Welcome again to We Have Always Lived in the Kraken, a pop culture blog transmitted directly to you from the belly of the beast. Here in the Notes we’ll show you this week’s posting schedule, but first, a little Seafood for Thought.
Welcome to the real beginning of the 2016 movie experience.
After a brief post-Oscars respite, things are picking up again here at the Kraken, and in the wider world of movies. Hail, Caesar! and Deadpool (the highest grossing rated R film of all-time, a true and awesome fact) got things started for 2016, but this month is when things are really starting to take off. Disney is coming to play with Zootopia, a number of potential sleeper indie films are coming out (such as Midnight Special), and the DC movieverse’s destiny will finally be revealed with the success or failure of the long-anticipated Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. The movie business’s endless cycle has always fascinated me. Content is constant, and the fun is seeing how each movie year will compare and contrast to previous ones. So what will 2016 be? For better or worse, 2015 will probably go down as a unique year in which critical and popular thought came together in a consensus. Whether it was The Martian, The Revenant, Inside Out, Star Wars: The Force Awakens or Mad Max: Fury Road, for once the films that were getting a majority of the awards attention actually reflected what everyone in America was actually watching (yeah, I know Spotlight still won the big prize, but forget about that, that’s Hollywood, everyone). Is 2016 destined to follow in 2015’s footsteps? Or is it going to go down a different path? So far this year looks like it may be a true referendum on comic book movies. Deadpool‘s success was predicated in a lot of ways on people being sick of the super hero genre and enjoying Deadpool‘s rejection of the superhero formula. Does that mean that the rest of the many, many superhero movies this year are doomed without the audaciousness of the merc with a mouth? Doubtful, but this might still be the year that our blockbusters evaluate our current obsession with silver screen super heroes and what that actually means in 2016. Whether this type of self-reflection reverberates throughout the rest of the 2016 movie schedule remains to seen, but it will certainly be fun to find out.
David Robertson
From the depths of the Kraken, here is what we are bringing you this week.
Monday: Another every-other-Monday, another fun episode of the Life in the Kraken podcast! This week we’re talking Netflix’s Making a Murderer and its true crime brethren. Plus, the hit new board game Time Stories, Sam nominates Rick & Morty for best current TV show, and in a brand new segment taking a page from Keskel’s blog entries we ask the question, “Anime. Is it nothing but trash?” You’ll have to listen to find out!
Tuesday: Now playing in The Screening Room, another film from 2015, the teen black comedy Dope. Well, it’s a black comedy, not a “black comedy.” Actually, maybe it’s both?
Wednesday: Nothing new today, but feel free to peruse our archives. We’ll be having our semi-annual barnacle-scraping contest! We’re–we’re pretty bored in here, you guys. (Not bored enough to write more content, but still pretty bored.)
Thursday: No new content today, but have you read literally everything in our archives? We didn’t think so. So in our opinion there is new content today, personalized just for you. We hope you find it.
Friday: No new content today. There is no goof to go with this. The Kraken has outlawed jokes for the day. Still our archive is always around for your perusal.
Saturday:
- Baturdays continues with the second story from Batman #1. Quite possibly this is the weirdest one yet, and we’re not even talking about the part where Batman uses a gun.
- Welcome to the Wolfpack is taking its leave again, but not before this special review, where David discusses this week’s finale as well as the Teen Wolf season as a whole. Has Teen Wolf managed to justify David’s continued interest in this show? Tune in to find out.
Catch of the Week:
Each and every week the residents here in the Kraken will offer one recommendation for the week that we think you all would enjoy. It might be a movie. It might be a book. Who knows? This is your… Catch of the Week.
Kyu: This month’s theme for my recommendation is other blogs. Of course, you should make sure you’ve read everything the Kraken has to offer before leaving us, right? This week I’m foolishly sending you to the brilliant and idiosyncratic blogger The Last Psychiatrist. TLP, as “he” is affectionately known, specifically avoids confirming any aspect of TLP’s identity, including TLP’s gender, preferring that readers focus completely on the blog’s ideas. And what ideas! TLP’s work ranges in subject from medicine and psychiatry to culture and politics, but the focus is always on pulling back the social curtain to show you how others seek to manipulate you–and how you lie to yourself. This blog has legitimately changed the way I view the world, particularly TLP’s pet theory that narcissism is the social disease of our time. Plus, TLP is a very compelling (if unconventional) writer, funny, incisive, and often profane, with a rapid-fire pace suggesting TLP just can’t wait to tell you all the world’s hidden truths. Here’s a few of my favorite posts to get you started: (1), (2), (3).
Keskel: This week I’m recommending Future Diary. An effective and interesting survival game anime about a group of people whose cell phones predict events before they happen, this show is creepy and entertaining in equal measure. Plus, it has one of the most terrifying yanderes in all of anime, if you’re looking for a new waifu and, you know, you’re into that.
David: Power Rangers are having a bit of a resurgence right now. Lionsgate is making a new movie slated for 2017, and while it is not going to be the full blown dark edition that the short film by Joseph Kahn was, it is going to be much edgier. Until the new film comes out, however, there is something pretty big here to tide you over: the recent official release of the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers comic. Created by Kyle Higgins and Hendry Prasetya for Boom Studios, this comic takes a new look at the original team of teenagers with attitude, but with a bit more edge to the characters. The comic is a lot of fun, a nostalgic ride that nonetheless stands up on its own. Take the time to get started on a new comic just as it comes out, and follow along as it takes the Power Rangers on a brand new journey.
That’s it for this week. We hope you continue to find the Kraken to your liking. Sometimes we dream of escaping, carving a rowboat from the monster’s ribs and setting sail for the horizon. But we know in our hearts he’ll never let us go (and if we’re being honest, we’d never make it on the outside). Be glad you get to go home, and please, tell our story.