Author Archives: Doc

Ender’s Game (2013)

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With the school year coming to an end, we decided to show a movie at the end of the most recent unit we have been working on. It was a sci-fi/space adventure unit and it actually had a possible “long” read offered of Orson Scott Card’s novel, Ender’s Game. We decided to show the movie to the seventh graders.

I hadn’t seen Ender’s Game since it was in the theaters back in 2013, so I was excited to get a chance to see it again. I remember liking it, but not loving it.

The cast of this film was extraordinary, starting with Asa Butterfield as Ender and Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff. These two had tremendous chemistry and carried much of the film. The actresses that played Valentine and Petra drove me nuts at first because I knew I recognized them but I just could not place their youthful faces. After a check on IMDB, I realized that Valentine was Abigail Breslin and Petra was Hailee Steinfeld. They were both great. The movie also included Ben Kingsley, Nonso Anozie and Viola Davis. Great actors in this film.

The special effects and the shots were spectacular as well. It looked beautiful and stunning at every moment. The animation of the mind game was a little uncanny valley, but it was supposed to be, showing the difference between this game world and the real world.

I did have some problems, basically with the script. It felt like there were too many moments that were rushed, as if they needed to cut things out to fit it in the film, and because of that, some scenes which were meant to be more impactful, ended up less so than it could have been.

One example was a scene between Ender and Sgt. Dap (Nonso Anozie) where Ender was being a particularly annoying child. Dap screamed at him to shut up and that he would never salute Ender. Then it felt like ten minutes later that Dap was doing that very thing. It was meant to be a powerful moment, but Ender did not seem to have earned that salute in any way, so the powerful moment felt a bit flat.

The conclusion of the film is sensational and Asa Butterfield is excellent at this moment. The eyes of Butterfield were remarkable, constantly right on the verge of being filled with tears while reflecting the light perfectly. The close-up visuals of Ender always worked.

The message is not ignored in Ender’s Game and, in fact, could be argued that it is as important to the film as anything else.

The students of my class seemed to enjoy the film, as every class that I showed this to asked if there was a sequel. I pointed out the book series while telling them that this was the only movie. One girl told me that she wanted Ender and Petra to get married… that she shipped them.

In the end, the film was pretty good. Yes, I think some of the writing needed some work and some of the moments did not feel as earned as it should have, but Ender’s Game was still a fun time among sci-fi films made for both kids and adults.

The Studio S1 E10

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“The Presentation”

Movies! Movies! Movies! Movies! Movies!

The first season of The Studio came to a rousing conclusion as the Continental Studios presentation at Cinemacon arrived with the participants all messed up from ‘shroom and drugs. In a high pressure presentation that could determine whether or not the studio is sold to Amazon, costing everyone their jobs.

All the chaotic events from last week’s part one paid off perfectly. This was a tremendous conclusion to the first season as Matt struggled to sober up his presenters before they lose everything.

This was hilarious and just so well written. I wanted to see every one of the films that Continental Studios presented at this event. I know that they are not real but they are absolutely compelling and the way the guest stars presented the slate went so great.

After a season of seeing Matt blundering his way through his new job, seeing an ultimate triumph made me really happy.

A great first season. I hope there is more coming on Apple TV + in the future.

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

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May 21

Hey, it is time for the EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week, our typical Wednesday post. However, starting next week, EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week will come out on Thursdays. The reason is that I usually go to the Bettendorf shop on Thursdays after going to Comic World on Wednesdays. That way I can have all of the available books for the week in competition. I may not make it down tomorrow, which is why I will start this next week.

This week’s medalists:

Bronze Medalist

Amazing Spider-Man #4

Cover art by Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia

This is a cool cover featuring the Hobgoblin and his fiery sword. Hobby looks frightening here and Spidey’s reflection in the fire gives us a feel for this issue.

Silver Medalist

Absolute Flash #3

Variant cover B

Cover art by Haining

What a stunning variant cover this one is. The red and yellow coloring and the imagery of our Absolute Flash is striking. The lightning around the cover adds that little oomph as well.

Gold Medalist

Mark Spears Monsters #1 (5th Printing)

Cover art by Mark Spears

Every week. Every week it seems that the prolific cover artist Mark Spears is providing another beautiful piece of art, and this rendition of Dracula is yet another medal for Spears. I also love the border around the cover, looking like it is a worn out book. Creative ideas. I will admit I am not sure I love yet another reprint of issue one. That has nothing to do with the beautiful cover though.

The X-Files S9 E7

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“John Doe”

John Doggett is in Mexico and can not remember anything from his past. He is the John Doe of the situation.

Robert Patrick’s performance in this episode was exceptional and I was fully engaged with him as he struggled to try and survive, from the moment someone was trying to steal his shoe until some of the local criminals who were trying to kill him.

While I thought this was really a solid episode, I do think that the villain, Caballero, a “memory vampire,” was not developed well and seemed to just show up. His first appearance in the episode made me think he was the Cigarette Smoking Man. I think that was intentional.

Thankfully, Doggett gets saved by Skinner. There was not much of Gillian Anderson in this episode, but this was one of the few times where I did not feel the absence of the former X-Files stars.

This was probably the best episode of season nine so far. It was emotional and powerful, with the one flash of memory Doggett would get was of his son.

The Last of Us S2 E6

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When Joel died in episode two, I knew that we would be getting a flashback at some point. There were just too many mysteries that we needed to see play out. In particular, what had happened with Eugene and why did Joel kill him? I saw that Joe Pantoliano was listed in the credits as Eugene so I expected we would see what happened.

I did not expect an entire episode of flashbacks. A whole episode of flashbacks that were amazing and heartbreaking at the same time.

Focusing in on Ellie’s birthdays during the years Joel and Ellie lived in Jackson, we saw how Joel tried to make each day something special for Ellie. Making her happy was a major goal for Joel. The guitar and song. The space shuttle. The dinosaur. All ways to try and make Ellie’s life a little better.

It also showed us how Joel and Ellie’s relationship was weakening. The whole situation stemmed from Joel’s lie at the end of season one involving the Fireflies. Deep down, even when Ellie was happy, she knew the truth. She just did not know the details. The scene on the porch where Ellie finally confronted Joel and he gave her the truth was tough, but had hope surrounding it as well, since Ellie said that she wanted to try to forgive Joel, even though she didn’t think she could.

That scene is made even more powerful as we know that this is the last words between the two of them ever. It is going to be the way that Ellie always remembers Joel.

The whole Eugene storyline was rough too. Joe Pantoliano delivered a great performance despite only being on screen for a few minutes. You really felt his devastation and his deep desire to see his wife one last time. Of course, it was a trigger for Ellie to solidify her thoughts about Joel. It was the look in his eyes when he lied to her.

Ellie was brutal when she outed Joel’s lies to Gail. It was a punishment for Joel by Ellie. She did not take Gail’s pain into consideration.

Next week is the season finale and I am not sure where this will go from here. For sure, the pain of losing Joel is only going to be worse now after we got the opportunity to spend a little bit more time with him and Ellie.

Duster S1 E1

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“Baltimore Changes Everything”

Josh Holloway returned to TV on HBO Max with a series called Duster. And I enjoyed it tremendously. Of course, I have a bit of a bias.

Josh Holloway was, of course, James “Sawyer” Ford on ABC’s LOST for the entire run of the series and LOST is my absolute favorite TV of all time. I have an unrequited love for the series and I have missed the characters.

So Holloway played Jim Ellis in this new show and, let’s say, he shares quite a bit of characteristics with Sawyer. When he called the little girl who was with him in the car “Peanut” I nearly lost it (no pun intended).

Perhaps I should be looking for the differences between these two characters instead of focusing on the ways that they are the same, but I have a major blind spot. Plus, they really are similar.

Jim seems to have some poor decision making skills, just like Sawyer. He had the same smart tongue. Jim just looked like an older version of Sawyer.

Jim is an expert driver obviously, and we never saw Sawyer show off much along the lines of his automotive skills (unless he did some driving in the Flash Sideways).

FBI agent Nina Hayes is a neat new character for Holloway to play off. Played by Rachel Hilson, Nina has so many obstacles to overcome. Placed right into the sexist/racist 1970s, Nina as a black woman in the FBI truly caused a stir just by walking into a police station. This dynamic is thrilling to watch.

I hope I can allow myself to see Jim Ellis as his own character and not just as an older Sawyer. However, episode one was very entertaining and I look forward to seeing more.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #153

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May 18, 2025

The weekly challenge that is Diamond continued this week. This week there was a shipment made to Comic World, but it was missing a few books. It is better than not having any Marvel books at all, like prior week. I have picked up several of the missing books, variant versions basically, in Bettendorf. I do not know if the missing box from last week will ever show up at Comic World, but I have it covered, I believe.

I keep waiting for Mark Spears Monsters #4 books that I ordered from Keenspot directly to be delivered. I sent a message to the company and they responded with a nice email, but I am getting anxious waiting for them to get here.

Books this week:

Look Out #1. By Dan Baillie and Tim Bradstreet. This is an illustrated novella from AWA and Vertigo Entertainment. This was something I picked up on eBay and I did not expect what it was. It is not a graphic novel. It is more of a story with illustrations than anything else. It is a lovely book though.

Red Hulk #4. “Enemies of the State.” Written by Benjamin Percy and art by Geoff Shaw. Cover art was done by Geoff Shaw & Marte Gracia. Thunderbolt Ross and Deathlok continue to try and make their way through Latveria in an attempt to “recharge” the Red Hulk.

Exquisite Corpses #1. Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Michael Walsh. I also have a variant cover done by Jenny Frison. I love this new book from James Tynion IV. The secret group that runs the world is getting together to determine which of them will now run the organization. They do it with a competition between killers that feels like a Hunger Games type of situation. This one was truly fun.

Phoenix #11. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Roi Mercado. Cover art was done by Lucas Werneck. This starts a new arc with Jean Grey and her supposedly deceased sister Sara. Cable is involved as well. There is something weird going on.

Godzilla vs. X-Men #1. “A World That Hates and Fears Them.” Written by Fabian Nicieza and art is done by Emilio Laiso. Cover art was done by Tony Daniel & Marcelo Maiolo. The running stories of Godzilla vs. the Marvel Universe comes to the X-Men. Secret… they wind up working together eventually. That feels like a continuous theme among these Godzilla books. Good to see Sunfire.

Daredevil #21. “Rites of Reconciliation Part Two” Written by Saladin Ahmed and penciled by Jose Luis Soares & Carlos Nieto. Variant cover art by Alex Ross. This was one of the missing books this week that I grabbed a variant cover of. It is the Timeless variant with Alex Ross and this cover featured a lovely picture of Iron Fist on the virgin cover. Meanwhile Daredevil feels as if he has stepped into the world of The Last of Us with all of the plants around.

Immortal Thor #23. “Come at the King.” Written by Al Ewing and art by Jan Bazaldua. Variant cover C art by Giuseppe Camuncoli. Another book that was missing in the Diamond order this week and this variant cover is the Impossible Man variant as Thor looks like the Impossible Man. Thor is having plenty of troubles as he battled the god Kemur.

Phantom Road #12. “The Horrormen Part 2 of 5” Written by Jeff Lemire and art and cover art done by Gabriel H. Walta. The second arc of this Image series continues with Agents Weaver and Harold continue their pursuit of Patrick Hanover. The agents are finding themselves in the other side.

Batman: Dark Pattern #6. “Voice of the Tower Part 3” Written by Dan Watters and art and cover art by Hayden Sherman. The storyline with Scarface ends with this issue as the building burns out. I was not sure that this Batman series was going to continue, but it does look as if it will start a new storyline next month.

Silverhawks #3-4. Written by Ed Brisson and art by George Kambadais. Issue three variant cover art was done by James Stokoe and issue four was done by Mark Spears (Gold Medalist). Some brutality going down in these issues as the Silverhawks veteran heroes do not come out well.

Transformers #20. Written by Daniel Warren Johnson and art by Jorge Corona. Cover art was done by Daniel Warren Johnson & Mike Spicer. Starscream is repaired by Megatron. Starscream thought Megatron was going to kill him, but he did not. However, the newly repaired Starscream found out that Megatron was not just being kind.

Wolverine #9. “The Long Road Home.” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Javier Pina. Cover art was done by Martin Coccolo & Bryan Valenza. I liked this book this week as Logan faced off with Department H in an unexpected manner. Plus, Logan is on his way to face off with… Victor.

Absolute Batman #8. “Absolute Zero.” Written by Scott Snyder and art by Marcos Martin. Cover art was done by Nick Dragotta & Frank Martin. This issue featuring Mister Freeze really has some horror aspects to it and it is a cool issue (ignore the pun).

Zdarsky Comic News #11. The newest news pamphlet from Chip Zdarsky includes an interview with Cody Ziglar and the continued war against “books being so big they crush your ‘boys’ when you try to read them in bed.” This still reminds me of the old Marvel Age book.

Green Hornet Miss Fury #5. Co-written by Alex Segura & Henry Barajas with art by Federico Sorressa. Variant cover B art by Jae Lee & June Chung. This short series ended with a shocking conclusion. It also does not feel as if the story is done. I guess we’ll see if there is more in the future.

Spectacular Spider-Men #15. “Gone Girl, Found Family.” Written by Greg Weisman and art by Andres Genolet. Cover art was done by Mark Bagley & Edgar Delgado (Silver Medalist). This is the final issue of this Spider-man team-up book with a great party at the coffee shop. I will miss this intriguing book.

Supergirl #1. “Misadventures in Midvale Part 1” Written, art and cover art by Sophie Campbell. Supergirl gets her own new DC book, but I did not find myself engaged by this comic. I did like the look of the book.

I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer #2. Written by Doug Wagner and art by Daniel Hillyard. Cover art was done by Daniel Hillyard & Michelle Madsen. Rennie goes out of her way to aid her … “friend.” It surprises her too. I do enjoy this unlikely series. We have had several serial killer books lately and this is one of the better ones.

Space Ghost #12. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Francesco Mattina did the cover art. After last issue’s inglorious defeat, Space Ghost returns and put the hurt on the Council of Doom.

Godzilla: Here There Be Aliens #1. Written by Frank Tieri and art and cover art by Angel Hernandez. This is a fun way to use Godzilla… with space aliens involved. I am not sure if I am going to continue to grab these issues, but this number one was fun, if nothing else.

Red Sonja vs. the Army of Darkness #2. Written by Tim Seely and art by Jim Terry. Variant cover B art by Tim Seely. Red Sonja and Ash Williams are in search of the Book of the Necronomicon. Along the way they have to fight a unicorn. I am worried that Ash is going to get his sexual harassment kicked out of him by Red Sonja.

Past Time #2. Written by Joe Harris and art by Russell Olson. Mark Chiarello did the cover art. This cover art is a beautiful one and it would have definitely been a medalist had I not gotten it until after the Favorite Comic Covers of the Week came out.

Dark Regards #1. Written by Dave Hill and art and cover art by Artyom Topilin. Dark Regards is a new book from Oni Press that tells the mostly true story of the internet viral sensation from the early 2000s when he invented his black metal band. I was not engaged in this book either, but I may give it another chance before issue two comes out.

When I Lay My Vengeance Upon Thee #4. Written by Gus Moreno and illustrated and cover art by Jakub Rebelka. Father Barrera and Stygian are having some issues but the problems are loading up. Barrera has had a tragic backstory and it is being manipulated by the demon.

Jumpscare #2. Written by Cullen Bunn and art and cover art by Danny Luckert. The new superhero based on horror movies, Jumpscare, has her sister kidnapped. Does she care about that at all? She certainly does not want her parents to think she does. Jumpscare has been a really fun new book from Dark Horse.

Behemoth #4. Written by Grant Sputore & Ryan Engle and art by Jay Martin. This was the final issue of this excellent mini series from Dark Horse. It was a great conclusion too as I loved the way the story played out.

One World Under Doom #4. “Dormammu vs. Doom.” Written by Ryan North and art by R.B. Silva. Ben Harvey did the cover art. The title of this issue absolutely is the perfect one for this issue. It is Dormammu trying to take advantage of Dr. Doom. These two are basically the only two characters in this book. And Doom has not come to bargain.

Uncanny X-Men #14. “An Infectious World” Written by Gail Simone and the art is done by David Marquez. David Marquez & Matthew Wilson did the cover art. Rogue punches a dragon. We learn more about Lady Henrietta. Gail Simone has written some compelling stuff and this is building to have some exciting New Orleans action.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #33. “God War Part II” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Marco Renna. Federico Vicentini & Neeraj Menon did the cover art. Miles has found himself deep inside the trouble as the war between Anansi and Ares is underway. Miles gets to recruit his team for the battle. Who does he choose? Hint, there is no Peter Parker or Steve Rogers (why not, Miles!!!)

Geiger #14. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Gary Frank. Gary Frank & Brad Anderson did the cover art. The Glowing Man battles the Glowing Woman. Geiger continues to be one of the best books of the Ghost Machine books.

X-Factor #10. “Survivor’s Guild.” Written by Mark Russell and art by Bob Quinn. Cover art was done by Greg Land & Frank D’Armata. The X-Factor series is over after this issue as it seemed as if Havok and Polaris finally got back together. Angel came back and made up with everyone too.

The Toxic Avenger Pinup Special #1. I picked this up just for fun. It is a book from Ahoy Comics that featured several cool full pages of artwork as well as a couple of stories starring Toxie. This was another cover that might have been a medalist had I gotten it earlier.

Thunderbolts: Doomstrike #4. “My Dinner with Doom.” Written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly with art by Tommaso Bianchi. Leinil Francis & Romulo Fajardo Jr. did the cover art. Doctor Doom faced off with Bucky Barnes.

Other books this week: Energon Universe #1, Grimm #22, Ultimate X-Men #15, Spider-Verse vs. Venomverse #1, The All-New, All-Deadly Gwenpool #1, Ultimate Black Panther #16, Worldtr33 #14, and The Hive #4.

A few other thoughts: I also grabbed some cool covers of books that I already have. This included the fairly hot Pop Kill Cover B book. I had picked up this book twice for other people as I had purchased the cover A of it. I was pleased that it was still available. I got the Mark Spears Space Quest #1 book too which is a beautiful piece of art. I grabbed the A cover of Amazing Spider-Man #3. I grabbed Ripperland #4 which ended with this issue. I have Psylocke #7 with the aforementioned Impossible variant cover as Psylocke is portrayed as the Impossible Man. Amadeus Cho #1 was another of the missing books that I picked up this weekend. I like this cover with Amadeus flexing. Hello Darkness #10 always seem to have an awesome cover.

Poker Face S2 E4

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“The Taste of Human Blood”

Killer alligator!!!

I am not a fan. So this week’s Poker Face hit me in a different manner.

The best line of the episode was “This is Florida.” 100% accurate.

Charlie finds herself at a cop convention where a jealous officer, Fran (Gaby Hoffmann), who was tired of losing the cop of the year award to Gator Joe (Kumail Nanjiani), wanted to embarrass him at the awards. Unfortunately, her attempt led to his death.

So to cover up the inadvertent murder, Fran gave Daisy, Gator Joe’s pet alligator, meth and had her eat her owner up.

Like I said… killer alligator.

Of course, Charlie was able to help the, technically, innocent gator from the trigger happy cops at the convention who kept claiming that Daisy had to die because she had the taste of human blood.

Weird episode. Fit right in with Florida.

The Studio S1 E9

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“Cinemacon”

The Studio is on its way to Cinemacon to present a high stakes presentation for their slate of movies coming in that year. Matt and crew were extremely confident that the movies they had for Continental were amazing and that they were going to dominate Cinemacon.

So Matt threw an “Old-School” Hollywood party.

Mistake #1.

It was a dream of his to throw a party like this… it represented to him that he had made it. However, a miscommunication with his mushroom dealer lead to him having chocolates with a massive amount of ‘shrooms in them.

This sent the entire party into chaos just as Matt found out that Amazon was in negotiations to purchase Continental Studios out from under them.

Bryan Cranston reprised his role as studio CEO Griffin Mill, who was totally stoned after eating way too many drugs.

As always, there are plenty of cameos in The Studio. In this one, Dave Franco is here in full party-boy motif while Zoë Kravitz unsuspectingly consumed too many of the spiked chocolates. Rhea Perlman was here too as Matt’s mother.

Watching the crew run around the hotel, avoiding the entertainment reporters (such as Matt Belloni) while trying to keep their people from ruining the presentation was hilarious.

The episode ended with a TO BE CONTINUED message, which will lead to the finale(?) next week entitled “The Presentation.” This has been hectic and chaotic and really funny.

Andor S2 E10, E11, E12

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I wondered how this series would close, considering it is basically a prequel to the movie Rogue One. Little did I know that there was a twist coming.

At the very end of the show, we see Bix on the planet Mina-Rau holding a baby.

This piece of information was such a shock as it recontextualizes the entire Bix/Cassian story and their final meeting is given an entirely new perspective.

While this gives hope for the legacy of Andor, it adds even more to the tragic nature of Rogue One. Not only does Cassian Andor die during the film, he dies without the knowledge that he was a father.

I am pleased that Bix did not get killed off in this series, because there were definitely questions about why she had never appeared in Rogue One. Her survival and subsequent mothering of this baby was an exceptional end for the series as our characters head off towards Rogue One.

The death of Luthen was not unexpected, but that it came in episode 10 was a bit of a surprise. Taking his own life as a way of preventing the Empire from torturing him for information seemed to be the exact manner in which he would die, even though it took more than his own knife to get the final job done. Stellan Skarsgård has been outstanding from day one as the mastermind/puppet master of the rebellion.

Cassian Andor is one of my favorite Star Wars characters and I wish there was more to his story. Andor showed how good a Star Wars TV show could be and how it could be directed to adults as well.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #17

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“The Doll’s House”

This felt like a heavy set-up episode for the next arc of the show. Very little Morpheus and a lot of info on other characters, such as Rose Walker, the Vortex.

We also get more on the Corinthian as he is wooed by a group of “collectors” for a convention of sorts.

Matthew is sent to observe and report on Rose and her family. Her brother Jed is missing and they can not even find him in the Dreaming.

Another piece of info dropped here was the still missing entities: Gault the shapeshifter, The Corinthian and the supposedly reliable Fiddler’s Green.

Stephen Fry showed up to aid Rose in an alleyway, as she was about to be mugged. As we learned, though, she did not really need his help.

I struggled through this episode as I was not connected to much of the story. I did find it fascinating as Rose strolled confidently up to Morpheus in the Dreaming to ask him about her brother’s whereabouts. I am sure things will pick up again as we move toward the final 4 episodes of this show.