Recommendations 11/19/2022

Here are a few songs from the musicians we have lost this year. I will miss them.

Foo Fighters and Taylor Hawkins have been a favorite of mine for a while. They are not my favorite band, but he embodied something I loved. The love first started for me in a film called Varsity Blues. Jonathan Moxin is cocking his arm back a throw to a receiver. A second-string quarter back in a small town in Texas, it is his shot. There goes my hero. I have seen the foo fighters a few times. I love them. Great live band and I await the emotions I will feel if I ever get to see them again. I will miss Taylor Hawkins.

The video below is when the Foo Fighters brought out Taylor Hawkins son, he got to play the drums with them. Beautiful.

In Theaters Now

The Menu

“There will be no substitutions at the Hawthorne.” Yells Ralph Fiennes, who plays Chef Julian Slowik. The comic ferocity he delivers it, is exactly the way you read it on a fine dining menu. It is funny and intimidating at the same time.

Released on 11/18, The Menu is a thriller film on classism, by the way of upscale dining. It is a concoction of The Bear and David Fincher’s film Seven. Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult are standing on a dock. Margot pulls out a cigarette, Tyler shames her for her destroying her pallet. The smoke impairs the taste buds. Paying $1250 a person, he makes it known that it is his money and his experience.  As the date she is submissive, seeing her understand what her place is, anguish overtakes you. The boat arrives and you meet the ensemble cast.  Filling the cabin are a food critic and her editor, a movie star and his assistant, a trio of corporate bros, and the older rich couple.

Arriving to Hawthorne Island, you see the most beautiful character of the film. Walking the grounds, with each step, not knowing that you are walking to your impending doom, it would be a beautiful last walk. As rich as the food, the film takes its time to simmer. Having an amuse-bouche and 8 dishes in total, your culinary journey begins.     

It is easy to stereotype rich people, from my assumption director Mark Mylod knows a thing or two about that. He directs one of the best shows of the last 4 years. Succession. If you have not watched it. Do yourself a favor and indulge in it. Taking a few of the stereotypes from succession, he feasts on the false sense of ego. No matter who you are, in the wrong room that means nothing. The clouded deception of their own reality makes each character brilliantly written. Everything is for them. They are in control.  

Meeting the rest of the staff and Executive Chef Julian Slowik. It becomes clearer with each course that they are but chickens in a cage, being nourished by their ignorance. Also knock off the eye rolling to all the food idioms. I am making myself laugh as I write them. We are both in on this joke. Who is in control?

Each dish served features the outrageousness of ego. From the chef down to the consumer. All ego, all different sins. You have pride and gluttony as the main course.

The question that is ultimately asked is “What happens to an artist who loses its purpose?”

This film blended many enjoyable things, seeing the kitchen and the staff work. The inability for the customers to understand fiction from reality. It goes back to the idea of control. No one would ever step on their hubris. I wanted to live in certain scenes. The relationship that is built between Joy and Fiennes. The presentation of the dishes. The thoughtfulness of his intended actions is delicious to watch.

You can wait to watch this on streaming. I would recommend seeing most movies in theaters now. It is still the best experience.

From The Vault

This Is Where I Leave You

This is Where I Leave You is a delightful movie. Based on the book by Johnathon Tropper, it follows the same premise as the book. A family must reunite after their father passes away. With a great ensemble featuring Jason Bateman, Tina Fey and Adam Driver. The family must overcome their personal problems to overcome the passing of their father.

If you have time the book is also great.

It is on HBOMax.   

Next week I will give a preview of Bones and All.

In the coming weeks, I will release some of my favorites of 2022.