Author Archives: Doc

A Disturbance in the Force (2023)

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June 24, 2024

A Long, Long Time Ago… in a Galaxy far away… Well, maybe not that far away.

Few fandoms are as currently as toxic as the Star Wars fandom. Not to put down the entire group of people for the divisiveness of some, but there is no denying that Star Wars fans lean towards hyperbole. One only needs to look at the discourse surrounding the new Disney + series, The Acolyte, to understand it.

However, the Star Wars universe had something once that is both beloved and reviled unlike anything else. It was something that George Lucas himself wanted to see banished from the canon of his creation. It was something that Star Wars fans desperately tried to see for decades… a badge of honor among those who truly called themselves Star Wars aficionados.

The Star Wars Holiday Special.

So today’s June Swoon focused in on a documentary from Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak all about the creation of and response to on of the most infamous TV specials of all fandom.

Between the release of Star Wars and Empire Strikes back, the CBS network wanted a Star Wars special to broadcast over the holiday season and they turned it into a variety show, featuring Chewbacca’s family as well as Bea Arthur, Harvey Korman and Art Carney. It aired once and then disappeared, only to be seen by those who could find a bootleg copy.

This documentary included clips of all of the Star Wars performers, including Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher with their thoughts on the special. Harrison Ford’s responses are always the most entertaining as he is clearly hoping the special would disappear forever.

There were also interviews of a ton of famous people in the geek community giving their comments and thoughts on the special including such notable stars as Kevin Smith, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Bobcat Goldthwait, Seth Green, Paul Scheer, Donny Osmond, Gilbert Gottfried, and Patton Oswalt. There were a lot of interviews with people involved in the creation of the special including Bruce Vilanch, Mick Garris, Bob Mackie among others.

Though the doc certainly says that this special was bad, there was items included that show how some people, particular those who may have seen the special as a child, loved the show. Jon Favreau is an unapologetic fan of the special and they showed how he included Easter eggs from it in The Mandalorian. The clips from the animated section of the special was shown as the first place we saw Boba Fett.

The documentary was very funny and gave real opinions of people who were desperate at the time for content in the Star Wars community. One wonders what the fandom today would do if something like the Star Wars Holiday Special were to be released on Disney +. The review bombing that would happen would be generational.

All Star Wars fans should be looking for this documentary, which I rented on Amazon Prime. If you are interested in how something like this able to be created, you should check this out. It was highly entertaining and an easy watch.

Bates Motel S2 E5

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Spoilers

“The Escape Artist”

Norman is such a nice guy. He is so easy to root for in this show that it is almost really sad that you know where he is going to wind up. It is easy to forget about his psychotic tendencies when he is played with such charm and warmth by Freddie Highmore.

This show does a great job of creating Norman Bates as a character that you can enjoy and root for while still seeing how he winds up with his mother stuffed in a rocking chair in his attic.

I’ve mentioned this before, but this show has also done a sensational job of creating an ensemble around Norman filled with three-dimensional characters that enrich Bates Motel wonderfully.

There was a tremendous scene between Norma and Romero in this episode. I know where this will eventually go and this episode is the first time we see some sparks, albeit slight ones, between these characters. Romero is such a bad ass and that little chink in his armor came with a slight smile.

Dylan is another tremendous character this show introduced us to as Norman’s brother, who despite everything cares for him, and who is also a bad ass.

Norma lecturing Norman about spending time with Cody when she is constantly involved with the wrong people is the height of hypocrisy. Norma clearly knows that when Romero tells her about the councilman Lee Birman died in a car crash, her new ally Nick Ford had something to do with it. I mean, he specifically told Norma not to worry about Lee Birman. He couldn’t have been more ominous if he had tried.

Then, both Norman and Emma had sex in this episode. Both with different people, of course. Personally, I like Cody much more than the post smoker Emma slept with.

The Detective Daniel Prophet Podcast Episode 6

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The finale.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6s2cE162Q1RAcQP0gEKAvL?si=2vyBNFPuSg6ExesZc49Z_g

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I am very proud of this podcast. I came up with the idea for my squad, which was the Actor’s Guild, after taking a class on Podcasts in the Classroom as a license renewal credit. I wrote up a script, and assigned roles to the different students. I have not listed their names online just to be safe, but I am very pleased with their efforts.

Setting the story of the podcast in Dalton Hill really helped make the podcast feel important to me. Dalton Hill is one of the books that I wroted, based on a short story that I wrote in college. I love the character of Lincoln Phillips and I was excited to include him in this podcast. I was also excited when the young student who voiced Lincoln joined the project. He was very talented and he leant a lot of credibility to the project for the rest of the Actor’s Guild.

I think what we accomplished here was awesome considering no one here was a professional and that we really only had around a half and hour a week to do it. I did use time outside the squad time to record some of the staff members who joined in on the podcast. I want to thank everyone who took their time to record something with me. You helped make this awesome.

I know the listeners are limited, but that does not limit my enthusiasm for this project or for what we were able to accomplish. I have an idea for a second podcast, though I do not know the status for squads next year at school. I hope that we can continue with this moving forward.

A huge thank you to those 8th grade students who contributed to the podcast, who will be moving on to high school next year. You all should be proud of what you helped do.

The X-Files S5 E15

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Spoilers

“Travelers”

This was an interesting episode that was fairly odd.

It was all a flashback. Not only the main part of the story, but also the framing device including Fox Mulder. When we saw Mulder in this episode, this predated his arrival at the X-Files. Truthfully, this introduced Mulder to the concept of the X-Files.

I am not sure the purpose for this episode, outside of highlighting the time of American history when people from our government targeted certain individuals as Communists for political reasons. It was also nice to see Mulder’s father, Bill, involved in the story. Bill Mulder was the hook that brought Fox Mulder into the narrative in the first place.

I liked the aesthetic of the episode, with the throwback look of the show. The fifties feel was very retro and it was a cool break from the typical design of the X-Files. Connecting this to Nazi scientists who had come to America to continue experiments was a solid tie-in and worked for this episode. The do not go too deep into anything from here though.

This was a fun episode, but it was a total filler episode. I do not know i f any of this would mean anything moving forward. I think it was just meant to be a show placed just after Mulder reclaimed his belief system, to give us a way to easy back into the status quo of the series.

Of course, it also meant that we did not get anything with Gillian Anderson and that is always an unwelcomed thing.

El Conde (2023)

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June 23, 2024

Today’s June Swoon entry is a piece of historical fiction blended into a vampire tale that received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography this past Oscars.

El Conde tells the story of Chile’s brutal dictator Augusto Pinochet (Jaime Vadell) as a 250-year old vampire who arrived at a point that he wanted to die. His sycophant children came to see him, with the hope that they would receive their inheritance. When they were unsure of the plans of their father, they hired a nun named Carmen (Paula Luchsinger) to find the missing fortune, although Carmen has ideas of her own to put into place.

The film is a black comedic satire of not only the vampire movies, but also of the political world of the time. One only needs to wait to discover the mother of Augusto Pinochet is to understand that.

There are some really gross moments in the film, but everything is shot in black and white which makes it more artistic. Again, to avoid spoilers, the use of a blender definitely stands out as one of the creepier aspects of the film.

The film may drag on a bit, but it does have its funny moments and makes the most of its gimmick. The performances are decent and the film looks amazing. El Conde is available for streaming on Netflix.

Battlestar Galactica S1 E4, E5

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Spoilers

“Acts of Contrition”

“You Can’t Go Home Again”

This is a two-part adventure featuring Starbuck that was really epic.

I will state that I had some problems with the first part of the episode knowing what time frame was going on at certain times. As we started with Starbuck in a Viper and spinning out of control, and, as far as I remembered, that was not where we left off with episode three.

Then, they bounced around, kind of like Starbuck was seeing her life flash before her eyes. At least, that is how I took it, though it did not make for easy viewing. Again, I was not sure what was present day and what wasn’t.

However, that did not last for long and once I was able to get my bearing for the episode, this turned into an incredible fight for survival.

Watching Starbuck find that Cylon vessel and figure out how to fly it back to Galactica was exceptional. I do wonder how she wrote her name on the wings of the ship to avoid getting shot by the fleet. I loved how she just kind of flew rings around Apollo while he was mistakenly attempting to destroy the Cylon ship she was piloting.

We learned a lot about our main characters during this attempted rescue mission including Adama. Starbuck confessed her passing of Zach when he should have failed to Adama. Still, you could see how important she was to him and to Apollo as they were willing to put it all at risk to save her.

There was an advancement of Helo on Caprica too as a pair of Cylon machines get into a firefight with him. After this, he cannot find Sharon. This is a still evolving story bit.

I enjoyed this two-part episode even if Starbuck’s ability to fix and pilot the Cylon ship is stretching reality. I just took it as she made herself some great dice rolls (as in D&D). Perhaps some natural 20s.

Or is there more to it?

Thelma

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I have enjoyed seeing June Squibb in just about every supporting role she has ever had, from the movie Nebraska to the role of Mee-Maw on The Big Bang Theory. She was just recently the voice of Nostalgia in Inside Out 2 as well as voice acting in Ralph Breaks the Internet, Soul and Toy Story 4. She has had a tremendous career so far.

That is extremely impressive for the 94-year old actress. You can add another accolade to June Squibb’s resume. A lead role in a funny and heart-warming movie called Thelma.

Thelma Post (June Squibb) is still living alone, two years after the death of her long time husband, and, as a 93-year old, she is worrying her family who wonder if she can continue to live unassisted. Her grandson Daniel (Fred Hechinger) tries to help her out, but truth be told, he has enough trouble keeping himself moving forward.

So when Thelma receives a scam phone call stating that Daniel had been in an accident and needed her to mail $10,000 to help, Thelma fell for the act and mailed the money.

Embarrassed by her naivety and with the police being no help, Thelma decides to take things into her own hands and starts out to find the scam artists and get her money back.

June Squibb is excellent here. She is so charming and she is clearly a force of nature that I believe every far fetched situation that she is place within. Some of her choices are remarkably dangerous, and you just know that something was going to go wrong with this, but you can’t help but root for her anyway.

It is also great to see Clark Gregg once again. Our beloved Agent Phil Coulson is playing Thelma’s son-in-law, a twitchy, over-protective father married to a neurotic woman, Thelma’s daughter Gail (played by the ever awesome Parker Posey). Gregg and Posey are excellent here as the overbearing parents of Daniel, whose love for their son may get in the way of his development.

Despite some of the credibility-stretching scenes, there is a lot of heart to this movie as well. There are plenty of comments directed toward the aging process and how some have more troubles than others. There are several scenes set at a retirement/old folks home that show the whole gamut of the aging process. It has several jokes directed at aging, but they are done with surprising kindness.

Richard Roundtree had a major supporting role in this film as an old friend of Thelma who owned a scooter that she needed for her own independence. Roundtree was fantastic as Ben and brought a new element to the story.

This was a lot of fun and, despite being far fetched in a lot of things, it was charming enough to overcome any issues it might have.

3.7 stars

The Exorcism

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I wonder what the producers have on Russell Crowe? They must have something for him to appear in this train wreck.

Russell Crowe played Tony Miller, an actor with his share of personal problems, takes a job playing a priest in an exorcism/possession movie, and the role is bringing up all kinds of past troubles. Meanwhile, his estranged daughter Lee (Ryan Simpkins) is trying to get past her own problematic history with her dad.

David Hyde Pierce is here too, playing Father Conor, and being a huge distraction as he just looks too much like Niles Crane. Sam Worthington is in the movie, but he is totally underused, and Chloe Bailey is here too for some reason.

I found this to be trash. The first two-thirds of the film was dull and then the final act of the film was so off-the-track that had there been any goodwill generated previously, it would be spent completely. The story was ridiculous. The characters were wasted. The backstory of Tony was jumbled and not delivered in a manner in which it could be understood. Poor Niles was there looking for Frasier.

The acting was not very good. I mean, I believe that Russell Crowe was giving it his all, but I felt as if the director of the film in the film, played by Adam Goldberg, was constantly berating Tony’s performance and it made me question what Crowe was doing too.

There was a potential story that was here that could have been different and potentially fascinating, but this was not it. This was another terrible movie this year, which seems to be packing them up all over the place.

1.3 stars

The ABCs of Book Banning (2023)

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June 22, 2024

It is another busy day, so I made time this morning for another Oscar nominated documentary short film, and it is one whose topic is close t my heart. The ABCs of Book Banning is a look at some of the books that have been banned, challenged or restricted in schools across the country and the thoughts from children about the banning.

The film showed many books and gave excerpts from them in order to show a type of book that seemed to be banned more than others. A high percentage of these books appear to be about those segments of society that are different from the “normal” public. Black & Jewish history, those dealing with LGBTQ + community, those dealing with power for women… these are the majority of the books shown.

The film began with 100-year old Grace Lin speaking to a school board about the banning of books and how it went against everything that she believed and that her husband, who died in World War II, fought for.

The most effective part of the film was the comments made by the children. These kids were asked about the books. These children were very well spoken and convincing.

The slideshow-like was less effective, basically just showing images of the banned books and animating some for illustration. I saw several books that I have on my own shelf show up on the screen, including EYG Hall of Fame graphic novel Maus.

This film does feel slight and does not go into the specifics of the topic. I do not have a problem with the film stating that they wanted to give voice to the one side of this issue since the voice for the banning has been so loud, but I needed more substance to it.

I am totally opposed to the idea of book banning and find the act repulsive. This is not quite as powerful as I would have liked.

Doctor Who S14 Finale

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S14 E8

S1 E9

S1 E8…… any other choices?

Spoilers

“Empire of Death”

I’m not worrying about numbering this. This is the finale.

Doctor Who ended its first season available on Disney + with the second part of its epic finale, following up on the amazing reveal last week of Sutekh, the God of Death who had been hitching a ride on the Tardis for years after the 4th Doctor believed that he had destroyed Sutekh.

After an amazing reveal last week, expectations were huge for the final episode, and I am happy to say that the finale reached them… mostly.

The episode certainly revealed a lot of truths and when that sand started swirling around, killing everyone in its path, my mouth started to drop. Now, when it started crossing the entire earth, it became pretty apparent that things were not going to stick. When it was just UNTIL, I thought maybe that would be the end, but that became clear qquickly.

I enjoyed the two specials with David Tennant, but I have truly come to love Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor. I have seen a very few Doctors over the years, but Ncuti Gatwa is just amazing. He is an emotional performer. He showed the tears of the Doctor across this entire episode.

I am sure that the interior of the memory Tardis that Doctor, Ruby and Mel escaped in was filled with unbelievable Easter eggs. I saw the scarf of Tom Baker in there. I did not know much about the history of Doctor Who and I can just imagine those breakdown videos on YouTube will be going crazy with this scene.

Sutekh looked awesome. The giant dog gripped the Tardis with a passion, the lifeline that he held for so long.

The episode did feel like there was a lot of exposition, but I guess that was necessary. And I did love the Doctor showing that he was smarter than you would think when he realized that Mel had been compromised and set Sutekh up.

The truth of Ruby Sunday’s mother was an interesting tweak, with the Doctor saying that they had given the woman the specialty by assigning her that importance. I’m not sure why Ruby can make it snow, but I hope that means we’ll get more Ruby down the road.

It sure seemed as if Ruby’s story was done, but I am not so sure. I think she will be back next season.

And how about Miss Flood talking to the camera at the very end with a scary message of the future of the Doctor? Who is this woman and what does that mean for a second (or 15th) season? I don’t know, but I will be watching.

The Bikeriders

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The Bikeriders is a new film from director Jeff Nichols and was inspired by a photograph book by Danny Lyons of the same name that depicted the life of a motorcycle gang in Illinois. Despite the fact that this is inspired by this photo-book, the film itself is a fictional story.

According to IMDB, “After a chance encounter at a local bar, strong-willed Kathy (Jodie Comer) is inextricably drawn to Benny (Austin Butler), the newest member of Midwestern motorcycle club, the Vandals led by the enigmatic Johnny (Tom Hardy). Much like the country around it, the club begins to evolve, transforming from a gathering place for local outsiders into a dangerous underworld of violence, forcing Benny to choose between Kathy and his loyalty to the club.”

The ensemble cast in The Bikeriders is tremendous and they all provide great performances no matter how long they were on screen. Austin Butler is wonderful and the relationship between him and Jodie Comer are the backbone of the movie. Tom Hardy gives a top notch performance as the head of the bike group. Others in the ensemble include Michael Shannon, Boyd Halbrook, Norman Reedus, Mike Faist, Damon Herriman, Emory Cohen, Beau Knapp, and Toby Wallace.

The story is solid as we see how much this motorcycle club means to the individual. Tom Hardy and Austin Baker work very well together. I enjoyed the struggle within the story for Baker.

I also liked the format for the narrative as we see Jodie Comer being interviewed by the character played by Mike Faist, who was a former member of the motorcycle club and returned as the photographer Danny Lyons who would be the person who did the photo-book this was based upon.

I was not looking forward to this movie, but it was better than I expected it to be. Great actors working well together to tell a solid story.

3.85 stars

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (2023)

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June 21, 2024

The next movie in the June Swoon 3 is the third film in a sequel called My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3.

This really feels like a sitcom that has done that special episode that sends the family to a vacation spot and they go on location to film. You know, like the Brady Bunch in Hawaii or the Grand Canyon, Happy Days in Los Angeles with shark jumping, or Blossom in Paris.

The plot of the film centers around a family reunion in Greece after the death of Toula’s (Nia Vardalos) father. However, most of the film just has a bunch of individual moments among the run time for the different characters. These conflicts through the film appeared, were mostly solved easily and then the film moved on. Just like a sitcom.

There are a few giggles throughout, but most of the film’s humor is at that ‘bad-sitcom’ level. Most of them fall flat.

I do like Andrea Martin and Maria Vacratsis and their little old Greek women characters. They had the best one liners and, if something was funny, it usually came from them.

There was some beautiful exterior shots of Greece. It’s like a postcard for tourists.

There is not much here for a movie. It feels very disposable and fluffy. Nothing of substance here.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #103

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June 20, 2024

It is time for the EYG Comic Cavalcade! This weekend, I went to the Northpark Mall in Davenport to go to the Quad Con Comic & Toy Show. I went to this in Dubuque last year at the Five Flags Center, but I enjoyed that one more. This time was spread out throughout the entire mall and I spent a lot of time just walking around and I was tired by the end. I did pick up a ton of books, specifically several Amazing Spider-Man books. My favorite was Amazing Spider-Man #58, in a CGC case, rated 7.5. I got a bunch of Captain America Vol. 4 books out of the dollar box.

Loaded up on a bunch of books from eBay too. Some issue that were missing from my collection. With my CLZ, I can see the odd issues that I did not have. So I grabbed some things such as Patsy Walker aka Hellcat #10, Groo the Wanderer #90, New Warriors #58, Rom #40, Black Knight: Curse of the Ebony Blade #4, and Ms. Marvel #8.

Other books this week:

Saga #66. Another of the eBay books was the most recent Saga issue. I have been desperate to get these since completing the ninth volume. I can only say that I can’t wait for the next issue. Come on Vaughn and Staples…. let’s get this done!

Groo: Gods Against Groo #1-4. Another one I got from eBay (delivered today actually) and I love Groo. Yes, the jokes may be repetitive, but they are always funny. Sergio Aragones is exceptional and keeps getting Groo better and better.

The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #10. Written by Tate Brombal and art by Isaac Goodhart. Cover art by Nick Robles (Gold Medalist). This episode goes into more depth with Christopher Chaos as he tries to discover what he is.

Captain America #10. “Revelations from the West End” Written by J. Michael Straczynski and art by Jesus Saiz. Taurin Clarke did the cover art for this issue. Cap goes to recruit a seer for Lyra, but Steve does not know that the seer has her own agenda.

Blow Away #3. Written by Zac Thompson and illustrated by Nicola Izzo. Annie Wu did the cover art for this one (Silver Medalist). Brynne has decided that she needs to find out what happened to the hikers she has dubbed Red and Blue, after their coat colors. What kind of danger is she going to find herself in?

Sensational She-Hulk#9. Written by Rainbow Rowell and art by Andres Genolet. Genolet and Romulo Fajardo Jr did the cover art. She-Hulk is being recruited for the Avengers and that might upset her entire life. Will it out her relationship with Jack of Hearts. This is the penultimate issue for this series (which makes me really sad) so we will see what the new normal for Jenn is going to be.

Invincible Iron Man #19. “If I Only Had a Heart” Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Andrea Di Vito. Kael Ngu was the cover artist. Tony and Rhodey reunited in their armor to finish up the Orchis battle. And Rhodey recruited a group of characters to form together to become “The Work-Release Avengers!” Not really, but that line made me literally laugh out loud.

Feral #4. Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Trish Forstner & Tone Rodriguez. Forstner & Fleecs teamed up for the cover art. The cats return to their human home only to find even more horrors going on. The rabies outbreak is not stopped by their home.

Amazing Spider-Man #52. Written by Zeb Wells and art by Ed McGuinness & Todd Nauck. McGuinness & Marcio Menyz did the cover art. Peter has been transformed into the Spider-Goblin by Norman Osborn, but is there someone who is here to help him? And how is it Ben Reilly?

Doctor Strange #16. Written by Jed MacKay and art by Pasqual Ferry. Alex Ross did the cover art. Another Blood Hunt tie in issue. The focus is on Wong and him trying to prevent the attack of Victor Strange. This is an intriguing Blood Hunt tie-in.

Captain Marvel #9. “Bezdar” Written by Alyssa Wong and penciled by Ruairi Coleman. Stephen Segovia & Romulo Fajardo Jr. did the cover art. Another penultimate issue of a series, Carol is trying to stop the Undone when she comes face to face with Yuna and Leonore, which brings about a tragic ending.

Uncanny Valley #3. Written by Tony Fleecs and art and cover art by Dave Wachter. Still a very creative story as Pecos Peet and Oliver are running from toons out to get them. Sorry, but the greatest thing ever happened as we meet the character Kung Fu Buggy. Yeah baby!!!! A whole lot of fun.

House of Slaughter #24. “The Butcher’s War Part Four” Written by Tate Brombal and illustrated by Antonio Fuso. Cover art was done by Nimit Malavia and Werther Dell’edera. Jace is facing all kind of troubles from the Dragons and Jolie is causing all kinds of problems.

Wolverine: Blood Hunt #2. Written by Tom Waltz and art by Juan Jose Ryp. Ben Harvey did the cover art. Wolverine and Nightguard are being pursued by Maverick’s vampires, as Maverick has a plan to take advantage of what is happening across the planet. Even though I do not collect Wolverine, I have enjoyed this short Blood Hunt mini-series so far.

Man’s Best #4. Written by Pornsak Pichetshote and illustrated and cover art by Jesse Lonergan. The two dogs and a cat are trying to find the Captain, and as they are going on, they are having all kinds of troubles with each other. They are displaying really human traits as they doubt each other and fight between themselves. I believe this is also a penultimate issue, setting up the conclusion next month.

Black Panther: Blood Hunt #2. Written by Cheryl Lynn Eaton and with art by Farid Karami. Andrea Sorrentino did the cover art. This is a tough read. As much as I have been enjoying the Wolverine mini series, this one is less so. There has been so much going down with gods such as Khonsu or Bast that there is less about Black Panther. I did consider this as one of the medal winners this week.

Under York #2. Written by Sylvain Runberg and art and cover art by Mirka Andolfo. I had a hard time with this book. It has been such a long time since issue #1 was released that I just did not remember much of anything that was going on. None of the characters stuck out to me and I found most of this a chore to get through. Hopefully it will not be multiple months before the next issue comes out.

Immortal Thor #12. “The End of All Songs” Written by Al Ewing and art by Valentina Pinti. Alex Ross did the cover art (Bronze Medalist). The children of Odin story continued as Thor and the rest come to face off with Tiwaz.

Uncle Scrooge and the Infinite Dime #1. Written by Jason Aaron and art by Oaolo Mottura, Francesco D’ippolito, Alessandro Pastrovicchio & VItale Mangiatordi and Giada Perissinotto. My variant cover was done by Ron Lim & Nolan Woodard. Marvel is owned by Disney. Hence, we get Uncle Scrooge, who, according to writer Jason Aaron, is the greatest adventurer of all time. I may disagree with that sentiment, but it is a cool issue to own for my collection. I am looking forward to the Disney What If books that are promoted within.

Spider-Woman #8. “New Kids on the Block” Written by Steve Foxe and with art by Ig Guara. Cover art was by Leinil Francis Yu and Sunny Gho. Jessica is in San Francisco and trying to deal with the new group of heroes, The Assembly. Is there something sinister behind this group. Duh, of course there is.

Ultimate Spider-Man #6. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Marco Checchetto. Checchetto teamed with Matthew Wilson as cover artists. Peter finally lets Mary Jane and his family know that he is being a super hero (part because of his bruised face, other part because of May’s blurting out). He also gets the name he will be going by… Spider-Man!

Dracula: Blood Hunt #2. Written by Danny Lore and with art by Vincenzo Carratù. Cover art was done by Mateus Manhanini. Dracula is in pursuit of Brielle, who is running away instead of going after her father. There is a great cameo by Daredevil here.

Displaced #5. “What’s Left?” Written by Ed brisson and illustrated and cover art by Luca Casalanguida. This brought this mini series to an end, and I have enjoyed this series. However, I am just not fond of the way this one ended. It felt a little anticlimactic.

Other books this week: Destro #1, Venomverse Reborn #1, Project Cryptid #6, and The One Hand #5.

The Boys S4 E4

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Spoilers

“Wisdom of the Ages”

Holy crap.

This episode was unbelievably brutal and full of shocking moments of violence and character developing beats.

I literally gasped multiple times in the episode. Each event worst than the last.

Homelander: butchering the people from the lab in the most tauntingly evil way possible. Burning Frank. Burning Marty’s penis off. Bloodbath with the rest.

Starlight: Violent attack on Firecracker because FC revealed her abortion.

Butcher: Has little parasites swimming around inside his body, assuming from the Compound V he tried to inject to save himself.

Hughie: His father nearing death, Hughie decided to try to save him with Compound V. Hughie’s mom does it.

Sage: Had The Deep give her a frontal lobotomy so she did not have to be herself for a couple of hours before her brain regenerated. This was a horrible scene that I could barely stand to watch.

Kimiko: With Hughie, fought off the Shining Light Liberation Army. Hughie sliced one of the Shining Lighters in the throat as it spurted all over him.

Frenchie: Confessed to Colin that he had killed Colin’s family. Colin flipped out and beat Frenchie badly.

It felt like every minute, something new and horrifying was happening. I feel as if my descriptions barely did this show’s scenes justice. They were truly horrendous.

So much happened. It was so bleak. It is half way through the season and they are definitely in dark times.

All of Us Strangers (2023)

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June 20, 2024

All of Us Strangers is the next film on the schedule for the June Swoon 3, and it is a lovely movie that deals with deep seeded loss and grief, while not falling into the trap of making the film maudlin or depressing.

Adam Scott gives a tremendous performance as Adam, a screenwriter who has a chance encounter with Harry (Paul Mescal) at his apartment building. Harry was drunk and looking for someone to spend time with, but Adam rejects him. Then, Adam goes to see and spend time with his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) at his childhood home. The only drawback… Adam’s parents died in a tragic car crash when he was a little boy.

As the audience member, you are never quite sure through the run of the film what was going on. Was this a ghost story? Was this all invented inside Adam’s mind? What exactly was happening? The uncertainty of the film played well as you connect with Adam and feel the pain that his unresolved grief was causing in him.

The film was beautifully shot. Andrew Haigh was the director and he did a fantastic job constructing the scenes, such as the trip to the night club, which had a dream-like aesthetic to it. It helped to create the mood of the piece, keeping the magical feel of the film while still rooting everything in the loneliness and grief felt by Adam.

I also thought the ending of the film was wonderfully constructed. While I had an idea by this point of what was going on, the actual truth of the story was unexpected and fit amazingly in the structure of the story. The very end was a lovely design to express such a hope of the world.

The four main actors: Adam Scott, Paul Mescal, Claire Foy and Jamie Bell are astonishing in these performances and their interactions with the others. The performances are the best part of the film, but far from the only parts that make this a beautiful film.