A racoon, a hitman and Seth Rogen walk into a newsletter

Catching up with some good movies and TV

I returned from vacation a few weeks back, refreshed and ready to really tear into the film criticism thing. 

And then, I had jury duty. 

In the middle of last week, I had to report to court in Detroit for jury selection, only the second time in my nearly 44 years that my name had been pulled. The previous time, I sat around until mid-afternoon and then was dismissed. I assumed that would be the case this year; instead, less than two hours after I arrived at the building, I was summoned to a courtroom and spent the next several hours in jury selection. By the end of the day, I was seated through a case that would take up the next three days. 

Jury duty was a fascinating and enriching experience that I hope to never do again. It’s deeply inconvenient. With no real idea of how long the case would go, I had to put work on hold and assume that my wife could make it home from work each day to get the kids off the bus (usually, I work from home a few days each week) The vast majority of jury duty is spent waiting. Waiting to be chosen, waiting to be seated, sitting through an hour of testimony before having to wait another hour or longer for the lawyers and judge to hash things out. I thought our trial would be over on Thursday; it concluded just as the courthouse was closing, so we had to come back and deliberate on Friday, which took several hours. 

And yet, it’s an experience I’m grateful for. It was interesting to see how the system worked and be a part of the process. And I was actually very moved by the time I spent with my fellow jury members. We made up an eclectic array – Christians, Muslims, people of different races and sexual orientations and identities – and we were able to discuss, debate and even disagree civilly as we discussed our verdict. It’s easy to become cynical about these things, but it meant a lot to sit in a room with individuals so different from myself and have these conversations. In the end, we convicted the defendant and I wasn’t prepared for the subdued feeling that would come with that. There were some tears in our jury room. And maybe that’s encouraging. 

I wasn’t prepared, however, for how mentally and emotionally draining the experience would be. I returned home pretty wiped out, and spent whatever mental energy I had either trying to follow up on work items or take care of the kids. So, that’s the reason there was no newsletter last weekend. But we’re going to start ramping up now. And first things first, here are my thoughts on a few different items…

‘Guardians 3’ is the first good Marvel movie in years 

I finally caught up with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 shortly after our vacation. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous. James Gunn’s GOTG films are my favorite entries in the MCU — on any given day, I can’t decide whether I like the first or second better — but it’s been awhile since I’ve flat-out loved a Marvel film (Spider-Man: No Way Home is the last one I totally flipped for, but you may have to go all the way back to Avengers: Endgame). And maybe it’s just the fact that I was out of town the week after the film’s debut and not keeping track of my usual film and social media sites, but response to this one seemed a bit muted. 

But I really liked Gunn’s trilogy capper, and thought it was a worthy sendoff for Marvel’s most dysfunctional ad hoc family. Centering on Rocket, the genetically modified space racoon, is a great call, finally giving this side character a chance to shine and anchoring the film to an emotional center instead of playing setup for future Marvel movies or more multiverse shenanigans. 

Gunn’s biggest asset has always been the way he’s able to make you care for his abrasive characters and his knack for lacing the story with a good dose of humor. The balance here is a bit trickier; this is a darker Marvel film than we usually see, and the animal abuse might be a bridge too far for some viewers (I kind of regret having my son with me to see how they dispatched this particular villain). As such, the humor sometimes clashes with the seriousness and stakes in a way that was never a problem for the first two films. 

But it’s nice to see a Marvel film that’s centered only on this group of characters, with no callbacks to other corners of the megafranchise. Heck, it’s great to see a Marvel film that’s actually about something; more than just one final flight with the Guardians, it’s a movie that tackles concepts of inhumanity and who’s worthy of dignity, and its themes of empathy are pretty potent, even if they’re sometimes at odds with the violent requirements of the genre. And this cast continues to be the best ensemble in the MCU. Pratt gets to go fairly emotional in one sequence, and Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff are both very funny (I know Drax received a bit of a personality transplant between the first two films, but I will never not find his denseness funny). Karen Gillan is given a bit more to do, and I think the way that Zoe Saldana is re-integrated as another version of Gamora is interesting. 

Gunn’s just really good at this. After Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Quantumania, it’s nice to see a Marvel film that actually looks good, as if they spent the right amount of time on special effects and coloring. The music is on point as always, and there’s a hallway melee that is likely the best action sequence in the MCU. You could complain that the movie pulls its punches in the end, not delivering on the major deaths the trailer hinted at. But who really cares? The ending is moving in its own way, bringing finality to this ensemble but also leaving the door open for future adventures. If Gunn brings this skill and heart over to DC – in a way that works a bit better than The Suicide Squad – I think we may have a comic book movie arms race on our hands. 

‘Barry’ ends in denial 

Spoilers for the series finale of Barry follow. 

In my last email, I talked a little bit about the HBO show Barry and the interest its title character took in religion in the series’ back half. This past weekend, HBO aired the series finale of Bill Hader and Peter Berg’s dark comedy, and I was mostly pleased with where the show ended up.

There was never going to be an ending that found Barry walking off into the sunset arm in arm with Sally. Barry was too smart for that; this was a show about a troubled man who was in denial about the wrongness of his actions, and it often framed him as another embodiment of toxic masculinity. After Barry was sent to prison at the end of season 3, it seemed apparent to me that he wouldn’t be alive when the series wrapped up. 

But still, the way in which Barry met his fate shocked me (almost) as much as it did the character. Having totally escaped the massive shootout at NoHoBal, Barry thinks he’s escaped the death that would redeem him in the eyes of his son. When Sally, who’s by then confessed her secrets, tells Barry he needs to confess so that Gene doesn’t go to jail for his crimes, Barry protests (I chuckled at his matter-of-fact response “I don’t think that’s God’s plan for me.”). Sally takes their son and leaves, and Barry heads to Gene’s house, where he thinks she’s gone. Upon realizing she’s left and that he is alone, Barry decides to turn himself in – but not before Gene comes out of the shadows and puts one bullet in Barry’s chest and another in his head. “Oh wow,” indeed. 

It’s really the best ending we could have hoped for for the character. He has enough time to realize the wrongness of his actions. His family is safe. But it’s still a shocker, and it sets in motion the series’ two very darkly comedic final twists. First, Gene, by killing Barry, has lost his alibi, and he’ll go to prison for the crime of killing his girlfriend (of which he’s innocent). And second, the story will be immortalized in a film that reveals Barry is seen as a hero mixed up in his drama teacher’s illegal doings. In the end, Barry is hailed a hero and buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The public narrative is that Gene is the monster, Barry is the innocent man. Gene has the fame – or infamy – he always wanted; Barry’s son gets served a narrative that his father was a good man. For a show that’s been obsessed with the way we try and spin our stories to avoid our truths and their consequences, it’s a fitting ending, and one that’s grown on me since I watched the episode. 

But I have to admit the way those final five minutes or so played out left me a bit underwhelmed at first. Narratively, it’s a fine choice and it fits the series’ themes. But I would have rather that Sally received the emotionally cathartic ending or at least played a part it it, if only to honor Sarah Goldberg’s fantastic performance over four seasons. Their son, John, is a character we only met a few episodes earlier and, in fact, the John we see in the finale is now a teenager, played by a different actor. I don’t quite know that the show has the emotional impact it’s aiming for when it anchors that weight to an actor who’s only appeared in the series’ final moments. That said, narratively, it works, even if the emotion doesn’t land the way I think they intended. 

But that’s okay, because the emotional highpoint of the finale – potentially the series – was the tense standoff between Stephen Root’s Fuches and Anthony Carrigan’s NoHo Hank. The staredown behind them, filmed almost entirely in tight closeups, gave both actors the chance to show how capable they were. Carrigan’s Hank, once the funniest character on the show, is amazing as Hank bursts into tears rather than admit his complicitness in the death of his lover, Cristobal. And in admitting he’s a “man with no heart,” Root finds Fuches’ humanity and gives him an admirable and graceful exit. Hank dies clutching the hand of a statue of his lover; Fuches does the right thing by Barry and escapes into the night. It’s fantastic; and if you’d told me several years ago that Stephen Root could play a fearsome killer, I would have laughed in your face. It’s also worth noting that the shootout at NoHoBal is terrifically directed by Hader, a fast, brutal one-shot that lingers on the after effects and earns every wince. 

Barry was one of the great HBO shows of the last few years (thankfully, its other great comedy, The Righteous Gemstones, returns in a few weeks), and it’s positioned Bill Hader as even more of a talent to watch. He was always a favorite of mine on screen, both in comedic roles (anything he did on SNL) and the occasional dramatic ones (his work in The Skeleton Twins is very affecting). But he’s also revealed himself to be a smart writer and a hell of a director. I’m sad Barry is over, if only because I won’t have the opportunity to watch Hader, Root, Goldberg, Carrigan and Henry Winkler every week. But I’m so curious about where Hader goes from here. 

Falling in love with ‘Platonic’

Few people delight me more than Seth Rogen. 

I first noticed him in his supporting role in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, a movie I still maintain is possibly the greatest comedy of this century. I doubled back after and caught Freaks and Geeks and Knocked Up, and decided I’d follow the gravel-voiced, pot-loving funnyman anywhere. Aside from a few exceptions (I’m not a fan of Sausage Party), I haven’t been disappointed. There’s something about his affability that makes me laugh whenever he shows up on screen, and he’s also acquitted himself well as a serious actor in films like Steve Jobs and a writer-director, particularly with This is the End (which I actually watched right after the show I’m about to discuss). 

Platonic reunites Rogen with his Neighbors co-star Rose Byrne and that film’s director, Nicolas Stoller, who co-created the Apple TV+ program with Franscesca Delbanco. Rogen and Byrne play a man and woman who were best friends in their twenties – they were so close that he was the maid of honor at her wedding – and who reunite several decades later after he’s divorced and she’s happily married with young kids. The show follows them as they get into a series of wacky mishaps. 

There’s nothing complicated here. As Jeff Cannata on The Filmcast put it, it’s a “rom-com without the rom.” It’s not a show where Byrne is trapped in a loveless marriage or Rogen is smitten and we’re waiting for them to fall in love. It’s simply just fun to watch them hang out – his fun-loving brewmaster with her more buttoned-downed suburban mom – get in messes and make each other better in the process. 

True, I’ve only seen three of the 10 episodes, but there’s nothing to suggest that this is going to try to paint the two as an item or wade into heavy waters. It’s just a series of shenanigans, and they are very fun to watch with actors who have the chemistry of Rogen and Byrne. I enjoyed them quite a bit in Neighbors, and they’re both a lot of fun here. Byrne’s a very funny actor, and she made me laugh nearly as much as Rogen. Both actors play to their personas; there’s not much stretching here, and the show is content just to watch them bounce off each other. And, so far, it’s a lot of fun. 

It’s actually refreshing. As much as I love Barry and (the first two seasons of) Ted Lasso, I’ve missed comedies that have no higher purpose than to make us laugh (even Shrinking, a show I really enjoyed, tackles the topics of death and loss). Maybe Platonic will reveal itself to have hidden depths and soul-searching in later episodes. But if so, I’ll honestly be a bit disappointed. In those first three episodes, I’ve had a blast watching two very funny people acknowledge the very weird reality of waking up one day to realize you’re in your 40s and no longer fun. I’ve often thought back to my days with my friends from my twenties and wondered “when did I become so lame”? Platonic lets you live vicariously through these two, and so far, I’m enjoying it quite a bit. 

‘The Little Mermaid’ doesn’t flounder 

I had a few other things I wanted to discuss here, but I’m already going long, so I’ll save them for another day. But I did want to pass along a link to my review of The Little Mermaid over at CinemaNerdz. I’ve made it no secret that I can’t stand most of these live-action Disney remakes, and I don’t think Rob Marshall’s take on the 1989 musical is any less creatively bankrupt than the others. But I was quite taken by Halle Bailey’s lead performance, and I think the music by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman still work. It’s not great, but it’s probably my favorite of these. Read my review at CinemaNerdz.