Palm Springs debuted on Hulu in July of 2020, in a time with little competition, because we weren’t allowed to go to movie theaters. But more surprising, even in normal times this might be my favorite movie of the year.

(Though Da 5 Bloods is also a huge achievement and definitely a must-see. Seriously, don’t skip it because it’s an hour longer and “serious” or you think it feels like homework — it’s a powerful, beautiful film.)

Why Palm Springs works so well is even more interesting. At first glance, it’s just a rehash of the Groundhog Day formula, but with a more modern sense of humor and a more straightforward romantic comedy setup. And since Groundhog Day is basically a perfect movie, of course its spiritual successor also works. But what does it do to deserve so much credit? Three huge, crucial story changes:

ONE: EDITING

This is the nerdiest structural critique, but also the bravest choice the movie makes. The original Groundhog Day runs about 1 hour 40 minutes, but takes the first full 18 minutes setting up the character and his predicament before Phil wakes up in his first time loop. We then spend the middle of the movie watching him figure out the “rules” of this world, and experiment with different ways to get out. Only after all that does he commit to a path of personal growth.

Palm Springs skips over the entire first two sections of Groundhog Day, dropping us in with a character already deep into his endlessly repeating purgatory. Nyles is past his ‘figuring out how it all works’ phase, so the movie kicks off with his general acceptance of being stuck, and what that means for him on both a practical and existential level.

He’s making the best of what his life has become, built some simple rules for how not to be an awful person in that world, but he’s lost any sense of meaning or purpose beyond that. This way, we get to spend the whole movie on his journey of emotional growth, when we get to the second big change that makes all the difference in the world.

TWO: COMPANIONSHIP

The biggest game-changer in this script is the introduction of other characters into the same repeating loop. Not only does this unlock a lot more potential for fun that the movie makes great use of, it opens up totally new emotional territory to explore. In a lot of ways, this is actually Sarah’s movie, with Nyles playing the mentor/companion as she goes through phases of denial, negotiation, and acceptance before coming out the other side and forcing both of them to grow and change.

Now, this isn’t a story of a man getting one day just right so he can earn redemption, which has always had a sort of creepy stalker implication in Groundhog Day, since our protagonist’s whole goal is to effectively trick the woman he desires into loving him back.

Instead, Palm Springs is a story about what it means to share a life with someone, even if that life, like most lives, is going to be a lot of the same thing over and over again. And the ability to make peace with that is beautiful in a whole new way from the original.

THREE: SETTING

The least consequential, but this update allows for whole new shades to the idea of getting stuck on repeat. A destination wedding in Palm Springs sounds pretty fun. In normal circumstances, this would be something you look forward to, and almost certainly post to your Instagram to make people jealous. It’s lounging and drinking and catered food with a picturesque backdrop. Who wouldn’t want more days like that?

But again, the movie both exposes how empty all that ultimately is, and pushes its characters to go beyond what we’re supposed to want out of life to find something deeper than the gram-worthy lifestyle that only looks good on the surface. Even the most idyllic, indulgent days lose their luster eventually, and at a certain point you want something more.

So even though Palm Springs pays great homage to its inspiration, with a few key changes it delivers a fresh, funny, and affecting look at how we spend our days and who we want to spend them with — which brings us back to questions we can ask ourselves about our own lives.

If you could choose one day of your life to live on loop,
which day would you choose, and why?

Where would you be, which people would you be with,
and why would you choose them?

How long could you spend living that same day, and
what would be the biggest reason that you wanted out?

Same intro as 2018, but more emphatically for 2019. Man, I hate pre-list philosophizing, and it was even worse with end-of-decade lists.
Every site writes a too-long preamble to their year-end top-whatever lists, so I won’t. But I will say that I particularly like constricting lists to top 5 because a) they fit well on Twitter, but also b) for the sake of conversation. Whittling your list to 5 makes it hurt a little bit. Which it should! Especially when we talk about what really, truly impacted you, personally, and is gonna stick with you long after the year ends.

#2019TOP5 MOVIES

1 – THE BEACH BUM – This bonkers movie veers from sleazy to beautiful, ridiculous to philosophical, lodged itself in my brain, and made me rethink my own life between the WTF moments. Isn’t that what great art is for?
2 – JOHN WICK 3 – A marvel of technical skill, visual style and artful choreography. Combined with, honestly, how many times I’ll gleefully re-watch these vs ‘higher-brow’ fare, this series deserves more recognition.
3 – PARASITE – A masterpiece of precision camera and character work that dances between comedy, drama and thriller all while landing a resonant political theme. Weird, wild, and impressive — top to bottom (wink).
4 – MARRIAGE STORY – The raw emotion of the year’s two best performances definitely floored me, but the way the turmoil is tempered with wit and tenderness made it feel even truer. Deep, powerful stuff.
5 – LITTLE WOMEN – Gerwig took a century-old book for teen girls, injected it with energy and humor, and restructured the story to reveal timeless, relevant ideas the original only hints at. A genius script and a total joy.

NEARLY MADE IT – Jojo Rabbit, High Flying Bird, Standoff at Sparrow Creek, Last Black Man in San Francisco, Knives Out
DEFIANTLY ABSENT – The Irishman (merely overrated), Rise of Skywalker (massively disappointing), Uncut Gems (ugly, loud, dull), Joker (an outright disgusting travesty)

#2019TOP5 TV SHOWS

1 – WATCHMEN – It’s hard to believe this show even exists. So ambitious in its storytelling, complex in its exploration of the original’s themes in today’s world, and written, shot, scored, acted, and edited on another level. Damn.
2 – FLEABAG – I thought the first season was an expert bit of writing and acting, with one of my favorite characters on TV. The second deserves all the credit it’s getting, but the supporting cast in particular really stepped up.
3 – CATASTROPHE – My favorite couple on television. They’re not perfect, they’re not even always likable, but damn do I get it, and love watching the funnier version of all our inner thoughts brought to life with real heart.
4 – SUCCESSION – Filmed things that feel like plays are a weakness of mine, as are Shakespearean dramatics, so of course a beautiful show that’s mostly dialogue about the fall of rich assholes does it for me. Also, hilarious?
5 – DEAD TO ME – Though it’s just shy of trashy, I actually loved seeing two outstanding female actors work through friendship and grief while a murder lurks in the background giving everything an extra dash of tension.

NEARLY MADE IT – Veep, Barry, Mindhunter, Unbelievable, Better Call Saul (Was that even this year? Who cares, I love it.)
DEFIANTLY ABSENT – Game of Thrones (no surprise), The Mandolorian (very enjoyable! not that remarkable)

#2019TOP5 BOOKS

*note: I do not read fast enough to make book lists by year of release, so this, like most normal people’s I imagine, will be books READ this year instead.

1 – IF ON A WINTER’S NIGHT A TRAVELER by Italo Calvino – A daring feat of meta-story telling, this nested-doll novel — about the search for the end of another unfinished novel — explores what it means to write, to read, to tell stories, and to live. I couldn’t get enough of its pleasures or its insight.
2 – THE NICKEL BOYS by Colson Whitehead – Few books feel bound to be classics the next generation will be reading in school. This blunt yet heartfelt story of forgotten boys who’ve been through hell deserves to be.
3 – NORMAL PEOPLE by Sally Rooney – Emotionally my #1, because reading about two nerdy outcasts, who grow up feeling out of place in the world and only really themselves around each other, pierced my core.
4 – EXHALATION by Ted Chiang – Every story does what the best sci-fi does: poses a mind-bending question and explores what that means for normal, frail, limited human lives. Each one could be its own post here.
5 – SECRET EMPIRE by Nick Spencer – I’m all for the political turn taken by Captain America’s latest alternate-reality, exploring the tension between heroism and fascism. This crossover felt big, but focused on a worthy idea.

NEARLY MADE IT – WALKING: ONE STEP AT A TIME by Erling Kagge, OUTLINE by Rachel Cusk, FRIDAY BLACK by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
DEFIANTLY ABSENT – GOLDEN STATE by Ben Winters (great start, terrible end), LANCELOT by Walker Percy (painfully mysogynist, do not read)

#2018TOP5 GAMES

*similar note applies because damn are almost all games too long, meaning one can only play so many the year they’re released.

1 – OUTER WILDS – Like 2018’s #1 (Obra Dinn), this wasn’t close. A combat-free mystery, solved by discovering and decoding clues, while visiting weird planets, trapped in a time loop, in awe of the lonely universe. Wow.
2 – BATTLETECH – A must for fans of XCOM and the like, because once your squad are giant mechs, the tactical strategy foundation gains a layer of attrition, adding survival-by-the-skin-of-your-teeth drama to every battle.
3 – CELESTE – This simple-looking platformer hides tons of mechanical depth and challenge, and a sweet, sad story about dealing with depression, all set to a wonderful soundtrack — and I don’t even love platformers.
4 – OBSERVATION – Creepy, gorgeous, mysterious sci-fi that feels like playing 2001 with a bit of a dash of Alien and a little BioShock thrown in. And it’s short enough to play in a day! More games should be like this!
5 – CONTROL – Not enough big action games are cool with being weird. The 3rd-person action delivers a satisfying X-Men power trip, but the Twin Peaks-y, X-Files-ish world made it a far more memorable one.

NEARLY MADE IT – The Outer Worlds, Apex Legends, Jedi: Fallen Order, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
DEFIANTLY ABSENT – Also Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, because I really liked it but it was so punishing I gave up halfway through, which is a huge shame.

#2019TOP5 ALBUMS

1 – BE GOOD by Off With Their Heads – An almost platonic mix of burly riffs and melodic vocals that took me back to indie/punk favorites from my youth, in a year where I needed some loud guitars and angsty energy.
2 – ON THE LINE by Jenny Lewis – It comes on pretty gently, but spending time with this album reveals this rich warmth of sound and feeling that really wrapped its arms around me over time.
3 – MALIBU KEN by Malibu Ken – The trap style that’s so popular in current hip hop doesn’t do much for me musically, but this gonzo collab between lyrical master Aesop Rock and trippy fuzz-god Tobacco sure goddamn did.
4 – PURPLE MOUNTAINS by Purple Mountains – This forlorn, twangy plunge into regret stuck in my brain and moved my soul even before Berman left us — I even had tickets to the tour. Now, it’s etched in history.
5 – SOUND AND FURY by Sturgill Simpson – Rarely does such a departure make me love an artist even more, but the giant guitars and seething anger were a big swing that paid off. Bonus: the Netflix full-album anime video.

NEARLY MADE IT – I,I by Bon Iver, OPTIMAL LIFESTYLES by Pkew Pkew Pkew, DEAD MAN’S POP (REISSUE BOX SET) by The Replacements, and I think Lizzo is mandatory, right?
DEFIANTLY ABSENT – I didn’t listen to enough new music this year to be that disappointed in anything, though the latest New Pornographers seemed to be missing some magic.

So, what were your #2019top5 picks?

Every site writes a too-long preamble to their year-end top-whatever lists, so I won’t. But I will say that I particularly like constricting lists to top 5 because a) they fit well on Twitter, but also b) for the sake of conversation. Whittling your list to 5 makes it hurt a little bit. Which it should! Especially when we talk about what really, truly impacted you, personally, and is gonna stick with you long after the year ends.

#2018TOP5 MOVIES

1 – SORRY TO BOTHER YOU – Wildly original, dense with ideas, perfectly performed, and hilariously weird, but never loses its anti-capitalist thread (even at the point everyone seems to think it does, and I will fight on this).
2 – A FUTILE AND STUPID GESTURE – David Wain directs an extraordinary cast, led by an outstanding Will Forte, in a funny, moving origin story to the particular sense of absurd humor that has shaped my entire life.
3 – WIDOWS – An artful, thoughtful, politically aware (but still badass!) take on the heist genre that deserves to live alongside Heat and other classics, but with the visual care and performances of a Terence Malick film.
4 – BLACK PANTHER – A ripping Marvel blockbuster that still takes on ideas as big as colonialism vs revolution, and where every supporting character is as memorable as the lead.
5 – ANNIHILATION – Wonder and beauty mix with dread and horror to create an unsettling and surprising feast of unforgettable images and philosophical quandaries to chew on long after the film ends.

NEARLY MADE IT – Eighth Grade, The Favorite, Into the Spider-verse, The Death of Stalin
DEFIANTLY ABSENT – Roma

#2018top5 TV SHOWS

1 – THE GOOD PLACE – Even in its not-best season, a deeply kind show this joke-dense, intelligently written, and in which every character is so lovable and expertly performed, is 100% still the best thing on TV.
2 – HIGH MAINTENANCE – No other series shows such a deep empathy for such a wide range of characters just trying to get through a life that can be lonely and sad but never without moments of beauty and joy.
3 – WILD WILD COUNTRY – This (almost unbelievable?) cult documentary confronts viewers with its conflicting ideologies, forcing us to examine our own beliefs, whose side we’re on, and why, like nothing I’ve ever seen.
4 – AMERICAN VANDAL – How this show pulls off a cutting true-crime satire AND a genuinely heartfelt story about teenage life, while remaining an actually-compelling mystery story, continued to blow my mind in year 2.
5 – ALTERED CARBON – The premise of portable identity unlocks so much, but the future-noir setting, martial arts action and gorgeous production sealed the deal. Thoroughly enjoyable and constantly thought-provoking.

NEARLY MADE IT – Killing Eve, Succession, Atlanta, Legion, Better Call Saul, Big Mouth (whoa I watch too much TV)
DEFIANTLY ABSENT – Sharp Objects, The Americans, Ken Burns’ The Vietnam War (I know that wasn’t this year but man I want those 20 hours back)

#2018top5 BOOKS

*note: I do not read fast enough to make book lists by year of release, so this, like most normal people’s I imagine, will be books READ this year instead.

1 – EXIT WEST by Moshin Hamid – Profound yet lighthearted, a pleasure to read while tackling the toughest challenges of refugee living, this magical realist world and the love story at its heart moved me deeply. A must read.
2 – THE POWER by Naomi Alderman – In a world where men have to fear women for once (they can electrocute through touch), everything changes, and this story digs deep into the many myriad effects that has. Loved it.
3 – MS MARVEL VOL 1 by G Willow Wilson – I haven’t fallen so hard so quickly for a main character in ages. Quirky, nerdy, teenaged Kamala Khan dealing with newfound powers in this punkish, witty comic is a delight.
4 – ALTHOUGH OF COURSE YOU END UP BECOMING YOURSELF by David Lipsky – Spending time with a genius offers you the privilege of a peak into his incredible mind, but also forces you to face your own insecurities as someone who will never be one. DFW was a treasure.
5 – SEA OF RUST by C Robert Cargill – This pulpy Mad Max-but-with-robots future story also conceals all kinds of questions about the conflicts that arise when AI start governing themselves. (I would love to see an anime adaptation.)

NEARLY MADE IT – IQ by Joe Ide, LESS by Andrew Sean Greer, THE VISION by Tom King
DEFIANTLY ABSENT – THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING by Joan Didion, MANHATTAN BEACH by Jennifer Egan, ANNIHILATION by Jeff VanderMeer

#2018top5 GAMES

*similar note applies because damn are almost all games too long, meaning one can only play so many the year they’re released.

1 – RETURN OF THE OBRA DINN – Unique stippled art and elegant design made this game beautiful. Clever plotting and an ingenius mystery-solving mechanic made it unforgettable. A tight, intriguing, somber masterpiece.
2 – INTO THE BREACH – Removing the element of chance makes each tactical mech battle a perfectly intellectual puzzle-solving exercise that’s so satisfying to play and eventually conquer that it’s impossible to put down.
3 – MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN – The most gorgeous game of the year. Not just for its city, its fluid web-swinging animations, and its thrilling action set-pieces, but for its earnest hero and sympathetic villains. One of the best Spidey stories ever put to screen.
4 – FEAR OF LOATHING – Game writing tending to the eye-rolling, this stick-drawn western RPG succeeds on its laugh-out-loud (honestly! the jokes are that good!) writing but gets extra points for balancing depth with fun.
5 – WHAT REMAINS OF EDITH FINCH – More games should be comfortable with the artistic, the abstract, and the emotional in their storytelling. This beautiful short story of a game tries weird, crazy things and opens new doors to what games could look like.

NEARLY MADE IT – God of War, Goragoa, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
DEFIANTLY ABSENT – Red Dead Redemption 2

#2018top5 ALBUMS

1 – HISTORIAN by Lucy Dacus – The mix of introspective lyrics, beautiful voice, and loud-quiet-loud guitars are what I look for in most music, and this album stayed in my rotation all year long for nailing it so well.
2 – HOPE DOWNS by Rolling Blackouts, Coastal Fever – When most straight-up indie rock is either seemingly absent or sad bastard dad stuff, a power-pop record with this kind of energetic bounce is so, so welcome.
3 – HEAD OVER HEELS by Chromeo – These dudes are unapologetically horny and I love it. Every song is about wanting to make sweet love in a charmingly silly, totally catchy, perfectly pop way.
4 – FUTURE ME HATES ME by The Beths – Girls and guitar riffs was a huge theme of most of the music I loved this year, and this one just happened to do that wonderful mixture the best out of many. Punky good fun.
5 – LP5000 by Restorations – The best songs off this short album were the ones that got stuck in my head the most this year. A throwback to full-throated, unapologetic feeling in simple, soaring indie rock shout-alongs.

NEARLY MADE IT – ORDINARY CORRUPT HUMAN LOVE by Deafheaven, DANCE ON THE BLACKTOP by Nothing, SOME RAP SONGS by Earl Sweatshirt, EVERYTHING MATTERS BUT NO ONE IS LISTENING (QUIET SLANG) by Beach Slang (the best band working)
DEFIANTLY ABSENT – I’ll forever love both of them, but the new albums by CHVRCHES and DECEMBERISTS didn’t reach their previous heights, for me.

So, what were your #2018top5 picks?

 

If you asked most people to name their top 5 albums, they probably have a rough list in their head ready to go. But why? My theory is that the albums you will love the most for your whole life only come at important times in your life that allow you to 1) relate to them deeply, as well as 2) spend a lot of time listening and re-listening to them.

But what about your top 5 bands? If you settle on a few of those after a lifetime of listening to music, how do you choose which album by those bands is your favorite? Again, a theory: it is very, very hard for any album, even by your favorite band, to surpass the connection you have with the one specific album that cemented them as one of your favorites.

This means that rarely is it the first album you hear (though sometimes it is, if that one speaks most to you and is a fully realized version of that artist). More often, you will be introduced to a band with an album and start to love them. But a later album will be the one that seals the deal. And once that happens, no other album will ever quite live up to that mark.

However, that is more a function of your relationship to the band than the actual album’s quality. The album you love the most is not necessarily their best work, objectively.

For example, I am a huge fan of The Mountain Goats, a band with a huge catalog and literally dozens of albums. I discovered them in college, well into their career, and heard enough of their early tracks to grow interested. But with the release of Tallahassee, the first full album I owned, I had a musical step forward from a band I already liked, a tight thematic package about a crumbling relationship, that I could play over and over as I read, wrote, or studied — as well as sulked, as I went through various relationship troubles of my own.

If you polled all Mountain Goats fans, the majority opinion might be that an earlier album like All Hail West Texas may have some of the most poignant and memorable songs in their whole catalog, and capture them at the peak of their lo-fi period. Or they might say that The Sunset Tree was the most personal, intimate, and moving while capturing both a totally coherent sound and emotional narrative. It may be their real masterpiece. But for me, it will always be Tallahassee. It’s the work that cemented their place in my heart, and so my relationship with that album supersedes any discussion of objective merit.

So instead of just sharing favorite albums — which doesn’t lead to a very long or interesting conversation, really — ask yourself:

 

What is your favorite band’s best album? Why do you think so?

 

What personal connection do you have to that album that might make it your favorite and not the consensus pick? What’s the story behind your choice?