RIP Norm Macdonald

Yesterday I was coming home from a workout when RD texted me. The text read, "Norm Macdonald. That stinks man". I did not know what happened. I had not been on my phone much that day. I was clueless. So I texted back and asked what had happened. He told me that he had passed away from cancer.

I was stunned. This is two people that I have watched and respected that have died in the past two weeks. These both hurt. A lot.

I have been a big time Norm Macdonald fan ever since I was a kid. I loved his role in "Billy Madison". I walk around to this day and still tell people it is October when they ask me what day it is. I also crack up every time I see him in that movie laughing with his buddies after they light the dog poop on fire and he says "this is the best night of my life". As I got older I started to watch "SNL". Norm Macdonald always made me laugh on that show. He did the best Burt Reynolds impression ever. No one will ever come close. It was spot on. But it was his work as the anchor on Weekend Update that really won me over. This was where he shined. He was the funniest anchor they have ever had. Much like his Burt Reynolds impression, no one will ever live up to what he did as the host. I would laugh hardest when he would tell a joke that might not have landed as well as he wanted, and he would just sit on it, then repeat the tag. That was where he shined brightest. He was so quick and smart and such a good improv comedian. He could roll with any punches. The fact that he was never given a real shot at "SNL", that they tried to make him be a comedian that he so clearly did not want to be, that was a shame. He was gold on that show, and they failed to recognize it. I know I'm not the only person that believes this. Norm Macdonald got the shaft, but that led to him doing what he wanted.

Soon after "SNL" he got a starring role in one of my favorite movies, "Dirty Work". I know that the movie is stupid and not great and poorly made, but Macdonald is so goddamn funny in it. He crushes the role. He gets to do his quips and his jokes and he is so charismatic in the movie. This should have led to more starring roles for him. Unfortunately it didn't. But he did have some great recurring roles in other movies and TV shows. He was great on "My Name is Earl" as the strip club owner. My mom and dad enjoy him thoroughly on "The Middle". I have seen him in a few episodes, and he is great. He has popped up in other Adam Sandler movies with very small, but very memorable roles. He had his own TV show for three seasons, and while it was a good show, it did not get the due time to grow and evolve, much like many other things in his career. He and Dave Chapelle starred in the very underrated movie "Screwed". Seriously people, if you want to see a young Macdonald and young Chapelle crush it, watch that movie. After doing a good amount of acting, he went back to stand up, and he was as great as ever. His specials are masterful. He was a genius of a stand up. He knew how to work the crowd and shift so easily from joke to joke. He was a one of a kind comedian.

Upon the news of his death yesterday I saw an outpouring of people talking about how he was " a comedian's favorite comedian". I have heard that about other people, but I actually believe it about Macdonald. He was a master of his craft. He was also excellent on talk shows. He always brought it. There was a clip that was all over the internet yesterday when he was on Conan, and it is so perfect. It shows his genius. It proves that he was the best of the best. And he did this all the time on talk shows. That was his thing. I feel like he is my generation's Dave Letterman. He is unique and different and dry and witty and hilarious and a genius. Just like Letterman. I think the only thing I disagree with him on was his politics. But that is neither here nor there. And who knows who he supported late in his life. But the fact that no one, other than the people he wanted to know, knew that he was sick makes so much sense to me. He never made stuff like this known to the public, and I respect the hell out of that.

This really stinks. RD was right. I am bummed and I wish he were still here. He was so young. Cancer stinks. RIP Norm Macdonald. You will be very, very missed.

Ty

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

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Let's Revisit "Tropic Thunder"

About a week ago my wife and I watched "Tropic Thunder" for the first time in years. Let’s discuss.

Right off the bat, this movie is hilarious. I loved it the first time I watched it, I remember watching it several times afterward and loving it and I laughed just as hard watching it this most recent time. It is a very funny, very well written movie. It is filled with jokes. It is like watching an episode of "30 Rock". There are jokes seemingly every thirty seconds to a minute. The cast is stellar and they all do such a good job portraying different types of actors/musicians. Jack Black is awesome, Ben Stiller is perfect, Brandon T Jackson has some of the best lines, Jay Baruchel is great as the young up and comer and Robert Downey Jr is superb. He should've been nominated for an Oscar. Even guys with smaller roles, like Steve Coogan, Bill Hader, Nick Nolte, Tom Cruise, Matthew McConaughey and Danny McBride shine. This movie is filled with great actors and they are all up to the task. The movie holds up.

After watching it, my wife and I had a long talk trying to decide if this movie could be made today. "Tropic Thunder" came out in 2008, thirteen years ago. A lot has changed since then. We have gone through some shit as a country. There have been some major things that have happened, and the world is not a better place. We are currently living in a pandemic, which hasn't happened for 100 years. The former "administration" is to blame for a lot of it. The new administration is doing their best to try and get back to "normal", but they have their work cut out for them. So when looking back at this movie, and after a few weeks of thought, I do not think this movie would be able to get made today.

I have already said that Robert Downey Jr is exceptional in this movie. He takes on the role of the super committed actor to the next level. He is simply perfect. He is also in black face for most of this movie. Now, they make a very clear joke of this very early on in the movie. They point out that he is such a committed actor that he had his skin dyed for the role. And when shooting the movie, the back and forth between RDJ and Jackson is some of the funniest stuff in the whole movie. It is comedy gold. I do think "Tropic Thunder" does a good job of showing how utterly absurd and crazy some actors can be, but something like black face has been, and always will be, very, very, very wrong. It is disrespectful and not cool. There is also the whole backstory of Stiller's character doing a movie called "Simple Jack". "Simple Jack" is about a mentally handicapped man, and Stiller plays the part for laughs. And it works. Hell, the whole conversation between him and RDJ talking about the movie is one of the funniest things I have ever seen in a movie. But I cringed watching him do the "Simple Jack" stuff. I laughed, but every laugh was met with me or my wife or both of us kind of feeling bad for laughing at the scenes with "Simple Jack". Again, the role is played for laughs, it is in this movie to show how ridiculous some actors take some of their roles, but it is so very offensive. It is wrong. It is tough to watch and you feel bad for laughing after you do. Everything else in the movie is okay. Jackson's backstory of being gay is not offensive at all, and it ends very happily for him. Baruchel is funny the whole time. Jack Black is goofy and silly and awesome. All the stuff with Tom Cruise is very funny. Danny McBride has some great one liners. But if this movie was to be made today they would have to take away two of the biggest jokes in the whole thing. It cannot be done. But that may be a good thing. I am not mad at it at all in fact.

"Tropic Thunder" should stay in the early 2000's. I'm over all the remakes and reboots. "Tropic Thunder" will always be a movie I will laugh at when I watch it, but there is absolutely no way it could, nor should it be made now.

Ty

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

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RIP Michael K. Williams

Yesterday I was checking on the news and I was stunned to see that Michael K Williams had passed away.

I couldn't believe it. He was only 54 years old. He had so much life in front of him. He had so much more work to do. He was such a good person who gave back to people. Why is it that the good people, the people who actually care, have to leave so early? I say again, he was only 54. This is tragic. When I was reading more stories throughout the day I saw that people found him in his apartment around 2pm and he was unresponsive. I still do not know exactly what he died from, but it is a big time bummer.

Like most of the TV watching world I was introduced to Williams as Omar in "The Wire". I personally believe that "The Wire" is the greatest television show ever made. And Omar is the greatest character ever on TV. He was a modern day Robin Hood. He was a bad guy, but he robbed bad guys and gave the money to people in need, after keeping what he wanted. The fact that Omar was gay was never a big deal, and I credit the writers, but more so Williams for that. That was a part of Omar, but it wasn't the biggest or most important part of the character. Omar was so kick ass. I still walk around saying "if you come for the king, you best not miss". I like whistling his little tune that he would when he was about to rob someone. I was devastated when he was killed on the show. It was the worst tv loss I have ever felt. Omar being mindlessly killed by a little kid in a bodega was so much sadder than seeing Walter White go down. Or when anyone on "Lost" died. Or even when Dr. Nick died in "The Simpsons Movie". I did not see when Jimmy Smits died on "NYPD Blue", but I have to imagine Omar's death was as big a deal as that was. All of this is due to how well Williams portrayed him. Williams embodied this role. He became Omar. He was an absolute gem. He was the best person on the best show ever.

It didn't stop there for Williams. I loved his turn on "Community". He was only in three episodes as a professor, but he was funny and smart and I thoroughly enjoyed his time on another great TV show. I never watched "Boardwalk Empire '', but my folks did, and they said he was great as Chalky White. "Inherent Vice" is a weird and long movie, but Williams was so memorable. I read "The Road" and watched the movie, and Williams is as good as Viggo and the kid that plays his son. His small role in "12 Years a Slave" is brutal and mesmerizing. Williams is the only good part in the new "Robocop" movie. That movie is not good at all, but Williams does his best with a pretty rough script. I have not seen "Bessie", but by all accounts Williams is superb. He's got a smaller role in the new "Ghostbusters", and it lets him stretch his comedic chops. He is a main character on the much acclaimed HBO series "The Night Of". He even does the voice in the "NBA 2k" face of the franchise mode and he crushes it. And I bet RD would say that he was awesome in "Lovecraft Country" because he was such a solid and reliable actor. He always seemed to shine.

Outside of acting I will remember Williams activism and his big scar on his face. I guess he got the scar in a bar fight, and the fact that he was able to use it as an actor proves how badass he was as a human being. He was also always trying to help people out anyway he could. He gave back to the community. He was active in politics. He was active in helping people who had less than him. He overcame a drug addiction. He was part of the ACLU. He was discovered by Tupac Shakur. He was a gifted dancer. He was a dude that had some demons, overcame them and made the world a better place.

This one stings. This one hurts. This one isn't fair. Michael Kenneth Williams should still be alive. This stinks. Rest in Peace. You will be very, very missed.

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 Suicide Squad"

My wife and I watched "The Suicide Squad" on Sunday. I wanted to sit with my thoughts on this movie for a few days before I decided to write a review.

First things first, I enjoyed this movie. I am more of a Marvel fan. I have made that very apparent on this site and on the podcast. Wolverine is my favorite superhero, I like the shows they make, I like most of the movies they make and Marvel was my gateway into the whole superhero universe. I just like them more than DC. DC does have some good stuff. The original "Superman" movies are good. I like the old school "Batman" show. I love Christopher Nolan's versions of "Batman". I also like Tim Burton's "Batman". I enjoyed "Shazam" and the first "Wonder Woman" movie was fantastic. But, for me, DC is usually too dark in tone and color. I find it to be their crutch. And that was my main problem with the first "Suicide Squad" movie. It took itself way too seriously, especially for the source material, and that movie fell flat. Again, for me.

Then I saw that James Gunn was directing this new "Suicide Squad", and I enjoy his movies. I love his take on "Guardians of the Galaxy". They are perfect. I also like his early stuff. The movie "Super", with Rainn Wilson, is awesome. I liked "Sliver" a lot. "LolliLove" is quirky and fun and an ode to my hometown. And his early Troma stuff was my entry way to that very bizarre and sometimes terrifying genre of movies. Gunn knows what he is doing. I also appreciate that the only returning characters from the first movie were Harley Quinn, Rick Flag and Amanda Waller. The rest of the people, for the most part, are better actors than the people who portrayed some of the DC characters in the first "Suicide Squad".

That was another thing I liked about this movie. The new "Suicide Squad" let it be known that there are many Suicide Squads. There is not just the one from the first movie. This movie had two squads in it, and alluded to more. As for the actual movie, like I said up top, I liked it. I did not like it as much as I thought, but I still liked it. The stuff I wasn't so crazy about is little nit picking things. I thought the movie was a bit too long. I did not want to hear all of the main characters' backstories. I could have done away with some of the slower stuff. But again, this is me nitpicking little, unimportant details.

For the most part though this movie works. I love that we are introduced to an entirely different squad at the top of the movie. I'm going to be as spoiler free as possible, but do not expect to see too much Nathan Fillion, Pete Davidson, Michael Rooker or Flula Borg. They are not long for this movie. Only after the opening ten minutes do we get to the main squad we will be with for the duration of this movie. When we do meet them, I really enjoyed that montage scene. And as much as I like some of the actors in the original, this cast is much better. Idris Elba is an upgrade over Will Smith, and I like Will Smith. Margot Robbie seems to be having much more fun in this movie than the first one. She nails it. John Cena was my favorite part of this whole movie. He can act. He was hilarious and terrible. Steve Agee not only plays a worker for Waller in the movie, but he also does the motion capture for King Shark, and he is great. Daniela Melchior is so good, and I had never heard of her until this movie. She is the heart of this thing. David Dastmalchian, as Polka Dot Man, was so good. And Peter Capaldi, as Thinker, was perfectly cast. I also liked that they took the most ridiculous baddie I could think of, Starro, and somehow made it work in this movie. I also like that they shot a ton of the fight scenes, including the big one, in daylight. You could see everything. I also appreciate when directors and writers get to show how violent and gory these powers can be, be it a good guy or a bad guy. This movie takes full advantage of the R rating, and it works.

My thoughts? I like this movie. I recommend this movie. I think fans of both comic book worlds will enjoy it. I wish it were shorter, but for the most part "The Suicide Squad" is a solid movie and I think people should check it out.

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 "Space Jam: A New Legacy"

We watched "Space Jam: A New Legacy" last Friday. It was date night, it was my turn to pick, I loved the original movie, still do in fact and I was pumped to watch the new movie. I watched all the trailers, I saw some news stories prior to the movie that made me more excited and I like Lebron James. I also saw that Don Cheadle was the villain, and he is one of my favorite actors. Basically, I was predestined to love this movie.

Unfortunately I did not love this movie.

I am not going to go scorched Earth like some other notable critics have, but this movie is not very good. I do not buy Lebron as an overbearing parent, I didn't find any connection between this movie and the original, the cuts were choppy, the jokes were not great and it just did not have the nostalgia that I wanted. My wife felt the same. We both loved the original, but did not like this new one. I will give it up and say some of the jokes made me chuckle, I appreciated Don Cheadle totally hamming it up and chewing the scenery and the kid who plays Lebron's youngest son was pretty impressive. Other than that though it was pretty boring. I also wished they had done something with the Goon Squad like they did with the Monstars. I wanted to see the NBA and WNBA players get their powers taken from them. I know it didn't fit with the theme of the movie, but that was one of my favorite parts of the original.

Now that I have had an entire weekend to sit on the movie, I have made a revelation. This movie wasn't made for me and my wife. The original was made for us because we were kids at the time of its release. That is who this new "Space Jam" is made for. This is a kids movie through and through. This movie is made for kids under ten. They will love it. My son is stoked to watch. He is nine. One of his buddies keeps telling him how great it is. He watched it with his family last week, they were chatting on Fortnite, and apparently he would not stop talking about it. I have seen some friends posting about watching it and saying that they enjoyed it so much because their kids enjoyed it. My wife is going out of town and my son and I will watch it together when she is gone. I think my daughter wants to join us as well. I will be very curious to see how much they like it, if they do, and if it changes my view of the movie. I'm also certain my son is going to love it. He keeps talking about it and he still hasn't watched it. My daughter will be happy just to see a bunch of cartoon characters on screen, and she likes to watch basketball with me, which there is plenty of in this movie. I will probably do a follow up after watching with them to let you all know how that experience goes. But for my first viewing, I realize that it is not a good movie, that it has many, many flaws and that a ton of things could be changed. But I also realize that I am not the audience this movie is going after.

Long story short, “Space Jam: A New Legacy” is a total kids movie and that is who the producers want to watch. I am sure they understand that parents will be watching as well, but they most likely know that adults and parents are just there to start the movie and hang out. So while I did not think it was good, I am sure my kids will adore it. More to come.

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 "Black Widow"

My wife and I watched "Black Widow" like most of the rest of the country this Friday. It was her turn to pick, but had it been my turn I would have picked it too. We have wanted to see this movie for two years now.

"Black Widow" was the first really big movie I remember being postponed due to COVID. I was bummed when it got pushed, but of course I understood. We also did not go to the theater to see it. We rented, or maybe bought it, on Disney+. I guess a lot of other people got it on Disney+ as well. Apparently they made something like 60 million plus dollars this weekend on people using Disney+.

Anyway, I kind of enjoyed this movie. I get some of the criticism that it is getting. It seems awkward to make a movie about a character whose outcome we already know, but it is a flashback in its essence. Scarlett Johansson was outshined by other people, but I like when other actors step up in movies that they are not the focus of. And the plot and twists were pretty easy to get, but it is a Marvel movie so the plot twists and whatnot are usually easy to follow. So the criticisms, while valid, I can find reasons to refute them. Otherwise, this movie is solid. One of my wife's friends at work said it was a spy thriller with "Mission Impossible" style action scenes. He was right on the money. Black Widow herself is a spy, and she comes from a family of spies, so that works. The action was rad, and had crazy stuff like helicopters and big planes falling from the sky. The fight scenes were also really well choreographed and expertly done by the actors.

As for the actors, they did good. Scarlett Johansonn was very solid as Black Widow. She played her like she has in all of the other MCU movies she has been in. We have come to know that character so well that any change would have been unnecessary. Rachel Weisz was very good as the surrogate mom who is a brilliant scientist. Weisz has had such a good and solid and sometimes exceptional career as an actor. She has seemingly played every role, and she usually does a very good job. The villain was cheeky and over the top and exactly what I want from my Marvel villains. I thought Taskmaster was cool. I liked the look of the suit and her never ending desire to do as informed by her father and creator. But the stars, by a wide margin, were David Harbour and Florence Pugh. Harbour was the father figure and Russia's version of Captain America. He was so funny. He was so goofy. He said the wrong thing at the wrong time. He was so fantastic in this role. This is such a great role for him. He looks like a regular dude and acts like one too. This was an exceptional performance from him. But Pugh was the absolute star. She was simply perfect. She was funny, but also very tough and a great spy. She had a great Russian accent. She acted the most like a child when being around Weisz and Harbour. She had the most moving moments in the movie. She made fun of all the stuff we have come to love about Black Widow, and it made me laugh. When she did Black Widow's pose and then scoffed, that was incredibly funny. I hope, and assume, that she is going to be around the MCU in this new phase, and I am here for it.

All in all I enjoyed myself while watching the movie. I recommend other people check it out too. Do not listen to the comic book nerds and misogynists that are bad mouthing this movie. They are punks and children. "Black Widow" is a good movie. It is a nice second step in the new MCU phase.

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 Cult Classic "Streets of Fire"

RD contacted me the other day saying he had some "homework" for me. He doesn't do this often, but when he does I know that I am in for something. It can be good, bad or weird. It is a true grab bag. But I am also excited at what he is going to recommend. Even if it is really bad, it is at least memorable. He told me about "Southland Tales". I had never heard of "Gummo" until he let me know about it. He told me I had to watch "The Boys". He introduced me to Beck and Talking Heads. All of these things have made an impact on me one way or the other. So when he told me that I needed to watch this movie from the 80's called "Streets of Fire", I was intrigued.

I saw that “Streets of Fire” was on Netflix, that it was only 90 minutes long and that it had a great cast. I just finished watching it. It took me two days because this movie is bat shit crazy. RD told me it was his new "Southland Tales", and he is not wrong. There have been a few things I have watched recently that will stick in my mind, and this is definitely one of them, but for many other reasons than shows like "ITYSL" and Bo Burnham's new special "Inside". "Streets of Fire" is straight up wacky. There are these long, meandering scenes that are underscored by Ry Cooder's music. It is very dirty blues, but with a very 80’s sound to it. I enjoy Ry Cooder from time to time, but I wouldn't pick him to listen to in my top 10 blues choices. He would be further down the list. I find his music to be "white person" blues, and man does it play loudly, and constantly, in this movie.

As I said before, the cast is excellent, but they all seem to be in a different movie. Willem Defoe is the main bad guy, and he is as creepy and weird as ever. But he is almost a cartoonish version of his Green Goblin character from the first "Spiderman". He chews so much scenery in this also. The final fight scene is one for the ages. Michael Pare, who some of you may know from "Eddie and the Cruisers" seems to be playing a bad boy turned good in a noir movie. He is dark and brooding, but he is also beating bad guys up left and right, but he also steals cars for some reason. Amy Madigan is his sidekick, and she is probably the only person who I bought. She seemed to know this movie was insane while they were filming it, and she just had fun. Rick Moranis plays a kind of bad guy club owner in a total departure from everything else I have ever seen him in. It was weird to watch him yell and curse at people and call ladies "broads" and "skirts". It wasn't fitting to his persona that I knew as a kid at all. Apparently he didn't like this movie much either from what I read. Robert Townsend is a gang member and he is in something like two scenes, and they are very bizarre. Diane Lane, who was 18 when this movie was made, is some kind of rock star that Defoe and his cronies kidnap. She looks great and does a good job, but much like Moranis, this was a miscast. It just didn't make sense. Also her band dressed just like David Byrne in "Stop Making Sense". It was very weird.

“Streets of Fire” was so scatter shot and so weird. I still do not fully know what it is about. I do not know who the hero is supposed to be. I think it is Pare, but he is kind of an asshole. There are wild cuts and overlong musical numbers. The fight scenes are filled with bizarre slow motion and sometimes they have credits rolling over them. Defoe is disturbing, and that is saying something.

Would I recommend this movie? It depends on who is asking. I wouldn't pick it for date night with my wife, but I may watch it with my running buddy because he would get how crazy the movie is supposed to be. We would laugh at it. All in all this movie is nuts. RD was right that I had to see it because it is burned in my brain. I am sure I will watch it again in the very near future because I will try to make sense of it. But do not get me wrong, "Streets of Fire" is a mess and not a very good movie. You have to be in the right headspace to watch it. But, I think it has achieved cult status for a reason, and it will keep you thinking. That much is true.

Ty

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

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My Journey Back to the Movie Theater

Last night I went to a movie in a theater for the first time in nearly two years. My wife's work rented out a theater, we are all vaccinated, we wore masks when not eating or drinking and we watched "F9". I want to talk about the theater experience more than the movie.

My quick little review of "F9" is that it is absurd and ridiculous and I did not like it, but I get why it is so appealing to its fanbase and why they continue to make these movies. I have only seen two of them, this new one and the first one, but I was not into this movie at all. It was way, way too absurd. That is my quick overview for all of you.

It was very odd being back in a movie theater. We walked in like we always used to, but when I entered the theater everyone was masked. This made me feel pretty good. But as I walked around more and was checking out the theater, more and more people were removing their masks. They were eating, drinking, talking, just going about their everyday life as if COVID never existed. I envied these people, but I wore my mask most of the night. I am still not at a place where I am fully ready to remove my mask, especially when I am in an indoor setting. Again though, I was comfortable knowing that the people I was sharing the theater with had been vaccinated. It was nice. I went to the concessions beforehand to get my wife and I snacks. I had forgotten how much this stuff costs at the theater. I got two 20oz bottles of water, a bigger package of peanut M&M's and a large popcorn. That was over 25 dollars. And that large popcorn was gigantic. My wife and I did not even finish half of it. I had forgotten how big the portion size is at the movie theater. It is as absurd as the plot of "F9". No one needs that amount of popcorn ever. I can eat, and I was sick of it a quarter of the way in. The peanut M&M's still hit, and they are even better mixed in with the popcorn. And three bucks a piece for some water, give me a break. My wife also went to the bathroom halfway through the movie and bought another bottle of water and some peanut butter pretzels for us to share. That was 15 dollars. All in all, snacks were 40 dollars. That is crazy.

As for the seats, they still rule. They were recliners, they were cozy and they were spaced apart. We were not six feet away from each other, but we were a good two to three feet away. I did forget how comfy those chairs are too. If the movie hadn't been so loud, I might have fallen asleep. I was able to move around very freely. I am a 6 foot 2 inch 280 pound adult man, and I was never uncomfortable in the chair. It was my favorite part of the movie by far.

It was also kind of cool to be in a theater with forty other people, many of which know the story and enjoy the "Fast and Furious" franchise. That communal feeling, hearing people laugh at inside jokes, hearing people clap, talking to others about the characters and their backstory, that was really neat. I did not know I missed that, but last night reminded me that I do. I always liked the feeling of being in a theater with other people that are excited to see a new movie on a very big screen. I got a little of that last night. I did wear my mask the whole movie with the exception of eating, and I am sure I was one of few, but all in all it was a solid time.

I had fun, but I will say, with all the streaming channels and the ability to rent movies at home, I do not think I will return to the theaters in the future unless absolutely necessary. I have enjoyed having the choice to watch new movies in my own home on my own TV with my own snacks. I have learned a lot about myself during this still going pandemic and last night further hammered home my distaste for returning to the movie theater. It was fun, I had a good time, but I think I like watching movies from home now. That is my preferred choice for the time being.

Ty

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

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Let's Talk About How Great the Lighting is on "Inside"

I just finished watching Bo Burnham's special "Inside" for the third time.

I keep watching it for a few reasons.

One, it is awesome. It's truly one of the best pieces of art I have ever seen.

Two, I constantly find new things every time I view. There is always something new that interests me.

Three, the music is rad. Burnham is already a very funny singer and songwriter, but on "Inside", while the songs are still funny, it is like real, legit music. There are some really solid songs throughout the special. In watching today I noticed something else, and that is what I want to talk about. I swear this will be one of the last times I write about this special, but damn this thing is amazing, so I am not sorry actually.

When watching today I was super impressed with the way he uses lighting for this movie. It is really cool, really unique and totally different from most things I have watched in this same genre. When the special starts, the impressive light show begins. When he is doing the song "Content", he is just sitting in a dark room for about 45 seconds, and when he gets near the end of the song he looks up and there is a spinning disco ball reflecting lights on the wall. The reflection is coming from a headlamp he is wearing and it is super cool. It is dope the way he uses some very simple things to make a very cool visual. This continues throughout the special. The two "Bezos" songs he does have very rad and very different lights. The first one is a bit dark with a shadow. The second one is like watching a techno concert with some wild red objects reflecting off the wall. It is cool to see the way he switches it up on the two different tunes. When he does "All Eyes On Me", the dark room with light blue lights reflects not only the mood, but also his eyes and his white shirt. It makes for a somber look on a dark song, but that has to be what he was going for. It is perfect. The way he shoots the final song, going back and forth, with different images displayed on the screen, it is so awesome. I was completely blown away at how cool and ahead of its time the way he lights and edits the song. We see him in three different phases, and when the camera pans away at the end, the spotlight on him is too perfect. It reflects the mood so well. I also really enjoy the woodsy background he has when he plays "That Funny Feeling". The song sounds like it would be played on a camping trip, so making the background symbolize that, well done. The song that takes the cake in the lighting process is "30". This is my favorite song on the record and during the special. The way he lights it, uses lights and performs with the lights is second to none. When there is a clap, he moves his white light out and the whole room is lit. When he is singing the verse there are red and purple and blue clouds in the background. When he sings the chorus he moves that white light around his whole body which reflects shadows on the wall and it looks like I'm watching a live show. I am immediately transported back to a time when I went to live shows. But the best part is when he is singing the "my stupid friends are having stupid children" and there are three of his shadow, one in the middle and one on each side, that is some damn good art. It is neat and interesting. It makes me wonder how he does stuff like that. I'm sure it is easy for him, but for a rube like me, this is pretty amazing stuff to see.

I get more impressed every time I watch the special. I simply cannot recommend "Inside" enough. It is so god damn awesome, and there are always new things popping up with each new watch. Go check this thing out.

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 "Inside"

I will get to the NBA game 7's that happened this weekend later this week. But today I have to talk about the movie my wife and I watched on our quarantine date night this past Friday.

I know things are opening up, and more people are going back into the world, but not my wife and I. We are still staying at home most weekend nights, we have seen a few more friends, but they are all vaccinated, our kids do play sports, but I am masked and we still enjoy our new Friday date night routine. We still order from a local restaurant and we pick a movie to watch after our kids go to bed. This week was my turn and I picked the new Bo Burnham special "Inside". RD has told me to watch this. A friend of mine told me to watch this. I watched the trailer which made me want to watch this.

I will say, I am so happy RD and my buddy told me nothing about it, and the trailer is very vague. It is best to go into this thing not knowing what to expect. I absolutely adored this special. My wife wasn't as into it as I am, but she did like the music. My wife's problem, there wasn't enough comedy in it for her. I was absolutely blown away by what I witnessed. I keep calling it a "special", and not a "comedy special". My wife is right, it is not very comedic. There are jokes, some of the songs are funny, but this is more a piece of art posed as a comedy special.

When “Inside” starts we see Burnham in a room by himself. He goes on to explain that he is doing this special by himself. He wrote, directed, edited, arranged, he did everything on this project. He had one producer, but I have to assume that was after the fact. This is all Burnham. So to see the way he did this, how he did this, to see the background stuff, to see some of the outtakes, to see him going through a massive change in his emotions, I was floored. Seriously, I was moved by this special. The whole idea was to do a one hour comedy show, but with no audience and by himself. He does it with no audience and by himself, but it is so, so much more than comedy. At the beginning Burnham is unshaven and has shaggy hair. He then goes into his routine. His first song is a short and sweet pop groove called "Content". It is classic Burnham. He is hammy and jokey and pointing out everyday foibles. He then goes into some more songs and bits that follow his usual path. The song "Comedy" is such a great F U to people who think they are holier than thou. "Facetime with my Mom" is downright hilarious. It starts to get a little darker on "How the World Works", but I love that song. It is so true and so of the time and so needed. Socko is a genius. "White Woman's Instagram" kind of goes back to classic Burnham, but there is this moment of clarity when he talks about a girl posting a picture of her deceased mom and the caption accompanying it. It shows growth. "Unpaid Intern" is a hilarious bebop parody. He then shifts into a very of the time bit about doing a response video. My son watches stuff like this all the time, and Burnham nails it. When he plays it on that loop it is wild. The first "Bezos" song comes out of nowhere, and it is totally off the rails, but I loved it. Then we get "Sexting", and this is a very funny song about how people are intimate in modern times. It does end on a dreary note. Then we get "Problematic", and this is such a great song which shows Burnham is embarrassed and ashamed of some of his past bits. He is apologizing in his own way for what he has done. It is fantastic.

Then, right in the middle of the special we get a complete tonal shift. Burnham turns 30 during the special. He stops and talks about it and we even see a clock that reads 11:58. He talks about how he thought he would be done with this special before his birthday, but he is not. Then this gets dark. The whole thing changes, and it is amazing to watch. He performs the song "30", and it is such a perfect way of explaining how most of us accomplish almost nothing when we turn 30. Burnham says nearly everything I thought when I turned 30, but I did have a kid and married my wife prior to 30. At this point in the special Burnham's hair and beard are much longer and very unkempt. He is also wearing the same clothes day after day. He is clearly going through some stuff. And it is all on film. He does a great little tune called "Don't Wanna Know". It is all of his personal thoughts laid out. Then we get real depressing stuff, "Shit" and "All Time Low". These songs are about how he is feeling bad, how he is depressed and how he doesn't know if he will get out of this or not. The loneliness and solitude are clearly getting to him. Then there is this vaudeville esque song called "Welcome to the Internet". It is bleak and sad and gloomy and scary and 100 percent true. I do not know if a more apt lyric than "can I interest you in anything and everything all of the time" has ever been sung. We also get some bleak bits in this portion where Burnham pretends to stream a game that is just him crying and barely moving, him posing with a knife and doing a YouTube-esque subscribe video. He is also clearly losing it when he talks to the camera and cannot get the words out without punching his leg. He is frustrated and losing his grip. There is a second "Bezos" song that is more bizarre than the first, but again, it slaps. Then he plays an acoustic guitar and sings a song called "That Funny Feeling". If this were sung by someone like Father John Misty or Conor Oberst from Bright Eyes, people would call it genius. Burnham nails this impression, and the song is so good. He then breaks down on camera. He starts crying and it goes black. Then he performs "All Eyes on Me". This is the quintessential portion of this special. This is Burnham letting it all out, really going for it and really just letting his mental stuff take hold. Again, it is bleak and brutal, but it hits so many chords. It hits so many feelings that all of us have had during this pandemic. He then closes it out with "Goodbye" and "Any Day Now". Both songs touch on things from earlier in the special, and they kind of wrap it all up. We also see Burnham finally step outside and a fake audience is clapping and cheering for him. This turns into laughter and he is terrified by it. He wants back inside. But then we see him watching this bit and a shy smile comes across his face and it ends.

Look, I was completely and utterly blown away by this. I have never seen anything like it. I think it is the best representation of life during this pandemic. Burnham absolutely nails every aspect of it. He hits a homerun with every song and every bit. It is perfect. I have watched it twice now and been listening to the music on Spotify. This is one of the best pieces of art that I have been able to witness. I do not know what Burnham was trying to achieve or get out of this. but man did he do something that I will never forget. "Inside" is genius. Of course I think you should watch it.

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 "Nobody"

Date night this past Friday was my turn to pick the movie, and I decided on “Nobody”.

I have been wanting to watch "Nobody" since I first saw the trailer a few months back. I love Bob Oedenkirk, I love the "John Wick" movies, I'm not a violent person but I do love violent movies and I like short, 90 minute movies. The only problem was the fact that it only came out in theaters first. I am not ready for theaters, not yet, so this bummed me out. Then, while still living with my folks, I saw that it was going to be on On Demand very soon. When it finally made its appearance, I was more than ready to rent it, and we did.

Right away, I love this movie. I watched it both days we had it on rental. It wasn't because I missed anything, or because I wanted to find some easter eggs, I just wanted to see it again for the pure joy this movie gave me. It was exactly what I was hoping for too. When I heard about it first I was nervous that they were going to go full "John Wick '' and make it a serious violent gangster/assassin movie. And while it has a ton of violence in it, the body count has got to be in the triple digits, this movie was different in tone from "John Wick". This movie doesn't take itself as serious. There is humor. There are legitimate funny moments. I was chuckling at scenes here and there. Even the violent stuff, like the fight on the bus, has some great internal monologue that made me laugh. That is what I wanted from "Nobody". I wanted the violence, but I also wanted some laughs.

Then we have Bob Oedenkirk. Man, he was awesome. There were other solid performances, the RZA and Christopher Lloyd were great, and the villain was a bad, bad dude. But Oedenkirk absolutely owns this movie. In doing some online research, and confirmed by my wife's online research, Oedenkirk had an incident where there was a home invasion, and he thought how he would have acted if he were a badass. That is the movie. His family gets robbed, and he doesn't take action. We come to find out that was a good thing because he has a checkered past, where he is a bad dude. Well, he isn't a bad guy, he takes care of the bad guys that other people do not want to deal with. He tried to get away from that life, hence being a family man and working a crummy job. But when he cannot find his daughter's kitty cat bracelet, there is some of the humor for you, that is what pushes him over the edge. He then gets into this kick ass fight scene on a bus, and we find out one of the dudes he beat the hell out of is related to a real bad bad guy. This is the villain I mentioned before. This throws Oedenkirk, his name is Hutch Mansell in the movie, directly back into his old life, and we learn so much cool stuff about his past. The scene in the tattoo parlor rules. The bus scene, this is the third time I have mentioned it, is incredible. When the villain sends his goons to his home, that is awesome. And that final battle scene, that is one of the best fight scenes I have seen in a movie in sometime. I saw someone online say that that scene was like if "John Wick" married "Home Alone". There is crazy violence, crazy fight stuff, Lloyd and the RZA come to help him out and there are a ton of booby traps and self created weapons Hutch did at his place of work. It is awesome.

"Nobody" rules. It was exactly what I wanted. It more than lived up to the hype. This new career path Oedenkirk is on is not only earned, but so so awesome. I highly recommend this movie. It is tremendous.

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 Documentary "Icarus"

Now that I am back in my home I have been starting to catch up on shows and movies that I didn't watch while living with my folks. Yesterday I watched one of these movies, "Icarus", and I am here to talk about it.

I saw this movie on a ton of lists that centered around the best sports movies currently on streaming devices. The picture they had on most sites had a bike rider with some kind of wild oxygen face mask on, which made it all the more alluring to me. Then I read a brief synopsis of this movie which simply stated that the movie was about a bike rider deciding, for the sake of science, to try doping for six months to see how much better he could do, and some wild stuff happens from there. This was more than enough to check all of my boxes. So I had the time yesterday afternoon to watch and I did.

I loved it. “Icarus” was not like what I was expecting at all. The director, who is also the writer and star, is the bike rider. He is the one that decided to try PEDS. And the first forty minutes of this movie are all about him doing that and preparing for a very big amateur bike race coming up. All of that was very interesting. I was enamored with that whole storyline. I am a runner who runs races, but the stuff this guy does, Bryan Fogel, is way more intense and way more serious than anything type of trail or road race I have done. The guys he competes against are just on the cusp of the Tour de France. These dudes are the real deal. So is Fogel. He finished 14th in this super tough race before he decided to dope for science sake. Then to see him go through the whole doping regimen, that was wild. He was going to do the program with one certain doctor, but he opted to send him to a different doctor, a scientist from Moscow, who is one of the biggest cheats in athletic competition history, and was responsible for almost all of the gold medals that Russia won in the Sochi Winter Olympics. He knows how to mess up tests, how to cheat the system, so these athletes that use PEDs do not get caught. So for forty minutes, we get a great insight in this doctor/scientist method. It is nuts. Fogel does all this stuff, and shows it bare bones and all. It is rough stuff. What made it worse was, he finished further back after using PEDs for six months. He went from 14th to 27th. It could have been because of bike issues, that other racers have been using for years, that he didn't feel as well or all of this combined.

Later we see that Fogel's experiment did not work the way he wanted. I thought the movie would pivot into Fogel and the Russian doctor trying something else, or continuing on the program and doing it yearly. It did not. The movie suddenly turns into this geopolitical thriller. We get the ins and outs of why Russia had so many athletes banned from the 2016 Rio Olympics. I remember hearing that Russia was banned for PEDs, and I thought nothing of it. It just seemed like a bunch of cheaters finally got caught, and they were going to have to pay a price. It seemed karmic. But to see where this movie took us, the insight into how bad, and how deep the cheating goes, how long it has gone on, how the Russian government has covered it up, it was intriguing. I mean, PEDs are seemingly everywhere, especially in the Olympics, but what Russia was doing, and may still be doing, was on a whole other level. And to get this doctor/scientist side of the story, it was amazing. He risks his life. A friend of his who spoke out suddenly died of a "heart attack". The Russian doctor had to go into hiding. He had to go into witness protection. His wife and kids have to bear the brunt of the Russian police, or KGB, who is now known as the FSB. They are ruthless. But what was most fascinating to me was to see the doctor spill his guts. He holds nothing back, nothing at all. He names names, calls out the cheaters, calls himself out for doing what he did, it is all laid out on the table. It is truly incredible to see him do what he did, both the good and the bad. And for Fogel to be there every step of the way, that took guts.

I loved this movie. It takes a turn almost halfway through, but man does that turn payoff. There is a reason this movie won an Oscar for best documentary. Check this movie out. It rules.

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 "Golden Arm"

For date night this past Friday my wife and I watched the movie “Golden Arm”. This was my choice. I have wanted to see this movie for awhile. I am a big fan of the actors in this movie, and I was pumped that some of them were finally given a chance to shine.

I love Betsy Sodaro, and the first place I heard about this movie was via her Instagram. She, to me, is the leading star of the movie, and she nails it. She is so good. She’s so funny, but also has some very nice, very tender moments. She really takes the reins of this movie, and she is more than worth the price of admission. She has the best lines, the best jokes, the best flashback scene and she carries this whole movie. From the opening moment where she is arm wrestling in a dive bar, to the end when she is her best friend’s coach, she absolutely nails it. She was amazing.

Mary Holland plays her best friend, and she too is very good in the movie. She plays a down on her luck bakery owner, but she has a past with Sodaro and arm wrestling. I mentioned that flashback scene, she and Sodaro are college roommates, they’re both dressed goth and Holland wins all their matches, giving her the right to choose where they get dinner. She has what is known as the Golden Arm in arm wrestling circles. Sodaro goes and finds Holland because she’s broken her wrist and can’t arm wrestling in the big tournament. She tricks her into closing her shop for a bit so they can go on the road and Sodaro can see if she still has the magic. She does. They end up at some dive bar in middle America and Holland has to arm wrestle to win their money back. She tentatively agrees, then wins and that’s when Sodaro knows she still has the gift. This scene also features a great cameo from Kate Flannery, who you all may know as Meredith from the American “Office”. It was hilarious.

From this scene on out the movie follows typical sports movies clichés, but that is what I love about sports movies. They meet a trainer, Big Sexy played by Dot Marie Jones. She is the typical trainer that sees a no one, but gets the best out of her. My only critique is that I wanted more Big Sexy in this movie. She’s great. We get some great comedic scenes from Ron Funches. He and Sodaro have a past, their soft, sexual talking is a riot and he crushes as the big event’s announcer. Eugene Cordero gets to be the love interest to Holland, and he’s great. He’s funny and sweet. The baseball field scene with him and Holland is fantastic. Aparna Nancherla only has one scene, but it’s hilarious and memorable. And Olivia Stambouliah as the villain Bone Crusher, is phenomenal. She’s ominous and scary, but also very goofy and funny.

Overall, this is Mary Holland and Betsy Sodaro’s movie, and they make it great. I had a fantastic time while watching. It’s a breezy 90 minutes, and fun too. Also, when the two leads do their Robert Deniro impressions, holy cow is that hilarious. Of course I recommend this movie. “Golden Arm” is a gem.

Ty

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

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"Rogue One" Is the Greatest Star Wars Movie Ever

In honor of Star Wars day, which is kind of wild that May 4th has become Star Wars day, but whatever, I want to talk about what I think is the best Star Wars movie.

I kind of combed through every one of them in the past day. I went back and tried to remember which ones I liked and disliked. And since it is so recent, my daughter is only five, it was easier than I thought. And before I reveal my pick, I am only talking about movies. I never watched any of the cartoons, and while I really enjoy "The Mandalorian" that does not count as a movie to me. Those are out of the conversation, so calm down nerds.

With that caveat, my favorite Star Wars movie, the one that I think is better than all the other ones is "Rogue One''. I just like the whole overall feel of this movie as compared to the other Star Wars movies. I think there are better movies, "Empire Strikes Back" and "Force Awakens" comes to mind, but I like "Rogue One" more. I also think a movie like "Solo" is funnier and more upbeat, but I prefer "Rogue One". "Return of the Jedi" and "A New Hope" are all time classics, but I'd pick "Rogue One" before both of them. As for the prequels, just forget about them all completely. Those movies are trash, so there is no need to mention them. And I do enjoy the other new movies, the JJ Abrams ones, and I am confused by the internet hate for them, but I still would rather watch "Rogue One". I like war movies so maybe that is a reason why this one resonates so much for me.

I also think the Darth Vader scene at the end is the best use of Vader in any Star Wars movies, full stop. That is like a horror scene. That was like when Jason Voorhies would claim his victims in "Friday the 13th", or when John Wick goes on a rampage in the "John Wick" franchise. It was that brutal. He is just erasing dudes with his lightsaber. It is the best representation of how evil Vader can be. I know he has moments in the other movies that make him seem human, but not in "Rogue One". He is a murderer hell bent on destruction. I very much appreciate that about his character in "Rogue One". It shows his truly evil side.

The rest of the movie is as good as "Saving Private Ryan" or "Apocalypse Now" or any other classic war movie. It has some great strategy scenes. The fight scenes are great throughout, to go along with the Vader scene. The actors do an exceptional job. The movie has this quiet uneasiness about it that I have come to really love in movies about war.

What sets this one apart from all the other Star Wars movies for me, what makes it the top of the heap, the good guys do not win in the end. Pretty much every character dies in this movie except Vader. They are either killed in battle or they sacrifice themselves. That is what happens in war, and this movie doesn't Disney-ify that aspect. They show it all. It is raw and seems real. The fact that we are left with that Vader scene as the last thing hammers home the point of this movie, which I believe to be, that no one wins when you fight a war. Everyone suffers some way or another. That is why "Rogue One" is hands down the best Star Wars movie on the market. I could watch this movie over and over again and never get bored with it. It is one of a kind in this universe, and if you decided you want to start watching Star Wars late in life like I did, this would be the one I would suggest to start your journey.

So, for this Star Wars day, go ahead and check out "Rogue One" if you want to watch a movie. It is the cream of the crop.

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 "Mortal Kombat"

I watched “Mortal Kombat” this afternoon. As you all know well by now I was very pumped to see this movie. The game was taboo when I was a kid, the first movie was kind of blah, later iterations of the game were rad, and this new movie had pretty much everything in its corner to be epic.

Sadly, it is not.

This movie is very cheesy and not very good. I am pretty bummed. I wanted to love this movie, but I just cannot think of more than one character in this whole movie that I actually liked. There were also times that I scoffed, complained how cheesy it was and just found myself bored. I cannot believe it. The first seven minutes of this movie, I wrote about it last week, were great. There were stakes, the fight scenes were dope and the actors nailed everything they did. Then it was just downhill from there for me. There was a quick explanation of what the world has become, and boom, we are introduced to the main character, Cole. The guy who played him was fine, but man he was just a cliché through and through. He’s an older fighter, he doesn’t know why he’s been picked to fight in this other dimensional tournament, he leaves his training, but finds a reason to go back. It is a story lifted right from a bad 80’s movie. Jax, who was my favorite fighter in the video game, doesn’t get enough screen time, and when he’s there, his lines are nonsense. His battle with Sub Zero, more on him in a minute, was rad, and his battle scene at the end had the best fatality, but every other time he’s on screen it’s very blah. Sonya should’ve had a much better backstory, and they could’ve delved deeper into her reason for being here, but they don’t. Her story is all wrapped up way too quick. Kano is an asshole through and through. He could’ve been the comic relief, but he was way too much of a jackass. He has zero redeeming qualities. The “bad guys” from the Other World were all stupid, except for Sub Zero. The two lady fighters have as little brevity as Sonya. One of them is in two scenes, and she gets brutally murdered. The other one was pretty sinister, but she gets zero backstory. We know literally nothing about her, other than she likes blood. The four armed monster looked cool, but that’s it. The iron lung guy was more of a dick than Kano. The dude with the sledgehammer has no lines, and he gets his head exploded by Jax, one of the cooler scenes. And the main baddy, he is so much of a cliché that I groaned whenever he spoke. When Raiden, who was solid in this movie, banished him, I said out loud to no one, “thank goodness”.

On the good side, Sub Zero and Scorpion were the only two characters I cared about at all. They had the best fight scenes. They had the best stories. I would watch an entire movie just about the two of them. That would’ve made for a far better movie. Sub Zero is a great, great villain. He was the only one, well he and Scorpion, that I actually liked. I enjoyed their scenes. I was worried every time Sub Zero was on screen. His visual effects were the best. They should’ve done a series of movies, or a TV show about each character individually. That would’ve been so much better.

The makers of “Mortal Kombat” just tried to stuff too much into a 90 minute movie. And that ending scene, with Cole, that was rough. I really do not want them to make a sequel, especially one focused on Johnny Cage, who was lame as hell in the video game. Just make a stand alone Sub Zero origin movie. I’d much rather watch that. Sub Zero and the fight scenes were good, but everything else was pretty bad in this movie. I wish I was wrong. I wish this was better. But oh boy is this movie a clunker in my opinion. And that really stinks.

Ty

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

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I'm So Ready to See "Mortal Kombat"

The other day the internet did one of the few good things it does nowadays, and the people behind the new "Mortal Kombat" movie released the first seven minutes of the movie for free. I immediately watched it, then I watched it three more times after that. I am so very excited to see this movie. I am going to Columbia for a race this weekend so I will not be able to watch it the day it releases, but I will have watched it by early next week. That much I can promise you all.

As for now, that first seven minutes has only made me more excited to see the movie. Now, back in the 90's they tried to do video game movies, and not many of them were watchable. Hell, pretty much all of them were downright awful. I know RD likes "Street Fighter", but even he says it is a guilty pleasure. The "Super Mario Bros" movie is a total dumpster fire. And I feel like, and I could definitely be very wrong, but I am pretty sure they tried to make a "Mortal Kombat" movie, and it stunk (ed note: They made two, and the first one is terribly good with a great techno soundtrack). The problem I have found as I have gotten older is all the video game movies from the 90's wanted to appeal to kids and teenagers, so they went for the PG, or in some very rare cases, a PG-13 rating. That takes away all the fun of the video game. I get that the studios wanted to make money, wanted to appeal to a mass audience, but to not go for the R, or even a hard R, that was their downfall. Those movies were doomed to fail. From what I saw in the first seven minutes of the new "Mortal Kombat" movie, it is a very hard R. It is "Deadpool", but with more violence.

The part that was released shows a humongous body count already and some of the most kickass choreography for fight scenes that I have seen in a movie since "John Wick 3". Then add on the fact that the guy who plays Scorpion loses his wife and son, Sub Zero freezes them and puts a frozen dagger through Scorpion's wife, which makes him hungry for revenge, adds some backstory to this movie. The way he dismisses the assassins that are sent to get him is amazing. I was astonished, while also exclaiming, "that was almost too much blood". I rarely have visceral reactions at movies, and this little portion already gave me one. That is a good sign for me as a movie watcher. I also liked seeing Sub Zero before he was in his fighting suit. I liked seeing the origin of Scorpion's dagger that he throws at people while saying, "GET OVER HERE". Apparently, according to this movie, it is his wife's gardening tool that he uses as his weapon of choice, which is rad. And this portion that was released only showed us two of the, I believe, eight main characters that will be fighting each other in this upcoming movie. There are four bad people and four good people. A nice equal competition.

My main takeaway from this was how good the movie looks overall. The writers seemed to have crafted a story that is easy to follow, and one that is interesting. The choreography, which I mentioned, is like watching a very violent ballet. The actors seem legit. They can act, and they can fight. That rules to me. And there seems to be some kind of brevity, something the good guys will be fighting for.

I am so amped to see this movie. I really cannot wait. I hope the rest lives up to the seven minutes I have already seen. But at this point it would have to be a real dud for me not to find it, at the very least, highly enjoyable. Go check out the video on the internet right now, and if you plan on watching it this opening weekend, and are a friend or family member of mine, do not spoil it for me. I'm going to watch it ASAP. I hope this movie lives up to the hype. The early signs are that it will, and that is good news.

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 "Godzilla vs Kong"

Based on RD's high recommendation, and seeing the positive feedback the movie got online, my wife and I watched "Godzilla vs Kong" on our Friday date night. This was her pick too. I am not a Godzilla guy. I do like King Kong, and I have enjoyed most of the movies they have made about the ape, but I was by no means psyched to see the new movie. I have been fooled by the whole "versus" franchise. "Alien Vs Predator" was not good. At all. I did not watch "Freddy vs Jason" because I thought even the trailers looked dull. I guess monsters, or bad guys, facing off is not that big of a deal to me. But much like RD, my wife does enjoy monster movies, and she was pretty excited to watch. So we did and I have some thoughts.

First, I enjoyed parts of the movie. It was exactly what I thought it was going to be, and that was good. I liked that I could actually see the monsters. Even when they fought at night time, the scene was lit so we could see the monsters in full. I also thoroughly enjoyed the battle scenes, especially the final battle scene. I liked the built in relationship Kong had with the scientist and the little girl that the scientist watched over. I thought Brian Tyree Henry was solid in what is a very different role for him. And the monsters themselves, they looked great and the motion capture stuff was done very well. Godzilla and Kong looked as realistic as ever. Spoiler alert, Mechagodzilla was totally rad. I loved the look of this robotic monster. When Kong would fight something other than Godzilla, I loved the ripping apart and drinking of their juices, mainly from the animal's head. Seeing Godzilla swim in the ocean was very cool. The stuff that this movie got right, they nailed.

I do also have a few, minor complaints. I did not need the story lines they shoehorned in this movie. As much as I enjoyed Tryee Henry, his whole thing with Millie Bobby Brown and the kid from "Hunt for the Wilderpeople", both actors who I really enjoy, was pretty pointless. Also, the stuff with Millie Bobby Brown and Kyle Chandler held zero weight with me. Maybe I needed to see the previous "Godzilla" movie to be more involved, but I didn't. And their whole thing was totally pointless to me. And the stuff with Kong, the scientist and the young deaf girl and the Skarsgaard guy and the girl from "Baby Driver", really nonessential to what I wanted from this movie. Yeah it was cool that Kong learned to sign from the little girl, and the world the scientist created for Kong was dope, I quite frankly could have cared less about any of them. Also, for as solid an actor as Skarsgaard is, his whole storyline was completely pointless. And to give him a hero moment was very blah to me. I also did not care for the villains. The two guys that created Mechagodzilla were so cliché and so scenery chewy and just, again, nonessential to what I wanted to watch in this movie. I also wanted all of the movie, the whole hour and 40 minutes to just be a fight between monsters. They gave me that for 40 minutes at the end. But to have to wade through back stories, some new stories and stuff like Hollow Earth, I just did not care at all about any of that. I get why the writers and director added it, it just felt unneeded to me. But, the movie is totally redeemed in that last 40 minutes, and the few fights we get between Godzilla and Kong in the first hour. For a movie that is based in total science fiction, and wild fights between behemoth monsters, they delivered tenfold in that final 40 minutes. That was more than enough for me to recommend this movie. That battle scene at the end is so awesome and so cool and I found myself heavily involved when the main monsters were fighting each other. The movie is also a breeze to watch. It is less than two hours, and for a movie of this magnitude, I appreciate the hell out of that.

So yes, watch "Godzilla vs Kong". The fight scenes are more than worth your time.

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 "Bad Trip"

This past Friday was my turn to pick the movie for date night with my wife. We have managed to keep this up while we are staying with my folks, and it has been great. We go down in our room, close the door and my parents hang with the kids until we put them to bed. Awesome. So since it was my turn, and I have been in a comedy mood lately, I picked the movie "Bad Trip".

Now, a few things. I am a big time Eric Andre fan, my wife is not. I liked almost every iteration of "Jackass", my wife did not. I am a big fan of prank movies, my wife only likes a hand selected few. I was in dangerous territory, at least I thought. I picked the movie because I really wanted to see it. I have been wanting to see it since I saw the trailer. This was a movie, in pre COVID times, that I would have watched in a theater. And add in the fact that Lil Rel Howery and Tiffany Haddish were in it with Andre, I was fully on board. Obviously the movie did not make it to many theaters, but it was purchased by Netflix. So, I clicked on it and fully expected to love it, and fully expected my wife to be bored by it.

Well, we both loved it. This movie is absolutely hilarious. The fact that they were able to pull this off is amazing. That they could stage these pranks on unsuspecting people, people that did not know a movie was being made, incredible. Then to add a coherent story, a tip of the hat to everyone involved. The moment I knew that my wife was in, that she was going to enjoy herself, was when Andre appeared out of a bathtub to an unsuspecting plumber and he got freaked out. She was cackling, I was howling and she said, "this movie right here, this is my kind of prank movie!". I was even more smitten than I thought I could be with her. From there on out the movie is wild. The pranks are nuts. The people being pranked are very real getting pranked. They don't suspect a thing. We have the plumber, but there is oh so much more. They do a whole song and dance number in a mall that is wild. The stuff in the juice bar is great. When Howery and Andre steal Haddish's car, the guy working behind the counter just lets it happen.

The story of “Bad Trip” is a simple one too, but I should mention it. Andre and Howery are life long friends that are stuck in their middling jobs in podunk Florida. Andre's high school crush comes into the juice bar one day and invites him to her gallery opening in New York and he decides he needs to go and bring Howery with him. Haddish is Howery's older sister who has been in and out of jail and they take her car to New York. She tries to track them down. All the while these pranks are being played. There is a scene where Howery gets stuck in a porta potty that was outrageous. Andre and Howery get their members stuck in a finger trap. Haddish steals a cop car by ripping the door off the hinges. She fights people who will not give her any info she needs. At one point they superimposed a gentleman into a picture with Howery and Andre, and her interaction with this man is gold. Andre and Howery go to a country bar in the deep south and they are the only two African Americans there. Some hilarity ensues while they are at said bar, and a lot of it has to do with alcohol. The zoo stuff, that was just wrong and hilarious at the same time. This movie was everything I hoped it would be. I mean the very first scene involves Andre getting his clothes ripped off by a car vacuum cleaner, and he convinces the patron to give him his sweatshirt and to try and get a phone number for him. That is quintessential Eric Andre stuff.

I have nothing but good things to say about this movie. Yes it is cheesy and weird and goofy, but it is supposed to be. It is better than any "Jackass" movie in my opinion as well. This movie works. It is short and fast. It is hilarious. And it is coherent. Check this movie out. I think it will give Eric Andre the much needed respect he deserves for the humor her does, and Howery and Haddish totally commit to their roles. I loved 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 "Coming 2 America"

For date night this week my wife picked "Coming 2 America".

Two weeks ago we watched the original movie because she had never seen it, and she enjoyed herself so much that she wanted to watch the sequel. This worked out well for me because, as a big fan of the original, of course I wanted to watch the second one. Eddie Murphy is also on some kind of come back tour, if he even needed one. "Dolemite is My Name" was one of the better movies I saw last year, and he crushed when he finally came back to host "SNL". It seems like he is finally having fun again being funny. He isn't doing the family comedy stuff or the big paycheck stuff. He is more in a "Tower Heist" groove, a very underrated movie I might add, and that is the perfect Eddie Murphy mood for me. He is so funny, and when he has really good material to work with, he usually crushes it. And I did not care at all what the critics were saying about the movie. I know it didn't get the best marks, but hey, neither did "Hot Rod", or the myriad of movies RD and I talked about on the pod a few weeks back, and I like those movies very much.

This is the category "Coming 2 America" falls into for me, the "Hot Rod" category. I had an absolutely delightful one hour and forty minutes watching this movie. There were call backs that were great. They had everyone who is still alive from the original in the sequel. Arsenio Hall was dynamite as Semi, and all the heavily made-up characters he played. I loved the newer character he played, the old man that lives in Zamunda, that guides Prince Akeem after his father passes. I could say the same for Eddie Murphy. Prince Akeem is a classic, but so is the sexist minister and the barber and the infamous singer from Queens. Murphy returned all these characters, and they all made me laugh just like I did when I first saw "Coming to America". Murphy really nails this, or these, roles. Shari Headley, as Lisa, is just as strong and confident and beautiful and proud as she was in the original. James Earl Jones, in his maybe five minutes of screen time, was awesome. His funeral was one of the silliest, yet saddest, and most choreographed things I have ever seen in a movie, and I loved every single second of it.

In the movie, Akeem and Lisa have three daughters, one of which is played by Murphy's real life daughter. They are all strong willed, tough and have the best qualities of their mom and dad. The oldest daughter, Meeka, played by KiKi Layne is almost a replica of her father from the original movie, except she may be tougher. Her story arc is one of my favorite things about this whole movie. She was awesome. They even brought back John Amos, Louie Anderson, Clint Smith and Paul Bates to reprise their roles from the first movie. It was nice to see them all acting and all doing a great job in these very memorable roles. The new additions were excellent as well.

The main story of the movie is that Akeem has a son who was fathered while he was in Queens in the first movie. He is the rightful heir, so Akeem and Semi go back to retreat him. The son is played by Jermaine Fowler. His name is Lavelle. I am a Jermaine Fowler fan. I loved his role in "Sorry to Bother You", he was one of the only things I liked in Pete Holmes' HBO show, "Superior Donuts" was decent because of him, and he does a great job in this movie. For him to keep pace with Arsenio Hall and Eddie Murphy is a triumph on its own. Add on that this movie also put Leslie Jones in it, as his mom, Tracy Morgan, as his uncle and Luenell as his aunt, and he kept up with all of them. Leslie Jones was hysterical, and she made me laugh any time she was on screen. She is so consistent. Luenell is quietly hilarious in everything she does. And Tracy Morgan, he is my favorite actor of all time, and Fowler kept up with all of them. This had to be a dream for him. They also put Morgan Freeman in this movie as the narrator at the funeral, and that ruled. Trevor Noah was a newscaster from Zamunda, and he was great, and so was his fake mustache. And Wesley Snipes, much like he did in "Dolemite is My Name", nearly stole the show as the rival king from Nextdooria, a great name by the way.

Look, this movie works on a few different levels. It is great nostalgia, it is fun, it gives Eddie Murphy another starring role, it gives some up and comers a real chance and it allows great comedic actors to do funny things over and over again. This movie is good. I definitely would ignore the critics reviews and check this movie out. It is more than worth your time.

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 "Promising Young Woman"

For date night this past week I chose the movie "A Promising Young Woman" for my wife and I to watch. I hadn't heard much about the movie, but Adam Brody was on "Comedy Bang! Bang!" promoting a different movie, and Scott Aukermann mentioned how much he liked "A Promising Young Woman", and how cool he thought it was that some comedy actors had bit parts in the movie. That piqued my interest. Then my wife kept talking about how much she wanted to see it. Then it got nominated for a bunch of Oscars. I was already getting on board, and then all this other stuff put it over the top for me. So we rented it on Amazon and watched.

We both loved it. This movie does have some comedic elements to it, but make no mistake, this is a thriller. And Carey Mulligan is so good as the lead actor. I bought her from moment one. The movie, no spoilers, is about a lady who loses a friend, and then kind of goes on a revenge tour in her honor. We come to realize that the friend was assaulted, and she is turning the pages on guys, and messing with their heads. This is where some of the comedy actors show up. Brody plays a guy at a bar that picks her up and brings her back to his house. You think he is being nice, but it is all a ruse to get her more drunk and take advantage of her. But this is what she wants. She wants these guys to think they are in the clear, that they can take advantage of her, and then she reveals that she is not drunk, and chastises these assholes for the punks and scum they are. It is great. She does this same thing to Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Sam Richardson. She does start to date a gentleman in the movie, a very solid performance from Bo Burnham, but that has quite the twist in the end as well. Laverne Cox is very good in this movie too as her overbearing but well meaning boss and only friend. Molly Shannon is very good in her very small role too.

All the acting is great. but this is a tour de force from Mulligan. She is so goddamn good in this movie. The way she manipulates these low lifes, the stuff she lets them get away with before calling them out, the thing she does to the dean of her college, Mulligan pulls it off so well. There were moments where I was like, damn she is cold blooded, but then I remembered why she is doing what she's doing, and I am instantly back on her side. Even when she tries to give it up, to move on if you will, that's when things kind of crumble in her everyday world, and she goes on a truly vengeful trip after that. But that works in her favor. She finds a bachelor party of the guys who did horrible things to her friends, and that is when she takes over. Even when it looks like she may have been had, she finds a way to turn the tables in the best possible way. Mulligan more than deserves her Oscar nomination. She is that good in this movie. I also like the message of the movie. Hopefully some frat boy idiots will see it and think twice before they try to take advantage of a seemingly drunk person. I love the way they did the thriller stuff in the movie too. There is no jump scares or blood or gore, it is all mental, and it still has me shook and thinking about it almost five days later.

I highly recommend this movie. Watch it for Mulligan's performance alone, and in doing that, I think you will really end up liking the movie, or at the very least it will leave you thinking about it. This movie is good. Watch it.

Ty

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

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