On the list this week: A great horror movie, a short-lived romantic comedy, and more.
‘Get Out’
Jordan Peele’s excellent directorial debut follows photographer Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya), a young, black man embarking on a trip to meet the parents of his white girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams). Chris is nervous, but Rose reassures him that her parents are actually quite progressive — in one of the movie’s best lines, she remarks that her father would vote for Obama a third time if he could. Sure enough, Rose’s parents, Dean (Bradley Whitford) and Missy (Catherine Keener) are friendly, if a bit obnoxious in their attempts to seem “woke.” But when their friends gather for a party, Chris starts to notice some strange behaviors. Get Out is a psychedelic thriller with an unsettling social subtext, and plenty of humor in the mix as well. It establishes Peele as one of the new generation of horror masters.
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‘Man Seeking Woman’ season 3
Tragically, the best comedy series on television are often the first ones canceled. Simon Rich’s deliciously surreal Man Seeking Woman is one recent example, but at least we got one last, brilliant season before it met its end. Whereas the first two seasons explore the difficulties of starting a relationship, with protagonist Josh Greenberg (Jay Baruchel) running through a succession of first dates and awkward flings, season 3 finds Josh engaged in a long-term relationship with Lucy (Katie Findlay). Episodes explore situations like meeting a significant other’s parents, or trying to ease into their friend group, but in the show’s typical fashion, these scenarios take bizarre turns. If the world never sees another new episode of Man Seeking Woman, at least the show went out at the top of its game.
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‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ season 12
Over more than a decade, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has managed to maintain a consistency that shows with half as many episodes fail to muster. And even after its 12th season, it still shows no signs of faltering. The series follows a group of “friends” called The Gang: Sociopathic pickup artist Dennis (Glenn Howerton), aspiring (but talentless) actress Dee (Kaitlin Olson), wannabe badass Mac (Rob McElhenney), businessman-turned-depraved-animal Frank (Danny DeVito), and janitor/paint sniffer Charlie (Charlie Day), the heart of the group. This is a band of awful people, and most episodes involve them ruining other people’s lives — or even their own — in pursuit of their goals.
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‘1922’
An adaptation of a Stephen King novella, 1922 follows a farmer named Wilfred James (Thomas Jane), whose guilt over his wife’s murder haunts him. In the beginning, James is content to live out his life on the farm, but his wife, Arlette (Molly Parker), inherits a tract of land and wants to sell it and move to the city. Disdainful of giving up his lifestyle to take up city life, Wilfred murders his wife and dumps her body in a well. Even if the cops don’t catch him, Wilfred’s guilt — or something worse — might. This is a tense, moody period piece, and Jane is impeccable as the gruff central character.
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‘Alias Grace’
If you enjoyed Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Netflix has its own Margaret Atwood adaptation, Alias Grace, to feed your hunger for dystopia. While The Handmaid’s Tale was a work of speculative fiction, Alias Grace is a fictionalized account of the true story of Grace Marks (Sarah Gadon), a maid in prison for a murder she does not remember committing. A group of sympathetic people hire Dr. Simon Jordan (Edward Holcroft) to help Grace work through her broken memories in hopes of proving her innocence. Alias Grace is a thrilling whodunnit, but also a grim portrayal of the social constructs that constrain women.
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