Traveller519

While I enjoyed that there was another education administrator that was going to fall victim to Bev's onslaught, there wasn't anything that felt particularly fresh about this episode. Especially with bringing Dana back. Maybe it's because with the kids being older the nostalgia kick doesn't feel so strong, or it's just running on its last legs for new ideas. I'm hoping they can turn it around.

Agreed, the scenes with Bridget were among the best. It was a fun take on the farcical elements of the show. "I have a back-up battery. You'd know that if you read my user manual" The Phil/Gloria plot was pretty well done too. I have to admit, the nail filing WAS pretty suspicious. The Claire and the kids plot, though, blech

It feels like it's been an endless cycle with Junior and trying to push him out of the nest/not let him struggle for the past two seasons. Him and Bow's "come to Jesus" meeting didn't have much weight to it when it felt like the third time through.

Because this is Ballers... Does the Series end in any other way than Spencer hiring Charles to be his GM, who trades for Vernon, who is able to use Arrowhead Stadium to host his ESports team, who is so successful and makes so much money that SportsX is able to fully fund their "Campus" concept, which hires Ricky to be the "Program Director" since he can speak so much truth?

Definitely not a good night to be named Frankie. Black Frankie definitely gets my sympathy of the two of them though. Abby looked genuinely happy at the Birthday celebration, which surprised me. Not as happy as when she was with Pilar, but happy. It will be interesting to see how it plays out, especially as Vincent deals with the Frankie fallout. The Jack Maple stuff continues to make me laugh.

In a few years, when Santa Monica and Johan stumble across Saved By the Bell during one of their Idiot Box Marathon Sesssions, they are going to lose their minds at how much their dad looks like the Principal! (err... I mean like an older version of the protagonist)

Congrats of your ABC Family Sitcom Disneyland Episode, Goldbergs! Truly a milestone. I agree, the notion of it being a one-week trip was a little silly. But it was a fun get back episode. Fun that they had Anthony Michael Hall as the security guard. But it would have been great if they'd been able to have the various "Rustys" "and "Audreys") throughout the episode

I feel the same way. They're both happier with all other aspects of their life except for being together. It's just what they know. But we've seen their respective outs now. It will be interesting to see if they follow through on it. I have a feeling that things are going to get worse for Abby before they get better, but at least we haven't seen the crawl of Cece back into her mind. The David Morse father story was sweet. I'm sure it was/is not an uncommon story. I didn't have a problem with Detective Ralph Maachio charging him for the work, especially since it seems like he was actually doing work, and not just withholding information for cash.

I loved the use of "Melt with You" in the opening, a song that's frequently associated with the neon-freshness of the Teen Films of the 80s but set against the backdrop of the Deuce which still appears as grimy as ever. Very nice juxtaposition to remind us where we are. Other than that it was typical Simon place-setting in his season opener, but we should have some fun. I am a little disappointed this will be the last season. It would have been interesting to see the move to the 90s and the Giuliani era impact on the neighborhood.

Thanks for your analysis, Simon. I just watched it tonight and have similar opinions to you. I respect the ambition, the writing, the performances, and a lot of the cinematography, but I don't think the whole exceeds the sum of its parts. The Love/Hate theme of San Francisco needed to be more clearly fleshed out with the supporting themes. I think this would make an outstanding Stage Play. The two houses settin up the two main sets would play well with the two characters.

Especially with some of the talent they've added. I adore Haley Lu Richardson, and Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch look like they'll be fun as the doppelgangers. I'll definitely be buying a ticket for this. It will be a great Halloween movie

I'm sure I'll watch this and get caught up in the emotion of it (damn, that Subway scene), but... It seems odd to me the number of Mr. Rogers related projects we’ve had in the past 18 months. The Good Neighbor - Biographical Book Mr. Rogers: It’s You That I Like - PBS Documentary (Emmy Nominated) Won’t you Be My Neighbor - Focus Features Documentary (not-Oscar Nominated) Kidding - A fictionalized Showtime series that uses Fred Rogers as loose inspiration for a character study of a much more broken man. Now It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood - Sony Biopic And that doesn’t even consider the Google Pixel commercial that featured him. Was there some sort of moratorium and projects featuring him until 15 years following his passing, and now everyone’s running to capitalize? This film just feels somewhat unnecessary to me in light of two excellent documentaries released last year. Of course, the Apollo 11 documentary surpassed last year’s First Man for me. So what do I know about project timing?

This is exactly how I felt. 1 Year Ago - Tom posts a picture indicating filming is going to start: "Oh goody, another unecessary continuation/remake" Today - Tom introduces a whole damn trailer at Comic-Con: "Uhhhh, how long do I have to wait to see this?" Dammit, Tom. You've suckered me! There's still a good chance this will be a ridiculous movie, but the trailer is impressive! I wish Tom had convinced Doug Liman to direct this, but I get why that would be a tougher sell. To be fair to Joe Kosinski, his only dud was the one film he did with Cruse Oblivion. Tron: Legacy and Only the Brave were both great films! I know Val is supposed to appear, but I am truly hoping we get cameos from Tom Skerrit, Michael Ironside, and James Tolkan. I figure Meg Ryan will be there since her son is present. I doubt Kelly McGillis shows up.

Marvel sets such a high standard for its films. So I enjoyed it while watching, but as I reflect on this one it feels a little middle of the pack to me. I think it's evident that Sony was concerned with the release date moreso than the content. The story obviously works within the confines of the MCU, but the villain being connected back to Tony's actions felt like a rehash of Homecoming. I felt like Peters crush on MJ kind of came out of nowhere. I get that happens with teenagers, but with his pining for Liz in the previous movie I would have like to have Ned address that, and telling Peter to be careful. I did really like Ned this movie, which was the first time that's happened, and despite being able to predict the Twist, I did enjoy the initial reveal (if not the 5-10 minutes of exposition that followed it). I'm a big MCU fan, but I am a little thankful for a little break going forward, especially coming down from the IW/Endgame finale.

First things first. This is the type of movie we need more of being made. Mid-budget, character-driven, simple concept, with a captivating story. If it weren't for the music licencing issues which could throw this into royalty hell, Yesterday would be the type of movie you watch anytime it's available. The proverbial "throw away the remote" movie (in whatever form that takes five years from now). It's far from a perfect movie, but it's eminently watchable, makes you feel good, and low-stakes. I too kind of love that there was no investigation into the blackout and why it made the effects that it did. It was just a plot device to tell the story. I questioned the veracity of the global blackout effecting New York, the UK, and Moscow all during night time (Japan I guess wasn't distinguished, and could have been a morning show), but a quick check makes it look like that could have happened. I'm glad the other two people who remembered the world beforehand were on his side, but their press conference questions moments were particularly aggressive, and not consistent with their overall perspective.

One thing I loved was that Daniel Dae Kim's character wasn't cartoonishly evil. Just a very different perception of relationships than Sasha. Or perhaps that's only my impression because Daniel Dae Kim is so gosh darn adorable and relaxing. Maybe he was supposed to be incredibly intolerable. In your run-of-the-mill comedy he would have been just the worst, but I found in this movie that it was Sasha realizing her feelings for Marcus that had her move on from him, not that she was escaping a terrible situation.

Given the recent explosion of coming of age films we've experience over the past 3-4 years (Moonlight, The Edge of Seventeen, Call Me by Your Name, Lady Bird, Eighth Grade, Love Simon, The Florida Project, and Mid90s, and more) I wasn't feeling the hype for Booksmart, it just felt like well worn territory. So upon watching it, I very much appreciated the Gonzo take on the coming of age story as opposed to the more grounded take of its contemporaries. If your the type of movie watcher who requires all of your non-SciFi and Fantasy to reflect what could really happen, I fully understand if this movie isn't for you. But that's what I enjoyed about it. The premise, the character call-backs, and the execution all felt not of this society, and that got me into it. I genuinely laughed throughout the movie, and bought all the interpersonal relationships (which would never be as high-functioning as they appear...obviously). Beanie Feldstein's faces throught the movie deserve their own kind of award. Kaitlyn Devers delivered an absolutely emotion performance, and Bille Lourd... god damn. I'll absolutely watch it again

I didn't want this to end. I felt a greater sadness as the credits started to role hear than I did when the screen faded to black at the end of the series' epilogue. That was the conclusion of the story. This was the reminder the show is finished and we don't get to live in this world anymore. You could tell that while the senior production staff (Spence, Caulfield, Nutter, etc) had come to terms with it ending, and perhaps were even ready to move on, that the "in the trenches crew" were very shook by the whole thing coming to an end. Even if they were exhausted. Their passion poured through. I empathize with them. There were so many great little moments. Seeing just HOW FREAKING GOOD of an Actress Sophie is. The wights eating craft services, everything Master of Snow, and of course the Table Read. I'm sad to not have Thrones in my life going forward. The poor coffee van team. Who would have guessed how infamous they would become

Don't tell Jack and Diane's classmates. There will be a line around the block to see that... I thought they handled to resolution of this arc pretty well. Dre had a begrudging acceptance of the Gap year and did feel Junior had come out the better for it, but still wanted to set his child up for success with an education. I like that the family wasn't willing to blindly support the decision either, but ultimately respected him enough to make his own choice. Can we all agree Dre at his own agency would have been a spectacular failure though?

The Iron Throne turned out to be the one true villain do the show. And it got one of the best death scenes.

I think Sansa would have enjoyed having him in her orbit, at the wall instead of dead, but I think Jon found, with his Stark-based sense of Duty exhausted, his Targareyan-based ascent ended by his own choice, to take up with the family he adopted himself into. The Free-folk were the family he found, and he was truly at his happiest among them. I think the remaining Night's Watch will be more of a general police force of the far north, as Tyrion says, a place for the bastards and broken things to go.

Cecily making Jeanine Pirro that... Uh... Visually Appealing... Has been a major monkey wrench in my general psyche

I was hoping for a Garrett Morris visit for a little Ant-Man and Ant-Man adventures. I don't know what it would have been, and Garrett probably doesn't travel much these days, but it would have been great. I thought the musical performances were outstanding background music

There is no way Captain Raymond Holt would refer to a lectern as a "podium" ....This is an important observation

That really hit hard. I've had events that people bail on for all sorts of reasons, but when you put work into something and want to share it with friends, it's hard not to take it personally. I empathized with Sheldon. This show has really grown into something better than it had any right to be when it was announced, mixing in appropriate drama with the comedy. Nearly all the actors hit it out of the park and can play up multiple angles. I do wish we had been able to explore more of Missy this season than straight-up comic relief, but she does it so well. The young friends paired so well with TBBT finale. I know there's no logical reason for Young Sheldon to interact with any of them, but it would be so interesting to occasionally find a reason to check in with them. Young Leonard was especially emotional.