I'm not one for New Year's resolutions. In December I tend to hyperfocus on the things that I could improve in my future like financial security, achieving emotional availability in relationships and maybe just being less of an awkward dork. Then by mid-January, when I'm still a broke dork with unclimbable emotional walls, I spiral into a dance of self-recrimination and blame that lasts until I remind myself that time is an artificial construct and I can try to be less of a single, monetarily deficient film nerd whenever I want.
So, instead of resolutions and recriminations, I think I'll just stick to business as usual. I'll keep consuming staggering numbers of podcasts, shows and movies in order to try to find a deeper understanding of the human condition — while always attempting to generate more empathy and understanding within myself. I also just like stories.
Here are a few of the random bites of culture I've enjoyed sampling in the new year.
In Pod We Trust
I'll never forget when a decade ago it came out in the news that there were a group of masked vigilantes/superheroes that had popped up in Seattle and were causing a ruckus. The Rain City Superhero Movement was a group of costumed activists who reportedly stopped robberies, car-jackings and walked people to their cars at night. The podcast "The Superhero Complex" breaks down the brief period of time the superheroes ran the streets of Seattle and the reasons the movement folded. It's a jaw-dropping story that seems too insane to be true, so that must mean that it is. With only 10 episodes, this is an easy one to finish.
I've always been obsessed with cults and I'm not really sure why. I want to think that it's probably because I like being creeped out by people who believe in magic comets and cosmic ascension instead of just being jealous that cultists have found something to believe in so profoundly. Instead of focusing on deadly cults like Heaven's Gate and Scientology, "Sounds Like a Cult" looks at the real mechanisms of cult-like behavior and then applies them to things we normies experience on the daily, like pickleball, Amazon and Taylor Swift. This 'cast is both hilarious and thought-provoking simultaneously.
Now Streaming
It helps that we've got Jodie Foster, force of nature Kali Reis and criminally underrated John Hawkes starring in a murder mystery set in a remote Alaskan town in the throes of several weeks of darkness. Eight men working at a research station all disappear with the only sign of foul play being a severed tongue found under a table in the kitchen.
It's one hell of a setup and already has me on board for the cruelly short six-episode season. Foster is a welcome sight for sore eyes and her interplay with the great John Hawkes is worth the price of admission alone. Former boxer Kali Reis is also giving a star-making performance that should elevate her to movie stardom right away.
If "Night Country" sticks the landing, this should be a pretty special limited series. With Barry ("Moonlight") Jenkins and Issa ("Tigers Are Not Afraid") López as the new creative team behind the scenes, it wouldn't surprise me if this ends up being one of the televisual highlights of the year.
