The final season of The X-Files in its original run was season nine. The show returned for two shortened seasons after that, but this was the final four episodes of The X-Files
“Release”
The show is clearly beginning to wrap things up for the original run and one of the dangling mysteries of the last few years was what had actually happened to Agent Doggett’s son. Well, this episode provided some closure to that story as we get the man who had killed him and the reason why the boy was killed. The only piece of the story that was left dangling was the fate of Brad Follmer, as played by Cary Elwes. We learn that Brad has been taking money from the mob and he wound up shooting the actual killer at the end. We never see Elwes again in the series so it is unclear what exactly happened to him.
“Sunshine Days”
Here’s the story, of a lovely lady, who was bringing up three very lovely girls…..
Yeah, this was a weird episode. Of course, Ben Linus was here. That always throws me off somewhat. Michael Emerson is an awesome actor, but he will always be Ben Linus to me. Then, the fascination with the Brady Bunch was a strange choice, right down to naming Emerson’s character Oliver Martin, in reference to Cousin Oliver.
The overall story of this episode was flat and I did not find it very compelling. I did like seeing Ben Linus again.
“The Truth Part 1 and Part 2”
This was the two part series finale, again of the original run of X-Files episodes and saw the return of David Duchovny as Fox Mulder. Duchovny had been gone the entire season and had agreed to return for this final wrap up.
The military had decided to put Mulder on trial for the murder of Knowle Rohrer, the “super soldier” who had been running around, surviving death several times over the last few seasons of the show. Of course, this was all part of the government conspiracy that the show had been investigating for the last nine seasons.
The military trial of Mulder was a sham, of course, as one of the men who sat in judgment was one of the aliens, The Toothpick Man (Alan Dale, also a LOST alum, playing Charles Widmore). These two episodes featured the return of multiple characters from the nine years, including Marita Covarrubias (Laurie Holden), Gibson Praise (Jeff Gulka) and Jeffrey Spender (Chris Owens), all of whom testified in the trial. We also had a group of ghosts appear to Mulder in visions such as Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea) and X (Steven Williams) as well as the Lone Gunmen.
Of course, the final return was that of the “Wise Man” who Mulder and Scully go to for answers at the end, and it turned out to be the Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis) himself. Seeing that rotten bastard again did not make things great and neither did seeing him burned to death as I know he returned in the later seasons of the show. I have no idea how he survived this time, but seeing him alive really was a smack to the face.
They dropped a date: December 22, 2012, which is supposedly the date of the alien invasion.
I do not know what was to become of Doggett and Reyes as they drove off into the distance. Reyes has never won my favor in this series, but her final repose after testifying just about won me over. Another plot line that was never dealt with was the supposed feelings that Doggett had for Reyes. A few episodes again, there was a huge deal about how much they loved each other, but it was never mentioned again.
Deputy Director Alvin Kersh was also a bizarre character, as he seemed to be leading the trial against Mulder, going as far as suppressing evidence that proved Mulder innocent. Kersh looked to be fully opposed t Mulder, though he does help Mulder and Scully escape from captivity when Skinner and Doggett break him out. This is yet another character that is unclear of his motives and weakens the story.
Mulder and Scully end up together, snuggling on a bed somewhere, still holding out hope.
I am not sure how I feel about the conclusion of the show. This finale did not really wrap anything up and only served to leave plenty of things dangling or unanswered. Every question does not have to be answered in a finale for me, but it felt as if they brought up a major storyline in the last episode. I know it is dealt with in the future episodes, but we did not know that at the time.
Season ten only has six episodes to it and it will be next.
Magazine Dreams was intended to be released originally in 2023, but it was pushed back, and not released until 2025. Part of the reason was said to be because of the writer’s strike, but a big reason was because of the trouble that the movie’s star, Jonathan Majors found himself in.
Jonathan Majors was in a scandal involving his girlfriend at the time who claimed that he physically assaulted her. It led to Majors losing several major projects and jobs in Hollywood, most notably the main villain role in a future Marvel Studios Avengers film.
Pushing this film back makes real sense because it has Majors playing the role of a mentally ill bodybuilder, who while on steroids, was showing violent tendencies and was involved in several scenes featuring assault.
After watching this uncomfortable movie, it makes me all the more sad that Jonathan Majors derailed his career the way he did, because he is spectacular in this role. He was so believable as a man on the very edge of losing it that it felt like he wasn’t just acting. It is so sad that it is going to be difficult to separate real life from this performance in Majors’ situation.
Without any spoilers, I am not sure that the ending worked. I am not sure that the ending was earned, meaning, I don’t think the character’s choice fit with what the film had given us. Still, the fall of this character is developed extremely well.
There felt as if there were too many storylines in the film, none of which truly pays off. I think it could have benefited from a story rewrite, focusing down some of the events that occur. However, Jonathan Majors really does step up his game.
I don’t know what Jonathan Majors’ career holds for him, but he is undeniably a brilliant actor. His performance in Magazine Dreams is top line, but my guess is that a deserved Oscar nomination will not come.
The world of Middle Earth can hold many stories, both before and after the well known Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy. The world of animation seems to fit perfectly among the setting. Unfortunately, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim does not take advantage of the medium to the point that it could’ve.
According to IMDB, “Set 183 years before the events chronicled in the original trilogy of films, it tells the fate of the House of Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan. A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless lord of Rohan, with dubious ancestry, having many ties to Dunland, he seeks vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg-a mighty fortress that will later come to be known as Helm’s Deep. Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Héra, the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.”
This movie is okay, but it could have been so much more. The story of Héra is one that we have seen dozens of times. Filled with cliches, there are no really good character moments or story bits. The battles are the best part of the film, but they do not hold the same oomph that they could have because these characters are not deep and do not make you invested in their story.
The animation is, at best, average. Some background scenes look good, but much of the actual character animation looked choppy and, at times, cheap. They tried to cover some animation with snow and other imagery, but it did not work.
The relationship between Héra and Wulf was touched upon, but it was not developed to an extent that I believed the eventual response. Perhaps I can see Wulf’s anger toward Helm Hammerhand, but his all-consuming hatred is unexplained. He comes off as just a one-dimensional villain.
The film is way too long too. At two hour and fourteen minutes, it way exceeds what an animated film, even an animated epic as this intended to be, should be. Still, this is not the worst film I’ve seen. It just could have been so much better.
I loved this episode. I loved it because it was different than any other Poker Face episode. It started out as always, showing the crime before Charlie gets involved. This crime is a money drop gone wrong, with Shauna from Yellowjackets involved with John Cho. It seemed as if the whole thing was going down in a bad way with a couple of dead bodies.
It was pretty clear that there was some con going on, but I thought that it might have been a con gone wrong and that John Cho, who was playing a man named Guy, had actually bit the big one.
However, we go to Charlie meeting Guy in a hotel bar at breakfast time, just like Shauna did. In every other Poker Face episodes ever, this would be before the crime we see in the cold open, but this time, it was after. Guy was trying to set up Charlie for the con, and, of course, failing miserably because of her lie detector skill.
Guy introduced Charlie to his crew and they all kind of bonded… to a point where they wanted to have Charlie join them in a con. She wanted to think about it.
When she came back the next day, she had discovered that Shauna (Ok, not Shauna… Melanie Lynskey, who plays Shauna is playing Regina in this episode) had killed herself after the con.
In an attempt to get the money Regina had lost (which came from an orphan fund) back, Charlie agreed to join the con.
At this point, the show flipped things around again and I really liked the results. I have to say, I really thought this was Guy trying to prove that he could get away with lying to Charlie. That was not it.
I love the fact that Charlie is shown to be smarter than anyone else, even if she does not seem to be. She has so much common sense and does not just rely on her ability to tell when someone is lying. She set up a con to con the con, and got him in the end. The character of Charlie is also so original and unlikely looking of a protagonist who gets by with her smarts. I love how she is really not your typical hero.
This was a lot of fun and I thought the fact that they broke the format even more than ever before was an awesome thing.
Because of the length of The Brutalist and a couple other commitments today (including Sunday Morning Sidewalk and a Dodger game), the second June Swoon film had to be a live action short. Going on YouTube, I found a neat little sci-fi/comedy bit called Finger Food.
The film starred Ali Khan, Jessica Balmer, Angus Barnett, Debbie Chazen and the scene-stealing and totally hilarious Maggie Ollerenshaw. This cast has been very active in the world of movies and shows as they all have quite a strong list of projects they had appeared in.
The synopsis of the short in the YouTube said “Jason desperately wants to be liked by his girlfriend’s parents. Things prove more difficult upon a horrifying discovery...”
This was really well done. It was laugh out loud at times and I loved the work from all of the main actors in the short. As I said, Maggie Ollerenshaw stood out as Nana, perhaps the creepiest nana of all time.
There is a moment in the short movie that you suddenly get an understanding of what might be happening involving a fly that was a shocking and sudden event that truly caught me off guard and I did not see it coming. Well done on that.
The short ended with me wanting to know so much more. The situation that Jason had found himself stuck in was unbelievable and I really would like to know what was going to happen.
This is probably the biggest film during the June Swoon this year. The Brutalist is a multiple Academy Award winning epic film. It is a massive three and a half hour long with an intermission in the middle, even on HBO Max.
Adrian Brody won his second Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as László Tóth, a Hungarian-Jewish architect who immigrated to the United States after surviving a concentration camp during the Holocaust. László meets industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren, played by Guy Pierce, who also received an Academy Award nomination for the role. He became László’s client, hiring him to design a project in honor of his dead mother.
Felicity Jones was another cast member to receive an Academy Award nomination for her role as Erzsébet Tóth, László’s wife, a journalist and a survivor of Dachau. These three performances were the backbone of the movie.
The look of the movie was amazing. The shots of the film was both wonderful and painful. There was a lot of dread in the shots. The music made this movie even more special, compelling the story to move in such a major way. Both the cinematography and the score were award Academy Award wins.
The second half of the movie does go off the tracks a bit, but that feels like it was destined to do so after such a brilliant first act. Some of the resolution of the ending seemed unsatisfying after such a commitment to the film. Without spoiling what happened, it felt as if it came out of nowhere. Still, there are some powerful ideas happening within the film.
I do think this is easily a film built on the performances, as well as the technical aspects. These are standout sections of The Brutalist.
The second round of Sunday Morning Sidewalk came to an end this morning with the final episode of season one on Netflix. It looks like there will be a second season of the show, despite the word of cancellations over the issues Neil Gaiman has had. Either way, the Sunday Morning Sidewalk comes to the end.
Last week’s episode sure felt like a finale, and when I saw this episode, it makes it even more so. This week, there are two separate stories in the hour of the show that are completely separate from almost everything that happened in that first season.
It started out with an animated section called “Dream of a Thousand Cats” and it brings all the cats in a certain area to come and hear the message of a Siamese cat whose story tells of different time of cats and humans.
The animation was great and it really kind of reminded me of a couple of comic books that I have purchased the last couple of year. One was called Feral and the other Animal Pound. Both of these comics are told from the POV of animals, in many cases specifically cats, in their voices.
“Calliope” is the second part of the episode and it is live action. It has a minor connection to the season as they mentioned how Morpheus had been captured, connecting it to the way that Calliope, a muse, was bonded to humans. Specially humans who are trying to write books.
I wonder if these were also based on a comic issue because it does feel as if it could have been one of those filler issues that turn out so good.
With this episode, The Sandman ends and requires that there will be a new Sunday Morning Sidewalk show next week. So far, we have done HBO’s Band of Brothers and Netflix’s The Sandman. Starting next Sunday, I will be doing Pixar’s Win or Lose on Disney +. These episodes are shorter, so I am doing two episodes a week.
Based on a novella by Stephen King, Mike Flanagan wrote this story about a man named Chuck, checking in on Chuck in three different time frames.
I was completely mesmerized with this movie.
It started off with Act 3, and then went backwards. A great storytelling tactic that I did not even realize until I saw Act 1 on the screen.
Chuck was played in Act 3 and 2 by Tom Hiddleston and he absolutely blew me away (especially with something that happened in Act 2. No spoilers, but it was absolutely brilliant).
In Act 1, three actors played the young Chuck. Cody Flanagan played 7-year old Chuck. Benjamin Pajak played 11-year old Chuck. Then Jacob Tremblay played 17-year old Chuck. All three of them were exceptional, but I thought Benjamin Pajak was the real standout as he seemed to have the most to do in this act. So while Jacob Tremblay was the biggest name of the three, Pajak did the best work for me.
The other wonderful performance of this movie, all in Act 1 was Mark Hamill, who played Albie Krantz, Chuck’s grandfather. Hamill got such a meaty role with this character that I sincerely think he has a strong case to get an Academy Award nomination for supporting actor. Hamill was brilliant as the grandfather with a bunch of secrets.
The narration over top of the movie was done by Nick Offerman and he provided such an amazing voice over. There was something about the way Offerman delivered his lines that made me feel as if everything was the way it was supposed to be.
The film is relatable, reflective and life-affirming. I loved The Life of Chuck. I did not know what it was going to be going in and I was absolutely thrilled coming out.
What happens when Madame Webb is dating Reed Richards after breaking up with Captain America? I know that is not what is going on here, but I have to admit, I kept thinking about it as I watched this movie.
Since I was thinking about that more than I was thinking about what the story was or who these characters were, it tells you that this rom-com story did not grab my attention.
According to IMDB, “A young, ambitious New York City matchmaker finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex.”
I had some problems with this story. I liked every actor involved here, but I just did not form any interest in the characters they were playing. The biggest issue I had was that I just did not feel anything for the couple of Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans. We met them after their break up and then when we got flashbacks, we only got flashbacks to them fighting. I thought there was more chemistry between Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal, but the film did not want them together.
I think this movie was too long as well. I did enjoy a side storyline with one of Dakota Johnson’s clients from her matchmaking company, but it was not a major part.
Three likable actors but I was bored for much of the movie and I did not care about any of them.
The second film in the June Swoon today is The Rule of Jenny Pen from Shudder and it is a psychological thriller set in a care home.
According to IMDB, “Confined to a secluded rest home and trapped within his stroke-ridden body, a former Judge must stop an elderly psychopath who employs a child’s puppet to abuse the home’s residents with deadly consequences.”
John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush are both excellent in this film. Lithgow is absolutely terrifying as the abusive resident with the hand puppet named Jenny Pen. Rush started off as an unlikable character, but his torment at the hands of Lithgow really humanized him, and made him someone you wanted to root for.
The setting of the care home was a really effective one, building the sadness and loneliness of the situation into the horrors of what was happening. The angles of shots and the way the camera moves adds to the anxiety of the scenes.
The lead performances of this movie really bring this New Zealand film to its high points, and the psychological horror works because it is so beleivable.
I do love Daniel Craig. I think his Bond may be my favorite of all-time. I love Benoit Blanc from the Knives Out franchise. He is just a tremendous performer.
I do think he is the best part of Queer, the movie I watched for the June Swoon today. He received a Golden Globe nomination for the role.
Unfortunately, I just did could not get into Queer, despite the topline performance of its lead.
According to IMDB, “William Lee, an American expat and heroin addict in Mexico City, spends his days almost entirely alone, except for a few contacts with other members of the small American community he lives in. His encounter with Eugene Allerton, an expat former soldier, makes him believe it might finally be possible to establish an intimate connection with somebody.“
Part of the issue was that this felt too stream-of-consciousness-y to me. It is designed, at times, as a dreamlike film with an abstract story. As in some independent movies, the plot is not important, and that does feel like what Queer is. It is a character piece, and that is fine, but I just did not engage in the film.
Daniel Craig is great, as is his co-star Drew Starkey. I just lost interest in the film early and it never got me back.
In honor of Friday the 13th, I figured the second part of the June Swoon I would watch a good slasher film. Unfortunately, instead I watched Fear Street: Prom Queen.
I really enjoyed the previous installments of the Fear Street films. They came out in 2021, released once a week on Netflix. Based on R.L. Stein books, the Fear Street films were based in 1994, 1978 and 1666. They were connected and was a lot of fun.
It only made sense that they would return to the series. Prom Queen was lacking a lot of what made the first three films so great… namely a story, any interesting characters and fun.
According to IMDB, “Welcome back to Shadyside. In this next installment of the blood-soaked Fear Street franchise, prom season at Shadyside High is underway and the school’s wolfpack of It Girls is busy with its usual sweet and vicious campaigns for the crown. But when a gutsy outsider is unexpectedly nominated to the court, and the other girls start mysteriously disappearing, the class of ’88 is suddenly in for one hell of a prom night.”
This was such a dumb movie. I mean, dumb even for a slasher movie. The story made no sense. The motives of the killer made no sense. The kills were uninspired and boring. It just had a whole list of horror/slasher tropes that were not fun at all.
The writing was so bad. The acting was over the top. What a waste of time.
I was sorry to see this because I really enjoyed the Fear Street films form 2021, but this was nowhere close to a worthy successor to those three movies. This felt like a high school production.
I wonder if I would have considered this so badly if it did not have the Fear Street name attached to it? The memory of the great movies that preceded this may have not allowed this one a fair shot. On the other hand, this was aggressively bad and if a better movie was made, perhaps it would have benefited from the previous films. Either way, don’t bother with this one.
Happy Friday the 13th to all of the horror movie fans out there. It has been awhile since I was able to get the EYG Comic Cavalcade out on a Friday, but summer’s here and some extra reading time is available.
I also have a brand new computer chair that I put together (with only some swear words) last night. It is nice and comfy as I type this week’s Cavalcade post.
Books this week:
Death of the Silver Surfer #1. “Chapter 1: Here” Written by Greg Pak and art by Sumit Kumar. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan. As readers of the Comic Cavalcade know, I am not much of a fan of alternate future stories and this is a new one from Marvel. However, this book, written by Greg Pak, who I do like a great deal, is really decent. I was very engaged when I was reading it and I think this will be one of those future stories that will work for me.
Star Hunters #1-7. This is a group of seven books, the full series, that Todd made me buy. JK. He did recommend it. I have not actually read the full series, just skimming the first issue a bit, but I am happy to have it. Issue one had cover price of $0.35 which jumps up to $0.50 by the final issue.
Robin & Batman: Jason Todd #1. Written by Jeff Lemire with art and cover art by Dustin Nguyen. Jeff Lemire is the reason I picked up this number one, and I am very pleased that I did so because it is an exceptional story involving the eventually tragic Robin, Jason Todd. I have always been a fan of Robin and, while Jason Todd is not a personal fav, this book takes that character into a new level.
Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1. “Marvel Girl“. Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly with art by Rod Reis. Ms. Marvel and Legion insert themselves into the Dark Phoenix Saga after being in the recruitment of the new X-Men in the last issue. I am not sure what this Ms. Marvel group of books is meant to do, but the stories have been fine.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #9. “The Way of the Rotted Rat.” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Juan Ferreyra. Cover art was done by Jorge Fornes. With Donny behind bars, the remaining Turtles try to keep from killing each other in an attempt to save their brother. Things are not going great for them.
Lost Fantasy #2. “Book One: A World Beneath.” Created by Curt Pries & Luca Casalanguida. A new hunter comes into play while Henry fights for his life. Lost Fantasy has been a great read so far and the ‘giant size” regular book is awesome. More books should provide more pages of story than what they have been doing recently.
Nightwing #126. “By the Book- Finale: Bad Cop/Good Cop.” Written by Dan Watters and art by Francesco Francavilla. Cover art was done by Adriano Lucas. I have been a fan of Nightwing since his debut in Teen Titans, and Dick Grayson prior to that as Robin. I decided to give Nightwing a chance and grabbed this issue off the shelf. Of course, it was a finale of a story arc, but even with that, the story was understandable and interesting.
Something is Killing the Children #42. “All Her Monsters Part Two” Written by James Tynion IV and illustrated and cover art by Werther Dell’edera. I also picked up cover B variant with art by Tyler Boss (Gold Medalist) which was a glow-in-the-dark cover. Erica is back as we continue to see into the past of the young monster slayer.
Far Down Below #3. Written by Chris Condon and art by Gege Schall. Cover art was done by Jacob Phillips. Brian, Jeff and Brian’s grandfather continue their trek beneath the surface of the earth and find all kinds of dangers and obstacles. And they found someone else!
The New Avengers #1. Written by Sam Humphries and art by Tony Lima. Cover art was done by Stephen Segovia & Rain Beredo. The New Avengers … or The Thunderbolts! Bucky and Black Widow are on a mission and they need to find some “team members.” They start off with Laura Kinney Wolverine and Namor. More to come.
Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman #1. “Crisis on Infinite Corgis.” Written by Tom King and art and cover art by Belen Ortega. This was a fun, little time travel story with Trinity along with a couple of other versions of her from different times, are out to retrieve a group of time traveling corgis. Weird book, but always fun thanks to Tom King.
Avengers Academy Assemble #1. Written by Anthony Oliveira and art by Carlos Lopez and KJ Diaz. Steven Byrne did the cover art. This looks like it is collecting the Avengers Academy: Marvel’s Voices Infinity Comic #1-6, which I believe is on the Marvel Unlimited digital series. This is my preferred way to read comics, with the floppy copy. I do like a lot of these young characters and I was a fan of the old Avengers Academy books, so this was fun.
By the way Todd, that is not Squirrel Girl. It is Molly Hayes.
Runaways #1. Written by Rainbow Rowell and art by Elena Casagrande. Cover art by Stephanie Hans. I also picked up a variant cover by Elena Casagrande with a wrap-around cover of the original Runaways. I was a fan of the Runaways and Doombot was one of my favorite characters so with Dr. Doom running the world, it was just a matter of time before he tried to reclaim his property.
One World Under Doom #5. Written by Ryan North and art by R.B. Silva. Ben Harvey did the cover art. Doom and the Avengers find themselves on the same side against the dread Dormammu. Of course, this is something that the manipulative Doom will take advantage of as he groomed his reputation and image as a world wide savior.
Geiger #15. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Gary Frank. Cover art was done by Gary Frank & Brad Anderson. The battle between the Glowing People comes to an explosive finish in this issue. Geiger continues to be high quality in the Ghost Machine imprint.
Spider-Girl #1. Written by Torunn Grønbekk and with art by Andre Risso. Variant cover B art was done by Peach Momoko. From the pages of Spider-Boy, we get the new heroine who had teamed up with Bullseye to fight in a tournament. Here she has to face Vermin.
Amazing Spider-Man Giant Size #1. Four separate Spidey stories written by Kevin Smith, Al Ewing, Chip Zdarsky and Mitsuyasu Sakai. The four artists involved were Giuseppe Camuncoli, Mark Buckingham, Cafu & Gerardo Sandoval. Spidey is out looking for a fix for his torn costume, he meets Wyn from G.O.D.S., and they introduce the new character Rapid, who can slow down time.
Conan the Barbarian #21. “Slaves of the Magi” Written by Grim Jim Zub and art by Ferocious Fernando Dagnino. Cover art was done by Dan Panosian. Another book I grabbed off the stands to give a try. I used to collect the Conan books that were recently at Marvel and I thought I would try this Titan book. It was fairly decent. Certainly looked great.
New Champions #6. Written by Steve Foxe and art by Ruairi Coleman. Cover art was done by Gleb Melnikov & Arthur Hesli. The young New Champions team up with the Avengers in a battle against a new Super-Skrull. Oh, and Moon Knight shows up and scares Moon Squire.
Exceptional X-Men #10. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Carmen Carnero & Federica Mancin. Cover art was done by Carmen Carnero & Nolan Woodard. Kitty, Emma and Iceman are here to help their trainees, but Axo has to come to the rescue instead. I thought this might be the end of this series, but I am glad it looks like it is moving on.
Jumpscare #3, 4. Written by Cullen Bunn and art and cover art by Danny Luckert. I finally got Jumpscare #3, which was a suddenly difficult book to find. Todd was able to find it in Des Moines (although he then tried to hid it from me…. ). I was starting to believe that issue three was just a urban legend. I do enjoy this book and I am glad I am currently caught up.
Absolute Batman #9. “Abomination Part One” Written by Scott Snyder and art by Nick Dragotta. Cover art by Nick Dragotta and Frank Martin. The Absolute Universe debut of Bane. And Bane is badass!
Eddie Brock: Carnage #5. Written by Charles Soule and art by Juanan Ramirez. Cover art was done by Iban Coello & Frank D’Armata. Carnage and Eddie are having their internal struggle for control as Eddie is trying to help a crashed plane’s passengers. Misty Knight may be in over her head.
Phoenix #12. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Roi Mercado. Cover art was done by Lucas Werneck (Bronze Medalist). This issue spends most of the time with Sarah Grey, in both present day and flashbacks. It sets her up as a possible mutant, but Cable does not seem too pleased.
Batman: Dark Patterns #7. “Pareidolia” Written by Dan Watters and art and cover art by Hayden Sherman. The new arc of the Dark Patterns series kicks off here and it continues to be an exceptional take on an early Batman.
Star Wars #2. “Smoke” Written by Alex Segura and art and cover art by Phil Noto. Luke takes off, leaving Rynn behind and winds up in search of a Jedi artifact called the Crown of Verity. This issue featured Luke’s travels and his confrontations as he searched for the McGuffin.
Magik #6. “The Road Back Home.” Written by Ashley Allen and art by Jesus Hervas. Cover art was done by Pablo Villalobos. Trouble brewing in Limbo, so Illyana meets up with Madelyne Pryor to cause sparks to fly between the two powerful Limbo masters.
Other Books this week: Frankenstein New World: The Sea Forever #4, The Loose Ends #4, Huge Detective #5, Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #3, Marvel United: A Pride Special #1, Marvel Rivals Ignite #1, and Deadpool/Wolverine #6.
Quick Hits: Todd had gotten a group of Superman Unlimited #1 issues signed by Dan Slott through Midtown Comics and I was able to get one of those. It was cool because I swear, Dan Slott is the only comic book creator whose signature is readable. Optimist Prime is still in some bad shape in Transformers #21. EC Blood Type #1 was another off the stands book to try out. It wasn’t bad even though there are a surplus of vampire stories right now. Blue Palo Verde #1 is also new and I had never heard of it before, but I feel as if Mad Cave deserves the benefit of the doubt right now and I did love this book. Falling in Love on the Path to Hell #8 is one of the least regularly released books currently coming out that is not from DSTLRY. No Black Panther in Ultimate Black Panther#17, but it might have been better with the focus on Killmonger and Okoye. Sister Imperator #4 closes that series out. I am not sure if I will miss it. W0rldtr33 #15 has the silver medalist this week for Fernando Blanco. Hello Darkness #11 continues to have great covers too and a potpourri of horror short stories. Finally Peach Momoko’s Ultimate X-Men #16 is here and is still the most original Ultimate books available.
Today’s entry in the June Swoon is a historical drama that was available on Hulu entitled Small Things Like These, starring Cillian Murphy, hot off his Oscar win for Oppenheimer.
According to IMDB, “In 1985 devoted father Bill Furlong discovers disturbing secrets kept by the local convent and uncovers shocking truths of his own.”
Cillian Murphy has placed himself square in the upper echelon of actors working today and this is one more outstanding and very subtle and sublime performance.
The movie deals with the concept of the Magdalene laundries, which according to Wikipedia, “were institutions usually run by Roman Catholic orders” which were “run ostensibly to house ‘fallen women’, an estimated 30,000 of whom were confined in these institutions in Ireland.”
“In 1993, unmarked graves of 155 women were uncovered in the convent grounds of one of the laundries. This led to media revelations about the operations of the secretive institutions.“
This was a bit of history that I did not know about and it was a truly harrowing tale. Cillian Murphy is remarkable with the backdrop of this history in the foreground of this movie. There are flashbacks used to Murphy’s character’s, Bill, childhood.
This is a small film but it carried a strong message about a terrible time in the world, including the potential questions that this could raise about religion and belief in such.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 