Author Archives: Doc

The Rocket on the Roof (2016)

Posted on by

January 15

It is Wednesday, which is always one of the busiest days of the week for me (NEW COMIC BOOK DAY) and so with the Genre-ary, it is time for another documentary short. I found this one on YouTube entitled The Rocket on the Roof and it was wild.

A doc crew investigates a rocket that is on the roof of a building that no one seems to know or care about. It is a large red rocket with USA on it, and the questions about how it got there or why it is there abound.

Thing is, our lead face of the doc, Wesley, is anything but outgoing. He would seem to be quite timid at times and has not been able to overcome his own fears and uncertainties to try and answer the nagging questions about the rocket.

When Wesley comes across the former manager of the building, Harry, things seem to take a weird turn. The manager had his own suspicions about the rocket and felt like a very sketchy individual.

The meeting with Harry was the incentive for Wesley to climb the fire escape and finally get a close up view of the rocket.

The doc’s theme of unanswered questions and the challenges of human nature speak through clearly in this doc short. It is just over thirteen minutes long, but it is a fun, crazy ride. The end may feel like a letdown, but I do think that is part of the point.

Skeleton Crew S1 E8

Posted on by

Spoilers

“The Real Good Guys”

Skeleton Crew came to a rip-roaring conclusion with the eighth episode of the first season that saw a big time happy ending and some very stressful moments.

Skeleton Crew has been a joy all season long, and the last few episodes have been filled with action and tense drama. Jod showed his true stripes and took up the mantel of the real villain of this season. Jude Law was sensational in this role, creating a real horrendous human being while still being charming and enthralling enough to wish he would make the right decisions. His past was driving him to this grand theft attempt and, for me, his actions were irredeemable, but when everything was obviously over, he threw aside his blaster.

What a great episode for Wim, who had been having so many troubles all season long. He had his dreams shaken by the realities of the galaxy, but he never completely gave up his hope. Wim was an absolute standout in this episode and the image of Wim standing with the lightsaber was epic.

It was nice when Wim’s father finally began listening to him. The parents played a huge piece in the story with Wim and Fern.

Our young heroes truly stepped it up. KB was awesome as she was able to pilot the Onyx Cinder back up past the barrier to get a message to Khym to send help… it the form of X-Wing fighters.

Oh, and by the way… was that Luke Skywalker????

I never once believed that KB had crashed the Onyx Cinder and had died though. That beat of the story was clearly not in the cards.

I am a little underwhelmed with the final few moments. I wanted more and I needed to know what the kids were going to do, what Jod was going to do etc. I needed more falling action after the huge climax. That is a minor complaint, but I just wanted to know what was next for these characters that have been such a wonderful group for the past eight episodes.

Skeleton Crew delivered some exceptional Goonies in Star Wars action and was one of the best Star Wars Disney + shows, right up their with Andor.

Goosebumps: The Vanishing S1 E1, E2

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Stay Out of the Basement Part I”

“Stay Out of the Basement Part II”

I was not that interested in the new Goosebumps series on Disney +. I had watched the previous one a couple of years ago, and I liked it enough, but it did not blow me away. It was clear that this was going to be a new cast in what appeared to be an anthology type show starring David Schwimmer of friends fame. I had a moment to watch episode one Sunday night so I gave it a shot.

Holy cow! I was knocked over with the show. I was able to watch episode two tonight and things only got creepier as the show seemed to go full Audrey II.

I loved these first two episodes. I was completely invested with the new characters and the new scary story.

It kicked off with a flashback to a group of kids who disappeared and were assumed to be dead years before. One of those kids turned out to be the brother of David Schwimmer’s character, Anthony. It is a family mystery that is still very relevant for them.

Anthony’s twin children, Devin and Cece, came to visit him for the summer, kicking off plenty of weirdness and wild encounters. Devin has had several issues immediately, trying to impress an old friend/flame, Frankie. She was dating Trey, a real jerk of a guy who lived across the street from Anthony’s place and kept parking his car in his driveway. It was a deal he had made with Anthony’s mom while she was there. Unfortunately, she has been taken to a home with dementia.

The family element was stronger than I expected with the actors involved playing things deeper than a show like this would normal have. Schwimmer was excellent with the sadness and the confusion on how to deal with the problems he is facing.

Anthony is a botanist and that leads him to find a spore (or so he thought) on his brother’s clothes, which had just now been released by the police. That spore turned out to be an animal and a carnivore. So Anthony did his best Seymour Krelborn imitation and started feeding it dead mice from the pet store. Guess what… it started growing. Feed Me Seymour.

Trey gets eaten too… or transformed… or something.

All of the episodes are currently on Disney +, but I do not have the time to binge the rest. Maybe some time in the next week I will get to the remainder of this show, and I am excited because I really liked the first couple.

Have You Seen Andy? (2007)

Posted on by

January 14

Today’s documentary in the 2025 Genre-ary was a tough one to watch.

According to IMDB, “”Have You Seen Andy?” is the personal story of a childhood friendship abruptly ended by the tragic abduction of a young boy. On a hot summer day in August 1976, ten year-old Andy Puglisi was playing along with dozens of other children at the Higgins Memorial Pool in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Then suddenly, he disappeared. Twenty-two years later, filmmaker Melanie Perkins, Andy’s childhood friend, begins her search for answers in this feature-length documentary.”

For someone who has spent most of his adult life working with kids, this doc about the missing 10-year old boy dealt with the possibility that he was taken by and killed by a pedophile who had been stalking kids for some time. Using a story of needing help finding his missing dog, Wayne Chapman would be the predator that the doc’s filmmaker, Melanie Perkins believed was at fault.

Shocking events that seemed to occur all helped prevent this case to be solved. The story of a bloody sock that was found in Chapman’s car that matched the sock that Andy had been wearing were taken for evidence and lost. There is no knowledge of where the sock went. There are unbelievable moments such as this that are littered through the doc.

There were also leads that turned into disappointments that piled up with this case. All the while being made all the worse with some of the beautiful pictures and home movies of Andy and his happy life.

Honestly, this doc was a labor of love from a friend looking for closure. Sadly, it has never come. Chapman died in 2021, after being released from prison.

I have a pit in my gut after watching this film. It was a painful story that is just too common in our world.

Fanfare Phan-tasy Podcast E1

Posted on by

This is the first episode of season two of the EYG Podcasts foundon Spotify. The Middle School Actor’s Guild is back, some old, some new, for the seond season. Once again it takes place in Dalton Hill, sort of. New characters this year including Penny Everwood, a sevnth grade girl into investigating the mysteries of Dalton Hill.

There will be six episodes of this second season and this is the first episode, entitled “The Beginning of the Path.”

Will & Harper (2024)

Posted on by

January 13

I have not been a fan of Will Ferrell. He has some movies that I absolutely hate. Yet, this Netflix documentary may just make me want to reconsider that opinion.

Will Ferrell and his friend of thirty years, Harper Steele, went on a buddy road trip across America. The hook? Harper Steele had just completed gender transition and was out as a trans woman.

Ferrell met Steele when Farrell joined SNL and they quickly became close friends. When they decided to take this trip across the country, Harper had given Will the right to ask any question about the transition. The openness of the friendship and the kind, sensitive manner in which they spoke to one another gave a real insight into the friendship they had built over the years.

Seeing how Will was protective and, at times, fearful for Harper was so sweet. The places that they traveled to were shown on the doc and the people that they came across spoke with respect and kindness.

But how many actually meant it? They came across the governor of Indiana, Eric Holcomb, at a basketball game and Holcomb dropped his rhetoric to get a picture with Ferrell. Holcomb has been an outspoken anti-trans proponent, passing severe anti-trans laws in his state.

When Farrell, dressed as Sherlock Holmes, took Steele to a steak house in Texas, the crowd at the restaurant was pretty taken aback. The social media response to the dinner was off the charts, with a ton of hatred spewing across the platforms. Of course, these people were all taking their outrage and vitriol to the safety of the internet where they can post their hatred with a certain amount of anonymousness.

However, much of the doc played against the caricature of the ignorant American and showed people who were very supportive and kind. Will Farrell was amazing with Harper, supporting her and treating her with such respect and acceptance that you could see how intimate and special their years long friendship had become.

The film was not just a powerful doc, but it was hilarious as well. Some of the scenes were just outright funny, which I guess you should expect with two funny people at the front of the film.

Will & Harper was a really enjoyable film that showed the power of friendship, the humor of a buddy road trip and the capacity of dialogue and communication.

MMS 7th Grade Short Stories

Posted on by

I am a teacher at a middle school and I have assigned my class a short story writing assignment. As a way of trying to inspire them, I told them that I would publish their stories on my website when they were finished with them. I knew I had a section on the site for Fan Fiction and I decided that I could easily post these stories under that section.

These stories will not be perfect. These are 7th grade students who do not have a lot of experience in writing stories. They have been introduced to the idea of a plot map and they are working toward using thas as a tool when they write. The story assignment was supposed to have some connection to a sport or a sporting event. I was following the end of unit assignment from the HMH curriculum that we use.

The assignment is due this Friday, January 18th so I will start posting the stories some time that day and perhaps over the weekend.

The students will all have a pseudonym on their stories just as a way to protect their identities. I know my community here is great, but the internet itself can be a negatove place and I want to protect these kids as much as possible.

There will be a variety of writing. I know some are really working well on this while others are wasting time. I am sure the product will show this as well. However, please be kind to the kids. Most of them are working fairly well on their stories.

Thanks to everyone who gives this a chance.

The X-Files S7 E14

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Theef”

There were a lot of controversial themes hidden in this X-Files episode. Okay, maybe not that hidden, but when the story swings on the choice of a doctor to end the suffering of a patient who could not be saved, it can create a lot of intrigue.

Picket Fences dealt with the concept of Euthanasia several times, but one would not expect it to appear on an X-Files episode.

The episode also featured “hexing” which seemed to be a backwoods form of voodoo, including the voodoo doll, called a poppet which was how the episode villain was using this pwoer.

The villain, Orell Peattie, was played by Billy Drago, and he was excessively creepy. He played the father of the girl who had been given the excess morphine by the doctor, Robert Wieder, played by James Morrison. Both of these actors did a great job in the episode.

The only issue could see was making Orell Peattie apparently not very highly educated, making the whole character a stereotype. The misspelling of the word “thief” being the title of the episode and something written after his victims.

I do not remember watching this episode when it first aired in 2000, but I did enjoy this one now. As I said, there were several themes in this episode that could be looked at deeper yet including not only Euthanasia but also modern medicine vs. practical magic.

Scully keeping Mulder on his toes is a fun moment in this overall creepy entry.

Battlestar Galactica S4 E3

Posted on by

Spoilers

“The Ties That Bind”

It is pretty clear that they are into the final season of Battlestar Galactica because major stuff is going down.

The Cylons are fighting within themselves and it sure seemed as if John Cavil (Dean Stockwell) set up the whole group of his opposition to be killed. I’m not sure how that will go over, but it sure looked that way.

Cally discovered the truth about Tyrol. She thought he was having an affair with Tory Foster, but she discovered that they, along with Tigh were Cylons. What did she get for her trouble? A trip out the space vent. Of course, this was after Cally was preparing to kill herself and her son by doing the exact same thing.

Cally had really lost herself the last several episodes and this was the final straw.

Is the show trying to make us dislike Laura Roslin? The show seems to be making her less like a president and more like a tyrant lately. And she is anything but forgiving.

This is really getting dark and I do not know where it is heading. I am trying to keep any spoilers for what’s coming up next away to ty and keep the suspense up.

Dexter: Original Sin S1 E6

Posted on by

Spoilers

“The Joy of Killing”

I have been disappointed with the new Dexter show since the first couple episodes. This new one, episode six, was the best one since the first two.

The show limited the amount of silly Dexter action, though there was some of that as he was getting his first blow job. Still, it was kept to a minimum and the cases were compelling.

The captain’s son was snatched much like the judge’s son earlier in the season. We met the captain’s son recently as he spoke with Dexter. That made this more powerful than just a kid who we had never met. The tension of the cop shop during this episode was at an all-time high.

I am not in love with the flashbacks, but these were fairly significant. We see the birth of Debra and Harry’s wife told him no more affair. Another awkward moment.

Dexter set himself up as a serial killer (officially killing his third victim). The alligator dumping was not going to work any longer as the police have discovered the arm floating in the swamp that we saw a few episodes ago. I figured that was coming back, and I am glad it made it.

Of course, Dexter is not going to be caught or even implicated because we know he does not get caught or implicated for years. The dangers of a prequel.

I hope the remainder of this season is able to match this quality more than it has been lately.

Silo S2 E9

Posted on by

Spoilers

“The Safeguard”

Wow. This was an intense episode of Silo. It was easily my favorite episode of season two so far. Everything is coming together into major events setting up for the season finale next week.

If I am being honest, some of this season has not caught my attention. I have always been in on everything Juliette is doing, but a lot of the political stuff from the original silo has gone over my head. However, as things ratchet up, every scenes has grown in intensity.

Silo had a LOST moment too as Juliette comes across the Others. Okay, that is not their names, but she found this handful of young adults as she was searching for Solo. The inclusion of these characters brought a anxiety level that ramped things up. Rick and Audrey are angry and spiteful… at least Audrey is. She is very much like kill first and figure it out later. We see how she was behind a lot of the missteps that happened to Juliette earlier in the series (another LOST like trope that saw the same scene from different POV).

Juliette tried to figure out the combination to the vault for Rick and Audrey. Audrey had told her that she would kill Solo when her baby cried again because the baby was hungry. This all led to the reveal of Solo’s backstory and the tragic events that led up to him being stuck in that vault on his own. The whole scene of Juliette trying to convince Solo to give her the combination was effective and suspenseful.

Lukas winding up in front of the giant AI was amazing too. What is the Safeguard? I don’t know, but I think it is safe to assume that it is a way to protect the secrets by destroying the silo. We know there are 51 other silos out there and, according to the AI, only three other people had ever gotten the instructions it was going to give to Lukas.

What side is Sims and his wife going to end up on? I don’t know but all I know is that Bernard needs to face some justice. He is such a horrible character at this point, just concerned with his own power. Unless, that is, there is something that the show has not shown us yet, which is absolutely possible. I think Bernard is going to get his because of Knox. I think Know knows that Walker is the “traitor” and that he was setting up Bernard with a fake story. Maybe I am wrong about that, but the way he spoke to Walker about the possible traitor, it really seemed as if he had figured out the truth.

The finale looks to be a huge episode. This one was easily my favorite of the year so far as every story grasped my attention and made me anxious.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #134

Posted on by

January 12

Welcome back to the EYG Comic Cavalcade! It was a big week this week especially with the back issues.

Last week I had purchased the first five issue trade paperback of Sex Criminals and I really enjoyed the book so I went to eBay to search up for the series and I found the whole series, #1-30 and #69, available. I will say that when they came in that big box, I was not prepared for the covers that were on these books. I was needing a fan to cool off. The quality of this book was high and that should not be a surprise considering it was done by Matt Fraction & Chip Zdarsky. I have not yet read all the books, but I am looking forward to it.

Another reason I got a nice influx of books this week was because Comic World added four $1 boxes of books and I could not avoid the sale. I picked up a bunch of Ed Brubaker Captain Americas, most of vol. 2 of Challengers of the Unknown, some issues from Neil Gaiman’s 1602, as well as an Avengers Annual from 1999.

Back to eBay, after this week, I am down to just five remaining Groo the Wanderer books from Marvel/Epic that I am missing. The late issues of that book are difficult to find because they were low printed at the time.

Other books this week:

Amazing Spider-Man #65. “Signifying Nothing.” Written by Joe Kelly and art by Cafu. Mark Bagley & Richard Isanove did the cover art. The 8 Deaths of Spider-Man continues with Spidey taking on the challenge of Callix & Cyra, the twins. Phil Coulson makes a guest appearance, which is not the best of things considering he is now the Infinity Stone Death Stone guardian.

Uncanny X-Men #8. “Finale.” Written by Gail Simone and art by Javier Garrón. Cover art was by David Marquez & Matthew Wilson. The crossover with X-Men finishes up in this issue as the two X-teams face off again over what they should do with Xavier. The issue continued to tease Inmate X, who is apparently not Xavier as I thought.

New Champions #1. Written by Steve Foxe and art by Ivan Fiorelli with Ig Guara. Cover art was done by Gleb Melnikov & Edgar Delgado. A new group of young heroes form under the name New Champions and they kick off their first issue. Some of these characters were from the recent Spider Woman run and they are an intriguing group. I do enjoy young heroes and I liked previous versions of Champions so I hope this will be a fun book.

All-New Venom #2. Written by Al Ewing and art by Carlos Gomez. Adam Kubert & Laura Martin did the cover art. The mystery of the identity of the all-new Venom deepens this issue as they seemingly eliminated Luke Cage as a possibility. I am not clear on how they did it, but Dylan Brock stated it at the end of the issue, so I guess that is meant to be the case. Luke Cage was one of my favorites to make the new Venom, but now I am not sure. I can’t see Robbie or Madame Masque being the new Venom, but Rick Jones feels too obvious. I am curious where this is headed.

Return of the Living Dead #1. Written by S.A. Check and James Kuhoric and art by Andrea Arcari. Cover art by Mark Spears (Gold Medalist). When a toxic gas is accidently released at Peddler’s Point, the reaction of nearby people seem a touch ghoulish. How do you survive a new outbreak of zombies out for brains? The new book from American Mythology Productions is hot, big reason is because of the Mark Spears cover.

Marley’s Ghost Graphic Novel. Based on the story A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, this graphic novel came about after nine pages of an adaptation done by legendary Harvey Kurtzman was found. The adaptation was expanded upon by Josh O’Neill and Shannon Wheeler with illustrations by Gideon Kendall. It is a beautiful and faithful adaptation of Dickens’ classic from Ablaze.

Transformers #16. Written by Daniel Warren Johnson and art by Jorge Corona. Cover art was by Daniel Warren Johnson & Mike Spicer. The Autobots and Decepticons fight on both on earth and on Cybertron, but just wait… he’s coming! It is just a matter of time before the big man himself, Megatron, finds his way back.

Sentinels #4. “We Assembled Him in the Kitchen.” Written by Alex Paknadel and art by Justin Mason. Justin Mason & Federico Blee did the cover art. This story centered around the character of Justin Seyfert, a young boy who was able to control a Sentinel. This character was around back in the days of the Avengers Academy and I always liked him. His death in Avengers Arena saddened me and this fate made it all the worse.

The Blood Brothers Mother #3. Written by Brian Azzarello and art and cover art by Eduardo Risso. It has been awhile since the second issue of this DSTLRY series came out. In fact, looking at CLZ, issue two was released in the first week of September. I love these DSTLRY books but the time between release really make it difficult to keep the story in my head. This Western tale was enjoyable, but a closer release schedule would help me considerably.

Wolverine #5. “The Call of the Adamantine” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Martin Coccolo. Martin Coccolo and Bryan Valenza did the cover art. This new story involving Wolverine and other characters with adamantium in them is off to a very interesting start. I am also happy that our new Wendigo, aka Leonard, is still very much involved. I love the new Wendigo so here is to more with him.

Blood Hunters #5. Written by Erica Schultz and penciled by Chris Campana & Robert Gill. The team up to rescue Dagger came to an end this issue with the Blood Hunters heading in their own ways. It was nice to see Cloak make his triumphant return to the side of Dagger in this issue. I have been a fan of Cloak & Dagger since their debut way back in the pages of Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man.

Absolute Batman #4. “The 200″ Part Four. Written by Scott Snyder with art by Gabriel Hernandez Walta. Cover art was by Nick Dragotta & Frank Martin. We get some flashbacks to a young Bruce Wayne as he was starting to become whom he is. This Batman has been very fascinating as he is different yet similar to the Batman we know.

Namor #6. “The Wyrd of the Waves” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Paul Davidson & Alex Lins. Cover art was by Alexander Lozano. Namor battles himself, literally, as he continues to move toward reclaiming the throne of Atlantis. Meanwhile, the kings of the sea are all preparing for all out war.

What If Galactus Transformed Gambit #1. Written by Josh Trujillo and art by Manuel Garcia. Ron Lim & Israel Silva did the cover art. This was a much better issue of “What If Galactus Transformed…” than last issue was. This one felt like a complete story as the last one did not. Even better yet… this issue marked an appearance by Uatu the Watcher! He has been sorely missing from these special What If books and I was ecstatic that he was included here. Uatu should be in every What If book, period.

What If Mickey and Friends Became the Fantastic Four #1. “The Fantastic Four vs. Mole Pete.” Written by Riccardo Secchi (plot by Steve Behling) and art by Lorenzo Pastovicchio. Cover D variant art was done by Skottie Young. For example, the Watcher is not in this What If book, but why couldn’t he be here? I would love it if the Watcher was here and maybe even played by a Disney character.

Geiger #10. Written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Gary Frank. Cover art was done by Gary Frank (Silver Medalist). Mister Geiger is in bad shape and he is losing control of his powers. Is he a danger to everyone? Can Junkyard Joe help Geiger at all? Crossovers are happening in the Ghost Machine imprint.

NYX #7. Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly with art by Enid Balan. Cover art was done by Sara Pichelli & Federico Blee. Synch vs. Prodigy… but not to the death as the cover seems to indicate. There is also problems forming for Ms. Marvel as some of the other mutants around are getting after her for keeping a secret identity. Is this leading to Kamala Khan revealing her true self soon? Feels like that.

Daredevil: Unleash Hell: Red Band #1. Written by Erica Schultz and art by Valentina Pinti and Jose Luis. Elektra battles to protect Hell’s Kitchen while Muse is finding a way of getting his spirit out of Hell and possess another disgruntled artist. With Muse scheduled to be one of the main villains in the MCU upcoming series Daredevil: Born Again, it was time to bring him back in the Marvel Comics Universe.

The Lucky Devils #1. “First Circle: Limbo.” Written by Charles Soule and art and cover by Ryan Browne. It is a new, fun series from the creative team that brought us Eight Billion Genies. The Lucky Devils has the same flair, the same feel to it as that series. The Little Devils themselves are a very cool character design and I am excited to see where this story goes. It should be wild.

Green Hornet/Miss Fury #1. Written by Alex Segura & Henry Barajas and art by Federico Sorressa. Cover art by Francesco Francavilla. Dynamite Comics has been on a huge roll lately with their adaptations of older, classic characters and this time they are taking the Green Hornet and Miss Fury, teaming them up in their own book. I loved the noir feel of this book and the way they brought these characters into the present day of comic book presentation. Another big win for Dynamite.

Parliament of Rooks #2. “Summer” Written by Abigail Jill Harding with Richard Starkings and art and cover art by Abigail Jill Harding (Bronze Medalist). The love story hiding in a horror story finds its footing as this book moves on. The town is getting more and more scared over the monster they believe is loose but Princess Seraphina and Darius are still meeting in secrecy. This is dark and beautiful, another solid book from Ablaze comics.

Ultimate Black Panther #12. Written by Bryan Hill and art by Stefano Caselli. Stefano Caselli & David Curiel did the cover art. It is the face off between Black Panther and Moon Knight of the ultimate universe, but will T’Challa lose himself in this final showdown? Not if some guests at the end of the book have anything to say about it.

Batman: Dark Patterns #2. “We are the Wounded.” Written by Dan Watters and art and cover art by Hayden Sherman. Batman is investigating the Wound Man, and the twist of this issue is quite well done. This feels like an older version of Batman and I really have enjoyed the book so far.

Other Books this Week: Magik #1, Napalm Lullaby #8, Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #2, and Moon Man #6.

Hoop Dreams (1994)

Posted on by

January 12

This is one of the most recognizable, iconic documentaries of all-time and it was one of the first films I placed on the list of possible docs to watch during this Genre-ary. Hoop Dreams follows two black youths from the inner-city Chicago area on their struggles to get through high school with a dream to make it to the NBA.

The two boys were named Arthur Agee and William Gates, and, one of the things that I liked about Hoop Dreams was it was much more in depth than just basketball. It truly looked at the problems each boy faced as they navigated their way through their specific high sachools.

At first, it seemed as if they would both be going to the same high school, St. Joseph, but after their freshmen year, Arthur was behind on the tuition payment and wound up being removed from the school. William had financial issues too, but he received help from donors of the school. It was implied that William received the aid because he was seen as the stronger basketball player.

The film spent time with family members of both kids too. Arthur’s family provided the most drama as his father left during his high school years and ended up in prison. He was able to return to his family eventually and did appear to have turned a page on his criminal activities.

William went through an injury to his knee during his high school days and it was something that really caused problems for the young man. There were moments of game footage that was tough to watch as he struggled to make it through the injury.

Coach Gene Pingatore was a major character in the documentary, and he was not always portrayed in a positive light. He was that old school basketball coach in the vein of a Bobby Knight (who did cameo in the doc) and watching that today was challenging at times. Pingatore’s final meeting with a senior William was about as awkward as it could possibly be.

Hoop Dreams was a deep dive into the inner city youth whose only hope to escape came with a basketball. Both of the young men involved faced their difficulties with a differing level and reached for what they could. It was a very involved doc.

Creature Commandos S1 E7

Posted on by

Spoilers

“A Very Funny Monster”

Creature Commandos finished its first season on HBO Max this week with a finale that might have been my favorite episode of the season. It was a Nina-centric episode and it ended with a shocking death (or two).

I would start with the one part I did not like was how Frankenstein was dealt with. He was such an afterthought in this episode after being built up for the whole season. I know it was meant to be a joke, but I did not like that.

However, everything with Nina, her flashback to her tragic backstory and the current world death at the hand of the Princess, was excellent. I have a slight complaint on how Nina’s father dies, but other than that, everything worked so well.

They definitely are setting this up for a second season and I think, even if I have been up and down about the show, I will continue to watch it.

Nature Boy: 30 on 30 (2017)

Posted on by

January 11

There have been several documentaries on the professional wrestler known as “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair. This was an ESPN 30 on 30 documentary that had him as a subject, that aired in 2017 called Nature Boy.

This was an interesting doc looking at Flair, but it did feel as if the negative parts of his life were brushed away, outside of the death of his son Reid. They mentioned parts of his life that came along with the persona of the nature Boy, but they did not go into a great deal of explanation on it. The touched on his legendary drinking, but not with a lot of specifics. They touched on his legal troubles with Jim Herd of WCW, but did not go into details. The match between Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair that was intended on being the main event of Wrestlemania VIII was mentioned, but nothing specific was revealed. These moments really form the man who would be Ric Flair and I would have liked more about them all.

They did a pretty decent job with his early days, and gave some solid info on the Verne Gagne training that Ric Flair went through. The infamous plane crash that broke his back got some time, though, again, I think they did not focus much on this seminal moment of the young Flair’s life.

It was kind of scary when the doc talked about how it was amazing that Ric Flair was still alive with the amount of drinking, and I thought it would lead to the time when Flair nearly died from his drinking. However, I believe that happened after this documentary was filmed, so it turned out to be prophetic than anything else.

The details on Reid Flair’s death was some of the most emotional moments of the doc as you can clearly see how his son’s death affected him and it was nice to see him reacting to his daughter Ashley, known in the WWE as Charlotte Flair, and her massive success.

It felt like this doc just scratched the surface of the life and times of The Nature Boy Ric Flair and that they needed way more than 30 on 30 to do it justice.