Time is short tonight, so I went searching for a comedy short to watch, and did I find one!
The Audition was directed by Martin Scorsese and featured Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro competing against one another for a lead role in the next Scorsese film.
Scorsese also stars, along with Brad Pitt. The four icons had come together to make this short as an advertisement for Studio City in Macau and City of Dreams in Manila.
This was a lot of fun with these superstars playing against their own reps in a very meta short. These talented actors are able to deliver the comedy as well as their typical dramatic roles.
Reportedly, the short/ad cost an estimated $70 million dollars.
WKRP in Cincinnati was inspired as a TV show by Harry Chapin’s song “W.O.L.D.” The theme song works well with the blend of eccentric characters on the show.
Destin Daniel Cretton directed Shang Chi and the Ten Rings in the MCU and will be directing the upcoming Spider-Man movie. He is the showrunner behind the new Marvel Studios television series which dropped on January 27th on Disney +, Wonder Man.
Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is a working actor who is struggling. He lost a role on American Horror Story and found himself at a movie theater. He runs into Trevor Slattery (Sir Ben Kingsley), who lets him know that there is an audition for Wonder Man, a movie of a superhero Simon loved as a child.
I got to see the first four episodes last night and it feels like one of the most original and different Marvel Studio series yet.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley are fabulous together. The strength of this show was the chemistry between the pair of them. The story is about the actor’s process and the show is truly meta.
The show has shown us that Joe Pantoliano and Josh Gad are MCU cannon. They had some great cameos in the first four episodes.
Josh Gad’s episode was an amazing black and white episode that actually did not feature either Yahya Abdul-Mateen II or Ben Kingsley. It told a story of a super powered guy named DeMarr Davis, the Doorman, who was the reason why studios in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have actors sign an agreement that the new actors do not have superpowers.
After episode four Simon Williams and Trevor Slattery both get a call back for Wonder Man. We had met Simon’s brother Eric, who is a jerk and in the Marvel Comics, he is the Grim Reaper.
This was really great. I am excited about finishing off this series.
I had thought that I had seen Dirty Rotten Scoundrels before, but I do not think I have. Certainly not all the way through to the end though I have seen clips of it. I always believed that I was not a fan and that it was not something that I would find funny. I guess this is a lesson to make sure that you have watched something before judging it, because I thought Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was fantastic.
According to IMDB, “Two con men try to settle their rivalry by betting on who can swindle a young American heiress out of fifty thousand dollars first.“
The Dirty Rotten Scoundrels were Michael Caine and Steve Martin and they were absolutely perfect together. The chemistry between the two con men carried the film. Glenn Headly added a nice touch of apparent innocence to the group with her portrayal of Janet Colgate.
I was rooting for Steve Martin in the beginning of the movie, but Michael Caine became someone better than you would expect. It was a fun ending which fit perfectly in with the story.
It had great comedy and showed the quick-wits of both characters. The rivalry between them was so believable, even if some of the things that they pulled off was out there.
This is a remake of the 1964 movie Bedtime story. This new version was directed by Frank Oz, who was well known as a Muppet performer (he did Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear), the voice of Yoda, as well as director of other classic comedy hits such as Little Shop of Horrors, Bowfinger, and What About Bob?
I was sure that I had seen this before, but I had not seen the full film. It was very entertaining and full of Martin and Caine’s comedy chops and timing. I was very pleased to include this one in the Genre-ary for 2026.
“We’re tiny, we’re toony, we’re all a little looney“
Composed: Bruce Broughton
Lyrics: Tom Ruegger, Wayne Kaatz, and Bruce Broughton
Performed: cast members Jeff Bergman (as Bugs Bunny), Joe Alaskey (Plucky Duck), Charlie Adler (Buster Bunny), and Tress MacNeille (Babs Bunny).
Tiny Toons were reinvented for a more contemporary audience from the classic Looney Tunes characters. Steven Spielberg was attached to the project and brought a buzz to the cartoon. The energetic and funny theme song gave us that looney feel.
I am not sure where I got this film for the Genre-ary. It must have been on one of the lists that I was searching through. This is a British black comedy called Withnail and I, which featured the feature film debut of Richard E. Grant. I typically like British humor. Unfortunately, I could not get into the film.
I had a very difficult time engaging in the narrative of Withnail and I.
According to IMDB, “Two sloppy actors spend a weekend holiday at an uncle’s country cottage.“
Maybe it is not fair of me, but I just was not into this movie. Did I give it enough of a chance? Maybe not, but I was just not grabbed by the film. Maybe I should give this a rewatch at some time in the future, but right now, I struggled with this movie.
Title: “When We’re Singin'” (sometimes referred to as “Come On Get Happy”)
Composed: Wes Farrell
Lyrics: Diane Hilderbrand
Performed: David Cassidy with backing vocals from The Ron Hicklin Singers.
Here is another show that I never watched. I am not even sure if I have ever seen more than a few clips. It always felt like The Brady Bunch with music. I do like a few Partridge Family songs and this theme is one of them. “I Think I Love You” is my favorite Partridge Family song.
Ignition Press released a comic a few months ago called The Beauty, written by Jeremy Haun. I was unaware that there was a series before this one from Image Comics. I am enjoying the book from Ignition Press so I was intrigued when I heard that Ryan Murphy was adapting it to a FX series. The first three episodes dropped this past week and there will be a weekly drop on Wednesdays after that.
There is a virus that is transmitted sexually. When you get the virus, you become beautiful (in a horribly painful and gross way). Admittedly, there are some people who just explode in a big bloody mess. Not sure the difference at this point.
Evan Peters stars in the show as Cooper Madsen. The show also featured Rebecca Hall, Anthony Ramos, Ashton Kutcher, and Jeremy Pope.
FBI Agents Cooper and Jordan were investigating the mysterious deaths of several super models, including one that went crazy, killing a bunch of people before she exploded in a bloody splash. Meanwhile, out-of-shape and pathetic young man named Jeremy went to a plastic surgeon with the hope to make himself more attractive. The plastic surgeon worked on him, and it seemed to be successful. Jeremy went to a club where a group of women gave him some attention. However, they were just scamming him for free drinks.
Jeremy, in a rage, went to the surgeon’s office with a gun, killed several staff members, and threatened the doctor. The doctor, however, had another suggestion and hooked him up with a mysterious woman. Jeremy and the woman had sex and Jeremy wound up transforming into a more handsome, in shape person.
This series has a lot of body horror in it, and that is not one one of my favorite types of horror, but I am interested in the series so I will certainly be giving it a chance. I have been disappointed with Ryan Murphy lately (hated American Horror Story: Delicate and Grotesquerie). I did love early AHS and American Crime Story, so he has a hit-or-miss run for me. We’ll see how this goes.
It has been a cold weekend here in Iowa. I was finishing up reading my pile of books this week.
Books this week:
Exquisite Corpses #9. Written by Tyler Boss with James Tynion IV and art by Valentine De Landro with Michael Walsh. Cover art was done by Michael Walsh. I got variant cover B by Valentine De Landro as well. Exquisite Corpses continues to be one of the best books on the market. There are only four more of this series coming so things are ratcheting up.
Bloodland #1. Written by B. Clay Moore and art and cover art by Mack Chater. A new Ignition Press book featuring the collapse of America and vampires. Yes, there has been a lot of vampire books over the last few years, but this one felt very original and different. Ignition Press has been solid over the last six months or so and this feels like another winner.
Fantastic Four #7. “All Mankind’s Concern” Written by Ryan North and penciled by Humberto Ramos. Cover art was done by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. The FF are off earth to respond to a call from Galactus, but they expect an alien invasion. Their kids form a team, with some help from other heroes. Mad Thinker has an idea about this all.
Inglorious X-Factor#1. “A Force to Be Expected” Written by Tim Seeley and art by Michael Sta. Maria. Cover art was done by R.B. Silva & David Curiel. Cable is back and he is recruiting a team of X-Factor once again. He pulls in Archangel, Boom Boom and Hellervine, which make a potent group of mutants. What is the true story here? And why is Domino ready to shoot Cable in the head?
Spider-Man ’94 #5. “Chapter Five: Resurrection” Written by J.M. DeMatteis with art by Jim Towe. Cover art was done by Nick Bradshaw & Rachelle Rosenberg. The mini-series that continued from the end of the 1994 animated series comes to an end with a final battle with Morlun and Kaine.
Wiccan: Witches’ Road #2. Written by Wyatt Kennedy with art by Andy Pereira. Cover art was done by Lucas Werneck. Down, down, down the road…. Wiccan has to fight a dragon on the Witches’ Road… but not just any dragon… but Fin Fang Foom!
X-Men #24. “Three Thousand” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Tony Daniel. Cover art was done by Tony Daniel, Mark Morales, & Fer Sifuentes-Sujo. The group known as 3K takes center stage as the Hank McCoy who actually went into the future, returned to the present with all the details of the Age of Revelation and the formula for the Mutant Virus.
Everything Dead & Dying #5. Written by Tate Brombal and art and cover art by Jacob Phillips. This Image book is one of the better books Image has put out recently as the final issue brings some powerfully sad moments. One of the most creative uses of zombies in any comic recently appeared in this book.
The Mortal Thor #6. “Hide and Seek” Written by Al Ewing and art by Pasqual Ferry. Cover art was done by Alex Ross (Bronze Medalist). Sigmund has to face off with The Cobra, showing off his skills with the hammer once again. There are a few people questioning what is going on with this guy.
The New Avengers #9. Written by Sam Humphries and art by Ton Lima. Variant cover B art was done by Karen S. Darboe. Can we trust the Black Widow? That is what Bucky is trying to figure out, but it sure seems like the question he should ask is ‘Can he trust Carnage?’
The Beauty #3. Written by Jeremy Haun & Jason A. Hurley with art by Emanuela Lupacchino. Cover art was done by Jeremy Haun. Who is the Boogeyman? How does he fit into the world where everyone wants to catch the latest STD, which turns you beautiful? This feels as if something bad is about to happen.
Captain America #6. “Doom’s Shadow” Part 1. Written by Chip Zdarsky with art by Delio Diaz & Frank Alpizar. Cover art was done by Valerio Schiti and Frank Martin. I also picked up the foil version by Ivan Tao (Gold Medalist). Cap is approached by Nick Fury Jr. with an offer that Cap is not too keen on accepting. He also is trying to have a date with Sharon.
Rogue #1. Written by Erica Schultz with art by Luigi Zagaria. David Nakayama did the cover art. Rogue is here with her solo comic under the Shadow of Tomorrow banner. Though it is a solo book, she has Gambit appear as well as some of the other X-Men from her Louisiana team. She heads off to find Mystique and Destiny, and is shocked by what she finds.
Amazing Spider-Man #20. Written by Joe Kelly with pencils by John Romita Jr., Paco Diaz & Todd Nauck. Cover art is done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, and Dean White. I picked up another variant cover by Lee Bermejo (Silver Medalist). Norman Osborn continues to struggle in his replacement of Peter. Aunt May wants to talk to Norman. Ooh…
Nightwing #134. “The Game” Written by Dan Watters with art by V. Ken Marion. Cover art was done by Dexter Soy. Nightwing and Zanni face off in the Fifth Dimension where their effects dramatically cause destruction in Bludhaven. What can Nightwing do?
Assorted Crisis Events #8. Written by Deniz Camp and art and cover art by Eric Zawadzki. One of the best books of the week. I love this creativity of this story, with our comic fourth wall breaking. Even the design of the book’s format is something that I have rarely seen, certainly not in the details of the format.
Redcoat #16. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Bryan Hitch. Cover art was done by Bryan Hitch & Brad Anderson. Another book I loved this week. Albert has found Simon with a problem. Benedict Arnold is back. And… oh he is BACK! Great set up for the new arc. I am anxious to see how this moves on.
Gunpowder Prophets #4. Written by Justin Jordan and art and cover art by Patrick Piazzalunga. Huck and Harley are on the path of finding America, who has been taken. This is a fun series with two of the most violent characters you’ll ever get.
Planet She-Hulk #3. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Emilio Laiso. Cover art was done by Aaron Kuder & Sonia Oback. More outer space adventures by She-Hulk. There was a mention of She-Hulk in space in another book, which makes me happier. The cosmic continuity has bothered me and so I hope this is an answer.
X-Men of Apocalypse #2. Written by Jeph Loeb and art and cover art by Simone Di Meo. Alternate universal X-Men versus each other. Oh… and there is Phoenix too. This is an interesting book for what is is. Not sure if it means anything.
Cul-De-Sac #6. Written by Mike Carey with art and cover art by Jonathan Wayshak. This Bad Idea book wrapped up with this issue. It is another vampire book that has a lot of creativity and originality behind it. I have enjoyed the characters of Cul-De-Sac vey much.
Other books this week: Power Fantasy #15, Death to Pachuco #4, Psylocke Ninja #1, Ghost Pepper #7, Good as Dead #5, Nights #17, Ultimate Black Panther #24, and Star Wars #9.
Quick Hits: Cap has to face off with a surprise monster during WWII in Alien vs. Captain America #3. Flash Gordon is in a lot of trouble in Defenders of the Earth: Dark Destiny #2. I was missing The Last Starship #3 so I picked it up off eBay, and then The Last Starship #4 came out this week. I mentioned earlier how strong Ignition Press has been. Murder Podcast #4 is another example. Doctor Who: The Prison Paradox #3 provides more excellent sci-fi action. Terrorbytes #4 is an excellent sci-fi story this week with Mr. Brace. More trouble between Daredevil & Punisher #3. Can’t we all just get along? Spidey and Wolvie are still jumping around the multiverse in Spider-Man & Wolverine #9. There is some great crime action in American Caper #3. Mad Cave has been dropping a bunch of Speed Racer content over the last several months and the new one-shot Speed Racer: Tales from the Road #1. Green Lantern: Galactic Slam #1 brings Kyle Raynor into the world of cosmic wrestling. Finally, we got the time travel action of Liquidator #3.
The story of the Obelisk and its destiny is in full swing, bringing Skye and Raina into an underground cavern and turning them.
Poor Trip, we barely knew thee.
So much for Legacy characters.
The Inhumans arc kicks off big time with the Obelisk triggering the Inhuman transformation in Skye.
Or should I say Daisy?
Cal and Skye have their father-daughter reunion at gunpoint as Grant kidnapped Skye from the Bus. Cal dropped Skye’s true name, the name we would know her by as the series continued: Daisy Johnson.
Ward had a big stretch during these episodes too as he murdered his brother and parents, making it look like a murder-suicide. He rejoined Hydra, but he had his own motivations.
We learned that Cal wanted to murder Whitehall because he dissected Cal’s wife, giving him the ability to not age. However, Coulson shot Whitehall first, causing Cal to attack Coulson violently.
I am happy that the “Crazy” Coulson arc seems to be done now that they figured out what the weird writing was. Since Skye never had it happen to her, does that mean her Inhuman traits allowed her to avoid the crazy Kree messages in her head?
Dramatic episodes as the show is finding its pace.
Billy Crystal is a personal favorite of mine. He created a stand up comedy concert film that was based on a book that he wrote about his childhood and his family. It originally aired on HBO and I watched it on HBO Max.
It reminded me of the Charles Nelson Reilly film Life of Reilly, although that movie was darker than 700 Sundays. Both comedians talked about their childhood and their eccentric families with an honesty that you might not usually hear. They included the best of their lives, but also the tragedies that made them who they were.
Billy Crystal’s film was entitled 700 Sundays which was the count of Sundays that Billy had to spend with his father, Jack Crystal, before he died when Billy was 15.
Billy Crystal was remarkably funny, bringing out laughter between the tears in his stories. The set up for each tale brought the humor to the front, even with the deep loss that might also be present.
There were parts of the act that I recognized from previous stand up performances from Crystal. However, everything really fit together well. The stage featured a image of the old house that Crystal grew up in. This house became a important structure in the stories that he would tell.
The show was poignant, powerful and touching. Billy Crystal moved through everything with a flow that kept things moving and kept everyone laughing.
I have been simultaneously looking forward to and dreading the fourth and final episode of the Netflix mini-series, Death by Lightning. Looking forward to because I have been thoroughly enthralled by this historical drama about James Garfield and dreading it because I have grown to admire and love the character of James Garfield and I knew what his fate held.
The Sunday Morning Sidewalk came this morning and I watched the final episode.
It was so powerful.
It made me wish for a man like James Garfield who could step up and face the corruption of the current political setting. What I wouldn’t give for an honest man, one who did not play the games, like James Garfield. Seeing how his presence and kindness transformed Chester A. Arthur was amazing.
But, it was not just James Garfield who changed Arthur. He had help from a force of nature that we got to witness in this episode: Crete Garfield. The First Lady spent the episode bringing forth the vengeance.
Betty Gilpin got her moments in this episode and she was tremendous.
There were no shortage of villains in this episode. Starting off with Charles Guiteau, who wound up shooting the president in the back. The joy he showed at his actions, despite how demented he was, was obscene. I took a lot of satisfaction in the confrontation with Crete and Guiteau’s eventual hanging. The moment just before he is hanged where he finally realized what was going to happen was best. I also found a strange satisfaction in seeing his brain removed from his dead body for research at the end.
Another villain in the episode was Roscoe Conkling. He was horrendous in his response to the shooting of Garfield. His machinations being turned back on him was great, and seeing how Chester Arthur finally stood up to him.
Then, there was Doctor Bliss. The bullet was not what eventually killed Garfield. He was killed by infection brought on because Bliss did not sterilize his instruments when he was probing for the bullet. The arrogance of this doctor came through clearly in this episode.
This was one of the most compelling four episode mini series I have seen in a long time. Great performances and amazing true stories highlighted the show. I did not expect to love this as much as I did. If you have time, binge this series on Netflix. You will not be disappointed.
Next week, the Sunday Morning Sidewalk switches to another Netflix mini-series: three episodes of a show called Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials. I can only hope that it is as excellent as Death By Lightning.
The famous, haunting whistling sound was a preset called “Whistling Joe” from a Proteus synthesizer, layered with a vocal-like effect from a sound library.
The signature delay effect was created somewhat by accident when Snow rested his forearm on his keyboard while using a, setting the tone for the show’s mysterious feel.
The theme did change a bit near the end of the show, but it was always recognizable.
With these three episodes, season two of Sha Na Na ended. I will say that season two was considerably better than season one. The first two-thirds of season one was so cringeworthy with the comedy and the laugh tracks that it really took away from the music. However, near the end of season one, they clearly started to find their path and season two saw them hit their stride.
They had another tribute medley, this time for Paul Anka, who was also their guest star. They have done tributes for Elvis, Buddy Holly in the past and I am not sure why they did not do this more often. This was great and took the place of the comedy bit for the episode. Paul Anka sang a song then that I had never heard before.
This Paul Anka episode has to be considered one of the best episodes so far in the rewatch. It was up their with the Billy Crystal episode.
Speaking of Elvis, Sha Na Na has been doing more music from the King recently. Elvis was very much absent from season one, which makes me wonder if there were rights issues when they first started.
Joe Namath came in and sang with the group… well, singing is a bit of a stretch. He said “Get a Job” in the song Get a Job while the rest of them did the background vocals and all the main lyrics. Joe looked like he was having fun though, which makes it fun for the audience.
I had never heard of Lloyd Price, guest star #3, but he did a Stagger Lee and Personality mash-up, which I have heard.
Sha Na Na has always done a great job of pairing up their singers into voices that complement each other well. In episode 23, Donny and Lennie sang What’s Your Name, and they sounded fantastic together. Lennie and Bowzer did a song similar to Mr. Bassman, but different.
A new “Screen Life” film is out this weekend featuring Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson, directed by Timur Bekmambetov, who was a producer on last year’s classic War of the Worlds. That should have been the first hint.
However, to be fair, this is better than War of the Worlds because, of course, it had to be, right?
I actually liked the premise of this film. It was a lesser version of Minority Report (much lesser), but there were some ideas here that were going to work.
Chris Pratt was fine as the lead actor, playing Chris Raven, the police officer who was on trial for his wife’s murder. All of the videos and internet stuff made him look real guilty.
Thing is.. the near future world this movie was set in had done something new. It placed AI in charge of the justice system, setting the AI up as judge, jury and executioner. It gave the accused 90 minutes in which to prove his/her innocence or else they would be executed. So the whole trial was on a counting clock, which created some tension in the tale.
The AI judge was Judge Maddox, played by Rebecca Ferguson, and I feel like I missed out on something here. Was she supposed to be all AI or was she meant to be somehow human, because the AI judge kept being influenced by Raven and gave some seemingly emotional responses, which seemed to go against the whole set up. This was one of my biggest problems with the movie as I just did not understand what the AI judge was meant to be.
I also picked out the killer immediately. I do not think it was a huge pull for me as it was painfully apparent and predictable.
I thought the beginning of the film wasn’t bad, but the last act or so was aggressively dumber than it should have been. Things happened that made zero sense and played against what the film had spent time setting up.
There was a drone scene too, but at least they did not have to go to Amazon Prime to order it before they use it.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 