Tag Archives: reviews

Monster Island

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This B-monster movie debuted on Shudder at the end of July. I came across it the other day and thought it might be some scary fun to watch it.

Set during the last days of World War II, a Japanese Hell Ship, which was transporting POWs, was sunk by an American ship. Saito, a Japanese soldier and Bronson, a British POW end up stranded together on a mysterious island. In their attempt to survive on the island despite their differences, they come across a mythological monster from Malay folklore called Orang Ikan.

Orang Ikan means “Fish Man” in Malay and this monster (played by Alan Maxson) looked like a combination of the Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Sleestak from Land of the Lost. This Orang Ikan then went about a Predator-like hunt with the two men, as they struggled to survive.

It was really odd with the film since Saito did not speak English and there were no subtitles on the screen. We, as audiences, were every bit as uncertain about what was happening as Bronson was. You had to watch the way Saito carried himself and his body language if you wanted to see what kind of man he was.

His actions immediately showed that Saito was someone who you could trust and, despite the language differences, would be a friend in this situation. We do find out that Saito had been on the ship and chained together initially with Bronson because he was being returned to Japan to be put to death for being a traitor to Japan.

Dean Fujioka played Saito and Callum Woodhouse played Bronson. Both did a decent job in this clearly low budget film.

The film was short and moved along briskly. I did find myself engaged by the survival attempt by the two men and I did like that the film took some time to build the relationship between them. It was more than just fighting for their lives that brought them together but a little bit of character development.

It was an okay movie that was worth a watch on Shudder. The Orang Ikan may not have been as slick as most horror movies these days in appearance, but the film’s practical effects were appreciated.

3.2 stars

Sandler Saturday

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This coming Saturday I am going to do something because I feel I need to punish myself some more.

Last weekend Netflix dropped Happy Gilmore 2. I did not review it because of one major reason.

I do not like Adam Sandler.

Then, I had never saw the entire film Happy Gilmore. I have seen individual scenes, but not the whole thing. That made me think about what other movies of Adam Sandler I had not seen. I pulled up the list of Sandler movies and I had not seen very many at all.

What I have seen: The Wedding Singer, Big Daddy, Anger Management, Grown Ups 2, Uncut Gems, Spaceman, Hustle, all three Hotel Transylvanias, Leo, and Pixels.

That left a bunch of other Sandler movies, including some of the biggest of his career, that I have not seen. I thought that it might not have been fair of me to hate on Sandler so much without having seen some of these films. Of the ones I have seen, I did like The Wedding Singer, Big Daddy, Anger Management, Uncut Gems, Leo and Hustle. I hated Grown Ups 2 and Pixels. I did not like the Hotel Transylvania series, but did not hate them. That was a better percent of liking than I expected.

So I decided that this Saturday, I will watch as many Sandler movies as I can stand. I have not confirmed the actual list of films, but I plan on kicking off with Happy Gilmore and I may then do the sequel on Sunday.

There are times when I wonder why I am doing this to myself. I watched War of the Worlds on Prime this morning despite knowing it was terrible. This could be a massive fail of a day for me. Some of the films on Sandler’s list are just so reviled by the whole (aka Jack and Jill), should I really put myself through that?

Well, I’m going to do it. Pray for me.

Films for Sandler Saturday

#1. Happy Gilmore

#2. Punch-Drunk Love

#3. The Waterboy

#4. Murder Mystery

#5. Jack and Jill

#6. Billy Madison

#7. Mr. Deeds

And that brings the Sandler Saturday to an end. That was about all I can handle of Adam Sandler. My overall thoughts… I think there are some movies of Adam Sandler that I can like. There are too many of them that are just terrible.

Maybe I can approach Adam Sandler movies with a little less hatred before I see them.

Dexter: Resurrection E4, E5

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Spoilers

“Call Me Red”

“Murder Horny”

I was able to catch up with the new season/series of Dexter: Resurrection this morning. New episodes come out on Fridays on Showtime, so I can follow it along as the season progresses for however long it will last.

I was very excited to see episode four as I knew it had some kind of serial killer dinner party at the center of it. I did not know that the guest list would be as sparkling as it was. The party was thrown by Peter Dinklage was something that I knew. He played serial killer fan Leon Prater. He was the employer of problem-solver Charley, who is played by Uma Thurman. We had seen her before.

Having Prater show Dexter (whom he believed was the Dark Passenger) around his trophy room of serial killers was creepy. Especially when he showed Dexter the hammer of the Trinity Killer and the slides of the Bay Harbor Butcher.

Then, shocks kept coming as the rest of the guests arrived. This list included Krysten Ritter as Mia, Lady Vengeance, Eric Stonestreet as family man Al, David Dastmalchian as Gareth and Neil Patrick Harris as slimy Lowell, the tattoo killer. I did not expect such a Who’s Who of actors taking these roles, and it was even more amazing when NPH wound up on Dexter’s table at the end of the episode.

The show also teased a relationship between Dexter (still pretending to be Red, the Dark Passenger) and Mia. Dexter entertained the idea of working with her until he discovered that she was not exclusively killing sexual predators as the press had assumed. He framed her for the murder of the man that Harrison had killed in the hotel. That had a lot of holes to it (including Mia telling her intended victim that he would be her first kill in New York) but the media seemed to grab the idea quickly.

Batista was not as happy about the results. He had gone to see Detective Wallace with a plan to share ideas on the case that, he said, sounded similar to the bay Harbor Butcher.

The fifth episode ended with a promising connection between Dexter and Harrison, after Harrison learned that his father had taken care of the problem with his own murder. Harrison showed Dexter signs that he was not like him, which made Dexter happy.

War of the Worlds (2025)

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To be fair, I went into the new version of War of the Worlds on Amazon Prime expecting that it would be a terrible movie. I had watched a… review of sorts.. from Dan Murrell and it was a remarkably entertaining video, you can see HERE.

I also had watched Jeremy Jahns’ review, that he dubbed War of the Worlds “dogshit.”

So, my expectations could not have been lower, but my morbid curiosity overcame my better judgment.

Told in screen time (like much better movies Searching, Unfriended, Host), War of the Worlds featured Ice Cube as William Radford, an NSA computer security analysis, who is in charge of watching the people of the US. According to Rotten Tomatoes, “A computer security analyst working for the U.S. government finds his daily life disrupted by an alien attack. Accustomed to dealing with virtual threats, his struggle extends to secrets the government may be hiding.”

After watching it, I can why everyone hated this movie. It is truly bad. Everything about it was terrible. The acting was terrible. The story full of holes. Nothing makes sense. Characters do the stupidest things.

I do love to see Clark Gregg in roles. The former Agent Coulson is great, but even he could not make up for this travessty.

Now, this is one of those movies that had some laughs in it, but it was not written to be funny. Some of the situations were just so ridiculous that they couldn’t help but be laughable. It feels like a film that would be great for the RiffTrax guys to riff on.

The biggest part is how blatant the Amazon Prime advertising was in the film. If you did not know that this was showing on Amazon Prime, the product placement and reference would surely show you. If only I knew where to get an Amazon Prime gift card.

Truly one of the worst movies of the year.

0.3 stars

What We Do in the Shadows Season 6

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Spoilers

Today I finished the final season of What We Do in the Shadows on Disney +. Season six had eleven episodes, one more than any of the other seasons. I have to say… I thought this season was the worst of the six. Not that it was bad overall, but it just did not feel like it was scattered all over the place.

These were a few of the highlights for me:

  • Laszlo’s ghost father arriving was a funny bit. His father trying to take over Laszlo’s body was a fun scene.
  • I enjoyed the Monster, created by Laszlo and Colin Robinson, but that joke ran out of steam during the season.
  • The big night for the Baron led to the vampires looking to kill the group. This felt familiar (no pun intended), but I thought it was one of the better episodes of the season.
  • I did like the concept of Nandor and Guillermo forming a crime fighting duo. I would have liked more of this during the season instead of a joke at the end.
  • The Finale. I’ll talk about that in a little while.

Low lights:

  • Jerry. Though it was funny that they forgot to awaken another vampire who used to live with them as he entered “super slumber,” the character of Jerry was hardly worth the time and turned out to be a throw away as the season progressed.
  • Guillermo working at the office. It had some funny moments, but it did not work well for me. It was lackluster.
  • They repeated a couple of beats from the series, including how Nandor was ready to go to war with the TV show filming outside.
  • Sleep hypnosis. Nandor as Richard Nixon was funny, but overall the idea was barely enough for an episode.
  • Nandor’s Army? That felt like a waste.

Let’s talk about the finale. I loved this. It was easily the best episode of season 6. It was so meta that I found it highly entertaining. The documentary filming was coming to an end and Guillermo was having trouble accepting it. They had so many fun meta lines which were referring to the documentary, but in reality were designed toward the actual show itself. My favorite was Nadja, who, when talking about how the documentary should end, mentioned how the doc should have ended last year after Guillermo was turned back to human after being a vampire. This line basically said the fifth season finale would have made a better ending to the show than anything done during season 6. She was 100% accurate.

They added some parody endings that came about when Nadja hypnotized the audience. The first one was a spoof of The Usual Suspects. The next two, which came as post credit scenes, were one like Newhart, with Nandor having a dream and telling Guillermo, who is in bed with him, about it. The third spoof was one of Rosemary’s Baby, with Nadja playing the role of Rosemary (and Colin Robinson back as a baby again). These were a lot of fun and an enjoyable way to end the series.

With the whole group (except Guillermo) singing “We’ll Meet Again” was a wonderful moment. Even better was when Laszlo exclaimed, “Now, everyone but the Guide!” because of how badly she was singing. I laughed out loud at that line, which was said off screen.

While this season would be my least favorite of the six, What We Do in the Shadows is one of my favorite comedies of all time. The stories were great. The characters were a hoot. It was very enjoyable. I do think it was time for the show to come to an end [although I would have loved more of the crime fighting Nandor (aka The Phantom…Menace) & Guillermo (aka The Cowboy Kid)].

Bad Guys 2

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Bad Guys 2 is the newest animated film from DreamWorks, released this weekend. It was a sequel to a surprise hit from a few years ago.

The previous movie was fine, but I did not love it. How would the sequel rate in my mind by comparison? About the same really. Honestly, I would say that this sequel is a little better than the first one.

The Bad Guys are a group of reformed criminals who found it difficult to get opportunities as former criminals in the world. After struggling to find gainful employment on the right side of the law, the Bad Guys are recruited by a new group of criminals to join them for a gigantic theft on a worldwide scale.

I had some troubles with this movie. In particular, I did not like the style of animation that they were using. There was something that I was just not on board with in the animation. I believe it was the way they mixed the three dimensional animation with two dimensional flat looking animation. A lot of it was the eyes of the characters, which seemed to be a different animation style than the rest of the characters’ bodies. It bothered me and it took me out of the story several times.

I was not a huge fan of the story being told either, though I did appreciate the messages that the story was holding to and how they were looking at certain concepts. They definitely looked at how difficult it was to “go good” when no one believed you had gone good. Some of the story was a little slow and predictable.

Of course, they spent a lot of time with the fart jokes. Now, I shouldn’t criticize that since I found the fart jokes in Naked Gun today funny, but they kept it at a scene or so where as this was a main character trait for Mr. Piranha.

However, I will eventually recommend this movie and the biggest reason is for the characters involved and the voice actors of the film. The voice work is easily the best part of the movie. Whether it be Sam Rockwell as Mr. Wolf, the lead of the film, or Zazie Beetz as Diane, his love interest and the current governor. Whether it be Marc Meron as Mr. Snake and his love interest Susan, voiced by the wonderful Natasha Lyonne. Whether it be Danielle Brooks as the main villain Kitty Kat or Craig Robinson as Mr. Shark. This cast was great.

I left out Anthony Ramos as Mr. Piranha, Awkwafina as Ms. Tarantula, Alex Borstein as Chief (actually she is the Commissioner) Misty Luggins (and I think she stole all the scenes she was in), and Maria Bakalova as Pigtail. All of these characters had their moments in the film and helped pull what was not the best film I had seen into a much more watchable time at the theater.

In the end, I am giving this a higher rating than the original, but neither of these Bad Guys films are knocking my socks off. They are okay and that is about it.

3.3 stars

What We Do in the Shadows Season 5

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Spoilers

I binged season five of What We Do in the Shadows today and it was a great season once again. This show is one of the most consistently funny shows on television.

This season had several running storylines that carried through most of the year. These included:

  • Guillermo’s slow transformation into a vampire after giving money to Derek to turn him. Little did Guillermo know how much of an insult that would be to his master.
  • A hex that had been cast over Nadja, causing terrible things to happen to her.
  • The Guide trying to fit in with the rest of the vampires.
  • Guillermo’s uncertainty over what he wanted to be.

My favorite episode of the season was “Local News”, which was an episode featuring a local news reporter covering the story of a water main break on the street of the vampires’ house. They interviewed Nandor and he believed he accidentally let slip that he had lived in the house for centuries. Believing that he had given away the truth that they were vampires, the group started going crazy. It was really funny and resolved wonderfully. It also crossed over with Guillermo going to see his mom to tell her about his life choice.

Another thing I really loved was the development of the character of Guillermo over the ten episodes. He was learning a lot about himself, to the point where he realized that he was not going to be able to become a vampire. His Van Helsing blood had been fighting off the vampirism all season, keeping him from fully turning.

I loved how, when Nandor finally discovered the truth, it led to another truth. Nandor never turned Guillermo into a vampire over the years because he knew that Guillermo did not have the stomach for the killing involved. Nandor really showed that he knew Guillermo well, but also cared for his familiar/bodyguard.

I also liked how the other vampires showed some concern for Guillermo, way more than they had ever done. I would go as far as to say that they all had accepted him as part of their lives. Laszlo, Nadja, Colin Robinson and even The Guide went out of their way to try and help Guillermo. That was way different than the first season.

Cameo of the season: Patton Oswalt. He became a major component in helping Nandor get past his hurt feelings, allowing him to save his friendship with Guillermo. And he did all this before being thrown to his death.

I am also a fan of how characters from previous episodes/seasons keep showing up. It gives the show a real flavor and world that has a lived in feel to it. The Baron, Derek, The Doll, Topher, Djinn etc.

Although I could see this change a bit, here is my current list of seasons in order of my favorites:

  1. Season 1
  2. Season 4
  3. Season 5
  4. Season 2
  5. Season 3

I could see seasons 4 & 5 flipping places after more time to reflect. Season six has 11 episodes instead of 10 and it is the final season of the show.

Stick S1 E10

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Spoilers

“Déjà Vu All Over Again”

I finished up the first season of Stick on Apple TV + tonight with the finale, entitled “Déjà Vu All Over Again.”

The episode featured the final day of the ReadySafe Invitational golf tourney with Santi right in the race to win. Last episode, we meet Santi’s father for the first time who showed up with all the right words for his son. We would find out that, unfortunately, little had changed.

I am going to say this about the season finale of Stick. It was extremely satisfying and I liked how things worked themselves out. However, the episode was really predictable. It followed my expectations really tightly. Yet, predictable is not always a bad thing. The episode worked narratively and the result was an enjoyable final show.

Owen Wilson is a charming and engaging actor and he does a fantastic job in this show. he had great chemistry with Peter Dager, who played Santi. Their relationship was very real and went through a lot of different stages during the ten episode season. I believed everything that happened and I felt badly for Pryce when Santi asked him to step aside so his father could caddy for him. It was clear that the choice would turn out poorly, but Pryce allowed the kid the chance to find out for himself. Then, Pryce came back and helped Santi reclaim his mindset, giving him a chance to make an unbelievable shot, even in defeat.

I wonder if this is a series that will continue into a second season. I am not sure where the story will go, unless the hints at the end of Pryce getting back into shape and rejoining the tour is where they will go. No matter what, this first season was excellent and definitely worth the watch.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #27

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SPOILERS

Part Two

The A & E documentary KISStory Part two is the story of the rock band Kiss, in the second part of their careers.

I still feel as if there are some things missing without Ace Frehley and Peter Criss’s actual involvement in the documentary. Any time Peter or Ace is heard in the doc, it is from archival footage or interviews and the doc started off with a message saying that they chose not to participate and they “do not endorse the views of this program.” That meant that this doc was from the POV of Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. I am truly curious how the story might differ.

This part of the doc started off with the band in some internal trouble, though they tried to force their way through it.

HOT TAKE: The Elder is my favorite Kiss album.

However, I may be the only one as the concept album seemed to be mentioned as one of the big mistakes of the group.

Peter Criss left the band, apparently after a concert where he was messing with the timing of the songs. That is one of the main functions of the drummer, and I could understand the feeling of betrayal that would bring up.

Ace Frehley was gone too, not long after Peter, leaving Kiss struggling with new musicians and characters from the band. They no longer had the Catman or the Spaceman in the group.

The doc showed the historic moment on MTV where KISS, for the first time, revealed themselves without the make-up and followed the band as it became another 1980s hair band.

The MTV Unplugged series was the first place where Peter and Ace returned for some songs, giving the idea that there could be a reunion at some point. The reunion tour was huge business and seemed to be a success at the start. However, the same demons that had pulled them apart in the late 70s apparently remained at this time. It was portrayed that Peter was upset over money and the perceived secondary status in the band behind Gene and Paul. I wish I had his official POV to see how accurate that was. Ace appeared to not be one who could handle the fame at the level KISS had reached.

I found myself with so much more respect for guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer, who were in the band and were removed when Ace and Peter returned. That felt tough, but they were total professionals. Tommy was even brought back in to help Peter and Ace get back to their levels of performance, and he wound up doing much of the tour manager duties.

It was a tough section involving the drummer who had replaced Peter in Kiss came up. Eric Carr came into the group and wound up dying form cancer. Paul and Gene told the story of Eric begging them to play on the song “God Gave Rock ‘N Roll To You” for the video, a song they recorded for the Bill & Ted Bogus Journey film. Paul’s description of Eric playing on that video was heartbreaking.

Both weeks of this doc ended really quickly, as it felt like something was being cut off.

I enjoyed this as I was always a fan of KISS, especially when I was younger. I was never an obsessed fan and I would be curious to hear what a deep fan thought of this documentary.

With this two-part doc series done, next week we start with a new show for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. I think the series that will be next is the HBO show, Lovecraft Country.

Stick S1 E5, E6, E7, E8, E9

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So I wanted to catch up on Stick, which is on Apple TV + and has episodes dropping on Wednesdays. I do believe the final episode of the season is this week, so I had five episodes to run through in order to get caught up.

Stick is such a great show and it is a easy watch as the episodes run around 30 minutes. It is also very well-written and compelling in a sport that does not truly entice me much.

Much like the F1: The Movie and auto racing, a film/show can be entertaining and engaging if it is intelligent and well-written, acted and smartly plotted out even if I am not a fan of the sport involved. I am not a fan of golf, but Stick is far more than just about golf.

The story of Pryce trying to help Santi to become the best he could be in the world of golf took a lot of turns, some that very not necessarily positive, but everything worked well.

That is, until Santi’s father showed up at the end of episode nine. That feels like one more major hurdle for the characters to overcome.

Some other cool highlights of the five episodes include:

  • The truth with Zero and Pryce’s deal coming out rocked Santi’s world. We knew that was going to happen when it first happened.
  • Santi and Zero have sex. This was surprising… especially with Santi looking for advice from Pryce. I really thought Pryce was going to respond differently and I liked the uncommon response he had.
  • Timothy Olyphant is always a welcome actor in any show I am watching.
  • Mitts and Elena’s relationship comes around. I like them together.
  • We get more with Pryce and his dead son. The dream of Pryce with his son, Jett, was really hard to watch.
  • The whole scam to try and get Santi into a pro PGA tournament was strange, but cool.

There was a lot of enjoyment in these episodes and I have grown to like these characters.

What We Do in the Shadows Season Four

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Spoilers

Season four of the FX show What We Do in the Shadows was next up. I liked season three, but it felt like a step down from the previous two seasons. What would season four be like?

I loved this season.

The end of season three sent the crew off in different directions. Nadja and Guillermo went to England so Nadja could be on the major vampire council. Nandor was off on his world trip. Laszlo stayed behind to raise baby Colin Robinson, who had come out of the torso of the dead body of Colin Robinson.

The first episode of the season wrapped these arcs up immediately, bringing them all back to the house, which is in a terrible condition.

Several great season-long storylines including:

  • Colin Robinson growing as a baby to a teen and so on.
  • The house and the damages to it.
  • The Vampire Nightclub- Nadja’s.
  • Nandor’s marriage and his Djinn (yes, he found a Djinn)
  • Guillermo’s continued involvement with the crew and his wish to be relevant.

My favorite story of the year was Colin Robinson as the baby and his growth, much like baby Groot from the Guardians movies. Laszlo took on a parent role for the baby, even though he was a terrible father. Guillermo stepped in several times to make sure that the baby did not die. Colin singing and dancing on the stage at Nadja’s club, his continued anger, his pounding holes in the basement walls with a hammer… all these things contributed to a wonderful arc for Colin. Or perhaps it was more of an arc for Laszlo, since Colin Robinson wound up exactly where he was when this whole thing started.

When Colin walked out in the finale looking exactly like he always did, it was a shocking moment. He did not remember anything from the past year. What was the most amazing things was the way this clearly affected Laszlo, who, though he remained quiet about it, was very melancholic over the loss of the boy who he had been raising (however poorly) over the last year. It was a subtle and deep moment for Laszlo that truly gave me some emotional investment.

My favorite episode was the surreal “Go Flip Yourself” episode that plays like it is a home renovation show with twins Bran and Toby Daltry. Toby is immediately eaten by Nadja, but the rest was as if the episode was on that show. It had a great payoff too as Brian Daltry, who led the whole renovation (as it was) turned out to be Simon the Devious and the entire Go Flip Yourself renovation show was set up as a scam to get his hands on Laszlo’s witch-skin hat again.

“Private School” was another awesome episode as they tried to get Young Colin into a private school. Nadja constantly hypnotizing the school headmaster to change their story was some comedic gold.

Other highlights included a face off with the Jersey Devil, Guillermo in a vampire fight club where he winds up fighting Nandor, Guillermo coming out as gay to his family in the most wild way possible, Guillermo’s boyfriend Freddie who Nandor developed a crush on and used one of his wishes from the Djinn to turn his wife, Marwa, into a duplicate of Freddie in every way. Then, having Freddie and Marwa-Freddie get together and cheat on Guillermo was horrible.

The finale feels as if season five may finally be the season of Guillermo as he took a bagful of money (that he had embezzled from the club) to Derek, the former vampire hunter club kid who was now a vampire, and asked him to turn him into a vampire. Is it finally going to happen? I do hope Guillermo gets what he wants because he has been such an MVP for the vampire house and he is always getting stomped upon.

Season five is next.

Murderbot S1 E3, E4, E5

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Spoilers

“Risk Assessment”

“Escape Velocity Protocol”

“Rogue War Tracker Infinite”

Okay, I love this show.

Five episodes in and I am fully in.

Sec Unit, played by Alexander Skarsgård, gives me Dexter feels. As he is narrating the show with his inner monologue, it gave me distinct “Dark Passenger” ideas as many of the internal dialogue revealed the true thoughts of the rogue unit.

I am glad that the fact that Sec Unit was rogue was revealed and did not continue to be a cover up. He revealed it in a heroic manner by trying to kill itself before he was taken over by the implant that was inserted into his head by another Sec Unit. Having the crew help remove the implant was a cool trick and surprised Sec Unit.

I hope they give Sec Unit another name soon, because I don’t like typing “Sec Unit” all the time.

It was hilarious when Ratthi tested Sec Bot’s knowledge of Sanctuary Moon to see if Sec Unit had been using the show to transmit secret messages as Gurathin believed. It was a very geeky solution.

The arrival of Leebeebee (Anna Konkle) is someone whom I absolutely do not trust. There are just too many side-eyes given by this character for me to believe that she was just o the “laundry” of the other survey team. There is more to this character than we know yet.

These episodes, at least four and five, have been ending with a great cliffhanger that make me want to continue on in the binge. I am trying to keep from watching the final five episodes of the first season, as I have some of the other shows that I want to get in too.

I am loving Murderbot so far. I think Alexander Skarsgård has been sensational so far and I do love the relationship between the Sec Bot and Ayda Mensah. Mensah is one of my favorite characters on the show so far. She is such a great person and a leader who will not just choose the easy choice, even if Sec Bot thinks it is a mistake.

This has been awesome so far and I can’t wait to see Murderbot continue.

Stick S1 E3, E4

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Spoilers

“Daddy Issues”

“Zero Sum Game”

Episodes three and four of Apple TV’s new series, Stick, starring Owen Wilson were really great. I have to say though I am a little disappointed with Pryce and his weaknesses that are coming through. He does feel manipulative in his involvement with Santi and he is clearly also a problem with betting. These will both come back to haunt him later in the season, I am sure.

I do like the first few steps between Mitts and Elena. The whole “Mitts is trapped beneath the bed” part of episode three was fun and was a good way to learn about who these characters are.

We learned specifically what happened to Pryce’s son as Mitts told Elena about it after she had made an off-hand comment about Pryce not knowing about kids because he doesn’t have any. The little boy died at 4 from cancer, which is way too horrible to even think about. Elena immediately made the connection between the loss of his son and the meltdown Pryce had on the golf course that ruined his career. I had inferred this as well, but knowing the details make it even more painful and allow us to understand where Pryce is coming from.

We are introduced to Zero, played by Lilli Kay. I had seen her on the IMDB page and I did not know who she was, but she has been added as a “love interest” for Santi. Not sure I loved this character at this point, as she was portrayed as a far left idealist with big words for the society around them.

I did not think that the deal made by Zero and Pryce was a good idea. It will absolutely explode on them later in the season. Why they don’t just stick to the truth? It is such a better choice.

Stick has been solid so far and I am looking forward to see these seeds that the show is planting grow as the season progresses.

Stick S1 E1, E2

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Spoilers

“Pilot”

“Grossweiner’s Law”

Owen Wilson starred in a new series on Apple TV + called Stick and it had been on my radar recently. With my TV shows currently lacking, I decided to get a few new ones to watch over the next few weeks or so. Stick was the first one to try.

I really love Owen Wilson. Well, to be fair, I was not that familiar with Wilson until he took on the role as Mobius on Loki, Owen Wilson has been one of my favorite actors. And after watching the first two episodes of this series, you can tell that he has found another awesome role to play.

There is an absolute feel to this series, and, although it is early, I can say that the show Stick gave me Ted Lasso vibes. I really enjoyed the first two episodes. Owen Wilson is utterly charming in the role, again making a comparison to Jason Sudeikis’s Ted Lasso.

The plot is Owen Wilson played Pryce Cahill, a former pro golfer who had a meltdown on a course and sent his life spiraling into chaos. The show has not specifically told us what caused the meltdown, but it certainly implied heavily and I feel as if I have a clear idea of what happened without even going into specifics.

Pryce is on the course to give gold lessons when he hears a 17-year old boy driving the golf ball on the driving range. Pryce was unbelievably impressed with the boy’s swing and tries to convince the boy to allow Pryce to take him on the circuit.

The Boy, Santi, had that natural swing that told Pryce that he was special. Santi was not excited about it and worried that Pryce was simply a stalker. Pryce went to see Santi’s mother, Elena (Mariana Treviño) and tried to convince her to let him take Santi on the road.

The show also featured Marc Maron, as Pryce’s friend ad former caddie, and Judy Greer as Pryce’s ex-wife Amber-Lynn.

I really liked the set up of these characters. There are life details that we will be learning as the show progresses that will make these characters deep and well developed. There is something that happened with Santi’s father. Something happened to Pryce and Amber-Lynn’s child. I’m excited to see more of this show.

What We Do in the Shadows S3

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Spoilers

So I dove into the third season of What We Do in the Shadows this morning, planning another binge watch of the ten episodes. I do like this model of taking some time and binging this series. I pulled it up on Disney +.

Overall, I have to say that I think season three was not as entertaining as season two, which has been my favorite so far. However, season two was more of a bunch of individual episodes whereas season three has a running throughline of the season. Although you may not know about it at the start, it does all pay off in spades by the end.

I was finding myself liking Colin Robinson more each episode this year, so the death of this character was tough. Seeing him as a Colin-faced baby at the end of episode 10 was rough too. I did enjoy how Laszlo was bonding with Colin Robinson through the season, with the knowledge that at 100 years old, energy vampires die.

Nandor’s eternal-life crisis was another storyline that progressed through the season, and came to a head at the end. He tried to join a cult, take the Super Slumber and, eventually, choosing to take a trip across the world. It was a sad ending for him too as he expected Guillermo to accompany him on the trip and he promised the familiar/bodyguard that he would turn him into a vampire at the end. Of course. Guillermo would face yet another trouble.

Poor Guillermo had a tough season as well, as he felt rejected and afraid of winding up alone. As the vampires all were ready to make their away out of the house and on adventures, Guillermo did not know what he was to do. Of course, his skills as a vampire killer was shown off several times during the season, including a cool final battle with Nandor. I was shocked when Laszlo, who was preparing for Nadja and his trip to England, flipped Guillermo into the coffin that was meant to be for Laszlo and sent him in his place. It was all because Laszlo needed to stay behind and look after baby Colin Robinson.

Even though I may not have considered this my favorite of the seasons, it continued to be extremely funny, even if some of the situations turn out to be silly. It is consistently one of the funniest shows on TV.