Ty Watches "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings"

It was my wife's movie pick for date night this past weekend, and she went with "Shang Chi". We had seen that it was going to be on Disney + for free on Friday, we both really wanted to watch it but did not want to go to the theaters and our son was at a sleepover, so we figured Friday was the perfect time.

I want to say right off the bat, I loved this movie. I had zero idea about the superhero Shang Chi. I knew nothing of the rings, no backstory, who he was now and how he came to be the holder of the ten rings. His story was a total blank for me. So I appreciated the backstory that they involved with this movie. The movie was a bit over two hours long, but I felt it was needed for someone like me who knew nothing. I really enjoyed the fact that they took the time to go back here and there during the movie to show why Shang was where he was during the movie. I also really liked the whole story about the ten rings and what they do, how they are used. It is a real cool power to have. It seems super effective and totally useful. I also like how they showed the rings when they were in use. It was cool as hell.

I also thought the acting was top notch in the movie. Young Shang, be it 10 year old or teenage, the actors did a great job portraying the sadness and anger. Then we have grown up Shang, the actor from "Kim's Convenience", he was absolutely wonderful. I loved every aspect of his performance. He was so cool and such a total badass. He was a perfect cast for the role. Awkafina, playing his friend Katy, was great as well. I am a big fan of hers. I love "Nora From Queens", she is great in "Ocean's 8", she is hilarious and fun. She brought all of that to this movie, but she also got to be the love interest, the damsel in distress. It was cool and different. I liked seeing her in that role. And the rest of the cast was superb. Shang's dad was a great villain, but I also kind of got where he was coming from. I felt his pain. Shang's sister was amazing. She may have been more of a badass than her brother. She also taught herself how to fight, and she was kicking ass all up and down the movie. Their mom was sweet and sensitive and also one hell of a fighter. I liked how she only used her powers when she truly needed to in the movie. The people who lived in the mom's village were great as well. There were some great marksmen, great fighters, people who knew how to harness the powers they have. I also loved the animals that lived in the village. It was some of the coolest mashups of animals I have seen in a movie. Also, Ben Kinglsey and his little buddy Morris were a delight. They were kind of the heart and soul of the movie for me.

Outside the acting, the imagery, the scenery, it was beautiful. San Francisco looked awesome. Macau was dope as hell. Everything was shown so well. My wife pointed out when they got to Macau how it reminded her of "Black Panther", when they went to Asia. It was nighttime, brightly lit and looked so cool. They made it feel like a very, very big city. And that fight scene on the side of the big building, that was awesome and it made my knees totally buckle. And the village that I mentioned before, it was amazing.

I adore this movie. I think it is one of the better MCU movies. I like when they make the movies a bit more fun, and even though this movie definitely has some heavy moments, it is still a very good time. And the fight scenes are some of the best they have had in some time. The fight on the bus is one of the cooler things I have seen in a movie since "Nobody". It was rad. If you have Disney + go watch the movie ASAP. It is free and totally worth it. I highly recommend "Shang Chi".

Ty'

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

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Ty Watches "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and He has Some Thoughts on Movie Violence

Over the weekend my wife and I pushed our date night to Saturday due to school stuff and because it was closer to Halloween. We had sushi, since we are so fancy, and my wife got to choose the movie. She wanted a scare so she picked "I Know What You Did Last Summer".

I have never seen the movie and it has been years since she watched it. She remembered really liking it and saying that it had some good jump scares. She also loves the show "Buffy" and is a big Sarah Michelle Gellar fan. It checks a lot of boxes for her. So we watched.

The movie was fine. My wife jumped a few times. It made me laugh a little because I kept thinking about "Not Another Teen Movie" and "Scary Movie". There were some okay chase stuff. It was a typical late 90's scary movie. It felt a lot like a JV version of "Scream", which is not a bad thing. But I came away from the viewing with a thought that has never really occurred within me. When the movie was over I thought that it was kind of hokey, not super scary and not too violent.

I was very wrong on the last thought. This movie was very bloody. A person gets hit with a car. There is a suicide. There is plenty of knife and hook wounds. Needless to say, there is a good amount of blood. But nowadays a movie like this seems so tame. That is brutal. It is actually kind of depressing. I think we are so numb to what we see now that a movie as gory as "I Know What You Did Last Summer" just kind of lands flat. I've seen more violence in a noir like "Drive". All three chapters of "John Wick" have a much higher body count and way, way more gore. The way "Uncut Gems" ends is way more horrifying than anything in this movie. Hell, I have seen worse in comedic movies. Or even psychological thrillers like "The Babadook" or "Black Swan" had me shook up. And even tv shows now are way more violent than this movie. "The Wire" had more hard core deaths. Gus Fring's ending in "Breaking Bad" was much more scary. "Lost" had more brutal scenes. And I think we all can agree that the first episode of "Squid Game" is way more hard core and gory than any scene in the entirety of "IKWYDLS".

That is crazy to me though. We have become so numb to violence in our society now. Some almost have to be pushed to the absolute brink to get even a little scared. When watching scary movies now there is so much more blood and gore and just flat out spooky things that happen. "IKWYDLS" feels almost ahead of its time, but at the same time it feels dated. It is cliched, but aren't all horror movies a little cliched when you really think about it? The acting is solid too, but newer, good horror movies have better acting. And the gore, the thing a lot of horror fans go for now, seems minimal. There were no real jump scares from me. I could feel them coming. But this movie did work on my wife. So what does that say about me? Am I so numb to it now that I need something like "John Wick" to get my blood pumping? I hope not. But I was just so surprised at how little I was scared while watching the movie on Saturday. And I scare easily at more modern horror movies. We are pretty numb to things we shouldn't be so numb to anymore, but it seems like the gross factor continues to notch up and we just consume it and are happy with it.

"IKNWDLS" is a solid horror movie, but it just does not hold up to the standards of today's horror movies. That could be the year or the consumer. I tend to think it has more to do with the consumer unfortunately, and that is what bummed me out the most.

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 "Dune"

Yesterday I watched "Dune". We got back from our trip earlier than we thought, my wife and I had already decided to move our date night to Sunday since we were gone Friday, and it was my turn to pick the movie.

I have been pretty pumped for this movie since I first heard about it over a year ago. I have seen bits and pieces of David Lynch's "Dune", and it is not a good movie. It has some great ideas, but it definitely falls off the rails. I have seen most of "Jodorowsky's Dune", and that is a great documentary and I would love to see his version. But that would have also been a crazy movie. I have never read the book, but I am somewhat aware of the story. But what made me want to see his one so much, why I was so excited, was the fact that Denis Villenuve was directing it. I loved "Blade Runner 2049", "Prisoners" is a tough watch, but a good movie and although I have never seen it, and RD despises it, "Arrival" won itself some awards. Villenuve has a very good eye for directing these big, lavish features. He has a good vision of how to show these vast landscapes. "Dune" was no different.

This is, hands down, one of the most beautiful looking movies I have ever seen. The landscape was beautiful. The worlds that were created looked so real. Maybe they looked real because this movie was shot in some beautiful places. I read they shot some in Norway. I have to assume that is where they got the water planet, and it looked glorious. I also read they shot in Abu Dhabi and Jordan, and that is most definitely where they got these seemingly never ending deserts. The deserts used in "Dune" were so big and so expansive and looked amazing. It was an incredible treat for your eyes. The set designs, while minimal, were just as beautiful. These futuristic homes and planets were perfectly constructed. I was blown away by how pretty this movie looked.

The acting was just the same. Timothee Chamelet, who I have not been a big time fan of, was very, very good in this movie. He is the main character and I loved watching his story unfold. I also bought his performance tenfold. He committed and he totally stuck the landing. Rebecca Ferguson was perfect as the mom trying to help her son, but also her people. Again, I bought her story. I loved her passion and ability to fight and stick her neck out there. Oscar Issac was a bit more subdued in this role, but he also did such a good job. He had very good vision as a leader and a father. He is a totally dependable actor. Josh Brolin was badass as the leader of the army and the weapons expert. I love this newfound fame Brolin has found the past five years, and he has more than earned it. Jason Momoa was also very good in his role. He can be hit or miss, but he hit in this one. It was a perfect role for him. Sharon Duncan-Brewster, who I did not know, was excellent. She was smarter than anyone else in the desert and she knew it. I found myself actively rooting for her. Dave Bautista and Stellen Skarsgard were creepy looking, ruthless and scary as hell. I found myself kind of sitting back in my chair every time they showed up on screen, which I believe was their job. Javier Bardem had two of the best scenes in the movie, and I have found that I really enjoy his acting. And Zendaya was really good in a very minimal role until the very end of the movie. Everyone in this movie totally nails it. The casting was tremendous. They totally stuck the landing.

While this movie is confusing, "Dune" is a confusing story, I cannot stop thinking about it a day later. I just keep going back in my memory and thinking about more and more stuff I liked about it. My wife was a trooper for sitting through this with me, she is not a big sci-fi fan and this movie clocks in at over two and a half hours, but she did it and she even found things she liked. To me "Dune" is like a modern day "2001: A Space Odyssey". It has that same feeling. And while I do not think this is a spoiler, this appears to be only part one. The movie starts with opening credits and it even says, "Dune: Part 1". I have to assume that they are going to greenlight a sequel very soon, especially considering how much money it made this weekend. I also like that approach to this story. Make it a five hour long two-part movie. "Dune" needs that large of a scope to get the full story across. I highly, highly recommend this movie to anyone out there. It is glorious, beautiful and awesome. I adore this movie. I cannot wait for part two.

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 Green Knight"

This afternoon I finally watched "The Green Knight". This movie has been on my list for some time. I am a big A24 fan, I like Dev Patel a lot and I had heard really good things about the movie before it was released. I didn't see it in the theaters, still a little leery of them, and I was finding it hard to find time to watch it at home. My wife had no interest in it which meant that quarantine date night was out of the question. But today I had time. I exercised early, I did the minimal chores I do every Wednesday after running. I waited until after watching it to write. Today was the perfect day.

I really liked the movie. But do not get it twisted, this movie is very weird. It is unlike many other movies I have ever seen. I know that it is a retelling of an old fairy tale, but I had never heard of it before. I had no idea that this was a very old story. A24 went way out on a limb with this movie too. It still has that indie feel that they do, but this movie was big in scale and production. This is them putting big money into a project they really believed in. This is them taking a chance on trying to become a more known brand. It worked on me.

“The Green Night” is quiet but also visually stunning. For someone that does not know the story it can be confusing at times, but it will also hold your attention. Dev Patel more than proves he is capable of being a leading man. This is unlike any other role he has done and he nailed it. I was constantly intrigued by every choice he made as this character. I could not take my eyes off of him. I loved the way he interacted with real and surreal things in the movie. The very first scene we see the Green Knight was incredible, and the Knight and Patel are the main reason why it works so well. He was tremendous as the lead. I have nothing but kudos for him. Alicia Vikander was also very good. She played two roles and they were two totally different people. I first saw her in "Ex Machina" and she was excellent in that movie. She is just as good here in "The Green Knight", again, playing two roles. Joel Edgerton did very well in his small part. He seems to be something of a regular now for A24 and I can see why. He is always reliable. Everyone in this movie did a very good job with the source material. But Patel and Vikander stood out the most.

Like I said before, the visuals in this movie are truly a sight to behold. There is a scene with a bunch of giant people that is wild, but beautiful to look at on screen. The fox, especially when it spoke, was amazing. The scenery, I believe the movie was shot in Ireland, makes me want to go visit. But the actual Green Knight, that was a work of art. I was as transfixed by the Green Knight as I was by Patel. The Green Knight is not in the movie too terribly much, but when it is there, you will remember every single detail. I was blown away by the costume and the makeup. The CGI of the whole movie was just as impressive.

Look, “The Green Knight” is weird and confusing at times, but that is what A24 does. A24 also makes really good, really intriguing movies that will make you think about them days after you've watched, That is exactly what "The Green Knight" achieves. The movie isn't for everyone. But if you like gory fairy tales shot in beautiful locations with excellent visuals and world class acting, this movie is for you. I definitely recommend this movie.

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 "Win it All"

I come to you today with yet another movie review and recommendation. Yesterday I watched another one that I have been putting off for a while, and I wish I hadn't. The movie is called "Win It All". It stars Jake Johnson, who also co-wrote the movie, and it is about an addictive gambler who tries to turn his life around but runs into some bad luck. Again, a cliché story, but this movie was so well made.

I think the reason why “Win it All” works is Johnsons' performance is magnetic. He is more known for comedy and being on "New Girl", but giving him a role like this, a little more drama and less comedy, and he shined. I have said it a lot on the site, and I will say it again, I love when actors and musicians take a chance. Johnson did just that and he crushed. He has become somewhat of Joe Swanmberg's muse as well. Swanberg co-wrote the movie with Johnson and he directed as well. Swanmberg is one of these "mumblecore" guys. That genre of movie can be dull and boring, but "Win It All" was not. This movie moved well and transitioned properly. It had comedy and drama. It was "Uncut Gems" very light. "Uncut Gems" is one of my all time favorite movies by the way, and that movie is super intense. It is a relief to watch a movie that deals with gambling that doesn't give me a panic attack. That is "Win It All".

As I was saying, Swanberg and Johnson have a great rapport now. They have done a few movies together, and they are all, at the very least, watchable. None of them are bad. Sure they can be a little blah, but they are fine. With "Win It All" they take it to another level. Johnson is superb. I cannot say enough great things about him in this role. He is the star, he owns the movie, you cannot take your eyes off of him and I was rooting for him to turn his life around. Swanberg does an excellent job of making a more mainstream style movie. There is still some of that "mumblecore" direction in there, but it doesn't take over. The rest of the cast is really good as well. Joe Lo Truglio plays Johnson's brother. He has his act together and all he wants is to help his brother. Truglio is a great comedic actor, and he does a lot of funny stuff in this movie. But his dramatic stuff really hit. He was solid. Aislinn Derbez was the love interest. I had never heard of her before watching this movie. She was outstanding. She was believable. She had a ton of chemistry with Johnson. She was great. Keegan Michael Key played his sponsor. It was nice to see Key not do any comedy. I love his comedic work, but I felt he was kind of falling in a trap of only doing broad comedy. So to see him do a role like this was refreshing. He did a very good job. And they had a bunch of real life poker players in the movie in scenes where they played real games of cards. This added a whole other level to the minimal stress in the movie. It made the games feel real. I found myself really into everything that was happening in this movie. I also really like that it was ninety minutes long.

I will say it again, Johnson was electric and I want to see more stuff like this out of him. And I like high stakes movies that find a way to not take itself so seriously. I also really enjoyed the final scene in the movie. It made me hopeful. If you have 90 minutes free and like redemption style movies, check out "Win It All". It is solid.

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 Long Dumb Road"

I've been watching a bunch of movies that I have wanted to see during the pandemic lately. I'm catching up I guess you could say. Some have been okay and some have been pretty blah. The other day I watched one, one that I have been putting off for about seventeen months now, and I found myself really enjoying it.

The movie is called "The Long Dumb Road". I am a big fan of Jason Mantzoukas. I try to watch everything he is in. I love his guest appearances most. He was great as Adrian Pimento on "Brooklyn 99". He was fantastic as Derek on "The Good Place". He was perfect as Rafi on "The League". His role as Kyle on the criminally underrated "I'm Sorry" was him playing a heightened version of himself and he crushed. Mantzoukas is so great at coming in and stealing every scene he is in on TV shows. He has had some solid movie roles, but the movies are not always the best. He's good in "The Dictator". He kept pace with Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler in "The House". He's decent in "Sleeping With Other People". And I still say "Tick Tock Mr Wick" when referencing him from "John Wick 3". With "The Long Dumb Road" he was given the chance to be a co star.

The movie is a road trip movie that is pretty much just him and Tony Revelori. Mantzoukas was excellent in this movie. So was Revelori. They both did a really, really good job. The movie is a cliché road trip movie, but when you get the chemistry that Mantzoukas and Revelori had, that is when it becomes a good movie. I remember watching it and kind of thinking it was ho hum, but as it got further into the movie, the more I found myself really enjoying it. I liked seeing these two actors play off one another. Revelori is a really solid young actor and he was more than up to the task to keep pace with Mantzoukas. Revelori was very believable as a kid heading out to art school in LA. He played the naive young kid to a T. Mantxoukas arrives in the movie with a bang and he is at a ten the whole time. He has so many different balls in the air. He is always doing something wild and crazy. He is always getting into some kind of wild situations. He is also a drunk and stuck in a big time rut. Only an actor like Mantzoukas could do this role and make it believable. His character did some totally off the wall stuff, but since it is Mantzoukas I was along for the ride. The scene between him and Casey Wilson, his old flame, was classic. When he is in the motel room with the girl he randomly meets at the bar, doing adult things, and pops up when Revelori opens the door and says, "either in or out buddy", I was rolling on the floor laughing. He also shows some depth. When he proposes to a girl he has just met, and she declines it thinking it is a joke, you can see the hurt and awkwardness in his eyes. When he fights with Revelori, you buy his side. When he talks to a driver that picks them up, you can see they get one another.

I was pleasantly surprised by "The Long Dumb Road". Revelori was really good, but Mantzoukas totally steals the show. I could watch him read a phone book and he would find a way to make me laugh. This is a good, short movie. I recommend it purely based on Mantzoukas' performance.

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 "Doctor Sleep" and Laments the Demise of Original Stories

On our quarantine date night this week my wife picked "Doctor Sleep" for us to watch. For those that may not know what this movie is, it is pretty much a sequel to "The Shining''. "The Shining'', in my opinion, is the scariest movie ever made. It still freaks me out. I can remember seeing it for the first time so vividly and how much it scared me back then. I have not watched it in my adult life because of how scared of it I truly am. So I was nervous watching "Doctor Sleep". But it was my wife’s turn, we made a rule where we cannot veto the other's choice and so we watched.

“Doctor Sleep” was a solid movie. I was scared. Not as scared as when I saw "The Shining", but there were moments when I jumped on the couch. I appreciated the story, how they developed it and the few tweaks they made. I liked how they went about saving the world that was created and how they showed a grown up Danny. The young lady that played Abra was really excellent, and the bad guys were as creepy as ever. And when they went back to the original hotel in the final scene, that was very cool. But I do not necessarily know that a movie like this needed to be made. Again, I thought it was good, but I think it was unnecessary.

I have been saying for a while now how there are not any really original ideas when it comes to the movie business lately. The studios are doing multiple sequels, giving franchises to almost anything, remakes are everywhere and "sequels" to classic movies are all the rage. That is why I get excited when I see a movie like "Sorry to Bother You" or watch a special like "Inside" or see a movie like "Uncut Gems". These are new ideas. These are fresh. These movies stay with you and make you think. "Sorry to Bother You" is one of the biggest mind f's I have ever watched, and I love that movie because of that reason. So I do not know that we really needed a "sequel" to such a classic horror movie. "The Shining" is right up there with "Night of the Living Dead" or "Misery" or "Carrie". These are the classics people think of when they think of horror movies. The biggest bummer, now that we have "Doctor Sleep", is that all of the movies I just mentioned have far inferior companion pieces to the original. I know they did a "Carrie" remake with Chloe Grace-Moretz that wasn't as good as the original. They've tried to do "Night of the Living Dead" a bunch of different ways but none have even come close to the greatness of the original. And now we have "Doctor Sleep". No one was going to be able to live up to what Jack Nicholson did in "The Shining". That was one of the best performances of all time. I know Stephen King may not be a fan, but most everyone else agrees that Nicholson crushed. Shelly Duval was excellent as well, even though she went crazy after making this movie. This may be Kubrick's best work as a director. I like "A Clockwork Orange" more, but his direction of "The Shining" is amazing. I think what makes a movie like "The Shining" so great is the performances. It is who you remember. And I know that the young kid that plays Danny in the original has a very big part, but I did not recall much from him other than the redrum scene and the scene where he is riding his tricycle through the hotel. "The Shining" was all about Duval and Nicholson. They were the stars. Their stories were what the audience cared about most. When they got to the hotel in "Doctor Sleep" my wife sat up and said, "this is what I have been waiting for". When the scene was over I asked what she thought, and she shrugged. I asked why she wasn't as excited and she said that it wasn't as good as what happens in "The Shining".

I do not want it to sound like I am dumping on "Doctor Sleep". I have said multiple times that I thought it was good. It is a solid B- movie. I think my biggest problem is just the lack of original ideas. I get the want from some people. I understand that some people want to see remakes or sequels to classic movies. I don't. Classic movies are classic for a reason. There doesn't need to be ten different versions of the same story. If you tell it right once, then you may only need a second if it is like "The Godfather Part 2"or "The Raid 2". Most movies do not need sequels or remakes. That is my thoughts on this whole new era of remakes or sequels. One classic movie is more than enough. Go watch the original movies and ignore the remakes and sequels.

Ty

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

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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.

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.