Pop Culture Diary: This Week's Reviews, Reads and Roundups

What I've Been Into this Week:

"The Testament of Ann Lee" (2025) is an intense, visually stunning exploration of religious faith.

The film shows that, on one hand, the belief in something bigger than ourselves can be affirming, helping us to find a positive way to act and be in the world. On the other hand, it can lead to a separation from reality and self-delusion.

At the center of this study is Ann Lee, founder of the Shakers, who is powerfully played by Amanda Seyfried.

Believing herself the second coming of Christ, Ann founds a sect of Christianity that's based on community, frank confession, and a form of prayer that incorporates sound and movement. The other main tenet of her faith, and the one that many of her follows struggle with, is celibacy.

Ann is abused by her husband and loses each of her children at birth. We understand how this suffering informed her beliefs. Yet, is it fair to impose abstinence on her followers and to portray love and sex is evil? At the same time, there is great joy in the faith, as the Shakers lose themselves in flowing, sensuous movement and ecstatic songs, connecting to the spirit.

This eccentric practice, however, the sect's separation from the rest of society and, especially, the nerve of a woman proclaiming herself Christ, brings disaster to the community, as they are attacked by outsiders and Lee is a branded a heretic.

Like anyone wrestling with faith, we're left exploring our own beliefs and doubts. It's a unique, compelling film, it's only sin being that it's a tad too long.

"Cover-Up" (2025) The name and actions of America's current leader aren't uttered in this documentary about famed investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, but they haunt every moment of it.

The film traces the big scoops of Hersh's career, from his uncovering the My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War, through his investigation of Abu Ghraib scandal, up to his recent coverage of the genocide in Gaza.

Depressingly, we see how little has changed, even as things seem more worse than ever. Those in authority abuse their power and lie about their corruption. It's only through perseverant investigation into the facts that we can learn — and hopefully learn from — the truth.

The film might have spend more time detailing Hersch's methods and its ends a bit abruptly, but it drives its point home.

"Winter Holiday" by Arthur Ransome (1933). Four years ago, my wife gifted me with a copy of Ransome's "Swallows and Amazons" for Christmas.

I'd never read it as a kid and I found it delightful. She read it after me, and loved it, too. And it started a wonderful holiday tradition, which has continued with her gift this year of this book, the fourth in Ransome's series about a group of kids who have adventures, real and imaginary, in England's Lake Country.

While published nearly 100 years ago and set in a time before all of the technological distractions that divert kids (and adults) from the outdoors and real-life experiences today, the books still resonate. Ransome's writing captures what it's (still) like to be a child. He's keenly observant and very funny.

Here, the Walker and Blackett children, central the cast in the first three books, are joined by the Callums, a pair of siblings new to the area, and the action revolves around snow and sleds rather than camping and sailboats, yet all the charm of the earlier books remains.

If you, like me, missed out on these stories as a child, don't delay making up for lost time.

Sunday Reads:

Literary Hub reports on Greg Ketter of Minneapolis' spectacular comics/pulps/sci-fi hub DreamHaven Books, where sales have skyrocketed after a photo of Ketter walking through a cloud of ICE-issued tear gas went viral.

Ketter told CBS News that DreamHaven “has seen a surge of online orders and messages of support” since the photo was taken, and a subsequent video interview went viral. (Ketter to public: “I’m 70 years old and I’m fucking angry.”)

In a frank and furious Facebook statement, the proprietor echoed the “fury and sadness” that first carried him into the street, despite agents armed and chemical.

Readers around the country were quick to respond to the store owner’s moral clarity. So much so that the DreamHaven website has been temporarily overwhelmed with orders. Though grateful for all the attention, Ketter is insisting that the spotlight stay on the community.

Donations made to the store through its GoFundMe page—which was initially created to replace an exterior damaged during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020—”will be redirected to local food shelves.”

The Comics Journal remembers Marvel Comics artist Sal Buscema, who died Jan. 24.

Because he worked on so many different Marvel titles, Buscema eventually had a hand in creating a number of well-known Marvel characters. Buscema and Steve Englehart created the Defenders super-team in 1972, adding Valkyrie to the group with the fourth issue. With writer Roy Thomas, he co-created the Squadron Sinister and the supervillain Llyra for the Sub-Mariner title. With Steve Gerber, who succeeded Englehart on The Defenders, Buscema co-created Starhawk. In 1976, Buscema co-created Graviton in The Avengers #158 with writer/editor Jim Shooter. During his long tenure on The Incredible Hulk, Buscema, collaborating with writer Bill Mantlo, co-created the U-Foes and the Soviet Super-Soldiers. Buscema later described his run on the Hulk from 1970 to 1985 as, “probably one of the most enjoyable experiences of my career. The fact that the Hulk is my all-time favorite character might be a contributing factor. I never tired of the character. Every story was a new challenge.”