Best TV Shows of 2024: Ten Runners-Up

I've been doing this every year since 2009, so no reason to stop now.

In alphabetical order:

Baby Reindeer (Netflix) Despite its bleak subject matter, this trigger tale of an Irish stand-up suffering sexual abuse, female-on-male stalking, and gaslighting from the police managed to catch the zeitgeist of Netflix’s viewership. Why? For god’s sake, it’s based on a true story, so are we sick voyeurs for being spectators? My take: I think the authenticity of Richard Gadd as a likable guy helps, but it’s more that through all the murk, it’s a life-affirming tale of overcoming that doesn’t cut corners. But, be prepared: Major trigger warnings.

Bad Monkey (Apple) Full disclosure: I recently read three Carl Hiassen novels and they were all better reads than this one. But considering this is what Apple chose to adapt and I have to judge it for what it is, let’s face it: Most, if not all, Carl Hiassen novels could be adapted to make great TV. This one has some superfluous plot lines, but it has a great maverick of a hero, a well-defined villain, and plenty of Florida quirk. In an era where there’s not enough real estate on the box office release schedule for comic stars, there’s something worth celebrating about Vince Vaughn being able to sink his teeth into such a fitting role, no matter the medium.

Death and Other Details (Hulu) An ornate whodunnit set in international waters with some solid late-stage twists. What’s most impressive here (not to discount Mandy Patinkin’s measured performance) is that it feels so classic. Despite plotpoints revolving around crypto, cloud storage, BDSM, nepobabies, this feels like it could fit into the repertoire of an Agatha Christie novel.

Life and Beth (Hulu) This tale of love and compromise is based on executive producer and star Amy Schumer’s own experiences in a marriage to a man who was later diagnosed as autistic. The show is shot like an indie dramedy with meandering stories and a camera that isn’t focused directly on the action.   It’s fitting considering this isn’t a typical Hollywood romance. It’s an eye-opening and reaffirming look at life alongside someone on the spectrum from the POV of a complete outsider. The wedding episode was one of the most beautiful episodes of the genre the second season contained a couple clunkers.

Manhunt  (Apple) - The aftermath of the Civil War is an interesting topic in a PBS/Ken Burns way but most tourists to DC delving into Lincoln tourism want to know the juicy saga of John Wilkes Booth, the conspiracy, and his escape route. Characters like enigmatic Dr. Samuel Mudd (though less so from the point of view of the series), Lewis Powell, Mary Surratt and Edwin Booth himself are great fodder for drama, and this series interweaves their fates with the larger currents. It also goes without saying that this is a period piece on Apple TV: There’s some great scenery porn here.

Mulligan (Netflix): From 30 Rock co-creator (the one who gets a LOT less attention than Tina Fey) Robert Carlock, this animated post-apocalyptic comedy borrows some of the same absurdist humor at the dialogue level. In the second season, the show proves it still has momentum. It will likely never achieve must-watch status but it’s great popcorn comedy, and it’s highly rewatchable.

Resident Alien (SyFy) The idyllic town of Patience had two welcome additions this season. It was highly amusing to see the emotionless Harry court and eventually get horny with an alien bird (Edi Patterson, a role she was born to play) this season. Enver Gjokaj also proved a menacing foe and provided a slight bit of situational comedy as a grey alien (I think?) who goes under the loosest of qualifications of a date with Asta to get to Harry’s DNA. On the other hand, the mythology started going backwards and looping inwards on itself. Is there anyone who’s not in on the secret of extraterrestrial life at this point? How did we go this far into the story only to discover two key characters are kidnapped on a nightly basis? And, I’ll admit, I don’t remember who is and who isn’t a grey, but blame the show: I don’t have a reason to care.  Still, this has long been one of my favorite shows on the air. There are few virtual worlds I’d rather live in than Patience, Colorado and a little backwards movement won’t keep me away.

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (Disney Plus) It’s not easy to recapture the childlike sense of adventure of Star Wars and translate it to an audience that has now grown into adult sensibilities. But, by Jove! I think Star Wars has done it! Actually, I just wanted to use the phrase “By Jove!” somewhere. In reality, there’s an argument to be made that Star Wars has always approached its far away galaxy with a sense of sharing wonder and awe. Yes, it can lead to a massive overload of special effects, but when done right- a tense plot with escalation (kids being kidnapped), great actors (Jude Law, check, Kerry Condon, check, whoever is behind that robot with the pirate accent, check)- the second-to-none visuals are properly augmented with true vision.

Thank God You’re Here (Australia Network 10) You young’uns have to remember that back in my day shows being bought back from the dead didn’t happen very often. We would have to got together in the kinds of numbers needed to cure world hunger and mailed subway sandwiches to the studio. So yes, it feels miraculous that this mid-2000s Australian improv game show has found a second wind about 15 years after going off the air. The show’s format is one where comedic actors are thrust into an unfamiliar scene where non-cooperative scene partners try to trip them up. The show’s original featured a number of Down Under talents (Rebel Wilson, Rhys Darby, Angus Sampson, and Josh Lawson) before they were known to US audiences, as well as at least a dozen others who should get that privilege soon. The remake does little tweaking to the old formula with a new host. The vast majority of these episodes can be found on YouTube and the adventurous improver in you can even play along.

X-Men 97 (Disney Plus)-I'll admit to being thoroughly engrossed by the original X-Men cartoons as a child of the 90s. Upon rewatch as an adult, I was mostly amused by the cringe puns and awkward national stereotypes. I'm sure some comic book fans feel differently, but I think most of us can agree that the show did an impressive job of taking the contours of a child's cartoon (and yes, I'm likely picking a fight with comic book enthusiasts) and gaving the material a grown-up makeover. The characters are still cringe, but the arcs tie together more smoothly, actions are filled with  more consequences, and the stakes elevate so much each episode, it's almost like a Peak TV serial. Plus, who would have thought we'd see the day when Jubilee wouldn't be annoying? She even got her own episode and it wasn't awful.

The Abyss (1989): A Movie About Brock From Titanic?

The Abyss can be seen as a spiritual predecessor to the Titanic in that it marks Cameron’s love affair with the ocean and his desire to push the furthest limits of special effects in its discovery. It’s even been rumored that Cameron took on the assignment of Titanic as an excuse to indulge his zeal for undersea exploration. In addition to being one of the few people to dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, he holds the record for having spent the most time on board the Titanic (with the caveat that he never spent an hour with the ship when it was above board).

Among the things that fascinate me about this film is that he created an entire film for Brock.

Brock is the deep see gem miner played by Bill Paxton, who can be seen as an avatar for Cameron (considering a certain 2009 film, I’ll have to add a “no pun intended”). Both pride themselves on their adeptness, both feel comfortable in command, and both are capable of being moved by a story. 

In an alternate ending, Brock actually catches Rose in the act of throwing it in the ocean. Rather than do everything in his power to stop her, he holds it for a moment, lets Rose throw it over and laughs. It's as if he learned a (very improbable) lesson on the true power of wealth.

James Cameron has been known as a controlling man on set and he has likely made enemies from the studios for overspending their money. If Titanic didn’t hit that lightning in a bottle and win big at the box office, it would have gone down as cinema’s biggest failures. Maybe Brock was a way to justify Cameron himself.

Whereas the final cut doesn’t give Brock the satisfaction of moral agency (he’s in the dark), it’s indicative of the way Cameron wants to see himself as a man who values wonder and exploration above everything. As an auteur, the way he (some might say carelessly) drives up the budget of his films reinforces this.

The Abyss is one of the most ambitious underwater films ever filmed this side of The Poseidon Adventure.

As part of the 1980s, it’s heavy on heroes and action. At its center is Bud Brigman. Played by Ed Harris, he might not look like a Sylvester Stallone or Harrison Ford; but he has the chip on his shoulder and the confidence in his own vision that is requisite of a frustrated auteur like another James Cameron stand-in. There’s also a quasi-military element which matches other films of the era like Hunt for Red October and Top Gun.

As Brock is potentially implied to be powered by greed (if we go by canon), Bud’s faults are presented by his soon-to-be-ex-wife and professional foil in Lindsey (Mary Elizbeth Mastrantonio).

But here’s the thing: We only see the competent version of Bud. The only negative things we hear of him are in flashback through Lindsey. It’s as if the flashbacks are a way for Cameron to address rumors or his internal doubts, while the man he wishfully presents to the world is an ordinary-looking man who becomes a hero.

Without giving too much away, Bud’s transcendent journey comes from curiosity and appreciating wonder. He also gets the girl back, just as Titanic and Avatar have non-romantic issues resolved through a cathartic love story.

If I Curated a Film-of-the-Month Club

 This isn't that much of a hypothetical as I am currently starting one on a shared FB chat. 

I have a list chock-full of favorites My Top 100 of the 20th Century (imdb.com) (and have these 50 favorites on top of the original: 20th Century 50 Runners-Up (imdb.com). However, this isn't what I'm looking for when deciding what I want to do when curating a list of films for discussion.

For instance, I think Terry Gilliam is a good film director to examine because he's a very odd anomaly with a lot of variances in his popularity. A good discussion can be had about why his films might resonate and what holds him back from achieving more popular success. Someone in the group suggested Brazil but I think that might not create optimal discussion considering it is one of the most beloved films of all-time. I would imagine that 9 out of 10 viewers would find Brazil brilliant which wouldn't lead to as much discussion over a polarizing film director. Films like Fisher King (an attempt at merging mythology with a sappy drama about high stakes and trauma) or Time Bandits (a time travel sci-fi film that's underdeveloped in terms of world building by today's standards), or 12 Monkeys (a more universally enjoyable film, but has some odd attempts to integrate the source material to the final product) will challenge the audience more to see the director's vision. That would be more ideal for discussion.

Here are my picks for a batch of films that have a certain quality, will enrich the viewer, encompass variety, and provoke discussion.

So here is what I would pick if I could say curate for a year (I stretched it out to a year and a third)

1.     Sunshine State (2002) by John Sayles. It’s a film about poverty, class (a little bit about race), and people coping with changing economic conditions. Plus, it's a great Florida film (my favorite invented genre). I’m assuming that people in my group will have less familiarity with him as other auteurs, and that should be changed.

Alternate: Matewan

2.     Theoretically, Liz (the horror buff) would pick the second film and she would probably like to do horror and I don’t know how much stomach we have for that group.. But  David Cronenberg’s 1980s film Videodrome is a thoughtful film (I have seen about half of) and I might be able to appreciate it in a way and it might be a good way to bend. it’s firmly within the realm and I don’t think it’s too horrific for people who don’t love that type of horror.

3.     The Elia Kazan film Pinky (1949). This will be a very interesting film to discuss because this is a 1940s film about race that would get canceled immediately today because the character’s mixed race and she’s played by a white actress. Kazan made a lot of social message films but some like this and Gentlemen’s Agreement (in which a clearly non-Jewish person tries to expose anti-semitism) seem dated, but we can look at such things from a modern lens and evaluate. Mind you, the film might be dated but it is not boring. I really do remember this to be a very moving and good movie.

4.     The disaster film Airport  (1970) upon which Airplane! devised some of its popularity. We should look at the disaster film as a whole and evaluate whether this is just frivolous Blockbuster or like a really good film. 

Alternatives: Airport, Earthquake, Towering Inferno

5.     Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) It’s one of those films that regularly appear on the top 100 films of all time lists, and is part Western, part adventure, and a little formless. It’s a beloved film, so the discussion can be about whether it’s worth the hype. I’ve only seen half of it on TCM (not the start and not the beginning).

6.     The Conversation (1976). A 1976 Francis Ford Coppola film made at the height of the film director’s power that was sandwiched in between the Godfathers and Apocalypse Now. It’s about surveillance, and equally as acclaimed but not as famous. I haven’t watched any Coppola films outside some of his unacclaimed 90s stuff and Finnian’s Rainbow, and honestly, I don’t feel like starting the Godfather or Apocalypse Now this late in life, so I want to work my way into this wayward stop in his filmography as he returns to form in Metropolis.

7.     School Daze (1988). A 1988 film of Spike Lee that’s right before his defining turn in Do the Right Thing. It might be interesting to look at the elements of Spike Lee before his big, big film.

8.     Sweet Charity (1969). For Mary (a member of our group who liked musicals), we’ll throw in a musical. There's a tremendous number of musicals I'm fond of but for the group, late-period musicals like that of Bob Fosee would be richer for discussion in terms of modern relatabality. Cabaret, because it foreshadows Naziism and the songs serve a purpose that you can argue a lot is an interesting film. But Sweet charity was also an influence in Schmigadoon, and also a Bob Fosse film. I have a feeling it will be very 60s and 70s vibe. As films are a window into history, this could be a big one

Alternative: Cabaret

9.     American Graffiti My favorite coming-of-age film. I’d be curious to see how others see this 1973 George Lucas film as comparing to the ones they grew up on (I’m guessing John Hughes).

Alternative: Rebel Without a Cause

10. The Fisher King (1991) I think Terry Gilliam is an odd bird, to put it mildly. What is it about his visually exxagerative style that works?

Alternatives: Time Bandits, 12 Monkeys 

11. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1956) I want through a lot of sci fi films before deciding on this one. It's not as iconic and influential as Flash Gordon or 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it's a landmark film and symbolizes 1950s films which, like the Twilight Zone, were often rich in allegories and morals. It can be seen as a good code film.

12. What Did You Do in the War Daddy (1966) by Blake Edwards, best known for the Pink Panther. Is a comic war film you might enjoy (I’ve seen it) and can serve as a companion piece to the more famous Rob Altman film MASH (1980) in that it shows the silliness of war

13. Three Days of the Condor (1975) Adam Spector (the local film discussion guru) spoke of this as having some bearing on the Marvel movies, so it could be a good segue to the early action films of the 1970s and 1980s.

14. Cat Ballou (1965) A fun Jane Fonda film and woman-oriented Western which is kind of a curious thing to study from a feminist perspective. It's also a less famous Western, and a very fun film.

15. Dr Zhivago (1965) An epic. The kind of epic that becomes endangered. This is a film I’ve seen half of and own but the second part of the DVD is broken.

16. Looper (2012) Certainly not my favorite film of this era, but it's a curious film and there are a lot of influences in this that might be interesting to examine

17.  Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) We can watch noir or we can watch something that references

18 The Matrix (1999) In this case, I'm picking a film I've never seen and should have. It comes from what some in the group consider to be the best year in recent American history. It's also taken on meanings upon meanings as the film has matured, so that evolution can be discussed.

 

What I’m Watching March Edition: Not Dead Yet, Night Court, Poker Face, Hello Tomorrow, Animal Control, Night Court

Not Dead Yet (ABC):
Capitalizing on Ghosts, Gina Rodriguez plays obituary writer Nell. During the period of her obituary assignment, she can see dead people.

It’s one of many female-centered shows about a woman who doesn’t have her life together in the vein of Dollface, Maggie, Girls, Single Drunk Female, and can trace its lineage to Mary Tyler Moore.

However, Mary Tyler Moore never looked that far down on its protagonist. One problem of this subgenre is that it casts broad labels over women based on whether they’re in a relationship or have achieved a certain career goal.

There’s also one of the autistic leads from As We See It here as the autistic apartment owner and roommate for Nell, which is an interesting wrench to throw in the works of typical sitcom character conflict.

The show is watchable but hasn’t really hit its stride yet. No relationship is really the stuff that would make lists of TV’s “Most ruthless boss” or “Most heart-warming besties” and I get the feeling the show is going for those kinds of archetypes.

It is getting closest in building a must-see relationship in the friendship-triangle between the protagonist and her frenemy boss (Lauren Ash) and the coworker (Hannah Simone) who’s allegiances are caught in the middle.

Watching the Not Dead Yet half-handle its world-building is just a reminder of how remarkable Ghosts has been at ironing the concepts of how the interaction between dead and living works.

Still watchable.

Animal Control (Fox)- McHale’s roguish devil-may-care charm that carried Community for umpteenth seasons is ready made for single camera comedy. He borrows many of the same features as Jeff Winger: In particular, he’s a slacker with a capital S. It does help to differentiate tham a little that this guy doesn’t get laid as often as Winger does.

The problem is it’s hard not to simply see this as a Joel McHale vehicle. The cast isn’t completely flat but there are no stand outs. Gerry Dee comes closest as Templeton Scruggs who appears on the right side of a couple of the best plots. He’s a Michael-Scott-type blow hard but he’s a little more substantial.

There’s also a guy with an Andy Samberg haircut who won a snowboarding bronze medal which I personally love as a character trait because I’m a connoisseur of winter sports; still, this is pretty much an informed ability. What I’m saying is I want to see discount Andy Samberg hang a flying squirrel before I invest in this guy.

There’s also a woman who looks exactly like Chelsea Peretti but has an Australian accent which is kind of jarring.

But, I’m just riffing here. It’s not the most original set of comic characters, but the chemistry between the characters and the quality of the over-arching plots makes this a far better attempt at all-out silliness than, say, Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I dig it.

Mayfair Witches (AMC)-This witch drama really aims for sex appeal. If you want to see Alexandra Daddario (the otherworldly-looking brunette with smoldering good looks from The White Lotus) get involuntarily aroused on an airplane or see an early 20th century tryst between a white-eyed woman and a ghost, this show’s got it all.

Daddario’s character, Rowan Fielding, is the typical no-nonsense heroine that populates many a procedural: She’s got brains (she’s a neurosurgeon); her vulnerability on her sleeve is visible from miles away; she’s unapolagetically sex positive (hence, more sex scenes, yay!), she’s independent, and she’s properly defiant against any and all mansplainers. What’s more, Daddario elevates the material so that the character works even better in practice.

The series takes place in New Orleans and plays well off the city’s lore surrounding the occult. That it’s based on an Anne Rice novel also adds pedigree. The show isn’t a slow burn as Rowan and a couple of the side characters (the uber-prolific character actor Beth Grant plays Rowan’s great-aunt) are interesting enough to watch.

As for the larger mythology, it’s solid but how much that hooks you will likely depend on how into witches and warlocks you are.

Night Court (NBC)-This one is reviewed over at TV Fanatic. Basically, the dialogue and the jokes are often very lazy but, hey, I’m still watching it 11 episodes in, so something about it is working.

https://www.tvfanatic.com/2023/03/night-court-flawed-as-great-tv-effective-as-comfort-food/

Poker Face (Peacock)-The short review here is that the show has serial elements which don’t work and procedural elements which are generally a delight. Riann Johnson has proven himself one of his generation’s top film makers, and especially a master of mystery in the Knives Out series, so he adds a lot of pedigree here. Natasha Lyonne’s character is 95% Colunbo impression and 5% her own thing. This slightly disappointing, but hey who doesn’t like modern-day reimaginings of Columbo in the body of a fiery redhead. The guest star roster (especially Judith Light and S. Epatha Merkerson) is epic. Some of the episodes are unbelievably cinematic. A couple are duds but that’s part for the course. The overarching serialization (she’s on the run from a Vegas mobster) is thin

Hello Tomorrow! (Apple)-Mad Men meets 50s era sci-fi. I’m unclear exactly what year the show takes place, but it hardly matters as the show is decidedly ahistoric. This is a parallel version of the 50s where we didn’t just land on the moon but were able to quickly subdue it for human colonization to the point that we were selling real estate on it.

This show reflects a 1950s era sensibility in which men are bread winners, and there’s no better way to win that bread than don a suit and sell something.

But wait! Were real estate prices as suffocating in big cities in that era as they are today? Didn’t we not go to the moon until 1970 when society was more populated with hippies with long-hair? Again, best not to think too much about historic details.

The series anachronisms’ are tied together quite well anyway under the umbrella of 50s-era sci-fi where writers were coming from uncertainty about what the space age would bring.

It’s not until the show’s 5th episode that anything crucial really happens to the plot but what drives the series is that it has a strong sense of place and time and the heavy hitters — Billy Crudup, Alison Pill, Hank Azaria, and Susan Heyward (not the Oscar-winning actress from the 40s and 50s) — infuse the drama so well.

Poker Face (Peacock)-The short review here is that the show has serial elements which don’t work and procedural elements which are generally a delight. Riann Johnson has proven himself one of his generation’s top film makers, and especially a master of mystery in the Knives Out series, so he adds a lot of pedigree here. Natasha Lyonne’s character is 95% Colunbo impression and 5% her own thing. This slightly disappointing, but hey who doesn’t like modern-day reimaginings of Columbo in the body of a fiery redhead. The guest star roster (especially Judith Light and S. Epatha Merkerson) is epic. Some of the episodes are unbelievably cinematic. A couple are duds but that’s part for the course. The overarching serialization (she’s on the run from a Vegas mobster) is thin

Short Reviews of 2021 films

Eyes of Tammy Faye-Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield, Cherry Jones, Vincent D’Onofrio, Gabriel Olds-The true story of a televangelist’s (Andrew Garfield) wife (Jessica Chastain) who wasn’t as bad as you might expect. With the exception of a few unnecessary flashbacks, the film successfully strays away from the sort of beat-by-beat biopic formula. It’s a meaty story.

Ride the Eagle-Jake Johnson, Susan Sarandon, D’arcy Carden, JK Simmons-Most famous for being shot during quarantine with the actors largely alone, this is more than just an experiment in monologue-based storytelling. It’s a touching (a word that critics try to stay away from, but there I said it!) story of a guy crossing off his late mom’s bucket list to get his inheritance of her house.  There’s a very sweet and natural-sounding courtship between two old exes as well as a fine exploration of an adult coming to grips with mommy issues.

Tomorrow War-Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahinski, Sam Richardson, Edwin Hodges, JK Simmons, Betty Gilpin-Sci-fi films about how we’re very, very doomed as a species can understandably be a bit more depressing than the genre was meant for. Personally, I like sci-fi when it’s thought-provoking and there’s a little of that, but it’s a lot more blood and guts. Also, the shrieking sounds of these alien abominations as they are being slaughtered is not a feast for the ears.

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain-Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy, Andrea Risborough, Tobey Jones, Olivia Colman, Adeel Akhtar-Maybe I’m burned out of British period pieces but this film is unremarkable in its premise, and, at times, laughably off in that execution.

The film is told with the whimsy of a Tim Burton film (Olivia Colman does narrative duties) but it’s jarringly dark. Also, worth noting that the protagonist isn’t really that much of an oddity. Played by Benedict Cumberbatch, Louis Wain (whom I presume became famous on account of they based a movie on him) possesses a few of the aesperger-like traits of Cumberbatch’s “The Imitation Game” character (Alan Turing) and is romantically inexperienced, but that’s about it. When he’s told by his employer (Tobey Jones) very often that he’s eccentric, it’s just plain bizarre.

There’s a nice love story with Claire Foy and the economic reality of a man who has to support five sisters but the movie only touches on those things rather than makes them the focus of the story.  In the second half, the film turns into a psychological tale of a man gone mad and manages to salvage an ending that thematically ties things together but there’s a lot of fatigue to get to that point.

The French Dispatch-Bill Murray, Benicio del Toro, Adrian Brody, Lois Smith, Lea Seydoux, Timothee Chalemet, Frances McDormand, Lyna Khoudri, Jeffrey Wright, Liev Schreiber,  Mattheiu Almaric, Lyna Khoudri -The French Dispatch shows that even great directors can have an off day. Anderson’s trademarks of ornate mise-en-scenes and people succeeding in finding belonging is present,  but his penchant for saturating the cast reaches its tipping point here. The film’s main story is about a beloved literary editor (Bill Murray) passing away but we hardly get to see that story because the film diverges into three vignettes that takes away from the film's main emotional arc. The end result is a feeling of cold remoteness that's a thin line between what Anderson delivers on and what he can be seen as at his most indulgent.

The Courier-Benedict Cumberbatch, Merab Ninidze, Jessie Buckley, Rachel Brosnahan, Angus T Jones-Contrary to what Jason Bourne and James Bond would have you think, spies aren't one-man armies or charismatic seducers. They're people in the shadows like Greville Wynne who go about the same routine over and over in hopes of gleaming a trace of information that could make a difference in history. His story here is told at what I like to call the speed of history. While that's a different type of film than a spy thriller, the stakes are no less enormous and the intellectual and enormous weight of the costs are no less effectively portrayed.

Last Night in Soho-Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor Joy, Dianna Rigg, Max Smith, Ruth Tushingham-Thomasin McKenzie stars as a fashion student, Lola, with a bizarrely ambiguous disorder: She sees ghosts but only through the mirror and only one at a time and --- never mind, let's not think too hard about it. Things start to escalate for Lola when she moves into a creepy apartment with a strict landlord played a swan song performance by Diana Rigg) and starts to get intense visions of a 60s dancer (Anya Taylor Joy) that become sensually delighting, unnerving, and emotionally exhausting all at once. She becomes completely consumed while we, as an audience, are increasingly left to pick up disparate parts in what amounts to a combination thriller-mystery with sleek period visuals and masterful editing (something Edgar Wright's films rarely lack). For someone who has made a name for himself in hybrid comedy (comedy apocalypse, comedy horror, etc.), Edgar Wright deserves a lot of credit for his ambitions in making a film that's not comedic at all, though the film goes a bit heavy on tired horror tropes.