I love the synopsis on Netflix for episode eight. It simply says “Something very bad happens.”
These last two episodes of this Netflix limited series were simply batshit crazy.
Holy cow. This went in a manner that I never thought it would. I mean, I never saw Nicky backing out of the wedding at the altar, basically dooming his entire bloodline.
Nicky never believed in the curse that Rachel was so desperately trying to avoid. She went to the extreme by having Jules cut off Rachel’s pinky toe. She had to put all this stuff into a drink. Part of it was the bone of the bride. She needed the seed of the groom.
Honestly, the creation of this cocktail mixture was making me want to puke. It was so gross.
Rachel does not end up drinking it, as she has convinced herself that Nicky is, in fact, her soulmate.
So when Nicky stops the wedding, the sun goes down and the whole group of their bloodline started bleeding from their eyes and mouth.
The Witness arrived at the wedding too. I had forgotten about him. I also forgot that if Rachel called off the wedding, she would replace him as witness. All this because she accepted a proposal that she did not really want to in the first place.
It is difficult to go over these two episodes because of all the craziness that went down. I thought after episode six that Victoria had died. Seems that I overexaggerated that as she was only suffering a certain attack. Victoria was played by Jennifer Jason Leigh and she was amazing. Ted Levine, from Silence of the Lambs and Captain Leland Stottlemeyer from Monk, was the father of Nicky, which I had not realized until episode six. These two are great actors and really solidified the cast.
I hadn’t considered why Jules did not die when the curse switched to the family, but it was because he was married to his true soulmate in Nell. That makes total sense. It was also why Nicky and his father did not die. Of course, when Victoria died, that said that she did not truly believe that Boris was her soulmate, which would be a tragic thing to live with.
This was a great eight episodes with tons of tension and exciting family shenanigans. The supernatural was used heavily, but it the perfect amount and the ending was so shocking that I never would ghave thought it would have been filmed. A lot of bloody fun.
Video featured: Aisha Tyler, Margaret Cho, Eric Stonestreet, Jack Black, and Kristen Schaal
Lyrics
It might seem crazy, wearing stripes and plaid I Instagram every meal I’ve had All my used liquor bottles are on display We can go to see a show but I’ll make you pay
Wear my belt with suspenders and sandals with my socks (Because I’m tacky) Got some new glitter Uggs and lovely pink sequined Crocs (Because I’m tacky) Never let you forget some favor I did for you (Because I’m tacky) If you’re okay with that, then, you might just be tacky, too
I meet some chick, ask her this and that Like ‘Are you pregnant girl, or just really fat?’ (what?) Well, now I’m dropping names almost constantly That’s what Kanye West keeps telling me, here’s why
Wear my Ed Hardy shirt with fluorescent orange pants (Because I’m tacky) Got my new resume it’s printed in Comic Sans (Because I’m tacky) Think it’s fun threatening waiters with a bad Yelp review (Because I’m tacky) If you think that’s just fine, then, you’re probably tacky, too
Bring me shame, can’t nothing Bring me shame, I never know why Bring me shame, can’t nothing Bring me shame, I said Bring me shame, can’t nothing Bring me shame, it’s pointless to try Bring me shame, can’t nothing Bring me shame, I said
43 Bumper Stickers and a YOLO license plate (Because I’m tacky) Bring along my coupon book whenever I’m on a date (Because I’m tacky) Practice my twerking moves in line at the DMV (Because I’m tacky) Took the whole bowl of restaurant mints. Hey, it said they’re free (Because I’m tacky) I get drunk at the bank And take off my shirt, at least (Because I’m tacky) I would live-tweet a funeral, take selfies with the deceased (Because I’m tacky) If I’m bit by a zombie, I’m probably not telling you (Because I’m tacky) If you don’t think that’s bad, guess what, then you’re tacky, too
The second season of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters concluded on Apple TV + this past Friday with a big titan slugfest between Kong and Titan X and the official switch from Cate to Kentaro of the stupidest Randa sibling.
It can’t be that Cate is the standout character on this show now, can it?
A few episodes ago, I would have celebrated had the show killed Cate off. Now, she feels like the true heart of the show, certainly moving forward into a potential season three.
What a character arc she has had this season.
The face off of Kurt Russel and Wyatt Russell in the opened rift felt as if it were a true goodbye for the flashback characters as they had been used less in the last few episodes this season. This feels like the correct moment to end those flashbacks as the show apparently is taking a new step in any potential season 4.
Keiko was such a bad ass driving her jeep around the gigantic Kaiju fight going on around her, but… girlfriend… where did you learn to park? As soon as she stopped that jeep and hopped out, I knew it was a goner. Why park it there? Geez.
The final shot of the season showed Lee looking out at a volcano and seeing Rodan sitting atop of it as the lava flowed around it. Rodan was last seen in Godzilla: King of the Monsters leaving a ton of questions about this Rodan.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters was a hit and miss season for me. There were several moments where I considered dropping this show from my viewing schedule because I was just not enjoying it. I am happy that I maintained through the middle because the ending was much stronger than I expected. It ended strongly enough for me to watch the next season, if it is renewed by Apple TV.
I had heard a lot of positive things about the film, The Plague earlier in the year, but it never came around to the theaters in my area. So when I spotted it on AMC + on Prime, I decided to give this a watch.
The film is a psychological thriller/horror film directed by Charlie Polinger and starring Joel Edgerton and a cast of teenagers.
I think the theme of this movie is that middle school aged boys are horrible, cruel and just disgusting people.
According to IMDB, “A socially awkward tween endures the ruthless hierarchy at a water polo camp, his anxiety spiraling into psychological turmoil over the summer.”
This was not what I expected this film to be about. It was a rough watch, especially since I am a middle school teacher and seeing how cruel these kids were to each other, it is something I can relate to in my own life.
There were some questions I had, but I think those all require spoilers, so I will just have to say that I am not sure what I saw was really what I saw during a chunk of the movie.
The main protagonist of the film was Ben, played by Everett Blunck. The young teen Blunck does a really good job dealing with the pressures of trying to fit in with the crowd, while still feeling empathy for those that were being ostracized. It was a strong performance with plenty of layers for this young boy to play. The main antagonist for Ben was Jake, played by Kayo Martin. I swear that every time I saw Kayo Martin, I pictured Justin Shenkarow from Picket Fences. Kayo Martin could easily be his brother, though Shenkarow is much older now. I really disliked the character of Jake, so Kayo Martin did an excellent job of providing the conflict within this group of children. He felt real.
The film is a slow build and does feel longer than its 1:38 run time. Still, the performances are all great and the tension is top notch. There are things that are happening that I am confused by, which kept me on my toes. Maybe I was looking too deeply into it (the Wikipedia page did not make any references to my concepts), but I was glad it was a film I finally was able to see.
Episode two may not have been as creepy as the premiere, but it was still very disturbing and unsettling as this bizarre family comes together for a wedding. But who knows if the wedding will ever come to pass.
It is four days before the wedding and Rachel discovered that her wedding dress was missing. She was sure it had been brought, but it all felt like some kind of machinations among this family.
As Nicky went to Cleveland to see if he could find the dress, Rachel was involved in a fitting using Victoria’s old dress. This degenerated into a weird and wild event. Rachel wound up wandering through the house, hearing all kinds of strange whispers and discussions between the others about her and the situation. It was very creepy.
Rachel found the dress hung up in the woods over an effigy. Meanwhile, Dr. Cunningham was digging a grave. This, understandably freaked Rachel out and she started running from them. Nicky was returning as she was running away and she wanted to leave immediately, but, also understandably, Nicky wanted to speak with his family.
Turned out this all had to do with a tumor in Victoria’s brain that is killing her. The wedding came up as a surprise and they were going use it as a way to bring all the family together for one last celebration.
Jude, Jules’ son, apparently took the dress and put it on the effigy as a way to confuse the Sorry Man. Jude had discovered blood that Rachel had dripped on the floor the night before when she had her bloody nose, and he was trying to keep the Sorry Man from coming and killing Rachel. His father made Jude repeat that the Sorry Man was not real.
Of course, the silhouette in the woods that showed up at the end of the episode told a different story.
Two episodes in and there are so many weird things going on that I sure hope pay off. I am invested in the story so far and these characters are all so sus that I can not imagine what the real situation is. Good stuff on Netflix.
I have had this limited series, Something Very Bad is Going to Happen, on my Netflix queue for several weeks now. I had heard positives about the series that I wanted to watch it, but with the load of other TV and movies, not to mention comics and school, I was not sure when I could squeeze it into. However, I have gotten to a point where The Pitt, Invincible, Paradise, Shrinking were all done and Monarch is on its last episode. I only currently have Daredevil: Born Again and The Boys as active TV shows that I was watching, so I thought this was a good opportunity to start this show.
Man, what a creepy first episode.
It grabs you right away with a somewhat disturbing wedding and the reaction of the bride was unexpected. We then flash back five days prior to the wedding and things get even creepier.
The podcast they listened to in the car was unnerving too as it gave the story of Larry Poole, a man who sold custard and was a serial killer.
As this podcast was telling the story, we were suddenly at a rest stop and the story switched gears. Rachel and Nicky, who were the couple getting married, were driving to Nicky’s family cabin. Stopping at the rest stop, they find a baby inside a car, apparently deserted.
There were some real disturbing images at this rest stop including a dead fox in the women’s restroom. Rachel chose to go back and find a phone to call for help and Nicky would stay with the baby. This felt like a poor choice, but it is what happened.
Rachel found a bar that was mostly deserted, but the woman working there “Benjamin” was creepy and there was another man there who was apparently stalking Rachel. She ran off to her car after stabbing the man in the hand with her keys.
When she returned, the baby was gone and Nicky had been punched by the baby’s father, who thought Nicky was trying to steal the baby. The whole encounter with the parents happened off screen and something about it felt odd. There was a scream that Rachel had heard in the woods before Nicky came back.
They headed to the cabin, which is humongous. Rachel meets part of Nicky’s family when she was looking for ice for his head. Nicky’s sister, Portia, tells Rachel a story about when their brother Jules wound up lost in the woods as a child and supposedly saw the Sorry Man.
According to Jules, the Sorry Man came from Hell and murdered women by slitting them open and turning them inside out, trying to find his lost wife inside them. Rachel also mentioned a scream from the woods, which made me think about that rest stop and how the parents of that deserted baby had taken a stroll in the woods.
Things only got creepier as Rachel woke up with a bloody nose and wandered off to find Nicky’s mother who said that they would not be seeing each other very much. Rachel found a returned wedding invitation on the floor with the words “Don’t marry him” scribbled on the back.
There are so many weird and bizarre things happening that it truly did a great job of making me anxious as I watched it. The music was excellent in that manner too. I was full of suspense and I was feeling scared. Most of the time, scary things do not bother me that much, but I have to say that this really kept me on edge. I am excited to continue this limited series later in the week.
Jason Segal and Samara Weaving co-star in this dark comedy about a couple whose relationship has been pushed to the point where both of them plot to murder the other.
Taking cues from films like War of the Roses, Over Your Dead Body takes the violence a step farther and gives us a film that has meta vibes to it as well.
Jason Segal is Dan, who is a less than successful director reduced to doing commercials while longing for the days of helming his one feature length film. Samara Weaving is Lisa, the pretentious actress who is involved with the theater and seemingly critical of her husband’s work.
The car ride to the cabin that they were heading to for the weekend showed well how these two had drifted away from each other and how they held a lot of inner (and outer) antagonism toward the other.
There are some scene of real humor in the film, many of which came in the form of violence and gore. I have to say there is a vomit joke, which you know I hate, but that was the only moment that I was not fond of during the film’s run time.
The film also featured actors Timothy Olyphant, Jake Curran, “Natalie” from Yellowjackets-Juliette Lewis (I tried to place this actress through the whole film, and I never was able to figure out where I knew her from until I got to IMDB), Paul Guilfoyle, Keith Jardine and Danusia Samal.
Jason Segal has been exceptional over the last few years on Apple TV +’s Shrinking, and this gave him a chance to do something different, while still keeping those traits of why we love him as an actor.
While there is nothing new and exciting about the story, the performances are great and the movie does not fail to elicit laughter. There are several tense and awkward scenes that really work in the context of the film and director Jorma Taccone brought the best out of the actors.
It is EYG Comic Cavalcade time. It was another fun week. I got some deliveries from Midtown Comics this week too, including some Daredevil #1 blind bags and some variants.
Comic of the Week
The Fury of Firestorm #1
Firestorm has always been one of my favorite DC characters. I enjoyed the original appearances of Robbie Raymond and Martin Stein, combined into one being with amazing nuclear powers. It was exciting to hear that Firestorm would be back in his own limited series. Then, the first issue was excellent with a mystery behind what is going on. Good stuff.
Books this week:
Amazing Spider-Man #26. Written by Joe Kelly with pencils by Francesco Manna & Ed McGuinness. Cover art was done by Ryan Stegman & Marte Gracia. I also picked up the Spider-Gwen variant cover by David Nakayama. Death Spiral Part 7 is picking up the pace as the Carnage/Torment team-up gets even more dangerous as they are looking for a spiral for Spider-Man.
Neighborhood Watch #1. Written by Sarah Gailey and illustrated and cover art by Haining (Silver Medalist). The new book from Boom! Studios deals with a couple of neighboring towns: Willow Haven and Open Arms, and its neighborhood watch program. There is a murder that happens too.
Uncanny X-Men #26. “Careful What You Wish For” Written by Gail Simone and art by Luciano Vecchio. Cover art was done by David Marquez and Matthew Wilson. The kids of the Haven House are being grabbed and their histories are suddenly strange. And … the New Mutants? What is going on here?
Uncanny X-Men Annual #1. “The Rise of the Regulators” Written by Gail Simone & Mikki Kendall with art by Francesco Mortarino with Elisabetta D’Amico. Cover art was done by David Marquez & Matthew Wilson. This story was a great bit with the history of Haven House. That history is known as the Regulators and they have a tie to pre-adamantium Wolverine. I love when the history of the area folds in with the mutants.
D’Orc #3. “A Bit Light-Headed” Written, drawn and cover art by Brett Bean. D’Orc faced off with a powerful dwarf with a big hammer. I have truly been enjoying D’Orc. The humor of the book has been great and D’Orc and his crew are deep in action too. Solid book.
The Muppets Noir #2. Written, drawn and cover art by Roger Langridge. Kermit is still unconscious and the rest of the Muppets were trying to decide what to do about the show. Meanwhile, the detective Flip Minnow continued to try and solve the case and find Meringue Crustworth. The noir world introduced us to Staler & Waldorf, the Swedish Chef and Sweetums. Lots of Muppet fun.
Mad About DC #1. Cover art was done by Dan Panosian. Guest editor (for some reason) was Chip Zdarsky. I also picked up the foil issue of the same cover by Dan Panosian. This was one of the books I got from Midtown this week. It was a fun version of Mad Magazine focusing on the characters of DC. Tons of satire and humor.
Baby Garfield #1. “Baby Garfield’s First Word” and “Baby Garfield’s First Hairball” Written by Grace Ellis (1st) and Michael Northrop (2nd). Art for the two stories was done by Asia Simone and Rob Justus respectfully. This was another book I got from Midtown Comics. I was not the biggest fan of Garfield, but I considered picking this up on the shelf. When I did not get it, I got it and I liked it. I was surprised how much I actually enjoyed this book.
Everyone Loves a Jewel Thief #1. Written by Aaron Campbell & Tim Seeley with art and cover art by Aaron Campbell. Ignition Press has been huge lately and has been very successful. We have yet another new book, this one compiling a team of jewel thieves.
Dead by Deadlight #1. Written by Derek Fridolfs with art by Dean Kotz. Cover art was done by Alex Horley. This is a survival online game adapted into the comic form by Titan Comics. There are some horrific imagery in this book and it is a compelling start. The killer is definitely scary and I am curious to see how this book progresses.
Cosplayer Versus Shark #1. “Part One: Up from the Depths” and “Part Two: It’s Always Shark Week!” Written by Pat Jankiewicz and art by Shaun “Spanky” Piela. This was a wild and weird one shot that reminded me of a Carl Hiaasen novel, specifically Chomp. This is a lot of fun.
Pretty Hate Machine #1. Written by Ryan O’Han & Tim Seeley with art by Paolo Armitano. Cover art was done by Todor Hristov. Another new horror series, this one based upon the album from Nine Inch Nails. The new Mad Cave book was very entertaining and the imagery was scary.
Something is Killing the Children #46. “All Her Monsters” Part Six. Written by James Tynion IV and illustrated and cover art by Werther Dell’Edera. It has been quite a few months since we have seen Erica Slaughter. It was great having Something is Killing the Children back on the reading list. It is consistently one of the best books available when it is out.
Estuary: A Ghost Story #1. Written by David “DB” Andy & Tim Daniel and illustrated and cover art by Maan House. What is better than combining nun horror with aquatic horror… plus a ghost story of a shipwrecked Spanish vessel. Another new series from Oni Press.
Iron Man #4. “No Escape” Written by Joshua Williamson and art by Carmen Carnero with Jan Bazaldua. Cover art was done by Ryan Stegman & Frank Martin. Tony Stark is trying to find the winner of the Tony Stark Award, who has been grabbed by AIM. However, he comes across a different type of AIM… Advanced Iron Man.
Wolverine #18. “Clash of the Champions” Written by Saladin Ahmed with art by Martin Coccolo. Cover art was done by Dan Panosian (Bronze Medalist) . Wolverine faces off against Hercules, controlled by The Adamantine. It is a bloody and brutal war between Logan and Herc. And this will bring Athena to the fray.
Black Cat #9. “String Theory” Written by G. Willow Wilson with art by Gleb Melnikov and Andres Genolet. Cover art was done by Adam Hughes. MJ and Black Cat find themselves in alternate universe, living all new lives. Are their new lives what they really want?
Mortal Thor #9. “Inevitable” Written by Al Ewing with art by Pasqual Ferry. Cover art was done by Alex Ross (Gold Medalist). Sigurd has to deal with a threat from the Radioactive Man. Sigurd is preparing to launch an assault on Roxxon.
Space Ghost #10. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Cover art was done by Francesco Mattina. Space Ghost faced off with something than no one can defeat…time. Specifically, Tempus the Time-Master.
Web of Venom #1. Written by Jordan Morris and art by Luke Ross & Ramon Rosanas. Cover art was done by Stefano Casselli & Federico Blee. We got another book featuring a symbiote and a new Venom form. This time is is Boomerang, aka Fred Meyers. I’m not sure why we need to have yet another symbiote anti-hero running around. The story was fine, but I am not sure why it is needed.
Twilight Zone #6. “Growth” Written, art and cover art by Nicole Goux. A sad story about a girl with a plant that was alive… an actual baby.. and the hatred that people who are different face. This one turns out tragic, much like many of the Twilight Zone episodes.
Bleeding Hearts #3. Written by Deniz Camp and art and cover art by Stipan Morian. The Vertigo zombie book is back this week and the Zombie boy is showing signs of being more than just another in the hungry horde. What does that mean? Bleeding heart continues to be one of the more intriguing Vertigo books.
Other books this week: Murder Podcast #6, Defenders of the Earth: Dark Destiny #4, Blood & Thunder #12, Absolute Green Lantern #13, The Nice House by the Sea #9, and Alice: Forever After #3.
Quick Hits: Moonstar #2 was released this week as Danielle Moonstar is on the mission. I picked up two covers from Midtown Comics this past week. Both with the guest appearance of EYG Hall of Famer “Weird Al” Yankovic. The first one was World’s Finest #50 with Al and his accordion hanging out with Batman and Superman. The other was Bizarro: Year None #1 where Al is portrayed as the “Normal Al” Yankovic, with a briefcase. I love Weird Al so I knew I wanted to find these two covers for my collection. Hello Darkness #20 had a collection of fun horror short stories. My favorite of the stories was “The Thread” which was pretty gross in the end. Transformers #31 focused on Megatron taking the next step in his status, in a manner I would not have expected. One of my favorite books this week is one of the oddest team-ups I have ever seen. It is Godzilla’s Monsterpiece Theater Presents Romeo & Juliet and Godzilla #1. It is as wild as it sounds. Speaking of wild, the team up between Ash and Archie continues in Archie x The Army of Darkness #3 from Dynamite Comics. This one had a cool cover that nearly made the medal round. Sai: Dimensional Rivals #4 kept going into multiple worlds in search of the seventh stone. The idea of the different art in the different universes makes this book original. And finally, Speed Racer: Tales from the Road #1 which featured the winners of the Mad Cave Studios talent search.
I swear I saw this movie, but it was with killer alligators instead of a pack of sharks.
That movie was called Crawl, and, to be fair, was much better than the new film called Thrash, which debuted on Netflix this weekend.
We will never be done with shark movies. There is something about sharks that make them horrifying, and the perfect killing machines, specifically on film.
There are fewer shark movies that are awesome than those that are garbage, but every once in awhile, there are some good ones made. Which category does Thrash fall into?
According to IMDB, “When a Category 5 hurricane decimates a coastal town, the storm surge brings devastation, chaos and something far more frightening: hungry sharks.“
Thrash has some decent moments, but there are some really dumb scenes that stretch plausibility to a level that just pulls you out of the film.
Phoebe Dynevor played Lisa, who gets stuck in her car as the flood came in. Lisa was pregnant. Whitney Peak played Dakota, a young lady who saved Lisa from her car. These two characters were placed in some ridiculous places in an attempt to survive. However, these two were more believable than the other main story.
Three kids, who were in a unloving foster home situation with a horrible couple, have to survive when the bull sharks make it into their house. The kids are played by Stacy Clausen, Alyla Brown and Dante Ubaldi. They were fine, but some of the situations that they were placed in were out there.
There were some questions I had about time as the darkness came and went very quickly.
Having said that, Thrash was not the worst shark movie that I have seen. I would consider it somewhere in the mid area of shark movies. Certainly it is no Jaws, but it is much better than stuff like 47 Meters Down or Into the Deep. I compared it to Crawl earlier in this review, but that movie was so much better.
I think Thrash would be a passable movie to watch on Netflix if you do not have much else to do. I would not say it does not completely suck, but that is hardly high praise.
One of the types of movies that I typically do not hate are the stoner movies. Especially those that include a lot of bullying and stupid humor.
As I started to watch Disney +’s movie, Pizza Movie, after the first ten minutes, everything that I hate about those movies were dropped. I was hating this movie with all of my heart. I considered just stopping the movie. I did not know why I should continue this movie when it was making me feel this way. It’s not as if I paid money at the theater to see it.
Then something really weird happened.
The movie won me over.
I am not sure what happened, but the complete ridiculousness of the movie grabbed ahold of me and suddenly I found myself enjoying the stupidity, laughing at the antics of the three main leads.
Gaten Matarazzo and Sean Giambrone played Jack and Montgomery, roommates at college who were anything but the alphas. Matarazzo and Giambrone had a lot of chemistry with each other and their comedic timing was perfectly executed. Bullied and beat up, Jack and Montgomery wound up taking some experimental drugs they found in their dorm room that led them to going through multiple stages.
It was when they started in on these stages that the movie changed for me. Everything became so surreal and so weird that it was difficult to continue to see it as just another bad behavior/stoner movie. It took these two and made them way more interesting than they ever had a right to be.
I am not sure that I have had such a monumental shift in my opinions of a movie, especially from hating it as much as I did in the first ten-fifteen minutes to being entertained by the silliness of it.
My 8th grade classes just read Walt Whitman’s “Oh Captain, My Captain.” I love that poem as it used an extended metaphor to talk about Abraham Lincoln and his death after the Civil War ended.
So I assigned my students a poem to write. They were to write an elegy, which, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.
I decdied that I wanted to write a poem too. I chose Robin Williams because how impactful he was to my life. I remember where I was when I heard the news… I was at a movie theater watching a live premiere of the movie “The Giver.” The news hit like a sledgehammer to my gut.
I wrote this poem I titled “An Elegy for the Clown” and I really love how it came out. I wanted to share it here.
An Elegy for the Clown
It was as if it happened yesterday.
Awaiting the curtain to be drawn
An atmosphere of electricity crackled away
Signaling the debut of a new dawn.
……….. A sudden cry came from far and wide
……….. Divulging that our clown had died
*
The circus was overwhelmed by the rain
Pounding upon the souls of the grieving
A painted-on smile obscured his pain
The facade of facepaint deceiving.
…………The fans beneath the big-top cried
…………Discovering that our clown had died
*
The clown was a master of his craft
Perfromances unlike but a few
We laughed, we laughed, we laughed, we laughed
Every act, every joke wholeheartedly through.
……………The tears of his peers flowed as they tried
……………To understand why our clown had died.
*
Time after time, our clown changed his face
To therapist, nanny, DJ, or genie.
Make-up morphed him into each role he’d embrace
Magically even more than Harry Houdini.
…………….. Each role a bandage; make-up applied.
……………..Leading to the reason why our clown died
*
They say pain and loss subsides over time
Good days, laughter, memories of him.
His acting, his improv and even his mime,
Can push aside feelings of sadness or grim.
………..To clowns, young and old, an inspiration bona fide.
Sadly, this is the penultimate episode of season 2 of Paradise on Hulu. It has been so great that I don’t want to see it end. We get some major events occurring in episode 7.
Xavier & Teri are reunited and are on their way back to Colorado. Of course, first things first… they had to get Bean, who was being held by Gary the Mailman. Xavier wanted to just blow him away, but Teri had a more diplomatic path. She talked to Gary and dealt with the emotions he was revealing, and confronted him over the murder of Enos. Gary cried and accepted the fate, and never got his head blown off. Bonus for Gary.
Meanwhile, we were seeing how Sinatra was continually manipulating everyone. She meets with Link and they have a tense back and forth. However, Sinatra makes a shocking discovery… or at least a possible discovery… is Link her supposedly dead son Dylan? Could that be? Could this be the variable that brings Sinatra down?
The outside forces are preparing for their attack… maybe cause Link enjoyed that apple pie so much.
It sure seemed as if Gabriela stabbed Jane in a shower, and left her bleeding out and dead. Now, there is no confirmation that Jane is dead and she feels like that type of supervillain that you can’t just expect to be killed by a stab wound or two. You have got to finish her off when you have a chance. So while she could be gone now, I would not be surprised if she crawled her way out of that shower.
We got a flashback to see more of President Cal Bradford before his murder. It is always great to see James Marsden in Paradise, so every flashback with him is thoroughly welcome. Cal was inspecting everything with Sinatra and making like a prophet and calling that the bunker would go down one day. Surely this is meant as some foreshadowing for what is to come.
This finale should be full of surprises and action. Maybe we will finally find out who the mysterious “Alex” is, as Sinatra arrived at a location, put on a jacket, and greeted Alex. This was after Link had told her that he was after Alex. I have no idea who or what Alex is, but I can’t wait to find out.
The original Ready or Not from 2019 was a surprise smash hit featuring a star making turn from Samara Weaving. However, it did not feel like a film that required a sequel. Still, in Hollywood, a successful film, especially a new and original IP, will most likely lead to a new installment. So we get Ready or Not 2: Here I Come.
Ignoring the stupid use of the number 2 in the title (it should only be Ready or Not: Here I Come), this new sequel is a solid continuation on a story which both built on the first film and provided new ground for the sequel.
According to IMDB, “After surviving one deadly game, Grace and her sister Faith must now outrun four rival families competing for a powerful throne – winner takes all.”
The sequel is every bit as gruesome and bloody as the original, with people exploding into pools of blood and sinew all over the place, usually when they are facing Grace and Faith, so the splatter does not miss them.
This film added some star power to the hunters chasing Grace and Faith, including Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar. The Pitt’s Jack Abbot, Shawn Hatosy is here as Gellar’s character’s brother. Elijah Wood played the lawyer behind the competition for the seat on the council that the hunters were competing for. LOST’s Richard, Nestor Carbonell, is another of the hunters, who turns out to be a piss-poor shot.
Once again, this is a group of Satan worshipers, so if that is something that you do not like in your movies, this one is built around it even more than the original. It can be jarring hearing Elijah Wood say “Hail Satan” several times. Of course, Satan worshipers make for excellent villains.
There is a lot of comedy in the gorefest too, and much of it worked. There were some ridiculous characters among the hunters’ families there for support and backup during the game.
The relationship between Grace and Faith had to work for this film to work, and I will say that it was shaky at times. I only heard about their estrangement, not being shown it, but they did win me over as the film went along. Both Weaving and Kathryn Newton do a great job with their performances, though there are a couple of times in the film that made me feel a little icky about what was going on.
Grace takes a real beating in this film and, like so many other action heroes, she shrugs wounds off as she goes. There needs to be some suspension of disbelief that Grace (and also Faith, to a lesser extent) can keep going despite all the stuff that has happened to her (them). Of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, and other action heroes who are men would push on too, so why couldn’t Samara Weaving?
It is a strong follow up to the original. I do not think it is as good as the first one, but it does not fall into the garbage as many sequels do. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is a fun time at the theater for fans of horror and good action.
I have seen some poor horror movies to kick off 2026. I was not a fan of Iron Lung. I did not like the new Dracula film. Scream 7 was a real disappointment. The Bride was a big swing that did not work, and Psycho Killer is currently the worst film of the year.
So I went into the new horror film, Undertone, which was the big screen debut of director Ian Tuason. I had found the trailer intriguing and knowing it is a new A24 film, I went into the film with hopes that this would break the rotten horror streak.
According to IMDB, “The host of a popular paranormal podcast becomes haunted by terrifying recordings mysteriously sent her way.“
Lead actress Nina Kiri carries the heft of this film on her shoulders as she does a tremendous job in the role as this podcaster who is the skeptic on her podcast about the supernatural topics they cover. Her co-host, who we never see on screen, is voiced by Adam DiMarco, and he has a really strong voice over performance.
The film is a perfect example of the use of sound in the horror genre. Called Audio Horror, the sound design is so tense and anxious that it really affects the audience. The use of the sounds, the silence, the way the sounds change when Nina Kiri puts on her headphones… all of it is sensational and creates a theater experience unlike many.
The camera work in the film is also strong. There are some shots that are specifically designed to make the audience expect that a scare is coming, but many times, the idea that there is something in the dark is only suggested, allowing the audience to provide their own scares. The film does have some jump scares, but they are kept to a minimum and are effective when they appear.
I am not sure that I found the ending overly satisfying, but it was certainly intense and worked as a way to end a film that matched that intensity level.
This is definitely a film that broke that run of terrible horror movies. It is a slow burn, but it moves fairly quickly over the run time of the film. It was a suspenseful theater experience and I would recommend people see this. Not only because it is a good movie, but for the fact that the budget on this film was only like $500,000, which is ridiculously low and there should be more films succeed that take a chance at keeping the budget down.
This one is like Bonnie & Clyde was made in the Universal Monsters franchise while being set in Gotham City.
The Bride! is the new film directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal that take a new look at the classic story of The Bride of Frankenstein.
This film is one that left me unsure of how I felt. There were certainly good things that I really liked about The Bride! but there were many other things that just did not work for me at all.
According to IMDB, “In 1930s Chicago, Frankenstein asks Dr. Euphronius to help create a companion. They give life to a murdered woman as the Bride, sparking romance, police interest, and radical social change.”
The standout aspect of this film is 100% the acting from our two lead performers. Jessie Buckley, who is up for an Academy Award in just about a week and a half for her role in Hamnet, is absolutely amazing as the Bride. Buckley’s performance jumps off the screen with her facial features and her confusion. Buckley also played Mary Shelley, who was a framing device for the story, and it seemed as if Mary Shelley was possessing the Bride (also called Ida or Penny). Buckley would switch from her normal voice to the British accent of Shelley. It was confusing at times.
Christian Bale was also great as Frankenstein. He would go by the name Frank and he played this character lonely and desperate. Bale and Buckley have an amazing chemistry and they are the reason to see this movie. I loved the performance of Annette Bening as Dr. Euphronius.
However, there are so many weird things going on in this movie that pulled me out. The tone of this film was all over the place. At times, it felt like I should be laughing, but others I felt horrified. It was not a smooth transition between tones. It was truly messy.
For example, there was a dance number in the film. I loved it and hated it at the same time. I loved the homage the dance routine was to, but it felt totally out of place in this film.
The film had several secondary storylines that could have (should have) been edited out completely. All the scenes with Penelope Cruz and Peter Sarsgaard, who played a couple of detectives chasing the Monsters, felt so unnecessary. Had those scenes been completely dropped, there would have been nothing really that would have to be changed.
The Bride! is a messy, wild and crazy film that has some great performances and some big swings. Some of this worked well for me while much of the rest of it did not work. Great performances in a film that is all over the place. There are some cool things in the film, but not enough to dismiss the weak points.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 