Wiendish Fitch

I quit FB years ago, so I am out of touch, but I hope, in the year of our lord 2024, people still don't take that idiotic "the bumblebee flies anyway" quote seriously. It's so twee, so banal, so absurdly untrue*... please, for the love of dogs, tell me people still don't use "the bumblebee flies anyway" as an inspirational quote. *Google it, there is nothing impossible about the fact that bumblebees fly.

I've always hated the ...Baby One More Time album cover. It's too cheesy, too plain, Britney's smile seems forced, and her pose is so awkward and uncomfortable. It looks less like an album cover and more like a half-assed Old Navy ad. I always wondered why they didn't use something similar to the single cover. It was so much more becoming, IMO.

I love The Women. No, a lot of it hasn't aged well, but with that witty dialogue, impeccable casting, gorgeous fashions, scene-stealing Marjorie Main... well, can you see why I can forgive it of any sins?

Ellen Berent-Harland in Leave Her to Heaven is pure, unadulterated evil, her only redeeming traits being her beauty (Gene Tierney was stunning) and her fashion sense.

Bingo. I think To Die For is Nicole Kidman's finest hour. Whatever Larry's flaws, he did not deserve what he got. "Sick and twisted" almost feels like an inadequate description for Suzanne. Echoing your thoughts on the "feminist antiheroes" take, while I try to respect others' opinions, I frankly get uneasy when that label gets thrown around too easily. Even if you want to argue that some villainous characters might be, that certainly doesn't mean all of them are! I have Leave Her to Heaven on Criterion blu ray, and I love that movie (for those who don't know, it's basically Fatal Attraction 42 years early). Gene Tierney is chilling and memorable as clingy sociopath Ellen, but in the essay enclosed with the Criterion disc, the author Megan Abbot makes a long, unsettling argument that comes dangerously close to justifying Ellen's actions. I don't know, maybe I'm just a wuss and a goody two-shoes, so y'all can read it here and judge for yourselves (WARNING: article contains spoilers).

I did mention Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz, but I certainly don't think her other juvenile roles should be chopped liver. No, they weren't all classics, but Garland was always the best thing about her pre-stardom films. One standout is the number "In Between" from 1938's Love Finds Andy Hardy. It's actually pretty gutsy to have a song about the pitfalls of adolescence, because it's true: adolescence sucks, and you rarely hear people recall it fondly. Apologies for the awkward silence in the last two minutes.

I know I've made this point before, but it bears repeating: I don't care if actors don't (or didn't) get along with their co-stars. Acting is a job, a set is a workplace, and your fellow actors are your co-workers, not your friends. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a positive work environment, but no one is under any obligation to be another's friend. As long as nothing abusive or criminal is happening, then it's all good. Please remember: these people play friends, that doesn't necessarily make them friends. Kim Catrall and Sarah Jessica Parker are allowed to not like each other. It's a bummer that Bea Arthur and Betty White didn't get along, but I doubt it haunted their dying thoughts.

I loved Heen in Howl's Moving Castle. What a deadpan little scene stealer he was! I also really dig the character design.

Heretic Oh, I hope this is good, because this premise is like catnip to me.

Tell me if you think I'm just being an old lady yelling at a cloud... What's with people going on the defensive over stupid shit on social media or TikTok? They think it makes them look somehow good and noble, but I think it makes them look like petty attention-seekers. You probably heard about that mom who posted a video defending her brave, bold, courageous choice to... never return shopping carts to the store or even the cart corral. Her reasoning? She didn't want to leave her kid alone in the car. Um, couple of things.... 1. Who cares? 2. Why did she feel the need to loudly announce this online? This lady is nobody, it's not as if she were being publicly dragged for it. 3. Does she realize that if she had just kept this to herself and said nothing, no one would even know? While I don't think everyone has to pipe down all the time, some reticence here and there won't kill you. Remember, having an opinion doesn't make you a hero, and loudly saying random crap all the time won't save the world.

Cats is truly as horrible as its reputation. Everything about it is awful, and everyone in it is awful, even people I normally like (Judi Dench, Ian McKellan). I like, even love, Taylor Swift, but she doesn't come out unscathed; she wrote that God-awful ditty "Beautiful Ghosts", and her British accent is so cheesy it isn't even funny.

Bolded mine, because if I've said it once, I've said it a million times: Mary Tyler Moore was ROBBED at Oscar time. Sissy Spacek, I love you, but...

This, so much. I wouldn't wish the loss of a child on a single person, it is the worst of tragedies. That said, nothing gives you carte blanche to weaponize your grief and trauma, especially against your own children. Buck is dead, Conrad is alive, he needed his mother, and Beth failed him dismally. So, yes, Beth 100% deserves to be on this list.

That is a great moment; powerful, but also utterly devastating. It's not easy letting go of what was ultimately an illusion. I would also like to give it up for the scene at the golf course, when Calvin finally has had it with Beth's passive aggressive (heavy on the "aggressive" at this point) shit, and tells her to "finish what [she] started". Beth then drops all pretenses and uses every loathsome argument in the book about how she's dealt with Conrad, including that time honored chestnut: "I'm just a little more honest about it!" Okay, that's it, screw you and your pain, SHUT YOUR DAMN NOISEMAKER! If I never hear someone use "honesty" as a shield again, it'll be too soon! You're not being "honest", you're being needlessly destructive and hateful! No one is asking you to coddle your son, they just want you to not blame him for what happened, and Beth can't even do that! Heck, here's the clip (spoilers, obviously). Superb acting from Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore both.

Donald Sutherland was such a versatile actor. He could break your heart (Ordinary People), make you boo and hiss (The Hunger Games), or even crack your shit up (as THE CLUMSY WAITER! in Kentucky Fried Movie). He leaves behind an impressive body of work.

Spiders can piss off (unless they're named Charlotte)! Snakes can piss off (unless they're Frank from DankPods)!!

Word on the two Moores. They both deserved bigger, better film careers. Moving along... Henry and Peter from The Book of Henry. Let's start with Henry. My God, what a hateful little demon this kid was. Smug, smarmy, insensitive, bossy, cruel, treats his imperfect but loving mother like a drooling halfwit, and worse? I will say that Jaeden Martell is an absolute genius at playing horrific kids (remember him in Knives Out?) Then there's Peter, who is, I dunno, 7 or 8, and still thinks there are sharks in the bathtub. He thinks. There are. Sharks. In the bathtub. Okay, that's it, have screenwriters in general ever met an actual kid?!!

Well... that's appalling. Look, it was a gutsy move making a movie about a dying kid who also plays matchmaker (hard sells, both), but did they have to make Moore's character married?? If he were single, there's no guarantee the movie would have been good, per se, but at least the premise would have gone down much easier! Isn't it amazing how there can be that one little detail that irreparably ruins a story?

I hate that movie too, for the reasons you stated. I also hate how Yuri treated poor Tanya, and I frankly don't get Lara's (or Julie Christie's) appeal.

I can't decide if this peeve is at myself or the actual thing, but I really don't get why everyone is so enchanted with freezer pops. I'm sorry, but I find them underwhelming, especially considering we live in a world where chip-wiches, Creamsicles, and Dove bars exist. I dunno, maybe I'm just a snob.

I loved the last episode of Seinfeld... because it was the last. It was finally over. I love and hate how petty I am.

Because "boys will boys". Piss on that, how about behaving like a goddamned human being?

Surly adolescents/teens usually make me want run for the hills (they can't all be Daria), but I actually liked Ariana Greenblatt as Sasha in Barbie. She's more than a bit of a brat, but she's also smart and has some social awareness (the movie isn't afraid of addressing Barbie's somewhat controversial legacy). I like how how the wacky adventures that follow meeting Barbie not only make Sasha a little more patient and open-minded, but make her appreciate what a great mom she has. Yay, a movie that isn't 100% on the kid's side for a change!

I'm soaking in all the Better Off Dead love! That movie is so bonkers, but so delightful.

I'm still looking for full time work, still waffling on whether or not to go back to college for my bachelor's. I need an honest opinion: at 42, am I too old to get full time work? Am I just kidding myself? Should I just throw in the towel and accept my lot in life, or is there hope? I'm scared to give up, but I also don't want to be on a fool's errand.