I have a busy day today at the movie theater; in order to fit everything in to the schedule today, I had to make plans for the June Swoon 2. What I planned was to watch a short this morning. The short I decided on was on Netflix and had been the Academy Award winning short for Best Documentary short at this previous Oscar ceremony. It was called The Elephant Whisperers.
This doc took us to India where we meet an indigenous couple named Bomman and Bellie, who were able to raise two orphaned baby elephants. At first, they were given responsibility over a calf named Raghu, who was frail and sickly. Bomman and Bellie cared for the baby elephant and a bond grew between them. From the great success that they had shown with Raghu, the park rangers of the Mudumalai National Park entrusted them with a second baby elephant named Ammu.
Watching the interactions with the elephants and Bomman and Bellie was fascinating and beautiful. The couple truly treated the elephants as part of their family. Bellie spoke of the loss of one of her own children, a daughter, and how Raghu was able to comfort her, literally wiping away her tears. This was a poignant moment in the doc.
The doc showed the elephant kicking a soccer ball around, playing freely like any little kid might.
The imagery and picturesque shots of the park made The Elephant Whisperers even grander than it would have been. Director Kartiki Gonsalves made her film debut with this documentary, spending five years with the family of the Kattunayakan tribe.
The 41 minute short is a beautiful piece of art and shows a close relationship between humans and elephants. The film does a great job of showing the bond between them and the feelings shown by both human and animal.
This evening, I went for five season three episodes and we got all kinds of variety.
“The Midnight Sun”
Whoa, what a hopeless feeling episode this was. Apocalyptic, twice within.
The earth’s orbit has been changed and it is now moving toward the sun and the temperatures on earth were getting hotter and hotter. Two women, Nora and Mrs. Bronson, were the only people remaining in their apartment building, trying to stay cool and survive the heat.
Water, looters, their own minds all were struggles they needed to face. As the news gets worse, the two women get closer to the end. Mrs. Bronson succumbs to the heat and Nora seems to be ready to go as well.
Then we learn that Nora was actually in a fever dream and that none of what we saw was real. However, we learn from Mrs. Bronson and the doctor that was attending Nora that the world was off its orbit but going away from the sun. The very opposite was happening, the planet was freezing to death.
This episode could certainly be used today as a metaphor for climate change, I’m not sure that would have been the basis for the idea back in 1961. The episode gives us a picture of how the human race would react to such an event, with a lot of anger, frustration and selfishness. Even though there would also be some good people as well.
“Still Valley”
Civil War conflict mixed with the occult and the devil… good times.
Not sure how to feel about this one.
“This is Joseph Paradine, Confederate cavalry, as he heads down toward a small town in the middle of a valley. But very shortly, Joseph Paradine will make contact with the enemy. He will also make contact with an outpost not found on a military map—an outpost called the Twilight Zone.”
Paradine wound up in the town, but he found all the Union troops frozen still. Not dead. Not asleep. Just standing still. He did not know how this happened, but… he would find out.
An old man was there and he claimed to have used black magic to freeze the Yankees. He did so by reading spells out of a book labeled ‘witchcraft.’ By doing so, he said that he had to align himself with Satan. The old man was dying and gave the book to Paradine, who returned to his camp and explained what happened, proving that he had this power.
The end was strange because Paradine was uncertain if he should continue to use the book because he had to renounce God as well as align with the devil. He ends up throwing the book into the fire.
Not the best episode I have seen. The characters were inconsistent and choices did not make much sense. Why did Paradine suddenly realize that he had to renounce God when he already used the book to freeze a troop of Union soldiers off camera? And these soldiers were meant to go to Gettysburg after this.
Not a very good episode.
“The Jungle”
“The carcass of a goat, a dead finger, a few bits of broken glass and stone, and Mr. Alan Richards, a modern man of a modern age, hating with all his heart something in which he cannot believe and preparing – although he doesn’t know it – to take the longest walk of his life, right down to the center – of The Twilight Zone.”
Alan Richards and his wife Doris have just returned from Africa where Alan was on a business trip. He was apparently cursed by some natives and his wife was really superstitious. She snuck all kinds of good luck charms, including a lion’s tooth, into their home and his pockets.
He leaves the tooth behind at a bar. Can you guess what happened next? I bet you can.
This one was dumb. Alan kept hearing drums and animal sounds as he tried to get home, only to be mauled by a lion that was on his bed (perhaps after already eating Doris?).
The animal sounds were unintentionally funny and the things that happened to Alan along the way were more and more ridiculous. And where was Doris?
“Once Upon a Time”
I thought this was a really creative and interesting episode. Featuring Buster Keaton himself, this episode was a tribute to the silent pictures that Keaton made his fame in.
The episode started out in a literal silent picture, following along Keaton as Woodrow Mulligan from the year 1890. It had the background music, the intertitles giving the audience dialogue to read and plenty of slapstick humor that was prevalent in the silent era of Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin.
Mulligan worked as a janitor in a laboratory where the head scientist had created a ‘time helmet’ which gave the wearer a chance of going to any year and spend 30 minutes (this time seemed to change throughout the episode. A bit of a plot hole here). Mulligan put it on and was transported to 1961.
In 1961, we get sound, including Mulligan speaking aloud. It was no longer a silent picture. He met up with a man named Rollo and then it felt very much like a ‘Laurel and Hardy’ type film.
I enjoyed this tribute to the era of silent films and the icon Buster Keaton. It felt like one of those ‘very special episodes’ of shows(like “Atomic Shakespeare” for Moonlighting). I love the big swing for the episode.
“Five Characters in Search of an Exit”
Okay, I did not see that coming.
Five characters stuck in a strange circular prison. They could not remember anything. All they knew were what they were: A clown, a bagpiper, a ballerina, a tramp and a major.
The major was the newest arrival and was struggling trying to make sense of what had happened. He desperately tried to find an exit from their prison, trying everything. He would not give up even with the others not supporting him. The clown, in particular, was spending more time taunting him or making fun of him than being useful. The ballerina though seemed to believe in the major.
They stood on each other’s shoulders (in a fun pit of camera work) and tried to climb out, only to fall. The ballet dancer was injured, but that still did not deter the major, who set up a rope with the end of his sword to use as a grappling hook.
This time, the major makes it to the top and falls into a pile of snow. This is when we find out the truth… they were all dolls in a container during a toy drive for Christmas.
“Just a barrel, a dark depository where are kept the counterfeit, make-believe pieces of plaster and cloth, wrought in a distorted image of human life. But this added hopeful note: perhaps they are unloved only for the moment. In the arms of children, there can be nothing but love. A clown, a tramp, a bagpipe player, a ballet dancer, and a Major. Tonight’s cast of players on the odd stage—known as—The Twilight Zone.”
What a twist that was. No way I saw that coming. The ending took this episode to a much higher level than it had been. This was a top notch pay off. There have been some episodes where they have a great build but the ending is disappointing. This one stuck the landing, big time.
As we are starting toward the last week and a half of the June Swoon 2, there are some films that I have never heard of before. Significant Others is one of those. I found it while going through Prime (it looks like it was on Paramount +) and the premise sounded decent. The Rotten Tomatoes score was fresh so I put this on the list.
Unfortunately, I did not like this one much at all.
A couple go hiking on a trail and plan to spend time in the wilderness. Harry (Jake Lacy) was much more excited about the trip than Ruth (Maika Monroe) was, but harry had more on his mind. After hiking awhile and setting up camp, Harry proposed marriage to Ruth. However, Ruth is very anxious about marriage and she had a panic attack.
The next day, they find a dead deer, covered with some kind of black goo. Harry thought it had some kind of disease. Ruth came across a cave that held a surprising truth that she was not expecting.
I won’t go any farther to eliminate any spoilers, but this film took a big step down from this point on. I had some tension building at first as I wondered what was going to happen in these woods. When it happened, things changed dramatically, including a tone that bounced all over the place.
The film was short, but felt longer than it was. The performances were fine and the film looked decent. Still, I feel that much of the story went off the track after awhile.
The Twilight Zone returned to the Old West for another story involving Lee Marvin and Roscoe P. Coltrane.
This episode was a creepy tale of fear and revenge. A local rapscallion named Pinto Sykes is gunned down by a crew of townsfolks. The man, Conny Miller, who had been hired by the town to hunt Pinto down, returned to the town to find out that Pinto was already dead and buried.
The townspeople told Conny that Pinto claimed on his deathbed that if Conny ever came to Pinto’s grave, that Pinto would reach up and grab him.
The others in the bar, led by Roscoe (I know his name was not Roscoe, but the actor, James Best, is best known by me for his role as the Sheriff on Dukes of Hazzard), laid wagers that Conny did not have the courage to go and kneel by Pinto’s graveside. Conny made he bet (though honestly, he was not really quick about it).
The next day, Conny was found dead over the grave.
This was very atmospheric and creepy. I liked most of this episode. The only issue I had was that Conny did not end up shooting Pinto, it was someone else in town. We only heard about Conny and Pinto’ relationship and we did not see any of it. Why did Pinto hold such a negative feeling toward Conny? I’m really not sure.
Lee Marvin and Lee Van Cleef appeared in this episode and both men are veterans of Western movies, lending a high level of credibility to the show.
“It’s a Good Life”
A monster story about the worst monster ever… a little boy named Anthony.
“Tonight’s story on The Twilight Zone is somewhat unique and calls for a different kind of introduction. This, as you may recognize, is a map of the United States, and there’s a little town there called Peaksville. On a given morning not too long ago, the rest of the world disappeared and Peaksville was left all alone. Its inhabitants were never sure whether the world was destroyed and only Peaksville left untouched or whether the village had somehow been taken away. They were, on the other hand, sure of one thing: the cause. A monster had arrived in the village. Just by using his mind, he took away the automobiles, the electricity, the machines—because they displeased him—and he moved an entire community back into the dark ages—just by using his mind. Now I’d like to introduce you to some of the people in Peaksville, Ohio. This is Mr. Fremont. It’s in his farmhouse that the monster resides. This is Mrs. Fremont. And this is Aunt Amy, who probably had more control over the monster in the beginning than almost anyone. But one day she forgot. She began to sing aloud. Now, the monster doesn’t like singing, so his mind snapped at her, turned her into the smiling, vacant thing you’re looking at now. She sings no more. And you’ll note that the people in Peaksville, Ohio have to smile. They have to think happy thoughts and say happy things because, once displeased, the monster can wish them into a cornfield or change them into a grotesque, walking horror. This particular monster can read minds, you see. He knows every thought, he can feel every emotion. Oh yes, I did forget something, didn’t I? I forgot to introduce you to the monster. This is the monster. His name is Anthony Fremont. He’s six years old, with a cute little-boy face and blue, guileless eyes. But when those eyes look at you, you’d better start thinking happy thoughts, because the mind behind them is absolutely in charge. This is the Twilight Zone.”
We spent the episode watching the adults cower to this little boy, telling him how his bad behaviors were the right thing and how they were happy that he just killed thee people or created this three headed animal and then killed it.
I really wanted someone to step up and do something about Anthony. There was a time when one of the dinner party members, drunk as he was, tried to get the others to do something about the boy and he wound up getting turned into a jack-in-the-box and eventually sent to the “cornfield” which was a place Anthony sent all people who had negative thoughts.
Bill Mumy played Anthony after playing Billy in “Long Distance Call.” He was very sinister and unsettling as the little monster. I wish there was some form of resolution to the episode, but it is a well known, iconic episode.
“Deaths-Head Revisited”
One of the most haunting episodes of The Twilight Zone yet. Deaths-Head Revisited is a comment on the horrendous circumstances behind the concentration camps run by the Nazis before and during World War II.
A former Nazi SS captain, calling himself Schmidt, came to Dachau, Bavaria to go back to the Dachau concentration camp, walking around the compound, reveling in the remembrances and nostalgia. He is met by a man whom he takes as a caretaker of the camp. He does recognize the man as Alfred Becker, a former prisoner at the camp.
Becker takes Schmidt around the camp, as frightening sounds continued around. Finally, Becker told him that Captain Lutze (Schmidt’s real name) was to be put on trial for his crimes against humanity. Lutze realizes that Becker had been killed in Dachau years before and that this was a ghost facing him. Lutze wound up going mad, and would end up taken away in the present day to a mnetal instution.
The doctor who examined Lutze said “Dachau. Why does it still stand? Why do we keep it standing?” An answer mentioned in Serling’s closing narration:
“There is an answer to the doctor’s question. All the Dachaus must remain standing. The Dachaus, the Belsens, the Buchenwalds, the Auschwitzes; all of them. They must remain standing because they are a monument to a moment in time when some men decided to turn the Earth into a graveyard. Into it they shoveled all of their reason, their logic, their knowledge, but worst of all, their conscience. And the moment we forget this, the moment we cease to be haunted by its remembrance, then we become the gravediggers. Something to dwell on and to remember, not only in the Twilight Zone but wherever men walk God’s Earth.”
The only criticism I have for this episode, which I found extremely powerful and haunting, was that I wish Lutze was not such a one-note villain. When he returned to Dachau, he was just as sinister, just as sadistic as he had ever been and he was outward about it. I would have like to have seen more than just the mustache-twirling villain that he was. Something with more layers would have made this even more powerful. Even still, this is one of my favorite episodes so far.
It is NEW COMIC BOOK DAY and I have a brand new banner for EYG Comic Cavalcade. The new one included several new pics from the comics including ‘boobs and nipples.’ Ah, always fun.
Ultimate Invasion #1. Written by Jonathan Hickman and Penciled by Bryan Hitch. Reed Richards from Universe 1610, aka The Master, escapes from his prison. and intends to somehow return to his own universe. He actually offered Miles Morales to go with him. The Master taunts the Illuminati with his plans, showing that they could not stop him. This was a really good issue, though I was not too anxious to buy it three times (thanks Todd).
The Bone Orchard Mythos: Tenement #1. Written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Andrea Sorrentino. We start off the next horror series from the Bone Orchard Mythos universe. We start off by being introduced to seven characters who love together in this tenement building and they have some kind of connection.
The Avengers #2. Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by C.F. Villa. Stuart Immonen did the cove art. The Avengers spend a chunk of this issue saving normal people that Kang has told them are doomed. And Carol Danvers waits to see if Kang the Conqueror survives to give the details about what had happened and what was about to face the Earth.
The Incredible Hulk #1. “Age of Monsters” Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson with art from Nic Klein. The Hulk is back and the new series is returning to the horror concept that we got with the Immortal Hulk. Thankfully, the Hulk is no longer a spaceship! This first issue was very good and I am much more excited than the previous story arc.
Hellcat #4. “Soulmates” Written by Christopher Cantwell and drawn by Alex Lins. I love Hellcat! This has been a fantastic series so far. We get the reveal of much of what happened and what Damien Hellstrom is wanting to do. The book keeps heading back to Patsy’s teen years to mix this story together. Next issue will wrap this excellent series up and I will be sad to see it go.
The Tick #6. “Villains Inc.” Written and penciled by EYG Hall of Famer Ben Edlund. Todd surprised me with this book in my box. He picked it up this weekend and wondered if I wanted it. I did. I do not have much in way of Tick comics, but I love the big, blue force of justice. This is a very early issue too, with a story that was adapted in the pilot of The Tick cartoon from the 1990s. Thanks Todd.
Wonder Woman #800. Honestly, I bought this as a collectible. I skimmed through it and saw a bunch of Wonder Woman stories. I got the C cover, out of a WHOLE BUNCH of variant covers. Mine is by Brian Bolland. I’m not sure why I picked this up. I skipped Flash #800 last week. Oh well.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #7. Written by Cody Ziglar and featuring art by Federico Vicentini. Dike Ruan and Alejandro Sanchez were the cover artists. Miles continues his battle with Carnage. Iron Man showed up in this issue too. I have to say that I am still confused because I have not been reading the whole Carnage Reigns arc. I’ll be happy when that ends soon.
Wild’s End #1. Written by Dan Abnett and illustrated by I.N.J. Culbard. I saw an ad for this book in one of Boom Studios’ other books (it may have been Ghostlore #2) and it looked interesting. I picked up the virgin cover, but I did not like it. I did not get engaged with the story and I was just not interested. Do not order this one for me, Todd (running joke).
I am Iron Man #4. “Chapter Four: Limitless” Written by Murewa Ayodele and drawn by Dotun Akande. I enjoyed this issue of I am Iron Man quite a bit. Tony Stark is seeing giant creatures but no one else can see them. The first few pages where Tony is trying to find anyone who could see what he was seeing was a lot of fun.
Scarlet Witch Annual #1. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Carlos Nieto. Russell Dauterman did the cover art. The prelude to Contest of Chaos. Wanda and Agatha Harkness sit down for tea. That is just the start. It was an interesting story. At one point, it felt as if Wanda was in control of the situation, but it looked like Agatha had her own motive.
Hallows’ Eve #4. Written by Erica Schultz and drawn by Michael Dowling. Janine continues to use her monster masks to battle Maxine Danger and the Beyond Corporation. Maxine’s lackeys are able to get some of Janine’s masks and we look like we are prepping up for the next issue finale.
Edge of Spider-Verse #3. “Nobody Knows Who You Are” Written by Dan Slott and drawn by Humberto Ramos. There is a back-up story here too, but I bought this because of the first story involving Spider-Boy. We see Spider-Boy unmasked for the first time (I think) and his name is Bailey Briggs. I’m still not sure what is going on here, but I am in on Spider-Boy.
Today’s June Swoon 2 film was a real surprise. Honor Society is a coming-of-age comedy that was on Prime (Paramount +, I believe) starring a strong cast of young actors in a very creative and unexpectedly funny movie.
Honor (Angourie Rice) was a senior hoping to escape the town she lived in by getting a recommendation to Harvard from her sleazy guidance counselor, Mr. Calvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). She discovered that she was one of four potential candidates for his recommendation and she decided to go out of her way to bring the other three candidates down.
Honor is also our narrator for the movie, breaking the fourth wall and talking directly to the camera during each scene. This worked extremely well because of the charming nature of Angourie Rice. It also helped us get inside the head of Honor, whose behaviors and actions were pretty rotten. Because she kept speaking to us and explaining the thought process behind everything, Honor avoided becoming one of the ‘mean girls’ that typically populate this kind of movie.
In fact, although the group of characters in this movie certainly fall into the normally stereotypical tropes of a coming-of-age movie, these characters defy those expected roles.
As Honor is moving through her plans, you can see the development of the character and the lessons she learns along the way. You knew something was going to come crashing down at some point, because it always does in this style of movie. However, I will say that Honor Society pulled off a late movie twist that I did not see coming that played with all of the expected tropes. I was very impressed with the reveal in this film.
Mind you, things turn out a little too nicely, with the feel of a sitcom. The way this high school film ended this story was too perfect for it to be realistic, but it did feel like something more fantastical than a realistic portrayal so I did not hold that against it.
The cast was excellent. Gaten Matarazzo, Armani Jackson, Any Keum, Kelcey Mawema, Avery Konrad, Kerry Butler, Danny Wattley, Miku Patricia Martineau, Andres Collantes and Michael P. Northey are all great in their roles. Gaten Matarazzo gave an especially strong performance here, getting to do more than he has done on Stranger Things.
I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did. It was a lot of fun, filled with a fantastical story mechanic and plenty of laughs. Angourie Rice was very charming and she is so likable, even when her character is pulling things that you shouldn’t be liking. A hoot of a film.
Marvel Studios is back on Disney + with the first episode of Secret Invasion dropping on the service this morning. As someone who has enjoyed all of the Disney + series to some extent, I was looking forward to the debuting show, especially since it puts Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury front and center.
Based loosely on the Marvel Comics event series from a few years ago, Secret Invasion deals with a group of Skrulls and their desires to find a new homeworld. Fury and Carol Danvers promised to help them find a place at the end of Captain Marvel, but apparently, that promise fell to the backburner. This has made some of the Skrulls angry and ready to take matters into their own hands.
Secret Invasion kicks off with an episode that gives us a taste of what the series will be about. Paranoia. Trust, or lack thereof.
Even though the series is about a group of shape shifting aliens, Secret Invasion feels very grounded. It is more of a thriller/political espionage story than a superhero one. The Skrulls make a perfect foil for this type of series as their ability to shape shift makes them very dangerous.
Everything is centered around the performances of Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn. Sam Jackson’s Fury feels damaged, shaken and unhinged by the blip. Taking this character who we have known since Iron Man and making him vulnerable by his own experience of being dusted is very smart. Add to that his body struggling against him because of age or because of wear increases the feeling that Nick Fury is different.
Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos is clearly still torn between the desire to help his people and to be loyal to Fury. His loss of his wife offscreen and the anger of his daughter G’iah (Emily Clarke) will give him a ton to play as well.
The opening credits have stirred up a ton of controversy online. The AI used to create the credits is a hot-button issue and caused some backlash against the series. I found the opening credits to be very ominous and fitting for the series, but I can say I do not know much about this subject.
Olivia Colman made her first appearance in the MCU as Sonya Falsworth as a member of British MI6. Sonya could be considered the Nick Fury of British Intelligence. Her few moments of screen in episode one whetted the appetite to see more from this powerhouse actor.
Okay, so that is far enough before we talk about the shock ending of the episode. During this Skrull terrorist attack on Moscow, leader of the Skrull revolution, Gravik, who is played very ominously by Kingsley Ben-Adir, in the shape of Nick Fury, shot and apparently killed Maria Hill, played by Cobie Smulders. Smulders, who has been around the MCU since near the beginning, is a beloved character and he apparent demise will cast a pall across the series. I do not want Maria Hill to die, but I can see how her death here would really be a powerful trigger.
This was a very good opening episode and I was captivated by what was happening. The feeling that you are never sure what is happening and that there is no one to trust was highlighted by the events of this series. I am looking forward to finding out where this heads next.
Okay, so not Castro, but a man named General Ramos Clemente. But it is Peter Falk, famously who would become Lt. Columbo- one of the most iconic detectives of all-time, playing this role. I have to say it was distracting. That is not the fault of the episode, but I could not help that.
You see this trend in the time having white actors play the ethnic roles. Someone like Falk playing this character today would be controversial. I do think Peter Falk does a decent job in the role in this episode, but he had several mannerisms that were distracting and did end up pulling me out of the episode.
The episode dealt with the idea of paranoia and of the suspicion of powerful people that those around them have their own motivations. We see the slightest suggestions, in this case a mirror giving the reflections of betrayal, lead to Clemente taking his friends and supporters and executing them all.
“Ramos Clemente, a would-be god in dungarees, strangled by an illusion, that will-o’-the-wisp mirage that dangles from the sky in front of the eyes of all ambitious men, all tyrants—and any resemblance to tyrants living or dead is hardly coincidental, whether it be here or in the Twilight Zone.”
Today’s June Swoon 2 film was one that I found on Peacock the other day as I was searching for more 2022 movies to add to the list. It is a film from New Zealand directed by Gaysorn Thavat called The Justice of Bunny King.
Bunny King (Essie Davis) was a woman who had been convicted of manslaughter after killing her abusive husband in self-defense. Bunny had her kids taken away from her and placed in the system. Once she had served her time, she came out and had to jump through several hoops in order to attempt to regain custody of her kids.
She started to live in the garage of her sister’s (Toni Potter) home because Bunny was unable to find a home of her own and that was the first step in getting her kids back. However, Bunny caught her sister’s husband Bevan(Erroll Shand) molesting his step-daughter Tonyah (Thomasin McKenzie). Bunny’s sister did not believe Bunny and took the side of her husband, throwing Bunny out of their house.
Bunny stealing Bevan’s car, taking Tonyah and hiding out with her. Bunny’s plan was to have a birthday party for her daughter, who was turning six. Things went poorly after that.
Essie Davis was magnificent as Bunny King. You could tell that Bunny had plenty of problems, including a temper that caused her to fly off the handle, but you knew that she loved her children and she loved her niece. Even though she may not have made wise choices, she did them for the right reasons and that made her easy to root for even though she was basically kidnapping Tonyah.
Thomasin McKenzie, who appeared in other great movies such as Last Night in Soho and Jojo Rabbit, was exceptional as the young girl who Bunny was trying to rescue from the abusive circumstance she found herself in. McKenzie was quiet and moving as she displayed the loyalty to Bunny despite Bunny’s rapidly elevating behavior.
The story was dark and at times tough to watch. Bunny’s bad behavior was never acceptable, but you certainly understand where it was coming from and at the heart of the woman was love. Not a role model for sure, Bunny King is a survivor and a force of nature. She actually reminded me quite a bit of the character of Leslie from To Leslie. Both women are rude and their malfeasance is against norms, but they have a hidden strength.
Season three started kind of meh, but then we got three really good episodes in a row.
“The Shelter”
Realistic episodes of The Twilight Zone are few and far between. Most of them have some bit of magical/mystical buts to them. However, every once in awhile we come across those that are grounded in reality.
“The Shelter” has no mysterious aliens, magical curses or unbelievable circumstances. It is about something that could have easily happened in the early days of the Cold War.
It is Dr. Bill Stockton’s birthday and a bunch of the neighborhood friends were over celebrating. When a message from the President comes across the television that there were incoming unidentified objects approaching the US and that people should take cover.
The people assumed that these were incoming nuclear weapons fired from an enemy. Bill, who had been constructing a bomb shelter beneath his home, got his wife and son to work, organizing food, water and essentials while the neighbors, who had teased and made fun of Bill for his choice, scattered back to their houses for their own families.
As Bill locked his family into the bomb shelter, the others came to him, begging Bill to let them inside the shelter too. Bill, saying that it was only built for three, refused. This sent the group into a rage, forming a mob mentality. They were in such a panic that they were even turning on each other, showing their anxieties and their natural bigotry.
Eventually, they constructed a battering ram and broke open the door to the bomb shelter. Just as they had burst through, the announcement that the objects were identified as satellites and were not bombs came through, leaving the mob shocked and dejected over their behaviors.
Honestly, if I were Dr. Bill Stockton, I would have immediately told these people to get the hell out of my house and to never come back. Perhaps he was filled with remorse over the decision to leave everyone outside the shelter, but there was little for him to do.
Watching these friends and neighbors turn on each other and become a hysterical mob was difficult and knowing that this is they nature of the human race is hard to swallow. It was a very compelling episode.
“The Passersby”
Civil War. North vs. South. Southerners vs. Yankees. There have been plenty of stories told about this tragic time of our country’s history.
Episode four of season three of the Twilight Zone heads into the past to the end of the Civil War for a specific ghost story.
A widowed Southern woman sits out front of her home as a wounded sergeant approaches asking for water. Other wounded soldiers walked on the street past the house. We have no idea where they are heading.
The woman told a story about her husband’s death and how she planned on killing the next Union soldier that passed by. The Sergeant told her that a Union soldier had saved his life and that he hoped that she would not do so. When a Union soldier stopped, silhouetted on his horse, and asked for water, she did shoot him, though the gun apparently did not hit him. With light from the Sergeant’s lantern, it was revealed that the soldier on the horse had a terrible injury to his eyes and face, and everyone realized that he was dead… and that they were dead too, the sergeant from the war and the woman from a fever she had.
This is where the episode should have ended. However, it went too far, feeling the need to explain everything going on with needless exposition. What was going on was obvious and then, with the arrival of Lincoln, who was also dead at this point, the episode took a bit of a turn.
“Incident on a dirt road during the month of April, the year 1865. As we’ve already pointed out, it’s a road that won’t be found on a map, but it’s one of many that lead in and out of the Twilight Zone.”
This was excellent until the last five minutes or so. The episode was still exceptional, but the need to explain everything weakened a very eerie episode.
“A Game of Pool”
Jack Klugman and Jonathan Winters are actors known for some of their comedic performances, but this was a straight-forward dramatic turn for both and they deliver a compelling and thrilling episode, all around a game of pool.
“Jesse Cardiff, pool shark, the best on Randolph Street, who will soon learn that trying to be the best at anything carries its own special risks. In or out of the Twilight Zone.”
When Jesse Cardiff challenged the late, great Fats Brown to a pool match to determine who was the best pool player of all time, Jesse never expected the challenge to be answered Nor did he expect that he would be playing the game of pool for his life.
Jesse, who spent his entire life in the pool halls honing his game above everything else, placed his life on the line for this challenge.
There was a lot of tension built during the game as the two men argued and debated about their lives and the challenge before them. When Jesse won, Fats was not unhappy. This is because of the twist that Fats knew. As the best ever, Jesse had to replace Fats as the pool challenge and could not enjoy the afterlife.
A really good episode with a twist at the end that helped take the episode to another level. Two great performances too as Klugman and Winters worked extremely well together.
I had some time this afternoon. I considered watching some more Twilight Zone episodes as the Daily Zone moves into season three of the show, but I chose, instead, to finish off the comics from last week’s comic haul before new comic book day on Wednesday. Tomorrow is fairly packed with things for me, so I thought the time was right.
BY the way, wild Kraven the Hunter trailer released today. Not sure how I feel about it though since Sony is behind it and Sony’s track record, outside of Spider-Verse animated movies, is not great. Morbius? Venom?
Anyway…
Killadelphia Vol. 2: Burn Baby Burn. Written by Rodney Barnes and drawn by Jason Shawn Alexander. Six months after the events of the massive slaughter of people in Philadelphia by the vampires led by John Adams, trouble gets stirred up once again, this time by a different Adams, Abigail Adams. More history, this time featuring Thomas Jefferson, as well as other historical moments. This volume ended at a horrible point… making me ready to see Vol. 3.
Damn Them All #4. Written by Simon Spurrier and illustrated by Charlie Adlard. Ellie takes the fight to reclaim the demons right ahead with a new idea. She has a way to get the advantage without using the demons that have been stuck in the coins. And I loved her choice, which was so unexpected.
Rogue & Gambit #4. “Killer Tech” Written by Stephanie Phillips and drawn by Carlos Gomez. Steve Morris sis the art for the cover. Power Broker has technology that he is using to control a group of super villains and this leads to him also taking control of Rogue. Gambit arrives to try and help, and has to wind up battling against Rogue.
Ghostlore #2. Written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Leomacs. Lucas and Harmony face some frightening new ghosts. Lucas especially has to face some horrifying creatures wanting to tell him their story. Then, someone unknown shows up at the end, leading into where the story is heading. Some excellent imagery in this issue.
X-23: Deadly Regenesis #4. “The Past Haunts us All Part 4” Written by Erica Schultz with art by Edgar Salazar. Kalman Andrasofszky is the cover artist. Laura is working for Kimura and attempting to do it without killing anyone. It does not go well for her. Oh, and Kingpin is here.
Superman: Lost #4. “The Edge of Forever” Written by Priest and drawn by Carlo Pagulayan. Superman is still trying to find his way back to earth. He is still in his bright white outfit that stores the solar power.
Spider-Gwen: Shadow Clones #4. Written by Emily Kim and penciled by Kei Zama. David Nakayama was the cover artist. The origin of the different Gwen clones are revealed here as Doctor Lyla Bennett was out to kill all Gwens in all the multiverse.
Season three started off with two well known faces as the only two actors on the show: Charles Bronson and Elizabeth Montgomery.
“This is a jungle, a monument built by nature honoring disuse, commemorating a few years of nature being left to its own devices. But it’s another kind of jungle, the kind that comes in the aftermath of man’s battles against himself. Hardly an important battle, not a Gettysburg, or a Marne, or an Iwo Jima; more like one insignificant corner patch in the crazy quilt of combat. But it was enough to end the existence of this little city. It’s been five years since a human being walked these streets. This is the first day of the sixth year, as man used to measure time. The time: perhaps a hundred years from now, or sooner. Or perhaps it’s already happened two million years ago. The place: the signposts are in English so that we may read them more easily, but the place is the Twilight Zone.”
One of the issues of this show is that there is no real explanation for what was going on here and who these two people were. They had been on different sides as we see when they first interact (a great little fight scene between them) and the fact that they are wearing different uniforms.
I will say that this idea was interesting and I was curious about what was going on. However, as with many Twilight Zone episodes, it felt like the episode wrapped up too quickly and the ending felt forced. This would have been a story that required another twenty minutes or so to make things make more sense.
The final narration from Rod Serling indicated that this had been a love story, but none of that had come through even remotely and that is a major drawback to the episode. It was clearly a comment on the idea of the Cold War and the dangers of nuclear war.
“The Arrival”
The second episode of the season takes some big swings, but does not quite land the plane, if you forgive the horrible pun.
A mystery is set up in the episode.
“This object, should any of you have lived underground for the better parts of your lives and never had occasion to look toward the sky, is an airplane, its official designation a DC-3. We offer this rather obvious comment because this particular airplane, the one you’re looking at, is a freak. Now, most airplanes take off and land as per scheduled. On rare occasions they crash. But all airplanes can be counted on doing one or the other. Now, yesterday morning this particular airplane ceased to be just a commercial carrier. As of its arrival it became an enigma, a seven-ton puzzle made out of aluminum, steel, wire and a few thousand other component parts, none of which add up to the right thing. In just a moment, we’re going to show you the tail end of its history. We’re going to give you ninety percent of the jigsaw pieces and you and Mr. Sheckly here of the Federal Aviation Agency will assume the problem of putting them together along with finding the missing pieces. This we offer as an evening’s hobby, a little extracurricular diversion which is really the national pastime in the Twilight Zone.”
An airplane lands at the end of its voyage but nobody is on the flight. No passengers. No pilots. No stewardesses. No one.
What a cool idea for a story. I was fully into the mystery that the show was setting up for me. Speculating about what could possibly have happened was a lot of fun. The show dropped a few hints along the way that the viewers should be thinking about- such as why was there no relatives of the missing flight passengers calling looking for updates?
The resolution of the mystery was also intriguing as it turned out the plane was just an imagined thing. It kind of reminded me of the comic book Department of Truth by James Tynion IV, with how group delusions can become real.
However, this was not a group delusion as everyone else disappeared when Mr. Sheckly proved his idea. Turned out that this was all an illusion from his own mind because of guilt from his failure to solve this plane’s disappearance from 17 year prior.
While I like the overall concept of the episode, I do think the actual execution of the idea was lacking. Was there a triggering event that caused Sheckly to imagine this into existence? The beginning when Sheckly wasn’t yet here and the other employees (who were shown to be in Sheckly’s imagination too later) felt odd in retrospect.
I was in this episode from the beginning. I just feel as if the conclusion did not live up to the prologue.
Last year, Andrea Riseborough received a controversial Best Actress in a motion picture Oscar nomination from out of nowhere for her role in the independent film, To Leslie. It was unexpected and got a lot of people talking.
She deserved that nomination 100%.
I watched To Leslie this morning for the June Swoon 2 on Netflix and this movie was excellent. Andrea Riseborough played Leslie, a former lottery winner who drank away her winnings and ended up leaving her son, James (Owen Teague).
Hitting the bottom, Leslie returned to her hometown trying to find any way to survive. When local motel clerk Sweeney (Marc Maron) offered her a job as a maid, Leslie finally had to confront the demons that had sent her down her life’s path.
Andrea Riseborough was amazing as Leslie. Her performance was stellar, with every look, every glance filled with pain and meaning. The struggle of alcoholism was real and Riseborough portrayed it with an achingly powerful realism.
She masterfully played on the emotions of the viewers. At the beginning of the movie, I found her to be a horrible character and, before long, I was rooting for her. She ran the gamut of emotions and I was never quite sure what the end result of the film was going to be.
Marc Maron as Sweeney was a awesome supporting character as well, bringing a lifeline to Leslie just when she needed it. At first, you wondered why he decided to do what he did for Leslie, but as the film progressed, his motivations became obvious and perfectly understandable.
The film also featured an epic performance from Allison Janney as Nancy. When we first meet Nancy, you could understand and support her and as the movie moved along, Nancy became more of an antagonist that the audience could hate. This character was so three-dimensional that she felt like a real person who held grudges and who had reasons for them.
These characters in this movie were extremely well written and developed. They were real people facing the difficulties that life brought and not always facing then in a positive manner. There is an authenticity to the story and the characters that serves this film well.
“A brief if frenetic introduction to Mr. Archibald Beechcroft. A child of the 20th century, a product of the population explosion, and one of the inheritors of the legacy of progress. Mr. Beechcroft again, this time Act Two of his daily battle for survival, and in just a moment our hero will begin his personal one-man rebellion against the mechanics of his age, and to do so he will enlist certain aides available only in the Twilight Zone.”
Okay.
We have a new least favorite episode. Currently, this episode will replace “Mighty Casey” on my running list of The Twilight Zone episodes. It was another comedic episode that just did not work at all. Archibald Beechcroft is able to make everybody disappear just by concentrating on them? Or he could make everybody just like him?
The episode was dull.
It was totally unbelievable.
“Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?”
Now this was much better.
There was a touch of comedic undertones in this episode, but it also had a mystery as well as a dark ending.
The report of a UFO crashing brought out a couple of state troopers to investigate during a snowstorm. They found a footprints leading to a local diner where a bus had stopped for a break.
When questioned, the bus driver said that he had six people on the bus, but there were seven people in the diner. He could not identify who was or was not on the bus.
Light flickered. Juke box played on its own. Strange things kept happening.
Everybody was distrustful of each other, even the married couples.
Finally the phone rang and the bridge, which had been keeping the bus driver from heading out, was reported as being fine and passable. The bus went on.
One of the passengers Ross (who was complaining about missing a meeting in Boston) returned to the diner with news that the bridge was not passable after all and the troopers and the bus had fallen through into the river and no one escaped.
Except him… the Martian (who showed off his three arms), who had been sent ahead to scout the place for a potential colony. Haley the cook at the diner told Ross that his colonizers had been intercepted by his own people… from Venus.
I enjoyed this episode and I was never sure who the alien was going to turn out to be. Jack Ely played the crazy old man and he was definitely a red herring, but a hoot to watch.
“The Obsolete Man”
Burgess Meredith returned for the third time to The Twilight Zone, this time as Romney Wordsworth, a librarian in a Fascist society that does not consider him important.
“You walk into this room at your own risk, because it leads to the future, not a future that will be but one that might be. This is not a new world, it is simply an extension of what began in the old one. It has patterned itself after every dictator who has ever planted the ripping imprint of a boot on the pages of history since the beginning of time. It has refinements, technological advances, and a more sophisticated approach to the destruction of human freedom. But like every one of the super-states that preceded it, it has one iron rule: logic is an enemy and truth is a menace. This is Mr. Romney Wordsworth, in his last forty-eight hours on Earth. He’s a citizen of the State but will soon have to be eliminated, because he’s built out of flesh and because he has a mind. Mr. Romney Wordsworth, who will draw his last breaths in The Twilight Zone.”
A great episode to bring season two to an end. Burgess Meredith is awesome as the librarian who out smarted the state.
Convicted as obsolete and sentenced to be ‘liquidated’ Mr. Wordsworth came up with a plan. He asked to have an audience for his death and for only himself and the executioner to know how it was going to happen.
He then invited the Chancellor to come visit him a half hour before the sentence was to be carried out.
Wordsworth, pointing out the camera that had been installed, told the Chancellor that they were being broadcast as they spoke. He also revealed that he had told the executioner to set a bomb to blow up the apartment. When the Chancellor went to leave, he realized that the door was locked and that Wordsworth had trapped him too.
There was more here though. Earlier during Wordsworth’s hearing, the Chancellor stated that there was no God and Wordsworth disagreed. So as the clock ticked away before the explosion, Wordsworth read from the Bible.
With a minute remaining, the Chancellor shouted out “in God’s name” and Wordsworth agreed in God’s name, he would let him go, sparing his life form the bomb, which exploded seconds after. When the Chancellor returned to the court, he discovered he had been replaced and had been declared obsolete himself.
This episode played off the idea of a personal religion (faith in one God) vs. buying into a autonomous state government. The episode did imply that the state was bad as it referenced Hitler and Stalin.
Burgess Meredith and Fritz Weaver (who was the Chancellor) were fantastic in these roles and their work together in Wordsworth’s room was some of the best interplay of the season.
Who could spend a year alone in a specially designed room, away from those you love, without talking…even saying a single word, for $500,000?
That is the premise of this episode of The Twilight Zone. And it is all because of a bet.
“The note that this man is carrying across a club room is in the form of a proposed wager, but it’s the kind of wager that comes without precedent. It stands alone in the annals of bet-making as the strangest game of chance ever offered by one man to another. In just a moment, we’ll see the terms of the wager and what young Mr. Tennyson does about it. And in the process, we’ll witness all parties spin a wheel of chance in a very bizarre casino called the Twilight Zone.”
This is the most realistic episode that I have seen of The Twilight Zone to this point in the series. Albeit the ending was shocking and unexpected, there was nothing that made it feel like it needed to be in the Twilight Zone to happen.
Still, the steps taken by Tennyson in order to win the bet is unbelievable and, once again, it felt cruel to then not have Colonel Archie Taylor have the money in the end.
Here’s hoping that Tennyson can have those nerves reattached to his vocal chords and sue the living crap out of Archie.
“Shadow Play”
There have been actors in The Twilight Zone that I do not recognize until after I research the episode. This is one of those cases as Dennis Weaver starred in this episode as Adam Grant, a defendant convicted of murder and sentenced to death via the electric chair. However, the twist is that Grant claims that this is all a dream and that he dreams this every night…and that everyone in the dream will be destroyed when he is electrocuted.
Grant desperately tries to convince everyone who comes to see him of his story. This time, he is able to convince reporter Paul Carson, who tries to convince D.A. Henry Ritchie.
This is another classic sci-fi trope, where everything comes out of the mind of one person. I know on LOST, one of the rumored solutions to what was going on was that this was all a dream by Hurley.
“We know that a dream can be real, but who ever thought that reality could be a dream? We exist, of course, but, but how, in what way? As we believe, as flesh-and-blood human beings, or are we simply parts of someone’s feverish, complicated nightmare? Think about it, and then ask yourself, do you live here, in this country, in this world, or do you live, instead, – in The Twilight Zone?”
This was a clever episode that puts some good performances together with a well written script.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 