Robert King

For what it’s worth:

Speaking as a showrunner with two writers rooms going on now, this article from Ankler is insane. I don’t know who the insider is, but the reporter should call bullshit. This is a GPT press release.

Yep. Completely agree. A lot of fun. Weird about the reviews. I think they thought it was a Girls-like Voice of a Generation show; and when they didn’t get that, they thought it was inadequate. When in fact what was inadequate was their expectation.

The theater is called Performance Space New York. It’s on First.

COLOR THEORIES. Funniest play I’ve seen in a long time. Julio Torres is wonderful. His play is about the personality of colors and how they describe and influence us. That sounds pretentious, but the play is anything but. Every line gets a laugh. See it. Julio’s funniest work yet.

The thoughts I have can’t really be summarized in such short bites. But my review can. And the second season is just as good as the first.

The second season of ENGLISH TEACHER is here and it’s very funny. It continues to deal with current issues: censorship, tech domination, COVID, but it uses them all as comic fodder. The funniest show of the year, and it’s got a lot of competition.

‘Rack’s Rules” is an excellent short story by Jeremy Larner (THE CANDIDATE) in the collection, “Sex, Death, and God in LA.” It’s about the crude power rules of a Mike Ovitz type. It’s still incredibly pertinent today. You’ll find the same thoughts flowing through Trump and Musk. Look for it.

Not sure I’m understanding the rationale for AI generated movies.

Cost of CRITTERZ: 30 million
Cost of WEAPONS (which just made 257 million at the box office): 38 million.

K-POP DEMON HUNTERS. Funny. I understand why people are watching it over and over. It moves fast and the songs are catchy. I love the scene with the mystical cat knocking over a flower pot. A lot of wit in the animation. Great work from the director/writers, Maggie Kang and Chris Applehans.

WEAPONS. A very entertaining movie. It starts with a Twilight Zone premise, but then keeps turning over new cards. A surprising number of laughs. Beautifully shot. Great writing. From the brilliant writer/director, Zach Cregger. See it.

Proudly sleazy, HUNTING WIVES is BIG LITTLE LIES with guns. The show’s amorality is to be admired. Everybody is happily sleeping with everyone; just don’t call it an “open marriage” because that’s a liberal thing. The subculture of performative Christianity is well-observed.

Jerry Adler died last Saturday. The intent was only to have him for one episode of THE GOOD WIFE, but he was so funny in a diner scene, yelling “I said ice cream, you stupid bitch” we had him back for six years of Good Wife and three years of Good Fight. One of our favorite collaborators.

ALIEN: EARTH. There’s a lot to like about this series—modernist sculptures, Marie Antoinette parties—but what I like best is the portrayal of the children’s minds in adult synthetic bodies. It’s charming. Well-performed and well-written. It also offers some much-needed comedy.

THE NAKED GUN. It’s very funny. Very self-confident. Great visual and verbal gags throughout. Non-stop. Some great absurd detours—one involving a snowman is blissfully funny. See it. It’s worth seeing in the theaters.

Agreed. My favorite part. Like visual limericks in the middle of the movie.

HEADS OF STATE. Surprisingly witty script by Applebaum, Neman, Query. And funny direction from Naishuller. A lot of great lines and filmic creativity. It’s an intentionally dumb movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously, or even seriously at all. On Amazon Prime.

More about SISTER MIDNIGHT. You can really see the influence of Buster Keaton on the writer/director, Karan Kandhari. Very rarely do so many uninflected images in a movie make you laugh. He always knows where to put the camera for comedy.

SISTER MIDNIGHT. A bit like a Christopher Durang play: comically bizarre, wild, always surprising. It’s an Indian movie about a wife in an arranged marriage going crazy, and possibly becoming a witch. Radhika Apte is fantastic, as is the first time wr/director, Karan Kandhari. See it.

FAMILIES LIKE OURS is a fascinating series about the evacuation of Denmark as it sinks underwater from global warming. No tidal wave visual effects, it’s more a slow-moving bureaucratic disaster. What’s more interesting is flipping the usual immigration debate: the most advantaged become the least.

If you missed LOVE AND MERCY today is a good day to see it. A great tribute to Brian Wilson who just died. Great artist.

Wow. It’s like reading a Philip K. Dick-like alternate history of TV. Never heard or read anything about her. Thanks for this.

How did I ever not see this movie? LE TROU (THE HOLE). Written/directed: Jacques Becker. It’s an exciting French prison escape movie— just as great as A MAN ESCAPED. Intense, clever, focuses more on the procedure of escape than the melodrama. Stars one of the original prisoners. It’s on Criterion.

Agreed. I didn’t know that. Loved it.

MOBLAND again.

I did want to add that the dialogue is strikingly good. The showrunner is Ronan Bennett, but even more interesting his co-writer is Jez Butterworth, the great writer of the play THE FERRYMAN. Anyway, even more reason to see this series. It’s pulp but expertly written pulp.

MOBLAND. Lurid and propulsive. It’s anchored by three great performances: Tom Hardy, underplaying effectively; Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren, overplaying wildly effectively. Pierce is insane, imitating a pig. Reviews have been so-so because they only saw two episodes. See it. Good fast editing.

I’m 22 years too late, so lovers of TV probably already know this, but what a wonderful show SLINGS AND ARROWS is. It’s a comedy about the difficulties of artistic integrity. Very funny. So many good performances. Each season does something new and original. A streaming service named Acorn has it.

I hadn’t seen SLINGS AND ARROWS. I just got to it 22 years late. It’s wonderful. Thanks for pointing me to it.

ADULTS. On FX. It’s very funny. Well-paced. Not just a slice of life comedy, but often smartly absurd too. It’s a bit like ENGLISH TEACHER. It has actual jokes. Written by Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw. See it. Start on episode 2 or 3. Don’t get thrown by the “voice of generation” ad campaign.

THE REHEARSAL FINALE. Still jaw-dropping. There was an Albert Brooks short he made for SNL about achieving his dream of performing open-heart surgery. This episode was like that, but real. Again, if you haven’t seen it, watch it today.

Premium streaming is often so thin on plot you can write on a post-it note what happens in any episode. That’s what’s so exciting about NO MAN’S LAND, a French series on Hulu about an all-female Syrian militia. It has plot upon plot upon plot. Many are imperfect, but they don’t let up.