My Review of My Own Private Idaho (1991)

 

Written And Directed by Gus Van Sant

Mike: "I'm a connoisseur of roads. I've been tasting roads my whole life. This road will never end. It probably goes all around the world."

Ah, this one has been on my list for a while. I watched it a long time ago but with Pride Month starting tomorrow, I couldn't wait to see it again. It's a cult classic from Gus Van Sant and one of his most iconic movies to date. 

So, what's it about, huh? Well, you've got a protagonist named Mike Waters (River Phoenix). He's a street hustler who suffers from narcolepsy and it's something that frequently factored into the movie. It's more of a plot point than expected.

I mean the movie both opened and ended with Mike having experienced a narcoleptic episode. Among that was also Mike having visions of his mother, Sharon (Vana O'Brien) comforting him during moments of stress. The search for Mike's mother also played a role in this movie.

However there were other factors. For example, when we weren't seeing Mike servicing various clients, including the likes of Hans (Udo Kier), there was his friendships with other hustlers. The most notable friendship in particular being with rich guy, Scott Favor (Keanu Reeves). 

The son of the Mayor Jack Favor (Tom Troupe), for the most part, Scott was a decent enough friend to Mike. If Mike was clearly meant to be gay, then Scott by contrast was a bored straight guy acting out by hanging out with vagrants to annoy his father. That was something that the likes of Bob Pigeon (William Richert) picked up on.

As the movie progressed, we had both Mike and Scott journey from Seattle to Italy where more information about Mike's mother came to light before returning to Portland. Unfortunately their friendship soured and Scott pretty much became his own father while Mike ended on a deserted Idaho highway before being helped by an unidentified figure. It somewhat ended this movie on an odd note.

- This movie's loosely inspired by William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2 and Henry V.

- There's a recontextualised version of this movie called My Own Private River that was released following the 20th anniversary.

- Standout music: Eddy Arnold's The Cattle Call, Elton John's Blue Eyes and The Pogues The Old Main Drag.

- Chronology: 1990s Portland, Italy and Idaho. At one point, Mike's watching an episode of The Simpsons.

My Own Private Idaho does feel like a movie that every LGBT person should see at least once in their lifetime. River Phoenix did give a career defining performance with Mike Waters and it's a lovingly shot film by Gus Van Sant. If you haven't seen it, now's the time to do so.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

DCU Blog - May 2025 Edition: Superman Promo Kicks In, Peacemaker Role Revealed and Comics Crossover Alert

This was certainly a month for a lot of DC news. Sadly there's one piece of bad news but the rest was definitely something worth celebrating.

The promotion for Superman (July 11th) has well and truly kicked in. We got a brand new trailer, photoshoots with David Corenswrt and Nicholas Hoult, merchandise reveals and a World Tour coming from June 19th onwards.

Apparently a draft for The Batman - Part II (October 1st 2027) has been completed. Filming will commence in early 2026.

Lauren LeFranc has recently confirmed that other spin offs beyond The Penguin are currently in development.

Filming for Clayface will start in October with the movie still confirmed for September 11th 2026 theatrical release.

Filming for Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow (June 26th 2026) has now wrapped. Some filming pics did give vague looks at both Milly Alcock and Jason Momoa's respective looks for Supergirl and Lobo.

Bad news is that Luca Guadagnino's Sgt. Rock movie, which would've had Colin Farrell in the title role and Mike Faust in an undisclosed role has been put on hold. It may be picked up for filming next summer.

Some concept art for Dynamic Duo (June 30th 2028) did surface online yesterday. I'd post them but I'd like to not to have my blog striked. 

Keanu Reeves, according to Peter Stormaire isn't happy with the progress of the Constantine sequel script. At this point, just pull the plug on this idea.

A trailer for the second season of Peacemaker (August 21st on HBO Max) has confirmed that Sean Gunn, Nathan Fillion and Isabela Merced will reprise their roles as Maxwell Lord, Guy Gardner and Hawkgirl in the series. Michael Rooker will play Red St. Wild, who will be an enemy of Eagly.

Colin Farrell and Danny DeVito will be on the upcoming season of Actors on Actors. Their episode will premiere June 2nd on YouTube.

James Gunn did seem to give some encouraging updates on Wonder Woman when asked online. Paradise Lost is still being written.

At least two Teen Titans movies are in development. One for the DCU (though they're to decide who the Robin will be) and the other will be an animated one set in the Teen Titans Go! Universe.

DC/Marvel comic book fans can enjoy a Batman/Deadpool six part crossover event from September. Another crossover event with other characters will release in 2026.

The 2025 DC Pride issue will come out on June 4th. However, this issue will feature an interconnected story focusing on a century old LGBTQ+ tavern in Gotham City. 

Lanterns will premiere on HBO in early 2026, before the release of Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow. Filming is still currently active and there's a casting rumour, I'm holding back on but will discuss next month if it's true.

James Gunn has confirmed that the next movie he's writing is something that hasn't been previously announced. World's Finest has been rumoured a lot.

This was definitely a great month for DCU news, minus one particular set back. 

Justice League (2001-2004) - Episodes 39-52 Reviews

Heading into the latter half of this second season, there was some surprise alliances, betrayals and oh, a little bit of Christmas cheer to boot.

Episodes 39-40: Eclipsed 

Ah, Eclipso. If you wanted someone to bring out the worst in nearly all of the Justice League, then he's the guy to do it. Trapped in an ancient lunar crystal called the Black Heart, it's discovery led to Eclipso's freedom and various Justice League members being possessed by him. Of course, The Flash managed to be resistant to his charms and it was the Flash that also saved his teammates from a weapon that would destroy both the Sun and the Earth. It's a pretty solid story. 6/10

Episodes 41-42: The Terror Beyond 

The first in a series of unlikely team ups, this two parter had Solomon Grundy working with Doctor Fate and Aquaman. The latter two need Grundy's help in taking down an ancient evil and Grundy's willing to go along with it for his own reasons. On the opposite side was Superman, Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl, who didn't like the idea of Grundy being used for Doctor Fate and Aquaman's plan. It's a strong story for Solomon Grundy, who's made into a more layered character with a poignant sacrifice to boot. 7/10

Episodes 43-44: Secret Society 

Gorilla Grodd had his moment back in the first season going up against the Justice League and now he's assembled a team. His team comprising of Giganta, Killer Frost, Sinestro, Parasite, Shade, and Clayface. They formed the Secret Society and they were also successful in capturing a quarrelling Justice League. I do find it interesting that throughout the series, we've had various takes on a bad Justice League with Shade being a consistent member in an ever changing team up. Grodd made for a good team leader before the Secret Society were inevitably defeated. 7/10

Episodes 45-46: Hereafter

Death of Superman, anyone? Yes, we're doing that but not quite. For the majority of this story, it was assumed by the Justice League that Superman has perished. This was after a new supervillain team composed of Metallo, Kalibak, Livewire, Weather Wizard, and Toyman. Instead he ended up in a different time zone where he teamed up with a reformed Vandal Savage to get back to his own time to reunite with his team and stop Savage in the present day. On the other hand, we almost had Lobo as a new Justice League member and he was rather fun in this story. 8/10

Episodes 48-48: Wild Cards

If Lex Luthor could get a returning villain story, then I guess Joker could too. Teamed up with Harley Quinn and the Royal Flush Gang, this story took place in Las Vegas where Joker's planted a lot of bombs over the Las Vegas Strip for good measure. There's a reference to an infamous Conrad Veidt movie that should make Joker fans smile as well as a nice attempt to give some backstory to the character of Ace. Honestly though, it felt like an idea that never got made for Batman: The Animated Series and was slightly retooled to work for here. 7/10

Episode 49: Comfort And Joy

I do love a good Christmas episode and I really, really loved this one. It's that time of year when even the Justice League are allowed to be off duty and as a result, we got three very satisfying stories. First of all, there was Hawkgirl and John Stewart choosing to relax by going to an alien bar and getting into a brawl. There was also snow fights and a kiss between the two of them. Then there was The Flash who wanted to get a popular toy for the kids in a children's home. This resulted in a rather team up with the Ultra-Humanite where the latter discovered his Christmas spirit. As for Superman, he brought Martian Manhunter home to Smallville and that contained two of the best scenes. The realisation that Superman still believed in Santa Claus and Martian Manhunter's singing at the end. I do wish we had gotten a Batman and Wonder Woman story but overall, this was a beautiful episode. 9/10

Episodes 50-52: Starcrossed 

The show started with a three part story, so it was fitting that it would end with one as well. It also started with an invasion, so ending with one would also be fitting. This time around, it was the Thanagarians with Hawkgirl's betrayal being revealed to the team. Hawkgirl has never been as prominent as she was in this story. There was her conflict in betraying the family she's made on Earth for the one she was born into. There was her burgeoning relationship with John Stewart and her past one with Hro Talak, who was pretty bad. As for the gang, they were captured, escaped, revealed their civilian identities, defeated the Thanagarians but also banished Hawkgirl. A bittersweet ending of sorts for the show. 8/10

I will hopefully get around to tackling Justice League Unlimited at a later date. 

Understanding The Other Side

Yeah, it's been over a month since I've done one of these and I've not watched that many things since then but here's a look at what I have seen.

9-1-1: The real test for this show will be next season. Will the decision to have killed off Bobby Nash been a disaster or can the show actually survive without him? These last three episodes at least put his successor to bed with Howie assuming the mantle along with the birth of his and Maddie's son. There was some closure for Athena, Hen and Karen's family being completed, more of Ravi (make him a regular already) and plenty of Buck/Eddie scenes with side order of Tommy. Not a great ending but not awful either.

Overcompensating: What can I say about this Amazon college coming of age comedy series? The following actually - a) it's the type of show that would've felt fresh and original had it been released twenty years ago, b) Benito Skinner really shouldn't have cast himself or Adam DiMarco because they both looked too old for their respective roles c) the Charlie XCX references were a bit much as was Megan Fox and d) the potential romance between Benny and Miles was just disappointing. I appreciate some of the hot guys and I liked the budding friendship with Benny/Carmen and certain guest actors but overall, this show was mostly lacking.

Poker Face: It's been two years since the first season ended with Natasha Lyonne's Charlie Cale incurred the wrath of various mob families. The first five episodes saw the show on great form with some brilliant guest characters. Cynthia Erivo as five different siblings, Giancarlo Esposito as a creepy undertaker, Rhea Pearlman and Richard Kind as a mob couple, Kumail Nanjiani as a throwback to Tiger King (but with an alligator) as wdll as Simon Rex and Carol Kane in a baseball themed episode. Overall, a very enjoyable bunch of episodes so far this season.

The Last Of Us: There's no denying that the decision to kill off Joel so early in the second season has had such a ripple effect. I think for a chunk of the audience, losing the character and Pedro Pascal was enough for them to sign out. I'll admit, I did struggle with the rest of the season, so the brief reappearance of Joel was nice but do general audiences care enough about Ellie vs. Abby or the Ellie/Dina romance to help Season 3? We'll see.

• The second season of Netflix's The Gentlemen has gone into production. 
• Showtime have renewed Yellowjackets for a fourth season.
• AppleTV+ have renewed The Studio for a second season.
• A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms will now air on HBO in 2026.
• Welcome To Derry will premiere on HBO Max during the Fall.
• T'Nia Miller has been cast as Jocasta for upcoming Disney+ MCU series, Vision.
• David Tennant will remain as a regular for the second season of Rivals for Disney+. It's currently filming and will be twelve episodes.
• Dexter: Resurrection will premiere from July 11th on Paramount+ on Showtime from July 11th.
• Kaia Gerber has signed on as the lead for upcoming FX adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's The Shards. The show will be executive produced by Ryan Murphy.
• Krysten Ritter will reprise her role as Jessica Jones for the second season of Daredevil: Born Again for Disney+.
• The Wheel Of Time has been cancelled by Amazon after three seasons.
• The upcoming Harry Potter series for HBO has officially cast Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout and Arabella Stanton as Harry, Ron and Hermione respectively.
• Bridgerton has officially been renewed for both a fifth and sixth season by Netflix. Season 4 will premiere in 2026.

Justice League (2001-2004) - Episodes 27-38 Reviews

Now for the first half of the second season, we've got the likes of Darkseid, Lex Luthor, Doctor Destiny and Despero causing all manners of trouble for the gang.

Episodes 27-28: Twilight 

Last time we saw Darkseid, he was being a right menace on Superman: The Animated Series. This time, instead of trying to brainwash the Man of Steel, he needed the latter's help, along with the Justice League. Now, why would Darkseid need their help? Well, he had a problem in the shape of Brainiac but even with that knowledge, Superman rightfully didn't trust him. Of course Darkseid would betray the Justice League but it did lead to another great fight scene between him and Superman. This two parter also brought in New Gods such as Highfather, Orion and Lightray. 8/10

Episodes 29-30: Tabula Rasa 

And he's back. Yes, you're never too far away from Lex Luthor and while his schemes to kill Superman continue to be a bust, he had other plans. One of them was reminding Mercy that even though he left her LexCorp while in prison, it's still his company. Then there was Amazo. Lex manipulated the android into seeing him as a father figure. Eventually, Amazon saw through Lex and departed Earth. There's a good subplot with Martian Manhunter's powers amplifying as he dealt with having to hear so many thoughts. 7/10

Episodes 31-32: Only A Dream

An early contender for one of the strongest stories in this second season. You have got John Dee awaiting parole from prison. He's not happy that his ex-girlfriend moved on quickly from him with a new guy. John Dee decided to overdose on an experimental treatment and transform himself into Doctor Destiny. In this guise, Doctor Destiny went out of his way to terrorise all of the Justice League until the same methods of terror would bd eventually turned on him. There's some supporting roles for the likes of Solomon Grundy, Firefly, Volcana, Luminus and Copperhead. One of the creepier stories and a brilliant one too. 9/10

Episodes 33-34: Maid Of Honor

This two parter brought up something interesting. While Batman and Superman know each others identities, to my surprise, Wonder Woman was unaware that Batman and Bruce Wayne are the same person. I find it interesting between there was some Batman/Wonder Woman and Bruce/Diana scenes that bordered on the flirtatious. There was also the return of Vandal Savage, who was engaged to Diana's new friend, Audrey, the princess of Kasnia. Savage was up to no good and Wonder Woman had a battle on her hands trying to convince Audrey how bad her future husband really was. It's an okay second outing for Vandal Savage as a villain. 6/10

Episodes 35-36: Hearts And Minds

As much as I like John Stewart on this show, so far, I'll admit that the Green Lantern focused stories have been a bit average at best. This one was no different as John reunited with former lover, Karma Tui along with other Lanterns such as Kilowog. The latter in particular didn't have the greatest of patience for The Flash but John Stewart and the Justice League were needed to rescue the Green Lantern Corps from Despero. The latter's used pretty decently in this story and there's some nice moments between John Stewart and Hawkgirl but it's rather weak for me. 6/10

Episodes 37-38: A Better World

This show really does love delving into alternative realities and this was another look into that. Imagine a world with the Justice Lords. They're like our Justice League but their Flash died and they're more willing to kill in order to maintain order. Their Batman was also clever enough to create a method of dimensional travel and intended to replace the Justice League. Because of this, the Justice League had to team up with Lex Luthor in order to send the Justice Lords back to their own dimension. It's a very strong two parter, though previous alternative reality ones have been stronger. 8/10

Next blog I'll conclude the series by covering Eclipsed, The Terror Beyond, Secret Society, Hereafter, Wild Cards, Comfort And Joy and Starcrossed.

My Review of Snow White (2025)

 

Written by Erin Cressida Wilson 

Directed by Marc Webb

Snow White: "To honor the day I was born, my father named me Snow White."

I would've watched this sooner but I was busy and I thought I'd let the dust settle on this discourse it attracted. Mirror, mirror, on the wall - is this Snow White the worst of all? Not quite, not quite.

It's certainly not as good as it could've been and it's not hard to see why some of the changes didn't go down well with audiences but it's surprisingly okay for the most part. You've got two divisive leads and at least one of them was on good form here.

Rachel Zegler has become one of those Gen Z actors who somewhat has annoyed a large segment of those online but credit given where it's due, she's not actually miscast here. In fact, I'd say she's pretty delightful as the titular Disney princess and had the characteristics down nicely.

Snow White remained a likeable and selfless character who seemed dismayed by the misfortune of her people but unable to stand up to get stepmother, the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot). It also didn't help that that Queenie Dearest wanted the Huntsman (Andy Kabia) to kill her. Luckily for Snow White, the Huntsman had too much of a conscience to do that.

Then there's the other players in Snow White's story. I hated the CGI dwarves but at least the voice acting for Doc (Jeremy Swift), Bashful (Tituss Burgess), Dopey (Andrew Barth Feldman), Grumpy (Martin Klebba), Sneezy (Jason Kravits), Happy (George Salazar) and Sleepy (Andy Grotelueschen). I also thought their relationship with Snow White was modernised pretty well.

As for the love interest, well he's a bandit named Jonathan (Andrew Burnap) and the chemistry between him and Snow White was decent enough. It still however didn't play that differently to how the romance with the Prince in the 1937 movie played out.

The Evil Queen's downfall though was different but fitting for the movie. Saying that, I cannot deny that Gal Gadot was miscast for the part and her villain song - All Is Fair was genuinely horrendous. Gadot could've had so much fun with this role but she's horribly stiff throughout the whole film and never feels like a genuine threat either.

- Greta Gerwig wrote some of the script for this movie, though not enough to get credited. I'm pretty sure she's happy about that though.

- Snow White making a point of remembering names certainly played it's part in cementing the Evil Queen's downfall.

- Standout music: Waiting On A Wish, Princess Problems, The Silly Song and Good Things Grow are decent new songs for the movie. 

- Chronology: It's based on the 1812 story though it's clearly meant to be 16th century Germany.

I'm going to slightly go against the grain here and say that I thought this version of Snow White was okay at best. Some of the changes worked, some didn't and Rachel Zegler did fine as the title character. 

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Handsome Devil (2017)

 

Written And Directed by John Butler

Dan (to Walter): "Some boys don't play rugby. What about those boys?"

With Pride Month fast approaching, there will be more LGBT themed blogs appearing on here. Specifically some Irish LGBT ones and this was a movie that was on my list to watch for a while. 

Focusing on our protagonist, we've got private school student, Ned Roche (Fionn O'Shea). He's left at his current school by his father, Donal (Ardal O'Hanlon) and stepmother, Natalie (Amy Huberman) and his peers hate his guts, especially rugby lad, Weasel (Ruari O'Connor). The latter in particular took great pleasure in antagonising Ned.

Of course, it's not all bad for Ned. There's his new English teacher, Mr Dan Sherry (Andrew Scott), who spent the movie encouraging Ned's creativity and there was the arrival of Conor Masters (Nicholas Galitzine). The latter being something of a friend to Ned.

At first, Ned assumed that Conor was the stereotype of a rugby player and there was hints of Conor being expelled from his previous school for fighting. Ned and Conor bonded over music and danced around the issue of both of them being gay. Unfortunately for Conor, there were drawbacks to their budding friendship.

Notably there was rugby coach, Pascal O'Keeffe (Moe Dunford) who resented Conor's outside influences and went out of his way to derail them. However with Conor denying his friendship with Ned to protect himself, the latter rather cruelly outed him to the whole school. It's a moment where even the principal Walter Curly (Michael McElhatton) expressed disappointment in Ned. 

As for Ned, he did regret his actions and he also went out of his way to try and amend things with Conor. There's a great moment where Conor's team ended up standing up for him, which did end the movie on a rather lovely note. There was also another coming out moment too that I particularly liked when Mr Sherry introduced Walter to his partner.

- John Butler has previously worked with Andrew Scott, Amy Huberman and Michael McElhatton on productions such as Your Bad Self and The Stag.

- The title of the movie ended up being the title of the essay that Ned wrote about his friendship with Conor.

- Standout music: The Housemartins Think For A Minute and Rufus Wainwright's Go Or Go Ahead.

- Chronology: 2010s Ireland. 

Handsome Devil is a delightful coming of age movie that's more about a friendship between the two leads than a romance. I think that worked better than expected for this movie with both Fionn O'Shea and Nicholas Galitzine on great form. Andrew Scott also gave a brilliant supporting performance too.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Doctor Who: "Wish World"

 

Written by Russell T. Davies

Directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai

The Rani (to Mrs Flood): "It's a shame these little people have to die. I was getting rather fond of them."

Into the penultimate episode of the series (or maybe in general) and after last week's ending, this one had a lot to live up to. We saw Anita Dobson bigenerate into Archie Panjabi. We've got Mrs Flood and The Rani. On top of that, we've got May 24th looming like a bad omen. 

In case you were wondering about the Doctor and Belinda. They're okay. In fact, he's now John Smith and is married to Belinda. They also have a lovely daughter named Poppy (yes, from Space Babies) and John has a nice job working at an insurance company whose initials happen to be UNIT. Oh and his co-workers are Kate Stewart and Cristofer Ibrahim. Oh and there's a nice tea lady named Susan Triad (Susan Twist) in the mix.

Is there any doubt that this isn't the real world? Well, there's a pesky young woman named Ruby Sunday planting some doubt into the Doctor and Belinda but his neighbour Melanie Bush is there too for the status quo. Yes, John Smith's world isn't a lie whatsoever. Why would he doubt it?

Maybe it's the cryptic message from the handsome man named Rogue (Jonathan Groff) on the TV or his granddaughter Susan Foreman also appearing to him. Maybe it's the various slip ups he kept making at work and at home. John cast enough doubt for Belinda to call the thought police on him. Belinda then also got rounded up by them, just so that her and the Doctor could finally meet the Rani.

Now, lets circle around the Unholy Trinity. Technically, only two thirds appeared with the last member literally looming at the last minute. Conrad Clark became a word of God, using the power of wishes from the God of Wishes aka Desiderium to create the hellscape that Ruby and Shirley were trying to build a resistance against. As for Desiderium, he's a little baby that won't stop chuckling.

Getting back to the Rani and Mrs Flood, I did like that the latter demonstrated some frustration into being made subservient to her bigenerated self. The Rani on the other hand was running quite the experiment and she was happy to do quite a lot of exposition on the mattress to boot. It did take the Doctor a bit to realise who the Rani and what she intended to really happen to this fake world.

Yes, it was rumoured for week that Omega would make their return and by the end of this episode, the Rani and Flood's meddling (and Conrad and Desiderium too) was successful. I feel Omega would've been better appearing at a later date and I'm not sure I like the idea of the Rani being pushed aside for him. Then again, next week's finale will be longer, so hopefully that will bode for resolving what needs to be resolved here.

- The Rani got a syringe looking sonic screwdriver while turning Desiderium's family into violets, an owl and a load of ducks. I didn't care for that or hinting of a romantic past with the Doctor.

- This episode used a lot of archive footage, including a clip from Dimensions In Time. We saw images of every Doctor here too.

- Mrs Flood was kitted out as a policewoman when she went to arrest Belinda. We briefly met Belinda's mother and aunt here.

- Conrad's little book was called Doctor Who And The Deadly Wish.

- There was no trailer for next week's finale or even a preview clip in Doctor Who Unleashed. Not to mention it's not being released on iPlayer at 8am.

- Chronology: 1865 Bavaria when the Rani took Desiderium as well as May 23rd and 24th 2025, London.

Wish World was an oddity for me. I enjoyed certain scenes but there were moments with the Rani that took me back a little and I'll admit that Omega's inclusion might be too much. I did think most of it worked well enough and Archie Panjabi was excellent in her scenes, especially with Ncuti Gatwa.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

Justice League (2001-2004) - Episodes 14-26 Reviews

In the second half of this season, we're introduced to Etrigan and Metamorpho as well as exploring alternate worlds.

Episodes 14-15: The Brave And The Bold 

With earlier two parters focusing on both Superman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman, it was time to give The Flash some focus. When he wasn't trying to charm young women, he was going up against one of his biggest enemies. Yup, I'm talking about Gorilla Grodd (Powers Boothe) and here, he's got a scheme to destroy Gorilla City. It meant that the League had to team up with Solovar (David Ogden Stiers) in order to stop Grodd from succeeding. Grodd's comeuppance in particular was rather grim for him. 6/10

Episodes 16-17: Fury

I like that we didn't have to wait too long for either a Wonder Woman or another Injustice focused story. With this story, the Injustice Gang were now being led by rogue Amazon named Aresia (Julie Bowen). When she wasn't getting Copperhead, The Shade and Solomon Grundy to do the heavy lifting with her schemes, she formed a sisterhood with Star Sapphire and Tsukuri (Karen Maruyama). Aresia however had some interesting facets to her. The first being that she wasn't an Amazon by birth but a casualty of World War II and adopted by them. She also had a scheme to wipe out the male population and had no problem using testing her deadly virus on Superman to prove a point. 8/10

Episodes 18-19: Legends

The first of two alternative times, anyone? In this one, Martian Manhunter, John Stewart, Hawkgirl and The Flash accidentally transported to a parallel world and discover the Justice Guild of America, who are comic book characters in the Justice League's world. The Guild comprising of The Green Guardsman (William Katt), Black Siren (Jennifer Hale), The Streak (David Naughton), Tom Turbine (Ted McGinley), and Cat Man (Stephen Root) as well as their mascot, Ray Thompson (Neil Patrick Harris). This was a story that took many surprise turns, both in terms of the truth about the Guild but moreso Ray and the real villain itself. 9/10

Episodes 20-21: A Knight Of Shadows

How about a two part story with some focus on Martian Manhunter, a look into Arthurian legends and the introduction of Jason Blood/Etrigan (Michael T. Weiss). In flashbacks, Jason and Etrigan's origin story played out as their lover, Morgaine Le Fay (Olivia d'Abo) betrayed them. In the present day, both Morgaine and her son, Mordred (Soren Fulton) are in search of the Philosopher's Stone. This put Etrigan into an uneasy alliance with the Justice League while the troublesome stone proved to be too tempting for Martian Manhunter. There's also some nice Easter Eggs, courtesy of a costume party not to mention a thinly veiled reference to Hugh Hefner of all people. 7/10

Episodes 22-23: Metamorphosis 

The penultimate story went with another hero introduction and origin story. This time, it would be John Stewart's old friend, Rex Mason (Tom Sizemore). He's working for businessman Simon Stagg (Earl Boen) while not so secretly dating Stagg's daughter, Sapphire (Danica McKellar). Simon's resentment over the couple as well as Rex asking the wrong question had Stagg using Rex for his Metamorphosis experiment. Rex became Metamorpho, initially clashed with John Stewart before becoming a hero and saving the city from a Synthoid (Dee Baker) that seemed to be Chemo in all but name. 7/10

Episodes 24-26: The Savage Time 

Ah yes, after the brilliance of Legends, could a second alternative world story work so quickly? Actually, yes it could. Thanks to Vandal Savage (Phil Morris), the world has changed so that the other side won World War II. In this world, Batman seems to be the only existing hero leading a resistance force that had Dick Grayson and Barbara as a couple and Tim Drake in the mix. Then we had the gang tracking Savage in the 1940s. This meant giving us characters like Steve Trevor (Patrick Duffy), Sgt. Rock (Fred Dryer) and Blackhawk (Robert Picardo) to name a few. This three parter was a nice treat for fans of the Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor relationship while Vandal Savage was a good choice for a finale villain. An excellent ending for the first season. 9/10

Next blog I'll tackle Twilight, Tabula Rasa, Only A Dream, Maid Of Honour, Hearts And Minds and A Better World.

My Review of Scream, Queen! My Nightmare On Elm Street (2019)

 

Narrated by Cecil Edward Baldwin

Directed by Roman Chimienti And Tyler Jensen

Mark Patton: "I wasn't an out gay actor. I was a gay person and I was living in terror. My lover was dying. People were going through our trash and my agent was waiting to see if I could play straight."

As you may know, I've always had a soft spot for A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge. Yes, it's always been the odd one out in the franchise but over the years, it's also been reassessed over the years.

Over a decade ago, there was a four hour documentary called Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy that essentially covered the whole franchise. This documentary on the other hand lasered in on one particular movie and it's leading man, Mark Patton. It's a fascinating look at both but mostly, the latter.

Mark Patton's certainly a fascinating person to watch as the documentary looked into his childhood, his family and his early acting career. Prior to playing Jesse Walsh, Patton played the role of Joe Qualley in the 1982 Broadway production of Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. It was a role he'd reprise in a theatrical movie that had Cher, Sandy Dennis, Karen Black and Kathy Bates as co-stars.

His career also included having scenes with George Clooney in Hotel where he also punched the latter. Of course as the documentary went on, Patton talked about the pitfalls of his career and the advice he was given to be a character actor. Then there was his sexuality as well.

When Patton was filming his infamous role of Jesse Walsh, he wasn't out to the public. His career stalled after turning down a CBS series where he would've played gay but would've had to pretend to be straight publicly. A past relationship with another actor from a soap was addressed along with Patton's current relationship with Hector Morales Mondragon. The documentary also took a frank discussion on Patton's battle with HIV and AIDS.

Circling back to Freddy's Revenge, it's been a role that was a mixed bag for Patton. There's scenes where he confronted the director, David Chaskin over the more blatant homoerotic subtext in the movie (the S&M club, Jesse being a closeted metaphor, Coach Schneider getting whipped, etc). Those scenes were rather tense but there's levity with a festival screening of the movie and Patton himself recreating the dance.

- The documentary got nominated at the 2021 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary.

- Many of the cast members from Freddy's Revenge, including Robert Englund appear throughout this documentary.

- Standout music: Skeleton Head's Split Second.

- Chronology: The documentary premiered at the Cleveland International Film Festival on April 5th 2019 before it got a limited theatrical release on February 27, 2020.

Scream, Queen! My Nightmare On Elm Street was a fascinating look into the making into Freddy's Revenge but more so, a much better look into Mark Patton as a person. I'd highly recommend watching this one.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

Justice League (2001-2004) - Episodes 1-13 Reviews

Years ago, I reviewed Batman: The Animated Series, it's continuations as well as Superman: The Animated Series. This was imminent, so here goes.

Episodes 1-3: Secret Origins

The series opened with a three part story with the title group only forming properly towards the end of this. You've got Batman (Kevin Conroy) and Superman (George Newbern) on relatively friendly terms. Somewhat established as active players were The Flash (Michael Rosenblum), John Stewart (Phil LaMarr) and Hawkgirl (Maria Canals-Barerra). Then the events of this story saw Wonder Woman (Susan Eisenberg) leaving Themyscira to help out. As for the story itself, there was the introduction of Martian Manhunter (Carl Lumbly) and invaders from Mars that very nearly managed to take over the Earth, had it not been for our seven heroes. It's a strong opening story that established our heroes pretty well. 8/10

Episodes 4-5: In Blackest Night 

With the first story being more of a character set up, this second story was a two parter focused on John Stewart being on trial on Oa. His supposed crime? Apparently he blew up a planet and despite John protesting his innocence and The Flash being firmly in his corner. Of course, it's obvious that John didn't do but this story certainly kept him in the firing line for as long as possible. Eventually it was revealed that Kanjar Ro and the robotic Manhunters did the deed in order to steal a Green Lantern power battery. Not one of my favourites but a solid story. 6/10

Episodes 6-7: The Enemy Below 

With the first two stories exploring both Earth and space, it's nice that the third one went to Atlantis. Yup, we got Aquaman (Scott Rummell) and he was certainly an abrasive character, who clashed with the League. He's also happily married to Mera (Kristin Bauer), has a son named Arthur Jr. Then there's Orm (Richard Green). The latter was scheming to take over Atlantis, managed to nearly kill the Justice League and his brother, before the latter cut his own hand off to save his son and reclaim his kingdom. There's also a brief supporting role for Deadshot (Michael Rosenblum) in this one too. 7/10

Episodes 8-9: Injustice For All

If you're going to have a Justice League, then of course you need it's counterpoint. Lex Luthor (Clancy Brown) knew that, so he enlisted Ultra-Humanite (Ian Buchanan), Solomon Grundy (Mark Hamill), Cheetah (Sheryl Lee Ralph), Star Sapphire (Olivia d'Abo), Copperhead (Efrain Figueroa) and The Shade (Stephen McHattie). Then the Joker (Mark Hamill) also inserted himself into the team. As a group, they nearly worked. They came close to actually taking out the Justice League but too much infighting and divided loyalties ultimately derailed them as a team. Lex not being a likeable leader also didn't help. 8/10

Episodes 10-11: Paradise Lost 

Ah, it was time for Wonder Woman to get some much needed focus. The start of the story had her going through her excuses for leaving Themyscira, only to find her mother, Hippolyta (Susan Sullivan) and the rest of the Amazons frozen as stone statues. Felix Daisy (Robert Englund) emerged as being responsible and he quickly forced Wonder Woman's hand in retrieving magical artificats for him. Eventually Wonder Woman needed to get help from the rest of her current team. As for Faust, he somewhat took a backseat when Hades (Jonathan Rhys-Davies) emerged as the bigger problem for both Wonder Woman and Hippolyta. The story ended on a very bittersweet note. 9/10

Episodes 12-13: War World 

My least favourite two parter so far. One one hand, I'm happy that we have a two parter that's very Superman focused. On the other hand, I just don't greatly care for Warworld or even Mongul (Eric Roberts) as a character. These Fight Club type stories don't really do it for me and this one didn't either. It's a fairly plodding story, even when Mongul played on Superman's morality in order to mess with Warworld's eventual successor, Draaga (William Smith). 5/10

Next blog I'll tackle The Brave And The Bold, Fury, Legends, A Knight Of Shadows, Metamorphosis and The Savage Time.

My Review of When A Stranger Calls (2006)

 

Written by Jake Wade Wall

Directed by Simon West

Jill: "You really scared me, if that's what you wanted. Is that what you wanted?"

The Stranger: "No."

Jill: "What do you want?"

The Stranger: "Your blood all over me."

I reviewed the original, then the sequel and now, it's time to look at the remake. The 2000s were a wild time for horror remakes and reboots. Often a mixed bag and this certainly fell into that category.

The movie opened up with the death of three children and their babysitter, Stacey (Lillie West) and it was a way to set the tone for this remake. Then we cut to the main event itself.

Yes, you've got a teenage Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle) hired by Dr Mandrakis (Derek de Lint) and his wife (Kate Jennings Grant) to look after their children. Yes, we've been here before but it's a remake, so there's a few differences.

As the kids were sleeping, Jill's rebellious friend, Tiffany (Katie Cassidy) came to visit, do some binge drinking and the topic of sharing boyfriends creeped into the conversation. Then there was the Stranger (Tommy Flanagan/Lance Henriksen) themselves.

I'll admit that this movie did try to take some interesting turns. Jill initially believed that the oldest Mandrakis kid was playing a prank and then she believed that the maid, Rosa (Rosine Ace Hatem) was messing with her. Of course, it wasn't poor Rosa and soon, the bodies did start to pile up as the Stranger went to town on tormenting Jill.

If the first two movies had time jumps and lagging middle acts, then this one might have had the latter but it was definitely keeping within a specific timeline. I'll admit the back and forth between Jill and the Stranger had it moments. Due to the bigger house, there was a bit variety with the set piece before the Stranger ended up getting caught.

- Some other actors who popped up in this movie included Clark Gregg, Tessa Thompson and Dianna Agron to name a few. 

- A sequel, When A Stranger Returns was supposed to happen but hasn't materialised to this day.

- Standout music: Joe Faraci's Lock It.

- Chronology: 2006, Colorado for the majority of the movie. The opening scene however took place 125 miles elsewhere.

Personally, I thought this version of When A Stranger Calls was just okay. Not as good as the original, mostly on a par with it's sequel and had some decent scare moments. Essentially, it passes the time.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of When A Stranger Calls Back (1993)

 

Written And Directed by Fred Walton

William Landis: "I am not the reflection of anything. I am not an illusion. I am the truth. I'm invisible. Unknowable. You people are the real illusionists. You people are the real illusionists!"

There are some films that really don't require a sequel. In fact, you could argue the majority of horror movies themselves should've been one and done affairs but here's one that really didn't need a second outing. However it got one.

It's a sequel that also started off the same one the first movie did too. This time, the babysitter's named Julia Jenz (Jill Schoelen), who was hired to look after the children of Dr. Schifrin (Kevin McNulty) and his wife (Cheryl Wilson). So far, so familiar.

Then we had Julia going through what her predecessor went through. Creepy calls from a stranger pretending to have a broke down car before it eventually transpired that the children were kidnapped and never found again. This naturally had a knock on effect on Julia.

Once again, the movie did a time jump but kept the focus on Julia, who was attending college but also being stalked. This also put Julia into the cross hairs of Jill Johnson (Carol Kane) and Detective John Clifford (Charles Durning). The former had also become a counsellor at Julia's college and saw a kindred spirit in the traumatised woman.

The rest of the movie upped Julia's paranoia, had Jill work through some of her own issues while giving Clifford his heroic moment. The stalker this time around also happened to be a Ventriloquist (Gene Lythgow) with a penchant for black body makeup. I'll admit that made for a striking visual in some scenes.

While I get that the movie was trying to make this stalker more enigmatic, I think some backstory might have helped a little with his terror campaign against both Julia and Jill. However, he did receive a much deserved comeuppance by the end of this one with the movie having two Final Girls.

- Julia Jenz and Jill Johnson. Both the same alliterative name types there.

- There was no mention of Jill's husband and children in this movie at all. Why was that?

- There's a dedication to Tony Beckley at the end of this movie.

- Chronology: A five year time jump took place before halfway into the movie.

When A Stranger Calls Back isn't a bad sequel. It's even quite unsettling in some parts. It just basically reheats the same story with a slightly less compelling antagonist and secondary protagonist. Not terrible, but certainly not exciting.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of When A Stranger Calls (1979)

 

Written by Steve Feke And Fred Walton

Directed by Fred Walton

The Stranger (to Jill): "Have you checked on the children?"

Ah yes, a babysitting horror film based on an urban legend. It's legacy included a sequel and a remake. It's also had it's influence felt in later horror movies to boot. 

Like the best horror films, it's premise was simple. You had Dr Mandrakis (Carmen Argenziano) and his wife (Rutanya Alda) hire babysitter Jill Johnson (Carol Kane) to look after their kids while they went out for dinner. A simple job for Jill that badly very fast.

It went badly down to the fact that Jill kept receiving creepy phone calls from a mysterious stranger (Tony Beckley) telling her to check the children. Jill should've listened to him because it later turned out that the children had been killed by English seaman, Curt Duncan aka the Stranger.

Then the movie jumped and flipped focus. A grieving Mandrakis hired detective John Clifford (Charles Durning) track down the recently released Duncan. Duncan himself had become homeless and developed a fixation on a woman named Tracy (Coleen Dewhurst).

It did appear that Tracy was going to be another victim of Dun an and she very nearly became one had Clifford not intervened. I'll admit this part of the movie somewhat lagged in proceedings but fortunately the last few minutes shifted the focus back on Jill.

An older version of Jill, who was married to Stephen (Steven Anderson) and had two kids. Jill once again had Duncan threaten the lives of children, only this time her children. The movie did however end on a different outcome for Duncan than what happened when he first tormented Jill.

- The movie's an expanded version of the 1977 short movie, The Sitter.

- Tony Buckley who played the title villain sadly passed after production of the film had wrapped.

- Standout music: Billy Preston's Space Race.

- Chronology: There's a seven year time jump within the movie. The movie's set in Los Angeles.

When A Stranger Calls for the most part, I'd recommend as a horrid film. It's middle act however would be a lagging point but the start and end are near perfect with great performances from Carol Kane and Tony Beckley respectively.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Doctor Who: "The Interstellar Song Contest"

 

Written by Juno Dawson 

Directed by Ben A. Williams

The Rani (to Mike/Gary, re Mrs Flood): "Our name is The Rani. Although she's become a Rani, while I'm the Rani. The definite article so to speak."

Holy bigenerations mark two! Yes, that ever so popular theory about Mrs Flood actually came to pass. She's the Rani, or more specifically, a Rani. The definitive article made her grand appearance at the end, giving gay couple Gary (Charlie Condou) and Mike Gabbastone (Kadiff Kirwan) something to mull over. 

Bigenerations might be a divisive thing to do on the show and the one thing I found interesting was that Mrs Flood waited to pull off that little stunt, once the Doctor and Belinda had fled the titular contest itself. For years, fans have been clamouring for this character's return. Will RTD and company handle the Rani better than Sutekh? I think they just might.

The Rani promised to deliver absolute terror to the Doctor by the end of this episode and something tells me that he's not going to be the same man once he reunites with her. However, the Rani wasn't the only surprise that this episode had to offer. She was however, my favourite. Top marks to both Anita Dobson and Archie Panjabi during that reveal.

The other major surprise was Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford) herself. I might have known about the Rani but Susan's appearance genuinely blindsided me in the best way possible. The Doctor when trying not to freeze to death saw her in his mind and she made it abundantly that he had to find her. He better get on with that in the next two episodes.

Getting to the core of this episode, it was a shameless Eurovision spoof that tried to embrace both the sheer campness of the song contest as well as the political minefield it's become as well. Oh and Rylan Clark turned out to be very vital for this episode. His scenes complimented what it was going for on the camp front along with his feline, co-host, Sabine (Julie Dray).

Then there's the political side of things with freedom fighters and Hellia survivors, Kid (Freddie Fox) and Wynn (Iona Anderson) resorting to extreme measures in order to highlight the injustice of what happened to their world. Their actions however brought out the darkest side of this Doctor to date and even I found his treatment of Kid in particular rather harsh.

Between all of that, there was Cora Saint Bavier (Miriam-Teak Lee). The reveal of her being from Hellia with her horns removed wasn't shocking but I thought she really stood out as a guest character and had a nice singing voice. Her scenes with Belinda in particular were rather strong.

Let's circle back to Belinda, shall we? She was excited for the contest, had a panic attack when things went down with Kid and his Delta Wave threat and was also scared for and by the Doctor. Then there was finding out about the Earth's destruction in those last few minutes. 

- The Rani reveal happened in a mid credit sequence and she was happy with Mrs Flood getting the results of the Vindicator.

- Graham Norton's cameo was rather genius. Of course he'd be the one to tell the Doctor and Belinda about Earth's destruction.

- The last time both Susan and The Rani appeared was during Dimensions In Time.

- There was no next trailer for the first part of the finale. 

- Standout music: Cora's song to one side, of course the use of Bucks Fizz's Making Your Mind Up.

- Chronology: 2925 on the Harmony platform for the contest while the Earth went bye bye on May 24th 2025.

The Interstellar Song Contest certainly was divisive with it's attempt to tackle both the camp and political aspects of the Eurovision (which is on after this episode's television debut) but it certainly made use of its guest cast. However, it's the returns of both Susan and The Rani that made the episode for me. 

Rating: 8 out of 10