I was looking at where to take my recommendation today. I was thinking about writing about Chalamet's press run, which I still might do; there's a few vintage places that I want to shout out; there's the second season of Druski's "Couldn't Be Records" show; Stephon Marbury's highlight package from his time with the New Jersey Nets, Phoenix Suns, and the New York Knicks showed up on my YouTube page.
However, I watched Willy Wonka last night, and it's a genuine wonder. I am recommending everyone watch Gene Wilder make fun of kids (his performance is the ultimate "fuck them kids" role), and live as a recluse who can't trust anyone. There are no family movies like this, and it's one of the many reasons why cinema is dying. No amount of toy sales can amount to the feeling of giving kids real imagination, real delight, real humor, and real life. It is not lost on me that Charlie is a pauper boy who is living with two sets of grandparents (!!!). Now, Charlie would be middle class with a hot mom, or something, and he would have a gay best friend. He'd be a Wonka mentee, and not a boy who used wonka's chocolate bars to be blissfully innocent. People are not telling stories; they are weaponizing identities. Check out Willy Wonka on Max.
