Author Archives: Doc

The X-Files S2 E21, E22, E23

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“Calusari”

“F. Emasculata”

“Soft Light”

The X-Files were on quite a positive run as it neared the end of season two. These were three solid episodes that all had a different feel to them. Episodes 22 & 23 were both involving the government and their sneaky, sneaky tricks. 

It was cool to see Adrian Monk himself, Tony Shalhoub, in the 23rd episode as the man with the murderous shadow. Shalhoub is always great in whatever role he takes on and the final shot of him in a chair, controlled by the government (X himself) as a tear rolls down his cheek is an amazingly terrifying image.

The 21st episode featured a cool concept that took the old possession angle in a different manner. The idea that the little kid was a twin who had his twin die in the womb, and that the dead twin spirit was killing people was a really awesome twist. 

How many times have Mulder and/or Scully think they have been exposed to some kind of virus/disease/illness? It happened yet again in “F. Emasculata” when Scully could have been exposed to a deadly contagion. She avoided this one (again) but you would think that her luck would run out one of these days.

I did find the showdown on the infected prisoner, who had the little boy captive, and Mulder was intense and solidly written, even though his eventual death was pretty obvious.

Damn Yankees (1958)

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It is Sunday morning and I went to Prime for today’s Genre-ary DailyView, and I head for the world of baseball and the classic musical Damn Yankees. 

I did not know that this was a twist on the Faustus legend, where a character sells their soul to the devil in exchange for some kind of success on earth.

In this case, Applegate (Ray Walston), who was the Devil in disguise, approached middle aged man Joe Boyd (Robert Shafer) and offered him a chance to reclaim a youthful desire to become the greatest baseball player for his beloved Washington Senators and help them win the pennant. Applegate turned Joe into a younger man and named him Joe Hardy (Tab Hunter). Hardy goes to the Senators for a try-out and impresses everyone.

One of my favorite musical songs appeared in this film. I have a connection to “Heart” (which was performed on General Hospital at their Nurses’ Ball). It is such an upbeat and energetic song and this performance was enjoyable.

I loved Ray Walston’s performance in this movie. He was very much over the top and funny with his evilness. 

I’m not sure I loved how the final scene played out because I am not sure it made any sense in what happened, but I was happy that it turned out as a happy ending. I’m just not sure about the execution of the decision.

Lola (Gwen Verdon) was Applegate’s demonic servant, who was brought to corrupt Joe, who was still in love with his wife (Shannon Bolin).

It was also fun to see Jean Stapleton as one of Joe’s wife’s friends. 

I liked this one. It was a lot of fun and engaging performances, with some good music. 

Moonlighting S3 E13, E14, E15

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“Maddie’s Turn to Cry”

“I am Curious…Maddie”

“To Heiress Human”

Season three of Moonlighting wrapped up with the final three episodes. Episodes 13 & 14 both started off with creative recaps that seemed to make fun of itself for having too many repeats and not enough new episodes. It doesn’t play as well now since I am watching these back to back and there have been no repeats in-between. 

The second episode of these, “I am Curious… Maddie,” is the episode where Dave and Maddie finally do the deed. The will-they-won’t-they dance finally becomes a they-will. After several episodes with Mark Harmon as a roadblock, Dave and Maddie hit the sheets together.

The only problem with that is I disliked how this came to be. I remember not being a fan of the way this worked out when I first saw it back in the 80s. It was so dark. There was so much anger and spite that it did not feel right. I know it was designed that way because Dave and Maddie are always arguing so why not translate that into their first sexual encounter? It just felt like they were way too aggressive, too angry and not showing how they truly felt. 

I would have liked it more had they had their encounter in the episode “Maddie’s Turn to Cry” when Maddie came over to David’s apartment. This is when it should have happened so it was more about two people actually finding themselves instead of such a mean-spirited, almost violent way.

It almost made me feel bad for Mark Harmon. His character of Sam Crawford was such a good guy who seemed to be hurt badly by the relationship between Dave and Maddie.

Cybill Shepherd is clearly pregnant too. You can see how she was wearing clothes that were large and flowing, and using handbags to block her belly. The pregnancy had been part of the problem with getting new episodes out, along with the feud on set with the stars.

Honestly, the breaking of the fourth wall in these episodes felt very off considering the different tone of the episodes.

Season four of Moonlighting goes off the rail. I am curious to see what I think of this next season on rewatch. 

The X-Files S2 E19, E20

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“Død Kalm” 

“Humbug”

Season two of The X-Files moves along with one of my favorite episodes and one that was decent. 

First up, Mulder and Scully age rapidly upon a ghost ship. They investigated the ship when crew members were found from the ship, ageing well past their times.

Mulder and Scully are at their best in isolation, places where the outside world is kept at bay. Here, it allowed Mulder and Scully to have some interactions that they might not have had in other instances. 

Problem with the episode was that the old age makeup did not look great. Mulder, in particular, did not look like an old man, more like a guy with a lot of latex on his face.

“Død Kalm” was okay, and the strength of the episode was definitely the relationship between our ever favorite FBI agents.

The next episode was “Humbug” which was one of my favs from the series. It was the time Mulder and Scully investigated murders at the freak show.

This was a great episode that really, for the first time, took a more humorous tone with the case. The writing of the dialogue was spot on in this episode. Mulder was as funny here as he has been yet, and shows what the show could be. Apparently, according to Wikipedia, the episode was written by Darin Morgan, who had helped his brother Glen on other scripts for the show and earned himself a full time job. He wrote some classic X-Files episodes including “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space” and “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose,” both of which I love and can’t wait to get to during this rewatch.

The thing is that the show does not sacrifice the tension and horror with the comedy. It shows that The X-Files is capable of blending the tones together into something very satisfying and extremely clever.

It was fun to see Michael J. Anderson (who played The Man from Another Place on Twin Peaks) guest starring as Mr. Nutt. Another guest star was Vincent Schiavelli, who was once married to Miss DePesto herself, Allyce Beasley, and they appeared together on an episode of Moonlighting.

These kind of comedic episodes are some of my favorites of the entire series because they are done so well and yet does not rob the show of its signature style.

American Horror Story: Murder House S1 E9-E12

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I had been doing a rewatch of the first season of American Horror Story: Murder House, usually once every Sunday. I made it through episode 8, but so many other shows popped up that I kind of let AHS: Murder House slide. 

Now, with the Picket Fences rewatch finished, Monarch, Echo and Fargo (almost) ending, I decided to wrap up the first season in the Murder House. 

I remember the first time watching this show, the shocks were absolutely flying. I never saw the hanging of Ben coming. The deaths of the members of the Harmon family were all amazing, and is something that you can do in an anthology series, since you do not have to revisit the characters in a subsequent season (although, Constance, I believe, comes back in a later season with the baby she took from the house- as the Anti-Christ. That is a season I may have to watch for the first time).

The group of characters are all given pretty decent ends, even the ghosts that are trapped inside the house. It was a strangely satisfying and, dare I say, happy ending for the Harmons, considering that they all died tragically in the house. The ending of the show with them celebrating Christmas was a strange conclusion.

It was fun watching the spirits inside the house chase off the new couple that tried to buy the house. 

I glad to have finished off the first season. It was one of my favorites of the seasons that I have seen. 

Moonlighting S3 E12

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“Sam and Dave”

The soap opera Moonlighting continued with the episode “Sam and Dave” where Addison officially met Sam, Maddie’s ‘friend’ who was at her door last episode. Of course, Sam is played by Mark Harmon. 

I really don’t like the way this story progressed. It was just too dark for this show. Even the manner in which the show is being shot during these episodes make the mood much more dark. This episode drew a very negative comparison between David and Sam. It went out of the way to make Dave look bad and to made Sam look super-dooper. 

I was under the impression that David was an active drinker. I find it tough to believe he got as drunk as he did at the end of the show. 

Herbert Viola took another step to become the character I hate most on any show. He is such an annoying character and his treatment of Agnes is mean. I hated the ‘advice’ that David gave to Viola when Bert came to talk to him about women. 

The episode ended with a “To Be Continued” and it was clear that the show was moving along with this style.

Fargo S5 E9

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“The Useless Hand”

I was not sure how, after last week’s thriller of an episode, the show intended on having two more episodes. Last week absolutely felt like the penultimate episode. I guess I should not question Fargo. This was an amazing episode leading into what is surely going to be a devastating finale.

I have not been as interested in the character of Ole Munch for most of the season, and yet, it just a few minutes of screen time, I have a much more positive view of him than I have had all season long. He has also succeeded in making me feel sympathy for Gator, something I never thought could happen. When Roy basically cast his son Gator aside as being worthless, and Gator sadly asked for his dad, this was heartbreaking and you really see what a victim Gator is of his selfish and cruel father.

Dorothy is one of my favorite characters on TV right now. She is such a survivor and does whatever she needed to do to get by. The phone conversation between her and Lorraine was powerful, and gave Dorothy that extra bolt that she needed, with the line “No Daughter of mine…“. Maybe I missed it, but I would love to know how Dorothy became as competent in these tactics of war and violence as she has. How did she become “The Tiger,” as she was referred to by Old Munch at the episode’s end. I do wonder though, after being so tactful, why did Dorothy leave her gun just out in the open as she climbed down into “the Grave?” That felt like a real error that I did not expect Dorothy to make and she was very fortunate that Old Munch happened by when he did.

Sheriff Roy Tillman continues to just do whatever he wants and is ready to lead his men and followers into a firefight with the FBI. The scene where, on horseback, Roy rode up to the FBI to let them know, in no uncertain terms, that he would not be standing down or cooperating with any search warrant was intense as hell. It is pretty clear that the series writer and creator Noah Hawley is using Roy Tillman as a stand-in for a more famous figure in the world today. The call to arms Roy sent out over the live stream was reminiscent of things we have seen in our current political world. 

Man of La Mancha (1972)

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I decided to watch Man of La Mancha today on Amazon Prime for the Genre-ary DailyView. Peter O’Toole and Sophia Loren starred in this tale of Don Quixote, an adaptation of the Broadway play of the same title.

I liked the initial set-up of the m0vie, with Cervantes (Peter O’Toole) thrown in prison awaiting the Spanish Inquisition. Once there, he was forced to defend himself as the other prisoners tried to put him on trial. Cervantes is an actor and so he put on a defense by telling the story of Don Quixote.

Though the premise of the film was intriguing, it failed to keep my attention as it progressed. Neither Peter O’Toole or Sophia Loren were much in way of singers and the overall silliness of the tone seemed to work against the tale.

Both O’Toole and Loren did a decent job with their performances. James Coco is likable as Sancho Panza/Cervantes’ servant. 

“The Impossible Dream” is a well-known song that I was unaware originated in this musical. 

The mix of tones kept me from enjoying the film and there was no music with that musical that truly engaged me. Overall, this was disappointing.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters S1 E10

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“Beyond Logic”

So this was the season finale. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters has been up and down for me all season long. Some of the moments were really good and other parts were not very good. That is a good example of this episode.

It was really predictable about what was going to happen, especially after Lee Shaw had to play Doc Brown trying to fix the wires in Back to the Future. As he was trying to fix the plug, he did it and then he stood around for several minutes while Godzilla and the flying titan fought. That led to him being left behind in Hollow Earth. Saw that coming.

However, Godzilla and the flying titan were awesome, though it did not have much time. 

Another week and Kentaro had some good scenes. He was the weakest character for most of the series, but last episode and this one, he really stepped up. And his mother had a great scene with his father too.

This show could have been consistently awesome every week, but it was not. It had its moments, but the writing did not feel as strong as it could have been. Since we just saw the Godzilla Minus One film that had a compelling story of the humans, this was just not at a level it needed to be.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #77

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January 12, 2024

Another snowstorm opened up some time to read comics today. The last snowstorm allowed me o head to Comic World this past Wednesday. We’ve had nearly 20 inches of snow this week. 

I have also gotten some eBay shopping in. This week a copy of the Marvel Graphic Novel The Death of Groo by Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragonés arrived in the mail. It is a beautiful copy and I am very happy to have it. I have ordered several older Tick books that will arrive at a later date.

Other books this week:

The Sensational She-Hulk #4. Written by Rainbow Rowell and art by Ig Guara. Jen Bartel did the cover art. I was very excited for this issue because Patsy Walker, aka Hellcat was going to appear. She was a hoot in this issue, as she and Jen head out on the town (with Carol Danvers) and there was fun for all. I don’t know why I really love Hellcat, but I find that I really do.

Miguel O’Hara: Spider-Man #2. ”Beware… Dracula!“ Written by Steve Orlando and art by Michael Dowling. Nick Bradshaw & Rachelle Rosenberg did the cover art. I liked this issue much more than I did issue #1. The confrontation between Miguel and Dracula on the moon was very interesting and compelling. 

Swan Songs #6. Written by W. Maxwell Prince and illustrated by Martin Morazzo. This is my favorite book of the week (plus the winner of the Cover of the week). This is the most creative book I have seen in ages, a parody of Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends and a crossover with Ice Cream Man. The poems are funny and warped. 

Captain Marvel #4. ”Shifting Lines“ Carol and Yuna are after the MacGuffin in teh Negative Zone and they come across… The Black Cat??? What? 

Book of Butcher #1. Written by James Tynion IV and drawn by Werther Dell’edera. This was a surprise a couple weeks ago when it was just suddenly out. I thought comic companies usually promote releases like this. It even caught the staff at Comic World off guard. This was informational.

Ultimate Spider-Man #1. Written by Jonathan Hicks and art by Marco Checchetto. Checchetto and Matthew Wilson did the cover art. The Ultimate Universe is back and the new Ultimate Spider-Man kicks it off. Peter Parker had not been bitten by the radioactive spider and he was now a middle aged man, married to MJ with two kids. But something was missing. This was a good read and I am intrigued by the new version we are getting.

Daredevil: Gang War#2. Written by Erica Schultz and penciled by Sergio Davila. Elektra is in the Gang War in an attempt to protect Hell’s Kitchen. However, Madame Masque has a new assassin hired, and she had Wolverine-like claws. Who is she? Very curious.

Giant Size Spider-Man #1. ”Lethal Protection“. Written by Cody Ziglar and drawn by Iban Coello. Includes a reprint of Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #22 by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli. Bryan Hitch & Alex Sinclair did the cover art. Miles Morales has to face off with a wild and uncontrollable Venom.

Luke Cage: Gang War #3. Written by Rodney Barnes and drawn by Ramon Bachs. Caanan White did the cover art. Mayor Cage and his new group of heroes take on some giant robots created by Smythe.

Avengers #9. “Twilight Dreaming” Part Three. The Avengers take on the Twilight Court and pull out one of the oldest clichés around. They match up against the villains that were too even a match… so they decided to switch opponents. I saw that coming a mile away. As I was reading, I thought, watch them just switch opponents and that is exactly what they did. I have seen that countless times over the years. I found that pretty lazy.

Transformers #4. Written and drawn by Daniel Warren Johnson. Optimus puts everything on the line to try and save Spike, who was shot last episode. It did not help when Starscream and the Decepticons attacked the hospital. A shocking final scene too, btw.

Blade #7. “Mother of Evil” Part Seven. Written by Bryan Hill and art by Valentina Pinti. Cover art was by Elena Casagrande & Romulo Fajardo Jr. Blade received a call from Bruce Banner and he arrives in a small town and faces off with the Hulk. It’s a creepy issue with some horrifying imagery even though the cover is a bit of a mislead. 

Deep Cuts #4. ”Blue Notes“ Written by Kyle Higgins and Joe Clark and pencils by Ramon K. Perez. I really thought this book was over. It had been months since the last issue came out. I do enjoy the different style of storytelling that goes on in this anthology book.

Rise of the Powers of X #1. Written by Kieron Gillen and art by R.B. Silva. Ugh. This one takes place ten years in the future, immediately making me uneasy about it. Then Ms. Marvel is listed as Captain Krakoa. These future storylines are never my favorites. Unfortunately, this one was not any different.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #15. Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Federico Vicentini and Federica Mancin. Still in the Gang War, Miles teams up with Captain Kra…err… Ms. Marvel against the Hobgoblin and his henchmen. 

Fishflies #4. Written and drawn by Jeff Lemire. Franny Fox and her former fugitive friend who had turned into a giant bug are out and being pursued by the police. A real Frankenstein type story that is beautiful to look at (especially the colors).

Other books read this week: Thunderbolts #2, The Sentry #2, Blood Commandment #3, Antarctica #7, Spider-Gwen: Smash #2, Starsigns #7, W0rldtr33 #6, and Midlife (or How to Hero at Fifty).

Hair (1979)

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This morning, the Genre-ary DailyView pulled another well-known musical film, the 1979 film, Hair. Hair was based on the 1968 Broadway musical  Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical. 

Hair focused in on the hippie counterculture of the late 1960s/early 70s. It was an anti-Vietnam play, though the movie rolled that back somewhat. 

The film featured a rollicking debut performance from Trick Williams as George Burger, the main hippie from the group in the film. Burger’s friends met Army draftee Claude Bukowski (John Savage) and they bonded in the last few days before Claude needed to report.

There was really not much of a plot here. It felt more like a compilation of misadventures of the group than it was any sort of real throughline. There was a connective tissue involving higher class woman named Shelia (Beverly D’Angelo) and she had some kind of relationship with Claude, kind of.

The music is great. ”Aquarius” is a classic that started off the film and ended up with “Let the Sunshine In.” Everything is catchy and the performance inside the movie were enjoyable and the choreography was well done too.

The success of this film is absolutely on the back of Treat Williams and he carries it through some ridiculousness, especially the final scenes of the movie which are so silly that it removes any of the emotional stakes of the film.

In the end, I am glad I watched the movie, and it does have positives to it, but there are just too many drawbacks for me to full recommend it.

High School Musical (2006)

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If I am being honest, it is pretty clear that Zac Efron has come a long way to his role as Kevin Vin Erich in The Iron Claw. He is a legitimate Oscar contender for that role, while he was, let’s say, less than that for High School Musical.

However, while he may not have been too deep here, he had some energy and he did have some chemistry with his co-stars, in particular with Vanessa Anne Hudgens, which helped to elevate this ridiculous high school film.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, “Troy Bolton (Zac Efron), the star athlete at a small-town high school, falls for nerdy beauty Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Anne Hudgens) at a holiday karaoke party. When they return to campus, Troy and Gabriella audition for the upcoming school musical. Meanwhile, the jealous Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) conspires to squelch their chances. The two must struggle to make it to auditions while also meeting their existing obligations to the basketball team and the academic decathlon.“

I mean… story-wise, this thing is terrible. The high school is pure fantasy, and things happen here that just never would happen in any high school in the world. And I am not just talking about the choreography. It is predictable and the characters are all weak.

However, the music is catchy and fun to listen to. I won’t be remembering it much or buying it on iTunes, but it was fun and enjoyable during the movie. The dancing was great, in particular the big lunch room number. 

It may be way too sugary and these kids would never exist anywhere, but it does have a positive message about doing what makes you happy and acceptance of it. That is an important message to the youth of the world.

I really thought that I would be rolling my eyes at this thing throughout, but it was more engaging than I thought it was going to be. I’m not saying that this was a good movie, but it was not a terrible one either. The weak parts and strong point kind of balance out here. I did not hate myself for watching it, and that is a bonus.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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Week of January 10th

This week’s comic cover of the week is also my favorite issue of the week because it is one of the most creative and original comic I have seen in a long time. 

Swan Song #6

Cover art by Martin Morazzo

This is the final issue of this six-issue mini-series. 

The cover itself, as well as the issue, is a parody of Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends poetry book and was a crossover with Ice Cream Man.

Brigadoon (1954)

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I was a big fan of the two seasons of Schmigadoon on Apple TV +. I came on it late, but binged the two seasons quickly, really enjoying the set-up and the parody of the musical genre. I had not seen the film that Schmigadoon was originally parodying, but this morning, that changed as I watched 1954’s Brigadoon starring Gene Kelly and Van Johnson.

Two men went to Scotland to go grouse shooting, but they stumbled from out of the mist into a mysterious village called Brigadoon. 

Gene Kelly is very charismatic and his singing and dancing is, again, top notch. Van Johnson played the more grumpy of the two. 

There are few songs that I recognized from the film. The one that I had heard before was “Almost Like Being in Love.” 

The film is romantic and lovely. Good music and good choreography. The storytelling is solid. 

 

Echo

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Everybody thought this series was going to be an utter mess. They said that Disney was dropping the episodes all in one day because they just wanted to get it done with and past it. Echo was supposed to be a waste of time.

This turned out to be an excellent five episode show. 

I was not a fan of the character of Echo in the Hawkeye series. She was probably the weakest point of that series and felt almost added in.

This show does a sensational job of taking some of the Maya scenes from the Hawkeye and blending them into the series, particularly the first episode. The tone of these scenes felt completely different and worked in the surrounding sections.

I liked the progression of Maya and her character. She was cold at the beginning and as she slowly accepted her Choctaw Nation generations. Alaqua Cox did a fabulous job as Maya Lopez, unable to speak, but still using facial features and body language to provide an understanding of the character.

The supporting characters in this show are very interesting and are some of the best written characters. Maya’s childhood friend Bonnie, her grandparents Skully (played by the wonderful Graham Greene) and Chula, her cousin Biscuits and his dog Billy Jack, her friend Henry and, of course, her ‘uncle’ Wilson Fisk.

Vincent D’Onofrio returned to form as Kingpin. He is always so great as this character. Lots of people hated his Wilson Fisk from the Hawkeye series, but I did not mind it. It was not as good as his appearances in the Daredevil Netflix series, but characters can be different. Here, he is closer to the way he was in that Netflix series. The connection of Kingpin and Maya was a major piece of the show.

The Echo series took a lot of criticism for dropping the shows all at once, but this feels as if the show was designed to be binged and it works that way.

This also makes the Netflix Daredevil series MCU cannon, which has been questionable over the years. They go right into the Wilson Fisk backstory with his father (how he bludgeoned him to death with a hammer). Oh and the first episode fight with Daredevil was spectacular.

I will say that I feel as if the final episode was a little rushed. I did like how the Maya-Fisk relationship ends up resolving. I’m not sure if I liked how the ‘Echo gives the others power too to fight’ because it seemed to be kind of add.

However, for the five episode series, I think Echo is an excellent series and was better than I thought it was going to be.