Tag Archives: reviews

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #21

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“Dream of a Thousand Cats”; “Calliope”

The second round of Sunday Morning Sidewalk came to an end this morning with the final episode of season one on Netflix. It looks like there will be a second season of the show, despite the word of cancellations over the issues Neil Gaiman has had. Either way, the Sunday Morning Sidewalk comes to the end.

Last week’s episode sure felt like a finale, and when I saw this episode, it makes it even more so. This week, there are two separate stories in the hour of the show that are completely separate from almost everything that happened in that first season.

It started out with an animated section called “Dream of a Thousand Cats” and it brings all the cats in a certain area to come and hear the message of a Siamese cat whose story tells of different time of cats and humans.

The animation was great and it really kind of reminded me of a couple of comic books that I have purchased the last couple of year. One was called Feral and the other Animal Pound. Both of these comics are told from the POV of animals, in many cases specifically cats, in their voices.

“Calliope” is the second part of the episode and it is live action. It has a minor connection to the season as they mentioned how Morpheus had been captured, connecting it to the way that Calliope, a muse, was bonded to humans. Specially humans who are trying to write books.

I wonder if these were also based on a comic issue because it does feel as if it could have been one of those filler issues that turn out so good.

With this episode, The Sandman ends and requires that there will be a new Sunday Morning Sidewalk show next week. So far, we have done HBO’s Band of Brothers and Netflix’s The Sandman. Starting next Sunday, I will be doing Pixar’s Win or Lose on Disney +. These episodes are shorter, so I am doing two episodes a week.

Warfare

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June 11

This was brutal.

Warfare was written by Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland based on Mendoza’s experiences during the Iraq war. It followed the events of a failed US Navy Seal mission from November 2006 after the Battle of Ramadi.

The script was created through testimony of the platoon members and is told only using their memories. The film is told in real time and is one of the most realistic war films that I have ever seen. This felt more like we had a window into this gunfight than anything that had been recreated by Hollywood magic.

I wish I had seen this on a bigger screen than on my home TV, because I feel as if this is more than a movie, it’s an experience. I can’t imagine what this experience would have been like in IMAX or on a bigger screen with a better sound system.

The sound of the movie was one of the most haunting aspects of it. Everything from the bombs and the bullets being used to the silence emphasizing the screams of pain from the injured. When the silence goes from all encompassing to visceral screams of the wounded, it is a powerful and suspenseful moment. The screams cut deep into the viewer and beginning with the silence makes it all the more impactful.

There is almost no plot and very little characterization. Despite that, the events that take place place a strain on the audience as it feels very real.

The ensemble cast included some of the best young actors around, but it is never apparent that these actors are doing anything but surviving a firefight. The actors include  D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai , Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor, Finn Bennett, Joseph Quinn, Charles Melton, Noah Centineo, and Michael Gandolfini. 

The amazing technical work of this film is masterful. The realness of the film cannot be denied. This is one of those tough to watch films that you need to see, once at least. It may not be a film you revisit.

4.5 stars

My Dead Friend Zoe

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June 11

The film for today on the June Swoon is film I saw on Fandango called My Dead Friend Zoe. It was a film that I had never heard of before, but the timing fit for today so I gave it a chance.

The film deals with grief, loss, PTSD and the military as well as the challenges of a family dynamic between people who struggle to relate.

According to IMDB, “MY DEAD FRIEND ZOE is a dark comedy drama that follows the journey of Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green), a U.S. Army Afghanistan veteran who is at odds with her family thanks to the presence of Zoe (Natalie Morales), her dead best friend from the Army. Despite the persistence of her VA group counselor (Morgan Freeman), the tough love of her mother (Gloria Reuben) and the levity of an unexpected love interest, Merit’s cozy-dysfunctional friendship with Zoe keeps the duo insulated from the world. That is until Merit’s estranged grandfather (Ed Harris) — holed up at the family’s ancestral lake house — begins to lose his way and needs the one thing he refuses… help. At its core, this is a buddy film about a complicated friendship, a divided family, and the complex ways in which we process grief.“

This is a very deep character study about life after loss and how individuals need help getting through the pain of life and loss. There is a bit of a twist at the end of the movie that recontextualizes the idea of the story, but the fact is that it is still dealing with the loss of an important person in your life.

There are strong performances in the film, especially that of Sonequa Martin-Green and Ed Harris. Two veterans, both with their own pain from loss, trying to get through their lives. Morgan Freeman is always a great addition to a cast, even if he may not have as much to do in this one.

My Dead Friend Zoe may be a touch long, but the character study of Merit, in particular, is full of important little steps and that is a realistic tale. This was based on a true story and it was a very powerful film that lets you think about other people in a different light.

The X-Files S9 E12, E13, E14, E15, E16

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I watched a series of X-Files episodes during the ninth season this afternoon. I’m hoping to wrap up the rewatch of the X-Files this summer, and this was a big step in that direction.

“Underneath”

I found this episode was similar to many other episodes this season. I realized this watching this episode. This season, Doggett, Reyes and Scully rarely actually investigated an X-Files. The cases that they were investigating coincidentally become X-Files, but they were not brought in because of their expertise in the X-Files. This episode did have a neat story about a serial killer who had a different personality.

“Improbable”

And as soon as I was coming up with my theory about cases not being X-Files, episode 13 had Scully come into the X-Files office and Monica laid out the case on the overhead projector just like Mulder used to do. Burt Reynolds guest starred in this episode as, I guess, God. I found this to be a silly episode involving some numerology. This serial killer was killing people based on this numerology, though that was never really explained.

“Scary Monsters”

I think this was my favorite of the run of episodes, although there were plenty of weirdness and silliness here too. A boy who can project some kind of images, making people believe they were seeing or feeling things that they were not. Agent Leyla Harrison returned from an episode from a previous season trying to recruit Scully first and then Doggett and Reyes to look at a case that she claimed was an X-File. Scully’s end of the case was particularly enjoyable as she was given the comedic aspects of the episode, including an autopsy that she wound up performing on a cat. There were a bunch of allusions made by Agent Harrison to previous X-Files episodes, which were fun little tidbits.

“Jump the Shark”

This felt like a final wrap up of the Lone Gunmen spin-off series that lasted 13-episodes on FOX. The show brought back former Man in Black, Morris Fletcher, played by Michael McKeon, from episode “Dreamland” from season six. This led to the Lone Gunmen sacrificing their lives to prevent a release of a virus. I remember being shocked and angry when the Lone Gunmen died in this episode.

I do hate the term “Jump the Shark” which this episode was named after. The term is based after a Happy Days episode where the Fonz legitimately jumped a shark on water skis. The term has come to mean when a TV show has peaked and is in decline. The reason I hated the term was that people started to use it any time that they did not like something that was on a show. It was one of the first comments that would lead to such a negative discourse on the internet.

If this would be the end of the Lone Gunman, there should have been more Scully in the episode. She only had a small bit at the funeral at the end. She said how important they were to her, and I would have liked to have seen more of that during this episode.

“William”

This episode was directed by David Duchovny and dealt with the baby of Scully, William. There was a burnt man who was captured and Doggett believed that this was Mulder. The show made it seem like this burnt man was Mulder, but Scully never believed that was the truth. It turned out that it was Jeffrey Spender, Mulder’s half-brother and the son of Cigarette Smoking Man who was supposedly killed by CSM. That was a good twist. It was all about getting to William and make him human. That was a bizarre storyline element that did not make much sense.

However, I do think that the idea that Scully put William up for adoption to keep him safe from the aliens and anyone else makes a lot of sense and it put a period on the William story for now. I know William returns later in the newer seasons, but this worked well for this season.

The X-Files S9 E11

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“Audrey Pauley”

This was a strange episode.

Monica gets involved in a car crash where a drunk driver hit her and she is taken t the hospital. There it appears that she is brain dead, though her body is still functioning. John refuses to accept the evidence before his eyes, despite the fact that everyone, including Scully, does not believe him. Monica is actually in a deserted hospital and she can only see a few other people there.

One of the people in the mysterious hospital was named Audrey and she was able to be in both the mysterious hospital and the real world. Turned out that she somehow created the mysterious hospital (along with a tiny dollhouse type of hospital) in her mind, I guess. The form this takes is not overly clear, nor how or why she was able to do this.

Another issue was the doctor, played by Jack Blessing, who was known as Mr. MacGillicuddy on Moonlighting, was poisoning patients and putting them into these brain dead situations to… I don’t know… help them die after that? MacGillicuddy’s motives were not explored too deeply. However, he did kill off a nurse who saw him give a shot that was not on the charts, and, eventually, Audrey. I don’t know why MacGillicuddy took such a dark turn after Moonlighting went off the air. Heck, if I remember Moonlighting, I think MacGillicuddy died in the last episode. Maybe he was in this mysterious hospital then.

I’m kidding of course. There is just so much unexplained, even for an X-Files episode, that I had some trouble buying it. It also does not help that Monica is one of my least favorite characters on the show. I was impressed with Robert Patrick’s performance. He brought some solid work grieving the woman that he loved.

Admittedly, the love Doggett felt for Monica seemed to be fast tracked here. I got some implication that they had feelings for one another, but nothing to this extent until this episode. Still, I can let that slide. I do have an issue with Doggett not telling Scully what he thought was happening. He said once that Scully would think he was crazy… but he should know by now that Scully always listened to crazy theories and never outright dismissed them. You would think that John would know that by now.

Overall, there were some interesting ideas here, and some solid to great performances. There are just too many things lacking in my opinion for this to be anything but a mid episode.

The Phoenician Scheme

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Man, who could possibly guess who directed this movie?

I am being sarcastic because this movie is about as much of a Wes Anderson movie as you are ever going to see. There are traits about a movie directed by Wes Anderson and this provided just about every one of them.

For me, Wes Anderson movies are hit or miss. I loved Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Rushmore. Asteroid City and The French Dispatch are examples of Wes Anderson movies I could do withotu.

The Phoenician Scheme was a lot of fun and I found it to be totally funny.

According to IMDB, “Wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists and determined assassins.“

I think what made this work for me was the comic timing of Benicio Del Toro, who played Zsa-zsa Korda. He had chemistry with every actor he interacted with and he delivered these eccentric lines of dialogue with just the right amount of sincerity that made it really funny.

While there was no sign of Edward Norton, the Anderson cast of actors that appear in a lot of his movies were here too including Michael Cera, Benedict Cumberbatch, Willem Dafoe, F. Murray Abraham, Scarlet Johansson, and Bill Murray. You could add some other great actors such as Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright, Rupert Friend, Steven Park, and Richard Ayoade.

Along with all of these established veterans, starring opposite Del Toro was Mia Threapleton. Threapleton, who is Kate Winslet’s daughter, showed that she is anything but a “nepo baby” as she was outstanding in her role as Liesl. She exuded the tone of a Wes Anderson movie perfectly, really helping set up Del Toro’s lines and scenes.

The dialogue was rich and exciting in this film. I really enjoyed just listening to the actors deliver these lines and how they were able to play off of each other. The dialogue helped balance out the craziness that was going on in each scene.

If you do not enjoy Wes Anderson movies, this one is not for you. However, I found this to be very enjoyable and humorous.

4 stars

Flow

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Today’s entry in the June Swoon is an Academy Award winner, and you can see why. Flow won the Oscar for the Best Animated Feature at the 2025 Academy Awards, knocking off such luminaries as Wild Robot, Inside Out 2 and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.

Flow follows the life of a dark grey cat that was living in a forest. A massive flood swept through the land, leading the cat to struggle to survive in a variety of ways.

During the film, the cat meets up with a group of different animals that form a sort of crew, especially while they were on a felucca. The cat joined up with a yellow Labrador Retriever, a ring-tailed lemur, a capybara and a secretary bird.

These animals were not anthropomorphic. They acted like the individual animals would act. The dog was playful and clearly looking to please. The lemur was a thief, collecting trinkets and shiny objects. The capybara, which is a type of rodent, laid around. There were some moments where it felt as if the animal characters transcended their natures and became something more.

The cat served as the POV of the film, as we see things through its eyes. The survival instincts of the cat was on display throughout the film in such a harrowing instance that you could not help but root for these animals.

I am a cat lover and so it was very easy to get into Flow. There were multiple perilous events along the path of this adventure that placed the cat in jeopardy. The whole showdown with the flock of secretary birds was tense and frightening.

There were a couple of scenes that went past just survival and looked at themes of life and death. One, involving the secretary bird, was a lovely moment that leaves you to deduce what exactly had occurred. There was a second scene involving a mutated whale that had saved the cat from drowning earlier in the movie. This scene was heartbreaking.

Flow was beautifully animated with such amazing visuals across the board. The artistic mastery created an incredible tone throughout Flow and some of the visuals with the cat and fish in the water was astounding.

With no dialogue, Flow was able to tell this story through some amazing characters and some fantastic music. According to Wikipedia, the cat of sound designer Gurwal Coïc-Gallas provided the meows for the cat in the movie, which I thought was a funny piece of trivia. It also provided that realistic sound that enhanced the viewing treat.

While I am not sure if I would have given Flow the Oscar over The Wild Robot, there can be no denying that this is a masterful animated film full of life and love and friendship.

Bring Her Back

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I guess I really didn’t need to sleep tonight.

The internet was out when I got home from my last day of school, so, instead of just being mad at Mediacom, I decided to go to a movie. I had the tickets for tomorrow purchased and I know there was one film that I was going to see later next week. I went tonight instead.

Bring Her Back, the latest movie from directors Danny and Michael Philippou, the directors of 2022 Talk to Me, was one of the most disturbing and unsettling films I have seen in a long time.

This film avoided many of the horror tropes. There were no jump scares. It covered multiple types of horror, from body horror to psychological horror.

Step siblings are sent to a new foster home after their father died. It does not take long to realize that something was off about this situation.

There is no doubt that this is a movie that will be triggering for some. It is one of those horror movies that stuns you so much that you just want to go sit in silence and deconstruct.

Bring Her Back is a slow burn, but it does move well and never is without a healthy dose of tension and anxiety. There were times when I was grimacing, disturbed and looking away. There are some scenes that were very difficult to get through.

Sally Hawkins played Laura, the foster mother, who was extremely creepy, even in the moments when she seemed as if she was a loving individual. Hawkins was truly exceptional in this performance, which could have been too over the top, but turned out strong.

The kids in the movie do a great job too. Billy Barratt played the oldest kid, Andy, who had plenty of background troubles. Sora Wong played Piper in her debut. Wong, just like the character she played, Piper, is partially blind. She was remarkable and made everything work so well. Jonah Wren Phillips played Oliver, the boy Laura had already been fostering. All three of these kids did an amazing job, and they all had a different type of character to play.

I have to say, I was not completely clear about the demon aspect of this movie. It was a bit confusing, but you just accept that there is something supernatural going on and don’t question it too much.

This is going to be one of those movies that I will recommend, but never want to watch again. I squirmed in my seat several times during this uncomfortable movie. A24 has become known as a super horror film studio and they have yet another one. This is also a very different of sort of horror film than the Philippou brothers made previously.

There will be plenty of people who hate this movie. I was tense the whole time. My teeth were gritted several times. The film is remarkably well constructed and made. I understand if someone hated this movie. I don’t ever want to watch it again. But it absolutely did what it was trying to do.

3.8 stars

The Last of Us S2 E7

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“Convergence”

“You wasted it!”

What an end to the second season of The Last of Us. Abby comes face to face with Ellie and it sure seemed as if Abby shoots Ellie.

Ellie killed a couple of Abby’s group earlier, including Mel, a pregnant woman, and it was clear that it hit Ellie hard. Mel became collateral damage in this revenge and that shook Ellie to her core.

With the screen going to black when the shots are fired, we have no idea what happened to Ellie. Most series I would say that it was obvious that she would be fine, that it was someone else’s gun going off, but about a month ago, the show killed Joel so I would not put anything past it.

It did end the season with the idea that the show was going to switch POV to Abby as the episode ended with a chyron stating “Seattle Day One” on the screen after we saw Abby in the Wolves’ stadium. I do not know how excited I am in seeing the POV of Abby in this whole thing. I hate this character of Abby and I do not want to have my opinion changed on her. I am not interested in a redemption arc for her, seeing everything that she has been through. She killed Joel and she killed Jesse. I am sad for the loss of Jesse, by the way. I should have known earlier in the episode when Jesse said that he was not dying that it was just foreshadowing the end.

By the way, the short time that Ellie was on Scar Island with the Seraphites was utterly frightening. I was not sure how Ellie was getting out of that situation as the noose was around her neck and she was just about dangling off the ground. She was seconds away from being gutted like a deer by the Seraphites. Thankfully, an alarm goes off, preventing the scarred psychos from completing their ritual. Ellie has that luck roll working for her.

The shots of Ellie on the water in the thunderstorm was amazing scenes. The power of the storm was clear and the danger that Ellie was willing to put herself in to satisfy her own selfish vengeance is fully realized.

I was not sure that this was the finale of the season, and it left off at a horrible moment. Then, Abby seemingly the focus of the third season, at least at first does not make me anxious for the show to return. It is absolutely a quality show, but I worry that it may push some viewers, particularly those that are not the game players, away.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #18

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“Playing House”

Last week, I was not very interested in the new story arc that The Sandman was starting off. This week, I am all in.

Funny how a week can change things. The whole story of Rose Walker and her search for his brother Jed was not catching my attention. I theorized last week when Rose showed up in the Dreaming at Morpheus’s throne room, business might be picking up and I was right. Right now I am fully engaged with this story of a sister trying to reunite with her brother.

We got more abut Jed’s life, trapped in a basement as his cruel foster father collected $800 checks every month and how Jed escaped into his dreams, with the aid of one of Morpheus’s missing nightmares, Gault, to become a super hero called The Sandman. Perhaps it was this dream that grabbed my attention, but, whatever it was, I thought this was so much more entertaining and gripping than it was last week.

The Corinthian was back again, being brutal and vicious in the most gentlemanly manner. When he showed up to take Jed, it was both a happy moment and one of anxiety. One thing is for sure, I was happy with the fates of the foster parents. They deserved every bit of what they got.

It seems more and more to me that Morpheus is not the hero of this story. On the surface, it appeared as if he wanted to help Rose find Jed, but it appeared that he only cared about retrieving Gault. His punishment of Gault was over the top too. I have to not think about Morpheus as a hero and instead thing of him like a force of nature. He is much like Galactus. Galactus consumes planets, but he is a necessary cog in the universe’s life span even if his actions could, at times, seem villainous.

The Lyta/Hector storyline still does not intrigue me near as much as the main story with Rose, but the dream baby does have some interest.

I am looking forward to next week’s installment, which is episode nine of eleven. We are coming to the end of the second program in the Sunday Morning Sidewalk series. I am actively looking for the third TV show to include after The Sandman concludes in three weeks.

Lilo & Stitch (2025)

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As I was sitting in the theater with the credits rolling, I heard a family coming down the steps. The mom asked the little boy what he thought of his first movie, to which he responded with an enthusiastic ‘great.’ I sat there thinking how cool that was. I do not remember what my own first movie in theater was, but I know how the experience can be such an enjoyable moment.

I just recently rewatched the 2002 animated movie Lilo & Stitch to prepare for the remake and I thought that was an enjoyable watch though I would not say that I found it a Disney all-time classic.

The Disney live action remakes have been largely not some of my favorite films with a few exceptions on the list. This film is one that I think would be a decent film, especially for a family viewing experience, much like the little boy whose first theater movie was this.

I do wonder if this film has a real purpose for existing outside of $$$. Now, to be fair, all movies are looking to make money, but there have been some of these Disney remakes that just do not feel as if they have any soul, any real magic that the animated films had in excess.

Still, I do think that, for the most part, the 2025 Lilo & Stitch was fine. There were some plot and character adjustments from the animated movie, but nothing that jumped out at me.

The CGI Stitch was well done and worked as a character, which was vital if you wanted this movie to work. Voiced by the original voice actor, Chris Sanders, Stitch was every bit the rapscallion that he was in the animated movie. Young Maia Kealoha made her acting debut as Lilo, and she did a decent job. Some of the trailers for the film did not highlight the strongest aspects of Maia’s work so to see it in context made it work so much more. Again, if Lilo did not work, this movie would have flopped.

The comedic pairing of Billy Magnussen and Zach Galifianakis as Pleakley and Jumba was good casting as they played off each other quite well. I did miss the voice of the late David Ogden Stiers from the animated film. Sydney Agudong played the role of Lilo’s sister Nani and I thought she was wonderful. She had a film presence that stood out on the screen. Courtney B. Vance, Amy Hill, Tia Carrere, Hannah Waddingham, and Kaipo Dudoit added to the ensemble of the film.

In the end, this was a fine film that did its job, basically. I am sure that there will be plenty of children who see this movie as their first ever movie in a theater and that is a wonderful thing. This would be a good film for that honor.

3.4 stars

The Last of Us S2 E6

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When Joel died in episode two, I knew that we would be getting a flashback at some point. There were just too many mysteries that we needed to see play out. In particular, what had happened with Eugene and why did Joel kill him? I saw that Joe Pantoliano was listed in the credits as Eugene so I expected we would see what happened.

I did not expect an entire episode of flashbacks. A whole episode of flashbacks that were amazing and heartbreaking at the same time.

Focusing in on Ellie’s birthdays during the years Joel and Ellie lived in Jackson, we saw how Joel tried to make each day something special for Ellie. Making her happy was a major goal for Joel. The guitar and song. The space shuttle. The dinosaur. All ways to try and make Ellie’s life a little better.

It also showed us how Joel and Ellie’s relationship was weakening. The whole situation stemmed from Joel’s lie at the end of season one involving the Fireflies. Deep down, even when Ellie was happy, she knew the truth. She just did not know the details. The scene on the porch where Ellie finally confronted Joel and he gave her the truth was tough, but had hope surrounding it as well, since Ellie said that she wanted to try to forgive Joel, even though she didn’t think she could.

That scene is made even more powerful as we know that this is the last words between the two of them ever. It is going to be the way that Ellie always remembers Joel.

The whole Eugene storyline was rough too. Joe Pantoliano delivered a great performance despite only being on screen for a few minutes. You really felt his devastation and his deep desire to see his wife one last time. Of course, it was a trigger for Ellie to solidify her thoughts about Joel. It was the look in his eyes when he lied to her.

Ellie was brutal when she outed Joel’s lies to Gail. It was a punishment for Joel by Ellie. She did not take Gail’s pain into consideration.

Next week is the season finale and I am not sure where this will go from here. For sure, the pain of losing Joel is only going to be worse now after we got the opportunity to spend a little bit more time with him and Ellie.

Final Destination: Bloodlines

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I never knew that Rube Goldberg was such a sicko.

The series of horror movies in the Final Destination franchise are films that I have not see before. It just did not feel like the type of film that was going to appeal to me. So I was not anxious to see the Final Destination: Bloodlines film out this weekend.

I have to say, I liked this way more than i ever believed I would.

According to IMDB, “A teenage girl has recurring nightmares of a tower collapse in the 1960s. She discovers that these nightmares are a premonition she inherited from her grandmother. The grandmother predicted the collapse of the building and saved a group of people from death. Decades later, the granddaughter begins to have visions of her family members dying. She realizes that there is a sequence and must fight to prevent Death from reclaiming her family’s bloodline.”

I really enjoyed the set up for the movie. The opening did a great job of baiting the hook for the audience and it left a huge question in my mind immediately. The set piece with the collapsing restaurant was thrilling and extremely suspenseful. I loved the mystery aspect of the film as our characters tried their best to prevent Death from claiming their family.

The tone of this film worked really well even though it felt like it was all over the place. The kills were, at the same time, grisly and funny. I’m not sure how it could work that I was laughing while I was repelling in disgust. The intricate ways that the victims died made me think of the old Rube Goldberg drawing of complicated inventions to do simple things. In this case, the simple thing was driving something threw someone’s head (or other various body parts).

The film looked great and, as I said, the kills were excellent. I was invested in the group finding a way to prevent their own deaths and thus cheat Death.

Kaitlyn Santa Juana was our lead protagonist, Stefani, and I thought she did a wonderful job. The whole film, I felt as if I had seen her before, but I just could not place it. However, looking on IMDB after the film, I could not find a credit on her list that I would have known her from. She was on the CW series The Flash, but only two episodes and I did not watch that series much any way. I did thin she was a compelling lead so I was impressed with her performance, even if I thought I knew her.

I thought the film does an exceptional job developing characters connected to Stefani. They were more than just the typical horror movie canon fodder characters. They had depth to them and they had emotional beats that work very well in making them be characters that we want to see escape, not just get killed off.

There is also a small cameo from the late Tony Todd. I am not sure if this is his final film, but if it is, he has a strong one to end on.

Perhaps I have to add some of the Final Destination movies to my list of films for the October 13 this year as I enjoyed this one a lot and if this represents what the franchise is about, I am up for some more.

4.1 stars

The Last of Us S2 E5

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“Feel Her Love”

Another strong episode of the video game adaptation on MAX. The Last of Us gave us the brutality of Ellie as well as seeing the group who were called the Scars and how horrendous they are.

Jesse made his way to Seattle (apparently with Tommy, though we haven’t seen him yet) and came in clutch as Ellie was about to be ripped apart by the Stalkers, the intelligent infected. Ellie and Dina were making their way to the hospital, and their trip through the big warehouse led them to these smart infected. Dina was able to lock herself inside a cage and Ellie was nearly killed, but Jesse arrived at the perfect time.

Of course, Jesse was pissed at them for leaving Jackson, and they had to run to escape the Wolves. They ran into the forest where they came across the Scars, also know as the Seraphites. They watched them hang a man and disembowel him, as Ellie and Dina had come across earlier. Dina gets an arrow in her leg and Jesse takes her while Ellie distracts the Seraphites.

Ellie winds up in the hospital and she comes across Nora, who had been the one to hold Ellie down while Abby killed Joel. Ellie chased Nora through the hospital and into an elevator shaft. They wound up in a basement area where Ellie sees a group of people connected to the plants, breathing spores. Nora was infected from the spores but Nora realizes that Ellie is the rumored girl who was immune.

Nora asked Ellie if she knew what Joel had done and then proceeded to tell her the things he had done. Ellie said that she knew.

Ellie took it even further as she was beating Nora with a weapon, trying to get her to tell her where Abby was.

The episode ends with Ellie waking up and Joel walking in to see how she was. HUH?

That was an unexpected moment. I always thought that Joel would be back in some kind of flashback sooner rather than later, but this was the weirdest placement for such a moment. There are a bunch of questions from this show and I can’t wait to see what the answers are.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #152

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May 11

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone out there. I hope you all have expressed to your mothers how important they are to you, if you are still able to do so.

Well, we are back with the troubles from Diamond. Comic World has not received its Diamond shipment from last week as of writing which means that I will not have a full Comic Cavalcade this week. I picked up a few variant editions of some of the books I am missing, but the full supply of Marvel, Boom Studios, and Dynamite books will be missing from this week’s post. It has been a real pain in the butt for me and everyone else connected with Comic World that this Diamond delivery thing continues to be a problem.

Books this week:

Los Monstrous #1. Script by James Robinson and art by Jesus Merino. Variant cover C art was done by Marcos Martin (Silver Medalist). I love this new Dark Horse book. I think this is in the Diamond order so I picked up a variant cover in Bettendorf. I really enjoyed this book with a city of monsters told in a noir style. Two things that I have always enjoyed mixed together.

Star Wars #1. “Out of the Darkness.” Written by Alex Segura and art and cover art by Phil Noto. I also grabbed a copy of the Logo Variant too. I have not historically purchased Star Wars books, but this new story featuring Luke, Han and Leia was intriguing and I wanted to give it a chance. I did like what I saw.

Far Down Below #2. Written by Chris Condon and art done by Gege Schall. Jacob Phillips did the cover art. This Mad Cave book has been excellent so far. The kids continue their path into the earth, joined by an older man they met along the way. Grandpa?

Amazing Spider-Man #3. Written by Joe Kelly and art by Pepe Larraz. Variant cover B art by Rose Besch. Another of the rare Marvel books this week as I picked up this variant cover to read the story. Peter is going through it as his memory of his childhood with Uncle Ben and Aunt May being manipulated. Oh, and there is Hobgoblin.

Lady Baltimore: The Daughter of Medusa #1. Story by Mike Mignola & Christopher Golden and art by Bridgit Connell. Cover art was done by Abigail Larson. This was an interesting book from Dark Horse. I got the definite impression that this was not the first time that Lady Baltimore had appeared in a book. Throwing Gorgons in the mix was cool.

Grommets #7. Written by Rick Remender & Brian Posehn with art and cover art by Brett Parson. Finally. I picked up the earlier issues as a bunch last year and then this final issue took FOREVER to get here. I enjoyed this series quite a bit, but I can’t deny that the final issue was not as impactful because of how long it took to get it. Still enjoyed it.

Two-Face #6. “Closing Arguments” Written by Christian Ward and art by Fabio Veras. Cover art was done by Baldemar Rivas (Gold Medalist). This is the final issue of the mini series featuring Harvey Dent and his psychosis. I have enjoyed the entire series, but I have to say that this conclusion felt a little lacking. It just felt as if there was no progression of the character of Harvey/Two-Face, ending where he always was.

The Atom Project #5. “Combustion” Written by Ryan Parrott and John Ridley with art and cover art by Mike Perkins. The group of villains they are referring to Inferno are here trying to get control of Captain Atom. Of course, it seems as if everyone is looking to control Captain Atom. Reveal of the Inferno group is a little underwhelming considering what is going on with the DC books lately.

Blood & Thunder #1. Written by Benito Cereno and art by E.J. Su. Cover art was done by E.J. Su & Msassyk. This is another fun and enjoyable new book from Image Comics. You have a future world with a bounty hunter and her gun. And yes, the gun does speak. I really enjoyed this book tremendously.

Vanishing Point #1. Written by Mark Russell and art by Juan Doe. Cover art was done by Christian Ward. Vanishing Point is an anthology series. We’ve seen a bunch of these in the horror comic genre, but this is science fiction instead. The first issue deals with a man mining for minerals in space. Great story, and I am looking forward to seeing some sci-fi stories from Mad Cave.

Pop Kill #3. Written by Dave Johnson & Jimmy Palmiotti with art by Juan Santacruz. Dave Johnson did the cover art. The cola wars are taking it to another level in pursuit of the formula for the never ending fizz. Cola wars mixed with James Bond type action.

Godzilla Heist #3. Story by Van Jensen and art by Kelsey Ramsey. Bob Eggleton did the cover art. Godzilla is being used as a distraction for a huge robbery, but it is more than that. It is not just a robbery. There might be a giant robotic lizard involved too.

Plague House #2. Written by Michael W. Conrad and illustrated and cover art by Dave Chisolm. This is an Oni Press book and it is a disturbing one. There are several images in this book that are really unsettling.

Space Quest #1. Written by Joe Casey and art by Sebastian Piriz. Variant cover C art by Derek Chew. Another variant cover that I picked up because the main cover (by Mark Spears, no less) is hopefully in that missing Diamond order. A team up of Dynamite Comics characters Space Ghost and Jonny Quest sounds like a lot of fun.

We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us #2. Written by Matthew Rosenberg and art by Stefano Landini. This is not just a girl and her robot. There is a new group of villains in this issue that are on a Zoom call. There are some intriguing mysteries in this book.

Don’t Run With Scissors #1. Written by Francesca Perillo and art and cover art by Stefano Cardoselli (Bronze Medalist). New series from Keenspot, Don’t Run With Scissors is a wildly original new book. I love the look of the art inside, which only helps to build the mood of the story. This is a book to watch.

Black Canary: Best of the Best #6. “Round Six.” Written by Tom King and art and cover art by Ryan Sook. This Black Canary series has been one of my favorite DC books and I feel like the wrap up of this series was very strong. I have had some issues with some of these DC books and their finales, but Black Canary brings the fight.

Absolute Superman #7. “A Mind is a Terrible Thing.” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Carmine Di Giandomenico. Cover art was done by Rafa Sandoval & Ulises Arreola. Talk about creepy. No Superman this issue as we feature the Absolute version of Brainiac. And it is horrifying.

Absolute Green Lantern #2. “The Abin Sur.” Written by Al Ewing and art and cover art by Jahnoy Lindsay. I have enjoyed these Absolute books and I really liked this issue of Green Lantern. It reveals the horrible fate of poor Guy Gardner. I also must say that the dark arm on Hal Jordan is one of the most intriguing aspects of the book so far.

Free Planet #1. Written by Aubrey Sitterson and art and cover art by Jed Dougherty. This is a new Image Comic that I was excited to read. However, I was disappointed by it. The first half of the book was just a whole bunch of exposition and a ton of new characters. By the time anything got going, I had checked out of this book.

The Chamberlains #1. Written by Ruben Romero & Casey Bowker. Cover art was done by Rob Prior. Another new book from Keenspot, this was unexpected. First, there was a page repeated in the comic. Exactly the same. I do not know if that was a misprint or purposeful. It did not seem to make sense so I assume it was just an error. Then, the book was suddenly a vampire book. Whoa, did not expect that.

Sam & Twitch Case Files #13. Written by Jordan Barel with Todd McFarlane and art by Thomas Nachlik. Cover art was done by Marco Failla. Things are looking really bad for Twitch. Not only is he under investigation for his shooting of a suspect, but he is also seeing things. Can Sam help him out?

Other books this week: The Moon is Following Us #9, Secret Six #3, Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #2, and The Holy Roller #9.