My Top Three This Week
Greetings to all my semi-constant readers. I am spending some time weeding through the many offerings out there right now and there are a lot. Narrowing them down took some work but here they are.
1) The Politician - the new Ryan Murphy offering on Netflix is mashup of Election , The Act and Glee with more than a smattering of The Royal Tenenbaums. The amazing Ben Platt stars as Payton Hobart who is establishing a high school presidential campaign that will pave the way for his real aspiration of becoming The POTUS. Gwyneth Paltrow as his loving eccentric adoptive mother Georgina is a playful poke at her real life persona. His crew has some amazing actors who manage to make him look good. His opponent is the girlfriend of his dead boyfriend. Deception, suicide, Munchausen by proxy, a murder plot and the unstoppable Jessica Lange chewing up lines and spitting them out make this a must see. I would have watched just for Jessica Lange.
2) Unbelievable also on Netflix is sadly based on a true story of a young girl who is raped and forced to recant her story by doubting police.When two detectives ( Toni Collette and Merritt Wever collaborate on similar rape cases they discover a pattern of disturbing crimes that were never solved. After extensive research and heartbreaking stories from the victims they are able to solve the crimes. The wrap around story that finally ties in is the story of Marie Adler who was the original rape victim and the tragic life she has led as a result of her filing the rape in her town. The two leads Collette and Wever are fantastic as always as well as the great character actress Dale Dickey who I love, it was Kaitlyn Dever as Marie who steals the series. Having just seen her in the underrated Booksmart , I personally feel she is going to have a long acting career. She is someone to watch!!!
3) On Becoming a God in Central Florida on Showtime now is the perfect vehicle for Kirsten Dunst as a long suffering housewife of a Ponzi scheme addict played by Alexander Skarsgård. His get rich scheme of selling household products for Fam have put them in danger of losing everything including their home. When her husband is eaten by an alligator, Krystal Stubbs (Dunst) is forced to deal with the Cult of Fam and his downstream sellers and buyers . Fam is like a cross between Amway and Scientology and the results are terrifying and hilarious.This series is unlike anything I have ever watched and unpredictable as well. We watch Krystal rise on the Fam circuit and focused way she deals with everyone including her unexpected love interest Cody. Mel Rodriguez and Beth Ditto ( lead singer of The Gossip) play her sympathetic neighbors and true friends who get caught in the Fam net. The writing and acting on this series is sublime.
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