Hello there! I can’t believe another week is gone and Halloween is around the corner. Next week will be all about watching spooky movies and eating as much bad food and candy as my body can handle. This week’s newsletter has some thoughts on Denis Villeneuve’s DUNE trying too hard to be pretentious. How I was skeptical about the animated series INSIDE JOB and why I changed my mind about the series. Why the Apple TV+ INVASION is a very interesting sci-fi show and I also share how happy I am to have SUCCESSION back in my life. And as always, there’s a playlist of five songs I enjoyed during the week.
Quick thoughts
INSIDE JOB - This Is a new Netflix adult animated series that makes fun of conspiracy theories. At first, a had mixed feelings about the show. After all, fake news and stupid conspiracies are eroding the fabric of the world’s democracy on Facebook, Instagram, and other internet platforms. But I decided to give the show a chance anyway. The cast is amazing and I thought the trailer was entertaining. INSIDE JOB is, at its core, a workplace comedy set in an unusual workplace. The series gives viewers an inside look at Cognito Inc., a shadowy company that hides the truth that every conspiracy theory is true. The show has just the right amount of reality. The rest is pure insanity. For me, it feels like a mix of RICK AND MORTY and BOJACK HORSEMAN. Because the writers developed Lizzy Caplan’s character (Reagan) as a recognized person with relatable difficulties just like Bojack was. She has to cope with a troubled childhood because of her kooky father and her job frustrations. But the show will also appeal to those who spend a lot of time on Twitter since jokes about Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson, and flat-earthers are all over the place. The series gets better and better as it progresses and I had a lot of fun watching it.
INVASION - The 10-part Apple TV+ drama follows the ramifications for individuals across the planet when extraterrestrials attempt a worldwide invasion. Among those whose perspectives are conveyed are the following: A restless American soldier (Shamier Anderson) in the Middle East, an immigrant mother (Golshifteh Farahani) who has given up her career to supporting her unfaithful husband, a bullied British boy (Billy Barratt), and a brilliant Japanese aerospace technician (Shioli Kutsuna) who is hiding her same-sex love affair with an astronaut. In my opinion, Farahani was the MVP of the show. She isn't yet a big name in the United States, but her influence extends well beyond her indie-movie roots. The show takes its time to get to the invasion and I thought the 10 episodes was a bit too much. This story could have been easily told in 8 episodes. But overall, I liked it. INVASION is an alien attack story, but it's truly about the characters' complexity, fragility, and humanity.
NIGHT TEETH - This is a Netflix original film that falls somewhere in the middle of being good and bad. It's light and easy to watch, and although it's entertaining, it's also forgettable. I liked the cast chemistry and the film's aesthetic. Most of the CGI is terrible but the movie still looks cool. It looks like a very expensive music video. However, the flick is cheesy, poorly written, and feels like a cheap copy of COLLATERAL but with vampires. I'm a little bummed about that because I was really looking forward to this, but it never came together for me. NIGHT TEETH is designed to get you in the mood for Halloween. But ultimately it is just an empty film. Audiences will probably love the stylish flick far more than critics.
SUCCESSION Season 3 - What a remarkable comeback!! Season 3 picks up immediately after Season 2 left off. Kendall (Jeremy Strong) is feeling like a billion dollars after exposing the wrongdoings of his family business in a press conference. His father, Logan Roy (Brian Cox), on the other hand, scrambles to find partners for the upcoming battle with his rebellious son. This first episode was great. The table is set and I cannot wait to feast on the rest of the season. Kendall has the upper hand here but I’m pretty sure he will mess up and lose this war. I just don’t know how and I’m dying to see how it will go down. It will probably be because of his new girlfriend or because Greg will make some stupid mistake. either way, I cannot wait to see what is going to happen. SUCCESSION is the melodramatic escape that I have been waiting for all year. It has smart writing, dynamic acting, and a lot of backstabbing. What else do I need?
We'll fuckin' beast them. We'll go full fucking beast!"
- Logan Roy
DUNE
Denis Villeneuve has successfully brought Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction classic "Dune" to the big screen. The film is set 8,000 years in the future and in an unrecognizable part of the universe, and it is basically about humanity's environmental destruction. But it is also a huge family epic. The noble Atreides clan is trying to survive on an arid desert planet and in a universe of brutal, power-hungry authoritarians – And it is kind of funny/sad how all these things are even more timely today than they were in 1965 –
DUNE is absolutely gorgeous. With amazing cinematography and epic sets. It flawless mixes medieval images with science-fiction. It has massive spacecraft, sinister space nuns; Barbarian armies performing blood sacrifices, and interplanetary treaties. A perfect mix of GAME OF THRONES and STAR WARS. But Villeneuve's DUNE is also lengthy, gloomy, and devoid of humor. At this point, you guys know that I’m fed up with these unnecessary super long films and DUNE is way too long for my taste. And it also appears to be more concerned with impressing and critics than entertaining the viewers.
At the end of the day, I enjoyed DUNE but not as much as I had hoped. The pacing can be a little slow at times, and world-building can only go so far. I mean, this is really only the first half of a film which was really frustrating for me. However, if you like BLADE RUNNER 2049 and enjoy lengthy films, DUNE will be just up your alley.
Top 5 songs
These were the 5 songs on heavy rotation in my house last week. You can listen to them on Spotify And YouTube.