TV Tuesday: Plur1bus (2025) TV-MA

 TV Tuesday: Plur1bus (2025) TV-MA  

 

The research organization SETI makes a discovery that changes humanity forever, leaving only speculative historical romance writer Carol Sturka and a dozen others unaffected.

Apple TV+ bills this as a planet-wide "forced happiness" but that's not quite accurate.  In the first three episodes of this puzzle box series, we discover that it's more like a shared mind consensus with an built in imperative to make everyone happy.  Because Carol is outside the hive mind, and understandably freaked out by everyone's behavior, she is difficult to please.

First of all... that poor, poor man in Paraguay.  I hope Carol studies some Spanish.

While the new reality has an organized structure, it's obviously quite different from normal, so Plur1bus also has overtones of a post-apocalyptic world, and trying to navigate the "new normal".  When Carol organizes a meeting with the five English speaking people like herself who are out of the loop, all the methods of coping these people have adopted become obvious, and hint at the coping methods some adopted after the pandemic.

 Diabate, the opportunist, who takes advantage of this new found world, whoring and eating his way through, using up all of the fallen world's luxuries.  Laxmi, the denier, who refuses to believe her family has changed, including her ten year old son who now has the knowledge to fly the space shuttle.  Kusimayu, who just wants to join the collective so she can be with her family members again.

We see the extraordinary lengths the collective will go to to make the outsiders happy, including restocking an entire Sprouts grocery store in a few hours just because Carol asked for it because she wants to maintain her independance.

You may think that once we know how this collective consciousness was created the mystery is solved, but really it creates even more questions.  Will Manousos finally talk to Carol, and will he ever trust food outside his storage facility?  He seems to be the only other one who is as distrustful as Carol, and hopes to restore the world to the way it was.  And what is he searching for on the shortwave radio?

How does the collective spend its time at night when it's not working?  If they're moving away from private homes to a central location, where do they sleep, and what does that facility look like?  What does the collective do while they're off duty, because they don't even need to speak to each other.  Do they just sit around planning things in their heads?  Are they going to tear down all the unnecessary  buildings?  Is it going to end up being large dormitories, farms for their new vegetarian diet, and processing facilities with Carol's lone house standing in the middle like a protected historical building that they build around?

And what does this do to things like art, music and creativity?  Who needs to write a book when your largest audience already knows everything everyone else knows?  Or a song? Why write a love song, when everyone loves everyone else equally?

It's a fascinating show, and Carol with her anger and resentment simmering under the surface is a fascinating character. If you liked Severance, you will like Plur1bus.

Since this review spans the first four episodes, I won't bother with my usual counts, but there are plenty of laugh out loud moments thanks to Carol and her sarcastic wit.  As a crafting series, it works quite well.  The visuals are merely a beautiful topping on the verbal exchanges, so it works if your eyes are elsewhere, though there are long stretches where characters from the collective interact without speaking, so you may want to glance up once in a while when you don't hear dialogue, if only to catch yucky moments like the community doughnuts.

I eagerly await the second half of the season.  I just hope the writers are already working on season two, unlike Severance who waits until production is complete before they start writing, causing years-long delays. 

Sinners (2025) R

 Sinners (2025) R

 

Two brothers return to the Mississippi delta after seven years in 1920's Chicago to open a Juke joint and start fresh, but opening night takes a terrible turn. 

I once played a PC game called "Where the Water Tastes Like Wine".  This movie has a similar vibe right from the start, and I knew I would not be disappointed.  It takes a long slow burn to get to the supernatural element, but the immersion in the time period is interesting enough that you don't mind drifting towards the rapids on a slow rolling river.

Young cousin Sammie Moore (Miles Caton, musician) is truly the highlight of this film.  The producers needed a singer/guitar player who could make music to stir the ancestors and shame the devil, and he does not disappoint.  Twin brothers Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan, Creed) played both sides during the height of mobster Chicago, and went home to lay low, and Jordan gave a masterful performance in both roles. 

There is a scene after the shit hits the fan where the enemy is whispering names from the shadows.  It inevitably reminded me of the hyena episode of Buffy the Vampire slayer, where legend has it the creatures would learn your name by day, and then lure you out by calling from the shadows after dark.  Much, much more creepy in this film. 

This movie was almost perfect.  If they hadn't added an auto-tuned song at the very end of the credits, it would have been.  And please watch to the end, as Miles Caton gives one last performance before we fade to black.

I don't want to give too much away.  I managed to avoid spoilers until I watched it, so the reveal of what type of evil they were facing was a pleasant surprise.  Two laugh out loud moments, two holy shit moments, and three times I found I dropped my needles, enthralled by the screen, so in this case it may not be a good film to craft to, but in the best way.  Awesome film, I give it 4.5 out of 5 ancient gold coins.

 

Throwback Thursday: The Cabin in the Woods (2012) R

 The Cabin in the Woods (2012) R

 

Five college friends go to a remote cabin in the woods for a weekend away and get more than they bargained for.

I used to be a huge fan of Joss Whedon's work, and I love Fran Kranz, so I was really surprised when I realized that I had never written a review for The Cabin in the Woods. Mild spoilers will follow.

 

 

 At first, you're going to wonder if you're somehow watching the wrong movie.  There's nothing woodsy or cabin-like in the first few minutes.  Definitely not the beginning of a typical slasher film.  Once the title card jump scare is over, it settles into the kind of thing you'd expect from a teen slasher film... the characters are defined, their basic archetype is established, and the rowdy young adults head off for their weekend away.

Interestingly, the control room scenes basically take every groan-worthy trope from slasher films and give them real world explanations.  From the Harbinger, to the handle of a knife zapping the hand of the person holding it to get it to drop it, the drugs, the explosives... they all try to make sense of past movies' failure to make realistic choices.  The only one it didn't explain is why no one in this whole movie looks for a light switch when going into a dark room.

 

 All in all, it's a fun movie with decent slasher kills if you like that sort of thing.  Four laugh out loud moments, usually at Kranz, because he is, after all, the fool and got the funniest lines.  One holy shit moment because I'd forgotten that a kill happens in a moving vehicle, and one needle drop moment just because Sigourney Weaver is so compelling to watch.  One eye roll at when Hadley (Bradley Whitford) finally gets to see his merman.

It's a decent movie to craft to, if you don't care about little details and just want noise.  But I'd give it your full attention on the first watch, the little things will surprise you. Four out of five telescoping coffee mugs.

Stephen King's Christine (1983)

 Christine (1983)

Arnie Cunningham's (Keith Gordon, Dressed to Kill) life is forever changed when he finds a rusty 1958 Plymouth Fury and becomes obsessed with restoring the classic automobile.  As the vehicle improves, so does Arnie, finding a newfound confidence.  However his obsession soon turns fatal as Christine seems to have a mind of her own.

I remember seeing this not long after it first came out, and despite my love for Stephen King, at the time I was not impressed.  A few decades later, with a little more movie watching experience, I have realized that compared to many other horror movies of the decade, this one actually stands the test of time.  Full of familiar faces and excellent performances, it's also morbidly nostalgic in its own way.

 The story, a nerdy, misfit teen both intentionally and unintentionally getting revenge on his tormentors, is classic King material... a machine that gains malevolent life from spilled blood.  Though the movie does depart from some of the book's details, the basic bones are there, revealing a sentient (and possibly love-struck) car to be a terrifying thing to have.  What would Christine be like as a modern self-driving car?  With modern sat-nav and digital GPS tracking? I shudder to think.

Definitely a good crafting movie... it's slow-paced, yet interesting.  Some of the parent/teen conflicts feel a little over the top, but maybe that's because my parent was never quite so dramatic as Arnie's.  My attention did droop near the end... the final junkyard scene felt stretched out, but the payoff was good, as was the fake-out at the end.

Worth watching again if you're a fan of King, or just 80s horror in general. Four nostalgic stars out of five.

Hell of a Summer (2025) R

 Hell of a Summer (2025) R

 

 When Jason (Fred Hechinger, Kraven the Hunter) turns down a summer law internship to help his friends run their summer camp, Camp Pineaway, the socially awkward 20-something gets way more than he bargained for.

This turned out to be a classically set up slasher horror film.  While it does lean into the classic tropes, there are a few twists that make it watchable. The scene is set with the camp owning couple  John and Kathy enjoying a couple of beers on the lake shore next to a campfire.  The first kills are interesting enough.

The next day the counselors start arriving, letting us know who they are and what each character is about. Jason is dropped off by his nagging mother.  Demi (Pardis Saremi, The Pom Pom Murders) arrives with a carload of designer luggage and a mind to continue her influencer streaming.  Chris and Bobby drive down in a convertible, convinced that their first summer as counselors instead of campers will get them laid.  You get the idea.

After settling in, of course people start getting murdered.  Jason is the first to find a body, and his reaction is understandably hysterical although maybe just a touch manic and over the top.  However the rest of the group react so blandly, you wonder if they made a mistake in editing.  In a group of six or eight people, you'd think at least one would have some sort of reaction, if only to look around the group to see how they're reacting.  It was odd and felt awkward.

Other than that, as things develop, the movie is interesting and worth a watch.  No real jump scares, just a killer stalking prey.

There were a couple of laugh out loud moments for me, including the tennis racket bug zapper in the opening scene.  When I worked at Walmart, we could not keep those in stock, so seeing them in regular use was funny to me as I always wondered where they all went. 

Surprisingly, despite some brutal killings, there were no Oh Shit moments, except maybe when you figure out what happened in the second kill.  A couple of eyeroll moments that I won't spoil, but are worth a "What were they thinking?" moment.

If you like casual slashers without any big deep meaning or lore, this movie is for you.  

Twisters (2024) PG-13

 Twisters (2024) PG-13

 

Storm chaser Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones, Where the Crawdads Sing) agrees to go back out into the field after the death of her college classmates keeps her away for five years.  She meets modern cowboy and social media "tornado wrangler" Tyler (Glen Powell, Hitman) along the way and gets more than she bargained for.

There was a serious storm cell brewing in my area of Minnesota the night I watched this.  We get tornadoes, and I'm old enough to have lived through the F4 tornado that touched down in Outing, MN in 1969.  Watching this was my way of whistling through the graveyard.  I also have a fondness for the original Twister, and Bill Paxton.

Saying I went into this with a healthy dose of skepticism that it could live up to the original and carry the torch is putting it mildly.  I am also old enough to feel like the entire cast was made up of children, who might not be mature enough to be taken seriously.

 I was pleasantly surprised.  Kate has enough sass and emotional resonance to carry her side, and Tyler has enough cowboy charm to carry his, and become (eventually) endearing.  The effects make the tornado scenes terrifying, and the idea of "taming a tornado" is intriguing, but probably bullshit.  I don't know, I'm not a physicist or a meteorologist.

I could have done without the heavy handed Oklahoma western themes and soundtrack.  The call back to "If you feel it, you should chase it" was an eye-roll moment to be sure.  But I can look past the five seconds of lame romance and enjoy the rest.

Three laugh out loud moments, one of which being a chicken that falls out of nowhere with perfect comedic timing.  Two "oh shit" moments when the serious debris starts to fly.

Overall, if you like an action movie with a little romance and a lot of heart, this will be the movie for you.  If you can't stand country music, though, I'd steer clear.  Four and a half out of five, and watch for falling chickens.  At least they're not cows.

G20 (2025) R

 G20 (2025) R

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When war hero president Danielle Sutton (Viola Davis, Lila & Eve) travels to South Africa for a global financial summit, a terrorist siege makes it necessary to defend other world leaders, her family, and her life.

Not going to lie, I went into this with medium expectations, and the first half hour made it look cookie cutter and formulaic.  The president and her rebellious daughter Serena (Marsai Martin, Sure Looks Good), was a predictable plot point that's been in every movie or television show with a president with kids.

However Davis makes an amazing action hero that outshines the mediocre script.  Add in the sleazy mercenary bad guy Rutledge (Antony Starr, The Boys) and Vice President Harold Mosley (Brad Gregg, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D) and you've got a cast worth watching.

At moments it had a very "Under Siege" feel, especially with the scuffle in the kitchen.  Trying to protect civilians, the Italian Minister, the British Prime minister, and the Korean Minister's spouse was both harrowing and amusing.  This was not the time to be wearing fancy Italian shoes or complaining that the steering wheel was on the wrong side of the car, but she handled it with grace.

There were predictable moments such as when the daughter used her rebellious skills to thwart the bad guys, but there were a few surprises to be had that offset that nicely.  I doubt there are any other presidents seen sparring with a secret service agent on the lawn of the white house.  And while practical in theory, it was a little dismaying to see the president lose more and more of her gown as the evening went on, ending up with a dress of Tina Turner proportions at the end.  You know the one I'm talking about.

 The ending carried on a bit long.  It should have ended in the conference room, and left the helipad scene out entirely.  Otherwise the ending was satisfying, and the mini scenes during the credits gave you the emotional closure you needed nicely.  I just wish the crypto tech was a little less cringe.

A couple of Oh Shit moments, and three laugh out loud moments.  I will admit that the Italian ambassador throwing her shoes away made me laugh a little too long.  I hate heels.

Overall, a good action flick that can grab your attention instead of being background noise.  Four out of five, and I'd pair it with The Bodyguard or similar for a double feature.