You Had Me at Idris (Elba)

His show on Apple TV+ and three other things I'm watching (and loving)

If anything can stop a panic attack in its tracks, this face can!

This weekend, we were hanging out with Ben’s cousin Megan [hi, Megan!] and her husband Dave, and we got to talking about my favorite topic: The type of airplane movie watchers we are. Not to tell a man’s secrets, but Dave admitted he cried like a baby watching Guardians of the Galaxy 3 on an airplane, and that, my friends, is what I call traveling in style!

I firmly believe there is neither a worse nor a better place to cry in a movie than on an airplane. The private publicness of it. The open secret. Nothing so quiet has ever felt so loud. Crying on a subway is a rite of passage, a rock-bottom that only the most self-flagellating [NYC-dwellers] have achieved. Crying on an airplane is available to all, boundless, an experience almost like elation. Never have you felt so totally unfettered while simultaneously strapped into a metal tube, attempting to hide your face from a person who is literally less than six inches from you and will continue to be so for several hours.

There are even articles written about why we cry on airplanes! [Spoiler: it’s a perfect storm of stress, heightened emotions, excitement, loneliness, fear, joy, and alcohol.]

So I made a list of movies I can remember crying my EYES OUT watching in an airplane, in no particular order:

• Jojo Rabbit

• Encanto

• Crazy Rich Asians

• One of the Fast & Furious movies

• Coco

• Casino Royale

• Mrs. Davis

• The Worst Person in the World

• Inside Out

• Moana

• The Quiet Girl (more on that below)

So, let’s hear yours! Have you ever ugly cried in an airplane? The people want to know! Drop a comment so we can discuss! [Also, I know that sometimes we cry on airplanes because of anxiety/panic, and that’s ZERO FUN, and that’s not what I mean, and I’m very sorry to everyone who has cried in that way on an airplane.]

Now, on to this week’s topics! The thrilling new Idris Elba show, Lizzo, Gwyneth’s Airbnb, and—at the very bottom—other stuff I’m watching and loving this week!

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In the News

⚽️🤸🏿 A little bad news/good news in the sports world. First, Agony in Soccer: Team USA is out of the Women’s World Cup, defeated in a final penalty kick after dominating the whole match. [Though their loss is part of the larger story of the growth of women’s soccer around the world!] Next, a song I like to call Ode to Joy in Gymnastics: Simone Biles is BACK!!! She completed the most difficult vault in women’s gymnastics history, the very same one that was giving her “the twisties” when she exited the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Yay women’s sports!

👇🏼 A24 released a “First Look” at their upcoming film “The Iron Claw.” Starring Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White. To quote writer Evan Ross Katz: “I’m pre-seated.”

🎤 Lizzo, if all the rumors are true (like her song says), is in trouble. She’s been accused by former employees of managing an abusive workplace, sexual harassment, and false imprisonment (!??). It was when I saw her Instagram Notes App apology that I really knew this had gone sideways; saying “I am not the villain” is, I believe, filed under the category of Classic Villain Sh*t! But I also find it troubling how quickly people were willing to dump her with the first whiff of the news? The vibe was almost, “Of course! We knew a woman like her could never get to the top without cheating”?? Gross to that as well.

🧽 Ariana Grande is dating SpongeBob. [Or, more accurately: A red-haired fellow who played SpongeBob in SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical.] That is not a Mad Lib; that is a fact from the fact store!

👸🏼 Gwyneth Paltrow is renting out her guest house for one night in order to help “make the world a little less lonely.” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I can’t imagine anything that would make me feel more lonely than staying one night in the Goop Guest House!? Also, she’s letting her guests use her pool and have dinner with her!?! [Which sounds like the plot of a Black Mirror episode.] It’s giving “Let them eat cake,” but with like the best of intentions. Anyways, the listing drops on August 15 at 1 p.m. Eastern: Shoot your shot.

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Watching: Hijack on Apple TV+

If you’re wondering “if that new Idris Elba show is good”: IT IS!

They had me at “Idris Elba saves a hijacked plane!” and they kept me with the well-executed—if very standard—thriller tropes. Like HBO’s recent Flight Attendant, it’s a fun thriller that’s not trying to be anything more complicated. If you liked Lupin: George Kay, the co-creator of Lupin, also wrote this.

Weirdly, because it’s such a familiar genre done in a fresh(ish) way, it feels very low stakes as a viewer—even though IRL, that situation is basically Panic Attack in a Bottle. It didn’t take much out of me to watch it, but I was totally hooked the whole time.

It’s not doing anything complicated or trying to be smart, which is kind of a breath of fresh air? The plot is really as silly as can be, but it succeeds by approaching the classic tropes with just enough of a creative spin to surprise you or keep you going: the characters, the way they used the plane as almost its own character, the capable acting.

And, of course, IDRIS. If you asked random people on the street who they would want on their plane if it was hijacked, 10 out of 10 of them are gonna say Mr. Idris Elba! The man does not suffer fools!

A fun hijack was had by all.

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Other Great Things I’m Watching…

🧑🏾‍🍳 Top Chef: All-Stars LA on Peacock. I’d never seen a single episode of Top Chef till my friend and Top Chef connoisseur Kayla came over, and I asked her to introduce me! She picked the PERFECT season, Season 17; consider me fully Padma Lakshmi-pilled!¹

🏈 Quarterback on Netflix. Did I know who Kirk Cousins was before this? Vaguely! Would I sacrifice a kidney for him today? INSTANTLY!

This new Netflix series follows three NFL quarterbacks:

• Patrick Mahomes [Whose voice sounds like if an eight-year-old with a smoking problem swallowed a frog!]

• Kirk Cousins [biggest dork to ever play football! J’adore!]

• and Marcus Mariota [loves McDonald’s! family man!].

It’s good!

🎥 The Quiet Girl on Delta In-Flight Entertainment. Guys, watch this movie if you want to feel something lovely and sad and exquisite and wholesome!! It’s very slow, but in the best, gentlest way. Maybe it helped that I was a captive audience in a metal tube 40,000 feet in the air, but I was NOT distracted at all, and I sobbed at the end, as previously discussed. It lives in the soft spots of my heart now.

That’s it for this week! Thank you SO much, as always, for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts if you want to drop a comment. Or a 💜 lets me know you enjoyed! See you next week, my beauties.

1. *For those of you not extremely online, “-pilled” is a slang term referencing The Matrix’s “red pill” that wakes you up to reality. “Red-pilled” as a verb was recently popularized by the Alt-Right, but now “______-pilled” is just used ubiquitously to mean anything you didn’t believe in before but now buy into hook, line, and sinker. For example, we are all now Alien-pilled!