Stacy's Blog Has Got It Going On

 "I don't sail boats, Penny.  I land on them." -Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is called back to TOPGUN to train several graduates for an extremely dangerous mission.  Not a a natural instructor, Maverick struggles to get through to his students, while keeping his superiors happy.  To make matters worse; one student, Rooster (Miles Teller), is the son of Maverick's late co-pilot, Goose (Anthony Edwards). What Works: So, I'll be honest...I don't like the original Top Gun.   I know a ton of people who love it and one of my best friends has it as his favorite movie of all time.  I'll never take that away from anyone, but the original simply isn't for me.  I think I liked Maverick so much because of all the way it improves over the original.  It's what I wanted the first movie to be. First off, we have the character of Maverick.  Tom Cruise isn't the greatest actor of all time, but

 "My 2nd grade teacher would be very proud of me." -Romeo Escobar And so we've reached the end of another season of Survivor .  I had some issues with this season, for sure.  It seems like Jeff learned nothing about the new twists from Survivor 41  and didn't change them up enough or remove them for this season.  Apart from that, I do think this was a better season than 41 .  I think the post-merge was superior, the editing was more well rounded, and the winner had a much more satisfying arc.  Now, let's get into the gameplay of the finale and figure out who played well and who sucked.  We'll start with the Final 5. Who Played Well: We'll start with Romeo.  I liked his fake Idol plan and although he was never in any danger, it's never 100%.  He, and everyone else, made the right move in knocking out Lindsay. While I didn't love the interactions between Jonathan and Lindsay after the previous Tribal Council, I don't think Jonathan was ever going

 "It's going to be a long night." -Ed  On her way to visit her mother in the hospital, Darby (Havana Rose Liu) is forced to stop at a rural visitor center when a brutal blizzard shuts down the roads.  Soon after, Darby discovers a kidnapping victim in one of the cars and realizes that she can't trust any of the other people stranded along with her. What Works: I love movies about people who are all stuck in one location for the entire movie.  It's probably my favorite sub-genre.  We have a group of characters stuck with a problem, and to make things even better, apart from our protagonist, we can't trust any of them.  No Exit is right up my alley with a fantastic premise. It gets even better because it's not just the people we have to look out for.  No Exit has mother nature as a element as well.  The wind is constantly howling and the blizzard is fierce.  This movie makes you feel cold thanks to an effectively chilly atmosphere. Havana Rose Liu does a gre

 "My love of cheese got the best of me." -Monterey Jack Years after the end of the show Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers , former cast member, Monterey Jack (Eric Bana), is kidnapped.  Chip (John Mulaney) and Dale (Andy Samberg), who have been estranged since the show ended, are forced to reunite to rescue their friend. What Worked: I love the world of this movie.  Like Who Framed Roger Rabbit , this is a world where humans and toons live together.  A lot of this movie is spent exploring that world and we get to see some really neat ideas.  My favorite is the Uncanny Valley neighborhood, where everyone looks realistic, yet wrong.  It's the stuff of nightmares and wonderful. On that note, my favorite performance in the movie comes from Seth Rogan, who plays Bob, a dwarf from the Uncanny Valley.  His eyes are souless and I love how he is animated.  Rogan's performance makes the character even funnier and he's fantastic whenever Bob is on screen.  There are all sorts

 "This is our destiny." -Jack Shephard "Follow the Leader" picks up immediately after the death of Faraday (Jeremy Davies).  Jack (Matthew Fox) and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) are captured by the Others.  Jack talks to Eloise (Alice Evans) about his plans to undo everything that has happened and convinces her to help him.  Eloise, Richard (Nestor Carbonell), Jack, Kate, and Erik (Sebastian Siegel) head off on a quest to the Jughead bomb.  Kate decides she doesn't want to be any part of the mission and tries to leave.  Erik is about to kill her, but is shot and killed by Sayid (Naveen Andrews).  Kate leaves to get the rest of their group to stop Jack from going through with the plan.  Eloise, Richard, Sayid, and Jack enter a series of tunnels beneath the Barracks and make it to the bomb. Dr. Chang (Francois Chau) confronts Miles (Ken Leung), Hurley (Jorge Garcia), and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) about being from the future.  They eventually admit to it and that Miles is Dr.

 "This is past calculus." -Mike Turner What a fun episode of Survivor!   I loved it.  I love when the person I am utterly convinced is going to win the game gets taken out.  It makes the show so much more exciting, especially when heading into the finale.  With the frontrunner gone, let's talk about who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: Omar was the person who needed to go out of the game.  So I will give credit to Romeo, Jonathan, and Mike for being part of the plan to make that happened.  Jonathan and Mike are very fortunate that Maryanne was so persistent because their plan to take out Romeo was stupid.  They eventually got on board, so I'll put them in the "Played Well" category, but just barely. Maryanne was the one who organized this vote and got Romeo, Jonathan, and Mike to go along with it.  Using the Extra Vote to split between Omar and Romeo was brilliant.  It was a fantastic episode for Maryanne. Who Sucked: I'll give her credit for

 "Liar, liar, pants on fire." -Charlie McGee The entire McGee family has been on the run for as long as Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) can remember and she is forced to hide her pyrokinetic powers.  When the McGee's are finally found out, Charlie and her father, Andy (Zac Efron), have leave their latest home and Charlie has to learn to use her explosive powers. What Works: The best part of the movie is far and away the score.  John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies did the music for this film and these guys can create a score.  The music kicks a ton of ass and I wish I would have just listened to the soundtrack instead of going to this movie. Zac Efron does a very good job in a role that is very against type for him.  Seeing him in a paternal role is weird, but works well.  His character definitely has the best and most satisfying arc of the movie and Efron nails his final scene. Finally, there is some solid gore on the rare occasion the movie decides to use it

 "I'm gonna detonate a hydrogen bomb." -Daniel Faraday "The Variable" starts off with Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) being brought to the hospital after being shot.  Penny (Sonya Walger) is comforted by Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan) until she is allowed to see Desmond in recovery.  As Eloise leaves the hospital, she is met by Charles Widmore (Alan Dale), who reveals to us that he is Daniel Faraday's (Jeremy Davies) father. In flashbacks, we see that Daniel was gifted in mathematics and music from an early age, but Eloise forced him to stop playing music and focus on physics.  After the incident at Oxford, Daniel's memory sufferers greatly until Widmore invites him to join the freighter expedition to the Island, which may heal him so he can get back to his work.  Daniel is hesitant, but Eloise eventually convinces him. On the Island, Daniel goes to see Jack (Matthew Fox) and tells him that Eloise was wrong to send him back to the Island.  Daniel goes off

 "The game's getting spicy now." -Lindsay Dolashewich What a great episode.  I love it when Jeff's stupid twists completely fail.  It brings a smile to my face.  Now, let's never do the Do or Die and especially the Knowledge is Power ever again!  Meanwhile, let's talk about who played well and who sucked! Who Played Well: We'll start with Jonathan.  I don't like that he got into that argument with Drea, but he did help knock her out of the game.  Plus he won Immunity and was also the only person who had any business competing in the challenge. Omar managed to knock out Drea from the game by neutering her Knowledge is Power Advantage.  He had a good enough relationship with her to learn about the Advantage and he has a good enough relationship with Mike for him to hand over his Idol.  Great episode for Omar. Mike was put in a very unfortunate situation where he needed to hand over his Idol in survive the vote and did it.  Omar could very well never give

 "Somewhere out there, I had a ponytail." -Dr. Stephen Strange Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) comes across America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), a teenage girl with the ability to travel across the multiverse.  She is being hunted by monstrous creatures that want her power.  Out of his depth, Strange goes to Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) for help, but she has an agenda of her own that sends Strange deep into the Multiverse. Spoilers below!  I can't really say much about this movie without spoiling things.  This is a fun and bonkers entry in the MCU.  Not everyone will like it, but I did and I hope you give it a chance.  Final warning!  SPOILERS! What Works:  I've mentioned in others reviews that I've written that I love stories that have to do with the Multiverse.  It allows movies and TV shows to get really weird and creative.  It's a really fun element that can get extremely wild.  In this post- Endgame world we live in, I've been wanting to see Marvel

 "Mikey no likey." -Omar Zaheer This was a pretty straightforward episode of Survivor , to the point where I would call it predictable.  But, you know what?  A straightforward episode of Survivor is nice sometimes.  I don't need to be blindsided every episode.  I like fully understanding what is going on and why.  This episode was ultimately a breath of fresh air.  Let's take a look at who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: Let's start with Lindsay and Drea.  The two of them managed to power up their Advantage Amulet by taking out Hai and now have a Vote Steal instead of an Extra Vote.  If they can work together, they can do some serious damage.  Lindsay also won Immunity.  I don't love that she told Mike and Omar about the Advantage Amulet though, but it was still a mostly positive episode for her. Omer completely controlled this vote and did a fantastic job of turning Mike against Hai.  This is his game to lose now. Jonathan managed to survive anot

 "The Ewoks sucked, dude." -Hugo "Hurley" Reyes "Some Like It Hoth" kicks off with a flashback to when a young Miles (Lance Ho) first learned he had the power to speak to dead people.  Later, older Miles (Ken Leung) has some conflict with his dying mother, Lara (Leslie Ishii), because she refuses to tell him anything about his father except that he is dead and his body is somewhere he can never go. Years later, Miles works as a medium.  He is approached by Naomi (Marsha Thomason) and after witnessing his abilities, Naomi invites him onto the Kahana to help track down Ben (Michael Emerson).  Miles agrees for 1.6 million dollars.  Before they set sail, Miles is kidnapped by Bram (Brad William Henke) and warned to not go on the freighter.  Bram asks Miles to join him instead and learn about his ability and his father.  Miles says he will not go on the trip if Bram gives him 3.2 million dollars.  Bram refuses and lets Miles go. On the Island, Sawyer (Josh Holl