Tag: Netflix

Binge Prospectus – Q1 2020

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So I’m going to purposely eschew writing a gigantic intro here because I think the blog itself is going to be long enough already. But a few notes:

  • Any titles in Bold I’m giving a must watch label.
  • Just listing movies with no description because this is more about shows and docs.
  • I’m putting all documentaries at the bottom so if you are into non-fiction go there.
  • The timeline might not always add up here. As in, it’s Q1 2020 and I might go all the way back to some times 2019 if I don’t think the show/movie has been addressed on the blog before. Or if a reminder might be warranted.
  • On that note ” ** ” denotes that this is not the first season of a show or that I feel the need to address it possibly out of left field.
  • You’re about to read about a lot of British shit. I know, I’m kind of an anglophile when it comes to T.V. But that doesn’t change the fact that Netflix, Hulu, and the Premiums have dumped a ton of money into UK #content that is often very good.
  • Not all of these are “full” reviews. By this I mean not all of the shows, in particular, that I am going to discuss have been finished by myself or another member of the staff. We however, out of the goodness of our hearts, at least started them in order to offer our take. Your welcome.

Let’s do it.

Streaming
Netflix

“The Witcher” (Series, US)
Red and one of our other buddies have watched this and recommended it. I started and was a bit lost but I’ve been told that could totally be an issue if you haven’t played the game or read the book(s) to some extent. Either way, I think it a good option for anyone who is on the “willing to ‘s’ a ‘d'” end of the spectrum in terms of GOT/fantasy show withdrawals.

“Messiah” (Series, US)
Think “Homeland” meets well, the second coming of Christ. In this kind of bizarre show a CIA agent (Michelle Monaghan) tracks a man from the Middle East who might have some serious terrorism connections but also might be God. It gets almost campy at times but is a good overall watch

“The Society” (Series, US)
An interesting application of Lord of the Flies or possibly more accurate, the Stanford Prison Experiment, theory. A group of High Schoolers get brought home from a field trip before they ever get there to find their town abandoned. They basically have to form their own new “society” (nudge) complete with their own system of government that absolutely has no teenage dramage involved whatsoever. Guilty Pleasure score of 1000000.

“The End of the F***** World” (Series, UK) **Season 2
Season 2 catches us up with James (maybe?) and Alyssa. It is a just as enjoyable, albeit not as fresh, serving of this dry, bleak, British dark comedy about two depressed teenagers.

“The Stranger” (Limited Series, UK)
I think I’ve talked about Harlan Coben’s partnering with Netflix before but I’ll provide some context anyway. Or skip to paragraph two now. Basically, Harlan Coben is an award winning novelist of what is described as “domestic thrillers”. What this means is that unlike a lot of thriller novels, his characters are not, necessarily, cops or private eyes or political figures, etc., trying to catch a bad guy. They could be, for instance, doctors or businessman whose wives/daughters have disappeared, etc.

This is the third time out for Coben and Netflix and again they’ve nailed it. While I would say it is the third best behind the “The Five” and “Safe”, that also just isn’t fair considering how good the first two were. In this offering, A family man is approached by a mysterious “stranger” (nudge) with a cryptic message regarding his wife. Then everything kind of goes to hell.

“Sex Education” (Series, UK) **Season 2
To be perfectly honest I don’t totally remember what happened at the end of S1 except that the whole thing was a really good, very funny at times story about a teenager that takes a page out of his shrink mother’s book and starts making cash giving his classmates sex advice. S2 deals with a lot of the same things as S1 did.

“The OA” (Series, US)**Season 2
The second, and sadly now last, season of this head-fuck of a show takes you on another journey of questioning the meaning of life, death, consciousness, and memory. Absolutely sucks they cancelled it.

Movies

  • “Shotcaller”
  • “The Captive”
  • “Blue Valentine”
  • “In the Shadow of the Moon”

Hulu

“Killing Eve” (Series, UK)**Season 2
Another killer season of the drama based around a American working an admin job for British intelligence (Sandra Oh) who becomes obsessed with catching a psychotic but bemused assassin (Jodie Comer) who develops an affinity for her as well.

“Letterkenny” (Series, Canada)**Lots of seasons
The best way I’ve been able to describe “Letterkenny” is a cross between “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Trailer Park Boys” with a touch of “Rain Man”. Take that for what it’s worth but prepare to laugh your ass off while watching this one about a smarter-than-they-look group of farming friends and the small, cliquey, Canadian town they inhabit

“Top of the Lake”** (Series, Australia/UK)
This is a “late to the party” suggestion as this UK/Australian venture had two seasons released in 2013 and 2017 but is still catching on here in the States. The show follows a police detective (Elisabeth Moss, who won an Emmy for her performance) as she solves a twist-heavy mystery per-season all while keeping her past compartmentalized.

“High Fidelity” (Series, US)
The John Cusack-starring-movie-based-on-the-book-of-the-same-name is adapted now into a show. This time our lead is Zoe Kravitz as Robyn “Rob” Brooks, a record store owner decimated by her last break up and hoping to find out where things went wrong in a semi-“How I Met Your Mother”/”Lovesick” style. The quirky humor and character’s penchant for breaking the fourth wall make this as intoxicating as the whiskey (neat) they drink.

“Four Weddings and a Funeral” (Limited Series, UK)
I’ve never seen the movie this is adapted from but this one-season-only tale of a group of late-20 somethings has just enough of post-college “what the fuck am I doing?”-ness to make it another must watch. Sure it’s mostly a romcom but it’s a cheesy good watch.

“The Accident” (Limited Series, UK)
I’ll admit I’m only one “part” into this four part series from Britain’s Channel 4 (from what I understand they have the BBC and Channel 4 and that’s it?). With that said. It’s insanely gripping. On one hand you have a local tragedy. On another you have a corporate/industrial fuck up of epic proportions that has some degree of cover up forthcoming. And in the middle you have all the emotions pooling together.

Movies

  • “The Party’s Just Beginning”
  • “Drinking Buddies”

PS – PSSSSSSSSSSSSSTT “The O.C” is on Hulu

Amazon
Blogger’s Note: I collected a couple recs for Amazon but don’t have it so this is going to be brief.

“Jack Ryan” (Series, US)**Season 2
If you don’t know who Jack Ryan is he basically is the American answer to James Bond but from humbler beginnings. This show I’m told kicks ass.

“The Boys” (Series, US)
This show is getting a ton of pop right now. It’s a superhero show where the good guys fight back against the bad guys and both sides are superheroes? I’m not too sure from there but I have friends who aren’t even into that shit and love it.

“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Series, US)** Season 4?
This one was a hit from the jump. In the wake of her marriage crumbling a woman tries stand up and fucking crushes.

The Premiums

“His Dark Materials” (Series, HBO)
If there were two words in the English language I would grade as impossible to define without a 45 minute thesis defense, it would be 1.) irony and 2.) steam punk. But I’m pretty sure HDM is kind of steam punk, or sort of 19th/18th centurish with insertions of modern to futuristic technology? Right? Fuck man idk but there’s some magic in there too and James McAvoy is dreamy.

“The Dublin Murders” (Limited Series, Starz)
This UK offering was alllllllmost what I needed it to be which was a crime/mystery in the vain of the Coben series’ and “The Missing”. Instead it is sort of like “The Night Of” where instead of fully investing itself in being a whodunit, it examines exactly what the people involved in a whodunit truly go through. While TNO looked at this from the suspects’ POV, TBM looks at it from the victims’ and their families’.

“Chernobyl” (Limited Series, HBO)
A look at what really (possibly?) went on behind the scenes of the infamous nuclear disaster.

Documentaries

“McMillions” (Series, HBO)
The saga of how a group of people were able to basically/kind of defraud McDonald’s of millions based off of the fucking monopoly game. I mean, wow. Seriously interesting though.

“The Devil Next Door” (Series, Netflix)
It is discovered that retired,, blue collar Polish immigrant living in Michigan was a sadistic Nazi death camp guard…..or was he?

“Operation Odessa” (Movie, Showtime)
The story of how a crooked Miami business, honcho for the Cali Cartel, and a Ukranian gangster almost acquired A MOTHAFUCKIN SUBMARINE for the cartel to use to transport product. Insanity.

The 300s Top 30 TV Shows of the Decade

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With so many options to watch TV like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Go, Amazon Prime, YouTube TV, Apple TV+, ESPN+ and more coming, its no surprise that a huge chunk of the shows below are not on cable. As they say, the Streaming Wars have begun.

This list is comprised of picks from the staff where we ranked our Top 15 shows with No. 1 getting 15 points all the way down to No. 15 getting one point. Rankings are based on each show’s aggregate score, which seemed like the fairest way to do it. Apologies to all the shows forever in my queue, but I haven’t seen some of the more acclaimed shows like The Wire, The Leftovers or Atlanta so that hurt their overall scores. So sue me, theres a billion shows to watch and I spend approximately half my time scrolling through just trying to decide what to watch.

Also it was a Sophie’s choice of TV to pick from so I made the difficult decision of ruling that any show on this list had to have premiered in 2010 or later to truly make it a show of this decade. So no Breaking Bad, Mad Men or Lost.

Now lets get to the Top 30 shows of the decade!

No. 30 – The Missing/Rick and Morty/Making a Murderer/Trial and Error
No. 29 – Crashing
No. 28 – Narcos

“If Game of Thrones put him on the map this is the show that launched Pedro Pascal into the next stratosphere. Just an excellent Netflix original about two DEA agents taking down Medellin drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.” – Red

No. 27 – House of Cards

“It’s easy to forget about this show at this point, considering how far it went off the rails and Kevin Spacey’s cancellation, but this show was a game changer. When a two-time Academy Award winner got involved with an online streaming show, that was a sign that streaming television offerings would be worthy of our attention.” – Big Z

No. 26 – Big Mouth

“One of the funniest shows on Netflix, Big Mouth is unapologetically filthy and does a great job capturing a very specific time in all of our lives.” – Big Z

No. 25 – Homeland

“This show emerges from the ashes of the height of the Iraq/Afghanistan conflicts and follows CIA agent Carrie Mathieson as she tries to stop various terror threats before it’s too late, all while keeping a fairly substantial personal secret.” – Joey B

No. 24 – Master of None
No. 23 – Westworld
No. 22 – BoJack Horseman
No. 21 – Billions

“Think “Heat” but with a stock market genius that toes the line or complete disregards it and a US Attorney starving to nail him for it. All sorts of hijinx and side characters add quite the spice to this Showtime great.” – Joey B

No. 20 – The Leftovers
No. 19 – Vice Principles

No. 18 – Lovesick

“One review said Lovesick was “what How I Met Your Mother could have been” and I think that is deadly accurate. Basically a guy finds out he has the clap and needs to inform all previously partners. While he works through that list he simultaneously tries to decipher why love has evaded him so far.” – Joey B

No. 17 – Parks and Rec
No. 16 – Stranger Things
No. 15 – Shameless

“It has waxed and waned post-season 4 or 5ish but still delivers. The saga of the poverty-stricken but street smart Gallagher clan on the south side of Chicago will make you laugh and cry in the same episode.” – Joey B

No. 14 – Daredevil

“Hands down the best depiction of the Marvel Cinematic Universe ever put on TV. Now its worth noting a lot of those live action shows were hot garbage (couldn’t make it through the pilot of Iron Fist) and they all ultimately got cancelled, but I think that had more to do with the Streaming Wars than the quality of the shows. Daredevil is so good it will make you forget how much you hated that character after the disastrous Ben Affleck movie. Charlie Cox is the catholic with a conscience fighting crime facing off against Vincent D’Onofrio as the completely unhinged Wilson Fisk. Plus this show gave us the criminally underrated Jon Bernthal Punisher.” – Red 

No. 13 – Peaky Blinders

“I consider this the best show currently on TV. Cillian Murphy (the Scarecrow in “Batman Begins”) is a WWI vet who has returned home to Birmingham, England fairly recently and now runs his family crime syndicate using both brute force and his intimidating intellect.” – Joey B

No. 12 – Jack Ryan

“This Amazon Prime show only started in August of 2018 and already skyrocketed up to No. 12 on this list because its that good. Granted 13 Hours and The Quiet Place helped people forget about John Krasinki as Jim from The Office surprisingly quick, but Jack Ryan turned him into a bonafide action star.” – Red

No. 11 – Banshee

“The best kept secret (who the fuck watches Cinemax but not for softcore porn?) of the decade. Basically a Gomorrah of blood, gore, and nudity based around a master thief who gets out of prison and assumes the identity of a bordering-amish country small town sheriff.” – Joey B

No. 10 – Boardwalk Empire

“This is a show that for whatever reason never got the same hype as a lot of other titles on this list, but it had some of the best writing on TV with The Soprano’s Terence Winter leading the ship. It stars a perfectly cast Steve Buscemi as a corrupt politician/bootlegger turned full blown gangster. Not to mention A+ performances from Michael Shannon and Michael Kenneth Williams as flawed, morally ambiguous characters on both sides of the law.” – Red

No. 9 – Black Sails

“I wrote a whole blog about Black Sails and how I believe it got no love because people assumed it was trying to ride GOT’s coat tails with the English accents and old timey-ness (it started the same year). Either way this television precursor to Treasure Island involving pirates and colonialism was an honest to God achievement.” – Joey B

No. 8 – The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story

“Even in the age of DVR this miniseries was appointment viewing. What could have easily been an extended SNL sketch featured some superb storytelling and acting. Sterling K. Brown’s performance was a highlight for me, but is was also probably John Travolta’s best work in a long, long time.” – Big Z

No. 7 – Broad City

“Broad City was basically Girls without all the preachy millennial commentary. Where Girls oftentimes embarrassed you to be a millennial, Broad City reminded you how fun it could be to be broke in the city with your best friend just getting into weird shit.” – Red

No. 6 – Watchmen

“This HBO original hasn’t even finished its first season yet and thanks to Papa Giorgio and I, its already made it to No. 6 on our top shows of the decade. Its that good. I never read the comic book, but if the 2009 Zack Snyder movie even vaguely interested you, this show is 100x better and worth the 9 hours. The show is helmed by Damon Lindelof, who I have absolutely FLAYED over the years for how badly Lost went off the rails at the end, but he has come back strong with The Leftovers and now has hit a grandslam with Watchmen. Lindelof learned from all the mistakes he made along the way to create another complex, political, downright weird world while still leaving all the breadcrumbs to tell a completely engrossing story. The penultimate episode even accomplished the rare feat of nailing time travel as Lindelof tells a story across multiple timelines in a completely coherent way.” – Red

No. 5 – Nathan for You

“Nathan For You is my comedy of the decade. It’s premise is pretty simple: Nathan Fielder presents terrible ideas to businesses with a straight face to boost sales/revenue. Fielder tricks real people into following along with his schemes and hijinx ensue. Whether it be convincing a realtor to rebrand as a “ghost realtor,” hiring a Michael Richards lookalike to leave a large tip at a restaurant to get the restaurant publicity, or conning a Best Buy employee into divulging company secrets in order to help a mom and pop electronics store sell TVs, Nathan For You is the perfect reality show we never knew we needed.” – Papa Giorgio

No. 4 – Better Call Saul

“Possibly the greatest spin off in TV history. Bob Odenkirk is outstanding in this fascinating look at Jimmy McGill’s transformation into Saul Goodman. This show moves a little slower than Breaking Bad, which means it would be great to binge if you haven’t been on board since Day 1. A benefit of that slower pace is a more thorough look at much of what was going on in the background on Breaking Bad. So while it’s not a thrill ride every week, it is a very satisfying character study.” – Big Z  

No. 3 – Veep

“In a long history of comedy excellence at HBO, Veep might be its finest offering. Julia Louis-Dreyfus leads an outstanding cast and took home SIX straight Emmys for her portrayal of Selina Meyer. The show won three straight Emmys for best comedy and will be heavily featured when CNN gets around to the TV episode for it’s inevitable 2010’s miniseries in a few years. Veep also boasted some of the best insults in TV history.” – Big Z 

No. 2 – True Detective: Season 1

“If there is one show that defined appointment TV before streaming completely took over the world it is True Detective. The first season was incredibly acted, directed, and told a story across timelines seamlessly. This was a show that Papa Giorgio and I started watching on a borrowed HBO Go account, which meant we had to wait an hour after it originally aired. But we became so enthralled with the show we couldn’t risk Twitter ruining who the Yellow King was for us. So we legitimately bought HBO the day of the finale so we could watch it live. And because it was a self contained anthology series you knew it was all going to come to an end after one season leading to the most fun I’ve had watching TV this decade.

Not to mention, if you’ve so much as tried to film an IG Story you can appreciate the creativity and skill it takes to pull off a SIX minute tracking shot. Meaning they used one camera for this entire action packed scene in one, continuous shot, going in and out of rooms and even over a wall in the middle of a massive shootout.” – Red

No. 1 – Game of Thrones

“This was never in doubt and if you’ve even glanced at The 300s over the last few years you shouldn’t be surprised as I’ve written tens of thousands of words about this show. Game of Thrones literally changed TV and it was the last water cooler show we’ll probably ever get. It was the last TV show that completely dominated pop culture and was something you had to watch in real time or risk Twitter spoiling it because we all were watching it at the same time.

It had its ups and downs including the poorly paced final season and the bizarre finale, but GOT changed the preconceived limits of what a TV show could accomplish. At its core though GOT was a show about politics and getting what you wanted either through smarts and wit or by brute force, but it never got away from the pursuit of power and what everyone was willing to do for that power. It created an absolute murderer’s row of iconic characters from the headliners to secondary characters like Petyr Baelish, and Ramsay Bolton, and even short lived ones like Oberyn Martell all lit up the screen with some of the best acting ever seen on TV. Along the way it won a ridiculous 59 Emmys including FOUR by Peter Dinklage for his tour de force acting. A show about medieval knights, long monologues, dragons, and snow zombies sounds like something that should have been cancelled after a month, but Game of Thrones became bigger than pop culture to truly earn its ranking as the best show of the decade.” – Red 

Seinfeld is Headed to Netflix. LETS GOO

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Hollywood Reporter – Seinfeld will be master of a new domain starting in 2021. Netflix has landed worldwide rights to the iconic sitcom in a five-year deal with distributor Sony. The show will move from current rightsholder Hulu when its deal is up in 2021…First reported by the L.A. Times, the deal will bring Seinfeld’s global streaming rights under one roof for the first time. Hulu’s current $150 million-per-year deal is for domestic rights only; Amazon has held rights in most other territories around the world…”Seinfeld is the television comedy that all television comedy is measured against,” said Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos. “It is as fresh and funny as ever, and will be available to the world in 4K for the first time. We can’t wait to welcome Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer to their new global home on Netflix.”…Acquired series like Seinfeld, Friends and The Office are huge drivers of usage on streaming platforms. Nielsen consumption data for 2018 said Netflix users in the U.S. watched about 85 billion minutes of The Office and Friends — the equivalent of about 25 hours for every Netflix subscriber in the country.

This is a Power. Move. by Netflix after losing all the Marvel properties due to the mouse launching its own streaming platform in Disney+. Oh we can’t have Iron Man 3 anymore? Alright, well I guess we’ll just go acquire the most popular TV show of all time. Imagine being good enough at anything that people will pay to watch you? Now imagine being so good that people (Netflix) will pay ($150M per YEAR) to watch you from 20 years ago. Mind boggling shit.

Seinfeld and The Simpsons have shaped my sense of humor more than any other TV show, movie, stand up comedian or any other form of pop culture in America. I can make a Seinfeld or Simpsons reference for anything and do so just about every day, much to the chagrin of my family and friends. I actually went out of my way one time to go meet the Soup Nazi in downtown Boston a couple years back.

There are few shows better suited to 11 pm reruns than Seinfeld. A 22 minute episode with multiple plot lines where I can zone in and out and fall asleep watching reruns from 20 years ago. Granted Seinfeld is on about 75% of the time I’m home on a channel somewhere anyways, but thats besides the point. Now I can watch any episode of Seinfeld at any time and that is exhilarating for a couch potato such as myself.

Netflix *really* needs to invent a random next episode option though because there is nothing worse than searching for an episode to watch. How many people spend more time browsing Netflix than actually watching Netflix? Its why theres 50 things in my queue that I never intend to actually watch. I don’t know what episode I want to watch, just play something goddamnit.

Top Gun, Jay and Silent Bob, IT: WE GOT TRAILERS GALORE TODAY!

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We have received oodles and oodles of sweet new trailers today and this week as a whole. Fun fact, one time Papa Giorgio walked into my room in college and looked at me laying in bed with my laptop and said “…you’ve been watching movie trailers all night again haven’t you?” What can I say, I am a sucker for a great trailer. Its how shitbombs like Terminator Salvation and Medellin trick Joe Sixpacks like me into seeing their mediocre flicks. Heres hoping these movies don’t suck!

Top Gun: Maverick

I don’t know what to expect out of this movie. Its usually not a great idea to make a sequel to a movie THIRTY THREE YEARS after the original, but I’ll give it a go. Plus, there was a suspicious absence of Jon Hamm shown in this teaser so color me curious. Probably should’ve just went to space tbh.

Jay and Silent Bob Reboot

LETS. GO. This isn’t what I truly wanted, which is Clerks 3, but its the next best thing so I’ll take it. Jay and Silent Bob were staples for anyone in their late 20s to early 30s. Just good old fashioned raunchy comedy and gratuitous bullying of celebrities in cameo roles. This reboot looks to be completely aware of how ridiculous the fact that it even exists is, which is a great start for a satire like this. I’m excited for this one.

IT 2

Soo I still haven’t watched the first IT if we’re being honest. It’s been recorded on my DVR for several months now. Why haven’t I watched it? Is it because I’m a giant puss and don’t want to fear for my life every time I go in the basement to do laundry? Who’s to say…

Supersize Me 2: Holy Chicken

Supersize Me is still one of my favorite documentaries because of how preposterous of an idea it was. The guy destroys his body and decimates all his vital signals in a MONTH just through McChickens and Big Macs. Not crack or booze. Cheeseburgers. That movie still just makes me hungry though and if you disagree you are a liar or a vegan.

The Red Sea Diving Resort

Captain America is back in his first post-Marvel role and he is teaming up with MY GUY Daario Naharis. Also shoutout to Netflix for completely flipping the film industry on its head. It used to be a death sentence for actors to go from the big screen to the small screen, but now A list actors do it without a second thought. That of course allows me to see movies without having to leave my couch and for a monthly fee thats *still* cheaper than a ticket to the movies.

A Score to Settle

Nicolas Cage long ago embraced the typecast role of unhinged characters. And he does it damn well.

Good Boys

So this has been out for a while, but they just dropped a new trailer so it technically makes the cut. Simply put, this movie looks hilarious. Basically Superbad with middle school kids, which makes sense since Seth Rogen is prominently involved in this one.

Friday Afternoon Grab Bag

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I have ten minutes at work to kill so let’s go.

-I initially disagreed with Mattes’ blog about Dwayne Allen but then I really concentrated on exactly how much we are paying him and I am now enraged. What I texted him, and what I’ll share with you, is that you kind of have to compare his role on the team and contract to players of equals roles and their deals. My example was James Devlin, who lead blocks on just about every significant run play (I think I heard last week the Pats go with more 2 back sets than just about every other team) and now has added catching a key pass every now and again to his repertoire. He also makes a little more (in pro athlete terms) than a quarter of what Allen makes. Fuck that. Allen contributes significantly as a blocking tight end but not 4x of James Devlin significant.

-On the other hand, I respectfully disagree with the assessment of our pass rush. If you recall the hey day of the Pats dynasty, The D relied on a front seven that could hurry the hell out of a quarterback, forcing bad throws and picks (sup Ty Law and Asante Samuel) (No “sup” for you Ellis Hobbs III). We didn’t really fill up the stat sheet back then with sacks either. I think we are doing the same thing nowadays. Adrian Clayborn, for example, seems to be somewhere near the quarterback on a lot of significant pass plays. I’m fine where we’re at right now.

-I feel like there hasn’t been any press yet about “The Sisters Brothers”, a western that stars Gyllenhaal, C. Reilly, Phoenix, and Ahmed, among others. It looks like the shit.

-I’ve tried to get into “Big Mouth” the animated show by Nick Kroll and his childhood friend Andrew Goldberg about puberty and jerking off but just can’t. I guess it’s one of those litmus test shows like “Rick and Morty”, you either get it or you don’t.

-Khabib and Conor will both be suspended from the 15th to the 25th, when it will be decided if they will be suspended indefinitely pending an investigation. You can count on the indefinite suspension. Bob Bennett, the Commissioner of the NSAC is considered one of the more reasonable Commissioners and I don’t think he even can pass up an opportunity to show his power and self-importance. This could take awhile.

-Lewis vs. Cormier for the title at UFC 230 is the fight we deserve right now. I mean leeeet’s fuckin go. Should be a fun one. Sucks about Nate vs. Poirier though. I’d say the event itself nets out even. If both were still on, this would be a can’t-miss card.

-No word on the final fate of Zubair Tughukov, I’m thinking a suspension at this point.

-I know I’m forgetting something….

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-O YA, THE YANKEES SUUUUUUCKKKK HAHAHAHA. O boy. Poor trash bags from the 5 burroughs with nothing to be proud of anymore. If you are in the tri-state area next couple weeks bottle some tears for me. Go Sox, indeed.

 

Henry Cavill Quits Role of Superman as DC Universe Collapses on Itself

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IGN – Henry Cavill has reportedly quit the role of Superman. Per the Hollywood Reporter, the actor has apparently parted ways with Warner Bros. after three films in the role.

Following Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, Cavill was in talks to cameo in the upcoming Shazam! According to THR, contract talks broke down, and the chances for a further appearance are all but through. Apparently, scheduling conflicts have become an issue for Cavill and the studio, which is supported by the actor’s new role as Geralt in Netflix’s The Witcher.

I’d like to say I took this news better than I actually did, but I looked more like this while reading the news that Henry Cavill is out as Superman

We already saw the demise of the DC Entertainment Universe coming after Justice League came out to very “meh” reactions from fans and that was before Jennifer Garner sent the Batfleck to rehab.

Thanks a lot, Elektra.

It was already a pretty well known secret that Ben Affleck’s time as Batman was nearing its end, especially after his Batman standalone project got canned. Now, as the article mentions, Affleck will likely play a small role in Suicide Squad 2 before hanging up his batarang.

(Despite the jumbled plot, the weak villain, and the terrible ending, Suicide Squad was actually very entertaining, which is why Margot Robbie and Will Smith are billionaire movie stars.)

Now it comes out that Henry Cavill is likely out as Superman and it’s a goddamn shame because Cavill was the best Superman since Christopher Reeve. (Sorry Dean Cain) With Tom Welling as an honorable mention, mostly because he played more Clark Kent than Superman and also because Smallville will forever be branded as the show that sex slavery cult leader Allison Mack was on in the 2000s.

But seriously Cavill was great, albeit the movies were not. Man of Steel was pretty good, maybe a little slow as yet another origin story, but an entertaining entry that kicked off the DCEU and even prominently featured Detective Stabler.

Always a plus.

Batman vs Superman looked super promising as it had an excellent teaser trailer, but when the movie finally came out it was a nearly 3 hour confused mess. Not to mention Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luther is one of the worst casting decisions in recent memory.

Let us not forget though, arguably the best 60 seconds in the entire DCEU history; Bruce Wayne shit talking Superman right to his face.

Then came Justice League, which as mentioned above, was very meh. Not terrible, not great. Lets put it this way; I skipped seeing it in theaters and ultimately ended up watching it on a 5 inch screen on a plane.

I was looking forward to seeing what Cavill and DC could do to salvage this property though. They were never going to compete with Marvel; that ship sailed a long time ago. But they could have carved out a very interesting niche with some of the most popular comic book stories of all time. Some of which Cavill himself mentioned, such as “Superman: Red Son” where in an alternate reality Superman grew up in the Soviet Union instead of the good old USA and how that affects world history as we now know it. I would see the shit out of that.

Or a buddy cop film with the Green Lanterns? Stop trying to build exactly what Marvel has built in giant ensemble films because what Marvel had going for it was a decade plus of great movies leading up to the Avengers. DC had Ryan Reynolds’ Green Lantern..

Anyways…

I have yet to see the new Mission Impossible, but Cavill looked like a goddamn snack in the trailers so I’ll have to check that out.

You won’t be without Cavill too long though as he recently signed on to play Geralt in the Netflix adaptation of The Witcher. I am stoked for that. I only got into the Witcher when the 3rd game dropped, but that is something that is dripping with potential for Cavill.

Playing Geralt of Rivia will allow Cavill to continue being the action star that he clearly is, but The Witcher is a lot sexier than Superman ever was. He’s basically a dangerous, cocky, wandering demon slayer that always has some time for the ladies in his life.

Poor Khal Drogo though, huh? Aquaman hasn’t even come out yet and Cavill has already put an expiration date on Momoa’s superhero career unless his upcoming solo film turns out to be even bigger than Vinny Chase’s premiere.

Blockbuster to Honor Last Remaining Store With Its Very Own Craft Beer

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Yahoo – Remember the excitement you felt as a child when your parents brought you to Blockbuster to rent all of your favorite movies? Well, now you can tap into that feeling as an adult with a Blockbuster beer.

While the video-rental company is now down to its last store in Bend, Ore., it seems like people aren’t ready to completely let it go extinct. Instead, those behind the company have teamed up with 10 Barrel Brewing Co. to create a craft beer in its name — quite literally — dubbed the Last Blockbuster. And according to the brewing company’s co-founder Chris Cox, it’s made to pair well with your favorite movie theater snacks. “The Last Blockbuster beer pairs perfectly with buttery theater popcorn and your favorite movie-size chocolate, with a light body, smooth finish, and hints of nostalgia,” Cox told Business Insider.

Well if this isn’t the greatest marketing promotion of 2018 then I don’t know what is. Apparently, the only Blockbuster left in the country is in Bend, Oregon. They must be falling like dominoes because we actually wrote about one of the other last remaining Blockbusters recently. How this store stays in business is beyond me. After kicking it around with Big Z the only explanation we could come up with is that internet is shit out there so streaming Netflix isn’t a viable option.

Either way, a nearby brewery, 10 Barrel Brewing Co., is honoring the last samurai of VHS rentals by brewing up a custom beer.

As a fan of all things obscure, nostalgic, and limited edition promotions, I am sitting at my desk just going back and forth between browsers looking at prices of flights to Oregon.

But, since we’re in the trust tree here I’ll just say it; Blockbuster is dead. They went from THE place to be on a Friday/Saturday night for everyone that grew up in the 90s to an afterthought. Netflix took them out behind the shed and put a bullet in them after Blockbuster failed to innovate and got passed by. In fact the Blockbuster CEO actually passed on the opportunity to buy Netflix for a measly $50 million when Reed Hastings approached him. Netflix is valued at over $150 BILLION today. Woof.

Its always risky to buy/sell a company in its infancy, but I am forever hesitant to ever sell any company I have any stake in solely because of the Justin Timberlake speech as Sean Parker in The Social Network.

ANYWAYS

The greatest thing about marketing is branding and Blockbuster seems to be throwing up a couple of Hail Marys with promos like this. They’ll obviously never be a billion dollar business renting out VHS tapes ever again, BUT if they can play on nostalgia and keep that BRAND alive then they could rise like a phoenix from the ashes.

I don’t know what that move is, but its been done before. Hell, Sears’ stock just went through the roof earlier this week after it was announced they had signed a deal with Amazon to offer a ship-to-store tire service. This is after we’ve heard nothing but bad news and how Sears is shuttering more and more locations. Its called pivoting and call me crazy, but I think Blockbuster could do it. Thats the power of branding. I haven’t been in a Blockbuster in 15 years, but goddamnit do I remember walking those blue and yellow aisles vividly to this day.

It’s too bad this is happening all the way out in Oregon because if it weren’t 2,900 miles away from Boston I would consider making the trek to the lone remaining Blockbuster to taste this fine brew. Its reasons like this we need to invest in a company credit card for The 300s.

The Falcons Continue Their Assault on Overpriced Concessions With $5 Craft Beers

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ESPN – After peeling back prices on some of their most popular items last year to unprecedented levels, the Atlanta Falcons are ready to shock the sports world again with a $5 craft beer.

The Falcons will sell the $5 craft beers at their regular-season games — starting Sept. 16 against the Panthers — and any home playoff games. The craft beer price, along with all other concession prices, will remain the same next February when Atlanta hosts Super Bowl LIII at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, despite the traditionally elevated concession prices at Super Bowls.

God bless Arthur Blank. We may have dropped years worth of 28-3 jokes on you and your franchise, but goddamn if the man doesn’t know how to please a broke cheap football fan.

Last year the Falcons made waves for slashing all their concessions prices to absurdly cheap levels, comparatively speaking. While having much lower prices than their peers, the Falcons are saying they did more business so it seems to be worth their while. Now they’re doubling down on that and will be selling craft beers for $5 a pop. That is insane.

When I go to games at Fenway, I go to the last beer vendor by the bleachers, which the same woman has worked at every game I’ve been to in the last decade, just so I can get the sweet sweet deal of a tallboy can for $11.50 instead of $10.50 for a 12 ounce Bud Light.

True story: I’m a huge craft beer guy. I never thought I’d turn into the beer snob, but here we are. My dad never drank anything, literally anything, other than Bud Light cans. So I was always a Bud Light guy, when I could spring for it, or some cheaper light beer like Busch when I wanted to get blind drunk for $22 bucks.

With the explosion of craft beer and breweries being the only bar I can actually bring my dog to without getting the cops called on me, I gradually started drinking more and more obscure shit.

Started with IPAs, dipped into Sours, discovered that Double and Triple IPAs are a thing and before we know it I’m three sheets to the wind off a handful of beers.

Downside to all of these mega alcoholic brews though is the fact that they are expensive as shit. College me would slap 29-year-old me in the fucking face if he witnessed what I did at the packy yesterday. Saw the brand new Nightshift Double IPA (I’m on the email list NBD) at the packy and audibly gasped when I read the price tag for a 4-pack of tallboys.

$18 dollars.  Eighteen Dollars for FOUR beers.

You’re goddamn right I bought those beers.

And now we sit here going through bank statements and credit card receipts wondering where all my money goes saying things like “well if I cancel Netflix and my car insurance I should be able to cover rent this month.”

Fucking millennials, man.

¡Feliz Cinco de Cuatro!

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Arrested Development is back!

As someone who binged the first three seasons on Hulu during the Bush administration, I was pumped when season four hit Netflix in 2013. I won’t lie, though, season four was hard to follow and left me disappointed. I’ve been looking forward to a chronological cut of season four since I heard someone on reddit put one together nearly five years ago.

Hopefully the season four recut gets Arrested Development back on track with a new season five not too far away.

Image result for arrested development chicken dance

 

RIP John Dunsworth aka Mr. Lahey from Trailer Park Boys

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TMZ -“Trailer Park Boys” actor John F. Dunsworth — who played Jim Lahey on the show — has died. Dunsworth’s daughter told a Canadian outlet her father died after a brief and unexpected illness. John was a part of the show’s original cast, and played a former cop-turned-security supervisor at Sunnyvale Trailer Park.
He broke into show biz as a casting director in the late ’80s before making it big on the Canadian comedy. “Trailer Park Boys” has been on air for 11 seasons.
Dunsworth was 71.

If you’re anything like me, and if you read this blog even semi-regularly, then you’re likely a fan of the Canadian TV show turned Netflix staple, Trailer Park Boys. Stumbled onto this show my senior year of college and never looked back. An absurd show that has no business being as funny as it is for as long as it has. Granted I didn’t find it on Netflix until like 2010, its been on TV since 2001! Julian, Ricky, Bubbles, Randy, J-Rock; all great characters, but they pale in comparison to the always hilarious (and loaded) Jim Lahey. The alcoholic Sunnyvale trailer park supervisor was one of the funniest characters on TV that I still quote on the regular. May shithawks lead you in, Mr. Lahey. RIP.