Animation Style: 3D computer-generated imagery (CGI)
Studio: Pixar/Disney
Here it is. The number one animated movie for EYG. Toy Story 3 was the perfect ending to the trilogy of Toy Story. I know there have been two more movies since, but that does not take away from this conclusion to the Andy storyline. Toy Story 3 had one of my absolutley favorite movie villains in Lotso and has a final scene with Andy and Bonnie just before Andy heads off to college. Then, when I first saw the film, I thought they were literally going to burn our heroes to death in an incinerator. That scene when Lotso leaves Woody, Buzz and the others to face a fiery doom was shockingly tense. Nothing has matched this for me. Toy Story 3 is the #1 Animated Movie in the Daily Countdown.
Voice cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, Ned Beatty, Michael Keaton, Jodi Benson, John Morris, Charles Bright, Jeff Pidgeon, Blake Clark, R. Lee Ermey, Laurie Metcalf, Bea Miller, Emily Hahn, Lori Alan, Erik von Detten, Timothy Dalton, Kristen Schaal, Bonnie Hunt, Jeff Garlin, Amber Krone,Brianna Maiwand, Bud Luckey, Lee Unkrich, Teddy Newton, Woody Smith, Whoopi Goldberg, John Cygan, Jack Angel, Jan Rabson, and Richard Kind.
I got a ton of books this week. Mainly because I attended In This Issue’s 10th anniversary sale. They had their stuff a bag sale and I had two of the bags, $50 dollars each, and I wound up with over 200 back issues. I got a lot of New Avengers, War Machine, Rebels, New Universal, some alternate covers of Something Epic and many others. It was a lot of fun. Congrats to In This Issue on their anniversary.
Comic of the Week
Gee, what could it be?
Amazing Spider-Man #1000
I got so many Amazing Spider-Man #1000 this past week. Of course I did. Spider-Man is my favorite character in all of fiction, not just comic books, so this is a major accomplishment. There were a bunch of covers and two of them were medalists this week (Silver and Gold).
The initial story was slightly disappointing when Peter’s cousin, Cormac, became a villainous character. I was hoping this would go in a different direction. I thought the story itself was fine, but I hoped for something different.
I loved the Old Man Parker in the retirement home story though.
Books This Week:
Operation: Iron Coffin #3. Written by Kenny Porter with art and cover art by Tyrell Cannon. I picked up the B cover too by Juan Ferreyra. Count Dracula finally finds his way to the children… which leads to the end of this series. Now, they certainly are going to continue this series eventually I believe. I have enjoyed this series very much.
Uncanny X-Men #36. “Wild Ride,” Part 4: “Rights of Rage“. Written by Gail Simone and art by Luciano Vecchio. Cover art was done by Luciano Vecchio & Matthew Wilson. We get the fourth part of the Wild Ride. I am not sure if Gambit is cured or if there is more, but I do love the originality of the series.
Queen in Black #5. Written by Al Ewing and art by Iban Coello & Paco Medina. The cover art was done by Ryan Stegman & Marcelo Maiolo. I have to say that I am not a fan of the end of the Queen in Black. It started fairly strong, but the ending did not do much for me.
Hyde Street #13. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Ivan Reis. Cover art was done by Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, & Brad Anderson. The Butcher is here and the denizens of Hyde Street are not a fan. Things are very dangerous with the Butcher out to attack Mrs. Goodbody.
Mister Nemo #3. Written by Mark London with art by Alden Kaye. Cover art was done by Duncan Rouleau. Big new adventure as Nemo and the crew launch a rescue mission on the island of Faro. The Mister Nemo book has been very engaging and entertaining as the series moves on.
Hammerfist #2. Written by Rick Remender and art and cover art by Steve Epting. William is on the run from all of the people who want what he has. There are some great action and brutality in this new series. This is a great new Image book that has been fun to read.
Denver #2. Written by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray with art by Pier Brito. Cover art was done by Amanda Conner. Max Flynn’s wife has been kidnapped and the villains are threatening to kill her off if Max does not do what they want… let several boats into Denver. Max gets a bit wild.
Geiger #25. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Gary Frank. Variant cover D art was a pic of the MacFarlane Toys Action Figure. The big 25th issue of Geiger saw the battle between the Glowing Man and the bandaged President Griffin. It looked like we are on the way to a showdown with Glowing Man and Redcoat.
Fantastic Four #17. “A Rat is Killed, A Man is Broken…” Written by Ryan North and art by Vincenzo Carratu. Cover art was done by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. I also picked up the Muppet version of the FF cover by Giuseppe Camuncoli & Edgar Delgado. The FF are shrunken down and are inside the body of Magneto. Problem is they do not remember anything. It was fun how they interacted with each other without their memories. It was one of the strengths of Ryan North and it reminded me of the early days of his run.
X-Men #38. Written by Jed MacKay with pencils by Tony S. Daniel. Cover art was done by Netho Diaz, Sean Parsons & Arthur Hesli. This DNX tie-in goes inside Magneto’s mind with Charles Xavier showing up… or does he? There feels to be a never ending mine of details between Magneto and Xavier.
Amazing Venom #1. Written by Jordan Morris with art by Luke Ross. Cover art was done by Stefano Caselli (Bronze Medalist). Fred Myers was at one time Boomerang. He has bonded with the symbiote Passenger and they come together as Comeback. I am not sure if I am getting this book in the long run or not. I do like Fred so I might give it a chance.
DNX #2. “Part Two” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Federico Vicentini. Cover art was done by Kaare Andrews. Cyclops and Chairman face off as the X-Men try to keep 3X from releasing the X-Virus in Philadelphia. And seemingly, they succeed. Problem was… 3X had a second site… and the X-Virus was released in Juniper. The X-Virus is now out. What are they going to do?
X-Men United #7. “Shadow Play Pt. 3” Written by Eve L. Ewing & Evan Narcisse with pencils by Ruairi Coleman. Cover art was done by Stefano Caselli & Federico Blee. Wither and Blade arrive, leading to… a fight with Bald and Wolverine, of course. But in the end, they are in search of the missing daughter of Blade, Brielle aka Bloodline.
Venom #262. Written by Al Ewing and art by Carlos Gomez. Cover art was done by Carlos Gomez & Guru-eFX. This is the end of this version of Venom. Mary Jane has had her symbiote taken away and she is back to normal. I am not sure where things go from here, but it looks as if Eddie Brock is back as Venom.
Hello Darkness #25. Todd saved me a couple of variant covers by Jenny Frison. She created these variant covers as a connective cover and they are just beautiful. The stories within this issue were not my favorite over the 25 issues so far, but I am always down for some awesome cover art.
White Sky #6. Written by William Harms and art was done by JP Mavinga. Cover art was done by JP Mavinga. The first arc of White Sky wraps up with issue six. David tries to break out of the scavenger camp while Violet leaves San Francisco. White Sky will return in a few months.
Hillbilly: The Treason of Twelve-Toe Maggie #1. Written, art and cover art by Eric Powell. The synopsis? The wandering hero Rondel (wielder of the Devil’s Cleaver) must save an old friend. To do so, he is forced into the service of his former captor, the twelve-toed witch Twelve-Toe Maggie. Rondel must figure a way to break the magical tie to Maggie. This was a cool new book from Dark Horse and I am looking forward to more.
Zorro’s Legacy #3. “True of False.” Written by Dan Abnett and art by Guillermo Fajardo. Cover art was done by Aaron Lopresti. Crooked cops and the mafia of the area are trying to set up the new Zorro. Zorro knows this is a trap, but he does not seem to care. The present day Zorro has been an entertaining twist on the classic character.
Bizarro: Year None #3. “Chapter Three: How Do I Look?” Written by Eric Carrasco & Kevin Smith with art by Nick Pitarra. Variant cover C by Ibrahim Mostafa. I picked up a great cover off the stand for this book. Bizarro apparently has realized that he is not Superman. Is that a good thing?
Other books this week: Shift #1, American Caper #11, Queen in Black: Venom Unchained #3, Fantastic Four: First Foes-Dragon Man #1, Web of Destiny #1, The Smart Division #2, and Valhallaw #1.
Quick Hits: The Tomb of Apocalypse #2 was back this month with more action involving Jubilee, Shatterstar, Rictor and Wolverine. The Sorcerer Supreme #10 found the end of the series with Wanda. I have not loved this series, despite loving Wanda. Reborn Ultimate Impact #5 wrapped up this week as well. I was also not a huge fan of this, but I did like the New Jersey Wonder Man. Gambit Wanted #3 saw our wonderful Gambit in a dark situation. Predator versus the Planet of the Apes #3 brought two of the big tentpole franchises owned by Disney together again. How many other mash-ups are in our future? Speaking of… AVX #1 which is Alien vs. X-Men. Final Boss #10 is another brutal video game-like fight. Vertigo’s Bleeding Hearts #8 and the zombie action moves along. The is a wonderful Conan the Barbarian #35 which had a beautiful cover that could have been in the medal round had there not been 20+ Amazing Spider-Man books out there. Bad Thoughts #4 is one of the top notch Ignition Press books. Ande Parks is a awesome writer and this has been a strong book.
Animation Style: a hybrid 3D-and-2D technique that mimics a living, hand-drawn comic book
Studio: Sony Pictures Imageworks
The first big screen appearance of Miles Morales was a masterful film. The adaptation of Miles, along with the use of some of the awesome Spider-Man variants such as Peter Porker, Spider-Noir and Penny Parker, made this such a fun and emotional movie that you just did not expect. The animation is some of the most creative and original animation you will ever see… so much so that some people said the animation was what bothered them the most. This won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Voice cast: Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, Luna Lauren Vélez, Zoë Kravitz, John Mulaney, Kimiko Glenn, Nicolas Cage, Kathryn Hahn, Chris Pine, Lake Bell, Liev Schreiber, Jorma Taccone, Marvin “Krondon” Jones III, Joaquín Cosío and Post Malone.
The finale of Lanterns was really good, in my opinion, but I have a feeling that it may not be as well received as it should be.
The mystery of who killed Hal Jordan was wrapped up with an interesting twist when it was revealed that Sheriff Kerry did indeed shoot him in the head.
Motive? She was protecting her son, Noah, who was revealed as a Manhunter. Noah knew he was a Manhunter and had healed Hal when Hal got stuck in a burning building. Noah had confessed to John that he had killed Hal, in order to protect his mom. Noah was the one who freed Sinestro and convinced him to forge him a lantern in exchange. Noah got the drop on John and got ahold of the ring, but he and John had a powerful conversation inside a car.
I say that I do not think the finale will be as well received because there was not much action in the episode, and there was a lot of talking. I like that kind of writing, but I know there has already been criticism about the use of the Lantern powers in this show.
I do think the episode was strong for the character element though, and watching John Stewart claim the ring and use the forged lantern to charge his ring with his own distinct oath.
In Brightest Day In Darkest Night I’ll embrace my fear… I’ll do what’s right I choose this ring, I choose this fight… In service to this lanterns light
Guy Gardner made another appearance and John told him what it was going to be. It was great to see John become what he was destined to be, but taking it in his own way.
Great series. I am sad that Hal Jordan seems to be done for good, but, even still, this was very entertaining.
I adjusted the rules of the October 13 because I wanted to do a rewatch of Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds. Typically, the October 13 is reserved for films that I have never seen before, and I did see this film in the theater back when it came out. However, I decided to include this one in the October 13 as a rewatch this year because I did want to give it a second chance, and I am glad that I did.
I remember not liking this movie at all when I saw it in the theater. I distinctly remember sitting in the Voy Theater and hating this film. I pulled it up today on HBO Max and thought it was much better. I still wouldn’t say that I loved it, but I did enjoy it more than that first time, and I am happy I did the rewatch.
According to IMDB, “An alien invasion threatens the future of humanity. The catastrophic nightmare is depicted through the eyes of one American family fighting for survival.”
One of the reasons why I think I liked this more this time than back then was I was not as familiar with HG Wells’ novel War of the Worlds at the time. Since I have read it and taught it at school and I have more of an appreciation for it. While they made many adaptations to it, there are several key scenes that come from the novel, including the scenes involving Ogilvy (Tim Robbins).
I was now familiar with the ending of the story, and how the alien tripods were brought down. I remember being really unhappy with the conclusion when I first saw it, but now it feels much more acceptable, if not even somewhat iconic.
Tom Cruise is solid as well, and we get some great scenes of him running. The two kids (Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin) were annoying through much of the film, but they grew on me as the story progressed.
The film looked great with the tripods and the aliens, and the scene where the long tentacle searched through the basement where Cruise and Ogilvy were hidden was very tense and suspenseful.
In the end, this was way better than I had remembered, and, while it is nowhere near the top of my Spielberg list of movies, it is no long near the bottom either.
I have had this on my Netflix queue for quite awhile, but I have been saving it for the October 13. Wrinkles the Clown was a documentary directed by Michael Beach Nichols. It followed a man in Florida who would offer to be hired by people who want him to scare misbehaving children or pull pranks.
It is a weird doc because it changes from the beginning halfway as something strange happened. I’m not sure if spoilers fit for a doc, but I’m going to play it close to the vest anyway.
I thought the film was interesting but it felt as if it weren’t very cohesive as it could have been and that came from the beginning of the film.
I’m glad I watched this, but I think it could have been a better viewing experience.
I mean, the character of Floyd, as brilliantly played by David Harbour, is one of the best character/people on TV. Everything about him was awesome, personality wise.
That all came through during the interrogation between Clark and Detective Plumb and Homer, after Plumb discovered that Carol had lied about the Go Getter drink.
The way Clark spoke about Floyd was as loving as you could and the descriptions of the way Floyd handled his life, from his step-son to a chance encounter, was so above board that one wonders why anyone would want him dead.
This episode revealed that Floyd was not a closeted gay. He had misinterpreted a picture on the DTF St. Louis site as a woman (didn’t have his spectacles on) when it was a picture of David Bowie, and his chance encounter with a man. Floyd lets him kiss him in the parking lot to avoid hurting the man’s feelings, even though he was not into him in that way.
This episode spent a chunk of time setting up Carol as the obvious suspect in the murder. Since it is episode three, I think she is also a red herring. We saw Carol riding one of the recumbent bikes like Clark does, plus she spent a bunch of time trying to get Clark to help her get life insurance for Floyd.
There is no doubt after this episode that Clark did not kill Floyd. The key that the police showed him clammed him up. I think it probably leads to some life insurance that would point the finger at Carol, and Clark was trying to protect her. I have a suspicion that he believes she killed Floyd.
Their sex life encounters… weird.
By the way, the gymnastics routine from Floyd on the hostile architecture was epic. Floyd was really out of breath after it. Is that a clue?
I am intrigued with this case, and I really want to know what happened to the wonderful Floyd.
Animation Style: stylized, expressive 3D computer animation
Studio: Pixar/Disney
“Take her to the moon for me.” These words took a fabulous movie, which to this point had been funny, spectacular and made it one of the best of all time. The sacrifice of Bing Bong is one of the most emotional Pixar moment of all time, right up there with the “Remember Me” scene in Coco and the opening of Up.
Voice cast: Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Richard Kind, Bill Hader, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling, Kaitlyn Dias, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan, Dawnn Lewis, Paula Poundstone, Bobby Moynihan, Paula Pell, Sherry Lynn, Lori Alan, Dave Goelz, Frank Oz, Josh Cooley, Flea, John Ratzenberger, Carlos Alazraqui, Pete Docter, Nick Pitera, Peter Sagal, and Rashida Jones.
I guess it looks as if each week will have three new episodes.
That seems to be the trade off for the shorter run times.
Elsa Mars makes her return to AHS as an emcee of sort and a musical guest, performing Peggy Lee’s 1969 hit “Is That All There Is?” Elsa was from season 4 American Horror Story: Freak Show. This is another character played by Jessica Lange. I loved the Freak Show season.
She was basically emceeing the sacrifice of 13 souls into the pit of hell.
The souls included: aka “Mr. Nas’ favorite bad girls,” include: Hypodermic Sally (Paulson’s “Hotel” character), “Gestapo gal pal” Eva Braun, “dynasty-busting divorcee” Wallis Simpson, “selfish writer” Ayn Rand, “vegetarian man-eater” Brigitte Bardot, “fker of horses” Catherine the Great, Mamie Eisenhower (Paulson from “Death Valley”), “sneaky Romanian tyrant” Elena Ceausescu, “original slty princess” Jezebel, Tuberculosis Karen (Paulson from “Red Tide”), “union-busting b***h” Margaret Thatcher, and lastly, poor Elizabeth. What’s her sin, you ask? According to Elsa, she “sucked the world dry” with her “hopeless dreaming.” Way harsh, Elsa.”
Wilhelmina Venable, Sarah Paulson’s character from Apocalypse, filled out the 13 when the number came up short.
Piggy Man returned this week. He was in Murder House and Roanoke seasons. Jeffrey Dahmer (played by Seth Gabel, from AHS: Hotel).
This show has been interesting, but the story itself is fairly lacking. It has been all nostalgia for the previous 12 seasons. We’ll see how things go as it moves on.
Digger was the wildest, absurd, most bat-sh*t film I have seen all year.
And I think I loved it.
I went to Digger, the new film starring Tom Cruise, with the knowledge that it had been very divisive. Honestly, I went in with the expectation of not liking it.
Then, about halfway through the film, I realized that I was really enjoying Digger and I had no idea of what kind of movie this was.
Speaking of that, it is nearly impossible to talk about the plot of this movie without spoiling things, so I am going to have to be very cautious with what I say.
Tom Cruise, who played Digger Rockwell, is spectacular in this movie. He is clearly game for anything that the film brings to him, as he is doing a bunch of crazy stuff. This character is played so over-the-top, but for a specific reason, that I do believe that Cruise may be a contender for an Oscar, even if the divisiveness of the film hurts its other potentials.
John Goodman played President Compson, and he was extremely funny. Goodman’s performance played off Cruise well and was every bit as impressive as the lead. Riz Ahmed was also great in the film as Dr. Ganesh. The acting was superb.
I have heard a lot of people comparing this to the iconic Dr. Strangelove, but that is only partially correct. Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu does a wonderful job with this bizarre, satirical, oddball film. I can understand why many people come out of this with such negative feelings. It is a big swing. I just found it to be such a remarkably creative and original idea.
Animation Style: combines 3D computer animation with 2D hand-drawn comic book techniques
Studio: Sony Animation
The second Miles Morales film expands the universe, literally. We get more Spider-Gwen, we get Spider-Man 2099, and a ton of Spider-Mans. One of the best animated films of all time. The only reason it is not higher up the list (which is weird to say since it is #4) is because of the cliffhanger ending. It is a spectacular movie.
Voice Cast: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Vélez, Jake Johnson, Jason Schwartzman, Issa Rae, Karan Soni, Shea Whigham, Greta Lee, Daniel Kaluuya, Mahershala Ali, and Oscar Isaac.
The first film of The October 13 this year is the first film of a franchise based on a video game from 2002. The video game? Resident Evil.
I had kind of wanted to watch this before I went to the rebooted Resident Evil from Zach Cregger, but it was out in September and I did not want to wait. I really enjoyed that movie starring Austin Abrams. Unfortunately, the original film, starring Milla Jovovich and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, was nowhere a good as the 2026 film.
This was tremendously bad. The acting was just atrocious. Milla Jovovich, who starred in one of my favorite movies The Fifth Element as Leelo, was just going through the motions, and sadly, she was the best actor of the crew.
There was LOST’s own Michelle Rodriguez, but she was just not bringing the goods. The rest of the cast was as wooden as one could be.
There were some moments that made me laugh loudly, even though they were not intended to. One example was when Milla made an acrobatic kick after bouncing off the wall, into the face of a monster dog. It was so ridiculous that it was embarrassing even for a video game.
The film did not look good. It was 2002, but it still lacked what I would have hoped for from the day. It was predictable and, while at the time it might have been more than just another zombie flick, since I am watching this is 2026, this is just another zombie flick.
Milla Jovovich is gorgeous and definitely stands out among the images of the violence and the gore, but there just is nothing else here. I am so happy the new film took a different direction, because it was heads and shoulders above this mess.
Welcome to October! That means that EYG begins the 2026 version of The October 13. EYG watched 13 different Halloween movies during the month and posts reviews on them. It is similar to the DailyViews that we have done, but just not daily.
This year, I am adjusting the rule a touch by including some films that I have seen before as a rewatch, specifically a film that does not have a review written on EYG.
This will be the running list of the films that are part of 2026’s The October 13.
Animation Style: a distinct artistic style inspired by Arabic design, flowing curves, and the caricatures of Al Hirschfeld
Studio: Disney
The renaissance of Disney animated movies in the 90s piqued, for me, when Aladdin came out. I am a huge fan of Robin Williams and his performance as the voice of the Genie was transcendent. The music is superior. The movie was a total kick, and it is my #5.
Voice cast: Scott Weinger, Robin Williams, Linda Larkin, Jonathan Freeman, Frank Welker, Gilbert Gottfried, Douglas Seale, Frank Welker, Jim Cummings, Charlie Adler, and Corey Burton. Brad Kane and Lea Salonga provide singing voices for Aladdin adn Jasmine.
