Author Archives: Doc
Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #39
#39
Kung Fu Panda
Released: June 6, 2008
Runtime: 92 minutes
Rating: PG
Animation Style: advanced computer-generated (CG) 3D animation combined with artistic inspiration from traditional Chinese ink painting and wuxia martial arts films.
Studio: DreamWorks Animation
Kung Fu Panda has been one of the most successful animated franchises of the past 25 years. Po is a beloved character who everybody can relate to in some way or another.
Voice cast: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Randall Duk Kim, James Hong, Dan Fogler, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Jackie Chan
Boston Legal S2 E6, E7
Spoilers
“Witches of Mass Destruction”
“Truly, Madly, Deeply”
Two Boston Legal episodes, one that I thought was a typically strong one, and one that I found ridiculous.
“Witches of Mass Destruction” had two main story arcs. One was about the death of a young man in the military whose sister brought a case against the government that during recruitment, the recruiters committed fraud by what the told him. Alan stepped up to take the case despite Denny’s objections and direct orders to drop it. The other arc on this episode was a Christian couple and a Wiccan couple joining forces to sue to stop a Halloween pageant at a public school. This tale, though bizarre, at the heart is about religious freedom and schools keeping religion out. Both of these stories were solid and the military one in particular was extremely emotional.
“Truly, Madly, Deeply,” on the other hand, had two silly arcs and one of Denny Crane. Alan and Brad defended a station manager who fired their clown who was talking about global warming on air. The thing is, the man was attending the court in his clown makeup and Alan was afraid of clowns. It made Alan look bad as he could not do cross or even look in the clown’s direction. The second arc featured Michael McKeon, who I love as an actor, trying to prevent his wife from getting an annulment on grounds that he had sex with a cow. If one of these to stories had been opposed by something more solid, I don’t think that I would have felt as… icky. Then, Denny Crane decided to shoot his client that he had been assigned to defend by the judge in the knees. The client was a child rapist and murderer and Denny did not want to defend him. He tried many other tricks to get off the case and then he ended up shooting him, claiming to be defending himself.
To be fair, all three of these storylines had positive resolutions, but by that time, I had checked out on them.
To me, the second of these episodes only served to make some of the lawyers at Crane, Poole & Schmidt look foolish, in particular Alan and Shirley (who couldn’t defend the cow lover). Denny always looked that way so it was no big deal for his character.
Oh, and the first episode was the one where Denny and Alan famously dressed as flamingos for their firm’s Halloween party (which is an image on the banner above the post).
Boston Legal has shown the ability to go from deadly serious to over-the-top absurdity in a blink of an eye. Episode seven just did not work for me.
Practical Magic (1998)
With Practical Magic 2 coming out this weekend, I figured I would watch a movie that I had not seen before in preparation for it. It is, of course, the first film, Practical Magic, starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman.
According to IMDB, “Two witch sisters, raised by their eccentric aunts in a small town, face closed-minded prejudice and a curse which threatens to prevent them ever finding lasting love.”
This film is a mixed bag. The tones are all over the place. It went from a weird witch tale to a romantic fantasy to a Ghostbusters jaunt. It is messy at a lot of times.
I wish the film would have taken one of these tones and run with it, because they seemed to try to do all of them.
There are decent parts to the film as well. Sandra Bullock is charming and she works well. However, her relationship with Nicole Kidman is shaky and inconsistent throughout the movie.
There are things about the stories being told in this movie, but it really does not cover them all well. The curse arc, the Jimmy Angelov stuff, the sudden relationship with Sally-Gary, are all parts of the storyline and they all feel so conflicting.
Having said all of this, I thought this was watchable at the least. I wasn’t bored and the actors all did a decent job. I just wish it was a little less disjointed.
The Muppet Show S2 E16-E24
Spoilers
Guest Star: Cleo Lane
Guest Star: Julie Andrews
Guest Star: Jaye P. Morgan
Guest Star: Peter Sellers
Guest Star: Petula Clark
Guest Star: Bob Hope
Guest Star: Teresa Brewer
Guest Star: John Cleese
Guest: Cloris Leachman
I have to say that the Muppet Show truly got some of the biggest stars of the time to guest star on their show. Bob Hope, Cloris Leachman, Peter Sellers, John Cleese and Julie Andrews were iconic names that, even today, would be recognized by the public as superstars. Sure there was Cleo Lane, who I swear I have never heard of before, but most of this list was remarkable.
That was the power of Jim Henson and the Muppets. Everyone wanted to appear on the show and the entire second season was littered with amazing superstars as guests.
Even with the ton of superstar celebrities, it seemed that Rowlf had plenty of time to play the piano. Rowlf was given time to play a variety of musical pieces, even if they had to speed a few of them up because of time. My favorite one during this block of episodes was when he and Fozzie played the piano. I laughed out loud when Rowlf said to Fozzie that he didn’t know Fozzie played the piano, and Fozzie replied that he did not know it either.
The final episode of season two with Cloris Leachman featured the Muppet Show being taken over by pigs. They locked Kermit, Gonzo and Fozzie in the boiler room and they replaced all the main acts with pigs. Kermit the Pig took over the emceeing, there was a Swedish Chef-pig, Vegetarian’s Hospital among others. Miss Piggy was angry about Kermit being taken away until she found out that she was being featured in the opening number. The call of the stage was just too great for Miss Piggy.
It was nice to see Jaye P. Morgan on the show. I used to love her on the Gong Show, hosted by Chuck Barris, and she was funny. Jay P. Morgan passed away this year, so it was a nice way to honor her. RIP.
The Bob Hope episode was funny as Bob Hope was shown as so busy that he had to go between other gigs and kept returning to the Muppet Show. His “Don’t Fence Me In” song with a sarcastic horse was a highlight of the season.
Season three… here I come.
EYG Comic Cavalcade #219
September 7
Happy Labor Day to all of Geek Nation. Another fun week of comics from Marvel, DC, Image and a whole bunch of the independent comics.
Comic of the Week
World’s Weirdest #1
While this may not have been the best story of the week, I am a huge fan of “Weird Al” Yankovic and seeing him interact with Superman and Batman was a treat. Plus, I was always a fan of Mr. Mxyzptlk and having the imp as a co-star was awesome. And we get the official pronunciation… (MIX-YEZ-PITTLE-ICK)
I purchased all five covers for this one shot and two of them wound up medaling (a Gold and Bronze).
Go Weird Al!
Books this week:
Daredevil #6. “Of Moles & Owls” Part 1. Written by Stephanie Phillips with art by Flaviano. Cover art was done by Lee Garbett. Foil cover was done by Superlog (Silver Medalist). The Owl goes a long way to get the attention of Daredevil. Of course, Matt Murdock is having his typical problems in all the areas of his life.
Teen Titans #1. “Meet the Teen Titans” Written by Kyle Higgins and art by Danielle Di Nicuolo. Cover art was done by Danielle Di Nicuolo & Marcelo Costa. The new team of Teen Titans are here, led by Red Hood. This group of characters has a couple of all-new characters and several that are lesser or downright minor characters from the pages of DC Comics. I like how they have dug deep into their history for some of these characters.
Doom Patrol #1. “The Cat’s in the Bag.” Written by Darcy Van Poelgeest with art and cover art by Niko Henrichon. I have not had much, if any, history with the Doom Patrol before this comic so I did not have any real connection to the characters. After reading this new book from DC, I am hooked on these characters. I would even go as far as to say that had it not been for “Weird Al” this week, Doom Patrol #1 is probably the Comic of the Week. DC is doing some great work.
Marvel Magnaverse: Web of Blood #1. Written by Joe Kelly & Jack Kelly with art by Kenny Ruiz. Cover art was done by Yuji Kaku. Technology has failed and this alternate universe is forced to use magic. Miles Morales, Laura Kinney, and Illyana Rasputin are out leads and they are out to attempt to stop Armageddon. This was a dense read, but I did like what was presented.
Crowbound #1. Written by Jeff Lemire with art and cover art by Dustin Nguyen. Variant cover B art was done by Jeffrey Alan Love. Rose does not want to give her daughter over to the Factory. Children are to join the workforce at age 13. I have always enjoyed the work done by Jeff Lemire, especially these kind of creepy, horror-based storylines and this post-apocalyptic tale fits right into his wheel house.
Wade Wilson: Deadpool #8. “Big Guns” Part 1. Written by Benjamin Percy and art was done by Geoff Shaw. Cover art was done by Geoff Shaw & Alex Sinclair. The Big Gun crossover started with this issue where we get a crossover with Deadpool and Punisher.
Captain America #15. “Hell’s Angel” Part 4. Written by Chip Zdarsky and art by Valerio Schiti. Cover art was done by Valerio Schiti & Romulo Fajardo Jr. Cap and Doom are in Hell, hoping to take on Mephisto for the thrown of the dimension. As you could probably guess, taking on the Devil in his own home is not the best idea. However, Mephisto has his own little tricks that might swing the tide for Cap and Doom. Who’s going to make the deal with the devil?
Tales of Wonder #1. Written and drawn by Steve Skroce. Cover art was done by Steve Skroce & Ian Herring. There are two classic comic creators, Stu and Jake, who have come back after decades apart because of a conflict relating to credit and creative differences. Remind you of anyone? However, what happens when these two legends’ creations come to life?
Legion of Superheroes #1. “Who Killed the Future?” Written by Joshua Williamson and art by Hayden Sherman. Cover art was done by Hayden Sherman & Tamra Bonvillain. I also picked up variant covers by Mark Spears and by Jim Lee & Alex Sinclair. When I was a young comic reader, I did enjoy the Legion of Superheroes, but I had never been a collector of the book. With the new version of the Legion, I really liked the first issue. I am looking forward to the All In Legion book moving forward.
Superman: The Stranger#1. Written and drawn by Wes Craig. Cover art was done by Wes Craig & Jason Wordie. This is a story of Superman set in 1938. Superman has not gotten all of his powers, as he can not even fly yet. This series is from the DC Black Label, which is designed for the more mature readers. I am not sure yet how this will fit into that, but I did like the aesthetic of the book.
Archie #1. Written by Ben H. Winters and illustrated by Fabio Moon. Cover art was done by Stuart Immonen. When I heard that Oni Press was going to do an new Archie comic, I was kind of excited. I thought that Oni would take the Archie characters and put them in a new story, maybe similar to Riverdale the TV show. Take the opportunity to re-invent the characters. Unfortunately, that is not what happened. We got some of the typical Archie comics, much like a series of comic strips. I was disappointed with the creative choice.
Fantastic Four #16. Written by Ryan North with art by Ramon Rosanas. Cover art was done by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. The Fantastic Four crash their ship on a distant planet and, despite their best intentions, cause a major upheaval among the planet’s religious world.
She-Spawn #5. Written by Gail Simone with additional script by Todd McFarlane and art by Ig Guara. Cover art was done by Thaddeus Robeck. This surprisingly fun series wrapped up this week with Jessica getting little Al where he needed to go. I have enjoyed this series despite not being a fan of Spawn.
Royals #6. Written by Derek Kirk Kim and art and cover art by Jacob Perez. Another series that came to a conclusion this week, Royals was another book that surprised me with how enjoyable I thought it was. The brothers and their telepathy helped wrap up the series.
Spider-Woman 50th Anniversary Special #1. “High Tag Wins” and “The Mysterious Spider-Woman.” Written by Ann Nocenti and Dan Watters and art by Stefano Raffaele and Andrea Broccardo. Cover art was done by Olivier Coipel. We get two Jessica Drew time periods in this anniversary special. One that was back in the past and one that is there to set up the upcoming new Spider-Woman series later this year.
The Deadman #4. “Fixing a Hole.” Written by W. Maxell Prince with art by Martin Morazzo. Cover art was done by Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran. Deadman heads to Heaven and waits in the waiting room for a meeting with God. That is.. if he really exists. Deadman is full of self-reverence and humor.
Ben 10 #5. “Man of Action.” Wr3itten by Steven T. Seagle and art and cover art by Robert Carey. Ben is struggling trying to get his new “watch” to work correctly and to rescue Grandpa from the evil circus that they found themselves stuck in. The book added some level of mystery with Grandpa and his exact connection to Ben and Gwen.
Batman #13. “Siege Tactics” Written by Matt Fraction with art by Matteo Scalera. Cover art was done by Matteo Scalera & Tomeu Morey. With plants covering Gotham, Batman decided it was time to make his presence known at GCPD. He was ready to face ff with Vandal Savage. He just had to get to the roof of the building. It wasn’t going to be easy.
Venom #261. Written by Al Ewing and art by Carlos Gomez. Cover art was done by Carlos Gomez and Frank D’Armata. This issue tells us the story of how Reed Richards originally removed the Venom symbiote from Peter Parker… only it told the story from the POV of the symbiote. It goes to show you how an all-time story can be changed by who was looking at it.
Other Books this Week: Strength and Ash #3, Project Perseus #1, Conan & Dragonero #5, Black Panther & Namor: Doomed #1, Marvel Zombies: War Zone #1, Bludwire #3, The Perfectly Monstrous Life of Adam Frankenstein #1, 100 Bullets #3, Prima Apparata #1, and Absolute Green Lantern #18.
Quick Hits: This week saw a couple of X-Men books that are outside the normality of the mutants’ run. X-Men ’97 #4 with X-Men in the future, and X-Men: Omega Red Dawn #1 which take us back to an early confrontation with Omega Red. Neither were favorites of mine. The Energon Universe runs on as MASK #4 comes on. After months and months, Marvel released The World to Come #6 which wrapped up the short series. I am not sure why this took so long to come out, but I am glad it finally wrapped up. I grabbed a number one from Boom! Studios with No Gods No Monsters #1. This was another book that just did not grab my attention and I do not expect to be continuing on with it. Rook Exodus #11 was back after a slight break with the continuation of the arachnid storyline. Escape #9 was a brutal story that really highlighted the tragic circumstances that occur during war. Ignition Press brought us Sicko #2 this week as things get nastier for Val, and she showed that she was not necessarily a hero. Absolute Superman #23 brought us the Absolute Toyman, messing with Superman’s mind. The final issue of Megalith: The Olympus Saga #4 came out this week as it felt like a giant Kaiju fight. It felt a little underwhelming for this series that I had really enjoyed leading up to this issue. More devil horse action in The Dirt Beneath the Devil #2 although the fate of the horse seemed to be ended at the end of the issue. I’m guessing that that dead horse is not yet finished. Babylon Cove #4 keeps bringing more and more monsters in pursuit of Heather. Save Now #4 finally brought this story to an end with a creative time travel solution to the problem. Bad Idea’s new book Warbird #1 arrived this week after an issue zero a few months ago. It looked like some super spy action. Jeff Lemire’s Minor Arcana #18 unpacks some of the background of why Theresa she left Limberlost.
Daily Countdown: Animation Style #30
#30
Inside Out 2
Released: June 14, 2024
Runtime: 96 minutes
Rating: PG
Animation Style: stylized 3D computer animation style combined with traditional 2D hand-drawn elements
Studio: Pixar/Disney
One of the most successful animated films of all time making $1.699 billion at the box office.
Voice cast: Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan, Maya Hawke, Kensington Tallman, Liza Lapira, Tony Hale, Ayo Edebiri, Lilimar, Grace Lu, Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Paul Walter Hauser, Yvette Nicole Brown, Ron Funches, James Austin Johnson, Yong Yea, Steve Purcell, Paula Pell, Pete Docter, Dave Goeltz, Frank Oz, Flea, Bobby Moynihan, John Ratzenberger, Paula Poundstone and June Squibb.
Lanterns S1 E4
Spoilers
“The Weenie”
This is an interesting show that has set up some compelling interactions between its main characters. I am not really sure about the true thoughts of Hal Jordan or John Stewart, because they have both had others try to manipulate them into certain actions, and it feels as if they only tell the other pieces and parts of the truth.
Sinestro was trying to manipulate Hal into believing that John was the most dangerous foe he would face, moreso than the potential Manhunter in the little town. Lianna tried to manipulate John into just taking the ring from Hal. She told him to recite the Lantern oath the next time Hal let John use the ring in a practice session. There was something suspicious about Lianna this week, and I am not sure she is the Guardian that she claimed.
So who is the Manhunter? It sure seemed like the show was pointing to Zoe, who was apparently killed by a laser beam from a satellite in space. It was after she had slept with John again, and told him that it would be the last time. She wanted him to leave town. He refused. She then blew up in her car. However, perhaps she sent that laser herself, and she was able to escape the blast because of that. John, we find out later, did not believe that she had been killed.
Hal and John’s trip into the compound of William Macon was not very successful as they got captured with some darkness tech that prevented the use of the ring. Macon kept mentioning his “Benefactor” and Hal and John speculated that the Benefactor was the Manhunter. I am not convinced that is the case. I still think we have something coming in the series to shock us.
We had the mention of Hector Hammond, who was a classic Green Lantern villain, but I am not sure if this Hector Hammond was the real one .
The banter between Hal and John was strong this week and I have been missing the chemistry between these two the last few weeks. This episode was much more of the “buddy cop” type episode that we expected from the show. There are plenty of mysteries going on in the show, including some that we have not touched upon since the first episode.
By the way, what was up with Macon being naked?
And they blew up a cow.
Batman: Knightfall Part 1
This is the first animated film of a planned trilogy adapting the classic Batman comic story Knightfall, which sees the debut of Bane, a dramatic and violent addition to the Batman Rogue’s Gallery.
The Knightfall storyline has been adapted several times, including the Dark Knight Rises film by Christopher Nolan.
According to IMDB, “When the mysterious behemoth known only as Bane frees Batman’s entire rogue’s gallery from Arkham Asylum, the Caped Crusader is pushed to his mental and physical breaking point.”
The mindset of Batman was extremely challenged during this time as he had just experienced the death of Jason Todd’s Robin and he was still shaken at the idea of a Robin. So when Tim Drake took the mantel of the sidekick, Batman was very overprotective, leading to his own struggles both physically and emotionally.
The look of the film was great. The animation does an amazing job of helping the tone of the film and of the state of Batman as a character.
Batman was voiced by Anson Mount and Bane was voiced by Michael Mando. Other voice actors in the cast included Pablo Schreiber, Jack Griffo, Bruce Boxleitner, David Dastmalchian, Simon Templeman, Toks Olagundoye, Jason Flemyng, and Jessica Camacho.
This is the first film of a trilogy adapting this comic story arc into animation. The first film does a great job of setting up Bane as an unstoppable monster and showing us how Batman pushing himself to the brink aided in his ultimate fall from grace. The iconic moment of the film (which I will keep under spoilers) was absolutely brutal.
The second part of the trilogy is supposed to come out in the later part of 2026 and the final one in 2027.
4 stars
Sunday Morning Sidewalk #85
Spoilers
Black Bird
“The Place I Lie”
The penultimate episode of Black Bird was something else. I have to say that Paul Walter Hauser’s dialogue today gave me chills. His description of his time with the girl Jessica, who we see in flashbacks and who is narrating sections of the episode, was absolutely frightening and made me feel the darkness surrounding Larry. It was a remarkable performance.
I can understand the tears coming from Jimmy at the end of the episode.
It also feels as if the noose is tightening around Jimmy, as it seemed as if more people were eyeballing him, wondering about Jimmy’s turth.
We spent time with Detectives Miller and MacCauley as they continued their investigation into Larry’s crime. They were able to find Jessica’s bike that was a prized possession, and they had a witness to swear that Larry had given it to her. Apparently, that was not enough to prevent the appeal.
There is definitely a feeling that everyone is racing against a clock. I am concerned for Jimmy’s well being as it feels as if more of the convicts are catching on to what is happening.
The scene with Larry and his psychiatrist was powerful too. It gave us a new look at Larry and how he was feeling at that time. When the psychiatrist had taken over Jimmy’s appointment and tried to get him to think about the mental health of her clients. I thought that was horrendous of her. Why does Larry seem to build such support from some of the authority?
I really wanted to keep watching the final episode, but I shut it off. Next week, the final episode of Black Bird has to be something else.
Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #31
#31
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Released: December 25, 1993
Runtime: 76 minutes
Rating: PG
Animation Style: “dark deco” or art deco neo-noir animation style
Studio: WB
One of the best animated Batman movies of all time, Mask of the Phantasm came from the iconic animated series, Batman: The Animated Series by Bruce Timm. This is a a story that rocked so hard, there were several Batman live action movies that I wish would have taken this route (I’m looking at you, Batman and Robin!)
Voice cast: Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Bob Hastings, Robert Costanzo, Dana Delany, Hart Bochner, Stacy Keach, Abe Vigoda, Dick Miller, John P. Ryan, Marilu Henner, Arleen Sorkin, Dan Castellaneta, Tress MacNeille, and Jeff Bennett .
Fall 2: Deadpoint
I was excited for this movie. Honestly, I did not immediately recognize the original film from the title of the sequel, because the title Fall was so generic. However, once I refreshed my memory, I remembered how tense and thrilling that first film was and how it had a really great twist. I was excited to hear that it was getting a sequel.
After seeing Fall 2: Deadpoint, I’m at a mid level for it. There were moments where the film was tense and filled me with anxiety, but, unfortunately, there seemed to be more moments that were just so stupid and that they tried to force a twist in the movie at the end that really did not work for me.
According to IMDB, “Grieving her sister Shiloh’s death, Jax Hunter bonds with Shiloh’s bold friend Luce. Together they tackle dangerous Mount Kwan in Thailand. When a rockslide traps them on a narrow plank 4,000 feet up, Jax must face her fears to survive.”
I did like how they tied this movie to the original, by giving Shiloh (played by Virginia Gardner) a younger sister. This is part of the plot that worked as her sister Jax had to deal with her grief and her own fear.
I did like the new setting for the situation the girls found themselves in and there were some really tense and scary moments. If the film would have been happy just to build suspense in that manner, this would have been an acceptable film and a decent sequel. Unfortunately, you could tell that they were trying to one up the surprise twist of Fall, and that was where this film fell flat.
Because the fact is that the third act of this film was easily my least favorite part of this film. It felt added on that damaged the film dramatically.
Some of the images shot for the film was fine, but nowhere near as well done in the first movie. It felt like there were more shots that were obviously green screen compared to the first one.
This film has its positives, but the stupid stuff really hurt this movie for me. I didn’t hate watching Fall 2: Deadpoint, but there were enough issues with the film that made me disappointed.
2.7 stars
Onslaught
Onslaught is a new movie this weekend that had some elements about it that I liked, but it was not a film that I would want to watch again. There were too many times where I rolled my eyes or found myself thinking that it was just too stupid for its own good.
According to IMDB, “When a rogue squad of genetically engineered super soldiers break loose in the desert, a badass Army sniper must unleash hell to protect her young daughter.”
Adria Arjona, who is rumored to be the next DC Wonder Woman (though unconfirmed), is the lead role of the film, the badass sniper whose daughter gets dropped off with her without warning. Then, a bunch of murderous super soldiers attack her for… you know.. reasons, and one of them turned out to be the most coincidental character ever in cinema history.
That might be hyperbole, or it may not. The plot of this movie, as it was, was lacking. It was really dumb and had really no reason to happen as it did. It all felt too unbelievable across the whole movie.
The film does have a fine cast, led by Arjona, who I liked as the protagonist. There were also roles for Dan Stevens (though nowhere as used as I anticipated), Reginald VelJohnson, Michael Biehn, Rebecca Hall (who was on screen less than Stevens), and young actress Blake Kennedy. At the beginning of the film as the names were flashing across the screen, I thought that this had a great cast. I then realized that the cast was, for the most part, wasted.
There were some fun kills along the way and Arjona was definitely a bad ass, but this is one of those films that really did not have much to it. It was paper thin, and it depended on the blood and gore. That’s fine for some movies, but this one felt like it should have been more.
2.7 stars
Mayday
The new Ryan Reynolds film debuted on Apple TV + this weekend, called Mayday. One wondered why this was not released theatrically. That did not make me optimistic about the quality of the film. However, those fears were squashed after I watched Mayday.
Co-starring Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh and written/directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who also directed Dungeons and Dragons, Mayday was just a lot of fun. I thought this movie was really funny and had some really good action. I’m not sure why this was not released in the theater, but it would have certainly been a worthwhile addition to the big screen.
Navy Pilot Lieutenant Troy Brennan (Ryan Reynolds) was recruited for a top secret surveillance mission over the Soviet Union. The mission led to the plane being shot down and Brennan being injured after falling through trees in a forest. Nikolai “Nick” Ustinov found the injured pilot and took him to his cabin to nurse him back to health. Nick was an American-loving Russian who was more than what he seemed. The buddies tried to find a way to get Troy home.
Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh had a tremendous chemistry and they carried the film. The friendship developing during the movie was one of the standout keys to the film. Reynolds’ one-liner quips were very clever and funny.
The action was fun, if not silly at times. There is a chase scene that takes place in Moscow that is one of the most original and ridiculous chase scenes I have seen, and yet, somehow, this bizarre scene worked.
The film had a surprising heart to it. There were some wonderful moments between Nick and his daughter Anna (Maria Bakalova).
The film is highly entertaining and I enjoyed watching this film. Is it perfect? No, of course not, but it is definitely worth watching. Mayday is streaming on Apple TV +.
4.2 stars
Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #32
#32
Tangled
Released: November 24, 2010
Runtime: 100 minutes
Rating: PG
Animation Style: computer-generated (CG) 3D animation style
Company: Disney
Based on the story of Rapunzel, Tangled was a wonderful surprise. It has some great comedic moments and cool songs.
Voice cast: Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy, Brad Garrett, Ron Perlman, Jeffrey Tambor, Richard Kiel, M. C. Gainey, and Paul F. Tompkins.
