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22. Least Favorite AVENGERS Film:

It’s AGE OF ULTRON. I don’t have a unique perspective on why this movie is kind of blah, so I’ll just see you tomorrow with my 23rd entry.

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Jo is Afraid @bywayofjosiah.bsky.social · 2d

That bit near the end where the biblical figure that they keep alluding to actually *shows up* blew my mind. It never occurred to me that they would actually go there.

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Jo is Afraid @bywayofjosiah.bsky.social · 2d

I didn’t realize it was the same director as SCARE ME. That was a cool movie that managed to do a whole lot with very little.

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Jo is Afraid @bywayofjosiah.bsky.social · 2d

I missed out on these reviews b/c of the UK-US time difference. But thanks for taking time to post.

I was blindsided by THE MONKEY in the best way. It’s so inventive and funny in ways that I didn’t think Oz Perkins was capable of. And there’s no shallow satanic panic baiting, unlike his usual fare.

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Jo is Afraid @bywayofjosiah.bsky.social · 2d

It also sets up a great line read in CIVIL WAR where Falcon reluctantly says, “I know a guy.”

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Jo is Afraid @bywayofjosiah.bsky.social · 3d

Huge bonus points for THE MONKEY not continuing to hit that same worn-out Satanic Panic pressure point as LONGLEGS and BLACKCOAT’S DAUGHTER.

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Jo is Afraid @bywayofjosiah.bsky.social · 3d

I was totally blindsided by how much I love that thing, especially after actively dis-enjoying LONGLEGS.

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Jo is Afraid @bywayofjosiah.bsky.social · 3d

One time, he got really cross during a podcast interview because the other guy brought up the subject of HPL’s racism. Petersen was quick to deflect by saying most of Lovecraft’s horror comes from the idea of “having sex with someone you’re not supposed to.”

Like…my dude…that sounds pretty racist.

a man in a brown shirt is making a funny face .

Alt: Meme of Captain Mal on FIREFLY being speechless in an exaggerated way.

media.tenor.com

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Jo is Afraid @bywayofjosiah.bsky.social · 3d

FWIW, my “Best Horror Movie of the Year” is THE MONKEY with maybe PRESENCE in second place. Yes, I also enjoyed SINNERS but the vampire-focused bits didn’t feel like anything new.

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Jo is Afraid @bywayofjosiah.bsky.social · 3d

I don’t agree with “Best Horror Movie of the Year,” but TOGETHER might be the one that actually scared me the most. Really tight script with better dialogue than most in its class.

Film poster for TOGETHER, showing Dave Franco and Alison Brie with their arms fusing together in a body horror way. The blurb at the top says, “The Best Horror Movie of the Year.”

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Jo is Afraid @bywayofjosiah.bsky.social · 3d

21. Favorite AVENGERS Film:

INFINITY WAR. For about ten minutes, I let myself pretend the consequences were gonna stick, and that made these movies feel more substantial than they really are. Also, it’s effectively GUARDIANS, vol. 2.5, which I both love and hate about it.

Film poster for AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, which shows like a bajillion characters from at least 8,000 previous movies.

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Jo is Afraid @bywayofjosiah.bsky.social · 3d

20. Favorite Place.

This may be a cheat, but I really like San Francisco, and SHANG-CHI begins and ends there so, bang: it’s my favorite place in the MCU.

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Jo is Afraid @bywayofjosiah.bsky.social · 3d

I’m very fond of “Just two adults getting a stew on, man!”

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Jo is Afraid @bywayofjosiah.bsky.social · 3d

My dude was so good in HALLOWEEN ENDS.

a man in a suit and tie stands in a crowd

Alt: Tobias Funke meme about there being DOZENS OF US! DOZENS!

media.tenor.com

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Jo is Afraid @bywayofjosiah.bsky.social · 3d

Yeah, I get that. I can’t really think of a time when I ever listened to just one ISIS song. You kind of have to just take the whole journey.

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Jo is Afraid @bywayofjosiah.bsky.social · 3d

Dude, WAVERING RADIANT is such a personal record for me. I fucking WORE OUT that song “20 Minutes, 40 Years” because my uncle died at age 40 a little while after I got that record. That song is just heavy in every sense of the word, and so cathartic.

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Jo is Afraid @bywayofjosiah.bsky.social · 3d

They actually made a THE GUEST 2 soundtrack that was so legit I thought that a sequel actually got made. The album art had Dan Stevens in a cowboy hat. It was so believable! theguest2.bandcamp.com/album/the-gu...

The Guest 2 (Original Soundtrack), by Various Artists

12 track album

theguest2.bandcamp.com

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Jo is Afraid @bywayofjosiah.bsky.social · 3d

And yeah, they were great live. The opening track from OCEANIC was the encore and I lost my miiiiind!

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Jo is Afraid @bywayofjosiah.bsky.social · 3d

Along the same lines, PANOPTICON loses a few percentage points for me because it’s too good at being an instant classic shoegaze record. Even if TRUTH songs like “Holy Tears” and (my favorite) “Dulcinea” aren’t actually heavier than “In Fiction,” they feel heavier (to me) for some reason.

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