While watching promotional interviews for It Chapter 2, Bill Hader would discuss his TV show, Barry. I knew the show was airing, but I don’t have a way to watch HBO. Recently, Hulu has acquired a few popular HBO shows without purchasing the HBO add-on. This included Barry. Bill Hader and Henry Winkler won Emmys for this series, so it must be good, right? I concur that this show is worth watching.

Barry Berkman (played by Bill Hader) is sent to LA by his assassin mentor Monroe Fuches (played by Stephen Root). While completing his assassination, he discovers an indie theater where he decides to start taking acting lessons. Barry is living a double life by murdering people and acting in Gene Cousineau’s (played by Henry Winkler) classes. This is an odd concept for a show, but it works.

Bill Hader becomes Barry. Barry is shown to be struggling with his career of taking lives and wanting to be someone else. Acting has become his escape. Let’s be clear, Barry isn’t a good person. In the first season, especially, there’s a scene where Barry kills someone in a car. It’s shocking because I didn’t think Barry would go there, but he does. He’s balancing a fine line between doing his job and getting caught.

As a side note, Bill Hader is a great actor in darker roles. Another good example of this, besides Barry, is the movie The Skeleton Twins. It stars Hader and Kristin Wiig. It’s an emotional and depressing movie, but it illustrates how Bill Hader can act in darker material.

Barry cannot be described as a dark comedy without the appearance of NoHo Hank (played by Anthony Carrigan). NoHo Hank’s witty one-liners are hilarious, even if they’re about killing or torture. Bill Hader has talked about filming behind the scenes with Anthony Carrigan, and it sounds like there are shenanigans to be had.

Barry was a quick watch. Each season has eight episodes, with only two seasons. The third season was supposed to be out next year, I believe? However, with COVID-19, this will probably be delayed. Barry was an entertaining show, to say the least. Both seasons of Barry can be found on Hulu without the purchase of the HBO add-on.

My cousin watches so many movies! She made a Facebook status saying how she updated her Letterboxd account. After researching, I downloaded the Letterboxd app, and it has changed the way I am watching movies while in quarantine. I can follow friends, see their movie recommendations, and list movies on a watch list. Letterboxd is my new favorite app.

I’m the type of moviegoer who always watches movies I have seen previously. It’s difficult for me to force myself to watch something new. I don’t want to waste my time watching a movie I don’t enjoy. With Letterboxd, I can note which movies I have seen, and I can include reviews when I add them to my watched list. Since using Letterboxd, I have watched: Vice, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Knives Out, Ex Machina, and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish version).

Letterboxd has renewed motivation in re-watching movies. I’m planning on re-watching the James Bond films, Marvel movies, and, since it’s May, the Star Wars movies. I plan to log my thoughts as I finish the movies on my list. I created a list titled “The Movies That Define Me,” and I have been slowly adding my favorite movies to this list.

Letterboxd is an easy-to-use app. It has a good interface, is organized, and doesn’t crash. The app is free to use, although there are ads that pop up every now and then. For $19 a month, you can have an ad-free version, or pay $49 a month to become a patron. Becoming a patron allows for backdrops on your profile, along with early access to beta features. Right now, I’m not planning on paying for Letterboxd; however, it may be something I consider in the future.

If you use Letterboxd, feel free to add me! I’m BizarreBrunette. Letterboxd can be found on Google Play and the App Store.

During the mid-2000s, I was in middle school. When I was in 7th grade, the TV show Gossip Girl was really popular. Everyone at my school watched this show. One of my favorite characters on the show was Dan Humphrey because he was a writer and seemed less stuck-up than the other characters. Dan is played by Penn Badgley. Even if you don’t know Gossip Girl, Penn can be seen in other iconic films such as Easy A, John Tucker Must Die, and The Stepfather. Now Penn is playing a stalker / serial murderer in You, and it’s entertaining to watch Penn act in a completely different type of role.

Joe Goldberg (played by Penn Badgley) is the manager of Mooney’s, a bookstore in NYC. As Joe is working in the store, he sees a young blonde woman walk in and immediately she captures Joe’s eye. Guinevere Beck (played by Elizabeth Lail) attracts Joe’s attention enough that Joe becomes obsessed. He takes Beck’s phone and interferes with her life in subtle ways.

I can’t say much more than that without spoiling both seasons. Each season has a different tone. It keeps the story interesting between each season since they’re so different. During the first season, each episode tells the story of Joe and everyone in his life. As the episodes unfold, we can see Joe slowly fall into the pressure of not getting caught. Each episode leaves on a cliffhanger, which makes it difficult not to spend 10+ hours watching the season in one sitting.

You is a satisfying thriller on Netflix. The first two seasons are out, and the third season won’t be released until sometime in 2021. Anyone who enjoys serial killer documentaries would love this series.

I have been trying to watch more movies. Growing up, my mom and I would watch movies together as a way to spend meaningful time together. It sounds odd since when you watch a movie, you don’t speak during the movie. It’s when the credits roll that my mom and I would discuss the movie. Ever since going off to college, I put watching movies on the back burner. It was tough for me to find two hours to watch one movie versus watching thirty-minute TV episodes instead. Now, I try to watch movies on the weekends when I have more time to do so. This past weekend, I watched The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen for the first time, thanks to Hulu.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is based on a graphic novel written by Alan Moore. The movie introduces various literary characters as they are forced to work together to eliminate a common threat. These characters include Alan Quartermain, Mina Harker, Dorian Gray, Tom Sawyer, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll, and Captain Nemo. Sean Connery plays Alan Quartermain, who, at the beginning of the film, causes a shootout in this rustic hotel lounge. It was badass to see Sean Connery still carry epic action sequences in his old age.

Mina Harker was another character I enjoyed seeing on screen. She has become a vampire since her adventures with Van Helsing and her fiancé, Jonathan. There’s this one scene where she’s in the library and she feasts on one of the men sent to eliminate the league. Plus, her black Victorian outfit was giving me major Renaissance / Cosplay inspiration.

According to Letterboxd, people vilified this movie. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen has been credited as the movie in which Sean Connery retired from acting. There was drama between Sean and Stephen Norrington, the director of the film. Sean Connery, when he took the role, was paid so much money, they couldn’t recruit any other famous actor to be in the movie. This is according to Wikipedia, so who knows how accurate this statement is?

Many of the complaints with this movie include the terrible CGI, plot holes, and in one review,w this movie is a “dumpster fire”. When I watched this movie, I didn’t think the CGI was awful. The movie was made in 2003, so it’s not going to have the best technology available. I enjoyed the action sequences. There’s a shootout in a library while recruiting Dorian Gray, where I was entertained throughout the scene. This is also where Mina Harker shines, which I detailed above.

I’m glad I took the time to watch this movie. I have the first volume of Alan Moore’s graphic novel being shipped to my apartment for me to read. I read a review on Letterboxd from Karen who stated, “this movie fucking slaps and that’s that on that”. Karen, I couldn’t agree more.

If you have been active on Twitter in the past six months, you have probably seen some tweets about a hot priest. Andrew Scott from Sherlock is the one to blame for this trend. He stars as the love interest in the Amazon Prime TV show, Fleabag. This hot priest trend is what got me into watching Fleabag in the first place. Fleabag is a cleverly written, inventive comedy, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge deserves all the acting awards.

Fleabag stars. . . Fleabag. Fleabag is a confused, sexually active woman played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Fleabag lives in London, where she runs a guinea pig cafe that’s failing miserably. Her co-owner and best friend died after committing suicide after discovering her boyfriend had been cheating on her. Each episode reveals more about Fleabag’s life and her troubled relationships with her family. Olivia Coleman plays Fleabag’s manipulative and annoying step-mom. Both Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Olivia Colman do an excellent job of creating this family dynamic.

One of the main messages in the show is owning your mistakes. Fleabag makes a major mistake, which I won’t reveal because it’s a big spoiler. This mistake haunts Fleabag, and she struggles with forgiving herself and moving forward. The last episode of season #1 got to me, and I started crying along with Fleabag as she unravels all the decisions she made.

Now I have to mention the hot priest. The chemistry between Andrew Scott and Phoebe Waller-Bridge is unreal. The way they act together makes you genuinely believe they could make it as a couple, even though the hot priest can’t have sex. These two are my favorite OTP of 2020, and the year has barely begun.

Fleabag is only two seasons long with six episodes per season, so it’s a quick watch. Phoebe Waller-Bridge took home a Golden Globe for this role, and Fleabag won the Golden Globe for Best Television Series. If this doesn’t convince you to watch the show, I’m not sure what will.

After seeing The Rise of Skywalker twice, I wanted more Adam Driver media to consume. His portrayal of Kylo Ren was outstanding. One of Adam Driver’s roles was in the HBO series Girls, written by Lena Dunham. After getting access to Amazon Prime, I decided to dive right into watching this show. Many of the main characters in Girls are extremely unlikable. This made me wonder, to what extent do our characters have to be “likeable” to be able to sympathize with them?

Before I go through answering this question, I wanted to provide background on this show. Girls is a Sex in the City for this generation. It tells the story of four 20-something’s living in NYC after graduating from college. Hannah (played by Lena Dunham), Marnie (played by Allison Williams), Jessa (played by Jemima Kirke), and Shoshanna (played by Zosia Mamet) are the main characters this show focuses on. The girls go through breakups, hookups, and career shakeups throughout the series.

Each of the four girls is unlikable in a different way. Hannah can be selfish regarding her view on relationships. Marnie can be super judgmental. Jessa is flaky, and Shoshanna talks extremely fast to the point where it’s hard to carry on a conversation with her. It became difficult to continue in the series because I never felt I could relate to their struggles.

There are a couple of shows I like where the characters aren’t likeable, but I’m not sure what makes Girls different. For example, I watch The Big Bang Theory. However, if you pay closer attention to the four male friends, they make fatphobic jokes towards Howard’s mother and act misogynistically towards women they find attractive. I like the show, but the characters can be awful at times.

One reason why I believe Girls became hard to watch was because I didn’t see the girls maturing into better human beings. Hannah can’t take personal criticism when she goes off to graduate school. Marnie sleeps with men in relationships while Jessa is rude to her friends. Shoshanna is probably the most likable girl in the bunch, but I don’t see her maturing either. For me, I don’t want perfect characters in media, but I want to see them learn from their mistakes and become better human beings. I didn’t feel this way from watching Girls. 

Let’s go back to Adam Driver’s character. His character is also named Adam, and for most of the show, he’s dating Hannah. Adam’s character is a douchebag who only sees Hannah as a hookup. He’s a slob and has quite a bit of growing up to do. As the seasons progress, Adam starts to develop. In season #2, we find out Adam is in AA. This information makes me love Adam’s character. When Hannah is having an OCD episode, Adam makes his way across the city to comfort her. Adam isn’t a perfect character, but he’s the only character who has grown up throughout the seasons.

I stopped watching Girls mid-way through season #4 because I discovered this show wasn’t for me. I don’t regret watching the show because I believe Girls does a couple of things right. The sex positivity in this show is what makes watching the first couple of seasons worth it. Lena Dunham doesn’t have the stereotypical Hollywood body, and it’s refreshing to see a different body type on TV. Some of the sex scenes were hard to watch, while other scenes felt accurate.

If you want to watch Girls because of Adam Driver, go for it. I recommend watching seasons #1-#3 because that’s where you will see the best of Adam Driver.

When I watched the No Man’s Land scene from Wonder Woman, I had chills go down my spine. This truly starred a female superhero, and despite Steve’s appearance in the scene, Diana held her own. As a DC fan, it gave me hope that DC could establish its own superhero universe. As soon as I saw the announcement of the Wonder Woman 1984 trailer being released, I kept tabs on social media so I wouldn’t miss it. This trailer was epic.

When Kristin Wiig was first cast as Cheetah, many fans were unconvinced. I trust the casting behind this film, and I didn’t want to pass judgment until a trailer was released. I believe Kristin Wiig was a great choice for this role, and I liked her overall look in the short moments within the trailer.

Steve Trevor is back! Gal Gadot and Chris Pine’s chemistry felt authentic in the first film, so I’m glad to see he’s back in some capacity. I’m intrigued as to how they will explain how he survived and appear “youthful” in the 1980s. Comics are a weird medium, as in various comic characters get killed and then are brought back, so bringing back Steve Trevor doesn’t feel odd to me.

Wonder Woman is one of my favorite superhero movies. Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot are a power duo in superhero filmmaking. This trailer has gotten me more excited for this movie, and it’s giving me a reason to look forward to 2020.

This was the first time I had a four-day weekend in my professional career. In my previous role, I had to work on Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving. Besides playing The Sims 3, I have been watching a lot of New Girl. New Girl is a comfort show that I can put on whenever. One crucial takeaway from watching the show is the importance of individuality.

Jess (played by Zooey Deschanel) is the lead of the show. She moves in with three male roommates after she discovers her boyfriend cheating on her. Nick, Schmidt, and Winston give Jess realistic advice while the roommates start to get to know her. Jess and Nick (played by Jake Johnson) have great chemistry together that builds from their friendship.

Jess’s personality may seem over the top, but I appreciate how she’s always herself. Her male roommates will tease her constantly over it, but Jess hasn’t ever backed down or been less of herself. As much as I pride myself on being comfortable with who I am, I have my moments. For example, at my new job, I was telling my team how much I love reading comics. When I thought back to this moment, I felt regret. I regret it because I don’t want my new coworkers to think I’m weird. However, I don’t want to be someone I’m not.

In these last five years, I have grown immensely as a person. I have become more confident in myself, but the insecurity is there. Watching New Girl allowed me to realize how I’m not alone. I would highly recommend watching New Girl because it’s a great show, but also, it’s a gentle reminder that it’s okay to be yourself.