3 movies with new ChatGPT Process.
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---
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title: 'Men in Black 3'
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date: 2026-05-10T00:00:00Z
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draft: true
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series: "Frank's Couch"
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summary: "A Master Pancake screening of Men in Black 3 at Alamo Village that turned a pretty fun time travel movie into an even better night."
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# Fill in IMDB ID, then run: python scripts/fetch_movie_data.py
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imdb: "tt1409024"
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# Auto-filled by fetch_movie_data.py:
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poster: ""
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year: 2012
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runtime: 106
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director: "Barry Sonnenfeld"
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genres: ["action", "adventure", "comedy", "sci-fi"]
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tags:
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- no-pizza
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- no-expectations
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- master-pancake
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- alamo-drafthouse
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---
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{{< imdbposter >}}
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| Date watched | 2026-05-09 |
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|---------------------|-----------------------|
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| Show Time | 5:00 PM |
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| Theater | Alamo Village|
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| Theater Number | 3 Seat 3-11 |
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| Pizza | No, sad times |
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| Tickets | A Must thanks AC |
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| Letterboxd Rating | DNR - Its a 2.5-3.0 |
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| Crew | AC, JW |
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{{< /imdbposter >}}
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## Review
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After The Sheep Detectives, I rushed over from Galaxy Theatres to Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar for a Master Pancake show of Men in Black 3. The plan had been a little messy. I got a text from family who happened to be in town asking me to come have dinner, and there was barbecue involved, so I was going to skip Teen Wolf and just make the next thing work. I ended up at the Drafthouse with my good pal AC and his friend JW, or maybe more than friend, I am not totally sure. We were all there for Men in Black 3, and neither AC nor I had seen it recently. I had not seen it at all.
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The movie is basically about Agent J having to travel back in time to save Agent K and stop Boris the Animal, a Boglodite alien who escapes from a maximum-security prison on the Moon. Boris steals a little handheld time machine and goes back to 1969 to stop K from deploying the ArcNet. The ArcNet is a protective shield that keeps the Boglodites from invading Earth. There is also Griffin, a fifth-dimensional alien who can see possible realities, and he gives the movie a fun little time travel weirdness that mostly works.
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Of course, the best part was that this was Master Pancake. Master Pancake is there to mock the movie, ask the questions you are already thinking, and make the whole thing funnier than it would be on its own. John Erler was the main host, the main Pancake if you will, keeping everything together. Chris Cubas and John W. Smith were there too, cracking jokes throughout. Chris Cubas is very quick-witted, and it is a lot of fun hearing him find exactly the right question or joke at the right time. Sean, the sound guy, was also great. The running joke is that it is always his birthday, but he really is fast with the cues and sounds.
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Because it was a Sony movie, we got candy instead of a live skit, which was fine. The riffing carried the night. Men in Black 3 is also just a better movie than I expected. It is a fun little time travel movie, and by the end I realized it is kind of a good Father's Day movie too. I only saw it in 2D, or "Tootie" as my brain apparently decided to call it, but I can see how it probably would have been especially fun in 3D when it came out.
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I have complicated feelings about Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar as a business in 2026. Running a restaurant is hard. Running a theater is hard. Running a restaurant inside a theater while food costs and labor costs keep going up seems extremely hard. I was on the board with Black Star for years, which is a beer co-op and restaurant, and restaurants are one of the hardest things to operate. At the same time, I do feel like Alamo has been pretty anti-union and anti-labor, and that is hard to ignore. But Master Pancake only does shows at the Drafthouse, and I do want to keep supporting Master Pancake. So that is where I am with it.
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For Austin theaters, I think my personal order is something like AFS, Galaxy, and then Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, depending on the movie. If you are not part of the 824 Club, AFS is a great value. I also do the Cinemark club thing, and one of my friends does the Alamo membership. Alamo is still good for some harder-to-find movies and special events, and Master Pancake is definitely worth showing up for. Men in Black 3 with Master Pancake was a good time and a nice way to wrap up the movie part of Saturday, May 9.
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- IMDb media page: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1409024/mediaindex/
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- TMDb image page: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/41154-men-in-black-3/images
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---
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title: 'Mortal Kombat II'
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date: 2026-05-09T16:15:00Z
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draft: true
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series: "Frank's Couch"
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summary: "A front-row Galaxy Theatres screening of Mortal Kombat II that worked better than expected, especially once I stopped overthinking the video game lore."
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# Fill in IMDB ID, then run: python scripts/fetch_movie_data.py
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imdb: "tt17490712"
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# Auto-filled by fetch_movie_data.py:
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poster: ""
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year: 2026
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runtime: 116
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director: "Simon McQuoid"
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genres: ["action", "adventure", "fantasy"]
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tags:
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- galaxy-theater
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- no-pizza
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- no-expectations
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---
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{{< imdbposter >}}
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| Date watched | 2026-05-09 |
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|---------------------|-----------------------|
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| Show Time | 11:15 AM |
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| Theater | Galaxy Theatres Austin |
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| Theater Number | 06 Seat B8 |
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| Pizza | No, sad times |
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| Tickets | Bought at Door|
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| Letterboxd Rating | 3 stars |
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| Crew | Coach T, Kid Negativity |
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{{< /imdbposter >}}
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## Review
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On Saturday, May 9, I went to Galaxy Theatres in Austin with the boys, Coach T and Kid Negativity, for an 11:15 AM showing of Mortal Kombat II. Galaxy is a cool old-school Austin theater. It is not tiny, but it is definitely smaller than a Cinemark or Regal. We tried to get our traditional Row B seats, because we are the Row B boys, but Row B was taken, so we ended up in Row A. The ticket taker actively warned us that it was going to be awfully close, and he was right. At Cinemark or Alamo South Lamar, Row A still feels like maybe five or six meters from the screen. At Galaxy, it felt more like two. That made it a very different experience, but the recliners were comfortable enough, especially since we had a seat between us.
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The popcorn was good, but I learned a lesson. They have different salts you can add, and the butter popcorn salt is extremely strong. The concession guy warned me, and he was right. I only added a little, but it was still too much. I think the popcorn may already have salt on it even when it is not buttered, so next time I probably do not need the extra seasoning.
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I had not seen the first Mortal Kombat from 2021, so I was going in a little cold. I knew Karl Urban was playing Johnny Cage, and I liked that the movie did not waste a ton of time reintroducing everybody. Johnny Cage is a washed-up 90s movie star and former martial arts performer, and Sonya and Raiden basically show up and pull him into the whole situation. That made it very clear this was a part two, but honestly I appreciated that. With game adaptations, I do not always need an hour of backstory for characters the audience probably already knows. Give me enough exposition later and keep the movie moving.
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The movie is a lot of fun. Raiden does not talk too much, which I appreciated, because he is supposed to be this godlike figure on earth. The movie does not get too bogged down in explaining gods, minor gods, major gods, or why the god of lightning counts as minor. I did start thinking too much about the lore, especially the rules of the tournament and how long Shao Kahn must have been waiting around between fights. The math got a little weird for me. But eventually I had to remind myself that this is Mortal Kombat. The relationships and lore exist to support a fighting game. Shao Kahn is strong because he is the bad guy and the top boss, and sometimes that is enough.
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What surprised me was how quickly the movie gave us character development without making it feel totally rushed. Johnny Cage getting pulled into this thing against his will worked for me. I also really liked that they did not force the story into a love story. Kitana's story was more interesting as this princess from a brutal world who had to become a fighter. The movie moves fast, but not in a way that lost me. I gave it three stars on Letterboxd, which for me means "meh, positive." It was good. I would watch it again if it was on cable or streaming, but it is not something I am going to rush out and buy on Blu-ray. It is not going in the Criterion Collection, but it did its job.
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- IMDb media page: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17490712/mediaindex/
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- TMDb search: https://www.themoviedb.org/search?query=Mortal%20Kombat%20II%202026
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---
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title: 'The Sheep Detectives'
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date: 2026-05-09T19:00:00Z
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draft: true
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series: "Frank's Couch"
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summary: "A surprisingly packed Galaxy Theatres screening of The Sheep Detectives, a sweet and funny mystery that turned out to be much more touching than expected."
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# Fill in IMDB ID, then run: python scripts/fetch_movie_data.py
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imdb: "tt32565993"
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# Auto-filled by fetch_movie_data.py:
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poster: ""
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year: 2026
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runtime: 109
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director: "Kyle Balda"
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genres: ["action", "comedy", "family", "mystery"]
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tags:
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- galaxy-theater
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- no-pizza
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- no-expectations
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---
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{{< imdbposter >}}
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| Date watched | 2026-05-09 |
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|---------------------|-----------------------|
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| Show Time | 2:00 PM |
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| Theater | Galaxy Theatres Austin |
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| Theater Number | 9 seat A-10 |
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| Pizza | No, sad times |
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| Tickets | Bought at Door |
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| Letterboxd Rating | 4 Stars |
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| Crew | Coach T, Kid Negativity |
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{{< /imdbposter >}}
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## Review
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After Mortal Kombat II, we stayed at Galaxy Theatres for the 2 PM showing of The Sheep Detectives. This one was a surprise smash. The theater was already really full, and we were back in the front row again. People were in Rows B, C, D, and all over the place. It was nice to see that kind of turnout for something that, at least from the outside, looked like it could have been a smaller or quieter family movie.
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For the second movie, I got a refill on my large drink, which confirmed that at Galaxy it is probably best to just get the large if you want more than a small. The price jump from small to medium is bigger than the jump from medium to large, and the large comes with a free refill. I also got Buncha Crunch and a large Diet Coke. I am usually more of a Coke Zero or Coke Y3000 person, and the Diet Coke tasted a little funny, but alas, that's the breaks.
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The Sheep Detectives was incredible. It has so many stars in it that I was worried it might turn into one of those ensemble messes, but it is wholesome, beautiful, and way more touching than it had to be. The sheep are animated, but they still feel believable. I think part of what helps is that they look like CGI sheep living in a real field and a real town. The setting does not feel fake, so it is easier to buy into the sheep as the actual stars of the movie.
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The voice cast is ridiculous in the best way. Chris O'Dowd plays Mopple, the sheep who remembers everything because he is the only one who cannot choose to forget. The other sheep have this funny ability where they can all decide to forget something together, close their eyes, hear a little ding, and then suddenly have no idea what was happening. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is one of the main sheep, and her voice has this soothing, motherly quality that works really well. Patrick Stewart is the old curmudgeonly ram, and Bryan Cranston is Sebastian, the big alpha ram of the group. Bella Ramsey is in there too, and Rhys Darby was very easy to pick out right away.
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The setup is simple but really effective. Hugh Jackman plays George, the shepherd who takes care of the sheep, talks to them, reads to them, and lives as kind of an outsider near this small town. He is writing a letter to someone, and at first we do not really know who. Then he ends up dead right around the time a local festival is supposed to happen, and suddenly the movie turns into a murder mystery. There is a reporter looking for a story, a very inept police officer, townspeople with secrets, and sheep trying to solve what happened to the man who cared for them.
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I saw some people describe it as "Knives Out for children," and I do not totally disagree. It has that cozy mystery shape, but it is softer, sillier, and more emotional. I will not spoil the ending, but I was not fully prepared for how touching it got. There are some great tearjerker moments and some genuinely lovely performances. It is simply way better than it has to be, and I really enjoyed it.
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## Image Ideas
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- IMDb media page: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32565993/mediaindex/
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- TMDb search: https://www.themoviedb.org/search?query=The%20Sheep%20Detectives%202026
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