I found that Us works a lot better if you think of it as supernatural and not science fiction. Like I know that the explanation given in the movie is that the underground society was created as an experiment, which cues us to think of it in scientific terms and thus it all breaks down (the logistics of the underground…

I’d say Niles and Daphne’s “will they?” was much less certain. Jim and Pam clearly had mutual chemistry, and by like season 2 it was clear that she was attracted to him in addition to him being in love with her. For a long time, Niles’ infatuation with Daphne was completely one-sided. It wasn’t at all clear that she…

Jim’s “It’s a date” and Pam’s reaction still make up one of my favorite TV moments of all time. I just went back and watched it again. Still hits so hard.

IIRC we see Vig hiding behind the tree, half blown up, just a few yards from the truck, and then we don’t see him again until he’s getting into the racist car’s driver’s seat. He could have grabbed the helmet bag out of the truck as soon as the racist brigade left, then put it in the trunk of the car just before…

Among other infuriating things (e.g. the blatant racism, sexism, misogynoir), the idea that Biden has “politicized” what has always been a political process is just asinine.

The idea of a hierarchy of races is as old as the concept of race itself (and as old as racism, which basically existed first and was then encapsulated into a larger idea of “race”). Historically, white racists (both individuals and larger institutions) have often carved out exceptions for particular racial or ethnic…

The show (which I really enjoy) is weird because I feel like it vacillates between gritty “realism” and hyper-stylized pop-art. It’s compelling because both parts are really well done, though the tonal shifts can be disorienting. I don’t know if you watched the two special episodes they did between seasons (focusing…

I look forward to Together competing against its sequel, Together, Together.

I think this is really important. I understand the people who didn’t like his work from the beginning (and who got lambasted for saying so back then) feeling vindicated now, but to pretend that he was objectively a hack and that we all somehow missed that isn’t helpful. If we have created a culture that deifies…

Yay for landing punches. I think the Riddler is one of the hardest characters to write. Make the riddles too easy, and the gimmick seems silly. Make them too hard and it becomes unbelievable that anyone could figure out the intended answer (that’s been the problem with movies like the Da Vinci code series; so many…

I can’t tell if the story line or tone will be good or not, but solely based on this clip, this looks like it might have the best straight up fight choreography for live action Batman so far.

**mild Into the Spiderverse spoilers, in case anyone hasn’t seen it**
I wonder if this is a fake-out. I don’t see them killing off Peter (and I hope they don’t, as Holland has been my favorite live action Spider-Man by far), but I could see him eventually retiring/going into hiding and mentoring Miles Morales, kind of…

I thought of going for a Marvel movie, but many of those actors are huge stars because of the franchise itself, which feels like cheating.

What do you mean? Monster Mash is clearly a Valentine’s Day song.

This is my favorite Morissette song (and sometimes one of my favorite songs period).

As I just said upthread, I’ve thought a lot about this, and I think the X-Men’s general “bubble” within the Marvel Universe fits the racism/bias metaphor well. Like, crazy or horrible things happen to mutants and in their communities but they go unnoticed by the larger society until it impacts them in some way (e.g.…

So I’ve actually thought a LOT about this topic (I may write about it formally one day), and I think it’s a good metaphor, in large part because of the things you point out. Xavier always has that line about the X-Men protecting a world that hates and fears them, and those two descriptions, “hate” and “fear” are the…

I feel like I’m the only person who liked Bright. Or, at least I liked the potential for what Bright could be. The ethnic stereotypes are lazy and the “Fairy lives” line is HORRIBLE (both things that are hopefully weeded out with Landis being gone), but I actually like the world-building. You’re absolutely right in…

“Unearned” emotional moments hits on something I experienced. I’d never heard of the show before catching a random episode late one night. It was melodramatic, which is not bad as it played it pretty well. The episode referenced a lot of backstory, which is expected for a serialized show. It was pretty easy to piece…

Almost skipped this article because I haven’t seen the movie (and this subgenre isn’t usually my thing) but this sounds like a good movie with a surprising amount of depth and character work. Also, I really liked this piece, which connected to a set of characters and movies with which I’m much more familiar: