Reviewish: "Atypical" on Netflix

by Ben Miller

Keil Gilchrist headlines "Atypical" as Sam, a teenager on the spectrum.

Full disclosure: I am not objective.

Generally, a reviewer would attempt an unbiased look at how a piece of entertainment could appeal to the masses.  We all know this is not the case in reality.  Everyone comes in with their own experiences and assumptions, which we base our opinions on.  I want you all to know that I did not review Netflix’s new series Atypical without my own preconceived notions.

My son has autism.  I have been wavering on whether I wanted to give Atypical a chance.  It could go the This is Us route and over-sentimentalize everything, or it could go down the I Am Sam road and make everything offensively “special”.  There is a delicate balance with shows that deal with disabilities.  On top of that, I know a whole lot about autism that a casual viewer doesn’t...

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Anyone Mix their Documentaries with Hip Hop?

Paolo here again. Referring to the question above I wonder if any of the readers here have seen Beats, Rhymes and Life in the few big cities where it's already on.

It's strange how, in watching this documentary about the hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, I realized I knew less about them and more about the film's director Michael Rappaport. He of course is in True Romance and eventually ended up in one of those yearly Vanity Fair photo shoots where they name the next batch of great actors. You might remember him from "The War at Home," a passable sitcom. He also happens to be a guy from Brooklyn who grew up as part of the first hip hop generation.

What I knew about ATCQ was more about mixing them up with De La Soul, or their reluctant front man of a rapper Q-Tip. He released a song called "Vivrant Thing," which had more in common with flashy club music of the late 90's than the conscious hip hop he created with the disbanded group a decade or so earlier.

Rappaport and his editors Lenny Messina and AJ Schnack spent three years to find and compress a lot of material about ATCQ. The film tackles their origins - the group's four members are childhood friends. Q-Tip revisits his high school and reminisce about banging on his classroom tables the same way kids in my high school did. We also see him at the studio sifting through his old vinyls, admitting to being a fan of 1970's jazz and disco chanteuses.

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