I like what I see here. Teen Spider-Man in action. I like the animation. I like the quips. This is a promising trailer. January 29 is just a month away. Disney +
Author Archives: Doc
2024 Year in Review: The Joker/Hannibal Lecter/Mister Miyagi Award for Best Supporting Actor
The Joker/Hannibal Lecter/Mister Miyagi Award for Best Supporting Actor
Previous Winners: Patrick Stewart (Logan), Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals), Sylvester Stallone (Creed), Edward Norton (Birdman), Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club), Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained), Andy Serkis (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Richard Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), Robert Downey Jr (Avengers: Endgame), Sasha Baron Cohen (Trial of the Chicago 7), Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man: No Way Home), Ke Huy Quen (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer)
I have a much larger list of supporting actors than I did for the actresses, but I am sticking with a list of Top Ten. I will add a Honorable Mention for this category.
Honorable Mention: Samuel L. Jackson (Piano Lessons), Jeff Goldblum (Wicked), Paul Bettany (Here), and Richard Roundtree (Thelma).
#10. Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Nosferatu)
#9. JK Simmons (Saturday Night)
#8. Stanley Tucci (Conclave)
#7. Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown)
#6. Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)
#5. Cory Michael Smith (Saturday Night)
#4. Boyd Holbrook (A Complete Unknown)
#3. Chris Hemsworth (Furiosa)
#2. Hugh Jackman (Deadpool & Wolverine)
#1. Mark Eydelshteyn (Anora)
Mark Eydelshteyn does a remarkable job in Anora. The first half of the movie, you love him, root for him and relate with him. The second half of the movie, you hate him. He completely turns away any goodwill you had for him, and he doesn’t really change his character. It is a great performance. Hugh Jackman does not get award respect but he is excellent as Logan in Deadpool & Wolverine. He has some emotional scenes that give you specifics on the character that only Jackman can deliver. Saturday Night has a couple of actors here, including Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase and JK Simmons as Milton Berle. A Complete Unknown as a couple of real life characters too with Johnny Cash, as brought to life by Boyd Holbrook and Edward Norton’s Pete Seeger. Aaron Taylor-Johnson does not get anything for Kraven the Hunter, but he showed what a great actor he is in Nosferatu. Kieran Culkin has been excellent for a long time, and his role in A Real Pain is one of his most complex yet. Stanley Tucci brings some great work in Conclave too.
2024 Year in Review: The Hermione Granger/Furiosa/Rita Moreno Award for Best Supporting Actress
The Hermione Granger/Furiosa/Rita Moreno Award for Best Supporting Actress
Previous Winners: Dafne Keene (Logan), Tilda Swinton (Dr. Strange), Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina), Emma Stone (Birdman), Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle), Sally Field (Lincoln), Jennifer Aniston (Horrible Bosses), Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place), Scarlett Johansson (Jojo Rabbit), Margo Martindale (Blow the Man Down), Rita Moreno (West Side Story), Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)
Supporting Actress is up first among the acting awards here at EYG Year in Review. This is the top ten recipients for Best Supporting Actress. Honestly, a bunch of these potential Oscar roles are from movies that I have yet to see, so they will not appear on my list. Maybe the June Swoon will be really good this year.
#10. Isabella Rossellini, Conclave.
#9. Joan Chen, Didi.
#8. Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown
#7. Karla Sofia Gascon, Emilia Perez.
#6. Zendaya, Dune: Part Two
#5. Emma Corrin, Nosferatu
#4. Danielle Deadwyler, Piano Lessons
#3. Selena Gomez, Emilia Perez
#2. Zoe Saldana, Emilia Perez
#1. Ariana Grande, Wicked
Ariana Grande was a revelation in Wicked. No one expected her to steal the movie, but she nearly did in almost every scene she was in. Of course, her voice was amazing as she blasted out her songs. The trio of actresses from Emilia Perez were powerful in the film and all of them made a spot on this list. Danielle Deadwyler is showing herself to be a master actor as she gives tremendous performances every time.
2024 Year in Review: MORE TV
So I did the Best series in four separate categories for 2024. Now I am going to do some more individual awards for TV in general.
Best Actor Drama: Colin Farrell (The Penguin)
Best Actress Drama: Anna Sawai (Shogun)
Best Supporting Actor Drama: Lee Byung-hun (Squid Game 2)
Best Supporting Actress Drama: Cristin Milioti (The Penguin)
Best Actor Comedy: Steve Martin (Only Murders in the Building)
Best Actress Comedy: Kathryn Hahn (Agatha All Along)
Best Supporting Actor Comedy: Harrison Ford (Shrinking)
Best Supporting Actress Comedy: Patti LuPone (Agatha All Along)
Best Actor Genre: Antony Starr (The Boys)
Best Actress Genre: Danai Gurira (Walking Dead: The Ones that Lived)
Best Supporting Actor Genre: Tim Robbins (Silo)
Best Supporting Actress Genre: Tanya Moodie (Silo)
Best Song: The Ballad of the Witches’ Road (Agatha All Along)
Best Makeup: The Penguin
Best Episode Drama: “A Great or Little Thing,” The Penguin
Best Episode Comedy: “Death’s Hand in Mine,” Agatha All Along
Best Episode Genre: “The Insider,” The Boys
Best Episode Animated: “Remember It,” X-Men ’97
2024 Year in Review: TV
2024 saw me watch a lot of TV. Not only did I watch the active shows, I was doing rewatches or first time watches of classics such as The X-Files, Battlestar Galactica, Bates Motel, The Greatest American Hero, Moonlighting, Yellowjackets, and Picket Fences.
But we are not looking at those series. These are lists of the best series of the year. I decided to split them into four categories: Drama, Comedy, Genre, Animated.
Some of the categories were really difficult to rank and, of course, only feature those series that I watch. There is so much on TV these days that it is impossible to watch everything.
Let’s kick it off with:
Drama.
Drama had a top six list and featured some of the best shows of the year.
6. Bodkin (Netflix)
5. True Detective: Night Country (MAX)
4. Baby Reindeer (Netflix)
3. Squid Game 2 (Netflix)
2. The Penguin (MAX)
- Shogun (Hulu)
Shogun was so good that it just out distanced The Penguin, which had an amazing run on HBO Max. I just finished Squid Game 2 in time for this list.
Comedy
4. The Bear (Hulu)
3. Shrinking (Apple TV +)
2. Agatha All Along (Disney +)
- Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
This was probably the hardest one to judge. When I split these categories apart, I thought that Agatha All Along would be a shoo-in for Comedy winner, because I loved that show so much. However, Looking over the list of comedies, Only Murders in the Building jumped out at me and regulated Agatha into the second slot. This was an outstanding season of OMitB too with Steve Martin doing some excellent work with his grief over the death of his friend and stunt double Sazz. Number three is Shrinking and that is a genius show too. Harrison Ford is perhaps the biggest scene stealer on this list. The Bear is here because the Emmys list it as a comedy, but it is a stretch to call it that in my opinion.
Genre
#6. Walking Dead: The Ones Who Lived (AMC +)
#5. Echo (Disney +)
#4. Silo (Apple TV +)
#3. Fallout (Prime)
#2. Skeleton Crew (Disney +)
#1. The Boys (Prime)
The Boys had another great season with Butcher on the edge of death, Homelander in full revenge mode and everyone else trying to survive. Skeleton Crew has been extremely fun so far giving us some of the best Star Wars TV we have had in years. Fallout was a fantastic video game adaptation and Silo is top notch sci-fi on Apple TV +. Echo was better than a lot of people gave it credit for and it was nice seeing Rick and Michonne reunite.
Animated
#5. Masters of the Universe: Revolution (Netflix)
#4. Creature Commandos (MAX)
#3. What If…? (Disney +)
#2. Batman: Caped Crusader (Prime)
#1. X-Men’97 (Disney +)
X-Men ’97 was an amazing surprise. It had no right to be as good as it was. The old X-Men series was okay, but this took everything great about it and mixed it with amazing characterization and storytelling. And “Remember It” is one of the best episodes of TV this year, not just animated TV. Batman: Caped Crusader was another great series on Amazon with a new take on Batman and his rogue’s gallery. What If was a bit of a step down but still fairly entertaining and had a great Agatha/Kingo episode. Creature Commandos has been okay for me as some of the humor does not work for me. Masters was a good follow up from Kevin Smith.
2024 Year in Review: “All Right, Mr. Deville, I am Ready for my Close Up” Award for Best Director
“All Right, Mr. Deville, I am Ready for my Close Up” Award for Best Director
Previous Winners: A.G. Inarritu (Birdman), Tim McCarthy (Spotlight), Damien Chazelle (La La Land), Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman), Alfonso Cuarón (Roma), Anthony and Joe Russo (Avengers: Endgame), Spike Lee (Da 5 Bloods), Jon Watt (Spider-Man: No Way Home), Ryan Coogler (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)
The role of the director is a vital one in any movie. I have chosen the top ten directors of 2024 to present here. Some of these will be considered for Oscars, others on my list will have to settle for recognition from EYG as I will look at the genre films with a fairer view than Academy voters.
“All Right, Mr. Deville, I am Ready for my Close Up” Award for Best Director Top Ten
#10. Francis Galluppi, The Last Stop in Yuma County. This was an outstanding independent film that I found on Vudu and was completely enthralled by. This was Galluppi’s first feature film.
#9. Coraline Fargeat, The Substance. What a tremendous job done by Fargeat on The Substance, the shocking, body-horror film that brought Demi Moore back into conversation for Oscar.
#8. Jess Eisenberg, A Real Pain. Eisenberg wrote and directed this film about two cousins on a Holocaust tour. Jesse is the only director on this list who also starred in the film which has to make this even more challenging.
#7. Fede Alvarez, Alien: Romulus. Alvarez brought the Alien franchise back to its roots with this outstanding film. It was tense and frightening and beautifully shot.
#6. Sean Baker, Anora. The way this film was shot really highlighted the strengths of each of the characters and switched paths about half way through. Baker is exceptional.
#5. Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part Two. A gigantic sci-fi epic is not going to be easy to direct and Villeneuve does it spotlessly. His work with the CGI is some of the best you will ever see.
#4. James Mangold, A Complete Unknown. This Bob Dylan biopic was such a great film, with the use of music being front and center, Mangold has had a career of cranking out some excellent movies and this was one more.
#3. Shawn Levy, Deadpool and Wolverine. Shawn Levy has a real bond with Ryan Reynolds and you have to be able to manage that to give us one of the biggest hits of the year. He deserves more credit than he receives for this movie.
#2. Jon M. Chu, Wicked. Another epic film, this time an adaptation of the iconic stage musical. It was a rousing success and Chu’s handiwork is one of the main reasons why.
And the #1 Director and winner of the “All Right, Mr. Deville, I am Ready for my Close Up” Award…
Robert Eggers, Nosferatu
One of the great young directors in the horror genre released his most recent film Nosferatu at Christmas this year and it is completely stylish and gorgeously shot. He is able to get amazing performances from his cast and his visual storytelling is on par with the bests around. Nosferatu is a stunning movie and he deserves this award.
Squid Game S2 E6, E7
Spoilers
“O X”
“Friend or Foe”
I finished up the second season of Squid Games on Netflix late last night and I have thoughts.
First, it sure ended at a strange place. It almost felt like this was a first part of a season like they did for Stranger Things and Cobra Kai. I have not heard any info on a second part to season two though. Perhaps it is just setting up for season three instead. If so, then season two would absolutely be the Empire Strikes Back of the Squid Games as things went oh so wrong for our heroes (PS… just looked at the end of the episode and it says season three will be back in 2025 so there is that.)
Gi-hun’s whole plan to take it to the people running the show by hijacking guns from the guards was wild and was never going to work. The pink suits had such a huge number of people that the handful of rebels were just not going to get through. However, it got fairly far and might have had a chance if they did not have a rat inside their team. Of course, that is In-ho, 001, who had been inside the game manipulating the situation. His eventual betrayal ended the uprising and led to the unfortunate death of Jung-bae. I had seen a spoiler about a death in the final episode that was shocking and this was the one. For a minute, I actually thought it was going to be Gi-hun instead. That would have been a shocker.
Defying all odds, Geum-ja has survived. I was sure she was going down after her son Yong-sik had changed his vote from X to O. I thought he was going to have to pay for his choice with his mother, but she continues to fight on. It did look like she was a goner during Mingle, but she was thankfully saved.
Speaking of Mingle, that was another game that was intense and very difficult to watch at times. The way alliances were tossed aside by some compared to those that were going out of their way to try and help the others.
Seeing Thanos get his final payment at the end of season six was very satisfying, and of course, brutal. Fork to the neck is not something I expected to see.
For a season that I was not sure was needed, this was a very tense and exciting seven episodes.
What If…? S3 E8
Spoilers
“What If… What If?”
The final episode of What If…? dropped on Disney + and I would say that it was fine. It seemed as if it fit with the entire third season, which, to me, was fine. It was not great. It was not terrible. It was passing. Overall, probably somewhere around a C.
This started with the Watcher the prisoner of The Eminence and was going to have to face punishment for his breaking of the vow to never intervene with those he watched. They brought Peggy Carter in too, also captured. As we saw last episode, this is when Infinity Ultron arrived along with the Exiles (Storm, Byrdie, Kahhori) and broke out the Watcher and Peggy, leading to a huge superpower fight between the Eminence and the Exiles.
Sadly, this fight was a little dull. I’ve seen it before.
What I was hoping was going to happen was that The Eminence would put the Watcher on trial, and then they would bring in many witnesses from the three seasons to testify, leading to some drama and not just a big super hero fight. I remember in the comics when Reed Richards was put on trial in a galactic setting after he saved Galactus. That felt like something they could have used as a road map for this and really end What If…? on a theological high. Instead, we got the power bolts and such.
There were plenty of flashes of characters throughout Marvel during the episode, but they went so fast it was difficult to keep up with it. I need New Rockstars to do a break down video to show them all.
I loved the daily release schedule of What If…? the last two years. It gave me something to look forward to every day over the Christmas break. I hope they find another animated series to fill that bill in the future.
What If…? has been solid, if not spectacular. The seasons for me are ranked 2nd, 1st, 3rd.
Final Rankings for Season Three
E2 What If Agatha Went to Hollywood?
E7 What If the Watcher Disappeared?
E3 What If The Red Guardian stopped The Winter Soldier?
E8 What If… What If?
E6 What If 1872?
E5 What If the Emergence Destroyed the Earth?
E1 What If the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?
E4 What If Howard the Duck Got Hitched?
2024 Year in Review: The Batman and Robin Award for Rottenness
The Batman and Robin Award for Rottenness are the annual look at films that just were not good. Some even bad. Yes, I know that it is very difficult to make a movie, and it is something that I have never done. Nobody sets out to make a bad movie (probably) and I have all respect for the men and women who do this job.
Still there are times when the film is just rotten. These awards look at those times. They receive the coveted Batman and Robin.
Worst Movie: See the list at the end of the year. Honestly, there are about six movies competing for this title yet.
Worst Actor: Scott Chambers, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2. Not much anyone can do when this is your script.
Worst Actress: Sofia Boutella, Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver. She never had a chance. This was worse than the last one.
Worst Director: Eli Roth, Borderlands. He clearly had no idea about this video game. This film is easily one of the worst of the year and Roth had a great cast that he did nothing with.
Worst Sequel: Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver. If only we got to see the Director’s edition first. I’m joking. I do not want to watch a longer version of this.
Worst CGI: Madame Web. There was not much about Madame Web that was good. CGI was no exception.
Favorite Rotten Movie: If. Ryan Reynolds’ first hit of the year wound up with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 50% making it rotten. It is a much better film than that. I liked it. I’d even recommend it.
Worst Movie I did not see: Megalopolis. It’s on the list for 2025 June Swoon.
Cashing a Paycheck: Russell Crowe, Kraven the Hunter. Fun little accent he was playing with. Not sure where he was suppsoed to be from. This guy won an Oscar.
Worst Reboot/Remake: The Crow. Why would you do this? The Crow did not need to be rebooted, and this movie did the original dirty.
Most Successful Bad Movie: Despicable Me 4. This made a ton of money dumbing down the youth of our country even more.
Worst Movie Based on a TV Show/Video Game: Borderlands. One of the worst films of the year, setting back video game adaptations just as they were making some progress.
Worst Superhero Movie: Madame Web. Why Sony why? Madame Web is, at best, a C or D level hero in the Spider-Man universe, and that is when she is with Spdier-Man.
Worst Trailer: Transformers One. Already mentioned this in the Logan “Hurt” Award. Almost made me not see the movie.
WTF: Kinds of Kindness. In risk of offending that guy on X who called me names after my review of this movie, I found this a mess.
Worst Performance by an Oscar Winner: Ariana DeBose, Kraven the Hunter. She was truly terrible in that movie after being brilliant in West Side Story.
Worst ADR: Madame Web. The villain in this movie barely moved his mouth. The voice over is noticeably bad and that should never happen.
Worst TV Show that I Watched: American Horror Story: Delicate. The second half of this season is some of the worst TV I have seen. I couldn’t wait for this one to be done.
Worst TV Finale: Grotesquerie. The final episode of this show for its first season was a jumbled mess and was simply unsatisfying.
Squid Game S2 E3, E4, E5
Spoilers
“001”
“Six Legs”
“One More Game”
The first two episodes of the season were character beats, setting up the characters we would be following in the Squid Game and developing them some. I found those episodes to be of great importance because we jump full into the games in episodes 3, 4, & 5.
The games themselves are always the most intense, stressful parts of this show. Even the Red Light, Green Light, which we saw in the first season and we know what to expect, was just insanity when it comes to execution. The show did a great job of giving us something different for us to stress over. In this case, Gi-hun taking the lead and almost directing traffic, despite several of the contestants not believing him or wanting to follow what he said. When Gi-hun ran back out to save the guy who had been shot in the leg, we saw what a heroic figure he had become from his days of season one.
The other characters all elicited some emotion from us as viewers, both positively and negatively. I hate Thanos, even if he does some funny things. I love Geum-ja. She is the ultimate mother figure in the games and she must be protected. There will be a time, I am sure, that the show will want to rip out hearts out and it will kill her. I do not want that to happen.
Player 001 turned out to be In-ho aka the Front Man (Captain). Much like last season, number 001 is a traitor, a man from behind the scenes inserting himself into the game. In this case, we are aware of the treachery unlike last year. In this case, In-ho is also a former winner of the Squid Game and his presence is curious. He sure seemed as if he was working with the group during the six-legged pentathlon.
By the way, that six-legged pentathlon was both the most invigorating and exciting game and the most stressful and horrendous game played. Watching the group of five try to make it through five children’s games in five minutes was unbelievably tense and suspenseful. It was also hard for the second game.
The show has done a tremendous job of building mood during the two votes we have had to try and end the games. The first vote coming down to the final player, 001, who voted to continue, and the second vote being more weighed toward the stay and do one more game.
I am afraid a bunch of the characters whom stated that they will play one more game and then leave are going to find their votes a tragic mistake.
I really thought doing a second season of this show was going to be a mistake, especially since the creators of the show had not intended on continuing the show past season one. However, this has been exceptional so far and it has taken an extra step in its exploration into human nature. It does not feel like a repeat of what happened in season one, and even when something similar happens, it is done in a totally different manner. The writing has been great so far as they have created a bunch of characters that I really want to see survive, even though I know they will not.
There are only two episodes left in this season, which I have heard ends in a cliffhanger, so I am excited about wrapping it up.
EYG Comic Cavalcade #131
December 28, 2024
Well, here is the last EYG Comic Cavalcade for 2024. It was a year where my collection really took off. It got organized, rebagged and reboarded, and listed on CLZ. The Comic Cavalcade was right there for the entire thing, recording the books that I added to my collection.
Before I forget, I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and hope that 2025 is the best year yet. As for the Comic Cavalcade, I plan to continue to do this on a weekly basis as new comics continue to be released and as long as eBay keeps up the source for back issues.
Books this week:
X-Men #9. “Raid on Graymalkin” Part 3. Written by Jed Mackay and penciled by Federico Vicentini & Ryan Stegman. Cover art by Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, and Marte Gracia (Bronze Medalist). The crossover between X-Men and Uncanny X-Men continues as the two teams fight with one another at Graymalkin, the prison for mutants that was once the X-Mansion. The shadow off Charles Xavier is all over the place….
Exceptional X-Men #4. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Carmen Carnero. Cover art was by Carnero & Nolan Woodward. Iceman is here as the book keeps looking at Kitty Pryde and her past issues with her teammates and her own actions while trying to do something good.
Hellhunters #1. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art by Adam Gorham. Jonas Scharf & Alex Guimarães. World War II Ghost Rider teams up with Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos for some World War II action.
Iron Man #3. “Organized Crime.” Written by Spencer Ackerman and art by Julius Ohta with Jethro Morales. Tony Stark uses his clever mind to finish off the Stark takeover attempt by AIM and Roxxon. I am glad that this arc does not seem to be moving forward as we just had a corporate takeover storyline recently. Guest starring the demon Belasco.
West Coast Avengers #2. Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Danny Kim. Ben Harvey did the art for the cover. Apparently, the Ultron we saw at the end of the first issue was not the same Ultron who is a member of the West Coast Avengers. That was a bit of a surprise.
Amazing Spider-Man #64. “King of Pain” Written by Justina Ireland and art by Gleb Melnikov. Ed McGuinness & Marco Menyz did the cover art. The 8 Deaths of Spider-Man marches on as Peter has to face off with one of the Twins. Peter is also attempting to find a way to win against some of these Scions without actually dying. I like this so far as the villains seem to be underestimating Spidey and are learning their lessons. You don’t see that much any more and it feels a touch old school.
Redcoat #8. Geoff Johns and Bryan Hitch are the creators and cover B art was done by Brad Walker (Gold Medalist). A stand alone issue of the Redcoat that sees Simon take on a family of serial killers in 1873. The Northerner returned at the very end to set up the new story arc for 2025.
Metamorpho #1. “Mister 3, the Triple-State Man” Written by Al Ewing and art by Steve Lieber. Steve Lieber & Lee Loughridge did the cover art. This was a lot of fun. It had a very old school type flavor to the issue, perhaps because of the art stylings of Steve Lieber. It definitely feels as if they are trying to build nostalgia for the character prior to his appearance in the 2025 Superman movie. I have always liked Metamorpho-Meta-morph-o (there is an allusion for ya) and this is an enjoyable book. It does worry me that I am buying more and more DC books. I am concerned that I already buy more books a month than in any time in my life, and I shouldn’t be adding more DC to the list.
Black Canary: Best of the Best #2. “Round Two” Written by Tom King and art and cover art by Ryan Sook. My point about the DC books. There are a bunch now. And Black Canary is awesome. I love this story as they intersperse the flashback of Dinah as a younger girl with the fights she is having with lady Shiva. I do love Tom King as a writer and Metamorpho was written by another favorite of mine, Al Ewing. Maybe it is the writing talent that has attracted me to DC. This one is great so far.
Justice League Unlimited #2. Written by Mark Waid and art and cover art by Dan Mora. Another DC book and another great writer in Mark Waid. When I was young, I was a fan of the JLA, but I moved away from it, being more of a Marvel stan. I do like the idea of the Justice League being all the heroes around and I did like seeing Indiana Jones on page 5. He turned out to be Dr. Richard Occult, but that first shot of him was Indy all the way. I did like the mystery of what was happening to J’onn J’ones as well. Oh DC… what are you doing to me?
Absolute Wonder Woman #3. “The Last Amazon Part 3” Written by Kelly Thompson and art by Hayden Sherman. Cover art by Hayden Sherman & Jordie Bellaire (Silver Medalist). Yet another DC book, but this one is the Absolute line. Diana is very intriguing in this new take on her and I have been enjoying these new variations on the Trinity so far. Kelly Thompson is yet another awesome writer working with DC. Can’t argue with quality.
Uncanny Valley #7. Written by Tony Fleecs and art and cover art by Dave Wachter. Finally out of DC and into Boom! Studios. Oliver finds himself in a new and strange world. The world of his grandfather, Pecos Peet. Meanwhile his mom and Peet are in search for him. Uncanny Valley has been a consistently engaging book with one of the most creative ideas in a long time.
Blade Red Band #3. Written by Bryan Hill and art by Federica Mancin & C.F. Villa. C.F. Villa and Federico Blee did the cover art. As Blade is in search of Pontius, he has to question the loyalty of his current partner and vampire hunter Elena. This has been a very fascinating book full of betrayals and uncertainty. I’m not sure it needs the red band logo, but it has been a good story so far.
Sam and Twitch Case Files #9. Script by Todd McFarlane & Jordan Barel with art by Thomas Nachlik. Thaddeus Robeck did the cover art. A new story arc kicks off with Sam and Twitch as Twitch is in pursuit of a suspect and he shoots him. He was aiming for his shoulder, but the bullet went through his head/eye, killing him. I loved this issue because, despite how normal this felt, there is more under the surface. Good start for the next story arc.
Timeslide #1. Written by Steve Foxe and art by Ivan Fiorelli. Kael Ngu did the cover art. Cable and Bishop team up to go through time to try and prevent time from fraying. It seemed as if this book was used to show hints at what is coming in the future of Marvel Comics. It went as far as to provide a checklist about halfway through including titles of upcoming events. How many actually happen will be intriguing. Meanwhile, this book was okay, but nothing to write home about.
Kidpool/Spider-Boy#1. Written by Christopher Yost and penciled by Nathan Stockman, Jed Dougherty & Chris Campana. Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado did the cover art. Spider-Boy faces his most dangerous and annoying threat yet… a young, female Deadpool variant who likes him. But does she like him like him? Might they hold hands? Or will their relationship be broken up by Stegron?
Mystique #3. “Sentinels” Written, drawn and cover art by Declan Shalvey. This is a different POV from Sentinels#3 where we think we see them fighting Magneto. Thanks to this issue, we know it is not Magneto that the Sentinels are fighting. It is Mystique. But how does she have the magnetism of Magneto? More questions here, and a lot of mutant fun.
Ultimate Black Panther #11. Written by Bryan Hill and guest artist Carlos Nieto. Cover art was by Stefano Caselli & David Curiel. This was actually my favorite issue of Ultimate Black Panther since the very beginning of the series. I liked how they prepared to set up the one on one battle between T’Challa and the Ultimate Moon Knight, and how all of T’Challa’s allies and friends wanted to keep him from it. Builds some solid stakes and tension for the throwdown next issue (I assume).
Geiger #9. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Paul Pelletier and Gary Frank. Cover art was by Gary Frank & Brad Anderson. Mr. Geiger turned on Nate as he lost control of himself. If not for Barney, things would have been very problematic. Geiger wants to change. The most intriguing part of this issue was the prologue where we see Simon Pure from Redcoat, Junkyard Joe, and what looked like the Northerner. Is it the Ghost Machine crossover we have been waiting for?
Spider-Boy #14. “Know Your Enemy” Written by Dan Slott and art by Paco Medina & Humberto Ramos. Cover art by Paco Medina & Edgar Delgado. The Dragon’s Challenge tournament begins with Daredevil and Spider-Boy teaming up to try and prevent Bullseye & Spider-Girl from winning. We get a Spider-Girl origin and Hulkette is hanging around until Spider-Boy loses so she can get her own revenge.
Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #3. “Pathfinder” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Domenico Carbone. Davide Paratore did the cover art. The Midnight Mission is killed in this issue. What? The house died? This sends Moon Knight into an anger, but it feels very odd having killed off the Midnight Mission. Not sure why this was done as it felt like a great setting. I guess we’ll have to see.
Sabretooth: The Dead Don’t Talk #1. Written by Frank Tieri and art by Michael Sta. Maria. Adam Kubert and Laura Martin did the cover art. A flashback story about Sabretooth and the Ravencroft asylum. Bloody and violent, this is an interesting mini series.
Other books this week: Ultraman x Avengers #3, Lawful #6, Hello Darkness #6, Void Rivals #15, and The Creeping Below #2.
What If…? S3 E7
Spoilers
“What If the Watcher Disappeared?”
The penultimate episode of the series What If aired this morning on Disney + and it took a step back to the first season.
Captain Carter returned to the series that she had been a major part of during the first two seasons and she brought with her a group that was called The Exiles. This was not a group of Exiles like in the comics, but a group that was from the run of What If…?. The group featured Peggy, Kahhori, Byrdie the Duck and Goddess of Thunder Storm.
First off, Byrdie the Duck was the grown daughter of Howard and Marcy the Duck from episode four. Voiced by Natasha Lyonne, this is a whole on original character from What If… and then they teamed Byrdie up with the other major original character from season two of What If…?, Kahhori.
Storm’s arrival was also extremely exciting and well done. Voiced by Alison Sealy-Smith, the fan favorite voice of Storm from the X-Men’97 and animated series, Storm was hauling around Mjolnir and showing herself to be one big time badass. Having Storm in the show, and giving us a Storm that felt just like the Storm that we know was a wonderful treat.
The show’s beginning let us know that something was wrong as it was not the Watcher’s voice doing the narration over the opening credits. Instead, it was the voice of The Eminence who have taken Uatu prisoner, ready to punish him for his breaking of the Watcher Oath.
Peggy realized that the Watcher was in trouble and she decided that The Exiles needed to go to the Fifth Dimension to help the Watcher, but she did not know how they would do it.
Bring in… Infinity Ultron. The one individual ever able to go to the Fifth Dimension on his own. This is how the show returned to the first season, as Infinity Ultron was the big bad of that season.
I did like the fact that this Infinity Ultron had succeeded in his quest and, because of that, had an existential crisis. He realized, way too late, that destroying all life would not bring peace, that in order to have peace there must be life and to have life, you must have conflict.
This was a first part of a two-part finale for the series as the Exiles went to the Fifth Dimension to try and save their friends.
One more episode tomorrow for the series.
E2 What If Agatha Went to Hollywood?
E7 What If the Watcher Disappeared?
E3 What If The Red Guardian stopped The Winter Soldier?
E6 What If 1872?
E5 What If the Emergence Destroyed the Earth?
E1 What If the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?
E4 What If Howard the Duck Got Hitched?
2025 Genre-ary: Documentaries
2025 kicks off with our third annual Genre-ary. We started with Sci-Fi movies. Then we did Musicals. This year, we will be doing Documentaries.
Again, this will be documentaries that are movies or shorts. There will be no doc series such as the Jinx. Of course, it is a DailyView which means I will be watching a movie every day in the month of January that I have never seen before.
I have compiled a list of documentaries from over the years that I have not seen before. Some will be well known ones, some will be ones we have never heard of before. I will be including some 2024 films instead of waiting for the June Swoon.
I will keep the tally of the Genre-ary on this page.
2025 Genre-ary: Documentaries
Wednesday, January 1: The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (2024)
Thursday, January 2: The Amazing Jonathan Documentary (2019)
Friday, January 3: The Turnaround (2024)
Saturday, January 4: An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
Sunday, January 5: Remembering Gene Wilder (2023)
Monday, January 6: ReMastered: Tricky Dick and the Man in Black (2018)
Tuesday, January 7: The Blue Angels (2024)
Wednesday, January 8: In-spi-ra-tion (2023)
Thursday, January 9: Too Funny to Fail: The Life & Death of The Dana Carvey Show (2017)
Friday, January 10: ReMastered: The Two Killings of Sam Cooke (2019)
Saturday, January 11: Nature Boy: 30 on 30 (2017)
Sunday, January 12: Hoop Dreams (1994)
Monday, January 13: Will & Harper (2024)
Tuesday, January 14: Have You Seen Andy (2007)
Wednesday, January 15: The Rocket on the Roof (2016)
Thursday, January 16: Bigfoot: Fear in the Woods (2020)
Friday, January 17: 65 Roses (2019)
Saturday, January 18: Daughters (2024)
Sunday, January 19: Amy (2015)
Monday, January 20: MLK/FBI (2020)
Tuesday, January 21: The Thin Blue Line (1988)
Wednesday, January 22: MoviePass, MovieCrash (2024)
Thursday, January 23: Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405 (2016)
Friday, January 24: American Tragedy (2019)
Saturday, January 25: Whitney (2018)
Sunday, January 26: Misha and the Wolves (2021)
Monday, January 27: Last Breath (2019)
Tuesday, January 28: There’s Something Wrong with Aunt Diane (2011)
Wednesday, January 29: Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
Thursday, January 30: Invasion on Chestnut Ridge (2017)
Friday, January 31: Girl in the Picture (2022)
2024 Year in Review: Best Documentary
I do enjoy a good documentary. I am going to have a list of top ten documentaries for the year. Nine of them are movie format and one is a weekly series. There were a lot of weekly series that intrigued me, but it is harder to fit those into the schedule than straight movies.
I am also going to officially announce here that in January, for the annual Genre-ary DailyView, where I watch a movie that I have not seen in a certain genre every day for the whole month. This is the third year for the Genre-ary (we have had sci-fi and musicals) and in 2025, the topic for Genre-ary is Documentaries. This starts on Wednesday, January 1st.
Best Documentary
Previous Winners: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, My Scientology Movie, Tickled, Finding Neverland, Tiger King, The Beatles: Get Back, Lights & Magic, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
Here are the top 10 docs of 2024.
#10. Elton John: Never Too Late. A look at Elton John’s life and his music. Found on Disney +.
#9. Blink. An emotional story of a family who had 3 out of 4 of their children who had a genetic disorder that would eventual lead them to lose their sight. Their family went on a trip across the planet to give the kids experiences they could always remember.
#8. Brats. I saw this on Hulu this year and it was all about the group of young actors from the 1980s called the Brat Pack and how that nomenclature affected their careers.
#7. Music by John Williams. Another Disney + doc on a famous figure, looking at the life of the iconic composer John Williams and all his amazing movie music.
#6. Bray Wyatt: Becoming Immortal. The WWE documentary on Bray Wyatt, who just passed away. The emotional doc spoke to his friends and his family, including brother Bo Dallas.
#5. Beatles ’64. Another Disney + doc, this time looking at the Beatles from 1964, the year they arrived in the United States.
#4. The Greatest Night in Pop. A Netflix doc that details the events of the night where the song “We Are the World” was recorded. Amazing footage from the actual night.
#3. The Jinx: Part Two. The one series on this list, and one that I considered to make the winner. I enjoyed this weekly series on MAX that followed the rest of the story of killer Robert Durst.
#2. Jim Henson Idea Man. This is the fifth doc from Disney + on this list. Ron Howard directed this documentary on the Muppet creator Jim Henson. Very emotional and a great look on one of the most creative men in entertainment.
#1. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story. The doc on Christopher Reeve is powerful, emotional, and shows us what a hero Chris Reeve was, before and after he played Superman.
Squid Game S2 E2
Spoilers
“Halloween Party”
I have really enjoyed the start of season two as the show has not even made it to the games yet. They have taken some time to dive into more of the story of the characters, and not just Gi-hun.
We have spent time over the first two episodes with Kang No-eul, who was a refugee from North Korea who is continuing to try and get her daughter back from the North as well. She worked at an amusement park as a mascot and we saw her relating to a little sick girl. We thought she was going to join the games, but, instead, she turns out to be one of the pink guards instead, which was a cool surprise.
Gi-hun and Jun-ho meet up after the Russian Roulette game and have the initial misunderstanding as you would expect. They team up to try and stop the games. We get to see how much Gi-hun has been preparing for this over the last couple of years.
The scene where Gi-hun is having one of his teeth pulled in order to put a tracker in a fake tooth is a wild one and showed you what Gi-hun has become. The scene with Gi-hun showing all of his money piled up on his bed was shocking and again gave us an insight into the character of Gi-hun and what was important to him.
Gi-hun is back in the games and they will most likely get started next episode.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 