Seth Harris

It (2017)

It (2017)
Written by Chase Palmer & Cary Fukunaga, and Gary Dauberman
Directed by Andy Muschietti

it_film_2017

It’s 1988 in Derry, Maine and Bill Denbrough is mourning his brother Georgie who vanished one rainy Saturday afternoon. His group of friends begins to have similar experiences all revolving around a menacing clown called Pennywise. He seems connected to Derry’s history of disappearances, far beyond that of any other town in America. As the Losers, their club’s nickname, investigate further they are led into the very bowels of Derry where the evil waits, eating up their fear and the children of the town.

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Twin Peaks: The Return – Part 18 Breakdown, Thoughts, and Analysis

Part 18
Written by Mark Frost & David Lynch
Directed by David Lynch

twinpeaks

This won’t be the standard dissection, but more a reflection on the emotions and ideas I have had in the week following the finale of Twin Peaks: The Return. My immediate reaction was a strong feeling in the gut, a sense of being overwhelmed, but overall positive. I was definitely ready to ruminate and one day reexamine the piece in its entirety. As with all work by Lynch, there is no Meaning, there are many meanings and understandings. He would be the first to not put authorial voice over your own interpretation and has never shown an interest in decomposing his work. As he says, “the work is the work.”

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Movie Review – Lemon

Lemon
Written by Janicza Bravo and Brett Gelman
Directed by Janicza Bravo

gelman-lemon

Isaac Lachmann (Brett Gelman) is a despicable, misanthropic, misogynist, narcissist. He is a struggling actor who teaches acting classes with a pretension so dense it is nauseating. The opening of the film finds his live-in girlfriend Ramona (Judy Greer) trying to sidestep out of their relationship and Isaac taking it in the least mature way possible. He stumbles through episodes in his life that include Passover with his almost equally acidic family. He somehow ends up in another relationship despite being a rude, crass dullard and the story sort of just ends. Isaac’s life continues to be a mire of self-pity and blame shifting.

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Comic Book Review – Suicide Squad Rebirth Vol.1

Suicide Squad Volume 1: The Black Vault
Written by Rob Williams
Art by Phillip Tan

Colonel Rick Flag is brought into Task Force X by Amanda Waller to lead the latest iteration of Suicide Squad. This time around the team is intentionally modeled after the line up in the film adaptation. We have Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Katana, Enchantress, and Killer Croc. Along the way, a couple more additions are made, but the intent to shape the team after the film is very apparent. The Black Vault where powerful cosmic items are stored and one particular item becomes the crux of this story.

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Twin Peaks: The Return – Episode 17 Breakdown, Thoughts, and Analysis

Part 17
Written by Mark Frost & David Lynch
Directed by David Lynch

Video clips will come in about a week as those are uploaded to YouTube. I am waiting a week to revisit Part 18 for some reasons, so look for that next weekend.

Part 17

Gordon Cole toasts the FBI with his agents Albert Rosenfeld and Tami Preston. He continues his speech by confiding a secret he has kept from Albert for 25 years. A being of extreme negative energy was discovered many decades ago. In ancient times it was called Jowday but is now referred to as Judy. Many agents disappeared in the search for Jowday. Off screen during season two, Gordon made a plan with Cooper and Major Briggs to find and stop Judy. This was part of Cooper’s purpose for entering the Red Room and coming in contact with the Lodge spirits.

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Movie Review – Death Note

Death Note (2017)
Written by Charley Parlapanides & Vlas Parlapanides, Jeremy Slater
Directed Adam Wingard

death note

Angsty Seattle teen Light Turner has a potent weapon literally drop out of the sky, the Death Note. Light finds this leather bound journal is a device that can kill anyone who the bearer knows the face and name of. The target’s name is recorded on a page of the book and Ryuk, the death god who accompanies the book does the rest. It should seem pretty obvious that Light ends up way over his head very quickly. He ends up sharing his secret with Mia, a cheerleader at his school and she takes to the book with a disturbing glee. Soon the series of strange deaths, all befalling known criminals, draws the attention of authorities and an unusual detective known only as L.

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Twin Peaks: The Return – Episode 16 Breakdown, Thoughts, and Analysis

Part 16
Written by Mark Frost & David Lynch
Directed by David Lynch

audrey dance

Doppelganger Cooper and Richard Horne arrive at one set of coordinates, a spot in the hills of Western Washington. Doop explains to Richard that three people have given him coordinates, only two people matched. Richard says they should check out the two that match. Doop hands him a device and explains he will need to climb on a rock atop a nearby hill and follow the growing beeps on the instrument. Meanwhile, Jerry Horne crests another hill yards away, but not close enough to distinguish who these people are. Richard follows the sound and ends up being incinerated by an electrical trap laid by individuals out to stop Doop. Reacting coldly to the death, Doop confirms Richard was indeed his son. Before leaving he texts Diane a message that reads only “=) all.”

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PopCult Book Club Announcement: September 2017 – Lovecraft Country

After a month long sabbatical, save for Twin Peaks updates, Pop Cult’s engines will start firing up again. To start out, our book club selection will be Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff. It was recently announced that HBO will be adapting the book into a series to be helmed by director Jordan Peele (Get Out, Key and Peele). The book is described as:

lovecraft country “Chicago, 1954. When his father Montrose goes missing, 22-year-old Army veteran Atticus Turner embarks on a road trip to New England to find him, accompanied by his Uncle George—publisher of The Safe Negro Travel Guide—and his childhood friend Letitia. On their journey to the manor of Mr. Braithwhite—heir to the estate that owned one of Atticus’s ancestors—they encounter both mundane terrors of white America and malevolent spirits that seem straight out of the weird tales George devours […]

A chimerical blend of magic, power, hope, and freedom that stretches across time, touching diverse members of two black families, Lovecraft Country is a devastating kaleidoscopic portrait of racism—the terrifying specter that continues to haunt us today.”

Join us to read this interesting examination of the racist elements within the worlds of Lovecraft and America.

Twin Peaks: The Return – Part 15 Breakdown, Thoughts, and Analysis

Part 15
Written by Mark Frost & David Lynch
Directed by David Lynch

Part 15

We open on a surprisingly bright sunny day, as Nadine Hurley walks with purpose down the highway, a golden shovel over her shoulder. She arrives at the Gas Farm to tell Big Ed she is setting him free from their marriage. Nadine has had an epiphany and realized that he and Norma Jennings should be together, that her jealousy stood in the way. I think she both genuine and has developed feelings for Dr. Amp aka Jacoby based on their last scene together. Ed takes this in and sets off from the station.

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Twin Peaks: The Return – Episode 14 Breakdown, Thoughts, and Analysis

Part 14
Written by Mark Frost & David Lynch
Directed by David Lynch

andy hero

We begin with FBI Director Gordon Cole returning a call to Twin Peaks Police Department. He has an exchange with Lucy where she assures him she does go home and has gone a vacation; the department is not her home. On the horn with Frank, Cole learns about the missing pages of Laura Palmer’s diary and the implication that there are two Dale Coopers out and about in the world. Now, Cole knows they cannot trust Doop when they next cross paths.

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