2022 – Page 4 – PopCult Reviews

PopCult Podcast – Bardo/Bones and All

A journey through the dreams of a (dying?) artist trying to grapple with his cultural identity. Two young lovers on an endless cannibalistic road trip through America.

Comic Book Review – Batman: Killing Time

Batman: Killing Time (2022)
Reprints Batman: Killing Time #1-6
Written by Tom King
Art by David Marquez

I don’t think this is a controversial opinion, but here goes: The most interesting thing about the Batman mythos is his villains. If you had to compare Batman to another superhero based on everything surrounding the character, Spider-Man is your best bet. Yet, Spider-Man is a character often more interesting than many of his rogues while still having some fascinating baddies in the mix. Batman, on the other hand, is a one-note character for me; of course, it all depends on who is writing. I’m always eager to see what the villains are up to, though, and this mini-series by Tom King focuses mainly on two of them, a pair we don’t see too often: The Riddler and Catwoman.

Movie Review – Aftersun

Aftersun (2022)
Written & Directed by Charlotte Wells

Many people will never know their parents as real human beings. That could be because the parent puts up emotional barriers to hide their vulnerabilities. The parent may not want to overwhelm the child with adult emotions they are far too young to understand, which continues into their child’s adulthood. Or the parent could simply not respect the child as a person and think they couldn’t understand. I know for me, my parents will always be enigmas. Estranged from my dad for 14 years and counting and my mom for 3+. It’s better for me that way; they are both broken, toxic people who I don’t think will ever seek out the help they need. I don’t have the bandwidth to do it for them, and honestly, I was neglected in so many ways, so a relationship with them is nothing I desire. But, unfortunately, that’s how life can sometimes be. We don’t choose to be born, and we don’t choose who we are born to. Some people have parents that are grounded, open, and loving. Others have parents who are distant, closed off, and confusing. All we can do is try to make sense of the cards we are dealt.

TV Review – The White Lotus Season Two

The White Lotus Season Two (HBOMax)
Written & Directed by Mike White

The first season of Mike White’s surprise HBO hit The White Lotus delivered an acerbic examination of the lives of the privileged while vacationing in another culture’s home. That setting was Hawaii, and the interactions between characters, both local and foreign, resulted in some pretty strong dark comedy about colonialism. For the second season, White drops all but one guest and switches the setting to a White Lotus resort in Taormina, Sicily. Once again, we have three sets of guests intermingling with the staff and local people, exploring ideas of ennui, sex, and alienation. The quality here does not skip a bit, but I did find that White was pulling his punches, being a little too gentle with the same people he would have skewered a year ago.

Movie Review – Bones and All

Bones and All (2022)
Written by David Kajganich
Directed by Luca Guadagnino

A recurring trope in American cinema is the story of a pair of lovers, lost in a world without much to offer them, traveling across desolate landscapes and having strange encounters. Most notably, Arthur Penn told us this story with Bonnie & Clyde and Terence Malick with Badlands; the list is ever-growing. More often than not, these stories serve as commentary on the plight of the current youth, a means to examine what makes it challenging to be coming into adulthood at a particular time and how young people respond to these obstacles. Luca Guadagnino’s latest, Bones and All, is one of those movies. He’s not brand new to these ideas; they were explored with a lot of depth in his HBO mini-series We Are Who We Are, albeit with a more grounded concept.

Comic Book Review – Black Hammer Reborn

Black Hammer Reborn (Dark Horse Comics)
Written by Jeff Lemire
Art by Caitlin Yarsky, Malachi Ward, and Matthew Sheehan

I was pretty skeptical when I saw Jeff Lemire was putting out a maxi-series titled Black Hammer Reborn. After Black Hammer: The Age of Doom, the main story in this superhero universe seemed all wrapped up, in my opinion. There were secondary mini-series that did world-building, exploring pastiches of familiar comic tropes, which seemed fine. However, I didn’t see any value in going back to a narrative that was concluded in a thematically & emotionally satisfying way. Even after reading Black Hammer Reborn, I haven’t changed my mind too much in that regard.

TV Review – Avenue 5 Season 2

Avenue 5 Season 2 (HBO)
Written by Armando Iannucci, Will Smith, Keith Akushie, Jon Brown, John Finnemore, Tony Roche, Rose Heiney, Georgia Pritchett, Ian Martin, Marina Hyde, and Sean Gray,
Directed by William Stefan Smith, David Schneider, Annie Griffin, Ollie Parsons, David Schneider, and Armando Iannucci

I had an interesting conversation with a Dutch person about a year ago. I was curious as to what their perspective on America was. I had a strong point of view about The Netherlands because it was so different, and I wanted to know their thoughts on my homeland. They described the United States as a giant amusement park. It was always fun when they first arrived. There was no end of delightful distractions to keep them busy. However, they were ready to go home by the end of their visits. It was sensory overload, and they needed to get back to a grounded, centered existence. That’s what life is like here in The Netherlands in comparison. It isn’t perfect, but it’s so quiet. You rarely hear the noise you would hear in an American city. There are far fewer cars and more people on bikes. I’ve never been in a place so calm yet so full of people.

PopCult Podcast – Armageddon Time

Here’s how this works. I made a podcast episode. I have an ad on it. You’re going to listen and then the big money machine is going to give me coins. Let me know what I can do for you. Keep it lazy, folks.

December 2022 Posting Schedule

Well, November was quite a surprising month. I was anticipating breaking 4,000 views, a new record and perfectly reasonable looking at the pace I’d been setting for the last six months. However, my review of the experimental horror film Skinamarink took off like wild. I have to guess I was “in the right place, at the right time,” and my prediction of 4,000+ was woefully underestimating things. On the Skinamarink review alone, I pulled in 2,662 views. My grand total for views in November came in at an impressive (for my little blog) 6,849 views. I’m under no delusions that I will match this or beat it in December. The Skinamarink was a nice fluke, but I have noticed that once views pass a certain threshold, they remain within that range. I would think someone much better at statistical analysis and who has a better understanding of the algorithm would probably be able to explain that. It should be interesting to see how December turns out. Onto the schedule.

Comic Book Review – Catwoman: Lonely City

Catwoman: Lonely City (2022)
Reprints Catwoman: Lonely City #1-4
Written & Illustrated by Cliff Chiang

In 1986, Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns mini-series reconceptualized Batman by telling an out-of-canon story. An aging Bruce Wayne retired from being Batman years earlier, but now Gotham City is falling into a deeper cesspool than ever before. Mutant gangs run rampant, and The Joker has resurfaced. Wayne must become Batman again, this time with Carrie Kelly by his side as Robin. The Dark Knight Returns, while ground-breaking & compelling, is a politically questionable book. Miller has always been reactionary to one degree or another, and TDKR is very much indicative of this mindset to not examine but react with emotion. Miller is a passionate guy, and that fervor has gotten him into much-deserved praise and trouble. He’s apologized, but the man is so entrenched in his mindset that it would be hard to pull him out. But 2022 is not 1986, and the reactionary Death Wish-driven media of that era just doesn’t fly these days (unless you’re a big Daily Wire fan, I suppose). Cliff Chiang is here to tell us another story of a future Gotham, which is far more coherent and sets up a conflict between the criminal and the authority leading us to question if those labels are being accurately applied.