Maybe I shouldn’t be, but I’m a little taken aback by the uncritical approval of this movie from reviewers. Even the reviews that note the fawning military fetishization and lazy recycling of bits from the original are basically just “lay back and enjoy it.” 

I tried to find an A.A. Dowd review for TGM but had no luck. I feel like I could rely on him to slap a dismissive C+ on this one.

I’ll admit to being biased here—this looked like a steaming pile of shit based on the trailers, so I was expecting a middling-to-negative critical response. This glowing review took me completely by surprise, so much so that it read to me like a retooled press release. But every review I’ve looked at this morning is…

Lalo was in fact giving serious thought to eating Werner’s wife.

I think the problem with this analysis is that the “good character who is corrupted but ultimately redeemed through self-sacrifice” trope is a classic hero trope that women have been traditionally shut out of. (The comparison to Daenerys doesn’t work here because Daenerys doesn’t sacrifice herself and isn’t redeemed.)…

Run, runner!

As amusing as it is to scoff at clueless Howard and his “NAMAST3" license plate, he’s been coming across as a far more sympathetic figure than Kim or Jimmy. Even if he’s motivated mostly by guilt, I give him credit for suffering property damage and public embarrassment at Jimmy’s hands and still being willing to hire…

I agree, this is a significant detail. Kim and Jimmy have justified their war on Howard by saying he’ll only suffer a “career setback.” They see their actions as affecting only his professional life. But there’s a real possibility that their shenanigans will end up breaking Howard’s (already strained) marriage. If…

I read an intriguing speculation that Kim might end up accidentally killing Howard. Figuring that Saul was behind this latest “prank,” Howard goes to confront Kim, who is unraveling from paranoia over Lalo, and Kim fatally shoots Howard, mistaking him for Lalo. Kim then either calls the vacuum guy or is arrested for…

I wonder if there are subtle references to Shakespearean tragedy in this episode? “Sterner stuff” is from Julius Caesar (“Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.”) And Kim is wearing earrings shaped like daggers, which made me think of Macbeth (another tragedy with ambition as a theme). Both plays involve…

When I deleted my Twitter account a year ago (which was linked to my Kinja account), I emailed Kinja support and asked to have my account linked to my Gmail address instead. Not sure what state their support department is in right now, but at the time I got sorted out pretty quickly and without any hassles.

It’s-a me, the Italian-American Anti-Defamation League!

That’s too bad! I haven’t had much of a dating life since AVC stopped running clickbait articles on how to date actresses from the Game of Thrones cast.

As long as Villeneuve is involved and they disregard the comically inept cash grabs that are the non-Herbert Dune books, I look forward to whatever comes of this cryptic sound bite. 

This is completely correct. 

I started out sympathizing with Martin and scoffing at angry fans, but I get it now for the reasons you cite. This isn’t an open-ended series, it’s a single work, A Song of Ice and Fire, being published in installments. Readers who are on board with the series to this point have basically invested in the complete saga.…

Children of Snooze

Kind of bittersweet I guess that it’s a relief when the news is just “actors exploited and abused in the usual capitalist way.”

Or, almost as bad, he’s one of those bosses who don’t take breaks so they think their employees—who make a fraction of their salary—shouldn’t either.