Knives Out 2: Electric Boogaloo

I thought for sure the Mikkleson / Grant comparison was going to balance with a mention of the worst drunk acting of all-time - namely, Marina Sirtis’ Drunk Deanna Troi in Star Trek: First Contact. That’s junior high school drama club level acting right there. 

Shang-Chi, No Way Home, and now Doc 2 prove one thing: Wong is the Coulson of Phase 4. And I am here for it.

Of course, I also live in Newfoundland. 

I’ve seen far more movies in the theatre in the past 18 months then I normally would. Spidey, Shang-Chi (twice!), Black Widow, No Time To Die, Halloween Kills, Godzilla V Kong, and re-releases of Inception, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Halloween, White Christmas… the moviegoing experience right now is glorious. Nobody sitting…

You could start an X-Files rewatch. It’s my first time revisiting it since it aired, and it’s wild to see how it does and doesn’t hold up. I’m currently at Season 4, right at the point where you skip “The Field Where I Died”.

Danny: I have to go now. My planet needs me.

The three best things about the Netflix shows were two excellent villains in Kingpin and Kilgrave, and Ritter’s Jessica Jones. It would be great to see her make the canonical jump to the MCU in She-Hulk. 

Sutherland’s “Mr X” monologue is one of the all-time greats. Up there with Shaw’s Indianapolis speech from Jaws. 

The Player, as brilliant as it is, feels like a cheat here due to the “cameo as themselves” nature of most of the famous names.

Mary Tyler Moore!

Related, but not entirely fitting the metric: I always love it when an actor primarily known for comedy is cast in a small, against type, scene stealing supporting part. Not full blown career stream shifts, just super little bits of stunt-casting that are small enough to not wear out their welcome but still weaponize…

Maybe don’t make another movie until there’s a compelling story that’s worth telling. And maybe don’t stretch it into a trilogy without mapping that story out first, so narrative threads started in one movie aren’t immediately abandoned in the next.

Okoye is a badass in Black Panther, plus she gets feature moments in Infinity War & Endgame. Shuri is cool and all, but is basically Q Branch. 

Always been of the belief that Amnesiac was their best record. The one-two opening punch of Packt Like Sardines into Pyramid Song is gorgeous. I Might Be Wrong, Pulk/Pull, Spinning Plates, You & Whose Army… it’s all top drawer. 

This was already possible in Lego Dimensions. Heck, Batman, Shaggy and Gandalf could square off against ET, Homer Simpson, and Sloth from The Goonies. In a TARDIS.

So, was the thing coming out of the side of the cliff in Shang-Chi a Deviant too? Lots of tentacle-y creatures going on in the MCU lately. 

It was entertaining and I dug it far more than I expected to. I don’t know what I was expecting, actually. Its a weird little movie to pin down. 

Of all the bracket style challenges I’ve ever seen, this one seems like the one most predetermined to come down to an obvious outcome. On every metric - quality of original, impact, legacy, longevity, influence - how can it not be Halloween? The original is the single best pure scare film out of any on the list, and…

Ant-Man shows a wee bit of Scott/Hope smooching, but only in service of a punchline.