Microsoft rocked the gaming world on Monday with news it made a massive purchase of the parent company of publisher Bethesda — maker of games the Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom. The all-cash deal announced on Monday will see ZeniMax Media acquired by Microsoft, with Bethesda joining Xbox Game Studios.
According to a Microsoft announcement on Monday, the $7.5 billion deal is done and will have an immediate impact on video games. It’s a seismic shift in the gaming industry that has a lot of wrinkles and new possibilities, but first and foremost is a move framed by Microsoft as a way to bolster Xbox Game Pass ahead of the release of two new next-gen consoles this fall. Microsoft pointed out in a release that Xbox Game Pass currently has more than 15 million subscribers, and the acquisition of Bethesda brings with it the “intent” to include future Bethesda games on Xbox Game Pass right on launch day.
It’s unclear if those titles — potentially including future Fallout or Elder Scrolls sequels — will be timed Xbox/PC exclusives or how releases of what are now Xbox Studio games will work. Microsoft now has 23 different studios working under its Xbox catalog, with 2,300 employees getting added to the company in the deal. At least one game, Starfield, was mentioned as under development by Bethesda and will presumably be the first to release on Game Pass like Microsoft teased.
Thinking more long-term, the various things made possible by the deal are far more widespread, including great news for Fallout fans as pointed out by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier.
Some fun facts: – This is 3x what Microsoft paid for Minecraft/Mojang – Bethesda and Obsidian are now sister studios. Fallout New Vegas 2 is now actually a possibility – Microsoft is now releasing two timed PS5 exclusives lol
Whether another New Vegas is on the way or not is way too early to determine, but’s a striking example of just how big this deal is and the repercussions it will have across gaming. Microsoft got a lot bigger on Monday, and the next generation of console gaming is poised to look a lot different than anyone thought just a few days ago.
Like other areas of the music industry, the pandemic has presented both challenges and new opportunities to the folks behind NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series. They haven’t been hosting performances from the traditional venue at their offices, but that means they’ve been able to wrangle artists to participate from wherever they find themselves. For their latest, they got perhaps the biggest pop act in the world right now: BTS.
The performance immediately sent shock waves across the internet: It was the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter in the US within a half hour of its debut. For the set, the group took to their hometown South Korean record store and performed their first US No. 1 single “Dynamite.” After that, they dipped into their archives for the remaining two songs: “Save Me” and “Spring Day,” from 2016 and 2017, respectively.
NPR noted, “We’ve been trying to make a BTS Tiny Desk concert happen for years now — even gaming out ways we might move Bob Boilen’s desk far enough forward to accommodate the superstar Korean boy band’s dance moves. In the end, it took a global pandemic — and the launch of Tiny Desk (home) concerts back in March — to make something happen.”
In 2019, Black Panther became the first comic-book movie to win an Oscar, and at this year’s Emmys, HBO’s Watchmen became the first comic-book TV show to win an Emmy in a major category. Comic book fans are starved for theater content this year, so this is a nice consolation prize and further confirmation that Alan Moore’s “unfilmable” graphic novel is getting it done. Thanks to Damon Lindelof’s ambitious and sweeping limited series and radical recontextualization of the source material, Watchmen pulled off an almost-sweep in the Limited Awards categories on TV’s biggest (virtual) night. This brought the show’s total Emmys take to 11 awards — the previously announced honors included Best Music Composition for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi costumes for Sharen Davis and Valerie Zielonka.
On Sunday night, the show’s largest awards went down, which included Best Limited Series, Best Writing In A Limited Series or Movie (Damon Lindelof and Cord Jefferson), Best Lead Actress In A Limited Series (Regina King), and Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II). Regina King used her speech to urge people to vote, while Mateen and Lindelof both paid tribute to the victims of the 1921 Race Massacre, with the latter stating, “The fires that destroyed Black Wall Street still burn today… The only way to put them out is if we all fight them together.”
Abdul-Mateen, who portrayed Cal Abar/Doctor Manhattan, joined Lindelof’s sentiment while also dedicating his award to Black women:
“Watchmen was a story about trauma. It was a story about the lasting scars of white domestic violence and white domestic terrorism. It was a story about police corruption and brutality. But in the midst of all of that, it was also a story of a god who came down to Earth to reciprocate to a Black woman all the love that she deserved, for her sacrifices, passion and protection. And he did all of that in the body of a Black man, and I’m so proud that I was able to walk into those shoes. I dedicate this award to all of the Black women in my life.”
Weird factoid: Billy Crudup, who portrayed Doctor Manhattan in Zack Snyder’s far-too-literal 2009 Watchmen adaptation, also won an Emmy (Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series) for his work on The Morning Show. And Zack Snyder’s doing just fine, working on his Snyder Cut of Justice League for HBO Max.
This month, Billie Eilish has done all she can to get herself on the holiday wish lists of music fans everywhere this year. A couple weeks ago, she teamed up with Fender to introduce her own signature ukulele. Now, she’s back with perhaps the finest music merch 2020 has offered so far: Billie Eilish action figures.
A pair of new action figures (part of the “In Video” series) have found their way onto Eilish’s merch site, and one of them is based on her look in the “Bad Guy” video. The doll is 10.5 inches tall, “highly detailed,” and “fully articulated.” It features “a life-like head sculpt, rooted hair, real fabric signature yellow outfit, classic yellow tennis shoes and accessories,” and it comes in “a very eco-friendly, corrugated window box that transforms into a dioramic display.”
Then there’s the figure based on her “All The Good Girls Go To Hell” video. This one stands 6 inches in height, is “fully molded,” and features “18 points of articulation and comes with her 3 pivot point, back wings featured in the video.” Like the “Bad Guy” figure, this one also comes in a box that can be converted into a display.
Both dolls are expected to ship in ten weeks, so they should reach buyers in time to be the perfect holiday gift.
Get the “Bad Guy” figure here and the “All The Good Girls Go To Hell” figure here.
There wasn’t much going on with the box office this weekend with Tenet continuing to struggle in theaters domestically (release it to PVOD!), while Mulan continues to struggle in theaters internationally. Here in the United States, we can at least blame the pandemic for the failures of Tenet in theaters, but over in China — where a movie called Eight Hundred has earned $400 million since August 21st — Mulan has only managed to earn $36 million after two weeks. Meanwhile, estimates for how much Mulan has earned on VOD here in the states vary from $30 million to $260 million, although even the lowest number has surpassed Tenet in the states, which has earned $36 million after adding $4.7 million this weekend. Tenet, however, has done fairly well overseas, where it has surpassed $200 million after a solid debut in Japan.
Beyond that, there’s not much to talk about. Every other movie that mounted an effort in theaters struggled mightily: The Secrets We Keep, $90,000; The Nest, $62,000; and the widest new release of the weekend, Infidel, only earned $1.5 million in over 1700 theaters, which is less than the $1.6 million New Mutants earned in its fourth weekend, bringing its total to $17.7 million.
Indeed, it’s clear that most moviegoers stayed home to watch the Emmy Awards, to enjoy the NFL, and to catch up on Netflix. Speaking of the streamer, their big new release of the weekend was The Devil All the Time, starring Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson. Despite all that star power, the film didn’t do as well as an obscure 2016 English/French film called The Take.
Netflix
The Take — known as Bastille Day internationally — stars Idris Elba and Game of Thrones‘ Richard Madden. The film actually did decent at the box office internationally, earning $14 million (on a $4 million budget), but almost no one saw it stateside, where it earned only $50,000 in 100 theaters. It didn’t earn much by way of critical raves, either, scoring 48 percent on the Tomatometer, as well as a dismal 41 percent from audiences.
And yet, it’s the top film on Netflix this weekend. Superficially, it’s easy to understand why: it’s a movie from Idris Elba and Richard Madden newly released to Netflix, and I’m sure that there was a heavy sampling of the movie. However, one thing we do know about Netflix’s metrics is that they count it as a view anytime someone watches more than two minutes of a movie. There were probably a lot of people who watched The Take without finishing it, if comments on Twitter are any indication.
And why is that? Because the film is half in English, and half in French, there weren’t English subtitles for all of the French-speaking parts. I checked, and can confirm these accounts:
i just watched this even though on netflix the title is “the take”. so many of the french conversations are not subtitled for whatever reason, I don’t know who the audience was or why they chose to make both idris and richard americans in france pic.twitter.com/QA37Xu4cbt
Hey @netflix The movie “The Take” seems dope if I was able to understand it. Half the movie is in French without subtitles… I Should of paid attention during French class in high school…
Hey @netflix does The Take not have subtitles/translation for the french? Missed half the dialogue. I tried turning on the subtitles but it only came on when english was spoken.
So, let that be a warning to any of you who cannot speak French but love Idris and Richard Madden enough to give The Take a sampling. If you don’t mind not understanding half the movie, and are just tuning into to watch Idris in action, be prepared to take it in while not understanding what is happening.
Through Kanye West’s recent issues with his recording contracts, the rapper has realized that not only does he want to get himself into a more desirable situation, but that he wants to do the same for other artists. In recent days, Kanye has taken to Twitter to share his vision for a newly structured music industry, in which artists are treated more fairly. Over the weekend, he crystallized those thoughts into an outline of proposed “New Recording And Publishing Deal Guidelines.”
The overall theme of Kanye’s outline is that artists should have more power and ownership over their music. His outline insists that artists own copyright of their recordings, that artists make more money off their work than their labels do, that contracts be easier to understand, and that artists have a more transparent way to see how much they are earning from their music.
After making his points, Kanye concluded, “This is a call for all artist to unify … I will get my masters , I got the most powerful lawyer in music and I can afford them but every artist must be freed and treated fairly.”
This is a call for all artist to unify … I will get my masters , I got the most powerful lawyer in music and I can afford them but every artist must be freed and treated fairly
“1. The artist owns the copyright in the recordings and songs and leases them to the record label / publisher for a limited term. 1 year deals
2. The record label / publisher is a service provider that receives a share of the income for a limited term. The split can be 80/20 in the artists favor.
3. DEPENDANTS
Artists must be dependent on no one but themselves to manage their catalog. You should need NO ONE else to understand the business you’re in.
4. LAWYERS
the first thing that changes about Record Deals is actually lawyers.
We need Plain English contracts. A Lawyers role is to IMPROVE deals…. not charge for contracts we cannot understand or track. Re-write deals to be understandable from FIRST READ.
5. EQUITY & BLANKET LICENSES ARE THE MAJORITY OF FUTURE NEW INCOME.
If you’re with a major you have invested your ‘songs’ as shares in their power to get equity and deals. Almost ALL new deals now are based on ALL songs going to a store or app. The equity is the Artists.
NO MORE blanket licenses. It should be clear from day one… what shares you get NOW and when you leave. If your song helps a deal over the line you invested in that store / app same as they did.
UMG now has a 2.2 billion share holding stake in Spotify. This is the artists. The system as to how we get share balances on our royalty statement needs to be created and a system on when Artists can cash in.
5. ADVANCES ARE JUST LOANS!!
On Artists re-signing these stop. Advances are Loans with 75% interest rates (or worse). NO other business in the world takes a look at the business, buys shares, starts to profit when it profits. Record Companies have to buy into you, not loan you.
6. ROYALTIES
Again back to dependents. You need a business manager to read how you did? So you pay to see your money!!! NO MORE.
Royalty portals need to show (and do not now)
Every song you delivered
Every store you are in
How many streams per song
Income per song
It sounds basic and logical but t does NOT exist. They focus on top earners and ZERO look at the 440 stores…. Only the top few. Artists are global. That’s why their contract territory says GLOBAL
Royalty department in EVERY label. No more separating finance teams from the music.
7. PORTALS
Are not just for royalties. They are for your entire business. Every audio file, every asset, every deal stored WITH the money. Money and Music must stay together. When your term ends, download it all. Leave.”
2. The record label / publisher is a service provider that receives a share of the income for a limited term. The split can be 80/20 in the artists favor
the first thing that changes about Record Deals is actually lawyers.
We need Plain English contracts. A Lawyers role is to IMPROVE deals…. not charge for contracts we cannot understand or track. Re-write deals to be understandable from FIRST READ.
5. EQUITY & BLANKET LICENSES ARE THE MAJORITY OF FUTURE NEW INCOME.
If you’re with a major you have invested your ‘songs’ as shares in their power to get equity and deals. Almost ALL new deals now are based on ALL songs going to a store or app. The equity is the Artists
NO MORE blanket licenses. It should be clear from day one… what shares you get NOW and when you leave. If your song helps a deal over the line you invested in that store / app same as they did.
UMG now has a 2.2 billion share holding stake in Spotify. This is the artists. The system as to how we get share balances on our royalty statement needs to be created and a system on when Artists can cash in.
On Artists re-signing these stop. Advances are Loans with 75% interest rates (or worse). NO other business in the world takes a look at the business, buys shares, starts to profit when it profits. Record Companies have to buy into you, not loan you.
It sounds basic and logical but t does NOT exist. They focus on top earners and ZERO look at the 440 stores…. Only the top few. Artists are global. That’s why their contract territory says GLOBAL
Royalty department in EVERY label. No more separating finance teams from the music
Are not just for royalties. They are for your entire business. Every audio file, every asset, every deal stored WITH the money. Money and Music must stay together. When your term ends, download it all. Leave.
It was an Emmys to remember, not only for the guy standing outside Ramy Youssef’s door in a hazmat suit but also for Zendaya and the Schitt’s Creek cast, both of whom made history on Sunday. First, Zendaya: the 24-year-old Euphoria star became the youngest person ever to win the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, beating the previous record-holder, Killing Eve‘s Jodie Comer, by two years.
“I know that this feels like a really weird time to be celebrating, but I just want to say that there is hope in the young people out there,” Zendaya said during her acceptance speech. “I know that our TV show doesn’t always feel like a great example of that, but there is hope in the young people, and I just want to say to all my peers out there doing the work in the streets: I see you, I admire you, I thank you.” I believe HBO put it best:
Pop TV’s Schitt’s Creek, with its sweep of seven Emmys on Sunday night on the heels of two at the Creative Arts Emmys last week, has established a new record for most wins in a single season for a comedy series. The show’s nine total wins for its sixth and final season breaks the record of eight that Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in 2018 and matched in 2019.
Schitt’s is also the first comedy to ever sweep the major acting categories: Best Actor (Eugene Levy), Best Actress (Catherine O’Hara), Best Supporting Actor (Daniel Levy), and Best Supporting Actress (Annie Murphy). “This has been the greatest experience of my life,” the younger Levy said. “This is completely overwhelming.”
If Catherine O’Hara is happy, then I’m happy, too.
Last week, Kanye West took on the music industry in an eventful fashion. He may not be an ideal messenger, but he had merit when he called out Universal, and the rest of the industry, for “unfair” business practices. It is only fair for major labels to be held accountable by powerful acts that have the means to challenge them in the court of law and public opinion. But more aspiring artists should realize that major labels aren’t the only road.
Independence is a challenging, yet rewarding path that gives artists ownership of their work and the chance to have full control over their operation, from the music to the marketing. One way that an indie act can set themselves apart from the vast pack of talent (and put good money in their pocket) is by garnering headlines with a unique music release. From the late Nipsey Hussle’s famous Crenshaw release to Roc Marciano’s self-releasing to the Wu’s legal entanglement with Martin Shkreli, there are plenty of innovative ideas for independent artists to examine and incorporate into future releases.
These projects might not show up on SoundScan, but don’t let that confuse you. Many of these artists ended up making good money and garnering invaluable notoriety with their releases. We’ve put together multiple independent music roundups and a Bandcamp Friday showcase. Here’s another resource. This is by no means a comprehensive list, so if you feel like we missed someone, feel free to comment below or let us know on social media:
De La Soul / Geto Boys
Legacy acts will always have hoards of (established, adult) fans ready to support them. In 2015, Geto Boys launched a Kickstarter campaign for their Habeas Corpus album, which raised $100K. The next year, De La Soul put together their own Kickstarter campaign for the album that became And The Anonymous Nobody. They also asked for $100K but raised over $600K on the platform. Artists boasting a hefty fanbase should tap into it if they need assistance with the production and marketing of an album. If nothing else, acts know that their supporters are virtually guaranteed to give them a listen. In the age of crowdfunding, “If you want new music, help us fund it” is a pretty simple ask.
Latashá
The LA-based Latashá is another artist exploring crowdfunding for her music, but she’s offering more than a project. Her current LyteWrk crowdfunding initiative is also seeking funding for a media outlet focused on women in rap and empowerment workshops pertaining to songs on her upcoming album. LyteWrk a genius way for an artist to use a project as a springboard for an entire movement.
There are few artists doing physicals better than enigmatic New Jersey rapper Mach Hommy. He piggybacked off of the Nipsey Hussle model with several releases, including his latest Mach’s Hard Lemonade album. The project is available on Tidal, but he also created a website where fans could purchase a limited supply of physicals at above-average prices: $77.77 for a cassette, $99.99 for a Digipak CD, $111.11 for a Jewel case CD, $222.22 for a standard vinyl, and $444.44 for a deluxe vinyl that comes with a wooden case as well as a Mach’s Hard Lemonade slipmat, stress ball, and air freshener.
For the past several years, artists have bundled low quality, mass-produced merch to their music in order to bolster their Billboard figures, But in Mach’s case, he added a limited supply of functional, well-done merch to his physicals in order to bolster the value of what his fans are receiving. The stress ball alone is worth the purchase these days.
Nostrum Grocers
When you’re independent, you can do what you want. That’s the logic R.A.P. Ferreira and Elucid put into their Nostrum Grocers collaboration project, which was released on cassette and sold for $1,000 on Feirreria’s Ruby Yacht website as “a thousand dollar tape cos i say so.” When you’re your own boss, and have fans who long to see their favorites be able to live off of their art, this is the kind of thing you can do.
Nipsey Hussle
Even in their heyday, CDs generally went for no more than $20. The late Nipsey Hussle sold his for $100 — twice. Observers scratched their head in 2013 when Nip announced that he was only pressing up 1,000 copies of his Crenshaw album, and they’d be going for $100 a pop. $100,000 later, Nip was laughing to the bank. The project sold out in 24 hours (with Jay-Z buying 100 copies), setting a standard that the people who love you will value your work as much as you do. The rollout was so successful that he did it again in 2014 for Mailbox Money.
Both mixtapes were marketed through his #Proud2Pay movement, stoking a sense of community (that received a free concert) and allowing buyers to feel like their purchase wasn’t just a transaction, but a statement on supporting independent artists. The most important takeaway from Nipsey’s releases is that you don’t need a million fans to make $100,000, just 1,000 that believe in you.
Roc Marciano
Roc Marciano is a godfather of today’s gritty, mostly-independent scene of spitters. He set a standard not just with avant-garde, drumless production, but by circumventing DSPs with his projects and getting back maximum value. Telling DJ Booth “if you’re not supporting me, then I can’t give you the art,” he sidestepped streaming providers “until (and if)” he felt otherwise and released 2015’s Rosebudd’s Revenge 2: The Bitter Dose directly on his website for $30. He told DJ Booth that the album was “printing money,” and tweeted that in 2018 that “this blueprint changed the game, If u build it they will come.” That lesson is as straightforward as it gets.
Run The Jewels
Most of the artists on this list sought to make a maximum profit off of their music releases. But in Run The Jewels’ case, they offer a free download of their Run The Jewels project, then run it up through merch. They’re among the best at using their music to lure supporters, then monetizing through vinyl, CDs, high-quality merch, and a (usually) busy tour schedule. It takes a particularly rabid fanbase (and creative merch) to pull off this model, but those looking to do the same should study them.
Wu-Tang Clan
This release is from the brilliant idea, shoddy execution files. In 2014, RZA sought to create the most exclusive music release of all time, pressing a single double-disc and putting it on auction in 2015. The Once Upon A Time In Shaolin album could be released for free and played during listening parties, but it couldn’t be commercially exploited until 2103. It was a bold idea that ended up not working out mostly because of its purchaser — reviled “pharma-Bro” Martin Shkreli.
RZA says Shkreli made his purchase before his controversial price hike of the Daraprim drug. Out of guilt, they ended up donating most of $2 million to charity. Shkreli immediately began leveraging the album to troll fans, streaming snippets online, and telling Vice he’d consider “installing it in some remote place so that people have to make a spiritual quest to listen.” Shkreli tried to break the deal by selling the project on eBay, but he was arrested for fraud before the transaction was completed. The Justice Department seized many of Shkreli’s assets, including the album.
This is a cool idea for a prolific artist to emulate, though not in the way RZA did. The most important thing is screening prospective buyers, and possibly lifting exclusivity after a reasonable timeframe. Fans were upset about the idea because Wu projects are rare these days. But an artist who’s still releasing music while an exclusive, myth-making project is also out can have their cake and eat it, too. It’s hard to get people to value digital media in the same manner that older generations valued a CD (who remembers only having enough to buy one CD but wanting multiple?). But having a project that most fans could only hear about for a period of time would leave them eager to savor when it’s released to the public.
Late last year, Yaasiin Bey’s Negus album was played as part of a listening installation at the Brooklyn Museum. For ten weeks, fans could go to the museum, pay $25, and hear the first new music from the man also known as Mos Def since 2009. The project, according to NPR, was meant to “acknowledge the importance of hip-hop as a fundamental American art form” and also contained visual art from Ala Ebtekar, Julie Mehretu, and José Parlá. As of now, the album won’t be released in any other format, which riled fans of his in a manner similar to the Wu release.
Negus, like Once Upon A Time In Shaolin, is an innovative idea better exploited by an artist who already has new music out. An exclusive release is cool, but it will surely incur backlash from fans who aren’t able to access it.
Kal Penn has done his time in both Hollywood (House and the Harold and Kumar trilogy) and Washington, D.C. (as part of the Obama administration), which has led to plenty of jokes about him moving from White Castle to the White House, and he’s about to combine his talents for the greater good. On National Voter Registration Day, Freeform will launch Kal Penn Approves This Message, a six-part topical series that’s geared toward younger voters (the Gen Z and Millennial crowds) and the issues that matter most to them. Each episode will drop on a Tuesday and will be available the following day on Hulu in all of its unscripted, spirited, and non-partisan glory.
Penn plans to explore wide-ranging topics, from voter empowerment to healthcare, judges, education, and the environment. He’ll do so through comedic field-pieces and interviews, and he was cool enough to speak with us about how much he admires the passion of young voters and how they give him hope for the future. I also couldn’t resist challenging him to beat Tom Cruise into space after I learned about his suggestion for a fourth Harold and Kumar installment, and Penn fielded that issue with grace.
Obviously, we’ve got pandemic complications with this year’s election. Do you think that will hinder the vote or motivate people?
Well, one of the things that I’ve noticed is that I can’t really remember a time when we had this much awareness about the process of voting. The pandemic has resulted in a lot of discussion — about mail and early voting that exists in so many places, absentee ballots, and obviously voting the day-of. We can get younger people to be poll workers, since older people traditionally do it, and they may be less likely to do it because of their heightened risk of COVID. So if there was ever a silver lining, of our awareness on the different ways to vote and how, it’s now. That’s my take on our crazy world.
As a general rule during a regular year, though, why do you feel that so few people vote in the U.S.?
Well, that’s something that we’re hoping to tackle with our show. I don’t know, it is certainly something. I forget the stat, we have it in one of our documents, in an earlier episode. The U.S. is 120 out of all the countries? It’s something very surprising. I will say that one of the things that we found very promising is the uptick in the number of young voters. 2018 had some of the biggest youth-vote numbers in decades.
Yeah, they are really not sitting back and simply letting things happen.
And the reason that I think that’s so interesting is because all the data says that if you voted once, you’re more likely to vote again in the future. But it’s also that the voting block, the youth-vote as a block, is not the same humans, year-to-year. So, if you’re looking at the African-American vote, the Italian-American vote, South-Asian vote and all that, you look at that from a four-year period to a four-year period. And with the exception of expanding to new votes within that demographic, those are the same humans when you see when they’re voting or not. The thing with young voters is that they’re not young forever. You age into and out of the demographic very quickly, so you’re comparing totally different sets of people. So, it’s a more open question than otherwise, and one that, hopefully, with all the awareness of the election this time, I hope people turn out.
I’m close to a few college students, who are very concerned with how things are going. And while every generation tends to think that they’ve got the biggest mess to clean up, it’s fair to say that Gen Z can claim that title. Do you have any advice for them on how to stay positive?
Well, I think that it seems like they’re doing a great job without our advice to begin with.
[Laughs] Fair enough.
They’re being so involved and so engaged and being so innovative in so many of the things that they are doing and saying. And they’re forcing everyone to take notice. If there’s anything, I would just say that one of the things I understand their frustration on is the slow speed at which things happen. We now live in a world where you can get a news story 30 seconds after it happens, and there are literally apps that will tell you what happened around the corner, or Twitter, which is somewhat of an echo chamber. That’s not how our democracy works because we have three branches of government that are designed to move very slowly on purpose, and that can be incredibly frustrating. The positive side to that, obviously, is that we’re not a dictatorship, so we have three branches of government that move very slowly. But that’s something I’ve talked about with younger folks who are concerned, not just with the slow pace of things like that but with the lack of awareness around technology, like with the Zuckerberg hearings in Congress. It’s embarrassing how many people just don’t know how the internet works and what company runs what. So, I think that’s something that they can be very helpful with because they’re the ones who are going to be entering public policy and the workforce and running for office themselves, and that gives me a lot of hope.
You’re going to be addressing education in one episode. Do you plan to talk about student debt? That’s on just about every age group’s mind.
We don’t discuss student debt that explicitly, and I’ll tell you why. When we were putting that episode together, we looked at how a lot of shows have already done really fantastic episodes on student debt. And we couldn’t really find anybody who had done an episode on college and trade school in a specific context. And that context was, well, it’s always bothered me that there’s a fabricated beef between college and trade school advocates. It’s like, “Oh, you only get to go to university if you’re an elitist. And this person only went to trade school because they couldn’t go to college.” Could we just stop with all that, please? Who does that argument serve, this fabricated argument?
It’s super strange that people dwell on this.
Like this reminds me of Cardi B versus Nicki Minaj. Is this even a beef? Can’t I like both of them? Why are you saying that I’m not allowed to like both of them. So that got us thinking about “what is the actual issue here?” One is automation, and whether when you go to trade school or college, the risk of jobs and careers being automated is serious. Other countries like China and Brazil are investigating these things and investing in potential solutions. Are we? And if we’re not, shouldn’t we be focusing on that instead of creating this fake beef between each other about who went to college and who went to trade school, and what does that mean? So our episode looks at that and how it impacts the global economy and especially in our own economy when people who are 18 turn 40, and when they have kids, what happens to their jobs? That’s how we look at education, and it’s a pretty good example of our non-partisan take on these types of issues.
Do you still have hopes for a 4th Harold and Kumar movie in your back pocket?
Helllll yes!
Where would you like to see the guys go next?
Oh man, look, all my tattoos are astronomy-related, so I kinda like the idea of going to the space station.
You should try to beat Tom Cruise and Vin Diesel to space. I want to see it happen.
Oh no, Tom Cruise will beat us! It’s a little tricky with scheduling because they guys who created the franchise are created the Cobra Kai show, and John Cho is in New Zealand to do a movie, and I’m about to start Clarice, the Silence Of The Lambs remake, so I am hoping soon. We keep constantly talking about it, but we just have to find the right time.
Freeform’s ‘Kal Penn Approves This Message’ will premiere on Tuesday, September 22, at 10:30pm EST.
The Netflix name has meant many things, including the best shows not on TV. And while there are some glaring omissions in their selection of good movies, there’s still plenty to peruse. Narrowing them down to just 50 of the best Netflix films wasn’t easy. Nonetheless, here’s a ranked list of the best movies on Netflix streaming no film lover should miss, all of them just a simple click away.
The Indiana Jones franchise has been housed on Amazon Prime for a while now, but it’s finally making its way to Netflix with the streaming platform hosting all four feature films. Of course, nothing beats the original, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and as far as travel and adventure go, this movie has everything you could possibly want. A hero with a love for archeology and whips? Check. An adventure to recover a stolen artifact with destructive powers? Check check. Harrison Ford beating up Nazis while uttering sarcastic one-liners and with a twinkle in his eye? Did movies even exist before this?
It took decades in the industry for Steven Spielberg to finally earn an Oscar for one of his movies, but his win for Schindler’s List is well deserved. The film focuses on wealthy businessman Oskar Schindler, who spends his fortune and risks his life to save the lives of 1,100 Jewish men and women after taking in the horrors of WWII and the concentration camps. Between the three hour running time, the cold, unrelenting cruelty of Ralph Fiennes’ portrayal of Amon Goeth, and its realistic style, it’s a bleak film. But there’s hope to be found in the grim black and white images. It’s an important story told movingly by a filmmaker at the height of his powers.
Daniel Day-Lewis stars in this gritty, Oscar-winning drama from Paul Thomas Anderson playing a turn-of-the-century prospector, who risks his faith and his family for oil. Daniel Plainview is a shrewd, callous businessman who adopts the orphaned son of a dead employee to make himself look more appealing to investors. When he hits oil in California, he wages a war with a local preacher and his family who stand in the way of Daniel’s progress. Violence and yes, plenty of blood, follow.
The Oscar-winning animated film follows a young kid named Miles, who becomes the web-slinging hero of his reality, only to cross paths with other iterations of Spider-Man across different dimensions who help him defeat a threat posed to all realities. Mahershala Ali, John Mulaney, and Jake Johnson make up the film’s talented voice cast, but it’s the striking visuals and daring story-telling technique that really serves the film well.
Martin Scorsese delivers another cinematic triumph, this time for Netflix and with the help of some familiar faces. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino team up (again) for this crime drama based on actual events. De Niro plays Frank Sheeran a World War II vet who finds work as a hitman for the mob. Pacino plays notorious Teamster Jimmy Hoffa, a man who frequently found himself on the wrong side of the law and the criminals he worked with. The film charts the pair’s partnership over the years while injecting some historical milestones for context. It’s heavy and impressively cast and everything you’d expect a Scorsese passion-project to be.
Clint Eastwood directs and stars in this sports drama that catapulted Hillary Swank into the ranks of Oscar-worthy echelon. Swank plays Maggie Fitzgerald, a woman determined to dominate inside the ring. To do that, she needs to put in hard work and find herself a hardened coach who believes in her. Enter Eastwood. The two have a combative, emotionally heavy relationship that only gets more complicated as Maggie begins taking on dangerous fights.
Oscar-winning writer/director Alfonso Cuaron delivers what may be his most personal film to date. The stunningly-shot black-and-white film is an ode to Cuaron’s childhood and a love letter to the women who raised him. Following the journey of a domestic worker in Mexico City named Cleo, the movie interweaves tales of personal tragedy and triumph amidst a backdrop of political upheaval and unrest.
Hannibal Lecter is one of horror’s most iconic characters, but it’s a testament to the creepiness of Anthony Hopkins in a leather muzzle that, no matter how many times the film gets quoted, hearing him tell Clarice Starling he’s having an old friend for dinner still sends chills up our spines. Jodie Foster plays the FBI agent tasked with catching another serial killer with Lecter’s same M.O. and she does it by striking up unnerving conversations with the guy, but Hopkins is the real star here, playing Lecter with a restrained insanity that makes his small talk of enjoying human liver with fava beans so much more nightmarish.
Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, and Cybill Shepherd star in this Martin Scorsese crime thriller about a veteran with mental health issues who works a night job, driving a taxi around New York City. De Niro plays Travis Bickle, a Vietnam war vet who moonlights as a cap driver to cope with his insomnia. During a long shift, he contemplates assassinating a politician to help out the woman he’s fallen in love with (Shepherd) and killing a pimp after befriending an underage prostitute (Foster). It’s a wild ride, full of darkly comedic moments, and an even more harrowing looks at the consequences of war.
Public scandal often makes for good drama, but that’s not why Todd McCarthy’s biographical re-telling of one of the most shocking cases of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church makes this list. Yes, the film has a famous list of names attached, including Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, and Michael Keaton. Yes, it’s a true story about a group of Boston Globe investigative journalists, who uncovered decades-worth of corruption and molestation accusations buried by leaders of the church. Yet with McCarthy’s restrained direction, the film rejects the trope of glorifying its heroes and sensationalizing its narrative to instead give us an accurate, detailed, and unbiased look at history.
Guillermo Del Toro’s fantasy war epic focuses on a young girl named Ofelia, who grows up during a time of political unrest in her native Spain after a brutal Civil War ravages the country. Ofelia escapes the horrors committed by her stepfather when she accepts a challenge from a magical fairy, who believes her to be the reincarnation of Moanna, the princess of the underworld. If she completes three tasks, she’ll achieve immortality. The film is a play on folklore and fables from Del Toro’s youth, but there’s an undercurrent based in reality — the real cost of war — that grounds this film and makes it even more compelling.
Another Quentin Tarantino classic, this violent visit back in time to America’s era of slavery carries major Western vibes and gives Lenoard DiCaprio a refreshing turn as the film’s big bad, a plantation owner named Calvin Candie. Tarantino favorite Christoph Waltz plays a German bounty hunter who teams up with Jamie Foxx’s Django, a former slave looking to free his wife (Kerry Washington) from Candie’s clutches. There’s a lot of gore and uncomfortable dialogue and over-the-top action, really, everything you’d expect, but DiCaprio, Waltz, and Foxx make it all worth it.
Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., and Mark Ruffalo star in this mystery crime thriller directed by David Fincher. The manhunt for the Zodiac killer — a criminal who committed several murders in the Bay area in the late ’60s and early ’70s — has spawned decades and garnered plenty of media attention, but the film dives deeper into the cost of the search, particularly the toll it’s taken on the men and women reporting on it. Gyllenhaal plays a newspaper cartoonist who becomes obsessed with the case, decoding ciphers sent by the killer and targeting a man he believes could be the Zodiac. Downey Jr. plays a crime reporter who partners with Gyllenhaal on the case and leaks information to the police. It’s a thrilling game of cat-and-mouse fueled by some gripping performances by its male leads.
Denzel Washington and Clive Owen face off in this high-stakes bank robbery flick from Spike Lee. Washington plays a police detective negotiating with Owen’s criminal mastermind after his planned heist spirals into a tense hostage situation. Jodie Foster plays a high-powered broker also involved in the f*ck up, but the real joy of this movie is in watching Washington try to outsmart a seasoned bad guy, who has no qualms about killing innocents.
It’s hard not to watch this Aaron Sorkin-penned, David Fincher-directed masterpiece and have your viewing experience colored by Facebook, and founder Mark Zuckerberg’s, many political misdealings. Jesse Eisenberg plays the boy genius, an outcast whose brainchild is the product of a bad breakup and sexism. He partners with Andrew Garfield’s business-minded Eduardo Saverin and the two create the famous social networking site before Zuckerberg outs his friend and alienates himself. The story isn’t new, but watching it play out is still thrilling, mostly because Eisenberg is just so damn good at being a dick.
A stone-faced Ryan Gosling steers us through the criminal underworld created by director Nicolas Winding Refn in this high-speed thriller. Gosling plays a near-silent stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway man. When he gets involved with his next-door neighbor and her young son, his carefully cultivated life is thrown into chaos, forcing him to align with criminals and take on risky jobs to protect the pair and keep a firm grip on the wheel.
The early aughts action-comedy borrows elements from famous Kung Fu films of the ’70s and pairs them with a completely ridiculous plot and some impressive cartoon-style fight sequences to produce a wholly original flick that we guarantee you’ll marvel at. The film follows the exploits of two friends, Sing and Bone, who impersonate gang members in the hopes of joining a gang themselves and inadvertently strike up a gang war that nearly destroys the slums of the city. Of course, the real draw here is the absurdist, over-the-top comedy that takes place during some of the film’s biggest action sequences. It’s laugh-out-loud funny, but only if you check your brain at the door.
The theme song. The dinosaurs. And Jeff Goldblum. Just a few reasons why this sci-fi flick kicks-ass decades after it hit theaters. Steven Spielberg’s adventure epic imagines a different kind of amusement park, one where dinosaurs are the main attraction. Of course, before opening to the public, the billionaire investor of said park invites archeologists and scientists to evaluate how safe it is — for the cloned creatures and future human guests. The answer: not very. There’s a reason this film spawned a hugely successful franchise. In terms of world-building, it just doesn’t get any better.
Keira Knightley stars in this dramatic adaptation of a beloved Austen novel. Ask any British literature fan, and they’ll tell you the best interpretation of this story is either the ’90s mini-series (with Colin Firth) or this Joe Wright masterpiece. There’s no middle ground. Knightley plays Elizabeth Bennet, an independent, quick-witted young woman, who resents her mother’s schemes to find herself and her group of sisters’ husbands to advance their station in life. She also, ironically, ends up falling for a wealthy, aloof lord named Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfayden), and it’s their contentious, electric romance that fuels much of the action.
Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz star in this dark, absurdist comedy about a man searching for love under some very strange circumstances. Farrell plays David, a man whose wife recently left him. David is sent to a hotel where he’s told he must find a mate within 45 days or be turned into an animal. While there, David witnesses strange rituals and must follow strict rules in order to find love, but it’s not until he ventures into the woods, where the “loners” live, that he pairs up with a woman (Weisz) who may be his soulmate. It’s weird, eccentric, and the perfect Farrell-starring vehicle.
Edgar Wright’s 2010 action comedy about a hapless boy, who must defeat evil ex-boyfriends in order to win the hand of the girl he loves, is a fast-paced ride that bombards the senses. Michael Cera plays a loveable goof in the titular hero, a young man enamored with a woman named Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). In order to be with his lady love, Scott must fight her evil exes (six guys, one girl), who challenge him to truly strange contests. The film is a cinematic mash-up of Japanese anime and gamer culture, intended for the crowd who grew up on Nintendo and comic books, but it brings plenty of laughs all the same.
Greta Gerwig’s love letter to her hometown of Sacramento, California follows Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf as they navigate the often-frustrating relationship between mother and daughter. Ronan plays “Ladybird,” a young woman attending Catholic school who longs for the culture and change of scenery that New York City promises. Her mother, Metcalf, is overbearing and overprotective, and the family’s lack of money and social standing contributes to a rift between the two. Some hard truths are explored in this film, but watching Ronan manage teenage angst, first love, and everything in between will give you all kinds of nostalgia.
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.
Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight will always be remembered for winning the Academy Award for Best Picture after a mix-up that initially named La La Land as the winner. But that’s just an asterisk attached to a momentous coming-of-age story set over three eras in a young man’s life as he grows up in Miami, grappling with the sexuality he feels will make him even more of an outcast while searching for guidance that his drug-addicted mother (Naomie Harris) can’t provide. The film is both lyrical and moving and won justifiable acclaim for its talented cast, including a Best Supporting Actor award for Mahershala Ali as a sympathetic drug dealer.
Noah Baumbach’s star-studded divorce drama is pure Oscar bait, but in the best way. The film takes a look at messy breakups with Scarlett Johansson playing an actress and mother named Nicole, who is intent on separating from her stage director husband Charlie (Adam Driver). Laura Dern and Ray Liotta play their hard-hitting lawyers, who don’t help in diffusing the tension and resentment building between the pair when Nicole moves herself and their son across the country. It’s an intimate look at the emotional wreckage of a divorce and the struggle to put a family back together again, and it’s carried by some brilliant performances by Driver and Johansson.
This adventurous mindf*ck starring Adam Sandler finally landed on Netflix, and our only advice before watching this criminally-good romp is this: prepare yourself for a wild, over-the-top ride. Sandler gives one of his best performances, and the Safdie Brothers prove they’ve got a knack for crafting thrillers textured with grit and a realness that just can’t be beaten.
Al Pacino playing the demonic head of a New York City law firm with Keanu Reeves serving as his protégé? Yes, please. Look, this horror flick doesn’t have as many frights as some on this list, but it’s filled with tense moments, strange happenings, and a twist that you don’t see coming. Reeves plays Kevin, a talented attorney from the South, who makes his way to the Big Apple after winning some high-profile cases. His clients were guilty, but what does that matter, right? Charlize Theron plays his barren wife, Mary Ann, a woman who at one point experiences visions of a baby eating her ovaries, and Pacino plays Milton, Kevin’s boss and Satan himself. It’s a wacky ride into the occult, but the performances are worth it.
Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet star in this sci-fi romance about a couple reliving their romance following a painful break-up. The movie stars Winslet as the free-spirited Clementine, who decides to have her memories of a past relationship with beau Joel (Carrey) erased. Once Joel learns of this, he too decides to erase their time together, and the film is a reverse narrative of their love story, charting their break-up and all the things that led up to it. It’s a quirky romance, one that ends on a hopeful note and has just enough futuristic tech to feel worthy of the genre.
Before he scored his own MTV show, filmmaker Nev Schulman was exposing cons on the internet in this documentary, that basically introduces the term “catfish” to the cultural lexicon. The film captures Nev’s growing online-only friendship with a young woman and her family, exposing the secrets and lies they’re keeping along the way and reminding us all: you really can’t trust people.
This beautifully animated French fantasy film follows the story of a young man named Naoufel, or rather, his hand which has been severed from his body and spends most of the film escaping labs and trying to get back to its owner. The film flits between the past and present, watching Naoufel’s life unfold from a young orphan to an accidental carpenter’s apprentice — which is how he lost his appendage — all while exploring themes of love, loss, and destiny.
Any Spike Lee joint is worth a watch, but this genre-bending thriller about a group of black Vietnam War vets returning to the battlefield decades later feels especially timely. That’s because Lee manages to shed light on a little-known part of our shared history: the way our country treated Black soldiers returning from the war, but he also raises the stakes with a subplot that includes a buried treasure hunt and a heartwrenching mission to retrieve the remains of a fallen comrade. The cast, which includes Black Panther’s Chadwick Boseman, is brilliant, the story is gripping, and you’ll probably be seeing more talk of it come awards season, so go ahead and watch it now.
After a stint in Hollywood, Alfonso Cuarón returned to Mexico for this story of two privileged high school boys (Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal) who road trip with an older woman (Maribel Verdú) in search of an unspoiled stretch of beach. In the process, they discover freedom like they’d never imagined — and maybe more freedom than they can handle. Cuarón’s stylish film plays out against the backdrop of Mexican political upheaval and plays with notions of upturning the established order on scales both large and small, all the while suggesting that no paradise lasts forever.
Jake Gyllenhaal stars in this truly bonkers crime thriller from Dan Gilroy about a con-man who muscles his way into L.A.’s crime journalism scene and very quickly becomes the star of his own reporting. Lou Bloom (Gyllenhaal) is a petty thief who stumbles his way into the stringer profession — photojournalists who chase crime scenes to sell the footage to local TV stations. As Lou begins to record more exciting crimes, demand for his work grows and he starts staging scenes, obstructing police investigations, and inserting himself in high-speed chases to get the best shot. It’s a twisted, depressing look at the ethics of journalism and the consequences of consumerism, and Gyllenhaal has never been better.
Netflix spent much of 2017 trying to establish itself as an alternative to movie theaters as a place to find quality new films. The results were mostly strong, and none stronger than Mudbound, Dee Rees’ story of two families — one white and one black — sharing the same Mississippi land in the years before and after World War II. Rees combines stunning images, compelling storytelling, and the work of a fine cast (that includes Jason Mitchell, Carey Mulligan, Garett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, and Mary J. Blige) to unspool a complex tale about the forces the connect black and white Americans and the slow-to-die injustices that keep them apart.
Matthew McConaughey’s Dallas Buyer Club is a searing look at how the world failed the LGBTQ community during the devastating AIDS crisis. McConaughey stars as Ron Woodruff, a man diagnosed with the disease in the 80s during a time when the illness was still misunderstood and highly stigmatized. Woodruff went against the FDA and the law to smuggle in drugs to help those suffering from the disease, establishing a “Dallas Buyers Club” and fighting in court to the right to aid those in need. The story is all the more powerful because it’s true and McConaughey delivers one of the best performances of his career as Woodruff, a man who changes his entire outlook on life after being dealt a tragic blow.
Chris Evans stars in this sci-fi thriller from auteur Bong Joon-ho. The film, set years into the future following a devastating ice age caused by mankind, follows Evans’ Curtis who lives in poverty on a train that continuously circles the Earth and contains all that remains of human life. Curtis is part of the “scum” that the people relegated to the back of the train while the “elite” enjoy the privilege of wealth and status that comes with living in the front. Curtis sparks a rebellion that ends in bloodshed and a devastating reveal when he makes it to the train’s engine room and discovers just how the elite have been fueling their operation. It’s a dark, grimy action piece that should give fans a new appreciation for Evans’ talent.
This documentary, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, is based on the unfinished manuscript, Remember this House, by James Baldwin. The author and civil rights activist recounts the history of racism in the United States through personal observations and his relationships with friends and leaders like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. It’s a beautifully-shot, sobering reminder of how far we have yet to go when it comes to equality.
Writer/director Trey Edward Shults followed up his unnerving family portrait in 2015’s Krisha with a look at another family under the most desperate of circumstances. After an unknown illness has wiped out most of civilization, a number of threats — both seen and unseen — come for a family held up in their home out in the wilderness. It’s a subtle, dream-like tale that stars Joel Edgerton and Christopher Abbot as two patriarchs intent on keeping their families safe, no matter the cost.
Before Greta Gerwig was directed Oscar-nominated coming-of-age dramas, she was writing and starring in this black-and-white dramedy about a young woman also trying to find her way in the professional dance world of New York City. Gerwig is magnetic in the titular role of Frances, a dancer dissatisfied with her career prospects and forced to contemplate a move to Tribeca on the whim of her best friend and roommate. That trek across Manhattan serves as a jumping off point for Frances, who travels home, then to France, before settling in Washington Heights on her journey to self-discovery.
Salma Hayek turns in an inspired performance of the famed revolutionary artist Frida Kahlo in this early aughts biopic. Hayek plays the visionary in her later years, as she navigates a tense, passionate marriage with fellow artist Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina) and works to define her voice amidst crippling health problems. There’s plenty of joy to be found in her triumphs, but Hayek is at her best when the film asks her to display her emotional range, focusing on Kahlo’s lowest moments to paint a full portrait of a woman who would one day make history.
This classic Western starring Clint Eastwood follows the adventures of a stiff-lipped bounty hunter, a sociopathic mercenary, and a fast-talking Mexican bandit. The trio is connected by a grave full of gold, a few near executions, and a lot of bad blood. Highway robberies, assassination attempts, and a famous Mexican standoff make this a worthy entry on the action flicks list, plus it’s one of Eastwood’s most iconic roles.
Mel Brooks’ hilarious space odyssey has become something of a cult classic over the decades. It’s a parody of George Lucas’ Star Wars trilogy, so it follows the same plot: a rogue pilot and his sidekick must rescue a princess and save the galaxy, but instead of Startroopers, the bad guys are known as Space Balls, and everyone is hopelessly out of their depth playing hero (and villain).
It seems almost perverse to think about watching The Hateful Eight at home, given how big a deal Quentin Tarantino made of its 70mm format at the time of its release. And while it looks great on the big screen it’s not like that’s an option right now. And, in some ways, the film feels just at home on the small screen, since it’s at heart a chamber mystery that brings together a collection of unsavory characters (Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, and Jennifer Jason Leigh among them) as mystery and murder unfold in their ranks.
When a punk rock group accidentally witnesses the aftermath of a murder, they are forced to fight for their lives by the owner of a Nazi bar (Patrick Stewart) and his team. It’s an extremely brutal and violent story, much like the first two features from director Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin and Murder Party), but this one is made even tenser by its claustrophobic cat-and-cornered-mouse nature. Once the impending danger kicks in, it doesn’t let up until the very end, driven heavily by Stewart playing against type as a harsh, unforgiving, calculating character.
Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce play off each other in this fictionalized comedy about two of the most powerful men in the Catholic Church. Hopkins plays Pope Benedict XVI near the end of his tenure as he struggles with the disillusionment of his role and his faith. Pryce plays Cardinal Bergoglio (who would later become Pope Francis) who’s also going through a crisis of faith and wishes to leave his post. What follows is two hours of two of the greatest actors paling around with each other, delivering some laughs as they get deep about the philosophical leanings of these two great men.
Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence star in this drama that’s equal parts rom-com and a harrowing look at mental illness. Cooper plays Pat Solitano, a former high school teacher who recently completed a stint at a mental institution. Things aren’t going well for Pat. He’s moved back in with his overbearing parents (a wickedly-funny Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver), his now ex-wife cheated on him, he doesn’t get along with his therapist, and he’s operating under the delusion that if he gets fit and gets his sh*t together, he can get his wife back. Lawrence plays Tiffany, a young woman with problems of her own. She’s depressed after the death of her husband and prefers sex with strangers to drown the pain. The two strike up a friendship that pushes both to their mental and emotional limits. It’s a messy, complicated love story, which makes for a nice change of pace if sappy-sweet rom-coms just aren’t doing it for you.
Carey Mulligan stars in this 1960s coming-of-age drama from screenwriter Nick Hornby. Mulligan plays Jenny, a bright, gifted young woman with plans to attend Oxford University after completing her studies. She meets and falls for an older man named David (Peter Sarsgaard) who treats her to the finer things in life. Believing him to be a man of taste and means, her parents allow Jenny to travel with David, even become engaged to him before the truth about his past is revealed. As disappointing as the ending of this film is, it’s an interesting look at a young woman’s introduction to the world and to love.
Walking Dead alum Steven Yeun stars this psychological thriller from South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong. Yeun plays Ben, a rich millennial with a mysterious job who connects with a woman named Shin Hae-mi on a trip to Africa. The two journey back home together where Ben meets Shin’s friend/lover Lee Jong-su. The three hang-out regularly, with Lee growing more jealous of Ben’s wealth and privilege while he’s forced to manage his father’s farm when his dad goes to prison. But it’s when Shin disappears, and Lee suspects Ben’s involvement, that things really go off the rails.
Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams take on the planet’s most-watched singing competition with this campy comedy about an Icelandic duo named Fire Saga, who are set on achieving glory on the world’s biggest stage. Ferrell and McAdams play Lars Erickssong and Sigrit Ericksdottir, artists chosen to represent their nation in the Eurovision Song Contest, a real competition that features musicians from all over the world, who are often performing in wild get-ups. Dan Stevens almost steals the show while Pierce Brosnan and Demi Lovato make appearances. We’re calling it now: “Volcano Man” is going to be a bop for the ages.
This coming-of-age indie is based on a beloved book, but if fans were worried that the story of a depressed teenager who finds friends and a sense of belonging in a group of lovable misfits wouldn’t translate on screen, they shouldn’t have been too concerned. Stephen Chbosky wrote the novel, but he also penned the screenplay and directed this flick, which sees Logan Lerman play Charlie, the social outcast, and Emma Watson play Sam, the alt-pixie-dream girl he falls for. Everyone’s good in this, but it’s Ezra Miller’s Patrick who really stands out.
Recent Changes Through September 2020:
Removed: V for Vendetta, Clueless, Groundhog Day, The Witch
Added: Jurassic Park, An Education, Nightcrawler, I’m Thinking Of Ending Things
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