The Good Links Presents: 5 Recommendations on March 21, 2020
We're inside and we're watching stuff.
Note: all of these recommendations are reprinted from various issues of Cassandra’s Good Links that were published from November 23-December 28, 2017.
Ingrid Goes West (2017)
Ingrid Goes West, the Aubrey Plaza movie about her character, Ingrid, softcore stalking an Instagram influencer played by Elizabeth Olsen, is one of the most surprisingly funny movies I've seen in a long while. It's inherently dark because it's about a very sad girl (Plaza) who has no friends (because her mom died) trying to inject herself into the world of Instagram (bleak!). Olsen’s gram-centric character loves yoga class, avo toast, and lots of Joshua Tree photos, and Ingrid is out of her depth. But the jokes about wellness hacks and LA are sharp. It's also anchored by a heart-of-gold performance by Ice Cube's son, as Plaza's landlord/an aspiring screenwriter who loves Batman. The best part? It comes in at a sleek 98 minutes and is streaming on Hulu!
No one spends enough time acknowledging that Elizabeth Olsen is a national treasure.
Search Party (2016-Present)
It's time for you to watch Search Party, the TBS sitcom noir that for some reason is not sweeping the nation. Following a group of semi-insufferable millennials in New York after a college classmate of theirs goes missing, it merges the genre of noir and sitcom to create hysterical television. It's one of those situations that's tough to explain without giving away the most delightful surprises, but I can say that Alia Shawkat is doing some capital A acting and comedian John Early is doing some capital C comedian-ing. Seasons are available ~for free~ on TBS.com and also Xfinity On Demand if you have that. Go forth, search for the party.
John Early talking about the idea of you watching Search Party.
The Roast of James Franco (2013)
I know that James Franco is a totally gross guy, but I'm still recommending you watch the 2013 Roast of James Franco (the whole thing is available on Amazon, but you can also watch clips on Comedy Central). Unlike all of the other Roasts that have ever Roasted, this one is delightful (minus Roastmaster Jeff Ross's bit, which is gross and bad, like all the other Roasts), featuring a cameo from Bill Hader's Mr. Hollywood and an anti-roast from Andy Samberg, who upends the idea of roasting itself. It's also a neat referendum on the bizarre career of James Franco, who once helped open a museum of invisible art. Yup.
He also did this movie.
Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
The Lonely Island's* Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping was the single most under-appreciated piece of cinema in 2016. Like, talk about an Oscars snub. It's a stomach-ache funny parody of music documentaries about a pop star named Conner4Real (played by beautiful boy Andy Samberg) who rose to fame as part of a now-defunct boy group called "The Style Boyz" (Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer). It's about fame and friendships, yada yada, but it's also just punchy as hell and features hilarious songs from the ever-en-pointe group, including my personal fave "Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song)” about a girl asking a boy to fuck her like "we fucked Bin Laden." Boom. As in boomtown. Available for $3.99 on Amazon Prime.
*The Lonely Island: Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer, a musical comedy trio known for their SNL digital shorts.
Mozart in the Jungle (2014-2018)
Amazon original series Mozart In The Jungle isn't really part of peak TV, but it's part of my top favorite shows that are currently on TV. It's about the fictional New York Symphony Orchestra (read: an analogue for the New York Philharmonic) and its members' tumultuous personal lives. It won some Emmys when it first premiered, even though no one knew what it was, and the fourth season is about to premiere in a week. It also stars human f***ing catnip Gael Garcia Bernal. My point is: it's absurd but addictive and has never once given me a stomach ache about humanity. So watch it because it's the season of joy.
A truly incredible part of this show is Gael Garcia Bernal calling his assistant Hailey “Hai Lai” because of his accented English.