Favorites is a monthly feature that offers up quick thoughts on media, both new and old, that I've recently enjoyed.
Movies
Heat (1991)
I'm embarrassed to say that before last month I had never seen Heat, Michael Mann's crime epic in which Robert De Niro and Al Pacino become entangled in a cat-and-mouse game on opposing sides of the law. It turns out the film lives up to the hype and more. De Niro and Pacino are terrific, of course, but Mann is the one who elevates the film to its legendary status, imbuing the movie with a mythic quality that genuinely makes you ponder its musings on life and how we spend it. Plus, the post-bank robbery shootout still might be the best that has ever been put to film.
Paddington/Paddington 2
Film Twitter was all abuzz about these films, and with good reason, because they are truly delightful. Unlike everyone else, I'm slightly partial to the first movie, but both are heartwarming, funny, and astonishingly directed family films.
Music
Kero Kero Bonito
I first became aware of KKB last year when Frankie Cosmos, one of my favorite artists, talked about her love of the band when she covered their song "Fish Bowl." But I didn't get around to checking them out until this year, when I decided to listen to their album Bonito Generation and fell completely in love. Their cutesy, playful style may not be for everyone, but if you can get on their level, you're in for music that's actually impressive on a sonic level (the amount of neck-snapping synth sounds on display in "Lipslap" is astonishing) and has some pretty thoughtful observations on that limbo period of semi-adulthood that is your 20s. I haven't listened to TOTEP, their new EP that dropped last week, but they're one of the bands I'm most excited about now.
The Smiths singles and B-sides collections
I like the beginning of the year, because not many new albums have come out yet, and it gives me time to catch up on older music that I have been meaning to check out. Despite being a fan of The Smiths' proper albums, I never listened to much of the singles collections like Hatful of Hollow, Louder Than Bombs, and The World Won't Listen. And just as everyone has always been saying, they really do contain some of the band's best songs. Most collections like these are inessential, but you're missing out if you've never heard songs like "Sheila Take a Bow" and "Unloveable."
Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche
I had also never really listened to The Avalanche, an album of songs that didn't make it to Sufjan Stevens' masterpiece Illinois. I love Sufjan's recent changes in style, but a part of me misses that lush orchestral sound he was working with during his 50 States project. This record is very clearly a collection of outtakes, but even his toss-offs have a million interesting ideas in them, and something like "The Pick-Up" is up there with some of his best work.
Television
American Vandal
There was something that irked me about American Vandal, which caused me not to watch it last year. Even with all the effusive praise it was given, I was convinced I wouldn't like it, due to my general apathy for true crime shows and podcasts. My stubbornness ended up being unwarranted, because I loved it once I finally watched it. The show builds off of its premise -- excavating the ins and outs of the case of a bunch of penises being drawn on all of the faculty's cars in a high school parking lot -- and goes deeper and deeper into the silliness. But it also delivers a story that's terrifically constructed, making great use of the engaging high school world it sketches out.
The End of the Fucking World
Every week there's a new Netflix show that the internet insists I have to watch. The overwhelming amount of content makes me want to give up on checking any of them out. If there's one to prioritize over the rest of the deluge, however, it's British import The End of the Fucking World. The less said about it the better -- just know that it's got an extremely original voice and two fantastic performances from Jessica Barden and Alex Lawther.
Other
Ellen Pompeo's Hollywood Reporter profile (article)
I never thought I'd be recommending an article about Ellen Pompeo, of all people, but the profile on her that came out earlier in the year was hilariously candid. She's an icon.
Hayley Ever After (blog)
Hayley G. Hoover is one of my favorite internet people, and I've missed her work ever since she stopped making videos on Youtube. Her new blog fills that HGH hole in my content diet. Even when she's talking about things I think I won't care about, I always find myself lost in her delightful writing voice.
We Are Okay (novel)
I loved Nina LaCour's YA novel Hold Still when I was in high school, but I hadn't read any of her books since then. Reading We Are Okay, her highly praised 2016 novel about a girl isolates herself in her freshman year of college after a traumatic event in the previous summer, felt like being greeted by an old friend. LaCour's writing is so gorgeous, and even though this is a sparse story, it's also full of complex shades of love, grief, and loneliness.
