Someday you will wish to be

exactly where you are right now.

Are you at peace?

Or have you simply moved away from the things that brought you anxiety?

Flames, on the side of my face.

Clue — 2.5/5

A case study in interesting actors who are mostly muffled by the context they exist in. Tim Curry and Madeline Kahn, when given some freedom, are allowed to shine, but mostly seem to be contained by the plot mechanics of it all. I want to say the director's to blame? It feels like 'hire a bunch of interesting people, but don't let them be themselves.' It's a commitment to the script without the realization that that wasn't working. When Madeline Kahn is allowed her little bit of improv, right at the end, it damns the whole thing — what it could have been. 

What's so bad about being with me?

Obsession — 3/5

I've a working theory that when a movie hits, it's because it's subtly introducing a new idea that people haven't quite seen before. 'Die Hard,' 'Speed,' 'the Matrix,' etc. Action film in a box, constant momentum as plot point, spiritually tech-y VFX, etc. This movie made half a billion dollars and I do not know what is new here. It's an 80s horror + a wish movie. It feels familiar. And so, that leads me to thinking that what is new is simply the classic NBC summer re-run campaign "It's new to you." Every twenty/thirty years or so, we get to just repeat culture for people who did not grow up with it. Marvel got to do that for the Star Wars fans. 'Stranger Things' got to do it for the 'Goonies' fans. If these things had appeared in those times, they would have been seen as good and okay and maybe repetitive rip-offs, better than average but still close to the mean. But it's a new world with new people and there you go. All to say that the massive box office created an expectation in me that there was something more than 'this is fine' here. It's a fun idea that doesn't even feel like its idea is fully explored. It could have been subtler before it went over the top? Though to be fair, Inde Navarrette really is wonderful in the role and I'm excited to see where she goes from here.

I'm aliiiiiive.

House of the Dragon, S3 — 1.5/5

At this point, I'm just watching for the sake of some boring idea of completionism. Much the same problems as S2, and the show only perks up when something approaching "a villain" pops up. And then are dispatched! Goodbye! Look over here at this new character who means nothing. Eh, I've already forgotten my more specific criticisms. It's all blurry edges and when your eyes manage to focus in, you just see all of nothing.