I'm late to the Stargate SG-1 party and just recently started this series for the first time (with ads now, thanks Amazon) and was not expecting the emotional gut punch of this episode. U[ until now, the episodes have been mostly Star Trek-flavor with the crew discovering strange new stargate worlds (albeit ones that all look like Vancouver) but this episode took me off guard, as the episode digs into the tragedy of Jack's past and the loss of his son. I don't want to give too much away in terms of spoilers but I was really impressed with how the writers decided to tackle this topic, in this case, a doppelganger revisiting Jack's home and the scene of the death of his child. There was a lot to this episode and it's a difficult one to get through to be honest. No dangerous, evil enemies or destructive countdowns but instead a thoughtful exploration of the themes of loss and grief and moving on. Highly recommended.
Reviews
67 Reviews
Cheesy and predictable ending for "Team Reacher"
22 January 2024
Warning: Spoilers
(Spoilers)
Well, they brought us the denouement we were waiting for, albeit with plenty of cheese. Episode starts with Reacher predictably being beaten and handcuffed to a chair (from which he will easily escape later) to the big obligatory shoot-out and a definite "oh I don't think so" moment as Reacher jumps and hangs on to the wheel of a rising helicopter(!) as the copter lifts way into the air, climbs inside, and then in probably the most implausible and ridiculous scene of this entire second series, he manages to catch the falling medical stretcher holding the Caroline Munro/Lindsay Lohan-looking actress and hold on to it, all the while getting beaten up by Robert Patrick and his henchman. Oh I don't know. I mean, unless Reacher has been chugging the "super soldier serum" this entire sequence was so ridiculous. I mean, if he's capable of that level of inhuman robotic strength then they might as well have gone all out and have him said "Hasta la vista, baby!" before shooting Robert Patrick out of the back of the helicopter. This is followed by an extremely fast elimination of the British assassin guy. Why did they put so much effort into this character's introduction and background just to have him essentially just get wasted by Team Reacher's firing squad? Well, Team Reacher makes it's obligatory sappy farewell and then Reacher is off on a bus ride, cue credits. I really enjoyed the first Reacher season as it felt more consistent with the handful of Lee Child books I've read of the character. This season felt more like NCIS Reacher with the blend of super-brilliant team members and their witty backhanded remarks and less of Reacher as a man acting alone. Too formulaic and not enough Reacher. Maybe season 3 will get back to the roots of the character a little better (hey Amazon, just an idea, but Past Tense would make for a decent season. Something to consider.)
Well, they brought us the denouement we were waiting for, albeit with plenty of cheese. Episode starts with Reacher predictably being beaten and handcuffed to a chair (from which he will easily escape later) to the big obligatory shoot-out and a definite "oh I don't think so" moment as Reacher jumps and hangs on to the wheel of a rising helicopter(!) as the copter lifts way into the air, climbs inside, and then in probably the most implausible and ridiculous scene of this entire second series, he manages to catch the falling medical stretcher holding the Caroline Munro/Lindsay Lohan-looking actress and hold on to it, all the while getting beaten up by Robert Patrick and his henchman. Oh I don't know. I mean, unless Reacher has been chugging the "super soldier serum" this entire sequence was so ridiculous. I mean, if he's capable of that level of inhuman robotic strength then they might as well have gone all out and have him said "Hasta la vista, baby!" before shooting Robert Patrick out of the back of the helicopter. This is followed by an extremely fast elimination of the British assassin guy. Why did they put so much effort into this character's introduction and background just to have him essentially just get wasted by Team Reacher's firing squad? Well, Team Reacher makes it's obligatory sappy farewell and then Reacher is off on a bus ride, cue credits. I really enjoyed the first Reacher season as it felt more consistent with the handful of Lee Child books I've read of the character. This season felt more like NCIS Reacher with the blend of super-brilliant team members and their witty backhanded remarks and less of Reacher as a man acting alone. Too formulaic and not enough Reacher. Maybe season 3 will get back to the roots of the character a little better (hey Amazon, just an idea, but Past Tense would make for a decent season. Something to consider.)
Progressively getting cheesier
8 January 2024
Really struggling to see this series through, as this is less Reacher and more "The adventures of team Reacher", feeling more like NCIS and just not enough of the title character. The cliches are getting worse as well, almost to the extent of being parody. Actual dialog:
"He's like that angry, P. O.'ed detective from that movie" "which one?" "All of them"
Deep sigh.
Neely continues to be the super-genius who helps find a missing person through the magic of video game-based detective work, and at one point the shallow Caroline Munro-looking actress more or less just uses Reacher for stress relief. This season is going downhill fast.
No spoilers, but if you read the episode title, and get to the scene with the bald cop and the sad music playing, you can pretty much figure out what's going to happen with his character.
"He's like that angry, P. O.'ed detective from that movie" "which one?" "All of them"
Deep sigh.
Neely continues to be the super-genius who helps find a missing person through the magic of video game-based detective work, and at one point the shallow Caroline Munro-looking actress more or less just uses Reacher for stress relief. This season is going downhill fast.
No spoilers, but if you read the episode title, and get to the scene with the bald cop and the sad music playing, you can pretty much figure out what's going to happen with his character.
Visually feels like a seisure
7 January 2024
Couldn't get into this one. It drags and meanders and maybe I'm just getting old but visually everything seems choppy, flashing and hard to follow. The story seems a over the place as well with far too many characters with stories going on, which seems to be how Marvel is going with the last few of their films I've seen. The sassy, i-know-more-than-you attitude of the female characters also gets a little tedious after awhile. I guess thr main thing is, I don't follow also why they had to retell Spiderman and not just roll out a new character, since this feels like a completely different character in a completely different universe. Well, whatever.
NCIS meets Reacher
27 December 2023
This season 2 is starting to feel more like NCIS than Reacher. He's got his skilled team of experts, all brilliant, all amazing physical fighters, even when wearing heels and fighting a biker gang! Most everything is predictable and by the book so far, we know where it's going, and the Team Reacher schtick is starting to get old. I find myself wanting to see his character doing things his own way, working alone, and not always getting the back-handed comments from his crew. All of these assisting characters are fairly shallow but, judging from how the series is going, they are all equally indestructible and will make it to the end (well, maybe not the guy with the kids because, you know, the guy with the family usually ends up tragically dying in shows like his.) Ah well, I'll see it through but season 1 was a lot better than this.
Season 2 is apparently Team Reacher
27 December 2023
Looks like this season is going to be "Team Reacher" apparently. I've read a handful of the Reacher novels and the appeal was always Reacher as a character working mostly alone, but I guess that's just how Hollywood goes these days. That, and the Disney Marvel formula that, if there's a powerful male lead character they generally are required to be paired with an equally strong, equally smart female character, which seems to be the case here. I'll see the season through but I would have preferred more of the Reacher character acting alone, more like the first seasons where, yeah, he made some friends on the way but it still felt like he was driven to work mostly alone. I did chuckle at the inside joke with Robert Patrick's character oblivious to what the name "Sarah Connor" meant.
Curiously dark ending for a hilarious series
27 December 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Sort of a strange and, frankly, uncomfortable ending. Granted, I love the idea of a final trial with all of the various characters from past episodes showing up again one last time, but what stood out to me was that the 4 central characters: Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer, are all basically painted as awful people deserving of punishment for how rotten they had been in the past, above and beyond just mocking the fat guy for being robbed. Having recently binged the entire series I didn't really take away that these four were necessarily bad, just that they all had their own bizarre idiosyncrasies, and bringing it all to an end with them being thrown in prison seemed weirdly inappropriate, and actually closes the show on a dark note (if you skip the end credits gag) as the camera slowly pans away from the quartet locked up behind bars together. Dark humor I guess, but maybe a little too dark.
The Polar Express
(2004)
Leaves you feeling cold and sort of empty
22 December 2023
I watched this for the first time this week and it's a film that sticks with you in an uncomfortable sort of way. I get it that these special effects were "cutting edge" at the time and yet, seeing how much further the technology has come with films like the Avatar franchise, this one just has a weird, unreality to it, like they hadn't quite figured it out, leaving us to watch these characters that are animated yet soulless mannequins, like something reanimated in a Lovecraftian fiction. Faces don't seem to move right, eyes don't quite track, mouths don't seem to be completely expressive. This is truly the "uncanny valley" on display and you never really get used to it, like these abominations could turn at any moment, spring out of the television and chase you down the street.
Adding to the creepiness is that they take these inhuman characters and put them into a frigid environment of endless snow and frozen lakes, but where strangely no one ever gets cold (except for the viewer) . Perhaps these bizarre, lifeless creations are impervious to the effects of the cold? Who knows.
Probably the single most troubling part of the film to me was when the three primary characters are lost wandering around the claustrophobic North Pole city, devoid of anyone except for the eerie reverb of old Christmas music echoing through the streets. Lights in windows don't reveal a warm home of elf families eating dinner or anything but rather show only abandoned record players. What sort of nightmarish landscape is this?
I will give mention to the music, as Alan Silvestri did a nice job with the score and incorporating old familiar melodies, although I was left puzzled with the primary leitmotif that sounded weirdly similar to the Buddy the Elf motif from Elf (2003) a year earlier. Listen to those first 4 notes and compare them and see if you hear it as well.
Adding to the creepiness is that they take these inhuman characters and put them into a frigid environment of endless snow and frozen lakes, but where strangely no one ever gets cold (except for the viewer) . Perhaps these bizarre, lifeless creations are impervious to the effects of the cold? Who knows.
Probably the single most troubling part of the film to me was when the three primary characters are lost wandering around the claustrophobic North Pole city, devoid of anyone except for the eerie reverb of old Christmas music echoing through the streets. Lights in windows don't reveal a warm home of elf families eating dinner or anything but rather show only abandoned record players. What sort of nightmarish landscape is this?
I will give mention to the music, as Alan Silvestri did a nice job with the score and incorporating old familiar melodies, although I was left puzzled with the primary leitmotif that sounded weirdly similar to the Buddy the Elf motif from Elf (2003) a year earlier. Listen to those first 4 notes and compare them and see if you hear it as well.
Wham!
(2023)
Decent documentary, but seems to short-change Andrew Ridgeley
11 December 2023
Caught this on Netflix recently and enjoyed seeing some of the background of the formation of Wham, and really enjoyed learning more about the friendship that George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley had from their school days, all the way up to the formation of Wham. The documentary goes into plenty of detail of their early club performance days all the way to larger tier events like Live Aid and shows how George pretty much outgrew the band and eventually would strike out on his own. The film gave plenty of focus to George and his sexuality, as to be expected from Netflix, but I feel this did a disservice to Andrew Ridgeley, as all I really took away was that he was a party animal whose antics landed him on pages of British tabloids, yet the documentary really makes very little mention of what he did after Wham (and unless I missed it, made no mention at all regarding his brief foray into Formula Three motor racing.) Ultimately it's a decent brief documentary of one of my favorite bands from the 1980's, but I do feel that it could have gone further, particularly with Andrew's background.
Would never fly today
30 November 2023
This episode tops the "cigar Store Indian" in terms of episodes that would be far too offensive to ever fly today. Depicting Kramer as mentally challenged (because he was overloaded with Novocain) and also the implication that something awful was done to Jerry while he was sedated at the dentist are two ideas that today's television would never have allowed, but Seinfeld went ahead with. I wonder sometimes if the censors at the time had an issue with this or not. The subplot with "the Jimmy" was actually hilarious, especially if you've known surreal individuals like this who actually talk this way.
Cobra Kai
(2018–2025)
Starts strong but really starts to dive in season 3
4 November 2023
I was hooked with the first season. Strong acting, excellent story and believable characters, and a fun amount of "fish out of water" as the character Johnny, who almost seems to have time-warped directly from the 1980's, adapts to the modern age and gets back on his feet again with reopening Cobra Kai. But here's where the problem seems to come in for me: the drive of the show seems to be that of Johnny not only reopening Cobra Kai, but becoming successful with that. And he clearly does that as we are firmly into season 2. But then beyond that, as we get more into the episodes of season 3, you start to wonder: where is this going? He met his goal, he has a tenuous friendship with old rival Daniel, so... now what? Or more so, who cares? What, we just keep on the ride and wait for more nostalgia of old characters returning? To me this felt like X-files in the later seasons: the formula just got tired and you're left wondering where is the series going? The teen soapy elements also get progressively more annoying into the third season so I had to bow out of this one. Much like Stranger Things, stick with the first season and leave it at that.
The Munsters
(2022)
Unexpectedly found myself loving this
2 November 2023
I absolutely loved this, but understandably it's not for everyone. Cheesy jokes, kitsch humor and situations, eye-popping bright colors and a very faithful throwback to the original sitcom series from the 1960's, this one just blew me away. Rob Zombie nailed this surprisingly wholesome remake (this could honestly be considered an all-ages, family-safe Halloween special.) Other than a couple oblique gags I can't think of anything really bad about this, which was so surprising to find today. The story is that of the Munsters, centered largely about the meeting of the characters Herman Munster and Lilly. Along with other characters from the series and tons of inside jokes and gags, many from the classic era of Universal Monster films. Again, not for everyone's taste but if you like campy humor, bright colors and goofy clean humor, this one was a blast.
Confusing and convoluted
23 October 2023
This one was just a mess in terms of story. Far too much going on without a a lot of clarity. The main sub-plot seems to be the backstory of Rocket Racoon's past and his gruesome time as a lab experiment, along with maudlin memories of his animated animal friends, Definitely scenes that were uncomfortable and probably not ideal for kids. In any case, the rest of the story is lots of, the Guardians have to go here for, reasons, and then go there for, more reasons, and finally there's a big, smoky, dusty battle and, at 2.5 hours, this film seriously needed some editing. The "guy with the eyebrows" actor showed up as a goofy Superman-type character but I never really figured out who he was, where he came from, what his motivation was, or really anything about why he was there, or his mother, for that reason. This film suffered from too much going on at the same time with no real clarity or direction. Maybe they could have trimmed out the weird organic space lab thing and spent more time exploring the faux Earth place? In any case, this just isn't a very good film.
No One Will Save You
(2023)
Films like this are why I watch older movies
28 September 2023
Warning: Spoilers
First impression is that this one borrows VERY HEAVILY from other sources, namely far superior films like Signs (2002). Honestly, do yourself a favor and just skip this film and watch Signs instead. But if you want mediocre acting, absolutely no spoken dialog and generic CGI, then go with this one. The film also borrows elements from War of the Worlds (2005) and Quiet Place (2018), all far superior films. The protagonist of this film is living alone in a big house in the country and, wouldn't you know it, very persistent aliens keep showing up to try to abduct her. Lots of typical jump effects for predictable scares, and after an exhausting experience of running from the aliens.... spoiler time... they manage to capture her, read her mind, and then apparently let her live amongst alien-possessed humans, to which she gladly obliges? What on earth were they thinking with this one? It's like a demented variation of the ending of A. I. (2001) with a sole human survivor just content to live and dance with body snatched humans. Yeah, films like this one are why I need to stop watching modern films and stick with classics of the past. The further away I can get from this one the better.
Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction: The Find/The Golden Cue/The FBI Story/The Gravedigger's Nemesis/Last Rites
(1999)
Fun but those writers are taking some liberties
Season 3, Episode 3
12 August 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I do enjoy the show, but it does get to the point sometimes you really do have to wonder how many liberties the writers take with this program. "The Gravedigger's Nemesis" for instance was a fun episode and I knew it was so over the top it would be the one so ridiculous you wouldn't guess it but then (spoiler) turns out it was a "true" story. I wonder how much polish they do for these, like, was the real story that "an old man thought he heard voices before his heart attack" and they embellished it to be "Ok, so let
s get the creepy olde guy from Phantasm, make him really nasty, then let's throw in Captain Picard's mom as a ghost that haunts him, and have him fall into an open grave with dirt just getting magically scattered on him..." etc.
In any case, I still think the show's a hoot.
In any case, I still think the show's a hoot.
Legendary Nancy Walker makes a visit
20 June 2023
I loved seeing actress Nancy Walker make a visit in this episode. She really doesn't care much for Dick and doesn't understand why Joanna chose to marry him (neither do I for that matter, as he never seems to treat her as well as he should in this series), and the highlight of the episode is the ridiculous painting she brings, one depicting Joanna as the beautiful woman she is and Dick beside her as the dour old grump, complete with white hair, bulging stomach and grumpy expression, somewhat resembling Ben Franklin. This painting alone is worth checking out this episode to see. Like other episodes of this season, it does start to feel like the formula is growing thin and the series is nearing an end.
Final season is struggling
15 June 2023
A British guest at the inn can't afford his room fees so he pays Dick with a ring that has all of the locals treating him like actual royalty. The thing is, this series has gotten progressively weirder whenever the locals are involved. Yeah, they are generally weird, but then it goes all Twin Peaks sometimes with how bizarre all of their behavior becomes over this new ring. Even Larry, Darryl and Darryl are somehow aware of what it means. Dick goes along with it, on the way treating Joanna poorly by not letting her play along as his lady, or letting her enjoy a carriage ride. Seems like his character has progressively become more of a jerk to her as the series winds down. Maybe not soon enough.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
(2023)
Bright, colorful and mostly brainless
15 June 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The Super Mario brothers film was fine. It's bright, colorful, and chock full of inside jokes and gags, and it's of course completely predictable and mindless. You know the brothers will arrive in the game universe, that Mario will meet the girl boss Peach and be shown up when she's initially superior at everything naturally, he eventually learns the ropes, makes some friends along the way and wins the day. It's fine as mindless entertainment, and if you played the games over the last few decades there are more than a few inside references to pick up (even a weird one to the Super Mario Brothers Show with Captain Lou which sort of surprised me.)
Season 8 off to an awful start
13 June 2023
I might be alone on this, but I can only take so much of the Michael/Stephanie characters. A little goes a long way with them, and when it's a full episode of them crying about how they aren't prepared to be parents, enduring ridiculous pregnancy jokes at the mall and so on, this is just a chore to get through. I mean, Michael bursting into tears can be funny, but it's gone on a little too long already. The relationship between these two seems like it's been troubled throughout the last few years (Michael calling off the engagement just because he's not making a ton of money as a television producer anymore, and then taking up jobs as a shoe salesman and a grocery store clerk just seemed too ridiculous, even for a sitcom.) Maybe I'm just reading into it too much.
Didn't really keep me interested
5 June 2023
Really feels like they dropped the ball with this one. I had high hopes they could make a good film based on D&D and this isn't it. For one thing, the film just looks oddly cheap, like this was made on a very low budget. The other thing is, why do all of the male characters seem to be vacillating, weak and inept? Were they doing this for humor, because it really wasn't all that funny to me. Chris Pine is ok as the bard character but he's just not enough to carry this film along. I was watching this with others and everyone just got tired of the film about half-way through so we stopped it. Seems like more and more that's the type of films Hollywood is making: things you watch a little bit of then give up.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods
(2023)
Boring and unnecessary
3 June 2023
I couldn't get far into this one. The first Shazam was ok, but didn't feel like it needed a sequel and yet, here we are, but it's not just Shazam as a singular star but it's the Shazam Kids or something. Who are they and what's their story? Who knows! Who cares! And the enemies introduced at the beginning of the film are.... Helen Murren and Lucy Liu? Really? There was nothing to hold my interest and I eventually just had to stop. It's no surprise that this made it to streaming in record time. I think DC is in the same boat as the MCU with too many films and viewers just burned out with superhero fatigue.
Sometimes the Stephanie character goes a little far
25 April 2023
Generally I love the show and the exaggerated characters, but sometimes Stephanie is just overdone as the petulant brat, and what made little to no sense in this episode is that the Dick and Joanne would leave a lavish Thanksgiving with the Vanderkellen simply because Stephanie pouted over a missing teddy bear. There could have been so many other reasons that they needed to leave and that reason was one of the stupidest, at least in terms of plausibility (yes, I get that it's a sitcom, but still, that was just some bad writing.) The ending with Thanksgiving shared with Larry, Darryl and Darryl was funny, but a little Stephanie goes a long way.
Interesting spin
24 April 2023
This was an interesting twist, seeing Peter Scolari's
Michael fall for another woman, and feeling immense guilt, puts on a full Robin Williams-style performance as he panics in Bob's room in the middle of the night in a very funny scene. I'm sort of divided on this as the Susna character actually seems ideal for him, and doesn't have the bratty, spoiled personality that Stephanie does. Then again, Michael is generally spoiled and bratty too, so maybe this isn't for the best after all. It was quite an interesting cliff-hanger to this episode for what is supposed to be a comedy. One of the better episodes.
A fun, spooky twist
14 April 2023
You could tell this had to be around the timeframe of Ghostbusters, with references to the film (including the stack of books at one point) and a genuine Scooby-Do style ending was was completely absurd, but this was still a lot of fun. There's a bunch of creepy things happening around the Stratford, including creepy noises, books falling off shelves, and even a phantom apparition. But is the place really haunted? I won't drop a spoiler, but it's a fun and goofy ending. I like the reference back to the first reason and the witch buried in the basement. I thought that was clever how they returned to that again to use for this spooky episode. It's one worth checking out.
An uncomfortable episode to watch
14 April 2023
Generally I love the humor of this show but this episode was so uncomfortable I had to write out some thoughts one this. If you're someone that looks like Bob Newhart, and you're married to someone who looks like Mary Frann, you don't act like a petulant brat when she lovingly asks for a wedding vow renewal, especially when she's warm and sweet about it. Bob really comes across as a jerk in this episode to pretty much everyone and really struggled to get through this. You know he's going to eventually come around at the end, but all the same this was a chore to get through. I just really didn't get the idea behind this one, but I guess they can't all be winners.
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