Roundup Review | Top streaming recommendations for Dec. 5

Features and entertainment writer Josh Mandell breaks down his top music, TV and movie picks for the week: “Hablot Brown,” “Molly,” “The Menu” and "Over The Garden Wall.” Photo collage by ANGELINA HICKS, editor-in-chief

“Hablot Brown” | Hablot Brown 

I just got the pleasure of seeing this album performed live, so I am still riding the wave of only listening to these songs and absolutely nothing else. This album makes me feel like I’m riding the clouds and am just at ease in life — no stress and no worries. It contains 12 songs spanning 39 minutes of pure bliss and relaxation. It’s considered indie pop, but it is slower and more relaxing than upbeat pop. 

The band itself is relatively small, but they are rapidly growing. Having only about 500,000 monthly listeners on Spotify right now, they aren’t considered mainstream. They have talked in interviews about how they shine when they perform live, and let me be a testament to that. They really do. 

Watching them perform this album live in a small venue was incredibly intimate and entrancing to say the least. They flourished in every direction, from vocals to the production to the beauty of the guitar. It was an incredible experience. Not to mention, after the concert they came out and met everyone in the audience, took pictures and had genuine conversations. If there is anyone you should support, it’s this group. 

There are so many great songs on this album so it is hard to pick a favorite, but my top two are “Wait For Me” and “Car Song.” I don’t know how else to say it other than “vibey” because that’s exactly what it is. It has got a great mixture of jazz and funk with an overall soothing feel to it. 

The album has a coming of age feel to it that makes your worries go away and makes you feel like everything is going to be okay. 

“Molly” | Lil Dicky (Featuring Brendon Urie) 

I strongly recommend listening to this song while watching the music video which is a perfect complimenting piece to the song. Not only is "Molly" a beautiful song, but it is absolutely heartbreaking. The song is essentially the artist’s struggle with moving on from a relationship that ended due to his work. It is an incredibly deep and meaningful song from an artist, Lil Dicky, whose catalog is mostly comedy rap. 

Lil Dicky got his start in the music industry when he had a quarter-life crisis working a dead-end job at 28. He wanted to pursue music and elevate the comedy rap space. He convinced his parents to let him use his bar mitzvah money and spend it on music. He started with comedy music videos that went viral very quickly and rode his wave of success to release his first album, “Professional Rapper,” which features the song “Molly.” He has continued his success and he now has a show featured on FX called “Dave.” 

This song is so simplistic lyrically but has the perfect balance of melody that really makes you wanna sing it out loud blasting the music in the car. Brendan Urie, who is the lead singer of Panic! At the Disco, is featured in this song and he has the voice of an angel. At the end of the day, the song is so visceral and vulnerable, that makes it is hard not to appreciate the artistry. 

“The Menu”

I am a firm believer that to properly judge a movie you typically need to see it twice. This movie is not one of those movies. I loved it upon the first watch. “The Menu” is one of the best movies I have seen in a really long time. It is definitely in my top five movies that have come out in 2022. 

It is listed under the horror/comedy genre, and I feel like that is a very important thing to know before going into this movie. It follows a group of ridiculously rich and spoiled people who dine at one of the most exclusive restaurants located on an island with a world-renowned chef. 

It is absurd and can definitely take a bit of time to get adjusted to the overall tone of the film, but once you do — *chef’s kiss.* One of my biggest criticisms with much of film these days is the lack of commitment. They never fully commit to a theme or an idea, the character is never really dead or there is always some backdoor. Part of the reason I think this movie in particular is so great is simply because they commit. They commit to the bit and the movie and fully bet on themselves to get the movie right, and they do.

This film definitely had above-average effects, acting, editing and cinematography. With all of those other qualities being so wonderful, what stood out to me most was the writing. It was spectacular. They employ a diversion tactic that was done so seamlessly the audience barely even notices. 

They start the film with the character Tyler, played by Nicholas Hoult, who lets the audience into this world. For the first 20 or so minutes, we follow this character, but once we are truly let into the world, it completely opens up, showing everyone else's stories and becomes an ensemble piece. The audience never even notices that our attention has completely shifted to everyone else in the world. 

Please go see this film while it is still in theaters. It is wonderful.

“Over The Garden Wall”

I recommend this as a show on HBO Max, but I beg of you to watch it all in one sitting as a movie. There are 10 episodes of this sweet little show, but they are all 10 minutes each. About an hour and a half of content is best suited for watching all at once. "Over The Garden Wall"  is an animated show that may come off as childish at first glance, but once you watch, I promise you won’t even think about it in that regard. 

The series is critically acclaimed, scoring a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and winning an Emmy for outstanding animated series back in 2015. Elijah Wood, Christopher Lloyd and Tim Curry are some of the many talented voice actors in the show, along with the people who worked on “Adventure Time.” After seeing the show’s major success, it was even adapted into a graphic novel that ran until 2017. 

Time and time again, I have said I don’t like knowing a lot before going into a show or a movie, and this is another one of those cases. I will tell you that this story is about two brothers lost in the woods trying to find their way home, but that’s it. It is sweet, funny, kind and just a lovely watch. 

The show has some pretty major themes and once you finish you will want to watch it again. Give this show a chance on a rainy day, I promise you won’t regret it.