Tag Archives: movies

Joker: Folie à Deux

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I appreciate those films that take a big swing. However, big swings lead to big misses, and that is what Joker: Folie à Deux is… one big musical miss.

Joker: Folie à Deux picked up after the end of Todd Phillip’s Joker, with Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) in Arkham awaiting his trial for the multiple murders that he committed at the end of the previous film. With a swelling support from the streets of Gotham, Arthur met his soul mate Lee (Lady Ga Ga) who encouraged him to embrace the Joker side of his personality.

Let me kick off with the positives. Joaquin Phoenix does an excellent job as Arthur Fleck and he has great chemistry with Lady Ga Ga. Both actors are very good here, even if some of the storytelling pieces of the film did not do them any services.

There are some great shots in the film. There is one in particular where Lady Ga Ga had drawn a smile on the glass with lipstick. There are several shots like this. Anytime we see Arthur and Lee dancing, the shots are impeccable.

Unfortunately, that is about where it ends for positives. I was actually fairly bored through the first hour or so of the movie. The music was more of a distraction than it was an effective piece for the narrative storytelling. The songs were fine, but none of them felt as if they needed to be in the movie.

There are some things that I cannot mention without spoiling what happened. Let me just say that the ending of the film took away from the first film and did nothing to advance the character of Arthur Fleck.

In fact, it feels as if Todd Phillips wanted to rebut the last movie with something else. I mean, it did win an Oscar. I am sure this was not just a way to stick it to the fans, but I can understand someone who may think so.

Overall, this was a bad movie with some great performances. Joker: Folie à Deux just does not reach the levels of the first one, and I did not even love the first one.

2 stars

Monster Summer

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Monster Summer has a feel to it like this is an 80s film, a mixture of Monster Squad, Hocus Pocus and The Sandlot, but without taking any of the good parts.

From IMDB, “When a mysterious force begins to disrupt their big summer fun, Noah and his friends team up with a retired police detective to embark on a monstrous adventure to save their island.“

I had heard almost nothing about this movie. and you can see why. Mel Gibson appears in the film as former detective Gene, who is almost a recluse. Gibson did not feel like he fit in this type of a role.

The main protagonist of the film is Noah, played by Mason Thames. Thames starred in The Black Phone, but I spent the entire movie trying to place him. I swear he looked like he has so many traits of Omri Katz, the star of Eerie, Indiana and Hocus Pocus, that I kept thinking that he could be Katz’s son. It was distracting, even though Thames was fine in the role.

The writing of this movie was really weak. It had several moments that were just too hokey or poorly executed that even a few of the moments that were not bad were overshadowed by the poor parts.

I tend to like these kind of kids adventure films, but this just did not do enough well to recommend this film. Mason Thames is likable enough, but there is just not enough around him to make this worthwhile, even during spooky movie season.

2.4 stars

Wolfs

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When actor David Hyde Pierce got the first script for the TV comedy Frasier, he thought it was terrible because they had written the same character twice. Frasier and Niles were basically the same character and he thought it would be a failure. Of course, Frasier turned out to be a hugely successful show.

The new Apple TV + movie, Wolfs, starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, debuted this weekend on the streaming service and Clooney and Pitt play extremely similar characters, much like Frasier and Niles.

An accidental death in the hotel room of the DA leads to her calling for help. George Clooney showed up as a fixer (think Mr. Wolf from Pulp Fiction) to take care of everything. However, Pitt showed up too, with the plan of also taking care of everything. When they are forced to work together against their better judgment, they discover that this case has much more to it than they initially thought.

After seeing trailers for this movie, it was one of my more anticipated films of the remainder of the year. Now since seeing it, Wolfs is okay. It has its strengths, but it also has some glaring weaknesses as well.

The biggest strength of the film is easily the chemistry between Clooney and Pitt, whose characters are never named during the film. They have such wonderful comic timing during their interactions and their moments on screen stand out so well. They are basically playing the same character but the auras of both men create something different, unexpected. There is a third actor, Austin Abrams, who plays the kid who adds to the ambiance of the movie.

The biggest weakness of the movie, unfortunately, is the story. It is very messy and convoluted, and not in the good way. Everything that is happening around these two fixers lacks any real context to it and the story is chocked full of fixer cliches that we have seen in other films. The story has too many branches and the final explanation, which is done through exposition, of what was going on just does not work, and makes the film feel somewhat anticlimactic.

The film moves quickly and does have plenty of entertaining moments, especially between Clooney and Pitt. I wish there was a movie where these characters were together but it had a better script. Overall, I did like what was good about the movie more than what was bad bothered me.

3.2 stars

My Old Ass

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My Old Ass is a coming of age movie that tosses some unexplained magic in the story centered around taking mushrooms that provides us with a lovely little movie with some wonderful new actors.

The movie features Maisy Stella as Elliott, a young teen who is preparing to leave home to college, and is anxious to get away from everything. When she and her friends partake in some mushrooms, Elliott is approached by Aubrey Plaza who is playing a 39-year old version of Elliott, and she begins to warn her younger self about things she should avoid.

Somehow, older Elliott is able to put her number into younger Elliott’s phone (listed as ‘My Old Ass’) and they could communicate across time, showing amazing cell service.

Maisy Stella does an amazing job leading this movie, providing us with the emotion and confusion that would go along with this, as well as bonding, in a way, with her older self. Aubrey Plaza is perfect as the older Elliott, but she just is not in the film enough. Aubrey Plaza disappears for a big chunk of time in the middle of the film and you can feel her lack of presence. Still, when she is on screen, she is electric and she has amazing chemistry with Maisy Stella.

There is a real likable character introduced to us named Chad (Percy Hynes White, from Netflix’s Wednesday) who Elliott tries to avoid, but they have amazing chemistry as well and Chad is just such a wonderful character that the crowd is rooting for him despite what the story was telling us.

I do think that this could have been more emotional and I was left wanting more when the screen went to black, but I was entertained throughout the run time of My Old Ass. I would have liked more scenes with the two Elliotts, but what we got were really great.

3.85 stars

The Wild Robot

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Animated movies have been on a roll lately. I have two 5 star animated movies during the summer (Inside Out 2 and Transformers One) and now we have another exceptional animated movie hitting the theaters this weekend.

The Wild Robot is from DreamWorks Animation and tells the story of a robot named Roz that was designed for helping with tasks being stranded on an island with a plethora of animals. When a gosling hatches from an egg that Roz had found, the baby goose imprinted upon the robot, believing her to be its mother. A somewhat helpful fox with possible ulterior motives named Fink befriends the odd couple, they start to train the gosling runt what it will need to survive the upcoming migration.

There are so many wonderful things about this movie. It has a tremendously fulfilling coming-of-age story that included an underdog type story of the runt, soon to be named Brightbill. There are several moments throughout the story that are funny, feel-good and touching. The story does take a turn about halfway through as the migration happens. One would think that the migration would be the big event of the film, bringing the story to a close, but there is much more after that happened.

The story is emotional, and it sneaks up on you. You are just going along and enjoying what the movie is doing and, suddenly, your eyes are misting up because there is something there that touches you unexpectedly.

The voice work is amazing. In particular, Lupita Nyong’o as Roz and Pedro Pascal as Fink do exceptional work. Roz is a machine that finds that there is more than just her programming and Fink is an unlikable sneak who discovers what it means to have friends. Both of these arcs are emphasized by the wonderful voice work of these two top notch actors.

There are other excellent voice cast members including Bill Nighy, Kit Connor, Ving Rhames, Mark Hamill, Catherine O’Hara, Matt Berry and Stephanie Hsu.

The animation is spectacular. It is difficult these days to release an animated film if your animation is not competitive. The background of this film are spectacular and almost makes one think they were actually in the wilderness. There are a couple of times during action beats that the animation gets a little shaky. I know the reason for that, but it stood out in a picture that is such a piece of art otherwise.

However, there are some wonderful action beats in the film too. In the first half of the film, I was gasping in shock over some of the surprisingly dark moments of the movie. Let’s just say that the circle of life is on display in this movie in several moments.

The themes of this movie are wide spread and one of the most relatable of the year. In fact, there are themes here that will appeal to just about any segment of the viewership, from motherhood struggles to overcoming challenges to friendship. I would venture to say that everyone would find something to connect to in The Wild Robot.

I’m not going five stars with this one, but it is close. There are just a couple minor complaints that bring it down, but The Wild Robot is still a magnificent family film that is perfect for both parents and kids. Beautifully animated with exceptional voice acting, this is another huge win for DreamWorks.

4.9 stars

Blink Twice

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This is the second film this weekend that I found on streaming that I had missed while it was in the theaters. Blink Twice is the directorial debut by Zoë Kravitz and it was another film that I wanted to go see in the theater but just could not find the time.

According to IMDB, “When tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum) meets cocktail waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie) at his fundraising gala, sparks fly. He invites her to join him and his friends on a dream vacation on his private island. It’s paradise. Wild nights blend into sun-soaked days and everyone’s having a great time. Nobody wants this trip to end, but as strange things start to happen, Frida begins to question her reality. Something is wrong with this place. She’ll have to uncover the truth if she wants to make it out of this party alive.”

Naomi Ackie was excellent as the lead character in this film. She brought every bit of emotion and you believed her at every turn. She had great chemistry with Channing Tatum and, when it came time for her to be feral, you accepted it easily.

The mysterious nature of the story worked well as the audience were brought along the ride with Frida. Truthfully, when the reality is revealed, I was shocked at the situation. That is always a good sign when a movie can fool me.

Besides Ackie and Tatum, there is a strong cast of actors involved here including Christian Slater, Kyle MacLachlan, Haley Joel Osment, Geena Davis, Alia Shawkat, Adria Arjona, Simon Rex, Levon Hawke, Liz Caribel, and Trew Mullen.

I had no expectations for this film and it was so much more than I thought it would be. I went in without much knowledge of the story and it was worth my time.

3.75 stars

Transformers One

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Whoever put together the first trailer for Transformers One should be fired.

The first trailer I saw for this animated movie, a return to the world of Cybertron and the Transformers, was one of the worst trailers I have ever seen. I hated it so much that I almost decided to skip this movie. The job of a trailer is to get a viewer more excited to see a movie and this one nearly stunted my viewership.

I have had some terrible Transformer movie experiences, with The Last Knight being one of the worst, so seeing this first trailer filled with some many unfunny moments nearly ended me. However, the second trailer which, I believe, came out of San Diego Comic Con this year was so much better, which confused me. Then, we started getting word of mouth from people who had seen it, some of which, were claiming that it was the best Transformers movie ever. I had a difficult time wrapping my head around that idea with that first trailer still front and center in my mind.

Well, they were 100% right. Transformers One is the best Transformers movie ever put on screen and should be considered as one of the best movies of 2024.

I know… who would have thunk it?

The film dives into the origin of Optimus Prime, called Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth), and Megatron, called D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry), showing us how these friends became the iconic characters that we know of all these years.

Orion Pax and D-16 were minor bots, who could not transform and who were working mining Energon in the mines of Cybertron. Orion Pax had a vision to reach for more than what life had given him and he caught the eye of the one remaining Prime, Sentinel Prime (Jon Hamm).

There are so many great moments through the movie that I could not believe it. I was not sure that I wanted Optimus and Megatron to have been best friends only to become mortal enemies. That trope feels as if it has been used too much, but it works here way more than I ever thought it would. It helps to bring a real emotional kick the film and the story does a wonderful job of showing how these two characters went from friends to bitter rivals. You believe it. It was well earned.

Scarlett Johansson played Elita-1 and Keegan Michael Key played B-127 (who will become Bumblebee) and they both did a great job. All of the voice actors were exceptional in their roles, especially Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry who had the difficult task in stepping into famous and well-recognizable voices. Hemsworth in particular had to follow in the footsteps of Peter Cullen (EYG Hall of Famer) whose work as Optimus Prime has been iconic over the decades. Hemsworth seemed to be able to make the role his own. Perhaps that was because they started him off as Orion Pax and not in the mantel of Optimus Prime.

The film looked great and the action worked so well. The humor, which was so terrible in that first trailer, worked so much better in the context of the film that I was shocked. The film did not feel like a parody of the Transformers as that first trailer had seemed. Even the moments from that trailer that did not work, was so much more entertaining when they came in the film. They were dispersed beautifully and never felt like it was trying to take over the film. Did ever joke work? No, but how many films can say that every joke worked? Very few.

I loved the Transformers when I was younger and they were first on TV. As many others, I was scarred after the 1986 movie made me suffer through the death of Optimus Prime. I hated the Michael Bay movies, which seemed to get worse with every one. I was hopeful with the release of Bumblebee and the fairly likable Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and the comic from Image Comics, written and drawn by Daniel Warren Johnson is a great hit every month. I really thought Transformers One would send this franchise crashing back to the bottom, but I was wrong. It is one of my favorite movies of the year.

5 stars

The Greatest American Hero S2 E4

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Spoilers

“Hog Wild”

Ralph and Bill are on the way back from a communication seminar and they come across a biker gang that was itching for trouble.

Now, Bill is anything but subtle and his borderline obnoxious personality ended up getting him three broken ribs and taken hostage by the gang.

Oh, and the gang wound up with the suit.

Of course, it only works on Ralph, but it still led to a whole bunch of trouble as the biker gang returned to a town that had run them off the day before and blackmailed Ralph into being their “muscle.”

Bill was really over the edge in this episode, displaying how he is too stubborn and hard headed in most situations. Ralph, although too involved with the communication from the seminar, does a great job doing what he could. I liked how Ralph and Bill used some other characters in the show to help the overall scenario. It was neat to see Ralph working with others without having to hide the suit.

I do think that Ralph could have taken this biker gang out much easier than he did, but I understand they needed to stretch the story to make it a full length episode. Overall, it was a fun show, but probably the weakest episode of the second season so far.

The Deliverance

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I was surprised to see the name Lee Daniels attached to this Netflix horror movie. Daniels has directed such films as The Butler, United States vs. Billie Holiday and The Paperboy, none of which moved into the genre of horror. With a great deal of curiosity I went ahead and pulled this up on Netflix.

It started out listed as based on true events.

According to IMDB, “An Indiana family discovers strange, demonic occurrences that convince them and their community that the house is a portal to hell..“

The Deliverance hooked me right away, with its depiction of this black family from Indiana. Ebony (Andra Day) was rough and troubled, dealing with her issues through alcohol and anger. The fact that there was little redeeming qualities about Ebony made the character and the film more intriguing. Her three children struggled to try and find their own way through the difficulties presented to them by their mother. Ebony’s mother Alberta (Glen Close) moved in with them to try and help them with their troubles while dealing with her own health issues. Each character was angry and expressed it in a variety of manners.

Andra Day and Glen Close were both great with their performances. They brought the deep-seeded frustration and regret to the forefront. Caleb McLaughlin (from Stranger Things) also does a very strong job with his role of one of Ebony’s suffering children, Nate.

After about an hour, I was fully invested. The problem was that, when the film started to transition from the familial problems into the haunted house ones, the film lost a lot of steam and became just another haunted house movie. The final act of this movie was tremendously bad and spent every ounce of good tidings that it spent the first part of the film building up.

I really wish this film had taken a different path because it started with a very compelling group of characters with problematic family issues and slipped into a cliche-ridden, disappointing haunted house film.

2.5 stars

The Killer’s Game

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As a fan of the WWE, I was always going to see The Killer’s Game. It was not just because of Dave Bautista in the starring role, but also because of the debut of Drew McIntyre, a current WWE superstar.

According to IMDB, “…Veteran assassin Joe Flood, who is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness… authorizes a kill on himself to avoid the pain that is destined to follow. After ordering the kill, he finds out that he was misdiagnosed and must then fend off the army of former colleagues trying to kill him.“

This was not a great movie, but I enjoyed it despite that. The best part of the film was easily Dave Bautista, who was engaging and entertaining. I thought he was great in everything that he had to do, from the physical and brutal killings to the more softer and emotional bits. He was funny too.

I am going to say that there were some glimpses of Bautista’s acting skill in this film. Yes, it was mostly an action fest, but Bautista has a future in more challenging roles and we can see how successful he could be.

Some of the other assassins were fun, but were nothing but cannon fodder. Drew McIntyre was one of these, and it was fun to see him. He seemed like he was having a lot of fun playing this character.

It was fun and I did enjoy Bautista. Is it a great movie? No. If you are a WWE fan, you’ll think this is a hoot. If you find big violent action films unenjoyable, then you should stay away from this.

3 stars

Bates Motel S3 E10

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Spoilers

“Unconscious”

Season three finale of Bates Motel continues Norman Bates’ decent into madness as he finished off yet another young woman, the believed-to-be-dead Bradley in a frighteningly violent scene. Admittedly, it was Vera Farmiga who acted out the actual murder, Norman has slipped back into the multiple personality that has caused him to be such a dangerous young man.

I do find it fascinating that Bates Motel has been able to create two couples that are some of my personal favorite couples of all time on their little show depicting how Norman became a murderer.

First up this episode, we see the pairing of Dylan and Emma take a big step forward as they shared a kiss after Dylan was trying to get her to accept the lung transplant. Her reasons to be afraid of the transplant are understandable and relatable. She just wanted to live and was afraid that the transplant was too big of a risk. Dylan was understanding and sweet as he softly convinced her to take a risk.

And you can see the beginnings of what is one of my absolutely most favorite couples of all time with Norma and Alex Romero. I remember loving this couple when they got together and you can see how these two are being built.

However, on this rewatch, it is hard for me to consider Romero a hero. My memory from the first time through was that he was a good guy, but he clearly is not as he murdered Bob. Now, he did it to protect Norma and Bob was a really bad guy, but Romero outright murdered him. And it was not the first time that he had done this. It might have been for the greater good, but still…

Norma definitely needs to work on her knot tying as Norman got out of those binds in seconds.

Bring on season four!

RDJ is Doom, Part Deux

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It hasn’t been 48 hours since the big Marvel Hall H panel at this year’s San Diego Comic Con and I am already tired of the discourse surrounding the massive announcement that Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the MCU, but not as Tony Stark, the Invincible Iron Man, but as Victor Von Doom, aka Doctor Doom.

While the announcement was an incredible, all-time SDCC moment, there have been so many negative comments from the internet about it, and I do not see it decreasing any time soon. Even the online sources that I trust to be fair and balanced like John Rocha, Kristian Harloff and John Campea, can’t help but address the issue. While I trust them to be fair and balanced, there are so many online sources on YouTube and elsewhere that will spend constant chatter telling everyone how the MCU is dead or how this reeks of desperation. I am afraid that this is going to be a non-stop bitch-fest for the next two years. That’s not good for anyone.

When I first heard the rumor of RDJ as Doom, I dismissed it as silliness. I was not sure how that would work out and there are plenty of unsubstantiated rumors on the internet abut the MCU. I understand that things are not confirmed until I hear it from the mouth of Kevin Feige himself.

However, with the reveal at SDCC, things are different. I found myself very excited to see what Marvel Studios plan on doing and how they intend to make this work. I am a Marvel fan and I am willing to give them leeway. I have liked most of the things they have put out and a mistake or two can be permitted.

However, I am already irritated by the clickbaits on YouTube that say things like “Marvel has Gone too Far” or “MCU is Dead.” It is ridiculous. You have no idea what they are going to do with Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars and they are two years + away. Can’t we just believe in Kevin Feige, RDJ, The Russo Brothers and the machine at Marvel Studios? Do we have to spend all our time complaining about it and creating toxicity in the fandom? This is not Star Wars, for goodness sake.

Don’t misunderstand me. If you go and see Avengers: Doomsday and you do not like it and you think Marvel ruined Doom and that RDJ was a terrible choice, then that is your right. But to spread the vitriol two years before the film is released is just silly. I understand that negative stories create more clicks on their videos, but that does not make it okay.

I just needed to vent a bit about this. I wish we could have a fandom that was more positive than it has been. I do believe that most of the negativity comes from the internet where as the typical movie goers do not have the same kind of anger.

I am excited to see what Oscar winner Robert Downey Jr. can bring to the role of Doctor Doom and I am also excited about what the MCU team of Kevin Feige and the Russo Brothers can bring to these Avengers movies, since they last collaborated with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. That is four of the best MCU movies of all time and I choose to trust in this team that was able to create them.

Twisters

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I was not a fan of the original Twister film with Helen Hunt. I had only watched it once so I decided to give it another viewing about a month ago and I found out that I still did not like the film. So continuing the series with a new Twisters felt unneeded for me.

So imagine my surprise, I thought Twisters was way better than that original film and it was a film that I really liked.

According to IMDB, “As storm season intensifies, the paths of former storm chaser Kate Cooper, lured back to the open plains after a devastating encounter years prior, and reckless social-media superstar Tyler Owens collide when terrifying phenomena never seen before are unleashed. The pair and their competing teams find themselves squarely in the paths of multiple storm systems converging over central Oklahoma in the fight of their lives.“

Why does this work more for me than the original. Fact is there is not too much different between these two stories. The actors are all decent in those roles.

I think part of reason is that I felt more for these new characters, especially Kate Cooper, played by Daisy Edgar-Jones, who I really liked. She had a truly tragic past that I felt that they used during the film. I do think they could have gone into more of this tragedy than they did, but I felt like Kate was a deeper character than anyone from that first Twister movie.

Glen Powell continues his run as a huge star in movies today. I liked this character a lot too though he felt more like Glen Powell playing himself than anything else. I liked the relationship between Powell and Edgar-Jones and I thought the movie did a good job of taking it slowly between them.

The action in the film was solid and the tornados looked great. The tension of the situation was well built and the anxiety of seeing individuals being pulled away into the tornado was always effective.

It is not a perfect film by any stretch. There are holes in the story and some weaknesses in the characters, but none of them were major issues for me. This was a fun, summer movie watch with some good action, some exciting special effects and a couple intriguing characters. I like this more than I expected to.

3.8 stars

Gladiator (2000)

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This past week, I saw the trailer for Gladiator II, and that made me think about the original film from 2000. It has been a long time since I had seen the original and so I thought it would be a good idea to rewatch the Oscar winner before the sequel comes out in November.

Gladiator won several Academy Awards including Best Picture and best Lead Actor. It is an epic film well deserving of such honors. Russell Crowe, Juaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielson, Richard Harris, Djimon Hounsou, and Oliver Reed led the cast of the Roman epic, directed brilliantly by Ridley Scott. How Scott did not receive the Best Director Oscar for this masterpiece is beyond me (I take nothing away from Steven Soderbergh, though I have never seen Traffic, the film in which he won that year).

There are some criticisms about Gladiator not being historically accurate. I will not hold that against any movie that is not a documentary. I fail to see why that would be a reasonable or applicable criticism of any movie based in a historical time period.

According to IMDB, “Maximus is a powerful Roman general, loved by the people and the aging Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Before his death, the Emperor chooses Maximus to be his heir over his own son, Commodus, and a power struggle leaves Maximus and his family condemned to death. The powerful general is unable to save his family, and his loss of will allows him to get captured and put into the Gladiator games until he dies. The only desire that fuels him now is the chance to rise to the top so that he will be able to look into the eyes of the man who will feel his revenge.”

The amazing large scale battle scenes are unbelievably shot and directed by Scott. The action is top notch and beautifully shot in all its bloody violence. The smaller scale action inside the Coliseum was every bit as well directed and perhaps even more impressive. The scene involving the tigers was thrilling with every step and the final showdown between Maximus and Commodus was designed perfectly, very satisfyingly as well as emotionally. Visual effects were another Oscar win for the team from Gladiator.

The sound of this movie was masterful. Gladiator did receive the Oscar for best Sound and it was well deserved again. The sound of the clanking swords to the sound of the metal slicing through skin and bone are chilling.

The performances were breathtaking in many ways. Russell Crowe displayed such a visceral power in his anger and grief that fueled his revenge, yet never got in the way of the man he was. He was matched by the jealousy and insecurity of Juaquin Phoenix. He becomes so very sinister during the run of this movie, all built on the sense of loss of the love of his father.

Crowe and Phoenix do not share a ton of scenes, but when they are together, the energy is palpable.

“Are you not entertained?” I absolutely was. This was an amazing film and I certainly hope that the sequel coming later in the year is a worthy successor to this.

The Greatest American Hero S1 E1

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Spoilers

Look at what’s happened to me….

That is right. I found this series available on Amazon Prime and so I have added it to the watch list, along with The X-Files, Bates Motel and Battlestar Galactica. The Greatest American Hero was one of my favorite shows on ABC back in the early 80s. Starring William Katt, Robert Culp and Connie Sellecca, the series featured a high school teacher that was given a super suit by aliens. Unfortunately, the teacher, Ralph Hinkley, lost the instruction manual so he had trouble figuring out how the suit worked.

Meanwhile, FBI agent Bill Maxwell was with Ralph when the aliens arrived and becomes involved in the scenarios. Ralph’s lawyer and girlfriend Pam Davidson gets involved with the chaos as well, at first believing that Ralph had lost his mind.

This first episode is the full length pilot episode, running around 90 minutes long.

The Greatest American Hero was a ton of silly fun, playing with the tropes of the super hero genre. Ralph is unable to access the full power of the suit and what he can do, he does not do smoothly. [“DAMN”].

There requires plenty of suspension of disbelief here. Why doesn’t Ralph put on some kind of mask as he is flying around the city with his own face exposed. He also randomly tells people his name and job as he is dressed in his suit. Sure that defies logic, but so does a super suit from space aliens and a flying teacher who can crash through a wall. If you are derailed by some faults in logic, you have chosen the wrong show to watch.

Of course, one of the things this show had going for it was perhaps the best TV theme song ever recorded. “The Greatest American Hero [Believe it or Not]” by Joey Scarbury is undeniably catchy, easy to sing along with and sets the perfect tone for the show. To this day, that song is on my phone and is one that I always stop to listen to when it comes around.

William Katt and Robert Culp are also huge pieces of this show’s unlikely success. Both actors are solid performers and have had plenty of luck in the past. Culp was a star of the show “I Spy” with Bill Cosby. Katt appeared in the Stephen King film, Carrie, as well as several other films. The pairing of Katt and Culp were one of the key elements to this series’ cult stasis.

There are 45 episodes spread over three seasons of The Greatest American Hero. We will continue to add to this watch as the months go on.