Ty Watches "GOAT"

My kids had school off yesterday and my son has been asking to go see the new animated movie "GOAT". He was asking my folks to take him, but they didn't have the time. With my daughter being homebound since she is sick, my son and I were stir crazy, so I decided that was the perfect time to take him.

I did not know a lot about the movie, but one of my older brother's did tell me that he thought my son would enjoy it. He was correct. This review will be as spoiler free as possible, but a few spoilers may slip here and there. Forewarning. "GOAT" takes place in an alternate world where animals play a version of professional basketball called Roar Ball. Roar ball has, for the most part, bigger animals that play. We have pumas, rhinos, ostriches, grizzly bears and horses, among others. The sport is tough for smaller animals to play because it is, especially for a kids movie, pretty violent. The courts are also susceptible to the elements, since most games are held outdoors.

Early on we meet the main character, Will, and his mom. Will is a goat and he dreams of playing for his local town's team, the Thorns. He also wants to play with his favorite player of all time, Jett. He goes to a game with his mom and vows to become a pro one day. We fast forward 10 years and Will still has hoop dreams, but he is still small. His mom has also, unfortunately, passed away. Will works as a delivery guy for a diner, but he always finds time to play Roar Ball, mostly by himself. Meanwhile the Thorns and Jett are having a tough season and Jett looks to be getting passed by as the best to ever play. There is a new player in town, a horse named Mane Attraction. Mane Attraction is brash and bold and a top notch hooper. He is on the internet talking trash all the time and he knows how good he is. One day he goes to the Vineyard, this is where they play pickup ball, and he is taking on anyone willing to play him. Will gets his shot and breaks his ankles. Mane Attraction eventually wins the game, but Will's friends upload the video of his breaking ankles. This video goes so viral that the owner of the Thorns signs him. Jett doesn't care for this, but they need a sixth player, and Will is chosen for the job.

From here on out the movie follows the typical sports stereotypes. Will doesn't play at all and he cannot get through to his teammates. Jett is a ball hog and a loner. Eventually they come together as a team and start winning. Then the team gets sold before the semifinals. Will overhears a conversation between the owner and Jett and Jett reverts to her old ways. They all apologize and get back together and eventually win it all. And one of the players on the team is able to buy it from the owner and they don't have to move. They set up a sequel in the closing credits and, after 100 minutes, we were out of the theater.

This is your typical kids sports movie. It hits all the cliches. You can tell what is going to happen beat by beat. That being said, I found myself enjoying what I was watching, but not for the reasons I used to like sports movies. Will is all well and good to watch, and I liked the basketball adjacent game they played, but I enjoyed the hell out of the coach in the movie. Patton Oswalt voiced the coach, and when he was given full control of the team, I was all in. His message was all about teamwork and how teams, not individuals, win rings. He championed defense, teamwork and togetherness as ways to win. I have been saying this since I started coaching my son six years ago. I loved that this was the ringing message throughout the movie. And the only way they end up winning it all is by playing as a team. I loved that.

Outside the coach, my favorite part, this was a solid cast doing nice voicework. Caleb McLaughlin voiced Will and he was great. He was full of energy and optimism and I was there for it. Some other people lending voices were Gabrielle Union, Steph Curry, Aaron Pierre, Nicola Coughlan, David Harbour, Nick Kroll and Jennifer Hudson, among others. Everyone is doing solid work and seems to be having a good time doing it. The movie had a great message and the cast put that on blast. The animation was cool, the movie was short, the action was fun and I was never bored watching it.

I recommend any parents with young kids who play basketball go to see this movie. It is neat and cool and tells a positive and nice story. My son and I enjoyed it, and I think young basketball players will like it too. 

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "Black Widow"

My wife and I watched "Black Widow" like most of the rest of the country this Friday. It was her turn to pick, but had it been my turn I would have picked it too. We have wanted to see this movie for two years now.

"Black Widow" was the first really big movie I remember being postponed due to COVID. I was bummed when it got pushed, but of course I understood. We also did not go to the theater to see it. We rented, or maybe bought it, on Disney+. I guess a lot of other people got it on Disney+ as well. Apparently they made something like 60 million plus dollars this weekend on people using Disney+.

Anyway, I kind of enjoyed this movie. I get some of the criticism that it is getting. It seems awkward to make a movie about a character whose outcome we already know, but it is a flashback in its essence. Scarlett Johansson was outshined by other people, but I like when other actors step up in movies that they are not the focus of. And the plot and twists were pretty easy to get, but it is a Marvel movie so the plot twists and whatnot are usually easy to follow. So the criticisms, while valid, I can find reasons to refute them. Otherwise, this movie is solid. One of my wife's friends at work said it was a spy thriller with "Mission Impossible" style action scenes. He was right on the money. Black Widow herself is a spy, and she comes from a family of spies, so that works. The action was rad, and had crazy stuff like helicopters and big planes falling from the sky. The fight scenes were also really well choreographed and expertly done by the actors.

As for the actors, they did good. Scarlett Johansonn was very solid as Black Widow. She played her like she has in all of the other MCU movies she has been in. We have come to know that character so well that any change would have been unnecessary. Rachel Weisz was very good as the surrogate mom who is a brilliant scientist. Weisz has had such a good and solid and sometimes exceptional career as an actor. She has seemingly played every role, and she usually does a very good job. The villain was cheeky and over the top and exactly what I want from my Marvel villains. I thought Taskmaster was cool. I liked the look of the suit and her never ending desire to do as informed by her father and creator. But the stars, by a wide margin, were David Harbour and Florence Pugh. Harbour was the father figure and Russia's version of Captain America. He was so funny. He was so goofy. He said the wrong thing at the wrong time. He was so fantastic in this role. This is such a great role for him. He looks like a regular dude and acts like one too. This was an exceptional performance from him. But Pugh was the absolute star. She was simply perfect. She was funny, but also very tough and a great spy. She had a great Russian accent. She acted the most like a child when being around Weisz and Harbour. She had the most moving moments in the movie. She made fun of all the stuff we have come to love about Black Widow, and it made me laugh. When she did Black Widow's pose and then scoffed, that was incredibly funny. I hope, and assume, that she is going to be around the MCU in this new phase, and I am here for it.

All in all I enjoyed myself while watching the movie. I recommend other people check it out too. Do not listen to the comic book nerds and misogynists that are bad mouthing this movie. They are punks and children. "Black Widow" is a good movie. It is a nice second step in the new MCU phase.

Ty

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

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Ty Watches "Stranger Things"

I just finished, last night in fact, "Stranger Things" on Netflix. Now, just to get it all out of the way, this is going to be a shorter post from me today. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, I'll get into that in a minute, but I do want to talk about a show that a lot of other people have been talking about. I was, at first, opposed to watching "Stranger Things". I thought it was going to be straight horror. I was picturing nothing but gore and scary stuff happening throughout. But, after some posturing and a good talking to from my wife, I gave in and told her I'd watch with her.

Boy am I glad that I gave in because "Stranger Things" was absolutely phenomenal. My wife and I usually take about two to three weeks to finish a season of certain shows, but we finished "Stranger Things" in less than two weeks, and we were out of town for three of those days. We would sit down after putting our kids to bed and just watch. We had to see what happened next. We could not wait two or three days at a time in between episodes. The mini vacation was great, but we kept talking about the fact that we couldn't watch the show. The people we visited, we asked them to not spoil anything because they had finished the show, but we were only half way through.

I haven't felt this way about a show since I got very heavily into "Lost". I know that I write about a lot of shows, like "Bar Rescue" and "The Eric Andre Show", both of which I truly adore, but "Stranger Things" was so, so much better than pretty much anything that I currently watch on TV. Some of the shows that I watch weekly, I can go a couple of days before watching, but I craved "Stranger Things". The show was quite spectacular. I'm not going to spoil anything because this show needs to be watched. It is so god damn incredible, and just like I did not want our friends in Chicago to spoil anything, I will not spoil a single thing. I feel that is only fair.

I do want to talk about some of the things I really liked about the show though. I loved the cast. Winona Ryder really showed up for this role and she was great. David Harbour, an actor I'm not to familiar with, did a very good job. Matthew Modine was creepy and excellent. The other, older actors all did a very good job in their roles. But, the kids on this show were the stars. They were all fantastic. The middle school aged kids were great. The high school aged kids were great. And the college aged kids were great. But, the young girl that is the main character, she is the star. She was exceptional, and she is going to start doing bigger things after this. 

"Stranger Things" captured the time, the style and the attitude of the 80's in a small Midwest town to perfection. I could relate to a lot of what was going on. Which leads me to the set pieces. The sets were excellent. Everything looked like it was from 1980. It just had that look, and I know you guys know what I'm talking about. The Duffer Brothers, the creators of the show, hit an absolute home run with pretty much everything they chose to do with "Stranger Things", all the way from choosing Netflix to how each character dressed, and everything in between.

I am so grateful to my wife for talking me into this show. Sure, there was horror and gore, but there was also comedic moments, coming of age moments, fights and stories about the importance of family. I have zero bad things to say about "Stranger Things", except for the fact that it took me so long to watch it. This show was perfect in every single way. I'm sure it will be back for a second season, and I can only hope it is half as good as this first season. If you like horror, mystery, comedy and science fiction, watch "Stranger Things" immediately. Read this blog, then stop whatever else you were going to do today and binge watch it. I guarantee that you will love it. It's so good.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. When rolling the die, he thinks Netflix is rolling some true 20's. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.