What to Watch
Chimp Empire on Netflix and Mrs. Davis on Peacock
Dear friends,
I saw Scream 6 in the theaters the other day and was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. Reader I have not seen the previous Scream films! I’m not a fan of the franchise nor of gore, but there was something about this installment’s self-awareness and unabashed love for the genre that endeared me to it. It’s a riot, and I wasn’t expecting this of all films to bring back my excitement for ~cinema~ but excited I am.
As always, I hope you have a nice weekend!
OUR TOP TV SHOW OF THE WEEK
Chimp Empire
On Netflix 🍅 rating—
Narrated by Mahershala Ali, Chimp Empire is a four-part series that takes a captivating closer look at the drama, dynamics, and surprising politics that goes on in the biggest chimpanzee community in the world. Set in the deep forest of Ngogo, Uganda, the docuseries gives us rare access to the tribes’ complex lives and ties to each other.
It shouldn’t be surprising how closely their society resembles ours (The Guardian calls the series “Succession but with apes”), but director James Reed gives this well-known fact a fresh spin by highlighting humanistic narratives and details. It’s enthralling through and through.
OUR TOP MOVIE OF THE WEEK
John Mulaney: Baby J
New on Netflix 🍅 rating: 85%
I wouldn’t call myself a die-hard fan, but I follow the comedy circuit. I know that John Mulaney is the SNL-writer-turned-stand-up-star who everyone used to love—up until allegations of him cheating with his wife surfaced, after which, he quickly became the butt of the joke instead of the conveyer of it. People seemed to turn on him overnight.
Now, I’m not here to report that he’s innocent or changed for the better. But I did happen to catch his comedy special on Netflix, and I have to say, it’s hard not to be swayed by Mulaney. In Baby J (a live recording of his performance in the Symphony Hall in Boston), he talks about his stint at rehab and his struggles with addiction, as well as his take on reinvention and being a new father. He brutally embraces the mess and turns it into relatable material and hilariously insightful anecdotes.
Mulaney is a compelling storyteller, a master at set-ups and pay-offs, and it’s a skill that’s present from start to end in this unskippable special.
Top picks outside of Netflix and Amazon Prime
📺 Mrs. Davis, Streaming on Peacock Premium | I’m not sure how to describe the new Peacock show Mrs. Davis, but trust me when I say there’s not a single thing like it at the moment. Set in a dystopian world run by an all-knowing, mind-controlling AI called Mrs. Davis, the show follows Simone (Betty Gilpin), a devoted nun who is out to destroy Mrs. Davis with the help of an underground resistance movement. It’s funny, fantastical, action-packed, and wholly absurd as it combines the spiritual with the technological, so if you like to be kept on your toes at all times, then this will be an enjoyable watch.
🎞️ Clock, Streaming on Hulu (Disney+ outside the US) | Our last pick for this weekend is the unnerving Clock, a psychological thriller about a woman who is pressured to fix her biological clock. Employing horror tropes like jumpscares and hallucinations (fair warning for the faint of heart), Clock smartly critiques a society hellbent on controlling women’s bodies.
New titles worth your time
The second season of the severely underrated Sweet Tooth is new on Netflix. It’s a post-apocalyptic drama that imagines a world where human-animal hybrids have started populating the Earth.
I missed this last week, but the fifth and final installment of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is now on Amazon Prime. Also new on the platform are The Accountant (to put on if you’re looking for a star-studded thriller) and Akeelah and the Bee (to put on if you have a nostalgic desire for good old-fashioned family dramas).
Great titles that will soon expire
On Netflix, the delightful family film Parenthood and the suspenseful crime drama Road to Perdition expire on April 30.
On Amazon Prime, April 30 is also your last chance to catch the enlightening documentary Food, Inc., the Iranian classic Children of Heaven, the South African award winner Tsotsi, and the death penalty film Dead Man Walking. On May 1, the British dark comedy Four Lions and the terrifying but urgent documentary Blackfish are also set to leave Prime.
That’s all for this week. This edition of the newsletter will be back on Friday, May 5.
Till then,
Renee