Sugar delivered for me,

I don't see the finale as a cliffhanger either, so I'm fine with no season 2 if this gets dropped. Very strong detective show with compelling characters. Some terrible directorial choices, but by the end all's forgiven. A good time.

I’m not sure if this is a popular opinion or what, but I really enjoyed Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Fully I realize in a sucker for anything Ghostbusters, and this did it’s job well. Heavy on the fan service, but with a bit of heart at the core, and our enlarged main cast doing solid work all around. Hoped Patton Oswalt would have a bigger role, but I deeply enjoyed Kumail Nanjiani as I pretty much always do every time I see him. If future Ghostbusters films see him, Paul Rudd, and Oswalt as a core Ghostbusters trio with a new fourth, I’m all in.

But it’s Ghostbusters, so I’m likely all in no matter what.

Project #52: Heaven and Hell (aka High and Low)

He was kinda bored by it, but I have hopes that over time it will sink in and appreciate in value. I really enjoyed it probably moreso than my previous watches as it had been a long while since my last.

The compositions. The story itself. The depth of the characters. For me it's a masterpiece.

I read headlines that Spike Lee and Denzel are thinking about a remake. No disrespect to them but I hope they get into another idea and leave this one be. But if they do end up making it, I will definitely see what they come up with.

If you've only explored Kurosawa's samurai and similar movies, I encourage checking this one out.

Fury Road is a two-hour white knuckle car chase. Furiosa is the rare prequel that expands and builds on what came before and is still an amazing movie by itself. Hemsworth and Taylor-Joy are astoundingly good, and it even has a hell of a message about the futility of vengeance.

I don't know the number of times I said something along the same line. Ikiru and Drunken Angel are also two of Kurosawa's non-samurai movies I would recommend.

Rewatched Predators last night. The one where they’re on the Yautja homeworld.

I still think it holds up as a greatest hits album, and has one hell of a cast. Didn’t realize they had Mahershala Ali until last night. Adrian Brody is really scary as special forces.

I ended up watching both seasons of PEN15; this is a show where pair of fully adult comediennes play the 7th grade versions of slightly fictionalized versions of themselves, mostly against actual kids. There were times when I wasn't sure what I was getting from this show, but there was something about it... this may be the most wonderfully transgressive television program ever made.

It single-handedly breaks so many television story-telling norms that I'm not sure I can consciously list them all. Aside from the schtick of two adults playing actual children, with no attempt to hide this... unlike every "teen drama" where the teens may be played by 30+ year olds... the leads genuinely play like 7th graders. The emotional stakes are huge, because everything is drama for children of that age. I'm so very critical of artificially manufactured "adult melodrama", I found it refreshing and a little bit uncomfortable to see on television so much drama come from actual child-thinking.

In a shockingly true-to-life narrative choice, the 30-minute episodes don't have tidy end-of-episode resolutions that are forgotten. We get to witness painful growth (and resistance to growth!). Did I mention that this is the female American middle school perspective? It's not a gang of guys with a male perspective either.

I found this to be one of the great TV series that ends in a way that is very true to itself, and is perfectly satisfying. No spoilers, but if I told you that angels came out of the clouds and asked the two leads if there was anything they needed, would you want to see how the show got to that place?

Project #53: Fearless

Starting year 2 with something that's way more for me than for him, but it's my project and I'll cry and sob if I want to, which is what happens when I watch this movie.

Incredible cast and the acting destroys me. I wonder if this is the movie that's going to unlock my whole psyche with each watch and it feels like it gets closer each time.

Are people even familiar with this movie anymore? I've seen maybe two references to it in 30 years of pop culture. Anyway, it's a Weir and it's really a piece of art for me.

Also, did Tom Hulce do something terrible that I never read about? His career is confounding to me for how good he can be.

I love PEN15 and agree with all you've said. I'll also add, as someone who was the age of the characters when the show is set (albeit a guy) there are some era-specific bits/episodes that hit mega hard (the AOL instant messenger episode for example). Just really masterful writing that balances some gut busting humor with the growing pains/ups and downs of being a teenager on the cusp of "adulthood." It's something that's incredibly difficult to do as a writer. Really brought me back to Wonder Years and Freaks and Geeks, both shows that really understood what could be the most awkward and difficult but also most funny time of a person's life.

For a real trip watch Mr and Mrs Smith on Prime. Seeing Maya as an actual adult (and an ass kicking one at that) is a trip haha

Much to my shame I haven't posted for the past almost three months. So here we go.

Dune Part Two
Big fan. Love Villenueve's take even if it does strip down a lot of the crunchy scifi bits. Austin Butler was very good and the daytime scene on Geidi Prime was creatively and artistically rendered. This adaptation gives Chani much more agency. Looking forward to what Denis does with Messiah.

Oppenheimer
I went to the theater for "Barbenheimer" and sadly someone pulled the fire alarm so I only saw a little under half of this in the theater. The performances are some of the best. A bio-pic only Christopher Nolan could deliver. I was entranced.

Cyborg
Time for some garbage from Cannon Pictures. A wasteland-ish movie featuring JCVD and very little of the cyborg-goodness the title promised me. Cannon spent all the gore budget on the first 10 minutes plus an ambitious (for such a cheap studio) stop-motion sequence featuring the cyborg's head being opened up. Some okay schlock.

Trespass Against Us
Michael Fassbender, Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan (in a very small role) in an A24 crime movie about a Roma family in the UK. It's...not worth it. There's not much here. Fassbender plays a man who wants to get away from the criminal side of his family but this movie wasn't really interesting. Largely a big fan of A24 produced stuff because they take a chance on mostly experimental premises but this was rather bland.

The Ballad of Lefty Brown
Another A24 studio film, and won't be the last on this list. Bob Pullman plays an elderly cowboy whose rather inept yet has been in close proximity to some legendary (yet fictional) outlaws. His best friend is murdered and he vows to catch the man responsible. Most Westerns' protagonists are competent, this one isn't and it's often painful to watch. But that may just be me. I get physically uncomfortable watching characters embarrass themselves (hence why I can never watch "The Office"). So watching the protagonist fall over while trying to install a fencepost by himself may have been the hardest thing for me to watch in this movie. Aside from that, it's alright. The story isn't anything special, it's rather predictable.

Dream Scenario
A24, check. Nicolas Cage, check. Man, Cage has been on a role these past few years. "Mandy", "Pig", "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" and now "Dream Scenario". Cage plays a college professor who goes viral when a large swath of the population dreams about him. It's a study on fame, especially fame through no fault of your own. Cage's voice is just a tad less ridiculous than "Army of One" but don't let that deter you. Somewhat a cross between David Lynch and Michael Gondry is Kristoffer Borgli's "Dream Scenario".

Poor Things
Wowee Emma Stone deserved that Oscar. Everyone gives a good performance, except you Ruffalo (that accent work was atrocious). Yorgos Lanthimos has cornered the weird, darkly funny corner of cinema these last few years with "The Lobster", "The Favourite" and now "Poor Things". A Frankenstein story of sorts with a lot of *MRF musical cue* sexual relations. If that makes you uncomfortable definitely stay away because it is prolific throughout. If that's not going to bother you definitely check it out, and everything else Lanthimos puts out. Looking forward to "Kinds of Kindness" later this year.

The Iron Claw
A24 #4 for this post. I've never been one for wrestling. Almost all my friends growing up were into it but I was too sheltered, wasn't allowed to watch it. I never had an interest anyway however listening to various podcasts talk about wrestling (The Dollop, Behind the Bastards, The Goods from the Woods) and I find the behind the scenes fascinating. I had heard of the Von Erichs, knew they were a family dynasty in the industry. When the first trailer dropped I was shocked at Zac Efron getting He-Man huge. While the movie omits a brother it doesn't take away from the tragedy. The industry is littered with tragedy (Bruiser Brody even makes an appearance in this) but the "Von Erich curse" and Fritz's parenting is devastating. Everyone gives a good performance and the final moments had me in tears.

Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver
I hated part one I wrote an entire post about it on this thread. I'm not giving as much text space to the second half, but don't let that make you think this is a better experience. It's trash. Zack Snyder is bad at his job. Yes, excessive and painful slo-mo. Yes character arcs are sacrificed to make time for harvesting grain. Yes characters (if we have to use that term) have deaths that should be an emotional beat that flop to the floor. The ONLY redeeming quality over the first part is the lack of SA. It's terrible.

High Plains Drifter
Oof and doof. Clint Eastwood's protagonist (I guess) r***s multiple women in this "classic" western. If you ever had the feeling to revisit it, don't. It aged like milk, if milk had also assaulted multiple people.

The Guard
Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle in this darkly comic crime movie written and directed by John Michael McDonagh (brother of Martin McDonagh ["In Bruges", "Seven Psychopaths", "Three Billboards..."]. Gleeson is a less than clean cop in a small Irish town when drug traffickers take an interest nearby. Mark Strong and Liam Cunningham are also prominent in this black comedy. If you like Martin McDonagh's filmography you'll enjoy this as well. John doesn't take as big of swings as Martin, but this is perfectly enjoyable as well.

Shot Caller
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jamie Lannister, GOT) heads this strangely stacked cast (Lake Bell, Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey Donovan, Holt McCallany, Benjamin Bratt). Coster-Waldau plays a day-trader who accidentally killed his friend in a drunk driving incident and is sent to prison. In prison joins the Aryan Brotherhood and throughout the movie makes his way up through the organization. I have quite a few problems with this movie. One is the fact that every other character in the gang has swastika tattoos while our protagonist doesn't. Almost as a way to make him "the good nazi" because his racist tattoos aren't explicitly nazi tattoos like everyone else. Another issue is the racism isn't wrestled with. It feels like the movie is using the gang more as a prop of survival while not coming to terms with what it means. I don't think this movie is worth the two hours.

Skin
A24 numero 5. While this also has a lot to do with white nationalism, like "Shot Caller", this is a good movie. Based on a true story about Vinlander Social Club member Bryon Widner (Jamie Bell) and his journey to get out of the movement. Luke Cage himself (Mike Colter) plays anti-hate activist Daryle Jenkins who works to doxx and convert those in white nationalist organizations. The movie is sectioned off throughout with the painful, yet cleansing moments of Bryon's tattoo removal procedures. It's a painful, yet uplifting film that I wholeheartedly recommend.

Godzilla x Kong: New Empire
I took our 7 year old to see this opening weekend for her birthday. I'm thankful to have a daughter that enjoys the Legendary Monsterverse. It's plenty of fun. Love that Dan Stevens rejoined Adam Wingard for this (big fan of "The Guest"). The neon, the monster fights, the easter eggs to the past 70 years of Toho films, I love it all.

Furiosa
I saw "Mad Max Fury Road" four times in the theater. I think it's one of the best movies ever made. "Furiosa" is not to be compared to Fury Road. George S. Miller's latest foray into his wasteland is almost a biopic for the titular heroine that, while expanding Furiosa's story also deepens my love for Fury Road and the world he's created. Was very happy to see Tom Burke as "good guy" Praetorian Jack, definitely meant to convey a sense of Gibson's Max Rockatansky in design while also, in my opinion, a slight visual nod to Toecutter. Chris Hemsworth steals the entire movie as Dementus. His prosthetic nose, the exaggeration on his native Australian accent, love it. It makes me want more fun, villainous roles for Hemsworth.

Project #54: Zodiac

Since I watched it for my own revisit not too long ago, it was not something I was super itching to throw on again, but honestly, it's an easy watch. Even with how long it is it simply doesn't stop giving you things to look at and understand about the characters.

He enjoyed how this de-glorifies a serial killer vs how Se7en plays up how smart and cunning and clever one could be. I was worried he would find it long, but it held his attention all the way through, too.

Damn good story and sharp film making.

I finished X-Men '97. I was impressed! I found myself appreciating the fore-fronting of love/acceptance/friendship/family in a way that I almost never tolerate in live action. How is it that a cartoon can hit on all those themes in a more mature and sincere manner in ways that other shows with more time and live actors (ehem, Arrowverse, and keep reading) simply cannot?

My only complaint about X-Men '97 is Kurt Wagner and his Rosary beads. OK... I get that this is a story-telling shortcut... but Rosary beads are fingered while used and not clutched as a ward. For all the time he is shown holding the beads, his dialogue ought to be including appeals to Mary, and not just "Mein Gott!"

I am almost done with Star Trek: Discovery Season 5... and I have notes. First: A couple episodes into this season and I'm thinking "Oh, they are doing a spin on the Doctor Who "Key to Time" season... but maybe not..." and then I saw the episode where all the librarians were cosplaying Gallifreyan Time Lords.

The primary note I have after nine episodes: We don't need (at least, by my count) five different romance stories in a 10-episode season. We've got (starts counting):

• The Captain and Book
• The "Kids"
• The Doctor and the Engineer
• The Politicians
• The "Baddies"

WTF? One of these gets formally dispatched (consuming at least half of one episode), another is sort of backgrounded (in a reasonably mature way), one of them drives the plot, another is used to resolve an episode, and another has me wondering "Why?". This choice strikes me as so weird, as there is essentially no conflict shown among the rest of the cast, with a couple instances of "oh they are just gruff with a core of sweetness." Did the writers room from The Flash all get jobs at Paramount+?

I *like* that Discovery went out of its way for representation qua representation... but when I found myself craving the (IMO, lazy, and too much like one of the things I hated about ST:TNG) repeated instances of "round-the-horn" technobabble collaboration insta-win scenes... yeah, something isn't sitting right with me. I feel really bad for most of the actors in this show, because aside from very few of them, there won't be a lot of good material for them to add to their personal clip reels.

I have finished Dune 2. I am...

Upset.

Background-I read the first Dune book every couple years. I've read the entire series a couple times (Frank's, not his damn kid's). Denis's movies are exactly what I was afraid of. All style, no substance. There's some good style! And there are even hints of substance beneath them. But man. So many missteps.

I'm not going to list them all out, because I feel like other people have already done so and I don't feel like spending any more time on them. I still maintain Lynch did a better adaptation. Not a better movie, but a better adaptation.

My final thought- I was on vacation last week, and in two separate bookstores I saw people buying a copy of Dune to read. So if nothing else, I give Denis that much credit.

I enjoyed both of the Villeneuve Dune films; I'm not going to try to convince someone who doesn't like them that they are wrong. I'm also a tremendous fan of the six Frank Herbert novels. In no particular order, what I liked about them:

• The films freed themselves from much of the text of the original novel.

I can understand how for a person who believes there is magic in the written word, that using so little of it while also making deviations could be upsetting. DV is also on the record for (I am paraphrasing) "not liking scripts." Let that act as a reason to double-down on a dyspeptic reaction, but DV is definitely a "show don't tell" artist.

• I feel like I got a big-picture (literally, I suppose, for IMAX veiwers) view of the world.

The things I immediately noticed that were "missing" from the DV films were the technical minutae of the worlds, much of which gets spelled out in great detail in the novels. For me: mileage varies (widely) on how important I (points to self) think a piece of technology is to the story. For the films, I don't think it was as crucial to focus as deeply on things like water discipline, or hunter-seekers, whatever. Such things are IMO incidental to the greater themes.

• I did not miss (at all) the lack of the Guild, any details on what Liet-Kynes was up to, Alia-as-murder-tyke, nor did I miss endless "wheels within wheels" conversations (although IIRC that bit gets overplayed in the second novel, not so much the first)

Again, if this was world-stuff someone wanted... yeah I guess there is a reason to be upset. IMO, the world of novels (at the start of the series) is a completely absurd political situation, so I can accept the sort of minimization of what is actually shown in the films. I felt the hints and echoes were in the films, even if they were not explicitly in the foreground.

• At the end of the second film (spoilers!) I felt that I could believe there was going to be an actual galaxy-wide jihad.

This was a big reason for my enjoyment of Part Two. The first novel never left me with a feeling that the Fremen would actually go into space in the name of Muad'dib. The Lynch ending "...and then it rained" certainly did not hit me that way.

• I liked the shift-of-focus to Chani, as well as the changes made to her attitude.

This shift certainly came at the expense of other characters (mostly Jessica)... but my opinion of Jessica in the first book is to more-or-less explain the crazy stuff the Bene Gesserit have been up to. We get the hints of that, I didn't need it to be explicit in the films. I don't mind at all how Jessica's plot points were altered for the films... there is a sort of problematic (in hindsight) point that Jessica may have been as young as 14 when she became concubine to Leto... some analysis puts her closer to, but still not yet 20, I'm not going to math it out.... and the age difference in the actors subtly reinforces this.

I enjoyed the SciFi mini-series adaptations, which were (low budget) reasonably book-true adaptations, with only a few changes. The best of the changes IMO for the mini-series was that Irulan was given agency, and actually came across as being an excellent counter-point to Jessica.

I'm certainly not going to tell someone they're wrong for liking the new ones, and I wish I liked them to. They just fell way to short for me, and most of that is due to what I perceive as lack of character interplay. And I also really didn't like Chalamet's delivery in the last hour. Felt way too forced.

But yeah. I'm kind of a book purist. Not exclusively, but pretty much here.