jmunney’s Favorite Music of 2023

January 31, 2024

jmunney Best of 2023, Best of Music 2023, Music , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

It’s tricky to fall in love with new songs when I don’t drive as much as I used to and therefore don’t listen to the radio as much as I used to either. But somehow, a dozen or so songs still manage to annually bubble their way up to a very special place in my heart.

Albums, meanwhile, typically have a better chance of making an impression on me nowadays, as I tend to sit and listen to them straight through on a popular music streaming service while taking care of business.

With all that mind, here’s the new music that made the biggest impression on me in 2023:

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Get Stuffed! with Songbirds, Trolls, and a Bloody Thanksgiving Feast

November 15, 2023

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Thanksgiving! (CREDIT: Pief Weyman/TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group)

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

Starring: Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, Josh Andrés Rivera, Hunter Schafer, Jason Schwartzman, Fionnula Flanagan, Burn Gorman, Ashley Liao, Max Raphael, Zoe Renee, Nick Benson, Isobel Jesper Jones, George Somner

Director: Francis Lawrence

Running Time: 157 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Kids Killing Kids

Release Date: November 17, 2023 (Theaters)

Thanksgiving

Starring: Nell Verlaque, Patrick Dempsey, Addison Rae, Milo Manheim, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Rick Hoffman, Gabriel Davenport, Gina Gershon, Tim Dillon, Tomaso Sanelli, Jenna Warren, Amanda Barker

Director: Eli Roth

Running Time: 106 Minutes

Rating: R for Having Some Friends Over for Dinner, and a Trampoline Striptease

Release Date: November 17, 2023 (Theaters)

Trolls Band Together

Starring: Justin Timberlake, Anna Kendrick, Camila Cabello, Eric André, Kid Cudi, Troye Sivan, Daveed Diggs, Amy Schumer, Andrew Rannells, Zosia Mamet, Kenan Thompson, RuPaul, Zooey Deschanel, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Icona Pop, Ron Funches, Anderson .Paak, Kunal Nayyar, David Fynn, Kevin Michael Richardson, Patti Harrison, Walt Dohrn, GloZell

Director: Walt Dohrn

Running Time: 92 Minutes

Rating: PG for Some Mild Worries About Being Eaten Alive

Release Date: November 17, 2023 (Theaters)

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Entertainment To-Do List: Week of 10/13/23

October 13, 2023

jmunney Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Poop, poop, hurray! (CREDIT: Adult Swim/Screenshot)

Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.

Movies
–Anatomy of a Fall (Theaters)

TV
–Goosebumps Series Premiere (October 13 on Disney+ and Hulu) – I used to read the books back in the day, and I’ve checked out some of the other adaptations. Maybe this one will be good, too.
–John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams Series Premiere (October 13 on Peacock) – An unscripted show from a master of horror.
–Saturday Night Live Season 49 Premiere (October 14 on NBC) – Hosted by Taco Bell Spokesman with Musical Guest Dunkin’ Spokeswoman.
–Rick and Morty Season 7 Premiere (October 15 on Adult Swim) – The premiere episode is titled “How Poopy Got His Poop Back.”
–Celebrity Squares Series Premiere (October 17 on VH1) – A Black spin on tic-tac-toe.

Music
-Metric, Formentera II
-Troye Sivan, Something to Give Each Other

This Is a Movie: Lucas Hedges Wades Through the Lies of Gay Conversion to Find Truth and Love in the Unsettling and Fulfilling ‘Boy Erased’

November 1, 2018

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

CREDIT: Focus Features

This review was originally posted on News Cult in November 2018.

Starring: Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, Joel Edgerton, Troye Sivan, Xavier Dolan, Joe Alwyn, Flea

Director: Joel Edgerton

Running Time: 114 Minutes

Rating: R for Intense, Sexuality-Focused Material

Release Date: November 2, 2018 (Limited)

Boy Erased demonstrates the dangers of putting the unqualified in charge, or pretending that it is possible to be qualified for something that nobody can possibly have experience with. With the suspensefully assured hand of director Joel Edgerton, it plays like a horror film in which the villain is the storm of forces that try to convince you of something that you know in your core not to be true. The setting is a gay conversion therapy program, which is basically the epitome of trauma born out of the most distorted of good intentions. Every story I have ever heard about gay conversion suggests that those involved with running them are either gay themselves or relatives of gay people. Boy Erased very much underscores how terrifying a curriculum designed upon internalized homophobia is.

The film is based on Garrard Conley’s memoir of the same name, with Lucas Hedges playing Jared Eamons, an adapted version of Conley. This isn’t the first gay conversion gay conversion-focused film this year, with The Miseducation of Cameron Post having arrived a few months earlier. Boy Erased manages to make a stronger impression thanks to heavier dramatic stakes. Whereas Cameron Post‘s protagonists were so strong-willed that they just ignored the program, Jared actually cares about satisfying the people who want him to go through with it. That especially includes his Baptist preacher father Marshall (Russell Crowe) and his fiercely protective mother Nancy (Nicole Kidman). But at a certain point, he realizes that the so-called adult experts do not know what they are talking about if what they are asking him to do is ripping apart his soul. That means he must push back against head therapist Victor (Edgerton), a man who is frighteningly skilled at hiding internal conflict, and instead listen to the people who only offer him unconditional, recognizable love. It all leads to reconciliation scenes that you hope never have to be necessary for anybody but are all the more fulfilling for how genuine they are.

Boy Erased is Recommended If You Like: Heart-wrenching true stories, Familial reconciliation, Dramas that are secretly horror movies

Grade: 4 out of 5 White Dress Shirts

SNL Review January 20, 2018: Jessica Chastain/Troye Sivan

January 21, 2018

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CREDIT: Will Heath/NBC

This review was originally posted on News Cult in January 2018.

NewsCult Entertainment Editor Jeffrey Malone watches every new episode of Saturday Night Live and then organizes the sketches into the following categories: “Love It” (potentially Best of the Season-worthy), “Keep It” (perfectly adequate), or “Leave It” (in need of a rewrite, to say the least). Then he concludes with assessments of the host and musical guest.

Love It

What Even Matters Anymore – Too many SNL game show parodies give away way too much of their premises in their titles, and that can be frustrating. But when it is infused with as much real-world anger as “What Even Matters Anymore” is, that obviousness is understandable, and justified. Then there is the joy of the sketch’s structure itself breaking down, as the performative mask (minimal as it is to begin with) starts to fade away, with Jessica, Cecily, and Kate all ultimately playing themselves. But Kenan still gets to play Bernard, and thank God for that.

Chris Redd must have been waiting a lifetime to debut his dark Fresh Prince of Bel-Air parody, huh? And well, the (Method Man-featuring) result is thrillingly confident…The scene at the Jalapeños restaurant is full of laughs not just because of the idiocy on display but also because of all the complicated details that force you to engage so many brain cells…15 seasons in, and Kenan Thompson is still giving showcase performances, as he really examines the wonders of mugging on the Justice for Anne movie set.

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