Better Late Than Never on "I'm a Virgo"

After seeing "I Love Boosters", I decided I was going to watch the seven episode series "I'm A Virgo". You all know I'm a Boots Riley fan, and this is the show he did in between his two excellent movies. I remember when the show was announced, but why I never got to it then, I don't remember. But I'm glad that I remedied that over the past couple of weeks.

"I'm Virgo" is a coming of age tale about a giant that lives with his aunt and uncle in San Francisco. I know, it sounds weird. But I am pretty much on board with whatever Boots Riley is doing creatively at this point, and this show was a blind spot that I wanted to correct. The start of the first episode is great too. It really hooks you and makes you want to watch more. We see this mom holding this gigantic baby. I mean this baby is a newborn, but it is bigger than anyone else. And then we see the newborn grow into a 19 year old in this small home where he lives with his aunt and uncle. Cootie, played by Jharrel Jerome, is the giant. He is naive to the world, but he wants to know more. He wants to explore. He wants to make friends and see what is outside his own little world, His aunt and uncle, played by Mike Epps and Carmen Ejogo, are doing their best to raise him and shelter him. He is so big though, they have to build him a separate area in their yard that is more suitable for his size. He breaks everything around him in his original home, so they all feel this is best for him. While living back in his own place, he sees things through a pipe that they installed for him. He sees kids hanging out. A local person comes by to chat with him. He reads comic books all the time and wants to see this world that "The Hero" has talked about in the books. One day he travels outside of his domicile disguised as a tree. One kid at a keg party goes to use the restroom in the woods and stumbles upon this moving tree. He tells everyone it's called the Thwamp Monster. This is how Cootie is introduced to the world. But he gains friends and fame and a girlfriend out of it. Flora, played by Olivia Washington, is his girlfriend. She works at Bing Bang Burgers. She is instantly into him and he likes her too. They do a solo episode explaining her past and it is heartbreaking and one of the best of the whole season. Flora rules. Cootie's main group of friends, Felix, Jones and Scat, played by Brett Gray, Kara Young and Allius Barnes, take to Cootie really quickly and they show him how to navigate the real world. They talk about making money, hooking up and fighting for a bigger cause. Jones was my favorite of the friends. She has a plan, she takes action, she basically saves the day and her "power" in the show is pretty neat. Scat plays a massive role as the season wears on. It's unfortunate why his role gets bigger, but I really enjoyed Barnes portrayal of this character, especially when he's denied entrance into a hospital. Felix is the coolest of the crew and he just wants to have a good time. But he is also willing to fight the fight and bang the drum for the cause. Walton Goggins plays The Hero, and he is a massive asshole, on purpose. The penultimate episode showing his story is important and Goggins brings it like he always does. The show starts off funny and like your basic coming of age story. But it morphs into so much more. We have capitalism, racism, brutality, standing up for what is right, getting people to help fight the powers that be, all of this is rolled up nicely into seven 30 minute episodes. I found myself very interested in what was going to happen next. It had that nice, odd Boots Riley feel to it. It was cool to see what he did with more time than he has on a movie set. I thought the actors and writers brought it as well.

"I'm A Virgo" is a cool, off the beaten path show. I feel it may be underrated at this point, but maybe more people will check it out now with the success that "I Love Boosters" is having. I'm glad I watched it and I think you should check it out too. I believe many people will find this to be a good time. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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"Alien: Covenant" is a Pointless Way to Spend Your Holiday Movie Watching Weekend

Spend the unofficial star of summer here, not in Ridley Scott's Alien world

First off, Happy Memorial Day. I'm a little conflicted as a person on this day. I support the troops and those that fought for the freedom of this country, but I am vehemently opposed to war, and I HATE our current government. So, for me this Memorial Day, I choose to remember family members that fought in wars, and Harambe. It is just over one year since we lost Harambe. Those are the people I will memorialize on this day.

Now that that is out of the way, lets get to my review of "Alien: Covenant".

I was very excited to see this movie. I, like most movie watchers, love "Alien" and "Aliens". Those are 2 exceptional, scary, tight paced horror movies that happen in outer space. I'm not a big fan of horror movies, but there is something about being in space that attracts me to movies like "Alien" and "Aliens". There is nothing more I can say about those movies that hasn't already been said. They're classics.

On the other hand, "Prometheus" is one big pile of trash. I was so stoked to see that movie when it came out a few years back. I was pumped that they were going to do a prequel to 2 great movies. I was so excited that one of my favorite actors, Michael Fassbender, was going to have a big part in it. I loved that Damon Lindelof, of "Lost" fame, was writing it. It had everything that I thought I wanted. Then, I watched the movie and I just hated it. It was boring, incoherent, poorly acted, poorly written, terribly directed, it was bad. My wife fell asleep during all the big scenes, and I wished I had to. The only decent thing, and I use decent very loosely, was Fassbender. That dude is a great actor. I so wanted Noomi Rapace to be awesome, and while she was okay, she was no Sigourney Weaver. Everyone else was just awful. "Prometheus" nearly turned me off "Alien" and "Aliens". But, I re watched them both, and I was back on board.

Then, about a year ago, I heard that Ridley Scott was returning to do a new "Alien" movie. I got excited once again. Then, when I saw pictures of the set, heard about the cast and heard that the Xenomorhps would be back, needless to say, I was going to see this movie. The movie came out a couple of weeks ago, but with it being a holiday weekend, I had a chance to see it yesterday, and my dad and I took advantage of our open afternoon, and we went to see it. I sat down in my chair fully expecting to fall in love all over again with this franchise. This one was definitely was going to be better than "Prometheus" I said to myself.

The opening credits rolled, And yes, it was better than "Prometheus",  but, this wasn't the movie I was hoping for when I first heard about it. The movie got decent reviews, but the consensus of the mass critics kind of summed it up perfectly. They said it was a nice return to form, and better than "Prometheus", but that it didn't add anything new to the franchise. I thought that was spot on. Everything about this movie was fine. Nothing was terrible, but nothing was great. The actors were all pretty decent, highlighted by Danny McBride and Michael Fassbender. Fassbender had dual roles, as 2 versions of his robot, and he played his part very well. I totally bought it. McBride, who I have only ever seen in comedies, I thought handled the drama, suspense and horror very well. Everyone else did okay. Not great, just okay. Katherine Waterson as Daniels, essentially the Sigourney Weaver role, was kind of a bad ass, but nowhere near as bad ass as Weaver. The rest of the crew was blah. Billy Crudup, Demian Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Jussie Smollett, Callie Hernandez and Amy Seimetz didn't really leave any kind of impression on me. They were just there. The story was still a bit slow too. They focused a bit too much on Fassbender's robot, and that was to their demise. They relied a bit too much on Fassbender's great acting I think. The action sequences were okay, but they did not blow me away. In fact, you could definitely see the CGI in a few scenes.

Say something positive I keep hearing my mother say. With that in mind, the best part of the movie was the Xenomorhps, and the other aliens that scurried through the forest. They were definitely scary and crazy looking. My only problem with the aliens though, we saw the main Xenomorph in the previews. They should have held that out. It would have made it so much more cooler had I not known it was coming.

All this being said, "Alien: Covenant" was better than "Prometheus", but that is not a compliment. I expected a whole lot more from this movie. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I really wanted this movie to be a lot better. I'm glad I saw it, I am a completist. But, it just wasn't as great as I wanted it to be. I had higher hopes.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Harambe also loved "Alien" and "Aliens". The world owed him a better film than "Alien: Covenant".

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