Author Archives: Doc

The Little Mermaid (1989)

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Next weekend sees the release of Disney’s live action version of The Little Mermaid. Since I have not watched the original animated classic in, literally, decades, I thought it would be a good idea to pull the original up on Disney + and watch it before seeing the new version on Thursday.

Ariel (Jodi Benson) is a mermaid with a beautiful singing voice who is the daughter of King Triton (Kenneth Mars), and she is obsessed with the human world, collecting objects that are found tossed into the water. When she rescues human Prince Eric (Christopher Daniels Barnes) from drowning, Ariel falls in love with him and wishes for a way to join him in his world.

Of course, Ariel is half-fish and does not have any legs, which is a drawback. When Triton finds out about Ariel’s desires, he flips out and destroys all of her things. This drives Ariel to seek help from the sea witch Ursula (Pat Carroll), who uses her magic to turn Ariel into a human… but at a cost.

First, Ursula takes away Ariel’s voice as payment. Secondly, she insists that Ariel get Eric to fall in love with her and kiss her before the sun sets on the third day above sea or else Ariel would be doomed to be under Ursula’s control forever.

Ariel goes to the human world, with help from her friend fish Flounder (Jason Marin) and the crab who had been assigned to keep tabs on her by her father, Sebastian (Samuel E. Wright), and tries to get Eric to fall in love with her.

Let’s start with the parts of this movie that are great. The music. King the Girl, Under the Sea, Part of Your World are some of the greatest Disney songs of all time. The score to the film contained some very recognizable beats that really worked as well. The sounds of this movie were one of the most classic elements of The Little Mermaid.

The character design of these characters were epic. In particular, the villainous Ursula was brilliantly designed. She was totally frightening and surely scared her share of little kids in the theater.

The conclusion of the film was suspenseful and brutal. I did not remember how Ursula met her demise and it was not the typical Disney ‘villain falls into the pit’ ending that we have seen so many times. SPOILERS:Ursula is impaled by a ship. That was unexpected and very effective.

However, I do have some issues with the film. One, I am not sure I love the message of the film. Ariel has to completely change who she is for her man. In order to be with Eric, she has to give up her fins and become human, casting away her entire childhood. Could that be considered romantic? Maybe. It just feels as if that was a lot to ask.

Maybe that sticks out to me more because I just never bought the relationship between Ariel and Eric. I mean, she rescues him, sings to him, and they fall in love immediately. So much so that she is willing to change herself for him. There was not enough of building their relationship for it to make sense to me. It was a very quick movie and I feel like if the film had added another fifteen minutes or so of their relationship, I might not have felt as uncertain about the end. It did not help that Eric was a bit wishy-washy during the time they were together as he dumped her immediately when Ursula, in disguise, comes to Eric with Ariel’s voice and steals him away. I know the film implied that Eric was being controlled by the magic sea witch, but it still did not seem to be a good look for Prince Eric.

And I mentioned that this was a scary film. There was the scene of the chef chopping fish heads off as Sebastian watched on in terror. I was amazed how brutal this scene was. Mind you, I liked it, but it had to be frightening for any young children watching it.

The Little Mermaid new version is considerably longer than this animated version which may take care of some of the issues that I have with the animated film. There is no doubt that this is a classic film, but it would be down the list for me among the Disney renaissance from the 80s/90s (Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King).

Fast X

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I am not a huge fan of the Fast and the Furious franchise. I don’t hate them totally, but they have always been so stupid. Still, I go with the hope that this would be the one that would break that streak. Spoiler alert: it isn’t.

The Toretto family is being targeted by the villainous and flamboyant Dante (Jason Momoa) for revenge because his father had been killed when Dom (Vin Diesel) dragged the safe across Rio in Fast and Furious 5.

I do like the idea that they dipped back into the continuity of the franchise to create a new villain. It makes sense for the son of this drug dealer who died in the fifth installment to be looking for some justice from the Family. Jason Momoa was absolutely playing this role in a weird, Joker-esce manner. I’m not sure I liked the character choices, but, at least, it was an original take.

The first problem I had with Fast X was that the dialogue of these characters. Real people do not talk like this. The dialogue was so clunky in every scene that did not involve cars flipping and exploding (and yes, there were a few of those).

One of the original action scenes in the film, which take place in Rome, is just so ridiculous that I found myself laughing at it way more than being anxious about it. It was so mind-numbingly dumb that it took away any positives I had for that action beat. It felt more like a parody of itself than anything else.

That was a recurring idea in the movie for me. All of the action scenes were so illogical and implausible that I found myself incapable of suspending disbelief. I know the Fast franchise historically has action that is more cartoony than realistic, but some of this just pulls me out of the movie. At least they are not going into space in their cars as they did in Furious 9.

My absolute favorite part of this movie was John Cena, who returned as Dom’s brother Jakob. While Brian (Leo Abelo Perry) was okay (at best) as Dom’s son, I thought the kid’s chemistry with John Cena was really good and easy my most enjoyable part of the film. Without spoilers though, I thought how this was resolved was one of my least favorite parts of the movie and was way too laughable.

There is a remarkable cast here including Helen Mirren, Rita Moreno, Brie Larson, Jason Statham, Charlize Theron, Scott Eastwood, Pete Davidson along with the other members of the Torreto family (Ludacris, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang). Most of these actors did not have much to do. Rita Moreno was in the film for two minutes and I think every moment was in trailers.

And this film ended with a massive cliffhanger that came from out of nowhere. That ending made this movie feel very inconsequential overall. The post credit scene though was fun and shocking. No spoilers here, but I did like that.

This was just a stupid action film that had ridiculously poor dialogue, action that at times felt more laughable than exciting, and a story, well…not much of one. Jason Momoa made it around the world to different locations somehow easily, in what felt like mere seconds. He also seemed to know everything that was going to happen and, apparently, had a evil plan that was more convoluted than any comic book movie plan, yet somehow happened perfectly. And that ending… if you want to call it that.

2 stars

The Mother

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I watched the new Netflix movie The Mother on Mother’s Day this past Sunday. I just realized this morning that I had not written a review of it for the site. I believe that after I had finished watching The Mother and started off watching Schmigadoon and The Silo and never came back to The Mother. It was not up to their of those Apple TV + projects, but The Mother was not terrible.

Jennifer Lopez starred as a former assassin who had been in hiding after having to give up her baby daughter to protect her. When the identity is revealed, Lopez returned to do what she could to save her from the evil forces.

So this really reminded me of that other Netflix movie, Lou, starring Allison Janney. It had a similar arc to it and maybe even some similar tones.

Jennifer Lopez is decent as the action hero of this film even though there are so many moments that are fairly dumb. She does what she can with what she is given to do.

There was some decent action scenes, but there was nothing really memorable that stood out in the film.

Having said what I have, nothing much else stands out about this movie. Obviously if I do not remember much about a movie from a week before, there can’t be much to the movie. I remember not hating the film, but it does not stick out to me.

2.5 stars

Schmigadoon

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Schmigadoon is one of my newest favs.

As a fan of musicals, I had always wanted to watch the Apple TV + series, but I never had gotten around to it. However, recently, I found some time and I figured that I could give this a try.

After the very first episode, I was in.

I did not binge the whole series, spreading out the two season, 6-episode seasons over about a week, which worked extremely well.

I have always been a fan of Keegan-Michael Key, who stars as Dr. Josh Skinner. To be fair, Keegan-Michael Key is not the best singer of the cast, but the show keeps his songs to a minimum and, truthfully, his song in season 1 was one of the most emotional moments of the first season.

Dr. Josh Skinner’s girlfriend in season 1 and wife in season 2 is Dr. Melissa Gimble, played by Cecily Strong, who has a strong comedic presence and great timing. She makes a effective team with Key. Even when I was not sure about what the show intended, I was always rooting for this couple to be together.

Season 1 was based on musicals such as Oklahoma, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and the 1947 musical Brigadoon.

Season 2 takes several musical inspirations/parodies including obviously Chicago, Sweeny Todd, Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar and Annie.

There is some remarkably clever writing in the series and the music is both enjoyable and extremely funny. You can hear the homage to the classic music from the different musicals that Schmigadoon parodies in the score for the show.

The ensemble cast included some heavy hitters like Alan Cumming, Fred Armisen, Martin Short, Jane Krakowski, Ariana DeBose, Tituss Burgess, Aaron Tveit, Dove Cameron, Kristin Chenoweth, Jaime Camil and Michelle Rios.

That cast played different characters in the two seasons, highlighting different styles of musicals and some great work. Alan Cumming was especially brilliant in season 2 as the Sweeney Todd-inspired butcher, Dooley Flint. His unbalanced performance was spectacular.

Season two’s inclusion of the Narrator character, played by Tituss Burgess was a stroke of genius. It kept the meta aspects of the series in place.

I hope there will be more Schmigadoon on Apple TV in the future. This was a lot of fun and entertaining as could be.

“It’s a doggity-dog world”

EYG Comic Cavalcade #25

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May 19, 2023

There was quite a big week in new comics this week. Some big name books made their debut and I was able to find a couple of gems as well.the

I did purchase a Superman series that my friend Todd is going to get signed by Dan Jurgens, the writer of the series. That series will be down the line a bit.

However, there are some other great books.

Groo vs. Conan #1-4. Story by Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier and art by Sergio Aragonés and Thomas Yeats. Another Dark Horse mini series starring Groo the Barbarian, but this time he squares off against the Cimmerian himself, Conan. This was very much similar to the Groo/Tarzan series (which actually came out after this one, but I had bought that one first). There was a storyline involving Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier themselves that were a shadow of the Groo/Conan story. This was fun and a quick series to read.

Man-Goat & the Bunnyman 2023 Spring Special #1. A 48-page one-shot special featuring the awesome pair of Man-Goat & Bunnyman. Written by Joe Brusha and art by Guillermo Fajardo. I have the Cover E issue with the variant cover by Derlis Santacruz and Sanju Nivangune. This is one of the most unlikely books that I buy but I really do love Man-Goat & Bunnyman. Floyd is on a mission to find his father and that brings he and Phil into some violent confrontations.

Avengers #1. Written by Jed MacKay and featuring art by C.F. Villa. The cover art was by Stuart Immonen. New creative team. New Avengers lineup. Captain Marvel is the new chairperson of the Avengers and the new team included Sam Wilson, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Thor, Iron man and Black Panther. The issue interspersed the recruitment of the new roster with the giant battle with Terminus.

Fantastic Four #7 (Legacy #700). “The Enemy of the Good.” Written by Ryan North with art by Iban Coello. Alex Ross did the cover art. For the 700th issue of Fantastic Four, this story felt very grounded. Even with Dr. Doom messing with time in an attempt to save Valeria from the year long Baxter Building relocation. I really liked how small this massive story felt. And it wouldn’t be a huge celebration without Dr. Doom. Still, Johnny’s ‘stache has to go.

Red Goblin #4. Written by Alex Paknadel and penciled by Jan Bazaldua. Inhyuk Lee is the cover artist. Norman Osborn confronts Little Normie over Rascal and tries to separate the symbiote from this grandson. Red Goblin has been a decent book so far and I do like Normie.

Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #12. “Cold War Part 3“. Steve and Sam are on their way to Dimension Z where White Wolf is waiting and where Bucky Barnes is being confronted by Black Widow. There are some beautiful pages in this issue, especially the flashbacks to Steve and Ian in Dimension Z. This story is building up to what I think may be some emotional moments.

Indigo Children #1. “Chapter One” Other Worlds” Story by Curt Pires & Rockwell White, script by Curt Pires and are by Alex Diotto. This new book from Image Comics is one of the more intriguing new books out there. I was engaged by the central mystery of what was happening in this book with the mysterious Alexei.

She-Hulk #13. Written by Rainbow Rowell and featuring art by Andres Genolet & Joe Quinones. Jen Bartel did this issue’s cover art. There seems to be a new relationship in the future for the She-Hulk, and he is a thief that she is fighting. Meanwhile, Jack of Hearts is here and in a relationship too. Looks like we have the start of a super hero triangle.

Dark Ride #6. Written by Joshua Williamson and drawn by Andrei Bressan. Samhain is being chased through Devil Land by the trash director Alister, who seems to be wanting to kill him. Dark Ride spent some time back in flashback mode with Sam and his sister, seeing a time with their mother. It did not seem to end up well. Dark ride has been a good time so far and I am anxious to see where it heads.

Hulk Annual #1. “The Viridian Project” Written by David Pepose and drawn by Caip Majado. Cover art is by Gary Frank & Brad Anderson. This is written in the form of a found footage documentary and I enjoyed that format. It was unlike other books. It gives the flavor of horror, which the new Hulk book is going to be moving into.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #24

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May 15, 2023

What’s up, you mendicants?

Has anyone seen any cheese dip?

What’s better than eating? Could it be a fray? Where did I put my sword?

Yes, this is all just a way of saying that this special edition of EYG Comic Cavalcade will be focused around everybody’s favorite wandering barbarian, Groo!

I was introduced to Groo back when I was a young kid when Groo got his own Marvel comic book series (under the Marvel-Epic line). I know Groo debuted in the pages of Mad Magazine, but I did not read Mad regularly. I happened to get the first issue of Groo and just loved it. I have been a fan of Groo ever since.

Groo has recently been in a mini series with Tarzan. That was fun. I have seen an upcoming new series from Dark Horse too. It was called Groo in the Wild and I added that to my pull list.

But I found out that there were some other Groo books from Dark Horse and I went to eBay and found the series Groo: Friends and Foes.

EYG Hall of Famer Sergio Aragonés created Groo and does the art while Mark Evanier is listed as Wordsmith.

Groo: Friends and Foes #1-12.

This series has a bunch of fraying, eating, boats sinking, towns burning and unlimited innocent bystanders being doomed.

Each issue featured the return of one (or more) character(s) from Groo’s universe. This included the Minstrel, Grooella, Taranto, Pal ‘n Drumm, Weaver & Scribe, Chakaal, The Sage, Arcadia the hero, Arba & Dakarba, Captain Ahax, and Granny Groo.

There was also an ongoing storyline throughout the 12-issues that featured a little girl named Kayli (who Groo constantly called a little boy) who was looking for her long long father, who had been taken away to war. It wasn’t the greatest secret of what character would turn out to be Kayli’s father. Still, it was a fun running gag.

And running gags are what Groo is made of. Everything from people seeing Groo arrive and knew that they were doomed to running away from him to even going as far as to do terrible things to themselves because it would clearly be better if they do it to themselves instead of having it happen by Groo.

Groo continues to be a ton of fun and filled with humor. I would love to see an animated film with the character of Groo in the lead, but, until that happens, I’ll keep enjoying these Dark Horse books.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #23

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May 14, 2023

Happy Mother’s Day!

I am very much of a Momma’s Boy so I want to make sure to wish all mothers out there a great day. You deserve it.

My own mom was never fully down with my comic collecting, but she never tried to talk me out of it either and she always supported me in doing what I wanted to do.

She knew that comic books were part of who I was. Who I am.

So everyone have an epic and awesome day with your family and give your mom a kiss and a hug from EYG.

Comics today…

Middlewest #16-18. Written by Skottie Young and drawn by Jorge Corona. I wrapped up the Middlewest series this morning. As I mentioned before, Abel came face to face with his dad, which is what the series had been building toward since the moment Abel ran off. As all the elements came together, the conclusion was very satisfying for the readers seeing Abel with so much confidence and his father in such a new and vulnerable situation. I had a feeling this book would wind up with a confrontation that was more emotional than physical, although there were some beautifully illustrated moments in the final issue. This ended in a very positive manner and I am pleased to have read it.

Black Cloak #5. Written by Kelly Thompson and featuring art by Meredith McClaren. At this point, Black Cloak is, at best, an okay book. I have to say that I am just now reading it as a completionist and curious to see how it wraps up. It did have a cool sneak peak of a book called The Cull, which is listed as coming out in August that I may give a shot. Otherwise, Black Cloak is just an average tale for me.

The Ambassadors #4. Written by Mark Millar and drawn by Olivier Coipel. We get yet another character introduction, Codename: Brazil, and I did like the story behind this character and the switch up they pulled off to make this a little different than the previous issues. I have liked this story so far, but I do hope a larger story kicks off soon.

Spider-Gwen: Shadow Clones #3. Written by Emily Kim and drawn by Kei Zama. Gwen has to face off against some of her more evil clones who have snatched young Reed Richards. We also get the answer to whom has been behind the arrival of the clones too with the final page showing us Dr. Lyla Bennett.

Invincible Iron Man #6. “A Blast From The Past” Written by Gerry Duggan and drawn by guest artist Andrea Di Vito. Kael Ngu was the cover artist. In this issue, we get present day Tony Stark narrating a flashback issue that takes place during the time when Tony was in the Silver Centurion armor in the West Coast Avengers. The White Queen makes an appearance as well. The cover featured a throwback to the covers from the time period as many of these type of books have been doing.

Superman: Lost #3. “The Tide” Written by Priest and featuring art by Carlo Pagulayan. Carlo Pagulayan & Jason Paz, with Elmer Santos did the cover. This is another bigtime winning cover for this series so far. I enjoyed this book too, with Superman meeting up with some space dolphins. This Superman in space saga feels similar to the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow series, which was up and down for me. So far this has been pretty solid, but they have the same yellow sun missing beat that was in Supergirl.

I Am Iron Man #3. “Chapter Three: Best Friend.” Written by Murewa Ayodele and including art from Dotun Akande. Iron Shogun is here in a special Mother’s Day issue. I really like the design of the Iron Shogun armor and I thought this issue’s story flew by. Nice to see War machine again.

Captain Marvel #49. “Revenge of the Brood: Conclusion.” Written by Kelly Thompson and art by Sergio Davila. The cover was done by Juan Frigeri & David Curiel. Carol is angry over the death of Binary and she has plans to wipe out the Brood once and for all. Unfortunately, her plan could result in a dangerous situation for everyone. There was a great scene between Carol and Rogue, whose connection goes back a long time (Avengers Annual #10, in fact). One more issue with Kelly Thompson writing this book.

Ghost Rider #14. “Sibling Rivalry” Written by Benjamin Pearcy and pencils by Cory Smith w/ Brent Peeples. Bjorn Barends did the cover art. We are building toward the Johnny Blaze vs. Danny Ketch confrontation as we continue to see things that Danny has done under the influence of Infernal Labs.

Rogue & Gambit #3. “Broken Promises and Broken Bones.” Written by Stephanie Phillips and drawn by Carlos Gomez. The search for Manifold continued as Rogue winds up face to face with a group of controlled villains that will be a battle for life and death. The relationship between Gambit and Rogue continues to be the standout section of this book. There is a beautiful cover on this issue by Steve Morris.

All Eight Eyes #1. Written by Steve Foxe and including art by Piotr Kowalski. A new book from Dark Horse that is set in Alphabet City in 2003. A drifter named Reynolds is out trying to save the city from giant spiders. He teamed up with Vin, who had just been kicked out of his apartment for not paying rent, to try and prevent the spread of these monsters.

Phantom Road #3. Written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Gabriel H. Walta. Special Agent Weaver from the FBI arrived on scene and dives head first into the investigation of what weird things are going down in this town. Lemire does an excellent job of setting up a sense of tension while building these new characters. This is another winner from Lemire.

Nocterra #14. Written by Scott Snyder and including art by Tony S. Daniel. This issue features a blending of two parts of the story. One, we see Emory reunited with his mother prior to the darkness falling across the planet. This story turns out fairly sadly. Two, the crew arrive in Eos in an attempt to put Augustus’s formula into effect and save the world from the darkness. The next issue looks to be setting up a major confrontation in Eos. Nocterra has been consistently great every issue.

The Muppets Mayhem Season 1

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SPOILERS

I was not anticipating the new Muppet series on Disney +. Fact was that a series with Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem as the lead characters that did not include Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie or other classic Muppet characters did not appeal to me as much.

I am so glad that I watched this series, because I thought this was just epic.

The Muppet Mayhem was ten-episodes on Disney +, all dropping at once and I have spent the last few days watching a few of the episodes, completing it tonight. Through the 10 episodes, we got such amazing character development from this underutilized crew of Muppets, some great music, human characters that I cared about and some truly laugh out loud moments.

Although Animal typically is the standout of the Electric Mayhem, this series gave us an origin of Dr. Teeth, a ton more about Floyd Pepper and Janice, a cool photo gimmick for Zoot, and more about Lips, the trumpet player, than we ever knew before.

And as with any Muppet project, celebrities were lining up to cameo. Some of the best cameos included “Weird Al” Yankovic (in probably my favorite episode of the season), Kevin Smith, Morgan Freeman (attempting to get the role of ‘Zoot’ in the documentary of the band- inspired!), Paula Abdul, Rachel Bloom, Chris Stapleton, Tommy Lee, Billy Corgan, Cheech and Chong, Ziggy Marley, Ke$ha, Susana Hoffs, Peter Jackson, Charlamagne Tha God, Kristen Schaal, Ryan Seacrest, Danny Trejo, Zedd, and Ben Schwartz (to name a few).

I loved the episode that the Electric Mayhem was struck with writer’s block and they had to go into the desert to be inspired by sitting under the stars (as Floyd spoke to a Lion King inspired Weird Al), the episode that was a parody of the documentary Get Back (of the Beatles) that included director Kevin Smith, the amazing problems with the Mayhem becoming addicted to their new phones, and the reunion of the band after the nicest break up of all time.

I also fell in love with the new Muppet character, Penny Waxman, the record executive who was a one time and once again flame of Dr. Teeth. I found the design of that new character to be just amazing.

This series was so much fun that it just convinces me all the more that Disney + needs to do more with the Muppets IP. They have such an untapped potential that you could take a group of secondary Muppets and make them relevant and such a hoot.

Can you picture that?

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

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The first really great documentary that I have seen this year is now on Apple TV + and features the story of Michael J. Fox and his battle with Parkinson’s Disease.

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is a 90-minute documentary from Davis Guggenheim that looks at the lifespan of actor Michael J. Fox, from a rambunctious child to today, a man struggling against his body and the tremors that come from his diagnosis. All in his own words.

Michael J. Fox shot to fame as the precocious teen Alex P. Keaton on the TV show Family Ties and became a massive movie star with his role in Back to the Future. His recount about the days of filming both of these projects was harrowing at the least. It was a fascinating tale of his early days in Hollywood and the constant struggles of trying to make a living as a young teen/adult.

These early stories were interspersed with imagery from the current day Fox, working with a physical therapist on his movement and walking, telling about times when he would fall or hurt himself.

The doc had an amazing style to it as well. With these details that were told by Fox, the film used images and scenes from past movies and show to illustrate the point being made by Fox and it was a perfect feat of editing. There were so many stories beautifully illustrated by Michael J. Fox’s previous film roles.

Still was both emotional for the viewer and inspirational at the same time. Listening to Michael explain his own feelings during the time when he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, yet battled to prevent his symptoms to be shown. His time hiding the disease from the public had taken a toll on the actor and caused problems with his family.

Yet, with the current face-to-face interviews conducted for the documentary, Fox showed his determination and his stubborn streak, as well as a sharp sense of humor.

This is a difficult film to rate because of the personal nature, but it was a truly well designed, well-structured documentary that reminded us all how much we loved Michael J. Fox and how important we find his story.

4 stars

How to Blow Up a Pipeline

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I saw a post on Twitter from critic William Bibbiani that had his favorite five movies so far in 2023 and one of them listed was How to Blow Up a Pipeline, a film that I had not heard of before. So when I spotted it on Vudu this weekend, I thought I would check it out.

The independent film from Neon featured a group of environmental activists planned and attempted to blow up a pipeline in protest of the way the pipeline has been affecting the environment.

The film is not just about the act of eco-terrorism, but it also some focus on the characters who were among the crew. It spent a significant amount of time focusing on the individual members investigating the reasons behind their choices.

The ensemble cast do a fine job in bringing these young characters to life in a film that could villainize them. The cast included Ariela Barer, Kristine Froseth, Lukas Gage, Forrest Goodluck, Jayme Lawson, Sasha Lane, Jake Weary and Marcus Scribner as the main group of conspirers.

What I liked was how the film had the group debating how the world would be looking at them in a different manner, even going as far as labeling themselves terrorists. Still, the motives of the group were varied and many of them understandable.

This film would certainly be controversial as it has had some critics claim that it glorifies the destruction of the pipeline and could inspire others in the real world to take up the same efforts. I would say that this film clearly outlines the situations of the characters and does not try to cover up the acts. It is as much about the characters as it is anything else.

The flashbacks that are sprinkled throughout do a great job of getting us invested in theses characters’ motivations.

I thought this was well done and showed the complexities of actions carried out by even the well meaning indiviuals.

3.75 stars

Hypnotic

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I have always been a fan of characters with mental powers, even though they really should all be villains. The fact is there are no powers more designed for corruption than mental powers, especially mind control.

There is a bunch of mind control going on in the new Ben Affleck action/adventure film Hypnotic and, unfortunately, it does not deliver the excitement a decent premise promised, and, instead, turned out to be an overly gimmicked mess.

Ben Affleck played detective Danny Rourke, who was dealing with the guilt over his failure to prevent his young daughter’s kidnapping at a park a few years prior. When he returned to duty, Rourke wound up in a mysterious bank robbery where the main culprit Dellrayne (William Fichtner) is using hypnosis powers to have innocent people carry out his plans. When Rourke discovered that Dellrayne has some connection to his daughter’s disappearance, he is lead to the door of a tarot card reading psychic Diana (Alice Braga), who is more than what she seemed.

Soon, the plot gets convoluted and flipped on its head.

None of this felt real and I was not engaged much with the story. Affleck did not seem to buy into the story either, as I wondered why he was showing such little emotion as a guilt-ridden father. That was actually explained later in a bizarre twist that would have even found M. Night Shyamalan thinking it was too much.

What is real and what is a mind-f*** does not provide the intrigue for this story. There was just too much exposition in a movie that all of that exposition turned out to be wasted.

I did like parts of Alice Braga’s work. She was solid at times, but her character becomes way too confused and tangled. William Fichtner made a fun villain at the beginning when he seemed to be the Terminator-type character that kept coming, but his second half of the movie character could not live up to the beginning.

It was great to see LOST’s Jeff Fahey (aka Frank Lapidus) make a short appearance.

I just did not find this one to be engaging enough and too filled with twists that made me care less for the characters.

2.4 stars

Book Club: The Next Chapter

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Happy Mother’s Day to all of the wonderful moms out there. This film is advertised as a good film for Mother’s day, even though none of the lead actors of the film are shown as mothers here.

This was a sequel to a surprise 2018 hit movie Book Club starring Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Mary Steenburgen, and Diane Keaton, not to be confused with 80 for Brady which was four older actors including Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Lily Tomlin and Rita Moreno. Honestly, Jane Fonda felt like the same character in both.

Plot synopsis: four older ladies go to Italy. Stuff happens.

That is literally the story here. There were several times when I thought to myself, ‘Is there going to be a narrative?’ and the answer was… no.

Certainly, this movie survives on the back of the four lead actors. Fonda, Bergen, Steenburgen and Keaton are charismatic and likable. Unfortunately, they were given some of the worst dialogue in a movie for while. The film wanted the interactions between the four of them to be the best part of the movie, and it should have been, but it was anything but.

None of this was special, though there were some beautiful shots of the Italian countryside and cities. Everything that you would think would happen in this type of a movie, did happen and it was dull.

To be completely transparent, I did not feel very well in the theater today so I did leave early. I usually do not review films that I do not see all the way through, because it conceivably could get better in the final act, but I feel fairly confident that this was not going to improve.

Secondly, I was in the theater in a row with an older woman who did not seem to be able to stay off of her phone and another group who felt as if they needed to discuss everything that would be going on. Both of these can color my perception of the movie to be fair.

I was not offended by this film and I do like the actors, especially Candice Bergen, but this was not up the the level of these actors. Maybe the ending rescued the lackadaisical film, but I am fairly sure that it did not.

2.5 stars

EYG Comic Cavalcade #22

Posted on by

May 11, 2023

Yesterday was NEW COMIC BOOK DAY at the local comic shop so I was excited. There was a bunch of great new books that I have only slightly made through so far. However, there was something that I had not expected in that pile of new books.

There was one of the best new comics I have read in a long time.

Something Epic #1 came out from Image Comics, written and illustrated by Szymon Kudranski. I had seen it advertised in Previews a while ago and I added it to the pull list.

What an awesome choice.

I was completely in awe. I loved this so much. I have not felt like this after reading a book in a long time. This book felt like a combination of Spielberg and a classic Oscar-bait film.

The art was truly stunning. It felt as if it were a photograph at times. I was amazed at the beauty of every page. It had a remarkably original style and lay-out. Some pages were full page shots with a ton of monologue while others had no words at all and had multiple small panels that told the visual story. Not only that, but the story continued right up to the back cover. I had never seen that before.

There was also a bunch of different styles of art within, especially from the different creatures that we see throughout the book.

Young 14-year old boy Danny Dillon, who can see Epics all around. Creative thought takes physical form and the Epics are the only ones who can see it. Danny is one of these, however, there is more to this boy’s life besides this as there is something happening with his mother.

A book that celebrates imagination and creativity, Something Epic truly made me excited to be reading comics. It is a gorgeous comic. I got Cover B out of multiple variant covers which was drawn by Tony Daniel and Szymon Kudranski.

I loved this. Can’t wait until #2.

Meanwhile, there were other good books out this week…

Amazing Spider-Man #25. Written by Zeb Wells and drawn by Kaare Andrews & John Romita Jr. There is an awesome cover on this issue by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna & Marcio Menyz. We get some answers about what happened to Mary Jane and how she became a mother. I thought this was pretty decent but I am still not sure if this is how Peter would have reacted to the FF or Cap. Particularly the FF who was always like a family to Peter. Still, apparently #26 is the big one. I’ll be anxious to see where this leads. By the way, there was a fun little backup story with Peter and Black Cat at a wedding called “Welcome to Omaha, Spider-Man.” Written by Rainbow Rowell and drawn by Alvaro Lopez.

Free Comic Book Day: Fishflies #1. Written and drawn by Jeff Lemire. This FCBD book was another really cool and lovely horror comic. It was very mysterious and how the fishflies play into the story. This was a great read and does help make me anticipate this new Lemire book more. I have loved most of Jeff Lemire’s work and this seems to be another winner.

Ghostlore #1. Written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Leomacs. This was another awesome new horror book where a family of four winds up in a car wreck and the young girl, Harmony and her reverend father, survived while her mother and brother did not. However, they could still talk to them. The boy, who had not done much speaking, had something to confess and needed them to listen to him. And the boy was not the only one. Very intriguing book.

Daredevil #11. “The Red Fist Saga Part 11.” Written by Chip Zdarsky and featuring art by Rafael De Latorre. Matt Murdock is back to New York and JEEZ does he take an unbeleivable step to try and get the upper hand with the Stromwyns. This was truly a HOLY SH*T moment in a book that has been filled with them over the years.

The Great British Bump-Off #2. “Death by Chocolate Cake.” Script by John Allison and art from Max Sarin. Confusion and misunderstanding abound as the contestants, especially Shauna, try to make a chocolate cake. Shauna has lost her notes on the murder, making her fellow contestants very uncertain about her. This continues to be a fun read.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #21

Posted on by

May 9, 2023

I am having a good time finding these independent comics to read that are currently being released. I am waiting for Indigo Children #1 to arrive from eBay, which I ordered after picking up Indigo Children #2 at Comic World during Free Comic Book Day. I’m waiting for Where Monsters Lie #3, but I have #4. I should get back to the Image 30th Anniversary Anthology series. I need to wrap up The Silver Coin. Just a bunch of books to read.

I did get some reading done tonight though, knowing that tomorrow is NEW COMIC BOOK DAY. I do hope that the Great British Bump Off shows up in my box tomorrow.

Here was tonight’s books.

Dark Ride #1-5. Written by Joshua Williamson and illustrated by Andrei Bressan. This is the latest Image Comics book that I picked up to try out, and I really liked it. This started off with a great hook, in black and white, of a man killing and burying his wife. That same man then starts an amusement park centered around horror. What a fun concept and then the book introduces us to a character and kind of hints at him being one of the main characters only to horribly kill him off at the end of issue #1. Loved it. This was just a lot of fun and I am excited to keep reading the series. Have a very creepy Five Nights at Freddy’s vibe.

Middlewest #15-16. Written by Skottie Young and drawn by Jorge Corona. Abel is becoming more confident and starting to organize his friends to set up a plan to escape the slave work that he was trapped in. Not too many more issues of this book and it is clearly working toward a major confrontation with Abel and his father.

The Riddler: Year One #4. Written by Paul Dano and drawn by Steven Subic. The darkness that surrounded the young life of Edward takes an even darker turn in this issue. We see how little Edward could have been saved by Thomas Wayne, but the fates were just against him. I liked this issue more than some of the others. It is really dark.

X-Treme X-Men #4. “Search and Destroy.” Written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Salvador Larroca. The de-powered mutants struggle to keep alive against Ogun. Watching Storm, Rogue, Logan, Gambit battling this deadly assassin Ogun without their powers is impressive. Storm is angered over the (perceived) death of Kitty Pryde and is out for vengeance.

Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #3. “The Captain We Deserve.” Betsy continues to try and find and stop Morgan Le Fey and to keep her brother alive while doing it. The book has been okay so far, but with Betsy go to see Tony Stark and Morgan sitting upon Dr. Doom’s lap, this look to be picking up soon.

Peacemaker Tries Hard #1. Written by Kyle Starks and drawn by Steve Pugh. I loved the Peacemaker HBO Max series and this comic is clearly trying to cash in on the success of that James Gunn-directed series. This comic has its moments, but a lot of what they do just feels kind of crude. Probably because they do not have the charisma of John Cena on the pages like they do on the screen. Cena gets away with stuff like this because he is so likable. Overall, this issue was decent enough to where I may look for a second issue, but I’m not sure if this is a long term read for me.

Avengers: War Across Time #4-5. Written by Paul Levitz and art by Alan Davis. This five issue series came to a close here as a displaced group of Avengers are traveling time to try and prevent Kang’s latest plan. This is another example of Marvel going back into its past to do a new, original story inside continuity. Honestly, this left me feeling somewhat empty. It was okay, but I think I expect more out of an Avengers book than this.