Author Archives: Doc

The Bear S3 E8, E9

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“Ice Chips”

“Apologies”

Jamie Lee Curtis is just so good.

After the episode 7 cliffhanger with Sugar going into labor at the store, we picked up episode 8 with her desperately trying to call someone. No one answered.

Finally, out of desperation, she called her mom.

Jamie Lee Curtis’s portrayal of Donna has been one of the craziest characters of the show. Her performance in season two’s “Fishes” was epic, really showing the wildness of this character.

However, we get a new side to Donna in this episode as she is there to help her daughter through the labor, from her own first hand experiences to some uncomfortable truths.

This was an amazing episode.

The penultimate episode seemed to be setting up some major things for the finale. Oliver Platt came to speak to Carmy, having something to do with the money owed. They are making a big deal out of the review that is yet to come. They teased the review both ways, but Platt said that if the review is a bad one, he would have to cut the strings to the money.

Sydney is conflicted over the job she had been offered and nearly talked to Carmy about it. Carmy invited her to the final night at Ever. Neil and Theodore went to see Claire at her job to speak on behalf of Carmy. Carmy continues to feel the absence of Claire as he went into the freezer to reflect on everything.

One more episode in season three to go.

The Bear S3 E6, E7

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“Napkins”

“Legacy”

Two more episodes of The Bear out of the way. The show is quality throughout.

“Napkins” was the origin story of Tina. Again, I was unsure where in the timeline this took place at first. After awhile, I realized that this was a flashback episode detailing how Tina ended up at the restaurant.

The scene between Tina and Mikey was just tremendous. The dialogue was sharp and excellent and did a great job of moving the scene along. It was a great scene as it always is with Jon Bernthal on the screen. Bernthal brings a true gravitas to the story and his performance works so well. I was just thinking the whole time how this was a guy who would kill himself, which I think is one of the main reasons Carmy has had such a difficult time dealing with the loss over the seasons.

Episode seven finds another restaurant looking to poach Sydney and give her the position that she always wanted. There is a reason she has not yet signed the deal for partnership at The Bear and I get the feeling that this is something that is going to blow this series up. You can already see how much Richie depends on Sydney, let alone the rest of the crew.

Meanwhile, Carmy is as spaced out as ever.

Oh, and it looks like Sugar may be in labor. How will The Bear get their C-Folds????

Bates Motel S2 E6

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“Plunge”

Oh, things are getting tough on Bates Motel.

Norman is losing control of himself more and more as the series moves along. He screamed at Cody when she encouraged Emma to jump off the cliff into the water and she nearly drowned. He shoved Cody’s father away as he had Cody in a headlock and he fell down the steps and looked to have broken his neck.

And when Norma was telling him about how George had come over to help her prepare for her meeting with the mayor about a spot on the city council, Norman was just working over the scarf in his hands. Go back and watch that scene. Norman was tensely folding and gripping that scarf with every word Norma said.

Norma caused Norman to be banned from getting a driver’s license when she told the examiner that Norman had been experiencing blackouts.

Everything seems to be collapsing within Norman and pushing him to a violent response.

NOTE: I just realized that it is funny, but the TV around EYG has been very alliterative lately. I am watching Bates Motel, Battlestar Galactica, The Boys, and The Bear. Only The X-Files falls outside of the B’s.

Battlestar Galactica S1 E6

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“Litmus”

It has been awhile since my last Battlestar Galactica episode so it was awesome to dive back into the sci-fi series. Especially with an impactful episode as “Litmus.”

A suicide bomber, who was a Cylon agent who was a copy of Aaron Doral, made it on board Galactica and set off the bomb, killing three and injuring many others. This set off a flurry of events including releasing the information to the public that Cylons can now look human.

It also targeted the relationship between Chief Tyrol and Boomer, as it came front and center. Boomer is a Cylon sleeper agent, though that has yet to be revealed to the crew of Galactica. The tense break-up that this situation led to was a powerhouse scene in the show.

It was fun seeing Dominic Zamprogna as Jammer this episode. I am not sure if he has been there before, but I noticed him for the first time here. Zamprogna has been a long time cast member of General Hospital as Dante Falconeri.

The episode had set up a tribunal to investigate the bombing, but Adama brought it to a close when he started sensing that it was becoming a witch hunt, which President Roslin had warned him about. Adama just ending the tribunal is a major point of this episode and may have an impact over the span of this series.

The Bear S3 E4, E5

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“Violet”

“Children”

The Champ is here!

Or at least John Cena is here, starting in episode 5, as Sammy Fak, Neil and Theodore’s brother. And he brings his excellent comedic timing to an amazing scene stealing cameo on the show that kills all the cameos.

I loved John Cena’s arrival and appearance. He was very entertaining as the show progressed. So was The Computer, a man brought in by Oliver Platt to tell Carmy and the rest of the staff what the future of their restaurant is and how they can improve it to make things better. Most of his suggestions are ways that they waste money and how they could do better.

The Computer was there basically to bring Oliver Platt back in. The whole scene in the back with Platt, The Computer, Carmy and the rest was really entertaining, especially when Sammy joined in.

Episodes four and five are two of the calmer episodes of the third season so far. The typical conflict the show has spotlighted over the first three episodes is toned down. There is a small bit of it, but the conflict is done more as a way for humor, such as Sammy ‘haunting’ Theodore because he had taken Sammy’s SD cards.

Carmy was at a lower level of crazy here, as he is starting to wonder if he is messing things up. Learning that his friend and mentor Chef Terry had to shut her restaurant had an impact on him and maybe brought him back to reality. Maybe he just kept his distance from Richie.

We get some sweet scenes with Richie and his daughter. Richie also shows how great of a dad he is when he asks Sugar if he should back out of his relationship with her so it would not be weird with Frank (Josh Harnett of all people).

There is also a review that is being written of The Bear that is causing some anxiety.

These two episodes were solid with less hectic drive of the first three this season which made for a nice change before things clearly will amp back up as the second half of season three gets underway.

The Burial (2023)

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June 30, 2024

The June Swoon 3: A Cinematic Flashback draws to a close for this year with a film on Amazon Prime that I had on my radar for several months at the end of 2023, but one that I simply did not find the time to watch. I am glad that the June Swoon gave me the opportunity to see The Burial as it was an engaging and dramatic court movie.

Starring Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones, The Burial is based on a true story of a small business owner’s struggle to save his business in the face of a greedy corporation.

According to IMDB, “Inspired by true events, when a handshake deal goes sour, funeral home owner Jeremiah O’Keefe (Academy Award® winner Tommy Lee Jones) enlists charismatic, smooth-talking attorney Willie E. Gary (Academy Award® winner Jamie Foxx) to save his family business. Tempers flare and laughter ensues as the unlikely pair bond while exposing corporate corruption and racial injustice in this inspirational, triumphant story.“

I really loved the character played by Jones in this. He went against just about every convention you would have in a film, especially from a character played by Tommy Lee Jones. Nary a sign of a gruff, growly man. My favorite scene of the film was when Jones and Foxx were on Foxx’s plane and they played some music.

The best parts of the film were between Jones and Foxx as they had a tremendous chemistry on screen. They felt like true friends despite the natural differences between them.

The court scenes were also very well done as Jones gave an excellent person for whom the audience could relate to.

The Burial runs for over two hours but it did not feel like that. Nicely paced and brilliantly acted, The Burial was a wonderful way to wrap up the June Swoon 3.

The X-Files S5 E16

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“Mind’s Eye”

Season five X-Files episode number sixteen is next up for the X-Files rewatch and it was titled “Mind’s Eye.”

Lili Taylor appeared as blind woman Marty Glenn who seemed to be the main suspect of a murder of a drug dealer. She had blood on her, but that did not convince Mulder that she was guilty.

Mulder and Scully are called in to help out on the case. Despite the evidence that seemed to be loading up against Marty, Mulder believed that there was more going on than what we could see.

Marty Glenn was one of the most sarcastic and snarky characters we have had on the X-Files in quite a long time. I’m not sure why Mulder liked her. He does say that he admired her, overcoming her disability, having trained the remainder of her senses to be able to be anything but a hinderness.

It was a decent episode. Nothing special, but enjoyable.

The Bear S3 E3

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“Doors”

Another absolutely tense and stressful episode as we see several days at the Bear and how the conflicts are driving everyone nuts.

Carmy, Richie and their baggage exploded at least once and threatened to do so several other times. The stress of having to do everything perfect is pushing the chefs to their breaking point. Oliver Platt made another guest appearance raving over the cost of what was being purchased. He said the restaurant was filled every night, but why was their no money?

And after every intense scene, someone hollers “doors” indicating that everything is starting over again.

Things are at a high level of intensity at The Bear and it is clearly leading to trouble.

By the way, Carmy had another round of flashbacks during a particularly stressful moment in the kitchen, making me wonder if that PTSD comment I made from episode one was right on the money. How these flashbacks are triggers for Carmy when the PTSD is getting to high.

Need to take a break from this show for a little bit. It is so anxiety-filled that I feel the same way. It is amazing, but I just do not like the binge method for this show. Needs some down time with it.

The Bear S3 E2

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“Next”

Man.

I was going to say that the scene in the back of the restaurant was amazing, but it kept going, adding more people to the scenes and, eventually, basically became the entire episode. It was astounding.

How do you go about filming a scene like that? I mean, a scene with so much back and forth, rapid fire dialogue and consistently increasing tension among the actors. It felt like a one take, but it couldn’t possibly be one. This featured relationships between all of our main characters, with the relationship between Carmy and Richie absolutely ripping through the entire conversation.

This episode was total fire and I think it is really setting up the conflict for the remainder of the season and I feel as if Carmy may have some major results of these conflicts heading his way. He is a ticking bomb in this episode and how much more can he absorb?

The Bear S3 E1

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“Tomorrow”

WTF was that?

I have to say that the first episode of season three of FX’s series The Bear (which is listed as a comedy for awards consideration, but there are not very many laughs inside), was a visual trip. About half way through the episode I had to stop and go back to read a synopsis of the final episode of season two to try and remember exactly what happened to see if I could determine what was going on.

I did not succeed.

I am guessing that this flashback episode, which jumped between moments from Carmy’s distant and recent past, was designed as a consciousness of thought. In my research, I found a site that mentioned that flashbacks could be a sign of PTSD, or perhaps dissociation (Tully, verywellmind). I found that intriguing since the final episode of season two certainly put Carmy through the ringer, being trapped in his freezer, breaking up with his girlfriend all on the night of his big opening for the restaurant The Bear, albeit friends and family night.

Could this first episode be a mental response from Carmy for the trauma from the first night?

Some of the moments we saw in the flashbacks we had already seen, such as the flashback to the family dinner from season two episode “Fishes” and we saw scenes that I either did not remember or that we new. I do not remember seeing the phone call from Sugar to Carmy dealing with their brother’s suicide.

This first episode absolutely required the viewers to stop and give the show its complete attention because there was no straightforward narrative structure to the episode, but it provided some deep investigation inside the mind of Carmy.

The Bear is currently streaming on Hulu and on Disney +.

Reality (2023)

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June 29, 2024

It is the penultimate film in the 2024 June Swoon today on June 29th and it was one on Max called Reality.

I was not sure why the title of the movie was Reality, but soon I learned that it was named after the main character, Reality Winner, a real life American intelligence leaker from 2017. The film itself is based on the recordings from the real life interview of Reality Winner by the FBI as they searched her home for any evidence that she had sent classified materials to an online publication.

Sydney Sweeney played Reality and she did a fantastic job. This was one of my favorite performances for Sweeney and from this you can see why she is considered one of the up-and-comers in the world of entertainment.

The dialogue of the movie reportedly came directly from the recordings of the day, including a bunch of the small talk that ensued between Reality and the FBI agents, specifically with agents Garrick (Josh Hamilton) and Taylor (Marchánt Davis). Some of the dialogue was uncomfortable and could be considered cringe, but you could feel the tension of the moment with every word.

The film does a cool thing when it comes to parts of the questioning that needed to stay confidential. The film does a glitch type thing and reappears after the part is done. This is a clever way to conceal info that needed to remain hidden.

Tina Satter directed the film, which she also co-wrote. She had originally adapted the transcript into a stage play entitled Is This a Room. Reality was Satter’s first directorial debut.

The film was well done and highlights the talents of Sydney Sweeney. It is available for streaming on HBO Max.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #104

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June 28, 2024

Another big comic week. Todd brought me a bunch of Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2 issues. I mean… a bunch. I also was able to finish up my New Warriors Vol. 1 collection as issues #70 and 72 arrived from eBay. It was a big week from eBay again as I got some of the original Tick series, some Peter Parker Spectacular Spider-Man original issues and the one issue of Spider-Man/Deadpool that I was missing.

I finished the rebagging/reboarding/reboxing of the collection. It was a major goal that I had set for this summer, and I was able to complete it early because I had started early. It was also the first week in awhile that I did not buy bags or boards at Comic World. Ah… freedom!

Next up is the organization of the collection. I started that this week too and discovered that it is going to be an even biggest task. Books are scattered all over the place. All in boxes, but it might take even longer to organize than it did to rebag etc.

Anyway, new books this week:

Animal Pound #4. “Titan’s Bad Day” Written by Tom King and illustrated by Peter Gross. Variant cover art by Yuka Shimizu. Piggy’s power play of rabbit-eating has led to even more control. The political metaphor going on here is very obvious and filled with thrill.

Void Rivals #10. Written by Robert Kirkman and art by Lorenzo De Felici. Variant cover art by Cory Walker. Darak and Solila seem like they were making it after round two between Springer and Proximus. However, it looks like things are only getting worse.

X-Men: Heir of Apocalypse #2. Written by Steve Foxe and penciled by Netho Diaz. Cover art was by Dotun Akande. The war for the right to replace Apocalypse as the Earth’s mutant ascension moves on with Apocalypse’s son Genocide’s arrival. Some of the contenders are not going to make it.

Superior Spider-Man #8. “Superior Spider-Man, No More” Written by Dan Slott and penciled by Mark Bagley. Mark Bagley & Edgar Delgado did the cover art, which was an homage to Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 #50 (one of the most iconic covers of all time). The final issue of this series sees the end of Doc Ock’s plan to take over the world thanks to Spidey, Spider-Boy and Anna.

Rook Exodus #3. Creators: Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok. Cover art by Jason Fabok and Brad Anderson. Rook and Dire Wolf are coming together with other wardens to face off with the bear warden, Ursaw. Sides are being drawn and trouble is here.

Midnight Sons: Blood Hunt #2. Written by Bryan Hill and art by German Peralta. Cover art was done by Ken Lashley & Juan Fernandez. Tulip, Johnny Blaze, Victoria Montesi and Ghost Rider are teaming up trying to find out why Blade has become the head of all vampires. Blade is here to let them know.

Jackpot & Black Cat #4. Written by Celeste Bronfman and art by Emilio Laiso. Varian cover art by Betsy Cola. The final issue of the latest team up between Felicia and Mary Jane see them taking on the Owl and his men as well as Felicia’s girlfriend, Amelia. I do like the friendship between MJ and Cat, even if I wish MJ would not be a super hero.

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #6. “Under the Same Moon” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Devmalya Pramanik. David Paratore did the cover art. Reese, Soldier and 8-Ball are trying to bring as many bystanders they can to the Midnight Mission. And everywhere they turn…vampires. Of course, two of them are also vampires. With no Moon Knight in this series, the side cast has done a great job of keeping it going until things get straightened out.

Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider#2. “Haunted Part Two” Written by Stephanie Phillips and drawn by Federica Mancin. Mark Brooks did the cover art. Peter, Miles and Silk are trying to find out what Gwen Stacy is doing in the 616 universe. She’s not telling. And the Chameleon is here to cause trouble.

Union Jack the Ripper: Blood Hunt #2. “Blood Ties” Written by Cavan Scott and penciled by Kev Walker. Rod Reis did the cover art. A more brutal and bloody Union Jack than we are used to before. Union Jack has come into his own fighting vampires in Blood Hunt.

No/One #9. Written by Kyle Higgins & Brian Buccellato with art by Geraldo Borges. Nicoletta Baldari did the virgin variant cover art. Prop 87 has passed and chaos ensued. Violence has broken out across Pittsburg and even No/One is not sure what is going to happen.

Something is Killing the Children #38. “Road Stories Part Three” Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Werther Dell’edera. Another single issue story of Erica Slaughter and her past. She has been injured and is hiding out in a treehouse. It’s not as calm as that sounds. I’m really liking these stand alone issues for now.

Plastic Death & Dolls #1. Written by Doug Wagner and art and cover by Daniel Hillyard. What an interesting first issue this was. Two pages in and we have a decapitation. And it looks like our protagonist is the one who is doing it. Is he a serial killer? I am excited to find out. I am pleased to finally get this first issue which was actually out a couple of weeks ago.

Blood Hunt #4. Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Pepe Larraz. Larraz & Marte Gracia did the cover art. The big crossover series continues to make exciting action. We discover why Blade has done what he has done…and we get a return from Moon Knight. Marc Specter is alive once again as Khonsu finally is free from his Asgardian prison. Blood Hunt has been a lot of fun so far as it is down to about a month remaining.

Zatanna: Bring Down the House #1. “Book One” Written by Mariko Tamaki and drawn by Javier Rodriguez. Variant cover art was by done by Stanley “Artgerm” Lau and Jorge Jimenez. Todd made me buy this DC book. He was right. This was very good and I enjoyed the take on Zatanna. I was different and had a mystery behind it.

Universal Monsters: Creature of the Black Lagoon #3. Written by Dan Watters & Ram V with art and by Matthew Roberts. Cover art by Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart (Bronze Medalist). This has been an excellent use of the Creature of the Black Lagoon and there is quite a twist at the end of this issue, the penultimate one for the mini series.

Department of Truth #23. Written by James Tynion IV and drawn and cover art by Martin Simmonds (Silver Medalist). YES! It is the return of Department of Truth! I did not think this was going to happen, and as I caught up with the series during the EYG Comic Catch-Up, I was sad when issue 22 seemed to be the final one. After a long intermission, this is back again and this was a great issue. There was some member-berries involved here, but it was awesome. This was a big week for James Tynion IV as this came out, there was a new Blue Book 1947, W0rldtr33 and Something Killing the Children.

The Spectacular Spider-Men #4. “Chapter Four: The Pitch” Written by Greg Weisman and penciled by Humberto Ramos. Cover art by Humberto Ramos and Edgar Delgado (Gold Medalist). Arcade and Mentallo are showing off their new technology by screwing with Peter and Miles. Peter and Miles are preparing to square off against each other.

Redcoat #3. Geoff Johns & Bryan Hitch are the creators. Bryan Hitch & Brad Anderson did the cover art. Todd told me to read this one right away. It was okay. I do like the way this book has been using the historical figures in the story. This has been my favorite of the Ghost Machine books.

Daredevil #10. “Introductory Rites Part Ten” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Juann Cabal. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna & Richard Isanove. When one of the kids of Father Matt’s home finds the Daredevil costume, all things go wrong. But Matt can’t focus in on that because Kingpin is here… and possessed by one of the demons that Daredevil has been battling recently.

Wolverine: Madripoor Knights #5. “Heroes Rise Again” Written by Chris Claremont and art by Edgar Salazar. Phillip Tan & Sebastian Cheng did the cover art. The final showdown between Cap, Wolvie and Black Widow and the Hand happens here. There was some decent character development for Cap this week.

Thanos Annual #1. “The Infinity Watch” starts. This is a storyline that is going to go across some of the annuals as Thanos, with the newly formed Death stone, is in search of the stone bearers of the other infinity stones. We also learn who the new Death stone bearer is… and it was Phillip Coulson! Welcome Back Phil!

W0rldtr33 #11. Words by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Fernando Blanco. The internet is down and the world is in a chaotic situation. The W0rldtr33 crew is on it, but Gregory seems to be opposite that. Everything is coming together into an intriguing sotry. It has been tough to follow at times, but I enjoyed this issue quite a bit.

Magik: Blood Hunt #1. Written by Ashley Allen and drawn by Jesus Hervas. Rod reis did the cover art. This one shot includes some excellent story involving Illyana Rasputin. Magik has always been one of my favorite New Mutants/X-Men so it was cool to see her featured in this one shot.

Black Widow & Hawkeye #4. “Broken Arrow Part IV” Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Paolo Villanelli. Stephen Segovia and Jesus Aburtov did the cover art. This series wrapped up as the symbiote is shared around by Natasha and Clint. Clint as the symbiotic archer was a pretty cool sight, even if I am not a huge fan of having so many symbiotes running (slithering?) around the Marvel Universe.

Blue Book 1947 #5. Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Michael Avon Oeming. The second volume of Blue Book ends its run with the story of Project Blue Book and its eventual end. It is a continually fascinating book and I am hoping we see more of the UFO storytelling in the future.

Other books this week: Grimm #18, Drawing Blood #3, Rare Flavours #6, Project: Cryptid #10, X-Men ’97, Ultimate Black Panther #5, Nights #8, and Blood Squad Seven #2.

A Quiet Place: Day One

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The original A Quiet Place was one of the best movie experiences I have had in a theater. The tension in the theater, with everyone being just as quiet as the actors were on screen was an amazing atmosphere. It has not been rivaled in that manner since.

That does not mean that this new film, a prequel to that first film was not good. On the contrary, I found this new film, A Quiet Place: Day One, starring Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn was a very engaging and intense film.

A woman named Sam and her service cat Frodo found herself trapped in New York City on the first day of an alien invasion. The aliens responded and attacked with their amazing hearing forcing everyone to be as quiet as they could be.

I am reminded just what an exceptional actor Lupita Nyong’o is. Her portrayal of Sam was exceptional, displaying every bit of anxiety and stress with the most limited dialogue possible.

And early on during the film, I thought to myself, “If that cat dies, we riot.” Maybe that was an exaggeration, but the cat had some great moments in the film as well.

I did not realize that the other actor playing against Nyong’o was Joseph Quinn, who has been cast as the next Johnny Storm, the Human Torch in the upcoming MCU film Fantastic Four. I found this performance from Quinn as Eric to be very solid and working extremely well with the nearly silent Sam. Johnny Storm seems to be in capable hands with Quinn.

The film also had Djimon Hounsou as Henri, but he was not used to the level that one would expect. I wonder if this is intended to be the same character that he played in A Quiet Place Part II as IMDB only lists him as “Man on Island” in that film. Overall, Hounsou felt more wasted than anything else.

One of the few nitpicks that I had with this film was it sure seemed as if the whole ‘sound attracts these monsters and that you can avoid them if you are really quiet’ concept was figured out too quickly. I kept wondering how they figured that little tidbit out in such a rapid manner. It did not pull me out of the film, but I did think about it several times throughout.

The relationship between Sam and Eric was very original and strong, again because so much of their interactions came sans dialogue, I was connected to them, and it was not just because of the cat.

The sound design of this series of films has been sensational, and Day One joins in with them beautifully. The little sounds that were suddenly amazingly loud because of the way the aliens hear it was anxiety-creating and built amazing tension.

Of course, in the first couple of films, the focus was on a major character who was deaf. Here, Nyong’o had something else that I won’t spoil, but you learn about in the first ten minutes that really set the stakes for her character in an unexpected way.

Admittedly, the gimmick of the aliens who are attracted to sound has been played out a bit, but this film makes it work with the way it created a new group of characters and made us care for them. Then, by casting some excellent actors in the roles, you elevate what could have been just another monster movie into more than that, while still maintaining the aura of the original and sequel. I am not sure that I wanted another A Quiet Place movie, but I am glad that I got one.

4.2 stars

You Hurt My Feelings (2023)

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June 28, 2024

Julia Louis-Dreyfus starred in today’s June Swoon 3, a film called You Hurt My Feelings, an A24 film that follows her life as writer.

Louis-Dreyfus played Beth, a writer who overheard her husband Don (Tobias Menzies) telling his friend that he really did not like the new book that she was writing. This bit of honesty sent Beth on a spiral, doubting everything in her life and putting her marriage under a scrutiny that she had never had before.

The film was fine. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is funny and she delivered her performance in the slow, real life tone. The film builds a series of events together, showing a full picture of her and her family’s life.

Some could consider the pace of this film to drag on, but I liked the simplicity of the presentation. The film takes its time it spends with each character to really reveal what they were like. Nothing major would happen to any of them, but these seemingly unimportant moments all had a powerful impact on each person.

The film does take time with Don as well, looking at his job as a therapist, a job that the film seems to be implying that he is not very good at. He has several clients that come in to air their problems with Don, to little success. Amber Tamblyn, David Cross, and Zach Cherry are standouts among the therapy sessions.

This had a definite independent movie feel to it. It is not flashy but it was an entertaining film with some thoughts on the little white lies and their effects.

Horizon: An American Saga-Chapter One

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A three hour, chapter one Western?

Kevin Costner’s epic Western Horizon: An American Saga debuted this weekend. At least, the first part of the movie debuted this weekend while Chapter Two will arrive in August.

This film looked beautiful. There were some decent performances. However, the film has its share of problems that outweigh the positives.

What are the problems? Well, there are a bunch of characters and storylines and it feels as if there are too many. Even for three hours, they bounced around to these different storylines, all that were interesting to be fair, and it never got a good feel for any of them. There were so many characters that half the time, I was never sure who was who and what each one of them were doing.

It did feel as if Kevin Costner wanted this film to be sweeping, with multiple plots going on at once, and it felt as if some of them should have been tightened up or removed to make it more cohesive.

The last five minutes of the film featured, I assume, scenes put to music from the next film. This montage was confusing and felt silly.

There were scenes that were enjoyable, but I just do not think it matters because the story is so scattered and the characters are not as developed as they should be.

2.8 stars