Jeff reaches into the Wayback Karaoke Bag to determine the most karaoke-able one-hit wonders of the 1990s. Also, some words about the recently departed Charles Grodin are offered.
That’s Auntertainment! Karaoke Korner 19 and RIP Charles Grodin
May 23, 2021
Podcasts, That's Auntertainment Charles Grodin, Harvey Danger, karaoke, Len, One Hit Wonders, Podcasts, That's Auntertainment, Toadies Leave a comment
Entertainment To-Do List: Week of 5/21/21
May 21, 2021
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Television $100000 Pyramid, Chrissie Hynde, Crime Scene Kitchen, Duncanville, Gary Numan, Intruder, Joel McHale, M.O.D.O.K., Master of None, Olivia Rodrigo, Press Your Luck, Rugrats, Scaled and Icy, Sour, Standing in the Doorway: Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan, twenty one pilots Leave a comment
M.O.D.O.K. (CREDIT: Hulu/YouTube Screenshot)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
TV
–M.O.D.O.K. Season 1 (May 21 on Hulu) – Robot Head.
–Duncanville Season 2 Premiere (May 23 on FOX)
–Master of None Season 3 (May 23 on Netflix)
–The $100,000 Pyramid Season Premiere (May 26 on ABC)
–Crime Scene Kitchen Series Premiere (May 26 on FOX) – I usually don’t watch cooking shows, but this one’s hosted by Joel McHale.
–Press Your Luck Season Premiere (May 26 on ABC)
–Rugrats Reboot Premiere (May 27 on Paramount+)
Music
-Chrissie Hynde, Standing in the Doorway: Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan
-Gary Numan, Intruder
-Olivia Rodrigo, Sour
-twenty one pilots, Scaled and Icy
‘New Order’ is an Unpleasant Portrayal of Social Upheaval in Mexico City
May 19, 2021
Cinema, Movie Reviews Dario Yazbek Bernal, Diego Boneta, Eligio Meléndez, Michael Franco, Naian González Norvind, New Order, Samantha Yazareth Anaya Leave a comment
New Order (CREDIT: NEON)
Starring: Diego Boneta, Naian González Norvind, Samantha Yazareth Anaya, Dario Yazbek Bernal, Eligio Meléndez
Director: Michael Franco
Running Time: 88 Minutes
Rating: R for Violence, Nudity, and Torture
Release Date: May 21, 2021 (Limited)
New Order at first looks like it’s going to be a nice story about a high-society wedding, but then soon enough there’s a mass rape scene that doesn’t give you any time to get your bearings. Well, I suppose it was never going to be a nice story. It takes a little while for the violence to arrive, but before it does, we’re witness to an especially angst-ridden ceremony. An elderly man named Rolando (Eligio Meléndez) needs 200,000 pesos for a heart operation for his wife, so he shows up to the wedding, as it’s being thrown by a family he used to work for. He’s mostly treated as a nuisance, but the young bride Marianne (Naian González Norvind) actually cares enough to step out from her own nuptials and help deliver Rolando’s wife to where she needs to go. Meanwhile, protesters are crowding the streets of Mexico City and full-blown revolution is only one gunshot away.
I’ll admit to a fair amount of ignorance about the social status quo in Mexico, but as a cinematic experience, I don’t think that matters too much. New Order is plainly miserable no matter what context you’re aware of. It didn’t have to be that way. The first 30 minutes promise a fascinating mix of high society satire, social commentary, and running-against-the-clock thriller. But then Marianne and a bunch of other people are taken hostage, and we’re forced to endure them being relentlessly tortured. And then we’re forced to endure that some more, and it all just feels so empty. At first, I cared about what would happen to Marianne and Rolando and his wife, but that investment just frittered away unceremoniously.
Also, there’s a visual motif about green paint that had me going, “What’s the deal?!” (I never figured out what the deal was.)
New Order is Recommended If You Like: Salo-level torture
Grade: 2 out of 5 Pesos
I Saw ‘Spiral’ and ‘Wrath of Man’ on the Same Weekend, and I’m Happy with That Decision
May 18, 2021
Cinema, Movie Reviews Andy García, Babs Olusanmokun, Chris Reilly, Chris Rock, Darren Lynn Bousman, DeObia Oparei, Eddie Marsan, Guy Ritchie, Holt McCallany, Jason Statham, Jeffrey Donovan, Josh Cowdery, Josh Hartnett, Laz Alonso, Lyne Renée, Marisol Nichols, Max Minghella, Niamh Algar, Raúl Castillo, Rob Delaney, Samuel L. Jackson, Saw, Scott Eastwood, Spiral, Spiral: From the Book of Saw, The Book of Saw, Wrath of Man 1 Comment
(CREDIT: Brooke Palmer; Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures)
Spiral:
Starring: Chris Rock, Max Minghella, Samuel L. Jackson, Marisol Nichols
Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
Running Time: 93 Minutes
Rating: R
Release Date: May 14, 2021 (Theaters)
Wrath of Man:
Starring: Jason Statham, Holt McCallany, Jeffrey Donovan, Josh Hartnett, Chris Reilly, Laz Alonso, Raúl Castillo, DeObia Oparei, Eddie Marsan, Scott Eastwood, Niamh Algar, Babs Olusanmokun, Josh Cowdery, Andy García, Rob Delaney, Lyne Renée
Director: Guy Ritchie
Running Time: 119 Minutes
Rating: R
Release Date: May 7, 2021 (Theaters)
I’m tempted to say that Spiral is my favorite Saw movie, but that wouldn’t mean all that much, as it’s only the second one I’ve ever seen. And it might not even be true anyway, since I enjoyed the philosophical conundrums that Saw 2 made me ponder. But Spiral has a whole “surprisingly favorite” vibe to it in opposition to the rest of the series. It may not be entirely different from its predecessors, but it diverges enough for me to go, “I’m pleased with the new direction.” I may not have seen Saw, Saw‘s III–IV, Saw 3D, or Jigsaw, but I’m familiar enough with them to feel like I’m emerging upon a new horizon. The torture is still too mentally and visually taxing, but the game’s rules and players have been updated.
As for Wrath of Man, I can confidently say that it is indeed my favorite Guy Ritchie movie. Although I should note that I haven’t seen his early stuff, so this might sound like faint praise. (My previous favorite by default was probably Aladdin. Or the parts of The Gentleman with Hugh Grant.) But Wrath of Man nevertheless stands tall on its own, and in opposition to the rest of its director’s filmography. Instead of being about a bunch of gangsters having a bloody good time, this is about a bunch of criminals and working stiffs being deathly, DEATHLY serious about everything. This movie is so bleak. It’s as bleak as a butt. It’s an elemental examination of Violence, Retribution, and Pure Evil. I don’t want to spend all my moviegoing hours in Wrath of Man Land, but visiting there every once in a while provides a healthy catharsis.
GRADES:
Spiral: 3 out of 5 Minghella Rocks
Wrath of Man: 4 out of 5 Statham Hartnetts
Just How Dreamy is ‘Dream Horse’? Let’s Find Out!
May 17, 2021
Cinema, Movie Reviews Anthony O'Donnell, Damian Lewis, Dream Alliance, Dream Horse, Euros Lyn, horse, Joanna Page, Karl Johnson, Nicholas Farrell, Owen Teale, Siân Phillips, Steffan Rhodri, Toni Collette Leave a comment
Dream Horse (CREDIT: Kerry Brown/Bleecker Street & Topic Studios)
Starring: Toni Collette, Damian Lewis, Owen Teale, Joanna Page, Karl Johnson, Steffan Rhodri, Anthony O’Donnell, Nicholas Farrell, Siân Phillips
Director: Euros Lyn
Running Time: 113 Minutes
Rating: PG for A Few Horse Troubles
Release Date: May 21, 2021 (Theaters)/June 11, 2021 (On Demand)
I watched Dream Horse right in the thick of Triple Crown season, so I was very much in the mood for some equine racing drama. (Or at least as much as I possibly can be in the mood in any given year.) But this is no American horse racing movie! No indeed, the action is across the pond in Wales. But that’s perfectly fine, because as far as I can tell (as someone who’s only watched the sport on TV and never in person), the Welsh racing courses look fairly similar to Churchill Downs, Pimlico, and Belmont Park. Much less familiar are those accents – I could barely understand what anyone was saying! Much of the cast members are Welsh natives, although the two leads are Australian (Toni Collette) and English (Damian Lewis), though they bite into the accents as heavily as everyone else. Despite this language-in-common barrier, the pastoral charms of Dream Horse still shine through. It’s an underdog sports story, after all, and that’s something I’m not inclined to resist.
The titular true-life thoroughbred goes by the name of Dream Alliance. His story is a bit of a cross between that of Seabiscuit and Secretariat (which is awfully convenient for American viewers). He comes from the humblest of beginnings, but his top-notch skills are undeniable. In his first race, he initially just bucks around in a circle. It takes his jockey about ten seconds to straighten him out and actually get him racing, but by the end of it, he’s within striking distance of the victory. It’s a moment practically tailor-made for whatever the Welsh equivalent of SportsCenter is.
But as awesome as Dream Alliance is, this movie is more about the motley crew surrounding him. They’re led by Jan Vokes (Colette), a bartender whose previous breeding experience consists of mere dogs and pigeons. She gathers a group of her neighbors to pool their money to raise Dream, and it’s a classic case of the hoi polloi crashing the dignified upper-crust party. Although nobody really seems to actually mind this rowdy crew that gets excited by things like stumbling across Andrew Lloyd Webber while taking a leak. This isn’t the upper crust so much as a relatively crustless society. Really, everyone seems to generally like each other, so the conflicts that do arise are thanks to the fateful whims of sudden injuries and limited finances. It all gets resolved with a classic prescription of “yearning for something bigger than your day-to-day life,” and the dosage is adequately effective.
Dream Horse is Recommended If You Like: Seabiscuit, Secretariat, Incredibly thick accents
Grade: 2.5 out of 5 Lengths
Jeff’s Wacky SNL Review: Keegan-Michael Key/Olivia Rodrigo
May 16, 2021
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Rodrigo, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live Season 46, SNL, SNL Season 46 Leave a comment
SNL: Olivia Rodrigo, Keegan-Michael Key, Kate McKinnon (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)
The penultimate episode of Saturday Night Live Season 46 has been hosted by Keegan-Michael Key! Fun fact about Keegan: he used to be one of the two stars of his own eponymous sketch show. But that show ended its run nearly six years ago. What do you think about that! The musical guest is Olivia Rodrigo, a teenager who writes songs.
For sustenance, I had a typical Sunday breakfast: two fried eggs, toast with strawberry jelly, and orange peach mango juice. Was the fruit-based-products-to-eggs ratio too high? #BreakfastThoughts
I didn’t forget to review the sketches! (Not that you thought I did, lol.) We start off with a Message from Dr. Fauci (Grade: 3/5 Faucis) and a bunch of other folks who are supposedly doctors, but they’re REALLY wacky by doctor standards. Supposedly they were acting out scenarios to help people figure out if and when they should still wear face coverings, but instead it was all just an excuse to act out shenanigans.
That’s Auntertainment! Mini-Episode: Aunt Beth Tells Jeff to Watch Staged
May 16, 2021
Podcasts, That's Auntertainment David Tennant, Michael Sheen, Podcast, Podcasts, Staged, That's Auntertainment, Zoom Leave a comment
Staged (CREDIT: BBC/YouTube Screenshot)
Jeff and Aunt Beth usually record That’s Auntertainment via Zoom, and now Aunt Beth has told Jeff to watch a TV show recorded via Zoom: Staged, starring Sheen & Tennant.
Entertainment To-Do List: Week of 5/14/21
May 14, 2021
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television A Touch of the Beat Gets You Up on Your Feet Gets You Out and Then Into the Sun, Alexandre Aja, Aly & AJ, Amy Adams, Android, Angelina Jolie, Army of the Dead, Book of Saw, Chris Rock, Daddy's Home, Delta Kream, Jason Zuffranieri, Jeopardy!, Joe Wright, MTV Movie & TV Awards, Oxygen, Profile, St. Vincent, The Black Keys, The Underground Railroad, The Woman in the Window, Those Who Wish Me Dead, Tournament of Champions Leave a comment
The Underground Railroad (CREDIT: Amazon Prime Video/YouTube Screenshot)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Army of the Dead (May 14 in Select Theaters, May 21 on Netflix)
–Oxygen (May 12 on Netflix) – Directed by Alexandre Aja, but no piranhas.
–Profile (Theaters)
–Spiral (Theaters) – Chris Rock joins the Book of Saw.
–Those Who Wish Me Dead (Theaters and HBO Max) – Might check out to see what Angelina Jolie is up to.
–The Woman in the Window (May 14 on Netflix) – Joe Wright directs Amy Adams.
TV
–The Underground Railroad (May 14 on Amazon)
-2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards (May 16 on MTV)
-2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards: Unscripted (May 17 on MTV)
-2021 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions (May 17-28, check local listings) – 19-game winner Jason Zuffranieri looks like the one to beat.
Music
-Aly & AJ, A Touch of the Beat Gets You Up on Your Feet Gets You Out and Then Into the Sun – This came out last week.
-St. Vincent, Daddy’s Home
-The Black Keys, Delta Kream – Dan and Pat cover hill country blues.
2021 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions Preview
May 13, 2021
Jeopardy!, Television 2021 Tournament of Champions, Andy Wood, Ben Henri, Jason Zuffranieri, Jennifer Quail, Jeopardy!, Karen Farrell, Kevin Walsh, Mackenzie Jones, Nibir Sarma, Paul Trifiletti, Ryan Bilger, Ryan Hemmel, Sam Kavanaugh, Sarah Jett Rayburn, Steve Moulds, ToC, Tournament of Champions, Veronic Vichit-Vadakan 2 Comments
CREDIT: Jeopardy!
When it comes to my game show fandom, there’s no semi-regular occasion I look forward to more than Jeopardy!‘s Tournament of Champions. For the past few ToC’s, I’ve been handicapping the field in an attempt to identify the probable champions. My guesses have been decent thus far, as each of my #1 picks has made it to the Finals each time (and at least one of them won it all). But I’ve also come to realize that the entire ToC field is always filled with potential diamonds. You gotta keep an eye out for everybody. Having said that, I do feel confident in identifying certain favorites based on their performances in their initial winning streaks. So listed below are the 5 contestants in this year’s ToC who have impressed me the most, and listed below them are the other 10 contestants, who have also impressed me. (And sadly not included on the list is Brayden Smith, who won 6 games over December and January but passed away unexpectedly before the ToC.)
‘Profile’ Brings Timur Bekmambetov’s Screen Life to the World of Jihadi Recruitment
May 11, 2021
Cinema, Movie Reviews Amir Rahimzadeh, Christine Adams, Emma Carter, Morgan Watkins, Profile, Screen Life, Screenlife, Shazad Latif, Timur Bekmambetov, Valene Kane 1 Comment
Profile (CREDIT: BEZELEVS and Focus Features)
Starring: Valene Kane, Shazad Latif, Christine Adams, Morgan Watkins, Amir Rahimzadeh, Emma Carter
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Running Time: 105 Minutes
Rating: R for Language and Images of Violent ISIS Activity
Release Date: May 14, 2021 (Theaters)
I’m a sucker for a good gimmick, and Timur Bekmambetov has hit upon a pretty dang excellent one with his series of “Screen Life” films. With the likes of Unfriended, Unfriended: Dark Web, and Searching, he’s produced some weirdly irresistible flicks that are presented entirely within the confines of a computer screen. Now he’s stepped into the Screen Life Director’s Chair himself for Profile, based on the nonfiction book In The Skin of a Jihadist, which documents journalist Anna Erelle’s efforts to contact an ISIS recruiter via Facebook. I’ve watched these movies on the big screen and on the TV screen, but not once have I ever watched them in their entirety on a computer. They certainly don’t lose any effectiveness they might have had by playing out just a few inches away from my face. No matter what distance I watch them from, they’re thoroughly intimate and all-encompassing, and Profile is no different.
Profile‘s stand-in for Erelle is Amy Whittaker (Valene Kane), a constantly stressed-out London-based reporter with an assignment that promises a rewarding payday but at the expense of her emotional stability. Under the guise of “Melody,” a 20-year-old convert to Islam, she soon attracts the attraction of Bilel (Shazad Latif), an ISIS leader in the market for recruiting young European women to Syria to join the fight for the Islamic State. Both Amy and Bilel are making their cases through layers of dishonesty, as she concocts justifications for her investigates instincts and he underplays his organization’s propensity for violence and human trafficking. But the best undercover work is driven by honest emotions, and Amy and Bilel do appear to forge a genuine connection. Bilel also has roots in London, and they’re both disillusioned by a country that failed to take care of their families. Everyone has their vulnerabilities, and Profile makes it inescapably clear how they can be preyed upon.
I’ve been singing the praises of Screen Life from the beginning, and this might just be its best use yet. We’re entirely stuck within the point of view of Amy, someone who’s losing any outside perspective that could keep her from losing herself. She gradually merges with the Melody persona, and for an hour and a half, you just might as well. Our online lives are not our entire lives, and it is important to be regularly reminded of that. Profile‘s entire raison d’être may be that everything is always connected, but weirdly enough, it might also be one of the most effective tools to convince us to step away every once in a while. Indeed, this is a movie that has been made by people who have beheld modern society and wondered, “What have we wrought?”
Profile is Recommended If You Like: The Screen Life genre, Undercover work, Freeze frame detective skills
Grade: 4 out of 5 Winking Cat GIFs
