Stacy's Blog Has Got It Going On

"You ever think about just killing him?" - Amanda Amanda (Olivia Cooke) is a sociopath.  She doesn't have any feelings.  Her former best friend, Lily,  (Anya Taylor-Joy), who feels too much,  agrees to tutor her.  It's awkward at first, but they eventually renew their friendship.  Lily hates her stepfather, Mark (Paul Sparks), so Amanda suggests killing him.  They decide to blackmail Tim, a local drug dealer (Anton Yelchin), into killing Mark, but things don't go according to plan and their lives begin to spiral out of control. What Works: Thoroughbreds is f**king hilarious.  The dialogue in the movie is so sharp, particularly from Olivia Cooke.  Her deadpan, emotionless humor is the highlight of the movie and her performance is simply delightful.  But both Anya Taylor-Joy and the late Anton Yelchin have their moments as well, and although the subject matter is very dark, the writing and the performances make it hi...

So, I've already seen the excellent 10 Cloverfield Lane .  And with The Cloverfield Paradox out now, I figured I should finally get around to watching the original Cloverfield .  Was it worth my time?  Let's find out! Cloverfield  follows a group of friends in New York City who are having a a going away party for Rob (Michael Stall-David), when a monster attacks the city and starts destroying it.  As the city is evacuated, Rob finds out that girl he loves, Beth (Odette Yustman), is trapped in her apartment.  Rob and his friends brave the destroyed streets of New York City to try and rescue Beth and make it out alive. What Works: Cloverfield is a movie that works better in theory than in execution.  I like the story for the movie.  It's focused on a small group of people who have a small, personal goal they are trying to achieve, while disaster is happening all around them.  We get the standard military tropes and characte...

"The wrong kid died!" -Pa Cox In a parody of musical-biopics, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story  follows the life of fiction rockstar Dewey Cox (John C. Reilly) as he grows from a young boy who accidentally killed his brother in a machete fight, to a bonfire rock star who loves drugs and sex, who is determined to write a masterpiece to make up for killing his brother. What Works: Basically this entire movie works.  The premise is genius, the writing is brilliant, the jokes are funny, and John C. Reilly is fantastic.  They even throw in a bunch of gratuitous celebrity cameos.  Justin Long and Paul Rudd are the highlights.  There's isn't much else for me to say here.  It's simply a funny movie that does a great job with its premise. What Sucks: I don't have much to say here.  Not every joke lands, but 95% of them are great. Verdict: Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is a great comedy that is well worth your time. ...

A sequel to a beloved horror movie made 10 years ago.  I'm sure nothing will go wrong. A family of four is on their way to drop rebellious teenager Kinsey (Bailee Madison) off at boarding school.  They stop to spend a night with some relatives who own a resort-trailer park.  But after finding their relatives dead, the family is forced to fight for their lives as they are attacked by a group of three masked strangers.  Will any of the family make it out of the trailer park alive.  And if they do, will they be in one piece? What Works: The strongest aspect of this movie is the first act.  The family dynamic is interesting.  We get a classic, but relatable, sibling rivalry.  Parent's who are at their whit's end.  And a bratty teenage daughter.  It's all a great set-up for what I expected to happen: a dysfunctional family learning to work together to survive.  That's not what we end up getting, but the set-up works....

"Let's just say there's a lot of blood." -Lester Nygaard "Who Shaves The Barber" picks up with Officer Gus Grimly (Colin Hanks) in the hospital after accidentally shooting Deputy Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman).  As she recovers, Molly tries to get answers from Mr. Wrench(Russell Harvard), who is also in the hospital after Molly shot him.  Wrench doesn't give up anything, but Molly and Gus start working on the case again and come to believe Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) is the one who sent Wrench and Numbers to Duluth.  Molly returns to Bemidji to find out Lester's brother Chazz (Joshua Close) has been arrested for the murders. Lester plan worked perfectly.  His nephew was caught at school with a gun, which led back to Chazz's gun safe with the planted evidence.  Lester convincingly lies to the Chief of Police (Bob Odenkirk) before going back to work.  He then uses the leverage of life insurance to get Sam Hess' widow (Kat...

I keep wanting to call this movie Red Robin.  Yum... After a career ending injury, Russian ballerina, Dominika Egorova (Jennifer Lawrence) is faced with losing her apartment and quality medical care for her mother.  Dominika's creepy uncle (Matthias Schoenaerts), who works in Russian Intelligence offers to help her in exchange for seducing an enemy of the state and stealing information from him.  When the mission goes bad resulting in the death of Dominika's target, she is given a choice, be executed for being witness to the crime, or join the Red Sparrow program, which trains people in seduction in manipulation.   Red Sparrow follows Dominika's training and her first mission, where she is caught between the Russians and the Americans in a game of espionage.  Who's side will Dominika take?  The Russians, the Americans, or her own? What Works: Red Sparrow is a pretty standard spy-thriller, but it has some aspects that propel it into reco...

Naviti's beach has got it going on! Malolo can't you see, you're just not the beach for me! -Brady, probably. Well the tribes were swapped and the game went nuts.  Let's see who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: Starting on new Malolo, the obvious best player was Michael.  He found the hidden immunity idol and he seems to have more Survivor knowledge than I gave him credit for.  Brendan was right next to him, so that kind of sucks, but he knows about the idol and knowledge is power.   On a smaller note, there is Stephanie, who was bold enough to say "I dissent" when asked to send Donathan to Ghost Island.  I'm glad she didn't just let it happen and did her best to give her old tribe mates a fighting chance. Switching over to new Naviti, let's start with James...holy nice read of a situation, Batman.  James saw right through Domenick and deduced that he was just covering for his real idol.  Incredible.  The...