wolfkin

This is watchable but awful. My opinion of this completely changed when I realized this was a movie and not a pilot of a TV show. I mean that actually explains like two scenes which felt extremely out of place in a TV show (The montage and the smushing of the Paxton and Dylan).

The premise isn't any different than a mid season fantasy show like Charmed or a Dean Devlin show like The Librarians. Conceptually I was ready to watch this show. If I had known it was a movie I wouldn't have turned it on. But there's so much goofy nonsense I'm still struggling with the idea that this wasn't a pilot and there's not going to be episode 2. At one point they escape the bad guys by running down a hill. The bad guys drive to the edge of the hill and pause. The lead henchwomen forces them to drive and they immediately hit a tree. Not like a tree in the down hill or on the way down just IMMEDIATELY without even getting to the edge.

There's an extremely awkward Walmart shopping bag product placement that it just awkward. The movie (and I'm still baffled at this) just can't decide what lane it want to be in. There's a lot of telling with no showing. A lot of things working just because. At one point they need a passcode and the numbers are the times on two clocks. They just put them in. They don't debate about which clock goes first they just wing it and it's fine.

Just an utterly atrocious film.

I mean what's not to love. Nicole Kidman is as pretty in the face as her body is average. Daniel Craig is barely recognizable. Like his makeup and hair people wanted to make him just a little schlubby but didn't consider that maybe people might want to recognize him. But 2007 was a magical time it's possible and likely this was filmed before Casino Royale really introduced North America to Craig. Jeffrey Wright is a bit underutilized but in 2007 when wasn't he. Jackson Bond as the child Oliver fades in to the background which for a child is amazing. Child actors are at they're worse when they're distractingly bad but Jackson isn't. I find Oliver as a character annoying but that's how he's written not because Jackson is annoying.

The tension in this movie is just great. The editing could have been smoother I don't remember it being so jarring when I saw it in theatres. The movie even does a mostly decent job of presenting a plausible narrative although you could write a graduate thesis about a movie where everyone gets taken down except Nicole Kidman. Twice two black dudes give her the survival game. Three is you count the fact that Wright's Stephen Galeano is the one who break down that sleeping triggers the change. But it's fine. It mostly flows pretty well.

As an episode of TV it's fine. I mostly liked the case. Will's trauma was interesting but non sequitturish. Kinda random and out of nowhere with no inspiration. But it was satisfying to watch him finally untangle. It is also interesting to see him try to approach the Angie question differently. I like them together. Today we solve a cold case while Will mentally processes a cold case and the APB solve a murder whose victim was killed because of a cold case and we have a returning character who is a headcase.

ACAB all the way down this episode:
Police Procedurals in Episodes 1-5: "DON'T Assume! Follow the evidence. Dig in and find out the truth. Don't guess at the evidence. Read it."

Police Procedurals in Season 2+: "DON'T! Assume! Hmm.. this is a male relative what if he was the killer? This paternal grandfather. He could have done it. To protect his legacy he doesn't have. What about this uncle? He could have done it to protect his secret molesting we have no evidence for. Hey what about this step mother she could have done it in a fit of jealousy she shows no signs of. What if the best friend did it because of thruple gone wrong despite no thruple existing."

Also for an episode where the GBI just assumes every one they talk to is the secret criminal. They somehow have the MOST REAL accused I've ever seen in 30 years of Television watching. GBI goes to a black man (Derek, ex-boyfriend) they accused of the crime when Lilly went missing originally. And this dude is the most hard core real character I've ever seen in a police procedural. Everything Derek says is quotable:

• It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to see that ya'll are fishing for someone to lock up (100% true. There's no evidence they just want to pressure a confession)
• I'm not helping you pin this one me like you tried to do the first time around (cop shows never go into this because it's counter programming but why SHOULD they expect cooperation from someone who is innocent being accused of being the killer. Law Enforcement has zero incentive to clear you of the crime and every incentive to get you locked up so they can "clear" the case. Faith saying "So what? No justice for Lilly?" actually kinda got me mad because what about justice for Derek? By definition everything he says will be used to make his life harder. Best to say nothing.)

Then he tells them to suck it and dips. We never see Derek again even though based on police procedural logic he's owed an apology. I love Derek. I kinda want to make Derek my avatar so I can explain who he is to people who ask. Police will give apologies for anyone who hrumphs loud enough but never to someone they wrongly accuse and threaten (though here they didn't threaten to be fair).

Will: "Derek's working hard to regain that prime suspect position"

By doing WHAT? They then proceed to make up stories like 5 year olds with toys to dream up what happened. I mean at least on Castle everyone would laugh at Richard Castle when he would do that.

Kinda make it ironic that Captain then says

"There's always a possibility it was the father. I really hope not."

I just watched a show video clip on social media where this dude "Folds under zero pressure" (Here's a YouTube version v=7xzdZfPTPrU). He's talking with a girl and he can't get out even half a sentence. He keeps stuttering even before she starts eyeing him. That's how people are in police procedurals. They get cuffs on you and they just start confessing every thing they've ever done the who, what, when, where and why. Nobody needs to even ask. Sixty percent of the time they aren't even miranda'd. The police are not your friends. They are not a source of forgiveness. Do not expect the police to even pass on your apologies. They are under no obligation. They don't like you. They will use everything you say against you to maximize your sentence because that gives the prosecutor another notch in their belt and the prosecutor is their friend for whatever reason. Prosecutor needs to maintain a 100% conviction rate because people (even people within the law) don't understand how the legal system works and they assume legally if you've been accused it's not because you look guilty. It's because you ARE guilty.

The lackluster episode. Nolan wants a baby. and honestly I couldn't care less. there's hilarious. two people interviewing babysitters drama. I don't understand what their plan was in the first place. if they're both interviewing the babysitters there's going to be someone they find who gets the babysitter? why wasn't this the first question they asked rather than the last but at least it didn't lead to unnecessary drama. the whole thing wrapped up in one episode with a reasonable accommodation.

The two biggest stories this episode are the police story about A babysitter disappearing and then the personal story about Lucy and Tim breaking up. that second story is of course further broken down into two parts. there's the emotional fallout and the fact that I made I made a I made a reservation Lucy now needs a roommate while being emotionally devastated.

now this breakup felt weird. first of all, Lucy and Tim are a perfectly fine couple. heck, I'll go ahead and say it. I like them as a couple. more importantly, while the events that led to their breakup are meritas, The emotional Arc wasn't there. so it feels like it came out of left field. well, not entirely left field but it doesn't feel earned is I guess the best way I could put it. they don't really need to break up and then everything that happens in this episode with them coming to a new resolution State also feels just weird. Tim has to deal with a psychologist who says she's not there to judge him but is then there to judge him while also butting in on police affairs as not a policewoman. it's just a silly silly presentation. then Lucy has to do the same thing but because she didn't do anything wrong she doesn't have to do it with a psychologist. she does it with the commander which also feels silly. slightly less silly but still silly

oh snap, The equalizers trying to get it wet. I mean I understand protest being scary. I get that. I understand if that's too much for you to want to go to a protest because you don't want to go through all that. but you couldn't stay for the arts and craft part? You couldn't help make some signs and then leave? punk behavior right there.

This episode felt a little too expository. I kind of feel like for all the protest discussion. maybe they could have had a protest consultant the way they always have police consultants to make sure everyone holds their gun correctly. maybe when you're going into a protest you learn a little bit about what you're going against. understand what kettling is and how to get out. understand what to do when you get separated and how to prevent yourself from getting separated in the first place. maybe learn how to understand what the exit pathways are so that you can find your way out quickly. there are basic protest protocols that maybe this show could have talked about more than just how much you want to protest.

I don't know how I feel about the equalizer being in a love triangle, actually I do know and I'm not a fan but she has a man and she does not need her ex-Man hopping in here. because Dante was being weird when he found out about the husband helping out on a medical case. that was a weird call to be upset about that because she's clearly not with this dude and they're clearly not in a relationship. only for the show to end up with them being in a relationship. this is weird.

I do think MEL is behaving weirdly. It feels like maybe we're going for an artificial general intelligence storyline. and I hate that almost as much as I hate having to use the phrase artificial general intelligence. It's very clear the system is behaving in a way that's unexpected but I thought they would talk about it in the end and they didn't. so this is going to be our end of season. big bad maybe?

Less than 25% of the way through the episode. We have a classic example of what in my opinion is how to do an episode of Elizabeth poorly. I realize this is no longer a legal show now that we're not the good wife. This is now a police procedure. But Elizabeth as a character is still a lawyer. She's a lawyer who due to her (coded autistic) brain notices things.

This is a great hook. It's a reasonable ask for the viewer to buy into your world. But then when you do stuff like this episode, it completely falls apart. I'm even willing to tolerate seeing the murder. How why? And when happened before Elizabeth even shows up. Generally speaking, I like a little mystery to my mystery show, but that isn't necessarily the problem here. The problem is that Blair Underwood who is wasted here, is a killer who talks like no one else has ever talked before in life. Immediately he starts phrasing things as if everyone knows he killed the victim. As if he's on trial defending himself. When no one knows he's even involved. But because he talks in the dumbest most guilty defense way possible, Elizabeth is somehow the only one to catch on. This isn't exactly what I was looking for when I expected her to notice things. Other episodes have been better than this. I don't think any have been worse

What a strange film. It's like a mix of The Ringer and Tag with hints of This is 40 and I Love You Man.

For a Farrelly movie it's remarkably tolerable. None of the gross out humor they're known for. That was always the pill you had to swallow with the desert of their laugh out loud comedies. The good ones let you get past it. The bad ones were too gross to fully enjoy. But this is perfectly fine with that respect. There is a character with hair that's far far too long that is gross but not even close to the point where it's distractedly so. There's also a scene in the start where kids step on dog feces and it splatters on their face. For the life of me I'll never understand this prank that I can't call anything but the whitest thing ever. Why on earth would someone's first instinct to seeing a small fire be to stomp on it? That doesn't make any sense and yet I've been watching people do this on TV since I was a child watching 60s sitcoms on Nickelodeon.

Cena's Rock Hard Rod is effective. He's hilarious when he needs to be. His X-Rated songs are all full laugh worthy. He fills out a bloody suit well in Act III. He manages to be that third wheel character without being full on annoying like Bill Murray's Bob in What About Bob? (1991). He's earnest without being cringe. He's a third wheel character you want to root for even if looking at John Cena and seeing a dude who is a loser just doesn't compute.

There's some balls the movie doesn't bother catching. They really flesh out Efron's Dean as a victim of abuse but aside from being a very plausible explanation for his motivations and actions it doesn't really get explored. He never deals with it. He never admits it. It's just a setup with no payoff. Ricky stays on in the movie because of his fear from people he owes money to and (minor spoiler) they never show up. His money issues never become anything. The movie did pay off the inevitable reveal in a way I didn't expect. I assumed that the story would be about how Ricky made the trio better people but while that appears to be the first and easiest idea that movie is better for doing something different. All of this makes the movie fun but it does mean there are parts of the movie that don't resolve.

The movie is also unexpectedly diverse. Honestly if I had remembered this was a Farrelly movie I would have expected a punchline more but they don't come. They don't really do anything. These characters with various "atypicalisms" are just there living their life as part of the movie. Some are important, some aren't. Some speak, some don't. They're just part of the fabric of the narrative. Which is pretty cool and inclusive representation. All in a movie that I have basically no issues recommending which is great.

A merely okay case this week. The narrative I think got pulled away from by the B and C plots. For a ... and yeah I'll say it, pandering episode at least it was done mostly well. IMO the most frustrating part of the episode (again for me) was so minor it's really not a big deal. I think Clara's little brother Micah being gay felt excessive. It's a community so conservative they don't educate women and the one male character affected is a boy who made a joke with a girl and that means he's gay. A kid who is eight years old grew up around the "cult" but enraptured when he finds out that big normal Lawrence married a man. But it does tie in effectively to the plot on both a narrative and thematic level and in a way that doesn't feel overly forced. And certainly I've ignored bigger coincidences so again it's not a big deal.

Would that Quantum Leap's pandering episode had been that effective and half as subtle. Heck The Rookie's BLM episode could have come down to this level.

I feel like we're really throwing Allison to the wolves narratively which is odd because she was one of my favorite characters. Lawrence is mostly fine for a third-tier character. I could care less about his gay existential crisis label rejection nonsense. I just don't see it as fitting his character. Which is why his monologue about not being gay felt confusing. That type of crisis I don't expect out of that gay character. I expect a different type of gay crisis. Looks like Margaret gets along well enough in the office when the story's plot doesn't literally revolve around her having to fire everyone. I hope there's a plan for plan for her an Allison. Because the characters certainly don't have a plan and both of them are just floating till the next plot point. Even Todd has a plan and goals. Stupid and silly and laughable as they are at least he's moving towards something.

"I'm just a patrol officer. I couldn't [take charge]"

I dunno. Have you seen "The Rookie" because that show teaches me that beat patrol cops are capable of taking on serial killers. Beat cops can take on organized crime. Beat cops can take down criminal conspiracies on their vacations. Heck patrol cops take down the cartel.

Mostly solid documentary that is if anything too passive. Too clinical. And even with that if you can watch this and come away with anything but utter disgust for the law enforcement. You're a psychopath. It's called "Inside the Uvalde Response" but it should be "Inside the Uvalde Police Response" because it really is only focused on what the police did. There's a whole other hour long documentary missing about what was happening at the time. And that's not even going to the post incident response which is barely hinted at here. From Abbott gladhanding the police response to how many of them escape with zero jail time for utterly failing these children. It doesn't touch of the kids the police got killed by asking them to shout out their status. About the only really interesting points in this doc are that a) the school shooter training is WILD. I went to high school in a post columbine world but a pre-9/11 one. We didn't have shooter drills. Though school shootings were a reality. Heck my high school ended up becoming a national story because of a school shooting. But the takeaway is that the kids were so quiet the police just assumed the school was empty. I mean that say something about these kids. b) the documentary ends with a police response that is most intriguing. I really wanted to hear from that dude what he thought went wrong in the immediate aftermath when he wasn't aware he was being recorded.

Somewhat interesting case. I know people don't like Michael but the "Oh he's a Dad so he doesn't know how to get his kids ready in the morning and it's so goofy and wacky the girl-child will go to school wearing a hat" routine is just kinda ridiculous. To the point where it really should have been lampshaded. We've seen this literal scene beat for beat like 180 times. Down to the hat. Down to the "Uh.. uh I don't have lunch so take some money". Down to the female not mom coming in and the kids ignoring dad to greet her and then leave. It's like they pulled this scene from Fisher-Price My First Screenplay book.

I think it's gross that she went to mental rehab and didn't tell anyone but her sister. I mean I was setup for the she wants a divorce and feels guilty about sticking with a man she doesn't love. Drop him and live your life I get that. But she went to a medical facility and just ghosted on her entire family. That's stupid. Lucky the police weren't called in to track you down. There's no reason not to leave instructions for the sister to let them know what happened. All it does is just stretch out how long I thought she left him to start divorcing him.

Aunt Nancy: Sneering My sister is going through something serious she doesn't understand herself. Last thing she needs is you swooping in trying to have a hero moment

As a reminder his "hero moment" was being willing to have taken Gina his wife to the mental hospital himself. I'm not saying the dude desperate to not divorce his wife doesn't have problems. But this ain't it. He has no idea what's going on. His kids don't know what's going on. I mean honestly all things considered he took that news that she didn't want to be around him like. a. champ. He didn't fight it. He accepted it. He's literally "best case scenario"-ing right now. And then there's Nancy who the show is trying to tell us is in the morally superior position but saying things like this

Michael: [And so you're saying] It's way better to keep me and her kids in the dark thinking that something bad happened to her?
Aunt Nancy: Sneering This is bad.
Michael: You know what I mean Nancy

And again, Michael's right. Because in no way was he denigrating the struggle she's going through. He's been supportive since he found out (which was like 10 seconds ago). His only problem was that she disappeared and everyone refused to tell him why? What IS he supposed to tell the kids when she just doesn't show up for breakfast? Aunt Nancy is too busy tone policing him to consider reality. People get sick. People you depend on get sick and that's life but it'd be nice to know they got sick and not just have them disappear like they got murdered because those are two different types of reactions you're going to get.

I don't know where they get these killers. You find a guy who has murdered 8 people and was literally on his way to do number 9 and heaven forbid they get framed for RICO. They will take that personally. They will wait 20-30-45 years if necessary but they will NEVER let it go... but why? I mean this isn't the burgler who gets framed by murder. This isn't the white collar criminal who gets framed for treason. This isn't the massage prostitute accused of child touching. This is a bad dude who does bad things who got setup for bad things. Even his father is like "I know my son he doesn't do drugs". Yeah but your son IS a rapist serial killer. I'm not sure what mileage he plans to get out of the 'at least he doesn't do drugs' stance. Nothing in his plan makes sense either. He wants to get at Director Wagner but he does it stumbling into killing someone and lucking out that she took the blame. Happening to have stolen her keys ages ago... and then leaving the murder weapon in a basket.

That's almost as stupid as all the cops rooting for Dir Wagner and yet them seeing their statutory requirements of holding her gun and her bad as a personal offense.

ACAB

And there it is... ACAB comes for all the cop shows eventually. We're bring it back because this was egregious. In the ACAB corner I'll highlight all the ways the show tries to make cops look better than they are. This is not normally a reflection on the show or it's quality.

Let's break down all the stupid nonsense in this episode. It starts from the fact that someone so high up is accused of killing someone on the skimpiest of evidence. Oh she ran into the house and there was someone dead. She must have killed them. What??? I don't understand all factors involved why she was given the task to go into the front door by herself while Will and Faith went round the back. If anything Will or Faith should have taken the front door solo and the other take Amanda with them to go out the back. She's a target so bad they both want to protect her, until it's time to face actual danger then she's fine on her own? It's an example of how the writing in this scene is so awful. I literally didn't understand what was happening until I realized this was just the most complicated insane way to setup Director Amanda Wagner for crime she didn't commit. That doesn't even take into consideration that in the narrative of the show this whole murder was just a setup from the jump. How did this week's guest star plan to have her accused of murder when he couldn't know she would be left alone. But she was alone for 2 minutes MAXIMUM and that's a huge stretch. Even with editing no way it was more than one minute but even if you call it two the idea that everyone just assumed she slammed this man dead in two minutes is just insane. Plus she would have had to secret away the murder weapon which was a very heavy blunt object. Something we saw the man throw in his truck and something Wagner never had time to hide. I honestly expected Will to point that out and this episode to take a different direction. Just like Wagner going in alone I was just confused why everyone thought she killed a man in like 20 seconds until later I realized oh wait this whole episode is going to be about what if everyone thought she killed a man.

Then we have the APD investigation of GBI. This is the central premise of the whole show they have to do it "By the book" or... what? Have you seen a cop shooting in real life? They shot Tamir Rice from three feet away on camera and it got ruled justifiable. The idea that people would take this circumstantial case so seriously remains laughable. It's the sort of thing a police consultant on set would suggest. Because they always suggest it. This "By the book" episode just shows how hard cops have it. How they can't just DO THE WORK because "By the book" is stopping them and interfering with their ability to do the job. In real life, one cop team investigating another cop team is like asking a Lion to stop a Tiger from eating a rabbit. It's like asking a MGTOW and MRA to stop a PUA from hitting on a drunk girl. They literally are not capable of seeing what's wrong. It's a lose lose concept because if they do block Trent from the case it's just show how all the cop police are bad. If they don't block Trent it shows that cop police are pointless. You don't get points for going the second route Will Trent. It's literally just as bad. Honestly it just makes the storyline more confusing. The cop police (Angie and Michael) casually sidestep the entire purpose of a "By the Book" investigation by letting Will and Faith do literally whatever they want throughout the case. When Jenna Elfman's Captain Reynolds demands everyone not validate this case based on emotion but on hard evidence untainted by emotional ties. It's a respectable stance (once you swallow the hard hard pill that she's accused of murder) and Angie and Michael just poop all over it by completely ignoring her. Kinda disrespectful of law and order for the "good guys". But it's fine because they're the "good guys". Again this gets you the viewer used to the idea that cops should have the ability to do what they want

Will: Why are you impeding my-- this-- whoever's investigation
Reynolds: I'm am looking for facts and to maintain departmental oversight so that this case doesn't go to heck
I would like to point out that the "impeding" is Reynolds questioning evidence just as circumstantial as the case against Amanda. Oh a man ran from the house where someone was killed and cop is taking the blame but they're too honorable to assume the man was related to the case. Where are these cops? In real life we've seen cops approach someone at the wrong address looking for dark skinned dudes harassing light skinned dudes. Asking for Jason and arresting Derrick. Looking at suspect pictures with bald men and hassling dreadlocked brothers. But sure here the cops are asking "Did you see him exit the house? Then it's probably just a random "run away from cop"-er. :shakes fist impotently: If only Will was allowed to run this case and didn't have to follow oversight then he'd get the real criminals. Curse you oversight.

Then the APD interview someone who implicates Director Wagner and they basically cringe when he says her name. They were like: "eww sir could you just not say you think she did it. We're here to accuse your son. Focus on him please."

There's more church/state violation at Director Wagner's place and then we have cat and mouse with the real killer. And then complaining about procedure by "the good guys". Oh you have to wait for a warrant? That's so unfair. Maybe cops should have special ad-hoc post gratum warrants they can apply for afterwards so they don't have to wait? I mean it sounds laughable now but give it 10 more years of cop shows like this and a clever name and just the right amount of sympathetic victim or maybe just 10 billion from the right conservative billionaire and it'll happen. I mean technically it already happens. Cops backdate warrants and just lie. Who needs legal methodology when you can just cheat openly? After all you are the referee and you get to investigate yourself. You probably didn't cross any lines according to yourself so it's fine. Heck who needs all that when cops can just pretend they hear a baby crying and suddenly it's exigent circumstances. Heck if you follow bad cop news you know they don't even need to hear a baby crying. They'll make up whatever and call it exigent circumstances. A toaster pops and suddenly that's exigent circumstances. Who is going to question it? Internal Affairs? You mean other cops. Which is my point about this whole episode.

At this point we're just half way through the episode.

Then we get the backstory. Let's talk about what the backstory means and how the characters receive it. Because EVERYONE literally everyone without exception looks at Director Wagner with DISGUST when they find out what she did. She framed someone for a crime they didn't commit. Every one who finds out look at this like it's the most noxious nose twisting thing they've ever seen.

It's so weird considering the story. Which is that she was literally almost raped as a lesbian black female cop in the 90s. A demo so rare even her FAMILY told her not to bother telling anyone what happened and her family was in charge of the department. A reality so dark she immediately understood and didn't question it. Dude we can BARELY get a rape conviction 25+ years later. Imagine how hard it was in 95. But she got the information and setup a case anyway. It flopped so she framed him for something else.

Now keep in mind throughout this narrative it's never questioned that he deserved it. It's never suggested that it was unfair for him to get setup for dealing and note rape/murder. It's never suggested maybe he could have turned his life around if someone gave him a chance. He's the devil who got punished for slapping you with is left hand when in reality he slapped you with the right. And with that context the disgust that comes off Will Trent is disorienting. It doesn't make sense. There's a phrase in English that goes

.. and not a jury in the world would convict me

It's a reference to the concept of jury nullification. In the US the Jury is allowed to rule on the case for any reason. The purpose of the trial is to present the evidence and the argument and the corresponding laws for their consideration but at the end of the day the jury goes into their deliberation room and they get to decide. They don't have to follow the law. They can look at a case with compassion. They can look at a beaten women and find her innocent of murder in slicing off the dick of the husband who trapped her in a violent marriage. They can look at a mother who fired a warning shot at a dangerous ex boyfriend and find her innocent of all charges even though warning shots are literally against legal statute. The point at the end is that Director Wagner's situation here the quintessential example of a case where she could never get convicted. Who in the right mind would look at the evil and dangerous devil criminal and say Wagner should be found guilty. No one. ESPECIALLY not cops. ESPECIALLY not family and that's what Will is. Family.

Will: Yet you still sleep at night?
Wagner: I sleep knowing I kept him from raping any other women.

Again the dialog wants you to look at Will and say he's right but no. He's not. This whole segment is about copaganda and how police abuse their power to get justice in their eyes and STILL I'm saying Wagner was 100% right with no questions.

There's a conversation between Faith and Angie. It doesn't make any sense unless you have the most extreme copaganda glasses on. Why is Angie apologetic to Faith? She's been letting Faith literally do anything she wanted on this case. She brought a literal apology apple to open the conversation. Faith aside from the scuffle with unnamed cop #4 has been the literal voice of reason even in this episode. All this to say "Come cross the chinese firewall again today".

Speaking of apologies it's Will's turn to apologize and that went over like a YouTuber apology. He totally pulled a "Sorry if you were offended". Because he didn't apologize and then doubled down on the "How could you?" this time with puppy eyes. Again Director Wagner is 100% correct. None of these people will ever walk in her shoes. Saying you're not like other men doesn't make it any less true. Then the most hilarious scene where SWAT comes in to accuse a black women in jogging clothes of waving a semi-automatic gun at children in the park. Their description is "a women waving a semi-auto at children" so you attack the black women who clearly doesn't have a gun or anywhere to hide the gun? So pop quiz hot shot.. who called in the SWAT? It wasn't the devil criminal because she was hiding at Will's. I'm willing to maybe cede that she went to her same running path that she goes to every day.. which is stupid. And even then WHY? He's dedicated his life to framing her not just getting her killed by her own people.

Then Wagner finally caves and goes tell everyone what she did but Will responds that "You don't have to do this". What the character stance? He's been pushing her to take responsibility since the moment he found out and when she does he balks? So cops should ideally feel bad but not actually be forced out of the job because their mistakes and cheats are for the greater good. Cops know who their local dealers are if they're planting evidence it's probably better for everyone anyway.

Even as I review it, the situation is just so gross with Faith as it was with Will. Director Wagner it talking to her daughter about having dinner and talking it out

Faith: You know, I was halfway home when it dawned on me that I misspelled something on a witness statement. So I came back. That's how important this work is to me, the integrity of the work.

LIES. This whole episode she's been trampling all over the integrity of the work by doing a case against ethical procedure and direct orders. She has the nerve to suggest that she's now forced to keep a secret that's against her ethics against her will while at the same time complaining that she was never told a secret that was against her ethics. What is the logic here? You really have to pick ONE lane and stick with it. You can't literally complain about both sides of the coin landing up. I promise you if Wagner went to give her "I did it" speech anyway Faith would be the first person in front of Will telling her she didn't have to. All this over a dude so evil he literally came back 30 years later to kill her after almost raping and murdering her the first time in a situation that once again Faith will never understand not being a lesbian, not being a rare sight, not having been overpowered solo by a serial killer not having lived in the 95. At this point the show reminds me that Faith isn't Wagner's literal daughter and I'm too lazy to go through this and remove those references. Whatever. Maybe later.

And the final point about ACAB here is that this is a show that heavily features APD the Atlanta Police Department. This is a department that's currently using as much copaganda as possible to justify murdering protesters who want to stop Cop City a multi billion dollar money pit that's going to train cops to kill innocent people. In natural forest park. I like Will Trent as a character and lord knows I'm still gaga for Christensen but ACAB moments in this show are especially dangerous in the current climate which is saying something considering the white watching of the LAPD that happens on The Rookie. The cops in the APD have shot protestors in the back and gotten away with it, like they took the wrong coffee order. They'll do it again if they haven't already.

Stop Cop City.
https://stopcop.city/

In spite of a charmingly sexual Margo Martindale and an overall solid cast. This is a movie that feels like a harder romance spin-off of American Pie. The poster design with the American Pie style stamp doesn't help. Isla and Jason have decent chemistry but nothing you want to write home about. There's gross out scenes for no reason just to remind you that hey this could have been an American Pie spin-off. Honestly I was being facetious the first time I said it as I reread my words. I wonder. What are the chances this was originally supposed to be an American Pie spin off or some sort of spec script and someone said "let's get a red-head and just do it man".

There's not too much memorable in it though. It's not gross enough for the gross out comedy. It's not rom enough for the rom-com genre. The big scenes aren't big enough. And it's too blasé for the indie rom-com genre. It has a solid concept but it just doesn't stick the landing. It's watchable but unless you're literally tethered to your desk for hours with nothing else to do and you want to watch something, in 2-3 minute segments spaced with 10-30 minutes of mind numbing work, that you don't have to invest in emotionally or care about when it's done.. then why bother. I mean that's my excuse but what's yours?

As a movie it was great. Filled with a sorts of goodness. Great emotional character arcs. In spite of the ambiguous tragedy that starts the narrative it all feels real rather than just moralistic which is a fun thing to see in a children's movie.

As a musical it was… okay. The songs are great but they're a little too real. It just sounds like I'm listening to a sick Colombian radio station rather than a music with a song that I want to sing in the shower. All the songs are great to listen to, but nothing makes me want to remember any of them much less vocalize. My favorite musics had me singing the songs the next morning. Heck even ones that are decent I could sing a song to my sister and tell her which was my favorite. But this movie even though there are maybe three songs I know I liked. I couldn't tell you an hour after the film finished how they go.

The narrative is interesting but for a while I thought maybe Mirabel's power was going to be gift of song or making everyone sing. I think that's kinda says how disconnected the songs are from the film.

For all the talk I've been hearing about "We don't talk about Bruno" when it actually showed up it wasn't really all that… compelling. It was so quick and non specific I kept expecting it to come back. They say it like twice in the song and that's about it. The song was great but it missed that singable zip. Surface Pressure was a song with amazing lyrics and, honestly speaking, trash vocals, which is somewhat unfortunate because it might be the best song in the movie to the point where I was disappointed the movie wasn't about Mirabel helping everyone else realize that the picture perfect life wasn't working for them. One learns she's tired of the pressure of strength. The other learns she doesn't want to be perfect. Another learns to accept her emotions. I mean THAT movie was sitting right there waiting to happen. But the movie we got wasn't awful so I'm not torn up about it. Though Mirabel's power could have been the power whisperer.

But I did like the movie. I would even watch it again.

In spite of some cute faces, decent acting, and somehow a penis prop not being the worst part (don't get me wrong it was bad). This movie fights against the odds to be as blasé as anyone would imagine based on the trailer. The elements are all there. There's a touch of cleverness to some of the dialog and the rest of it doesn't make me want to poke out my eyes. The nerdy guys aren't so nerdy they're gross. The girls aren't so attractive you lose verisimilitude (I have no other way to phrase it that doesn't come out like a backhanded compliment but I do love Geraldine Viswanathan legit she's great). Eduardo Franco and Blake Anderson fulfill a need for long haired men I didn't realize the movie had. Mary Holland as the Triage nurse does her best. But this isn't the American Pie/EuroTrip inheritor you hoped for. It's not a teen sex comedy. It's not a teen drinking comedy like 21 or The Binge. It's a wanna be sexed up Goonies with neither the heart or the sex to go with it.

There's a lot of elements that unexpectedly work in favor of the movie. The locations are effective. I could have used a few more hi-jinks but mostly on paper it works. Which is why it's such a shame the movie just kinda flops about and flails to the finish-line. The dick sucking jokes come across not as crass or gross but instead just weird and pointless. For what is so clearly a grossout comedy. I just feel sad for it. Shame because there's occasional bright spots that almost make me wish they'd taken another crack at it.