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terminoob

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Posts posted by terminoob

  1. What're, like, the top 5 or so must-watch Bachelor/ette/in Paradise seasons? I just got into it last year so I've seen Becca/BIP 5/Colton/Hannah B, and I'm currently finishing up Ben's season and I realized it's a very good thing to put on in the background while I do work but I don't think I could handle watching every single season?

  2. 12 hours ago, WhoBob said:

    Oooo, good luck on your book?

    Thanks! It's been a rough year with this thing but I'll finally be getting it off my back in the next handful of days. If you're looking to dive deep into Golden Age Wonder Woman, give it a peek when it hits shelves.

    9 hours ago, Katniss said:

    I demand to know who made my baby JPJ cry so I can beat them up?

    edit: Tayshia is definitely a catch. I’m liking Katie too!

    First he pukes his brains out and now he's gonna cry his eyes out. Dude's getting a raw deal. Fingers crossed he comes out of this with the DWTS gig.

    I feel like Katie is really coming alive in Paradise. I don't remember much of her from Colton's season, but she's been such a highlight these first two episodes - not to mention her intro package was incredible.

  3. 8 hours ago, WhoBob said:

    Aaron's saga is officially ending with King Thor miniseries (4 issues). Before that, newest Thor launch had 16 issues (12-14 are WOTR tie-ins, 15-16 aftermath) and War of the Realms is 6 issues + omega issue. Gwenpool is having a miniseries by Leah Williams called Gwenpool Strikes Back.

    so what comics have you been reading/following lately?

    Oh damn, if it's ending that soon then I'll definitely get on a binge later this year and just rip through it. Also had no idea about the Gwenpool mini; will definitely be on the lookout for that.

    I haven't been reading too many recently; DC's got me on this book and it's been a total killer so I haven't had too much downtime to just sit and enjoy comics. I kept up with Bully Wars pretty consistently, and I did a bit of a cursory glance at Farmhand, Murder Falcon, and Middlewest, but I haven't gone back to them in a bit. I've been pretty good about snagging Heavy Metal when those come out because there's a whole mess of cool shit in there. I don't do too many monthlies from DC or Marvel nowadays, just because they're always such a huge commitment. Graphic novel-wise I just read this new-ish book called The Wrath of Fantomas, and before that I read this insane kinda avant-garde piece called Vanishing Act. I'm also slowly making my way through the Hellboy library, but I haven't dug back into that in a while. Once my book finishes up in the coming few days I wanna do a deep dive into things I've missed that've come out in the past few months/past year and try to catch myself up because I'm absolutely starved for content and material that isn't this book.

    Just now, Katniss said:

    ok why is literally every guy in Paradise obsessed with Hannah G?? I mean she’s pretty and seems sweet, but if you’re going on that show you gotta be more open-minded, dudes.

    I don't think a majority of those guys are there to end up in a serious relationship at the end and they're just looking to mess around and have fun, and I think their perception of Hannah G is that she's maybe not looking for anything serious (and I also don't think these guys are that great at dating anyway and may just be following the groupthink of "Hannah G is the new hotness, I need to hookup with her"). It's not great. I think Dylan is legitimately super into her, but I can't imagine these other connections are genuine.

    I'm baffled that these dudes are falling all over themselves for Hannah G because Tayshia is literally right there and as far as I'm concerned she's the biggest catch on that beach.

  4. 8 hours ago, Katniss said:

    Have you watched The Boys on amazon prime? 

    I haven't. I remember seeing ads for it plastered around New York Comic Con last year and it looked like it was taking itself so serious that it just ended up being really goofy. I've been hearing decent things about it though, so I feel like I should probably give it a shot eventually.

    20 minutes ago, WhoBob said:

    Oh yeah, I have read Secret Wars, as well as Hickman's New Avengers/Avengers/Infinity that lead up that event. Brilliant storyline.

    Oh and yes, I shall read everything necessary for Aaron's Thor saga. 

    What did you think of War of the Realms that this run lead up to?

    Oh man, I stopped reading Thor once the newest relaunch happened so I have no idea what Aaron's been up to with that. I really fell off the Marvel train hard once Gwenpool ended. I think the only thing I keep up with now is X-Men Grand Design, and even then I only read the big volume editions as opposed to buying the single issues.

  5. 1 hour ago, WhoBob said:

    not exacly "wish" but yeah :funny:

    speaking of, I have first two volumes of Aaron's Thor: God of Thunder (so far those are the only ones that were translated in my country and I know Aaron's run is above 80 issues oh boy). I have started reading it and it's going good so far, excited for more to come?

    Yeah, it's a daunting undertaking. The whole run is a bit uneven at times (specifically the Jane Foster stuff), but more often than not it's really really good. Be on the lookout for The Unworthy Thor mini-series as well, and skim the synopses of Original Sin and Secret Wars. It's probably not super necessary for the overall story, but it gives a bit of context for what goes on.

  6. On 7/31/2019 at 11:46 PM, Katniss said:

    Dude I’m so excited for BIP. I need more JPJ on my screen?

    He's already delivered so much. I say kick all the other guys off and just let JPJ run free for the rest of the season.

    18 hours ago, WhoBob said:

    idk if you have heard from comic con but thor 4 (well, thor: love and thunder) is gonna have 

      Reveal hidden contents

    Jane Foster as Thor and Portman is back on the role and Taika is a big fan of Aaron's run. 

    it seems your wishes finally came true :funny:

     

    I don't even remember making that wish, but yeah I'm wicked stoked (and hopefully it happens at a decent point in the movie and not just in the third act).
     

    Spoiler

    My initial thought is that I hope the overall plot is basically the God Butcher arc, but that Ultimate Mjolnir comes over at the end of Dr. Strange and Jane picks that up and becomes War Thor and the central character conflict is between Thor and Jane, with Gorr kinda egging them on the whole time to show his disciples that Gods are petty and useless and only care about themselves. I'm sincerely hoping this doesn't mean Beta Ray Bill is off the table, though, because I'm still dying for him to show up in one of these movies.

     

  7. On 7/17/2019 at 2:47 PM, Katniss said:

    ok hello Bachelorette freak out partner here

    theres a lot to unpack but sparknotes version: Luke P is insane???

    God, him and Jed are both out of their goddamn minds. I've been ripping my hair out all season long. I think Luke P would've been a really interesting villain if he had gotten sent home in place of Luke S, but going forward from that episode I was just in constant disbelief about everything that was going down and it became so boring to watch Hannah continue to cancel cocktail parties. Canceling one is fine, that makes good TV - but every single episode is just too much. That final four elimination was unbelievable, and I don't understand how someone can be so out of touch with the words coming out of their own mouth.

    On the plus side, at least we got JPJ/Mike/Mr. Big Time Chiller out of this season, but still. Both Colton and Hannah's seasons were so emotionally immature. I'm hoping BIP devotes a lot of time to building up these guys that were on Hannah's season that got almost no screentime, because there seemed to be some pretty cool guys in that group that got totally shafted through no fault of their own.

  8. I think this is the first superhero movie since the first Avengers movie that made me feel jazzed about watching a superhero movie (not including Spiderverse). Highly recommend.

    • Like 2
  9. I was definitely getting some Ready Player One-esque vibes when I was watching the Keynote. With the ability for everyone to hop into the same save state and with devs being able to basically live-patch/update the games (not to mention the built-in assist), it's only a matter of time before Google launches a massive open sandbox that devs can work on endlessly and that gamers can jump right into - combine that with an inevitable VR/Google Glass integration and an upgrade that turns the assist function into a sidekick-type NPC and we're all gonna be dead by 2030.

    Very cool otherwise though. I'm interested to see the price-point and what games are actually going to be on it. I could feasibly see, like, everything on here, but there has to be some reason why a studio would choose to stick with a company like Sony rather than shift over to Google, because if there isn't then I don't see the incentive to keep a console around if you can literally play anything you want wherever you want regardless of how good or bad your Internet connection is.

  10. And, lo, as if by a black magick, I emerge. Reborn atop the mount of cinder, ash, and coffee grounds. Charred and abandoned by both The Bachelor and Celebrity Big Brother. I’ve but a humble land to return, not a palace nor 3 bed/2 bath. Alas, though evermore I await the judgement of realtors and ponder the results of my credit score, I lie awake at night as I cannot in good health drift to slumber due to not only my possible sleep apnea but also my unfulfilled promise to complete this god forsaken list. My mind has been attacked - torn asunder by the visitations of my fellows as they harangue my meager subconscious. So, as I once did spake, the list will come as follows.

     

    WOW ISN’T THIS SEASON OF “THE BACHELOR” REALLY FRIGGIN’ WEIRD? HERE ARE TEN MOVIES, IN A SUBJECTIVE RANKING OF NO PARTICULAR ORDER, TO KEEP YOUR MIND OFF OF IT


     

    Spoiler

    SORRY TO BOTHER YOU

    So, due to life ramping up and my schedule being jam-packed with things like “fruitlessly email publishers”, “stare blankly at a wall and contemplate life’s true treasures like family and love and wonder if I can pay my rent with those”, and “let’s find out if I’ll get sick from eating this thing”, I’ve unfortunately let this fall by the wayside - but! Nevertheless I made a promise and I intend to uphold it to the best of my mediocre abilities!

     

    Sorry to Bother You may well be my favorite movie of 2018. It’s just about everything I want in a movie. I’ve heard criticisms of this, saying that Boots Riley didn’t really push the envelope enough and that this didn’t say as much as it thought it did, which.... I don’t really agree with. I think - especially for a writer/directorial debut - Riley did a really ingenious job of critiquing just about everything in our society at the moment without it feeling preachy or didactic. Lakeith Stanfield, hot off of Atlanta, continues to knock it out of the park with his comedic timing, body language, and some real screen presence. The supporting cast really kills it as well - especially Armie Hammer, doing what he does best by presenting a greedy corporate monster as incredibly charming and persuasive and making you think “yeah, you know what, this IS a great idea!”

    I don’t want to say much of substance about this movie because I think it’s really important for anyone who hasn’t already seen it to go in as blind as possible, but believe me - it’s a wild ride from start to finish and you won’t regret seeing this. If you’re a fan of anyone involved in this movie (and, seriously - Lakeith Stanfield, Steven Yuen, Armie Hammer, Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Danny Glover - who’s not a fan of at least one of them?) or if you’re a fan of Boots Riley’s music (and, if not, then get on that), you gotta check this one out.

     

    Spoiler

    SEARCHING

    My favorite thing with watching a movie or TV show or reading a book is when the writer can outsmart the audience. Patrick Rothfuss has this “children’s” book called The Princess and Mr. Whiffle where he sets everything up to be a very boilerplate story about a princess and her stuffed animal so that as you read it you think you know what’s going on, but because you’re focused on the words and the story instead of the pictures you don’t know that there’s actually a whole other story being told. I saw him present this at PAX East and he gave a little spiel afterward about how he thinks twists can sometimes be dishonest but that it’s also not the author’s fault if you don’t pay attention. Agatha Christie does this too. She deliberately leads the reader down multiple paths and she guides you through them at exactly the right time so that when you think you’ve solved it she pulls the rug out from under you and reveals that you missed something six chapters ago.

    What’s all that to do with this movie? Well, it’s because it’s one of those. The script for this is airtight. I could go all day about this thing. John Cho is great in this, and while not totally surprising given how he’s really good in everything he’s in, I enjoyed seeing him in a more dramatic role where he can really show his stuff. This is all basically just his face for two hours and he completely sells it.

    However, regardless of how well-acted a mystery might be, it lives or dies by the writing. If it’s not well setup, if the clues don’t make any sense, if the leaps in logic are too great, it all falls apart. This is near-perfect. Everything is in this movie for a reason. You’re discovering everything along with David and you’re feeling his struggle as he continues to hit roadblocks with the case because you’re hitting the same ones. I think the strength of this movie lies in the amount of empathy you feel as it progresses. Sympathy as well, obviously, because you want to see this man find his daughter, but the whole movie takes place on a screen. You and David are finding everything together, and you will see his face light up when he thinks he hits a break and you will see his face break as he hits a snag and you will feel it. I found this movie to be incredibly frustrating to watch, not because of cliched stupid writing when it came to the cops (as is typical of mysteries and thrillers) but because the writing is so smart and there’s still so little hope for him. You gotta get to watching this movie (which I think is also a writer/director debut, crazily enough).

    Oh, yeah, not to mention there’s an alien invasion happening in the background done entirely through news headlines.

    Not his fault you didn’t pay attention.

     

    Spoiler

    HEREDITARY

    This has been praised up and down for close to a year at this point. Again, a writer/director debut, and, again, an instant hit. I’m on board for more Ari Aster from here until he screws up this third movie.

    What else can I even say about this that hasn’t been said already? Haunting, chilling, thrilling. Toni Collete is astounding. Alex Wolff proves to be leaps and bounds ahead of Nat. The imagery and symbolism is all great. The marketing for this movie should be the benchmark for every movie moving forward because they were somehow able to not give anything away. Truly incredible on all fronts, and a shame that it got no love from the Oscars.

     

    Spoiler

    FIRST REFORMED

    Ethan Hawke plays a priest at a small church who helps counsel an environmental activist, which in turn forces Hawke’s character to rethink everything he thought he knew about life. Instant hook for everyone, right?

    This movie is challenging, honestly. I watched it, and it’s like Paul Schrader reached into my brain and grabbed a handful of goop from my “anxiety” section and splattered it onto a film reel. For my money, this movie was more unsettling than Hereditary. I’m still having a hard time grasping it or even forming a coherent sentence explaining this journey we go on with Ethan Hawke.

    This is not a flashy movie. It’s very subdued. It’s much more character driven than plot driven. The looming threat of this mega-church is in the background of the film, but it’s really about how Hawke’s character confronts these ideas and how he decides to process them. As he battles cancer and continues to destroy his body, he needs to figure out what fight is worth fighting and how best to win this war that humanity is rapidly losing. A lot is done throughout the movie in terms of subtext and imagery and it won’t go down smooth. I think it’s a movie people need to see, if not for the relevancy than for Hawke’s incredible performance (and to think he could do this and Juliet, Naked in the same year). I recommend this to anyone that’s a fan of Ethan Hawke or a fan of being terrified about climate change.

     

     

    Spoiler

    EIGHTH GRADE

    Yet again with the writer/director debut! Bo Burnham has arrived on the stage.

    I have been a fan of Bo’s since… I wanna say 2009? 10? His first Comedy Central special he did. I think it was just a Presents. I wasn’t a huge YouTuber so I never discovered him that way, but one day I just see this kid on Comedy Central and I’m floored that he’s ONLY FOUR YEARS OLDER THAN ME. Since that day, I’ve followed his every move. It was about damn time he got around to writing a movie.

    A lot of the themes he explores here he began to explore in Make Happy, which I thought was really interesting. He’s given a few interviews on You Made it Weird, and I remember his most recent one (maybe a few years old at this point) he talks a lot about social media and the effect it’s having on society. This is something he’s very passionate about, and it clearly shows here as he delivers a gut-punch of a movie.

    If you went to school - at any point in life - you will undoubtedly relate to this movie. Though bullying has changed and gotten less hands on, it’s still a reality kids growing up face. Hell, I think we all do. It’s not the classic bullying of “look at you nerd, you’re on a Spongebob website”, but more, like, societal pressure, I guess. Like if we’re not doing something cool and posting about it then we’re losers. And as much as we want to buck the trend and feel like we don’t have to post about everything we do because we think we don’t need that (at least I do)... it’s hard to actually do that and feel good about yourself because you see all of these people being constantly validated by everyone around them and there you are, in your room, alone. You need to validate yourself, and that’s really hard sometimes, and if you miss out on a party or a brunch then you get the feeling that you’re being left behind.

    This is what that movie is about. The facade that we put up on social media because we’re expected to and how we think that our voice is important because we have a platform for it, and the person that we actually are when push comes to shove and we realize no one wants to hear what we have to say. You feel like you need to cry? Go watch this movie.

     

    Spoiler

    THE DEATH OF STALIN

    ...And if you feel like you need to laugh? Look no further! I think I mentioned this in the Vice thread, so here’s my breakdown of it.

    Man. What a movie. I thought this was brilliant. The power struggle in the days leading up to, and following, the death of Stalin. A movie about Russian history with no Russian being spoken. What else would you expect from Armando Iannucci?

    The decision to showcase no Russian whatsoever makes this movie feel universal. This kind of crap is happening everywhere at all times, and people like this are running every country in the world - it just so happens that right now we’re focusing on Russia. I thought the exploration of how power can corrupt was done so much better here than in Vice - a movie that presented itself as being so much more important and clever than it actually was. With this? There’s no such pretense. It passes itself off as an absurd movie grounded in reality, and you can take it or leave it.

    Two scenes have been burned into my brain since watching this a year ago. There’s a bit at the end where the movie gets real and cuts the bullshit and you can actually feel the tension and see the stakes being raised and you think it’s all fun and games because the rest of the movie has been a comedy but then something serious goes down and it’s gut-wrenching. As horrible as these people are, my stomach was still in knots as the ending was happening.

    Also, there’s a slow-mo scene of Jason Isaacs throwing his jacket off and thinking of that always puts a smile on my face.

     

    If you’re intrigued by the premise of Vice but don’t want to sit through it, or if you’re a fan of any of this cast (or Veep), then you need to sit down and treat yourself to this movie. It’s really incredible, and one of the best comedies of last year.

     

    Spoiler

    MANDY

    This movie is wild.

     

    Spoiler

    THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS

    Wow. What a movie. I really love when the Coen Brothers can mix comedy with their nihilism, so this was such a treat. I don’t even really know how to review this.

    If you’re unaware, this movie is split up into segments. Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Near Algodones, Meal Ticket, All Gold Canyon, The Gal Who Got Rattled, and the Mortal Remains. They all deal with some combination of facing death and pushing characters to their limit to see what they do to survive - if they’re all talk or if they’re a man of action, if they have the will to live, if they have any morals at all. Each segment is relatively short, aside from The Gal Who Got Rattled, which feels more like a short film than a segment of a longer movie, and they all breeze by (aside from The Gal Who Got Rattled, but I think that may have been done on purpose to really draw out her agony on the trek she was making).

    I thought Ballad of Buster Scruggs was easily the star of the show. I could watch a whole musical western featuring him. I think Tim Blake Nelson did such an incredible job turning Buster into a sympathizing character while at the same time making it clear that he was a two-faced phony who knew exactly how to wheel and deal. James Franco and Liam Neeson both give stellar performances in the two follow-ups; Tom Waits is a delight; Zoe Kazan is rocky at best but can make you feel for her nonetheless. You’re really missing out if you haven’t seen this one yet.

     

    Spoiler

    PADDINGTON 2

    I mean… a delight from start to finish, what else would you expect? This movie is something else. It’s so incredibly wholesome and joyous and never once makes you think anything is wrong in the world because you know Paddington is going to make you marmalade and everything will be okay.

    Hugh Grant stole not only the movie with this performance, but he may well have stolen the entire damn year. He portrays the villain of the movie - a washed-up actor who has been relegated to commercials but is looking for his break back into the limelight. The best part? He’s just Hugh Grant. Almost literally. His apartment is covered in headshots of him when he was younger, and, well… they’re just all pictures of young Hugh Grant. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s really something to behold.

    Brendan Gleeson as the prison chef is amazing as well. The whole prison subplot is just so fun. Everything about this movie is happy and uplifting and it’s so sincere in all of it. You don’t even need to see the first one to understand the gist of this one, so there’s absolutely no excuse for anyone to not go and see this movie and then subsequently show each and every one of your friends and spread the joy like marmalade on bread because that’s what Paddington would want.

     

    Spoiler

    THE FAVOURITE

    In preparation for this movie I watched both The Lobster and Killing of a Sacred Deer and was left very concerned. I didn’t think I would like this at all, but I wanted to support a director that I thought was very unique and interesting and also wanted to see Emma Stone in a movie again. I had a suspicion that my biggest problem with Yorgos Lanthimos came down to his writing. The second half of The Lobster fell apart for me, and while I liked Killing of a Sacred Deer a lot more it still didn’t instill much confidence that The Favorite would be any good.

    But I saw The Favourite anyway, and so here we are!

    My biggest takeaway is that I was right. His writing doesn’t do it for me. Thankfully, he didn’t write this movie, and, as such, it’s one of my favorite movies from last year. His directing style is exactly something I want to see more of (where he goes in the exact opposite direction of the kind of genre he’s directing - so, for example, The Lobster, which is a romance, is done entirely in monotone) and it really works here. This feels like children playing royalty at times, as a way to heighten the ludicrousness of the whole thing. While Iannucci goes over-the-top in one way with his depiction of a power struggle (with everyone speaking English and with heavy English accents), Lanthimos goes in a completely different way (with the men running around like high school gossips and the women playing mental chess).

    This has been getting a lot of well-earned praise, mostly for acting, and, man, are these performances something else. Olivia Coleman in particular is really great, but someone not getting much attention - Nicholas Hoult dressed up in this outrageous outfit, running around the castle spreading rumors and pushing Emma Stone into the mud was just so amazing to watch. His role is relatively minor (as are all the men) but he really put everything he had into this and clearly loved every minute of it.

    There are some definite tells that this was directed by Lanthimos (I thought the fisheye lens shots were very much on-brand for him), but it’s also very much his most accessible movie yet because he didn’t write it. Whether you’ve seen his work before and didn’t care too much for it, or haven’t seen a lick of it and you’re not sure what to expect - you should see this.

     

    • Like 2
  11. Year after year this tradition passes me by. Year after year this season rolls around and I think "I could make a list... I could check it twice". Finally, after who knows how long of telling myself I could do that thing that other people do, here I am. Proving that I ingest just as much garbage as everyone else does. So, at last, here we are. The culmination of at least one year of thinking I know more than everyone, as well as at least one year of sitting on my ass and not doing anything to prove that I know anything at all. There was a lot I experienced this year. My first real heartbreak. My first almost near-death experience via potential carbon monoxide poisoning. My first long island iced tea. My first bluegrass concert. I may have taken in quite a lot of stuff this year, however, comparatively, I let out quite little. Shockingly little. If a sort of alien HR department took a census of Earth's population, they'd be hard-pressed to find anything that would actually speak to my humanity and might instead put me down in the "miscellaneous" or "sickly looking tree" category. However, through no fault of my own, this list began to take shape, and here we are. It looked bleak at first, and I thought I might never get this done, but as I thought about it I came to the realization that, well, I've got nothing else going on right now, so I may as well write this.

    SOME MOVIES RANGING FROM ALRIGHT TO PRETTY GOOD THAT TERMINOOB WATCHED THIS YEAR INSTEAD OF DOING ANYTHING PRODUCTIVE OR FULFILLING CONCERNING HIS LIFE, CAREER, OR OVERALL HAPPINESS

     

    HONORARY MENTION FOR BEING SORT OF ORIGINAL AND SORT OF ENJOYABLE BUT OVERALL SORT OF NOT ALL THAT GOOD

    Spoiler

    ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE

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    Haven't heard of this? Maybe you saw part of the trailer? Perhaps you wanted to see it but it wasn't playing anywhere near you? Couldn't care less? Very understandable. I think there were maybe six people in the theater when I saw this on opening night (in the heart of Manhattan, for reference). British Zombie-Christmas-Musical is a very niche genre (shocking, I know), and from what I could tell it didn't really make that big of a splash here. I first saw the trailer play in front of Bad Times at the El Royale, and I remember being totally smitten with the concept. I saw Bad Times with my girlfriend, and for those two minutes she was dead to me. This was my new love. For the months leading up to release I'd been daydreaming about taking this movie home to meet my family and if my family would approve (it's not like they're a very musical-loving family, after all - Christmas is our favorite holiday, and zombies they could manage, but musicals? That's a hard sell). Where our wedding would be (I was thinking either a graveyard or an apple orchard). The kids we'd have (three, actually - a boy, a girl, and a zombie). It was perfect. This was the movie in my eyes. It was - literally - music to my ears.

    Then my eyes actually saw the movie. And my ears? As ears often are, they weren't too far behind.

    I give it points for ambition, and in an ever-increasingly saturated market of reboots, remakes, sequels, Squeakuels, threequels, prequels, remasterings, restylings, remixes, and Rhiannas, I have to give it some sort of mention here for going absolutely all out and trying to do something different. However, much like the zombie horde of high schoolers and n'er-do-wells rising up in Britain, this is plagued with quite a few problems.

    The cast of main characters has little depth to them. They all appear to be some form of movie shorthand for a specific stereotype. The main rebellious girl, the sensitive and hopelessly-in-love-with-the-main-girl best friend, the asshole, the geek, the weirdo, the transplant. The movie didn't bother setting up the roles of these characters or developing them beyond their basic tropes and cliche personalities that we all know by now - and, actually, I normally wouldn't have given much thought to the writing of these characters. I'm here for three things. I'm here for 1) Zombies, 2) Christmas, and 3) Musicals. I don't need to care about these characters. At the outset, using these cookie cutter characters is a perfect introduction and view into this world. It should've given the audience a chance to sit back and allow themselves to be bombarded with some kind of craziness for an hour and a half.

    Unfortunately, the movie chose to make the risky decision of making us try to care about what's happening to these characters, which is where things get dicey. The development just isn't there. The emotional attachment we should be having isn't strong enough to carry a movie. The movie doesn't appear to even try to rectify this; it just assumes we know the story beats before they even happen, and, in doing so, assumes that we should care about those beats because, well, why wouldn't we? Anna goes through a rather intense coming-of-age experience, but the movie never took its time to really dig into her life trajectory so it doesn't feel earned when she leaves her dad at the end of the movie. Her best friend is killed in what was basically a throwaway scene in any other movie (however, I will add that her best friend was a "girls never date nice guys like me!" character, and seeing him killed first in such an unceremonious fashion was very cathartic and just about one of the only things the movie did right when it came to addressing certain tropes).

    At times this movie feels like a commentary on social media and millennials (there's plenty of pointed dialogue about how millennials rely on cell phones and social media too often and how we're totally incompetent without access to them - there's even an entire musical number where the choreography revolves around how oblivious millennials can be), at times it feels like a satire of romcoms and feel-good movies (with the movie kind of constantly shitting on the best friend, as well as having a coming of age story set during a zombie apocalypse), and at times it feels like the type of movie it's trying to satirize by making the same points it's trying to comment on.

    It's a disjointed, uneven, and rather sloppy attempt at something that should've been much more interesting than it ended up being. However, the musical numbers and choreography were entertaining, it's full of heart, it totally leans into its premise about as much as it possibly could, and it's basically totally original (adapted from a short that had a similar premise, but otherwise, you know, totally original). If nothing else, this ends up being a more appealing 2018 holiday movie than Illumination's Dr. Seuss' The Grinch, so if you've gotta see one or the other, see the one with an unhinged bearded high school principal delivering a musical number very reminiscent of Be Prepared while letting zombies feed on his student body and faculty rather than... that other one.


    I SAW THIS ONE TOO LATE AND DIDN'T KNOW WHERE TO PUT IT BUT YOU SHOULD WATCH IT IF YOU HAVEN'T

    Spoiler

    BLINDSPOTTING

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    Unfortunately my list was already locked and loaded and there was just no room to squeeze this onto the """""""""official""""""""" list. However, if you haven't seen this movie, or haven't heard of this movie, or got put off by the trailer, let me tell you that you need to see this movie, you need to hear about this movie, and you need to never let a trailer tell you what to do because that's no way to live your life.

    The movie takes place over the course of three days (roughly ) - the last three days of probation for the main character, Collin, who tries to stay out of trouble so he can move out of his halfway home, end his curfew, and just get on with his life. The movie delves into themes of gentrification, stereotypes, profiling, and the preconceived notions we may have of the people around us because we just aren't socially intelligent enough to know the full picture.

    Parts of this movie struck me as very similar to Get Out, in that a lot of the white characters really wished they could be part of Oakland's culture without actually realizing what that meant because they would never face the downside of being part of Oakland. There's a scene at a party where a hipster transplant reveals he has the same Oakland tattoo as Miles, one of the main characters (who had been living in Oakland all his life), because he felt "at home" in Oakland even though he'd only been there a year - the irony being that Miles is subsequently called out for acting like a transplant not five minutes later because he tries too hard to hold onto the culture that he grew up around instead of embracing the changing area.

    The tone of this movie struck a near-perfect balance between comedic and dramatic. It never felt too outright goofy but never took itself too seriously; the satire worked as a way to showcase the difference between Collin and Miles as we see Collin embrace what Oakland is becoming while Miles begins overcompensating as a way to distance himself from change and prove that there's only one true Oakland, and the comedic chemistry between Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal helped the movie float right along at a breezy pace as we watch them try to make it as lowly workers for a moving company. That's not to say it's an out-and-out comedy, though - it knows when to shut up when it needs to. One of the opening scenes of the movie is Colin witnessing a black kid get shot to death by a white cop - a scene that ends up slowly permeating itself into Collin's psyche (and manifesting itself visually as various nightmares and daydreams) throughout the rest of the movie and becomes a driving force for him to better himself (if he wasn't already on that track to begin with).

    The movie came across as rather... on the nose here and there, which is about as negative as I can be when it comes to critiquing anything about this. There's a scene toward the end between Collin and his ex-girlfriend Val that is, more or less, only there to explain the title of the movie. No other characters are on-screen, and it's not even framed as a normal shot - they're on the phone, with Collin taking up one half of the frame and Val taking up the other. Having gone in with basically no knowledge of what this was going to be and without having seen any posters, I have to say that I'm probably exactly who that scene was targeting and while I'm grateful for learning that the title meant something, the scene felt unnecessary - even moreso due to a freestyle rap that Collin performs toward the end of the movie where he namechecks the title about three times. While the scene between him and Val was for the audience's benefit (almost certainly to serve as an explanation for the freestyle that follows) and the freestyle was an actual scene that took place in the world with other characters, the overabundance of the word "blindspotting" was clunky and sort of jarring. However, I thought the message and themes of the movie were more than enough to make up for some awkward dialogue here and there.

    Overall this was a really incredible movie that seemed to go under a lot of radars, and I'd urge everyone to seek it out.


    I'M STARTING THE LIST RIGHT AFTER I GIVE ANOTHER MENTION TO ANOTHER MOVIE I COULDN'T FIT IN BUT WAS STILL AMAZING

    Spoiler

    SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

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    I don't think I need to reiterate what everyone else is already saying, so I'll try to keep it short. Man oh-man, was this the Spider-Man movie of my life. This is the type of movie that reignites my passion for superhero movies (something I've lost years ago), as well as the type of art that reignites my passion for animation (something that I really don't find most western movies are able to do). This movie had such weird artistic talent in the concept stage and it makes me so giddy to see this very mainstream movie respect really bizarre styles and actually take risks. This is incredible, and everyone should go and see this. They were able to stuff in about five different Spider-Man comic storylines into one movie and also make their own completely unique universe with characters like Liv (and, I mean, holy shit, what an incredible design choice) and have all of these really great looking character designs. It's able to be extremely goofy most of the time but isn't afraid to actually let the serious moments breathe instead of trying to turn everything into a joke. This movie actually felt like it had stakes and that even though everything was going to turn out alright it was still actually exciting and tense to see it all be resolved.

    Something that I really loved that most people probably won't care too much about is how they decided to characterize Miles, because for years now he's just been living in the shadow of Peter Parker and has yet to really find his own identity or have any kind of defining personality trait, and I thought this movie did such an incredible job at taking the conflict presented in Miles' origin story and actually doing something cool with it. I've been on board the Miles train from the jump and to see him actually be realized as a character was so nice (and such a crazy contrast to Insomniac's game where I thought Miles was completely unneeded and easily the most boring character to me).

    If you haven’t seen this yet, then cancel all your plans. Helping your friend move can wait. The groceries can wait. The Bachelor season premiere can wait. That dental cleaning can wait (but not too long - make sure to reschedule that soon). Make this your priority.

    ACTUALLY HOLD ON I REMINDED MYSELF I NEED TO WATCH THE SEASON PREMIERE OF THE BACHELOR SO I'LL GET BACK TO THIS LATER

    • Like 6
    • God Himself 1
  12. I'd say possibly worth watching for the acting depending on if there are any nominations for Bale/Rockwell/Adams, but otherwise I'd suggest skipping it. I thought Adam McKay's style worked really well for The Big Short because the subject matter was dry and totally incomprehensible and having pop culture references and fourth wall breaks and comedic writing really helped make that palatable and interesting, but he comes off as really full of himself with this. His cleverness goes all the way around and ends up making it seem like he's just talking down to the audience, like he thinks we're not smart enough to understand the rise of Dick Cheney and he needs to dumb it down for us. If he just made a straight Dick Cheney movie I would've been totally fine with it, but inserting Shakespearean soliloquies and having Guantanamo Bay get served up on a silver platter (almost literally) and rolling credits halfway through the movie just wasn't enjoyable to watch.

    If you're hankering for a funny movie about political corruption and power struggles, I'd suggest Death of Stalin. If you wanna see Christian Bale do alright and have Adam McKay tell you you're an idiot for two hours, then this movie is fine.

  13. 14 minutes ago, CyanideFishbone said:

    Bleach is a great anime. Yeah, it's got it's problems like the amount of filler and how it becomes a little repetitive, but I think the core story is pretty good and the characters are great, as well as the powers and the fight scenes. Ichigo is hands down one of the best shonen protagonists in my opinion; he is the anti-Goku/anti-Naruto (both of them are great characters btw, I don't want to sound like I'm putting them down), in the fact he's not a hyperactive loveable goofball, and he's this lanky, aggressive, hot headed delinquent battling his own personal demons and really just wants to protect everyone close to him who gets thrown into being a Soul Reaper and having to deal with all of that stuff. I've seen a lot of people argue Ichigo's biggest fault is that he has zero goal, but I kind of love that about him; he's thrown into a situation and has to get out of it and deal with all this stuff. Also he's a Social Distortion fan so that's badass. 

    Yeah it does get a little repetitive and a remake could be nice to make an improved ending and to cut down on the filler, but even I enjoy some of the filler. The filler with Ichigo's little sister is a fun viewing detour not gonna lie, while not necessary, but the cast is so vibrant and the powers are cool.... god, there is something I just absolutely love about it. Yeah, it's got it's problems, but fuck me if I don't still really enjoy it.

    Well, alright now. I'll debate you on this one. Ichigo gets literally every major power in the series - he's half Soul Reaper/half Quincy with a Hollow mask and a Fullbring (and maybe more? I don't remember). He's very much a typical Shonen protagonist in that sense (and, in my opinion, also very much an example of bad writing). Personality-wise I don't see much differentiating him either; Naruto and Goku were both brash, hot-headed, and aggressive at times - just because they're goofballs too doesn't preclude them from being fighters and trouble makers. Ichigo's lanky, I guess, but Deku is small and Luffy is made of rubber, so it's not like body shape should be much of a factor because it's still a Shonen series and they're all basically shredded beyond belief.

  14. 3 hours ago, Renegade the Unicorn said:

    Daaamn, these Vasquez influences are really showing. GG, termi.

    Ironically I think the Enter the Florpus trailer was the first time I'd seen his work since I was, like, 20, and this stuff was done over the past month. I might just be inadvertently morphing into him at this point.

  15. 2 hours ago, Katniss said:

    Favorite movies/TV shows of the year so far?

    OOF. Okay, whole year? Lemme think back.

    TV: I think New Girl went out with a decent enough final season. It was one of my favorite shows since it premiered and I'd been following along the whole time, and while it felt rushed and awkward at times it was still about as good as I had hoped. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend was wild. I liked the first half of the new iZombie season, but I haven't caught the whole thing so I might hate the rest of it. I think Joel McHale came back swinging with The Joel McHale Show Starring Joel McHale and I'm glad to have him back on some sort of screen. I still gotta catch the new season of Atlanta, but I'm sure that's great as well. I don't think there was much else. Survivor was a letdown post-merge until the last, like, five minutes of final tribal. I started following The Bachelorette this year and that's been a bit wonky at times as well, aside from Jordan.

    Movies: Sorry to Bother You is the movie of the summer. If you haven't checked it out yet you need to find it and go see it, because it's fucking nuts. Eighth Grade was predictably phenomenal and sad. Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, despite some writing inconsistencies that don't mesh with the first one, was a great time (and I think much better than the first). The Incredibles 2 had some nice set pieces and there was that one scene with Elastigirl running over rooftops and through alleyways at nighttime while the Screenslaver was talking and there was no music playing and it floored me. It was so amazing. Unfortunately I'm not in love with the movie on the whole, but that short at the beginning was wild. The Death of Stalin was fucking spectacular. Game Night was really solid. There's still a bunch I gotta watch, though - still haven't seen Hereditary, A Quiet Place, He Won't Get Far on Foot, Annihilation, First Reform, Blindspotting, Thoroughbreds, or Revenge.

    First half of the year I didn't really go to the movies all that often since I lived at home and I mostly just watched old stuff on Netflix/Amazon/Google Play and I only just recently started going to the movies again.

    2 hours ago, Butch Griffin said:

    Any else Thor run you love besides Jason Aaron's?

    Simonson's is a masterpiece and the gold standard for basically any kind of sprawling epic. JMS had a good one too, though I admittedly haven't read much of it.

  16. 28 minutes ago, Butch Griffin said:

    I have been collecting Wally West's iconic runs as Flash (thus far I read all four Mark Waid book, I'll get to rest of his run when it's all collected and later all of Morrison/Johns) and I have to agree that he has been so awesome and I'm so sad that they haven't treated him right these days, especially judging from rumors I keep hearing about Heroes in Crisis book. They should have give him a new run (there were two Captain America and Spider-Man runs at the same time once) since two Flashes can exist. He deserves so much better? ?

    Yeah, I don't know what DC is thinking. They may have needed a way to market the Titans book and being able to say "if you wanna read Wally West, this is the ONLY PLACE YOU'LL EVER BE ABLE TO DO IT ANYMORE" was probably too good to pass up. It just seems like such a waste. Him coming back in Rebirth was so buckwild and then they just immediately dropped the ball with him. Maybe he'll get a new title spinning out of Heroes in Crisis or something.

    • Like 1
  17. 17 minutes ago, JCM said:

    Do you have a favorite DC hero?

    Wally West from now until the end of time.

    Others include Booster Gold, Zatanna, Black Canary, Constantine, and Swamp Thing. A new recent character I really love is Superman's son Jon - he hasn't gotten a lot of time to shine but he's really goofy and fun and the Super Sons book with him and Damian was one of the best things DC's put out in a while.

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