Author Archives: Doc

Drop

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Drop is a Hitchcockian-type film set in the world of cell phones.

According to IMDB, “A widowed mother on her first date in years, who arrives at an upscale restaurant where she is relieved that her date, Henry is more charming and handsome than she expected. But their chemistry begins to curdle as Violet begins being irritated and then terrorized by a series of anonymous drops to her phone.”

Is this overly ridiculous? Yes. Is the story difficult to believe? Yes. Are there a ton of coincidences that had to happen for things to work out as they did? Of course. None of that bothered me. I was entertained.

I did enjoy the chemistry between Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar. Was Sklenar’s Henry the most patient and understanding man in the world? Absolutely. I would have been so out of there way before this.

This was, for the most part, a one location setting for the film and the restaurant made a solid place for this adventure. I thought there were a lot of fun secondary characters who could be the antagonist and a bunch of them that were red herrings.

There was some dark reasons behind Violet’s past, which was a tough to watch at times. I did like the back story that we got.

There felt like there was a lot of reasons why this movie should not have been very good, and yet I found myself really enjoying it. I suspended my disbelief and found myself entertained.

4 stars

The Amateur

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The new action/thriller movie, The Amateur, released this weekend, starring Academy Award winner Rami Malek.

This movie is the Geek version of John Wick, who uses technology and computers instead of guns and knives. Rami Malek has a interesting presence on screen that is different than would be expected out of a lead protagonist. I found his acting style to be an intriguing change of pace for this type of revenge movie.

Charlie Heller (Rami Malek) worked as a tech guy for the CIA, and receives tragic news. His wife, Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan), on a trip to London, is grabbed and killed by a group of terrorists. Charlie decided to use his skills to search out and kill the people responsible. The CIA sent killer Colonel Henderson (Laurence Fishburne) after him.

I enjoyed this revenge flick quite a bit. I really loved how Charlie was able to get these people by being smarter than anyone else. He was always two steps ahead of everybody. I do think they showed us too many of the deaths in the trailer. I understand why they had to show some of them, but I would have liked to have been more surprised by a few of the moments than I was.

I did really enjoy the conclusion of the film, which felt very unexpected considering what I had seen up until that point.

This may have been a bit too long and could have cut out some of the fat in the middle, but for the most part, I liked this watch. It was a little slow at times, but I found the differences a cool change in a revenge/spy movie.

4.1 stars

EYG Comic Cavalcade #148

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April 11

A little lighter week this week. Plus I missed out on a couple of Marvel titles that had not been delivered yet. Hope to get those soon.

Books this week:

Amazing Spider-Man #1. Written by Joe Kelly and art by Pepe Larraz. Back up story entitled “Death to the Tyrant” by Joe Kelly and John Romita Jr. I have two variant covers, one foil by Mark Chiarello and one by CAFU. The new volume of Amazing Spider-Man arrived this week, but it was one of those books that did not arrive. I was able to grab the couple variants. I enjoyed the new story very much. I think it was much better than the most recent run on ASM.

Godzilla Heist #1-2. Written by Van Jensen and art by Kelsey Ramsay. A intriguing Godzilla tale. The big monster is being manipulated, used to help carry out some highly constructed heists. I have not picked up a bunch of Godzilla books before, but I have always liked the character.

The Herculoids #1. Written by Tom Sniegoski and art by Craig Rousseau. Cover art was by Francesco Mattina. Another of the new Dynamite Comics books featuring classic cartoons of the 80s. I was never a Herculoids kid, but I wanted to give this one a shot. I do not think that I will be continuing with this one.

Batman: Dark Patters #5. “The Voice of the Tower Part 2.” Written by Dan Watters and art and cover art by Hayden Sherman (Gold Medalist). Batman is continuing to go into the building in search of Scarface. The monstrous building is weird for sure.

Phantom Road #11. “The Horrormen Part 1” Written by Jeff Lemire and art and cover art by Gabriel H. Walta. The new arc of Phantom Road kicked off with this issue and I really liked this. The character of the Horrormen are very intriguing and I enjoyed these debuts.

Return of the Living Dead #3. Written by S.A. Check and James Kuhoric with art by Andrea Arcari. Cover art by Mark Spears (Silver Medalist). The continuation of the zombie outbreak and I really have been liking the plotline. The covers by Mark Spears are always top tier.

Uncanny X-Men #13. “Machinations of Dread.” Written by Gail Simone and art by David Marquez. Variant cover art by Luciano Vecchio. The new story arc, titled “The Dark Artery” begins with this issue which included a new character named Henrietta Benjamin. It is very interesting and I like how the issue builds along. Plus, Deathdream shows up at the end with.. Man-Thing? Huh?

Daredevil #20. “Rites of Reconciliation” Part One. Written by Saladin Ahmed and penciled by Jose Luis Soares. Cover art is done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, and Richard Isanove. Daredevil takes a step forward in an old outfit. DD takes out the old black armor to feel something different.

Storm #7. “Serpents, Salamanders and Storm Gods.” Written by Murewa Ayodele with art by Luciano Vecchio. Variant cover art by Marguerite Sauvage. Storm is taking on the storm gods around… and then … we get Thor!

Behemoth #3. Script by Grant Sputore & Ryan Engle and art and cover art by Jay Martin. This Dark Horse series has been a great book so far. Our characters are meeting some new people who have also been inside the monster. Can they escape before the military uses a nuclear weapon on the beast?

The Great British Bump-Off: Kill or Be Quilt #1. Script by John Allison and art and cover art by Max Sarin. Shauna has her uncle’s boat and damaged it. She had to find a way to pay for the repairs. This led to Shauna gaining a job at a quilt shop… and more.

Vatican City #1. Written by Mark Millar and art by Per Berg. Another strong new Dark Horse book. This time, with vampires! Vampires take over the world, but they can not go into the consecrated grounds of Vatican City. Greta start to this one.

Phoenix #10. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Alessandro Miracolo. Cover art by Yasmine Putri (Bronze Medalist). Cosmic Phoenix is still out there and we see flashbacks to the young Jean. This has been a strong series so far.

Incredible Hulk #24. “Blood Magic” Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art by Kev Walker. Nic Klein did the cover art. Bruce and Charlie head to the Sanctum Santorum see if Doctor Strange could help Charlie out. Unfortunately, Strange is currently in Asgard (see later) and they come across Clea. Things may not be as they seem and this is the second book this week with a last page Thor cameo.

Laura Kinney: Wolverine #5. “Brother in Arms- Part 2” Written by Erica Schultz and art by Giada Belviso. Cover art was done by Elena Casagrande & Edgar Delgado. Laura and Bucky take on Hydra? Laura and Bucky have a great chemistry in the book. I would love to see them together again.

Absolute Batman #7. “Absolute Zero.” Written by Scott Snyder and art by Marcos Martin. Cover art as done by Nick Dragotta & Frank Martin (Gold Medalist). We get our first look at Victor and Nora Fries, along with their son… who turns out to the the Absolute Mister Freeze.

Geiger #13. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Gary Frank. Cover art by Gary Frank &Brad Anderson. This is a heavy set up issue as we are about to have Geiger vs. Glowing Woman. Next issue should be a huge one.

Doctor Strange of Asgard #2. Written by Derek Landy and art by Carlos Magno. Geoff Shaw & Arthur Hesli did the cover art. Remember my comments earlier about Dr. Strange? Well, here he is in Asgard, trying to help out Loki and get some of the Sorcerer Supreme power back. This is a fun series with the Doctor.

Other books this week: Transformers #19, The Moon is Following Us #8, Golden rage: Mother Knows Best #1, and Creature Commandos #6.

The Studio S1 E4

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“The Missing Reel”

This is another great episode of this new show from Seth Rogan.

One of the reels of the new movie from Matt’s (Seth Rogan) movie studio Continental Studios disappears and Matt and Sal are on the case.

“Good artists borrow; great artists steal.”—Pablo Picasso

They use this premise to set up a noir-like story, which is absolutely hilarious. The writing on this episode is just so clever and awesome. The background music makes this all the more epic.

This show has had some special cameos so far. In this episode, we get the cameos from Zac Efron and Olivia Wilde. Olivia Wilde’s cameo is so fun because they play off her own image in the real world.

This was such a fun little mystery, and filmed as a noir, it makes it even better.

And the ending… unbelievable.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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April 9

I had a personal day and spent the afternoon at Comic World. It is always a fun and relaxing time spending time with the books this week as well as friends and other customers.

It is a lighter week overall at this point, but I was able to pick out our top three medalists again. One of them has been fairly recurring through the year so far.

Bronze Medalist

Phoenix #10

Cover art by Yasmine Putri

The flames surrounding Jean Grey in space as she encircles the earth make this a beautifully powerful image. I love how the space behind her becomes her new costume. Strong start.

Silver Medalist

Return of the Living Dead #3

Cover art by Mark Spears

Mark Spears has been a master of monsters over the last year or so and these zombies are extremely scary and beautifully rendered. The green and purple make such a compelling contrast on the cover that you forget about this frightening creature on its way to eat your brains.

Gold Medalist

Absolute Batman #7

Cover art by Nick Dragotta

This Batman cover really stands out with the icicles dangling from the title and the dark background with the blue indicating coldness. Oh, there is some red in the corner of the page. Blood maybe? Batman is down looking at it and we see him investigating. Love this cover.

A Minecraft Movie

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My teacher buddy Ambarlee stopped by my classroom Monday morning and she told me that she went to A Minecraft Movie over the weekend and she loved it. When I said I was going Wednesday morning and not looking forward to it, she said that she was watching her middle child and there was so much joy on his face that it made it so much better for her. Sadly, I had no child’s face to stare at when I watched this thing. I am sure I would rather be watching a child’s face than this movie.

According to IMDB, “Four misfits are suddenly pulled through a mysterious portal into a bizarre cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination. To get back home they’ll have to master this world while embarking on a quest with an unexpected expert crafter.”

I do like Jack Black and Jason Momoa. They are reasonably likable characters here… well, at least, they are likable representation of themselves. I always enjoyed when Jack Black would break into song in A Minecraft movie. Black is a full-fledged entertainer.

After that, there is little in this movie that I enjoyed. I found the story repetitive and dull. The comedy missed way more than it hit. There were a few moments were I found myself laughing, but they were few and far between.

I was not a fan of the manner in which the story was told nor did I think the film looked that great. It absolutely had a feel like a video game where the background was cartoonish. I am not sure what the whole Jennifer Coolidge sections were about, though Coolidge is another actor that I like, but her entire story arc was unnecessary.

This was a dumb movie that especially young audiences might enjoy, especially those that have spent hours playing the game this movie was based on. This was not for me. I went in with a low level of expectations and the film struggled to reach them. A Minecraft Movie made a massive amount at the box office this weekend (though my Wednesday morning showing at Phoenix Theaters was empty except for me) and this will undoubtedly be a major success. I wish it was a better movie.

1.75 stars

Daredevil: Born Again S1 E8

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Spoilers

“Isle of Joy”

I haven’t been this tense for a long time.

I was not sure where this show was heading after last week’s death of Muse, who seemed as if he was meant to be the big bad of the season.

Daredevil: Born Again then ratcheted up the suspense in the most beautiful and gut wrenching way.

Bullseye was back, and things start to be filled with anxiety. Matt was losing his temper and everything was building inside of him as unexpected mysteries began to be revealed. Mysteries dealing with why Foggy was killed.

It was not revenge. Ben Poindexter was not going after Foggy for vengeance. He was hired to take the lawyer out. But it was not Wilson Fisk. It was Vanessa.

Everything was coming out at Fisk’s Black and White Ball, amazingly enough, on the dance floor. And Poindexter, who had escaped from prison, was about to shoot Fisk… although I thought it might have been Vanessa in his sights. Matt throws himself in the path of the bullet saving Fisk. Didn’t see that coming.

I liked some of the focus on the secondary characters because there has not been enough of that this season. Especially this week was BB Urich.

We find out so much more about Vanessa. And she shot Adam dead in front of Wilson.

I just did not know what was going to happen on this episode and I was so pleased with how much suspense this show was. Just fabulous with this penultimate episode of the season.

The X-Files S8 E21

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Spoilers

“Existence”

After so many years of me screaming for Mulder to shoot Cigarette Smoking Man in the head and not getting it, it was incredibly satisfying to have Skinner shoot Krychek in the head. Finally! This character was long overdue to meet his maker, and the fact that it was Skinner who got to do it really paid off the torture that Krychek put him through recently.

Baby William was born in this finale of season 8, and, after a lengthy chase and dangerous situation after situation, the Billy Miles led group let the baby alone and left without him. I suppose the baby did not come out like an alien as we had seen in some other births over the last season.

The final scene with Mulder and Scully sharing a kiss with the baby in her arms was excellent and felt very much like an ending. I know there is much more with these two, even if they are stepping back in season 9, but had they not come back, this would have made a very welcome close to the pair.

I did enjoy Doggett standing up to Kersh. It was clear that Doggett and Reyes were going to be the next generation of the X-Files at the FBI and that Kersh will be a major antagonist for them. I am still not necessarily looking forward to the ninth season, but we’ll give it the same chance that I gave this season.

As I have said in previous season 8 write-ups, this turned out to be a better season than I remembered. I bonded more with Doggett than I did the first time around, and while I am still not fond of Agent Reyes, I am willing to give her a chance.

So there are one full season left and two shortened seasons in this rewatch. I believe the count was 36 remaining episodes of the X-Files. I may have to do rewatches of the two feature films from the franchise too before the end of this rewatch.

The White Lotus S3 E8

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“Amor Fati”

No justice for Tonya, after all.

I do not think I have been as disappointed in a character as I am with Belinda. Going from a likable character to a blackmailer was an unsatisfactory ending for me. I really had hoped Gary/Greg would get his comeuppance, but all he had to do was pay some money.

Rick and Chelsea ended in such a tragic manner. I had guessed the possibility of Rick being the son of the man who he had confronted last episode, but I did not see it paying off as it did.

The Ratliffs all survived even though it did not look like they were going to. Lochlan sure looked as if he had passed on, but I guess he was able to shake it off. Not sure how that will end. I just see a lot of stress for that group moving forward.

The three blondes had a nice scene together as they spoke from the heart and rebuilt their friendship. I still do not see how that trio really fit into the story well. Their final scene together at dinner was beautifully acted though.

I found this season’s overarching story to be the worst of the three seasons, but I did like a lot more characters this year. However, I may not be a fan of many of them at the end of the episode.

The X-Files S8 E18, E19, E20

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Spoilers

“Vienen”

“Alone”

“Essence”

With just a handful of episodes remaining in season 8 of The X-Files, I wanted to get them churned out. I have been doing this re-watch of the X-Files since September of 2023 and I am down to one more episode for this season, leaving just season 9, 10, & 11.

My memory of season 8 during its original run was that I did not like it much, but I have to say that this season was better than I had remembered. I have made this speculation before, but it seems obvious that my original thought on this season was the lack of Mulder and what seemed like a replacement in John Doggett. John Doggett has won me over during this re-watch as I was not angry at Mulder not being there.

Of these three episodes, they all had that old X-Files feel to them. With “Vienen” featuring the final appearance of the Black Oil and the ultimate firing of Mulder by Deputy Director Kersh, the whole alien conspiracy felt like it was back, even though it was different and no longer being directed by CSM.

“Alone” was a pretty decent monster-of-the-week tale that had Mulder truly put his trust in Doggett, in a life and death moment. It was a stress-inducing episode where I was reminded of Dr. Curt Connors, aka The Lizard, from Amazing Spider-Man. Oh, those pesky scientists.

“Essence” is a part one of the season finale where we focus in on those people trying to get to Scully’s baby. It reclaimed the old days of the conspiracy as we learn about a baby/alien cloning program and how Billy Miles is like the unstoppable Terminator (ironic since Robert Patrick is on the other end of that). This one was pulling in the old guard too as, of all people, Alex Krychek showed up to help out the good guys team. I still would have loved to see someone put a bullet in Krychek’s head, but I guess he did help things out.

I hope to finish off season 8 either tomorrow or some time early next week. Season 9 has 20 episodes. Season 10 has six episodes and season 11 has 10 episodes, meaning that I am down to 37 episodes remaining in this re-watch of the X-Files. As I said, it has been going since September 2023 so we will be done with this under two years.

What We Do In The Shadows S1 E5, E6

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Spoilers

“Animal Control”

“Baron’s Night Out”

Watched a couple of episodes of What We Do In the Shadows season one this morning. One that I think was very strong and another that was kind of weak.

Episode five was entitled “Animal Control” and it had two main stories. Laszlo had changed into a bat and was knocked unconscious by his neighbors. They called Animal Control and Laszlo is placed in a cage. The second story included Nadja and her old love Jeff, who had been resurrected multiple times.

Episode six, “Baron’s Night Out,” was about the Baron wanting to see the sights of New York. It ends with the drugged out Baron accidentally getting burned to death by the sun.

While there were some funny bits in “Animal Control” I did not find it to be much more than a fluff episode. I enjoyed “Baron’s Night Out” considerably more. I was thinking about the sun being the way the Baron died, but I did not expect it right at the end. When he was playing with the rays of sunlight cracking through the roof.

There are four more episodes in the first season.

The X-Files S8 E17

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“Empedocles”

This episode featured Monica Reyes, investigating a case that she believed had some connection to John Doggett’s son’s death. She brought Mulder into the fray, causing more tension in the relationship of Doggett and Mulder.

I am not looking forward to season nine because of the increased use of Reyes. After just a couple of appearances, she does not appeal to me too much.

A big reason that Reyes bothers me, I think, is that she’s not Scully. There are a couple of scenes between Mulder and Scully in this episode and they are so charming and fun that it really hurts the remainder of the episode when they are not together. Scully spends the episode in the hospital from pregnancy issues. Their banter over the “Pizza Guy” was excellent.

Robert Patrick does a great job with Doggett and his anger and grief. You can feel his conflict within the skepticism he holds about the supernatural aspects.

I did like the advancement between Mulder and Doggett.

Season 8 has just four more episodes left.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #11

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“Sleep of the Just”

Sunday Morning Sidewalk started a new series this week, The Sandman, from Netflix. Based on a classic DC Comics comic book from Neil Gaiman, The Sandman was a show that I had always intended to watch, but just never got around to doing. It has eleven episodes on Netflix so it will be our new Sunday Morning Sidewalk into early June.

At least, that is the current schedule. I do hope that the remainder of The Sandman is an improvement over this first episode, because I was not very impressed with it.

Before I go into the negatives, the show looked absolutely amazing. The visuals were stunning and it was clear that this show did not skimp on a budget for it.

However, there was so much exposition that I had a difficult time keeping my focus on the story the show was telling. It bounced around at first and did not establish the feel well. Then, the story moved on to Charles Dance, a well known character actor playing a man named Roderick Burgess, who was able to capture Morpheus in some contraption. He then holds him for ten years.

The problem with this was that Burgess’s motivation was very muddy. Did he want his deceased son back from the dead or did he want immortality and wealth? It seemed as if he wanted all of that in order to free Morpheus. Poor Morpheus had to lay inside this glass container naked for such a long time. Get the man a blanket at least.

Then there was another son, Alex, who was ignored and verbally abused by Burgess. Alex accidentally killed his father and then he held on to Morpheus for an undetermined amount of time. The world suffered from some kind of sleep sickness, but the show really did not go into any specifics on that.

Oh, Boyd Holbrook is here too, as some kind of figure that opposes Morpheus. IMDB tells me his name is The Corinthian. I was not a Sandman comics reader so I do not know whom that was. He seemed to be a potential future antagonist. Not sure why.

The story of this episode was a mess and I was very disappointed in the show. The main story of the Burgess family did not grasp my attention and did not seem to be a worth story to kick off this series with. Again, I do not know if this is a vital comic storyline adapted or if this was completely new for the series, but I did not enjoy it much.

I do hope this gets better as it moves along or else I might have to looking into the possibility of adjusting the Sunday Morning Sidewalk schedule.