Shiv made the only pivot that gave her any proximity to power — ensuring her husband became CEO. Every other pathway would have seen her edged out entirely — voting with her brothers would have ensured she had no access to decision making.

Tom’s ascent made sense. The only reason I wondered if Greg was a dark horse is because his arrival at the family business kick starts the whole show. I half expected a clean arc there for him, but Tom is more satisfying.

Shiv is smart enough and emotionally balanced enough to have run the company -- a nepo baby capable of growing into a CEO role. But sexism truly did undercut her. Matsson and her brothers were never going to give her a chance. 

Harshest line for me was Caroline waving to the departing kids and saying “Go away now.” When she’s face to face with her children, you could always presume some level of affection there, but in this rare moment where we see her with only her scammy husband, the true indifference and disgust are on full display. 

Caring about who ended up running the company (Matsson, via a Tom puppet) was always a distraction from tracking the toll that wanting something takes. The desire for power and respect — all four of these kids have floundered for decades and none are any closer to achieving anything.

Shiv believing (or not believing) in Ken is beside the point. Her pivot to Matsson was all about her one route to power: being the CEO’s wife. In the end, she wasn’t going to be given power by her brothers, or by Mattson — the best she could muster was power by proximity, via Tom. Not totally unlike her relationship…

Pixar seems trapped at this point by its legacy. Its use of tropes and genre in the past to tell very human stories has really fallen away. The absolute ease (or appearance of ease) is gone from their creations.

Sure! Take the opportunity to watch Awake (sadly not streaming for free anywhere -- a crime) or Good Fight or The Comeback or Swarm. 

2024 is going to be a SLOW year for entertainment. Maybe a small, lucky show can sneak in and suck up all the hype that won’t be possible in 2025, when basically everything comes back.

This looks like when The Rock shows off his cheat day.

The Jeremy is Strong in this one. 

We’re actually having a sale on dread. Just scan this QR code tattooed to my forehead...

Even the fantasy of fair pay for creatives wouldn’t negate the need for companies to boost profit and cash on hand for investments and emergencies. 

Someone who can read a financial statement should be writing these. This is not an unforced error. It’s a recognition that companies need to switch from growth at all costs to lasting profit.

Yes, which is why I explicitly addressed that in my comment.  

They aren’t separate issues. They reflect a devaluing of media from execs and customers. Execs, as I said, are greedy. They should make less and pay artists all down the line more. At the same time, those of means (again, not shaking my finger at the financially insecure) should be perfectly happy to pay for content…

I am really confused by the cognitive dissonance around streaming evidenced in this story. Artists should get paid — yay! Paying for streamers is bad — boo!

This makes me happy. I love it so much and think it’s a bit of a buried gem. It starts as a creative procedural and morphs into a real-time surrealist retelling of the current moment (Trump years and Covid) and near future (civil war). One of the best.

I love Haynes, and we need directors who make complex, beautiful movies for adults, but I honestly wouldn’t mind seeing him do something outside his wheelhouse, like maybe a heist movie.

Pretty sure MAGAs love GOT (slavery? rape? awesome!) and Sopranos (if they don’t think too hard about what that show is actually trying to express).