The Suggestion Box #115: Mutants, and Trauma, and Unitology, Oh My!

Posted on by Lauren

Wondering what to do with your upcoming free time? Good thing we have some suggestions for what you should be watching, playing, reading, listening to, etc.

Lauren’s Movie Pick: Smile 2 – I’ll be the first to admit that I may have gotten a bit too in the weeds when it comes to interpreting exactly what the first Smile is trying to say with its themes and the transference of grief, so thank goodness the sequel feels a bit more streamlined in its statement about the “just put on a happy face” mentality, in what I like to call I Can Do It with a Broken Heart: The Movie. Naomi Scott kills it with her triple threat talent as a Lady Gaga-esque performer, but the music acts are just a small part of why she keeps coming up in “best horror performance of 2024” conversations — seriously, if you want to prove you can act lead one of these movies. The pain, both physical and mental, of being surrounded by people who ignore and/or minimize her character’s struggles with guilt and grief a year after an extremely traumatic car accident is written all over her face as she pushes herself to meet the demands that “the show must go on,” even as her grip on reality loosens and everything spirals out of control; and the way this film handles the quest to find a loophole to keep the entity from being passed on again is just pure chef’s kiss. I have no idea where the series goes from here, assuming we do get a Smil3, but I cannot wait to find out.

Ben’s Podcast Pick: Dead Space: Deep Cover – While trying to find an audiobook version of the Dead Space novels — if by some chance anyone at EA is reading this, please make it happen! — I ended up stumbling upon this audio fiction series set in the same universe. The story follows Emmeline, a journalist who goes undercover to expose the dirty secrets of the church of Unitology (the same, insane, cult-like religion from the games) and find her missing sister who’s trail went cold after becoming a Unitologist. Instead of the dark, blood-soaked halls of a mining vessel, space station, or dead planet that promise encounters with horrifying monsters, most of Deep Cover’s tension stems from something more akin to grounded stories of stealth journalism than sci-fi horror; with the scares coming from the combined power of Unitology’s influence and the threat of Emmeline’s life being forfeit if she’s ever found out. The central mysteries surrounding what the church is up to and the search for Emmeline’s sister are equally compelling in their own right, making Dead Space: Deep Cover a must-listen for fans of the franchise.

Ben’s Short Film Pick: Milk & Cereal – For something I initially assumed to be just little more than a take-down of the “it was just a prank, bro” bros… man, this got way darker than I thought it would. In short, it’s a genuinely creepy thriller with a shockingly unnerving performance at its core; and I highly recommend checking it out with as little insight as possible.

You can watch the short here.

Ben’s TV Pick: Tales of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – The follow-up to last year’s totally radical Mutant Mayhem is another bodaciously entertaining romp. While it’s split into multiple arcs and often sees the brothers separated from each other, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles effortlessly manages to recapture the charm and style of the film; and though it trades out the nearly best-in-medium computer animation for a more traditional art style, it still retains the concept art sketch vibe. The humor is there in spades too, with a brilliant set of gags that work to mask the lack of Jackie Chan’s voice for Splinter. I don’t know how crucial Tales will be when jumping into the next movie, but I don’t think that really matters when the show is this entertaining.

Also, Timothy Olyphant plays an absurdly badass goldfish, and that’s honestly all you should need to check it out.

So what do you think about these picks? What content did we miss over the past two weeks while we were spending time with these? Be sure to leave a comment below letting us know about everything (both current and simply new to you) you’ve been consuming lately!

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