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Showing posts from March, 2024

Survivor 46: Episode 5, "Tiki Man" Gameplay Analysis

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 "I'm here forever!" -Jeff Probst This was probably my favorite episode of the season so far.  It was really exciting to finally see another tribe go to Tribal Council, especially a tribe like Siga, which has gotten along very well up to this point.  This is what the average episode of Survivor should be: two people are on the chopping block and there are valid reasons to get rid of both of them, with Tribal Council being intense as we try to guess who is going.  You don't need much else.  Now, let's get into who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: Starting on the Nami tribe, I like that Hunter went for the Beware Advantage.  I think he's right about being a huge threat going into the merge and he needs every weapon he can get his hands on.  He also agreed to go along with Q's alliance.  He doesn't have to mean it, but he has his options open now.  He did lose his vote by failing the Journey Challenge, but overall I would say he is net positiv

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) Review

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 "Bustin' makes me feel good." -Gary Grooberson Several years after the events of Afterlife , the Spengler family and Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) have moved to New York City and reopened the Ghostbusters.  The new and old Ghostbusters have to work together when a demonic god arrives to put the Big Apple into a deep freeze. What Works: This movie has some problems, but one thing that absolutely isn't a problem is the cast.  While I think the cast is too big, everyone is at least very likable.  I didn't find any of them to be annoying, which is always my worry in a movie like this.  Everyone is trying their best even if they don't have a ton of material to work with.  It's a charismatic bunch which helps get the movie over some bumpier areas. Paul Rudd is one of the highlights of the film, as he usually is.  His character is just so darn likable.  His role in the movie is about trying to find his place as a step-dad figure to Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), which is

Twin Peaks: Season 3, Part 5 "Case Files" Review

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 "Dig yourself out of the shit!" -Dr. Jacoby Part 5 of The Return picks up with with the pair of hitmen still watching Dougie Jones' (Kyle MacLachlan) car.  They call their boss, Lorraine (Tammie Baird), who passes on the message to a device in Buenos Aires.  Later, a gang of car thieves try to steal Dougie's car, but they cause the car bomb to go off, which kills two of them. In Buckhorn, South Dakota, the coroner, Constance Talbot (Jane Adams), finishes her autopsy of the male, headless body.  She finds a wedding ring inside with an inscription "To Dougie, with love, Janey-E." Mike Nelson (Gary Hershberger) brings Steven Burnett (Caleb Landry Jones) in for a job interview, but Mike informs him that Steven's resume is the worst he is ever seen and that he didn't even properly fill out the job application.  Without a job, Steven asks his wife, Becky (Amanda Seyfried) to get some money from her mom, Shelly (Mädchen Amick).  Becky succeeds and she and

Survivor 46: Episode 4 "Don't Touch the Oven" Gameplay Analysis

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 "Welcome to the game." -Jeff Probst Well, that wasn't what I would call a typical episode of Survivor .  A friend of mine called the episode boring, and I can see that in terms of gameplay, but I saw the episode as more of a character study of Bhanu, which I did find interesting even if there wasn't a ton of interesting gameplay to discuss.  But there was still enough to figure out who played well and who sucked! Who Played Well: Starting over on the Nami tribe, both Hunter and Liz were smart to latch onto Tevin's idea to turn on Soda.  Taking her out helps both of them and I like that neither of them brought up the idea first.  Hunter was also incredible in the Immunity Challenge giving his tribe a comeback win. Over on Siga, Jem's idea to plant a fake Beware Advantage was risky, but worked out for her ultimately.  As of now, no one seems suspicious of her and she managed to get a bullseye solidly onto Tim's back, which is great because they are in oppos

The Snubby Awards: 2000 Oscars

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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 another was snubbed.  If that's the case, they win the coveted Snubby Award! This time we'll be taking a look at the 2000 Oscars, which was a good selection of movies.  I liked all of them to some extent, but one was clearly the best and one was clearly the worst.  The nominees were: The Cider House Rules, The Green Mile, The Insider, and The Sixth Sense  with the winner being  American Beauty .  Did  American Beauty  deserve to win or did another movie get snubbed?  Let's find out! #5. The Cider House Rules The Cider House Rules basically follows a young orphan being trained up as a doctor and learning to perform abortions, even though he is morally opposed to the procedure.  The acting is the best part of the film with solid performances from Tobey Maguire, Michael Ca

Twin Peaks: Season 3, Part 4 "Brings Back Some Memories" Review

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 "I'll go have a word with my pinecone." Deputy Chad Broxford Part 4 begins at the Silver Mustang Casino with Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) continuing to win jackpot after jackpot.  He is approached by two friends of Dougie Jones (Kyle MacLachlan) who tell Cooper where Dougie lives.  The Casino arranges a limo to drive Cooper to Dougie's house.  When they arrive, Cooper is confronted by Dougie's wife, Janey-E (Naomi Watts), who is furious that Dougie has been missing for three days and missed their son, Sonny Jim's (Pierce Gagnon) birthday.  When Janey-E learns about all the money Cooper won, her mood improves because they can finally pay off their debts. Later, Mike (Al Strobel), warns Cooper that Mr. C (Kyle MacLachlan) is still out there and that one of them must die.  The next day, Janey-E struggles to help Cooper get dressed in the morning, but Cooper gets very excited about a cup of coffee. Gordon Cole (David Lynch) has a meeting with Denise Bryson (Davi

Survivor 46: Episode 3 "Wackadoodles Win" Gameplay Analysis

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 "Mermaid...dragon." -Bhanu Gopal Well, I loved the first 98% of this episode.  Bhanu's episode-long meltdown was gloriously entertaining.  I felt really bad for the guy, but there were times that I couldn't help but laugh at his paranoid spiral.  I can't remember the last time we saw a meltdown this intense.  All that said, Tribal Council getting canceled pissed me off.  Yanu lost the Immunity Challenge, so they should lose a tribe member.  Randen getting medically evacuated is irrelevant.  I said the same thing when Matthew left the game in Survivor 44 .  The ending left a sour taste in my mouth, which is too bad because I really enjoyed the rest of the episode.  Regardless of how I feel, we still need to figure out who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: Let's start over on Nagi.  The only person I have here is Hunter.  I gotta give the guy some major props for all of the practice he put into Survivor challenges before getting on the show.  It'

Imaginary (2024) Review

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 "He's not imaginary.  And he's not your friend." -Alice Jessica (DeWanda Wise) moves back into her childhood home along with her husband and two stepdaughters.  The younger stepdaughter, Alice (Pyper Braun), soon makes an imaginary friend, Chauncey.  However, Chauncey has a dark connection to Jessica's childhood. Spoilers Below.  I can't talk about this movie without getting into the 3rd act, so spoilers below.  This movie is mostly bad and boring, so I would not recommend watching Imaginary. What Works: The three main leads of this movie are Jessica and her two stepdaughters.  I think all three actresses; DeWanda Wise, Pyper Braun, and Taegen Burns, do a good job with the material they are given to work with.  They're trying their best and mostly succeed. The 3rd act of the movie takes place in the imaginary world and I like the production design of the scenes that take place here.  They could have gone further, but the look of the sequences here is cool

Survivor 46: Episode 2 "Scorpio Energy" Gameplay Analysis

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 "It's like talking to a billboard." -Randen Montalvo You know, I really want to be on Survivor , but if I get on, can we not do this Immunity Challenge?  Holy crap, that looked brutal.  It's nice to have evil Jeff back, but damn.  Calm down there, Satan.  This was a crazy episode with the Yanu tribe being a total trainwreck.  It may not have been good gameplay, but it was certainly interesting.  Let's take a look at who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: Let's start on the Nami tribe.  The only person I have here is Randen.  I'm a little iffy on going for the Beware Advantage, but I like that he used it to forge an alliance with Venus.  He didn't have a ton of options and made the best of a bad situation. Moving over to Siga, Charlie and Maria made a sub-alliance within the Charlie's Angels alliance and can now exert total control over the tribe.  They're in a great position.  Make Malcolm and Denise proud! Moving over to Yanu, Tiffa