Why Now?

Russell Brand has been convicted of rape and sexual assault.  Today, he was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison.  The rape took place nearly 20 years ago.  Listening to various British commentators (e.g., Jacob Rees-Mogg, Konstantin Kissin), it was viewed as an open secret that Brand was a sexual predator in his heyday.  If that is the case, why did it take so long to prosecute him?

During COVID, Russell Brand had a political awakening.  He shifted toward the right and spoke against the policies enacted during COVID.  He was now a political apostate.  Unsurprisingly, his sexual antics that had been ignored for decades were now brought forth to cancel him.  This is a standard tactic for the left.  Decades old accusations suddenly surface (e.g., Donald Trump, Brett Kavanaugh, etc.) to discredit those the left opposes.  Had Brand stayed on the left, he would be a free man today.  The very government that has turned a blind eye to the ongoing grooming gang crisis was Johnny-on-the-spot for Russell Brand.

None of this is to say that Brand should not have been prosecuted or imprisoned, but instead to point out that the government is selective in the enforcement of the laws.  Critics of the government are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law while ignoring or merely slapping the wrists of others guilty of the same offenses.

Predator: Badlands (2025)

Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) was a Yautja (i.e., predator) who had not yet earned his cloak (i.e., the device that allows them to go invisible).  He was training with Kwei, his older brother, who generally got the better of Dek.  When their father arrived, he was irritated that Kwei had not killed Dek.  Dek was small for a Yautja and viewed as a weakling that should be culled.  To prove himself, Dek went to the planet Genna to slay the supposedly unkillable beast, a Kalisk.  He crashed on Genna, losing most of his weapons before his hunt even began.

Thia (Elle Fanning) was a synthetic from the Weyland-Yutani Corporation who had been dispatched to Genna to study the flora and fauna.  Synthetics had been sent because the planet was quite deadly.  It hadn't done her any favors either, as she had been torn in half and her upper body was stuck in some giant vulture's nest.  Luckily, she spotted Dek and offered to help him out.  He wasn't keen on this but his situation called for desperate measures.  As she was just a machine, he labeled her a 'tool' and carried her along as a backpack.

Bud was a critter native to Genna though unknown to Thia.  She had an armored hide that was sort of like an armadillo and would travel quickly by rolling in a ball.  When unrolled, she looked monkey-ish.  She attached to Dek like a stray cat looking for a meal.  Soon, Bud - named such by Thia - was an ally.

Elle Fanning has a dual role.  A second synthetic, Tessa, proves to be far less empathetic and has little interest in the friendships Thia has developed on her bizarre odyssey with an alien hunter and indigenous monkey-dog.  She does an excellent job of making them different characters as Tessa has dead eyes and a blank expression while Thia is chatty and upbeat.

The action is often ridiculous and way over the top.  Dek might swing from tree to tree like Tarzan, fling his plasma sword so that it slices a beast in half, assemble a collection of native bits and bobs into a makeshift battlesuit to rival scores of armed synthetic soldiers.  How does Dek communicate with the acid-spitting snake on his shoulder so that it fires at targets?  Sure, it's a clever variant of the shoulder-mounted laser-aimed cannon that is a staple of Predator movies, but how does the snake know when to spit?  Likewise, Thia proves to be a serious combatant, whose separated body operates in tandem to overcome enemies.  Let's not forget Bud, who proved to be quite adept at ripping synthetics limb from limb, mostly off-screen and with an unseemly grin.

The big drawback is that the villains are stupid and not equipped to defend themselves.  Where are the motion trackers that figured so heavily in Aliens (1986)?  Not on this base.  Why are the synthetic soldiers so fragile and bad at soldiering?  Why did Tessa abandon her primary mission to go hunting for Dek?  You are minutes from success and mostly leave your top priority unguarded.  Yeah, good plan.

Good popcorn fun!

Elephants in Rooms

Elephants in Rooms is a YouTube channel that explores a wide variety of topics with a surprisingly objective point of view.  Ken LaCorte is a former newsman who has switched to being a YouTuber.  He has touched such topics as Burning Man (which he has attended), US murder rates, the growing number of autism diagnoses, Helen Keller's story, Joe McCarthy & the Red Scare, legality of prostitution, Israel vs. Palestine, climate change, and many more besides.  He has a very particular format, providing an outline of what is to be covered in a logical and relatively unbiased manner.  He provides all of the sources he used and encourages viewers to challenge him in the comment section.  His usual sponsor is Ground News, a news source that offers what the left and the right are each saying so one can compare.

Each episode tends to be about 10 minutes long though some are more than 20 minutes in length.  There are over 300 videos and he has nearly a million subscribers.  Highly recommended.

Complications (2026)

As he lit a cigarette, Jonas Dietrich (Brian Bisson) explained how happiness boiled down to honesty.  The gagged and bound man did not respond.  Jonas shot him in the leg before beginning the interrogation.  The man revealed where Jonas could find the computer disk.  When Jonas kicked open the closet door, he discovered something that he did not expect.

David arrived at the bar and asked Jonas to detail the events of the mission.  Jonas looked considerably than when he kicked in the door.  He started retelling the tale which included the events prior to his interrogation of the gagged man and up to kicked open the door.  He found Mia (Maxine Denis).  Policy was to kill everyone.  However, just then, a hulking goon appeared and started beating Jonas to a pulp.  Mia intervened.  What could Jonas do now?

Much as Trial by Fire was an origin story for Keira, this provides a backstory for Jonas.  He is a merc for hire, though he does have some scruples remaining.  The episode concludes with a call to Ryan Drake (Derek Moran) and a request to come in from the cold.

It is a fun action-packed adventure that is told in a non-linear fashion.  Exactly what happened on the mission changes when David pressed a point.  He could tell when Jonas fudged some details.  This is a story where everyone is a bad guy, but Jonas proved to be the least bad.  His call to Drake would be his moment of redemption.

Good popcorn fun.

Fuzz (1972)

It was November in Boston and the 87th Precinct was being repainted; it was apple green in every room and office.  The painters were a nuisance.  Detective Meyer (Jack Weston) had to move a drop cloth to answer his phone.  The caller threatened to kill Park Commissioner Cooper unless $5000 was paid.  Though viewed as a crank, they delivered a phony ransom package and followed the man who picked it up.  Later, Cooper was murdered.  When a letter arrived at the precinct that now demanded $50,000 or Deputy Mayor Scanlon would be killed, they took this a little more seriously.  Half the detectives were at the stakeout for the next ransom drop.

Detective Carella (Burt Reynolds) was trying to track down some goons who were lighting bums on fire.  Posing as a drunken bum himself, he managed to get torched.  The arsonists escaped and Carella spent time in the hospital.

Detective McHenry (Raquel Welch) had been temporarily reassigned to the 87th to catch a rapist.  As the sole female officer, she drew a lot of attention, especially from Detective Kling (Tom Skerritt).

Detective Brown (James McEachin) was put on a stakeout of the man who picked up the first ransom.  Surely, he would lead them to the killer.  In fact, he was a small-time hood who proved to be a wild goose chase.  Or did he?

The Deaf Man (Yul Brynner) has plotted the murders with no expectation of getting paid by the targets he has revealed.  No, he is demonstrating his ability to kill even when he warns the police so that when he gets to the big score, the money will be eagerly paid by the target.

Though billed as a comedy, it mostly doesn't play as one.  There is silliness, such as Reynolds and Weston disguised as nuns, Welch and Skerritt tangled in a sleeping bag, paint spilling on characters in the precinct, a woman reporting her imaginary vampire rapist to Welch while others giggle, and so forth.  The cast is expansive and this is an ensemble story, each character getting a small slice of the pie.

Just okay.

Conspiracy Theory (1997)

Jerry Fletcher (Mel Gibson) is a New York City cab driver who lectures most of his passengers about various conspiracy theories that he holds to be gospel.  After work, he parked near an apartment building and spied on Alice Sutton (Julia Roberts) as she runs on her treadmill.  Next, he takes a pile of newspapers to his cramped apartment that has plentiful locks on the door, and even locks on the refrigerator.  He reviewed the papers and highlighted the important stories.  Soon, he types up his newsletter: Conspiracy Theory.  This issue proposes that someone is trying to assassinate the president via an earthquake during a visit to Turkey.  The space shuttle will trigger the earthquake from orbit.  Yes, of course.  He sent the newsletter - each one from a different mailbox - to his subscribers.  He has one more person to inform: Alice.

Alice Sutton is a lawyer with the Justice Department and has had regular visits from Jerry over the last six months.  Both she and most of the office staff view Jerry as a crackpot but she humors him.  He had saved her from a mugging, which was their first meeting.  He asked her to warn the president about the earthquake.  She is noncommittal.

Then Jerry is snatched from the street, taken to a secret location, and interrogated by Dr. Jonas (Patrick Stewart), who uses harsh methods.  He asks who else knows?  Knows what?  Jerry has no idea which of his theories might have been true.

Mel Gibson is terrific as a paranoid crackpot.  He freestyled much of his conspiracy talk in the taxi, which is some of the funniest bits.  When he warns a pair of nuns against the Vatican, you have to laugh.  This is a complicated character and an excellent job of bringing him to life.  Roberts is good in the role of Alice, but it isn't as interesting a character as Jerry.  Patrick Stewart is great at Dr. Jonas.  This was probably the first time I had seen Stewart play a villain.  He can be menacing and scary in his interrogation scenes with Gibson and then entirely sympathetic and sincere when talking to Roberts.

When released, conspiracy theories were viewed as ridiculous and silly.  That is no longer true today.  Because conspiracy theories were generally laughable and easily dismissed, it became common to accuse one's opponents of spouting conspiracy theories.  What is labeled a conspiracy theory has expanded so much that many have since been proven true.

Great popcorn fun.  Recommended.

RIP Patrick Stewart

Vivek

I like Vivek Ramaswamay.  When he first came on the scene, he proved to be an excellent spokesperson for the Republican Party and a terrific booster for President Trump.  He was upbeat and articulate.  I was eager to see him join Elon Musk in cleaning up the government at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).  Instead, he bowed out before DOGE even began and started pursuing the governorship of Ohio.  Naturally, I assumed the gubernatorial election was in November 2025 and he had to start campaigning immediately.  No, it was in November 2026, and he was getting started quite early.  Fine, I guess.  Maybe he could have put a few months into DOGE, just for appearance's sake.

To hear Vivek's spiel, one would think that the Democrats are driving Ohio's policy decisions.  He's going to clean out the Augean Stables like they have never been cleaned before.  Well, as it happens, Ohio has a Republican Governor, Mike DeWine, and a Republican Legislature.  Why isn't the current Republican administration implementing these great ideas now?  Why can't DeWine boost energy production, reform education, or cut taxes?  Are you dissing the current Republicans or offering pie in the sky plans that cannot be made to work?

Obviously, Vivek is to be preferred over his opponent, but a lot of the excitement for Vivek has faded over the last two years.  He's transformed from a conservative advocate to a standard politician.  Will he be transformational for Ohio or come and go like John Kasich?