Dolittle

Are movie stars a thing anymore? One of the consequences of cinema’s shift to the global market and franchise filmmaking is a decline in movies built around their casts. I mean sure, we still have A-list actors, but I think it’s hard to say they compare to the classic Hollywood idea of a “star.” Just look at one of the highest-grossing box office stars of all time, Robert Downey Jr. He was the highest paid actor in the world between 2013 and 2015 and should be one of the most recognizable people on the planet, having starred in the highest-grossing film ever made as recently as last year. But were people showing up Avengers Endgame to see Robert Downey Jr. or Tony Stark? How many people are out there who have Iron Man tattoos but haven’t even heard of Zodiac, Chaplin, or Weird Science? And will those same people show up to watch him get farted on by CGI animals? The answer is: I don’t know. Because this narrative, like so much of 2020, has been thrown off completely thanks to the global pandemic. The state of the industry back in January has already become irrelevant. Case in point: while it would be nice to call Dolittle a commercial disappointment, it likely will remain the sixth highest-grossing film of 2020.

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The Mindy Project – “Halloween”

Season 1, Episode 4
Original Air Date: October 30th, 2012

So The Mindy Project is another show I didn’t know much about going in, but thankfully, as the fourth episode of a half hour comedy, I didn’t have a lot of catching up to do. It’s also a show that actually made its Halloween episode actually about Halloween, so that’s another big plus for me. I guess this is exactly what I was looking for when I picked so many shows I had never watched for this year’s Shocktober. Just a fun slice of a much bigger pie. Basically, I’m happy to be going out on a nice note. Let me tell you about it.

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Chuck – “Chuck Versus the Sandworm”

Season 1, Episode 6
Original Air Date: October 29, 2007

I have always considered Chuck with trepidation. On one hand, it’s a show passionate fans desperately fought to keep on the air and I’m definitely interested in a show built around the trio of Zachary Levi (because Thor 2, Shazam, and Mrs. Maisel), Yvonne Strahovski (because she’s in the Mass Effect games), and Adam Baldwin (because Firefly and definitely not his politics). On the other hand, it looked like it could be The Big Bang Theory with action. So is “Chuck Versus the Sandworm” a delightfully nerd-friendly Halloween adventure or cringey drivel? I lean toward the latter.

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Gilmore Girls – “Twenty-One is the Loneliest Number”

Season 6, Episode 7
Original Air Date: October 25, 2005

In case you were wondering what my methodology was when it came to choosing my Halloween specials this year, it was simply googling “Halloween specials” and scanning the listicles and Wikipedia article that came up. I had to go back and check, but this episode of Gilmore Girls really was featured as one of the “best Halloween episodes” by Time, Cosmopolitan, and Insider. Which is absolutely bullshit because not only is this episode impossible to watch for a newcomer, it also barely has anything to do with Halloween.

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King of the Hill – “Hilloween”

Season 2, Episode 4
Original Air Date: October 26, 1997

I now associate King of the Hill strongly with John, so it figures that I’d be posting this review after a very John-centric day. I woke up a little early this morning to catch a screening of Stakeout, the latest feature from the Otteni Brothers, as part of the HorrOrigins festival. It was a lot of fun and you should check it out when it hits streaming. Later, I got Arby’s for the first time in a real, real long time. I think it was the first time my dad didn’t pay for me. My favorite part were the curly fries, for which they gave me horsey sauce (which was good) and Arby’s sauce (which was weird and bad). And now I’m writing about an episode of one of John’s favorite shows. Let me tell you about it.

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