Author Archives: Doc

2024 Year in Review: Best and Worst Sc-Fi Movie

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I have not seen much science fiction this year. That made this award very easy.

In this category, even though I could, i do not include any sort of superhero movie. I eliminate those from this category. They have their own award. I also decided that Alien: Romulus would not be in consideration for this because it is more of a monster movie than anything else. Same would go for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.

After that, there just was not much remaining.

Best Horror Movie

Previous Winners:  A Quiet Place, It, Don’t Breathe, It Follows, The Conjuring, As Above So Below, Cabin in the Woods, Doctor Sleep, Black Box, Fear Street trilogy, The Menu, A Haunting in Venice

Best Sci-Fi Movie of 2024

Runners-Up: Spaceman, Code 8: Part II, The Substance

Winner:

Dune: Part II.

I liked this more than the first one, and the special effects are absolutely killing it. It is also one of the most sci-fi-ish movies of the year.

Worst Sci-Fi Movie of the 2024

Rebel Moon Part 2: The Scargiver

Scargiver took the really bad Rebel Moon and made it even worse. Who could have guessed? I suppose we just have to wait for the four hour director’s cut…

2024 Year in Review: The Logan/”Hurt” Trailer of the Year and other things

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Trailers are so important to spread the word about movies to the public, specifically the people who may not be as tied in to movie news as some may be. So this year we are instituting a new award for the best and worst in trailers from 2024.

Best Trailer: Superman. This was a tough choice, but this teaser trailer made me excited to see Superman next year, and that is the job of a trailer.

Worst Trailer: Transformers One. I’ve said this before, but I hated this trailer and it nearly caused me to not want to go see the movie. It highlighted all of the humor that simply did not work in isolation. In context, it was much funnier, but in this way, it was horrible. For such a great movie, this trailer was an epic fail.

Best TV trailer: X-Men ’97. Yeah, baby. The mutants were back and this trailer gave us a glimpse into the brilliance that we would get in X-Men’97. How did this become such an amazing show?

Why show that Award: Deadpool & Wolverine reveal of Laura. It was in the final trailer, like a week before the movie released and the trailer spoiled the appearance of Daphne Keen as X-23, aka Laura from Logan. Why? There is no way that her appearance was going to encourage someone else to go see the film at this point. It was just a waste of a spoiler and a poor choice.

Creepiest Trailer: 28 Years Later. This is legit scary. I was totally creeped out when I first saw this trailer and every time I have seen it since, I have had an uneasy feel. Great use of atmosphere and tension to promote the movie.

Most Unexpected Trailer: Karate Kid Legends. Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio? Weird. The trailer does give us an idea of what the film will be like. How does Cobra Kai play into this, if at all?

What If…? S3 E6

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Spoilers

“What If…1872?”

What If in the Old West.

Shang Chi and Kate Bishop make their returns to the MCU in this cool Western story as they chase after The Hood, a character that the MCU has not yet introduced (although he is coming in Ironheart next year).

The pairing of Shang Chi and Kate Bishop worked for me as they pursued the Hood for their own reasons. The show did keep the characters at a surface level, depending on your enjoyment of the previous uses of the character to pull you in. For me, that worked.

The action of the episode was top notch with some awesome animated martial arts fights. The opening scene featuring John Walker, voiced once again by Wyatt Russell, was a neat set up for what we were going to get.

Shang Chi in search of his sister, who he had believed had been taken by the Hood works as well. Having her be the Hood in the end was a nice twist that I did not expect.

Walter Goggins reprised his role as Sonny Burch from Ant Man and the Wasp. Here he was a very sinister second hand man to the Hood. To be honest, he was much more memorable here in What If that he was in Ant Man and the Wasp. I like that they brought him in for this role.

1872 was a limited Marvel Comics series that placed Marvel characters in the Old West. Steve Rogers was the sheriff of the town and Wilson Fisk was the big, bad businessman. Fisk wound up feeding Steve Rogers to the pigs in a scene that stuck with me since I read it. I do not remember much else about 1872, except for that moment. This What If…? episode did not include those characters but I could see it being something going on in another location in this world.

There are only two more What If…? episodes left. With the final scene being the other Watchers confronting Uatu, and his interference will be a major arc to wrap up the series. The Watchers have sworn an oath to only watch and to not interfere, but we have seen our Watcher interfere several times over the three seasons. I am curious to see how this will all wrap up. I know the trailer had Captain Carter and Kahhori in it, so I expect to see them during some kind of conflict with the Watchers.

E2 What If Agatha Went to Hollywood?

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?

Getting Lost

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What a treat.

I think I had a knowledge in the back of my mind that there was a documentary in the works for LOST, but I had not gone looking for it. Then, I was on social media (I do not remember if I was on X or Facebook or Bluesky to be honest) and I found someone talking about the documentary being available on Prime for rental. I rushed over to Prime immediately to see if I could find it. And there it was.

I have to explain this. I have never been as connected to a TV program as I was with LOST. It was at the very heart of my being. When it ended, I felt like I had a hole in my heart that I just could not fill. It was a physical gap that had an emptiness about it. All these years later, I still think back on the show with so much love.

I was excited to watch this documentary and it immediately grabbed my attention. It had interviews with nearly everyone in the cast, producers, writers, fans and they were talking about all of the major aspects about LOST, from the cultural significance to the influential impact on TV to the importance of the show on people’s lives.

They talked about the pilot and how they were making the pilot without any expectation that it would ever be picked up. They talked about the Tailies, “The Constant,” Not Penny’s Boat, Charlie’s Death, “We have to go back,” Walt, the finale etc.

The documentary did not shy away from controversy either. They addressed how the finale is a divisive episode that split the community apart. They talked about the report a few years ago stating that the LOST writer’s room was filled with bullying, racism and sexism (which I had not heard about before this) and they asked Damon Lindelof about it. Matthew Fox did not appear via an interview for the doc and there was an ending moment where J.J. Abrams asked if they did not get an interview with anybody and the voice off camera said Matthew Fox. Abrams said, “Seriously? You never got Foxy? Come on, really?” and then said “That’s too bad. His loss.” I wonder if there was something contentious going on there. Dominic Monaghan apparently also declined an invitation to talk.

Filmmaker Taylor Morden included some specific details about the LOST fan community, including the podcasts that sprung up and also some of the charitable work done by the LOST community, especially dealing with cancer. There were some famous fans that were interviewed such as Samm Levine and Bobby Moynihan.

I loved this documentary. I may not be the most unbiased when it comes to my thoughts on it, but I do think that they went out of their way to include everything about the series, even the bad things.

AND IT WAS NOT PURGATORY! THEY WERE NOT DEAD ALL THE TIME!

Um.. sorry about that.

Nosferatu

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I have been looking forward to this movie for quite awhile. I have enjoyed every time Nosferatu has found his way onto the screen and so I expected to enjoy this too.

This is basically the Bram Stoker Dracula story with Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) in the lead vampire role. Orlok has become obsessed with a young recently married woman named Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) and he stalks her while tormenting the people of her town.

There are so many things that are great about Nosferatu. The acting was sensational from everyone. Nicholas Hoult played Ellen’s husband Thomas brilliantly. Willem Dafoe was Prof. Albin Eberhart von Franz, the bizarre professor with the idea on what needs to happen. Aaron Taylor-Johnson played Thomas’s friend whose wife, Anna (Emma Corrin) was friends with Ellen.

The cinematography and images on the screen were absolutely stunning. The shots of the sea with the Demeter was artistic as could be. The imagery of every shot on the screen was beautiful and compelling. There was a shot of Orlok’s shadow with Ellen at the very beginning of the film which was amazing. There were images everywhere in the movie that stood out, showing what an amazing job director Robert Eggers has done on this movie.

I loved the coloring of the film too. It made it feel special and even the most frightening moments of the film looked lovely. The craftsmanship of the film is stunning and this film will be earning several tech Academy Award nominations when it comes time.

The movie was violent and brutal. There are moments where the images were difficult to watch.

The only drawback I can say is that it is basically the Dracula story retread and it might be a touch long. Other than that, this is a masterful reboot of the iconic film. I had went into the film with high expectations because I had heard so many positives about it, so that is always a danger. All of my expectations were reached and exceeded. This is a fantastic movie.

5 stars

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

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December 26

This is the final EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week for 2024 as next Wednesday’s NEW COMIC BOOK DAY is January 1st. And since it was the last week, of course there were about eight books in the contention for these three medals.

Shout outs to the runners-up that did not make the medal round: The Creeping Below #2, Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #3, Hello Darkness #6, Sabretooth: The Dead Don’t Talk #1, and Metamorpho #1.

The final medalists for 2024 are…

Bronze Medalist

X-Men #9

Cover art by Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, & Marte Gracia

What a cool use of the Wolverine claws, showing him facing off with Psylocke. The claws almost pop off the page.

Silver Medalist

Absolute Wonder Woman #3

Hayden Sherman & Jordie Bellaire

Boy does Wonder Woman look bad ass. The grey background looks awesome and the red symbol stands out wonderfully.

Gold Medalist

Redcoat #8

Variant Cover B

Cover art by Brad Walker & Brad Anderson

This variant cover is soooo cool with the red background and the way Simon Pure’s coat blended right into the background. Then, the big ass gun is a great example of perspective. I picked this off the stand today, replacing the cover A that I had in my pull box. This is the final gold medalist of 2024. Congrats!

Creature Commandos S1 E5

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Spoilers

“The Iron Pot”

The Creature Commandos focused on Frankenstein this week, seeing some back story on him that turned out as tragic as one might expect.

This series has been up and down for me. This episode was good, but it really felt too quick, as if it rushed through. I would have said inconsequential, but Rick Flag Sr. sure looks like he is dead. I have a hard time believing that, but he sure seemed dead, and that would be clearly consequential.

However, the word was that Rick Flag Sr, as played by Frank Grillo, was playing a part in future DCU projects, and that the animation was all cannon, so I can not believe that I just saw him killed by this Clayface-looking monster.

Perhaps this is my own personal taste too, but the animated blood that is done so much here is overkill. I think the blood loses its impact when it is used as much as it is. It is the same way I feel about Invincible. I would rather keep the bloodshed to a minimum to keep it feeling special. When you just see bloody kill after bloody kill, it desensitizes the viewer and minimizes the effect. That is my opinion, but I thought the blood use in X-Men ’97 was much more effective than it has been in Creature Commandos.

Twenty-two minutes feels less than this show should have. At the very least, it should be 30 minutes, but this just felt like it was over and it had just started.

What If…? S3 E5

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Spoilers

“What If the Emergence Destroyed the Earth”

Mysterio is Emperor Palpatine?

Who watches the Watcher? I guess we know now.

The Watcher breaks his vow once again… his vow to never interfere… and three other Watchers were paying attention. Obviously, this is what will be heading to the finale of the show.

This was a cool episode with some characters that we do not usually see much about. Ironheart, Wong, Valkyrie, Okoye, and Ying Nan(voiced by Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh) made an intriguing group of characters.

I have never been a great fan of post apocalyptic stories. I mean, they are okay, but it is not my preferential choice, so this episode started off at a disadvantage. However, I did think that the use of the Emergence from the Eternals movie was a neat way to set it up. The show is clearly also trying to set up Riri Williams for the upcoming Ironheart show by featuring her here.

I did like the idea of Mysterio taking control of what remained of the world after the Emergence. It made sense and, in Marvel, there have been plenty of futuristic books where Mysterio played a huge role.

I did love the ending salvo of the show, with the Watcher tired of seeing the same tragedy every time and getting involved, ever so slightly. Looking forward to where this will go.

E2 What If Agatha Went to Hollywood?

E5 What If the Emergence Destroyed the Earth?

E3 What If The Red Guardian stopped The Winter Soldier

E1 What If the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?

E4 What If Howard the Duck Got Hitched?

I Saw the TV Glow

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The other film I rented off Fandango at Home/Vudu was entitled I Saw the TV Glow, and Zi had heard plenty of buzz about this, in both positive and negative ways. I thought this would be a good film to give a try.

I have to say that this was very surreal, dream-like and metaphoric. It was a difficult movie to follow and so much of it was shot intentionally to create that feeling of confusion or interpretive.

According to IMDB, “Teenager Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious late-night TV show a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.”

One of the film’s main themes deal with reality and identity… who they were on the inside. I do believe that this was a metaphor showing the way some people can deny whom they are, pretending that they are something else. I have a feeling that this movie will reverberate with some people considerably more because of that theme.

I also believe that there are several ways that this movie could be interpreted and that no one way is exact. Since this narrative is not one with straight-forward situations and answers, the audience member brings a lot of what they infer with them centered around their own personal knowledge and background. That makes this material quite rich.

The film was trippy and psychedelic in the best ways. Some people are going to look upon this movie with disdain for any number of reasons, but I was fascinated with it and I was intrigued with what was happening with these characters. I’m not sure how many times I would watch this movie on rewatches, but the first time experience was worthwhile of my time.

3.6 stars

The Apprentice

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This was one that I was not anxious to see. However, I had hear some of the buzz for Sebastian Stan’s powerhouse performance as Donald Trump and, since it became available to rent on Vudu, I decided to give it a chance.

Stan does a tremendous job in portraying Trump, not just by imitating him or parodying him, but by using certain mannerisms to get across what he is trying to show.

The film takes the young Donald Trump and shows you how he went from that young guy who was collecting rent for his father to a mogul that would do whatever he wanted under any circumstance.

Ironically, the film scenes may have been stolen by Jeremy Strong, who played Roy M. Cohn, Trump’s lawyer who helped teach the young Trump the rules of business that became such a major aspect of Trump’s life. After Trump could no longer get anything from Cohn, he tossed him aside like yesterday’s news. Strong’s performance was even better than that of Stan’s, albeit in less screen time.

The film does a good job of displaying a man who would become one of the most polarizing figures in American history.

3.7 stars

Doctor Who Special 5: Joy to the World

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Spoilers

Doctor Who returned to Disney + with the fifth special, Joy to the World, a Christmas story featuring Ncuti Gatwa and Nicola Coughlan.

I believed Nicola Coughlan was going to be the next companion, Joy, but that turned out to be incorrect. She becomes even more as she becomes a star and it turned out to be a star shining over Jerusalem in the year 0001.

The Doctor had to figure everything out by rushing through the Time Hotel, where he had to spend a year waiting to be able to access the Time Hotel once again. During that time, he befriended a co-worker at the hotel, Anita, and spent the year befriending her and spending time with her in chairs, something he realized that he did not have on the Tardis.

I loved the section where the Doctor had to wait a year and then just went and told his old self the briefcase code, which he had been told by himself. It was a loop and I loved how clever it was to have him find out the code by having himself tell it.

The whole time travel idea can be difficult, but I did like how this episode removed the potential time paradoxes with the Time Hotel.

This was emotional, joyous and a treat during this holiday season. I have loved Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor and I hope he has a good long run as the character. I am looking forward to the next season and the potential return, at least for some episodes, of Ruby.

4 stars

Skeleton Crew S1 E5

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“You Have a lot to Learn about Pirates”

With Christmas in the middle of the week and no school because of Christmas break, my mind gets mixed up. I was focused on a lot of different things, and I did not think about Skeleton Crew having a new episode last night. In fact, with Doctor Who coming up and a list of other things I wanted to watch, I would not have thought about Skeleton Crew had I not seen mktoon (aka Michael Vogel of the Geek Buddies) post a message on X about how Skeleton Crew is always great.

Once I saw this Tweet (or whatever they are called now), this show jumped to the head of the list for the day.

What a great episode. Things are really moving forward quickly, including the ultimate betrayal of Jod.

This show does a great job of keeping these characters kids and showing us that they are still kids. The scene of the pillow fight on the bed was a perfect example of showing these characters as children. Many times children characters do not act like children characters. In Skeleton Crew, these kids are kids.

Jod taking over the captain’s role was a huge betrayal to the kids, who were as brave as they could be, but were in way over their heads. When Wim stepped up with a lightsaber, I believed that we were going to get something magical, but with him holding the lightsaber in the wrong direction, things did not go well. I guess Wim was lucky he did not cut off part of his body.

Jod and SM-33 are together now, as the kids escaped from Jod through a specific tunnel. This scene was right out of Goonies, with the kids finding the treasure of One-Eyed Willy. There are also booty traps (Boobie traps… that’s what I said, booty traps).

Skeleton Crew is one of the most entertaining Star Wars shows in a long time and it really had that Star Wars vibe to it this week. With the two groups now separated, and people chasing after Jod, who continues to be called by different names, the show is flying into the second half of the season in a positive way.

What If…? S3 E4

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Spoilers

“What If Howard the Duck Got Hitched”

Tell us this is the final season without saying it is the final season.

What If gives us a Howard the Duck/Darcy episode. They’re married and she gave birth to an egg.

What?

What If took one of the worst episodes from season one and gave it a sequel and made it one of the strangest, weirdest episodes of the entire run.

What If, the comic book, would have issues that were really bizarre because they could do anything they wanted, and this is a perfect example of that.

I do love Howard the Duck and I would be all for a Howard the Duck series, live action or animated. This did feel a bit much.

There were a bunch of surprising cameos from the people chasing after this egg including Zeus, Thanos and the Black Order, Nick Fury and Agent Coulson, Dark Elves, the Grandmaster …all in pursuit of this egg.

I will say that I found this to be too silly at times and that a lot of the humor did not work for me, and I am a person whose Marvel’s humor almost always works. This might be an episode that I like more on second watch, but for now, this episode was down my list.

E2 What If Agatha Went to Hollywood?

E3 What If The Red Guardian stopped The Winter Soldier

E1 What If the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?

E4 What If Howard the Duck Got Hitched?

Shrinking S2 E12

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Spoilers

“The Last Thanksgiving”

What a wonderful final episode of Shrinking.

However, I really thought this was going to end with a tragedy and I just did not want to see it happen. Thankfully, Jimmy arrived at the train station just as Louis, who had been rebuked by his friend who said that he “got drunk and murdered someone”, was about to step out in front of an oncoming train. I really thought this was going to happen and I could not handle the season coming to an end with such a horrible tragedy.

So many great things happened:

  • Derek forgave Gaby and brought her mother to Thanksgiving.
  • Brian and Charlie hired a nanny, and had Liz do two days a week. It was Derek’s idea at first.
  • Julie kidnapped Paul again… this time to go to Gaby’s Thanksgiving. He kept saying he was under duress.
  • Paul stood up and gave a beautiful speech about the people at the party being people that he did not have to hide his tremors from. It was an amazing scene and Harrison Ford knocked it out of the park.
  • Sean had a nice scene with his father *finger poke*
  • Summer called for help from Jimmy when she was shoplifting abortion medicine.
  • Jimmy worked with Paul to try and get better after admitting that he was not okay.

The scene with Jimmy and Louis at the train station was legendary as they sat and tried to guess what other people’s jobs were. It echoed back to the past when Louis and his wife used to do that.

This was a wonderful episode to wrap up a pretty solid season overall. Shrinking will be returning for a season three on Apple TV +.