You've binged it all... is there anything new worth watching?
Thankfully, yes... and here's a few stand-out picks.
#1 Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, 2021
Directed by Josh Greenbaum
Starring Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo, Jamie Dornan
Let's start off with some fluff...
Ok, ok, so it's a $5 rental...
But at this point, aren't you willing to shell out the cost of a latte for some straight up silliness?
I haven't seen a movie this loaded with over the top jokes, gags, pratfalls, and puns in quite some time... never mind one written by women. Some reviewers are comparing it to movies starring Jim Carrey or Adam Sandler... but I think it's more akin to Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail. (In tone, not caliber...)
The Bridesmaids writing team of Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo reunited to riff on characters that had been on their mind grapes for years... two middle aged, divorced and heavily accented Midwestern ladies who've never left their tiny town before.
Hi-jinx ensues through saccharine comedy and visuals complete with a sinister albino villainess and a musical love story to boot.
Treat yourself to a pallet-cleansing soul-douche of a comedy... you deserve it.
Available to Rent on Amazon Prime, Google Play, YouTube, and Vudu
#BarbandStar #BarbandStarGoToVistaDelMar #Comedy #Satire #NewRelease #AmazonPrime #GooglePlay #YouTube #Vudu #Rental
#2 Nomadland, 2020
Directed by Chloe Zhao
Starring Frances McDormand, David Strathairn, Linda May
Admittedly, it took me a little too long to press "play" on this one, since it seemed so heavy, and I was forewarned that it would "make me cry". Nomadland never brought tears to my eyes, but I was overwhelmed with how beautiful it was. It's hard to think of another example of American cinema that manages to tell a compelling story while also creating poetry on screen.
But it's not just the fantastic landscape cinematography filmed in Arizona, Nebraska, Nevada, California and South Dakota.
The story is beautiful. The characters are beautiful. The words...
The plot follows Fern, played by Frances McDormand, who is scattered to the wind when the mine that sustains her community closes, and not even the zip code survives. Fern is a fiction, but her world is based on Jessica Bruder's 2017 non-fiction book "Nomadland: Surviving America in the 21st Century".
It's a tale that many can relate to in these times;
generations of Americans were promised that if you work hard,
capitalism will repay your efforts in your golden years.
I find that, particularly on the east coast, our sense of identity is inexorably linked to our professions... a notion that I've been struggling with over the past year... trying to find a new sense of identity and value within myself.
What have I accomplished?
What are the highlights of my life?
and even... what makes me happy?
The dialogue in this movie is to die for; it won a ton of critics awards for best screenplay/adapted screenplay, and is nominated for an Oscar in the same category.
(But also, the soundtrack!!!!)
As a sucker for anything related to astronomy, my favorite quote took place as Fern and a group of fellow nomads gaze upward:
Stars blow up and they shoot plasma and atoms out into space. They sometimes land on earth, nourish the soil and become part of you.
So hold out your right hand...and look at a star.
Because there are atoms from stars that blew up eons ago that landed on this planet and now they’re in your hand.
Rated R for some full frontal nudity... I kept my eyes peeled and was surprised (once again) at how beautiful it was... no wonder Nomadland won the Golden Globe for best picture and best director.
(It's also nominated for six Oscars...)
Available to Stream on Hulu
#3 How To With John Wilson, 2020
Satirical Docuseries: 6 episodes
Directed by Jonathan Lynn
Starring John Wilson, Cynthia Larson, Ron Low
But sometimes you just can't even with a drama that makes you reexamine your life right now...
So how about some nonsensical satire that explores how, exactly, to?
I don't want to reveal too much, and I'm not sure if being a New Yorker elevated the series too much in my mind... but it does have 100% average rating on Rotten Tomatoes...
Executive produced by Nathan Fielder, it shares a lot of "Nathan For You" qualities, like an adorably socially awkward narrator that juxtaposes humor and philosophy with norm-core imagery.
Each episode is devoted to a seemingly simple task (i.e. "How to Split the Check" and "How to Make Small Talk") that quickly spirals into a whole new set of challenges...
you know, like life tends to do...
The spectacular thing is that this handheld camera documentary was created over the course of 2020... and I didn't know it, but I needed to witness the change in New York.
The series isn't about the pandemic. But it centers around normalcy in New York, and finding big answers among the everyday.
And over the course of filming, normalcy disappeared...
What used to be commonplace is gone...
And you have to wonder if we were even asking the right questions in the first place...
But maybe I'm making too much of it.
Maybe it was just really nice to laugh...
Available to Stream on HBO
#HowToWithJohnWilson #Comedy #Satire #Docuseries #Documentary #NYC #pandemic #howto #silly #NewRelease #HBO
#4 Q: Into the Storm, 2021
Docuseries: 6 episodes
Directed by Cullen Hoback
Starring Cullen Hoback, Fredrick Brennan, Ron Watkins
Documentarian Cullen Hoback maxed out his credit cards circling the globe for three years in a quest to unmask "Q," the person behind the pro-Trump conspiracy theory known as QAnon.
QAnon emerged from the shadows of the internet into public view in 2016.
On December 4, Edgar Welch grabbed a box of shotgun shells and three loaded guns, and drove from Salisbury, North Carolina to a pizza parlor in Washington D.C.
He believed Comet Pizza had a torture chamber in its basement...
run by pedophiles in the Democratic Party.
The thing is...
Comet Pizza doesn't even have a basement.
So that's #pizzagate in a nutshell...
Edgar Welch believed in a child sex ring in a D.C. restaurant because he followed cryptic messages of an anonymous "Q" online.
He surrendered peacefully after finding no evidence of sex trafficking.
Many followers also believe that the Democratic party is filled with satanism and cannibalism, and that Drumpf is using UFOs to fight them...
ok. but...
The FBI considers QAnon to be a domestic terrorism threat, and at least 34 of them participated in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot.
The amazing thing is, that this documentary series starts filming in 2017...
and goes all the way up to the Capitol riot...
The opening credits to this show are reason enough to check it out... and now that all the episodes are released, you can properly binge them all in a row. The show does get a bit repetitive with recaps since there is so much to digest, so binging might not be your best bet.
Again, I feel like it was oddly necessary for me to re-witness what we all went through...
to observe rather than experience
what was so
surreal.
Yeah, remember how Drumpf pretended he knew nothing about Q on national television?
But he had already retweeted one of QAnon's false conspiracy theories, suggesting that Navy Seals killed a body double of Osama bin Laden, and that the Obama administration covered it up.
Drumpf said he was just "putting it out there" and "people can decide for themselves".
Indeed.
Go down the rabbit hole.
Decide for yourself.
If nothing else... I definitely look at the hashtag "save the children" in a new light...
Available to Stream on HBO
#Qintothestorm #Q #anonymous #Qanon #Conspiracy #Cults #Docuseries #Documentary #capitolriot #NewRelease #HBO
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Story by Adrienne LaFrance for The Atlantic