Barack Obama is a avid and audacious viewer of movies and TV. Unlike his inheritor Donald Trump, who doesn’t even comprehend his favorite movie, Citizen Kane.
Every year, he announces a Top 10 favorite films list. Though he is yet to make his 2020 list available, the 44th president singled out some shows he watched “when I need a break.”
He throws on serious stuff like Better Call Saul, “because of its great characters and examination of the dark side of the American dream.” He also respected Damon Lindelhof’s sequel show Watchmen and Amazon’s nasty, satirical The Boys, “for how they turn superhero conventions on their heads to lay bare issues of race, capitalism, and the distorting effects of corporate power and mass media.”
Obama did enjoy some lighter fare, even if it, too, dwelt on heavy themes. Which is to say he adored The Good Place, which he called “a wise and sweet combination of goofy comedy and big philosophical questions.” But he had another, more surefire way of kicking back: the NBA — “because it’s hoops!”
The news that the former much-loved president was really into The Boys really made the day for its creator, Erik Kripke.
