A Sad Saturday, For Once

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Good to see you, friends, and thanks for helping me navigate the highs and lows of this eventful week. As you saw in yesterday’s post, we had to say goodbye to Baxter, our sweet Boston terrier, at age 12 (or so we think). It’s so quiet around the house now, and so hard to shake the instinct to greet him when I walk in the door or grab his harness and leash for a midday walk. We’ve been through this enough with previous pets to know that the grief subsides with time, but the outpouring of sympathy and love for him certainly helps us along the way.

Also, it was my birthday on Friday. Hooray …? It would have been kind of a blah year anyway — 52 — but hearing from so many friends definitely helped counteract the sadness. So thank you for that kindness, as well. I went to the beach like I always do on my birthday, because it’s my favorite place, and I’m grateful that my kid still wants to go with me.

But fun stuff happened this week, too, as I took Nic to see twenty one pilots at the Intuit Dome. This is the brand-new, $2 billion future home of the LA Clippers, and it’s super cool-looking and high-tech. The facial ID setup is still a little glitchy (and more than a little creepy), but about 1,000 people work there to walk you through it, and they’re very friendly and helpful. We’ve taken Nic with us to a ton of concerts over the years, but this was his first big arena show, and it’s one of his favorite bands. I like a lot of their music, too, although I’m not young or emo enough to appreciate it fully. Twenty one pilots puts on a massive spectacle, and it was so fun watching my kid sing along with every word to every song.

You are here for movies, though, and movies you shall have. Alonso is at the Venice Film Festival this week, but we stockpiled a few goodies for you in his absence on our Breakfast All Day YouTube channel. Hope you’ll subscribe if you haven’t already:

• ALIEN: ROMULUS SPOILERS. So much gnarly stuff happens in this seventh film in the “Alien” franchise that we wanted to dig into it all a little deeper now that the film’s been out for a couple of weeks. In case you haven’t seen “Alien: Romulus” yet, here’s our spoiler-free review. In theaters.

• STRANGE DARLING SPOILERS. We’ve never gotten a clamor for a review like we did for for “Strange Darling,” so I knew we had to catch up with it. I also knew we couldn’t discuss the twisty thriller the way we needed to without going into spoilers — and we go ALL the way in here. Our good friend William Bibbiani steps in to offer his insights. You’ve been warned! In theaters.

• BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE REACTION. Alonso was kind enough to send me a quick reaction to Tim Burton’s latest from Venice, where the film premiered. We’ll have a full review when it comes out Sept. 6. For now, here’s a little taste.

• BEETLEJUICE (1988). Before we review the sequel, we wanted to revisit the original movie to see how it holds up all these decades later. “Beetlejuice” provided signature roles for Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, and it’s the concentration of Burton’s ethos. What are your memories of the movie?

And as always, if you’d like to listen to all of these reviews on the go, our Breakfast All Day podcast is available through Apple and all the podcast places. Take us with you wherever you’re headed over the long Labor Day weekend.

My dear friend and former What the Flick?! co-host Ben Mankiewicz is hosting a vital and timely series over at Turner Classic Movies that you’ll want to check out before the November presidential election. It’s called “Making Change,” and it’s about the most essential political movies ever made. This is the perfect intersection of everything Ben knows and loves best. The series runs on Friday nights from Sept. 6 through Nov. 1, and features dozens of classics ranging from “Three Days of the Condor” and “The Manchurian Candidate” to “Lincoln” and “JFK” to “Citizen Kane,” which Ben’s grandfather, Herman J. Mankiewicz, wrote. He’ll also have interviews with an impressive array of guests, including Spike Lee, Steven Spielberg, Sally Field and Stacey Abrams. Definitely a must-see.

And if you do see “Strange Darling” and want to know more about the way it was shot, Indiewire has a big interview with cinematographer Giovanni Ribisi. Yes, you read that right. The longtime actor is now working on the other side of the lens, and his 35mm imagery here is beautiful and and striking. His use of lurid color is especially powerful, and the whole thing feels like a ‘70s throwback in vivid ways. Go see the film and then dig into the behind-the-scenes details. If you love process like I do, you’ll enjoy this article.

Thanks so much for sharing some of your time with me this weekend, and again, for reaching out to offer so many supportive thoughts. I promise things will be back to normal around here soon, especially with fall movie season coming. If you’ve found value in my newsletter, I’d be honored if you’d pass it along to a friend. Have a great week, and I’ll see you back here next Saturday.

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