Friends & Neighbors (1 season... so far... on Apple+)

A few years ago, Jon Hamm did a promo for Apple plus where he was complaining about how everyone notable in Hollywood has their own Apple series/movie except for him…
Well, he finally got his wish and it was worth the wait.

For whatever reason, I never got into Mad Men when it was on. But I liked Jon Hamm enough in the Top Gun sequel and that tiny role he had in SuckerPunch as “the high roller” (considering how much of the movie's plot hinged on that character, I still can't understand why the majority of his screentime was only available on the extended blu-ray edition) to follow him to this series.

And it was a good series.

It’s interesting. Andrew Cooper (most people just call him Coop) isn’t meant to be a likable guy. Most of the people in his neighborhood aren’t meant to be. They’re all affluent people, almost all white, and have more money than they know what to do with.
He gets set on his trajectory when he’s fired from his hedge fund firm and thanks to a non-solicit clause, he’s not able to get hired anywhere else. Then the few interviews he does get, he cops an attitude and sabotages himself. Seriously, if he wasn’t good looking or charismatic, you wouldn’t be rooting for him.
Another thing that’s not going well for him and hasn’t for the last few years- he’s divorced after his wife cheated on him with a basketball player. Prior to that, he was already an absentee workaholic husband and father so he’s not on the best terms with his family.

So what he winds up doing to keep up appearances… he starts breaking into his neighbors’ homes and stealing valuables, which he turns around for cash at a shady pawn shop. Or at least the only one who’ll entertain him because he’s selling pricey watches without receipts and certificates of authenticity.
The question lingers in the air of if or when he’ll eventually be found out. The missing valuables haven’t all gone unnoticed. He gets in over his head with one of his stolen acquisitions where one of his friends becomes collateral damage. And for good measure, he becomes the leading suspect in a murder plot… it’s teased in the first few minutes in the series and by the time it circled back, I completely forgot about it, haha. That’s what I get for only watching one episode a day.

It’s a drama series but there are plenty of humorous moments to break the tension. Maybe a little too much sexual content for my tastes but that’s just me.
One funny comment mid-season that may as well be a fourth wall break— someone mentions how there’s been an uptick in violence lately. To which I replied “no kidding- the first four episodes only had language and sexual content” and pretty much every one after that also had violence listed in the viewer discretion column.
Aside from DNA, one thing linking him to the crime scene is him having a fight with the eventual victim… don’t remember what it was even about but the dead guy wasn’t super likable anyway.

What I liked most about the series, I think, was the relationships. Particularly between Coop and his family. Both of his teenagers are talented in different things and I couldn’t help but root for him to get back on good terms with them. It wasn’t like they preferred Nick the basketball player, either.
Nick was great but maybe too great… I kept expecting something to be wrong with him because he was too nice at times. Especially with the cold shoulder Coop would give him whenever they’re in a room together… which is kinda frequent with how close the neighbors are. There is one fun moment in the series when they’re able to set aside their differences and they go out for a night of gallivanting, along with Barney, his financial advisor. Especially the scene they’re night-putting at the country club until the sprinklers go off in the morning.

One character who steals the show is Coop’s sister, Ali. He takes her in when she has nowhere to go and the sibling loyalty runs deep both ways. Ironically, it’s the only good relationship either of them have at particular times.
She has bi-polar disorder and she’s managing it better than she had in the past. She’s also a talented singer who gets a steady gig at a local bar. And more than once, she winds up being the most sane person in the family.

To say anymore would be giving too much away so this is a good stopping point.
But it's a series I'd highly recommend and there's plenty of story left to tell, in the event it gets renewed for subsequent seasons.

"The Morning Show" and "Lessons in Chemistry" (1 season- Apple+)

I figure these shows have enough in common that using one post to discuss both of them would be best.

As someone who never streamed any series before this year, I selected the series I chose to watch on a different set of parameters than most.
I saw a trailer for both of these shows years ago. They starred people I knew and that was it. I had no clue aside from the tiniest bit of detail I got from the trailers as to what they were even about.
And in both cases, the subject matter was about more than I bargained for… would it have changed my mind about watching them at all? I don’t know.
I just know I wound up with one series I chose not to continue and the other— it had one season and I might have watched more if there was more. But I was satisfied with the ending I did get.


The Morning Show


Initial impression- Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon play anchor women who butt heads on and off camera

Actual premise- a daytime show struggles to salvage its reputation after its lead anchorman is fired for sexual misconduct

Basically it’s a #MeToo series. Steve Carrel’s character Mitch being modeled after other disgraced anchors like Matt Lauer. And we find out through different characters how little accountability was taken and how deep the corruption went.
It isn’t until the last few episodes of season 1 we get a sense of how it all went down. The closest I’d personally been to this issue was the documentary about the gymnasts who spoke out against Larry Nassar so it was both eye opening and unsettling. I went from watching one episode a day to two the last few days because I had to see how it all resolved.
One season I watched ultimately ended in a way I was happy with: everyone who was involved or covered up for Mitch was ousted on air and fired. In case the subsequent seasons took this progress in reverse, I didn’t want to be there to witness it. I’ve gotten more in the habit of stopping certain series if all they do is annoy or upset me… life is too short.

During this latter portion, trigger warnings started to precede episodes. I understand why but part of them didn’t like them because they essentially spoiled what was going to happen. So I’d be bracing myself for whenever the thing happens and it compromised the whole experience.

Another thing I’m still kinda sad about was how the fallout of this impacted another relationship on set. They were keeping things quiet for a while not to attract too much attention but eventually they were out in the open. And one of Mitch’s accusers talks to the girl and her experience wound up convincing her the relationship wasn’t a good idea. Except for maybe rushing to a public dinner date, he never did a thing wrong… I don’t know if they eventually reconcile or not, but I was rooting for them.

The main cast was really good. Luckily Steve Carrel looks a lot different than he used so it’d be difficult to rewatch episodes of The Office after this. Not so much what he did but his attitude, ugh! There was zero admission of wrongdoing and he learned nothing from the whole thing.
We all know Jennifer Anniston. This role was different from Rachel in so many ways. It’s revealed through the season how the station was looking to replace her (because women apparently age out of show business and she lacked the same fire she used to have) but find themselves in a bind after what happened with Mitch. We learn she’s terrible at the work life balance and is getting divorced. And as the pressure gets to her, she has breaking points.
Then Reese Witherspoon- she’s so fiery as Bradley. This gets her in trouble a lot but her reporting is much fresher than what the majority of the morning show people are like. She goes viral when she tells off a protester and ends up getting recruited to join the show. Later Jennifer Aniston makes her co-anchor- not so much for her accolades but because it would get under the skin of her superiors. And having the option to choose her co-anchor was something she wanted in her updated contract.
I’d heard of Billy Crudup but never saw him in anything and he was good as the new creative director of the show. He’s a maverick when it comes to certain things and it tests his superiors a lot, particularly his attitude about being immune to being fired. Then Mark Duplass (I’d previously seen him as a midwife in The Mindy Project ages ago) as Chip the executive producer- he’s unfortunately culpable in the Mitch situation and I think he loses his job at the end of the season. Despite his flaws, he’s in a similar boat as a lot of the other main characters. Even if they do things I disagree with, I still find them very likable.

One storyline I remember most is when the two of them go to LA to cover wildfires and they sort of have a breakthrough moment as colleagues.
With California being what it is with climate-related disasters, this was always going to be timely but it was interesting and kind of eerie to watch this while California was dealing with the Eaton and Palisade fires earlier this year. And also how news during these times are covered. I think I remember there being a story of rich people paying extra for firefighters to protect their homes, drawing resources away from poorer neighborhoods. Not the type of stuff morning news shows cover (it’s more of slanted CNN/fox news type story) but I still found it interesting they went there. Also a huge yikes if that’s actually a thing.

My only other critique of this series… there was a lot of yelling laced with expletives. Maybe it’s just me but in normal conversation or in professional situations, you don’t talk to people like that. I get that frustration was there but… seriously, would it kill you to expand your vocabulary beyond using the f word every 5 seconds?!


Lessons in Chemistry


Initial impression- Brie Larson plays a chemistry teacher

Actual premise- Elizabeth Zott, a female lab tech in the 50's struggles to get support for her research and winds up becoming a TV personality… and finally a chemistry professor at the end of the series

I’m not sure if I’ll be able to talk about this series without giving everything away so consider yourself warned.
This series makes me think of an Ed Sheeran lyric about “watching shows they recommend that don’t get good until the end.”
The latter half of this series was loads better than the first half.
I know it’s based on a book and it’s about self reliance and overcoming adversity… but some things need to be said before I can go forward:

1) if a woman stabs a man with a pencil, there’s probably a good reason for it… she isn’t the one who should be forced to apologize
2) Don’t make me fall in love a character…and kill them off. Especially when they’re the one ally the main character has
3)if a woman states they don’t want to be a parent, don’t make them a parent because “biology”— this is just something that annoys me. Writers need to get more creative and write more female characters who find success and happiness with every other aspect of their lives.

Now that that’s out of the way…
Elizabeth reminds me a little of Sheldon from Big Bang Theory. Maybe it’s just a genius thing but both of them are very matter-of -act and don’t always notice sarcasm. Her tendency to take things at face value ruffles some feathers but these quirks help bring levity to the story.

It’s a little disappointing in retrospect that she doesn’t achieve the goal she set out to do- earn recognition in the science community for her research.
But she does achieve a lot through the series. After losing Calvin Evans, the love of her life, and dealing with the challenges of being a single parent, she gets a gig doing her own cooking show on public broadcasting.

This was when where things started to get really good. She’d already become good friends with neighbor Harriet Sloane (I’d previously seen her as one of Keating 5 in “how to get away with murder”) who has her own storyline fighting for their neighborhood— they’re putting a freeway through it specifically because it's predominately a black neighborhood— probably one of the best integrations of civil rights in a recent series I’d personally seen. I don’t think they won the fight to keep the neighborhood but she definitely fought tooth and nail for it.
At the TV station, they had Dwight from The Office being a not-always nice guy and Stuart from Big Bang Theory helping her get her foot in the door. His character also gets progressively braver and willing to take more chances to help her succeed.
Then of course her daughter Madelyn, being the product of two geniuses, becomes a prodigy. So much so that her teachers are constantly annoyed at her for being smarter than them.

So the supporting cast overall is super strong. It’s also nice to have the military husband angle for the neighbor and he comes back home alive from Vietnam… I guess the show didn’t want to kill off more than one significant other.
We also learn more about Calvin's backstory- how he grew up in an orphanage and when his father came looking for him, the orphanage people kept them apart because they were using his genius for their own gain.

The show within the show is different than the Julia Child show we’ve experienced or seen one way or another. She still cooks on set but she also grapples with product placement issues. Most of which she doesn’t approve because they’re not made with natural ingredients. Then at one point, she turns a lot of heads when she held up a box of tampax as their latest sponser.
I mean, the rabid fan base of the show was mostly housewives so it’s relevant but the fact she went there was a good laugh. She also makes a controversial stand for the local civil rights movement and thanks to her fans, they keep her on the network... and Dwight loses his job.

In the end, though, she sees how her newfound fame has been affecting her relationship with Madelyn- they dont see each other as much anymore- so she leaves the show. And finally becomes a chemistry professor… and it ends there. I kinda wish I saw more of her in that role but for everyone, it was a good stopping point.

Ted Lasso (3 seasons on Apple+)

I'd been the type of person who absolutely refused to buy into the idea of streaming TV shows. Particularly on anything that would require paying a monthly subscription.
This is something I have absolutely zero regrets.

HOWEVER...

I finally joined the rest of my family and got my own iPad for Christmas. With it came three FREE months of Apple+.
So I figured... eh, why not? I'll see what all this is about and I had three shows in mind that I wanted to see.

Ted Lasso was the first one I choose and as of writing this post, the only one I continued binging after Season One. More on that later...

I knew nothing about this show going in except that Jason Sudeikis played the title character, he was coaching a soccer team and that it was a comedy.

It didn't take long for me to not only get into this show, but to immediately rate it as one of my favorite series ever. This is not an exaggeration... it had its ups and downs throughout the three seasons (as of this post) of its lifespan, but it had one thing going for that few other series have.
Most of the show was light-hearted and fun, full of memorable characters that'll be staying with me for a long time. And while it wasn't 100% drama-free zone, it handled those bumps in the road without throwing the train completely off the tracks. Between that and all the pop culture references, it was almost like it was tailor-made for me.

Going forward, there will be some spoilers... 
I'm mostly writing this post for myself so I have a record of why this show meant so much to me in 2025. 
Also- if anyone is thinking of getting an Apple+ subscription or happens to be in the middle of a free trial period, I'd ABSOLUTELY recommend checking this show out. 

And in case you're wondering, you do not have to be a soccer fan or even a sports fan to enjoy this show. I still don't know anything about that sport, haha.
With the exception of the World Cup a few years ago when Argentina (led by Lionel Messi) won in overtime, three seasons of this show is the most soccer I'd watched in my entire life.

***.

Ted Lasso is a college football coach from Kansas who is recruited to coach a soccer club in England by its female owner, Rebecca Welton. 
AFC Richmond isn't the strongest team in the league, but has a few star players. Notably young upstart Jamie Tartt and seasoned veteran Roy Kent.
But here's the catch: Rebecca recruited Ted for one specific purpose-- to sabotage any chance it has at success. 

...like many other people seeing this the first time, I reached the inevitable conclusion that this is essentially Major League, but instead of baseball, it's about soccer. Then more information comes out and we discover there's more going on behind the scenes. 

Rebecca's ex-husband, Rupert, had been the club's previous owner and ruining it would be the perfect revenge against him. Once she reveals this to Ted, they have a good conversation and they become allies- to make this team the best team in the league and a much better team than it had been under his leadership. 

Even before that, Ted's easygoing Midwestern attitude was winning over the hearts of everyone around him. He'd start each morning making "biscuits for the boss," which she accepted begrudgingly but secretly had Director of Operations Higgins doing recon to find out where he bought them because they were that good. 

Another skeptic he slowly won over- Trent Crimm from The Independent. Someone who you think is just another skeptic journalist but Ted wins him over and we get to see more of him as the series goes on.

For a while, it seemed like his only ally was Nate Shelley- the kit (equipment) guy who was full of ideas for how the team could improve and Ted was the first person to take him seriously. Nate's trajectory through the series... if you told me when I started this series the twists and turns that were in store for him, I'd say you were crazy. No matter what went on with him, part of you couldn't help but root for him.

Nearly every character was likable and even the ones that weren't, they often had a redemption arc or a certain stand-out moment in the series that won you over. The only exceptions were probably Rupert and the billionaire from Ghana that butted heads with a bunch of the main characters in season three. The closest things show had that could be considered villains... and karma came for them 

Roy Kent had a lot of growth through the series (as well as career changes), but the award for Most Improved definitely goes to Jamie Tartt.
He was notable for being the most prolific player on the team.... mostly because he never let anyone else score the goals. Super arrogant and unpleasant to be around. Then the contract that lent him to Richmond expires and he goes back to his original team, Man City. Then he ditches that team to do reality TV and had to work to regain his former team's respect when he came back to play for them. He's still not my favorite character, but he'd redeemed himself plenty in my eyes in season three. 

Roy Kent will probably go down as one of the most iconic characters this show is remembered for. He'd been in the league a long time and clearly dealing with the struggles that come with being an aging athlete. So his soccer career ends after seasons one. After that, he moves from being a talking head on a SportsCenter type show to a solid member of the coaching team at AFC Richmond along with Ted and Coach Beard (Ted's close friend who came along with him when he was recruited).
He's got a foul mouth and is rough around the edges, but he shows throughout the series he is a softie underneath. Especially when it comes to his niece, Phoebe, who he occasionally babysits. One of his finer uncle moments was in a Christmas episode. One of Phoebe's classmates says her breath stinks... and he bets her that he can find a dentist to address her halitosis within 10 doors. And he succeeds. 
In practice, he's very hardcore- one highlight was an ill-advised teamwork experiment where he had players paired up and tied to each other by their... let's just say a part of the male anatomy. It goes about as well as you'd expect. Meanwhile, he is laughing this really distinct laugh on the sidelines... thinking about that now still has me in stitches but yeah, do not try this at home.

Keeley does a lot of advertising and PR work for the team and later gets her own PR firm. Her friendship with Rebecca is a great example of female friendship. Despite the age gap, they're almost as close as sisters. Recently, Barbie dolls were made of the two of them to pay homage to that. 

Sam Obisanya gets more of a chance to shine after Jamie leaves the team and he winds up getting a lot of the bigger storylines in the series. His family is from Nigeria so that factors in a number of times. Keeley sets him up with a sponser but after hearing about their role impacting the land back home, he stages a boycott and everyone falls in line to support him. He also sets up a restaurant to bring the cuisine of his country to England and it has a lot of success. It's also the victim of vandalism after he has a Twitter spat with a politican who blocks his countrymen from seeking asylum in England.
His storylines are among the heavier on the series, but I liked how they were handled. 

Dani Rosas... three words- "Football is Life!"
It's funny... among the many references now I understand thanks to watching this show, I don't think anything can top the moment I put two and two together with this particular State Farm ad. As in "omg, I know that guy, he's from that show"
He was introduced later in season one and became a regular very quickly. He has a very happy-go-lucky attitude and super fun to be around.

I'd be remiss if I didn't devote a paragraph to the series's namesake.
I don't think I've seen a role yet where Jason Sudeikis didn't played a likeable character. But man... Ted Lasso is a role he played to perfection. Such a likeable sweet guy. Plus he had tons of good pop culture references and jokes to go along with them. The writing that went into his lines is the kind of stuff I really love... and there was only maybe one or two references where I honestly didn't know what he was talking about. 
But as the series progresses, we see there's more beneath the surface. How he struggled with the loss of his father at a young age. His continuing difficulties of working across the pond from his son, whom he misses terribly. Struggling with his divorce and his wife potentially finding love elsewhere... 

Sports psychatrist, Dr. Sharon Fieldstone, was introduced in season 2. Despite his usual optimistic attitude, Ted was a huge skeptic of her methods... in retrospective, I can understand why. Somewhere along the line, they not only become friends, but she helps him out a couple of jams... when panic attacks start happening.

Another interesting moment was Season 3 when Richmond managed to recruit sports legend Zava to join their team. I don't know much about soccer, but I know the tendancy for certain players to be divas. Faking injuries and so on. So I thought he was going to be another Reynaldo type character... once again, I was wrong and he became a great asset to the team. Until they started not doing so well...
I didn't do the math on this, but I'm sure if you sorted out Richmond's record throughout the series, they probably lose slightly more games than they won. They aren't completely helpless but definitely prone to long losing streaks. 

Another episode highlight that comes to mind is Amsterdam... where the whole Richmond staff go to get away for a little while.
Roy has been helping with Jamie special training and this continues while they're on vacation. Then the shoe goes on the other foot when Jamie teaches Roy how to ride a bike so they can take them to find a windmill.
The rest of the team, meanwhile, spend most of the night in the hotel lobby trying to figure out how to best spend their time... I can't remember if they ever decided on anything, haha. 
Rebecca has a chance encounter with a guy who owns a homeboat. They get along well but part ways with neither learning the other's name.
Ted has an interesting time at the Netherlands' interpretation of an Americana restaurant... something about a hot sauce induced epiphany where he finds the key to ending the team's latest losing streak.

***

I'm sure there's plenty of other highlights that'd come to mind but this is a pretty good cross-section. I'm going to miss this show... chances are by the time I finally discontinue my membership, season 4 will drop. Right now, they just say it'll be coming late 2025 or early 2026.

So far, this is one of three series I'd checked out on Apple+

"Lessons in Chemistry" only had the one season, but I would've done more if more existed... although it did take a while before it got good.
Then "The Morning Show"- I knew nothing about it other than the two main cast members. There'll be a post on that in the distant future, but I got the end of season one and decided in that moment that I'd had enough. The season finale was what I'd consider an ideal ending and I had no desire to continue forward to see how that gets ruined. Not to mention the subject matter... I hadn't experienced it personally but through one of its characters, it felt real enough.

I figured after one season, I'd check these other series out, just in case I get too comfortable with Ted Lasso and everything else will pale in comparison.
Spoiler alert-- it didn't matter what order I watched any of these, Ted Lasso would still be my favorite.

Theatrical Review: A Minecraft Movie

Date: Saturday, April 5 2025
Location: Stroud Mall cinemark
Time: 12pm (12:26 after the trailers)
Party: 3 (my sister, mom and I)

Review

Something I was feeling while sitting through the trailers leading up to this movie- new movies aren’t as fun as they used to be. They’re all big budget action movies, unnecessary sequels and live action remakes nobody asked for. There’s just not as much incentive to go to the movies as there used to be…
Then the main movie started and all of that cynicism essentially flew out the window. “Minecraft” isn’t the best movie ever and it isn’t necessarily groundbreaking in any way.
But it had one big thing going for it- it was FUN

My sister and I have gone out to see a bunch of these video games adaptations at the movies. All have been great even when all we know about them going in is from pop culture or we’d seen let’s plays on YouTube by our favorite content creators.
This might be the first time we’re going into one of these movies with absolutely no context.
The rest of the people in the theater more than picked up the slack. I’d venture to say that this is the liveliest theater we’d been in in a long time… and it was awesome. THIS is what movie theaters are all about.

The story begins with Steve (Jack Black) and his lifelong fascination with the mines. It’s only when he becomes an adult and he’d had enough of his deadend office job he’s able to go and explore. He goes into the actual Minecraft world and gets to create the life he’d always wanted— literally.

Minecraft is what a lot of gamers refer to as a “sandbox game” where you have the freedom to make whatever world you want. Life simulation games like animal crossing and stardew valley (I’ve put hundreds of hours into playing both of these) do the same thing but Minecraft was one of the first games to do this.
After a montage of mechanics that people who’d actually played this game would recognize, Steve is captured by the denizens of the Nether (it’s sort of a take on hell complete with fire and brimstone) and he has his pet wolf Dennis hide the power cube to keep the pigs from using it to take over the overworld.
Both this game and Angry Birds cast pigs as the villains for some reason. But after recently reading animal farm, I may have an idea why…

Fast forward- the rest of the main characters are introduced.
Jason Momoa plays Garett, whose one accomplishment that he’ll never stop bragging about is the fact he won a fighting game in a national championship. His nickname is “the garbage man” because of his signature move in the game. Sadly he’d recently fallen on hard times financially and he’s about to lose his vintage video game store.
Henry and his sister Natalie are moving to Cutlass Idaho to start a new life after their mom died. Their realtor, Dawn (who has a traveling petting zoo as a side hustle) is the first friend they make in a new town. Both siblings have their first days (Henry at school and Natalie at her new job) and they both run into problems.
Henry’s art teacher made me think of a line from another Jack Black movie- “those who can’t teach, teach gym.” I figure this dude is one step away from being relegated to that position. He gives an assignment to do a still life and gives Henry grief for being “too creative” with his assignment and the other kids bully him as a result.
Then his attempt to prove everyone wrong by actually designing a jet pack that works… it not only goes awry but it directly impacts his sister’s new job.
I’d ask “what are the odds?” but this is a movie and it takes place in a small town so I’d have to say- very good.

Luckily Henry had met Garett on the way to school so he not only gets him to pose as an uncle to take him home from school but he gets to hang out in his store.
While there, he comes across the cube, one of several things Garett won in a storage unit auction (basically all the stuff from Steve’s bedroom because he’d been gone for a long time). Before Garett can fully read the accompanying warning (written by Steve) about not putting the blue cube and the earth cube together, both of them get dragged into the mine.
Natalie and Dawn follow them there and get dragged in themselves. Before they get too enamored by the look of the place or have a chance to return home through the portal, night falls and they have to fight off the skeletons and zombies that come out after dark. Henry does his first ever build with a pretty decent tower that holds them off for a while but Steve arrives to save them before it’s too late. Although he did have a little help with the sun coming back up but whatever…

The moment he introduces himself… clearly this is a line from the game because in perfect unison, nearly everyone else in the theater said “I am Steve” alongside him.
Seriously, it was a cool moment- you had to be there.


As they travel together, Steve gives them a lowdown on the bad guys and a tutorial on crafting mechanics.
The leader of the pigs ascended to her position in a similar fashion to some notable bad guys from our own history… her talent was not appreciated by her peers so her only other option is to ruin creativity for everyone else. And since the pigs turn to stone when they go into the overworld, she wants to use the cube to cast eternal night so they can roam and pillage freely.
Since the earth cube got destroyed during the melee with the zombies, the heroes’ objective is to go on a journey in order to obtain a new one. Garett is also on a personal quest for diamonds in order to pay back all his debts.

There’s also a side story we go back to throughout the movie involving the vice principal (played by Jennifer Coolidge) and one of the pacifist villagers who comes into the real world through the portal when the heroes get sucked into his world. And surprisingly they hit it off.
I can only guess her newfound popularity from being in the white lotus series was behind this casting choice. But also, Jack Black and Mike White (the White Lotus creator) did school of rock together so that connection probably helped as well. Either way, it was a fun little thing to sprinkle it through the movie.

We may not have had an inkling of what we were getting with this movie but we’d seen enough Jack Black movies and know his humor well enough to know we were bound to have a good time.
Naturally this includes a few random songs he made up on the spot- none as good as “Peaches” or the school of rock stuff but Jack Black through and through.
We hadn’t seen much of Jason Momoa except some of his DC stuff and the commercials he’s in. He’s very hammy and over the top (as any dude stuck in his glory days from the 80s would be) but he makes it work. The chemistry of the whole main cast is really good.
Dennis the wolf takes a while to come back into the story. He’s great as well but I’m always a sucker for a good wolf character. Particularly when a wolf isn’t cast as the villain in a cartoon— that’s one cliche I’d love to do away with entirely.

Another reference the audience got really excited over despite it being in a bunch of the trailers- when the chicken jockey showed up in the boxing ring.
The experience of watching this movie- my mom would probably say that’s the way she feels when she watches other nerdy stuff with us. And honestly it was kinda fun being in the same boat, not really knowing what was going on. It allowed us to take things as they came without any expectations.
Of course there were a bunch of things that were predictable and cliched but with the special effects and stuff, you stop caring and just enjoy the ride.

In the end, the good guys win, bad guys lose and the good guys take the skills (and diamonds) they learned from the Minecraft world and took them into reality.

Sonic 3 was about the importance of teamwork (particularly with Sonic, Tails and knuckles working together for the first time). The Mario movie was about how anyone, no matter how small or how much other people underestimate them, can make a difference in the world.
I suppose one key thing people can take away from this movie- whether they’re part the Minecraft fandom or not- is that maintaining a sense of creativity and finding joy in it is one of the most important things we have and should never be taken for granted.

Grade- a solid B+


Did it make me want to try the game myself?
Maybe… I’ll have to check YouTube to see what the switch version is like
Would I be any good at it?
Debatable… I really enjoyed the other cozy sandbox games I’ve played but there’s always that pang of comparison envy when I compare my builds to what I see on the internet.

Trailers


How to train your dragon (live action)

-the first time I’m seeing the full trailer and yeah, it looks impressive


King of kings

-it’s that time of year where there’s a limited release of a movie that leans heavily on the Christian theme.
-This one actually goes into the story of Jesus and all that leads to his crucification on Good Friday and him rising from the dead three days later on Easter. But this time it’s told as an animated bedtime story, which gives it a fresh new take it hasn’t had in a while… if ever.


Lilo and Stitch (live action)

-I mean, it looks fun and definitely faithful to the original movie. But I’m getting the feeling people are over live action remakes. Especially with how badly the little mermaid and Snow White movies were received


Smurfs

-we had a couple movies with animated Smurfs in a live action environment. This one seems to be all animated… but nonetheless feels pointless


Mission impossible- The Final Reckoning

-thankfully this was only a teaser trailer… seen the full one more than enough times


Jurassic World- rebirth

-ugh! Why?
-I have so many cliches I could use here involving extinction… I’ll leave it for everyone else to decide which one to use


Superman

-ok, at least this trailer offered something new… I thought it was going to just be Superman being saved by Krypto, followed by the same stupid montage flashing all of the movie scenes in a span of 90 seconds. The montage still happened with probably the same scenes in the exact same order but at least this time we got an epic reveal of the fortress of solitude

-Depending on the reception it gets, I might go out and see this one… considering how many superman reboots that’ve been attempted this century (not an exaggeration- we’ve had at least 4 movies featuring Superman come out since the mid 2000s), I’m kinda hoping we have one that finally works. If not, Hollywood should just stop trying to “make fetch happen” and let the Christopher Reeve movies represent the character as originally intended.

Remembering Michelle Trachtenberg

Her unexpected passing happened a week ago but now I think it’s finally hitting me— and a bit harder than I expected.
This morning I swear I had a dream about her, seeing her as she was in “Ice Princess” wearing a purple hoodie, and later on I’m explaining her psychics project from the movie as if I was her.
Fast forward a few hours later, I’m crying during the Aly & AJ song from the opening credits of that movie… and a few other songs on that amazing album.

I’m no stranger to various elements of my life being influenced by people I’ve never met… ok, I have met 2 of them at autograph signings but you get the point. They exist in social spheres mine is not in regular contact with.
The point of this whole spiel is that in some small way, I guess Michelle left a similar impact on me which is why I’m sad about what happened to her. Plus the fact we’re close in age- I’m still a bit astonished about Aaron Carter’s death from a few years ago, even as a non-fan, for the same reason.

And just to be completely transparent, this connection is more about characters she played in movies than her as a person. I don’t know if she still thought fondly of her time working on Harriet the Spy and Ice Princess years after filming them. But I have fond memories of seeing these movies and see bits of myself in their characters.

Harriet the Spy

I may not agree with what she used her writing skills for- spying on neighbors and penning hot takes of her classmates to name a few things. I also don’t credit this movie for all of my journaling habits and the fact I have so many notebooks— I swear they all have a specific purpose!
But people like Harriet who write their feelings down more than they speak them to their close friends and relatives, I can certainly relate.

If I’m not drafting or outlining fiction or doing journaling about the day to day stuff, I use writing to organize my thoughts on everything else.
One prime example- I have a blog I started in 2007 to document my thoughts on Prince’s music- specifically because I had to put my thoughts somewhere (there were so many!) and I didn’t have anyone in my life I felt comfortable spewing all these things to before they get sick of it.
But mainly I get my thoughts out better through writing because I can write my thoughts faster than I could express the same thoughts them verbally.
The one thought I keep having regarding all my notebooks- whoever finds them when I’m gone is going to have a lot of interesting writing material… assuming they can read my handwriting, haha. And hopefully they’ll be kept and treasured, opposed to winding up in a landfill somewhere.
Just to give you an idea, at last count I have over 20 of them and at least half a dozen are completely filled in with my musings or story outlines


Ice Princess

I enjoyed this movie when it first came out but it later became a memento that brings me back to an interesting time in my life.
The Sochi Olympics (which I was super locked into that year) were just ending and little did I know I was weeks away from finally getting contacted about a job offer after three years of receiving next to zero follow up from every position I tried for.
Of course retrospective makes it a little more magical than it felt at the time I was living it but enough time has passed where I have the freedom to choice how I remember it. The same way where certain songs mean something special to me personally because they provided the backdrop to a treasured memory.

I didn’t make this connection at the time it came out but Casey Carlisle and I have some key things in common. Both of us had aptitudes in sciences and we had family who pushed us to that path because it ensured a better career. We also both had passions for our things, more artistic things with far less job security.
My dream… still a work in progress sadly. Then again my life also isn’t a Disney movie.

Also- I’ll freely admit that this movie isn’t super realistic. Johnny weir is the only person I know who started skating later in life (he was a teenager) who found any major success in the sport.
I still question the fact one girl’s parents had to take out a second mortgage on their house to fund her career (especially since they look well to do based on her mom’s fashion choices). Another’s dad working two jobs- that’s easier to believe.
But when it comes to Casey, I love that she found her passion and fought for it. Plus she had genuine skating talent. Based on the one featurette they were running on the Disney channel when this movie came out, Michelle did learn some skating for this role but the jumps and some of the trickier elements were most likely someone else’s doing.

I also love that this movie- and the Olympics- brought Aly & AJ back into my orbit. Even in times like these where the memories make me a little sad, but it’ll eventually pass.

Another connection that may or may not go back to this movie— when I name my fictional characters, sometimes it’ll be a name that randomly comes to mind and just feels right.
Casey Carlton was one of them but I might have also been inspired by an American idol semi-finalist, I think her name was Casey Carlson… I know she existed but no clue which song she performed. But it had that magical thing called alliteration and I always had a fondness for the name “Casey” for a girl. I wound up using this character on 3 occasions, all of which connected to someone who was on my mind a lot at a certain time.
So technically fanfiction in 2 of the 3 and each story had a cameo from the main character from the previous one.

So anyway… not sure if I have a proper conclusion at the end of all this but this is where my mind’s been for the last 6 or so hours.


If I had any words for Michelle at the end of all this, I’d just say thank you for bringing these characters to life. I really enjoyed the little time I got to spend with them.

Election (1999)

According to reviews I read after the fact…

Election isn’t your typical high school movie.

Apparently it was designed to be a satire of our political system… a message I didn’t expect and didn’t personally get out of it. Except for maybe the end when the protagonist is seen with a senator in Washington D.C.
Clearly a reference to Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton with the only difference being that it was a Republican senator instead of a Democratic president.
I kinda want to joke Alexander Payne outed himself as a Democrat… except 99% of Hollywood is so it’s not that surprising.


Speaking of Alexander Payne…

This is my 4th Alexander Payne movie and I didn’t fully realize until now that satire is his thing.
I mean, Sideways was a commentary on the snotty business of wine tasting in Napa Valley… at least I think it was. The R-rating being capped off with a scene involving full frontal nudity wiped out every other memory of that movie except for “no effing Merlot!”
And The Holdovers (which I will review later this year!) was a critique of private schools favoring deep pocketed donors over making sure the students actually pass their classes.
The Descendants is the movie where I first learned the name of this writer/director because it was up for a ton of awards. I hadn’t seen it in years so I don’t know if it’s a satire or not. But I’d love to see it again, especially since we saw some of its locations (and ate at one) in Kauai last year.


What is it with high school movies…

…not actually being about high school.

I don’t know how long I’ve had this pet peeve but it’s gotten more prevalent in recent years.
Of all the high school movies out there, how many actually have to do with school? Being in class, taking exams… that sort of stuff. The typical formula is that high school movies focus mostly on extracurricular activities or having fun outside of the classroom. If there’s any classroom footage, it’s usually just one class with one specific teacher.
The only exception to this is those “beloved teachers” movies I love so much. Because they have to show off why they’re beloved and it’s about what they do in the classroom. Or going above and beyond for certain students outside normal hours- Mr Holland’s Opus is probably the best example. He was teaching stuff outside the classroom but at least he was teaching.

The easy answer to this is that classrooms are dull and boring and it’s not something people want to go back to in a movie. All the fun and excitement (and character development) happens outside the classroom.
And maybe that’s just me being selfish and wanting to see my high school experience reflected in a movie. When I wasn’t in class stressing about grades, I was in performing arts stuff as a background person or an audience member. And I did 2 dances with concert choir and senior prom.
I never spent time with anyone outside school because I had no close friends. And the one person I did want to hang out with (cuz I had a crush on him), he always had some other activity he was doing. Being involved in community service or whatever else…


Further impressions

I came into “Election” with the following impressions. Reese Witherspoon (Tracy Flick) and Matthew Broderick (Mr. McAllister) are in it. He plays a teacher that, for some reason, does not want her to win said election.

I’ve seen a bunch of their movies and they’re both very likable people. So I figured it’d be a win-win.
…in the movie, both wound up playing very UN-likable people. Yet I still wanted them to succeed for some reason. Maybe that old loyalty was hard to overcome. I might have also felt different if these roles were played by people I didn’t know or already found unlikable.

And before I get ahead of myself and forget… this wasn’t a good movie. I’d even add that it would be classified as one of those “movies that did not age well”.
At the same time, it’s morally ambiguous and offers some interesting talking points for discussion. Hence me writing this post…

Speaking of morals, the movie opens with a question in class (one of maybe 2 scenes that actually involve classroom stuff) that’s never properly answered. Although the movie pretty much goes to show neither of these characters have morals or ethics. If they did, this was thrown out the window by the end of the movie.

The question was- what’s the difference between morals and ethics?

Morals are an individual’s sense of right and wrong while ethics is what a body of government or a board of trustees determines to be right and wrong as they oversee a group of people ranking beneath them.
Thought I’d Google this in case anyone else didn’t know. Or they were equally as annoyed as I was that they never answered the question.
As soon as Tracy was allowed to give her answer, the bell rang.

One thing about this movie I found kinda jarring and lamenting “well that was a choice…”
All the main characters have inner monologue, which is fine. But it’s annoying to have the movie completely stop while someone narrates. And it freezes their faces in often unflattering ways. I get that that’s meant to make a point but to have it happen so many times where the movie just stops… not a fan.

So I came into this movie with one question- why doesn’t Mr. McAllister want Tracy to win the election?
Just based off that first scene- yeah, she’s a Hermione Granger know-it-all. Why let her succeed, right?

Then we find out his reasoning… and it was the last thing I ever would have expected because I never expect students fooling around with their teachers.
She got his work friend fired because they "fell in love". It seemed like it was mutual until her mom found out and she lodged a formal complaint.

(This actor looked kinda familiar and it wasn't until I looked him up I realized why... he played Caltech Dean Dr. Gablehauser in "The Big Bang Theory")

Now he wants to sabotage her because he doesn’t want the same thing to happen to him… i.e. she comes onto him because he's the teacher overseeing the student council.
But the more you watch, it becomes clear he’s afraid HE will develop feelings for her and it’ll ruin his life like he did his friend.

Call it what you want- it’s gross and inappropriate. One review I read nailed it by saying pedophilia should never be done for laughs, consenual or not.
This movie was R rated for adult content and language. No nudity but definitely sex. One scene is him and his wife and he winds up fantasizing his friend’s ex-wife and Tracy talking dirty to him in her place.
At least that was the intent. I wouldn’t know anything about this since I have literally no experience… but none of this talking dirty comes off as sexy.

The first manner of sabotage is finding someone to run against her because nobody else is. And he picks a dumb jock who recently broke his leg… the guy is clueless but he was very likable and easygoing.
It gets even more interesting when his sister joins the race, mostly to get back at him for stealing her girlfriend. A rare inclusion of a gay/lesbian character in a 90's movie. The only other one I'm aware of is Christian in "Clueless". Of course this is way more common in media nowadays.
Tammy was your typical unapologetic angry teenager but she’s still pretty cool. At her campaign speech, she said stuff like “vote for me or don’t” and how she’ll abolish the student government if elected so they won’t have to sit through any more of these “stupid assemblies again”.

I’d expected this movie to be a little more like Mean Girls where Tracy is the queen bee asserting her dominance in why she should win. 
She’s not even popular, which the question of how she thinks she'll get the votes if she doesn't regularly hang out with people. Her whole thing is being involved in everything to put together the perfect resume. Not necessarily because she enjoys what she does. But the downside is no time for friends. A fact she’s a little sad about but it’s not enough to make her change her trajectory.

Part of me did decide to see this movie because the premise sounded like good research for something I’m working.
I’m making an old project a little more high school oriented (with actual classroom content) and one of the ideas I was kicking around was student council.
This movie didn’t exactly give me the inspiration I wanted but I didn’t mind too much. It’s kinda refreshing that Tracy Flick wasn’t a queen bee type of character or the world’s biggest nerd or do-gooder. She’s ambitious for the sake of it. Maybe not the most likable thing a person can be but at least it’s something that speaks to her and motivates her. And maybe the fact she didn’t have friends was something that spoke to me.
I graduated high school 20 years ago this year… and now that I’m thinking about it, I literally have no idea who was on our student council and what they actually did.

Oddly for a high school movie, there's very little student-to-student interaction. In fact, it's more about Mr. McAllister's feeable attempts to undermine her campaign as well as contemplating an affair with his friend's ex-wife. All of this culminates in a bit of clever foreshadowing... a far-off shot of bees flying around a fruit tree in her background. I asked myself  "ok, what's that all about?" Let's just say he deserved what he got.

The results of the actual election… well, what fun would that be if I gave that away? 

Another kind of nice thing about this movie was that we got an epilogue. Just in case some people watching were left wondering what became of these characters.
It wasn’t the best movie but I liked how they did it. And everyone pretty much got what they wanted in the end.
I wish more movies did this because I often find myself wanting to see what happens after the story ends or at least get a glimpse into the future of these characters.

One final thing- the janitor is like the cook from “hunt for red October”… trust me, it’ll make sense later.

The most interesting part of this whole experience... I kinda knew going in this movie wasn't going to be good. But I think that freed me up to enjoy it for what it was. 

Tommy (1975)

When someone uses “it was a product of its time” to describe something, what comes to mind?

A) it’s from a psychedelic or surreal decade like the 60s and 70s so it feels like a drug trip, or
B) this phrase is specifically designed to excuse something later generations would consider offensive but “back in the day” it was considered normal or commonplace

At face value, Tommy felt like the first option but the more I thought about it afterwards, the latter also seemed to apply.

Going into it, I knew nothing about it or The Who. Except for Roger Daltrey, they set the record for being the loudest band in the world and their most famous song is Pinball Wizard.
And that this movie existed…

So some initial thoughts after seeing it...

Am I glad I watched it?
Kinda…

Would I see it again?
Probably not- I’d classify this as one of those movies where seeing them once is good enough

Would I recommend it?
Eh… I don’t know. It would depend on the person? Maybe if you like trippy movies or 70s cult films like Rocky Horror, I could recommend this and obviously if you’re well acquainted with The Who. But that’s it.

TCM is a fun channel because they’ll have someone talk about the background information and other trivia before and after a movie airs.
I don’t know what happened on New Year’s Day but that didn’t happen. Would I have liked this movie better if it did?
Maybe… I still think it would’ve been helpful to know what I was getting into beforehand.

Which begs the question how I’d describe this movie to someone like me who has no idea what to expect.

For starters, it would’ve been helpful to know that this is a MUSICAL where 99.9% of the dialogue was singing.
I don’t hate the genre like most people who claim to hate people “randomly breaking into song”… but in this case it was so bizarre that it was like this. The first 5-10 minutes was all instrumental and when they started singing, I was grateful for actual words… until it dawned on me it was all going to be sung.
Second- it’s a rock opera (which I already kinda knew about this album- it invented the genre before Queen did it in 1975). But the long translation of this would be “you’re getting a movie where ‘plot’ is very loosely written around the music.”

Prince did the rock opera thing with his symbol album (aka the last album he released before he temporarily changed his name to said symbol) in 1992. He got grief from fans for numerous reasons over how it turned out but one notable one was the storyline not making sense. Particularly noting it made more sense before he added one shiny new song and removed some segue tracks to make room for it.
Any fan who has the right connections most likely had heard the “removed footage” and can confirm- the story still doesn’t make complete sense but the added context would’ve been helpful.
The “opera” is mostly a love story between him and the girl who’d later become his first wife. Some songs fit in the context of the opera and some don’t. What suffers the most is the anthem “3 chains o gold”- the original story is that he’s given these chains to protect from the assassins who killer her father and he’s later corrupted by their power. But without the removed footage, this very dramatic moment in the album comes out of nowhere, makes no sense and anyone who doesn’t know better would relegate it to be a “bohemian rhapsody knockoff”.

After seeing Tommy… hey, at least Prince sorta had a story even if it wasn’t explained very well.

Tommy sorta had a story too. It just wasn’t an enjoyable one- for the most part.

I’ll come back to part B of my initial comment.
I’m no expert but am I correct in assuming “blind deaf and dumb” is one of those phrases that’ve been outmoded because it’s now considered a slur? Similar to how “retarded” had been used since I was a kid in the 90s and it was outmoded in the mid 2000s for not just being politically incorrect but offensive. Through that lens I see some people from more recent generations taking exception to this movie on that alone.

But beyond the nonstop singing, my biggest problem was that Tommy was basically gaslit by his family for most of the movie. Then when he finally amounts to something of worth, he’s taken advantage of so his family can live a richer lifestyle.

He’s made the way he is because he was abused by various family members and his stepfather kills his actual father and he and his mom lie to him about it.
One could argue whether or not Tommy’s father (presumed to have died in the war) was actually there when his stepfather killed him. It could just as easily have been a metaphor for “Tommy saw his mom and stepfather sleeping together and it scarred him for life”. But the fact his mother seems to go along with her new boyfriend more than her own son after this happens is probably the most messed up part of this whole thing.

And yeah they both seem guilty about the whole thing so they keep trying methods to fix him. His stepfather takes him to Tina Turner, a prostitute known as the acid queen. And his mother takes him to what appears to be a cult that worships Marilyn Monroe, a scene ending with him kissing her feet like the parishioners before him and the statue breaks.
Both have imagery that can only be described as fucking bizarre. Particularly the Iron Maiden being injected with red fluid from syringes. And one time it opens and you see a skeleton being ravaged by snakes.
I’m generally ok with snakes but I’m not ok with needles so this scene was pretty disturbing.
This movie wasn’t quite the acid trip the Oliver Stone Doors movie was but it came close at times like that.

In our house, we use “this is spinal tap” as a punchline a lot. Mostly comparing other movies to it saying they weren’t as bad.
Spinal Tap was easier to handle but there’s barely one scene I’d consider memorable other than “crank it up to 11” and the album signing nobody came to.

Tommy is worth seeing for the Pinball Wizard scene alone… but very little else.
Elton John has a really cool cameo as the soon to be former pinball champ. Especially those shoes. They reminded me of a Prince quote (from a remix of the 1985 B-Side “Hello”) where he says “I wish you could stand in my shoes but they’re so high you’d probably fall over and die”. Those shoes were that huge, haha

So Tommy finds the one thing he’s good at and everyone loves him for it.
Somehow his senses are completely cured and he’s a normal person again… as if his childhood trauma was the one thing holding him back all these years and he could’ve seen, heard and spoke but simply chose not to.
Then for whatever reason, he gains a literal cult following. His family takes advantage of all that the same way certain religious leaders over the years have conned people out of money. (This movie came out before that whole affair with Tammy Faye and her husband but it’s hard not to see some parallels). Then in the end his followers turn on him, murder his family and he’s free to do whatever he wants.
That’s the one other bright spot in this movie- Tommy gets to find happiness after everything he’d been through and that’s what matters the most.
That’s why this movie was mostly a slog until Pinball Wizard- if you can get through the singing and “story”, you see a protagonist who deserves better. Once things start to get more upbeat and positive for him, it was more enjoyable.


But I can’t help but wonder what could’ve been if the writing had more common sense behind it, particularly the second half of the movie.
Maybe this is me overthinking things but I had two thoughts when Tommy got some autonomy back,
A) that he’d suddenly lose his pinball talents because his missing senses aided his ability to excel… not that I wanted that to happen but I half expected it and that would be why he suddenly lost his cult following
And B) something I hoped would happen but didn’t… him denouncing his family once he got his senses back. They’re the whole reason he was that way to begin with and he shouldn’t have forgiven them so easily

One final thing to note- there’s a little too much repetition with the songs. My mom will often complain about songs like “I could’ve danced all night” having too many choruses and going on forever.
This movie had one or two songs that did that- the final one in particular because half of its length played out in the end credits.
The other- “see me, feel me” and whatever else… ugh! Enough already, just stop! That song comes up at least two or three times in the whole movie.

And want to know the most ironic thing?
Earlier that day I looked up reviews on a movie playing on hbo that night. Google gave it 2 out of 5 stars and comments were vastly “I want that time back” and “I kept waiting for to get better and it never got any better”. So I passed on it.
In hindsight I probably should’ve looked this one up while I was at it, just to see what I was getting into. I don’t think it would’ve changed the fact that it’s probably going to be another movie that’ll stick with me for the wrong reasons. At least I can say it did get better as it went on. I just wouldn’t sit through it again.


One final edit after reading reviews:

• Glad to see I’m not alone in not getting this movie...
• More reviews need to mention all the singing and lack of dialogue
• Some people like it and one even said “you’re dead or at least comatose” if you don’t get what they got out of this movie. People should be feel like what they like but also respect those who don’t feel the same way. It’s like a quote I read somewhere “if they don’t get it, the journey wasn’t meant for them”
• It’s funny to me in times like these when I read comments berating the director for being “overindulgent”. It’s kinda up there about movies being too sentimental. Both are complaints I’ll read but I don’t see them myself. Still don’t get how being too sentimental as a bad thing…
• One funny comment that also reads true- “maybe someone from the 70s can explain it to me”- agreed but after all this reflection, I’m done and ready to move onto something better.