#97
Predator: Killer of Killers
Released: June 2025
Runtime: 85 minutes
Rating: R
Animation Style: 3D animation
This film, along with the live action Prey, has helped to revitalize the Predator franchise after years of failed projects. The animation of this Hulu film was top notch and it took the story in a whole new level.
Voice cast included: Lindsay LaVanchy, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Rick Gonzalez, Michael Biehn, Doug Cockle, Damien Haas , Lauren Holt, Jeff Leach and Piotr Michael.
Spoilers
“Days of Past Future”
“A Force to Be Reckoned With”
“Rise of Apocalypse, Part 1”
X-Men ’97’s second season’s first three episodes were dropped on Disney +.
Three episodes and they are each dealing with a different timeline. Episode one was in the future with Cyclops and Jean with the Askani and young Nate Grey. Episode two was in the 1997 timeline with Jubilee and Sunspot joining X-Force and facing off with X-Factor. Episode three was in the past in Ancient Egypt where En Sabah Nur was becoming the force that he would become.
They also seemed to be setting up En Sabah Nur and Rama-Tut, who is one of the forms of Kang the Conqueror. That feels really large of a story.
My favorite of these three episodes was number two, when they even went as far as redo the intro with the X-Force team in it. That was so epic, it got me fired up.
It was a lot of fun to have seen these extra characters, such as Strong Guy, Polaris, Quentin Quire, Archangel, Psylocke, and several others. Loved it.
There was so much going down on these episodes. It was dense in story and characterization. It was amazing how much they put into episodes that were around 30 minutes each. The animation is great and there are some beautiful shots in these episodes.
It looks like we have a weekly release of episodes moving forward and I think that would be helpful considering how much there was in each episode.
July 1
Big week of books this week. It was difficult to narrow it down to just three, but I wanted to make sure I avoided any ties since that week a few weeks ago when we had three ties.
Also-Rans: Ordained #3 (A cover), Ordained #3 (B Cover), 100 Bullets: The US of Anger #1 (C Cover), Batman/Green Arrow/The Question: Arcadia #4, Marvel Swimsuit Special: Brand New Beach Day #1 (A Cover-wraparound), The Deadman #2 (A Cover), The Deadman #3 (D Cover-Mark Spears), Neighborhood Watch #3, The Punisher #6, Babylon Cove #2, Marvel Swimsuit: Brand New Day #1 (E Cover), Dead Acre: Black Badge #1, and Comics! The Magazine #5.
Bronze Medalist
The Deadman #2
Variant Cover E- Glow in the Dark
Cover art by Steven Subic
I was picking this book up for Todd at In This Issue and I just could not leave it out of my own collection. I did not know it was a glow-in-the-dark issue. It was just so beautifully disturbing with the stunning black and white and the image of Deadman in the center of the cover.
Silver Medalist
The Mortal Thor #12
Cover art by Alex Ross
Alex Ross is one of the masters of covers and this one with Thor and Sigurd crawling out of the eyes of Donald Blake is creepy. Then, the green shading of the cover is really something you do not see on a cover often. This one is a standout.
Gold Medalist
The Last Starfighter #1
Variant Cover D
Cover art by Stephanie Hans
I went to pick up the A cover of this new book from Mad Cave, but I put it back on the shelf when I saw this cover. I loved this cover and its dark, shadow across the character with the beautiful stars and space in contrast behind him… just spectacular.
#98
Hulk Vs.
Released: 2009
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 82 minutes
Animation Style: traditional American comics with sharp Japanese anime
Hulk Vs. featured the Incredible Hulk in two separate one on one battles. One is with Wolverine and the second is with Thor. It is a direct to video animated movie that is extremely awesome. Hulk vs. Wolverine is something that we all want to see, and I still think at some point, we will get it in the MCU. We have seen Hulk vs. Thor in live action, and it never fails.
Voice actors: Fred Tatasciore, Matthew Wolf, Graham McTavish, Kari Wahlgren, Bryce Johnson, Steve Blum, Mark Acheson, Grey DeLisle and Janyse Jaud.
Spoilers
“Focaccia”
“Caramel”
“The Original Beef of Chicagoland”
I finished the Bear’s final season tonight with episodes six, seven and eight.
Episode six and seven were both about the night that has been building up all season long. All season has been the same day so far and this was the night when the customers arrived.
Six and seven created such an emotional response from me. I was stressed the entire episode, on the edge of my seat the entire time. I kept waiting for something to happen that would derail everything for them, as the past episode 1-5 of this year was loading problem upon problem.
Then, the whole staff just came together and dominated these two episodes. CHEF!
Every problem that appeared, they worked together to come up with remarkably creative solutions.
By the way, this episode was about preparing food for a restaurant full of people, and it might have been the most tense, most suspense that I have been watching any TV show this season so far.
Episode six was all falling action, as we see how people wrap their stories up. We discover that the “UNKNOWN CALLER” that had been trying to call Carmy was the man giving out stars and that the Bear was given not one, but two stars.
This season of The Bear has been my favorite one since early on, maybe even since season one. These episodes were tight and worked so well as one day (with an exception of the final episode) and was an amazing viewing experience. I found this a wonderful way to end this series.
June 30
Movie 30
The June Swoon 5 comes to a close with a film I watched on Hulu this morning called Neighborhood Watch, which starred Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Jack Quaid.
I had been looking for a final film for the June Swoon and my list just did not have any films that made me excited about watching it. My search led me to this movie and I do like Morgan and Quaid very much so I thought this was a good choice to finish with.
According to IMDB, “When a mentally ill young man thinks he witnesses an abduction and the police refuse to believe him, he reluctantly turns to his next-door neighbor, a bitter and retired security guard, to help him find the missing person.”
I really enjoyed this movie. Were there some moments when you had to just go along with the plot? Yes, there were some times when credibility was stretched. However, there were no moments that pulled me out of the story.
I thought Jack Quaid did an excellent job portraying this young, damaged man whose mental illness was a huge factor in his life. Still, you could see the goodness in him and how much he wanted to be something more than what he was.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s character was fairly typical for this type of role. He just is such a likable actor that he overcame the stereotypical grumpy, old man archetype.
Together, Morgan and Quaid bring the film to life with the chemistry between them and the interactions between their characters. They grow to care about the other and seeing how gentle Morgan was with Quaid near the end speaks levels.
This movie definitely has some flaws, specifically in the story, but the two lead performances are so engaging that those do not seem to be a problem at all. The film flied by and, if I am being honest, I would have liked even more at the end. I wanted to know what was going to happen to the characters and that tells me the film was a success.
So that brings an end to the June Swoon 5.
The June Swoon will return in June 2027.
#99
Rescuers Down Under
Released: 1990
Rating: G
Runtime: 77 Minutes
Animation Style: hybrid of classic hand-drawn art and cutting-edge computer animation
The sequel to the 1977 Rescuers, this has a place on this list for one main reason. There is a new mouse named Jake and he was voiced by the late, great Tristian Rogers. Rogers played Robert Scorpio on General Hospital and he was one of my favorite characters on the show. Hearing his Australian accent in the major Disney movie was awesome.
Other voice actors: Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor, John Candy, George C. Scott, Peter Firth, Bernard Fox, Billy Barty
Spoilers
“Brigade”
“Dogs”
“Sheridan”
These three episodes were some of the best The Bear episodes probably since season one or two. There was a point after episode two that I literally was having goosebumps.
The whole season so far has been one day and the way they build that night with a massive overbooking was amazing and how the crew pull together- although it was not smooth sailing the whole time as Sydney blurted out that Carmy was quitting and leaving.
This whole run of three episodes do a great job of showing the relationships that have been stretched by the events and the stress of the restaurant.
Ceilings are falling in. Water still flooding as the rain continued to pelt down.
The first five episodes of the final season have been awesome so far. Three more episodes, and it looked like episode 8 is over an hour as episode 7 is in the 50 minute range.
Spoilers
“Missing Pieces”
I started season six of the Agents of Shield today with the first episode of the season. “Missing Pieces” has several meanings as a title. That included:
The show’s new season arc began with some individuals arriving in this dimension through some portal. We also get a new character named Sarge who arrived in a semi. This new character is being played by Clark Gregg, making everyone uncertain because of he is a lookalike of Coulson.
Jemma is pulling shenanigans in space when Daisy and the others wanted to head back to earth to regroup when they couldn’t find Fitz. Jemma had a clue come to her and she forced the others to go with her. Jemma has had a long history of doing things like this for Fitz.
I only had a chance to watch the first episode of that season, but I am looking forward to seeing more.
Spoilers
Guest: Florence Henderson
Guest: Paul Williams
Florence Henderson of the Brady Bunch and singer/songwriter Paul Williams were the guest on the next two episodes of season one of the Muppet Show. Both of them are good guests that can sing, dance, act and comedy.
Florence sang Butterfly of Love and Happy Together. She does a nice job. She sang Happy Together along with the monsters and lizards. She had near zero Muppets in the first number, except for some butterflies at the very end.
Paul Williams has a connection with the Muppets. He wrote the song “Rainbow Connection” which is the most iconic Kermit song (along with It’s Not Easy Being Green). This episode comes before that song so there is no “Rainbow Connection” on this episode. Williams does sing “Just an Old Fashioned Love Song”, a song that he wrote.
In episode seven, the main backstage storyline deals with Miss Piggy’s feeling toward Kermit. Of course, this is a major Muppet theme to today.
In episode eight, the backstage bit is Fozzie and Scooter preparing for doing the Telephone Poll Bit. I guess it should be Telephone POLE bit as it turned out to be a joke about the telephone being a Polish person.
We get an episode of Muppet Labs, but it was only Dr. Bunsen Honeydew with no sign of Beaker. I did not expect that Muppet Labs had episodes without Beaker.
There was a fun song performed by Rowlf called “Cottleston Pie” which was originally a poem written by A.A. Milne and was included in Winnie the Pooh. It was a song about a nonsensical poem used to explain the unexplainable.
Spoilers
“Anatomy Park”
“M. Night Shaym-Aliens!”
“Meeseeks and Destroy”
Rick & Morty continue along in their first season, showing how different it is than any other animated show. The humor is hilarious, even if it could tend towards sophomoric humor at times.
Rick sends Morty inside a body of an old man, dressed as Santa, to an amusement park he had constructed inside. This episode was a lot of fun, especially with the all-star cast of voice actors including John Oliver, Dana Carvey, Kari Wahlgren and Gary Anthony Williams.
This is a parody of both Jurassic Park and Fantastic Voyage.
Another example of Rick getting Morty into trouble comes in the next episode as he is inside a simulation as aliens are attempting to steal Rick’s recipe for the Concentrated Dark Matter. The girl with Morty tells him that he can put his fingers anywhere he wants as they makeout.
In the fifth episode, it is Morty’s turn to plan the adventure. This is an example of how the show pushes limits as Morty comes across a humanoid Jellybean in the restroom at a pub and the Jellybean attempts to rape Morty. Rick later murders Jellybean, who was revealed as the King of the village Rick and Morty were working for.
Meanwhile, Morty’s parents were using an invention of Rick’s called the Meeseeks Box. Meeseeks would po into existence and help you with a problems, only to then pop out of existence. However, taking two strokes off Jerry’s golf game. Finding it impossible, more Meeseeks are summoned until they go wild with their failure to improve the golf game, trying to murder Jerry.
Again, this is not your child’s animated show. The adult themes and jokes are all over the place, but they make Rick & Morty very funny to watch.
June 29
Movie 29
The iconic character of Red Sonja has been hot lately in comic books so it was a good time last year to do another chance at a full length Red Sonja movie.
The sword-and-sorcery flick starred Matilda Lutz as Sonja.
According to IMDB, “Captured and forced to fight for survival, Red Sonja must rally an army of outcasts to reclaim her freedom and take down a tyrant and his ruthless bride.“
The Red Sonja movie was better than I anticipated. I liked this more than the Red Sonja from 1985 with Brigitte Nielsen… quite a bit more actually. I think Matilda Lutz does a great job of bringing Red Sonja to life. I like how she is not an over the top muscular character, because she feels more like what I see in the comics.
Story wise, there was not a ton of original moments in the film. The scenes all felt like I had seen it before in other sword-and-sorcery movies. However, most of these familiar scenes were executed fairly well.
I loved the Conan mention near the end of the film. I would love to see this Red Sonja with King Conan.
This is a far from perfect film, but I did enjoy watching it. There was nothing here that made me dislike it. It is a good use of the character of Red Sonja.
#100
The Day The Earth Blew Up
Released: March, 2025
Rating: PG
Runtime: 91 minutes
Animation Style: traditional 2D hand-drawn
I’m not sure that this film would make a top 100 list normally, but I really wanted Looney Tunes to be represented on this list and there were no other potential films available. The feature film included Daffy Duck and Porty Pig and an alien invasion of earth.
This was a lot of fun, though it was missing Bugs Bunny, in my opinion.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 