Ty Watches "Self Reliance"

Before watching "Saltburn" I watched "Self Reliance". I heard a lot about this movie prior to watching it. I'm a Jake Johnson fan, and he has been on a bit of a podcast media tour promoting this movie. All I needed was to hear the plot and I was in.

The long and short of it all, Johnson's character gets asked to be on the dark web's number one reality show where he is being hunted. If he can last for 30 days he wins a million dollars. The catch, he cannot be alone. Ever. If he is with someone else, he cannot be harmed. The people who run the show will not go after him as long as he is with someone. Sounds intense, right? Well, while there are some wild scenes, scenes that made me jump, this is a pretty funny movie too. Johnson said as much during all of his podcast appearances. The movie is also a tight 90 minutes. This has everything I want in a movie. It is all wrapped in a nice little package that is wildly easy to digest. So when I watched, I had pretty high hopes.

The movie hit them all. From start to finish I was in. I am a fan of Johnson, especially when he does stuff that is a change of pace from "New Girl". Here he is a down on his luck dude that wants some more excitement in his life. And when Andy Samberg shows up, playing himself, that is just another feather in the movie's cap. I am a very, very big Samberg fan. And when Johnson decides to take this opportunity, that is when the movie achieves its goal. It is a pretty wild ride from there on out. Johnson tries to tell his family and they do not believe him at all. They think he is losing it. There are moments where I kind of thought he was going through a mental break. Johnson decides to hire an unhoused person, played by Biff Wiff, and they have some nice chemistry with each other. I liked the way they played off one another. Johnson eventually meets up with Anna Kendrick and they form an alliance. The two of them have worked together before, and it shows on screen. I liked watching the two of them in scenes together. I would totally buy them as a couple. But, the whole idea for this movie, the dark web reality hunting show, is always a threat. At any moment I thought that Johnson could get bumped off, and that kept me on edge. Whenever he was alone, even for the brief moments he was, it legitimately scared me. And Johnson played that very well. I truly loved that when it was all going down, he would implore his family members that this was all real, but they still brushed it off, with hilarious results. When he calls his mom at work, that was a pretty wonderfully hilarious scene. When she mispronounces Andy Samberg's name, that was comedy gold. Even as the movie builds to its conclusion, the immediate threat and disbelief from everyone else, it is still there and still freaks me out. Johnson plays all this so well. You could tell this movie was a labor of love. I read that he wrote it during the lockdown when COVID was raging. That shows. But it is not a pandemic movie. That much is clear.

I definitely recommend watching this movie. It has good genre blending and it is a nice, quick watch. I enjoyed the hell out of it, and I think you will too. 

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 "I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson" Season 3

I just finished season 3 of "I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson" and I'm going to give some instant reactions and quick thoughts. I could have finished last night but my wife was done with work and she did not want to watch the show. I only had one ep left so I knocked it out this morning. I also have it running in the background right now as I write this so I can get another look at it.

Instantly, I am fully in on the show. No other current TV show makes me laugh, like legitimately laugh out loud like "ITYSL" does. It has a near perfect hit rate for me. I like how absurd and abstract the writing is on the show. It feels like a sketch show written by people much smarter than me and my friends, but it also has that gonzo style. There is a lot of yelling this season, but that has always made me laugh. I also like when the people who have been yelling are confronted with a soft, smooth voice from someone else.

The guest stars are back and that makes this show even better. Fred Armisen, Tim Heidecker, Biff Wiff, Sam Richardson, they are all here, they are all game and they are all having fun. Seeing Biff Wiff do his thing now knowing he has cancer, it makes it so bittersweet. He has been a tremendous addition to this show.

What sets this show apart from other sketch shows, outside of the superb writing, is how real yet absurd each sketch gets. In every episode it feels like they up the ante and it totally works. I feel like this is a show that I can have on in multiple settings and find something new and funny with each watch. The show never feels stale. The sketches work on multiple levels. The actors and writers are giving it their all. I fully believe this is, hands down, the best comedy show on TV. "ITYSL" bypasses sketch comedy. It is in its own genre and it is something special.

I am part of a fan group for the show on Facebook, and the way people talk about this show on there is insane to me. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but it feels like some people just want to complain. Their expectations are so high that they will never be met and then they go online to gripe about it. But what makes these people complaining even worse, in about a month they will be back on the same page talking about how great season 3 is. They will forget all the mess they talked about the show in the moment, and then they will finally appreciate it. I am on board from the jump. There are others who feel the same.

This show is otherworldly and highly hilarious. They are doing what they want, how they want and where they want and it all works. The fact that "SNL" didn't use Tim Robinson properly might have been a good thing because it led to "Detroiters", which is massively underrated, and then to "ITYSL", which is the best comedy on TV. I love this show. I adore the actors and the writers. Go watch this masterpiece of comedy. It is next level in all the best ways. What an achievement. 

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 "Everything Everywhere All At Once"

I just finished "Everything Everywhere All At Once" about half an hour ago. I went to a theater again, this time with my dad to see it. Let’s discuss.

I thoroughly enjoyed the absolute hell out of this movie. The actors, writing, directing, set design, costumes, literally everything worked in this movie's favor. I had heard very little about the movie prior to seeing it too. That is the way to go. I had heard about it about a month ago, only watched one preview and stayed away from reviews until I saw it. I have not read a review yet in fact. But I am here to give you all a spoiler free review of this epic movie.

The long and short plot synopsis of the movie is an immigrant family from China is trying to pay their taxes, they have some family trouble and all of the sudden the matron of the family is thrown into a multiverse. I loved the idea. We have seen multiverse stuff in movies and in comic books, but it is all within the world of superheroes. This movie takes a regular family, one that is struggling financially, has problems within the family and throws them into this crazy situation that changes everything they ever knew. I loved how they showed the shift from universe to universe. It was so cool. I also adored how many jokes were in this movie. The first half, hell, the first 2/3rds has so many jokes. There were times where I was cracking up. So were the other patrons in the theater. I went to another vax only theater, and this one was packed. When I saw "The Batman" a month ago, around the same time, there were five total people, counting me, in the theater. Today, it was pretty full. I'd say there were maybe four or five empty seats. The theater is not too terribly big, but still, an 11:35 am showing of a A24 multiverse movie being that full, I found that impressive.

Also the acting in this movie, my goodness was amazing. Michelle Yeoh as the mom and business runner, she was tremendous. She deserves awards consideration. Stephanie Hsu as the daughter, simply terrific. And her costumes were the best. Ke Huy Quan, you may remember him from "Indiana Jones" and "Goonies", was a total delight. James Hong, as the dad and grandpa was awesome when his character shifted into gear. And Jamie Lee Curtis was incredible. Her performance was one of the best in a movie filled with great performances. Even Jenny Slate, Harry Shum and Biff Wiff, all in very small roles, did great.

The set design as previously mentioned was dope as hell. The scenery and imagery was amazing. I mentioned Hsu's costumes, and boy oh boy were they cool as hell. I could not take my eyes off the screen.

The writing was the most impressive thing going on in this terrific movie. The idea was original. The jokes were on point and delivered with perfect timing. The story was awesome and moved along really well.

This movie is great. It is a must see. More and more people need to check this out. I'm sure it will be streaming soon, and when it is I will most definitely watch it a bunch more times. I cannot recommend "Everything Everywhere All At Once" enough. It is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Full stop. Go see it.

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.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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