Ty Watches "Spaceman"

I'm going out of town for the rest of the week tomorrow, thus meaning I'm going to take the rest of the week off after today, but I wanted to leave you all with my review of the new Adam Sandler Netflix movie, "Spaceman". I will be back next week, but I wanted to get one more in before taking a few days off.

I was excited to see this movie. I am a big, unabashed Adam Sandler fan. I enjoy most of his stuff. There are definite duds, but for the most part, Sandler's stuff entertains me. And his recent stuff I have truly enjoyed. I loved "Hustle". "Uncut Gems" is one of the best movies I've ever watched. So, to see him take on another hard drama role, I was intrigued. He has been knocking it out of the park lately. I also like Paul Dano, Carey Mulligan and Isabella Rosselini, all of whom are cast in this movie. And I am lukewarm on Kunaal Nayar, who I only know from "The Big Bang Theory", a show I have only ever seen bits and pieces of. I have never watched a full episode of that show. So, this movie had a ton going for it before I even turned it on.

After watching and thinking about it this morning, I think the movie is fine. It isn't great and it isn't bad. It has good moments that seem to be buttressed by boring or dull moments. The performances are wonderful. I have to say that. Sandler nailed it again. He is a good actor. He knows what to do when given good work to act from. He also does good work when a director kind of pushes him to do good stuff. He delivers in this movie. I bought him as a lonely Russian astronaut. I was with him throughout the whole movie. I was sad when he was sad. I was lonely when he was lonely. It was a job well done. Carey Mulligan is about as reliable as it gets. She does very good work with a smaller role here. She is the co-star here. She is second on the call sheet. But she gives a very heartfelt, very meaningful performance. I enjoy her work. Ever since I saw "Promising Young Woman" I have been onboard for Mulligan's work in movies. Isabella Rosellini was hardly in the movie, but she has this air about her. She is a true legend and she brings in when she is cast. Kunaal Nayar was very good here. I dug his work in this movie. I also liked his time appropriate moustache. He did a solid job here. And Paul Dano, lending only his voice, was creepy and monotone and awesome. This is what I have come to expect from him. Everyone did their job and did it well. I have no qualms with the acting here.

My issue, the movie got very boring at times. It also came off pretentious from time to time. There are shots of Sandler in space that seem to stay on an image far too long. I understand that the mission needs to be addressed, but I don't have to see the same purple space scene over and over again for long stretches of time. There is also some stuff with the look and the dialogue that comes off a bit pretentious. This is a love story, but I don't need some stuff jammed in my face as a viewer. I get it. I understand what they are going after. But it came off weird for me sometimes. I feel like they could have cut the movie by about 20 minutes, make it a nice 85 minute long movie, and they would have had a hit on their hands. But, with the direction they chose, this is going to be a forgotten movie for some fans of the actors. It will kind of come and go.

Did I like it? Sure. Will I watch it again? No. But don't let that cloud your judgement. By all means, watch this movie, if only for Dano's role. It is different and weird and I truly loved his work in this movie. Otherwise, maybe skip this movie if you are on the fence. 

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 Trailer for "Spaceman"

Yesterday I watched the trailer for the movie "Spaceman". This is the new Adam Sandler movie that premieres on Netflix in March. Let’s discuss.

I have been an Adam Sandler fan from the moment I first saw "Billy Madison". I then went back and watched his stint on "SNL", and pretty much all of his other stuff. He had a fan for life from then on out. I even saw "Little Nicky" in theaters, on my birthday. I watched both "Grown Ups" movies in the theater. I have never finished "Ridiculous 6". I enjoy Sandler's work and will continue to watch almost everything he is involved in. So, this new movie "Spaceman" got my attention simply because I saw Sandler in a picture for the trailer.

I watched it, and I am amped to see it in a little over two months. The movie looks very cool. I am a fan of sci-fi space movies. The set alone will draw me in no problem. I like movies that take place in space because I know I will never go into space. So, I like to see how these writers and actors portray that on screen. I love the "Alien" franchise, minus some of the newer movies. "Blade Runner" is one of my all time favorite movies. I really loved watching "Gravity" in 3-D. That was the best way to watch that movie. That was the closest I think I will get to feeling like I'm in space. I'm a sucker for a space movie. So, I was sold based on that alone. Then I watched and focused on the story. I am all in now. It is about some NASA employees that go on lone space missions. They study and record what life is like, alone in space. I got a real "Black Mirror" vibe from the trailer. Carey Mulligan plays Sandler's wife, and she is one of the best actors in Hollywood. She always brings it, always does a great job and brings brevity to any movie she is in. In this trailer that comes across tenfold. Once she shows up I have an immediate reaction thinking this is an upper tier movie. Then the trailer tells us the movie is written by the people that wrote "Chernobyl". I never saw that show, but from what I read, it was pretty amazing and very grim. These are three key facts that very much intrigue me. As I said before, I'm all in on this movie. Throw in the fact that Paul Dano plays a talking spider, that is icing on the cake. This movie is going to be weird and awesome, hopefully. I cannot wait.

I also want to say, I love this new direction Sandler is going with his movie choices. He is doing some really interesting stuff and I'm here for it. I loved "Uncut Gems". It is a little overlong, but that movie is intense and Sandler crushes it in the lead role. It is criminal that he didn't get awards consideration. Then he did "Hustle". I like that movie even more. I am a sucker for basketball movies and Adam Sandler movies. Combine those two, what a recipe for success. "Hustle" also happens to be a very well made, well written and well acted movie. And now we have "Spaceman". Sandler is on a roll of movies that speak to me as a fan. These are not outrageous comedies, which he already has done and perfected. These aren't movies where he is letting his buddies goof around. These aren't paycheck movies that he is making to just get paid. He is taking real chances on interesting and different styles of movie. I love that and I love that he is stretching his chops. I hope he keeps doing cool stuff like this for a good long while. This is awesome. 

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 Batman"

I have just returned from my second in person theater experience since the pandemic started. I went to see "The Batman" by myself at a vax only show this afternoon. It was me, two other people by themselves and one couple. It was about as safe as I have felt inside an enclosed building in two years. I also really wanted to see this movie, so I found a way to make it work. I am at a point now where, to actually go inside a theater, it has to be a movie I really, really want to see, and I did not want to wait for it to stream. "Nope" fits that bill, and so did "The Batman".

Leading up to the movie I watched all the trailers, I like the actors, I like the director and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I'm usually a MCU guy, but Batman has always held a spot in my heart. I am pretty sure I have seen all the Batman movies, I used to watch the Adam West show, and I have even seen some of the campy movies they made with West. And as previously stated, I am a fan of the actors that were cast in this movie. I have pretty much enjoyed everything that I have seen Robert Pattison star in post "Twilight".

Getting to my thoughts on “The Batman” I think Pattison did a very good job as the lead in this movie. He brought a more emo version to the screen of Batman. He also used a lower toned voice, but it was not on the level of Christian Bale. He was also in shape, but not overly in shape. He actually looked like a somewhat regular ass person in this movie. I liked his take on the character. Zoe Kravitz was amazing as Catwoman. I think she might have been the best actor in the movie. She was very confident and calm and really held it together. I also like how she did not alternate her voice at all, or say any ridiculous cat puns. I truly adored Andy Serkis as Alfred. Serkis is a good actor, and to let him play actual people, not motion capture people or monsters or apes, seems to work. He was great as Klaue, and he was great in "The Batman". Jeffrey Wright is the consummate actor and professional and he was tremendous as Commissioner Gordon. I am a fan of his. I like John Turturro, but he felt a little overused here. He was important to the plot, but they could have cut a scene or two of his. I liked what they did with Colin Farrell as the Penguin, I just wanted more. He was hardly in the movie. Farrell went for it, and I was in, but he was only in a few scenes. I will watch the show that they have reported to be making about him on HBO Max.

Out of the main cast, Paul Dano hit an absolute homerun. He was terrifying. He was insane. He used social media, and the director and writers also did a great job of portraying how evil social media can be. Dano is almost too good at playing creeps. He legitimately frightened me in this role. The scenes where he films his criminal acts is downright stomach churning. I was terrified of him and his actions. That is the sign of an actor doing a phenomenal job.

I do think Matt Reeves did a fine job of directing. I liked this movie. I found myself invested. I wanted to see what was going to happen next. This is not a superhero movie, it is a crime drama, and I like that. But I did think it could have been a bit shorter. There were some cuts I would have made, but I am not a director. Also, the fight scenes were amazing, so Reeves crushed that component.

All in all though, I found this movie to be very okay. It was a very solid viewing experience. I'm glad I ventured to a theater and saw it on the big screen. It was worth it. I recommend "The Batman", but know going in that it is three hours long and it feels three hours long. But if you can deal with sitting around, go see this movie. It was solid.

Ty

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

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Better Late than Never on the Strange, and Wonderful, "Swiss Army Man"

As I said last week when I reviewed "The Nice Guys", I'm catching up on movies from the past year that I did not get out to the theaters to see. Yesterday I watched one of these movies, and I cannot stop thinking about it. That movie was "Swiss Army Man".

I heard so much about this movie prior to seeing it. All the stuff that I heard though failed to tell me how great this movie is. I heard about the farting, boners, being alone in the woods, but, no one told me how heart warming and moving this movie was. I'm not kidding, this is one of the sweetest movies about friendship and survival that I have ever seen.

Both Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe are absolutely incredible in their roles. Paul Dano usually plays a troubled or disturbed person in most movies he's in, but in "Swiss Army Man", he is a guy lost at sea that is about to give up until he seems the corpse of Daniel Radcliffe's character Manny. This gives him hope that maybe he can survive. He is, for a Paul Dano character, a decent guy. When he meets Manny, he quickly finds out he's dead, but weird stuff starts to happen just when he is about to give up again. This is where the farting and boners come into play, but I love the way the the writers and directors used what could have been childish humor. It's first used as a joke,  but, the further we get into the story, the noises and movement in the groin region are used so excellently. With the farting, Dano realizes that Manny can do many things to help him get off the island he's stranded on. The farts propel him as if he is a jet ski that Dano can ride. It also helps him light fires and makes his arms and legs very strong. The boners are his "compass" home. Whenever Manny gets "aroused", his member points them in the direction towards home.

I know this sounds crazy, but this movie is really incredible. Some very uplifting and touching moments are peppered throughout the movie. Manny begins to live again by making this new friend, Hank(Paul Dano, obviously). Hank teaches Manny how to talk, to feel, to love, to react, to walk, to fear, all things we teach our children before they are fully functioning adults. The "montage" scenes in the movie are so well done I don't mind that we get multiples.

"Swiss Army Man" is, by far, the most unique movie I have seen in some time. But, it's not just unique, it is great. Dano and Radcliffe are really good actors and they take these roles that could have been a disastrous high school joke and make them heartfelt and have you rooting for their friendship. I highly recommend this movie. It has to be seen to truly appreciate its wonderfulness.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man. He is relaizes that he wrote about a heartwarming moving where farts and boners play a key role. It is really that good. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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