Stacy's Blog Has Got It Going On

 "Butterflies are just dead relatives saying hi." -Xander Hastings I've been a little apprehensive of all the new twists Survivor has thrown in this season so far, but the Beware Advantage is definitely my favorite of the bunch, simply for its sheer entertainment value.  Watching Xander try to force the above sentence into everyday conversation was definitely the highlight of the episode.  What ever happens next with the Beware Advantage, it was worth it.  Anyway, let's figure out who played well and who sucked. Played Well: Starting on the Luvu tribe, the best was easily Naseer who pulled a complete 180 with his social game and survival know-how.  He was described as essential to the tribe.  That's a great spot to be in. Sydney, Erika, and Deshawn all killed it in the Immunity Challenge.  I have some issues with Deshawn volunteering to go on the journey.  You shouldn't separate yourself from the tribe like that, but it worked out basically perfect for him.  H

 "Bullets before prayers." -Officer Valerie Young Teddy Murretto (Frank Grillo) is running for his life from hitmen.  To save himself, he punches a cop, Valerie Young (Alexis Louder), and gets thrown in jail, but that doesn't stop hitman Bob Viddick (Gerard Butler).  Viddick gets himself thrown in jail as well.  Soon the police department finds itself under attack from outside and inside and nobody can trust anybody else if they want to survive. What Works: Copshop is a throwback action movie with a very pulpy feel.  The closest comparison I can think of is Assault on Precinct 13 .  It nails this style perfectly and hits exactly what it was going for.  If you the premise of the film interested you, I think you will like it. The action is solid across the board.  Sure, it's low budget at times, but it's tense and exciting.  You don't know who is going to bite the dust or when, so it adds some suspense to the sequences.  The 3rd act is especially fun, if a bit c

 "Why is there a dead Pakistani on my couch?" -Carmen Reyes The second episode of season 5 picks up with a flashback to just after the Oceanic 6, Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick), and Frank (Jeff Fahey) were rescued by Penny (Sonya Walger).  The group discusses the lie and if it's the best option.  Only Hurley (Jorge Garcia) does not want to go along with the plan and wants to tell the truth, but Jack (Matthew Fox) points out that everyone will think he is crazy if he tries to tell the truth alone. In 2007, Hurley is still on the run with an unconscious Sayid (Naveen Andrews).  He is visited by a vision of Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez), who calms Hurley down and tells him to get somewhere safe and get help for Sayid.  Hurley goes to his parents' house and his father, David (Cheech Marin), manages to get Sayid to Jack, who manages to revive him.  Hurley, consumed with guilt, confesses the truth of everything that happened to his mother. Ben (Michael Emerson) leaves Locke

 "I am the Mafia Pastor." -Shan Smith Survivor is back, baby, and boy am I hyped!  The premiere was fairly strong, but I am worried about having twist overload here with all of the new gimmicks and I'm going to miss Jeff saying, "Come on in, guys!"  That said, the cast is solid and I'm excited to see how this season plays out.  So let's figure out who played well and who sucked! Who Played Well: Let's start with the Levu tribe in blue.  I only have two people from this tribe and the first may be controversial.  I liked Naseer's move to rat out Danny and Deshawn to the rest of the tribe about them looking for an Idol.  Maybe his execution could have been stronger, but I appreciate the attempt. I always want to give Erika props for her performance at the Immunity Challenge in coming from behind to win. Moving on to Ua, things get a little tougher here.  I'm assuming that Genie put her vote on Ricard just in case of a Shot in the Dark or an Ido

 "Wait, are you saying that the killer is your imaginary friend?" -Det. Regina Moss As a series of brutal murders plague Seattle, Madison Lake (Annabelle Wallis) has visions of each murder happening.  Madison, her family, and the police soon fine themselves on a dark journey to discover the connection between her and the killer. Don't read any further if you haven't seen Malignant .  If you like horror movies at all, I beg you to see this movie, and soon, before it gets spoiled for you.  The surprises are part of what makes this movie so fun and I won't be able to talk fully about this film without spoiling it, so drop what you're doing and go see Malignant .  It's a great movie.  I mean it.  Get out of here and go watch this!  Spoilers below!  You've been warned! What Works: What captured my interest in this movie right out the gate is the score.  During the opening credits we get some absolutely incredible tone-setting music.  I haven't loved a s

"You're gonna have to die, John." -Richard Alpert Season 5 of Lost starts off in 1977.  We see Pierre Chang (François Chau) filming the orientation video for the Arrow Dharma station, but is interrupted by a problem at the Orchid.  He orders the construction team to stop drilling any further towards a pocket of energy.  One of the men at the Orchid is revealed to be Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies). In 2007, Jack (Matthew Fox) and Ben (Michael Emerson) prepare to start recruiting everyone to return to the Island, but news breaks of the murder at Santa Rosa and Hurley (Jorge Garcia) is the prime suspect.  Hurley and Sayid (Naveen Andrews) make it to a safe house, where Sayid tells Hurley to do the opposite of anything Ben tells him to do.  They are attacked by two men.  Sayid manages to kill both of them, but is shot with a sleeping dart in the process and they have to flee. Kate (Evangeline Lilly) is approached by two lawyers with a warrant for a blood test of both her and

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 2021 Oscars, which was a solid field of movies.  I thought they were all at least good.   The nominees were: The Father, Judas and the Black Messiah, Mank, Minari, Promising Young Woman, Sound of Metal, and The Trial of the Chicago 7 with the winner being Nomadland .  Did Nomadland  deserve to win or did another movie get snubbed?  Let's find out! #8. Nomadland We'll just get this out of the way with, I guess.  No, Nomadland did not deserve to win Best Picture and I'm surprised that it did.  It's a good movie, don't get me wrong, but it's easily the weakest of the 8.  It follows Frances McDormand as she learns to live out of a van and trav

 "Lie to them, Jack.  If you do it half as well as you lie to yourself, they'll believe you." -John Locke The season 4 finale picks up where the season 3 flash-forward left off.  Kate (Evangeline Lilly) chews out Jack (Matthew Fox) for asking her to return to the Island.  She mentions being approached by someone called Jeremy Bentham who asked her to return to the Island as well.  Jack is carrying Bentham's obituary in his pocket. At Santa Rosa, Hurley (Jorge Garcia) is visited by Walt (Malcolm David Kelley).  Walt says that he was visited by Jeremy Bentham and wants to know why the Oceanic 6 are lying.  Hurley says it's to protect everyone still on the Island.  Later, Sayid (Naveen Andrews) arrives at Santa Rosa and kills a man outside of it that was watching Hurley.  Sayid breaks Hurley out of Santa Rosa and says they are not going back to the Island. In London, Sun (Yunjin Kim) approaches Charles Widmore (Alan Dale) with an offer to work together as they have s

 "Is this what you wanted?!" -Xu Shang-Chi Parking valet Shaun (Simu Liu) is living a normal unremarkable life in San Francisco until he is attacked by a group of warriors on a bus.  Shaun is pulled back into a world he tried to escape where he must face his past, his family, and his father. What Works: I really wasn't expecting a whole lot from Shang-Chi .  It looked like a fairly typical Marvel origin story.  There isn't necessarily anything wrong with that.  Marvel has given us some excellent superhero origin stories over the year, but I was hoping for something a little different.  While we don't really get anything truly different, we do get a really solid and well made origin story and parts of the movie are excellent. The best parts of the movie are the action sequences.  All of them are really good, but the bus sequence and the scaffolding sequence really stand out.  These are two of the best action sequences in the entire MCU and they aren't fantastic