A lot of people were lukewarm on Power of the Dog.  It definitely is not a popular favorite, though I wouldn’t cry if it got Picture and/or Director.  Frankly, I think its themes of masculine/homosexual repression in the West are not nearly as fresh as some seem to think they are.

Yes, it is an attempt to diversify a very white sub-genre of romance (Regency) but they don’t want to put in the effort of making a real alternate history beyond a few side remarks like the king marrying a black woman solving racism in England. That said, it mostly worked as a romantic fantasy, though the first season…

I teach at a community college like school.  My class is World Religions, perhaps the easiest class at that school.  The only students who ever fail my class are those who stop doing the work, but there are always too many of those.  The ones who tell me why they stop working often give reasons like COVID, crises with…

Besides general inconsistencies with characterization (Miranda’s career journey could have been compelling if the writers really went into the subject), some of this disconnect with fans and Nixon is due to genre expectations. A lot of fans saw the SATC franchise as about romance, while she clearly doesn’t. You don’t…

She got off pretty darn well given that there was a prenup agreement, which didn’t prove to be that binding evidently.

I agree and I’m glad the film is coming out. Anyhow, Hammer’s character is a jerk in the book/presumably film so people can see him punished through the character.  I also suspect this film is getting a release to ride the coattails of Branagh’s likely Oscar nominations for Belfast.

This sounds pretty interesting but Dinklage’s role here has a similar issue with his Game of Thrones part in that the audience must buy that his dwarfism renders him hideous in the society in which he lives. And that’s logical enough in those fictional worlds but Dinklage must be one of the sexiest little people of…

Yes, One Piece is the adaptation that particularly seems doomed. Is there any way to imitate its look in live action without being super weird? Just shut it down.

Ford knew the Gucci family pretty well from their business dealings so he is well-qualified to say, for instance, that Jared Leto overdoes it as Paolo Gucci.

There’s no way to determine the truth but I think it is important to say that even if he was planning to steal from the site (and he may have been), it doesn’t justify what happened. Fortunately their level of insane vigilantism wasn’t brushed aside.

I’m afraid that my Florida-based mom is responsible for Starburst’s popularity in that state. She persists in the misguided belief that my adult sister and I want a big bag of Starburst candies every holiday.

Also why does this category need to have ten nominees?  I get Record and Song of the Year being bulked up but is there really such a sea of worthy newcomers in this category?  It seems like they could toughen up standards for newness and still have a solid five nominees.

Looking over the reviews, they are really soft for a Marvel film. And critical acclaim is something this film really needed (Chloe Zhao should be just fine, however), especially as there’s a spoiler plot twist in the film that certain fans will probably hate. Could this be the much-speculated first MCU flop since The…

Does this mean that HBO Max doesn’t have the Matrix films the month they are debuting the sequel on their service? If so (I guess the films could be on both platforms), that is such awful planning on HBO Max’s part.

Guillermo’s guilt as a mass murderer (which all the other characters share, but he is the one who most fits into a “good guy” role on the show) is definitely an uncomfortable aspect of the character. And honestly it is one that I’m not sure the show should fully tackle because it isn’t a funny concept and this is a…

I do agree that people can control their desires - at least to a certain extent. The idea strikes me as one that can be used for liberal or conservative ends. Conservatives have certainly argued before that if you can alter your desires, why not go with the conventional options? But expanding desire in a diverse…

There’s actually not much suspense about the plot.  Unlike the GOT series proper, Martin has let out all the plot points for this story and you can easily find them online, though some minor elements might be tweaked.

In a way, his odd appearance kind of added to his appeal/defense. This guy may look like a weirdo but he’s actually a nice funny man who helps others! Whereas the reality was that he was even creepier than he looked.

Yeah, that’s probably it. But that’s not such a bad plot device, is it? It isn’t for everyone and I get why people get upset when, say, a show like Battlestar Galactica went there, but a large percentage of people believe in God, so why not use that in stories sometimes?

I always adopt my cats from shelters. But I also fell in love with the Maine Coon breed after an abandoned one wandered into my father’s office complex and into my heart. They are simply the best cats in looks and personality.  So I’ve been on a quest in the subsequent decade for shelter Maine Coons, which has…