Picks of the Week offers Women and Hollywood’s top recommendations — women-driven and women-made movies, series, VOD releases, and more — and tells you why they are worth your time and money.
Note: Picks of the Week will be going on hiatus until mid-January. We hope you have a great holiday season.
Michelle Wolf: Joke Show (Comedy Special) – Written by Michelle Wolf
Good news: Michelle Wolf’s new Netflix special is much better than its official plot synopsis implies. “Comedian Michelle Wolf wants to fight for women’s equality — but not in like that annoying way,” the summary reads before teasing Wolf’s jokes about society being too woke.
Wolf does have a bit about that, as well as jokes about feminist in-fighting and call-out culture. But, thankfully, she’s extremely self-aware. Have no fear: “Joke Show” does not feature a comedian lamenting about how sensitive everyone is nowadays. Instead, it’s a razor-sharp set exploring how human weakness upholds destructive systems of power.
The world sucks, Wolf suggests — and not because people are inherently evil, but because they’re lazy and get off on pointing out each other’s flaws. In a rare move for a comedy set, Wolf actually discusses her abortion — not a friend’s or a theoretical abortion, but her own. She skewers anti-choicers along with pro-choicers who constantly talk about abortion like it’s traumatic experience for everyone, when often it’s on par with going to the dentist. And, in probably the best portion of “Joke Show,” Wolf takes white women to task, breaking down their complicity in the patriarchy and white supremacy and their status as “privileged victims.”
I don’t want to give away anything else, but suffice to say this special is a worthy follow-up to the 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which is high praise, indeed. (Rachel Montpelier)
“Michelle Wolf: Joke Show” is now streaming on Netflix.
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael (Documentary)
“What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael”
It may be surprising to some folks not steeped in 20th-century film history that, arguably, its most famous critic was a woman. Pauline Kael was hugely influential. She wrote for The New Yorker and was loved and hated by many filmmakers during the ’60s and ’70s. She argued. She was outspoken and appeared on TV many times to duke it out with other critics. While she had movies she adored and movies she loathed, she clearly loved being a critic. She helped launch careers. She took film seriously and wrote beautiful criticism. “What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael” really brings the wonder of this woman’s opinion to life. (Melissa Silverstein)
“What She Said” opens in LA December 13 and in NY December 25. Find screening info here.
Bombshell
“Bombshell”
“Bombshell” is a good movie, yet I am politically ambivalent about it. It’s a #metoo movie told by white men. Maybe this is what white dudes can do to show they are allies — okay, I guess. The gist of the film is about how the women of Fox News took Roger Ailes down. Great performances all around from Charlize Theron, who looks scarily like Megyn Kelly, to John Lithgow as the gross, leering Ailes. Big shout out to Kate McKinnon, whose character, Jess, calls out exactly what Fox News is. It’s a shame that with what these women, including whistleblower Gretchen Carlson (played by Nicole Kidman), went through, the network is still such a cesspool. (MS)
“Bombshell” hits select theaters December 13 and opens wide December 20.
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