A great episode which started off with the first “monster-of-the-week” episode that would become one of the trope of the X-Files. Some of my personal favorite episodes were the the one-shot, one-off monsters of the week episodes.
This one is entitled “Squeeze” and featured Eugene Victor Tooms. Tooms would be back in later episodes, but this one really set up him as a monstrous villain who murdered people for their livers so he could survive while he hibernated. Weird.
We saw more of the disrespect “Spooky” Mulder gets from other FBI agents, including one that was a former classmate of Scully. That guy was a huge jerk. And this was the first point when Scully stood up and picked a side. When she had a chance to leave Mulder, she refused and went to Mulder’s side.
Doug Hutchinson played Tooms and he created one of the most iconic X-Files villains of the entire series. Tooms is creepy as hell and his confrontation with Scully in her apartment was really great.
Season two of The Bear wrapped up with episodes 9 and 10 where the restaurant is nearly ready to go and they were planning a “friends and family” night to do a run through of the way to run The Bear.
Things did not go very smoothly to say the least.
Both Carmy and Sydney were going through their own crises as the opening and the night of the opening approached. Carmy was trying to wrap his head around the fact that he had been distracted by Claire and that his attention was divided. Sydney was struggling with her own self-doubt and her questions on if she is up to this job.
They are both getting in their own way and, because of that, are causing issues among the staff.
Still, the group really knock it out of the park at the opening, except for Carmy, who gets trapped in the walk in refrigerator because he had forgotten to call the “fridge guy,” and Sydney, who had made a problem with Marcus and shied away from the stress-spotlight. Richie was definitely the MVP of the night, showing how much he learned during episode 7. Fak is dressed in a suit and showing that he is more than just a handyman even if still carries a screwdriver in his suit coat pocket.
Jamie Lee Curtis returned as Donna, Carmy and Nat’s mother. She had been invited to come to the opening, but she could not bring herself to come inside, despite the sweetness from Pete toward her. You could tell that she was very proud of her kids, but that she was afraid that she would not be able to handle it and would ruin it for them. When Pete let slip about Nat’s pregnancy, it was clear that there were borders between them. Jamie Lee Curtis is tremendous once again. I really was not sure if the mother was still alive, but I am glad that she is still living since that means there is more drama from her.
This final two episodes were tremendous and brought a ton of drama to the front while setting up the questions for the series moving forward. The relationship between Carmy & Claire being one of the top ones. Can Carmy and Sydney overcome their own self-image issues? When will we see Jamie Lee Curtis again?
This was a great second season and the performances were off the charts.
I have not watched American Horror Story for several years.
I was a huge fan of the anthology series by Ryan Murphy in its early days. Season one Murder House, Season two Asylum, season four Freak Show, season six Roanoke are some of my favorite seasons of television around.
However, I did kind of lose interest as the seasons moved on. Part of it was the Wednesday night release time because there was conflicts with it and I never got around to watching it online. Part of it was that the stories had gotten a touch out there. In particular, Hotel and Cult had not grabbed my attention. It was a series that just slipped out of my necessary viewing.
Then, yesterday I was on Hulu looking at No One Will Save You when I saw the release of episode one for the 12th season of AHS, called Delicate. To say that I was intrigued would be an understatement. I decided that I would give a chance to the new series, especially if I could watch it easily on Hulu.
I am considering using Sunday morning to be the target date for the next episode, which seems as if it will be released once again on Wednesday nights. This feels like a nice weekly series designed to give me the creeps and to keep me unsettled. I do love me some good horror.
If this goes well, perhaps I will look into some of the other seasons that I have not seen or even to do a rewatch on some of the previous AHS seasons that I loved so much.
This new season kicked off with a really spooky beginning with actress Anna Victoria Alcott (Emma Roberts), who had just found some major success with a movie that no one expected to do anything, but went huge, in bed. However, there was some black hooded figure there too. Shocked by the arrival of this figure, Anna chased it out of the apartment only to find what looked like blood all over the floor beside the bed and on her nightgown. We discover later that it was not blood, but lipstick and that there was a message on the mirror, “Don’t do it, Anna.”
Anna and her husband Dexter (Matt Czuchry) were trying to get pregnant via a fertility expert but Anna was seeing things, believing that she was being stalked. Some of the scenes involving these women dressed in black with glasses were filled with anxiety, especially those with Miss Peecher (Julie White) and Ivy (Cara Delevingne), as we see what Anna was seeing. There feels as if there are things we do not know about Anna and that this is all tied together.
Kim Kardashian is playing Siobhan Corbyn, Anna’s friend and publicist and she does a great job with this character. I am curious about her motives and how she will play into the story that they are telling.
The story, for the first time, is not an original story as this is based on the novel Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine. It is also the first time that Ryan Murphy is not the showrunner for the series, as he has passed off the mantle to Halley Feiffer, who did Impeachment: American Crime Story.
There are some fun imagery involving spiders both in the episode and on the poster so I am curious to see where this takes me.
No One Will Save You is a new sci-fi/horror film that is currently streaming on Hulu, and, I have got to tell you, it was a seriously scary, creepy film that left me a little uneasy after seeing it.
Brynn (Kaitlyn Dever) is a young, isolated girl who lived in her deceased mother’s house while everyone in the town treated her like a pariah. Brynn was dealing with anxiety and guilt over something that happened when she was younger that turned the town against her.
Then, one night, a home invasion turned out to be extraterrestrial in nature and Brynn has to desperately struggle against a variety of alien creatures to survive.
The gimmick of the movie is that there is almost zero dialogue in the entire 90 minute movie which creates a feel of anxiety and stress throughout. I wasn’t sure if she was mute as the film went along but it got to the point where you could see that she was not speaking because of what had happened in her childhood.
The sounds that were used in this movie, from the score to the sound design was epic and helped create that mood that the film was targeting.
The alien design is cool for the most part. Some are fairly typical aliens that you might see on the X-Files but there are a couple that are really scary and unsettling.
Kaitlyn Dever does an admirable job in this movie as Brynn, who spends nearly the entire runtime of the film without any dialogue. She had to express so much with her face and eyes and she does it beautifully. This could be a star making performance for her.
This was a mind-bending horror film that does a great job of building atmosphere and keeping the audience off-kilter. This was a good time with a neat idea that took a lot of the concepts in original ways.
After the bad film Expend4bles in the morning, I was really hoping that the second movie of the day would be better. Thankfully, I was entertained considerably more by Dumb Money than I was with that other film.
According to Imdb, “Dumb Money is the ultimate David vs. Goliath tale, based on the insane true story of everyday people who flipped the script on Wall Street and got rich by turning GameStop (yes, the mall videogame store) into the world’s hottest company. In the middle of everything is regular guy Keith Gill (Paul Dano), who starts it all by sinking his life savings into the stock and posting about it. When his social posts start blowing up, so does his life and the lives of everyone following him. As a stock tip becomes a movement, everyone gets rich – until the billionaires fight back, and both sides find their worlds turned upside down“
This true story that took place during the heart of the pandemic was amazing and really showed a conflict between the big money and the small investing individuals during this time over the GameStop stock. The movie focused in on several of the individuals and their own stories as well as Keith Gill, who was the driving force behind the movement through his online social media posts.
Paul Dano is excellent as always as the man who “just likes the stock” and who made millions through the stock market. Seth Rogen and Sebastian Stan are great as billionaires on the other side who were looking for a way to squash the online grassroots movement. There is a great cast here as well as those actors including Pete Davidson, Anthony Ramos, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Vincent D’Onofrio, Myha’la Herrold, Clancy Brown, Kate Burton, Shailene Woodley, and Talia Ryder.
Some of the technical aspects of the stock purchase is a touch complicated and could confuse some, but I feel as if the director, Craig Gillespie, does a decent job of making it accessible.
This was a lot of fun and enjoyable film and it told me about a story that I did not know about that had just happened in the recent past.
I was not much of a fan of any of the previous Expendables franchise, though there were none that I truly hated. I did not want a fourth film, but you never know. Perhaps it is a good one after all.
Well, after seeing this, I can say that it is not a good one. Not even close. In fact, it is easily the worst of the franchise.
The Expendables are off on a mission to try and prevent a terrorist from getting his hands on nuclear detonators. When that mission goes south, the team deals with a loss and Christmas (Jason Statham) has to go rogue to prevent the dangerous situation.
There really is not much of a story. There is a mole inside the organization, but it was painfully apparent whom that was. Something happened in the first act that was so clearly not what happened that you were just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
The dialogue of this movie was utter crap. It was legitimately some of the worst written dialogue that I have ever heard. It was meant to make Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham seem like they have fun banter, but it was so eye-rollingly bad that it only served to make me dislike these two characters all the more.
And the remaining characters I couldn’t care one thing about because the movie didn’t give me any reason to care for any of them. Megan Fox looks great, but her character is lacking any sort of personality. Andy Garcia, the new boss, is a nothing character. Randy Couture and Dolph Lundgren were old and looked it. 50 Cent, Jacob Scipio, and Levy Tran all have newer characters that I have no idea who they are or why I should care about them. The only one with any sort of characterization is Tony Jaa, and that was basically because he looked cool.
The green screen was obscenely noticeable for a film from 2023. The action was consisting of a lot of shaky cam and boring gunplay. Even some of the martial arts was not up to par, considering some of the top notch martial artists that they had in the film.
I would have considered this the worst movie of the year, but I did watch Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey this year and, while this is horrible, it does not reach that level of bad.
Several great new books this week. Going to jump right in…
Omega the Unknown #4. “Cats and No Dogs.” Written by Steve Gerber & Mary Skrenes and illustrated by Jim Mooney & Pablo Marcus. Well, actually, this isn’t a ‘new’ book this week. It is from 1976 and I picked up this whole series recently. I have been taking my time reading through the 10 issues, doing #4 today. These have been a really fun read and I love the mystery of what is going on with Omega and James-Michael.
Predator Versus Wolverine #1. Written by Benjamin Percy and with art from Ken Lashley, Greg Land, Jay Leisten and Andrea Di Vito. Cover art was by Marco Checchetto. There was not a book more surprising this week than Predator Versus Wolverine #1. I had zero interest in this and only picked it up because it was a Marvel #1. However, I loved this. They way they followed the battle between Wolverine and the Predator though the years and how they were both damaged as they went, well it was excellent. A lot of the story is told through the images of the art and I love that style. This was really enjoyable and I am looking forward to more.
Hexagon Bridge #1. Written and drawn by Richard Blake. This is a beautifully illustrated book with a new world that is very interesting. This first issue introduces us to several new characters and slowly gives out what is happening in this world. We meet Elena, Jacob and Adley in separate sections of the story. I am curious to see where this goes from here.
Captain America #1. “Beginnings.” Written by J. Michael Straczynski with art by Jesus Saiz. I loved this new take on Captain America. The look at his early life, prior to the Super Soldier Serum, is a fascinating look at this character and the present day gave me vibes like Matt Fraction’s run on Hawkeye. I enjoyed this book tremendously.
Amazing Spider-Man #34. Written by Zeb Wells and art by Patrick Gleason. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna & Marcio Menyz. This was the greatest cover of the week. One of the best Spider-Man covers I have seen in a long time. This whole dark Spider-Man run is tense and worrisome. I hope Peter does not do anything that he cannot come back from or that taints who he is. I surely do not want a long term Dark Spider-Man.
Fishflies #2. Written and drawn by Jeff Lemire. This one was a little more difficult to follow that last issue. Todd then let me know that there was a misprint, where a whole page was reproduced in this issue. A full black page was in twice when it was meant to be only once. That was sad that I did not realize what had happened when I read it.
Nocterra #16. Written by Scott Snyder with art by Tony S. Daniel. The story of Nocterra comes to a conclusion with the darkness that has taken over the planet removed. While there are still some of the main antagonists still out there, this is a solid wrap up for the series. The note at the end indicated that there would be more to come from this world, but this could be a solid finish if they do not return to it.
Uncanny Spider-Man #1. “Park Life.” Written by Si Spurrier and art by Lee Garbett. Tony Daniel & Sonia Oback did the cover. I did not understand why this book was happening. I did not know why Nightcrawler would be dressed up like Spider-Man. I wondered why I should care about this. Then I read it. And I loved it. I was intrigued by the set up, I loved the reason why Kurt Wagner was dressed as Spidey, and I loved Spidey’s actual use. I thought this was way better than it had any right to be.
Loki #4. “The Liar: Finale” Written by Dan Watters and drawn by German Peralta. Dustin Nguyen did the cover art. Loki’s mission to reclaim the pieces of Naglfar, the cursed ship Loki created from the fingernails of the dead. The confrontation with Bullseye (plus the inclusion of Spider-Man) was cool. This series came to an end with this, making it appear as if Loki was heading back to his lying past.
Big Game #3. Written by Mark Millar and art by Pepe Larraz. This continues to be a shocking series, as characters are just killed left and right. I wonder if things will be retconned at some point. I have been enjoying what is going on. Come on, Hit Girl!
Tenement #4. Written by Jeff Lemire and art by Andrea Sorrentino. This horror series, a part of the Bone Orchard saga, is doing a great job of creating a tense and anxious story. The use of black and red is artistically wonderful images. There are some seriously creepy moments in the book too.
Something is Killing the Children #33. Written by James Tynion IV and illustrated by Werther Dell’edera. This continues to be an excellent story, though I have to say that it does feel as if they are stretching out the story before the eventual battle between Erica and Cutter.
Rare Flavours #1. “Chapter 1: Masala Chai.” Written by Ram V and illustrated by Filipe Andrade. One of the most original new books from the week. Creating a documentary that follows Rubin Baksh around eating the most delicious foods. This new Boom! Comics offering is different and curious.
Antarctica #3. Written by Simon Birks and drawn by Willi Roberts. Antarctica has been a very good book so far. I am still learning who is who, but the story is compelling and the twists have been powerful. This has been a real exceptional book so far.
Strange Academy: Moon Knight #1. “Solve for X” Part 2. Written by Carlos Hernandez and drawn by Julian Shaw. Nick Bradshaw and Edgar Delgado did the cover art. I do love the Strange Academy, and their interactions with Moon Knight and Miles Morales is a ton of fun.
Klik Klik Boom #4. Written by Doug Wagner and drawn by Doug Dabbs. I was so happy to see Serena Biggs at the beginning of this issue because I was almost certain that she had been killed at the end of issue #3. Sprout, by the way, is just about as kick ass of a character as you are going to find.
Uncanny Avengers #2. “New Avengers.” Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Javier Garrón. The mutants involved in this issue seems to have a problem with Cap as the leader of this Unity Squad. Who would have thought that the voice of reason would come from Deadpool?
Alpha Flight #2. Written by Ed Brisson and drawn by Scott Godlewski. Leonard Kirk & Edgar Delgado are the cover artists. Alpha Flight is trying to get their way through the current world troubles with Orchis and the Box Sentinels. These are some cool characters that we have not seen a lot of and this series is a welcome change.
So, Jay and Adam, who are YouTube reactors/content creators with the show pReview’d are taking a step out to do something new and potentially exciting.
I have enjoyed this duo’s videos on YouTube for much of the last few years. Their reactions to TV shows such as WandaVision, Loki, The Mandalorian, Cobra Kai, Squid Game to name a few are highlights of the week for me.
What truly makes this pair stand out among the crowded YouTube space is the friendship that they share and the passion and emotion they show during their reactions. They are so supportive of each other and they are both extremely funny. Listening to them laugh at their jokes is such a treat. Seeing them support the other if the tears are flowing is beautiful. Whether it be laughter or tears, there may be no more sincere, genuine friends in the space.
Today, I saw a video from Jay and Adam making an announcement for the release of a project that they have been teasing for some time now, a project that they have been working on for awhile. They are doing something with their Dungeons & Dragons group, creating a story with their role play. I’m not 100% certain exactly what it is going to look like, but I am very intrigued by their excitement and their enthusiasm for the project.
They are calling it a show, named Bonus Action. They announced that Bonus Action will be starting early, originally intended to be released in October. The first episode of eleven to debut on Monday night at 7 PM EST. I have no idea what this is going to entail, what the run time will be or how it is going to look like, but I would like to watch.
My personal goal is to watch an post about the episodes. Whether that is possible depends on my own schedule, but I fully intend on giving it a chance.
Adam and Jay did release a lore preview for their show with a computer generated, animated info drop on the world of Era Hest which, according to the comments on the YouTube video, is “A brief history of the origin of the fantastical world of Era Hest, leading to the beginning of the fourth age, where the adventure of Bonus Action begins….”
This was a fun exposition drop that had a lot of details in it. It has been years since I played D & D, but I really hope to see this weekly series. I believe in pReview’d and if it is as much fun as their typical content ( I mean, they have made their reactions to Jeopardy Masters must see), then this could be a great time.
Video above:
Animation- Isaac Sever
VO- David Armstrong
Character art – Breanna Williams
Overlay Art – Cody Badaczewski
Background Art – Isaac Sever
Bonus Action Theme Song – Written by Amanda Nicholas and Alex Flannel.
Two new trailers starring the ever amazing Nicholas Cage…
First, Butcher’s Crossing:
And following that, A24’s new film, Dream Scenario…
I’m not sure that you can get two more diverse roles/films releasing at the same time. Both of these trailers look great and Nic Cage seems to be at the top of his game.
Dream Scenario looks funny and it has the A24 reputation behind it. Butcher’s Crossing was filmed last year and is just now coming out.
Nic Cage certainly works a lot. He is a great actor and these both look fabulous.
Wasn’t sure why we needed a prequel to the Hunger Games franchise.
I guess this is from a book by Suzanne Collins, the author of the original three books. I did not know that until I read some comments on this video’s YouTube page. I’m not sure that piece of information changed my opinion of the need for this.
The trailer itself looks good and the characters are intriguing. And you can never go wrong with Viola Davis.
Plus, there just seems to be something about Rachel Zegler. The actress from Spielberg’s West Side Story and the DC film Shazam! Fury of the Gods shines in this trailer, her presence just jumping off the screen.
Having you future villain as the protagonist of your film is not a new idea…ahem Anakin… but Snow could turn out to be compelling. We’ll have to see.
Honestly, I was not anticipating this movie much, and after this trailer, my interest is piqued a touch, but it has not moved up my list much. I will see it on its opening weekend and I did like the Hunger Games films so hopefully this will be worth its existence.
One of the key bases of The X-Files is a conspiracy with the U.S. Government hiding the existence of extra-terrestrial lives and UFOs. This is the first example of that trope that would go throughout the entire series.
I was excited to see ‘Deep Throat’ approach Mulder. This informant, if I recall, does not last long, but opens up the door for those who provide Mulder inside information.
This episode, like many, show the dichotomy between Mulder and Scully while showing their real connection that was forming. Mulder believes everything and Scully doubts anything that can not be proven by science. Yet they have a willingness to aid the other.
There were some creepy scenes in this episode, with Mulder being taken inside the government base and having some of his memories taken from him. While inside, he sees a government UFO, although we are never sure if this is true or if it is some kind of hallucination.
Scully goes to extreme efforts to find and save Mulder from himself. She shows herself as a bad ass in this episode and how, though she does not believe the same beliefs as Mulder, she is the perfect partner for him. She keeps him balanced, as much as he could be balanced.
I planned on watching the finale of season one of this awesome new series, One Piece, on Netflix to celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day, but it was tough waiting. I so enjoyed this series that I would have ran through this series had it not been for Talk Like A Pirate Day.
Now, after seeing the finale, this is so satisfying that I am really glad that I waited for this special day.
The Luffy- Arlong showdown was epic. The battle between Zoro/Sanji and the Fishmen was awesome. Usopp finally was able to have a successful battle. Nami was able to get herself free from Arlong. Kobe stood up to Garp. Helmeppo stood beside Kobe. Luffy’s confrontation with Garp.
So much wonder. I loved this so much.
One Piece is one of my favorite shows of 2023. This was so unexpected. The characters were so amazing and their chemistry and charisma carried so much of the show. The show felt like a true live-action anime.
Episode eight of the third season of Only Murders in the Building was sensational and they hit a ton of things that I thought they weren’t going to touch on again.
Specifically, the minor heart attack Oliver had early in the season. I felt as if this show was going to brush that under the rug and never bring it up again. How wrong I was as this episode ended with Loretta being taken away after a confession of murder and Oliver collapsing from the strain, clutching his arm and clearly having another attack.
This ending scene was as dramatic as you are going to get.
I also realized, happily, that Loretta is not our killer. I wondered if they were going to do the girlfriend killer again, but clearly that she confessed because she thought Ben’s brother Dickie was about to be arrested (and she may believe that he actually killed his brother). It was revealed this episode that Loretta was Dickie’s birth mother who had gotten pregnant when she was young and gave up the baby to pursue her career in acting.
Shocking! Did not see that twist coming. It also now made sense why she had a book with clips of ben, the one that Oliver had found. It wasn’t clips of Ben, but of Dickie.
I do think that means that both Loretta and Dickie are clear, even though Dickie certainly spoke to his mother (whom he does not know is his mother) in a way that sounded as if he were guilty.
The return of Detective Williams was very welcome as well. She burst into this sitzprobe rehearsal (he first time they rehearse with a full orchestra) with all kinds of venom and curse words. I loved how Charles and Oliver showed their intelligence and planning by playing the fools. Their plan to get recording of the interrogations performed by Williams was complicated, but worked like a charm. I like when they are shown as capable and not just jokes.
Charles made it through his patter song too for the first time without going into the white room. It was a cool thing to hear Steve Martin knock this out.
It was great to see Oliver, Charles and Mabel back on the same page, even if it was short lived with Oliver’s heart attack.
I thought this was a great episode with everything that makes this show stand out.
The restaurant takes a huge step forward as it overcomes a big hurdle. Ten days from opening.
We find out that the restaurant really could not afford to not hit its opening, but they had failed the fire suppression test and they had one more chance at it, but something just would not be right.
Amazingly enough, Richie, a character that I have not been a fan of even a little bit, has suddenly become a favorite. His Richie-centric episode last week went a long way to rehabilitating this character. Then, with his awesome suit, Richie went on his apology tour, showing the new Richie to everyone. This was so great.
So was Fak finding the clue about why the fire suppression test was consistently failing and having Richie tell him good job. These two characters had been going at it all of the time, but this is the new version of them. And I loved it.
I also loved how Carmy has finally accepted that Claire is his girlfriend. This running story beat worked well as everyone else seemed to understand that she was already his girlfriend, except Carmy.
However, I have that sinking feeling that something horrible is about to happen. I have no reason to believe this. I have not seen any hints dropped by the show, but it just feels like everything is heading to a good result and I am afraid everything is too good.
There are only 2 more episodes to go this season and I am very nervous.
Hulu has had some excellent original films over the last few years. Something like Prey is just epic. This looks frightening and filled with some tense moments.
The quick look at the monster at the end of the trailer gave me Cloverfield vibes.
This will go on my list to watch thanks to this trailer.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 