Stacy's Blog Has Got It Going On

 "Nope." -OJ Haywood After the mysterious death of their father, OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and Em Haywood (Keke Palmer) inherit his horse ranch.  OJ struggles to keep the business afloat and to make matters worse, something strange is happening in their valley and some of their horses have gone missing. Spoilers below!  This is a movie that you will want to see before reading any reviews.  Not everything was spoiled by the trailer, so read beyond this point at your own peril. What Works: Nope is an extremely ambitious movie from a very talented director.  Jordan Peele really got to make true spectacle here.  There is a lot going on with this film and I suspect it will take multiple viewings to really piece it all together.  I like movies that make you think and Nope does that well. I think my favorite parts of the movie are the scenes with Gordy the chimpanzee (Terry Notary).  The movie opens with Gordy and doesn't fully put the scene in context until m...

 "Sometimes you can just hop in the back of someone's cab and tell them what they are supposed to do." -Jacob "Lighthouse" starts off in the flash-sideways world with Jack (Matthew Fox) running late to pick up his son, David (Dylan Minnette), from school.  David is very resistant to any attempt from Jack to connect with him.  Jack goes to visit his mother, Margo (Veronica Hamel), to help her find Christian's (John Terry) will and when they do, they learn someone named Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin) is named in it. Jack returns home to find David missing.  He eventually manages to track David down to a piano performance.  He had no idea David still played.  After the performance, they have a heart-to-heart.  David kept Jack at a distance because he was scared of failing in front of him.  Jack tells David that he loves him and that no matter what he does, he can't fail to Jack. On the Island, Jacob (Mark Pellegrino) tells Hurley (Jorge Garcia) t...

 "All gods will die." -Gorr the God Butcher When Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) starts butchering gods across the universe, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) puts together a team to stop him.  Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi), and Thor's ex-girlfriend, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), now with powers of her own, set off on their quest, but might be playing right into Gorr's hands. What Works: Ever since the end of Avengers: Endgame , I've been wanting the MCU to get weird to avoid the movies becoming stale.  As a whole, the MCU has been a bit hit-or-miss on that front with Phase 4, but I'm happy to say that Thor: Love and Thunder is plenty weird.  This is the type of movie I want from this Phase.  With this movie and Multiverse of Madness , I'm really glad Marvel is letting talented directors actually direct and make the movie their own. One complaint I've seen about this movie is the tone.  It is often very funny, but can occasionally get ver...

 "I'm very sorry I murdered him." -Ben Linus "The Substitute" picks up in the flash-sideways universe.  Locke (Terry O'Quinn) returns home where it is revealed he is engaged to Helen (Katey Sagal).  When she finds Jack's (Matthew Fox) business card, she encourages Locke to call him.  When Locke returns to work, he is fired because he flew to Australia on what was supposed to be a buisness trip, but didn't go to any of the events that he was supposed to go to and tried to go on a walkabout instead.  He runs into Hurley (Jorge Garcia) in the parking lot, who owns the company.  Hurley hooks Locke up with a temp agency and Locke talks to Rose (L. Scott Caldwell) about taking a job as a construction manager.  Rose is blunt with Locke and convinces him to be more realistic. Locke tells Helen everything and that he can't wait for a miracle.  He needs to accept the way things are.  Helen reaffirms that she still loves him and rips up Jack's card....