Black Monday
Blair (Andrew Rannells) has a ridiculous aw-shucks thing going on, and it reminds me fondly of a young Tim Robbins in Hudsucker Proxy. Don Cheadle as Mo has so much consistent energy it is difficult to believe he is not actually coked up. He is brilliant. Plus I’m a sucker for characters with god-like intelligence.
A Fortunate Life
Honestly this book looks dull from the outside but it is NOT. Albert Facey (1894-1982) learned to read and write as an adult and wrote the story of his life, and it makes me want to say something very pretentious like this is as pure as literature gets.
Pen15
Just pure dopamine hit to see my adolescence reflected so perfectly. Most of the time when I watch a show set in high school or junior high of any era, I’m sitting there wondering how I missed out on all the hot romances. But I watch Pen15 and I’m like “Oh yeah no that was it.” Everyone looks awkward and can’t articulate themselves. It’s fantastic.
Fleabag the Theatre Show
Not as funny as the TV series, but I guess I watched them in the wrong order.
The Lighthouse
I appreciate that you never fully know if Tom is fucking with Winslow.
Weird City
It’s okay.
Trainwreck
I loved the scene where character-Amy gets a panic attack and writer-Amy takes the piss out of heroic fainting women who forget to eat things. Judd Apatow’s upper middle class myopia puts me off a wee bit, but I would be lying to say I didn’t fully enjoy every minute of everything he makes.
Call Me By Your Name
I would have been much more emotionally affected by this movie if I knew what Elio saw in Oliver. Oliver is so twatty. Maybe that’s what teenagers like.
Fleabag the TV Series
Second season was the best season I think. Love a meta-narrative. I never thought much about Andrew Scott before but the hot priest romance gave me more feelings (hot feelings) than I have felt in a very long time.
The Golem and the Djinni
Great story and very readable but about 200 pages too long.
Barry
Obsessed. Why do I find Barry so hot? He is not a good person. Being a good person is more than being good only when there is nothing at stake. Still, along with being insanely funny, this show is an earnest exploration of good and evil, and whether those parameters are even useful in reality – and that’s what actually has me hooked. Lots of shows are funny. Few keep your mind busy when you aren’t actually watching them.
Feel Good
I’ve got a crush on Mae, so I guess it’s true what she said about attracting the straights. A very funny, cute, sad, short binge.
Sherlock Holmes (all of it)
Sherlock Holmes is such an interesting character, hey? He’s been butchered by most adaptations. The Robert Downey Jr. franchise makes me want to gouge my eyes out. And as a general note, for some reason in our modern Hollywood lexicon we have a real hard time with geniuses who are not also “on the spectrum *wink wink*” or sociopaths.
But Holmes is a more interesting character than that. He’s a loner but he’s fine at reading social cues, and in fact a very good actor so he can replicate personalities too. He’s not in any way a sociopath, as he often shows feeling for victims. He’s not as cold and acerbic as he’s often portrayed *cough* Cumberbatch *cough*, but he’s also not kindly. He’s driven to solve crimes out of intellectual pleasure, not out of benevolence.
He’s basically not two-dimensional. Not everyone is driven by a moral lean, but that doesn’t make them amoral.
Dexter
Oh, the wide cargo pants. How is 2006 dated?
Better Call Saul
First season was slow, and I wandered off. I came back and stuck with it. Now it is the best show on TV, for writing but also cinematography and editing. Fight me.
The Skeleton Twins
Can anyone tell I’m a Bill Hader kick? This was sweet and very watchable but maybe a bit…simple?
The Florida Project
Been really intrigued by Sean Baker lately. I want to watch everything else he’s done now. I missed the boat on Tangerine. I am actually gobsmacked at how he got those performances out of non-actor children. The ending is debateable. Would want to talk to anyone about it.
