Paradise season 2 wrapped up with episode 8 in the most explosive way…literally.
The amazing action, reunions, and new twists and redemptions.
Sinatra making the sacrifice play, did not see that coming.
Xavier reuniting with his kids was amazing. Xavier and Sinatra working together to save their daughters who were trapped in the elevator. Link and his men coming across them and jumping in to help was a wonderfully heroic moment.
Jeremy coming back with help to save Nicole Robinson, who was badly injured and who demanded that Jeremy leave her behind. He showed himself as another hero on this show and seeing him and Presley kissing at the end was sweet.
I confirmed that Sinatra’s husband, Tim Redmond, was played by Tuc Watkins, who appeared on some soap operas I watched years ago (OLTL, GH) as well as on Desperate Housewives. I thought it was him, and I Googled him to conform the role.
Discovering the identity of Alex looks to set up the next season of the show as the underground bunker in the mountain is no more. Exodus, or the evacuation of the colony was unbelievable. What will those who were in the bunker for so many years, thinking that the outside world was gone, react to the fact that the outside world is still there and livable?
Oh and, surprise, there is another bunker under the Denver airport. This seems to be where Alex is, and Alex apparently is an AI that can see the future and determine what to do from it. An AI that is thinking on its own and answering questions that haven’t been asked yet. The show always had a sci-fi element to it, but it feels as if the show has taken a bigger step into the genre.
I think I may have liked season two of this show more than I liked season one, and I thought season one was exceptional. Season two had so much going for it and it captured so much suspense and drama with the characters and the difficult situations the show placed them in. Who would have thought that Sinatra would be the redemption arc of this show?
The series of Sha Na Na is coming close to an end as I am in the middle of season 4. Season 4 has not been my most favorite season of this show. I think a big part of that is that they have been doing a bunch of songs that I have never heard before. Part of the fun of Sha Na Na is that they were singing songs that I recognized form the 1950s and 1960s. While I appreciate that they do not repeat songs very often, a lot of these songs did not appeal to that nostalgia. They did them fine, but I just was not engaged as I should have been.
Some of these guests were scrapping the bottom of the barrel too. See if you can figure out which one of these is not like the others: Lacy J. Dalton, Joey Travolta, The Currie Sisters, Jackie DeShannon and James Brown. Yep, I said James Brown. It was a strange performance though. He did not seem to get much reaction from the Sha Na Na crowd and it seemed to bother him. I think he probably fed off the energy of the crowd a lot, and there was not much energy in the crowd.
One of the comedy bits was with the song Istanbul (Not Constantinople) and I remember learning about that country name change from this song.
They played the song “Rock ‘N Roll Music” but it was sung by Chico. While I enjoy Chico’s songs usually, it just felt like the wrong Sha Na Na singer for this song. It was originally recorded by Chuck Barry and I think it would have been better with Donny singing it. Or maybe Screamin’ Scott. Chico’s version was fine, but it just did not feel right.
There were actually several songs that felt a little off during these episodes. I wonder if they were realizing that the end was near and that the overall energy was starting to lack a bit.
I had speculated after the third episode that Anna’s mother, Alice, was the killer and that she had killed Rachel in a state of confusion. When the second body showed up, I figured that my twist suspect was innocent.
Nope. I was right. Alice was the killer. However, I was wrong in that she did it in a state of confusion. No, she planned it out and executed all three of the killings as retribution for an attack that Anna suffered at her 16th birthday party when she was raped by a bunch of men and these girls just sat back and watched. The whole dementia thing was faked as part of her plan to get away with the murders.
She confesses in a letter she wrote to Anna, who was pregnant and had reunited with Jack.
For awhile, the show hinted that maybe the killer was actually Kathryn, and I was guessing that she had faked her own death, but that was also a theory that was quickly dropped in this finale. Turned out that Lexy Jones was actually Kathryn. Lexy and her husband was the patsies here because Alice was planning on framing Lexy for the murders, but Priya shot her before that could happen. Poor Richard the camera guy got totally f-ed up during this whole thing, and he did not do anything,
It always felt as if there was something missing. I stated it last week that it felt as if there were some pieces that did not fit together and that I was hoping that the show would fill those gaps in in the finale. It sure did that.
The video tape that Alice found that showed the assault on Anna at her 16th birthday, and it inspired her to go after the others. That twist made a lot of the missing gaps go away. At first, I was not sure about the twist, but as it continued on, I found it to be a neat way to wrap up the limited series.
I enjoyed the six episodes and it does feel like it was a satisfying conclusion to an intense series. I am not sure how I feel about the ending as things are left fairly up in the air. And poor Richard…
So with that, another series during the Sunday Morning Sidewalk comes to a close. Next week, we start the new series, the Game of Thrones prequel series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms on HBO Max. I never watched Game of Thrones, but I heard that you do not need to have seen the original to enjoy this show. I hope they are right.
I have had a interesting relationship with the show Invincible. Where as a lot of people love the show and swear that it is one of the best shows on television, I am not as enamored with it. While I have enjoyed most of the seasons, I have found that the blood becomes excessive and is unnecessary in many cases. There are too many scenes where the blood feels like it is just there to say that it is there. It feels like professional wrestling in a lot of cases. When blood is used sparingly, it can create a compelling piece of the story, but when it is overused, it loses a lot of its impact.
After watching the first episode of season four of Invincible, I did not think they over did the blood and that it was fairly well used as a whole.
I was unaware that Invincible had already debuted on Amazon Prime last week with a three episode drop. Episode four was also released before I knew it so I am officially a bit behind. However, I do have a long list of shows currently on the watchlist, so I will be spreading out the next three episodes over the next several days to a week.
I did find the character work in this episode to be very solid. I enjoyed Mark’s progression from the end of last season to now where he is fighting himself over his use of deadly force. Of course, the end of the episode placed Mark in a situation where he had to kill a person. It was very much a Man of Steel- Superman snapping the neck of Zod moment.
I like how the show with as much violence as it has is not afraid to make that internal struggle with its main character.
With Eve’s powers glitching badly, we get another, albeit well used, superhero trope to deal with. I do think Eve’s father needs a punch in the face.
The Guardians… their timing can’t be any worse. They showed up right at the end of the fight with the dinosaur guy and seemed to be standing behind Mark as he is struggling to decide if he needed to kill the guy to save the world from the Sequids. Get there sooner guys.
I hope the woman who attacked the power plant’s story is not just over. It sounded as if there was a reason behind her trying to steal the energy and I expect that story to get picked up somewhere down the line.
Then, Cecil’s stupidest decision at the end of the third season, keeping Conquest alive and buried in an underground vault. There was no way that wasn’t coming back to haunt him. I wonder if he will tell Mark now that Conquest has escaped and left butt-naked into space. Or will this be just another secret that Cecil will hide?
Good start to the season. I hope it continues to value story over spectacle, especially when it comes to blood.
I started a new program on Amazon Prime today, watching the first two episodes of Jury Duty Presents Company Retreat.
This is the second season of Jury Duty, which was one of the best surprise series from 2023. It was a hilarious series that was one of the most intriguing concepts on television. The idea for the first Jury Duty, a real person is called for Jury Duty and every other person involved in the show is an actor.
In this season, instead of being called for jury duty, our real person who is unaware that this is really a TV show is named Anthony Norman and he is a temp worker applying for a job at a company called “Rockin’ Grandma’s Hot Sauce” and he goes with the workers on a company retreat.
He was set up as the assistant to Kevin, who winds up leaving the retreat in embarrassment, leaving Anthony in his stead.
I have to say, the first episode was feeling too over the top and I was not sure if I wanted to watch the rest of the series. The second issue was better for me and started to pick up the story better.
It just felt as if there was just too much ridiculousness to accept that Anthony would still be going along with it.
The excuse for why there is a documentary crew in tow and everyone speaks to a camera at times is that the owner Doug was retiring and passing the CEO seat to his son, Dougie. That made sense, but there is a limit to what one could expect someone to react to.
Of course, last season, the “winner” received a huge cash prize for succeeding and being a good person, and Anthony certainly feels like a solid person too. Seeing how he will react to the craziness coming might be worth sticking out. There are only a total of 8 episodes, so I plan on finishing this up.
There was a feeling of finality in this episode of Shrinking.
Paul convinces Gabby to come back to work and then offers her the practice once again. However, he did not call her out on ditching her dream of setting up a trauma center. Something that Liz came to yell at him about.
Paul kept talking about having one more week before his retirement and spoke about moving. That was not something I remember as a chance and I don’t know how I would feel about Shrinking without Harrison Ford. I am assuming that it is just storyline, but I am not sure.
Jeff Daniels returned as Jimmy’s father, bringing up plenty of conflict from Jimmy’s childhood. When Jimmy found out that his dad was not going to go to the actual graduation ceremony in order to go on a fishing trip, Jimmy was even more down than he was before.
Worse yet, when his father told Jimmy that he really liked Sofi, way more than Tia (who apparently always saw him in the same light as Jimmy did), Jimmy broke up with Sofi, and he did it in a very cold manner. I would not blame Sofi if, when he invariably comes begging back, she dismisses it and kicks him to the curb. Jimmy letting his daddy issues interfere with something that was potentially great is more immature than I thought Jimmy could be. You could see that his father’s presence was not bringing out the best side of him.
Sean got the job as a a sous chef. He hesitated to accept it because of his friendship with Jorge, who worked with him in the food truck, and would cost him that job. Jorge did not take the news well, but Sean did not react with animosity or anger as he would have before, showing his own growth with his mental health.
It was nice to see the softer side of Paul in this episode. I hope he is not leaving at the end of this season, which has only two more to go.
The next two episodes of season two gives us the debut and the origin of a character that I had heard about, but knew very little about him.
Chopper is a character that I heard some people wonder how they were going to adapt him. Apparently, Chopper is a reindeer who had eaten a Devil’s Fruit and turned into a being that walked on two legs and could talk. Moreso, we discover that Chopper is able to change between forms.
Katey Segal joined the list of guest stars this season as Doctor Kureha, who they took Nami to see after she fainted last episode.
The path to Dr. Kureha was one of the most tense moments of the series as Luffy and Sanji literally climbed a mountain side to reach a castle. They were told that the castle held a witch, but it is just Dr. Kureha and Chopper.
On the way up the mountain, Sanji slipped and fell. Luffy caught him by stretching his neck and catching him with his teeth. While that was all kind of bad ass, it had a weird CGI about it. Stretching can be a tough thing because it does not look natural. Still, Luffy using his teeth to save Sanji… great.
The story of Chopper’s origin is heartbreaking and is told to Luffy, Sanji and Nami by Dr. Kureha. It was after Luffy found a pirate flag in a crate and Chopper yelled at Luffy to not touch it.
The seventh episode was almost the entire story of Chopper and it goes to show you how important of a character he is.
We are introduced to the King of Drum Island, Wapol, who is just a horrendous character. Wapol also got a Devil’s Fruit at the beginning of episode 6 and he is one who really needs his comeuppance in the finale.
It really looks like there are a bunch of storylines that are not going to be wrapped up this season. The whole bit with Smokey and the Marines are not going to catch up yet. I am not even sure that Vivi is ever going to get back to Alabasta this season. Maybe as the cliffhanger. That is fine with me.
With a no school day because of a March blizzard, I got a chance to watch a couple of streaming movies that I have been wanting to see. The first one was recommended by my friend Chris. I had never heard of it before, but it looked interesting.
Cold Storage had a late eighties, early nineties action flick feel to it, as had some fun characters dealing with a bizarre fungus that was turning people and animals into infected, spreading around.
According to IMDB, “When a highly dangerous fungus escapes from a secret laboratory, a former bioterrorism agent is called back into action. Alongside two young employees, he must confront an invisible and out-of-control threat.”
Joe Keery starred as Teacake, a guard at a storage facility, and Georgina Campbell starred as Naomi, a new worker at the facility. They discovered this fungus and how it has multiplied, calling in help from the army.
That help was Robert Quinn (Liam Neeson) who had interacted with the fungus in the past and was one of the few people remaining who had any expertise on this topic at all.
Keery and Campbell worked together extremely well. You immediately buy the chemistry between them and want them to survive the experience. You can feel for these characters. They are just deep enough to keep you interested in their well-being.
Liam Neeson brings the perfect energy for the grizzled, injured former military man with his first hand knowledge. Neeson handled the slightly comedic tone to the movie as well. Neeson has always had a strong sense of comedic timing and he gets a chance to show it here.
The overall story is fairly limited, but it works well as a monster movie. We get a bunch of secondary characters who we don’t mind seeing blow up from the fungus (though the vomiting green goo is unnecessary). While this story is simple, it is just about the right amount of combination of action/horror/comedy to pull off the film.
This was a fun film to watch and I had a great time rooting for these characters to survive the fungus.
It is the birthday of Tia so Jimmy and Alice are celebrating in their own way. The whole group of characters are circling around, lending their help and support. Alice is very worried that her father will be alone and be completely lonely when she went to college.
Jimmy definitely showed how much he still missed his wife, as we see a sweet scene with them singing “A Thousand Years” and Tia messing up the lyrics to sing “I Will Be Grape.”
Alice called Louis to come to Tia’s grave so Jimmy can see how good his life has become. Alice tells Jimmy that he was the reason why Louis was able to move on, and she worried that Jimmy would never be able to move on.
New epic guest star this week. Shrinking has amazing actors in secondary and supporting roles, and Candace Bergen is here as Constance, Derek’s mother, who has had a very contemptuous relationship with Liz over the years.
I love Candace Bergen and having her on Shrinking is fabulous. What was even better was the all-too-short scene between Candace Bergen and Harrison Ford. What a wonderfully written moment and I loved every second of it.
Michael J. Fox also returned this week in a session with Paul.
Then, we get Cobie Smulders back as Sofie, who gets invited to the final sing-a-long with Jimmy and his whole family/friends at the celebration of Tia’s birthday. A little awkward, but fitting right in with the way Shrinking goes.
Then, it ends with a brutal thud as Gaby gets a phone call telling her that “We lost Maya.” I assumed that she died, as she did seem like she had made a decision at the end of last episode.
Strong episode again as this show is just so awesome. So many amazing actors with such excellent writing.
Episode five is a very strong episode that kind of reminded me of the season one episode from The Last of Us where we met Bill, A Long, Long Time. It felt outside of the story that was being told around them for much of the episode.
This is the background of the story of where Teri has been and how she survived the three years outside of the bunker.
Turned out there was a mailman named Gary and a friend of his named Enos he met playing games online. The two of them were bouncing around conspiracy theories and how they would survive a zombie apocalypse, when things seemingly became real for them.
Gary discovered that there was a fallout shelter in the basement of the post office that he worked in that was hidden and was not used. No one even knew it was there.
Gary and Enos were collecting a small group of people to join them in the shelter and Teri wound up among that by happenstance.
There was also a young boy named Bean, who had an abusive homelife, that Gary would see on his mail route. Gary brought the boy with him into the shelter. It was Bean that helped bring Teri into the group as they bonded very quickly.
Gary was the man Xavier had at gunpoint at the end of the last episode. He had told Xander that he had known his wife and that she was taken.
However, this all seems like BS. The end of the episode threw a real twist as we see a scene where Gary and Enos went to see the people in the train and discovered that they were people looking to help others and were on the way to Colorado. Gary shot Enos to keep the story away from Teri (though it looked like Bean saw that happen) and Gary has been lying to Xavier this whole time.
I was feeling something was off with Gary for awhile during the episode. I thought maybe Gary was the one to destroy the radio, but Enos did admit to doing that.
There are some real questions about what Gary did and why he did it. I am sure that it will make more sense once we hear the full story, but, for now, Xavier is planning on attacking this group of people on the train to find Teri. It could be that she is not even there.
I have seen some poor horror movies to kick off 2026. I was not a fan of Iron Lung. I did not like the new Dracula film. Scream 7 was a real disappointment. The Bride was a big swing that did not work, and Psycho Killer is currently the worst film of the year.
So I went into the new horror film, Undertone, which was the big screen debut of director Ian Tuason. I had found the trailer intriguing and knowing it is a new A24 film, I went into the film with hopes that this would break the rotten horror streak.
According to IMDB, “The host of a popular paranormal podcast becomes haunted by terrifying recordings mysteriously sent her way.“
Lead actress Nina Kiri carries the heft of this film on her shoulders as she does a tremendous job in the role as this podcaster who is the skeptic on her podcast about the supernatural topics they cover. Her co-host, who we never see on screen, is voiced by Adam DiMarco, and he has a really strong voice over performance.
The film is a perfect example of the use of sound in the horror genre. Called Audio Horror, the sound design is so tense and anxious that it really affects the audience. The use of the sounds, the silence, the way the sounds change when Nina Kiri puts on her headphones… all of it is sensational and creates a theater experience unlike many.
The camera work in the film is also strong. There are some shots that are specifically designed to make the audience expect that a scare is coming, but many times, the idea that there is something in the dark is only suggested, allowing the audience to provide their own scares. The film does have some jump scares, but they are kept to a minimum and are effective when they appear.
I am not sure that I found the ending overly satisfying, but it was certainly intense and worked as a way to end a film that matched that intensity level.
This is definitely a film that broke that run of terrible horror movies. It is a slow burn, but it moves fairly quickly over the run time of the film. It was a suspenseful theater experience and I would recommend people see this. Not only because it is a good movie, but for the fact that the budget on this film was only like $500,000, which is ridiculously low and there should be more films succeed that take a chance at keeping the budget down.
It is time for the EYG Comic Cavalcade once again. Each week I get a bunch of books from my two comic shops and it always takes some time to finish reading them. With the movies and TV shows I have to watch (oh, and work at school), I am happy when I get the chance to finish this up.
I am continuing the Daily Read with the Vertigo series Clean Room. I read issue #15 today, giving me just three more to read.
Comic of the Week
Narco #1
This week’s Comic of the Week is a book from Image. There were a couple of books that were in competition but this one is the one I liked reading the most. It was written by Doug Wagner and art by Daniel Hillyard. Marcus is our main character and he has a certain trouble…narcolepsy when he gets too excited. This was a really fun introduction to this character and I am in on what is happening.
Narco #1 is one of those hot chased after books and I do think it is worthy to be chased.
Books this week:
Sleep #8. Written, illustrated and cover art by Zander Cannon (Silver Medalist). Sleep has been one of the most entertaining series of the last year. This is the finale of the series and I have to say, I did not love the final issue. I was a little unsure about the ending of the story. I didn’t hate the end, but it was just not as strong as I had expected.
Nectar #1. Written by Jeremy Robinson and art was done by Francesco Francini and Annapaola Martello. Cover art was done by Chris Shehan (Gold Medalist). This was one of the books that was in competition with Narco #1 for the Comic of the Week. I really loved this book and I was fully engaged with the mystery going on in this book.
Amazing Spider-Man #23. Written by Joe Kelly and penciled Ed McGuinness. Cover art was done by Ed McGuinness & Marcio Menyz. The second part of the Death Spiral story continued with Peter finally learning that Mary Jane was the new host of Venom. MJ then finds out that it was not Peter who blew her off before. Will Marvel ever let Peter and Mary Jane get back together?
DC KO #5. “The King Omega” Written by Scott Snyder and Joshua Williamson and art by Javi Fernandez. Cover art was done by Javi Fernandez & Alejandro Sanchez. Well, I thought Lex Luthor had won the tournament, but it sure feels as if Superman has taken the position. I guess that this is the way they are going to send Superman away for a time.
X-Men #26. “Danger Room, Pt. 1” written by Jed MacKay with pencils by Netho Diaz. Cover art was done by Netho Diaz, Sean Parsons & Fer Sifuentes-Sujo. The X-Men are out on a mission from the town, but Glob Herman was left behind, working in his garden. Things did not look good for Glob. I sure hope that he was able to avoid what it appeared to have happened.
All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #8. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Paolo Villanelli. Cover art was done by David Marquez & Federico Blee. Mysterio is back and causing all sorts of trouble. The underworld of the Marvel Universe in New York is all over this book too with Hammerhead leading the way.
Avengers #36. “Assemble” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Farid Karami. Cover art was done by Russell Dauterman & Rachelle Rosenberg. The final issue of this run of Avengers as Captain Marvel goes around to all the team members that she had recruited and revealed that she was stepping down as team leader. They also had a big goodbye to Camelot. Not sure where the Avengers goes from here, but this is the final issue of Jed MacKay’s run and this super powered version of the team.
Wolverine #17. “Cold and Alone” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Martin Coccolo. Cover art was done by Dan Panosian. Wolverine and Silver Sable are out int he Canadian wilderness trying to help the group that has been dubbed the New Morlocks. Meanwhile, Logan and Sable are getting busy.
Exploit #1. Written by Tim Leong & Laura Hudson with art by Emiliana Pinna. A piece of satire directed at the tech oligarchy with journalist Kirby Kuo, who uncovered a secret about tech billionaire Cole Saxon and promptly published it. This leads to all kinds of trouble for her. A new Mad Cave book filled with fun.
The Twilight Zone #5. “Silent Warning” Written by L. Marlow Francavilla & Francesco Francavilla with art by Francesco Francavilla. Cover art was done by Robert Hack. We are back under the sea with weird creatures and dangers galore in the latest Twilight Zone installment.
Batman #7. “Kill Switch” Written by Matt Fraction with art and cover art by Jorge Jimenez. A captured and hooked up Joker calls for Batman, to give him a warning of something to come… and to drop a surprise bomb at the end… Joker called him “Bruce.” There is a cool foldout section at the center of this book too that was awesome.
Hello Darkness #19. Another month of a variety of horror stories and a potpourri of creative folks. Cover art was done by Rebeca Puebla and cover B was done by Jenny Frison (Bronze Medalist). My favorite of the stories was “Imposter Syndrome” written by Tate Brombal.
Whatever Happened to the Crimson Justice #5. Written by Frank Tieri and art by Inaki Miranda. Cover art was done by Dan Panosian. This is the book to complain about this week. This was a five issue series, making this the finale. However, issue #4 came out September 17, 2025. The final issue was good, but how am I supposed to care that much when it has been nearly six months between issues.
X-Men Annual #1. “The Creationist” Written by Ryan Stegman with art by Steve Skroce, Sanford Greene and Ryan Stegman. Cover art was done by Ryan Stegman & Arthur Hesli. Jean Grey aka Phoenix comes back from the cosmos to see the X-Men in Louisiana because there is a mutant using his powers to create monsters.
Daredevil & Punisher #4. “Slaughter in Sutton’s Place” Written by Jimmy Palmiotti and art by Tommaso Bianchi & Mario Santoro. Frank Castle and Daredevil end their latest team up bringing down the villains they were aiming for, in their differing styles. DD & Punisher work together in a book like this because they are so polar opposite and yet only a step or two away from each other.
Moonstar #1. “A Path Unknown” Written by Ashley Allen and art by Edoardo Audino. German Peralta did the cover art. Following up on her guest appearance in the previous Magik series, Danielle Moonstar leads this new book trying to find her proper path.
Nova Centurion #5. “Grand theft Starship Part 2” Written by Jed MacKay with art by Alvaro Lopez. Cover art was done by Alessandro Cappuccio & Rachelle Rosenberg. Richard Rider meets back up with Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord once again and the pair bring all kinds of trouble.
Absolute Superman #17. “All Together Now” Written by Jason Aaron with art by Juan Ferreyra. Cover art was done by Rafa Sandoval & Ulises Arreola. Superman steps up against a parasite that is using the people of Metropolis as a power source and Superman shows how inspiring he could be. Oh, and Hawkman may not be the great hero that we thought as he contacted Talia at the end of the issue.
Absolute Flash #12. “The War of the Flashes Part 2” Written by Jeff Lemire with art by Nick Robles and Al Kaplan. Cover art was done by Nick Robles. The first year of this series comes to an end with Wally’s father sacrificing himself to save Wally’s life. Wally dedicated himself to finding his dad and saving him. And Grodd finds someone else like him… but without the positive attitude.
Other books this week: The Nice House By the Sea #8, Tales of the Shadowman #6, Lost Fantasy #8, Lands Unknown: The Skinless man #1, The Beauty #4, Bloodland #2, and The Autumn Kingdom #2.
Quick Hits: I grabbed another one of those hit Mad Cave series off eBay. I must have missed it when it was out in comic shops. It is called The Florida Hippopotamus Cocaine Massacre #1 and it is wild and weird and lots of fun. One shot Iceman: Omega #1 was not as much fun as I did not find myself interested in the book. I have always liked Iceman so maybe it was just the issue’s approach. I grabbed a copy of D’Orc #1 second printing. I loved D’Orc and it was a huge hit so the new cover by Brett Bean and Frank Williams was cool. After enjoying the Ursula book last week, I grabbed a copy of Gaston #1 (Bronze Medalist). I like Gaston the character way more than Ursula, but I did not like this book at all. That was strange. There is a reprint of Marvel Team Up #14 where Spidey meets Invincible. The book was fun and it is nice to get a copy of a book that I am sure is sky high in original price. Speed Racer #6 is back with more dangerous racing action. Gargoyles/Darkwing Duck #3 came out this week and the two sides to the cartoon world do work well together. Defenders of the Earth: Dark Destiny #3 sees the return of Ming the Merciless. The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Shiver of Christmas Town #3 also arrived this week with some solid action and humor. Batman/Green Arrow/Question: Arcadia #3 is one of those books where I am not sure where it falls in continuity. The interactions between Batman and Green Arrow were tense. Finally Godzilla Kai Sei Era #8 brought us some big titan battle.
So I have been under the weather over the last few weeks, and I chose to stay at home this past Saturday. I had intended on going to the new Scream 7 film that came out, but I wanted to take the time to try and get better. Today, I was able to go to the film I missed last weekend.
I am going to say that I had heard a lot of negatives directed toward Scream 7 and so my expectations going into the theater today were rather low. I do think that it helped having such low expectations, because I did not hate watching this. Don’t get me wrong, it is a dumb movie and I would not recommend it. I just didn’t find it to be a horrible watch. It was certainly better than the Psycho Killer film from a few weeks ago. That is not saying much, though.
We are back with Sydney Prescott, now with the last name of Evans, and the film took every opportunity to comment on Scream 6 being the film (or the Ghostface killings) where Sydney did not get involved. The meta aspect of this fits in a Scream franchise, but it feels odd that the implication was that the last movie sucked because Sydney wasn’t there.
A new Ghostface finds his/her way to the town where Sydney was living and began killing off easily replaceable characters who have little to no characterization. For example, Asa Germann, who played Sam on Gen V, was only ever referred to as the “weird one.” There is no reason or explanation. That was his sole character trait. McKenna Grace was here too, but all I know about her character was that she was the blonde friend who was in the school play. There were actually some good actors in this film, but they were not given anything worthy to do.
We knew from casting news that Matthew Lillard was returning to the film as Stu Macher, who had been killed in the first Scream film. There was a lot of speculation about whether he was returning as the same character, but that is one of the most obvious bit in the film. No spoilers, but you’ll get it.
Then speaking of no spoilers, the ending reveal is perhaps the dumbest part of the entire movie. There are some cameos in this movie that are just terrible and make zero sense.
It felt like this movie played only on nostalgia without having any original thoughts of its own.
As I said, I didn’t hate this, but I am only a guy who has liked the Scream franchise. I think that if you are a big fan of Scream and its sequels, you are going to hate this. If you just want a dumb time at the movies, set your expectations low and you may not hate yourself for watching it.
Another funny episode of Shrinking dropped on Apple TV + this week.
Maybe the scene of the season so far was Jimmy and Brian singing the song, “The Confrontation” from Les Misérables as they were driving to pick up Paul’s daughter Meg. I had seen Jason Segal do this before with Neil Patrick Harris and it was tremendous. This was every bit as awesome, but I spent much of the time watching Harrison Ford reacting in the back seat. Paul’s comment at the end of their song, “Did you guys make that up?” nearly knocked me out of my chair.
We looked at the relationship between Derrick and Gabby as well as the relationship between Sean and Marisol.
I suppose it is more about the individuals in Gabby and Sean than it is in their relationships. They have wonderful significant others at the moment, but both are dealing with their own issues to overcome.
The episode ended with the surprising kiss between Meg and Jimmy, although, to be honest, it did not seem to be a surprise kiss to me. I saw some flickers between them, at least with Meg, earlier this year, that made me think that there might be something here.
Jimmy is struggling to move on, clearly. He wanted one uncomplicated kiss to help kick him into the next level, but, of course, that is not from Meg, who is like a sister to him and is the daughter of his best friend and mentor Paul. Maybe it was me, but it felt like Paul was pushing for Meg and Jimmy to go get the files together. Was he playing matchmaker? That does not seem like Paul, but that is how I took those scenes.
Shrinking continues to be one of the most entertaining shows of TV, with the best dialogue you will find anywhere. This talented cast never fails to fill the show with laughs as well as true feels.
The Pitt dropped its latest episode this past Thursday, entitled “2:00 PM.” Our group of ER responders are facing yet another new threat.
At the end of last week’s episode, they were informed that they were shutting down their online presence because of another hospital that had suffered a cyberattack. Much like last season when the team prepped for the mass shooting victims they expected, everyone gathered around the hub and got their instructions on what they had to do now that so many of the items they were used to having would be unavailable.
Coming in clutch immediately was Dr. Joy Kwon, who admitted to having photographic memory and she was able to recreate the board when Whitaker’s pictures turned out too blurry.
Another MVP of the hour was Princess, who had to take over as floor nurse during the chaos because Dana was still tied up with the sexual assault case. Princess was never confident during the time, but she still did her job.
A new patient struck a chord with me as they wheeled in a man who was well over 450 pounds and the discussions of his weight hit close to home. Once again, I wanted to throttle Ogilvie for his insensitivity. The actor who played the overweight man was great though, funny, self-deprecating, and kind-hearted.
The anger shown by Dana when she had finished the new rape kit only to find one that she had done two weeks before still in the pick up location. He phone call to the police was a great moment of the episode.
We got some foreshadowing this episode as Robbie’s friend Duke was late showing up. That was apparently unlike him and makes me wonder if Duke is the motorcycle accident that the show has been hinting at all season long.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 