Film The Rich

You know, as a society we’ve probably hit some kind of oligarchy overdrive when there’s an entire subgenre of films about ordinary people being invited to the private islands/compounds/megayachts/nation-states of ultra wealthy individuals only to be terrorized by them for sport, prey, food, giggles – you name it. Think “Glass Onion” and “The Menu” and “Triangle of Sadness.” It appears that the latest film to entire this pantheon of Eat The Rich or Be Eaten by the Rich masterpieces is “Opus,” starring queer stars Ayo Edebiri and Murray Bartlett, as well as all-around cool stars John Malkovich and Juliette Lewis. I don’t know what all the creepy blue everything is about, but I’m excited to find out. Just, you know, best not to accept any strange invitations from billionaires in the coming years. As a precaution.

Wilderness at Heart 2

How have we not discussed this trailer yet? Though, am I the only one annoyed by the addition of Elijah Wood? Like, I get it, shows add people in new seasons. But did it have to be a famous dude? Now his hobbity face and placid eyes will be all up in my female wilderness trauma and it just annoys me. Granted, things didn’t work out so well for Adam last season. So, if that’s the plan I will withdraw my previous complaint. But, yeah, can’t we just focus on having a phenomenal female cast for once?

Anyway, I don’t really know what’s in store for this new season. I mean we’ve already had murder, mystical woodland rituals, bear death and human popsicles, with heavy hinting at cannibalism. Speaking of new males, the trailer seems to show us a beardy fellow who might meet an untimely demise. So if in the end the person they eat is some rando forest dude instead of one of their team, honestly, I’d be here for that energy. I’m also very much here for the trailer showing off their casting department’s skill. Like, look at this masterful casting, just LOOK!

But, as a lesbian…supporter, I’m mostly here for the reunion between Taissa and Van. We got the Adult Van we wanted in Lauren Ambrose, and if you aren’t excited to watch former high school lesbian sweethearts turned wilderness survivors/possible cannibals who reunite as adults politicians/possible nerd store owners, well, it’s like we never survived a plane crash in the Canadian Rockies together or something.

Sting Like a Yellowjacket

Yellowjackets Hive, rise, RISE! So, unless you’ve been living under a rock or your plane crashed deep in the Canadian Rockies, you’ve probably heard about Showtime’s new cult-hit series “Yellowjackets.” The story of a championship high school soccer team who crash lands and then survives 19 months alone together in the wilderness is riveting to say the least. Also, there’s probably cannibalism. Think “Lord of the Flies” meets “Alive” meets “Jawbreaker/Mean Girls.”

Told in two concurrent timelines, directly after the crash and then 25 years later, the series has some of the best young actor to adult actor casting I’ve seen in quite some time. The adult cast includes a who’s who of Gen X actress excellence: Melanie Lynskey as adult Shauna, Juliette Lewis as adult Natalie, and Christina freaking Ricci as adult Misty. And their junior counterparts (Sophie Nélisse as young Shauna, Sophie Thatcher as young Natalie and Sammi Hanratty as young Misty) are no less impressive.

If you’ve watched you know the central mystery (well, mysteries) revolve around what actually happened out there in the woods. The repercussions of their survival still reverberate 25 years later. And, again, we haven’t even really gotten to the whole eating each other stuff yet.

In a way the frantic kinetic energy of “Yellowjackets” made the perfect foil to the raw pastoral calmness of “Station Eleven.” While their stories are clearly very different, their storytelling about the ending of the world — or at least the world as they knew it — both fall along Right After and Long After timelines. Both flash us to the present, while showing us how we got there. And both revolve around central female characters finding new ways to live amid unimaginable trauma.

Also, in another pleasantly unexpected parallel, Shauna from “Yellowjackets” and Kristen “Station Eleven” are perhaps the very definition of end-game Knife Girls. Like, it’d be a real competition to watch them field dress, say, a rabbit. Or an ex-lover.

The way their storytelling diverge also perfectly complements each series. “Station Eleven” is a limited series that ran just 10 episodes that told a carefully bookended apocalyptic tale about the power of art and the connections we make around it. “Yellowjackets” is a 10-episode-per-season series that has already been renewed for its sophomore turn and left us with so many tantalizing unanswered questions. Both those formats feel right. While obviously I would watch more “Station Eleven,” the symmetry of its beginning, middle and end (even through shifting timelines) feels right. Final. Whereas I can’t wait for more Yellowjackets madness, and the insane possibilities in this story.

Sting like a Yellowjacket

Now I know “Yellowjackets” technically started in 2021. The Showtime series debuted in late November, and has been unspooling episodes on Showtime ever since, with the finale set to air later in January. But in the crush of the end of the year, I didn’t have a chance to watch and I might have been saving it up to stream on a long winter’s night. Well, those nights have arrived and it’s time.

I’ve heard from a few critics who swear if this show was on a popular streamer like Netflix or Hulu it would be all people were talking about. The premise alone is amazing. A team of all-star high school soccer players flying to a tournament has their plane crash into the Canadian wilderness and aren’t rescued for almost a full year. We’re talking some serious “Lord of the Flies” meets Donner Party meets “Midsommar” vibes.

Now, 25 years later, the grown-up girls are still dealing with the repercussions of their struggle for survival. Did I mention it starts Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis and Melanie Lynskey as the grown-up versions of the girls? Yeah, I know, what have I been waiting for? Obviously, I was just saving it up for a better year. So, fingers crossed on both counts.