Tweetweek: Special Gallows Humor Episode

This message popped up on Twitter and we all had a good laugh about it. Niche humor for Oscar watchers only but something might be wrong with Twitter's notification algorithms.

They are??? pic.twitter.com/5RRsUkMzwW

— Kevin Jacobsen (@Kevin_Jacobsen) April 24, 2020

More after the jump including Mad Men, proprietary feelings about Keanu Reeves, a Nicole Kidman ditty, Simu Liu's quarantine and lots of gallows humor because that's the world we're living in...

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Doc Corner: The politics of 'Slay the Dragon'

By Glenn Dunks

I had expected 2020 to be jam-packed with political documentaries. We have already had Hulu’s four-part Hillary and in the lead-up America’s presidential election had assumed that nary a week would go without a documentary about some sort of politics examination, exploration or expose. Who knows what the rest of the year holds for us anymore in terms of release for the sort of niche, boutique non-fiction fare and whether they will make their way to audiences, but I am sure they will hold lessons and important interrogations nonetheless.

Case in point: Slay the Dragon. A feature-length documentary that is getting out somewhat ahead of the pack and which picks up where digitally-released short films like Crooked Lines and Suppressed: The Fight to Vote left off on the issue of gerrymandering and the efforts (by let’s be honest: Republican politicians) to manipulate the voting process...

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Review: The Hunt (2020)

by Tony Ruggio

Blumhouse’s much-ballyhooed American political satire has finally seen the light of day after postponement due to a mass shooting last August, only to meet an unprecedented global pandemic this spring. With multiplexes closed nationwide, it’s one of a few major motion pictures to release early on VOD. Eschewing anything resembling subtlety or a desire to make a cogent point, The Hunt is a glib quasi-horror romp designed to prod and provoke, but dips into irrelevance by trying too hard for that sweet spot of zeitgeist...

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Links

Tik Tok "Pull the lever, Kronk" - a genius bit of Emperor's New Groove lipsyncing
Hulu Lady in a Cage - don't forget to watch as we're discussing it on Monday night. And boy is there a lot to discuss!
Matt Reeves pics of the new Batmobile in The Batman (2021)
Coming Soon Superhero Christian Bale will now be a supervillain. He's facing off with Natalie Portman and Tessa Thompson in Thor: Love and Thunder (2021)...

More after the jump including Jacob Elordi, SXSW, The Eternals, Twenties, Chris Evans, and more...

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In Defense of "Jojo Rabbit"

Please welcome guest contributor Rita Maricone-Dorsch...

Last night, I sat down to revisit Jojo Rabbit, this time with my son, who is equal parts World War II aficionado, Marvel fanboy, and already-pretty-woke tween. Taika Watiti's self-labeled 'anti-hate satire' seemed custom made for his sensibilities. But why do you like this movie so much, he asked me. 

I've been wrestling with this question since the film's release, and since my own impression of it differed so drastically from most reviews, including the positive takes. I didn't see a too-tame provocation that poked easy fun at Nazis. I didn't see a project intended to humanize bigoted white men. I'm not sure it's even best described as an anti-hate satire. To me, Jojo Rabbit was a sweet little allegory about a dangerously underrepresented and urgent subject: the emotional education of boys...

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