The Filtered Excellence: July 19, 2020
Bob Geldof once asked us, “Where is the filtered excellence!?” It’s right here. Once a week we take a break from comedy to bring you this week’s picks of the best things to watch, the most interesting things to do, great things to try, the best picks to read, our favorite things to listen to and more.
WATCH THIS
The Business Of Drugs. This new Netflix docu-series looks at how drugs, despite the enormous risks, remains a seductive and lucrative trade worldwide. Former CIA analyst Amaryllis Fox travels around the world speaking with government officials, law enforcement, medical experts, journalists, lower level drug producers and distributors to show the social, political and economic complexities surrounding the drug trade. It also reveals how on an pure economic scale, the ‘War On Drugs’ has been nothing but a long and futile battle. While it doesn’t celebrate or condone manufacturers and dealers, you get to see their perspective on why they do it – for many, it’s boils down to life or death. This is a thought provoking and eye opening series that sheds new light on an issue that affects all of us. The Business Of Drugs is available now on Netflix.
Expecting Amy. Amy Schumer lets it all hang out in this new three part HBO docuseries. Directed and edited by Schumer and Alexander Hammer, it documents the Trainwreck star learning that she was pregnant on the eve of a 42 city tour and filming a Netflix special. It takes a dramatic turn when Schumer learns that she has hyperemesis gravidarum, a complication that causes severe vomiting, nausea and weight loss (those with weak stomachs beware because her vomiting episodes are well documented). But even as she deals with this challenge, Schumer soldiers on, honing down her material in clubs, then presenting the completed form in theaters. It’s also a love letter to her husband, Chris Fischer, who remains a steadying force in her life, despite learning that he has a mild form of autism. This is Amy Schumer, raw and unfiltered, showing the unglamorous path to motherhood, creative breakthroughs and martial bliss. One of the year’s best. Expecting Amy is available now on HBO and HBO Max.
Show Biz Kids. The highs and lows of being a child actor is the subject of this new HBO documentary. Directed by former child star Alex Winter, it shows that you are more likely to find stories similar to Gary Coleman, River Phoenix, and Jackie Coogan than you are to finding success stories such as Ron Howard, Evan Rachel Wood, Drew Barrymore and Jada Pinckett-Smith. The doc also shows how success, adulation, and financial rewards are often coupled with disillusionment, depression as former child stars adjust to the real world after the fame has ended. In addition, Winter tracks the progress of Marc Slater and Demi Singleton, two aspiring child actors, who, along with their families, chase their dreams with varying results. Winter also does not shy away from how many of these actors had to confront and overcome the rampant sexual abuse that has only come to light in the wake of the #MeToo movement. Finally, the documentary serves as an elegy for Diana Serra Cary, an early child film star of the 1920s and Cameron Boyce, a Disney star from 2011 to 2015, who passed away while the film was in post-production. It’s a sobering, in depth look at a side of Hollywood that doesn’t get discussed enough. Show Biz Kids is available now on HBO Max.
LISTEN TO THIS
Hate For Sale by The Pretenders. After using studio musicians on the 2016 album, Alone, Chrissie Hynde is in full band mode for the group’s 11th studio effort. Joined by long time drummer Martin Chambers. decade-plus members Nick Wilkinson (bass) and
James Walbourne (guitar) and keyboardist Carwyn Ellis, Hynde craftily puts the band firmly in the present with angry, punk-fueled rock (the title track, Turf Accountant Daddy); fuzz-driven garage romps (Junkie Walk, I Didn’t Know When To Stop); Bo Diddley-based burners (Didn’t Want To Be This Lonely), slow-broiling soul (You Can’t Hurt A Fool), slinky ska (Lightning Man) and, of course, classic Pretenders pop (The Buzz, Maybe Love Is In NYC). Producer Stephen Street keeps it simple, playing to the band’s strengths, particularly Hynde’s vocals, which have never sounded better. This is the group’s strongest album since The Last Of The Independents, and proudly stands alongside some of the best work. One of the year’s best. Hate For Sale by The Pretenders is available now through Amazon, Apple Music and all major streaming outlets.
Unfollow The Rules by Rufus Wainwright. For his first album of pop-based material in 8 years, Rufus Wainwright finds himself celebrating a life of sobriety, fatherhood and domestic bliss, while also pulling together all of the musical incarnations that has come to define his career. Wonderfully produced by Mitchell Froom (Randy Newman, Sheryl Crow, Peter Gabriel), Wainwright offers up Beatles-que pop (Trouble In Paradise, Romantical Man), piano-driven ballads (My Little You, Alone Time), Classic 70s singer-songwriter (Peaceful Afternoon, Damsel In Distress) and soaring, Roy Orbison-style pop that is nothing short of epic (the title track, Early Morning Madness). It’s works as both a summation and a new chapter for one of our best singer-songwriters. One of the year’s best. Unfollow The Rules by Rufus Wainwright is available now through Amazon, Apple Music and all major streaming services.
DO THIS.
Wear a mask when out in public.
Practice social distancing.
Wash your hands.
STAY SAFE.
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