I thought we’d start off day 3 of the June Swoon with some tears.
Wednesdays are always a challenge during the June Swoon because it is “new comic book day” and I head out to spend time at the two comic shops that I patronize. So I have to look for a movie that can fit into the time frame available. Many times that means I use a short.
In this case, I pulled up the 2026 Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Short Film on Netflix, entitled All the Empty Rooms.
In this doc, we follow CBS newsman Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp as they travel around the country, documenting bedrooms of victims of school shootings.
In the short, we see the final four children’s bedrooms and hear from the families of the victims.
The four kids involved in this doc were Hallie Scruggs, Dominic Blackwell, Gracie Anne Muehlberger and Jacklyn Jaylen Cazares. According to Wikipedia, there were several others involved in Hartman’s project that were not shown in the doc.
The doc was directed and produced by Joshua Seftel.
This documentary was poignant and truly showed the pain and the love of these surviving family members and how much their loss affected their lives. It also showed how their love is everlasting, even years after the death of their children.
The second film in this year’s June Swoon is a comedy that combines the feel of Wuthering Heights and Downton Abby with Airplane! and Naked Gun.
According to IMDB, “A new porter forms an odd bond with the youngest daughter of a well-known UK family. As the Davenport family, headed by Lord and Lady Davenport, deals with the epic disaster of the wedding of their eldest daughter to her caddish cousin.“
While I compared this to Airplane! and Naked Gun, I think the comedy and writing in this is a little more subtle at times, and does not have the real, over-the-top type jokes of those two, which I liked quite a bit about this.
I will say that it took a bit of time to get the story going, but it was always very funny.
The cast was led by Thomasin McKenzie and Ben Radcliffe as Rose and Eric. They made a nice pair together and gave the odd cousin-thing a surprise twist. Other cast members included Damian Lewis, Hayley Mills, Tom Felton, Katherine Waterston, Jason Done, Emma Laird, Adam Woodward, Ramon Tikaram, Lily Knight, and Erin Austen.
The film was lightweight, but funny and funny can overcome plenty of flaws.
The June Swoon kicked off this year with a documentary that I watched for free on YouTube that I had heard about from film critic William Bibbiani. He had it as one of his favorite movies from 2025, which sounded strange considering it was a documentary about birdwatching.
I tell you what…this thing was one of the most entertaining documentaries I have seen in quite a while. I found myself engaged and laughing loudly multiple times throughout the nearly two hour run time.
Two brothers, Owen and Quentin Reiser, with zero birdwatching experience, decided to attempt a “Big Year” by traveling across the USA in a Kia minivan and listing as many species of birds that they could see.
A “Big Year” is a competitive birding challenge to spot as many bird species as possible across the Lower 48 United States in a single calendar year.
During the year, the Reiser brothers met many other birdwatchers along the way and these people were every bit as engaging as the birds that they were following.
Another major aspect of fun in this doc was the inexperience and the reactions of these two men. Their observations were hilarious which came from a place of unfamiliarity.
Several “listers,” which referred to a group of highly competitive birdwatchers who compile a list of the number of species that they see in a calendar year, trying to break the record of bird species seen, appeared on the documentary as Owen and Quentin came across them on their travels.
Some of these included Tammy and David McQuade, a married couple who recorded 700+ sightings in multiple consecutive years, and Ezekiel Dobson, a 19-year old who broke the record of birdwatching with 758 recorded sightings in 2024.
The unconventional manner that they undertook was one of the most enduring parts of the doc. They spoke about things like eBird, an app that helped identify birds, how Cracker Barrel would allow them to sleep in their parking lot for free, and the advantages and disadvantages of playback, recorded sounds of birds intended to attract the birds. It reminded me a lot of the old Squatch calls from Finding Bigfoot.
The Reisers planned on spending as little money as they could, so they even went as far as attempting to build their own boats, to varying degrees of success.
This had no right to be as entertaining as it was, bit Listers: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching was a great film to kick off the fifth annual June Swoon.
I finished off the original Toy Story trilogy tonight by watching Toy Story 3 on Disney +. Toy Story 3 is one of my all-time favorite animated films. It is top 3 for sure, if not number one. It had been too long since I have seen it. After the viewing tonight, I can say with certainty that this remains an all-time classic.
Andy has grown up and is about to head off to college, which means that he has to make a decision about what he is going to do with his toys. When they accidentally get thrown out, the toys decide to get themselves donated to a daycare. However, the daycare turned out to be nowhere near as awesome as they thought it would be.
There are a couple of reasons why I loved this movie as much as I did. First up was the arrival of what I consider one of the greatest Disney villains of all time in Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear, voiced by the iconic Ned Beatty. Lotso was such an evil character, but I could completely understand his story. I thought his origin story, which was told in flashbacks, was just perfection. Everything that Lotso did was relatable because of the trauma of being lost and replaced. It turned him bitter and angry, something that he never got over.
The second thing that made me love this movie was one of the most dramatic and suspenseful scenes you are going to get in any movie, let alone a Pixar kids movie. The scene where Woody, Buzz and all of the others were in the incinerator, slowly moving toward the flames. When I first saw that scene in the theaters, I actually couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I couldn’t see a way out for them and I truly thought that the film was going to send them all to a fiery grave. This time, I saw the foreshadowing with the little aliens on how they get rescued, but when I first saw this in 2010, I was sure they were all goners. It was one of the most effective scenes I had ever scene and one of Pixar’s greatest.
Thirdly, the final scene with Andy and Bonnie was spectacular, filled with real emotions, that couldn’t help but bring tears to my eyes. It was so beautifully written that you just can’t help it.
Another brilliant scene was the escape plan organized by Woody to get out of the daycare. The plan revealed some amazing skills for the different toys involved. Everybody had an important role to play and the ending of it with the confrontation with Lotso was such an amazing moment.
Buzz getting turned back into the Space Ranger and then eventually to the Spanish version was hilarious. Tim Allen does a great job voicing that character. It was wonderful to get the voices back for Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Estelle Harris, Jodie Benson, Laurie Metcalf, and John Morris.
We got some new voices too. Michael Keaton joined the cast as Ken, Barbie’s boy toy. Blake Clark replaced Jim Varney as Slinky Dog after Varney’s death in 2000.
This is a masterpiece of a film, filled with heart, emotion and a connection to one’s things that everyone can relate to. Toy Story 3 is easily my favorite of all the Toy Story movies and right up there with Into the Spider-Verse and Inside Out.
I have not seen Toy Story 2 very many times. Of the three original Toy Story movies, Toy Story 2 was my least favorite. That is not saying that is was a bad movie. In fact, it is a sensational film, but the other two Toy Story films are just so exceptional.
I did a rewatch of Toy Story 2 tonight and I found it much the same way. It is extremely clever and well-written. I laughed out loud multiple times.
According to IMDB, “When Woody is stolen by a toy collector, Buzz and his friends set out on a rescue mission to save Woody before he becomes a museum toy property with his roundup gang Jessie, Prospector, and Bullseye.“
All of our favorite voices are back including Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, John Ratzenberger, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, Annie Potts, Laurie Metcalf, and John Morris. The voice cast had several huge additions with Joan Cusack as Jessie, Kelsey Grammar as the Prospector, Wayne Knight as the toy collector Al, Jodie Benson as Barbie, Andrew Stanton as Zurg, and Estelle Harris as Mrs. Potato Head.
The idea that Woody was a rare and popular toy that completed the set was a fun way to take the story. It brought us Jessie and Woody’s horse, Bullseye. I could relate to the collector part of the story, and I would have loved to have seen Al arrive in Japan only to find Woody gone.
I was not a fan of the musical song detailing Jessie’s origin. That felt too overly sentimental and manipulative on the emotions. It felt like the movie could have done this in a much more effective way. That was the one spot in the film where I thought the story took a dip.
Toy Story 2 is still on the lower end of the three original Toy Story movies for me (although it would be ahead of Toy Story 4 as of now). Though it was my least favorite of the three, does not mean it is not a spectacular movie with amazing CGI, clever writing, amazing characters and funny lines.
Next up will be Toy Story 3… one of my favorite animated movies of all time.
I was watching a YouTube watch along with Toy Story, the original from 1995 and I realized that I had never reviewed Toy Story (or Toy Story 2 or Toy Story 3) at EYG. With Toy Story 5 coming up later this summer, I thought this would be a great idea to watch and review these absolute classic films.
Spoilers: Toy Story is epic!
The arrival of Buzz Lightyear, a special action figure, in Andy’s room throws off the balance of power among the other toys, who are able to come to life when Andy is not watching. Cowboy Woody, who was always Andy’s favorite toy, felt the pressure of the new toy and reacted with a lot of jealousy, which put both of the toys in jeopardy.
This movie is so great. It is brilliantly constructed in the writing, so clever and funny. The movie is able to put these toys into situations that everyone could relate with and built some of the best animated characters of all time. The relationship between Buzz and Woody developed naturally and believably, and the remainder of the toys in Andy’s room added so much to the comedy and the overall storyline.
Tom Hanks is absolutely perfect as Woody, and I can’t think of another voice over actor that could be better as Buzz Lightyear than Tim Allen. The rest of the voice cast included classic actors such as Don Rickles, Annie Potts, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Laurie Metcalf, and John Morris.
The animation is spectacular. Everything looked so amazing that you believed that these toys were coming to life.
The showdown with the misfit toys, Woody and Sid was just tremendous. The writing on this was so wonderful and it showed Woody finally as the leader that he was and not the jealous toy wishing he was better than Buzz.
The Randy Neuman music is amazing too and the theme “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” could not be more perfect.
I am so happy that I was able to watch this on Disney + and I am looking forward to seeing Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3 (which is one of my favorite movies of all time) again.
So another Genre-ary comes to an ending with today’s movie, MASH, the original film from 1970 starring Donald Sutherland, Elliot Gould and Tom Skerritt, wrapping up the Comedy Genre-ary 2026.
I love MASH the TV show (it was my #8 in the Top 100) and that probably hurt this film, which I have seen a few clips from, but never sat down and watched the entire thing.
They were saying character names that I loved, but who did not seem like the characters that I loved. Outside of Radar O’Reilly (who was played by Gary Burghoff in the film and the TV series, the only cast member that returned), we saw Hawkeye Pierce, Trapper John, Henry Blake, Hot Lips, Frank Burns, Father Mulcahy, and Spearchucker.
My biggest problem with this film is that it is not the TV show. The doctors of the 4077 MASH felt so much meaner than what I was used to. I did not like some of the things that they did because they felt cruel instead of funny. They were cruder, obnoxious and not as empathic as I expected.
The plot was nearly non-existent. The film was just a series of scenes that were only connected together because they came at the 4077 MASH. That is… until the show turned into a football film. There were several episodes of the TV show where they competed against other units, but seeing them all in full football pads and helmets was weird.
The actors were strong with Donald Sutherland, Elliot Gould, Tom Skerritt, Gary Burghoff, Rene Auberjonois, Robert Duvall, Sally Kellerman, Jo Ann Pflug, Fred Williamson, David Arkin, Roger Bowen, Michael Murphy, and Timothy Brown.
I am sure that I would have liked this more than I did, if I did not have the TV series so firmly placed in my head.
On the penultimate day of the Genre-ary, I watch yet another Steve Martin movie. M y Blue Heaven is actually the fourth Steve Martin movie (along with The Jerk, Cheaper by the Dozen, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) in this year’s comedy Genre-ary.
I rented My Blue Heaven on Fandango at Home to fall into the Genre-ary.
According to IMDB, “An all too uptight FBI agent must protect a larger than life mobster with a heart of gold, currently under witness protection in the suburbs.”
Steve Martin and Rick Moranis are great together. They are a wonderful pair with amazing chemistry, dating back to Little Shop of Horrors. The two lead actors are the reason why this movie holds together because there are some shaky moments in the story.
The story itself is kind of hard to buy because there are so many things that happen that are not realistic. But everything is held together because of Martin and Moranis.
There is a great cast around Martin and Moranis. They included Joan Cusack, Carol Kane, William Hickey, Daniel Stern, Deborah Rush, Bill Irwin, Jess Bradford, Seth Jaffe, Robert Miranda, Melanie Mayron, Ed Lauter, and Raymond O’Connor.
There are some awesome dance routines in the film. It was really entertaining.
My Blue Heaven was fun and funny with some great actors that overcame some of the wonkier marts of the script. A solid Steve Martin movie.
I found this low budget superhero flick on Amazon Prime and it seemed like a good fit for comedy Genre-ary.
Boy is it stupid. But, I have to say, it is stupid in the right way.
According to IMDB, “Clark doesn’t care about you. He doesn’t care about the world. He barely cares about himself. But after an incident with an old bowl of spaghetti and a malfunctioning microwave, he becomes a superhero that can fight crime with the power of spaghetti. However, you have to pay him.“
Clark is really a jerk. He gets these weird spaghetti powers and he starts charging people. He is not your typical superhero.
The paper bag mask reminded me of when Spidey had to wear a paper bag mask and an old FF costume to get home. Lots of fun there. Or, I picture the Unknown Comic from The Gong Show. Either way, this is one more example of the paper bag mask.
There is clearly some Spider-Man love here as the spaghetti makes a Thwip sound when Spaghettiman shoots spaghetti from his hands.
None of it makes any sense, but it is funny. This film understands that it is stupid and it embraces that stupidity with both hands, with spaghetti shooting out of them.
It was a fun time watching this extremely low budget film that couldn’t be more indie if it tried.
Time is short tonight, so I went searching for a comedy short to watch, and did I find one!
The Audition was directed by Martin Scorsese and featured Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro competing against one another for a lead role in the next Scorsese film.
Scorsese also stars, along with Brad Pitt. The four icons had come together to make this short as an advertisement for Studio City in Macau and City of Dreams in Manila.
This was a lot of fun with these superstars playing against their own reps in a very meta short. These talented actors are able to deliver the comedy as well as their typical dramatic roles.
Reportedly, the short/ad cost an estimated $70 million dollars.
I had thought that I had seen Dirty Rotten Scoundrels before, but I do not think I have. Certainly not all the way through to the end though I have seen clips of it. I always believed that I was not a fan and that it was not something that I would find funny. I guess this is a lesson to make sure that you have watched something before judging it, because I thought Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was fantastic.
According to IMDB, “Two con men try to settle their rivalry by betting on who can swindle a young American heiress out of fifty thousand dollars first.“
The Dirty Rotten Scoundrels were Michael Caine and Steve Martin and they were absolutely perfect together. The chemistry between the two con men carried the film. Glenn Headly added a nice touch of apparent innocence to the group with her portrayal of Janet Colgate.
I was rooting for Steve Martin in the beginning of the movie, but Michael Caine became someone better than you would expect. It was a fun ending which fit perfectly in with the story.
It had great comedy and showed the quick-wits of both characters. The rivalry between them was so believable, even if some of the things that they pulled off was out there.
This is a remake of the 1964 movie Bedtime story. This new version was directed by Frank Oz, who was well known as a Muppet performer (he did Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear), the voice of Yoda, as well as director of other classic comedy hits such as Little Shop of Horrors, Bowfinger, and What About Bob?
I was sure that I had seen this before, but I had not seen the full film. It was very entertaining and full of Martin and Caine’s comedy chops and timing. I was very pleased to include this one in the Genre-ary for 2026.
I am not sure where I got this film for the Genre-ary. It must have been on one of the lists that I was searching through. This is a British black comedy called Withnail and I, which featured the feature film debut of Richard E. Grant. I typically like British humor. Unfortunately, I could not get into the film.
I had a very difficult time engaging in the narrative of Withnail and I.
According to IMDB, “Two sloppy actors spend a weekend holiday at an uncle’s country cottage.“
Maybe it is not fair of me, but I just was not into this movie. Did I give it enough of a chance? Maybe not, but I was just not grabbed by the film. Maybe I should give this a rewatch at some time in the future, but right now, I struggled with this movie.
Billy Crystal is a personal favorite of mine. He created a stand up comedy concert film that was based on a book that he wrote about his childhood and his family. It originally aired on HBO and I watched it on HBO Max.
It reminded me of the Charles Nelson Reilly film Life of Reilly, although that movie was darker than 700 Sundays. Both comedians talked about their childhood and their eccentric families with an honesty that you might not usually hear. They included the best of their lives, but also the tragedies that made them who they were.
Billy Crystal’s film was entitled 700 Sundays which was the count of Sundays that Billy had to spend with his father, Jack Crystal, before he died when Billy was 15.
Billy Crystal was remarkably funny, bringing out laughter between the tears in his stories. The set up for each tale brought the humor to the front, even with the deep loss that might also be present.
There were parts of the act that I recognized from previous stand up performances from Crystal. However, everything really fit together well. The stage featured a image of the old house that Crystal grew up in. This house became a important structure in the stories that he would tell.
The show was poignant, powerful and touching. Billy Crystal moved through everything with a flow that kept things moving and kept everyone laughing.
Charlie Chaplin has been a staple of several of my DailyViews and watches. I have truly enjoyed many of his shorts and movies, including most recently The Great Dictator during this year’s Genre-ary. So when I noticed that this biopic on Chaplin, starring Robert Downey Jr., was listed as a Comedy/Drama, I added it to the list for this month.
I had watched some of this film when I was younger, but I remember stopping it because I was not interested. I was too young to truly appreciate the artistry of the story.
According to IMDB, “An elderly Charlie Chaplin discusses his autobiography with his editor, recounting his amazing journey from his poverty-stricken childhood to world-wide success after the ingenious invention of the Little Tramp.”
This has a remarkable cast, led by RDJ, who would receive an Oscar nomination for his brilliant performance. Other cast members included Paul Rhys, Anthony Hopkins, Dan Aykroyd, Marisa Tomei, Moira Kelly, Kevin Kline, Penelope Ann Miller, Milla Jovovich, Kevin Dunn, James Woods, Diane Lane, Nancy Travis, David Duchovny, and Geraldine Chaplin.
The definitely strongest aspect of the film is Robert Downey Jr. He is amazing with his physical performance as well as his Chaplin replica. It was said that Charlie Chaplin’s actual daughter was in the film and she was impressed and unnerved by his creation of Chaplin.
The film ended with the Academy Award night where they gave him an honorary award and they showed the actual clips from the real movies with the real Charlie Chaplin. It was very powerful.
I thought this movie was really great, led by Robert Downey Jr. I would have liked maybe more about some of the controversies that were brought up during it. Still, I liked this a lot.
On a no school day because of the frigid temps, I got to watch the Genre-ary film early this morning. I pulled up HBO Max and watched a film starring Alexander Skarsgård and Michael Peña called War on Everybody.
Skarsgård and Peña are crooked cops that seem to flaunt authority at every turn. After returning from yet another suspension, Terry Monroe (Skarsgård) and Bob Bolaño (Peña) discover a heist that is about to be done. This led them to all kinds of trouble with two powerful and dangerous criminals (Theo James, Caleb Landry Jones).
During the investigation, Skarsgård is paired up with Tessa Thompson, and they are one of the best parts of the film. Thompson’s character, Jackie, fits right in with the damaged Terry Monroe. Some of their scenes together are fun and loose.
I think Skarsgård and Peña do a great job of creating these extremely unlikable characters and make them someone whom we want to root for. They are horrible people, but yet they are strangely charming and people you want to see do well. Anti-heroes have been around for years, but these two almost do not fit into that category. The skill of these tow actors is why the characters work so well.
The story is fairly skimpy. The two villains are cardboard cutouts. The action is, at best, okay. This film succeeds or fails on the strength of its lead actors. That is a good thing for this movie.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 