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Written by Rob Schultz (human).

Frequency Earth 102: Jettisoned

This week, in Frequency Earth news...

...recording has begun on season 2, even as writing continues. Our production board is slowly changing colors like creepy alien leaves in space-autumn.

...Season one, episode two is now available! This week, The Jeff learns what Command considers disposable, and takes a trip to the ship's casino. The first appearance of fragments between transmissions! The transmissions themselves, including Herding Cats, TMI for the CIA, and The Minotaur! Some people would say that episode 2 is one better than episode 1, but I'd say it's twice as good! Give it a listen!

Please subscribe all of your friends' phones when they're not looking, in iTunes and Apple Podcasts, in Overcast, in the Google Play store, or new this week, Podtail!

 

#2,443: Ocean's Eight

First Reformed - ★★☆☆☆
I think this movie feels more mysterious than it actually is, but I was really into the feeling that I might not be following everything that's going on.

It’s possible that my favorite part was the woman in the row behind me that said “ugh, we should’ve gone to see Book Club” as soon as the lights came up.

Avengers: Infinity War - ★★★★★
On first viewing, this movie could have gone on for another hour or two and I would have loved it. I wondered though, what would feel less exciting on repeat viewings, and now I know: It’s the stuff with Gamora, and scenes where Thanos is doing stuff mostly by himself. I sure wouldn’t’ve guessed that I would be wishing for more screen time for Captain America or Hulk in my superhero movies ten years ago, or even after their first individual movies, but here we are.

Other stuff: 
- Nobody else ever seems to enjoy that “Do you concur?” joke. It’s a shame.
- Also, how is the star forge intended to work? Those handles seem like a real OSHA violation just waiting to be filed.
- I've read a lot of comments online where people say 'why does he have to snap his fingers, why isn't it just a thought?' I like that it's a snap. I like that Gamora does the same gesture he does when he talks about it. I bet he's been talking about it for fifteen years, it's one of these projects he's been meaning to get around to for ages and he talks about it at family dinners and everyone's sick of hearing about the snap.

Ocean's 8 - ★★½☆☆
I liked this very much at the beginning, and gradually less as it went on. It’s great that we just dive into the mission, no time wasted on discovering the plot or refusing the call. Adding the last member of the team is a nice nod to theme. But I was really hoping that the ending would have been twistier.

The parts where they define Debbie by the men in her life were weak. I would have helped out the running time by cutting every reference to Danny and his movies, and dropped a bunch of that stuff with the ex that undercuts what a good criminal she’s supposed to be. Setting him up could have been one of the fancy reveals at the end.

#2,441: Upgrade

Circle - ★★½☆☆
Not so compelling on a re-watch. Maybe what I liked best about it last time was how it stacked up against The Exam.

Moon - ★★★★☆
Quite compelling on a rewatch! Happily, I’d forgotten the finer points of this movie and was delighted by them all over again.

Upgrade -★★★½☆
This is a movie with you pick up in a video store in the 90s because of its crazy box art, constructed around a minimum of actors, a couple rad action sequences, and a bad guy with a weird moustache. It’s the kind of crazy fun action flick something like Kung Fury wishes it could be.

Also, even though this is the, like, eleventh Logan Marshall-Green movie I’ve seen, if you told me this movie starred Tom Hardy I would believe you.

#2,440: Deadpool 2

Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond - ★★☆☆☆
The studio didn’t want a movie like this to come out to promote Man on the Moon because they didn’t want their star to seem like a jackass. Not out of any particular feeling for Jim Carrey, but in order to protect their bottom line. In the years since, the film company has either managed to grow as a person, or they've found a way to reboot a movie without remaking anything.

Avengers: Infinity War - ★★★★★
Still dug it. It’s weird how the pop culture moment around this is everyone “discovering” the Harry Potter-ness of the MCU (In brief: the movies assume familiarity with the world’s biggest franchise)

I hope that the next movie won’t be about someone else wielding the gauntlet to undo everything because it's obvious, and I hope it’s not that the dusted are actually the living members of a new reality, because it seems like so many people came to that idea fairly quickly. (I do think it would have been inappropriately funny if Thanos had immediately died as part of the unlucky fifty percent.) I can accept that they might be in the soul gem, but I’d think I could be on board with the boldness of everyone just really being dead.

Deadpool 2 - ★★☆☆☆
Kind of boring. A lot of the gags felt kind of old to me. Like they should have been in a movie that came out just over two years ago. Because they were. The inconsequential X-Force was the best part. Shame they don’t do anything except make an overly long movie longer.