December Movie Roundup Part 3: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and The Midnight Sky

Well, movie theaters might still be closed in NYC but Netflix is assuring I have no dearth of movies to watch. Two further entries into the potential Oscar race arrived this month, and while they feature wildly different stories, both are worth your consideration.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom: Based on August Wilson's play, the movie largely takes place in a recording studio in Chicago in 1927 on a sweltering summer day, where legendary blues singer Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) is set to record an album with her band. There are tensions among the band members, with the trumpeter Levee (Chadwick Boseman in his final film performance) wanting to play some of his own arrangements and getting into fights with the older members who know that Ma is set in her ways and won't allow for any changes. There are tensions between Ma and her white manager and the white studio owner, who are desperate for her to start on time and record this album. As the film progresses, those tensions keep rising, everyone gets sweatier, there are more arguments, there are bitter recriminations, and everything crescendos and spirals out of control.

The central performances from Davis and Boseman are the main reason to watch this movie, along with the searing August Wilson dialogue. These two characters represent such pivotal aspects of the Black experience in America, and despite being set in 1927, these characters might as well exist in 2020. Ma Rainey is a Black woman who has "made it" and she wants to ensure she is given the respect she is due. This is a woman who emphatically knows her worth and will not let others push her around - she tells her bandleader that she knows her white manager can't risk offending her until he has her voice recorded, so until then, he had better meet all her demands. Meanwhile, Levee is a Black man with a traumatic past who is trying to get the fame and fortune that Ma has already earned. Unfortunately, he acts like she does without having earned it yet, and he constantly feels beaten down by the world. When his bandmates accuse him of being over-friendly to the white studio owner who has promised to look at Levee's arrangements, we learn more about this man's history and ambitions, and it's a dark and twisted, and sadly all too common tale of the things people endure to escape their past.

Directed by George C. Wolfe and adapted by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, this movie is well-executed and sublimely acted, and will likely get some acting nominations for Boseman and Davis. Neither of them are playing "likable" characters but they are playing brilliantly flawed and talented human beings who end up taking very different paths in life. While the action all takes place in one afternoon, that's all it takes to understand these characters' life stories and where they're headed. It's a relevant movie for our time, made all the more bittersweet by its being our final chance to see Boseman play such a complex character on screen.

The Midnight Sky: Directed by George Clooney, with a screenplay by Mark L. Smith based on the novel Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton, this is the movie you're seeking if you need to acknowledge the sense of the impending apocalypse with some beautiful science fiction wonderment. Is this movie bleak and an attempt to figure out what the point of humanity is? Yes. Can you ignore all that and just be captivated by some incredible scenes set in space? Also yes.

The story takes place on Earth and in space. On Earth, we've got the grizzled Augustine Lofthouse (Clooney), a scientist who has stayed on an Arctic base after some sort of cataclysmic event has rendered the surface of the planet mostly uninhabitable. While the surviving members of the human race have all gone underground, he remains on the surface, wanting to contact the astronauts on any returning space missions to tell them not to land on the planet. The only people he can contact are the crew of the Aether, who are returning from a successful mission from K-23, one of Jupiter's moons that was discovered to be habitable. 

There is a lot of drama aboard the Aether mission and you will follow the crew (consisting of a stalwart cast of Felicity Jones, David Oyelewo, Demian Bichir, Kyle Chandler, and Tiffany Boone) as they try to make contact with Earth, then deal with various setbacks, and wrestle with what to do once they know Earth is no longer habitable. It's an emotional and moving film and and there's as much drama amongst the Aether crew in space as there is on Earth where we get flashbacks of Augustine's life and watch him struggle to figure out if his life's work ultimately meant anything at all. Ethan Peck plays the younger Clooney in flashbacks, and let me say, that man should play young Clooney in everything because he's got that impression down. 

The movie's final idea of what makes life worth living feels very pertinent to Clooney's current stage of life. Younger Clooney who was gadding about was less likely to make this film, but it is pretty clear to me that this story now has a deeply personal resonance for him. It's a good movie that could certainly be accused of being gimmicky in places, but at the end of the day, it has a heartfelt tale to tell and does it well. It would have been even more beautiful to watch on the big screen, but for now, I'm content to watch spacewalks from my living room and contemplate my existence. Happy 2020 to us all.

Bridgerton: Rapturous Regency Romance

Last year, Shonda Rhimes announced that her first big Netflix show was going to be an adaptation of Julia Quinn's series of romance novels about the Bridgerton family. I have been desperately waiting for this show ever since that announcement, and at long last, 2020 finally delivered the Christmas present we were all waiting for (ok, apart from the vaccines). Having now binged all eight episodes, I am here to demand why you are reading this instead of immediately bingeing Bridgerton yourself. Come on!

There are eight novels for each of the Bridgerton siblings (four boys, four girls, very neat) and this series is focused on the first novel, The Duke & I, which tells the story of Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings (Rege-Jean Page). However, there is a LOT of material being pulled in from the other novels, and you will get plenty of background to set up the future romances of Anthony, Benedict, Colin, and Eloise (the children were all named alphabetically if you have failed to note that already). The central romance is quite faithful to the novel, but there are definitely elements of the story that are a drastic departure from the original source material, which means there are still plenty of surprises in store for even the most devoted readers.

I'm not going to go into much detail about the plot. It's a romance, there are a ton of misunderstandings, it's all very delightful. You should settle in for the ride and many heightened emotions. What I do want to get into though, is why this series is so utterly magnificent and a treat for your eyes and ears. Created by Chris Van Dusen, who was a former writer on Shondaland's Grey's Anatomy and Scandal, this show is a soapy, sexy, stunning successor to everything Shondaland gave us on network television and can now amp up in the TV-MA world of Netflix. Let's be very clear. This is not some tame adaptation with some heaving but fully clothed bosoms. You're gonna get nudity, of the male and female variety, at the outset (there's a sex scene about two minutes into the very first episode if you weren't sufficiently warned) and hoo boy, the sexy times just keep a-coming. The folks at Shondaland understand exactly why readers love Regency romances, and they deliver in spades.

The cast of this show is absolutely impeccable and up to the task of giving us something that is both titillating and emotionally affecting. I thought it was purely color-blind casting but in Episode 4, there is an explicit acknowledgement of why there are so many Black Dukes and Lords running around London high society. Romance novels are already a bit of a fantasy genre, so why restrict yourself by suddenly claiming a need for "historical accuracy"? It makes for a richer and more diverse and diverting (see what I did there) show, and allows for some absolutely sublime performances. My very favorite might be Adjoa Andoh who plays Lady Danbury, a fierce, elderly dowager who loves to gossip about the ton and is very free with her opinions. If race had been an issue during casting, we would never have gotten to see this magnificent performance from this superlative Black actress, but now? I will never be able to picture Lady Danbury as anyone else. 

Next, there are the costumes by Ellen Mirojnick. What a work of art. And just, what a lot of work, period. The costume department ended up creating around 7,500 distinct costumes for this series and their efforts have not gone in vain. Even if you haven't read the books, it is immediately apparent that the Bridgertons have both taste and elegance, while you will chuckle over the unfortunately garish costumes the Featherington girls are forced to don, and it is all incredibly bewitching and remarkable. And of course, to go along with the costumes, we have the stunning production design from Will Hughes-Jones who brings us Regency London in all its pomp and glory. When I read these books, I have always had to pictures these worlds in my head, but now, I have so many settings and dresses and ballrooms to choose from. Every scene of this show is a delight and I could stare at it for hours, losing myself in the colors and textures and sumptuousness of it all.

And where would I be if I didn't mention the music? The original score is wonderful and the work of composer Kris Bowers. But I need to sing the special praises of music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas. When I was in college, I mostly discovered new music on TV shows and the soundtracks that often caught my ear were Gossip Girl and Grey's Anatomy. Patsavas was responsible for the music on those shows, so once I started noticing pop music Easter Eggs in Bridgerton, I knew my lady was behind the scenes and ensuring this show would not just be a visual feast but an audiovisual one. Pay attention in the ballroom scenes: what sounds like Regency orchestral music is sometimes a cover of a modern pop song, including a rip-roaring version of Billie Eilish's "Bad Guy" in Episode 3. But the music moment that made me cry was in the finale. There's a particularly beautiful waltz that is set to Max Richter's "Spring 1," a piece of music that is my definition of what joy sounds like, where every pluck of the violin strings seems to pluck at my heartstrings. It was such an apt selection for this moment where our couple was going to get their happily ever after (this is not a spoiler alert, you just don't understand how romance novels work), and I was overcome with a sense of how this show had managed to meet my expectations and then wildly surpass them.

Bridgerton is a feast for the senses and a television masterpiece. And apart from all the aesthetics I've described, I cannot emphasize enough how well-written and well-paced it is. Every episode contains exactly the right mix of scandal, drama, and comic relief, and even though there is such an absurdly sprawling cast of characters, I was never lost for a single minute, eagerly following the myriad storylines and curious to see how much more I was going to get from any particular supporting character before we circled back to Daphne and Simon's central romance. It is a screenwriting tour-de-force and if the writers don't win any Emmys, it will be purely because of the foolish disrespect people have for the romance genre and not because of any lack of skill. This show is a perfect distillation of why we love and admire this genre so much - yes, the scenarios can be silly and contrived, but the emotions and characters are fully developed and engaging and unforgettable. Watch this show and then start reading Julia Quinn's novels. You're in for such a treat.

The Flight Attendant & I Hate Suzie: Women on the Verge

I recently watched two amazing TV shows that feature exceedingly complicated women. Much has been made of the antihero protagonists in the golden age of television, like Breaking Bad's Walter White or Mad Men's Don Draper. Well, in 2020, women have increasingly stepped up to the plate to play nuanced, complex, not entirely likable characters saddled with plenty of baggage. Over the holidays, if you're looking for the chance to dig into some meaty performances, dark comedy, and emotional thrills, these two shows have got you covered.

The Flight Attendant: Based on the novel by Chris Bohjalian, this is a zippy murder mystery with an extremely unreliable alcoholic guiding us through the action. Kaley Cuoco stars as Cassie, the eponymous flight attendant, who wakes up after a drunken night in Bangkok with a rich man she met on one of her flights, only to discover he is lying dead next to her. His throat has been slit, and she has absolutely no idea what happened. What follows is a tense but also weirdly comic eight episodes of international intrigue and mayhem as Cassie tries to cover her tracks while simultaneously investigating what happened. 

I fell in love with this show in the first eight minutes because the soundtrack had already featured songs from Sofi Tukker and ABBA. The production values are impeccable, and you will never get bored looking at your screen because it is shot in such an engaging way, constantly jumping through split screens and other fun narrative devices to keep you interested. And once you're hooked visually, you'll also get hooked intellectually, because this is a bonkers story with a cliffhanger after every episode. HBO Max released this show in weekly installments, but with multiple episodes at a time. So the first week you got three episodes to feel like you had a solid binge but were still left wanting more. Then you got two more, another two after that, and then the finale on the fourth week. It was a clever bit of programming that tried to find a compromise between bingeing and stoking your weekly excitement, and it certainly worked for me.

Of course, now you can just binge the whole thing in one glorious gulp. I was initially none too thrilled at the idea of yet another mystery featuring an alcoholic woman who is unreliable and difficult to deal with, but Cuoco is such a compelling actress and Cassie's background is parceled out in such careful morsels that you are desperate to piece together all this information to find out what makes this woman tick. The supporting cast is also marvelous, including a turn from Rosie Perez as Cassie's co-worker who is up to all manner of shenanigans herself, as well as one of my favorite Scottish actresses, Michelle Gomez, who you won't be able to trust for all eight episodes, and a great performance from Zosia Mamet, as Cassie's best friend, who has secrets of her own and is really struggling to deal with her friend's drama. So tune in for a slick and smart thriller, starring some insanely wonderful women, that will keep you on your toes and leave you feeling satisfied.

I Hate Suzie: Written by Lucy Prebble, this series is not going to be everyone's cup of tea. But if you're interested in watching a show about a British actress who completely unravels and has multiple nervous breakdowns, look no further. It is frenetic, dramatic, funny, and wrenching. And it perfectly captures a sense of dread and anxiety that all of us are sadly too familiar with in this day and age.

Billie Piper (who co-created the show with Prebble) stars as Suzie Pickles, a moderately famous actress whose life is turned upside down when her nude photos are released on the Internet. Leila Farzad stars as her agent, Naomi, and together, the two women navigate the maelstrom that is unleashed. Each episode is titled after a stage of grief to capture Suzie's journey from Shock and Denial to Anger and Acceptance. There is so much to love and relate to in every single episode, but there are also moments when you simply have to shake your head and go "oh Suzie, what were you thinking?" Piper has the most expressive face on the planet, and as you watch Suzie go through all manner of hell in the course of eight episodes, you will not be able to resist empathizing with her even as you are silently judging her.

The show's strident feminism is refreshing and Fleabag-esque, in that it is a story about women and the things they go through, but doesn't try to pretend women have it all figured out. It merely reveals the kind of shit they oftentimes put up with until they can no longer take it and make spectacularly poor life decisions. Suzie's husband, Cob (played by Daniel Ings), is such a pompous twat but there's a sweet flashback to the early days of their courtship where you can understand how this relationship began. They have a deaf son, Frank (Matthew Jordan-Caws), which means there is a great scene where Suzie and Cob are fighting but hiding their mouths so Frank can't lipread their argument. But it also means Suzie struggles with balancing her son's needs with her career and personal obligations, and will forever face society's censure for being a bad mother. 

I Hate Suzie is a tour de force, and while it doesn't tie everything up with a neat bow, the eighth episode does offer Acceptance and a way forward for our heroine. I was astonished at how much had happened in such a concentrated period of time but getting through this series offers up as much catharsis for the viewer as it does for Suzie herself. It is a wild ride, and you will need to fasten your seatbelts, but you won't be disappointed in the journey. 

December Movie Roundup Part 2: The Prom & Let Them All Talk

Today's post is for anyone who needs more Meryl Streep in their lives, i.e. everyone. So settle in for two very different but equally compelling movies that should brighten up your weekend.

The Prom: Directed by Ryan Murphy and based on the Broadway play by Chad Beguelin, Bob Martin, and Matthew Sklar, this movie tells the story of Emma, a teenage girl in Indiana who wants to take her girlfriend to her high school prom, but is banned from doing so. When a group of washed-up Broadway stars hear about this, they decide to swoop in and save the day, hoping for some good PR that will boost their own careers. What follows is a sweet and heartwarming story that reaffirms the importance of love and inclusivity and tolerance. With some extremely catchy songs accompanied by wonderful choreography and costumes.

The washed-up Broadway stars are played by Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, James Corden, and Andrew Rannells. Yeah, the casting director for this movie was NOT messing around. If that weren't enough, you also have Kerry Washington as the intolerant head of the high school PTA, and Keegan-Michael Key as the admirable high school principal who wants to fight for Emma and ensure she can have her prom. Jo Ellen Pellman, who plays Emma, is an instant star, while Ariana DeBose, who plays her still-closeted girlfriend, Alyssa, will break your heart as she sings about why she can't come out and all her fears about what her mother will say. 

This is a compelling and beautiful story that takes a really ugly scenario and turns it into something life-affirming. And while it was a particularly emotional watch for my queer friends, for me, it served as an emotional reminder of how much I miss Broadway. The songs are quintessential Broadway magic, incredibly funny and sassy, and managing to capture a world of emotion in a few pithy sentences. I burst out laughing when Andrew Rannells delivered a song picking apart the Bible and all its inconsistencies, and when Keegan-Michael Key sang about how Broadway is not a distraction but an escape, I wanted to cheer. Also, I loved the romance that Meryl Streep's character embarks upon in this film, proving that May-December romances work just as well (if not better) when you've got an older lady and a younger man. This is a glorious musical that will keep you entertained from start to finish. And while we can't all go to Broadway right now, at least we can experience a little bit of it in our homes. 

Let Them All Talk: Directed by Steven Soderbergh, and starring Meryl Streep, Candice Bergen, and Dianne Wiest, this movie is a bit like watching a fictionalized American version of Tea With the Dames. Streep play Alice, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who is now struggling to write her next masterpiece. When her agent (played by the lovely Gemma Chan) persuades her to go to the UK for a prize ceremony, Alice agrees with a few conditions: she won't fly, but will make the journey aboard the Queen Mary 2 instead. And she wants to be accompanied by her nephew (the equally lovely Lucas Hodges) and old college friends Roberta (Bergen) and Susan (Wiest). She has lost touch with these friends over the years, but for some reason now wants to bring them all together. 

What follows is a wildly fun mystery as you try to piece together what Alice's motives are, what happened to drive these friends apart, and enjoy the intergenerational conflict amongst all the characters and their bizarre lives. These days, it is hard to watch any movie that was filmed pre-pandemic where people are hugging and standing too close together, but it's especially unnerving to see strangers crammed together on a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean. But putting all that aside, this is a freewheeling, deligthful, incredibly naturalistic movie about some very sassy women and all their personal drama. Deborah Eisenberg wrote the story outline, but the cast mostly improvised their dialogue, and it's apparent when you watch this movie that these ladies were having a ton of fun. Reportedly Streep was only paid 25 cents for the film, and frankly, I'd probably be OK with that too for a job where I got to spend a few weeks on a ship with these talented actors. 

Much is bemoaned about the lack of meaty roles for women over a certain age in Hollywood, but Let Them All Talk offers a delicious insight into what we could get if we gathered those actors up and let them loose. It is such a gratifying and fun experience, and a very cozy weekend watch for the holidays.

December Movie Roundup Part 1: Mank & Wild Mountain Thyme

Despite the pandemic, Hollywood is still busy pumping out movies in time for Oscar season, so I'm curled up on my couch and trying to catch up on everything. Today's recommendations include some guaranteed Oscar bait, as well as a movie that had me giggling for an age because it is so epically weird. So no matter what mood you're in, you've covered.

Mank: Directed by David Fincher, written by his father Jack (who died in 2003), starring Gary Oldman, and telling the story of screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz, as he is in the throes of writing the screenplay for Citizen Kane, a movie that is consistently ranked as one the greatest movies of all time. If you haven't guessed already, Oscar voters are gonna eat this movie up with a spoon. 

I adored Erik Messerschmidt's cinematography (my mind was blown to discover this is the first movie he has ever shot) - despite being shot on digital, it fully captured the look and feel of a classic Hollywood movie, even periodically incorporating the cue marks on the right upper corner of the screen so you felt like a projectionist was changing reels in the booth instead of Netflix just streaming the movie to you in HD. Donald Graham Burt's production design was also impeccable, having to recreate all manner of lavish and extraordinary sets like MGM Studios and Hearst Castle. From a technical and visual standpoint, this movie is an absolute triumph.

However, this film still left me cold. I love black-and-white movies, but Citizen Kane is not of particular interest to me; my tastes lie more towards the screwball comedies and musicals of the 1930s and 40s. I could appreciate that Jack Fincher's screenplay is a wondrous, self-referential, intricate Mobius strip that manages to follow the narrative structure of Citizen Kane itself while telling the story of how Citizen Kane was written. It also has some surprisingly modern parallels about fake news and Republican smear campaigns. I wouldn't be surprised if this screenplay won Fincher a posthumous Oscar, because it is quite a feat. But that's the trouble with this movie. All of it feels like a technical achievement, but not an emotional one. At no point was I compelled by these characters or rooting for them. I was just waiting for this movie to end. Director David Fincher usually has such a weird and compelling original style, but he is so busy trying to make this movie replicate Citizen Kane, that there's nothing that makes it feel particularly Fincheresque. So watch Mank if you want to be informed for your Oscar pool, but if you are looking for something more emotionally resonant, you might need to look elsewhere.

Wild Mountain Thyme: This is a romance set on two Irish farms, starring Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan. That was all I needed to know to immediately watch this movie - how could you not?! However, I had also heard that the movie had a bonkers twist. I was looking forward to it, and as the movie progressed, I found myself increasingly on the edge of my seat, because there was just something a little bit manic about it throughout. I loved it so much, and then the twist happened. And I can tell you that watching this movie is the closest you will ever come to replicating the sensation of being high. I don't know what John Patrick Shanley was smoking when he wrote and directed this movie but oh man. It must have been some powerful stuff.

No further spoilers here. All I can say is that I found this movie utterly bewitching and charming and I will emphatically be in the minority in terms of recommending it. Most people will find it entirely too absurd and also be incapable of looking past whatever Christopher Walken is doing that passes for an Irish accent. But I love Jamie Dornan and Emily Blunt and those two are running with this screenplay and delivering excellence. At the very end of this film, there is an extended scene where the two of them are just talking to each other and trying to figure each other out. And I could watch that conversation on a loop. It's like watching a play (which makes sense, as it is actually adapted from Shanley's play, Outside Mullingar), with the most crackling and inane dialogue that captures the Irish spirit like no other. The Irish love their existential melodrama and this movie is absolutely brimming with comic characters who make Sartre look like Pollyanna. 

Wild Mountain Thyme is a beautiful Irish romcom until it turns into a wacky bit of weirdness, and I was 100% on board throughout. This movie will not be winning any Oscars, but guess what. As far as I'm concerned, any movie that makes me giggle like a loon in 2020 deserves to win Best Picture. 

Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions: A Revelation

I already surprised myself in August with a long post about how much I loved Taylor Swift's latest album, Folklore. But apparently I'm about to surprise myself again by waxing poetic about the "concert" movie she released over Thanksgiving, where she and the album's producers, Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, sat in a studio and performed a stripped down and soothing version of the entire album.

Why did I love this movie so much? Well context is everything. This isn't just an hour of music; instead, Swift has a little chat with her collaborators before each performance where they briefly discuss the song in question and what inspired her to write it. And those discussions kinda floored me. My post about her album was very focused on the lyrical magic, and in this movie, I got so much more insight into how she came up with those lyrics and how she wove different but complimentary themes together. These chats probably did not offer any major insights for the Swift fans who have been poring over these lyrics since this album was released and have steeped themselves in Swiftian lore, but for a novice fan like me, it was a revelation.

The other benefit of this movie is the extremely low-key production. Every song is just Swift singing to a piano or guitar accompaniment, perhaps with some light percussion, but otherwise there aren't any sweeping pyrotechnics in the background. This enhances the lyrics themselves and puts them in the foreground. And this is how I discovered my new favorite song on the album, This Is Me Trying. Swift's description of what inspired this song (which is longer than the song itself) gave me all the feels, and when I heard her perform it, I teared up and was like Yes, this is the greatest, why didn't I love this song the first time I heard it?! And then I listened to the album version and realized that because of all the instrumentation in the background, I could never quite pay attention to the lyrics like I did for the other songs I loved during my first listen. I felt similarly about Seven and Mirrorball, songs that I didn't think much of before, but am definitely hearing in a new light now. Swift is not the world's greatest singer and sometimes there is too much emphasis placed on using music production to enhance her vocal quality, but screw that. Going forward, I demand solely acoustic versions of all her songs so that I can fall in love with all her lyrics. But also, can we please air these movies on some other platform than Disney+? Because it is truly ironic that in a song like Mad Woman, when Swift is singing about a woman expressing her rage, Disney insists on censoring the word "Fuck." Yeesh.

Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions is one of the best treats I've gotten this holiday season and serves as yet another reminder that all is not lost in 2020. In a shitty year, we still have been granted some moments of joy, and this movie was sublime. Much like I found myself listening to the album on repeat, I will likely end up watching this movie on repeat for a while. You should join me. 

Holiday Movie Roundup: Happiest Season, Jingle Jangle, Holidate

December is upon us, which means it's time to dig in to the holiday movies. My friend Peggy and I are spending our weekly Zoom movie nights watching the classics, but if you're in the mood for some brand new holiday cheer, there's plenty out there. Below are three selections that run the gamut from family-friendly to festive and filthy, so no matter what you're in the mood for, there should be something to make you merry.

Happiest Season: I watched this movie on Thanksgiving morning and subsequently told every friend I knew to watch it. This is the movie that comes closest to being a new traditional holiday romcom classic, even though the romance it depicts might not be considered "traditional" if your family is still stuck in the 19th century. 

Directed by Clea DuVall and written by her and Mary Holland, the movie tells the story of Harper (Mackenzie Davis) and Abby (Kristen Stewart) who have been dating for nearly a year. Harper loves Christmas and asks Abby to come home with her for the holiday, only to drop a bomb on the drive over there - she hasn't come out to her parents and they think Abby is just her orphaned roommate that she's bringing home for Christmas. Yes, this is terribly problematic, and for a lot of people, the rest of the movie fails because Harper seems like an AWFUL person. But there are still reasons to love this film.

First off, it features an epic cast of incredible actors, including Dan Levy as Abby's best friend, John. The speech he has to deliver towards the end of this film about every gay person's coming out process is epic and a reminder of the similar warmth and understanding he delivered on a weekly basis on Schitt's Creek. And second, this script is so incredibly zany and fun. While the central premise has its problems, all the side plots and dialogue are spot on. I mean, the moment when someone yelled "Stay out of this, Sappho!" is all I needed to give this movie an A+. So dive right in and enjoy a new holiday romcom for the 21st century. It'll keep you warm and fuzzy till December 25th. 

Jingle Jangle: I didn't know that what was missing in my holiday catalog was a steampunk Christmas, but now that I have watched Jingle Jangle, I'm all in for this to be a new tradition. Steampunk is defined as "a style of design and fashion that combines historical elements with anachronistic technological features inspired by science fiction." That is a mouthful that probably still left you none the wiser, so just watch this movie and within the first five minutes you will know exactly what I'm talking about.

This is a kid's movie about an inventor, Jeronicus Jangle, who was famed for making the most wondrous toys at his store, Jangles and Things. However, when his apprentice, Gustafson, steals his secrets and starts his own toy factory, Jeronicus loses all hope. The story picks up 30 years later when Jangles and Things is now a pawnbroker shop, and Jeronicus (Forrest Whitaker) is a broken old man who no longer has the will to come up with new creative ideas. However, this all changes when his estranged young granddaughter, Journey (Madalen Mills), arrives at the shop to spend some time with him till Christmas. Jeronicus is initially disinterested, but Journey has his genius for inventions, and as you can imagine, she turns his life around. 

I didn't mention this movie is also a musical. So you will get beautiful choreographed numbers, incredible set and production design, and the most eye-catching costumes that celebrate everything that the steampunk aesthetic has to offer. Honestly, I didn't even care what the story was because I was just riveted by all the novelty bursting forth on my screen. And of course, there's the additional novelty of a Christmas movie with a mostly all-Black cast (and Ricky Martin voicing a matador doll!). Written and directed by David E. Talbert, this is a wildly inventive and creative take on Christmas, and is well worth a watch no matter what age you are.

Holidate: From PG to a strict R-rating, let's veer into the wild world of Holidate. The story is simple: Sloane (Emma Roberts) is a single woman who is sick of the judgement she gets from her family when she shows up without a date to various holiday gatherings. On the other hand, there's Jackson (Luke Bracey), an Australian golfer who had a disastrous Christmas going home with a woman he has just had a few dates with and meeting her very intense family who think they are about to get married right away. When the two meet up, they are both trying to find a safe way to spend the holidays without raising anyone's expectations, and they decide to embrace the idea of a "holidate," i.e. someone who you only date on holidays. 

Is it splendidly tropey and dumb? Yes. Does it constantly reference how splendidly tropey and dumb it is, thereby making it a super fun watch? You bet. This also has the added joy of being a holiday romcom that is not worried about its rating and so there is plenty of filthy language and inane sexy shenanigans. The juxtaposition of feeling like you're in a Hallmark movie and then suddenly have someone vividly describe a sex act makes everything worthwhile.

I was hard pressed to remember a single detail about this movie after I watched it, but I do remember being perfectly entertained while I watched it. It's dumb but low stakes and because it's on Netflix, it has great production values, even though you wonder what on earth Kristin Chenoweth is doing in this movie as the sassy aunt who never sings a song. Go forth and have a filthy Christmas!

Roadkill and The Undoing: Hugh Did It Best?

If you're looking for your next TV binge, two shows have just concluded their runs on American TV and are now available to watch in one delightful gulp. Starring my two favorite British Hughs (sorry Hugh Dancy, Hugh Bonneville, Hugh Dennis, Hugh Skinner and the rest), they both feature excellent performances, twisty storylines, and cliffhangers galore. Get your couch ready, you're not going to be leaving it for a while.

The Undoing: Over the past six Sundays, I have been glued to HBO, watching The Undoing slowly unfold its mystery. It was as close as I could get to a "watercooler" show in the Covid age - I wasn't in the office every Monday, but I sure could expect a flurry of texts from various friends and colleagues to share our latest theories about who the killer might be. The show stars Nicole Kidman as Grace Fraser, a therapist in New York. She's married to Jonathan (Hugh Grant), a seemingly charming and warm pediatric oncologist, they have a precocious son, Henry (Noah Jupe), and they are living a rich, comfortable Upper East Side life. Of course, by the end of the first episode, that all comes crashing down when one of the mothers at Henry's school is found brutally murdered, and the chief suspect is Jonathan.

Based on Jean Hanff Korelitz's novel (which I now need to read), and adapted by David E. Kelley, the six episodes are filled with revelations, red herrings, and sexy drama. Hugh Grant is perfectly cast - at first, I was surprised that he was such a wonderful husband, given that the latter stage of his career has been given over to playing more villainous roles. I was therefore vindicated at the end of the first episode when he became the prime suspect. But then the series showed us how many other suspects there could be, and by the end, it was like, who DIDN'T kill this woman? Through it all, Grant's performance was my absolute favorite, delivering every conceivable human emotion under the sun and reminding us that there is so much more to this charming bastard than meets the eye. 

The rest of the actors are fine, but my God let's talk about the accents. Almost every actor on this show is a foreigner, but they are all playing New Yorkers, except for Grant who blessedly gets to be British. Nicole Kidman's American accent veers into Australian every time she has to say the word "No." Donald Sutherland's pronunciation of "monster" strikes me as being impossibly Canadian. Noma Dumezweni is supposed to be a tough New York lawyer but her mid-Atlantic accent is mostly veering off to the British side of the Atlantic. The only one who really pulls it off is Noah Jupe, who I had completely forgotten was British. As usual, Gen Z for the win. Director Susanne Bier is Danish, so clearly she had no idea her cast sounded like the United Nations, but oh well. The screenplay, Hugh Grant, and ogling those swanky penthouses provided ample distraction.

The Undoing isn't perfect, and some felt the ending was a bit of a letdown. But given how much entertainment it provided up until that ending, it has my hearty endorsement. Murder mystery? Good. Set in New York? Good. Starring Hugh Grant as a complicated douchebag? Gooooooood.

Roadkill: Written by David Hare and starring Hugh Laurie, Roadkill's got pedigree. And while it is a bit soapy and absurd, there's nothing more relevant to our current times than a story about a Conservative British MP who claims to be a libertarian and harbors grandiose ambitions. Like Hugh Grant, Hugh Laurie is one of the most charming actors on the planet. You always want to root for this man, but his latter career has consisted of him being decidedly more curmudgeonly and leaving behind his comedy roots to foray into decidedly dark dramas. Over the course of four episodes, I found myself having no idea who I was supposed to root for because I couldn't figure this character out. Is he a hero? Is he a villain? He's a politician, so mostly the latter.

Filmed on location in London and Hastings, this show is your quintessential British political drama. Everyone's squelching about in the never-ending rain and plotting all manner of shenanigans at 10 Downing Street, and the Prime Minister, played by Helen McCrory, is a devious woman who is terribly put-upon and more concerned with fundraising than policy-making. Over the course of 2020, I have gradually come to realize that the world of British politics might be just as terrible as the American world - their Conservative Party is of course much more aligned with centrist Democrats than our GOP, but both parties still seem consumed by the same problems of incompetence and bravado that have plagued us. Roadkill offers up a delicious view into the dysfunction and how even when British MPs purport to be open and transparent in all their dealings, there's always some hidden agenda and blatant political maneuvering. Sidenote: the theme tune and soundtrack by Harry Escott are exquisite - while the opening credits are set to an ominous and foreboding version of the theme, throughout the show you will get other versions, some fast and frenzied, some light and comic, and it's a truly wonderful use of music to quickly convey tone. 

It's only four episodes so Roadkill is a quick and dirty binge that will satisfy your need for a dose of the BBC. There are many plots and sideplots, some more tropey than others (the alcoholic female journalist is always a snooze), but that central Hugh Laurie performance is riveting and commands your attention throughout. If you're sick of the American elections, distract yourself with the notion that the UK sucks too, and indulge in some schadenfreude. What could be more 2020 than that? 

Dash & Lily: Christmas in New York

Five minutes into watching Dash & Lily, I knew I was going to binge this sucker all the way through. It's slightly ridiculous how much this show was made for me, but I mean come on. You're going to set a YA romcom in New York, at Christmastime, and have the opening meet-cute (of sorts) take place at the iconic Strand bookstore in Manhattan, literally the location where I had my first ever date? I fell for this thing hook, line, and sinker.

Based on the Dash & Lily's Series of Dares books by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (which I will now need to order from the library), this show follows the burgeoning romance between two teenagers in New York City, Lily (Midori Francis) and Dash (Austin Abrams). Lily has placed a red notebook on a bookshelf at the Strand with a series of clues, and Dash happens upon it. Intrigued, he decides to play along, and the two become penpals of sorts via this notebook, constantly daring each other to do various activities across New York City and get out of their comfort zones. As all of this is playing out, they are facing their own personal dramas in terms of families and past relationships, with a wonderful supporting cast of actors that keep things lively and engaging. As things progress, in true romcom fashion, you start to wonder if these two weirdos will ever meet in real life, or if too many obstacles will clutter the road to happily ever after. 

I don't know if this is the latest trope, because we also saw this in To All the Boys I've Loved Before, but apparently all YA romances are between girls of mixed white and Asian heritage and white boys who were born too late to become a part of the mumblecore movement. Both Midori Francis and Austin Abrams are charming leads, but I definitely felt more swept up in Lily's life, given her immigrant family and general introversion. Abrams is a low-rent Timothee Chalamet, and since Dash's story is that he is a child of divorce with two exceedingly wealthy New York parents, it's a little harder to not roll your eyes at the poor little rich boy. Also, I always have to suspend a lot of my disbelief when I watch any YA romance; the notion of 17-year-olds falling in love and getting up to all manner of shenanigans instead of just living a loner existence and doing their homework is alien to me. That being said, the romance is fizzy and fun, surprisingly emotional in spots, and while the resolution feels rushed, with many plot holes you mustn't examine too closely, this show is an instant classic. And sidebar: can Pixar please make a movie called Collation? I know it's just a joke for this show, but damn, I really need to watch this romance between a stapler and a blank piece of paper. 

This show hits my New York sweet spot, featuring all the Christmas lights and beauty that makes this city so bewitchingly magical in the winter months. It felt like an I Love New York tourism ad, and I was delighted. It showcased so many activities and locations I won't be able to experience this year because of the pandemic, but getting to experience them all onscreen was the next best thing. Dash eats cannolis at Veneiro's - that's the Italian bakery my parents buy my birthday cake from every year. He visits Bethesda Fountain, which is one of my favorite spots in Central Park, and he drops off the notebook at the Alice statue, which has been my Whatsapp profile photo for years. And the soundtrack features some of my most beloved Christmas songs, including Joni Mitchell's River and The Pogues' Fairytale of New York. 

Look, I know this recommendation is insanely biased, and I may just be writing this blog post for myself. But if you too are a New Yorker who loves this city during Christmas and is sad that the pandemic means the experience won't be quite the same, then you need to be mainlining Dash & Lily ASAP. Everyone else, this is still a charming and lovely series you may love, but you're not gonna love it as much as I do. Now please excuse me, I have to go put up my Christmas tree.

Ted Lasso: Some Soothing Fun

I binged all of Ted Lasso last weekend and it felt like a balm to my soul. After all the uproar around the election, watching this show was like a soothing cup of tea, a reminder that the world still contains delicious new sitcoms with funny and original stories that allow you to forget the world for a spell. So if you're in need of some solace, I suggest you crank up Apple TV+ and settle in. 

The show follows Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis), an American college football coach who gets hired to fly across the pond and coach AFC Richmond, an English Premier League football (aka soccer) team, despite having absolutely no experience coaching that type of football. He brings his assistant and friend, Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) along with him for the ride, and together, the two men need to face the wrath of the team and its fans who are appalled that these Americans who know nothing about the beautiful game are going to lead their team into ruin. 

If you're wondering how this even happened, it's because the team has a new owner, Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham), who won the team in her divorce. Her ex-husband loved this team, so why not hire Ted to make them the laughing stock of the Premier League and spite her ex? Unfortunately, as she quickly discovers, you shouldn't underestimate Ted just because of his folksy charm and constant optimism. This is a man who understands people and knows how to motivate his team to perform as one cohesive unit, and as the show progresses, it becomes a story of how a bunch of sarcastic, world-weary Brits, fall in love with an odd American man who never stops believing in them.

This show is incredibly witty and dense with jokes, both spoken and visual. I loved that they created an entire airline called "Dubai Air" to be the sponsors of AFC Richmond, in an obvious homage to Emirates' longtime sponsorship of Arsenal. There's a joke where Ted is handing out little toy soldiers to his players, and one of them, who is a sweet guy from Nigeria, thanks him but says he would rather not take this token of imperialism. There's the episode where Rebecca is unable to get Robbie Williams to appear in a fundraiser, which ultimately ends with a Robbie Williams' song I hadn't heard since my childhood (sidebar: the show's soundtrack is a wondrous thing, full of tunes that had me bopping along nonstop with an Edith Piaf finale that was just *chef's kiss*). 

Can Ted Lasso be incredibly predictable? Sure. But is that part of its charm? You bet. I haven't even gone into the entire supporting cast and all the side stories and romances and friendships and other human dramas that fill up each episode, but suffice to say, this is a show that leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy. The ten episodes of the first season follow a wonderful and satisfying arc, but damnit, I need more. Thankfully the show has already been renewed for two more seasons, and I can't wait to see the adventures that Lasso and the gang get up to. In real life, the US and the UK might have a tortured relationship, but on this show, we can dream. 

The Fair Fight Marches On

My first indication that Joe Biden had been elected as the President of the United States of America wasn't a push alert on my phone or a breaking news headline on my TV. It was a sudden outbreak of cheers and honking on the streets of New York City. And I knew we had finally won.

The past four years have been such a struggle. They have revealed everything that is nasty and rotten to the core about this country. Nazis carried tiki torches on the streets, people seeking asylum were imprisoned in cages, and as a pandemic raged throughout the country, the entitled and selfish (including the President) refused to wear masks and endangered their fellow citizens every single day. It has been a relentless barrage of vitriol and all caps tweets. Meanwhile, Republican politicians and news media kept accusing Democrats of liberal bias and being overly sensitive, while any criticism of their cruelty or corruption resulted in epic temper tantrums and bitter recriminations.

2020 has sucked, but on November 7, we finally got a glimmer of hope. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the best thing to happen to this country right now. As they gave their victory speeches, they re-emphasized that they cared for all Americans, not just the ones who voted for them. We will have intelligent people in the White House again. They will govern based on facts and reason. I was so relieved on Saturday when I knew they had finally won. I met my friend Laura and she said, "is this what it feels like to be happy?" But this morning, she sent me a link and we are now signed up to phone bank next weekend to register voters for the Georgia run-off elections in January so the Democrats can win back the Senate. It is all so goddamn exhausting.

I don't know what the next four years will look like. But I do know we will have to keep fighting to ensure that the next election doesn't drag us right back into the darkness. So pace yourself. There are more battles to come. 

The Queen’s Gambit: Lush & Languorous

Seeing as it sprang to #1 on Netflix, I binged all of The Queen’s Gambit this weekend. And I have never been more convinced that the world is really bored during the lockdown (or really in need of distracting themselves from the election) if they decided that this needs to be the next great binge watch. Don’t get me wrong, this is an excellent miniseries. But it did not need to be seven episodes long. 

Written and directed by Scott Frank, based on the novel by Walter Trevis, the series is set in the 1950s and 60s and tells the story of Elizabeth “Beth” Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy), a young orphan in Kentucky, who is a chess prodigy and quickly becomes one of the greatest chess players in the United States, and eventually, the world. The production design by Uli Hanisch is absolutely impeccable, vividly capturing the look and feel of the era, and the costume design by Gabriele Binder is spellbinding. We track Beth’s evolution from poor orphan girl in a pinafore and terrible haircut, to a sophisticated and glamorous teenager and young woman. But the aesthetics aren’t the point of the series. The point is the chess. 

Oh the chess. There is so much of it. And I expect this series is a godsend to people who play and actually watch chess tournaments. But to me, there could be nothing duller than watching people move pieces around on a board. To be fair, the show does an excellent job of making this seem exciting by amping up the score (composer Carlos Rafael Rivera deserves much kudos for his soundtrack) and having the ticking chess clock in the background to ratchet up the tension and having people communicate the progress of the match in multiple analog ways as they can't simply share status updates via Google. But that technique only works for the first few matches. After a while, I was playing Candy Crush until the damn match was over and we could move on with the plot. 

There’s plenty of plot, with a tone that can oftentimes veer from the cerebral to the decidedly earthy in the blink of an eye, and a whole host of characters that come in and out of Beth’s life. The first episode is actually the most powerful, with Isla Johnston playing the young orphan Beth and showcasing how she first learns to play chess from the orphanage’s custodian, Mr. Shaibel (Bill Camp). We then get a wonderful turn from Marielle Heller as Alma, the woman who adopts Beth and proves to be flawed but incredibly supportive of her single-minded chess ambitions. And then there are the many men who flit through Beth’s life, mostly chess players, of course, but who all rally around in pretty fine fashion at the end, in a way that made me really love this series. Too often, we see women’s stories get sidetracked by romance, but in this show, Beth’s almost pathological genius for playing chess is front and center, and her success is paramount despite the many struggles she has to endure. 

Anya Taylor-Joy is the lynchpin of this enterprise and her eyes are probably the reason she was cast. Those large peepers have to do so much acting when she’s just sitting at a chess board, and she is an absolute marvel. Beth isn’t an overly demonstrative character and is generally pretty aloof and reserved. And yet, you can sense her frustrations and elations when she is playing the game she loves, and you do understand the love she has for her friends and family, even if she is not the kind of woman who can readily display that affection. It’s a tour-de-force performance and is the main reason I kept watching. Yes I wasn’t enthralled by the chess, but I sure was enthralled by this character. 

Ultimately, The Queen’s Gambit is a lush and well-crafted series. It is a bit self-indulgent and is a one-trick pony in terms of how it tries to make chess matches seem exciting, but it has an excellent cast that can see this story through and ensure our heroine triumphs. I did find myself wondering if it would have been a tighter and well-paced series if a woman was directing instead of a man who fancied himself as an auteur. We shall never know. But as someone who has been a fan of Anya Taylor-Joy since her sprightly turn in Emma, I’m glad this show has pushed her further into the spotlight, because I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing her in all the things. Less chess, more Anya please!

Weekend Watch: Rebecca, Borat 2, On the Rocks

Well, most of us are huddled indoors and won't be trick-or-treating this year. But Hollywood has come to the rescue with plenty of new movies to keep you entertained through the winter weekends. And this weekend, US readers get a whole extra hour to binge, thanks to Daylight Savings Time! I ploughed through these three movies last week, so settle down on the couch and see what tickles your fancy.

Rebecca: If you've seen the trailer, you know what you're getting. Sweeping and lush period drama that's a little bit creepy and has a twist ending. Ever since Daphne du Maurier wrote this novel in 1938 there have been many iconic adaptations, but here's another one! And it's...fine! I'll admit, the main appeal to me was getting to watch that tall drink of water, Armie Hammer, saunter up and down my screen. But Lily James is lovely too, and Kristin Scott Thomas is incredible as Mrs. Danvers. Seriously, after watching this performance, you would much rather take care of your own household than ever consider hiring a housekeeper ever again. 

For those of you who insist on knowing at least something about the plot, this is a story of a young woman (whose name is never revealed in the novel, so she's just "the second Mrs. de Winter") who has a whirlwind romance with Maxim de Winter in Monte Carlo. They get married after a fortnight and she is whisked away on a honeymoon and then on to his fabulous estate, Manderley, which is one of the finest houses in Britain. There, she meets Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper who was extremely fond of the first Mrs. de Winter, a woman named Rebecca. Mrs. Danvers does NOT like this new interloper, and there is DRAMA. It is a weird, unsettling tale, and as the movie hurtles on, it becomes clear that there's something mysterious about how Rebecca died. The movie is gorgeous to look at, but exceedingly frothy. If you already know the story and how things will end, there might be little to keep you glued to your screen here, but if you're just seeking a nice escape into some gothic melodrama with some actors who are easy on the eyes, you're in for a treat. It's a lazy Sunday binge, no harm, no foul.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: I mean, come on. You don't need me to tell you whether or not you would like this movie. You should have a pretty good idea already based on your reaction to the first one. For the uninitiated, Sacha Baron Cohen plays Borat, a journalist from Kazakhstan who goes to America and meets real-life Americans (not actors) and proceeds to gin up controversy. He is a posturing, right-wing nutjob, and as he travels the country (mostly the South) he tends to find people who go along with his craziness, thereby revealing the depths of lunacy that this country contains. In this sequel, he is accompanied by his daughter, Tutar (Maria Bakalova, a young Bulgarian actress breaking into Hollywood in the most spectacular fashion), and all manner of hijinks ensue. There's a debutante ball, there are some QAnon conspiracists, a wonderful woman named Jeanise Jones who is the voice of reason and the film's true hero, and of course, there's Rudy Guiliani. 

The true wizardry of this movie is that Cohen and Bakalova are the only actors. They have to stay in character as these absolutely bonkers humans, and then interact with real-life humans, who don't seem thrown by their insanity at all. Cohen has been doing this for years, but I was so awed by Bakalova's ability to stay in character while she proceeded to do and say some spectacularly insane things. The movie ends with the most important message of them all: VOTE. And that is the point of this Subsequent Moviefilm. It is a reminder that America is just as nuts as ever, and if you want it to be a little less nuts, you need to go vote for it. Lord save us all.

On the Rocks: Written and directed by Sofia Coppola, and starring Rashida Jones and Bill Murray, I was definitely looking forward to this movie. And after watching it, I have mostly forgotten all about it. It's a good movie, I swear, but it is light and breezy, and ultimately it didn't profoundly resonate with me. It's a story about Laura (Rashida Jones), who is married with two young children, and her husband Dean (Marlon Wayans), who travels a lot as he is trying to get a new business off the ground. Due to certain circumstances, Laura starts to suspect he is having an affair, and when she confides in her father (played by Bill Murray), he immediately insists that they investigate. He is a bit of a philanderer himself, and is convinced men can't be monogamous, so with him by her side, Laura is increasingly paranoid that her husband is straying. Things escalate, and you should watch to see how it all pans out.

This is meant to be a light comedy, but what I took away from it was that this is a movie about the existential angst of being a wife and mother. There are so many shots of Laura just looking exhausted. And let's be very clear, this woman has a beautiful apartment in New York, comes from an exceedingly wealthy family, and is living the kind of cushy New York lifestyle that I have only ever seen in movies. I live in New York and still didn't recognize half the places they went to or talked about, because they are so out of my price range. But all the money in the world cannot solve for the emotional labor of being a mother and having a husband who will always say "I'll trust your decision" when you ask if you should get your daughter on a preschool waiting list. This is a movie that showcases everything that women are doing in their attempts to "have it all" and what a terrifyingly awful prospect that is. So, give this movie a shot, and depending on how you're feeling that day, you'll either be pleasantly cheered or come away with a sense of dread about running a household.

The Way I See It: Make the White House Great Again

I started following former Chief Official White House photographer Pete Souza a few years ago on Instagram when he got very famous for throwing shade on President Trump. Every time Trump would tweet something ludicrous, Souza would post a photo from the Obama years with a witty caption. It's a fun game that continues to this day, but if you want to experience more than some Instagram posts, you should definitely watch the new documentary, The Way I See It (FYI, I discovered it's available for free on Peacock!). 

Beautifully and compellingly directed by Dawn Porter, the movie chronicles Pete Souza's years in the White House. While the focus is of course on his Obama years, we also get some great material from the 80s when he served on the team of photographers for the Reagan administration. The fact that Souza worked for both a Republican and a Democrat is significant, because one of his key messages is that his attacks of Trump are not based on political affiliation. Instead, his disgust stems from his years of witnessing what it means to be a President of the United States and the weight of that office, regardless of political party. He may not have agreed with Reagan's policies, but he still respected him as a President, and chronicled the many difficult decisions that man had to make and the scandals he had to weather while in office. He also speaks fondly of Reagan's relationship with his wife, and the love the two had for each other. Of course, when we get to Obama, there are plenty of photos of the First Family to further gladden your heart and remind you what it was like when the President was a man who was actually beloved.

The key to Souza's job was to get unlimited access to the President. He was the fly on the wall, documenting every trip, every speech, every meeting, and every snowball fight with Sasha and Malia. While yes, it is a government job to show the public what the President is like, Souza doesn't view these photos as being part of a PR exercise. Given his background as a photojournalist, he took this job very seriously, viewing himself as a historian. He took photos that showcased what life was truly like for the President during his time in office, and these photos will be archived and studied by future generations. One of his biggest bones of contention with the Trump administration is that they have not allowed unfettered access to photographers and only release posed photographs. It is such a loss to the historical record and further adds on to the lies that emanate from today's White House.

Souza's focus when chronicling Obama was leadership and empathy. He knows the story behind every photograph he took, and as the movie progresses, you will be inundated by images that chronicle everything from the mundane to the magnificent. Many of these photos are iconic images that you've already seen before, but others might be your first glimpse into how the administration dealt with a particular win or a devastating tragedy. There are so many examples of Obama's kindness to other humans, so many hugs, so many smiles, so many tears, so much compassion and sheer charisma. You will relive all eight years of that administration, and while they had their ups and down, the man at the center was always a President who was steadfast and respectable, a man that you could admire.

The Way I See It is a beautiful movie that tells a political story from an unlikely perspective. No one ever thinks about the photographer, and yet, here he is, one of the few people who knows more about the President than any other human being. And like many people, he was largely apolitical until the 2016 election, when Trump turned him into an outspoken Instagram and media star. It's an unlikely transformation for a man who was previously so content to be quiet and take photos, but he is a fascinating and thoughtful figure whose story is well worth hearing. A picture tells a thousand words and this movie is an epic saga. I shed multiple tears on watching it, swept away by the memories of what it was like when an honest and decent man was the President of the United States. On November 3, perhaps we can see an honest and decent man reclaim that title. So watch this movie and make sure you VOTE.

Crash Landing on You: What a Ride

Well my 2020 is complete because I have finally watched a Korean drama and now understand what all the fuss was about. Queue up Crash Landing on You on Netflix - you’re in for the ride of a lifetime. 

The show’s premise is this: Yoon Se-ri (Son Ye-jin), a fabulously wealthy and badass South Korean businesswoman, goes paragliding and gets caught in a freak storm. She finally lands on a tree and is eventually rescued by Captain Ri Jeong-hyeok (Hyun Bin), who is...a North Korean soldier. You see, she got blown over into North Korea, which is a big no-no. And Jeong-hyeok, who is basically every romance hero you’ve ever loved rolled into one, doesn’t want her to get tortured by the State Security Department so he tries to help her sneak back over to South Korea without alerting the authorities. And...my god, guys, SO MUCH STUFF HAPPENS. 

I cannot tell you any more about this show because it is a story that you need to live through in its entirety. It seemingly starts out as a wacky romantic comedy, but things quickly take a deep emotional turn. Over the course of a single episode, you could end up watching an explosive gun fight, a slapstick comedy, and a wrenching treatise on depression. And these are LONG episodes, sometimes extending past ninety minutes, and yet you will still sit there wanting more. The genius of the editing means that every episode ends on a compelling cliffhanger, so my routine became to always watch the first ten minutes of the next episode before I finally dragged myself off to bed since I absolutely had to know that Se-ri and Jeong-hyeok would be OK after their latest shenanigans. And I wasn't just invested in their romance, but also in the incredible cast of supporting characters built around them. There are so many storylines that are interwoven and delicately balanced over the course of sixteen episodes and by the end, I felt like these people had become my family. I did not want our time together to end. 

Two of the actors on this show were also in Parasite and I kept remembering how I felt when I first watched that movie. I was blown away by the notion that a movie wouldn’t have to stick to a particular genre and could deftly wind its way through a complicated story that was funny, scary, incisive, and thrilling all in one go. Now that I’ve seen Crash Landing on You, however, I’m starting to understand how South Korean cinema might be primed from the existence of these K-dramas on television. The quality of this show is absolutely cinematic, and the attention to writing, costume design, cinematography, and sheer chutzpah is incredible. I do acknowledge that this is a widely popular drama, and I can’t draw generalizations from my sample size of one. But this was a hell of an introduction. 

I don’t know what more I can say except that if you are a fan of epic storytelling, and an absolutely swoony romantic plot, you owe it to yourself to drop everything and watch Crash Landing on You. The actors are simply terrific, the writing is wondrously intricate and magical (seriously, the dialogue on this show can be so achingly profound), every visual aspect has been crafted with care and beauty, and most importantly, the soundtrack will burrow itself into your brain and never leave. I have no idea what the lyrics are, but I have been consistently humming the different themes from this show for weeks now and I will never stop. I have never experienced a show quite like this before, and hitherto unknown avenues of entertainment have suddenly opened up to me. It’s a slippery slope, but I’m going down that rabbit hole.

The Trial of the Chicago 7: Uplifting and Sobering

The Trial of the Chicago 7 is a great movie and you should watch it. But of course, there are caveats. So let’s dig into what works, what doesn’t, and how resurrecting this particular historical moment in our current political climate feels both relevant and exhausting.

First off, this is a movie written and directed by Aaron Sorkin. If you’ve ever seen anything by Aaron Sorkin, you already know what to expect. Though I must admit, the dialogue wasn’t as Sorkinian as I had been led to believe by critical hot takes on Twitter. The man is an auteur for sure, but I never felt myself taken out of the movie during a dialogue-heavy scene, which is a feeling I have definitely had when watching other Sorkin works. Instead, there was the climactic courtroom scene at the end, the kind with swelling musical overtures, where people start to stand up and cheer in support of the underdog, and THAT was peak Sorkin. He is absolutely not subtle. But given the sheer number of characters and the denseness of this plot, it all works out. By the time you get to that climactic moment, you’re ready to sink in and wallow in the sentiment for a bit.

This movie recounts the trial of eight men who were accused by the United States government of inciting riots in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. At the time of the riots, Lyndon B. Johnson was President, but at the time of trial in 1969, Richard Nixon had taken over, and the new Attorney General, John N. Mitchell, was eager to prosecute these men who had led thousands of people to Chicago to protest the Vietnam War. These men included Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne), Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen), Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong), David Dellinger (John Carroll Lynch), and Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), the co-founder of the Black Panthers, who was only in Chicago for a few hours for a speech and had absolutely nothing to do with the protests and riots (a fact that becomes increasingly relevant and insane as the trial wears on). If you can count, I've obviously not listed out all the men involved, but those actors don’t do too much in this film because we already have plenty to be getting on with. The lawyer representing these men was William Kunstler (Mark Rylance, sporting the worst haircut known to man), while the US attorney prosecuting the case was Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). And the judge presiding over these shenanigans was Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella), who acts in ways that are increasingly more horrifying and border on cartoonish until you read up on the actual trial and discover that Sorkin didn’t even have to make this shit up.

Look back at that cast. What a wonder it is. Every single actor is a powerhouse in his own right, and in this movie, we get this magical ensemble that is simply on fire. Of course, this is a very male magical ensemble that absolutely does not pass the Bechdel test, and in typical Sorkin fashion, the few female characters exist to relate to these men in the most stereotypical ways possible. So let's roll our eyes and move on. I must take a moment to acknowledge Redmayne and Rylance for their wonderful American accents, and then shake my head over Cohen, whose Boston accent feels like it consisted of him just practicing the phrase “I parked my car in Harvard Yard” over and over again. Accent aside, though, I found myself quite moved by Cohen’s performance in the end and couldn't help cheering a little when he gave his testimony. After all, courtroom drama is the best drama. 

The true star of this film is Sorkin’s screenplay; he introduces this sprawling cast of characters and then hones in on their personalities so you don’t completely lose the plot. There’s the classic use of flashbacks to go back and forth from the riots in the past to the present-day courtroom scenes, so nothing ever stagnates and your attention never flags. And while each character seems to be wedged into a box, e.g. the free-thinking hippies versus the strait-laced and earnest Democrat, we manage to see them develop over two hours and surprise each other. None of these people have identical political philosophies but they are all united in their belief that the Vietnam War is unjust. While this trial is a political sham designed to falsely convict these men of working together to incite violence, it manages to actually bring them together and give them a chance to peacefully protest in the courtroom. 

I knew absolutely nothing about these men and this trial, which is an excellent way to go into this movie. Just let history unfold for you and gasp at all the shocking perversions of justice and racism and political chicanery. All of this happened in 1969, but it doesn’t feel remotely out of place in 2020 when the current US Attorney General seems similarly inclined to pursue political vendettas instead of protecting free speech and seeking actual justice for American citizens. That’s the most difficult aspect of watching this movie. It is well-directed, impeccably written, and beautifully acted, but at no point could I just lose myself in it, because so much of it felt like some historical artifact that we should have learned from and moved on from, but haven’t. So watch The Trial of the Chicago 7 and appreciate it for the sheer technical artistry that went into putting this complex and compelling story together. But be prepared for it to sting a little.

October Movie Roundup: The Forty-Year-Old Version, Mulan, The Boys in the Band

Another month, another batch of movies to while away the hours! Again, there's something for everyone here, whether you're in the mood for incisive New York comedy, live-action Disney war games, or gay men having a birthday party. Surely one of those tickles your fancy?

Mulan: I had pre-ordered tickets to see this in the theater before the pandemic hit, so let's be clear, I 100% wanted to watch this movie. But having seen it, I can now tell you that I have plans to watch the 1998 animated version over Zoom with my friend Peggy instead. This movie is...fine. As always, I did appreciate the feminism that Disney has been striving to imbue into all their live-action remakes, but Mulan (played here by the wonderful (Yifei Liu) was already a kick-ass feminist Disney "princess" anyway. The movie does away with any comedy or music, and is a straightforward story of a woman masquerading as a man so that she can go to war instead of her aging father, who will almost certainly be killed. Along the way, she learns to embrace her "chi," and the warrior spirit that she was always told to suppress because it wasn't ladylike. And she saves the day and wins the respect (and in one case, the love) of her fellow male soldiers and wider community. It's a great rah-rah story of how girls can be destined for greatness too, not just a life of tea ceremonies and marriage, but that's a story that young children are better off getting through the 1998 animated feature, rather than this much more violent film that is more focused on battle scenes. Older kids (aka the YA set) might find more to love here, and of course, if you're a young Asian girl, you can never discount the importance of seeing yourself represented onscreen in such a meaningful way. I did love the costumes and set pieces, and the action sequences were beautifully choreographed (though come on, there's no way Mulan wouldn't tie her hair back first before wading into war). I may have had a very different reaction if I was watching this in a theater on the big screen; but at home on the couch? I was underwhelmed.

The Forty-Year-Old Version: I love a punny title, so I was in the tank for this movie from the outset. But damn, what a revelation it turned out to be. Directed by and starring Radha Blank as a fictionalized version of herself, this is the story of a Black playwright in New York City who is having a mid-life crisis and trying to get her life together ahead of her fortieth birthday. With her playwriting ambitions constantly thwarted, she suddenly hits upon a long-dormant ambition to become a rapper, and that's when the film comes alive. This is an exceedingly funny movie, brimming with jokes about the very white New York theatre scene (while workshopping a play about gentrification, Radha is forced to add a white character to the play because that's what would speak to the majority of the audience), the expectations heaped upon an older Black woman, and how to define success as you get older. Radha works as a high school teacher to make ends meets, and it's refreshing to see how supportive her students are of her efforts to make it, rather than being snot-nosed teenagers who are too cool for school. Interestingly, her best friend Archie (Peter Kim) is a gay Korean man who is also her agent, which is a nice nod to the diversity in the NYC public school system and how minorities often have to stick together to overcome the odds. The standout moment in this film for me, however, is when we see an all-female rap battle, where, for the very first time, I got to see a female rapper in a hijab. This movie is fresh and original, telling a story you've never seen before. Shot in black-and-white, it's a bit disconcerting to get into, but give it a few minutes and you'll be swept away by the sheer force of Radha's personality. Give The Forty-Year-Old Version a chance - her rap about Poverty Porn alone is worth it. 

The Boys in the Band: This play came out in 1968, had a Broadway revival in 2018, and now you can watch the Netflix movie adaptation starring the cast from that 2018 production. It's a veritable who's who of openly gay Hollywood actors, including Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannells, Michael Benjamin Washington, Tuc Watkins, Robin de Jesus, Charlie Carver, and Brian Hutchinson. It can still be difficult for gay men to come out in Hollywood, as they get stereotypical roles and rarely get to play the leading man in a cis hetero romcom, but in this movie, we get to see this incredible cast play off each other and reveal the many multitudes contained within the world of homosexuality. Is it somewhat dated and of its time? Sure. But is it still a fascinating insight into what it was like to be gay in 1968 in New York City and what it sometimes is like to be gay in 2020 today? You bet. The story consists of a birthday party that goes horribly wrong when the host's old college roommate, who is straight, shows up and stirs up some shit. None of the people are perfect, but that's kind of the point - they are allowed to be messy and have all of their foibles, and their gayness isn't immediately some sort of value judgement of the content of their character. This movie does often feel very much like a play - the dialogue and confined apartment setting instantly transports you to a stage - but all told, this is a solid movie that is well worth your time. 

Watch & Vote: Surge & Knock Down the House

It’s October and people in many US states have already started voting, either in person or via mail-in ballots. I received my mail-in ballot last week but will be heading to my in-person early voting center on October 24th because I need the thrill of voting via a machine to feel like I gave this my all. If you are an American voter, make a plan and ensure you vote this year. And if you need a reminder of how important elections can be, I give you two wonderful documentaries that highlight all of the work that goes into political campaigning, all of the unnecessary horror of voter suppression, and what it looks like when truly deserving political candidates fight for the chance to represent their fellow citizens in a democracy.

Directed by Rachel Lears, Knock Down the House tells the story of four female Democrats in different parts of the country who ran for election in 2018. These women were not career politicians, but were all inspired to run following the 2016 election, where the shock of not seeing the first woman President get elected quickly gave way to sweeping anger and resolve to go into office themselves. The most famous candidate in the documentary is Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She serves as the star of this film and gets more screentime than any other candidate, which is a bit unfortunate as I thought the other ladies were rather brilliant too. But in Ocasio-Cortez's case, what's intriguing is that she isn't a Democrat looking to flip her district - instead she is a progressive looking to upset the establishment Democrat, a complacent white man who can't even be bothered to show up to a debate and thinks that the voters in his district will just vote for him out of name recognition and sheer misinformed laziness. But with her grassroots campaign, Ocasio-Cortez convinces the people of New York's 14th Congressional District to vote with their best interests at heart, and thank goodness, they did. In the two years since she was elected to office, we've seen how great it can be when someone who actually gives a damn about the world and her constituents comes to Washington.

The other women featured in this documentary are Amy Vilela from Nevada, Cori Bush from Missouri, and Paula Jean Swearengin from West Virginia. They are all incredible women who are running to protect their people from greedy self-serving Republican interests. None of them won their primaries in 2018, but Swearengin and Bush both won in 2020 and I will be eagerly following their races this November to see if they flip their districts/states blue (Swearengin, in particular, is a fascinating woman who bucks the stereotype that West Wirginia coal miners can only be Republicans, and she is running for Senate, which would be such a coup for the country). All three women have incredible stories of why they chose to run in the first place and serve as a great reminder that politicians do not all have to be corrupt, amoral snakes. Sometimes, they can be women who want to protect their communities and serve their country proudly. Also, Netflix put this movie out for free on YouTube, so really, you have absolutely no excuse not to watch it.

Directed by Hannah Rosenzweig and Wendy Sachs, Surge tells a nearly identical story of three women running for Congress in the 2018 midterm elections. Like the women of Knock Down the House, they were all "activated" following the 2016 election and are determined to make a difference. This movie does a better job of giving each woman equal time to tell her story and following her campaign, and it also showcases some of the challenges they face on elections days with poor infrastructure that seems designed to discourage voting. There's also an incisive look at how the Democrats' Primary Machine works and how candidates depend so much on the support of the Party for monetary and logistical support that could give them a boost and much-needed name recognition during their races. 

The film follow Lauren Underwood in Illinois, Jana Lynne Sanchez in Texas, and Liz Watson in Indiana. Again, these three women have different levels of political savvy, and different reasons for why they are running, but they are all united in their passion and commitment to the people of their districts. All three women win their Democratic primaries, but then we get to see how difficult it is to actually flip a district in the General Election when they are up against moneyed Republican interests. Millionaires and lobbyists (and racists and misogynists) aren't going to let these women win without a fight. Devastatingly, in Indiana, Liz Watson's grassroots campaign generates high voter turnout, but the Election Office in one county runs out of ballots as they never expected so many voters. Which causes a delay and results in her losing a lot of people who might have voted for her in the first place. While Underwood and Watson get Party support and have people like Obama, Biden, and Sanders show up to their rallies to get out the vote, Jana Lynne Sanchez's district in Texas is deemed too impossible, so the Party doesn't help her out. She ultimately loses the election, but because of her efforts, Democrats discovered it was actually winnable, and they will be investing in the candidate who runs there in 2020. 

Politics is a complicated and dirty business, but what these two documentaries (that were directed and edited and shot and produced by women, FYI) reveal is that there are still idealistic and determined people that we can get behind. More specifically, idealistic, determined women, who face an uphill battle because women simply aren't treated fairly in the political arena. It was thrilling to see how excited they were to see other women running for office and formed a supportive clique to cheer each other on regardless of whether they won or lost their own elections. That's the kind of energy we need in today's toxic political climate. In addition, these women aren't taking corporate PAC money and they have a slog ahead of them, but they are fighting for the right to represent us fairly and decently, and they deserve our attention. 

So before you vote this year, and in every election following, pay some attention to the people on your ballot. See if there's a new candidate who is more deserving of your vote than the establishment candidate you've been voting for all your life but who has never actually pushed any policies that you want. In Surge, someone talks about how party affiliation has become like a religion - you'll vote for the person from your Party even if they're ripping you off. Let's stop doing that and only vote in the people who actually want a better life for us and our families, instead of pocketing millions from corporate interests. Read up on what these candidates stand for and don't just vote for someone because they have a (D) or an (R) after their name, but because they actually represent the values that matter to you. Get out there and vote, America. We're all counting on you.