Author Archives: Doc
Daily Countdown: TV Shows #30
#30
Bates Motel
Bates Motel was based on Alfred Hitchcock’s movie Psycho, though it took some step that the movie did not take. And it was for the better.
Bates Motel was on A&E and went five seasons.
I loved Bates Motel. It was so insanely well written and acted that these already iconic characters became even more so.
Freddie Highmore played Norman Bates as a teen and his performance as the mentally imbalanced youth was amazing. You knew Norman’s destiny, but you just could not help but hope they would find a way around it.
Vera Farmiga played Norma Bates and she brought the character to life. She was spirited, passionate and a force of nature and you wished beyond all hope that she would not end up dead as a corpse in the attic. Her realtionship on the show with Nestor Carbonell’s Sheriff Alex Romero is one of my favorite TV couples of all time. Both of these damaged characters absolutely came to life when they got together. It was way too short of a relationship.
Of course, the signature relationship of Bates Motel was between Norman and Norma. The relationship bordered on obsessive from both sides and the toxicity was obvious. Another excellent addition to the show was Norma’s other son, Dylan, played by Max Thieriot. The second son brought such an unknown quality to the show and became one of my favorite characters on the canvas.
You were never quite sure where the show was going. It combined amazing drama with horror and mysteries that seemed to have clear answers, yet you were never quite sure.
As a “contemporary prequel” to Psycho, Bates Motel was a thrill a minute.
Man vs. Baby official trailer
Daily Countdown: TV Shows #31
#31
X-Men ’97
When it was announced that Marvel Studios was going to do an animated show that picked up after the X-Men: Animated Series from the 1990s, lots of people were interested.
Who would have guessed that it was going to be one of the best things Marvel Studios had done on Disney +?
The return to the world of the X-Men took the best of the show from the ’90s and blended it with some of the best of animation from today. The animation of the show had the flavor of the original, but was also drastically improved and was beautifully rendered.
Some characters really got to shine in the new version. Cyclops, who has never been portrayed well in live action or animation, was immediately shown to be the brilliant character that he was. The show took quite a risk with the character of Wolverine. Undoubtedly the most popular X-Man, Wolverine spent most of the time of the first season on the back burner as other X-Men such as Rogue, Cyclops, Gambit, Nightcrawler took center stage. Wolverine was still there to do something awesome, but he was not everything to the story.
Then, episode five, a show called “Remember It” is, arguably, the best television episode ever done by Marvel. There is no denying that “Remember It” hit hard and showed what kind of storytelling this show was going to present.
X-Men ’97 will be returning for a second season and it was well deserved.
IT: Welcome to Derry S1 E
Spoilers
“Now You See It”
Episode three of the new IT series on HBO Max is a banger.
We get some more psychic “shining” from Dick Hallorann, who we know ages up to work at the Outlook Hotel (and get an axe in his chest from Jack). The scene of him in the helicopter, flying over Derry and having psychic images of Pennywise in his forms, was exciting. Admittedly, as he was opening the cargo door of the copter, I never thought he’d fall out or die from that because I knew he had to be a part of the Shining eventually. Still, it was a tense moment.
Shawshank was mentioned too, which is part of the Stephen King shared universe. I do love how there are Easter eggs from other films in Derry. I’m sure there are some other hints out there that I do not recognize.
Ronnie’s father has something he is not telling anyone. It feels as if it is something that could work as an alibi, but he does not want to let that info out. Curious.
The flashback to the 1908 incident with Pennywise was scary. Frank and Rose’s interactions with the creature in the woods, a lookalike for the slender man from the carnival, was intense. Frank running from the creature only to be saved by Rose, wielding the slingshot that Frank had given to her (and Frank’s father had given to him). It was an exciting cold open showing what this episode would bring.
It was not as intense as when Ronnie, Lilly, Will, and Rich went into a graveyard to try and summon the monster that had attacked our departed friends from episode one in order to get pictures of it. I am not sure they could have come up with a more dangerous plan if they had tried. They were really fortunate to escape that event with their lives.
We end the episode with a pic of Pennywise as Will said of the photo he took, “It’s… a clown.”
EYG Comic Cavalcade #177
November 9
Sunday night. I am hoping to get this done before IT: Welcome to Derry. We’ll see how it goes.
Books this Week:
Space Scouts #1. Written by Matt Kindt with art and cover art by David Rubin. I had no idea about this book. It was from Dark Horse and it was oversized, like a DSTLRY book. I grabbed it off the shelf and really enjoyed it. It was like a blend of Hunger Games/Squid Games/ Guardians of the Galaxy. Good stuff in issue one.
White House Robot Romance #2. Written by Chip Zdarsky with art and cover art by Rachel Slott. The romantic pairing of the two robots has lead to them on the run from the US government What will happen with this duo? Chip Zdarsky has brought us another solid story with some great characters.
Assorted Crisis Events #6. Written by Deniz Camp and art and cover art by Eric Zawdzki. This anthology series has had its ups and downs. This issue is an absolute up. The premise of the book is sensational, as there is a new illness that causes the victim to jump back and forth in age. It is strangely tragic and emotional. Maybe the best book of the week.
Planet She-Hulk #1. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Aaron Kuder. Cover art was done by Aaron Kuder & Sonia Oback. I was not a big fan of the Imperial, so I was not expecting to be a fan of this book. I have big questions about continuity. However, I really liked this book and, despite the fact that I am not sure where it actually falls in the Marvel Universe, but it was an enjoyable read.
Wild Animals #4. Written by Ed Brisson and art and cover art by Andy Kuhn (Silver Medalist). Once again, Wild Animals has been fabulous. This issue has some things happen here that I simply did not see coming. Wild Animals has been one of my favorite mini series of the year.
Amazing Spider-Man #15. Written by Joe Kelly with art by Emilio Laiso. Cover art was done by Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia. This gives us some story about Peter’s new costume… oh, it is a living organism again. And he did not know that again.
Crownsville #1. Written by Rodney Barnes and illustrated by Elia Bonetti. Cover art was done by Jason Shawn Alexander. Another great new book this week, this one from Oni Press. The book features the story of a haunted state hospital called Crownsville. The art from Bonetti was the perfect tone for the story.
Laura Kinney: Sabretooth #2. Written by Erica Schultz and art by Valentina Pinti. Cover art was done by Elena Casagrande & Edgar Delgado. Age of Revelation continues X years in the future. Laura is facing plenty of troubles as Revelation ordered her to not allow the mutants to escape.
Longshots #2. Written by Gerry Duggan and Jonathan Hickman with art by Alan Robinson. Cover art was done by Ryan Brown. Who saw this coming? Three of our “heroes” are killed. Did not expect that, but it was a cool start.
Amazing X-Men #2. “A Duel of Truths” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Mahmud Asrar. Cover art was done by Mahmud Asrar & Matthew Wilson. Cyclops takes on the Darkchilde in an insult contest. It was strange, but was able to dive into character work for both of them.
DC KO: Knightfall #1. Written by Joshua Williamson with art and cover art by Dan Mora. The biggest shocker of the year… Batman, who died in DC KO, IS NOT DEAD. Who could have guessed? He wound up in some strange world where there are a bunch of Robins and Dick Grayson has taken over the Batman mantel. Trouble everywhere.
Speed Racer #4. Written by David Pepose and art by Davide Tinto. Cover art by Alessio Zonno. More racing action with Speed Racer, Racer X trying to prevent the Tiger Syndicate from winning the race. Little did they know that the Tiger Syndicate’s racer is on the path to try and kill Speed.
Vanishing Point #6. Written by Mark Russell and art by Ryan Alexander-Tanner. Cover art was done by Marcus To. This is the final issue of Vanishing Point, which I have enjoyed. There have been a lot of horror anthology books, having one with sci-fi was a great idea. The last story was not my favorite, but it had a great twist at the end.
Binary #2. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Giada Beluisa. Cover art was done by Richie Yagawa. Carol Danvers is shown how she is struggling with the Phoenix Force. The Age of Revelation moves on with the Marvel Universe.
Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #14. “The Haunting of the Wrecker Part Three” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Domenico Carbone. Cover art was done by Davide Paratore. The Wrecker came to the Midnight Mission looking for help, and guilting Moon Knight for it. Oh, and Jake Lockley makes an appearance this issue.
Cheetah & Cheshire Rob the Justice League #4. Written by Greg Rucka and art by Nicola Scott. Cover art was done by Nicola Scott & Annette Kwok. It never works out for villain team ups. Cheetah and Cheshire have a falling out over Wonder Woman and it places the job in jeopardy.
Batman #3. “Crown of Storms” Written by Matt Fraction and art and cover art by Jorge Jimenez. The story has several lanes going right now including Vandal Savage making his move against Batman and Robin, The Riddler and his efforts, and Bruce Wayne trying to make amends.
Avengers #32. “Prodigals” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Farid Karami. Cover art was done by CAFU & Moreno Dinisio. The Avengers take on Kang… as well as the Marvel Zombies. Things do not look good for our heroes, until the cavalry arrives.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #40. “Webs of Regret Part One” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Marco Renna. Federico Vicentini & Neeraj Menon did the cover art. Assessor is back. Miles is freaked out.
G.I. Joe #13. Written by Joshua Williamson and art by Tom Reilly. Variant cover art was done by Mark Spears (Gold Medalist). The Dreadnok War kicks off this issue with Destro giving the Dreadnok’s info on Cobra Commander, who is now handcuffed to Duke. Lots of trouble starting here.
Ice Cream Man: The Mortal Coil Shuffle. Ice Cream Man has had some amazingly creative ideas, but this one takes the cake (with some ice cream on the side). This is a deck of cards, but, instead of having playing cards, there is a story on the cards. I have not read this story yet, as I just got the card sheets to space it out this night at Wal-Mart (it is a Pokémon card holder) but I can’t wait to get a look at it. As I was putting the cards into the sleeves, there are some funny one in there including normal playing cards and some that look as if they come from UNO. On the back of the container, it specifically tells you not to shuffle the cards. LOL!
Rook Exodus #8. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Jason Fabok. Cover A art was done by Jason Fabok & Brad Anderson. I also picked up Cover C by Kael Ngu. Um… spiders everywhere. Creepy for sure.
Star Trek: Red Shirts #4. Written by Christopher Cantwell and art by Megan Levens. Cover art was done by Chris Shehan (Bronze Medalist). Man, the Red Shirts are dropping like flies. This one has some really solid work, making me care about the characters here just before they are killed. You’d think I would expect it.
Other books this week: Tales of the Shadowman #3, Impact Winter: Evenfall #1, No Place #1, Echo: Seeker of Truth #1, Alien vs. Captain America #1 and TexArcanum #4.
Quick Hits: I ordered another 10 pack of blind bags off eBay of The Monster and the Wolf #1. I wound up with 7 of the 10 that I did not have, which I was very excited about. Minor Arcana #11 keeps this story rolling along. I do love me some Jeff Lemire. Charlemagne Tha God Presents Illuminati #5 is the last issue, but I have missed number four. I am not sure how it slipped past me, but I have not yet read #5 because of it. In Gotham Academy #2, we get some time to spend with Olive’s mother, which is not a good thing. I grabbed Doctor Who: The Prisoner Paradox #1. I did love the fifteenth Doctor and this has him and Belinda Chandra in it. Ultimate X-Men #21 does feel like it is approaching the wrapping point for this book as the entire Ultimate Universe is up for a big crossover event soon. I need to find some new juice for Void Rivals #24 as I am really just skimming it as of right now. Godzilla (Kai-Sei Era) #4 has some good action and, unlike some of these other Godzilla books, has Godzilla in it. Eat Your Young #3 from Mad Cave feels kind of like Exquisite Corpses in a way. This was the first issue where I was into the book. Absolute Superman #13 also feels as if it is building to something big. We are making connections with Kal-El, Lois and Jimmy. Absolute Green Lantern #8 has been one of my least favorite Absolute books, but this issue was very curious. It caught my attention for sure. The UPC codes are all over Look Into My Eyes #4. I have not scanned one as of this moment. Finally, a team-up book from Dynamite Comics called Die!Namite #1 came out this week. Vampirella is here. So is Miss Fury. There are some other characters who I am not sure about.
Pluribus S1 E1, E2
Spoilers
“We is Us”
“Pirate Lady”
I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it sure wasn’t this. I couldn’t believe what was happening.
Everybody in the world suddenly started spazzing out at the same time. Carol, one of the most miserable people in the world, was apparently immune, for some reason.
The entire planet, with the exception of 12 people, appeared to become of one mind, much like a hive mind. The transformation in episode one was creepy as can be.
Directed by Vince Gilligan who wrote, directed or produced episodes for The X-Files, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, this show is completely original and takes the idea of the dystopian future in a way that has never been seen before.
Apple TV + has been exceptional with the sci-fi genre. This is yet another fine option on the streamer. I have to say that these first two episodes have a great premise, some excellent execution of story and introduction of the characters with real issues.
Carol, an author, has a short fuse on her temper and that causes massive problems for the hive mind, which seems so far to be trying for nothing but happiness.
There are some conflicts in these two episodes that truly make you wonder what you would do if in their situations, but I do feel like something more is on its way. Gilligan has a history of complexities in his shows.
Good stuff so far.
Stranger Things: Tales from ’85/ Official Announcement
Hazbin Hotel S2 E3 E4
Spoilers
“Behind Closed Doors”
“It’s a Deal”
Charlie has trouble with the media after she foolhardily invited Vox to film a redemption at her hotel to try and make up for the trouble she had last episode.
Things did not go well for her.
These two episodes work well together as a desperate attempt from Charlie to fix the misinformation present that made her hotel look bad.
Hazbin Hotel focused fully in Hell this week and continued to set things up for the season’s story. I feel as if everything will be coming together over the next few episodes (especially since we are technically halfway through the season right now).
The songs are, once again, fantastic and highly entertaining. The lyrics are exceptional in each song, both funny and as clever as you can be. The animation is awesome as well.
Hazbin Hotel has been great so far, and it feels as if everything is working its way together.
Daily Countdown: TV Shows #32
#32
Happy Days
Flashback to the 1950s. A simpler time. When the most important thing was to be cool.
Happy Days was a sitcom on ABC and lasted for 11 seasons. The shows ensemble featured the Cunningham family, Richie’s friends, and a leather-jacked clad mechanic named Arthur Fonzerelli, aka The Fonz.
While the show started off with the Cunninghams, Howard, Marian, Richie, and Joanie (oh, and the totally forgotten Chuck), the show developed into a show about Fonzie and his life. The Fonz became one of the most standout characters of the show (including becoming a member of the EYG Hall of Fame).
The show included an ensemble cast of top line actors including Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, Tom Bosley, Marion Ross, Anson Williams, Erin Moran, Donnie Most, Pat Morita, Scott Baio, Al Molinaro, and Lynda Goodfriend.
The friendship between Richie and Fonzie became a center piece of the show, and it was still able to survive when, after seven seasons, Ron Howard left Happy Days to start a career in directing. Though the show tried, they never replaced that Fonzie-Richie bond that had carried the early years of the show.
Happy Days led to several spin offs, including the exceptional Mork & Mindy and Laverne & Shirley.
Sunday Morning Sidewalk #42
Spoilers
“The Bent-Neck Lady”
This week’s focus is on Nell and the visions she would have seeing the Bent-Neck Lady.
In what I thought was a fun bit of casting, Nell was seeing a therapist named Dr. Montague and he was played by Russ Tamblyn. What makes that fun was that Russ Tamblyn played Dr. Lawrence Jacoby on Twin Peaks. Jacoby was a quirky and oddball psychiatrist involved with Laura Palmer, a tragic death of a young woman. Very much like the death of Nell in The Haunting of Hill House.
The episode saw the events that lead up to Nell returning to Hill House the night that she died. It made sense with the way the last episode ended with Luke blurting out that Nell did not kill herself.
The last part of Nell’s life was filled with torment. I can’t imagine what sleep paralysis would be like. It sounded horrific and made things all the worse as we see how she suffered during it. Of course, the show implied that it was not just a simple case of sleep paralysis and that it had to do with the visions that she would see.
We see how Nell and her husband Arthur met and his tragic death. Those years for Nell seemed to be so wonderful that seeing him drop dead from the aneurism was tough.
That was not the toughest scene of the episode though.
The ending, where we see the identity of the Bent-Neck Lady revealed as Nell’s future self after she hanged herself from the spiral staircase on the night she returned to Hill House, was unbelievably anguish-filled. Watching Nell see all of these moments of her life, but as the bent-neck lady was something that I did not expect.
Now that we have seen Nell’s tragic final day at Hill House, one wonders where the show goes from here. There are still plenty of feelings of guilt and grief to deal with as this entire family does not seem to deal with what happened to them at hill House.
We flash back to the kids era and we see their father bringing them to a hotel and then going back “for mom” he tells them. That night is clearly something that we need to see more of moving forward.
How will everyone continue to deal with the loss of Nell? Luke, in particular, is a character that I am intrigued to see moving ahead. I want to see more of their father too, as he played some major role that we have yet to see.
This show has picked up big time. Last week’s episode was my favorite of the series so far… that is until this week. I think this was a near perfect horror episode with an amazing payoff to a mystery that we have been wondering, while still leaving plenty of questions to be answered.
Frankenstein (2025)
Guillermo del Toro has had several iconic films, but he takes a swing at one of the moat iconic monster stories of all time with his adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. His new film dropped this weekend on Netflix.
Frankenstein has been adapted multiple times, but this new version certainly has that flair that del Toro films seem to have. It is somehow both a heart-rendering tragedy and filled with life at the same time.
The story is of arrogant doctor Victor Frankenstein, who lost his mother as a boy, which inspired him to take on death in an attempt to defeat it. This led him to work toward a goal of animating a creature made up of pieces of corpses. His success would lead to terrible tragedy for both The Creature and himself.
The Creature is played by Jacob Elordi, who played Elvis in the biopic entitled Priscilla. He does an amazing job taking this character that we all know and reinvigorate him. There are some wonderfully powerful scenes with Elordi as the Monster.
Victor Frankenstein was played by Oscar Isaac, who is always great. In this, Victor does not have much redeeming about him and really feels like the villain of the film. Even Isaac seemed to have trouble making this guy likable. Much of the told through Victor’s POV, but some of the best scenes did not include him.
The film looked absolutely tremendous. It was said that del Toro insisted on using some real sets instead of using CGI and it showed. To be fair, the rendering of the wolves were not the best use of CGI I have seen. The rest of the film looked spectacular.
The music of the score was beautiful, building mood throughout the film. Alexandre Desplat scored the film, which was the third time that del Toro and Desplat collaborated on a film.
There are some things that happen in the movie that I have never seen before in a Frankenstein film, which was welcome. It may be a touch too long as it felt as if it dragged some in the middle, but the overall quality of the movie is exceptional and it fits right in with some of del Toro’s classics.
4.1 stars
Bugonia
Yorgos Lanthimos has been hit and miss for me recently. I hated his last film Kinds of Kindness, but I was a big fan of The Lobster, Poor Things and The Favourite. So I was hoping Bugonia would be more like the other ones.
This is also the third team up between Lanthimos and Emma Stone.
Lanthimos’s films have a tendency to be bizarre and this film is not the exception. However, it felt fairly down to earth (pardon the pun). However, the third act really became a wild trip.
According to IMDB, “Two conspiracy-obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.”
I thought this one was solid. I enjoyed the performances by both Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, who share most of the screen time.
There is a lot of violence here, especially with Plemons’ character Teddy, but it fit well with the character. The writing is excellent and keeps the uncertainty about what is happening. It looks like it is just about mental illness, but you can tell there is more beneath the surface.
In the end, I really liked this film and I was engaged in everything. Even the wild ending worked for me.
4 stars
Nuremberg
Nuremberg was a historical drama film featuring the trial of the Nazis at Nuremberg. After the end of World War II, the US government, along with France, USSR and Great Britain, placed the remaining Nazi leaders on trial.
This was based on the 2013 book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist by Jack El-Hai.
The basis of the movie was when psychiatrist Dr. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) was brought in to make sure that the Nazis were not able to commit suicide. Kelley immediately went to speak with the big prize of the Nazis, Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe), who was Hitler’s second in command.
Russell Crowe and Rami Malek were on fire here. Crowe gave a sensational performance and the scene nearing the end here the two characters were in a throw down in Göring’s cell was just amazing.
The performances were the standout part of this movie. There was also a horrendously horrific video they showed during the trial about the concentration camps and the monstrosities done to the Jewish people, It was tough to watch, but remarkably powerful.
Other actors in the film included John Slattery, Colin Hanks, Michael Shannon, Leo Woodall, Richard E. Grant, and Mark O’Brien.
It was a long film and it took its time, I was engaged most of the entire time. I was impressed with the performances and the look of the film. There were some moments of humor that did not necessarily feel like it worked, but there was not a lot of it in the film.
4 stars
Daily Countdown: TV Shows #33
#33
The Muppet Show
It’s time to play the music. It’s time to light the lights.
I remember clearly when the Muppet Show debuted in syndication. I was in second grade and I was as excited about that as anything. I do not remember a ton from second grade, but I do remember that. Then, I was a little disappointed, because the only character that I knew from the show was Kermit the Frog.
That changed, of course. I love the Muppets and the Muppet Show was such an amazing flex by Jim Henson and his company. This is a variety show with a bunch of puppets that provided some of the best music and comedy any variety show could expect.
And guests! This was not just the B or C level celebrities appearing on the show. The Muppet Show got Bob Hope, Elton John, Alice Cooper, Mark Hamill in the middle of the Star Wars craze, Florence Henderson, Ethel Merman, Kenny Rogers, John Denver, Jonathan Winters, Christopher Reeve, Diana Ross, Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Carol Burnett, Johnny Cash, George Burns, John Cleese, Milton Berle, Steve Martin, Peter Sellers, Gilda Radner, Raquel Welch, Liberace, Sylvester Stallone among many others over five seasons.
The show did not just provide an amazing platform for the celebrities of the day. It also created a group of celebrities in the Muppets themselves. Led by Kermit, we were introduced to Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo the Great, Animal, Dr. Teeth, Statler and Waldorf, Rowlf, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker, and Scooter.
I absolutely love the Muppet Show. It was highly entertaining and truly funny. It also gave us the relationship between Kermit and Miss Piggy, and who knew we needed that?
It is definitely… the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational. This is what we call the Muppet Show!
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 