In an interview from early 2019, Billie Eilish was asked to pick her favorite between Drake, Childish Gambino, and Eminem. She responded, “I have to say Childish Gambino, one billion percent. I was scared of Eminem my whole life, always… dude, terrified. That dude freaked the f*ck out of me, oh my god. But you know, Childish Gambino created me, dude. I don’t even know, it’s just crazy. That’s a god, you can’t even put him in a list of other people.”
Eminem apparently caught wind of that, and all this time later, he has not forgotten the effect he had on the young star, as he references it on his new Music To Be Murdered By — Side B track, “Alfred’s Theme.” On the track, he raps, “Homicidal visions when I’m spitting like this / But really I’m just fulfilling my wish of killing rhymes / Which is really childish and silly, but I’m really like this / I’m giving nightmares to Billie Eilish.”
Eilish has expressed her love for Gambino on multiple occasions. Speaking about “Bonfire” on an episode of her Me & Dad Radio show from this summer, Eilish said, “This is from the album I think both me and Finneas found Donald Glover through. Incredible album. The first song I heard ever from him, and was actually I think the first song I heard that was like rap, was ‘Heartbeat’ from this album. From then on, everybody knows that Donald Glover is like… one of my all-time favorite creators. He’s exactly everything that I idolize about a creator. He’s every single element of what I think is amazing.”
Listen to “Alfred’s Theme” above.
Music To Be Murdered By — Side B (Deluxe Edition) is out now via Shady Records/Interscope. Get it here.
Netflix is giving subscribers almost too much variety to select from in this week’s fresh lineup. And it’s a bittersweet one, given that Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman’s final movie has arrived. Then Dua Lipa and Nine Inch Nails drop some wisdom on how their musical magic happens, and that’s far from all that the streaming service has to offer. There’s also a series resembling Black Swan and the beginnings of Netflix’s new Afterparty show that will fully take flight next year.
Here’s everything else coming to (and leaving) the streaming platform this week.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix film streaming 12/18)
Chadwick Boseman left this world far too soon, but before he departed, he left us a lasting performance alongside Oscar winner Viola Davis. She portrays the legendary “Mother of the Blues,” and he’s her ambitious trumpeteer, Levee. Together with his fellow musicians, they will conquer a blazing hot 1920s Chicago recording session, and Levee will help inspire his colleagues to unleash truth-revealing stories that will alter their lives and, possibly, history itself. It’s a testament to the blues’ transformative power and adapted from two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson’s play of the same name with Denzel Washington onboard as producer.
Following Volume 1’s popularity (with a line-up including Alicia Keys, Lin-Manuel Miranda, R.E.M., and Ty Dolla $ign), more of the world’s greatest musicians arrive to divulge secrets about how they created one of their tunes. This round features Dua Lipa (whose Future Nostalgia made our Top Albums of 2020 list), Nine Inch Nails, The Killers, and Natalia Lafourcade. They’re all sharing insight into their inspirations while breaking down the layers of their highlighted songs.
The Netflix Afterparty: The Best Shows Of The Worst Year (Netflix streaming 12/13)
No can argue that this has been a hellish year for humanity, but it’s still been a pretty great year for TV. We’ve ranked our favorites, and Netflix is now celebrating the most crowd-pleasing shows that the streaming service had to offer. Expect appearances from Anya Taylor-Joy of The Queen’s Gambit, Lily Collins of Emily in Paris, Emma Corrin and Josh O’Connor of The Crown, and more. On tap as hosts? David Spade, Fortune Feimster, and London Hughes. And next year, this shall become a full-fledged weekly comedy panel show with the Cobra Kai cast and Bill Burr hosting the first 2021 episode.
Tiny Pretty Things (Netflix streaming 12/16)
Dance into the world of a Chicago-set elite ballet academy in this series based upon the book by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton. Once inside, this show will introduce an oasis for young adults who adapt to a new world, far away from home, while preparing for the city’s renowned professional dance company. All walks of life will unite through their passion for dance and their desire to fulfill lifelong dreams.
Here’s a full list of what’s been added in the last week:
Avail. 12/14 A California Christmas
Hilda: Season 2 Tiny Pretty Things
Avail. 12/15 Black Ink Crew New York: Seasons 1-2 The Challenge: Seasons 10 and 13 Grizzlies
The Professor and the Madman Pup Academy: Season 2 Song Exploder: Volume 2 Teen Mom 2: Seasons 1-2
Avail. 12/16 Anitta: Made In Honorio
BREAK IT ALL: The History of Rock in Latin America
How To Ruin Christmas: The Wedding.
Lee Daniels’ The Butler
Nocturnal Animals
The Ripper
Run On
Vir Das: Outside In – The Lockdown Special
Avail. 12/17 Braven
Avail. 12/18 Guest House
Home for Christmas: Season 2 Jeopardy! Champion Run V
Jeopardy! Champion Run VI
Jeopardy! Teacher’s Tournament
Jeopardy! College Championship
Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Sweet Home
Avail. 12/20 Rhys Nicholson Live At The Athenaeum
And here’s what’s leaving next week, so it’s your last chance:
Over the next half-decade or so, Disney plans to premiere at least 10 Star Wars shows on Disney+ alongside its flagship title, The Mandalorian. The series include Obi-Wan Kenobi, reuniting Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen; Ahsoka, starring Rosario Dawson; Andor, focusing on Rogue One breakout Cassian Andor; and The Acolyte, from Russian Doll co-creator Leslyle Headland. You can see the full list here, or at least it was the full list until The Mandalorian dropped a surprise in a post-credits scene.
The season two finale, “Chapter 16: The Rescue,” seemingly ends with a surprise appearance from [REDACTED] and [SPOILER] saying [ANOTHER SPOILER] to [SERIOUSLY JUST WATCH THE EPISODE], but it’s actually not over until after the credits roll. There’s two suns, which means we’re back on Tatooine. But not just anywhere on Tatooine: we’re at Jabba’s Palace, last seen in Return of the Jedi (it’s a sail barge drive’s away from where Boba Fett seemed to die). In the episode, it’s Bib Fortuna who sits on the throne, not Jabba (RIP), until Boba Fett and Fennec Shand blast their way past the poor Gamorrean guards. “Boba! I thought you were dead. I am so glad to see you,” Bib Fortuna tells Boba. The feeling isn’t mutual: the bounty hunter shoots the Twi’lek and sits down where Jabba use to rule, with Fennec at his side. Then:
DISNEY+DISNEY+
The Book of Boba Fett, not to be confused with The Book of Henry, will premiere on Disney+ in December 2021. Little is known about the series, other than the title and release date, but it’s sad that the original Boba Fett actor, who died on Thursday, won’t be around to make a cameo.
Baby Yoda had to meet a Jedi in The Mandalorian season two finale. Likely the same one who saved him from Order 66 and, as explained by Ahsoka Tano, took him from the Jedi temple and “hid him.” But which one? Would it be Mace Windu (if Boba Fett can “return” from the “dead,” Samuel L. Jackson can, too)? Or lady Yoda, Yaddle? Or would it be an entirely new character? Nope. He met the most famous Jedi of them all.
In “Chapter 16: The Rescue,” Mando and his crew — Bo-Katan, Koska, Fennec, Cara Dune, and Boba Fett — take Pershing hostage, and using knowledge from the not-so-good doctor, they scheme their way aboard Moff Gideon’s ship. While Bo-Katan & Co. take care of the Stormtroopers and officers, Mando looks for the Child. Along the way, he sends a battalion of near-indestructible Dark Troopers floating in space (ladies and gentlemen…). The plan works splendidly (father and child are reunited, and he even gains the Darksaber from Moff Gideon, as requested by Bo-Katan), until the Darktroopers return to the ship and pound their way through the bridge’s blast doors. Things look break, but then a Jedi boards the cruiser and begins slicing the robotroopers with the ease of a hot knife going through butter (the butter is blue, because Star Wars). Who could it be? Green lightsaber, black glove on right hand… is it?
disney+
It is.
Baby Yoda is saved by Luke Skywalker, approximately five years after Anakin’s kid watched Yoda become “one with the Force,” in his first live-action post-Return of the Jedi and pre-The Force Awakens appearance. In the time period between partying with the Ewoks on Endor and grumpily living among the Porgs on Ahch-To, Luke looked for Jedi artifacts, trained with Leia, and taught a new generation of Jedi, including Ben Solo (that did not work out well) and, apparently, Baby Yoda. May they never meet.
“He wants your permission,” Luke tells Mando about getting Grogu to come with him. “He is strong with the Force, but talent without training is nothing. I will give my life to protect the Child, but he will not be safe until he masters his abilities.” Mando takes his helmet off, for the second time in two weeks, so that Baby Yoda can see his face for the first time. It’s a good thing no one could see my face, because I was tearing up.
“Alright, pal. It’s time to go.” And now I’m sobbing.
disney+
Was it weird seeing Mark Hamill’s smoothed-out CGI face? Of course. But we’re used to that from Rogue One. And besides, it’s still Luke F*cking Skywalker. And bonus R2-D2! (It’s a nice detail to have the droid be distrustful of Baby Yoda at first.)
A good ending to a good season of The Mandalorian, which returns in late 2021. Be sure to stick around through the finale’s credits, too. We’ll have more on that development later today.
Putting the weirdness of this pandemic-afflicted year aside, if they’re recent, feature releases, they usually follow a predictable path, moving from theaters (maybe) to VOD services, streaming outlets, and physical media then television then kind of hanging out in one form or another, usually just a click away. The vagaries of the current streaming environment sometimes create some weird gaps and the 2008 Universal Studios fire spotlighted the fragility of our cultural legacy even in the digital age, but the chance of, say, Fifty Shades Darker or Hot Tub Time Machine 2 simply disappearing are pretty slim. Online, YouTube, and other services have created an outlet for seeming ephemera — from cat videos to fan films to old coffee commercials — to live for an apparent eternity. Digital preservation presents its own challenges, but much of what’s now released will likely remain with us, whether we want it to or not.
It’s easy to look at what’s still available and feel satisfied that it’s enough, that you’ll never run out of movies to watch, and that what’s available represents a full-enough picture of film history. But not for everyone. Some see only what’s missing, and how those missing pieces might change the way we think about film and the world as a whole.
Sometimes a mere 29 seconds can upset history. And sometimes that 29 seconds arrives in a garbage bag. Dino Everett works at the University of Southern California’s Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive, a job that sometimes means sorting through a lot of junk sent by well-meaning people who think they might have stumbled on an important find in their family attic. But not always. A few years ago, Everett received an unpromising package from Louisiana, an unwanted batch of movie reels someone had acquired in an estate sale, that reframed a key element of film history.
“It literally arrived in a garbage bag, shoved into a Priority Mail box,” Everett says. Despite the packaging, the contents quickly proved intriguing. “I opened it up and I was like, huh, there’s all this nitrate. And I started looking through it and I noticed that it was really early stuff. Early, turn-of-the-century films were never more than fifty feet. So there were all these little tiny rolls and they were all from around the turn-of-the-century.”
These included a “Something Good – Negro Kiss,” one of many films made in response to Thomas Edison’s 1896 film “The Kiss,” but one with a difference: it’s the first known filmed kiss to feature a Black couple.
Everett knew he had found something important, but he wasn’t sure what. Though unseen in years and assumed to be lost, Something Good – Negro Kiss was known to exist and cited as having been released in 1903 or 1907, but no one had laid eyes on it in a long time — maybe over a century — or knew exactly when it was made.
“Somebody writes something and then you just cite them. And so if they got it wrong, then it just keeps getting cited with the wrong information,” Everett says. “That’s how incomplete and inaccurate histories propagate.”
Physical evidence suggested the film was made earlier, and to get to the bottom of the story Everett reached out to University of Chicago’s Allyson Nadia Field, an expert in African-American cinema, who helped date the film to 1898 and trace it to the Chicago studio of producer William Selig.
It’s unlikely that Selig and the performers — later identified as Gertie Brown and Saint Suttle — knew how significant their joyous kiss would look over a century later, not just because it featured Black actors but because it featured a depiction of Black affection free of the stereotypical depictions that served as the norm in the early days of film (and, of course, have lingered well beyond those years). That any such depiction existed, however, might never have come to light if Everett hadn’t opened that garbage bag and sought out Field to figure out what it meant.
The rediscovery of a film like Something Good – Negro Kiss is a cause for optimism about what else might be out there waiting to be rediscovered. That doesn’t make the statistics any less alarming. Films began to disappear seemingly from the first moment the Lumière brothers projected their first efforts in 1895. At the height of the silent-era feature production in America, which spanned the years 1912 through 1929, the film industry produced nearly 11,000 features. Per a Library of Congress report, only 14% survived in their entirety in their original 35mm format (with another 11% surviving in foreign release prints and/or in other formats). The blame belongs both to shortsightedness and chemistry. Studios seldom believed films had any life beyond their first run in theaters and what films did survive their neglect survived on nitrate, an extremely volatile substance (as anyone who’s seen Inglourious Basterds knows).
Loss isn’t limited to the silent era, either. Early talkies sometimes suffered the same neglect, which helped lead to the creation of film archives to preserve the cinematic past. The coming of television and, later, home video gave Hollywood new sources of income, and a new reason to look after its history, but the feature film industry only accounts for part of film history. There’s another, even less tended-to history in the margins.
“I’d consider one of my jobs as a historian and scholar to be rediscovering forgotten films and helping them to have a second life by helping to identify and preserve them, and then sharing information about them with both other scholars and the general public,” says Marsha Gordon, film scholar and the North Carolina State University’s Director of Film Studies. That often requires some detective work.
Famed for Pickup on South Street, The Naked Kiss, and other two-fisted classics, director Samuel Fuller worked as a crime reporter, pulp fiction novelist, and soldier before directing his first feature, 1949’s I Shot Jesse James. Gordon helped bring to light what Fuller called his “first film,” “V-E +1,” the silent 16mm footage Fuller shot while serving in the infantry united that liberated the Falkenau concentration camp in Czechoslovakia (an event Fuller depicted in his autobiographical 1980 film The Big Red One). Gordon sought out the footage with the permission of Fuller’s surviving family and, in 2014, her efforts led to its inclusion in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry.
Gordon doesn’t take all the credit, however, saying “I feel like I was part of a group effort to preserve this film: starting with Fuller’s decision to film and keep this important record, to his family’s decision to entrust his personal films to the Academy Film Archive, to archivist Snowden Becker who first told me that Fuller’s amateur/personal films were there, to archivist May Haduong who helped facilitate access over the years, to the selection committee for the National Film Registry, and so on.” But if it weren’t for the efforts of like-minded scholars, enthusiasts, and family members, it might still be gathering dust. “This film was never lost, mind you,” she continues. “It was sitting in storage waiting for someone to find it and care enough about it to do something.”
So was “Felicia,” another film added to the National Film Registry in 2014 that Gordon helped bring back to light with the help of others, (including Field). The 13-minute 1965 film features an interview with Felicia Bragg, a high school junior who describes her life in Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood. Filmed just prior to the Watts Rebellion of August that year, it features Bragg describing both the day-to-day details of her existence as the child of a single mother who works a series of odd jobs to support the family and her hopes for a better future.
If Gordon never met independent archivist and preservationist Skip Elsheimer, however, she might never have seen it at all. Elsheimer runs A/V Geeks, a North Carolina-based website/film archive/digitization/exhibition business that, as Elsheimer describes it, he fell into by accident. “It was a hobby that went way out of control,” Elsheimer says. It was around 30 years that I was going to state surplus auctions and buying old equipment, like old printing presses, CPR dummies… I tried to get riot gear, but that didn’t work out. But I started getting some A/V equipment like VCRs and TVs. And in that, I got a 16mm projector and I was like, ‘Huh, this is interesting. I’d like to get some films to try to run through it.’”
That led to the first of many purchases, a lot of 500 reels Elsheimer acquired for $50 that included drivers’ ed films and educational films about atomic safety, pregnancy, and alcohol and drug awareness. More acquisitions followed, including lots of thousands of films acquired from schools getting out of the 16mm business and making way for computer labs. A fan of Devo and Mystery Science Theater 3000, Elsheimer found entertainment value in the old films, and started exhibiting them in person and, later via DVD and online. He later came to see them as intriguing and revealing in other ways as well.
“I have a couple of films that are just complete mysteries,” he says. “I can kind of guess what they are based on what was written on the can. One, in particular, is called ‘Ohio Power Company Vets Party 1951.’ And it’s like a home movie, kind of. It shows a bunch of people going into this event hall. Then there’s this weird kind of initiation ritual that takes place involving chickens and all sorts of other weird things. And then they have a banquet at the end. And I have no information. At all. […] It documented something, but I don’t, I have no other information about where it was and what it was.”
Beyond the occasional treasure like “Felicia,” which played as an educational film in schools before falling into obscurity, Elsheimer sees tremendous historical value in his collection, which now stretches to 30,000 titles and counting. “‘Ephemeral’ is definitely how I would describe a lot of this material. It definitely had its niche time and place and audience,” he says. “But the value comes when you take it out of those contexts and you start noticing things that maybe the filmmaker didn’t realize they were recording: the place, the time, how people dressed, how people talked, how people viewed things like gender, race, class — those things start coming out. You know, a film about math might suddenly tell you a lot about how we view gender.”
Left unseen, however, and those moments in time threaten to disappear for good or be overwritten by the films that survive that perhaps don’t tell the whole story of their era. The image of a Black couple smiling and kissing one another doesn’t undo the stereotypes film has helped perpetuate, but it forces viewers to view the era in a different light. One teenage girl observing life around her reveals 1960s’ Watts in ways historical records alone never could. And whatever was going on at that power plant in Ohio surely deserves its own kind of investigation. That’s why some refuse to let the past rest and to write off unseen films as a loss that can never be recovered. Or, as Gordon puts it, “Films aren’t usually lost. They are just forgotten.”
There are so many shows. An unreasonable amount, really, spread across dozens of channels and streaming services. You can be forgiven if you missed a few good ones. We forgive you, at least, because it is our job to watch shows and we missed a bunch of good ones throughout the year. Luckily, this is a problem with a solution. A solution we can help you reach, hopefully. Let’s discuss some under-the-radar shows from 2020.
What defines an under-the-radar show? It’s tough to put a fine point on it. Maybe it was a big splashy show that never caught on fully. Maybe it’s a little show on a little network that was fighting the good fight against the Goliaths of the industry. Maybe it’s just a show you liked a lot that you wanted more people to watch. The last one, mostly, if we’re being honest. That’s what we’re doing here. We are yelling at you to watch some shows we like. Again. We’re sorry for the yelling, we swear, but also you are very welcome for the very good recommendations.
Pen15 (Hulu)
HULU
With all due respect to Lalo Salamanca, the most diabolically evil villain on TV this year was Maura. “Maura.” Even typing her name makes me angry. In season two of Hulu’s Pen15, a very good and very relatable show about teenage vulnerability, horniness, and compassion at an age when it feels like everyone is against you, she has the gall to come between Maya Ishii-Peters (Maya Erskine) and Anna Kone (Anna Konkle). She didn’t break their friendship, but she did test it when, before, it felt like nothing — or no one — could come between them. Maura’s only in two episodes (and makes a brief appearance in a third), but her presence can be felt all season, and likely into the future. She’s a great villain, because you either knew a Maura, a verbally manipulative bully who gaslights her “friends,” in middle school, or you were a Maura. I knew a Maura, because I was too busy reading Weasels to be a Maura. — Josh Kurp
Joe Pera Talks With You (Adult Swim)
ADULT SWIM
It is very hard to describe Joe Pera Talks With You. I’m going to try. It’s a short-ish form Adult Swim series about an extremely nice choir teacher in Michigan. Each episode is structured around a single topic that is usually very specific and often not what the episode is really about. “Joe Pera Takes You to the Grocery Store,” “Joe Pera Goes to Dave Wojcek’s Bachelor Party,” “Joe Pera Shows You How to Do Good Fashion,” etc. They range from 10 to 20 and are like tiny little films, sometimes riotously funny in the driest way you can picture, sometimes sweeter than maple syrup, sometimes just endlessly peaceful. It’s a beautiful little show. Early in quarantine, I binged about seven episodes one Saturday. I think it lowered my blood pressure by half. And kept me entertained. It’s good. You will never care more about beans in your entire life than during the second season. I promise you this. — Brian Grubb
The Great (Hulu)
HULU
I’m really not sure what I’m doing here, at the end of this miserable year, still trying to convince folks to binge Hulu’s The Great. I mean, it’s an 18th-century punk Russian soap opera filled with wigs, over-the-top drama, and Nicholas Hoult tossing Pomeranian off balconies in the name of science. Honestly, it’s like none of you even appreciate real art anymore. — Jessica Toomer
Gentefied (Netflix)
Netflix
America Ferrera, along with creators Linda Yvette Chavez and Marvin Lemus, produced this lovable show (first developed into a digital series that premiered back at Sundance Film Festival) that explores Mexican-American identity with some badass, dramatic-comedy chops. The show, which functions as a love letter to the Latinx community in a Los Angeles neighborhood, follows a trio of cousins who are struggling to wrap their arms around the American dream. The best part of this thing, though, is Joaquín Cosio, who was pretty intimidating as Don Neto in Narcos: Mexico‘s first season, but he’s a teddy-bear immigrant grandfather here. He’s one of many authentic characters in this show who people will adore. Gentefied is quick-witted and funny and fierce and, at times, heartbreaking, as well as culturally and historically significant, and it scored a Season 2 renewal. — Kimberly Ricci
Industry HBO
HBO
The density of Industry cannot be denied but it shouldn’t scare you off. The show is filled with micro details, aiming to present a realistic look at this group of finance twentysomethings as they launch toward lives that will doubtlessly diverge from their plans. Partying, screwing, developing alliances (not quite friendships), and rivalries all play a part, but none bigger than ambition and the faking it until you make it mask worn by some of these characters. At its heart, the show feels of this world (well, not this exact world at this exact moment) and, as such, feels intoxicatingly relatable no matter your field. — Jason Tabrys
Solar Opposites (Hulu)
Hulu
Justin Roiland’s non-Rick and Morty animated series, Solar Opposites, is about a family of aliens who “crashed on Earth, stranding us on an already overpopulated planet,” as patriarch Korvo says in the intro. The alien stuff isn’t why I included the show on this list, though. It’s good, and gets better as the season progresses. But the highlight of season one, and one of the best episodes for any show this year, is episode seven, “Terry and Korvo Steal a Bear.” How to explain this The Wire-inspired epic? Well, one of Korvo’s kids has a habit of shrinking humans to the size of a mouse, placing them in a terrarium in his bedroom (known as “The Wall), and forgetting about them. An entire post-apocalyptic society lives in there, but doesn’t thrive, not with resources being overseen by The Duke, a corrupt ruler voiced by Alfred Molina. It’s up to Tim and Cherie, voiced by Andy Daly and Christina Hendricks, to overthrow the system… or is it? If “tiny humans going through a revolution, led by Forrest MacNeil and Joan from Mad Men, in an alien’s bedroom” doesn’t convince you to watch Solar Opposites, I don’t know what will. — Josh Kurp
Mythic Quest (Apple+)
Apple TV
Mythic Quest made a big splash in the spring with its pitch-perfect quarantine episode. In hindsight, it’s kind of incredible how real and how accurate that was so soon into the whole experience. Go watch it now if you somehow haven’t seen it yet. But more importantly, go watch all of Mythic Quest. It’s so good. Fun and heartfelt, dirty and sweet, loaded with great performances from people you know (Rob McElhenney, Danny Pudi) and people you might not know as well (Charlotte Nicdao, who is so good). It doesn’t even matter if video games aren’t your thing, which I can testify to because they aren’t mine. I still loved the show. The arc of the whole season is deep and satisfying, and there’s a stand-alone episode in the middle of it all that delivers a surprise Jake Johnson and Cristin Milioti sighting. How did you not watch Mythic Quest? I’m mad now. Please fix this. For me. — Brian Grubb
Tales From The Loop (Amazon Prime)
This show’s a lot like Black Mirror but kinder and gentler without scaring the bejesus out of you. It’s beautiful to look at with soft visuals that resemble a moving oil painting, which makes sense, given that the show’s based upon surreal, wildly popular digital paintings from Simon Stålenhag. Matt Reeves (The Batman) produces here, and viewers are treated to a relaxing (although occasionally unsettling) ride about an Ohio town that’s situation above “The Loop” machinery, which is basically an experimental physics center that unlocks and dig into the universe’s mysteries. So, we get to see some trippy happenings that gleefully dive into sci-fi realms with the visuals bending like a twisted marriage between Isaac Asimov and Salvador Dali. The series also has a lot of heart along with its existential meditations, and it doesn’t sensationalize or dive into cautionary tales about technology like Black Mirror often does. — Kimberly Ricci
The Unicorn (CBS)
CBS
This show stars Walton Freaking Goggins in a rare feel-good role. As Wade the Widower, he’s attempting to navigate the online dating scene, and he is apparently the rarest of mythical creatures. Because this is the guy playing Boyd Crowder we’re talking about, there aren’t really any Bad Dad Jokes onboard, which makes me happy enough to turn this on as background noise. That is to say: The Unicorn is not a great show, but it’s a lot better than your standard network half-hour comedy. The show’s also recruited Justified‘s Natalie Zea as a romantic interest, so maybe they’ll work in a Dairy Queen reference at some point, too. — Kimberly Ricci
Search Party (HBO Max)
HBO MAX
Search Party is good. No, Search Party is great. Sadly, so many people will probably never know that because it had the misfortune to live on a below-the-line network for a couple of seasons before going on a years-long hiatus and then quietly moving to HBO Max when the streamer was still in its infancy. Despite all that, Search Party is a show you should watch — for the ridiculous subplots and the brilliant performances, and the ever-changing genre of its initial whodunnit mystery. Everyone on this thing is a f*cking star and I still haven’t found a comedic bit that tops season one’s vigil set to the soothing acapella harmonies of Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You’ve Been Gone.” — Jessica Toomer
Space Force (Netflix)
Netflix
Under the radar doesn’t quite fit this show but it may have escaped your attention owing to its middling reviews. And because I have endured months of mockery from some of my peers for my love of this show, I thought it right to call it out as something worth exploring. The show is, I will admit, a little uneven and in the process of finding out what it wants to be. There’s a whole Lisa Kudrow side plot that makes no real sense. They throw a lot of talent at the screen but some of the actors and comics don’t get a chance to really do much. The ones that do get that chance, however, help to make the case that this show has great potential. Specifically, I’m talking about Jimmy O. Yang, Tawny Newsome (who also shined on Brockmire), Don Lake, and, of course, Steve Carell and John Malkovich. But I don’t want to make it sound like I’m urging you to watch season one of a show that, a few seasons down the line, people will say you should start with season two. Which is a thing that happens. Like, there are gems at the start of The Office and Parks And Rec (two shows that, like Space Force, were created by Greg Daniels) even though the best was yet to come once they better realized the formula. And the same can be said of Space Force. I don’t want to give anything away but there’s an episode-long bit involving a space monkey and a dog that demonstrates, quite perfectly, the mix of absurdity and purity of intention that drive this show at its heart and which drove those other shows too. So I guess I’m saying, it’ll get there but also, there’s enough there to jump in right now too. — Jason Tabrys
As someone who’d never before experienced one, the intricacy of a Gerard Butler press tour interview is something to behold. Press tours conducted via Zoom are a new and slightly surreal experience to begin with, but the Gerard Butler version felt a bit like a trip to Oz to meet the affably tanned Scottish wizard.
Hopping on the Zoom at the appointed time, I entered a waiting room-type place with four different people — presumably publicists and people on “Team Gerard.” No one there actually called it “Team Gerard,” but I think it’s a pretty good guess. Anyway, a couple busy looking talking heads there soon greeted me by name and welcomed me to the chat. One youngish man encouraged me to make sure my video was on when the interview began because “Gerard likes to see people.”
Well sure, who doesn’t?
From there I was whooshed away, pneumatic-like, into another “break-out room,” which they called “the hospitality room.” That one had five additional people in it, presumably other journalists waiting for their time just like me. I immediately turned my video off to avoid a Naked Gun-bathroom style disaster, as had four of the other five people. That left the screen to a guy in a graying ponytail who had maybe taken “Gerard likes to see people” too far. We spent the next 10 minutes watching this stranger type, squint at his computer screen, and roll his eyes, like the world’s least titillating voyeur video. Yet always there was that dramatic tension, like Naked Gun bathroom disaster waiting to happen. There’s one in every Zoom chat, I guess.
We were all here — Team Butler, shaggy journalists, presumably Gerard himself — to promote Greenland, a disaster movie about a killer comet. On paper this is standard Gerard Butler fare, ideal for a movie star who occupies the space between Liam Neeson and The Rock. Yet waking up to wildfire ash covering my car that morning, the end-times crumbling of the social order suddenly didn’t feel so much like schlock. It certainly wasn’t escapism. The film is largely about a disaster’s effect on the social order, and here we all were picking our noses in our underwear to interview a superstar. (Writers love parallels, don’t we, folks?)
Eventually, I was ushered (virtually) into the main room where I sat face to face (virtually) with the wizard himself. Gerard Butler, a younger version of Pierce Brosnan if he played rugby, sat chiseled and tan, his sparkling blue eyes lit from just the right angle, as disembodied voices cackled things like “alright team, let’s go ahead and roll on capture” into my earbuds. Another voice told me to state my name and outlet and start in with my questions. I obeyed.
For all the rigamarole, Butler himself seemed charming and relaxed. Nice to talk to, even pleasant. Which is to say, the rigamarole had worked. What was that line from Parasite? “Of course she’s nice, she’s rich! If I had all that money, I’d be nice too!”
Anyway, I don’t know how many people it takes to make Gerard Butler Gerard Butler, but they do their work well.
—
Have you been able to work during quarantine?
A couple of little things, but no actual films or TV, but a lot of meetings. And a lot of tennis.
You a big tennis player?
No. But I am now. I wasn’t before the pandemic. There was a rating of things, activities that were seen as number one, as in the most dangerous, and number 10 as in the least, and tennis was number 10, so it seemed like a good thing to get into.
What were your sports before?
Still surfing, mountain biking, which is another one that I could keep up. A bit of soccer every now and again, but that’s really gone by the wayside.
So for a movie like this, do you audition for the part or are they just like, “we want Gerard Butler” and make an offer?
I haven’t done an audition in about 13 years. It would be interesting to try one again, but I probably would be horrible. But no, this was a movie that came to Ric [director Ric Roman Waugh] and I, pretty much at the same time, from a producer, Basil Iwanyk, at Thunder Road that we both love. That was what was cool about it. It wasn’t just to me and I’m bringing Ric in or Ric bringing me in. It was like, here’s a project that you guys as a team would kill, and it went from there.
You said you haven’t auditioned in 13 years, do you get offered all the kinds of stuff you want, or are there dream parts that you wish you could do that you don’t get offered?
Those situations arise, and that means that an audition might happen, but very often it’s more conversation. You maybe go and meet the director and sit down for lunch, and just talk about the role rather than him have you come in and read for it. I think most directors worth their salt, if they’ve seen your work, after conversing with you, they pretty much get whether you can do it or not.
I would not be averse to doing that because I feel like it’s all the times in my career that I put myself out and had to take steps that I felt were taking further steps, even at a time when maybe I didn’t need to audition, but I would do it anyway, just to prove myself. I always felt, I don’t want to just get offers just because I’m there. I would rather be the right man for the part.
Actually, the last audition I did was for The Ugly Truth. I already had the role, but they wanted me to play it Scottish. I said, “I don’t think he should be Scottish. I think he should be American.” I said, “I’ll tell you what I’ll do, let me come in as if I’m auditioning for the role, but in an American accent.” I came in and read for my four biggest scenes in the movie in an American accent, and then he said, “Okay, you got the job as American Jerry.”
That was actually going to be a question of mine, is that usually what happens? That there’s a conversation about what accent you’re going to do? What’s that conversation like?
It depends on the role. Certain roles, it has to be from a certain place. I just did a movie called The Vanishing. It’s three lighthouse keepers in Scotland, it’s obviously going to be Scottish. I felt in Ugly Truth, that as he was commenting on sexual relations in America, it’d be a little weird for a foreigner to be coming over here. You would always be questioning, how does he know this? At what point did he get here?
In Greenland, it felt, Miranda’s originally from Brazil, and me being from Scotland, that I could keep that accent and make it that, as is so often the case in America, people are from all over the place. There’s more diversity in this country than ever before, and thankfully, more diversity in films, that no longer did the two leads have to have American accents. It’s nice for me. Sean Connery got to do Scottish in every bloody movie he did. I feel like now I’ve earned the right to do an American film in my own accent from time to time.
For sure. So is this 100% your natural accent or do you think it’s gotten Americanized over the years?
When I did The Vanishing, I literally had to listen to people again and go, oh, that’s how you do the R. I don’t even think it’s just by living here, it’s by playing these roles. Every day I do about an hour’s worth of dialect sessions, and you’re always working on where the tongue placement is going to be, how you move your mouth, and whenever I finish a film, I go, okay, I can go back to my own accent now. But it just doesn’t happen. I feel like I’m a caricature of myself. I’m like [in exaggerated brogue] “I’m Gerry from Scotland.” Yeah, it’s definitely softened.
When you’re doing all that training, does that get you up in your head about it, or does it matter?
It really helps to do it because then you can then throw it away. I remember getting great advice from a voice coach in England. It was a front of a script that Gary Oldman was directing and it said, “Teach us to care and not to care.” The caring is in doing the work, as in the preparation, and what that allows you to do is not to care so that you can just let it go. I feel like the more work you do in preparation, the less you have to worry about, and the less in your head. It’s when you’re not prepared that you’re listening to yourself and you’re going, God, does that sound right? Was that good?
Right. I don’t know, I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but unlike a lot of actors your age, you look like you still have your original face. Have you ever felt any pressure to get work done? Or do you have a policy on that kind of thing?
No, I like my face. I think maybe there’s something different about being from Scotland. If you even were to say to your mom, “I’m going to go to therapy.” She’s like, “therapy? What are you talking about? You don’t do that here.” Mom, I’m going to go and get a facelift. “A facelift? What are you talking about?” No. I’m going to try and grow old — which seems to be happening quickly these days — gracefully.
Who do you think is tougher, Scottish people or Irish people?
I don’t know. I’m both. I’m Scots-Irish. I think the Scots like to fight more than the Irish. The Irish like to tell jokes. We’re so similar. We’re really the same people, but I feel like the Irish are, they’re just a little more “Hey, top of the morning. How’s it going?” Like that. I love that attitude. That’s a tough one. …No matter what I say, I’m going to lose friends.
Yeah, you gave that more thought than I was expecting, I’m impressed.
Yeah. No, but I have to say, they’re both pretty tough. There’s a certain look that you see in both of them. I call it “shark eyes.” When you come across a hard man in Scotland or Ireland, and there’s these eyes, there’s almost death behind the eyes and it’s a bit freaky. I’ve come across it a few times.
Do you keep your distance when that happens?
One time I didn’t and he headbutted me. And I was like, from now on, when I see those shark eyes I’m going to step back. He was right in my face, and I’m talking to him, trying to reason, and the next minute I’m like, oh sh–
[Publicist in my ear: “Hey Vince, we have two minutes left, so if we could go to Greenland, that’d be great.”]
There’s a climactic moment in this where you a chug a big glass of water. Was that a conscious callback to London Has Fallen?
I always have this thing in movies where they go through all these crazy times and nobody ever eats or drinks. And you go, wait, when did that happen? I think it’s quite important to put it in, and if you are going to put it in, you can make a comment on it, because what does that drink mean? I am so thirsty at that point. I’ve been on the road, and I’m totally destroyed. My nervous system is gone. So, you can say a lot just by drinking a glass of water.
Do you have to do a bunch of takes of that? Or do you just nail it in one go?
I think it was a one or two take thing.
So I watched this movie while it was literally raining ash outside of my own house. Do you think a movie like this hits harder because it actually feels like the apocalypse, or does it cheapen the escapism of a disaster movie in some way?
I don’t think it cheapens it at all. I think it’s more effecting. Everybody I know who’s seen this movie, they all talk about how crazy it is, the similarities of what’s going on. It’s kind of incredible. At the end of the day, it focuses on a very positive message, and in this, what’s important is bringing family together. We don’t want to die alone, really. We need somebody to love and to love us, and that’s a very powerful message. I think everybody feels this by the end. Also, the idea that no matter what happens, no matter what they throw at us, fires, pandemics, comets, in the end, somehow we will prevail.
Great, thank you. I enjoyed the movie, thanks a lot for talking to me.
Cheers mate. Thank you.
‘Greenland’ is available On Demand now. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.
Christmas movies are a staple of the holidays. Whether it’s enjoying the same films you watched when you were little or just finding something to bring your relatives together for 83 minutes, everyone has a different reason to love those movies. The bad news is that Netflix is really lacking in (classic) holiday spirit nowadays, at least the spirit we grew up with. Unless you grew up on Puppy Star Christmas.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t some worthwhile titles hidden out there, though. They’re few and far between, but here are the best Christmas movies on Netflix right now.
The Ron Howard adaptation of the Grinch tale gets a bad rap, but it faced a nearly impossible task: How do you make a movie out of a short Dr. Seuss story? The solution was to pack it with as many Jim Carrey antics as possible. It didn’t jibe with some audiences, but for any fan of Carrey in his heyday, Seuss/Christmas meta humor, and unusually-sized explosions of tiny cars, this movie is a Christmas must. The title of the movie pretty much explains it all, but the movie adds surprisingly emotional depth with Cindy Lou Who’s search for the meaning of Christmas.
Some would say Jim Carrey was born to play the green-tinted Scrooge of Whoville, to which we would graciously point to this animated update voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch. Carrey’s great, but the artwork lends itself to the whimsy needed to really pull off this Seuss-imagined world and Cumberbatch, who lends The Grinch a bit more grump and cunning than Carrey did, should play every animated bad guy until movies are no longer made.
Normally, Christmas movies trademarked by Netflix come with sappy romances, mistaken princesses, and Vanessa Hudgens but this original animated feature is the exception, and the best holiday flick the streaming platform has given us yet. It imagines a different origin story for Saint Nicholas, one that involves an eager-to-please postman voiced by Jason Schwartzman and an isolated, gruff Santa voiced by J.K. Simmons. The two go on a toy-making adventure together that ends up mending old wounds and bringing entire villages together. Oh, and the animation is a visual feast. Prepare yourself.
White Christmas is one of those holiday movies that many casual Netflix watchers have probably never gotten around to watching. It was 1954’s most successful film, however, and it’s packed with some of the biggest stars of the era. It’s that one with Bing Crosby tap-dancing with Danny Kaye you may have heard about. When their army buddy characters join a sister act of performers, they’re forced to sing and dance their way to saving an unsuccessful inn run by their old military general. It’s a lovely, light vehicle for Crosby and Kaye along with Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen to just do what they were known for, and the undeniable charisma of each lead carries White Christmas during the brief times between tunes.
Charlie Kaufman’s latest film is based on a book of the same name and stars Chernobyl’s Jessie Buckley as a young woman meeting her boyfriend’s parents for the first time, which normally would be a happy event except she’s secretly been planning to break up the with the guy. That guy is Jesse Plemons, who seems to be in everything these days, and along with Toni Collette and David Thewlis who play his parents, they make for hellish dinner mates. There’s a sinister vibe permeating everything about this straightforward plot, so if you think you know how this ends, let us be the first to tell you: you don’t have a clue. And yes, at first glance it’s a weird choice for a Christmas movie, but the couple is heading home in the dead of winter and going through all the rituals associated with returning to your hometown during the holidays. Plus, some people just can’t get behind all the cheer this year, so this one’s for them.
Set in the gloriously vibrant town of Cobbleton, the film follows legendary toymaker Jeronicus Jangle, whose fanciful inventions burst with whimsy and wonder. But when his trusted apprentice steals his most prized creation, it’s up to his equally bright and inventive granddaughter (and a long-forgotten invention) to heal old wounds and reawaken the magic within. Any movie that has the gall to give a main character such a blatantly fictitious, wholly ridiculous name as Jeronicus Jangle is sipping the kind of Christmas-flavored Kool-Aid we want to be high on this year. Will it give us a steampunk-themed Willy-Wonka holiday adventure? Is Jeronicus Jangle the new Grand Moff Pascal Tarkin? So many questions will be answered.
Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, and Kathryn Hahn reprise their roles at the titular sh*tty maternal figures: Amy, Kiki, and Carla. The ladies struggles with crafting the perfect holiday experiences for the families, a problem made worse by the arrival of their own mothers: Amy’s high-maintenance mom (Christine Baranski), Kiki’s over-involved mom (Cheryl Hines), and Carla’s unreliable drifter mom (Susan Sarandon). The humor is slapstick, but the chemistry between the three leads and the overall message about what’s really important during this time of year is worth it.
Look, we know what you might be thinking. and yes, this does follow the Hallmark holiday template. It’s got corny dialogue, cheesy jokes, and plenty of plot holes. It’s also got Kurt Russell putting in a performance no one saw coming. Russell plays the Big Man himself, Santa Claus, and other than giving us a modernized version of Jolly Old that millennials will thirst over for years to come — finally, a DILF Santa everyone can get behind — the actor sells the sh*t out of this thing, rocking out in jailhouses, giving us manic car chases, and playing a Papa Noel that seems just a bit unhinged, and all the funnier for it.
Okay, technically this is a Christmas special, but it’s got enough holiday cheer (and famous guest stars) to warrant a spot on this list. Bill Murray stars as his charming, self-deprecating self, trying to stage a Christmas TV special despite a rather worrisome snowstorm threatening his act. As the show descends into chaos, Murray helps marry an on-the-rocks couple, sings a duet with Chris Rock, and plays a few tunes with Miley Cyrus while George Clooney stirs him a cocktail. Who would resist?
You may have heard about the weirdest Christmas movie ever, but even if you have, it’s probably worth a refresher since the whole thing feels like someone picked words out of a hat and made a feature out of it. Pottersville centers on a man named Maynard Greiger (Michael freakin’ Shannon) becoming a town hero after being mistaken as Bigfoot during a drunken romp after discovering his wife (Christina Hendricks) is engaging in a furry affair with Ron Perlman (he has a character name but come on). Also Ian McShane is in it and Thomas Lennon plays a villainous Bigfoot hunter. Just watch it. You have nothing to lose other than 84 minutes and a little bit of your sanity.
Look, some of us want to celebrate the holidays in the traditional way: hot cocoa, gift wrapping, and sappy, sentimental Christmas movies. But some of us want a bit of weird injected into our seasonal fun and that’s where Pee-Wee Herman comes in. This Christmas special’s the hottest thing in town: it’s got Little Richard learning how to ice skate, Magic Johnson taking a magical sleigh ride, Frankie Avalon crafting Christmas cards, and Charo. Look, far be it for us to judge how you choose to privately celebrate the most wonderful time of the year.
Eminem began the year with his surprise Music To Be Murdered By effort, which gave fans 20 songs with guest appearances from Young M.A, Royce Da 5’9,” Ed Sheeran, Juice WRLD, Don Toliver, Anderson .Paak, and more, and now he’s ending the year in the same way. The Detroit native dropped a surprise “B-Side” edition for the album which came with 16 new songs and a new video for one of the new additions, “Gnat.”
The visual, which is directed by Lyrical Lemonade’s Cole Bennett, finds Eminem sticking to the persona he’s developed throughout his career as the chaotic, hell-raising individual we now know him for. In just under four minutes, he manages to throw shade at Michael Vick, Donald Trump, and Mike Pence, fight off a swarm of oversized gnats, earn his freedom from quarantine, and get shot by a man after he dissed his wife.
As for the song itself, it’s a D.A. Got That Dope-produced effort that finds Marshall comparing his bars to the coronavirus, a line that appears on the chorus and is just one of many references to the virus. The track joins fifteen other songs that fans can be found on the re-issue of Music To Be Murdered By. Across the new additions, Skylar Grey, DJ Premier, Ty Dolla Sign, Dr. Dr, MAJ, Wite Gold, and Sly Paper all make an appearance on Eminem’s latest body of work.
Check out the” Gnat” video above.
Music To Be Murdered By (Deluxe) is out now via Shady/Interscope. Get it here.
Earlier today young breakout rapper Chika let fans know that even if it wasn’t a full new EP, she’d be dropping something new tonight. “Not an EP,” she wrote on Twitter. “But stay up. Got some sh*t to say. See you friday.” Well, now that it’s officially past midnight on the east coast, her new song “Gold Medals” is finally here.
The track dropped on SoundCloud with little fanfare aside from her tweet, but includes info that it was produced by Tay Keith and features a photo of a Grammy trophy as the artwork. It samples the announcement of her nomination for Best New Artist at the Grammys, announced just a few weeks ago. And last week she released the new single, “FWB,” so new music has been steadily coming.
This new track comes after a huge year for the young hip-hop star, who has managed to blow up even during a year without touring due to the quarantine. Her debut EP, Industry Games, came out this spring, and she was also featured on XXL‘s coveted Freshman cover. All that along with the Best New Artist Grammy award, round out her year with a nod from the very industry she comments on for her debut. Not bad for a freshman. Stream her new song above.
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