OUT OF LEFT FIELD
There's a very fine line between funny and cringe, and Nathan Fielder has completely obliterated that line into smithereens. His new HBO show, THE REHEARSAL, has me covering my eyes to hide from the perpetual secondhand embarrassment I feel. The premise is anything but simple: Fielder inserts himself into someone's life and aims to take away uncertainty and unpredictability by focusing on a specific facet of their everyday lives that they wish to improve. He even goes as far as to build an exact replica of the bar where a high-stakes conversation will take place and creates a flowchart of any which way the conversation might go just to ensure that there are no hiccups along the way. It's reminiscent of his show Nathan For You, but he commits even harder to the bits — which I didn't know was possible. (MADISON PEARSON)
R-R-REALLY GOING FOR IT
The Indian blockbuster RRR might be the best action movie of 2022. It's also a lot. It makes Top Gun: Maverick look subtle and grounded. Now streaming on Netflix, the story takes two real-life Indian revolutionaries against the British Raj from the 1920 and imagines what it would be like if they had a bromance that left an astonishingly high body count. Over the course of three hours (don't worry, there's a clean act break halfway through if you don't want to watch in one sitting) we get so many wildly choregraphed fight scenes (some with wild animals), Bollywood dance battles, a musical number amid Passion of the Christ-esque torture, romance, and the most blissfully bonkers prison escape of all time. The whole package is presented so sincerely (no knowing winks to the camera here) that it's hard to not buy into the absurdity while chuckling and cheering along. (SETH SOMMERFELD)
THIS WEEK'S PLAYLIST
Noteworthy new music arriving in stores and online August 12:
DANGER MOUSE & BLACK THOUGHT, CHEAT CODES. The producer extraordinaire and the Roots' MC team up for a soulful, swagger-filled hip-hop album that includes features from A$AP Rocky, Run the Jewels, and the late MF DOOM.
SYLVAN ESSO, NO RULES SANDY. The electro-pop duo deliver another collection of shimmering artful dance ditties to keep the summer vibes flowing.
PANDA BEAR & SONIC BOOM, RESET. The members of Animal Collective and Spaceman 3 unite to create some trippy pop rock that blends synth swells with jangly guitars. (SETH SOMMERFELD)
