“She’s such a bad person and I admire her so much right now.”
-Me, watching Jennifer Jason Leigh in Fargo Season 5
This week, we’re talking the new season of Fargo, Golden Globe nominations, Taylor Swift’s birthday, the Royal Christmas Card, Oxford’s Word of the Year, Emma Stone and Adam Driver on SNL, and my review of the quiet but beautiful film Past Lives. Coming at you on a Friday because December is chaos!
Despite me being a Christmas Elf in human form [✔︎ plays Christmas music before Halloween ✔︎ loves glitter ✔︎ frizzy hair ✔︎ sings the first-soprano part in “Angels We Have Heard on High”], I have yet to watch a single Christmas movie this year.
Instead, I’ve been ADDICTED to the new season of Fargo (!!), discovering the best Rice Krispie Treats I’ve ever tasted, and trying to crunch in as many end-of-the-year movies as possible before the Christmas break. Reviews incoming!
Meanwhile, I’m putting together a year-end round-up of all the best and worst things I watched this year: the Must-Sees, the Personal Favorites, and the Biggest Disappointments.
Rather than considering myself the alpha and omega of Year-End Lists [that honor probably goes to a stressed-out mom in someplace like Birmingham], I want to ask YOU: What makes your list this year?
What are your “Must-Sees”? The movies and shows that you think everyone HAS to watch, no matter what their usual tastes, because monoculture matters or just because it’s THAT good. I think Barbie and American Symphony fall into this category.
What are your “Personal Faves”? Maybe not everyone should watch it, but you loved it. For me, Succession is an example here. I admit it is not for everyone! But it IS the best.
What are your “Biggest Disappointments”? I would include That Thing That Happened in the First 30 Minutes of Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1.
Drop a comment, please, and help me make the list! I can’t wait to celebrate and quibble over categories together!
In the News
🏆 The Golden Globe Nominations Are Out!
Get in, snobs, we’re going Awards shopping! The Globes are my favorite because it’s the one where the TV actors and the movie actors [a Venn diagram that is relentlessly marching closer to a circle] get together and drink too much! In what other awards ceremony has someone accepted an award late because of a bathroom break, or with their heels and a martini in hand? [The former is my nightmare, and the latter my Life Goal!]
Anyhoo, the big winners of the noms were—no surprise here—Barbie and Oppenheimer. And, not to brag, but I have discussed nearly all of the major nominees on this very blog!
The nominees in the two major categories are [with links to my reviews where applicable]:
Best Motion Picture - Drama
“Past Lives” [review below!]
“The Zone of Interest” [never even HEARD of this! that did humble me!]
“Anatomy of a Fall” [have not seen; let me know if you have!]
Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
✍🏼The Oxford Word of the Year is “Rizz.”
Do you have it? Can you get it? “Rizz” is internet-speak for charisma [cha-”RIZZ”-ma! get it!?] or, you know, that certain je ne sais quoi sexiness that landed Tom Holland with Zendaya, even though Tom Holland famously lied said that he doesn’t have it.
🎞 Variety’s Actors on Actors 2023.
This is the thing where an actor interviews another actor, and we all feel like we’re their best friends! This year has great pairings: The Barbenheimer coupling of Margot Robbie and Cillian Murphy; the Devil Wears Prada reunion of Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt; the weirdest-kids-in-theater-class combo of Emma Stone and Bradley Cooper; the puppy-dog eyes troupe of Natalie Portman and Paul Mescal; the Walking Thirst Trap of Jacob Elordi and Colman Domingo; ETCETERA!!!
🎊 It was Taylor Swift, Time’s Person of the Year’s, 34th Birthday This Week!
It was also my half-birthday! Which means, in Zodiac terms, that I have half her power, I think. Taylor’s tour just broke the all-time world record for the most tour revenue of all time, so, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll just be standing out on my roof today, waiting for my half-billion to descend from the celestial planets.
In the words of my friend Marianna: “In my mind, this photo would come onto my screen while the theme song from Dawson's Creek plays. And then a commercial for Bop It would come on.” The last time I posed with my family like this, the year was 2000, and Calvary Presbyterian Church was getting a new directory.
[Also, I’m watching the second half of The Crown now, and the Kate Middleton plotline is ludicrously bad! “The Crown Goes Full Hallmark” would be my title for that review!]
📸 The other photo I can’t stop thinking about this week:
Are we looking at a Photoshop job by a Giants fan whose favorite movie is Goodfellas? No! This is a real-life screenshot of a real-life sports agent for a real-life NFL quarterback for the real-life New York Giants!
The quarterback in question, Tommy Devito [yes, De!vi!to!], is fondly known as “Tommy Cutlets” (!?) because he still lives in his mom’s house in New Jersey (!) and loves her homemade chicken cutlets (!). While this is shockingly NOT the plot of a Sopranos episode, we are clearly all stuck in a simulation package titled “Quirky Mob Sports Comedy with Jim Belushi.”
Saturday Night Live Highlights: Emma Stone & Adam Driver
Catching up on a couple SNL episodes I missed: Emma Stone hosted her fifth episode, bringing her into the hallowed Five-Timers Club with the likes of Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, etc. [Fun Fact: She’s also married to a (current? former?) SNL writer/director!] And Adam Driver hosted for his fourth time.
Here are my highlights.
Emma Stone Highlights: (1) Her Monologue [with a cameo from Tina Fey and Candice Bergen] (2) Please Don’t Destroy - AI (3) What’s in the Kiln? (4) Old-Fashioned Cigarette on Banning Vapes on Weekend Update (5) Make Your Own Kind of Music [maybe it’s because this is my favorite song ever, but this had me ROLLING; also Emma Stone is nuts] (6) Diet Coke by Olay.
Adam Driver Highlights: (1) Beep Beep [Adam Driver is best with suppressed absurd rage] (2) ShopTV Christmas [is it 12-year-old-boy humor? yes. did it work for me totally? also yes.] (3) Julia Stiles’ Cameo.
Watching: Fargo on Hulu
Fargo is back, and it’s better than ever! Or at least it’s back to its Season 1 & 2 glory. If you haven’t been a Fargo fan, here’s what to know: It started as a 1996 Coen-brothers black comedy crime film starring Frances McDormand [and containing one of my most-repeated movie quotes: “I guess that was your accomplice in the wood-chipper.”] It’s very violent and very hilarious and very dark. I love it!
Then, in 2014, a new TV series debuted set in that same fictional universe and with the same dark, violent, hilarious vibe. The fifth season is currently airing on FX and Hulu, and it stars a monster of a good cast: Juno Temple of Ted Lasso, Lamorne Morris of New Girl, Richa Moorjani of Never Have I Ever, Joe Keery of Stranger Things, and Jon Hamm of all of our hearts, minds, and fantasies.
This is a show where you watch and think to yourself: This is an actor’s dream. Everyone on this show is doing the most fun role of their entire lives. Juno Temple has finally been freed from the shackles of the bad Ted Lasso seasons, and she is at FULL STRENGTH.
Fargo is like if you want Succession and White Lotus and Kill Bill all in one neat, zany little package. Throw on top of that a spooky early-90s vibe with an aesthetic and score that reminds me of Twin Peaks. Season 5 deals with themes like the power of belief and disbelief, our primordial instincts, the ancient idea of a Sin Eater and carrying debts both financial and moral. Plus, families, parenting, vengeance, cults, Christmas — the gang’s all here!
For something that’s essentially a black-comedy crime procedural flecked with startling violence, it’s a deliciously joyful and fun ride.
If you like that kind of thing.
Also Watching: Past Lives
I finally got around to watching one of this year’s most critically acclaimed films, Past Lives. It is a very slow, very quiet, very moody film about just a few people living out their normal lives. And in that, as in reality, is all the drama you need.
When people say a movie is “a vibe,” this is what they’re talking about. It’s as much about the silences and things left unsaid as it is about the words we hear. There are a lot of long, panning shots taking in an entire room, putting us in place, and also a lot of what I call “aromatic music.” You know those long scenes without words, just bell-like glowy music? The acting, too, is so subtle and carries so much of the silences.
I’m sure this all sounds a little boring. And it kind of is. In less capable hands, it would be too little of a film. But, instead, it carries worlds of emotion, existential questions, fears, doubts, love, ambition, reassurance, belonging.
It’s one of those movies that I like more now that I’ve thought about it than I did while watching.
At one point, the main character says, “This is where I ended up. This is where I’m supposed to be.” I got chills at how that made me feel, and I’ve thought about it so much since. The distinct poles of our lived reality, the clash between determinism and choice — it’s the very tension between those two sentences that holds them together.
It’s not for everyone. But if you like watching movies that demand and reward patience, you’ll like this one. (Another movie like this that I loved this year was The Quiet Girl.)
I have so much more to say here, because I love this sub stack so much. But I mostly came here to say, we refer to our Calvary Presbyterian Directory photo as the floating heads (a la Queen II LP cover). I will be sure to snag a photo of it when I'm home for Christmas. Let's just say black sweaters/turtlenecks the pale faces of the Boychuk children and a black background did no make for a fabulous photo. Hahah