The movie starts off with a strong idea (what if Superman was a reckless drunk?) but really struggles with where to take that idea.

I missed Shoplifters when it came to our local film fest, so I hope I get another chance to see it. 

While not a horror game, Pandora Directive has a great horror set-piece. When you arrive at an abandoned military base, you find it full of dried up corpses. A video log from a long-dead soldier provides further clues as to what you’re up against.

I must say, I’ve enjoyed watching the last few Islanders games. In addition to Barzal, Islanders stalwarts like Bailey, Anders Lee, and Brock Nelson have been performing very respectably.

The switch from 3 acts to 4 acts came with the switch from 4:3 to 16:9 in the middle of season 20. Those early HD episodes are among the weakest the show ever did, because the writers really struggled to learn how to plot a 4-act story.

I tend to look at that one as a failed experiment. Oddly enough, the episode’s writer, Ken Keeler, wrote some of my least favorite golden-age Simpson episodes, but he also wrote most of my absolute favorite Futurama episodes.

It’s not only the showrunners that have changed; the entire production process of The Simpsons has changed drastically over time. Al Jean didn’t suddenly lose his funny bone without Mike Reiss; as years have gone by, the network has cut the budget and tightened the schedule. In the golden era, episodes went through…

There are a few lists already: https://tv.avclub.com/10-simpsons-from-the-last-10-seasons-that-aren-t-the-1798275628 and https://tv.avclub.com/in-a-way-they-re-all-winners-10-simpsons-episodes-fro-1798216060 cover seasons 15 thru 25.

You’d think that the lesson that DC and Marvel would have taken from the success of “X-men #1" was that audiences were hungry for soft reboots. (They’d get there eventually. Oh boy, have they ever given us all the soft reboots we could ever want in the last 20 years.) 

It was pleasantly surprising how well this movie held up when I watched it last year. It trades a little too heavily in stereotypes, even as it tries to subvert some of them, but it is a sweet little story about a man coming to terms with his identity.

The repressed, self-denying “latent” gay person was a common character in the 90s. In Friends, for example, you had Ross’ wife not realizing she was gay until her late 20s. 

I really hated the unrequited crush dynamic between Max and Kinga. It’s one of my most despised tropes in fiction. And I hate when they happen in real life too.

Joel said publicly that any former cast members were welcome to come on the show, but I don’t think that he invited them all directly. Trace and Frank both felt slighted by the MST3K Kickstarter, so they didn’t participate in season 11. Trace and Frank are on much better terms with Joel now, I think.

It wasn’t quite up to the standards of the classic series, but I still liked it a lot. Their biggest problem was firing off riffs too quickly (and occasionally prematurely). Hopefully, they’ll be more comfortable and settled in season 12.

I ended up quite happy with season 11’s movie lineup, overall.

I can only assume this photo was taken during that brief window in 95-96 when Shania Twain made denim look good again.

Lots of in-home caregivers provide domestic assistance (cooking, cleaning, etc.) as well as medical treatment for those who need it. Or, in the case of the Cranes, those who are willing to pay for it.

One of the neatest spinoff effects of this feature has been finding that all sorts of weird albums managed to crack the year’s top 200.

I picked up Dragon Quest XI this week and managed to fit in about 5 hours of playtime. So far, it plays a lot like Dragon Quest VIII: it’s very plot-driven, character advancement happens via skill points, and you’re scouring every inch of the map to find hidden treasures. I’m here for it.

1998 saw Blue Oyster Cult release their first album in 10 years, Heaven Forbid, with most of the lyrics written by sci fi author John Shirley. It was an interesting beast. Half the songs sound like they could have been out-takes from Spectres or Flat Out, and the other half are heavily influenced by 90s metal bands…