Author Archives: Doc

2023 Best Documentary

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Best Documentary

Previous Winners:  Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, My Scientology Movie, Tickled, Finding Neverland, Tiger King, The Beatles: Get Back, Lights & Magic

I have not actually seen a lot of documentaries this year. I usually enjoy seeing documentaries, and there is no real reason why I have not seen very many. 

So here are my top four…

#4. Stan Lee. This Disney + film was a nice doc about Stan the Man. Almost too much of a puff piece, but enjoyable for fans of the icon. Best part was a radio confrontation between Stan and Jack Kirby. Wanted more like that.

#3. Taylor Swift: The ERAs Tour. Not really a documentary, but a lot of fun. I have never considered myself a Swiftie, but I enjoyed the concert film.

#2. American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes. This Peacock special was really well done. The WWE always puts together the best docs about their wrestlers. This story of Cody Rhodes’ journey was compelling and gave us some true insight on the American Nightmare.

#1. Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie. An Apple TV + film that brought us into the story of Michael J. Fox and his struggle with Parkinson’s Disease, and how his life was affected from it. Michael J. Fox was interviewed extensively for the doc. 

Picket Fences S4 E7

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“Down the Tubes”

John Littleton finally returns to the show after getting shot earlier in the season only to head out the door. Don Cheadle was always too big for the show. He is an excellent actor and he wound up leaving Picket Fences for bigger things in the world of cinema.

Meanwhile, Jill is scheduled for a tubal ligation, which has been driving her crazy. It was leading to some feelings that did not make a ton of sense. 

Then, Jimmy was dancing the polka with Laurie Bay for charity. 

Then, lots of weird things happen from out of nowhere.

  • Jimmy seemed to start having feelings for Laurie.
  • Laurie, by the way, is five months pregnant. 
  • Jimmy sucks at basketball
  • Littleton started laughing during a court case.
  • Littleton had a dream that led him back to Chicago, and his way out of Rome.
  • Jill and Joanna try on wigs.

Things just happened this episode that did not seem to come form anywhere. It felt rushed and chaotic, much like most of season four has felt. 

2023 In Memoriam Part 1

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The In Memoriam 2023 Part 1

Includes:

Robert Blake

Rosalynn Carter

Terry Funk

Bray Wyatt (Windham Rotunda)

Brett Sawyer

Butch (of the Bushwackers)

Darren “Droz” Drozdov

“Exotic” Adrian Street

The Iron Shiek

Jeff Beck

Angus Cloud

Brooks Robinson

Burt Bacharach

Chris Smith

Gina Lollobrigida

Glenda Jackson

Harry Belafonte

Jay Brisco

Inga Swenson

Jerry Jarrett

Steve Hartwell

“The Genius” Lanny Poffo

Lisa Loring

Mario “Black Warrior” Legendario

Nicholas Coster

Ron Cephas Jones

Moonbin

Ryan O’Neal

Superstar Billy Graham

Sylvia Syms

“The Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski

Yoshio Yoda

The X-Files S2 E7

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“3”

Scully is still missing, as Mulder places her file squarely in the X-Files, now reopened. Solo Mulder heads to LA to investigate a murder that had connections to a series of cases in the X-Files. Cases that have a connection to vampirism.

I did not like this episode very much. The biggest problem with it for me was the relationship that was forced for Mulder and the woman Kristen. I did not buy that for a second and it felt so out of character for Mulder, especially with Scully missing.

David Duchovny was solid but the absence of Gillian Anderson was absolutely felt. Bringing in vampires for this episode was not a good choice. Unlike later in the series where we had a more comedic episode with vampires, this one just never seemed to really work. It played with some of the vampire tropes, but was more of a mess than anything else.

Scully’s absence needed to be played up more than it was. Thankfully, I believe she returns very soon.

2023 Expendables Awards for Acting Excellence

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It is time once again for the Expendables Awards for Acting Excellence. The awards given out to members of the massive cast for their best and worst appearances. And this year we had a new Expendable movie so we’ll see how things go.

Best movie w/Expendable: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Harrison Ford is here and, while the movie is at best fine, it is one of the best of the group of films with these actors in it. 

Best Expendable Actor: Harrison Ford for Shrinking. The Apple TV show that saw Ford as a psychiatrist. His work was really great in this series.

Worst movie with Expendables: Expend4bles. Ironic that the worst of the films this year featuring this group of actors is Expend4bles, which is easily one of the worst movies of this entire year. Even in my review of the film, I said that it would be the worst movie of the year if it had not been for Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. This was truly a terrible movie. 

The Bruce Willis Quantity Over Quality Expendables Award for Most Movies Made: Jason Statham. This year, Statham made four movies and, they were all just terrible. Expend4bles and The Meg 2 are among those four and they have a chance to be in the top 5 worst films of the year.

Best Expendable Cameo: Antonio Banderas (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny). Banderas was one of the highlights of The Dial of Destiny and I really wish he had stayed around for more in the film. Banderas has actually won Expendable Awards every year for awhile.

Best Expendable with a Giant Shark: Jason Statham. This is an award that was given out the year of The Meg, and now it has returned for this time. 

Best Expendable in Blue Makeup (or CGI face): Kelsey Grammar (The Marvels). The cool cameo in The Marvels post credit scene of Beast from the X-Men FOX universe was mind blowing and hinted at some major mutant fun. 

Picket Fences S4 E6

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“Heart of Saturday Night”

Saturday night in Rome.

What does everybody do when there is nothing to do?

They sit around bored? Like me.

This was not my favorite episode of the series. There was not much to it. It felt very forced in a lot of moments. Jimmy gets his penis stuck in his zipper. Maxine is thinking about buying a vibrator. Matthew spends about the first twenty minutes with his friends driving around chanting “party” in the most annoying way possible. One of Judge Bone’s friends dies at their poker game. Wambaugh wins the pot. 

It just felt very muddled.

There were some sweet moments in there too, so it is not the worst of the episodes, but there just is nothing of note.

Season four has been a real downer so far.

The 2023 EYG Stan Lee Movie Cameo Award

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The EYG Stan Lee Movie Cameo Award

Previous winners:  Stan Lee (Big Hero 6*, Deadpool, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse* ), John Cena (Daddy’s Home), Chris Evans (Thor: The Dark World, Free Guy), Sigourney Weaver (Cabin in the Woods), Hugh Jackman (X-Men: First Class), Yoda (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man: Far From Home), Harrison Ford (Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker), Rudy Giuliani (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm), Val Kilmer (Top Gun: Maverick)

Stan Lee was the king of the cameo appearance during all Marvel movies. So this award keeps up the honor of The Man.

Runners-Up: Kelsey Grammer donned his blue makeup to return to Dr. Henry McCoy in The Marvels. Gary Oldman showed up in Oppenheimer. We had a great appearance in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny by Antonio Banderas. I wish he had been in the film longer. I’d say a close second was Donald Glover in Across the Spider-Verse. His appearance in the animated show as a live action person was shocking. Tilda Swinton was one of the best parts of The Killer. It was a shock to see George Clooney back as Bruce Wayne in The Flash. Bill Murray was in the Quantum Realm in Ant Man & The Wasp: Quantumania. Bradley Cooper showed up in Dungeons & Dragons. Tessa Thompson‘s Valkyrie got a call from The Marvels. 

Winner: Rhea Perlman.

Rhea played a mysterious character in the huge hit Barbie. She turned out to be Ruth Handler, the person who invented Barbie. She had a couple of amazing scenes with Margot Robbie, bringing some of the best, emotional moments of the film. 

2023 The Avengers: Endgame Ensemble Cast of the Year

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The Avengers: Endgame Ensemble Cast of the Year Award

Previous Winners:  Avengers: Endgame (2019), The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020), In the Heights (2021), Mass (2021), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

This year had a few solid ensemble casts. I generally consider an ensemble cast here as a cast without a main lead, although some of the previous winners did have lead performances too.

Runners-Up: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. A great finale for this franchise within the MCU. Everybody got their awesome final moments. Dungeons & Dragons was a surprise hit of the year, at least critically. Their group of actors worked so well together. Air was another film that did great earlier in the year. The third Poirot film with Kenneth Branagh was the best of the three, A Haunting in Venice. Saltburn had a leading performance, but the ensemble around him was part of the weird film’s strength. 

Winner: Oppenheimer

Sure, you could make an argument that Cillian Murphy is the lead of the film. I mean, it is named after his character. However, there are so many rich and complex characters populating this film that you could argue that this might be one of the best ensemble casts of all time. Oppenheimer was a huge hit and should be heard from again come Oscar time.

The 2023 Anna Devane Kick Ass Female Award

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The Anna Devane Kick Ass Female Award

Previous winners:  Rey (Star Wars), Mockingbird (Marvel Comics), Wonder Woman (DCEU), The Shirewolves, Captain Marvel, Kamala Harris, Wanda Maximoff, Pearl 

I loved Anna Devane when I was younger and watched General Hospital. I loved how she could kick the butt of anyone placed in front of her. That is where this award came from.

You can call it a woke award if you wish. It doesn’t matter to me. I love a great female asskicker. Here are some of the best of 2023.

Runners-up: M3GAN kicked off the year in a great movie, although she is a robot technically and not necessarily a female. Spider-Gwen is a major star from the Across the Spider-Verse film and she has had a couple of series at Marvel Comics this year. I don’t care what anyone says, I loved The Marvels (Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel and Monica Rambeau). They re definitely in this category. Barbie dominated the box office and found her way into the real world. Another one I will debate till the end is Hope, aka the Wasp, from Quantumania. Yes, she did not have as much to do, but she came up big a couple of times. Another comic character is Daredevil, aka Elektra Natchios. She was a major figure in Matt Murdock’s life and now is still in the DD costume during the Gang War story. Julia Page is a reporter from the No/One comic and she probably wouldn’t have made this list had it not been for the podcast that I listened to tied to this series. The podcast was inspiring to me and Julia was a great character. The biggest tour of the year kicked a lot of ass as Taylor Swift made ALL the money. The Last of Us debuted on HBO and gave us a perfect version of Ellie. Her confrontation with the cannibals was absolutely mind-blowing. Donna Noble returned with The Doctor for three specials on Disney + and showed why she was one of the best companions the Doctor ever had. Juliette Nichols battled through the first season of Silo on Apple TV + trying to solve a death inside the dystopian silo. Lucy Gray Baird dominated the screen in the new Hunger Games film. She was the winner of the Games and of our hearts. One of the top characters in the new D& D YouTube series Bonus Action was Bar’B Mourdusa, a barbarian, as played by Amanda Nicholas. 

And our winner among this massive list of powerful and dominant females is…

Winner: Dorothy “Dot” Lyon. 

Aka Nadine Tillman, played by Juno Temple on FX’s Fargo. 

Dorothy has been the main protagonist in Fargo season five and she has been just so awesome. Being pursued by her ex-husband, Sheriff Roy Tillman, Dorothy had to fight off his flunkies while still trying to maintain her new life from crashing around her. She has been absolutely brutal all year and her wits and intelligence shone through everything. I am excited for her final showdown with Roy, which is clearly coming soon.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #73

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December 17, 2023

Good day all. This is our #73 post of the EYG Comic Cavalcade. I was just thinking that it was about time to get a new header for this, but I am not sure that I have the time right now. With school wrapping up, plus all the movies, TV shows, rewatches, and the Year in Review, time is sparse.

Still, it is on the to do list for soon.

My friend Todd picked up a couple of comics from England featuring Spider-Man and thought of me. He knows I am a huge Spider-Man fan and he asked if I was interested in these books. I was. They included Spider-Man Comic #320 and The Spectacular Spider-Man weekly #361. These are cool, oversized books to add to the collection. 

Here are the rest of the books from this week:

White Widow #2. Written by Sarah Gailey and art by Alessandro Miracolo. David Marquez did the cover art. I think this was the best cover of the week. I actually enjoyed the story much more than I did in issue #1, which was okay. I liked the characterization of Yelena in this book and it gave me a bit of the flavor of Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye series. 

The Enfield Gang Massacre #5. ”Chapter Five: Death & Reasons.“ This continues to be one of the most original comic books on the market. I love how it feels like an old time comic book and it keeps on being a fun read.

Blade #6. ”Mother of Evil” Part Six. Written by Bryan Hill and drawn by Lee Ferguson. Elena Casagrande & Jordie Bellaire did the cover art. Blade gets training from Dracula. Yup. That’s what I said. The ultimate odd couple plays out as Blade prepares for what he has to face.

The Bloody Dozen: A Tale of the Shrouded College #1. Written by Charles Soule and art by Alberto Jimenez Alburquerque. Will Sliney did the cover art. An intriguing and unlikely trio is recruited to go into space after…vampires? An interesting start to this book that I did not remember ordering. 

Antarctica #6. Written by Simon Birks and art by Willi Roberts. It’s Christmas time and seven year old Hannah is hoping to spend the holidays with her father. However, there is more here than what is being told. Antarctica continues to be a compelling, mind-twisting book.

Immortal Thor #5. ”Caveat Emptor” Written by Al Ewing and drawn by Martin Coccolo. Cover art was by Alex Ross. Thor and the reassembled Thor Corps has to take on Toranos and Thor has a different idea on how to stop the rampage of the god.

Moon Knight #30. ”The Terminal Seconds of Moon Knight“ Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Alessandro Cappuccio. Stephen Segovia & Rachelle Rosenberg did the cover art. Moon Knight aka Marc Spector has been on this path for quite a while now, and he has finally died… and will not come back. It seems that his work will carry on, though.

Spider-Gwen: Smash #1. Written by Melissa Flores and penciled by Enid Balám. Gwen and the Mary Janes go on a tour, opening for Alison Blaire, the Dazzler! That is, until a hulk-creature crashes the party.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #13. Written by Cody Ziglar and drawn by Federico Vicentini. The Gang War continues in these pages as Miles takes on the Buzz Boys. Hobgoblin is around as well.

Punisher #2. ”The Negotiation“ Written by David Pepose and art by Dave Wachter. Rod Reis did the cover art. Joe Garrison is after information on what happened to his wife and who may have ordered the attack. He found out that his wife was the actual target. That did not make him too happy.

Daredevil: Gang War #1. Written by Erica Schultz and penciled by Sergio Davila. Davila, Sean Parsons & Ceci De La Cruz did the cover art. Daredevil, aka Elektra Natchios, is out to protect Hell’s Kitchen so she has to team up with Spider-Man and the others in the Gang War. She does not like that much and is happier on her own. 

Luke Cage: Gang War #2. Written by Rodney Barnes and art by Ramon F. Bachs. Caanan White did the cover art. Luke, in his new costume to protect his identity, along with Cloak & Dagger, Danny Rand, and Jessica Jones take on Smythe during the Gang War, all the while trying to avoid the law against costumed vigilantes.

Captain America #4. ”A Series of Unexpected Attacks” Written by J. Michael Straczynski and art by Lan Medina. Jesus Saiz did the cover art. Cap gets messed up by the demon he was facing called The Emissary. We also see back in Steve Rogers’ past the dangers of a hidden bomb. Love this series.

Guardians of the Galaxy #9. ”The Magnificent Mantis” Written by Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing and penciled by Kev Walker. Emilio Laiso & Bryan Valenza did the cover art. Mantis and Gamora head to earth in search of the Soul Gem so they could retrieve Drax’s human soul.

Other books read: Silver Surfer: Rebirth Legacy #4, Phantom Road #7, Batman: Robin Lives #1, Superman: Lost #9, Damn Them All #11, A Haunted Girl #3, House of Slaughter #20, and Marvel Zombies: Black, White & Blood #3. 

Moonlighting S3 E4

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“Symphony in Knocked Flat”

Another one of my favorite episodes when I was watching in the late 1980s, Symphony in Knocked Flat has a lot of classic Moonlighting tropes and still plays very well. 

There was a ton of slapstick involved in this episode, especially in the third act inside the arena and boxing ring. You can tell the influences of The Three Stooges and Charlie Chaplin in this episode, as well as some nods to Rocky IV.

There was also a really fun scene at the Blue Moon offices with two sets of FBI agents and a repetitive scene that both Maddie and David repeated lines within. A fourth wall break added in as David quipped that the writer’s just Xeroxed the other scene.

“No, it was par for the course.“

That scene was one of my favorites and I remembered it immediately as soon as Maddie said that line the first time. 

Moonlighting could handle these over-the-top, silly episodes better than any show I can remember and still have the credibility with the characters and the story that they are telling.

It kicked off with a fun cold open with David and Maddie and the Temptations. 

Oh, and by the way, Cybill Shepherd absolutely killed that dress she wore to the symphony. She looked unbelievable!

Fargo S5 E5

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“The Tiger”

There was this weird voice over going on through this episode with a voice talking about the tiger, specifically how dangerous one could be. In particular, the female of the species.

Of course, I understood the metaphor. It wasn’t subtle, but I found the voice over annoying and unneccesary.

However, that was the only drawback that I could see from this episode.

We continued to see the amazing abilities of Dorothy, as she had people coming after her from all sides and was desperately doing everything she could.

These scene between John Hamm and Jennifer Jason Leigh was exceptional. They both have a great grasp on their characters and you could see how they each were cautiously moving around each other verbally.

Meanwhile, Dorothy was steps away from being caught by several different people. Of course, she was a tiger and was most dangerous when cornered. I heard that somewhere.

It was clearly that the show is moving quickly toward a major confrontation between Dorothy and Roy, and I am here for it.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters S1 E6

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“Terrifying Miracles”

I’m not 100% sure how he is getting around, or if he is supposed to be the same Titan or if he is a different one, but Godzilla was making the rounds in this episode.

The Godzilla of 1954 came back up out of the water after supposedly being blown up a couple of episodes ago. In 2015, Godzilla was in an African desert, coming up from beneath the sands. Was this the same Godzilla who rampaged through San Francisco during G-Day? I am just not sure.

I love seeing him though. He looks great. The special effects on Godzilla are amazing. 

We get quite a bit of switching between 1954 Shaw and 2015 Shaw. It is always fun to see both Russells on screen. 

Some of the 2015 Monarch people learned that the helicopter vs. Godzilla, not a good idea. There was a surprising death there as well.

Picket Fences S4 E5

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“Dog Eats Dog”

Jack Black guest starred in this episode, playing a man in a giant bratwurst costume. He got in a confrontation with Maxine and she ends up shooting him in the shoulder. He ends up suing her and the city for excessive brutality.

I have to say that this episode was not very good. Once again, the show tried to to take the situation and make it a character piece, but I wasn’t buying it. They tried to undermine Max’s confidence in her choice, but that seemed outside of the character. 

I kept waiting for Wambaugh to bring up all the great things that Max has done in her time as a Rome Deputy, the Green Bay Chopper, Cupid, etc. but he never did. It feels as if the show has been trying to tear this character apart for awhile, and I have not liked it.

At this point in season four, I have not seen that same spark from the first three seasons, with just a few exceptions. 

The X-Files S2 E6

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“Ascension”

Part two with Duane Barry and the kidnapping of Agent Scully. 

Very active episode of the show including a very tense snow lift ride. Show included:

  • The capture of Duane Barry
  • The death of Duane Barry
  • Alex Krycek disappears when Mulder figures him out.
  • Skinner reinstated the X-Files in the FBI
  • Scully is taken and ‘tested’ on; still missing by episode’s end.

It was meant to look like Mulder had killed Duane Barry, but the show did not build on it. It was funny. One of the people at the meeting suggested that Mulder was behind it, Mulder said he did not do it, and everything just went on as normal. Bizarre.

Everything was done because Gillian Anderson was pregnant, and this gave her the time off she required. These two episodes are exceptional examples of what this series could be.