I am excited for this movie for a number of reasons. I grew up watching the very first onscreen Superman played by George Reeves (in syndication on Saturday afternoons). When I was about ten years old, I discovered and fell in love with Christopher Reeves, (the actor against whom all other versions of Superman were compared.) I haven’t missed a single onscreen iteration of this character until Zack Snyder’s Batman V Superman. I skipped that one.
And now, while I wasn’t feeling exactly encouraged by the casting of David Corenswet, (because I had no idea who he was), I’m very excited about this latest version. It’s a real throwback to the most poplar version of Superman I ever loved, the 1978 Superman, starring Reeves. I should’ve known better, to never doubt James Gunn, who always (and I do mean always) brings ALL of the feels. To date, he is the only director who has ever made me cry during multiple superhero vehicles that I had not intended to be impressed by (Peacemaker and Guardians of the Galaxy)! And he has a knack for bringing characters to the screen that I had no idea I wanted to see onscreen. Gunn’s greatest strength though, is his ability to make us care about these characters, and he prioritizes their relationships to one another, which is a surefire way to capture my attention, because that’s usually what draws me into the story.
So far, he has not missed, so I can see why he was hired to overhaul the DCU.
For those not in the know, (because I know not everyone reads Comics), the little white dog is Krypto, from the very earliest versions of the comic series, along with members of Justice League/Justice Society (another comic I was very fond of in my 20s), featuring the Green Lantern; Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl (winged lady), Metamorpho (a shapeshifter), and Mr. Terrific (the third smartest man on Earth). The villain is of course Lex Luthor played by Nicholas Hoult (whose career has come such a long way from Fury Road!)
I am so psyched to see this, especially since a large section of the movie was shot in my hometown this Summer, (right across the street from my job!), and we got to see the Director and actors at work, and how they put various shots together, from our office windows (where Gunn sent someone to tell us to get out of the way, because this crowd of people was not supposed to be watching at that moment. LOL!). Imma tell you though, movie making looks pretty boring, but the final results are usually pretty awesome.
This is just a 2 minute teaser. I expect to get a few more details about this the closer we get to July.
Later, I’ll have a complete listing of the top movies to check out, in 2025! There’s a lot I’m looking forward to (and probably a few I don’t know about yet).
Well, here we go again with a bunch of new and exciting trailers for movies that I will only be watching on streaming services,( unless my niece or nephew threatens to murder me for not taking them to see these). I’m pretty scared of my 12 year old niece, because I think she knows kickboxing, so if she asks me to go see one of these movies, I will not argue with her. I will just make plans and buy the tickets. (She’s gotta pay for her own snacks, though.)
I’m cautiously excited about some of these, and looking forward to seeing a couple of them, starting with:
American Primeval
This looks like some kind of combo/historical/horror/survivalist film. I’m not heavily into movies like that too much, but this looks intriguing to me, so I’ll check it out when it streams. Please don’t ask what my criteria is for choosing to watch some things and not others. My requirements for interesting are entirely based on moods and feelings, which do not translate well into thoughts, or arguments, or recommendations for stuff.
Snow White
To date, I have only seen one of Disney’s live action remakes of their Classic films, and that was The Little Mermaid, at the behest of my niece. Until now, I have not been very much interested in seeing any of them, and I thought The Little Mermaid was very pretty, but meh. On the other hand, I do like this particular trailer because it’s so colorful, and there’s singing! Zegler is really cute as Snow White, and Gal Godot is tearing it up as a villain, so I kinda want to see that, even though I’m not the biggest fan of Godot. She looks great and her makeup is on point! But most of all, I find the Dwarves to be fun and funny. When I was very little, I had this tiny plastic Dopey doll that I was pretty attached to. In fact, it’s sitting in my house, on a shelf, right now! So the nostalgia factor is strong with this one.
Also, I want to see Gal Godot turn into a giant dragon at the end!
Lilo and Stich
I was feeling a bit dubious at watching a live action remake of this movie because, quite frankly, I found the cartoon version of Stitch to be more than a little bit of nightmare fuel, and that’s what I thought I was going to be in for. But he looks really cute, and I’m glad about that, because my niece absolutely loves the Lilo (Lilo is the character I most identified with), and Stich movie, so she will want to see this. If she makes me take her to see this then she has to see Snow White with me.
I hope they keep the Elvis Presley songs in this one!
Wolf Man
Not too sure what to think about this one. It’s from the makers of The Invisible Man, a movie I had mixed feelings about, too. It kind of reminds me of the 1955 Robert Mitchum movie, Night of the Hunter, in its mood, with two small children being menaced by a human being turned monster. I don’t know if I’ll see this one in the theater.
Severance
I watched the first season of this series and I very much enjoyed it. I loved the mystery and the characters, and the intriguing idea of code-switching writ large, of being a different person at work than when you’re at home, with friends and family. But mostly I just really like the characters and their insignificant adventures in this hellish corporate world they inhabit, for only half the time.
If you’re not familiar with it the basic premise is that this group of people work at a corporation where they have to give up their outside lives while they’re at work, by having their memories of the real world lives erased (or suppressed), and when they’re in the outside world, they have no memory of their corporate activities. But there are some deeply mysterious things about their jobs, since they don’t know what they actually do for a living, or the purpose behind any of the corporate activities they are required to engage in, which becomes especially important when their corporate lives start to bleed into the real world.
So yeah, I’m ready for season two.
Star Trek Section 31
I’m always up for seeing Michelle Yeoh in just about anything. Here she is, in a spinoff from Star Trek Discovery, where she plays a villainous Dictator turned Starfleet spy.
The Gorge
I’m not sure what to think about this one either. I could do without the romance angle which seems kind of pointless, but I may take a look at it when it airs. The idea that they are guarding some kind of portal to a Hell dimension is interesting, and of course, with the rules of their stay in the gorge laid out at the beginning of the series, we know all of those will be broken in the first episode.
Bloody Axe Wound
This movie looks trashy and hilarious, with the same kind of irreverent style of another movie I just watched, called Its A Wonderful Knife. This one appears to be about a young lady who grows up in a family of serial killers, who commits the forbidden activity of falling in love with one of her victims.
For us 28 Days Later fans, this is the trailer we’ve all been waiting for. This is a movie I will pay to watch in the theater.
What I Already Watched:
Jamie Foxx Standup:What Had Happened Was (Netflix): Jamie Foxx’s first standup since his stroke over a year ago. I could’ve done without a lot of the religious stuff, but I understand why its in here.
Secret Level:Animated Game Series (Amazon Prime): My two favorite episodes were Sifu, which was full of some great action scenes, and the one after that called Aeternum, which was deeply funny and touching. I wanted to see the MegaMan short, but it wasn’t there yet.
Alien Romulus (Hulu): A direct sequel to the original 1979 Alien.
The Substance (Amazon Prime): Some serious body horror, entertainment industry commentary. I thought it was very well done and very disgusting.
Joker 2: Folie a Deux: I actually liked this movie. It probably helps that I knew and liked almost all the songs, and I just like musicals in general. However, I did think that Joker and Harley were the most insufferable couple I’ve ever seen in a movie. I disliked both of them, but I liked the film’s message, and appreciated what the Director was trying to do.
Yeah, I know, it’s Oscar season but I still never get tired of Actioners, and trashy Horror movies. My tastes are all over the place, tbh. Here are some trailers of my most anticipated movies for this and next year. Some of these I will actually get to see in a theater, but most of them, I probably won’t.
Also, I may (or may not) talk about these movies on this blog!
What If…Season 3
I wasn’t into season 2 of this series very much because I hate Marvel Zombies. Marvel Zombies is just depressing and horrible to me, which must sound shocking to those of you who knw me as a Horror fanatic. Yeah, you’d think I would have loved it because … zombies! But no. Something about my favorite heroes being dead, and eating people, just didn’t sit right with me.
On the other hand, I do love Transformers, Giant Mechas, Gundam, and Voltron, and this mashup with Marvel looks like hella fun.
Captain America: Brave New World
My nephew and I already have plans to see this movie. I’m looking forward to seeing this Red Hulk, who I am kinda familiar with from the comic books. And its nice to see Sam Wilson/Captain America looking all cool and shit. Don’t get me wrong. I’m still a big fan of Steve Rogers but I really like all the other Captains in the comic books (Marvel, Britain, America, Bucky, John Walker, Patriot, etc), and frankly, I think there should be a Captains America/Britains teamup story somewhere down the line!
Sinners
It turns out that this movie is about vampires.
I’m in!
Replicator
I have no idea what this is about (other than maybe aliens) but I like it because it looks thoroughly disgusting, with horrible acting, and seems ridiculous enough to be watched on some idle Saturday afternoon.
Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
Well, I guess this is the final Mission Impossible movie. I kind of enjoyed the first part of this story, although I wasn’t much invested in it (as I am almost never invested in the story when it comes to this franchise). Like a lot of other fans, I’m here for the action scenes, (and to see Tom cruise running somewhere.)
Welp! The end of an era.
The Damned
This movie looks suitably Oscar worthy. Of course it will not even be nominated although it looks lovely and deeply serious, and historical. I have no idea what it’s about but it looks like something supernatural or paranormal may be involved.
Thunderbolts
I prefer my MCU movies with a lot more humor in them, and this looks like it will be a lot of fun to watch, especially after the political seriousness of the Captain America movie, (although how serious can it be with a giant red Hulk in it?) I’m a big fan of Florence Pugh. I’ll watch her in anything. Sebastian Stan is always a good draw as Bucky. (He’s got a new movie out called A Different Man, which looks really good, and is probably a good bit of Oscar-bait.) And I’m interested in the new guy, Bob (Sentry), who I have only a brief knowledge of from the comic books.
Dune: Prophecy
I don’t know how to feel about this one. On the one hand, its Dune, and its about the Bene Gesserit, so I’m cautiously excited about it, but on the other hand, it looks like Game of Thrones in Space and I would never refer to myself as a GoT fan, although I did watch several episodes of that series. I like the actresses involved though. I’m just not into the faux-feudal society shit, which I find deeply uninteresting.
That too is an interesting reaction since I love studying Medieval history! (Apparently, I only care about the subject of feudal society when its factual.)
Polls are close and the ultimate election outcome may not be known for some time. Amidst the uncertainty, it’s important we squarely face the possibility of a Trump victory and what we’d have to do about it.
Trump has already signaled the kind of president he would be: revengeful, uncontrolled and unburdened by past norms and current laws. I won’t go through the litany of awful things he’s pledged to do, since that’s been well-established with his words, Project 2025 plans and excellent analyses from authoritarian experts.
Looking into an even more destabilized future is not easy. If you’re like me, you’re already tired. The prospect of more drama is daunting. But authoritarianism isn’t going away no matter the election results. So here’s some thinking about ways to orient so we can ground ourselves better for these times ahead.
I am blessed to have spent time writing scenarios about what might happen, developing trainings if Trump does win and working alongside colleagues living under autocratic regimes. One of the things they keep reminding me is that good psychology is good social change. Authoritarian power is derived from fear of repression, isolation from each other and exhaustion at the utter chaos. We’re already feeling it.
Thus, for us to be of any use in a Trump world (or a Harris world, for that matter), we have to pay grave attention to our inner states, so we don’t perpetuate the autocrat’s goals of fear, isolation, exhaustion or constant disorientation.
1. Trust yourself
I started writing this list with strategic principles (e.g. analyze your opponents weakness and learn to handle political violence), but actually the place to start is with your own self.
Trump is arriving at a time of great social distrust. Across the board, society has reduced trust in traditional institutions. Yes, there’s more distrust of the media, medical professionals, experts and politicians. But it extends beyond that. There’s reduced trust in most community institutions and membership groups. Whether from COVID or political polarization, a lot of us have experienced reduced trust in friends and family. Even our trust in predictable weather is diminished.
This is a social disease: You know who to trust by who they tell you to distrust.
Trust-building starts with your own self. It includes trusting your own eyes and gut, as well as building protection from the ways the crazy-making can become internalized.
This also means being trustworthy — not just with information, but with emotions. That way you can acknowledge what you know and admit the parts that are uncertain fears nagging at you.
Then take steps to follow through on what you need. If you’re tired, take some rest. If you’re scared, make some peace with your fears. I can point you to resources that support that — like FindingSteadyGround.com — but the value here is to start with trusting your own inner voice. If you need to stop checking your phone compulsively, do it. If you don’t want to read this article now and instead take a good walk, do it.
Trust all these things inside of you because trust in self is part of the foundation of a healthy movement life.
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2. Find others who you trust
I promise I’ll head towards practical resistance strategies. But the emotional landscape matters a great deal. Hannah Arendt’s “The Origins of Totalitarianism”explored how destructive ideologies like fascism and autocracy grow. She used the word verlassenheit — often translated as loneliness — as a central ingredient. As she meant it, loneliness isn’t a feeling but a kind of social isolation of the mind. Your thinking becomes closed off to the world and a sense of being abandoned to each other.
She’s identifying a societal breakdown that we’re all experiencing. Under a Trump presidency, this trend will continue to accelerate. The constant attacks on social systems— teachers, health care and infrastructure — make us turn away from leaning on each other and towards ideologically simple answers that increase isolation (e.g. “distrust government,” “MAGA is nuts,” “anyone who votes that way doesn’t care about you”).
In extreme cases, like Chile in the 1970s and ‘80s, the dictatorship aimed to keep people in such tiny nodes of trust that everyone was an island unto themselves. At social gatherings and parties, people would commonly not introduce each other by name out of fear of being too involved. Fear breeds distance.
We have to consciously break that distance. In Chile they organized under the guise of affinity groups. This was, as its name suggests, people who shared some connections and trust. Finding just a few people who you trust to regularly act with and touch base with is central.Find people you trust to meet with regularly. (What If Trump Wins/Elizabeth Beier)
If Trump wins: Get some people to regularly touch base with. Use that trust to explore your own thinking and support each other to stay sharp and grounded.
For the last several months I’ve been hosting a regular group at my house to “explore what is up with these times.” Our crew thinks differently but invests in trust. We emote, cry, sing, laugh, sit in stillness and think together.
I’ve written an agenda for such gatherings right after a Trump win that you can use.
All of us will benefit from actively organized nodes to help stabilize us. In a destabilized society, you need people who help ground you.
3. Grieve
No matter what we try to do, there’s going to be a lot of loss. The human thing to do is grieve. (Well, apparently humans are also very good at compartmentalizing, rationalizing, intellectualizing and ignoring — but the damage it does to our body and psyche is pretty well documented.)
If you aren’t a feelings person, let me say it this way: The inability to grieve is a strategic error. After Donald Trump won in 2016, we all saw colleagues who never grieved. They didn’t look into their feelings and the future — and as a result they remained in shock. For years they kept saying, “I can’t believe he’s doing that…”
An alternative: Start by naming and allowing feelings that come to arise. The night that Donald Trump won, I stayed up until 4 a.m. with a colleague. It was a tear-filled night of naming things that we had just lost. The list ranged from the political to the deeply personal:
“Trump will leave the Paris Climate Agreement and that means much of the world will soft pedal its climate plans.”
“Ugh, I’m gonna have this man in my dreams. We’re all going to sleep less and wake up to bat-shit crazy headlines each morning.”
“Trump’s gonna constantly attack immigrants — the wall may or may not happen, but he’s gonna raise the threshold for racism. I don’t think I can take it.”
“Friends I know who signed up for DACA are never going to trust government again.”
And on and on. It wasn’t only a list, but it was finding the impact inside of us of sadness, anger, numbness, shock, confusion and fear. We alternated between rageful spouts and tears. We grieved. We cried. We held each other. We breathed. We dove back into naming all the bad things we knew we’d lost and things we thought we’d be likely to lose.
It wasn’t anywhere near strategizing or list-making or planning. It was part of our acceptance that losing a presidency to an awful man means you and your people lose a lot. Ultimately, this helped us believe it — so we didn’t spend years in a daze: “I can’t believe this is happening in this country.”
Growing up my mom had a copy of the Serenity Prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.” Notably, that prayer comes from theologian Reinhold Niebuhr as he was watching the rise of Nazis in Germany.
Trump’s first day likely includes pardoning Jan. 6 insurrectionists, reallocating money to build the wall, pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, and firing 50,000-plus government workers to begin replacing them with loyalists. There’s little reason to believe that day two will get much quieter.
Under a Trump presidency, there are going to be so many issues that it will be hard to accept that we cannot do it all. I’m reminded of a colleague in Turkey who told me, “There’s always something bad happening every day. If we had to react to every bad thing, we’d never have time to eat.”
An elder once saw me trying to do everything and pulled me aside. “That’s not a healthy lifelong strategy,” she said. She’d been raised in Germany by the generation of Holocaust survivors who told her, “Never again.” She took it personally, as if she had to stop every wrong. It wracked her and contributed to several serious ongoing medical conditions. We can accept our humanity or suffer that lack of acceptance.
Chaos is a friend of the autocrat. One way we can unwittingly assist is by joining in the story that we have to do it all.
Over the last few months I’ve been testing out a terribly challenging tool. It’s a journaling exercise that invites you to reflect on which issues you’ll spend energy on. It asks: what are issues you’ll throw down on, do a lot for, a little for, or — despite caring about it — do nothing at all for? That last question can feel like a kind of torture for many activists, even while we’re intellectually aware that we cannot stop it all.
Unaddressed, this desire to act on everything leads to bad strategy. Nine months ago when we gathered activists to scenario plan together, we took note of two knee-jerk tendencies from the left that ended up largely being dead-ends in the face of Trump:
Public angsting — posting outrage on social media, talking with friends, sharing awful news
Symbolic actions — organizing marches and public statements
The first is where we look around at bad things happening and make sure other people know about them, too. We satisfy the social pressure of our friends who want us to show outrage — but the driving moves are only reactive. The end result wasn’t the intended action or an informed population. It’s demoralizing us. It’s hurting our capacity for action. Public angsting as a strategy is akin to pleading with the hole in the boat to stop us from sinking.
Symbolic actions may fare little better under a Trump presidency. In whatever version of democracy we had, the logic of rallies and statements of outrage was to build a unified front that showed the opposition many voices were opposed to them. But under an unleashed fascist — if it’s all you do — it’s like begging the suicidal captain to plug the hole.
Let me be clear. These strategies will be part of the mix. We’ll need public angsting and symbolic actions. But if you see an organization or group who only relies on these tactics, look elsewhere. There are other, more effective ways to engage.
5. Find your path
I’ve been writing scenarios of how a Trump presidency might play out. (You can read the scenarios written as a choose-your-own-adventure-style book at WhatIfTrumpWins.org or order the book.) The initial weeks look chaotic no matter what. But over time some differentiated resistance pathways begin to emerge.
One pathway is called “Protecting People.” These are folks surviving and protecting our own — especially those of us directly targeted, such as trans people, folks choosing abortions and immigrants. This might mean organizing outside current systems for health care and mutual aid, or moving resources to communities that are getting targeted. Further examples include starting immigrant welcoming committees, abortion-support funds or training volunteers on safety skills to respond to white nationalist violence.
Another pathway is “Defending Civic Institutions.” This group may or may not be conscious that current institutions don’t serve us all, but they are united in understanding that Trump wants them to crumble so he can exert greater control over our lives. Each bureaucracy will put up its own fight to defend itself.
Insider groups will play a central battle against Trump fascism. You may recall government scientists dumping copious climate data onto external servers, bracing for Trump’s orders. This time, many more insiders understand it’s code red. Hopefully, many will bravely refuse to quit — and instead choose to stay inside as long as possible.
Institutional pillars understand a Trump presidency is a dire threat. The military, for one, is well aware that Trump’s potential orders to use them to crack down on civilian protesters would politicize them permanently.
These insiders will need external support. Sometimes it’s just folks showing compassion that some of our best allies will be inside, silently resisting. A culture of celebrating people getting fired for the right reasons would help (then offering them practical help with life’s next steps). Other moments will need open support and public activation.
Then there’s a critical third pathway: “Disrupt and Disobey.”This goes beyond protesting for better policies and into the territory of people intervening to stop bad policies or showing resistance.
Initially a lot of that prefigurative work may be purely symbolic. In Norway, to create a culture of resistance during World War II people wore innocuous paperclips as a sign they wouldn’t obey. The symbolism is to build preparation for mass strikes and open resistance. In Serbia, protests against their dictator started with student strikes before escalating to strikes by pensioners (which were both largely symbolic) before finally escalating to the game-changing strike of coal miners.
In effective “Disrupt and Disobey” type actions the ultimate goal is paving a path for mass noncooperation: tax resistance, national strikes, work shut-downs and other nonviolent mass disobedience tactics — the most effective strategies to displace authoritarians. (Training on how to do that in a new Trump era can be found here.)
Lastly, there’s a key fourth role: “Building Alternatives.”We can’t just be stuck reacting and stopping the bad. We have to have a vision. This is the slow growth work of building alternative ways that are more democratic. It includes grounding and healing work, rich cultural work, alternative ways of growing food and caring for kids, participatory budgeting or seeding constitutional conventions to build a majoritarian alternative to the Electoral College mess we’re in.
Each of us may be attracted to some pathways more than others.
Myself, I’m attracted to “Disrupt and Disobey” — though I know when certain moments hit I’ll be pulled into some immediate “Protecting People.” I’m perhaps too impatient for most “Building Alternatives” and too unhappy with the status quo to do “Defend Civic Institutions.” However, I’m delighted others will do that work!
I’m reminded of another way of finding your role that comes from my friend Ingrid’s grandfather, who lived in Norway under the Nazi regime. He learned that the resistance was hiding people in the basement of a church near a cemetery. As a florist he already traveled to and from the cemetery — so he found a role smuggling messages in funeral wreaths, delivering them all over the city.
He didn’t go out designing his perfect role. In fact, I’m not sure he would have looked at the list of possible “roles” and found his political path. Instead, he found his space by circumstance.
In other words: Your path may not be clear right now. That’s okay. There will be plenty of opportunities to join the resistance.
6. Do not obey in advance, do not self-censor
The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times’ cowardly refusal to endorse a political candidate is, it appears, a classic example of self-censorship. Trump did not have to make a direct threat to these media outlets. Their own leadership told them to “sit this one out.”
If autocrats teach us any valuable lesson it’s this: Political space that you don’t use, you lose.
This is a message to all levels of society: lawyers advising nonprofits, leaders worried about their funding base, folks worried about losing their jobs.
I’m not coaching to never self-protect. You can decide when to speak your mind. But it is a phenomenally slippery slope here we have to observe and combat.
Timothy Snyder has written a helpful book called “On Tyranny” — and turned it into a video series. He cites ceding power as the first problem to tackle, writing: “Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”
Put simply: Use the political space and voice you have.
7. Reorient your political map
A few months ago I sat in a room with retired generals, Republicans like Michael Steele, ex-governors and congress people. We were scenario-planningways to prevent using the Insurrection Act to target civilian protesters, playing step-by-step who would give the orders to whom and how the worst could be avoided.
For a committed antiwar activist, the phrase “strange bedfellows” doesn’t begin to describe the bizarre experience I felt.
I came out of it realizing that a Trump presidency reshapes alignments and possibilities. The bellicose, blasphemous language of Trump will meet the practical reality of governing. When you’re out of power, it’s easy to unify — but their coalition’s cracks will quickly emerge. We have to stay sharp for opportunities to cleave off support.
How we position ourselves matters: Are we interested in engaging with people unhappy with the regime — whether because they love the current institutions or are unhappy with Trump’s policies on them? Are we able to tell a story that explains how we got here — and do political education? Or are we only interested in maintaining ideological purity and preaching to our own choir?
Even if you don’t want to engage with them (which is fine), we’ll all have to give space to those who do experiment with new language to appeal to others who don’t share our worldview of a multiracial true democracy.
Empathy will be helpful here. I write all this with a particular moment in mind: At the end of the scenario day, we whipped around the room with conclusions. The generals said “The military cannot stop Trump from giving these orders.” Politicians said “Congress cannot stop it.” The lawyers said “We cannot stop it.”
I could see a lot of pain in high-ranking people of great power admitting a kind of defeat. I felt a level of compassion that surprised me.
Only the left activists said: We have an approach of mass noncooperation that can stop this. But we’d need your help.
I’m not sure that projected confidence was well-received. But if we’re going to live into that (and I’m far from certain we can), we have to get real about power.
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8. Get real about power
In Trump’s first term, the left’s organizing had mixed results. With John McCain’s assistance, we were able to block Trump’s health proposal. Rallies proved less and less effective as time went on. The airport shutdowns showed that disruptive action can activate the public and helped pave the way for the court’s dismissal over the Muslim ban. But Trump was still able to win huge tax cuts and appoint right-wing Supreme Court judges. The narrative lurched, and sizeble chunks of the population have now been captivated by the “Big Lie.” It was elections that ultimately stopped Trump.
This time will be much harder.
The psychological exhaustion and despair is much higher. Deploying people into the streets for mass actions with no clear outcome will grow that frustration, leading to dropout and radicalized action divorced from strategy.
Trump has been very clear about using his political power to its fullest — stretching and breaking the norms and laws that get in his way. The movement will constantly be asking itself: “Are you able to stop this new bad thing?”
We’re not going to convince him not to do these things. No pressure on Republicans will result in more than the tiniest of crumbs (at least initially). We’re not going to stop him from doing these things just by persuasive tactics or showing that there are a LOT of us who oppose them.The upside down triangle. (What If Trump Wins/Elizabeth Beier)
It will be helpful to have a power analysis in our minds, specifically that’s known as the upside-down triangle. This tool was built to explain how power moves even under dictatorships.
The central tenant is that like an upside-down triangle, power can be unstable. It naturally topples over without anything supporting it. To prevent that, power relies on pillars of support to keep it upright. Casually, the left often focuses on pillars of support that include governments, media, corporations, shareholders and policy makers. Describing the pillars of support, Gene Sharp wrote:
By themselves, rulers cannot collect taxes, enforce repressive laws and regulations, keep trains running on time, prepare national budgets, direct traffic, manage ports, print money, repair roads, keep markets supplied with food, make steel, build rockets, train the police and army, issue postage stamps or even milk a cow. People provide these services to the ruler though a variety of organizations and institutions. If people would stop providing these skills, the ruler could not rule.
Removing one pillar of support can often gain major, life-saving concessions. In response to Trump’s 2019 government shutdown, flight attendants prepared a national strike. Such a strike would ground planes across the country and a key transportation network. Within hours of announcing they were “mobilizing immediately” for a strike, Trump capitulated.
Another example comes from the recently deceased long-time activist Dick Taylor. In his book “Blockade,” he writes about how he and a tiny group changed U.S. foreign policy by repeatedly blocking armaments sent to support Pakistani dictator Yahya Khan. The ragtag crew sent canoes to block mighty military shipments leaving from East Coast ports until eventually the International Longshoremen’s Association was persuaded to refuse to load them. This broke the back of national policy.
For larger system change we have to look outside of recent U.S. organizing. A good place to start is with Waging Nonviolence’s recent interview series with folks sharing key lessons on fighting autocracies and aiming for system change.
In our country, pressuring elite power is reaching its end point. Power will need to emerge from folks no longer obeying the current unjust system. This tipping point of mass noncooperation will be messy. It means convincing a lot of people to take huge personal risks for a better option.
As a “Disrupt and Disobey” person, we have to move deliberately to gain the trust of others, like the “Protecting People” folks. Mass noncooperation does the opposite of their goal of protection — it exposes people to more risk, more repression. But with that comes the possibility that we could get the kind of liberatory government that we all truly deserve.
9. Handle fear, make violence rebound
Otpor in Serbia has provided an abundance of examples on how to face repression. They were young people who took a sarcastic response to regular police beatings. They would joke amongst each other, “It doesn’t hurt if you’re afraid.”
Their attitude wasn’t cavalier — it was tactical. They were not going to grow fear. So when hundreds were beaten on a single day, their response was: This repression will only stiffen the resistance.
This is attitude.
They were also practical. They would follow their arrested protesters to jail cells and insist on making sure they were being treated well. They would target police who beat them up — showing up outside their houses with pictures of the people they beat up. Their call was rooted in the future they wanted: “You’ll have a chance to join us.”
Handling fear isn’t about suppressing it — but it is about constantly redirecting. One activist described to me two motions in the universe: shrinking or expansion. When Donald Trump directs the Justice Department to use sedition charges against protesters or arrest his political enemies like Jamie Raskin or Liz Cheney, what’s our response?
Activist/intellectual Hardy Herriman released a studied response about political violence that had some news that surprised me. The first was that physical political violence hasn’t grown dramatically in this country — it still remains relatively rare. The threats of violence, however, trend upwards, such as this CNN report: “Politically motivated threats to public officials increased 178 percent during Trump’s presidency,” primarily from the right.
His conclusion wasn’t that political violence isn’t going to grow. Quite the opposite. But he noted that a key component to political violence is to intimidate and tell a story that they are the true victims. Making political violence rebound requires refusing to be intimidated and resisting those threats so they can backfire. (Training on this backfire technique is available from the HOPE-PV guide.)
We can shrink into a cacophony of “that’s not fair,” which fuels the fear of repression. Or we take a page from the great strategist Bayard Rustin.
Black civil rights leaders were targeted by the government of Montgomery, Alabama during the bus boycott in the 1950s. Leaders like the newly appointed Martin Luther King Jr. went into hiding after police threats of arrest based on antiquated anti-boycott laws. Movement organizer Rustin organized them to go down to the station and demand to be arrested since they were leaders — making a positive spectacle of the repression. Some leaders not on police lists publicly demanded they, too, get arrested. Folks charged were met with cheers from crowds, holding their arrest papers high in the air. Fear was turned into valor.
10. Envision a positive future
Spend some time envisioning how we might advance our cause. (What If Trump Wins/Elizabeth Beier)
I don’t feel certain, and I’m not predicting we win. But we’ve all now imagined storylines about how bad it might get. We would do ourselves a service to spend an equal measure of time envisioning how we might advance our cause in these conditions. As writer Walidah Imarisha says, “The goal of visionary fiction is to change the world.”
In my mind if Trump wins, we’ll have to eventually get him out. There are two paths available to force him out.
The first: Vote him out. Given the bias of the electoral college, this requires successfully defending nearly all local, state and national takeovers of elections such that they remain relatively fair and free.
Winning via the path of electoral majority has a wide swath of experience and support from mainstream progressive organizations and Democratic institutions. It’s going to be a major thrust.
In my scenario writing I’ve explored what that strategy could look like, including preparing electoral workers to stand against last minute attempts by Trump to change election rules and even stymie the election with dubious emergency orders. They don’t obey — and go ahead with elections anyway.
The second strategy is if he illegally refuses to leave or allow fair elections: Kick him out. That means we are able to develop a national nonviolent resistance campaign capable of forcing him out of office.
I’ve written several versions of this: One where large-scale strikes disable portions of the U.S. economy. If you recall from COVID, our systems are extremely vulnerable. Businesses running “just in time” inventory means small hiccups in the system can cause cascading effects.
Sustained strikes would face deep resistance, but they could swing communities currently on the fence, like the business community, which already is concerned about Trump’s temperamental nature. Trump’s own policies might make these conditions much easier. If he really does mass deportations, the economic injury might be fatal.
In another scenario I explore another strategy of taking advantage of a Trump overreach. Autocrats overplay their hands. And in this imagined scenario, Trump overreaches when he attempts to force autoworkers to stop building electric vehicles. UAW workers refuse and keep the factories running. Eventually he’s unable to stop them — but in the process he’s publicly humiliated.
A very public loss like this can cause what Timur Kuran calls an “unanticipated revolution.” He noted many incidents where political leaders seem to have full support, then suddenly it evaporates. He gives as an example the Iranian Revolution of 1978-79. “None of the major intelligence organizations — not even the CIA or the KGB — expected Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s regime to collapse. Right up to the revolution, they expected him to weather the gathering storm.”
Kuran’s analysis reminds us to look at Trump’s political weakness. Political hacks like Lindsay Graham appear to be sycophants — but if given the chance to turn their knife in his back, they might. This means exposed political weaknesses could quickly turn the many inside Trump’s campaign against him.
That feels far away from now. But all these remain possibilities. Practicing this future thinking and seeing into these directions gives me some hope and some strategic sensibilities.
On the days when I can’t sense any of these political possibilities (more than not), I zoom out further to the lifespans of trees and rocks, heading into spiritual reminders that nothing lasts forever.
All of the future is uncertain. But using these things, we’re more likely to have a more hopeful future and experience during these turbulent times.
Don’t worry, very rarely do I post any movies that are too scary or gory on this page. I mostly enjoy Horror Comedies with creatures in them, so none of these have any real gore, and they all have some amount of humor.
And at the end, I have a couple of bonus shorts on how to survive Horror movies!
Enjoy!
I didn’t think this one was very scary, but it is very weird, and I love the imagination behind it. I also kinda wish this was a real thing. (It probably is on some alternate world!) This video immediately had my imagination fired up with questions on how it would work. People would be out at night fishing, and trying to avoid the predators. The people walking home would be deeply annoyed about the fish on the streets, and you’d have to have insurance for hitting a bit of sea life with your car!
Okay, this one is pretty gory and goopy, but it’s not particularly scary at all. In fact, I find that there’s no situation on Earth that cannot be made weirder by bureacratizing it! This one is also monster friendly with a wholesome ending.
There’s a little bit of gore in this one, but I put it here because this is exactly my type of humor. Check out CrypTV for more of these types of videos, which are not too scary, with lots of personality.
I was a little puzzled about this one until Gregory showed up. Of course this would not have been me because if asked to make room for someone on a plane, I would’ve taken the complimentary whatevers I was offered, and just been late to my vacation spot. This guy chose violence.
Okay, this is one of my all-time favorite videos, featuring an oblivious victim, an incompetent killer, and a twist ending! A lot of suspense and no gore.
I greatly enjoyed this one. There’s a minimal amount of gore, but it makes up for that with a touch of real humor, which I found very satisfying.
Here are some examples of what to do if you find yourself in a potential Horror movie!
Of course, Black people already know all the rules for surviving potential Horror movies. One of the biggest ones is if you see a group of Black people running from something, don’t ask questions, just go wherever they’re going, because chances are, there’s a potential Horror movie about to erupt! If you hear a strange noise, do not investigate it, and if you’re in a group of people, do not split up.
These are not all Octoberween trailers though. These are just a few movies and shows I’m cautiously excited about, or in some cases, very excited about. We’ll see! I always WANT to like the movies and shows I see in the trailers, but as with some things in life, sometimes I am disappointed, and I can’t do anything about that but try to reclaim my time.
I am not one of those Type A personalities that needs to finish something I started though. I have more time behind me than ahead of me, so I do not have time to waste on entertainments that are not entertaining, just because I’m feeling neurotic. I say, if it ain’t working out for you, dump it! Just because you tasted the milk, and found it was sour, does not mean that you need to finish the entire carton.
The Legend of Ochi
I’m not sure what to think of this. I will probably watch this because of Willem Defoe and curiosity. Uh, I got nothing. This is the first I’ve heard about it, but it looks lovely, and I like shows and movies with little helpless creatures, and where little girls go on adventures, so…
The Monkey
NOPE!!! This is probably a big old NOPE from me because there’s this toy monkey in it that looks like pure nightmare fuel, and which I absolutely do not like. Strangely enough, this trailer actually looks like it might be kind of funny, which makes it intriguing. On the other hand, that monkey is very off-putting. Who the Hell would want that in their house?! I did read the Stephen King short story on which this was based, but I have no memory of the events I see in this trailer happening in there, so I guess this movie has been jazzed up a bit for the theater.
The Electric State
I am excited by this one though. I read the book on which it was based, Simon Stalenhag’s Electric State, which is a gorgeously illustrated SciFi dystopian short story. Really, you should check out the book even if you don’t see this. The book however is a lot less action oriented than this movie though. Its a lot more melancholy, chronicling a world in disrepair and settling on its last legs. This movie looks a lot more energetic, probably because the Russo Brothers (Avengers Endgame, The Winter Soldier) are involved, and I’m okay with that. I like their style, a number of my favorite actors are present, and I’m always here to watch giant robots beat the crap out of each other. I hope it’s as good as the trailer wants me to believe, but even if it’s not, there is still the book.
Werewolves
I really, really, really, do not like Frank Grillo, but I kinda want to see this, despite his presence. I just don’t think he’s a very good actor (and I am not impressed by his personal character either). It’s fine if other people like him, but I’m trying to keep my distance. The movie certainly looks energetic, and actually contains werewolves. We will see how I feel once its released.
Apocalypse Z
This seems intriguing, and feels and looks a little bit like World War Z, but without the plot-armored Brad Pitt eating up all the action scenes. It’s an Argentinian movie, and I have learned that when Argentinian filmmakers bring the Horror, they do not hold back. They will put things in Horror movies that Hollywood films will never do. I’ve watched a few Argentinian Horror movies, and I am impressed. I was certainly horrified which, I guess, is the point! I feel like this movie will be successful in horrifying me some more, even though the subject of zombies is getting a bit worn. So far, the only zombie movies that are interesting are the international ones, (although we do have the promise of 28 Years Later coming next year.)
Batman Ninja VS The Yakuza League
The first movie was so over the top and crazy (battling architecture and tiny monkey kaiju), that I immediately fell in love with it. I had no idea there would be a sequel. And you can see the zaniness continues as an actual rain of Ninjas fall out of the sky to attack Gotham, and includes Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Aquaman, in a Japanese version of The Justice League, I’m guessing! I don’t think you need to have seen the first Batman Ninja movie, although you should watch it if you like bizarre (and deeply funny) anime films, and you don’t mind a Japanese re-interpretation of Batman, Catwoman, and The Joker. Of course my favorite character in this mix is the Japanese version of Nightwing, and the funniest character is Damien Wayne as the current Robin, which is odd because I thought he was a “bit of a twat” in the comic books.
So far, I have not gotten tired of seeing how the Japanese view Batman. They tend to see him as a heroic father figure to his many, many children, with a focus on their relationships with each other, an actual detective who is out solving crimes, or just pure nightmare fuel, while American films tend to focus more on the power, strength, and/or psychology of the character. I like all of these interpretations though. I’m not sure where this is one streaming yet, but the first film is now available for free on Tubi.
Wallace and Gromit :Vengeance Most Foul
I always look forward to any new Wallace and Gromit material, although the one with the criminal penguin is my least favorite of their adventures. I’m stil lexcited for this one though as it appears to be a direct sequel to that first adventure (the ridiculous one about the electronic trousers, although really, all of the duo’s adventures are utterly ridiculous). I love that Aardmann Studios have not lost that essential quality they started with of showing the utter silliness behind perfectly mundane people, animals, and their activities.
It looks like a ripoff of The Quiet Place, but I’m curious. I may watch this because I like Anthony Mackie who, even though he is Captain America, doesn’t get enough love. He is always in some interesting projects though and this looks like a fun, scary evening.
Ooh, it’s Spooktober, or as I like to call it Octoberween. Y’all know I will talk about scary topics all year round, but I love October, because Fall, and Halloween is a perfect official excuse to do what I was gonna do anyway!
Let’s start with Phobias.
The SCP has some great anomalies related to phobias. I’m sure that no matter what your phobia is, (if indeed you have any), you will be able to find an SCP that aligns with it. Some of these are very entertaining. I’ve talked about my arachnophobia on here a couple of times, along with my mild case of fear of crowds, fire, electricity, and the rare fear of mobile goops and slimes. Maybe you’ll find one of yours in this listing, (or heck, maybe just develop a new one!)
Here are a good ten phobia related SCPs from the common to the rarest, that need to be secured, contained, or that we need to be protected from:
Elafiphobia (Fear of Deer) – SCP 6448: The Not Deer
Elafiphobia is one of those rare fears you don’t hear too much about, but I know, for sure, that someone out there is afraid of deer. I don’t actually know any people that are afraid of deer but I’m sure they are out there. Most people seem to really like them, or hate them, for chewing up their gardens. SCP 6448 is pretty terrifying however, because it only superficially looks like a deer, and the SCP doesn’t actually know what the hell it is, even though they have captured a few of them.
The Not Deer also comes straight out of Appalachian folklore. The people who live there have some very firm rules about hiking in this cultural and geographic region, which extends all the way from Western New York state, through Kentucky and West Virginia, all the way South, through Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama, and is one of the longest and most grueling hiking trails in the US.
The rules are if you are hiking or walking anywhere in these areas at night, and you hear someone screaming, whistling, calling your name, or just breathing on you: DO NOT RESPOND! If you see one of these semi- humanoid looking, occasionally bi-pedal, deer standing by the side of the road, or in your yard: YOU DIDN’T! Don’t respond to anything you hear, don’t make eye contact, and above all else, if there’s a knock on your door at night: DO NOT ANSWER IT!
If you want to survive the experience, then you must act like it’s simply not there. Exactly what it is they do to people who respond to them, is still unclear, but usually the victims are never seen, or heard from, again. I actually like deer, and I’m creeped out by this one.
Microphobia (Fear of Tiny Things) – SCP 165: The Creeping Hungry Sands
Ooh, if I didn’t have a fear of tiny things, I would understand developing this fear, after hearing about this one. If you didn’t have a fear of sand dunes, you might, after reading about this SCP, that can only be contained using fire.
SCP 165 consists of trillions of tiny mite sized creatures that eat any life forms they encounter. They look like a pile of sand because they like to attach sand grains to their carapaces for some unknown reason. (Disguise?)
You know that reputation that piranha have for rendering an animal down to the bone in minutes, that’s what we’re talking about here. Their saliva contains a numbing agent, so the victims never even know they’re being eaten alive, one itty-bitty, teeny-tiny chunk at a time, since these creatures prefer to attack sleeping animals, and since they look like nothing more than a large sand dune, this is really insidious, especially if you’re one of those people with a deep fear of dust mites.
Arachnophobia (Fear of Spiders)- SCP 632: Intrusive Arachnid Thoughts
If you’ve got even a touch of arachnophobia, or none at all you still have to avoid these little guys at all costs, or otherwise you will become a nursery for their young. SCP 632 are a colony of mite sized spiders that reproduce inside the human brain. When a human being gets close enough to them to sense the chemical triggers they make, or be touched by them, it sets up a chain reaction where the person literally cannot stop thinking about spiders.
A few hours after exposure to SCP 632 the person will start to have headaches, the feeling of spidersilk touching their skin, and find that they can’t stop thinking about spiders. The more they think about spiders the more the tiny balls of spidersilk develop in their frontal cortex. As the spiders grow, they incorporate the skull and brain tissue into its development. This takes about a week. Tapping on the skull releases endorphins that minimize the pain of their growth, but since the skull is being weakened by the growth of the spiders this eventually results in the person fracturing their skull as the pain increases, and releasing the juvenile forms of the creatures.
This SCP is so dangerous that its been documented to have taken out entire towns of people since exposure of one person can mean exposure to everyone else. Any instances of these colonies that are found in the wild are to be killed with fire!
That is entirely understandable!
Pyrophobia (Fear of Fire) – SCP 457: The Burning Man
Frankly. a healthy fear of regular fire is perfectly understandable. In this case, what we have in SCP 457 is a fire being that is sentient and intelligent enough to seek out things to burn. Those of you who have been raised with comic books about The Human Torch, from the Fantastic Four, probably think this is pretty cute, but trust me, sentient fire that can talk, and probably wants to trick you into getting closer to it, so it can use your body for fuel, is not at all adorable.
At first glance this SCP just looks like a man who is on fire, but there is no there there. There’s no body underneath. it is literally a creature formed out of fire, that shrinks or grows based on how much “fuel” it can consume. Not enough fuel and it shrinks to about the size of a matchstick (with the requisite intelligence of one). Adding more fuel makes it grow larger and multiply into extra bodies. Fortunately, any “offspring” are inherently hostile to each other and seek to consume one another to become a larger conflagration. While it can grow large enough to engage in speech, it only has a one track mind (so to speak). Its only desire is to consume, and it will get frustrated and tricky when it can’t.
And how does the SCP keep this creature in check? It’s kept in an airtight room, where it is given very specific amounts of consumable materials to feed on, surrounded by sprinklers, water misters, blast shields, and fire extinguishers.
Uhm..no! Nobody wants a sentient, hostile, talking pillar of fire.
Hydrophobia (Fear of Water) – SCP 1128: Aquatic Horror
I talked about The Aquatic Horror in a previous post. In order to fall victim to this SCP, the person has to be exposed to a full description of it from someone suffering from this bizarre “cognito-hazard”. It manifests itself as a giant carnivorous aquatic creature that the person keeps dreaming/imagining is chasing them, and manifests also as an aversion to submerging themselves in water, and for good reason.
Any person who has heard a description of this creature, upon touching any body of water (no matter its depth0 will find themselves engulfed and fully submerged in the large body of water that contains this creature. Occasionally they will return in a panicked state, although they will become increasingly hydrophobic over time. Most of the time the water they were submerged in will just become polluted with their bloody remains.
Yeah, this will definitely make you think twice about taking a bath, jumping in the pool, or in one memorable case, taking a drink of water!
Dendrophobia (Fear of Trees) – SCP 867: Blood Spruce
I don’t know who is afraid of trees but somebody out there better keep an eye on these guys. SCP 967 is a special version of an Evergreen tree that gives itself away by being bright red, and having no seed cones. What it does have are bright red needles that are like hypodermics. If any animal (including humans) brushes against the tree’s needles, they will be injected with the seeds.
The seeds can lay dormant for almost a month, after which the seeds will begin growing inside the host, causing excruciating pain, as it spreads through their bloodstream, and the pain can last up to 24 hours. No one has ever survived infection. After their death, a tree will burst out of the body, and grow to full size in a month, while consuming the body.
Fortunately, a person can only be infected by touch, and not by spores or anything. Nevertheless, all of these types of trees found in nature are destroyed on sight. I personally love trees, but hey, I live in the city so I also have a very healthy fear o trees falling on my house. I think that’s as close as I get to this particular phobia, that I didn’t even know was a thing!
Maskaphobia (Fear of masks, Costumes, and Mascots) – SCP 3640: Mickey Gone Bad
Now, you may think you don’t have this phobia, that you’re not scared of mascots at all. In fact, you love them and think they’re all so cuuuute! But lemme ask you this, if somebody in a mascot costume, let’s say Mickey Mouse, was standing outside your front door, at 2 o’clock in the morning, would you answer the door? Would you let them in?
I think not!
SCP 3640 are active predators, that lure their prey by sending out brochures to people who like to engage in cryptid hunting, and urban legends and folklore research, in Florida. If you receive a brochure, and then visit the areas in the brochure you will be hunted down by mascots that resemble trademarked images from Florida Disney theme parks.
Now here are the pros and cons. If you have not read any of the brochures, and show up n their hunting areas, you will not be hunted. If you are in a group, and at least one member of your group has not read the brochures, then no one in the group will be hunted. However, if every member of your group (if you’re in a group) has read the brochure, however many members of the group there are, is how many instances of SCP 3640 will show up to hunt your group! They can be found anywhere in the state of Florida, but if you cross state lines while being hunted, they will stop their pursuit.
How are these creatures contained? You flash your flashlights at them, and if they don’t react, you shoot them! Be sure to double-tap (because these fuckers always come back), and when you’re done, incinerate them, just to be sure.
Enochlophobia (Fear of Crowds) – SCP 428: The Crowd
Oooh, as an introvert, this one is pretty scary for me. Crowds! And its especially insidious. In fact, this SCp contains the worst of both worlds. Its a blob of people look-alikes, that consume other people, and its as intelligent as the people it absorbs.
SCP 428 appears to be a cluster about 14 to 15 “people”, at least in its dormant state, where it just stands stil land appears to be asleep, but about once a month, it becomes an active predator that seeks to either lure or hunt new members. It appears to be a small crowd of huddled individuals, but really, these “people” are just shells or husks, extending from a central fleshy hub. If any human being approaches within a few feet of this hub, The Crowd will go into what the SCP calls “a hostile state” and attempt to grab the person and pull them inside. If skin contact is made for more than ten minutes, they will be incorporated into The Crowd. If the person manages to escape their grasp The Crowd will use a variety of tactics, based on the knowledge of its previous people it has consumed, to track them down, consuming every other human it encounters while doing so.
The Crowd can grow to a considerable size, but the SCP carefully controls its growth within the containment facility, by carefully culling parts of it, or feeding it D-Class personnel, once a month.
Yeah, this sounds pretty nightmarish to me. It sounds like a combination of The Thing, and The Blob, only it’s shaped like people.
Automatonophobia (Fear of Human-Like Figures)– SCP 650: The Black Mannequin
Okay, it’s not that I have a problem with dolls. I got a house full of dolls (and even a dress dummy in my bedroom) and I’m quite fond of most of the dolls, teddy bears, and other stuffies, that occupy my home. What I don’t do is place any of these items in prominent places of importance (like over my head) or give them all names. I think that’s just creepy. That said, I do not like the idea of objects that are supposed to be inanimate moving around. Here’s where we get into this SCP.
SCP is a large human sized black statue of some unknown material. It will remain dormant as long as its being observed, but if you take your eyes off it, it will change position, moving itself into a position that’s always behind whoever is nearest to it, (or anywhere within the facility), and taking up a threatening stance, so as to startle the person. Oddly enough, the statue doesn’t actually appear to be hostile, as it has never tried to harm anyone, only startle them. As far as I’m concerned that’s enough! But it will assume other postures that are designed to elicit some kind of emotional reaction from the observer, like unease, or laughter.
Okay, i am creeped out but this is still kinda funny.
According to Doctor —— :
I don’t give a flying rat about the budget; keep this damn thing contained! Turning around in a dim office to see this thing a half-inch away from your nose is guaranteed to take years from your life. And given what we deal with, we don’t have many to spare. -Dr. ███████
Dentophobia (Fear of Teeth) – SCP 4667: Teeth
I Am Become Teeth is the name of this SCP, and it’s considered a Keter Class SCP, that I guess is somewhat difficult to contain. (Remember the classes of SCP, from neutralized to Keter and Euclid, are about how hard or easy the SCP is to contain, not about how dangerous it is.) As of right now, this particular SCP is not contained and believed to be located somewhere near the Baltic sea.
Like Typhoid Mary, this SCP is a person, who incites a specific disease in others, while never suffering fro mthe disease themselves. Her age today is unknown, but when she was first discovered she was around 26 years old. Anyone within a certain radius of her starts growing teeth all over their entire body from any bony structures. The teeth don’t stop growing and this process is always fatal, since the teeth keep growing to perforate organs and grow through the soft palette to pierce the brain.
Okay now, I do not have a teeth phobia (I think that’s an unusual phobia to have), but I know someone out there is has an issue, and I feel for you. This is just kinda nasty.
It’s odd, but I read through the incident reports on this SCP, and I only ever saw that men were affected by it. I don’t know if it’s only because she only spent time around men, or if women were simply not affected.
I know, I know, I’m always so rah-rah about these trailers when I post them, but for real, I am always genuinely excited for these trailers, only to be disappointed by some of them. But hey! all that proves to me is that no matter how much I trust my own judgement, I can’t win them all. Sometimes there will be duds. The reason I don’t often talk about the duds is because I try to remain as positive as possible on this blog, and I sometimes don’t finish whatever it is, even if I tell you I’m going to watch it.
Sometimes I’m just a big fat liar who falls asleep instead of finishing something.
Anyway, this was a great month for releasing trailers for next year’s movies. I’m already starting a list of movies that I say I’m going to watch…and then I won’t! (All joking aside, I will probably see many of these, just probably not in movie theaters.)
Salem’s Lot
Finally! Its here! We’ve been waiting for this trailer for over a year, while the powers that be decided whether or not it was going to be released to theaters or streaming. We finally have word that this is going to be released to streaming during the “Sacred Month” of Octoberween. It’s on Max!
I am cautiously looking forward to this newest version, because Salem’s Lot was one of the very first Stephen King books I ever read, at the grand old age of nine years old. I really like the 1979 version, which I consider a Classic, (note the capital C), and the 90s version is just alright. It’s not my favorite, but it’s acceptable because of the late Andre Braugher. I’m cautious about this one because I’m not too happy about the casting of Ben Mears and Susan, and their acting doesn’t look too great in this trailer. On the other hand Alfre Woodard is there, and I like the little boy who plays Mark.
This movie looks like its doing something a little bit different than the other two films and leaning more into the sections of the book that describe the period when the vampires actually take over the town, and what it was like when that happened, giving this a very 30 Days of Night kinda vibe, which I’m okay with.
This is being released on Oct. 3rd.
Thunderbolts*(2025)
I am cautiously excited about this movie too, since I do know all the characters here. The only character I’m unsure of is Sentry (played by the guy in the pajamas) because I never read any of his comic books. I very distinctly remember reading and liking the Ghost comics, but the character in the movie looks nothing like the one from the books (and her back story is also different), but I do like the actress.
The character I like least is Valentina, because the actress, (Julia Louise Dreyfuss), seems to be acting in an entirely different series than the other characters. She looks happy and carefree, (as if she were starring in another episode of Seinfeld), while all the other characters look serious and troubled.
But I do like most of the actors here, especially the guy who plays Red Guard, and I’m a huge fan of Florence Pugh (Black Widow) and Sebastian Stan (Winter Soldier), but I think I need to see a little more trailer, which I’m sure will happen, since this will not be released until May of next year! I’m going to hold back on having an opinion about the actual movie until I see some more trailers.
Sinners(2025)
If you put one of my favorite directors, one of my favorite actors, my favorite genre, and my favorite monster, all in one big mashup, you will probably end up with this exciting little number from Ryan Coogler, who is finally trying his hand at a full on Horror movie, starring Michael B Jordan. It looks really interesting. I’m always a sucker for Horror movies in unconventional settings, like 1930’s rural America, and it looks like it’s doing that thing where the Horror doesn’t seem to be Black people suffering atrocities inflicted on them by white people, (I don’t have a problem with those movies, but there’s only so many of those that can be made, and Lovecraft Country did it the best), but a Horror story that comes from the character’s decisions, and who just happen to be Black.
Like the movie Us, this doesn’t appear to be a “racism is the real horror” type of film, but a movie which just happens to star a Black cast. The trailer makes it seem like the kind of Horror anyone of any race can identify with, and I hope this does well at the Box Office, next March. Hopefully, white male content creators on social media, will keep at least some of their racist ass-holery to a minimum, and just let people enjoy something, but I’m not holding my breath.
I’m going to see if I can talk my little sister into seeing this with me in the theater.
Shadow Strays
(Aurora Ribero), an assassin is determined to save a child from a crime syndicate, even if it means going against her own mentor …
I know near nothing about this movie, (not even who the cast is), except it’s got a lot of great action scenes, and it’s on Netflix. I’m a sucker for Netflix Martial Arts movies starring women.
Okay, I’m a sucker for Martial Arts movies starring anybody really!
Wolf Man(2025)
This is one of several Werewolf movies released this year. I haven’t watched a single one of them. I will not be seeing this in the theater, (although I wouldn’t take my word for that, as I have lied about seeing movies in the theater before. Who knows?) This looks really intriguing, but it’s just a teaser, and my only hope is that it’s better than that Benicio Del Toro movie that came out a few years back, that was deeply disappointing for me.
Mickey 17 (2025)
This looks like an interesting Comedy/SciFi mashup. I like Robert Pattinson, and this reminds me heavily of the last SciFi clone movie I watched called Moon, which was released in 2009, and starred Sam Rockwell. It certainly looks like it’s covering the same territory, but from a humorous angle. If you haven’t seen that movie i strongly suggest checking it out. Sam Rockwell was a joy to watch.
I will not be seeing this one in the theater…you know what? I don’t know why I keep telling y’all that, because apparently, I can be a bald-faced liar when it comes to seeing movies in theaters. If I find myself watching this bit of silliness in the theater I will definitely let you know.
Mr. Crockett
The actor playing Mr. Crockett looks as if he is having the time of his life, and that alone makes me curious to see this. I do like haunted television stories, and yes, I do blame Steven Spielberg’s Poltergeist. I especially like that this is another show that takes place in a Black community, but that the story doesn’t appear to be just about being Black. It’s just some further craziness the characters have to deal with along with whatever else they’re going through. In other words, the Horror looks like something entirely relatable to lots of different people, (clowns, haunted tv shows, children in danger, etc).
I hope this is good, but then I always hope every show is good.
Skeleton Crew
I have not been watching a lot of Star Wars series. The last one i watched all the way through was Ahsoka. I will start watching them only to lose interest, and come back to it at a later date to find it enjoyable! I suppose I will do the same thing here.
I am a little dubious that this is about kids though. I wonder if that will hold my interest and what Jude Law is doing in here. I’ll check out the first episode, the way I always do, but sooner or later I’m going to lose track of what day it airs and miss the rest of the season, because that is how I operate when I do not have reminders that something is airing on a certain day.
(Although to be fair, I’m not much better when it comes to binge-watching.)
Family Pack
I like those series and movies where people fall out of time somehow, and have to navigate some other era, and I believe this also features werewolves, which is…something different, and stars Jean Reno, whom I’ve been fond of ever since Leon/The Professional. This actually looks kinda fun and even funny, but also vaguely anxiety producing, although I can’t say exactly why. I’m going to give it a try though. Depending on how good it is I may or may not get back to y’all on this. This looks like a cross between Jumanji, and The Brotherhood of the Wolf, though. Leave it to the French to do some bizarre genre mashups.
A lot of the time when I don’t like something I just never mention it again, (although that’s not a hard and fast rule, because there are plenty of shows and movies I liked, that I never talk about here. so…)
Megalopolis
I really love this trailer, and I really like Francis Ford Coppola, but I have absolutely no intention of seeing this in the theater, unless my family’s tastes change between now and next week, which seems unlikely.
Which doesn’t mean I will not end up in the theater looking at this though. It just means I have no plans to do that. I’ve given up planning my movie theater experiences this year, thanks to my nieces and nephew, who have decided they will be making my theater plans for me, from now on! I’m kinda terrified of them, so really, I just take them to see whatever intrigues them. I will go alone if I get a chance, but every time I mention going alone, they get outraged and insist I take them along, or just not go! No, this is not a movie I would ever take them to see.
Alien Earth(2025)
The aliens finally reach Earth I guess, which sounds intriguing, and also terrifying! I think we’ve all been waiting for something like this, and just hearing about it shot my anxiety level up 80%!
Yeah, I’m scared just looking at this teaser. Alien Romulus really did a number on me. I’ll put up the full trailers for this and The Wolf Man when they come through.
Uprising
Hey, another Marital Arts movie that I can watch at home, with some popcorn, on some idle weekend. Got no clue what this is about, but the fight scenes look cool, which is sometimes all that is required.
Gladiator 2
This is a second, longer trailer. I do not agree with the making of this movie. The first Gladiator was well enough, that it needed not a sequel, even if this does star Denzel Washington with an earring! Will I end up looking at this in a theater? I have no idea. I don’t plan on it, because even though I like the actors, I’m not fully onboard, but I could end up there anyway.
Ballerina(2025)
And for all you John Wick fans, which definitely includes me, here is the new trailer for the offshoot, Ballerina. I am really, really, liking this trailer, and very excited for next year’s movies (which also include a new Blade film, I hope), and a couple of the movies on this list.
This trailer makes the movie look like a female version of John Wick. The action scenes are tight, the cinematography is up to proper standards, and it stars some of my favorite people, Ian McShane, Ana de Armas, and of course the Baba Yaga himself, Keanu Reeves. There does not appear to be a set date yet. My nephew really likes the John Wick films, so I will probably see this with him, and hopefully I can talk my niece and little sister into attending, as well.
The Last of Us: Season 2(2025)
Looking forward to this new season. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the last season, especially since I had never played the game, and knew nothing at all about the story. Now, I’m invested in these two characters, and I really like the actress who plays Ellie.
Honorable Mentions:
Seven Cemeteries(10/11)
This looks like some horrible good fun. When a respected tough guy (Danny Trejo) returns home to find his family in danger, he resurrects his long dead gang (thanks to the local Bruja) to fight a brutal Mexican Cartel, some gory wackiness ensues. This looks like a mashup of John Wick and Sean of the Dead!
Scared Shitless
Crazy, horrifying, and obscene. The very definition of toilet humor! When a mutated monster moves into an apartment’s plumbing system, and starts murdering the residents, its up to a local plumber, and his squeamish assistant, to save the planet! Sounds trashy! I love it!
Never Let Go
Halle Berry looking less than her Berry self, two kids in danger, and some vampire/zombie style monsters. Alright! Sounds like Octoberween is gonna be busy for me.
VHS Beyond
I’ve been following this franchise off and on for a while. So far, I’ve liked the last three movies, although one’s mileage, per episode, per movie, may vary. I can’t say I loved all of them, but I liked most of them, with my favorite overall being VHS/85. Nevertheless, I always think these are worth checking out.
This is not a comprehensive list, just a very short list of TV shows I greatly enjoyed this Summer. I watched a lot more TV series than this, but these are the ones I thought deserved mentioning, and would recommend to my friends. I also watched the Fallout series, which I greatly enjoyed, the Roadhouse series, which was just mediocre except for a handful of fight scenes, and Sweet Home Season 3 and Supa-cel, about a team of Black superheroes. I have no opinion on the last two series yet, because I’m not quite finished with them, and I am also currently in the middle of liking Umbrella Academy’s final season. I expect to finish these at some point, but I’ve gotten very distracted and lazy, often falling asleep, rather than watching TV.
But hey, here is a quick list of series I’ve actually finished and enjoyed.
Interview With the Vampire Season 2
If you have not watched the first season of IWTV, (or read any of the books) then you must do so immediately because I’m about to issue some spoilers for both seasons. Normally, I don’t bother people about reading the source material to the shows and movies I watch, but I can say that the first two books of Anne Rice’s Vampire series are very enjoyable, and although there have been some obvious changes to the source material, overall, the series remains very faithful to it. It’s not necessary to read the books but they are still a lot of fun.
Season two takes up exactly where the last season ended, with the introduction of Armand to the present day interview, as Louis’ newest lover, and Louis taking up the narration where he left off, about him and Claudia traveling around 1950s France looking for other vampires. The come across the existence of revenant vampires, and through them, they encounter the Theatres de Vampires, headed by Armand and his second, Santiago.
If you have read the books you know what this part of the story entails, and I won’t spoil it for you (although I urge those of you who have not, to read the first two books. The only questions are not what happens, but how and why.
One of the most pleasant surprises this season was getting to see that very first interview between Daniel and Louis. The guy who plays the younger Daniel (Luke Brandon Field) was a real looker, who can actually act. He was marvelous in the role, and I would love to see him in some other shows or movies! This series has a knack for casting some great actors. The season also had more than a couple of tragic moments and some actual laughs. There was also the greater introduction of the Supernatural Research Group called Talamasca and the character of Raglan James, a major character from The Tale of the Body Thief, the fourth book in the series. If you have read that book, then you know who he is, nd how he is related to Lestat. Although the Talamasca has been introduced through this character, neither this series, nor its compliment, The Mayfair Witches, has introduced the leader David Talbot, someone who is of great importance to Lestat.
Of course there is a lot less of Sam Reid in this season, but that is made up for by the introduction of the young Daniel Malloy, and the new actress who plays Claudia (Delainey Hayles), who is excellent in the role. The events of the novel occur more or less in the order in which they occur in the books, but some of the reasoning is expanded upon, or changed, like how Claudia meets Madeline, how the vampire troupe reacts to Claudia, her role in the theater, her feelings for Louis, and Lestat’s eventual return.
I was dreading the end of the season because I know what happens and I planned to skip that episode, but I was actually able to watch it with a minimum of tears because things don’t happen exactly the way they do in the book, and I’m glad I stayed to the last episode, because there is a genuinely cathartic moment between Louis and Lestat that had everyone in tears, and there was a nice little surprise in the last five minutes between Armand and Daniel.
I think this season was better than the first, which is saying something considering how good that was, and I am really looking forward to the third, which is all about Lestat’s past (as Wolf Killer) from the second book. The first season might have been Louis story but the second is all about Lestat. There’s gonna be some singing, and dancing, and maximum Sam Reid, and I cannot wait!
Exploding Kittens
I recommended this series to a friend of mine, because it’s an utterly absurd little cartoon, about God being sent to Earth in the form of a smart-ass, over it all, white cat, to live with a human family, so he can learn to care about the humans he’s been neglecting. His purpose is to answer their prayers and prove he can be the ruler of Heaven. During his time on Earth, he interacts with the female offspring of Lucifer, (whose own Mom is, hilariously, a little old Black lady from a podunk town, who had a genuine romance with Lucifer), who is the black cat who lives next door. Lucifer’s daughter has been sent to Earth by the demons to show off her corruption skills, and prove she is worthy of ruling Hell, but both Devilcat and Godcat team up, she gets pregnant, and their offspring almost bring about the end of the world.
Along the way, there is some supreme craziness in the form of Godcat’s family, who are loving but dysfunctional, vampire Pugs that have taken over an entire town, the wife of Godcat’s family is a former Special Ops soldier, while her husband is a D&D nerd, the angel’s try to overthrow God and take over Heaven, while in league with the demons…it’s wild. I loved it!
The series is crazy, and I’m, kinda surprised by how much I enjoyed it, since I was a little nervous about watching it. White writers have proven again and again that they have no idea how to be edgy, without racism and misogyny, but the show turned out to be rather wholesome, I genuinely liked all the characters, and I always enjoy extreme absurdism with a heart. If you have some idle time on the weekend, and feel like watching something silly, check this series out.
You should watch this series just to see the episode where the Special Ops trained Mom dukes it out with the vampire pugs to save her daughter, infiltrates Heck (Hell for teenagers) to save her son, the episode where Devilcat meets her Mom, and watching Devilcat and Godcat realize she’s about to give birth to a demonic litter of kittens, after a drunken night out together.
Zaniness will ensue!
John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s in LA
I do not normally watch Talk Shows, but this is John Mulaney. He talked about this in his last Netflix Standup Special, about an interview he gave to Vanity Fair about hosting a Talk Show, and since that Standup Special has been on replay in my house, I thought, “This is John’s big chance!”
This turned out pretty good, and was a lot of fun. It’s done in a conventional style, with various guests who are just regular people who work in LA, along with a standup routine at the beginning, and some shenanigans and skits from John’s comedy friends, in the middle, but John is a somewhat unconventional host, so his guests, who are in LA for some kind of comedy convention, are equally unconventional. There is Hannah Gadsby,the director John Carpenter, Cedric the Entertainer, Pete Davidson, Will Ferrell, John Stewart, Tom Segura, Patton Oswalt, Cassandra Peterson, Beck, George Wallace, and Ronny Cheng. Basically a whose who of modern comedy.
There are only six episodes, but each one has a theme, and an official from the city who is willing to put up with John’s silliness, so they can seriously discuss things like Earthquakes, helicopters, the future of LA, palm trees, and coyotes. My favorite was the one where John’s comedy pals investigate the paranormal, and the one where a different group of friends, (one of whom is George Wallace, who is always deeply funny to me), go on a house tour, in an attempt to buy it.
ScavengersReign
This series is crazy good. The first time I watched this was as a YouTube short film, and then I watched the commentary video about the worldbuilding. If you are a really big Science Fiction fan, I am urging you to watch this series, but first, go check out the short film to see if this is your kind of show. It’s not that it’s Science heavy, because there is actual character development on the show, but for some viewers, it may simply not be their cup of tea. Some really deep thought was put into the series, into the alien environments, and even the characters, as the character’s attitudes are often a reflection of how the planet they’re stranded on reacts to them.
Five characters are accidentally dropped on an unknown planet, and have to learn how to survive on the fly, in an environment that is full of all kinds of bizarre surprises. My two favorites were Azi and Levi. Azi is a very standoffish, no nonsense type of woman who doesn’t make much effort to be close to people, and prefers the company of robots. Levi is her personal robot, and the planet and Levi end up interacting in some very odd and surprising ways that Azi needs to learn how to deal with. Through Levi she learns to meet the challenges she encounters when she comes across another group of stranded people.
The other two characters who were interesting to watch were Ursula and Sam. Ursula is very much a kind of audience stand-in. She approaches life on the planet with a healthy does of fear, but also awe, wonder, and respect. I think this is the reason she is not as badly affected by the events on the planet as some of the other characters. Sam on the other hand has no respect, and is simply eager to hurry up and get off the planet. He never really tries to adjust.
The character who ends up worse off however is Kamen, because his weakness of character is what caused the ship’s crash ,and when he gets to the planet, that weakness of character is what negatively affects the wildlife that approaches him, and still keeps endangering the lives of the other characters.
Then there is a sixth character, the planet itself which is full of so many different life forms, all of them unique looking, and intertwined in much the same way that our own life forms are intertwined on Earth. The creators, the writers built the ecology of this planet with an organic understanding of science, from the ground up, and then dropped some human beings in the middle of it to see what would happen, and it’s fascinating.
This was well worth the watch, and even has an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Animated Program, which I hope means that it will get a second season, since HBO canceled the series. It is currently airing on Netflix, so I hope Netflix, along with the award nomination can revive it.
Doctor Who Season 2024
Ncuti Gatwe (Pronounced Shoot-ee Got-wah, who is Rwandan and Scottish!) was a real joy to watch this season. Since Ncuti is openly gay, and a Theater star, I expected maximum gayness and some singing during this season, and I got all I could wish for. I know it is very popular for fans of the series to complain about the writers and other stuff (not necessarily in a meanspirited way, but in a “I’m not mad, just disappointed”, kind of way), but I’m not that kind of fan. I am peripherally aware of some of the back scenes drama, but I don’t care that much about it. All I care about is whether or not I enjoyed myself this season, and I did. I haven’t had this much fun since Peter Capaldi’s era, and he doesn’t sing.
Of course my favorite episodes involved any episodes where Ncuti was dancing and singing, which includes “The Labyrinth” episode, where some trolls kidnap a baby, which the Doctor and his companion fly to rescue. This, of course, involves some singing. I also liked a lot of the music used in some of the episodes this season. There are a couple of Club night scenes with Ncuti dancing, and even a historical ballroom episode, where Ncuti falls in love with another alien.
Another one of my favorite episodes involved a spaceship full of tiny, intelligent babies being chased by monsters, and couple that were a little more scary, where Ruby (the Companion) is followed around by a woman she can never reach because the two of them must always remain 73 yards apart.
Overall, I thought this was a pretty interesting season, lots of fun, some scares, some great imagery, and seems like one I’d enjoy revisiting, (with the exception of a couple of episodes that just didn’t work for me),when I find the time. I don’t normally grade stuff here, but if I had to, I’d give the season a B+!
Shogun
I talked about this series briefly in another post, and thought I would mention it again to encourage people to see it. Rather than having the entire story told entirely from Blackthorne’s point of view, we get significant insight into the stories, thoughts, and feelings of the Japanese characters involved in the original story. This is how a remake gets done. This is not a one to one remake of the 1980 version, or the book on which this series is based. It very much stands on its own, and can be watched in conjunction with the original television series, as well as read along with the book, without hitting too many snags.
Of course, you have to watch this, if you are a Hiroyuki Sanada fan. He turned in a phenomenal performance, as Lord Toranaga (even though he doesn’t say much and only ever speaks Japanese), and has been nominated for an Emmy this year. (Yay!!!) The show has garnered a WHOPPING 25 Emmy Nominations, and I feel like it deserves every single one of them, from the performances, to the cinematography, we got the full film treatment. This is one of the first Non-English television series to be nominated as an Outstanding Drama.
A second and third season has been greenlit, and its first season is currently streaming on Hulu, so if you find the time, it is worth the watch.
ETA: As of 9/16/24 the Series has won 4 Emmys from last evening’s awards show, and 14 at the Creative Emmys Awards, for a grand total of 18 Emmy awards!
Congratulations!
Rings of Power
I was dubious about watching this series, because when I started watching the first season it was so slow, and it was hard to keep track of all the characters. Now, I do not normally watch High Fantasy, Tolkien-adjacent, shows and movies, ( It took me a really long time to get into Game of Thrones, and I have not bothered watching House of the Dragon. I’m simply uninterested.) But I will watch things that are actually based on Tolkien stories, and I have read a lot of the Appendices to LOTR, and different parts of The Silmarillion, so I do understand that the Rings of Power takes place during the 2nd Age, which is after the defeat of Morgoth, during the rise of Sauron, but since the series moves so slowly, and has so many characters and moving parts, its hard for me to see the connections to what I know about this age, and how it all ends (with the first defeat of Sauron by the last alliance between Elves and men.)
I skipped some of the first season because I simply wasn’t feeling it, although I did watch the first two and last two episodes. I was also having some trouble with the dialogue. I do not like the Elves very much (they’re a bunch of pretentious sticks, and I understand why they are like that, but still), but I did like the Harfoots and Dwarves. I was mostly uninterested in anything the humans were doing. Basically, I’m saying your mileage may vary, even if you are a fan of the Histories of Middle Earth.
I was urged by a friend though to keep watching, to try to get into the second season, and I trust her judgement, and I have tried. I have watched the first and second episodes of this season, skipped the third episode, but genuinely enjoyed the fourth, which introduced the Entwives, Tom Bombadil, and the barrow-wights, and the overriding theme of this episode seemed to be the sharing of historical events and an attitude of “We are all really, really, old and remember the world before the rest of you showed up, so we know things.” I still do not like the actress playing Galadriel, and I think the actor playing Elrond looks funny, and I can’t seem to get past either of them.
But I want to like this show and it’s not bad. It’s just really slow.
I will try to watch the other episodes this season because I do find the plot more or less intriguing. We’ll see.
There are also a handful of shows I’d like to recommend, which I have not been watching, (because I do not have time) but I like them anyway, and think they are great shows that should be supported, and because they have such wonderful trailers. These are:
The Bear – I’m not watching this, but I heard it was a great show, and I’ve seen a few excerpts. I’m not watching this because I used to work in a food service job, and I’m not that nostalgic for that part of my life, and the show (and the way of life depicted) holds no mystery for me. I like the couple of characters I’ve seen, but most of the time, I just feel stressed.
Fargo – I started watching this a couple of seasons ago, and it really is very good, but I have not watched the latest one. Someday, I’ll get around to it.
True Detective: Night Country – I love Jodie Foster and I was intrigued by the premise of this season. I have watched all the other seasons, so I expect to watch this season at some point this year, since it, too, is on my Watchlist.
Reservation Dogs – Taika Waititi has become one of my favorite directors. I just finished the gay pirate series he produced, and I heard he wrote and produced this semi-comedic series about Indigenous teenagers navigating reservation life.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith – I have only ever seen the trailers for this series, but I keep hearing about how good it is. I like Donald Glover, and the show has won some Emmy noms, so I may check this out, but I’m making no promises.
Barry – I watched the first two seasons of this, which started off kind of slow, but then once I got captured by one episode, I simply kept going. i was intrigued becasue I liked Bill Hader from SNL, and sometimes comedy actors can surprise you with their dramatic range. Also I missed seeing Henty Winkler doing stuff onscreen. The series is very good, occasionally intense, and sometimes morbidly funny, about a hitman who wants to be an actor.
I watched a lot of movies this Summer, so this list does not include everything. These are just the movies that made the shortlist. Most of these I enjoyed, but there are a couple of them that are, let’s say, either just not for me, an acquired taste, or just plain bad. I try not to rank the things I watch by numbers ( mostly because I don’t think of them in terms of numbers), nor will I tell you what to watch. I just want to throw some titles out into the atmosphere that I spent time watching, and thought was worth the spending, and if you have the time, you could check out any of these that appeals to you.
In A Violent Nature
The only way to describe this movie is: Friday the 13th meets Terrence Malick. I know some people really like Malick, (I’ve seen several of his films and enjoyed all of them), and some people really like the Friday the 13th films, but I don’t know how much overlap there is in that Venn Diagram, although I suspect it’s just two circles that aren’t even in the same room with each other.
This is a very unusual Art House/Slasher mashup. There is no score, for example, just diegetic sounds, occasionally some screaming, and most of the run time is spent hovering just behind the killer. There is no character development or story. The plot has been stripped down to only what the viewer needs to know, if that. There is a lot of gore, and one of the deaths (a girl doing yoga) is deeply disgusting (but non-sexual), and you should be aware of that, (do not watch if squeamish). It’s a very gory movie, with practical effects, but the way this movie is filmed makes all the deaths seem like an afterthought, not the focus.
This is an example of what’s known as Slow Cinema: Slow cinema is a genre of art cinema characterized by a style that is minimalist, observational, and with little or no narrative, and which typically emphasizes long takes. If you are a fan of gorgeous cinematography, and don’t mind watching some literally mindless killing, then take a look at it. I really like slow, quiet films, so I had no problem watching this, (I found it meditative) and its definitely going on my Favorites of the Year List.
The Boy And The Heron
This is Hayao Miyazaki’s last film and it’s utterly spectacular. I’d been waiting to see this all Summer, the moment I heard of it. Of course the animation is gorgeous, and the story probably will remind you of other Miyazaki stories. There is a typically disgruntled pre-teen, whose parents are absent, for reasons, who learns a valuable lesson about life, by going on an adventure in a strange land, adorable little squishy creatures, a bad guy whose just doing what’s necessary to save his people, a gruff, no-nonsense woman with a heart of gold, and a pack of grandmas.
After Mahito’s mother dies in a bombing, he goes to live in the countryside, with his father, his father’s pregnant new wife, Natsuko, and the various people who live at her estate. He encounters a talking Heron that tells him his mother is still alive, and that only he can save her. After entering a special tower, he is spirited away to another world, that’s in crisis. The usual themes abound, bad guys that aren’t really bad, ecology, greed, familial duties. But basically, if you loved Spirited Away, Totoro, and Ponyo, you will like this.
Madame Web(Netflix)
I was deeply curious about this movie, especially since so many people trashed it. My immediate knee jerk reaction in the past ten years is to watch any movie that heavily stars women and PoC, to determine for myself just how good it is, since the internet cannot be relied upon to be honest about that (although, tbh, I have never let other people’s tastes dictate what I find entertaining). I have discovered that a lot of film reviewers on YouTube, for example, are either just bandwagon-jumpers who are full of shit, just hate women and PoC (because there are no white men in the movie to latch onto for their power fantasies), hate having fun, or maybe the movie just wasn’t their cup of tea (although they never simply say that).
This movie isn’t nearly as awful as everyone made it out to be. I have seen much worse comic book films than this, like Morbius, any of The Crow sequels, or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Frequently , I have seen people take one line out of a movie and cite that as the reason the film is the worst one of the year. Well, one or two cringe lines is not enough to make me write off an entire film.
This movie was just okay. I liked the action scenes, the acting is fine, and the dialogue is mostly unremarkable. There are a couple of annoying moments, where I wanted to slap the main character for being unlikeable, a couple of plot points and some dialogue could have been better written, but the action scenes were fine and there was a level of suspense that kept me engaged. I liked the three girls that the main character (Madame Web) was trying to save, but the villain (Ezekiel) is not very much like the book character. There were a couple of exasperating moments, but they were not bad enough to make me stop watching. I think maybe the worst thing about it is if you had high expectations for this movie, because of its Spiderman adjacent side characters, and then it turned out to be mediocre.
Its not a great film, but its also not that bad (although it’s not even in the worst Spiderman movie’s league). I watched it on an idle Saturday evening and I thought it was kinda fun. I don’t know that I’ll watch this again, but I could, on another bored Saturday afternoon.
Quiet Place: Day One(Paramount+)
This is a movie that is one of my favorites of the year, not because it was so great, but because it was a family affair. I can’t go to the movies with my Mom anymore, so I’ve been asking other family members to accompany me to some of the more thrilling films, and my youngest sister, and her kids, has obliged me a couple of times this Summer. I had already made a habit of seeing movies with her kids, but I’ve decided I like watching movies with her, and I know she likes to have an occasional break from work.
The four of us have chosen to go to Monday matinees because they have discount tickets, I sometimes have Mondays off work, and the baby is in daycare then. So we went to see this on a rainy Monday afternoon, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We ate too much popcorn, drank too much soda, got scared at all the right moments, and my sister “GOT” the movie (and said it was enjoyably scary). One of the reasons I didn’t have to explain, is she didn’t see the two preceding films, which sort of helped. I understand some people got confused by comparing this film to the first two.
I think some people got confused by the idea of it being a prequel, and some people thought it was the antithesis of the other two film’s themes, but I disagree. I thought there was a clear thematic progression from this film, to the following films.
Lupita N’yongo is a cancer hospice patient, who makes an effort to survive the first day of the invasion of the Death Angels, with a lost Englishman, and her support cat, in tow. The three of them have various adventures, as she insists on visiting her old home, going to a play, and getting a particular slice of pizza, something she used to do with her late-father, when she was a little girl. The movie was very suspenseful, but also a lot more melancholy than I expected, and Lupita carries most of the film, and turns in a lovely and moving performance.
Louise By The Shore(Tubi)
This is another one of those Slow Cinema animations, which I actually enjoyed, and is exactly what the title is about. The basic plot: The elderly Louise misses the last train back to the mainland, and gets left behind, all alone, on an island vacation resort. The film mostly consists of Louise wandering around, sitting on the beach, (with a left behind stray dog), and her voiceover, where she reminisces about past visitations to this same beach, her family, her romances, and whether or not she should accept her death. This is another movie that’s just not for everyone, because it is a very quiet, meditative, and melancholy film, with lots of long takes, almost no plot to speak of, and little character development. Louise doesn’t reach some grand existential point, and ends the film much as she began it, and spends most of her time contemplating her past, coming to grips with her shortening existence, or trying to find food.
The movie is in French, and that title is “Louise in Winter”, but I listened to the movie in English, because Tubi didn’t offer me the French option. it probably sounds like a much deeper film in French.
Infested
This is another French film, about a young man with an affinity for spiders, who buys an unknown spider, that’s been smuggled into the country illegally, and loses track of it, until it, and all of its many, many, offspring take over the apartment building in which he, his drug dealing friends, girlfriend, sister, and some nebulous enemies, all have to survive. The film is in French, and gives off some serous Attack the Block vs Arachnophobia vibes. I liked it okay, but mostly because it kept reminding me of better phobia films. I was satisfied with the ending though.
Normally, I would say this is definitely not the film to watch, if you have spider fear, but really, it wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be, although I probably am not going to give this multiple viewings. It’s not a great film, but it’s also not too bad. It delivers on the suspense, and it will definitely “bother” you if you have spider fear, but at the same time it doesn’t have that “ick” factor that made me want to stop watching it. It’s also a little too predictable to be scary. There isn’t enough character development for me to be worried about most of the people here, and many of them exist just to be killed. The movie does have some fun and very thrilling moments, but if I managed to sit through the whole thing without getting too wigged out, I think most other people can sit through this too.
Alien Romulus(Amazon)
I thought this movie was genuinely scary although not in the same way that the original film was scary. The original movie can almost be called Slow Horror, and this movie is a little bit more dynamic. I like the director, Fede Alvarez though, and the two primary characters, although I think there was just a bit too much reliance on the tropes of the previous films. That said there are several truly thrilling moments that had me sitting on the edge of my seat ,but not enough of those moments to make this a Classic. It’s a good, solid film. Let’s just say, I liked this more than Prometheus, even though, just like in that movie, most of the characters except for the two leads, are either hatred inducing, or just not memorable.
It is interesting in that it starts off as a heist movie, with a motley crew of perishable young adults, trying to steal some salvage from a wayward space station, owned by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. In line with their bad ethical choices, they end up paying for it with their lives, when they run afoul of the actual Aliens. The most interesting character for me was Andy, an android that the main character, Rain, salvaged, reprogrammed, and adopted as her brother. I thought this was an interesting relationship that I hadn’t seen before, except for Bishop, in Aliens. All the other androids we’ve encountered, in the franchise, have all been unfriendly, or indifferent.
I don’t know if it’s on purpose that Andy comes across to the audience as Neurodivergent, and this is yet another Black actor doing that. (It doesn’t happen often enough for it to be a trope, but it is interesting that Hollywood has started casting Black actors in these types of roles, like the TV series, The Other, and the recent Power Rangers remake). It’s not bothersome, but as someone who is very probably on the Au Spectrum, it is notable.
I couldn’t get my family to see this in the theater with me, so I just rented it from Amazon, which frankly, was a lot cheaper than the theater, and just as effective. I don’t know if this will end up on my favorites list this year, but it did what it promised to do, which was scare the crap out of me, and except for the ending, (which made me roll my eyes), I enjoyed it a lot.
Pearl
I was surprised I enjoyed this movie as much as I did. I went into this not knowing very much about it, other than it was kind of like a serial killer film, and now I’m a huge fan of Mia Goth. I was already liking her from her roles in Suspiria and Infinity Pool. When I finished this movie, I sat down to watch X, and next week, I’ll check out Maxxxine. She is so weird and quirky in her acting style, and I’ve been led to believe that she wrote part of this film.
There are some great scenes in this movie. One of my favorites is the devastating monolgue that Pearl gives to her friend in the film, after being encouraged to bare her soul to her. She bares just a little too much, and her friend gets really uncomfortable. As a viewer, I was uncomfortable. Pearl is not an easy character to be comfortable with, and I guess that’s the point, because she does some very odd things, like killing animals and making out with a scarecrow. Pearl is extremely desperate to get out of the rural cage in which she feels trapped, where she waits for her husband, who has gone off to fight in WW1, has to care for the various farm animals, and bathe her paralyzed father, all while trying to avoid her mother’s judgmental eye. Several opportunities present themselves for her to get out, but once they fall through, Pearl simply gives up. It also doesn’t help that she is a fickle psychotic. Nevertheless, Mia sells this character so well that the viewer really starts identifying with her.
This is how you write a sympathetic villain.
Pearl is definitely going on my Favorites List even though it was released two years ago.
HellHole
This is a ridiculous movie. I was eager to see this based on the trailer. The trailer is rather deceptive because it leads you to believe this movie is more serious than it is. It does have its serious moments, but that’s just because the characters, thankfully, play everything completely straight. It’s the premise that is absurd.
A crew of miners or oil drillers stumble across the body of a man buried in the ground, who is miraculously still alive. It turns out that he is the host of some type of alien parasite, that violently enters the body of any new host by finding any orifice it can reach, and burrowing in. And I do mean any orifice! I know it sounds like something from The Thing, except this alien isn’t as smart or competent, and neither are its hosts.
This is not a laugh a minute type film. It’s more of a quiet chuckle, eye roll, type of movie, where the characters are meant to be dumb, and don’t have any real character development beyond having first names, and a brief job description. I don’t hink I will watch this again, but it’s a silly film that might appeal to someone, so I’m leaving this here.
Next up, I’ll give some mini-reviews to a handful of TV series that I’ve watched.
The SCP Archives is well known for its many horrors. Although there are just as many anomalies in that universe that are good, beneficial, and sometimes just boring or benign, it’s the horrors of that world that seem to interest people the most and there are plenty to choose from. The most horrifying for me are the Body Horror SCPs. There are some truly horrifying anomalies that are capable of twisting and corrupting the human body, or just making your existence deeply uncomfortable.
Here are some of the most horrible SCPs dealing with the human body. Take note, some of these are truly disgusting!
SCP Proposal 001: When Day Breaks
This SCP isn’t an object but series of a stories involving a horrifying event. For reasons unknown, the sun goes into overdrive, and anyone caught out at that time gets melted into a sentient, sticky, red goo! This goo retains the minds of the people they once were, and they go on to hunt down other human beings to consume and incorporate them. Think of this event as a mashup of vampire lore and the movie The Thing.
Most of the horror of this event arises out of descriptions of the melting bodies, that the people affected by the event are aware of the destruction of their bodies, seem to be happy about it, and work to consume every one else who was unaffected. Some of the best stories involve the reactions of other SCPs, like The Shy Guy and Indestructible Reptile, and those are well worth a read. Contributing to the horror are the reactions to those who survived it, the seeming loss of their loved ones (who are not entirely dead) and the constant onslaught against these victims, who can only go out at night.
Imma keep this a hunnert and tell you that this is not one of my favorite SCPs. Not becasue its a bad one, because I’ve mentioned this one at least a couple of times, but becasue I got issues about sentient slime monsters. Believe it or not, some things are too scary, even for a Professional Horror fan like me.
SCP 150: The Prosthetic Parasite
One upon a time, my Mom and I rescued a little puppy we saw in the streets. We took him home, bathed him, and tried to quarantine him to the basement. We were unsuccessful at that because we still ended up with a flea infestation that required, washing all the bedding clothes on both floors, vacuuming every rug in the house, and mist bombing the entire four story structure, from basement to attic, over a couple of days. I remember me and my little sisters felt miserable, because of all the damn itching, but I still can’t imagine living with something like this.
SCP 150 is a giant, louse-like, parasite that infests a human body, and starts eating the part it has infested. As it does that, it excretes a shell-like material that replaces the lost tissue, thereby slowly transforming the person’s arms and legs, one at a time, into extra strong, insectoid, appendages, which sounds vaguely superpower-ish, because they can control them, but I don’t think it’s actually of any benefit at all, and it’s just gross!
While that’s happening though, the parasite is also laying plenty of eggs that distribute itself throughout the person’s entire body, including the brain, all other soft tissues, and vital organs, and they get to eating. The host is usually undisturbed by this knowledge, and in some cases, seems to welcome it. They eventually expire, of course, and autopsies show that their entire body is riddled with tiny versions of the initial infectious adult. They basically became a giant hive for this bug and its offspring.
SCP 149: The Blood Flies
I’ve always been wary of getting mosquito bites, but after reading this SCP…
When I’ve gotten insect bites in the past I was simply miserable with scratching. My mom used to put this pink ointment all over the bite, when I was a kid, and that mostly worked to keep me from going crazy, (or driving her crazy, I guess). I don’t know if mosquito bites have become more potent over the years, or if I’m just more allergic to them, but the last time I got a mosquito bite, it looked like my entire lower arm swelled up!
And now, here’s SCP 149, which is a mosquito that carries a virus that, once it infects a human host, makes the person’s blood turn into flies. So they get bit, and it mutates their blood into eggs, which are attached to the lining of throat, and inside the nose, which hatch, and start issuing from the mouth and nose, and horribly enough, the eye sockets. This doesn’t happen over several days, but in a matter of hours, so by the time the victim knows there’s anything wrong, it’s already too late.
Naturally, the effect is fatal, but by that time, one would probably be wishing for death!
SCP 027: The Vermin God
For me this SCP was especially horrifying. Imagine being constantly surrounded by clouds of flies and gnats, or never being able to rest because of the presence of the sheer numbers of bugs, lice, spiders, ants, wasps, and even mice, rats, and other types of pests. You don’t possess the ability to control any of these creatures. It’s not a superpower. No, you’re just constantly surrounded by all these creatures that are drawn to any place you are, within minutes of your arrival, bother only you, and if you sit still long enough, will eventually kill you. And yeah, the mice and rats will attempt to nest in or on you, and the flies and other insects will lay eggs and attempt to make homes in any crevices…you get the picture.
Ugh!
SCP 027 isn’t actually the pests themselves though. It’s a reference to the force or energy that attracts them to specifically to you, but only if you remain in one place for any length of time, so you have to keep moving. But everybody has to sleep. After you’ve expired, this force will move on to the next closest person, and they will start to attract pests. And not only can this not be countered, the SCP doesn’t even know what it is. They can’t measure it or see it. The only way to know that it’s happening by its effect. All they can do so far is contain it and try to exert some control over who the next host might be.
If you’re affected by SCP 027 you probably don’t have long to live, because once you stop moving, even just to rest, you would be overwhelmed. But then, who would want to live like that?
SCP 1046: The Man House
This is one of the stranger SCPs, because it’s a man, named Rodrigo Molina, whose body has been converted into parts of the apartment in which he used to live. He used to be a Barista, so when the SCP contained the the entire building, they converted the anomalous apartment into a kind of café, where employees are encouraged to go get coffee, and interact with him at least twice a day. Yes, he is still awake and aware, even though his body has been separated into many different parts, which are connected and melded to the walls, floors, and furniture of the apartment. He apparently enjoys having visitors and casual conversations.
I’m not sure what to make of this one. Its a very strange event with not a whole lot of information attached. The SCP wiki doesn’t mention how this happened or why, although Rodrigo does say he was terrified that he was about to be kicked out of his apartment, and didn’t want to leave. He is completely harmless, has full control of all of the apartment amenities, such as the stove, faucets, and TV, and enjoys making Caramel Lattes for SCP personnel.
I prefer Mocha Lattes, myself.
SCP 2484: Parasitic Mayonnaise
Oh, this one is probably gonna make at least a couple of you upchuck. I know it makes me feel sick, mostly because I just hate mayonnaise. (I got texture issues.) But hey, if you got Worm Fear, this works too.
SCP 2484 is considered a Safe object, since it is pretty easily contained. Remember, the dangerousness of the object, event, or person, is based on how easy it is to keep it in check. Well, there’s nothing more easily kept in containment than a jar of mayo. It ain’t going nowhere! For this SCP, things start to go wrong when a certain amount (more than 5 grams) is removed from the jar and ingested by any type of animal. The mayo itself will also creep about, seeking out small animals to swallow, or try to get itself into some type of food item (usually a liquid), if more than this amount is taken out of the jar, but not eaten.
If this SCP can’t find its way into a host by mouth, than it will try to get in through any orifice, including the eyes, nose, open wounds, or just lathering itself onto the skin and pushing itself inside. If enough of it is ingested, or finds its way into a host, it mutates the host body into manifesting tiny worms, that will then begin to EAT THE HOST! After the worms eat the host, they will eat each other until only one large one is left, which dies after a few days.
So yeah, you will be eaten from the inside-out by mayonnaise worms!
Lovely!
SCP 610: The Flesh That Hates
This one is truly disgusting because it’s like a cross between the Blob and the Thing. This SCP is kind of extraterrestrial in origin. Not from outer space but from some other dimension and its always seeking to establish a foothold in this one. The only thing holding it back is the existence of the SCP. The SCP discovered its existence after it staged an incursion in some remote area of Russia. It took over most of the population, and converted most of the wildlife, as a result this is a Keter level SCP. Hard to contain.
This is another slimy SCP that takes over the human body via infection, like a virus, and melts it into a goop. I’m not entirely sure what happens to the intellect of the person who gets taken over, but its not like the first Daybreak SCP, where they seem sentient in the aftermath. This seems a lot more like The Thing, except it doesn’t mimic the Host, it just consumes it and integrates the Host into itself. The SCP sort of deals with it the same way though, burning it.
Yeah, y’all know I hate this one too.
SCP 439: The Bone Hive
The Bone Hive is one of the more famous SCPs, probably because it’s truly a disgusting horror, and is once again, another insect related SCP. It sounds incredibly painful too, because during the initial stages of infection, it causes chest pain, shortness of breath, and abdominal cramps. As the infection progresses, the Host will develop a fever.
SCP 439 will only infect humans, and reject other lifeforms. It is a very small insect, about the size and shape of an earwig, and will lie in hiding until the person falls asleep. It then crawls in through the mouth and immediately starts building a nest for its colony by spurring new bone growth. Normally, this is a genetic disease called Ossificans Progressiva, which occurs over several years, but in this case, the bone growth occurs so rapidly, that the victim is rendered immobile within 24 hours. In several days the person is completely immobile, and in excruciating pain, with new bone spurs ripping out of the skin. The insect also takes over the Hosts brain and compels them to seek out a dark isolated spot inside a cabinet or a closet.
Over time, the person becomes a giant egg shaped shell, anchored in place, with the bones curving around to protect the new ant-like insect hive growing within it. Once this stage is complete, the Hive will begin utilizing the Host’s body for food, eating some of the internal organs, using some of them as larval chambers, and using the digestive system to make food for its larva. This entire ordeal will only be finished when a new Queen is born, and all of the insects either exit the Hive, or starve inside it.
During most of this, the person is still, more or less, alive, since the brain is mostly left intact so that the autonomic functions can continue, until the person finally dies of starvation, when the cycle is complete, and the new Queen flies off to find a new Host.
Why are so many o of these insect SCPs? Ugh!
SCP 679: Eye Rot
I don’t know how to say this, but this is one of my favorite SCPs, because it’s so icky! It’s giving me Last of Us vibes, and that was such a good show, that I like making the connection between the two. Plus, I think mushrooms are pretty, just not when they’re growing out of somebody’s face.
SCP 679 is a fungal infection that was first discovered among the homeless population in the US. It takes up residence in the person’s eye sockets, usually through direct contact, and makes a person’s eyes rot from the inside out. Once it reaches a certain stage, it renders them blind and becomes mobile, but IT can see on its own, and can direct its Host to get closer to those it senses are uninfected. The wormlike tendrils from the “eyes” can stretch as far as 20 to 30 cm, if you get close enough to them, and this really does remind me of the TV series, except the victim’s brain is still mostly intact, and the fungus will drive them, via hallucinations of tilted floors, fire, or even dangerous animals, into the personal space of the uninfected.
As someone who wears glasses, and is allergic to everything, I don’t really have much opinion about this, beyond EWW!
I’m Not gon’ lie. When I first heard about this movie I thought it was going to be one of those wishful thinking/fake trailer type things. Over time, I came to realize this was, in fact, a real movie, despite the fact that half the cast was dead by the end of the original film. Oh well!
Anyway, I’m looking forward to watching this, but I probably will not see this in the theater. I like that Denzel Washington is in here, channeling his villainous persona from Training Day, and Pedro Pascal is always fun to watch no matter what he’s doing. In the past five or six years, Pedro, along with, of all people, Ryan Gosling, have become two of my favorite actors.
Captain America new World Order
I’m trying to be positive here and love on these movies, while bracing myself for the inevitable backlash (from the usual bigotry) because the creators of this movie dared to hire some Black and Hispanic people for some work! Okay, here goes.
This movie actually looks pretty promising, and harkens back to the old days of Captain America Winter Soldier, just a bit, with some real life adjacent politics added. It is very nice seeing Giancarlo Esposito and Harrison Ford in this. I will be seeing this one in the theater next year because my nephew and I have an agreement, and so far we have a pretty good track record of seeing all of the MCU movies in theaters.
Time Bandits
This actually looks like fun.
I was not really a huge fan of the original Time Bandits, although I understand there are a lot of people out there with a lot of love for it. I watched it, and it was fun, ( I remember liking the cast and the special effects) but I didn’t fall in love with it. This is not an all star cast, and its a TV series, which involves an investment of time I may not be willing to engage in.
However, I do not subscribe to Apple TV, so I will not be watching this, unless something changes between now and its release date, (like me happening upon some extra money or something).
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In
I love Action movies that just lean into how crazy they are and this seems like a good candidate for a zany Martial Arts/GunFu, Action Comedy! It looks like a cross between Kung Fu Hustle and John Wick, which is truly saying something. I will be watching this one at home because there’s not a single theater in my city that will be playing this hilarious nonsense.
Terminator Zero
Ooh, I love this already. I love robot anime, and vintage SciFi stories, (yes, this counts) that are set in Japan, with a new cast. It will be interesting to see how some other part of the world handled Judgement Day, and the rise of the machines.
Joker: Folie A Deux
Okay, I’m in.
I was very surprised at how much I really liked the first Joker movie, especially considering all the controversy surrounding it. I normally avoid those types of films, because it’s hard to have an authentic opinion on them, and everybody and their grandma voiced their dislike of it. But I genuinely enjoyed it (especially that Robert DeNiro/Mean Streets vs. King of Comedy vibe), and have watched it multiple times.
I was dubious about watching this sequel because I thought the first movie was a one and done, and I thought perhaps the inclusion of Harley would make the film lean into the sillier side of things, but this movie doesn’t seem to be doing that, and maintains much of the mood of the first one, while also adding a gritty 80s drama vibe.
I like the seriousness of the film, especially for characters that are usually treated as over the top and silly, and I’m finally starting to take Gaga seriously too, since I’d not paid much attention to her before. This looks alright.
Okay, there’s this thing on YouTube where people will make fake trailers for movies that are never gonna happen and do not exist, and its beyond frustrating, because now I have to carefully vet which channels are real movie trailer channels, and which ones are just speculating. One surefire tell for me is whether or not the trailer is for a sequel to a movie or character that was wildly popular ten years ago, and if the trailer just looks like wish fulfillment, like another Iron Man 4. Trust me if there was going to be another Iron Man with Robert Downey Jr. we would never hear the end of it! That news would be everywhere.
It helps that I’ve watched so many movies (especially almost all of the MCU films) that I can easily tell when footage has simply been recycled. Also, are there any PoC in the trailer? I noticed that the guys who make these fake trailers never think to put women of color in any them, so they often look like wish fulfillment ideas of the good old days, before Black actresses were invented. These new trailers often completely ignore the existence of the new characters (and sometimes even roles) played by PoC, and sometimes even the old ones, for example Ive not seen a single fake ass trailer for Black Panther, or The Marvels 2. After a while it becomes pretty clear that what the makers of these trailers are actually wishing for, the good old days when all the heroes were white men (and the sidekicks were Black men.)
The Beast Within
We don’t often get good werewolf movies. I mean there have been a few in the past ten years, but it’s still nice to see this particular monster make a mainstream comeback. There was a movie earlier this year, called Blackout, which looked promising, but I haven’t watched it yet, and there is another one coming out later this year called Werewolves. Personally, I prefer the more artsy style movies like the French film, Animals or the forthcoming What Remains of Us. I am only mildly curious about this one, but I always hope these films are good. The last werewolf movie I really enjoyed was Wolf of Snow Hollow, a very dark and gory comedy. I also watched last year’s Werewolves Within. I enjoyed it, more or less, but your mileage may vary on that one.
Sweet Home Season 3
I’m really looking forward to this next season, since I really enjoyed the first two. The novelty of people surviving a monster apocalypse, while hoping they don’t become actual monsters, hasn’t worn off yet. I love the monsters in this series, which are highly imaginative, and genuinely terrifying, and the story and characters aren’t too bad, either. It’s a fun Saturday afternoon binge or a scary Friday night, leave-the-lights-on, watch. I truly, genuinely, love Horror movies and shows, but I still mostly watch these things in the daytime!
Venom: The Last Dance
I am a huge fan of superhero (and adjacent) movies that just lean into the craziness of the experience. Superheroes are, by nature, patently absurd, and I love it when the plots and characters just know this, and run with it. The Venom series was like that from the very beginning. It doesn’t hurt that Tom Hardy turns in a great performance as both characters.
That said, I think some of the best superhero movies ever made are the comedies like the first Spiderman trilogy, the last two Thor movies, and the Suicide Squad remake. I’m looking forward to the craziness of the Venom franchise again this Fall.
Tokyo Cowboy
One of the more intriguing little Indie films to be released in 2024 is this little East/West gem of a mashup. Movies about the clashes between the Eastern and Western cultures, along with fish out of water themes, always gets my butt in a seat, and it doesn’t hurt that I immediately liked the hapless lead character.
The Penguin
I’m not sure if I want to watch a Crime series, (mostly because I just don’t find the intricacies of criminal politicking especially interesting) but I genuinely liked The Penguin from Reeves Batman movie, as played by an unrecognizable Colin Farrell. He’s always a great actor to watch, so I may just end up doing something I almost never do, which is actually sitting down to watch a Crime show that is NOT a documentary.
Project Silence
This is one of those obscure Korean Horror movies that I will probably never see or hear of again. It seems interesting, if a bit claustrophobic. It does look like a deliciously anxiety producing movie to watch on some dark October night. I will be watching this in the daytime!
Those About To Die
This is another series Im not sure about. Several times this year, I’ve started series I thought I would finish, and then I didn’t. This may end up being another casualty of my lack of attention. I like the idea of it, and it looks nice, I just don’t know if I want to commit to it. Once again, it’s got some intricate, detailed, political intrigue that one needs to follow to understand the plot, and while I’m not opposed to that, I’m also not particularly keen on it either. I’m not always in the mood to follow these multi-character, multi- plot thread, political series, or rather I will only watch one at a time.
Nosferatu
Finally! I’ve been waiting for this trailer. Being a Robert Eggers fan makes this movie one of my most hotly anticipated of the year. Yes, I have seen the original 1922 version and the Klaus Kinski remake, (I prefer the Kinski version, although the 1922 version holds up pretty well). I wouldn’t call Nosferatu a favorite, but I’ve seen it a couple of times, and wonder how this will compare to the previous two. Once again, I expect greatness (and more than a little bit of weirdness) from Eggers. And yeah, I expect to actually be scared, because there hasn’t been a vampire film that’s done that in while. (The Last Voyage of the Demeter in 2023 worked for me.)
Red One
I do not normally watch Christmas movies but the past couple of years I’ve seen some interesting ones, like Krampus, and Violent Night. These are not deep films but they are fun to watch. And this movie actually looks like fun because it has decided to simply lean into every single one of its absurdities, from flying reindeer, to Santa’s security detail, to menacing snowmen. Plus, it’s The Rock. I’m not the biggest fan of The Rock, but he is just funny enough to get me to sit down and watch him act like The Rock, for a couple of hours.
Bando Stone and the New World
I genuinely like Donald Glover’s output both musical and dramatic, and this kind of looks like some anxiety provoking fun. I like to think if I laughed during the trailer then the movie can’t be all bad. Although, that has no bearing on whether or not I will see this in the theater. (I probably won’t unless a family member asks me about it.)
Young Woman and the Sea
Anyone else interested in this little Indie gem? No. Just me. Well, fine then!
Hellboy and the Crooked Man
Well, it looks like Hellboy is getting back to its roots of telling a small personal tale. The whole world isn’t at stake or anything. It’s just Hellboy wandering into a bizarre situation and having to fight his way out, this time in 1950s Appalachia. This looks a lot more like Mignola’s artwork in the comic books, although I understand its based on a Richard Corben short story. I though perhaps it would be based on the Effie Colb short, but maybe it isn’t. Either way, I’m intrigued by this smaller, less bombastic version of the franchise.
Megalopolis
And last but not least is Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis. I’m really looking forward to seeing this. Several years ago, I got a chance to see Apocalypse Now Redux on the big screen, and it was a real treat. I haven’t seen a movie from Coppola since then that wasn’t on my TV, so I’m looking forward to this and it looks pretty trippy. Trippy is always interesting to me.
Hey, its that time again. Time for me to post trailers of movies that I especially like. That doesnt mena I will get a chance to see these movies. I only have so much money and I choose which movies I’m going to see based on how much fun I’m going to have (or how scared I might get if its a Horror movie). Some movies I know I’m going to stream because I want to carefully think about them as I watch them and movie theaters do not allow me to do that.
This is going to be shocking to some of y’all, but I don’t actually like movie theaters all that much, and it always bothers me when people (usually white men) absolutely insist that the only way to watch a movie is in a dark room with strangers. Some of us have serious anxiety issues, low social batteries, have trouble with loud noises, do not have access to movie theaters that are playing what we want to watch, or just do not have the kind of disposable income that allows us to see everything in IMax. There are other ways to watch things, and quite frankly, the best way for me to watch something is in my very comfortable home, where all my favorite foods are. I’m an advocate for watching a movie however a person feels comfortable watching it. (It also doesn’t hurt to have a massive TV screen, a great soundsystem, and a comfortable easy chair, in my livingroom. Just turn off all the lights and I’m all set.)
Anyway, here’s a short list of movies (and one game) I may be watching in my livingroom this year!
Umbrella Academy Series Finale
I’ve enjoyed this series from the beginning even though I didn’t especially like the graphic novels. The show is “a lot”, but I enjoy spending time with this deeply flawed family, and I’m kind of looking forward to this alternate world fusion that brings together characters from the previous season, called The Sparrow Academy. This airs on Netflix in August.
Cuckoo
This is one of those intriguing little films where I’m not entirely sure if I’m supposed to laugh at it, but this trailer has a few moments that made me laugh out loud. Is it a Horror movie? A Comedy? or a Horror Comedy? I’ll find out sometime in August, when I hope it will be streaming then. I live in a fairly large city but sometimes these little films don’t play here.
Venom: The Last Dance
I love it when a movie simply leans into its own absurdity, and Venom does all of that, and manages to make it look like fun. I also just really like spending time with the the grumbling, crabby, Tom Hardy, and the happily silly Venom.
Alien Romulus
This movie looks genuinely terrifying, which I fully expect it to be, because I trust Fede Alverez to bring the pain. This is the same guy that brought us one of the scariest Evil Dead movies created in a while, Evil Dead Rising, and that’s saying something from me, because I am generally unimpressed by demonic possession films. Here, Alien Romulus is getting back to its roots, ala the original Ridley Scott film, Alien, and if I get scared just watching the trailer, I’m not sure how I’m gonna handle being in a darkened theater watching it. It might be too much, even for me, a Professional Horror Movie Enthusiast.
Kalki 2898
This is the only Bollywood (Telugu, rather than Hindi and called Tollywood)) film that will probably ever appear on this list. Not because I don’t like Bollywood films, (I think they’re fascinating and I really enjoyed RRR), but becasue I don’t have a whole lot of access to these types of movies outside of streaming platforms, and I’m not always in the mood for musicals. But Bollywood is increasingly getting into SFF films, and since most of them are based on the culture, I’m intrigued despite the singing and dancing, and I’ve already developed crushes on certain actors.
Inside Out 2
I have been informed by my niece that we will be seeing this movie next week. I’m not really into Inside Out. I watched the first film and thought it was really cute, but my niece loved it and says she wants to see this. I took my nephew to see Furiosa a week or two ago, and he seemed to enjoy it, although I do not think it was anything like he expected (and it was his first Mad Max movie), but my niece elected not to see it, so I owe her a movie, and this is what she picked. Once again, I think it just looks really cute, but I hope she really likes it.
Assassin’s Creed: Shadows
This is the only videogame trailer I’ve ever put here and that’s because this new game, from the makers of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, is showcasing one of my all-time favorite Japanese Samurai, Yasuke, the Black (African) Samurai who served under Oda Nobunaga from 1581 to 1582. As is expected, white men showed their whole fool moon ass about the subject online, (it’s the only power move they have left, it seems), but historically, Yasuke was only an outlier regarding his status among the Japanese nobility. It was not entirely uncommon that the Japanese saw Black men, since they came to Japan as slaves of Portuguese missionaries. I’m delighted to see people paying more attention to this character and one day hope to actually get hisstory in a film.
MaXXXine
I only recently saw the movie X, starring Mia Goth. I’m really impressed by Mia (and will watch anything she stars in), but the movie itself wasn’t especially interesting to me. However, the prequel to X, titled Pearl, was awesome, and it’s one of my favorite movies of last year. This looks like a sequel to X, and I’m kind of interested in it, but mostly I just like Ti West’s films, and Mia Goth in particular, plus its Slasher movie. Maxxxine is releasing on July 5th. in theaters.
The Convert
I’ve been trying to catch any movie that comes out of New Zealand that stars Maori characters and actors, so I’m really looking forward to streaming this at some future date. It came out last year but the US release date is for July 12th. I will not be seeing this one in theaters because it’s not going to be playing anywhere near where I live, and I already have a movie date in July, Deadpool and Wolverine, which looks like a blast. This also looks kinda blasty, but in a historical kind of way, and then there’s the addition of Guy Pearce.
I wrote something similar to this in the past, but I have since thought more on this, and discovered there are quite a few movies I will probably never watch again.
And it’s not because these are bad or scary films. It’s because they are very effective in accomplishing the film’s goal, which is mostly causing a lot of discomfort. These are great films, but I’m unlikely to ever watch them again because I got it the first time, or they make me too uncomfortable for them to be a fun watch, they’re just too scary, even for me, (and I’m what I like to call a professional Horror movie watcher), or I have to really be in a very special mood to do so.
So here, in no particular order, are a bunch of really good films, that I never want or need to watch again!
Get Out
This is one of those movies that is very, very good, but I had a hard time getting through it the first time. I did like it, but I cannot watch it again, because I got it the first time, and because as a Black woman who has been in a lot of spaces with only white people, it hits just a little too close to home. I see myself in Chris (not the Sunken Place stuff, although that hits pretty hard too, because I’ve been there), but just his general attitude, his bemusement at everyone’s behavior, his wariness, and patience, in a space that isn’t made for you, and makes you feel distinctly uncomfortable, as you wait anxiously for someone to misbehave towards you.
Some of the things that get said to Chris, I’ve actually heard from white people, who meant well, thought they were my friends, and weren’t even trying to hurt me, yet nevertheless, was wrong enough to make me deeply uncomfortable (and not trust them). It is ironic that in their efforts to make me feel more comfortable they ended up accomplishing the exact opposite. Of course, in the movie, Chris is right not to trust his girlfriend’s family, but if I’d seen this movie thirty years ago, I would have been deeply paranoid about visiting the homes of my white friends!
On the other hand, I do love Jordan Peele’s movies, I’ve watched Nope about five thousand times, and enjoyed it every time I’ve seen it. That is my version of scary but fun, but I think Us can probably be added to this particular list, too. I genuinely really liked it, but there are parts of it that are too scary, and weird, and uncomfortable for me to make a habit of viewing it multiple times. Then again, I’ve watched it exactly twice. I have to be in a real mood to re-watch this again.
Speak No Evil
Oh my lawd!!! but this is one of the most infuriating movies I have ever watched in my life, and I think that was probably the point! I think, at one point, I was screaming at my TV. The is a Finnish or Danish film (I’m not sure which) about a couple of couples that meet while on vacation. One of the couples invites the other to visit them at their home, and the other couple takes them up on their offer. The first couple proceeds to cross every single one of the other’s personal boundaries, without so much as a peep from the second couple, until, by the time of its tragic, yet inevitable end, I was rooting for the two villains. (Not really! They were utterly detestable people.)
It’s not that I didn’t understand the point of the film, but it’s one of those movies that make you ask, during every single minute of it, what would you do under these circumstances. (I know what I would do because I’ve done it before.) The second couple is so passive, so willing to please, avoid any kind of confrontation, and go along to get along, that they just walk right into the horrible events that happen to them later, and they do so without a word of protest, just as they’ve lived their entire lives. At one point, they actually do make an attempt to escape their fate, but turn around and walk right back into it, because the two of them are people pleasers, who want to be “polite”, and its their complete inability to speak out against anything (Speak No Evil) that seals their doom.
I am a loudmouth who will speak out about anything. I’m Black, and a woman, and I have learned the hard way that I cannot afford to be silent, or people will very happily tell my who I am, supposed to be, or just walk all over me. I have learned that I need to control the narrative of me, and to never allow anyone to become a habitual line-stepper without saying something to them. I was even like that as a child, because I remember being perfectly willing to give even my extended, adult, family members the sharp end of my tongue. I wasn’t mean about it, but I let ’em know. My family just got used to it since I learned that behavior from them! So you can imagine the amount of rage I was feeling at these two grown-ass, seemingly adult human beings, in this movie, who absolutely refused to say anything in defense of themselves, as their boundaries got crossed again, and again, and again. They are the kind of people you want to just slap the living piss out of, not because you hate them, or desire to hurt them, but because you actually like them, and are desperate to wake them up, to save their lives.
I didn’t hate this movie, though. It’s very effective, and the plot is well set up, but it came close to being heavily disliked. I even liked the two main characters but their behavior is infuriating, and their fate, when predators finally catch up to them, was absolutely inevitable.
Hereditary
I’m pretty sure this one was on my last list of movies I won’t be watching again, but I’m gonna list it here anyway. I really did like this film. It has some very effective scares in it but it is also incredibly bleak. This is another movie with an inevitable end, where the characters have lost the fight before the movie even started. Not fun-bleak like The Mist, with all of its many creatures, but depressing-scary-bleak. This movie was very good, too good, but not what I would ever consider fun. Its very well made, and well plotted, and the acting is top-notch, and really cemented my utmost respect for Toni Collette, who was simply awesome. By all accounts, it really is the kind of film one could re-watch, but I don’t think I will, or if I do, it will be at some far point in the future, when I’m in a mood.
The movie deals with themes of generational trauma, evil legacies, and the awful plans of one’s ancestors. It’s not until the end of the movie that you realize that not only did the monster win, but that this family never even stood a chance of winning against it from the word GO. From it’s opening scene to its last, every move this family makes to save themselves and each other is simply doomed, and that was just too much for me.
Grave of the Fireflies
This movie was just depressing. It is not the kind of movie that gets re-watched. I realize that was the point, because it is about Japan during the war, but that’s not the only thing. Some of the imagery is pretty horrifying. I don’t think I’m ever going to be in a “mood” to watch this ever again. I watched it the first time because a lot of people kept mentioning it as something a person should watch at least once. I did.
Once was enough.
Banshees of Inisherrin
This movie made me cry, but in a good way. It’s a great movie, but one of the reasons I won’t watch it again is I think I identified just a bit too much with the lead characters. Its a good example of how personal some movies are. The movie stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleason, as close friends, Colm and Padraic, who live on an isolated location, off the coast of Ireland. It all starts when Colm tells Padraic that he no longer wants to be friends with him. Colin’s character, not wanting to be alone, or give up the long term friendship, and having not been given any reason for this sudden shift, simply ignores this request, which starts a feud between the two of them, to the point where Colm threatens self harm if Padric talks to him.
On a certain level, the movie is deeply, and darkly, funny because the situation devolves into chopped off fingers, burnt houses, and dead animals. I identified with Gleason’s character, Colm, wanting change so badly, wanting his life to be meaningful, and just different than it is, that he was willing to do almost anything. He wants change and meaning in his life, of some kind, but he also doesn’t want either of them to go on doing exactly what the two of them have been doing, for the rest of their lives, on this little island, so he essentially tries to blow up his life, which is something I’ve done myself when I was feeling trapped by my circumstances and needed a change.
Colm also thinks Padraic’s best decision would be to leave their truncated and limited life on the island, and go do something meaningful with his life, but he knows Colin’s character won’t ever leave without him, so he thinks he’s setting him free by ending their friendship. But Padraic is okay with the way things are, just wants things to go on the way they always have, and doesn’t want all this drama that Colm has started.
This is a very uncomfortable movie to watch because there’s so much tension of laughing at these characters but completely understanding the characters. I only needed to watch this once becasue I got it. I liked the film just fine, and it is mildly enjoyable, but I don’t need or want to “get it” again.
12 Years A Slave/American History X
I know all I need to know about the atrocities of slavery and racism, having been inundated with movies, books, and TV series about the subject all my life. I’m just tired of watching these types of movies, and being told, every time one of these movies gets made, that its the most important movie of whatever time period, and I should see it. No, I do not!
I’m a middle-aged Black woman, who has seen all the Slave movies I’m ever going to see. The Hollywood Film Industry is absolutely fascinated with the spectacle of Black pain and degradation, as well as white male redemption arc as aided by the Black people who forgive them, and I’m not fascinated by any of it. I absolutely refuse to watch any more of them! and what’s more, I don’t need to.
Quite frankly, I didn’t need or want to watch either of these movies the first time. I don’t think I got thirty minutes into 12 Years A Slave. There are some movies you just know are going to totally piss you off, so you have to be in some kind of mood to watch it in the first place. Like Grave of the Fireflies, I kind of regret having lost even thirty minutes of my life to it.
American History X, I watched on the strength of Edward Norton’s acting. It’s not a bad film at all and was rather uplifting because of its redemption arc, but there’s no need to subject myself to it again. I know all I kneed to know about that movie.
The Revenant
I think I mentioned this movie once before. This movie is so harrowing to watch, that I was exhausted by the end of it. I don’t know if it’s because the whole movie takes place in a wintry environment, or if its because of the events that happen in it, but I was tired.
The movie is based on a true story about a trapper who is betrayed by his “friends” and left for dead in the wilderness when they go back to town and tell the authorities he’s dead. He spends the rest of the movie trying to survive the wilderness, and get back home. One of the most exhausting and terrifying events is watching him get attacked by a bear. This scene seemingly lasts forever. I get that these events speak to the determination and fortitude of his character, but I guess I don’t have enough fortitude to watch this movie again.
Parasite
I really liked this film because it had some interesting revelations in the plot, but the movie is deeply depressing. I only needed to watch it one time, but I really did like it, and I wanted to keep engaging with it, so I read everything about it I could find, and watched a bunch of analysis videos.
I was so intrigued by what Bong Joon Ho was trying to tell the audience, I watched several of his interviews. I couldn’t stop thinking about it long after the movie was over, and it still sits on my favorites lists, but I won’t watch this again. This is a darkly comic movie about a poor Korean family (so poor that they live in a kind of apartment half basement) that take to grifting a wealthy family (who live in a high rise house on a hill) so they can get out of poverty. There are parts of the movie that are deeply funny, because events are so exaggerated, that it just skirts the edge of ridiculous. The ending is sad and tragic and hopeless. I wasn’t looking for a happy ending but the end of this movie haunted me on a level I wasn’t expecting.
I got it. I don’t need to watch this again, but that doesn’t actually mean I won’t!
Skinamarink
Hoo boy! Okay, this is one of the rare films that is too scary even for me, not because it has some creature in it I’m scared of, but because it sits too close to home some things I was scared of as a child, even though these things didn’t happen to me. Apparently, this movie hit a nerve with a lot of people, especially those who understood it. Some people just thought it was boring, but the people who were frightened by it said it reminded them of certain childhood fears they thought they’d long forgotten about.
There is the idea of children being put in a dangerous situation, so if that’s something you can’t tolerate this may not be the film for you. Two very young siblings (I think they are like 5 or 6), named Kevin and Kaylee, wake up one night to find themselves alone in the house, their mom and dad are missing, there are no doors or windows, and their toys and other objects in the house keep being moved around. The movie mostly consists of the two of them trying to survive on their own, and make the best of things. The story is told with the Found Footage style, and at no point do you see the faces of any of the characters. The story gets worse when Kaylee eventually disappears, and audiences have all kinds of dark theories about what’s actually happening in the film.
I’m not saying this movie works for everyone. Your mileage may vary. But it did work for me and only because the movie showed some of my worst childhood fears. If you don’t have those kinds of fears then the movie will probably just be nonsensical to you. I thought it was so effective that I simply didn’t want or need to watch it more than one time, although, like Parasite, I found it fascinating enough to research as much of it as I could, because I wanted to know what the director, Edward Ball, was thinking when he made it.
Geeking Out about It 