Stacy's Blog Has Got It Going On

"Walk away." -Vasili In 2008, Mumbai, India suffered a brutal terrorist attack that left at least 174 people dead.  This film focuses on one of the major locations in the attack, the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, and follows the guests and workers trapped inside as they fight to survive. What Works: Hotel Mumbai is essentially Die Hard in a hotel; a group of terrorists take control of a building and those trapped inside have to stay alive and avoid the killers, but it's all a true story.  This film is both brutal and disturbing.  The filmmakers did not hold back in terms of violence.  Many people are wounded or killed, some are shot point-blank and we see it up close.  It's a very effective and realistic film that shows the sheer horror of these attacks.  Some may find this to be too much, but I commend the filmmakers for not downplaying how horrific this violence was. The tension is incredibly high in this film and you are always on the edge of y

"Julie, you're hot." -Lauren O'Connell This was a pretty exciting episode of Survivor , though it does leave me worried about what is to come.  Most importantly, Devens is back from the Edge, but how did he and the other contestants do gameplay wise?  Let's take a look! Who Played Well: Let's start with the Kama 6 as a whole.  Even though we didn't get a ton of screen time from most of them, Eric, Gavin, Julia, Julie, Ron, and Victoria all did a great job in this episode.  They took out a major player in Joe and alienated David and Rick from the other original Manu's by getting Kelley, Lauren, and Wardog to vote for David.  It really couldn't have gone any better for them.  Ron got his way on the vote, but he has to be careful not to ruffle any feathers. by taking charge like that. Julie did the best of the Kama 6.  Not only did she win Immunity, but she also bonded the most with Rick out of the Kama's, which may bene

"It's us." -Jason Wilson While on vacation near Santa Cruz, the Wilson family witnesses a group of people standing outside of their vacation home.  To their horror, they realize the people are demented doppelgängers of themselves.  The Wilson's are forced to band together to fight their counterparts, while Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o) has to finally confront the trauma that happened to her in Santa Cruz when she was a child. To really discuss Us , I will have to get into spoilers, but I give this film a very high recommendation, so go watch it before you read any further! What Works: Us is a movie that is very easy to get invested in because we like all of the characters.  The Wilson's are a strong family unit and each bring something to the table.  Early in the film they are all very terrified and confused with the situation.  Who wouldn't be?  But as the film progresses, all of these characters become strong and are willing and

"So, how do we know who's human?" -Childs In Antarctica, the crew of an American research station witness a helicopter with two men chasing a dog across the snow and shooting at it.  Both men are inadvertently killed.  As the men try and figure out what is going on, it becomes clear that the dog was never a dog at all.  The station has been infiltrated by an alien creature that can perfectly replicate any organism.  Trust no one because someone in the station is not who they pretend to be. What Works: The Thing  is really effective film in terms of paranoia.  You really can't trust anyone in this film.  Anyone could be a Thing.  Early in the film, the Thing attacks one of the crew members, but we don't see which one it is.  That really adds to the uncertainty of who is who, even for the audience.  We don't get the full picture and neither do the characters.  It makes it a very exciting film to watch for the first time and still fun on th

"PB & J powers activate!" -Aubry Bracco Wow, I was expecting at least 1 part of this double episode to be a dud, but nope!  Instead we got two action packed parts that have really got me hyped for the rest of the season.  But how was the gameplay is this massive episode?  Let's start the breakdown with the first part of the episode. Who Played Well: We'll start with the Manu tribe, where we have the trio of Victoria, Gavin, and Eric who masterfully manipulated Aubry into a false sense of security and voted her out with an Idol and an advantage in her pocket.  Most of the credit has to go to Victoria, but all three of these players did an excellent job in pulling the wool over Aubry's eyes. Over on the Lesu tribe, we have Kelley who handled the situation with Wardog wanting to turn on Lauren very well.  She kept her cool and went along with what he was saying and saved what she really wanted to say for her confessionals.  She may thin

"I'm not paranoid.  All my fears are real." -Bill Whitney Before I dive into this movie, I want to give a Spoiler Alert, even though this movie was made in the 80's.  I highly recommend this film, but you should go into it knowing as little as possible.  I knew nothing about Society going in and had that much more fun because of my ignorance.  Don't read any further unless you have seen this film. Bill Whitney (Billy Warlock) is a rich teenager who lives with his parents and his sister in Beverly Hills.  On paper, he has it all, but Bill lives with a crippling sense of fear and paranoia.  He's afraid of his parents, his sister, even his therapist.  Bill has never fit into the high-class society of his family and learns that they have a terrible secret they don't want Bill to know. What Works: Society is one of the weirdest films I have ever seen and it is incredibly surreal.  I shouted, "What is going on?!" at the TV

"Like, we're not looking for ghoul-friends, right Scoob?!" -Shaggy Rogers Several years after the end of Mystery Inc., the gang has gone their separate ways and started new careers.  Daphne Blake (Mary Kay Bergman) is now a TV reporter and has her own show where she travels to haunted locations and Fred Jones (Frank Welker) is her producer.  He decides to get the gang back together and they travel to Louisiana.  They meet a woman named Lena (Tara Charendoff), who brings them to the haunted Moonscar Island, where they realize too late the monsters on the island are not bad guys in masks.  This time, the monsters are real! What Works: The most notable aspect of Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island  is how dark this film gets.  The monsters are real and they are actively trying to kill Scooby (Scott Innes) and the gang.  This is the first time this franchise has gotten dark at all and it's extremely refreshing.  We see a group of people get attacked and kil

"One more round." -Rocky Balboa After returning from Russia, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) learns his accountant has stolen and lost most of his money.  Thinking he can win more in a fight, Rocky visits the doctor and learns he has permanent brain damage from his last match.  Rocky has no choice but to move his family back into his old neighborhood.  He becomes a trainer for a young up-and-comer, Tommy Gunn (Tommy Morrison), and begins neglecting his family to focus on work, but Tommy doesn't have the same sense of loyalty as Rocky. What Works: I said in my earlier review of the Rocky films that the formula was starting to become stale as the series went along.  Say what you will about Rocky V , but it at least tried to do something different.  It doesn't always work, but it isn't stale.  I like parts of the direction this movie takes.  Making Rocky finally suffer physical consequences for all the abuse he has taken is interesting and ma

"We could, at the very least, come in second." -Rick Devens I'm starting to get nervous about Edge of Extinction .  The decimation of original Manu, the invisible edit for most of the original Kama tribe, more time spent out on the Edge, and Rick getting booted out.  None of these are good signs going forward.  I'm not saying this was a bad episode by any means, but it was a major bummer.  But, bummed out or not, I have a job to do.  Let's take a look how everyone played in this episode. Who Played Well: Starting over on the new Kama tribe, we only have Julia and Ron to talk about.  Ron hatched a very clever scheme of distracting Joe for long enough so that Julia could search his bag.  Pulling this off right after the tribe swap was really smart and it makes me worry for Joe going forward. Moving over to Manu, we only have Aubry to touch on.  I like that she is bonding with the rest of the tribe over how crazy Wendy is.  This may save he

"I don't know my bloody blood type!" -Charlie Pace The 20th episode picks with Jack (Matthew Fox) attempting to save the critically injured Boone (Ian Somerhalder).  Jack sends Kate (Evangeline Lilly) to get alcohol from Sawyer (Josh Holloway), while he and Sun (Yunjin Kim) start to work on the injured Boone.  They manage to gets his breathing stabilized and reset his broken leg, but Jack realizes Boone needs a blood transfusion.  Unable to find someone with a matching blood type, Jack, a universal donor, gives Boone his own blood.  Boone begins speaking deliriously and mentions being in a falling plane, the hatch, and that Locke (Terry O'Quinn) said not to tell. After getting the alcohol, Kate makes her way to the caves, but comes across Claire (Emilie de Ravin) on the way and realizes she is about to give birth.  Kate calls for help and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) comes to her aid.  He brings the alcohol to Jack and explains the situation using Sun as a tr

"Why would I turn into a filing cabinet?" -Talos On the planet Hala, the capital of the Kree Empire, Vers (Brie Larson) is a member of the Kree Starforce, which protects the Empire, but she can't remember most of her past.  After a mission goes wrong, Vers finds herself on Earth and learns she has been on the planet before and has to figure out who she really is. What Works: This is by far the biggest role Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury has had in an MCU film and it's wonderful.  Since this is a prequel film and takes place in 1995, we get to see a Nick Fury who is much less serious and more fun.  Jackson is fantastic in this film and has some of the funniest moments in the film, especially in his interactions with a cat they encounter on their adventure.  Jackson and Larson have great chemistry and their scenes together are some of the strongest in the film. I also have to give props to Ben Mendelsohn, who plays Talos, a shapeshifting an

"No brain, no pain...think about it." -Gus Gilbert Several years after the events of the first film, Jeff Matthews (Edward Furlong) witnesses the violent death of his mother, Renee (Darlanne Fluegel).  His father, Chase (Anthony Edwards), takes him to live in Ludlow, Maine, which has a few dark secrets.  Jeff befriends Drew Gilbert (Jason McGuire) whose dog dies soon after.  Drew shows Jeff the Indian burial ground and buries his dog there.  Soon enough, Drew's dog is back from the dead, but very different.  But the boys have an even bigger problem in the form of Drew's stepdad, the town sheriff, Gus (Clancy Brown). What Works: Pet Sematary Two is an extremely strange movie and I'm still not totally sure how I felt about it.  In the first half of the film, there are a couple of out-of-nowhere, bonkers moments.  Most of them involve dreams of Renee with the head of a dog.  These moments are completely insane, but pretty great.  The second hal

"Everyone needs a friend." -Greta Hideg Frances McCullen (Chloë Grace Moretz) has recently moved to New York City.  On the subway, she finds a purse belonging to a woman named Greta Hideg (Isabelle Huppert) and returns it to her.  Frances and Greta quickly becomes close and start spending lots of time together, but Frances soon realizes that Greta's intentions are much more sinister than anyone could have guessed. What Works: Both of the lead actors do a solid job.  Frances is a very likable character, especially for the first act.  Sure, returning the bag to a stranger probably wasn't the smartest move, but we understand she is simply a kind person, who probably isn't built for New York City.  Meanwhile, Huppert plays Greta with an excellent amount of insanity and sweetness.  Her performance is very unsettling.   I especially liked the first half of the film, which is a pretty straightforward story about a stalker.  As Greta's actio

"Just drop me wherever." -Wendy Diaz After the Immunity Challenge happened in this 3rd episode of  Edge of Extinction , I figured this would be a very straightforward, perhaps even boring episode, but I can't believe how wrong I was.  I'm still utterly baffled by the events of this episode and how everything came about.  So join me as I sort through this mess and figure out who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: We'll start over on the mostly invisible Kama tribe with Aubry, who recognized that she was in danger and managed to find the Hidden Immunity Idol. We also learned that there is a majority of 6 on the Kama tribe, so I have to give props to Eric, Gavin, Julia, Julie, Ron, and Victoria for getting themselves in the majority.  I don't know if they'll be able to stick together post-swap, but so far, so good.  Ron and Victoria both had a much more mixed night than the others because of their lack of awareness in stra