The Suggestion Box #126: Bader, and Simmons, and Thingu, 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.

Lauren’s Movie Pick: People We Meet on Vacation – It’s always nice to get a romcom that has a bit of a timeless feel to it, and by timeless I mostly mean nebulously floating somewhere in the 80s, 90s, and early aughts of the genre. It’s got the friends to “ooo I see those yearning glances” arc, the significant others hindering any moves past said friendship, a fun little dance number, dramatics in the rain, a confounding wardrobe that cannot be nailed down — why stop at jet-setting when you can also time travel, as it seemingly pulls pants from Grease and Natalie Portman’s wig from Closer — with said wardrobe being donned by a woman with a reliance on writing (journalism, a classic) to provide VO for the movie. And thank goodness for Emily Bader. Tom Blyth is great as Alex (the stick in the mud who must be broken out of his shell), but Bader makes a character that would absolutely drain my social battery within 5 minutes far less exhausting than she could’ve easily been (though my sister found movie Poppy more annoying than book Poppy — a rare occasion when I’m the less irritated). Dare I say I was even charmed? People We Meet on Vacation doesn’t break the romcom mold, but it does clean off some of the layers of dust that have been gathering on the genre.

Ben’s Movie Pick: Superman – The second entry in James Gunn’s DC Universe (go watch Creature Commandos, it’s great!) is a colorful, uplifting and bombastic adventure. David Corenswet is great as the Big Blue Boy Scout, Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor is wonderfully despicable, and Rachel Brosnahan is pitch perfect as Lois Lane. And the supporting cast is as solid as it is stacked: Isabela Merced, Edi Gathegi, Nathan Fillion (with a hysterical bowl cut) are all great, but they definitely aren’t the focus of the story (as they shouldn’t be in a Superman movie). And of course, Krypto is a very good boy. The film as a whole is a ton of fun, meshing Gunn’s talent for creating/adapting unique worlds and endearing characters with the heart and nearly-melodramatic tone of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies (of all things!). Huge props to John Murphy and David Fleming’s score as well — probably the best in a superhero flick since Michael Giacchino’s work in The Batman. All in all, Superman is an excellent indicator that the superhero genre has plenty of gas left in the tank.

Paul’s Performance Pick: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash – This movie crossed my path as a recommendation from a sound engineer, and given that it won an Oscar for Best Sound Mixing, that makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is how J.K. Simmons—the Farmers Insurance guy, Spider-Man’s boss—can continue to haunt me days after the movie ended. I’ll make this short: the movie itself has its flaws from a plot and character-development standpoint, but NONE OF THAT MATTERS. Because the reason you watch Whiplash isn’t for some Shyamalanian twist or to sympathize with the struggles of an upper-middle-class kid in New York. You watch Whiplash to see an actor like J.K. Simmons deliver the performance of his career. And honestly, it would be the performance of many an A-list actor’s career if they were so lucky.

Ben’s Short Film Pick: Pingu’s The Thing/Thingu – Have you ever wished for a blend of the adorable stop motion animation of the children’s TV show Pingu with the carnage, body horror, and atmosphere of John Carpenter’s legendary horror film The Thing? Oh, you haven’t? …Yeah, that’s actually super fair. Regardless, you should check out Pingu’s The Thing (also called “Thingu”) purely because something so wild actually exists. It’s an insane minute and a half speedrun that hits a surprising amount of the best moments from Carpenter’s classic.

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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