Stacy's Blog Has Got It Going On

"It was a failure, but it was fun." -Tony Vlachos We got another doozy of an episode from Survivor: Winners at War .  More crazy gamplay from Tony, an awesome Immunity Challenge, and more frantic whispers at Tribal Council, but how good was the gameplay?  Let's take a closer look! Who Played Well: Let's start with Jeremy, who somehow survived this round against all odds (and he really shouldn't have).  He has one heck of a social bond with Tony, which is what saved him.  He also got Michele to give him the 50/50 Coin, he eliminated Kim, and he at least tried to patch things up with Ben, even if it didn't go anywhere. Tony was on fire, once again.  He won Immunity and it only cost him a Fire Token, he patched things up with Sarah and even offered to play his Idol on her, he saw Ben find the Idol, and eliminated his biggest threat in Kim.  I don't love that he told so many people about his Idol, but it seems to have worked out for hi...

"Now, I can hide a body like the Easter Bunny hides an egg..." -George Small-time crooks, Mickey (Bill Skarsgård) and Jules (Maika Monroe), break into a house only to find the owners have a very dark secret.  Before they can escape, the owners return home... What Works: Villains works because of the performances of the four leads.  All of them do a great job.  Skarsgård and Monroe are extremely likable, even if they are thieves.  They have a sweet relationship and are both a lot of fun.  It's crazy that this is the same guy who plays Pennywise the Dancing Clown in IT .  Skarsgård has range, that's for sure. The owners, Jeffrey Donovan and Kyra Sedgewick, are also excellent.  They are surprisingly similar to Mickey and Jules, just two-steps crazier.  They also have a sweet relationship, even if it's on the twisted side.  I wasn't expecting these two to be so in love, but I like it.  Donovan is very good at playing...

"What'd you do, steal their livers?" -John Locke The 17th episode of season of Lost picks up in a flashback.  As John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) prepares a picnic so he can propose to his girlfriend, Helen (Katey Sagal), they discover that Locke's father, Anthony Cooper (Kevin Tighe), has died and go to his funeral.  Later, Cooper reveals himself to Locke having faked his deaths after stealing $700,000 from some men.  He asks Locke to get the money for him offering $200,000 for the errand.  Locke does so, lying to Helen in the process.  He brings the money to Cooper, but Helen follows him.  She is furious at Locke for lying and for needing Cooper's love more than her's.  Locke tries to propose to her, but she rejects him and leaves, as Cooper leaves as well leaving Locke alone. On the island, Locke and Henry Gale (Michael Emerson) become trapped inside the hatch when blast doors come down.  Locke is forced to let Henry out of the armor...

"And upon her forehead was written: 'Behold I am the great mother of harlots and all abominations of  the Earth.'" -Stefan Crosscoe After the mysterious death of his sister in the previous movie, Ben White (Reb Brown) is approached by a werewolf hunter, Setfan Crosscoe (Christopher Lee), and told the truth about the werewolf world.  They, along with a journalist, Jenny (Annie McEnroe), team up and travel to Transylvania to take down the leader of the werewolves, Stirba (Sybil Danning). What Works: I wasn't a big fan of the The Howling , as I mostly found it boring.  That isn't the case here.   Howling II has a ton of problems, which I'll get to, but it isn't boring.  The movie has a manic energy and flies by in the blink of an eye. Christopher Lee is amazing without even trying.  I read that he was very frustrating with some of his co-stars in this film, but that doesn't stop him from delivering with his incredible screen...

It's that time again: The Snubby Awards!  For those of you who don't know, the Snubby Awards take a look at all of the Best Picture nominees from a given year and determine if the best film won or if one was snubbed.  If that's the case, they win the coveted Snubby Award! This time we'll be taking a look at the 2019 Oscars, which was a pretty weak field.  I'd say only half of them were truly worthy of being nominated.  The nominees were Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Favourite, Roma, A Star is Born, and Vice , with the winner being Green Book .  Did  Green Book  deserve to win or did somebody else get snubbed.  Let's find out! #8. Vice Vice tells the story of former Vice President Dick Cheney, played expertly by Christian Bale.  While there are some funny moments in the film and some really solid performances, the movie comes off as extremely condescending.  It's a movie by the left for the ...

"Say hello to my little friend." -Tony Vlachos What a crazy episode of Survivor .  As a massive Tony Vlachos fan, I was ecstatic to see Tony bring back the insanity.  As someone who choose Sophie as their winner pick, I was less than thrilled.  There was lots of gameplay to talk about, so let's take a closer look. Who Played Well: Let's just get Tony out of the way.  He managed to find a Hidden Immunity Idol (and throw Nick off the scent), he overcame an Extortion (which I hated, for the record) by convincing Jeremy, Nick, and Ben to give him Fire Tokens, he won Immunity, and he organized a minority vote to knock Sophie out of the game with an Idol in her pocket!  My only concern is that everyone could come for him next, but no matter what, this was an impressive episode for Tony. Nick, Jeremy, and Michele all got on the right side of the vote with Tony, which is great for both Jeremy and Michele.  As for Nick, if this blows up on h...

"Shut up, crime!" -Frank Darbo Line cook Frank Darbo (Rainn Wilson) lives an unspectacular life until his drug addicted wife, Sarah (Liv Tyler), is taken by her dealer, Jacques (Kevin Bacon).  When the police don't help, Frank decides to take matters into his own hands and becomes the Crimson Bolt to take on the criminals of his town and rescue his wife. There will be some spoilers for Super below.  This is a really great movie so go check it out before reading further. What Works: Rainn Wilson is incredible as Frank Darbo.  He's a really interesting character.  He's likable, but somewhat unhinged.  He has wild visions that end up sending him on his quest.  He's funny and relatable, but still extremely violent.  He's disturbingly easy to root for and those are my favorite kind of protagonists and not many actors can pull that off, but Wilson does with ease. The humor of Super is incredibly dark.  This an excellent exam...

"Jack and Locke are a little too busy worrying about Locke and Jack." -Ana Lucia Cortez "The Whole Truth" kicks off with a flashback.  Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) are struggling to conceive a child, which puts even more pressure on their already strained marriage.  The see a fertility doctor who tells them Sun is unable to conceive, which causes Jin to storm out in anger.  The doctor later tells Sun that Jin is actually the one who is infertile and was too scared to tell him.  Sun is also receiving English lessons from Jae Lee (Tony Lee), as she prepares to leave Jin for America, but it's apparent Jae has feelings for her. On the island, Sun works in her garden, which angers Jin because that is where she was kidnapped.  Jin trashes the garden and Sun leaves.  Not feeling well, she gets Sawyer (Josh Holloway) to give her a pregnancy test, which comes back positive.  Later, Jin feels remorseful and repairs the garden.  ...

"Some things were not meant to be found." -Lara Croft Archeologist Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) discovers a map to the mythical Pandora's box, which actually contains a plague that could wipe out most of the world's population.  The search becomes a race against bioterrorist Jonathan Reiss (Ciarán Hinds) and Lara is forced to seek help from her mercenary ex-boyfriend, Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler). What Works: The Cradle of Life has one and only one redeeming quality and that is Gerard Butler.  The guy is trying to give us an interesting character and he is charming most of the time.  He's the one interesting element of the entire story as you can never fully trust his motives. What Sucks: Man, where do I begin?  I absolutely hated this movie from start to finish.  On a technical level, it's a mess.  All of the action sequences are full of choppy, slow-mo shots that were very prevalent at the time.  It looks awful and an...

"In the art of accounting, I'm a white belt...and you are a fiscal black belt." -Sensei Timid accountant, Casey Davies (Jesse Eisenberg), is mugged and brutally beaten.  Casey becomes determined to overcome his fear and starts taking karate lessons.  As Casey embraces all things masculine, he soon finds that the dōjō has a dark secret. What Works: Jesse Eisenberg plays a pretty typical Eisenberg character, but that isn't a bad thing.  Eisenberg is a character actor and he plays that type extremely well.  He's easy to root for and he brings a lot of emotion to the role. The real standout is Alessandro Nivola, who plays Sensei.  He's extremely calm and soft-spoken, but utterly unhinged and intimidating.  It's an excellent performance and I wish more people talked about it. I'm actually a black belt in karate, so it was very fun for me to see this bastardization of karate that Sensei teaches.  I think people who have never be...

"Thank you, Fiji Airways." -Sophie Clarke Good news , everyone!  I'm going to spend half of this episode just hanging out on a beach with my family!  I kid, but I'm not gonna lie, I didn't love this episode and it's easily my least favorite of the season.  Way too much time was spent on the Loved Ones Visit, while the strategy talks and Tribal Council were rushed and confusing.  Survivor really needs to start showing us the votes again.  This one was a tough one to piece together, but let's take a closer look at the gameplay. Who Played Well: Sophie, Ben, Nick, Sarah, and Tony seemed to take charge of the game and eliminated Tyson, so good on them.  Sophie was especially good because she was the one who gathered her forces together and she still has her Idol.   I didn't love how Sarah and Tony fought so much, but they still got themselves on the same page eventually.  Plus Tony won Immunity and Sarah played her Vote S...

"Are you the genius or are you the guy who always feels like he's living in the shadow of the genius?" -Ben Linus The 15th episode of season 2 of Lost picks up with Aaron getting sick.  Claire (Emilie de Ravin) becomes very worried, even when Jack (Matthew Fox) tells her it's a very common illness for infants.  Rousseau (Mira Furlan) arrives in camp and tells Claire that Aaron is infected.  Even more worried, Claire gets Libby (Cynthia Watros) to help her unlock the memories of her kidnapping.  Claire becomes determined to go back to where she was taken. Over the episode, we see Claire's memories slowly return.  She was held in a Dharma station called the Staff and given injections by Ethan (William Mapother).  She was kept drugged and convinced to give up her baby to the Others.  One of the Others, Alex (Tania Raymonde), told Claire that she would be killed her after the baby's birth, but Claire didn't believe her, so Alex knocked her o...

"What about the old American social custom of self-defense?" -Paul Kersey After his wife is murdered and his daughter is raped during a home invasion, mild-mannered architect, Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) decides to take the law into his own hands.  He gets a gun and starts taking out every mugger he can find.  As the police search for him, they realize that the city's crime rate is going down and have to decide how to handle the vigilante situation. What Works: I don't have a ton to say about this movie.  I wouldn't call in a good or a bad film.  There isn't much I liked or much I disliked.  It is always fun to see Kersey hunting down crooks.  There aren't as many action sequences as you would expect, but I enjoyed the ones we did get. The most interesting part of the movie is how the police and politicians react to the vigilante.  I enjoyed that Kersey's actions had a massive impact on the crime rate.  My favorite scene...

"If you hang up, I will kill you." -The Caller Stu Shepard (Colin Ferrell), an arrogant publicist, picks up a ringing phone after finishing a call in a phone booth.  On the other end of the call is madman with a sniper rifle (Kiefer Sutherland) who knows everything about Stu and wants to play a deadly game.   What Works: I love movies that take place in one isolated location.  Phone Booth dials this concept up to 11.  99% of the movie takes place in a phone booth.  I love this concept and the execution on this premise is very well done. Colin Ferrell is amazing as our protagonist.  He is impossible to like at the start of the film, but has a remarkable character arc.  He's incredibly believable as he shakes inside the phone booth.  Ferrell is always great, but he puts in the extra effort here. This movie wouldn't work without a voice on the other end of that call that oozed confidence and control.  Sutherland has ...

"I hope you feel miserable." -Sarah Lacina Wow, what an episode.  You knew when the Immunity Challenge started only 24 minutes into the hour, this was going to be a doozy, but I didn't expect how much.  We got lots of good gameplay, but some bad as well.  Let's take a closer look at how everyone did. Who Played Well: Right off the bat, Adam was the correct person to vote out.  Everyone was on the right side of the vote, even though Denise and Sarah voted Nick, I'm pretty certain that was just a back up in case Adam had an Idol, so good on everyone.  Extra props to Kim for winning Immunity. Ben played very interestingly in this episode and seemed to be channeling the spirit of Boston Rob. He was very fortunate things played out the way they did, otherwise this could have been a disaster. His confrontation of Adam in the woods caught him in a lie, but I think Ben could have handled it more gracefully.  This burned an already damaged b...

"Obviously." -Trimagasi Goreng (Iván Massagué) wakes up on the 48th level of the Vertical Self-Management Center.  A large platform of food descends the tower every day, stopping at every level, which each floor only getting whatever those above have left them, with two people of every level.  Every month they randomly change floors.  Faced with starvation, murder, cannibalism, and madness, Goreng quickly realizes that something has to change. I can't really talk about this movie without spoiling it.  It's a good film, we're in quarantine, and it's on Netflix, so go give it watch and come back to read this. What Works: I love the premise of The Platform .  It's very reminiscent of the film, Cube , but this is less complex to its benefit.  It's a simple setup, but it works really well.  This situation makes it easy to root fo Goreng and despise the other characters within seconds of meeting them. Goreng's first cellm...