Shrinking (2 seasons... so far... on Apple+)

 As of writing this post, I've officially ended my Apple+ subscription.
You know how subscriptions tend to reel you in and try different tricks to make it hard to quit... I decided to end my subscription because:

a) I've finished all the shows I wanted to see and I don't feel like waiting around for future seasons; and
b) the price per month is being raised from $9.99 to $12.99...

The screen immediately following me hitting "cancel subscription"- the whole vibe read "oh, please don't go, we'll give you 2 months at a reduced rate... and then we'll raise it up to $12.99"

When Ted Lasso and this show come back, I might reconsider it. But for now, I can confidently say I'm ready to move on and I'm happy with what I did with the time I had. 

***

Of the series I'd watched with my mom, this was her favorite. Months from now, she'll still be talking about how great it was. How fun the characters are and how great the banter is.
Ted Lasso is still my #1, but this will sit at a firm second place.

I was inspired to check this one out after the Emmy nominations came out and the trailer did a good job showing just how an interesting a series this could be. 
But I still wouldn't have expected to enjoy it THIS much. It had a good mixture of funny moments as well as heartwrenching and serious ones.

For starters, the main three characters, Jimmy, Paul and Gabby, are therapists who work at the same practice and are good friends outside of work as well. Also in their friend group are Jimmy's neighbors Liz and Derek and his BFF, Brian.
The series's main hook, which was played up really well in the trailer, was about Jimmy being a grieving widow who'd essentially sleepwalked through the past year of his life. He finally reaches a breaking point where he decides to give his clients unfiltered advice and becomes personally invested in their lives. And he slowly gets reacquainted with the people in his life. The most important of them being his daughter, Alice. 

It's an interesting concept. These three therapists are all good at what they do and their skillsets vary. They are also human and sometimes struggle to deal with their own problems. 

My mom is a huge Harrison Ford fan and both of us equally loved him as Paul. Being that residential voice of reason combined with his dry sense of humor makes it a role tailor-made for him. While he's really good at advising those around him, he's not perfect. Now that he's dealing with the early symptoms of Parkinson's, he's forced to be more open to receiving help and, more importantly, knowing when to ask for it instead of trying to get by on his own. 

Under that gruff exterior is a big heart and he shows this off in some nice unexpected ways through the series. The greatest of these moments is in the second season finale during Thanksgiving. Not going to spoil it, but have some tissues handy. 
I hadn't seen too many of his movies beyond his work as Han Solo and Indiana Jones, but I'd say if he does nothing else with the rest of his career, that scene will stand out as one of his greatest acting moments.
Wendie Malick also has a recurring role as his doctor-turned-girlfriend and the two of them are really great together. 

Then there's Gabby, who fills a variety of roles throughout the series, but the common denominator of them all: she's so quick to assume the role of caregiver and putting others' needs first that she doesn't always give herself permission to look out for her own interests. The end of season two shows her slowly moving in that direction and hopefully she's able to make more progress in the future. 

While Jimmy starts making some major headway with his patients while getting a little more involved in resolving their issues, he has one major relationship that needs to be remediated on the homefront. 
His daughter Alice isn't talking to him because he'd checked out while they were grieving her mom's death. They have several ups and downs throughout the series and things have a way of working themselves out.

Also, in the times he'd been checked out, others have stepped in to fill in the void left by Jimmy's absence.
The most notable being his neighbor and recent empty nester Liz. She can be kind of a bitch and over the top sometimes. But when it comes to the people she cares about, she'll fiercely defend them. Aside from being a bit of a busybody, she likes to polish rocks and she gives the special people in her life a rock when they've earned it. 
Her husband Derek is the polar opposite in a lot of ways. His actor played a similar role in Married with Children where he's the more laidback member of the married couple. If anything, he's good for a laugh but that's not all there is to his character.
And also, Paul has had regular sessions with Alice where she'll meet with him on a park bench and they talk about things. She often brings some sugary treat as payment and it's a fun running gag to see his reactions to them. 

Another character we're introduced to is Brian. Who doesn't just play the overenthusiastic gay friend, but he's also the type of lawyer you only see in TV and movies where they use their law degree in multiple facets of the legal profession. He's an estate lawyer but a few times, he acts as a defense attorney on Jimmy's benefit (or technically, his patient's behalf). I'm no expert but apparently this would not fly in real life. Just because you have a law degree in one particular thing, doesn't mean you can just use their legal expertise whenever it's conveneient.

His character has a few interesting plots points throughout the series. He gets married to his longtime boyfriend Charlie and they pursue adoption to start a family.
This particular storyline, I kinda took issue with... they went into the marriage with the understanding they weren't having a family even though Charlie wanted kids but Brian isn't interested. Yet the typical peer pressure thing happens and Brian is forced to change his mind. Media needs to stop doing this nonsense. This is a big decision both parts of the couple need to agree on before going to the altar. No takebacks.
Oh... and in the show, there's an outdoor dining establishment with cornhole and Brian started a movement where you yell "cornhole!" when you sink a beanbag in the hole. This comes back a few times through the series- always good for a smile.

As for Jimmy's patients, there's two notable ones because they get massive character arcs.

Grace is played by that one actress from the Hotels.com commercials and she's always over the top and quirky. In this role, she's a lot more understated. Which I personally prefer- both of those Hotels.com actors annoy me.
So Grace's whole character arc is about her emotionally abusive relationship with her husband. When Jimmy finally snaps out of his funk, he flat-out tells her to leave her husband because he's never going to treat her well. And for a while, he succeeds... 
The story has a good resolution in the end but, man, it had its frustrating moments. 

Then there's Sean, an army vet who'd recently ended his tour overseas and he's dealing with a lot of issues afterwards. Anger, PTSD, not knowing what to do without the routine that comes with the military life.
Jimmy goes above and beyond to help him get back on his feet when his folks kick him out of the house for getting into too many bar fights. Some of his advice is unconventional and not all of it works to his advantage. But eventually they do get things right and Sean's life is made better for it. And Jimmy's various connections are also impacted by having him in their lives as well. 

For me, probably the most unexpected turn with this series... Jimmy's wife/Alice's mom/Gabby's best friend Tia was tragically killed in a car accident.
We actually get to meet and spend time with the guy responsible for her death.
And it's none other than Roy Kent himself, Brett Goldstein, who was a writer on this show as well as Ted Lasso.

It's bizarre but also kinda funny how this dude kept showing up in the Apple content I was watching. I've had several actors I'd actively followed from one movie to another... and in some cases, actors I followed through various roles because of how they were connected with a certain actor. But that wasn't the case here, just a series of funny coincidences.

The only thing I purposely watched for Brett Goldstein on this streaming platform was the movie "All of You"... somehow, my Google page on my phone got the idea "oh, you liked Ted Lasso? Check out one of the actors from that show in this movie."
It wasn't the best movie in the world but I still enjoyed it. He was probably the best part of it honestly and I'm just saying that as someone who finds him likable as an actor.

So his character, Louis, in this series shows up a number of times in season 2. Alice gets several bits of advice for dealing with her grief throughout and one is writing a letter you don't intend to send but the act of writing it is therapeutic.
She tracks him down to where he works and finally gets some of her grievences off her chest about how his actions ruined her life. But we also learn he'd been struggling with what he'd done and hadn't quite made peace with it. 

One episode shows a bunch of flashbacks with the main characters but also what his life was like before the accident. He and his girlfriend had this really cute relationship, including their favorite pasttime of people watching at the train station. 
I think the last time I saw this was in Family Guy with Stewie and his girlfriend, Olivia, where they'd comment on people they see while in the park. But with Louis and his girlfriend, they make up lives and backgrounds for the people at the train station.
There's a huge question mark about what happened to his girlfriend after the accident. Was she also collateral damage? Did she leave him? The answer was somewhat anti-climatic but at least it was something I didn't expect. 
Alice and Brian both wind up spending time with Louis and getting to know him. This does not go over well when Jimmy finds out... this thread finds its own resolution later on and again, it's unexpected and that's what makes it good. 

So often, when someone drives drunk and someone else is killed as a result of their actions, it's easy to write them off as villains or jerks who had no sense of accountability. Just like the whole angle of therapists being as imperfect as their patients, the way the show spun this was really well done and kinda makes you think. 

With Jason Segel, who plays Jimmy. I'd only seen him in a couple of roles prior to this. The big one that comes to mind is Forgetting Sarah Marshall. That movie starts in a similar place as this series did... where his character is grieving someone that had been a huge part of his life and eventually finds his way out of that depression. 
But much of my memory of that movie was ruined by the full frontal nudity in the first several minutes of it... maybe I owe it to myself to try watching it again but maybe on cable where all the R-rated stuff is edited out... 

Speaking of the content, this series mostly had langauge under the content warning section. Occasionally violence and a little sexuality. Whatever sexuality it had, it was handled really well. And compared to The Morning Show, where there were endless tirades laden with F-bombs, the cursing was used very tastfully. I'm not so sure about Alice, who's only 17, using that language, especially towards her father. (I definitely wouldn't have gotten away with that if I was her age). But whenever any of the other cast members used the f-word, it was always to express frustration, not just tearing the other person a new one. 
Again, Harrison Ford showed why he was the best actor on this show because the way he used language, it not only felt organic, but it was as if he turned them into an art form. 

So yeah, overall, this was a really good show. And I can say from experience that it's a good one to watch with family or anyone you consider as close as family. 
In fact, that's another reason why this show is so good. It's about a group of friends and their families and together, they're all as close as family. And if they're not at first, they become as close as family over time. 

The Studio (season one on Apple+)

Considering this show nominated for a ton of Emmy’s, I think it’s a safe bet it’s already renewed for more episodes.
And if Hollywood loves something more than giving each other trophies, it’s making fun of themselves.

The Studio is probably the most divisive Apple series I’d seen so far. Divisive meaning I don’t think I’ve went back and forth this much in deciding whether or not I actually enjoyed watching a series. That’s kinda wild, especially since each episode (except the pilot) is half an hour long and I could end one having a good time and the other being back to square one skepticism.
(Also- I should TM “square one skepticism”- that sounds as cool as “old school Hollywood buffet”… watch episode 9 for additional context)

Unlike previous series I’d watched, I didn’t go into it because of one specific actor. I figured it was a series about making movies and I took a stab.
I’m not even a Seth Rogen fan. He did have some good moments but he had just as much cringeworthy moments that I don’t think my status as a fan had changed.
Catherine O’Hara is an over-the-top movie producer, sometimes too much, but it’s one of those roles she pulls off well.
Among studio head Matt Remick (Seth Rogen)’s employees are Sal Saperstein (Ike Barinholtz in another role tailor-made for him), a marketing person played by Kathryn Hahn and Quinn, a plucky young producer eager to make her mark in the movies.
Also Bryan Cranston as Matt Remick’s eccentric boss, Griffin Mill.
Not to mention the dozen or so cameos of celebrities playing themselves.

Aside from Seth Rogen’s shenanigans (more on that later), the one other aspect I didn’t enjoy about this show is Kathryn Hahn’s character. I’m not super familiar with her career so I’m not sure if it’s just this role or she’s like this all the time. She was just WAY too much. Her dialogue is either shotgun fast that I just want her to stop talking or she speaks like she’s pandering. Either politically correct BS or she’s trying to be “down with the kids." She talks like someone who’s gen Z and in real life, she’s older than Seth Rogen (I recently learned he's just 4 years older than me!). It just didn’t make sense and it irritated me.

As for Seth Rogen as Matt Remick, he’s the main character so of course I want to see him succeed.
When he got promoted to studio head, he talked about wanting to make the kinds of movies he wants to make. Not going for easy cash grabs and box office totals, he wanted to make art that would also be financially successful. That much was clear in the pilot where Griffin Mill wants to make a Kool-Aid movie (riding on Barbie’s hot pink coattails) and Matt tried so hard to make an artsy Kool-Aid movie with Sorcerses directing— which was less about Kool-Aid and more about a cult that brought “drinking the Kool-Aid” into the public lexicon.

Other storylines revolve around other movies (thankfully Kool-Aid wasn’t the only movie they were making) and the ups and downs coming with production. Some of which ran into snags because he was interfering or overzealous with making suggestions. But others weren’t.

One nice thing about having these be half an hour per episode is how it condenses everything down to a single event or movie. How much of it is tongue-in-cheek and how much are things people in Hollywood actually have concerns about- I’ll always be slightly curious. In a few interviews, Robert Downey Jr would say how he’d approach making movies by picturing himself as an audience member. Bearing in mind what people expect to see and making certain moments more impactful when it counts. I’m sure there was more to it- it’s been a while- but it’d be nice to think other actors feel the same way. Some of them are just as frustrated by certain things that’ve grown unnecessarily prevalent in the industry as we are.

My two favorite episodes or at least the most memorable for the right reasons were about a One-Shot sequence and the other involving an infamous “motel sequence”.

One-shot is an instance in movies where long sequences are shoot in one continuous long take with no cuts. 1917 was almost entirely shot this way as was the Alejandro Inarritu Oscar winning "Birdman." This was something I’d already heard of before going in so I was already ahead of the game.
But all the ways Matt Remick interferes with this shoot because he doesn’t have the sense to know when to shut up… all I can say is stick around for the end. He got on my nerves, but it ended with such a huge laugh that the prior frustrations could easily be forgiven.

As for the motel sequence movie, it’s a Ron Howard film "Alphabet City" starring Anthony Mackie. Matt Remick and crew are watching the final cut in a theater. They’re loving and enjoying it… until it winds up with a ridiculously long runtime. The final half hour is this bizarre, over the top, self-serving scene where nothing happens. It’s Anthony Mackie with (presumably) his son and they just stand together in silence staring at the moon.
Kathryn Hahn is especially angry about the runtime because after discussing with her people, she learns that theaters will only be able to show it twice a day and it’ll be a financial disaster as a result. The one time in the entire series I agreed she had a point. 

Plus there’s been a lot of talk in recent years about movies being too damn long. I think someone published a stat prior to the 2025 Oscars that the average length of best picture nominees was long... looked it up, the average was 2hr29min.

Oppenheimer and Christopher Nolan movies have gotten this criticism for years but I think the Adrien Brody movie “the brutalist” ran over 3 and an half hours. (Looked it up, it's 215 minutes, which apparently includes a 15-minute intermission... WTF! and you thought his Oscar speech was long...)

The only problem left was who would be the one to tell Ron Howard… not only do we learn the motel sequence was a tribute to a cousin who’d died young but Matt is especially hesitant to be honest because he once gave Ron Howard painfully bad advice.
It all works out in the end but just the amount of craziness that culminates, it was a blast.

Some low points… I’d said how Matt Remick can’t shut up when it’s in his best interest to do so… he's smart on occasion but his ego is so fragile, you'd have to barely breathe on it and it would shatter instantly.
The most memorable is being a plus one at a doctors' charity event and going on a rant about how his job is just as important as doctors saving cancer patients.
Sure, all hospital rooms have a TV and people need entertainment to lighten the mood when they’re already not feeling well. But his blatant disregard for the medical profession, thinking working in movies is even on the same level, if not better… if anyone got through this episode without screaming at him or wanting to strangle him, I’d give them a dollar all while questioning their judgment.

Then we have an entire episode essentially dedicated to Hollywood’s obsession with diversity and political correctness.
Casting the Kool-Aid movie and wondering if it’d be racist to cast Ice Cube as the lead. Then it accelerates until they're left wondering whether it's possible to go too far when you make the entire cast black?
Personally, I’m a little curious if people in Hollywood are actually having these kinds of conversations. Seems like no matter what they do, some group (marginalized or not) will take issue with it.
This all culminates in a massive convention announcement and now the burning question is whether AI is going to put all the writers out of work. All important conversations to have, but omg, what a mess.
Also- since when has Kool-Aid been a product affiliated with the black community? I’ve literally never heard this. I'm white and grew up drinking Kool-Aid in the 90's so I thought at most it was a middle class thing.

Another sort of low point for Seth Rogen— obsessing over whether Zoe Kravitz is going to thank him in her acceptance speech. He just takes this whole thing way too far and I wouldn't have been surprised if all that effort was wasted.
Probably the best part was someone else getting thanked and name dropped over a couple speeches. I’m sure this piggybacked off Oscar winners in recent years thanking their publicists and all the winners afterwards doing the same.

A lot of the guest star actors playing themselves were great sports at poking fun of themselves. Although regarding the episode revolving around a missing reel of Olivia Wilde’s movie, I wonder how much was true to her as a person or they deliberately made her out to be a perfectionist. And not just a perfectionist but David Fincher “doing 50 takes of someone opening a door” crazy perfectionist. (Him and Stanely Kubrick apparently pull this stunt in all their movies).
Olivia had also gotten some heat recently on the set of “Don’t Worry, Darling." (Looked it up... these rumors apparently were unfounded so I guess the "Missing Reel" episode was making light of those rumors)

The final episodes were a two parter where all the actors spent half of it tripping on shrooms (Zoe Kravitz was a riot in this storyline!) and the other half trying to get everything together and tracking down a wayward Griffin Mill so Continental Studios can pull off a killer presentation at CinemaCon.
It ends on an odd note but man, the journey leading up to it, you just have to see for yourself. It’s insane.

One final highlight actually didn’t involve Matt Remick much at all. Rather, it was a tit for tat rivalry between Sal Saperstein and Quinn. Each of them has a horror movie they want to get made and they’re willing to pull out all the stops to make that happen. Again, it’s crazy over-the-top ridiculous so you’re better off just enjoying the ride cuz, oh boy, it’s a doozy.

I just really appreciated the issue this was addressing. I don’t like watching horror movies in general but I’m especially not a fan of the same concepts getting used to death and dragged out over a dozen sequels. Plus, “Smile” is a recent success story that has since spawned exactly one sequel and the fact Sal is backing a film called “Wink” that rips off that concept and has the same person directing it… I’m definitely on Team Quinn for this one.
I get that Hollywood is a business and businesses revolve around making money but c‘mon!! To rephrase a quote from Herman Melville, I’d rather them fail at something original than to continue succeeding with the same old stuff they’ve done a billion times over.

Whether you enjoy series about making movies, gratuitous cameos from actors playing themselves, or making fun of the whole institution, I’m sure this series has something for everyone to enjoy. Some points do require a little more patience than others and I’d highly recommend sticking it out to the end before you form an opinion on "The Studio" as a whole.

The Internship (2013)

Since Owen Wilson’s Apple+ series is wrapping up this week, it felt like a good time to do a post on another of his movies.
With the recent exception of “Masterminds” (as in recent to me- the movie came out 9 years ago and I saw it last month), I’ve never met an Owen Wilson character I didn’t like. I’ve always found him generally likable, but a bit more since seeing Midnight in Paris.
This movie was promoted as the much anticipated reunion of him with his Wedding Crasher partner-in-crime Vince Vaughn. The end result… maybe didn’t meet expectations but even with its flaws I found it enjoyable. We have the DVD in our shorehouse movie collection so we see it at least once a year.

The initial premise- the duo are businessmen who sell watches and they awkwardly learn on a sales call that they no longer have jobs. (By the way- this probably the best use you’ll ever see of “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette in media).
Because of this, Vince Vaughn loses his girlfriend and his house (as well as some of the audience’s respect over his idiotic pronunciation of Barcelona). Owen Wilson isn’t much better off, selling mattresses for Will Ferrell (who definitely has a sexual harassment lawsuit in his future with how inappropriate he is with his “hotter” customers).

Suddenly Vince Vaughn has an epiphany… the two of them can participate in Google’s internship program, which is a gateway to full time employment.
Their interview scene to get accepted into this program is a good showcase of this movie’s writing, both the good and the… for lack of a better word, annoying. Some jokes throughout the movie either do too good of a job showing how clueless these guys are about how technology works or they just run way too long.
They do their interview via Skype (dating this movie a bit... Skype closed up shop early 2025) in a public library and they essentially BS their way through it. They enroll in The University of Phoenix to meet the student requirement and Owen Wilson’s major is physics. Also, they call it “the Harvard of the internet,” which is definitely not true.
The key question they’re asked: you’re shrunk down to the size of nickels and dropped into a blender. What do you do?
They never answer this directly but their answer is clever enough to get them chosen. They do a silly reference to Fantastic Voyager, saying they’ll get out of the blender and go into the mini submarine to save lives. But their whole message is essentially “it’s not about getting out of the blender, it’s what you do next” and how they had been in the blender and this is their second chance to make a difference.

They get to the actual Google campus out in California and all the interns are put into teams. Predictably, they wind up in the team with all the misfits or as head honco Mr. Chetty puts it “the leftovers” and Lyle (who we see campaign for them at the admissions meeting) is their team captain/supervisor. Josh Brener, who plays Lyle, later plays a notable role in the HBO series "Silicon Valley," but he sadly winds up being one of TJ Miller's many punching bags throughout the series.

Graham, the intern who serves as the antagonist drafts his teammates all based on their colleges- only Ivy League are good enough in his eyes.
While Vince Vaughn regularly butts heads with him and Chetty, Owen Wilson spends the majority of his time essentially stalking Rose Bryne. I love the guy but I just found this character arc so annoying— first because she’s an employee and interns aren’t supposed to date them and second, it just perpetuates the myth that a girl will eventually agree to go out with you if you ask them enough times. I want to scream “she’s not interested in you- leave her alone!”

As for the rest of Team Lyle, we have Yo-Yo Santos, the neurotic son of a “tiger mom” (this term for overbearing Asian moms came into being a few years prior), Neha, an Indian girl who loves anime and Star Wars, and Stuart, a deadpan-humor type of guy who needs to learn the valuable lesson that there’s a whole world out there- just 3 inches up.

The internship program consists of challenges and the team with the highest grand total is guaranteed jobs after graduation.
The challenges vary, as do how well the two guys handle them.
The first challenge is finding a bug in the code… and since they have ZERO coding knowledge and annoy their teammates to death as they play 6 degrees of separation with pop culture references, they get sent away to find the creator of the code… Professor Xavier.
There’s a quidditch match and Vince Vaughn gives a pretty cool halftime pep talk referencing Alex, the steel mill girl with a dream to dance (aka the plot of Flashdance). As a Harry Potter fan, it was a fun scene but Lyle’s comment about recommending a stag patronus in case of dementor attack… ugh, it annoys me cuz last I checked, you don’t choose what your patronus looks like. The form chooses you. Although Snape’s patronus in the deathly hallows might prove otherwise…

Next is a “create your own app” challenge where the team with the most downloads wins… once we get out the annoying loop that includes “on the line/online” and “exchange-a-gram," Team Lyle comes up with their million download idea after a crazy night out off campus. The first time any of the younger interns really get to experience the real world so it comes with a lot of shenanigans but also some cool moments.

After hearing the lot of them bemoan they need to win because jobs are no longer a sure thing after graduating from college, it's nice for them to get away from that stress and find a way to savor the in-between moments.

The final two challenges are the most pivotal to the plot for typical plot reason- one where all hope seems lost afterwards and one that’s a redemption arc.
Josh Gad has somewhat of a small role in this movie until this point, where he sort of becomes a mentor to Vince Vaughn while he’s studying for the customer hotline challenge. He has a cool line about how mentoring him isn't like teaching a kid the alphabet, it's like teaching them a single letter. Pretty deep stuff and the best part… I’ll leave for you to find out. It’s always a cool moment when a background character winds contributing to the plot in a huge way.

Another entertaining detail- in the first class where Mr. Chetty teaches the interns the do's and don't's of the program and outright refuses to “get a cold one” with Vince Vaughn, they have banter about different food items interns can’t take home with them… Aasif Mandvi was a regular correspondent on The Daily Show in his heyday so his improv chops are put to good use. But the funniest part- throughout the movie after that scene, you’ll see Vince Vaughn eating one of the food items mentioned in that conversation.

And say what you want about the guy, Vince Vaughn is a hell of a salesman. At one point I think Owen Wilson says he could sell ice to an Eskimo or some other version of that adage.
Also he co-wrote the script. While it’s not perfect, it’s good in the moments where the chips are down and it really counts.

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.

Monty Python and The Holy Grail (1975)

A self-involved introduction

A decade ago, this movie was on my long list for my top 100 favorite movies… and I’ll never understand how I was foolish enough not to include it.

Other than the fact I wanted to include some movies that left a strong first impression (after seeing them only once) and some movies (pulp fiction, Shawshank, goodfellas) others had put on theirs. Pulp Fiction is still an all time favorite I watch at least once a year.

Maybe one day I’ll go back and fix the list or at least write about some honorable mentions.

Since this beloved and, to the best of my knowledge, most well known of the Monty Python film series is turning 50 soon, what a better time to talk about it?


Introducing Monty Python

For me personally, it set the standard for all Monty Python related media. Unfortunately such a high standard that nothing comes close.

Although I vaguely remember liking The Meaning of Life until one particular sketch ruined the whole thing for me and I only saw The Life of Brian once… the latter I wouldn’t mind returning to a second time.

I’m sure I’d also seen some of the tv series (from VHS tapes we borrowed from the library- so yeah it’s been a long time) and the humor didn’t quite resonate the same way.

The Monty Python flying circus troupe (John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle among many others) is essentially a bunch of British guys doing sketches involving British humor. Which sometimes includes nudity or toilet humor. And the jokes, as good as they are in this movie, they might not be funny to everyone.

In terms of that oddball British humor with the nudity, it only appears in animated form and it involves a lot of butts. Like a dozen butts blowing trumpets right before the title of the film appears on screen.


Much Ado about dentists, moose and llamas
(Trust me, it might not make sense now but it’s relevant)

In terms of this movie being discussed as an actual movie, it’s very unconventional. And that’s part of its charm. Technically there is a plot or at least an objective the characters are pursuing. But maybe not a beginning or middle and DEFINITELY not an ending… which we’ll get to later.

What’s sorta bizarre is that the actual movie doesn’t start until 7 minutes in and we don’t see the title until 20 minutes in. And you thought it was weird how a lot of tv shows in the last decade will run for an average of 10 minutes before the title screen comes up and the cast credits roll after the first commercial break.

It might catch you off guard the first few times but the movie starts with opening credits with another movie and it’s not until the credits stop the projectionist realizes it’s the wrong movie and switches reels.

To this day I still don’t know if that was a real movie or these guys were so out there that they made up a fake movie just for a gag. Certainly wouldn’t be the first time a movie included a fake movie (looking at you, “angels with filthy souls”).

Then we have the opening credits… not gonna spoil the jokes but let’s just say there was a lot of goofing off and a lot of people being sacked because of it.


Britains making fun of Britains

This is maybe a small portion of the movie but still worth mentioning.

Some of the jokes are self-deprecating and as a result might be funnier to British audiences than American ones. But they make fun of the Plague (“bring out your dead”), politics (King Arthur being disrespectful to a peasant who says the way he inherited Excalibur isn’t the proper way to earn leadership over an entire country) and burning witches (“she turned me into a newt!… I got better”).


Swallows, Flesh Wounds and Ni!!!

Then there’s the better known jokes fans can quote verbatim or people on the fringe have heard but maybe don’t know the context.

The movie begins with King Arthur in pursuit of knights to join his Round Table at Camelot. But not having much luck.

We hear the clopping of horse hooves but he arrives on screen with just a squire banging coconuts together. The first castle he comes to starts up a whole dialogue about said coconuts and how he came across them.

One of these theories involves swallows transporting them and it goes on from there. And unlike most of the jokes, this one actually makes a comeback later on in the film.

It’s hard to say whether the Black Knight or the Knights who say Ni! is the best known of this movie’s sequences. But the Black Knight is probably the funniest.

He refuses to join King Arthur and he refuses to let him pass. So the only solution is a sword fight and despite losing his limbs one at a time, you gotta admire the knight’s perseverance. Or at least laugh at his lunacy.

"You've got no arms!"

"Yes, I have!"

"Look!"

"It's just a flesh wound..."

When I first saw this scene, it was giving me flashbacks to an old computer game we had in the 90s called Battle Chess. So called because it shows 3D rendering of the pieces as people and they kill each other in funny and sometimes gruesome ways with fake blood. When the two knights face off, one loses his limbs one at a time until he’s left hopping on one leg before he’s finished. The only other deaths I remember from this game (I was in 1st grade so we’re talking 30+ years ago) involve the Queen. One where the rook (who transforms into a hulking rock monster when played) eats her. And when the king kills the queen, they hug and she tries to stab him in the back but he fends her off.

I’ll include a link so you can see for yourself. It was pretty cool at the time and still is, actually. I’m rubbish at chess but it was worth it just for the animations alone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADcEI84wMX0

The knights who say Ni! appear later on in the movie but nonetheless provide a difficult roadblock for King Arthur to overcome.

They’re also one of those running gags not everyone might find funny although conventional wisdom suggests any word can be funny if you repeat it enough times.

They demand a shrubbery before letting anyone pass… we may not say Ni!! terribly often but this movie made shrubbery a funnier word than it had any right to be. If anything it’s just funny because us Americans just call them shrubs.

Meeting the knights of the round table

Confession- I know the cast members play multiple roles throughout the movie. But for the life of me, I cannot tell you which actor played who. And I honestly don’t care enough to know. What shines through in this movie is just the characters and it’s a very colorful cast of them.

The only knight who gets a notable introduction is Sir Bedivere, where he teaches the townsfolk that witches are made of wood and that’s why they burn. Based on this series of conversations, he may not be the brightest knight but he carries enough authority that people heed his advice.

There’s this running gag where he constantly has to lift the grid part of his helmet to see and it has a distinct “creak” when he does. :sigh: It’s not nails on a chalkboard but it annoys me just enough I just wish someone made a judgement call and had it removed. It’s so pointless. None of the other knights have face shields.

The rest are introduced in a storybook montage but get their individual storylines later on. Sirs Lancelot, Galahad and Robin.

There’s also a random musical number that comes out of nowhere and is never mentioned again… until they decided to turn this movie into the Broadway musical, Spamalot. I never saw it cuz it was Hamilton before Hamilton. Tickets were impossible to get but not to the point you had to give up your firstborn just to get into the nosebleeds.

Finally we have our quest. God appears and gives King Arthur and his knights the quest to find the holy grail.

The first place they look winds up being a complete disaster.

They come across a French castle full of obnoxious French men who mock them with the most outlandish insults using outrageous accents.

The most famous being “your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.”

There’s also a question as to why the French guys are in England… probably something to do with the long complicated history between the two countries.

The knights are barred from the castle so Bedivere concocts a brilliant plan B. A nod to the Trojan Horse- except he forgets one crucial detail so it fails spectacularly.

The unique shape of it and the brutal murder of the movie’s narrator in the subsequent scene foreshadow what awaits the knights going forward.

After suffering through humiliation at the hands of the French, the knights separate and go their separate ways for a short time.

Sir Robin has the shortest interlude, most notable for the complete 180 of his minstrels. Which go from his hype men to his greatest critics cuz he backed away from one challenge.

Sir Galahad gets the scene with the most female characters of the entire movie. Castle Anthrax which is full of women between ages of 16 and 19 1/2. He stumbles across it in the middle of a storm and sees a vision of the holy grail floating overhead. He’s so feverish about his quest he almost doesn’t notice what’s going on around him. But once he realizes he’s surrounded by willing and able young women, he’s involuntarily rescued by Lancelot. His best quote is him begging Lancelot “let me go back and face the peril.”

Lancelot’s part of the story is the longest, almost to the point it overstays its welcome.

It begins with a prince who’s being forced by his father to marry a woman he doesn’t love. She’s more homely than beautiful but the main attraction is her huge “tracks of land.” So a marriage of convenience.

The king does a “who’s on first” routine with the guards to make sure they don’t leave the prince alone until he comes back. The king also breaks the 4th wall every time music starts playing and it immediately cuts off. Apparently he’s not a fan of musical numbers.

The prince launches an arrow with a note attached begging for its finder to rescue him. Naturally Lancelot finds it and thinks it’s from a damsel in distress. And a flurry of chaos lies in his wake in his pursuit of his would-be conquest. And much to the king’s chagrin, the prince does get his musical number… although it really doesn’t go anywhere and Lancelot is left swinging haplessly on a rope waiting for a push that’ll launch him out of the castle.

The knights reunite after the knights of Ni! sequence in a animated sketch.

It might just be my family but we love those moments of rejoicing where flags are waved with a subtly enthusiastic “yeah…”

There’s also changing of seasons, during which they resort to cannibalism to make it through winter. Eating Sir Robin’s minstrels… with more rejoicing (“yeah…”)

An uneven 3rd act

The final chapter of the film is arguably the most bizarre. The knights have to get through a cave, guarded by the single most terrifying creature imaginable… and later chased by a two legged monster with a thousand eyes. One bested by the holy hand grenade and the other… they escape because the monster’s animator had a heart attack.

Not sure if that’s genius or something that reeks of desperation because they literally drew themselves into a corner.

The final test is the bridge of death, where you must answer 3 questions correctly to pass. We learn many things here but probably the most important is to not second guess yourself. And also to brush up on your geography and your swallows.

The end result is three hilarious casualties and a small hint of what’s left to come.

So we’re left with King Arthur and Bedivere who find the location of the grail and summon reinforcements to take the castle where it’s presumed to be held. Reinforcements that come out of nowhere by the way… but then again, so do the police.

Apparently a knight is the lead suspect of the narrator’s murder from earlier in the movie. So all the knights get taken in for questioning and that’s literally the end of the movie.

I cannot overstate how much I hate this STUPID ending. If you can even call it that. They never find the grail. We never find out who the actual murder is. And what’s with these modern day cops in medieval times? Or was this whole movie an over the top Renaissance fair?

According to a final Jeopardy clue, an alternate ending involved the knights running through the Harrods shopping center in modern day London but they ran out of time or money to shoot it. (Now that I think about it, didn’t Blazing Saddles have a similar ending where the old west folks crashed a modern day movie set?)

I would’ve taken that in a heartbeat. Anything’s better than the police taking out all the cameras and the movie just stopping altogether.

I’d consider this one of the worst movie endings of all time alongside Gone with the Wind. But at least I didn’t feel as if I wasted hours of my life on a disappointing conclusion.

Pitch Perfect (2012)

Director: Jason Moore
Writer: Kay Cannon

Notable Cast

Beca- Anna Kendrick
Jesse- Skyler Astin
Aubrey- Anna Camp
Chloe- Brittany Snow
Fat Amy- Rebel Wilson
Lilly Onakuramara- Hana Mae Lee
Cynthia Rose Adams- Ester Dean
Staci- Alexis Knapp
Benji- Ben Platt
Bumper- Adam Devine

 

Introduction

 

It’s hard to believe this movie came out almost 10 years ago.

Supposedly it was based on a book and Elizabeth Banks liked it so much she helped bring it to the big screen. This was also at the height of Glee’s popularity so the timing was something like this was perfect.

Other than Anna Kendrick’s involvement (I’d been following her movies since Twilight), that common ground with Glee piqued my interest and I saw it on HBO when it premiered some random Saturday night.

My first impression was mixed, to put it mildly. There were a few decisions made by the writers I wholeheartedly disagree with, but the highlights lying in their wake shouldn’t be completely overlooked.

My motivations for finally putting a review of this movie down on “paper”— there are a few, most of which came from a recent revisit, and I’ll get to all of them at some point in this post.

I won’t be shy about calling out the flaws as I see them, but there’ll be just as much to be celebrated elsewhere.

To quote various YouTube videos about tv and movies, a spoiler alert is now in effect.

Not just for Pitch Perfect and its sequels but 2 similarly themed TV series that happen to be among my all time favorites.

 

The Plot 

Once upon a time, there was a collegiate show choir called the Barden Bellas. They were the top show choir in the nation. Until one fateful competition when Aubrey Posen let her nerves get the better of her and she puked during the choir's performance, costing the Bellas the first place trophy... and the respect of their peers. The resulting incident had since gone viral.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to do the rest of the review like this, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
So from the get go, this movie already started on the wrong foot for me. This wasn’t just puke. It was projectile vomiting. Speaking as someone who got sick in school as a kid and was teased about it, I cannot for the life of me understand why exaggerated puke is used in movies or why it’s used for comedic effect. I could blame a certain Monty Python sketch but I don’t know if they’re the first ones to do it.
All of that being said, we do circle back to this point later in the movie, and while it is overblown and gross, the comedy that comes out of it- it was too ridiculous not to find hilarious. So I guess it depends on the circumstances in how it’s used.

 Also-- while these vocal groups are technically acapella groups, I'm going to continue using the phrase "show choir" to describe them.

Fast forward to the next fall, aspiring music producer Beca enrolls in the Bellas college. And after one of the Bellas overhears her singing in the shower, she recruits her to join the group.

After some coaxing, she convinces her to harmonize with her in the showers. And they sing David Guetta/Sia’s “Titanium”.
It’s hard not to echo Beca’s reluctance. It’s PG13 so nothing is shown, but what would you do if some strange girl asked you to sing when you have no clothes on? 

So they have the auditions for the group where everyone sings “since you’ve been gone” with varying levels of success (or lack thereof). Beca shows up late and auditions with something of her own. And Anna Kendrick wound up becoming a viral sensation- in the best way.

“Cups” was based on an older song, but she performed it accapella while using a cup as a percussion instrument. This led to a fully produced version of the song to be recorded and released. She did a music video that got tons of views, played a lot on the radio, and several subsequent videos were made by people who wanted to teach others to do the cup routine too.
If anything cool came out of this movie, that was it. I watched the video once and I actually learned the cup routine from YouTube. Whether I can do it now, I’m not sure. 

After auditions are done, the Bellas go through their own hell week and are drilled to the bone. Then they got over songs and Beca points out “there’s nothing from this century on here.”

So begins another major source of conflict in the story: Aubrey is THOROUGLY convinced that singing these songs will get them back to championship status. More specifically, performing the same three songs for every competition. 
I wish I was kidding about this... I have nothing against "The Sign," "Eternal Flame" or "Turn the Beat Around"... or any songs predating the 21st century for that matter. But how STUPID is this plot device? I know this is a movie and not everything is meant to be realistic, but be reasonable! No show choir or acapella group would do the same setlist for every competition they go to. They don't always have the same judges for each competition, but if they did, this would be greatly frowned upon.
Even more frustrating, nobody but Beca wants to stand up to her or makes any attempts to change this asinine ritual. 
I'm sorry... this stupid decision on the part of the writers (whether it's the book or the movie, I have no idea) kills a lot of potential joy that could be had watching this movie. 

Drama within the group aside, there's a side plot where one of the recently inducted Treblemakers (aka the rival all men's show choir on campus) tries his darnedst to be Beca's friend... and possibly more. But she wants no part of it. 

Later on, it's revealed that she has an issue trusting people because of her parent's divorce. Part of the reason her dad insisted she went to college for a year (it was part of a deal where, if she fulfilled her end, he'd help pay for her to move out to LA to begin her producing career) was to make friends. And through her time with Bellas, she finds more friends than she'd probably had her entire life and eventually, she lets her guard down with everyone else around her. 

Beca is probably my favorite character Anna Kendrick ever played. I'm not jazzed about the idea of remixing music, but it'd be cool to have that kind of talent. And I can relate to her having walls up around herself. I still have trouble being myself around people, even into my 30's. 
But it took me several semesters in college before I made the friendships I did, so I can speak from experience that college is worth it if only for that. 
While rewatching it the other day, I also remembered something else: throughout the movie, she wears a shirt with a button-down shirt over it. I thought this was a cool fashion statement and I made a few purchases in part to emulate it. Although, to be honest, I typically wear a sweater around the house anyway because that's what I'm comfortable in. 

Her friend (and later boyfriend) Jesse is also one of those movie characters I really liked spending time with. His excellent taste in movies may have a little to do with that (one was "The Breakfast Club"- aka my favorite movie of all time), but the conversations he had with Beca about music in movies were really fascinating to me. I'm not the most talkative person, but whenever conversations skew in that direction, that's one of the few times I feel free to open up and be myself. 

After several ups and downs, Aubrey finally deciding to loosen up the reins, and the Bella reinvented themselves, adopting mashups into their setlists, the movie finally arrives at the final competition night. 

Between the tight medley the Treblemakers did and the Bellas doing the coolest remix of "Don't You (Forget about me)" among several other songs, it was a tough call. And of course, the Bellas win.

Then the sequel comes along, a wardrobe malfunction blows everything up and they have to start from scratch again... but that's another movie. 
There's a third movie, but I don't remember much about it. It may have been vomit-free (part 2 has that in common with it, thankfully), but I think my issue was with the story. Something about it just didn't grab me like the first one did... with its flaws and all. 

...I didn't know where else to put this... 

I don't know what it is about show choir stuff in media, but why does it seem like the judges or commentators never care enough to do their jobs? In Glee, they always get random judges and they're there because their agents put them there. 

In this movie, it's Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins, and they're always talking crap about all of the contestants... which is kinda weird because she's one of the producers of the movies. But it might be on the same level of irony as Jane Lynch (a show choir veteran) playing the mortal enemy of Mr. Schuster and The New Directions. 

Soundtrack

Not gonna lie... I got the soundtrack specifically for that epic championship winning number for the Bellas where The Breakfast Club song was among the ones involved in the mash-up. Today was the second time I'd listened to it since I got it.

While it has all of the songs from the movie, there were a few disappointments.

The radio version of "Cups" with the full production wasn't a part of it... I can only assume the radio single came after the soundtrack came out and they just missed the opportunity. (According to Wikipedia, a subsequent soundtrack was released, including any songs missing from the one I have)

It's also a pet peeve of mine with movie soundtracks when the songs aren't sequenced in the same order they appear in the movie. The Bellas finale medley is track #11 and there's 4 songs listed after it.  

Curtain Call

Probably the coolest thing about revisiting this movie was the cast... in my view, Anna Kendrick was the biggest star going in, but over time, several others took this opportunity and made huge careers for themselves.

After the huge success of "Cups," Anna Kendrick insisted that she didn't want to launch a music career... but she continues to sing as Princess Poppy in the "Trolls" franchise alongside Justin Timberlake and many others.

I'm pretty sure I saw Rebel Wilson in "Bridesmaids" before this movie. Her character in that movie was not very nice. Not just the fact she read Annie's diary ("I did not know it was your diary. I thought it was just a very sad handwritten book"), but she conspires with her brother to boot Annie out of the apartment when she's not even paying rent. Ridiculous!
Throughout the franchise, Fat Amy is definitely one of the most memorable characters and even though her heart is in the right place, she isn't always the nicest person. But since this movie, I'd seen her in "How to Be Single" with Dakota Johnson- again, she plays someone who gives her friend tough love, but she means well. 
And more recently, she hosted the dog grooming competition show "Pooch Perfect" and she was a really great host. I don't agree with all of the design choices with these dogs (particularly the use of fur dyes), but I kinda hope it comes back for another season... as long as she's hosting. 

Again, to continue reaping the benefits of the ongoing show choir bandwagon in media, Skyler Astin was cast in "Glee" as the head of rival show choir Throat Explosion. I vaguely remember seeing him at Nationals, making a comment that everyone recognizes The New Directions was "that choir" where that one guy died... referencing the tragic loss of Cory Monteith they spent the better part of Season 5 struggling with.
But most recently, he was Zoey's friend (later boyfriend) Max on "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist"... it was fun, but also strange seeing him again in this movie. Watching him with Anna Kendrick had me thinking "this is weird, it's like he's cheating on Zoey"... even though that show hadn't come around until recently.

Side-note: I'm still not over the fact that show got cancelled. It NEEDS to come back. 

Despite the fact his character didn't become a Treblemaker until the very end of the movie, Ben Platt made out like a bandit... he became Evan Hansen, a role that earned him a Tony and he will reprise that role in the upcoming movie adaptation. 

Adam Devine was a jerk as Bumper... but I'd seen him in two roles since that redeemed him in my eyes. He was one of the interns in the Anne Hathaway movie "The Intern." Granted, he wasn't the perfect guy because he had a falling out with one of the girls at About The Fit and had to take Robert DeNiro's advice to win her back, but he had some good moments.
He also played himself on an edition of "The Price is Right: At Night" where he helped donate a lot of prize money to charity.  

...

Other than revisiting some of these musical numbers, one reason to revisit the movie is Lilly. She's so soft-spoken, you have to be absolutely quiet to understand what she's saying and the more you see the movie, the more you'll understand. She says some really random crap and it's pretty hilarious. 

Then she finds her voice later on and it turns out she's a bad-ass beat boxer.

On a slightly different note, she also makes an angel in a huge puddle of puke... yeah, it's gross, but it's also kinda awesome. 

And Cynthia Rose's name came from the Prince song "Starfish & Coffee," which was based on the childhood ancedotes of his then-girlfriend, Susannah. (IMDb has confirmation of this, so that's pretty cool)

I just can't help but feel like this movie could have been so much better if certain creative decisions were different. I still think the "same three song" setlist was a stupid idea and they could just as easily have figured something else out. Like Aubrey was just afraid to incorporate any 21st century music. The fact she's an Army brat doesn't give her enough of an excuse to be a complete tyrant and act like the victim when the others question her authority. 

One final "Glee" connection: the Bellas lost out on making the title competition, but earn their way back in because the next team in line got disqualified. 

I can't help but feel "Glee" took a page from that book and used a similar plot device. 

In Season 4, they lost a competition when Marley fainted during their performance. This happened because she was overdosing on laxatives to lose weight and her eating disorder finally caught up with her. All of this was brought on because someone else in the Glee club was bullying her, yet when they lost, she got all of the blame for it. 

Sorry, I'm still mad about that.. especially since the Glee club needed to win Nationals or else would have to disband... as someone who lived and breathed the show, it felt like the end of the world. (Whether this was at the point the show was starting to lose traction is up to individual discretion. I was on board until the final season when they tried to introduce a new cast of characters and it just didn't have that same magic).

But after a few depressing weeks, The New Directions was revived because The Warblers was disqualified for using steroids. Maybe not the best writing, but I didn't care.

In "Pitch Perfect," the Bellas were able to go to the title competition because another team was disqualified for having a high school student in their rooster. It's an all-collegiate competition, so at least that logic makes sense. 

Beyond all this, I don't have much else to add in terms of a conclusion.

[Spoiler-Free] Theatrical Review: Star Wars Episode VIII- The Last Jedi

Date: Saturday December 16 2017
Time: 10am
Location: Cinemark Theater in Stroud Mall
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)

Writer/Director: Rian Johnson
Composer: John Williams

Cast:
Luke Skywalker- Mark Hamill
Princess/General Leia Organa- Carrie Fisher (RIP 2016)
Rey- Daisy Ridley
Kylo Ren- Adam Driver
Poe Dameron- Oscar Isaac
Finn- John Boyega
Rose- Kelly Marie Tran
General Hux- Domhall Gleeson
DJ- Benicio Del Toro
Vice Admiral Holdo- Laura Dern

Duration: 151 minute (+ many trailers... 8)

Opening Remarks

Only a movie like this could get me to downtown Stroudsburg this early on a Saturday. Especially when I was up a little late the night before and I had a harrowing drive home from work cuz people were going 20 miles an hour because of 2 measly inches of snow. :sigh:
Anyway, totally worth it. I definitely didn't want to wait too long because I didn't want to hear any spoilers about this one.
I think the only time I caught any spoilers for a movie was accidentally walking in to see the end of Sherlock 2... almost a year of anticipation ruined cuz I got to the theater too early and I've never gotten over it.

The theater had a few open patches throughout the main stadium seating section, but not many for three people, so we took the back row of the "orchestra" section. Roughly the same area where my mom and I saw The Judge back in 2014.

So yeah, those are two rather blatant RDJ references, but the coincidences just kept popping up. I actually had a dream about him last night where we were talking stuff and we had a nice chat. But when I asked Robert when he was going to do any non-Avenger movies, he was evasive about it. Pretty much said that being in the Marvel movies still feels like the best Halloween ever.
And coincidence again... I saw the trailer for the new Avengers movie for the first time today. Among many others... so many dang trailers! and commercials! This 10am movie wound up becoming an 10:20 movie.

Trailers

Spiderman- Into the Spider-verse
I have no idea what the hell is going on with this one. It's animated. We're following a young black teen Spider-man and we see him talking to who appears to be an older Peter Parker, asking how many there are. Dude, what the hell? Why does there have to be multiple Spider-men? It makes the whole storyline of Peter Parker randomly being bitten by a radioactive spider totally pointless. Because it makes him less special.

Early Man
I saw the movie poster for this by the ladies' room and I was saying how we'll see the trailer in the next couple months. Nope! More like the next couple minutes... it's by the same people behind Wallace & Gromit so we have an all British cast. The Stone Age meets the Bronze age, cavemen vs. Vikings (I think??). And how this tribe of cavemen had this thing of hunting rabbits. But with people like Eddie Redmayne, Timothy Spall and so on in this, how can it not be good?

Every Day
Man, after seeing this trailer, I said "I have to read this book"... I somehow get the feeling that movie won't be quite as good as the book, but it's a really cool idea. And I'm sure that the LGBT crowd will love it too because all kinds of relationships come into place. Basically, it's about a girl and another person who wakes up as a different person every day- and each person happens to be someone that this girl knows. Sometimes they're a guy and sometimes they're a girl and the main girl falls in love with this person's soul. So many possibilities, but one thing is clear- it's going to be a tearjerker at the end and it's going to probably suck, but I'm willing to take that risk.

Jurassic World- Fallen Kingdom
I'm afraid the movie is going to get so hyped that by the time it comes out, it's going to be kinda disappointing. I just know my dad is super excited about it and there are very few movies he gets THIS excited about. The two of us had seen every one of these movies in the theater, so that tradition will for sure continue.
The story here seems to be that the island is going to be destroyed by a volcano eruption and Owen and Claire have to try to save all the dinosaurs. Lots of crap happens and we have an Ian Malcolm cameo where he says his most famous line from the original movie "Life will find a way." Well, we shall see, won't we?

Rampage
Yikes, they're hyping up this Dwayne Johnson movie as much as San Andreas and it's probably just as doomed to fail. It's kinda like Mighty Joe Young meets King Kong meets genetic engineering and we have to save a city from being taken over by mutant animals.

Samson
It takes place in 1170 BC in Israel and it's about the Biblical figure infamous for his hair. No idea how this is going to turn out, but at quick glance (and it was a very short quick trailer), they may finally do a Biblical movie where people can't complain about it being whitewashed. If anything, the next movie demonstrates that movies are more diverse than they've ever been

A Wrinkle in Time
I'd heard this movie was coming because Oprah Winfrey and Mindy Kaling are among the cast members. I know it's based on the Madeline L'Engle children's book (which I've never read). It looks a lot more epic than the book entails. It's about this girl whose dad is with NASA and he supposedly disappears and she may discover where he's really been this whole time. The visual effects look amazing and I have no idea what is going on. Maybe with more time and more promotion from the large cast of characters, it'll become more clear

Avengers: The Infinity War
This really was the last trailer they showed- I'm not slotting it last for any special emphasis. But yeah, I think Thanos is coming to Earth looking for the other infinity stones to put on his gauntlets. The Vision has a stone on his forehead and it may be taken away from him. I see Loki, I see Doctor Strange, Black Widow is blonde for some stupid reason (dude, this character is a redhead, you can't bloody change that!)... and maybe Captain America has been off the radar for a while because they seem to be welcoming him back kinda how Superman was welcomed back in the Justice League movie, except Steve Rogers grew his hair out a bit.
Seriously, it looks like EVERYONE in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to be here and lots of crap is going to happen. There isn't much dialogue, more narration, so I don't know what's going on. I just know there were only a couple of Tony Stark/Iron-Man screenshots and when he's out of his armor, Tony just looks lost and confused like his PTSD from Iron-Man 3 is coming back and he can't handle it.
I mean, I'd almost welcome him being killed off because I'm dying for Robert to do some other projects... even though I'm kinda over Tony Stark, it would still be sad to lose him.

Ok, I'm done. Now for...

The Main Event

In a nutshell- Episode VII was about finding Luke Skywalker and the Resistance rebels destroying yet another version of the Death Star.
This movie, Episode VIII is about the aftermath of the former and the Resistance fighting to survive to fight another day while being actively pursued by the First Order.
The way this movie was put together, it almost felt like the subsequent Star Wars movies after the original. The crew is split apart and we're following 3 different groups of characters.
We have Rey on that far-off planet trying to convince Luke Skywalker to rejoin the Rebellion (or in this case, The Resistance) and she's also having several via-the-Force conversations with Kylo Ren.
We have Finn and his new comrade Rose, who are going to another planet to find a code-breaker to help disengage the tracking device that's allowing the First Order to pursue Resistance ships.
And we have Poe Dameron trying by all means necessary to buy them the time to do so.
Of course, we also have a few scenes where we're following the bad guys. General Hux and Supreme Ruler Snoke (who we get to see "in the flesh" in this movie... opposed to a hologram in the previous installment)... but we really care more about the good guys, right?

So, I had one wish for this movie after seeing the previous one... GIVE OSCAR ISAAC MORE SCREEN TIME... the previous movie had him either in the cock pilot or simply M.I.A. after his ship crashed on Jakku (good on him lobbying with J.J. Abrams to not kill off his character and they basically rewrote the movie because of him... after seeing him play a couple of not-so-nice roles, I was really glad what they gave him here).
And boy was my wish granted... couldn't be happier.
The guy is pretty reckless as a pilot, but damn, he's so good at what he does. Of course, that does land him in hot water with authority, but characters like him are always great when they're done by charismatic actors like him. Some pretty hilarious moments. But the best part was where Leia and her Vice Admiral mutually agree about him in their last scene together.. I wish I remembered the exact dialogue, but it was pretty much saying how much of a rebel he is, but despite that, they like him.

Kylo Ren still has a bit of a temper on him and that does come into play. (Particularly in the last battle scene- one of the best scenes in the movie by far and I'm sure people are already talking heaps about it). But we also get to see more of that vulnerable side of him that's conflicted. He and Rey have these odd conversations that randomly start happening, where she learns what happened to him and Luke's Jedi Temple and there seems to be a chance they'll be allies. How things go down, though, it's hard to predict. Even going into the final movie, I don't know how it's going to go and that's kinda exciting.
Some people who saw the last movie complained about him not being threatening because we see him without the mask. Supreme Ruler Snook actually has a bit of dialogue a lot of those people could agree with... don't bother with the helmet because he comes off as (again, I can't remember the exact dialogue) a child wearing a mask.
Domhall Gleeson (son of British acting great Brenden Gleeson) returns as the First Order general, so full of snark, but it's kinda funny how his authority gets undermined throughout this movie. Each person gives him their unique dose of that.

Former Storm Trooper Finn finds a new partner in Rose, whose sister was involved in the big battle scene at the beginning of the movie. She's a new character and in some ways, the heart of the movie. She and her sister came from the very same planet the two of them are visiting to find the code-breaker and we learn how they came from some sad circumstances where they were basically weapons test subjects as children. She's a prime example of why things need to change in the world, why the Resistance exists in the first place. The code-breaker they wind up meeting is played by Benicio Del Toro and like with many of the characters he plays (although I only have his Bond villain to go by personally), you never really know what to expect. Either way, it makes things interesting.

Going by the Empire Strikes Back, I was sure this movie would have a cliff-hanger ending. Throughout the final battle scene (where the Resistance evacuates to another planet with an abandoned rebel base), there were at least 3 moments where I thought the movie would end and I was oddly ok with that. But the way it does, it's not a cliff-hanger, but we are still left wondering how the hell the good guys are going to completely defeat the bad guys.
But in the same fashion as Once Upon a Time (a show I'd been meaning to do a write-up on because I decided last season was my final season. I want nothing to do with it without Emma Swan and certainly not after the previous season finale broke my heart a million times), you always have to have hope...

I'm not giving anything major away, but Luke Skywalker does get involved (with everything that's happened, why wouldn't he?) and it is absolutely epic.
The movie is extremely character-driven and you kinda need to care about these characters to be invested. While it stays true to the mythology of the original trilogy, there are moments of humor that have a modern feel to them. Meaning that they are a little over the top and obvious and sometimes they're self-deprecating.
But this audience really enjoyed this movie. There were laughs at the right times. A couple moments had some cheering because a character got what they deserved. There was even a moment where the movie went dead silent and I heard people making some random comments throughout it, so into it. And of course, we all clapped at the end, because, why wouldn't we? Ultimately, it's movies like this that are the reason why the theater experience exists and why it will never go. Nor should it.

Grade: A
(You can't beat the original and never will... but this was better put than the previous one, which I enjoyed, but there were areas where I thought it could be better. With this one, I have a feeling I'm just going to be finding new things every time I watch it. And sometimes, that's the best part of revisiting movies, other than seeing old friends again)