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: Interstellar – Because I had the ending of Interstellar spoiled for me before I ever got the chance to see it in theaters, I put off watching it for… well, almost an entire decade. What a mistake that was. Even with the spoilers, this movie hit me like a truck, leaving my wrecked remains blankly staring up in awe. It’s far and away Christopher Nolan’s most emotional, compelling work so far. The stakes are astronomically high (heh), but Nolan still manages to build up characters that are both lovable and relatable, all the while still flawed, as the impossible to forget impending extinction of humanity looms closer and closer. Some of his films feel kind of detached in a way, or get lost in the sci-fi (or just lost in general like Tenet), but the balance is excellent here. It also helps that Matthew McConaughey is unfathomably good in the lead role, along with an incredible Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine and Jessica Chastain; four top-tier actors delivering some of their best work of their respective careers. And oh my God, the robots are just the best. They boast such unique but practical designs, and their artificial personalities work wonders in offsetting some of Interstellar’s bleakest or intense moments with much needed humor. If you haven’t seen it yet, take it from this bozo: you need to.
Lauren’s Music Pick: Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology – Though I’ve always been a Swiftie, I’ve never been a hardcore crying-while-beading-a-heavily-symbolic/referential-friendship-bracelet Swiftie; I’ve never felt the need to press play as soon as an album of Taylor’s goes live. But with the urging of a conspiracy board level obsessed doctorate level Taylor Swift expert for a friend, I was tucked in on the couch ready to take it all in as soon as the album went live, lyrics on hand. To be totally dramatic, my listening experience went something like this: “Ooo I’m loving these cool 80s vibes; they’re making me want to go on a late night drive, just me and my super cool fingerless driving gloves and scorpion backed jacket. Huh, wonder what this hammer is doing in the glove compartment. Oh geez oh god who’s shooting at me!? FUCK YOU! Is—is that my blood? Huh, that sure is a lot of blood. Goodbye cruel world. But more importantly, goodbye Carrie Mulligan specifically; sorry I didn’t get to kiss you more…” In other words, I must really be feeling the urge to watch Drive again. More relevant, though, is that The Tortured Poets Department really put me through it as the surprise double length album explores a wide range of themes to an insanely insightful and poetic depth — seriously, sit down with the lyrics while you listen to the album to fully take in just how talented of a writer Taylor is — from the importance of recognizing that sometimes what is seemingly perfect isn’t actually what is best for you (and that you are allowed to mourn the lives not lived even if rationally you can see that giving those potential futures up was healthier in the long run), of recognizing your own worth and that you deserve to be valued for more than simply what you can give of yourself, that you are deserving of a love greater than the minimum effort someone else is willing to put in, that anger is a valid emotion and sometimes you just gotta let your inner final girl take the reins, and so much more. Honestly I could ramble on about this album forever: there are no skippable tracks, each relisten brings new meaning to each song, my favorite songs are constantly changing, I 100% need to update my top 10 albums of all time list, etc. etc. etc. And no, I still don’t know how Matt Healy is.
Ben’s TV Picks: Black Mirror & Creepshow – I recently got around to binging through two anthology series that I, an avid horror consumer, should have been watching from the very beginning. Black Mirror and Creepshow both offer up one-off tales of terror, but with drastically different tones: the former often critiques one or more aspects of our ever-growing dependence on technology in disturbingly believable ways, and the latter is a love letter to schlocky 80’s horror that commonly ends its tales with at least one morally dubious person getting their comeuppance. You’ll most likely prefer one over the other, but I think that it’ll be a decision based on tone more than anything else. You can instantly tell that Black Mirror episodes have a higher budget, but both the creativity employed by the Creepshow crews and emphasis on old-school practical effects outweigh any of my nitpicks. I’d go (or start) with Black Mirror if you want more cerebral scares, but if you want gory, gruesome fun, then Creepshow is your best bet. Regardless, both get a strong recommendation from me.
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!
Middle of the Row 