Capsule Review: Tech Triple Threat - "Super-Pumped," "The Dropout" and "WeCrashed"

by Christopher James

Which new show about the rise and fall of a major tech company prevails in the end?Do you ever get deja vu while watching a TV or movie? Trends always lag a year or two when it comes to pop culture. More so than ever, the minute a story or documentary takes off, production companies are working on the scripted version of the story. In the course of a month, there will be three separate miniseries dramatizing famous tech flameouts from the last decade. Showtime was the first out the gate with Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber, which has already been renewed for season two, centering around Facebook. Next up was Hulu with The Dropout, which cast Amanda Seyfriend as Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. By the end of the month, Apple TV+ will premiere WeCrashed, where Oscar winners Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway star as the charismatic couple behind WeWork, Adam and Rebekah Neumann.

It’s easy to make comparisons when so many similar series come out in quick succession. Between the three shows, there’s a clear winner and clear loser. Which is which? Read on to find out...

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"Trial of the Chicago 7" and Best Supporting Actor

by Nathaniel R

Abdul-Mateen, Shenkman, Rylance, Redmayne and Sharp in "Trial of the Chicago 7"

You've waited long enough. This is our latest ever take on the acting categories in 20 years of punditry. But you know, "2020". Consider it an all purpose hellscape excuse! Though Hollywood is still in disarray there will eventually be another Oscar ceremony. Nominations are still more than five months away (March 15th, 2021) so if this were any other year these prediction charts would essentially be the early August charts. Does that make sense? In other words, much about this Oscar season has yet to be revealed. 

But let's take a stab at Best Supporting Actor since we've just screened The Trial of the Chicago 7 which is basically the kind of movie that dreams of, no fantasizes lustfully, about filling in all five spots. The most Supporting Actor nominations to have arrived from a single film is three, which happened twice in Oscar history via The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part Two (1974). It will probably not happen again with Chicago 7, but it theoretically could given that it's ALL supporting actors all the time.  Let's rank them shall we, in terms of Oscar possibility...

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2005: The year of Joseph Gordon-Levitt

by Cláudio Alves

Some years can define an actor's career. That may happen because of the quality of their work or the cultural impact of the movies they starred in. Sometimes this can be obvious right as the year's unfolding, while, in other instances, the period gains importance in retrospect. Think of Grace Kelly's 1954 or Jessica Chastain's 2011. For Joseph Gordon-Levitt that seminal year might have been 2005…

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Beauty vs Beast: The Original Maze Runner

Jason from MNPP here using the ocassion of another's week's "Beauty vs Beast" to give good goblin love to one of our favorite 80s kid's movies: Jim Henson's Labyrinth is turning 30 today! The film was released on June 27th 1986, and to folks my age it became pretty much an instant classic. Labyrinth tells a tale as old as time - girl babysits, girl wishes baby away to David Bowie, David Bowie's innappropriate bulge mesmerizes an eight-year-old me, so on and so forth. What's not to love? I saw Jennifer Connolly on the subway once and it took all the restraint inside of me not to yell, "Your mother is a fraggin' aardvark!" at her.

PREVIOUSLY It was the start of the endless summer season last week so what better way to 'celebrate" than by looking back at the romantic-comedy that dragged it out to (500) Days - in the end it was the dancing charms of Joseph Gordon-Levitt that won your heart (at least for a few months anyway) with 57% of the vote. Said Noecitos:

"Team Tom! If only because of the inspired fanfic writers who paired him with Tom Hardy's character in Warrior."

Beauty vs Beast: The Dog Days of Romance

Jason from MNPP here at "Beauty vs Beast" o'clock, wishing everybody the happiest First Day of Summer possible... and if you're like me and you hate this season as much as I do then that includes a locked door, some drawn shades, and an air conditioner on full blast. Heat! Sweat! Sunshine! Blah! I want none of it. I have the opposite of what Mama Cass had in "California Dreamin'" - I dream of such a winter's day. (And that's why I live in NYC.) But you know what? There are only 93 days of Summer... it could be worse!

PREVIOUSLY Knowing full well that Finding Dory was about to flood the marketplace we went Pixar-themed last week too, asking y'all to pick sides in the Great Toy Battle of 1995 - Are you a Buzz or are you a Woody? Turns out that 75% of you are Woodies, who knew? Said BVR:

"I love that Pixar resisted the urge to endear Woody to us, instead playing up the mad, jealous, even scheming nature that springs from within as he sees his #1 status being gradually taken away. You would think this would make me vote for Buzz, who seems totally innocent, delusional and oblivious to Woody's schemes; but as funny as that quality is, I just love Woody for being so flawed and human."