Pop Culture
- An excellent TV Show does not get spoiled. Yes, I knew how Breaking Bad would end when I started watching it. I knew who would die and who would survive. Yet, I loved every minute of it. Spoilers are overrated. I can think of only a handful of genuine surprises that weren’t gimmicks in all the shows I’ve watched. Questions like, “Will Rachel and Ross end up together?” or “Will AFC Richmond win the Premier League?” are mostly irrelevant.
- I think the TV show characters who spend the most time in white underwear are: 1. Hal, 2. Walter, 3. Homer Simpson. The similarities don’t stop there: Hal’s dad’s name is Walter. Both Francis and Jesse (who is not technically Walter’s son but, come on, he calls his own son Jesse once, their relationship is ambiguous) aspire to go to Alaska.
- One of the best jokes I read about the show is that if Walter White were married to Lois, she would find out and make him stop by the end of the pilot episode.
- Also, this what if Breaking Bad was just Hal’s bad dream alternate ending.
Plusieurs replays de la cérémonie des Césars 2026 m’ont tapé dans l’œil avec en premier lieu l’intro d’abord émouvante puis épatante de Benjamin Lavernhe et le passage musical avec -M-. La transformation, le roast gentil, la chanson finale, le tout était inhabituellement réussi et bien rythmé, malgré un public parfois ingrat voire sinistre. Même la stomp box de Matthieu Chedid a eu du mal à le faire réagir (à comparer avec celui des Golden Globes, avec un roast un peu plus prononcé de Nikki Glaser)
Au même titre que Lavernhe, plus jeune que moi de quelques années, Jim Carrey est une idole de ma jeunesse. J’ai voulu regarder The Mask avec les enfants mais c’est sans doute trop tôt et nous nous sommes rabattus sur… Monsieur Popper et ses pingouins.
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The Princess Bride, 1987 - ★★★
A classic for a reason, this film offers a fresh take on the damsel in distress story. It combines absurd humor with the typical elements of a princess narrative. I’m continually fascinated that Iñigo Montoya is played by the same actor as Saul Berenson in Homeland. It also brings back memories of my childhood crush on Robin Wright during her time in Santa Barbara when I was just 5 or 6. 🍿
Top Secret!, 1984 - ★★★
Another ZAZ movie. Stupid but fun. It’s a movie that is very playful with image and sound. The plot is really dumb. But you are not here for the plot, are you?
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Enchanted, 2007 - ★★★
It's a fun movie. Like most comedies with a gimmick plot, the first half is much more convincing than the second. However, it's still very funny. Amy Adams is remarkable; pay attention to how she uses her arms, reflecting a Disney princess demeanor. Before watching it with your kids, watch at least Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty with them, as there are numerous references to older Disney movies. 🍿
School of Rock, 2003 - ★★★★
I enjoy this movie more with each viewing; this might be my third or fourth time watching it. As a former amateur musician, the film truly resonates with me. It explores education and emphasizes the importance of allowing kids to pursue their own dreams rather than conforming to their parents’ wishes. The final scenes always make me tear up out of joy. Knowing that Mike White, the writer, is behind both Migration and The White Lotus has deepened my appreciation for the movie even further.
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I am halfway through Mad Men season 2. Another critically acclaimed show I’m bravely discovering 15 years late. The ending of A Night to Remember was particularly brilliant.
And I love that the internet provides ego-soothing confirmation bias: someone thoughtfully uploaded the scene to YouTube, and the comments are full of people explaining why it’s genius. My opinion? Widely pre-approved.
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Better Man, 2024 - ★★
The technical achievement is impressive. However, beyond the gimmick, it feels like an unoriginal biopic that failed to engage my interest in Robbie Williams. 🍿
2001: A Space Travesty, 2000 - ½
I got overly excited about my recent rediscovery of the Naked Gun series, so I added all the Leslie Nielsen movies I had never seen to my watchlist. This one was awful. Apparently, it is even famous for being one of the worst movies in history, and I agree.
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The Killer, 2023 - ★★
Cool images. But the story is too slow and predictable to be engaging.
Note pour l'audience francophone. Dans ce film, Tilda Swinton raconte l'histoire drôle dite de l'Ours Bleu. Je suis retourné voir sa célèbre interprétation par José Garcia dans Rire et Châtiment. Là tous, les commentaires pointent vers une version a priori meilleure d'un certain Renaud Rutten. Quoique bon client du genre, l'histoire drôle n'est pas le plus prestigieux de la gamme de l'acteur. Voir Tilda Swinton jouer sur ce terrain avait quelque chose de déconcertant.
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Stranger Things S5 Gets Hope and Closure Right
Was Stranger Things Season 5 up to the hype? Some people say it was not. I disagree. I found it spectacular and genuinely fun—not because it tried to outdo itself, but because of the way it handled hope and closure.
The hope and joy that a growing team brings. Stranger Things centers on characters who must convince others that a terrible threat is approaching. This is never easy. People resist the idea of danger for many reasons, ranging from self-interest to a simple fear of disrupting a comfortable life. Yet as the team grows, so does the hope for a positive outcome. Each new ally makes success feel more plausible. The show is often linked to Steven Spielberg’s influence: E.T. or The Goonies. This time again, this narrative dynamic echoes a familiar Jaws pattern: the threat is real long before the community accepts it. It is hard not to see a parallel with climate change—where the danger is clear, but collective belief arrives late.
An extended epilogue. Season 4 already took its time to wind down, and Season 5 goes even further. It was really nice to take the time to say goodbye to Hawkins after being connected to it on and off for the last ten years. That patience felt earned. It is the opposite of The Karate Kid, which I still remember for having one of the most abrupt endings imaginable.
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Happy belated birthday to me! 🍿
Back to the Future, 1985 - ★★★★★
Best way to start the year. First time with the kids. I think they enjoyed it. 🍿
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult, 1994 - ★★★
The opening — parodying _The Untouchables_ — and the final — with the fake movies scenes for the Oscars — are the highlights. 🍿
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, 1991 - ★★★★
Not as good as the first one. But still very solid. 🍿
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, 1988 - ★★★★★
Pure joy. Laughed out loud many many times. My first watch in about 30 years maybe, and first time as an adult and in English. Loved it. 🍿
I finished watching Breaking Bad and spoilers did not ruin anything
Last Monday, I finished watching Breaking Bad. It was excellent (duh), and I can only recommend it.
I had watched the pilot back in the day but I hadn’t pursued further. When the show became really popular, I read the Wikipedia page to get the gist of it, but I didn’t want to commit to 60 hours of viewing. So I knew the story and how it ended.
Fast forward to November 2025. The show keeps appearing on lists of the best TV shows ever — alongside The Sopranos, Mad Men, The Wire, etc. while Games of Thrones seems to have faded — and I started to fall in love with Hal, Bryan Cranston’s character in Malcolm in the Middle. So, I gave Breaking Bad another shot because I was curious about how Bryan Cranston could act in a drama. This time, I was sold.
Much has already been said about the show, so I’ll keep it brief with a few thoughts:
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The segment on the Daily Show about Calibri vs Times New Roman was hilarious. It’s not every day you encounter typeface humor.
Previously, there was the SNL sketches Papyrus and Papyrus 2 with Ryan Gosling, as well as Elle Cordova impersonating fonts.
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Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, 1999 - ★★★
The Phantom Menace may not be the greatest episode of Star Wars, but it effectively showcases a brilliant political plot.
Palpatine secretly orchestrates the Naboo crisis and exploits the Senate’s bureaucratic paralysis to discredit the Chancellor as weak. He positions himself as the decisive alternative and wins the Chancellorship by promising action over gridlock. Ultimately, he transforms the Republic into his Empire.
This follows a populist playbook: create or amplify a crisis, attack democratic institutions as slow and ineffective, offer strongman “efficiency” as a solution, and then consolidate authoritarian power while claiming that the system forced their hand.
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She’s Gotta Have It, 1986 - ★★★
She’s Gotta Have It is an unusual blend: part Woody Allen in its talky, neurotic New York energy, and part French nouvelle vague in its playful breaking of form. The story itself is minimal, but Spike Lee seems more interested in his style than in the plot. It feels like watching a young filmmaker experiment, resulting in a vibrant and unique film. I was also pleased to encounter Spike Lee’s Mars Blackmon again: I knew him from his ads with Michael Jordan 🍿