Dear friends,
Both picks this week are coming-of-age stories set in the same region of the world: the movie is from Scotland while the show is from Ireland.
THE TOP MOVIE OF THE WEEK
Get Duked!
📺 New on Amazon Prime everywhere today; 🍅 rating: 91%
If you liked Shaun of the Dead, you will love this crazy comedy-horror. It’s about four boys who go on a camping competition in the Scottish Highlands.
Their competition is part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award, a youth program created by Prince Philip to introduce “delinquents” to the wild and “reform” them (the program exists in real life). Hilarity and horror ensue when the kids realize they are being hunted by … a murderous Prince Philipp. Originally titled Boys in the Wood.
THE TOP TV SHOW OF THE WEEK
Moone Boy
📺 On Amazon Prime U.S.; 🍅 rating: 91%
Actor Chris O'Dowd (below) had a special childhood growing up in rural Ireland. So he wrote, created, and starred in this sitcom based on his experiences. He plays his childhood imaginary friend.
Moone Boy is a funny and easy show, winner of an Emmy for Best Comedy in 2013 when it first aired. The setting in the late 80s makes everything better.
Readers’ top picks
Indian Horse on Netflix is our readers’ favorite movie. It’s the story of an indigenous Hockey player who survived the residential school system in Canada.
Immigration Nation on Netflix is still our readers’ favorite TV show. It’s an in-depth look at the U.S. immigration system.
New titles worth your time
No noteworthy new titles on Netflix this week.
A wonderful documentary called Other Music about the New York record store of the same name was added to Amazon Prime this week.
Great titles that will soon expire
Many classics leave Netflix this end of the month on Monday, August 31st: Clueless, Jerry Maguire, The Karate Kid (the original), V for Vendetta, and the 9/11 biographical thriller United 93.
The 1990 thriller Christopher Walken thriller King of New York leaves Amazon Prime this Sunday, August 30th.
The next day, Monday the 31st, Tim Burton’s Big Fish, Brad Pitt’s 3:10 to Yuma, Moonstruck, and Rain Man all leave Amazon Prime.
The Newsflash: The ill-conceived “Cuties” controversy
The French Netflix movie Cuties (out Sept 9th) prompted an unusual news cycle that mixed QAnon conspiracy theories with petitions from parents associations calling for the film to be banned.
Cuties, a statement on the sexualization of little girls, didn’t meet any criticism in Sundance where it won a directing award, or in its home country of France where it has already premiered. But things went south when the Netflix poster came out:
But while the movie has generated controversy in the U.S., many activists and journalists in France are calling viewers to see past the poster (which has been removed by Netflix since) and see Cuties for the unique perspective it offers.
French journalist Jennifer Padjemi wrote this article which articulates the misconception around the movie far better than I ever could:
In fact, movies like Cuties, the story of a Black Muslim girl, are much needed in France, a country where primary school programs in 2020 look like this:
That’s it for today, I hope there is something in there for you.
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The next edition will be in your inbox on Friday, September 4th.
Until then,
Bilal Zou, founder [bilal@agoodmovietowatch.com]
Carried with the support of the Creative Europe Program – MEDIA.
Rabbit Hole was damn good acting. M-BCP for the rec