Triple Christmas Scoop Review: Anna and the Apocalypse, Silent Night, Deadly Night, and Die Hard
January 1, 2021 / mygeekblasphemy	/ Leave a comment
Happy New Year, everyone! I'm loathe to even express hope for 2021 at this point, so let's just belatedly talk about the Christmas movies I watched last week instead.
Anna and the Apocalypse
Director: John McPhail
First Watch or Rewatch: First Watch
Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, or Other: Amazon
Spoilers: Some, but I don't think any Big Ones
Grade: Vanilla
Ah, the traditional zombie musical holiday movie. I enjoyed Anna and the Apocalypse, although it's a bit darker than I expected it to be. Ridiculous of me to assume otherwise, I know–horror comedies obviously tend to skew dark, not to mention Clear Foreshadow song "Hollywood Ending"–but I suppose I was thrown by all the dancing and cheer and cast full of generally likable characters? Musical comedies and horror comedies generally have different rules about who and how many people you can murder, and I found myself expecting a story that adhered more to the former than the latter. As such, some of the character deaths here definitely took me by surprise.
My absolute favorite character, though, is Assistant Headmaster Savage, who starts out this movie as a curmudgeonly antagonist–as all vice principals must–before transforming into a glorious mad villain–as all vice principals must. I've read a few reviews now that feel this turn is forced or unnecessary, and TBH, they aren't wrong. But I also don't care because Savage is so utterly delightful that I don't give a damn what he's doing, so long as he keeps talking. Every line is somehow drier and more disgruntled than the last until this dude's sitting in the dark, ominously explaining that he's eating his Christmas dinner, and I'm near in tears. Savage, BTW, is played by Paul Kaye, who also played Thoros of Myr in Game of Thrones, and now I'd really like to see a slideshow comparing every GoT actor with their absolute LEAST GoT-like roles.
Anna and the Apocalypse is also one of those movies where the horror might take you by surprise if you just stumbled across it on TV without knowing anything about the story. The first, IDK, 15-20 minutes play as a standard cute high school musical, and then we get "Turning My Life Around," which changes everything. This scene is epic, delightfully having fun at the vast suspension of disbelief one inherently needs to enjoy musicals. Other favorite songs include "Soldier at War," "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now," and "It's That Time of Year."
Silent Night, Deadly Night
Director: Charles E. Sellier Jr.
First Watch or Rewatch: Rewatch
Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, or Other: Other – Personal Collection DVD
Spoilers: Yup
Grade: Strawberry
Despite owning this movie, I haven't seen it in years and was a bit worried Mekaela wouldn't like it and/or the film wouldn't hold up, especially since some movies–especially ridiculous ones–are best experienced in a big group of people. These concerns proved groundless: Mek was hilariously indignant on Billy's behalf, rooting for his inevitable killing spree to begin, and–despite the dreaded grade of Strawberry–I still find Silent Night, Deadly Night pretty solidly entertaining. There are things I'd change, certainly: the attempted sexual assault in the prologue, for instance, or the sheer number of tits on display. (The most egregious moment is when Scream Queen Linnea Quigley pulls on a pair of Daisy Dukes to go outside, but doesn't bother putting on a bra or shirt? What?) Also, while I love that a kindly old priest gets killed after being mistaken for Evil Santa . . . IDK, maybe don't make him deaf?
A list of standout moments: any time Billy says "NAUGHTY!" or "PUNISH!" (I'm definitely going to start yelling that at my cats now.) The ending, which sets up for the sequel that I still haven't seen. (2021 Goals!) That fucking amazing moment when Billy gifts his bloody knife to a little girl. (Wait, this movie has five sequels and none of them are about this kid? JFC, hire me; I will write the shit out of an Evil Girl Santa movie!) Little Billy punching Santa Claus is pretty great, too, and that this toy store sells, like, actual bows and arrows, I guess? I mean, yeah, why not? Some of the death scenes are fantastic, like, Bully Decapitated on a Sled is just *chef's kiss,* and the dude who dies when he gets thrown through a window? YES. Partially because he's impaled on just a ludicrously large piece of glass, but mostly because holy shit, someone in a movie finally dies from going through a window pane! I'm also in love with the blatant changes in film quality that sometimes happen mid-scene. It's the absolute best.
The gigantic controversy that emerged when this movie came out is still shockingly absurd. I feel sorry for anyone whose career might've suffered just because people lost their minds and decided Silent Night, Deadly Night was an attack on Christmas, like, this wasn't even the first Killer Santa movie, goddamn it. I remain vexed on this film's behalf, and never mind that the movie is a year older than I am and no one cares anymore. This is nonsense. People should still be ashamed of themselves.
Director: John McTiernan
Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, or Other: Other – HBO Max
Spoilers: Obviously
Grade: Chocolate
Well, I mean. Die Hard is always gonna win for me: I grew up on this one, and the nostalgia factor is just too strong. It's been my favorite Christmas movie since childhood, and honestly works even better for me as an adult–except that, like most cop movies, it's kinda 2+ hours of police propaganda. (We need more mavericks like McClane! It's only pesky rules that stop hardworking cops getting the job done! Thank God Al Powell learned the Will to Kill again after shooting an innocent kid!) Still. Messaging aside, I do love this one. There are just so many little moments I enjoy: all the humming and singing ("Ode to Joy" has honest to God become a Christmas song in my brain), Al Leong's improvised candy bit (it is low key my favorite joke in the whole movie), Karl and Theo's bet (which I somehow didn't notice for years), etc.
The dialogue, too, seems effortlessly funny. All the Big Lines, of course, but also the little asides. The way Alan Rickman says, "I must have missed 60 Minutes." The obvious amusement in Reginald VelJohnson's voice when he asks, "Hey, Roy, how you feeling?" How Tony's actions–wait, his name is TONY–somewhat belie his words when he assures, "I promise I won't hurt you," or the way James Shigeta quietly reminds Ellis, "Holly's husband. Holly's policeman." TBH, I just adore Shigeta in this movie and always get a bit bummed when Takagi dies. Hans, too, of course, because let's be honest: we all want to see the AU version where Hans wins, right? Or at least some deleted scenes with Exasperated Hans listening to John and Powell talk? Basically, I want more of Alan Rickman at every given opportunity. Damn, I still miss him.
Obviously, there's really not much I can say about Die Hard that hasn't already been said a billion times over. But I'm here, so: A) I have a lot of Feels/Ideas about characters who build a relationship (of any kind) before actually meeting, so of course, I think it's awesome that John does this with his closest ally Powell (only one scene together) and Big Bad Hans (only two). B) I like that John is mostly a regular guy who gets caught in a bad situation, rather than the Super Cop he'll become in subsequent sequels. (He's also a bit of a sociopath–evidence HO HO HO–and probably would've gotten everyone killed with that C4, but we'll ignore this for now.) C) A bad guy actually does die from being thrown through glass; however, this moment is somewhat negated when John swings straight through a glass window himself and is basically fine. And D) I love that Kristoff survives because I don't care what anyone else says; he lives, and it is the BEST.
Finally, I'm mildly obsessed with recasting movies, just for the challenge of it. Lately, Mek and I have taken to recasting movies and TV shows with Korean actors–I always end up casting Choi Won-Young as somebody–and, of course, we've already did a genderbent cast for Die Hard a couple years ago. (Scroll down quite a ways.) I mention all this because while watching Die Hard for the 574th time, I was struck by a strange if charming idea: what if LeVar Burton had been cast as Theo? Not because I dislike Clarence Gilyard Jr. in this, but . . . I don't know, I'm just very amused by the idea of everyone's favorite children's show host/mild-mannered Chief Engineer playing a bad guy (albeit, a comic relief bad guy). He could absolutely do it, and I think it would've been fun to see. Which naturally led Mek and I to a new game: recast actors who could somewhat reasonably have played these roles in 1987. We haven't settled on a full cast yet, but I can tell you that some of the nominees for Karl have seriously cracked me up.
Triple Spooky Scoop Review: #Alive, Freddy vs. Jason, and Train to Busan
October 8, 2020 October 8, 2020 / mygeekblasphemy	/ Leave a comment
Well. 2020 has been . . . a lot, and will surely keep on being a lot right till the bitter end. No doubt at least one bit of catastrophic or otherwise world-shaking news will break between my posting this review and you reading it. And yet . . . it's Halloween season. And I love Halloween season, and am determined to enjoy as much of it as I can.
Thus we begin our second annual HORROR BINGO.
#Alive
Director: Jo Il-Hyeong
Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, or Other: Netflix
Spoilers: Not really, no
Okay, so, technically, this movie doesn't count for Horror Bingo; I actually watched it a few weeks ago and just haven't had the opportunity to write it up yet. But I'm throwing it in here anyway because I really enjoyed #Alive a whole lot. It's definitely a film that embodies 2020, Our Year of Quarantine, Misery, and Despair–except that it's actually much more optimistic than that, and I've long been excited by horror that is optimistic, uplifting, or otherwise hopeful. One cool thing about this type of horror is that it can lead to interesting trope or genre subversions; after all, a thing going right is sometimes more shocking than a thing going horribly wrong.
I will admit to being a bit tired of protagonists who are, like, IDK, gamer loser boys? But I genuinely enjoyed Yoo Ah-In in the role; he's pretty fantastic, which is great because we spend quite a bit of time with him alone in his apartment, trying to survive. The film takes its time here, really delving into Oh Joon-Woo's emotional journey, and I absolutely love that. I also adore Park Shin-Hye as Kim Yoo-Bin, Joon-Woo's badass neighbor. I became very invested in their survivor bond and enjoyed watching all the moments where they risked themselves to share food or otherwise help each other. In fact, I think my only real complaint about the film might be in the last act when a new character is introduced; I feel like the pacing is a bit off here, though I might feel differently with repeat viewings. I sometimes do.
Otherwise, yeah, this is a pretty fun Korean zombie film. Bonus points for some great music, fantastic booby traps, and also for being the rare film where social media is actually depicted in a positive light. This particular millennial appreciated that.
Director: Ronny Yu
Spoilers: Absolutely
NGL: This GIF is 116% better than this movie.
Last year, we rewatched Jason X, which is legit one of my favorites in the Friday the 13th franchise. This year, it was Freddy vs Jason's turn, so we decided to make it our Free Space in Horror Bingo. Alas, Freddy vs Jason is actually even worse than I remembered, and I wasn't exactly fond of it the first time around. The acting, the editing, the writing, Jesus, the writing. Of course, there are multiple cringeworthy lines, but the one that sticks out most is when our heroine decides– completely out of nowhere–to provide the worst exposition of all time with, "Freddy died by fire, Jason by water. How do we use that?" Oh God. I was dying. I was in serious fucking distress.
Also, let's be clear here: Freddy Krueger is useless in this movie. Jason Voorhees kills, like, 22 of 23 people. Freddy gets one dude, one. When Freddy somehow holds his own against Jason after Lori drags his ass to the waking world? Nope, not buying it. Jason would obliterate this dude. And while I'm not entirely unsympathetic to the difficulties in coming up with a coherent storyline for this kind of crossover, like, come on. If your movie is titled Freddy vs. Jason, then either I wanna see a much better murder competition between these two, or way more battles between our titular villains, like, give me some Mortal Kombat shit, I am begging you.
Honestly, I have a lot to say about this movie, and very little of it is positive. Things I do genuinely like: A) Trey's death scene (I cheered), B) Charlie's death scene (surprisingly sad), C) the part where Charlie insists he can't give Jason Voorhees mouth-to-mouth because he has asthma ("Kia, he has asthma!" LOL LOL LOL), and D) Katharine Isabelle, who is easily the MVP of the cast. (So it's a bummer her part is so small–and that the director tried to go back on her contract and make her do nude scenes, ugh.) I honestly forgot just how many people were in this movie: Monica Keena, Kelly Rowland, Jason Ritter, Chris Marquette, Lochlyn Munro, a Zach Ward cameo, etc. This is delightful.
Then again: A) not to harp on this shit script, but aspiring writers, please don't give your heroine two different back-to-back origin stories on why she doesn't date ("my cherished boyfriend mysteriously ghosted me" and "my tragic dead mom"), B) also feel free to leave out any homophobic jokes (allegedly an improv, still total bullshit), C) also leave out any dumb possession scenes (Freeburg), D) or shitty death scenes (Kia), E) or bullshit resurrections (Freddy waking up Jason, somehow–although to be fair, Jason's resurrections have never really made any sense). Finally, less laughable gratuitous nudity, if you please. Cause come on. Who buttons up their shirt just enough that one boob is sticking out all the time? Honestly.
Director: Yeon Sang-Ho
Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, or Other: Other – Viki
Spoilers: Yep, all of them
I enjoyed Train to Busan the first time I watched it; I liked it even more on the second go. I wonder how the translation differs between Viki and Netflix. I'm afraid it's been far too long for me to compare.
My thoughts are largely the same here: while lousy redemptive fathers are even worse than loser gamer boys, Gong Yoo makes this shit work, like, this is the gold standard of daddy redemption arcs. The Feels in this movie are incredible. Obviously, Ma Dong-Seok is the best and thus his death hits very hard, but I feel invested in almost all the characters: the sisters, the baseball player, the pregnant wife, the train conductor, the small child who gives her father Judgment Eyes for two hours straight, etc. It remains impressive that I even feel a bit sorry for Selfish Asshole, especially since he's directly responsible for so many deaths. This is an emotional movie; I definitely cried more than once and felt pretty wrung out after watching it. (Though, to be fair, I also found out that Trump was COVID+ at the same time, which, like, I have zero sympathy for that man. Still, I remain anxious for how this will impact the election; besides, the news in general is just overwhelming lately. My reaction was basically ". . ." because I'm lacking even the emotional bandwidth for proper schadenfreude these days.)
I do still wish at least one of the women in this movie had an action scene where they, you know, did something. It bothers me less this go around, but it's still likely my biggest disappointment with the film. OTOH, Jong-Gil's decision to open the door played much better for me on a second viewing. And I still love so much else about this film: the pacing, the action scenes, the clever use of tunnels, etc. Also, on a positive note: Train to Busan was the first thing I saw Choi Woo-Shik in, who I rather adore. (He's such a puppy in this movie. The expression on his face when he enters the train car full of Zombified Teammates, oof. Poor puppy.)
I maintain that Small Child's singing at the end of the film is a terrible idea and should have gotten our two survivors dead (rather than be the instrument of their salvation), and damn the themes and symbolism. Still, it's not a serious complaint. It doesn't look like either character is in the sequel, either, which I'm actually grateful for, and not just because Peninsula is, by all accounts, nowhere near as good as its predecessor. It's just if a character makes it through a zombie apocalypse, I have zero interest in watching a sequel where they inevitable die. LONG LIVE SUNG-GYEONG AND SOO-AN, SURVIVORS OF THE ZOMBIE HELL TRAIN.
TV Superlatives: March, April, May – 2020
June 4, 2020 / mygeekblasphemy	/ 7 Comments
Well. All is chaos right now, and it's an absurd time to be talking about TV Superlatives. Regardless, that's what we'll be doing here today because at MGB, we believe that when people could use a moment's break or distraction, what they really want is 5000+ words about cartoons, Chinese dramas, and CW shows.
Still. Before we get to any of that, let me list a few of the many places you can donate to help protestors and support Black Lives Matter:
Black Visions Collective
Know Your Rights Camp
NAACP Legal Defense Fund
National Bail Fund (with a Directory of Community Bail Funds)
Please feel free to comment with links to any other related organizations or crowdfunding campaigns that you think need attention/donations. Please do not comment to say "blue lives matter" or any other inane bullshit. Save that crap for your Facebook page that nobody wants to read.
And now for the main event: our Spring TV Superlatives!
A quick reminder for how these work: I will bestow whatever TV shows I've recently been watching (whether they're currently airing or not) with awards like Most Adorable, Best Kiss, Most Unintentionally Hilarious Moment, etc. As always, any awards with spoilers will be very clearly marked.
As a reference point, here are the shows I've been watching for the past few months:
The Untamed
Altered Carbon (Season 2)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Season 7)
Legends of Tomorrow (Season 5)
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness
Nailed It (Season 4)
Harley Quinn (Season 2)
Kingdom (Season 2)
Medical Examiner: Dr. Qin (Season 1)
Village Survival: The Eight (Season 1)
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (Season 5)
Let's get to it, shall we?
Triple Scoop Review: BLOODY HEARTS – Dead Body, Overlord, and The Void
February 18, 2020 February 17, 2020 / mygeekblasphemy	/ 4 Comments
Valentine's Day has come and gone, so you know what that means: HORROR MOVIES.
Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, or Other: Other: Shudder
Spoilers: Yes, but only in the last two paragraphs.
To my surprise and delight, this low-budget indie is a pretty decent little slasher film. (And directed by a woman! Yay, more women in horror!) The premise, of course, is absolutely my jam: a bunch of high school graduates (and one older boyfriend) play Dead Body, where one person is secretly assigned the role of the murderer and "kills" someone, and everyone else has to figure out who did it–only then people actually start dying. This is a Golden Age of Detective fiction staple and absolutely the kind of morbid shit I would definitely play, so of course, Mek and I had to try this movie out. Where it shines best is dialogue, characterization, and surprisingly intentional humor: Dominic's mostly relatable bitchiness about his uninvited guests ("I need to go set up the loft I wasn't planning on using") or Dwayne immediately going for hacksaws, hooks, and nail guns after finding the dead bodies. I also genuinely like how protective Marcus is of his weird brother. (Or friend? I was never actually clear on this.) And there are one or two big surprises here: one didn't do much for me, but the other I LOVED.
The thing that wasn't a surprise, unfortunately, is the identity of the killer. Which, hey, correctly solving a whodunnit can provide a glorious sense of satisfaction, or even vindication. Here, however, Mek and I were pretty sure about the killer maybe 25 minutes into the film and were all but proven right about 25 minutes later–which is still a solid 15 before the Big Reveal. Some of the setup is actually pretty clever, but there are a few missteps, which I'll discuss in the next two paragraphs. Other disappointments: the opening scene doesn't do much for me–we should probably cut the last 30 seconds at least–and the two foreign exchange students are barely even in this movie, which is especially annoying because they're the only POC in the whole cast.
SPOILER territory: I initially assumed Marcus was the killer because he's the Nice Guy Love Interest and I figured he'd brought Rumor along as an obvious patsy. However, suspicions were quickly transferred to Dominic, partially because finding him so suddenly dead was shocking enough to be suspicious, partially because of the Harvard motive (which I thought was nicely handled), and partially because I've seen enough movies/read enough Agatha Christie to know you can't trust dead bodies. Even if I hadn't, Kenji playing dead is pretty obvious foreshadow. I think that bit could probably be cut, along with the whole it was YOU line from the opening scene, and that moment when the camera lingers a beat too long on the hammer. (Because that's how Mek and I went from, like, 90% sure that Dominic was the killer to 190%: he kills Rumor with the hammer obviously left behind.) If we really want Dominic to be a shock, we probably need another viable suspect and/or a costume change; alternatively, it might work to do the Big Reveal with Rumor's death, so the audience finds out well before our surviving heroes. That way, we'd get to watch Dominic's surprise/delight when his intended victims start killing each other out of paranoia. I'm kinda warming up to that idea, actually.
Finally, the two big surprises are the last-minute resurrections of Sarah and Marcus. Sarah is really interesting: for one, her survival is pretty shocking because she seems like such a Dead Meat character. (Shocking survival, as it turns out, became quite the theme of the evening.) For another, Sarah pulls a nail out of her own face to kill the bad guy. I thought the scene where Ilsa pulls nails out of Sarah's face was pretty great, but this is just badass. Unfortunately, Marcus's miraculous resurrection kinda feels like it's just taking away from Sarah's. I felt bad for the dude when he died, but once dead? Yeah, stay dead, my dude.
Spoilers: Yeah, sorry
I'm always excited by the idea of genre-blending, especially when mystery or horror come into the mix, but Overlord feels uneven to me. It's strongest, I think, in the first act, when the movie is pure action/war drama. (Did anyone watch this movie without seeing the trailer full of spoilers? Cause damn, no one's getting Nazi Zombie Shit from the first 20 minutes of this movie.) The plane scene is dramatic AF and the ominous clues in the woods that "something is amiss" are decent. I like most of the cast. Jovan Adepo gives an especially strong performance as our kind-hearted protagonist Boyce. I know Adepo primarily from a two-episode stint in Watchmen, and I definitely want to see more of him.
But we start hitting problems in Act II when our heroes make it to the French village. Part of that's pacing: it takes way too long to for anyone to find all the horrific experiments. This movie is only 1 hour and 48 minutes, but boy, I'd have bet money it was a lot longer. And then, part of it's content: I'm not sure Wafner (Pilou Asbæk, AKA, Euron Greyjoy) is doing much for me as a Big Bad, and I definitely found the coerced sexual assault shit completely unnecessary. (Boyce interrupts Wafner before he rapes Chloe, but this is still a yuck subplot and incredibly lazy writing.) The aunt, too, is much more foreshadow than actual character: she barely has screen time, much less dialogue.
Still, the worst problems, I think, begin after Boyce discovers all the Nazi Zombie Shit. The discovery scene itself is great: it's weird, creepy, maybe a bit silly (I'm specifically thinking of the decapitated head pleading in French), but overall, just a lot of fun. And Boyce has spectacular reactions to the body horror/general impossibility; his freakout is super relatable, TBH. This is the moment the whole film has been building toward–which is why I'm just baffled by the decision to completely cut the tension by stopping for a 15-minute time-out, like, Overlord goes right back to straight-up war movie again, all unethical interrogations and "is it right to beat up a Nazi" and "do we even recognize ourselves anymore?" These are all perfectly fine themes that should not be dwelled on here, five minutes after this shit. And while we do kinda get back on track with the death/zombie resurrection of Chase (Iain De Caestecker), the film never fully recovers; instead, the whole third act loses its creepy body horror vibe and just becomes a really bad Resident Evil movie. It's so bland and cartoonishly over-the-top that there's just no tension at all. I was honestly bored, and that's about the last reaction you want from your audience here.
Finally, some additional notes:
A. Secret histories, admittedly, are not always my bag, but I'm not sure that tying this story to D-Day really does much for me.
B. I can't decide if De Caestecker's American accent is bad or if I'm just very aware it's not his natural, lovely Scottish. I am fond of the actor, though. When Chase gets shot (inevitably, I mean, maybe don't send the kid with the camera to secure the Big Bad Nazi Dude, FFS), I was all, "A-ha! This is why you cast De Caestecker, for the emotional death scene!"
C. Overlord's "Holy Shit, This Guy Actually Lived!" is Jacob (Dominic Applewhite) and, to a lesser extent, Tibet (John Magaro). Tibet is the semi-redemptive asshole, whereas Jacob is Boyce's buddy from the plane, the one who Boyce repeatedly promises, "I'll be right behind you!" Obviously, I marked Jacob as First to Die. It is lovely to be wrong sometimes.
D. Alas, Private Dawson (Jacob Anderson) does not fare so well. Mekaela and I had just enough time to say, "Wait, is that Grey Worm?" before he blew the hell up. Sorry, buddy.
Spoilers: Yeah, sorry again
This one starts out so strong, but kind of spirals into an incoherent mess. Mileage is definitely gonna vary on that, depending on your A) tolerance for how much a story refuses to explain, and B) nostalgia for 80's cosmic horror. I tend to be skeptical of the former and like the latter more in theory than execution. For example, The Void reminded Mekaela of Hellraiser, a movie I enjoyed for its aesthetics and not much else. (I'm tagging this whole review a blasphemy just for that sentence.) Meanwhile, The Void reminded me of Prince of Darkness, which I reviewed in great detail last year and, ultimately, didn't love. Which is all to say I may not have been the target audience here.
Except . . . damn it, I still feel like I really could've enjoyed this movie. For starters, there's an awful lot I do like about The Void. The initial setup and "WTF is going on here" mystery is a lot of fun. The look of the film is pretty great. I enjoy the whole cast. The reveal that our kindly old doctor isn't just Dead Meat Walking but the actual Big Bad is awesome, especially since it comes after he does predictably "die." Likewise, the reversal that our blatantly evil murderers from the beginning are actually good guys (well . . . good-sh) is pretty cool, too, although I do feel like their backstory gets a little lost in the chaos. The ending with the Sheriff and Allison is interesting, if sorta huh, and I'm fucked shocked that our ultimate survivors are the unnamed mute guy and Ellen Wong–people. I have finally found a Western horror film where an Asian woman lives. Holy shit.
Unfortunately, one of the main reasons Prince of Darkness came to mind wasn't the portal sacrifice similarities or the supernatural pregnancy BS–more on that in a bit–it was the ominous cultists converging on the hospital. We know absolutely nothing about this cult, like, who the hell these dudes are, why they don't bother coming inside, where they peaced out to at the end, etc. (Seriously, did the ascend or something? The fuck?) Apparently, this is one of the many things intentionally left open for the viewer to decide, but this viewer has decided: we learn nothing about these guys because the creators don't care about these guys; they just needed something to trap the heroes in the hospital, and that's it. In Prince of Darkness, the cultists are actually possessed homeless people, but they serve the exact same plot function, and IMO, that's lazy as shit writing.
And therein lies my main problem with The Void; rarely does the script feel purposefully ambiguous and thought-provoking; mostly, it feels lazy, chaotic, and confused. The hallucinations in the not-exactly-there basement feel muddled. Most of what happens in the whole third act feels pretty muddled. And I'm especially disappointed by Allison, who starts out as a potentially interesting character and ends up just becoming a vessel, a body, a plot device rather than an actual person. Allison exists to A) draw our heroes into the Basement of Doom, B) add to our MC's ongoing man pain, and C) give us some old-fashioned pregnancy horror, I guess? (She lost a baby prior to the story, so Big Bad impregnates her with monster juice, and she gets to die of symbolism. And getting chopped up by her tearful hubby, of course. Cool.) This is all especially tedious because we already have Maggie for the pregnancy horror, but I guess one eldritch nightmare birth where the mom/vessel violently dies wasn't enough? Basically, this whole bit sucks.
Finally, additional notes:
A. I did actually enjoy the twist that Maggie was also a bad guy. I probably should've caught that, but I just assumed she'd have a gross demon baby, which, hey, that part was dead on. Poor Sarah got mighty ugly in her second life, didn't she?
B. Much like with Grey Worm in Overlord, I had just enough time to be excited about Iris Rouse (Stephanie Belding) from Shadowhunters popping up before she got killed off. (Then transformed into an eldritch horror and then killed off again.) Sorry, buddy.
C. As always, doing clerical/errand work in a hospital hardly makes me a medical expert. And this story is admittedly set in some rural town in the . . . 80's? 90's? Still, I had a ball laughing at the medical inaccuracies in this movie. The aborted C-section wasn't actually as bad as I thought (when you're primarily familiar with a low transverse incision, a classical cut looks weird AF, like, Jesus, why are you all the way up there), although I highly suspect that whatever pain relief Kim used wouldn't cut it for fucking surgery. But I straight up cackled when Allison walked to the med room, which appears to just be a basic supply closet where they keep narcotics unlocked on the shelf. Also, seriously, there's only one patient here. Why the fuck are we keeping the supplies this far away? For that matter, why hasn't the one and only patient in this hospital been transferred literally anywhere else? Like, I get the idea that this place is still supposed to be open for emergency services or something, but uh, dude's clearly just an inpatient now. Ship that motherfucker out. And how in Christ's name is anyone still working out of this hospital? Again, I get the idea–emergency services for locals while everyone else has moved off to hospitals that weren't recently half burned down–but also, bullshit. The nearest hospital is only 20 minutes away, which of course is shitty, but shocking? In a rural county? HA. Hell, that's the distance between the high school I went to and its closest hospital. Besides, the state of this place? No one should be working here. This especially kills me dead because the hospital I work at now has been temporarily shut down twice in the past few years just for smoke damage, much less a fire that actually destroyed part of the fucking building. These people have not heard of JCAHO, that's all I'm saying.
D. Finally, more fun casting: our Big Bad is played by Kenneth Welsh, who I know from one episode of The Expanse but also from Twin Peaks, where he played Windom Earle. I had no idea that was the same guy! Meanwhile, Art Hindle, who was in both the original Black Christmas and the 70's remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, has a small role here, too. Horror cameo casting is just the best.
Best of 2019: BOOKS
December 31, 2019 / mygeekblasphemy	/ Leave a comment
Normally, I enjoy celebrating the books I've read with some silly and–inevitably–lengthy superlative lists, including awards like Favorite Villain, Best Booyah Moment, and Super Ability I'd Most Like To Steal. This year, however, that just sounds kind of daunting? And not terribly fun, which is obviously antithetical to the whole point. So instead, I present you with my only sorta-lengthy Best Of list, i.e., a list of my favorite books in various genres and sub-genres. (From any year. I read all of these in 2019, but one of them was written in 1937, so, yeah. I wouldn't exactly characterize these recommendations as super current. If you'd like the full list of everything I read, go ahead and click on the link.)
No spoilers were produced in the making of this post.
FAVORITE FAIRY TALE STORY
The Seventh Bride – T. Kingfisher
Bluebeard is one of my favorite fairy tales, specifically Mr. Fox–like, I'm the weirdo who actually adds Post-Its with be bold, be bold . . . but not too bold to bedroom doors and the like. So, when I realized that Ursula Vernon (a.k.a. T. Kingfisher), one of my very favorite writers, had published her own Mr. Fox retelling*, well, obviously, I was ecstatic. Like nearly every T. Kingfisher book I've ever read, The Seventh Bride features a compelling heroine, a cool animal sidekick, and a lot of humor, weirdness, and heart. Also, some truly creepy shit. Also, a fantastic supporting cast: Maria is my absolute favorite. I really enjoyed the hell out of this–it also wins for FAVORITE NOT-SO-CONTEMPORARY FANTASY–and I'm looking forward to reading T. Kingfisher's other fairy tale retellings, namely Byrony and Roses and The Raven and the Reindeer.
*In nearly every review I've seen, this book is described as a Bluebeard retelling, but personally, it strikes me more as a Mr. Fox/Rumpelstiltskin mashup. I know it doesn't have some of the bigger earmarks of the latter–no naming game, no "I'm gonna steal your baby" stuff–but Rhea is literally a miller's daughter, and her parents play an arguably significant role in why she's in this mess in the first place. Plus, "do this impossible thing, or I'll do something horrible to you" is a plot structure from Rumpelstiltskin, not Bluebeard/Mr. Fox. Also, let's be real here: the King in Rumpelstiltskin is totally a villain. Like, make me gold or I'll kill you; make me more gold and I'll marry you?" Fuck this guy.
Honorable Mentions for Favorite Not-So-Contemporary Fantasy: The Black God's Drums; Clockwork Boys; The Killing Moon; The House of Shattered Wings
FAVORITE CONTEMPORARY FANTASY
Undead Girl Gang – Lily Anderson
Oh, this was a delightful book. I loved so much about it: the voice, the dialogue, all the humor and Feels. Undead Girl Gang is laugh out loud funny, but it also handles grief in a very real way, and I enjoyed that. The characters are all great; Mila, in particular, is a wonderful protagonist, and I related so hard to how she finds hope and laughter and a certain measure of control in Wicca. (Oh, you don't even know the middle school flashbacks I was having while reading this one.) The fat positivity in this book was also really refreshing, especially in a year where I managed to stumble across even more fat shaming than normal.
This was easily my FAVORITE YA BOOK I read all year, something I'd happily give my teenage kids if I, you know, had any. As is, I'm just gonna have to keep enjoying Lily Anderson's writing for myself.
Honorable Mentions for Favorite Contemporary Fantasy: A Key, An Egg, An Unfortunate Remark; Magic for Liars
FAVORITE HORROR
The Cabin at the End of the World – Paul Tremblay
What's interesting about this, to me, is that I don't generally consider myself a big fan of psychological horror, but I absolutely love this novel. It's occurring to me, finally, that it's not the entire sub-genre I dislike, just stories where the narrative tension is largely drawn from the majority of characters (plus the reader) questioning the MC's sanity. That's just not really my thing; thankfully, it's also not quite what's happening here.
And this book, man. It's a wildly clever and entertaining page-turner (which is why it also wins for FASTEST READ) with a solid conclusion and some absolutely brutal moments. This is my first Paul Tremblay book, and I can absolutely guarantee it will not be my last.
Honorable Mention for Favorite Horror: The Sundial; The Migration; The Twisted Ones
Honorable Mentions for Fastest Read: Undead Girl Gang; Magic for Liars; A Man Lay Dead; The Twisted Ones; From Here to Eternity: Traveling The World To Find The Good Death; The Seventh Bride
FAVORITE SCIENCE FICTION
TIE!
The Calculating Stars – Mary Robinette Kowall
Artificial Condition – Martha Wells
I enjoyed the hell out of The Calculating Stars: it's an equally fun and fascinating alternate history, and I really like our MC, Elma. I especially appreciated how this novel explored her anxiety, like, that was just phenomenal. I also enjoy Elma's friendships with other women in the novel, particularly Nicole and Helen. Elma and Nate, too, were a joy to read: it was lovely to find such a healthy, supportive romantic relationship in this story. I'm very eager to continue with the Lady Astronaut series in 2020.
But no way could I choose between The Calculating Stars and Artificial Condition, which was an amazing follow-up to All Systems Red. (In fact, I actually liked it even more than All Systems Red, which is incredibly impressive.) It is the rare novella that feels like it's exactly the right length–one of many reasons it's also winning FAVORITE NOVELLA–and I just absolutely adore MurderBot's somewhat antagonistic friendship with ART. People. I was invested. This series is so damn good.
Honorable Mentions for Favorite SF: Alice Payne Arrives; Rogue Protocol; Record of a Spaceborn Few; To Be Taught, If Fortunate; An Unkindness of Ghosts
Honorable Mentions for Favorite Novella: The Black God's Drums; In an Absent Dream; Alice Payne Arrives; Rogue Protocol; To Be Taught, If Fortunate
FAVORITE GRAPHIC NOVEL
Die, Vol. 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker – Kieron Gillen + Stephanie Hans
I mean, just the whole concept of this: teenagers being sucked into a fantasy RPG, experiencing massive amounts of emotional (and in some cases, physical) trauma, and then having to return to the game years later as adults? It's like It meets D&D. Or, as Kieron Gillen apparently describes it: "goth Jumanji." People. You don't know how long I've been waiting to read goth Jumanji.
This one is such a creative and exciting comic, full of fun plot turns and great characters and just awesome magical abilities. Highly recommended.
Honorable Mentions: Young Avengers: Style > Substance, Vol. 1 – Kieron Gillen + Jamie McKelvie; Teen Titans: Raven – Kami Garcia & Gabriel Picolo
FAVORITE NON-FICTION
From Here to Eternity: Traveling The World to Find The Good Death – Caitlin Doughty
This is both an incredibly informative and fascinating look at how different cultures around the world handle death and death rituals, and while it is occasionally hard to read because of, well, death anxiety, it's also just vastly neat. There were so many things I didn't know. Learning more about Indonesian death customs or the ñatitas in Bolivia or the fertilization experiments in North Carolina . . . it's all just so immensely interesting. I might actually have been most surprised by the open pyre ceremonies in Colorado; I honestly didn't think that was a thing you could do in America.
I also didn't know that family had the option of viewing cremations (the more standard kind), though I confess reluctance at the possibility of viewing any myself. Doughty brings up excellent points in its favor, especially as she discusses the idea of giving grieving family members meaningful tasks–but when I imagine going back and witnessing my own father's cremation, my whole brain just balks in horror. I don't know. It's an obviously difficult subject. Regardless, this was a pretty great book, and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in cultural anthropology, or books that frankly discuss death without looking down on readers for their own death anxiety. That's big for me.
Honorable Mentions: The Lady From the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick – Mallory O'Meara
FAVORITE NOVEL
Busman's Honeymoon – Dorothy Sayers
I've been slowly making my way through the Lord Peter Wimsey novels for years, but to my very great surprise, it's this final book in the series that's been my absolute favorite–and not just of the series but also of the whole year. (Also, it wins for FAVORITE MYSTERY, in case that wasn't already glaringly obvious.) Busman's Honeymoon is regularly characterized as either a "detective story with love interruptions" or a "love story with detective interruptions," and to my very great joy, I found the balance of murder mystery and established romance utterly delightful. (Many mysteries from this time period include a hasty and thoroughly underwhelming romance, but Busman's Honeymoon has been building the Peter/Harriet ship for several books and literal years, and I am so thoroughly obsessed with them.)
The mix of witty banter, murder, and newlywed shenanigans are really the best, and I was both extremely surprised to see the novel actually come back to Peter's PTSD in a surprisingly emotional way. So many Feels with this one. An instant comfort read.
Honorable Mentions for Favorite Mystery: The Nine Tailors; Magic for Liars; The Song Is You; A Rising Man; Gaudy Night
Finally, here is the rest of my Top Ten of 2019, not in any particular order. (With links for the books that I didn't already link above.)
2. The Cabin at the End of the World – Paul Tremblay
3. An Unkindness of Ghosts – Rivers Solomon
4. The Seventh Bride – T.K. Kingfisher
5. Record of a Spaceborn Few – Becky Chambers
6. Artificial Condition – Martha Wells
7. The Calculating Stars – Mary Robinette Kowall
8. To Be Taught, If Fortunate – Becky Chambers
9. The Twisted Ones – T.K. Kingfisher
10. Undead Girl Gang – Lily Anderson
Happy New Year, everyone! I'd love to hear your favorite books of 2019 in the comments!
TV SUPERLATIVES: June, July, and August – 2019
September 5, 2019 September 5, 2019 / mygeekblasphemy	/ 6 Comments
Summer is almost over–not that you'd know it in sunny ass California–so it's about that time for my Occasional TV Superlatives. If you weren't around for the last time I did this, it's pretty straight-forward: I just gush and/or rant about whatever TV shows I've recently been watching (whether they're currently airing or not) with awards like Favorite Ship, Favorite Fight Scene, Most Disgusting Moment, and Most Comically Tragic Character. As always, any awards with spoilers will be very clearly marked.
Agents of SHIELD, Season 6
Into the Badlands, Seasons 2 and 3 (currently still watching)
Dark, Season 2
Stranger Things, Season 3
Kingdom, Season 1
Infinity Train, Season 1
13 Reasons Why, Season 3
Los Espookys, Season 1
Hotel del Luna (currently still watching)
Young Justice, Season 3B
With that in mind, let's get started, shall we?
"Say Goodbye To Classical Reality."
July 23, 2019 July 23, 2019 / mygeekblasphemy	/ 2 Comments
I have something of a hit-and-miss relationship with John Carpenter's work. I adore The Thing. I like Big Trouble in Little China. Escape from New York is enjoyable enough, but ultimately, I liked Snake Plissken more than the actual movie itself. Halloween is a classic that I don't love nearly as much as I'm supposed to, and The Fog, unfortunately, really didn't much for me. All I remember about Vampires is that it was goddamn dreadful.
Today–as my first reward essay for the Clarion West Write-a-Thon–we'll be discussing John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness, which, I can tell you right now, is not destined to be one of my favorites. But there are aspects of this movie that I find really intriguing.
Let's talk about them, shall we?
TV SUPERLATIVES: April and May, 2019
May 28, 2019 May 27, 2019 / mygeekblasphemy	/ 15 Comments
TV Superlatives are a pain in the ass. I love coming up with them–I kind of love superlatives in general–but it's hard to keep up when there are, at any given time, 87 different TV shows to watch, and they can start any month and be any episode length, and available all at once or only week-to-week. I tried for a couple of years and eventually gave up.
Now, I'm going to try something new, and we'll see if it works or not, but here it is: Quarterly TV Superlatives! Or, who knows, maybe Occasional TV Superlatives! Look, it's a work in progress. But the idea is to discuss whatever TV I've been watching recently (whether it's currently airing or not) and come up with fun awards like Best Musical Number, Worst Death, or Best Reaction to a Supposedly Dead Parent Coming Back to Life.
For today's post, we'll be focusing on the television I've been watching during, say, the past two months or so. Any spoilers, as always, will be clearly marked in the very hard-to-miss Spoiler Section.
With that all said, let's get started, shall we?
The 4th (Probably 4th) TV Quotes Challenge – ANSWERS
July 19, 2017 July 19, 2017 / mygeekblasphemy	/ Leave a comment
Let's get right to it, shall we?
(Also, this is mostly spoiler-free, but it does assume you're up to date on The Flash and iZombie. If not, you should probably skip those sections.)
1. Santa Clarita Diet
"Nice try blending in, you handsome, thick-haired son of a bitch."
"Eric doesn't own a football, or anything else that might make him come outside."
"That's exactly what he said, only with less implied criticism."
"Check this out. She said she started a new spin class, but really she's having an affair with a guy named Bob"
"Yeah. She accidentally linked her cell phone to my computer so I can see all of her texts. Today Bob copied and pasted all of the lyrics to Stevie Wonder's "Part Time Lover." Which seems lazy and on the nose."
My favorite thing about this is that, for the first time ever, I got to use the BOB pseudonym for a character named Bob.
I binge-watched this series in, like, a couple of days, and while it sometimes relies a little too heavily on its "we're not equipped to handle zombie life/we're realtors," hook, for the most part I really enjoyed the show. The dialogue is snappy, Timothy Olyphant is hilarious, and I love the family dynamic between Sheila, Joel, and Abby: it really anchors the whole show. I'm particularly eager to see how the second season resolves that last cliffhanger. Curse you, cliffhangers!
2. The Flash
"Okay, let's just try it again. This time up the creep factor, like, a lot more, and make it a little more sincere, like you really love me but you're going to have to kill me anyway."
"Do you think your guns can stop God?"
"Why in the hell would God need to rob banks?"
"I'm so glad you're back cause we're about to die."
Oh, The Flash. You can be so vexing sometimes! Still, I hold out hope for Season Four. I am entirely delighted that our Big Bad isn't going to be a Speedster for once. (Seriously. You can't just keep making faster and faster villains without losing serious credibility. What would the next one even have been? A literal speed demon?) I'm excited that Caitlin isn't completely back on the Side of Good; hopefully, that will allow her more time for character development. At this point, I've basically given up on the idea of Iris having character development, but I'd loved to be proven wrong about that. And when Barry inevitably escapes or gets released from Speed Prison, I think we really need a full season free of time travel.
Musicals, yes. Crossovers, absolutely. But definitely let's take a huge pause button on the time travel, please and thank you.
3. iZombie
"Well, I hope you like jagerbombs and homoerotic subtext."
"Really? You're gonna go with the Boy Named Sue defense, huh?"
"Well, I appreciate the pep talk, big fella, I really do, but I don't think there's an emoji that rightfully expresses my feelings about losing $50k a month, you know?"
One of the few shows that nobody got, which only proves to me how tragically underrated it really is. iZombie's third season was probably my least favorite, unfortunately, but there were some great standout moments, and I love how witty and ambitious the whole series is. This is a procedural that isn't afraid to change the status quo from season to season, and that's exciting to watch. I'm definitely interested to see where things go in Season Four, now that the whole world knows about zombies. I'm also really happy that Bozzio's back, because I always really liked her and Clive.
If we can just avoid any unnecessary love triangles in the future, though, that would be great. Also, funny as the show often is, sometimes Liv's case-of-the-week personalities are frustratingly one-note. Like, okay, maybe I don't know any dominatrixes personally, but I feel reasonably confident that they're not in Dominatrix Mode during every aspect of their lives. Same goes for the D&D Master. Personality traits aren't quite the same thing as hobbies or professions. (That being said, the group playing D&D was definitely one of the standout moments of the season. Clive, man. Clive is the best.)
4. Orphan Black
"I tried to say 'eff it' today, and I blew up my whole life. I just wanted to say 'eff this', 'eff you', and I effed it, I effed it all up."
"Felix. Gay friend."
"Acting coach."
"Oh, that's . . . perfectly fine here."
"What's wrong with your voice?"
"I have a cold."
"Yeah, it's one of those really bad ones that messes with your . . . syntax."
Orphan Black is one of those shows that I absolutely adore for the characters (and for marveling over the amazing talent of Tatiana Maslany) but not always for how it integrates those characters into the main plot. I'm actually several episodes behind in the current season. (They kinda pissed me off in the second episode, and then I got really into Avatar: The Last Airbender, so we haven't quite gotten back to it yet.) Regardless, the show's given me a lot of joy over the years: the various crazy Allison/Donnie scenes, the Helena and Sarah road trip, any of Siobhan's many badass moments, the clone dance party, Felix's truth voice, etc.
This is also the only show on this list that I've cosplayed a character from. (So far. Liv from iZombie could be fun to dress up as, and I've actively considered cosplaying a character from Show No. 9.)
5. Gilmore Girls
"I already wrote his name in my revenge notebook."
"You do or say anything to upset Jess and make it harder for me to keep him on the right path, I'm gonna put your head through a wall, any wall, you can PICK the wall, but it's gonna be a wall, okay?"
"What's she like?"
"She jogs."
As much as I didn't like the Gilmore Girls revival–and with a few small exceptions, I really didn't like it–I still enjoy watching scenes from the original show, especially the earlier seasons. The dialogue is spectacular, and I love so many of the characters: Paris and Emily and Lorelei and Lane and Luke and Mrs. Kim and even Rory, once upon a time. Though I think it's fair to say that my least favorite part of the show was always Rory's love life. I was probably the only person in the world happy to hear she didn't end up with Dean, Jess, OR Logan, and I would have given a whole lot to see a season where she didn't have a love interest at all. Alas.
6. The Librarians
"So, your explanation for having impossible grades is that you 'O Captain, My Captain'-ed them?"
"I'm home. But before someone asks me to throw another shrimp on the barbie, just know I will punch you in the throat."
"Cassandra, please do not fangirl over the arch-villain."
I had delayed watching Season 3 because I assumed it would come to Hulu eventually. When it completely failed to do so, I just gave up and bought it on Amazon–and then ended up re-watching the whole series because I'd forgotten how much I liked my super silly fantasy-adventure show. In these dark times, sometimes what you really need is team dynamics, terrible CGI, and group sing-a-longs that can defeat mind control.
I still think first season might be the strongest overall (this is definitely a show that does better with its case of the week than its overarching season shit), but I've loved plenty of episodes from years 2 and 3 too. In fact, "And The Point of Salvation" still remains my favorite Librarians episode to date. (Side note: when I started the show, Ezekiel was easily my least favorite character, which was odd considering how much I should have liked him: I mean, a Korean-Australian thief? OMG, YES. After three seasons, however, he's somehow become my favorite–or at least tied with my other favorite: Jenkins.)
(Actually, come to think of it, Ezekiel was never really my least favorite. Flynn has been, and forever will be, my absolute least favorite. Sorry, Flynn.)
7. Lost
"Everything's going to change. Have a cluckity-cluck-cluck day, Hugo."
"So, you wake up in the middle of the night, you grab your Jesus Stick, and you race off into the jungle. You don't call? You don't write?"
"What is that? Some kind of code?"
"No, John, unfortunately we don't have a code for 'there is a man in my closet with a gun to my daughter's head,' although we obviously should."
I honestly haven't thought about Lost in a while. It, well. It obviously had its problems. But it is one of the rare shows I actually stubbornly stuck with from beginning to end, despite a couple of times I came awfully close to jumping ship. I didn't hate the series finale quite as much as everyone else did, but that's mostly because by the time we got there, I had pretty much given up on getting the answers to almost anything: after all, they had so many unsolved mysteries going into that finale that the only way they could've solved them all in time would've been to chuck any semblance of a script in favor of a Q&A with all the characters lined up on the beach. (In retrospect, that might have been absurdly meta and delightful.)
The show might have been frustrating at multiple points, but it did have some highlights: the pilot, for instance, is probably one of the most solid pilots in TV history. And if nothing else, I have to be grateful to it for introducing me to a number of talents, most especially Michael Emerson.
8. The 100
"You're the most beautiful broom in a broom closet of brooms."
"Without the treatments, we die. What are we supposed to do?"
"Who we are and who we need to be to survive are two very different things."
Another CW show that nobody got. The 100's first few episodes were kind of excruciating, but it did quickly manage to jump from Exceptionally Generic SF YA to Gritty Badass Apocalyptic YA. And while third season was certainly marred by some poor storytelling decisions, I still find an awful lot to like about this show, especially the female characters. Who would have thought that I'd grow to like Octavia as much as I have? God, I hated her in the beginning. And from Octavia to Clarke to Abby to Emori to Echo to Raven (ALL HAIL RAVEN), these are some badass women who are constantly faced with ruthless decisions and hard choices that is their responsibility to make.
I'm just saying. Unlike some other CW shows I could name, this is NOT a show where the women are around only to define the men.
9. Voltron: Legendary Defender
"As everyone knows, vomit is NOT an approved lubricant for engine systems."
"She's not my girlfriend! She's just a rock I met and admire very much."
"How's your wound?"
"My wound's great. It's getting bigger all the time."
I feel like I've talked a lot about Voltron lately, so I'll keep this relatively brief: I tried this out on a pretty random recommendation, and while the first episode was basically just a bunch of setup, by the end of Season 1, I was pretty into it. By the end of Season 2? I was hooked. Season 3 comes out next month, I believe, and I'm super pumped. Must. Resolve. Cliffhanger.
(Also, in case it wasn't obvious, Pidge is the character I've considered cosplaying from this show. Cause Pidge is the best. Although I've also found this Anti Mind Control Jellyfish Hat, and I'm trying to tell myself I don't need it considering all the other things I want to buy . . . but it may be a losing battle.)
10. Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
"So, if the compartment was locked, how did you get in?"
"I hit the lock with me shoe."
"Your shoe seems to have the ballistic capabilities of a .38 revolver."
"No. I mean, yes! Yes, but no, I'm supposed to ask you."
"Well, we could all die waiting for that to happen."
"Oh, Miss Fisher's gone on holiday again, sir."
"Huh. Anyone dead yet?"
"Only one so far, sir."
Finally, I was so-so on Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries during the first season, but I enjoyed it a lot more during the second. Not sure why, exactly: it just became a nice comfort watch for me. Phryne's 87 million talents are sometimes a bit ridiculous, but she's still a fun heroine to watch, and I absolutely ship her with Jack, who remains my absolute favorite. (What can I say? I'm a sucker for the dry wit.) And while I just can't bring myself to care about Hugh one way or the other, I do quite like Dot and how her character has grown and changed over the past three seasons.
Well, that's it for today, folks. Thanks, everyone, for playing!
"You're Clearly An Expert On Leaving Useless People Behind."
May 25, 2017 October 8, 2020 / mygeekblasphemy	/ 2 Comments
Maybe a couple of months ago, Mekaela told me about a Korean zombie movie she wanted to check out sometime: Train to Busan. I was interested (I mean, zombies on a train? Of course I was interested!), but between life and all the television we wanted to watch, we didn't quite get around to it. It wasn't until we were roughly halfway through watching kdrama Goblin that I realized Gong Yoo starred in the film. So after we finished the show, we knew what we had to do.
All in all, it's a pretty decent zombie film.