Are you watching "Mindhunter"? (Episodes 1-3)

by Nathaniel R

an FBI hostage negotiation class in "Mindhunter"'s first episode

One of the underdiscussed perks of this era of way too much to watch with thousands of cable channels, dozens of streaming services bankrolling their own content, and hundreds of movies a year is that it's easy to forget what your favorite directors are working on! Gone are the days, essentially, when you had to pine away waiting for so-and-so to return. Take the case of David Fincher. I've literally been a fan since he won "Best Direction" at the MTV Video Music Awards for Madonna's "Express Yourself" and I went to Alien³ on opening weekend so I was there at ground zero. Despite my love of all most things Fincher, it was easy to forget that he'd vanished since his excellent intensely rewatchable Gone Girl (2014) which we really should have had on our top ten list that year -- oops.

The director is back trying his hand at streaming series direction with the new serial killer drama "Mindhunter." At first I groaned when I heard the news because Fincher has made more than his share of serial killer dramas. But then I heard dreamy Jonathan Gr♥︎ff and Fincher-regular Holt McCallany were the leads and remembered that Fincher does serial killer dramas better than anyone (see Se7en and Zodiac) and I succumbed...

So let's talk about the first three episodes.

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An Ode to Adam Sandler

By Spencer Coile 

To many, Adam Sandler was in no need of a career makeover. Even with Netflix films like The Ridiculous 6 and Sandy Wexler, many were drawn to his schtick and comedic talents -- even if those talents were misplaced in terrible films. Still, after decades of being the go-to "funny guy," it is refreshing to see Sandler step back and display his acting chops in more nuanced ways. We saw this in 2002 with Punch Drunk Love, and we are witnessing it again in 2017 with The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), the latest from Noah Baumbach. 

Watching Sandler explore the idiosyncrasies of a complicated character is so fleeting, that sometimes, it is vital for us to also take a step back and realize: Adam Sandler can be a great actor. And fortunately, The Meyerowitz Stories offers him the opportunity to demonstrate why he has been a staple to the field of comedy for decades, but also, to dive into a character that feels completely genuine and tailor-made for Sandler's caliber of acting. 

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Doc Corner: 'Human Flow'

By Daniel Walber

Ai Weiwei’s Human Flow is the result of a truly enormous undertaking. Spread across four continents, the film is a distillation of the current refugee crisis. All of it. Rather than focus on a single geographic region or the fallout from a particular international conflict, this is a whirlwind tour of the entire global situation. Its scenes from the US-Mexico Border to the Mediterranean, Sub-Saharan Africa to Bangladesh. If that sounds like far too much, that’s because it is.

If the purpose were totally aesthetic and metaphorical, a wordless and breathtaking aerial tour of large-scale human movement, the scope might not have been a problem. It might have bypassed the head and gone straight to the heart. But Human Flow tries to have it both ways...

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Bring Spider-Man Home

Don't remember the context of this photo of Jamie Dornan with a Spider-Man figurine but I look at it once in a while and giggle. We shouldn't speak for him but let's guess that Jamie Dornan is excited that Spider-Man Homecoming hits DVD and BluRay today. Should we take a second look at it? Would you read if we did? (It's always difficult to know whether you TFE readers like talking about movies when they're in theaters, or wait until they're streaming or on DVD or all three...?)

New on DVD this week:

• Girls Trip (Nathaniel's Review and Podcast)
• Lady MacBeth (Yes, we will finally screen this. So sorry for the long delay at saying anything!)
• Landline (Nick's Podcast Dismissal)
• Spider-Man Homecoming (Chris's Review and Podcast)
• Step (On the Doc NYC Oscar Hopeful List)

• Older Films Released or Reissued This Week: Captain Fury (1939), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), One Million BC (1940), She Had to Say Yes (1933), Stage Mother (1933) Washington Masquerade (1932)

Another Badass "Black Panther" Trailer!

Chris here. Okay guys, hear me out: Marvel is getting good again? Aside from business-as-usual as the Avengers arc closes, the superhero house will give us Cate Blanchett in drag for Thor, Pfeiffer in the Ant-Man sequel, and of course the most eagerly anticipated: Ryan Coogler's Black Panther.

Excuse me while I pick my eyeballs off of the floor. The goods on what Coogler has created keep getting better and better, and a brand new trailer has yours truly at a fever pitch. The amount of set pieces and plot threads already at play in this trailer suggest that it might be another bloated actioner, but there are genuine thrills everywhere, all the more rapturous for the film's existence in our current political atmosphere. Chadwick Boseman may be our star, but its most exciting element might be its celebration of black women - let's all geek out over Danai Gurira's Okoye.

This (paired with Wonder Woman) feels like the first time in quite a long while that superheroes are actually awe-inspiring on a deeper level. It pays to have an identity all your own and not retread on the diminishing returns of other retreads. It's going to be a long four months waiting for this one.