While late, here is what I’m recommending y’all check out this week.

On November 2nd, Matt Armitage discussed New French Extremity for 25 Years Later:
“From early arthouse exploitation through to the extreme horror of its later phase, New French Extremity has perhaps relied a little too much on the desire to shock, with less attention on whether their message and themes are delivered well, or even understood. There are notable exemptions which achieve a greater balance, some of which I’ve covered here. Raw shows that it is possible to combine extreme imagery, plot, social commentary and a high level of production value even on a small budget. Rather than mourning the death of a genre, we may be looking at the just the beginning of a new chapter in New French Extremity.”

On November 3rd, Alanna Bennett recommended the defunct CW-TV series Hart of Dixie as the perfect comfort show in these trying times over at BuzzFeed:
“You take your joy where you can get it in 2018. Which is why I am suggesting you watch Hart of Dixie, an often-overlooked dramedy that aired on the CW from 2011 to 2015 and that is also available on Netflix, right now, waiting to whisk you off to a universe that is decidedly not here.”

Kelly Lawler listed the 10 best true crime documentaries currently streaming for USA Today on the 6th:
“Can you figure out who did it?
At the heart of almost every true-crime documentary is a whodunit, or – if you already know the answer – a how done it or why done it or why-is-the-system-done-like-this.”

On the 7th, Maria Elena Fernandez at Vulture explained how Always Sunny in Philadelphia pulled off its finale:
“When It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia ended its 13th season on Wednesday night, you’d be forgiven for wondering, Wait, did I switch channels? Not only does ‘Mac Finds His Pride’ contain heartfelt dialogue — like Mac admitting to Frank, ‘I don’t know where I fit in as a gay man and it’s starting to get to me. I’m not feeling very proud’” — but it ends with a five-minute, show-stopping contemporary-dance number featuring Rob McElhenney and professional ballerina Kylie Shea.”

Finally, on the 8th, Levi Hill asked if 2018 was the return, or the death of mid-budget movies on Fandor:
“Today, the majority of film’s fall almost exclusively into two categories: indies (movies made for twenty million or less) or ‘blockbusters’ (movies made for a hundred million or more). However, starting in the late 1960s, with Arthur Penn’s Bonnie & Clyde, audiences began flocking in droves to ‘New Hollywood’ films, otherwise known as the ‘American New Wave.’ These films, such as The Godfather, Chinatown, and The Sting represented studio films that played to both young and old audiences, without the extravagant budgets of epics like Ben Hur, The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, and even Doctor Dolittle. At the time, filmmakers like John Cassavetes were helping to give birth to American independent filmmaking with movies like Shadows (1958), while many other talented, young filmmakers were ushering in a new era of mid-budget filmmaking that could thrive within the studio system.

It was a beautiful era in cinematic history, when foreign titans like Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini could be both Oscar nominees and box office winners alongside filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola, William Friedkin, and Roman Polanski — all of whom made films that were deeply personal, intentionally provocative, and thematically mature.”

Enjoy!