Author Archives: Doc

The Last of Us S2 E7

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“Convergence”

“You wasted it!”

What an end to the second season of The Last of Us. Abby comes face to face with Ellie and it sure seemed as if Abby shoots Ellie.

Ellie killed a couple of Abby’s group earlier, including Mel, a pregnant woman, and it was clear that it hit Ellie hard. Mel became collateral damage in this revenge and that shook Ellie to her core.

With the screen going to black when the shots are fired, we have no idea what happened to Ellie. Most series I would say that it was obvious that she would be fine, that it was someone else’s gun going off, but about a month ago, the show killed Joel so I would not put anything past it.

It did end the season with the idea that the show was going to switch POV to Abby as the episode ended with a chyron stating “Seattle Day One” on the screen after we saw Abby in the Wolves’ stadium. I do not know how excited I am in seeing the POV of Abby in this whole thing. I hate this character of Abby and I do not want to have my opinion changed on her. I am not interested in a redemption arc for her, seeing everything that she has been through. She killed Joel and she killed Jesse. I am sad for the loss of Jesse, by the way. I should have known earlier in the episode when Jesse said that he was not dying that it was just foreshadowing the end.

By the way, the short time that Ellie was on Scar Island with the Seraphites was utterly frightening. I was not sure how Ellie was getting out of that situation as the noose was around her neck and she was just about dangling off the ground. She was seconds away from being gutted like a deer by the Seraphites. Thankfully, an alarm goes off, preventing the scarred psychos from completing their ritual. Ellie has that luck roll working for her.

The shots of Ellie on the water in the thunderstorm was amazing scenes. The power of the storm was clear and the danger that Ellie was willing to put herself in to satisfy her own selfish vengeance is fully realized.

I was not sure that this was the finale of the season, and it left off at a horrible moment. Then, Abby seemingly the focus of the third season, at least at first does not make me anxious for the show to return. It is absolutely a quality show, but I worry that it may push some viewers, particularly those that are not the game players, away.

Poker Face S2 E5

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“Hometown Hero”

Take me out to the ballgame… where Charlie will solve a murder case with the greatest of ease.

The latest Poker Face episode was set in a small time minor league park with a washed up pitcher named “Rocket” and a team on the verge of setting an all time record for losing.

A group of the players got together to bet on the team losing and it was going to be a huge pay off, especially as they were throwing the games.

However, a new, hotshot pitcher threatened to upend their plan, so they spiked the kid’s gum with drugs. Unfortunately, the drugs only served to make him unhittable.

After some shenanigans, the team still was able to lose and set the record. However, the young kid discovered the truth and was going to blackmail Rocket with the evidence. Rocket threw a ball at the kid’s head, killing him accidentally.

Thankfully, the newly hired ball-girl Charlie was able to uncover the, admittedly, stupid ballplayers’ scam for throwing games and she was able to put together the truth from Rocket.

This was a pretty dumb episode, but it was still fairly entertaining. A big charm of this series is Natasha Lyonne and her performance as the living lie detector. I do hope there are some switch ups coming because I am afraid that the repetitive format might get dull. Last time I mentioned that in reference to this series, the show did change up and gave some creative episodes so I hope the same thing will happen in the second part of this season.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #18

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“Playing House”

Last week, I was not very interested in the new story arc that The Sandman was starting off. This week, I am all in.

Funny how a week can change things. The whole story of Rose Walker and her search for his brother Jed was not catching my attention. I theorized last week when Rose showed up in the Dreaming at Morpheus’s throne room, business might be picking up and I was right. Right now I am fully engaged with this story of a sister trying to reunite with her brother.

We got more abut Jed’s life, trapped in a basement as his cruel foster father collected $800 checks every month and how Jed escaped into his dreams, with the aid of one of Morpheus’s missing nightmares, Gault, to become a super hero called The Sandman. Perhaps it was this dream that grabbed my attention, but, whatever it was, I thought this was so much more entertaining and gripping than it was last week.

The Corinthian was back again, being brutal and vicious in the most gentlemanly manner. When he showed up to take Jed, it was both a happy moment and one of anxiety. One thing is for sure, I was happy with the fates of the foster parents. They deserved every bit of what they got.

It seems more and more to me that Morpheus is not the hero of this story. On the surface, it appeared as if he wanted to help Rose find Jed, but it appeared that he only cared about retrieving Gault. His punishment of Gault was over the top too. I have to not think about Morpheus as a hero and instead thing of him like a force of nature. He is much like Galactus. Galactus consumes planets, but he is a necessary cog in the universe’s life span even if his actions could, at times, seem villainous.

The Lyta/Hector storyline still does not intrigue me near as much as the main story with Rose, but the dream baby does have some interest.

I am looking forward to next week’s installment, which is episode nine of eleven. We are coming to the end of the second program in the Sunday Morning Sidewalk series. I am actively looking for the third TV show to include after The Sandman concludes in three weeks.

Doctor Who S2 E7

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“Wish World”

It is May 24th, a date that has been of major significance in season two of Disney +’s Doctor Who. Exactly what the significance of that date is still a bit of a mystery (outside of it being the meta date that the finale was scheduled for on Disney +).

Last week, we saw a post credit scene where we see Mrs. Flood bigenerate into a second woman and it is revealed that she was The Rani, the last surviving Time-Lady.

And this episode started off with The Doctor and Belinda seemingly happily married in a world that felt unreal. There was a definite flavor of Doctor Who meets WandaVision in this episode.

Conrad returned as the man who was installed by Rani as the god-like being of Wish World. Still, even Conrad felt as if he were being manipulated by Rani.

As the Doctor slowly regained his memory, bizarre things were happening all over the place. We saw the return again of Ruby, who is always a welcome sight.

This episode was weird and wild, mostly setting up the big part two next week. They also mentioned Omega, who they said was the first time lord, one who created the Time Lords in the first place. This is a villain that apparently was around in 1972.

This episode did feel like it was here just for set-up, and not its own penultimate episode of the second season. I am looking forward to seeing how this wraps up, especially since the rumors are that Ncuti Gatwa will not be back for another season.

Mission: Impossible-The Final Reckoning

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I have been a big fan of the recent Mission: Impossible franchise, so I was looking forward to the final film, and, like everyone I wanted to see Tom Cruise running and doing a massive stunt. Well, he ran throughout the movie but his massive stunt did not come until late in the movie… and it was a long movie.

I do think the last hour or so of Mission: Impossible-The Final Reckoning was sensational. The problem was that the film was almost three hours long.

The first hour and a half of the movie was so packed with exposition and flashes to previous movies that I was getting a little bored, and that is something that a Mission: Impossible movie should never be.

Tom Cruise was great as Ethan Hunt. You can tell how comfortable he is with the character. His stunt work in the final confrontation of the movie is typically stunning. It was good to see the return of Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg as the team that has backed Ethan for so many missions. Hayley Atwell is back from the last film and she has decent chemistry with Cruise. Rolf Saxon and Lucy Tulugarjuk appear in the film as a couple of characters who become two of my favorites from the film.

Esai Morales is not my favorite character in the film. I do not think he worked as the villain of this movie. I think he was better in the previous film and his transfer over to this one was not great.

I did not love the final scene of the movie either. I wanted some more resolution for the characters than what was done. Perhaps that is in case this is not the final MI movie.

I do not think this was a fantastic finale of this franchise, but it was still a solid action movie. The last hour or so of the movie was really great and engaging. The first hour and a half spent way too much time explaining things and trying to set things up. Mission: Impossible-The Final Reckoning was a touch underwhelming, but that is probably because the franchise had been so sensational for the last five or six movies that you do not expect it to only be okay.

3.5 stars

Lilo & Stitch (2025)

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As I was sitting in the theater with the credits rolling, I heard a family coming down the steps. The mom asked the little boy what he thought of his first movie, to which he responded with an enthusiastic ‘great.’ I sat there thinking how cool that was. I do not remember what my own first movie in theater was, but I know how the experience can be such an enjoyable moment.

I just recently rewatched the 2002 animated movie Lilo & Stitch to prepare for the remake and I thought that was an enjoyable watch though I would not say that I found it a Disney all-time classic.

The Disney live action remakes have been largely not some of my favorite films with a few exceptions on the list. This film is one that I think would be a decent film, especially for a family viewing experience, much like the little boy whose first theater movie was this.

I do wonder if this film has a real purpose for existing outside of $$$. Now, to be fair, all movies are looking to make money, but there have been some of these Disney remakes that just do not feel as if they have any soul, any real magic that the animated films had in excess.

Still, I do think that, for the most part, the 2025 Lilo & Stitch was fine. There were some plot and character adjustments from the animated movie, but nothing that jumped out at me.

The CGI Stitch was well done and worked as a character, which was vital if you wanted this movie to work. Voiced by the original voice actor, Chris Sanders, Stitch was every bit the rapscallion that he was in the animated movie. Young Maia Kealoha made her acting debut as Lilo, and she did a decent job. Some of the trailers for the film did not highlight the strongest aspects of Maia’s work so to see it in context made it work so much more. Again, if Lilo did not work, this movie would have flopped.

The comedic pairing of Billy Magnussen and Zach Galifianakis as Pleakley and Jumba was good casting as they played off each other quite well. I did miss the voice of the late David Ogden Stiers from the animated film. Sydney Agudong played the role of Lilo’s sister Nani and I thought she was wonderful. She had a film presence that stood out on the screen. Courtney B. Vance, Amy Hill, Tia Carrere, Hannah Waddingham, and Kaipo Dudoit added to the ensemble of the film.

In the end, this was a fine film that did its job, basically. I am sure that there will be plenty of children who see this movie as their first ever movie in a theater and that is a wonderful thing. This would be a good film for that honor.

3.4 stars

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.