MisterGlass

Finally saw this on Disney+. I watched none of the trailers and knew no backstory, and on that basis thought this was a good mid-grade Marvel story with a few standout bits. I did not know Tony Leung prior to this movie and now need to look for his movies. As others have pointed out he brought some real, subtle emotion into his scenes which was a pleasure to watch. By far my favorite part was seeing the creatures, from Morris to the lion dogs. I was on the look out for the dragon because of the earlier foreshadowing, and when Shang-Chi hit the water I realized what was down there, and that moment of it emerging from the water was a real thrill with no previous knowledge. The later part of the fight was a little overly CGI'd and physics defying, but the dragon itself was beautiful. Wong deserves more MCU airtime, and I hope he gets it.

Saw this yesterday, and agree with most of the sentiments above. This is a dumb B-movie that I still really enjoyed. The story set up at the beginning could have been smoother with the in progress relationship between Eddie and Cletus, and the Shriek story, but it also didn't matter that much, so at least the movie didn't linger on it and got down to the silliness. It was actually structured better than the first one. I thought the funniest bit was Venom hiding in Mrs. Chen.

I had the same reaction. After some googling 'bao' is applied to some different steamed buns. These seem to be a version of a pork bun called gua bao. It occurred to me later that I had watched an episode of Simply Ming where Ming Tsai and his parents made a similar bun. The episode is here, and the bun making is at the 14:30 mark.

This was a lot of fun. I liked all these contestants and it was fun to see them together. I was delighted that Nancy, truly one of the bake off old guard, was there to bake and take no guff. Good for her and her gin and tonic. Rahul was a lot calmer than in his original season. It felt like he got the quirky edit this time rather than the anxious edit. His unabashed fandom of Nancy was sweet. Henry's rhubarb was so clever.

It was a nice win for Rosie. I liked her in her season with her speed talking and random veterinarian insights. I have no familiarity with Tom Allen. He struck me as far too high energy for a regular bake off host, but I did appreciate him unapologetically eating him the 'bad' pineapple panettone while Paul was describing the flaws. And then he followed it up with a comment to the effect that it's never good anyway so why would you set it as a challenge. I am not a fan of making savory food look sweet or sweet food look savory. There is too much of a disconnect between anticipation and reality. That said, some of them looked pretty good.

I pictured it as a topping, a bit like a Danish or kolache. Good point about shapes, even if they did realize it was rolled.

I enjoyed this on the whole and am happy for Giuseppe. I loved the idea of the choux bun caterpillar. That's an incredibly clever option for a party since you could always customize the length. The layered hazelnut tart cake also looked really tasty. I haven't seen something like the muffin with the little half window showing the fruit 'heart.' Chigs's playing cards were fun with the heart cutouts, and the brioche mushrooms were perfectly on theme. I was sorry his Cheshire Cat didn't have a smile since that's such a defining part. Chrystelle's was lovely and I'm sorry for her focaccia. I wondered if all the water was trapped in the bread by the oil. Did I miss it, or did they judges not comment on the 'drink me' glasses of Chrystelle and Chigs? His looked like a mocha and hers were green. The technical irritated me to no end. There is a big difference between telling a group of mostly English bakers 'make a Victoria sandwich' like they did one year, and telling them 'make a Belgian bun.' From the ingredient list I was picturing something like a hot cross bun and instead it turned out to be a rolled and sliced bun. I'm shocked they all came to that conclusion. I have a very fixed definition of carrot cake, and so was not too interested in the variations. I did think they all had rather large pieces of carrot. They looked julienned, and I've always grated carrot for cake and muffins. I may have missed it, but I didn't hear anyone take the opportunity to call out Matt as Tweedle Dee/Tweedle Dum.

I'm mulling this over in my mind. It was absolutely beautiful, well cast, and well acted. When it was following the traditional story, I was with it. When it veered away, I thought the results were mixed. It's a short story and I understand it needed depth to make a feature film, and the Gawain needed more of a character journey. But having expanded it to two hours, muddied some motivations, and ended it there doesn't quite work for me.

Same here. I'm not familiar with the anime, but all the individual pieces are things that I should like. it just doesn't hang together for me. The irreverence is forced, the humor doesn't really make me smile, and the drama is not compelling. I love the set design and the effects, but I don't know if that is enough to carry me through. Maybe some of this plays better in anime than in live action. I like John Cho so I'm sorry to be disappointed by this. I very much agree with the editing observation. If they reduced the pauses in the fighting and in regular conversation I think these episodes would be five to ten minutes shorter.

I think this is one where YMMV. To me, Jurgen's looked like a natural, pleasant green and Giuseppe's looked artificial, almost plastic. I think there was a conversation like this last year about what color blueberry desserts should be.

I think this is a case where no one failed technically, so it came down to a matter of taste, both literal and visual. To me, Juergen's showstopper was the epitome of visual taste and it sounded tasty. I also loved the whimsy of his opera cakes. My tastes differ from the judges' taste on this. Best wishes to Juergen my fellow introvert. If the centerpiece part of it doesn't matter, then they shouldn't be asked to do it. It's like when they ask them to make burgers in the technical to put on their burger buns. I believe Giuseppe's entremets were meant to be topiaries around the tower.

I saw this was available to rent and checked it out. It was fun, silly, and also heart felt. The bright, generic design of the world was well done and there were lots of fun little details in the background. The cast worked great together. I like the cutting between the players and their avatars. Channing Tatum really committed and funny as an avatar.

She did for food dropped out of the pan, at least.

Juergen did say something to Noel along the lines of 'you're a calming presence.'

What was her reaction? ETA: I laughed pretty hard at "free from comedy" and "free from hosts."

I am sorry to see Lizzie go, and thought she delivered the look she set out to in her showstopper. At this point in the show it often seems like the eliminations are based more on performance up to now than the specific week. It's also possible that there are editing shenanigans going on. The understanding since the baked Alaska meltdown has been that you serve something to the judges rather then nothing. Juergen did drop all his pastries. While dropped bakes are often broken or unsalvageable, in this case they looked okay. This is not even the first time this season that a dropped baked good was served to the judges. Freya dropped her tuile sheet in episode 4, and made almost the same joke as Juergen about them not knowing. I think this is an area where we don't know what the judges are told off camera, or what scenarios they have agreed to. I don't for a moment think that the central talent on the show found out at the same time as us that they ate something that had been on the floor.

I had not heard about Dean Stockwell. Rest in Peace. To add to his list of SciFi credits, he was Dr. Yueh in the David Lynch version of Dune, and had guest roles on Stargate SG-1 and on Enterprise with Scott Bakula.

When the majority voted to end the games, the game runners respected the vote and took everyone back. That was a real demonstration that they were committed to the rules. After that I think the participants didn't doubt them. ETA: And while the participants don't know about the billionaire audience, it gives the billionaires a bit of self justification if some poor prole gets to walk away with some cash. It's as though they paid for the service.

That was fascinating! I couldn't figure out how it worked? They put plastic wrap over a large bowl, trapping a large air bubble. Then, with a metal ring smaller than the rim of the bowl, they pushed down evenly on the plastic wrap. The bubble under plastic wrap pushes up into the ring to maintain its volume. That makes a dome in the center of the ring. I think the advantage compared to the balloon method is that the sugar can't wrap around too far, and that there is no risk of getting the dome wet when you pop the balloon. ETA: found a quick video of someone using this method.

Good for some people having face shields while adding the milk to caramel. I wear goggles when I do it. I spent the first five minutes of the technical challenge debating whether they were making Twix or some original cookie that I've never heard of, so I was happy when Matt referenced the gold wrapper and I could stop wondering. I enjoyed that concept. I remember they made Swiss rolls, and fig newtons before. It's interesting to see 'origin' versions of these really common sweets. I'm waiting for the full on Twinkie, Ding Dong, or Hostess Cupcake technical. Seven swirls on the cupcake, everyone. Juergen making a pecan pie tart amused me for some reason. I never thought of that as a caramel dessert, but I can see it. The domes are always a fussy addition, but I thought it was particularly strange to frame a challenge with a dome on top of a soft, sticky cake. They all had ugly rings left when the done was removed, or worst case you have Giuseppe's stretchy mess. I was impressed Lizzy flipped the challenge in the way that she did. Initially she struck me as a bit flighty, but she always has a good underlying concept, and she's a good baker. She was a real teammate to Chrystelle with her dome. I don't recall seeing the 'press down on plastic wrap to make a bubble' dome method. Not a bad idea.

I finished watching this this weekend. Overall it was good, and the actors were excellent. I initially thought there might be something suspicious about the player as 001, as though he was a past winner and ringer, but then was tricked - and gutted - by the marble episode. I don't have much to add, except a recommendation for a Brazilian Netflix show called 3%. It is a show structured around games and class disparity that finished its fourth and final season last year. It is overall less violent, a larger ensemble, and a longer, slower burn. It had its ups and downs, but I enjoyed the journey and liked the ending. ETA: I forgot to add a link to Binging with Babish attempting to make honeycomb candy.

Example from "Fright Night".

There was funny little moment with Jurgen when he was scaling up the diamond baklava pattern to fit the larger baking tin. The potato slices looked cooked to me when she was using the cutter. It pressed through easily. And I think if they weren't cooked the potatoes would have oxidized during the assembly process.

Best wishes to Amanda who always seemed like a good sport. Chrystelle's pie was beautiful, and I loved the little final line that people wonder why she's loud after hearing the delighted screaming of her family on the other end of the phone. I really liked the look of Lizzie's pie. The little fish was very clear and it was very vibrant with the color panels. I was a little shocked that everyone got such decent looking baklava tarts out in the two hour technical. I don't think I could have done that. Thanks to all above for explaining that a choux nut is a cruller. I'll be honest - I also didn't hear 'hassle' the first time Giuseppe said it. Chigs seems like a really decent but intense guy. He reminds me of a guy I knew from New Jersey.

Gah, and I thought doll Nadja was creepy. That's gonna be hard to watch next season. But I will certainly tune in. @ItCouldBeWorse the idea that baby energy vampires are the ones crying on planes is brilliant. This was not as impactful for me as last season's finale, but it would have been hard to top the massacre and the slayer reveal. I did like the set up that everyone was together for the portrait including the hellhound. I wonder whose idea it was to throw in a Jimmy the MTV cab driver reference in the discussion of Donal Logue's oeuvre. Guillermo's "not panicking" way of panicking is great, and his throw down with Nandor was the highlight. Guillermo dodging, catching, and throwing that knife was pretty epic. It will be interesting to see the three vampires separate next year. I actually hope this is good for Nadja. It has felt like she didn't get as much to do this year, so I'd like to see the kind of development we got for Nandor and Lazlo for her. I wonder if the Baron and the Guide will be around interacting with Lazlo and horrifying baby Colin Robinson. Nandor is the real wild card in this. It's hard to picture him out in the world alone.