Entertainment Binge

By Isaac White.

It’s been a while since we’ve chatted. You all know that this is Indian Time’s last print edition. I’ve written a few things urging the community to prevent the closing of our beloved paper. It didn’t work, and I’m not angry with our community.

I’ll pull a parenting trick. I’m just disappointed. Ha ha ha. I’m just kidding. I haven’t put in an Entertainment Binge for quite a while. I was searching for a job, and when I finally found a new one, I didn’t have much time to dedicate to writing. I’d have loved to continue our weekly discussions, but they weren’t in the cards.

I really have missed it. Unfortunately, this is going to be the last one. My editor asked me if I’d like to do a final Entertainment Binge, and of course, I said yes. Writing these has been one of my life’s most enjoyable creative experiences. I guess having a captive audience who likes to read my opinions on movies and television is high on my list of “cool things.”

Perhaps those of you who look forward to my weekly rantings about what I’ve watched were disappointed in my long absence. You may be even more upset that I’m only back for my swan song edition for the final run of Indian Time. If so, that’s perfectly understandable. Just know that I didn’t enjoy missing out on these talks.

“Although we’ve come…..to the end of the road.” I couldn’t help it. It’s corny, but that song is in my head now, and I’m laughing right now. I’d rock that and take a picture if I had an all-white suit with a top hat. Just kidding. Maybe.

But being that we’re at this point, I’m going to go through a bunch of stuff I’ve watched over the summer. Since this is likely a true goodbye for all of us at Indian Time, I thought it would be good to hit on a few great movies and shows with what I believe are the best goodbyes. You can always share that with me if you think that’s a bit on the nose. I don’t know where, but you can.

I’ll start with Deadpool & Wolverine. Usually, when you hear someone start with, “I liked it, but…” most of the time, that ends up with a person seeming as though they didn’t enjoy the thing. So, I liked it, but…

The movie was enjoyable. I mean that. There were just things I didn’t enjoy so much. We all know that Deadpool is a snarky guy who breaks that fourth wall consistently. That’s something I find very funny. Most of the time. For this film I enjoyed it. Mostly. In my view, the multiverse stuff was overdone.

Yes, they are poking fun at the thing that most people have found tiresome of the Marvel Universe at this point. Many of us are fatigued with the multiverse, and some, including myself, sometimes wonder where certain breaks in the worlds came from because they’ve made so much content that it’s tough to keep up with all of it.

Trust me, I was totally on board when Iron Man was released and Captain America, Thor, etc., began the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But then they started to make unbelievable amounts of money, and they ended up going too far. There were too many movies, shows, and twists that you couldn’t recall.

While I appreciate a Marvel movie acknowledging that, I just thought they overdid it in this movie. Usually, I love a sort of montage. After all, I’m a kid from the 80s and 90s. We all know 80s movies had the best montages of all time. I’m thinking of Commando and the part where Arnold goes to the armory, loading up for his big battle.

So, the filmmakers running through the many Wolverines in the infinite number of universes to find the correct one for this movie should have tickled me. It didn’t. I just felt like they were getting too deep into it and only adding to the overuse of the idea of a multiverse.

Overall, it was ok. I didn’t enjoy it the way I thought I would. Perhaps too high expectations were placed on me. End of the day, that’s something they made, not me. Still a pretty good movie, just not as great as people made it out to be.

Oh, oh, oh, I have a great one for you all. Coup is a film directed by Austin Stark and Joseph Schulman starring Peter Sarsgaard. I really don’t want to put any spoilers in here because I guarantee you’re not going to want any.

I’ll wager that you’ll think you have the entire plot figured out. I did. Even though I had it predicted, I didn’t mind. The acting is so good, and the story is so fast-paced and engaging that I didn’t care.

But then this movie showed me that, in fact, I hadn’t figured it all out. That the movie ended on that note made me love it even more. This is truly one of my favorite movies I’ve seen all year. I can’t recommend it enough.

I’m pretty sure I have told you all that I enjoy documentaries, movies, and podcasts about serial killers. It’s something people will enjoy but not share openly because they fear being judged negatively. I guess I understand that, but I’m old enough that I will allow myself to be regarded as a dark weirdo for such interests.

This is a prologue for my promotion of Woman of the Hour, starring Anna Kendrick, who also directed the film. It tells the true story of serial killer Rodney Alcala’s appearance on the 1970s game show The Dating Game and how the woman who chose him narrowly escaped becoming another victim.

Kendrick’s performance is captivating, and her direction is intuitive. She moves the story quickly and never allows the plot to become stale. Honestly, I didn’t look into how accurate the story is or how the movie portrays everything. I didn’t want to because I thoroughly enjoyed the film. The alternating between Alcala’s dark exploits, Cheryl’s story, and how it all culminates on the game show is quite brilliant.

The way Kendrick ties it all up with a bow at the end is incredibly satisfying. You’ll finish with a feeling of true contentment at having such a cleanly told story offered and completed. Check this one out; you’ll be thrilled, especially if you’re an aficionado of the dark side of humanity.

I’ll include some comedies I watched.

Half Baked Totally High was a sequel to Half Baked (1998). I was looking forward to this because the original is one of my favorite comedies. It’s equally silly and hilarious, as well as the heartfelt story of a friend group committed to each other as family.

This sequel mostly corrects the unbreakable and touching aspects of true friendship. Overall, though, it isn’t enjoyable. This movie is not a great torchbearer for the original. It’s not very funny. The original movie was full of gut-busting laughs. I mildly chuckled a couple of times at the sequel, but I certainly had no leftover stomach cramps from guffawing as I did for the OG Half Baked.

In keeping with the recent trend of comedies not being all that funny, I will briefly recommend you stay away from Let’s Start A Cult. I thought this movie would be funny because Stavros Halkias, a funny standup comedian, wrote it. You may know him from the world of Shane Gillis, who is hilarious in my view.

Halkias has a role on Tires, the show starring Gillis. If you’re interested in Gillis’ comedy, you should check out Tires. It’s hilarious, and though Gillis isn’t a great actor yet, his ability to make people laugh comes through clearly.

But Halkias’ movie just doesn’t hit. To me, it’s a funny premise: a doomsday cult excludes one particular member, and then he discovers his cohort betrayed him, which rocks his world. I’d avoid this unless you enjoy watching a sad man oblivious to his plight trying to pass it off as hilarity.

Let’s talk about some great goodbyes in film.

Based on the somber nature of this being the last time we’ll see each other (figuratively speaking, anyway) in Indian Time, I’d be perfectly justified in mentioning one of the saddest yet heart-touching goodbyes in cinema history. E.T.

You all know this is one of the best goodbyes in all film. I don’t think that’s even up for debate. “I’ll be right here” is iconic, forever etched into our minds.

But I don’t want you all to think of that tear-jerking scene to end our last discussion. I will give you my favorite goodbye because it’s not really a goodbye.

In The Shawshank Redemption, after Andy escapes, Red is left alone without his best friend. We see Red’s despair and final acceptance that he’ll never be paroled. He can always hold on to the daring escape of Andy and be happy for his friend that he made it out, albeit through a literal river of crap.

You all know how it ends. Red is finally granted parole and makes the journey Andy had laid out for him in his meticulously planned and incredibly satisfying escape plan.

Seeing those two reunite on that beach in Mexico still causes me to cheer like I’m watching the Niners make a last-second comeback for the win. Because Andy and Red are reunified, that is a win for them and us watching.

I’m ending with this because I will hold out hope that we will meet again like Andy and Red. It won’t be on a beach in Mexico, but let’s hope meeting again is in the cards we’re dealt. That means I can close this out as usual; just one word has been changed.

Thanks for reading and until next TIME…..