Annihilation (2018) is a combination of a lot of things that almost work if you think about it

Some movies belong in that fridge category. You watch them and then late at night your tummy is rumbly. You get up and while standing in front of the refrigerator a thought crosses your mind about the movie and you're like "oh, man that's what they meant by that?" Then if you are like me you eat a burrito and go to bed. Annihilation will make you think twice about the burrito.

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11/22/63 by Stephen King (2011) is a proper good time travel story where someone doesn't get molested by their mom

What would you do if you could go back in time? Run around and steal shit? Can't say that cause that's my thing. I'm time stealing guy. Most of you dumbasses are like "hur hur I'd kill Hitler" but no you wouldn't because there's plenty of evil bastards out there right now killing hundreds of people and you're reading this. So killing is out, but would you save someone?

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Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1 (2010) will teach you a lot about the man in the seams

What would happen if you had to write an autobiography? Would you start at the beginning? You ain't dead yet, so you won't finish. And what do you say? Tell stories about people that might not be dead yet and have a damn awkward Christmas until Uncle Rob get drunk and decides to tell MawMaw exactly what happened in the coat closet in fourth grade? You could see how it could be a problem.

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Locke (2013) is about the best long car ride you'll see if you really like Tom Hardy

Secrets. We all got'em. We keep them in, we put them away, we let them die silent deaths one at a time. If they come back, we can attempt to hide them or we can do the right thing. Most movies are about the former, the machinations of characters struggling with themselves and outside forces. Locke is about the latter and all the fallout that happens.

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Do The Right Thing (1989) is still a lot of heavy shit for a Friday night

What does it take for violence to become acceptable? When mob mentality is not only the right thing to do but the necessary thing? When the disenfranchised and hurt can stand up and say, not today, asshole! Sometimes it just takes some loud noise and a few bad words.

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Passengers (2016) made us mad because it made us hate Chris Pratt, right?

What do you do when a movie actively wants you to hate the main character? They cast a charming person then have him make a decidedly human yet wrong decision and then leave us to deal with it. I haven't been this conflicted since that Jude Law remake of Alfie. Damn you, Chris Pratt. You could have been a good villain.

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Game of Thrones Season 1, Episode 7 "You Win or You Die" proves that honor means nothing and your legacy is everything

Right off the bat, we can all agree this is one of the most cringing, stressful episodes of television ever created, right? This episode is the beginning of the end of Ned Stark and the near destruction of the Starks as a whole. Everyone plays hard games here and the winners focus on their legacies over their honor.

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Paranorman (2012) tells us that if you are weird, that's probably because you're super special and will save the world some day #childhoodlessons

All of us felt a little awkward growing up. Some more than others. That little inside voice said that something about us was wrong, broken, gross. When we talked to the dead, even our families were all "get a hobby, weirdo." What I'm saying is I finally found a movie I can connect with in ParaNorman.

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Inside Out (2015) asks and answers the question of sadness

What if we had little people running around in our heads directing the action? Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear all pushing buttons. Forcing issues. At least you'd then have someone to blame, right?

    Inside a little girl named Riley are the personifications of the five base emotions. They've grown up with her, formed her personality, and helped her maintain her composure. First among them is Joy. Joy dominates to a degree far above the others, making the best of every situation to the detriment of Sadness.

    Riley's family moves from wintery land (I forget where but there was hockey) to San Francisco. With all the changes, Joy begins to lose control. Forcing the issue, her and Sadness are cast into the mind out of the control room. They must fight their way to get back, finding old imaginary friends and riding trains of thought. The movie's real clever.

    The central theme of the movie is embracing sadness. It sounds like a bad theme, but it works. Throughout the film, Joy forces the issue. Hides behind platitudes and tries to protect old happy memories from turning sad. But then we learn without the sadness, how do we know about the joy? We learn depression is not the absense of happiness or overwhelming sadness, but a shutdown of all emotions. That the most dangerous thing the human mind has to fear is itself.

    Also, it made me care about a goddamn thing monster called Bing Bong. So it's got that going for it.

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero (2017) makes those pesky kids grow up and face the world. The original dog's dead, though

It's hard to face sometimes a long ago childhood innocence. Saturday morning cartoons that looked so bright and shiny, staying that way in memory. Don't look back if you want that shine to last. Of course, others can look back and deconstruct and make you remember the best parts.

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The Nix by Nathan Hill (2016) and the importance of saying "this book is going nowhere with interest"

Very rarely does a book retain the ability to be interesting way before it wears out its welcome. The Nix keeps on going well into the night much like a library patron with just one last question ten minutes after you close. You want it to go, need it to be done, but okay, why not?

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Art of Asking by Amanda Fucking Palmer (2014) taught me to just give up sometimes and do whatever

The image of standing in a square, a tall bride all in white, money piling up around her feet. The image of a woman at a piano, half naked, fans voices and her voice mixing in a chaotic chorus. The image of someone driving at night, listening to the story of an artist, throwing a newspaper at a deer because fuck that deer. Life is weird.

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Synecdoche, New York (2008) is a movie I'm never going to be able to spell

It's kinda breathtaking to realize that you are not smart enough to get something. Kinda takes the weight off. Just right off the bat, confronted with a title, I must admit defeat because I can't even spell Synecdoche, New York even though I just did.

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Predators (2010) raises more questions than you would think

Why did I think this movie was directed by Robert Rodriguez? Did he have something to do with it and I'm blanking out. I seriously thought this was the missing piece of the Rodriguez oeuvre that would tie everything together for me. As it stands, it did not tie anything together.

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A Golden Crown, Game of Thrones Season 1, Episode 6

Man, where do loyalties lie, amiright? I mean, who can you trust when people have been stabbed in the streets and kidnapped in hotels? Maybe you stick with your baby daddy when he takes you for the home visit? This episode of Westeros Party Ponies shows everyone where they lie while the secrets keep coming.

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Bad Lieutenant (1992) will make all those other crime movie "crazy" cops seem like poseurs

How many movies are there about good police officers? Just regular people that just so happen to get involved in a story. I can think of just one: Only the Lonely starring John Candy that's a romantic comedy wherein Candy happens to be a Chicago police officer, a regular beat cop. Every other movie is about a crazy cop that doesn't play by the rules. Bad Lieutenant is the concentrate version of that police officer.

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