What I'm Watching: Godzilla Minus One, Travel Season, Spacey Unmasked, and More

Plus: Anthony Bourdain's travel shows, a pre-Code thriller, a schedule change, and two of the best books I've read all year.

Here’s a quick rundown of everything I’ve been watching, reading, and writing about lately. 

You can also check out my most recent paywalled post, which I’ve now unlocked for everyone to read, here. As that post notes, I’ll be experimenting with different release cadences for the newsletter (likely just over the course of the summer) in order to test out which the best option is for subscribers and myself alike. That’s still true, but the awkward timing of the change means that free subscribers have gone a full month without an update from me, and that’s a drag for all of us! Thus, I’ve made that post available to everyone in an effort to make up for lost time. Thanks so much for your patience and readership. Now let’s talk TV!

The shows:

• I’ve already confessed that I’m partial to most of the shows Youtube company Watcher Entertainment puts out, but I was still surprised by how instantly I fell for their new series Travel Season. At first glance, the show might seem like a snazzy update on the now-ended Buzzfeed favorite Worth It (it shares the same hosts and creators), but Travel Season is about a lot more than comparing culinary experiences and price points. The first season is set entirely in Seoul, South Korea, and the two-part premiere digs into the culture and spirit of the area as much as its cuisine. The series has some strong cinematic visuals, and is bolstered by a healthy sense of curiosity and serendipity. For now, you can only check it out on the WatcherTV streamer, but it’ll hit Youtube in a few weeks!
• Travel Season reminded me that even though I don't watch them often, I’m actually a pretty big fan of travel and food shows when they’re not gimmicky or culturally callous. After burning through the available episodes, I decided to do something I’ve been putting off for years and revisit some of my favorite shows hosted by the late, great Anthony Bourdain. When I was younger, No Reservations was the series that opened my eyes to the world outside my small town, but I still haven’t seen most of his two follow-up series, The Layover and Parts Unknown. I watched a selection of episodes of each this week, and while I found myself less enamored with Bourdain’s grouchy, edgy schtick than I used to be, I still felt inspired every time he gamely dug into a new dish or searched for the soul of a city through conversations with the people who love it. If any of you have favorite episodes of any of Bourdain’s shows, please send them over, as I’d love to skip around to catch all the best stuff.
• Switching gears a bit, the Kevin Spacey docuseries Spacey Unmasked is kind of a weird one. Full of interviews with survivors who have never spoken up before, it’s thoughtful and thorough in a lot of ways, and it side-steps some of the sensationalistic trappings that Investigation Discovery docs tend to fall into (side note: I hate that the Warner Bros. Discovery merger has led everyone to confuse the generally trashier ID docs with HBO Originals). But it’s also slow to build its case, and could’ve used a stronger structure to bring its conversations about gradients of bad behavior into focus. Plus, the two-part doc has some tonal oddness at times – like when Spacey’s brother shows up dressed like Rod Stewart and no one ever explains why.

The movies:

• Oscar winner Godzilla Minus One is finally on Netflix, and it was well worth the wait. Toho Studios released the film in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the original Godzilla, and the low-budget hit definitely recaptures the spirit of Ishirō Honda’s nuclear anxiety classic. One part war epic, one part existential drama (the film tells the story of a “failed” kamikaze pilot living with survivor’s guilt after World War II), one part monster movie, it’s a very cool film that hits the ground running and keeps getting better as it goes.
• In my continuing quest to watch the most random movies imaginable, I checked out the 1932 thriller The Most Dangerous Game last week. The black and white adaptation of Richard Connell’s infamous short story starts off in the tradition of the slow-burn old Hollywood Gothic before giving way to an exciting jungle-set hunt. Corny yet captivating, and only 62 minutes long!

The reads:

• Anita de Monte Laughs Last might be my favorite new read of the year so far, and with respect to Xochitl Gonzalez’s phenomenal, urgent writing, it’s in large part because of the pitch-perfect audiobook cast. I’ve never paid attention to the Audies (the audiobook version of an Oscar, I think) before, but Orange is the New Black alum Jessica Pimentel deserves all the awards for her passionate embodiment of murdered artist Anita, whose story runs parallel to that of an art student falling under the spell of her successful classmate years after the other woman’s death. Fair warning if you read this: the magical realist story pulls liberally from the life of the real Cuban-American artist Ana Mendieta, whose family has noted that they have mixed feelings about her portrayals in fiction. I wasn’t aware of that context until I’d finished the book, which I found incredibly insightful and poetic in its representations of everything from relationship red flags to the first generation college student experience. Overall, I thought it was stunning, and much more humanizing than the recent podcast “about” Mendieta, Death of an Artist. If you’re interested in the real-life artist’s story and want to (understandably!) opt out of fictional facsimiles, both articles linked above are a good entry point into her complex legacy.
• Speaking of literary controversy, I also blew through R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface, a wildly uncomfortable and propulsive satire about tokenism and the modern publishing world. It’s easy to see why this book about a white woman stealing a manuscript from her dead Chinese-American frenemy earned so many accolades; it’s as readable as it is unbelievable, and unlike the vast majority of satirical fiction out there, Kuang’s story keeps up its energy and critical wit all the way through to the very last page.
• I can never keep up with how the internet feels about authors, philanthropists, Youtubers, and all-around famous nerds Hank and John Green at any given moment, but I will say that their new newsletter, We’re Here (available on beehiiv), is consistently the best thing in my inbox. It’s got a bit of everything, and I always feel smarter, more optimistic, and a liittle more connected to the world after I’m done reading it.

Odds and ends:

• Outside of my most consistent writing job (yep, still /Film), I’ve been hunkering down and doing the bare minimum writing-wise this past month in an attempt to give myself more breathing room and transition time after immigrating to Scotland. That being said, I’ve been spicing up my assignments over at Slash lately by pitching some fun little projects, like this piece about every time The Simpsons changed a chalkboard gag between original airings and reruns.
• I also recently ranked every season of The Twilight Zone! You’ll see more season rankings from me soon.
• I’m putting the link to that previously paywalled newsletter here, too, just for ease of access. It features my thoughts on Baby Reindeer, Interview with the Vampire, Evil, Bridgerton, Devil in a Blue Dress, Rise (and Dawn) of the Planet of the Apes, Miracle Creek, Moliere, and Kid Nation, plus a Luca Guadagnino film ranking and my interview with Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies!

This time next week I’ll be introducing the partner I moved halfway across the world to live with to my mom in person – wish me luck! I’ll be back after that with reviews on all the movies I watched on the plane. If you’ve read this far, comment and tell me about the last plane movie you watched!