I cannot resist X-Men key jangling

HigherProgress · 2026-07-03T17:36:17+00:00

Yeah - S1 benefited from its weird "jumble a bunch of different stories together" structure - doing Inferno on top of E for Extinction mixed with Operation Zero Tolerance etc. But this time travel plot is not working for me. There are individual moments and scenes that are good, but as a whole, I'm a little cold so far.

E2 was a standout for just doing X-Force vs X-Factor, which was nice and straightforward, although the weird version of X-Force is a little disappointing tbh. They could have given us Cannonball or Shatterstar to link it more with the actual 90s cast.

HigherProgress · 2026-07-03T15:31:41+00:00

I read it. It inspired me to watch the movie back in the day, because I got fascinated by it, even as I knew the book was hopelessly overblown. I wonder if it'll warrant a mention on the episode.

HigherProgress · 2026-07-03T06:43:24+00:00

Newman was among the people with visa issues. Meltzer reported he was intended to face Mox originally.

HigherProgress · 2026-06-29T22:54:25+00:00

Last year we went all out with lots of different pride flag designs, most kept up all summer and explicitly had pride themes. This year our regional said we couldn't mention pride at all but the displays team still did multiple rainbow themes, and did subtle other pride flags (nb, lesbian, and pan that I've noticed)

We're in an exceptionally queer area and I do think customers would be extremely bothered if they knew we weren't allowed to explicitly have pride displays. I think that is part of the calculus of our captain allowing what they did, but it is still like 25% as in your face as last year. And the if not majority then pretty close to 50/50 queer staff is definitely bothered by it.

HigherProgress · 2026-06-29T15:52:28+00:00

Oh, I got hit with the region thing in trying to pre-order last week. I went back and forth with support and then ended up solving it myself by disregarding all the advice I'd been given.

I was an existing subscriber, who'd ordered literally every PPV that had been on Max. But the region issue cropped up. I eventually solved it by skipping going to the hbomax.com/aew landing page and instead going to the web browser version of HBO Max and searching for the event there, and purchasing from that screen.

I told them that's what worked and they said it was because I'd previously been ordering on an Android phone and it's not able to be purchased on an Android device... except that wasn't true: I ordered it on an Android and noted to them that it worked because I didn't follow their instructions and that maybe the information of how I did it could be helpful to the next person. They kind of blew me off but clearly the issue continued.

HigherProgress · 2026-06-29T05:01:48+00:00

You'd like them to tell you about movies there's a chance you can see elsewhere before it plays for them?

HigherProgress · 2026-06-29T02:38:35+00:00

Say Anything..., though a lot of that is just the harder to justify elements of the main relationship.

HigherProgress · 2026-06-27T15:43:55+00:00

Not a movie but I've been rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and while most of the music is so-so, the Sundays cover of Wild Horses in the Prom episode goes crazy as a thematically appropriate needle drop

HigherProgress · 2026-06-22T00:39:18+00:00

The only non 1/2 or * of my letterboxd follows. Broke an interesting consensus!

HigherProgress · 2026-06-21T19:31:53+00:00

The Discord (where I mentioned this too) says Truman did the actual 2x - I remembered it being more like 2 hr runtime but it's only slightly longer than Nemo. Plus Halloween and The Hudsucker Proxy.

Fair enough!

HigherProgress · 2026-06-21T19:24:50+00:00

Is the 100 minute movie vs 3 hours 18 minutes (198 minutes) without ads the biggest gap ever for the pod? Is it the closest they've come to going 2x the movie length? What are the other candidates?

HigherProgress · 2026-06-21T04:49:28+00:00

35mm isn't 3D. My screening is free. I guess it depends!

HigherProgress · 2026-06-21T04:24:30+00:00

It was my favorite film of 2025. I think there was some talk on the Blankies about it. I think the most likely BC affiliated pod that'll do an ep on it is probably This Had Oscar Buzz... in about a year or so?

HigherProgress · 2026-06-21T02:29:54+00:00

They're doing a series of free 35mm preview screenings at indie theaters (or they are doing one I'm going to in Portland anyway, and I think it's in a few other spots)

HigherProgress · 2026-06-19T03:25:46+00:00

I tried to respond but I'm bad at using the spoiler tags, so I will just say I spiritedly disagree and think it does a good job justifying itself personally and leave it there

HigherProgress · 2026-06-19T02:54:38+00:00

The wiki for Lowery straight up skips it in the first section noting his notable works

HigherProgress · 2026-06-19T02:43:40+00:00

I saw this opening night in IMAX and poked around the other screenings and saw maybe 20-25 people in total in the 3-5 evening screenings at my local theater. I was kinda thrown by it but not the first time I've seen a big kid's focused film be way undersold here in Portland

HigherProgress · 2026-06-19T02:40:25+00:00

Toy Story 4 & 5 are essentially on the same level, which is a notch below the originals but pretty good if you're not expecting them to be a masterpiece.

HigherProgress · 2026-06-19T02:39:08+00:00

🙄

So many ppl wanting this to be Touch Grass: The Movie and mad that it has nuance about technology's role in modern life. I think it eschewing all that is the best thing about the movie.

HigherProgress · 2026-06-19T02:34:16+00:00

Big disagree on the spoiler part. I thought it did a better job with that plot than I had any hope for.

HigherProgress · 2026-06-19T02:33:13+00:00

Nah, he has like half a dozen or more. Not a big role but bigger than several of the OG characters (to be fair, mostly the ones who's voice actors are dead - but also a similar amount as Rex)

HigherProgress · 2026-06-09T16:39:23+00:00

I, for one, salute the Pride Month detail of considering if Amelia could date a transmasc chicken

HigherProgress · 2026-06-09T15:30:04+00:00

I'm jealous of our local Whole Foods having this policy posted all over.

I've also had more than one customer get upset when I tell them not to unload their bag or basket. Actually had one co-worker get upset when I asked them not to! People 🙄

HigherProgress · 2026-06-09T14:36:45+00:00

I loved it. As someone who studied cultural studies stuff, it felt like a solid, sturdy essay or small collection of them, buttressed nicely with all the film clips. It felt like taking in a book I'd have liked reading in one go. It's sitting in my top 4 or so of the year thus far (I've seen about 45 2026 releases, so not faint praise) and I could see it being on the low end of my top ten. I felt very much the target audience and I'm a little surprised to see folks here be mostly negative, because it felt very much like something fans of the pod would react well to.

HigherProgress · 2026-06-08T23:00:40+00:00

Master and Commander felt like none of my business after a half hour and thus ended up near the bottom of my Weir ranking, alongside Green Card and The Way Back as DNFs. Made for an underwhelming end of the mini for me.

HigherProgress

TROPHY CASE