Perhaps you have a holiday weekend this weekend, and perhaps you don't. But either way, you may be facing at least one or two days of pretty cold weather. (Where I am, it's likely to be around freezing when I wake up Saturday morning.) I greatly prefer cold weather to hot weather, as it's easier to put on a big thick robe and make my dog lie on my feet than it is to sprawl sweatily upon my floor and hope for relief.
If you do hunker down, particularly with family around, it's good to have something warming to watch. Sure, you could lean into it and watch something icy, like George Clooney's The Midnight Sky. I, on the other hand, like to watch something that reminds me that the sun will come out -- maybe not tomorrow, but eventually.
Cristin Milioti and Andy Samberg in Palm Springs.Hulu
Palm Springs
This nifty romcom takes place at a resort hotel in (obviously) Palm Springs. You get desert, you get a pool, you get bright sunlight, and you get a charming time-loop story of two people who really, really want to get to the next day already.
Breaking Bad
Maybe you know all about this wonderful show; maybe it will be a rewatch. But think about it: the show takes place in Albuquerque! Multiple bloody showdowns happen in the desert. People trek for hours just to commit all of their various crimes! You'll verily feel the sweat on your brow.
A Time to Kill
I can't defend every element of this 1996 courtroom drama based on John Grisham's book. Parts of it are, most definitely, a bit cringe-inducing, although parts are also very good. Either way, it does take place in Mississippi, and it is the sweatiest movie I have ever seen. Ashley Judd, in particular, playing the wife of Matthew McConaughey's cocky defense lawyer, glistens wetly like a just-painted nail.
Do the Right Thing
A heavy movie, yes. But a truly great one. And one that uses the heat of a summer day to increase the ominous building of pressure that will lead to tragedy. It's probably one of the most plot-critical uses of extreme heat you'll see on screen.
(Honorable mention: Heat.)
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We Recommend
The first game I sat down to play on my new PS5 was Spider-Man 2, which came out in October. This is wildly current compared to what I normally do gaming-wise; my PS4 and I were still picking our way through Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 (from the olden days, 2017). So far, so good. It's entertaining, it's got a solid story, it looks great, and I can function pretty well in the early going when it comes to fights. Look, if you're not somebody who's done it for most of your life, keeping track of eight buttons long enough to reach the point where muscle memory can guide you is quite difficult. But this game has enough hand-holding for me, and it lets me fail (and fail and fail) and just keep learning. And that's what you want.
If you follow film festivals and the like, you don't need me to recommend the film Anatomy of a Fall, now available for rent or purchase on demand. Sandra Hüller stars as a woman whose husband has come to a bad end, and who finds suspicion falling on herself. It does invite you to guess at her guilt or innocence, but more than that, it examines the decline of her marriage (including in flashbacks) and considers the effects on her son.
All episodes of FX's A Murder at the End of the World are now streaming on Hulu. It's a tricky, twisty mystery about a death that takes place at a secretive tech billionaire's remote, wintry hideaway during an exclusive, invite-only conference. I had mixed feelings about the way the story wrapped up -- I've seen both positive and negative reviews of that element of it from critics -- but if you like moody, icy, Nordic-feeling mysteries that are slow and deliberative, it's well worth your time.
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We were so glad to re-share Aisha's Screening Ourselves episode about the 1985 film adaptation of The Color Purple, looking back on its legacy and the controversies that it sparked. Check it out before you see the new movie.
Aisha also wrote a thoughtful essay about that new musical adaptation and the ways in which it didn't fully address some of the story's complexities.
And finally, Aisha and I talked to Cate Young and Tre'vell Anderson about the new film, the performances from Fantasia Barrino and others, and the music that followed it (in some cases) from Broadway to the screen.
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