Stories by @thedispearing

What About Bob? (2015)

Bob Wiley, a mentally unstable patient, follows his egotistical psychotherapist, Dr. Leo Marvin, on vacation. When Bob befriends the members of Leo's family, the patient's problems push the doctor over the edge.

The Manchurian Candidate (2024)

A political conspiracy centering on a brainwashed veteran.

Hall Pass (2024)

Bad husbands get a week off marriage.

The Matrix (2012)

The world is a simulation. To a young person living in the shadow of the Great Recession, that kind of horror resonates. Of course, some things would have to be be changed. After all, what was relevant in 1999 isn't necessarily salient in 2012! The Wachowskis, with all due respect to their fantastic Matrix films, one through four, were Generation X to the core, and with a new millennial vision, the series would be more relevant to a social media-adept youth. For one, in high contrast to the hollow optimism promised under 1990s capitalism, the early 2010s saw despair in the wake of America's once-thought-to-be secure financial institutions collapse, leaving a broken youth in its aftermath. Instead, the focus is completely shifted; for one, it's a romance now. Absurd, I know, but consider this: Neo, a lost-and-confused young college graduate, meets Trinity, who seems to know all about the wild dangerous truth of reality and accepts that things WON'T get better. Still, Neo's youthful desire to change things for the better attracts and impresses her, in this epic of two young lovers trying to liberate humanity from the Matrix.

Joker (2003)

What if the Joker got a solo movie... that was a crime epic directed by Martin Scorsese?

Gattaca (2011)

A dystopia in which our future society is driven by eugenics where children are conceived through genetic selection to ensure they possess the best hereditary traits of their parents. The film centers on Vincent Freeman, who was conceived outside the eugenics program and struggles to overcome genetic discrimination to realize his dream of going into space.

The Spectacular Spider-Man (2010)

A superhero television series developed by Victor Cook and Greg Weisman and produced by HBO Entertainment, based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. In terms of overall tone and style, the series is based primarily on the Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and John Romita Sr. era of The Amazing Spider-Man, with a similar balance of action, drama and comedy as well as a high school setting. However, it also tends to blend material from all eras of the comic's run up to that point in addition to other sources such as the Ultimate Spider-Man comics by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, as well as Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film trilogy.

The Ultimate "Lost Youths" Movie (2002)

They're not much of a thing now, but back in the '80s, '90s, and early '00s, these bad boys were everywhere. I mean, if you were a middle-aged white boomer pissed about your kids listening to hip-hop, then this was a godsend to you! You know all the classic tropes: bright kid turned junkie, innocent girl turned partying druggie, promising young athlete turned crack fiend. Also, just to be clear, this isn't an endorsement of this sub-genre in any way. A lot of these movies were racist and sexist garbage that were built on conservative, bigoted tropes by middle-aged white guys. Anyways, let's just jump right into it.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (2003)

The story of a high school slacker, Ferris, who skips school with his best friend Cameron and his girlfriend Sloane for a day in Chicago, regularly breaking the fourth wall to explain his techniques and inner thoughts.

18 Again!

A contemporary remake of the 1988 comedy starring George Burns, in which an 81-year-old switches bodies with his 18-year-old grandson.

The Ultimate Nerd Comedy (2010)

The kind of movie that r/movie users post a thread about how underrated it is every other month.

Armageddon (2018)

What if Michael Bay's Armageddon was remade, twenty years later?

The Ultimate Action Comedy (1992)

The final form of '80s action cinema: the action comedy! Let's say it's a, I dunno, buddy comedy, since America loved them so much. And, in classic buddy film format, two polar opposites: the king of the action movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger, as a hyper-macho special federal agent with a generically American name that doesn't really work since Arnold keeps his accent, and the king of the comedy film, Robin Williams, as a nerdy, witty scientist with an infectious comedic ability. Now, the plot. The scientist has made an incredible invention with a massive potential for bettering the world... and causing mass destruction. Some foreign terrorist (led by a critically acclaimed, award-winning actor in a role so blatantly for the paycheck it's comedic; let's say John Lithgow, but it could be anyone with a few prestige roles.) is after Robin Williams, and it's up to Arnold to protect him. Combined with a female police officer who also on the case (initially clashes with Arnold but inevitably ends up with him; again, wide range of actors here, but let's go with Sharon Stone for max nostalgia.) and Robin Williams' estranged family who he's gotta make up with (let's say Christina Ricci plays his young daughter for max audience "aww"), and you've got a classic.

Peep Show

Peep Show is a British television sitcom starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb. It was written by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, with additional material by Mitchell and Webb, among others. Peep Show follows the lives of Mark Corrigan (Mitchell) and Jeremy "Jez" Usbourne (Webb), dysfunctional best friends who share a flat in Croydon, South London. Mark is a pessimistic, socially awkward loan manager who dreams of being an intellectual, while Jeremy is a perpetually-unemployed slacker who lives in Mark's spare room and who dreams of becoming a famous musician. The show uses point of view shots—giving the programme its title—with the thoughts of main characters Mark and Jeremy audible as voice-overs. The contrast between the characters' stated thoughts and feelings and their actual intentions is a source of much of the show's humor.

Romney 1972

Emerging from the chaos of 1968, George Romney was an unlikely choice to lead the nation. Barely able to put together a cohesive coalition within his own party, the Michigan Governor has withered in the face of myriad crises. The war in Vietnam symbolizes Romney's challenges best, with a sluggish withdrawal and weak South Vietnamese army, President Romney faces criticism from both his left and his right. It's not much better domestically, where a resurgent right strongly opposes Romney's unorthodox programs for urban renewal and desegregation in the south, amidst a struggling economy. To win re-election, Romney must first heal the wounds in his own administration, then his own party, and then finally the country. Anything else would see the United States fall into an irreversible state of moral decay.