The Doubt Monster

I had a look at the names for all the characters in Ryan Coogler's "Sinners" to see if there was significance behind them.  Turns out most of them seem to have been chosen with intention.  Samuel - a Hebrew name meaning "God has heard" or "name of God". Maybe it's a stretch but I like the idea of it referring to the ancestors "hearing" his music. Jedidiah - Sammie's father. A Hebrew name meaning "friend of God".  Fitting for a pastor.  Ruthie - a Hebrew name meaning "companion", which works well given she is Jedidiah's wife. Elias & Elijah - Given they are twins, it's fitting that they have the same name just from different origins.  Elijah is Hebrew and Elias is Greek, both meaning "the Lord is God". Elijah is a well-known prophet in the Bible. Hogwood - a surname with English origin, appearing in American history during the 17th history from British colonists.  It originates from...

"There are legends of people with the gift of making music so true it can conjure spirits from the past and the future." I finally got around to watching "Sinners".  Thrice.   This post will be spoiler heavy . I don't recommend reading if you're planning on watching it.  It's best to go into this film as blind as possible.  This will be written with the assumption the reader has watched the film.  I thought about writing a movie review but there are enough of those.  I'd rather take a trip through it and highlight the components I enjoyed the most.  "Listen boy, you can't be believin' everything that you hear. Town'll fill your head with this make believe, but me and your cousin, we gon' give it to you straight. Chicago ain't nuthin' but Mississippi with tall buildings instead of plantations." It feels improper to not begin with a nod to Michael B. Jordan's performance as two distinct characters, twi...

SPOILER ALERT.   I will 100% be spoiling the movie as I deep dive (see what I did there?) into the story.  In order to discuss the film, we have to understand the lore behind the video game that inspired it. The story takes place in a future where humanity has colonized other planets in our solar system, beginning with Mars.  There are multiple space stations, two of which we get the names of - "Eden" station and "Filament" station.  An event known as "The Quiet Rapture" occurs, changing life as humanity knows it.  Seemingly in one silent second, planets and millions of stars vanish.  The humans on the space stations are the only survivors.  The cause of The Quiet Rapture is unknown.  There are no witnesses of the event. Eden is the largest man-made structure left in existence.  Originally the station for Mars, at the time of the game's story there are under 500 humans left on Eden.  This station contains the last trees ...

I saw Markiplier's feature directorial debut "Iron Lung" in theatres on January 31st with my brother.  This movie was 3 years in the making, a passion project from Mark Fischbach (known as Markiplier on YouTube), based off the video game created by David Szymanski. In case you aren't aware, Mark is a YouTube giant who started his channel back in 2012.  My brother and I have bonded over his content for a very long time, including his creative year-long project "Unus Annus" with friend and fellow YouTuber, Ethan Nestor.  Iron Lung is a submarine simulation horror game developed by David Szymanski in 2022.  After playing it on his channel, Mark approached David about adapting the game into his first theatrical film. Mark wrote, directed, edited, starred in, and produced the film. I wanted to write about it for a few reasons.  One is because it's a major dose of nostalgia to watch a creator evolve over the years and expand their reach.  It is i...

"Can you contain your fire, Prometheus? Or are you going to burn your hands before delivering it?" In this part three of my deep-dive into Guillermo Del Toro's "Frankenstein", I'd like to jump around to explore some of the fascinating details used to tell his version of Mary Shelley's story.  In the opening scene, we meet the captain of a Danish ship currently stuck in the ice, insisting that when they manage to escape they will continue their mission northward despite the longing of the men to return home. The captain takes a breather in his cabin and we see him rubbing blackened toes in front of a fire. This shot holds more meaning than I first realized. There's the nod to dead or dying flesh, but deeper perhaps is the symbolism of pursuing an imagined achievement no matter the cost.  When Victor follows what he later defines as "madness" (madness here being continuing to pursue an idea in spite of all moral or ethical repercu...