Something happened over the past couple of weeks and I actually clicked play on things I have been meaning to watch for a while. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been watching Rick and Morty but I’ve branched out a tad.
Watching
Poker Face S1 (Peacock – New Episodes Thursday). – Listen. Watch this show. Wait until it’s all uploaded if you need a free trial of Peacock or whatever, but watch this show. I’m telling you. Natasha Lyonne knows when people are lying and she gets into these situations where she has to solve crimes. It’s a new cast every week. WATCH IT OMG WATCH IT. Report back about how right I was.
Tár (2022) – I was on the verge of just paying the five and buying this movie on Prime to have it. It’s been months and the Oscar nominations were out and I needed to see it. But then Peacock is the $5/month gift that keeps on giving and they had it and I watched it. I knew very little about the plot of the movie just Cate Blanchett and orchestra conductor. Without spoiling I will say that I enjoyed the film (see how I said “film”, not “movie”) in the deep introspective of what actually happened vs. what was shown way. I will rewatch it after reading a few critic reviews (see: twitter threads). The opinion on it is varied. Some people thought it was boring and pointless. Others thought it was deeply symbolic and had lots to be explored as to what actually accused. I’m in the latter half but I wouldn’t force anyone to watch it.
Vengeance (2022) – BJ Novak is a fuckboy who gets a call that his girlfriend was murdered and he needs to get to Texas for the funeral. He leaves New York City to attend the funeral of a girl he kinda sorta hooked up with and uses it as an opportunity to do a Serial type podcast on the opioid crisis in America. His producer Issa Rae tells him to stick with the Dead White Girl podcast and it sets up to meet a cast of characters. At first I was like “ugh this is going to be offensive to me as a Texan,” but I was pleasantly surprised by the…everything of it. Like, it is really a good movie. It’s funny, and insightful, and there are several visits to Whataburger. I wholly approve.
The Drop (2023) (Hulu) – Whew. Okay. This is a Hulu original. They’re usually pretty good but Jesus this was a stinker. And the thing was, I knew it was absurd going into it. A diverse group of Leftist (this is key to the group dynamic) friends go to Mexico for a wedding. While leaving the airport, one of the friends drops another friend’s baby. LMAO. See. Absurd. And then they try to go on with the weekend dealing with their asshole tendencies. The thing is, I watched it cause I knew it would be absurd and cringe but I thought it would at least be funny. I knew every person in the movie! That guy from Coming 2 America. That chick from Pen15. Robin Thede. Jillian Bell. Aparna Nancherla. These are generally funny people. Just bad. BAD.
Paul T. Goldman – S1 (Peacock). This is one of those things where you’re like “I know this isn’t real but…is it? just a little? is one guy in on it or is it all staged or what’s the what?” Paul T. Goldman says his wife is a scammer and a documentary crew follows him around. For 2 days this was all I could think of and now that I’m typing this a couple of weeks later, I had completely forgotten I watched it. It’s hilarious in spurts but because Paul is so self-unaware. It’s different and not bad but like if you don’t like the first episode, don’t force it.
Amsterdam (2022). This is on HBO so I streamed it. It says it’s based on a true story and okay fine whatever. Christian Bale and John David Washington are old war buddies (WWI) and are framed for a crime and need their old buddy Margot Robbie to help them out. It’s…fine to watch at home on HBO. I..ugh. I wasn’t impressed.
The Big Brunch – S1 (HBOMax)- I finally finished The Big Brunch, Dan Levy’s food competition show on HBO. It is absolutely the best cooking competition show I’ve ever watched. They really want the contestants to do better and it’s probably the most diverse cast of chefs I’ve ever seen. Like just feel good tv.
The Great Soul Food Cookoff – S1 (HBOMax)- Another feel good tv chef competition. Apparently this was an OWN network show and HBO picked it up so we binged it. It’s *hella* Black which I’ve never seen on any cooking competition. I suppose it’s on HBO for Black History Month so get it while you can. You will be hungry afterward.
Mythic Quest – S3 (Apple+) – I finally finished! They’re telling me it’s going to be a spinoff and I don’t know how I feel about that because while this was great, it was the weakest season. It’s still hilarious but S4 better get it back together.
You People (2023) (Netflix) – Ahhh You People. It met my Netflix movie criteria. Was it terrible? No. Did I cringe? Yes. Did I laugh? Also yes. Are we blessed to have Eddie Murphy and Julia Louis Dreyfus? Absolutely yes. Do I still love David Duchovny? Yes still always forever. It’s not terrible. I’ll say that. I’m mad they severely underutilized Nia Long.
Reading
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires – Grady Hendrix. In the 90s, a group of housewives find themselves bored with their traditional book club and get into murder books and start to become suspicious of a new neighbor. This white guy on Goodreads wrote this long-ass criticism of the book that the Black characters were pushed to the sidelines. LMAO. As I said, this is a set of white housewives in the south in the 90s. the 1990s. I could have written these women myself. It tracks. That said, my main criticism was the loose interpretation of “vampire”. Like if you’re going to have a vampire he has to adhere to vampire rules. Also, there was a tone shift from light and airy to unfunnily sinister that I didn’t care for. 3.5 out of 5 rating units.
Scattered Showers – Rainbow Rowell. Rainbow put together a batch of short stories. We get revisited by some old characters, and there’s some YA stories and regular stories. All romcoms. I enjoy Rainbow’s style of writing always, so I liked this even if I don’t read YA or her Simon Snow stories.
Ethan – Delany Diamond. Ethan is a divorced billionaire who never wants to get married again and his long-term girlfriend feels a way about it. I’m new to Delany and really liked her writing style but Ethan was a rich jerk with few redeeming personality qualities for me. That said, I will be finishing the trilogy of stories lol.
Watchlist
- Antman 3 obviously
- Love Is Blind S3 Reunion (Netflix) Feb 10.
- Your Place or Mine (Netflix) Feb 10. The red carpet photos look trash but I will not turn down a Reese Witherspoon romcom.
- Magic Mike III. Yes obviously.
- History of the World Part II (Hulu). This is a 4 part series that Mel Brooks actually has a hand in. Mar 6.
- Moon Girl and the Devil Dinosaur – series (Disney+) Moon Girl is a Marvel comic character. She’s supposed to be the smartest Marvel character period. She’s a 13 year old Black girl and she has a t-rex. And they gave her an animated series and Raphael Sadiq does the music. Feb 15. (It’s on Disney Channel as well Feb 10)
- My Dad The Bounty Hunter – series (Netflix). Another Black animated series! Two kids find out their dad is the biggest bounty hunter in the galaxy. I found this cause someone posted a clip of Redman in the studio recording the theme song. And I have loved Reggie Noble since 1994.
The Best Thing On The Internet
I got some [redacted] for Kang to Conquer.
Are you watching Poker Face or what?! What are you watching and loving or hate watching? Are you reading things?
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Watched You People and totally agree with you.. also there were several moments throughout the movie where I wondered when they were going to actually show affection.. I don’t even remember them kissing. I’m not usually a Mike Epps fan, but thought he was rather funny in his scenes.
I have been watching a lot of documentaries lately–the Madoff one on Netflix and Dirty Money. After watching those two, I should probably try to squeeze in a doc that will ease me out of pisstivity soon. LOL!
and yes to all things Jonathan Majors.
So there is an interview (on a podcast I think) with one of the actors who played a friend in You People. And he goes “the kiss at the end is CGI” and sure enough the people zoomed in on the clip and you can see their faces get close and then it CGI morphs into a kiss. A romcom with no rom? A mess.