Jeff "Jmunney" Malone's Self-Styled "Expert" Thoughts on Movies, TV, Music, and the Rest of Pop Culture
December 27, 2019
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Television Doctor Who, Little Women, SyFy, The Twilight Zone Leave a comment
CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Happy New Year! It’s time to get caught up on everything from 2019 that you haven’t had a chance to check out yet!
Movies
–Little Women (Theatrically Nationwide)
TV
–The Twilight Zone Marathon (New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day on SyFy)
–Doctor Who Season 12 Premiere (January 1 on BBC America)
December 22, 2019
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television Eddie Murphy, Kittle Diddle, Lizzo, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live Season 45, SNL, SNL Season 45 3 Comments
CREDIT: Rosalind O’Connor/NBC
It’s the last new Saturday Night Live of 2019, and I got a good night’s sleep and woke up refreshed to watch it recorded on my DVR. I finished writing in my dream journal while still in bed and added a very yellow banana to my cereal. I bet Eddie Murphy was also feeling refreshed, as it’s been 35 years since he last hosted (and 35+ years since he left the cast). Hopefully Lizzo was also feeling refreshed, or at least excited, as this is her first time as music guest. Incidentally, I believe that “Liz. OH!” is what you say when you realize that it’s been 35 years since Eddie Murphy last hosted.
December 20, 2019
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Television Eddie Murphy, John Mulaney, Saturday Night Live, SNL, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Leave a comment
CREDIT: Jeffrey Neira/Netflix
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Theatrically Nationwide) – The end. (For now.)
TV
–Saturday Night Live hosted by Eddie Murphy (December 21 on NBC) – Alum returns after a long absence.
–John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch (December 24 on Netflix)
December 15, 2019
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television Niall Horan, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live Season 45, Scarlett Johansson, SNL, SNL Season 45 Leave a comment
CREDIT: Rosalind O’Connor/NBC
Let’s take a moment to recognize how much Christmas cheer Saturday Night Live manages to regularly contain. On most seasons, there are three new episodes in December, and all three of those year-ender outings typically have a significant percentage of holiday-themed sketches. In the middle of that snowy sandwich in 2019 we’ve got Scarlett Johansson hosting for the sixth time, and Niall Horan is providing the tunes for the first time without his former bandmate bros.
Let me set the scene of my viewing for you: I made myself a couple of pancakes for breakfast that went down easy, the day after I ran a 5K race. Yum!
December 13, 2019
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Television A Hidden Life, All in the Family, Black Christmas, Good Times, Live in Front of a Studio Audience, Live in Front of a Studio Audience: All in the Family and Good Times, Marvel's Runaways, Norman Lear, Richard Jewell, Runaways, Terrence Malick, The Masked Singer, Uncut Gems Leave a comment
CREDIT: A24
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Black Christmas (Theatrically Nationwide) – Sophia Takal also directed a horror-adjacent movie a few years ago that I enjoyed.
–A Hidden Life (Limited Theatrically) – Oh wow, Terrence Malick made another movie.
–Richard Jewell (Theatrically Nationwide)
–Uncut Gems (Theatrically Nationwide)
TV
–Marvel’s Runaways Season 3 (December 13 on Hulu)
–Live in Front of a Studio Audience: ‘All in the Family’ and ‘Good Times’ (December 18 on ABC) – Norman Lear and company are at it again!
–The Masked Singer Season 2 Finale (December 18 on FOX)
December 8, 2019
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television DaBaby, J Lo, Jennifer Lopez, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live Season 45, SNL, SNL Season 45 Leave a comment
CREDIT: Rosalind O’Connor/NBC
If it’s the end of a decade or the start of a new one, it must be time for Jennifer Lopez to host SNL. Her first two times were in Februarys 2001 and 2010, and now we have her again in December 2019. Meanwhile, DaBaby is joining her for his first jaunt as musical guest. Hey, if he makes some more appearances after this one, are we going to have to start calling him “DaChild” and then “DaAdult”?
When 11:30 (or actually 11:29, according to the channel guide) rolls around, it’s time for the show to start, not because we’re ready, but because we can. (But if you record it, it’ll be waiting for you the very next morning on your DVR!) So as 11:30 hit on December 7, 2019, Alec Baldwin was unsurprisingly in his Trump costume, but he was joined at NATO (Grade: 2.5/5 Merkel Moans of Ecstasy) by a couple other guests, i.e. Jimmy Fallon as Justin Trudeau and Paul Rudd as Emmanuel Macron, and while it’s nice to see some old friends, I’m not in favor of guests always playing such high-profile roles. You gotta develop your farm talent! Although, the James Corden-as-Boris Johnson of it all wasn’t so bad, since he’s an SNL noob. J. Lo comes out for her Monologue (Grade: 3.5/5 Gravity Defiers), and we’re all expecting her to dance, WHICH SHE DOES!, but how many of us also expected her to rock that green dress again? Wowza.
December 6, 2019
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television Arrowverse, Camila Cabello, Camila Cabello Romance, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Fuller House, Joe Pera, Joe Pera Talks with You, Little Joe, Mike Tyson Mysteries, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Romance, Spongebob Squarepants, The Spongebob Musical, The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage! Leave a comment
CREDIT: Adult Swim
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Little Joe (Limited Theatrically)
–Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Limited Theatrically)
TV
–Fuller House Season 5 Premiere (December 6 on Netflix) – I still hope to be fully caught up one day!
–Joe Pera Talks with You Season 2 Premiere (December 6 on Adult Swim) – I guess it’s Joe Week.
–The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage! (December 7 on Nickelodeon)
-“Crisis on Infinite Earths” Arrowverse Crossover (Begins December 8 on The CW)
–Mike Tyson Mysteries Christmas Episode (December 9 on Adult Swim)
Music
-Camila Cabello, Romance
December 4, 2019
Cinema, Television 21 Jump Street, Adaptations, Bewitched, CHiPs, Community, Get Smart, Mission: Impossible, Sex and the City, sixseasonsandamovie, Star Trek, The Addams Family, The Brady Bunch Movie, The Fugitive, The Naked Gun, The Simpsons Movie, The X-Files, Veronica Mars Leave a comment
CREDIT: NBC
Adapting TV shows into feature-length films is one of the many regular ways that the cinema industry keeps the reboot process alive. As a devoted Human Being, I am particularly invested in the possibility of a Community adaptation to complete the #sixseasonsandamovie prophecy. This has led me to consider two important quandaries: 1) what different types of tv-to-film adaptations exist, and 2) which ones are most likely to result in box office and/or critical success? Over the course of pondering this topic, I have come up with the following taxonomy:
November 24, 2019
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television King Princess, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live Season 45, SNL, SNL Season 45, Will Ferrell 1 Comment
CREDIT: Rosalind O’Connor/NBC
Hey, you. Yeah, you. Do you want to know a little secret? Will Ferrell is my favorite SNL cast member of all time! He regularly graced the Studio 8H stage from 1995 to 2002, and I don’t think it’s too out of line to say that he appeared in a lot of hilarious sketches that multiple people remember fondly. Since ending his tenure and moving on to other career ventures, he’s also made time to return for some visits, which has led up to him hosting for the FIFTH time on November 23, 2019, thereby becoming only the fourth former cast member to join the Five-Timers Club. Also appearing in an official capacity in this episode is musical guest King Princess. She’s only 20 years old currently, and I think she’s someone we’ll be noticing for a while.
Alec Baldwin-Trump showed up for the White House press conference cold open (Grade: 3/5 Large Pies, Extra Cheese), and somehow it felt somewhat fresh. It helped that it was just a few minutes long, and Will F. imbued some new energy into the proceedings as Gordon Sondland. You can always bank on an excellent Monologue (Grade: 4.5 New Blorks) from Will Ferrell (or as Tracy Morgan says, “Will fuh-RELL!”), thanks to his knack for subverting common monologue tropes. This time was no exception, as he became phantasmagorically puddly-lipped in the presence of surprise guest Ryan Reynolds.
November 22, 2019
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Television A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Dark Waters, Frozen 2, MST3K, MST3K Turkey Day, Mystery Science Theater 3000 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
–A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Theatrically Nationwide) – One of the year’s best!
–Dark Waters (Limited Theatrically)
–Frozen 2 (Theatrically Nationwide)
TV
–MST3K Turkey Day Marathon (Streaming November 28 on various platforms)
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