Everyone loves unsolicited advice – here's mine! Below are some culture pieces of taken in this past month, which you might enjoy or want to avoid.
Watch
The Broken Hearts Gallery
For: Humor, Rom com night in
Platform: In theaters
Yes, I have gone to the theaters lately. They keep it clean and masks are on, so I'm feeling pretty good about it.
Anyhoo, I had no idea what this movie was when Ernesto suggested it. The image was two people on a couch, one of which I thought was Arya Stark, because I didn't even bother magnifying the thumbnail of the poster.
It is not Arya, but the movie was a blast. It's your typical rom com, nothing deep or fancy, but it has fun characters, a cute story, and I learned I really miss sugary movies (so glad Lifetime Christmas Movie season is right around the corner - Will the big-city woman learn the meaning of Christmas from an alpaca shearer??). People poo-poo rom-coms as a genre but Shakespeare did them, so I think you're fine. If you want an entertaining, brisk 90-minute ride, this is a good one.
Listen
Songs about Jane – Maroon 5
For: Your inner emo college/high school student
Platform: Spotify
My friends and I play this game while we're drinking called "Playlist." Essentially, everyone in the group contributes a song to a Spotify playlist based on a category. You clear the search screen once you've added a song, then pass it to the next person. Once everyone has a song in, you put the playlist on shuffle and then everyone guesses whose song it is. Obviously, once it gets to the end, it's very apparent, but no one said it was the perfect game.
Anyway, we were playing this and the category was "Song You'd Play for a College Crush" and I chose "This Love" from Songs about Jane. I spent the rest of the weekend listening to the whole album on repeat – it's soooo gooooood! As my friend said, "Yeah, Maroon 5 was great then Adam Levine got jacked, became a douchebag, and sold out.”
I legit listened to this album on repeat for months during my freshman year of college. "She Will be Loved" may have been played 1000 times – did I imagine myself as the she/homosexual who will be loved? Maybe. Anyway, after a re-listen, I think it definitely holds up. If you were a fan then, highly recommend jumping back in.
Read
The Screwtape Letters – C.S. Lewis
For: Introspection
Platform: Books, Kindle
C.S. Lewis is a Catholic writer, and this is a book written from the perspective of a demon. Even if you're not religious, I think this book is full of amazing insights into people – what drives them, saves them, and ruins them. It hits me like 1984 – a book that somehow, every time I read it, gives me more insight into my own life and the workings of the world.
Bonus: If you love British humour (yes with a 'u'), this book is pretty hilarious.
Don't
Tenet
For: People who like explosions and stuff
Platform: Theaters
I love Christopher Nolan – Memento, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception - but I wish we'd had coffee before he started shooting this and I could say, "Gurl, this is a mess."
I've never felt so bad for actors. Everyone in this movie is literally just quickly spouting exposition at each other. Michael Cane is tossed into 3 minutes to … give exposition. I'm not a Robert Patton fan, but I thought his performance conveyed the general confusion that the audience feels watching this.
This doesn't spoil anything (I honestly couldn't spoil anything because I was completely lost from the beginning – Why are we talking about the art collection of a Russian oligarch? Also time travel?), but at one point when we're introduced to the time travel concept, the time scientist (?) literally goes: "It's best not to ask questions."
I mean, sure, but that also makes the climax, which I wanted to love, a time-traveling, gun-shooting, explosion-filled shit show. The final twist happens, and you have to be like: "Sure! Why not?"
My friend offered the great insight that now that Christopher Nolan is Christopher Nolan that he can just do whatever he wants. Producers are like "Go for it No-Bro!" and don't even look at scripts. Which would explain how this movie happened.
If you do see it, please let me know so we can discuss the female leads decision-making skills in the final moments. Woof.