Tag Archives: movies

The Long Walk

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I am all stiff and tired after driving for 100 miles. I can’t imagine having to walk it.

A ensemble of characters have to do just that (and more) in the latest film based on a Stephen King novella called The Long Walk, and it is absolutely tremendous.

My first feeling was that this was a combination of Squid Game and Hunger Games, which made sense considering Francis Lawrence directed it and he had directed several of the Hunger Games movies.

In this dystopian future, a group of young men volunteers win a lottery drawing for the right to participate in the “Long Walk,” an annual event where the group start to walk and must continue to walk at a brisque speed or else they would be eliminated. The last man standing would be declared the winner and would earn a wish and prize money.

I tell you, The Long Walk is one of the most difficult, heart-wrenching, hard-to-watch movies of the year. It keeps you, as an audience member, off balance and uneasy, if not outrightly disturbed. There were some scenes in this movie that were totally unsettling, and I do not just mean the scene of the execution of the walkers.

I was extremely emotional during this movie because they did such an amazing job of setting up and developing the characters that I cared for them in a limited amount of time and I found myself tearing up on more than one occasion and felt gut-punched more than once.

The film really was a character piece, as the driving force of much of the movie was the dialogue that was going on between the actors. It was so expertly written that there were characters who only received minimal attention that I cared about so much. The interaction between these actors drove the story and only helped serve the shocking violence that would follow. Nothing was held back. The violence was brutal, crushing and significant.

Our main two fixtures among the characters were Raymond Garraty and Peter McVries, played brilliantly by Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson, respectfully. The performances of these two actors really created a bond between the characters that carried you through a film where you knew that only one of the ensemble would survive. They became brothers-like and gave the film real heart.

Mark Hamill played the Major, the head of this activity who would show up throughout the Long Walk to be an a-hole and continue to harass and remind the walkers of what was going on. Mark Hamill is awesome as a villain, but to be fair, this Major is not the most developed character in the film as he was a bit too mustache-twirly. Hamill played him extremely well though as I had sufficient feeling of resentment toward him as the film progressed.

This is not a fun watch by any means. It gives us a depressing world with an even worse premise that will lead only to violent death and loss. As an allegory to the Vietnam War, which is was back in the 1960s when Stephen King wrote this novella, it works well. As a character piece, introducing us to these sad people through dialogue and death, it works even more. The Long Walk is a powerfully compelling, hard to watch film that gave me a lot of feelings and things to think about.

4.6 stars

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues

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I am a huge fan of This is Spinal Tap. It is not only a cult classic, but, for me, it is one of my all time favorite movies. So I was very excited when I saw that there would be a sequel bringing the boys back together.

Spinal Tap is David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel and Derek Smalls. These three, along with director of the film Marty Di Burgi, have been making the promotional rounds, talking about the movie. Of course, these characters are being portrayed in kayfabe by Michael McKeon, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, and director Rob Reiner.

The new “mockumentary” follows the guys as they reunite after years to play one more contractually required concerts. The film is about Spinal Tap getting back together, dealing with their problems and rehearsing for the big show in New Orleans.

I love Spinal Tap and this was a lot of fun. It was great seeing these characters again, even if seeing them aged is a bit of a shock. The music is wonderful. The lines are funny. I assume they did the same kind of improv that they used in the first film.

I am going to say that there was no way this was going to match the first film. This is Spinal Tap is such a brilliant film, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues was never going to be able to reach the levels of the first one. However, this was still a lot of enjoyment. There was something missing in the story. Perhaps it was the tension between the band that was causing that feeling, but there was something that brought the story down a touch.

It does tell you how iconic Spinal Tap is when you can get Paul McCartney and Elton John to come to your film and sing with the band. There were a couple of other cool cameos here including Questlove, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Chad Smith, and Lars Ulrich (of Metallica).

A lot of the jokes are recycled, including clips from the original movie. There are a bunch of new songs, but none of them received the full song version in the film. We do get full versions of “Cups and Cakes,” “Stonehenge,” and “(Listen to the) Flower People.” I would have liked to hear a few of the new songs extended outside of the slight usage in rehearsal footage or band discussion.

These critiques are minor for me as I laughed and enjoyed the reunion film. Fans of the original movie are going to have a lot of fun with this new sequel, which would make a great double feature with the original.

4.4 stars

The Conjuring: Last Rites

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What is supposed to be the final installment of the Conjuring franchise was released this weekend. This was the fourth Conjuring movie, but the Conjuring universe of movies included a total of nine when you add Annabelle and The Nun films.

According to IMDB, “Paranormal investigators, Ed & Lorraine Warren take on their most disturbing case to date. Jack & Janet Smurl and their family, move into a brand new home they’ve dreamed of, which turned into a nightmare as their home begins to show signs of demonic infestation.“

Ed & Lorraine Warren were real people and the films are listed as based on a true story. Of course, how much is “true” is anyone’s guess. This case with the Smurl family was apparently the final case for the Warrens.

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga have become extremely comfortable in these roles over the years and they are most likely the strongest part of this film. They have great chemistry with one another and they do all the heavy lifting.

The first half of the movie was a touch dull and the second half did pick things up. I thought the third act of the movie was satisfying and intense. The first half did drag a bit. I think there were parts of that first half of the movie that could have been trimmed to bring the run time of this movie down from its 135 minutes and would have helped the film overall.

There also felt as if there were too many things wrapped into the film. I’m not sure the overall tale of the haunted house needed to be as convoluted as it was.

The Conjuring movies have slipped in quality over the years, but it still does some things very well and it gives us a wrap up for the franchise that is satisfying.

3.2 stars

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #100

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This is the first post for the new Daily Countdown on EYG. We will be counting down a list with a new post every day until we reach #1.

As I stated yesterday, the TV Show list is our first countdown. I had made a list of shows that I wanted to consider during the history of TV and I had to cut quite a few great shows.

Here are the list of shows I cut from the list: Perfect Strangers, The A-Team, Three’s Company, Malcolm in the Middle, Desperate Housewives, Doctor Who, Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Animaniacs, White Lotus, One Piece (live action), The Wonder Years, Silo, Dukes of Hazzard, Bewitched, The Carol Burnett Show, Family Ties, Revenge, Land of the Lost, Gilligan’s Island, The Andy Griffith Show, Home Improvement, Poker Face, Baywatch, Unsolved Mysteries, Mindhunter, The Studio, Get Smart, Orphan Black, Dexter, Bosom Buddies, and Man from Atlantis.

Quite a eclectic list, huh?

I should also state that there are some beloved shows that I have never seen so shows such as The Sopranos, Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Game of Thrones, The Wire, OZ and so on will not be on my list despite their universal popularity.

With that said, here we go with the first post of the Daily Countdown: TV Shows.

#100.

The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams

Starring Dan Haggerty as Grizzly Adams, Denver Pyle as Mad Jack, Don Shanks as Nakoma, and Bozo as Ben the Grizzly Bear.

They call me Mad Jack. And if there’s anybody in these mountains that knows the real story of James Adams, that’d be me. So I’m putting it down in writing, just the way it happened, in hopes of settin’ the record straight. My friend Adams was accused of a crime he didn’t commit. So he escaped into the mountains, leaving behind the only life that he ever knew. Now that wilderness out there ain’t no place for a greenhorn, and his chances of survivin’ were mighty slim. Weren’t no time at all ‘for he was beaten down, ragged and nearly starved. Long about then, he come upon a grizzly bear cub, all alone and helpless. Now Adams knew that little critter couldn’t survive without his help, so he started right down that cliff, riskin’ his own life… to save it. Heh Heh Heh heh heh. Now that cub took to Adams right off, and that was when he discovered that he had … a special kind of way with animals. They’d just come right up to him like he was a natural part of the wilderness. But that bear cub, he was extra special. As he growed, he became the best friend Adams ever had and, together, they became a legend.

This voice over opening by Denver Pyle was one of the most memorable part of the show Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, which was a syndicated show that was based on a movie from 1974 with the same title. The show ran for two seasons and had only 37 episodes, which was a lot fewer than I thought.

I remember watching this every Sunday morning. It was always so enjoyable and so hearty. I loved Mad Jack. I loved Mad Jack’s burro Number Seven. Adams and Jack’s relationship was great. It felt like a group of heroes living in the wilderness.

What a greenhorn.

And number 100 is The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams.

The Toxic Avenger (2023)

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The Toxic Avenger was a B-movie from 1984 that became a cult classic on cable. The character of Toxie has stuck around in different formats over the years. Now, we get a new version of The Toxic Avengers in 2025. Technically.

The film has been on the shelf for the last couple of years looking for studio to release it. Finally we get the film released.

Janitor Winston Gooze (Peter Dinklage) discovered that he had a progressive brain cancer that would kill him in the next year. In desperation, Winston approached his company’s head, Bob Garbinger (Kevin Bacon), for help. Bob brushes him off. Winston gets shot and dumped into the ooze, and he is transformed into a freaky new creature, The Toxic Avenger.

The creators and actors in this new version of The Toxic Avenger know exactly what type of movie this is and they carry themselves as such. The original movie was a huge B-movie and this film echoes that as well. Everything about the film makes you think this is a low-budget, over-the-top, low level film with the exception of the cast.

This movie has a big time cast. Not only do we get Peter Dinklage as Winston and Kevin Bacon as Bob, but we also get Justin Tremblay as Wade, Winston’s step-son, Taylour Paige as J.J. Doherty, and Elijah Wood as Bob’s brother Fritz.

This movie could have easily just done a big budget film and make it more straightforward, but that would have lost the tone of the original, which this film was trying to emulate. The story was silly and a lot of the dialogue was just bad at times. However, the actors played into the story in a way that you could tell that it was part of the joke. It was one of those film that didn’t care that it had stupid moments because it was meant to be that way. This film embraced the silliness and stupidity.

A perfect example is Kevin Bacon’s performance. He is chewing the scenery so much that you can tell he is having the time of his life. I should also mention that when Winston is transformed into Toxie, Peter Dinklage only does voice over. British actress Luisa Guerreiro is doing the physical performance of Toxie in the makeup.

This is the type of movie that will divide the audience. You have to be able to watch this understanding that it is a B-movie (at best) and that they are playing into that. This is a lot of fun. Yes, it will never win any awards, but you can have a good time if you let yourself.

3.3 stars

The Thursday Murder Club

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Based on a book series of the same name, The Thursday Murder Club arrived on Netflix recently with a cast of some of the great older British actors around.

I have not read the book and, from what I have seen online, there have been some complaints that the film had to remove more than what it should have. That does not go toward my review. I am only concerned with the film that I saw and not my own expectations over what the film should have been.

According to IMDB, “Four irrepressible retirees spend their time solving cold case murders for fun, but their casual sleuthing takes a thrilling turn when they find themselves with a real whodunit on their hands.“

The cast was tremendous with Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kinsley and Celia Imrie leading the ensemble as the four lead characters of the Thursday Murder Club: Elizabeth, Ron, Ibrahim and Joyce respectfully. These four actors created a wonderful tone and feeling of friendship and comradery that helps stand out in the story.

Other cast members included Naomi Ackie, Daniel Mays, Jonathan Pryce, David Tennant, Tom Ellis, Richard E. Grant, Henry Lloyd-Hughes and Paul Freeman.

Directed by Chris Columbus, this movie was breezy, quick to watch and entertaining with these eccentric characters interacting together. I would definitely state that the story was not remarkably deep, but I did not solve it early either, which is a bonus considering I am pretty good at seeing answers to movie mysteries.

The film did have something to say about the elderly and the places that we send them when they require more than we can give them. The Thursday Murder Club did not go into great depth on this theme, but it is definitely there.

This was a fun movie that should do well on Netflix, whereas it would have struggled in the theater. This is a perfect film for streaming.

3.5 stars

Caught Stealing

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Darren Aronofsky, director of The Whale, Mother!, Requiem for a Dream, Noah, Black Swan and The Wrestler, released his newest film this weekend, Caught Stealing, starring up-and-coming star, Austin Butler.

I have been hit-and-miss with Aronofsky’s film over the years. I love The Wrestler and Black Swan, but did not like Mother! or Noah much at all. So I approached Caught Stealing with an uneasy feeling, especially since the trailers for this did not excite me.

I am happy to say that I enjoyed Caught Stealing quite a bit, and it would be near the top of my list of Aronofsky films.

I will say that it has a distinctly different feel than other Aronofsky films, feeling more like a crime film directed by Guy Ritchie.

According to IMDB, “Burned-out ex-baseball player Hank Thompson unexpectedly finds himself embroiled in a dangerous struggle for survival amidst the criminal underbelly of 1990s New York City, forced to navigate a treacherous underworld he never imagined.“

Austin Butler is exceptional as Hank Thompson. Hank suffered from plenty of trauma from his life, shown expertly in dreams and flashbacks. These scenes provide a lot of details and specific traits for our main character and show what a relatable character he is to the audience. Butler provided such a strong performance to help amplify these traits for Hank, giving no doubt about who the audience should root for.

I did love the character of Yvonne, played by Zoë Kravitz. She had some great chemistry with Austin Butler and she provided some of the most amazing moments of the film. I also found Regina King’s work as Detective Roman to be on point. Being honest, the rest of the cast had great actors, but their characters were not developed deeply. The cast included Matt Smith, Vincent D’Onofrio, Liev Schreiber, Chris Russo, Griffin Dunne, Bad Bunny, Tenoch Huerta and Carol Kane.

Perhaps the best performance in the film was given by the cat that Hank had to carry with him through most of the film. The cat was definitely one of the best characters in the film.

The tone of the film did bounce around too much. It would go from anxiousness to almost humor, and it did make it feel somewhat inconsistent. I would not call this a comedy, even a black one. This is more like a film that we might have gotten in the 1990s.

The film was set in 1998, with the San Francisco Giants’ pursuit of the Wild Card being a backdrop for the storyline. Hank was a super fan and he was constantly rooting for his team. The choice of using this as a backdrop is interesting as the Giants did make it to the World Series, only for the series to be disrupted by an earthquake.

I have to say that some of the things that Hank was able to overcome in this movie stretched credibility a touch, but since I was enjoying the movie as much as I was, these issues did not detract from the overall enjoyment of the movie. I will say that the first thing that happened to him probably would have taken me out of the action right away.

This film kept my interest and I enjoyed the work of the actors and the overall story. The tone was shaky at times, but any flaws that the film showed were not major problems. Austin Butler is a major star in the future of films and this is one more great example.

4 stars

The Roses

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The War of the Roses was a 1989 movie starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito about a married couple who have fallen out and go to desperate lengths over the ownership of the house in the divorce.

Now we have a rebooted version of the film, The Roses, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman. It is difficult to review The Roses without thinking about the original film from the late 1980s.

According to IMDB, “Life seems easy for picture-perfect couple Ivy (Colman) and Theo (Cumberbatch): successful careers, great kids, an enviable sex life. But underneath the façade of the perfect family is a tinderbox of competition and resentments that’s ignited when Theo’s professional dreams come crashing down.”

What made me the most excited about this remake was the lead actors. I really like Benedict Cumberbatch and I love Olivia Colman. I do not think that I have seen a bad performance from Colman in any films she had appeared in. Some of the films are not very good, but she always brings the goods. This is no exception and these two are easily the standout of the film.

The Roses spends a lot more time building the relationship between Theo and Ivy than the War of the Roses did with Oliver and Barbara. We see the tensions building between them and how it poisons their love slowly, over years. At first it seemed as if it was going to be mostly Theo who caused the rift, but the film definitely came back around to balance out the fault.

The only problem with the slow build in the movie was the finale felt more rushed and may have lacked some overall oomph, especially when compared to The War of the Roses.

I did like the way the film ended though some may not appreciate the manner in which the movie closes.

I thought the film was dark (though nowhere as dark as the first one) and it did have some funny moments that sprung out of character and, in particular, dialogue. I thought this was well written and worked with the tone it had been setitng.

I was not as much of a fan with some of the side characters, especially Kate McKinnon’s Amy. This joke seemed to be pushed too far in the film and was not as funny as it was at the first mention. Andy Samberg was basically the Danny DeVito role, but did not get much to do. It was fun to see The Doctor from Doctor Who, Ncuti Gatwa on the screen as one of Ivy’s employees at the restaurant (the name of which is one of the best jokes of the early part of the film).

I did enjoy The Roses, mainly because of Cumberbatch and Colman. It is not as good as the original film from 1989, but it is complimentary to it.

4 stars

Ne Zha II

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If you were not someone who followed box office results, you would not have any idea the answer to the question, “What is the biggest worldwide box office film of 2025?” The answer is the Chinese film Ne Zha II. It has nearly reached $2 billion worldwide, with not much of that total coming from domestic.

Ne Zha II is receiving a wide release in the US, which could push the film to join the $2 billion club.

According to IMDB, “After a great catastrophe, the souls of Nezha and Aobing are saved, but their bodies face ruin. To give them new life, Taiyi Zhenren turns to the mystical seven-colored lotus in a daring bid to rebuild them and change their fate.“

I am going to start off with the strength of this movie. It is, perhaps, the most spectacularly animated movie I have ever seen. Everything about the imagery on the screen was absolutely stunning. The images, the character design, the backgrounds, art design, the colors…. it was legitimately the greatest looking animated movie I have ever seen and that is saying quite a lot.

I usually prefer when a live action film uses subtitles instead of dubbing because the original voices tend to have the proper emotion. That is not usually the case with animated films that I have seen dubbed. Ne Zha II was dubbed with English and, if I am being honest, I was unimpressed with the voice over work. Part of that may have been how the main character of Ne Zha sounded, as he was screaming in that Anime manner, and I have never been a fan of that. None of the voices stood out to me and I found that a weakness of this version of the film. Of course, I do not speak Chinese, so there is that.

The story was a touch confusing, and that might be because this is a sequel to a film from 2019 that I had never seen. I think they updated that part in the opening exposition, or, at least, that is what I guessed. There was another part of the film that I did not love and that was the attempts at humor. I did not find most of the humor to work and I might have preferred them to stick to the action.

Speaking of the action, it was exceptional. This was part of the animation and it was wonderfully laid out and was amazing to look at in every battle. Everything was laid out perfectly and helped build the tension of the film and most of the action also helped to develop the characters.

Ne Zha II is a massive success and is one of the most visually stunning films of all time. It is also the most successful monetary film of all time too. I am glad that I got a chance to see it even the movie may have a few drawbacks when it comes to story and time. It was certainly worth the two and a half hours it took to watch it.

3.9 stars

Sketch

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I saw one of the biggest surprises of the year today when I went to the family-friendly comedy/adventure/fantasy film, Sketch. When I saw that the movie company Angel Studios was behind it, I had a sinking feeling that this would not be my cup of tea.

Was I wrong about that.

I absolutely loved this movie. It was thrilling, exciting, had tremendously deep characters and strong performances. It had humor as well as wonderful themes and concepts.

It was very creative too, which I love.

We meet young Amber (Bianca Belle) as she was drawing pictures that concerned her teachers. Bringing in her father Taylor (Tony Hale) for meetings, they showed him the bloody, violent art that Amber had been drawing.

Taylor’s wife, Ally (Allie McCulloch), had died recently, and Amber was dealing with her grief and loss through her art. Her father was not dealing with it at all, as he simple never talked about Ally and took all the pictures of her out of their house. This led to Amber being upset and Amber’s brother Jack (Kue Lawrence) over correcting in an attempt to fix things.

When Jack discovered a magical pond that seemed to be able to fix things, he decides to try something rash. Instead, Amber’s drawing wound up falling into the water which brings the monsters that she had drawn to life, terrorizing the town and her family. The chaos surrounding everything forced the different characters to face their grief in order to get together to stop the monsters.

This was so great. I thought both Bianca Belle and Kue Lawrence did an amazing job as brother/sister. I believed everything these two were going through and they did it in, at times, a very subtle way. When you toss in a third child actor playing the obnoxious Bowman Lynch (Kalon Cox), the three kids truly brought out some of the best scenes from each other. Kalon Cox was hilarious with his b-hole kid.

Tony Dale is always great and he brought a lot to this role. He was worried about his kids, but he also had to deal with the grief of losing his wife and the knowledge that his own repressive actions led directly to the chaos that was going on.

The monsters were really cool looking and the way they would be stopped was such a fun way, with colors everywhere.

There are moments of true horror as well, including some jump scares tossed in for the heck of it. The tension would build through the whole film and you were never quite sure if or how Amber was going to deal with her own feelings. I loved Jack and his efforts to help his sister as a way to deal with his own loss.

The writing of this is tremendous as the kids are allowed to deal with their deep seeded emotions while still trying to deal with each other and with the dangers of the world around them. The emotion is not restricted to the adult characters here as Amber and Jack handle some strong feelings.

I did not know what to expect when I went to this as a way to kill time between Nobody 2 and the RiffTrax Live: Time Cop that I was going to. Where I expected just to pass time, I was thoroughly engaged and entertained by this fun, emotional, colorful, well-acted jewel of a film. I think it is one of my favorite movies of the year and that was quite the surprise.

5 stars

Nobody 2

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A sequel was released this week to a movie that did not seem as if it needed a sequel. The 2021 action/thriller Nobody received solid reviews, though it did not make a ton of money at the box office. It found Bob Odenkirk of Better Call Saul fame in the lead role of a docile family man who had a real violent streak inside him.

This weekend, Odenkirk returned as Hutch Mansell once again as a man who just wants to take his family on vacation to make memories. However, as per his luck, Hutch went to a little town where his father had taken him as a youth, and he discovered that there was more to the town than one would expect.

Odenkirk is great as the wrong-place-wrong-time former lethal assassin walked into a mess in the small town and his bursts of violent anger worked against his better judgment.

Other cast members returning from the 2021 film included Connie Nielson as Hutch’s wife, Becca, Paisley Cadorath and Gage Munroe as their children Sammy and Brady, Colin Salmon as The Barber, Hutch’s “brother” and Christopher Lloyd as Hutch’s father, David. This film added John Ortiz as Wyatt, Colin Hanks as Sheriff Abel and Sharon Stone as the big bad Lendina.

Nobody 2 is sort of like a mix between Rambo, National Lampoon’s Vacation and Zombieland (sans the zombies), with a flare of an R rated A-Team. It is extremely violent in the cartoony way and Hutch’s reactions to the terrible things he does are wonderfully fun. The story is very simple. It does not get much more than Hutch wants to go on vacation and he runs into criminals who try to kill him. He responds. That is basically it, and, truthfully, that is all we need.

There are some very funny moments in the movie and they mostly work because of the charisma of Odenkirk and the other actors. There are some creative fights and brutality in the movie. However, there were too many moments when the fights were tough to watch because of a dark look of the film or the bouncy cam. I could really do without the bouncy cam during the fight scenes.

The violence requires a lot of suspension of disbelief too . Hutch makes it through some very difficult moments and he does things that makes you wonder if this guy is invincible. He pulls it off though because of the way Odenkirk carries the character.

Nobody 2 is a fun sequel that should entertain those looking for silly action and rampant cartoon-like violence. I enjoyed the experience.

3.8 stars

Alien: Earth S1 E1, E2

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Spoilers

“Neverland”

“Mr. October”

A recent film from 2024, Alien: Romulus, reinvigorated a franchise that had seen better days. Alien and Aliens are two of the great movies of all time, but many of the films that have followed them did not build the franchise well. Some of them were even bad.

As I said, Alien: Romulus brought a new energy to the Alien franchise and, from that, we get a new series on FX/Hulu/Disney + called Alien: Earth.

Alien: Earth served as a prequel to the 1979 film Alien, starring Sigourney Weaver. The film is set in the year 2120. It focuses on Wendy, who was a hybrid, a human child whose consciousness was transferred into a synthetic body because she was sick and dying, and her human brother CJ “Hermit” who was a soldier and medic.

A space ship, piloted by a cyborg named Babou, crashed into the planet, causing its “specimens” to be freed.

It is not just the Facehuggers and Xenomorphs involved in this show. There are some other alien species on this ship that are now free and causing chaos. These new alien creatures are really scary. There is a leech-like monster that inserts something into your neck and, apparently, drained the blood from the victim. There was another one that we met after it came out of a cat’s head, pulling the eyeball from the cat. There were giant pods hanging from the ceiling and the characters on screen would not listen to me as I yelled at them to get away from it.

The second episode was really tense. While the first episode was strong and did a decent job of setting things up, episode two had me yelling at the screen. I was tense and anxious as I watched Wendy trying to find CJ, who was desperately trying to stay alive. CJ also did not listen to me as I yelled at him to get out of there.

I don’t know what Babou’s plans are, but he was not someone I found myself rooting for. His reactions were horrible and seemed to be the reason why the ship crashed in the first place.

The Xenomorph looked frightening. It felt like the same kind of special effects you would see in a big time feature film. The show looked great.

I am excited to see where the rest of this series will go. Episode two ended in a huge cliffhanger and I hope the series continues with this level of intensity.

Dexter: Resurrection S1 E6

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Spoilers

“Cats and Mouse”

David Dastmalchian has an awesome twist in this episode of Dexter: Resurrection.

Dastmalchian’s serial killer, The Gemini Killer aka Gareth, showed up at Dexter’s place as the Blessing family above were having a wake for the dearly departed mother. Dexter took advantage of the situation and killed him.

However as Prater had organized a helicopter trip for the serial killer’s club, Dexter was worried that they would figure out that he was responsible as the new guy for the sudden disappearances of the group.

And then, The Gemini Killer showed up to get in the helicopter. Twins. Gemini Killers, plural.

What an awesome shock that I did not see coming.

This episode was packed full too. Mia wound up dead, hanging in her cell. It looked as if Charley had paid off a guard to take care of business. This happened coincidentally just as Batista, Wallace and Olivia had arrived at the prison to show Mia a photo of Dexter to see if she recognized him as the Bay Harbor Butcher. Of course, that would have been a big time reveal as she believed he was the Dark Passenger.

There were several great scenes here too. There were some wonderful moments with Dexter and Harrison. Harrison attended Blessing’s mother’s funeral. Harrison helped Dexter out after Dexter called his son and asked him if a hoody was proper attire for a funeral.

There was also a fantastic scene between Dexter and Blessing, who had came to apologize for being snippy about some ice. The scene was also very tense since Gareth was dead in the shower/tub.

Dexter is doing a wonderful job of being a part of Harrison’s life. Harrison told his dad that he had an image of killing the landlord, but Dexter talked him down, easing the anxiety that Harrison was clearly entertaining in his head.

I really enjoyed this episode. It felt like it was adding so many awesome moments that I kept waiting for it to end. The end with the reveal of the Gemini Killer was absolutely a masterfully campy end.

Mr. Deeds (2002)

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I was not sure what I wanted to watch as the final film in the Sandler Saturday, because the last couple had snake-bit me so hard. So I decided on Mr. Deeds.

This one finished up the day with a film that was not as bad as I expected.

According to IMDB, “When small-town pizzeria owner and poet Longfellow Deeds inherits $40 billion from his deceased uncle, he quickly begins rolling in a different kind of dough. Moving to the big city, he is besieged by opportunists all gunning for their piece of the pie. Babe, a television tabloid reporter, poses as an innocent small-town girl to do an exposé on Deeds, but his sincere naiveté has Babe falling in love with him instead. Ultimately, Deeds comes to find that money truly has the power to change things, but it doesn’t necessarily need to change him.”

The big difference between this movie and some of the others that I have watched today is that Adam Sandler’s character Longfellow Deeds was a sweet, kind hearted guy. He was not the obnoxious crude a-hole of some of the other characters in Sandler’s oeuvre. That was a nice little switch. He was still just playing himself, but without the misbehavior. Deeds went around helping everyone and he was a beloved individual in the small town where he lived. He was not a foul mouthed a-hole who had to learn a lesson.

This was a remake of the Frank Capra classic “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” which is a movie that I have not seen before so I did not feel the difference. I am afraid that if I see the Capra version, I would see the excessive problems of this film.

I did not recognize Winona Ryder as Babe Bennett, the reporter who pretends to be a school nurse to get close to Deeds. What is up with John McEnroe in these Adam Sandler movies? Were they friends of some sort?

I was happier with this non-offensive film finishing up the Sandler Saturday. At least I did not hate myself for watching it.

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

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We’re off to a great start, this Sandler Saturday.

I would definitely say that Punch-Drunk Love is not an Adam Sandler movie. He stars in the film, but it is an Adam Sandler movie the same way Uncut Gems is an Adam Sandler movie. Uncut Gems was a Safdie Brothers and Punch-Drunk Love was a Paul Thomas Anderson movie.

According to IMDB, “Barry Egan hates himself and hates his life. The only male among eight siblings, Barry is treated poorly by his overbearing sisters. Despite owning his own business, he has gotten nowhere in life largely because of his insecurities. He leads a solitary life, which allows him to hide his violent outbursts that occur when he’s frustrated. His solitude however allows him to think, he stumbling upon a scheme to travel the world on a pittance, travel which he has never done. Concurrently, he meets two people who pull him in two different directions. The first is Lena Leonard, a friend of his sister Elizabeth. Barry is slow to realize that Lena is attracted to him, he making her make all the first moves. Lena is eventually able to get Barry out of his shell, she who sticks around despite his obvious problems. His burgeoning relationship and thus new life with Lena is threatened by the second, “Georgia”, who he contacted in an effort to alleviate his loneliness. Georgia and her “band of brothers” do whatever they can get get out of Barry what they want, no matter the price to Barry.“

Adam Sandler is really good in this movie. Again, he is playing a character and it is a character considerably deeper than most characters he plays. Barry is a socially awkward, lonely man who has a horrible self-image. He is extremely compelling during the film even when he is doing some of the strange things that he does. You can see how much talent Adam Sandler actually has as an actor.

The film is very much a PTA film, weird, strange and fairly chaotic. There are many surreal elements to the movie that work well within the context of the film.

I loved the relationship between Barry and Lena (Emily Watson). It was sweet and original. I liked how it did not go the way I expected.

We are 2 for 2 so far.