You know we love a Nicolas Cage film and today we’re discussing Kristoffer Borgli’s Dream Scenario!
IMDb Synopsis: “A hapless family man finds his life turned upside down when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams. When his nighttime appearances take a nightmarish turn, Paul is forced to navigate his newfound stardom.”
The nerds sit down and continue on with their Godzilla Month as they review Godzilla 2000!
IMDb Synopsis: “An independent group of researchers actively track Godzilla as a giant meteor is discovered. The mysterious rock begins to levitate as its true intentions for the world and Godzilla are revealed.”
A potential Yakuza based noir that devolves into a relationship-centric mess
Let me preface this by saying that I don’t hate HBO’s original series Tokyo Vice. In fact, I find it quite entertaining and I like the overall theme and look of it. J.T. Rogers has created an amazing visual that shows the dirty underworld that exists under Tokyo’s neon lights. But (there’s always a but), this show had so much potential to be more than what was made. All the pieces were there…an American who becomes the first “Gaijin” journalist for a major Japanese paper, Yakuza-centric story with crimes including blackmail & murder, and a crooked cop drama with an underlying plot of life-insurance fraud over pressured suicides.
Ansel Elgort plays Jake Adelstein, an American and the first foreigner journalist to be hired at Japan’s largest newspaper. Thrown on the police beat, we see him struggle to find his place as well as finding a story. He ultimately ends up in the middle of a Yakuza territorial spat between the Chihara-Kai and the Tozawa Clan. But, in-between all this, we see him form relationships with multiple individuals, the most notable being Samantha Porter (played by Rachel Keller) an American working in a hostess club, Jin Miyamoto (Hideaki Ito) a Vice Squad cop who teeters on the line of good and corrupt, Akiro Sato (Sho Kasamatsu) a young Yakuza member quickly rising in the ranks of the Chihara-kai, and Hiroto Katagiri (Ken Watanabe) an incorruptible senior detective. HBO went the extra mile to create such a stacked cast who all perform admirably throughout the series.
At the start of the show Jake’s police beat takes him to what appears to be a Yakuza based stabbing and during that same time period he finds himself at the scene of the suicide by a man who pours gasoline on himself and lights himself on fire. This latter incident turns into an interesting premise where people are hounded over their debt and pressured into suicide. The show follows this somewhat and we are shown Yakuza culture and the crimes that occur within Tokyo, helping to keep interest in the overarching narrative being displayed. However, at some point the storytelling veers away from following the crimes committed by the Yakuza and more towards the relationship triangle that Is Jake, Samantha, and Sato. Though we get more background as it concerns Samantha, and what brought her to Tokyo, the hard-nosed journalism and noir vibes become a part of the background as focus is turned to her falling in and out of love with Sato and teasing a possible romantic relationship with Jake, while seemingly manipulating both to get what she needs or wants (to the point where she even convinces Jake to smoke crystal meth to get information out of a strung-out writer for a Yakuza fan mag). The characters Miyamoto and Katagiri ultimately become the more interesting members of the story, but unfortunately have way less screen time than the three lovebirds.
I personally love the look and feel of this show, but the pivot to what relationship status our main characters have ultimately takes me out of it. The Yakuza culture is beautifully shown, specifically their tattoos, their structure, and how they operate within Tokyo; guaranteed to keep me watching through future seasons. But, for the success of this show, I hope they look towards being more noir and less of “The Bachelorette”; 6.5/10 – Brad aka YoungYoda
A Max Original Comedy that pays off.
There are many shows that fly under the radar and never get their flowers until after they are off the air and far gone until a random search or algorithm dredge them up from the depths. Champaign ILL and How to Make It in America are two that come to mind. I feel Ted may have met the same fate if not for the expert marketing that flooded YouTube Shorts and TikTok (also the machine that is Seth MacFarlane). And I’ll be honest, Bookie, just from the Max description doesn’t look all that enticing. My figuring was that it was a watered down version of Ballers which was basically a watered down version of Entourage (honestly, Ballers isn’t half bad…The Idol is more like the watered down and replaced with gasoline then lit on fire version of Entourage). I’m glad that I was wrong.
Instead of the dramatic and serious tones that Entourage and Ballers can pivot towards when the comedy gets stale, Bookie is a straight-up buddy comedy show. Sebastian Maniscalco (Danny…the “Bookie”) and Omar Dorsey (Ray…his right hand man) chemistry is there from the beginning where Ray complains about Danny’s choice of music on the car’s radio and Danny has his face rearranged by a recently transitioned client. From there it continues to go downhill for the two number runners from having a whole episode dedicated to finding Charlie Sheen (yes, that Charlie Sheen) to a scene where an attacker with a knife hilariously somehow ends up with the weapon in their own chest as Danny and Ray make a hasty escape. The supporting cast, including Jorge Garcia (Hector) from Lost fame, perform well enough, but it truly is the relationship between Danny and Ray that pull the viewer in. Nick Bakay and Chuck Lorre’s writing flows well in this show and the mess of situations, we see our protagonists in, help to move the pacing along. It becomes fun being the audience who follow the characters making their rounds and dealing with difficult clients, from porn stars to an accountant (hiding in his kids’ tree house), who owe them money. Like most comedic shows, some jokes don’t always hit, but there’s enough here to make you either chuckle or full-on whole-body laugh. Also, in the next season, I would like to learn more about the supporting characters who seem to get lost in the shuffle.
Me personally, I’m staying away from gambling, but I would put money on a second season being in the works. 7.5/10 – Brad aka YoungYoda
The nerds sit down to discuss Martin Scorsese’s latest film, Killers of the Flower Moon!
IMDb Synopsis: “When oil is discovered in 1920s Oklahoma under Osage Nation land, the Osage people are murdered one by one – until the FBI steps in to unravel the mystery.”
The Nerd Corps 