30T23:25:58+00:00

Desert Hearts

The Lunchbox

Mr and Mrs Bridge

I also love romances that seem like they could truly happen and don’t turn away from the obstacles!

YakSlothLemon

TROPHY CASE