Welcome back to Heady Entertainment, MERRY JANE’s weekly guide to just-released movies, books, and music — all fresh, dank, and THC-friendly. In specific, we choose our picks based on how they can enhance your combined consumption of cannabis and entertainment.
At the movies, The Intruder is paranoia central for potheads as Dennis Quaid terrorizes new homeowners Michael Ealy and Meagan Good, while weed lord Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron riff on rom-coms in Long Shot.
Streaming sensations include Fire in the Maternity Ward, a typically tender-hearted new Anthony Jeselnik stand-up special; Tuca and Bertie, a just-dropped an adult cartoon co-starring Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong; and the shock-o-rama of Zac Efron playing serial slayer Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile.
Vintage cult-flick madness arrives in the form of splatter shocker Death Warmed Up and the ultimate all-girl motorcycle gang epic, She-Devils on Wheels.
In music, Vampire Weekend smokes up the charts with its fourth LP, Father of the Bride, while PNB Rock and Stiles P counter-puff with fresh hip-hop releases.
So let’s get straight — but not “straight” — to this week’s fresh-rolled recommendations.
Movies
The Intruder (2019)
Director: Deon Taylor
Cast: Michael Ealy, Meaghan Good, Dennis Quaid
As pot-smoking suspense film fans, we’ve puffed along to mistresses from hell (Fatal Attraction), roommates from hell (Single White Female), office temps from hell (Obsessed), and even Samuel L. Jackson as a next-door-neighbor cop from hell (Lakeview Terrace).
In fact, Michael Ealy even played a rebound boyfriend from hell in The Perfect Guy (2015), and now he and Meaghan Good are on the other side of the stalking equation in The Intruder, as they play new homebuyers under attack from Dennis Quaid as their house’s previous owner from hell. We all know how these movies go, and we all know how much fun they are to get high to, so light up accordingly.
Long Shot (2019)
Director: Jonathan Levine
Cast: Seth Rogen, Charlize Theron, Andy Serkis
Stoner comedy kingpin Seth Rogen stars in Long Shot as Fred Flarsky, a freewheeling journalist who comes across Charlize Theron as Charlotte Field, a brilliant, powerful politician who, coincidentally used to be the babysitter he used to have a crush on (obviously!). That’s the premise of this new rom-com and if it sounds like a schlubby puffer’s pipe dream come to life on screen — it is. It’s also funny as hell, so roll up a fat one and have a good time.
Streaming
Anthony Jeselnik: Fire in the Maternity Ward (2019)
Watch It: Netflix
In an age where sensitivity has redrawn the boundaries of what comedians can and can’t joke about, Anthony Jeselnik can always be counted on to show up, find that line, and then barrel right the fuck through it.
Discharging the most appalling, offensive, and (really!) almost evil punchlines with wicked deadpan delight, Jeselnik remains the one current stand-up comic who can get away with mocking absolutely anything—just because he’s so diabolically gut-busting when he does it.
As you pass a joint between jokes, you may think you hallucinated what’s coming out of Jeselnik’s mouth. Yes, it’s pretty offensive for 2019, but there’s something refreshing about shatting on the overbearing PC culture in which we live. So, we recommend taking a hit and just going with it.
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile (2019)
Director: Joe Berlinger
Cast: Zac Effron, Lily Collins, James Hetfield
Watch It: Netflix
Grown-up Disney heartthrob Zac Efron scorches the screen as Ted Bundy, the slick, charming, psycho-killer supreme in the fact-based new Netflix movie, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile. The plot is told from the perspective of Bundy’s longtime girlfriend Elizabeth Kloepfer (Lily Collins), who refused for years to believe the man she loved was a monster who raped, tortured, and slaughtered at least 30 — but possibly more than 100 — innocent women and young girls.
Given the gruesome subject matter, you may want to stick to indicas and inhale hard before going into Extremely Wicked just to take the edge off. Still, be prepared to trip out on the power of Efron’s performance and the unexpected breakout turn of Metallica frontman James Hetfield as the cop who unwittingly busts Bundy.
On Tour With Asperger’s Are Us: Season One
Cast: Noah Britton, Ethan Finlan, Jack Hanke, New Michael Ingemi
Watch It: HBO
Asperger’s Are Us is the name of a four-man comedy troupe whose members are each living with Asperger’s Syndrome and commenting on their conditions — and many, many other topics — with heartfelt hilarity.
The new six-part HBO docu-series On Tour With Asperger’s Are Us, follows life on the road with team members Noah Britton, Ethan Finlan, Jack Hanke, and New Michael Ingemi as they travel by RV for six weeks between Boston and Los Angeles, gigging along the way.
Produced by the ever-reliable Duplass Brothers, On Tour is an intimate, uproarious experience. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself offering a joint to the dudes on screen more than once — per episode.
Tuca and Bertie: Season One
Voice Cast: Tiffany Haddish, Ali Wong, Steven Yeung
Watch on Netflix
In the annals of adult animated series beloved by stoners, Bojack Horseman gallops high and mightily amidst the very most intoxicating all-time classics. As weird and witty as Bojack’s writing and vocal performances are, much of the show’s impact also comes from its aesthetic: a visionary design scheme concocted by illustrator, author, podcaster, and equine aficionado Lisa Hanawalt.
Now Hanawalt has a Netflix series entirely of her own creation and it’s another triumph in cannabis cartooning. Tuca and Bertie, stars Tiffany Haddish the voice of Tuca, a toucan, and Ali Wong as her best bud Bertie, a songbird. Together, these two fine, feathered friends take on everyday life situations in surrealistic spectacular fashion — from suddenly bursting into splashy Broadway musical numbers to putting boobs on the side of a building. Guest voices include Tig Notaro, Tessa Thompson, Reggie Watts, Nicole Byer, John Early, Amber Ruffin, Jermaine Fowler, and Richard E. Grant.
Cult-Classic Reissues
Death Warmed Up (1984)
Director: David Blyth
Cast: Michael Hurst, Margaret Umbers, Gary Day
Get It: Severin Films
Long before Peter Jackson overtook Middle Earth as the director the of Lord of the Rings saga, the New Zealand filmmaker created a series of shocking fright comedies (Bad Taste, Meat the Feebles, Dead/Alive) that ratcheted up blood, gore, and gross-out visual effects that brilliantly blended the horrifying with hilarious, weed-friendly results.
Even before Peter Jackson, though, there was Death Warmed Up, New Zealand’s first entry in the splatter horror gore-lympics, which is just now getting a deluxe collector’s edition Blu-ray treatment from the noble folks at Severin Films.
Death Warmed Up opens with a young boy being hypnotized by a mad scientist, after which the kid murders his parents with a shotgun and gets locked in a loony bin for seven years. After getting out, the former subject (played by Michael Hurst) sets sail to the scientist’s island lair on a revenge quest and, in doing so, ignites a series of fantastically graphic mayhem including flesh-eating mutants, up-close impalements, power-tool brain surgery, and screaming naked victims. Fire up a fatty and get splattered in all the sick-joke fun.
She Devils on Wheels (1968)
Director: Herschell Gordon Lewis
Cast: Betty Connell, Nancy Lee Noble, Christie Wagner
Get It: MVD
As the “Godfather of Gore,” Herschell Gordon Lewis pioneered splatter horror with fever-dream cult favorites Blood Feast (1963), Two Thousand Maniacs (1964), and The Wizard of Gore (1970).
While not as plasma-sopped as his fright flicks, H.G. Lewis’s biker chicks gone bananas opus She-Devils on Wheels is just as electrifyingly off-the-rails and over-the-top, hurling motorcycle mayhem movies into a new dimension of outlaw abandon and uproarious fun to watch while smoked the fuck up.
The She-Devils of the title are a female motorcycle club that race another for first pick of their male groupies, violently battle other gangs of any gender just to prove who’s most badass, and terrorize each and every locale into which they roar. And they’re looking to punch faces, pound beers, and party like snarling madwomen. The movie is a riot — in every possible (awesome) sense of the term.
Music
Father of the Bride
By Vampire Weekend
Get It: Vampire Weekend official site
Six years have passed between Vampire Weekend’s last LP, Modern Vampires of the City, and the time away has proven fruitful for the indie-rock overlords. Even if frontman and chief songwriter Ezra Koenig wasn’t getting high that whole time, it’s okay — because “Father of the Bride” sounds like somebody was. Anybody worried about how Weekend would fare following the 2016 departure of multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij can feel free to just spark up, ease back, and let the record roll you away in entirely new directions. The new Vampire Weekend album definitely sounds like a largely new incarnation of the band is at play. And it’s the group’s most weed-worthy milestone to date.
“Trapstar Turnt Popstar”
By PNB Rock
Get It: iTunes
Philly supernova PNB Rock spontaneously spins heads with his rhymes, rocks bodies with his beats, and elevates the marijuana-fueled peaks of modern-day hip-hop to new highs. Trapstar Turnt Popstar is his newest knockout, a double-sided throw-down that pits Rock’s two personae against one another. In one corner is “The Trapstar,” who’s assisted by Lil Durk, Tee Grizzley, XXXtentacion, Quavo, and Mally Mall. On the opposing end is “The Popstar,” who gets backing from Diplo, Lil Skies, Tory Lanez, and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie. You know who wins? We do!
S.P. The GOAT: Ghost of All Time
By Styles P
Get It: Mr. David Styles official site
From a glowing-eyed dire wolf on its cover to practically supernatural rhymes on its 12 ferocious tracks, Styles P makes it clear he’s out to slay with S.P. The GOAT: Ghost of All Time. It’s his fourth project to blaze ears in the past 12 months, this time featuring drop-ins from Whispers, Sheek Louch, Jadakiss, Nino Man, D-Block Europe, Lil Fame, Dizzy Banko, and Chris Streetz, who kills it with Styles on the album’s first single, “Change.”
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