10/28/22
This week: Rihanna; Harry Styles; horror-comedy; not one, but two, Adam Wingaurd films; and the romp of a rom-com we didn’t even know we needed.
TRENDS THIS WEEK:
Youtube Rihanna - LIFT ME UP
Letterboxd BLACK ADAM
Spotify Taylor Swift - ANTI-HERO
Netflix THE GOOD NURSE
Twitter Elon
Trailer Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
Shopify It’s Been A Week
Life & Culture
Okay, Elon Musk finally bought Twitter. After months of speculation and waffling and so much suspense, it’s really happening. And it appears that Musk is already shaking things up, as he ousted three top executives to the tune of $187 million. He’s also announced that the company will be forming a “content moderation counsel with wildly diverse viewpoints” and it won’t be reinstating banned accounts (like former President Trump’s, which Musk already promised to reinstate) until the council meets.
It’s been quite some time since Rihanna dropped new music. But her five-year-hiatus has ended (!!!), in the form of the lead single for BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER’s soundtrack (dropping in its entirety on November 2). The song is a tribute to Chadwick Boseman, star of the first BLACK PANTHER film. LIFT ME UP is a beautiful, measured ballad, and came with a new music video of Rihanna singing on a beach. The film itself comes out on November 11, and the release of this song made me even more anxious and eager to watch.
Earlier this week, Adidas ended its partnership with Kanye West, after a strong public outcry demanding it. Other brands that cut ties with the musician include Balenciaga, Gap, and Foot Locker. While Kanye terminated his Gap relationship in September, and the Adidas partnership had been under internal review since the beginning of October, this action followed West’s October 16 anti-semtic comments on a podcast as well as his social channels—which led to a widely-publicized photo depicting a group of people publicly supporting West’s hate speech on an overpass in Los Angeles. While West has long had a reputation for making damaging and offensive comments, according to Amy Shanler, a professor of public relations at the Boston University, this photo going viral “woke these companies up…It made them realize “it’s not just Kanye talking to Kanye…there are other people who are listening.”
—Darlene Kenney, Director of Brand Marketing
TikTok
On TikTok this week, I loved this video that documents a group of friends who went around NYC dressed up as paparazzi for Halloween, making each costumed person they met feel like they were famous. I also liked this love letter to people who put a pep in their step when a car is waiting for them to cross the street (what the narrator calls “The Grateful Jog”), and this truly solid list of TV shows with amazing first seasons.
—Darlene Kenney, Director of Brand Marketing
What is one TV show that you think has a perfect first season? We’ll send the person with the best rationale a bag of your favorite candy (and run your thoughts in next week’s edition of PS Weekly). Reply to this email and let us know.
Film
ROSALINE (trailer here) is the alternate reality Shakespearean romp of a rom-com I never knew I needed. The film follows Rosaline (Kaitlyn Dever), who is madly in love with Romeo (Kyle Allen)...until he leaves her for her cousin Juliet (Isabela Merced). When Rosline’s attempts to break the couple up fail, she teams with Dario (Sean Teale), a rejected suitor of her own, now turned into a reluctant ally. Kyle Allen's portrayal of Romeo as a melodramatic narcissist elevates the once-tragic character to comedic gold, rivaled only by Nico Hiraga as Steve the Courier. Bradley Whitford also shines as Rosaline's father, playing "frustrated dad to stubborn teenage daughter" to perfection, their relationship giving the story an underlying thread tethered firmly in reality. However, Rosaline and Dario carry this story. Enemies to lovers is hard to do well, but here, it's spectacular. Dever and Teale have this dynamic chemistry that evolves with the characters and left me, frankly, with butterflies. Mandatory viewing for any dump-ee looking to move on with their lives and find a little peace.
––Carrie Smith, Physical Production Assistant
If you’re making your way through Halloween watchlists this weekend but want to venture off the HOCUS POCUS beaten path, THE GUEST (2014) (trailer here) might be the film for you. Adam Winguard’s directorial follow-up to YOU’RE NEXT stars Dan Stevens as a handsome stranger who shows up to the Peterson family’s doorstep, introducing himself as David, a friend of their late son Caleb who fought with him in Afghanistan before his death. While the Petersons’ kids are at first enamored with David, their daughter Anna (Maika Monroe) eventually begins to wonder if David really is who he claims to be. Filled with great performances and action scenes, a great synthy score, and a haunted house set piece for the ages, the movie is a wild ride that isn’t afraid to get a little weird.
—Alicia Devereaux, Development Assistant
FROM THE VAULT
In my eyes, the best horror films are the ones that wash their thrills and chills down with a healthy sense of humor. Whether it’s the subversive edge of GET OUT or the meta quality of the SCREAM franchise, seeing characters acknowledge the absurdity of the horrifying situations they find themselves in just makes those films all the more amusing, and frankly, truthful. For that reason, I'm lending the spotlight this weekend to Adam Wingard’s YOU’RE NEXT (trailer here), one of the most criminally underrated horror-comedies of the last decade. The film follows Erin (Sharni Vinson), college student and ostensible ingénue, who accompanies her professor boyfriend Crispin to his childhood home for his parents’ 35th wedding anniversary. As the family settles into their remote mansion in the middle of nowhere, the dysfunction jumps right off the screen. You can’t help but watch as Crispin, his insufferable siblings, and their spouses bicker their way through dinner, criticizing each other’s jobs and relationships….until a crossbow bolt crashes through the window and impales one of them in the head mid-sentence. The film instantly shifts gears into a high-octane, farcical bloodbath as a crew of masked killers descends upon the mansion and targets the family. Without giving too much away, YOU’RE NEXT doesn’t waste a single second of its lean, 94-minute runtime, as Erin strategizes against the killers and tries to stay one step ahead. Boasting some wildly inventive (and hilarious) kills and clever twists that’ll keep you hooked until the credits roll, YOU’RE NEXT could most aptly be described as the twisted love child of KNIVES OUT, SCREAM, and THE STRANGERS—in other words, an absolute blast.
—Neal Mulani, Development Assistant
Podcast
My friends and I joke that to know me is to know that I am fascinated by scams and scammers—the messier the better. So when Laci Mosley’s hilarious SCAM GODDESS debuted back in September 2019, I was instantly hooked. She and her weekly guests do deep dives on all sorts of fraudsters and charlatans. It’s the one podcast that makes me actually laugh out loud each episode. And as a loyal member of Mosley’s Con-gregation, I was so thrilled to see that she recently made the Out100.
—Rosemary Brennan, Marketing Consultant
Book
Isaac Asimov’s splendid short story NIGHTFALL is a perfect Sunday read—especially as a companion piece to all the scary movies of the Halloween season. Set on the fictional planet Lagash, where six suns hang in the sky at all times, the story is about the final hours before night falls for the first time in 2049 years. This is a world blessed and cursed by eternal sunshine. Darkness is a myth that nobody has seen—until a rare eclipse that is about to send the world into unknown territory. Asimov brings a dazzling mix of fear, naïveté, intellectual curiosity, and wicked humor to a story that feels increasingly absurd—where scientists, psychologists, and cultists speculate about the soul-robbing nature of nighttime and marvel at the use of fire to produce light. "Imagine darkness–everywhere. No light, as far as you can see. The houses, the trees, the fields, the earth, the sky–black! Can you conceive it?" The terror of darkness pulses through vivid dialogue that feels silly for its implausibility, but profound in its desire for light—a timeless symbol of sanity and hope. Stories like NIGHTFALL are why I’m so in love with spooky tales, because the best of them push me to think how I would react in the face of the terrifying.
—Lauren Ma, Business Affairs Coordinator
Music
I was fortunate enough to go to the second night of Harry Styles’ 15-night Los Angeles residency at the Kia Forum, which is the last of five cities. This is now my fifth time seeing Harry live, and I can say with confidence that he outdoes himself every single time. If you haven’t been to any of his shows, you should know that Harry has an ongoing tradition where he helps his fans to come out and Monday night was no exception. A fan brought a sign that asked if Harry could “help me come out, but in a cool way.” He accepts, and after a long drum roll courtesy of his drummer, Sarah, he shouts “Katy, you’re gay!” while waving around the Bisexual Pride Flag. The whole arena cheers and is filled with applause while congratulating the newly out fan. Overall, this was potentially my favorite concert of the last year. Yes, it was that good. Beyond even the performance, the sense of community and energy you feel at one of these shows is completely unmatched.
—Saad Hamid, Digital Marketing Intern
Have a great weekend! And as always, be kind, stay healthy, and stay creative. ツ