Better Never Than Late on "Old"

I was scrolling the streaming channels we have yesterday and I came across HBO Max. I wanted to watch a movie, and had a little more than 90 minutes before I had to get my kids for the day and I saw that "Old" was now streaming.

I wanted to see this movie when it came out. I feel like this was the first pandemic movie that I had wanted to see in a theater until everything went down with COVID-19. And then I kind of forgot about it. Then "How Did This Get Made" did an episode about it and it reminded me. But then I forgot about it yet again. But then, while channel surfing a week ago, I came across the last 20 minutes of it, so I watched. I was confused, but also interested. Watching the ending did not diminish my want to see the whole movie. So I turned it on after doing my daily stuff and sat back and focused on the movie.

I kind of wish I hadn't focused so hard. I am trying to be less cynical these days, and so far it has been working. I tried to find some kind of good in this movie. I looked past a ton of problems and kept searching for something, anything, that worked. Unfortunately I could not find much of anything. The best thing I can say about this movie is the premise is very interesting. And put in the right hands, could have worked. And I have come around on M Night Shyamalan as of late. "Split" was very good. I've heard very good things about the show "The Servant". I kind of enjoyed "Glass" honestly. So I thought he could have made this work. But he just could not do it. It was far too clunky of a movie. It moved almost too fast but felt slow. It was prodding. The story was convoluted and dull. The actors did the best they could with the material, but it just wasn't up to snuff for me. The kids are kind of annoying at the beginning. I found them to be very cloying and cliche. The parents are in one of those typical "this is our last chance to reconnect, on this family trip". I am not a fan of that trope. The other people that join them on the beach are cliches themselves. The young rapper, who might have the worst rap name ever, Mid Sized Sedan, was boring. The makeup lady with the calcium deficiency was so ridiculous and not scary. Even her death scene, spoiler alert, was so not scary and kind of dumb. Her husband was the psychotic guy who was going through Alzheimers. And he was not convincing. The family of a nurse and his wife who has epilepsy felt so tacked on at the last second. The nurse's demeanor never changed no matter how messed up the situation got on the island. And his wife's death scene, spoiler alert, was totally tossed aside. But I think it was the parents' deaths that bummed me out the most. The dad lost his eyesight, said some cliched lines and died on the beach. The mom had the tumor removed, then lost her hearing and just kind of walked towards the water. And the wrap up scene, where we find everything out was so blase. It was so tacked on. That seems to be the basis of this movie. They just added stuff to fill out 100 minutes. There was no moment when I was legitimately scared. Nothing in this movie made me sit back and think about life. The ending was so simple to figure out. The way they did it was very dull.

I really, really wanted to like this movie. I had very high hopes. But it did not meet my personal expectations. I would recommend it for people that want to see it, and maybe your expectations won't be too high. But this was a miss for me. It was not a good 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 "Chip 'n' Dale: Rescue Rangers"

I used to watch "Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers" as a kid. It is one of the few shows, outside "The Simpsons", that I actually remember watching when I was young. I did not watch many cartoons as a kid. There were other shows, like "American Gladiators", "Sportscenter" and "Good Times" that appealed to me. I just liked real people as opposed to cartoons I guess. But "Rescue Rangers" was different. It was goofy and silly and fun. It was like a lighter "Pinky and the Brain", a show I got to later in life. And I loved "Pinky and the Brain".

When I heard that they were doing a reboot, and making it a movie, I was skeptical. I am usually not the biggest fan of remakes or reboots. Why rehash an old idea that they got right the first time? I just do not like it. Some stuff has worked, but it is few and far between. And fans will argue with other fans if the show or movie or miniseries or whatever is any good. Those people need to calm the hell down. Stop fighting about useless nonsense on the internet. That is for kids. Anyway, I was hesitant. But then I found out that Akiva Schaffer was directing it. I adore Schaffer. I have liked pretty much everything he has done. His group, The Lonely Island, does things that speak to me. I also found out, through Schaffer's internet presence, that Andy Samberg was going to be voicing a main character. This was when I was fully on board. Samberg is one of my all time favorite actors. The dude is funny. He gets it. He knows how to construct, write and deliver jokes. When he teams up with Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, the other Lonely Island member, they make magic. As I said, the three of them know how to get it done. Then I saw that John Mulaney was attached. I like his comedy, so I was happy about it. Then Tress MacNeille signed on. Then Eric Bana. Will Arnett was next. Then I started to see names like Dennis Haysbert, Flula Borg, Keegan Michael Key, Tim Robinson, Seth Rogen, JK Simmons and Rachel Bloom attached to voice characters. This was an even bigger selling point for me. I also saw that Kiki Layne, from "Coming 2 America", was cast as the human lead in this movie. She was great in that, so I figured she would be just fine here.

This movie really worked for me. I loved that they went the "Roger Rabbit" route with it. This movie mixes a bunch of different animation styles with real life situations. And it is from the jump. We meet Chip and Dale in elementary school where they go with all kinds of animated characters and humans. The movie continues this trend when they show them getting their show. This was a great walk down memory lane. And then when we find them away from the show in modern times, they keep up the "Roger Rabbit" aesthetic. The movie is even in the crime/noir/comedy genre. It mixes all three, but it is not as adult as "Roger Rabbit". This is a kids movie. This is made for the family to watch. My son watched it the day after my wife and I, and he thought it was fun. But being that it is a kids movie at heart, I told my wife while watching that I feel like this movie was made for us. This was made for people who are going to be 40, or already turned 40. This is like going back in time. It brings back all your favorite characters from the original, while taking some old classics and making them look not so great. I loved that about this movie. It was nostalgia for me, and I was all in.

I highly recommend “Chip ‘n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers” for everyone, but mainly for people my age that used to watch the cartoon. It is a great walk down memory lane. It was a ton of fun.

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 "A Quiet Place 2"

I finally saw "A Quiet Place 2" this past Friday. It was date night, my wife had the pick of the movie and we had both wanted to see this movie. We jumped on it. It was for rent on VOD and it was on sale. It was a true win win.

I adored the first movie. I thought it was a great idea that was perfectly executed. I think it is one of the better thrillers to come out in a long, long time. The way they dealt with the world they created was perfection. It was a movie that stunned me with how good it actually ended up being. But I was on the fence about a sequel. When it was announced I asked myself why. I just did not think they needed to do it. They ended the first one the right way, it was a tremendous hit and it seemed like it had closure. I did not want a sequel. I'm not a big fan of sequels to begin with, and when you get it right, I would not mess with a good thing. Sequels never help in my opinion. But, when this one raked it in at the box office, you could sense they were going to make, at the very least, one more. So going in my expectations were not very high for "Part 2".

Just like with the first one, I was pleased at how much I found myself enjoying the movie. I was fully in on the story. I liked the fact that they went back in time to show the first day that everything went down. It was nice to see John Krasinki in the movie. I appreciate that he wrote and directed this movie. Emily Blunt is tremendous. I feel like she is a criminally underrated actor. She seems to do mostly good work, picks good projects and is really good in whatever role she is given. The kids in this movie were badass. I liked that they made them heroic. The deaf girl rules and the anxious brother comes up big for the family. I thought bringing in Cillian Murphy and Djimon Honsu was a great choice. Those two are great actors, and they brought some gravitas to this franchise. I also love that a good portion of this movie was shot during daylight. You could really see the monsters. You got a good feeling of what they looked like, how scary they actually are. You also got to see how fast and ferocious they could be. I adored the way they used noise again in this one. That is the whole thing with the deaf child and the monsters, the use of noise, and this movie pulls it off yet again. There were tense, silent moments riddled throughout the story. It was perfect. I also appreciate that this movie leans into the horror aspect a bit more. The first movie is more of a family drama/thriller. The second movie, while still dealing with family things, leans much more into the horror aspect. There are tons of jump scares. I made audible gasps at different times while watching. My wife made a few mentions that certain things scared her. It was another in a long line of solid choices from the movie makers. And, like their other decisions, worked. I was genuinely scared. I found myself rooting for the family yet again. I cheered during the conclusion. And when it was all over, and my wife and I sat down and talked about it, I told her I really enjoyed it. It was well made, well acted, had great pacing and was just all and all well done. I had low expectations, and this movie exceeded them. I do hope they stop here. They do not need to make anymore. They did it.

So, if you saw the first movie, or are a fan of the horror genre and have a general idea of the story, I recommend "A Quiet Place 2". It is a solid 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 "On the Count of Three"

Yesterday I rented the movie "On the Count of Three". I saw a trailer for the movie a few weeks back and was enamored by it. I am a Jerrod Camrichael fan, I liked what I saw in the trailer, there were some other actors in it that I recognized and the story seemed like something I could get down with.

The movie, for those that may not know, is about two friends who decide they are going to kill themselves. They have reached a point in their lives where they simply do not want to go on. And for those of you thinking this has to be a depressing movie, it is a comedy. It is a very dark comedy, and there is a good amount of comedy, and you need to know going into this movie that it is very, very dark, but nonetheless, it is a comedy. There are hard jokes. There were parts that made me laugh out loud on my couch. But it is about suicide. The preview I saw even put the Suicide Prevention Hotline at the beginning. The premise is sad, but it was written by a few funny guys, and Carmichael directed it and he is a comedian by trade. So it had funny stuff in it.

First off, Carmichael was magnetic as the lead. He directed and starred and he nailed both jobs. He plays Val. Val has a ton going on, but he is done. His girlfriend is pregnant, he wants out of the relationship, Tiffany Haddish plays that role, he hates his job and he is over it all. Carmichael does a great job showing a guy that is at the end of his rope. He handles all the elements really well. He isn't spoiled, he is just bored. Christopher Abbot plays his best friend Kevin. Kevin has got some issues. When we first meet him he is in a mental institution because he had tried to kill himself three days earlier. Kevin is depressed, he was sexually harassed by his therapist as a child, the therapist was played by Henry Winkler, he is not in a good mental state, he is filled with problems. He has a great monologue about how maybe he isn't as important as the doctor's at the institution are trying to make him feel. Abbot handles the mental health issues with a deft hand. He does a great job.

This movie works because Carmichael and Abbot have such great chemistry. They also handle their characters with grace. They play them both so very well. The scene where we meet Val's dad, played by JB Smoove, was powerful. He deserved to get hit with that tire iron. The stuff with Kevin and his childhood bully was excellent. It was also oddly relatable. The importance of dirt bikes in this movie struck me. Lavell Crawford was awesome as the dirt bike shop owner. I saw other people say this, and I will repeat it today, this movie uses Papa Roach better than Papa Roach uses themselves. The music in this movie is the perfect tone.

Again, do not get it twisted, this is a depressing movie. Depressing stuff happens throughout. There were times where it felt relentless. But there were tons of jokes. There were some great deadpan line deliveries from Carmichael. The movie, at its heart, is a comedy, just an extremely dark comedy.

I hope more people search this movie out. Carmichael is finally getting a much deserved chance to make the type of movies he wants to make. This might be one of the better buddy movies to come out in quite some time. And even though it is about suicide, it is oddly uplifting at the end. Check out "On the Count of Three". It is a really good movie and it is one of the first true indie darlings, as much as I dislike that wording, of the year. A good movie indeed.

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 "Jackass Forever"

For date night last week my wife and I finally saw "Jackass Forever". And before you think it was all my pick, my wife enjoys a good prank and bodily harm movie. We both like wild movies like this. "Bad Trip" was a godsend for the two of us. We both also used to watch the show, we have recently watched the original movie, which we also showed our son in a moment of wonderful parenting, and we both really wanted to see this. We tried to go to the theater but we just couldn't find the time. Then when it went to streaming it was only on Paramount +, which we do not subscribe to. But it was finally on VOD and it was only six bucks.

We jumped at the chance and we loved the movie. It was so funny. It was so wild. It made me think about the first time I saw the show. I was transported back 20 years in time. I was cackling like a maniac. We even let our son sit in on a few moments of the movie. He loved it as well. I could not believe that these guys could, and were willing, to do these things to themselves. It was crazy. They did a cup check yet again. This was one of their original bits and they brought it back. But instead of Johnny Knoxville letting little kids kick him in the crotch this time they let real, legit athletes test a cup on Danger Ehren. It looked and sounded like it hurt. They had an MMA fighter punch him in the crotch. Ehren's eyes looked dead when he was hit. They had the world's fastest softball pitcher pitch one into the cup. She nailed it after a few tries and it was glorious. They had PK Subban slap shot a puck into it. And they even let another "Jackass" member, Dave England, use a metal pogo stick and jump into him. It was all brutal. Ehren even ruptured a testicle. It was wild. They played a prank on a bunch of the cast members by making them think they were in a blacked out room with a venomous snake. My wife and I were cracking up. They did some cool stuff with the biggest slip and slide I have ever seen in my life. It was nuts. The opening scene was gross and hilarious. The stuff with Eric Andre and the cold brew truck was awesome. They got a ton of people with that one in fact. The tap dancing scene with Tyler, the Creator was dope. I am a big fan of his, so to see him in this movie was rad. The new cast members were good too. They had four or five new people and they were all game. They were all willing to go for broke and that is needed in a show like this. I also love that one of the new cast members got his dad involved, an ex-con who is terrified of snakes and birds, but did hard time. He was great.

The main point of today's piece, I cannot believe that most of the main crew is still around and still doing these things. Steve O went full bore like he never left. I mentioned Danger Ehren and Dave England. They brought back some old bits and let other cast members take them to task. Preston Lacy and Wee Man went for broke. They did things I do not think they would have even done back in the day. And Johnny Knoxville went for it all. He did a ton. He let himself get shot out of a cannon. He was involved in the vast majority of the pranks and stunts. He is still the ring leader. And he even brought back the bull stunt. And that bull knocked him out. He was so knocked out that he was snoring. He broke his wrist, ribs, got a brain hemorrhage and a concussion. And he still came back for more. I hope for these guys that this is the last one of these movies they make. They looked older and rough. They still had the gall, but most of the guys in the crew are in their late 40's or early 50's. I do not think their bodies can handle the damage anymore. It is too much. But I am glad they made this one. I hope they leave us with this one.

I enjoyed “Jackass Forever” quite a bit. So did my wife. And the little bit my son saw. "Jackass Forever" is a great trip back in time, and I highly recommend watching 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 "The Bad Guys"

We took our kids to the movies for the first time since the pandemic last night. They had not been to a theater in two years, our son had wanted to see the movie "The Bad Guys" since he heard it was coming out and we had some time that all four of us were together at the same time last night. So we pushed the button and bought tickets.

The theater was rad, there were only about seven other people in there and we were looking to have a good time. We bought some snacks, got the kids some drinks and took our seats. After the previews were done, both our kids made comments about how long the previews were, so we settled in our seats and watched the movie.

I have to say, "The Bad Guys" is a very fun, very funny and a very solid movie. I found myself thoroughly enjoying the movie. I was laughing. I was interested in the story. I liked the characters. I adored the animation. It all worked really well. Even the slow parts worked. They were needed to move the story along. And our kids were a delight. They followed the rules and were very well behaved throughout the runtime. Back to the movie.

I enjoy a good heist movie. I found this out about myself a few years back. I like the conniving and double crossing and misdirects. It is fun. I like trying to figure out who did it. That is exactly what "The Bad Guys" was. It was a heist movie through and through. Sure they used famous characters from old stories, but they updated them. The big bad wolf was hip and cool. He was the lead of the movie. The snake was slimy and mean, but he also liked push pops and Hawaiian shirts and funky hats. The shark was a master of disguise and lovable. The tarantula was a hacking genius. And the piranha was wild and crazy and could sing. It was cool. I enjoyed how they updated them and made them cool. I also liked the message of the movie. It was all about heists and getting away with robbery and all that cool movie stuff, but the movie was really about being nice to your friends and trusting one another. Oh, and also being good. I liked how they managed to make that the focal point in a movie like this. I mentioned the animation before. It was so cool. My son has read the books and he told us that that is how the characters look in the book too, if they were colored with crayons. I appreciate the attention to detail. And the fact that my kid recognized it speaks volumes to the animators. They did a top notch job. The voice acting was on point as well. Sam Rockwell was great as the wolf, Anthony Ramos crushed as the piranha, Marc Maron epitomized the snake, Awkwafina was hilarious and cool as the tarantula and Craig Robinson was perfectly cast as the shark. It all worked so very well. There was a point during the movie where I leaned over to my wife and told her that I was having a great time. That is what I look for in "kids" movies. I want my kids to like it, but I also want stuff that keeps me interested. "The Bad Guys" nailed it.

I highly recommend this movie for kids and parents everywhere. It was wonderful. I had a blast and I think you will too. What a fun, fun 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 Revisits "The Rover"

Last night I was flipping through the channels and came upon a movie I saw years ago. The movie is "The Rover". I kind of remembered it, but it was lost to time for me. So I decided to revisit it. My wife is out of town, my kids were asleep and I had just watched the premiere of "Better Call Saul".

"The Rover" is better than I remembered, and I had forgotten a good amount. I remembered liking it, but it did not stay with me. This time it will definitely stay with me. The movie takes place in a dystopian future in the Australian outback. There has been an economic collapse and people are just trying to get by. A gang comes to a guy's house and steals his car. He sets out to get his car back, and that is when the movie gets bleak and scary and dark. There are two main people in this movie, Guy Pearce and Robert Pattison. There are other actors, but the movie is really about their two characters. Guy Pearce is the gentleman that gets his car stolen from him. Pattison plays one of the gang members that gets left behind and Pearce uses him to help him get his car.

This movie is good. It has an eerie feel to it. There are moments where I was genuinely frightened. There are other moments where the silence has you on the edge of your seat just waiting to see what happens next. The movie looks beautiful too. For it being a dystopic wasteland, Australia looks very pretty on film. The mountains and the outback are beautiful to look at on screen.

What really makes this movie work, what makes it memorable for me now, are Pearce's and Pattison's performances. Pattison really knocks it out of the park. This may be one of the first movies he was in post "Twilight" that actually had me shocked at how well he acts. He plays Rey. Rey is slow, reliant and acts out of character from time to time. He also does some things that are incredibly smart. Pearce's character, Eric, learns pretty early on that Rey can help him. Pattison truly embodies Rey. I bought his performance tenfold. I thought he did a masterful job. He really had me worried about him the whole movie. I was afraid he would find some way to mess it all up. He does, but in all reality, it is not his fault. He does help Eric get what he is after. There is a certain scene where Rey tells Eric how and when to get into the house with his former gang, and it is so well played. Then the director follows it up with another scene that shows Rey in the car listening to music and you can see his childish behavior. It is perfect. Pearce is furious and angry and determined. He has one goal in mind and will do anything it takes to get there. Pearce plays Eric with a quiet determination that flies off the screen. I openly rooted for him to win. I wanted him to get his car. I did not care who he had to get rid of to get there. I felt his anger towards Rey at times. I sided with him in every scenario. I wanted him to do everything he did in the movie. It was an even better performance than Pattison's.

I highly recommend this movie for fans of sci fi and westerns. It covers both genres incredibly well. But the real winner, the real reason to watch this movie is for Pattison and Pearce's performance. They are so, so good. They nailed it. They were magnetic. They should have gotten award consideration. They ruled.

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 "Spider-Man: No Way Home"

Over the weekend my wife and I finally saw "Spider-man: No Way Home". We had planned on seeing it when it was in the theaters, but that was when Omicron was ravaging the US, so we waited. Not to worry, I still got Omicron, and it stunk. Anyway, the movie was streaming and on VOD, so we opted for VOD. It was only six bucks, so that was even better. We settled in after dinner, put our daughter to bed, and watched.

I really enjoyed the movie. I do want to point out that I like "Into the Spiderverse" more, but "No Way Home" was still very well done. I actually like the multiverse stuff. And being that I had seen "Everything Everywhere All At Once" a few days before, the idea of a multiverse movie was on my mind. I was in. I do want to say that I personally think that Tom Holland is the best Peter Parker/Spiderman. He is the only one of the three that truly reminds me of a high school kid. He acts dorky, he seems in over his head and he talks and, more importantly, acts like a teenager. My wife and I said that a lot when watching the movie. But, spoiler alert, seeing Andrew Garfield and Toby Maguire was incredible. It was so neat to see the three of them interact. Maguire was great. He is the oldest and he played that well. When he was stretching his back, that was gold. But I actually think Garfield was the best Spiderman in this movie. He was funny and nice and sweet and willing to goof on himself. I loved the inside jokes, how he called himself lame and kept being referred to as "Spiderman 3", it was awesome. I also appreciated that the movie makers let him save Mary Jane. That was a nice touch.

It was incredibly rad to see the villains from the other movies in this universe. Alfred Molina is a true, true gem as Doc Oc. It was glorious to see him reprise the role. He was amazing. Rhys Ifan as Lizard was crazy because I barely remembered him from the movie he was in. But he did a solid job. I already enjoy Jamie Foxx, and seeing him reprise Electro was totally worth it. He did a very, very good job in this role. Even Thomas Haden Church as the Sandman was fine. Hell, it was even better than what he did in "Spiderman 3" by a mile. But Willem Defoe stole the show. He was creepy and terrifying and diabolical and awesome. He was so god damn scary in this movie, and that was exactly what this movie needed. He was great.

Hell, even the side characters, Zendaya, Ned, Aunt May, J Jonah Jameson, Happy, they were all wonderful. Marisa Tomei is Aunt May now. And her death scene was brutal. Jon Favreau as Happy has never been better. Zendaya is the only MJ I truly enjoy. Ned is so, so much better than Franco's friend character. And JK Simmons is the best person to play Jameson. He embodies that role.

The story was great. Again, it was like a live action version of "Into the Spiderverse", just not as good. But it still worked. They found a way to do it. Adding Dr Strange was exactly what they should have done to make this story work. And Benedict Cumberbatch and Benedict Wong, as Wong, were also great in their roles. And, as always, the imagery in the movie was top notch. Sony/Marvel know how to make superhero movies, and this was no exception. It looked magnetic.

All in all I really did enjoy this movie. My wife and I watched bits and pieces of it yesterday just to rehash some stuff we thought we missed, and that was a totally worthwhile revisit. "No Way Home" is another very good Tom Holland Spiderman movie. Go watch it if you haven't yet. It is great.

Ty

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

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RIP Gilbert Gottfried

Gilbert Gottfried has passed away at the age of 67. This is a bummer. There are too many people losing their lives lately. It stinks.

I have a fond memory of Gottfried. I have always liked him to be honest. I know people complain about his voice and his movies and other stuff, but that never bothered me. I found his voice unique and hilarious. He was a much better version of the Micro Machine guy. They each had their schtick, but Gottfried was much more my speed. I truly did not care that he yelled at his jokes. I found it funny honestly. It worked for me as a fan of comedy.

As for his movies, I loved "Problem Child". He was awesome in it too. I adore "Aladdin", and Iago is so memorable. He was the only good part about the horrible "Saved By the Bell: The Wedding" movie. He was definitely the biggest get in any "Sharknado" movie that he was involved in. As for TV shows, you could find him doing voicework in any number of shows ranging from the 80's throughout the current day. His voice is everywhere. Going outside of voice work, he was a cast member on what many consider to be the worst season of "SNL", but he was the only one on that season that thrived. Going back and watching those eps awhile back, and man are they bad, but Gottfried had something special. He was the only person that worked that season.

The thing I think made him stand apart was the roasts he did. I have been watching clips of him at these roasts the past couple days, and Gottfried kills every single time. He would just pummel the audience and the roastee with joke after joke after joke. He would crush it out there. He was doing the best in a room full of people that pride themselves on their ability to roast. He would have fit in perfectly in the old time roasts that I used to see commercials for as a kid. Gottfried was the perfect amalgamation of old school and modern time comedians. He knew what he was best at, and he ran with it. The roast clips are an amazing thing to watch.

Of course we all remember him as the Aflac duck. My kids even know his voice from those commercials. But, what I remember most about Gottfried as the Aflac duck was him getting fired from that job. It was classic Gottfried. He tweeted a very unflattering stance on the tsunamis in Taiwan, and he was let go. Part of me always thought that he did that on purpose. I think he wanted out of that job, did something awful and was let go. And we all forgot about it a few months later.

Gottfried went on to do many things after that. That would have ended other people's careers, but Gottfried soldiered on and kept plugging away. It has also been super cool to see the many people coming out and talking about how nice and polite Gottfried was on the stand up scene. He didn't big time anyone or refuse to help out. Quite the opposite. I've seen people like Paul F Tompkins, a comedian and actor I adore, come out and say that Gottfried would let him watch his sets for free. That rules. There have been countless other actors talking about interactions with Gottfried, and they are all glowing.

Gottfried's passing is a bummer. He was so young, I know they said an unknown illness, and that makes it even sadder. It is not on the Chadwick Boseman level, but it is akin. Rest in Peace Mr Gottfried. You will be 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 "Everything Everywhere All At Once"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "The Alpinist"

After doing my regular activities on a Thursday I had a few hours to kill. I like to watch movies when I have down time, so I fired up the Netflix account and went searching. I was in the mood for a documentary, and when you can make it about sports, I will be fully in. I found a great doc that was recommended on my account called "The Alpinist".

I am a big fan of extreme sports docs. And when I say extreme sports I do not mean skateboarding or snowboarding or surfing, none of the cliche extreme sports that I have no ability to do. When I say extreme I mean ultra running, ice climbing, stuff like that. "The Alpinist" is about a person who many consider to be the best solo climber that ever lived. I saw "Free Solo", and thought that guy was the guy, but he was in this movie talking about Marc-Andre Leclerc. Marc-Andre is the person who many consider to be the best solo climber there ever was. This guy did some wild and crazy things that many people thought were impossible, and he did it, mostly, by himself. Sometimes he would bring a helper, or a guy that would film his climbs. But he was usually doing the climbs alone, filming alone and putting everything out there on his own time. The filmmakers decided they needed to make a movie about this guy, and when they approached him he was on board. But they soon found out that Marc-Andre was a free spirit who did not succumb to the everyday norms. He wasn't a social media guy. In fact, he barely ever truly owned a phone. He did not do these climbs for the recognition. In fact he shied away from it when possible. He simply wanted to see what he could do, and how far he could push the limits. Like I have said, this guy did some solo climbs that people considered impossible. He did this big time climb in Patagonia, Argentina that was the thing of lore amongst the climbing community. And when he filmed it, and we the viewer got to see what he put out there, I was blown away. I could not believe what I was seeing. I am afraid of heights, and while watching the movie at home, I was getting weak in the knees and sitting up in my seat. It was so high and dangerous, and he was doing this with a minimal pack and low food and water. But he was fast and figured things out quickly. They also would show him climbing other mountains, after he did one solo he would allow the filmmakers to film him doing it again, and it was silence and him climbing and it was beautiful. It was also mesmerizing. I was completely wrapped up in what I was watching.

After the Patagonia climb, I thought that was where the movie would end. Unfortunately, and this is all too often the case, Marc-Andre went on a climb in Juneau, Alaska with one other climber, and they never returned. There was some video of them at the top, but after that a big storm came along and an avalanche pretty much ended their lives. It was sad. I felt awful for his girlfriend and mom and all the people who came to know him and truly love him. It was a bleak ending to a very moving and fascinating movie. Marc-Andre was only 25 when he passed away. That is far too young. But near the end the movie showed his girlfriend still climbing and making videos for him. His mom spoke at his memorial service, and the place was packed to the brim. She said that Marc-Andre always lived his life to the absolute fullest, and she knew he would want everyone to do the same. It was a sad ending with a very uplifting message.

I loved this movie. I cannot recommend it enough for people that love sports documentaries. "The Alpinist" is a must watch.

Ty

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

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The News About Bruce Willis Sucks

Yesterday I was scrolling through social media and I saw that Bruce Willis announced he was retiring from acting.

I was kind of stunned. I had no idea why. I wanted to know why he was doing this. I am a fan, more on that later, and it really bummed me out. I do truly like a good amount of movies I have seen that Willis has starred in. I love "Die Hard". It is a great movie and he is electric in it. I really love his performance in "Pulp Fiction". He is my favorite part in fact. I enjoy his storyline the most in that movie. He is tremendous in "The Sixth Sense". That was my first drama experience with him. I love "Unbreakable". I actually think that is the best Shyamalan movie personally. I truly do love "The Fifth Element". This is not me being a hipster, I genuinely like that movie. A lot. He showed up in "Between 2 Ferns: The Movie", and it was great. "Glass" isn't a great movie, but it brings back his "Unbreakable" character, which is nice. He voices himself in "The Lego Movie". He's solid in "Sin City". "Looper" is my modern day "Blade Runner", and he is the best person in that movie. I loved him in "Moonrise Kingdom". It was cool to see him in a Wes Anderson movie. "RED" is a great, underrated movie. If it never got an undeserved sequel, that movie would be a cult classic. "Cop Out" is not a good movie, but I loved seeing him and, my favorite actor, Tracy Morgan play off one another. "16 Blocks" is a very cool, solid movie. "The Whole Nine Yards" is dope. He voiced a bad guy in "The Beavis and Butthead Movie". "12 Monkeys" is a trip in all the right ways. I just recently saw "Death Becomes Her" for the first time, and I enjoyed the whole movie, especially Willis' performance. "The Last Boy Scout" was the first hyper violent movie I ever watched, and it opened my eyes to wild movies. And, as a child, of course I watched "Look Who's Talking" all the time. The last decade his movie choices have not been great, but he was still steadily working. Needless to say, I am a fan of his.

I also like how he has lived a relatively scandalous free life outside Hollywood. Sure, his marriage to Demi Moore did not last, but they have been incredible co-parents and continue to be friends. He has helped other actors land big time roles. He is widely known as the best tipper in Hollywood. He seems as down to Earth as someone as famous as he is nowadays. So to hear he was retiring, it was out of left field.

Then I did a little digging to see why. I assumed he just wanted to step away, or that he has done what he has wanted to do. He does not need to act, I just think he truly likes it. But that was not the case. Upon further research I saw that he was diagnosed with aphasia. That is not a disease anyone should hope to get diagnosed with. From what I know, aphasia "typically occurs after a stroke or head wound". It could also occur "from a slow growing brain tumor". It will cause "progressive permanent damage". Willis' family has not disclosed how he got it, and they shouldn't have to. Digging a little deeper, aphasia sounds dreadful. I have read that this disease will cause the patient to "speak in short or incomplete sentences, speak in sentences that do not make sense, substitute words for other words, speak unrecognizable words, not understand what others are speaking about or write sentences that do not make sense". This all sounds so very brutal. It sounds like Alzheimer's, except that maybe your brain doesn't fully go away, you just find it hard to communicate. What a blow. I hope Willis finds some great doctors to help him ease into this horrific situation. He is still relatively young, at 67. I hope he has another 20 plus years, and that this disease doesn't paralyze him.

This news stinks. It bums me out. I hope he gets the help he needs. What a drag. Another great actor, and seemingly decent person, stricken with a disease that just sounds horrendous. Fight the fight Bruce Willis. You seem strong enough to give it real hell.

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 "Tickled"

For date night this week I was feeling a documentary. I love docs. I like when information is given to me in heaps. It makes for an interesting viewing in my opinion. My wife isn't as big a fan as me, but she still enjoys them from time to time. It is not like I picked a noir or an indie movie.

I went searching for something a little different from your everyday doc. Then I remembered listening to a recent episode of the pod "This Is Important" and Anders Holm mentioned a doc he recently saw called "Tickled". He described it wonderfully on the pod, so I went looking for it. And much to my surprise, it was steaming for free on HBO Max. I was stoked. So I told my wife the name of the movie, and not much else. I wanted us to both go in with as little info as possible. That was the way Holm said people should view the movie.

What we then proceeded to watch for ninety minutes blew our minds. "Tickled" is one of the weirdest, yet most intriguing documentaries I have ever seen. The movie is about a journalist from New Zealand that covers the lighter side of life. He has very nice and heartwarming stories that he does from the clips we saw. But one day, when researching his next story, he stumbled across a website that was promoting a sporting event called Competitive Endurance Tickling. He was intrigued. As was my wife and I. What happened next, I never could have imagined. The journalist contacted the people from the website in the movie and asked to do a story with them. They responded with an email filled with threats and incredibly hurtful words and allegations. This only made the journalist, David Ferrier, more interested in what was going on. He could not let this story go. He was able to get a hold of three people who work at one of these CET areas, and he flew them out to New Zealand. The moment they landed and saw cameras, they went on the defensive. More threats came out. They refused to do anything on camera. It was all very strange. Ferrier dug even deeper, being able to get interviews with a few people who got involved with the website and CET. Their stories are harrowing. There is extortion and threats and real fear coming from these people. Their lives, since they have left the tickling world, are truly altered. And that is another thing, the tickling in this movie. Ferrier meets many people who have this fetish, and yes it is a total fetish, and it is uncomfortable to watch. They show long videos of people being tickled by other people, and it feels wrong. One of the people who have made a living doing these videos called it BDSM, and he is not wrong. I felt like I should not be seeing what I was seeing while showing these videos. It was worse than pornography in my opinion. It was, at the very least, way more uncomfortable. And all of this was being done all over the world, and seemingly run by one person. When the reveal of this person happens in the movie, I was floored. It was more intense than a villain showing their true colors, or someone who has been playing coy in a fiction movie the whole time. This person was real. And they were scary. And they were gross. And they had no bad feelings about the truly awful things they were doing to these young people.

"Tickled" had me shook. I was visibly shaken after we were done watching. So was my wife. But you know what? We both thought it was worth seeing. We were not disappointed when the movie ended that we had watched it. We found it disgusting and intriguing at the same time. "Tickled" is a movie that truly has to be seen to be believed. I for sure recommend to anyone that enjoys weird yet interesting subject materials. "Tickled" is a very good doc.

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "The Batman"

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ty

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

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"The Replacements" is Not Worth a Revisit

Now that I have caught up on some newer movies I wanted to see, I have decided I am going to go back and watch some movies I used to adore when I was a kid. I am curious to see if they hold up, if I will still like them. I also want to show my son some older Adam Sandler movies since I am such a big fan of his older stuff.

With that, I started this yesterday and watched the movie "The Replacements". "The Replacements" came out in 2000, and when I was 17, this movie was the shit. I loved it. I would rent it constantly and watch it over and over again. I got a good group of my friends into the movie as well, and when we had free time, this movie would be a top pick of ours. We loved everything about it.

The movie is about a bunch of replacement players for the NFL when they go on a strike. The usual players want more money, they do not get it at first and the team that is the focus of the movie goes out and finds guys who used to play, or had promising careers cut short. There is obvious hijinks and tomfoolery that happens, as you would expect, and of course they win enough games to make the playoffs. Again, I adored this movie as a teenager. So I decided to revisit it.

Unfortunately, it does not hold up. Keanu Reeves is the main character, and he cannot carry this movie. I love Keanu Reeves. This resurgence he has made is incredible, and he is making some kick ass stuff and showing up in random movies and stealing the show, namely in "Always Be My Maybe". But back in 2000, Reeves was asked to do too much in movies. The reason why "John Wick" works so well is because Reeves doesn't have to talk very much. He just has to kick ass. In "The Replacements" he has to give motivational speeches and rally his team around him. For a wacky sports movie, it is too much. Gene Hackman is an all timer, and he is probably the only one who did a good job in this movie, but it seems below his level. He is too good to be in this movie. I mean, he followed this one up with "The Royal Tenenbaums", which is a masterpiece. He probably took this role to do something different, but he is far too accomplished to be slumming it in a movie like this. Another guy I like, Orlando Jones, is barely used in this movie, and when he is, he hardly gets to make any jokes. Jones is funny and charismatic, but he is just put upon as a fast receiver who cannot catch. It is a waste of his talent. Brook Langton has some pull in this movie, and she gets to be more than just the love interest, until the end. She is a badass throughout, but when Reeves comes back, she is putty in his arms, and that is a bummer. Jon Faverau is a caricature of a jock. He goes way, way too overboard. He chews way too much scenery. I kept watching it and marveling that he is the guy who essentially revived Marvel movies. It is an insane performance. Rhys Ifan is almost racist in his portrayal of a Welsh person. He drinks, smokes and doesn't pay off his gambling debts. It is an affront to the Welsh people I feel.

I don't know what it was when I was a teen, but this movie is downright dreadful. I just could not wrap my head around why I liked this movie so much. There were some scenes where the players on strike kept showing up at the field and pushing Reeve's car over. And I kept saying to no one out loud, "shouldn't they be at a meeting trying to get more money and better benefits?". That was where my mind was going yesterday. There are a lot of people I like and respect in this movie, and I love football. But "The Replacements" is not a good movie. It is, in fact, a very, very bad movie. I do not recommend watching it, unless you want ti kill a few hours. But it would be a wasted few hours. You can believe that.

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 French Dispatch"

For date night last week I picked "The French Dispatch" to watch. My wife and I are both big Wes Anderson fans, and before the pandemic we had planned on seeing this in the theaters. Then we all know what happened. The movie was recently put on HBO Max though, so we were good to go for a watch.

For the record, I adore Anderson's movies. I think "The Royal Tenenbaums" and "Rushmore" are two of the best movies ever made. "Rushmore" reminds me so much of RD it is crazy. I love "Isle of Dogs" and "Fantastic Mr Fox". I really enjoyed "Moonrise Kingdom". I even like "Bottle Rocket". The only movies of Anderson's that I am not so crazy about are "Life Aquatic" and "The Darjeeling Limited". Those two movies never hooked me. But I was excited for "The French Dispatch". After "Grand Budapest Hotel", I felt like Anderson was on a hot streak. He has such a unique style and he is going full bore ahead. No one can stop him seemingly. He is having a moment. And boy oh boy is "The French Dispatch" about as Wes Anderson as it gets.

The movie is told in three stories from three writers from a newspaper in the 60's I assume. The setting is very whimsical and very colorful, when the movie uses color. There is a ton of black and white in this movie. But when the color shows up, boy does it pop. The sets are also very Anderson-esque. They look quaint and old timey and are like a mashup of all of his movies in one. It has feelings of everything he has made prior to this movie. The movie also takes place in a city called Ennui Blase. It does not get anymore Wes Anderson than that.

Outside the sets and the look, this movie moves and is written in Anderson's singular style. The actors, and my goodness is this a murderers row of actors, all talk fast but look sad. Bill Murray is the head editor, and he is as ennui as they get. Some of the writers we meet, played by Tilda Swinton, Jeffery Wright, Frances McDormand and Owen Wilson, just to name a few, really go for it in Anderson's style, and they nail it. Tilda Swinton is as weird as ever. McDormand is rough and tumble and sweet and straightforward. Wright is fast talking and smart and unique. And Wilson has the silliest and quirkiest story of them all. Some of the actors who play the people being portrayed, like Timothee Chamaleet, Benecio Del Toro, Adrien Brody, Lea Seydoux, Lyna Khoudri, Mathieu Amaric, Steve Park, Bob Balaban, Henry Winkler, Saoirse Ronan, Willem Defoe, Liev Schrieber, Edward Norton and Tony Revelori all really crush their respective performances. I enjoyed the Del Toro story the most, he plays an insane painter who is in jail. But the story Wright tells, which features Ronan, Defoe, Amaric and Park is fast paced and has a kick ass animation scene attached. Also, Chamaleet is the main character in the McDormand story, and he does just a tremendous job. I have become a big time fan of his as of late. He has made some great choices on the roles he has picked recently.

When we were done watching the movie I asked my wife what she thought. She said she enjoyed herself, but it wasn't her favorite Anderson movie. She is partial to "The Royal Tenenbaums". I have thought about it since Friday, and I liked the movie too, but I prefer many of Anderson's other movies. "The French Dispatch" is a very good, very Wes Anderson movie. But it is dark at times. It can also be a bit slow. But Anderson is at a point in his career where he can do what he wants, and what comes out is fun and interesting to watch. I definitely recommend checking this movie out, especially if you are already a fan. I had a good time, and I think you would 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 "High Flying Bird"

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

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

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

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

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "Titane"

So I just watched the movie "Titane", and boy oh boy what a ride. This has to be one of the most insane things I have ever watched. I have been thinking about the movie since I finished it last night, and I was thinking about it during my morning run. Hell, I am still thinking about it while I write this right now.

For those that may not know, "Titane" is about a child who gets in a horrible car wreck, gets a metal plate inserted in her head, grows up to become a go go dancer and a killer, pretends to be someone else, meets that person's father, works and lives at the dad's firehouse and eventually has a baby. Seems like a lot, huh? Well that is just the tip of the iceberg. I have heard many people talk about this movie. The first person who told me about it was my dad. He showed me the trailer months ago and I was intrigued. We had talked about going to see it in theaters, but opted not to because of COVID concerns. Then we both forgot about it. Then I heard Tatiana Maslany talk about it on a podcast and that jogged my memory. I read, after listening to the podcast, that it won the top prize at Cannes. I read that it got a nine minute standing ovation. I read that people were saying it is unlike anything they have ever watched. I even read that someone fainted at a screening. Needless to say, I was going to find a way to watch. It was simple enough when I checked Amazon Prime and saw it was available for rental. And since my wife is not into movies like this, and she is on a work trip, it was the perfect time to watch.

I mentioned the plot before, but as I said, there were so, so much more insane and wild things that happened in the movie. First off, the main character has sex with a car and a firetruck. You read that correctly. She has actual sex with an automobile and a firetruck. I do not know how that works, but the movie made it seem possible. She also becomes pregnant with the car's baby. Again, you read that right. All the while she is some kind of serial killer that the police cannot find. She is also super distant from her mom and dad, and seems to do her own thing all the time. The movie is also hyper violent and an extreme version of a body horror movie. I had to stop eating my dessert while I watched. The sex scene with the car was just the tip. The murders are absolutely brutal. There is a scene with a stool and a random dude that will haunt my dreams. She also stabs people with a knitting knife. But when you think it cannot get any crazier, the main character goes on the lam and takes on the life of a random guy who went missing ten years ago. The missing child's dad sees her and just accepts her as his lost son. And then we get some weird dance scenes, especially the one on top of the firetruck near the end. The dad also does steroids for some reason. The two of them together made me uncomfortable. They were too close. As the main actor gets more and more pregnant it just gets grosser and grosser. She leaks oil instead of milk. She scratches her body to the point of ripping her skin apart. As she gets bigger her skin continues to rip apart. When she is on the verge of having the baby, it is pure body horror. All the oil and blood and everything, it was nutso. And the dad helping her out, it was crazy.

I really do not know what to think of this movie. I have gone back and forth. I do not know if I love it or hate it. I do not truly know if I understand it. I am just confused. But the fact that it is stuck in my head has to mean something. At the very least the, the movie leaves a mark. I really do not know if I would recommend this movie or not. It is nuts and gross and sad and gory. But it does not leave you after you watch it. It stays in your head and makes you try to figure out what you just watched. All I know, "Titane" is the most insane and interesting movie I think I have ever seen.

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 "Werewolves Within"

I recently watched a movie I enjoyed. I feel like I have been seeing movies that I had high hopes for and they turn out to be not so good. It is kind of a bummer to be frank. But the movie I just watched, I had no idea really what it was going to be. The movie in question is called "Werewolves Within".

I had read that it was based on a video game, and since I do not play many video games, I had no idea what the game was like. I guess the game is a role player game, and you hunt werewolves. Seems easy enough, but those games are not for me. But, I did also see that Sam Richardson was a producer, and he was going to be the star. This got me hype when I read about it. I adore Richardson. He is so funny. He is unassumingly funny. He plays an every man type guy, but an every man that happens to be funny as hell. That kind of piqued my interest in this movie. Then I saw the reviews when it was released, and people seemed to really like it. It got really solid reviews in fact. When I checked the other day it was at, or around, 80 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and the user score was in the upper 80's. I usually dismiss critics' reviews when it is a movie I want to see, but it is a nice plus when reviews are, for the most part, very good. It makes it easier to swallow.

So I sat down the other day to fold laundry and that was going to be my time to watch. I had a ton to fold, so 90 minutes seemed perfect. And I truly enjoyed what I saw. This is a good movie. It has good scares and good humor. It is beautifully shot too. The snow and mountains and the CGI used at the end, it was done really well. The look of the cold actually made me cold when watching. And as I assumed, Richardson was wonderful. He is a forest ranger who moves to a new town. He is there to help the community reconcile a law that is trying to be passed by a gas and oil man. Then a random attack happens to a neighborhood dog and the townspeople start to turn against one another. Everyone thinks everyone else is a werewolf because the simple idea of one is floated by Richardson. It only gets wilder and scarier and funnier from there on out. Richardson stands out, but so does the rest of a great ensemble cast. Milana Vayntrub plays the town mail person. She is funny, sweet and seems to have a secret that she simply won't reveal. I really enjoyed her in this movie. Catherine Curtin is the B&B owner who's husband was one of the wolf's victims. She too is great. Wayne Duvall is the oil tycoon who is as old school and country as they come. Michaela Watkins and Michael Chernus are the crazy town people. Watkins makes wild dolls and Chernus is too handsy with other members of the town. Cheyenne Jackson and Harvey Guillen are a married rich couple who own a small vacation house in the town. They are hilarious. George Basil and Sarah Burns are another couple that are hoosier and dumb and love and hate one another at the same time. They both have some excellent line reads in the movie. Glenn Fleshler plays Emerson. He is the town recluse and the one everyone blames from the start. He also has a great story involving Mr Rogers. And Rebecca Henderson is the doctor in town fighting the oil tycoon. She is creepy and perfect in her role.

This movie, and this has been said many times, reminded me of a modern day "Clue". I was trying to figure out the twist the whole time, and it did not happen for me until it was fully revealed. I love when that happens. I had all these theories going on in my head, and they seemed to change every five minutes or so.

I love this movie. I love how it was all resolved. I thought the actors did a wonderful job. I am not going to get the video game, but I would be lying if I didn't say that I was semi interested in what the game looks like now. If you want a solid scare and a very good laugh, watch this movie. It is totally worth your 90 minutes.

Ty

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

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Better Never Than Late on "New Mutants"

For date night last Friday my wife picked the movie "New Mutants". We had both wanted to see this movie, but we both also remembered how many times it was pushed back due to various reasons. That is usually never a good sign. I cannot recall a movie being wonderful after many reshoots and pushbacks. In fact, it seems you only ever hear about that stuff when it happens because the movies are not good.

That, unfortunately, happens to be the case with "New Mutants". From what I knew this movie was supposed to come out in 2018. I am pretty sure that Aarya was filming this movie as "Game of Thrones" was ending. Then it was stopped due to reshoots. Then they had to do more reshoots. Then they had to recast some roles. Then the pandemic hit. Then it got pushed back even further due to variants and other circumstances involved with COVID. Then it was just kind of dumped in the late summer months of 2020 and that release was met with very poor reviews from critics and fans. We opted to not go to the theaters because I still will not go to a theater to see movies I really want to see. We decided we would wait. And to be quite honest, I had forgotten about the movie. But it was on HBO the other night and my wife asked me to record it so we could watch it on date night. I did, and we proceeded to watch after the kids went to bed.

I have to say, I agree with most of the criticisms that the movie got from the general public. "New Mutants" was very dour and sad and filled with messy dialogue and action scenes. There were times when I didn't realize what was going on, and it is not like this is a complicated premise. It should have been pretty easy. These are the mutants that are supposed to take over for the X-Men. Aarya should have been cool as hell. She was a shapeshifting werewolf. But I couldn't get over her hair or her weird Irish accent. Anna Taylor Joy should have been dope, she had a sweet power, but she had some of the corniest dialogue and her backstory was the thing of nightmares. The guy from "Stranger Things" had an even worse accent than Aarya and I could not take anything about him seriously. His whole backstory was absurd. The fire dude, I have no idea who he was, had this weird tonal change halfway through the movie, becoming the "funny guy" out of nowhere. It was very confusing. And the doctor, she was in the new "Suicide Squad", was so easily pointed out as the true villain from the jump. Even the main girl, the newest of the new mutants, was just too sad and gloomy throughout the entirety of the movie. There were some cool things they did. I liked the new girl and Aarya being a couple. I find it comforting that these superhero movies are letting the characters be gay or bi. They do not all have to be straight. I also did like Taylor Joy fighting the big ass dream bear at the end. But that was about it.

I should have liked this movie. I am an X-Men fan. They were the first superhero movies I watched and really enjoyed. This should have been in my wheelhouse. But it took itself too seriously. It was too dark in tone. There was no real fun, and this was not on the level of "Logan", which wasn't made as a fun superhero movie. "New Mutants" was a big miss for me. I should have known because of all the pre release stuff, but I still wanted to give it a chance due to my love of the X-Men and all things mutant in the comic book world. But this did not work. Oh well, they canceled the rest of the trilogy they were going to make, and maybe that means they will go back to the drawing board to try to fix it. My fingers will be crossed until then.

Ty

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

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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