I remember watching a trailer for Bullet Train last year and thought it seemed like a fun movie. It’s tough to tell with action movies because as much as I love them, they tend to follow the same premise. Bullet Train was getting rave reviews, so maybe there was something unique about the movie that made it stand out. Bullet Train was such a fun twist on an action movie. If Knives Out was an action film, that’s how I would describe Bullet Train.

Bullet Train begins with Ladybug (played by Brad Pitt) being sent out on a last-minute job to pick up a briefcase on a train. As Ladybug searches for the briefcase, the film introduces us to “brothers” Lemon (played by Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who are also looking for the briefcase while also protecting “The White Death’s” son who was kidnapped earlier. If that wasn’t enough to keep track of, “The Father” (played by Andrew Koji) is searching the train for the person who pushed his son off a building. “The Father” is knocked out by “The Prince (played by Joey King) who reveals herself as luring “The Father” to the train to help kill “The White Death”, but it’s not revealed why “The Prince” wants the “White Death” dead until later. As the characters fight each other over the briefcase, they realize that details were left out as to why they were asked to be on the train.

As far as the characters, it’s clear that Lemon and Tangerine stole the show. They were hilarious and they had great chemistry together. I would watch a “buddy cop” type film starring Lemon and Tangerine. Lemon talks about his love of the Thomas the Tank Engine TV show and how he would group people as one of the trains on the show. This carried throughout the whole movie with everyone referring to the “double agent” as Diesel, a train on the show. As a side note, there are rumors that Aaron-Taylor Johnson is being auditioned as the next James Bond and after watching Bullet Train, I can see it. Lemon and Tangerine are the best part of this movie.

The reason I would describe Bullet Train as being a “Knives Out” action film is how much mystery there is and how it’s revealed towards the end. There are moments that happen earlier in the film that feels innocuous but then is revealed as being important later on. An example of this is when Ladybug punches a stuffed cat and walks away. The stuffed cat was really an assassin in disguise that Ladybug has to fight later on. The way everything is revealed and tied up at the end is satisfying.

Bullet Train was one of the more memorable action films that I have seen recently. I’m still waiting on a Lemon / Tangerine team-up movie. Hollywood should make that happen.

When it comes to sitting down and watching a movie, I tend to lean toward action or adventure films. After reading romance books in February, I found myself wanting to watch a rom-com. As I was scrolling through Hulu and Netflix, I found Set It Up starring Glenn Powell before his Top Gun Maverick fame. I figured why not watch it because even if the movie wasn’t that great, the movie can still be fun to watch. Set It Up was cute and better than I was initially expecting it to be.

Harper Moore (played by Zoey Deutch) is an assistant to sports journalism editor Kirsten Stevens (played by Lucy Liu). Harper has always dreamed of writing sports articles that move people, but she hasn’t found the time to actually write. In the meantime, Charlie Young (played by Glenn Powell) is an assistant to venture capitalist Rick Otis (played by Taye Diggs). Charlie is hoping for a promotion, so he doesn’t have to be an assistant for too much longer. Both Harper and Charlie bond over the fact that they are constantly busy being assistants. They decide that if they tried to pair up Kirsten and Rick, maybe they would have more time to devote to themselves. Harper and Charlie work together to set Kirsten and Rick up while also falling in love with each other.

Set It Up falls into the trope of a “quirky girl falls in love with the hot guy” Harper is a sports fan, but the way she expresses herself along with her personality falls into the trope. She’s goofy and doesn’t take herself too seriously. Charlie is the “hot guy” who likes quirky Harper and they fall in love. I can’t help it, but I love this trope in romance. For any fan of romance in general, I think everyone has that trope that they love and this is one of them for me. Another theme in rom-com is the cast. The cast can either make or break a movie. I thought Zoey and Glenn had great chemistry together. I wasn’t expecting Pete Davidson to play Charlie’s best friend, so I thought that was a nice surprise.

Set It Up was a cute rom-com and I’m glad I watched it.

Last weekend, I sat down to watch Critical Role Episode #115 “The Chapter Closes” This was the final episode in Critical Role’s first campaign, Vox Machina. According to a Reddit thread, the full campaign of Vox Machina is about 447 hours which includes all their episodes. To say that I have watched all 447 hours is incredible. I started Critical Role toward the beginning of 2021 without knowing what I was diving into. I can’t believe I have gotten to this point! I wanted to talk a little about Vox Machina and some observations I had. There will be slight spoilers of the campaign down below.

My first thought after finishing Vox Machina was how much the characters grew over 115 episodes. All the characters had some sort of character growth as they matured and learned from the adventures. The first character that I thought of was Scanlan. Scanlan (played by Sam Riegel) was a flirtatious, wise-cracking character who always seemed to break the tension. He would make sexist and somewhat indecent jokes throughout the episodes. Once Scanlan discovered he had a daughter, he became a bit more humbled. Once Scanlan died and was brought back, he separated from Vox Machina and went on his own. I loved this arc! I think Scanlan was taken for granted by Vox Machina and I’m glad that Scanlan called Vox Machina out on that. Towards the end of the campaign, Scanlan admits his love for Pike (played by Ashley Johnson) and it’s hinted that Scanlan and Pike marry. Scanlan towards the beginning of the campaign wasn’t on my radar, but now he has quickly become one of the most interesting characters.

Besides Scanlan, Percy (played by Taliesin Jaffe) was another standout character. Percy was angry and bent on revenge for the death of his family. He made a lot of terrible decisions in order to get revenge. Halfway through the campaign, Percy and Vex (played by Laura Bailey) admit their feelings for each other. Vex softens Percy and helps Percy to move through his grief. Percy originally was the first character in Vox Machina that I paid the most attention to.

As I watched the last episode, I absolutely was crying throughout the first half of the episode. The emotion on everyone’s faces made it that much more believable. It’s clear that the cast of Critical Role became their characters and had that strong attachment to playing them each week.

Now that I finished watching Vox Machina, what’s next? There are three one-shots that feature Vox Machina that I am planning to watch sometime this week (The Search for Grog, The Search for Bob, and Dalen’s Closet). The Amazon Prime series, The Legends of Vox Machina has season #2 coming out on January 20th which I intend to watch. Once all of that is completed, I will officially start watching campaign #2, Mighty Nein. If I had to predict, I probably won’t start until February since I still have a lot of content left even if it’s not the main campaign.

I’m so happy that I started watching Critical Role. It’s been fun to experience the full universe that Matt Mercer has built.

Merry Christmas! I wasn’t sure whether I should write a Holiday-Themed blog post, but I decided against it. I had this blog topic on my mind for a while and figured today would be as good of a day as any to write this. There have been a lot of DC–related announcements now that James Gunn, along with Peter Safran, are the CEOs of DC Films. There is a lot that’s been up in the air as it seems that James Gunn is inheriting a mess of a franchise. With the recent announcements, there is a lot to unpack.

I think the biggest announcement is easily about Henry Cavill. Henry Cavill posted on Instagram that he wouldn’t be returning as Superman. James Gunn followed up on this saying that they were aiming to create a younger Superman story. This news couldn’t be more disheartening. With the release of Black Adam, Henry Cavill appeared in the post-credits scene which implied that he would be back in the role. YIKES. I think Henry Cavill’s Superman statement was professional especially given the context. Both me and my husband liked Henry Cavill as Superman as we thought he was a good fit for the role and it seemed like Henry genuinely enjoyed being in this universe. I’m not exactly a fan of a younger Superman story because it has been done before. I think it would have been much more interesting to feature a veteran Superman who has been through some traumatic events but got through it.

With Henry Cavill out, where is Gal Gadot in all this? I loved Gal Gadot’s portrayal of Wonder Woman and I was hoping that she was going to be carried over into James Gunn’s plan. Patty Jenkins released a statement where she stated it wasn’t her decision to walk away and she would have loved to do a third film. While I didn’t love WW84, I still would have liked to see Gal Gadot return. Besides Patty Jenkins, it’s been announced that the Wonder Woman cameo was cut from The Flash which I think is safe to say that Gal Gadot is out of this new universe.

To be clear, I don’t think James Gunn has an easy job. He has to enter an already messy situation and figure out a way to move forward. It’s unfortunate that this is going to be a full reset instead of potentially merging everything together. If you are a DC fan, I would love to know what you think about this in the comments.

My go-to Holiday movies are The Polar Express, Love Actually, and Die Hard. This post is not to debate whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie because it absolutely is. I saw The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special pop up on Disney+ which was perfect timing since I was figuring out what holiday movies I wanted to watch this year. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special was so fun and filled with holiday cheer along with Drax’s awesome one-liners.

Peter Quill (played by Chris Pratt) has been sad for a while coinciding with the loss of Gamora. Mantis (played by Pom Klementieff) and Drax (played by Dave Bautista) come up with an outrageous idea to make Peter feel better. They will fly to Earth and kidnap Kevin Bacon (played by Kevin Bacon!), so Peter can meet one of his heroes in person. As you can imagine, Mantis and Drax have loads of fun in LA while trying to figure out where Kevin Bacon lives.

First of all, the fact that Kevin Bacon agreed to be in this was cool. I could see as an actor when you’re mentioned in another media property, you might want to steer clear from being a guest star in that franchise. For those who are unaware, Kevin Bacon was mentioned in the first Guardians of the Galaxy film where Peter has a dance battle with Ronan (played by Lee Pace). It was so sweet to see that come full circle especially when Kraglin (played by Sean Gunn) tells Kevin that dancing really in fact saved the galaxy.

I need more Mantis and Drax adventures on Disney+. These two have such great chaotic energy together. There’s a part where they are taking photos on Hollywood Boulevard that’s so funny to watch. I haven’t watched a holiday movie that has made me laugh this much in a while.

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special was such a heartwarming superhero holiday film and is definitely worth the watch.

Before I publish my first official Doctor Who rewatching post, I thought it might be a good idea to talk about some of the terminologies within Doctor Who. I remember attending my first convention in 2013 and not knowing what a Dalek was. I saw it zooming around the convention having no idea what it was from. Doctor Who references are everywhere at conventions and I figured this guide might be interesting for those who may have heard these terms mentioned, but not know exactly what they are.

The Doctor

The Doctor is the main character in Doctor Who. The Doctor is a timelord from the planet Gallifrey. The Doctor travels through space and time-solving problems or stopping an evil alien species. I think what’s interesting about The Doctor is that The Doctor doesn’t have a gender. The Doctor exists and it’s not illustrated whether The Doctor is a man or a woman. This might be an incorrect statement since I haven’t watched the old Doctor Who series, but I have always thought of The Doctor as someone who exists rather than being a certain gender.

The Doctor travels on a TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space) which I will explain a little bit more in a bit. Biologically speaking, The Doctor has two hearts versus one and has superhuman stamina which allows The Doctor to explore different planets with a variety of different atmospheres.

Tardis

The TARDIS is the spaceship that The Doctor travels on. TARDIS is disguised as a blue telephone booth, so when it enters Earth’s atmosphere, it doesn’t look like a spaceship. The joke within the show is that it’s “bigger on the inside” meaning when companions see the TARDIS, they think it’s the size of the telephone booth when really there is a lot more room to move around. In Doctor Who merchandise, the TARDIS is featured quite a bit and I think is one of the main characteristics of the show.

Gallifrey

Gallifrey is The Doctor’s home planet. It’s hinted that there was a war and Gallifrey may have been destroyed. This war is known as the Time War. When Gallifrey is brought up on the show, it often gives a glimpse into The Doctor as having survived something that’s violent and the trauma that comes with that. The Time War is a war that’s between the Time Lords and the Daleks, one of The Doctor’s most fearsome foes.

Dalek

The Dalek is one of the most feared enemies in Doctor Who. It’s basically a robot with a toilet plunger as its eye. As a fun fact, the original Daleks were made of egg cartons and sink plungers. The Daleks come up a lot as each Doctor has had to confront the Dalek. While the Daleks seem a bit dorky, they are incredibly powerful. Their signature line is “Exterminate” as they say this every time they go to kill anything.

Companion

Companions are incredibly important in Doctor Who. The companions are humans, aliens, robots, or any other living being that travels with The Doctor. Each actor who has played The Doctor is often brought up based on the companions that they travel with. There’s Rose Tyler (played by Billie Piper) who traveled with the 9th Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and the 10th Doctor (David Tennant). There’s Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Wiliams (Arthur Darvill) who traveled primarily with the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith). Companions help keep The Doctor company by bringing their natural intelligence to help save the day.

Regeneration

Whenever The Doctor is wounded or old, The Doctor regenerates. This is how it’s explained when new actors or actresses play the role of The Doctor. Out of all the franchises that exist, Doctor Who may be the only one that has a way to explain new people playing the role that’s canon in the fandom. I think it’s rather creative. It shows how The Doctor has existed in many lifetimes and how each lifetime has certain companions or memories associated.

When The Doctor regenerates, The Doctor usually glows as a yellow beam explodes out of their body and they take on a new appearance with the new actor.

History Behind Doctor Who

Doctor Who is listed in the Guinness World Records as the longest-running science fiction television show in the world. The original Doctor Who show aired in 1963 and continued until 1989. The show was relaunched in 2005 and has been airing new episodes along with the announcement of Ncuti Gatwa as the new Doctor. With a show running as long as Doctor Who has, there’s so much history to explore.

One of the scandals or mishaps in Doctor Who are the mystery of the missing episodes. It’s assumed these episodes were deleted, but the reasons aren’t confirmed. It could have been because of a lack of storage or a lack of broadcasting rights. No one knows where these episodes are and it leaves some series of Doctor Who as being incomplete. I remember hearing about the missing episodes at CONvergence when I attended a Doctor Who-themed panel. It’s something that’s worth referencing in this “Doctor Who 101″ post as you might hear someone bring it up.

I hope this helps! You may hear these being brought up with Doctor Who fans and now you know where they come from or at least a little bit more about Doctor Who in general. I hope to have my first post up with the first series of Doctor Who before the end of the year.

I have been brainstorming an idea for a new blog prompt for Bizarre Brunette. I did write a James Bond blog prompt where I would rewatch all the Bond movies. The prompt fell apart when I got stuck watching the Sean Connery era. I thought about this and that’s when the idea came to me. I wanted to do a full rewatch of Doctor Who starting all the way back with Christopher Eccleston’s series which originally aired in 2005. Me and my husband are planning a trip to Europe next year and I recently found out that there’s a museum in London devoted to Doctor Who. It would be fun to do a full rewatch, so by the time that I go, I will have all of the Doctor Who lore fresh in my mind.

How will this prompt work? I decided that I think I will write a post anytime I finish a full series. Originally, I was thinking of a post per episode, but that seems exhausting. Once I finish a series, I’ll do a post recap of the series, the Doctor, a favorite companion or episode, and potentially even a favorite enemy. I’m still figuring out what I will recap or write about. My end goal is to get fully caught up, so I can start watching new episodes of Doctor Who when they air. I would love to rewatch old Who aka. the Doctor Who episodes before 2005, but that’s a huge goal and I may need a Doctor Who break once I’m done with my rewatch.

To help get into the mindset of rewatching Doctor Who, I wanted to share my Doctor Who origin story or how I became a Whovian. In 2014, I was looking for a new show to watch. I saw Doctor Who on Netflix and remembered seeing Doctor Who cosplays and content at CONvergence. I started watching the show and my first thought was “this is kind of weird”. It didn’t stop me from finishing the episode and I ended up continuing throughout the series. I met my husband shortly after watching Doctor Who and I introduced him to the series. He started watching and since he finishes shows way faster than I do, he quickly got ahead of me.

While me and my husband watched Doctor Who, he bought a Tardis mug and in the mug, we came up with “date” ideas for when we wanted to do something but didn’t know what. Me and my husband stumbled upon this recently and saw a prompt, “go out for a drink (when legal)”. This was created before we were both 21 and me and my husband thought this was too cute. Doctor Who in a lot of ways reminds me of the beginning of my relationship with my husband. Our wedding dinner entrance was the Doctor Who theme song. Doctor Who in a lot of ways is so much more than a TV show. It’s a show that’s been with me through various portions of my life.

I’m excited to do a full rewatch. It’s about time since it’s been at least five years since I have watched an episode. Doctor Who will always have a special place in my heart. Allons-Y!

My friend reached out to me and asked me if I watched Ms. Marvel yet. I told her I haven’t as I’m a bit behind in my Marvel Disney+ TV series. She encouraged me to watch it because she felt it was her all-time favorite Marvel show. I had this on my list to watch down the road, but since she set such high expectations, I started watching the show right away. I adored Ms. Marvel and honestly, it might be up there with WandaVision as being the top Marvel TV show that I have watched.

Ms. Marvel is centered around Kamala Khan (played by Iman Vellani) who is an average teenager growing up in Jersey City. She’s a big Avengers fangirl and she tries to convince her parents to let her go to AvengerCon, a comic book convention for fans of the Avengers. She brings along her friend Bruno (played by Matt Lintz) to AvengerCon, so she doesn’t have to go by herself. As Kamala enters the Captain Marvel Cosplay Contest, she slips on a family heirloom that grants her powers. She accidentally destroys portions of the convention and flees. With Bruno’s help, she starts to get a handle on her powers while also understanding her family’s history.

I loved Kamala! I’m biased because I did read Ms. Marvel comics before watching the show. Kamala’s fandom is front and center which is a big part of her backstory. It’s not often that I watch a show and see a character on TV going to a comic book convention without it being a thing to make fun of. Ms. Marvel also highlights Kamala finding out about her family and why she has the powers that she does. I thought this story developed in a really interesting way. I also like Kamala’s friends. Ms. Marvel wouldn’t have come to be without Bruno. He’s the science best friend who helps Kamala. There’s Nakia (played by Yasmeen Fletcher) who Kamala encourages to run for a position on the mosque board. The three of them each have different qualities to them that work well together.

Similar to She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel received online hate when it was released on Disney+. I genuinely do not understand the hatred for this series. I think if I had to guess, it would come down to the target audience. Ms. Marvel is aimed at a younger audience, it’s not gritty like Moon Knight was. Some of the hate could come from those who didn’t like Captain Marvel which is silly because Ms. Marvel is a different story entirely. While I understand that not everyone will like the same things, I do find it obnoxious whenever I see positive comments about Ms. Marvel and there are Facebook reactions with the laughing face.

Ms. Marvel was so good! I’m contemplating rewatching the series again because that’s how much I liked the show. Ms. Marvel is available to stream on Disney+ and The Marvels is set to air in 2023.