Change Your Image
jellojelly
Reviews
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Dead Man Talking (2004)
Mediocre episode ruined by transphobia
I've been re-watching NCIS, and I had blissfully forgotten this shitstain of an episode, so the twist actually caught me by surprise. Spoilers here: The twist is that The Bad Guy, a former male naval officer, is a woman. She presents as a woman, lives 24/7 as a woman, is portrayed by a female actress, and everyone, including the main characters, accepts her as a woman - until they find out from her fingerprints that she used to live as a man. After that discovery, they constantly refer to her with male pronouns, to the point of causing confusion in public when Tony shouts "stop him!" at a crowd, and the crowd piles on McGee because The Baddie is really obviously female.
The main characters basically act like trans people don't exist, and that the only reason a person would transition is to conceal their true identity. Even though it's clear that Amanda (the baddie) has put a great deal of time and effort into her appearance (her makeup is skillfully applied; her clothes are flattering; she likely had upper body and/or facial surgery) and is even scheduled to get GCS soon, her identity as a woman is completely ignored. It's not even brought up as an explanation of why she stole funds from the government and faked her own death! They dropped the plot rather than show respect to a trans person.
So if you're feeling nostalgic for first-season NCIS, do yourself a favor and skip this episode. It's embarrassing, cringeworthy, and deserves to be left in the past.
Zombie Cats from Mars (2015)
Excellent campy fun
Zombie Cats From Mars is exactly what you would expect it to be - a hilarious, low-budget indie horror film about zombie cats. From Mars.
This movie is excellent at what it does, which is be bad. The creators set out to make a B-movie, and they nailed it, from special effects to storyline to acting (I strongly suspect that they had to instruct the actors to read their lines more stiffly). And there are plenty of cats, which you don't see enough of in movies.
I'm really tempted to rate this highly because I enjoyed it so much, but I don't want people getting the mistaken impression that this is supposed to be "good" (i.e. an A-movie). If you like bad movies and cats, you have to see Zombie Cats From Mars. Preferably with several friends and popcorn.
Long story short, best meowvie I've meowed in a long meow.