After seeing Wanda Sykes do such a good job as Louise Jefferson on ABC’s recent live re-enactment of an episode of “The Jeffersons,” I watched her newly-released Netflix special, “Not Normal.” It’s rare that a standup comedian has me laughing out loud at home, but Sykes did it several times. In fact, the first 15 minutes, in which the topics are all Trump-related, were among the funniest I’ve seen this year — especially a chunk about whether it’s worth devoting Secret Service resources to guarding Tiffany Trump. Even when Sykes moved on to other matters, she still hit it out of the park.
Last year, after seeing it at the St. Louis International Film Festival, I chose “Swimming With Men” as one of the Best Movies Of 2018. It never got a wide release, but I’m happy to say it’s now streaming on Hulu. If you don’t have that service, it’s available on demand via Amazon Video, YouTube, and Google Play (but not Netflix). I showed it to my wife and daughter the other night, and they loved it as much as I did. You can read my review here, then thank me after you’ve enjoyed it.
If you’re not watching the Netflix series “Dead To Me,” you’re missing subtly good performances by Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini in a series full of dark humor (not to mention James Marsden and Ed Asner in supporting roles). Trust me when I say you’re better off knowing nothing about the plot, which unravels in 30-minute episodes that each ramp up the odd storyline nicely. Incidentally, the series was just renewed for a second season, which may seem odd after you watch the first season’s finale.
And, finally, I see Sly Stallone has yet another Rambo movie coming out in September. Sure, the boxing movies got Stallone three Oscar nominations (for the original “Rocky” and then “Creed” 39 years later), but I doubt he’ll get any Academy attention for “Rambo: Last Blood.” The tagline for the new one is, “Everyone has one more fight in them.” Too bad Sly didn’t have one more character in him. He’s tried a few other things in his career, but none of them worked that well, so he keeps going back to the Rocky and Rambo well more often than Roy Moore runs for elected office.