My Top Three This Week
Greetings to all my semi-constant readers. We had Christmas in July, Earthquakes, Staycations and still more sourdough bread than anyone could want. It went so fast and somehow we all just are trying to get through until next month and the month after that. We are all devouring every bit of content that we might never have even paid attention to before. But there are some bright spots out there.
1) Brave New World streaming on the new platform Peacock is based on the best seller by the same name by sci-fi author Aldous Huxley is a series exploding with visuals. In this world no one feels anything but pleasure or happiness and if they do there is a pill for it. In fact there are many skittle colored pills called "Somas"to fit any occasion. There is no such thing as monogamy, everyone belongs to everyone and there are no secrets thanks to a nifty eye contact implant that allows everyone to be connected to each other and to an "Alexa" entity. Not everyone is buying what they are selling and two characters - Bernard Marx (Harry Lloyd) and Lenina Crowne (Jessica Brown-Findlay)are at a crossroads in their lives. These people are consumed by fashion , lavish parties thrown by entrepreneur Wilhelmina (Hannah John-Kamen) and visits to Savage Lands - a theme park where people struggle for a living and have entertainment such as shotgun weddings and the " House of Want". While visiting Savage Lands Bernard and Lenina encounter John the Savage (Alden Ehrenreich) and his mother Linda (Demi Moore) and smuggle them into New London. You have to keep watching past the first episode to really get the full flavor of the show. Some really great actors in this including Lloyd ,Brown-Findlay, John-Kamen and Nina Sosanya as seer Mustafa Mond. You will be surprised at how clever this series is once you finish episode one.
2) Modern Love on Amazon Prime based on a NY Times column is a cluster of vignettes focusing on all kinds of love and relationships that take place in New York. They explore mental illness, dating apps, empty nesters and a gay couple looking to adopt. Each one of these is unique and complete and the final episode has a surprise twist that I wont give away. The cast is a dream cast with Anne Hathaway, Tina Fey, John Slattery, Dev Patel, Andy Gsrcia, Julia Garner, Ed Sheeran ( in a cameo) and many more. I would love to see another season of this.
3) The Stranger on Quibi is an intense thrill ride. As is typical with Quibi each episode is short one and ends with a cliffhanger. Watching them all at once is like watching a full film feature. A young woman- Claire ( Maika Monroe) is starting her first day of work as a ride share driver when she picks up a young man in the Hollywood Hills who claims to have just killed the occupants of the house he is being picked up at. In a vicious cat and mouse game the psychopath Carl ( Dane DeHann is perfectly crazy) toys with Claire all around the streets of LA. Everywhere she turns he is there. I loved every minute of this and even the satisfying ending was better than I hoped for.
Bonus: : The Go -Gos documentary is everything we hoped for. A glimpse into the most famous all girl band in history and the rise and fall and coming together of Charlotte, Jane , Belinda , Gina and Kathy who performed some of the most enduring pop music from a punk band in the space of a few years. This is for fans and for people who should watch history in the making. This film should secure their place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and it is a travesty if it does not. Check out the new Go-Gos single Club Zero.
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