We’ve knocked down the acting and writing categories. We’ll do Best Director and Best Picture later this week. But let’s do ALL OF THE OTHER CATEGORIES right now! Let’s party!
Continue reading “FBC OSCAR COVERAGE 2022, PART VIII: Predicting The Winners (Part 4)”
Paul Thomas Anderson hasn’t made a bad movie, and I don’t think he could if he tried. Well, I mean maybe if he tried. He could keep the camera out of focus or give all the actors shrooms or make a shot-for-shot remake of Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice. And Licorice Pizza, Anderson’s ninth film (and the third nominated for Best Picture) is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a bad movie. It’s anchored in two amazing lead performances (neither of whom have acted before) and has very funny and touching moments and definitely has a light and easy feel with which Anderson drives the film effortlessly.
But Licorice Pizza does have one big problem. Perhaps, more accurately, the movie has two problems rolled into one. The first has to do with the core of the relationship between the film’s two main characters. And the second is the film’s (and filmmaker’s) complete lack of interest in even wanting to address the first problem. If this sounds layered and confusing, it shouldn’t surprise you.
After all, it’s a Paul Thomas Anderson movie.
Continue reading “FBC OSCAR COVERAGE, PART VII: Grappling With Licorice Pizza’s Age Gap”
Welcome to the first day of NFL Free Agency. The wonderful time of the year when 100 million dollar contracts are negotiated in a matter of seconds! Keep checking back all day as I update the big signings and roster cuts.
Continue reading “NFL Free Agency Live Blog”
Ok, in my last Oscars column, I predicted the screenplay categories. On to supporting performances!
One of my favorite things about the supporting categories this year is that both Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst are nominated for The Power Of The Dog, in which they are a married couple both in the movie AND in real life. Something about that just warms my heart, y’all.
Ok. Let’s get predicting!
Continue reading “FBC 2022 Oscar Coverage, Part V: Predicting The Winners (Part 2)”
This is going to be another one of those stories where we talk about something that many comedians have been discussing on social media. Maybe you’re a comedian and this interests you. Maybe you’re not a comedian but keep your finger on the pulse of comedy news. Maybe you’re an alpaca and your farmer is reading this to you.
Like the other stories I’ve written in this vein about people like Shane Gillis and Dave Chappelle, this is a story where I take a look at speech and consequences and the concept of a “cancel culture”, though the fact that I’ve put quotes around that term should tell you where I stand on it. There’s a lot of stuff you could also cover, from toxic fandom to how so many people are using a climate of fear for their own personal gain.
So, strap in, kids. Let’s talk about Joe Rogan.
Continue reading “Are You (Joe Rogan) Experienced?”
With the announcement on Tuesday that the Bears have signed former Kansas City Chiefs director of player personnel Ryan Poles to be their new General Manager, they have cleared an incredibly low bar that many people in Chicago thought they would still manage to botch. The team managed to put someone in charge of football operations BEFORE they signed a head coach. While this seems like a pretty basic rule of thumb, especially since nobody above the GM actually knows their ass from the fail son hole in the ground they popped out of, there was a lack of confidence in them doing the signing in the right order that was very discouraging. In Poles, they also pulled off the rare feat of hiring someone to a position that doesn’t require team owner, family matriarch, and former lover of William Henry Harrison, Virginia McCaskey to have to learn a new name. She can say Ryan Pace and it still sounds really close to the correct name, so she has that going for her!
Continue reading “Future Potential Chicago Bears Coach Power Rankings”I’ve always had a fascination and affinity for the name Veronica. As a an Elvis Costello fan, his 1989 single bearing the name is still a favorite of mine. In the Archie Comics universe, I choose her over Betty. In the film Heathers, Winona Ryder played its heroine with the moniker. I also have been heard to say that I love the name because of a cute nickname that can be given to it….Ronnie.
Sadly and too soon, we lost one this week. The one, only and unforgettable Ronnie Spector (born Veronica Bennet in case you weren’t aware).
Continue reading “Farewell Girl Group Goddess”
Let’s just call this what it is, a dedication to suck. 2021 felt like a slow morphine drip of mediocrity, or better, 2021 was a terrible sitcom. And by that I mean, nothing really changed. The episode ended and everything just reverted back to what it was before the episode started. Nothing got better. Joe Biden is just folksy Donald Trump. Social media continues to melt brains. Social change continues to feel like it’s going in the wrong direction.
Continue reading “Brandon’s Best (and worst) of 2021”Nostalgia has always been a mechanism by which people selectively remember history. Nostalgia is a form of currency. Nostalgia is the only reason Dane Cook ever existed. Remember Dane Cook? Remembering Dane Cook is a form of nostalgia.
No other holiday traffics in nostalgia quite like Christmas. And no Christmas nostalgia is complete without being forced to watch “A Christmas Story” every year.
Continue reading “It’s Time To Admit that “A Christmas Story” Is Trash”Generally during this time of year Major League Baseball fans such as I mull over their favorite team’s impending moves for the upcoming season. We’ll sit around the metaphorical stove and keep ourselves warm with loads of firewood, black coffee and baseball chatter. But right now, it’s quiet… too quiet.
Continue reading “The Hot Stove League is Cold”
Fancy Boys Club 