Irrelevant But Awesome

Alexa:  For a movie buff, I have a few pretty glaring holes in my film-watching history. Until this viewing, one them was “The Shining.” Naturally I’ve seen some of its most famous sequences referenced in other things, but beyond the fact that there are creepy twins and “Here’s Johnny” and red rum is murder spelled backward, I knew relatively little about the story. There is a lot to unpack in this film and I’m still processing it. I already know a repeat viewing will be essential to fully appreciating it and understanding it, but I can say with certainty that “The Shining” is a stellar piece of filmmaking. Stanley Kubrick has a knack for creating a strong sense of place, and he uses every sensory element at his disposal to achieve that here. The set design for the Overlook Hotel makes the resort look cozy and mancing at once, both cavernous and claustrophobic. I was most struck by the effectiveness of the sound design. The music is certainly haunting, but every noise feels un...

Chris:  Rejoice! It’s the first Sunday Funday episode, a wonderful tradition that is featured in every season of YTW (or at least alluded to). As with the first one, Sunday Funday puts the main four characters in funny or extreme circumstances but it’s useful in the sense of at least one character works through some issue that had plagued them in previous episodes. This being the first season and the focus is on the Jimmy/Gretchen relationship, that’s the meat of the first Sunday Funday.I really do like the Genesis/James Bond/breakfast food as a debate avatar for having Gretchen choose between Ty and Jimmy and this episode actually does put the issue to rest for pretty much the entire show. Sunday Funday is essentially YTW’s version of Community’s paintball episode. However, YTW does this in a way so that something within the season-long arch is actually accomplished or progressed so Sunday Funday doesn’t feel like a chore that we have to go through every year. Finally, I can’...

Alexa:  I love a good gothic romance, but unfortunately I would not classify “The Lodgers” as one of them. Neither particularly scary nor romantic, the movie suffers most from feeling half-finished. It’s an intriguing concept with a lot of potential, but the script merely skims the surface of every facet of the story, resulting in a flimsy narrative. The “romance,” such as it is, feels rushed and lackluster, so it’s difficult to get invested in Rachel and Sean’s connection. The mythology behind the family, the house and its mysterious rules is never fully explored, so any revelations feel rushed despite the film overall suffering from sluggish pacing. The “twist” is telegraphed so strongly early on that it sucks any suspense out of the final reveal. (The family has lived in the house for generations and one of the rules dictates they can’t let any strangers in. There are only so many ways a family trapped in one house can have children.) The movie’s greatest strengths are its ...

Joel:  In an interview last month, Bob Iger, the CEO of the Walt Disney company made a not very shocking, but treated as shocking, statement that the Disney company was taking a look at their plans for the Star Wars franchise and would likely be slowing down on their output for Star Wars movies, and saying that a movie every year might be too much. This of course caused a giant reaction, with reports of this interview concluding that this meant every Star Wars spinoff movie was canceled, including Rian Johnson’s planned trilogy, since it’s his fault that the franchise went off the rails in the first place. Ok, so obviously this is a situation that is once again, much more complicated than that. Yes, Star Wars , has hit a bump in the road over the past several months and changes are being made behind the scenes to correct that, but obviously, Disney didn’t spend $4.5 billion on Lucasfilm to make one last trilogy and two spinoff movies before calling the whole thing quits...

Chris:  I’ll admit, I’m not the biggest fan of this episode but I do appreciate that it’s really their first attempt to focus the main story of an episode on a character other than Gretchen and Jimmy. It’s the first time we fully dive into Edgar’s struggles with PTSD and why that led him to become a drug addict and, just like last episode with Jimmy’s insecurities, it’s a problem that is far from resolved at the end of the episode. Also, we get really the first real interaction between Edgar and Lindsay which is a friendship that is a staple of this show almost as important as Jimmy and Gretchen’s relationship. In very broad terms, I think both Edgar and Lindsay are looking for someone to “be there” for them when needed and when Jimmy and Gretchen both prove to be unreliable in those roles, Edgar and Lindsay find that in each other. Alexa: This episode is probably the weakest so far in terms of Jimmy and Gretchen’s story. Her disgusting apartment elicits a few laughs but o...

Alexa:  I have a lot of mixed feelings about “Haunters: The Art of the Scare.” I was intrigued by the exploration of how horror emerged as a form of escapism after the Great Depression, and the resurgence of that following the 2008 recession. The sociology behind people’s connection with the horror genre is pretty fascinating to me, and I appreciated the sort of anthropological approach to this subculture. But I’m with Jason; I wanted to know more about not just why these people haunt, but how they do it. And the attractions I was most interested in received the least attention - the Universal Studios themed horror nights and Delusion, the interactive theatrical experience. My most visceral reaction was complete disgust with the fact that something like McKamey Manor exists. I have plenty of issues with the Blackout experience (I do not think simulated sexual assault constitutes “entertainment”), but at the very least, those guys will stop the show if participants are no longe...

By the arbitrary rules established in the previous episodes, Super Show-Down was technically a PPV, so we give it the somewhat traditional post show rundown , notably Triple H and Undertaker fighting for the last time ever ever, please ignore the fighting they're doing next month. 

Chris:  We get our first look at how Jimmy processes things both in his fear of being in a serious relationship but at the same time, his insecurity over Gretchen’s side relationship with Ty. Jimmy shuts down in the shower when Gretchen mentions getting a key to simply let herself in later and even when she offers a simple explanation, it still bothers him. And honestly, I don’t think Jimmy would reconsider and give the key (to Sam to give) to Gretchen if Jimmy hadn’t found out about Gretchen’s weird situation with Ty. So all in all, it’s a battle between Jimmy’s two conflicting insecurities that are both far from resolved. Finally, I don’t care how unlikely it would be that Edgar would catch up to Jimmy that quickly on a bicycle, when Edgar pulls up to Jimmy’s window and shows his disappointment over Jimmy tearing up the bag to look through Gretchen’s phone makes me die laughing every time. Alexa: This episode illustrates that beneath Jimmy’s and Gretchen’s thorny exterio...

Alexa:  I’ve long been a fan of Joel Edgerton the actor, but after watching “The Gift,” I’m eager to see much more of Joel Edgerton the director. He really knocked it out of the park with his feature debut, and I imagine he’ll only continue to refine his skill from here. “The Gift” is a quietly terrifying thriller because it seems so plausible. I love a good supernatural tale as much as the next person, but “The Gift” is so unsettling because everyday human cruelty drives the conflict. It’s a jarring reminder of how much damage lies can reap, and how their unintended consequences can wreak lasting havoc on people’s lives. Edgerton sets a subtly sinister tone with his direction. He uses gorgeous set design to mask a vast array of secrets, underscoring the notion that lives that appear perfect are not always what they seem. His performance is equally eerie, and Rebecca Hall’s Robyn is a compelling lead. But casting the usually-likable Jason Bateman as Simon is particularly effec...