Hello hello hello happy Monday! Various fascinating scheduling things mean that I’m making a rare foray into What Now-land today. I hope you’re all doing great! Let’s see, uh…thinking of some “patter” here…oh, how about that Super Bowl?! I can’t believe about when the people did the things! Oh, no, I didn’t actually watch it, except for the most important part, the halftime show, which I thought was very entertaining, though I can’t stop thinking about how insane 50 Cent looked. He’s not so much turning round as, like, square??? Wild times.

Anyway, for today’s newsletter I thought I would keep it simple and do an edition of “Stuff I Have Watched Recently And Whether You Should Watch It Too.” Some of this will be Oscar-y because it is Oscar season and I am trying to watch all the Oscar things. OK here we gooooooooo.

Marry Me—yeah so this one is not in the Oscar hunt lol. J Lo plays, basically, J Lo, who, for reasons of plot contrivance I will not get into here (really there’s no need, as the movie barely bothers to justify its decisions) winds up married to a complete stranger played by Owen Wilson. She’s a heartbroken megastar, he’s a divorced math teacher with a chipper tween daughter—will these two make it???? Spoiler alert: no, it doesn’t work out. Kidding!!! Of course they make it! This is the kind of movie where you really have to deposit your brain at the door or you can’t go on the journey. Its choices are bewildering even for the high-concept romcom subgenre it is fitfully trying to revive, but J Lo knows how to sell this nonsense in her sleep, and she wins you round through sheer force of personality. By the time the climactic moment plays out—at a mathletics championship in Peoria, no less!!!!—I was putty in her hands.

Should you watch? Yeah why not???

Parallel Mothers—I really won’t give anything about the plot away here, because it’s worth being surprised by. The most I will say is that it’s about motherhood and grief and memory and the way that lasting societal trauma can become replicated in interpersonal trauma. And at the same time, it is a fabulously ripe melodrama filled with vivid colors, even more vivid performances, and twist after twist after twist. In other words, it’s an Almodóvar movie, and I loved it. Between this and his last one, Pain and Glory (which I liked even more, but not by much), Almodóvar is in the midst of what might turn out to be an even higher creative peak than his All About My Mother-through-Volvér run. And give Penelope Cruz the Oscar for this!!!! Knockout knockout knockout.

Should you watch? Yes yes yes.

Drive My Car—A knockout in a totally different way, though this would actually work thematically as a very heavy double bill with Parallel Mothers. I know that, on the surface, “three-hour-long Japanese meditation on parents, grief, Chekhov, driving, art, infidelity, and about a million other things” might not seem like the most captivating material out there, but Drive My Car takes hold of you very quickly. It is a gorgeous, gorgeous movie, deeply felt in a way that sneaks up on both its characters and its audience, until by the end you’re kind of bowled over by the whole thing. 10/10 recommend.

Should you watch? Yes!

The Gilded Age—If you said “make a show in a lab for Jack,” it might look vaguely like this. Period New York setting? Check. By the guy who did Downton Abbey? Check. Starring a mega-roster of Broadway and TV queens like Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon? Check! Basically, there was no way I wasn’t going to watch this, and I’m thrilled to report that it’s…fine? It does exactly what you need it to do, no more and no less. You get the sense that Julian Fellowes doesn’t totally have a handle on America (not that his vision of class politics in England felt particularly on point!) but that hardly matters here. What matters are the costumes and the contrivances and the constant simmering rage in Carrie Coon’s eyes as she climbs the social ladder with a blazing intensity that has her seconds from punching a hole through every wall she encounters. What more can you ask for?

Should you watch? Yeah if you like this sort of thing.

The And Just Like That Documentary—I will not get into the broader show, except that I thought it was a perfect example of a show going through hellish mediocrity in its first season while trying to figure out what it was supposed to be, and that there’s a good chance that everything could gel in a second season. But the accompanying documentary is exquisite, mostly for the sight of Sarah Jessica Parker assuming the role of team leader, keeper of the flame, ruthless costume editor, set designer, and Parisian romantic all at once. The depth of her devotion to Carrie is moving in a way that the actual show often struggles to match. Hopefully art can imitate life more in round 2.

Should you watch? Yes.

Abbott Elementary—I know, it’s the show of the moment, but that is because it is sweet and simple and fun. Did you like The Office or Parks and Rec? This is that, except it’s a Philly public school. Everyone from Quinta Brunson on down is charming and good, the beats are all the mockumentary beats you know and love, and the jokes mostly work. ‘Nuff said!

Should you watch? Yeah!

House of Gucci—Woof. Gaga tries her best but she can't save this one. Everyone is acting in their own movie, it's 40 minutes too long, the tonal shifts give you whiplash, and Jared Leto should be sent to the Hague. Skip!!!!

Should you watch? Nope.

Wow, all things you should watch except one! Hope this helped. Katherine will be here on Wednesday!

—Jack