BABYLON | TOM CLANCY'S JACK RYAN Season 3 | ALICE IN BORDERLAND Season 2
Pop Culture Weekly Round-Up 23/12/2022
Happy Festivus, everyone! I hope you are all enjoying this non-commercial holiday characterized by the raising of an aluminum pole, the serving of dinner, the airing of grievances, and the demonstration of feats of strength.
Anyway, I’m back to give you some Pop Culture recommendations for your weekend. In this week’s newsletter, I talk about two new shows that just came out. TOM CLANCY'S JACK RYAN's third season is available on Amazon Prime and the second season of Netflix’s ALICE IN BORDERLAND. I give my thoughts on the amazing but very divisive new movie from the director of LALA LAND, Damien Chazelle, called BABYLON. And I’m also sharing a playlist with my favorite 100 songs of the year. Talking about end-of-the-year lists, the next two newsletters will be my favorite shows and films of 2022. I will be back with a newsletter with fresh content on January 13.
QUICK THOUGHTS
ALICE IN BORDERLAND follows a gamer named Arisu who is transported to a deserted version of Tokyo and must complete dangerous games in order to survive. The series was based on the manga series titled "Imawa no Kuni no Alice" by Hara Aso. In Season 1 of ALICE IN BORDERLAND, the characters spent time learning about the various games they were participating in. Season 2 focuses more on their efforts to escape these games and the version of Tokyo they are in. A few new cast members have been introduced and the games themselves have become more innovative, allowing for better character development. While there have been some issues with inconsistency and subpar writing, the show remains an entertaining depiction of a post-apocalyptic world. All in all Season 2 delivers mind-bending new games, beautiful sets, and great cinematography. I think if you like the first season, you will enjoy the second too. I had some fun watching it and I happily recommend it.
TOM CLANCY'S JACK RYAN has John Krasinski reprising his role as Jack Ryan in the third season of Amazon Prime's spy thriller series. The season takes place mostly in Europe, where Ryan is investigating a plot by Russia to invade neighboring countries and rebuild the Soviet empire. When he brings this information to the CIA, they try to extradite him to the US to face a charge. Well, I found the show’s high-quality production and fast-pace to be enjoyable. Also, this season's decision to take Ryan out of his usual environment made it stand out from previous seasons and kept viewers on their toes. However, JACK RYAN failed to fully engage me. It has some very generic action scenes and the writers don't quite succeed in coming up with a truly sharp political thriller. Overall I would say that there is nothing new here. Just all the cliches of spy movies and series. But if you are a fan of the series and have eight hours to kill during the holidays, go for it. But if you are not a big fan and are tired of rehashed spy thrillers, skip it.
BABYLON tells the story of ambitious and lavish individuals in early Hollywood, showing their rise and fall in a time of unrestrained extravagance and wickedness. I greatly enjoyed BABYLON and I respect the bold and excessive approach taken by Damien Chazelle in making this film. It offers a thrilling and nostalgically bittersweet portrayal of the excess, debauchery, and chaos of 1920s Hollywood, not to mention the striking score by Justin Hurwitz. The acting is stellar. Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie give one of their best performances. Diego Calva is outstanding, and Jean Smart is great as always. Also, Tobey Maguire is hilarious with his limited screen time. In my opinion, BABYLON is a highly entertaining and daring film that may not appeal to all audiences due to its chaotic nature and potentially divisive humor. However, I enjoyed the movie's extravagant style, and contrary to many opinions out there, I thought the ending was excellent as well.
TOP 100 SONGS of 2002
These are my 100 favorite songs of 2022. I understand that most people prefer to make a “favorite albums” list, but I haven’t listened to albums in a long time. I became a playlist guy. I have no attention span to sit around and listen to a whole album anymore. I’m not sure if this is a good or bad thing. All I know is that I’m happy being a playlist person. No regrets. I also haven’t cared about music genres in many years. There are all kinds of genres in this playlist and I love that. Anyway, I hope you guys will enjoy these songs too. You can listen to them on Spotify and YouTube.
Great choices for the playlist! What a year for music!