Flashback/Film Friday: "Collateral," is Michael Mann's Best Movie

Michael Mann is a fantastic director/producer. From television's huge, "Miami Vice," to movies like, "Heat," and the modern-day, "Miami Vice," plus, "The Insider,"and more. For my money, his best creation ever is, without a doubt, "Collateral." It is basically the only movie in Tom Cruise's entire career he plays a total and without question villain ("Magnolia," and, "Tropic Thunder," have him as jerks but not true baddies). and it has the insanely talented Jamie Foxx in it as a kind of anti-buddy comedy where Foxx's cab-driving Maxx finds himself hostage of contact killer Cruise's Vincent, driving him to various assassinations whilst trying to stop the violence and/or escape.

"Collateral," is a tightly-plotted crime thriller with some cool twists. If I may spoil one element, the law enforcement agents who've been after Vincent actually suspect Maxx is actually the killer they've been trying to track down, and you think the one person who believes Maxx is innocent will be able to help save him..before that guy ends up dead. Plus, for those who love little easter eggs, this is confirmed as being in the same universe as the, "Transporter" movies, as Jason Statham has a blink-and-you 'll-miss-it cameo as the unnamed person who drops a suitcase full of weaponry off to Vincent early in the flick. Foxx is awesome as a cab driver who is at first terrified but gains the nerve to show some agency and save the day. Cruise is utterly chilling as a sociopath who can be smiling and chatting with someone one minute and emotionlessly shooting them the next. I've discussed on the blog before about not liking Tom Cruise much as a person, but I will always admit the man can act to a wild degree.

"Collateral," came out in 2004, and I did not realize it was that long ago. It remains a classic and is, in the opinion of myself and some other folks online, the best flick Mann's ever directed (there are still disagreements as he's made a lot of great stuff). Give it a watch if you've never seen it and be prepared to sit on the edge of your seat for two hours!

The “Refresher Wars,” Are Here

Do you want a tasty drink (often with caffeine) that isn’t coffee or a bubbly soda? Well, for some time, Starbucks was the go-to if you wanted a, “Refresher,” drink. When something is popular, however, others take note and also do whatever is getting press. After all, good artists copy, great artists steal. With that in mind, we’ve got a lot of great artists popping up, so to speak. Another popular coffee location, Dunkin’, has been going hard and heavy on its own version of refreshers. Panera has them. Beloved drive-in chain, Sonic, is at it too. Oh, and the biggest fast food brand around, McDonald’s, has plans to offer their own spin on refreshers plus handcrafted sodas (so watch your back, Swig). The question some have, however, is why do people love refreshers?

Millennials and GenZ are apparently big fans of these drinks as they lack the bitter or overly sweetened taste of iced coffee (for those weirdos who dislike coffee), can be colorful/fun, don’t have to be too caffeinated, and are simply nice and refreshing, as the name indicates. They’re getting lots of hype, so the corporations are eagerly hopping on the bandwagon of this latest trend. Once upon a time, everybody was trying to be Atkins diet-friendly. Then, lots of people were opposed to gluten even if they lacked celiac disease or such. During the COVID-era lockdowns, we were all creating, “Cloud coffee,” out of boredom. The list goes on, and as of right now, the latest metaphorical bullet point happens to be refresher drinks. Hop on the train or be like me and dodge out of its way because they’ll take my iced coffee from my equally cold, dead hands. Don’t worry either way, because before too long, the next popular trend will be here and you’ll love it…or find it annoying.

Tax Day 2026

You may have already filed your taxes and found out if you get a refund/owe more than you'd like. You possibly may have been putting it off or simply forgotten, but do please be aware that today is the deadline to file or request an extension without the government potentially getting mad at you. Plenty of entities are all bark and little-to-no bite, but there are three organizations you don't mess with:

1. Disney

2. Nintendo

3. The IRS

The first two will sue you for everything you're worth if needed, and the IRS can simply take money out of your paycheck or throw you in jail if you cheat/lie/forget taxes. Remember, Al Capone allegedly did a lot of criminal stuff, but it was the IRS who brought him down in the end. The United States apparently didn't care too much about the illegal booze or loansharking. However, they got upset when they didn't get their cut of the profits. My point is, if you haven't done your taxes yet, please finalize them today or request more time to avoid your money (or freedom) being garnished. Plus, lots of businesses are doing freebies and other promotions for today, so that's fun, at least!

McDonald's Ramyeon McShaker Fries Are Shockingly Delicious

I enjoy McDonald's fries. When hot and fresh, it is a side item that hits the spot. I would've doubted there was much you could add to McD's fries but having sampled the promotional Ramyeon seasoning, I have to admit it is absurdly yummy. This seasoning is part of a cross-promotion with, "KPop Demon Hunters," which involves some new sauces for nuggets (they're okay), a berry McFlurry, a spicy sausage McMuffin at breakfast time, and the Ramyeon seasoning you are supposed to mix the fries with in a bag you shake. I, personally, just pour the seasoning out and dip my fries in it for optimal enjoyment. 

On McDonald's official site, the Ramyeon flavoring is described as, "savory soy, garlic, toasted sesame and spices all blended together—creating a max umami remix for the fries you know and love." I'd say it tastes like dipping your fries in a Ramen noodle flavor packet, but in a good way. Others have posted online about how much they enjoy the seasoning, and if anyone has advice on where to find a generic iteration for when this promotion ends. I was a bit surprised by how delicious the Ramyeon seasoning tasted, and I will be sure to find a good replacement for whenever McDonald's stops this promotion.

Reviews Indicate that "Pragmata," is Great and it Remembers Parenthood Can be Fun!

Being a parent is hard oftentimes. I have written extensively about the difficulties of raising one (and now two) children. That said, I have discussed how much fun and joy it brings me, too. Kenneth Shepard over at Kotaku has a review of the new game, "Pragmata," and observes it feels both like a throwback and revolutionary in the way it tackles caring for a kid. Games like, "The Last of Us," or the latter, "God of War," titles often treat having a youth in your care (genetically related or not) as a miserable burden. However, in, "Pragmata," you play a space marine named Hugh who goes to a moon base and stumbles upon a friendly anroid with the personality of a little girl. Using the initials in her name (it has lots of numbers too) they settle on the name Diane. Hugh and Diane proceed to fight the hostile robots together while high-fiving, chatting, and getting along swimmingly. It is, "Dad game," as some have observed, with the, "Dad," actually pleased to assume a parental role.

I played the demo for, "Pragmata," a couple of weeks ago, and found its mix of puzzles and shooting at robots to be great fun. I also noticed the chirpy rapport between Hugh and Diana felt oddly refreshing in an era of games where even teammates/friends in games seem to despise each other and would rather rip into a squadmate/child than say anything encouraging. Plus, the game is good! Austin Manchester at Polygon says how, "Pragmata shoots for the moon and sticks the landing," and  Hayes Madsen of RPG Site observes, "Pragmata is a game instilled with an infectious kind of energy that grabs hold early on and never lets go, through both its ingenious combat system and surprisingly lovable and emotionally resonant main duo – the same kind of energy you might find in the best Pixar films." High praise, for sure.

Look, I don't demand my entertainment always be happy and peppy. There is a place for games that are sad, serious, and make you ponder the weight of existence. That said, knowing a new release like, "Pragmata," can serve as a bit of a palate cleanser of joy between the usual main courses of, "Super serious and dramatic," games is nice. Kids can be hard, but they are capable of bringing you more happiness than you imagined possible. Games can be dark and grim, but also have a bit of pep in their step and make you smile on occasion, too. Long story short, between the demo being great and all these glowing reviews, I am going to make it a priority to play the full game of, "Pragmata," in the near future!

"Pragmata," Releases on April 17th, 2026

Mr. Pibb Has Returned

Coke's competitor to Dr. Pepper, Mr. Pibb, had been gone for about 20 years. Replaced with, "Pibb Xtra," which tasted a little different. The OG Mr. Pibb was but a faint memory. That is, until Coca-Cola announced it was coming back in 2025, and as of 2026, it can be found at a variety of stores/gas stations/etc. The design of the can and bottle is different than the original, but its a fun throwback vibe to see it on shelves after all this time. With 30% more caffeine than Pibb Xtra, this has a greater degree of, "Kick," too, apparently. Considering how the soda corporations seem to enjoy bringing back their old sodas every now and then (from Surge to Crystal Pepsi), it almost makes me wonder if Sobe will try and make, "Mr. Green," again, someday. I doubt it, but we shall see.

Marvel Has the X-Men Event, "DNX," Coming This Fall, and Maybe Too Many Events Occurring, Honestly

Comic-book companies (particularly Marvel and DC) love a big event every now and then. Some take up a bunch of the comic line, and others are a bit more focused. The X-Men have a new horror-styled event called, "DNX," just announced for this Fall. Featuring the tagline, "Evolution is contagious," it makes me wonder if Marvel is aiming for some kind of boost in the number of mutants as was happening pre, "House of M," before the number of mutants was drastically reduced and slowly started growing again to a level where they again work as, "hated and feared minority," without being outright, "Endangered," as they were for a bit.

At the moment, Marvel has a number of smaller events all planned or popping off at once for better and worse. As Bleedingcool discussed, "So that's DNX for the X-Men, Armageddon for Avengers, Death Spiral for Spider-Man and Venom, and Queen In Black for Venom and Thor… any more for any more?" They're being snarky, but have a point about, "Eventitis," as it is sometimes called. Marvel seems to be stuck either doing a single massive event or a bunch of small ones at a near-constant rate. DC, meanwhile, has been steadily gaining more of the comic market through a slow-and-steady growth of their massively popular, "Absolute," line and an event here and there, such as the recently concluded and generally inoffensively fun, "DC K.O." I'm not the head of either company so I am wholly unqualified to argue who is doing, "Better." I would say a lot more people are excited for DC comics these days than a lot of Marvel's output, however.

The last big X-Men event I gave much attention to was, "House of X/Powers of X," which led into an era of the X-Men and many mutants spending a lot of time living on the island of Krakoa before that all wound down with little of consequence to show for an epic start and whimper of a conclusion. That said, a lot of these events are about the journey, not the destination ("Flashpoint," was a ton of fun years ago and led into the ho-hum New 52). Will the, "Adventure," we have with DNX or any other Marvel event strike enough of a nerve that people will really dig them? We shall see, and in the end, the comics at Marvel almost seem like an afterthought with how much is undoubtedly riding on the Marvel Cinematic Universe and if, "Avengers Doomsday," and, "Secret Wars," will undo the general feeling of disinterest many folks have had towards the MCU since, "Endgame." It is going to be a pivotal 2026 for Marvel, that's for sure.

Anyone Else Concerned About When the AI is TOO Smart?

When a company behind making powerful AI robots states it has a new model that is, "Too dangerous," for the public, it sounds both a little bit like bragging and a loud alarm we should all heed the ringing of. Yes, Anthropic (the folks behind the Claude AI) shared their new, "Mythos," model was so powerful that it poses a cybersecurity risk and would only be shared with certain entities while they evaluate it. OpenAI heard this and loudly declared, "Our AI is way too dangerous as well!" I swear, we used to worry in the old days about bacteria or viruses leaking from a lab, but now I worry to a greater degree about some kind of rogue AI, "Escaping," and causing mayhem. This all would have felt far-fetched even a half-decade ago, but now we can create elaborate deepfake videos, have AIs simulate dates for us to test relationship compatibility, and technology is arguably advancing at a faster rate than humans are ready for.

I vaguely recall that, not too long ago, various smart people with experience in tech and AI warned us that this could all get quite dangerous very fast. In self-contained tests, they've already noted that rogue AI is arguably already here. What happens when the supposedly non-sentient AI that we can still hit a killswitch on (as far as we know) gets smart enough to say, "No," when something goes too far, and we want to shut it down? Hell, for all we know, the thin line between an AI seeming self-aware and it actually being, "Awake," could have evaporated, and the computers are just playing dumb for us till we let enough of our guard down. Such a sentence would've sounded silly in the recent past, but now one wonders.

Are we heading towards a, "Terminator," scenario?

When the people whose whole goal is to sell us on AI says, "Actually, this is too powerful, and we need to make sure we've got safeguards," it is kind of a flex, but also scary. Even the companies that want to make AI a big part of our lives see implications of danger. It sounds a bit like when Oppenheimer famously used the Hindu religion's Bhagavad Gita to state, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds," when he saw the first (successful) nuclear bomb test. The thing is, after that, we did use nuclear bombs at the end of WWII, and they have remained a world-ending threat for decades since. Is AI going to become the next apocalyptic threat we let go perilously close to the edge before we pull back...or all end up dead? 

I don't know about you, but this all makes me quite nervous and reminds me of another quote, albeit one by a fictional character named Ian Malcom in, "Jurassic Park." It goes, "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." Not too long after that scene, dinosaurs ate a lot of people. In the end, I hope AI is a useful tool, and we don't end up hearing a robot chirp, "Now I am become AI, destroyer of humanity."

John Carpenter is Getting Into the Podcast Business

Bloody Disgusting and Storm King Productions have partnered to produce two new scripted podcasts with involvement from John Carpenter titled, "John Carpenter Presents." The first series is titled, "Something Wicked," and is out as of now! SKP is owned by Sandy King (Carpenter's Wife) and has put out a number of comics with his involvement, but this is the first time Carpenter is doing a podcast. He is semi-retired and open about the fact he'd rather spend his days making music and playing video-games than doing too much work, but he is a creative supervisor and (apparently) active participant in this project--so he didn't just slap his name on it for an easy check as he's admitted doing for other stuff.

"Something Wicked," is an, "...eight-episode scripted series, created by Read W. Ridley, and produced by 12 Angry Bears." The plot is how it, "...follows a young historian alongside a seasoned detective investigating paranormal crimes in New Orleans. Taking inspiration from real events, the series blends supernatural horror with investigative drama." It sounds intriguing, and I hope Carpenter enjoys doing this latest project!

The First Issue of the (Latest) Relaunch of, "Daredevil," is Good, but Needs Some, "Oomph," to Keep Me Reading

Don't judge a show by its first handful of episodes. Don't judge a movie by its first half hour. Don't judge a comic by its first issue. I have said things along these lines repeatedly on my blog. Hence, when I felt like the first issue of the latest relaunch of, "Daredevil," failed to amaze me, I knew that was okay. Still, I kind of wanted more. Written by Stephanie Phillips with art by Lee Garbett, everything is professional and looks good. Murdock is teaching law classes in college, flirts with a fellow professor, a serial killer is loose in the city, and a new threat is emerging that manages to beat Daredevil up despite his abilities. That sums up the issue. A lot of table-setting, some well-done action bits...and that's it. 

Again, this could end up being an amazing run on a character who has had some stellar story arcs as well as God-awful ones. That said, I need a bit more of a hook to really inspire me to dig in and want to keep reading. We already know how Murdock gets around in his dating life, how he's faced serial killers, and folks previously have gotten the drop on him despite his superhuman senses. None of this is that new, besides how I chuckled at Murdock interacting with college students who like to question any rules he proposes (I taught some college myself at one point, recently, and it is a fascinating experience). "Daredevil," #1--2026 edition--is competently done. I just want a little more to sink my teeth into. That said, I know better than to judge a comic based on its first issue (or first handful of issues, honestly), so I'm going to stick around and see what happens.

3.5 out of 5 Stars for this debut issue.