Mike From the Internet

A site about stuff from that guy.

Media Bites – August 2019

Here’s the wrap up for all of the movies, TV, music and other media I consumed in August that I thought was worth sharing.

Movies

Once Upon A Time in Hollywood – This is the first Tarantino movie I saw in the theaters since probably Jackie Brown. I just wasn’t much of a QT fan after that. This movie was no different. The story was all over the place – which is typical for a QT movie, but this was just hard for me to follow. They’d either stay with a character for too long or not long enough. I don’t understand the point of Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate in this movie as she really doesn’t do anything in the movie that needs her to be there. 

Blinded by the Light – I’m a big Bruce Springsteen fan. Huge fan. The trailers for this movie were engaging and the movie lived up to the hype of them. The movie is a story that’s been told hundreds of times before – a child is trying to find themselves in a new place with their family and traditions on one side, and a vast open world of endless opportunities. However, with the use of unique spin of using the songs of Springsteen, the movie really shows not only how timeless that story is, but also how timeless Springsteen’s songs are. Combined they also show that the songs are not just American stories – they can even reach out and grab a Pakistani kid living in England. The movie did a great job of visually showing why I love Springsteen’s songs.

Stand By Me – Ali and I saw this movie at a special Alamo Drafthouse screening. Neither of us had seen this movie in at least 25 years, and I never saw the movie when it wasn’t on television. It’s just as great as it was back then, and really is a timeless story.

TV

Good Omens – I’m not a huge Neil Gaiman fan – it’s not that I don’t like him, I’ve just never sought out his stuff and really don’t care to. Nothing against people who love him, I just have no interest. That said, this show was really fun. David Tennant was great just chewing up all of his scenes. I was really more interested in the friendship of the two leads Aziraphale and Crowley than the overarching story of the anti-christ which I don’t think was developed enough for the show.

The Boys – This show on Amazon was so much better than I expected. I never read the comic, so I had no idea what the story was about. I really don’t want to go into what this show is about, only that you should watch it. Just note, it is definitely not a super hero show for kids.

GLOW (S1-3) – I remember GLOW from when I was a kid. I didn’t watch it often, but when it was on (usually very late at night) and I was bored, I would watch it. The Netflix series is really fun, has great music, and the chemistry among the cast is top-notch Alison Brie is so funny in this, she’s got great comedic chops which are allowed to shine on GLOW more than on Community.

Schitt’s Creek (S1-5) – I’ve been told by a lot of people that this show was good, so we gave it a shot and immediately loved it. Eugene Levy and his son Daniel created and star in the show and to me, they often have the best lines. Catherine O’Hara also steals a lot of the scenes she is in. Seasons 1-4 are on Netflix and is very easy to binge on. Season 5 was available to stream on our TV provider, so we’ll be all caught up for the sixth and final season next year.

Music

Like I did for 2018, I’ve been keeping both an Apple Music playlist and Spotify playlist updated that includes all of my favorite new songs from 2019.

Here is the 2018 playlist: Apple Music / Spotify.