“Lou stands for lousy obstinate… um, uh, help me out here, Lou.” http://www.bubbleblabber.com/review-the-simpsons-treehouse-of-horror-xxvii/
The Simpsons 28.4 Review: “Treehouse of Horror XXVII”
October 17, 2016
Television, The Simpsons, The Simpsons Episode Reviews The Simpsons, The Simpsons 2804, The Simpsons Season 28, Treehouse of Horror, Treehouse of Horror XXVII Leave a comment
SNL Review October 15, 2016: Emily Blunt/Bruno Mars
October 16, 2016
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television Ann Arbor Short Film Festival, Bruno Mars, Emily Blunt, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live 4203, Saturday Night Live Season 42, SNL, SNL Season 42 Leave a comment
This review was originally posted on News Cult in October 2016.
Love It
Ann Arbor Short Film Festival – This is the sort of satire that really nails a particular piece of culture. This is not the first time amateur filmmaking has been lampooned, but it feels like it is, because it is so incisive, and so cleanly produced. It effectively uses exaggeration and reversal to make its points. Dozens of people work on a one-minute film featuring only one actor, and that feels oddly plausible. And unlike many screenings, in which the wave of questioners overwhelms the panelist, everyone on stage dwarfs the lone audience member. The Holocaust/makeup/“at the end of the day, it’s also a comedy” explanation is one for the ages.
The Hummer party limo’s visit to the Burger King Drive-Thru could have been random for the sake of randomness, but instead, each outré character is sharply defined.
What Won TV? – October 9-October 15, 2016
October 16, 2016
Television, What Won TV? Ann Arbor Short Film Festival, Atlanta, Better Things, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Last Week Tonight, Saturday Night Live, SNL, The Eric Andre Show, The Goldbergs, Time to deliver a pizza ball Leave a comment
In this feature, I look back at each day of the past week and determine what shows “won TV” for the night. That is, I consider every episode of television I watched that aired on a particular day and declare which was the best.
Sunday – Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Monday – Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
Tuesday – Most people don’t realize Atlanta‘s quality is another universe. Don’t be dumb.
Wednesday – The Goldbergs
Thursday – Better Things
Friday – Time to a deliver an Eric Andre Show finale! (Time to a deliver an Eric Andre Show finale!)
Saturday – That part in the Ann Arbor Short Film Festival (SNL) when everyone in the crowd stood up to get on the stage
This Is a Movie Review: The Girl on the Train
October 16, 2016
Cinema, Movie Reviews Emily Blunt, The Girl on the Train Leave a comment
We’re not going to hold The Girl on the Train to the same standard as Gone Girl, are we? No, because individual films are their own things, but still, comparisons can be illuminating. And these two female-led/female-titled page-to-screen sensations go together more than just superficially. Both films have plenty to say about being pegged into gender roles, and how unreliable narrators can obscure the truth of those messages, but on the Train gives itself much less room to explore those ideas than Gone does. It either thinks they will stand clearly enough on their own or does not realize how much they are there in the first place. So what we are left with is an excellent lead performance in an adequately pulpy, but mostly disposable thriller.
I give The Girl on the Train 70 Vodka Swills out of 100 Truth Revelations.
Watch And/Or Listen to This: Call Ahmad White
October 16, 2016
Atlanta (TV Series), Television, Watch And/Or Listen to This Ahmad White, Atlanta Leave a comment
Watch this video if you want to be smart as a baby dolphin.
Billboard Hot Rock Songs – Week of October 22, 2016
October 11, 2016
Billboard Charts, Billboard Hot Rock Songs, Music 33 "GOD", Billboard, Billboard Hot Rock Songs, Bon Iver Leave a comment
Each week, I check out the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart, and then I rearrange that top 25 based on my estimation of their quality.
Original Version
1. twenty one pilots – “Heathens”
2. twenty one pilots – “Ride”
3. Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, & Imagine Dragons with Logic, Ty Dolla $ign ft. X Ambassadors – “Sucker for Pain”
4. Coldplay – “Hymn for the Weekend”
5. X Ambassadors – “Unsteady”
6. Fitz and the Tantrums – “HandClap”
7. The Lumineers – “Ophelia”
8. Disturbed – “The Sound of Silence”
9. Bastille – “Good Grief”
10. twenty one pilots – “Cancer”
11. Bon Iver – “33 “GOD””
12. Green Day – “Bang Bang”
13. Cage the Elephant – “Trouble”
14. Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Dark Necessities”
15. Metallica – “Moth Into Flame”
16. Zach Williams – “Chain Breaker”
17. blink-182 – “Bored to Death”
18. Bon Iver – “22 (OVER SooN)”
19. Kings of Leon – “Waste a Moment”
20. The Head and the Heart – “All We Ever Knew”
21. Bon Iver – 715 – CREEKS
22. Bon Iver – 8 (circle)
23. Bon Iver – 29 #Strafford APTS
24. Bon Iver – 666 (upsidedowncross)
25. Bon Iver – 10 d E A T h b R E a s T
Jmunney’s Revision
1. 33 “GOD”
2. 22 (OVER SooN)
3. Unsteady
4. Dark Necessities
5. Ride
6. Trouble
7. 10 d E A T h b R E a s T
8. Good Grief
9. Moth Into Flame
10. 666 (upsidedowncross)
11. Ophelia
12. 8 (circle)
13. 29 #Strafford APTS
14. 715 – CREEKS
15. Waste a Moment
16. Cancer
17. Hymn for the Weekend
18. All We Ever Knew
19. Bang Bang
20. The Sound of Silence
21. Heathens
22. Sucker for Pain
23. HandClap
24. Bored to Death
25. Chain Breaker
Billboard Hot 20 – Week of October 22, 2016
October 11, 2016
Billboard Charts, Billboard Hot 100, Music Billboard, Billboard Hot 100, Gold, Kiiara Leave a comment
Each week, I check out the Billboard Hot 100, and then I rearrange the top 20 based on my estimation of their quality.
Original Version
1. The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey – “Closer”
2. The Weeknd ft. Daft Punk – “Starboy”
3. twenty one pilots – “Heathens”
4. Major Lazer ft. Justin Bieber and MØ – “Cold Water”
5. 5. DJ Snake ft. Justin Bieber – “Let Me Love You”
6. D.R.A.M. ft Lil Yachty – “Broccoli”
7. Shawn Mendes – “Treat You Better”
8. Sia ft. Sean Paul – “Cheap Thrills”
9. The Chainsmokers ft. Daya – “Don’t Let Me Down”
10. gnash ft. Olivia O’Brien – “i hate u, i love you”
11. Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna – “This Is What You Came For”
12. Ariana Grande ft. Nicki Minaj – “Side to Side”
13. Kiiara – “Gold”
14. twenty one pilots – “Ride”
15. Rihanna – “Needed Me”
16. Drake ft. WizKid and Kyla – “One Dance”
17. Adele – “Send My Love (to Your New Lover)”
18. The Chainsmokers ft. Phoebe Ryan – “All We Know”
19. Drake ft. Rihanna – “Too Good”
20. Hailee Steinfeld and Grey ft. Zedd – “Starving”
Jmunney’s Revision
1. Gold
2. Starboy
3. Cheap Thrills
4. Side to Side
5. Needed Me
6. Cold Water
7. Ride
8. Broccoli
9. Closer
10. i hate u, i love u
11. Starving
12. Let Me Love You
13. Don’t Let Me Down
14. Send My Love (to Your New Lover)
15. Too Good
16. One Dance
17. This Is What You Came For
18. Heathens
19. All We Know
20. Treat You Better
Movie Review: Shin Godzilla
October 10, 2016
Cinema, Movie Reviews Godzilla, Hideaki Anno, Hiroki Hasegawa, Satomi Ishihara, Shin Godzilla, Shinji Higuchi, Yutaka Takenouchi Leave a comment
This review was originally published on News Cult in October 2016.
Starring: Hiroki Hasegawa, Yutaka Takenouchi, Satomi Ishihara
Directors: Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi
Running Time: 120 Minutes
Release Date: October 11, 2016
If you are in the mood for some giant reptile action but are a little wary of subtitles, it may be time to conquer your fears. Because if you waiting for the good ol’ U.S. of A. to get Godzilla right, it might be a while. The latest attempt barely even featured the title lizard and killed off its only interesting human character in the first ten minutes. Meanwhile, the franchise keeps stomping along in its native Japan, and the 31st entry, Shin Godzilla, is set for a limited Stateside release October 11-18.
Shin Godzilla wastes no time in setting the danger loose on Tokyo. A frenetically edited opening sequence of roadside carnage, government officials deliberating, and blood pouring into a tunnel paves the way for the big guy’s first appearance about 15 minutes in, and … it’s kind of disappointing. However, it eventually becomes clear that that is kind of the point, as Godzilla’s monstrousness starts out (relatively) silly but gradually grows more imposing. There is no such luck keeping up that go-for-broke pace indefinitely, but there is fun to be had beyond the destruction.
There are three main draws to Shin Godzilla: the aforementioned fast pace of Godzilla’s initial attack, the dark humor, and the (perhaps meta?) examination of political relations between Japan and the United States. The second and third points are tied up with each other: there is a defeatist tinge to much of the jokes in which the officials and scientists despair that so much is beyond their control. That also applies to their ally across the Pacific, which is a frequent source of frustration for forcing policy decisions upon them. These moments are too unmoored from any real situation to work as specific satire, but that lack of a clear analogue allows for a mythic quality that keeps these monster stories afloat as they are told over and over again.
Shin Godzilla is Recommended If You Like: Godzilla movies that actually feature Godzilla, a random joke about soggy noodles, and Japan-U.S. relations
Grade: 3 out of 5 Nuclear Fission Reactions
The Simpsons 28.3 Review: “The Town”
October 10, 2016
Television, The Simpsons, The Simpsons Episode Reviews The Simpsons, The Simpsons 2803, The Simpsons Season 28, The Town Leave a comment
“Our problems are who we are, not where we are.” http://www.bubbleblabber.com/review-the-simpsons-the-town/
What Won TV? – October 2-October 8, 2016
October 9, 2016
Television, What Won TV? Better Things, David Alan Thicke, Last Week Tonight, Milo Murphy's Law, RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, Saturday Night Live, SNL, The Eric Andre Show, The Flash, The Goldbergs Leave a comment
In this feature, I look back at each day of the past week and determine what shows “won TV” for the night. That is, I consider every episode of television I watched that aired on a particular day and declare which was the best.
Sunday – Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Monday – Milo Murphy’s Law
Tuesday – The Flash
Wednesday – The Goldbergs
Thursday – Better Things, and its gooey heartwarming ending (Honorable Mention: the classiest exit on Drag Race All Stars)
Friday – The Eric Andre Show, featuring David Alan Thicke
Saturday – Saturday Night Live, especially the power duo of Vanessa Bayer and Kyle Mooney
Jmunney's Blog 