The flip side of the Gomer, The Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year is the film that I had expected big things from, but it came up short. I might have liked a film that gets this award (this year is an example), but I found more problems than I expected.
The Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year
Previous Winners: In the Heart of the Sea, The Snowman, Amazing Spider-Man 2, After Earth, Dark Knight Rises, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Batman v. Superman, Christopher Robin, IT: Chapter Two, Tenet, Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, Halloween Ends, Next Goal Wins, Gladiator II
This year’s runners-up: There was a film from Netflix this year that starred Chris Pratt called Electric State. It was a sci-fi movie that should have been fantastic, but it was far from it. A film that had Jordan Peele’s name on the advertising was called HIM. This had no right to be as bad as it was. M3GAN, the original, was a Gomer runner up, but the sequel to it, M3GAN 2.0 was just dumb and took the worst parts of the original and expended on it. Many people think this will win the Oscar this year for Best Picture, but I was disappointed with One Battle After Another. It was fine. I just expected more than what I saw. I love Ke Huy Quan, but Love Hurts hurt when I had to watch it. Another two movies that I heard positives about, but hated was Friendship and Together. Both big on Rotten Tomatoes, but not at EYG.
And this year’s Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year was…
Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
I did like this movie. I gave it a fresh rating. It got like 3.5 stars from me.
And yet, it is getting the Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year.
The final film in the Mission Impossible franchise should have been one of the best films of the year. The first hour or so of this movie was just too dull and repetitive. The ending was great, but I just did not like getting there. The film was too long and could not be totally saved by the great last hour. Then the final shot of the film was disappointing too.
This is a good movie that should have been mind-blowing.
Sha Na Na was one of my favorite shows as a kid so I am enjoying the trip down memory lane with the boys. I have to say that I still believe that the show is so much better when you have guest stars on the show with musical abilities.
These three episodes featured: Chuck Berry, Bobby Rydell and Leslie Gore. If I were them, I would have had Chuck Berry do a second song on the actual stage set. They had him do “Roll Over Beethoven” in the road set, which was great, but he could have done another one on the actual stage with the live audience.
They did brink Leslie Gore out to the stage to the audience when she was on episode 21. It just felt more special than the others, even though Chuck Berry knocked the performance out of the park.
In episode 20, Sha Na Na performed “Unchained Melody, which may be their best performance ever on the stage. The song was at a quicker pace and the background choreography was spot on. A lot of times, Sha Na Na look a touch out of step with the background dancing. I mean, they are singers and not necessarily dancers. However, this performance was fire. Unchained Melody, which was more well known as by the Righteous Brothers, was originally performed as a doo wop song by Vito and the Salutations in 1963. This is the version Sha Na Na was doing.
We also got some great vocalization with Bowzer and Johnny in Lovers Never Say Goodbye, in episode 21. This group have some great singers that compliment each other really well. Bowzer and Johnny work perfectly together in this song.
Alley Oop was one of the most distinct memories I have of the comedy skit songs the group would do. They would break in the song to do some silly joke. Most of the jokes were cringy, but I did love the song performed by Dirty Dan and Screamin’ Scott.
They still overuse the crowd noise/laugh track, but it is not as distracting as it was in the first half of season one.
So this was a series that I have wanted to watch for awhile now. The time was just never right, but with Christmas break upon me, plus the second season debuting in January on HBO Max, I thought I would give The Pitt a try.
See, I am a hypochondriac… well, sort of. Medical shows have bothered me in the past. I am bothered by things that can go wrong in the human body. While it does not make me feel as if I am having the same symptoms, it does bother me. That being said, the idea of each episode being an hour at a time in an emergency room made me think of 24 and I was intrigued.
I almost stopped at the first episode. A couple of scenes in that first show nearly finished me off. I was in on some of the storylines though so I decided to stick with it. After four episodes, I am fully in and will hopefully not have any further issues.
The storylines were coming hard and fast in the first four episodes. I was working on the EYG Comic Cavalcade as I was watching so the number of episodes just kept rolling as I worked. Perhaps I shouldn’t work as I watched, because I was being distracted by the show.
Noah Wylie led this cast of actors that I mostly did not recognize. Yet, they all did a great job with their roles. The short term stories with the patients were all very engaging and ranged from deadly serious to a good laugh.
One that especially caught my attention was a mother who faked an illness to get some help with her son. She found a list of girls to eliminate in his room, causing some serious tension of the story. That one is still percolating away. There was one that seemed to fly by faster with a brother and sister who desperately tried to keep their father alive, despite his wishes not to be on life-saving equipment. That story felt like it played out over a longer time than what it actually did, since the four episodes were designed to be only four hours total.
There were also a bunch of deaths in that four hour period. It truly showed the anguish the doctors and nurses have to deal with in their daily job.
The characters are introduced really well as there is not a ton of time to spend with them. Their minutes on screen are maximized extremely effectively.
I was not sure I was going to continue to watch this during episode one because of my own issues, but I am glad I pushed on. This is a strong series so far and my goal is to finish season one before the arrival of season two in January.
Hey all. I am on Winter Break so I am into the relaxation mode. EYG is involved in the Year in Review, finishing up the movies for the year, waiting for Stranger Things Part 2, starting on The Pitt on HBO, among other things. That may sound busy, but it is busy with things that I love.
Comics are a big part of the break as well. We just gave out the Comic Cover Artist of the Year. To no one’s surprise, it was Mark Spears. He also won the Platinum Medal for the Overall Cover of the Year with the metal variant of Mark Spears Monster #3 with the giant shark on it. Love it.
Books this week:
Avengers #33. “Twilight” Written by Jed MacKay with art by Javier Pina. Cover art was done by CAFU & David Curiel. We get some background on the origin of the Impossible City. This was the Legacy number #799, making next issue a major anniversary.
Radioactive Spider-Man #3. Written by Joe Kelly and pencils by Kev Walker. Cover art was done by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Lorenzo Ruggiero & Morry Hollowell. The Age of Revelation arc with Peter Parker comes to an end. Peter survived, which is weird since so many of the characters in this timeline have bit the big one. Aunt May did not make it though.
Survive #4. Written by Robert Venditti with art by Doug Braithwaite. Arturo Lozzi & Laura Martin did cover art. Survive continues to an awesome read. I mentioned last time that this book has a cinematic feel, and this issue kept that up. I really enjoy this Bad Idea book.
Exquisite Corpses #8. Written by Pornsak Pichetshote with James Tynion IV and art by Adam Gorham with Michael Walsh. Cover art by Michael Walsh. I also picked up Cover D by Jorge Fornes (Silver Medalist). This continues to be one of the best books of the month.
Mark Spears Monsters #8. “All That Remains.” Written, Art and cover art by Mark Spears. This is the blind bag issue and I got two of them. The first one I picked up was a foil variant, which was a 1:666 (Gold Medalist). These Monsters books are more than just cover. The story has been a lot of fun.
Mortal Thor #5. “Thy Soul to Take” Written by Al Ewing and art by Pasqual Ferry. Cover art was done by Alex Ross. I also picked up Knullified variant by Netho Diaz (Bronze Medalist). We get a new variation of Odin, talking to a new variation of Loki, talking about Sigmund.
Wrestle Heist #1. Written, drawn and cover art by Kyle Starks. This new Image comic is an intriguing new book with some professional wrestlers. We are following the heel character Sterling Steele, who is preparing to leave the company. That turned out to be a problematic decision.
Nightwing #133. “A Thing That Should Not Be” Written by Dan Watters with art by V. Ken Marion. Cover art by Dustin Nguyen, Elizabeth Torque, with Sabine Rich. The Martian Manhunter comes to Bludhaven to help Nightwing to head into the 5th dimension. Will Dick be able to come back.
Black Cat #5. “Hero to Zero” Written by G. Willow Wilson with art by Gleb Melnikov. Cover art was done by Adam Hughes. Felicia is arrested. Bailed out by Mary Jane Watson. Confronts Tombstone. All in a busy day. Black Cat has been a good read so far.
Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum #5. Written by W. Maxwell Prince with art by Martin Morazzo. Cover art was done by Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran. I have enjoyed this series. However, this final issue was not the best of the series. I was disappointed with the ending… especially with the asterisk at the THE END.
Space Ghost #6. Written by David Pepose with art by Jonathan Lau. Cover art was done Francesco Mattina. What happens when Space Ghost gets turned into a space vampire? I did not know that there was even such a thing. Jan and Jace show their importance once again.
Daredevil & Punisher #2. “The Broken Machine.” Written by Jimmy Palmiotti with art by Tommaso Bianchi and Gabriel Guzman. Cover art was done by Skan. This book has a great example of the different sides of crime fighting between Daredevil and Punisher.
Amazing Spider-Man: Torn #3. Written by J. Michael Straczynski with art by Pepe Perez. Cover art was done by Greg Land & Rachelle Rosenberg. Spidey fights the monster version of Evangeline as she tried to find the mystic book that turned her.
X-Men: Book of Revelation #3. Written by Jed MacKay with art by Netho Diaz. Cover art was done by Netho Diaz, JP Mayer, & Fer Sifuentes-Sujo. Elbecca makes her move on Revelation only to find that she may not have been as secretive as she thought.
Omega Kids #3. Written by Tony Fleecs with art by Andres Genolet. Cover art was done by Rod Reis. We see that Quentin Quire is still a bad ass. The Omega Kids had a lot of potential, and Quentin was impressed with their abilities.. just before he killed them all. Age of Revelation claimed more victims.
Strange Tales #3. Written by Jeremy Whitley with art by Bayleigh Underwood. Cover art was done by Bayleigh Underwood & Jim Campbell. The Hulk is on a rampage, controlled by the Enchantress.
Sam & Twitch Case Files #20. Written by Thomas Healy with art by Von Randal. Marco Failla did the cover art. The previous case that has been haunting Sam is underway. I have enjoyed this duo over the last couple of years.
Everything Dead & Dying #4. Written by Tate Brombal with artwork by Jacob Phillips. Cover art was done by Jacob Phillips & Tongi Zonjic. The normal people are going all in against the zombies in the small town. However, a certain little girl is on her way back to her daddy.
The Last Wolverine #3. Written by Saladin Ahmed with art by Edgar Salazar. Cover art was done by Martin Coccolo and Matthew Wilson. More death in the Age of Revelation. Leonard sacrifices himself to save Logan. This book obviously is vital to the overall story as Logan is back and ready to contribute.
G.I. Joe #16. Written by Joshua Williamson with art and cover art was done by Tom Reilly. Cobra Commander makes his present known in the Dreadnok War. Duke and the Joes are back and are ready to join in.
Hector Plasm: Hunt for Bigfoot #3. Written by Benito Cereno with art and cover art by Derek Hunter. This short series finished with this issue. The truth about the bigfoot comes out in the issue. This was a fun little series.
Cul-De-Sac #5. “You’re Not the Hunter Anymore.” Written by Mike Carey with art and cover art by Jonathan Wayshak. The Bad Idea book is feeling like it is wrapping up. Everything all started to come together.
Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #15. “The Haunting of the Wrecker” Finale. Written by Jed MacKay with art by Domenico Carbone. Davide Paratore did the cover art. Moon Knight wrapped up the Wrecker story. Then, someone kidnapped him. This leads into the next version of the Moon Knight series, Marc Spector: Moon Knight #1 coming in January.
Absolute Flash #10. “Rogues’ Revenge” Part Two. Written by Jeff Lemire and art and cover art by Nick Robles. The Rogues are still out there as Wally tries to find out what is going on. Was that Barry Allan at the end of the book? Something weird is going on.
Liquidator #2. Written by Peter Milligan with art and cover art by Piotr Kowalski. Barry Dyer is feeling down, down enough that he might be suicidal. Instead, he was recruited as a Liquidator, and time travel action ensued.
High Strangeness #3. “Book Three: 1983” Written by Christopher Cantwell & Daniel Noah with illustration by Valeria Burzo. Cover art was done by Valeria Burzo & Francesco Segala. The anthology series has another solid story.
Endeavour #2. Written by Stephanie Phillips with art by Marc Laming and Tony Shasheen. Marc Laming did the cover art. I like this DSTLRY book quite a bit as we see more with the kids left alive on the ship. This is a great story.
Space Scouts #2. Written by Matt Kindt with art and cover art by David Rubin. The new Dark Horse oversized book is a good time. We start seeing the truth behind the whole Space Scout competition.
Bat-Man: Second Knight #2. Written by Dan Jurgens with art and cover art by Mike Perkins. The Bat-Man and Superman are together as the Scarecrow is causing some trouble. I love this Elseworld story setting our heroes in the World War II time frame.
Other books this week: They’re All Terrible Deluxe Edition #1, Harley Quinn x Elvira #3, Yuletide #3, Ghost Pepper #6, Ancestral Recall #5, The power Fantasy #14, Conan the Barbarian #27, No Place #2, 30 Days of Night: Falling Sun #2, and Rivals: Ignite #1.
Quick Bits: This week’s quick bits kick off with Planet She-Hulk #2 as Jen continues along with trying to run Sakaar. Rogue Storm #3 was my least favorite third issue of the Age of Revelation. I am still unsure where the timeline for Black Panther: Intergalactic #1 falls. Korvac is causing trouble in Battleworld #4, BUT Spidey and Bucky find a new group of heroes. Crystar was there too! Sonja Reborn #4 has a cool picture cover. Alien vs. Captain America #2 sees the Howling Commandos get f-ed up badly. Racer X #4 once again is the same story as in Speed Racer, just from a different perspective. Terrorbytes #3 gives a prison story that was very interesting. W0rldtr33#17 focuses on the internet maybe coming back. DC KO Harley Quinn vs. Zatanna#1 sees a cool fight between these two. Harley dies, but clearly she is not dead. Not sure I have been a fan of these individual fight books so far. The Author Immortal #3 has not been my favorite book so far, but it is original. Die!Namite: Blood Red #3 has Red Sonja joining up with Vampirella and Miss Fury. It has been a fun book.
It Was Just An Accident was an international film which was a co-production between Iran, France, and Luxembourg. I had heard positives about the film on FYC and I had a chance to rent it off Fandango at Home.
According to IMDB, “An unassuming mechanic is reminded of his time in an Iranian prison when he encounters a man he suspects to be his sadistic jailhouse captor. Panicked, he rounds up a few of his fellow ex-prisoners to confirm the man’s identity.”
Powerful storytelling as we follow this group of people who had had their lives touched by this tormenter from an Iranian prison. Each person had to reassess their own choices and moral line as they attempt to confirm that this man is who they believe him to be.
There are enough doubts tossed around by the script that you as viewer are never quite sure which way the story will go. Is this the cruel torturer or is it a man who had a similar injury? The tormentor had a prosthetic leg and was dubbed the nickname “Peg Leg.” The man had the same prosthetic, but since the victims were always blindfolded, they could not specifically identify him, and the man had a seemingly cohesive story to cover the possible truth. I will admit that I was never 100% sure during the movie is he was Peg Leg or not.
Without spoilers, I loved the ending of the film. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I really found it to be refreshing.
The performances from the actors were top line. Vahid Mobasseri played Vahid, the mechanic who first discovered the possible Peg Leg, played by Ebrahim Azizi. Mariam Afshari was Shiva, a photographer who Vahid tried to get confirmation from. Other cast members included Majid Panahi,Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohammad Ali Elyasmehr, Delnaz Najafi and Georges Hashemzadeh.
I really enjoyed this international film. It was extremely well written with some exceptional performances.
The third film in the remarkably successful franchise of Avatar was released this weekend with the film Avatar: Fire and Ash. I have had an up and down reaction to the franchise over the years. When I first saw the original Avatar, I was not a fan. Before the second one came out, I rewatched the original film and liked it better. When I saw the next film, I enjoyed it more. I was not sure what all that meant when it came to Avatar: Fire and Ash.
According to IMDB, “Jake and Neytiri’s family grapples with grief after Neteyam’s death, encountering a new, aggressive Na’vi tribe, the Ash People, who are led by the fiery Varang, as the conflict on Pandora escalates and a new moral focus emerges.“
Avatar: Fire and Ash, once again, is amazing to look at. I saw the film in 3D and it was spectacular looking, especially with the setting and background. I will say that there were some moments where some of the characters looked weird to me. It was not consistent, but there were enough times where it jump out at me. Otherwise, the technical aspects of the movie are marvels.
I have to say, I was bored with most of the first two acts of this movie. It is painfully long and I do not think that it needed to be as long as it was. It felt as if it could have been trimmed down, at least, a half hour. Having said that, the third act was much more compelling and full of action. I will say that, during some of the scenes in the third act, this movie fell victim to something that always bugged me about Transformers movies, which was it was difficult at times to tell who was who in the big battle.
I also feel that lot of this story is a basic retread of the other films, especially the second film. There were a bunch of things that seemed to be the same beats we already have seen.
I am sure that Avatar: Fire and Ash will make a ton of money at the box office this weekend and during the holiday season, I am not sure that it will reach the same levels as the first two did. I could be wrong, but this feels like an inferior version of those films. While it is spectacular to look at, there is not something new and amazing in the special effects. It is amazing, yes, but I do not think we can say this is considerably better than other films in the area of effects.
Okay. I am not sure what I can say about this one.
According to IMDB, “A couple’s vacation at a secluded estate is upended when they’re forced to share the mansion with a mysterious couple. A dream getaway spirals into a nightmarish maze of sex, lies, and manipulation, triggering a battle for survival.”
This movie started out with a scene of two naked people running through the woods. It was just a terrible season and ended in a ridiculous way and I thought to myself, “What did I get myself into.” Then, it switched from the scene and it was a story being told by a boyfriend Diego (Marco Pigossi) to his girlfriend Sage (Maddie Hasson). It was meant to show that Diego was not a very good writer, even though he had recently quit his teaching job to write a novel. So I forgave that terrible scene because it was meant to show characterization of Diego.
The premise itself was common and things were really slow and dull in the first act and a half or so. Some dumb things were happening as it seemed that it was typical type of movie like this.
A little over a half way through the film, the story suddenly went totally batshit crazy. Then, I didn’t know what was happening and, honestly, the film had my attention more than it had before.
Is it a plausible movie? No, it is not. The stuff that goes down is ridiculous. It is also very different than the beginning of the film. It does do some interesting theorizing on couples, but when the chainsaws come out… well, there is only so much time for theorizing.
I am not sure how to feel about this. I was entertained at times while at other times I found myself feeling stupider having watched it. It felt like it was meant to be a satire at times, but I do not think that was the intent. I am torn on Bone Lake.
The latest Sunday Morning Sidewalk show wrapped up this morning with the finale of The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix.
Mike Flanigan’s 10-episode horror series was a great series with some complex ideas and original storytelling. The performances of the actors in the show were really great. Admittedly, I had some trouble over the first several episodes figuring out who was who, especially with the flashbacks being so prevalent. However, once that became clearer, the show really took off.
The finale was a beautiful end to the story, which was quite unexpected. There was healing and love through the Crain children and reunions of spirits within Hill House.
I had a definite vibe between Hill House in this series and Murder House from the first season of American Horror Story. In the end, Hill House had a less evil feel than Murder House, or at any time in the previous episodes of this series.
The episode focused around the Red Room and what it truly was… which seemed to be a chameleon type room, being whatever the person needed it to be. That was an intriguing concept.
The ending did reconstruct the idea around Hill House. I did not find it as evil of a location as the Crain children had made it seem. It just felt like a resting place for many ghosts.
Overall, I found this to be a very engaging and enjoyable show, with a few gaps and holes that didn’t keep me from enjoying it.
Next week, the next Sunday Morning Sidewalk will head over to HBO Max for a two-episode documentary on Bill Joel, called Billy Joel: And So it Goes. These two episodes will be the longest single episodes we have done in the Sunday Morning Sidewalk, but it feels like a good one to end 2025 with.
That was a scene that happened many times during the run of Moonlighting, a show that went for four seasons on ABC starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd.
Set at teh Blue Moon Detective Agency, Maddie Hayes had lost almost all of her fortune to a crooked accountant and she was forced to work in one of the few businesses remaining, a detective agency. There, she met David Addison, a wise cracking, song singing, limbo dancing private eye who challenged her to expand her life.
Moonlighting is one of the best shows on TV. It also felt down to earth quicker than any show on TV. The whole “will they won’t they” aspect of the show kept the viewers glued to their screen, but, when they did, much of the magic was gone.
Still, David and Maddie were amazing together. Charming, fighting, arguing, detecting. They could do anything.
One of the things that they could do was break the fourth wall. This was one of the first shows that I specifically saw do this technique and I found it hilarious. Another specialty of this show was the special episodes… the dream sequences. They had a show called “The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice” where David and Maddie had dreams that they were musicians in an old time club. Another episode saw them dancing to “Big Man on Mulberry Street.”
But one of the greatest episodes of all time was “Atomic Shakespeare” which Maddie and David played the roles of Katharina and Petruchio in a satire of Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew.” This episode was written in iambic pentameter and was an absolute joy.
The last season and a half was much weaker, but the first two and a half was some of the best TV of all time. I remember planting myself in front of the TV every Tuesday night to watch Moonlighting… although their behind the scenes challenges and fights caused many of those nights to be a rerun.
When compiling this list, I debated between #3 and #2 for Moonlighting, and it could easily be flipped. Moonlighting made Bruce Willis a superstar and helped him get Die Hard.
“Blue Moon Investigations ceased operations on May 14, 1989. The Anselmo Case was never solved… and remains a mystery to this day.”
This movie popped up on Netflix recently and I added it my queue. I was able to watch it this morning.
I have never been a huge George Clooney fan, but I can’t say that his presence has ever kept me from watching a movie. I can say that about his co-star Adam Sandler, who has a bunch of movies that I never watched because he was the lead. I went into this with the knowledge that Sandler has had some Oscar buzz about him so I hoped this would be more like Uncut Gems and less like Billy Madison.
According to IMDB, “Famous movie actor Jay Kelly embarks on a journey of self-discovery, confronting his past and present with his devoted manager Ron.”
I really liked this movie. I thought George Clooney did a sensational job of playing this iconic action movie star who was going through an existential crisis, and I was very impressed with the work of Adam Sandler in this film. He still was able to provide some of the best comedic lines without sacrificing character or intelligence.
Director Noah Baumbach provided a sharp satirical look at Hollywood and how the life of a movie star can be a lonely one. A couple of times, Jay Kelly’s daughter said that he was “never alone” but the film does a great job of showing how he absolutely could be, even while surrounded by his entourage. It showed, as well, the lack of understanding Jay Kelly had on his daughter’s lives.
There were some solid supporting appearances in Jay Kelly. Laura Dern, Stacy Keach, Jim Broadbent, Billy Crudup, Patrick Wilson, Riley Keough, and Grace Edwards.
It does feel a touch long, but I don’t know what I would remove. There are scenes that focus in on Adam Sandler and his life and background that really develops his character that I would not remove at all.
Clooney really does make this role feel like it is something that he has lived through. I believed every thought and feeling jay had during the course of the movie. The film had some neat sequences where something was shot in a way that was original. For example, there was a scene with Jay and his daughter where they were on the phone, but the film shot it as if they were walking beside one another.
Jay Kelly was a engaging movie with some really well developed characters. I was very impressed by the film overall.
This episode, entitled “Screaming Meemies,” which was a slang term meaning a “heightened sense of panic or anxiety,” showed us the events of the night when Hugh took the kids and left the Hill House in the middle of the night. It was all from the perspective of Olivia, whose entire life had seemingly become a dream that she could not awake from.
I had not expected for the house to have driven her as mad as it did that she would try to awaken the twins (and Luke’s not-so-imaginary friend, Abigail) by having a middle of the night, surprise tea party, with tea laced with rat poison.
Poor little Abigail saved the day, in a sense, by sipping on her poisoned tea before the twins could, and she promptly died.
Much of this had been influenced by the ghost known as Poppy Hill, who showed up at the end of episode 7 to grab adult Luke when he tried to burn the house down. This Poppy was a nasty ghost who was planting the seeds of evil in the mind of the mentally ill Olivia, leading to this act of horror.
With this bit, in the penultimate episode no less, the last thing we need to discover from the past flashbacks, would be what happened when Hugh went back to the Hill House after he dropped his kids off at the motel. I am sure that will be included in the 70+ minute finale in episode 10.
We got to see the truth behind several of the odd things we had seen previously from Olivia, like the screwdriver she held at Hugh’s neck or breaking the mirror on the vanity that Steven had fixed up for her. Everything fit in nicely as we see the descent of Olivia into this house induced madness. We also see her “suicide”, aided by the push of Poppy Hill.
I expect that next week’s big finale will deliver big time, as this show has been truly firing on all cylinders the last four-five episodes.
I had intended on renting and watching Stitch Head, the animated movie in the style of 3D CG animation, during this past weekend’s post-Thanksgiving, Snowpocalypse Weekend, but it kind of got lost in the shuffle. I did not think about Stitch Head until I was filling in the list of films and I saw the character of Stitch Head on the banner. Oops. So I rented it from Fandango at Home and planned on watching it this week.
The time was tonight and I watched the film.
According to IMDB, “Follows Stitch Head, a small creature awoken by a Mad Professor in a castle to protect the professor’s other creations from the townspeople of Grubbers Nubbin.”
My first thought was that this, particularly the character designs, reminded me of the old Rankin/Bass animated shows like Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The colors of Stitch Head also made me think about the old Christmas shows. That was all good things.
The story was cute with the monsters that were being created by the mad Professor were all scared of humans, expecting the angry mob to burst through the door of their castle at any minute. Stitch Head, the first monster created by Professor, was the one who could keep the monsters calm.
When circus ringmaster, Fulbert Freakfinder, came across Stitch Head, he knew that bringing Stitch Head to his circus would make a lot of money. He manipulated Stitch Head to agree to leave the castle and join his circus.
The voice cast was led by Asa Butterfield as Stitch Head. There was also Joel Fry, Tia Bannon, Seth Usdenov, Rob Brydon, Alison Steadman, Fern Brady, Jamali Maddix, Sway Clarke and Paul Tylak.
Stitch Head was simple in a lot of ways. It was weird as a couple of times, the film seemed like it was about to burst into songs, but they ended about as quickly as they started. The animation was great, bringing me back to those old Rankin/Bass shows and it was fun.
Character design was quirky and creative. Yes, there may not have been anything groundbreaking about this animated movie, but it was solid and enjoyable.
I was watching a video on YouTube today of the Kristian Harloff Show. This was the day of the week where Roxy Striar appeared. I always enjoy her TV picks for the week so I played it for awhile. They were speaking about a new movie that Roxy was in, which starred Kate Beckinsale, called Wildcat. Looking at the info for the film, I saw it was rentable on Prime.
It was an action movie, directed by James Nunn, who has a reputation for action.
Sadly, the story was fairly convoluted and messy.
Beckinsale played a former black ops operative named Ada. She had a relationship with another operative named Roman (Lewis Tan). Ada wanted to leave the life and settle down, but Roman was not interested.
Several years later, Ada and her daughter Charlotte (Isabelle Moxley) ran into Roman and they had dinner. They were going to remain friends. Later that night, Charlotte was kidnapped because Ada’s brother Edward (Rasmus Hardiker) owed money to mobsters and had spoke about his sister the former black op.
Ada reunited with her former team in an attempt to pull of a heist to get the money to pay off the mobster.
This had some possibilities, storywise, but it felt that these plot points got too lost among the rest of the pieces tossed into the movie.
I hated the character of Edward. He made every scene worse, with the exception of the very final one.
The action was pretty decent, but there was a bit too much gunfire for my taste. I did like the connection between Ada and Roman. They worked well together.
The final was silly. I am not sure what they were doing.
I did love seeing Roxy in the film. She did great in her small role, and I am so happy that she has gotten the opportunity.
YouTube is forever changing, adding, adjusting. There are a ton of shows, reactors, reviews that I have enjoyed watching.
I think it is very interesting since these shows go up and down the list quite a bit. Here are the Top 15 shows on YouTube for me.
#15. Jeremy Johns. Here is one that has been higher up the list in past years. Jeremy reviews movies and I do like his opinions.
#14. The Geek Buddies. This is another example of a show I used to watch much more, but that I haven’t watched much lately. It has to do with the content available.
#13. Dodgers Nation. The Dodgers won the World Series again and so I do like listening to Doug McKain talk about them.
#12. Fatman Beyond. Another one that would have been higher before. I love Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin, but their schedule and show length catches up with me.
#11. Ashleigh Burton. She depends on what she is watching. I have loved watching her react to Buffy TV shows this past year.
#10. The Hot Mike. The entertainment show that breaks stories on movies and TV. John Rocha and Jeff Sneider have a great chemistry with each other.
#9. John Campea. John Campea has been a movie pundit for many years. He talks daily about all the top movie news.
#8. Dan Murrell. Dan is probably my favorite movie reviewer on YouTube right now. Dan’s reviews allowed me to see two of the Top 5 movies from 2024 in 2025.
#7. Settle the Score. I love this competition show, but it has slipped a little because of the amount of time I have to watch it. Matt Knost hosts and Andy Merriweather is the musical director.
#6. Kristian Harloff Show. Kristian, former Schmoe-Knows guy, does a weekly talk show that discusses movies and TV. He has multiple co-hosts during the week including Roxy Striar, John Richa, Winston Marshall, Mike Kalinowski and others.
#5. Untraveled. Jay and Adam traveling through Spain, reacting to what they see. I have to say, this has only had 4 episodes so far and might have been higher up the list had I seen more of the show. They are really funny, and will show up higher up this list.
#4. Reel Rejects. Greg and John started a reaction channel and they will react to movies, TV shows etc. There are multiple Reel Rejects who join in on the reactions (Roxy, Coy, Tara, Aaron, Andrew). They have great conversations after viewing.
#3. pReview’d. Here is the original Jay and Adam channel. They react and review TV and movies. And cry. They are funny and real. This is the place where friends don’t let friends watch movies (or watch tv or watch trailers) alone.
#2. Bonus Action. Last year’s #1, slipped to number two, mainly because this season’s volume is not finished yet. The crew switched from playing D&D to Daggerheart. Despite the new system, the cast is still the best around.
And the #1 show on YouTube….
FYC (For Your Consideration)
Scott Mantz, Perri Nemiroff and Jeff Sneider get together to talk everything Oscars. They predict the nominations. The predict the winners. They discuss reasons behind their thoughts. Above all else, even when they disagree, there is a level of respect between each other that is awesome to watch. I love the intelligence that they show.
November is closing today and we have just one more month remaining. It feels like this year has soared by. December always brings the Year in Review around EYG and the comics section of that will be quite busy. There are some amazing books from 2025.
Let’s get this underway…
Infernal Hulk #1. “Rise” Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson with art and cover art by Nic Klein. I also picked up the foil variant of this issue by Dan Panosian (Bronze Medalist). I was legitimately shocked by the violence and gore of this issue. It had way more blood and gore than most of the Marvel Red Band books that I have read this year. The brutal new version of Hulk is definitely frightening.
Galactic #1. Written by Curt Pires and art and cover art done by Amilcar Pinna. According to the first page of this new DSTLRY book, Galactic #1 is a love story. Not sure if that is as accurate as it could be. This is the story of a bounty hunter looking for a runaway daughter, but through space. It has a flavor very much like Saga. It was an intriguing number one.
Department of Truth #34. Written by James Tynion IV and art by Martin Simmonds. Back-up story is titled “Suspicious Minds Part 2” by Scott Snyder and Joshua Hixson. I have the die cut cover by Tyler Boss. More conspiracies and mysterious events circling around this title. Back up story continues the tale of Elvis.
Black Cat #4. “IV: One of the Bad Guys, I Swear.” Written by G. Willow Wilson with art by Gleb Melnikov. Adam Hughes did the cover art. Felicia is trying to convince Tombstone that she is still the crooked criminal that she always was, despite the current image as a superhero. He ain’t buying it.
Absolute Batman #14. “Abomination: Conclusion” Written by Scott Snyder with art by Nick Dragotta. Cover variant C art by Guillem March. The brutal final confrontation between Batman and Bane happens in this issue. It is a symphony of violence.
Detective Comics #1103. “The Courage that Kills: Part Three” Written by Tom Taylor with art by Mikel Janin. Variant cover C art by Lee Garbett (Gold Medalist). Batman continues his race against the clock to find answers to the virus that he has been exposed to before he succumbs to the illness. He recruits Superman and Wonder Woman to help.
Justice League Unlimited #13. Written by Mark Waid and art by Dan Mora. Variant cover C art done by Marcos Martin. The time misplaced heroes gathered together by Mister Terrific are off on a major adventure to help prevent the return of Darkseid. Not everyone comes back alive.
DC KO #2. “Chapter Two: Objects in Motion.” Written by Scott Snyder & Joshua Williamson (interlude) with art by Javi Fernandez & Xermanico (Interlude). Variant cover E art by Mike Del Mundo. We are down to sixteen heroes/villains from the DC Universe battling one another for the chance to be the champion against Darkseid.
Batman/Green Arrow/The Question: Arcadia #1. Written and art by Gabriel Hardman. Virgin variant foil cover D art was done by Denys Cowan & Bill Sienkiewicz (Silver Medalist). What is the mysterious Arcadia Project and how does it tie to three lone wolf vigilantes? This looks to be cool noir style crime thriller.
Devil on my Shoulder #1. Written by Kyle Starks with art by Piotr Kowalski. Cover art was done by Piotr Kowalski with Brad Simpson. A new series from Dark Horse gives us a horrendous situation for Tee, who is captured and tortured by five boys. Leaving her for dead, she does not die. Now, she is out and in search of vengeance. This was my favorite new book of the week.
Universal Monsters: The Invisible Man #4. Written by James Tynion IV with art by Dani. Variant cover B art was done by Ryan Sook. The final issue of Invisible Man wraps up with the tragic tale of madness and greed. There is also a preview for the next Universal Monsters series: Phantom of the Opera.
The Undead Iron Fist #3. Written by Jason Loo with art by Fran Galan. Whilce Portacio & Alex Sinclair did the cover art. Danny Rand is battling some of his biggest foes as he has returned from the grave to figure out why he has returned and what is going on.
Mortal Thor #4. “A Merry Tale of Asgard” Written by Al Ewing with art by Juann Cabal. Alex Ross did the cover art. This story takes place in Asgard as we follow Magni, Thor’s son from an alternate timeline, as some are trying to convince him to take the throne of Asgard.
Cloak or Dagger #2. Written by Justina Ireland with art by Lorenzo Tammetta. Cover art was done by Mike McKane & Rachelle Rosenberg. In the Age of Revelation, X Years later, Cloak has to face off with Fenris, while Dagger stays with their child. I do like how this Marvel crossover gives us a chance to see secondary characters such as Cloak and Dagger and see what the years have done to them.
Feral #18. Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Trish Forstner & Tone Rodriguez. Variant cover B art was done by Tony Fleecs & Trish Forstner. Things inside the pet store are becoming terrible. Food is short and the cats are becoming dangerous. Gigi tells Elsa that she can not just leave the store because she was pregnant. Ooooooohhh.
Undeadpool #2. Written by Tim Seeley with art by Carlos Magno. Cover art was done by E.M. Gist. Undeadpool is one of my favorite books from the Age of Revelation. It is a creative use of the character as is the guest star Cable.
Geiger #18. Written by Geoff Johns with art by Eduardo Pansica and Gary Frank. Variant cover B art was done by Kyle Hotz. Not sure what was going on here, but putting Geiger in an electric chair does not seem like a bright idea.
Daredevil & Punisher: The Devil’s Trigger #1. “The System is Flawed” written by Jimmy Palmiotti with art by Tommaso Bianchi. Punisher is out for blood against a crime family that is represented by Matt Murdock’s law firm. Daredevil attempts to prevent Frank Castle from assassinating his client. Spoiler: he can’t.
Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman #5. “A Gorgi in the Family, Part Two” Written by Tom King and art by Belen Ortega. Variant cover C art by Jonboy Meyers. Trinity is in pursuit of the missing corgis across time, but she winds up back with Jason Todd. They make a cute couple, even though Trinity knows Jason Todd’s doomed future.
Survive #3. Written by Robert Venditti and art by Doug Braithwaite. Cover art was done by Mike McKone & Morry J. Hollowell. I loved this book this week. The story of survival in a sunken submarine with an American spy and a Russian spy. I truly believe this story has been presented in a very cinematic fashion and it could easily be a movie.
Marvel Knights: The Punisher #2. Written by Jimmy Palmiotti with art and cover art by Dan Panosian. The control of Frank Castle continues here. Frank has been added to Armando Molerro’s Assassin El Zombie! How dangerous can that be? What an ultimate weapon. I get a feeling Frank is not going to be happy when he gets free.
X-Vengers #2. Written by Jason Loo with pencils by Sergio Davila. Mike McKone & Morry Hallowell did the cover art. With Scott Lang dead, Revelation agrees to see Dani and Sam. Meanwhile the remaining Avengers try to stop the overgrowth. And another X-Verger dies in the process.
Expatriate X-Men #2. Written by Eve L. Ewing with art by Francesco Mortarino. Cover art was done by Francesco Mortarino & Raul Angulo. A rescue attempt for the mutant Lyrebird leads to division within the ranks of the Blue Dashers. It brings them face to face with the Darkchild.
Other Books this week: Immortal Legend Batman #4, Ancestral Recall #4, I Saw Ma Hunkel Kissing Santa Claus #1, Arcadia #1, Sherlock Holmes: The Dark Detective- Knights of Frankenstein #4, and I Saw Santa #1.
Quick Hits: I picked up the virgin variant cover of Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #3. It was a beautiful shot of a female character who I do not know… she appeared on the final splash page too. Hornsby & Halo #12 sees Rose and Zach in full form and on their way to trouble. We get Star Brand guest starring in Battleworld #3. It is neat to see the return of the original Star Brand from the old New Universe books. We have more monster/vampire action in Cul-De-Sac #4. Orla #4 makes you really want to root for Orla after Gwyn finds her in mid-murder. More weird things go down in The Last Days of H.P. Lovecraft #2 from Boom! Studios. Marvel Zombies #3 is setting up some real bad things for our heroes. Jean Grey is now zombie Phoenix and Thanos has nearly all of the infinity gauntlet assembled. Poor Grandmaster. Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong 2 #5 sees our heroes and their titan allies brought down by King Ghidorah. Things look dark for the heroes. Escape #4 is a nice and quiet issue after some major bombardment last issue. I picked up the Universal Monsters: Dracula Black and White Special #2. I have to say I grabbed cover A but the picture of cover B on the back of this issue makes me think I missed out. I picked up a new horror series called Dead Head #1, but I was unimpressed with it.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 