2024 – Page 8 – PopCult Reviews

Autism III

As of today, I am 43, and I would like to reflect and share on this day. I don’t know what else I can do.

Over the last nine months, I feel so much has crumbled away. Like many, I’ve watched as images from the genocide of the Palestinians come across my social media feeds. I can’t make myself look away. That feels gross. It feels like a denial. The least I can do is witness what others are being forced to endure. To witness it is nowhere close to experiencing it. I know I’ve harmed myself by seeing so much of it. I have seen the human body at all ages broken down in every possible way by other humans who see their victims as animals, as vermin. It is naive to act like these behaviors have been dormant since the Holocaust. There have been genocides across the planet almost constantly before & after. This is the first time I’ve seen it all so crystal clear unfolding before me.

PopCult Podcast – I Saw the TV Glow/Exhuma

Two recent horror releases make up today’s episode. One is a dark fantasy about queerness in the suburbs of 1990. The second is Korean folk horror about stopping a vengeful ghost.

TV Review – Outer Range Season Two

Outer Range Season Two (2024)
Written by Cameron Litvack, Glenise Mullins, Dagny Atencio Looper, Jenna Westover, Doug Petrie, Marilyn Thomas, Aïda Mashaka Croal, and Randy Redroad
Directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Deborah Kampmeier, Blackhorse Lowe, Josh Brolin, and Catriona McKenzie

Outer Range was one of my most pleasant streaming TV surprises in 2022. This Amazon series was different from what I expected after seeing the promotional images of Josh Brolin in a cowboy hat standing in a field. My assumption was that this was some Yellowstone copycat. I could not have been more wrong. Instead, I found a complex and bizarre show about a man displaced in time & space and the odd ripples that seemed to have in his personal life and community. The end of season one dropped a significant twist (which I may have to talk about in this review, so beware if spoilers are a thing for you) that excited me to see where the show went next. Then news of strife behind the scenes came out, and I wondered if we would ever see season two. We have now, but not without dramatic changes, which have altered the original tone.

PopCult Podcast – Hit Man/Riddle of Fire

Richard Linklater’s latest places Glen Powell in the shoes of a pretend hired killer. Then, we visit a 16mm dreamworld where three kids are on a quest to make a blueberry pie.

PopCult Podcast – About Dry Grasses/Housekeeping for Beginners

Two European features make up this week’s episode. One follows a misanthropic rural schoolteacher in Turkey as he burns every bridge around him. The other is about a queer found family in North Macedonia.

June 2024 Posting Schedule

Film Series
[Flashback to 1989 – June 3rd thru 27th]
Heathers, sex lies and videotape, The Abyss, Drugstore Cowboy, Mystery Train, Steel Magnolias, The Cook The Thief His Wife and Her Lover, Tie Me Up Tie Me Down, The Killer, A City of Sadness, Santa Sangre, The Vampire’s Kiss

PopCult Podcast – Stress Positions/The Last Stop in Yuma County

Well, not every week is a fun one. Our first film is Brooklyn hipster snark against the backdrop of COVID. The second is a dull formulaic exercise in genre that wastes so much talent.

Comic Book Review – Danger Street

Danger Street (2024)
Reprints Danger Street #1-12
Written by Tom King
Art by Jorge Fornés

Why do I pick up a new Tom King comic if I dislike his work? [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] You might be asking that. The premise for Danger Street is the sort of thing that would naturally hook someone like me. It’s based on First Issue Special, a short-lived D.C. Comics series from the 1970s, in which each issue served as a “pilot” for an ongoing project. The proposed titles spanned a diverse gamut from established but obscure heroes (Dr. Fate, Creeper, and Metamorpho) to reboots of concepts (New Gods, Manhunter, and Starman) to new ideas that used familiar tropes (Atlas, Warlord, Codename: Assassin) to complete weird left turns (The Green Team, Lady Cop, Dingbats of Danger Street, and The Outsiders). King takes all these characters, and attempts to weave a sprawling tale that mixes the epic feel of comics with the grounded takes of more post-modern comics. Like most of King’s work, the concept is far more interesting than the execution.

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – CY_Borg Part Four

CY_Borg (Free League Publishing)
Written and designed by Christian Sahlén and Johan Nohr

You can purchase CY_Borg here

You can download the CY_litary De.file_ment solo rules here

Read how Zalec’s adventure began here

Before Zalec heads to The Fickle Fig, she doubles back to Blink the Tinkerer, tossing them the packet of Vurt. Blink grins from ear to ear and gestures that Zalec can take any item she likes. Among the shelves, the gearhead discovers a SmartMine. This object is just like a typical mine – triggered by pressure – but it has cloaking tech, so it blends into any surface you place it on. That could come in handy. The only problem is that Zalec can’t tell what the mine will do when set off.

(Because I double-backed, I’m making myself have to get through one more street before my destination.)

PopCult Podcast – Challengers/Sasquatch Sunset

In one film we follow the complex intersection of sex, sports, and relationships. In the second, we see life from the perspective of animals where mortality is sudden & cold.