10 Pieces of Content I Loved, Liked (or Loathed)
Sam writes about 10 things from the pop culture world that thrilled, tickled, transported, touched, or, perhaps, triggered him — October 2022 Edition
(1) ANDOR (e.g., the Force of relatable characters, filmmaking precision & technique, camera movement, attention to set/costume design, and airtight dialogue) [5 parts]
Between Middle Earth, the wizarding world of Hogwarts, Narnia, Arrakis, Asgard, Discword, Westeros (thank the seven), that galaxy far, far away was first and foremost to capture my imagination in my formative years. When our overlords at Disney bribed Lucas with exorbitant wealth to sell his life’s work purchased the rights to LucasFilm in 2012, I, along with many other padawan learners across the globe, salivated like a Rancor in heat at the thought of more Star Wars content — if anything to wash out the bad taste from Episodes I (you don’t need me to convince you), II (somehow worse than I), and III (which, yes, I understand isn’t that bad, but is that where we really want to be operating with our beloved franchise?) — with powerhouse producer and resident Spielberg-whisperer Kathleen Kennedy (E.T., Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, The Goonies, Gremlins) in the X-Wing cockpit as our fearless Rogue Leader.
What followed was a rollercoaster ride (not to be confused with the actual rollercoaster ride: Disney’s Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance) resulting from a Hoth-like avalanche of content in the form of movies, TV, comic books, Fortnite tie-ins (sillier than a character named Dexter Jettster), toys, cereal, PJs, etc. The average Star Wars fan’s parsecs vary on the sequel trilogy of Episodes VII (a delightful re-introductory romp), VIII (a masterpiece, come at me), and IX (quite possibly the most soulless piece of content ever commissioned to film) — even more so for Han Solo, Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi — and even I, the ever devoted fan boy, started to question the ways of the Force: is this too much of a “good” and/or nostalgic thing; has Star Wars become less special; why does all of this just feel different? Is the galaxy I fell in love with in 1999 actually not that deep or, perhaps even more tragically, not that interesting, such that exploring other stories and worlds in that space inevitably resulted in vapid content to increase Disney+ subscribers? And yet…
(2) Tony Gilroy — Showrunner & Script
…like Han Solo in the Millenium Falcon racing in with the ultimate Death Star destruction assist when all seemed lost, Tony Gilroy returned to throw his battered blast helmet into the ring! I say “returned’ because Gilroy similarly swooped in to save the troubled production of 2016’s Rogue One (a film that everyone generally agrees was a good or at minimum fun Star Wars movie not featuring Jedi Knights), which starred a Rebel spy “anti-hero” named Cassian Andor portrayed by Mexican actor Diego Luna.
In truth, Gilroy just moonlights in the galaxy far, far away, but more generally operates as an elite screenwriter and one of the great, if not the greatest, living script doctors. With known credits such as the Bourne series and Michael Clayton (IMO, the best single script penned in the last 25 years), Star Wars fans should be saluting the living Force to have Gilroy hop into his quadjumper and bring along his brand of cynicism and reality befitting of a lifetime New Yorker. Dialogue feels ripped from a 70s thriller, and not Star Wars (1977), but I’m talkin’ Paddy Chayefsky/Sidney Lumet/Alan Pakula-level stuff. Tony’s writers’ room includes his brother Dan Gilroy and Gyllenhaal collaborator1 (Nightcrawler, Velvet Buzzsaw), and Beau Willimon (Ides of March, House of Cards). Take, for example, the following scene where the Imperial Security Board (ISB, the NSA/FBI of the Empire) is discussing the nascent rebellion and their purpose:
If you put a group of brilliant screenwriters and playwrights in a room and give them Disney money, the result is lightsaber sharp. This is complicated, but it’s not hard.
(3) Set Design — Luke Hull
I like to bitch and moan about a great many things, but one of my bitchiest & moniest topics is the failure of modern blockbusters is shoot in real places with actual things. Actors, instead, are subjected to entirely green rooms or The Volume (LucasFilm’s circular all-encompassing digital prison set discussed in Issue 1 of In the Can). Gilroy, on the other hand, prioritized real sets and texture, and folks, does it show. Performances are elevated when actors feel transported, and while it might be more expensive, the end product is of greater and lasting value. There’s an added sense of tangible realism since it's being fabricated outdoors on a real set instead of on a clean, static soundstage. When I first stepped in Jabba’s floating palace in Jedi, I could actually smell the filth.
Rather than prattle on, I’ll let Tony Gilroy and production designer Luke Hull (Chernobyl) speak themselves:
As Hull says:
“As the production designer for Andor, we were very keen to build worlds that felt like they went beyond just the set. The story is quite gritty, so we used a lot of locations that were relevant. [Gilroy: Luke found this massive dam in Scotland] which literally looks like Darth Vader’s mask. And then Ferrix is a trading post town. It’s one huge set, and we were referencing 1920s Amsterdam. And then with Coruscant being this planet of cities, it was natural to kind of gravitate to a more Brutalist style of architecture. It’s about scale and empire and monochromatic fascism… My main goal was to trick people into thinking that they are watching something that could be set in the real world and then remind them that it’s Star Wars.”
(4) Cinematography — Adriano Goldman
You may not have specifically clocked how meticulously the shots in Andor are framed, but your brain certainly did. These are real places shot on location simply augmented with CGI, instead of, as Marvel is apt to do, CGI augmented with a few human beings standing in the middle of the frame.
(5) The Performances
Nos. 1-4 are each Sebulba’s poo-doo without, crucially, the actors to inhabit the space (pun not originally intended but now intended upon review) and say the lines. And, brother, do they ever say these fuckin’ lines. This dialogue is purely-cut spice mined from Kessel, delivered with precision in only the way this menagerie of trained British stage actors can. The bitch-ass-ness of Syril Karn (Kyle Soller), the cutthroat pirate of a super-spy in Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgard), the galaxy’s most secret-keeping senator in Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly, gifted to Gilroy, weirdly, from a deleted scene in Episode III [I guess Lucas did something right]), the calculating and properly icy imperial Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) — I can’t emphasize these performances enough. Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker even drops in for a cup of coffee blue milk. This ensemble produces the best performances of the year, not just the best in a Star Wars show, the BEST OF THE YEAR.
(6) Can we do some film release rationing?
Starting this month and basically through Christmas, the “Oscar” films are releasing 2 fast, 2 furious for a human man who has other life obligations to comfortably go see.
I understand that the timing is in part related to being present in the Academy voters’ minds when they’re completing their ballots, but I’d posit that it would be cool if we could think about, ya know, the filmgoing consumers (limited and fickle as we are) when releasing products?
(7) Reboot on Hulu
If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if Steven Levitan (Modern Family) were given the green light to let the F-bombs and Hollywood-adjacent sex, drug, and rock n’ roll debauchery fly, you’re in luck — that’s right, this cocktail is, succinctly stated, an R-rated with a twist of show-creation/writers room meta detail, but above all, Reboot is just plain funny.
The premise is simple enough: the maladjusted cast (including Keegan Michael Key, Judy Greer, and a savoringly sleazy Johnny Knoxville in a bit of perfect casting as the resident sicko) of an early 2000s hit yet hokey sitcom, Step Right Up, reassembles when a progressive young writer successfully pitches a reboot of their show to — in our first example of meta — Hulu.
Is Reboot the funniest thing you’ll ever watch? Likely no, and if it is, boy do I have some recommendations for you — but while that may sound like a dig, please understand that you’ll smile a lot and see countless high-level improvisational actors deliver well-written jokes with impeccable comedic timing. And that, dear readers, is a phenomenal use of your half hour. “It is both the funniest thing you ever read and you won’t laugh once,” Key’s Reed explains when talking about the new scripts for the titular reboot, but, ironically, definitely doesn’t describe Reboot.
(8) Halloween (1978)
Even as this franchise is slashed to ribbons with sequels, re-imaginings, and reboots, a classic is a classic. Still, there are parts of John Carpenter’s original slasher that feel dated even taken into context. The ADR’d dialogue can be a little wonky, there’s one too many palm trees in “Haddonfield, Illinois” and it’s perhaps a little too obsessed with teenage sexuality, but the precedent for all modern horror tropes (e.g., motiveless killer [before they stupidly made Laurie a Myers sibling], teenage victims, the horror of stillness, bumbling police) is all here. Halloween remains a groundbreaking film that I wish I’d been able to see upon its release. Carpenter’s synth soundtrack (which you’ll probably hear in your head upon reading this) is by itself timeless enough to warrant a revisit. This particular viewing was on the film’s namesake at an outdoor movie theater on a Houston rooftop — there are a lot worse ways to spend a spooky evening.
(9) Triangle of Sadness
For all advanced screenings, NEON issued…
…branded barf bags, preliminarily setting this film up to be one of my favorites of the year. Blacker-than-cast-iron social satire is a difficult genre to hit, but ace Ruben Östlund (Force Majeure, The Square) has stepped up with plate with his swedish slugger and knocked one out of the park (a baseball metaphor for our October playoff season). A three part descent into the ultra wealthy and uber conceited, part 3 in particular has fun turning the tides. The less I say here the better, but for anyone who likes chuckling through the clenched teeth of a grimace, here you go.
(10) Atlanta, Season 4
Let me start with a couple crucial caveats and acknowledgements: (1) Atlanta is not necessarily for me, a white middle class dude, and as such, there are some jokes and references that simply won’t reach me like they would other demographics; and (2) showrunner Donald Glover has been accused by several black TV critics that his show “is only for white people.”
I possess neither the intellect, or maybe even the right, to address these “concerns,” but I nevertheless have a take hardly as scorching as the Georgia heat: the Brothers Glover, Hiro Murai, and their writers made a really fucking cool and weird show that stretches out and tickles my hard-to-reach funny bone. I loved Season 3’s European expedition, even with its anthology episodes, but Season 4 brought back Paper Boi, Darius, Earn, and Van for some antics (shoutout to the “Crank ‘Dat Killa”) and, you guessed it, hilarity ensues. More to come on Atlanta as Season 4 unfolds.
Perhaps the Head Boy of My Boys.