Author Archives: Doc

The X-Files S6 E3

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“Triangle”

This was an absolutely wonderful episode of the X-Files. It was the combination of an old Twilight Zone episode and the Wizard of Oz, creating a exceptional tale of time warps and World War II escapades all inside the Bermuda Triangle.

Mulder finds himself in the Bermuda Triangle because a satellite found the Queen Anne, a British passenger ship that was rumored to have been sunk by Nazis in the war. On the ship, Mulder is in 1939 and confused about what was going on. Recognizable faces from Mulder’s life started showing up in the 1939 timeline, including Scully, Skinner, Smoking Man, and Spender, in differing roles than what Mulder was used to.

There was a scene in this episode that, in my humble opinion, may be the greatest scene ever shot for the X-Files. It is designed to look like a “Oner” a continuous shot that follows the characters as they move through the story in real time. It is something that a lot of movies and programs try to use these days, but such a shot was not used as much during the time of The X-Files.

It was not a single shot as I could find several “hidden” cuts as you would say, but it really worked well. The scene I am referring to as the greatest ever is the scene where the Lone Gunmen come to see Scully at FBI Headquarters and Scully sets off to try and find information about where in the Bermuda Triangle Mulder was. Following Scully around FBI HQ, going to Skinner, Kirsch, Spender etc. was brilliantly conceived. Scully running into Smoking Man was ominous and her interaction with Spender was hilarious. The scene ending with Scully jumping in the Lone Gunmen’s van and speeding away was utterly perfect.

There was another amazing moment in this episode that has to be considered groundbreaking. With a split screen, Mulder and 1939 Scully were coming down one of the aisles of the Queen Anne while regular day Scully was moving down another one. The two Scullys crossed paths and paused for a moment as if they could feel them passing by each other. This was such a clever use of the format that it stood out among a really exceptionally filmed episode.

The episode was clearly an homage to The Wizard of Oz. There are several Oz allusions though the episode and it ended with Mulder in a bed, much like Dorothy is at the end of the Wizard of Oz.

It is epic when a long running series takes a risk in the manner in which it is presented. Triangle was a massive hit for the show and I loved it more this time than my memory of it from before. This was exceptional TV.

Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer

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This docuseries appeared on my Disney + feed a short time ago, listed as a Hulu original. I have always been fascinated by the study of serial killers and this three episode docuseries caught that interest directly.

When I was younger, I was engaged in reading a group of books written by an FBI profiler named John Douglas, including his well known novel Mindhunter. In those works, I actually recognized the name of the woman featured in this docuseries, Ann Burgess.

Ann Burgess was not an FBI agent, but instead a nurse who was interested in the behavioral science aspect of criminal cases. She, along with other FBI agents, got together in a way that would revolutionize the process of investigation of serial cases.

They actually did bring up John Douglas in this series, along with another agent Robert Ressler. Douglas was not portrayed as the best person in this series, implying an environment of sexist behavior. It was Ressler that Burgess was more interested in working with and this group of people changed the way law enforcement looked at murder or rape cases.

The docuseries was interesting, looking at a couple of specific cases, such as the Ski Mask Rapist, and the idea of talking to the victimizers as a way to discover any sort of pattern among the people committing these crimes.

The third episode dealt mostly with her time outside of the FBI profilers, including her work in favor of the Menéndez brothers case and her work in the revealing of Bill Cosby’s sexual assaults.

This was a fascinating watch and provided even more details into the world of profilers that have always been intriguing for me.

Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer is streaming on Hulu and on Disney + right now.

The Greatest American Hero S1 E2

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“The Hit Car”

The Greatest American Hero is a fun show. It is a quintessential 80s silly action/comedy. It was never going to win any Emmys, but it was a good time just watching the TV.

I do like how the show has taken some time to set up the relationship between Hinkley and Maxwell, and they made it fairly antagonistic. The two main characters are actually quite a bit alike which is why they do not work amazingly well together. Yet, they overcome that challenge to catch the criminal at the end.

The drug dealer Johnny in this episode is pretty dumb. There is no way that he would act the way he did. Why would he be in this hit car that he owned and not some secondary hit man? All because Maxwell dumped some spaghetti on his clothes?

Again, at this point, the joke is how Ralph cannot control his super suit and the basic storyline of the episode is not that important. It is just giving Ralph some chances to fly into things or crash into the water.

That joke would not be able to be maintained for too long so I do hope they develop something more than just Ralph’s crash landings.

The super speed bit was a funny addition and I know, as we see in the opening credits, invisibility is coming.

The Greatest American Hero is fun and silly. Sometimes that is good enough.

Battlestar Galactica S1 E12, E13 S2 E1, E2

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“Kobol’s Last Gleaming, Part 1 and Part 2”

“Scattered”

“Valley of Darkness”

I had planned on watching the two part season one finale for Battlestar Galactica, but it was so compelling and engaging that I found myself bleeding over into the first two episodes of season two. Battlestar Galactica has become a must see series. For the longest time, I had no desire to see this show, despite the positive word of mouth I had heard. Now, I see exactly why this is considered such a classic.

There are too many major things happen over these four episodes to do any real recap, so I am just going to hit upon some of my thoughts as we move through.

The shooting of Adama was shocking. I literally cried out ‘oh no’ when Boomer shot him. The blood and the desperation of those around him really made the tense moment feel tragic. In the back of my head, I kept saying to myself, ‘they won’t kill off Adama,’ yet I had serious doubt about it. It appears as if Adama is going to wake up at some point, but this was extremely suspenseful.

The crew that crashed on Kobol had so many thing going down, but with the two deaths, we really proved the danger that they were in. Chief had a tough couple of episodes for sure.

I had made my decision about Dr. Baltar. He was an antagonist and I was going to consider him a villain in this piece. And then this happened. I can’t decide if he is someone I am supposed to hate or someone who is just being manipulated by the Cylons… or perhaps even the real hero of the piece. The whole thing with his daughter felt like it was more than just another trick. The dream where Adama drown the child was horrifying and definitely made Baltar look more like the positive force. If this were any other type of sci-fi show, I would know what it was trying to do, but Battlestar Galactica seems to be a deeper story with something more developed.

The conflict between Roslin and Adama is still very much brewing, having Tigh as Adama’s surrogate. The split between the survivors looks to only cause more troubles. Starbuck’s betrayal to Adama was rough, as is her fight with Number Six. Starbuck and Helo in Starbuck’s apartment, listening to a recording of her father playing the piano was very emotional and gave us even more depth to Kara.

The Cylon Centurions in “Valley of Darkness” (as well as at the very end of “Scattered”) was amazing and looked fantastic for a TV show. It would have been excellent for a big screen film too. Understandably, they have limited the use of these robots because of costs, but these were certainly worth whatever they had spent on them.

This was an epic little run of four episodes that provided an amazing sci-fi adventure with excellent characterization. Things really began to happen quickly through these episodes and the storyline is solidly in place for the foreseeable future of the show.

The X-Files S6 E2

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“Drive”

Some of the best and most under-the-radar episodes of The X-Files are the ones that seem to take a premise or theme of a well known movie and adapt it into the world of the X-Files. There was an early season episode called “Ice” that was similar to The Thing. “Post Modern Promethean” was in the style of the Universal Monsters movies, particularly Frankenstein. This one “Drive” takes the premise of the movie Speed and plays with it so it fits with the X-Files concept. In fact, Mulder even makes a joke about seeing this movie.

Bryan Cranston was an unexpected face to see in the car with Agent Mulder. He was about a couple of years before being Hal in Malcom in the Middle and a decade away from becoming Walter White in Breaking Bad, but Cranston remained an amazing actor at any point of his career, playing antisemite Patrick Crump in this X-Files episode and forcing Mulder to drive him fast and to the west. Cranston was able to instill in “Mr.” Crump a humanity that took this character which could be considered the villain of this story and made him someone the audience was rooting for, despite his antagonistic approach to Mulder near the beginning of the episode.

The dialogue between Cranston and Duchovny was expertly written and helped take this premise to another level. It was much more than just an homage to Speed. It fit right into the world of The X-Files.

The episode kicked off with a fantastic hook, having Crump in a high speed chase with police, filmed from the above helicopter. The start of the episode set a tone that insured that this was going to be fire.

I really enjoyed this episode and thought the inclusion of Bryan Cranston made this episode a standout.

Bates Motel S3 E1

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“A Death in the Family”

There is no doubt about it. Norma and Norman have a weird relationship.

Dylan called Norma out on it at the beginning of this episode, telling her that it was strange for her 18-year old son to be sleeping in the same bed as his mother. He was right, by the way. Especially cuddled up the way that Norman and Norma do.

The third season started off with a bunch of new storylines as the final episode of season two really felt like a cool conclusion.

  • Norma’s brother came back to see Dylan.
  • Dylan wants out of the drug business. Just growing the legal amount of pot for medicinal uses.
  • Norman and Emma decide to begin dating.
  • Norman is not going back to school- being homeschooled.
  • A new woman comes to the motel, reveals herself to be a prostitute.
  • Did Norman kill her already?
  • Sheriff Romero showed off his bad-assery once again.
  • Norma’s mother died off screen opening up old wounds for her.
  • Emma’s lung capacity dropped dramatically.

There are some solid starts for the new season. No matter what, as long as this show featured Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore, it will be great.

Gladiator (2000)

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This past week, I saw the trailer for Gladiator II, and that made me think about the original film from 2000. It has been a long time since I had seen the original and so I thought it would be a good idea to rewatch the Oscar winner before the sequel comes out in November.

Gladiator won several Academy Awards including Best Picture and best Lead Actor. It is an epic film well deserving of such honors. Russell Crowe, Juaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielson, Richard Harris, Djimon Hounsou, and Oliver Reed led the cast of the Roman epic, directed brilliantly by Ridley Scott. How Scott did not receive the Best Director Oscar for this masterpiece is beyond me (I take nothing away from Steven Soderbergh, though I have never seen Traffic, the film in which he won that year).

There are some criticisms about Gladiator not being historically accurate. I will not hold that against any movie that is not a documentary. I fail to see why that would be a reasonable or applicable criticism of any movie based in a historical time period.

According to IMDB, “Maximus is a powerful Roman general, loved by the people and the aging Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Before his death, the Emperor chooses Maximus to be his heir over his own son, Commodus, and a power struggle leaves Maximus and his family condemned to death. The powerful general is unable to save his family, and his loss of will allows him to get captured and put into the Gladiator games until he dies. The only desire that fuels him now is the chance to rise to the top so that he will be able to look into the eyes of the man who will feel his revenge.”

The amazing large scale battle scenes are unbelievably shot and directed by Scott. The action is top notch and beautifully shot in all its bloody violence. The smaller scale action inside the Coliseum was every bit as well directed and perhaps even more impressive. The scene involving the tigers was thrilling with every step and the final showdown between Maximus and Commodus was designed perfectly, very satisfyingly as well as emotionally. Visual effects were another Oscar win for the team from Gladiator.

The sound of this movie was masterful. Gladiator did receive the Oscar for best Sound and it was well deserved again. The sound of the clanking swords to the sound of the metal slicing through skin and bone are chilling.

The performances were breathtaking in many ways. Russell Crowe displayed such a visceral power in his anger and grief that fueled his revenge, yet never got in the way of the man he was. He was matched by the jealousy and insecurity of Juaquin Phoenix. He becomes so very sinister during the run of this movie, all built on the sense of loss of the love of his father.

Crowe and Phoenix do not share a ton of scenes, but when they are together, the energy is palpable.

“Are you not entertained?” I absolutely was. This was an amazing film and I certainly hope that the sequel coming later in the year is a worthy successor to this.

The Greatest American Hero S1 E1

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Look at what’s happened to me….

That is right. I found this series available on Amazon Prime and so I have added it to the watch list, along with The X-Files, Bates Motel and Battlestar Galactica. The Greatest American Hero was one of my favorite shows on ABC back in the early 80s. Starring William Katt, Robert Culp and Connie Sellecca, the series featured a high school teacher that was given a super suit by aliens. Unfortunately, the teacher, Ralph Hinkley, lost the instruction manual so he had trouble figuring out how the suit worked.

Meanwhile, FBI agent Bill Maxwell was with Ralph when the aliens arrived and becomes involved in the scenarios. Ralph’s lawyer and girlfriend Pam Davidson gets involved with the chaos as well, at first believing that Ralph had lost his mind.

This first episode is the full length pilot episode, running around 90 minutes long.

The Greatest American Hero was a ton of silly fun, playing with the tropes of the super hero genre. Ralph is unable to access the full power of the suit and what he can do, he does not do smoothly. [“DAMN”].

There requires plenty of suspension of disbelief here. Why doesn’t Ralph put on some kind of mask as he is flying around the city with his own face exposed. He also randomly tells people his name and job as he is dressed in his suit. Sure that defies logic, but so does a super suit from space aliens and a flying teacher who can crash through a wall. If you are derailed by some faults in logic, you have chosen the wrong show to watch.

Of course, one of the things this show had going for it was perhaps the best TV theme song ever recorded. “The Greatest American Hero [Believe it or Not]” by Joey Scarbury is undeniably catchy, easy to sing along with and sets the perfect tone for the show. To this day, that song is on my phone and is one that I always stop to listen to when it comes around.

William Katt and Robert Culp are also huge pieces of this show’s unlikely success. Both actors are solid performers and have had plenty of luck in the past. Culp was a star of the show “I Spy” with Bill Cosby. Katt appeared in the Stephen King film, Carrie, as well as several other films. The pairing of Katt and Culp were one of the key elements to this series’ cult stasis.

There are 45 episodes spread over three seasons of The Greatest American Hero. We will continue to add to this watch as the months go on.

Battlestar Galactica S1 E11

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“Colonial Day”

How can an episode from 2005 feel so relevant to the political world of today?

A terrorist making a run at a political office with eyes on the presidency? Hmm.

Richard Hatch returned to the show as Tom Zarek, who had become a representative for one of the colonies by his words and his outsider position. The episode featured a meeting of the Quorum of Twelve, the representative body of the colonies. Zarek proposed that the position of vice president be the first item on the agenda.

Zarek manipulated others into nominating him with the idea of being elected VP and then taking out President Roslin.

I could not help but see echoes of the current day political discourse in this show, which is amazing considering this was nearly 20 years ago.

I am also amazed at how many of these characters on Battlestar Galactica are characters that I truly dislike. I have been going on about Dr. Baltar the last few posts, and his being eventually elected vice president does not put him in a better stead for me. Ellen Tigh is simply a horrendous character that I despise every second she is on screen. Zarek is a terrible character, but at least he interests me more and his compelling performance by Richard Hatch is fun.

Major events on Caprica too as Helo and Sharon were going to steal a ship to escape when Helo saw doubles of Number Six speaking to each other. He then saw another copy of Sharon (Number Eight) and he ran off, putting together what had been happening this whole time.

Battlestar Galactica has been very consistently entertaining this entire first season although I worry what havoc a VP Baltar will bring. I look forward to the eventual return of Richard Hatch once more as he brings an energy to this show unlike any others, as well as an awesome antagonist outside of the world of Cylons.

Longlegs

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This was a film that I really did not know much about. I knew it was a horror film. I knew it had been receiving decent reviews and that it had Nicolas Cage in a role. Outside of that, I did not know anything about Longlegs.

Coming out of Longlegs, I felt fairly disturbed and unsettled because the tone and mood of the film intended for me to feel that way. It did its job well.

According to IMDB, “FBI Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monrow) is a gifted new recruit assigned to the unsolved case of an elusive serial killer. As the case takes complex turns, unearthing evidence of the occult, Harker discovers a personal connection to the merciless killer and must race against time to stop him before he claims the lives of another innocent family.“

This film allowed Nicolas Cage to go full, crazy Cage, and he is wonderful. Some may believe that he took it too far and went too over the top, but I did not feel that way. The look of Cage in this film was so distinctive that his wild monologues worked in synch. It is amazing that Cage has such a wide swath of roles to play in his career.

The tone of this film is absolutely trying to keep you off balanced, and uncomfortable. It uses the music of the scene, the performances of the actors, the imagery of the film to do this effectively.

There is a feel of Silence of the Lambs here as there are many points that could be connected, but I don’t think that is a bad thing necessarily. I have heard claims from some online that this is the best horror movie of 2024, and, while that feels hyperbolic, there is no doubt that this is very stylish and should be in the conversation when discussing the best of the recent genre.

I would recommend that you go into the film with as little knowledge as you can. My own lack of knowledge helped my viewing experience.

3.75 stars

Fly Me to the Moon

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I was not excited to go see this movie. It did not resonate with me with the trailers and any sort of comments that I had heard of it. Then, with it being around two hours and fifteen minutes long, I just was not anxious to see it.

Boy, was I wrong.

I loved this movie. This film, starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, featured a great story of these two characters mixed in with the story of the launch of Apollo 11 and the eventual moon landing.

Scarlett Johansson played Kelly Jones, a marketing master, is brought in by the government, particularly shadowy agent Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson), to help sell the idea of the NASA program to the public. Kelly ran into a conflict at the beginning with Cole Davis, launch director, as she did several things that Cole did not want to happen. As they continued their story, the pair grew closer though a secret from Kelly’s past threatened to tear them apart.

The film included the conspiracy theory that the moon landing was faked, and it blended this in with the real situation that was going on. This use of this legend was really well done and provided some of the romantic comedy’s best comedic moments. (I do not think this was a spoiler since the trailers did included this detail).

I loved the performance of Johansson in this movie. Kelly was strong and intelligent, able to manipulate those around her to get what she was after, and yet had a softness that told you that something tragic had happened in her past. Johansson and Tatum had good chemistry, but there could have been a scene or two more that focused on their relationship. It did seem as if Tatum went from trying to get her fired to being all in with her too quickly.

Woody Harrelson’s character was great too. I enjoyed the sleaziness of his character and how he was able to use his power to convince people to do what he wanted. He was an antagonist that was not exactly an antagonist.

The film was very clever and charming and flew by, making my doubts about the runtime bleed away. Fly Me to the Moon was a lot of fun and I had a blast with it.

4.5 stars