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It starts with a phone call in the dead of night, then a visit to the morgue where the body of an Iraq war veteran named Matt Skokie waits to be identified. Skokie’s house in Modesto, California had been broken into, leaving him dead and his wife Gwen in a coma. His father Russ confirms his identity then goes to the bathroom, where he sobs and wails like a wounded animal. Russ’s grief is painful to watch, but the camera looks on pitilessly. This refusal to look away from the uncomfortable truth or allay the viewer’s distress is what distinguishes American Crime on ABC from the recognizable network offering. Cable and online streaming services may be winning the battle for prestige TV but the mainstream hasn’t given up completely.

Read our TV column The Binge.

This year looks like The Return of the Big Hollywood Director. George Miller returned to the post-apocalyptic desert with Mad Max: Fury Road, Ridley Scott returned to space with The Martian, and now Guillermo del Toro returns to the haunted house with Crimson Peak and Steven Spielberg returns to the epic of the good American with Bridge of Spies.

For a haunted house movie Crimson Peak isn’t particularly scary, but then neither are Del Toro’s best movies, The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth. Those two were grounded in historical reality—the Spanish Civil War—while Crimson is built on the horror movies that came before it. It’s gorgeous but flimsy, and though it reaches the same conclusion (People are the real monsters), it doesn’t haunt us. At the end we shake off the movie like popcorn crumbs, but it’s still entertaining as hell.

In Crimson Peak, aspiring American novelist Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) falls in love with penniless British aristocrat Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), to the dismay of her father, a self-made millionaire who is not taken in by Sharpe’s posh accent. They marry, and Sharpe takes his bride to his family seat, a crumbling, freezing Cumbrian mansion called Allerdale Hall. The house is built on red clay—it’s already bleeding, all it needs are fresh corpses. When the wind whistles through the tattered roof and cracked walls, the house breathes. Edith must put up with her disapproving new sister-in-law Lady Lucille (Jessica Chastain), who instead of handing over the house keys makes endless cups of tea. Clearly the Sharpe siblings have a secret, and it’s fairly easy to guess.

Edith, who’s been seeing ghosts since she was ten, spots several in the dark hallways. They look like the mother in Mama, which Del Toro produced (ooh, recycling) and Chastain starred in. Edith also has a devoted childhood friend, an ophthalmologist (Charlie Hunnam) who seems less real than the ghosts. Wasikowska is right at home in gothic settings (see Jane Eyre) and Hiddleston, the internet’s boyfriend, is lovely, but Chastain just wipes them out of the frame. Her Lucille is so fierce, she seems to keep the house standing through sheer force of will. It’s more exact in Tagalog: Nilamon ni Jessica Chastain yung cast, pati yung haunted house. All that gorgeous decay turns out to be non-essential: it’s just design. There’s a tale of intense, bonkers passion here that the filmmakers retreat from in favor of production design. Expect fan-fiction.

Rating: Recommended.

Steven Spielberg makes two kinds of movies: Amazing Stories (Jaws, E.T. Jurassic Park) and Tales of Decency (Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, Lincoln). Bridge of Spies, based on real events, is a solid addition to the second group. We expected a thriller with dead drops and tradecraft, and got tense negotiations instead. In 1957 James Donovan (Tom Hanks), a New York lawyer, is press-ganged into defending Soviet spy Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance from Wolf Hall, who has the most sorrowful expression on the screen). Donovan demurs—he had been a prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, but now does insurance law.

All the Americans want is to show that Abel has gotten a capable defense attorney. But Donovan does his job too well, and ends up becoming the second most hated man in America (after Abel). Then American U-2 pilot Gary Powers (Austin Stowell, a good-looking lump) is shot down in Russia, and Donovan is sent to negotiate a prisoner exchange in an unofficial capacity, since neither government will admit to spying.

This is a Spielberg movie co-written by the Coen Brothers and shot by Janusz Kaminski. Every footstep on the street sounds ominous, but there are many moments of unexpected humor. Superheroes are all the rage in cinema, but it’s the ordinary people who hold their ground, who say no to bullies, who just show up, who really save the day. As always, Tom Hanks convinces us that he is that guy.

Bridge of Spies is a reminder of the time when America was regarded as the good guy, as the country that did the right thing because it was the right thing. When you consider that the current frontrunner for the nomination from Abraham Lincoln’s party is Donald Trump. . .

It would be interesting to see how well Bridge of Spies does in its own country.

Rating: Highly recommended.

So many movies opening this week. Today we’re watching Crimson Peak, then Bridge of Spies. Tomorrow we’re heading to an IMAX theatre to see The Walk. We don’t expect it to be as good as James Marsh’s Philippe Petit documentary Man on Wire, but the visuals should be stunning.

Here is the magnificent opening chapter of Colum McCann’s Let The Great World Spin.

Those who saw him hushed. On Church Street. Liberty. Cortlandt. West Street. Fulton. Vesey. It was a silence that heard itself, awful and beautiful. Some thought at first that it must have been a trick of the light, something to do with the weather, an accident of shadowfall. Others figured it might be the perfect city joke—stand around and point upward, until people gathered, tilted their heads, nodded, affirmed, until all were staring upward at nothing at all, like waiting for the end of a Lenny Bruce gag. But the longer they watched, the surer they were. He stood at the very edge of the building, shaped dark against the gray of the morning. A window washer maybe. Or a construction worker. Or a jumper.

Up there, at the height of a hundred and ten stories, utterly still, a dark toy against the cloudy sky.

He could only be seen at certain angles so that the watchers had to pause at street corners, find a gap between buildings, or meander from the shadows to get a view unobstructed by cornicework, gargoyles, balustrades, roof edges. None of them had yet made sense of the line strung at his feet from one tower to the other. Rather, it was the manshape that held them there, their necks craned, torn between the promise of doom and the disappointment of the ordinary. It was the dilemma of the watchers: they didn’t want to wait around for nothing at all, some idiot standing on the precipice of the towers, but they didn’t want to miss the moment either, if he slipped, or got arrested, or dove, arms stretched.

Continue reading Chapter 1.

Part 2 of our report on candidate Mar Roxas’s meet-and-greet with bloggers and social media. Other candidates, invite us for a chat.

On improving road infrastructure

Six additional elevated lanes parallel to Edsa will be constructed in one year, Roxas said. “Why has it taken so long? We fell behind.” Infrastructure plans had to be dusted off and updated with regards to engineering and costing, and right of way issues had to be resolved. The six-lane elevated highway would go from SLEX through Araneta Avenue to NLEX. At the same time, the elevated MVP highway going to the pier would be constructed. All trucks going to the pier would take that highway.

These will be toll highways, Roxas noted. “There will always be a free route, Edsa.” Motorists who want to save time can pay the tolls. He added that the Highway Patrol Group’s takeover of traffic management has been successful. Traffic infrastructure, software and systems are being improved and routes are being reworked.

Strength: We do need more roads.

Weakness: Are these new highways enough to handle the volume of vehicular traffic? Also, Roxas was Secretary of Transportation and Communications, meaning he was in charge of the traffic, between June 2011 and October 2012.

Opportunity: For construction companies.

Threat: If there is a zombie apocalypse, it will start on Edsa during rush hour. Someone will get out of a vehicle in the gridlock and start eating random commuters’ brains.

Read our column at InterAksyon.

We must have them.

Kitten, UP College of Fine Arts, photo by RickyV

His plan is simple: sneak into the target human’s bag and stay out of sight until the human gets home. Then ingratiate yourself with the human and his cohorts until you become part of the household before they even notice.

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From a longtime reader, CaitlynsMomma: Just wanted to let you know that a kitten adopted me and my daughter. Mr. Socks just showed up on my doorstep out of nowhere about 2 weeks ago. I figured he would leave once I left for work but he stayed and stayed so I took him in, got him neutered, got shots and flea treatment (found out he’s about 5 months old). I think he’s part dog because he just loves being cuddled and petted and follows us around the house. Now I know what all the fuss is about with having cats. They’re awesome!

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Cat adoption: the random cosmic method

1. Say “Cat, come here” three times.
2. Open the door to see if a cat has appeared.
3. Repeat daily until a cat does appear.
4. Offer the cat some food. (Tip: Cats love liver spread. Don’t bribe them with a whole can, just a teaspoon of it.)
5. See if you and the cat get along.
6. Take the cat to the vet for shots and flea treatment. We recommend having the cat spayed (or neutered) so she doesn’t wander off.
7. Congratulations, you’ve been adopted.

With the exception of Saffy, who was born in our dog-breeder friend’s garage, all our cats just showed up at our house and stayed.

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Photo from ZPETS

We’d like to welcome our online friends from Italy: ZPETS, a pet shop based in Florence. Check out their site. Even if you don’t read Italian, you’ll find that cat and dog people have the same concerns everywhere. (Should we bathe the cat? Why does she stare at me all day? Why does he ignore the expensive toys we buy him and go straight for the box?)