Author Archives: Doc

The Bear S2 E7

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“Forks”

Episode seven of the second season focuses in on Richie and his ‘punishment’ from Carmy, who got him to work/observe at one of the best restaurants in Chicago for one week. Richie saw it as a punishment, but as he kept going, things began to shine brighter for him.

Olivia Colman made a cameo appearance here as the owner of the restaurant and I love her so much. She was easily the best part of the Secret Invasion series and she brings a natural energy and charisma to whatever she is working on. This is no exception as Colman just filled up the one scene she had with Richie.

Watching this episode, I felt more connected to Richie than I have in this entire series. He was not just a loud, blowhard like he is portrayed as, but he was shown as someone who was capable of great thing. The whole ‘respect’ speech given to Richie when he was questioning some of the minute details that made the restaurant such a success was fantastic and you could see it get through the stubbornness that Richie has always shown.

The whole deep dish pizza bit was awesome as well. I kept waiting for Richie to screw it up, because he is someone who has shown us before that his attitude or his stubbornness would get in his way, but he did not. He was successful, even going as far as winning over the staff of the restaurant who were in charge of helping him during this mini-internship.

Watching the way the staff carried out their orders and going above board to ‘make someone’s day.’ was astounding. I wonder if this is the way a real three-star restaurant would execute their service. It was an amazing scene.

We still see the sadness of Richie’s world as Tiffany called him to let him know that she had received a marriage proposal. Richie’s pain was real and popped off the screen.

This whole episode was dedicated to Richie, without much else (just a few moments) from any of the other cast mates. It was really solid of an episode and I am excited to see where Richie’s character goes from here.

X-Files S1 E1

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“Pilot”

This past summer, I did the Daily Zone, where I watched the five seasons of the original Twilight Zone. I did watch the EYG Hall of Fame show daily, at least one episode. There were 156 episodes. As I was on Hulu, I came across The X-Files. This was always one of my all-time favorite shows, also a member of the EYG Hall of Fame. It had been a long time since I had watched some X-Files so I thought it would be a good candidate for a rewatch. With One Piece and The Bear coming to conclusions soon, along with a few more weeks of Only Murders in the Building, this feels like the right time for The X-Files.

It will not be a daily watch like I did with The Twilight Zone, at least not at the moment. However, there are eleven seasons of The X-Files so it may take some time and, perhaps, later on when there is more time available, I will do it daily.

The X-Files certainly struck gold with the pairing of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. I do not think it is hyperbole to say that no one else could have been as successful as these two actors were. You could see the chemistry between Mulder and Scully immediately in their first scene together in the FBI basement. You could tell that Mulder was distrustful of Scully at first, but he wanted to trust her. He respected her honesty and they became a perfect pairing of partners.

Their first case together did a great job of setting up Mulder’s obsession with UFOs and the reason behind it. While this did a great job setting up Mulder’s missing sister as a driving force behind everything he would do and become. However, I do believe that the sister mystery aspect of the X-Files show was the weakest parts. I just get the feeling that they were never sure what they wanted to say actually happened and they used it as a hook for a bunch of episodes which only served to muddy the waters. This is something I am interested in seeing if I still think during this rewatch.

It was cool to see the Cigarette-Smoking Man here, prior to his smoking, just strolling around like he owned the place. CSM is one of the best villains in TV history, and seeing him start is awesome.

Much like many of the episodes of The X-Files, the pilot episode did not have the clearest resolution. There were plenty of unanswered questions about exactly what had happened or why it happened. I do like that and I think a lot of the mythology of The X-Files help lead us to shows like LOST. This created a mystique for the show and when you add the remarkable duo of Duchovny and Anderson, there is no doubt you have a winner.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #58

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September 17, 2023

I have a plethora of intriguing books to look at this week, some from the NEW COMIC BOOK DAY last Wednesday, some back issues from the series I have been collecting, and some back issues from Quad Com from last week.

Here we go…

Spine Tingling Spider-Man #0. Written by Saladin Ahmed and featuring art by Juan Ferreyra. Two of my favorite things combining into one: Spider-Man and horror comics. This was a great combination of genres that was a lot of fun to read.

Daredevil #1. Written by Saladin Ahmed and drawn by Aaron Kuder. Cover art by John Romita Jr, Scott Hanna and Marco Menyz. Here is yet another volume of Daredevil, kicking off at the end of the run of Chip Zdarsky. Matt Murdock is alive and a priest, with uncertain memories of Daredevil. This is a fascinating start to the new arc of DD. Saladin Ahmed seems to be the hot new writer in Marvel and I am anxious to see where a new voice takes the character of Daredevil.

Werewolf by Night #1. Written by Derek Landy and including art by Fran Galan. Corin Howell and Rachelle Rosenberg did the cover art. A cool one shot involving Jack Russell’s Werewolf by Night and Elsa Bloodstone. The presentation reminded me of the Marvel Studios Special Presentation from last Halloween. The use of color and black-and-white art worked very well for the format of this book and helped to create the desired tone.

The Cull #1. Written by Kelly Thompson and art by Mattia De Iulis. This new Image Comics book featured a group of young people are investigating something that happened the year before, by entering a mysterious cave. Or is it an alternate earth? Or is it luminal space? Not sure, but it is a fascinating start.

Project Crypto #1. Three tales, one about a Yeti, one about a Mongolian Death Worm and one serial written by Grant Morrison. I liked the Yeti part, but the Death Worm was a stretch for me. This was a different sort of book that was a refreshing change.

Alligator Loki #1. Written by Alyssa Wong and drawn by Bob Quinn. This is a series of short bits, much like the It’s Jeff book from earlier this year. I believe these were released originally on Marvel Unlimited online. These were funny and cute. That’s about it.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #10. “Bad Blood: Part One” Written by Cody Ziglar and drawn by Partha Pratim and Federico Sabbatini. Dike Ruani and Alejandro Sanchez did the art for the cover. Miles has a therapy session with Doc Sampson (who is in Sasquatch form), has a confrontation with Hightail and comes face to face with Blade. A lot going down for Miles Morales.

Astonishing Iceman #2. “Out Cold: Part Two.” Bobby heads back to his hometown to confront the Sapien League, specifically Helium the Unfreezable Man. Bobby is sure that Orchis is behind this, despite the denials of Helium.

Avengers Inc. #1. “The Man Who Wasn’t There.” Written by Al Ewing and drawn by Leonard Kirk. Daniel Acuna did the cover art. Janet Van Dyne is approached by NYC Mayor Luke Cage about the murders of a group of low level super criminals. However, Cage does not want costumed help. So Janet has to move forward without costumes. She finds the body of Whirlwind, and the others who were not dead. Whirlwind comes back claiming to be Victor Shade ( a name connected to Vision). This has an X-Files flair to it.

Incredible Hulk #4. “Riddle of the Man-Thing: Part One” In this new arc, we get some background on Charlie, the young girl following Banner around. The Man-Thing arrives to spirit Banner/Hulk off to the Nexus. I have always enjoyed the Man-Thing despite not reading a ton of his books. I like the use of the character in this more horror themed Hulk title.

Red Goblin #8. Written by Alex Paknadel and drawn by Chris Campana. Inhyuk Lee did the cover art. Normie ditches Miles Morales and heads off to save Tim. Normie and Rascal continue their struggle with each other, but that is seemingly over.

House of Slaughter #17. “Alabaster Part Two.” Written by Sam Johns and illustrated by Letizia Cadonici. The cover art was by Javier Rodrigues & Werther Dell’edera. There is something creepy going on with the new boy they called Big Man. I have had some trouble following this arc so far. I hope I get better at it cause it looks cool.

Dark Ride #8. Written by Joshua Williamson and art by Andrei Bressan. Sam is being attacked by weird creatures that resemble the park’s mascot. We see flashbacks to his youth at the time his mother died. It had been a long time since the last issue of Dark Ride but each one is a great book.

Planetary #3. “Dead Gunfighters” Written by Warren Ellis and featuring art by John Cassaday. A cop, murdered by his partner, comes back as a ghost to exact some revenge. Cool issue.

Something Epic #5. Written and illustrated by Szymon Kudranski. Daniel proves himself as an epic and is allowed to head into a meeting with the source of Imagination. This series continues to be beautifully rendered and creative beyond almost anything that I have read.

Captain Marvel: Dark Tempest #3. “The Ferocious Occurrence of the Feral Five.” Written by Ann Nocenti and drawn by Paolo Villanelli. Mike McKone & Jesus Aburtov did the cover art. Carol gets back to the kids, but they have already been changed into the Feral Five.

Ghost Rider #18. “Bad Education.” This issue gives us a back story for Talia Warroad. Who knew that back story would include Doctor Strange? Or the Cult of Mephisto?

Omega the Unknown #3. “Burn While You Learn!” We continue to see the connection between Omega and James-Michael, who is having troubles at his new school with bullies. Omega is taking on Electro in the meantime. I like how they are laying this out slowly in each book. James-Michael is a little robotic (I assume that is what he actually is).

The Enfield Gang Massacre #2. “Chapter Two: Pinned Down.” Written by Chris Condon and drawn by Jacob Phillips. This continues to be one of the more original books out each month. Just the feel of the book, the way it is presented like an old time comic, right down to the paper style is awesome.

Amazing Spider-Man #655-658. These are four books I grabbed at Quad Con. They were all written by Dan Slott. This is right around the time when Marla Jameson was killed and Peter started to adopt the idea of “No One Dies.” The Human Torch is also considered dead and Spidey has taken his place in the FF (not the Fantastic Four, but the Future Foundation). Reading these took me back to a different time for Spidey and it was fun.

One Piece S1 E7

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“The Girl With the Sawfish Tattoo”

The penultimate episode of Netflix’s Anime adaptation takes a look at the tragic history of Nami and we discover the reason why she is working with Arlong.

The scene where a young Nami and her sister Nojiko is protected by their ‘mother’ from Arlong, who was there to collect a fee. The mother did not have enough for both girls and herself, so she told Arlong to accept the money for her daughters. Arlong shot her in front of the girls, which is a horrendous moment.

You would think that this would lead to Nami to get revenge, but instead she went to Arlong and offered to work for him, being a great map-drawer. She asked to join on the condition that she could buy back her village. It was a huge amount of money, but he agreed.

Nami in current day had the money, but Arlong double-crossed her, taking the money for himself and still going to destroy the village. This led to Nami finally asking Luffy for help in one of the best scenes of the series so far.

There were also some good scenes in this episode with Garp and Zeff, Kobe and Helmeppo and Luffy and Zoro. Luffy definitely took a different tone this episode as he was much more serious despite never giving up on Nami. It would be easy to say that she betrayed them and just sail off, but Luffy refused to do so, dedicating himself to helping her, even if she did not want it. When he places that straw hat on Nami’s head after she finally, tear-filled, asjed for his help was just tremendous.

I want to wait for the finale for Talk Like a Pirate Day on Tuesday, but that is a long way away. I hope I can wait that long. Honestly, I wanted to continue to the final episode right away. This has been one of my favorite series of the year so far.

Theater Camp

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I saw a trailer for this earlier in the year, but it never came around to any theaters in my area. I figured it would arrive some day on streaming. The other day, I found it on Hulu and I was excited to get a chance to watch it.

Filmed as a mockumentary, Theater Camp is a comedy directed by first time directors Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman.

According to IMDB, “As summer rolls around again, kids are gathering from all over to attend AdirondACTS, a scrappy theater camp in upstate New York that’s a haven for budding performers. After its indomitable founder Joan (Amy Sedaris) falls into a coma, her clueless “crypto-bro” son Troy (Jimmy Tatro) is tasked with keeping the thespian paradise running. With financial ruin looming, Troy must join forces with Amos (Ben Platt), Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon), and their band of eccentric teachers to come up with a solution before the curtain rises on opening night.”

This was a lot of fun. It was very funny and had a plethora of characters that fit into the idea of a theater camp. While I am not a theater camp kid, I have a feeling that those who were would really relate to the situations presented here.

There were very top notch comedic performances throughout, led by Ben Platt and Molly Gordon. The kids in the film all do an awesome job, carrying a lot of the musical numbers, especially in the finale.

There is a lot of absurdity in the situations in play during the movie, but they all feel more like truth than parody.

Theater Camp was funny and breezy quick, with an enjoyable first two acts and, dare I say, an inspirational third act. It was definitely worth the wait. I would have liked to have seen this in a theater with a crowd instead of at home, but it does work anyway.

3.8 stars

A Haunting in Venice

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This is the third film in the series featuring director Kenneth Branagh adapting Agatha Christie’s classic detective character Hercule Poirot. We have seen Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, both of which were fine, if unremarkable. The next film was A Haunting in Venice, based on Christie’s 1969 novel Hallowe’en Party.

A Haunting in Venice, however, is definitely my favorite of the three films by far.

Poirot has retired from detective work, practically removing himself from society in Venice, despite people hanging out outside his home hoping to get him to work cases.

When his old friend, author Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), who had made Poirot famous with her novels, came to see him, she asked Poirot to accompany her to attempt to debunk a psychic named Mrs. Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh).

The psychic was brought to a haunted house in Venice where a young girl (Alicia Drake) had committed suicide and her mother (Kelly Reilly) was desperate to contact her again.

The film did a fantastic job creating the mood. There was so much tension and anxiety throughout the story. Some of the shots from Branagh created an amazing feel, a claustrophobic or uneasy sense for the viewer.

Kenneth Branagh’s performance as Hercule Poirot has been the highlight of all three of these movies. Branagh and his mustache are the stars of this story. I love how the story incorporates Poirot’s own troubles and self-doubts from years of challenges and stress. He had lost himself from the years and part of this movie is the attempt to find his mojo.

The ensemble cast of the film is great, including Tina Fey, Michelle Yeoh, Alicia Drake, Kelly Reilly, Jamie Dornan, Jude Hill, Camille Cottin, Riccardo Scamarcio and Amir El-Masry.

The mystery really worked well. I loved how the pieces of the story was revealed slowly through the interrogations of Poirot and his superstar observations. Even when you believe that Poirot was not firing on all cylinders because there was something supernatural going on, he comes through big time.

This movie is creepy, stylistic, and filled with suspense. I have very little to criticize here. I can see some people may think it is a little slow with some of the scenes, but not for me. For me, this was paced beautifully. There were amazing shots of Venice and individual shots that were constructed with purpose and artistic flair. A Haunting in Venice was an excellent film.

4.75 stars

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Trailer

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Finally, there is an Aquaman trailer.

It has been a long time coming.

The DCEU films have been having a tough run, but the original Aquaman film made over $1 B dollars. Still, with it being the final DCEU film before James Gunn reboots the DCU, it could feel to many audience members that this is not necessary viewing.

That made this trailer very significant.

For all that was riding on this trailer, I found the trailer for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom to be a bit messy. It was fine, but it did not knock it out of the park for me. It felt like a giant CGI fest. The best parts of the trailer were the ones containing Jason Momoa, as a father.

Again, I will be watching the film anyway, but this trailer did not make me any more excited. It was fine.

Killers of the Flower Moon Trailer 2

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If I am being honest, Killers of the Flower Moon has not been a film that I was anticipating. I have no problem with Martin Scorsese as a director, but I do not revere him as some do. Leonardo DiCaprio is an excellent actor, but he does not drive my attention to a project like some actors might. The first trailer was fine, but did not do much for me.

After this trailer, I am considerably more excited for this movie. This trailer did exactly what it was supposed to do… made me look forward to the movie more than I was before.

There was considerable more emotion shown in the trailer than it showed before. It was more intense than it was in the first trailer.

I was always going to watch this movie, but I admit that I am now anticipating the movie and that is thrilling.

Only Murders in the Building S3 E7

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“CoBro”

I was worried that after the excellent episode last week that the three main leads of the show would just be back together at the beginning of the episode and just push the serious struggles that they faced in episode six’s outstanding work out of the way. Thankfully, that was not going to happen…even though Oliver and Charles did find themselves back to each other fairly quickly. In fact, Charles was ready to be back with his friends almost immediately, but even by the end of the show, Charles and Oliver had not yet reunited with Mabel, who seems to be ready to move on as a solo act.

I’m glad they took some time to wonder whether the group was completely over, but the wisdom of Uma, who was missing Bunny, who was murdered in season 2, and who had actually taken the handkerchief out of Ben’s dead hand. Seems that Uma was a bit of a kleptomaniac and this provided another big clue. We found that she had sold that handkerchief for big money to Ben’s brother Dickie (who is looking more and more like a major suspect).

Mabel, however, has found herself a new duo to team up with, including Tobert and deaf Theo Dimas back from the previous seasons. Mabel started to record the podcast on her own, calling it Only Murders in the Building #BloodyMabel.

Big cameo this week too as Matthew Broderick, who was playing a hyped up version of himself, was hired to replace Charles in the role of the Constable after Charles had quit. Oliver discovered to his horror that Broderick was a nightmare to work with and wanted to go over his role dozens of times, requiring a full background and lifepath for the character. Another cameo included Mel Brooks, whom Oliver called on his phone to see if he could give any advice on working with Broderick. Brooks had worked with Broderick on The Producers and he asked Oliver if he had given into any of Broderick’s “suggestions.” Broderick’s cameo was one of the funnier ones involving the play this season.

Plus, who knew that Charles was up for the role of Ferris Buehler? Funny. There are only three more episodes remaining this season so I expect the case to really amp up now that the podcast is officially being recorded.

The Bear S2 E6

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“Fishes”

Holy cow.

What a chaotic, hectic, raw episode of The Bear.

I should have guessed that this was going to be something special when I saw that the run time on this episode was over an hour, which was uncommon for the show up until this point. I had no idea what was coming.

We got an entire flashback episode to a Berzatto family Christmas dinner that had everybody on edge and led to some of the most dramatic, mentally unstable moments I have ever seen on the TV screen.

The cast was unbelievable. Along with our normal cast members, we got Jamie Lee Curtis as Donna Berzatto, Carmy mother, Jon Bernthal returning as Michael, Oliver Platt returning as Uncle Jimmy, Bob Odenkirk as Uncle Lee, Sarah Paulson as cousin Michelle, and John Mulaney as Michelle’s boyfriend Stevie. These amazing actors brought such a dynamic to the ensemble that was draining to watch, in the best possible way.

The amount of disfunction going on in this house was just stunning. Every moment, every interaction between these characters were amplified by the tension, the clear mental illness going on among the family members. What started as friendly interaction devolved into anger and resentment within seconds.

Stevie’s beautiful grace seemed to disarm the situation and a lesser show would have sent this show off into a happy ending, but that is not The Bear. It quickly spiraled into a series of shocking conclusions to the episode, punctuated by Donna driving her car through the house’s wall.

Jon Bernthal and Jamie Lee Curtis gave unbeleivable performances and deserve Emmy Awards for them. Bernthal was nominated for Best Guest Actor in a Comedy, but it did not look like Jamie Lee was nominated and that is a shame.

This was the most amazing hour of television I have seen in a long time. One of the most dramatic episodes of a ‘comedy’ that you are ever going to see. Amazing character work from an amazing cast of actors at the top of their games. I was dreading what I thought was coming, but I had no idea.

A special episode, no doubt.

One Piece S1 E6

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“The Chef and the Chore Boy”

One Piece continues to be one of my favorite viewing experiences with every episode that I watch. Episode six, The Chef and the Chore Boy, is one of the most emotional of the series so far as out characters are dealing with their concern for their fallen crew mate, dangers from outside and the betrayal of someone close.

Luffy is learning about being the captain and the difficulties that goes with that. He also had to face off with the fish-man Arlong, where the fish man kicked his butt. Not only was this a defeat for Luffy, but he had to deal with the betrayal of Nami, who was working for Arlong and brought him the map. However, she was able to manipulate Arlong to not kill Luffy after he had beaten him and to toss him into the sea water instead. While it may seem cold, she saved Luffy from Arlong ripping his throat out.

We saw how a young Sanji and former pirate captain Zeff came together, stranded on a deserted aisle with little food. The show also revealed that Zeff cut off his own leg to eat after he gave all of the food to Sanji. Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth himself and one of the stars of Cocaine Bear) played the young Sanji and he did an amazing job. Convery has been one of the top actors of a young age over the last few years.

The final scenes of this episode were powerfully emotional as we got Zoro waking up and committing to be Luffy’s first mate, a goodbye between Sanji and Zeff, and a surprise for Kobe when Garp double down on going after the Straw Hat Pirates when he thought they were just going to leave him be. Kobe discovered that Garp is Luffy’s grandfather.

And then Buggy the Clown is back… or at least, his head is. And he is working with the Straw Hats! Not sure he can be trusted.

Two more episodes to go. Finale planned for Talk Like A Pirate Day!

EYG Comic Cavalcade #57

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September 10, 2023

New banner!

Good Sunday to everyone. I am back with a new Comic Cavalcade after I spent some of my day at a special event that was held at the Five Flags Center in Dubuque, Iowa. It was the Quad Con, a convention featuring all of the keys of pop culture, from comic books to toys to artwork and geek/nerd culture.

I had heard that this was a minor convention and that there would not be much there, but when I showed up at 10 AM this morning, there were quite a few people there and they had a lot of things set up. I am sure that it was not at the level of events that, say Todd, is used to, but for me, who had never attended a comic convention before, this had a ton to look at.

I will agree that comics made up about 30% of the overall exhibits on display and that there were also a ton of toys, but the comic vendors that I saw had a lot of choices and I was happy to get an opportunity to pick up some books that I normally do not see anywhere but, perhaps, on eBay.

My local comic shop from Dubuque, Comic World and games, had a presence at the show too as Pat and Jeff were here working. They had a pair of giant D & D dice to role to determine discount on what is purchased. That was fun. As always, I want to support Comic World so, even though I had seen most everything that they were going to have, I picked up a couple of things, including Action Comics #454, which Pat had said was his favorite cover of all time.

They also had some Ghostbusters cosplay going on with some cool looking set up, a Ghostbuster truck, a couple of inflatable Ghostbusters creatures, including the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man and such. I think they were doing something special with the Ghostbusters later in the day, but I did not stick around for that.

I got a bunch of cool comics to go along with the experience of attending the con. I picked up my first ever CGC Universal graded book, Amazing Spider-Man #289, which was graded at 9.4. I thought having one of these would be cool and this was the ASM issue where they ‘revealed’ the identity of the Hobgoblin. I also pocked up Daredevil #12 guest starring Ka-Zar (which is now my oldest Daredevil book), three issues of a Hellcat series that I had never seen before (she is in a blue outfit), Not Brand Echh #1-3, What If… #61, 71, 97, 88, 92, 112 and What If Dr. Doom had Become Thing #1. Also Amazing Spider-Man issues 655-658. and 544 (Part 1 of One More Day). Ice Cream Man trade paperback (collecting #1-4). Rocketeer: Cargo of Doom #1 (from IDW)New Thunderbolts #17 (which was free on the table for coming to the con), Plastic Man #10, and issues #1 & 2 of American Vampire Anthology from Vertigo. There were a lot of fun stuff and the only thing keeping me where I was was my wallet.

Other books this week:

Planetary #2. “Island.” Written by Warren Ellis and featuring art by John Cassaday. Elijah Snow and Jakita headed to an island (that really resembled Godzilla’s Monster Island) to try and prevent a group of people from discovering the mystery of the island. We also see a giant green lizard’s carcass (which sure resembled Godzilla) on the island. Fun issue.

Omega the Unknown #2. “Welcome to Hell’s Kitchen.” Written by Steve Gerber & Mary Skrenes and illustrated by Jim Mooney. The mysterious connection between Omega and James-Michael continues as James-Michael is injured when something happens to Omega. Oh, and there is a Hulk too.

Dr. Strange #7. “Don’t Let Your Ashes Fill Your Eyes.” Written by Jed macKay and drawn by Pasqual Ferry. Alex Ross did the cover art. Doctor Strange and General Strange come face-to-face and Stephen realizes what a challenge is ahead of him. And what exactly is going on with Clea?

Swan Songs #3. Written by W. Maxwell Prince and art by Filipe Andrade. One of the most beautifully rendered books I have seen in a long time. This is simply an artistic masterpiece. Plus, a story of nuclear destruction and the survival of two individuals. Beautiful book.

Barnstormers #3. “Chapter Three.” Written by Scott Snyder and drawn by Tula Lotay. This series wraps up with a somewhat happy ending… or as it seems. The fact that this book ends about half way through the book and the second part of the book is art and covers etc.

Black Panther #4. “Reign at Dusk Part 4” Written by Eve L. Ewing and penciled by Chris Allen and Mack Chater. Jesus Aburtov did the cover art. Black Panther battles a controlled Deathlok. I am still struggling to follow this book with all the characters that I am not sure of.

Moon Knight #27. “Journey to the Center of the Mind.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Federico Sabbatini. Cover art by Stephen Segovia and Rachelle Rosenberg. Moon Knight and Hunter’s Moon go inside the mind of Vibro’s mind to try and find out what he knows about Black Spectre is found.

Peacemaker: Tries Hard #5. Written by Kyle Starks and drawn by Steve Pugh. Cover art by Kris Anka. Peacemaker and Red Bee have to fight a bunch of Deathstroke clones, especially Teen Deathstroke and a bunch of baby Deathstroke clones. Fun series with the tone of the HBO Max show.

Silver Surfer Rebirth-Legacy #1. “Temptation” Written by Ron Marz and drawn by Ron Lim. Variant cover drawn by Frank Miller. Silver Surfer steals the time gem from Gamora to take Genis-Vell into the past to let him see his father, Captain Marvel. Everything is not as happy as it seems.

Void Rivals #3. Written by Robert Kirkman and drawn by Lorenzo De Felici. Darak and Solila have to face off with a new villain as they try to return to the Sacred Ring. Void Rivals has been a fun and intriguing series so far and it looks like a betrayal is going to where we are moving forward.

Silk #5. Written by Emily Kim and drawn by Ig Guara. Cindy Moon goes into her brother’s dream to try and stop Saya Ishii from taking her revenge on Cindy through Albert.

I Am Groot Season 2

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“Are You My Groot?”

“Groot’s Sweet Treat”

“Groot’s Snow Day”

“Groot Noses Around”

“Groot and the Great Prophecy”

The second season of the animated short series, I Am Groot, dropped on Disney + as we return to the time of Baby Groot.

The first season of the show included short films that were fun and cute. This is very much the same, but, to be honest, the second season was even more light and inconsequential as season one. Seriously, there is just not much to these shorts.

Some of my favorite moments included the fact that, in a post credit scene, we hear Bradley Cooper’s voice saying one word so he could get a credit on the show. I did enjoy the use of Jeffrey Wright’s voice as Uatu the Watcher, who narrated the “Groot and the Great Prophecy“, which was probably my favorite of the five new shorts.

The whole Groot finds a nose episode was odd. And honestly, that was about all that sticks out in my mind of these five episodes.

I am sure that maybe some young kids would find these all fun and entertaining, but they are, for the most part, a little too young for me. I had a couple of chuckles, but this is something that I will not remember moving forward. Even the Watcher episode doesn’t stick out for anything else but Jeffrey Wright.

The animation is fantastic though. It is a beautifully detailed and constructed series. Vin Diesel is listed as doing the voice of Groot for all five episodes, despite the voice of Groot being considerably higher than we’ve heard before. Vin Diesel has done some excellent voice acting with this character over the years and this I Am Groot series has not been as exception.

The Nun II

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A few years ago there was a 2014 horror movie that I hated called Ouija. Two years later there was a sequel to that terrible movie called Ouija: Origin of Evil and I went to it expecting another flaming pile of crap, but it turned out that the sequel was considerably more entertaining.

This is what I had hoped for with The Nun II. I disliked The Nun, a film from the Conjuring universe, very much as it made #5 on my year-end list of worst movies.

Sadly, though I do think this is better than the first one, The Nun II is most likely still on target for the 2023 worst movies list.

Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) returned to face off with the Valak, the evil nun, who is in search of an artifact that would give the demon more power.

There are so many dumb things that happen here and the story just does not work very well for me. I will admit there are some cool scenes, such as the newspaper stand. Unfortunately, those were in the trailers (as many of the best moments were) so the shock value was not there now.

I was really bored for the first part of the film. Things picked up a bit as it moved along, but there was nothing new or interesting to carry the story early.

Taissa Farmiga did a decent job and it was cool to see Storm Reid as Sister Irene’s ‘sidekick’ Debra, even though Debra had nothing to do.

This was not a film that I enjoyed much, though the film looked good. It was a step up from the garbage pile of the first film though.

1.8 stars

Bottoms

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This was a weird and bizarre farce of a movie, which I enjoyed very much.

Bottoms is a teen sex comedy, in the veins of American Pie or Porky’s, but taking the genre in a new and over-the-top way. I literally wondered aloud about several of the details that I saw in this film that at times felt like a parody or a satire of the type of film.

PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri) were two young girls who came up with a plan to start a “fight club” at their high school in an attempt to sleep with their crushes from the cheerleading team.

The thing is the world that they exist in is so bizarre that it seems more like a dream. In fact, the first five-ten minutes, I kept waiting for a character to awaken. They did not though.

The football players always wore their football uniforms (including shoulder pads) even at school. Mr. G (Marshawn Lynch) was a teacher going through his own problems so he did not seem to care about anything else. The whole school and town culture treated quarterback Jeff (Nicholas Galitzine) as if he could do no wrong and he and the other football players ran the school.

There were so many of these little details that the entire story felt ridiculous, but in the good way. It definitely did not prevent this movie from doing silly things because common sense says you wouldn’t do it. There were even a couple of jokes that I cringed on because it felt as if these jokes were not appropriate. The film clearly did not believe that any topic was off limit and it approached it with some real guts.

Bottoms was very funny, but it did get fairly mean-spirited at times, which made it harder to laugh at some of the situations. As soon as I was able to get past the unrealistic aspects of the film, I was able to enjoy the warped nature more.

Directed by Emma Seligman, who directed 2020’s Shiva Baby (which also had Rachel Sennott), Bottoms played with the genre of teen sex comedies. There are a lot of the typical tropes in here, but everything is so weird that you are never sure how it is going to play out. Definitely an original film in the genre.

3.6 stars