My July in Media

I didn't watch a lot of movies in July, but I liked all of the ones that I did! I also watched...so much TV.

First, the movies:

Thoroughbreds
The moral of this movie: Beware of Horse Girls. But for real, this is very good. A lot of times when I watch indie films (even ones I really wanted to see, like this one), they end up disappointing me because they're too slow or too weird or both. This is a movie that proves you don't need a lot of action to get menace across in a way that's satisfying. And it proves that we should be excited about Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy and sad about Anton Yelchin.

Monster
Ever so often, I see performances that are so good, I'm angry they weren't rewarded. Thankfully, Charlize Theron won Best Actress for Monster. As Aileen Wuornos, she knocks every scene out of the park. Sure, the makeup is impressive, but it's Theron herself that sells you Aileen. And on that note: Hollywood has a bad habit of glamorizing serial killers, but this film doesn't do that. Roger Ebert (the GOAT) wrote, "There are no excuses for what she [Ailene] does, but there are reasons, and the purpose of this movie is to make them visible." Bad things happen to people and sometimes people do bad things.

The Farewell*
This movie does a good job of balancing emotion. It's very funny, but will also make you cry and miss your grandma(s) and maybe have an existential crisis about whether you're a good grandchild. Also Awkwafina, a great comedy actor, kills it in this more dramatic role.

Vox Lux
I was prepared to dislike this movie – I wasn't prepared to like it. But I did. There were several moments in the first 20 or so minutes when I literally gasped, I spent the whole movie unsure of where it might take me and I feel like there's probably a lot that could be taken from it. And above all, it reminded me what I already knew: Natalie Portman is an Actor with a capital A.

The Crush
Ok, listen. Is this movie "good"? No, of course not. It's about Teenage Alicia Silverstone playing an even younger teenager who's trying to get dashing-in-glasses Cary Elwes to sleep with her and when he won't, trying to ruin his life. Is that premise tremendously entertaining? Yes, absolutely. I love a good obsession movie, especially if it's got that '90s VHS grit to it. Also, as I have said many times, Alicia Silverstone had perfect hair from 1993-1995, and this movie reminded me what a great Scream Queen she could've made.

In the TV realm, July was a good month for new seasons of shows I love. Stranger Things 3 was so good, and I found it especially interesting how much gorier it was than previous seasons. Also, I love Steve and Robin. Queer Eye season four had a few missteps but was ultimately still good. And the final season of OITNB tried to do a lot and made a couple of Questionable choices, but I've definitely seen worse last seasons. I also started watching Veronica Mars, which I love (I've just started season three) and The L Word, which is super soapy but interesting.

I finished Good Omens, which remained good through the end, and started Red, White & Royal Blue, which is very sweet and funny and surprisingly racy. Also read this Vanity Fair piece about why When Harry Met Sally... is the GOAT.

July was also a good month for music! I saw a new-to-me pop-punk band called Telethon in what was definitely one of my weirdest show-going experiences: at a warehouse off the highway that shared a parking lot with an adult video store. V punk rock. I also saw Alice Cooper and Halestorm on a Monday night in the suburbs, which would've been lit enough but then Joe Perry appeared. Definitely not how I expected to first experience seeing Joe play live, but certainly something I'll never forget.

Also, I'm seeing Carly Rae Jepsen on August 3, and I couldn't be more jazzed.

Finally, I listened to Muna's "Number One Fan" and Mika's "Ice Cream" approximately one million times this month on my walks to work as I tried to ignore the truly obscene amount of sweating I've been doing. Texas in July, y'all.