After talking with a friend who had just watched Mickey 17, which stars Robert Pattinson, I remembered that he also starred in the Christopher Nolan's Tenet, a movie I like the more times I see it.

This time was no different. Such a brilliant film.

I've watched videos, read articles, and examined timeline charts in order to better understand the film. And here's another one which was very recently released (spoilers, of course)...

I love that the movie is so deep that videos and articles are still being written about it.

Next up from Nolan is his adaptation of The Odyssey, the trailer for which has apparently leaked online. I'm not going to try and watch anything until Universal officially releases it. Otherwise I know that I'm going to undoubtedly be clicking on a fucking shit-ton of AI-generated shit, because that's what YouTube is all about now-a-days.

Except...

Unlike Facebook, YouTube may actually be trying to curb the AI slop we're being inundated with. Thank God. I am so sick and fucking tired of this crap that it almost makes me want to abandon the internet so I don't have to see it.

I may be laying here dying of a sunburn, but never you fear about this blog... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• The Life List! If you too are laying on the couch trying not to move so your sunburn won't give you grief and you're looking for a rom-com to watch, here you go...

Ever since I lost Hallmark Channel, my consumption of rom-coms has been dangerously low. Fortunately they are in endless supply.

   
• Melancholy! There's a new Google commercial showing how you can use your phone's camera to get help via a photo AI search. The song they have in the background is very clearly On Melancholy Hill by Gorillaz. Then, at the very end, the tune takes enough of a turn that you know it's not...

It's a bummer, because every time it comes on, I'm thinking that Google licensed the track from Damon Albarn, who has crafted some of my favorite music of all time (lead by Silent Running which remains one of the most achingly beautiful songs I've heard (link in comments).

   
• Correlation? And yet you see it on social media practically every day. Multiple times a day...

Which is bad enough, except you see it in the news as well. Politicians just love this shit.

   
• Cancelation Rage! One of my favorite shows of 2025 has been The Residence on Netflix. The character of Cordelia Cupp is amazing, the story they came up with for her is fantastic, and the mystery in the show is pretty great. Which is why I was hoping so badly we'd get a sequel. But of course Netflix canceled the show...

It's beyond frustrating that good shows get canceled before their time. And I guess I'll just add this to the pile of shows I'm mad about losing.

   
• Immortal Cat Tales! Matt Damon has more than a few stories which make me like him as a person. And here's one more...

Cats are such mythical creatures. Maybe that's what I like about them.

   
• NEWSFLASH: ‘Sinners’ on Max Will Include a Black American Sign Language Version. The fact that there is a laugh-react to this enrages me to the point of meltdown. Adding accessibility for a group of people DOES NOT TAKE ANYTHING AWAY FROM YOU. The Black Deaf Community has developed a language to better communicate their shared-experience. Everybody should be thrilled to know that HBO Max is putting in the work and money necessary to make sure that this masterpiece film has the best experience possible for everybody. But no. The fact that BASL is an option is somehow hilarious. Get fucked. Go back to your bigot bubble where absolutely everything is just designed exclusively for you and leave those who advocate for their inclusion alone.

   
• Make it Sparkle! LET'S GO TO THE MALL EVERYBODY!

I've been rewatching How I Met Your Mother, but the number of times I've watched this episode go way beyond the number of times I've watched the series.

   
And now back to nursing my sunburn.

I have been looking forward to the sequel to The Old Guard for what seems like forever (well, okay, it's been four years, but still). It's been the sole reason that I've hung on to Netflix through its price increases and the films delays. But today was the day... and the film was finally released.

And I hated it.

Hated it.

It's a convoluted mess of a movie that isn't the least bit interesting or inovative. In other words, it's the complete opposite of the first film. The characters aren't made even remotely compelling this time around. Nicky and Joe's relationship, the whole heart of the first flick, takes a backseat to Andy and Quynh's relationship, except there's nothing really to it except predictability. The sequel takes place six months after the last one, but Nile's abilities are completely off the chart and she's more of a plot device than a character. Booker, who could have had a fascinating redemption arc, was given a lazy redemption that wasn't earned so much as it was shoe-horned in with no reasoning. Chiwetel Ejiofor was given a more active way in the story, but to lesser effect. Henry Golding was added but completely wasted and wasn't made in any way essential except he knows things. All he did was take time away from the other characters, and they could have eliminated him and changed nothing. I guess Uma Thurman has an essential function, but it's sure a boring one.

But the worst part? It ends on a massive fucking cliffhanger.

This sequel barely happened, a third film is highly unlikely, and they decide to end it on a cliffhanger? What the fuck? The first movie was a complete story that happened to have a stinger at the end which could lead to more in case they got to make more. You could have never gotten a sequel and had a satisfying experience. But this time if there's no sequel to the sequel, you're left with something incomplete and half-baked.

I fucking hate it when they do this shit. Unless you are 100% certain that you will get another movie or another season or whatever... DON'T FUCKING END ON A CLIFFHANGER!! This is not rocket science. What it actually is is lazy, shitty filmmaking that broadcasts to the entire world that you are not talented enough to wrap something up and move on to something bigger and better.

And I honestly don't care. If a third movie never happens, I'll try to be happy that we got the first one and move on with my life.

Jesus. Charlize Theron could have spent her time giving us a sequel to Atomic Blonde instead of wasting her time on this nonsense.

Though now I'm scared shitless that we'd get a bad sequel to that brilliant movie too.

A book I've read more than a few times is Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. It's a solid and entertaining read that was begging for a movie adaptation.

And now we have one.

Ryan Gosling, whom I never gave much thought to until his exceptional performances in The Nice Guys and Blade Runner 2049, is perfect for the lead role, and I'm happy they cast somebody who can bring the character to life in a way that has charm and dimension. Because, keep in mind, he's going to be the only human on-screen for a big chunk of the movie's runtime...

And how cool is that alien space ship design? Very happy they put some serious money into the special effects budget.

But will I actually be compelled to go to a theater in March of 2026?

For this? Maybe!

I'm a massive fan of television programs and movies. I "watch" a lot of them. And by "watch" I mean that I am doing work (or blogging!) while they run in the background. My mind is pretty good at multi-tasking, so I can fairly easily follow whatever is on my television while banging away on my laptop.

The nice thing about watching stuff this way is that I can ignore all the idiotic shit that draves me crazy when it pops up.

Take for example the Wilhelm Scream.

I fucking hate it. The sound effect is so overused and offensive that it immediately takes me out of what I'm watching...

=shudder=

And then there's the fucking "Tarzan yell" which annoys me for the same reason...

Yeah, fuck Richard Marquand and George Lucas forever for that bit of dumbassery ruining an already disastrous Return of the Jedi (the heinous followup to the amazing The Empire Strikes Back). Lord.

If I had the time, I'd edit the sound mix of every movie I enjoy to rip this dumbassery out of them so I can enjoy them without distraction.

But why stop there?

There's a lot of shows and films which need some more exstensive editing than just a sound clip.

I've been re-watching the James Bond movies and cringing at the appearances of the Sheriff J.W. Pepper character, which I loathe...

Not that this frickin' idiot is the only bad thing in a James Bond movie. Many of the films have moments that are beyond stupid and are begging to be modified or cut.

Take, for example, that incredible car jump stunt that had the misfortune of being sabotaged not just by an appearance by Seargent J.W. Pepper, but with the stupid-ass slide whistle they played over the top of this magnificent stunt, which effectively sabotages it...

Who the fuck makes a choice like that?

I feel like I'm picking on James Bond and Star Wars movies, but there's precious few movies that I wouldn't change at all. Most films have something I'd change... even if it's something very small.

Hollywood should just save themselves the trouble and consult me on the final edit.

Yesterday it was announced that my favorite contemporary director will direct the next James Bond film and I am over the moon.

A couple years ago Denis Villeneuve was on the Happy Sad Confused podcast and spoke about how he would love to make a Bond film one day, and to know that somebody at Amazon was listening is a different level of heartwarming...

The guy is incredible. He went from Sicario to Arrival to Blade Runner 2049 to the two Dune films. Who has a run like that? I have no idea when he's going to get around to Bond when he's got Rendezvous with Rama and Dune: Messiah coming up. And wasn't he working on a Cleopatra movie too? Regardless, I will absolutely be tuning in for whatever he's up to next. Which I hope is Dune: Messiah before James Bond No. 26 (which doesn't yet have a writer, so maybe)...

And now that the director is settled, the big question is... who will they get to play James Bond?

Connery was impossible to follow, but Moore did it. Moore was impossible to follow... and... well... yeah. But eventually Craig did it. So here's hoping.

After watching the Totally Awesome Films video on Flash Gordon the other day, YouTube recommended some of their other videos, including this one about the James Bond flick Never Say Never Again, which I watched because A) I actually liked the film quite a lot despite it being near the bottom of my ranking, and B) It's a "rogue" Bond flick which was produced outside of the Eon Production umbrella due to some legal wrangling that I never fully understood...

Afterwards I watched Never Say Never Again... yet again... and found it to be even better than I remembered. Yeah, Connery was really too old to be playing Bond, but they worked that into the script (which is more than they ever did with Roger Moore's later entries). Alas, where they fucked it up was having a 53-year-old Connery playing opposite a 29-year-old Kim Basinger, which was a missed opportunity to have an older Bond Girl for once. And then they had her head-over-heels in love with him after they had only met like three times? Sure he saved her life, but it was just so bizarre.

I did love seeing Connery as Bond again. And the writing, which afforded Bond some of the most clever lines of his career, was pretty good considering this was a remake of Thunderball. But the highlight of the entire movie were the villains. Both Max Largo and Fatima Blush were brilliant, ruthless, and deranged in the best possible way. Flawlessly cast and performed, they're near the top of all the adversaries 007 ever faced. And then... Max von Sydow as Blowfeld on top of that? It's an embarrassment of riches that makes the film far more memorable than it had a right to be.

Ultimately I think that Goldfinger will likely never be toppled as my favorite of all the James Bond movies, but there's a place for each of them because they all hold some measure of entertainment value (including Octopussy, which never ends up being as terrible as I remember it). Never Say Never Again fares better than some of them in the grand scheme of things because at least all the humor lands (I still wince thinking of the idiotic fucking appearances by Sheriff J.W. Pepper... and of course that dumbass driving gondola complete with pigeon double-take that nearly ruin Moonraker every time).

I suppose I really should rewatch all the 007 films. I haven't done that in a couple of years, and it's always worth it.

With the possible exception of The Living Daylights, which isn't a terrible film, but the one which never seems to offer me anything new with repeated viewings. It was just so bland and never seems to get better with age.

Hey, the US dollar may be in the tank, the economy is fucked, our benefits are being trashed, the government is toying with legalizing cancer-causing asbestos again, and we're now at war, but everything's just going great... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Sick Sad Escape! Where did The Ballad of Wallis Island come from? I never knew that Tim Key had this level of talent. His performance is all at once hilarious (expected) and incredibly touching and sweet...

Highest possible recommendation if you need an escape from this sad, cruel world. A lovely little film on Peacock TV.

   
• He'll Save Every One of Us! This morning while working I watched Flash Gordon for the hundredth time because a video about the film ended up on my YouTube feed. It's incredible no matter how many times I watch it. I own this original movie poster...

And here's that video, which is darn interesting...

It's always gutting to me how we never got a sequel. So few movies deserve one as bad as Flash Gordon does.

   
• Pool Shark! I don't know how she recovered. I wouldn't have been able to!

Talk about a Pool Sharknado!

   
• HIs Name is Earl! I'm not a big fan of spiders. However...

Not saying I want to become friends with one though.

   
• ENTERTAINMENT NEWS: Out of the Ashes of Comixology, a New Digital Comics Platform Rises. — So let me get this straight. You want me to buy comics from you again at "Neon Ichiban" so that you can eventually sell out to Amazon.com (again)... at which point Amazon will kill the app only to leave me with their shitty fucking Amazon Kindle app which is a steaming pile of shit that completely ruins the entire reason I bought digital comics in the first place? Nah... you can fuck right off with your bullshit. I am never buying digital comics from you again. Amazon utterly destroyed what you built... lesson learned.

   
• We All Scream! This is a converdation I'm not ashamed to have had...
"What would you do for a Klondike Bar?"
"I dunno... go to the register and pay for it? Ask me what I'd do for a HEATH Klondike Bar..."
"What would you do for a Heath Klondike Bar?"
"Straight up murder. I would murder for a Heath Klondike Bar."
"Um. Damn. That's dark."
"Have you HAD a Heath Klondike Bar tho?"

   
• Bob Reads! Jesus Christ. These people really are fucking brainwashedand clueless...

She really thought she did something with that smug attitude, but it does beg the question... why are the people guilty of assaulting children infinitely more likely to be priests, pastors, Conservatives, or Republicans than drag queens? Can she explain that?

"War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other's children." — President Jimmy Carter

   
Hope you're enjoying your Summer before World War III starts.

I know that there's probably (maybe) at least one person out there who's devastated that I promised a deeper look into the new Apple OS 26s that got released, but I'm still not... there... yet. I keep running into weirdness that I need to look into further so I know if it's not user error... or it's not a bug from a developer release that's not Apple's intent.

Something which sounds easier than it usually is for whatever reason.

So, hopefully tomorrow I'll be back on track. In the meanwhile? The latest Superman trailer is here. And probably the last pre-release trailer we're getting...

And now for my live-watch reaction...

• I honestly thought we would get a break from full-scale disaster porn after Zack Snyder's crap-fest. Boy am I sad to be wrong. This is James Gunn via Michael Bay, and how depressing is that? Not that I'm here to dig on Michael Bay... I'm just saying that I was really hoping for something different this time out.
• I like that Lex Luthor is truly menacing instead of just being some weird, dopey comic book villain (something I hated about the way Zack Snyder and Jesse Eisenberg made him be in Man of Steel).
• I am dying to see what approach that Gunn took with Ultraman. There's dozens of ways that it could go, and I'm hoping he picked the most interesting direction.
• Once again, Krypto is stealing the trailer. He will likely steal the movie as well. I'm okay with that. Because DANG is he looking like a fun take!
• And... back to disaster porn. Again. =sigh=
• Zack Snyder thought he had cracked the way to make heroes work for the big screen. He made them into gods. But not in a fun or interesting way. Which made it all the more inexplicable when they acted so damn stupid all the time. Gunn gets it. You don't make them gods by their actions. That's boring. You make them gods by the utter casualness that comes from their actions, but add elements that still make them relatable to non-comic-book-fan audiences. It's working very well in this trailer for Gunn.
• The Superman/Ultraman fight has a rough CGI look that's pretty bad. Woof.
• Blergh. I hope we get a very good reason as to why Lois Lane can fly a spaceship. Because this scene is cringe. So very cringe.
• Cannot possibly enunciate how happy I am that not only is Mr. Terrific in this movie... but Gunn very clearly wanted to be sure he comes off as cool as he does in the comic books. Nice.
• There has been more than a little bit of complaining from people as to how... weird... Superman looks with their weird angles as he's flying. I didn't see it before. I am definitely seeing it this time. There's a weird distortion effect applied for some reason. Maybe to show speed? Upsetting.
• Thank GOD the age of dour, depressing, and overly-serious comic book films are (seemingly) on the way out at DC. It has been too long since Superman was portrayed as the beacon of joy and hope that he is supposed to be.

And, as if this new trailer wasn't enough, more Spaceballs too?!?

Reports are saying that not only is Bill Pullman back as Lone Star and Mel Brooks is back as Yogurt, but Rick Moranis is back as Dark Helmet?!?? How sweet is that? The guy obviously realizes how much people love him in that role, and it convinced him to come out of retirement for another run...

Sadly, we know that Barf (John Candy) and Dot Matrix (Joan Rivers) can't make a return... but it's nice that they seem to be doing what they can to get as many actors back as possible.

And then... Bill Pullman's son, Lewis Pullman, is also on board to boot, which is very cool.

I was beginning to think this would never happen. I'm glad it is, because the original was just too dang entertaining to let the franchise lay dormant.

I may be broiling in the Summer heat, but I must be good to blog... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Stranger, Newer! Look, let's just get this out of the way... it is highly unlikely that ANY show is going to eclipse Andor, The Residence, and Poker Face in my #1, #2, and #3 spots for the best television of 2025. They're just too phenomenal. But if any show has a shot at it, that would be Strange New Worlds. It managed to eclipse the original series as my favorite Trek, and the third season looks like more of the awesome I've come to expect...

   
• Cricket! GAH! I've been replacing some of the outlets in my home with Eve smart outlets. This morning I was replacing the outlet for all my television devices because I want to know how much electricity I'm drawing to be sure I'm not overloading the breaker. The outlet ended up having dual black & white wires, which meant the wire nuts that came with the switch were too small. I quickly ran to the electrical kit to get bigger ones while my Uninterruptible Power Supply was beeping angrily because it had no power. As I was running through the garage, I saw a clump of dirt that must have fallen off the gardening tools I was using this morning. I kicked it under the car so I could sweep it up later. BUT THE CLUMP OF DIRT CRAWLED BACK FROM UNDER THE CAR! BECAUSE IT WASN'T A CLUMP OF DIRT, IT WAS THE LARGEST CRICKET I'VE EVER SEEN! After screaming GAAAAAH! I ran into the house for a paper cup to drop over the insect while I wired the outlet so I could get power back to my UPS. Then I slid a piece of board under the cup and took the cricket out to a nice shady spot in the rock wall behind my home. Sorry, cricket, but I don't want you chirping in my home.

   
• Dip! A friend called and asked what I'm up to. After telling her the killer cricket story, I told her I was making my grandmother's chip dip recipe... except I'm using vegan cream cheese instead of regular cream cheese, vegan mayo instead of regular mayo, tamari sauce instead of Worcestershire sauce, and nutritional yeast instead of cheese. Then I add a little ground black pepper and chili powder to help make the taste of the veggie mayo more palatable. She said "If you're changing all the ingredients, you're not really making your grandmother's recipe tho..." And I was like "Well, the lemon juice in it is still lemon juice... I just substitute vegan ingredients for the non-vegan ingredients. Which is most of them, I guess. Which is to say that I'm not actually making my grandma's recipe after all. Except... I totally am, I think.

   
• Big, Bold, and Beautiful! Well this looks wonderful. A movie that's right up my alley...

Doesn't hurt that the cast is so good.

   
• a-ha! I've never understood the one-hit-wonder status for a-ha. Their debut album and lead single Take on Me are great. Love it. Definitely a hit. But they created a lot of amazing music after. Including Holyground, a beautiful song that defies description...

Lead singer Morten Harket has announced he has Parkinson’s disease.

I flew to New York to see the band on their farewell Ending on a High Note Tour (they were only playing NYC and Los Angeles in the USA). After that they slowed down, but I was so happy they actually kept going.

   
• Pick Me! Lock company sues McNally for showing how easy their locks are to pick. They claim that he "altered" their lock. McNally orders a fresh lock and films himself retrieving the lock from an Amazon locker, opening the sealed box of the lock, cutting an aluminum can to make a pick for the lock, then picks the lock... all without the filming being interrupted. The entire video is two minutes and thirteen seconds long...

I laughed and laughed and laughed. Because this lock company just made things far, far worse for their reputation. He should pick one of their locks live during the trial, assuming the lock company is stupid enough to go through with it.

   
• VARIETY NEWS: ‘Andor’ Creator Says Disney Spent ‘$650 Million for 24 Episodes’ and ‘We Fought Hard’ for Money After Being Told in Season 2: ‘Streaming Is Dead. We Don’t Have the Money We Had Before’ — And every fucking cent is on the screen. This is budget filmmaking. Disney should be thrilled that Tony Gilroy handed them 8 feature films at a budget of only $80 million each. Because every three episodes IS the equivalent. And who makes feature films for only $80 million any more that are this fully-realized and have the talent and dazzling special effects that made them this great? Andor is easily one of the best TV series ever made. It’s the best thing to come out of Star Wars period...

Disney should be begging the guy to do more Star Wars. They should be filling a dump truck with money and backing it up into Gilroy’s driveway to get him to do more Star Wars. This series was an absolute gift to Disney, Star Wars fans, and people who relish great storytelling. Fuck the Empire.

   
And now I'm off! Off the internet Because I'm trying to free up space in my garage.