Better movie!

This movie stands with IT Chapter 2 in its level of baffling awfulness. The mob scenes alone are something from a Simpsons episode. Bringing Lonnie back and that random nurse in the station wagon? There’s also some truly atrocious dialogue, and not just the Simpsons-esque ‘Evil Dies Tonight!’ chant.

Damn you, anyhow, Arthur Aurelius Dowd! (Am I close?)

More Tugg Speedman nonsense from our dear Mssr. Emmerich. 

Penn Badgley seems like a solid dude. He tweets solely about social injustice it seems, and responds to fan pleas of “Kidnap me, Daddy,” with a solid “No.”

All them English actors, stealin our jobs and puttin on flat accents that sound like dubs from a 70s karate movie...

It seemed folks were disappointed in some aspect by the return to the status quo for these characters - but it seems that was precisely White’s point. Even Armond’s horrible death is easily glossed over by the appearance of a new guy in his place. Pretty damn depressing! 

I’ve been seeing some Twitter anger that Paula didn’t get a ‘happy’ ending, but she’s just another destroyer to come to the island and leave. If we’re supposed to feel sympathetic because she’s a WOC and presumably doesn’t have Olivia’s advantaged background, that ain’t working on me, bubba.

How on earth does the movie navigate the twist of the previous film? 

I don’t think Paula’s being framed as poor or sweet - convincing a vacay fling to commit grand theft for ???. She doesn’t even know why she’s doing it, outside of sticking it to the Mossbachers. 

This sinks it. Humanity is a net negative.

I don’t find Paula particularly sympathetic, considering the way she treats people she doesn’t value (Armond, Quinn) as a servant and/or messy room. I feel like she’s a sketch of performative wokeness as well - whether that’s intentional, who knows, but I have far more empathy for Armond’s addiction struggles than…

I do wish this was RE7 kickstart of the franchise rather than a remake - still excited to see the end product, however, and whatever Callisto Protocol turns out to be. 

Any trustworthy client would give her a pass til she got home. Knowingly having some work on their honeymoon is some wage slavery bullshit. 

As someone with a barely above average freelance writing career myself, any client that would drop you for not taking an assignment on your honeymoon is a shit client you don’t want to begin with. God help me, but I agree with Shane on that much.

Let’s not get crazy!

Pretty fun flick all told - though I would’ve like Snyder to chop about 20 minutes and go full high-octane action schlock. He’s just not good at the heavier emotional beats, even with Bautista doing what he can with the material.  

The man can emote! He’s a treasure.

If June had gotten on the goddamn lifeboat I would’ve flipped. It really is the little things and ‘small’ relationships that make this show go. As our dear author pointed out, hitting the same beats about June’s shit-eating kid motivating her endless, torturous stay in Gilead does not make for interesting fiction. I’m…

When Covid started I started hanging out quite a bit on Twitch and found about 3-5 chill streams with 50-80 folks tuned in at any given time. It’s almost a familial atmosphere, which I greatly needed during quarantine. But like anything else on the internet, the more popular it gets, the more room there is for…