What is on my radar:
*"Bombshell." 2016: Megyn Kelly informed Trump of Trump's own comments about women. This led to threats on Kelly's life and threats against her family. So it's understandable that the opportunity to take down Roger Ailes does not fill Megyn with joy. (That said, if she doesn't speak up, she is sending a particular message to younger people, including her own kids. Megyn's ambivalence toward cultural poison--a poison that she herself uses and promotes in many settings--is not fully explored in the movie. That's a shame.)
I appreciated certain details in this script. The running joke about Roger Ailes's paranoia (a terrible character flaw that creates special problems on September 12, 2001) is effective. I also liked Allison Janney as a lawyer squaring off against the Murdochs: "Roger Ailes made one third of your fortune. There are three of you. Imagine if one of you could no longer eat...."
*"The Dentist," by Tim Sullivan. It annoys me that a major novelist with a career built on the exploration of autism is a bit facile in his allusions to autism. Sullivan repeatedly notes (in a professorial tone) that "of course" his main character "cannot empathize"--but a brief Google search would help Sullivan to confirm that this is a sloppy misreading of at least many ASD profiles. How did an editor (or several editors) fail to request clarification?
*"Relay." This isn't a great movie, but it's a showcase for Riz Ahmed, so it's worthwhile. Ahmed is almost entirely sealed off from the world; we know, through hints, that he had a terrible alcohol-drenched past. In his new life, he has relationships with just two people--an AA sponsor and a client whose future he wants to protect from a nefarious corporation. It's a treat to see Ahmed warring against himself; it's also fun to observe his prickliness. There are worse choices on Netflix.
P.S. Just another note on "The Dentist." ASD refers to a spectrum--so any particular behavior or trait is not easily mapped on to *every* person with an ASD diagnosis. I wish Sullivan had more awareness of this particular world (which he has described as interesting). I also wish he wrote with more precision.
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