6 things to watch, listen to, play, and read this weekend
The TV show to watch
Snowfall
“Rather than explore its groups and institutions—the cartels, street-level dealers, and government agencies—across multiple seasons, Snowfall’s introduced them all at once. The story implicates everyone from a soldier in the Nicaraguan jungle to the president of the United States, who are all poised for future run-ins. Early on, this just seems overly ambitious; it’s not until the second half that the series starts tying together these arcs. But like charming and calculating college dropout Franklin Saint (Damson Idris), Snowfall is thinking two or three moves ahead; and while that’s caused the occasional stumble, it’s also set up a compelling long game, one that it’s not too late to join.”
Read more on why crime drama Snowfall deserves your time here.
The podcast to listen to
How Did This Get Made? The Garbage Pail Kids Movie
“How Did This Gets Made? is live this week from Largo At The Coronet in Los Angeles. Joined by Jon Lovett (Pod Save America) and a rowdy audience, hosts Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas, and June Diane Raphael talk about 1987’s The Garbage Pail Kids Movie. Ripe for riffing, the popular ’80s parody lends itself to some hilarious dissection as the hosts try to determine whether the Garbage Pail Kids are adults or prisoners in a state home for the ugly… Lovett and the hosts wrap up with some audience participation, yet questions remain about main character Juice and what exactly he does. Pimp? Drug dealer? Part of a larger commentary? Listen for yourself to decide.”
Read about the rest of the week’s best podcasts here.
The album to listen to
LCD Soundsystem, American Dream
“Both ‘Change Yr Mind’ and the seductively paranoid rant of ‘Other Voices’ (‘These doors all have locks on them like tinfoil hats, man’) are built on the group’s elastic, enduring amalgam of disco-punk bass and Talking Heads-derived nervy energy, right down to the Frippertronics on the guitar. Early single ‘Call The Police’ may get slit-your-wrists maudlin in its Neil Young-paraphrasing refrain of ‘We all know this is nothing / We all know this is nowhere,’ but it does so in one of the sunniest, sing-song melodies in the band’s catalog and over an anthemic build that seems to stretch out forever.”
Read the rest of our review here.
The movie to watch
Good Time
“What we’re seeing, in the mad scramble of this outlaw dirtbag, is a career transformation. Stripping away almost all traces of movie-star glamour to reveal the naked, nervy talent underneath, [Robert] Pattinson finally bursts out of the chrysalis of his pin-up boy celebrity. The metamorphosis from YA heartthrob into electrifying character actor is complete. […] This might sound like uncharted territory for the Safdie brothers, who specialize in proudly janky, digressive New York character pieces. But just as their breakthrough, Heaven Knows What, was a freshly idiosyncratic spin on the addiction drama, Good Time funnels a crackerjack genre scenario through the peculiar particulars of their style.”
Read the rest of our review here.
The video game to play
Absolver
“Designed by a team of Parisian Ubisoft vets, Absolver aims to invent something entirely new from a heady mix of influences. The brutal, densely layered combat evokes the work of Platinum Games and PlayStation 2-era Capcom; the tense paths you cut through its gnarled, intestinal ruins evoke the worlds of Bloodborne and Dark Souls; its ambient attitude toward online multiplayer recalls Thatgamecompany’s beloved Journey. The game’s minimalist visual design tries to leave all the information on the screen sans cluttered iconography, but leaves a ton of it unsaid; after a few hours, you’re still piecing together basic mechanics, figuring out the very literal path to the top.”
Read about the other games we’re playing this weekend here.
The comic to read
Time & Vine, Thomas F. Zahler
“A great glass of wine transports the person drinking it back in time by giving them a taste of the past. Each bottle is a time capsule of the winery during that year, but in the case of the Aeternum Winery, each bottle is also a time machine if the wine is consumed in the cellar. Thomas F. Zahler’s Time & Vine (IDW) is a four-issue miniseries that uses this fantastic concept to explore the lives of two strangers struggling to overcome personal obstacles. Jack is the widower who owns Aeternum Winery, and when he meets a young woman worried about her mother’s worsening Alzheimer’s disease, he decides to relieve her troubles by taking her on a magical journey to the past.”
Read the rest of our review here.