It is finished: Of Easter and 'Endgame'
It's all led to this.
Happy Easter, and welcome to Jacob’s Letter, a free pop culture newsletter full of puns and dog photos. This week’s issue is heavy on “Avengers” content, but we’re also talking Beyoncé, the media vs. celebrities, movie trailers and more. It’s time for the Endgame now…
Get tweet behind me, Satan
Eastertide is here, which means Jesus is risen (He is risen indeed) but it also means Lent is over. I’ve always enjoyed the Lenten season, weirdly enough. The self-reflection and re-evaluation of priorities of those 40 days always seem to come at just the right time of year.
Symbolically tied to the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert being tempted by Satan, the 40 days of Lent should serve as a way of evaluating what in your life is keeping you from your relationship with God and with others — a way to take stock of your life in light of what Ash Wednesday reminds us of: “For you are but dust, and to dust you shall return.”
As Fr. James Martin, S.J. puts it:
The deeper purpose [of Lent] is what’s called a “metanoia,” a Greek word used often in the Gospels. That’s often translated as “repentance,” but it’s better translated as a complete change of mind and heart. So it’s not about whether you were able to successfully give up chocolate, but whether your mind and heart are more willing to accept Jesus more fully into your life. And that is a lifelong project.
This year, I chose to give up social media. This is hardly original; lots of people do this. My problem with giving that up this year was my job. I’m a digital journalist. It’s my responsibility to be on social media all day (at least, I rationalize that to myself).
But I too often used my vocation as an excuse to be on my phone all the time (still do). And I failed multiple times at this during Lent, just ask Taylor. But this exercise made me realize the extent that I used my phone as a crutch in idle situations — on the train, in line at Subway, stopped at a red light, as a way to avoid talking to strangers. It was embarrassing, to say the least.
And while I’m still on my phone far too much, I’m trying to use social media as a tool for work and writing promotion now instead of just idle boredom. I’m still trying (and failing), but I’m working on it. May I extend the same amount of grace to others. And isn’t that what this life’s all about anyway?
Beyoncé?!?!
Last week, Beyoncé released her Netflix documentary “Homecoming,” a concert film/behind-the-scenes look at her 2018 Coachella set. She also released a concert album of the same name.
More: Why Beyoncé needed to be at the 2016 CMAs
More than just a look at how she crafted every little detail of that insane show, “Homecoming” is also a look at how Beyoncé (Coachella’s first black woman headliner) intentionally brought the traditions and history of HBCUs to a decidedly white space. From the drumlines to the dance references to the song choices, every bit of this show was planned in advance, and the documentary shows it.
I’m not black, I’m not a woman, and this documentary was not made for me, but I’m so glad it exists. I got an email Saturday morning saying my Netflix subscription jumped up $2 a month. I’m convinced it was to pay Beyoncé the licensing fee for this film. It’s worth it. Go watch it, and come away inspired.
All Them Blogs
This week, Michael Che, Ariana Grande, Lizzo and Olivia Munn all had their moment in the spotlight for attacking journalists and online writers for daring to criticize something they had done.
For Che, it was Weekend Update on SNL; for Grande, a concert performance with Justin Beiber; for Lizzo, it was a middling review from Pitchfork; and from Munn, it was a fashion blog examining her outfit (not her body — just her outfit). They all took to social media to condemn the media in some form or fashion, with Grande saying in a now-deleted tweet that “one day everybody that works at all them blogs will realize how unfulfilled they are and purposeless what they’re doing is … i can’t wait for them to feel lit inside.”
We’ve moved into a culture of “Like this or die,” as one piece puts it, with little nuance. Either you love something or it’s cancelled, with hardly any in-between. Everything is binary. Anything less than exuberance when saying you like something is unacceptable, and if you pan anything, you better hate it.
Cultural criticism exists to help steer people toward examples of art done well, and to do that takes practice and contextual knowledge of the subject. I’ve never written a pan that I didn’t feel a little bit bad about, because of the knowledge that something could’ve been better. And as a critic myself, of course I’m biased, but I’m also sympathetic to the plight of the people I write about, who have lives and families outside of country music or film. They’re in the public eye all the time, as the above people complained about when they talked about the media.
But if everyone only always said nice things about everything all the time, it would get us nowhere. Learn to take a bad review every once in a while.
Trailer Park
“Gemini Man”
I liked it better when it was called “Looper.” But I’m always interested in what director Ang Lee does— I even liked his take on the Hulk.
“21 Bridges”
Chadwick Boseman doing his best Denzel Washington in a crime movie directed by the Russo Brothers? Yeah, I’ll probably see this one.
“Deadwood: The Movie”
Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, David Milch’s Shakespearean cussing…and this trailer’s got Colter Wall playing in the background? I’m going to have to start watching “Deadwood,’ aren’t I?
“Hobbs & Shaw”
I finally saw this trailer when I saw “Avengers: Endgame” this week, and I was already sold on it, but Dwayne Johnson leading a haka and then charging toward an army of assassins is Summer Movie personified.
Movie review: 182 minutes. 14,000,605 possibilities. One endgame.
It’s here, its the ending moment we’ve all been waiting for! That one possibility of Dr. Strange’s predictions has come to pass. Without spoiling anything, I loved it, and it hit all the right notes for me, especially in the first act.
Here’s a longer review I wrote that talks about “Endgame,” the MCU and why these movies will continue to matter:
My rating: 4 raccoon emails of 5
Letter of Recommendation
Movie: "My Name Is Julia Ross” is a 1945 black-and-white Gothic noir film about a woman who applies for a secretary job, only to wake up the next day in her employer’s house, with everyone calling her by a different name and insisting she is the wife of her employer. It’s tense, creepy and prescient, and has a great lead performance from Nina Foch. Plus, it’s short — at only 65 minutes, it’s shorter than the average “Game of Thrones” episode. Come for the noir, stay for the gaslighting commentary. Available on the Criterion Channel.
Comic book: “American Carnage” is a crime noir tale set in today’s America as a biracial undercover FBI agent infiltrates a white supremacy organization. Six issues are on stands now, and it’s one of the most powerful and engrossing non-superhero comics I’ve ever read. Great dialogue and beautiful art with a plot that never punches down.
TV: Rob Thomas’ zombie crime procedural “iZombie” returns this week for its fifth and final season, and I regret that I never watched it while it was actually on air. I had the same regret with Thomas’ breakthrough show “Veronica Mars,” which is getting a limited revival season on Hulu this summer. Loosely adapted from a comic book, “iZombie” is based on a premise that shouldn’t work — girl gets bit by zombie, girl becomes zombie, girl must eat brains to survive, girl becomes medical examiner mortician in order to get brains and solve crimes — but it does. And it’s got all the witty banter and dark undertones and multiple conflicts of a Thomas show.
Video Game: In the same vein as "Life Is Strange 2” and other branch choice games of its ilk, “The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit” is a character-driven game full of supernatural forces and teen angst. Supposedly it ties in with the second chapter of “Life Is Strange 2.” I like it so far, and any game that hits you with some Sufjan Stevens right off the bat is good in my book.
Podcast: Vulture and Headgum’s “Good One” is a podcast devoted to joke-explaining, but not in a pedantic way. Host Jesse David Fox interviews comedians on some of their favorite bits they’ve done in their careers, like Vanessa Bayer’s “Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy” or John Mulaney’s “One Hundred Million Dollars” joke. Catnip for comedy nerds.
Friday News Dump
A list of online stuff I really liked this week:
My buddy Marshall made a web scraper for “Game of Thrones” headlines! Check it out! (via Marshall Doig)
Everything about this piece by Anne Helen Peterson on the effect “Fixer Upper” has had on Waco, from the flow of the writing, to the nuance of the portraits to the DC Talk reference, is flat-out fantastic (via Buzzfeed)
Someone wrote a spec script for if Thanos hosted SNL (with musical guest Hoobastank, because why not) and the results are hilarious (via Dom Nero)
Inspired by my article on “The Hobbit” last week, I re-watched all three “Lord of the Rings” films this week. This piece on the ending of the trilogy is masterful, and echoes my thoughts on why “Return of the King” should have had all those endings (via Bright Wall/Dark Room)
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See you next week,
Jake