Rando Recommendations: What Pop Culture Thing Do You Recommend (Not Geek Media)

[Marc_C]

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, set in Australia of the 20s. Fun entertainment. Well made.

'The series revolves around the personal and professional life of Phryne Fisher (Essie Davis), a glamorous private detective in 1920s Melbourne. Three series have been broadcast, and a feature film titled Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears was released in February 2020. A television spin-off Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries was broadcast in 2019. Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries has been aired in over 100 countries and territories.'

 

[Tonguez]

due to the wonders of Netflix and streaming in general I’ve been watching African dramas, which have some great offering and provide a good insight into modern life on the big continent.

Queen Sono, Netflix - Queen Sono is a Sth African Spy so a bit geek
Kings of Jo’burg, Netflix - about a family who dominate organised crime

An African City is a Ghanaian show about group of modern young women living in Accra which appeared on Youtube in 2014, (its the first African show I watched, thus it earns special mention)

oh and for a change Jinn is a Jordanian show on netflix about a group of teenagers who during a school trip to Petra summon a Jinn and must stop it from destroying the world.

(and yes love Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries too)

 

[Reynard]

This is going to sound stupid, but Naked and Afraid is usually really good. It is at once a compelling reality show about people thrust together, and highly educational regarding survival in adverse conditions. I ignore the show for ages because I thought the premise was dumb, but one day my wife and ended up watching it for a lark and were hooked almost immediately.

I prefer the XL challenges (larger groups, longer challenge) and prefer dry places like Africa to wet places like the Amazon (because moisture does horrible thing to human bodies). There is very little "competition to it and the drama feels like it arises more naturally than in lots of other, similar shows.

 

[billd91]

Knives Out is a thoroughly enjoyable film with actors from franchises in roles that are notably different (Daniel Craig, Chris Evans) and was directed by someone who took a lot of heat from fanboys from his work in geek media (Rian Johnson). It's streaming on Prime and well worth checking out.

 

[Ryujin]

A movie that might have flown under the radar of a few people here, that's definitely not the usual fare for this group; "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood." It's on Prime. The somewhat fictionalized story of an investigative reporter for a major magazine, who is tasked with getting an interview from Mr. Rogers. Really well done and Tom Hanks knocks it out of the park, in my opinion. Watch for the little things in this. You'll know what I mean when you see them

On the other end of the scale, there's a little short film production that was made by a couple of my acquaintances, in Washington State. (I'd like to call them friends but honestly don't know them well enough, at this point, to make that claim) It's called "Iron", is about 15 minutes long, and is the story of a woman who moved to Washington State, during WWI, and took up a "man's job" during the time when so many women did, because so many men had gone to war. You can watch it for free at thefantasy.network by just searching for it. No account or login required. FULL DISCLOSURE: I was one of the original backers of the project, and Samara is gorgeous, so I'm more than a little biased

 

[billd91]

A movie that might have flown under the radar of a few people here, that's definitely not the usual fare for this group; "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood." It's on Prime. The somewhat fictionalized story of an investigative reporter for a major magazine, who is tasked with getting an interview from Mr. Rogers. Really well done and Tom Hanks knocks it out of the park, in my opinion. Watch for the little things in this. You'll know what I mean when you see them

Tom Hanks IS amazing in this. I can't emphasize this enough. He does a fantastic Fred Rogers.

 

[Mallus]

The Hercule Poirot series starring David Suchet. My wife and I binged all of it early the Plague Year. It's now one of my favorite performances -- and TV series -- of all time.

A book of short stories: The Largesse of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson. He's one of the finest American writers of the last 100 years or so. This is his last book, published just after his death.

A non-fiction book: Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino. She writes great stuff about culture and learning to be/being a writer now, in the age of the Very Online.

The Farewell, starring Awkwafina (aka Nora Lum). Sure, Crazy Rich Asians was fun, but this movie is much, much better.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Hmmm....

Good Eats: stars Alton Brown. Teaches you both The HOWs and WHYs of cooking. There is also a Reloaded version of the series in which he revises and improves episodes from the show’s prior incarnation.

Homicide Hunter: features Lt. Kenda (Ret.). A really good true crime series narrated by a deadpanning grandpa who has seen too much.

Midsommer Murders: a long-running murder mystery series from England. Midsommer county may be the deadliest place on earth after Cabot Cove, Miskatonic, Castle Rock, and Amityville.

Rumble: a documentary about the history of Native Americans’ influence on rock & roll. You WILL learn things you didn’t know before.

Later...with Jools Holland: a killer showcase for musicians from around the world, in all kinds of genres. You will hear the familiar and bands and music you didn’t know existed.

And God Spoke: a mockumentary depicting two B-list movie makers and their struggles making of ”the next great hollywood Bible epic”, And God Spoke. Many surprising cameos. The more you know movie making, Hollywood, and christianity, the funnier this film is,

Spinal Tap: one of the earliest mockumentaries, and one of the best. Details the trials and tribulations of Spïnal Tap’s attempts do come back and tour in America.

Incident at Loch Ness: a mockumentary starring, produced by and written by Werner Herzog and Zak Penn. The small cast film follows Herzog and his crew working on the production of a movie project on the Loch Ness Monster titled Enigma of Loch Ness.

Line of Duty: brilliant UK police procedural that focuses on the detectives who investigate the police.

Unforgotten: British police procedural about cold-case detectives l

 

[Umbran]

Spinal Tap: one of the earliest mockumentaries, and one of the best. Details the trials and tribulations of Spïnal Tap’s attempts do come back and tour in America.

Which you can follow with more work by the same people...

Best In Show: Spinal Tap, but for dog shows. Yes, really, dog shows.
A Mighty Wind: Best In Show, but for folk music.

 

[billd91]

Which you can follow with more work by the same people...

Best In Show: Spinal Tap, but for dog shows. Yes, really, dog shows.
A Mighty Wind: Best In Show, but for folk music.

Don't forget:
Waiting for Guffman: community theater
For Your Consideration: awards buzz

There's a special brilliance in a lot of these because they're so good at playing things straight while being completely bonkers. And that dates all the way back to Spinal Tap. When Spinal Tap appeared on SNL as the musical guest, it was accompanied by an interview with that week's host Barry Bostwick. I didn't immediately catch on that the band was a gag - I just thought they were really stupid. Admittedly, I was young at the time and didn't recognize Michael McKean and didn't connect Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap to the Nigel Tufnel on my Lenny and the Squigtones album.