Author Archives: Doc

Fargo S5 E10

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“Bisquik”

I loved the final scene of this season! I did not know that I needed it so much. 

The finale of the tremendous season was so very satisfying even though it was nowhere like I expected it to be. 

The whole standoff was done in like ten minutes. We did not get the final showdown between Roy and Dorothy. We did have a showdown, but it was not final nor was it as epic as I thought it was going to be.

Most of this episode would be considered falling action in the plot map. Basically, they wrapped up the conflict quickly and then they showed us where everyone woundup.

RIP to Deputy Witt Farr. I was yelling at the screen for him to shoot Roy in the head as he held the renegade sheriff at gun point. When Roy would not drop the knife he was holding, I was getting nervous and I was right to be nervous as Roy killed Witt with that knife. It was a shocking death that I did not expect and Dorothy’s reaction after was one of deep pain.

The episode was filled with great final interactions including Dorothy shooting Roy in the gut, Dorothy being so sweet to Gator, Dorothy reuniting with Wayne and Scotty, Dorothy’s hug with Lorraine, and Lorraine’s meeting with Roy in prison. But everything was building to the scene that I had no idea that I really needed.

Dorothy and Ole Munch… aka Oola Moonk. 

In a season of so much violence and anger, this soft and kind scene between the man and the tiger was so beautiful. Moonk was clearly thrown off his game by the manner of Dorothy and her family. When Wayne handed him an orange pop, the look on Moonk’s face was everything. The Sin-eater kept speaking to the past and the code, but Dorothy was having none of it. It was halfway to dinner and a school night so Dorothy said either wash your hands and help or do this another time.

The switch of scene to Moonk washing his hands was perfect.

And the look on his face after taking a bite of the biscuit ‘made with love’ was a perfect punctuation to the season. What a beautiful image. It truly filled my soul with hope and kindness. 

What a wonderful season finale. Honestly, I loved this and it was so unexpected that it caught me totally off-guard. 

EYG Comic Cavalcade #78

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January 20, 2024

Welcome to EYG Comic Cavalcade #78. 

I got a whole bunch of books from eBay this week. The eBay books I pick up are usually those odd ball books that you may not find anywhere else. In fact, I picked up three different series of The Tick. One was The Tick Color #1-4. Then Tick and Arthur #1-6 and finally The Tick: Big Blue Destiny #1-5. I do love the Tick and my Tick collection is sparse at best. 

After that, I was able to pick up Howard the Duck Vol. 3 #2, 3,and 4. Number one is actually on the way separately as this seemed as if the conditions were better than the one set on eBay that had all of the volume 3 in it. I think there was also a variant cover coming with that #1. When that arrives, I do believe that I have all of the Howard the Duck volumes in my collection, leaving only those stranger ones.

Not from eBay directly, via Todd actually, is Ice Cream Man #20. I had a second printing of this already, but this is the Local Comic Shop Day edition of the book. This was very much like the Swan Song #6 from last week and it was a ton of fun and yet still quite creepy.

New books this week:

Invincible Iron Man #14. ”Here Be Mandarin Rings“ Written by Gerry Duggan and art by guest artist Andrea Di Vito. Kael Ngu was the cover artist. Tony Stark and Emma Frost get busy!!! Then Ironheart and Forge face dangers in space.

The Colonized: Zombies vs. Aliens. Written by Chris Ryall and drawn by Drew Moss. Cover art was by Fran Cavil. This was a lot of fun. Aliens arrive on earth, trying to collect specimens. Unfortunately, their ray brought the dead back, reanimating them into zombies. 

Deviant #3. Written by James Tynion IV and illustrated by Joshua Hixson. Who knew an axe to the face might not be a final blow? This story of serial killers and those investigating it has been thrilling so far.

Jackpot #1. Written by Celeste Bronfman and art by Joey Vazquez with Eric Gapstur. Pablo Villalobos & Romulo Fajardo Jr. did the cover art. Mary Jane Watson in her new Jackpot identity joins in on the Gang War storyline running through the Spidey and street level books. I’m still not sold on MJ as a superhero, but this was enjoyable enough.

Cobra Commander #1. Written by Joshua Williamson and art by Andrea Milana. One of the biggest surprises of the week, I really enjoyed this first issue starring Cobra’s head cheese. And the surprise captive that Cobra Commander has is worth the price of the book alone.

Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #4. Written by Brian Buccellato and art by Christian Duce and Tom Derenick. Drew Johnson and Romulo Fajardo Jr. did the cover art. We head to Atlantis for some watery battles and Aquaman is able to unleash the Kraken!

Avengers: Twilight #1. ”The Best of Us” Written by Chip Zdarsky and art by Daniel Acuna. Alex Ross and Daniel Acuna did the cover art. This was another surprise of the week as I typically do not love these potential future stories very much, but I was totally engaged with this one. Sad Spider-Man scene though.

Fantastic Four #16. ”Exalt Imagination“ Written by Ryan North and art by Francesco Mortarino. Cover art this week is the EYG Cover of the Week and it is by EYG Hall of Famer Alex Ross. Franklin and Valeria have to go to school in the FF’s new home of Arizona and they try to do something amazing for their science report. It might have backfired on them. Fun issue with these characters who have been gone for awhile. 

Daredevil #5. ”Introductory Rites” Part Five. Written by Saladin Ahmed and drawn by Farid Karami. Cover art by John Romita Jr, Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz. Father Matt and She-Hulk are out on the town and are eating food everywhere. Something is going on with Jen Walters and it’s going to take Father Matt to figure it out.

Amazing Spider-Man #42. Written by Zeb Wells and penciled by John Romita Jr. Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz did the cover art. Beetle and Madame Masque have a stare down as the Gang War continues. Then. sides are forming for the big thrown down. 

Cable #1. ”United We Fall“. Written by Fabian Nicieza and penciled by Scot Eaton. Whilce Portacio & Alex Sinclair did the cover art. Okay, I tried to get into this, but honestly Cable has never been a personal favorite of mine and this book was meh for me. 

Miguel O’Hara: Spider-Man 2099 #3. ”Beware… The Werewolf By Night of 2099“ Written by Steve Orlando and art by Jason Muhr. This was the Legacy issue #100 for Miguel as he has to deal with a Werewolf from 2099.

The Enfield Gang Massacre #6. ”Chapter Six: An Occurrence.” Written by Chris Condon and artwork by Jacob Phillips. This limited series comes to a close with a great sequence involving Enfield and a hangman’s noose. It was a sequence right out of an old Twilight Zone episode and it was well done.   

Other books read this week: Phantom Road #8, Superman: Lost #10, White Widow #3, Capwolf and the Howling Commandos #4, X-Men #30, Black Panther #8, Kill Your Darlings #5, and Guardians of the Galaxy #10. 

The Beekeeper

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In 2023, Jason Statham starred in two of the top three worst movies on my Worst Movie list. He is starting off 2024 better than that.

Adam Clay (Jason Statham) is a beekeeper who has rented some space from Eloise Parker (Phylicia Rashad) for his hives. When Eloise gets scammed out of all her money, including 2 million dollars from a charity that she ran, she kills herself. This set off Clay, who turned out to be a retired member of a special governmental group called the Beekeepers, and he went on a killing spree of everyone involved in the scam.

This was absolutely a poor-man’s John Wick. There is even the scene where the cocky young guy is told by a father-figure that he has messed up and is going to be killed and that there is nothing they can do about it. This felt right out of John Wick’s first film. 

The cocky young guy behind the scam scheme is Josh Hutcherson and he does a decent job of being slimy as could be. The ‘father-figure’ was a former CIA director played by Jeremy Irons. Both of these two did a great job as their characters, even if there is not much to them. This is a good example of good actors elevating parts that might not be very deep.

However, Hutcherson’s character’s eventual identity is very cringeworthy and is a big part of the finale of this movie that was so out there that it brought the film down.

The first part of the film was actually pretty decent and had a lot of fun, cheesy action with Jason Statham just killing fools. The film does go over the edge several times in the third act, stretching credibility to a thin. thin string.

There are two FBI agents that the film follows for some reason. Emma Raver-Lampman played Agent Veronica Parker, the daughter of Phylicia Rashad’s character but you could hardly guess that considering how detached she was most of the film. That plot point should have been eliminated or expanded upon instead of what was done. 

And as I have hinted at, the finale is just so improbably that, even in this type of a film, it makes you roll your eyes. This was very much like those crazy action movies of the 1990s. If that is what you are looking for, The Beekeeper is enough fun to get by, even if there are better movies that feature revenge killing. There were some decent kills in the first part of the film that were satisfying. There was one that was shown in the trailer that I wish would have been kept for the film because it would have been epic if I did not know it was coming.

Some of the dialogue of this movie was silly, with so many bee-puns that you just have to shake your head. 

The Beekeeper is dumb fun and a Jason Statham fan would enjoy this a lot. The dumb stuff never threatened to overwhelm the film and there was enough fun parts to make this watchable.

3.1 stars

I.S.S.

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I.S.S. stands for the International Space Station, and this is a science fiction movie set aboard the Space Station. It was a cooperative venture between the United States and Russia. 

Everything seemed to be going well until something happened on the earth. They could see the explosions from the space station. Then the Americans received a message from earth to take control of the I.S.S. using whatever means necessary.

I found most of the first hour fairly dull. I did not think most of these characters were developed and I did not have any connection to any of these people.

Ariana DeBose, Chris Messina, John Gallagher Jr, Maria Mashkova, Costa Ronin and Pilou Asbæk are the actors in the film and they are all fine, though not great in any stretch of imagination.

The effects of the film were pretty decent. The scenes of the explosions on earth were the coolest part. The use of the floating/lack of gravity was a cool effect too.

Other than that, I did not like much about this film.

2.5 stars

Yentl (1983)

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In my class, we are reading The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen. There is a section in there where the main character, Hannah, tells some other Jewish girls stories about movies & TV shows she has seen. One of those she mentioned in Yentl, starring Barbra Streisand. I had never seen that and I knew it was a musical so it fit right in the Genre-ary DailyView.

However, I am not sure if the film would be considered a musical. The structure of the film is different than most musicals. Despite Streisand’s character Yentl singing in some scenes, Yentl does not sing every time. In fact, there are some songs where we see her singing and, within the same song, she is not singing any more.

Yentl (Barbra Streisand) wanted to be able to study the Talmud, a main book in Jewish theology and law, but, as a woman, she was forbidden to do so. Still, her beloved father (Nehemiah Persoff) allowed her to study is secret. When he passed away, Yentl cut off her hair and donned a disguise as a man in order to be able to continue the study. Yentl met Avigdor (Mandy Patinkin) along the way and became friends with him. Yentl fell for him despite Avigdor being in love with another.

I did not know that Mandy Patinkin was in this movie. I love him from The Princess Bride so he brings a quality to this film that may not have been there for me without him. 

Barbra Streisand did all of the music in the film and her voice is, of course, stunning. The music works very well with the story that is being told. Michael Legrand won an Oscar for his work on the score.

I did have a few problems with the film. First, and most prominently, I had a difficult time accepting Barbra Streisand as a man. He voice, her beautiful face just did not speak man to me. I also wondered about the beard that this “man” never seemed to grow and never shaved.

That just is a matter of suspending disbelief, but I had a hard time believing that Mandy Patinkin, who was close up with Barbra several times, including roughhousing with her, could not tell the difference.

The film did feel cruel at times, especially toward Hadass (Amy Irving). When she married “Anshel” (Yentl’s male name), and the story had her fall for him, that felt particularly cruel and there was no pay off for that. The film really treated Hadass in a bad way.

However, the film is decent, with some powerful songs. Patinkin is great and I feel Streisand did the best she could to make her seem to be a male. 

Cry-Baby (1990)

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I loved Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street with Johnny Depp. So when I saw Cry-Baby on the list of musicals with Depp starring, I though this would be a great addition for the Genre-ary DailyView.

Boy, was I wrong.

I HATED THIS MOVIE!

There was really no story to it. The acting was horrendous. It was so stupid.

Johnny Depp was absolutely was just getting by. You can see flashes of the charisma that he will have later in his career, but this is such a terrible vehicle for him that those few flashes are hidden amongst the garbage.

The movie has 72% on Rotten Tomatoes which absolutely flabbergasts me. 

I will say that a few of the songs were catchy. In particular the song when Cry Baby was in jail. However, honestly, none of the other songs stood out to me at all.

I had just a terrible time watching this movie and I would put it on a list of my least favorite movies ever.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967)

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Another comedy/musical with a really long title is on the agenda for tonight’s entry in the Genre-ary DailyView. It is a 1967 movie that was based on a play from 1961 and a book from 1952. I have seen the play itself back on a Fathom movie several years ago when Stephen Colbert had a guest role in the musical. That was shot like a stage play though and, to be fair, I did not remember much about that film.

So I came into this 1967 film with the most basic of knowledge, which was, I guess, the title. None of the film that I watched reminded me of the musical version I saw so it works fine for the DailyView.

According to IMDB, “Twenty-seven year old New York window washer, J. Pierrepont Finch (Robert Morse), believes he can be a success in the corporate world after he impulsively picks up the book “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying“. The book promises its reader that he can climb the corporate ladder simply and quickly. The Worldwide Wicket Corporation, the business in the office building whose windows he washes is, according to the book, the perfect type of business. There he meets secretary Rosemary Pilkington (Michele Lee), who sees in Ponty (as she calls him) an unassuming man who she believes the corporate world will eat alive. But Ponty, memorizing what the book tells him, does quickly climb the corporate ladder but not by doing any real work.”

I have to say that I was much more interested in the Fathom Events version of this than the 1967 movie, especially at the start. As the film moved on, I was a little more engaged in the film because it was kind of fun to see how Finch was going to get himself out of the obvious trouble that he was in. 

The film certainly portrayed the people involved in business as incompetent boobs. Even the very top of the field were taken in by a little flattery and some machinations. 

I did like the fact that the actual book purchased by Finch would narrate the story, as Finch would read each entry. This was a neat feature.

The songs themselves were not as memorable as I would have liked. 

If I remember correctly, I enjoyed the Fathom Events one much more than this, although this did improve as it moved along.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)

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This musical started off immediately with “Comedy Tonight,” a song that I have heard many times, but had no idea was from this movie. It has been quite an education during the Genre-ary this year with songs in musicals. 

According to IMDB, “Pseudolus (Zero Mostel), the laziest slave in Rome, has one wish: to purchase his freedom. When his master and mistress leave for the day, he finds out that the young master has fallen in love with a virgin in the house of Marcus Lycus (Phil Silvers), a slave dealer specializing in beautiful women. Pseudolus concocts a deal in which he will be freed if he can procure the girl for young Hero (Michael Crawford). Of course, it can’t be that simple, and everything begins to go wrong.”

A great cast including Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Michael Crawford, Buster Keaton, Jack Gilford, Annette Andre, Leon Greene, and Michael Hordern do a great job with this clever, slapstick comedy. 

Zero Mostel was hamming it up the entire film. He was so committed to being over-the-top that it really worked with this movie. 

The chariot chase at the end of the movie was absolutely insane. 

Now, there were not that many songs that really stuck out, except for the opening “Comedy Tonight” and the reprise of it at the conclusion of the movie. The songs were written by Stephen Sondheim.

It was a silly movie that was fun to watch. Much more of a comedy than a musical.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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Week of January 17th

This week’s EYG Comic Cover of the Week comes from an EYG Hall of Fame legend. Someone who specializes in doing amazing covers. Covers that are always painting quality, and this is the first time that this EYG Hall of Famer has won the cover of the week.

Fantastic Four #16

Cover art by Alex Ross

True Detective: Night Country S4 E1

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“The Long Bright Dark”

True Detective season one was one of the best seasons of TV you are ever going to find. Season two was a huge step down. I did not watch season three. 

Season four has debuted on Max. I did not know it had started until I saw it on Hulu. I knew it was coming out soon, and I wanted to give this new season a chance.

Jodie Foster is the star of this season which is taking place in Alaska. Foster is a fantastic actor who has a realness to her, a natural feel. 

According to the opening text, this is set around December 17th, which was the last sunset of the year. I can’t imagine what it would be like to live at night for two weeks or more. 

This first episode started building up these characters and there are some definitely intriguing people living in Alaska. It also began the new case, with a body found without a tongue that apparently has ties to a previous one. That case had some tie to Kali Reis, the boxer-turned-actor, playing the role of trooper Evangeline Navarro, an indigenous native with some spiritual connections. 

There is something mystical going on too. It was not 100% clear what was happening. Ghosts maybe? There was a scene that reminded me of Killer Bob from Twin Peaks. Oh, and there was a polar bear. 

I found this interesting and I love the supernatural stuff here. Jodie Foster is top notch and I think this season has started off strong.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians S1 E6

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“We Take a Zebra to Vegas”

This week’s Percy Jackson episode felt a touch more comedic than we have had over the first five. That was an interesting tone as Percy, Annabeth and Grover attempted to find Hermes, played by the one and only Lin-Manuel Miranda. They had to go into a casino in Las Vegas called the Lotus, which leads to them to start forgetting details.

Based on the Odyssey, the Lotus was pumping forgetfulness into the air. While inside the casino, Grover forgot just about everything and went on a virtual quest to find Pan.

Meanwhile, Percy and Annabeth found Hermes, but discovered that time was passing slower inside the casino than it was outside, meaning that they missed the window to get into the Underworld. 

While this was still a solid episode, it did not feel as great as the last couple of weeks. However, it seems as if our trio is ready to head into the Underworld and complete their quest for the Master bolt. 

Not sure where the zebra comes into it though. Maybe I missed it.

Oh, and Percy is having dreams, including Hades in them. I was happy that he told Annabeth about it instead of just keeping them to himself. He’s a Greek demigod, dreams are part of the gig.

Death and Other Details S1 E1

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As I was preparing to finish up A Murder at the End of the World on Hulu today, I happened across another series that dropped today called Death and Other Details. What drew my attention to this was the thumbnail that featured Mandy Patinkin.

I then read the synopsis and it told me that Patinkin was playing the world’s greatest detective, Rufus Cotesworth and that he was investigating a locked-room murder aboard a luxury ocean liner. 

That was enough for me. I do like murder mysteries and this had a bit of a combination of Adrian Monk and Benoit Blanc. Mandy Patinkin is always excellent and I was excited to see the show.

After watching the first episode, I can say that this is totally okay… and has a chance to be entertaining, even if the first episode may not have reached that level.

Rufus was on the liner investigating another case, and the story was being told in flashbacks about a case that he did not solve earlier in his career, A mother blew up in a car bomb in front of her young daughter, scarring the girl for life. This girl, now an adult, named Imogene Scott (Violett Beane), happened to be on the boat too, and had an interaction with the murder victim that made her look like a prime suspect. 

Not sure how much I liked Imogene and that was a drawback to the show. I hope that once I get connected to her more, I’ll enjoy the show more. It was okay. 

A Murder at the End of the World E4-E7

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I had said at one point that I would be very disappointed if Andy, as the guest of this trip, would turn out to be the killer because it was a boring, overused trope. For awhile, I was afraid that the show was absolutely heading in that direction.

Then it turned.

The show was very intense and powerful. I really enjoyed the mystery and I found Darby to be an outstanding protagonist. The other characters all were well done. There were a few of the other characters who were just there and were not involved in the main story that was being told, but that was alright.

Admittedly, the show did turn to another old trope a its solution. The renegade AI. 

The AI known as Ray was shown to be the reason why Bill was murdered, but it was a bit of a change. Ray did not go off on his own as all AIs are destined to do. Instead, he was following what he thought was an instruction from Andy during a rant over his anger. Andy was anything but innocent here. His temper and his violent streak certainly led to the beginning of the deaths that was going on.

However, the trick of making the little boy Zoomer the person who injected Bill with the killing dose of morpheme, because Zoomer was playing a game designed by Ray. A game of doctor, much like he did in the first episode. That was a clever twist that I did not see coming. I did think about Ray early on in the episodes, but I did not go any further.

This was an excellent limited series with a protagonist, played by Emma Corrin, that is awesome and fun to watch. I love smart when it comes to characters. And Darby was very smart.

Viva Las Vegas (1964)

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How could you do a musical list without an entry from the King?

I have not seen very many of Elvis Presley’s movies, despite the fact that he made dozens of them. However, Viva Las Vegas worked as the musical for the Genre-ary DailyView and so we take a trip around the race track with the King.

Lucky (Elvis Presley) was in Las Vegas for a Gran Prix race, but he had yet to purchase the motor for his car. In an attempt to earn the money gambling, Lucky was very successful. Unfortunately, trying to woo a woman he met at the hotel named Rusty (Ann-Margret), he lost the money in the swimming pool. 

Since he had no money to pay off his hotel bill, Lucky had to start working as a waiter to work it off. He spent the rest of the movie either dating Rusty, singing, or working on his car. 

There was a conflict in the film that Rusty did not want him to race because she thought it was dangerous. Nothing came from this conflict, except that Lucky just ignored her and dismissed her. This only seemed to make her more agitated. 

There was a conflict with a romantic rival for Rusty’s affection, another driver who wanted Lucky to drive for him. This guy died in the race, I think. I’m not sure.

The story was thin and nonsensical. This movie survived solely on the chemistry and charisma of its two lead stars. Elvis and Ann-Margret we great together and their scenes, especially of the music and dancing, were very entertaining. The music was excellent, with Elvis performing several songs including the title track of the film. Of course, Elvis’s lip synch of the song during the Talent Show was one of the worst lip synchs I have ever seen. He had absolutely no expression as he sang that song. It really pulled me out of the movie.

It was not the worst film ever by far, and there were definitely entertaining parts to it. The thing is, there is just not enough to justify watching it. 

A Murder at the End of the World E3

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“Chapter Three: Survivors”

I watched the third episode of the FX limited series A Murder at the End of the World on Hulu tonight. It continues to be engaging and mysterious.

Another murder happened in this episode, of one of the guests who had told Darby that he had information to share with her. Rohan had confirmed that he had been the man in the mask on the tape, but before he had a chance to tell the next piece of information, the sounds of Rohan being attacked crossed the phone.

This all happened after Andy told her that he wanted Darby to leave the site. He told her that the police had declared that Bill’s death was not a murder, but an overdose. Andy told Darby that she was grieving and needed to rest. He asked for her ring back.

Yes, he is a little suss with his statements. I certainly hope he does not turn out to be the killer, because that feels too obvious. Had they started it off like a Monk/Columbo show where we knew the killer, but just try and see our heroes find out how they did it, it would be one thing. But this started off as a mystery and the host being the killer is just too much of a trope.

There are just 4 more episodes of the limited series remaining. I am excited about finishing this up soon.