February Media Diet

Not a lot of bangers here, but a diverse and steady diet. I didn't make any progress on watching Oscar favorites. Better get busy this month -- the golden guys are handed out on March 12!

TV

Physical, S1 & S2 - Apple TV | Come for the leotards, stay for the music. Rose Byrne stars as Sheila, stirred from her progressive suburban San Diego slumber by the advent of aerobics in the early 80’s, but unable to bury her eating disorder and associated mental health problems deep enough through exercise. Sounds much worse than I just described it. And it has a best friend named Greta. Looking forward to season 3!

Welcome to Wrexham - Hulu | Watched this on Matt Gilmore’s recommendation and enjoyed it. A little goofy that actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny actually bought a Wales soccer team just so they could make an 18-episode comedy/documentary, but I guess Hollywood types spend their money on much dumber things.  

Movies

House of Gucci - Amazon Prime | Finally got around to watching this Oscar bait film from last year. Didn’t hate it, but wasn’t blown away, either.  Props to Lady Gaga for moving her career way beyond the meat dress she wore to the 2010 VMAs, but the Italian accents were a little jarring and Jared Leto’s performance as the black sheep brother?  Boof!

Downton Abbey: A New Era - Amazon Prime | Kind of forgot about this second movie of a series that Carey and I both loved, but stumbled across it while surfing for something to stream and thoroughly enjoyed seeing our upstairs and downstairs friends again! Maggie Smith still serves up killer bon mots as the Dowager Countess and Lady Mary isn’t far behind.

Don’t Worry Darling - HBO | We were looking for an Oscar-nominated film and somehow this got chosen. Zero nominations, and for good reason. Harry Styles and Florence Pugh are fine to look at, but the story wasn’t very layered and the conclusion not very satisfying. Good, creepy soundtrack though.

Afterlife of the Party - Netflix | Because Greta counts her time under our roof in months now and not years, I indulged her and watched two-thirds of this comedy. Former Disney star Victoria Justice stars as a 20-something party girl turned tragic ghost who has to make amends in order to elevate to heaven. It really was exactly that bad.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania - Theater | Started to like it when I saw familiar faces again and laughed at a few Paul Rudd quips, but once they got to the quantum realm, everything got a little too Alice-in-Wonderland-y. I agree with the critics that Jonathan Majors is a revelation as Kang, but I don’t know, perhaps at 51 my comic book movie appreciating days are behind me. Every movie just ends in a battle royale and the good guys always win.  2.5 out of 5 stars.

Bros - Amazon Rental | Actually paid $5.99 for this one and don’t regret it. Billy Eichner wrote it and stars in it — spending Judd Apatow’s money, who exec produced. Pretty refreshing to see an honest portrayal of two men in what I assume is a fairly authentic gay relationship on screen. Unfortunately the rest of America didn’t agree with me. It didn’t earn back its production budget, so that’s the last non-stereotyped gay rom-com we’ll get for awhile!

Books

Fairy Tale by Stephen King | Lincoln finished this Christmas present I gifted him, so I could finally read it! Not the master’s finest work, but enjoyable enough. And it has a hero dog.

The Ship Beneath the Ice by Mensun Bound | Plucked this one off the list for an AP review and enjoyed it. It documents the two attempts to locate Sir Ernest Shackleton’s early 20th century ice breaking sailing ship, The Endurance, at the bottom of the Weddell Sea off the Antarctic coast. A captivating blend of reportage, history and an ode to all things arctic.