Nuremberg

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Nuremberg was a historical drama film featuring the trial of the Nazis at Nuremberg. After the end of World War II, the US government, along with France, USSR and Great Britain, placed the remaining Nazi leaders on trial.

This was based on the 2013 book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist by Jack El-Hai.

The basis of the movie was when psychiatrist Dr. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) was brought in to make sure that the Nazis were not able to commit suicide. Kelley immediately went to speak with the big prize of the Nazis, Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe), who was Hitler’s second in command.

Russell Crowe and Rami Malek were on fire here. Crowe gave a sensational performance and the scene nearing the end here the two characters were in a throw down in Göring’s cell was just amazing.

The performances were the standout part of this movie. There was also a horrendously horrific video they showed during the trial about the concentration camps and the monstrosities done to the Jewish people, It was tough to watch, but remarkably powerful.

Other actors in the film included John Slattery, Colin Hanks, Michael Shannon, Leo Woodall, Richard E. Grant, and Mark O’Brien.

It was a long film and it took its time, I was engaged most of the entire time. I was impressed with the performances and the look of the film. There were some moments of humor that did not necessarily feel like it worked, but there was not a lot of it in the film.

4 stars

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #33

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#33

The Muppet Show

It’s time to play the music. It’s time to light the lights.

I remember clearly when the Muppet Show debuted in syndication. I was in second grade and I was as excited about that as anything. I do not remember a ton from second grade, but I do remember that. Then, I was a little disappointed, because the only character that I knew from the show was Kermit the Frog.

That changed, of course. I love the Muppets and the Muppet Show was such an amazing flex by Jim Henson and his company. This is a variety show with a bunch of puppets that provided some of the best music and comedy any variety show could expect.

And guests! This was not just the B or C level celebrities appearing on the show. The Muppet Show got Bob Hope, Elton John, Alice Cooper, Mark Hamill in the middle of the Star Wars craze, Florence Henderson, Ethel Merman, Kenny Rogers, John Denver, Jonathan Winters, Christopher Reeve, Diana Ross, Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Carol Burnett, Johnny Cash, George Burns, John Cleese, Milton Berle, Steve Martin, Peter Sellers, Gilda Radner, Raquel Welch, Liberace, Sylvester Stallone among many others over five seasons.

The show did not just provide an amazing platform for the celebrities of the day. It also created a group of celebrities in the Muppets themselves. Led by Kermit, we were introduced to Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo the Great, Animal, Dr. Teeth, Statler and Waldorf, Rowlf, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker, and Scooter.

I absolutely love the Muppet Show. It was highly entertaining and truly funny. It also gave us the relationship between Kermit and Miss Piggy, and who knew we needed that?

It is definitely… the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational. This is what we call the Muppet Show!

Predator: Badlands

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The newest film from the Predator franchise opened this weekend, from director Dan Trachtenberg, who has now directed three Predator movies with Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers. Those two were really great and it helped me to anticipate this new film.

Trachtenberg takes a big time swing here by making the Predator, which were called Yautja in this film, the protagonist of the film. This was one of my early troubles with the film, because I had a tough time accepting the idea of Dek, the Yautja, as our lead character.

That did not last for long though. I found myself very entertained with the action and the story. I did not expect this film to be like it was. I think it really picked up when Dek meets up with Thia (Elle Fanning). I knew of the character of Thia from the trailers, but it worked much more than I thought it would.

Predator: Badlands improved as the film moved along. I found it exciting and a lot of fun. I did have another issue with a switch in attitude that Dek goes through as it felt too sudden, but I do not want to go into too many details because of spoilers. Again, I did not think it was a deal breaker for the film, but it was something that I thought about.

I thought the third act was really epic.

The CGI was mostly good. There were a few moments where the CGI was iffy, but most of the time, it was exceptional.

It was cool that this film has a tie in with the Alien franchise, leading to a potentially new line of crossover.

Predator: Badlands is highly entertaining and full of energy. It looks great and has some of the most creative creatures and exciting action. It was a lot of fun and not what I expected.

4 stars

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #34

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#34

The Practice

David E. Kelley has created several hugely awesome shows. This is the first one to break the top 100 at the EYG Top 100 (but won’t be the last).

The Practice is set at a small, private law firm in Boston where a group of lawyers, specifically defense attorneys, dealt with moral choices and legal ethics, and, as Kelley stated, was created as a balance to NBC’s LA Law.

The show ran for eight seasons on ABC and won several Emmy Awards.

The ensemble cast was one of the strongest on TV. It featured Dylan McDermott, LisaGay Hamilton, Steve Harris, Camryn Manheim, Kelli Williams, Michael Badalucco, Lara Flynn Boyle, Marla Sokoloff, Jason Kravits, and James Spader.

The Practice had some of the best courtroom drama on TV as the show’s specialty was the closing arguments when the lawyers of Donnell, Young, Dole and Frutt made their final push to defend their clients vigorously. Many times, especially the episodes where there would be defending rapists, the cases were morally questionable and they would step up with some of the most questionable tactics. Yet the show never failed to portray the lawyers of the firm in a noble light, speaking about how difficult being a defense attorney could be.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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November 6

Good evening cover lovers. Welcome to the EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week for the first week of November. If I am being honest, this week’s covers were a little weaker. There were not as many also-rans this week even though the top three are still very strong.

There is just a few weeks to go until the 2025 Cover Artist of the Year is named in the Year in Review. Spoiler… I think this year’s winner is among the medalists this week. Should not be a surprise if you have been paying attention.

Also-Rans: DC KO: Knightfight #1, Crownsville #1, No Place #1, Amazing Spider-Man #15, Batman #3, and Alien vs. Captain America #1.

Bronze Medalist

Star Trek: Red Shirts #4.

Cover art by Chris Shehan

Rough day for this cover Red Shirt. The skeleton with the sword in its guts, chained up. Feels like overkill, but it is a stunning cover that really tells you what the series is about. Killing off red shirts!

Silver Medalist

Wild Animals #4

Cover art by Andy Kuhn

Wild Animals has been a sensational series and this cover continues some awesome work. I love the white background with the giant gun and the yellow tint. It is just a real standout among the covers this week.

Gold Medalist

G.I. Joe #13

Variant Cover B

Cover art by Mark Spears

Mark Spears is back in the gold medal round with a beautiful cover featuring Cobra Commander. I was very surprised to see Spears doing a G.I. Joe Cover. He is undeniably going to be out cover artist of year unless there is some kind of massive push by someone. He is certainly the leader in the clubhouse.

I probably have to thank Todd for putting this in my box… he gets twitchy when I don’t mention him.

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #35

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#35

Murphy Brown

Politics and the media. Murphy Brown was a show ahead of its time.

At the fictional news television newsmagazine program, FYI, investiagtive journalist Murphy Brown searched for the scoops and traversed the ups and downs of Washngton, D.C. with her crew of fellow reporters.

Murphy Brown, played by Candice Bergen, was one of the top sitcoms on CBS and was genuinely funny. It used current world politics to tell some remarkably hilarious stories.

When real world Vice President Dan Quayle made a remark about the fictional TV show Murphy Brown, the show took it into their fictional world and ran with it into a feud with the sitting VP. I would love to have seen what Murphy Brown would have done with Donald Trump (though he was mentioned during a 2017 revival of the shw that lasted one season).

As it is with many of these types of shows, the ensemble’s chemistry is what truly makes the show work. This is true for Murphy Brown as well as Candice Bergen was joined by Charles Kinbrough, Joe Regalbuto, Grant Shaud, Faith Ford, Pat Corley, Robert Pastorelli and eventually Lily Tomlin.

One of the running gags throughout the show was the inability for Murphy Brown to keep a secretary. The joke allowed a countless number of fun cameos over the 10+ seasons of the show.

The multiple Emmy winning show dealt with many issues outside of politics, including breast cancer, feminism, family and single mothers.

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #36

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#36

Breaking Bad

Considered by many the greatest show on TV, Breaking Bad was a show that I came to in a different manner.

I had never been interested in the show, despite the cultural significance that it was having. It was around the fourth season that I decided to go back and watch the show from the beginning. The first couple of seasons felt kind of… okay. I did not love the show in the first handful of episodes. In fact, near the beginning of season three, I actually considered stopping watching it. The whole plane crash stuff was nearly the straw that broke my back.

I am so glad that I stuck with the show. Almost immediately the show felt better. In season three, I became engaged and enthralled by the characters and the story it was telling. I can’t believe that I nearly gave up on the show.

By the end of the fifth and final season, Breaking Bad was one of my favorite shows on TV at the time.

The all-star cast was sensational. The cast included Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Dean Norris, RJ Mitte, Betsy Brandt, Giancarlo Esposito, Jonathan Banks, and Bob Odenkirk.

The character of Walter White is one of the greatest characters in TV history and the comple performance from Bryan Cranston earned him four Emmy Awards for best Actor in a Drama and Aaron Paul’s work as Jesse Pinkman won him three Emmy Awards for best Supporting Actor in a Drama.

Untraveled: Day 1 Madrid to Cordoba

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Jay and Adam, the boys from pReview’d, one of my favorite reaction channels on YouTube, have created a travel show. Produced and edited by Michael Millard, Jay and Adam narrate the show from their studio. They showed off their chemistry as they walked around Spain, this episode specifically in Cordoba.

The area is beautiful and Jay and Adam are hilarious. There are seven total episodes of Untraveled dropping on Tuesdays, and I look forward to the next episode.

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #37

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#37

Stranger Things

Stranger Things is one of Netflix’s biggest shows of all time. A supernatural/action/comedy/horror show that grabs you with a ton of nostalgia and coming-to-age drama among a group of wonderful characters that are as charismatic as you could believe.

It started off as a mystery as young Will Byers disappeared. His friends become enveloped in the mystery and the dangers of the Upside Down, a hostile nearby dimension with creatures and monsters.

The cast is sensational. It included  Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Cara Buono, Matthew Modine, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Joe Keery, Dacre Montgomery, Sean Astin, Paul Reiser, Maya Hawke, Priah Ferguson, Brett Gelman, Jamie Campbell Bower, Eduardo Franco, Joseph Quinn, and Amybeth McNulty.

However, the key to the show is the kids. Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin and Noah Schapp have unbelievable chemistry together and when you add in the special talent of Millie Bobby Brown, you have something truly special.

The show has run for four seasons, with the fifth and final season preparing to drop later this month.

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #38

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#38

The Greatest American Hero

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s ….. Ralph?

ABC’s action/comedy The Greatest American Hero was a superhero parody show, but it was so much more.

Teacher Ralph Hinkley was stranded in the desert when he was approached by a UFO. The UFO left him a suit, complete with cape, that gave Ralph a variety of super powers, from super strength to flight to invisibility. One problem… Ralph lost the instruction manuel.

Ralph bumbled his way through misadventure after misadventure, always seemingly coming out on top. Ralph team up with FBI agent Bill Maxwell and the two of them fought the “bad guys.”

William Kitt played Ralph and Robert Culp played Bill, and the two of them had a great chemistry. Their friendship was one of the keys to the shows success, even if at times, Bill could be hard to handle.

Connie Sellecca was on the show as well, as Ralph’s girlfriend Pam Davidson.

One wondered why Ralph did not have a mask on the show. There were so many times where a mask would have helped him. Oh well, part of the comedy I guess.

The theme song of the show was a major hit and reached #2 on the Billboard top 100 chart.

Believe it or not.

Strange Harvest

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This scared the hell out of me.

It has been a long time since I have been as disturbed by a film as I was by Strange Harvest, a film I rented on Fandango at Home (Vudu). This would have worked really well for the October 13, although I did not watch it until November.

This movie was filmed in the “True Crime” style documentary, though the story was fictional. I would call it a “mockumentary” though that term leads me to picture something funny like This is Spinal Tap, and there was nothing funny about Strange Harvest.

The film followed the story of the serial killer who became known as Mr. Shiny, and his multiple murders over several years. The main “talking heads” of the horror mockumentary were Detective Joe Kirby (Peter Zizzo) and Detective Lexi Taylor (Terri Apple). They provided most of the narrative for the fake documentary.

This feels like a real documentary, which I think is why it hit so hard. There is a “Blair Witch” tone to it which adds to the mood of this film. Up until the ending of the doc, this could be a true story.

Mr. Shiny is a combination of the Zodiac Killer and an H.P. Lovecraft character. When we learn of his identity as Leslie Sykes (Jesse J. Clarkson), the character becomes even more frightening than he did before. Jesse Clarkson does an amazing job of creating an eerie, creepy, sinister character who is more like a ghost than a human for much of the film.

This is definitely one of the most scary films I have seen in a long time. I am still feeling disconcerted and unquieted as I write this. I may go from here and jump into my bed and hide beneath my covers. Strange Harvest was an excellent experience.

4.75 stars