In The Wall Street Journal last week, I interviewed actress Justine Lupe for my House Call column in the Mansion section (go here). Justine now co-stars in the runaway hit (can't say I didn't tell ya), Nobody Wants This, a Netflix rom-com series with Kristen Bell and Adam Brody. Justine plays Kristen's sister and pulls off a superb performance. [Photo of Justine Lupe courtesy of IMDb]
Here's a scene from the series...
And here's Justine in a clip and an interview...
Film and TV Recommendations
Top 16 favorite streaming TV series, ranked...
- Babylon Berlin
- My Brilliant Friend
- Killing Eve
- The Crown
- The Americans
- Band of Brothers
- Landman
- Feud: Bette and Joan
- Downton Abbey
- The Blacklist
- Goliath
- The Gentlemen
- Turn: Washington's Spies
- Unbelievable
- Justified
- Voiceless (Bella da morire (2020/MHz)
Viewing now...
The Blacklist (2013-2023)—I'm still working my way through 10 seasons of this spy-thriller series. James Spader is fantastic as the man who knows where the bad guys are. (Netflix)
Up in the Air (2009)—This drama-comedy stars an impossibly handsome George Clooney along with Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick. Clooney plays a seasoned consultant who companies hire to fire employees. Kendrick is a tech-centric hire who becomes a Clooney protege. Like Clooney, Farmiga is a frequent business flyer, and their comet-like schedules intersect every so often, allowing them to hook up. Great script, terrific casting and plenty of twists. (Max)
Here's the trailer...
What coming that's worthy...
Woman of the Hour, Elsbeth, Landman and Interior Chinatown.
Previous recommendations...
TV series
- The Affair—(2014-2019/Hulu)
- Alaska Daily—(2022/Prime)
- The Americans—(2013-2018)/Prime)
- Anatomy of a Scandal—(2022/Netflix)
- Apples Never Fall—2024/Peacock)
- Babylon Berlin (2017-2024/MHz via Prime Video)
- Band of Brothers—(2001/Netflix)
- The Bay (2019-current/BritBox)
- The Blacklist (2013-2023/Netflix)
- Belgravia—(2020/Prime Video)
- Blue Lights—(2023/BritBox)
- Bosch—(2014-2021/Prime)
- Bosch: Legacy—(2022-current/Prime)
- The Crown—(2016-2023/Netflix)
- Cherif—(2013-2019/Prime)
- Dark Winds—(2022/AMC)
- The Diplomat—(2023/Netflix)
- Downton Abbey—(2020-2015/Prime)
- Emily in Paris—(2020-present/Netflix)
- Feud (S1): Bette and Joan—(2017/Hulu)
- Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans—(2024/FX, with streaming on Hulu)
- Fisk—(2021/Netflix)
- The Gentlemen—(2024/Netflix)
- Godless—(2017/Netflix)
- Goliath—(2016-2021/Prime)
- The Gilded Age—(current/Max)
- High Water—(2022/Netflix)
- Homeland—(2011-2020/Showtime)
- Jane Eyre—(2006/Britbox)
- Justified—(2010-2015/Hulu)
- Killing Eve—(2018-2022/Netflix)
- Life & Beth—(Seasons 1& 2, 2022-present/Hulu)
- Lincoln Lawyer—(2022-present/Netflix)
- Loudermilk—(2017-2020/Netflix)
- MI-5, the Series—(2002-2011/BritBox)
- Monsieur Spade—(2024/AMC)
- Murdaugh Murders: The Movie, Parts 1 and 2—(2023/Lifetime)
- My Brilliant Friend—(2018-current)
- 1923—(2022-present/Paramount+)
- 1883—(2021-2022/Prime)
- Outlander—(2014-present/Netflix)
- Pieces of Her—(2022/Netflix)
- Poldark—(2015-2019/Prime)
- Reacher—(2016-present/Netflix)
- Ripley—(2024/Netflix)
- Scott & Bailey (2011-2016/Prime)
- Turn: Washington's Spies—(2014-2017/Prime)
- Unbelievable—(2019/Netflix)
- Under the Banner of Heave—(2022/Hulu)
- Veronica Mars—(2004 to 2019/Hulu)
- Voiceless (Bella da morire—(2020/MHz)
- The Watcher—(2022/Netflix)
- The Way Home—(2023-current/Peacock)
- Who Is Erin Carter—(2023/Netflix)
- The Woman in the Wall—(2024/Showtime)
- The Veil—(2024/Hulu-FX)
- Wilder—(2017-current)
- WPC 56—(2013-2015/Britbox)
- Yellowstone—(2018-present/Paramount Network)
Films
- The Accountant—(2016/Hulu)
- American Gangster—(2007/Max)
- Armageddon Time—(2022/Prime)
- The Ballad of Buster Scruggs—(2018/Netflix)
- The Ballad of Lefty Brown—(2017/Netflix)
- Blackout (2022/Netflix)
- The Bricklayer—(2024/Netflix)
- The Commuter (2018/Netflix)
- The Dig—(2021/Netflix)
- Eiffel—(2021/Prime)
- Enola Holmes 1 and 2—(2022/Netflix)
- The Equalizer 1, 2 and 3—(2014-2024/Prime)
- Fury—(2014/Netflix)
- God's Country—(2022/Hulu)
- Guy Ritchie's The Covenant—(2023/Prime)
- Jack Reacher (the movie)—(2012/Paramount+)
- Kill Chain—(2019/Max)
- Knight and Day—(2010/Roku)
- Last Night in Soho—(2021/Prime)
- Last Seen Alive—(2020/Netflix)
- The Little Things—(2021/Netflix)
- Man on Fire—(2004/Max)
- Manchester by the Sea—(2016/Prime Video)
- MI-5—(2015/Max)
- The Mule—(2018/Netflix)
- The Night Agent—(2023/Netflix)
- Nobody—(2021/Prime)
- Nobody Wants This—(2024/Netflix)
- Ordinary Angels—(2024)
- Purple Hearts—(2022/Netflix)
- The Queen's Gambit—(2020/Netflix)
- Queenpins—(2021/Pluto TV)
- Reptile—(2023/Netflix)
- Ruthless—(2023/Hulu)
- The Secret: Dare to Dream—(2020/Netflix)
- Self Reliance—(2023/Hulu)
- Seraphim Falls—(2006/Netflix)
- Somewhere in Queens—(2022/Hulu)
- The Spy—(2019/Netflix)
- Spy(les)—(2009/Prime)
- The Stranger—(2022/Netflix)
- Toscana—(2022/Netflix)
- The Two Popes—(2019/Netflix)
- Wonder Wheel—(2017/Prime)
Documentaries
- Aftershock: Everest and the Nepal Earthquake—(2022/Netflix)
- The Beach Boys—(2024/Disney)
- Carole King: Live in Central Park—(2023/PBS)
- The Comeback—(2005 and 2014/Max)
- Cunk on Earth—(2022/Netflix)
- Cyndi Lauper: Let the Canary Sing—(2023/Paramount+)
- Facing Nolan—(2022/Netflix)
- Five Came Back—(2017/Netflix)
- Jane Fonda in Five Acts—(2024/Max)
- Kate Hepburn: Call Me Kate—(2023/Netflix)
- Suzi Q: Suzi Quatro—(2019/Prime)
- The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari—(2022/Netflix)
- 'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris—(2007/go here
Shirley Bassey. It turns out diamonds are actually forever. Sotheby's is auctioning off jewelry once owned by British power singer-entertainer Shirley Bassey. Leslie Westbrook sent along this clip...
You Talk That Talk. Following my Perfection post last week on Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt's 1971 album You Talk That Talk, Mike Lynch sent along a link to the full album as well as Ammons's Black Cat, from the same year. Go here...
John McNeil (1948-2024), a trumpeter, flugelhornist and composer who played with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, the Horace Silver Quintet and baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan in the 1970s, and led his own bands starting late in the decade, died on September 27. He was 76. You can read his obit in Downbeat here. [Photo above of John McNeil]
Here's McNeil's composition, Greenwich, from his first album, Embarkation, with John McNeil (tp,flhrn), Bob Berg (ts), Joanne Brackeen (p), Rufus Reid (b) and Billy Hart (d)...
Here's McNeil with Horace Silver live in 1979 playing The Mohican and the Great Spirit, featuring Horace Silver(p), John McNeil (tp,flhrn), Larry Schneider (ts), Todd Coolman (b) and Harold White (d)...
And here's Antonio Carlos Jobim's Look to the Sky, the title track on this 1979 album, featuring John McNeil and Tom Harrell (tp,flhrn), Kenny Barron (p), Buster Williams (b) and Billy Hart (d)...
David Weiss Sextet—Auteur (Origin). Wow, talk about a smashing hard bop album. David is a sizzling, solid trumpeter-composer who fronts a solid band joined by Myron Walden (as), Nicole Glover (ts), David Bryant (p), Eric Wheeler (b) and E.J. Strickland (d). If Blue Note were still under the command of Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, this is what their output would sound like. Five of the seven tracks are by David. The remaining two—Rebop and One for Bu—are by Freddie Hubbard and Slide Hampton, respectively. Most intriguing is that those two tracks have never been recorded before. A solid record with muscular music and sublime solos. To buy, go here. To listen, go here or to any streaming platform.
Here's Too Little, Too Late...
Sam Donahue. Artie Shaw enlisted in the Navy in 1942 and remained there for 18 months, leading a band on par with Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Band. Exhaustion and the trauma of war zones in the Pacific created enormous anxiety for Shaw, who returned to the States and recuperated at a Navy base before being discharged. So what happened to the band Shaw led? Saxophonist Sam Donahue took over and gave the band a nifty sound.
Here's a taste...
And here's Convoy. One wonders whether this 1945 swinger influenced Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride in 1946...
Thelonious Monk radio. On October 10, WKCR-FM in New York will play Thelonious Monk's recordings for 24 hours (ET) in celebration of the pianist-composer's birthday. To listen from anywhere in the world, stream starting at 11:59 p.m. (ET)on Oct. 9 by going here.
And finally, Artie Shaw (above) in 1940 playing This Is Romance, co-arranged by Lennie Hayton and Shaw. Shaw's massive big band-orchestra: Billy Butterfield, Jack Cathcart and George Wendt (tp); Vernon Brown and Jack Jenney (tb); Artie Shaw (cl); Les Robinson and Neely Plumb (as); Bus Bassey and Jerry Jerome (ts); Johnny Guarnieri (p); Al Hendrickson (g); Truman Boardman, Ted Klages, Bill Brower, Bob Morrow, Alex Beller and Eugene Lamas (vln); Allan Harshman and Keith Collins (viola); Fred Goerner (cello); Jud DeNaut (b) and Nick Fatool (d). Go here.