Did George Floyd's Death Kill Tyre Nichols? Netflix Kills Password Sharing, Can Comic Book Movies Get Smart/Mature & Regain Audiences?, The Case For Avoiding Childhood Stardom (The Five for 02/03/23)
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Now let’s dive into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
In the wake of one of the most brutal police murders in history, the hot takes started coming fast and hard as to WHY five Memphis officers would allegedly beat the father of a four year old, photographer and skateboarder to death for no seemingly no reason at all.
CNN’s Van Jones said the five officers were racist (and got heavily mocked for this headline).
Similarly, MSNBC’s Joy Reid…pretty much went on TV and said the same thing.
Before we completely throw that theory out, it’s worth noting that the Stanford Prison Experiment was essentially this…when people are given the role of a prison guard, even when it’s fake and for a college study, they become more oppressive, brutal, violent and cruel.
However, new information has come out that points to a more simple explanation…desperate staffing shortages led to relaxed standards and the hiring of bad cops.
The NY Post reports:
Recruits no longer needed an associate’s degree or 54 college credit hours to join the force, and could get by with five years of work experience, Action 5 reported.
Loosening the required qualifications however means that the department is ultimately getting “less desirable” job candidates, Mike Alcazar, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a retired NYPD detective, told The Post.
“They’re desperate. They want police officers,” Alcazar said. “They’re going through it, they check off some boxes, saying, ‘Ok, they’re good enough, get them on.”
The department showed signs of struggle with recruiting new police officers, offering $15,000 signing bonuses in 2021 and 2022, Fox 13 reported.
As of Jan. 2022, MPD was down roughly 500 officers, the news outlet reported, citing the Memphis Police Association.
The department also revealed that was even offering waivers for people who have been convicted on felony charges.
There’s an argument to be made for hiring REFORMED felons as cops, if they’ve truly made a life change.
After all, who better to anticipate, understand and counter criminal behavior…than former criminals who now want to do good in life?
But in the case of Nichols death…allegedly at the hands of officers who were hired out of “desperation” for staff…that’s not what happened. The city seems to have just staffed up with bad, power hungry cops.
Tragically, George Floyd’s death may have been the butterfly wings flapping that led to the hurricane that resulted in Nichols alleged murder.
Anti-police sentiments led to good cops quitting the force, which led to lower standards to allow Nichols presumed murderers to pick up a badge and gun.
Before we move on, it’s worth pausing to share the video of Tyre Nichols, who would be better served to be remembered by his artistic and athletic abilities, and not the brutal footage of his beating.
[two]
If you’re completely sick of comic book projects…give me half a paragraph to explain why you might care.
Writer/Director James Gunn took over the struggling DC universe last October…and now we know that he’s steering the iconic brand that owns Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman towards…something more mature?!
Gunn appears to be pulling from emotionally complex, layered stories to set these projects away from the Marvel 4th-wall-breaking silliness.
The question is…whether or not the general public can get behind movies with green ring-powered spacemen investigating a serious mystery.
From The Hollywood Reporter on the upcoming Green Lantern project:
Lanterns: Greg Berlanti’s long-in-the-works Green Lanterns TV series has been scrapped (and Gunn and Safran have parted ways with the longtime DC series steward). In its place will be a new take on the space cops with power rings. “Our vision for this is very much in the vein of True Detective,” Safran described. “It’s terrestrial-based.” It will feature prominent Lantern heroes Hal Jordan and John Stewart and is one of the most important shows they have in development. “This plays a really big role in leading into the main story we are telling across film and TV.”
Gunn has shown an incredible ability to balance popcorn movie sizzle with in-depth character development in projects like Guardians of the Galaxy and Peacemaker, so I’m giving this new chapter of movies and TV a very good chance at success.
You can see the ten movies and TV shows coming up from DC (some theatrical releases, but everything will land on HBO Max eventually) here.
One (lesser known) project I’m very excited about…Swamp Thing, an emotionally complex tale that pulls heavily from Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, but throws in a Southern Gothic twist.
Even if you’re not into the mystery/horror genre (and I’m not…unless I’m in the right mood), trust me…this material could make for a seriously good film that asks big questions.
[three]
One of my favorite albums this year comes from Elle King…who’s notable not only for her (excellent) songwriting chops, but also for the way she was raised.
King took her mother’s maiden name as a surname to avoid piggybacking off of her famous father, comedic actor Rob Schneider.
Perhaps more importantly, King was raised COMPLETELY out of the spotlight in rural Ohio, which seems to have produced an adult that…skipped over the Hollywood excesses that often plague the children of famous people who want to step into the spotlight—narcissistic behavior, drug addiction and public meltdowns.
King is a solid example of what happens when you DON’T put children in the limelight at a young age—they are better set up to become healthy, successful adults. Elle originally wanted to be on Broadway, but realized she liked singing more than acting.
Scheider and Elle’s mother (also famous—model London King) could have put the young girl in TV and theater auditions at a young age (like Billy Ray Cyrus did to Miley), or dropped significant cash to prop up a music career when she was a teen (a la Taylor Swift’s father, who bought part of a record label to get her signed).
Instead…they let her be a normal kid.
And that normal kid grew up to be a heck of an artist…without the baggage of a destroyed childhood.
Elle’s latest album, Come Get Your Wife, is a heck of a listen. I highly reccomend it.
[four]
Starting on March 31st, password sharing on Netflix will be a thing of the past, as only devices on that log into the “home” wifi network once a month will continue to work (sorry, Mom).
However, Netflix may allow “extra” users to be added for cheaper than those people could get their own plans (Mom, you get Netflix back?!)
The company hasn't specified prices for these new charges yet. But the fee system has already been implemented in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru as a test. In these countries, the fee works out to be roughly equivalent to one-quarter the price of a Standard plan, on average.
If Netflix sticks to that practice, then each extra member subaccount in the US would cost between about $3.50 and $4 -- but a fairly wide range was tested. If the US fees track with Chile's, for example, subaccounts would cost as much as $4.43.
[five]
As always, let’s head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup.
British writer/director Guy Ritchie is a bit hit or miss for me. For every Sherlock Holmes (the Robert Downey Jr. version), he’s turned in a King Arthur (the abysmal failure that even the acting of Charlie Hunam of Sons of Anarchy fame couldn’t redeem).
That being said, Ritchie’s latest project looks like an absolute must see (in theaters) for me. Jake Gyllenhall (Southpaw, Brokeback Mountain) stars as an Afghanistan vet who returns to the country after the Taliban takeover to pull out the Afghani interpreter who saved his life.
Which is what we should be doing for the 70,000 SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) holders who were abandoned in August of 2021 to be slaughtered at the hands of the Taliban.
It would be a better reality than movie, but perhaps Ritchie will bring attention to our abandoned allies.
In theaters in April.
Outer Banks is certainly the show I didn’t see coming. The Netflix series tells the tale of working class North Carolina teens on the famed hunt for local treasure, that they dream will elevate them to the lifestyles of the mega-rich vacationers whose vacation homes drive the local economy.
There’s a bit of a suspension of disbelief required (like the possibility that treasure could be stashed for a few hundred years without being found, that it’s possible to survive a hurricane in the Atlantic in a tiny boat, etc.), but OBX helps you do that with one of the strongest ensemble casts of any current show.
Season three drops on Netflix 02/23.
A prequel season to season 1 of The Terminal List will re-unite Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights) to explore the characters relationship as Navy Seals in combat. Yeeeeeeessssss. (Hat Tip: Matt)
Woooooah. The George Foreman biopic looks amazing. In theaters 04/28.
Until the next one,
-sth