Spider-Man: No Way Home REVIEW

THE USUAL DISCLAIMER - This isn't an actual review.  I'm a HUGE Fan-Boy Man-Child when it comes to superheroes and comic books and blockbuster entertainment.  This is my first draft, almost entirely un-edited first impression stream of consciousness blather.  Remember that Chris Farley sketch on Saturday Night Live with Paul McCartney where Chris just kept saying "Remember that?  That was awesome!"  Yeah - that's pretty much what this is, only about the latest Spider-Man movie.

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Dragged the wife and daughter out to the theater opening weekend for the latest Spider-Man installment.  Happy to say, the cinema was PACKED.  It was one of AMC Burbank's larger rooms, probably over 200 people - genuinely sold out - and the most special icing on the cake of this very special movie was the opportunity, really a privilege, to see this film with a throng of loud and enthusiastic Spider-Maniacs.

All of us laughed, we cried, we cheered and even spontaneously broke into applause on more than a handful of occasions.  I will forever be grateful to that I got to see this movie, in 2021 at the tail end of a pandemic, under these conditions.  Nothing beats a theater full of pumped up fans watching a movie that meets and often exceeds very high expectations.

So yes, I absolutely loved this movie and I am super happy that Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe, with a great help from Sony Pictures, still has enough in the tank to deliver an 'Avengers: Endgame' level of excitement experience to comic book nerds of all ages.

Going forward in this 'review' there will be a TON of SPOILERS, so if you haven't watched the movie, STOP right here and make sure you do that first.

Oops too late.

I don't know exactly where in my MCU ranking this movie will fall just yet.  I've seen the movie twice and absorbed all the essential elements, but I do need to ponder some more before I place it in the pantheon in it's correct ranking.  I also have to find a place for Black Widow and Shang-Chi, not to mention Eternals which I haven't even seen yet - but that's a whole other couple of reviews and musings for another post.

But I can say at this point that Spider-Man: No Way Home  (SM:NWH) easily for sure falls into my top five favorite MCU entries, and could very well be top three for that matter.  Yes, it's just that good.

I know I skipped out on a movie top ten for 2020 because of Covid, but I will be retroactively posting that in a month or so, along with the 2021 post - I can tell you right now - SM:NWH is number one on the latter list with a bullet.

As you know, if you've read more than one of my top ten movie posts, I place great value on movies that give me "the feels" - that is, which stories give me the most chills and manly tears.  SM:NWH had me laughing hard, ugly crying and cheering loud all through out.  

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FUNNY STUFF -

I love the humor in these movies because I loved to be entertained.  I really don't want to watch a somber and serious, self-important comic book movie that has no breaks from drama.  It's a comic book!  I want to laugh along the way, even when the stakes are high.

As always, the MCU expertly brought the funny - so much so that it almost fooled me into believing this was a lighter side of Spidey.  Almost...

 My top five laughs were...

5 - MJ throwing bread at Andy Spidey.  The whole scene was just overflowing with JOY, but MJ and Ned's mom reacting with bread and pillows was the comic frosting that was just perfect.

4 - Tobey Spidey getting uncomfortable at discussing his biological web shooters.  Just the right amount of gross implications!

3 - MJ freaking out at being plopped onto a bridge girder 20 stories up.  Just LOVED her reaction and Tom Spidey's initial indifference to her plight.  Yes, Spider-Man does this every day, and momentarily forgets that almost everyone else on the planet never does. 

2 - Coach Wilson hissing at Peter Parker while the other teachers welcome him.  This just cracked me up!  "Naw man, you're a murderer.  We know what you did..."  A great comedic device to illustrate the divisions in American society over believing Peter or believing the Daily Bugle.  A not very subtle parallel with American politics, but very effective.

1 - Andy cracks Tobey's back.  I just love this so much - yes it's hilarious, but it's also touching at the same time.  The best of the MCU's humor works this way.  It's funny but it also ties in directly with the characters, in this case reminding us that Tobey almost lost the role of Spider-Man because of an all too real life injury.  Here Amazing Spidey Andrew Garfield reassures the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (Tobey) and helps him feel better with a good old fashioned back crack!

*****

MANLY TEARS -

Along with the laughs, I also appreciate the MCU's expertise at bringing out the waterworks.   There was more than one moment that I got something in my eye watching this flick.  Here are the top five moments that really got to me...

 - either because of sadness or because a moment was just so AWESOME it hurt.  My top 5 tear-jerker moments were...

5 - Tom Spidey let's MJ go at the very end.  I didn't actually manifest tears, but there was a sizable lump in my throat.  The moment PP saw the bandaid on MJ's head and made the decision that he wasn't going to hurt her anymore - just a lovely and powerful moment.

4 - Villains are cured - None of these moments by themselves got a manly tear to fall from me, but all together, when I think back on each of their moments of clarity, I can't help but get a little misty.  Even Lizard and Sandman had lovely moments when they were fixed.  The quickest and least satisfying was the Lizard's cure but Thomas Hayden Church had a surprisingly touching moment as the CG of sand melted away as we got to see his real (albeit de-aged) face.  Jamie Foxx's best moment in an otherwise just ok performance was when he was 'all tapped out' of power and had a lovely interaction with Andy Spidey about the impending arrival of Miles Morales. Willem Dafoe's incredible kick-ass performance as the best Spidey villain ever had a nice finish with his realization of what he had done.  And the best of all I thought was Doc Oc who not only was cured of his malcontent, but was able to pitch in and help with the others.  Nicely done all around!

3 - Tom Spidey decides to wipe the slate clean.  If you blink you might miss it - but I caught it, and it put a lump in my throat and a gleam in my eyes.  When our MCU Spidey realizes the sacrifice he has to make, and asks the good Dr. Strange to wipe out everyone's memory of Peter, to fix his mess and make things right.  Probably the most under-recognized but truly great and tear-jerking moment of the whole movie.

2 - Andrew Garfield saves Tom Holland's MJ.  Sure, it was predictable, but it also 100% worked to get me to tear up and sob (in a good way) quite a bit.   The perfect moment of redemption for the Amazing Spider-Man that no one liked or wanted - until he showed up in this movie and now people are clamoring for an "Amazing Spider-Man 3".    Absolutely lovely moment, made even better by Zendaya's perfect answer to Andy's question - "Are you ok?"   "Yes.  Are YOU ok?"

1 - Aunt May passes away.  Well duh, this one got me actually ugly crying - no joke.  Such a powerful scene, and wonderfully executed from start to finish.  When May takes the hit from the Goblin Glider, I thought "Oh, she's dead - oh no!" but then May popped up and seemed to be alright.  

But Marisa's performance perfectly portrayed what often happens when someone experiences a brutal trauma.  (This often happens to motorcycle accident victims) The injured person will pop up on their feet quickly, as a surge of adrenaline takes over.  You can read it on her face the entire time - she is up, but her breaths are shallow and quick.  She is not well.

And then she delivered the Uncle Ben line, this time with the exact verbiage taken straight from the comic book and the pen of Stan Lee himself.  "With great power must also come great responsibility..." and I'm wrecked!

Her subsequent breakdown and departure from the world is pure agony for Peter and for us.  Tissue please!

*******

STAND-UP AND CHEER

And these are the top 5 most iconic moments in the movie for me.  The parts that gave me ALL THE FEELS in all the right ways.

5 - Andy and Tobey show up!  Even though I already suspected this moment was coming - the way it was done, and that both Spidey's from other movies ended up doing a TON more than just make cameos - they were truly IN this movie, participating and interacting and expanding/enhancing their own lore - makes these portal emergences truly significant and emotionally resonant.  Also funny (bread throwing, cobweb cleaning and youth pastor-ing).

4 - Tobey Spidey stops Tom Spidey from killing.  Beautiful culmination of Aunt May's message.  Spider-Man will always be the hero.  Imperfect and sometimes impulsive - but always the good guy.  Meaning he will stay his hand when his adversary is at his weakest, even if that means taking a knife in the back.

3 - 3 Spideys Attack Together!  After a frantic and scattered first attempt at fighting the bad guys, I was afraid we weren't going to get a satisfying team up moment.  But after the 3 Spidey bros regrouped and made a plan - the long continuous shot of all three running and diving together - and landing in iconic poses - WOW!!!  A thunderous applause in the theater, probably the biggest of the entire film.  What a moment!

2 - Brothers hug.   Yes, this could've gone on the crying list - but I was moved beyond tears, I applauded like crazy along with everyone else when Tom Spidey throws his arms around the other two and they all embraced.  All credit to Andy Spidey who set up this moment beautifully earlier when he said "I always wanted to have brothers"  -  Just perfection!

1 - The kiss.  I think it might be Giachinno's score that pushed it over the top - but for me this moment more than any other in the entire movie gave me chills upon chills.  Two people mashing their lips together is a moment that is tough to pull off in even the best movies.  In fact, perhaps the most memorable kiss prior to this one in cinema was between Toby McGuire and Kirsten Dunst in the very first Spidey movie.  It was upside-down and very wet and very iconic.  But this one for me surpasses even that one.

What made it work was that it was such a huge culmination of all the feelings that Peter and MJ had for each other, through all of their movies together but especially this one.  Somehow their chemistry, which has always been good - became GREAT in this movie.  This doesn't always happen with real life couples, but here you can plainly see a true and deep love in both of their faces.  And the payoff here, with the perfect lighting, the perfect angle and the perfect uplifting music (with the exact right amount of bittersweet chord progression) just crushes it.  

This moment is an exclamation point on a love story which is just tremendous and far bigger in importance to the Spider-Man story than it was even in the comic books.  Bravo Tom and Z!

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WRAPPING IT UP

Before I go I just have two more points that I'd like to mention...

1 - Andrew Garfield now is clearly everyone's favorite Spider-Man

I, like the rest of the country, was seduced and beguiled by Andy's energy and passion in this movie.  Obviously I and everyone else are now clamoring for "Amazing Spider-Man 3" - whereas before he showed up again, I had no idea we needed this so badly.

And I can say this without bringing down Tobey at all.  He was also great and had plenty of awesome moments.  But Tobey was part of a massive successful trilogy - even the third much maligned movie made more money than both of Andrew's movies and Tom's first movie believe it or not.   Tobey's first movie was a massive cultural moment and his second movie has been, and still is, hailed as one of the greatest comic book movies ever.

Andrew's movies alas, never reached near the box office numbers nor the cultural importance of Tobey's films.  

Andrew's appearance in No Way Home is a genuine redemption for him, and a reminder that he was always great - even if his movies suffered in comparison to his predecessor.  

2 - The SECOND of three acts is actually the BEST act.

Many a nerd on this here internet has spelled out that the 2nd act of this 3 act movie is the weakest.

I would agree insofar as the middle chunk of the story has the fewest great moments (see my lists above to affirm this) BUT - in my opinion it's NWH's 2nd act that puts the most meat on the bone and allows for the MONSTER emotional payoffs in the last third of the film to exist.

Let me clarify - SM:NWH transcends being very good and is GREAT because of it's big themes - and the big themes are FORGIVENESS and REDEMPTION.

The seeds for all of this are planted in the second act - by Peter Parker's determination, at the behest of his Aunt May, to not simply push a button and send all the "bad guys" back to their deaths, but to do his absolute best at giving them a real chance at redemption.

And he does this by automatically forgiving them.  The most difficult and clearly the most genuinely heroic thing to do.   He pushes forward to help the villains.  Some are hesitant, others flatly reject him.  But this is who Peter Parker is, and it is magnificent to see.

This trait - the instinctual impulse to forgive, is not held up high in our modern culture.  This movie holds it up as the highest virtue, and that is truly refreshing.

It also makes it that much more earth shattering when Aunt May dies because of Peter's efforts to repair these broken men.   But May does not die doubting that she and Peter have done the right thing - not for one second.  She goes to the grave at peace, 100% certain in her righteousness.

And she did not die for nothing.  She died for everything that Peter Parker is and that we could be if we pay attention and seek out the good in the darkest of hearts.

That is significant and meaningful and FUCK Martin Scorcese for saying these movies aren't "cinematic" or worthy of our attention and devotion.  He is ENTIRELY WRONG.

Plus he's old and cranky and who cares what he thinks.

I forgive him ha ha.

3 ( extra bonus point)  - Just want to acknowledge what others have already said - this movie and the others before it, are INDEED a Spider-Man origin story, even though we thought we skipped over it.  All three "Home"movies, plus 'Civil War' and the Avengers movies,  the entire trilogy plus three other movies it turns out, were made to introduce us to Tom Holland's Spider-Man.  Surprise!  Just awesome!

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Anyways, that's it for now.  I would like to get around writing a 'review' of Shang-Chi, I actually did like it a lot (don't know if I loved it like I loved Spider-Man: No Way Home) but we will see if have the energy or interest.

In any case, I will be updating my MCU ranking in an all new post soon - stay tuned for that!

Black Widow Review

 Been a minute around these parts, so I thought I should weigh in on Scar Jo's MCU swan song.

When Black Widow came out I insisted on dragging my family out to the theater, even though we could watch it for less in our living room.  This was in that brief and glorious time in Los Angeles when there was a reprieve of the mask mandate, so it was extra fun.  I was certainly in a great mood to see the movie, despite some grumblings here and there in the nerd-verse, and the good news is - overall I really enjoyed the movie and was happy to shell out another $30 later and watch it again at home.

My daughter was over the moon about the film - easily her favorite Marvel movie right now.  She's a HUGE fan of Florence Pugh, her of the Midsommar and other indy endeavors.  

Black Widow is a prequel set in the time right after the events in the movie Civil War.

The story starts with an amazing flashback to Natasha's childhood in the United States.  Her parents, it turns out, are Soviet spies and her sister is not really her sister.  Kid Widow is played by Mila Jovovovich's child who is just amazing in her role.  This entire opening sequence is super strong and went a long way to reassure me that we were in good hands with the filmmakers. 

After a super groovy but grim opening credits sequence, we get right into catching up with Natasha and a vicious assassin who turns out to be her brainwashed non-sister from childhood.  The action is fantastic throughout the movie, good geography and plenty of thrills and chills, which is what I love in action sequences.  

The story builds to a nice emotional climax by building up and fleshing out Natasha's family. Turns out this is her second family that she discovers after she has made a family with the Avengers.

There's a lot of great humor, as per usual in the MCU.  I found myself laughing out loud a bunch of times. One of the things I love so much about these Marvel movies is that they always put the emphasis on Entertainment, and the second best tool they have at getting this done is humor.  

The best tool they have is of course story - which is born out of the Disney braintrust which was born out of the Pixar and Disney Animation story breaking work ethic.  Breaking a story has been put at the top of the pile of importance in making these mass marketed blockbusters for going on 20 years now, and it consistently shows.  We are still, I would say, in a golden age of mainstream cinema when it comes to sci-fi/fantasy genre filmmaking.  

The villain it turns out is Harvey Weinstein, (not literally, but clearly this is who is represented) which is a very powerful choice and makes it very satisfying when good finally triumphs in the end.  The final act action wise is solid and also has some pretty great emotional payoffs.

I say pretty great, but it was not ABSOLUTELY great.

I confess I was and am (after watching BW again) a tad bit disappointed that the emotional resonance that was mined didn't quite plumb the depths that could have been reached.

I would have preferred to see a more direct connection with this movie and Natasha's fate in Endgame.   As I'm not a movie maker I'm not sure exactly how I would've done that, but it seems to me there was great potential in a Black Widow movie, where we know that eventually down the road she will die, to get some real ugly crying out of the audience.    A couple of ideas I had that would've helped, I think -

- Have Steve Rogers meet Natasha at the Quin Jet at the end.  This probably is not realistic as Chris Evans now apparently hates money, but as it was the final pre-credits scene, I think it would've been a very powerful moment to remind us of the fate that awaits Natasha.

-The mid-credits cemetery scene was amazing until Julia-Louis Dreyfus showed up and turned it into a comic bit designed to connect to a Disney+ tv series or upcoming movie.  This was a terrible choice I think, and it really diluted the emotional impact of the scene.   My suggestion - have a truly quiet and emotional moment with Yelena and her sister at rest and let it play out.  Save the exposition/connection blah blah blah to future tv shows and movies for after the credits entire.

- Somehow make a much more obvious and direct connection in this movie to Endgame.  Either by literally using Hawkeye or other characters, or having a situation in the Black Widow movie that parallels what happens in Endgame.   Having one of Natasha's family members sacrifice themselves in a similar fashion to how Natasha does in Endgame is probably a clunky way to do it, but there's probably all sorts of clever ways to make the emotional connection that would propel the Black Widow movie into the stratosphere of emotional resonance.

Anyways - I did really like the film a lot, loved certain parts of it that's for sure.  Not sure exactly where it ranks on my master list, but at some point soon I will drop it in.  As of right now it's definitely in the top half.

Just this last weekend we again trekked out to the theater, this time to see Shang-Chi.  I am still ruminating on the movie, I will post a full review soon.  Overall, I have very positive thoughts to share. Stay tuned!

Justice League: The Zack Snyder Cut

 Ok - Justice League: The Snyder Cut.

Positives -

The story is indeed a LOT better and much more coherent. Side characters, especially Cyborg, get a lot more to do and their actions make a lot more sense.

The villain Steppenwolf is no longer one note - he has motivation and a character arc that is surprisingly satisfying and even a touch emotional.

Overall the film has a much more cohesive vision and makes a lot more sense.

Negatives -

The movie is FOUR HOURS. Not that this is especially negative in the context of a streaming service. I was never bored, but the long length did mean I watched it over two days. Thankfully Snyder smartly breaks the movie up into chapters - six parts labeled with title cards, so stopping after 3 chapters felt natural and easy. So not necessarily a negative - but something to be aware of going in.

The movie is NOT light years better or different than the Joss Whedon theatrical cut. It is indeed better and substantially different in parts, but all of the big action set pieces are the same and the key character moments are still pretty much intact and where they were before. There are cosmetic changes (the final act is color graded the way Snyder grades all of his stuff, in grays and deep blacks (as opposed to the red that Joss colored it) and the editing is a bit different here and there - but the big hero key shots are almost all the same.

The movie still doesn't hold a candle to any of the Avengers movies, including the much maligned but underrated (IMO) Age of Ultron.

The movie loses a lot of the humor "Joss" writing, including my favorite scene where Aquaman spills his soul by accidentally sitting on Wonder Woman's lasso. While many nerds will likely rejoice at the loss of humorous moments, I am not one of them. I love to laugh in general, and I always appreciate funny but grounded humor in superhero flicks. It's a shame to lose some of Joss' gems throughout.

Most infuriating for me - the movie is in a 4:3 aspect ratio with giant black bars on the sides of the picture. I had to stop the movie five minutes in and google what was happening - apparently Zack Snyder talked himself into believing that this was the best way to present his vision of the film. My question is - how far up your own ass do you have to be as a filmmaker to think that 4:3 is the way to go anywhere outside of an Imax theater for a superhero movie? Pretty far up is the answer.

Forgive me for harping on this - but I'm going to harp. I stopped the movie and googled "Justice Leage 4:3" and instantly it auto filled to "Justice League 4:3 aspect ratio Snyder cut) and gave me article after article of Zack Snyder's reasoning for this choice.

I just about lost it when I hit his quote about it being the gold standard and that Citizen Kane was shot in 4:3. Zack. I admire you very much as a filmmaker. I love a couple of your movies, like a few more and think that the rest are mediocre. Movie making is hard, I get it, I certainly couldn't do what you do. But for the love of God - because the Wizard of Oz and other cinematic legendary movies were shot in 4:3 in the 1930's and 40's doesn't mean that you should be doing that, ever.

Damaged Legacy

 Random train of thought - I greatly enjoyed the documentary "Best of Enemies" about the ground breaking televised debates between conservative Buckley and the liberal Gore Vidal. (Though I do have issues with the documentary's conclusions)

This whole Trump supporters defiling the capitol building reminds me in a way of those debates. Vidal spent 90% of those debates being nasty to Buckley, always getting personal, calling him a crypto-nazi among other many insults. Buckley remained above the fray, refusing to give in.

Then towards the end, after a particularly nasty personal attack by Vidal, Buckley had had enough and finally lashed out with the nastiest attack of all - "listen, queer, I will sock you in your God damn mouth.."

And the needle went off the record, and the room and the media and the American public were AGHAST. How could Buckley stoop so low? How could he do such an AWFUL thing?

Yeah, that's pretty much where we're at with this. The radical left spends most of 2020 taking a giant steaming shit on our country, and finally Trump supporters (most of them clowns) lash out and it's Bill Buckley all over again.

Buckley was wrong to say those things, these ding-dongs in the capitol were wrong to do what they did (and many will rot in jail as they should) - but in the end, that's what the media and consequently the majority of the American public will remember.

They remember that Vidal came out on top, because Buckley lost his cool. Never mind that Vidal had his ass handed to him throughout the entire series of debates, over and over - in the end it didn't matter. Look at the CRAZY conservative! Good job Gore Vidal! You won! lol...

In the end, I fear that this is what we have here as well. Trump delivered 4 years of incredible prosperity, roaring economy, lowest unemployment in half a century (lowest EVER for blacks), peace in the Middle East, mediation with North Korea, and on and on and on.

In the end, it doesn't matter. Look at the guy in the viking hat in the halls of congress. Biden won! Good job Joe! You really showed them!

Yeah, that's pretty much it.

More than just a game show host.

So 2020 sucked.  And the coup de gras' on the shit sandwich that was last year was the passing of the legendary Alex Trebek.

There have been a great number of tributes already, and no doubt the final week of episodes which will be airing this week will unearth more - I wanted to take the time to add my tiny voice to the chorus.

I'm old enough to remember my mom telling me that one of her favorite shows was coming back on the air, a game show called "Jeopardy!".   We watched it and enjoyed it, and would watch it again.  My mom said this new host didn't compare to the original, but overall it seemed worthwhile.

"Jeopardy!"  had originally aired from 1964-1975 and it was hosted then by a man named Art Fleming, and it had been hugely successful in a noon time slot on NBC.  It's numbers only faltered when it was removed from that time slot and it was cancelled shortly after this executive blunder.

To compensate the show's creator, Merv Griffin, NBC switched in a new show called "Wheel of Fortune" later that very same year.  My mom detested Wheel.  And in fact to this day detests almost all of television except for baseball with the Oakland A's.  

So when she started watching the new "Jeopardy!" I was surprised but pleased that my mom would sit down and watch television with me that wasn't sports.  Neither my mom nor I knew at the time, but the very reason "Jeopardy!" was brought back was to piggyback on the wild success of "Wheel of Fortune".

As we watched those first seasons, I am able remember that I was terrible at the game and that my mom was much better than me.

Slowly the years passed, and I did get better and also grew to appreciate the show more and more.  Eventually as an adult I could hold my own again my mom, but I never passed the online test - though I've had half a dozen people in my life (ranging from good friends to acquaintances) who have been on and even some who made some money.   My mom eventually did get around to conceding that Alex was just as good (maybe even a little bit better) than Art Fleming.

When Alex passed away, we all knew it was coming, and yet somehow it was still shocking.   New shows were still airing, and he seemed on camera to be the Alex we had always known.  A bit grayer, a bit more hoarse, but the energy and the twinkle remained.

Come to find out, he had just finished taping a bunch of shows and passed away only 10 days after wrapping.  Shocking indeed.

But pancreatic cancer is one of the nastiest diseases there is in a family of diseases that is the absolute worst, and it turns out that the man who appeared to us on television for over 35 years as a great sage of wisdom and a font of firm but fair treatment to all who played his game - was in the end, only human.

That he would die so abruptly, without warning (even though we certainly had been warned) hit everyone hard.

Sure it was "just a game show" and Alex was in the end just a game show host.  But looking at the totality of his work, of his life - it seems to me that he was a lot more.

Alex was to me, the very embodiment of the American dream.  First and foremost, he was an immigrant.  Second, he worked extremely hard to get where he was - starting out as a utility player for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, he worked endlessly announcing and hosting just about every show available to him at one time or another, all the while going to college at the same time.

In 1973 Alex moved to the US and began hosting a string of successful game shows, including two I remember very well - "High Rollers" and "Pitfall".  The man never stopped - at one point, even after he had been hosting "Jeopardy!" for a few years he was also hosting two other game shows at the same time - "Classic Concentration" and "To Tell the Truth".

Third, perhaps the most American of all, he slowly but surely became a national treasure by hosting the very best game show in the very best way.  He was firm but fair and exuded confidence without ever being overbearing or insufferable the way some of the best of his colleagues couldn't avoid.

And he outlasted them all, save one - Mr. Sajack who was clearly fed up with his job decades ago and still is snotty to his contestants.

But more than being calm and cool, Alex was at the helm of a show that exemplified what is great about the good ol' US of A.

Jeopardy is calmly and coolly, just like Alex - all about being the very best, in this case the best of "trivia" which is actually a massive amount of general information that we as worldly people should aspire to consume and retain.

It really is beyond a game show - it is a showcase of exceptionalism.  A mixture of hard work (learning what you need to know), physical ability in timing (gotta get on that buzzer quick!) and a bit of luck - it's ALL about the categories!   If I as a poker player and Star Wars nerd got "Sci-Fi Movies" and "Vegas Gaming" as categories I would be much happier than if I got "Latin Broadway Musicals" (an actual category from a rerun the other night).  I do know musicals pretty well, but the latin part stumped me!

It's tough to communicate why the show has grown so large in importance to me and to our country over the years  - I feel like I'm falling very short of giving reasons why it matters.  And why Alex mattered so much in this equation.

So now's the part where some of you may get mad at me - because I have to spell it out.  

I will NOT say it has to do with politics - because in my view what is happening to our country has nothing to do with policies or even ultimately politicians.  

My issue with the way things are going with our country and why I love "Jeopardy!" so much is all of the marxist garbage that has migrated from college campuses into the real world is absolutely refuted by a show like "Jeopardy!" and by a man like Alex.

Let me say this - in a world where the values of hard work and determination are now facing push-back as somehow unjust or even somehow racist (yes, this is an actual thing now) - "Jeopardy!" for me has become a reassuring bedrock of reliability as a venue where excellence still matters.

Being on time is not "colonialism".  Turning your work in on time is not "a value of whiteness".  Striving to be the best is something we as a nation, and as a world for that matter, should always hold up as admirable.

"Jeopardy!" is a firm and unwavering statement against the forces of idiotic "wokeism" that has infected our youth and gone from college campuses to the mainstream in only a few short years.    

Alex embodied this refutation until his last breath.   My favorite line of his that he would use often when the first round commenced was "Let's go to work."  Indeed.

No one could say it better or mean it more.  Alex was and will forever be a national treasure, and Jeopardy hopefully will continue on for many years to come.   Whoever ends up hosting, and I'm praying it's not the shrill and panicky Ken Jennings (not to mention his awful politics which he loves sharing on twitter) - but rather someone, anyone, who can keep things calm and sensible, without turning over yet another treasured institution to the social justice nonsense that is breaking our country and breaking my heart.

For now and hopefully forever, Alex Trebek will stand as far more than just a game show host.  He will be remembered as the cool and calm Canadian who came to the US and helmed one of the biggest and best legacies in television history.   

A tv show that became far greater than just a tv show - it is an institution and a statement against mediocrity and destructive group think.  One that our country needs now more than ever.

Whoever steps into Alex's shoes, I do pray for them - to stay strong, stay mostly silent on twitter, and to keep the faith in hard work and the pursuit of objective excellence.

2nd Row right to left - me, my mom, my wife and my brother - watching the legend!