I’ve crossed two more movies off of my 2016 to-see list: Hidden Figures and Green Room. You’d be hard-pressed to find two less similar films.
The former is a very by-the-book, emotionally satisfying tale of three Black women who broke ground as NASA scientists in the 60s. The latter is a brutal thriller about a punk band trapped in a nightclub by a group of vicious white supremacists.
Yesterday, I lauded the wonderful network and cable shows I enjoyed in 2016 but I neglected to mention the ones I streamed. Well, that’s because there weren’t any for most of the year.
I’m only halfway through the new season of Mozart in the Jungle, a show I absolutely love. [NOTE: Since writing this, I finished the season.] I’m thisclose to starting Stranger Things but haven’t pulled the trigger yet. I’m a season behind on Orange is the New Black. I hear great things about Bojack Horseman and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt but, well, see all of the above.
A few years back, people started arguing about whether television had surpassed feature films in quality. I’ll offer that the debate is over and TV won in a knockout.
While most year-end movie lists circle around the same batch of films, you’ll find TV lists that don’t overlap at all. I can name a dozen TV shows I’ve never seen that have shown up at or near the top of critics’ year-end lists, along with a dozen more I watch regularly.
I’m in year-end movie catch-up mode, trying to watch as many 2016 films as possible before the Oscar nominations are announced at the end of the month. I’ve identified about two dozen movies I’d like to see, from highbrow to popcorn. I’ll be happy to get through half of them.
In the past week or so, I’ve watched The Lobster, Cafe Society and Sing Street (along with my third viewing of Moana with the kids).
This song, from Elvis Costello’s third album, 1979’s Armed Forces, is further proof that you need to be British to really get his lyrics.
For example, “Senior Service” is both a reference to the United Kingdom’s Navy (the highest ranked of their armed forces) and a brand of cigarettes. Both of those meanings are toyed with in this song, along with probably a dozen other things I’m too stupid and/or American to catch.
Meet Me In Montauk 