Sharks & Dragons & Olympics, Oh My!
Movie news, House of the Dragon catchup, and a welcome to new subscribers
Movie news, House of the Dragon catchup, and a welcome to new subscribers.
Greetings, old friends and new! I hope you’re all well recovered from the excesses of the holiday weekend. I spent it traveling to Oxford, Miss., via Memphis, Tenn., for a dear friend’s wedding in which a surprise party bus did figure into the plot.
Memphis is a crazy place. I say this as someone who lived there for 1.75 years when I was approximately 10 years old, a.k.a. an expert. In one day — fittingly, the 4th of July — we paid homage to Martin Luther King Jr. and his fight for true freedom; did a pilgrimage to the church my family went to that is more like a sprawling medieval castle than a church; and visited the Memphis Pyramid, which was a dynamic cultural center when I lived there and is now a 32-story, 535K-sq-ft Bass Pro Shop. God bless America! The only thing that rivaled my cynicism about the Bass Pro Monument to Capitalism was my absolute, pure, unfettered joy at experiencing it in the flesh. We all contain multitudes, me and Memphis and America especially.
Anyways, I digress. Last week I also binged the new Netflix show SPRINT in one day to write a review for The Athletic’s stupendous daily newsletter, The Pulse, which I am thrilled to be contributing to from time to time. Sign up via the link to read my review of SPRINT in full but, spoiler alert, I did give it 9.5 out of 10 gold medals, folks.
👋🏻 If you found yourself here via that review, hello and welcome to the party!
Thanks so much for signing up — we have a lot of fun here. On top of my own rants and raves, I love to hear what readers are watching, looking forward to, loving, hating, and everything in between. At the bottom of this post, I included a brief friendly tour of the place to get you started.
This week is a short one [she said, 300 words later] since the holiday weekend was so packed with American culture.1 Just a few quick hits of movie news I’m excited about, a 50-word review of the latest House of the Dragon episode, and a little intro to Hannah’s Weekly. Stay tuned over the next week or so for a dive into summer indie movie reviews and PREviews.
In the (Movie) News
🧙🏻♀️🗡️ It was announced that the new Wicked movie and the Gladiator sequel will both hit theaters on the same day in November, unleashing “Barbenheimer 2.0” upon grateful audiences worldwide. This newser was manifested for you by teenage Christian girls circa 2004; I’m pretty sure my personality that year could be described as “Wickiator.” The only remaining question is: Is that what we should we title this event? What do you suggest?2
🏎️ Wake up, babe, new Brad Pitt trailer dropped. He and Lewis Hamilton are both attached to this Formula 1 movie titled, very originally, “F1.” I have been clear that, despite disliking Hit Man, I do think Glen Powell may be making a play to be the next Brad Pitt since Brad Pitt is sort of hanging by a his-family-all-seem-to-be-disowning-him thread?? But apparently, if anyone is the Teflon Man, it is William Bradley Pitt.
🐷 Nicholas Cage said that if he could tell people to watch just ONE of his over 100 movies, it would be Pig — a movie I have frequently and repeatedly recommend here like the Nicholas Cage household that I am. Shocking that it wasn’t The Rock, though, right?? Anyhoo, Pig’s director, Michael Sarnoski, took a bite out of a bigger pie recently with A Quiet Place: Day One. We love to see auteurs getting bigger projects.
🦈 It’s Shark Week. Leading to the important question: What are your favorite shark movies of all time?? I have two: Jaws and the one with Blake Lively where she looks hotter than anyone has looked ever. I can be shallow! [Which reminds me that the movie is called THE SHALLOWS.]
»Favorite shark movies?
House of the Dragon Recap: Episode 4 “The Red Dragon and the Gold”
Review in 50 Words: Front-row seat to everything fantasy nerds have been waiting 13 episodes for: Dragon battle! Terror! Despair! Poor wittle dwagons!! Plus, Daemon “Intrustive Thoughts” Targaryen on his little side quest like me in 4th grade pouting at recess because Maddie wouldn’t share her candy.
Weekly Power Ranking Leader: Aemond and Vhagar, yet again, I fear. Alicent is doing badly, but she’s still my heart’s favorite baddie. She is Seasons 1 & 2 Blair Waldorf but with dragons and a million times more depressed.
»Catch up on my initial thoughts on this season.
A Brief Tour of Hannah’s Weekly
Pour yourself a little refresher and come with me…
Where to get started:
Why not explore readers’ favorite posts?
Or, for my Type A folks, you can also view posts chronologically.
A recent roundup of summer movies and shows to watch or avoid.
I love to do things like digestible Oscars previews, reactions to blockbuster movie events like Dune 2, calling for cooler heads in Kate Middleton conspiracy frenzies, or album reactions to big cultural moments like Beyoncé or Taylor.
A few of my favorite TV shows in the past couple years:
[If you’re looking for Bachelorette breakdowns, this is NOT the place!]
Succession
The Bear
House of the Dragon
Severance
Bad Sisters
Wednesday
White Lotus
Never Have I Ever
Stranger Things
Favorite movie(s) of all time: My favorite movies are always changing [like right now it’s Dune Part 2, Thelma, and Challengers], but the most unchanging ones are: Father of the Bride, It’s a Wonderful Life, Moonlight, Cinema Paradiso, Independence Day, and The Sting.
A few movies I didn’t like that everyone else did: La La Land, Hit Man, all Yorgos Lanthimos movies, which give me headaches.
That’s all for this post-holiday weekend week! Thanks so much for joining me on this pop culture exploration adventure. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts, opinions, questions, and recommendations. See you again soon!
[And I didn’t even tell you bout the bedazzled Army jacket I found in a boutique that cost $650 U.S. DOLLARS! I am fairly certain that even a slightly crafty person could duplicate it for about $15.]
[My favorite podcasters, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang of Las Culturistas, suggested “Gladdicked,” to which I can only say thank you to the LGBTQ+ community.]