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 — January 2023
(1) Hey, I’m 33 years old, & I still deeply care about The Oscars!
Noms dropped on an early January morning and everyone immediately started debating, disagreeing, hand-wringing, and bitching, which is what happens every morning that noms drop.
The topic that wrings the most hands is viewership and whether any “young people,” whatever the hell that means, care about the Oscars. To this point, in mid-January of 2021, writer-director Paul Schrader asked the world of Facebook if anyone cared about the Oscars, which is the most Paul Schrader question posed via the most Paul Schrader of mediums.
Well, I didn’t hide the ball with my opening topic: I’m 33 (which I would argue is “young,” but I also acknowledge that I’m writing a blog post about the Oscars, so perhaps the joke is on me) and I still deeply care about the Oscars!
The topic that causes the most bitching is the nominated films and the supposed deteriorating quality of cinema. Yes, there are produced fewer films about topics unrelated to superheroes, but I would stack this year’s nominations in terms of quality and creativity against any previous year. I legitimately loved TÁR, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fabelmans, and Top Gun: Maverick (and Babylon, but many just don’t *get it* ¯\_(ツ)_/¯), two of which made a kajillion dollars, and yet I hear film podcast hosts across the land denouncing the films as sub-par. What were they watching, I wonder?
I’ll write more on who I think should win and who I think will win next month, but I just felt that I should raise my hand on this one.
Speaking of TÁR…
(2) This TÁR tweet right here:
In TÁR, Cate Blanchett is doing her best Hakeem Olajuwon in the 1994 NBA playoffs (shoutout Rockets) impression as Lydia Tár, who is a world-renowned conductor (or “maestro” if you drink Earl Grey tea with your pinkie out1). At some point, I will write about TÁR, which is a film I enjoyed and admired very much. Enjoyed and admired (many restrict to mere admiration).
But for now, bask in this tweet:
(3) The Banshees of Inisherin & the power of Martin McDonagh’s pen.
Brit-Irish playwright and dark comedy soothsayer Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths, Three Billboards) returns with his rendition of an Irish folktale.
The plot is simple enough. Living on the island of Inishrin off the coast of Ireland during the Irish Civil War, Padraic (McDonagh’s key collaborator: Colin Farrell) one morning calls on his best friend Colm Sonny Larry (Colm, played by McDonagh’s other muse: Brendan Gleeson) for their daily pub routine. Colm, however, has no interest in enjoying a breski or twoski with Padraic, instead content to write songs on his fiddle and eventually revealing that he “just doesn’t like [Padraic] anymore.” After Padraic presses the issue, Colm reveals the ultimatum: every time Padraic speaks to him, he’ll take his garden shears and cut off one of his fingers.
Village idiot Dominic, played to a perfect tragic pitch by Barry Keoghan, when faced with Padraic’s existential conundrum, simplifies the matter: “I’d have him do the one finger, just to see if he was bluffing, like. Cos if worst came to the worst, he could still play the fiddle with four fingers, I’ll bet ya. Or a banjo!”
The themes and questions presented are more complex: male friendship, the pursuit of high art, what survives us after death, and is it enough to simply be nice?
I’ve always enjoyed McDonagh’s viciously funny and circular dialogue—
—he’s one of the few that matches the Coen Brothers’ penchant for hilarious and absurdist moments. Banshees is his prettiest and most personal film yet, no matter how many fecking fingers are snipped off, like.
(4) Jenny in The Banshees of Inisherin.
**SPOILERS**
Colin Farrell’s Padraic is the owner of a miniature donkey named Jenny. She wears a red bow with a bell. Her scenes are all marked by a sweet bell sound. She is his respite from the monotony of Inishirin. Jenny is so clearly Padraic’s baby.
At the emotional climax of the film, Jenny dies. She chokes on the “fatty [vengeful] fingers” of Colm. When Padraic finds her, he cradles her in his arms.
I am an owner of two dogs. I love them deeply and with all of my heart. Almost daily, I dread the day they will die. “That’s life,” everyone says. “Just love them while you have them.” But it’s so important to remember that their life is what makes all the other rigamarole worth it.
For you folks with human kids thinking, “wow, little does *he* know…”, just relax. I don’t get it, but… I *get it*.
What Farrell does with Jenny is show the love between owner and pet. Parent and child doesn’t hold a candle — it’s a unique sort of affection. One that can sustain the climax of a movie without assaulting the audience with emotional terrorism.
“Do you think God gives a damn about miniature donkeys, Colm?” says the sole priest on Inishirin, responding to Jenny’s untimely demise.
“I fear he doesn’t,” Colm retorts. “And I fear that’s where it’s all gone wrong.”
*crying emoji*
(5) Barry Keoghan in Banshees!
I have no idea, nor do I care to conduct even a modicum of research to determine, if any of this true (the foster part, not the Oscar-nomination part, which is, of course, true). I now view Keoghan as a folklore hero — one of the great rags-to-riches stories of modern Hollywood.
The scene presented in this tweet is one of the most gutting things I’ve watched. Keoghan’s face transitions from embarrassed to earnest to hopeful to desperate to crestfallen to hopeless in a matter of seconds. His “there goes that dream” line delivery is the epitome of what can happen when talent gets ahold of top-notched written material.2
(6) The Last of Us and the zombie/pandemic apocalypse genre:
I was extremely prepared, almost anxiously awaiting, to dislike HBO’s new Sunday night show. The Last of Us is adapted from a video game, because THAT’S always a sure bet. Furthermore, my rotting pop culture brain has also been battered by zombies in fiction and pandemics in non-fiction.
This year’s models are infected and controlled by a viral fungus, which is something thousands experience at a single Phish concert. Instead of opening the mind curtains to a thirteen minute guitar solo, however, *THIS* particular fungus transforms infected into vicious beasts. Just because you can hide an infectious bite in once scene and reveal the turn later does not mean you’ve written a Shakespearean drama. I really, really doth protest. A rule: if you ever see characters physically fighting off infected, one of them was probably bit — call it Chekhov’s Chomp.
Showrunner Craig Mazin—formerly the scribe of comedy slop like The Hangover: Parts 2 & 3, and Scary Movie 3 & 43, and only recently considered a writer worth noting with the success and critical acclaim of Chernobyl—keeps the camera trained on main characters Joel & Ellie, and, along with the performances of Pascal & Ramsey, that’s really all we need. Mazin understands that I, the annoyed viewer, will only buy in if I care about Joel & Ellie, and in that manner, he’s succeeded.
Mazin also looks like you asked Chat GPT to render a photo of a screenwriter.4
(7) Shit-posting About The Last of Us:
Because the world ostensibly ends in 2003, there’s been a series of online shit-posts about what the people in The Last of Us universe never got to experience, watch, or see. Here are a few of my favorites:
Timmy went for 21-20-10 and 8 blocks in THE FINAL NBA GAME EVER PLAYED.
I was in 8th grade when Scary Movie 3 came out, and let me tell you, it was *Bong Joon-ho voice* cinema.
Remember the human man and actor Seann William Scott and The Rock with hair? Me too!
(8) The Menu
I write this slightly triggered, as my wife and I have been known to enjoy a pretentious meal or two where we gush over Michelin-star food that may not *actually** be good but *seems* good, ya know?
The Menu is a pitch black comedy (horror?) in which wealthy foodies travel to a remote island to dine at an exclusive restaurant where acclaimed Chef Slowik (a delicious [lol!] Ralph Fiennes) has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises and violence for dessert.
Importantly, the film made me realize that a real world class chef may despite patrons who obsess over the craft and believe themselves worthy without grinding to develop their skills. Just because you watch Food Network doesn’t mean you’re part of the club!
This one is on HBO and I have intention of spoiling here, but it’s hysterical to see rich assholes get their just deserts (HA!).
(9) Bodies Bodies Bodies
“Stop silencing me,” says one of the blood-covered characters in this part thriller/part satire, but above all extremely Gen Z-y murder mansion party. The plot hinges on a TikTok dance for God’s sake. If you ever feel old, BBB will convince you that you’re ancient.
A tight script and engaging (if not unbearably bitchy apropos of 20-somethings) performances win the day on this one. Here’s a take: this is the best use of Pete Davidson5 that I’ve seen — unlike the dozens of coke rails in this movie, he is doled out in the proper dose with no lingering after effects. Equal parts narcissistic and petty, the real danger manifests through the barbs traded by the characters as the proverbial tea kettle reaches a boiling point.
From a filmmaking standpoint, most of the film is lit by phone light or glow sticks, which is an impressive feat and testament to cinematographer Jasper Wolf, who evidently taught the actors to light themselves to capture the shots.
Lee Pace is clearly having the most fun as Greg the “Vet,” the mysterious Tinder slam-piece of Alice, the friend group’s wild child who might as well tattoo “look at me” on her forehead. Most should be familiar with the one “old guy” in the young group concept (shouts to Andrew St. Pierre circa 2012), and Pace relishes playing up the ambiguity of Greg’s intentions.
(10) OKC Thunder guard Josh Giddey calling himself Himothee Chalamet
File this moment away under “extraordinary collision of things I’m interested in.” Giddey is a toolsy guard in a swingman’s body who always impresses me with his court vision manifested in wildly accurate and unpredictable cross-court, one-armed passes to the corner pocket. But nevermind his skills on the court. This tweet and Giddey’s response made my ass chuckle. You certainly can’t deny the resemblance.
I love Earl Grey tea tbh.
Kerry Condon as Padraic’s sister Siobhan may give the best performance in the entire movie, and I’ve reduced her to a footnote, but don’t worry, she’ll have her own “thing” in another Ten Things.
Scary Movie 3 is hilarious, if anything because I was 13 when I first saw it.
He said, having written several screenplays.
That’s ACTOR Pete Davidson. Not tabloid dater Pete Davidson or even SNL Pete Davidson.