Alex | Pop Culture Brain
popculturebrain
Joined 2015
62
Movies24
Shows421
Episodes- Everybody's Live with John Mulaney • Season 1Netflix, renew this showEverybody's Live with John Mulaney • Season 1
- Hacks (2021) • Season 4Super funny, character driven writing that manages to punch you in the gut too.Hacks (2021) • Season 4
- The Last of Us • Season 2This season had some very high highs but also a lot of pacing, performance, and writing issues. The split season thing didn't help either.The Last of Us • Season 2
- Lilo & StitchThere seems to be a lot of skepticism and pessimism out there about this movie Based on the fact that 1) Disney dared to remake it all and 2) they dared to make changes to the story If you’re upset about either of those things, don’t even bother with this movie Just go watch the original, it’s still there for you as it was 23 years ago But if you’re intrigued by a slightly new spin on the story That maintains the bones of the original, but explores some different character arcs And tackles the themes of found family in a slightly different way — I’d say it’s worth checking out In my opinion, Disney has successfully reinterpreted this story for modern audiences While still maintaining what made the original so special - its heart and its humorLilo & Stitch
- Mission: Impossible - The Final ReckoningThis might be the most uneven movie I've ever seen — but there would have been such an easy way to fix it. I saw Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning, so here’s the good and the bad without spoilers. The Mission Impossible franchise has given us some really high highs over the years. At its peak, these movies have been epic, but still bouncy and fun. Unfortunately I think that finally got away from Chris McQuarrie and Tom Cruise in The Final Reckoning, because this is a clear example of self indulgent, self obsessed filmmaking — that should have been reigned back. The first hour of this movie is flat out bad. It’s atrociously paced, confusingly edited, and overly sentimental without earning it. It desperately wants to tickle your nostalgia but can hardly muster it in a clean or sensical way. Every scene is sunk with convoluted, hollow exposition and mindless techno babble that tries to make sense of the numerous MacGuffins driving the plot. And I was just sitting there wondering, didn’t these movies used to be fun? The best word I could find to describe the first hour of this movie is soggy. But the good news is, this movie is 3 hours long and the remaining two hours finally give you the Mission Impossible you’ve been expecting. They're tense and high octane, with the right blend of humor. The ensemble performances work - shout-out Tramell Tillman, Angela Bassett, Nick Offerman, and Rolf Saxon. Tom Cruise is up there doing the crazy shit he usually does - it’s a blast. And honestly, the solution here would have been to just cut the first hour. start the movie at the beginning of hour 2. I’m serious. There's one scene between Cruise and Ving Rhames that I would keep. But otherwise a lot of the set up in that first hour could have been done faster and more efficiently, to get us to the more exciting and interesting parts of the movie. So all that said, I think fans of this franchise will have a good time, but it's not something everyone else has to rush out and see.Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
- Jojo RabbitJojo Rabbit
- Queer Eye • Season 9Reliable and as compelling as everQueer Eye • Season 9
- Conan O'Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humora funny and inspiring specialConan O'Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor
- #1 HAPPY FAMILY USAInteresting perspective from Ramy, but too many ideas and not enough jokes#1 HAPPY FAMILY USA
- AndorThe future of Star Wars is uncertain But for a moment there was Andor And it was glorious Not because of its brilliant, nuanced writing Not because of its morally ambiguous characters Not because of its detailed, textured production design Not because of its sprawling interconnected story But because it dared to remind us, this story of rebellion matters And its grandiose themes are more relevant and resonant than we might realize If we truly consider and examine the humanity, good and bad, at its core With unblinking vision, Tony Gilroy painted with an ultra fine brush Adding depth never before seen in this franchise And across 24 hours of TV, he managed to elevate and enrich the entire thing All of Star Wars is better in retrospect because of Andor’s attention to detail and its haunting yet hopeful world building But most importantly, Andor fulfilled the promise of cross-media franchise storytelling Proving that a Star Wars show could be as good as any prestige drama But now sadly, we'll have to grapple with one unfortunate fact We might never get anything like it ever againAndor
- Fight or FlightThis movie is absolutely insane And to think I wasn’t going to see it at all I saw Fight or Flight So here’s the good and the bad without spoilers I’ve seen a lot of action movies this year Love Hurts, Novocaine, The Amateur, The Accountant 2, Havoc And finally something actually surprised me Fight or Flight, directed by James Madigan, starring Josh Hartnett The basic premise is Josh Hartnett is an ex secret agent and he has to detain a mysterious wanted hacker on a plane But of course shit goes awry and he has to punch his way out of it This could have been another John Wick or The Raid rip off But Madigan is after something more fun and silly, crafting some truly wild and very bloody action scenes in this tight space This movie had some really crazy kills that I was not expecting But throughout it has an excellent sense of humor and peppers in the right amount of silliness and excess Hartnett is great at nailing this tone, you could tell he had fun making this wild movie But I’ll also credit Brooks McLaren and D.J. Cotrona’s quick and twisty script, that doesn’t bogged down with clunky exposition or unearned melodrama And hats off to their punk rock ending that leaves you wanting more Now that said, I thought some of the 2nd act complications felt really forced And I was confused at times by how many bystanders there were on the plane And the layout of the plane’s various spaces. The filmmaking didn’t build a cohesive map of the place in my mind. Also there was some over the top, cartoony sound design This movie is currently flying under the radar, I doubt most people have even heard of it But if you love a truly fun action movie, definitely seek it outFight or Flight
- The Studio (2025)Blisteringly funny, super stylish, love letter to HollywoodThe Studio (2025)
- The PittDeeply affecting , high stakes drama that shows TV can also just be TVThe Pitt
- Paradise (2025)Compelling science fiction and mystery with a devastating 7th episodeParadise (2025)
- Thunderbolts*Is it good or is it just Marvel good? I saw Thunderbolts so here’s the good and the bad without spoilers We’ve had a lot of ups and downs from Marvel Studios in the last 5 years And so it’s become to get too optimistic about any new MCU movie But with Thunderbolts they really nailed it and it kind of makes you wonder, where has this Marvel been? Let’s start at the end, the third act of this movie is astonishing It was a surreal and thoughtful breath of fresh air that actually gave us something a little different than the typical big battle sequence And that’s because it came from an entire movie that was character forward and grounded in actual emotions and relatable human struggle Thunderbolts remembered that superhero antics can be fun but we also need to care about and get invested in the characters as people To that end this movie was surprisingly dark but in a mature and considered way Honestly, it reminded me of the best Marvel TV shows, specifically Wandavision and Loki But it even harkened back to Legion in some great and unexpected ways It seems the studio took all the lessons it learned from those shows that really invested in their characters And applied it to a big screen story I also loved how this reflected and refracted the 2012 Avengers And despite this being a darker and more emotional outing, it still had time for some wit and humor in the right places Largely thanks to David Harbour who is clearly having fun with his time in the MCU But the movie is held down by Florence Pugh and Lewis Pullman Who are both excellent and a large part of why this whole thing works Pullman got one of the best Marvel character introductions in years Also shout out to this feeling like a whole story that didn't come off as if it was recreated in post and thru lots of reshoots On the negative side, I thought some of the CGI looked a little cartoony at times And the time span and geography of the story felt fuzzy Did it take place over a few days or several weeks? If it’s the former a lot happens and there’s a significant amount of travel going on in quite quickly Also Ghost and Bucky felt tacked on, and weren't as richly shaded as the rest of the characters But those flaws didn’t bring down the whole experience for me To answer my first question, this is a flat out great movie — Marvel or notThunderbolts*