Stacy's Blog Has Got It Going On

 "A skull is a very scary thing to see in this game." -Kamilla Karthigesu Wow, that was certainly an episode of Survivor!   Two major notes here.  First off, I hate that the players who were sent on the Journey in this episode were forced to play the game.  I really wish they had been given the opportunity to back out, especially since it was just a game of chance.  Secondly, I think Cedrek's flip at Tribal Council is one of the worst moves we've ever seen in the premerge.  I'd love to hear some other potential contenders for worst premerge move of all time.  Let's get into who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: We'll start over on the Civa tribe.  Kamilla took the hero spot in the Immunity Challenge and won it for her tribe, so good for her.  If you're going to take the hero spot, you'd better deliver, and she did.  She also managed to get an Extra Vote, but that was 100% luck. I really liked the conversation between Kyle and ...

 "Even on my seventeenth go-around, I hate dying." -Mickey 17 Desperate to get off of Earth to avoid a murderous loan shark, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) agrees to become an Expendable on a mission to colonize the planet Niflheim.  An Expendable's job is to do dangerous and deadly tasks and if they die, a clone with most of the same memories and personality can simply be printed off and put back to work.   What Works: Robert Pattinson is the highlight of the film and plays multiple versions of Mickey.  Yes, he's playing the same person each time, but some of the Mickey's have different quirks in their personality.  The two main Mickey's, 17 and 18, are actually very different from each other and Pattinson brings both of them to life very distinctly.  I love the way they interact with each other and the different ways they deal with their problems.  Mickey 18 may be aggressive and violent, but goddamn is he relatable. Mickey 17 and 18 are very ...

 "Well, excuse me for trying to sneak you into heaven!" -Shirley Bennett "The Art of Discourse" picks up with Jeff (Joel McHale) celebrating getting a B in Nutrition while Britta (Gillian Jacobs) knits an eye-patch for her newly adopted cat.  A group of high-schoolers, who are getting some college credits, start insulting Jeff and Britta's life choices, calling them "Shmitty," and repeating every retort that Jeff and Britta respond with, but adding "duh" at the end.  Both Jeff and Britta are affected by the teens and Jeff ends up lashing out at Pierce (Chevy Chase) for playing guitar. Abed (Danny Pudi) smashes Pierce's guitar and reveals he is trying check some things off his list for having the quintessential college experience.  Troy (Donald Glover) offers to help Abed and Troy pantses him in response.  Troy responds by pantsing Abed, who reveals both events were on his list.  Pierce wants to get in on the fun and pantses Shirley (Yvett...

 "Doesn't everybody clean their belly button with Q-tip?" -Chrissy Sarnowsky Sigh.  We were so close.  If only Cedrek had kept quiet.  I would have loved to see Sai go home tonight.  It would have been so great.  Alas, it was not to be.  Even though I wish the outcome had been different, I still enjoyed this episode, so let's get into who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: We'll start over on the Civa tribe.  Charity has gone from having zero allies to one, so that's an improvement at least.  And Mitch won the Immunity Challenge for his tribe and got himself a Vote Blocker.  I don't think he should have told his tribe about it, but I'll still give him a net positive for the episode. Kyle managed to find the Beware Advantage with David near him and Kamilla solved the puzzle to get Kyle the Idol and his vote back.  If they stick together, their alliance can do some damage. Moving over to Lagi, everyone knows about Star findi...

 "I'm going to eat your lunch." -Shauhin Davari Survivor is back, baby!  And, boy, am I excited about this season and this cast.  I like almost everybody so far and one of the only people I wasn't a fan of went home!  Plus we got a really emotional and touching moment between Eva and Joe and I really enjoyed the head to head challenge between Kevin and Kyle.  I like that they were allowed to get the pot down off of the pole however they wanted.  I'd like to see more of that in challenges going forward.  Anyway, let's get into who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: We'll start over on the Civa tribe.  Kamilla, Chrissy, and David all managed to get into an anti-Charity alliance and seem to be in control of their tribe.  That's mostly Kamilla's doing as she didn't like how Charity tried to throw Kyle under the bus to her, but those three seem to be in a good spot moving forward. Moving over to Lagi, Thomas, Bianca,  Shauhin, Joe, ...

 "We have to make like eggs and scramble!" -Hal Shelburn Twin brothers, Hal and Bill Shelburn (Christian Convery), discover a toy monkey in the closet that belonged to their deadbeat father.  They quickly discover that the monkey brings gruesome death wherever it goes and get rid of it.  Decades later, the monkey has returned and people start dying, forcing the estranged brothers (Theo James) to reunite. What Works: I knew this was a horror-comedy going in, but I wasn't expecting an absurdist comedy.  This movie is utterly bizarre and strange in its tone, but in a good way.  A lot of the dialogue feels dreamlike.  This is not a hyper-realistic movie by any means, but it's very intentional and it works.  It certainly makes for a memorable viewing experience, I just wasn't prepared for how off-the-rails it was going to get. The Monkey definitely leans more into comedy than horror, but it has plenty of gore.  However, the gore is very over-the-top an...

 "If you have to ask, you're streets behind." -Pierce Hawthorne "Contemporary American Poultry" picks up with the study group agreeing to leave for lunch early so they can get chicken fingers before the cafeteria runs out.  Britta (Gillian Jacobs) is the only one who isn't interested because she's a vegetarian.  However, the cafeteria runs out before anyone in the study group gets any chicken fingers.  Jeff (Joel McHale) notices that the fry cook, Star-Burns (Dino Stamatopoulos), is giving out chicken on the side.  He comes up with a plan to get Star-Burns fired and replace him with Abed (Danny Pudi). The plan works perfectly with the study group taking over as a chicken finger crime family.  Abed cooks the chicken and sends half of it out the back door, where Troy (Donald Glover), Britta, Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown), and Annie (Alison Brie) distribute it for favors, while Pierce (Chevy Chase) keeps the Dean (Jim Rash) preoccupied with chicken fingers ...

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 1997 Oscars, which was a weaker selection of movies.  Two out of the five are great, two more are good, and one I didn't care for.  The nominees were: Fargo, Jerry Maguire, Secrets & Lies, &   Shine with the winner being The English Patient.   Did The English Patient  deserve to win or did another movie get snubbed?  Let's find out! #5. The English Patient Yep, our Best Picture winner is my least favorite of the nominees.  Aside from Crash,  this is my least favorite Best Picture winner.  This movie follows the story of a dying man with severe burns telling a nurse his story.  This movie was the subject ...

 "Knock knock.  Who's there?  Cancer!  Oh good!  Come on in!  I thought it was Britta." -Britta Perry "The Science of Illusion" picks up on the day before April Fool's Day.  Pierce (Chevy Chase) tells the group that he is about to ascend to Level 6 in his Buddhist religion.  Jeff (Joel McHale) decides to play a prank on Pierce and sends him off searching for a man who was delivering Level 6 robes.  He then has Abed (Danny Pudi) get a costume from the theater department.  They trick Pierce into wearing a wizard costume.  Britta (Gillian Jacobs) chides the group for taking advantage for taking advantage of someone who has been brainwashed by a cult, but they respond by calling her a buzzkill. Determined to prove them wrong, Britta decides to pull a prank by taking a frog from the biology department and putting a sombrero on it and placing it on Señor Chang's (Ken Jeong) desk.  However, while trying to steal the frog, she accident...

 "I really can't do blood." -Ally McCabe The Heart Eyes Killer has spent years spreading fear across the U.S. by targeting couples on Valentine's Day.  This year, Seattle is the target of his bloodbath and Ally McCabe (Olivia Holt) and Jay Simmons (Mason Gooding), coworkers at a work dinner and definitely not a couple, are who Heart Eyes has their eyes on. What Works: I was surprised to discover that Heart Eyes is almost a romantic comedy first and a slasher movie second.  After the bloody opening sequence, we spend a long time with Ally and Jay and getting to know their characters.  Sure, there is some stuff happening with Heart Eyes in the background, but it's definitely not the focus.  When Heart Eyes finally does appear, it's like the killer is interrupting a rom-com, which is actually a really fun idea.  And in-between the gore and violence, the movie finds time to slow down and reminds us that this movie is really about love.  I'm not much of a r...

 "Pierce is going to be the only person ever to drown in a parking lot...twice." -Troy Barnes "Beginner Pottery" picks up with Jeff (Joel McHale) arriving at study group to announce that he has found the ultimate, blow-off class for the semester, which is Beginner Pottery.  You just have to show up to get an A.  Abed (Danny Pudi) and Annie (Alison Brie) agree to take it with Jeff.  Pierce (Chevy Chase) suggests a sailing class where you can learn to sail without ever leaving the Greendale parking lot.  Britta (Gillian Jacobs), Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown), and Troy (Donald Glover) agree to weigh anchor with Pierce. In Beginner Pottery, Professor Holly (Tony Hale) greets the class and tells them his only rule is that no one can recreate the pottery scene from the movie Ghost .  Jeff slacks off in class, but gets jealous of another student, Rich (Greg Cromer), who has incredible natural talent and receives praise from everyone else in the class.  Jeff g...

 "Disappointing you is like choking the Little Mermaid with a bike chain." -Jeff Winger It's Family Day at Greendale and the day begins with a shock for Jeff (Joel McHale) when Professor Slater (Lauren Stamile) breaks up with him.  Jeff tells the rest of the study group who try to offer him comfort and support, but Jeff brushes them off.  He says that since he was the one who was dumped, he can go on the rebound immediately and leaves to hit on a girl named Amber, (Katharine McPhee), who turns out to be Pierce's (Chevy Chase) ex-stepdaughter and his favorite of all his ex-stepchildren.  Pierce quickly shuts down Jeff's attempt to hit on her. Later, Pierce is having trouble connecting with Amber and is scared she will leave, so he asks Jeff to wingman him with Amber.  Jeff refuses at first, but Annie (Alison Brie) guilts him into helping.  It seems to work, but when Jeff tries to leave at Pierce's request, Amber stops him and they start to make out.  Pi...