Let's autopsy this thing.

Music is Windmills of your mind by Enoch Light and the Light Brigade

In a long-awaited episode, I go all in on the three live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films from the early 1990s.

Let's talk about how defunding various public services impacts a lot more than you expect, and just to keep it pragmatic, I'll talk about it from my own personal anecdotal frame of reference.

One of the first films I really wanted to talk about as a reviewer, but didn't have the knowhow at the time, this is an Orion Pictures big budget flop that has developed a cult following.

I enjoyed so much of this as an adaptation of a series of novels, and don't worry, I do try to do it justice on every front.

This is one that I've wanted to write for a long time, pretty much from the start of my online reviews, and in this instance, another content creator actually prompted me to pick the subject back up.

Lewis Luvhaug mentioned in his review of Invincible volume 3 that it was a worthy subject, and it was right in my wheelhouse.

This is a very grown-up movie, so some subject matter is more mature than younger audiences may be ready for.

Additionally: I know I got some parts of the movie wrong. Sarah is not in a hospital gown, for some reason it looked like she was at first. They filmed in a limestone mine and cavern, but for some reason I thought it was a salt mine. But those are minor details, really toward the main points of the discussion. I apologize for my mistakes. I was anemic from donating blood at the time of writing it.

In this piece, I talk about the forgotten 2006 all-star project that was part political satire & part dark thriller. What's more we'll examine how it accidentally foresaw the 2016 run by Donald J Trump and how his various actions over time differ from that of Man of the Year's protagonist, Tom Dobbs. We'll look back at the career of the film's star, Robin Williams, and the writer-director who first worked with Williams in Good Morning, Vietnam. We're taking a deep and wide look at this, so get ready for a wild ride.

Music is Wake Up by Arcade Fire

This is another long-awaited subject that I was spurred to write for the podcast. Some spoilers are contained herein.

I have taken a long look at the versions of The Shining and the documentary Room 237 to really go in depth. One idea even posits that the movie has a symmetrical effect if you play it forwards and backwards, overlaid on top of one-another, each way.

So what really went on for the Torrence family in the Overlook hotel? The answer may just surprise you.

The auteur is a bit of an old-school concept in the world of cinema. Most people who can act, write, direct, and more, tend to do so one at a time, but there are some people who it all at once in a proverbial plate-spinning act.

Wearing that many proverbial hats at once can be a lot of burden, and sometimes it works: Orson Welles, Jerry Lewis, Kenneth Branagh.

So in this episode, I'll tell you a bit about two films by contemporary persons who set out to tell stories all their own, and whether or not they worked as well as you'd hope.

Songs sampled for bumps are by Rose Royce and Scissor Sisters.

Please keep any comments constructive and respectful.

Trigger warning: this discussion centers around relationships, abuse, and sexuality which some viewers may find upsetting or inappropriate for younger audiences. Discretion is advised.

This is a discussion that I have waited almost 25 years to have. I spent multiple semesters getting top marks in Psych courses, making the dean's list & national honors society just to get to the point where I can dissect the dysfunctional personalities in a flop raunchy comedy you probably don't even remember.

Strap in, because we're taking a deep dive on this one. It's literally a movie that I only really like for the ending, because the rest of it is immensely uncomfortable. What do I mean? Listen and find out.

As always, any comments in response should be constructive and respectful.

In this long overdue episode, I'll take you on a journey through all kinds of movies that have characters that are either explicitly or implicitly autistic, and highlight the differences in how they are handled better or worse. Then we'll end on a discussion of autism in television, which only briefly touches on much of the attempts over the years.