Ty Watches "High Flying Bird"

Yesterday I was finally able to see "High Flying Bird". I have been putting this movie off for various reasons. I forgot about it. The pandemic started. I stopped watching movies on my own for a while. Sports movies depressed me during the start of the pandemic. There were just a myriad of reasons. But then my interest was reignited when I watched a trailer for it on Netflix. Then I watched the trailer again. Then I read some things about it, and with my wife on a work trip, it was as good a time as ever.

"High Flying Bird" is about a future NBA player, his agent and his agent's assistant trying to find an end to the lockout and get this rookie paid. Oh, and the movie was filmed on an iPhone. It was directed by Steven Soderbergh. This movie has a lot of things going for it for me as a movie watcher. I love basketball, and as I am getting older, I am really into the stuff behind the scenes. I like to know how the people who do not play the game work amongst each other. I mean, I still prefer to see things from the player's perspective, but it is cool to get another look from time to time. The agent is played by Andre Holland. I am a Holland fan. He is really good in most things he is in, and this is no exception. He is fast talking yet level headed. He is the guy who figures out how to get through all the nonsense. He is the smartest one in the room. He knows more than any person he works for or with. Holland was tremendous in this movie. He is the star and the person you cannot take your eyes off when he is on screen. Zazie Beetz plays his assistant, or as she puts it, "former assistant", and she does a great job. She is passionate and as hardworking as anyone. She knows what she wants and how to get it. She also knows how to help players and agents. She is a strong, independent person, and that comes across with Beetz's performance. Melvin Gregg plays the soon to be NBA player. Gregg was also a basketball player in the second season of "American Vandal". But this time he uses his dramatic chops, and he does a solid job. He has the look and attitude of a young rookie trying to find his footing in the league. Then you add on the lockout, and Gregg does a great job of portraying an uncertain future. I also like how he became his own person near the end of the movie. We also have Kyle MacLachlan as a greedy owner, Sonja Sohn as the strong headed president of the Players Union, Zachary Quinto as the head of the sports agency who is way in over his head and Bill Duke as Holland's buddy and tough nosed coach for a youth basketball program.

This is a fast talking, very inside basketball movie. I love how they went from scene to scene in a snap. I also found it easy to watch, even though it was filmed on an iPhone. You could tell it was filmed on something small because there are never anymore than five people in a scene together. I really enjoyed the close up shots of two people talking hoops at any time. I also really liked how Holland was in command and wanted to give his players the most leverage they could have. He was in it for his players. He wanted this lockout to end so they could get paid and he could take over. It was a great story of a person trying to help other people in very, very high profile situations.

I fully recommend this movie for basketball diehards. It is so good, really interesting and a great watch. Check it out.

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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Better Never Than Late on "Magic Mike"

This past Friday for date night my wife chose the movie "Magic Mike". I have never seen the movie before. She said she may or may not have, she could not fully remember. She did say that she thought she might have watched it at a party with all ladies, but she could not fully remember. We figured Friday night was as good a time as any, so we watched it on HBO Max. It was free, so that was nice too.

This was not the movie that I expected. I assumed it was going to be a good, energetic and fast paced movie about strippers. And coming off "Zola", which is a tremendous movie, I assumed I was in for another solid viewing. Well, it was not for me. And it had nothing to do with the fact that it was about male strippers. In fact the best parts of the movie, the parts I enjoyed was when they were at the strip club. They did not show any nudity, and seeing the way these actors danced and grabbed the attendants was pretty cool, but also stripping, of any kind, makes me uncomfortable. But there were only a few moments in the movie where they talked about stripping or did their thing. The other part of the movie, about 60 percent of it, was all the story developing and the lives of the characters. And it was mad boring. There was only so much I could watch of Channing Tatum going to work at his construction job. I also did not care, at all, about the relationship he built with his buddy's sister. It was pretty dull. The stuff with his buddy, played by Alex Ptefyer, was pretty blah as well. I read that the two of them did not get along on set, I have read quite a few things about Ptefyer being a headache, and that totally showed on screen. They truly seemed to hate one another, even though they were supposed to be friends. I also found all of the scenes outside of the random clubs to be super boring. Even when you get a glimpse into how Tatum gets people to come to the club, to see him work outside of work, it just simply had no oomph. It was very blah.

Honestly, the only stuff that worked was the club, and a few of the guys who worked there. I will give Tatum credit, even if I was not into the movie, you can see that this dude can act. He did a very solid job of being, basically himself. This may have been his first time taking a real shot at doing drama, and he did a good job. Joe Mangiello was funny and goofy, as his character should have been. Anyone called "Big Dick Rick" should never, ever take themselves seriously. And he did not take it too seriously. Ptefyer was lame, but I do not like that dude. Matt Bomer and the other dude I did not recognize were fine as side characters. But Matthew McCanoughey was the draw. He was having the best time in this role, and it showed. He was out there. He was wild. He was silly. And it was perfect. He was so wild and crazy, and much like Tatum, I feel like he did a good job of basically playing himself.

All in all the movie just did not work for me. It was too much Steven Soderbergh. He is a very, very good director. But this movie just seems like it is not something he should do. He is much better at doing harder drama, and when it comes to comedy, he should just stick with "Ocean's 11". "Magic Mike" is just not what I thought it was going to be. It wasn't the fun and silly movie I was hoping for. It took itself way, way too seriously. I do not get the hype around this movie, but that is just my opinion. I'd pass if you haven't seen it yet.

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.

Better Late than Never on "Logan Lucky"

During our quarantine date night last weekend it was my choice to pick the movie, and I chose “Logan Lucky”.

I had very fleeting memories of this movie when it came out in 2017. I saw a few trailers, saw the cast and saw it was directed by Steven Soderbergh. Those are winning elements for me. But I simply forgot about the movie. It seems like it was out of theaters pretty quick too. I thought it got decent reviews, it has Soderbergh’s name attached and the cast includes Channing Tatum, Daniel Craig, Adam Driver, Riley Keough and Hilary Swank. I simply assumed it would be out for awhile, it may get award buzz and people would talk about it. None of that happened. In fact, the only way that I remembered it, and how my memory was jogged, was by searching for movies on On Demand, and seeing it there. I rewatched the trailer, with my wife, and we both decided we’d give it a try.

I’m glad we did. This was a very good, very fun movie. The cast is awesome. All the actors I mentioned were awesome. Keough, Tatum and Driver play siblings who devise a robbery plan. The catch, they’re, on the surface, bumbling idiots that can’t keep a job and are just kind of aimless. Tatum is divorced, likes to spend time with his daughter, blew out his knee which ruined his burgeoning football career and just jumps from job to job. But on one of his jobs is where he gets this idea to rob a very popular race in Charlotte. Driver is a one armed bartender, he lost his other arm in the war. He’s a vet, slow witted and believes his family is cursed. He only goes along with Tatum’s idea because he’s his little brother, and he owes him. Driver was superb in this role. Keough works at a salon, she helps with Tatum’s daughter and loves to drive. She’s such a good driver, she agrees to be the getaway driver. The three of them devise this plan after Tatum is laid off again, and he’s sick of his lot in life. They go over the plan, and they realize they need a safecracker. This is where Craig comes in, as Joe Bang. He’s the standout in this movie. He’s a jail bird, with bleach blonde hair and totally nails the southern accent. He’s so funny, so good at his skill and has some of the best moments in this whole movie. He made me laugh out loud many times. I love this route Craig is taking in his later career. He’s taking cool, fun and interesting roles and he’s nailing them. That’s exactly what he does as Joe Bang.

When the crew gets to the day to pull off the robbery, this is when the movie goes into hyperdrive, and I loved it. This is when we get all the heist movie stuff that I’ve grown to love. To see the plan unfold bit by bit is so much fun, and I love having it all laid out for me. And even when Tatum decides to go a different route, spoiler alert, and we get to see what he actually does with the money, it makes me love this movie that much more. And when Swank shows up, she’s only in the last third of this movie and she is awesome, she’s with the FBI trying to solve the robbery. She meets all kinds of dead ends, but she’s relentless. She wants to solve this so bad that even when they close the case, she goes out on her own to try and figure this out. The closing shot is of everyone at the bar that Driver works at, and Swank is seen flirting with Driver. It’s pretty cool.

I loved this movie. The acting, directing, style, everything about it works for me. It has that “Ocean’s 11” feel to it, so much so that the robbers are referred to as “Ocean’s 7-11”. That’s pretty wonderful. I can not recommend this movie enough. It is a true hidden gem that just happens to have legitimate movie stars in it. I wish it got more love when it was out in theaters, but now is a perfect time to check it out since we should all still be staying home as much as possible, or at the very least, not going to theaters or restaurants.

Check out “Logan Lucky” if you’re looking for a fun heist movie. I think you’ll really enjoy 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.  

Ty is overjoyed about "The Knick" and "Ash vs Evil Dead"

Good tv is on. The couch is calling

Today I'm going to talk about two TV shows on premium cable channels that I absolutely love. One is new and the other is currently in it's second season. One's on Cinemax, the other, Starz. They're both great, but for totally different reasons and I'll tell you why I like them both.

First, we will start with the Cinemax show that's currently in it's second season. The show is called "The Knick". "The Knick" takes place in the early 1900's at the Knickerbocker Hospital in New York. They focus on the earliest days of surgery and the doctors and people involved with the hospital. The way they film the surgery and show how primitive it was back then is astounding. The surgeons don't wear gloves. They hand crank blood through tubes. They always have a group of people watching the procedure while the lead surgeon explains what they're doing, almost teaching a class. Every surgery has the risk of being fatal. They use liquid cocaine and morphine as anesthesia. It's truly incredible and heart racing to watch them perform the procedures. The main character in the show is John Thackery, played eloquently by Clive Owen. Thackery is a surgery genius. He knows more than anyone in the room and he's always finding new and inventive ways to perform surgery. Problem with Thackery, in season one, he's addicted to cocaine and can only do procedures when he's high. Clive Owen plays Thackery as a junkie very convincingly. You can see when he's craving the drug, and you can see how it makes him laser focused and the best surgeon in the world. You also see him at his worst, be it bedding a nurse, taking way too risky chances in surgery or hanging out in an opium den. Spoiler alert, at the end of season one, Thackery is taken to a rehabilitation center and to get him off cocaine, they give him a new drug called heroine. That's where season two picks up, but there's another critical story line, there's a lot of critical story lines, but this is the most important in season one. A young African American surgeon, who's almost as talented as Thackery and just as smart, is brought to the Knick to work with Thackery. Here we meet Dr. Algernon Edwards played fantastically by Andre Holland. As I said, he's just as smart and innovative as Thackery, but he's a hot head that gets into fights on purpose and he's a man of color in the early 1900's, so there's a lot of turmoil surrounding Edwards. He's not accepted at the hospital by Thackery at first, but as season one goes on, Thackery sees that Edwards can help move this hospital into the for front of modern surgery and they begin to work together. There's many other characters, all very good, but these are the main two characters of the show. Back to season two. They're three or four episodes in now and during the season premiere, we see that Edwards is now chief of surgery since Thackery is in rehab. One of the other doctors goes to the rehab facility and saves Thackery from the abuse the doctors there are putting on their patients. Thackery returns to the Knick to see that things have changed with Edwards at the helm and he's miffed. Thackery also cannot perform procedures because he is off cocaine. He eventually gets back to doing cocaine, but he's now snorting heroin as well. In the most recent episode, Thackery saved his old love from dying from syphilis by giving her a fever of 108, and by gosh, it works. This is the Thackery I've been waiting for. We haven't seen a whole lot yet from Edwards, but I know spmething big is coming and I'm giddy at what the rest of this season will bring. Steven Soderbergh is the genius behind "The Knick" and I'm glad they have a show like this on television. "The Knick" is must watch TV.

The other show lands in multiple genres. It's gory, it's horror, but most importantly, it's a comedy. This show is on the Starz network and it's "Ash VS. Evil Dead". This is a reboot of sorts. "Evil Dead" was a very popular B horror movie in the 80's with Bruce Campbell playing the lead role of Ash. Everyone knows that in "Evil Dead", Ash and his friends and girlfriend find a book and the book releases the evil dead on society in search of putting Ash six feet under. The movie was huge for both Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi. It gave them horror and comedy cred. I love "Evil Dead", so when I heard a TV show was in the making, I was very excited. Two episodes in and I absolutely love the show. It's just as gory as the movie. It's just as scary as the movie. But, most importantly, it's funnier than the movie. The show is played to huge laughs coming from Bruce Campbell and his sidekicks, Pablo(Ray Santiago) and Kelly(Dana DeLorenzo), his colleagues at his crappy job. Bruce Campbell as Ash is just as funny and aloof, yet a shockingly good fighter, as he was in the movie. His trademark chainsaw hand is back too. That was awesome when they busted that out in the season premiere. In the premiere, Ash and his book summon the evil dead while he and a prostitute get stoned together. Ash is the only guy who knows how to fight the demons, and he's the best man for the job. As I said before, the gore is still alive and well on "Ash VS. Evil Dead". If you remember the movie, you have to completely remove the demons head to kill them. They do this with gusto on the show. It's so gross and brutal, but Ash has a quirky or stupid catchphrase every time he defeats a demon, it's played to uproarious laughs. They're only two episodes in, but they've already killed a dozen demons. That's a lot of death for two episodes. This show has all the potential in the world and I'm happy to see Bruce Campbell in a starring role that he desperately deserves. He's awesome and "Ash VS. Evil Dead" is awesome.

"The Knick" is on Friday nights on Cinemax and "Ash VS. Evil Dead" is on Saturday nights, so you can watch them during the weekend. "The Knick" is in it's second season, but the first only had ten episodes and they've only aired three or four from season two, so catching up will be easy. "Ash VS. Evil Dead" is only two episodes in, and you can watch both of them On Demand. Do yourselves a favor and watch these shows. They're totally different from each other, but they're both great.

You'll thank me later.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He first thought "The Knick" was about former NBAer and US Senator Bill Bradley solving crime on Capitol Hill with his epic basketball skills. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.