Tag Archives: movies

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.

The Running Man (2025)

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Edgar Wright’s new adaptation of the Stephen King book came out this weekend. It should be mentioned to everyone that this is not a reboot or remake of the movie from 1987 with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Richard Dawson, but a closer adaptation of the novel, because if you go into the new The Running Man film thinking it is going to be like that, you might be disappointed.

Ben Richards (Glen Powell) has lost his job and his young daughter is extremely sick. In order to try and get enough money for his family to get her needed health care, Richards applied for some of the game shows on the network. The game shows were violent and dangerous, but could help provide enough money to save his daughter.

However, Ben’s anger over his situation shone through the audition process and led the network head, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), to offer Ben a spot as one of the three runners on the final hunt for the game show The Running Man. A group of Hunters would try to find the runners and kill them, but if they could survive for 30 days, the runner could win a billion dollars.

Of course, the network and Killian were not going to play fair and were as corrupt as you would expect, and things turned badly for Ben.

The best part of the movie was Glen Powell. He showed himself as a capable and engaging action star. He showed how much of a good man he was at first, despite his internal anger, and the contest showed how those morals could be warped. Brolin was tremendous in lesser amount of screen time. You could quite figuratively feel the slime coming off of this character.

The action was really well done and thrilling. Powell is easy to root for and his efforts to survive got tougher with each moment.

The film did feel like it was too long. Some of the middle part of the film could have been trimmed down. I would say that they could have dropped around 15-20 minutes of run time and made this feel more streamlined. I also am not sure if the third act was as good as it could have been, because the first part of the movie absolutely rocked.

I feel like this was very entertaining, but I think it does not quite reach the level of epic. It absolutely could have been more than it was, but I do think that it was an exciting action film at the very least.

3.7 stars

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #28

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#28

SOAP

This is the story of two sisters, Jessica Tate… and Mary Campbell. These are the Tates. And these are the Campbells. And this is… SOAP.

Confused? You won’t be … after reading about #28 on the Top 100, a satire/parody of soap operas that ran on ABC for four seasons.

I loved SOAP so much. The stories of the Tates and Campbells never came up lame. Whether it be about affairs, murders, gay love or demonic possession, SOAP was filled with great comedic performances and laughs.

In fact, I do not think I have ever seen an episode of TV that I laughed harder at than when the Tates and their butler Benson discovered that the baby was possessed by Satan. I know it doesn’t sound like high comedy, but it was so wonderful that you couldn’t help yourself.

The castlist was large and filled with some of the best actors in the business. Billy Crystal was on the show as TV’s first homosexual. Others in the cast included Katherine Helmond, Robert Mandan, Richard Mulligan, Cathryn Damon, Jimmy Baio, Diana Canova, Jay Johnson, Robert Guillaume, Donnelly Rhodes, Roscoe Lee Brown, Ted Wass, Jennifer Salt and Arthur Peterson Jr.

Moments leap out of my memory. When Burt thought he could turn invisible and would snap his fingers in front of him. When Benson, The Major and Chester went to attempt to save Billy from a cult and ended up in blackface pretending to be a band. Jessica going to heaven.

I think SOAP is one of the most overlooked TV shows in television history.

ADDENDUM

While I have been doing this list, there have been several times where I thought that I had forgotten a show, only to see it on th elist. I thought I had forgotten Frasier, but it was there. I thought I had forgotten Night Court, but it was there. This is the first show where I thought, “Did I forget this one” and I had forgotten this one. So I decided to give an addendum to SOAP’s entry because this spin off of SOAP would have definitely been in the Top 100 and I missed it.

Benson

Benson saw Robert Guillaume’s character benson, who was the Tates’ butler for three years on SOAP, moved to the governor’s mansion of the state (whichever one they were in) to become the head of household affairs. Benson DuBois (finally got a last name) enteracted with the bumbling Governor with a heart of gold, the overbearing German cook Gretchen Kraus, and the Governor’s sweetheart of a daughter, Katie.

Robert Guillaume won an Emmy Award for his role in this show.

Sorry I forgot you, Benson. You deserved better….

Kiss of the Spider Woman (2025)

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I had wanted to see Kiss of the Spider Woman in the theater when it was at Cinemark, but the schedule did not permit it and it was gone before the following week. It was one of the big financial flops of the year, but I was still interested so as soon as it could be rented on Fandango at Home (aka Vudu), I watched it.

I loved the film.

This musical drama was based upon a 1992 stage show and a 1976 novel, but I had no background on any previous adaptations. I came into this with a fresh eye.

Set in Argentina in 1983, the film had a backdrop of a revolution that would be called the Dirty War, where the military junta seized control of Argentina. This was set at the tail end of the time period.

According to IMDB, “Valentín, a political prisoner, shares a cell with Molina, convicted for public indecency. An unlikely bond forms as Molina recounts a Hollywood musical plot starring Ingrid Luna.“

Diego Luna played Valentin and Tonatiuh played Luis Molina, and the film was carried by them. The movie split the musical away from the prison scenes, which kept the prison more realistic and gritty. The musical parts were in technicolor and were big, bombastic Hollywood fare. Ity created quite a distinct contrast between the different sections of th efilm.

Diego Luna was tremendous as Valentin, the political activist who Molina was sent to spy on.

Jennifer Lopez played Ingrid Luna, the actress who played Aurora and The Spider Woman in the recounted movie that Molina shared with Valentin. Lopez brings a level of credibility that this film required.

The music was catchy, but honestly, I do not think that I would recall any of the songs, which is not a good thing for a musical. Still, the music was entertaining during the watch of the film. I won’t be purchasing the soundtrack on Apple Music, but I think it worked for the film.

I thought this was a great film with some really strong performances.

4.5 stars

IT: Welcome to Derry S1 E

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Spoilers

“Now You See It”

Episode three of the new IT series on HBO Max is a banger.

We get some more psychic “shining” from Dick Hallorann, who we know ages up to work at the Outlook Hotel (and get an axe in his chest from Jack). The scene of him in the helicopter, flying over Derry and having psychic images of Pennywise in his forms, was exciting. Admittedly, as he was opening the cargo door of the copter, I never thought he’d fall out or die from that because I knew he had to be a part of the Shining eventually. Still, it was a tense moment.

Shawshank was mentioned too, which is part of the Stephen King shared universe. I do love how there are Easter eggs from other films in Derry. I’m sure there are some other hints out there that I do not recognize.

Ronnie’s father has something he is not telling anyone. It feels as if it is something that could work as an alibi, but he does not want to let that info out. Curious.

The flashback to the 1908 incident with Pennywise was scary. Frank and Rose’s interactions with the creature in the woods, a lookalike for the slender man from the carnival, was intense. Frank running from the creature only to be saved by Rose, wielding the slingshot that Frank had given to her (and Frank’s father had given to him). It was an exciting cold open showing what this episode would bring.

It was not as intense as when Ronnie, Lilly, Will, and Rich went into a graveyard to try and summon the monster that had attacked our departed friends from episode one in order to get pictures of it. I am not sure they could have come up with a more dangerous plan if they had tried. They were really fortunate to escape that event with their lives.

We end the episode with a pic of Pennywise as Will said of the photo he took, “It’s… a clown.”

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #33

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#33

The Muppet Show

It’s time to play the music. It’s time to light the lights.

I remember clearly when the Muppet Show debuted in syndication. I was in second grade and I was as excited about that as anything. I do not remember a ton from second grade, but I do remember that. Then, I was a little disappointed, because the only character that I knew from the show was Kermit the Frog.

That changed, of course. I love the Muppets and the Muppet Show was such an amazing flex by Jim Henson and his company. This is a variety show with a bunch of puppets that provided some of the best music and comedy any variety show could expect.

And guests! This was not just the B or C level celebrities appearing on the show. The Muppet Show got Bob Hope, Elton John, Alice Cooper, Mark Hamill in the middle of the Star Wars craze, Florence Henderson, Ethel Merman, Kenny Rogers, John Denver, Jonathan Winters, Christopher Reeve, Diana Ross, Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Carol Burnett, Johnny Cash, George Burns, John Cleese, Milton Berle, Steve Martin, Peter Sellers, Gilda Radner, Raquel Welch, Liberace, Sylvester Stallone among many others over five seasons.

The show did not just provide an amazing platform for the celebrities of the day. It also created a group of celebrities in the Muppets themselves. Led by Kermit, we were introduced to Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo the Great, Animal, Dr. Teeth, Statler and Waldorf, Rowlf, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker, and Scooter.

I absolutely love the Muppet Show. It was highly entertaining and truly funny. It also gave us the relationship between Kermit and Miss Piggy, and who knew we needed that?

It is definitely… the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational. This is what we call the Muppet Show!

Predator: Badlands

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The newest film from the Predator franchise opened this weekend, from director Dan Trachtenberg, who has now directed three Predator movies with Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers. Those two were really great and it helped me to anticipate this new film.

Trachtenberg takes a big time swing here by making the Predator, which were called Yautja in this film, the protagonist of the film. This was one of my early troubles with the film, because I had a tough time accepting the idea of Dek, the Yautja, as our lead character.

That did not last for long though. I found myself very entertained with the action and the story. I did not expect this film to be like it was. I think it really picked up when Dek meets up with Thia (Elle Fanning). I knew of the character of Thia from the trailers, but it worked much more than I thought it would.

Predator: Badlands improved as the film moved along. I found it exciting and a lot of fun. I did have another issue with a switch in attitude that Dek goes through as it felt too sudden, but I do not want to go into too many details because of spoilers. Again, I did not think it was a deal breaker for the film, but it was something that I thought about.

I thought the third act was really epic.

The CGI was mostly good. There were a few moments where the CGI was iffy, but most of the time, it was exceptional.

It was cool that this film has a tie in with the Alien franchise, leading to a potentially new line of crossover.

Predator: Badlands is highly entertaining and full of energy. It looks great and has some of the most creative creatures and exciting action. It was a lot of fun and not what I expected.

4 stars

Strange Harvest

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This scared the hell out of me.

It has been a long time since I have been as disturbed by a film as I was by Strange Harvest, a film I rented on Fandango at Home (Vudu). This would have worked really well for the October 13, although I did not watch it until November.

This movie was filmed in the “True Crime” style documentary, though the story was fictional. I would call it a “mockumentary” though that term leads me to picture something funny like This is Spinal Tap, and there was nothing funny about Strange Harvest.

The film followed the story of the serial killer who became known as Mr. Shiny, and his multiple murders over several years. The main “talking heads” of the horror mockumentary were Detective Joe Kirby (Peter Zizzo) and Detective Lexi Taylor (Terri Apple). They provided most of the narrative for the fake documentary.

This feels like a real documentary, which I think is why it hit so hard. There is a “Blair Witch” tone to it which adds to the mood of this film. Up until the ending of the doc, this could be a true story.

Mr. Shiny is a combination of the Zodiac Killer and an H.P. Lovecraft character. When we learn of his identity as Leslie Sykes (Jesse J. Clarkson), the character becomes even more frightening than he did before. Jesse Clarkson does an amazing job of creating an eerie, creepy, sinister character who is more like a ghost than a human for much of the film.

This is definitely one of the most scary films I have seen in a long time. I am still feeling disconcerted and unquieted as I write this. I may go from here and jump into my bed and hide beneath my covers. Strange Harvest was an excellent experience.

4.75 stars

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #42

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#42

The Walking Dead

After the ending of LOST, I had a huge gap in my heart and I was not interested in replacing it with another TV show. I did not watch much TV after LOST left. I did not watch The Walking Dead’s first season because of that. I had heard some good word of mouth about the comic book adaptation, so I decided I would catch up on the first, short season.

It was so wonderful, it helped in the recovery from post-LOST life.

Few shows have generated the anguish that The Walking Dead has over its eleven seasons. I will be honest, I did not watch much of the last few years of the show. There was onlky so much pain one could take.

I remember the spot that began my end with this show. It was Glen. I am not sure that any TV death has ever been as emptying as when Negan smashed Lucille, his baseball bat, into Glen’s skull, as he did in the comics, it was horrific and left me feeling hollow. I knew it was done brilliantly well and created all kinds of story, but the fact was that Glen’s death was the slow end for me.

Before that though, The Walking Dead was so amazing. It had so many unbelievable moments. Shane and his craziness. Carol telling Lizzie to look at the flowers before shooting her in the head. Daryl Dixon and his overall awesomeness. Rick screaming for Carl.

One of the best additions in the later part of the show was Michonne, played by Danai Gurira. Michonne and her katana was so bad ass. I also enjoyed her eventual relationship with Rick, which I saw more of in the spin of featuring those two characters, The Ones Who Lived.

The Walking Dead took advantage of the resurgence of zombies, leading the way among pop culture in presenting some of the most frightening moments featuring the monsters. However, the show never justbecame about the zombies, or Walkers as they dubbed them. The show was about the relationships between and the choices made by the survivors, and proved consistently that the humans might be the real monsters in a zombie apocalypse.