my partner's mom was watching it when we visited for Christmas, so we got to sit in on a handful of episodes. there was a slight Lynchian surrealism to it that i found enjoyable. plus i wasn't aware Jane Krakowski was in it (and apparently the latter seasons have big names too like Lucy Liu and RDJ), so we're gonna have to watch more.
I’ve been meaning to get into Ally McBeal for a long time but never got around to it. A podcast I listen to was gonna do a spinoff about it, but scheduling got in the way. Maybe this is my sign 2026 should be the year.
Ally McBeal is def one those shows I vaguely remember being on TV when I was very little but that I then forgot about as my parents wouldn't watch it. Others that come to mind from that era are Sex And The City, Alias, The Shield, 24, Dark Angel...
there’s a YTMND that I still think of around Christmas time but I can almost never explain it to anyone because no one knows what the hell I’m talking about
Yeah, my spouse and I are rewatching/watching for the first time. Show slaps. The magical realism has been pretty charming, “The Biscuit” is becoming an all timer character, and guests are kinda nuts: Lucy Liu and Tracy Ullman become regular cast members, Bruce Willis and Betty White show up, and Tina Turner does a whole thing. Also *stands on soapbox* Y’all should check out Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. It’s a spiritual successor to Ally McBeal, but swaps magical realism for musical theatre sensibilities. Instead of using needle drops, they wrote original musical productions (that goddamn rule [I still get Santa Ana Winds stuck in my head]). It also leaned into absurdist humor in a way that is extremely my jam (the mileage they got out of a butter ad campaign with the tag line “when was the last time you were truly happy?” bit is my favorite thing aired on TV). I like it a lot. I mean it does feel like recommending blue cheese to someone where it’s probably going to be a “hell yeah!” or “hell nah” thing, but I like it and think other people might too if they give it a shot. *mummers* This bit has gone on too long and has become an embarrassing self indulgent screed hijacking the thread? *mummers* Editing myself? *mummers* Oh. I see. Well thanks for reading/sorry to have wasted your time. *leaves soap box; NOT crying*
I put out a list of my 30 favorite films of 2025 over at my Substack in case anyone's interested! The 30 Best Movies of 2025, a year for cinema not to be taken for granted
SAG Awards nominations announced FILM Cast Ensemble in a Motion Picture “Frankenstein” “Hamnet” “Marty Supreme” “One Battle After Another” “Sinners” Male Actor in a Leading Role Timothée Chalamet, “Marty Supreme” Leonardo DiCaprio, “One Battle after Another” Ethan Hawke, “Blue Moon” Michael B. Jordan, “Sinners” Jesse Plemons, “Bugonia” Female Actor in a Leading Role Jessie Buckley, “Hamnet” Rose Byrne, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” Kate Hudson, “Song Sung Blue” Chase Infiniti, “One Battle After Another” Emma Stone, “Bugonia” Male Actor in a Supporting Role Miles Caton, “Sinners” Benicio Del Toro, “One Battle After Another” Jacob Elordi, “Frankenstein” Paul Mescal, “Hamnet” Sean Penn, “One Battle After Another” Female Actor in a Supporting Role Odessa A’Zion, “Marty Supreme” Ariana Grande, “Wicked: For Good” Amy Madigan, “Weapons” Wunmi Mosaku, “Sinners” Teyana Taylor, “One Battle After Another” Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture “F1” “Frankenstein” “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” “One Battle After Another” “Sinners” TELEVISION Cast Ensemble in a Drama Series “The Diplomat” “Landman” “The Pitt” “Severance” “The White Lotus” Cast Ensemble in a Comedy Series “Abbott Elementary” “The Bear” “Hacks” “Only Murders in the Building” “The Studio” Male Actor in a Drama Series Sterling K. Brown, “Paradise” Billy Crudup, “The Morning Show” Walton Goggins, “The White Lotus” Gary Oldman, “Slow Horses” Noah Wylie, “The Pitt” Male Actor in a Comedy Series Ike Barinholtz, “The Studio” Adam Brody, “Nobody Wants This” Ted Danson, “A Man on the Inside” Seth Rogen, “The Studio” Martin Short, “Only Murders in the Building” Female Actor in a Drama Series Brit Lower, “Severance” Parker Posey, “The White Lotus” Keri Russell, “The Diplomat” Rhea Seehorn, “Pluribus” Aimee Lou Wood, “The White Lotus” Female Actor in a Comedy Series Kathryn Hahn, “The Studio” Catherine O’Hara, “The Studio” Jenna Ortega, “Wednesday” Jean Smart, “Hacks” Kristen Wiig, “Palm Royale” Male Actor in a TV Movie or Limited Series Jason Bateman, “Black Rabbit” Owen Cooper, “Adolescence” Stephen Graham, “Adolescence” Charlie Hunnam, “Monster: The Ed Gein Story” Matthew Rhys, “The Beast in Me” Female Actor in a TV Movie or Limited Series Claire Danes, “The Beast in Me” Erin Doherty, “Adolescence” Sarah Snook, “All Her Fault” Christine Tremarco, “Adolescence” Michelle Williams, “Dying for Sex” Stunt Ensemble in a Comedy or Drama Series “Andor” “Landman” “The Last of Us” “Squid Game” “Stranger Things”
One of the all-time dumbest business models. Like many subscriptions they depend on the people who don't use the service a lot, but then why wouldn't that person just buy a ticket on the rare occasion they go to the theater?
Idk that movie pass thing makes total sense since I have other subscriptions that I absolutely write down legitimate passwords for them. Then they will randomly lock me out and force me to change passwords.
I rarely visit Alamo, think maybe the last time I went was a year ago. But that one was already doing the mobile thing. I remember thinking, cool yeah we definitely need more people on their phones in the theater
really don't like this. not only is it inaccessible to a subset of moviegoers who don't have smartphones (even though most probably will), but even if the technology behind it is supposed to be a dark-screen/dimmed system (as the article indicates), it still opens the door for audiences to pull out their phone for prolonged periods of time, causing more distractions. plus, aren't you supposed to report distracting audience members with paper order cards? are you supposed to do that through the app now? i could be wrong, but i think there's a very slim chance this works the way they expect it to. it's less-distracting to just write out your order mid-movie and have a server on standby to grab it, and given the problems i've had with their app before, i imagine its implementation might be a bit clunky.
ok, some more info. here's a YouTube video showing how the process works. even with the screen being incredibly dark, that still seems really distracting. some on Reddit who tested the feature out months ago said that their theaters only used mobile ordering up until the end of trailers, at which point they were instructed to use the order cards. but if they're getting rid of order cards across all locations, i don't think anyone will be afforded this option (plus it would probably complicate trying to manage digital and physical orders). overall results seem to be mixed. apparently they tested it out a few years ago at some locations in Texas, and some indicated that the system was very buggy and didn't work. others who've gone more recently say the food comes out slightly faster, but that the system might not save your payment method. it looks like the call buttons will remain, but it feels wasteful to limit them to only reporting moviegoers. this just sounds incredibly complicated, and even worse if they nix order cards altogether. and even if they say they won't cut jobs because of it, it definitely gives them license to do so down the line.
Never been to an Alamo but I feel like it was the true theater for true movie fans where they'll execute you and your family for talking during the movie and now it just sounds like any other theater.
besides the strict no phones policy and decent food, the big draws for me were the ambience (each theater is themed to a different movie), theming the pre-show to the film itself instead of showing random ads or generic programming like whatever Maria Menounos used to do (Noovie, i think?), and limiting the number of trailers (at most i think they'll do 5). those elements will stay in place, but the no phones rule really made it feel like a more serious establishment outside of your local indie theater.
Alamo here in Kansas City was awful. Frequently got orders wrong. Kitchen and sewage systems were a total mess that they never fixed. A report showed they put employees in danger by putting them on night shifts with creepy employees. Unfortunately, the news didn’t spread past KC. They eventually high-tailed it out of here instead of actually manning up and addressing everything. I haven’t looked at them the same since.