June This'N'Thats
Cute hats, jaunty crimes and other distractions
Hey there - how is it:
a. already June?
b. still June?
I am on a self-imposed sabbatical-ish month (summer?) trying to figure what I want to be when I grow up (this is both a can of worms AND a separate newsletter, for sure) and aside from navel-gazing on very very long walks with my dog, definitely watching more things and reacting to more things than usual, as such.
So, you’re in for a whirlwind of consumption updates:
First up, always - movies & TV
We finished “Hacks”, “The Studio” and are fully caught up on “Poker Face” so there was a need for something else to watch as a household and the prize went to:
“The Better Sister”(Prime) - the new procedural thriller starring Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks. I can’t think of the last time Jason willingly watched a limited series thriller (“Mindhunter”, maybe?) but this sucked us both in. It gets a little messy towards the end, and some of the questions definitely don’t get answered but it is shot really well, Jessica Biel’s body is worth a separate newsletter, and Banks deserves an Emmy.
In the thriller realm I also saw (by myself):
“Department Q” (the Netflix version) - which was very good (I’d watch Matthew Goode and Kelly McDonald in pretty much anything) but definitely stretched that first Jussi Adler-Olsen novel a little too thin - I still prefer the actual Danish movies a little bit more.
“Sirens” - I just inhaled this. It was funny and disturbing and glamorous and gutwrenching and made me think of shows like “Revenge”, which I loved loved loved in the early 2000s.
“High Potential” - Kaitlin Olson, who is maybe the busiest woman on TV, has this show about a mom of 3 with genuis IQ who works as an LAPD cleaner and then enters into a Monk-style consulting dynamic. It sounds hokey, and it IS hokey at times, but I sort of really like it too? This is pure network TV but you know…
Beyond MURDERS:
“Outrageous” (Britbox) - I feel 80% of my anglophilia came from Nancy Mitford’s books “Love In A Cold Climate” and “Pursuit Of Love” which I found as a teenager at our beach house (inevitably abandoned by some foreign, glamorous friend of my aunts). Famously (in some circles), Nancy was part of the infamous Mitford clan - six glamourus sisters (& one brother) who tore through London making all sorts of terrible decisions in the 30s and 40s. The show is about them, and it is a very good, dry humored but jaunty, time so far. I may even do a
Movies:
“The Last Showgirl” (streaming on Hulu/Disney+) - Gia Coppolla’s portait of an aging showgirl (Pamela Anderson, in a late-in-career defining performance) is equal parts Vegas-y and achingly intimate (a hard thing to pull off), and surprisingly hopeful. Everyone in the stacked character actor cast (Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Kiernan Shipka, Billie Lourd, Brenda Song) does a great job of being very human too: often unlikable but authentically vulnerable. Pair this w/ this Arch Digest read on Pamela Anderson’s garden and then we can have a group chat about all her headwear - private and professional.
first photo: The Last Showgirl // second photo: Paige Powell for AD “The Materialists” - went on a lady date to see this the other day and it was charming and quiet and unexpected, and I am glad Celine Song gets to make her movies and was not ushered into some Marvel nightmare already. It sort of reads like a more misanthropic “Sex and The City”, with a truly hilarious “men’s height as their primary source of value in a competitive market” running throughline which made a decade of my life when people claimed to be 6’ but definitely weren’t feel very validated. Also, everyone in this cast can get it. Related.
“The Accountant 2” - loved it. We rewatched “The Accountant” first and I think that’s the pro move. The Affleck/Bernthal dynamic was great and there we a lot of fun little touches that felt like actual people worked on the movie which I always appreciate, and is basically unheard of in major Hollywood movies these days.
“Comfort of Strangers” - based on a Ian McEwan book, with a screenplay by Harold Pinter and directed by Paul Schraeder, this psychosexual Venice escapade you never heard of involves Rupert Everett & Natasha Richardson at their most beguiling, Christopher Walken and Helen Mirren at their most scene chewing, + costumes by Giorgio Armani and music by Angelo Badalamenti. I wouldn’t necessarily call it good, but I’d call it sort of essential. Just waiting for you on Criterion collection.
True Crime:
After a mini break from the genre I did watch several Skye Borgman (who is the best there is in that game) shows on Netflix:
“The Girl In The Picture” - truly one of the most harrowing, but engrossing procedurals I’ve ever seen (every single content trigger warning included). If you think you’ve seen it all and nothing can surprise or shock you anymore - watch this. On par with “Don’t F*ck With Cats” (IYKYK) in terms of how compelling it is, but much more messed up (somehow)
“I Just Killed My Dad” - ALSO terrible and incredibly frustrating (men can really get away with things in this country, who knew?), but LESS shocking than the previous one, so if you are in the mood for this particular rollercoaster, maybe watch them in reverse order than I did for maximum emotional galvanizing.
Otherwise:
Romy Mars has a new single and I love it.
I am not a bandwagoner (in fact, my entire personality is about being against people who bandwagon) but I am bandwagoning (BANDWAGONING!) on the whole “The clothes in the fist images of Ryan Murphy’s American Love Story w/ JFK JR & Carolyn Bessette LOOK TERRIBLE”. They really, really do. They’re backpedalling now that these are not actual clothes from the show, but… I’m kind of not buying it (the NY shots on the street in converse and Zara type skirt feel more like active filming than screen tests). This is a very niche outrage, but I weirdly needed it. (p.s. recommend that the costume designer invests in this book)
Cancer season (astrologically, and also solar-damage wise) is almost here - and maybe it is time to believe in summer horoscopes again? (I mean, we need SOMETHING?)
Mid-career existential crisis note: Instead of our careers being a tree to climb, they can be a playground to hop around.
I learned about these Warhol pre-pop drawings last week and now I can’t stop thinking about them.
- ‘s MAGASIN is the single best fashion newsletter out there and this breakdown of 2025 summer fashion trends (by people who created them) is the only sartorial inspiration you need to reference this season. Alt route: you can just watch the original and the remake of “Bonjour Tristesse” and feel your way from there.
Till next time!