#59
Teen Titans
Written: Andy Sturmer
Performed: Puffy AmiYumi (Ami Onuki & Yumi Yoshimura).
There is both a Japanese and English version of the song.
Another show that I did not watch much as it always felt like the show was targeting a younger audience than I was. However, there is no denying that the theme song goes hard.
GO!
January 20
Last year, I decided to do a special Saturday where I watched a bunch of Adam Sandler movies that I had not seen before. I am not a fan of Adam Sandler, but I wanted to give it a chance. Most of the films were bad, but there were a couple decent/passable ones. One of the films that I did not hate was Netflix’s Murder Mystery with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. So with the Genre-ary in full swing, I decided that it would be a good time to watch the sequel, Murder Mystery 2.
This film is comparable to the first film. It had funny moments that I actually laughed out loud. Sandler and Aniston have great chemistry. I wish their chemistry transferred into a better movie. They could be wonderful together. As of right now, I would say that they were …ok.
According to IMDB, “Full-time detectives Nick and Audrey are struggling to get their private eye agency off the ground. They find themselves at the center of international abduction when their friend Maharaja is kidnapped at his own lavish wedding.”
Now, the story is quite silly with ridiculous situations. But after the last film, I came to expect it. This is a film that I can’t take serious but that was kind of stupid fun.
I smiled and laughed a lot during the film. It was similar to the first film and it was worth the time I spent to watch it. It was only 90 minutes and it flied quickly by. It had good pacing and several other characters that were fairly one dimensional, but fun.
This is not a good movie, but it is not bad either. It was okay.
#60
Spider-Man: The Animated Series
Written: Haim Saban
Performed: Joe Perry (from Aeroesmith)
This theme is full of energy and excitement and fits the 1994 animated Spider-Man beautifully. Not only the great guitar work by Aerosmith’s lead guitarist, Joe Perry, but the robotic, electronic “Spider-Man” and “Radioactive” repeated throughout the theme.
I have been meaning to watch The Rip, a new movie on Netflix starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, this entire weekend, but something else would seem to take precedent. Finally, Monday night I was able to get the movie watched.
I loved this movie.
Wow, this was great. It was exciting, thrilling, and the uncertainty of the story really amped up the tension.
According to IMDB, “A group of Miami cops discovers a stash of millions in cash, leading to distrust as outsiders learn about the huge seizure, making them question who to rely on.”
A rip is taking seized cash or drugs during a raid and this movie is supposedly based on real events in the Miami area. That might be a bit of a stretch, but it was a great story.
I love the way the story developed and how this solid cast approached each scene. Along with Affleck and Damon, the film featured Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor (who will most likely receive an Oscar nom later this week for One Battle After Another), Kyle Chandler, Sasha Calle, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Scott Adkins, Nestor Carbonell, Lina Esco and Sal Lopez.
This was a smart film, which I always appreciate. Many films of this type would turn into nothing more than a firefight or an action spectacular, and, while there were action scenes in The Rip, it was not the focus of the movie. The action was well done but it all had a purpose.
The story kept you off balance, but every specific detail is paid off in the end, nicely blending together in a weave.
I liked this way more than the typical Netflix action movie and, along with the awesome Knives Out film from 2025, it gives me hope that the streamer will continue to put forth movies that were worthy of wacthing.
4.5 stars
January 19
I hope everyone is having a great MLK Day. I know not everyone is off work today, but my school is still off, so this has given me a chance to get this finished after yet another busy weekend.
I have been picking up a bunch of Marvel Team-Ups recently. The ones I got this week include #5, 6, 16, 17, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 55,57, 64, 66, 68,72, 73 and 86.
Books this week:
Uncanny X-Men #22. “No Clean Hands” Written b y Gail Simone and art by David Marquez. Cover art was done by David Marquez & Matthew Wilson. Mutina is back and wanting to join the X-Men. Yes, it may not be the most heroic reason and it sure seemed as if Wolverine and Nightcrawler have a different mind about that.
Where Does the Rainbow End? #1. Written by Francesca Perillo and art and cover art by Stefano Cardoselli. New book from Mad Cave. A new futuristic story involving robots and humans and how they now interact with one another.
Like a Bell in the Month of May #1. Written by Dustin Victor and art by Metro Catpiss. This was a book I picked up at In This Issue in Bettendorf. The owner of the shop told me that this was a couple of local creators who did this book. I thought it was cool so I picked it up. It is a weird story. It felt as if there was a page missing or something. I am still happy to have picked it up.
Avengers #34. “Heroes” Written by Jed MacKay with art by Farid Karami. Cover art was done by Russell Dauterman & Rachelle Rosenberg. I also picked up variant covers by Leonardo Romero and one by CAFU. This is Legacy number 800 for the Avengers. However, this issue felt a little lesser than I expected. It felt more like one of those clip show episodes of a TV show that reviewed previous episodes.
The Ultimates #20. Written by Deniz Camp with art by Phil Noto. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Moreno Dinisio. We get a bunch of the new Ultimate Vision and Nick Fury as we are moving toward the end of the Ultimates Universe.
Amazing Spider-Man: Torn #4. Written by J. Michael Straczynski and art by Pere Perez. Cover art by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. There is a scene in this book that I absolutely loved and felt vintage Spider-Man. When Spidey finds Evangeline sitting on a construction site, what follows is perfection.
Dungeons of Doom #1. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson & Benjamin Percy with art by Justin Mason, Robert Gill, Carlos Magno, George Jeanty & Karl Story. The aftermath of the death of Doctor Doom rages on in the Marvel Universe and we get a bunch of people looking to take advantage of the situation.
DC KO #3. “No Mercy” Written by Scott Snyder and Joshua Williamson with art by Javi Fernandez and Xermánico. Cover art was done by Javi Fernandez & Alejandro Sanchez. It is tag team time as the remaining competitors get to choose a defeated champion as their partner… and no one chose Batman.
Black Cat #6. “Night Court” Written by G. Willow Wilson and art by Andres Genolet. Cover art was done by Adam Hughes. Black Cat needs help so she goes in search of Daredevil so he could help her find…. Matt Murdock? She needs him to help defend her in the court of vampires.
Geiger #20. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Gary Frank. Cover art was done by Gary Frank. I also grabbed the Wicked homage cover by Sean Von Gorman (Gold Medalist). The Northerner is here and looking for help from Geiger… and he’s not too anxious to join in.
Doctor Strange #2. Written by Derek Landy and artist is Ivan Fiorelli. Cover art was done by Alex Horley. Doctor Strange and Angela are running around the world of Asgard. I have to say that I was not as into this issue as I expected.
Sai: Dimensional Rivals #1. Storytellers included Peach Momoko, Iban Coello, Stan Sakai with Emi Fuji. Cover art was done by Peach Momoko. Sai is around the dimensions with different artists. Some of the work of this book was fabulous and I especially loved the black and white pages. This is an intriguing book that I am interested in continuing.
Minor Arcana #13. Written, illustrated and cover art by Jeff Lemire. Theresa heads to another fortune teller with some specific questions. The fortune teller is out of C.A.N.O.E. (Clairvoyant Association of Northern Occultists & Esoterics).
Alice Forever After #1. Written and cover art by Dan Panosian and illustrated Dan Panosian (London part) and Giorgio Spalletta (Wonderland part). A new series set in Wonderland with the characters of Alice in Wonderland. Where is the White Rabbit?
Space Ghost #7. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Cover art was done by Francesco Mattina. Space Ghost takes on the Anti Matter Man. Can our hero stop him? Doesn’t seem like it.
Crownsville #3. Written by Rodney Barnes and illustrated by Elia Bonetti. Cover art was done by Jason Shawn Alexander. We got ghosts! Crownsville has been a fabulous book so far and the story of this haunted asylum is really creepy.
Axi-Cab #1. Written by Philip Nelson and art and cover art by Cee Raygun. There are two actual stories in this book, first one entitled “The Warden’s Last Ride” and the second one being “In the Air Tonight.” A murderous cab drives around looking for justice or vengeance. Another new horror story that was pretty good.
G.I. Joe #17. Written by Joshua Williamson and art and cover art by Tom Reilly. The Dreadnok War closes with an unlikely alliance between the Dreadnoks and Cobra Commander. Plus, a shocking final page of this story.
Transformers #28. Written by Robert Kirkman and art by Dan Mora. Cover art was done by David Nakayama. Man… Megatron is just absolutely brutal in this issue. The last few pages of this issue show how monstrous Megatron can be.
Other Books this week: Knull #1, Good as Dead #4, Logan: Black, White & Blood #1 (Silver Medalist), Luna Snow: World Tour #1, and Blood & Thunder #9.
Quick Hits: So Battleworld #5 finished this series off with a really weird final page. Is it meant to be a tease for another Battleworld series?? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #14 is hopefully my final issue of this series. I have had some books ordered before I wanted to cancel the book so I needed to buy them (store policy). It did have a nice cover. The penultimate issue of this series is Die!Namite: Blood Red #4. Still fun with the group of female comic stars. C.O.R.T: Children of the Round Table #5 brings our heroes into more training and prepping them of the final issue. Things are getting strange with The Last Day of H.P. Lovecraft #3. I picked up Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #2 off eBay since I missed it when it was out. Silver medalist cover this week went to Wonder Woman: Black and Gold 2026 Special #1. Finally, this week we got It Killed Everyone But Me #5, which I actually have not had a chance to read yet.
I came back for Sha Na Na on YouTube and we got some issues with the recordings. Now, the recordings were loaded up from old VHS tapes, so the quality has always been iffy, but this was the first time when whole songs were cut out, specifically in episode 15. In the comments, the channel’s owner, pattyoc01, stated that it was because of YouTube needing to cut some out for copyright reasons.
Another issue came in this group of episodes with number 19. On the playlist, #19 is listed as starring Jimmie Rodgers. However, on the YouTube list, it was just a repeat of S2 E18 with the Ronnettes. Not sure what happened with that.
Another funny thing was at the end of episode 18, there was a brand new “Goodnight Sweetheart” closing. You can tell because the camera was closer to each member and Jocko had his mustache shaved off as he has had for most of the two seasons of the show. However, oddly enough, episodes 20-21 both had the old closing version, making me wonder if this playlist was in actual release order.
Interesting guest stars on these episodes. Dick Clark appeared as the only non-singing guest, but he certainly has big ties to music. They played some Rate the Music, like they did on American Bandstand in the old days. This was a fun use of Dick Clark. There was an appearance by Jan and Dean, who performed on the actual stage. They had a performance by someone named Johnny Tillotson, who I had never heard of before. He did Poetry in Motion, which I knew well, but I always thought it was by Buddy Holly, or someone like that. Del Shannon was on and he sang Runaway, of course. Trini Lopez sang La Bamba as The Angels did My Boyfriend’s Back.
There was a fun duet between Johnny and Pamela Myers, who plays Ginger. She sings every once in awhile and their version of Hey Paula was well done.
I really enjoyed the comedy bit with Bowzer playing “Sven Bowzer” in an opera with Dirty Dan as the reporter. I actually laughed several times during this section.
There are some of my favorite Sha Na Na songs on these episodes. Johnny singing Roy Orbison’s Cryin’, Tell Laura I Love Her ( also by Johnny), Screamin’ Scott leading the Sha Na Na sing along with the song Don’t You Just Know It, So In Love, and Peggy Sue.
Speaking of Peggy Sue, they did an homage to Buddy Holly on episode 18 with them doing four separate songs. They did this instead of the comedy bit and I think they should have done something like this more often. I know they had done an Elvis one previously.
Three more episodes in season two to go. Even with the quality and the copyright issues, I am pleased that I am able to revisit these shows.
January 19
In honor of Martin Luthor King Day, I scheduled Spike Lee’s film Bamboozled for the Genre-ary. It was quite the satire.
According to IMDB, “A frustrated African-American TV writer proposes a blackface minstrel show in protest, but to his chagrin, it becomes a hit.“
The idea of this movie was used recently in the film American Fiction starring Jeffrey Wright. The thing is that this was so much more satirical than I ever expected.
Damon Wayans played Pierre Delacroix, a highly educated and uptight TV writer whose pitches were being rejected by his boss, Thomas Dunwitty (Michael Rapaport). Delacroix decided to provide a protest by presenting a minstrel variety show embracing all of the negative stereotypes associated with blacks. He intended on the show being rejected and leading to his own firing to escape the contract that he signed.
The problem was that the show became a huge hit by the public and the critics. Delacroix became enthralled by the success, losing himself in the racism.
There are so many shocking moments throughout Bamboozled that it is a difficult movie to watch. It is a powerful dismissal of the manner of television and its portrayal of African-Americans over the years. Admittedly, Bamboozled is not subtle in its satire, which may make it too cartoonish at times.
The ending was extremely tough to watch as everything came to a head. The idea that this movie had times that were difficult to watch was clearly done on purpose. It was meant to shake up the idea of racial stereotypes and racism inside the entertainment industry as well as throughout history, and Spike Lee definitely reached that level.
This is one of those movies that I enjoyed, but will probably never want to watch again. I do think it is a worthwhile show and some of the big ideas are necessary to today’s world.
#61
Mister Ed
Title: “A Horse is a Horse”
Written: Jay Livingston and Ray Evans
Performed: Jay Livingston
Voice of Mister Ed: Allan Lane
Here is another show that I watched occasionally in reruns, but whose theme song I can catch myself singing randomly. It’s a silly concept for a show, and the theme song fits that silliness beautifully. I love the internal rhyme scheme with “horse” and “of course.”
Spoilers
“Shadows”
“Heavy is the Head”
“Making Friends and Influencing People”
“Face My Enemy”
“A Hen in the Wolf House”
“A Fractured House”
The second season of Agents of Shield starts off with new team members and characters leading to the Inhuman story- tied to Skye’s arc.
With Shield, Mac has arrived. Mac becomes a major force on this show moving forward. At this point, he is just a semi-regular, but he will become more as the years go on. Trip remained with the team after the end of last season. Bobbi Morse arrived in episode six. Morse is the name of the Marvel comics character Mockingbird, but the TV show never called her that. Lance Hunter was a merc at first when he arrived with Lucy Lawless. Lucy did not make it though as she wound up dead at the hands of the Absorbing Man. Turned out Bobbi and Hunter were formerly married. I remembered how much I loved these two. They were not on this show long enough.
Kyle MacLachlan joined the show as Skye’s mysterious father. He dropped the first hint about a new name for Skye. We learn later that he is basically the character of Mr. Hyde. He played a wonderful crazy.
Jemma went undercover at HYDRA. It did not last too long, but it helped bring us Bobbi. It is also a way to show the problems being faced by Fitz. Fitz was struggling during his recovery from the water trap from last season.
Raina is having troubles all over the place. Karma is surely mucking her up badly. She is scared of Skye’s father and Hydra’s new baddie, Daniel Whitehall, who was actually tied to an object from the Peggy Carter days.
Ward is being held in a cell in the cellar of the Shield base. They were using him as info. Then his older brother came back into the arc in episode six.
Melinda May is still such a bad ass. I loved her episode where she had to fight herself.
January 18
The first film from silent film legend Charlie Chaplin that included sound was The Great Dictator. This movie was written, directed and starring Chaplin in a dual role. He played Dictator Adenoid Hynkel and a Jewish Barber.
At the beginning of the film, it lists that “Any Resemblance Between Hynkel the Dictator and the Jewish Barber is Purely Co-Incidental.” This is really funny as the film is clearly mocking Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, without even trying to be subtle.
According to IMDB, “Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel’s regime.”
A biting satire, The Great Dictator condemns the ideas of the dictators as well as Fascism, antisemitism and hatred in the world. The final monologue given by Charlie Chaplin is very powerful and fits extremely well in our time as well as the early days of World War II.
Despite the dark tone of much of the movie, there is still some wonderful comedic moments and standout slapstick scenes. There is one where Hynkel is tapping a ball in the shape of the planet in the air around his office. It is a beautifully choreographed scene with plenty of metaphorical importance.
In his 1964 autobiography, Chaplin stated that he could not have done this movie had he known the true terrors and abominations that was being perpetrated by the Nazis during the Holocaust. There was references to concentration camps and ghettos in the film, but as of 1940, when the film came out, there was not the widespread comprehension of exactly what atrocities that had been going on.
This is a truly powerful film from one of the most iconic men of the time period. His work was inspirational to many future directors and creatives.
Spoilers
“The Wrangler”
Sad fact has been that I have not been enjoying season two of Fallout as much as I did season one. They teased an amnesia story, but I guess that was just as she was purging herself of the drugs from last episode.
The final scene between Lucy and the Ghoul was tense and surprising though, and hopefully will increase my interest moving forward, as there are only four episodes left in season 2.
Honestly, the only story arc that interests me at all is Lucy and the Ghoul. The whole arc with Norm does not appeal to me at all. Watching him getting strangled only made me think about what Lucy might think.
I still feel like I miss too much by not being a player of the game. It always makes me feel like I do not understand important pieces of the story.
The flashbacks to Cooper’s past was interesting, but I feel all it was worth was giving Walton Goggins something to do.
It is also great to see some more of Kyle MacLachlan.
I hope the second part of this season picks up moving forward.
Spoilers
“8:00 AM”
Does Dr. Robby have a sneaky, behind-the-typical-treatment treatment for every emergency situation? He sure feels like he has a folksy solution to all kinds of situations, from shoulder dislocations to baby urination. It feels that our new Dr. Al-Hashimi isn’t as impressed as I am.
Dr. Whitaker’s main focus of the day was trying to comfort a Alzheimer’s patient whose husband had died that day. It was heartbreaking seeing him, for the second time, tell her that her husband had died. He took her to see the body and even that did not seem to work as she just thought he was resting. Alzheimer’s Disease is truly a tragic thing.
A man who was choking on broccoli delivered the line of the episode. After they had removed the broccoli, he told about his wife making him count calories in an attempt to lose weight and he said “I never choked on an sausage egg McMuffin.” LOL.
Dr. King got knocked to the ground and struck her head. She spent most of the time worrying over her part in a malpractice case that she would be testifying in later today so I hope that head blow does not come back in a bad way.
Maybe I am getting used to this show as I was cringing and saying out loud “What is going to be in there?” as they started to cut off the cast from the arm of the man who was brought in last week with a horrendous odor. The made sure he showered last week and disposed of his clothes this week. Anyway, back to the cast, I knew something would be coming out of that thing and, sure enough, we has a whole bunch of maggots. Ugh!
We also have evidence that an 8-hour erection is not a good thing. Not sure I needed the dick-shot in the scene. I could have used my imagination.
Another solid episode that was spent more with the characters than anything major in the emergency room. The show blends the cases and the doctors/nurses brilliantly and this is why it is one of the best shows on TV.
Spoilers
Death By Lightning
“Casus Belli”
Things are really picking up in the world of politics in 1880.
With James Garfield now elected president, he is finding the politics within in own party to be troubling. Conkling was flexing his power with Garfield’s cabinet picks, forcing Garfield to do something drastic.
Chester Arthur was, at one point, seemingly faltering, listening to Garfield’s arguments, but Garfield’s appointment of a collector, which was Arthur’s position, changed that. It led to an all-out war with Conkling.
Another one who is turning against Garfield is Charles Guiteau, who felt betrayed by Garfield, despite the fact that Garfield does not remember him at all. The mental illness being displayed by Guiteau is apparent. His purchase of the gun at the end of the episode with his “practice” was a suspenseful moment. His loss of his father and rejection of his delusion was impacted by a confrontation with Blaine. He spent this entire hour having things pile up against him. Next week’s episode should be fireworks.
Garfield’s wife also took ill, making thing rough for the President. The show told us through Garfield’s own words that he was rejecting security and said that assassination was unavoidable. This foreshadowed what is to come.
Great performances in this show. I thought Matthew Macfadyen was especially strong this week with his further decent into madness and eventual fatal thoughts.
#62
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego
“DO IT ROCKAPELLA!”
Written by: Sean Altman & David Yazbek
Performed by: Rockapella
This was an educational game show on PBS that ran for a few years in the 1990s. The a cappella song to kick off the show was always a highlight and helped make this show something different and original.
The song was catchy and engaging and brought a cappella much to the forefront of American pop culture at the time.
January 17
I had no idea that this was an Oscar winning film when I rented it on Fandango. The film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It actually won Best Adapted Screenplay.
According to IMDB, “Two men reaching middle age with not much to show but disappointment embark on a week-long road trip through California’s wine country, just as one is about to take a trip down the aisle.“
Paul Giamatti led the cast in his role as Miles. He does a sensational job as the struggling, emotionally distraught writer. I think it is sad that Giamatti did not also receive an Oscar nom since there were so many others for the film. He holds the film together.
Thomas Hayden Church did deserve the nomination that he received as Best Supporting Actor. He managed to be both a cheating jerk and a caring best friend with his role of Jack. We knew that Jack was doing some terribly rotten things, but his feeling for Miles helped keep him from being cast aside.
Virginia Madsen was strong as Miles’ love interest Maya. They had a sweet relationship that was on a slow burn as Miles attempted to get past his depression and his baggage from his previous marriage. Miles and Maya had a wonderful relationship that was worth cheering for.
Giamatti and Hayden Church had great chemistry too. You believed that they were best friends despite the fact that they did not seem to be much like the other one.
Sideways was a surprising enjoyable movie that was a much bigger one than I ever knew about. I am glad that I was able to get a chance to see it.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 