Hey there, folks! How’s life these days? Did you get the vaccine yet? And what are you spending your precious free moments on? Here’s a small sliver of what’s hot in the world of internet shows. Well… what’s garnering the most views, anyhow. Check it out, and give me your thoughts!
BRIDGERTON
A beautiful if pointless period drama set in the 1800s, about a wealthy English family and their jewel, the pretty debutante Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor). I know, I’m so late! But, can I just say, isn’t the timing just perfect on this one? The show has shot its stars out into the stratosphere—thanks to depression born of the pandemic and working from home. Online entertainment hasn’t been this important in our lives before. But how else are you gonna make yourself feel good? There’s only so far you can go with food before you’re full; there’s nowhere to go thanks to the frigid weather; and going out anywhere became so tiresome, something as simple as going to the store has turned into An Event. As for the gym—forget it. How are you going to force yourself to get out the house just so you can do hard physical labor for hour or so? Especially after you’ve just spent eight hours at virtual work. So that leaves us comfort shows like… Bridgerton.
It’s beautifully produced, marvelously acted (Jonathan Bailey and Phoebe Dynevor are good; but Rege-Jean Page could do with some acting lessons), with incredible set design and costumes and cinematography. It shows us how life was back then. We see the societal norms, what people belonging to various economic strata were concerned with, and so on, all portrayed as they relate to (mostly) the Bridgerton women. There’s also an alarming amount of the most stupid intrigue imaginable. Like, intrigue around whom a girl dances with at some idiotic ball. Seriously? Can you imagine living back then? And that’s exactly why watching this makes me feel fantastic. Because when I see just how trivial a woman’s worth was back then, I get really inspired to be far more than… well, a couch potato. We really do have the world at our feet! So what if we’re stuck at home. Temporarily. For a few more months. Or another year? Or two. Things are far better in the present! H*** yeah! Here’s the trailer:
MALCOLM AND MARIE (SHORT)
Damn. Could someone explain this one to me? Here you have two perfectly gorgeous—and amazingly talented—actors (Zendaya as Marie; John David Washington as Malcolm), lovely set design, equally lovely cinematography, and they’re arguing passionately about why the dude did not cast his hot girl in his greatly acclaimed film… and it is the most boring thing I’ve seen! I couldn’t believe it. I watched a few minutes in the beginning because I saw so many headlines about it (yes, I’m late again. I know). It seemed a bit slow, so I helped it along by skipping a few minutes. Nope, they’re still in the house, still arguing about the dude’s flick. Skipped another few minutes, and they’re still hanging out screaming at each other. Skipped another few minutes. Yep, still in the house arguing. Finally the girl began to curse. I actually got excited thinking she was gonna throw a dish or a plate or something. No such luck. Those are some very well-behaved people! He’s trying to get the f* away from her, so he walks out that really nice house. She follows him out. Now he’s trying really hard to have his drink and not throw it. More shouting. And that’s it! I did catch one thing, though: she’s mad he wanted to make the feature his, and not allow it to become some sort of collaboration between artists. She’s got a point, but (if you’ll permit me an aside) if I were in that dude’s shoes, there is no way I’d cast her. Making a film is a ton of work. The last thing you want is a diva screaming in your ear. Here’s the trailer:
F IS FOR FAMILY
Life as seen through the eyes of Bill Burr. In case you’re not aware, Bill Burr is an outspoken, annoying, but always hilarious comedian. In this Netflix show, we take an unadulterated look inside the head of Frank (as portrayed by Burr), a middle-aged man in the 1970s, ‘saddled’ with a family and various problems (that he contributes to). Next door lives a rock star DJ (Owen Wilson) who is, does, and has everything Frank lusts over. Whatever you may think the show is, it’s insanely funny, star-studded (Laura Dern, Sam Rockwell, Mo Collins, Vince Vaughn, Gary Cole, Justin Long, and Allison Janney among others), and very, very addicting. Check out the trailer:
And that’s it for this time. Tell me what you think—I’m always present… for you!
