Spectre Collie

Author: Chuck

  • Exciting and New

    Exciting and New

    This website was having issues with page caching for several weeks, and instead of trying to diagnose the problem, I just decided to switch web hosts. I’m optimistic about the new place, about getting rid of years of accumulated internet cruft from this site and from my personal email, and I’m even optimistic about the opportunity for a site refresh.

    I’m not that good at that, though, and even the attempts to make a WYSIWYG editor are baffling to me, so it’ll be an ongoing process and the site will likely look ugly(-ier) as it’s going on and I lose interest or am distracted by something in mid-edit.

    I’d kind of been hoping that this would be an opportunity to migrate to Ghost, but there are some features I’ve got here that I’ve become attached to, so I’m sticking with WordPress for a while. I’m not sure that WP intended for blogs to stick around for 20+ years. (Mostly stick around anyway: I did lose all of my images during a previous site migration several years back). I did a test migration to WordPress.com, but the semi-affordable accounts are too limited for me, in particular in the fact that you can’t install plugins.

    On the plus side, migrating to the new host was even easier than I’d expected, and it (seems to have) worked just like I always wanted it to. So I guess that’s a recommendation for Hostinger, if you’re willing and able to spend a little bit more money not to have to think about site hosting at all.

    Anyway, pardon our dust, insert construction worker GIF here, etc.

  • I Don’t Know How I Feel About I Know What You Did Last Summer

    I Don’t Know How I Feel About I Know What You Did Last Summer

    There’s a moment in the trailer for the reboot of I Know What You Did Last Summer where the camera is pulled in close to an adult Jennifer Love Hewitt, and she calmly says, “What are you waiting for?” That tells you everything this movie is about.

    If you’re the type to make drinking games for horror movies, the rule for this one would be to take a shot every time someone mentions 1997 or the events of the original movie, and to take two shots when the reference is self-aware that they’re rebooting an older movie, like “this isn’t 1997 anymore” or “they’re trying to pretend like 1997 ever happened.” I wouldn’t recommend anyone actually play that game, but I also don’t even know if that’s something that people do anymore. Watching this made me feel extremely old and out of touch.

    I’m instantly suspicious of anyone who claims they loved the original, since even at the time, it was “fine, I guess.” It was 1000% made to take advantage of the post-Scream renewed interest in slasher movies, less overtly self-aware but still incapable of escaping the feeling of “see, we can do that too!” Since one of the leads of this one was in Bodies Bodies Bodies, it felt to me like a reaction to both the recent Scream reboots and an attempt to respond to that movie as well.

    And for the first 2/3 or so, it chugs along just fine. It seems to be perfectly aware of what it is and what it wants to do, and it’s just clever enough — easily more clever than the original — to redeem itself. There’s this undercurrent of weird, dark humor that kept me engaged and even had me starting to wonder if I might be genuinely getting into it.

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  • Last Hope of a Dying Planet

    Last Hope of a Dying Planet

    Last night I went to see Superman again, to make sure I got in one more showing before it leaves IMAX. And also, because “it soothes me.” I still shamelessly love the movie, but with familiarity it’s now secured itself as “modern classic,” easily my favorite screen version of Superman, but without the electricity of opening weekend, when it was all new.

    This time, I was watching it with the mindset of trying to identify exactly why it connected with me so strongly. That’s partly in reaction to talking about it with a coworker who hated it. At first, I was trying to come up with justifications like the Marvel approach to the MCU vs what James Gunn is trying to do with this movie. Or having more familiarity with the comics and animated series. Or being more of a “DC guy” vs a “Marvel guy.” Or even just being more inclined to suspension of disbelief and accepting the wacky energy “because comic books.”

    But ultimately, I think it’s as simple as art connecting with different people in different ways, and for different reasons. (This and other observations will be collected in my upcoming book of media criticism titled “Yeah, No Shit”). I’m still working on suppressing my inner Cinema Studies student movie snob, because I strongly believe that art that connects with people where they’re at is Good Art. But it’s difficult to silence the part of myself that treats “Am I enjoying this?” and “Is it actually good, though?” as two separate questions.

    It’s pretty easy to tell why Superman connected with me so much, though: in addition to its overall feel-good vibe of optimism, hope, and fearless sincerity, it’s told in the language of the version(s) of the DC universe I grew up with. The part of me that loves the bombastic goofiness of the Superfriends series and gasped at the sight of the Hall of Justice. As well as the part that read the Justice League International comics and appreciated a tone that was comedic and a little self-referential1Because everything had to be at least a little self-referential back then, but came from a genuine love of the characters and the universe they lived in. And someone who loved the Justice League Unlimited series for feeling like a bunch of people delighted to have a huge cast of potential characters to play with. (And most importantly to me: for the gag that Green Lantern John Stewart’s weakness is the movie Old Yeller).

    Everything has the tone of treating the goofier and more bizarre stuff not as a liability to be ground down and corrected for, but as an essential part of why it’s so appealing.

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      Because everything had to be at least a little self-referential back then
  • One Thing I (Begrudgingly) Like About Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3

    One Thing I (Begrudgingly) Like About Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3

    There’s a moment in Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3 where Adam Warlock is commenting on the pet of a person he just murdered, and he observes, “He looks sad. I don’t enjoy how it’s making me feel, actually.” That’s not the one thing I like about this movie, but it’s a very succinct summation of how I felt watching it.

    I’ve been avoiding watching it for a long time, because I’d been warned that there are many scenes of cruelty to animals (and death, and genocide of an entire civilization). And the warning isn’t being over-sensitive, either. I had to stop watching about 20 minutes in, just so I could stop sobbing and go hug my cat.1In case anyone’s curious: the eye tracking on the Apple Vision Pro still seems to work even if you’re crying profusely. Even reminding myself repeatedly that I was watching entirely CGI-created talking animals in a sci-fi superhero movie, it was too much to tolerate in one sitting. I had to come back the next afternoon to finish it, and I cried a whole lot more.

    I’d been tempted to abandon it, writing it off as a case of James Gunn letting off some (well-deserved, IMO) anger before leaving the series, crossing the line from “effective” to purely manipulative. But I’m glad I was able to finish it, because it’s actually an almost-shockingly sincere farewell to the series, and a rejection of cruelty in favor of selflessness and acceptance. It took what had been the most flippant-for-the-sake of fun entry in the MCU2At least until Taika Waititi got hold of Thor and closed the trilogy with heartfelt love for its characters and for the spirit behind them. I felt as if I’d been torn down emotionally so that the moments of sincerity ended up being so much stronger, ultimately feeling like a catharsis.

    By the time the movie started wrapping things up, there was a barrage of wonderful moments one after the other, each of them landing with me, hard. The one that really got me was Mantis (with her power to plant ideas in people’s minds) hugging Cosmo and telling her, “You are so strong,” but I was even finding myself getting misty-eyed during a gun battle. The last act feels like a victory lap after all of the trauma the characters (and audience) had been subjected to up until now.

    I think my feelings about the movie are all summed up in Karen Gillan’s performance as Nebula. The character is an emotionless antagonist-turned support member of the Guardians, who in this movie had been pushed into the center, holding everything together while everyone and everything else spins out of control. The actor has built a career out of seemingly selfless dedication to interesting projects and forming lasting connections with her collaborators along the way.

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      In case anyone’s curious: the eye tracking on the Apple Vision Pro still seems to work even if you’re crying profusely.
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      At least until Taika Waititi got hold of Thor
  • One Thing I Like About Palm Springs

    One Thing I Like About Palm Springs

    I’m still not exactly sure whether it was intentional that you know the premise of Palm Springs — a romantic comedy about two people stuck in an infinite time loop — going in, or if that’s just a side effect of my watching it five years after its release. But the thing I like is that it works best if you’ve done all the required reading before going in.

    After a clumsy and skippable intro showing Andy Samberg’s character Nyles having a difficult time having sex with his current girlfriend, we see him going through the events of a wedding day where it quickly becomes apparent that he’s seen all of this happen before, many, many times. He does a favor for the bride’s sister Sarah, getting her out of an awkward situation, and then impresses her with a dance in which he weirdly seems to be able to anticipate what all of the other guests are going to do.

    The effect is kind of like starting the story from the climactic scene of Groundhog Day, where Bill Murray’s character has demonstrated to Andie MacDowell’s that he’s grown to be cultured, considerate, and thoughtful. But then, Palm Springs goes on to suggest that that’s not enough.

    And for the audience, it has the added effect of feeling like the repeated scenes in time loop movies, right from the start: we’ve seen this before, so what’s different with this iteration? The entirety of Palm Springs seems to be about what’s different between a fairy tale-inspired romantic comedy in 1993 and a more modern take on relationships between flawed people in 2020.

    The most obvious appeal of Palm Springs is that it’s got two of the most charismatic and inherently appealing comedic actors in a romantic comedy that respects the audience’s intelligence, and it’s thoughtful and often clever. The longer-lasting appeal is that, like Groundhog Day, it still uses the time loops as a metaphor, but as metaphors for deeper and, frankly, healthier ideas.

    For one thing: it gives the female lead complete agency. Sarah’s a full participant in the loops now, instead of just a prize for Nyles to win once he’s improved himself enough. It is simply more fun and less bleak to see what happens when two likable but self-destructive people are dropped into a situation where they can do anything they want without consequences.

    (If I’m being super nitpicky: Sarah’s character does feel sometimes like the Amy Schumer bit of “a chick who can hang,” i.e. she sometimes feels very much like a woman written by a man with an idea of what his perfect woman would be like. But this is mostly just in the scenes that are deliberately meant to be silly, and she’s a better character when it really matters).

    But all of its metaphors are about relationships between two equal partners. What we bring to them, what we get out of them, the things we need to get over before we can commit to them, how to make them last, and why we need them in the first place.

    And the best is that it quickly dispels the idea that these characters are going to be freed from their situation as soon as they find and accomplish the one thing that will redeem them, or make them better people, or make them fall in love. The movie never explicitly references Groundhog Day, but it does suggest that the core idea of that movie is a little solipsistic at best, or outright toxic at worst.

    In Palm Springs, we see Sarah and Nyles go through lots of time loops together, and we get an idea of what the implications of a life without consequences means to each of them. But by the end of Groundhog Day, we’ve seen that Phil has had what must be years of dates with Rita, but she’s only known him for less than one day. We’re left wondering how that’s a foundation for a stable relationship, as opposed to basically being the story of a woman who’s been charmed by her supernatural stalker.

    And more significantly, Groundhog Day is all about Phil improving himself as a person to the point that he deserves the love of someone like Rita. Palm Springs says that we all inherently deserve love from the start, and what makes the relationship strong is the way we spend a lifetime improving each other.

    Not to mention the assertion that falling in love, even if it’s genuine, isn’t enough. Relationships take work and putting in the effort to get out of a problem and move forward.

    Groundhog Day is solidly in the realm of pop culture at this point, and most people are probably familiar with the premise even if they’ve never seen the movie. I’ve seen quite a movies by this point where being familiar with the most well-known time-loop movie is helpful for understanding the plot. Palm Springs is the first I’ve seen where being familiar with Groundhog Day is helpful for understanding what they both mean.

  • Tuesday Tune Two-Fer: You Can Hear It Too If You’re Sincere

    Tuesday Tune Two-Fer: You Can Hear It Too If You’re Sincere

    I’m still riding my Superman high, trying to figure out exactly how it went from “a joyful celebration of comics and a fun time at the movies” to “this movie has lodged itself directly in my heart.” I saw a recap from some YouTubers that I think nailed it: watching Superman makes me want to be a better person.

    I tried to find two thematically appropriate songs but with little luck. Turns out that “Better Man” by Pearl Jam is actually a downer about a woman settling in an unhappy relationship, which doesn’t work at all. So I’ll just have to stop trying to be clever and embrace being on-the-nose.

    “Punkrocker” by Teddybears feat. Iggy Pop is the closing track for the movie, and if you want an idea of just how corny and emotional I am, listening to it again now while thinking of that final scene has me happy-crying at my desk.

    Walking through CityWalk after seeing it a second time, I noticed that dozens of people were wearing T-shirts with various incarnations of the Superman logo. I liked imagining that it was more than just the kind of thing you’d expect to see on the opening weekend of a blockbuster movie. That people weren’t just celebrating fandom, but the idea of rejecting cynicism and being fearlessly kind.

    So how about re-using a song I’ve already used before, but removing it from any 1990s college radio irony and treating it like a sincere celebration?

    “Superman’s Song” by Crash Test Dummies felt like a novelty song back in 1991, a slow dirge/ballad about comic book characters that got a ton of radio airplay as an alternative to grunge. But whether it was corny in a self-aware way or just corny, I like to listen to it as a sincere appreciation of what the character’s all about. A character that’s been kept alive and familiar to audiences for almost a hundred years now, not because of media companies’ endless attempts to reboot or reimagine him to keep him relevant, but because the core idea is timelessly relevant: someone with the power to do anything, but who chooses to be selflessly and tirelessly heroic.

    Also, I admit that this gets me really excited about future movies in the franchise, because I hadn’t considered a live action version with the same tone that might include the Legion of Doom and Solomon Grundy. The first time I saw the movie, I went to the bathroom during the part where Lois visits the Hall of Justice, so when I saw it on my second viewing (not to mention learning it was based on a real building which was used for filming), I made a gasp that alarmed the people in the theater sitting next to me.

  • Movie Storytelling: Less is More (More or Less)

    Movie Storytelling: Less is More (More or Less)

    While catching up on my movie backlog this year, I’ve been pleasantly — no, more accurate to say unsettlingly — surprised at how much I enjoyed action movies like Ballerina, John Wick, Edge of Tomorrow, and even M3GAN 2.0.

    In each case, I’ve watched them critically, making a note about all the times they include shallow characterization, plot contrivances, predictable or just lifeless dialogue, or any of the things that separate “real cinema” from mindless entertainment. And in each case (to varying degrees), I’ve gone away thinking that it just doesn’t matter; the end result just works.

    I don’t want to discount the very real possibility that I’m just a simpleton who’s easily mesmerized by beautiful people, flashing lights, and swirling colors. But my “they’re fine, really” reaction to Jurassic World: Rebirth and Captain America: Brave New World was a case of forgiving the weaknesses in the storytelling because the action scenes or the overall vibe made up for it.

    But I first noticed something different going on with John Wick. I still wouldn’t say that I loved it, but I did feel that the shallow characterization and extremely simple revenge plot, which I’d normally consider to be weaknesses that the action has to overcome, were actually the movie’s biggest strengths.

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  • You’ll Believe a Man Can Believe

    You’ll Believe a Man Can Believe

    At the start of Superman, after he’s lying broken and bloodied in the snow, and he gets dragged to the Fortress of Solitude by Krypto, and his robots put him in a special chair to blast him with yellow sun energy, and the healing process is so painful he screams as we hear his bones cracking back into place, he rolls out of the chair, and while kneeling on the ground, his first word is “golly!”

    The first time I saw it, I thought it was just a funny character gag, the same way that many versions of this character has had others calling him “Smallville” or “Boy Scout” to make fun of him. But seeing it a second time, I realized it’s the first example of the movie’s surprisingly focused theme, which is iterated over and over again throughout: Clark’s earnestness, idealism, and kind-hearted desire to do the right thing are his strength, not a weakness.

    I was unsure whether it was a good idea to see the movie twice in two days. But I know that I tend to leave movies on an “action movie high,” which can sometimes make me have a too-charitable impression that I later regret. I also thought that if I wasn’t preoccupied simply trying to make sense of all the manic weirdness, I’d be able to watch the movie more objectively and critically.1I’m wary of becoming Nicole Kidman-like in my breathless praise of the magic of AMC Theaters, but I have to say that living a short drive away from a really nice theater (albeit attached to an exhausting theme park), and with a subscription that includes multiple movies per week, it’s been great for short-notice reservations for movies I wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

    Well, that backfired, since I went away somehow loving the movie even more than I did yesterday.

    I’ve always been someone who liked but never loved the character, but today I found myself tearing up at every moment with Krypto, and every shot focusing on the S logo on Superman’s chest. It managed to bypass the critical portions of my brain and lodge itself directly in my heart.

    Even more surprising is that it disproved my initial take on the movie as being over-stuffed, messy, and unfocused. Going in knowing what the movie’s major themes would turn out to be, I could see that practically every scene was, in one way or another, in service of illustrating, reinforcing, or clarifying that theme.

    This is not a subtle movie. Everything that I described as if it were an undercurrent of the movie is all right there, on the surface. Characters say it explicitly, multiple times, and it’s further illustrated in several different ways, and even repeated in the choice of the final song. Lois says directly that she’s a punk rock girl who questions everything, but Clark trusts everyone and thinks everyone is beautiful. He responds that maybe that’s the new punk.

    Which again, just seemed like a catchy, memorable line at first. But what keeps it from being too simple and too on-the-nose is the wonderful idea at its core: in a world where everyone has become skeptical, and cynical, and distrusting, it’s daring to simply be earnest and idealistic.

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      I’m wary of becoming Nicole Kidman-like in my breathless praise of the magic of AMC Theaters, but I have to say that living a short drive away from a really nice theater (albeit attached to an exhausting theme park), and with a subscription that includes multiple movies per week, it’s been great for short-notice reservations for movies I wouldn’t have seen otherwise.
  • One Thing I Love About Superman

    One Thing I Love About Superman

    There’s a scene in Superman where Clark and Lois are having a serious discussion about their relationship and how they really feel about each other, while a battle against a huge inter-dimensional creature is silently playing out over the city in the background out the window. In the reverse shots where Lois is talking, we can see the blurry image of the battle reflected in the furniture behind her. That’s a fantastic detail, and the scene is one of many that illustrates exactly why I loved this movie so much.

    Comparisons between the Marvel Cinematic Universe and this first entry in the James Gunn-led new version of the DC universe are tiresome but inevitable. I still like both a lot, but the comparison doesn’t really make sense because they’re trying to do almost completely different things. The MCU is all about translating the weird, decades-long continuity of the Marvel comics into a streamlined format that makes sense for cinema and television. Superman defiantly insists that trying to make it make sense is missing the point. It’s all batshit crazy nonsense in the service of simple, old-fashioned, moralistic storytelling, and that’s the joy of it.

    Before I saw the movie, I’d seen and read a lot of reviews that mentioned the comic series All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely as one of the primary inspirations. To be honest, I doubt I would’ve picked up on that otherwise, but if you go into the movie with that in mind, it’s obvious. It’s definitely not a direct adaptation, but it borrows a lot of the character designs, in particular inside the Fortress of Solitude.

    But more than that, it has the same mindset: it’s a self-contained story that doesn’t try to carefully usher a mainstream audience into decades of niche media continuity; and it doesn’t try to adapt all of the wacky and corny ideas into a more grounded or realistic version. Instead, it embraces not just the idea that anything can happen in comics, but also that so much stuff already has happened. These books have been telling stories about aliens and super-heroes and pocket dimensions and gigantic monsters for decades. It’d be ridiculous to try and sweep that under the rug for the sake of an audience that’s perfectly capable of running with it.

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  • F1 The Movie The Review

    F1 The Movie The Review

    Once you enter the space of F1: The Movie, you can’t escape! It’ll have you under its control, and you’ll want to return again and again. When you see F1 shift into high gear, you’ll hardly be able to function, and you’ll want to strap yourself into that driver’s seat and turn the key. Bored? No way!

    Excitement? Thrills? Put ’em on my tab! It’s not an option: I command every cinema lover, looking out their windows and wanting to insert themselves into a more invigorating alt life, to run, don’t walk to the theater! Put on your movie-watching caps, lock down those tickets, and go!

    Don’t be content to sit at home with social media and mindlessly scroll. Lock yourself into an adventure with so much power, you’ll never want it to end!

    If sitting in a two-and-a-half-hour-long movie about car racing gives you pause, put those worries on mute! You’ll have plenty of back space, since you’ll be watching the whole movie from the edge of your seat! And you’ll spend the whole time remembering the pulse-pounding danger of the previous track, while looking forward to even more action on the next track! (If you’re worried about bringing the little ones: none of the characters curse or get into uncomfortable sexual situations).

    I almost feel bad for the editors slash trailer creators, since I can’t think of a single senses-shattering moment I’d want to delete! Plus, you can take a screenshot of the screenplay and scan any page up and down, and you’ll find quote-able dialogue without equal, period. This is the kind of positive story you simply can’t find in print. Screen it immediately!

    It’s clear that this is a movie you’ll want to watch at full brightness and maximum volume, no ?. Multi- -ate Brad Pitt is 100% the best in his [] @ what he does, & he has a # of 24-^ gold scenes that grab you and don’t let go ~ movie’s end. (+, with his -ing good looks, even @ 62 he’s still a * you’ll want to ! in the :. | down, naysayers, Brad Pitt is \ he never left!)

    If F1 is this thrilling, I can’t wait for F2 through F12!

    The author of this post received no financial compensation for this review, and he clearly couldn’t be bothered to spend 155 minutes of his life watching a film about a sport he has no interest in, even though by most accounts it’s pretty good and entertaining. This review of F1 should not be interpreted as a cry for help.

  • Jurassic World Rebirth Rebirth

    Jurassic World Rebirth Rebirth

    My take on Jurassic World: Rebirth wasn’t what I’d call “glowing,” but after seeing some of the vitriol directed at this movie online, it’s made me feel like an apologist for the franchise.

    I’ve seen commentary about the questionable ethical footing for the whole movie, having its main protagonists be mercenaries with little motivation beyond money, but some of the comments seem to be from people who hadn’t bothered to check the title of the movie before they bought a ticket. No, this is by no means an “essential” movie; it’s a franchise picture. What part of “Jurassic World” were you not understanding?

    But then I saw this take on the YouTube channel The Nando Cut, and while I disagree with specifics, I think I agree with the overall idea. Consider the movie based on what it’s trying to do. And by that measure, I think it’s fine. But the most interesting idea in that video is the thought experiment of coming up with alternate versions of the movie, if it hadn’t been so completely predetermined by the constraints of a huge-budget summer blockbuster sequel.

    Nando’s version was a dinosaur version of Jaws, but I’m more taken with the idea of a movie that leans more into the disjointed nature of the existing story. What if it were really about a family stranded on a deadly island along with a bunch of dinosaurs and the mercenaries trying to hunt them?

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  • Rude Boy

    Rude Boy

    Just a quick programming note: Yesterday I discovered that WordPress had stopped sending me notifications when people filled out the comment form on the About page of this blog. As a result, I completely missed about a year’s worth of really nice comments from people, and came across as rude as a result.

    Sorry about that! I’ve checked the settings on here and the spam filters on my email client, and I still can’t tell what’s changed. I’ve replied to a couple over email, so check your own spam filters and/or try contacting me again!

    Comments on regular blog posts are still working, and I tend to see them. (If they seem to be stuck without showing up, it’s likely because it includes a link and is being held for “approval” by the anti-spam plugin).

    Otherwise, if you want to contact me directly for whatever reason — I still prefer comments on individual blog posts to “live” on the post itself, instead of social media — at the time of this writing I’m more likely to see comments or DMs via my Bluesky account, or my Mastodon account.