This is a preview of our pop culture newsletter The Daily Beast’s Obsessed, written by editor Kevin Fallon. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox each week, sign up for it here.
It is Labor Day weekend, which I understand for normal people means a last chance to soak up the sun at the beach, indulge in one final hot-dog-and-hamburgers feast at a backyard barbecue, or take one more long-weekend trip before summer is over. Well, that sounds, in order: hot, too buggy, and very expensive.
So I invite you to partake in my tradition: Hole up in a dark room with the air conditioning cranking on high. Have your Uber Eats app open and ready for excessive usage. And make your way through a checklist of all the TV shows and movies you need to catch up on, because you were—cue the iconic Carrie Bradshaw gif—sooo busy this summer and missed them.
I am nothing if not a public servant, here to ensure you maximize your 20 hours a day spent unmoving from that one cozy corner of the couch. (Time is precious!) So here’s a rundown of all the things that delighted me this summer, in case it helps you personalize your own catch-up list. I do have to deliver a depressing warning: Some of these recommendations require leaving the home and going to a movie theater; at least you will still be in air conditioning.
To start off, What We Do in the Shadows is my favorite comedy on TV, and this season has been as epically funny as the four previous, flawless ones. It also is responsible for the moment that made me laugh the most: vampire Nadja (Natasia Demetriou), in her first time at a shopping mall, stopping at a pseudo-Build-a-Bear store to buy new clothes for her undead ghost dolly.
Delivered with a straight face to the attendant that helps her, Nadja says, “I am looking for the exact proportions of Venus herself when her pussy was serving witches tea, nipples so sharp they were on the Most Wanted list, and a taint that could sign its own check.” And then, when the confused attendant says she merely wanted to know which of the novelty hats were of interest, Nadja replies jubilantly: “Oh, the rainbow sombrero for sure!”
When it turned out that the current season of The Real Housewives of Orange County and the reboot of The Real Housewives of New York City were both serving all-time Bravo excellence, I looked to the heavens and wept with gratitude. This is the best season of OC in maybe a decade, courtesy of weekly unhinged meltdowns from the iconic Shannon Beador. And the new RHONY cast, mostly because each scene just features everyone in a state of bafflement over each other’s lives and behavior, has introduced a fresh, unusual dynamic to the Housewives universe. (Though if Sai complains about being hungry one more time…)
Obviously you’ve all seen Barbie, as I believe it was a legal requirement this summer that every citizen does. But it’s worth revisiting—it’s still in theaters and will be available digitally on-demand Sept. 5—for a million reasons, at least 900,000 of which I’m pretty sure we’ve already detailed at The Daily Beast’s Obsessed. Personally, I still can’t stop thinking about Ryan Gosling’s “thank you Barbie” line reading. (A runner-up in that regard is Issa Rae’s pronunciation of The Godfather.)
I can’t keep talking about the sex scenes in Red, White & Royal Blue and Passages without raising concerns about being some sort of pervert. So instead, I’ll say that Sarah Shahi’s comic relief performance in RW&RB had me gay-squealing, especially her rant to Prince Henry—“I want you chewing on a goddam crumpet by sunset. and if anyone sees you leaving this hotel I will Brexit your head from your body”—that kicks off with her calling him “Little Lord Fuckleroy.” And as for Passages, I share in my colleague Coleman Spilde’s preoccupation with Franz Rogowski’s wardrobe as Tomas. He can wear that midriff dragon tank top while ruining my life and putting heart in a blender, which I presume he’d then drink to further fuel his confusingly irresistible toxicity.
Past Lives, which is now available to rent on-demand, is one of those movies that emotionally recalibrates you (in a gorgeous way), with an award-worthy performance from Greta Lee. Theater Camp, which is in theaters now and on Hulu Sept. 14, is an absolute delight from beginning to end, with similarly award-worthy performances from Molly Gordon and Noah Galvin—should award groups ever deign to recognize pure comedy.
Being stressed out by The Bear, and then getting together with friends and family to talk about being stressed out by The Bear, has become one of my favorite summer traditions. And nothing gives me more pleasure than spending every waking moment talking about And Just Like That when it’s airing. Whether the show is good or not is besides the point. It’s good for my soul.
Finally, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Tom Cruise drive a motorbike off a cliff and parachute onto a moving train in the new Mission: Impossible, Harrison Ford ride a horse through the New York City subway in the new Indiana Jones, and that big bomb go boom (at the testing site, as a piece of cinema!) in Oppenheimer.
With any luck, this should keep you busy enough to ensure your skin doesn’t touch a single ray of sunshine this weekend. You’re welcome.
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