Instant Picks of the Week 3/10/17
Gone are the days of scrolling mindlessly through your queue! No longer will you have to sift through the vastness of what’s coming to the instant viewing wastelands this month! Whether you’re looking for a stellar film or an exciting new show to binge, Instant Picks of the Week brings you the hottest releases in film and television on instant viewing platforms that we know you’ll love, or at the very least not despise.
ABED’S UNCONTROLLABLE CHRISTMAS (Vimeo)
I have never seen the television show COMMUNITY, nor will I ever (I’m not a TV person). But Starburns Industries, an animation company founded in 2010 by Dan Harmon (COMMUNITY, RICK AND MORTY), Dino Stamatopoulos (MORAL OREL, MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENHOLE, MR. SHOW), Joe Russo II (THE SIMPSONS, RUGRATS), and James A. Fino (KING OF THE HILL), produced a stop-motion animated episode for the series in season two: ABED’S UNCONTROLLABLE CHRISTMAS. (The episode can be found on the Starburns Industries Vimeo.) Their work on the holiday special garnered an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Character Animation. Like Donnie, I had no frame of reference with regards to the characters in COMMUNITY; notwithstanding, I found the episode to be quite hilarious, knowing full well that most of the jokes, references, and character foibles, flew over my head during the 20-minute running time. Have you seen Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson’s stop-motion animated feature ANOMALISA?—made possible by the producers and animators at Starburns Industries. Peruse through their Vimeo archive, especially if you have a proclivity for stop-motion and clever, absurdist humor. [John Loftus]
ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW (Netflix)
Miranda July’s award-winning debut feature, ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW, is an absurd and delightful adventure through the lives of the many oddballs of Los Angeles, including a young girl with a self-made dowry and a divorcing shoe salesman. July’s directional decisions are quirky and funny, yet somehow, emotional dialogue engages the audience throughout the twists and turns of the multiple interconnected plots. As a young woman who started as an artist of varying media (performance, sculpture, writing, painting, etc.), July has a vision and style that is exceptionally unique. There is absolutely no other voice in the world like July’s, and it shines through in the best possible way with this film. Not to mention, her performance in the leading role exemplifies the great sense of peculiarity that the film embodies, and every other actor strides right alongside her in her perfectly weird way. ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW is an experience and artistic piece that you should not pass up. [Hayley Bensmiller]
