Ty Watches "Opus"

Last week I watched the movie "Opus". Let’s discuss.

Once I saw that Ayo Edebiri was going to be in a horror/comedy from A24 I was all in. I enjoy her work on "The Bear". She is the heart and soul of that show for me. I didn't finish "I Love LA", but I did see her small role as a European pop icon and I thought she played it perfectly over the top. I like her voice work on "Big Mouth", and now i'm stoked that she is getting more and more work.

As I found out more about "Opus", I got even more on board. John Malkovich was cast as a superstar pop icon. He was going to be playing one of the best singer/songwriters in the world. He also seemed to have a creepy aura about him, and you could see that from the trailers. From what I read, "Opus" was about Malkovich's popstar inviting people from the world of pop culture to hear his new record and then some flagrant stuff was going to go down. The two people I knew cast, and the premise were more than enough for me to want to watch.

Then some reviews came out and "Opus" kind of got panned. That bummed me out. That was when I decided to wait for it to come to streaming. It took me a bit, but I finally saw it and I have some thoughts. I do want to say, this review will have spoilers in it. Just a heads up.

So, this movie was not great. I want to start with that. It goes kind of nuts and off the rails in the final act. The stuff leading up to the climax was good and scary and thrilling, but you could tell what was going to happen from the jump. The rest of the cast was really great though. Besides Malkovich and Edebiri, we have Murray Bartlett, Juliette Lewis, Tony Hale and Amber Midthunder, among others. Whoever cast this movie did a wonderful job, and I don't necessarily blame the actors for the movie kind of unraveling the whole way through. Malkovich is good and creepy. I also appreciate that he actually sang the songs in the movie. Edebiri is great as the young and hungry journalist. She is a great actor and she did such a wonderful job in a co-starring role. Bartlett is funny, Lewis brings a solid veteran to the cast and Midthunder is downright terrifying. Tony Hale is barely in it, but he brings it for his two scenes in the whole thing.

For people who may not know, "Opus" is about a former pop star making a new album and inviting some people to his compound to be the first to listen. The compound is creepy. The people working and living there are clearly up to no good. The place is too pristine and too well manicured and taken care of. The invited guests, besides Edebiri, don't seem to see what is going on, and when they do, it is far too late. Look, while the movie is not great, it did keep my attention. Sure, it was easy to figure out what was going to happen beat by beat, but that did not take away from my viewing experience. Malkovich really brought it and he is scary to begin with. I didn't like the way they had him reveal his plan so quickly and abruptly, but again that is not his fault. And even in the end, when Edebiri finally gets to interview him, I could not take my eyes off his performance. Malkovitch is a good and dependable actor and you know he is going to bring it when he is cast in a movie. My biggest nitpick with the movie is the turn after the puppet show. This is when the whole plan is revealed and this is when they go way, way too gory. The kills were merciless and brutal. I felt like they took it a bit too far for my taste. The getaway was easy to spot. The wrap up from Malkovich in prison talking about how the survivors of his cult were still out there was way too easy to see coming. But I was still locked in the whole time. I think the better idea would have been to just keep the movie within the compound and slowly reveal the plan. That was the best part of the movie. When they let tension sit there and made the viewer think about what might happen, that was when the movie worked. They didn't let us sit in that long enough in my opinion.

I say one more time, the movie was watchable. So while not very good, I do think it is worth a viewing. Just go in knowing that the end product isn't great, but you will see some solid performances. 

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 "The Last of Us" Episode 3 "Long, Long Time"

Spoilers for anyone that has not seen the third episode of “The Last of Us”

We have started to watch "Last of Us" in my home. Many people have told us to watch and we are finally doing it. This show is incredible, but my goodness is it depressing and too close to reality. I fully believe something like this could happen, especially after how unprepared we were for COVID. I find myself depressed at times watching it because it feels too real. All that aside, the show is very well done, well written and well acted.

The first two episodes were a great way to get us into this universe, I guess it is based off a video game I have never played, but the third episode was something special. I had heard from the same people telling me and my wife to watch that this was the episode that would get us, both in good and bad ways. I also saw all the headlines when it initially aired and the hype was through the roof for me. The third episode exceeded my own personal hype, and then some.

This was a magical hour of television. I was in awe of what I was watching. I could not believe how they achieved their goal, and then took it even further. When the episode finished I told my wife that it was the best thing I have seen on tv in my entire life. We are two days removed from watching it and my feelings have not changed.

Nick Offerman played this doomsday prepper who wasn't going to leave his home when everything went down. He had a plan and he stuck to it. He had a fence around his property, he set up booby traps, he got what he needed to survive and he was living a quiet life by himself. Four years into everything a man trips and falls into one of his traps. Murray Bartlett, from "The White Lotus" and "Flight of the Conchords", played Frank. He was the person that fell. Bill, Offerman's character, helps him when he realizes he isn't infected, and expects him to leave by that night.

Frank ended up staying for the next 16 years. They fell in love. They had ups and downs like every couple. They showed each other things they had never seen before. They helped each other do things they had never done before. They made friends over the radio, most notably with Joel and Tess, the two main people from the Boston Quarantine Zone. They took care of one another. They exercised together. They painted and kept a garden together. They painted and played piano together. When Bill gets shot, Frank tends to his needs. When Frank grew ill, not infected, that needs to be said when talking about this show, Bill took care of him. They had this wonderful life together in this crazy time that this show and video game created. They found each other and they made it work. They seemed destined to find each other.

I was watching the episode and I couldn't believe how well they were showing true love. This is love. There are going to be fights, squabbles and arguments. Those will be resolved and laughed at later in life. There are going to be times when one partner has to take care of the other. They showed this masterfully in this episode. Couples are going to have their own personal preferences and styles and the way they showed them melding together was tremendous. I have never, in my life, seen a better version of true love portrayed on any medium. This was perfection.

This hour-long episode made me feel things I have never felt while engaged in pop culture. I laughed, I sobbed and I felt like it ended the best way it could have. My wife and I were puddles of emotion when it was over, but we loved what they had done. My wife can cry pretty easily at stuff like this, but it takes a lot to get me. This one got me and held me the entire time. I was consistently wiping tears from my face. My wife went through a ton of tissues. I was moved by this episode. This was perfection.

I do not know that anything will ever live up to what "Last of Us" did with their third episode. Shows like "Breaking Bad", "Better Call Saul", "The Simpsons" and "The Wire" may end up being better overall in the long run, but this episode of "Last of Us" might be the greatest episode of television that will ever exist. Even if you don't want to watch the show, or are a superfan of the video game and don't want to see a tv show about it, watch this episode. This is not in the video game, this is its own separate story and it is a masterclass in tv making history. My wife and I both said, and my dad for that matter as well, that Murray Bartlett and Nick Offerman, and the writers of this episode, should win every single tv award that they possibly can for this. This was a masterpiece and I am so thankful and grateful that I got to see.

What an absolutely wonderful hour of tv. Wow, just wow. My hat is off to you all. Thank you. 

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.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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