Best Picture comes down to two
Best Picture comes down to two
And beloved HBO anthology series returns
What to know
CODA wins the PGA, setting up a Best Picture horse race… We’ve got a nail-biter, folks! Though Belfast emerged early, throughout awards season, common wisdom has said Power of the Dog would win Best Picture. Yet, after a SAG and PGA win, CODA now seems neck-and-neck with the Jane Campion anti-anti-western. While The Power of the Dog is an impressive achievement, CODA is really connecting with people. Will CODA draw the growing international voting bloc away from Power of the Dog? How will the preferential ballot affect the outcome? We’ll find out THIS SUNDAY! 🤟
True Detective returning for season 4 from Issa López and Barry Jenkins… López will write, Jenkins will exec produce. Though it’s responsible for much of the movie-star led miniseries we have today, True Detective already feels like a distant memory. Remember that weird second season with Vince Vaughn, Colin Farrell, and Rachel McAdams? I didn’t, because I just had to look up who starred in the second season of True Detective. 🕵🏽♂️
You have to see how The Goldbergs is handling Jeff Garlin… After accusations of misconduct, Jeff Garlin is hardly appearing on The Goldbergs these days and reportedly has minimal, mostly solitary time on set. This has required some creative writing and editing, including a viral wedding scene which clumsily inserts a stand-in, some misplaced Garlin voice-over, and then Garlin’s uncanny superimposed face. Why not just kill the character or have him move to another state? Anything would have been better than this. 🤦🏻
Ben Stiller in talks to star in stage adaptation of The Shining… Raise your hand if you think Ben Stiller could have an EGOT by the end of his career. ✋
Daniel Radcliffe scored the part of Weird Al by singing the Periodic Table of Elements on the Graham Norton Show in 2010… That tracks. 🧪
Christina Ricci to appear in Netflix’s Wednesday series… The Riccissaince rolls on. 🍿
Christopher Lloyd joins The Mandalorian season 3… ManDelorean. Nailed it. ✨
Oscar Isaac says Marvel doubted his Moon Knight accent… Uh, that doesn’t exactly exude confidence. 🌒
Paul Dano to write comic book about The Riddler… Who does he think he is? Emily Hampshire? ❓
Halo showrunner says they didn’t look at the games while making the show… Then what did they look at? 🤔
Lizzo to pull SNL double duty, Jake Gyllenhaal and Jerrod Carmichael also set to host… But mostly Lizzo is pulling double duty. 💅🏾
Jackass Forever is coming to Paramount+ tomorrow… Happy birthday Dad. (It’s my dad’s birthday tomorrow.) 🎂
What’s new
Halo — Mar 24 | Paramount+ sci-fi series | 🍅 57%
Atlanta s3 — Mar 24 | FX/Hulu comedy series | 🍅
Pachinko — Mar 25 | Apple drama series | 🍅 100%
Bridgerton s2 — Mar 25 | Netflix drama series | 🍅 84%
The Oscars — Mar 27 8 pm | ABC award show
What to watch
Can I interest you in a three-hour, dialogue-driven Japanese drama? OK, what if I told you the opening credits don’t kick in until minute 40? That didn’t persuade you? All joking aside, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Best Picture-nominated Drive My Car (now available on HBO Max) is a true magnum opus. It is dense and literary, high-minded and full of surprises, packed with more metaphor and allegory than most American viewers will know what to do with. In short, it’s entirely worthy of its 2022 Best Picture nomination. The highest praise I can give it is that it reminded me of Station Eleven. (Here he goes again about Station Eleven.) Drive My Car holds the same reverence for the dramatic arts and its power to heal as Patrick Somerville’s masterpiece miniseries. Grief and theater are so intertwined in both. Somerville and Hamaguchi have a deep understanding of the theater’s mystic power to drive catharsis. They both also understand how fragile it is; and while Hamaguchi’s reference to the pandemic is less overt than Station Eleven it is nonetheless present and powerful. If the runtime daunts you, treat Drive My Car like a miniseries and watch it in parts. It won’t be any less impactful.
For all past ‘what to watch’ recommendations, see the full list here!