Throw in the Pal

Thor: Ragnarök is the story of a man attempting to come to terms with his dormant potential, when he has been doubted for so long by so many, coming as he does from a far away land where people dress and speak funny, abiding by odd customs and always seeming to stand out from the crowd, yet determined as ever to fight for the recognition he believes he is owed. His name is Taika Waititi, and this is the tale of the last time people thought he was funny or commercially viable.

People are always talking about how good urns are in the east (they won't shup up about it!), but have you ever stopped to consider: what's the best west urn? And if you're thinking '70s urns, '80s urns or - God help you - '90s urns, we'd all like to know what Marty McFly's like in person, cos you livin' in the past, sucka, and gotta come back to nowadays and think about the Best West Urns of the 21st Century. What do you think happens to dead cowboys? West urns. Where did people used to spit out that wet tobaccah? West urns! What did people used to say about Kanye when he was still a billionaire and not a disgraced neo-Nazi? Damn, this dude's pretty sick, I bet that he makes a lot of money off of this, but not was much as the man who first conceived of the miracle receptacles that are WEST URNS! Anyway, we're talkin' modern westerns, y'all. Yee-Pal!

The fact of the matter is The Faculty Is the narrative we're chatting 'bout as Pals Full of splatters and a characteristic tendency For embattled adolescents in a grapple with a parasitic entity To enact their personas through apparel that apparently embellishes their evident identity While they barricade their perils to their detrimental mental states, attempting to ameliorate their differences to neutralise their enmity And Josh Hartnett's really f#&!ing hot.

Sitcoms are the backbone of television, and just like your actual backbone, they degrade over time and often end in sh!t. But occasionally they produce stars, or sorta stars, or at least stardust particles, that find their way to the big screen. Which sitcom casts have blasted past their dominion to hit some pinnacle in cinema or beyond? Time to find out what the Pals are talkin bout, Willis.

What's the best strategy to get taxi-drivin' Margaret's attention?

Or what could I say in order to compel a lady quite contrary to violently vomit frozen rain?

In fact, what is perhaps the closest near-perfect rhyme for the all-too-common social justice slogan, "Protect gay Clefairy"?

That's right: Project Hail Mary.

As it turns out, also a movie.

Do you have 2020 vision? Not like these Pals! All they see is 2020 everywhere they look. It's a problem; someone call a doctor! Or, wait, maybe a... director? Oh, now you're cooking with gas. Wait, what's that smell? A new Short and Sweet discussing the Best Directors of the 2020s so far? And also gas?! Jackpot.

Featuring:

Emma Seligman - Shiva Baby + Bottoms Zach Cregger - Barbarian + Weapons Sean Baker - Red Rocket + Anora The Daniels - Everything Everywhere All at Once Clint Bentley - Train Dreams Denis Villeneuve - Dune + Dune: Part Two Ryusuke Hamaguchi - Drive My Car + Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Bust out the Hamnet and start rounding up some porkers cos we're gonna choo-choo down to Train Dream station faster than an F1 race, on the lookout for Sinners with no sense or Sentimental Value about 'em, keeping dapper as a Secret Agent and fiery as an Italian nonna yelling, "Bugonia!" at a buncha busy-bodies, ping ponging like Marty Supreme day after day, night after night, One Battle After A-f$^&ing-nother. FRANKENSTEIN!

Oscar? I hardly know... him?! The pals (sans Marcus) throw out predictions and aspersions for the 98th Annual Academy Awards. Let's go!

A hyperlink is a device you click to try connect two quite distinct online-type things. While a rom-com is the short form for a popular sub-gen where love's wrongs go right. Combined, we get films filled brimming with stars, far-flung yet spun together as they are, By fate's whimsy, not always crisply done, more often flimsy, but grins and fun, regardless, Tend to come from watching these sorta movies. Groovy?

There are many things that TITP - OBAA could commonly be an acronym for:

• Trampolining is the Problem - Our Butts are Aching
• Teaching Idiots to Pilot - Oh Boy, Airplane Armageddon!
• Two Inches, Ten Pregnancies - Orgy Blunders at Armidale
• Take 'im to Paris - Oooh Bonjour, Ami Ancien

But this week, weirdly, it stands for Throw in the Pal - One Battle After Another.

Go figure.