Author Archives: Doc

Battlestar Galactica mini-series

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Tonight I started the next TV program to add to the watchlist. I have been doing rewatches of The X-Files and Bates Motel, but it felt as if I needed another one. However, this was not a rewatch as I have never seen any of the episodes of Battlestar Galactica.

I used to watch the original series back in the 1970s with Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict (Face from the A-Team) and Loren Greene, but it was never one of my favorites. So when there was a new version of the series starting on Syfy, I was not interested. I have heard tremendous praise for the series from lots of different sources, so when I was looking for a new series around the time that I finished up with Man from Atlantis, Battlestar cam eon my radar.

The thing is… I discovered that there was a mini-series that aired prior to the series and, when I found it on Amazon Prime, I saw that it was over 3 hours long. That was preventative to starting it and it was going to require a certain spot to watch this lengthy of a show.

I was able to find the time tonight to watch this show (which was presented originally in two parts, but just in one full episodes on Prime).

What an amazing three hours it was.

This mini-series took time to present a group of characters, a few of whom I recognized names (Starbuck. Apollo. Both names from the 70s show). I was aware of Katee Sackhoff was playing Starbuck as one of the standout characters of the series. Even I, who did not watch the show but was aware of its cultural place, knew that. I recognized the actor Edward James Olmos who was playing the role that Loren Greene had originated. Other than that, the cast was full of actors whom I did not know.

The cast was excellent and I started learning these characters. The show does a decent job of providing enough development to know who these people are and why I should care about them. Such as Mary McDonnell, who played Laura Roslin, who becomes the President after the Cylon attack of earth killed everyone ahead of her in progression. It was Battlestar’s own Designated Survivor moment. Giving this important character cancer before she had to step into this leadership role was quite ballsy of the show and connected the audience to her immediately.

The show was a war show, which was also something that I was not expecting. I knew that it would be sci-fi, but I did not know how much of a war show this would actually be.

The special effects were tremendous throughout the show, specifically with the moment at the end when the Galactica was holding off the Cylons so the civilians to ‘jump’ was amazingly shot. The final moment when Starbuck used her own ship to push Apollo into the Galactica before it jumped as well was exceptional.

Making the Cylons look like humans for this series is a stroke of genius. Not that the design of the robotic Cylons was bad, but this gives you more than just unexpressive robots to be antagonists. It was a wonderful decision for whomever made it.

This was a tense, exciting, anxiety-filled adventure with some new characters that I really liked out of the gate. I am excited to learn more about these people as this series moves along.

Battlestar Galactica has four seasons of around 74 episodes and I will be adding this to the watchlist starting this summer. It was a great start with this mini-series.

Sweet Tooth S3 E3

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“The Pack”

I guess my idea that the father from last episode was going to be a problem for Gus and his group was dead wrong.

That character was finished off in the first five minutes of episode three by the hybrid wolf pack that is chasing after Gus. Turns out that Rosie is more of the threat than he ever was. And I have to say that Rosalind Chao’s Zhang is one cold-hearted monster. These are some serious antagonist for our heroes to avoid.

Looks like Gus, Jepp and Singh are making it to the boat, which had left before they all got to the coast. Poor Becky and Wendy get separated and have to deal with Rosie and her pups.

I’m not sure that they would have been able to fix that little boat the way they did, but I can suspend my disbelief for that. Gus continues to be the most heroic character on the show, showing his bravery and how excellent he is.

I am curious to see what happens now that their party has been split apart.

Hit Man

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Glen Powell is hot right now. So when will there be a better time to make a dark comedy for Netflix than right now?

In Hit Man, Glen Powell played Gary Johnson, a college professor who would moonlight as a tech guy for the New Orleans Police Department. When the undercover officer wound up in trouble, Gary got thrust into the position of pretending to be a hit man for people wanting to hire him to kill someone.

Gary turned out to be very effective at getting these perspective clients to incriminate themselves, making Gary ultra valuable to the NOPD.

When Gary was meeting with a young woman named Madison (Adria Arjona) who wanted to hire him to kill her horrible husband, Gary, under his alias Roy, talked her out of it so she would not incriminate herself.

This led to Madison and “Ray” to begin a secret relationship with each other, leading to all kinds of trouble.

Directed by Richard Linklater, Hit Man is a lot of fun and has some very clever moments. Glen Power and Adria Arjona have sparkling chemistry and you find yourself rooting for them despite your better judgement.

I will say though that the ending took a darker turn than I thought and I’m not sure how I felt about it. The very ending is not how I would think this would have worked itself out and I am not sure I buy it.

The film calls itself a “somewhat” true story, as it made up a big section of the ending. Still, it is interesting to see where Linklater gets his inspiration for such a story.

This rom com makes for a decent time at home watching it on Netflix. I am not sure that it would have near the amount of success had it had a theatrical release. As a lazy afternoon watch, Hit Man is a hit.

3.5 stars

Origin (2023)

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June 11, 2024

The format of today’s June Swoon 3 is one unlike I have seen before and it takes a revolutionary director in order to make this work. Ava DuVernay is just such a director.

Origin adapts the book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson, a book that laid out the idea that racism in the United States is a part of the concept of caste system, connecting racism in America to the attempted extermination of Jewish people by the Nazis, the caste system of India as well as other atrocities across the globe.

Such an undertaking was going to be difficult to attain, but DuVernay skillfully weaves the information, at times, in a documentary style, while mixing it with the drama of Isabel Wilkerson’s life during this stretch of working on the book when she lost her husband, mother and cousin.

The combination of docudrama is a difficult one to reach, but DuVernay does a masterful job of making this fully engaging while providing ideas that challenge the thoughts of a generation.

The lead role of the film was played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, showcasing an emotional arc for Isabel Wilkerson from early on in the film when she lost her husband, Brett (Jon Bernthal). The use of flashbacks and memories throughout the movie helped us see important aspects of Wilkerson’s life and relationships with her family and friends. Ellis-Taylor made these life moments extremely relatable and touching as we see her deal with loss and pain, as well as a love of life.

The film may be a little long, but there are so many great moments throughout that help us see the central point being made by the film. There are stories that are told such as the tale of Al Bright, a young boy whose baseball team just wanted to swim together as a celebration for a big win, but who was denied because he was black. Another story told the tale of a German Nazi and a Jewish woman’s relationship that broke all the rules of Nazi Germany and led her her eventual encampment at a concentration camp. These stories are important to the overall narrative of the piece and help highlight the concept of the book being written.

You wouldn’t think that a film could be made about a journalist writing a book about the caste system, but Ava DuVernay accomplished just that and it was compelling and amazing, even if it could be tough to watch at times.

You can watch Origin currently on Disney +/Hulu.

Sweet Tooth S3 E2

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“Thank God I’m a Country Boy”

The second episode of Sweet Tooth sees Gus and his crew, including Dr. Singh, who wanted to help Gus find the cave in Alaska, come across a family that was anything but friendly.

The couple were in the middle of labor and the father was anything but responsive to the hybrids among them. In fact, it took Dr. Singh offering to help with the birth in order to have him allowed inside.

As that is going on, Gus and Wendy meet a young girl about their age named Theo (Jonah Wren Phillips). Theo, dressed as a super hero, speaks to Gus and Wendy as if their being hybrids made them less than human. These were ideas from her father. Gus and Wendy are able to befriend her and she shows them that she too is a hybrid with, what looks to be bat wings.

The baby was a breech and Dr. Singh was able to save it, but it did turn out to be a hybrid. The father tried to cut off the baby’s ears because of it. This father is clearly demented and is going to cause trouble down the road. I thought Theo might wind up going with Gus, but she wanted to stay and help her new brother. He’s going to need it with the father here.

This was a side quest on the season and it was fine. It seems as if the father is going to be back at some point this season.

The Book of Clarence (2023)

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June 10, 2024

It was Netflix again for this June Swoon as I pulled up The Book of Clarence, a retelling f the story of the crucifixion through the eyes of a down-on-his-luck loser named Clarence.

According to IMDB, “Struggling to find a better life, Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield) is captivated by the power of the rising Messiah and soon risks everything to carve a path to a divine existence.“

This movie was very up and down for me. The biggest issue I had with it was that it lacked a consistent tone. There were deadly serious scenes that were well done, particularly with the strength of LaKeith Stanfield’s performance, but other scenes that felt like it was pulled right out of a Monty Python skit. I was not sure if this was meant to be a serious movie or a satire. Or was it meant to be some kind of amalgam between the two? This uncertainty hurt this film in my eyes.

As I mentioned, the performance of LaKeith Stanfield was excellent, as he went from a disbeliever to one who exceeded belief. Stanfield was believable in every moment he was on screen and he gave the film a credibility that I do not think it would have had if it were another actor in this potentially divisive role.

There is an excellent cast in this movie including Benedict Cumberbatch (whole role felt as if it were one of the most satirical of them all), Omar Sy, Anna Diop, RJ Cyler, David Oyelowo, Alfre Woodard, Caleb McLaughlin, James McAvoy, Nicholas Pinnock, Marianne-Jean Baptiste, Teyana Taylor and Michael Ward.

I can see this film stirring up the audience, depending on who was watching. For me, there are some good ideas in here, but the film can’t decide what exactly it wants to be, and that demeans the positives that are here.

Sweet Tooth S3 E1

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“The Beginning is also the End”

The final season of Sweet Tooth dropped on Netflix this weekend. This is based on a comic book from one of my favorite writers, Jeff Lemire, and has been a great two season series. Now, Gus, Big Man, Bear and Wendy are on their way to Alaska to find Gus’s mom, who happens to be in bunch of trouble herself.

Christian Convery returned as the titular character and shows, once again, how perfectly he was cast as the deer hybrid, Gus. The young actor exudes charm and warmth, making this character the perfect protagonist for this world filled with sickness and cruelty.

Jeb, aka Big Man, has to face his own problems as he is trying to continue to protect Gus. Big Man is getting older and life’s conflicts just don’t bounce off him as they used to do.

The first episode provides some further insight into the relationship between the two hybrids, Gus and Wendy. They both seem to be the most good hearted characters you could hope to see, and I hope that does not lead to their eventual downfall.

With the first episode cliffhanger, the arrival of Dr. Singh wanting to talk about Alaska, the show kicked off with a bang. There was an avalanche in the Rocky Mountains that was awesome, placing another challenge before our foursome.

Jeff Lemire has written some of my favorite comic series from outside of Marvel, but I never read Sweet Tooth. It has that same feel that one might get when reading Fishflies. I do not know how much the series has stuck to the comics, but I can definitely feel the touch of Lemire in the story.

Sweet Tooth on Netflix has a total of 8 episodes in the final season.

The X-Files S5 E12

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“Bad Blood”

This is one of my favorite, if not my favorite, X-Files episodes of all time. “Bad Blood” is a monster-of-the-week story involving vampires, but the best part of the episode is the humor. This is one of the funniest X-Files episodes in the entire series.

The concept behind the episode was Mulder and Scully telling the story of what happened in their case in Texas, describing what happened in each of their own POVs. While the scenes were similar, little differences between the way Mulder saw things and the way Scully saw things were just hilarious.

Even more intriguing was how Mulder and Scully saw the other one. Scully’s tale had Mulder being more exuberant and not very forthcoming while Mulder saw Scully as irritated and snipy.

Luke Wilson guest starred as Sheriff Hartwell, both with and without buck teeth. The running gag of Scully’s attraction to him was in both of their stories and led to Mulder adding the detail of the buck teeth, assumingly out of jealousy.

Some of my favorite lines/moments from “Bad Blood” :

  • “It’s not that Mexican goat sucker either”
  • “I was drugged!”
  • Scully getting hungry during an autopsy because she saw pizza in the stomach contents.
  • Mulder’s “Yee-haw” and Scully’s “Hoo-boy”
  • Mulder throwing the sunflower seeds, saving himself.
  • “Probably Cause of Death: Gee, that’s a tough one”
  • In Scully’s version: Mulder does the Shaft theme song to which Mulder responds “I DID NOT!”
  • “I just put money in the magic fingers” -Scully’s total disappointment.
  • The small intestine sliding out from the scale.

That is just a sampling of the brilliance of this episode. As I stated, if this is not my number one episode of the X-Files, it is certainly in argument for the top three. It is wholly original and provided Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny a perfect situation to show off their excellent comedic timing. It also allowed a look inside the minds of Mulder and Scully to how they can see the other person in their partnership at times.

“Bad Blood” is outstanding.

Bates Motel S2 E2

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“Shadow of a Doubt”

Lots of things going down on Bates Motel as the second season gets underway.

  • Norma is concerned over Norman’s blackouts and she finds a pearl necklace in his room.
  • Norman is trying to help Bradley get away with the murder she committed.
  • Speaking of which, the murder Bradley committed, Gil, whom killed her father, started fireworks between the two weed families in the area.
  • Norma and Norman try out for local musical at the theater in town. Norma knocks her song out of the park.
  • Romero arrests a suspect for Miss Watson’s murder, based on a seaman sample.
  • Romero presses charges without much evidence.
  • Norman can’t get away from Norma to drive Bradley to the bus station. He called Dylan to help. Dylan will make it look like she committed suicide.

Then, the episode was coming to an end in what seemed to be a happy moment. The word about Miss Watson’s accused killer got out and everyone was happy (especially Norma who believed that Norman had killed her during one of his blackouts). Dylan had returned and gave Norman the good news about Bradley getting on the bus and gave him a handwritten note from her to Norman. There was happy music playing in the background. It felt like the episode was going to end on a happy note for once.

I should know Bates Motel wouldn’t let that happen.

Norma’s brother arrived in the town, looking for the Bates Motel. At the end of season one, we discovered that Norma had been sexually assaulted by him through her teenage years. Things aren’t looking good for this guy.

The X-Files S5 E11

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“Kill Switch”

AI rear its ugly head once again on The X-Files and this time, Scully get to kickbox a bunch of evil nurses.

What?

It was a weird episode that featured an armless Mulder, action hero Scully, and a computer programmer trying to prevent an AI from going worldwide.

It included a couple of laser beams from a satellite targeting our heroes from space, leading to massive explosions.

I saw a lot of love for this episode online, but to be honest, it was not a personal favorite of mine. The whole Scully does roundhouse kicks seemed silly to me and it damaged the tone of the episode, in my opinion.

It was always nice to see the Lone Gunmen once again and their jaw-dropping idolization of “Invisigoth”, the hacker involved with the AI, was very funny. Her attitude toward them put them in their place too.

Overall, this episode was fine and the armless Mulder scenes were scary, but I just was not as into this as some previous X-Files episodes. It was far from bad, but I just did not love this one.

Run Rabbit Run (2023)

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June 9, 2024

Another horror movie highlights today’s June Swoon as I watched the Australian film Run Rabbit Run on Netflix.

Run Rabbit Run is more of a psychological thriller than it is a horror film as there are not many scares and it really does focus on the mental state of the characters involved. It was effective in this manner as I felt a connection with the two lead characters as they went through their memories of tragic events from the past.

However, it does take a while to get rolling. The film seemed a bit long and the pacing was not the best. Some of the beats felt as if they were repeated during the story and it seemed that this could have been a tighter film with some of this narrowed down.

The lead performances are the reason to watch Run Rabbit Run. Sarah Snook played Sarah, the mother whose past was coming back to cause trouble with her daughter. The daughter, Mia, was played well by young actor Lily LaTorre. She provided many of the film’s creepiest moments as she was seemingly being possessed by the spirit of Alice, Sarah’s missing sister.

These performances overcame the weaknesses in the plot, which included a predictable outcome, and made this a film I would say that I enjoyed watching. It is not a perfect horror movie, but it does enough things well that make it interesting.

Doctor Who S14 E6

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S14 E6 or S1 E7 or …who the hell knows

“Rogue”

I could feel the internet melting down every second that I watched this episode.

The Doctor and Ruby arrive in a Bridgerton type location (19th Century earth) and come across a bounty hunter named Rogue, who believed that the Doctor was the shape shifting killer that he was chasing. The Doctor and Rogue flirt throughout the episode and try to drive the trolls online crazy. I mean… they end up teaming up trying to capture the shapeshifters from the Chuldur species.

They actually use the term cosplay for what the Chulder species does, really a insider term. This show has been very meta all year long and this played right into it.

Jonathan Groff played Rogue and he and the Doctor had a great deal of chemistry between them. The time they gave to this new relationship feels as if it is setting up something else for the future of the character in the romance manner.

This show continues to be well written and entertaining every week. I have enjoyed my first real dive into Doctor Who.

The Watchers

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I did not see Uatu the Watcher anywhere in this movie.

Seriously though, the question I had was What If … I had liked this crappy movie?.

According to IMDB, “This forest isn’t charted on any map. Every car breaks down at its treeline. Mina’s (Dakota Fanning) is no different. Left stranded, she is forced into the dark woodland only to find a woman shouting, urging Mina to run to a concrete bunker. As the door slams behind her, the building is besieged by screams. Mina finds herself in a room with a wall of glass, and an electric light that activates at nightfall, when the Watchers come above ground. These creatures emerge to observe their captive humans and terrible things happen to anyone who doesn’t reach the bunker in time.“

The premise sounded interesting, but the film was anything but. Directed by Ishana Shyamalan, the feature directorial debut for the daughter of M. Night Shyamalan, The Watchers had lots of familiar elements to it, but nothing that feels as though it was necessary to make a movie out of.

The characters were all fairly simplistic. Even Mina’s backstory did not make me connect to Mina at all. In fact, I did not like her much at all. I was more connected to the bird, Darwin, and I continuously wondered if they ever fed or watered that poor bird.

Those were the things I thought about instead of the purported plot that the film tossed us into.

The ending, which there were two… just be aware, was very anticlimactic and did little to salvage what had been a boring time inside these scary, supernatural woods.

It constantly make little sense and there was a ton of exposition that you are never sure is accurate. I found myself wishing this was over early on in the film. I did not find this engaging at all.

1.5 stars

Rustin (2023)

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June 8, 2024

I have yet another Oscar nominated film for the June Swoon 3 today. This nomination went to Colman Domingo for Best Actor in Motion Picture. He did not win the Oscar, but he gave an electric performance that carried an average film to new heights.

There have been a lot of examples of an amazing lead performance elevating a movie before. Rustin is just the latest example in a long line. Many of these tend to be biopics. This is yet another.

Bayard Rustin was a leader in the Civil Rights movement and a driving force behind the 1963 March on Washington. He was also an openly gay man. His leadership and charisma shone through the struggles his life presented to him.

Colman Domingo is absolutely amazing in this film and he overshadows the rest of the movie. Without him, this movie would be considerably lesser. The way the film is present is fairly pedestrian outside of the main performance.

There is a solid cast supporting Domingo including Chris Rock, Gus Halper, Jeffrey Wright, Ami Ameen, Glynn Turman, Johnny Ramey, CCH Pounder, Michael Potts, Jordan-Amanda Hall, and Lilli Kay.

But Domingo leads the way, bringing to life this man who had such a hand in creating this seminal point in history. He is a name that is not as well known as Dr. King or John Lewis, but he should be.