Sunday coffee: Ted Lasso, Lightyear, What We Do in the Shadows
Plus, what's in store for this newsletter in November!
We’re doing Saturday coffee on a Sunday this week.
Happy Halloween, everyone! I hope everyone is gearing up for a spooky, fun holiday. Our kids have had a variety of Halloween celebrations already this year, but they’re looking forward to the main event, with my son going as the Mandalorian and my daughter as JoJo Siwa.
This has been a great October, and I’m ending it feeling invigorated about the opportunities for film writing. When I started this newsletter back in September 2020, it was going to be a collect-all for the pieces I wrote elsewhere, and an excuse to write about film and TV, but also about faith, culture, politics, etc. Some time this year it shifted, and I realized I liked the opportunity to have a site with my own branding, my own space to write about film in the way I wanted. And so I committed this fall to throwing all of my creative energy in my off hours into this and the We’re Watching Here podcast (that one’s still a bit delayed, just due to scheduling).
Having that shift take place in October was a great opportunity. It provided a genre at the ready to discuss, and there was no shortage of interesting films to dive into. As a result, I’ve written more about movies in the past month than I have in a long time, and I’ve seen more people coming to this newsletter, including many new subscribers. Welcome, thank you, and we’re going to have a lot of good stuff coming up in November (we’ll get to that in a moment).
But as we do from time to time, we’re going to spend some time this Sunday morning sitting back with our coffee and bagels and talking about TV, film trailers, books and more. Let’s get started.
Ted Lasso goes deeper in season two
I tend to watch TV at a slower pace than most people, mainly due to the fact that I watch so many movies, television just gets pushed back in the routine. My wife and I are only halfway through Only Murders in the Building, I have not seen frame one of Squid Game, and it was only this past week when I finally finished Ted Lasso season two.
The Jason Sudeikis Apple TV+ comedy was my favorite television program of last year, such a great surprise. I’m already a sucker for the underdog sports formula, and if you toss in a heavy dose of optimism and kindness, you can create something really memorable. I’m glad to see this show so embraced both by critics and viewers; it’s a special show, and I think we’re at a time when our love of antiheroes, irony and cynicism is ready to pushed back.
I’ve seen some complain that season two of Ted Lasso was a massive disappointment. I don’t get that. I think this sophomore season was definitely different than last; the fish-out-of-water and underdog elements were pulled back a bit. And for audiences used to bingeing an entire season in the day, maybe the weekly release of a show that — for the first few episodes — seemed a bit too happy and conflict-free could have been frustrating. But if you were paying attention, you could see Bill Lawrence and company teasing out ideas that the show would ultimately deal with, creating a season of television that is funny and warm-hearted while also being a thoughtful treatment of depression, insecurity and mental illness.
Ted Lasso may have started as a Jason Sudeikis vehicle, but it’s quickly become one of the best ensembles on TV (or streaming, whatever we’re calling this these days). Brett Goldstein, in particular, stole his every scene as grumbling swear machine Roy Kent, matched with a great romantic and comedic partner in Juno Temple’s Keeley. Brendan Hunt’s stoic pal Coach Beard got more to do this season, including a memorable episode centered around his dark night of the soul, and it’s phenomenal, minimalist work. And I enjoyed how deftly the Nate storyline was handled, building slowly and helping us understand how pride and resentment can curdle a man.
True, this season was a bit messier than the first, a victim of having so many great cast members, generous writers and lofty ambitions. I think bringing Sam into more focus this season was a great choice, but I wish they’d either chosen to either focus on his relationship with Rebecca or the complications that arise when he has a chance to return to Nigeria to play. The Sam-Rebecca romance was sweet, but the show seemed oblivious to the ethical ramifications and it seemed abandoned too quickly; likewise, the show also rushed through the Nigerian plotline, first dropping the story about Sam angering sponsor Dubai Air and then bringing Sam Richardson aboard with two episodes left, only to turn him into a cartoon in the final episode (that said, his temper tantrum was a comedic highlight).
But if it’s messy, so what? Ted Lasso continues to be a funny show, both visually and in its dialogue. But it’s also the rare show that can be warm-hearted and kind without feeling false. The titular character could easily become a caricature, but Sudeikis and the writers have always made sure we understand that there is real pain behind Ted’s positivity; his outlook is partly a coping mechanism. Bringing in a psychiatrist this season was a clever way to delve into that, and I appreciate that the show never overplayed it and instead let the character developments happen naturally.
There have been whispers that next season will be the final one for the show, which was pitched with a three-season arc. I can’t imagine Apple TV+ will let their biggest and most critically acclaimed show go without some sort of negotiations. But if it is the final season, they’ve set it up for an interesting arc, and I’m eager to see where it all heads.
If you’re enjoying this newsletter, can I ask a favor? Share it with a movie-loving friend of yours. I want to broaden this conversation and bring more people aboard, and would love to welcome new subscribers.
Is Pixar skirting creative bankruptcy with Lightyear?
In 2009, I wiped the tears from my eyes as Up ended and thought, “how wonderful to be going to the movies at a time when Pixar is at the top of its game. How long can they keep this up?”
That was at the end of a three-film run that included Ratatouille, WALL-E and Up. The next year, Pixar would release Toy Story 3, which would buck conventional wisdom and deliver a third movie that hit just as hard emotionally as its predecessors. But then, the wheels began to come off,as the studio stumbled through a mess of ill-advised sequels (Cars 2, Monsters University) and original films like Brave and The Good Dinosaur that lacked the originality, wit and storytelling brilliance of their best films.
In the last decade, Pixar has been hit and miss. Occasionally, the studio can still release a masterpiece, like Inside Out or Soul. While there have been few out-and-out disasters, more than likely we get good but forgettable fare like Onward or this year’s Luca. A Pixar movie is still worth seeing (and I wish Disney would realize they’re worth seeing on the big screen, not being tossed to Disney+), but it’s less of an event than it has been in the past. Part of that is just what happens when you’re cranking out two movies a year; some of it just has to do with what seems to be a loss of creative energy in Pixar’s ranks.
But Lightyear marks the first time I’ve looked at a Pixar trailer and thought, “I have zero interest in whatever this is.” Even when it was announced last year, with Chris Evans’ infamous tweet about this being based “on the real person the toy was based on,” the project seemed bizarre to me. Do Toy Story fans really want an origin story for a fictional character who inspired a fictional toy? I thought maybe it would be a reality-grounded, The Right Stuff-style Pixar space film, which could have been interesting.
But no. This appears to be a sci-fi tale that takes place in some sort of gritty future...which makes me wonder how that leads into a toy that a regular old kid loved in sunny 1995? This early look seems to lack the fun and energy of the best Pixar and just be a middling sci-fi adventure that takes place in a rusty-looking dystopian future. And I can’t get around the idea that this is just Disney looking around at what further IP they can exploit, realizing they tapped the Toy Story well one too many times, but still grasping at straws for one more attempt. It seems nakedly mercenary for Pixar, and it’s a bit disappointing to think that the studio that gave us WALL-E and Monsters Inc. is now reduced to this.
But who knows? Pixar has surprised me before. I remember thinking Finding Nemo looked like kids’ fluff and that the concept of Up sounded a bit too cornball, and they’re now among my favorite Pixar movies. But this one just has me baffled. We’ll find out in summer 2023.
What We Do in the Shadows continues to slay
I first saw Taika Waititi’s vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows on a laptop screener on a Sunday afternoon. I knew next to nothing about the movie, except that it had received some good notices out of film festivals. I sat on the couch, headphones on, howling throughout the movie, which went on to become one of my favorite films of the decade and one of the funniest films I’ve seen, period. The way Waititi and his cast blend the supernatural and gothic with deadpan humor and a focus on minutiae never fails to make me laugh, and it’s the rare movie that gets funnier with each viewing.
So I was naturally skeptical when FXX announced a TV version with a completely different cast, taking place not in the film’s New Zealand but in Staten Island, New York. But as the third season closed this week, I think the TV version of What We Do in the Shadows rivals the movie for its creativity and use of gruesome gore and deadpan, stupid humor.
I don’t quite know if this third season was the show’s best; it’s hard to top the reveal of the global Vampiric Council near the end of season one — which featured a cavalcade of cameos, including the cast of the film — or the delight of the entire Jackie Daytona episode. But this season, the show was more ambitious than it has been in the past, and a bit deeper (although not too deep; this is still a show utterly in love with gross-out gags, sex jokes and poop puns). Putting Nandor and Nadja in charge of the local Vampiric Council led to some great humor and an opportunity to deepen the show’s mythology, and I loved the weird friendship between Matt Barry’s Lazlo and energy vampire Colin Robinson (which led to a surprising and disgusting twist in the final moments of the season’s penultimate episode). And Guillermo continues to be the heart of the show, this year growing a bit more backbone and reveling in the smug power he holds over his vampire friends.
The show isn’t for everyone; it can get quite crude, and it often uses gore and graphic violence as a punchline (this is a show about vampires, after all). But so did the movie. And for a half hour every week, my wife and I have enjoyed sitting around and catching up with all the absurdity. I’m sad we have to wait another year for season four, but I’ll be there when they crawl out of their coffins again.
Book Report
Really quick, I want to hit on two books I finished recently.
Last year, I started a Halloween tradition of reading a book of short horror stories during October. Last year was Stephen King’s Night Shift; this year, I decided to keep it in the family by reading a book by King’s son, Joe Hill, a respected horror novelist in his own right. 20th Century Ghosts definitely shares some similarities with King’s work; Hill has a love for pulp and the supernatural, and there are certain stories (You Will Hear the Locust Sing comes to mind) that recall King’s ability to combine familiar stories, blue-collar reality and horror. And Hill shares his dad’s struggle with ending a tale (where King runs on a bit too long, many of Hill’s stories end abruptly). But Hill also seems to have a touch more of the literary in some of his works, and there are stories here that range from beautiful (the titular story and Pop Art) to the horrifying (In the Rundown, The Black Phone) and even the surreal. My favorite might be Abraham’s Boys, about the children of Van Helsing, and I know Black Phone has its fans, as well a movie coming out next year (I thought the story could use a bit more fleshing out, so I’m eager to see what the movie does with that). I’m eager to read more from Hill; he definitely belongs in the family business.
Sherry Turkle’s Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age had been sitting in my Kindle library for years, ever since I first encountered some of Turkel’s research in a New Media class in grad school. I finally cracked it open this summer and just finished. The book is quite the tome, but it also might be the most essential thing I’ve read all year. Turkle examines how digital communication, particularly via phones and social media, has affected our ability to have real conversations and the impact it’s had on our families, love lives, internal lives, education, work and more. It’s a sobering, eye-opening work, and I have to imagine that since it was published in 2015, our situation has only grown more dire, particularly as we’ve come to depend on phones and screens for connection in a pandemic age.
A big theme of this year for me has been reconsidering my use of social media and whether the technology is as neutral as I’d argued. As we learn more about the Facebook leaks and our country becomes more divided, I have a niggling suspicion these technologies may do more harm than good, and it would be wise for us all to re-evaluate our use and support of them. Turkle’s book just confirmed the dread I’ve been feeling over the years about this.
What’s Coming in November
Alright! We’ve come to the end. The bagels are eaten, the coffee is drained. And like I said, October was a big month for this newsletter; easily my busiest and most fulfilling since I started this endeavor 13 months ago. I hope you enjoyed it and that looking back on Stephen King adaptations and slasher movies lent some joy to your Halloween preparations.
As we head into a new month, my plan is to keep the productivity up, but we’re going to venture away (for the most part) from horror. Throughout November, I’m going to be checking in on films I’ve missed out on earlier in 2021. I’m going to keep checking out new releases. And we’re going to start a new series at the end of the week: Franchise Fridays, in which I go film by film through beloved franchises. We’re going to kick things off by keeping a foot in the supernatural with a look back at Ghostbusters and its sequels, which will take us to the release of the new film. After that, we’ll be logging back into the Matrix.
Again, thank you to everyone who reads and subscribes. We’ve got some great stuff in store for you!