Amy Nicholson’s picks for pandemic viewing

Film critic Amy Nicholson recommended a few films for folks spending a lot of time at home right now. She also included a TV show and a podcast.

Here’s her list, along with why she recommends them:

“Banana Split”: The 26year-old filmmaker and actress Hannah Marks is poised to be the voice of her generation with her young, insightful comedies. I adored her directorial debut “After Everything,” a super-smart romantic comedy about a Brooklyn couple who have their first date on the day the boy is diagnosed with cancer. Her latest, “Banana Split,” which she stars in and co-wrote and produced, is about a heartbroken high school girl who, against her will, realizes her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend is really cool — and the two girls can’t resist plunging into a secret best friendship. “Banana Split” was set to open in theaters right when COVID-19 shut them down, alas, but the silver lining is it immediately went to streaming. Rent it on YouTube, Google Play,

Amazon Prime and Vudu. “The Vast of Night”: This is the kind of ambitious indie that knocks you sideways. It’s an ultra-low budget sci-fi flick about a 1950s alien invasion in rural New Mexico, shot mostly in Texas by a young Oklahoman crew. If you’re expecting poodle skirts and retro slang, you got ’em — but prepare to be wowed by director Andrew Patterson’s confident, creative cinematography, including an insane tracking shot where he straps a camera to a go-kart and sends it speeding through a basketball game. (Rumor is Patterson partially funded the film with money he made shooting NBA promos for Kevin Durant.) After watching “The Vast of Night” seize attention — and awards! — at film festivals around the country, I’m stoked that audiences are finally getting a chance to see it at home. Available starting May 29 on Amazon Prime.

“The Shivering Truth”: The most twisted, beautiful and bizarre stop-motion animated show since MTV’s “Liquid Television.”

Caution: It’s not for kids unless you want them to grow up to be oddball artists. (It’s on Adult Swim for a reason!) The second season just kicked off, and if it’s anything like the first, you won’t be able to predict a single insane second. Airs at 11 p.m. Sundays on Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network.

“You Must Remember This”: Anyone who loves old movies already knows about Karina Longworth’s fantastic film history podcast. But I’m so excited for her new season on editor

at the movies by myself,” she said.

The Incarnate Word High School graduate remembers watching “Home Alone” over and over with her friends, not to mention all of the films starring Leonardo DiCaprio and other heartthrobs.

She also has “this tiny love in my heart” for what is now the Santikos Bijou theater, where she talked some friends into joining her for a screening of John Waters’ gross-out classic “Pink Flamingos.” None of them knew what they were getting into: Among the most infamous moments in the film is a scene in which a character trying to prove she is “the filthiest person alive” scoops up a piece of dog poop and eats it.

“We were probably the only people in the theater,” Nicholson said. “My friends told me I’d never get to pick the movie ever again, but I fell in love with it.”

Polly Platt, which launches at the end of May. Polly is one of the many, many unsung women who changed Hollywood, only to watch their male partners get the glory. In Polly’s case, she was vital in helping her then-husband Peter Bogdanovich launch the New Hollywood era of the ’60s and ’70s — a story we briefly mentioned on our “Last Picture Show” episode of “Unspooled” — and I’m so glad Karina is dedicating an entire season to her legacy. Fun fact: Polly even had a hand in creating “The Simpsons”!

She has missed watching movies in theaters during the shutdown orders put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19. She was particularly bummed that the pandemic hit shortly after the Alamo Drafthouse, her favorite theater chain, opened its first theater in Los Angeles.

But she believes moviegoers will fall back into the habit once they feel they can do it safely. She said she sees evidence of a strong desire for that experience in Los Angeles.

“One of the silver linings, I guess, has been that people have fallen back in love with one of my favorite drive-ins in the area,” she said. “When you have that hunger, that people are willing to drive at least an hour to go see a movie that has been out, that shows how people want to go and see a movie large.”