Tag Archives: movies

Wildcat

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I was watching a video on YouTube today of the Kristian Harloff Show. This was the day of the week where Roxy Striar appeared. I always enjoy her TV picks for the week so I played it for awhile. They were speaking about a new movie that Roxy was in, which starred Kate Beckinsale, called Wildcat. Looking at the info for the film, I saw it was rentable on Prime.

It was an action movie, directed by James Nunn, who has a reputation for action.

Sadly, the story was fairly convoluted and messy.

Beckinsale played a former black ops operative named Ada. She had a relationship with another operative named Roman (Lewis Tan). Ada wanted to leave the life and settle down, but Roman was not interested.

Several years later, Ada and her daughter Charlotte (Isabelle Moxley) ran into Roman and they had dinner. They were going to remain friends. Later that night, Charlotte was kidnapped because Ada’s brother Edward (Rasmus Hardiker) owed money to mobsters and had spoke about his sister the former black op.

Ada reunited with her former team in an attempt to pull of a heist to get the money to pay off the mobster.

This had some possibilities, storywise, but it felt that these plot points got too lost among the rest of the pieces tossed into the movie.

I hated the character of Edward. He made every scene worse, with the exception of the very final one.

The action was pretty decent, but there was a bit too much gunfire for my taste. I did like the connection between Ada and Roman. They worked well together.

The final was silly. I am not sure what they were doing.

I did love seeing Roxy in the film. She did great in her small role, and I am so happy that she has gotten the opportunity.

This just is not my type of movie.

2.5 stars

2025 Year in Review: YouTube

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YouTube is forever changing, adding, adjusting. There are a ton of shows, reactors, reviews that I have enjoyed watching.

I think it is very interesting since these shows go up and down the list quite a bit. Here are the Top 15 shows on YouTube for me.

#15. Jeremy Johns. Here is one that has been higher up the list in past years. Jeremy reviews movies and I do like his opinions.

#14. The Geek Buddies. This is another example of a show I used to watch much more, but that I haven’t watched much lately. It has to do with the content available.

#13. Dodgers Nation. The Dodgers won the World Series again and so I do like listening to Doug McKain talk about them.

#12. Fatman Beyond. Another one that would have been higher before. I love Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin, but their schedule and show length catches up with me.

#11. Ashleigh Burton. She depends on what she is watching. I have loved watching her react to Buffy TV shows this past year.

#10. The Hot Mike. The entertainment show that breaks stories on movies and TV. John Rocha and Jeff Sneider have a great chemistry with each other.

#9. John Campea. John Campea has been a movie pundit for many years. He talks daily about all the top movie news.

#8. Dan Murrell. Dan is probably my favorite movie reviewer on YouTube right now. Dan’s reviews allowed me to see two of the Top 5 movies from 2024 in 2025.

#7. Settle the Score. I love this competition show, but it has slipped a little because of the amount of time I have to watch it. Matt Knost hosts and Andy Merriweather is the musical director.

#6. Kristian Harloff Show. Kristian, former Schmoe-Knows guy, does a weekly talk show that discusses movies and TV. He has multiple co-hosts during the week including Roxy Striar, John Richa, Winston Marshall, Mike Kalinowski and others.

#5. Untraveled. Jay and Adam traveling through Spain, reacting to what they see. I have to say, this has only had 4 episodes so far and might have been higher up the list had I seen more of the show. They are really funny, and will show up higher up this list.

#4. Reel Rejects. Greg and John started a reaction channel and they will react to movies, TV shows etc. There are multiple Reel Rejects who join in on the reactions (Roxy, Coy, Tara, Aaron, Andrew). They have great conversations after viewing.

#3. pReview’d. Here is the original Jay and Adam channel. They react and review TV and movies. And cry. They are funny and real. This is the place where friends don’t let friends watch movies (or watch tv or watch trailers) alone.

#2. Bonus Action. Last year’s #1, slipped to number two, mainly because this season’s volume is not finished yet. The crew switched from playing D&D to Daggerheart. Despite the new system, the cast is still the best around.

And the #1 show on YouTube….

FYC (For Your Consideration)

Scott Mantz, Perri Nemiroff and Jeff Sneider get together to talk everything Oscars. They predict the nominations. The predict the winners. They discuss reasons behind their thoughts. Above all else, even when they disagree, there is a level of respect between each other that is awesome to watch. I love the intelligence that they show.

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #11

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#11

Agents of SHIELD

I have just started the 2025 Year in Review at EYG where I compile lists of the year’s best and worst. When I would make lists of the best TV shows, Agents of SHIELD was consistently the number one show. It was number one for several years as I loved this show. Even when it seemed as if it was no longer MCU canon, I loved this show.

Agents of SHIELD was a show that ran for seven seasons on ABC, featuring the adventures of a group of SHIELD agents led by Phil Coulson.

Of course, Phil Coulson had been murdered in The Avengers movie by Loki so there was going to need to be some shenanigans in order to have him star in this show. Clark Gregg reprised his role as Coulson and he brought his natural charm and wit to the show.

The other main agents of the show included Melinda May (aka The Calvary), Daisy Johnson (aka Quake), Leo Fitz and Jenna Simmons, “Yo-Yo” Rodriguez and Mack Mackenzie.

The show’s crossover with the MCU was never quite clear. There were times where it seemed clear, such as a close tie in with Captain America: Winter Soldier, or the appearance of Sif. Other Marvel Comics characters made appearances in this show including Ghost Rider, the Inhumans, Deathlok, Bobbi Morse (known in comics as Mockingbird), Mr. Hyde, Hive, Peggy Carter, and LMDs.

Agents of SHIELD personified the brand of Marvel magic that we saw in some of the earliest movies of the franchise. The show featured sweeping adventure with splashes of humor and clever, witty dialogue from compelling characters. Over the years, the relationships among these characters became the backbone of the series. Several of these characters wound up being introduced into the Marvel comics too.

For me, this is one of my favorite shows of all time, just coming short of the top 10.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #45

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Spoilers

“Witness Marks”

May have been the scariest jump scare I have ever seen.

I was so engaged with the angry conversation going on between Theo and Shirley that I never once even considered that there would be something scary happen.

And when the ghostly figure of Nell screeched from the back seat, I literally screamed out. That rarely happened. The show got me good.

Prior to that, I was thinking what a group of douchebags these Crain kids were. I would go as far as to say that I really have grown to dislike both Steven and Shirley and their obnoxiousness.

I knew immediately that Luke was heading to the house. I am not sure why no one else thought of that right away, especially considering the weirdness that had been going on around the funeral parlor (last episode).

The whole knocking and doorbell ringing at that funeral parlor was creepy too, and it only served to make me dislike Shirley more. Dismissing this impossibility as kids playing pranks is just so short sighted that she was more embracing her own anger and resentments than able to see what was going on.

Then, the monologue from Theo after the jump scare was heartbreaking. The whole “I felt nothing” stuff was tough to listen to and, seemingly, finally got through the exterior of her sister.

By the way, last week’s episode had Hugh’s flashback heading through the Red Door, but nothing was mentioned or shown about that this week. That did not upset me as what we got was so excellent. Our flashback was Steven fixing up an old vanity for his mom. This was an important memory for Steven because it was proof for him about his mother’s madness, instead of one more haunted item in the Hill House.

Luke at the Hill House failing to light it on fire, only to be confronted by a vision of his mother in a red dress at the top of the stairs and the arrival of Rotten Polly, the owner of the said vanity.

There are two more episodes remaining and this series is absolutely hitting its stride. After this episode ended, which was the shortest run time of the series, I really wanted more.

Year in Review: Top 5 Movies from 2024 in 2025

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Every year, I watch some movies from the previous year and I do not place them on the Best Movie list at the end of the year. Instead, I usually do a list here. A lot of times, I would see these films in January or February as they were Oscar contenders that had been released in limited release in November or December.

Of course, the last few years, there has also been the June Swoon where I watch 30 different films daily from the year before.

So this is always the first post of the Year in Review. It is the Top 5 movies from 2024 that I saw in 2025.

#5. Better Man.

The biopic of British pop sensation Robbie Williams and the story of his personal struggles and his eventual comeback. Of course, this film portrayed Williams as a singing monkey. I knew nothing about this performer, but it was very strong and powerful of a film.

#4. Flow. The animated movie that wound up winning the Academy Award for best animated movie. The dialogue free film tells the story of a flood and a group of animals, led by a black cat, in their attempts to survive the natural disaster.

#3. Ghostlight.

A beautiful story of life and loss and finding a way to go on after tragedy.  It starred Keith Kupferer as a middle-aged construction worker who unexpectedly joined a local theater’s production of Romeo and Juliet. The film dealt with depression after a painful death. Ghostlight was an unexpected film that I heard about thanks to YouTube film critic Dan Murrell.

#2. Hundreds of Beavers. This is another film that I had only heard about thanks to Dan Murrell. It is an absurdist comedy with plenty of slapstick. It was one of the weirdest films that I saw this year.

#1. September 5

The first film I watched in this past summer’s June Swoon was September 5. This told the true story of the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage crisis and the coverage from ABC Sports. The drama of this film was done extremely well. This was a film that I was excited to see and I would have seen in the theater had it ever came around here. It is a powerful story.

Eleanor the Great

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As we have the second film of the 2025 post-Thanksgiving, Snowpocalypse Weekend, there is actually snow on the ground. It has been snowing all morning though it does feel as if it is not as much as was forecast.

Still, nowhere to go this afternoon so I rented Eleanor the Great off Fandango At Home (aka Vudu) starring June Squibb.

After the death of her friend and longtime roommate, 94-year old Eleanor Morgenstein (June Squibb) was lonely and grieving. By fate, she wound up in a support group for Holocaust survivors. Not sure what to do, but craving the human attention, Eleanor, not a Holocaust survivor, began telling the stories of her recently passed roommate, who did survive, as her own. From these tales, she met a bright young journalism student, Nina (Erin Kellyman), who had suffered her own recent loss.

This was the feature directorial debut by Scarlett Johansson, and she did a fine job with a story that placed the delightful June Squibb front and center. I am not sure there is a more impressive actress working today than the nonagenarian. She brought an energy to the film that would not have been there without her.

The story was good, but Squibb elevated it into a much higher level. It was a typical “lies get revealed” type story, but Squibb made this more than just a typical tale. You could feel her passion for the film in every moment she was on screen.

The relationship between Eleanor and Nina was another positive of the movie. They had a bond that you could feel on screen. When Nina discovered that Eleanor was not what she had represented herself as, the pain and betrayal cut deep.

It may have wrapped up too neatly in the end, but it did give us an ending that provided hope for the future of the characters.

3.5 stars

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #14

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#14

24

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick…

Kiefer Sutherland was Jack Bauer, an agent with the Counter Terrorist Unit Los Angeles Division (CTU). Jack had to deal with terrorists and dangerous situations to help his country. And every minute counted.

24 had a special gimmick. Every season, there were 24 episodes and each episode was told in real time. So the story unfolded over a 24 hour period and we saw how Jack Bauer and the other agents of CTU responded to these terrorist events.

The gimmick was really cool, but would never have lasted for the length of time that it did without that first season of 24. In the final scene of the first season, Jack discovered that his wife, Teri Bauer, who had been a major role in the season, had been killed by a mole inside CTU. The season ended with Jack cradling the dead body of his wife.

You do not end a season of TV in that manner. The hero does not face this level of anguish in the final scene. It proved to the viewers that absolutely anything was possible during these 24-hour days and that you could not afford to miss anything on the show.

Admittedly, as the show grew older, the show became more played out, and the show did seem to focus too much on Middle Eastern terrorists (accusations of Islamophobia were leveled at the show), but Jack would do absolutely ANYTHING in order to accomplish his goal. There were times when what Jack did was as shocking as anything the terrorist would do.A TV show protagonist just would not do what Jack Bauer did.

24 ran for eight seasons on FOX, which included a TV movie between season six and seven. There was also a new series called Live Another Day, which cut the season in half from 24 hours to 12 (episodes).

Zootopia 2

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Zootopia was a giant surprise hit in 2016 when it broke one billion dollars worldwide. With that much box office success, one would wonder why it took nearly ten years to have a sequel.

Zootopia 2 is an excellent new animated movie that does a great job of providing a new story and continuing the awesome partnership between Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde.

According to IMDB, “Brave rabbit cop Judy Hopps and her friend, the fox Nick Wilde, team up again to crack a new case, the most perilous and intricate of their careers.“

Ginnifer Godwin and Jason Bateman are the voices of Judy and Nick respectfully. They do a fantastic job with these characters and their voice work is part of the reason this pair is so good together. They are also written well as any friendship you’ll find in the movies.

There is a great voice cast along with Godwin and Bateman. This included Ke Huy Quan, Fortune Feimster, Andy Samberg, Dasvid Strathairn, Idris Elba, Shakira, Patrick Warburton, Danny Trejo, Quinta Brunson, and Bonnie Hunt. In a fun bit of casting, the Zebros were voiced by pro wrestlers, Joe Anoa’i (aka Roman Reigns) and Phil Brooks (aka C.M. Punk).

I liked the story of the film as well. It was nicely developed without succumbing to the sequel-itis where the sequel tried to do way too much, cramming it in. However, this felt very well constructed and worked well. I was worried at first that there would be too much here and make the story feel convoluted, but it came together nicely as it progressed.

The character design is amazing, and the creativity is off the charts. The animation looked fantastic and you could tell that they were having a lot of fun with the film as it translated to the screen.

It had real emotion and some wonderful character moments. It was also hilarious and filled with some great animated action. It was worth the wait to see a sequel.

4.2 stars

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #17

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#17

Loki

One of the best Marvel Studios Disney + shows is next on the countdown as we reach Loki, starring Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson.

After Avengers: Infinity War, it looked as if we had seen the last of Loki in the MCU. “No resurrections this time” Thanos said as he cracked Loki’s neck. Fortunately for us, Thanos was not quite right.

While that Loki would not be back, we learned about the multiverse and the unlimited number of Loki variants, one of which would become our protagonist of this series.

Grabbed by the TVA (Time Variance Authority), Loki was recruited by Mobius to help with the apprehension of another rogue Loki who was causing all kinds of trouble. We would come to find out that the rogue Loki was, in fact, a female Loki who named herself Sylvie. Loki and Sylvie had a real weird relationship that carried this show through its run.

But truthfully, the key relationship of the show was Loki and Mobius, played by Owen Wilson. This bromance was apparent from the first scene they had together. Hiddleston and Wilson had amazing chemistry and made an amazing duo.

Loki and Sylvie confronted the man at the beginning of time, He Who Remains, who turned out to be a variant of Kang the Conquerer. This was easily the best moment for that character in the MCU as Kang ended up being defeated by ants. However, this version of Kang was an omnious force over both seasons of Loki.

The writing was extremely clever and funny. It was also a major event in the MCU, with the finale changing things massively with ripples we are still waiting to discover.

Who would have guessed back in the first Thor movie that the antagonist of that movie and the major villain of The Avengers would have one of the best TV shows from Marvel?

Loki went for two seasons.

After the Hunt

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The film, After the Hunt was a film that I missed out on while it was in the theaters earlier this year, but with it coming available on Amazon Prime, I was able to watch it this weekend. I have to say that I found this to be extremely disappointing and mostly a mess.

According to IMZDB, “A college professor finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil levels an accusation against one of her colleagues and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light.”

Thing is, this synopsis from IMDB is much more concise than this film is. I’m not sure what the overall story as meant to be, and it felt as if these characters were jumping back and forth in so many different manners that it muddied the waters of the narrative.

There are great actors in the film. Julia Roberts,  Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny all had important roles in the film and they all can really act. There just was too much chaos in the script to allow any of them to elevate the material. Certainly, Julia Roberts had the strongest performance, but there was just so much going on that was needlessly convoluted that it sapped any semblance of her performance.

The score was constantly in the way. I have never been as distracted by the music in a movie as I was with this movie. The score was nonsensical at times and really caused disruptions.

The narrative was scattered around and did not have a comprehensive idea of where it wanted to go. This was compounded by the different characters and what they brought to the story. Some things were brought in for reasons that I am not sure have a purpose.

I found this to be overly long, messy, and wasteful of some strong performances. After the Hunt never really knew what it wanted to be, and that is hat it became.

2 stars

Wicked: For Good

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Last year, Wicked found its way into my top 10 of the year. I loved the first movie and I was excited to see the follow-up, the finish to the story with Wicked: For Good.

I did enjoy the movie, but it just did not feel as enjoyable as the first half.

We pick up back in Oz with Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) being pursued and demonized as the Wicked Witch of the West, and she is trying to show the citizens of Oz that the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) was a fraud. Glinda (Ariana Grande) was the public face for the Wizard and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), and was being created as the Good Witch.

The strengths of this film included the two leads, Erivo and Grande. Their chemistry was off the charts in the first film, and they both carry it right into Wicked: For Good. Both of them give Oscar worthy performances once again, however, there was too much of the film where they were at odds, which dragged things down a bit. Specifically, with the love triangle between them and Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), which did not seem to work very well.

The film looked beautiful once again. They had filmed this right after the first film, so everything was still in place and the sequel is sensational looking.

While there is no song in the second film that could match the power or emotionality of “Defying Gravity,” I did enjoy the music throughout. The voices of both Grande and Erivo are spot on and could handle anything thrown at them. My personal favorite songs were “Wonderful” featuring both Erivo and Grande with Jeff Goldblum. The scene of them dancing together really was an awesome shot and “No Good Deed” with Erivo standing out.

I just had trouble with this film not reaching the levels of the first film. Wicked was filled with magic and charm, while it felt like Wicked: For Good was too busy trying to cram the parts of The Wizard of Oz to make it fit the story of the original 1939 film. I am not sure much of the Wizard of Oz bits worked for me.

Specifically, the origins of the Scarecrow and the Tin Man made no sense to me and felt extremely shoehorned into the script. I won’t spoil this for anyone who doesn’t know from the stage play, but I did not like the use of these characters.

A lot of the story was not dealt with, as if there were several dangling plotholes left unfilled. Again, without spoiling I can’t go into too many details, but this was a problem for me, especially in reflection.

The second film is definitely darker than the first one with a few surprisingly dark scenes. There was less humor in this new film, which is not a bad thing, but Ariana Grande, whose comedic timing was on full display in the first film, did not have the opportunity as much in this one. Again, that is not necessarily bad, as it might show character growth, but it was a missing feature for me.

Wicked: For Good is a solid film, if not as good as the first one. I wonder what it would be like to watch both films back to back? I wonder if that would change the thoughts I had for part two? Maybe I’ll do that some day.

3.75 stars

Sisu: Road to Revenge

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A few years back there was a film featuring a Finnish protagonist who had become a legend by his brutality and his survival. Dubbed the “Man who refuses to die,” Aatami Korpi stomped through Nazis, killing everyone in his path.

Aatami Korpi (played by Jorma Tommila) is back after the war and he returned to his home in Finland, which had been annexed by the Soviet Union in the peace treaty, to the home where his wife and two sons were murdered.

Korpi dismantled his house, taking the lumber from it to leave the now Soviet Union so he could rebuild the house again. Unfortunately, the man who killed his family, Yeagor Dragunov, played by Stephen Lang, was hired to go and kill the legend, once and for all.

The story was really simple, and Jorma Tommila does not have one line of dialogue, but he did a nice job with his body posture and his facial expressions (that is, when we could see the facial expressions through the crimson mask that covered his face at multiple times in the film) to express the pain and anguish he was going through.

Korpi is beat all the crap in the film, to the point where it is amazing that he could possibly still be functioning, much less alive.

I have to say that while I did enjoy a lot of the excessive violence that was going on in the film, it got to a point where it may have been too much. It was difficult to accept that he was still alive after so much without any sort of magical/mystical abilites.

Some of the things he does is also too cartoonish. Some of the things had me rolling my eyes or trying to decide exactly why he did that. There was one scene with a tank that truly showed this concept.

Because of the violence becoming too out there, I felt like the movie took a step back from the previous one. I do not remember the last Sisu movie being this over-the-top, Looney Tunes type violence and this just was more than I wanted.

It was still a fun revenge flick, but, interestingly enough, Korpi wasn’t in search of revenge. Had the Soviets not sent Dragunov after him, he would have just left the Soviet Union and built his new home. I am not even sure Korpi knew that Dragunov was the man who killed his family until he started bragging about it.

A solid revenge flick that does takes things too far for my tastes, Sisu: Road to Revenge is a decent afternoon watch, it is paced quickly and has some good humorous kills. Lots of blood too.

3.4 stars

Daily Countdown: TV Show #19

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#19

The Tick (animated series)

This is the third time that The Tick has made it on to this list. His live action show on FOX was first, then his live action show on Prime was next, and now is the show that, for me, started it all.

Yes, I know the Tick was from comics, but I had not owned any Tick comics when he debuted on FOX Kids Saturday mornings. My introduction to the character was from that animated series and it made the Tick, along with the other eccentric and wild characters from this world, one of my favorite shows ever.

Spooooooooooooooooooooon!

From sidekick Arthur to Chairface Chippendale to Man-Eating Cow to Barry, the characters were so fun, so funny and worth the time. This is the last time we would see Die Fledermaus and American Maid, as these characters did not appear in live action because of legal reasons.

There are a couple of notable episodes that I will never forget with minor characters (if you can call them that) that absolutely were sensations. Little Wooden Boy was Tick’s sidekick after a spat with Arthur. I wanted my own Little Wooden Boy, so badly. Then, there was Tick’s pet, Speak, the “dog” who was named because “that’s what you do.” Speak was actually a capybara, which is a rodent.

Blowhole, the Terror, Proto the Clown, El Seed, Dinosaur Neil, Thrakkorzog, the Breadmaster, Filth, The Evil Midnight Bomber that Bombs at Midnight… so many creative and extremely clever characters, some adapted from the comics, some seen first time on the animated show. The group of super heroes running around The City was as great too.

There were three seasons of this animated show and I waited patiently for each one. I loved this show so much. It gave me a character that I could completely relate to and it was as funny as any show on this list.

Creator and EYG Hall of famer Ben Edlund was behind the show, in all its forms. With all due respect to both Patrick Warburton and Peter Serafinowicz, the classic and all-time Tick performer was Townsend Coleman, who voiced the animated version in this show. Coleman’s voice was perfect for this character and was what helped this show become the cult classic that it is.

Because of this show, I spent many years finding Tick comics from New England Comics (thanks Todd) and the Tick is one of my favorite comic book heroes of all time.

The animated show provided some of the best quotes of all time… some of which I still use in real life.

“Gravity is a harsh mistress”

“You’re not going crazy. You’re going sane in a crazy world!”

“Four yaks and a dog. Laxative log. Susan.“

“You know, Arthur, when evil is afoot, and you don’t have any arms, you’ve gotta use your head. And when evil is ahead and you’re behind, you’ve gotta do the legwork. But when you can’t get a leg up, you gotta be hip. You gotta keep your chin up, and kick some-…”

“Eating kittens is just plain… plain wrong! And no-one should do it, ever!“

“Yeah, well, don’t count your weasels before they pop, dink!”

“Yes, destiny has her hand on my back, and she’s pushing.”

“Mucal invader, is there no end to your oozing?”

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #20

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#20

The Big Bang Theory

As we enter the Top 20 remaining in our Daily Countdown, we come to a sitcom that ran for 12 seasons on CBS.

Bazinga!

The Big Bang Theory was the story of a group of four geeks, all incredibly smart scientists, engineers and physicists, who love geek culture, playing D & D, and comic books. We follow these four men, Leonard Hofstadter, Howard Wolowitz, Raj Koothrappali and Sheldon Cooper, through their lives, loves and shenanigans.

There are people I know who hate The Big Bang Theory because of their portrayal of the main characters as geeks. They say it is insulting to the geek community. While they are welcome to that opinion, I disagree. It is a sitcom and the characters are exaggerated. It’s like saying that detectives should be mad about Monk or that doctors should be offended by Doogie Howser.

The center relationship of the show is Leonard and Sheldon, who are roommates. Sheldon is, let’s say, difficult to deal with, yet Leonard continued to put up with his craziness. When Penny (no last name) moves in next door, Leonard fall for her hard. Other love interests were introduced into the show as regulars: Bernadette Rostenkowski, who would wind up marrying Howard, and Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler, whose relationship with Sheldon would be a major focus of the last half of the show’s run.

The relationship with Howard and Bernadette, for me, really saved the character of Howard, who I disliked for much of the early seasons. He was so creepy so often that I just did not understand why the others wanted him around. Still, Howard had his moments and became one of my favorites as he became a husband and father.

The show had a regular set that was a comic book shop, which I always find awesome. The comic book shop owner, Stuart, eventually became a regular, and is reportedly part of a spin off of the show coming sometime over the next year or two.

The cast included Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Mayim Bialik, Melissa Rauch, and Kevin Sussman. Recurring actors to appear on the show included such stars as Kathy Bates, Bob Newhart, Sara Gilbert, Sean Astin, Wil Wheaton, Jerry O’Connell, Teller, and Stephen Hawking. There were also a bunch of cameos of people as themselves including Stan Lee, Leonard Nemoy, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, Levar Burton, Kareen Abdul-Jabbar, James Earl Jones, Kevin Smith, Nathan Fillion, and many more.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #43

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SPOILERS

“Two Storms”

I am going to be perfectly honest. I had heard so many amazing things about The Haunting of Hill House before I started it during the Sunday Morning Sidewalk, and it has been disappointing. Yes, I have enjoyed the show so far, but it was not the epic that I was expecting.

Then, there was episode six, “Two Storms.”

Now I see what everyone else was talking about.

What an episode. This one blew all of the previous episodes away. It had tension, it had character reveals, it had story beats and it had some of the best direction/shots of the show.

There were multiple, long one-shots of scenes as the camera follows the grieving Crain family around the funeral parlor. Technically, this is a master class of direction from series runner Mike Flanagan. Whenever the one-shot would end, the transitions were spectacular, and we would be back into another oner. The design of the plan for each shot is unbelievable and executed perfectly.

The surviving Crain kids and their father finally are all together in the present day as a thunderstorm raged outside the funeral parlor. The show gave us a flashback to another storm that occurred with the Crain family while they lived at Hill House and they paralleled the two storms with a narratively striking purpose. We got to see some major effects that the house had on both Nell and Olivia. Nell’s disappearance and Olivia’s encounter with the spirits were chilling.

Chilling is a good way to describe many of the moments from this episode, including the appearance of the bent-neck woman at the family visitation. There was no jump scares here. The scenes transcended jump scares. They were done so spectacularly that you couldn’t help but be disquieted.

The character development was wonderful too, as secrets came out. The alcohol flowed freely (which I thought was incredibly selfish by every kid, considering Luke was there, clean and sober, watching his siblings all slapping back vodka) and the tongues were sharp. Fueled by their loss and grief, the kids and Hugh said some dramatically hurtful things to each other as truth came to the surface. Hugh seemed to be talking to himself, convincing Steven about the mental illness he believed ran in his family, but I believe it was clear that he was talking to Olivia’s spirit.

The concept of Nell and Olivia NOT having killed themselves, and, instead, being killed by the house came up and it triggered the resentment of the others for Steven’s book. They shared moments that we had seen over the first five episodes in the kids individual focused episodes that showed how much these siblings were not as close as they may have thought.

This episode elevated the entire series to a new level, one that makes me understand the fervor over this show that had seemed good, but not exceptional before this. I can’t wait to see where the show goes from here.