Mandaris

My youngest daughter told me that this is her favorite horror movie. I think it's a great movie that has really stood the test of time.

Speaking of time, I feel that it’s probably the scariest part of this movie. I remember watching this movie when I was younger and being introduced to the idea of living forever and not liking it. I was lucky enough to only know death as taking those that I didn’t know or interact with on a regular basis. The idea that someone close to me wasn’t a possibility at the time. I was understanding of my own mortality but not of my friends and family. To have them gone and for me to go on and on. That was scary.

Anyway, back to the film.

I’m happy that Maryl Streep and Goldie Hawn were in it. They had charisma and power that never made me doubt that they could have THE Bruce Willis wrapped around their fingers. Bruce does a great job of being the undesirable object of desire for Maryl and Goldie.

Overview

Madeline is married to Ernest, who was once her arch-rival Helen's fiancé. After recovering from a mental breakdown, Helen vows to kill Madeline and steal back Ernest. Unfortunately for everyone, the introduction of a magic potion causes things to be a great deal more complicated than a mere murder plot.

As I was about to post, I thought about how it compares to The Substance…

This was a good season of TV that concluded with a finale that just left me with questions.

One of the things I’ve appreciated about the show is that it focuses the story about the people more than science fiction. I love what the actors have done, year-over-year and tune in just to see what’s going to happen next. That being said, I don’t know where this series is going to go from here. They’ve had so many questions not so many answers. I’ve never really felt that with the show when we first started, I knew that there was an overarching plan, but I didn’t really care too much about the details.

So I don’t know if I’ll sign up or be around for the fourth season but it’ll be interesting to see.

Overview

152 years after the events of season two, The Foundation has become increasingly established far beyond its humble beginnings while the Cleonic Dynasty's Empire has dwindled. As both of these galactic powers forge an uneasy alliance, a threat to the entire galaxy appears in the fearsome form of a warlord known as "The Mule," whose sights are set on ruling the universe by use of physical and military force as well as mind control. It’s anyone's guess who will win, who will lose, who will live and who will die as Hari Seldon, Gaal Dornick, the Cleons and Demerzel play a potentially deadly game of intergalactic chess.

Watched: Casablanca 🍿

I think knowing too much of what was going to happen at the end may have affected the way that I felt about this movie. I knew that there was going to be a plane and it was just a question of how we would get there.

Honestly, I can see a lot of troupes that we would see in other films later on and I have to say thank you for that. But, I don’t think I would watch this again.

Unfortunately, I had read a lot about the movie before I got a chance to see it and I brought some expectations into viewing it.

Couple that with the fact that this little review is several weeks after seeing it.

That being said, I would happily watch this movie again!

From the opening scene, you know things are not going to go well for the people in this movie. The beautiful thing about the movie isn’t so much the blood and gore, but the build up to it. How did we get here?

I know some people might not appreciate the build up, but I feel that you can’t really enjoy the next part without it.

Overview

Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.

This season is better than the last.

I started watching this because I needed a break from watching Love After Lockup.

The one thing I noticed about this season is that it doesn’t focus as much on how much of a Jerk Rick Sanchez is. You get more of the family being fleshed out and seeing what adventures that they are up to.

Overall, I didn’t end the season feeling that I had wasted my time on this. I’d be interested in another season if it was to have one, but I’m ok if this is the last one.

Overview

Rick and Morty are back for Season Eight! Life has meaning again! Anything is possible! Look out for adventures with Summer, Jerry, Beth, and the other Beth. Maybe Butter Bot will get a new task? Whatever happens, you can't keep Rick and Morty down for long. People have tried!

The first one was unexpected. There was a level of novelty mixed with the nostalgia for the Addams Family.

This one feels like the studio said the first one did great, just do it again but bigger!

The most telling thing about this was that when the family got together to watch it, everyone had their second screen for most of episode 3 and the first half of 4.

I feel that I grew tired of the characters. I grew tired of having two groups of people (normies and outcasts) hate each other because they’re different. Conflicts that could be avoided by taking 10 minutes to listen to each other. I grew tired of people thinking they know everything and they are the only ones who can do anything. Probably the most realistic thing about the show.

The most glaring thing about the show was pointed out by my daughter when I asked her about it. I’m paraphrasing it below.

The problem is that this isn’t the Addams Family. The appeal of the Addams was that they were different. The outside world didn’t always understand or like them, but they had each other’s back.

Now, I know Wednesday means well, but having almost every interaction be antagonistic gets old.

Overview

Wednesday goes back to Nevermore, and -just like the boy who lived- she's got a mystery to solve! She'll use anything to solve this one: Fans, Friends, and Family; because ONLY SHE can stop a troubling vision of causing destruction.

Oh, and apparently, no matter where you send your children the teaching staff will be questionable.

At this point, I’m watching it because my family is watching it and I’m enjoying the cameos.

I had never seen this movie, but I am familiar with the phrase we're going to need a bigger boat. I had no idea why a 50 year old movie about a shark could hold so much influence. In the end, I was happy to have seen it.

I had read on the internet that the mayor is The Real Villain and the shark is just trying to be the best shark that he can be. I think that’s just trying to simplify the problem of a community dependent on tourism having to balance the welfare of the residence versus the guests. Most of the townsfolk are content with little accidents until it becomes a directly affects them.

That was the scariest part of this movie.

The inconvenient truth that a whole group of people are ok with the idea that someone could die from going into the water… as long as it does not affect the bottom line.

But, going back to the movie in general, the acting and pacing are really good. I say this as someone who is battling a phone addiction.

Overview

When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town's chief of police, a young marine biologist, and a grizzled hunter embark on a desperate quest to destroy the beast before it strikes again.

I didn't think that we needed another Superman movie. How can we make a story about someone who is almost invincible compelling?

This is a movie that I saw because people were talking about it.

I’ve been a little bored with some of the super hero movies that have been coming out and was ok with not checking this one out in theaters.

But, there was something about it. The word that caught my interest about this movie had hope. Maybe just because of all the things happening in this world that just feel wrong. I’m a fan of The Boys and Invincible, but I’ve grown tired of immoral super people. We’ve seen that too often and in different ways.

The movie is refreshing in that it doesn’t take the viewer through the origins of the characters. There’s no homework of other movies and comic books that you need to know in order to enjoy this movie. If you want that, you can do it on your own time.

I feel that the movie does a great job of showing the Man in The Man of Steel. He’s multifaceted while also demonstrating a type of sincerity that I haven’t seen enough of. In other Superman films, it felt as if every problem that he’d face would be fixed by some newly discovered power. This one has to use his brain and the connections that he has with other people in order to save the day.

Ultimately, the movie shows that you do not need to be Superman to be part of making the world a better place.

Overview

Superman, a journalist in Metropolis, embarks on a journey to reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as Clark Kent.

100 Media reviews!

This is my One Hundredth post marked as Media Review! Feel free to check out the media review archives.

How dare you make me feel something! I thought that this was going to be some small show that I'd only have to watch because of TV Family Time, but it really kept me engaged throughout the run.

What was interesting to me was the fact that the author of the book it is based on, Emily Jenkins, used Scrivener to help with managing the flashback scenes. It’s the same tool that I used for writing my thesis to graduate college. I’ve also got a draft of novel that will never see the light of the internet.

But back to the show, it’s kind of sad in so many ways and really hits you at the end with a twist that some could guess at but I wasn’t prepared for.

Overview

One year after a mysterious accident left her with amnesia, 17-year-old Cadence returns to Beechwood, an island off Martha's Vineyard, seeking answers. As three generations of the distinguished Sinclair family gather at their private summer utopia, no one will talk about the accident – neither her childhood friends "The Liars" nor her first love Gat, forcing her to uncover the truth herself.

I have grown tired of most superhero movies at this point. It's mostly because I don't want to see anymore gritty or realistic viewpoints about people gifted with powers beyond our imagination. It's been done. I feel that this movie is actually an answer to that. This group of people have seen what happens when that gift is squandered. They know that it's an ugly world and they rise to the occasion... eventually.

The characters in this film are well acted and I don’t remember there being a moment where I felt that something was dragged on too long. If anything, I feel it would have been welcoming to spend more time with the characters, but it’s probably for the better as we’ve had too many films and shows that try to explain everything and then lose the interest of the viewer (a.k.a. me).

The action sequences are pretty much what you would expect from this kind of film, but done well with a couple really nice cameos. This leads into the biggest flaw with the movie being that certain things just happen… because… plot?

I’m not going to say that this movie miraculously changed my feelings towards superhero movies, but it certainly has given me hope that we can see something with a little more hope in it.

Ultimately, I’m hoping for more.

Overview

After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap, seven disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.

Do not waste your time. If you really want to know what happens watch the trailer and just make a guess. Odds are that you spent almost as much time/energy with that compared to what they put into the overall plot.

This thing was created by the business side of the movie business and it shows. They took a whole bunch of ideas and shoved it into an extended trailer that cost them $100 million and they got $971 million. So, I guess Illumination executives have no problem destroying future revenue as they cash out and move to the next IP.

This was a happy find! The whole family gathered around to watch this one as we really like whodunits. The show has a wonderful cast and lots of twists and turns that kept us entertained.

I think the best thing about the show is the interaction between the different characters. Every episode focuses on one character and what they were doing before, during, and after a murder has taken place. I feel that it’s more important than actually solving the murder as we are drawn into why the murder happen.

One thing I liked about the show is brave enough to have moments of silence. A lot of shows are focused on making sure that the viewer is constantly engaged. The Residence shows the power of just being quiet in western culture. A lot of us are not wired to have a quiet moment and do not know what to do when nothing is stimulating us.

Overview

A brilliant, eccentric detective must solve a murder in the White House residence — where the staff and guests at a state dinner are all suspects.

I went back and saw this film after watching Companion to get a feel for the two different movies. The movie really feels a little bit out of time. It has jokes that are still funny and poke fun at some many things that should be made fun of.

There are messages and jokes and just a lot of little things that I really enjoyed.🎬

This movie concept has been done before. What it comes down to is the execution and I feel the cast does a wonderful job of really bringing it <q>to life</q>.

My favorite part of this movie is actually the side characters and not the relationship between the protagonist and her boyfriend.

🎬

It's a lot of little jokes that you've seen in other places and stitches together here for your entertainment. I chuckled at a couple of the jokes but I don't think I can recommend this movie to most unless you want to watch a movie with dirty jokes and bowling.

Don't think. Just watch.🎬

This was a delightful combination of palace intrigue, mystery, and exploring how we deal with grief and abuse. All of it self-contained and easy to follow from start to finish.

Set in a fantasy world with elves and goblins, I feel that you could swap out the races with anything and it would still feel as familiar as the author deals with how people look at different races and cultures and how they apply to class.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about this book is the perspective of the main protagonist, Maia. He’s thrust into a very precarious position of becoming a ruler of an empire that he’s only been given a hint of during his joke of an education¹. Although there are some emotional outbursts, I’m honestly impressed he didn’t immediately order heads to roll as soon as he was in command; history has shown worse examples.

Another thing about this book that I enjoyed is that it has a mystery that is being solved but doesn’t have the perspective of the detective in the narration. I think of it as if I were the police chef and having Columbo or Sherlock come to me and report every once in a while. It’s important that the mystery is solved but a large part of what occupies the main protagonist is dealing with the responsibility of being a ruler. I don’t know if I’ve ever read so much about what is involved in clerical duties in a fictional setting.

Overview

The book tells the story of Maia, a young man of mixed Elven and Goblin heritage, who unexpectedly becomes Emperor of the Elflands, and has to contend with the court's byzantine power structure as well as racial and social tension in his realm.

Overall, I feel this is a very nice, fairly low stakes read and would recommend it.

I do not know where they are going to go from here. I feel that all the actors really did a great job doing their individual roles. I found them to be believable on a lot of levels. But, I don't feel excited about visiting The White Lotus again in the future.

The White Lotus is like a sugary treat. It’s nice but you shouldn’t eat too much of it.

This season promised and delivered more of the same things that we saw in other seasons; people behaving poorly in exotic location.

I’m ok with that, because it’s part of the shows DNA. It takes a spotlight to the inequities involved with these vacation resorts. Other have written about this so much better than I have, so I won’t go into details¹.

I felt the acting was amazing in this, but overall the season felt rushed and yet too long at the same time. I later found out that some things were edited out of the show due to our current political climate and maybe that’s what I’m needing to get this show over the top.

Overview

Set at a luxurious wellness resort in Thailand, the lives of wealthy guests and dedicated staff intertwine in unexpected ways. The season explores themes of privilege, personal transformation, and cultural contrasts, all set against the backdrop of stunning locales and intricate social dynamics.

I heard about this book📚 on episode 757 of The Incomparable podcast. It seemed like a nice little distraction and was a nice little adventure.

The book description states that it’s part of a wider universe, but I feel the story is mostly self contained with an option to make it the start of a larger series. The author has even set up a webpage that contains information about the book. I especially like the Notes on influence section.

He even has a video on making the script for the novel.

So check it out if you want to do a little light reading.

Overview

Robin Sloan expands the Penumbraverse to new reaches of time and space in a rollicking far-future adventure. It is eleven thousand years from now. A lot has happened, and yet a lot is still very familiar. Ariel is a boy in a remote village under a wizard’s rule. Like many adventurers before him, Ariel is called to explore a world full of eye-popping discoveries and challenges: unknown enemies, a mission to rescue the world, a girl. Here, as they say, be dragons. But none of this happens before Ariel encounters an entity from an earlier civilization, a sentient, sensitive artificial intelligence with a special perspective on all of human history—who becomes both Ariel’s greatest ally . . . and our narrator. Moonbound is an adventure into the richest depths of Story itself from the creator of the Penumbraverse, Robin Sloan. It is a deeply satisfying epic of ancient scale, blasted through the imaginative prism of one of our most forward-thinking writers. And this is only the beginning.

If you're looking for something light and easy going than this is a good place to find it. Easy to follow plot that one of the characters jokes about being easy figure out.

I was tired of doom scrolling and this popped up. In fact, I started watching it fully expecting to be interrupted. I also thought it can’t be that bad; they’re making another sequel and I got what I expected:

1. Cartoonish action where there’s ton of danger and yet noone gets hurt so much that they don’t make it to the end of the movie
2. Jim Carrey acting over the top

All in all, I don’t remember much about the plot but I’ll check out the third one when it becomes available to stream.

Overview

After settling in Green Hills, Sonic is eager to prove he has what it takes to be a true hero. His test comes when Dr. Robotnik returns, this time with a new partner, Knuckles, in search for an emerald that has the power to destroy civilizations. Sonic teams up with his own sidekick, Tails, and together they embark on a globe-trotting journey to find the emerald before it falls into the wrong hands.

Dodgeball is one of my favorite movies and Vince Vaughn has been a lot of movies that I've enjoyed over the years. That being said, it can be hard to watch him for an entire season unless you like that kind of humor. Thankfully, this show has a wonderful array of additional characters that reel you in.

To be honest, I didn’t get a chance to check this out when it first came out and it wasn’t on my list of things to checkout. Silo was supposed to be my next show but I couldn’t bring myself to watch something so dystopic. So, I chose this one because I wanted a mix of crime story and comedy, and I’m very happy that I did.

All in all, this is very well executed detective story that shows that Apple TV really know what they are doing…

I just wish more people would watch it.

Overview

A detective turned restaurant inspector in Southern Florida is pulled into a world of greed and corruption after a tourist finds a severed arm while fishing. And yes, there's a monkey.

I've come to the conclusion that when it comes to reboots of familiar IP[^ip], you should use similar rules as weddings; something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. I thought it would be nice to organize this review using the rhyme to separate topics.

Something old

Yes, this is your classic superhero origin story. The series has a lot of the characters that comic book fans are familiar with. I feel many people identify with the troupe of having the hero try to balance being hero and going to school at the same time. The Peter Parker we see in this show is a smart kid who is trying to do good things, and that’s something we’ve time and time again with this character.

One thing I liked about this version is that they took some time to show that Peter will fight (or in this case throw a brick) to do what is right even without his powers.

Something new

There’s no point in redoing something unless you change it. Otherwise, you could save yourself time and money by just watching the older series that are available via streaming.

This version has different takes on characters that I found to be more engaging in some areas. We think that things are going to happen in certain ways because that’s the way they happened in the past, but I find myself surprised when I see different tweaks to motivations and drive.

Yes, these are old characters, and they still occupy their archetypes, but you get a more reasonable -for a comic- exploration of why they are doing what they are doing. All the time, the show doesn’t go into elaborate details on why things are the way they are. You have to fill in minute details on your own.

Something borrowed

This show reminds me of Spider-Man and his super friends and other cartoon shows that revolve around a team. Although the show heavily features Spider-Man, it’s the interactions he has with the other characters that really make the show interesting.

Something (red and) blue

Animation can be expensive. Occasionally you get a feeling that the animators are cutting cost by having characters do repeated movements or a lot of scenes in the same location. You can kind of see this during really dynamic fight scenes where the background kind of fades…. or maybe I was fading out because I wasn’t feeling well.

The characters are very vibrant and the animation is always smooth. One of the things that I really noticed is that the characters had different heights and body shapes. This is true not only for the main characters but background characters as well.

A sixpence in your shoe

This often forgotten part of the rhyme is going to be related to the time that is involved with this show. Once again, I binged it one day, but I didn’t feel that I spent a lot of time watching it or sitting there during a filler episode.

The writing is engaging as we go from episode to episode. There aren’t any episodes focused on character backstory. Everything is either implied or part of the discussions and actions on screen. In plenty of ways, this is great as you can draw your own conclusions on certain meanings.

Overview

Peter Parker is on his way to becoming a hero, but his path to get there is anything but ordinary.

I was hesitant to watch this after reading some of the reviews for it. It's a pretty good movie with some caveats. This is not a film that you watch expecting a great plot of traditional romance, but it has a lot of great action.

It reminds me of some of my favorite comedy movies involving hitmen. Movies like The Big Hit, The Whole Nine Yards, and Grosse Pointe Blank were some of my favorite films in my adolence. Something about having this average looking person just work over a series of bad guys and ultimately do something good in the end.

I could argue that this was the 90s and 2000s and antiheroes were really popular. It’s something to see someone who is just really good at something even it its doing something really bad.

EXCELLENT ACTION!!

This is an Action-Comedy with a splash of what some would call romance. I would call it beyond toxic or dysfunctional, but not to the characters in question.

Look, this movie was fun for me. I don’t think we’re ever going to see a sequel so enjoy if you’re looking for a kung fu hitman movie when it becomes available for streaming.

Overview

A realtor is pulled back into the life he left behind after his former partner-in-crime resurfaces with an ominous message. With his crime-lord brother also on his trail, he must confront his past and the history he never fully buried.

A movie like this is all about execution. You know that things are not going to go well, but it's how they go wrong and how the cast reacts that make the movie what it is.

Although the setting for most of the film is a wedding, I would say that the theme of the movie is more about the relationships we have to our families. The wedding is a ceremony that marks a time when two families join, and could be one of the rare times that people see one another. I like that this movie has a focus on the people next to the people getting married. You see how they take in the fact that the relationships they enjoyed will change.

Is pre-grief a word?

Anyway, the movie only goes into it a little bit because this is supposed to be a comedy that has a scene where someone is wrestling a crocodile. I liked it for the laughs but would never watch this again on my own, but will probably see something similar in the future.

Overview

When two weddings are accidentally booked on the same day at the same venue, each bridal party is challenged with preserving their family's special moment while making the most of the unanticipated tight quarters. In a hilarious battle of determination and grit, the father of the bride and sister of the other bride chaotically go head-to-head as they stop at nothing to uphold an unforgettable celebration for their loved ones.

I honestly didn't think they would make another season of this after the last one, but apparently there was enough interest and budget to do this.

I was somewhat optimistic as I vaguely remember someone saying that this had the revitalized energy of the prior seasons. Season 4 had been a drag and I really felt the writers had placed themselves in a corner.

But, it really feels as if the writers have just taken the two characters and put them in a new setting.

That’s pretty much it.

You get newish plots resolved by the same solution: violence.

Normally, I wait until the end of the season to rate, but I’m not going to finish this because I don’t want to invest the time.

Overview

This season finds Harley and Ivy in a new location: Metropolis! – the home of all things Superman, Lois Lane, and the Daily Planet. Harley and Ivy discover that something sinister is at play and all is not what it seems. Looming threats include Lex Luthor and his sister, Lena Luthor, plus fan-favorite Brainiac. But of course, Harley’s crew of misfits and allies will join her on this irreverent journey that takes no prisoners in having fun in the DC sandbox.