Another year is coming to a close, and here at The Metropole, we editors are once again sharing some recommendations for things to read, listen to, view, or experience in your “off” time in the coming year. This installment:...
Another year is coming to a close, and here at The Metropole, we editors are once again sharing some recommendations for things to read, listen to, view, or experience in your “off” time in the coming year. This installment: the movies and television shows that we think should go on a “must watch” list.
Movies
Zeead Yaghi (Assistant Editor): the blockbuster Oppenheimer, and the French crime thriller, Anatomy of a Fall.
Ryan Reft (Senior Editor): Ahh film, I’m going to sound old as ****. I’m not into superhero films, and dying franchises like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (nothing after the third film in the series is worth anyone’s time) leave me cold. Don’t get me wrong I admit I definitely watch some dumb films because I’m weak and desperate for the warm comfort of nostalgia. However, I also enjoy absurdity in life, so I recently (it actually took me four sittings of twenty-five minutes each to finish but still…) just watched the 1976 Burt Reynold’s film Gator, inexplicably on Prime for months during the pandemic. Gator’s opening twenty-minute chase through what I believe is supposed to be the Louisiana Bayou, might be the dumbest action scene ever filmed, punctuated by a southern cop who begs Reynold’s ex-con in a lilting accent, “Ahh come’on Gator.” Watching Burt Reynolds in his sexist 1970s prime makes for just bizarre film watching.
That aside noted, Barbie was the best film I saw this year. Oppenheimer was good, but it was all super propulsive music behind dudes having conversations about missing meetings about nuclear weapons. For non-blockbusters, I dug two noirs, one from this year, and another from a few years back, both with Benicio del Toro performances: Reptile (Netflix) and 2021’s No Sudden Move (HBO/Max). The latter is better than the former, but if you like noir, both are entertaining.
Kenneth Alyass (Assistant Editor): Barbie!!!
Angela Stiefbold (Senior Editor): So, I feel like I should be in the prime demographic for the Barbie movie, but while it was better than my first impressions from the trailers, for me it didn’t live up to all the hype. Yes, it was a good movie, perhaps a touch too long, but I predicted the plot pretty early on and didn’t find its themes all that groundbreaking. For a nostalgia watch, I much preferred Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret. The movie holds true to and enhances (by expanding her mother’s perspective) the book, and the acting was excellent. And if you want more background on author Judy Blume, Judy Blume Forever (Amazon Prime Video) was a wonderful documentary of her life, writing, and advocacy against book bans.
Eric Häusler (Book Review Series Editor): A Thousand and One is an homage to single Black mothers. Teyana Taylor is phenomenal as single mother Inez, as are the three different actors that play her son Terry at different ages. The movie shows how housing problems, neighborhood changes, and gentrification can have a detrimental effect on individuals and communities. It does this with the backdrop of New York City in the 1990s and 2000s. The story ties together the daily life challenges of the protagonists with the overarching history of New York City, for example, by interspersing original soundbites by Mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg.
Television
Kenneth: Succession (HBO/Max)
Zeead: Beef (Netflix)
Ryan: Reservation Dogs (FX/Hulu) ended its three-season run this year. Admittedly, I came to the series late after a friend of mine encouraged me to check it out. I’m not sure another show on TV has tackled collective and individual trauma better than Res Dogs, which melds the historic injustice visited upon the indigenous peoples of this nation with that of its four protagonists, who endure the suicide of their close friend (and in some cases relative), Daniel. As the New York Times put it, “the defining theme of the final season is that these broken generational bonds are more than individual misfortune. They are the legacy of a colonial strategy.”
Perhaps, a less obvious but no less notable aspect of the show is its outstanding country-tinged soundtrack that manages to be rueful, haunting, and hopeful all at once. Jacob Tovar’s “Cleveland Summer Nights,” deployed at a critical moment in the series will reduce to you tears, full stop. For many folks, the show’s representation of native people ranks as its most important contribution to television these past few years, and yes, it is certainly important, but its ability to balance grief, humor, and pathos simultaneously such that the show both mourns, celebrates, and considers this painful history is a benefit to anyone who has suffered trauma in their lives.
Angela: I haven’t yet finished what might be my runners-up for this year, Reservation Dogs and The Crown, but I made use of a three-months-free subscription to AppleTV+, and binged all three seasons of Ted Lasso over the course of about ten days. Besides confirming that this is the best way to watch much recent tv, this heartwarming show made me laugh, made me cry, and made me consider becoming a sports fan (okay, well, that only lasted about five minutes—but I do want Ted’s shortbread recipe).
Featured image (at top): “Susan Baptist, a Projectionsit, Shows Training Films for the Troops as well as More Popular Motion Pictures” (c. 1940s), Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress