Gangbusters! What's Happening Here?
Look, of course Gangbusters! is going to be a good one this week. It's always a good one. It's our special Completely Normal Show, and when you get right down to it, sometimes I just like making posters.
#2,362: Avalanche! (And the start of MST3K s11)
MST 1101: Reptilicus
MST 1102: Cry Wilderness
MST 1103: The Time Travelers
MST 1104: Avalanche
I was worried that I was going to be completely weirded out by the new season of MST3K. I've met most of the previous casts of the show, but I knew Jonah and the new bots long before they got this gig. I was worried it was just going to seem like some dudes I know doing a podcast. And while it is a little weird to me to hear these guys making callbacks to jokes made by their predecessors 20 years ago, I think I've been pleasantly surprised by the quality.
I've also been very surprised to see this incarnation turn everything I know about MST on its head. I used to watch this show for the host segments above all else. And while I appreciate the effort to check the boxes of the original series, so far they're mostly... not good. I can't believe that I like the theater part more, and I can't believe that Crow / Hampton is my favorite. I'm so glad he's doing a character voice. Baron is a terrific comic, but has enormous shoes– or, an enormous hoverskirt to fill.
Technical production on the show, from what I've heard about it, seems just plain weird. I think part of what made the original, or the early era of Adult Swim so great, was that it was made by creative people with a lot more time than money. While this season is probably constrained by budget as much as anything, it still seems like the mass-produced version of the show. The timing feels weird, and it's because they're not actually in the room together recording the riffs. The characters don't necessarily match what they're saying because they're shot separately. The host segments don't have time for another take. The whole thing feels way more digital.
In high school, it was my dream job to work on MST3K, and between how many other odd opportunities I've had to work with my heroes of that era, and how many people I knew that were involved in this version, I'm almost surprised I didn't have any involvement aside from donating $1. But at the same time, I'm not sure if this is the version I would have wanted to be a part of. (Oh, I talk a good game, but I'm sure I'd've jumped at the gig!)
As for the episodes themselves: some of the movies aren't that bad. I'm intrigued by the weird little hints of continuity between them and hope that pays off somehow. The guest stars have been really disappointing. The set is weird in a new aspect ratio (and yet no hexfield!). And I hate TV's Son of TV's Frank. Sure, the name is dumb, but something about casting 'names' into MST3K, no matter how much they may have loved the old show, makes the new one feel like fanfic.
Set List: Your Mother
This week, Set List at The Pack is brought to you by... Your mom! At least, if you're our host Jason Van Glass. That's right, Jason's mom, twitter pen pals with the likes of Ron Funches, James Adomian, and Chris Hardwick's mother! And you know who else she follows?
Set List at the Pack is a completely improvised stand-up show that happens every Thursday night at 10:30, at the Pack Theater in Los Angeles, CA.
Gangbusters! w/ Frank Conniff on 6/2!
This week we're recovering from the Gangbusters! Los Feliz Invitational, and its many twists and turns, by bringing you our very special Completely Normal Show, with a huge lineup!
TV's Frank Conniff! TV's Erik Charles Nielsen! Max Von Spyder's Spooky Stories! The Illuminati! Cloud City Transit! If you make it to only one Gangbusters! show for the rest of the week, it's got to be this one!
#2,358: Free Fire
The Circle - ★½☆☆☆
The most millennial thing about this movie is how actions are decoupled from consequences. The main character's actions don't seem to mean anything, good or bad. She's just intuitively correct about everything at the beginning of the movie, and has no need to change or grow. Like any time you start to think 'oh no, I wonder how she'll get out of this one!' the answer turns out to be 'everything's okay, and it always has been!'
The supporting cast makes even less sense. Their behavior from scene to scene is baffling.
Some people would probably say that it's anticlimactic when all of a character's plans work on the first try, but those people will probably suffer a nonsensical death that won't be mourned for more than a scene or two.
I was happy for some people I know that got to be in the movie.
Ant-Man - ★★★☆☆
I think I liked this more with the benefit of time, and Civil War. Despite the cosmic and magical entries, this is still the most nonsensical MCU entry.
Going in Style - ★★★☆☆
Safe, smooth, and destined for a long life on TBS.
Free Fire - ★★★★☆
It seems like a shame that nobody was there to see this on the opening weekend. I think it's got one of those trailers that makes you feel like you've already seen it all. It's fun, it's funny, it's got a good mix of banter and slapstick. I would have liked it to either be a little bit shorter or to have had one more complication enter the fray towards the end, but I liked it. It feels like cinema.