Tag Archives: review

Shogun S1 E4

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“The Eightfold Fence”

I really enjoyed this week’s episode of Shogun.

The fish-out-of-water feel of Blackthorne continues to be very interesting as he is trying to comprehend aspects of the Japanese culture that he just cannot grasp. The way they both dealt with the differences and the unintended slights was fascinating, and it was clearly leading to a connection between the characters.

Blackthorne has realized that everything he believed about his deal with Toranaga may not have been what he expected. Still, his instruction on the use of his ship’s cannons impressed the Japanese.

 Lord Ishido sent his warrior, Jozen, to check in on Toranaga, to see if he were preparing for war. Jozen’s presence has been a challenge for the people in place, but Nagakado, Toranaga’s son, wound up attacking him with the cannon.

The brutal imagery of the victims of the cannon attack was amazing. The horror was impressive for a TV show.

There were also some tense stand offs between Blackthorne and Omi, whose initial confrontation at the beginning of the series still plays into this feud.

It is going to lead to a terrible situation, a declaration of war. What will happen next? What will Toranaga think when he discovers what his son has done? All pretty great questions and I am looking forward to finding out what is next.

Twin Peaks S2 E9

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“Arbitrary Law”

So the story of “Who Killed Laura Palmer” came to a conclusion in this episode, at least for the most part. Leland Palmer was revealed to the world as ‘Bob’ and he was shown to be the killer of his own daughter.

This is one of those episodes of TV that I always remember. The final scene where Leland/Bob kills himself is completely compelling and goose bumps-inducing. Ray Wise had been amazing with his performance as Leland Palmer up to this episode and this absolutely is his magnum opus. The scene of Leland laying in the interrogation room being held by Cooper is unbelievable. Leland’s realization of what he had done to Laura was powerful and Cooper’s kind way of directing Leland to the light was caring and hopeful.

The scene preceding this with Leland in full Bob mode and being interrogated by Cooper was another amazing scene that illustrated Ray Wise’s astounding performance. The way he switched from chaotic insanity to a calm, evil aura showed what an wonderful actor Ray Wise was.

When Leland had Donna in his house, I remember being totally sold on the chance that Leland was going to claim another victim and the scene was scripted so brilliantly that, as a viewer, you could not be sure that Donna was going to survive.

Of course, then there was the scene with Donna and James, a scene that really highlighted once again what a doofus James Hurley was. I really dislike him even as I recall being a fan of James when I first watched the show back int he 1990s. I would love for James to hop on his motorcycle and just ride off and leave twin peaks forever. I know that is not what he will do, but Donna deserves someone so much better than this loser.

It was also a welcome return for FBI Agent Albert Rosenfield, played by the incomparable Miguel Ferrer. In a few sparse scenes in the show so far, Albert has taken quite a lengthy journey for his character.

Even though the show hints at Bob escaping from his fate, the conclusion did not feel tainted. It brought this mystery to a satisfying conclusion, even if it was initially intended to never have been solved.

Of course, the shot of the owl at the end of the episode was a great piece of potential foreshadowing. We all know that the ‘owls are not what they seem.’

Twin Peaks S2 E4, E5, E6,E7

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A couple of thoughts off the top:

  • I really dislike Donna, James and Maddy. I liked them much more the first time I watched this show, but they are just so dumb.
  • Ray Wise was just brilliant. He deserved an Emmy for his work this season.
  • As a General Hospital fan, seeing Ian Buchanan as Dick Tremayne was a hoot.
  • I started off and kept watching. Each episode ended with something remarkably compelling that I just had to keep watching.

“Laura’s Secret Diary”

I bought Laura Palmer’s Diary when it came out in stores. What a tie-in to the show. It did not give anything really solid, but it was a cool tidbit. The show’s introduction of Harold Smith was not my favorite part of the series because it tied in to the whole Donna mess. Still, they knew how to make money.

Leland confessing to Jacques’ murder was powerful. Of course, it would lead to more than just that murder.

I honestly think the whole thing with Andy and his sperm container rolling across the floor was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. I was able to tell Harry Goaz, the actor who played Andy, how funny I found that scene when he came to the Iowa City Memorial Union for a Twin Peaks watch.

“The Orchids Curse”

The fact that it took Cooper this long to remember the note that was under his bed was a travesty. It was way longer than it should have been.

The whole Nadine in high school story was funny too, but I am not sure they ever totally explained why she had such an incredible strength.

Cooper and Truman go to One Eyed Jacks and rescue Audrey. Not before Blackie was killed by John Renault. Hawk came through big time. Good thing Coop and Harry can’t keep a secret.

“Demons”

Bobby and Shelly getting screwed over with their insurance claim with a handicapped Leo is poetic justice for their bad behavior, but felt overly cruel for poor Shelly, who did suffer at the hands of Leo for quite awhile.

Of course, it led to the classic Leo line that I say to this day, “New shoes.”

The arrival of Gordon Cole, played by David Lynch himself, was a highlight. Having a non-working hearing aid and having everyone yell so he could [barely] hear was a great gag that worked the whole time.

The whole scene with “Mike,” the one armed man was creepy as could be.

“Lonely Souls”

It is happening again.

What an episode this one was. So much happened in it and the last ten minutes or so were some of the best scenes you will ever see on TV.

The reveal of Killer Bob as Leland was done as perfectly as you would see and the scene where he kills Maddy has to be one of the most unexpected and violent scenes ever to make network television. Watching the scene flash from Bob to Leland and he danced around with Maddie was completely unbelievable. There is no way we get a scene like that today. There are several moments where it is difficult to watch.

There may be no more tragic character on Twin Peaks than Maddy Ferguson. She came to Twin Peaks for her cousin Laura’s funeral and because she resembled Laura, she had to go through so much. Not only did she have to deal with James’ weird obsession, but ends up being the replacement daughter to Leland who, by the way, is the psychotic killer. She was nothing like Laura, but she had to pay for Laura’s sins.

With Cooper, Harry and the Log Lady at the Road House, we see the Giant make a reappearance uttering that phrase I lead off this section with… “It is happening again.” How unnerving and chilling was that. Then, when Maddy had been killed, the feeling that overtook Bobby, Donna and Cooper at the Road House was suspenseful. They knew something had happened. Donna started to cry and you could see even Bobby was affected. It was all very much like a dream and it had been shot that way. David Lynch did direct this episode and you can see his fingerprints all over it.

This was not all for this episode. The discovery of Laura’s secret dairy at Harold Smith’s place, torn to shreds by Harold who hanged himself with his flowers. The episode started off with that shock, but who remembered that after the ending?

Cooper and Harry arrested Ben Horne, who is looking as if he were the killer. Of course, we knew it was not him. Even when he was first being arrested, it was clearly not him. He was the patsy, the red herring for the audience. Back when it first aired, I did not think that it would be Ben, but I never guessed that it would be Leland, either.

Another shock of this episode that gets rolled over with the ending was the reveal that Mr. Tojamura was, in fact, Catharine Martell back from the dead and hiding in Japanese make-up. The scene where she revealed herself to Pete is one of the happiest moments of the show, certainly of this episode.

Everything about this was disturbing, especially when you stop and think about the fact that Leland killed Laura and that he raped her and abused her as much as he did, though under the guise of Bob. Could this be why he was so grieved when Laura’s body was found, that it was an internal guilt driving him?

An exceptional episode of TV that just combines the emotions of the audience with one of the greatest plot reveals of all time.

Hazbin Hotel

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I binged the Amazon Prime adult animated musical series last night and this morning. It was a real easy binge as the episodes are all around 25 minutes.

I started off with the pilot on YouTube. It was posted four years ago and has been very popular on YouTube. That pilot led to A24 and Prime and a big budget. Eight episodes of the series arrived on Prime.

Charlie Morningstar, daughter of Lucifer and princess of Hell, is hopeful and loving (and very musical) and organizing a hotel where she wants to help demons find redemption and go to Heaven, a way to prevent the overcrowding of Hell.

This is such a awesome series. It is absolutely not for kids. There are curse words, sexual situations and innuendo, and adult situations.

The characters are amazing. Charlie is the main protagonist and brings the heart to the show. She is vital to making this a real series. I think of her like Luffy from One Piece who is the center of the show and provides the heart. Charlie’s friend/love Vaggie has a secret background that may destroy their relationship. Angel Dust is the first resident of the hotel who is a porn actor. Alastor the “Radio Demon” was an overlord who comes to watch the events unwind at the hotel. Sir Pentious is a former villain whose pathetic life led him to the hotel. Husk is the straight shooting bartender. These characters are way deeper than I ever expected to be. I really love how these characters grow and their arcs are truly strong.

The music is so epic. Not only catchy and fun, but are used to inform the characters. These songs are way more engaging and fun than they have any right to be.

The animation is spectacular and remarkably unique. The colors and the character designs are exceptional.

Plus, the story of Hell and Heaven is brilliantly developed and you can not guess where things are going. The angels are just as horrible, if not more so, than the demon characters. And there is a definite question about what going to Heaven or going to Hell means.

The finale is just so masterful, and I sure hope there are plans to continue to season two. This was a real treat.

True Detective: Night Country S4 E5

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“Part Five”

I had forgotten that True Detective: Night Country was releasing its penultimate episode on Friday night instead of its typical Sunday night because of the inevitable competition of the Super Bowl. I did not think of it until tonight as I was watching American Nightmare on Netflix. After that was over, I pulled up Max and loaded up episode 5.

What an episode.

The confrontation at Danvers’ home between Hank Prior, Danvers, Otis and Peter was just shocking. Watching Peter put a bullet into his father’s head to protect Danvers after his father had shot and killed Otis was an unbelievable scene. 

The scene between Peter and Danvers at the police station was compelling as hell and really set up what was to come.

It was a tough episode for Peter, ending with one of the most tragic things that he had to do. He could not stand there and watch his father execute Danvers and so his hand was forced.

Hank did confess that he did not kill Annie, but he did move the body. I guess you can scratch him off the suspects list. With Navarro and Danvers on their way to the cave where Annie was killed, I expect all kinds of drama coming next week in the finale.

By the way, the Tsalal deaths have been deemed an accident by way of an avalanche by the medical examiners in Anchorage. This, of course, is fairly coincidental as Pete had just found evidence linking Silver Sky Mining with Tsalal. Silver Sky Mining’s exec Kate McKittrick is clearly crooked and had ordered Hank to make sure Otis could not take Liz and Navarro to the caves.

Something is in those caves and the reveal next week could be epic.

The Greatest Night in Pop

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A great new documentary arrived on Netflix that featured the story of the recording of the classic 80’s song, We are the World.

There was a lot of recorded sections of the actual archive recordings with all of the artists involved in the amazing night. Starting after the American Music Awards were done, the recording session went the rest of the night and into the morning hours. 

Lionel Richie was one of the first interviews the doc had as he was a major factor behind the creation of the song. He and Michael Jackson wrote it, despite trying to get Stevie Wonder to be a part of it.

The artists interviewed for the doc included Richie, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Smokey Robinson, and Dione Warwick.

One of the interesting tidbits in the doc included the section with Sheila E talking about Prince and the desire of the people in charge to have Prince as a part of the song. 

Watching the process of these legends of music trying to put together this epic song in the limited time they had was fascinating. Seeing Bob Dylan struggle to get the line of the song out was amazing. You had Huey Lewis and Cyndi Lauper express their doubts and insecurities over being included with people that they looked up to for their whole lives.

Another awesome moment was when Quincy Jones thanked Harry Belafonte, whose idea led to this night’s work, and the whole crew broke into a version of The Banana Boat Song. That was an excellent moment from the doc.

This was a fantastic peek behind the curtain of one of the most amazing nights in music history. 

4.3 stars

Picket Fences S4 E20, E21, E22

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“Forget Selma”

“To Forgive is Divine”

“Liver Let Die”

These three episodes were, in continuity, supposed to be shown before episode 18, “3 Weddings and a Meltdown,” and the fact that they were shown after it did affect the enjoyment of the episodes, especially episode 22, which dealt with a potential cancer scare for Jimmy, but since we know in episode 18, we know Jimmy is fine, it removed any level of question about the diagnosis.

In “Forget Selma,” we saw how Douglas and nuMiriam Wambaugh reunited, and it was one of the worst episodes of the series. It started decent, with Douglas being very jealous over nuMiriam and her new “bridge” partner, a retired stock broker played by Efrem Zimbalist Jr. 

Unfortunately, this fell hard in the second and third acts. The whole showdown at nuMiriam’s house was just ridiculous. It felt like a scene out of a conclusion of Moonlighting but without the witty comments of Dave and Maddie.

The second of these episodes included a rape of an Amish woman, and the subsequent case that led to. The Amish Council of Elders had decided that she would not press charges or testify against her rapist because their religion insisted on forgiveness.

There were a bunch of familiar faces in this episode. Kelli Williams, one of the stars of David E. Kelley’s courtroom drama The Practice, was the victimized Amish girl Hannah and Alyson Hannigan (Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) was another victim of the rapist. 

The final release order show was the aforementioned cancer scare for Jimmy. This was a very effective episode which would have been so much more if I did not know that Jimmy made it through. It also made the split between Jimmy and Jill in the finale (E18) make even less sense than it did at the time. After surviving this cancer scare, how does crazy Jill continue to do what she does in the finale?

Crazy Jill storyline is easily the worst storyline in the entire run of the show as it took the character and warped her into something was unrecognizable. 

Episode 22 was one of the best ones of the fourth season. 

However, Maxine was missing in all of these episodes so it still made no sense when she and Kenny started out the finale in bed together.

Season four was definitely missing a lot and was far lower than the first three seasons. Still, Picket Fences is one of my favorite shows of all time and I am very pleased that I got a chance to do this rewatch for EYG. 

My Fair Lady (1964)

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A lot of these musicals on my list are actually very long. Tonight’s Genre-ary DailyView entry is My Fair Lady, which was almost three hours. It is also a iconic classic of musicals. A multiple Oscar winner, My Fair Lady was so much fun.

Phonetics professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) found a flower girl name Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) and made a bet that he could turn her into a cultured woman of class. 

Honestly, Henry Higgins was a horrible person. He was a jerk. I am not sure that he understood why he was such a jerk. His attitude toward Eliza was shameful at a point. 

I loved the music. ”I Could Have Danced All Night” is an iconic song and is so much fun. There were some songs that I thought could have been edited out, but they were all fun anyway.

Audrey Hepburn was absolutely brilliant as Eliza. She basically played two characters, with the way she was as the flower girl at the beginning and then the refined woman at the end. Every once in a while the flower girl showed up in the refined woman, and it was great.

This is one of those films that everybody should see at some point of their lives. It was really entertaining and fun.

Picket Fences S4 E11, E12, E13, E14, E15

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“Bloodlines”

“Snow Exit”

“My Romance”

“The Z Files”

“Bottled”

I watched a run of the fourth season episodes of Picket Fences this afternoon. They were all fairly low on the overall list of Picket Fences as a group of characters were acting out of character and there was plenty of mean-spiritedness.

The best of these five episodes was “Snow Exit” when a blizzard crippled the city and Mayor Bey had to give birth at the police station. By the way, this was the last time we saw her, She had asked Kenny to help be her Lamaze partner and he had to tromp through the blizzard to get to her. Then she named her child Michael. You know… Michael Bey. Is that a joke or is Michael Bay the son of Marlee Matlin? 

One of this episode’s problems is that everyone had a storyline, but there was no through line. They were all separate. Henry Bone had a heart attack. Max got stuck with Jack Black, who was dressed as a cat. Jill got stuck at a bar with Lydia singing. Nothing was sensible.

Henry and Doug seemed to bury the hatchet with their fight over the Pope, but that changed a few episodes later. 

In another episode, Carter nearly gets run over by a bus, gets electrocuted and is dead for 3 minutes before being revived. It led to an after death moment for him, and caused a major upheaval in his relationship.

The first episode was called “Bloodlines’ and it was actually not bad. Matthew saw a classmate who had killed himself with a shotgun and the sight messed with his head. So Jimmy took him on a trip to chase the Cocaine Bear. Well, it may not have been the Cocaine Bear, but it was a giant bear that was roaming freely around the county. That bear, by the way, left the county and there was never any resolution to that storyline. Matt did some nice acting in that episode. Of course, he then spent time kissing the young girl who Zack liked.

The worst of all of these episode was the old Brock party episode in “Bottled.” Jill thought she was going through menopause and she spent the whole episode being cruel and totally out of control. Even after she discovered that she was not going through the change, she was just as cruel and as crazy, saying such horrendous things as you could imagine to Jimmy and her kids. It was totally inexcusable and there was no reason given for her behavior. If I did not know better, I’d say these people all hate each other. This went well beyond family squabbling or saying unhappy truths to work through issues. This was just obscene.

Matthew had the best joke, saying that they always make up at five minutes to 11, which was a breaking of the fourth wall type joke as that was the time the show aired. Of course, there was no resolution of the arguments or anything but apologies that felt empty. This was not the Jill Brock that I have watched for three seasons + before this.

Henry was also going crazy as he was being totally rude to Douglas, who began to take his rudeness to heart. They came to an understand, sort of, but I got the implication that Wambaugh was not a forgiving as he usually was.

By the way, Zack was allowed to invite four people to his birthday party and he chose Wambaugh, Henry Bone, Maxine and Kenny. Why did he not pick Mayor Bey? Weren’t they so close that she got caught as the Dancing Bandit coming back to see Zack on his last birthday?

I did not mention about the Z Files, where Zack used an internet site to create a dirty picture of his teacher and then he gave it to his friend Kevin who put it on the internet. 

Honestly, this Brock family probably all grew up to become serial killers or master criminals. 

It is a good thing that this is in the middle of the final season of Picket Fences because if this show continued to rape these characters as it has been doing, I’d be ready to stop watching. As of now, I have only seven more episodes left so no sense in stopping now. 

Sad fact is this is just not the same series as it was in the first three seasons.

2023 The Hermione Granger/Furiosa/Rita Moreno Award for Best Supporting Actress

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The Hermione Granger/Furiosa/Rita Moreno Award for Best  Supporting Actress

Previous Winners:  Dafne Keene (Logan), Tilda Swinton (Dr. Strange), Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina), Emma Stone (Birdman), Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle), Sally Field (Lincoln), Jennifer Aniston (Horrible Bosses), Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place), Scarlett Johansson (Jojo Rabbit), Margo Martindale (Blow the Man Down), Rita Moreno (West Side Story), Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)

There have been years that it was difficult to find enough supporting actresses to fill the category. Not this year. There are actually 13 on our list right now, and we could have easily expanded even more. 

Top 13

#13. Iman Vellani (The Marvels)

#12. Vanessa Kirby (Napoleon)

#11. Olivia Colman (Wonka)

#10. Scarlett Johansson (Asteroid City)

#9. Harriet Sansom Harris (Jules)

#8. Taraji P. Henson (The Color Purple)

#7. Madeleine Vayles Yuna (The Creator)

#6. Viola Davis (Air)

#5. Jodie Foster (Nyad)

#4. America Ferrera (Barbie)

#3. Karen Gillan (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3)

#2. Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple)

and the winner….

#1. Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdover)

Da’Vine Joy Randolph was outstanding as the lonely, grieving mother whose son had died in the war. You could see the pain and loss with every look, but you could also see the hope, the determinati0n. Even if she did not want to, she made herself survive.

What If…? S2 E6

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“What if… Kahhori Reshaped the World?”

Famously, DC character Harley Quinn made her actual first appearance in the Batman: The Animated Series TV show. Marvel Studios has taken that path with their all-new character Kahhori, a member of the Mohawk Nation, in this What If…? episode.

The creators tied Kahhori’s origin to the Tesseract, which in this universe, arrived on earth after the destruction of Asgard by Surtur during Ragnarok. 

The animation, which has been next level during this entire season of What If…?, is absolutely stunning in this episode and feels as if the animators took it even higher than they had up until this point. Everything here is just gorgeous to look at. The design of Kahhori and her people were outstanding. The fire in the background with the Spaniards was breath-taking. It truly was a beautifully constructed and drawn episode.

The story does feel rushed, but that is the format more than anything else. They have kept these What If…? episodes to a tight 30 minutes for the most part, but this is another one that could have done well with another 10 minutes or so.

The episode was practically all in a different language, which is quite the choice. Only the Watcher and Supreme Strange at the very end speak in English.

Speaking of, Supreme Strange does make an appearance at the very end of the episode, clearly there to set up for the finale. The Supreme Strange episode is listed as the 9th episode of the season, which followed the 1602 episode. Something is telling me that they may be a crossover between them much like last year’s Ultron was.

It will be interesting to see what role Kahhori will play in the MCU moving forward or if she is just a staple in the What If…? section. If she is successful, it can show that Marvel does not have to settle for the characters that are already made which would open up a whole new world of possibilities.

Up to Date Running Order:

E3  ”What If… Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?”

E1  “What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?”

E5  ”What If… Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper”

E6  ”What If…Kahhori Reshaped the World?”

E2  “What If… Peter Quill Fought Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?”

E4  ”What If… Iron Man Crashed into the Gamemaster?”

Blue Eye Samurai S1 E2

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“A Unexpected Element”

Second episode was another banger. There is so much action and excitement in each of these first two episodes that I can believe how great this show has been perceived by the public.

Mizu was heading to a town to find a boat so she could pursue Shindo to his island fortress. Ringo had followed her there and, despite her attempts to shoo him away, he continued to follow her, making himself useful.

Taigen heads after Mizu in an attempt to reclaim his honor. He would find her at the end of the episode.

Prior to that, Mizu was confronted by The Four Fangs. She killed three of them, with the one survivor being a man named Chiaki who had come for a sword from Master Eiji. He was an assassin and Mizu had made a sword for him that was broken.

Back in the present, Mizu is able to kill Chiaki, but it nearly ended her. When Taigen approached Mizu, she told him to come on, but passed out. He moved forward, the show implying that he was going deal a killing blow.

Again, animation is gorgeous and the fight choreography is laid out wonderfully, especially with the fight on the cliff with the Four Fangs. That fight was remarkably clever and designed well.

This has been a great start to this season .

Blue Eye Samurai S1 E1

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“Hammerscale”

I decided last night to give the first episode of Blue Eye Samurai a chance on Netflix. I have heard a lot of positive word of mouth about this series and, after watching the first episode, I have to agree. This is a spectacular animated series.

Beautifully animated. Dramatically presented. Its share of animated violence and blood. Blue Eye Samurai is a classic revenge tale engulfing our main protagonist, who has a major secret to hide.

Not only is the samurai tainted by blue eyes, Blue Eye Samurai (aka Mizu) is in truth a woman masquerading as a man.

We see a good chunk of her back story, where she learned to fight and how she constructed her sword. Plus, there was a major series of sword fights, beautifully animated and constructed.

This is an adult animation as there are blood splatters, language and plenty of nudity and sexual encounters.

There are eight episodes of this show on Netflix and I cannot wait to continue seeing this show. I have heard that Netflix has approved a second season, so I am happy that I am jumping on Blue Eye Samurai when I am.

The Boy and the Heron

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Hayao Miyazaki, classic animation director from Studio Ghibli, who directed such brilliant films as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, has returned to present a new animated film, The Boy and the Heron.

According to IMDB, “A young boy named Mahito, yearning for his mother, ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. There, death comes to an end, and life finds a new beginning. A semi-autobiographical fantasy about life, death, and creation, in tribute to friendship, from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.”

Above all else, as in most Studio Ghibli films, the animation is stunningly gorgeous. It is like watching moving art. The imagery of the film is breath-taking.

I did not love the story because it did feel a little messy. It did deal with a lot of areas that was tough to follow at times. There were some deep themes throughout the film, but it did not feel as if characters were necessarily consistent across the time. It did feel to be a little long in the tooth for the film, but not bad enough to be dull.

It is a beautiful movie that had some flaws. Miyazaki showed that he still has it despite being in the late 80s age wise.

3.75 stars

The 2023 Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year

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2023saw a bit of a decline in the subgenre of the comic book movie… at least in the eyes of some.

Personally, I enjoyed most of the comic book movies of 2023, and while there were none that were unbelievable, I do not subscribe to the theory of the narrative of the “comic book movie fatigue” that some have been pushing for nearly a decade now. It is not a theory to which I would agree as it just feels like more toxicity than anything else.

So among the films this year, I have a few that I considered for the Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year. Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania fielded a lot of hatred, much more than it deserved. The Flash had some good moments (but not the baby-hospital rescue part), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was one of the best movies of the year.

Previous winners are as follows:

The Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year

Previous Winners: Batman (1989), Dick Tracy (1990), The Rocketeer (1991), Batman Returns (1992), Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), The Crow (1994), Batman Forever (1995), The Phantom (1996), Men in Black (1997), Blade (1998), Mystery Men (1999), X-Men (2000), From Hell (2001), Spider-Man (2002), X2: X-Men United (1993), Spider-Man 2 (1994), V for Vendetta (2005), 300 (2006), Superman: Doomsday (2007), The Dark Knight (2008), Watchmen (2009), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), Captain America: First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Captain America: Winter Soldier & Guardians of the Galaxy [tie] (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Logan (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Birds of Prey (2020), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

So in 2023, the Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year is…

Winner: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was a tremendous conclusion for the James Gunn-led trilogy. The emotional backstory of Rocket informed the whole film and we truly got a chance to see how vital that character was to the overall franchise. There were some beautiful moments in the film, including many of the moments between Rocket and Lyla.

Guardians Vol. 3 was able to blend humor and tragedy together into a wonderfully epic tale.