News Satire Roundup: April 21st-April 25th

Sunday, April 21 – We jumped straight into the Mueller report.  Due to the amount of material, John acknowledged that it’s too early for a really thorough analysis, but he took the report’s two main sections and examined one theme from each:  1) if the Trump campaign didn’t collude with Russian in the 2016 election, it’s only because they were too incompetent to do so, and 2) if Trump didn’t obstruct justice, it’s only because the people he ordered to do it didn’t follow his directions.  As John said, both points are kind of relieving and deeply troubling at the same time.  After that heavy piece, we were gifted with a delightful final story involving the rogue unofficial mascot for the Japanese city Susaki.  I laughed so hard I could barely breathe at the videos of Chiitan wreaking havoc, and the ending, with the show sending its new mascot “Chijohn” to find the city’s actual mascot and console it after the loss of its loose-cannon friend, was really fun.

Monday, April 22 – After some quick jokes on Easter traditions (Jesus turned into a giant rabbit after rising from the dead?), we covered Seth Moulton, the latest to join the Democratic race, along with the fire at Notre Dame (great shade about the church taking donations for the billion-dollar repairs, which is “only like three sexual abuse settlements,”) and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle possibly going to Africa after their baby is born (I loved Trevor’s impression of African paparazzi.)  The Mueller report was the big story, with Trevor highlighting how much William Barr downplayed its contents.  Ronny celebrated Earth Day by looking at some especially-odd plans to save the planet, from “dimming the sun” to flooding the desert to designing floating cities.  The guest, activist Amanda Nguyen, talked about her work getting laws passed to help survivors and helping other groups get their movements off the ground.

Tuesday, April 23 – First was some tech news:  the who-could-have-guessed? glitches with Samsung’s new “folding” smartphone, Elon Musk’s plan for driverless Teslas to serve as rideshares when not in use (good point that people who can afford Teslas probably don’t need the $11 fare to let others ride in them,) and Netflix ending sex as we know it (calm down.)  Good story on several Democratic town halls.  Trevor focused on contrasts, like the female candidates’ preparedness vs. Pete Buttegieg selling himself instead of policies (Trevor’s comparison with a didn’t-read-the-book report on Catcher in the Rye was perfect.)  We also looked at congressional Democrats’ differing views on impeachment; I liked Michael’s analogy that establishment Democrats treat the newcomers like overeager teenagers wanting sex.  The guests were Politico’s Jake Sherman and Amy Palmer, discussing their book on the first two years of the administration.

Wednesday, April 24 – Quick Jussie Smollett update – great note that the brothers claim Smollett is ruining their reputation by saying they weren’t running a scam.  We also had opening blurbs on a proposal to detain undocumented children in Guantanamo Bay (my god) and a rare bird killing its owner (loved Trevor’s tangent on it being Malcolm X for captive chickens.)  I liked the story on Trump’s latest grudges, from Twitter (calling its CEO to the Oval to ask why he doesn’t have more followers) to Congress, to the Constitution; his vow to take impeachment attempts to the Supreme Court was wild, and I loved Trevor’s analogy with telling a cop, “You’ll be hearing from my orthodontist!” re: a speeding ticket.  Lewis did a piece on the subway – that guy trying to get a 30-foot beam on the train, ha!  Nice interview with Melinda Gates.  I liked her remarks about her charity work and realizing that access to birth control is a life-or-death crisis.

Thursday, April 25 – We opened on McDonald’s initiative to hire senior citizens, Bumble’s new steps to block dick pics (loved the bit about guys who don’t get flagged by the filter realizing how weird their dick is,) and a chimpanzee navigating Instagram (awesome.)  The big news was Joe Biden joining the presidential race.  The show looked back on his record – the good, the bad, and the gaffes – and had an extended bit on his actual schoolyard threats to Trump.  Roy had a new CP Time on Black people in country music; wild factoid about Charlie Pride succeeding on the charts because most listeners didn’t realize he was Black (with Roy demonstrating his own “white voice” in solidarity.)  Ryan O’Connell, creator of Special, was the guest.  He talked about the stigma of disability, the challenges and benefits of bringing his own story to life, and the importance of showing same-sex love scenes on TV.

A Little TLC(w): The Great Magician (2011)

I’ve had my eye on this film for a while – Tony Leung Chiu-wai hasn’t been in a ton of movies since I started getting into his work in the mid-2000s, so any film of his that’s come out in recent years catches my attention.  Unfortunately, most of them aren’t available through Netflix, so it wasn’t until I stepped up my game with A Little TLC(w) and started poking around in other places that I’ve been able to get my hands on some of them.  Luckily, I was able to rent a streaming video of this one through Amazon.

Bully Lei, a warlord, has been trying to woo his seventh wife, and all she likes are magic shows.  Of course, there’s the small matter of the facts that 1) he’s holding her father as a political prisoner and 2) he married her against her will, so it doesn’t seem like a magic show will really be the key to her heart, but he’s trying.  A small theatre is touting their new magician Chang Hsien, rumored to possess real powers.  Now, if you were a group of rebels looking to kidnap a warlord on the hunt for the perfect magic show, wouldn’t you want a magician on your side?

A very interesting premise, and I love all the scenes pulling back the curtain, so to speak, on the mechanics behind Chang Hsien’s tricks.  On the whole, though, the movie falls a little short for me.  It’s hard to put my finger on the exact why – some of the humor is overly-broad, there are places where the plot gets unnecessarily busy – but it doesn’t quite live up to its promise.  That said, I repeat:  I do love the magic scenes, both the ones that reveal “howdy doodat” and the ones that don’t.  They’re well-shot and well-executed.  I also appreciate that Yin, Bully Lei’s seventh wife, isn’t a poor damsel, nor is she merely a “feisty captive.”  The story gives her some agency beyond waiting for rescue.

Bonus point:  the movie features a very brief appearance by Daniel Wu, who plays Sunny on Into the Badlands.  Now, Wu is an American who became a big-name actor in China and has since been breaking into Hollywood, but I came at his work backwards with Bandlands, so this is the first Chinese movie I’ve seen him in.

As Chang Hsien, Leung is at the center of the film.  “Mysterious” is his whole shtick, so he gets mileage out of being just a little unfathomable.  His expression is often vague, and even when he smiles, it rarely reaches his eyes.  For me, that makes the character a bit hard to connect with, and I think it’s probably exacerbated by the fact that this is a mainland film, so Leung’s Mandarin is dubbed – I’m not sure if his own line delivery would’ve brought the performance home a bit more.

Not that it’s a bad performance; it’s just kind of remote, and even then not throughout.  There are some long, still moments when Chang Hisen’s expression becomes a private book for an audience of one to read, and those scenes are highly effective.  He also carries off the magician aspect well.  I’m curious to know how much of it is camera trickery and how much of it is Leung performing the illusions himself.  Enquiring minds…

Recommend?

In General – Maybe.  It’s all right but not great.  Might be worth a watch.

Tony Leung Chiu-wai – Eh, maybe.  Other than the magic (which, again, is fun,) there’s not a whole lot here that you can’t see Leung do better elsewhere.

Warnings

Violence, sexual references, language, drinking, and thematic elements.

The Book of Rannells: The New Normal: Season 1, Episode 21 – “Finding Name-o” (2013)

I like this one, but it is kind of uneven.  There are places where it leans in too hard and undermines itself.  By the same token, though, it also has some really excellent scenes and is a nice showcase for Andrew Rannells.

With their wedding and the birth of their son both fast approaching, Bryan and David are struggling to agree on various wedding decisions, as well as their baby’s name.  This becomes especially difficult when, at David’s urging, Bryan invites his quasi-estranged mom into town before the wedding and she starts in on the, “Tsk, tsk, you boys just can’t agree on anything, can you?”  And because it’s this show and we can’t have only one name-related conflict going on at once, Shania decides to change her name after hearing the less-than-inspiring story of how her parents chose it and Goldie’s ex is upset to hear Goldie is planning on going back to her maiden name.

Not much to stay about the Goldie-Shania plots, although I like the early-2000s jokes surrounding the story of Shania’s name:  “A few minutes later, and your name would’ve been Chumbawumba!”  I also enjoy Shania’s foray into longing for the anonymity of normality, wishing she could be any of the five Sarahs in her class.

But of course, the main attraction here is the stuff with Bryan’s mom.  Like his difficulties in an earlier episode with David’s mom (the point is that Bryan just can’t win with moms,) the show is almost surprisingly-effective at how it shows her getting under Bryan’s skin.  Mary Kay Place is the queen of friendly-and-passive-aggressive, and she does a great job of cheerfully throwing in these constant little digs at Bryan’s clothes, his career, his choices (re:  the wedding and the baby name,) and pretty much everything else.  When they ultimately get to their big confrontation and she defends herself with, “Do you know how hard I tried with you, Bryan?” – that implication that she should get full credit because he was just “so difficult” to deal with – my heart breaks for Bryan.  While I do think the confrontation does pull its punches a little, that moment is 100% effective.

What works less in this plotline is how it exaggerates the more comic elements.  The whole “wedding decisions” thing starts out well, with both guys having strong opinions but Bryan being his usual bossy self, and they tentatively begin to find ways to compromise until Bryan’s mom shows up and forces the issue, pushing Bryan into a near-meltdown – all that works for me.  It loses me, though, when David’s choices become increasingly ridiculous.  Bryan is both shallow and particular enough that anyone else’s ideas are almost sure to appall him, but about halfway through the episode, David’s picks morph into ideas that would appall anyone, and that’s not necessary for the story.  It’s certainly not funny enough to be worth the suggestion that David would actually want such a tacky, absurd wedding.

While that’s a fairly big mark against the episode, it still makes it into the win category overall, with a sweet resolution and, like I said, great work from Rannells.  He’s funny in the scenes with the wedding planner, Bryan doing Bryan, and as soon as the subject of his mom comes up – long before she actually gets there – you can see him go on edge.  He’s bristling the entire time, always on guard for the next cheery little insult or criticism.  At first, he’s in full-on damage-control mode, insisting to David that they present a united front, but it’s not long before he’s snapping off sharp comebacks and getting increasingly agitated, trying to pretend he’s holding it together but heading for a detonation.  And Rannells is just wonderful in the confrontation; he’s really good at playing someone trying to keep from crying, and as Bryan’s mom talks, you can see his face just dissolve.  I know I’ve said it before, but thanks so much to creators like Ryan Murphy or Lena Dunham who recognize all that Rannells can do and give him material he can shine with.