Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #95

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#95

Arthur Christmas

Released: 2011

Runtime: 1h 37m

Rating: PG

Animation Style: 3D Animation

The first fun animated movie based during Christmastime. Arthur was Santa’s son who was clumsy, but kind-hearted, and he helped with the complex, hi-tech operation of present delivery. The clever and original way the presents are delivered in this film is one of the best aspects of Arthur Christmas.

Voice Cast: James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, Ashley Jensen, Marc Wootton, Michael Palin, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Robbie Coltrane, Joan Cusack, Rhys Darby, Jane Horrocks, Iain McKee, Andy Serkis, and Dominic West.

Agents of Shield S6 E2, E3, E4

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Spoilers

“Window of Opportunity”

“Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson”

“Code Yellow”

Agents of Shield went more sci-fi last season and less superhero/superspy action, and they have maintained that in season six.

The Coulson-lookalike Sarge continued to be doing something strange with his new crew. They robbed a jewelry store to get some basic piezoelectric gems. May confronted them, physically beat the crap out of some of them, but could not stop them. She was taken aback coming face to face with Sarge.

Poor Fitz and Simmons never get a break. They wind up face to face on the planet of Kitson, after a fun episode in a casino. However, Fitz is snatched by Malachi, a bounty hunter looking for Fitz.

Enoch is one of my favorite characters of this season. The whole Chronicom bit makes him feel kind of like Mr. Spock, and Enoch’s relationship with Fitz is sweet.

Deke is back in episode four, using technology he stole from SHIELD to set up a company dealing with video games and virtual reality. It was good to see him back, though the character does feel a little shady.

There are some strange alien bird creatures that fly inside people. I believe this is part of what non-Coulson is doing here. One got inside Shield’s HQ and flew inside Keller. Yo Yo had to kill him to stop him from destroying the base with crystalline structures.

Sarge captured May at the end of episode four and he is taking her somewhere.

Lots of fun and mysteries in this season so far.

Minions & Monsters

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I have hated the previous two Minions movies and I have not been a big fan of any of the Despicable Me franchise either, so I was not excited when they announced a new Minions movie.

However, I had heard some positive word of mouth, especially from online film critic Dan Murrell, a well-know hater of Minion content, and I had some hope.

After seeing Minions & Monsters, I can say without hesitation that this is my favorite Minions movie I have ever seen.

According to IMDB, Minions & Monsters “Follows the Minions in 1920s Hollywood as they search for frightening creatures for their monster movie, partner with a green creature, and must save the planet after unleashing monsters.“

The Minions wind up in Hollywood and that was really fun. The movie had a ton of references and allusions to some of the greatest movies of all time, from Jaws to Casablanca.

There are some real characters in the movie and an actual storyline. They are not incredibly deep, but they are here. There are some big time voice performances too including Trey Parker, Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg, Zoey Deutch, Phil LaMarr and Bobby Moynihan.

The animation is wonderful and full of amazing color. The times they switched from the typical animation style into a different one were very effective.

This movie does a great job of appealing to the children in the audience while still giving some jokes and items for the adults, which, again, is not something that is typical in a Minions movie.

This was such a nice surprise. This had a feeling of the Looney Tunes to me. For a movie that I had no desire to see at one point in the year, to a film that was entertaining, it sure tells you that if you keep your mind open, anything could happen. Even a fun and enjoyable minions movie.

3.9 stars

Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #96

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#96

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Released: April 2023

Runtime: 1h 32m

Rating: PG

Animation Style: bright, 3D computer-generated (CG)

Produced by Nintendo & Illumination

The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a huge success, breaking into the billion dollar club. The film had some fun moments and looked great, full of color. There was a sequel this year that also reached the billion dollar level.

Voice actors: Chris Pratt, Jack Black, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, Fred Armisen, Sebastian Maniscalco and Kevin Michael Richardson.

Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #97

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#97

Predator: Killer of Killers

Released: June 2025

Runtime: 85 minutes

Rating: R

Animation Style: 3D animation

This film, along with the live action Prey, has helped to revitalize the Predator franchise after years of failed projects. The animation of this Hulu film was top notch and it took the story in a whole new level.

Voice cast included: Lindsay LaVanchy, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Rick Gonzalez, Michael Biehn, Doug Cockle, Damien Haas , Lauren Holt, Jeff Leach and Piotr Michael.

X-Men ’97 S2 E1, E2, E3

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Spoilers

“Days of Past Future”

“A Force to Be Reckoned With”

“Rise of Apocalypse, Part 1”

X-Men ’97’s second season’s first three episodes were dropped on Disney +.

Three episodes and they are each dealing with a different timeline. Episode one was in the future with Cyclops and Jean with the Askani and young Nate Grey. Episode two was in the 1997 timeline with Jubilee and Sunspot joining X-Force and facing off with X-Factor. Episode three was in the past in Ancient Egypt where En Sabah Nur was becoming the force that he would become.

They also seemed to be setting up En Sabah Nur and Rama-Tut, who is one of the forms of Kang the Conqueror. That feels really large of a story.

My favorite of these three episodes was number two, when they even went as far as redo the intro with the X-Force team in it. That was so epic, it got me fired up.

It was a lot of fun to have seen these extra characters, such as Strong Guy, Polaris, Quentin Quire, Archangel, Psylocke, and several others. Loved it.

There was so much going down on these episodes. It was dense in story and characterization. It was amazing how much they put into episodes that were around 30 minutes each. The animation is great and there are some beautiful shots in these episodes.

It looks like we have a weekly release of episodes moving forward and I think that would be helpful considering how much there was in each episode.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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July 1

Big week of books this week. It was difficult to narrow it down to just three, but I wanted to make sure I avoided any ties since that week a few weeks ago when we had three ties.

Also-Rans: Ordained #3 (A cover), Ordained #3 (B Cover), 100 Bullets: The US of Anger #1 (C Cover), Batman/Green Arrow/The Question: Arcadia #4, Marvel Swimsuit Special: Brand New Beach Day #1 (A Cover-wraparound), The Deadman #2 (A Cover), The Deadman #3 (D Cover-Mark Spears), Neighborhood Watch #3, The Punisher #6, Babylon Cove #2, Marvel Swimsuit: Brand New Day #1 (E Cover), Dead Acre: Black Badge #1, and Comics! The Magazine #5.

Bronze Medalist

The Deadman #2

Variant Cover E- Glow in the Dark

Cover art by Steven Subic

I was picking this book up for Todd at In This Issue and I just could not leave it out of my own collection. I did not know it was a glow-in-the-dark issue. It was just so beautifully disturbing with the stunning black and white and the image of Deadman in the center of the cover.

Silver Medalist

The Mortal Thor #12

Cover art by Alex Ross

Alex Ross is one of the masters of covers and this one with Thor and Sigurd crawling out of the eyes of Donald Blake is creepy. Then, the green shading of the cover is really something you do not see on a cover often. This one is a standout.

Gold Medalist

The Last Starfighter #1

Variant Cover D

Cover art by Stephanie Hans

I went to pick up the A cover of this new book from Mad Cave, but I put it back on the shelf when I saw this cover. I loved this cover and its dark, shadow across the character with the beautiful stars and space in contrast behind him… just spectacular.

Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #98

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#98

Hulk Vs.

Released: 2009

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 82 minutes

Animation Style: traditional American comics with sharp Japanese anime

Hulk Vs. featured the Incredible Hulk in two separate one on one battles. One is with Wolverine and the second is with Thor. It is a direct to video animated movie that is extremely awesome. Hulk vs. Wolverine is something that we all want to see, and I still think at some point, we will get it in the MCU. We have seen Hulk vs. Thor in live action, and it never fails.

Voice actors: Fred Tatasciore, Matthew Wolf, Graham McTavish, Kari Wahlgren, Bryce Johnson, Steve Blum, Mark Acheson, Grey DeLisle and Janyse Jaud.

The Bear S5 E6, E7, E8

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Spoilers

“Focaccia”

“Caramel”

“The Original Beef of Chicagoland”

I finished the Bear’s final season tonight with episodes six, seven and eight.

Episode six and seven were both about the night that has been building up all season long. All season has been the same day so far and this was the night when the customers arrived.

Six and seven created such an emotional response from me. I was stressed the entire episode, on the edge of my seat the entire time. I kept waiting for something to happen that would derail everything for them, as the past episode 1-5 of this year was loading problem upon problem.

Then, the whole staff just came together and dominated these two episodes. CHEF!

Every problem that appeared, they worked together to come up with remarkably creative solutions.

By the way, this episode was about preparing food for a restaurant full of people, and it might have been the most tense, most suspense that I have been watching any TV show this season so far.

Episode six was all falling action, as we see how people wrap their stories up. We discover that the “UNKNOWN CALLER” that had been trying to call Carmy was the man giving out stars and that the Bear was given not one, but two stars.

This season of The Bear has been my favorite one since early on, maybe even since season one. These episodes were tight and worked so well as one day (with an exception of the final episode) and was an amazing viewing experience. I found this a wonderful way to end this series.

Neighborhood Watch (2025)

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June 30

Movie 30

The June Swoon 5 comes to a close with a film I watched on Hulu this morning called Neighborhood Watch, which starred Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Jack Quaid.

I had been looking for a final film for the June Swoon and my list just did not have any films that made me excited about watching it. My search led me to this movie and I do like Morgan and Quaid very much so I thought this was a good choice to finish with.

According to IMDB, “When a mentally ill young man thinks he witnesses an abduction and the police refuse to believe him, he reluctantly turns to his next-door neighbor, a bitter and retired security guard, to help him find the missing person.”

I really enjoyed this movie. Were there some moments when you had to just go along with the plot? Yes, there were some times when credibility was stretched. However, there were no moments that pulled me out of the story.

I thought Jack Quaid did an excellent job portraying this young, damaged man whose mental illness was a huge factor in his life. Still, you could see the goodness in him and how much he wanted to be something more than what he was.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s character was fairly typical for this type of role. He just is such a likable actor that he overcame the stereotypical grumpy, old man archetype.

Together, Morgan and Quaid bring the film to life with the chemistry between them and the interactions between their characters. They grow to care about the other and seeing how gentle Morgan was with Quaid near the end speaks levels.

This movie definitely has some flaws, specifically in the story, but the two lead performances are so engaging that those do not seem to be a problem at all. The film flied by and, if I am being honest, I would have liked even more at the end. I wanted to know what was going to happen to the characters and that tells me the film was a success.

So that brings an end to the June Swoon 5.

The June Swoon will return in June 2027.

Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #99

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#99

Rescuers Down Under

Released: 1990

Rating: G

Runtime: 77 Minutes

Animation Style: hybrid of classic hand-drawn art and cutting-edge computer animation

The sequel to the 1977 Rescuers, this has a place on this list for one main reason. There is a new mouse named Jake and he was voiced by the late, great Tristian Rogers. Rogers played Robert Scorpio on General Hospital and he was one of my favorite characters on the show. Hearing his Australian accent in the major Disney movie was awesome.

Other voice actors: Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor, John Candy, George C. Scott, Peter Firth, Bernard Fox, Billy Barty

The Bear S5 E3, E4, E5

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“Brigade”

“Dogs”

“Sheridan”

These three episodes were some of the best The Bear episodes probably since season one or two. There was a point after episode two that I literally was having goosebumps.

The whole season so far has been one day and the way they build that night with a massive overbooking was amazing and how the crew pull together- although it was not smooth sailing the whole time as Sydney blurted out that Carmy was quitting and leaving.

This whole run of three episodes do a great job of showing the relationships that have been stretched by the events and the stress of the restaurant.

Ceilings are falling in. Water still flooding as the rain continued to pelt down.

The first five episodes of the final season have been awesome so far. Three more episodes, and it looked like episode 8 is over an hour as episode 7 is in the 50 minute range.

Agents of Shield S6 E1

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“Missing Pieces”

I started season six of the Agents of Shield today with the first episode of the season. “Missing Pieces” has several meanings as a title. That included:

  • Phil Coulson gone, died during the off year
  • Daisy and Jemma are in deep space in search of…
  • Fitz who was in suspended animation (or is he?)
  • Mack, who is the new director, is emotionally separate from Yo-Yo.

The show’s new season arc began with some individuals arriving in this dimension through some portal. We also get a new character named Sarge who arrived in a semi. This new character is being played by Clark Gregg, making everyone uncertain because of he is a lookalike of Coulson.

Jemma is pulling shenanigans in space when Daisy and the others wanted to head back to earth to regroup when they couldn’t find Fitz. Jemma had a clue come to her and she forced the others to go with her. Jemma has had a long history of doing things like this for Fitz.

I only had a chance to watch the first episode of that season, but I am looking forward to seeing more.