Don Hall 1/19/23 Don Hall 1/19/23

I Like to Watch | TÁR

The discovery of my years is that when you refuse to take sides in a dispute that has little to do with you, you present a litmus test for those with perceived skin in the game unintended.

Don Hall 7/21/22 Don Hall 7/21/22

I Like to Watch | Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

While the world may be oversaturated with too much MCU, I'm not. I am, however, thinking Waititi might need a break. He is almost the MCU Joel Schumacher.

Don Hall 7/14/22 Don Hall 7/14/22

I Like to Watch | Elvis (2022)

Like The Greatest Showman—a movie musical that completely reframes the huckster P.T. Barnum into an equity-chasing social justice type—this is not intended to be an accurate biopic. It is a meditation on the legend that was Elvis Presley.

Don Hall 6/18/22 Don Hall 6/18/22

I Like to Watch | The Rocky Saga (1976 - 2006)

This is the wisdom of Stallone. The wisdom of someone had to fight like hell just to star in the movie he wrote for himself. The wisdom of someone looked down upon, laughed at, and ignored yet refused to give up. That's the legacy of Sylvester Stallone and it is most crystallized in his character most like himself.

Don Hall 2/20/22 Don Hall 2/20/22

I Like to Watch | Inventing Anna (2022)

Why did any of these people believe in her bullshit?

Because she didn't care if you liked her. Unlike everyone else among our affirmation-addicted bunch of apes, the Anna Delvey of Shondaland didn't give two shits what you thought of her or even if you bought her bullshit.

Don Hall 2/8/22 Don Hall 2/8/22

I Like to Watch | Magnolia (1999)

When I went to see Magnolia I discovered a film that captured this concept more clearly, more beautifully, than I could have ever conceived of myself. I was transcendent.

Don Hall 12/14/21 Don Hall 12/14/21

I Like to Watch | Succession (HBO)

I hated it. I loved it. But I really hated it. I loved the score (especially the opening which I ended up watching every single episode because the music is so ridiculously Punch Drunk Love perfect). I hated every character, every scene, every moment.

Don Hall 11/30/21 Don Hall 11/30/21

I Like to Watch | The Beatles Get Back (2021)

I won't likely sit through all eight hours again but I'm already dipping back in. It's like being in a room with four effortlessly talented musical legends and hoping they can get it together if only for the music's sake.

Don Hall 11/24/21 Don Hall 11/24/21

I Like to Watch | Dopesick (Hulu)

Opioids are not created for recreation like quaaludes, weed, or coke. Opioids are created for destruction in exchange for massive profits.

Don Hall 11/9/21 Don Hall 11/9/21

I Like to Watch | Eternals (2021)

My wife asked me what my favorite moments were and I was struck dumb. I couldn't think of a single moment. "I loved the end credit scene?"

Don Hall 5/27/21 Don Hall 5/27/21

I Like to Watch | Promising Young Woman (2020)

Travis Bickle was a young man traumatized by war and the abandonment he felt as society realized he was fucked up by a system designed to fuck him up. Cassie Thomas is a young woman traumatized by a system in place designed to fuck her and discard her like a piece of trash.

Don Hall 5/4/21 Don Hall 5/4/21

I Like to Watch | The Walking Dead

At the (long) tail-end of the pandemic, the rest of the 10th season of The Walking Dead resumed airing and I found myself undeniably un-inspired. I didn't really care much for The Whisperers and after they bumped Rick Grimes off and then carted him away on a helicopter, the show sort of fizzled. I couldn't figure out what was missing (besides Rick) so I decided to go back to the beginning and watch the whole thing again.

Don Hall 3/22/21 Don Hall 3/22/21

I Like to Watch | Zack Snyder’s Justice League

To be fair to Whedon (something few are willing to do as he is now being castigated not for racism or sexism but for being mean to people) having him come in to throw in some levity and Marvel-esque color to Snyder's Wagnerian pomposity is like hiring Huey Lewis to lighten up Pink Floyd's The Wall or getting Douglas Adams to rewrite Cormac McCarthy's The Road.

Don Hall 3/11/21 Don Hall 3/11/21

I Like to Watch | Billions (Showtime)

“It's time for you folks to sharpen your pencils, and you better come back with one Traci Lords of an idea. And if you need that fucking defined, here it is: a barely legal, market-dominating, brilliant cocksucker of an idea.”

Don Hall 1/5/21 Don Hall 1/5/21

I Like to Watch | Gerard Butler Movies

Less enchanted by the romcoms in his IMDB (P.S. I Love You, The Ugly Truth, or Playing for Keeps) or even his super badass phase (300, RocknRolla), my Gerard Butler jam happens once he gained a bit of weight, got the slightly droopy underchin, and did his level best to do one of the least convincing American accents since Kevin Costner tried an English accent in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

Don Hall 1/2/21 Don Hall 1/2/21

I Like to Watch | True Crime Television

True Crime is not so much a genre of how terrible some people can be. It is a genre that acts as the mirror to society as it is rather than as we hope it is.

Don Hall 12/8/20 Don Hall 12/8/20

I Like to Watch | I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020)

“I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is the most Charlie Kaufman film in his canon.

Don Hall 7/26/20 Don Hall 7/26/20

I Like to Watch: The Rock (1996)

But the sheer out-of-body beauty and over-the-top ridiculousness of 1996’s Nicholas Cage/Sean Connery spectacle The Rock is the pinnacle of machismo Michael Bay genius.

Don Hall 7/9/20 Don Hall 7/9/20

I Like to Watch: Hamilton

I sat down and prepared myself to be blown away and embarrassed by my snobbery at the few songs I had heard and my natural inclination to be suspicious of hype.

I wasn’t wrong.

Don Hall 5/19/20 Don Hall 5/19/20

I Like to Watch | Game of Thrones (All Eight Seasons in Three Weeks)

…if Martin were trying convey some sort of overarching message it was not that power corrupts but those who pursue power are corrupted by the pursuit.