“Bandersnatch”
Assistant Multimedia Editor
It’s July of 1984. Young Stefan Butler (Fionn Whitehead) wakes with a start. He’s scheduled to meet with a software developer to pitch his new video game, “Bandersnatch,” an adaptation of a genius book of the same name… a book so complex it drove its author insane. This is the opening scene of the movie/game that grabbed Netflix by surprise. “Bandersnatch” is the latest offering from Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones, the creative team behind the wildly popular “Black Mirror” series. I had played part of the Minecraft interactive movie when “Bandersnatch” showed up in my Netflix queue. I’m a fan of “Black Mirror,” so I was immediately excited to see how Brooker and Jones had wrapped the BM universe around the platform’s interactive capability. “Bandersnatch” does not disappoint. I’ve been playing it for hours, restarts and all, and even the repetition is worth it just to hear the writing and watch the performances, notably Will Poulter (“The Revenant,” “Detroit”) as rockstar game coder and timelord of acid, Colin Ritman. Naturally, it’s a must for “Black Mirror” fans, but anyone into funhouse horror is sure to enjoy it from beginning to end… to end, to end. To end?
“You”
By Rylee Smith
Opinions Editor
Over winter break, I watched you. Well, “You,” the Lifetime series that just got added to Netflix. The phrase “I watched you,” sounds more intriguing, though, and is a pretty good representation of the show. If you haven’t seen it yet, the show stars Penn Badgley, (who plays Dan Humphrey in “Gossip Girl”) as Joe Goldberg, a bookstore manager who’s obsessed with a college writer named Guinevere Beck. He tries to start a relationship with her by stalking her in increasingly creepy ways, and the show grows in intensity nearly every minute. I won’t go into too much detail, because you really have to watch it. The show manages to be sexy and terrifying at the same time, and its one season requires you to binge watch it all in one day. Badgley has tweeted his disapproval that viewers love his creepy character, but that’s really the magic of the show. It makes you wonder whose side you’re supposed to be on. By giving characters depth, the show keeps audiences guessing about how they should feel, and excited about what will happen next. Plus, Badgley actually looks pretty cute.
“Good Trouble”
By Vanessa Villalvazo
Sports Editor
“Good Trouble” is a sexy new drama show about family and life. If you’ve watched “The Fosters”then you know what it is about; if you haven’t, “Good Trouble” is a spin off of “The Fosters,” which is about a lesbian couple, Stef and Lena, who raise four adopted kids along with Stef’s one biological son, and how they deal with all the hardships in life. The first kids they adopted were twins, Jesus and Mariana. They later adopted Jude and Callie, who were brother and sister. It was hard for Callie to get adjusted to her new life, as she was already a teenager. Fast forward to years later, Mariana and Callie have graduated from college and are moving to Los Angeles, and that is the start of the show “Good Trouble.” This show is interesting and relatable because two young girls are starting their new life in a new city with a new job. Mariana and Callie move into a communal place and they have to share a bathroom and kitchen with seven others. Little did Callie know that Mariana knew this all along. New city means new boys and that can get you into trouble, especially when you sleep with the guy that your sister has a crush on. The best thing about this show, and also “The Fosters,” is that Noah Centineo is on it, a.k.a. Peter Kavinsky in “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” who is a total hottie.
“Big Mouth”
By Vincent Perez
Features Editor
Being a fan of “The League” sitcom piqued my interest into watching “Big Mouth” recently. “Big Mouth” is a coming-of-age animated series which spares no subtlety, referring to all the growing pains of puberty and awkwardness that we all went through bluntly told through inner dialogues called hormone monsters. A couple actors that I recognized from the gut-busting fantasy-football series, “The League” were Jason Mantzoukas (an Armenian boy who has a purely carnal relationship with a talking pillow), and Nick Kroll (the hilarious and truthful male hormone monster and Nick Birch, a boy who struggles with reaching puberty). Fellow comedians Jordan Peele, John Mulaney, Jenny Slate, and Fred Armisen help tell the crude, but honest stories of the tales of puberty. Throughout the two seasons, each child goes through issues of their changing bodies and tackles other issues such as losing virginity. While the cartoon is not fit for children, it makes light of serious issues that pre-and pubescent kids go through, which I found to be a great way to open conversation about awkward body issues. The series is a plea for opening discussions surrounding adolescence and living through those not-so-easy stages.
“The Last O.G.”
By Chelsea L. McDowell
Marketing Manager
In what has been frequently referred to as the “#MeToo era,” stories of men being disrespectful or criminal have become all too common— the current President of the United States has at least at one time enjoyed grabbing women “by the pussy”? However, Tracy Morgan’s show “The Last O.G.” allows viewers an escape from that. Set in Brooklyn, Morgan plays Tray Barker, a man who gets out of prison only to learn that his neighborhood has changed and his ex-girlfriend, Tiffany Haddish, gave birth to twins without telling him. Embracing his second chance, he sets out to build a relationship with his children and do right in his community, even if that means going back to selling crack to raise funds for a homeless shelter. Morgan’s character is witty and charming, but most importantly caring, which is so seldom seen in male characters. The ensemble cast is surprisingly authentic and hilarious, comprised of residents of a halfway house, a prison groupie named “Pooh Cat,” and a drug dealer turned coffee shop owner. Family and rehabilitation are recurring themes in the show, as Tray learns that there is more to being a man than the streets and being tough.
“My Brilliant Friend”
By Norma Hernandez
Digital Managing Editor
This winter break I watched a new series on HBO called “My Brilliant Friend,” based on the international best-selling novel of Elena Ferrante. This is the first foreign series HBO has invested in, and the whole series is in Italian with English subtitles. Elena “Lenu” Greco, now an older woman, tells the story of her friendship with Raffaella “Lila” Cerullo when they were children and teenagers. The first season mostly takes place in an impoverished neighborhood near Naples, Italy in the 1950’s. Lenu, played by Margherita Mazzucco, has a rivalry relationship with Lila, played by Gaia Girace. They both care for each other but Lenu tries to be at the same academic level as Lila. Since childhood, Lila was naturally smart and enjoys learning. However, as they grew up, they began to learn the responsibilities that women at the time had; an education was not one of them. Both girls came from parents who didn’t have a lot of money but they fought to get an education. Lenu’s parents continued to further her education while Lila’s parents saw it was a waste of time and money.
“So why should your sister, a girl, study?” said Lila’s father, Fernando Cerullo, played by Antonio Buonanno, to his son.
They wanted Lila to work to help the family business. Both Lenu and Lila have their own paths but defy the odds of the patriarchy they live in. I can’t wait for season two.
