ChunkStyle

I realize that Peter Krause is an anchor and not a reporter but if he lacks the journalistic instincts to investigate anything at all about how his son came to be cursed and the existence of real magic in the world then I am afraid the people of New York are being poorly served by their local news.

I definitely considered that and the movie is vague enough that it is an option. I just thought it was less likely because it would make Carruthers/Ragnar the hardest working person in the world. In that scenario it feels more likely that Carruthers starts out on the level and then slowly becomes disillusioned and takes on the Ragnar persona. Because to go into it as Ragnar from the start looking to infiltrate is an incredibly long con as I assume it would take many years to reach that level within whatever that organization was. Also how would he know which organization to infiltrate? It could just as easily have been the FBI going after him. I still think Ragnar killed Carruthers but any one of the backstories is good.

I am hung up on one of Lance's lines that I think is supposed to be his most Bond-like. When the bad guys burst into the cabin bedroom with the two look-alikes Lance says "I must be in love. I think I'm seeing double." Is that a thing? And Lance would have had to do some really quick math about how those two might look from a few hundred yards away because they didn't look that similar. In the remake I'm going to suggest they change the line to "Hey, I've got that shirt."

Do you mean when they were talking about Velvet's costume for the Incinerator Club show? They said that Linda Carter wore that same outfit to perform a Kiss song.

Hilarious episode. My favorite part of the movie had to be Cliff. He is an absolute first ballot entry into the Roommate Hall of Fame. There is a good chance that Cliff and Lance never met before getting randomly paired up for their dorm assignment. Then a year or two later absolutely no questions asked he is a killing machine against impossible odds to help out Lance. Normally you are just happy if you have a roommate that keeps things relatively clean. Cliff puts everyone to shame. I don't know if the movie made this explicitly clear but Ragnar killed Carruthers and then assumed his identity, right? It makes me think the real Carruthers must not have had a great working relationship with his coworkers if no one in this organization ever batted an eye at his replacement. Also he must have had no friends or family to notice that he had gone missing. That unseen character is really bumming me out.

I don't think this guy read to the end. I am standing firm. Until Miscavige sends me a cease and desist forum post. Then I'll back down since I have nothing riding on this.

Am I the only person that passed (mild) judgment on Erin for walking away and leaving the lint trap full? I always felt like it was rude to leave it behind for the next person to deal with.

Well it definitely sounds like the whole series was a group effort. But whatever the real story was something changed drastically towards the end of the series. The books went from being funny (to an idiot 16 year old) to the worst thing I have read. I almost didn't finish the series even after investing all that time up front. I never bothered reading Battlefield Earth.

The limo driver reading the L. Ron Hubbard book jumped out to me to me as well. Except I am here to tell you that was no L. Ron Hubbard book! He was reading the 9th (out of 10) books in the Mission Earth series. My friends and I read the series in high school. They are extremely pulpy sci-fi. Dumb fun that should only appeal to a boy in high school. They were mixed with a healthy dose of his Dianetics views which I didn't know at the time. The cover art made a big deal throughout the series that it was going to be a giant 10 volume masterwork. It is said to be the last thing Hubbard finished before he died. I was the last in the group to read them and my friends warned me that Hubbard didn't actually finish them. He died first and because the Church of Scientology wanted the shine from him having written this 10 book series they brought in a ghost writer to finish them. This was my friends' own pre-internet theory based only on having read the books. I thought they were full of crap until I read for myself. Half way through book 8 it slams into a brick wall. It goes from being good bad writing to just extremely bad. Books 9 and 10 are an absolute slog to finish. Whoever they brought in was hired only for their ability to keep a secret and writing ability was a distant second. I haven't figured out yet how this ties into Striptease. Maybe a message from the 2nd unit director about who should really get credit for the movie.

It isn't during sex like Jason wanted but the best call of "Burt Reynolds" occurring in nature that I know of is from this. Paul Westerberg playing Can't Hardly Wait on SNL. Apparently Paul told his drummer to yell out whatever came into his head when the song hit its pause. He went with Burt Reynolds. It happens at 2:15. These poor fools in 1993 didn't even know they had Congressman David Dilbeck to look forward to.

Hot of the presses. Potentially Kubrick's view on the ending of the film. https://io9.gizmodo.com/this-may-be-stanley-kubrick-himself-explaining-the-end-1827363975

I don't remember when I first saw 2001 but I was pretty young. I didn't see it again for many years. In the intervening time it split apart into two movies in my mind. There was the movie about the killer computer in space. That was a thriller. There was also the trippy experience movie with the Space Baby. Then I would think is 2001 the movie with HAL? Or is that the movie with the Space Baby? My kid brain had decided the two parts were so different they couldn't have come from the same place.

They could have made this movie a hit with one simple change. Make it Paperboy: The Movie. I think there was enough connective material there already they wouldn't have had to change anything but the title. It would have made 10x at the box office because that game was the best. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paperboy_(video_game) Where was the Oscar nomination for Jack Weston? I was more creeped out by his town hall speech than anything Anthony Hopkins did as Hannibal Lector. And that happened before he was revealed as the villain of the movie.

Paul was well within his rights to forget that this movie takes place in Gulfport, AL because there is no Gulfport in Alabama. I'd say they made up a small town on purpose so they didn't besmirch the sheriff of an actual city. Or they got it confused with Gulfport, Mississippi and never bothered to check. About even odds on those two.

Not to defend this movie but I think that audience member's take down of the hurricane science was based on mishearing what the character said. I don't think they ever said 600 mph winds I think they said the storm was 600 miles across.

This movie should have been called "Deus Ex Hurricana". It always provided just the right amount of destruction to help out the heroes but conveniently allowed them to walk through the winds while right next to them parked cars are being shoved down the street. Part of the unflattering introduction to our hero Casey was her telling Connor that his Irish soul left Ireland two generations ago. He corrects her and lets her know he moved here when he was 5. So how does Casey think that accents work? That they are purely genetic? One of the myriad production companies involved with this is named Entertainment Studios. Can anything beat that for the most bland company name? Especially for one involved in the creative arts? Loosest possible definition of creative arts there.

The one that I keep coming back to is 9 to 5. Maybe that is a cheat since it is going the singer becomes actor route rather than the reverse. If diegetic was on the table then Sex Bob-Omb's songs from Scott Pilgrim are my easy number one. I truly wish they had put out a full album and toured after the movie. I think I'd pick Garbage Truck as the one song to represent.

I was wondering if it is more clear in the book. Honestly the movie portrays them as if they were immortal. They are the bored idle rich with seemingly no motivation or aspirations. Except for Sarafine who wants to kill literally every human? While I can't say I agree with her at least she had some ambition.

Are they immortal? If so I didn't get that. I thought he was telling the truth that his ancestors founded the town (which was said more than anything else in the movie?) not that he was covering up that he was the actual founder. I was actually kind of annoyed they called regular humans "mortals" because they seemed to be just as mortal. Then I decided to cut them slack since there isn't really a term for a non-magic user except for muggle. For every other decision they deserve to be dragged.

This movie felt like they filmed a four hour movie that was fully realized and then cut things away until it was down to two hours. The Battle of Honey Hill seems to be the most important historical event for this small town and I guess a source of pride that the Confederates won the battle. But it got completely lost to history that they won because a witch showed up and started killing all of the Union soldiers? I think that would get at least a passing mention in one of those letters from the Ken Burns documentary.

Fingers crossed I'll be able to pass the torch to someone that comes in with a hot take about what they were really fighting for at the Battle of Honey Hill.

I am deeply wounded that my old friend Paul didn't recognize me. But seriously was he working off hand written notes this week? Maybe the printer hadn't made it over in the office move yet. Either way I apologize for the inadvertent racism.

Does Geostorm have the biggest gap in the stakes of the A-story vs. B-story of any movie in history? A-story: Plot to kill billions of people and forever change the geo-political climate of Earth. If successful the most significant event in Earth's history and even when foiled it kills tens of millions and causes hundreds of billions of dollars worth of damage. B-story: Take your pick between healing the relationship of two brothers mad at each other for three years or the secret work relationship that could possibly get someone fired.

Now that I think about it just because it was a self driving car that doesn't rule out that they stuck somebody else in there. They might have put in three people as stand-ins to make sure their ruse wasn't discovered.

This is the one part of the movie that is air-tight. When Secret Service Girlfriend sees what their escape vehicle is she says in disgust something along the lines of "you got a self driving cab?" If only she had read a little farther in the script she'd have known there was a HUGE payoff coming.