Author Archives: Doc
Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #79
#79
Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs
Released: 2009
Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes
Rating: PG
Animation Style: highly stylized CG
Studio: Sony Pictures Animation
This is a movie I never saw until it came out on DVD and I was surprised how this was as entertaining as I found it.
Voice cast: Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Bruce Campbell, Mr. T, Benjamin Bratt, Al Roker, Will Forte, and Neil Patrick Harris.
Silo S3 E3
Spoilers
“A Dark Web”
Juliette is becoming a bigger problem than The Algorithm wants and it has made a suggestion to Camille that it has gotten to a moment where she can kill Juliette and make her into a hero.
And make her dead.
This Algorithm was nasty and dangerous. It kept making threats about purging the whole silo to get Camille to do what it wanted.
It was nice to see that Lukas Kyle was alive, though I always expected him to be that way. He was able to avoid capture still thanks to some of the Outsiders.
We get to see Camille in a bit of different light in this episode as she pushed back against the Algorithm, and we learn motives for her. Of course, she also ordered the gas bombing to get rid of “rats” without letting the people know.
In the past, Daniel and Helen are in search of a supposed recording of the last few minutes of the flight Daniel’s sister was involved in during the Iraq mission. Helen had been fired from her job because she was digging too deeply. When they went back to try and get the tape from the hacker, they found the warehouse is ransacked.
The story is starting to pick up. I am curious to see more of the back story and how it plays into the present day.
Sunday Morning Sidewalk #78
Spoilers
The Boroughs
“The Grey Rebellion”
Hello, Mother.
Episode six of The Boroughs gave us a bunch of info on what was going on in this place.
Last episode, the whole crew of Sam, Art, Judy, Wally and Renee are captured by Blaine and given an ultimatum. Wally has to go to work for Blaine while the others are basically on house arrest. Can’t leave the Boroughs, ankle monitors, cameras in their houses, the full nine yards.
They have to accept this situation or they would be sent to the Manor. The whole situation has become quite sinister.
Blaine takes Wally to meet the whole crew behind the scenes of the Boroughs and want him to help save a patient… the person they call Mother, who was supposedly hatched out of an alien egg found decades before. This is the being who the monsters (they call The kids) who suck “brain juice” from the residents came from.
Sam can’t take the way things were so he decided to walk through the desert to the diner and call his daughter, Claire. He cuts off the ankle monitor and heads out.
Meanwhile, Paz and Renee plan up an escape attempt to correspond to the 75th anniversary celebration coming up. They are able to recruit Judy to the fold, but Art did not want to be part of it.
However, when Art discovered from Claire that she had committed Sam to the Manor after she picked him up at the diner, he changed his mind and joined the “Grey Rebellion.”
Renee, though, has altered the plan. She does not want to just run away, she wanted to fight. She had been told everything by Wally and she said that she wanted to get into the offices at the manor and kill Mother, to take it away from Blaine and his cronies.
Of course there would be more to this. At the end of the episode, we see Mother, and she appears to be human-ish. She was not a monster like the “Kids.”
You knew where Claire was taking Sam after she picked him up. I was disappointed that she did not believe her father and allowed Blaine’s manipulations to work in her mind from a few episodes ago. Clearly, Mother’s appearance will make it more difficult to kill as Renee wants to do. Mother also makes me feel as if she is less sinister than Blaine and his cronies. Has she been held captive all these years?
There is something more to Sam’s wife too. This is an arc that remains unanswered.
Next week is the penultimate episode of the series and things are really setting up to be a massive final two episodes.
Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #80
#80
Rio
Released: April 15, 2011
Runtime: 96 minutes
Rating: G
Animation Style: hyper-realistic 3D computer animation
Studio: Blue Sky Studios
Voice cast: Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg, Jemaine Clement, Leslie Mann, Carlos Ponce, Jake T. Austin, George Lopez, Wanda Sykes, Jane Lynch, Will.i.am, and Jamie Foxx.
The Muppet Show S1 E20, E21, E22, E23, E24
Spoilers
Guest: Valerie Harper
Guest: Twiggy
Guest: Ethel Merman
Guest: Kaye Ballard
Guest: The Mummenschanz
I finished the first season of The Muppet Show with the final five episodes. It was an interesting group of guest stars including Valerie Harper, Twiggy, Kay Ballard, The Mummenschanz and EYG Hall of Famer Ethel Merman.
There was an extra guest star on the Ethel Merman episode. Richard Bradshaw, who did not appear on the actual show, was a puppeteer who worked with shadows. That was fun as it was kind of Muppet-ish.
My memory was that the Phantom of the Muppet Show came with Alice Cooper, but that was not the case. He was on the Twiggy episode. By the way, the Twiggy episode had a classic moment with the AA Milne poem “The King’s Breakfast” where the king just wanted some butter for his bread. It also had Twiggy singing a Beatles song. Really? She sang “My Life” which filled me with surprise and hatred at the same time.
Another classic was “Tit-willow” from the Gilbert and Sullivan’s show The Mikado, as done by Rowlf and Sam the Eagle (who did the “tit-willow” line). It’s another example of how the show took non-kids songs and such and made them for the Muppet Show. The show did Broadway show songs such as “Broadway Baby” done by Valerie Harper and a medley of Ethel Merman’s songs such as “Friendship,” “Anything You Can Do,” and “You’re the Top”, all with other Muppets.
The Kaye Ballard episode was fun as Floyd Pepper and the rest of the band wanted to quit because they were tired of playing the theme song (BLASPHEMY!). It was such a running gag that at the end of the episode, only Rowlf was playing the theme on the piano. How awesome that gag was.
Another running joke that was a hoot was Statler wanting to meet Valerie Harper, and brought her a special plant that, when watered, grew uncontrollably. Obviously that happened.
Gonzo the Great tried to get it on with Miss Piggy. That was kind of weird, and Kermit’s non-reaction was quite funny.
The Mummenschanz were awesome too as they have a lot in common with the Muppets. They way this group of theater performers who perform in a surreal mask- and prop-oriented style. I remember them clearly from the first time I saw them on the show. They were so memorable even though I do not think I have seen them in anything since.
The first season is now down and I will be heading to season two soon. I think that it is in season two when the opening theme song changed a bit. I think it was when Fozzie was removed and they went to Statler and Waldorf.
EYG Comic Cavalcade #212
July 18
Welcome to the EYG Comic Cavalcade. I am getting tired of repeating myself every week when I call it “another big week” of comics. It seems as if every week falls into that category. I really do pick up a bunch of books every week.
In fact, when i added the Comic World batch of books to my CLZ, I realized that I was eight books away from 22,222 in my collection. So I decided to find eight more back issues to reach that number. Todd helped me pick out these eight books: Storm Vol 2 #1-6, Son of Satan #4, and Hercules #11 (from Modern Comics). I left Comic World that Wednesday with the exact number of 22,222.
It lasted one day as I bought some more books at In This Issue on Thursday.
I completed the Daily Read that I started this week with Starhenge Book One: The Dragon and the Boar #1-6. Starting on Monday, I read an issue a day until I completed the book. It was by Liam Sharp and it was a wonderful sci-fi/fantasy story with Merlin, Arthur and a woman named Amber who was from present day and she narrated it with references to all sorts of cool pop culture mentions including The Princess Bride, other comics, Grant Morrison among many others. I picked it up because I had purchased Starhenge Book Two: A Kiss for Atticus #1 a couple of weeks ago and I did not want to start it without reading the first series.
Comic of the Week
The Ring: The Man Who Beat the Man #2
This was am unexpected pick this week, but I was just really engaged with this issue of the mini-series from Gail King at Dark Horse. Issue one came out last month and, truthfully, it was fine. I was not as into that first issue as I thought I would be.
However, this issue, focusing on two different boxers, I was fully into and I was just entertained fully. It was one of the last handful of books that I read this week and it was such a treat.
Books This Week:
Mark Spears Monsters #11. “Chapter 11: The Council of Monsters” Written by Mark and Lucas Spears with art and cover art by Mark Spears (Cover C-Bronze Medalist). This issue found all of the monsters on the Council discussing who should be in charge and what they should do about Dracula. This discussion was amazing and with the arrival of Malik and the Slayer. It ended in the weirdest place though as I was just confused, wondering if they had left out a page or two.
3W/3M: Foundations #1. Written by Jonathan Hickman & Nick Spencer with art by Mike Huddleston, Mike del Mundo, and Jerome Opeña. Cover art was done by Mike Huddleston. Four of the top creators in comics band together to provide a new comics universe and some straight up science fiction. It is an interesting book and I am curious to see how it progresses moving forward. The over-sized book does make it feel more special.
A Mischief of Magpies #1. Written by Simon Spurrier and art and cover art by Matias Bergara. DSTLRY feels as if it is back on track fully as we get the first number one since the company took several months off to attempt to fix the problems they were having with Diamond and their money. A Mischief of Magpies is another sci-fi epic where our protagonist, Mar, as he slipped out of the world into a mechanical city. It is another book where the format is very original and feels like a big swing.
Kingdom of Earth #1. Written by David Dastmalchian & Leah Kilpatrick with art and cover art by Soo Lee. We have another post-apocalyptic book where humans have two paths, either as livestock or being slaughtered. Our protagonist Frankie escaped being livestock and now is trying to survive in a monstrous wasteland. Dark Horse has another winning formula here. David Dastmalchian continues his horror success.
Nightwing #140. “The Dive” Written by Dan Watters with pencils by Denys Cowan. Cover art was done by Jorge Fornes. Nightwing is investigating the bar called “Divebar” while the city prosecutor has given him a deadline to turn himself in. The issue also brought us a new character called “Cannibal Colm” and this guy is creepy.
Captain America #13. “Hell’s Angel”-Part 2. Written by Chip Zdarsky with art by Ton Lima. Cover art was done by Valerio Schiti and variant cover (Marvel Dimensions) was done by Alex Ross (Gold Medalist). Cap and Doom are in Hell, trying to round up a crew to help them take on Mephisto. Meanwhile, Spider-Man comes to sit at the comatose Captain America’s bedside.
Something Epic #13. Written, illustrated, and cover art (all variants) by Szymon Kudranski. I loved this book, but it has been on hiatus for nearly to years. I was excited to see it back and I loved the various homage covers that the variants were displaying. Noa and D-Ductive are back and investigating the Land of Horror after a tragedy. They find yet another dead (?) body at the very end of the new issue. I am a fan of Szymon Kudranski and I love that this is back in the rotation.
Punisher vs. Amazing Spider-Man #1. “Professional Differences” Written by Dan Abnett with art by Matteo Della Fonte. Cover art was done by Jonas Scharf & Alex Guimarães. This featured the relationship between Spider-Man and Punisher, which makes one wonder why that is. They actually have some things in common, except for their methods, which is a area of contention in this book. It takes place early after Punisher and Spidey meet the first time in ASM #129.
Avengers Armageddon #2. Written by Chip Zdarsky with art by Delio Diaz and Frank Alpizar. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Moreno Dinisio (Silver Medalist). The big Marvel series gets its number two as the Avengers and Fantastic Four look to try and stop the Red Hulk’s democracy rampage. Colton and Red Hulk go one-on-one and Colton seemed to flip his head. There is a huge feel of danger and suspense in the series so far.
Junk Punch #2. Written by Paul Tobin with art by Carlos Javier Olivares and Lin Visel. Junk Punch continues to be a comic that makes me laugh. I still wonder if the joke of punching someone in the groin area will remain as funny, but I did like this issue. We are introduced to several new characters in the Junk Punch world. Let’s see how this moves on.
D’Orc #6. “Fate is Fickle” Written, art and cover art by Brett Bean. Speaking of consistently funny, D’Orc is one of my favorite books every month. We learn this issue why Gloinspear is, as D’Orc said, “….such a dick?” Surprise, surprise. Gloinspear is D’Orc’s father. Okay, so it wasn’t as big of a surprise as say, Vader and Luke, but it was fun.
Smile: For the Camera #5. Written by Hannah Rose May with art by Miriana Puglia. Cover art was done by Skylar Patridge. This mini-series based on the movie series, Smile, came to a close with this issue and I have to say that I really liked the wrap up of the story. It did not end as I expected and I do like to be surprised. It felt like the ending was earned for our main character.
Mister Nemo #1. Written by Mark London with art by Alden Kaye. Cover art was done by Duncan Rouleau. This new book from Mad Cave was one of the best of the week. The art was fabulous and we get a current day adaptation of Captain Nemo, including the Nautilus. The first issue was a really cool start as we are introduced to the concept and our new hero.
Inglorious X-Force #7. “As Luck Would Have It.” Written by Tim Seeley with art by Michael Sta. Maria. Cover art was done by R.B. Silva & David Curiel. Cyclops and Quentin Quire come to have a talk with Cable and the X-Force. Scott and Nathan are, of course, father and son, while Quire is still dealing with past issues with Akihiro (whom he knew as Daken).
War Wolf #7. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Marco Perugini. Cover art was done by David Talaski. Bruin goes to the leaders and tells them what he is going to do. This penultimate issue of the series is here to set up the finale, Father vs. Son, Bruin vs. Worldkiller.
Assorted Crisis Events #9. Written by Deniz Camp with art and variant cover C art by Eric Zawadzki. “The issue centers on a kid named Chuckie who uses “TEMPS”—the first cross-temporal employment app—to secure quick cash in a pointless, cross-time war where untrained temp workers from all of human history are sent to fight. ” (Brooke, AIPT). It has been six months since we had an issue of this sci-fi/satire series from Image Comics. This one is a lot of fun.
Fantastic Four #14. “Irrational” Written by Ryan North and art by Ramon Rosanas. Cover art was done by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. This issue, featuring Jo-Venn and N’Kalla Masters-Grimm, the adopted kids of Ben and Alicia, proved the dangers of MATH, specifically the dangers of pi and its never ending digits. It is clear that math is the true villain in the world today, especially in the world of 616. We’ll see if Todd actually reads these posts.
Spider-Versity #4. “Most School Spirit” Written by Jordan Morris & Joe Kelly with art by Pere Perez. Cover art was done by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Lorenzo Ruggiero & Marte Gracia. Norman’s sneakiness is out in the open to Spider Woman, but there are more troubles than the double-dealing Osborn. The Carnage symbiote is free and has possessed one of the Spider-Versity.
X-Men #33. “Anomaly”, Part 3. Written by Jed MacKay with pencils by Tony S. Daniel. Cover art was done by Tony S. Daniel & Fer Sifuentes-Sujo. Variant cover C was done by Matteo Della Fonte. The X-Men’s science team discovered the answers to the anomalies that were plaguing the Canadian Rocky Mountains. It came from the unconscious mind of Schwarzchild, member of the 3K. Ben and Quentin went inside the mind to try and stop the horrific anomalies.
Minotaur #1. Written by Si Spurrier with art and cover art by Mike Dowling. Ignition Press has been hot as can be over the last six months to a year, putting out some excellent mini-series. The latest is a sci-fi series called Minotaur. Gloria Monday was the protagonist of this series as a photojournalist who does not seem to have much empathy. She is documenting people who are haunted by outbreaks of the future.
The Rocketfellers #13. Written by Peter J. Tomasi and art by Francis Manapul. Variant cover C art done by Francis Portela. Tommy Townsend III and his robot Sterling, along with Rose & Zach, come to the door of the Rocketfellers, who are in the middle of trying to celebrate Rachel’s birthday. Part 3 of 4 in The Unbelievables? crossover sees our typical hero on hero fight and a betrayal by Sterling.
Absolute Green Arrow #3. “The Longbow Killer”-Chapter 3. Written by Pornsak Pichetshote with art by Rafael Albuquerque. Cover art was done by Rafael Albuquerque & Marcelo Maiolo. Dinah is on the case of who exactly is the Longbow Killer, and along the way, she comes across the absolute version of Solomon Grundy. Absolute Green Arrow has been extended from six issue mini series to a 12-issue series, which is great because Green Arrow has been a great read and the mystery is engaging.
The Department of Truth #38. Written by James Tynion IV with art by Ben Templesmith. Cover art was done by Martin Simmonds. The dinosaurs living in Florida is the latest Fiction making its way around the world as Hunky is on the case. He discovered at the end of the issue that his father, Huck passed away. Is that the truth? Not sure. Who ever knows the truth in this book?
If Destruction be Our Lot #3. “I Would Rather Be a Little Nobody Than to be an Evil Somebody” Written by Matthew & Mark Elijah Rosenberg with art by Andy MacDonald. Cover art was done by Andy McDonald and Francesco Segala. Abe comes across a human being, and this little girl runs from him. Abe tries to pursue but only gets himself into more trouble.
Absolute Flash #17. “Gorilla City- Part 2 of 2” Written by Jeff Lemire and art by Haining. Cover art was done by Nick Robles. Wally keeps his search going for Grodd, as Wally convinces the Rogues, whose mission is to kill Grodd, that it was not Grodd causing the problems, but actually Grodd’s father. Unfortunately, that just meant that the Trickster wound up shooting Grodd’s father in the head, killing him.
Space Ghost Annual #1. Written by David Pepose with art and cover art by Jonathan Lau. Space Ghost is ready for it all to be over, perhaps giving up the mantel of Space Ghost. First, he and the twins need to defeat Magnus. Space Ghost has to deal with the death of future Jace, Space Spectre. This annual leads into a crossover with the Herculoids.
Infernal Hulk #9. “Flash Magic” Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson with art by Adam Gorham. Cover art was done by Nic Klein. Banner and Doctor Voodoo head inside a soul cage to confront the Hulk, in an attempt to get the Hulk power back. Banner offers up Voodoo as a prize in a contest, the Riddle Game.
GI Joe #24. Written by Joshua Williamson with art by Andrea Milana. Cover art was done by Tom Reilly. Baroness has discovered the undercover Zartan, who has been posing as Hawk. This was after working with Destro to escape their troubles.
Tigress Island #5. Written by Patrick Kindlon with art and cover art by Ephk. This mini-series form Image ended with this issue, as out surviving women are able to escape form the island. There are lots of explosions and deaths in this issue as everything is wrapped up, although there’s one who floated away, potentially alive.
Other Books This Week: Dungeon Crawler Carl #0, Arcadia #6, End of Life #4, M1: Monster Racing League #2, John Le Carre’s The Circus: Losing Control #3, and Alien: King Killer #4.
Quick Hits: This week we kick off the Quick Hits with Of the Earth #3. This series from Chris Condon continues to be one of the more engaging books each month. We got an interesting What If…? Jessica Jones #1 where Jessica gets bitten by the radioactive spider. I liked this, but I did think the identity of the Green Goblin in this issue was painfully predictable. That did hurt the overall book. More inside the house drama is going down in Fall of the House of Slaughter #3. I loved the cover on this book, but since it was a huge week for covers, it did not achieve a medal. On a normal week, this cover by Sam Wolfe Connelly surely would have been in the top three. I will say that I was kind of disappointed with Banana Number One #1 from Bad Idea. It was goofy as all get out, but that was not the problem. The Banana Number One part of this book was maybe the first third. The rest of the book was other stories that I did not want to read. I wanted more banana. More anthropomorphic animals arrive with the Super Mondo Mega Mutts #1 from Oni Press. Honestly, I found this one to be average at best. I guess you can reach a limit with your anthropomorphic animals. Who knew? Antarctic Press Comics released Horror Comics #1, which I grabbed. I like horror comics, but this is really more of an art book with each page being a cool horror drawing by several artists. There was one short story in the book which went about three or four pages. The rest would be pin-ups with horror themes. It was great art, but not what I expected. Murder Podcast #8 brought this Ignition Press comic to an end. Honestly, this was another one that I found a little disappointing. For as creative of an idea this was, the conclusion felt very typical. Kill Switch #3 is placing our body jumping characters into some real troubling situations. Tankers vs. Ancient Aliens #2 still is more focused on dinosaurs, but it looked like those pesky ancient aliens are coming next issue. Megalith: The Olympus Saga #0 continued the weird trend of Bad Idea books releasing issues #1 and 2 and then releasing issue #0. Dynamite ended Ursula #5 which was one of the bigger surprises for me this year. No way I enjoyed this series… but I did. Star trek: The Last Starship is setting up a big confrontation between Kirk and Captain Sato. Finally, there is a book called The Last Ronin: Training Day #1 from IDW that takes place between gaps in the Last Ronin saga.
Daily Read- Starhenge Book One: The Dragon and the Boar #6
Spoilers
Written, illustrated and cover art by Liam Sharp.
The final issue of the first book of Liam Sharp’s mini-series, Starhenge brings us the fate of Arthur, what happened to Merlin, and where Taliesin, Amber Weaver, and Daryl wind up.
As Book One ended with a distinct cliffhanger, I am happy that I am ready to move into Book Two, number one of which I have already purchased from Image Comics. A Kiss for Atticus is the subtitle for the four issue limited series. I had picked up the first issue before knowing anything about the series and I am very pleased that I did so, because otherwise, I would not have gone back to read Book One.
Once again, the book played with the format of comics, as we get another heavily narrative story of King Arthur and how he was killed by Gwynn. Merlin fleeing into the woods, transforming into an Elk as he lost him mind.
The discovery at the end of the book that Merlin was still alive and how he was discovered by Amber and Daryl… and having Merlin call Amber “Grandma” was a shock.
I loved the section of Amber’s narration where she was describing how her “…comic would piss people off.” It was such a meta moment and then she took it even further with the lines, “It would be a convoluted mess of info dumps, footnotes, and sidebars, drawn in random artsy styles, and designed to confuse even the most ardent Morrison fan” is an amazing understanding of the comic that Sharp was creating. Amber’s narration has been an absolute highlight of this book for me.
There is a lot of set up through the Book One, but it never felt like it was only world building. It felt as if the characterization was there and this creates a mood that will only expand as the next Book is released. I feel better knowing that there is a Book Two starting. Had I read this back in the released date of the original series, I am sure I would wonder if I was ever going to get more.
More there is…
Excellent work from Liam Sharp and I look forward to jumping back into this world ASAP.
Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #81
#81
The Peanuts Movie
Released: November 6, 2015
Runtime: 1 hour, 28 minutes
Rating: G
Animation Style: hybrid style that brings Charles M. Schulz’s 2D comic strips to life in 3D CGI
Company: Blue Sky Studios/20th Century Fox
The classic Charles M. Schulz comic strip came to life in the Peanuts Movie. Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy etc. are iconic characters that worked in the movie.
Voice Cast: Noah Schnapp, Hadley Belle Miller, Marial Sheets, Bill Melendez, Francesca Capaldi, Alexander Garfin, Rebecca Bloom, Kristin Chenoweth, Noah Johnston, and Venus Schultheis
Daily Read- Starhenge Book One: The Dragon and the Boar #5
Spoilers
Written, illustrated and cover art by Liam Sharp.
The penultimate issue of this mini series and Daily Read was the fifth issue by Liam Sharp. Sharp has been extremely excellent in the tale he is weaving with Merlin, futuristic robots, and Arthur.
Once again, the narration is done by Amber and her quippy manner makes this exposition-heavy issue fly by with a better pacing than you would have guessed.
This issue focuses upon Merlin’s problems in the past and Arthur’s aging and his ambition. Because of his ambition, Arthur was losing his main goal, which was protecting magic.
We see Amber and Daryl wind up in the past too, in order to escape the future killer robot. She is naked much of the book.
There is only one issue left, so we will have to see how this will wrap up.
Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #82
#82
Luca
Released: June 2021
Runtime: 95 minutes
Rating: PG
Animation Style: stylized, 2D-inspired, and painterly aesthetic
Company: Pixar/Disney
Luca is an underrated Pixar movie that was released on Disney + during the pandemic. Luca was forgotten by a lot of people but I think it deserved a better fate. Luca is a young sea monster who can change into a boy and come on land and meets some friends.
Voice cast: Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Grazer, Emma Berman, Saverio Raimondo, Maya Rudolph, Marco Barricelli, Sacha Baron Cohen, Sandy Martin, Jim Gaffigan, and Peter Sohn.
The Odyssey
The epic novel from Homer, The Odyssey, was released this weekend from director Christopher Nolan, fresh off his Oscar winning Oppenheimer.
I read The Odyssey in high school and so I am familiar with the story of the movie. I have been excited about seeing this since it was announced.
The very general story of The Odyssey was Odysseus (Matt Damon), after winning the war with Troy, tried to return to his home of Ithaca and back to his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and his son Telemachus (Tom Holland). The voyage back to Ithaca faced many serious issues and dangers from the Gods and monsters.
However, the story premise is deeper than just Odysseus trying to get home. It is a deconstruction of the heroic character archetype, diving deep into the choices of our main hero, and as well as the struggles of Penelope and Telemachus and the toxic suitors for Penelope’s hand in marriage.
The movie is an epic film, with amazing look and tremendous performances.
Matt Damon does a remarkable job as Odysseus. He dominated every minute he was on screen and his performance was layered with so much complex subtext. How much of a hero was Odysseus truthfully? I thought Tom Holland gave a top level performance too, with his dedication to trying to find his “dad.” Anne Hathaway was outstanding, especially in the last hour or so of the movie.
The rest of the cast was amazing too including John Leguizamo, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, Elliot Page, Samantha Morton, Jon Bernthal, Himesh Patel, Mia Goth, and Benny Safdie.
While there is some CGI involved in the movie (Hey there Polyphemus), it is very limited and most of the film is practical. Because of that, it is such a beautifully shot film, with amazing shots at sea and the cinematography is so on-point that I was really impressed. You do not see films of this scale without a bunch of CGI these days, but Christopher Nolan is a director that limits the amount of CGI used on his picture.
The score was perfect too, building such a tone for every scene. Ludwig Göransson did the score for this movie and, quite possibly, could win his fourth Academy Award for this score, after winning for Sinners, Oppenheimer, and Black Panther.
The film is a touch long, though one is to expect that. The first half hour or so dragged just a touch, but it was a vital stretch to set up everything needed in the film.
While I am not as high on Christopher Nolan as a lot of people are, I will not deny that this is one of his best movies ever, if not his best.
4.8 stars
Daily Read- Starhenge Book One: The Dragon and the Boar #4
Spoilers
Written, illustrated and cover art by Liam Sharp.
Book Four is quite the journey.
It starts off with Amber facing off with a death robot from the future and, suddenly, Daryl turned into something else as well.
One of the most creative ways this comic has been different than most is the manner in which it presents its material. In this case, the confrontation with Daryl and this death robot is shown in standard comic format, and in the narrative, Amber, who has been out narrator from the beginning, states that she had drawn this confrontation – in order to process her thoughts.
This section of the book was such a departure from the art style, reminding me of the style from issue two. However, this felt more weighty that that did. Part of that is the full page panels that this book was pulling out during this section of the narrative. It felt more important.
Then, it went back to cover more details of Merlin’s life, saying that this needed to be covered or you (meaning the reader) would be confused (she actually said that this would not make any f-ing sense).
The Merlin section in the 5th Century dealt with the Uther Pendragon legend and how Amber stated it actually went down, specifically what led to the birth of Arthur. This section was back to the painting style of the book and included a dense amount of narration. However, this narration is done in such a style that it was easy to follow and entertaining to read.
And it ended up back with Amber, laying naked, and meeting back up with Daryl and she ended the book with the statement that it was not 2022 anymore and asking the question, “Oh God, Daryl, what did I do?”
Can’t wait to find out.
Daily Countdown: Animation Movies #83
#83
Monster House
Released: 2006
Runtime: 91 minutes
Rating: PG
Animation Style: live-action motion capture (performance capture) combined with 3D computer animation and included “path tracing” (a 3D software process used to make realistic shadows and lighting)
Studio: Sony Pictures Imageworks
The Halloween based movie was a lot of fun and filled with some excellent design.
Voice cast: Mitchell Musso, Sam Lerner, Spencer Locke, Steve Buscemi, Kathleen Turner, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kevin James, Nick Cannon, Jon Heder, Jason Lee, Fred Willard, Catherine O’Hara, and Ryan Whitney.
EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week
July 15
This is the biggest week pf the year. I have a ton of books that made the first cut for cover of the week. It was a huge challenge to narrow it down to just three, but I have dedicated myself to not having any more ties for the calendar year of 2026.
All three of the medalists have white backgrounds, which is a weakness of mine.
This is huge Also-Ran category this week. A couple of them just barely fell short of the medal round.
Also-Ran: D’Orc #6, Fall of the House of Slaughter #3, Something Epic #13 (Cover B, C), Fantastic Four #14, What If…? Jessica Jones #1, X-Men #33, Mister Nemo #1, Mark Spears Monsters #11 (Cover A, B, D), Of the Earth #3, Space Ghost Annual #1, Minotaur #1, Absolute Green Arrow #3, Arcadia #6, Horror Comics #1, Kingdom of Earth #1, and Assorted Crisis Events #9 (Cover C).
Bronze Medalist
Mark Spears Monsters #11
Variant Cover C
Cover art by Mark Spears
Last year’s Cover Artist of the Year is back with another awesome shark cover. There was a foil cover of a shark for cover B, but this one stood out more for me. The blue color working against the white background really helped this shark to pop off the cover and the water skier in her yellow bikini… well, she is in for trouble. This is a great cover and having it in the Bronze medal tells you what this week was like.
Silver Medalist
Avengers Armageddon #2
Cover art by Dike Ruan & Moreno Dinisio
This one started off down the list of the books this week, but with each swipe past it, it picked up momentum until it finally placed itself as the silver medalist. The face off with Iron Man and Red Hulk inside the cloak of David Colton really is striking. Then, the white background with the slight strip of red beside the title is very attractive. When I first separated out the first round of books, this one was not my choice, but it just got better each time I looked at it.
Gold Medalist
Captain America #13
Variant Cover- Marvel Dimensions
Cover art by Alex Ross
The Marvel Dimensions covers have been awesome, but this black and white cover from Cap #13 is heads and shoulders above some of the others that I have seen. It is a stunning piece of art that I saw on the stands and, despite already having a butt load of books that I was buying today, I had to have it.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 