June 14th: A Summer of Covers, Brat, and All Pie Being Good Pie
It’s Friday morning people! And that means it’s about time to close the “bad screen” and focus your attention on the “good screens”. This recommendation newsletter isn’t all about screens though, I promise. Maybe I’ll even give out some summer reading recommendations sometime soon. For now, let’s get into all the ways you can escape the heat this weekend while maybe even boosting the box office a bit while you’re at it.
Movies
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga dir. George Miller (in theaters now)
It was always going to be hard for director George Miller to follow up his action apocalypse Mad Max: Fury Road with something just as jaw-dropping. It’s clearly something Miller has thought about for a while — coming up with the draft for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga while working on Fury Road over a decade ago, according to Kyle Buchanan’s excellent oral history. Toward the end of Furiosa a character gets asked “do you have what it takes to make it epic?” Furiosa proves that there’s no doubt George Miller has got the goods.
The scope in Furiosa is actually much grander than its predecessor, fleshing out not only the story of its titular character, but the world of The Wasteland in general. The story spans at least a decade whereas Fury Road was over and done across just a day or so. I'm glad I went in with the expectation of this one being fairly different from Fury Road, because different it was. It doesn't have the same propulsiveness, but still never manages to bore you. Anya Taylor-Joy and Alyla Browne's performances anchor this film, but it's Chris Hemsworth's demented performance of Dementus that gives the film its edge. Please please please see it in a theater if you can.
The payoff is much greater if you’ve seen Fury Road, but it’s not one-hundred percent necessary either.
5/5 ⭐️
Hit Man dir. Richard Linklater (streaming on Netflix)
I'm tempted to make this recommendation solely an ode to Richard Linklater, one of my favorite directors of all time, but that would be doing a disservice to the very fun Hit Man. So I’ll keep the Rick gushing short — Linklater’s hit-rate for me is truly off the charts. Not only has he made some of my favorite films of all time, Dazed and Confused, Boyhood, Before Sunset, etc., even his films seen as “lesser Linklater” hit. Last Flag Flying, Bernie, and Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood all have their merits.
Hit Man fits into a hard to place genre. It’s more romcom than dram, but it’s not a full comedy either. It feels straight out of the 70s (when the true-ish story happened), and honestly my one gripe with the movie was thinking it should’ve been set a few decades ago as well for plot reasons. Past that, it’s just a genuinely great time with knock-out performances from stars Glen Powell and Adria Arjona and a genuinely fun script penned by Powell and Linklater. While I’d encourage you to see it in a theater if it’s playing near you, I suspect it will work just as well on Netflix this weekend.
4/5 ⭐️
Television
Couples Therapy Season 4 (streaming on Paramount+)
To those who aren’t already watching Couples Therapy, I’m genuinely sorry for recommending another Paramount+ exclusive. I wouldn’t have the service either if my parents weren’t unknowingly paying for it (🤫). Unfortunately, you must find a way to watch this excellent show. The style of the show is documentary, but often it feels like reality TV. Couples Therapy follows real-life analyst Orna Guralnik through nine episodes of sessions (per season) with a handful of wide-ranging clients. Every season the clients differ wildly in their issues, personalities, and even sexual orientation which presents viewers with the ability to witness a broad range of relationship dynamics.
Regardless of whether or not you’re a mental health and analysis enthusiast or have never once seen a therapist, I guarantee there will be aspects of the show you find intriguing. I will say, it’s probably best to start with season one or two if you’re new to the show.
5/5 ⭐️
Ren Faire (streaming on MAX)
George Coulam aka “King George” is the octogenarian owner and founder of the Texas Renaissance Festival, the largest Ren Faire in the United States. He’s thinking about handing over the crown in order to spend more time pursuing the women he matches with on sugar daddy sites. He’s not great with technology (or manners, asking most of the women, on camera, whether or not their breasts are real), so his personal assistant, dubbed “The King’s Scroller”, runs the accounts. The candidates for holding the scepter include a former elephant trainer, a lifelong actor being accused of nepotism for trying to hire his overly qualified wife, and a kettle-corn salesman with connections to outside financing.
If this sounds like some odd reboot of HBO’s Succession, it’s actually much weirder, because this is real life. George Coulam is the actual owner, and Ren Faire is a three-part documentary following the year-ish long power struggle between King George and his fiefdom. The throne gets dangled in front of and just as quickly taken away from each of the players at various points over the three hour miniseries, very similarly to the way it plays out between the Roy children in Succession. Regardless of your interest in renaissance festivals, I’d highly recommend this comedy of errors.
My biggest takeaway: people over eighty shouldn’t be in charge of things!!
4/5 ⭐️
Music
BRAT by Charli XCX
At the end of the day, I’m okay with the idea that Charli XCX’s music might not be for everyone. But it’s definitely for me. If you haven’t been keeping up with Charli’s music, you’re probably wondering why I’m recommending you an album from someone you haven’t heard of since 2014’s “Boom Clap”. I’m here to enlighten you.
Hyper-pop sensation Charli XCX has been putting out banger albums for a decade now and you’ve got some catching up to do. Both her 2020 COVID-19 project how i’m feeling now and subsequent swing for mainstream success CRASH (2022) are also well worth your time, but today we’re here to talk about her 6th studio album. BRAT, released last week, is easily her most critically acclaimed album to date, and in terms of mainstream accessibility probably sits right below CRASH. Charli even takes time on “Rewind” (an album highlight) to contemplate what commercial success might even mean to her. The album is a dichotomy of feelings and musings — one minute she says “it’s okay to admit that you’re jealous of me / it’s obvious I’m your number one” on “Von Dutch” and on the next, “Girl, so confusing”, contemplates her insecurities. I’m all about referencing other great reviews in my own, so I highly recommend Pitchfork’s. I especially love how the critic weaved in a discussion on this being possibly her “most personal album to date” in a time where that phrase is being thrown out somewhat carelessly in music criticism.
4.5/5 ⭐️
A Rare Hit Piece From Yours Truly
I usually try to keep it pretty positive in this newsletter, but sometimes a truly abysmal piece of art comes around and I feel the need to get my thoughts and feelings out. I haven’t structured this newsletter around pure criticism, but rather my recommendations. Today I’ll be giving a rare anti-recommendation - Everyone’s Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense. The tribute album, being released by production company A24, coincides with the 4K re-release of the Talking Heads’ concert documentary Stop Making Sense. I saw the 4K release at Alamo Drafthouse last year and it is stunning. I would highly recommend checking it out. The tribute album however, is whatever the opposite of stunning is. I’m not sure if it’s a cash-grab by A24 or just a grossly mismanaged project, but it’s so bad it has to be listened to to be believed. Sure there are incredible artists like Lorde, Miley Cyrus, and Norah Jones participating, but looking at the track list and seeing names like Kevin Abstract and Teezo Touchdown covering Talking Heads songs is a bit confusing. The covers, especially from the artists I love most are confoundingly bad. I would never suggest you give the entire album a listen, but for laughs please check out Miley Cyrus’s unrecognizable “Psycho Killer”, Kevin Abstract’s bizarre “Once in a Lifetime” and Lorde’s criminal “Take Me to the River”.
Paramore’s “Burning Down the House” while not remotely better than the original, is mostly innocent.
Today’s “In Rotation” Playlist is dedicated to 15 actually good cover songs.
What I’m Looking Forward To
Movies: Inside Out 2 (6/14), The Bikeriders (6/21), Kinds of Kindness (6/21), Thelma (6/21), A Quiet Place: Day One (6/28), Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 (6/28)
Shows: House of the Dragon S2 on Max (6/16), The Bear S3 on Hulu (6/27)
Albums: Fathers & Sons by Luke Combs (6/14)