So, this is outside my normal scope of blogs, but it was on my mind, so here we go.

Let’s start with the fact that I’ve never been a server/waiter/bartender/Uber driver, etc, but I have worked in customer service, and I’ve experienced how people can treat someone doing a service. That being said, it seems like people tend to look down on someone doing a service for them. I see it differently, this person is doing a service for me, so I’m appreciative, and one of the ways I show my appreciation is by tipping.

Since the pandemic, I’ve been ordering UberEats/DoorDash a lot more (it’s something I’m trying to work on because it’s a money suck…) and I couldn’t imagine not tipping the driver. The way I see it, I’m too lazy to go get the food myself, so I’m extremely grateful for them going to get it for me. I used to just tip 20% for this, but then I saw this tweet from someone and they said they tip their UberEats driver based on the distance from the restaurant, and I do the same thing. That being said, the lowest I will tip is $5. And the restaurants tend to be 2 – 3 miles from me, so I think that’s reasonable. Also, I’m just ordering for myself, so most of the time that comes out to be more than 20% anyway.

At bars and restaurants, I tip whatever is the next whole dollar after 20%, or more, because I don’t want to do more math than I need to, and I use my pleases and thank yous.

I can count on one hand the times I haven’t tipped, most being because someone else tipped on their card (like in situations where I had ordered less than others, but we split the bill evenly). Even then, I feel guilty putting a zero, because I don’t want the server thinking I don’t tip. There was one time when I didn’t tip because of service. It was years ago. This place had long community-style tables, like a school cafeteria, but fancier. Our server was at the other end of the table just chatting it up with this other group. We wanted to order breakfast, and we were ready to order, but by the time our server came back, he told us breakfast was over. He made it seem like it was our fault… but we were waiting for him to come and take our order. The service was the worst I’d ever had because he was focused on this other table. And it wasn’t a matter of him being busy with other tables, he was just at that table talking. I’ve never had service like that before or since, and I never went back to that restaurant. Some people are of the mindset that tipping is optional or the amount is determined by how well they thought the server did… I’m not of that mindset. I always tip, and at a bar/restaurant, it will always be at least 20%, for my UberEats, always at least $5, and for my Uber rides, always at least $3, unless it is far enough that it changes to 20% (mind you, most of my Uber rides are $6 – $9.)

One time, many years ago, in my college days, a big group of us, maybe 10 – 12 went to Applebee’s or Chili’s, and when it was time to pay, it was chaos… which is probably the reason restaurants don’t split bills with that many people anymore. In the chaos, I noticed that one of my friends hadn’t paid, and he stuck his unpaid receipt in the book (for lack of a better term) with someone who had already paid. I hadn’t paid yet, and I didn’t say anything to him, I just took his receipt and I paid for mine and his. It wasn’t expensive, maybe an extra $20 on my part, and I assume he had the money to pay for it, but I knew I didn’t want it coming out of the waitress’s pay.

So, I say all that to say I watched a video recently (I’m not sure if it’s a skit or not, but the conversation is worth having) where a delivery driver is taking back a $400+ order because the people who received it didn’t tip. That is INSANE to me… and a lot of the comments SUPPORT the person not tipping… which is even crazier to me. The way people try to justify it. Someone said, you never know what someone is going through, this could be their last amount of money… The order was over $400… Another comment said to take off an item and use that money as a tip. Conversations about tipping are triggering to me because I don’t understand how someone can expect to have a service done, in America, where we know people who do these types of services aren’t paid well because we have a social contract to tip, and don’t tip.

All of the excuses are just excuses.

“They need to take it up with their employer” – Ok, that makes you just as bad as their employer, if not worse, because you go into the situation knowing they aren’t paid enough, and you are taking advantage.

“Tipping is optional” – While true, again, when you go to a restaurant/bar or order something for delivery, you are entering a social contract, here in America, that you will tip this person for their service… to not do that makes you a bad person in my eyes. There could be a conversation about doing away with the tipping system, as other countries don’t tip, but for now, this is the system we’re in, and we shouldn’t abuse it.

“They should get a different job” – This really pisses me off because it is very pass the buck… because someone still has to do THIS job, so what are we doing to make this job liveable?

It seems like our society makes it so people desire someone else to look down on. People think they are somehow better than someone else because they are doing a service for them and that’s very weird to me. I’ll also say, my reason for treating people who serve me well has nothing to do with a fear of them doing something to my drink or my food… it’s because I genuinely appreciate them doing this service for me.

Back to this video (maybe skit). A lot of it isn’t food, it’s a bunch of drinks, so I think it was food for a party. And people in the comments are saying people don’t know what it’s like to struggle, maybe they don’t have a car, maybe this, maybe that… Why are we having so much compassion for these people who placed a $400+ order and refuse to tip? The delivery person is probably struggling more than those people.

And to know what it’s like to struggle, and still be that way towards others… I remember days when I had to go to the ATM and take out $20 because my rent payment was about to come out and put my account in the negative. That $20 would be for me to go to the grocery store and get a few things to last me until my next paycheck. I’m very grateful that those days are far behind me, and I think that’s what made me tip the way I do. Even in those days, if I did go out, I still tipped at least 20% because it isn’t right to visit your financial issues on others.

The other day I saw this post where someone wrote on their bill, where the tip should go, “college student”… That’s not an excuse not to tip! And don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those people checking the wallets of the less fortunate. It isn’t up to me to decide if someone has the finances to get a TV or iPhone or go out for dinner… But if you do go out to dinner, and you are treating yourself, you need to include a tip in that budget.

This individualist mentality is the reason it will take a long time, if ever, for our society to get better. The corporations treat people like shit, and then those people turn around and treat people they deem lesser than like shit as well… It’s a vicious cycle.

I say all that to say, just tip people. If you don’t want to tip people, that’s fine too… but then you also should go out to restaurants or bars… or have people deliver things to you via UberEats, Instacart, etc. Go get it yourself or make it yourself, etc.

If I ever become wealthy (I don’t want to be a billionaire because there’s no ethical way to do that), I want to be known as a person who is a generous tipper. I love hearing stories of celebrities who are kind to wait staff and tip well. I can’t remember who it was, but someone told a story online of a celebrity who asked her what her rent was, and when she told him, that was what he gave her as a tip. That’s something I’d like to think I’d do, if I had the wealth to do it, and I wish more people had that mindset.

I’ll preface by saying I was advised not to watch this film, but I did anyway. I didn’t hate it, but also didn’t find it as good and/or entertaining as the first one. For one, I didn’t realize until after watching this and doing a bit of googling, that it was supposed to be up to interpretation whether the creatures were real or not. That just makes the first one even better to me, because I hadn’t thought of it that way, and it makes me want to rewatch it. From what I remember, Sarah does spend a lot of time isolated once the attacks happen, and it makes more sense why she would wound Juno at the end and escape on her own.

This film starts with Sarah in the hospital two days after the first film, while a team searches for her friends. She conveniently doesn’t remember what happened and is forced to return to the caves. I wasn’t a fan of this. Even in the caves, she seems to be having flashbacks but doesn’t tell any of the new people anything, so they don’t know how to behave to try and survive. It would have been more interesting for her to remember everything and try to warn them not to go back, but be forced to go with them. Maybe they handcuff her and drag her along (which is so interesting because I thought this as I was watching and there is a point later where she is handcuffed.) Because them going into the caves not knowing about the creatures or the fact that they hunt by sound made it feel like a lesser retread of the first film.

They already suspect that Sarah killed her friends down there, and it doesn’t help that she suddenly (and conveniently) remembers what happened two days ago, and rather than discuss it or warn people… just attacks them and runs off. Sarah isn’t a very likable or enjoyable character for me. I didn’t like her for most of the first film, it wasn’t until she started kicking ass and got her Carrie makeover that I liked her… But this film reverts her back to the Sarah that started the first film, and that wasn’t entertaining to me.

The best part of me was the reveal that Juno was still alive… How she was still alive, I don’t know, but I was happy to see her. And her guiding the man (I’m too lazy to look up the character’s name) felt more believable to me. She was able to quickly establish not to make sounds. I assumed the final showdown would be between Sarah and Juno, but I was wrong. They encounter each other sooner than that, and have a brief fight before working together.

Sarah gets handcuffed to the solo male remaining, and that is brief because he dies within minutes of this. Then it is the final three, Sarah, Juno, and Rios. Rios seemed to be the emotional anchor of the film, so I assumed she would be the one, or at least one of the ones, to survive. I was hoping all three would survive… but that didn’t happen. Juno is killed, and Sarah and Juno have a nice emotional closure for their story. Then, much like in the first film, the creatures are coming, escape is close, and there are two left. This time though, rather than wound Rios to escape, Sarah sacrifices herself by screaming, attracting the creatures to herself, so Rios can escape.

Rios’ escape is very much like Sarah’s escape from the first film. Only, when she gets out, she is hit in the head with a shovel as she tries to dial for help, and gets dragged right back to the opening she came from… I didn’t like the ending. At all. So the man who hit her with the shovel is working with the creatures? Or allowing them to hunt? I’m not opposed to a bleak ending, but this didn’t sit right with me. How did he know anyone would escape? Was he just sitting by the entrance in case someone did… and if so, why wasn’t he closer to the entrance, as she ran a good bit away… It would have been better if she escaped and started to run, only to run into more creatures. Bleak, but more plausible to me.

All in all, a good popcorn flick, I probably won’t watch it again… but I’m excited to watch the first one again to see how it feels looking at it as if the creatures aren’t there and Sarah is just homicidal.

I just finished the film and wanted to write this while it was fresh in my mind. Spoiler alert starting right now.

First, I LOVED this film. I feel like someone recommended it a while ago and I just hadn’t gotten around to it yet. This October, I wanted to watch films I haven’t seen yet, in addition to my favorites (like A Nightmare On Elm Street 4 and Saw).

Now, let’s get into it.

Females kicking ass. Loved that there was only one male character, not counting the creatures, and he was only in the first minute or so. Love a film that has jump scares, but doesn’t rely on them.

Now really into spoilers. When Paul pulled Juno out of the water, and I found out Paul was Sarah’s husband… and the look Beth gave Paul and Juno… I IMMEDIATELY knew Paul and Juno were having an affair. And it was confirmed by Juno immediately leaving town after Paul and Jessica died…

Immediately didn’t like Juno because of this… but loved Juno when the creatures attacked and she said FUCK THAT and whooped their asses with that pickaxe.

Onto Beth… Girl, you can’t sneak up on someone who just got attacked. Someone who just got attacked and is wielding a pickaxe. It was shocking, but felt believable, given the situation. I didn’t like Beth acting like Juno attacked her for no reason. Juno seemed to have genuine remorse for stabbing Beth in the neck and leaving her to die but again, it felt like a reaction I could see someone like her having in that situation. She ran away just like she ran away when Paul died.

I figured Sarah would be the main character (and I had a spoiler via the blurb for The Descent 2 that says Sarah was the sole survivor, so I went into it knowing no one else was going to make it out. Based on Juno being the mistress, I knew they would be the final two, I just didn’t know how it would end.

Towards the end, Juno and Sarah with their torches and pickaxes… Juno serving Lara Croft realness. I LOVED it. I didn’t like Sarah stabbing Juno in the leg and leaving her to die.

I get it, she was sleeping with your husband… and she brought you guys into this situation… but I was surprised that Sarah left her there to die. Then again, Juno didn’t explain herself, she just lied about what happened with Beth… but Juno was my favorite.

Also, going into this, I couldn’t help but think of how Sarah reminded me of Sissy Spacek in Carrie. And when she goes into the blood and comes back up covered in it… that HAD to be an homage to Carrie. Sarah became such a badass towards the end.

Beth was my third favorite, minus her not explaining what happened with Juno… and waiting until she was fucking DYING to tell Sarah about Juno’s affair with Paul. The other characters were okay but felt more like bodies to up the body count, and I was okay with that.

Great movie. I’ll have to check out the second one, and now I want to watch some video essays to see what I can find out because maybe I missed something about Juno that justified her death… or maybe I’m clouded by her Lara Croft realness.

I felt compelled to write tonight after watching a video essay on one of my favorite shows, Dollhouse. Anyone who knows me knows I love Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. It is part of the reason I wanted to be a writer in the first place. I also love Eliza Dushku… because of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. That translated to love for Bring It On, Soul Survivor (a film I’d like to revisit), True Calling (a show I’d like to revisit)… and Dollhouse, which reunited Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku.

The video essay was great, but I noticed they didn’t mention Harry Lennix… at all. They talk about ALL of the main cast, except him. In the comments, some people pointed this out… and the creator said they didn’t mention him because they didn’t want to give away the twist of the show…

That hasn’t sat well with me… I watched this video about an hour ago. Back in my early days of social media, I enjoyed arguing with people in comments. Not so much, almost a half a lifetime later. I have lots of opinions about the things I see on social media, and I either discuss them with my friends or write my thoughts somewhere… but I don’t comment on whatever triggered said response.

There is a draft of a comment on my phone… and there’s a second draft of a response on my computer. Neither will be sent. It’s EXTREMELY rare that I comment on social media, and if I do, it isn’t to criticize. Other than Harry Lennix being missing from the video, I really enjoyed it, and I included that in my drafts…

Now, you may be wondering, who is Harry Lennix, and why it matters that he wasn’t included in this video essay. He plays Boyd in the series and is one of the main characters. To give a brief synopsis of the show, there is technology that can wipe a person from their brain and they can be implanted with a new person. These people are called Actives (or Dolls) and can be hired and used for engagements. It’s alluded that most of these are sexual in nature, but the show tends to gloss over that… For example, a man became a millionaire, and his wife died on the way home before he could tell her the good news. Each year, he has an Active play his wife, so he can live out telling her they are rich. Or a woman dies and gets to solve her own murder because an Active is implanted with her personality.

It’s a great show and deals with what it means to be human and a person. If my personality were removed from my body, would I still be me? Would I still be deemed human? Great stuff.

Anyway, each Active has a handler. The main character of the show, Echo, played by Eliza Dushku, is special because after every engagement, the Active is “wiped” and they are in this blank, child-like status. Well, Echo begins to remember her engagements after the wipes and that’s not supposed to happen. The last time it happened was with an Active named Alpha… and things went very, very bad.

Harry Lennix plays Boyd Langton, who is Echo’s handler. They have a special bond. No matter what engagement an Active is in, if their handler asks them if they are ready for their treatment, they will go willingly (for the most part.) Boyd and Echo’s relationship reminds me of Buffy and Giles… and a little bit of Faith and the Mayor (both Buffy references.) He’s EXTREMELY important to the show, and it seems odd to talk about all these characters, some who aren’t even main characters… yet exclude him.

The reason the creator gives is wanting to avoid spoilers… But there are spoilers throughout their video essay. One of the things about the Dollhouse is anyone can be a Doll… because if you are meeting someone for the first time, how do you know they aren’t the person they claim to be… Adding to that, an Active wouldn’t know they aren’t who they say they are. So, you get these great moments where you discover a character isn’t who they say they are (or who they thought they are), but a doll. The creator spoils several of these moments in the video. Also, I personally don’t think we should be concerned about spoiling a show that ended in 2010…

It should also be noted that Harry Lennix is the only black main character. It just gives an icky feeling, whether intentional or not… and that’s why I feel bothered. I’m black, I’m gay, I’m a nerd. And since I can remember, I’ve never really felt I had a space where I could be all those things at once. And seeing this black man not even discussed? Granted, there is a major spoiler of the show that involves him… but just don’t talk about that… It’s towards the end of the show.

Not to mention, the twist involves other characters, and the creator talked about those characters without discussing their involvement in the twist. They also said they didn’t want to “accidentally” spoil the show… You have to edit the video. Edit the spoiler out, if you “accidentally” reveal it.

I don’t know. It makes me happy that I am coming across more black content creators because I can relate to the way they engage with media in a way I can’t with non-black people.

One of these days, I’ll go back through Dollhouse, and Boyd won’t be omitted from my discussion.

This is something new I thought I’d try. “Discussing” an episode of a series as I watch it. Well, not literally, I watched the episode the other day, but giving my thoughts per episode. I think in the past I’ve done per season… but I imagine this season will have 10 episodes, maybe, so here we go.

First off, and I think most people think this based on just the promotional material alone, I assume it is going to be some homage to Rosemary’s Baby. Sidenote, back in college, I had to watch that film for one of my screenwriting classes, and I was just like, why doesn’t Rosemary leave or NOT do what they are telling her to do… but I didn’t realize at the time, that was kinda the point being made. And it’s easy to think from this modern time how it could be easy to leave, but it was harder, if not impossible to leave back then. Not to mention people, not wanting to believe that the people in your life don’t wish you well… Anyway, back to this.

Something I’ve noticed, especially in American Horror Stories and the most recent seasons of American Horror Story, is the LAVISH lifestyles the characters have. I look at the homes they have and I’m like, they aren’t just rich, they are WEALTHY…. and it is rare that a character doesn’t have some extravagant home. The first thing I noticed about this season was the NYC apartment. I also really didn’t like the sliding door. My first thought when I saw it was, that doesn’t seem very secure… Then I thought of Brian’s place from Queer as Folk.

Another thing, and this is just a personal thing, I don’t like that Anna’s (Emma Roberts) hair is so long. I’m not sure why it bothers me, but it does. Maybe because Emma Roberts is so short and her hair is so long. Maybe because I’ve never seen Emma Roberts with hair that long before. I don’t know. It bothers me. But from the promo stuff, maybe there is a reason for that.

Plus there was that moment when she was pulling a piece of her hair and it kept going and going, like a spider’s thread, so maybe that’s it.

Kim Kardashian. People seem to be bothered by the fact that she’s in this. I’m not. Adam Levine was in the show. Noah Cyrus was in the show… It’s whatever to me. And I don’t think she’s doing a bad job. Granted, I’ve only seen one episode, but Siobhan seems fun to me, and I imagine she channeled a lot of Kris while working on this.

Now, on to the plot. I can’t help but think of the American Horror Stories episode, Ba’al, when I think of this season. In that episode, a wealthy woman marries a struggling actor. They are trying to have a baby, but having trouble… (just like this, so far…) I do think this takes a turn though. In that episode, she is given a figure that is supposed to help her have a baby. She does, but then starts to go crazy and thinks a demon is trying to take her baby. She ends up in a mental hospital… and it turns out her husband and his friends, all in the entertainment industry, were doing an elaborate hoax, so she would be put away and he’d have her fortune. Unfortunately (see what I did there?!?) for him, she ended up summoning the demon, and the demon kills him and his friends. He is sent to prison for the murder of his friends… and his mistress (the one who just so happened to give his wife the figure). And she keeps the demon captive and agrees to let him go… if he gives her another baby.

I definitely see Anna’s husband, and two lesbian friends, being a part of some cult or group or something, that needs Anna to have a baby… maybe they are a spider cult and she needs to have a spider baby. Siobhan (sidenote, I LOVE the name Siobhan, mostly because, to me, it doesn’t sound how it is spelled.) may or may not be involved in it too. I’m not sure. For now, I’m leaning towards her being in on it, because how convenient is it that she met Anna at an infertility group and now is her publicist. Also, she doesn’t seem to notice, or care, about the weird things with the doll with the X on its stomach.

There’s also the doctor congratulating Anna’s husband, instead of her, or both of them. That’s weird. That’s suspicious.

And I think the woman with the black hair, (I assume that’s Cara) isn’t stalking her in a bad way, but is trying to save her. Maybe something like this was tried on her in the past… Someone is trying to save her because of that “Don’t do it, Anna” message.

I do wonder how and why someone is messing with her appointments in her phone, rather than coming and having a direct conversation with her. But looking back, I do see everything that was being messed with was to keep Anna from getting pregnant. Her fertility appointments being deleted and moved around, the suppository being left out when it needs to be refrigerated. Someone is doing all they can to keep her from getting pregnant, and I wonder who.

As the first episode, I feel drawn in, and I feel there is enough mystery to keep me invested. I’m curious to see where it goes.

I watched this film on a whim last night, having never watched it before, and I have some thoughts.

A brief synopsis, before we get into it… and since I’ll be talking about what happened in the film, you shouldn’t read this if you haven’t already seen the film.

So, a woman, Lisa, played by Rachel McAdams, is on her way back to Miami from her grandmother’s funeral. She meets this charming and handsome man, Jackson, played by Cillian Murphy, before boarding. They have a drink and end up being seated next to each other. There’s some flirting going on… and then it takes a turn.

See, Lisa works for this hotel, and this important politician is going to be staying there. Jackson and his team (I guess?) were hired to kill said politician, and they need Lisa, as a manager, to get the politician’s room moved so they can carry out their plan. If she doesn’t obey, her father will be killed.

For me, I would have made the call. Cillian staring at me with those blue eyes… I’d do anything. I’m not saying it’s a bad idea or concept, I just didn’t understand why she didn’t just make the call to save her father… but maybe I’m just assuming most people would easily pick to save the life of someone they love at the expense of someone they barely know… but that could be a moral flaw within myself…

When she learns that the politician’s wife and two kids will also be killed, I see her hesitation more… but at first, I was just like, girl, just make the call and save your dad.

I was very curious how the tension would continue to build when a majority of the film (I assumed) would take place on the plane, but I thought the tension building was great. There’s a moment when she finally agrees to make the call, but the plane is going through turbulence, and the airplane phone loses connection. There are times when she tries to ask for help, and there’s a bit of a change of scenery when they end up in the bathroom. There’s also a moment where out of nowhere, he headbutts the shit out of her, and even I gasped. (There’s a great callback towards the end of the film where she headbutts him, and I loved that.)

For me, I really got invested when the plane lands and Lisa stabs Jackson in the neck and dashes off the plane. Sidenote, and this is something I’m guilty of in my younger days of writing, Lisa telling Jackson her assault (what I assume to be sexual assault) story felt icky. We’re in a different time now, but I hope we’ve moved away from giving women power in stories via sexual assault trauma (again, something I had to learn too).

The chase through the airport was exciting to me. I know Wes Craven directed the film and it was written by someone else, but Lisa reminded me so much of Sidney from Scream. She is resourceful, brave, intelligent, I could go on and on.

So, she does finally make the call, before they get off the plane because there really isn’t anything else she can do. She tried everything… and once she is off the plane and on her way to her dad’s, she calls the hotel back and saves the political family. She then gets to her dad’s and that’s where Lisa and Jackson have their final showdown.

It was so tense, and there were moments where I thought he would appear in one place, then another… then another, only for him to finally appear somewhere else. Also, as they go through the house, she beats the shit out of him, which makes it more believable that this hotel manager can take on this trained killer… because he’s wounded before he even gets to the house.

I also say something when I went to IMBD, (I always go to IMBD when watching something new to see if I recognize anymore, or to see what someone has been in), there was something I didn’t think of. Someone alluded to the fact that Jackson is upset because he’ll never have a woman like Lisa, and it made me think back to a moment in the final showdown where Lisa calls him pathetic, and there’s a reaction there. He had all of the control… up until the point that she stabbed him and escaped the plane. And it seems that the flirting he was doing at the beginning, may not have been just an act. Maybe he really wanted her to like him, even if he couldn’t “have” her.

There were some plot things that got me, but what can you do? For instance, I immediately thought, why don’t they just hijack the politician’s plane or do something to it to make it fall out of the sky… It didn’t help that the assassins end up using a fucking ROCKET LAUNCHER to shoot at the hotel room… Why didn’t you just shoot it at his plane and leave Lisa and her dad out of this… but, things gotta happen to move the story forward.

All and all, it was a great movie. I think people thought because it was a Wes Craven film, there would be more blood/horror, myself included, but this was more of a thriller, and it was great.

I’ll start by saying I didn’t really like this one until about the last 20 mins. If you’re not familiar with the film, here’s the basic gist. It is based on something called the Devil’s Meeting. It’s when the Devil comes to Earth, disguised as a human, and tortures souls before bringing them to Hell. Apparently, a suicide is what starts this. In the film, five people are stuck in an elevator, and they have to figure out which one is the Devil.

I’ve heard that people were disappointed with the runtime, but that didn’t bother me much. There’s only so much you can do in an elevator. I did have fun trying to figure out who was the devil. Sidenote, I was upset with myself because my initial guess was the right one.

In the film, there’s a really religious security guard, and he’s the one that tells the cop of the Devil’s Meeting and how to save everyone, well, not everyone… the remaining ones. This is a horror movie, after all.

The film ultimately ends up being about forgiveness, and that was a nice theme. I don’t want to give away spoilers, so I won’t say who was the Devil or even describe the characters.

As I said in the beginning, the last 20 mins or so were the most interesting to me. I liked that everyone was suspicious in some way. It must have been when there were only three or two people left that I was really invested. Now that I think about it, I suppose the film could have been longer, as I didn’t care about any of the characters to really care when any of them died. The film starts with the cop and you learn he’s a recovering alcoholic and that his wife and kid died six years ago in a hit-and-run. You don’t know ANYTHING about the characters getting on the elevator, other than what you can see about them (For instance, one guy is in a business suit, one woman looks rich, another is an old lady, another is a security guard.)

Something I didn’t like about the film was anytime the Devil is moving around and killing people, you can’t see ANYTHING. Maybe a flash of light here or there, as the lights in the elevator always go out when the Devil is moving around. It took me out of the film because I know the point is you need to not see who is doing it, but to not see anything but a black screen and then a new dead body wasn’t very intriguing to me.

It also did kinda has a Saw type issue, where the punishment doesn’t seem to fit the crime. So, the Devil is coming to collect these people for their sins… But some of the sins didn’t seem Hell worthy. Like being a thief, or gold digger…

You learn, however, to beat the Devil you must own up to what you’ve done… which is another thing that bothers me because the religious security guard knew what was going on the whole time and could have told them at the beginning to just fess up to the things they’ve done to save them from the devil. In fact, I think that could have added some more conflict because they could still avoid saying their sins, a la Jigsaw.

All in all, it was an ok film.

Let me preface by saying Firestarter (the book) is very precious to me. It is the literary equivalent of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer in my life. For a brief bit of context, right after starting high school, my family moved from a city in Connecticut to a small country town in Georgia. I was under the impression we’d only be there for a year, so I didn’t see a need to make friends with anyone and I spent my lunch time in the library reading books. Teen horror/mysteries were my favorite and that year was spent going through what the library had to offer… instead of eating and/or socializing.

My introduction to Firestarter had been a year or so earlier. I LOVED watching shows and films on the Sci-Fi channel (I guess it’s Sy-Fy now?). One night I stumbled upon Firestarter 2: Rekindled, and I was obsessed… Sidenote, maybe I should rewatch it and give my thoughts. Anyway, I was going through books in the library, came across Firestarter, thought of Firestarter 2: Rekindled, and decided to read it. If memory serves me correctly, I finished the book within four days, which I think is impressive for a kid who was in school most of the day and had homework and whatnot. I couldn’t put the book down. Even when I reread it, I get lost in it and find it hard to put down.

I say all that to say that this book is very near and dear to my heart, so adaptations will be judged harshly… and I wasn’t a fan of this film. To be fair, I don’t think I was a big fan of the first film either… from what I can remember of it. The things that made this book so special to me were missing from the film, and there were things that were added and I wasn’t sure why. (I may have to get my hands on a physical copy to see if there is commentary and/or special features that can give me better insight.)

First, let’s talk about the three main characters, Charlene “Charlie” McGee, Andrew “Andy” McGee, and Rainbird. If you’re unfamiliar with the story of the book, here’s some background. In college, Andy signs up for this experiment, if I remember correctly, he does it for the money, but also to get in good with a professor? (It’s been a while since I reread the book, though his reasonings aren’t too important.) A government outfit called The Shop is testing something called Lot Six, and it goes wrong, but they are gaslit into thinking the horrible things they saw, like someone clawing their eyes out for example, didn’t happen. Andy meets a beautiful woman there… I can’t remember her name and refuse to look it up… who eventually becomes his wife. Andy and his wife develop abilities from Lot Six. Andy calls his The Push. It’s basically him going into someone’s mind and making a suggestion. For example, when they are on the run, he has a life coaching type business where he basically pushes people not to do whatever they are doing. For example, if someone wants to stop smoking, he gives them a mental push so they no longer desire cigarettes. His wife’s powers are more subconscious. From what I remember, she seemed to have very low abilities of telepathy and telekinesis, and maybe a bit of premonition.

They go about their lives… and have a child… Charlie. That’s when things get interesting for them. See, they end up passing abilities to her, but in a different way. Charlie also has some premonition abilities, but more importantly, her Push creates fires. Eventually, the government outfit that tested Lot Six finds out that Andy and his wife got married and produced a child… and they want her. That’s basically the gist of the story, Charlie and Andy on the run from the Shop.

Now, if you’re not familiar with the story of the book, this would be the time to turn around, as we’re entering spoiler territory.

For those who already know, the reason it is just Charlie and Andy on the run is because they kill the wife. It doesn’t seem like they meant to, but they had been watching the McGees and when Charlie didn’t return home one day, they thought they fled when in actuality, she was just at a sleepover. They came to the house, the wife probably made something fly across the room in fear and they killed her.

What I love most about this film is the relationship between Charlie and Andy, but also the relationship between Charlie and Rainbird… I also just really love Charlie in general. She’s a child, but a badass. The father/daughter relationship reminds me of the same dynamic in other media I’ve loved, Claire/John in Heroes, Buffy/Giles, Sydney/her dad (whatever his name was) in Alias. The first part of the book is about them on the run.

This all comes to a head at a farm showdown, where the reader first gets to see what Charlie can do… and also makes the discovery, via Andy, that Charlie isn’t afraid of her power, she’s afraid because she likes her power. The film COMPLETELY changes this part of the story, to my disappointment. In the film, there is a confrontation at the farm, but instead of Charlie showing an exciting peak at the destruction she can cause, in the film, Rainbird ends the confrontation in a matter of moments by killing the three officers that arrive at the farm.

In the book, this is when Charlie and Andy are captured and brought to a compound in Virginia. In the film, Andy is taken and Charlie runs away. In the book, this is when we move to Charlie and Rainbird’s relationship. Charlie and Andy are obviously separated and both handle it differently. Andy feels defeated and just becomes a fat slob who can no longer push. He loses all hope. Charlie is a fighter and fights all attempts to win her over… However, their secret weapon is Rainbird. She doesn’t know he was at the farmhouse. She just thinks he’s an orderly. Nonetheless, she still ignores him like everyone… Until a fateful day when there’s a power outage.

Andy rediscovers his Push power, he ends up pushing himself because he gets a sense that Charlie is in danger. And at the same time, Rainbird pretends to be afraid of the dark so Charlie will comfort, and thus open up to him. He then becomes a substitute father for her. This results in her agreeing to let them test her powers, which is a fatal flaw for the Shop. The film has NONE of this.

The final showdown happens just when Andy and Charlie are about to escape. Andy gets word to her by pushing people, as everyone thinks he no longer has his power, so he isn’t a threat, not to trust Rainbird. Rainbird is VERY intuitive and immediately notices a shift in her behavior with him. They meet in a horse stable, but Rainbird is already waiting up above, and his plan is to kill Charlie, which has been his plan all along.

If I remember correctly, he has Charlie, or he has a gun pointed at Charlie. Minor note, I forgot to mention that Andy’s Push hurts him. Charlie uses her power without any pain, she just needs a source of water to direct it to after. Andy has been told that if he keeps using his power, it will kill him. So, in this final conflict, right as Rainbird is about the kill Charlie, and I think part of Charlie wanted him to do it, so maybe her dad could get away, Andy pushes Rainbird with all his might to jump down, and it basically kills Andy (I think Rainbird might have shot him too). As Andy is dying, he tells Charlie to burn the place down.

See, as a baby, they knew of her abilities, and they had to condition her not to use it. Being on the run forced Andy to reverse that conditioning and the Shop, in testing her, taught her to control her abilities. Rainbird fires at Charlie, but she is already using her powers, and she melts the bullet… and Rainbird, destroys the compound and the story ends with her going to a magazine to tell her story.

The film… is very different.

Charlie is never captured. She goes of her own free will, to find Andy. When she does, he pushes her to burn the place down. The burning down was very anticlimactic for me. It gave me little Carrie vibes. She reaches Rainbird and starts to use her power on him, but doesn’t. Then she leaves the facility and falls to the ground. He comes and picks her up and he walks away as the credits begin.

I was so confused.

I’m not 100% opposed to making changes to material. Even if you’re making a remake, your vision will be different from the original. That’s always going to be the case. I also think this would have done better as a mini-series, so there was more time to go into everything and build the relationships. The only reason I cared about the characters in the film was because I knew the characters from the book. It wasn’t clear to me why Charlie didn’t kill Rainbird, and it wasn’t clear to me why she would let him take her at the end.

I will say I enjoyed the acting, as well as the special effects. I can’t explain it, but I really liked that it seemed like Charlie’s screams were a part of her power. That was cool. Also, the actress who played Charlie, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, did a great job. Apparently, she was nominated for a Razzie for this film and there was such a backlash, rightfully so, that the Razzies will now only nominate adults. And for anyone who thinks she can’t act, I suggest you watch AHS: Double Feature. She was INCREDIBLE in that. (It seems people may be confusing a lack of character development with bad acting.) I also really liked seeing a female version of Captain Hollister.

Honestly, I just keep going back to miniseries. There was a lot about this world that I wanted to know more about, especially regarding the Shop. It seems Cap had some type of power, but they never go into it. They had these contact lenses that stopped Andy’s power, and I wanted to know more about that. It just seemed like the film rushed through so much at the end, but spent too much time setting up the family dynamic. I had avoided watching the film because I was afraid I wouldn’t enjoy it.

It’s definitely a popcorn film, and maybe someone who hasn’t read the book would enjoy it more because there’s nothing to compare it to. Like I said in the beginning, this story is very precious to me and this felt like a very watered-down version. So much was missing, but we also spent time on things that ultimately didn’t have significance in the overall story. I don’t know. It could have been worse, but it could have been better.

It’s been a while since I made a post. I’m still alive and well! I just wonder what I want this blog to be. Being the Virgo I am (my birthday is in 18 days!), I overthink and find myself immobilized instead of taking any action for fear of taking the wrong act. What does that have to do with anything? Let’s dive in…

The other night, I was in the mood to watch a movie. I have all the streaming services, minus Apple TV and Starz, and I will spend at least an hour scrolling through all of them hoping for something to grab my attention. This also happens when I’m trying to pick what I want to order via Uber Eats… and most times I have to make an insignificant decision.

While doomscrolling through Netflix, I came across Tick, Tick… Boom! I’m surprised I never heard of it before. The autoplay trailer started and I was fascinated. See, R.E.N.T is a little before my time, but the film wasn’t. The first time I watched it, I was 18 and confused as to why these people were singing and dancing about HIV/AIDS like they were happy to have it. I’m proud to say my critical thinking skills have evolved in the almost 17 years since then… Damn, almost half a lifetime ago…

Anyway, as a teenager, I LOVED watching the special features and watching films with the audio commentary on (something I wish we still had in the streaming age, which is why I still collect Blu Rays of my favorite films). Sidenote, one night I watched Serenity and was so blown away that I immediately watched it again with the commentary on. I was up all night. Watching the special features for R.E.N.T quickly gave me a new perspective on the film. Instead of being confused, I was now in awe. Particularly about the fact that Jonathan Larson, the show’s creator, died the night before the off-Broadway premiere. It resonated with me… and I imagine it resonates with other aspiring artists too… The thought, and fear, of dying before seeing the success of one’s art.

Something I didn’t realize until well into the film is Tick, Tick… Boom! is also a musical Larson created. Going into it, I thought it would be a musical about the creation of R.E.N.T. Forgive me, as I’m not as well-versed in theater, let alone musical theater, as I’d like to be. It was such a delightful film to watch and naturally made me think of R.E.N.T.

The cast was incredible. Andrew Garfield plays Larson. Now, I’ve never thought about Garfield’s acting one way or the other, but I was thoroughly impressed. His singing voice was also a pleasant surprise. Alexandra Shipp plays Susan, Larson’s girlfriend. Though I wish she’d had more opportunities to sing, I liked her in the film as well. Vanessa Hudgens plays Larson’s friend, Karessa… and though I do make fun of her Sneakernight song (despite still having it on my phone), I am a fan of her work. I never saw Highschool Musical, and apparently, I saw the first thing she was in without realizing it at the time when I watched Thirteen, but what I have seen of her has always been impressive to me. I LOVED her in Sucker Punch. (I love Sucker Punch and one day I’ll have to revisit that with a post because it’s problematic, but I love it.) I enjoyed her as Maureen when Fox did its R.E.N.T Live, and I know she’s also played Mimi, I believe at the Hollywood Bowl sometime. It was really cool to see someone who has played characters in R.E.N.T have a role in this film. (And before anyone comes for me, I do know that the original Roger, Mimi and Angel make an appearance as bums… if anyone else does, I’m not well-versed on theater.) Lastly, on Hudgens, her voice is made for theater, in my opinion.

Then there’s Robin de Jesus. When I was watching, I was like, who is this hot pocket gay of a man?!? When watching something, even something I’ve seen before, I like to go to IMDB and Wikipedia to see where I know people from and read about what I’m watching. I was SHOCKED to realize Robin was the kid from Camp. It’s always interesting to watch something after it comes out because I don’t think I saw Camp until I was at least 18. I was probably 19 or 20 actually. So, I assumed he was younger than I am, as he was in his teens when he did Camp. But that film came out in the early 2000s. Anyway, I looked him up and his birthday is 9 days before mine, but he is also 4 years older than I am. Doing the math (and refusing to go back and edit. In 2003, when he did Camp, I would have been 15 and he would have been 19… So by the time I watch the film, I was the age he was when he made it… and still thought he was younger than me!)

The film made me laugh. The film made me cry… It also made me think about my own legacy, as I often do when I think or watch R.E.N.T. In a way, I envy starving artists. I miss that passion for writing. I’m not sure where it went or how to get it back. The thing is, I still get excited about film and TV. I still like reading scripts and listening to audio commentary and discussing film and tv critically… I just don’t write anymore. Part of me thinks it is exhaustion. I’ve been in LA for 7 1/2 years now, and it took a LOT of my willpower to make it. Up until the pandemic, at any given time, I had a full-time job and a part-time job to make ends meet. I didn’t have a lot of free time. I would tell myself once I made enough from a single job, I could devote my free time to writing again. I have one job that pays the bills, but I haven’t gotten back into writing yet. Another part is fear. I fear my writing isn’t good enough. I need to work on my grammar, and I need to stop starting sentences with “I”… It’s probably a mixture of exhaustion and fear.

I’m also aware that if I don’t write, I won’t get any better. Since childhood, I’ve known I wanted to be a writer. In college, I decided I wanted to be a screenwriter and I was going to move to LA. Two months after graduation, that’s what I did… moved to LA. And I haven’t been writing consistently since. There are ideas, and I jot them down and try to flesh them out… but the thought of opening Final Draft and putting digital words to digital paper is terrifying to me. It’s been 7 1/2 years with no writing, more or less. Whatever skill or talent I had is probably gone by now, right?

Something the film, and R.E.N.T, make me want, aside from the passion of a starving artist, is a group of artist friends. You’d think living in LA that would be easy to have… and maybe it is, but I don’t have one. When I was in high school, I LOVED sharing the stories I wrote with my friends. I liked being able to have conversations about what I wrote and get feedback. I think I need that again. I’m not good at just writing in a chamber. Even in college, despite the fear it invoked, I enjoyed discussing my work with my peers. I enjoyed reading other’s people work and discussing it with them. It seems that when I love that sense of comradery, I also lost the drive to create.

Watching the film made me want to write. Hell, it inspired me to write my first post in how long? I admire Larson, and he inspired so many artists out there. Even Lin-Manuel Miranda, of Hamilton fame, who directed the film talked about how Larson inspired him as a teen… and look at him now. Even if I don’t get to see the success of my writing in my own lifetime, I still want to write my stories and put them somewhere. I’m not saying I have the talent or creative mind of Larson, I’m not that delusional. I just feel so inspired by his work and his story.

If you read all this and are a fan of R.E.N.T, I highly recommend it. I’m honestly surprised I hadn’t heard of it, seeing how it came out at the end of 2021.