Stacy's Blog Has Got It Going On

 "Do better, y'all." -Maryanne Oketch This episode was a pretty average episode of Survivor.  Totally fine, but nothing too spectacular.  Or at least it would have been if the editors hadn't spoiled the outcome by showing who wasn't going home!  Any tension this episode would have had was killed by sloppy editors and I'm not happy about it.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, good for you.  I'm jealous.  Anyway, let's take a look at who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: We'll start over on Ika with Tori.  She should have been the one to go home in this episode and she didn't.  She made plenty of maneuvers in her tribe, with various success, but managed to get off the bottom of the tribe and survive. Moving over to Vati, we have Chanelle, who came back into camp after Tribal Council and threw Daniel right under the bus by destroying his credibility and his relationship with Mike.  She and Lydia also had a very nice come

 "They're here!" -Maddy Bowen After moving into a new house, the Bowen family all notice odd quirks about their home, but ignore it unil the youngest, Maddy (Kennedi Clements), is taken by a supernatural force.  The Bowen's team up with a group of paranormal investigators to try and bring Maddy back. What Works: I am a huge fan of Sam Rockwell and I've loved every role I've ever seen him in.  Even in a pretty generic role that could be played by anyone, he brings heart to the character.  I really like the chemistry he and the actress who plays his wife, Rosemarie DeWitt, have.  Their interactions are the best parts of the film. The family in the original Poltergeist didn't have much in the way of internal conflict.  They were a united front from beginning to end.  The 1st act of the remake actually incorporates some family drama.  They don't do a ton with it, but it actually made the 1st act more interesting.  I'd like to watch a family with issues

"I can taste his thoughts!" -Alan Caprison Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock), a romance-adventure novelist, is kidnapped by Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe), who believes she can help him find a treasure that she wrote about in one of her books.  The cover-model from the books, Alan Caprison (Channing Tatum), teams up with an ex-Navy Seal (Brad Pitt) to rescue Loretta, but things don't go according to plan. What Works: I'm a sucker for a good adventure/treasure hunting movie.  Just like Uncharted from earlier this year, I love this type of movie.   The Lost City certainly leans more into the romantic-comedy side of adventure, but the adventurous elements are here all the same, and it's a lot of fun. Sandra Bullock is fantastic as our main protagonist.  From the trailer, I thought she was going to be a pretty one-note character, but that's not the case.  The opening reveals that she is mourning the death of her husband and her character's journey is about sti

 "I can direct the vote without even having one." -Chanelle Howell Wow, I think it's safe to say that Survivor 42  has officially kicked it into high gear.  This was an awesome episode filled with some terrible gameplay, a lot of which came from my winner pick...  This was definitely my favorite episode of the season so far.  Let's take a look at who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: We'll start over on Taku with Jonathan who gave us an extremely impressive performance in the Immunity Challenge.  He won it for his tribe single-handedly.  He's going to make such a good merge boot. I also liked that Omar decided to Risk His Vote.  With the information he was given, it was a good, logical move for him to risk it.  He's also in a good position within his tribe, so even without his vote, I think he will be fine. Let's move over to Vati.  First we have Hai, who saw through Chanell's lie in trying to get him to split the votes.  He voted for Je

 "Welcome back to the land of the living." -The Man in Black "Whatever Happened, Happened" picks up with Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) waking up and finding young Ben (Sterling Beaumon) shot, but still alive.  He brings Ben back to the Barracks where Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) operates on him, but she isn't skilled enough to save his life. Sawyer (Josh Holloway) figures out that Ben was one the one who freed Sayid (Naveen Andrews).  He asks Jack (Matthew Fox) to operate on Ben and save him, but Jack refuses.  Kate (Evangeline Lilly) is furious with Jack and gives some of her blood to Ben.   With no way to save Ben, Kate takes him into the jungle to see if the Others can save him.  Sawyer joins her and they bring him to Richard (Nestor Carbonell).  Richard agrees to save him, but warns them that Ben will never be the same.  He will forget the shooting and always be an Other.  They agree and Richard takes Ben to the Temple. In 2007, Ben (Michael Emerson) wakes up and is s

 "Here's Maryanne!" -Maryanne Oketch Another good episode of Survivor in the books.  While I wouldn't call the gameplay of this episode overly interesting, it was at least extremely funny thanks to the antics of Maryanne and Mike.  Even with the gameplay being in the shadow of the humor, we still have to figure out who played well and who sucked! Who Played Well: We'll start over on the Taku tribe.  Jonathan, Omar, Lindsay, and Maryanne all ended up on the right side of the vote in taking out Marya and they all seemed to really connect with at least one other person in the group.  Plus getting a unanimous vote will be great for tribe unity.  Of the Taku tribe, I think Jonathan was the best, even if he blew the Immunity Challenge, because he made connections with all of the other three and was the one who wanted Marya out the most, besides Maryanne. Moving over to Vati, Daniel and Jenny both had a good enough social bond with Mike to learn about him finding the Bew

 "Fear and stress isn't good for the meat." -Steve After struggling with dating apps, Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) finally meets the guy of her dreams, the charming and funny Steve (Sebastian Stan).  Not long after they start dating, Steve invites Noa on a weekend getaway and quickly discovers her boyfriend has an unusual and deadly appetite. What Works: So, I love cannibal movies.  I don't know why, but they've always struck the right note with me, especially the weirder ones.  When this movie was announced, multiple people sent me a link to the trailer just because they knew it would be right up my alley.  I even wrote and directed a short film in college with a very similar tone and subject matter to Fresh, so I knew I was going to like this movie and it delivered. This is a dark comedy and manages to hit both of those descriptions well.  There are parts of the movie that are disturbing and legitimately upsetting.  It's also funny, if you have a dark sense of hu

 "I break rock." -Mike Turner It's time for some Survivor 41 !  I have to admit, I didn't have high expectations coming into this season simply because the producers didn't get much in the way of feedback after filming 41 , since these were filmed back-to-back.  I had a lot of issues with the way production mixed things up last season.   41  was only saved by a stellar cast.  I'm not sure 42 's will be able to do the same, but I thought the premiere was pretty solid.  I even like the new Advantage Amulet and I am very excited to see how it plays out.  That said, let's take a look at who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: We'll start with the Ika tribe.  First we have Drea, who managed to get both an Advantage Amulet and an Extra Vote in this episode.  She didn't choose to go on the trek, but was sent there via rock, paper, scissors.  I don't love that she was targeting Rocksroy, but she ended up getting talked out of it and ended

 "It's called 'Everlong' and you wrote it about twenty years ago." -Taylor Hawkins The Foo Fighters prepare to record their 10th album, but want to record it somewhere they have never recorded before and end up at a creepy old house in Encino.  As they start to record, it becomes apparent that there is something incredibly wrong with the house and Dave Grohl.  It's up to the rest of the Foo Fighters to fight to survive and possibly save Dave. What Works: Right off the bat, I love the premise for this movie.   I saw the trailer for the first time two weeks before the movie came out and I immediately knew I had to see it.  It's such a fun premise and I'm really glad this movie was made.  The quality of the film almost doesn't matter.  This movie exists.  The Foo Fighters made a horror movie about themselves.  That's awesome! One thing I wasn't expecting was the gore.  There are some awesome kills in this movie and they don't hold back at