Poptic Nerve

Welcome to my new segment, I call, "The Spitake" where I give my brutally honest opinions, not hot takes on past events regarding pop culture. What the Oscar's got right (and wrong.) So last week’s Academy awards nominations were announced, and as predicted, there were a few shut-ins and a bunch of snubs. Glancing through the list, I thought a few nominees were undeserving based on the films that I have seen, again this is my personal opinions while yours may be slightly different if not opposing. In the best actor’s category, the pickings are slim between Austin Butler (Elvis), Brendan Fraser (The Whale), Paul Mescal (Aftersun),  Bill Nighy (Living) and Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin) personally, I think Butler is a great choice as he brought about a dynamic presence when portraying the iconic singer/stage performer Elvis Pressley, plus with the unfortunate yet unseen passing of Lisa Presley, Butler’s win would be another exceptional moment for the Oscars. At l

🚫 WARNING! THERE BE SPOILERS, MATEY!!🚫 It seems that the Last of Us has further gone into dark territory and episode 3 is by no means an exception.  This episode begins with Joel and his ever-precocious traveling companion Ellie making their trek in search of his brother, but first, they must make a pit stop. As they stumble through what is seen as an open mass grave, which the United States government are responsible for in a drastic measure to contain the spread, Joel recants events that began in 2003, which the story shifts to Bill, a Survivalist who hates people and believes that the Government is all Nazis. Well, after that mass grave scene, one may be compelled to agree with him.  Bill lives a solitary lifestyle thanks to his survival skills: farming and especially engineering where he creates makeshift weapons and boobytraps around his house, until he reluctantly takes in a weary stranger Frank, who later on makes advances toward Bill's vulnerability y'know, being alo

So, after hearing about all the hyperbole of this movie Megan I decided to finally check it out thanks to its availability due to streaming services as in digital rental. And, despite my previously skepticism and to my chagrin, I stand corrected. Not only is M3GAN very good, but I would go as far as to say, the best movie of 2023 thus far. The plot of Megan is somewhat straightforward; after 8-year-old orphan Cady, is traumatized from experiencing a horrific car accident. She is taken into custody by her aunt Gemma, played by Get Out’s Allison Williams who specializes in robotic engineering for a Toy company. While, dealing with grief from her parents’ deaths, along with being neglected by her workaholic aunt Cady discovers a prototype robot called Bruce which leads to an idea to develop a life-size robot design as a caretaker and companion And of course, you can imagine what ensues in this sci-fi slash horror slash comedy. I must admit that I had trepidations about this movie before g

Reviewed by Stalkeye Confession: While I enjoyed playing through the first Last of Us game for my PlayStation 4, I never was a fan of the series, Resident Evil has always been my go-to for survival horror blended with action. However, when it came to the live action versions be it films or in the case of 2022's Netflix series based on the venerable franchise, they failed miserably to live up to the games! It seems that Neil Druckman and Craig Mazin made more of an effort when developing The Last of Us as an ongoing series for HBO MAX's streaming platform, and it shows! The casting for the most part, is a direct reflection from the source material, despite the race swap with having Pedro Pascal (Mandalorian) as Joel who was Caucasian in the games and since the opening sequence takes place in Texas, with Joel being Mexican, the adjustment works fine. The narrative itself, also mirrors that of the game to a "T". Despite those who played the game are aware of what happens

Yeah, it's 2023, and so f&*$ing what? We're only a couple of weeks past December the 30th, so there's still plenty of material to cover from last year. And while everyone else including my bro, Bop has mentioned their favorite films of 2022, here are my picks for films, games and television! The listing is not within any order, but I will spotlight my top favorite from each category. Movies The Batman     Like so many, I was skeptical of Robert Pattinson's casting after Ben Affleck, and before him, Christian Bale but after watching say ,3 hours of the latest Batman reboot, I had a change of heart. Pattinson delivers a credible take on DC's Dark Knight who provided narration of a decaying Gotham City, that’s reminiscent of 1976's Taxi Driver but less angry and unhinged than Travis Bickle. While the atmosphere has that David Fincher vibe going for this Neo noir thriller disguised as a superhero movie. Pearl A24 and Ti West, has come out with not just another m