Jeff’s Wacky SNL Review: Glen Powell/Olivia Dean

November 16, 2025

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November in New York! (CREDIT: NBC/Screenshot)

Jeff “jmunney” Malone watches every new episode of Saturday Night Live and then reviews all the sketches and segments according to a “wacky” theme.

Since this is my last time reviewing SNL before November 27, 2025, I shall now say: Happy Thanksgiving! I know my fans expect me to wish them a festive Turkey Day, and I simply can’t disappoint.

Back to the sketches and the variety, this particular episode that I’m reviewing right now boasts host Glen Powell and musical guest Olivia Dean. This represents the first time for both of them in those official capacities, marking the second episode in a row in which that was the case. I’m pretty sure that’s not the first time that has happened in the show’s history.

Since Glen is currently starring in The Running Man, and I’ve been known for plenty of running myself, the reviewing gimmick for this episode will involve me incorporating Running into my thoughts on each sketch and segment. So for example, I might say, “Run, don’t walk, to YouTube to watch this sketch”, or “This sketch really had my motor running.”

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Edgar Wright and Glen Powell Team Up for a Blunt and Brisk Re-Do of ‘The Running Man’

November 12, 2025

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What if his name were Rudolph, though? (CREDIT: Paramount Pictures)

Starring: Glen Powell, Josh Brolin, Colman Domingo, William H. Macy, Lee Pace, Michael Cera, Emilia Jones, Daniel Ezra, Jayme Lawson, Sean Hayes, David Zayas, Katy O’Brian, Martin Herlihy, Karl Glusman

Director: Edgar Wright

Running Time: 133 Minutes

Rating: R for Officially Sanctioned Hardcore Violence and the Profanity That Tends to Accompany It

Release Date: November 14, 2025 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: It’s time for one of those dystopian futures where a select few are fabulously rich while everyone else scrapes and scrounges through daily desperation. Society is pretty much completely controlled by a TV network known simply as “The Network,” whose slate mostly consists of dangerous and demeaning game shows. The crown jewel of their lineup is The Running Man, in which a trio of contestants try to avoid being killed by either a group of professional hunters or ordinary citizens for 30 days in the hopes of winning a billion “New Dollars.” Nobody’s ever made it all the way to the very end, though Killian (Josh Brolin), the show’s producer, believes he may have just found a legitimate contender in the form of Ben Richards (Glen Powell). Ben initially insists that he would rather just make some quick bucks and then get home safely to his wife and sick young daughter. But fae is asking him to not only emerge victorious, but also spark a revolution. That is, unless of course The Network just fully manipulates the narrative to its own specifications.

What Made an Impression?: I’d Buy That for a New Dollar!: This Running Man is the second adaptation of the 1982 novel of the same name by Stephen King (under his pen name Richard Bachman), following the 1987 version starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Interestingly enough, I wasn’t picking any of the typical King vibes (Save for a reference to Derry, Maine). Instead, this update directed by Edgar Wright feels more like a spiritual sequel to another 1987 movie: i.e., RoboCop. No wonder, as the dystopian-but-cool energy was strong in that era. And now I shall wrap up my initial point, as this paragraph has been a setup for me to say: I don’t want to live in a world in which The Running Man game show actually exists, though I do kind of want to live in the world where the MrBeast version exists.
That’s Ice Cold, Man: The official story propagated by The Network would have us believe that the Running Man contestants are unapologetically violent, depraved criminals, while their executors are true American criminals. But of course that’s a bunch of b.s., as Wright makes sure to show us the stark differences between Ben’s actual behavior and the Network’s fakery. I would like to tell you that the shameless lengths they go to are totally unrealistic, except that I’ve seen some of the propaganda perpetuated on my own TV by my own government. So I’ll instead say that these moments are occasionally a little too blunt for my taste, though I nevertheless appreciated the message.
Capitalism is Unavoidable: Occasionally The Running Man pulled me out of its invented reality with incursions by real life brands and stores. Yes indeed, there’s a lot of product placement in this movie, including a trip to a Shake Shack and a few other examples that I don’t remember specifically, but I can promise you that they were there. These moments are especially striking when juxtaposed with the fake products on display (like “Fun Twinks Cereal”) that feel more fitting in a fictional dystopia. I don’t know if this placement was a way to secure full financing for a perhaps risky blockbuster movie release, or if it was somehow part of the satire, or an attempted combination thereof. This is far from the most egregious example ever of this consumerist practice, but it did make me go “Hmm” much more than it made me go “You got ’em!”
One Last Hurrah: Before I conclude this review, I want to quickly say that overall, the cast is pretty commendable, especially Michael Cera, whose introduction is likely to catch you delightfully off-guard!

The Running Man is Recommended If You Lust For: The Golden Age of Dystopia

Grade: 3.5 Billion out of 5 Billion New Dollars

‘Twisters’ Indeed Has Plenty of Twisters, But What Does It Do with Them?

July 17, 2024

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(from left) Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones), Javi (Anthony Ramos) and Tyler (Glen Powell) in Twisters, directed by Lee Isaac Chung.

Starring: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Maura Tierney, Harry Hadden-Patton, Sasha Lane, Daryl McCormack, Kiernan Shipka, Nik Dodani, David Corenswet, Tunde Adebimpe, Katy O’Brian

Director: Lee Isaac Chung

Running Time: 122 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Windborne Injuries

Release Date: July 19, 2024 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Twisters, the legacyquel to 1996’s Twister, is the movie that dares to ask the question: what if there were MORE than one tornado? Honestly, though, wasn’t there already more than one in the first edition? Maybe I’m misremembering, but I’m pretty sure that tornadoes are generally not something that happens in total isolation. Regardless, Twisters is basically positing a once-in-a-generation confluence of as many tornadoes as have ever been observed. Hot on their tail are meteorologist Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones), her storm chasing colleague Javi (Anthony Ramos), and peacocking YouTube storm chaser Tyler Owens (Glen Powell). Along the way, there might just be some romance, and maybe even a bit of humanitarian aid.

What Made an Impression?: You’ve Climate Changed, Man: After a bravura opening sequence that ends with the loss of a few of Kate and Javi’s fellow chasers, the fallout cuts ahead five years, with Kate working an office job in New York City and Javi tracking her down for a new and exciting opportunity. These moments have a vibe that suggest that they’re outside of harm’s way in the city, but anyone who’s lived in the mid-Atlantic U.S. in the past few years is all too aware of how tornado territory has been expanding more and more lately. Any ecological disaster movie can easily be read as a warning about climate change, but Twisters doesn’t have to take it to extremes. The storms may be deadly, but they’re too believable to feel like a roller coaster. With that in mind, this is more like a speculative documentary than a work of fiction.
Don’t Forget the People: Is Twisters ashamed of itself? Or is it just feeling a little guilty? That’s the sense I gather from scenes of the chasers offering food and water to the people who have been in harm’s way in the paths of the tornadoes. I don’t think it would have been irresponsible to leave these moments out, but Joseph Kosinski’s script apparently disagrees. Maybe it could have gone even further and transformed the entire movie into a Tornado Relief Telethon halfway through. That certainly would have been more predictable than what we got, which is competent, but also kind of quotidian.

Twisters is Recommended If You Like: Finding a soul beneath the YEEHAW!

Grade: 3 out of 5 Forecasts

Spring Cleaning 2024 Movie Review Round-Up

June 12, 2024

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CREDIT: Amazon Prime Video

There are a handful of movies I saw in May that I haven’t shared any extended thoughts about yet, so here’s a Spring Cleaning-themed review roundup. Typically May is considered part of the summer movie season, but that leaves short shrift to the time of year when it actually is spring. If May 1-Labor Day is Summer Movie Season, and October-December is Fall Movie Season, and Thanksgiving-New Year’s is Holiday Movie Season, and January-February is Awards Holdovers/Winter Dumping Ground Season, well then, we really only March and April for Spring Movie Season, and a good chunk of March is spent fretting about the Oscars! So let’s give some love to the month with the best weather of the year (apologies to those of you with vernal allergies) and check in on the May spring movies.

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‘Anyone But You’ is a Silly, Sexy, and Self-Aware Riff on Shakespeare

December 21, 2023

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Sydney (and Glen) in Sydney (CREDIT: Brook Rushton/Sony Pictures Entertainment)

Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Glen Powell, Alexandra Shipp, GaTa, Hadley Robinson, Dermot Mulroney, Rachel Griffiths, Michelle Hurd, Darren Barnet, Bryan Brown, Charlee Fraser, Joe Davidson

Director: Will Gluck

Running Time: 103 Minutes

Rating: R for Naughty Bits and Cheeky Language

Release Date: December 22, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: After an improbably passionate meet-cute that ends as terribly as possible, Bea (Sydney Sweeney) and Ben (Glen Powell) find themselves inexplicably thrust back into each other’s lives several months later when her sister Halle (Hadley Robinson) and his good friend Claudia (Alexandra Shipp) are getting married at a destination wedding in Sydney, Australia. Their petty sniping threatens to ruin the nuptials, so the brides and a few other guests concoct a scheme to get them to reignite the spark. Bea and Ben quickly catch on to the ruse, but instead of getting upset, they decide that the best way to get everyone off their backs is to just play along. Plus, their respective exes (Darren Barnet, Charlee Fraser) are also both in attendance, so this charade could siphon away some of the awkwardness from those encounters, or maybe even spark some jealousy. Of course, this being a romantic comedy and all, Bea and Ben are probably on a path to discovering that the fake relationship should maybe become the real deal.

What Made an Impression?: Only in Rom-Coms: The typical rom-com formula requires plenty of suspension of disbelief, what with all the unlikely encounters and easily resolvable misunderstandings. Anyone But You kind of pushes the limits of cliché, perhaps even to the point of parody. Bea and Ben’s meet-cute is especially absurd, as she runs into a coffee shop just to find a place to pee, and he buys her a drink so that she can become a paying customer. And this proves to be chivalrous enough for them to spend the night together! Then their big initial misunderstanding is based on the thinnest of circumstances, as she leaves his apartment the morning after before he wakes up, only to turn around just in time to hear him masking his insecurity by lying to a friend that he meant nothing to her. They eventually have ample opportunity to clear the confusion up, but both of them are too petty to do so. But the ridiculousness is kind of the point. The setup had to be that infuriating to really establish Bea and Ben as the ultimate rom-com protagonists.
All the Romance is a Stage: While I was eager to be charmed by Anyone But You‘s friendly cast and sunny harborside exteriors, I found some of the dialogue to be stilted and unnatural. But then I eventually locked into the vibe that it was going for. The story is based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, so it’s all about trickery and subterfuge, and self-awareness about that trickery and subterfuge, and self-awareness about that self-awareness. It’s hard not to occasionally sound like a doofus while diving too deep into this silly game. Considering the source material, I wonder how Anyone But You would’ve worked as a stage production, especially if it had encouraged mass audience participation. As it stands now in its cinematic form, it wisely encourages silliness on the part of all of its cast members, and also smartly decides to have low stakes masquerade as high stakes.
Stripping Down: Romantic movies that feature a lot of skin tend to be of the “erotic” or “gross-out” variety, but Anyone But You bucks that trend by maintaining the sweetness while also dropping trou on more than a few occasions. Part of that is surely attributable to a more liberal attitude towards nudity among Australians compared to Americans. Whatever the full reasoning behind this cheekiness, it helps to bolster the theme of vulnerability being good for the heart. And here’s the thing: with a combination of goofball energy, sunny beaches, and horniness, certain parts are just going to pop out at some point. It’s enough to drive you wild, and help you come to an important epiphany.

Anyone But You is Recommended If You Like: Vicarious traveling, Dermot Mulroney’s Silver Fox Era, Awkward everyday acrobatics

Grade: 4 out of 5 Deceptions

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Takes It to the Limit

May 24, 2022

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Top Gun: Maverick (CREDIT: Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films)

Starring: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Ed Harris, Val Kilmer, Monica Barbaro, Charles Parnell, Jay Ellis, Greg Tarzan Davis, Bashir Salahuddin

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Running Time: 131 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Danger Behind Enemy Lines

Release Date: May 27, 2022

Let’s throw it right out there to begin. Does Top Gun: Maverick make me once again want to have the need, the need for speed? I won’t mince words: sort of, but not exactly. Those aerial acrobatics certainly had my adrenaline pumping, but patience is a virtue when watching this movie. Two hours and eleven minutes isn’t exactly a bloated running time for a big blockbuster action sequel, but when the majority of the action consists of training sessions leading up to The One Big Mission, you feel the weight of the wait. And as far as I, a humble movie viewer, can tell … that is exactly what everyone involved was going for! We get to see the work that goes into pushing limits, we all hold our collective breath, and we pray that everyone makes it out of the danger zone. And then Lady Gaga brings it on home with a rapturous rock ballad. That’s the formula for Top Gun Success in 2022.

You may be wondering why Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is still flying with the new class of pilots 36 years after we first met him. It’s not just because Tom Cruise is incorrigible about doing his own stunts. Metatextually, that is the reason, of course, but within the context of the narrative, it’s because Maverick just doesn’t want to be promoted beyond captain. Responsibility blows, right? Nevertheless, this state of affairs means that he’s the best person to train the new crop of Top Gun pilots (which includes at least one offspring of a former colleague) for an impossible mission. And what a doozy of an impossible mission it is, as they have to wipe out a uranium enrichment site in some mountainous nation (that remains hilariously unnamed the whole movie) by executing some dangerously sharp descents and ascents. It’s a very specific, contained situation to build an entire story around, and it mostly works.

If you’re hoping for the same bonhomie as the original, it’s certainly there, with a round of beach football taking the place of the volleyball. But the main attraction is all the clearly defined aerial action. The maneuvers require so much G-force that loss of consciousness is fully expected. We’re talking fainting while piloting thousands of feet up in the air! I could feel myself being flattened like a pancake in my seat just watching it. This is a portrait of the test of human limits that will have your throat in your stomach, your brain in your toes, and your soul dying and reincarnating. The danger zone is alive and well.

Top Gun: Maverick is Recommended If You Like: Watching planes fly by before football or baseball games

Grade: 4 out of 5 G-Forces

‘Apollo 10½’ Sends a Kid to the Moon But Also Keeps Him Earthbound

March 30, 2022

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Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (CREDIT: Netflix)

Starring: Milo Coy, Jack Black, Josh Wiggins, Lee Eddy, Bill Wise, Natalie L’Amoreaux, Jessica Brynn Cohen, Sam Chipman, Danielle Guilbot, Glen Powell, Zachary Levi

Director: Richard Linklater

Running Time: 98 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Some Mildly Adult Moments

Release Date: April 1, 2022 (Netflix)

Isn’t it cool when kids do something that only adults are supposed to do? Well, maybe not all the time, at least not in the real world. Sure, a toddler dressing up like a doctor is so gosh darn cute, but that same toddler performing surgery is probably not the best idea. But we’re talking about fictional worlds right now! And that means that children can hold down dangerous jobs, and perform them quite admirably to boot. That brings me to the Richard Linklater-directed Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood, a rotoscope-animated adventure in which a boy named Stanley (Milo Coy) is recruited by NASA to participate in the Apollo 11 mission. Now that’s some historical revisionism I can get behind.

In this alterna-vision of the 1960s, finding fresh astronauts is akin to the modern practice of college scouts traversing through middle schools to find the next big football or basketball phenom. A couple of NASA officials (Glen Powell, Zachary Levi) are hanging around a recess kickball game because one of the lunar modules is too small for adults and they’re hoping to find someone here who can fit in it. So they key right in on Stanley, and I’m all ready to go for some astronaut training montages. But not so quick, as that’s not exactly what Linklater has in mind. Instead, this is mostly a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale about growing up in a big family in 1960s Texas, with the Space Race serving mostly as a background event. An important background event that sets the tone, but not the main event no matter how you slice it.

If Apollo 10½ had focused more on the child astronaut conceit, it would’ve been a lot more unique than what we actually ended up with. Instead, it’s a familiar piece of coming-of-age nostalgia from an oft-explored era. A well-made piece of familiar nostalgia, with compelling narration from Linklater vet Jack Black as adult Stanley, but decidedly familiar nonetheless. So just keep your expectations in check about the potential for freshness, and you should be able to find something to enjoy here.

Apollo 10½ is Recommended If You Like: 1960s fashion, 1960s TV shows, 1960 music

Grade: 3 out of 5 Lunar Modules