2021 – Page 8 – PopCult Reviews

Weekly Wonderings – September 8th, 2021

We have officially sold our house and moved out. We kept waiting for the closing date, and then early Monday morning, our broker told us it would be Wednesday if we wanted. We wanted it and spent the next 24 hours working harder than we have in a long time to pack, donate, and move things over to my sister’s place. This morning we went to the attorney’s office and signed the papers. We were in shock when we learned that because this was our primary residence and we’d sold no other houses this year, we would not be taxed on the sale. This is a life-changing experience because we doubled our money on the house. Because of the insane housing market, we sold it for 92% higher than we purchased.

PopCult Podcast Mini – Karen

Seth & Ariana sit down to talk about the new thriller(?) Karen. Will you want to speak to the manager of the theater after watching this one?

Movie Review – John and the Hole

John and the Hole (2021)
Written by Nicolás Giacobone
Directed by Pascual Sisto

There’s been a trend in independent cinema for the last decade and a half to focus on cold neutral aesthetics. For some films, that can work given a well-written script with strongly developed characters. While these movies often lure me in with moody slick trailers, I find myself utterly bored while watching them. This isn’t to say there’s something wrong with slow, atmospheric films, but you need to be a very skilled filmmaker to make this particular aesthetic pop. John and the Hole failed to do that and was a true slog to watch.

Weekly Wonderings – September 1st, 2021

Well, the last week has clearly shown us we are in the apocalypse here in the United States. COVID cases are spiraling out of control, climate change is fueling wildfires and hurricanes that are devastating swathes of the country, abortion is all but banned in Texas, with liberals screaming at leftists instead of conservatives. I am fully convinced that America is finished in all capacities. It’s simply a matter of time until the people who live here come to that realization. On to the wonderings for this shithole of a week.

Summer 2021 Digest

Features
Rest in Peace, Richard Donner
Patron Pick – New Waterford Girl (Amy)
Patron Pick – The Donut King (Matt)
Patron Pick – The Fifth Element (Amy)
Patron Pick – Baraka (Matt)
Documentary Round-Up July 2021
Book Update – July/August 2021
My Top 10 Favorite Saturday Night Live Cast Members

Book Update – July-August 2021

The Best Horror of The Year Vol. 11 (2019) edited by Ellen Datlow

It had been a while since I took a deep dive into some new horror, so I decided to check out one of the fantastic Best Horror of the Year collections. These are edited by the prolific Ellen Datlow, a person who has composed some excellent horror anthologies since the 1980s and served as the editor-in-chief of Omni magazine. Like all anthologies, this is a mixed bag of stories that will depend on the individual reader’s tastes. I wouldn’t say there is anything bad here, but I enjoyed specific stories more than others based on my personal preferences.

PopCult Podcast Mini – Candyman (2021)

Seth & Ariana take a the new Candyman film from director Nia Da Costa.

Movie Review – Sweet Girl

Sweet Girl (2021)
Written by Philip Eisner & Gregg Hurwitz
Directed by Brian Andrew Mendoza

Netflix original movies/shows can be hit or miss. There are times when their movies feel like the thing you settled for when you rent something. You’re left with the subpar version of what you wanted. You stare at the title, think you’ve seen the trailer, but everything is a blur as things melt one into the other. All titles are similar, the colors, nothing bright or new.

Movie Review – Cryptozoo

Cryptozoo (2021)
Written & Directed by Dean Shaw

If Cryptozoo feels like an indie comic book, you wouldn’t be wrong. The creator Dean Shaw is a comic book writer/artist. The work looks like a crude outsider art piece with hints of inspiration from other obscure animated works. I personally saw a lot of Fantastic Planet in the character movement and the themes of the narrative. The story is ambitious but ultimately fails to come together, in my opinion. There’s something here, but I don’t think all the ingredients mixed well. We have an animated film that wants to build a vast world and talk about the environment & humanity.

Weekly Wonderings – August 23rd, 2021

Just sort of resigned to give up on America and Americans at this point. I have noticed social media sentiments from people who always hovered in that centrist space, just wholly giving in to apathy. American media & power relies on the people losing their ability to imagine a different, better world, and they have certainly accomplished that. They’ve convinced people that a real revolution (not a Proud Boy hog LARP) is possible and that a thousand deaths a day from COVID and pediatric ICUs filling up is just the norm. So with our house being sold and waiting for the closing and everything else, I just have decided to withdraw myself from my usual social media spots. The weekly wonderings will be pretty much the only place I share my personal thoughts and ideas. Facebook is a worthless platform, so I suppose Twitter & Instagram will just be me promoting the blog until the world ends.