"Uh, if it is to be said, so it be. So it is."
More Halloween movies, some shows about rich people, and a book that won't leave me alone.
Happy November! A bunch of shows I love have returned, plus it’s cold enough that I can once again enjoy the perfect blanket my aunt crocheted for me, so if you’re looking for me I will be on the couch with a cup of tea. Unless it’s daytime or early evening because I still have to work. Or nighttime because I do not sleep on my couch. Whatever.
MOVIES
Last newsletter I wrote a bunch of Halloween recommendations, figuring that you would not want to hear about them on November 1st. Of course immediately after sending that newsletter, I watched a bunch of Halloween movies and nothing else, so it’s November 1st and I’m going to recommend more Halloween movies.
If you told me a year ago that I would love a contract-obligation Adam Sandler movie, I would have been skeptical. But I am here to spread the word that Hubie Halloween (2020) is the Halloween movie we all deserve. Look, it’s obviously a stupid movie: there are projectile vomit jokes, Sandler does a voice that feels like it is a hair away from disability mockery, and it has the usual cast of Sandler friends that you maybe don’t love. But the plot is a solid and compelling mystery, there is goodness at the heart of it, and the rest of the cast features such lovable people as Tim Meadows, Maya Rudolph, Steve Buscemi, June Squibb, Shaquille O’Neal, and Sandler’s entire immediate family (cute).
Hubie Halloween feels like the holiday movie the Halloween season deserves. If you don’t like Sandler, you probably won’t like this movie, and that is fine. But if, like me, you grew up with his early movies playing constantly either on your actual TV screen or the screen inside your head, then this is a solid bet. It’s on Netflix.
Before I go on, I also wanted to say that I watched Malignant this weekend and it was just as stupid as Hubie Halloween. I also enjoyed it just as much. I won’t give anything else away. More stupid/fun movies in the future please! I’m so sick of franchises!
TELEVISION
I have so much to say about TV right now, especially since the Halloween newsletter means it has been A WHOLE MONTH. I’ll try to keep it short (and will probably fail) with a run-through of everything I’ve been watching.
Succession
Succession is back!!! Yeehaw! You are probably watching it, and if you are not, you need to start. There is no show that better represents North America right now: politically, economically, socially, culturally… It’s a brilliant satire and a remarkably constructed show. The music alone!
The new season started off a bit slow after season two’s bombshell ending. But last night’s episode, S03E03 “The Disruption,” felt like a return to form with anxiety-attack-inducing stakes and some really compelling character motivations. It’s powerful storytelling and I cannot overemphasize how great it is. ALSO Adrien Brody is a guest star in the next episode.
Million Dollar Listing
I promised I would bore you about this show, and now I am going to do exactly that. Feel free to scroll past.
About a month ago I was having one of my famous couch days, which are the days where I am too tired to do anything so I just stay on the couch and whine to myself about how lazy I am. While idly changing channels, I came across the newest episode of Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles, in which a man who plays music is trying to sell his house and then decides to host a concert during the open house without really asking for permission from the realtor. I was pretty much hooked right away. Right after that was a four-part special of Million Dollar Listing New York called “Ryan’s Renovation.” Ryan is apparently a realtor who is on the show, and he purchased and renovated a NYC brownstone that used to belong to Natalie Portman’s imaginary boyfriend Jonathan Safran Foer. The reno is kind of awful, as expected, especially since he ripped out all the built-in bookshelves Foer installed. Jail for Ryan.
Due to my dislike of Ryan, I haven’t watched a single episode of Million Dollar Listing New York. But Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles is, to me, a perfect show. The houses / clients are what you’d expect – usually overly gaudy / self-indulgent – but the realtors are ridiculous in exactly the way you want, which is to say that you laugh at them and scorn their wealth while secretly loving them and wanting to be their friends (except for Fredrik who is a transplant from MLD NY: another reason not to watch).
I honestly think I’m the only person I know who watches this show. I tweet about it and get zero likes. I don’t care. I love my stupid realtor show and specifically Josh Flagg, a 36 year old man who acts like a wealthy 70-year-old socialite. His grandmother, Edith Flagg, spied on Nazis in WWII, escaped the Holocaust, and went on to be the first person to import polyester to North America. She’s featured in earlier episodes of the show up until her death in 2014, which hits Josh very hard.
This show is exactly the rabbit hole I needed right now. Season 13 is currently airing and, since that is only one episode per week which is not NEARLY enough for me, I’ve been going back and watching previous seasons. (A word to the wise: it is not remotely watchable until season four.)
Taskmaster
Okay I will get to the point: Taskmaster is back and it’s amazing. Series 12 features Alan Davies, Desiree Burch, Guz Khan, Morgana Robinson and Victoria Coren Mitchell, and if you haven’t heard of some or all of these people, don’t worry because you will love them by the time the first prize task is done.
For those of you who have never seen or maybe even heard of Taskmaster, it’s a British game show that chooses five comedians/actors/presenters each season and makes them do a bunch of silly tasks that are almost always open-ended prompts designed to cause a lot of stress and confusion. For me this translates to some of the deepest belly laughs I’ve had watching anything ever. The format of the show is that the contestants gather in studio to watch the pre-recorded tasks and the “Taskmaster,” Greg Davies, judges them. Not only are his judgements often entirely subjective to the point of pettiness, he is also not even the actual taskmaster. His “assistant,” Alex Horne, is the creator of the show and inventor of all of the tasks. He wrote himself in as an assistant. The two have an odd relationship.
During the pandemic, Alex Horne & company decided to start uploading full, regionless episodes of the show to YouTube so people could watch it outside of the UK, and it exploded in popularity. It was honestly a godsend for Peter and I in a dark time, with special thanks to my sister Sara for recommending it. For some reason the channel has stopped hosting it online as of this season but if you are clever you can still find it without doing illegal things (feel free to ask me about this). Someone uploaded the first episode, though, so here you go:
BOOKS
Have you ever had a book that just won’t leave you alone? That feels like it’s following you around the house, like, “Why aren’t you reading me?” That for me has been Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, a book that I apparently enjoy reading yet don’t seem to ever be able to make myself pick up and read. I am looking forward to moving on from it, and I’ve decided to read some Toni Morrison. If you have any recommendations for books to start with, please let me know.
I don’t think I’d like it in the death pit
but I like this musical theme from Succession. It’s only ever played over scenes featuring the best character in the show, Cousin Greg.
Thanks for reading along. Thumbs up to you!
xo Emma