krankydoodle

Ha, I forgot John Reynolds was on this show. He's always fun to watch. Benny deserves better than to have his diner trashed like that. For a show that has fantastical elements, it's the bullying scenes that are really taking me out of it. Adolescent angst and the relationships between the characters are portrayed pretty well (apart from whatever was happening with Joyce and Hopper last season), so the over the top bullying rings false. El's reaction in these scenes also seems off to me.

I think it was Corroded Coffin. Oof, I felt terrible for Lucas, El, Chrissy, and Max. Meanwhile, I don't care about Nancy and Jonathan's relationship. And this might be an unpopular opinion, but I'm not as big a fan of Erica as the show wants me to be. I loved her in the second season, but started to find her tiresome in season 3. I'm also not a fan of Karen Wheeler's new hairstyle. I wonder what El intended to do to Angela when she tried to use her powers.

I just finished the three volume graphic novel series that continues the story after the last season. They're written by Chris King, one of the show's producers, and it was fun to revisit the characters. Having said that, there's way too much going on and the final volume especially is kind of a mess. And it's been a while since I last rewatched it, but some of the mythology and characters don't seem to jibe with what I remember from the show. It's also too bad that the ending leaves some threads hanging since it doesn't look like there will be any more. I was fortunate that my library had them available through Hoopla because while I think they're worth reading if you miss this world, I probably would've regretting spending the money if I had bought them.

I'm having an issue with the AMC+ app now for the first time since I installed it a few months ago. I keep getting an "Unauthorized request" error whenever I try to login even though I'm able to access the site using the same login on my laptop and on another Roku. What's especially frustrating is that I used to have the same problem with the Shudder app (owned by AMC) and eventually cancelled my subscription because they couldn't figure out the problem, but I've already signed up for a year with AMC+ so that sucks.

Silent Witness, like New Tricks, is one of those shows that inexplicably has scenes cut on some platforms. BritBox seems to have the full episodes. I read that Amanda Burton is coming back as Sam Ryan for the newest season, which I'm not excited about since I often find her kind of irritating.

I wasn't planning on watching The Hating Game despite the positive comments about it here because I remember not liking the book much, but I gave in and was pleasantly surprised. I've seen some criticisms about Austin Stowell being a bit stiff or bland but I liked him and thought he and Lucy Hale had great chemistry. Their bantering was also genuinely funny and while the plot did use miscommunication as an obstacle a few times, it wasn't so frustrating that it affected my enjoyment of the movie. I'll definitely be rewatching this one. I was searching for upcoming romcoms and found that in addition to another JLo movie in June (this one with Josh Duhamel, who is just ok IMO) and one written by and starring Billy Eichner in September, Ticket to Paradise reuniting Julia Roberts and George Clooney comes out in October. I can't remember how much chemistry they had in the Oceans movies, but they're both very charismatic so I'm tentatively excited about that one especially since it's been awhile since Julia Roberts headlined a romcom.

I checked the earlier flashback scene because I thought that was all a bit much (even for someone who wore a beret) and her locker wasn't decorated before prom.

I know Flower isn't a favorite for a lot of people, but I loved the moment during the confrontation when she tried to back up Hetty by accusing Stephanie of stealing their money. Rebecca Wisocky's reaction in the background is gold. And I didn't notice until rewatching that in addition to piling bread into it, the mean girls also decorated Sam's locker with things like pictures of baguettes, the Eiffel Tower, a poodle, and a mime 😆

One of my favorite bits in this episode was when the superintendent whispers something to Ava before her presentation while the teachers look on and when they ask her what he said, thinking it must have been something horrible because of the worried look on her face, she admits that she didn't hear it because he mumbled. I rewatched that scene a few times because the reactions from Gregory, Jacob, and Janine just cracked me up.

They got some amazing actors for this show. I've only watched The Woman Who Solved Her Own Murder so far, but just that episode has Alison Brie, Hugh Dancy, Christopher Lowell, Jillian Bell, and Ego Nwodim. I know there are bigger names in other episodes, but that's still impressive. I heard a review of this show saying that it isn't very subtle and while I think that's true for the episode I saw, I still really enjoyed it. ETA: I've watched a few more episodes and I agree that The Woman Who Was Fed by a Duck and The Woman Who Returned Her Husband are good, but I also liked The Girl Who Loved Horses. Fivel Stewart and Kara Hayward have fun odd couple chemistry, it's always great to see Alfred Molina, and the ending was surprisingly satisfying. It does seem to be the most straightforward of the bunch, though.

I tried watching a few episodes of the Law & Order reboot because of Hugh Dancy (and Sam Waterston), but found it disappointing so I was happy to see Dancy pop up in the Apple TV+ anthology series Roar with Alison Brie in episode 6, The Woman Who Solved Her Own Murder. He's playing a detective and even though his character is pretty terrible, I have a new appreciation for how much better a scruffier look suits him after seeing him clean-shaven in L&O.

The Hugo Award finalists have been announced: https://www.tor.com/2022/04/07/announcing-the-2022-hugo-award-finalists/ I thought it was interesting that one of the nominated short stories was published as a Twitter thread.

Something that really blew my mind was finding out that the Good Girl's Guide to Murder YA mystery series by Holly Jackson had its setting changed from England to Connecticut for the US edition. I enjoyed the books, but it was funny to come across things that had been missed (like when they used the word fringe instead of bangs). I don't understand why they thought that was necessary. Ooh, I thought of another example: The Boy Who Could See Demons by Carolyn Jess-Cooke. It's written in English and set in Northern Ireland, but the US edition has a different ending which I really didn't like. I started reading Goodreads reviews and was confused about how people were talking about the resolution until someone finally posted that the endings are vastly different. So frustrating.

That restaurant scene was heartbreaking. I was surprised by how rough they made Ethan Hawke look. He was effectively creepy. I liked it a lot and with only six episodes, I'm hoping it'll avoid the pitfalls of some of the other Marvel shows that seemed padded out.

I'm reading Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. It's a horror novel with an interesting premise (a small town has been living under a curse for generations but now a group of teens are trying to use modern technology to try to circumvent it), but I was surprised that the location and references have been changed for the English translation so that it's set in New York instead of the Netherlands as in the original. To be fair, I haven't read much translated fiction so maybe this practice is more common than I know. ETA: I finished the book and didn't like it much. In looking at other reviews, though, I found out that the ending in the English language version was also changed from the original. Maybe I would've liked that one more because the one we got was a mess.

This caught my eye: Rose Gilroy doesn't have any writing credits listed on IMDB, so that must be one hell of a script to have attracted that kind of money and such big names.

Thanks for sharing the link since it looks like the tweets have been deleted. I was looking up more about the story and saw that Chris Rock said at an event the day before that he would be announcing Summer of Soul as winners that way if they won. Just another baffling element in this mess of an event.

I was just pointing out that Questlove wasn't the only one impacted.

This part wasn't great either:

I was on the fence about watching this, but gave it a shot when it popped up on HBO Max today and I'm glad I didn't see it in the theater. I would've resented spending the money on it because I wouldn't have made it past the melodramatic reveal behind Poirot's mustache. Why did we need this?

Nooooo! First they increase the price, and now this! Netflix Cancels Archive 81 After One Season

I watched the first episode and agree it was a little hard to get through. Some parts, especially that first scene, seemed like sketches from Inside Amy Schumer, and the jokes and tone reminded me of Search Party. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that, but it just didn't feel fresh and I'm not sure I'm interested enough in the story or characters to find out what happens next. I thought the scene where Beth is singing karaoke after learning about her mother's death was raw and moving, but even that reminded me of Karen Gillan doing something similar on Selfie. Arguably, this is more a matter of me watching too much tv than it is a problem with the show. It was fun to see John Early and Janelle James pop up, though I'm assuming that's all we'll get of them. I'll probably try a few more episodes, but the AV Club review says that a good chunk of time is spent on flashbacks to Beth's childhood/adolescence and that doesn't really sound appealing. But their review, like some of the others already posted, was generally positive, so eh.

I only subscribe to Peacock when they have an exclusive I want to watch, but my favorite show is one I discovered by accident: We are Lady Parts, a British comedy about young Muslim women in a punk rock band. I also really enjoyed AP Bio and Dr. Death. I've heard good things about Girls5Eva, the Saved by the Bell reboot, and Wolf Like Me, but haven't gotten around to those yet.

I can't believe it's been that long: A Look Back At 'Batman: The Animated Series' In Honor Of Its 30th Anniversary

I love that they added Fay as a regular after her meet cute with Nicky in the second episode, but even considering that the character is a newcomer, I feel like she's not meshing well with the rest of the group. I'm not sure if it's the actor or the character. Maybe it's just because she seems so much more low-key than the other characters? Anyway, I'm still really enjoying this show.