Following the Buzz of modern age
The After Party (2018) Available Friday
In this film, real-life rapper Kyle, known for last summer’s hit song iSpy, plays the part of a man vying for his big break with a record deal while fighting for his reputation in the teeth of an unusual scenario.
The film, written and directed by Ian Edelman, follows Kyle’s character, Owen, as he accidentally becomes a viral sensation — but not for his raps.
After Wiz Khalifa (as himself) gives the aspiring artist advice and some low-grade weed, Owen has a bad reaction and begins to seize onstage during a set.
As is par for the course in the digital age, audience members take video of the incident and Owen becomes #Seezjahboy overnight.
He has become notorious in a digital age and Edleman’s script brilliantly shows up the brutality of that process.
The film feels like an authentic snapshot of a moment because of all the stars from the music industry — it features cameos from rappers French Montana, Pusha T, Jadakiss, and Desiigner — and the Black Mirror-ish and blackly comic overtones of their efforts to help one of their own escape infamy give this an added edge.
Follow This (2018) Available Thursday
Perhaps no website excels at the jarring (and very modern) mix of hard news ‘gets’ and popcorn for the brain — especially those addictive lists — quite like Buzzfeed.
And while other platforms bemoan the audience-stealing effects of digital giants like Netflix, Buzzfeed is joining forces with them.
This documentary series features the experiences of journalists as they research various story topics.
That doesn’t mean it’s a news show, per se. If anything, Follow This is more like How It’s Made with intangible topics and ideas.
To an extent, since Buzzfeed is co-producing, this isn’t exactly a warts-and-all depiction of a newsroom in the modern age, but the 20-plus-episode series is intended to provide viewers with content ranging from “unexpected cultural phenomena to controversial social issues.”
Denial (2016) Available now
On September 5, 1996, British “historian” and noted Holocaust denier David Irving (Timothy Spall) filed a libel suit in UK courts charging that American university professor Deborah Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz) did irreparable damage to his reputation in her book Denying the Holocaust, in which she called him a bigot and a falsifier (among other things).
Instead of agreeing to a settlement with Irving, which would have made the incident go away, she decided to fight him.
To that end, she enlisted the aid of solicitor Anthony Julius (Andrew Scott) and barrister Richard Rampton (Tom Wilkinson).
Irving, seizing upon an opportunity for maximum publicity and exposure, elected to represent himself, thereby setting up what he called a “real David vs. Goliath” conflict.
This in turn forms the basis for this enthralling courtroom drama, which works in large part because of a very strong central performance from Weisz and an understated screenplay which never descends into melodrama.
Set It Up (2018) Available now
On the face of it, this — Netflix’s original movie about two overworked assistants who scheme to pair up their demanding bosses — seems like yet another cheesy romantic comedy.
And in some ways, it is. It’s also one of the best movies on Netflix (or anywhere else) right now.
It follows Harper (Zoey Deutch) and Charlie (Glen Powell) as they play cupids to their high-powered bosses (Lucy Liu and Taye Diggs, respectively).
Liu plays Kirsten, a successful ESPN sports reporter running a digital start-up; Diggs’s Rick is a venture capitalist and kind of awful as a person.
You can probably guess most/all of what happens next, and that’s totally OK because the movie is effortlessly funny and the performances are comedic gold — nobody does droll side-eye quite like Lucy Liu.