Will Ashton

2 weeks ago | cetera.substack.com | Will Ashton

Before You Light That Match: What follows is pure satire, folks! No real reverends were harmed in the making of this story, and no actual fire-starting is recommended. If you're genuinely tempted to burn things after reading this, please seek help from licensed professionals, not fictional clergymen charging $55 a pop. Hey kids! Do you like matches? Do you love the enrapturing rapture?

1 month ago | inbetweendrafts.com | Will Ashton

As an autistic Nathan Fielder fan, I have often wondered if there is a correlation there. Certainly, a great deal is said and written on the matter, as The Rehearsal Season 2 Episode 5, “Washington,” eventually discusses. But is that purely speculation, or intentional? Is HBO’s The Rehearsal a show that emulates the common person on the spectrum’s experience? Or is that something that will inform the show as it goes along? Ultimately, we get something of an answer in this installment.

1 month ago | inbetweendrafts.com | Will Ashton

Music megastar The Weeknd ropes in Jenna Ortega, Trey Edward Shults, and others for the disappointingly dull Hurry Up Tomorrow. As a musician, Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye brings a cool, emotional, yearning presence. It’s the sort that shies away from the superficiality of many other modern pop musicians. The Weeknd strives to be true to his warped soul. He wants you to feel what he feels, experience the wealth of pain, searching, and catharsis.

1 month ago | inbetweendrafts.com | Will Ashton

Following last week’s spectacular “Pilot’s Code,” it was perhaps a given that The Rehearsal Season 2 Episode 4, “Kissme,” would need to be more restrained. There are only six episodes in a given season of Nathan Fielder’s boundary-pushing HBO docudramedy series. However, after such a broad, generation-spanning, oddly life-affirming bit of television, you need to scale back and go for something more manageable. Especially as you’re building towards a surely climactic final two episodes.

1 month ago | inbetweendrafts.com | Will Ashton

Nonnas is an appealing little effort, one that doesn’t quite have the goods to be a classic but is charming regardless. Typically, when reviewing a movie, I can safely admit that I have no working relationship with the filmmaker. But I cannot say the same about Stephen Chbosky. When I was 18, I had the good fortune of being an extra (and temporary stand-in) on his 2012 coming-of-age film, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, an adaptation of his novel.