I-I-I-I-I love this movie. I saw it when in 2004, I was 14 years old and intellectually understood about 30% and emotionally understood 90% of it. Now I'm at about 70% / 95%

The play endures forever in theater canon, but a friend of mine pointed out that because the movie existed in the liminal space of prestige television (post Sopranos but pre-golden age) when straight male critics dominated the conservation there's barely any cultural memory of the film at all. It's so weird and good that it exists and it barely seems to at all, it feels like a dream I might have had but it happened.

It won like 42 Emmys, Pacino's best performance of the 21st century,…

Woah!

A monumental achievement and a sprawling epic at times so universal its frightening. While at the same time, so intimate that the very thought of its implications and musings shakes up your very foundation. HBO as impressive as it has ever been gets my most respect here.

RIP Mike Nichols, I am trying to catch up on his work and this mini-series/TV movie was an immediate decision to watch.

Angels in America is an adaptation by Tony Kushner of his own play that concerns the landscape of chaotic 80's America under Ronald Reagan, battling AIDS, suffering and isolation. AIDS at that time specially (like how much have that changed really?) was thought of as something homosexuals brought upon themselves.…

Over the past few weeks of watching Mike Nichols' fabulous adaptation of Tony Kushner's play I sent myself a mess of notes on scenes and lines that I loved. This series really got my brain humming but rather than go into all the various pockets of this movie I wanted to drop the best line from the best character (imo), Belize (Jeffrey Wright), confronting the altruist progressive, Louis (Ben Shenkman), who's always thinking of making the future perfectible and so he can't be present with difficult and imperfect in the present:

"The white cracker who wrote the National Anthem knew what he was doing. He set the word 'free' to a note so high nobody could reach it. That was…

I usually say "Fuck the truth." But mostly, the truth fucks you.

Split up between two days, last night and this afternoon. My final first-time viewing for the year, and I figured it should be something I have wanted to watch for awhile now. Way back in 2012, definitely when I was too young for it, I saw a stage production of Angels in America in Chicago. At least when it comes to plays, this was the first truly "adult" one that I got to experience, and it's a helluva story to start with in that regard. It's an odyssey of a terrible time in American history, but one that has been the source of many stories for a reason.…

"Nothing but a bunch of big ideas and stories and people dying, and then people like you. The white cracker who wrote the National Anthem knew what he was doing. He set the word free to a note so high nobody could reach it. That was deliberate."

The first time I saw Angels in America, I wasn’t entirely sure of my sexual orientation. There was something there; something empathetic and relatable, but I didn’t view the film on the level of someone who is now openly gay. That’s why, today, after finishing all 352 minutes for a second time, I found myself enamored by it in a way that was stronger - hell, even denser - than what I originally…

I often don't rate/review miniseries but this one gave me a lot of feels so here we go.

My Uncle John died of AIDS related complications when I was a kid (full disclosure he was not blood-related to us, his mom was our adopted grandma and their family became like family). I only learned his real cause of death after my Grandma Mildred died when I was in college. She kept it a secret because she had been so scared of how people in my tiny Midwestern hometown would speak about him, and she was likely right.

I've thought about him a lot as the world has dealt with another deadly pandemic that has taken so many lives prematurely (and…

I think I can sum up my thoughts by ranking the actors / characters they played.

Justin Kirk / Prior Walter:
Literally the most epic character. Just a baller. Really just epic all around. Doesn’t give a fuck and will literally sue God if given the chance.

Al Pacino / Roy Cohn:
He has clout. lots of it. Clout god himself.

Jeffery Wright: 
Absolutely epic, kinda just vibes and is epic in general, very entertaining. 

Emma Thompson:
The definition of girlboss. I think, I don’t actually know.

Meryl Streep:
Best Meryl Streep performance I’ve ever seen??? And it’s in the first scene???

Mary-Louise Parker / Harper Pitt:
She is really cool. Her final monologue made me actually cringe.

Patrick Wilson…