Wondering what to do with your upcoming free time? Good thing we have some suggestions for what you should be watching, playing, reading, listening to, etc.
Ben’s Movie Pick: The Amazing Spider-Man – I’m happy to say that I still enjoy The Amazing Spider-Man. It never quite matches the quality of the first two Raimi or MCU Spider-Man movies, but it’s still fun, and the most tonally distinct of the wall-crawler’s live action adventures to boot. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are terrific and have a ton of chemistry, the action – although sporadic – is solid, and I love the soundtrack! Also, I can’t overstate how much I appreciate this movie for not immediately bringing in and killing off the arch nemesis or a top-tier villain in the very first outing! That was (and still kind of is) a bad habit of the superhero film genre that really irks me. Lizard is a damn-near perfect pick for an initial Spider-Man superbaddie, and Rhys Ifans does admirable work with the character. Denis Leary is also well cast, if underutilized. Overall, The Amazing Spider-Man is a worthwhile watch for any web-head fans.
Ben’s TV Pick: True Detective Season 1 – True Detective‘s first season is stunning to look at, tells a story with a quality that is only matched by its bleakness, and is borderline perfect. The premiere arc of the anthology series follows two detectives (played by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson) and their work on a particularly haunting and confounding case. The show jumps back and forth between a span of 17 years, which allows us to see how the case (and their time as uneasy partners) changed them. It has my favorite performances from McConaughey and Michelle Monaghan to date (Harrelson is phenomenal, but I liked him a smidge more in Three Billboards), and the whole thing just oozes a unique, neo-noir/neo-gothic vibe. It definitely isn’t something you’d want to watch when feeling down, but it’s just an utterly amazing experience. I had only seen it once before, and this viewing reaffirmed its place among my favorite TV shows of all time.
Lauren’s TV Pick: The Witcher Season 2 – With a chronological timeline and a healthy amount of self reflection and depreciation for the gripes many viewers had about the 1st season, season 2 of The Witcher brings us awesome new monsters (2 gold stars: one for a badass moment involving a pole arm in the first episode, and one for the Jurassic Park reference in the season finale), costume improvements in the form of Triss’ red hair and less folded-fabric-looking Nilfgaardian armor, new catchy as hell bops from everyone but Yennifer’s favorite bard, new signs from Geralt to vary his combat style past his favorite fart burst, and a whole heck of a lot more. The show may hate babies, but it loves a good father surprised / child surprise dynamic as Geralt builds up his thigh muscles from all his “I’m a dad who will bring my words of wisdom down to your level” squats, and Ciri struggles to patiently heed his teachings as she trains for her next fight or FIGHT encounter against those who’ve had her living in fear up to this point. The time spent bringing the elves’ plight to the forefront, exploring Yennifer’s unmoored quest for meaning and purpose, and training at the Witchers’ home of Kaer Morhen is time well spent, setting up some pretty major things to come.
So what do you think about these picks? What content did we miss over the past two weeks while we were spending time with these? Be sure to leave a comment below letting us know about everything (both current and simply new to you) you’ve been consuming lately!
And while you’re here, be sure to check some of the site’s other recent content:
- A list of Ben’s Favorite Video Games (By Category)
Middle of the Row 