The Suggestion Box #110: Friendship, and Bayhem, and Whistledown, Oh My!

Posted on by Lauren

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 Anime Pick: Komi Can’t Communicate – I rarely watch slice of life anime, but every once in a while there’s one suggested to me that I end up really enjoying; Komi Can’t Communicate is the most recent of these. The two seasons that have been released so far are a wholesome experience full of endearingly quirky characters, and it had me laughing out loud multiple times per episode. As someone who struggles with social anxiety — albeit nowhere near to the degree the eponymous character does — I found each small victory Komi made in her endeavors to be genuinely heartwarming. Komi Can’t Communicate also has great pacing — with each episode featuring multiple stories — ensuring each story beat stays just long enough to bring a smile to your face but never overstays its welcome. With all said and done, there very few animated shows that have left me feeling as warm and fuzzy as Komi Can’t Communicate.

Ben’s Movie Pick: The Rock – If you’re looking for the most Michael Bay movie ever made, then look no further than the chaotic, adrenaline-fueled feature that is The Rock. It’s got all of Bay’s signature touches (huge explosions, cheesy dialogue, grizzled action heroes, ignoring logic in service of great action, in-your-face patriotism) and quite the stacked cast to pull it all off. Things kick off when an understandably disillusioned General (Ed Harris) goes rogue. The man leads his most loyal and skilled soldiers on a mission to steal a dangerous chemical weapon to threaten San Francisco with until his demands are met; setting up a base of operations on Alcatraz. The government then puts together a team of SEALS (lead by Michael Biehn) and two experts; FBI chemical weapons specialist Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage) and the only Alcatraz inmate to ever escape (Sean Connery). The film itself is an action-packed thrill ride with all the Bayhem one could possibly ask for.

Ben’s Movie Warning: The Strangers: Chapter 1 – As someone who holds both of the previous Strangers movies in high regard, it was devastating to see the franchise’s latest revival turn out so poorly. The entirety of Chapter 1 is just a retread of the original film, rehashing all the biggest hits with significantly less tension, style, or memorability. The film’s final scene is the only part that resembles anything close to a new idea, and hits notes of confusion and hilarity more than shock or fright. Unless the second and third parts of this already-filmed trilogy turn out to be entirely different beasts — something I’m not betting on — there’s no reason to watch The Strangers: Chapter 1 instead of watching or revisiting the original two films.

Lauren’s TV Pick: Bridgerton Season 3 – As someone who has always reflexively mentioned Bridgerton as a guilty pleasure, I think it’s finally time I embrace my inner sad girl who now fully revels in overly dramatic yearning and angst and drop the “guilty”; this show is just a straight up delight. All three seasons have their own variations of “oh shit, my surprising feelings towards you were maybe more romantic and passionate than I realized,” and though I love a good friends to lovers arc, what I actually appreciated the most about this season are all the stories surrounding the main pairing: from Mama Bridgerton realizing she still deserves the same level of romance that she hopes to help each of her children find, to the “redemption arcs” of some of the more villainous characters (namely Lady Featherington and Cressida Cowper) that add so much more depth to who they are, to the show becoming that much gayer. I was cheering for Creloise (Cressida + Eloise for the uninitiated) from their first unexpected scene together this season (how can you witness the way they look at each other and not be onboard?), though I laughed at how poorly spliced in some of Benedict’s sexual awakening scenes were late in the season, his chemistry with his partners is undeniable, and the reveal of an upcoming sapphic pairing to break the monotony of the heteronormative couples each season focuses on had me screaming. I didn’t think the show was going to have the balls for that and I am so glad I was wrong; sorry not sorry to all you book fans bitching about the gender swap.

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!

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