Hey all! I’ve been out of commission for a while because of family visit, depression, depression, work crunch time, depression and most recently a wicked cold that had me out of work for a few days and still has me sleeping almost as soon as I get home from anywhere.
More on all that later, though. This is our typical Friday post.
THIS WEEKEND, I will be seeing Black Panther (for the third time), and, if my cold allows me time and energy, also Annihilation and possibly also Phantom Thread, Game Night, some of the Oscar-nominated short films, and/or one of the classic films in the Sidney Poitier repertory series going on at my local theater (though most of that is double features and honestly ???? I might fall asleep. Because of the cold, not the content, obviously).
Some streaming recommendations for y’all:
Netflix
Netflix is pounding harder and harder on its original shows, and I do see why, but I came to you for movies, netflix! Please don’t forget!
Epic BBC miniseries North & South is back in rotation. If you’re a fan of costume drama or Richard Armitage looking all brooding and sexy, this is a great watch. It also has some hot takes on the industrialization of Britain and the ways inequality interacts with that in the circle of capitalism’s cause and effect. Based on the novel by Elizabeth Gaskell.
For a bit more fun and a bit less realness, both Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 and Ocean’s Eleven (2001) are up right now.
Hulu
I haven’t seen it in a while, but I do remember being *ahem* strongly encouraged to watch romance The Cutting Edge by a college girlfriend and enjoying it a lot more than I expected to.
Hulu also has Frank an indie about the intersection of mental illness, exploitation and art which has a surreality that turns on a knife edge from whimsy to something a lot more difficult. It’s very well done and a fascinating watch, but not an easy one. It stars young Magneto, General Hux, and Maggie Gyllenhaal as bitter, artistic-purist queen of my fucking heart.
Prime
Amazon has one of my favorite films of last year, Logan Lucky. It’s a heist film and a justice film and a romp and emotional and I have been known to refer to it as a lost episode of Leverage.
They also have the musical film of Little Shop Of Horrors (1986), which had spot-on delightful casting and was generally well done if you can ignore the mangling of the Broadway show’s ending to something more sappy-Hollywood. It’s funny, creepy and catchy as hell.
* * *
There we go. I’m not gonna pick out any kid-specific recs tonight because I’m honestly kind of amazed that I’m still awake.
More (hopefully lots) in the coming week.
It’s good to be back, kids and kittens.