The X-Files S4 E16

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Spoilers

“Unrequited”

“Unrequited” was an episode of the X-Files dealing with the idea that there were POWs left behind in Vietnam by the US military and that one of the soldiers left behind was back to take vengeance on those who left him behind.

Oh, and that soldier is able to turn invisible.

The show uses the same shot at the beginning of the episode and then repeats it in the third act which feels fairly lazy. The story itself was lacking a bit. The middle part of the episode does not feel as tense as the ending.

How many times can you see someone and then not see them? It turned the episode fairly repetitive and the conclusion felt somewhat anticlimatic.

Overall, I liked the concept, but the story and the characters did not feel as flesh out as it could have been and was just another excuse to have Mulder and Scully wonder about the corruption of the government.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #96

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May 5, 2024

Free Comic Book Day special edition

To all the Star Wars fans out there, happy Revenge of the 5th, the day following May the 4th Be With You. Otherwise, this is a super special edition of the EYG Comic Cavalcade featuring the events and books of Free Comic book Day!

May 4th was more than just Star Wars Day this year. This year it also was Free Comic Book Day, a day where the companies release a bunch of promo comics, and comic shops around the country give them out for free.

I hope everyone understands that these are not free for the comic shop, who has to purchase these books (yes, at a reduced rate) and pay for shipping. This is why it is so vital that when you partake of a free book, you find something else to purchase at the shop as a thank you for all you do type of thing.

I had a wonderful day with Free Comic Book Day this year. I started the day with a movie that was really bad (Tarot…quite the stinker) and lunch at Burger King before heading over to Comic World.

I walked in the store right after the shop opened at noon and there were plenty of people already there. In the hour and a half (or so) that I hung out there, it was really quite busy, which is awesome.

There were some fabulous moments as I sat and watched people in the store. Some of the highlights included one young boy, probably around 10-11, who came in asking about the free comics and store owner Ben directed him to the table of books. The boy had eyes bulging and he said “thank you” in such a grateful way that you could tell that he meant it. It was such a cool moment, a small little moment that helped make the day great. With hope, a day like this could help create a future comic book fan.

That is, of course, one of the main purposes behind the entire Free Comic Book Day concept. Comic books are a niche hobby and it is important that the comic companies find a way to find new readers than just the same people that buy their books every Wednesday.

Another fun moment for me was when my teacher friend Ambarlee showed up with her three kids to buy their first comic books. She had the boys pick out a comic from the wall each before going over to the free table. I know she also picked up a trade paperback of Rainbow Rowell’s She-Hulk run (she enjoyed the She-Hulk Disney + show). They then grabbed a few of the free comics including One Piece, the Spidey and Amazing Friends, and the Spider-Man/Ultimates book. I had to take a pic of her holding her little girl who looked to be intently reading the comic in her hand.

Then, of course, I did my own purchasing. I picked up a rousing 21 free comics. Most of them had already been pulled in my box for me, which I appreciate so much. These included such books as Romeo vs. Juliet, The Cursed Library Prelude #0, Energon Universe #1, Flash Gordon #0, Dying Inside, One Piece Ace’s Story, Marvel Voices #1, Boom! Box 10th Anniversary Extravaganza, Hellboy, Monster High, Cursedverse #1, Stories from the Atlas Comics Library #1, Absolute Power #1, Conan: Battle of the Black Stone,Dr. Who #00, The Valiants, Gannibal, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

A couple of others:

FCBD: The Worlds of James Tynion IV: This included reprinted material, but two of them were Mementic and The Woods. I did not know either of these books and I may be interested in looking into them. The book indicated The Woods: Deluxe Edition is coming soon. Tynion is one of my favorite writers currently working with Something is Killing the Children (which is one of the key series that got me picking up independent books), The Department of Truth, and W0rldtr33.

FCBD: Blood Hunt #1: The prelude to this upcoming vampire story in Marvel includes Spider-Man fighting Doctor Dark and Dracula showing up. This also featured a back-up X-Men story by Gail Simone, featuring Jubilee. Simone will be the head writer on the upcoming new Uncanny X-Men series. Simone has been a huge proponent of Free Comic Book Day and supporting your local comic book shop.

FCBD: Spider-Man/Ultimate Universe #1. This had a weird Spider-Man story that I thought was an Ultimate Spider-Man story at first, but Peter did not have his beard, so I think this was supposed to be the regular Spider-Man. The back up story featured the Ultimates, trying to retrieve the original Human Torch. There was also a couple pages of Venom here.

Along with the FCBD books, I purchased a bunch of books from my shop.

Saga Volume 1-9. Brian K. Vaughn’s epic independent book is collected in nine volumes. I read volume one and I have to say that I was hooked. This first volume collected the first six chapters and we are introduced to some great characters and some major surprising twists. The nine volumes are contained in a beautiful container with art by Fiona Staples. I am excited to read the rest of this series moving forward.

X-Men: 198 #1-5. I picked up this mini series because I had never heard of it before and the five issues were packed together at a very reasonable price. This was a story taking place when there were only 198 mutants left on the planet (after Wanda’s No More Mutants, I believe). The government is moving the remaining mutants to Xavier’s School, and trying not to use the words internment camp. This has some really dark moments and seeing Cyclops and some of the other X-Men backing the government was tough. Kitty Pryde’s response was very understandable as the connection to the Holocaust is not missed on anyone. This was a fascinating read with a group of characters that I have not seen much of over the years.

Marvel Team-Up #9, 10,15. These have been at Comic World for awhile, and I have eyeballed them at different times, but this was a good point to buy them. I love Spidey and Marvel Team-Up was always one of my favorite books growing up. This has Ghost Rider, Human Torch and Iron Man in these issues. #15 in particular is in beautiful condition. I have not rebagged my Marvel Team-Up books yet, but I know I did not have any of these.

The Tomb of Dracula #36-38, 57. I bought several Tomb of Dracula books a few months ago and these were still at the shop. I figured this would be the perfect moment to pick them up. I do like the character of Dracula, and with the Blood Hunt coming up, this feels very relevant.

I finished up with an ice cream cone at Dairy Queen on the trip back to Maquoketa. As I was driving, I remember thinking what a great day this was. I had a blast with Free Comic Book Day and I hope everyone else had an excellent experience too.

The Jinx Part Two S2 E1, E2

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SPOILERS

“Why are You Still Here?”

“Friendships Die Hard”

I never expected that there would be more for The Jinx. I loved that docuseries when it originally aired on HBO, but it felt like it was one and done. When I discovered that there was a part two that had already started, I was excited to see this story continue. I rewatched the first season of The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst in preparation. With that done (and still as shockingly engaging as it was the first time), I was able to watch the first two episodes of the second season.

While there has not been anything quite as shocking as “killed them all, of course” to this point, the story of Bob Durst continues to be riveting, to the point of being spellbinding.

One of the early highlights of episode one of season two was the scene where Kathie’s family, the prosecutors and investigators and others viewed the streaming of the final episode of The Jinx at Andrew Jarecki’s home. Their reactions to some of the other scenes were fascinating, but the moment where Bob gives his accidental bathroom confession was surreal. The gasps and the stunned silence gave way to a buzz through the room of excitement and anticipatory expectations. There was a palatable relief for so many of these people.

The first episode included the fallout from the airing of The Jinx, including Bob’s decision to go on the run after the fifth episode. Bob is both one step ahead of everyone and foolishly naive at the same time. Bob’s biggest problem seems to be his desire to talk to anyone about anything. Doing the interview with Jarecki in the first season felt like a self-destructive decision, but that did not stop Bob. Why does he make that choice? We hear Bob admit in season two that doing the Jarecki interview was a huge mistake.

The second episode focused on Bob’s friends and confidants that Bob may have confessed to or those people who may have helped him at some point during this adventure. In particular, was Nick “Chinga” Chavin, who was about as close to Bob as you could get. The thing was that he was also very close with Susan Berman, and that loyalty was a theme of this episode. Chavin’s belief in becoming famous as a singer in a “country porn” band with songs such as “Cum Stains on My Pillow (Where Your Sweet Head Used to Be)” continues to be an unbelievable feature of this overall story.

Another shocking person here is Susie Giordano, who we see Bob state that he wished he had married. She and Bob are apparently in love, to the chagrin of Bob’s wife, Debbie. You can’t make this stuff up. No one would believe it.

I love these first tow episodes, even if it does not really provide us any further specifics of the case that we need to know. It is all setting up what is to come with the Bob Durst trial, I can only assume.

I have caught up to where the season is currently for releases. Each new episodes (the four remaining) will be arriving on Max on Sundays and I will be anxious to see the next installment.

Tarot

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So I did not think there would be a movie subjectively worse than Madame Web this year. Then I saw Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2. After that, I saw Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver. Now today, I have seen another movie that could be considered the worst movie of 2024 (and we are only in May), Tarot.

This horror movie was so generic and featured a group of characters who I did not care about at all, who I did not know anything about or who had no distinguishing characteristics at all. One of them was Jacob Batalon, who played Ned Leeds in the MCU Spider-Man films, but that was the only connection I had to anybody. They tried to use the tarot readings to give information about each character, but that was a failed attempt because none of the readings were interesting or controversial enough to create any sort of intrigue about knowing more about these people.

The group find a deck of tarot cards, hand painted by the way, and decide to do some readings, tying it to astronomy. Then, the readings started coming true in much more tragic ways than what it sounded like when they were done.

Then they had to try and figure out how to survive their apparent fate. The story was so dumb and the dialogue was so generic that there was little to no energy in the film. It was horror movie basic and it did not take anything to another level.

There were a bunch of jump scares, with loud music emphasizing when you are supposed to be scared. Truly dumb and a waste of time.

The race for the number one spot on the list of worst movies of the year during the Year in Review this December is now four deep. I sure hope there are not too many more. How could I decide?

1 star

EYG Comic Cavalcade #95

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May 3, 2024

This past Wednesday, I took a personal day from school and I went to Comic World to hang out that afternoon on NEW COMIC BOOK DAY! It was glorious. I got to talk to my friend Todd, read the new books this week, and just enjoy the ambiance of the store.

Tomorrow, then, is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! Across the country, there are comic shops celebrating this special day with comics put out by the comic companies to hopefully hook some new readers and promote their new comics. I am looking forward to going to Comic World tomorrow and joining in on the celebration.

However, you should not just go to your comic shop and take the freebies that they have because it is not free for the shops. This is a post that EYG Hall of Famer Gail Simone talking about Free Comic Book Day:

“ABOUT FREE COMIC BOOK DAY

Hello again, everyone.

I say a version of this every year, many of you have seen many variations. I apologize for repeating myself a bit, but it’s kind of important.

Really, it’s vital that you know, comic stores love having you come to Free Comic Book Day. Many of them make it a kind of all-day party and we all love having new people and long-time readers come by a great store and leave with some fantastic comics. It’s a great experience for almost everyone. Kids love it, adults, it’s just a great time for all.

Lots of stores have sales, guest appearances, cosplayers, sometimes even cake or other treats. I love it, one of my favorite days of the year.

This year, in just a couple days, I will be at THE GOLDEN AGE 1942 store in historic Maryville, Tennessee. Come say hello!

Now, there’s a couple things I say every year, just for the record.

First, most people think that the comics that the stores give away for free are free to the stores.

They are not. Each comic is paid for by the stores. At a greatly reduced price from normal comics, yes, but they are sold to the store by the bundle, and with many many dozens of FCBD comics, it adds up hugely fast. Multiply that by gosh knows how many people in line, it’s a significant number, all given away for FREE, no cash coming back to the retailer at all.

But that’s not all. They also have to pay shipping, which anyone who runs a business knows, is astronomical.

So, every book they give away is paid for by the store, twice, really.

On top of that, it is almost always necessary to hire extra help for the day. They might have to purchase more stock, after one of the slower parts of the year, sales-wised.

If they have decorations or publicity or cosplayers or creator guests, they are paying for each of those expenses. There’s a lot of expenses I am missing, I’m not a retailer. But they are there.

Free Comic Book Day is darn expensive for comics retailers. Most are delighted to have it, it’s a great day to get people to come and celebrate comics and learn about the stores. None of them would want you to feel guilty about coming and picking up the books, that’s what’s SUPPOSED to happen.

However, I would ask everyone going to Free Comic Book Day this weekend to do me a personal favor and SHOP a bit there, too. Even if it’s busy, hang around, have fun, and do a bit of shopping.

If each person purchases something ON FREE COMIC BOOK DAY, it helps justify all the expense, and ensures that the store will be able to continue ordering great stuff, and having the annual event again next year and beyond.

If there’s a TPB you have been thinking about, or a statue, or an action figure, I urge you to consider buying it ON FCBD, if at all possible. If your budget is tight, even buying a comic or some comics off the rack or back issue bins helps a LOT, I promise you, and you are doing something awesome for the community.

Comic shop owners and workers work long hours, often for thin profit margins. But they’re the ones who will look for that book you want, that will special order things, that will recommend you a book not to make a sale, but because they know you will love it. They are the force keeping the hobby fun, social and convenient.

So please, if you have ever really loved shopping at a great comics shop, look around and purchase something on this fun day of celebration in particular, okay?

You’ll be my hero. 🙂

Thank you,

Gail

PS. No comic shop has ever asked me to talk about this, they just want you to come and have fun. They don’t want you to feel any kind of bad on FCBD. This is all from me, about the economic reality of the expense of putting on the event, because I am more shameless. 🙂

PPS. Thank you all!

PPPS. Have a great Free Comic Book Day, all right?

PPPPS. Get Marvel’s FCBD book this weekend, my first ever X-Men story is in it!

PPPPPS. THANK YOU RETAILERS, YOU LOVELY MERCHANTS OF JOY“

I plan on buying several comics this weekend along with the large number of free comics that I have pulled for me.

Speaking of back issues, I have four Amazing Spider-Man issues, #433, #435-437 as I continue to work on my ASM collection.

After all of that, here are the books this week:

Incredible Hulk #12. “Doctor Voodoo and the Soul Cage Part One” Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art and cover by Nic Klein. The Incredible Hulk has been an okay read recently, but I loved this issue as Hulk goes to Strange Academy trying to save Charlie from the soul cage. Banner and the Hulk head into the soul cage to try and save her, while another Hulk, one that looks fairly Immortal, shows up with Voodoo. This was the best issue of Hulk since the Al Ewing run.

7174 A.S. #1. Creative team:  TP LOUISE and  ASHLEY WOOD. This is one of the books that I found interesting. Unfortunately, I did not like the issue. I did not feel connected to this at all.

Space Ghost #1. Written by David Pepose and drawn by Jonathan Lau. Cover art was by Michael Cho (Silver Medalist). While I did not like 7174 AD, the new Space Ghost series from Dynamite was awesome. Space Ghost was shown to be a bad ass and the issue was just great. It was a little hard seeing Brak as a monstrous villain, btu I am down for it.

Blood Hunt #1. Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Pepe Larraz. Cover art Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia. I also picked up a variant cover issue with a cover by Stanley “Artgerm” Lau (Bronze Medalist). The new vampire story arc in Marvel kicked off with Blade turning heel and attacking the Marvel Universe. There are some shocking moments with major characters dying, but I have problems with that. They aren’t dead. They will return from death soon and it is sad that I feel no angst over the loss of any of these characters. Otherwise, Blood Hunt is off to a cool start.

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #5. “8-Ball” Written by Jed MacKay and illustrated by Alessandro Cappuccio. Cover art by David Paratore. Shroud was revealed as the new Moon Knight but Tigra and Hunter’s Moon was not having any of it. But Blood Hunt started with a major event with the Darkforce users, including Shroud.

Ultimate X-Men #2. Writer and artist Peach Momoko. Hisako has met another mutant, who seems to be able to control the weather… hm. I have enjoyed these first two issues of the new X-Men book. I like how it is so different than the regular Marvel Universe X-Men.

Ghostlore #10. “Churning the Grave” Written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Leomacs. The middle section was illustrated by Sally Cantirino. The cover art was by Reiko Murakami and Sally Cantirino. Harmony and her father Lucas have reunited, but she is not happy with what her father is planning to battle Shane.

The Blood Brothers Mother #1. Written by Brian Azzarello and drawn and cover by Eduardo Risso (Gold Medalist). Awesome new Western series from DSTLRY. This is a beautiful and brutal new series as we see the beginning of the brothers and how they came to be.

Invincible Iron Man #18. “If I Only Had a Heart” Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Creees Lee. Cover art was by Kael Ngu. Iron Man and Magneto vs. Stark Sentinels and Nimrod. What more could you ask for? How about War Machine?

Get Fury #1. “1. Sweet Bird of Truth” Written by Garth Ennis and penciled by Jacen Burrows. Dave Johnson did the cover art. Nick Fury is trapped in North Vietnam and the US government is worried about what he knows. So they send Frank Castle after him. Honestly, that sounded cool, but I just could not get into this. I was not a fan of this issue.

X-Men #34. “Love-Hate” Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Joshua Cassara. Terry & Rachel Dodson did the cover art. The X-Men are coming after Charles Xavier. Logan and Shadowcat are together again. What will happen?

Spider-Woman #7. “New Kids on the Block” Written by Steve Foxe and art by Ig Guara. Leinil Francis Yu & Sunny Gho did the cover art. Spider-Woman is discovering that there are still plenty of problems in San Francisco. However, she meets up with a new team of heroes, The Assembly, which has some similarities.

Immortal Thor #10. “Getting the Axe” Written by Al Ewing and drawn by Carlos Magno. Alex Ross did the cover art. I am not sure how I feel about this. Thor battled a fake Thor, the Thor of Roxxon. And it is a frame job. Not sure how I feel about this storyline. I do love Al Ewing so I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Zorro: Man of the Dead #4. Written and drawn by Sean Gordon Murphy. This is the final issue of this mini-series. I really enjoyed this book from Massive comics and I am sorry to see it end. I hope this is one that will earn another volume of issues moving forward.

Other books this week: Count Crowley: Mediocre Midnight Monster Hunter #3, Deadpool & Wolverine: WWIII #1, Power Pack: Into the Storm #5, and Minor Threats #2.

Happy Free Comic Book Day to everyone!

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst S1 E6

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SPOILERS

“What the Hell Did I Do?”

“There it is. You’re caught. You’re right, of course”

“But you can’t imagine.”

“I don’t know what’s in the house.”

“What a disaster.”

“He was right. I was wrong.”

“And the burping. I’m having difficulties with the questions.”

“What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.”

This was a tremendously engaging and thrilling docuseries before that unbelievable ending to this episode. Perhaps the idea that this show presented a true crime case and what looked to be a wrap on the case was what was so special. Usually a lot of these true crime docs end up with an ending that does not have the kind of finality that this had. That is part of what made this such a stirring ride.

Watching Andrew Jarecki, holding an ace up his sleeve, trying to get Robert Durst to agree to one more interview to spring it on him, only to have Durst cancel and delay and put off the final meeting, is just sensational. Then when Bob finally agrees to the interview, the prep for the interview with Andrew and the rest was so great. They went all in. It was also exceptional when Andrew commented on how cold this was going to feel to Bob. It was an interesting moment and you could see how the weight of what was going on, and how Andrew actually had some feeling for Durst, stressed Jarecki out.

Then that last moment. The confrontation with Robert and the letter/envelope was rough as Robert tried to get through the interview without giving anything up, but clearly it was building up inside of him because as soon as the interview ended and he used the restroom, Durst starting talking, dropping lines that made it look real badly for him.

He did not come right out and admit to the murders, but he came really close. This is the reason we saw the time in episode three or four where they showed Robert talking with his live mike… all to set up for this very moment.

And it is a glorious reveal. Shocking. A man who has been brilliant in his ability to avoid being sent to jail several times, even after he was shown to have cut up a body and dumped its parts into the water, he basically wrecks himself with his own words.

I have never expected that we would get more episodes to this as it felt done, but I am ready to dive into the next round of episodes in season two.

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst S1 E5

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“Family Values”

Episode five goes into more of the Durst family drama, including the apparent hard feelings between Robert and his younger brother Doug, who had taken over the running of the family business.

The sibling rivalry part of this docuseries was truly weird. Robert had some real issues with his brother Doug and Doug was avoiding everything to do with his brother, especially the documentary that was being film about him.

But the real meat of this episode was back with the murder of Susan Berman, who was murdered in Los Angeles. Susan had been a huge Robert Durst supporter, but she wound up death, with a bullet in the back of her head, execution-style in her home. There was a timeline laid out that indicated that Robert could have done it. He is placed in California, but not actually in LA. Even Robert said it though, they never placed in in LA and California is a big state. That line from Robert was chilling. He clearly stated this as a way to show what his defense would be if this charge ever became reality.

But then the letter was found that had been sent by Robert to Susan that matched the letter that had been sent to the LA police, that had the same misspelling of Beverly Hills, with an extra E in the word. The handwriting sure looked to match between the two documents. Andrew Jarecki wanted to record the reaction of Robert to this piece of evidence that no one knew they had.

This is what would lead to the bombshell next episode. The insanity of this entire show has been off the charts and this little man is just an amazing character that you find so difficult to believe was real.

The Fall Guy

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I am a person of certain age who actually watched The Fall Guy TV show on ABC back in the eighties with Lee Majors. It may not have been one of my most favorite shows, but I always enjoyed it. However, I would be lying to say that I thought the idea of making a full length feature film based on the show wasn’t a silly idea.

I have to say though that I really enjoyed the new film starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. I knew I was going to love this when Kiss’s “I Was made for Loving You” blared from the screen to start off the movie.

Directed by former stuntman David Leitch, The Fall Guy follows the life of stuntman Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling), who disappeared after a brutal accident on set, and ghosted his girlfriend at the time Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt). After a while, Colt returned to the film world when he was told that Jody wanted him to do stunts on her first, big-budget sci-fi/action flick. When that turned out to be untrue, Colt discovered the reason he was actually summoned back… to help find the movie’s main star, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who had gone MIA.

The Fall Guy is just a lot of fun, filled with some great characters, some funny moments and a ton of breath-taking action, including a world record for number of times rolled by a car (8 1/2).

The biggest selling point for the film was the chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. They were amazing together and, if there were any times where the film was slipping into camp, these two were able to provide the proper amount of pop. The dialogue between them was fire. They made a remarkable couple, one that you could absolutely root for as the movie continued to pull them apart.

The action was brilliant. The stunt work, which seemed mostly practical, was some of the best that we have seen in a movie in a long time. It was a variety of different types of stunts, but it was clearly a love letter to stuntmen and their contribution to the world of movie making.

The film was totally meta as well, as we saw a lot of the behind the scenes of a movie being made, especially from the perspective of the stunt team. The insanity of making a massive film like they were doing comes across with every back stage scene of the movie.

This movie is not perfect. It felt too long, at 2 hours and 5 minutes. I think it could have shaved off 15 minutes and been a tighter watch. Some of the sound mixing seemed off as there were some times where the dialogue was obscured with the background music. The final massive scene was kind of messy too, stretching some credibility.

The story itself is totally ridiculous, but it never took it too far. There is no doubt that there is a lot of silliness going on, but it felt more like a homage to the Fall Guy TV series and several ’80s movies that had obviously been an inspiration for this film. Most of the silly aspects of the script seemed to play well with the humor of the movie.

At first, I thought the story was jumbled and made little sense, but it really did take a turn and made everything that I was ready to criticize make perfect sense. It was actually pretty clever to how it worked out.

Winston Duke is great in his role as Dan Tucker, the head stunt coordinator on Jody’s movie and an old friend to Colt. Hannah Waddingham was fantastic as well as the over-the-top Hollywood producer who was backing the movie. And then there was the dog. The dog stole every scene.

I was hoping that there would be a remix of the original Fall Guy TV theme, which was recorded by Lee Majors, sung by Ryan Gosling. Part of my wish was granted as there was an updated version of the theme playing over the credits, but it was done by Blake Shelton, not by Ryan Gosling. It was okay, but I wanted another performance from Gosling.

The credits after the film included a ton of great footage, including a mid credit scene so stick around and watch them. It’s worth it.

In the end, I had a lot of fun watching The Fall Guy. There were some exceptional action, a lot of humor, some amazing chemistry between two of the most likable actors working today and a story that works itself out after a shaky start. Solid entertainment to kick off the summer movie season.

4.25 stars

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst S1 E4

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“The State of Texas vs. Robert Durst”

Okay, this is just astounding.

This episode featured the trial of Robert Durst in Galveston, Texas on the murder of Morris Black, Durst’s neighbor while he was hiding out in Galveston, pretending to be a woman.

There are so many unbelievable things that happened during the trial that would lead to his being found “not guilty” that it is difficult to understand how it could happen. The thing is as you are watching this trial unfold, including Durst’s own testimony on the stand, you can see why the jury made this remarkably unpopular verdict, freeing the NYC billionaire in what seemed to be a slam dunk case.

I may have missed this, but why in God’s name did the prosecutors in Galveston not include charges against Durst for cutting up the body, destroying evidence or anything else along with the murder charge? By not charging him with these other offenses, they gave Robert Durst a clever way to get away with what he had done.

The fact was that no one could conceivably say that how the event in the room happened. Was it a murder-execution style or was it an accidental death coming from self-defense? Once Robert explained the decapitation part, in a way that made somewhat of a sense, the jury only could decide whether Robert had committed murder. They could not determine if he had cut up the body and disposed of the evidence. None of that was relevant to this case because there were no charges stemming from that.

That entire jury may have believed that he had killed Morris, but there was no proof that he had done so.

The creators of the docuseries added something at the end of this episode that is foreshadowing the bombshell that would be dropped at the end of the series. Andrew Jarecki had asked Robert if he needed a break and during the break, Durst was practicing what he was going to say, which was being picked up on his hot mike.

Durst said, “I did not knowingly purposefully lie. I did not knowingly purposefully lie. I did not knowingly, purposefully, intentionally lie. I did make mistakes.“

I literally shook from this. Durst is such a chilling, manipulative person and his words both at trial and the interview with Jarecki is what makes this more than just any true crime story.

And by the way, why does nobody ask Durst what happened to the head?

This is amazing. I remember how much this stuck with me after the first watch and it absolutely holds up and a compelling piece of drama.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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Week of April 29

It was a light week this week as there were only 18 new comics this week. I know, that does not sound like a light week, but compared to some of the recent weeks, 18 is like nothing.

Two of the three medalists this week are variant cover D books.

Three medalist this week…

Bronze Medalist

Blood Hunt #1

Variant Edition (Cover D)

Cover art by Stanley “Artgerm” Lau

A beautiful cover featuring Greer Nelson, aka Tigra. Todd gave me this because he thinks I love Tigra, but he mixes Tigra up with Hellcat. Still, this is a lovely cover and I do like me some Tigra.

Silver Medalist

Space Ghost #1

Variant Edition (Cover D)

Cover Art by Michael Cho

I love this Hanna-Barbera inspired cover with Space Ghost and the kids he saved. Just because there is a monkey, it does not make them Zan and Jana.

Gold Medalist

The Blood Brothers Mother #1

Cover art by Eduardo Risso

New Western series from DSTLRY, the cover wraps around the book and it has some layered feel to it. It really is a gorgeous piece of art and the extra large book makes this standout even more. Great cover.

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst S1 E3

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“The Gangster’s Daughter”

How DO you accidentally shave your eyebrows?

Episode three brings into focus the next suspected murder committed by Robert Durst, a woman named Susan Berman. Berman was a daughter of a gangster and had become one of the staunchest supporters of Robert Durst during the period he was being looked at as a suspect in the disappearance of Kathie, his wife.

The speculation was that Susan Berman had some knowledge of the disappearance of Kathie and that was a direct reason why she was executed.

I swear, every time Robert Durst appears on screen in his interview with director Andrew Jarecki, Robert Durst is the most shockingly sociopathic man I have ever heard. The constant blinks and winks (which I think may be beyond his control) and the manner in which he speaks is just chilling. He asks questions during the interview that honestly feel as if he is trying to lead the viewers or Jarecki to the real truth, that he is guilty. Does Durst, perhaps subconsciously, want to get caught?

While on the run from the charge of murder of Morris Black, Durst went into a grocery store and was caught shoplifting a tuna salad sandwich. Why would someone who could afford just about anything try to shoplift a sandwich, especially when he knew that he was on the lamb?

He admits to being on the lamb and admits to planning to jump bail after posting it in Galveston. He said that he shaved his hair and his eyebrows in an attempt to look different.

This is an amazing true crime story that is only amplified by Robert Durst’s own words.

X-Men ’97 S1 E8

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“Tolerance is Extinction, Pt. 1”

The first part of the three-part season finale dropped on Disney + this morning with an epic episode built on previous episodes. Bastian, a character that I really missed out on in the comics, is designed so beautifully, and feels original and unlike any other X-villain.

This episode felt like it fit inside the Marvel Universe more than any X-Men episode, dating back to even the early 1990s. We saw Spider-Man. We saw Dr. Doom. We saw Baron Zemo. We saw Omega Red. We saw the Silver Samurai. I’m really sure that we saw the timeline from Loki. It felt as if this show was building a world that we have known for decades from out of the pages of the comics.

Some of the action in this episode are absolutely bad ass. The Scott, Jean and Cable being pursued by the human/sentinels and plowing through the mountain in a Porsche with optic blasts was unbelievable. The Wolverine falling from the sky, slicing the hybrids on his way down. The use of Nightcrawler and his sabers fighting back-to-back with Wolverine protecting an unconscious Rogue. These scenes were all just so epic.

Magneto was right. Just thought I’d leave that here.

Magneto’s boss move, as Wolverine stated “He declared war on the planet,” happening in the first episode of the three-part episode is dramatic and quite the swing. Seeing Magneto going final boss just before Charles Xavier returned to the earth was poetic.

The family theme goes throughout the episode, with the Summers, with Nightcrawler-Rogue, with Bastian’s background, with Roberto’s mother, with Xavier’s return. The writing on this show just keeps getting better every time.

I love Nightcrawler. He has always been one of my favorite X-Men characters, but he is so perfectly portrayed here and his words are so wise and impacting that I love every second Kurt Wagner is on screen. I hope this character sticks around past this season.

It was a great start to the finale. Two more to go.

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst S1 E1, E2

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“A Body in the Bay”

“Poor Little Rich Boy”

One of my favorite, all-time true crime docudramas was The Jinx, which tells the compelling story of Robert Durst, NYC real-estate scion. The series was remarkably intriguing, but ended with the greatest hook of all time. We’ll save that discussion until later in the rewatch.

Well, there is a second season currently airing on Max, which I never thought would happen. I want to start to watch the Jinx season two, but I figured it would be a smart move to rewatch that first season from 2015 before I dove into the new season.

This is absolutely insane.

The first couple of episodes are just the beginning, but it gives the most unexpected picture of Robert Durst. Who is this guy? A man who was accused of decapitating an old man in Galveston, Texas and who was always suspected for killing his wife, decided that he wanted to do a sit down interview with a director, Andrew Jarecki, who directed the movie All Good Things, which was inspired by Durst’s rumored story.

What makes a man search out a director to give an interview to about his life, a life that had so many infamous moments?

Listening to Durst tell these stories in his own voice was really creepy. Watching Durst and his remarkable twitches and blinks as he made direct comments was fascinating. I do not know if these were “tells”, but they all seemed to come at sinister moments. Admittedly, I may be reading into this way more than there is.

Episode two was heavily focused on Kathie, Durst’s wife, who disappeared in 1982, and whose body has never been found. Some of the words from Kathie’s friend were powerful.

It was jarring to see Jeanine Pirro, currently of FOX News, appear in the documentary as a prosecutor who was involved in the case against Durst.

There is so much about this man that is absolutely fascinating and the fact that you feel as if he was lying to you with every breath was something that was just unbelievable. After two episodes, I remember clearly how shocking and compelling this docudrama was.

The X-Files S4 E15

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“Kaddish”

The X-Files have used plenty of mythological creatures from different religions and cultures over the years in their monster-of-the-week episodes. This episode featured the Jewish creature known as a golem.

I knew of the idea of a golem from Marvel Comics so I remember being intrigued by this episode when it was first released.

Mulder and Scully were investigating a murder of a man who was suspected to be involved in the death of a Jewish man. They expected this to be a revenge killing.

Of course, the murdered man had two other friends who were doomed as well. They were all Nazis, so I did not find much compassion for these victims.

However, the golem would go off on its own and become more of a danger to others as well.

This was a decent episode, but a bit of a step down over the last few episodes. There was no mention of Scully’s cancer at all, which felt out of place considering how important of a twist that storyline was.

Baby Reindeer limited series E4-7

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I had not intended on binging this whole series in one day. I had thought that this could be another several week watch. However, with the sick day, I had time available and this was just so amazing of a show that I couldn’t help myself.

Baby Reindeer is a seven-episode limited series on Netflix that has been creating quite a buzz lately, for good reason. It is based on a true story, written and starring Richard Gadd, who based this on a time in his own life.

Episode four bought the answers as to why Donny was such a victim for Martha. He had been abused by a writer, a writer whom Donny had idolized and who was sexually pervasive with him after getting him high on a variety of drugs. This vital piece of information, which was hinted at in the first three episodes, gives us the theme of the show, seeing how abuse can affect an individual and how trauma from the past can really derail a person’s life.

Martha was not shown as a villain. She was absolutely mentally ill, suffering from her own challenges, but to call her evil is not an accurate portrayal. Even at her worst, Martha was retaliating or responding to situations in her life that she was unable to deal with in any other manner. In her mind, she was in love with Donny and this was the way for her to express it.

Donny’s own self-hate caused everything around him to falter, including the potentially positive relationship with Teri. There really is an amazing amount of depth to these characters who go far beyond good vs. evil.

While the first three episodes of the series were highlighted by Jessica Gunning’s performance as Martha, these last four, in particular episode six, showed a remarkable performance from Richard Gadd. His monologue on stage at the comedy finale was just unbelievable and as raw as an open wound. I was completely captivated by the acting on display. This felt like a man breaking down in front of everyone.

I also was touched by the scene where Donny went back to his parents to tell them about the video of that monologue that had gone viral on social media, mainly because Martha had threatened to tell them about it. The reveal that his father had also been sexually abused as a child was one of the most powerful moments of the show. The hug between father and son was life-affirming.

The end was very poetic too as Donny wound up at a bar and, almost, in the same situation that Martha was in at the beginning of the show. One wonders if this characters of Donny would ever truly get past the obsession that he seemed to have for Martha. While this is based on a true story, there is enough fictional aspects to make one wonder.

This was a difficult and uncomfortable show to watch at many times, and yet it was worth every second. It is one of the best shows of 2024 so far.