Pop Culture Round-Up
Hello everyone, I hope you’re all doing well. In this week’s newsletter, I let everyone know that I have a massive crush on Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Rant about why I despise most of the new horror flicks. And share my thoughts on one of my favorite films I have watched this year, LANGUAGE LESSONS. And as usual, there is a playlist of five songs I enjoyed last week.
Quick Thoughts
KATE - The premise of KATE has been told and retold countless times: A skilled assassin has been poisoned, and she has only 24 hours to find out who did that to her before she dies. Directed by the visual effects specialist Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, and featuring a wonderful and badass performance by Mary Elizabeth Winstead the movie has some fantastic action. The fighting sequences are particularly remarkable. They have some clever choreography and a LOT of gore and discomfort. The fight in the penthouse, for instance, made me twitch a few times. However, the flick has its flaws. Poorly written characters, bad dialogues and a laughable exposition comes to mind. All in all, KATE does a nice job exploring a very colorful, eye-catching Tokyo underworld but It’s Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s brilliant on-screen charisma that makes it worth watching.
LULARICH - This is a new Amazon Prime Video Docuseries about a multilevel marketing company called LuLaRoe. The story of the companies’ meteoric rise and partial collapse is fascinating. And it was very well told by the directors too. The most upsetting part of the whole thing for me was how the company founders, DeAnne and Mark Stidham, showed zero regrets about what they have done. What a couple of psychopaths! If you enjoyed the Fyre Festival or WeWork documentaries and find stories of frauds interesting, you will definitely enjoy this series.
DATING & NEW YORK - I watched this film a few months ago at Tribeca and it is a cute modern-day rom-com. Francesca Reale and Jaboukie Young-White’s performances are fantastic. They have some of the greatest chemistry I've seen in a long time. The movie doesn't have much of a plot and uses all of the rom-com clichés, yet it's entertaining from beginning to end. It's a fun escapade and It is worth a watch.
61 Days of Halloween - So, I just wanted to quickly update you guys about my Halloween challenge. So far I have watched 8 horror movies and it is hilarious to me that the new flicks of this genre are all about creating a franchise. The latest ESCAPE ROOM for example starts with a recap of the previous movie, just like serialized TV shows do, and ends with a shameless setup to the next “chapter”. Embarrassing! Anyway, I think I will just watch the classic horror flicks from now on.
MALIGNANT - And since we are on the subject of new horror flicks, I need to talk about this one. MALIGNANT is the latest release from James Wan, director of THE CONJURING, INSIDIOUS and SAW. The supernatural horror movie follows Madison (Annabelle Wallis), a woman who has terrifying hallucinations of killings that turn out to be true. So, for 2 thirds of this movie, I thought I was watching the same old supernatural phenomenon movie that I have watched hundreds of times before. But then comes the third act. And I have to be honest, I was very surprised by what happened. I’m not saying I loved it but I also didn’t hate it. It was an unpologetic and bold choice by Wan to do what he did and I respect that.
TIFF 2021 - The Toronto International Film Festival kicks off today (I’m writing this on September 9) and I’m super excited to start watching films as soon as I finish with this newsletter. The Festival has a lineup of 100 films and also many events featuring acclaimed industry guests. I’m pretty sure I will be super busy for the next ten days but I promise to keep you guys posted about my favorites films that I will watch at the Festival.
LANGUAGE LESSONS
This film starring the lovely Natalie Morales and Mark Duplass is so sweet. An honest portrayal of human connection. And it succeeds where other pandemic films have failed—in part because it has absolutely nothing to do with COVID-19.
The push and pull between the two characters over a series of video calls feels real. They argue and then make up and they learn each other’s triggers and embarrassing moments. You might expect the film’s format to tire viewers, especially after they’ve participated in so many Zoom meetings in the real world. But Morales and Duplass’s effortless chemistry makes it easy to forget you’re watching a series of videos calls.
So much of LANGUAGE LESSONS subverts expectations: it’s a pandemic movie with no ties to the pandemic, and a rom-com that’s entirely, wonderfully platonic. The end result is a simple film, but one with a lot of heart.
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.