April 26, 2024
jmunney
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television
All Born Screaming, Boy Kills World, Challengers, Colin Jost, Hyperdrama, Jeopardy! Masters, Justice, Nonetheless, Pet Shop Boys, St. Vincent, The Real Story of Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office, White House Correspondents Dinner
Daaaaaa Bates (CREDIT: PBS/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
–Boy Kills World (Theaters)
–Challengers (Theaters) – I’ve enjoyed “S&M” in the trailer.
TV
-White House Correspondents’ Dinner (April 27 on C-SPAN) – Colin Jost hosts.
–The Real Story of Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office (April 28 on PBS)
–Jeopardy! Masters Season 2 Premiere (May 1 on ABC)
Music
-Justice, Hyperdrama
-Pet Shop Boys, Nonetheless
-St. Vincent, All Born Screaming
September 17, 2021
jmunney
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television
Alter Ego, Blue Bayou, Carrie Brownstein, Creative Arts Emmys, Cry Macho, Dear White People, Emmys, Home Economics, Lil Nas X, Lindsey Buckingham, Montero, Sex Education, St. Vincent, Star Wars Visions, Teenage Euthanasia, The Conners, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The Goldbergs, The Masked Singer, The Nowhere Inn, The Wonder Years
The Wonder Years (CREDIT: Matt Sayles/ABC)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Blue Bayou (Theaters)
–Cry Macho (Theaters and HBO Max) – MACHOOOOOOOOOO!
–The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Theaters)
–The Nowhere Inn (Theaters and On Demand) – Carrie Brownstein and Annie Clark (St. Vincent) team up on screen.
TV
–Sex Education Season 3 (September 17 on Netflix)
-Creative Arts Emmy Awards (September 18 on FXX)
-73rd Primetime Emmy Awards (September 19 on CBS)
–Teenage Euthanasia Series Premiere (September 19 on Adult Swim) – Animated at a funeral home.
–Alter Ego Series Premiere (September 22 on FOX) – The “world’s first avatar singing competition.”
–The Conners Season 4 Premiere (September 22 on ABC) – Another live episode.
–Dear White People Season 4 (September 22 on Netflix)
–The Goldbergs Season 9 Premiere (September 22 on ABC)
–Home Economics Season 2 Premiere (September 22 on ABC)
–The Masked Singer Season 6 Premier (September 22 on FOX)
–Star Wars: Visions (September 22 on Disney+) – Anime-style.
–The Wonder Years Reboot Series Premiere (September 22 on ABC) – Don Cheadle takes over narrating duties from Daniel Stern.
Music
-Lil Nas X, Montero
-Lindsey Buckingham, Lindsey Buckingham
May 14, 2021
jmunney
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
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.
April 4, 2021
jmunney
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television
Daniel Kaluuya, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live Season 46, SNL, SNL Season 46, St. Vincent
SNL: St. Vincent, Daniel Kaluuya, Aidy Bryant (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)
Holy moly, this is a review of an SNL episode hosted by Daniel Kaluuya with musical guest St. Vincent! Kaluuya was great in Get Out, and he’s great in everything else I’ve seen him in as well, and while most of those credits aren’t terribly similar to sketch comedy, I had a feeling he had it in him to deliver the funny in front of a live audience. And as for Ms. Vincent, aka Annie Clark, she always brings it without fail.
So this is an episode airing on Easter Weekend, I ran 8 miles on Saturday morning, the spring sun’s blazing in the mid-Atlantic, and I’m still freaking out over that Final Four buzzer-beater. This is all to say, a bunch of dopamine is swirling around my system, which is a perfect formula for me to laugh aplenty. Did the sketches also give me reasons to laugh? Let’s find out!
First off, we’ll check in with Britney Spears (Chloe Fineman’s impression version) with another edition of Oops, You Did It Again (Grade: 3/5 Easter Bunnies). A few guests stop by, including Pete Davidson as Congressman Matt Gaetz, who looks just like his Andrew Cuomo impression except for a more colorful tie.
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June 25, 2020
jmunney
Best of the 2010s, Best of the Decade, Music
Adele, Ariana Grande, Beck, Best of the 2010s, Best of the Decade, Beyoncé, Carly Rae Jepsen, Charli XCX, Childish Gambino, Daft Punk, David Bowie, Hans Zimmer, Janelle Monáe, Kanye West, Katy Perry, Kendrick Lamar, Kesha, Lady GaGa, Lana del Rey, Lizzo, Lorde, Major Lazer, Miguel, Miley Cyrus, Pharrell Williams, Rihanna, Sia, St. Vincent, Tame Impala, Taylor Swift, Tegan and Sara, The Black Keys, The Weeknd, Tove Lo, Vampire Weekend, Weird Al Yankovic
CREDIT: YouTube Screenshots
One more list! One more list!
My Best of the 2010s list-making journey has finally come to a close! (Or has it? … For now, it has at least. The future will come as it may, and it may just surprise you, and me.) All this week, I’ve been posting my rankings of a few categories that I was inspired to put together after submitting them to a Best of the 2010s polls that I’m participating in with some of my fellow cultural aficionados. To wrap it all up, I guide you along to the realm of music and lyrics, as I present the Best Musical Artists of the 2010s.
My criteria was similar to that of my choices for Best Film Directors. I considered a combination of how much I enjoyed their musical output as well as how much – and how well – they influenced the industry at large.
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April 2, 2020
jmunney
Best of the 2010s, Best of the Decade, Music
A Seat at the Table, Audio Video Disco, Avicii, Awaken My Love!, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Best of the Decade, Beyoncé, Black Messiah, Blackstar, Brothers, Childish Gambino, Circuital, D'Angelo, D'Angelo & the Vanguard, Daft Punk, David Bowie, Disclosure, Duck Sauce, Justice, Kanye West, Lana del Rey, Lemonade, Lonerism, Lorde, Miguel, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, My Morning Jacket, No Geography, Norman Fucking Rockwell, Pure Heroine, Quack, Random Access Memories, Settle, Solange, St. Vincent, Strange Mercy, Tame Impala, The Black Keys, The Chemical Brothers, True, Wildheart
One of the big themes about entertainment in the past decade is the incomprehensible explosion of available content in every medium. While this may be a recent development in cinema and television, it’s been the case for music for centuries, or even millennia. Since humans have been banging on rocks and clapping their hands, really. Of course, it was a little more recent than that when recorded music became readily available.
This is all to say, I of course haven’t listened to every album of the past ten years that made its way onto SoundCloud or Spotify, or even all the Billboard chart-toppers. But I did listen to enough of them to be able to assemble a vibrant and varied soundtrack of my life in the 2010s. Here are the musical collections of the era that I just haven’t been able to stop pushing play on.
[4/2/20 2:00 PM UPDATE: This post originally mistakenly included Justice’s †, which came out in 2007.]
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March 2, 2018
jmunney
Best of 2017, Best of Music 2017, Music
Alessia Cara, Alice Merton, Beck, Calvin Harris, Camila Cabello, Carly Rae Jepsen, Chained to the Rhythm, Cut to the Feeling, Disco Tits, Down, Dua Lipa, Feel It Still, Feels, Green Light, Havana, Jain, Jain Makeba, Katy Perry, Kesha, Lorde, Los Ageless, Makeba, Marian Hill, Miguel, Miley Cyrus, New Rules, No Roots, Portugal. The Man, Praying, St. Vincent, Stay, The Killers, The Man, Told You So, Tove Lo, Up All Night, Younger Now, Zedd
CREDIT: ToveLoVEVO
It’s early March, so it must be time for me to post my list of the best singles of the past year!
1. Tove Lo – “Disco Tits” – A woman doesn’t have to be modest to earn respect, and don’t Tove Lo know it.
2. Kesha – “Praying” – The gospel-tinged anthem we all need right now.
3. Lorde – “Green Light” – If you’re looking for euphoria, Lorde has you covered.
4. Jain – “Makeba” – This guaranteed toe-tapper/hip-spinner was technically released in 2016, but while it may have taken off in Jain’s native France that year, it didn’t really hit in the U.S. until that Levi’s commercial debuted in late 2017.
5. Marian Hill – “Down” – A deceptively simple piano-driven trip-hop jam from this Philadelphia duo.
6. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Cut to the Feeling” – We all need to just follow the Tao of Carly.
7. St. Vincent – “Los Ageless” – St. Vincent is still the master of combining genuine chops with super scuzzy distortion.
8. Beck – “Up All Night” – Put this track on if your house party’s tunes are bringing everyone down.
9. Miley Cyrus – “Younger Now” – Is this what agelessness feels like?
10. Dua Lipa – “New Rules” – Dua Lipa’s anthem attempt = anthem success!
11. Miguel – “Told You So” – If there is one singer above all others belting out tunes right now about whom I would say, “You’ve got to listen to what they’re saying,” it’s gotta be Miguel.
12. Alice Merton – “No Roots” – There may be no roots to Alice Merton’s disposition, but there plenty of roots, powerful ones at that, to her musical influences.
13. Camila Cabello ft. Young Thug – “Havana” – This song makes me sweaty. But it’s the sweat of passion, so I don’t feel gross.
14. Zedd and Alessia Cara – “Stay” – Zedd is the kind of DJ so skilled at bottling up those moments you don’t want to let slip away.
15. Calvin Harris ft. Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry, and Big Sean – “Feels” – Just some tropical vibes to get you by.
16. Portugal. The Man – “Feel It Still” – The sort of generational rock song with lyrics that might mean something profound or nothing at all.
17. Katy Perry ft. Ziggy Marley – “Chained to the Rhythm” – Direct, but also pointed and bopping.
18. The Killers – “The Man” – One thing we can count in this life is songs entitled “The Man” being silly but also kind of anthemic.
May 18, 2014
jmunney
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television
Andy Samberg, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live Season 39, SNL, SNL Season 39, St. Vincent
A Message From Solange and Jay-Z
I feel like if this whole sketch had been centered around the obviously doctored elevator footage, just making it crazier and crazier, it would have been more unique and memorable. B-
Andy Samberg’s Monologue (BEST OF THE NIGHT)
Apparently the impression rivalry that began with the impression-off on Andy and Bill Hader’s first show still exists to this day. There were a lot of great transitions in the order of the impressions that operated according to surreal logic (Ryan Reynolds~Jim Carrey, the Dream Team members). A-
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