1/03/23
This week: A polarizing adaptation, a kids’ movie you shouldn’t miss, some truly innovative television, and a British show for your figure-your-shit-out years.
TRENDS THIS WEEK:
Youtube RENFIELD OFFICIAL TRAILER
Letterboxd GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY
Spotify KILL BILL — SZA
Netflix KALEIDOSCOPE
Twitter Damar Hamlin
Trailer THAT ‘90S SHOW
Shopify It’s Been A Week
Life & Culture
Happy 2023, my friends! I hope you all got a chance to relax around the holidays and have had a peaceful start to the new year.
There’s been a lot of buzz about the viral chatbot ChatGPT over the past few months. Launched in November, people are using the AI technology for things like writing essays and work emails. I was talking to a friend who went through a breakup over the holidays, and he was even using it to help sort through his feelings when he was up late and didn’t have friends to talk to. His report: The tech gave him somewhat basic but helpful feedback similar to what his own therapist might say. What’s different about ChatGPT compared to older chatbots is the level of intelligence that it has. It can add specific nuances like tone and length to its responses, and can learn from its chat history with users. Because of its ability to write convincing, human-sounding pieces of text in seconds, it’s already being banned by New York City’s education department, and a Princeton student has developed an app that will help educators detect whether a text has been written by an AI or a human. There’s also a larger ethical concern around the way these large language models work, because they are trained on art, writing, and information that’s the proprietary work of others, and often building on that work to create something derivative.
Also! Before the holiday break, we discussed AVATAR 2, and I can now report it’s definitely shaping up to follow in the footsteps of the original. It’s now the ninth highest grossing film of all time, bumping THE AVENGERS to the tenth spot.
—Darlene Kenney, Director of Brand Marketing
Internet
This week I particularly enjoyed this video of a movie theater employee providing movie-goers with an extra-special experience, this clip that captured an extremely rare event in nature, and this one that documents one of the coolest clouds I’ve seen—on the internet or in life.
Also, every time I see one of Hannah Berner’s interview videos in my TikTok feed, I simply cannot tear myself away. Since last August, the comedian has been sharing videos where she asks fellow comedians a simple question, usually about dating and culture. The beauty of the videos is often how drastically different each response is. Plus, the fact that she’s a comedian interviewing fellow comedians means she can give their energy right back to them, making it all that much funnier. I’m very much looking forward to seeing more of these in the new year—check out her content here if you’re looking to get yourself into a wormhole for the next 20+ minutes.
—Darlene Kenney, Director of Brand Marketing
Comedy
Next week, we’re hosting a comedy show with Caleb Hearon, who we had the pleasure of working with on our upcoming film SWEETHEARTS. Caleb, along with a few of his friends, will be performing at our office, and we’re excited to be opening this show up to our lovely subscribers located in Los Angeles. If you’re interested, please fill out this form, and we’ll send you more information at the top of next week.
Film
There isn’t much to say that hasn’t already been gleefully laid forth in the viral marketing campaign for Universal and Blumhouse’s campy horror-comedy romp M3GAN (trailer here) but I’ll do my best. After setting the internet (see: Gay Twitter) ablaze in October with a trailer featuring a life-size American Girl doll android dancing to Taylor Swift and murdering innocent victims in the same breath, M3GAN finally hits theaters this weekend. The film follows Gemma (GET OUT’s Allison Williams), a roboticist at a toy company who creates a lifelike AI doll— M3GAN, short for “model 3 generative android"—to console her 8-year-old niece Cady after her parents die in a tragic car accident. Gemma finds herself unequipped to provide emotional support to Cady and increasingly relies on M3GAN to console and entertain her. But this is a horror-comedy, so naturally, M3GAN’s objective to protect Cady from emotional and physical harm begins to spiral out of control as the body count suspiciously starts piling up around Gemma and Cady. If you’re not a big horror fan, M3GAN might be the perfect stepping stone for you. The film carries a PG-13 rating and the set pieces and kills are executed with far more self-aware parody than genuine thrills. It’s an unapologetically absurd and weird film and all the more fun for it; watching it with a boisterous sold-out crowd last night made for the perfect return to theaters.
—Neal Mulani, Development Assistant
The first thing I learned about WHITE NOISE (trailer here), written and directed by Noah Baumbach, is that it is exceedingly ambitious. After all, the Netflix film is adapted from Don DeLillo’s so-called “unfilmable” 1985 novel of the same name—a book widely considered a cornerstone example of postmodern literature. Almost four decades later, Baumbach delivered a rather faithful interpretation of the book onto screen, together with frequent collaborators Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig. In all honesty, the film isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea (or: the girls that get it, get it), but in my opinion this is a well-conceived film that is at once clarifying and disorienting, darkly comedic and quirkily witty, satirical and relevant.
The story is set in 1984 and follows Jack Gladney (Adam Driver), a renowned professor and the head of the Hitler studies department. He lives an upper-middle-class life with his wife Babette Gladney (Greta Gerwig) and their four children, mostly from their previous marriages. Their seemingly peaceful and untouchable life is interrupted when an accident at the edge of the town causes an “Airborne Toxic Event,” forcing the family to evacuate. All the while, with the help of their anxiety-filled teenage daughter Denise, Jack starts to suspect that Babette is taking a mysterious medication in secret. The film clearly makes aesthetic choices, including busy, lyrical and intentionally rehearsed-sounding dialogue; colorful and beautifully-structured cinematography; and a final sequence that you could never expect. In a not-so-straightforward way, the story touches on a broad range of themes including death, American consumerism, technology as a distraction and more. Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig and Don Cheadle (who plays Adam’s colleague) all deliver incredible performances. In the end, it’s a film that depicts a lot and yet leaves a ton of room for the audience to ruminate. Much like the book.
—Mimi Li, Development Coordinator
Don't sleep on PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH (trailer here)! Over the holidays, I took my nephew to see this children’s film and was surprised by how invested I became considering I was not even aware there had been a PUSS IN BOOTS 1.
I was also surprised that a children's movie could tell a story about accepting one’s mortality while remaining fun and engaging, even for the seven-year-old I was with! On top of the seemingly morbid theme, the animation is darker and edgier than a typical blockbuster kids film. It did a great job of introducing gross-looking characters that grew on me over time. For sure, 5 stars!
—Lisa Ramon, Manager, Television
TV
Over the holiday break, I discovered a hidden gem in the form of the British series EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT LOVE (trailer here) on Peacock. Based on Dolly Alderton’s memoir of the same name and set in 2012 London, the series follows four women navigating their 20s after moving into their first big-city flat. Think of the complex female friendships and millennial woes of GIRLS juxtaposed with the aspirational escapism of EMILY IN PARIS. The music and fashion choices are perfectly specific to the twenty-something experience of early 2010s London, but the characters’ journeys are resonant to anyone who has experienced a life stage that involved having a lot of fun while learning tough lessons along the way. Be sure to check this one out—I promise it’s worth your time!
—Dustin Sloane, Coordinator, Television
If you’re into heists, chaos, captivating characters, personal experiences, and a mind-bending story, then KALEIDOSCOPE (trailer here) is for you. The miniseries follows a master thief Leo Pap (Giancarlo Esposito) and a crew of thieves attempting to heist $7 billion dollars out of an “unbreakable” safe. The Netflix series bends the television format into a “choose your own adventure” show, with every episode designed to be a starting point. The entire show can be viewed in over 5,000 ways, but one caveat is that Netflix strongly recommends the ‘White” episode be viewed last, as that is the only one that covers the actual heist. Each episode is named after a color, and takes place at different times leading up to and after the heist. And obviously, the internet is all over it. My TikTok and Twitter feeds have been filled with people throwing out preferred (but definitive) viewing orders. In each episode, you learn more about an individual character's motivations as well as our stellar lead Leo Pap, painting a more clear picture and leaving you wanting to fill in the gaps! Give this one a watch, either by picking an order you find online, jumping in randomly like me (I started with Red, and have really enjoyed it!), or starting with the order Netflix recommends. No matter your path, you can’t go wrong!
—Jackson Ingraham, Executive Assistant
Music
Krooked Kings was deeply my jam over winter break. The band is also currently blowing up in the indie world with its unique blend of light indie-rock instruments and indie-pop vocals. Two of the band's standout tracks off their first album THE COMEDOWN are 96 SUBARU and BIRD SCOOTER, which showcase catchy melodies and clever lyrics. 96 SUBARU, the instant breakout song, is now getting thrown into almost every playlist I have. This past fall, Krooked Kings followed up with two killer singles: LYING THROUGH THEIR TEETH and CARBON MONOXIDE both of which have a classically fresh take on a more somber, indie atmosphere. If you need a new no-skip indie band, check them out—starting with the four songs I just mentioned!
—Jackson Ingraham, Executive Assistant
Have a great weekend! And as always, be kind, stay healthy, and stay creative. ツ
