Ty Watches "Black Mirror: Hotel Reverie"

Continuing my recap of each "Black Mirror" episode this season, I'm here to talk about one episode that I think will be talked about for years to come, "Hotel Reverie".

Issa Rae stars as a modern movie star, Brandy, who is sick of playing the roles she keeps getting offered. She is either a love interest or the lead of some run of the mill indie drama. She is speaking with her agent one day and an offer that he seems to think is nothing big takes Rae's attention. Her agent is going through all the roles being offered and he tells her about an old classic being remade for the modern audience, but in a new way too. The movie is called "Hotel Reverie". And it stars Emma Corrin, who is playing Dorothy. There is a whole preamble when the episode starts that shows clips from the movie intercut with news stories about Dorothy's personal life. Dorothy had a tough life. Dorothy wasn't able to live the life they desired. Dorothy had to hide a ton of things. I should also mention that "Hotel Reverie" is owned by a dying studio that is looking for any type of project to get them some money. That is where Redream comes into place. Awkafina plays one of the, I think, leaders of this new company. What Redream does is make old movies with one new star and films them in real time. It is like a play come to life of an old classic. Brandy is obsessed with this movie and that is why she jumps at this role. Brandy also wants to play the co lead, who was a man back when they first made this movie. Awkwafina is all for this, so they give her the role. She gets sent an envelope with the script and her lines and everything. We also happen to see a USB fall to the ground that Brandy doesn't notice. So, when Brandy arrives on set, she is ready to go, but she doesn't fully understand what Redream is doing. She relents and agrees and is sent into this world that Redream has built. It is all artificially created people and they all seem to think they're real. Brandy is stunned, obviously, at first, but then she gets into acting mode and goes for it. Then things start to go a little haywire. Everything has to be perfect, but like most "Black Mirror" episodes, things aren't always what they seem. As this episode unfolds it becomes about so much more. The episode shows love and how it comes and goes and can be devastating. We get an idea of what AI could become if it were ever to gain sentience and feeling. We see an upstart company dealing with some harrowing issues all along the way by not coming up with their own ideas. And I loved it all. Issa Rae gives a wonderful performance. I believed her every step of the way. I felt for her. I wanted her to be happy. But Emma Corrin really shines here. They give us a performance for the ages. Playing the original Dorothy and the AI version, they give us two separate but equally incredible performances. There are some scenes that Corrin takes to another level that really shined through.

I still sit in my home and think about things from this episode daily. I was so enamored with "Hotel Reverie". I love the whole idea of Hollywood not being unique enough anymore. I love seeing love stories, good and bad. And when actors go for it and nail it, that is the cherry on top. "Hotel Reverie" is an achievement that I truly loved watching. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches "Jackpot"

It was my pick for date night movie last weekend, and since Paul Feig was recently on "CBB", I decided to go with his new movie, "Jackpot!". He made it sound good on the podcast, the cast sounded great and Feig tends to make pretty funny movies. Add on the fact that it was deemed an action comedy, that was all I had to hear. As we sat down post dinner, I was kind of excited for what we were about to see. I was wrong.

I hate to say it, but this was a bad movie. There was nothing that was even remotely redeeming for me as a viewer. The premise is really good too, which makes it an even bigger bummer that I did not like this movie. "Jackpot!" takes place in the near future, 2030, and everyone who lives in LA, if they choose, is eligible to win a big lottery if they're name gets picked. The winner has 24 hours where, if someone can kill them without using a gun, they get the prize. See, the premise is pretty solid. It definitely has legs. And, casting Awkwafina as the main character and winner, should've been a homerun. Putting John Cena in there as her helper and protector had a chance to work. And Simu Liu playing an over the top bad guy was a nice change of pace for him. I thoroughly enjoy these three actors, I like their other projects, they make me laugh and Awkwafina and Simu Liu have really good chemistry. But, it simply didn't work. My wife said it best when she told me, "this movie doesn't know what it wants to be". She was totally right. At moments it was pure action. Then they'd do something they thought was dramatic and somber. But that would be buttoned by a joke, that didn't work ever. This movie did this for the whole 100 minutes. It would jump from genre to genre to genre, I guess thinking that the audience wouldn't notice. But my wife and I noticed, and I'm sure a bunch of other people noticed. Awkwafina is underused. She excels when she can kind of go off in a movie or show. She was way too understated in this role. John Cena plays the same character in every movie it seems now. He's good at playing a big goofball, but it can be tiresome and it didn't mesh well here. When he would get into fights in this movie I would just say to myself, well he is going to kick their ass. There was no arc for him. He stayed the same person the whole time. I knew he was going to be fine in the end. There were zero moments, for me, when I thought he was in true danger. As for Liu, he was almost too over the top. He was cliche in his role. He became a 90's action movie villain far too much. And I couldn't buy him as a bad guy. Liu is too nice a dude in real life for me to ever buy him as a villain. He is Shag Chi and Ken to me. He is a handsome dude that can kick butt. He isn't some kind of monster that they tried to portray him as here.

I couldn't find anything I liked in this movie. This should have worked for me, being a fan of everyone involved, but it didn't. Sometimes people that you're a fan of will make bad stuff. It is a fact. "Jackpot!" is that for me. Feig, Awkwafina, Cena and Liu missed the mark here. I do not recommend this movie. It is not good. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches "The Little Mermaid"

My daughter is home sick from school today, she is fine, just a mild cold with a cough, and when the kids stay home they get to pick the tv show or movie we watch after the doctor appointment. My daughter wanted to watch "The Little Mermaid". I thought, cool, I haven't seen that movie in a long, long time. So I went to turn on the cartoon, the one I know of, and that was when she stopped me and told me she wanted the live action "Little Mermaid". I had totally forgotten that they made a live action version. She reminded me that she and my wife saw it in the theaters with my mother in law. That was when it clicked with me that they did make it, and it was easily findable on Disney +.

I turned it on not expecting much or to even be fully paying attention. These live action remakes have been pretty subpar up to this point. But I was fully in right after they did the "Under the Sea" song. This was a visual feast. I loved every choice that they made while doing this musical number in this movie. It was pretty tremendous and the movie never lost my attention from that point on. This is a very good live action remake. I think it is the best one to date. Halle Bailey is simply amazing as Ariel. She has a powerhouse of a voice. When she sings you cannot help but listen. She takes these famous songs and makes them her own. She also happens to be a solid actor. She embodied the cartoon character. She had the red hair. The way they made her mermaid tale was very cool, and looked very real. When she comes on land and cannot talk, which should be very hard to do, she totally nailed it. I bought it from the jump. She is a star. Melissa McCarthy was pretty superb as Ursula. She looked like she was having a great time doing this, never really taking her foot off the pedal. She chewed the scenery in the best possible way. She also looked like the cartoon character, but more palatable. My hat is off to the makeup and animation team for achieving that masterfully. Prince Eric, I don't remember the actor's name, was fine. This movie isn't about him though. Awkwafina as Scuttle, a new character, was funny and my favorite in the whole movie. She even got to rap and she crushed it. Daveed Diggs was pretty good as Sebastian. You have to get over the fact that he is doing a very cliche Jamaican accent. But once you do it is easy to buy into his performance. He is a great performer and singer and that dude gives every project he is in his full go. He doesn't let up for one second. I really loved the back and forth between him and Scuttle. I kind of want a Sebastian and Scuttle side movie where they fall in love. But make no mistake, this is Halle Bailey's starring role and her introduction to the entire world. And she hit an absolute homerun. She is incredibly talented and is going to be around for a long, long time.

I definitely recommend this movie for parents with young kids and for people who grew up as a child of the 90's just like me. You will appreciate how well they interpret this movie and even the added stuff feels classic. The live action "Little Mermaid" is a pretty decent movie. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Ty Watches "Renfield"

Over the weekend my wife and I watched "Renfield". I had wanted to see this movie in the theater, but never made it out. I also saw that the reviews were kind of tepid and that kept me home. I figured it would be streaming sometime soon, and lucky for me, Peacock had it exclusively. I guess I could have gotten it on Prime, but I would have had to pay. So I am glad that we have Peacock for reasons like this. When I told my wife what we were going to watch, she got excited as well. We both wanted to watch it, so we used our date night.

I have to say, I loved this movie. It was gory, funny, has an excellent cast and was a blast. I enjoyed every minute of this movie. I was on board from the start and that never wavered for me. I believe my wife felt the same. For people that may not know, "Renfield" stars Nicolas Cage as Dracula, a role he was born to play, and Nicolaus Holt is his familiar, Renfield.

The short synopsis is, the movie takes place from Renfield's point of view. It shows what he has to do, how he became a familiar and how he is in a codependent, toxic relationship. They even go as far as to put Renfield in a support group for people in his position. The movie uses that plot line and then goes kind of nuts with all the other stuff. I appreciated the fact that they used a different tact to show the relationship of Dracula and a familiar. I was on board with the telling. And Cage and Holt were fully bought in. They were giving it their all. Holt was exceptional. He plays this put upon, dorky, quiet guy very well. I bought him. I rooted for him. I wanted him to get out of this toxic relationship. It was a fine acting job. Cage, as I stated before, felt born to play this role. We all know Cage as the guy he is now. He is over the top and he doesn't hide that. He goes for it in any role he takes on. And he seems to be having the time of his life here. I read about all the research and people he based his character off of and it makes me like his performance even more. This is perfect for him.

The cast outside these two is pretty wonderful. Ben Schwartz plays a mob kid and he goes for it. I'm used to seeing him play odd, funny people. Here he gets to do goofy stuff, but he also has some more action style moments, and he does a good job. Shohreh Aghdashloo plays the mob boss. She is Schwartz' mom and she has one of the coolest voices I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. Awkwafina is a cop who is out there fighting for what is right. I mentioned during the movie that I love this career arc for her. She is a very solid actor and I like that she is doing movies like this, then doing a great tv show and then showing up in Marvel movies. She's more than earned this. Brandon Scott Jones, who is having a moment as well, is the leader of the support group and he is funny and uplifting in this role. They did a great job of casting this movie.

The movie is also very gory, but it is almost cartoonish gore. It didn't make me queasy or anything. It actually made me laugh. And, outside of the toxic relationship stuff, I liked learning about Renfield's past. Awkwafina had a good backstory and I bought why she was so frustrated. Cage crushed. Schwartz did a good job being this, essentially, a nepo baby. The writers had fun. The director did a fine job. They didn't take themselves too seriously, and that is why this movie works for me.

While not as good at telling a vampire story like "What We Do in the Shadows" does, I'd much rather watch "Renfield" before I turn on a "Twilight" movie or watch one of those brooding vampire shows or movies. "Renfield" is a well done horror comedy that I will definitely watch again. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches "The Bad Guys"

We took our kids to the movies for the first time since the pandemic last night. They had not been to a theater in two years, our son had wanted to see the movie "The Bad Guys" since he heard it was coming out and we had some time that all four of us were together at the same time last night. So we pushed the button and bought tickets.

The theater was rad, there were only about seven other people in there and we were looking to have a good time. We bought some snacks, got the kids some drinks and took our seats. After the previews were done, both our kids made comments about how long the previews were, so we settled in our seats and watched the movie.

I have to say, "The Bad Guys" is a very fun, very funny and a very solid movie. I found myself thoroughly enjoying the movie. I was laughing. I was interested in the story. I liked the characters. I adored the animation. It all worked really well. Even the slow parts worked. They were needed to move the story along. And our kids were a delight. They followed the rules and were very well behaved throughout the runtime. Back to the movie.

I enjoy a good heist movie. I found this out about myself a few years back. I like the conniving and double crossing and misdirects. It is fun. I like trying to figure out who did it. That is exactly what "The Bad Guys" was. It was a heist movie through and through. Sure they used famous characters from old stories, but they updated them. The big bad wolf was hip and cool. He was the lead of the movie. The snake was slimy and mean, but he also liked push pops and Hawaiian shirts and funky hats. The shark was a master of disguise and lovable. The tarantula was a hacking genius. And the piranha was wild and crazy and could sing. It was cool. I enjoyed how they updated them and made them cool. I also liked the message of the movie. It was all about heists and getting away with robbery and all that cool movie stuff, but the movie was really about being nice to your friends and trusting one another. Oh, and also being good. I liked how they managed to make that the focal point in a movie like this. I mentioned the animation before. It was so cool. My son has read the books and he told us that that is how the characters look in the book too, if they were colored with crayons. I appreciate the attention to detail. And the fact that my kid recognized it speaks volumes to the animators. They did a top notch job. The voice acting was on point as well. Sam Rockwell was great as the wolf, Anthony Ramos crushed as the piranha, Marc Maron epitomized the snake, Awkwafina was hilarious and cool as the tarantula and Craig Robinson was perfectly cast as the shark. It all worked so very well. There was a point during the movie where I leaned over to my wife and told her that I was having a great time. That is what I look for in "kids" movies. I want my kids to like it, but I also want stuff that keeps me interested. "The Bad Guys" nailed it.

I highly recommend this movie for kids and parents everywhere. It was wonderful. I had a blast and I think you will too. What a fun, fun movie.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Ty Watches "Awkwafina is Nora from Queens" Series Premiere

The other day I was able to watch the premiere episode of "Awkwafina is Nora From Queens", and I have to say, this show looks like it is going to be great. I am a fan of Awkwafina. I have seen her in some of her roles, movies like "Crazy Rich Asians", "Ocean's 8" and "Neighbors 2", and her character has always left an impressions on me. She is hilarious, she is loud and she hits the right comedic note almost every time. So when I saw that she had a show on Comedy Central, that she co created, I was going to watch. And, like I said, the pilot didn't disappoint.

The show is about a late 20's person with no real ambition or direction in her life. She lives with her dad and grandma, is an Uber type driver and likes to sleep in and get high. She has a close friend who is willing, and able, to help her out if needed. But other than that, she is on her own, and she is going nowhere. In the pilot, Awkwafina's humor and acting shined through. She was hysterically funny. The way she talked, what she talked about, how she talked about certain tings, I was in stitches. There is a scene where she is sleeping in her car, and a tow truck guy comes to tell her that she is in a no parking zone. What happens from there, how Awkwafina acts as Nora was riotous. From the arguing, to the fact that she wasn't wearing any pants, it was perfection. And there was plenty of other moments that made me literally laugh out loud. The hoarding stuff was great. The interactions with her and her dad, played by BD Wong, was hilarious. The stuff with her tech savvy cousin was pretty funny. The way the show was shot, and how they cut from scene to scene was pretty inventive and cool. I was in for all of it. One of my favorite scenes was between her and her friend, when she decides she needs to get her own place and ends up crashing with her, when Nora is upset and crying, but still taking bong rips, I was absolutely cracking up the whole time. And this was all do to how Awkwafina portrays Nora.

I really feel like this show is going to prove to people how versatile, and funny, Awkwafina is as an actress. I know she raps, that she has done dramatic things, and played the goofy best friend, or been the comic relief in most things. But, she is the star in "Nora from Queens". The show goes as she goes, and if the pilot is any indication, this show can last as long as she wants it to. I don't think they will get to a point where they run out of funny material that she can pull off. I'm all in on this show. I cannot wait to watch the next episode, and the rest of the season for that matter.

This is a really good, really funny new show that I think people should definitely check out. I highly recommend it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.