Author Archives: Doc

Yellowjackets S3 E5

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Spoilers

“Did Tai Do That?”

Who thought there would be an allusion to Steve Urkel on Yellowjackets?

A wild ride as the crazy girls from the woods prepared to execute Coach Ben by firing squad after Shauna basically bullied the jury into convicting him last week. The last second reprieve from Travis, Lottie and Akilah after they returned from the cave with a new vision.

It amazes me that every episode I seem to hate young Shauna more with each passing scene while feeling connected to adult Shauna. They are the same person, but I despise young Shauna so much. I am anxious to see how these two versions of Shauna came to be. It is clear that Shauna’s past trauma has created the person she is after all of these years.

Misty is the character that I started out disliking, but now I am a full fledged fan of, even though she continually does things that make one question her morality. I love the scenes between Christina Ricci and Elijah Wood. They are soulmates in this warped reality, for sure.

Who pushed Lottie down the stairs? Is it one of our own, Yellowjackets or is it the same mystery person who is seemingly pursuing Shauna? Does her father have something to do with it? His mental acumen has clearly slipped and his conversation with Lottie/Shauna showed that he may not be sure of what he was doing.

There are lots of mysteries set up in Yellowjackets season 3 episode 5 as we reach the halfway point of the season.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #7

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Spoilers

“The Breaking Point”

This was one of my favorite episodes of Band of Brothers so far. I’m not ready to anoint it as my favorite, but it is certainly in the argument.

There was so much character development throughout the entire episode, narrated by Lipton, that it provided me with more feeling toward some of these characters that, to be honest, blend together for me at times. Lipton. Speirs. Dyke. Compton. Malarky.

I have to say, there were two visceral moments for me in the episode. The first was when Joe Toye lost his leg in the shelling. It was such a shocking moment and the shell that then shredded Bill Guarnere, who had rushed out to help Joe, was unthinkable.

And the second moment was during this entire barrage, the soldiers kept jumping into their foxholes and I kept thinking how are these foxholes supposed to help against these shells? I mean, I understand how it can provide shelter to gunfire, but these shells were coming down from above, right? Then the show proved me right when it showed Corporal Penkala and Sgt. Skip Muck getting blown to bits while they were inside their foxhole, begging for George Lutz to get in it with them. I literally cried out when that happened.

The show dealt with the incompetent leadership provided by Dyke and continued to enhance the legend of Speirs. Buck Compton was not injured during this episode, but it showed that he had reached his own “breaking point” after seeing so many of the people he had been close with over his time with Easy Company dying. Part of the theme of this episode was that wounds were not all physical injuries and that the path of war took a toll on the soldiers’ minds as well.

The mood of the show was downtrodden, depressed. The cold weather played right into that as well. There was little joy in this episode. Even when the company felt safe and were singing, they were interrupted by a sniper.

There are three more episodes remaining in the first series of the Sunday Morning Sidewalk.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #142

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March 8

Big week here at EYG Comic Cavalcade. We had everything from weather to special sales to eBay orders. I have a bunch of books to enter into my CLZ app. I broke the 17,000 limit this week and, after today’s “fill-the-bag” sale at In This Issue Comics, I am nearly to 17,100.

I went to the comic shop In This Issue Comics in Bettendorf, which my friend James goes to for his Turtles books. There happened to be a special sale going on. It was a really nice little shop with terrible parking. It had a great variety of independents and variant covers. While I am always loyal to Comic World, In This Issue Comics was a nice shop that I might go back to some day, just to check it out. Certainly, I will go there before I go back to the other one in Davenport that I visited last month that made me think of an armpit.

Books this week:

What If…? Mickey and Friends Became Avengers #1. “The Coming of the Avengers.!” Plot by Steve Behling, script by Luca Barbieri and art by Alessandro Pastrovicchio. I started off with this because I got this cover A from Comic World, but picked up the Pluto variant at In This Issue Comics. This cool Pluto as Ant Man variant looks awesome and I just could not ignore it.

The Missionary #2. Written by Ryan Stegman and art and cover art by Jason Howard. This DSTLRY book continues with all kinds of demons and creatures battling their way through the pages. The character designs are really cool and well done. The imagery of the book works so well for these larger sized pages from DSTLRY.

Falling in Love on the Path to Hell #1-4. Story and art by Gerry Duggan & Garry Brown. I picked up these four issues of this ongoing Image book off eBay this week and I have #5,6 & 0 on the way in another order. I have enjoyed this series very much as we cross genres between Western and Samurais. It is a mystical story with two characters stranded on an island. Always reminds me of LOST. This has been very enjoyable so far.

Hornsby & Halo #3. Written by Peter J. Tomasi and art by Peter Snejbjerg. Peter Snejbjerg and John Kalisz did the art for the cover. I actually haven’t gotten this read yet, since it just arrived in the mail today from eBay. However, I had #4 last week and realized I was missing an issue. I am hoping to get to these two later tonight or sometime this weekend. They look cool.

Uncanny X-Men #11. “Echoes of Madness” Written by Gail Simone and art by Javier Garrón. Cover art was by David Marquez & Matthew Wilson. The big crossover “X-Manhunt” started in this issue with Chapter 1. Charles Xavier is out and about, back to causing trouble, even if he does not intend to.

NYX #9. “Charles.” Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly with art by Francesco Mortarino. Variant cover B art by Peach Momoko. This is Chapter 2 in the “X-Manhunt” crossover event as Charles makes his way to New York. Mojo is also here ready to bring his own brand of problems.

Storm #6. “Thundercloud.” Written by Murewa Ayodele and art by Luciano Vecchio. Cover art was done by Mateus Manhanini. Chapter 3 of the “X-Manhunt” happened in this issue. Storm faces off with the X-Men and she shows them that she is anything but a soft touch. Xavier came to Storm for help and boy does she give it. Poor Cyclops and Juggernaut.

The Spectacular Spider-Men #13. “Life and Limb.” Written by Greg Weisman and art by Emilio Laiso. Cover art was by Emilio Laiso and Edgar Delgado. The Lizard stopped the Electros from finishing off the Spider-Men, but the Lizard was still in a crazed form. So Peter and Miles had to face off with the reptile.

Juvenile #4. Written, illustrated and cover art by Jesus Orellana. Juvenile has been an excellent book so far and this penultimate issue of the series is not the exception. The kids get together and attempt an escape from the institution. I look forward to seeing what the end of this book will bring.

Doctor Strange of Asgard #1. Written by Derek Landy and art by Carlos Magno. Cover art was done by Geoff Shaw & Arthur Helsi (Gold Medalist). After losing his Sorcerer Supreme mantel for earth, Strange heads to Asgard to attempt to become the Sorcerer Supreme of Asgard. Thor says sure, but there are other obstacles for Strange to avoid. This is a cool new book featuring Dr. Strange while Doom is earth’s sorcerer supreme.

Jumpscare #1. Written by Cullen Dunn and art and cover art by Danny Luckert. This brand new Dark Horse book was a lot of fun. A new super hero is one the scene and she can summon weapons that she has seen from horror movies. Luckily, she is an aficionado of the genre. This is another cool, new Dark Horse book. I love the originality.

The Ultimates #10. Written by Deniz Camp and art by Juan Frigeri. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Neera J. Menon. It is always great fighting Nazis. We wind up with an unofficial Invaders reunion… though Namor has seen better days and our villain is a surprise (though I guessed it right away) identity.

The Terminator #5. “Gemini Rising.” Written and cover art by Declan Shalvey and art by Joe Mulvey. Action in outer space with astronauts and a Terminator. This Dynamite book has given us multiple locations for these robot battles and this one makes me think about the Alien franchise instead. Still cool though.

Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #11. “Uncharted” Part 1. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Paolo Villanelli. Cover art was done by Mark Brooks. Some of the answers as to why Gwen had to leave her dimension and how she got tied up with the TVA come out in this issue, as King Loki guest stars.

Space Ghost #10. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Variant cover C art was done by Bjorn Barends. Space Spectre arrives from the future with a mystery identity and a mission to prevent what is coming. Can Space Ghost stop someone so close to him?

Wolverine #7. “Ancient History.” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Martin Coccolo. Cover art was done by Martin Coccolo & Bryan Valenza. The mystery of the Adamantine rolls on as Wolverine goes one on one with Romulus. Things do not look good for our hero.

Spider-Boy #17. “Bug Brothers.” Written by Dan Slott and art by Nathan Stockman. Paco Medina and Edgar Delgado did the cover art. Spider-Boy and Boy-Spider try to co-exist now that Bailey is back from his overseas trip with Daredevil. It is weird but it seems as if every Spider character has a monstrous sidekick nowadays. Bailey has Boy-Spider, Miles has Shift and Peter has Rek-rap. Hmm.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #7. “The Sewers of Newark.” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Juan Ferreyra. Variant cover B art by Kevin Eastman. A new story arc begins with this issue, but the Turtles are certainly not on the same page yet. However, perhaps Donatello is not as crazy as he seemed.

Kill Train #2. Written by Olivia Cuartero-Briggs and art by Martina Niosi of Outclass Studios. Skylar Patridge did the cover art (Bronze Medalist-tied) We get introductions to some of the other people on the Kill Train and they team together to try and keep themselves alive.

Pinupocalypse #1. Written, art and cover art by Andrew Tarusov. This was one of the independent books I picked off the shelf at In This Issue on Friday and I was surprised how much I loved the book. It reminded me a bit of Love Everlasting crossed with a zombie book. The book was from Massive Comics and I really loved it. Those unexpected treats are the best.

Dust to Dust #3. Written by JG Jones & Phil Bram and art and cover art by JG Jones (Silver Medalist). Sheriff Meadows tried to convince people around him that the mysterious dust storm did not cause a family’s truck to burst into flames. He suspects foul play but no one else seems to buy into it. This was my favorite of the Dust to Dust issues so far as I was into the investigation.

The Tin Can Society #6. Written by Peter Warren and art by Francesco Mobili. Cover art was by Francesco Mobili and Chris Chuckry. I swear Tin Can Society has the absolute best cliffhangers/last pages of any series out there. My jaw dropped at the last page of this issue.

The Immortal Thor #21. “Two Did Enter.” Written by Al Ewing and art by Jan Bazaldua. Cover art was done by Alex Ross (Bronze Medalist-tied). We get a Executioner-centric issue as he faces off with Thor as they fight over who will go ahead to face the danger coming.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #6. “Shame.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Domenico Carbone. Davide Paratore did the cover art. I have to say that I was a bit confused by this issue and I do not remember much about it. I do love the cover from Davide Paratore and it was nearly a medalist this week.

The Fade #1-2. Written by Aabria Iyengar and illustrated and cover art by Mari Costa. Another fun independent book from the shelves of In This Issue. I liked this story and the way they brought the “Fade” into the book. Is it just all in their minds? This was a great couple of books.

Sam and Twitch Case Files #11. Written by Jordan Barel and Todd McFarlane with art by Thomas Nachlik (with special thanks to Magnus Arts). Cover art was done by Raymond Gay & Marco Failla. This issue focuses more on Twitch than we have gotten in the entire series.

Secret Six #1. Written by Nicole Maines and art by Stephen Segovia. Segovia and Rain Beredo did the cover art. It is another DC book that I liked a lot. I just grabbed this at Comic World this week because the heroes intrigued me and… dang it… I really enjoyed this one too. I have too many DZC books on my list. I don’t need another, but… it looks like I have another.

Parliament of Rooks #4. Written by Abigail Jill Harding with Richard Starkings and illustrated and cover art by Abigail Jill Harding. Things are taking a sharp turn for the worse with our mismatched lovers. There are a lot of monster fight going down this issue and it feels like it is building towards a conclusion.

Hyde Street #4. Storytellers are Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis. Cover art was done by Ivan Reis & Danny Miki with Brad Anderson. This month’s tale is of an actor cast in the role of Frankenstein’s Monster in an Abbott and Costello movie and his problematic path, from hours in the makeup chair to injuries to his eyes. Hyde Street continues to be one of the more entertaining horror anthologies of the month.

Blade Forger #1. “Sakima.” Written by Inaki Miranda & Roy Miranda with art and cover art by Inaki Miranda. I liked this book even though it felt all over the place. It is told over the span of decades and feels like a mixture of current and fantasy storytelling.

Scarlet Witch #10. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Jacopo Camagni with Russell Dauterman. Variant cover C art by Corin Howell & Raul Angulo. This next run of Scarlet Witch books came to an end with this issue. It looks as if Wanda is going to have a new series coming up with Vision. I am not sure why they can’t just keep these as a Scarlet Witch book featuring the extra character. They did the same thing last year with Quicksilver.

Blade Red Band #5. Written by Bryan Hill and art by Federica Mancin. Cover art was by David Yardin & Romulo Fajardo Jr. This also brings this round of Blade books to a close. Only five issues for Blade this time. Blade is much like Wanda because they both come back for short runs in a book and then go away for a short period before they return in a new volume. I wish Marvel would not do that so many times or call it a mini-series and put the numbering on the cover (such as 5 of 5).

Two-Face #4. “The Trial of Harvey Dent.” Written by Christian Ward and art by Fabio Veras. Cover art was by Baldemar Rivas. This Two-Face series has been bat-shit crazy. All of the action inside Harvey Dent’s mind, but we are learning a ton about the character of Two face. It has been a great read.

Justice League: The Atom Project #3. “The Bond.” Written by Ryan Parrott and John Ridley and art and cover art by Mike Perkins. Captain Atom is in a difficult mindset and he is not quite in a state of mind for help from the other Atoms.

Other books this week: Web of Spider-Verse: New Blood #1, The Nice House by the Sea #6, Living Hell #3, Moon Man #7, Knights vs. Samurai #6, and Huge Detective #4.

Mickey 17

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Academy Award winning director/writer Bong Joon Ho (Parasite, Snowpiercer, Okja) is back with his new film released this weekend after several delays, Mickey 17, based on a novel named Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton. Mickey 17 is a mix of sci-fi/dark comedy/drama/satire/fantasy-adventure. Unfortunately, these genres are not combined well and are at odds with the others more times than not.

Mickey 17 tells the story of a man named Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson), who, in order to escape earth and a loan shark who is after him, volunteers to be an expendable, a person they give the bad jobs to and, if something tragic happens, they clone the expendable and replace his memories.

Which is where the 17 comes from in the title. The seventeenth version of Mickey is the one we are with during the brunt of the beginning of the film. Then something unexpected happened and they wind up creating Mickey 18, even though Mickey 17 was not yet dead.

While I feel that there were several problems with the movie, I did not hate this. In fact, I am kind of on the fence about it. Some of the stronger parts of the film is certainly the performance of Robert Pattinson. His work as both Mickeys was extremely strong, as he was able to create two distinct characters, even though they were meant to be the same person. I am not sure why Mickey 18 turned out to be as different from Mickey 17 as he did, which was something the film did not go into.

The first part of the film was very intriguing. I liked the sci-fi elements to the story, especially the ones between 17 and 18 in the early part of the film.

The film looked great. The CGI was spectacular and you could see the wonderful eye of director Bong Joon Ho.

However, the film was not that funny, with most of the humor falling flat. I did not enjoy the performance of Mark Ruffalo, who was clearly doing a satirical take on Donald Trump. I am not a Trump fan, and I believe there is plenty of area available for parody, but this was just so over-the-top and blatant that it lacked any subtlety at all. Plus the character played by Ruffalo is such a one-note villain that it felt too cartoonish for the rest of the film. Toni Collette, who played the wife of Ruffalo’s character, was better, but she was similarly one dimensional. Her whole obsession with “sauce” made little sense in the overall film.

Several characters and moments were introduced only to never really have a payoff. I love Steven Yeun (Walking Dead), but his character was inconsistent for me and his storyline felt like it was added to get Steven Yeun into the movie. It felt like it could have been removed completely without any massive change to the story.

It was also 2 hours and 17 minutes long, which is not a bad thing necessarily, but it did feel its length during the film. The last part of the movie was chaotic and strange and I am not sure how well it worked. I do like the big swings with the oddity of a film that this is, but it just did not feel to be a cohesive narrative with a consistent tone.

I think some of the ideas in Mickey 17 are extremely great and could have made a better movie than what this turned out to be. For me, I came out of the theater with a meh feel after having some high hopes heading in. As I said, it is not a bad movie. It does not come anywhere near Parasite or Snowpiercer.

2.9 stars

Invincible S3 E7

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Spoilers

“What Have I Done?”

The alternate timeline Invincibles arrived on earth, sent by Angstrom Levy, a villain Mark believed he had killed, and brought destruction and chaos to the planet.

This was a brutal episode of Invincible and saw some real stakes as the major cities of the country were devastated and thousands of people were killed. Sadly, Rex was one of the victims, as he blew himself up taking out one of the Invincible variants.

Our Mark was going through it as well. Not only was Eve badly injured, but he had to face the fact that this entire thing was his own fault. Angstrom brought these Invincible variants to the earth in order to get Mark and Mark was having a difficult time dealing with that guilt. Even though this is not Mark’s direct fault, the idea that it only happened because Angstrom was after him was a tough pill to swallow.

The adaptation of The Invincible War was filled with action and drama. The battle with the incoming Invincibles was tough and we saw all of the world’s heroes responding.

It also feels as if there is a slight warming of the relationship between Mark and Cecil, though Mark is still very cautious around him, and who could blame him for it?

Then there is no rest for Mark as we got the arrival of Conquest during the clean up of the city. Mark was itching to hit someone and these two powerhouses went straight for one another, setting up next episode with another bigtime throwdown.

This episode was compelling as could be and was one of the best of the series so far.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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March 5

I had a real hard time cutting this week’s covers down. My first time through, I had a possible ten covers in the race for the top three medal positions. It was really challenging to try and pick three. I failed at the task. I decided to have a tie for the bronze medal (second time ever). Interestingly enough, none of them are variant covers (there was a cool Peach Momoko NYX cover in the running, but…)

Bronze Medalists

1. Kill Train #2

Cover art by Skylar Patridge

AND

2. The Immortal Thor #21

Cover art by Alex Ross

Kill Train is an awesomely disturbing cover as our main protagonist is wiping the blood from the window of the train. Really cool imagery. Immortal Thor is from last year’s champion Alex Ross and has a great look at the Executioner facing off with Thor. Thor’s reflection in the axe. Oh, and there is Thanos standing in the background.

Silver Medalist

Dust to Dust #3

Cover art by JG Jones

Dust to Dust has had some of the best, most consistent covers of the year. This rattlesnake crawling around this skull is so beautiful.

Gold Medalist

Doctor Strange of Asgard #1

Cover art by Geoff Shaw and Arthur Hesli

Stephen Strange with his coat of many colors on the Rainbow Bridge. This is bright and shiny and jumps out from the pack on a really strong week.

Love Hurts

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I think Ke Huy Quan is as charming and engaging of an actor as you are going to find. I loved him in Everything, Everywhere All at Once and the season two of Loki. Unfortunately, Love Hurts is a mess. I’d go as far as to say that this is not Love Hurts… but instead, Love Stinks.

According to IMDB, “A realtor is pulled back into the life he left behind after his former partner-in-crime resurfaces with an ominous message. With his crime-lord brother also on his trail, he must confront his past and the history he never fully buried.”

There were some fun fight scenes. The story, though, was about as dumb as it comes and there is not one real character in it. Because of all that, the film, even among the biggest action scenes, felt very boring.

1.5 stars

Dog Man

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With a day off school for weather, I had a chance to watch Dog Man on Fandango at Home (Vudu). Dog Man was a movie that I was avoiding at the theaters because it just did not look like something that would intrigue me. The trailers did nothing for the film in my opinion and, even after some positive reviews, I did not care to watch it.

So when I rented Dog Man, I was not especially anxious to see it.

I have to say, this was a movie that I found much more enjoyable than I ever expected it to be.

The film kicked off with the origin of Dog Man, and set up his rivalry with the evil cat, Petey (Pete Davidson). With pressure from Chief (Lil Rel Howery) and the Mayor (Cheri Oteri), Dog Man was chasing Petey, and every time Dog Man would catch him, Petey would escape from the Cat Prison. Everything changed when Petey decided to clone himself.

The script of this movie was pretty good, as it told the story of what was going on, but also reveled in a ton of meta filmmaking. There were tons of jokes about the movie, the style, the animation, and about the tropes that were actually quite funny. They were jokes that worked much better in context than they did during the trailers, which always seemed to be painfully unfunny.

The look of the animation was original and creative. I thought this looked really good and kept my focus on the screen.

I am sure that the target audience for this movie, of which I am not one, would find this incredibly entertaining. I would go as far as to say that I was entertained as well. This had some jokes for me as an adult mixed in with the jokes for the youth. They worked well together.

It is very sweet, maybe even too sweet at times.

I am happy that I was able to watch Dog Man. It was much better than I thought it would be. I would highly recommend it to any families out there looking for some funny family fare that everyone will enjoy.

3.6 stars

Daredevil: Born Again S1 E1, E2

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Daredevil is back.

The new MCU Disney + series debuted tonight with its first two episodes. I liked how the show feels like another season of the Netflix show while feeling like its own thing too.

The return of Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio brings their aura and talents in the roles of Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk. The power of these two actors absolutely drive this series so far. These characters are complex and three dimensional. They are the opposite sides of the same coin. The discussion between Murdock and Fisk in the diner is such an amazing scene.

I kind of suspected the shocking death that happened in episode one. I had heard some rumors and that minimized it a little bit. It was still tough to see and was an emotional moment.

Yes, there was not a lot of Daredevil in the two episodes, but it made sense as to why we do not see DD much. We get plenty of Matt Murdock though and it really works.

I am very excited to see where the series heads after the first two solid episodes. It was extremely creative and original. Bringing the idea of Mayor Fisk into the storyline is amazing and gives D’Onofrio something special to play.

We are introduced to White Tiger in these episodes, but out of costume at first. I have always enjoyed the character, but I do not have much knowledge of him. I liked how his story worked into the overall arc of the beginning of the series.

We have not seen Muse yet (although I do think we have).

Daredevil: Born Again is on Disney + released on Tuesdays.

The White Lotus S3 E3

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Spoilers

“The Meaning of Dreams”

Big lesson to learn from this episode: don’t release a cobra.

Second big lesson: All the bald, white guys look alike.

Finally, voting for Trump can cause friction among friends.

The White Lotus had its third episode drop on MAX Sunday night, and, between the Oscars and RAW, I am just getting around to it tonight. It was a lot of fun as some weird and humorous things occurred. There also felt as if there were several biblical allegories happening.

Rick, stoned, released a bunch of poisonous snakes from the terrarium at a local snake show, including a cobra which just happened to bite Chelsea. She was rushed to the hospital, but she turned out fine. When asked why he let the snakes free, Rick just said that he felt bad for them. Chelsea said that snakes were evil, but Rick said that even evil things should not be treated badly. This was a weird sequence with these two.

Belinda went to speak to “Gary” because she had thought she had placed the face that she recognized. She was sure that he was Greg, who had married Tanya. He denied it, of course, but she clearly made “Gary” feel uneasy and could Belinda just put herself in danger? I really want Gary/Greg to get his comeuppance this season from his manipulations that led to poor Tanya’s death last season.

Timothy Ratliff finally decided to put his phone away, since it was constantly blowing up with people trying to contact him… specifically the FBI. The stress is beginning to get to Timothy and he took some sleep medication to get some rest. This looks like an arc forming around him and this drug.

Kate told Jaclyn and Laurie that her husband had voted for Trump and that she was an independent, dodging the question about whether she had voted for Trump. Jaclyn and Laurie were laughing about it later and Kate overheard them. I mean… Kate is from Texas after all.

I like where many of these stories are going and I hope for justice for Tanya!

Paradise S1 E8

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Spoilers

“The Man Who Kept the Secrets”

Paradise’s first season of episodes came to a close with an answer to the central mystery of the whole first chunk of episodes: who killed President Cal Bradford?

We see, not only, who the killer was, but also how it happened and where he had been since. It turned out that the librarian Trent was the killer of the President. However, it a plot twist worthy of this show, the librarian was not actually Trent. It turned out that the librarian was the man who attempted to assassinate the President in episode one. He had replaced the real Trent, who was a librarian on the list heading to the underground city. The assassin took his place and hid in plain sight the whole time.

He had wanted to finish the job, but he got comfortable and decided he wanted to live. When Cal had come to the library to make a mix tape for his son, it triggered Not-Trent and convinced him to finish the job.

We see the actual flashback to the murder and it is a dramatic end. Xavier chased Not-Trent as he tried to escape the city. Xavier had found directions to escape and Not-Trent smashed him over the head to take it away.

The end to Sinatra was not quite as satisfying, though Jane shooting her through the throat was not as good as Xavier blowing her head off. Jane did this to keep Sinatra alive and keep Xavier from killing her. Jane had been ordered to take care of Presley, but she did not do it. Xavier was happily reunited with his kids without knowing that Jane was behind the murder of his friend.

This is an awesome show and the show set up a great arc with Xavier on his way out of the city in an attempt to find his wife. Paradise has been renewed for season two so that is exceptional.

FYC: 2025 Oscar Reaction

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I have been very happy to share the FYC crew on EYG this year. I enjoy this show and love the hosts. They have wonderful discussion with intelligence and balance. They can disagree while still clearly being respectful and friendly.

I look forward to the next Oscar season for FYC to return once again!

Thanks to Perri, Scott and Jeff!

Oscar Winners

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Best Picture 
Anora
The Brutalist 
A Complete Unknown 
Conclave
Dune: Part Two 
Emilia Pérez
I’m Still Here
Nickel Boys
The Substance 
Wicked

Actor in a Leading Role
Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice

Actress in a Leading Role
Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez
Mikey Madison, Anora
Demi Moore, The Substance
Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here

Actor in a Supporting Role
Yura Borisov, Anora
Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain 
Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown 
Guy Pearce, The Brutalist 
Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice

Actress in a Supporting Role
Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown
Ariana Grande, Wicked
Felicity Jones, The Brutalist
Isabella Rossellini, Conclave
Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez

Animated Feature Film
Flow 
Inside Out 2 
Memoir of a Snail 
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl 
The Wild Robot

Documentary Feature Film
Black Box Diaries
No Other Land
Porcelain War
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Sugarcane

International Feature Film
I’m Still Here
The Girl with the Needle
Emilia Pérez
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Flow

Directing
Sean Baker, Anora
Brady Corbet,  The Brutalist
James Mangold, A Complete Unknown
Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez
Coralie Fargeat, The Substance

Cinematography
Lol Crawley, The Brutalist
Greig Fraser, Dune: Part Two
Paul Guilhaume, Emilia Pérez
Ed Lachman, Maria
Jarin Blaschke, Nosferatu

Writing (Original Screenplay)
Anora 
The Brutalist  
A Real Pain   
September 5 
The Substance 

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Emilia Pérez
Nickel Boys
Sing Sing

Film Editing
Anora
The Brutalist
Conclave
Emilia Pérez
Wicked

Music (Original Song)
“El Mal” from Emilia Pérez
“The Journey” from The Six Triple Eight
“Like a Bird” from Sing Sing
“Mi Camino” from Emilia Pérez
“Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late

Music (Original Score)
The Brutalist
Conclave
Emilia Pérez
Wicked
The Wild Robot

Sound
A Complete Unknown 
Dune: Part Two 
Emilia Pérez
Wicked 
The Wild Robot

Production Design
The Brutalist
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Nosferatu
Wicked

Visual Effects
Alien: Romulus
Better Man
Dune: Part Two
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Wicked

Makeup and Hairstyling
A Different Man 
Emilia Pérez
Nosferatu
The Substance 
Wicked

Costume Design
Arianne Phillips, A Complete Unknown
Lisy Christl, Conclave
Janty Yates and Dave Crossman, Gladiator II
Linda Muir, Nosferatu
Paul Tazewell, Wicked

Best Animated Short
Beautiful Men
In the Shadow of the Cypress
Magic Candles
Wander to Wonder
Yuck!

Best Documentary Short
Death by Numbers
I am Ready, Warden
Incident
Instruments of a Beating Heart
The Only Girl in the Orchestra

Best Live-Action Short
A Lien
Anuja
I’m Not a Robot
The Last Ranger
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent

The X-Files S8 E7

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Spoilers

“Via Negativa”

This was yet another Agent Doggett episode in season 8 that I found very engaging and entertaining. My memory of the 8th season was that I did not enjoy any of these episodes, but on this rewatch, I have found these to be hidden gems. Most of the first eight have been pretty good to awesome, with a few exceptions.

“Via Negativa” is one of those awesome episodes. Even with a limited amount of screen time for Scully, the tone and mood of the show was not lacking and gave a wonderful backdrop for a very strong performance from Robert Patrick.

It was cool to see more from Skinner in this episode and the initial team up with Doggett and the Lone Gunmen. The use of these other X-Files characters helped ease the absence of Scully.

The story itself was not the greatest script I had seen on The X-Files, but there were so many other positives in the episode that it helped create an exciting and eerie show.