Jeff enrolls at Weemawee High.
That’s Auntertaiment Mini-Episode: Aunt Beth Tells Jeff to Watch ‘Square Pegs’
April 28, 2024
Podcasts, That's Auntertainment Podcasts, Square Pegs, That's Auntertainment Leave a comment
Entertainment To-Do List: Week of 4/26/24
April 26, 2024
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television All Born Screaming, Boy Kills World, Challengers, Colin Jost, Hyperdrama, Jeopardy! Masters, Justice, Nonetheless, Pet Shop Boys, St. Vincent, The Real Story of Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office, White House Correspondents Dinner Leave a comment
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Boy Kills World (Theaters)
–Challengers (Theaters) – I’ve enjoyed “S&M” in the trailer.
TV
-White House Correspondents’ Dinner (April 27 on C-SPAN) – Colin Jost hosts.
–The Real Story of Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office (April 28 on PBS)
–Jeopardy! Masters Season 2 Premiere (May 1 on ABC)
Music
-Justice, Hyperdrama
-Pet Shop Boys, Nonetheless
-St. Vincent, All Born Screaming
Sasquatch People: Sunset with the Joker
April 24, 2024
Cinema, Movie Reviews Christophe Zajac-Denek, David Liebe Hart, David Zellner, Jesse Eisenberg, Kate Distler, Lynn Downey, Maria Bamford, Nathan Faustyn, Nathan Zellner, Phil Braun, Riley Keough, Sasquatch Sunset, The People's Joker, Vera Drew Leave a comment
Sasquatch Sunset
Starring: Riley Keough, Jesse Eisenberg, Christophe Zajac-Denek, Nathan Zellner
Directors: Nathan and David Zellner
Running Time: 89 Minutes
Rating: R
Release Date: April 12, 2024 (Theaters)
The People’s Joker
Starring: Vera Drew, Lynn Downey, Kate Distler, Nathan Faustyn, David Liebe Hart, Phil Braun, Maria Bamford
Director: Vera Drew
Running Time: 92 Minutes
Rating: Unrated
Release Date: April 5, 2024 (Theaters)
‘Boy Kills World’ is a Blindingly Colorful and Surprisingly Thoughtful Revenge Tale
April 23, 2024
Cinema, Movie Reviews Andrew Koji, Bill Skarsgård, Boy Kills World, Brett Gelman, Cameron Crovetti, Famke Janssen, H. Jon Benjamin, Isaiah Mustafa, Jessica Rothe, Michelle Dockery, Moritz Mohr, Nicholas Crovetti, Quinn Copeland, Sharlto Copley, Yayan Ruhian 1 Comment
Starring: Bill Skarsgård, H. Jon Benjamin, Jessica Rothe, Michelle Dockery, Brett Gelman, Isaiah Mustafa, Andrew Koji, Famke Janssen, Sharlto Copley, Yayan Ruhian, Nicholas Crovetti, Cameron Crovetti, Quinn Copeland
Director: Moritz Mohr
Running Time: 111 Minutes
Rating: R for Blood, Guts, and All Sorts of Deadly Injuries
Release Date: April 26, 2024 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: They killed his family right in front of him when he was a child, and now he’s spent the rest of his life preparing for vengeance. Isn’t that always the way on the silver screen? Indeed, the revenge genre remains vibrant and durable, especially when the setting is a fascistic post-apocalyptic society like in Boy Kills World. In the dystopian tradition of The Hunger Games and The Purge, Boy (Bill Skarsgård) is one of the many victims of The Culling, in which the ruling van der Koy family rounds up a group of citizens to be annually slaughtered on live TV. Boy’s mom and sister were among those culled many years ago in an attack that left him deaf and mute. Now, following his tutelage from a single-minded shaman (Yayan Ruhian), he’s ready to mete out some bloody, cheeky justice during this year’s edition. And since he can’t talk, we get to keep company with his cartoonishly nervous inner voice (H. Jon Benjamin, naturally) and the ghostly memory of his spunky little sis (Quinn Copeland).
What Made an Impression?: Kickbox the Rainbow: If Skittles stopped being a candy and started being an action movie, the result of that alchemy would surely be Boy Kills World. Boy’s bright vest is matched by the dandy-ish pants and cravats of the most eccentric van der Koy (Sharlto Copley, naturally), and counterbalanced by pops of canary yellow, particularly on the mysterious helmet-wearing combat specialist played by Jessica Rothe. Furthermore, the frenetic martial arts bouts feel like they were choreographed by eight-year-olds who mainlined their Halloween hauls, but then finessed by more sober professionals. This relentless approach could be blinding and exhausting, but it’s all tempered by Benjamin’s steadily phlegmatic narration.
A Vicious Cycle: Boy Kills World could have settled for just delivering shallow thrills, but it has more on its mind than that. The question hanging over Boy’s journey ultimately isn’t whether or not he can kill all his enemies, but whether or not he can ever truly escape this oppressive society. And on top of that, can any of the van der Koys untether themselves from their violent family legacy? The final act makes it clear that Boy has become so much more twisted by his trauma than he realizes, and he’s not the only one. For anyone who’s been born into a clan with unhealthy patterns that keep repeating themselves, this movie might just provide the inspiration you need to disengage from that paradigm. The presentation might be as cartoonish as possible, but the psychological underpinnings are as firm as can be.
Boy Kills World is Recommended If You Like: Street Fighter, Sugar rushes, Traumatic psychology
Grade: 4 out of 5 Cullings
Entertainment To-Do List: Week of 4/19/24
April 19, 2024
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music Abigail, Dark Matter, Pearl Jam, T. Bone Burnett, Taylor Swift, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, The Other Side, The Tortured Poets Department Leave a comment
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Abigail (Theaters)
–The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (Theaters)
Music
-T. Bone Burnett, The Other Side
-Pearl Jam, Dark Matter
-Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department
‘Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead,’ Do Become Stressed Out
April 16, 2024
Cinema, Movie Reviews Ayaamii Sledge, Carter Young, Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead 2024, Donielle Tremaine Hansley, Gus Kenworthy, Iantha Richardson, Jermaine Fowler, June Squibb, Miles Fowler, Ms. Pat, Nicole Richie, Simone Joy Jones, Wade Allain-Marcus Leave a comment
Starring: Simone Joy Jones, Nicole Richie, Donielle Tremaine Hansley, Ayaamii Sledge, Carter Young, June Squibb, Miles Fowler, Ms. Pat, Jermaine Fowler, Gus Kenworthy, Iantha Richardson
Director: Wade Allain-Marcus
Running Time: 99 Minutes
Rating: R
Release Date: April 12, 2024 (Theaters)
Y’all know I sometimes like to review movies by asking: would I like this to happen to me? In the case of Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead (2024 Version), I don’t think I can go any higher than a “Reply hazy, try again.”
I’ve never seen the original Don’t Tell…, so I don’t know if this 21st century version opted for a totally new direction, but I can say for sure that this is NOT what I was expecting. With a deceased babysitter, I figured the kids would take their newfound freedom and get up to a bunch of unfettered adventures that Mom cannot know about. But instead, the kids need money, so they apply for jobs that Mom cannot know about. Instead of vicarious partying, I had to paddle through vicarious financial precarity. ACK!
Grade: Don’t Tell Mom About the Fraud Either
Jeff’s Wacky SNL Review: Ryan Gosling/Chris Stapleton
April 14, 2024
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television Chris Stapleton, Ryan Gosling, Saturday Night Live Season 49, SNL, SNL Season 49 Leave a comment
Jeff “jmunney” Malone watches every new episode of Saturday Night Live and then reviews all the sketches and segments according to a “wacky”1 theme.
Former SNL cast member Kristen Wiig joined the Five-Timers Club last week, and now the next new episode features some returning favorites in the guest lineup, with host Ryan Gosling and musical guest Chris Stapleton. When the April shows were announced, I wondered if this would be a once-in-a-lifetime case of two five-timer inductions two episodes in a row. But in fact, this is only Gosling’s third host outing. (I guess his previous appearances just loom inordinately large in my memory.)
This is also Stapleton’s third time as the musical guest.
Since one of Gosling’s most notable accomplishments in the past year is his performance of the song “I’m Just Ken” in the motion picture Barbie and on the Oscars stage, I will be reviewing each sketch with the format “I’m just…”, in which I proclaim how each segment made me react in stark, forthright terms.
That’s Auntertainment! 2024 March Madness
April 14, 2024
Podcasts, That's Auntertainment basketball, college basketball, March Madness, Podcasts, That's Auntertainment Leave a comment
On the afternoon of Monday April, 8, 2024, Jeff and his good friend Jeff Smith were in the shadow of a solar eclipse as they commiserated over yet another unforgettable edition of March Madness. Which will make you madder: their recap of everything that had happened thus far, or their predictions about the men’s final?