Friday, May 31, 2024

Wicked Little Letters

Inspired by true events, Wicked Little Letters takes us back to the seaside town of Littlehampton in West Sussex which was turned upside down in the 1920s by a barrage of hate mail to a local spinster (Olivia Colman) whose controlling father (Timothy Spall) blames on their Irish immigrant neighbor (Jessie Buckley) known for her bawdy behavior and near-constant swearing that is mirrored in the letters. While most are willing to believe the worst of Rose (Buckley), despite any real evidence, a few in the town, including the sole police woman (Anjana Vasan) and even some of the victim's friends (who, like others in the town eventually become targets of the letters) dig a little deeper to discover the truth of the situation.

Wicked Little Liars is a fun little film with aspects of both a farce and a whodunit that never goes all in on either one. While I think turning up either the mystery or the comedy could of helped in spots, it's still an enjoyable 100 minutes featuring strong performances punctuating the unusual tale.

Atlas *Shrug*

Born from tales of robots rising up against their creators explored in countless science fiction novels and films over decades, Atlas is a lacking entry in the genre that offers so little in terms of original ideas one begins to wonder if the script might have been AI generated. Set in a distant future where AI have risen up against humanity we then jump to an even more distant future where humans are hunting the AI leader having escaped them decades prior.

Earth's best hope is the hostile Atlas Shepherd (Jennifer Lopez) who doesn't trust technology (except when she does) and whose mother (Lana Parrilla) was the creator of the AI (Simu Liu) who killed millions before fleeing to the stars. Now an advisor to soem kind of world task force, Atlas hitches a ride with soldiers using BattleTech-inspired suits to an inhospitable planet to to locate an intelligence that will continue to be one-step ahead of them.

Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Nightwing #114

Kicking off a new five-issue arc, Nightwing #114 catches up with our titular character in the mountains looking to recover something he's lost. Intercut with these sequences are flashbacks to recent events which begin to slowly tease what eventually led Dick Grayson into the wild. The issue does what it sets out to do, both in starting the slow burn of events back home and giving us a current Dick Grayson looking to find himself once more.

Fallout - The Beginning

The season finale of "The Beginning" provides answers for some characters, hard choices, new alliances, and new beginnings. Lucy (Ella Purnell) completes her journey, delivering the head to Lee Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury) and finding her father (Kyle MacLachlan). However, she also gets far more than she was prepared for as Lee fills in the past of Lucy's parents, he father's lies, where her childhood memories of the surface come from, and what really happened to her mother.

Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #1

Marvel has a hard time deciding what to do with Spider-Gwen. The latest series, rather than jerking her around the multiverse or returning her home, places our heroine in the proper Marvel dimension having been relocated by the Time Variance Authority. Part of that relocation is under the condition that her days as a super-hero are over and she needs to live a life under the radar. Yeah, that's not happening.

Tuesday, May 28, 2024

Delicious in Dungeon - Harpy/Chimera

With the three parties together and the secrets of how Marcille (Emily Rudd) attempted to save Falin (Lisa Reimold) revealed, "Harpy/Chimera" deals with the fallout revealing Shuro's (Shinji Kawada) complicated emotions to the brother of the woman he loves. However, despite the internal arguments, the big fight comes with the arrival of the Chimera Falin has been turned into. After the fight, and what is left of his sister's departure, Laios (Damien C. Haas) doubles down on his plan to find and defeat the mad mage knowing that this is the only way his sister can be saved. 

Black Widow & Hawkeye #3

The third issue of the series is more interesting in its flashbacks than the present where we don't see much advancement to the story other than Clint Barton feeling some enhanced anger since the symbiote saved his life and being haunted by its thoughts which don't have a high opinion of the man or his current plans (on his plans, the symbiote has a point).

Sunday, May 26, 2024

My Adventures with Superman - More Things in Heaven and Earth

The season premiere of My Adventures with Superman foreshadows Jimmy's (Ishmel Sahid) inevitable screw-up of Flamebird and sends our three intrepid reporters north to the crashed ship in the Arctic where Clark (Jack Quaid) will have a talk with his Ghost Dad (Jason Marnocha), Lois (Alice Lee) and Jimmy will run into Amanda Waller (Debra Wilson) and her goons, Lois will learn the fate of her father, and we see the creation of the Fortress of Solitude (well, sort of). When the show sticks with its primary characters and their relationships it continues to entertain, although it also struggles in terms of larger plot, villains, and giving Superman exciting things to do (other than beat up the same generic losers we saw last season).

Saturday, May 25, 2024

Amazing Spider-Man #50

The oversized Amazing Spider-Man #50 gives us the return of the Green Goblin... again. Starting with the tease from the character who after this issue will be known as the Walking Brain, we get warnings for and about Peter Parker which leads to the discovery that Norman Osborn has lost himself to the Green Goblin once again. Is Spidey surprised? Are we? Hardly. In fact there are several panels where Spider-Man yells at the Goblin reiterating he never trusted Norman and all of this was inevitable. Nice art, though.

Friday, May 24, 2024

IF

IF is an uneven, if sometimes quite charming, family film centered around 12 year-old Bea (Cailey Fleming) who discovers imaginary friends are real while staying with her grandmother (Fiona Shaw) after her father (John Krasinski) is hospitalized in need of surgery. The imaginary world is shown to Bea through Cal (Ryan Reynolds) who is sort of the self-appointed agent for the imaginary friends (called "IFs" for short) attempting to unite those who have been forgotten with new children.

There are quite a few of interesting pieces here, although the film does become a bit much in some of them (such as the crazier IFs and the level of wackiness of Bea's father which highlights her family's imagination but also makes you wonder if the entire family may be suffering from some level of dementia more than once over course of the movie). There are also certainly some plot holes such as why is the abandoned amusement park where the IFs live in perfect condition and how do the IFs effect the world?

Thursday, May 23, 2024

Doctor Who - Boom

Inspired by a scene from "Genesis of the Daleks" where the Doctor extricates himself out of a landmine situation with relative ease, comes "Boom." The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) land in a battlefield on Kastarion 3 where the Doctor accidentally steps on a landmine and is forced to hold his position for the entire episode. It's an interesting setup for an episode, as in many adventures it would be the companion, not the Doctor, to get themselves into a situation in need of saving.

Wonder Woman #9

Wonder Woman #9 is an interesting, and effective, way to prolong the Sovereign storyline without any real advancement. We need to know Wonder Woman is still being held by the evil organization but rather than show us her rotting in a cell over months, instead we see the world Diana creates in order to not fall into despair. And at the center of that world is Steve Trevor who acts as her sounding board and, in one crucial moment, reminds the Amazon that she can't, even in a moment of weakness, ever give in.

City Hunter

Certainly less wacky than the 1993 adaptation of the manga of the same name, but still very much over-the-top, the new City Hunter still plays up the womanizing of private investigator Ryo Saeba (Ryohei Suzuki) and his unlikely partnership with the younger sister (Misato Morita) of his dead partner (Masanobu Andô) who is determined to help him discover the reason behind her brother's murder and the number of odd occurrences around the city which is traced back to a drug manufactured and tested in secret on the homeless including the cat girl and cosplayer (Asuka Hanamura) Ryo was hired to find.

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Dead Boy Detectives - The Case of the Lighthouse Leapers

For their latest case, the detectives investigate a number of people who willingly are jumping to their deaths into the sea from the local lighthouse. Playing on the ideas of a siren's call, albeit one with a more unusual creature revealed a the end, offers an unusual setup that is quite effective, especially after Crystal (Kassius Nelson)  becomes attracted to the call. The town's reluctance to acknowledge the supernatural, including the local police, as illustrated in no one believing the eye witness of multiple people seeing a suicide helps explain how so much wacky stuff can go down without anyone giving it any mind.

Power

Director Yance Ford's documentary examines the history and historical impact the rise of police power has had in the United States. While not all of the various threads work equally well, the film does a solid job in explaining the genesis of police in terms of methods of stability and control of the status quo which have almost always been at odds with the needs of the disenfranchised. The film pulls in interviews from several authors and experts on the subject, including spending time on the job with an African-American police officer, as well as making us of various archival footage.

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Abominable and the Invisible City - Tales from the Fox's Tails

When people across the city report their prize possessions being stolen by a creature they can only hazily remember, Yi (Chloe Bennet), Jin (Tenzing Norgay Trainor), and Peng (Ethan Loh) go in search of the Nine-Tailed Fox who has a hypnotizing effect to distract and trick its victims and steal items they believe they need. After stealing an important textbook from Jin, and injuring Everest, the fox distracts Yi forcing Peng to go to Burnish (Alan Cumming) for help.

Bob's Burgers - Butt Sweat and Fears

As a family activity of building something in the basement out of trash leads to a late-night burger speakeasy, Tina (Dan Mintz) is excited about a boy-girl party with dancing hoping to earn a little "upper butt action" from Jimmy Jr. (H. Jon Benjamin). While neither hits it out of the park, both storylines are solid with Bob (Mintz) and Linda (John Roberts) getting dragged into an odd, but ultimately fun, situation by their kids, and in this case Teddy (Larry Murphy), while Tina's comedy of errors leads to a different night than she had planned.

G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #306

Despite his prominence on the cover, Snake Eyes doesn't get a big role in G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #306. In fact we only get the Joe on a training course shooting some targets with an even shorter cameo from Scarlett. That's indictive of the rest of the issue as well with jumps around quite a bit, almost like a checklist making sure to hit several plot points that may play off at a later date.

Monday, May 20, 2024

Doom

Galactus is out of control and the heroes of the universe have failed to stop him. The oversized one-shot is heavy on narration filling in events as Valeria finds the remains of Doctor Doom. Already failing himself to stop an out-of-control Galactus driven mad by hunger, Doom learns from Valeria that the heroes of Earth (and those across the universe) didn't fair much better. The celestial entities of the Marvel Universe also fell short. And now countless worlds, including Earth, have fallen. It seems the universe's only hope is Doom.

Will Trent - Residente o Visitante

While a good chunk of the first-half of the episode features Will (Ramón Rodríguez) in Puerto Rico with Antonio (John Ortiz), his part in an investigation doesn't begin until he's back home and discovers one of the friends he met on the island has been killed in Atlanta. The episode works to play on Antonio's distrust of the police, particularly the FBI whose past with Puerto Rico is far from stellar, as well as give a chance for Will, Antonio, and the recovering Angie (Erika Christensen) to all work together to solve a crime the current FBI agent in charge (Christy St. John) seems all too willing to sweep under the rug.

Usagi Yojimbo: The Crow #2

We don't get all that much of Miyamoto Usagi in Usagi Yojimbo: The Crow #2 as the rabbit ronin is talked into waiting for Yukichi's return by Gen and Stray Dog who both believe the hotheaded young warrior will return after he cools off. That means the bulk of the issues stays with Yukichi who does realize his overreaction, but before he can return he is jumped by a number of a mercenaries after the bounty related to those he and Usagi ran into on their way to town. Although he fights them off for a bit, the interference by a local kid quickly ends the battle.

Sunday, May 19, 2024

Tales of the Empire - The Path of Anger

Star Wars Sunday takes us back to the second episode in the three-episode arc filling in the backstory of jump forward to a disillusioned Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) working for the Empire as the magistrate of Corvus who at this point are already bristling under her control and inability to make good on the promises she made to locals.

Saturday, May 18, 2024

Action Comics #1065

Superman Saturday takes us to the latest issue of Action Comics where unlikely partnerships are the name of the game. Part of the ongoing House of Brainiac arc, the issue features Superman working with Lobo to fight Braniac's army of Czarnians who he's using to kidnap super-powered heroes and villains from dozens of worlds to power his mad plans (which have still yet to be fully revealed but the apparently do somehow involve the last surviving city of the villain's home planet of Colu).

Wednesday, May 15, 2024

X-Men '97 - Tolerance is Extinction

The three-part season finale of X-Men '97 races through several more thread from different X-Men storylines, offers more Marvel hero cameos (although none are present when the fate of the world is at stake), wraps up the Bastion (Theo James) storyline, sees humanity's actions nearly wipe out all life on Earth, and sets up the next season with the team separated across time and presumed dead. With Magneto (Matthew Waterson) freed, he uses his powers to shut down the Earth's magnetic field leaving the Earth in darkness and creates an asteroid home for any mutants who wish to leave the world that hates them.

This is WonderCon 2024 Best Cosplay Music Video

Alex Rider - The Shot

Picking up immediately from the previous episode's cliffhanger, we learn Alex (Otto Farrant) didn't shoot Mrs. Jones (Vicky McClure). The Department takes him into custody and then returns him home while making it appear that he succeeded but was arrested afterwards. Returning home, Alex gets a reunion with Jack (Ronke Adekoluejo), Kyra (Marli Siu), and Tom (Brenock O’Connor) catching them up on his adventures with SCORPIA, but his role in the affair is fare from over.

Transformers #8

Transformers #8 is most notable for the number of familiar faces introduced to the Energon Universe for the first time. In an issue that gives us a good look at what the Decepticons could be under Soundwave's leadership we get Astrotrain, who was found trapped on the unearthed Nemesis spaceship that brough the Decepticons to Earth, We also get the return of Jetfire (although only in plane form), as well as and appearances on Cybertron by both Ultra Magnus and one of my favorites in Shockwave.

Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Dead Boy Detectives - The Case of the Devlin House

After getting multiple offers from the town's ghost population, Edwin (George Rexstrew), Charles (Jayden Revri), and Crystal (Kassius Nelson) decide to investigate a haunted house where a family (Hannah Bos, Christine Chatelain, Jason Deline, and Audrey Mallett) has been stuck in the loop of their murders since the 80s. The loop, and the struggle to find its trigger, offers an intriguing mystery and a nice mix of macabre humor and horror for the investigators (especially after Charles' recklessness gets him trapped in the loop as well). 

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

It's hard to imagine a more unexpected hit in 2000 than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but the film surpassed all expectations, and a mainstream movie-going audience which at that point was far less accepting of foreign films, becoming both a critical and box office smash. Adapted from the novel, the film centers around renowned Wudang swordsman Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat) and his longtime ally Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) as well as the governor's daughter Jen (Ziyi Zhang) who is secretly the apprentice of the villainous Jade Fox (Pei-Pei Cheng) and her love for desert bandit named Lo (Chang Chen).

SHAZAM! #11

Some challenges present themselves when Child Protective Services arrives to examine the house and make a ruling on the Vasquezes planning on adopting all of the kids. First, outside, the house is attacked by giant Man-Bat-ish creatures known as Jeepers Hybrids (who also reveal the Rock of Eternity is leaking magic into the world which sounds like it could become an ongoing issue). Second, the secret The Captain has been keeping from Billy is finally revealed.

Fallout - The Trap / The Radio

Setting up the season finale, "The Trap" and "The Radio" look both to the past and to the future. Flashbacks show us more of Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins) steering even stronger into his promotions for Vault-Tec, despite his discomfort at being their spokesman, in order to please his wife (Frances Turner). A conversation with a friend, his wife letting comments slip about the "good" vaults and why no dogs will be allowed, and a conversation with the woman who would become Lee Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury) force Cooper to begin questioning whether or not Vault-Tec is a good thing and even spying on his wife where he will eventually discover, to his horror, the lengths the company will go to in order to make their product a success.

Monday, May 13, 2024

The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #5

Believing the location might hold secrets to solve his condition, Batman and Mystery, Inc. join Kirk Langstrom to visit the mansion of Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The comic plays on the gang's previous adventure at the mansion in "Nowhere to Hyde" from Scooby Doo, Where Are You! The investigation into a cure is quickly sidetracked both by the discovery of Mr. Hyde (Helga in the costume from the original series) haunting the mansion to protect its secrets and Langstrom transforming into Man-Bat.

Will Trent - Why Is Jack's Arm Bleeding?

In an episode that deals with the murder of a young girl whose remains are found 13 years after her disappearance, "Why is Jack's Arm Bleeding?" also wraps up the flashbacks and hallucinations of Will's (Ramón Rodríguez) younger self as the new case has just enough similarities to shake loose some repressed memories and reveal a guilt Will has been carrying around with him for half of his life. The sequences have been effective over the first-half of the season, but won't mind them fading away. After a couple of red herrings in young men who fancied the victim, Will discovers the true motive and method of murder.

Zorro: Man of the Dead #4

Zorro: Man of the Dead concludes with Diego being rescued from certain death by the locals but his sister Rosa still a captive of El Rojo. With his sister captured, with the proof needed to bring in the DEA back in the hands of the cartel, and with limited use of his left arm, Diego admits defeat and plans to turn himself into El Rojo to try and save his sister and the other inhabitants of La Vega.

Friday, May 10, 2024

Doctor Who - Space Babies

After introducing us to the Fifteenth Doctor's (Ncuti Gatwa) new companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) on Christmas, the new series of Doctor Who kicks off with "Space Babies" in which The Doctor takes Ruby 150 million years into the past for a quick joke about chaos theory before jumping 19,000 years into the future and landing on a space station baby farm run by space babies who mistake the travelers for their missing parents. The only adult on the station is an accountant (Golda Rosheuvel) who has been hiding behind the scenes pretending to be a robotic nanny after the other crew left when the station was ordered to shut down.

The Mummy

Returning to theaters 25 years after its release, The Mummy is an odd bit of entertainment. When it was released you could refer to it as a poor man's Indiana Jones (of course, that was before the two lackluster attempts to revive that franchise in both Crystal Skull and Dial of Destiny). Part B-movie serial, part Evil Dead 2-style horror flick (never read the ancient evil book aloud!), and part wacky over-the-top comedy, it's hard to argue that The Mummy is a good film, in fact in many ways it's certainly not, but that doesn't mean it can't provide a good time proving that charm can get you an awful long way.

Wednesday, May 8, 2024

Blood Hunt #1

Spinning out of the peripheries of Moon Knight comes The Structure, a vampire cult who have used dark magic to detonate Darkforce wielders all over the globe and use them as portals to pour in darkness from the outer dimension blocking out the sun and allowing vampires to storm the world while their super-powered number known as the Bloodcoven take down the Avengers. The revelation of who is behind the coordinated attacks is held back until the end of the issue as Doctor Strange discovers he, the Avengers, and the world have been betrayed by a former friend.

The Veil - The Camp

There's an interesting idea at the heart of The Veil that might make for a tense 100-minute thriller. I have some doubts on whether or not it can be stretched over six hours, however. The first episode is mainly setup as MI6 Agent Imogen Salter (Elisabeth Moss) extracts Adilah El Idrissi (Yumna Marwan) from a refugee camp before she can be killed by those in the camp who have discovered she worked with ISIS. The premise of the show involves Imogene working the asset on the road while attempting to extract a vital piece of data without giving too much away. The setup isn't half bad, foreshadowing issues MI6 may have with a trigger-happy American (Josh Charles) who isn't too happy with the current situation.

NCIS: Hawai'i - Divided We Conquer

Setting a record for the shortest NCIS spin-off ever (there's a challenge for you NCIS: Sydney), NCIS: Hawai'i kicks off its series finale with Dr. Analisa Cruz (Rachel Marsh) getting away with the bioweapon, NCIS: Elite dead, and Hanna (LL Cool J) getting infected by Compound-X. Tennant (Vanessa Lachey), Jesse (Noah Mills), and Dr. Chase (Seana Kofoed) work on keeping Hanna alive while Kai (Alex Tarrant), Lucy (Yasmine Al-Bustami), Ernie (Jason Antoon), and Whistler (Tori Anderson) work to track the missing terrorists (who return to Hawaii) and the Compound-X.

Tuesday, May 7, 2024

Dead Boy Detectives - The Case of the Dandelion Shrine

The second episode of the series provides a reason for the Dead Boy Detectives to remain in town, with the Cat King's (Lukas Gage) spell forcing Edwin (George Rexstrew) to remain, as well as provide a new mystery which will bring Crystal's (Kassius Nelson) neighbor into the fold. Niko's (Yuyu Kitamura) explosion of color, seen in the previous episode, is explained by parasitic Sprites () in habiting her body. Together, Edwin, , and Crystal manage to get the meddlesome duo out of Niko without killing her. However, the near death experience does allow her to see the boys as well.

Supercop

Supercop, also known as Police Story 3: Supercop and Jackie Chan's Supercop, is the third film of the Police Story franchise featuring Jackie Chan as "Kevin" Chan Ka-Kui who goes undercover alongside Michelle Yeoh to break up a drug smuggling ring. The film is most notable for its martial art fight sequence and some of the most memorable stunts for its time period as Kevin works to befriend one of the gang's henchmen (Wah Yuen). Although things are initially successful, Kevin's girlfriend (Maggie Cheung) accidentally breaks his cover leading to her kidnapping and the film's final action sequence.

Space Ghost #1

Bringing the characters from the short-run 60s cartoon into the present, Space Ghost #1 gives the first meeting between the vigilante space cop Space Ghost and the young siblings Jace and Jan whose home is attacked, and whose father is killed, by space pirates whose numbers include fan-favorite Brak (albeit without his nasally charm). Reimagined with a more serious tone than the original series, Space Ghost gets a bit of the early days Batman treatment jumping out of the shadows with the evil-doers surprised that he actually exists and not sure what to make of him.

Monday, May 6, 2024

Fallout - The Past

Life in Vault 33 and vault history are a big part of the aptly titled "The Past." Betty (Leslie Uggams) wins the overseer election leading Norm (Moises Arias) further down a rabbit hole after he discovers every overseer ever elected came from Vault 31 and whatever tragedy happened in Vault 32 seems to point to that direction as well. The division of the Vault 33 inhabitants leads some to relocated to the refurbished 32 (which has been sanitized completely from the shit show that Norm observed). 

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #5

As 8-Ball takes his turn on Dr. Andrea Sterman‘s couch discussing the loss of Moon Knight (and providing insight on how super-villains viewed Moon Knight), Tigra and Hunter’s Moon continue their fight against the unmasked the Shroud who reveals the reason to why he assumed Marc Spector's alter-ego (and provides the opportunity for Tigra to explain why his choice was so wrong).

Alex Rider - Target

After having his world rocked by a revelation about how his father died, Alex (Otto Farrant) is faced with some hard choices about who to trust and what to believe. "Target" offers a couple of sequences highlighting this struggle. In the first Alex arranges a short rendezvous with Jack (Ronke Adekoluejo) offering an chance for a preemptive apology for the path the Widow (Sofia Helin) has put him on to become, what she claims, is the true Alex Rider.. The second, of course, is the end of the episode where Alex comes face to face with The Department agent who ordered the death of his father. Both literally and figuratively, the episode ends with a bang.

Saturday, May 4, 2024

Star Wars Day 2024 Jedi Pack

Also check out Pack 1, Pack 2, Pack 3, Pack 4, Pack 5, Pack 6, Pack 7, Pack 8, Pack 9, Pack 10, Pack 11, Pack 12, Pack 13, Pack 14, Pack 15, Pack 16, Pack 17, Pack 18, Pack 19, Pack 20, Pack 21, Pack 22, Star Wars Day 2019 Pack, Revenge of the Fifth Pack, Revenge of the Fifth 2022 Pack, Star Wars Day 2024 Slave Leia Pack, and the Star Wars Disney Princess Pack.

Tales of the Empire - The Path of Fear

The first episode of the animated Tales of the Empire series provides an origin for Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) last seen in Disney+'s Ahsoka series. We witness the slaughter of Morgan's tribe by the Separatist Droid Army and the death of her mother to General Grievous (Matthew Wood). Given shelter by the Mountain Clan, the Nightsister chooses against a new path and instead to arm herself and other young witches bringing them into the path of the army.

Star Wars Day 2024 Slave Leia Awesome Pack

Also check out Pack 1, Pack 2, Pack 3, Pack 4, Pack 5, Pack 6, Pack 7, Pack 8, Pack 9, Pack 10, Pack 11, Pack 12, Pack 13, Pack 14, Pack 15, Pack 16, Pack 17, Pack 18, Pack 19, Pack 20, Pack 21, Pack 22, Star Wars Day 2019 Pack, Revenge of the Fifth Pack, Revenge of the Fifth 2022 Pack, and the Star Wars Disney Princess Pack.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch - Flash Strike / The Cavalry Has Arrived

As expected, Star Wars: The Bad Batch ends in predictable fashion. We get the infiltration of an Imperial base (again) and the escape from an Imperial base (again). And, as expected, the squad manage to extract Omega (Michelle Ang) without a single casualty on their side. The other children are also rescued with the help of Emerie Karr (Keisha Castle-Hughes) who it seems has finally seen enough of the Empire's testing on children. The final episode is also notable for an unnecessary epilogue with an older Omega set out to join the Rebellion that feels tacked on when the shot of the Bad Batch together on Pabu under the weeping maya tree seems a far more natural ending.

Happy May the Fourth, Star Wars Fans

Friday, May 3, 2024

The Fall Guy

The biggest strength of The Fall Guy, loosely inspired by the 80s television show, is its stars. Ryan Gosling as stuntman Colt Seavers coming back from a failed stunt to work with his former girlfriend Jody (Emily Blunt) on her first big movie is the kind of wacky dumb fun you would expect. Once arriving in town, things don't go smoothly for Colt who is sent to find the film's missing star (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) by the producer (Hannah Waddingham) who dragged Colt out of retirement. This puts our stuntman in danger and also keeps him away from the woman he desperately wants to win back.

If the chemistry between the stars is The Fall Guy's greatest strength, the script by Drew Pearce is its biggest weakness. There's no reason for Colt to keep the truth about what he's up to from Jody (especially as it's her career on the line). And paring the two more over the course of the film would help the uneven highs and lows of the script that stumbles a bit between outrageous stunts.

Thursday, May 2, 2024

Will Trent - Have You Never Been to a Wedding?

With Faith's (Iantha Richardson) boyfriend out of town, Will (Ramón Rodríguez) accompanies his partner and her son (Deion Smith) to a wedding that quickly goes to hell when armed robbers take everyone hostage. The episode allows Faith to play a bit of John McClane while Will attempts to deescalate the situation and talk some sense into the robbers which becomes harder to do once they turn on each other. Eventually Angie (Erika Christensen) and Ormewood (Jake McLaughlin) arrive with the cavalry taking down the remaining thieves.