Rate the last movie you watched.

Saw this recently too. I agree that it is more accessible than Dogtooth or even The Lobster (I've not seen Deer), but it's still quite a niche film, I think. I find it funny that the advertising presents it as essentially a sort of restoration comedy full of bawdy and witty jokes, intended as a crowd pleaser. And that element is present, but the film plays with those conventions as well. There's a really interesting contrast between the mannered barbs that are thrown around in the presence of the queen, and the vicious nastiness that emerges when the mask slips.

What I think makes the film really great is that it isn't just a bluntly misanthropic vision of cruelty, although there is plenty of cruelty. It also presents a really nuanced exploration of power, and who is allowed to be cruel to whom, and how that cruelty multiplies throughout the court.

As with the Lobster, I think some people will feel they were sold the film on a false prospectus, but also like the Lobster, I think the film is a really fascinating and even handed exploration of the themes in a very tightly controlled way. It never lets itself pull back, and it never shows you something without considering its opposite.

Lots of great acting, too. Obviously Olivia Colman deserves a lot of praise for managing to convincingly portray such a wide range of conflicting personalities in one, and connecting them all in a convincing way. I think less obvious, but still great, is the way that Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone both show changes in their character - Stone moving from Naif (maybe?) to manipulative to outwardly cruel; Weisz moving from cold and domineering, to allowing us to see something of her motivation, to totally desperate. I found the performances incredibly convincing all round, which is especially impressive given that the script is quite broad about the characters in a lot of ways.

The camera work, lighting and mise-en-scene are also absolutely top drawer. A scene of Emma Stone moving around a library, with the camera following her is elevated massively by the lighting and the way the camera is controlled, moving from detailed focus of her face to wide tableau almost instantly. The use of natural lighting also lends a really effective distance between the daytime scenes and the night time machinations of the characters. Great film.

The Outlaw King

One word review: meh. 3/5

It wasn't bad. It doesn't flow particularly well in my opinion, but it's okay otherwise. Throw it on the pile with the rest of the medieval movies people have watched and never thought about again.

Finally saw SW: The Last Jedi,

It was fine, too long and stupid changes to Luke. The entire middle section in the casino was really not needed

2.5/5

Hearts Beat Loud (popped up on Hulu recently)

It's a fun coming-of-age/self-discovery movie about a middle-aged dad (Nick Offerman) and his summer-before-college daughter (Kiersey Clemons) that drags in some of the talky bits but hits its highs during the performance scenes.

3.5/5

HEAT

Al Pacino, Robert Deniro , Val Kilmer, Ashley Judd, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner... more.

As you can see, great cast. This movie seems super grounded compared with most heist/cop movies. The violence is fast and brutal and not stylish or sexy. There is this thrumming tension throughout the whole film.directed by micheal Mann (Miami vice, manhunter).

4/5 but it is looonnnggg

The Shape of Water, 2/5.

Outside of the visuals, I found this movie to be kinda meh. The story came across, to me, as ham-fisted allegory on top of ham-fisted allegory. That said, I enjoyed the performances of Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer, and Sally Hawkins. The other actors, not so much.

Sex and the City 2... much worse than the original. It's an awful movie

Bird Box

Imagine The Happening. Take out all of the goofiness and bad acting that made it funny. Replace it with a few good performances and not much else. That's Bird Box. It is not very good but it isn't bad enough to be entertaining either. Don't believe the hype (or the backlash for that matter). 2/5 Monsters That Can't Do Anything But Ask You To Take Your Blindfold Off

Ouija Prequel - 4/5

Great horror flick. Fun time. :D

The Last Jedi-3.5/5

I know this movie was super divisive but I enjoyed it for the most part. Can't really decide if I actually liked it or if it was just ok. I still liked Force Awakens more but TLJ had some cool action scenes and I'm real interested to see what they do next.

@wardcleaver: That men’s room power play, though. Creepy and effective.

@dizzyhippos: The first 80% of that movie could have been scrapped.

The main sequence of events was an out-of-gas car chase. The side plots were mostly boondoggles. Young Vader and Lady Luke spent most of their time in awkward teenage phone calls saying “whatcha thinkin’ ‘bout, Jedi stuff?”

I don’t love Star Wars, but The Last Jedi was terrible.

@nutter: I dont know if I would go so far as to call it terrible, there is the germ of a good idea that is just bogged down in heavy handed analogies about class warfare and poor character choices.

@dizzyhippos: I know opinions vary, but I found The Last Jedi truly awful as a film. There are a few films I’ve seen with my kids that I would have liked to walked out on.

The Last Jedi

Jurassic World

Ghostbusters reboot

Beautiful Creatures:

Even by the standards of modern Young Adult fiction this movie is a mess, it constantly contradicts itself on things like fate and has a horrible message about things like religion and women's ability to choose who they are for like 90% of the movie. Never read the books but it feels like they had to gut a substantial portion of the story to make it fit into a 2 hour movie that is still somehow too bloated. A serious waste of Emmy Rossum, Viola Davis, and Jeremy Irons. Edit: And constantly quoting other better writing doesn't improve your script.

1/5

Yeah, it is funny you mention that part. I understand that is what they were going for in that scene. However, as someone who lived in Japan for almost 7 years, it did not have the impact on me that it probably did for most people. It is not uncommon in Japan to have female cleaning staff clean the men's restroom, while men are using it. It is not thought of as weird.

"Bad Times at El Royale" ....5/5

Had to watch it twice to catch everything, but having grown up during the 60's this period piece had great a great soundtrack for my wife and I. Brought back memories...and everyone is a bad ass.

The Night Comes for Us - 9 "That's gonna hurt" out of 10 "You might wanna get that looked at"

Non-stop brutality. Some of the gnarliest, and most impactful fight scenes I've seen in a movie since the original Raid. I will say this movie is not for the faint of heart!

@wardcleaver: Oh, I meant the whole washing hands before, and not after handling your junk as well as engaging with the women...a lot of that scene was a really well done sort of creepy sexual powerplay.

@ballsleon: I watched this for a second time last night. Rewatching removes some of the impact, but about half of the fight scenes are just as amazing the second time.

The butcher shop, the police van, the three way fight featuring Julie Estelle, that final confrontation...

The Raid films, The Night Comes for Us, and Headshot make Hollywood action seem so damned bland.

@nutter: I think Julie Estelle's fights might be my favorite. How they conclude that final fight... ? I winced.

And 100% agree about Hollywood action movies. There are so many quick cuts in the fighting that it's hard to tell what's going on. They are truly a cut above.

@ballsleon: I love Iko Uwais’ films, but Joe Taslim is perfect in the lead role. Their final confrontation is probably my favorite action scene of all time.

Julie Estelle’s final fight is a VERY close second. She also had the best action scene in Headshot (with Uwais).

I really hope this scene continues to blossom. It’s the most exciting thing to happen to action cinema in ages.

Did some intercontinental travel, which means I watched some movies:

Hotel Artemis: I have a huge weakness for goodass low budget sci-fi, and this movie delivers. Jodie Foster is fucking incredible, and they keep things nice and simple - the future tech is understated (and, naturally, easy to do the special effects for), the plot is simple as can be, and everyone turns in a solid performance. Charlie Day even proves that he can play not just shouty Charlie Day characters (although he's still kind of shouty)! I enjoyed it immensely. 4 3D Printer Accidents out of 5

Solo: A Star Wars Story: Imagine a Star Wars movie that is just kind of there, and while you're watching it you think it's okay, but after it's over you don't really think about it anymore. After really loving Rogue One and finding Last Jedi to be straight-up maybe the best Star Wars movie period, this was a brutal comedown, but still kind of okay. It tried real hard, I guess, and that counts for something. 2 homoerotic Wookie shower scenes out of 5

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse: Look this movie is a 5 out of 5 on the strength of its visuals alone, but they added in an incredibly well-done story, a Spider-Gwen that is still in a punk band (something I wasn't sure would make it to the movies, because I feel like punk is not Kid Friendly Enough), a lady Doctor Octopus who was friends with Aunt May at some point (spoilered because it was a delightful surprise for me), schlubby Spider-Man, who ruled, and Miles fucking Morales, who was exquisite. As an added bonus, they threw in a fucking Spider-Man 2099 cameo after the credits, which as someone who has a super enormous soft spot for those comics was totally fucking delightful. Also, I'm pretty sure they are teasing Aunt May as Madame Web? Fuck, this movie owns. Best Spider-Man in... forever. 5 Rubik's Cubes out of 5

Spider-Man: Homecoming: Whenever the movie wasn't busy dropping hooks into the rest of the bloated-ass Marvel Cinematic Universe, it fucking ruled (although the beginning look in on Civil War was good). Tom Holland is a great Spider-Man, and I'm really happy with what they did with Mary Jane! If I'd seen this before Into the Spiderverse, I would say this was the best one, but alas! Its crown belongs to another now. 3 repurposed alien flight suits out of 5

I 100% watched some other movies, but I can't fucking remember them right now! So I'll come back with another post later when I remember what the fuck they were. Clearly they weren't that great though, seeing as how I don't fucking remember them at all.

Well, that didn't take long. Here's the other ones I saw:

The Predator: This is a movie that I wanted very much to like, but it kind of kept tripping over its own dick. Also I can't decide if its whole "kids on the spectrum are the next stage of human evolution" was offensive or just dumb. Shane Black sure does write quippy dialogue though! Too bad this movie kind of blows! 2 Praydaters out of 5

Skyscraper: This is like, an action film you'd see on local access from the 80s that happens to have the Rock (and Neve Campbell! Remember Neve Campbell?) in it. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it felt kind of like a foreign film in its sensibilities (which is to say, from the standards of an American action film, there would have been more swearing, at least one pair of tits (briefly shown to maintain a PG-13 rating), and more gunfire). Also the way a lot of the movie focused on a crowd of onlookers watching everything unfold on a giant screen felt like a pretty obvious set of directions from the film on how you as the audience were supposed to feel/react to everything. It was almost anodyne in its inoffensiveness. Also super-weird that like, the whole reason things go wrong is the billionaire relying on dirty money to start his fortune but... he kind of doesn't suffer any Official Consequences for that? Like, the government doesn't seem to give a shit about how laughably corrupt he is. Maybe that's the most realistic thing in this whole movie. I do like the Rock, though! 3 super-skyscrapers out of 5

The Meg: Boy this movie's dumb, but in a great way. It is also anodyne in the way that Skyscraper is anodyne, which is to say that like, the love interest and Jason Steak-um's never even kiss, because that would be immoral as they aren't married. It's wild. The precocious youngster's pretty good, and hearing Steak-um's say "megolodon" in his Very British accent is great. But in the end, I barely remember most of this movie, and the writing is so goddamn clunky in parts that it actually caused me physical pain. That might have just been the uncomfortable fuckin' seat though. 2 giant sharks out of 5

Jurassic World the Second One, Who Cares: Real talk: I didn't finish this movie, both because it fucking sucked and we started our descent with about an hour and change of movie left and I didn't feel like having the plane announcements breaking up the action and murdering my eardrums. I don't especially feel any need to finish it, because I stopped giving a shit about anyone or anything happening in that film about twenty minutes in. 0 exploding islands out of 5

@ford_dent: I’m sorry about those eight hours...

(The Predator, Meg, Jurrassic Whatever, and Skyscraper)

...The Rock seems fun, at least...

@nutter: Yeah The Rock is an easy dude to watch! Even his characters are relentlessly positive, it's amazing. I think he's a good fuckin' actor! But man, for a movie that was pitched to me as "it's Die Hard, but the Rock is in it" it sure didn't come that close. The definition of a mindless, inoffensive action film, more or less.

@ford_dent: In my experience, The Rock can make anything at least watchable. He’s a super charasmatic dude.

The hunt for the Wilderpeople

4/5

It's good to see a heartwarming comedy every once in a while. Not always perfect, but I like it. Like a Wes Anderson movie but you care about the characters.

CHAMPION (2018) - 3/5 - Formulaic and cheesy as hell, but enjoyable. Ma Dong Seok's English is just good enough to convince the average Korean crowd that he grew up in the U.S., but we all know no one from Ohio would have that kind of accent. I guess it's better than OVER THE TOP? Not sure, really.

Godzilla: The Planet Eater: Hooooooo boy, I've been rubbing my hands together, Birdman-style, waiting for this particular turd of a film to finally show up on Netflix for my enjoyment, and over the weekend I finally sat down to give it a look. I guess spoilers follow, but I'll mark the bits that were... I guess surprises?

So hey, remember when I said the film's endgame would probably end up being Princess Mononoke but with an atomic, firebreathing lizard? Well, do I HAVE SOME NEWS FOR YOU.

It totally was. Well, sort of.

So the movie picks up where the last one left off, which is to say that our brave dipshit of a hero has failed to save anyone from Godzilla and, in fact, destroyed the only thing that could probably take Godzilla out (look, watch the last one if you want to learn how precisely he fucked up). Not only that, the lady that he screwed over everyone to save is brain dead and the tech aliens want him dead because, well, he fucked them all over. Granted, he did so at least partially because the tech aliens wanted to enact a grey goo scenario which probably would've been bad for everyone but the tech aliens, but still. Motherfucker wanted to kill Godzilla, he should've thought long and hard about what that cost would be. That would require him to have any self-awareness ever, though, so whatever. He made his bed and here he will lie.

Anyway, the guy who has been all but twirling a moustache the whole time turns out to be the head priest in a death cult that worships the titular Planet Eater, aka King Ghidorah, aka Monster Zero, aka one of MF DOOM's best side projects, which surprises no one. Ghidorah gets summoned, but not before our hero looks at the comatose girl he banged last film and then goes off to bang one of the Mothra people, bringing the insect/human fucking quotient up to where it needs to be for this film. I literally can't tell which of the twins he banged, if it was the quiet one or the angry one, because Who Fucking Cares. I watched the movie to chew bubble gum and watch a three headed dragon destroy shit, and I was all out of bubble gum.

Unfortunately it's kind of a let-down. Ghidorah has an interesting new look, and essentially is like a Hungry Black Hole Creature or something that bends time and space, so much so that in one scene a bunch of people get told by their computer that they're dead a good five minutes before they actually die. That was cool! Unfortunately Ghidorah only really manifests as a bunch of really long dragon necks sticking out of some holes in the sky, and the few shots you get of the full meal deal are depressingly short. The fight with Godzilla is also pretty short and almost perfunctory (and follows the formula from the second film: Godzilla gets his ass handed to him, then our hero does something to give Godzilla the advantage, then Godzilla whips ass). Oh, and Mothra shows up briefly to help our hero fight the death cult priest.

Most of the movie takes place in a psychic landscape which is code for "oh shit we are running out of money, huh?" (I would also accept "up its own ass" as the setting for these scenes) and is just the death cult priest trying to convince the hero that nihilism is really cool. He does so by putting forth the arguments we all heard in high school from the one weird kid who got super into Neitzsche, but then Mothra is like "hey remember you banged one of my daughter(?)s" and we reject it. The film ends with a literal slide show of the few humans left over integrating into the whole Mothra society, except then it remembers that our hero is a dumbass and also that it had a Message To Send, Man, so our hero takes his comatose ex, gets into the one remaining functional mech, and flies off to get killed by Godzilla, thus (presumably) ending the cycle of revenge (oh and abandoning his moth wife and unborn moth child, by the way) and preventing Ghidorah's return by... I dunno? I guess making sure society stays primitive, since Ghidorah seems to like eating societies that are advanced enough? Or something? The moral of the story is Technology Bad, which seems like the sort of moral someone who half-watched Princess Mononoke would come away with, which is what I presume the writers of this film did.

Oh, and there's a post-credit sequence where we see the moth religion now includes burning a wicker man full of the tribe's fears shaped like the mech our hero flew off to die in. Also the twins are old now.

So basically, this movie sucked and could have been better. I feel like the three films were one long decline, each worse than the last, with this being the nadir of the series. The other films were saved by Godzilla doing his thing, but this one doesn't have enough of the big man to really make up for the fact that the plot is terrible. Hey, at least the end credits song is better than the last one (although it fails to reach the heights of the first film's eurotrash-meets-J-pop stylings). Anyway, if you've watched the other two, I guess watch this one, if nothing else to just see the story more or less wrap up. If you haven't watched any of these films, take my advice and uh... maybe don't do that. Or maybe do! It's a fun experience if you know what you're getting, which is some rubbish storytelling that occasionally features Godzilla shooting his atomic breff at dudes.

2 horny moth ladies out of 5.

Series Grade

3 Princess Mononoke Knock-offs out of 5

Chokeslam 2/5 if your not a wrestling fan 2.5 if you are.

Totally fine "throw it on in the background while doing other things" movie.

Solo: A Star Wars Story - Saw this bad boy on New Year’s Eve. At first it seemed like a run of the mill Star Wars film. But my attention was wavering a bit because I had had a lot of wine and champagne. At some point Chewbacca appeared. Champagne was all out at that point and I made the executive decision to finish the bottle of red wine. I remember saying something like; ”This movie makes no sense, what is even happening?” To which my girlfriend replied; ”You’re pretty drunk, huh?” Then there was some fancy place and tall grass and I felt like the white wine needed a taste. Some flying around happened, maybe explosions? I felt like the sofa was about to get me so I stood up and said ”This is real bad.” And went to the bathroom to cuddle with the toilet. The lid was exceptionally cooling on my face. When my girlfriend came by and asked how I was feeling, I enthusiastically announced I needed to shower. I stripped down and crawled into the shower and complained at how cold it was. When my girlfriend told me to make it a little warmer I responded confidently that it needed to be cold. After the shower I went to bed and woke up to a new bright day where I somehow was less hung over than my girlfriend that not so secretly found it unfair that I felt good after crashing and burning like a shitty Imperial fighter pilot.

I’m giving the movie Alcohol out of 5.

Green Book

Absolutely fantastic, cannot recommend it enough. Viggo Mortensen was just ridiculously great in this film. He should win best actor imo. But everyone was great and the writing and dialogue were all top notch. Go watch it!

Finally got around watching A Star is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody. Two films telling the story of the unknown talent that will become, well, a star. I find both films verging on the ridiculous and cheesy. It’s strange to see these films being lauded in award season (BR for actor and SB for everything!). I will say that A Star is Born is the better of the two, but that’s not saying much.

Bohemian Rhapsody directed by Bryan Singer/Dexter Fletcher staring Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury is what I would call an advertisement. I entered the film expecting the usual sets up on these music biopics, the “oh wow, you just came up with that!?” moments and it didn’t disappoint, but unlike the good music biopics this film reeks of self-promotion. Obviously, the band had a say on what to put in the film and what not to, and it shows. It makes me question whether the bandmates of Mercury got along with him, or if they resent his iconic status. Anyways, the film plays by the numbers, but everything feels forced and unnatural (a trait that it shares with A Star is Born). Do you want to know how Freddie got that mic to his liking? We’ll show it to you. Do you also want to know why Freddie was vocally great? His teeth and jawline, yes, we’ll put that in too.

Essentially, unlike Straight Out of Compton (which sometimes pushes fiction past its facts), Bohemian Rhapsody relies on the viewer to be clueless on who Queen is or to be a blind fan of their music. Because their facts are wrong, but hey F’ that, I love Queen! Just give me hype! But I digress, do we know who Queen are in the film? I don’t. Can I honestly tell you who Freddie Mercury is? No, I can say he is iconic and how he is considered a great singer, but who doesn’t know that. This film basically plays out like a fanboy reading a wiki page and deciding to recreate the moments, but with no sense of storytelling.

I didn’t really get into the actors and their performances, but with such an awful cheesy script and by the numbers directing, I can only say they didn’t save the film.

1/5

Now A Star is Born, as I said, it’s the better film (of the two) but the recognition it’s getting is beyond me. The problem lies in its jarring narrative of a complete unknown becoming a “star” due to being recognized by an aging one. It’s a love story, but it plays on all the dramatic tropes of these love stories without any fair warning. About an hour In I didn’t know what was truly happening. It’s one of those films where the mundane leads to deaths and cries but for no reason. It simply does and so the film marches on. The viewer needs to eat it up, or you’ll end up not liking it. I didn’t eat it up.

Directed by actor Bradley Cooper staring himself and Lady Gaga as the lead roles. What of their performances? I don’t know. They're bland at points and in other their crying and singing and just a whole bunch of different “acting.” It’s empty I suppose because I’m not feeling their “acting.” I will acknowledge Sam Elliot who brings much-needed weight to the material. The drama in his scenes is real and one the films strive to achieve but never takes full flight, except when he is on screen.

The film moves quickly. It’s a breeze. It’s only when you stop to think, “why are we in this scene, again?” that the directing and script start to fall apart.

2/5

Finally saw Hereditary and I somehow managed to avoid spoilers to the point where I thought going in that it was going to be about a girl being possessed by the spirit by her evil dead grandma. Let's just say I was caught off guard by what the movie is actually about. Anyway I thought it was an excellent atmospheric horror movie with an incredible performance from Toni Collette and one of the greasiest looking teenagers to ever grace the screen played by Alex Wolff. I guess 5 out of 5 because as a horror movie it was quite effective at making me feel uncomfortable and anxious throughout.

@not_a_bumblebee: Seeing Toni Collette didn't get nominated is just laughable. the oscars shouldn't be taken seriously anymore.

Hereditary is my favorite film of 2018. The party/car/morning after sequence literally gave me an anxiety attack. no movie has ever done that before.

Ralph Breaks the Internet 3/5

I went to see this movie at the cinemas, but I left just after the ads finished.

I also watched the entire movie.

Labyrinth 3/5

An enjoyable enough 80s fantasy movie with a whole bunch of weird creatures...including David Bowie.

Prospect - 5/5

Excellent old-school sci-fi with a personal story that isn't over saturated with themes of saving the world or CGI filling every scene to the breaking point. Here you have some well placed practical effects, great props and some solid acting from everyone involved. Most important of all there is subtle world building that drops clues and lets you read between the lines instead of presenting the viewer with large info dumps around every corner.

Would love to see these guys expand on this universe maybe in the form of an HBO show or another equally interesting side tale from the world they've constructed.

IT (1990) - When I was a kid I watched it with my mom, I remember being terrified of it. It's one of the few pure experiences of movie horror I have ever had. I rewatched it with my girlfriend who had never seen it and it was interesting to see her reaction. She enjoyed it, well most of it, more than the new one. It has less of that modern in-your-face thing and settles for a more slow paced creepy atmosphere. Tim Curry's Pennywise is also a lot more fun due to the lack of looking overtly dark from the get go. However, I also noted watching it now how much it falls apart towards the end. It's an endless amount of moments of them figuring out solutions out of thin air and everything feels extremely sugar coated and nice. So as an adult, I still appreciate the first two thirds of the film, but after that it sort of drags on. It still holds a dear place in my heart but maybe it's one of those movies that are better served as a nice memory than something to watch again.

The Commuter (Liam Neeson getting his ass kicked on a train) - 3/5 for me. It wasn't bad at all, had some slow moments, and I figured out who he needed to find way before he did, and also figured out who the bad guy was way before. So the movie was fairly predictable but I still enjoyed it.

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
It was fine, it didn't flip my wig, but it was fine. Yet, really it was not good enough to say more..it was fine.

Peppermint (2018)
Jennifer Garner's is very good, so good that you wish she had stopped the writer and producers and said, "Umm, this script sucks and ist just...yuck. SO let's rewrite to "show" more than "say" how this woman becomes an assassin level vilinatee." Instead of seeing this movie rent "Hanna" (2011) or "Elle (2016), which are either more fun or more subtle.

Green Book (2018)
It's actually has more funny moments than I thought it would; a funny and sad movie all at once. Mahershala Ali performance certainly merits his Oscar nomination...he finds the pathos of this character well. I was very interested that this was based on a true story; I very much want to hear some of Dr. Don Shirley's music now!

Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened - 3/5. This is the Netflix one. Interesting and entertaining, but not too impactful either until the very end when it really gets into how hurt some of the residents of the island were. I know people are mad about the F**k Jerry people being involved with this, but they're not necessarily portrayed in a great light so didn't really bother me.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me - 5/5. I've seen this before but my first time re-watching it since the new season came out. I loved it before but maybe even more impactful now seeing how important it is to everything that happens in season 3. Dark, disturbing, and Sheryl Lee is thrilling to watch.

I watched Fury Road yet again. It’s easily the best western action film I’ve seen in as long as I can remember.

I think The Raid films, The Night Comes for Us, and Fury Road are pretty easily my top four action films of the 21st century.

Mandy - 2/5. The lighting is great. The rest not so much.

@tds418: Fire Walk with Me is a treasure.

I kinda wish there was a parsed down cut of season 2. It goes on forever, and while there’s some super key stuff in there, it takes too many detours into...places that are weird in a not-super-critical-to-the-plot kind of way.

Season 1 was tight. Season 3 went on forever and was still tight. Fire Walk with Me was tight. Season 2 seems like a network wanted more episodes than could be adequately written.

@jesus_phish: I’m not sure what I felt watching Mandy, but I’m pretty sure it’s the same feeling I had as a small child in the 80s on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride...