Stowaway, The Other Two, and Oscars
Among the stars up above and down below, plus predictions two days late
Hello!
On this week’s episode of Criticism Is Dead, we discuss Stowaway, a movie about surviving in space, and The Other Two, a show about surviving a pop star kid brother.
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04:13 Stowaway, new to Netflix, is an unusual space film that is also a horror story about mathematics and employer negligence.
You have a spaceship that’s made for two, and only just outfitted to be able to accommodate three. But say you have a fourth person—a stowaway, if you will—unwittingly along for the ride, and there are no backups or contingency plans (thanks, home base!). What the fuck are you supposed to do?
That’s the premise of Stowaway, a genre film that is not quite like others in its genre. This space film is rooted in the cold-hard reality of practical problems, and it orbits around a central moral dilemma. For a movie categorized as a thriller, you’d think it might turn sinister or malevolent at some point, but really, it’s just decent people doing what they can in a terrible situation. There are definitely some pacing problems, and characters are painted a bit thinly, but Stowaway ultimately reaches for the capacity of humanity to be good, which is really what makes a space film.
23:03 The Other Two, now streaming on HBO Max, is a half-hour comedy series about adults figuring out how best to take advantage of a tween pop star’s 15 minutes of fame.
I enjoyed this satirization of stardom and celebrity culture, which revolves around the central question: Once thrust into the orbit of fame adjacency, how do you best ride the wave while you can? Maybe you’ll flounder a bit, like the character Cary does here; maybe you’ll actually rise to the occasion and become a responsible figure for your 13-year-old brother, like Brooke does; maybe you’ll go full Kris Jenner and appear on talk shows, write children’s books, create a jewelry line, like the mom Pat does.
It takes a bit to warm up to the show and its characters, but The Other Two hits its stride by mid-point of the first season (season 2 will be released on HBO Max at some point TBA). The jokes hit, the characters show growth, and there’s some surprising threads of emotion that never fully drag down the overall absurdist, deadpan tone. Just keep watching, not least for the deep bench of celeb guest appearances and cameos!
35:51 Plus, culture notes about the Academy Awards, which have already happened, but not by the time we recorded this!
Find out how good/bad we are at predicting things!
Bonus links
Speaking of the Oscars, Pelin livetweeted them on our pod account!!!! Check it out for a good time:
And more Oscars…
Read Brandon Taylor on this and this.
Finally:
That’s it for this week. Bye!
— Jenny
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Some credits:
Music: REEKAH
Artwork and design: Sara Macias and Andrew Liu