Mandaris

This is a very solid movie. I really enjoyed it the whole way through and would happily watch it again.

I love a good beat 'em up movie. Seeing the protagonist face off against dozens of indistinguist minions as they make their way to their objective. I feel that this movie does a great job of establishing the story and characters and then getting out of the way to let the action happen.

I was hooked on this movie from the moment I saw the trailer. I was so excited that I created a reminder to check if the film would be available to stream in a couple months from this writing. I remember showing everyone in my family the trailer just for them to shrug and ask if I would like to watch Bridgerton instead.

That’s ok, I’ll just watch it on my own. I started watching it and I was treated to 90 minutes of punches, kicks, and slap(stick)! If you liked movies such as Boy Kills World (2024) or Boss Level (2021), I think you might like this one as well.

Overview

A woman answers a help wanted ad to be a housekeeper in a mysterious New York City high-rise, unaware that she is entering a community that has seen a number of disappearances over the years and may be under the grip of a Satanic cult.

Not exactly spectacular or amazing, but entertaining enough that I felt good watching it. I heard on a podcast that this probably would not have been made without Nick Cage, and I agree but for large parts of this show it's the other actors who really drove me to watch it.

I have been excited to see this for months. I had blocked out time on the calendar, allotted money from my fun fund, told everyone not to bother me for the duration, and even went to bed early a couple nights before so that I was well rested.

In the end, I’m treated to a decent TV show.

I doubt we’re going to see a second season.

The show wants to be a lighthearted adventure featuring “The Spider” living in a 1920ish America and we get to see aspect of it talking about people recovering from World War I and prohibition. It shows a little bit of the racism, police corruption and brutality, and the dehumanization of the poor and powerless. At first, I was annoyed because it felt like it was only there to service different plot points, but, I -after reflecting on it- appreciate that they included it.

Back to the characters, I believe that Nick Cage works well with Lamorne Morris and Karen Rodriguez to establish the heart and reason you should care about the plot. The interactions between them come off as natural and you get a feeling that they really know each other. The rest of the interactions can be inconsistent. The work with Li Jun Li sometimes comes off as awkward as if they are just saying their lines to one another. It’s not just the age difference, it’s the lack of chemistry between them. I lost track of the amount of time Jack Huston’s character says that he’s not going to tell his boss/daddy that he’s being lied to.

Again, the show has it’s flaws.

All of which, I’ll forgive because of episode six.

That’s when we get Classic Nick Cage.

I’ll leave it at that.

Overview

Ben Reilly, an aging and down on his luck private investigator in 1930s New York, is forced to grapple with his past life as the city's one and only superhero.

I finished DTF St. Luis a couple weeks ago and the show really affected me. I didn't know what I was in for with watching it. All I knew was that someone was going to die and that there might be some laughs along the way.

The show explores friendship, relationships, sex, and loneliness. I feel this aspect of the show hit me the hardest. The fact that these people are doing so much in order to have a connection with someone else that they ultimately ruin their own lives.

One character, Floyd, brings up a lot of emotions from me. He’s the most empathetic and dedicated to making the world around him better. He’s the kind of person that will run into traffic to save someone. He’s patient when dealing with a child with special needs. He’s learning sign language so that he can help the deaf. He’s the nicest guy.

He’s also a loser.

Well, he’s what our society would call a loser. He’s not living up to his potential and puts the well being of himself and his family after everything else. A lot of his wins are from someone else.

The worst part is that I see too much of myself in this character.

I’m going to think about this some more.

Overview

A love triangle among three adults experiencing middle-age malaise leads to one of them ending up dead.

It’s a pretty simple movie. My wife fell asleep watching it 3 times so…

It was pretty nice and had a lot of little bits in it that made me laugh.

This is the fourth installment of a movie franchise that has been going on for more than a decade. There are countless memes and jokes about making sure you don't mess with John's dog. It's fun, but it has also gotten formulaic.

The formula goes a little like this:

1. John is in a low point and things are really working out for him
2. Things get a little better and he’s making some progress
3. Big bad guy is introduced
4. State that John is a unstoppable killing machine
5. Big bad guy sets up a situation where lots of little bad guys go after John
6. John overcomes said obstacle
7. Queue something that increase the complexity of the lore around the franchise
8. Big bad guy sends even more people to fight John. Maybe even a Little Big Bad guy
9. John gets some help from someone
10. John overcomes Little Big Bad guy and minors
11. Brief reflection on how things aren’t getting better for John and he says he wants out of the game
12. John Kills Big bad guy

Through it all, we would wonder how is he going to get past this? There are variations and a couple jokes along the way. The film tries new things by adding some other characters, but I don’t know if I ever really care at this point. Maybe it was because I saw them all in the span of a couple weeks.

I would say the movie is good and it certainly brings the action, but I wouldn’t mind if this was the last one.

John deserves a rest.

Overview

With the price on his head ever increasing, John Wick uncovers a path to defeating The High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and forces that turn old friends into foes.

As I write this, it has been almost a week since the end of season one of Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus. I think it’s a really nice addition to the media that I’ve been watching this year. This year has had a lot of opportunities for me to look at pacing. I find it to be a refreshing contrast to how many things have changed this year. They say the only constant in life is change, and I’m eagerly waiting for events to become boring. Pluribus has moments of stillness. Moments where “nothing” happens, and you get a chance to observe all the little things.

How did I get here?

This year, the media that I noticed pacing the most is Casablanca, Jaws, Gremlins, Sinners, and PeaceMaker Season 2. These all had different kind of pacing. What I define as pacing is the rate at which action and dialogue is shown on screen. For some, these are the moments that happen when the director yells “action”. All of these had moments where you have the actor contemplating or a pause filled with foreboding.

I feel that countless modern shows are pushing narratives where they explain everything to the audience, and the examples that I mentioned above leave some of this subtext up to you to figure out.

That is the point. You get to think.

More than a billion dollar screensaver

Pluribus has the most extreme version of empathy that I’ve ever seen on TV. You see millions of people coming together for one purpose. No violence. No Racism. No differentiating of social economic status. It allows you to think about a world where it doesn’t matter and what it would cost the individual.

I remember when I was unemployed, and I had my wife and two young daughters to care for. I was depressed and felt like a failure. The initial stance of The Others on providing purpose and happiness is tantalizing. If this option was presented to me, I would not have hesitated on the promise that my family would have everything they wanted.

I feel that is part of what makes discussions and thoughts about the show so engaging for me. When I think about the scenarios, I also think about who else would be in the hive mind, and it makes me question.

• Is my family in there?
• How many of my exes?
• Is the person who borrowed my 1996 Ginuwine… the BachelorCD and never gave it back in there?
• Can I have it back?
• What if I was the only one who wasn’t joined in?

That last one, really has me wondering. I’ve sometimes felt lonely at parties. I don’t know what it would mean to have that feeling and it being the entire world.

This is my favorite show to come out this year. I feel that the reason it is my favorite is because a lot has happened this year and having a fun distraction like this is exactly what I needed. You don't need to know a lot about it and the stakes aren't that high.

Based off of a novela, I was a little hesitant on how they were going to make something that is essentially a 2.5 hour audiobook into a whole season of television. I was grateful that what they added to the story made the characters and story more well rounded and relatable.

Overview

In a high-tech future, a rogue security robot secretly gains free will. To stay hidden, it reluctantly joins a new mission protecting scientists on a dangerous planet...even though it just wants to binge soap operas.