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Showing posts from June, 2025

2025 Blind Spot Series: Ziegfeld Follies

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Official synopsis:   The late, great impresario Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. (William Powell) looks down from Heaven and ordains a new revue in his grand old style. This is one those classic films that I had never heard of until one of my favorite readers/classic film extraordinaire Joel recommended me to me. It was an easy sell. Judy Garland, Lucille Ball, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly. I'm in. Said follies are divided into segments. Some being comedy bits and others musical numbers. I think the film could've made better use of its framing device by having Ziegfeld talk in between all or most of the segments. He only appears at the beginning and it didn't feel like enough.  Of all the segments, I enjoyed the musical numbers the most. Watching Astaire and Kelly tap together is a treat, as is any time Judy Garland is on screen. I wish she would've gotten to sing a little more in her sketch.  On top of having a very compelling cast, the sets and costumes are glorious. They're so g...

Review: Friendship

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Official synopsis: A suburban dad, Craig (Tim Robinson) falls hard for his charismatic new neighbor, Austin. (Paul Rudd) Tim Robinson has been on the comedy scene for quite some time, but for the past few years he's been gaining momentum via his Netfix show I Think You Should Leave . He's basically the king of cringe comedy at the moment. That's not everyone's cup of tea, but it is something you absolutely have to be okay with before going into Friendship . Friendship feels like a feature length I Think You Should Leave sketch. It's awkward, hilarious, and will test your patience with how long a bit can go. And I mean that in a positive way. Craig is a deeply uncomfortable dude. He can't help but just make everything a bit more weird. It's easy to see why he becomes to infatuated with Austin, who is the epitome of "cool" to him. The script has issues. It's not really sure what to do with its 3rd act, but I laughed so much that I can't be ...

Series Review: The Handmaid's Tale (season 6)

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I've been really putting off the final season of this acclaimed series. The way the world is today, this just seems like even more of a possibility than it already did. And having read both The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments, I knew there was more to come.  I ended up knocking out the entire season on a transatlantic fight (do not recommend that for episode 9) Here's what I liked, disliked, and my final thoughts. LIKES * All episodes felt "complete." They didn't drag things out for multiple episodes. Most things they start out to accomplish in the beginning are seen through in the end, and I appreciated how buttoned up that was. Especially since this show does have a bit of a history with meandering.  * Nick's choices were unambiguously bad. If you've spent any time on the Handmaids Tale subreddit, there's a lot of ~discourse~ around Nick. The official tag for posts about him there is "wet for war criminal" which is kind of hilarious....