Final Destination 3 (2006)

The premise of these movies is always that people are fated to die, and yet, for some unexplained reason, someone always has the vision that they are about to die.

These deaths are not just about the person with the premonition. They are about a group of people -- generally young people. First it was the airplane crash, then it was the multiple-car pile up, and for this movie, it's the roller coaster.

All of these events are out of the ordinary, as are the ways that Death "recovers" the lives of the people fated to die. I guess that's all necessary for the purposes of movie magic, but I'd prefer deaths that are a little bit more boring and mundane. When the death scenes get too crazy, I lose all sense of verisimilitude. I want to watch a movie that feels like real life, or in this case, real death. Even something like this: Why not have the character survive death and then have the character go to the doctor and find out that they have incurable cancer? Now that would be something. In these films, characters might go to a dentist or a doctor, but they wouldn't be told they had cancer... they'd just have some bizarre office accident kill them.

Bludworth watch: In the third movie, Tony Todd is back, but not as Bludworth. Instead, he plays the voice of the Devil -- the mascot/sign for the rollercoaster at the Amusement Park. Oddly enough, a white guy is listed as Bludworth in the credits, but the part he plays is so minor, and no one ever names him, that I'm not sure who that character was.

So who is Tony Todd? He's the only actor to be in all three films, but why? His presence could easily be removed and no one would miss him. I'm not even sure who Tony Todd is. Is he a real actor? Has he been in other films?

Oh wow. Tony Todd has had an incredibly prolific career. Check out his IMDb credits. He was the Candyman in Candyman (1992), but he's been in over 200 other films and TV shows! Now, has he had any meaningful or major or memorable roles? I don't know, but I'm sure he must be in Final Destination because of his Candyman role?

Overall, I felt like the 3rd installment was weaker than the first two. Wendy's premonitions are supplemented by her 3-megapixel school digital camera photos. This film makes reference to the original film but ignores the second film and its two survivors completely. Then, this film ends with Wendy having a second premonition, but this time, there's apparently nothing she can do about it We assume she and Kevin (Ryan Merriman) die.

The characters in every movie always figure out the Death "pattern," but they never spend any time figuring out why the premonitions happen, or why the one individual gets them. Three movies in, you'd hope that the "lore" would be a bit more developed by now, but nope. The writers seem content just to repeat the formula. Maybe the add a new wrinkle, but this film is formula.

Oh, and what happened to the FBI? They were there for the plane crash, but if this premonition stuff and mass killing events kept happening, wouldn't the FBI still be involved?

"Digging for the Truth" Experiment #4 -- The Federalist Radio Hour

I first heard of Sean Davis last week. He created an online magazine called The Federalist in 2011, and he currently has about 500,000 followers on X. It was about last week that he posted something amazing. He suggested if the Supreme Court doesn't rule the way they should, not only should Trump just ignore the ruling, if they keep obstructing the administration, he should just dissolve the Court altogether. And I thought, wow. This guy is saying outrageous stuff like that, and there's an audience for it. So, I decided I'd listen to an episode of The Federalist podcast: April 17, 2025 -- Deportation, Due Process, and Deference to the American People (40 minutes) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deportation-due-process-and-deference-to-the/id983782306?i=1000703904873 In the 40-minute conversation, the host and guest discussed why due process wasn't required for illegal immigrants. The case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was mentioned for a brief second, but...

In Utero

In 1994, I wore my In Utero shirt to college. I’d walk down the hall, and people would look at the shirt. I still remember a professor looking at it, not apparently hip to the scene. She asked, “Bret, is there something you’re trying to tell us?” I had no idea what I was trying to say. Kurt Cobain had just shot his head off with a shotgun. Before that life-changing event, I hadn’t been the biggest fan of Nirvana, but I did recognize the immediate impact “Smells Like Teen Spirit” had on music, or at least on MTV. Nirvana had seemingly killed and buried Hair Metal, and they had done it single-handedly. What exactly was this “Alternative” sound? It was weird, because soon it felt like everything was “alternative,” and that didn’t make any sense. Once everything is the same, how can it be anything but standard, normal? Nirvana was okay, but at least at the time I was wearing the merch, I was much more into Offspring and Green Day and Tool. And that’s about as far as I went into...

I Must Betray You -- Ruta Sepetys

I appreciate the pacing. The author's epilogue includes her mission statement -- historical fiction as a way to keep history alive. Romanis is an obscure place, but she hopes people reading the book will take an interest in its history. She also makes the point that there are no clean endings. So, the evil dictator and his wife were killed, but the problems they created didn't magically go away, the country still had to find its way and move forward, and it was a process.

The Writer's Poke

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