Schmear Hunter's Brainwash [71]
Unpacking the Hype, Elevating the Unknown: 'The Pitt,' 'Den of Thieves 2: Pantera,' 'Soundtrack to a Coup D'Etat'
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Before we get into today’s newsletter, I first want to acknowledge the hundreds of thousands affected by the fires in Los Angeles. Much of this readership is based in LA, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, a city I’ve proudly and happily called home for the majority of my adult life, and what is occurring presently is unconscionable. There are many ways to help out, a few of which can be found here.
On this past week’s SchmearCast, the first of the new year, and I had a lot of fun discussing three big Christmas releases: Nosferatu, Babygirl, and A Complete Unknown.
Listen on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Next week is an ALL-Brutalist episode with a special guest, so try and see Brady Corbet’s epic if you can.
Let’s get into today’s edition
The Hype
The Pitt (TV): New Max medical drama knows exactly what it’s doing
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (Movie)—heist sequel is missing the scuzzy charm of its predecessor
The Unknown
Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat (Movie): electrifying, cracked-out documentary is the most thrilling history lesson you could imagine
The Pitt (Max)
What’s it about? The daily lives of healthcare professionals in a Pittsburgh hospital as they juggle personal crises, workplace politics, and the emotional toll of treating critically ill patients, revealing the resilience required in their noble calling.
Who it’s for? Fans of medical dramas, if you like high-stakes storytelling, fans of workplace dramas like The West Wing or The Bear, if you like ensemble TV shows
Who should avoid? Those who dislike graphic medical procedures or gruesome visuals, viewers looking for light entertainment, fans of slower-paced shows
Watch if you like: E.R., Grey’s Anatomy, The Bear, 24, House M.D.
News and Notes:
Two episodes released yesterday
11-episode series
Schmear’s Verdict: A high-stakes medical drama that combines relentless tension, naturalistic dialogue, and nuanced performances, The Pitt is an unflinching yet deeply human exploration of life in the ER.
I come to the new Max series The Pitt with no E.R. experience and no love of Grey’s Anatomy either. I’m an objective viewer with no preconceived notions of how a show like this should go down, but through two thrilling, detailed episodes of this John Wells exec-produced series, I can tell I’m ready to lock in for the entire season.
The Pitt takes place in the emergency room of a Pittsburgh hospital, and akin to 24’s hour-to-episode storytelling method, the series runs over the course of one grueling shift.
The show throws you into the deep end in the best kind of way, almost like The Bear does for its kitchen. I didn’t know half of what was being said, and I didn’t really care either—ditto for the character dynamics and relationships, as they’re far more fun to suss out than have spoon-fed.
Character introductions and explication arrive naturally, a credit to the talented ensemble cast as well as the naturalistic, yet still Sorkinian dialogue penned by showrunner R. Scott Gemmill (ER, NCIS: LA).
Leading the charge is Noah Wyle as Dr. Robbie, an actor I’ve never witnessed, but someone who I so deeply and immediately trusted for his calm and steady demeanor. Much needed, because the chaotic swirl of blood, pain, and procedure is dizzying. The camera roves naturally, almost from the perspective of another doctor (you) amidst the maelstrom.
Some shows have cases of the week; this one has cases of the minute—that’s how fast and pressurized this is. What’s most exciting is watching for the little bits of serialized storytelling sprinkled within the rigmarole, like a certain something in the air between Dr. Robbie and Dr. Collins (Tracy Ifeachor).
You must steel yourself for The Pitt. This show is gruesome, and it finds humor in having the young interns and med students serve as our audience conduits, seeing ghastly injuries and conducting horrifying operations for the first time just as we are.
The show excels in its diverse cast, which is somewhat archetypal, but with each character written with just enough nuance, performed with just enough difference, to have everyone feel unique. A 20-year-old nepo medical student faints in the first episode and has to shake off the moniker “Crash.” There’s her foil, the morbid, brash Dr. Santos (Isa Briones). Dr. Langdon (Patrick Ball) is a matinee idol. Taylor Dearden (Bryan Cranston’s daughter!) is a believably awkward doc who just shifted over from the VA.
All these personalities are in an elegant, humorous, grisly dance, kept spinning in the air quite successfully through two episodes. Come for the attention-grabbing, sickening, singular cases coming in through the ER doors, but stay for the humanity within the minutiae.
Within The Pitt, the gamut of humanity is on display. For every thrilling save of a patient, there are sobering tragedies around the corner, emphasized by the practice of taking a moment of silence when someone passes, when pausing is the last thing these harried doctors should be doing.
These highly impressive two episodes have me ready to spend an entire shift with The Pitt.
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (Theaters)
What’s it about? Big Nick is back on the hunt in Europe and closing in on Donnie, who is embroiled in the treacherous world of diamond thieves and the infamous Panther mafia, as they plot a massive heist of the world's largest diamond exchange.
Who it’s for? Admirers of 2018’s Den of Thieves, Gerard Butler enthusiasts, fans of Euro-set heist films like Mission: Impossible or Oceans Twelve, fans of crime dramas with charismatic anti-heroes
Who should avoid? If you’re expecting the rough grittiness of Den of Thieves, those expecting deep complexity or character nuance, if you want non-stop action
Watch if you like: Den of Thieves, Heat, The Town, The Gentlemen, Ocean’s Twelve, The Italian Job
News and Notes:
Released Today
Sequel to Den of Thieves (2018)
Schmear’s Verdict: Den of Thieves: Pantera trades the gritty, chaotic charm of its predecessor for a sleeker, more polished heist film that ultimately lacks the excitement and rough-edged appeal that made the original memorable.
Den of Thieves—a loving, if blatant, rip-off of Heat—has amassed a cult following since its 2018 release. The film introduced us to an immediately classic character, Big Nick O’Brien, who—in just 30 minutes, in a mode of character expression screenwriters could only dream of pulling off so efficiently—surveys a murder scene, eats a donut off the ground of said murder scene, cruises South LA to Everlast’s “What It’s Like,” parties with sex workers, and menaces his wife’s new boyfriend, forcing him to give him a hug—thus is the bizarre movie star magnetism of one Gerard Butler.
Butler, The King of January, is back, reunited with Den of Thieves director Christian Gudegast, pitted against O’Shea Jackson Jr. in Pantera—a sequel that immediately announces itself as classier and shinier than its LA-set predecessor, not only through its new European setting but also in the filmmaking and the accompanying smooth synth score. This is more Oceans 12 or Mission Impossible than Point Break or Heat, a fact that works against Den of Thieves: Pantera, which sorely misses its forebear’s rough-around-the-edges charm.
This has a “just go with it” plot with a ton of moving pieces. O’Shea Jackson does an African accent. There’s a pink diamond in play. The World Diamond Center is in Nice, France. Gerard Butler’s character forces himself into the mix. But you’re not here for the how or why, right?
I wasn’t, certainly. I was seated for Butler, whose messy, fucked-up Big Nick was iconic in the ‘18 film, and he still has some choice gems here. It’s hysterical seeing him bump up against the French gendarmerie, and you wish more humor was mined here. It’s equally amusing to watch him plied with drugs and alcohol at a gonzo Côte d’Azur nightclub to see if he can hang. Little do his contemporaries know—he’s Big Nick. Butler’s craggy, hard-lived face—immense as an Easter Island head—is the best feature this film has going for it.
Unfortunately, the heist at the center of the film is far from unique or exciting. Pantera has a paucity of “oh shit” moments, sorely missing a second gear. It’s clear quickly that director Christian Gudegast has a better handle on his native Los Angeles than Europe, no matter how beautiful the Mediterranean city of Nice is.
As previously mentioned, the action has more of a Mission: Impossible flavor, and the heist is notable for its subtlety—and not in a good way. This film is bloodless and, dare I say, a little boring, the last thing you want to be in this genre. Much of the movie is predicated on the supposed chemistry between O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s Donnie and Butler’s Big Nick—which exists but is a far cry from the incendiary connection of De Niro and Pacino or Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves.
The brolic, beefcake, shitbag vibes of Den of Thieves have been traded in for something more elegant, yet way less exciting. The bullets have been swapped with a high cig count, and there’s a scuzziness missing.
In going global, Den of Thieves: Pantera got away from its downhome delights. The film’s tag suggests the world—misguidedly—will only expand wider. As long as Butler’s here, I reckon I’ll let myself get dragged along.
Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat (Select Theaters and On Demand)
What’s it about? Jazz and decolonization are entwined in this historical rollercoaster that rewrites the Cold War episode that led musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach to crash the UN Security Council in protest against the murder of Patrice Lumumba.
Who it’s for? History buffs, fans of experimental documentaries, Jazz enthusiasts, fans of conspiracy narratives, social justice advocates
Who should avoid? Those seeking light entertainment, viewers averse to non-linear storytelling, fans of casual documentaries, if you’re not interested in world history
Watch if you like: JFK, The Act of Killing, I Am Not Your Negro, OJ: Made in America, The Fog of War
News and Notes:
Premiered at Sundance 2024
Released on VOD January 7th
Schmear’s Verdict: A wildly immersive and fiercely provocative documentary that captivates with its labyrinth of political history, music, and righteous fury.
In the most complimentary way, it took me five hours to watch Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat instead of the film’s actual runtime. So fascinating were this highly original documentary’s myriad threads that I ended up with hundreds of tabs open, Wikipedia-ing this dark, postcolonial mid-century universe all the livelong day.
If you asked me to describe Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat in one sentence, I’d say it’s a documentary that utilizes archival footage and jazz to explicate the assassination of Congolese politician Patrice Lumumba. If you permitted me a few more sentences (as you have, as a devoted Schmear reader), I’d say this is a wildly involving, artfully edited, emotionally stirring rabbit hole of a video essay, sure to swirl you violently and disorientingly down its drain.
The film comes from politically minded Belgian documentarian Johan Grimonprez, whose righteous indignation at his country’s hushed-up colonial history boils over into a fury of music and image. The film extensively covers the pan-African movement and the ensuing turmoil at the nascent United Nations, as the institution wrestled with its egalitarian mission and its overlording capitalistic interests—you can guess who wins out.
This is a searing, damning portrait of colonialism’s long, hypocritical tail and how, in our lifetimes—just 65 years ago—scheming, murderous barbarism was allowed to exist, dressed up in doublespeak, as nefariously genteel as CIA director Allen Dulles and his pipe.
There are no traditional talking heads here. The pace and rhythm of Soundtrack reflect free jazz, apropos of the artists lionized here, like Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, and Abbey Lincoln. The invigorating music not only connects with you on a corkboard conspiracy crack-up level but also figures into the storyline, as in highlighting Armstrong’s trip to the Congo, as well as the way Black artists were used unwittingly as ambassadors in Africa and around the world to soften America’s image and distract from its rapacious violent purposes.
This is a heady trip to a specific moment in world history, where you hopscotch between Patrice Lumumba to Nina Simone, Malcolm X to Duke Ellington, Nikita Khrushchev to Langston Hughes, and somehow, through the magic of editing, research, and music, it all makes sense, with a true-life conspiratorial vigor that’d make Oliver Stone blush.
This is not to be missed for those interested in history—an academic PDF meets a music video—as its director Johan Grimonprez put it. I was enthralled, bewitched, and enraged.
Thanks for reading, and see you next week!