What to watch, read, and listen to this weekend
The show to watch
Sharp Objects
“Nothing proves the summer TV landscape has shifted quite like debuting some Emmy bait in the wake of Independence Day. And Sharp Objects, the HBO adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s best-selling novel of the same name, proves itself an early contender for next year’s awards. Showrunner Marti Noxon deftly interprets and expands on Flynn’s complex themes and even more complicated women, while director Jean-Marc Vallée brings the novel’s not-so-sleepy hamlet to stifling, ominous life. This simmering crime drama also boasts a lead performance from Amy Adams so raw and powerful, it could level the Midwestern town that’s the setting for several mysterious deaths.”
Read the rest of our review here.
The movie to see
Whitney
“Though Whitney was made with the permission of the singer’s estate (unlike last year’s Whitney: Can I Be Me), its group portrait is filled with conflicting denials, accusations (‘opportunist’ is a popular one), estrangements, prejudices, and personal failings. These develop and deepen over the course of its two-hour running time along with its continually expanding cast of real-life characters… Its take on that her downfall—late-night punchlines and bad press, culminating in her ignominious death by drowning in a hotel bathtub—is more complex than a multi-platinum chart-topper’s demons finally catching up with her public image.”
Read the rest of our review here.
The comic to read
Mark Waid and Javier Garrón, Ant-Man And The Wasp
“With Ant-Man And The Wasp hitting theaters this summer, it was inevitable that Marvel would bring these two characters together in the comics, but Scott ‘Ant-Man’ Lang and Nadia ‘The Wasp’ Pym have a very different relationship than their big-screen counterparts. In fact, they don’t really have a relationship at all. That changes in the pages of Ant-Man And The Wasp (Marvel Comics), a new miniseries that strands the two heroes in the Microverse after Scott reaches out to Nadia for help getting back to Earth from space. These first issues lay the groundwork for a richer friendship between the size-changing heroes, kicking off this adventure with exciting action in a striking subatomic world.”
Read the rest of our review here.
The podcast to listen to
The Dave Chang Show
“Coinciding with his new Netflix series Ugly Delicious, the first three episodes of The Dave Chang Show will appeal to foodies (and anyone who’s ever spent time in the restaurant industry), with a focus on the opening of his L.A. spot Majordomo. The show explores food allergies, the stress of opening a restaurant, customers who don’t show up for reservations, and how ride-booking has impacted the restaurant industry. (People are getting drunk again.)… Series themes include Chang’s attempts to cope with his own fears of failure and the complex legacy of a Korean upbringing, making this one of the more surprising and refreshing offerings of 2018, especially from such an unlikely source as a celebrity chef.”
Read about all our favorite podcasts of 2018 so far here.
The album to listen to
Sir, November
“[November] veers musically from clattering hip-hop to sinuous space-age R&B, often in the same track; the midnight-blues boom-bap of ‘Something Foreign’ turns into a leering Schoolboy Q rap, while ‘Never Home’ pairs light bars from Sir with trilling Roy Ayers vibes. (The hook is a voicemail recording.) The sonic detritus all seems to be circling some unseen planet, everything held together by the gravitational force of Sir’s slick, wine-drunk melodies.”
Read about all our favorite albums of 2018 so far here.