Sunday Morning Sidewalk #83

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“Hand to Mouth”

Jimmy made his first contact with Larry in this episode that saw everything else on the edge for the informant.

Jimmy’s father showed up to see him and flashed his old badge for some favors from the guards, unwittingly blowing his cover. One guard in particular, Mr. Carter, who blackmailed Jimmy for 10 grand or else he would tell everyone that Jimmy was here as a snitch.

Jimmy was summoned to the in prison Italian Mafia Don, and he waded through that issue too. Oh, it was the real life Mafia head Vincent “the Chin” Gigante played by Tony Amendola. He wants Jimmy to play boccie with him.

The main course of this week’s episode was the dialogue between Jimmy and Larry. There was a scene between them that absolutely was frightening. Both Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser were tremendous in their roles and in this moment. The tension built by the face of Hauser and his chilling words was amazing.

It had an impact on Jimmy too. When Jimmy told Agent McCauley about Carter, she told him they would get him out of prison. He should go into isolation until they could get the paperwork done. McCauley was having doubts about the case, afraid that Larry was just a sad and sick serial confessor, or that they would never be able to get the goods on him.

When asked what would happen to Larry if Jimmy went into isolation, McCauley answered that the judge could find the confession coerced and let him out into the world.

Jimmy had already seen the evil in Larry, convinced he was guilty. Jimmy insisted that he would stay and get the info. It was an unselfish turn for the drug dealer, because he knew allowing Larry out would be way worse than anything else.

I’m in on this show, and I am excited to see what is going to come down next. I didn’t realize that Jimmy’s father was being played by Ray Liotta, and that this was his final role before his death.

Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #45

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#45

The Wild Robot

Released: September 27, 2024

Runtime: 102 minutes

Rating: PG

Animation Style: hand-painted, illustrative CGI style

Studio: DreamWorks Animation

The Wild Robot is a beautifully written, shot and produced animated movies and was one of the top films overall in 2024. I had it as the #6 of the EYG top 30 for the year.

Voice cast:  Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Matt Berry, Ving Rhames, Mark Hamill, Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, and Matt Berry.

Stuart Fails to Save the Universe S1 E5

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“Spoiler: Bert Gets Married”

Following up my favorite episode of this show this week, we got a strange one with a tribe of people who share everything, all the time, and a completely peaceful.

With an injection of Kripke into the society, that does not last long.

Kripke immediately started warping things by showing the kind hearted people the idea of “mine.” It does not take long for the natural selfishness to come out, especially when Kripke made a Communist comment.

Meanwhile, Bert met a woman who asked him to share sex that night, but it turned out that they sleep with someone different every night. Bert introduced her to the concept of monogamy, and asked her to marry him, even though she does not understand the term.

Stuart realized that the machine was broken and he went in search of a message from the mysterious overlord that had been sending them messages. He found it at the bottom of a pile of bear poop.

Red quartz is what they needed to fix the machine, and there was only one bit around… on a necklace around the neck of the man who was jealous of Bert’s new relationship.

This episode continued what I think one of the biggest problems of this show is… it felt rushed. There is so much that can be discovered in these universes but are just brushed across most of the time. These episodes should be 45 minutes at least, but they are sticking with the half-hour focus, and there are just too many big ideas.

In the end, it all turned out to be just there and this episode did not blow my socks off. I am not a big fan of Kripke and I think they could have left that character off and still not have issues filling the time. There was no Big Bang Theory cameo this week and that was definitely missing.

Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #46

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#46

Mitchells vs. the Machines

Released: April 30, 2021

Runtime: 1 hour 54 minutes

Rating: PG

Animation Style: a hybrid blend of 3D computer animation and hand-drawn 2D elements

Studio: Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation

One of the biggest hits on Netflix that was also one of the biggest surprises of recent memory. This was a great story and a beautifully animated film.

Voice cast:  Danny McBride, Abbi Jacobson, Maya Rudolph, Rianda, Eric André,  Olivia Colman, Mike Rianda, Fred Armisen, Beck Bennett, John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Lo Mutuc, Blake Griffin, Conan O’Brien, and Doug the Pug.

Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #47

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#47

Teen Titans Go to the Movies

Released: July 27, 2018

Runtime: 1 hour 24 minutes

Rating: PG

Animation Style: bright, flat, 2D digital chibi art style

Studio: Warner Brothers Animation and DC Entertainment

I was never a big fan of the animated TV series this movie was based on, but I still gave the film a chance. I had so much fun and was so entertained that I was very surprised. The Manga style always felt so over-the-top, but it truly worked here.

Voice cast:  Greg Cipes, Scott Menville, Khary Payton, Tara Strong, Hynden Walch, Will Arnett, Kristen Bell, Jimmy Kimmel, Eric Bauza, Nicolas Cage, Greg Davies, Joey Cappabianca, John DiMaggio, Halsey, David Kaye, Stan Lee, Vamnessa Marshall, Phil Morris, Patton Oswalt, Alexander Polinsky, Meredith Salenger, Fred Tatascoire, Dave Stone, James Arnold Taylor, Whil Wheaton, and Lil Yachty.

Ted Lasso S4 E3

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“Richmond’s Got Talent”

The injury bug strikes the strikers for Ted Lasso’s new Richmond Women’s team. Well, one is an injury and one is a pregnancy, so I shouldn’t qualify it as an injury. But the strikers are out, so this leads to an open tryout.

The open tryout did not bring the football version of Susan Boyle. There is an option though and it was one that Coach Alice mentioned. She once coached a striker that was one of the best she’d seen, but who had quit to go to law school. Her name was Gemma and she had had enough of Alice’s demeanor toward her back then and did not want to hear anything from her now.

Gemma couldn’t deny the Lasso charm though, and it seemed as if Ted had reignited the passion for the sport inside her, and she came to join the team. Of course, she came on the day of the historic first game. She also wound up scoring a late goal after being inserted into the game near the end.

This was not only Gemma’s story though as Keeley was having a hard time getting the kit delivered for the first game, a young mother Lizzie was one who stood out at the open tryouts and was able to make the team, and Rebecca kept standing up her boyfriend at a restaurant.

I do like the new cast of the football team that we are starting to get. There are some intriguing characters that are more than just the one note that it appeared they were previously.

It was nice to see the much more presentable Coach Beard this week, no longer looking like a caveman in a Richmond outift.

This has been a decent season so far, even if I do not think it has matched the original three seasons in overall quality as of yet.

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

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August 20

Here we are, back on Thursday nights. And it is a big week of covers. Legitimately, there are a bunch of covers that could be in this medal round. There were three exceptional Something Epic covers and a Mark Spears that wound up on the outside looking in.

Also-Rans: Something Epic #14 (Cover A, B, C), The Phantom vs. the Singh Brotherhood #1, Mortal Thor #800 (Cover A), Avengers Armageddon #3, Daredevil #5, Punisher vs. the Amazing Spider-Man #2, Nights #20, Absolute Flash #18, Absolute Green Arrow #4, War Wolf #8, and Nightwing #141.

Bronze Medalist

The Lucky Devils #9

Variant Cover B

Cover art by Steeve Seeley

This cool cover makes one of the Lucky Devils kind of look like Hot Stuff, which was one of my favorite characters of my youth. This is such a fun thing.

Silver Medalist

Uncanny X-Men #34

Cover art was done by Luciano Vecchio & Matthew Wilson

What an awesome look at Gambit. He sure looks like the Gambit we got at the end of season two of X-Men ’97. I love the black and white look with the red and green jumping off the cover.

Gold Medalist

Thor #800

Variant cover Foil

Cover art by Declan Shalvey

A beautiful foil cover for the 800th issue of Thor, here technically as the Mortal Thor. The blue of the cover truly stands out with the foil background. It is a beautiful piece of art.

Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #48

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#48

Atlantis: The Lost Empire

Released: June 15, 2001

Runtime: 95 minutes

Rating: PG

Animation Style: Combines traditional 2D hand-drawn animation with 3D computer-generated vehicles, machinery, and crystal energy effects

Studio: Disney

One of the most underrated Disney movie of all time. Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a classic, with animation features a distinct graphic style heavily inspired by comic book artist Mike Mignola.

Voice cast: Michael J. Fox, James Garner, Cree Summer, Don Novello, Phil Morris, Claudia Christian, Jacqueline Obradors, Florence Stanley, David Ogden Stiers, John Mahoney, Jim Varney, Corey Burton and Leonard Nimoy

Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #49

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#49

Meet the Robinsons

Released: March 30, 2007

Runtime: 95 minutes

Rating: G

Animation Style: stylized, caricature-heavy 3D CG

Studio: Disney

Meet the Robinsons is one of those fun, comedic films that kind of gets lost. Has one of my absolutely fsvorite sight gags with the T-Rex involved in the chase stopping to be upset over his short arms.

Voice cast: Daniel Hansen, Jordan Fry, Wesley Singerman, Angela Bassett, Tom Selleck, Harland Williams, Laurie Metcalf, Nicole Sullivan, Adam West, Ethan Sandler, Tom Kenny, Don Hall, Paul Butcher, Aurian Redson, Joe Mateo, and Stephen Anderson.

Boston Legal S1 E10, E11, E12

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“Hired Guns”

“Schmidt Happens”

“From Whence We Came”

One of my favorite quotes from Boston Legal happened in episode 11. It is a thought have many times in the restroom…

“I keep an extremely clean penis“

Alan Shore is in response to a woman who had entered the men’s restroom and had introduced herself, while Alan was at the urinal. He extended a hand to shake and she said that he is going to wash that.

Hence, the clean penis comment from Alan.

That woman was Shirley Schmidt, named partner in Crane, Poole & Schmidt, played brilliantly by Candice Bergen. Shirley Schmidt becomes one of my absolute favorite characters on this show over the next four and a half years. This was her first appearance and Candice Bergen immediately was placed as a powerhouse, keeping Denny Crane off balance.

In “Head Games,” Alan winds up getting held at gunpoint by a disgruntled father who had recently lost his children because of Alan. Yes, the father would take his children without permission to Peru over Christmas. The mother asked for help from Alan. I mean… it is kidnapping.

This whole situation led to another classic moment of the series. Denny Crane using his rifle to shoot the father. Denny had the gun in his desk and had Tara open the door when he yelled “Pull!” As Denny said, he was a Marine, “trained as a sniper… or was it a pilot?”

We also get the debut in episode 11 of Bernard Ferrion, a small man who killed his mother by hitting her on the head with a skillet. Alan was able to free Bernard on a technicality, and then gave him a kindly speech about being good. Then next episode, Bernard is back after killing his neighbor with a skillet as well. Alan was disappointed, and sent Bernard to Tara.

Bernard is a surprisingly complex character for the short arc that he appeared. You could tell how lonely he was, and how he had a kind heart, despite being, as Alan called him, evil.

Betty White arrived as Alan’s new assistant, Catherine Piper. White had played this role on The Practice and had come in contact with Alan then. Seeing her resume this role was an awesome thing.

The arrival of Shirley put a charge into this show and gave the show a foil to Denny that was every bit as formidable as he was. Certainly, she was more capable of standing up to Denny than Paul was. All Shirley had to do was whisper those two little words… “Denny Crane” and Denny would shiver.

Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #50

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#50

Moana

Released: November 23, 2016

Runtime: 107 minutes

Rating: PG

Animation Style: 3D computer-animated style

Studio: Disney

See the line where the sky meets the sea? It calls me.

The original Moana was a wonderful, breath of fresh air and it featured some of the best music, written by EYG Hall of Famer Lin-manuel Miranda. The song How Far I’ll Go is a masterpiece. The sequel and live action remake could not recapture the magic of this film.

Voice Cast:  Dwayne Johnson, Auliʻi Cravalho, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Jemaine Clement, Nicole Scherzinger, Alan Tudyk, Oscar Kightley, Troy Polamalu, and Puanani Cravalho.

Rick and Morty S9 E10

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“Field of Dreams”

I am now caught up on the Rick and Morty series, finishing up with the episode 10 that debuted on HBO Max today, but had been shown on Comedy Central earlier in the summer.

The new episode started off as an enjoyable story of Morty going through the multiverse and attending other Morty’s funeral. Morty is discovered as he was watching the funeral by a family that was grieving “Mort,” the kid who was so much more successful and loved by his family.

Morty started spending time with this family, thinking that they were better than the family he had. Morty found out that this Smith family was extremely crazed and chasing after him to replace their Mort.

Morty went to this universe’s Rick, who had stopped drinking, had gotten married, and was living a happy life as a college professor. This was when the episode took a darker turn that I was not a real fan of.

As Rick was trying to help find a way to get Morty home, I knew what was going to happen. I knew that Rick was going to need to go back to drinking to get the work done. Watching Rick throw away his life, his sobriety, his wife to the bottle was so sad and too predictable. I wanted this Rick to not transform into yet another drunken Rick.

Of course the ending was anything but predictable as the whole family is butchered in their final confrontation. This allowed Morty to get back to his regular universe with a happier feeling toward these people.

The whole motorcycle scene at the end of the episode was odd.

Overall, this was an up and down episode for me, and with different shades of dark, it did not do well for me.

There is a season 10 in works right now with a rumored release during the summer of 2027.