Never has a blog so tailored made to my interests been delivered into my lap. Eerie enough to side-eye my mom’s urn — it’s beach themed! Her spirit a little too powerful sometimes, I swear.
This weekend, Tyler the Creator of “Chromakopia” and “Loiter Squad” fame released a new single, “Look Like My Mama” — or rather, he collaborated in a new single from AZ Chike, an artist not nearly as popular among “The Atlantic’s” core audience — and it’s packed with movie references.
I’m breaking down all the ones I recognized, plus where to stream hit movies like:
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- Sinners — HBO Max
- I Saw the TV Glow — tragically only available to rent right now on YouTube or Apple (*in my best Godfather voice* And now, upon the release of Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma? Really?)
- Napoleon Dynamite — Prime Video or any thrift or physical media store on the planet, 9 times out of 10
- Men in Black — Netflix, MGM+
First, real quick, a lil about me: Like the other wannabe mall goths, I stayed up to the wee hours watching “Loiter Squad” on Adult Swim in high school. Tyler the Creator’s “Chromakopia” released the year after my mom died, and clotheslined me emotionally on a sunny afternoon in a home that she’ll never see. (Our first!)
I got covid and missed his tour, something I genuinely regret to this day. So for him to come out with a song like “Look Like My Mama” that references several fantastic movies I have not shut up about since starting this job is…interestin’.
A lil about Tyler the creator: The Grammy-winning artist has been relatively quiet so far this year until dropping “That Guy” and “Sag Harbor” last month.
1) ‘Sinners’ (HBO Max)
As you might have guessed from the lead image, there’s a “Sinners” reference. What you might not have spotted is that it uses the same nifty cinematography trick Ryan Coogler did in his hit horror romance movie: a subtle shift between aspect ratios tied to emotional moments to really hammer home the themes of its story.
If you haven’t seen “Sinners” yet, let me tap the sign again: You should watch “Sinners.” It’s stunning, not overly scary (blood and guts withstanding), and we watch it every Sunday because that’s the rule. That’s the goal now. Because, like “SNL’s” Jeremy Culhane, I’m on a crusade to get “Sinners” to the No. 1 spot in the HBO Max Top 10 by hell or high water. He just doesn’t know about it yet.
BTW💅 With Apple TV now bumping up to $15 a month, this is just a reminder that Dropout is only $6.99 and absolutely worth the price. They don’t sponsor us or anything, I’m just insufferable about how great Dropout is.
Stream “Sinners” on HBO Max now
2) ‘I Saw the TV Glow’ (PVOD)
“I Saw the TV Glow” by the fantastic director Jane Schoenbrun (they’re my Christopher Nolan), a.k.a. the most haunting nostalgic throwback you’ll ever see. Granted, I wasn’t familiar with Schoenbrun before “I Saw the TV Glow,” and now I’m obsessed. Its so rare I get the chance to call a horror movie beautiful, but this one buries under your skin to rip out your heart, in no small part to a phenomenal turn by Justice Smith. (I got goosebumps just thinking about that scream at the end).
Set in a nameless American suburb, Owen (Smith) is flopping through the usual teenage awkwardness plus a tough family situation. When a hot goth girl, Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), introduces him to a surreal late-night TV serial called “The Pink Opaque,” the show’s supernatural world begins to mirror the one around him in unsettling ways. And worse, it’s awakening something inside him he can’t control.
You can buy or rent “I Saw the TV Glow” on YouTube or Apple now
3) ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ (Prime Video)
If you haven’t seen “Napoleon Dynamite” yet, you’re not missing much, but it’s good for a laugh on a lazy afternoon. I still can’t resist saying “gosh” in the way Jon Heder’s unexpectedly magnetic lede does from time to time.
He stars as the titular Napoleon Dynamite, a super-awkward high school student with nothing to prove and a short temper. When he helps his friend Pedro (Efren Ramirez) campaign for class president against a popular girl named Summer (Haylie Duff), it’s clear to anyone with eyes that they’re out of their league. Their doomed campaign is doomed to succeed, because it’s a light entertainment movie after. And heck, it is nice to see all of the nerds and underdogs be the real heroes in such a quintessential Aughts teen movies
Stream “Napoleon Dynamite” on Prime Video now
4. ‘Men in Black’ (Netflix, MGM+)
“Men In Black,” on the other hand, still lives up to the hype. And I say that as someone who watched it for the first time in their 20s. That Will Smith joke with the table took me OUT.
The adventures of sharp-dressed alien-hunters J (Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones) in the first “Men in Black” spawned not one but two sequels off the back of this fantastic movie. “Men in Black” sees Smith’s agent’s origin story, as he starts out as a cocky and aloof cop that falls headfirst into a mission to save the world.
While Smith’s star power in the 90’s was enough to draw people to the movies for damn near anything, “Men in Black” succeeds because of Smith and Jones as a duo. Their highly quotable banter makes “Men in Black” endlessly rewatchable.
Stream “Men in Black” on Netflix or MGM+ now
Did I miss any obvious ones? Let me know in the comments!
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