March 10, 2019

REVIEWS OF VARIOUS THINGS

honeycomb creature

Monty Python’s Flying Circus – Only a few episodes in. So far there’s a number of sketches where the premise is “what if working class slobs had a liberal arts education” which seems like the 1960s version of “Let’s intellectualize rap music!” message board threads

Downsizing – It’s fine. About a year ago I saw someone livetweeting it saying it was great and then followed up half an hour later about how it took a total nosedive. So I was waiting for some big awful twist that never really came

A Star is Born (1954) – I got a digital version of this as an apology gift for being a former Filmstruck subscriber (joke’s on them, I was only a participant in the free beta test!) which includes long-lost audio footage awkwardly inserted, which makes a long and tedious film slightly longer. It’s time to hashtag-cancel Judy Garland for her cultural appropriation song.

Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend – Conan O’Brien is such an incredibly funny guy in this podcast. I just wish a third of it wasn’t ads (they’re funny, but, y’know). The relatively few other podcasts I listen to are Patreon-supported so I’m not really sure: do all “mainstream” podcasts have this many ads?

Conan – I watched the first episode of the “revamped” half-hour show and the funny Conan from the podcast is nowhere to be found. It’s funny when talk shows make a big deal about GETTING RID OF THE DESK like it will solve all their problems.

OK KO! Let’s Be Heroes – This show is incredible. It “premiered” as a mildly entertaining phone game like a year before the show did and I kinda forgot there even was a show until the What A Cartoon podcast mentioned it was on Hulu now. I see Geneva Hodgson in the credits as a storyboarder/writer a lot; I’m so glad that the members of Cartoon Book Club are all extremely powerful now.

Sorry To Bother You – It’s very fun and entertaining but also a big mess. It’s like the writer got bored and started making a new movie with a new magical conceit every 20 minutes. For some reason it really annoyed me that there’s a character whose name is bleeped out just because it’s ~wEiRd~ or whatever.

Batman The Animated Series – 3 of the past 4 episodes I’ve seen feature people being transformed into genetic abominations (cat people, werewolf, Man-Bat). Just what was going on over at the studio…?

Snickers With Creamy Peanut Butter – I think they’re playing fast and loose with the abstract concept of a Snickers bar. Just how much can you alter a Snickers bar before it ceases to be a Snickers bar?