Author Archives: Doc

The Boys S3 E8

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SPOILERS

“The Instant White-Hot Wild”

Good lord, what a finale. It was amazing because during the huge showdown at Vought Tower, I wasn’t sure who I was rooting for, and that shows just how compelling this group of characters are.

The Boys season 3 has just been amazing from the beginning with Termite crawling into that penis until this final battle with Highlander, Butcher, Soldier Boy, Starlight, Maeve and the Boys.

When Homelander started the finale by going and retrieving his son Ryan, I knew things were heading for a bad end.

Then, apparently Soldier Boy had told the entire crew that he was Homelander’s father. They seemed to think this was still going to be fine.

Hughie was knocked out by Butcher and he gets picked up by Annie. Hughie still only sees the best in Butcher. He is the only one.

We see Maeve being moved out of Vought and she escapes.

The first twenty minutes or so dealt with a lot of interpersonal issues. Way more than I thought it was going to do.

And then Homelander killed Black Noir.

Did not expect that and the arrival of “Irving’s” cartoon friends after was the perfect way to bid adieu to one of my favorite characters among the Seven. Black Noir was always a mystery and, I guess, when he ceased to be mysterious was when he ceased to be valuable.

Antony Starr was brilliant yet again as the emotionally unbalanced Homelander. He killed Black Noir because he kept the truth of Soldier Boy from him, but you could see how it was tearing Homelander up figuratively as he was literally tearing up Black Noir. Antony Starr deserves an Emmy for this season.

Queen Maeve played a big part here, though her own obsession made things a tad uncertain for me as whom I should be cheering for in this battle. I have to say, Homelander was just looking for a family and his emotional moments were making me forget about the constant atrocities that he had committed this season. How he seemed to legitimately love Ryan and how the kid seemed to love him back made me think that Homelander was not a total monster. He reminded me as he was sticking his thumb in Maeve’s eye.

Hughie came through, big time. Instead of using the Temp V that could have killed him, he barricaded himself in the control room and brought the stage lights up to full power, juicing Starlight up to maximum power standard. This is the first time we see Starlight fly (which she does in the comics)

The battle at Vought was quite a powerful scene and it switched allegiances several times as many of the characters were conflicted with what they were trying to do. It appeared that both Maeve and Soldier Boy had been killed in one of his explosions after Maeve crashed them both out the window, but both of them survived… Maeve powerless and injured, off to have a relationship on a farm, and Soldier Boy in cryogenic chamber at the hands of the CIA.

The wrap up gave us a ton of things too:

  • Annie joined the Boys, throwing away her Starlight outfit.
  • Butcher found out that he was dying from the Temp V and had 12-18 months to live.
  • Homelander introduced Ryan to his fans. Then he blew the head off of a protester that threw something that hit Ryan. The crowd cheered. Very much like Trump saying he could shoot someone and still get votes.
  • MM explained his baggage to his daughter and she forgave him.
  • Victoria Neuman became the running mate for Robert Singer’s presidential campaign when the VP he wanted was found floating in the pool. We know the drowning victim was not accidental as it was The Deep following Homelander’s orders paying Victoria back for her providing Ryan’s whereabouts to him.

I really thought this was the season where Homelander would be brought down, but it sure seems as if he is only stronger. He has The Deep, A-Train and Ashley totally intimidated and he has the rabble rousers behind him.

The Boys Season 3 has been the best season of this show and I am totally ready for season 4.

Thor: Love and Thunder

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This weekend sees the release of the next installment in the Thor franchise within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor: Love and Thunder, the follow-up to the hugely successful Thor: Ragnarok, once again written and directed by Taika Waititi and starring Chris Hemsworth and a returning Natalie Portman.

The film begins with Thor (Chris Hemsworth) trying to find his path as he spends time going on adventures with the Guardians of the Galaxy. When multiple distress calls reach the Guardians, Thor realizes that [SPOILER], an old friend and ally of his, was one of them. Thor splits with the Guardians to go help [SPOILER].

This was when Thor discovered that Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) existed and that he was killing all of the gods. Gorr had been a man and was praying to the gods to help him save his daughter. The gods did not respond and she died. When Gorr found the dangerous Necrosword, he started on his path to murder all of the gods.

When Thor ;earned that Gorr was on his way to New Asgard, he returned in an attempt to stop him. He arrived in a fight with the shadowy creatures that Gorr created when he saw Mjolnir back in one piece. Thor was excited to see his old “friend” Mjolnir, but was shocked to find out that Mjolnir went to the hand of the Mighty Thor, who turned out to be his old flame, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman).

I am not sure how much of this storyline has been revealed in the trailers or interviews, so I am going to keep how and why Jane became the Mighty Thor under wraps for now. It does follow the Jane Foster Mighty Thor arc from the Thor comics by Jason Aaron. I also loved the little adaption to reveal how Mjolnir was able to be wielded by Jane.

Let me start off with Christian Bale. He is completely brilliant as Gorr the God Butcher. His performance was chilling and vicious, yet you could absolutely relate to him. He is one of the best MCU villains that we have gotten so far.

Chris Hemsworth absolutely slays as Thor once again. You can tell how comfortable he is in this character and that comfort allows Taika Waititi to take Thor into areas that we have not seen him yet. Natalie Portman also delivers a tremendous performance and the chemistry between Thor and Jane was off the charts. The chemistry between them never worked in Thor and Thor: The Dark World as it felt forced and out of line for the two characters. Everything with that is 100% fixed as the film has you rooting for them and that chemistry is put to a major test in the amazing third act of this film.

That third act was as emotional as I have been since No Way Home and Endgame. I was crying from excitement and from all manner of emotions that was striking me all at once. Obviously, I am not going to spoil the third act, but this was my favorite part of the entire film. Not to mention that we saw a character here that I would NEVER believe that we would ever see and it was completely comic accurate.

There was a lot of humor in the movie and much of it hit with me. I would say that I wish there were some times that the film did not take it as silly as it did. I didn’t mind the silliness that much, but I felt like I could have dialed it back a bit.

Oh, and the screaming goats were GOLD!!!! Loved every scene with them.

I have seen some complaints about Russell Crowe’s performance as Zeus. This did not bother me at all since this is truly the type of character that Zeus from the myths would be. I also found that Zeus’s bombastic nature was meant to be a façade to hide what he was truly feeling.

Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) had a good secondary story, and she does well with every second that she is on screen. We did wind up with less time than we got with her in Ragnarok and some more with her might have been welcomed. And, the Guardians of the Galaxy were not in the film much at all, basically a cameo in the first act.

Thor: Love and Thunder was a gorgeous film to watch. The shots in black and white that you see in the trailers are just astoundingly beautiful in the actual movie and created such a tone of dread fitting of the situation.

Both post credit scenes are great and offer up surprises.

I can understand why some people may not be a fan of Thor: Love and Thunder. There are moments in the film where the satire is too overpowering and threatens to send the film into parody and fans of the character may not be happy about that. However, I do not believe that the film ever takes that full step and I enjoyed most of the humor. Would I tone some of the humor/silliness back? Yes, but what is blended with the silliness is some of the best MCU action, heart and emotional stakes that we have had in a long while. The third act is one of my personal favorites of any MCU film and Gorr the God Butcher has to be included on any list of the best MCU villains to date.

Thor has been perhaps the MCU character that has taken the greatest character path since his first appearance of all of them and the direction of Taika Waititi and the performance of Chris Hemsworth has to be considered the reason why.

4.9 stars

Ms. Marvel S1 E5

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SPOILERS

“Time and Again”

Ms. Marvel’s fifth episode was one of the more different Marvel Disney + episodes than we have gotten before, and Marvel Studio took the opportunity to teach us something about history that we did not know.

The episode kicked off with a video that looked like an old time news reel detailing the history of India around the time of its independence from Great Britain. Then, we spent a good chunk of the time of the episode centered around Aisha (Kamala’s mysterious great-grandmother) and how she met Hasan (Kamala’s great grandfather). We saw the baby who would become Kamali’s grandmother Noni and their family’s attempt to flee along with all of the other people during the Partition.

This first 20 minutes or so really punctuated what we would eventually see at the train station, setting up the emotional stakes for this family, and continued to show how long Najma has been trying to return to her dimension and how Aisha had tethered herself to this dimension through her daughter Sana.

Then, the whole recreation of the Khan family story about the disappearance of Aisha at the train station and how Sana was saved from being lost by a “trail of stars” which turned out to be Kamala herself and her noor power.

This section was very emotional and powerful, although, with all time travel stories, it makes it difficult if you try to think about it.

When Kamala returned back to her own time, the episode goes into fast forward, it seemed. The whole veil storyline with Najma wrapped up quickly as the veil was closed, Najma and the other ClanDestines were killed and her powers were sent to Kamran. The thing is that the whole ClanDestine storyline is a background plot. Najma is not the “big bad” of the series. She is an obstacle.

The story of Ms. Marvel is Kamala finding her way to be the hero she is within her family and the interactions of Kamala with her family. In that way, this is unlike other Marvel shows on Disney + because the superhero action is not the primary focus.

Because of this, the best scenes of this episode feature the family. When Muneeba discovered that Kamala was that “Light girl” and the connection between the three generations, it was one of the most beautiful moment of the show.

The end of the episode came really suddenly with Bruno and Kamran and the drones of Damage Control exploding the store. This part of the show could have been expanded a touch. This was the shortest episode of the series so far and could have benefitted overall from another 10 minutes or so.

Next week is the season finale for Ms. Marvel. I can not believe that we won’t see Captain Marvel in a post credit scene. Plus, we should get Kamala’s final costume that she has been building up over the last five episodes.

Only Murders in the Building S2 E3

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SPOILERS

“The Last Day of Bunny Folger”

Episode three of Only Murders in the Building did something this week that I did not expect.

They made Bunny Folger likeable.

The episode followed the character of Bunny Folger, the unlikeable woman at the head of the Arconia board who was found murdered to kick off this new story arc for season two, and the show took this one note character and created something more and I suddenly was upset that she was murdered.

Amazing how a little switch in perspective can do wonders for a character.

Using the newest podcast episode to feature the last day of Bunny was a clever storytelling method for this episode. Having our main characters narrate the story and then discuss the clues we discover and seeing how the three of them interacted with Bunny on that fateful day was fascinating.

And the fact that Bunny, on the day of her death, had come to Charles’s apartment to give them champagne and she was hoping to wrangle an invite to come in and hang with Charles, Oliver and Mabel because she was feeling so alone. Then, when they did not invite her in, Bunny went back to her apartment and was attacked.

The line near the end of the episode was haunting: “We, at Only Murders, did not kill Bunny Folger, but there is a chance that we could have saved her life with a simple act of kindness.”

“Because she’s an actual witch, that’s how“

A laugh out loud line from Martin Short.

Now we have a mystery to solve that is important…

Only Murders in the Building S2 E1 & 2

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SPOILERS

“Persons of Interest” & “Framed”

The first two episodes of the second season of Only Murders in the Building are available on Hulu and episodes of season two will continue to drop late night on Mondays. This series featuring Steve Martin/Martin Short/Selena Gomez was such a great show episode one that I just binged and I was excited to continue watching the new season.

However, I would be lying to say that I did not have a touch of anxiety when it came to a second season. Yes, the show did a great job of setting up the second season with the death of Bunny (hell, in the first scene of the first episode), but the fact that they would be doing a second murder in the same building with the same characters makes it a bit suspect.

Then I watched the first two episodes and all anxiety washed away and the show proved to be able to develop another brilliant mystery that tied to our main players effortlessly. The way this new murder has been linked to Charles’ past and his father has been remarkably compelling and has allowed Steve Martin some seriously strong contemplative acting chances.

The show has set up so many quality questions around this mystery that it can go in any number of ways. Who would have thought that a character that was basically comic relief in Bunny would become such a vital cog in season two?

And, much like season one, the cameos have been major in this show. Shirley MacLaine as Leonora Folger. Amy Schumer as herself (in the Sting apartment no less). Michael Rapaport as Detective Kreps. Season one star Da’Vine Joy Randolph, returning from her run on Peacemaker, as Detective Williams. Cara Delevingne as Alice. Surely more are coming as the season progresses.

I love how there has been dueling podcasts over the same murder with our own heroes taking the boom mic back up trying to clear their name from Tina Fey’s “Only Murderers in the Building” podcast which looks to accuse them. I hope there is more coming with these two podcasts going head to head.

Taking a cue from Twin Peaks, we have a talking bird who may hold a key to the mystery. Hopefully poor Mrs. Gambolini, the parrot, has a better fate than Twin Peaks’ Waldo.

Things are looking great at the Arconia moving into episode three.

Baymax! Season One

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Some may not realize, but Baymax, who appeared in the Oscar-winning animated film Big Hero 6 in 2014 is actually from Marvel Comics. The characters are not from the main Marvel comics continuity (to say Earth 616) and so they also do not appear in the MCU (perhaps in is one one of the multiversal earths). Still, they are a Marvel property and so it fits in the Marvel on Disney + section of EYG.

The Baymax! series on Disney + features six episodes that are shorts (between 10-15 minutes each). The first four episodes had a basic formula to it. Someone in the city of San Fransokyo said something that drew the attention of Baymax (like ‘Ow’) and he would come and try and provide comfort and aid. Then at the end, he would be back at his home and Hiro would come in and ask him about his day, which would result in a humorous joke to tag the episode.

However, the story between the formula was anything but typical. He helped Hiro’s mom with her diner, a woman get over a long held sadness, a girl who had her first period, a man who served fish who developed an allergy to fish and then in episode 5, a cat.

These were all extremely charming and handled with great sensitivity and care. There was also a lot of humor in each episode as it was very funny as Baymax desperately tried to provide the care each character needed, whether they wanted him to do so or not.

I was really impressed with the episode about the young girl who was having her first period and the show spoke about the menstrual cycle in a calm and positive manner while still being able to mine the situation for the humor involved. The humor was just not based on the typical awkwardness of the situation. Baymax was not awkward in the moment because he was just trying to provide aid to the girl. The funniest moment was Baymax trying to buy the proper feminine product at the store and having everyone in the store recommending something different.

Apparently, this episode (along with another one where they guy with the fish allergy , who was gay and built up his confidence to ask another guy out) cause controversy among the conservatives. I had not even noticed it when it first happened, but apparently, in the scene I mentioned about the purchasing of the feminine products, there was a transgender individual there with a recommendation too, wearing a pride flag shirt. I honestly had not even thought about it as I watched it. It was just another person in the scene to me.

Of course, the cries that this was, “…part of Disney’s plan to re-engineer the discourse around kids and sexuality” tweeted by Christopher Rufo, the conservative academic from the right-leaning think tank, the Manhattan Institute, appeared on Twitter and in a New York Post article.

There is nothing sexual in this episode. It is just a part of life that children who may be watching Disney + will go through. There is no reason why a show with a character such as Baymax shouldn’t show how to treat people who are different with sensitivity and respect. I rewatched the scenes in question and I just do not understand why someone would have trouble with anything this sweet and kindly.

The final two episodes, where Baymax tried to help a cat, end up as a two-parter where Baymax finds himself with a run down battery inside a warehouse scheduled for destruction. Hiro has to unite the people who Baymax helped over the course of the series to assemble and find the robot before it was too late. This was an awesome change of the formula and pulled the whole six episodes together into a finale.

Baymax is a fabulous character and the series does a great job of highlighting how caring the robot is, while also being remarkably entertaining and funny. The six episodes are currently on Disney +.

Clerks (1994)

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Do Over: EYG Sunday Morning Revisit Week 10

I watched Clerks when I was younger, but I can honestly say that I remembered almost nothing about the movie. I remember the hockey on the roof, the black and white filming, and that Jay and Silent Bob were in it. Other than that, Clerks was a big blank slate in my memory.

I have become a big Kevin Smith fan, though I have not always enjoyed his movies. Watching his podcast Fatman Beyond is always a great time and, from watching, I knew that he had been working on Clerks 3 and that it will be released this year some time. So I decided that I should probably give the previous Clerks movies a Do Over before I watch Clerks 3.

A convenience store clerk Dante (Brian O’Halloran) gets called in to work on his day off and he deals with all sorts of craziness with his friend and fellow clerk from the neighboring video store Randal (Jeff Anderson), his current girlfriend (Marilyn Ghigliotti), and his former girlfriend Caitlin (Lisa Spoonauer).

There is not much narrative structure, but that is what was intended with this film, which is a series of incidents and the way in which it affected Dante. Dante’s constant complaint that he “wasn’t supposed to be here” was the rally cry for Dante’s continually downward spiral of a day.

The dialogue of Clerks is absolutely the selling point of the film. It is, at times, vulgar, reflective, combative, depressing, hopeful, but at all time hilarious. The fast-paced, fast-witted dialogue sparked each bizarre scene with a burst of energy that creates a remarkably entertaining film.

Randal, the consistently badly behaved and poor influence, seemed to have the key to encouraging Dante to do things that he wouldn’t normally do. Randal does it in such a deadpan manner that he feels more like the devil-on-the-shoulder than a friend to Dante.

Jay (Jay Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) start their run of appearances here as the film kept coming back to see them in a series of weird moments (almost vignettes) of the pair dancing to music or doing other juvenile activities.

As with a lot of Kevin Smith movies, there are plenty of references to drugs and sex, but it all seemed to be stream of consciousness for the misbehaving duo.

The black and white shots made this feel so much more classic than just a couple of losers talking about their failing existences. It gave the film a distinct feel and was a fascinating choice.

This was very original and you could see how this helped launch the career of Kevin Smith. Next week we will look at Clerks 2.

Stranger Things S4 Vol. 2 E9

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SPOILERS

“Chapter Nine: The Piggyback”

Two and a half hours is longer than a lot of movies, but the final episode of Stranger Things in season four is better than a lot of movies. There were so many emotions and anxious moments in this finale that it really put a satisfying period on the best season of Stranger Things we have had. Some of the early episodes had a few storyline that dragged some, but every one of them was fire in this episode.

I was not a huge fan of the Russian arc for most of this season (with the exception of Hopper’s awesome escape) but it felt too dragged out and too separate from the story being told in the season. That changed with the use of the Demogorgon and we got a fantastic struggle with Hopper, Joyce, Murray in the gulag trying to help the kids by killing these monsters. Tying it back to the main story really brought a relevance that had been missing. Then the connection between Hopper and Joyce came through the screen.

Max offering herself up as bait was frightening and I was legitimately crying as she raised from the ground. Lucas was fighting with Jason and when Jason stepped on the Walkman and broke it, I audibly cried out. Jason deserved his fate when the “earthquake” came through the house. Even with Eleven there, I was scared for Max. I couldn’t believe that they would kill her after the drama of episode four, but they did it anyway. Thankfully, Eleven was able to save her, sort of. It seemed as if Max may be alive but is lost in her mind.

The death of Eddie was also painful as he went out a hero. Having Dustin there made the loss all the more painful. Eddie was a major player here, with his metal performance of Metallica and his efforts to give the party more time. His death by the bats was horrible and painful.

We learned that Vecna/Henry/1 was behind everything that was happening with the Upside Down. It is not the Mindflayer. Instead, Vecna survived the finale (according to Will, who said that he could feel him now that he was back in Hawkins). He was hurt, which sure seemed as he should be with the saw-off shotgun and the fire that was consuming him. I was pumping my fist when Eleven arrived and pulled Vecna away from Max the first time. That was an amazing arrival.

Mike’s words of love helped to inspire Eleven in her battle with Vecna. This was another thing I thought might come from Mike’s dying words, but I am grateful that my prediction was off.

The earthquake that ravaged Hawkins was horrific and frightening. It is still amazing that the town is so blinded by their denial. I did enjoy the falling action, catching up with the characters after the “victory” over Vecna. The California crew arriving back in Hawkins reuniting with their friends, Dustin with Eddie’s uncle, Hopper and Joyce making it back from Russia, and Hopper’s emotional reunion with Eleven were all great moments. Jonathan and Nancy’s reunion was awkward as could be as they both have clearly grown apart but are afraid to admit it. Then, the huge cliffhanger with the storm clouds which should lead us into season 5.

This was great. Emotional. Exciting. Painful.

Can’t wait for season 5.

Friday Night Titans#18

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I am in total shock.

I can not believe what was announced at the beginning of the most recent Friday Night Titans. It shook me to the core.

The episode featured two fun matches that were very difficult to watch. Barbarian defeated Brandon “The Hornet” Hanna and two new teams including Chance Ellison’s new team defeating Zipper and Paige. They were good matches but they paled in comparison for the announcement made by Kristian Harloff and Mark Ellis at the beginning of the episode.

This season, season 9 of the Movie Trivia Schmoedown will be the final season. The MTS is ending.

This blew my mind. I never expected this and I immediately started wondering why. I suppose it had to do with money and the cost of running the show at the level that they were going.

I have spent the better part of the last nine years watching, supporting and enjoying the content provided by the Schmoedown. Some of the great moments of entertainment over the years have come with the Schmoedown.

One of the things that immediately crossed my mind, here at EYG, was that I established the Schmoedown wing of the EYG Hall of Fame just this past year and I intended on continuing over the years to induct Schmoedown competitors. So I am going to induct a few more competitors into the Schmoedown wing tonight and then close it down. Three of these would have been inducted this coming February.

Final inductees from the Schmoedown into the EYG Hall of Fame are: Mark Reilly, Shazam (William Bibbiani & The Kid Brendan Meyer), Samm Levine, William “The Beast” Bibbiani and Ethan Erwin.

Congrats.

The Schmoedown will continue to run until October where the Spectacular is scheduled to end it all.

Stranger Things S4 Volume 2 E8

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SPOILERS

“Chapter Eight: Papa”

At first, I was just going to write up both episode 8 & 9 together in one post, but I decided that I wanted to split them apart. I did watch them back to back, which was a commitment of four hours. The 8th episode was an hour and a half. It did not feel like that though. These episodes flew by as the storylines continued to come together.

This has been a great season so far, though there are a few early story bits that did not work well. However, these storylines (basically the Russian gulag and the west coast crew) fired on all cylinders in this volume of the show. Mike and Will became huge pieces for the episode and the Russian tale became so much more than it had been on the build.

Episode 8 gave us some serious kick ass action from Eleven. Her confrontation with Brennen had me screaming at the TV and then her crashing of the helicopter that was trying to shoot her was amazing. Eleven’s reunion with Mike was emotional too.

Speaking of emotions, Will was talking to Mike, trying to convince him that Eleven would always need him because he was the heart of the group and he showed the mysterious painting. That made me happy because I had considered them looking at the painting after Will died. There have been plenty of rumors about which characters might die in this volume and it has made me anxious about all my favorites.

Thankfully, Matthew Modine was the first to go and that made me happy. I’ve wanted this guy to get offed the minute after he walked into the present day section of this show. It is all the better too that it was not Eleven who killed him.

Going back to Will, his monologue to Mike in the back of the pizza van about feeling different and not knowing how people will react was not just about Eleven and Mike. It was clearly about how Will feels different because (as plenty of people have speculated) Will is gay. The show has not said the specific words, but he is obviously implying it. And the words were beautiful and Will’s pain was powerful.

The Hawkins crew went about preparing for their plan to kill Vecna/Henry/1 by going to a gun shop and beefing up their weapons. They ran into Jason and his basketball vigilantes doing the same thing.

Part of the Hawkins crew plan was to offer up Max as bait so they could catch Vecna/Henry/1 in the Upside Down while he is mentally traveling to the regular world.

A great set up for the finale. The Hawkins crew with the A-Team “setting up the trap” section of the show was a great ’80s throwback. The nostalgia of the series has not been as relevant in this season’s episodes as it has been in the past.

Episode 9 is 2 1/2 hours long, which is longer than many movies so the conclusion is certainly going to be epic (since I have already watched it, I can let you know for sure).

Only Murders in the Building Season 1

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SPOILERS

One of the shows that I wanted to watch is the Hulu series Only Murders in the Building starring Steve Martin and Martin Short. When season one originally came out, I thought about watching it, but it slipped by the wayside. I’ve always enjoyed Steve Martin and Martin Short and the idea of them in a murder mystery was very intriguing. With the second season starting, this was a great chance to see if I was going to enjoy the show.

I started season one and ended season one on the same day. Breezed right through it. It was so good.

The central mystery of the show is set up in the first episode and it is extremely compelling with a plentiful amount of suspects and twists and turns. It is plotted out well and each episode helped build the story. There were some really cool episodes, including one that had basically no dialogue and was focused on a deaf character and the use of ASL. The story mixes together and it works extremely well.

Steve Martin and Martin Short have great chemistry and are filled with humor. Selina Gomez does an extremely good job and, to be honest, I was not expecting for her to be as excellent as she was. She fit right in with the two lead legends in the film and she absolutely carried her ow

There were some wonderful guest stars here too including Nathan Lane, Jane Lynch, Tina Fey, Sting, and Jimmy Fallon.

The arrival of the bassoonist Jan (Amy Ryan) helped open up the Steve Martin character and they fit together and, when we discovered that Jan was the actual killer, it was a tough reveal. Steve Martin was amazing during the confrontation between them.

And the show did a great job of setting up for season two.

I know a few episodes of season 2 have dropped so I am looking forward to continuing with this every Tuesday on Hulu.

The Boys S3 E7

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SPOILERS

“Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed”

Ok…now what????

What a shock at the end of the show. My jaw dropped and everything that I thought was going to happen eventually in season three of The Boys went by the way side. The Boys had their very own, “Luke, I am your father” moment as Soldier Boy told Homelander that he had discovered that Vought had Soldier Boy give them a sample of semen that would become Homelander.

Now what???

The thought that Soldier Boy would be able to stop Homelander, perhaps by taking away his powers with his blast, feels as if it is off the table now. In fact, Soldier Boy was calling Homelander to change the deal and that makes me wonder exactly how this could turn out for the heroes.

I still hate Billy Butcher. He went through a horrible mental illusion caused by Mindstorm that flashed through his abusive past leading up to his brother’s suicide. It felt as if Butcher was finally going to have that reflective moment that made him at least a little less of an a-hole. However, when Starlight called to warn Hughie that 3-5 doses of V-23 causes death, she spoke with Butcher who promised to tell Hughie but, of course, he did not. In fact, he wanted them to steal some more so they could take down Homelander at last.

And then, Black Noir interacts with animated cartoon characters. I could not believe that Black Noir was suddenly Eddie Valiant from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. We saw the animated version of Soldier Boy being betrayed by Noir and the others in Payback when he was given to the Russians. We could see that all of the animation was in Noir’s head and not in reality and it certainly showed us that he was not quite all there.

A-Train lives! I thought he was a goner last week after he killed Blue Hawk, but he awoke in the hospital with Angela right there, telling him the made up story to cover the death of Blue Hawk and that A-Train had a heart transplant from Blue Hawk himself.

I think that next week is the season finale. I have no idea what is going to happen and that is great!

The Deep continues his foray into his sex life with the mollusks. The Deep’s wife was not quite into the threesome.

National Champions (2021)

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June 30th, Movies 31

The June Swoon comes to a close today with the final film in the binge. The choice I made was a football movie featuring J.K. Simmons and Stephan James called National Champions. Truth is the film is less about football and more about the system of college football and how the NCAA makes billions of dollars while the student-athletes get nothing.

In National Champions, two football teams are preparing for the college championship game when the star quarterback LeMarcus James (Stephan James) and his friend, another player Emmett Sunday (Alexander Ludwig) announced that they were going to boycott the game unless the NCAA changed their system and began paying and providing benefits to the players that the NCAA was building their brand upon.

LeMarcus and Emmett went around to players on the team trying to build up support, others to join in on the boycott. Meanwhile, Coach James Lazor (J.K. Simmons) was trying to hold his team together before the big game and met up with the officials of the NCAA trying to break down the boycott.

The fact that the NCAA is a billion dollar business that absolutely takes advantage of the young men to make that money, and then the athletes are not allowed to benefit for it. The small percentage that go on to the NFL may benefit from their college games, but the vast majority of the players will not play any more. Many of them find themselves back in poverty or in financial difficulties and facing injuries or pain from their playing days.

The film really did a great job of building tension as they approached the game and what the individuals involved would do in order to get the game played. JK Simmons was fantastic as always, but so was Stephan James. These performances were what this film depended on.

I do believe that the storyline involving Coach Lazor’s wife Baily (Kristin Chenoweth) and a professor at the college Elliott Schmidt (Timothy Olyphant) was too far, and, in the end, was a strange twist. This actually hurt the story and distracted from the overall story. It is a shame because I do love Timothy Olyphant.

The film’s message is one that is absolutely a problem that needs to be addressed and the movie does a great job of showing the troubles with the NCAA and college football. It is able to present the message while still being entertaining.

Father of the Bride (2022)

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How many times can this movie be remade? Father of the Bride has been made three times, 1950 and 1991 and now in 2022. The 1950 version had a sequel while the 1991 film had two sequels as well. So why do we need yet another version of this film?

The reason we need another remake is because they were able to come up with a undeniably entertaining and robust take on the formula that is funny, totally engaging story with some of the most likeable characters you would find.

Billy (Andy Garcia) and Ingrid (Gloria Estefan) are having major problems with their marriage and even therapy was not working. They finally decided that they were going to get a divorce. With their daughter Sofia (Adeia Arjona) coming back to Miami, they planned on telling her and their other daughter Cora (Isabela Merced) about their divorce.

However, Sofia beat them to the announcement drop when she told them that she was engaged to be married to a young man named Adan (Diego Boneta) and they were looking to get married within a month.

There are so many great moments that really work in the movie. Plenty of them are your typical issues that pop up, but the cast is so strong that any cliché melts away. Andy Garcia and Gloria Estefan have great chemistry and you feel everything that Andy Garcia throw out there. You get mad at him when he is being stubborn and your heart melts when he is in pain.

Other cast members that I have not yet mentioned include Ruben Rabasa, Chloe Fineman, Pedro Damián, Ana Fabrega, Sean Patrick Dawson, Enrique Murciano, Ho-Kwan Tse, Macarena Achaga, Laura Harring, and Casey Thomas Brown.

Father of the Bride is streaming on HBO Max and it may be somewhat predictable, but it is engaging and fun and worth the watch.

3.9 stars

Beckett (2021)

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June 29th, Movie 30

The penultimate day of the June Swoon was filled with the Netflix film Beckett, starring John David Washington.

According to IMDB: “While vacationing in Greece, American tourist Beckett (John David Washington) becomes the target of a manhunt after a devastating accident. Forced to run for his life and desperate to get across the country to the American embassy to clear his name, tensions escalate as the authorities close in, political unrest mounts, and Beckett falls even deeper into a dangerous web of conspiracy“

Washington was solid in this man-on-the-run story. He made a good every man struggling to do whatever he has to do to survive. Are there things that Beckett does that he probably should not be able to do. Still, most of the action works well.

The story was convoluted. I liked the mystery of what was happening, but it never really felt like it came together well and some of the twists were hard to buy. Still, I liked the way it worked itself out and ended up.

Beckett may not be the greatest film ever but it is a fairly fun time and has an enjoyable lead character who battled to survive against the villains. It is not a deep film, but I liked watching it.