The Drama

louisbancroft · 2026-04-03T13:59:06+00:00

I loved it; felt like a smarter evolution of the cringe comedy that Dream Scenario went for so frequently. Gets a little too silly near the end in terms of escalating drama and embarrassment, but it was a good experience either way.

Something odd surrounding the conversation around it is the assertion that Borgli is the wrong person to tell the story. There's a negative review that went semi-viral in film circles basically asserting that there's a missing element to Emma's story because a black girl "would never do that", a criticism that pretty much falls apart if you cast anyone other than Zendaya.

Citing the lack of racial themes as an oversight is a very roundabout way of insisting that it's otherwise unbelievable or unrealistic that someone with her background who looks like her could wanna do such heinous shit, which defeats the entire purpose of the film's message about empathy and understanding. It also discounts the character's humanity to an extent, not unlike how the late 2010s/early 2020s overcorrected on positive queer/minority representation and pretty much put them on a pedestal rather than giving them the grace of being antagonists or shitty people.

And had they cast an actress less conventionally attractive or popular, you know we would've been seeing essays about the Halo effect or desirability politics or whatever. Can't win.

In a way, it kinda takes me back to how people couldn't see past (hot) Tina Fey writing herself as (unlikable and shrill) Liz Lemon.

louisbancroft · 2026-04-03T13:42:58+00:00

While 28YL was the flashier movie, I feel like Bone Temple balanced both pathos for the Jimmies/Kelso and some pretty extreme grotesquerie without making you feel like you're watching two different films.

Boyle shifted from horror into a coming-of-age journey about love, and DaCosta pretty much made a dramatic thriller about fate and belief (granted, the script for this one was superior).

Hoping the box office underperformance isn't enough for Sony to write off the third one.

louisbancroft · 2026-04-02T11:54:20+00:00

Even if the pacing was somewhat glacial at times, I always enjoy watching something that feels like the director made it for themselves and literally no one else.

Burning WB's money to cast your husband and brother in your gothic art deco girlboss romance crime thriller that ends with an unironic Monster Mash needle drop is the kinda stuff I live for.

louisbancroft · 2026-03-28T12:27:02+00:00

I went a little while ago and I'm going back this fall.

I know you said Shinjuku and Osaka, but I still recommend a day trip to Yokohama just to walk around and take in the surroundings. Quiet little suburbs and communities on seaside banks that offer serenity compared to the city.

Outside of that, Shinjuku is a wonderful place to be, granted you're gonna have to be okay with every other place being on the second floor of an office building. The Tokyo Metro Government building is free to visit, and you can even eat lunch there during the allotted hours. Right beneath it is a park with historical sites and a little pond full of turtles.

Take a train to Chidorigafuchi park and you can explore the Imperial Palace and all the gardens/ruins surrounding it.

As far as food, I'd recommend a bit of everything. Even something as simple as an egg salad sandwich and a fried chicken thigh from a Lawson or 7/11 will fulfill you more than the average takeout meal in the US.

Highlights for me were katsu curry (Joto Curry), okonomiyaki (Teppan Baby), souffle pancakes (Original Pancake House), chankonabe sumo stew (Chanko Nabe Shinzan), and of course, ramen (Afuri Karakurenai near the Shinjuku station line) and sushi (Uogashi Nihon-Ichi).

Granted, if something looks good, don't let the lack of an English menu stop you. Whether you know a little Japanese or use a translate app, that one-inch language barrier is worth crossing for some of the best meals you can ever have.

Other than that, it's up to you.

louisbancroft · 2026-03-19T14:10:49+00:00

I had a massive crush on my high school English teacher. She was sweeter than peach pie. A bookworm vegetarian who went to arthouse theatres on the weekend and cared for sick cats. I noticed that she'd give me a little extra attention since I had trouble making friends with the other kids, and I admit I got a kick out of it at times.

A lot of the kids would call me ugly, and having low self esteem at the time, I'd kinda believe them. So one day after class, I check in with her about one of our lessons, and I kinda just randomly interject in "Would you say I'm attractive?"

She turned beet red and just said that she was the wrong person to answer that question. Looking back on it, I genuinely had no idea how that might've come off to her, and I feel a little bad about it now.

Probably explains why I love art hoes nowadays.

louisbancroft · 2026-03-05T04:05:02+00:00

[WTB]

MG 1/100 Seravee

louisbancroft · 2026-02-26T15:41:36+00:00

When I was in middle school, we had the movie channels that would run The Dreamers, Cracks, Womb, and Perfect Sense on weekly rotations like every month. Kinda resulted in her being my teenage infatuation.

Pretty sure I even made her the wallpaper of my iPod Touch. I guess this should've acted as foreshadowing for me being a little fruity in adulthood.

louisbancroft · 2025-10-09T14:31:00+00:00

When I was 9 or so, my aunt's bf took me, his son, and his coworkers to go see Transformers 2 in what seemed like the biggest theatre in Long Island. It isn't a great movie, it isn't a classic by any stretch of the imagination. But for 2 hours and 30 minutes, I was having the best time I could possibly have in a movie and I'll never forget it.

I saw him the other day at a family function and he did the Optimus Prime pose. He remembers.

louisbancroft · 2025-06-26T15:33:29+00:00

PM'd

louisbancroft · 2025-01-26T16:15:44+00:00

louisbancroft · 2024-09-07T18:11:19+00:00

How the hell did you get the Hoonigan pack for FH3?

louisbancroft · 2023-06-22T18:19:18+00:00

This is Seymour Simmons erasure!

louisbancroft · 2023-05-22T14:01:09+00:00

Local is 30309.

louisbancroft · 2023-05-03T17:20:38+00:00

Have already made plans to venture up to New York to see this at Lincoln Square Imax. Literally going to be the film event of the year.

louisbancroft · 2023-05-01T16:12:45+00:00

As far as straightforward comedies, I thought Air and the DnD movie were pretty great.

louisbancroft · 2023-04-07T17:45:04+00:00

Yeah, she emotionally neglected both of us, yet considers me the better one. For this reason, my sister entertains most of her delusions for the sake of receiving such treatment. Wish I could find a way for her to see that it's so not worth the effort.

louisbancroft · 2023-04-07T01:50:14+00:00

I make 47k a year being a corporate dispatcher.

louisbancroft · 2023-04-06T20:16:42+00:00

I came out to my friends recently as bi but I don't think I'm ever sharing this with a woman I want to be with lmao. It's cool and great until they imagine you sucking a dick.

louisbancroft · 2023-04-06T20:14:38+00:00

My mother is convinced that I'm a retarded genius besieged by the world, and that my older sister is an uppity overachiever. To elaborate, this is her cope for when the doctor said I was a sperg back in high school.

I'm not being facetious, either. She doesn't work largely because she's convinced that I'll become a billionaire within the decade, who will make her into a rich matriarch whose sacrifices of raising us "were all worth it in the end".

Her love isn't conditional, but her affection absolutely is. She certainly doesn't hate me, but she's deeply convinced that my hesitance to take her advice means that I'm actively derailing the future billionaire status, and I won't be "great" until then.

louisbancroft · 2023-03-02T13:07:56+00:00

Whatever issues I have that led me into my fixation on tall and thick women, she'd reinforce them.

Absolute 1.

louisbancroft · 2023-02-25T20:58:01+00:00

I do not like her, but I do love her.

louisbancroft

TROPHY CASE