The Toad's Burrow

      When I first finished watching season 1 of Justice League , I came out with this kind of impression: it's a decent kids show I'd put on while I'm cooking, but otherwise I'm not sure if it could stand on it's own. Well, after watching the second and final season of the Justice League  that it can indeed stand on it's own, believe the hype. There were so many times I hoped I was cooking, so I could throw the show on and continue the series. I don't know if it was because the plots became more interesting, or that I was simply more invested in characters I had a whole season to get used to.     As someone who has no memory of ever actually watching Justice League  it's kind of cool having all these memories and clips come back to me over the years. I'm surprisingly familiar with many of the episodes premises, though I never realized it. Whether it be A Better World, Starcrossed , or Maid of Honor , it's nice to see small clips or scenes that m...

     Filmed in Toronto? Check. John Travolta in Drag? Check. Zac Effron? Check. A moral that doesn't feel thrown in? Check. Great music? Of course. Hairspray  is about everything I'd want in a musical, and more. I mean after watching the 2024 Mean Girls  remake yesterday in theaters with my sister, it was genuinely astonishing how much better Hairspray was. The cast was belting out songs, the choreography was actually on point, and they let the songs breathe. It's almost amazing what can happen when you let a musical actually be a real musical.     This was a blast, and I do have to highlight John Travolta. It's kind of amazing how realistic he felt, and at times you really do forget that it's a man doing drag. I'd love to find out how he does it, because without him, this musical falls apart. He plays the role of the mother so convincingly, and the relationship he has with Tracy is so adorable, who knew the man had it in him? I certainly didn't. Funni...

      This shit stinks, and I do mean that in the most generous way. If you had to ask me who this movie is made for I'm not sure. If you were looking for cheap laughs, something to make fun of, something so bad it's good, this movie is not for you, it feels so bad and sloppily put together, I'm fairly confident I could have come up with better choreography. At least it showcases all of those wonderful songs right? Well no, I remember reading somewhere that they did not market this movie as a musical because they generally don't test well with audiences, so why have singing at all in the first place then? This is a genuine question, because all songs are a minute in length at best, and they both abruptly start and end, leaving you disappointed.     Here's how I described  Mean Girls (2024)  to a friend of mine, it's basically a soulless modern adaptation of a 2000's classic movie, but the director just happened to go see the Mean Girls Musical one time...

     As I grow farther and farther from the day I finished Little Women  I find that I grow fonder and fonder of the 500 page book that dwelled upon the comings and goings of the March sisters. Of course I had heard of the Greta Gerwig's 2019 adaptation as well, it had a star studded cast featuring Meryl Streep, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Timothee Chalamet, and Bob Odenkirk, so it had been on my radar for a while. However, because I was reading the novel for a class this semester, I had reserved the movie until it was the proper time, not wanting to bore myself in a class that did have participation marks, and I have a couple thoughts.     First of all, what was the point of the commentary? The beginning of the movie begins with a conversation, and a book publisher admonishing Jo, claiming that women in these sorts of stories need to either be dead or married. Keep in mind I do not disagree, this is a valid critique I had of the book, Beth's character is p...

      A fantastic and simply delectable time, and well worth the 2 hours and 24 minutes it demands from you. Look, of course I love musicals, so I don't know why I was so skeptical of Waitress: The Musical, maybe it was because of the fact that it's main motif is "sugar, butter and flour", or maybe it's because I only remembered it for being a movie, but I will never doubt it again. I just finished watching this newly released musical with my sister, and while I was "yapping" throughout, as my sister so affectionately put it, it's because I simply loved it so much, though I do have some questions.     First of all, why did Dr. Pomatter stay with his wife? Was it for empowerment reasons? Because honestly Jenna had all the reason to leave her husband, Earl, because I really hated his actor. Almost too much, because his angry scenes felt a bit too realistic for me, and like I genuinely hated him, and felt like he had to be getting that anger from somewh...

      How in the world did Louisa May Alcott ruin the ending of this novel so hard? I will say this off the bat, Little Women  is a good novel, I enjoyed it much more than most of the other "older" books I have read, specifically Laddie A True Blue Story , and Pride and Prejudice , that said though, is this really a feminist masterpiece? What I mean by that is that, the ending kind of sucks. You cannot tell me that Jo marrying Mr. Bhaer was realistic, and you can very much tell it was a product of the time. I suppose it was too bold to have Jo not marry, even if I thought she should have ended up with Laurie. Like, I don't know if it's my modern sensibilities, but the age gap between Mr. Bhaer and Jo is so creepy, I don't care if they were older (Jo was 25 and he was in his 40's), but it's legitimately baffling how they ended up together. I do not recall a single moment where she actually shows affection for him, and I thought it was a wholesome mentor, me...

     Look, I've heard of this film countless of times, I feel like it's definitely been used as an episode title by Dan Harmon whether it's in Community or Rick and Morty , definitely Rick and Morty. Sadly though, I never had the pleasure of watching it until I finally decided to watch it when I heard perennial homewrecker Ariana Grande would be naming her latest album after this film, I finally decided I had had enough, it was time to see what all the fuss would be about. After finally viewing this film with my sister, I have to admit, it's pretty good, but I can see why it's not up there with all the other rom-coms, and there's one reason for that.      It's not feel-good, this film oddly enough does not make you feel good, even if it has a hopeful ending. It distinctly reminds me of Pursuit of Happyness  in the sense that yes it does end on a good note, but you don't get to feel good, you don't feel that hopeful, you're just told that's wh...

      If you told me that within this comedy about grooming a socially awkward young boy it would have included a riveting performance that absolutely transforms a half-decent song into a dynamic performance, I would have thought you were lying. I'm serious though, go watch the rendition of Maneater  by Daryl Hall and John Oates in No Hard Feelings. When I was watching this film with my sister I was genuinely flabbergasted at how beautifully sung this song was by Andrew Barth Feldman. I wouldn't mind seeing him in a musical movie in the near future, wouldn't you?     Keeping on the topic of actors, when it comes to No Hard Feelings I honestly think it's carried pretty hard by the performances that keep it going. In terms of plot this movie is fine, but it's pretty much like if you tried to convince a 40 year old white mom to be hip and flirt with a teenager. Yes, it's very creepy and weird, but honestly most of the time you don't really see them as a threat...

      When I first saw Jacob Elordi in Euphoria,  I was flabbergasted. I mean I only knew him for starring in the Netflix movie series The Kissing Booth, and frankly I was skeptical of anyone who was in those movies, but don't be, this is proof that you really can turn your career around regardless of what you do at the beginning of it. With that little tangent out of the way let me summarize this movie this movie for you, beautiful, but depraved.       Honestly, if they went all-in on the shock-value for this film, and tried to make it as perverted as possible, I might actually enjoy it more. So many times did I watch this movie only to feel like really? That's all they're going to do? I'm not saying it's a good thing I'm so desensitized to everything, nor am I saying that I like shock value for the sake of shock value. However, if you went as shocking as possible for this film, I do feel like you could have made the argument for this film in the...

      The truth is, this game is just not that good. It's not why you think though. For once in a Telltale game, your choices actually matter, the fact that episode five changes dramatically depending on what you do is a nice touch, the only issue is that to achieve this, the game makes you jump through many hoops. And it all centers on one person, one man, John Doe, otherwise known as the Joker, the man of the hour for this show, and how the game treats him. It's weird actually, because I would say that the story of this game is pretty good, other than all of the Joker being a hero stuff.      One aspect of last season that I actually enjoyed was the new spin on classic Batman villains. I mean with the emphasis on Harley Quinn over the years, it was nice to actually see the roles reversed, where she was assertive, and in charge. That in spite of the fact that Bane and Mr. Freeze actually have powers Quinn still manages to keep them in line. Can you imagine...