Week of May 17 – 23

Want to have some fun? Well we’ve got some shows and movies for you – on HBO there’s the “Pee-wee as Himself” doc, which is as fun as it is touching (and, yes, a little sad); Apple TV+ has “Fountain of Youth,” a rollicking adventure directed by Guy Ritchie and starring John Krasinski and Natalie Portman; plus there’s the return of “Big Mouth” on Netflix (for its final season) and “Nine Perfect Strangers” on Hulu (new retreat, new cast of strangers) and “Sirens,” a soapy new Netflix series starring Julianne Moore and Kevin Bacon. Things are serious enough in the world – it’s good to have a little fun sometimes.

On with the television! 

Pee-wee as Himself

Monday, March 23 at 8 p.m., HBO

Source: HBO

This two-part, nearly four-hour documentary is one of the more powerful and affecting things you’ll see this year – a raw, insightful look at one of the most complicated, misunderstood figures in modern American popular culture. “Pee-wee as Himself” started as a more standard biographical documentary, charting the life and popularity of Paul Reubens aka Pee-wee Herman, but took on greater significance after Reubens’ death in 2023 after battling privately with lung cancer for several years. Reubens is a prickly figure in the documentary, openly battling with director Matt Wolf about how he will be portrayed and how his story will ultimately be told. You can feel Wolf wrestling with the material even after Reubens is gone; shortly before his death he pulled back from the documentary, sending Wolf a voice memo just a week before his death, attempting to explain his situation. It’s brutal stuff, especially if you lived through Pee-wee’s rise to a Zeitgeist-capturing sensation and the legal troubles that did much to undo that goodwill. But much like the man himself, the documentary offers so much joy and humor and stories that were never told. Reubens believed in himself, but the documentary makes sure to allow him room to dissect his missteps and hardships, becoming the rare celebrity documentary with actual introspection. The documentary is a towering achievement worthy of its subject; as silly and surreal and profound too. [TRAILER]

The Studio

Wednesday, May 21, Apple TV+

Source: Apple TV+

The year’s funniest new show is sadly coming to an end. If you haven’t been watching “The Studio,” it follows a Hollywood executive (Seth Rogen), who is appointed the head of Continental Studios. Each episode follows a different aspect of moviemaking and how Roger’s exec manages to bungle his way through it. The finale takes place at CinemaCon, the annual convention of theater owners and exhibitors (and also popcorn salesmen and the like), with a number of the season’s plot threads coming to an explosive head. Be warned – this episode ends on a massive cliffhanger. But don’t stress out too much, since the series (co-created and directed by Rogen and Evan Goldberg) has already been renewed for a second season. What kind of misadventures is he going to get into next? [TRAILER]

Fountain of Youth

Friday, May 23, Apple TV+

Source: Apple TV+

Guy Ritchie is unstoppable. The British filmmaker, who got his start doing low-budget crime thrillers like “Snatch” before graduating to big budget spectacles like “Sherlock Holmes,” has made five movies since 2021, with two more that have yet to be released. Plus, he is overseeing small screen hits like “The Gentlemen” (based on his movie of the same name) and Paramount+’s “MobLand.” He is on fire. His latest, “Fountain of Youth,” is more closely aligned with his big Disney hit, “Aladdin,” than his grittier output. But it is still a super entertaining romp, about siblings (played by John Krasinski and Natalie Portman), who embark on a global quest to locate the mythical Fountain of Youth. This quest takes them under the sea, through museums and art galleries around the world and even to the ancient pyramids of Egypt, with Ritchie staging the action in smart, snappy bursts and Krasinski channeling his inner Ryan Reynolds as a fast-talking wiseass. “Fountain of Youth,” in its own way, feels like a modern day riff on the Indiana Jones films, with a game supporting cast (including Eiza González, Domhnall Gleeson, Arian Moayed and Carmen Ejogo, with a cameo from Stanley Tucci) and Ritchie’s typical stylistic embroidery. Have you seen movies like “Fountain of Youth” before? Probably. But not in a while. And probably not as breathlessly fun. [TRAILER]

Untold: The Fall of Favre

Tuesday, May 20, Netflix

Source: Netflix

“Untold,” if you don’t know, is Netflix’s sports documentary series – basically their version of ESPN’s “30 for 30.” And the latest entry, “The Fall of Favre,” follows the career of Favre “best known as the Green Bay Packers superstar quarterback who nabbed three NFL MVPs and led his team to a Super Bowl championship,” according to the official synopsis. But Netflix also notes that Favre “had a pattern of inappropriate behavior off the field that at last came to light.” Those controversies include, but are not limited to, a sexting and harassment scandal with former New York Jets employee Jenn Sterger, a massive welfare fraud scheme and a dangerous dependency on drugs and alcohol that led to a potentially fatal seizure. This has so much drama that even if you aren’t a football fan, you’ll be on the edge of your seat. [TRAILER]

Pee-wee’s Playhouse

Shout! Studios Channel on YouTube

Source: Shout Studios

We don’t talk about YouTube enough in this newsletter, but there really are all sorts of amazing things going on there, including Shout! Studios’ channel, which features “live” programming like one dedicated to “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” Paul Reubens’ influential, Zeitgeist-capturing children’s series that ran from 1986 to 1990. If you watch the excellent new documentary “Pee-wee as Himself,” you’ll have a new appreciation for the counterculture aesthetic and subversive humor that Reubens was able to thread through the series that helped make it a phenomenon for the young and the young at heart. And having this “live” stream going on Shout! Studios’ channel allows you to drop in and appreciate the various aspects that made the show so special – the puppet characters, animated interstitials, off-the-wall humor, unexpected performances (from folks like Laurence Fishburne, Phil Hartman, Natasha Lyonne and John Paragon) and general zaniness. “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” was a place for everyone. Why not revisit? [WATCH]

Source: Netflix

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