Author Archives: Doc

What If…? S2 E3

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Spoilers

“What If… Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?”

What a delight.

‘Twas the morning before Christmas

And I couldn’t sleep

So I popped on What If…?

Season two just for keep.

The Avengers were tussling

With a purple freak,

Inside Avengers Tower

Things looked really bleak.

The Watcher took us back

Before things got too charred

And we realized the show

Was a nod to Die Hard.

With Happy and Darcy,

And Maria Hill, too

While Justin Hammer dances

As he is wont to do.

From a purple “Hulk” Hogan

Whose punches are stiff,

Merry Christmas to all

From the world of What If…?

This was an unbelievably fun episode that filled me with joy… and not just Christmas joy. Die Hard is one of my all-time favorite movies, so seeing Marvel put an Avengers-spin on it was so epic. 

And then, the actual writing of the episode was so good. Christmas puns and tropes scattered throughout and great use of two secondary characters in Happy and Darcy that we all love. There was some great comedy in this episode and the use of the actual Avengers was just perfect as well. Was this the first What If…? episode that included Tony Stark where Stark did not die?

This was the first episode this season that did not feel as if it had a rush to finish. I thought the pacing of this was spectacular. 

And the return of Justin Hammer, voiced by the one and only Sam Rockwell, as a stand in for Hans Gruber, was inspired. Sam Rockwell sounded as if he was having a blast with the character. You could hear the lilt in his voice. The fact that Marvel is able to get these huge stars to come back and voice their characters in this animated series never fails to blow my mind. Sure there are some who are voice actors (hiya Lake Bell), but the fact is this episode had Mark Ruffalo back for like two lines of dialogue. Jon Favreau, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Kat Dennings, Cobie Smulders were all here for this episode.

And that Happy Hulk Hogan fight with the Iron Man suits/robots in the hallway was amazing. The oil splatter, replacing blood, as the purple hulk rampaged through the suits was some special visual storytelling. There were plenty of visual jokes/bits that helped tell this story. 

Legitimately, this is probably my second favorite What If…? episode of the entire series, only behind the S1 E4 Supreme Strange episode, and that is just barely ahead of this.

Merry Christmas to all…

Up to Date Running Order:

E3  ”What If… Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?”

E1  “What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?”

E2  “What If… Peter Quill Fought Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?”

The 2023 Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year

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The Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year 

Previous Winners:  In the Heart of the Sea, The Snowman, Amazing Spider-Man 2, After Earth, Dark Knight Rises, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Batman v. Superman, Christopher Robin, IT: Chapter Two, Tenet, Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, Halloween Ends

There have been several disappointments this year, but I do not have one that jumps out as the obvious winner of this award. It was a tough choice.

Runners-Up: I thought about The Flash, but it already won the John Carter Award and I did not hate The Flash. Napoleon was much less than I expected. It was clear that much of the movie had been cut out. I left Book Club: The Next Chapter early because I did not feel well, but I never felt the need to go back and see the ending. Ghosted should have been better with Chris Evans. Nope, it wasn’t. The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Once & Always was just a waste of time. Paint was not the biopic of Bob Ross as I hoped. Shazam: Fury of the Gods was one of the worst comic book movies this year and quite a come down from the excellent first film. Adam Driver and dinosaurs? How could that go wrong? 65 figured out how. 

Winner: Next Goal Wins

Taika Waititi’s latest film was a real disappointment. I had liked the trailers and I was looking forward to seeing it. Jo Jo Rabbit was one of my all-time favorites. I loved Thor: Ragnarok. Taika Waititi had a solid track record with me.

And then Next Goal Wins was just a huge disappointment. It had a lot going for it, but it was just not funny or entertaining.

Moonlighting S3 E4

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“Yours, Very Deadly”

This episode was the first of the episodes that lead to one of the downfalls of the series. It was the debut of Curtis Armstrong as Herbert Viola.

While Herbert Viola was not as obnoxious in this episode as he will become, he is one of my most hated characters in all of TV. He was brought on as a love interest for Miss DiPesto but he becomes such an obnoxious, unlikable character that is thrust upon us that I could never get into him.

Meanwhile, this episode had Miss DiPesto committing a lot of sexual harassments in the workplace, pinning Herbert down and kissing, groping him. Until, that is, he stands up and does not run from her advances and that upsets her. This is not how you start a relationship.

The case this week is an interesting one with a wife writing letters to another man she did not know, until things start to get dark. She hires Dave and Maddie to find the man and get him to stop writing.

As with all Moonlighting cases, things are not as they look. It is cool though that Dave and Maddie seem to be doing better in solving the cases and not just stumble into the answers. 

This had some fun but it is all a portend for bad days ahead. Thanks a lot, Mr. Viola.

Rebel Moon: Part One-A Child of Fire

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Zack Snyder is bad in just about the most Zack Snyder-like Star Wars wannabe movie on Netflix today. You should read that last line in slow motion to celebrate this movie because there is a TON of slo-mo in Rebel Moon.

According to IMDB, “When a peaceful settlement on the edge of a distant moon finds itself threatened by the armies of a tyrannical ruling force, Kora (Sofia Boutella), a mysterious stranger living among the villagers, becomes their best hope for survival. Tasked with finding trained fighters who will unite with her in making an impossible stand against the Mother World, Kora assembles a small band of warriors – outsiders, insurgents, peasants and orphans of war from different worlds who share a common need for redemption and revenge. As the shadow of an entire Realm bears down on the unlikeliest of moons, a battle over the fate of a galaxy is waged, and in the process, a new army of heroes is formed.“

This film was surprisingly boring for much of the run time. And then there was some slo-mo. Kora went out to recruit a band of characters to help protect the village in a very Seven Samurai inspiration. One problem? None of these new characters were very interesting or more than a one-dimensional archetype.

The dialogue was poorly written, and there was so much exposition when dealing with these characters. It makes this so much more dull than it needed to be. 

Typically A Zack Snyder movie looks great. This one looks great at times. It also looks badly. It is such a mishmash of special effects that you do not expect from such as visual of a director as Zack Snyder. 

The villains of this movie are basically Nazis in space. There is no nuance to any of these villains. 

There is some interesting world building in the film, but the execution of presenting it was really weak. 

This was not a good film. I am not sure if the next part of the movie will be better or just a lot of the same.

1 star

2023 In Memoriam Part 3

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Annie Wersching

Senator Dianne Feinstein

David McCallum

Adam Rich

Alan Arkin

Al Brown

Andrea Evans

Matthew Perry

Andre Braugher

Annette McCarthy

Arleen Sorkin

Cindy Williams

Len Goodman

Michael Gambon

Henry Kissinger

Jerry Springer

John Romita Sr.

Judy Farrell

Lisa Marie Presley

Marty Krofft

Norman Lear

Suzanne Somers

Tim McCarver

Richard Moll

Robbie Knievel

Benjamin Zephaniah

Shane MacGowan

Joss Ackland

Evan Ellingson

Mark Gaddard

Burt Young

Jim Brown

Eileen Saki

Chaim Topol

Barbara Bosson

Charles Kimbrough

Barry Humphries

Poor Things

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Oh boy.

This one is out there.

A pregnant young woman (Emma Stone) jumps off a bridge only to have a bizarre scientist (Willem Dafoe) use a experimental procedure to resurrect her into a whole new, childlike being. The woman, Bella, began learning about the world as a child may, but inside the body of a grown woman.

Be warned. Anyone who may be offended by sex scenes in a movie… get ready. There are tons of these in this film. Many of the scenes are just jaw-dropping, but, strangely enough, have an innocent feel to them.

Emma Stone is spectacular with this offbeat, weird character. Willem Dafoe is always great, and he brings his a-game here beneath a bunch of prosthetics. Mark Ruffalo is unbelievable as the annoying lawyer whom Bella runs off with (sort of). The acting is special among the whole cast, but these three stand out specifically.

The story is about as original as you are going to get. Original and bizarre. I was definitely seeing a correlation between Poor Things and another classic story, that I even think might be connected closer than one might think. No spoilers, but I do believe there is a connection.

Watching Bella develop across the film was fascinating, and I was really enjoying the character progression. Seeing the men that were drawn to her was again somewhat humorous and horrifying at the same time.

As I said earlier, there are some shocking scenes in the movie between Emma Stone and the multiple men in her life. 

Poor Things is unlike any movie you have seen and it stands out with some amazing acting and oddball energy.

4 stars

Migration

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I was not excited to see Migration. I was not much of a fan of the trailers and so I had been unsure if I was even going to it. I decided to give it a try anyway.

It was fine.

Honestly, I do think the best bits were in the trailers, but it had enough good feelings about the film, with some positive messages about family and growing up that it was worth the watch. 

A family of ducks try to convince their overprotective father that they should leave the safety of their pond and fly south to Jamaica for the winter. 

There were some dull moments on the predictable adventure, but there were some highlights too. The stop off with the herons (the duck eating machines) and the conflict with the Chef were moments that were fun. 

The film looked great and the voice cast was solid. Kumail Nanjiani, Elizabeth Banks, Danny DeVito, Keegan Michael-Key, Awkwafina, Carole Kane, and David Mitchell provided some excellent voice work. 

The best parts of the film included the flying scenes through the clouds. Those were beautifully animated.

This was decent. I actually liked it more as it moved on through the film, with it winning me over as I kept watching. It is not going to be a long time memorable film, but it gives families a decent time watching a movie together. It is okay.

3.1 stars

What If…? S2 E2

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“What If… Peter Quill Fought Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.”

Episode two is a bit of a step back from the excellent first episode of season two. 

Peter Quill gets taken by Yondu and given to Ego. They go about on the Expanse and Peter comes back to earth, leading Peggy Carter to bring together the best heroes the earth could muster at the time.

It was sort of a different style Avengers formation, including Bill Foster, King T’Chaka, The Winter Soldier, Hank Pym, and Dr. Wendy Lawson (Mar-Vell). Things picked up when Thor arrived too.

As with all of the What If…? episodes, one of the cool things is that the most actors who played these characters in the MCU films reprise their roles on the animated show. That led to an astounding cast for an animated show including Chris Hemsworth, Michael Douglas, Laurence Fishburne, Kurt Russell, John Slattery, Sebastian Stan and Hayley Atwell all on the call list for episode two. 

There were some good things that happened in the episode. It is not as if I hated this one. It just felt too rushed in some places. I did not love some of the character choices and a lot of what could have made the episode stronger was left out.

The animation continues to be a highlight of the show so far. Everything looked awesome and feels like a step up from season one. 

Running Order:

Definitely…

E1  “What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?”

E2  “What If… Peter Quill Fought Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?”

2023 The Gomer for the Biggest Surprise

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The Gomer for the Biggest Surprise

Previous Gomer Award Winners:  The Gift, Ferdinand, Edge of Tomorrow, We’re the Millers, The Campaign, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Bumblebee, Crawl, Greenland, Free Guy, Deadstream

This is one of our oldest awards in the Year in Review. It is a movie that I did not expect to like as much as I wound up liking. Several films this year were up for consideration for the Gomer.

Runners-Up: Jennifer Lawrence’s raunchy comedy No Hard Feelings started me off in this category mainly because I typically tend to not like raunchy comedies as much as some. This was really good though. Barbie was a surprise in a different way. It turned out to be much deeper of a film, with more intriguing themes, than a Barbie film has a right to be. Barbie could be an Oscar nominee and that is definitely a surprise. The Blackening is another comedy that I found really funny. I really thought it was going to be a film like Haunted House. It is much better than that. A movie I never thought would be any good was Tetris. It was a real great and tense thriller. Missing was another awesome thriller, using the internet (much like Searching). Plane is such a great surprise because it was able to be more than just another Gerard Butler movie. It was amazingly entertaining. 

The winner this year is a total surprise…

Winner: Totally Killer

Time travel and serial killers? How much better can it get? This was such an unexpected surprise. It was clever, funny and tense at times. Kiernan Shipka does a remarkable job as the lead character, Jamie. 

This was on Amazon Prime and I was so pleased when I watched it.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters S1 E7

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“Will the Real May Stand Up?”

Answers about the past of May came in this episode. 

Honestly, I was not that interested.

I have had a difficult time getting involved with the 2015 characters, outside of Kurt Russell. I am much more invested with the 1954 version of the show, but that was not on this episode.

Most interest part of the episode was that Tim did not die in that helicopter that Godzilla crashed last week. I guess Shaw didn’t notice him when he said no one survived the crash. Tim is showing some feelings toward the three 2015 kids and is willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

No Godzilla this week though he was all over the show last week. Only one quick glance of a Titan this week and it got blown the hell by Shaw.

Monarch continues to be up and down every week. 

The Iron Claw

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As a pro wrestling fan, the story of the Von Erich family was one that I was very familiar with so when I heard that there was going to be a movie called The Iron Claw that told the story of their family, well I was anxious to see it. I saw it today and it was special.

The film was centered around Kevin Von Erich (Zac Efron) and his career as a pro wrestler. He worked in the ring with his brothers David (Harris Dickinson), Kerry (Jeremy Allen White) and Mike (Stanley Simons). They were all under the sight of their overbearing father Fritz (Holt McCallany). Kevin spoke about the “Von Erich Curse” and we see how tragedy would strike this family over the years.

This was an amazing film. Zac Efron’s performance was sensational. He went through so much emotional trauma with the loss of his brothers and he portrayed it perfectly. I kept thinking about how much Harris Dickinson and Jeremy Allen White looked like the Von Erichs they were playing, but Efron did not necessarily look like Kevin Von Erich. He did not have to because he embraced that character in more than just a visual style. 

That is not to say that Dickinson and White only looked like David and Kerry. They both did a spectacular job in their roles, in particularly White, who, as Kerry Von Erich, faced his share of obstacles. 

It was fun watching other actors playing many of the wrestlers of the time such as Harley Race, the Fabulous Freebirds, Gino Hernandez, Bruiser Brody, and The Sheik. I have to admit that I was not a fan of the portrayal of Ric Flair in the film. It felt way too much like an imitation instead of a performance. 

The film was very heavy. It was difficult to watch at times because I knew a lot of what was going to happen because I lived through much of this in real time.

Interestingly enough, there was a fifth Von Erich brother, Chris, who was left out of the film for narrative reasons. Apparently, the youngest Von Erich from the film, Mike, was kind of a blend of the real Chris and Mike.

Maura Tierney played the mother of the boys and the wife of Fritz, Doris. Lily James starred as girlfriend and eventual wife of Kevin, Pam. Both women held their own in the testosterone-filled film and built humanity into the story.

This was a powerful, painful and emotional movie of a real life series of tragedies that devastated millions of fans and the remaining family members.

4.8 stars

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

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The DCEU comes to a close. 

The long delayed Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom finally came out as the final installment before James Gunn’s films start coming out in 2025.

I had the bar set really low for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and, unfortunately, it seems as if the film stumbled over it.

There was nothing obnoxiously unwatchable about the movie. It just wasn’t very good and there were plenty of times where it was actively stupid. I found much of the first act or so boring. The third act was the typical DC CGI fest and it was really predictable. 

Jason Momoa still does a decent job as Arthur Curry, but I am not sure that a lot of the humor worked well. Momoa and Patrick Wilson’s chemistry was okay, but it did feel like a poor-man’s version of Thor and Loki. Amber Heard’s presence felt awkward because of her outside situations. 

CGI was a mishmash. Some moments it was pretty good. I’d say the background with the settings were always beautiful. However, some of the action and the evil villain from the past was not good. When that green Groot-like looking thing showed up, I got real Paralax from Green Lantern vibes. I almost laughed at the character the first time he appeared.

There were several things that did not make sense, but I can’t go into these without spoiling. One thing from the third act involving Randall Park that I just could not get past.

I also spent a lot of time watching their hair flitter in the water but nothing else happened. No bubbles from the mouth. No other things floating. I was distracted by Momoa’s hair every time he was supposed to be underwater.

This was just not very good and it sent the DCEU sputtering off into the night. Bring on James Gunn’s new DCU.

2.2 stars

What If…? S2 E1

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“What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps”

Marvel Studios kicked off the second season of What If…? in style today with a flashy episode that had a definite Blade Runner/noir vibe to it including a cast of characters that you wouldn’t expect together.

Marvel began their special release formula with the first of nine consecutive episodes released daily, from December 22 to December 29th on Disney +. Ever since I heard about the idea, I have been excited for it. It felt like a special Christmas gift to fans and I was down for it.

The first episode featured Nebula, once again voiced by the awesome Karen Gillian, investigating the murder of Yondu in an alleyway on the planet Xandar. One wonders where an idea like this comes from because it does not seem to make much sense. However, once it started, you could tell this was a solid episode.

We got a weird crew too. Howard the Duck, a casino owner, voiced by Seth Green. Korg, voiced by Taika Waititi, returned again. Groot was here too, though I do not know if it was Vin Diesel doing the “I am Groot.” Jude Law was here as Yon-Rogg, his character he played in Captain Marvel. Peter Serafinowicz resumed his role as Garthan Saal, that he brought to life first in Guardians of the Galaxy. The fact that the show brings all of these familiar voices back for this animated program is amazing and it really commits to the feel of an overarching universe.

Jeffrey Wright is back again as The Watcher, the narrator of the What If series, although Nebula took over the narration of this series in the noir style. 

The animation is beautiful throughout, with some imagery that could be art. 

The only drawback I have for the episode was that it felt too short. This could have easily been an hour and a half episode and have plenty to fill. 

A strong start to our nine day marathon. 

2023 In Memoriam Part 2

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In Memoriam Part 2

Bob Barker

Sinead O’Connor

Gov. Bill Richardson

Bill Miller

Bob Geddie

Camden Toy

Darren Watts

Jimmy Buffett

Pat Robertson

David Crosby

Dick Butkis

Earl Boen

Frances Sternhagen

Frederic Forrest

Gangsta Boo

Julian Sands

Lance Reddick

Gary Wright

Piper Laurie

Raquel Welch

Gordon Lightfoot

Roger Whittaker

Ray Stevenson

Richard Belzer

Tina Turner

Tom Verlaine

Robbie Bachman

Sandra Day O’Connor

Tom Sizemore

Tony Bennett

Van Conner

Victoria Lee

Keith Giffen

2023 The X-Mas Movie of the Year

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The X-Mas Movie of the Year

Previous Winners: Violent Night

I have not seen a bunch of X-Mas movies this year. In fact, I only had two down.

And then I realized that I was missing one.

Before I realized, my two choices were Candy Cane Lane, with Eddie Murphy, and the animated Merry Little Batman on Amazon Prime.

I was leaning toward Merry Little Batman as the winner of the award. 

Then, I realized that there was another that would qualify as a Christmas movie that is heads and shoulders above these two. As soon as I realized it, I knew what the winner of this category would be.

Winner: The Holdovers

The Holdovers is a potential Oscar nominated film that was excellent. Paul Giamatti is wonderful. The movie is a special story and I am glad that I remembered it in this category.