Author Archives: Doc

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #45

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Spoilers

“Witness Marks”

May have been the scariest jump scare I have ever seen.

I was so engaged with the angry conversation going on between Theo and Shirley that I never once even considered that there would be something scary happen.

And when the ghostly figure of Nell screeched from the back seat, I literally screamed out. That rarely happened. The show got me good.

Prior to that, I was thinking what a group of douchebags these Crain kids were. I would go as far as to say that I really have grown to dislike both Steven and Shirley and their obnoxiousness.

I knew immediately that Luke was heading to the house. I am not sure why no one else thought of that right away, especially considering the weirdness that had been going on around the funeral parlor (last episode).

The whole knocking and doorbell ringing at that funeral parlor was creepy too, and it only served to make me dislike Shirley more. Dismissing this impossibility as kids playing pranks is just so short sighted that she was more embracing her own anger and resentments than able to see what was going on.

Then, the monologue from Theo after the jump scare was heartbreaking. The whole “I felt nothing” stuff was tough to listen to and, seemingly, finally got through the exterior of her sister.

By the way, last week’s episode had Hugh’s flashback heading through the Red Door, but nothing was mentioned or shown about that this week. That did not upset me as what we got was so excellent. Our flashback was Steven fixing up an old vanity for his mom. This was an important memory for Steven because it was proof for him about his mother’s madness, instead of one more haunted item in the Hill House.

Luke at the Hill House failing to light it on fire, only to be confronted by a vision of his mother in a red dress at the top of the stairs and the arrival of Rotten Polly, the owner of the said vanity.

There are two more episodes remaining and this series is absolutely hitting its stride. After this episode ended, which was the shortest run time of the series, I really wanted more.

Year in Review: Top 5 Movies from 2024 in 2025

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Every year, I watch some movies from the previous year and I do not place them on the Best Movie list at the end of the year. Instead, I usually do a list here. A lot of times, I would see these films in January or February as they were Oscar contenders that had been released in limited release in November or December.

Of course, the last few years, there has also been the June Swoon where I watch 30 different films daily from the year before.

So this is always the first post of the Year in Review. It is the Top 5 movies from 2024 that I saw in 2025.

#5. Better Man.

The biopic of British pop sensation Robbie Williams and the story of his personal struggles and his eventual comeback. Of course, this film portrayed Williams as a singing monkey. I knew nothing about this performer, but it was very strong and powerful of a film.

#4. Flow. The animated movie that wound up winning the Academy Award for best animated movie. The dialogue free film tells the story of a flood and a group of animals, led by a black cat, in their attempts to survive the natural disaster.

#3. Ghostlight.

A beautiful story of life and loss and finding a way to go on after tragedy.  It starred Keith Kupferer as a middle-aged construction worker who unexpectedly joined a local theater’s production of Romeo and Juliet. The film dealt with depression after a painful death. Ghostlight was an unexpected film that I heard about thanks to YouTube film critic Dan Murrell.

#2. Hundreds of Beavers. This is another film that I had only heard about thanks to Dan Murrell. It is an absurdist comedy with plenty of slapstick. It was one of the weirdest films that I saw this year.

#1. September 5

The first film I watched in this past summer’s June Swoon was September 5. This told the true story of the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage crisis and the coverage from ABC Sports. The drama of this film was done extremely well. This was a film that I was excited to see and I would have seen in the theater had it ever came around here. It is a powerful story.

Twinless

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The snow continues here and so does the EYG post-Thanksgiving, Snowpocalypse Weekend with another film I rented off Fandango at Home called Twinless.

Roman (Dylan O’Brian) had just lost his twin brother in a car accident and he was struggling through the grief and pain. He went to a support group for others who lost a twin. In this group he met Dennis (James Sweeney) and they bonded over their mutual loss. They became unlikely friends. However, there was a secret that threatened to destroy their friendship.

I had in my head what this film was going to be, but I was surprised by the way this story developed. There was a darkness to this comedy that I was not expecting.

Dylan O’ Brian did a great job as Rocky and there was chemistry between him and James Sweeney’s Dennis. Still, one of the characters was not as likable as you would think.

I don’t want to spoil anything, so it is going to be tough to go into specifics about most of this movie.

This was solid and engaging. There were great performances in the film, especially our two lead protagonists. It is a solid movie.

3.75 stars

Eleanor the Great

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As we have the second film of the 2025 post-Thanksgiving, Snowpocalypse Weekend, there is actually snow on the ground. It has been snowing all morning though it does feel as if it is not as much as was forecast.

Still, nowhere to go this afternoon so I rented Eleanor the Great off Fandango At Home (aka Vudu) starring June Squibb.

After the death of her friend and longtime roommate, 94-year old Eleanor Morgenstein (June Squibb) was lonely and grieving. By fate, she wound up in a support group for Holocaust survivors. Not sure what to do, but craving the human attention, Eleanor, not a Holocaust survivor, began telling the stories of her recently passed roommate, who did survive, as her own. From these tales, she met a bright young journalism student, Nina (Erin Kellyman), who had suffered her own recent loss.

This was the feature directorial debut by Scarlett Johansson, and she did a fine job with a story that placed the delightful June Squibb front and center. I am not sure there is a more impressive actress working today than the nonagenarian. She brought an energy to the film that would not have been there without her.

The story was good, but Squibb elevated it into a much higher level. It was a typical “lies get revealed” type story, but Squibb made this more than just a typical tale. You could feel her passion for the film in every moment she was on screen.

The relationship between Eleanor and Nina was another positive of the movie. They had a bond that you could feel on screen. When Nina discovered that Eleanor was not what she had represented herself as, the pain and betrayal cut deep.

It may have wrapped up too neatly in the end, but it did give us an ending that provided hope for the future of the characters.

3.5 stars

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #12

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#12

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Who thought that a TV Show based on a low budget, poorly reviewed film could spiral into seven seasons of television on the WB/CW?

The TV show took the idea from the movie and expanded upon it with Sarah Michelle Geller assuming the role of Buffy Summers. Buffy moved to a town named Sunnydale, which was located on a Hellmouth. This explained the variety of vampires, demons and monsters that would populate the town.

Buffy met and bonded with Willow and Zander, who became her backup and support. As the one slayer, Buffy had to deal with the responsibilities of protecting the world from the dangers of an apocalypse while trying to pass high school.

Buffy and Angel, a long lived vampire who had gotten his soul back, became the IT couple of the show, though fate was very much against them. Angel, played by David Boreanaz, wound up being spun off into his own show.

Rupert Giles was the stuffy librarian at the high school who was, in reality, Buffy’s Watcher. A Watcher would train and provide guidance to the current slayer. Giles quickly became connected with Buffy and the other “Scooby Gang” members, and he was more of a father figure than a trainer. Giles was portrayed by Anthony Stewart Head.

Spike was another vampire that Buffy had a relationship with. Spike was introduced to the series as an antagonist, but his popularity saw him return multiple times and eventually fall in love with the Slayer. It led to Spike regaining his own soul. Spike was just so cool.

There were amazing episodes with a ton of creativity over the seven seasons including one where everyone lost the ability to talk (“Hush”) and another one where Buffy finds the dead body of her mother Joyce (“Body”). Perhaps the greatest musical episode of all time was Buffy’s “Once More with Feeling” which saw a demon summoned to Sunnydale causing song and dance to break out across the city.

There have been talks about bringing the Buffy franchise back to TV with a new version that would include Sarah Michelle Geller in some form.

In Your Dreams

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No snowflakes around here yet, but this is officially the first film of the 2025 post-Thanksgiving, Snowpocalypse Weekend. In Your Dreams is an animated film currently streaming on Netflix after a short week length release in theaters.

According to IMDB, “Stevie and her little brother Elliot journey into the wildly absurd landscape of their own dreams to ask the Sandman to grant them the perfect family.”

The film has some very deep and potentially troublesome themes that could trigger some. However, the brightness and colorful animation makes even the hardest topics palatable.

The voice over cast included Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, Elias Janssen, Craig Robinson, Simu Liu, Cristin Milioti, Gia Carides, Omid Djalili, and SungWon Cho.

I thought this was a pretty decent animated movie. It had some fun and some drama, with a serious topic that the characters dealt with in the story.

I thought that the music was really solid in the film. I loved the use of some of the well known Sandman songs.

The character designs are well done and the dream world was creative and clever.

In Your Dreams was a nice animated movie for a snowy day (or soon to be snowy day).

3.5 stars

2025 EYG post-Thanksgiving, Snowpocalypse Weekend

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It is Black Friday and we are preparing for a huge snowstorm on Saturday. I have seen any number of projections from 8-9 inches to 11-17 inches for Saturday. That sounds like I’m not going anywhere on Saturday, so……

The 2025 EYG post-Thanksgiving, Snowpocalypse Weekend is here! Here is a chance to catch up on some of the films that I have not seen yet for 2025 on streaming.

Saturday night will also feature the 2025 Survivor Series: War Games that I am hoping to be able to watch.

Here’s to the snow…

In Your Dreams

Eleanor the Great

Twinless

Splitsville

Wildcat

Jingle Bell Heist

I did not get to Stitch Head, which is included on the heading for this article, over the weekend, but I do have a plan to watch it some time this week.

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #13

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#13

Castle

The third TV series among the Top 100 starring Nathan Fillion is at #13. Castle came after the cancelation of Firefly and before The Rookie. The ABC crime/romance/mystery/comedy series lasted for eight seasons.

Nathan Fillion was the titular character Richard Castle and he starred opposite Stana Katic, as the tough-as-nails police detective Kate Beckett. Castle, a best selling author, was bored with life and was in search of inspiration. After a series of murders that were inspired by his own mystery books, the NYPD approached Castle for any info he could give them. Castle took this over the edge by convincing the mayor that he should be a consultant to the NYPD, specifically Beckett, who he used as the inspiration for his new series of books.

The Castle-Beckett dynamic was what carried the show, but there were some other wonderful traits of this show. Castle was extremely intelligent, though he hid that with his special brand of goofiness. The dialogue and writing of the show was on par with some of the best on TV, clever and funny while informing the characters.

Castle’s family which included his daughter Alexis (Molly C. Quinn) and his diva mother Martha Rodgers (Susan Sullivan) was vital to keeping Castle humanized.

A fun bit of casting included real life mystery authors  Stephen J. Cannell, James Patterson, Dennis Lehane, and Michael Connelly as poker buddies for Castle. Castle would, at times, bounce ideas off of the writers, looking for how they would write the story, if the case were fictionalized.

Castle was a fun TV show with an amazing cast, including two charismatic leads. It was funny, exciting, dramatic and well written.

Train Dreams

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Based on a 2011 novella, Train Dreams is a drama directed by Clint Bentley and starring Joel Edgerton. The film just started streaming on Netflix.

According to IMDB, “…Train Dreams is the moving portrait of Robert Grainier, a logger and railroad worker who leads a life of unexpected depth and beauty in the rapidly-changing America of the early 20th Century.“

The film featured a stunning performance from Joel Edgerton, while ripping the heart out of the viewer’s chest with some of the most painful scenes of the year.

It is an emotional tale of Robert Grainier’s life and the losses that tugged at his soul. The pain of his loss was tempered by his consistent search for life. There are some scenes that are just remarkably rough for the character, yet one of the final scenes of the film brings about a feeling of joyous freedom.

Great performances littered this movie. Add to Edgerton the strong work from Felicity Jones, Clifton Collins Jr., Kerry Condon and William H. Macy.

The cinematography of the land is fantastic and the film is a beautiful one to watch.

I found this to be a lovely film that was difficult to watch with the emotional moments being powerful. It is available on Netflix.

3.6 stars

2025 Year in Review

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Today was Thanksgiving and it is always around Thanksgiving time here at EYG that I start compiling the Year in Review awards. We do awards for movies, TV, Music, Comics, WWE, YouTube, as well as some other categories. I love putting together the lists through the month of December, which leads us to our Best and Worst movies of the year lists.

I should say that all of these lists are formed from my opinions. If you disagree, that is absolutely fine. I respect all people’s opinions. All of these topics are subjective, meaning what I love, you may not like at all. That is the way it should be. We at EYG believe that everyone has a right to their own opinions and we will never put someone down for their thoughts.

I will be including the records for these awards. Some have been here since day one of these awards that we have been giving out for 15 years. Some awards included the The EYG Stan Lee Movie Cameo Award, The Strangelove (Best Actor), The Liz (Best Actress), The Batman and Robin Award for Rottenness, The Avengers: Endgame Ensemble Cast of the Year Award, The Logan “Hurt” Trailer of the Year Award and a bunch more.

Excited to start the 2025 Year in Review!

Pluribus S1 E5

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SPOILERS

“Got Milk”

We are up to episode five already of Pluribus on Apple TV +. I have to say that number surprised me. It is moving right along.

Carol finds herself completely alone as the others in her city left, needing time apart from her. I guess even the hive mind grew tired of Carol’s shenanigans.

However, they were still available for things that Carol needed, though she had to leave a message on an answering machine to get any response. Then, she would have service from a drone.

Carol was making videos to send to the other survivors, and she had them delivered (and transcribed in whatever language the other survivors may speak) by the hive mind. I find it funny that she could send videos specifically designed to bring down the hivemind and they would just deliver it, no questions asked. Perhaps the nicest invading force ever.

However, Carol had other troubles, including hungry coyotes. Carol made a discovery of what the Others drink… some substance mixed together and placed in milk cartons like are served in schools. She also broadcast this info out to the other survivors via drone delivery.

This led her to a warehouse where she found something that made her gasp… leaving us with a very epic cliffhanger… one that was extremely annoying because I don’t want to have to wait until next week to know what it was.

This was a fun episode, with a lot of funny moments while Carol showed her capabilities for this investigation.

Stranger Things 5 E4

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Spoilers

“Chapter Four: Sorcerer”

Will Byers

Will has discovered how he is connected to Vecna and the Upside Down.

There was a great final scene of episode four and an unbelievable cliffhanger. It is clear that the Duffers had planned on this being the break between chunks of episodes. That throwdown with Vecna and the demogorgons destroying the military was brutal and intense.

We get a bunch of exposition from Max, convincing Holly that they were in a prison. Holly has become a major player in this first part of the final season, and I do like this actor they have playing her.

Speaking of the acting, it is really nice to see some of these actors be provided some solid individual scenes to show off their abilities. In particular, Finn Wolfhard’s Mike, who has not had much to do over the last couple of seasons, feels like he has been rejuvenated in this season so far.

Vecna has the kids that he wanted. The military took some serious damage. Eleven and Hopper confronted Dr. Kay (Linda Hamilton) and the weird tentacle. And what was behind that special door? Eleven’s sister from season two.

Next set of episodes are out at Christmas and it will be awesome.

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #14

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#14

24

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick…

Kiefer Sutherland was Jack Bauer, an agent with the Counter Terrorist Unit Los Angeles Division (CTU). Jack had to deal with terrorists and dangerous situations to help his country. And every minute counted.

24 had a special gimmick. Every season, there were 24 episodes and each episode was told in real time. So the story unfolded over a 24 hour period and we saw how Jack Bauer and the other agents of CTU responded to these terrorist events.

The gimmick was really cool, but would never have lasted for the length of time that it did without that first season of 24. In the final scene of the first season, Jack discovered that his wife, Teri Bauer, who had been a major role in the season, had been killed by a mole inside CTU. The season ended with Jack cradling the dead body of his wife.

You do not end a season of TV in that manner. The hero does not face this level of anguish in the final scene. It proved to the viewers that absolutely anything was possible during these 24-hour days and that you could not afford to miss anything on the show.

Admittedly, as the show grew older, the show became more played out, and the show did seem to focus too much on Middle Eastern terrorists (accusations of Islamophobia were leveled at the show), but Jack would do absolutely ANYTHING in order to accomplish his goal. There were times when what Jack did was as shocking as anything the terrorist would do.A TV show protagonist just would not do what Jack Bauer did.

24 ran for eight seasons on FOX, which included a TV movie between season six and seven. There was also a new series called Live Another Day, which cut the season in half from 24 hours to 12 (episodes).

Stranger Things 5 E2, E3

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Spoilers

“Chapter Two: The Vanishing of…”

“Chapter Three: The Turnbow Trap”

Major pair of episodes. The crew still is attempting to find Vecna. Meanwhile, Vecna has Holly, Mike’s little sister, and is readying a plan to continue to grab other kids.

It seems as if Will has been having some insights on Vecna, but truthfully, I wonder if Vecna is seeing though Will’s eyes just like Will believes that he is seeing what Vecna is seeing.

Hopper and Eleven are trapped in the Upside Down, and they found a giant wall. The army had a weapon that affected Eleven… seemed like a sonic weapon of some sort.

I love how the kids are working together, setting up plans and doing what they can. Their plans have not been incredibly successful, but that is beside the point. The idea is that they are together. In past seasons, the group has been split apart multiple times. I like that they are basically together.

I am not sure if the town has been isolated or not. The town seems to be in denial about what is going on in Hawkins.

Max showing up with Holly is wild. It was great to see Sadie Sink out and about and not just stuck in a hospital bed.

I loved the scene of Eleven inside the mind of the soldier, and the mystery behind the door.