DCU Blog - August 2024 Edition: Dead Boy Detectives Cancelled, Super/Man Arrives and The Penguin Release Pattern

Yes, it's been another merry go around for DC fans this month with a mix of good, bad and unsurprising developments.

Joker: Folie A Deux will be hitting the Venice Film Festival September 4th and WB/DC Studios have been ramping up the TV spots and promo pics. Harry Lawtey has also been confirmed as Harvey Dent for the movie.

Matt Reeves has been active on social media more recently, promising that things are progressing with The Batman - Part II. Filming will commence in early 2025 for it's October 2nd 2026 release date.

Mike Flanagan has expressed an interest in working on a DC project. Just give him one, James Gunn.

Michael Keaton has admitted to not being too upset that Batgirl had been cancelled in recent interviews for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. 

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story had its first trailer released during the week. It'll premiere in US theatres on September 21st and 25th while UK/Ireland will get it on November 1st.

In celebration of Jimmy Olsen, James Gunn unveiled Skyler Gisondo's look as the character for the upcoming Superman (2025) movie. July 11th 2025. Sean Gunn's Maxwell Lord will appear in the movie.

Filming for Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow will supposedly start in January 2025. The film is slated for June 26th 2026.

Several Batman movies have returned to theatres leading to the character's 85th anniversary. Which one is your favourite? 

While the first episode of The Penguin will premiere on HBO/Max from September 19th, the remainder of the series will be Sundays 9pm from September 29th. SkyAtlantic will air the limited series the next day. Robert Pattinson will not appear in the series as Batman/Bruce Wayne.

Superman And Lois has moved up and will now premiere it's fourth and final season from October 7th on the CW, kicking off with a double bill. Tom Cavanagh will play a new character.

ARGUS will make their DCU debut in the second season of Peacemaker, which is still currently filming. John Cena has confirmed the show will be released on Max in 2025. Joel Kinnaman is rumoured to be returning as well.

An animated series focusing on Deadman is rumoured to be in early development for the DCU.

In news that will sadly shock no-one, Netflix have cancelled Dead Boy Detectives after one season. 

The Sandman has completed filming for its second season. Netflix will release it in 2025. A third season is probably unlikely if I'm being honest.

Vanessa Baden, Justin Britt-Gibson and Breannah Gibson are among the writers and producers with Tom King, Chris Mundy and Damon Lindelof for the upcoming Lanterns series for HBO. Filming will start in 2025.

Expect a Superman comic box set in 2025 to coincide with the release of Superman (2025). The titles will include All Star Superman, Superman For All Seasons, Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow and Kingdom Come.

What a month it's been for DC fans, huh? Let's see what next month brings, shall we?

Wonder Woman - Episodes 48-51 Reviews

Okay,so this selection of episodes, there's fake aliens twice over, as I fi convention and the singing talents of Lynda Carter.

Episode 48: Going, Going, Gone

So this episode started off with what appeared to be a UFO encounter but seeing isn't always believing as this episode also revealed. Instead of aliens, you had Sheldon Como (Hari Rodes) putting on quite the light show in order to distract from his real plans while Diana found herself in a rather tight spot that nearly did her in. Given that we've had alien encounters in the previous seasons, I was a bit disappointed this was a fake out. 6/10

Episode 49: Spaced Out 

I enjoyed this one a bit more. Diana having a mission that took her to a sci fi convention, hosted by the enthusiastic Sylvester (Steven Anderson), a thief named James Kimball (René Auberjonois) who tied up Black Avengers actor (Ken Wilson) and posed as the costumed hero for his own purposes. There was also a plot about finding a laser crystal, a guest appearance from Robby the Robot and a fair bit of gentle poking about sci fi conventions in general. Yes, this was an enjoyable one. 8/10

Episode 50: The Starships Are Coming

Two episodes close together and both being UFO fakeouts was a surprise. This time, you had a budding journalist Henry Wilson (Jeffrey Byron) taken in frobt of his clandestine girlfriend, Lilibet (Mary Lou Stern) with Wonder Woman determined to find him. There's a moustache twirling villain in Mason Steele (Andrew Duggan) with Diana placed in another damsel in distress moment while a former guest actor popped up as a different character. There's also a new girl at the IADC named Bobbie (Sheryl Ralph Lee) in the small amount of screen time Steve Trevor has here. 7/10

Episode 51: Amazon Hot Wax

It was around this time in real life that Lynda Carter herself had released her debut album Portrait. While undercover as a singer named Cathy, we got to see Diana record the songs Want To Get Beside You and Toto (Dont It Feel Like Paradise). She's got Avery nice singing voice in an episode where musical hijinks were happening throughout. Disappearances were being faked to clear debts, musicians were kidnapping another musicians. Managers were being shifty and so on. All in all, it's a fun episode with some nice guest stars like Rick Springfield and it's well worth the watch. 8/10

My penultimate blog will cover the episodes The Richest Man In The World, A Date With Doomsday, The Girl With A Gift For Disaster and the first part of The Boy Who Knew Her Secret.

Wonder Woman - Episodes 44-47 Reviews

In this batch of episodes, there's dolphins, a fake Wonder Woman, leprechauns and a giant freaking brain. 

Episode 44: The Deadly Dolphin

We're in a terrain of some sillyish episodes with this batch and this one involved some dolphin snatching by a greedy land owner. Diana worked with Billy (Britt Leach) and Dr Sylvia Stubs (Penelope Windust) in order to rescue the dolphins of the episode. Aside from one damsel in distress moment with Diana, this was a solid enough adventure. 6/10

Episode 45: Stolen Faces 

We open the episode with a fake Wonder Woman, who saved a boy from being hit by a car. The fake being a petty criminal named Nancy Clark (Diane Lander) working for a modelling agency using fakes of influential people in order to pull off lucrative heists. I found this one rather entertaining with Nancy being a sympathetic enough guest character forced into more criminality due to circumstances. Steve popped up but did very little to help save the day tbh. 7/10

Episode 46: Pot Of Gold

Begora, it's an Oirish themed episode. Well, not quite. I mean it's not even in Ireland. You get scenes in England but the leprechaun in question was an ordinary looking man named Pat (Dick O'Neill) but yes, a pot of gold was the object of the baddies of the week. As someone who hates the Londinium three parter in Batman 66, I didn't have high hopes for this one but I found it a lot brtter than that aformentioned three parter. Oh and that's a little bit of Christmas in this one. 7/10

Episode 47: Gault's Brain 

I swear this episode might have unintentionally inspired the future Doctor Who story Mindwarp. You've got a dying rich guy named Harlow Gault (John Carradine) who decided he wanted a younger body to continue his life. That younger body being the rather athletic Morton Danzig (David Mason Daniels). Throughout the episode, Morton gets duped into thinking he was on to a good thing until he encountered a giant brain and nearly had Harlow's consciousness inside him. Fortunately Wonder Woman came to his rescue and his worst outcome was a terrible wig by the end of the episode. 7/10

Next blog I'll tackle the episodes Going Going Gone, Spaced Out, The Starships Are Coming and Amazon Hot Wax.

My Review of Longlegs (2024)

 

Written And Directed by Osgood Perkins

Longlegs: "Let me in now, and it can be nice! Make me go now, and I'll have to come back! Not once, not twice, but as many times as I like!"

For one of the most hyped original horror movies of the year, I didn't rush to see this and I managed to largely avoid spoilers for it as well. Was it worth the hype? I got to be honest, I'm not entirely convinced.

First of all as much as it's a horor movie,it's also something of a murder mystery to boot. You've got the main antagonist in question - a creepy, pale skinned serial killer named Longlegs (Nicolas Cage). There's no particular backstory to that name choice by the way. 

Anyways the movie opened with Longlegs encountering a young girl (Lauren Acala) on her ninth birthday. It's an encounter she survived but changed as she grew up to be FBI agent Lee Barker (Maika Monroe). In her current time, Lee's desperately trying to track down Longlegs from completing his deadly triangle of family related murders.

During the movie, Lee not only had to contend with the estranged relationship between herself and her mother, Ruth (Alicia Witt) but also her superior, Agent Carter (Blair Underwood) as well as his wife Anna (Carmel Amit) and daughter Ruby (Ava Kelders). As a unit, they were next on Longlegs list of families to destroy.

The connections that are made between Longlegs and Agent Harker aren't too surprising but they're executed decently enough for the third act to work along with the reveal of his accomplice at the last minute. There's also a very underrated performance from Kiernan Shipka as one of Longlegs survivors. I thiught her scenes were particularly delightful. 

As a merging between horror and crime, I did feel like parts of the movie could have been better. Both Nicolas Cage and Maika Monroe give good performances but the former's capture and death felt somewhat anticlimactic. I did however like the references to the Devil but subtle they weren't.

- Longlegs real name was revealed to be Dale Kobble in the movie. Osgood Perkins is the son of Anthony Perkins.

- The end credits scrolled down instead of up, which was an interesting gimmick for the movie.

- Satan himself did appear a lot throughout the movie. It wasn't subtle but it was handled well.

- Chronology: It was 1974 at the start of the movie before moving into the early 1990s. Victims were usually nine years old and born on the fourteenth day of the month.

Longlegs was a bit of an oddity for me. I didn't love it as much as I wanted to but I certainly liked it and appreciated a lot of what director Osgood Perkins was going for. There's certainly strong performances from the leads and it's unsettling overall but didn't entirely click for me.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Watchmen Chapter I (2024)

 

Written by J. Michael Straczynski

Directed by Brandon Vietti

Rorschach: "Who killed Edward Blake?"

I was planning on rewatching/reviewing the other movie and shows of the same title first but yesterday afternoon, I had the urge to watch the first part of this two part animated movie. This was something of a mixed bag.

The 2009 movie has earned its place as a cult favourite in spite of it's handling of the source material while the 2019 miniseries has garnered a lot of critical and award acclaim. I don't see the latter happening to this animated two parter.

Bouncing between different time periods before honing in on October 1985, the Comedian (Rick D. Wasserman) has been killed and Rorschach (Titus Welliver) found himself trying to figure out what was going on and who was out to get the Watchmen. Needless to say, his methods werent totally approved of by others.

In flashbacks and the 1985 time setting, you had Doctor Manhattan (Michael Cerveris) musing on his childhood, his fascination with fixing watches as well as his relationships with Janey Slater (Kari Wahlgren) and the second Silk Spectre (Katee Sackhoff). During the movie he also exited to Mars, having grown weary of the human race.

There's the second Nite-Owl (Matthew Rhys). He's the closest to a more heroic character in this movie, visiting his predecessor (Geoff Pierson) as well as doing his own investigations. There's also an underlying relationship with Silk Spectre II in the mix that will undoubtedly boil over in the second part.

Last but not least, we got some nice focus on the reformed Ozymandias (Troy Baker), tending to his own business while flashbacks delved into the early days of the Watchmen along with the imminent death of the first Silk Spectre (Adrienne Barbeau) and her own feelings on the Comedian before the movie ended on a cliffhanger.

- Yes that scene with Silk Spectre I and the Comedian appeared with the latter being rightfully beaten up as a result. He also shot a pregnant woman. 

- A trailer for the second part, due for release in 2025 was shown at the end of the movie. 

- The first six issues of the maxiseries are covered here.

- Chronology: October 13th 1985 in New York City.

Watchmen Chapter I does kick off this two part event to a good start. So far, it seems to be a strong enough but not spectacular adaptation of the source with Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski adapting the material well enough. I like the animation as well.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

Wonder Woman - Episodes 40-43 Reviews

In this batch of episodes, there's disco fever, mind controlled ants, future threats in the present day and skateboarding.

Episode 40: Disco Devil

An episode with a disco setting had the makings of something truly groovy but it's mostly preoccupied with two telepaths going up against one another. The telepaths being Nick Moreno (Michael DeLano) and Del Franklin (Paul Sand) going at one another until they both ended up powerless. There's the usual plot of stealing secrets and the effects both Nick and Del had with their powers were done well. Steve at one point bearing the brunt of it. Mostly entertaining enough. 7/10

Episode 41: Formicida

Imagine Poison Ivy with the ability to control ants and you've got the crux of this episode. The titular villain, also known as an environmentalist named Irene (Lorene Yarnell) also had her ex-husband (Robert Shields) kidnapped while she used her ability with ants to take a pesticide manufacturer and his base of operation. There's a good use for Rover the Robot, who proved that he could talk to ants while Wonder Woman was actually able to redeem Formicida by the end of the episode. 8/10

Episode 42: Time Bomb

I'm guessing these space/future themed stories were supposed to be an once a season treat. Only this time, it's a singular story and no Andros. Instead you've got two people from 2155 back in 1978 for different reasons of course. Cassandra (Joan Van Ark) teamed up with the baddies to accumulate wealth by uncovering a dangerous mineral while Adam (Ted Shackleford) teamed up with Diana in order to stop Cassandra's scheme. He was also rather taken with Diana with IRAC being a moderate nuisance for him too. 7/10

Episode 43: Skateboard Wiz

Skateboarding, you say? Yeah, that's the crux of this episode as Diana's vacation has her coming to the aid of her friend's daughter, Jamie (Cindy Eilbacher), who was a child prodigy and skateboarding wiz. It's an episode involving corrupted property developments and a seeming ally of Diana's turning out to be a bad guy after. There's a good guest performance from Eric Braeden as Donalsen but it's mostly a middling one. 6/10

Next blog I'll tackle The Deadly Dolphin,Stolen Faces, Pot Of Gold and Gault's Brain. 

Wonder Woman - Episodes 36-39 Reviews

I'm finally on the third and final season of this show and it's off to a decent slew of episodes involving singing twins, car troubles, rigging football games and living statues. 

Episode 36: My Teenage Idol Is Missing

Season 3 kicked off with another change to the opening credits/theme tune but also a case of seeing double. You've got an enthusiastic fangirl Whitney (Dawn Lyn) who witnessed her teen idol, Lane getting kidnapped by bad guys and replaced by his estranged twin, Michael. Lane and Michael are both played by singer Leif Garrett, who's own single I Was Made For Dancin' was used for the episode. There's some dodgy shenanigans between the kidnappers and Lane's reunion with Michael (who can also sing) is nicely handled. An okay opening episode. 6/10

Episode 37: Hot Wheels

An episode all about cars and I mean, all about cars. The whole episode has Diana working with a detective named Tim Bolt (Peter Brown). He's somewhat of a charming but smug character who spent most of the episode getting his ass handed to him by the bad guys of the piece. Diana herself even got captured and all because of a microfilm hidden in the hood ornament of a stolen car. Add some explosions into the mix and there's a lot of fun to be had with this one. 8/10

Episode 39: The Deadly Sting 

Ah, this episode has rigged football games and it had men getting whacked with pea shooters and their behaviour changing for the absolute worst. Yup, it's a football episode and one where Diana worked with another male guest character while Steve continued in his office role that he's been in since the second half of Season 2. There's also a misguided scientist being forced by the guest baddies to manipulate the football stars with some real life Notre Dame games added into the plot. 7/10

Episode 39: The Fine Art Of Crime

Oh, this one had some great moments. Rover can be quite the trickster and IRAC's snarkiness made a return as did Harold Farnam (Ed Begley Jr) from the previous season. This time around, there was a case of authentic looking statues, created by Henry Roberts (Roddy McDowell). I figured out early enough those statues were real people and it also made the sense that the baddies of the week intended to add Wonder Woman to the collection. It nearly worked until it didn't but overall, a very good episode with an unsettling premise. 8/10

The next blog I'll cover the episodes Disco Devil, Formicida, Time Bomb and Skateboard Wiz.

My Review of The Crow: Wicked Prayer (2005)

 

Written by Lance Mungia And Jeff Most And Sean Hood

Directed by Lance Mungia

Jimmy: "Someone owes me two lifetimes and a set of perfect blue eyes."

Heading into the final movie before the reboot's release this week, I have to reiterate that there's some diminished returns with this franchise. This one being the worst one so far.

This time our protagonist was an ex criminal named Jimmy Cuervo (Edward Furlong). Yet again, he has a girlfriend. She's called Lily (Emmanuelle Chriqui). She's got the sight. Sadly for this couple, neither of them seem death coming. 

The death being at the hands of a gang of Satanists, led by the unimaginatively named, Luc 'Death' Crash (David Boreanaz) and his envious girlfriend, Lola Byrne (Tara Reid). The rest of the group compiled of War (Marcus Chong), Famine (Tito Ortiz) and Pestilence (Yuji Okumoto). Early into the movie, they get out of prison and kill both Jimmy and Lola. 

Needless to say, Jimmy gets revived and became the new Crow and got the biggest crow to boot. While trying to avenge his dead girlfriend, Jimmy also had to contend with Lily's priest father, Padre Harold (Danny Trejo) and sherriff brother, Tanner (Dave Baez). Both blamed him for Lily's death before realising the bigger threat at stake.

The threat being this movie committing to the Satan worshipping by having Luc and Lola get engaged with the help of El Nino (Denis Hopper) as part of a ritual for Luc to becone a host for Lucifer. What better place than a Catholic church for such an event?

Yeah, we get the big stand off,many deaths, a wasted cameo appearance from Macy Gray and a last minute attempt for Lola to renounce her Satan worshipping ways as Luc failed to outsmart Jimmy. All of this as the movie somewhat hurtled towards it's ending. 

- Despite Lily having blue eyes, actress Emmanuelle Chriqui has brown eyes.

- Jimmy collected scorpions and even read Stephen Crane's Black Riders to Luc.

- Mostly a DVD release but it did have a one week theatrical release.

- Chronology: This movie was set in Lake Ravasu on the Raven Aztec reservation.

Yeah, this one just bored me rigid. A miscast lead actor, a leaden love story and Satanic worshipping villains poorly executed. The Crow: Wicked Prayer was a pure exercise in tedium. 

Rating: 4 out of 10 

My Review of The Crow: Salvation (2000)

 

Written by Chip Johannessen

Directed by Bharat Nalluri

Vincent: "What do you want?"

Alex Corvis: "I want Lauren. I want my life back. I want to know why!"

Following the failure of the second movie at the box office, a third installment in this franchise certainly pivoted in new and different direction. Well, the different being that this was a straight to DVD release.

The familiar being the motive in question. Yet again, we've got a Crow who's avenging a dead girlfriend. Here it's Alex Corvis (Eric Mabius), who got the chair after being framed for the murder of his lover, Lauren Randell (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe). Needless to say, death didn't agree with Alex.

Nope, shortly after his execution, he got revived by the Crow and proceeded to go after everyone connected to his girlfriend's death. On top of that, there was also the girlfriend's family to contend with.

There was Lauren's cop father, Nathan (William Atherton) who has his own guilt to contend with while Lauren's sister, Erin (Kirsten Dunst). At first, she blamed Alex for her sister's murder before teaming up with Alex to uncover the truth. While not a career highlight for Dunst, she's decent enough as Erin in this movie.

The villains this time aren't gang members but corrupt police officers, led by Book (Fred Ward) and Madden (Bruce McCarthy). As villains along with Secretary (Kelly Haren), they're fairly paint by the numbers,villain wise. Saying that there's something immensely satisfying in the way that Book himself was dealt with.

As another person to connect with the Crow, Alex fulfilled his mission, got his closure and reward. It's neatly wrapped up here with Erin being the one to deal with the fallout of her entire family being no more.

- There's some good supporting performances from Grant Shaud and Tim DeKay as Peter Walsh and Martin Toomey respectively. Walton Goggins also featured here.

- The Crow facial features on Alex are a lot more gruesome than the previous two movies. 

- In a different universe, this would've been a Rob Zombie movie. Let's just say we fared better here. 

- Chronology: Early 2000s in Salt Lake City for this movie.

As a horror/comic book franchise, I can't deny that these movies do diminish on each entry. The Crow: Salvation is a very pedestrian entry, reusing elements of the first movie but in a less compelling way.

Rating: 5 out of 10 

My Review of The Crow: City Of Angels (1996)

 

Written by David S. Goyer

Directed by Tim Pope

Sarah: "There's a reason why you've been brought back, Ashe."

Ashe: "To find the people who did this to us. To make them pay."

Following the tragic passing of Brandon Lee during filming of the first movie and the success of that film, a sequel was inevitable. However, it was a tough case of finding the right story to put the mythology forward while being respectful to what had come beforehand.

To say that The Crow: City Of Angels had an impossible task in doing that would be an understatement. For a second outing, it's certainly a movie that may have disappointed fans of the first one at the time of release but has gained a cult folllowing over time. I kind of enjoyed it too.

Last time it was a rockstar avenging his murdered girlfriend. This time around, you've got doting father and mechanic, Ashe Corven (Vincent Perez) being killed along with his son, Danny (Eric Acosta) by a drug gang led by Judah Earl (Richard Brooks). Needless to say, the crow returned, resurrected Ashe and the latter embarked on a revenge mission of his own.

Like Eric in the previous movie, Ashe had an ally in Sarah Mohr (Mia Kirshner). This time, Sarah was an adult, working as a tattoo artist with a gay boss named Noah (Ian Dury) and having bad dreams. Those dreams led her right into Ashe's direction and she had to be the one to bring him up to speed about his current status.

Ashe didn't exactly take the news well but he did enjoy taking out an assortment of scumbags in his lead up to confronting the superstitious Judah. Those included the likes of Curve (Iggy Pop) and Kali (Thuy Trang), the latter in particular getting a fate worse than death.

As for Judah himself, I found his motivation. Wanting to replace Ashe as a beacon of death by killing the crow and using Sarah as bait for Ashe. He didn't exactly get his wish at the end of this movie as Ashe managed to get his revenge. However, Sarah, while useful in the movie was another casualty. There are also two endings for the movie. The theatrical one was the conventional similar to the first movie. It was an okay way to end this one.

- The second ending was more downbeat with Ashe's actions resulting in him being unable to crossover. I think I liked that one more.

- The Deftones appeared as themselves in the movie. Originally Ashe and Danny were meant to be brothers instead of father and son.

- Standout music: Bush's In A Lonely Place, Hole's Gold Dust Woman and the use of Hush Little Baby by both Ashe and Kali in the movie.

- Chronology: Several years since the events of the first movie. It's also set during the day of the dead in Los Angeles.

Yeah, I liked The Crow: City Of Angels. It was in a tough place as a sequel and for the most part, it worked for me. I liked Ashe as much as I did Eric in the first one and Sarah had her moments as a character.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of King Cobra (2016)

 

Written by Justin Kelly And D. Madison Savage

Directed by Justin Kelly

Brent: "All right, let's fuck."

Over the last few months, I've been watching different LGBT themed movies and one that was on my list was this one. Yes, I'm familiar with the subject matter in question and I was curious to see how this particular story would be handled.

The results seem to be a bit of a mixed bag. What could've been a provocative thriller turned out to be more TV movie but not necessarily bad in itself. It's just more average at best as the topics of gay porn, owning your brand and murder are dealt with here.

The star of the movie of course was gay porn performer, Sean Paul Lockhart aka Brent Corrigan (Garrett Clayton). This movie opened with his move to Pennsylvania where he told his mother, Janette (Alicia Silverstone) he was doing a paid film internship. In reality, he was embarking on a different film career.

That career being in the adult entertainment industry where he quickly became the muse of Cobra Video director Stephen Kocis (Christian Slater). Going under the name of Brent Corrigan, the former was soon making name for himself in gay porn but also his relationship with Stephen quickly soured when it was clear the latter was underpaying him.

Of course in this day and age with the rise of certain platforms, someone like Brent could cut the middle man out and here, he did wisely several times with Stephen. Unfortunately the latter trademarked the name Brent Corrigan and Sean's involvement with two other sex workers had disastrous results for Stephen.

Yes, the movie tackled the murder of Stephen Kocis (real life Bryan, btw) by faded escort Joe Kerekes (James Franco) and his boyfriend, Harlow Cuedra (Keegan Allen). It's a brutal scene and it was down to Brent's cooperation with the police that both Joe and Harlow were brought to justice for Stephen's death. 

By the end of the movie, we did have justice served, a reminder of Brent's innocence in this tragic story and a look into Corrigan's life after the murder itself. However the real Brent Corrigan has also publicly condemned this movie and it's depiction of the events.

- The movie is based on Andrew E. Stoner's book, Cobra Killer: Gay Porn, Murder, and the Manhunt to Bring the Killers to Justice.

- Molly Ringwald also had a decent role as Kocis's sister, Amy. 

- Standout music: Scissors Sisters Filthy/Gorgeous, H.U.N.X's Can A Man Hear Me and Hysterics Pleasuredome.

- Chronology: Started in 2004 with Lockhart's first meeting with Kocis as it lead into the latter's murder in 2007.

King Cobra is definitely an oddity of a movie. It had the potential of being a gritty, insightful look into the themes and real life story it covered but the results feel like something you'd get for a TV movie. The performances are serviceable but imagine if a better production had gotten this story with Brent Corrigan on board with it. Very missed potential.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

Wonder Woman - Episodes 31-35 Reviews

For the final batch of episodes for the second season, we had sabotage test flights, seances, an inept would be inventor, a young girl with powers and a town with dodgy residents.

Episode 31: Flight Into Oblivion

If you missed the military look Diana had in the first season, then this episode mainly had her in that attire. Mainly because she was posing as a photographer at an airbase where various workers were being hypnotised into sabotaging an important. There's an amusing subplot with Diana having to photograph a rock band with the lead singer taking a shine to Diana. As for Steve, he does get a moment to get in on the action but the latter half of the season really has relegated him to desk duty. 6/10

Episode 32: Seance Of Terror 

I liked this one. You had a young boy named Matthew (Todd Lookinland) who had supernatural gifts that his exploitative uncle (Rick Jason) and aunt (Kres Mersky) were more than happy to use to their advantage. They got Matthew to target certain people in power who've lost loved in order to take part in a seance and even Diana's determination to expose them got her taken off the case. I did like IRAC and Rover choosing to "help" Wonder Woman while Diana donned a civilian disguise to get to Matthew. Matthew's abilities were neatly shown (photos of ghosts, telekinesis) along with Diana getting her vacation thanks to Steve and Rover by the end of the episode. 8/10

Episode 33: The Man Who Wouldn't Tell

For this episode, you've got a protagonist that's a bumbling janitor, a master of disguise, an unlikely ladies man and oh yes, a bloke who inadvertently managed to create a powerful explosive. He's also called Alan (Gary Burghoff) with a long suffering girlfriend and had a massive target on his back, due to that explosive creation of his. Luckily for him, he also had Wonder Woman on his side and by the end of the episode, he made the effort to be a better man. 6/10

Episode 34: The Girl From Ilandia

The penultimate episode of the season and in some respects, I wish the order had been swapped. Personally I think this would've made for a better finale than the one we get for this season. It's also a backdoor pilot for a spin off that never got off the ground. Wonder Woman finds herself having to protect a young girl named Tina/Amadonna (Julie Anne Haddock) from the sinister Bleaker (Allan Arbus). Tina's powers aren't dissimilar to Diana's but her desperation to return to her own home, which she wasn't able to do did give the episode a bittersweet outcome. Add in a cute dog that Tina befriended and this was a great episode. 8/10

Episode 35: The Murderous Missile

The second season ends on something of an okay note. I know this wasn't a time where finales weren't always written to be events but I definitely would've put the previous episode as the finale over this one. It's an okay enough episode with Diana investigating a small town where the baddies have taken over and there's an attempt to use a missile for one villain's gain. Diana does get some assistance from petty criminal Mac (Steve Inwood) to save the day and there's the display of her motorcross costume but overall, it's very average. 6/10

Next blog, I start the third and final season by delving into the episodes My Teenage Idol Is Missing, Hot Wheels, The Deadly Sting and The Fine Art Of Crime.

Wonder Woman - Episodes 26-30 Reviews

For this batch of episodes, we've got Diana the undercover thief, kidnapped athletes, a magic act, cross dressing assasins and more computers to boot.

Episode 26: Light-fingered Lady

First of all, if you missed having another woman in the main cast aside from the title character herself. This episode introduced Saundra Sharp as Eve Welch, a co-worker of Diana and Steve's. The main plot involved Diana going undercover as an expert thief in order to infiltrate a burglar ring. During this plot we also got to see Diana work her charms on dogs by being able to telepathically communicate with them. Oh and there's the return of the wetsuit. A fairly so-so episode. 6/10

Episode 27: Screaming Javelin 

Okay, if there an award for one of the most evil and campest of guest baddies, then Mariposa (Henry Gibson) would certainly be a contender for it. A power mad ruler of a fictional micronation, Mariposa's great scheme involved kidnapping Olympic athletes for his own means and he's mostly successfulat it. He's also got a previous grudge with Diana Prince and has her kidnapped too before his grand plot falls apart at the last minute. There's also an amusing subplot where IRAC made it clear that he was aware of Diana's identity. I've grown to enjoy that snarky supercomputer during this season. 7/10

Episode 28: Diana's Disappearing Act 

With the amount of magic that surrounds Wonder Woman as a character in the comics, it's kind of a shame that none of her magical villains ever made it to the show. There's a character in this one called Morgana but it's not that character. Instead there's a scheming magician called Count Cagliostro (Dick Gautier) with designs of turning lead into gold but at least Wonder Woman had an ally in aspiring magician, Harold Farnam (Ed Begley Jr) to help her defeat Cagliostro. It's a very enjoyable episode with an assortment of characters as well as the use of mine to absuct a scientist at one point. 7/10

Episode 29: Death In Disguise 

Out of the batch of episodes I've watched for the blog, this one by far would be my favourite. It's my favourite for two very different guest actors. First of all, you've got George Chakiris as the lothario industrialist Carlo Indrezzano. The guy shamelessly flirts with Diana during every scene they have, gets bound and gagged by hitmen after Diana, was surprised when rescued by Wonder Woman, knocked out by the other highlight of the episode and can't give a diamond away. Then there's Charles Pierce as cross dressing hitman, Starker. He poses as two different women within the episode, wanted Diana to be taken out before doing anything and also wanted to extract information from IRAC and nearly got away with it. Both characters are such fun to watch for different reasons. Add in a disgruntled/dyslexic former hitwoman and some other characters and this was a delightful episode. 8/10

Episode 30: IRAC Is Missing

A highlight in this second season has been the addition of IRAC the supercomputer. A character so great they outlasted Joe Atkinson and seems to have gotten more screen time than Steve Trevor in the last few episodes. This episode was their moment to shine as we had the villain of the week, William Havitol (Ross Martin) go to great lengths in order to steal IRAC with Diana having to work with both Rover (a new recurring robotic character) and CORI in order to save poor IRAC. Havitol seems to be a nit of a master of disguise and Diana basically had no problem revealing her identity to the computer/robot characters in this episode. 7/10

Next blog I'll wrap up the second season by tackling Flight Into Oblivion, Seance Of Terror, The Man Who Wouldn't Tell, The Girl From Ilandia and The Murderous Missile.

My Review of Halston (2021, Netflix Limited Series)

 

Written by Ian Brennan And Ryan Murphy And Sharr White And Ted Malawer And Tim Pinckney And Kristina Woo

Directed by Daniel Minahan 

Halston: "I have a vision. I'm going to change the face of American fashion."

I realised that I had at least one Ryan Murphy show on Netflix that I had not covered and it was this miniseries from 2021. Created by Sharr White, this five part series explored the rise and fall of fashion designer Roy Halston Frowick (Ewan McGregor).

The series started with a flashback to Halston's childhood to where he used to make hats to comfort his mother. Cut to thirty years later in New York where Halston's determined to make a name for himself in the fashion industry with the formation of his company and making the right connections within the industry.

He got the financial backing from David J. Mahoney (Bill Pullman) and had a partner in Joe Eula (David Pitta) as well as a team that included jewelry designer, Elsa Peretti (Rebecca Dayan) and window dresser, Victor Hugo (Gian Franco Rodriguez). The first episode even had Joel Schumacher (Rory Culkin) working for Halston before the latter had to kick a drug addiction.

Of course throughout this five part series, we had the highs and lows of Halston's career and personal life really highlighted. There's an endearing and enduring friendship he had with Liza Minnelli (Krysta Rodriguez). At times, it seemed like one of the healthier relationships in Halston's life along with his other friendships with Eleanor Lambert (Kelly Bishop) and Martha Graham (Mary Beth Peil). 

His relationships with other characters however as the series went along certainly took worse turns. His friendships with both Joe and Elsa both diminished and we saw that being with Victor was more of a toxic pairing in which the latter got revenge by outing Halston's more hedonistic lifestyle. Then there was selling and rebuying his name in the last episode. I did love his purely antagonistic working relationship with Carl Epstein (Jason Kravits).

The miniseries did of course touch on the fact that later in life, Halston had HIV, which was something that he didn't tell many people about. There's a great scene where he does indirectly confide in Liza about his condition that hits the right emotional note while the final scene focused more on leaving his legacy behind to retire. 

- The episode titles for this were Becoming Halston, Versailles, The Sweet Smell Of Success, The Party's Over and Critics.

- Other noteworthy actors who appeared in this miniseries included Dilone as Pat Cleveland, Vera Farmiga as Adele, Sietzka Rose as Karen Bjornson and Jack Mikesell as John David Ridge.

- The series is based on the book, Simply Halston by Steven Gaines.

- We saw Halston's grudging partnership with JCPenneys as well as missing the boat for getting on the jeans trend.

- Standout music: Andrea True's More, More, More during sone of the Studio 54 scenes.

- Chronology: From 1938 to 1984 with scenes in Indiana, New York, Versailles to name a few locations.

Halston certainly has the trappings of a usual Ryan Murphy biopic series. It's loose in some of its historical research, very theatrical and elaborate. Ewan McGregor does give a great performance and unlike other biopics from the Murphy oeuvre, it doesn't overrun with episodes. 

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The Crow (1994)

 

Written by David J. Show And John Shirley

Directed by Alex Proyas

Eric: "Little things used to mean so much to Shelly- I used to think they were kind of trivial. Believe me, nothing is trivial."

With a reboot due for release later this month, I thought it was time to revisit this movie and maybe actually bother with the sequel. Has it really been thirty years since it's debut? Apparently it has. Has the movie stood the test of time? I think it has done, yes.

In this movie, our protagonist was a man who died a year ago. Rockstar Eric Draven (Brandon Lee) and his girlfriend, Shelly Webster (Sofia Shinas) were the victims of a gang related death buteven in death, there's no rest for the wicked. That's quickly proven with the resurrection of Draven himself.

Aided by a mystical crow, Eric was on a one man mission to kill every single gang member responsible for his and Shelly's deaths. It was a mission that Eric certainly had fun with and while he possessed a certain degree of invulnerability, he wasn't entirely immune to being hurt. Not to mention, his revenge plans attracted attention from other characters, who'd get caught in his path.

These characters included a good cop named Daryl Albrecht (Ernie Hudson). He had previously failed Eric in the past but was determined to amend that once he was aware of Eric's presence. Then there was Sarah Mohr (Rochelle Davis), a young girl who saw Eric as a surrogate brother figure but also she was someone whom the main antagonist could leverage against Eric.

The main antagonist of the movie was a more typical gangster in Top Dollar (Michael Wincott) with the enigmatic Myca (Bai Ling) as a second in command. He's a ruthless enough baddie, not above threatening Sarah's life in order to get Eric. Of course, like every other baddie in this movie, he's given a very fitting death.

The deaths in question are a highlight here. Eric specifically chose different ones to suit each person who caused his and Shelly's deaths. By the end of this movie, Eric had gotten his revenge, his soul was at peace and there was a clear sequel hook in place with Sarah regifted Shelly's ring by the crow.

- Brandon Lee who played Eric Draven tragically died during filming. 

- There's a good subplot where Eric scared Sarah's mother, Darla (Anna Levine) into getting clean.

- Gang members who were taken out included Grange (Tony Todd), T-Bird (David Patrick Kelly), Tin Tin (Laurence Mason) and Funboy (Michael Massee).

- Chad Stahelski was both a stunt and body double for Brandon Lee, including completing scenes, following Lee's death.

Standout music: Stone Temple Pilots Big Empty.

- Chronology: There's a Halloween setting for this movie, following a year since Eric and Shelly's deaths.

The Crow does live up to it's hype,though a movie more associated with the tragic passing of it's lead actor than the actual quality itself. It's an interesting tale of revenge and rather darkly comic to boot. It's also very 90s, which ain't a bad thing.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

Wonder Woman - Episodes 22-25 Reviews

In this batch of episodes, you've got volcanoes, a new title sequence, mind stealers, androids and Christmas.

Episode 22: The Man Who Made Volcanoes

For some reason, the show decided to change it's opening credits. I mean we're not even halfway through this second season and it's an odd decision to make. The new credits are nice though but it's not like this episode feels like an opener or a new jumping on point for the show. The main plot did involve a scientist named Arthur Chapman (Roddy McDowell) who has the ability to make volcanoes erupt. He's intended to use that for his own evil plans and it's a team of Wonder Woman along with Chinese and Soviet agents to stop his scheme. There's a job promotion for Steve Trevor Jr in this one, which does reduce his screentume a bit as well as anything exit for Norman Burton's Joe Atkinson. 6/10

Episode 23: Mind Stealers From Outer Space: Part 1 

Our only two part story of the second season and it's another spacey one. I mean the opening scene has Diana communicating with a ship via astral projection and if you enjoyed Andros from the first season, you might like his son in this one. He's also called Andros (Daak Rambo) and he's on the hunt for the mind stealing Skrills (not Skrills, Marvel fans). They're also out to get him but when they were possessing a teenage brother and sister, they also realised that Diana Prince and Wonder Woman. The cliffhanger for this first part ended on the note of the Skrills main muscle coming very close to taking out Diana. 7/10

Episode 24: Mind Stealers From Outer Space: Part 2

The second half of this two parter had some great moments. Possessed twins on the rampage, the Skrills nearly taking over a peace meeting and of course, more astral projection communication between Diana and Andros's people. Speaking of Andros, he did succumb to the Skrills at one point during the episode while also making it clear that he had romantic designs on Wonder Woman himself. Although Wonder Woman chose to protect Earth and not go to the stars with Andros, the end of the episode made it very clear that she was at least tempted by the prospect. I have to also give the episode points for the delightfully snarky interaction between Diana and IRAC computer. The latter definitely knew of her other identity. 8/10

Episode 25: The Deadly Toys

As a massive Doctor Who fan, there was something about this episode that reminded me of the likes of Spearhead From Space, Terror Of The Autons and The Android Invasion. I'm not saying this episode specifically ripped off those stories, just that I saw elements of them in this one. On top of that, you've got the Riddler from Batman 66 as the sinister Toyman and even an android version of Wonder Woman in the mix as well as a treacherous friend of Steve's named Dex (John Rubenstein) in the mix. Oh and a dash of Christmas in the mix. Mostly a good episode. 7/10

In the next blog, I'll tackle the episodes Light-fingered Lady, Screaming Javelin, Diana's Disappearing Act, Death In Disguise and IRAC Is Missing.

Wonder Woman - Episodes 18-21 Reviews

In this batch of episodes, Steve Trevor gets kidnapped, a singer corrupts his fans, a queen bonds with a thief and a fake marriage solves a crime.

Episode 18: Knockout 

Ah, Steve Trevor Jr. He's just like his dad. Looks like him, acts like him and has a tendency to be captured like him too. For the majority of the episode Steve's a prisoner of Carolyn Hamilton (Jayne Kennedy), a former colleague of his. Carolyn's joined a radical group and genuinely believes that's she's going to help do something good, in spite of said group's failed attempts to also capture Diana and Joe. In the Wonder Woman '77 comics, the character of Carolyn would eventually become Nubia and here, it's Diana that managed to get through to her in order to turn on her radical group. There's also a nice subplot where Diana befriended a cab driver and his son. 7/10

Episode 19: The Pied Piper

In DC Comics, there's a villain/antihero character called The Pied Piper but usually they're an enemy of The Flash. Here, the character's a disillusioned singer named Hamlin Rule (Martin Mull) who decided to use hypnosis to get his groupies to rob banks. This episode not only gave Joe Atkinson more to do but it also introduced his daughter, Elena (Eve Plumb), who was under Hamlin's spell until Wonder Woman managed to get through to her. More interestingly was the fact that in spite of his actions, the episode did attempt to redeem Hamlin, who wanted to atone for his actions while also having his creative juices resurged as well. 7/10

Episode 20: The Queen And The Thief 

Time for a really fun undercover episode and this one delivered for me.  You've got both Diana and Steve undercover at the Malakan Embassy, trying to stop international jewel thief Evan Robley (David Hedison) from stealing the crown jewels of Queen Kathryn. Diana's the maid and Steve's locked away for a good portion of the episode. Then there's the fact that the thief isn't actually the baddie in question but someone more trustworthy who was determined to have the Queen deposed. There was nice bonding moments between the Queen and Wonder Woman and there's an amusement end scene where the title really lived up to it's promise. A very entertaining episode. 8/10

Episode 21: I Do, I Do

If you wanted an episode where Diana was paired with a new undercover partner, well, didn't this one deliver or what? Steve largely sat this one out in favour of Agent Christian Harrison (John Getz), who opened the episode by marrying Diana. It's established quick enough that the pair were posing as a married couple in order to go to a spa resort. The objective there was to catch a shifty masseur David Allen/Walter Lampkin (Henry Darrow), who was extracting information from government wives. One of those wives managed to outsmart him and almost got killed by a horse named Satan. A noteworthy element of the episode was Diana not wearing glasses in her civilian identity while Christian was also smitten with Wonder Woman. He was an okay guest character with decent chemistry with Diana. 7/10

Next blog I'll tackle the episodes The Man Who Made Volcanoes, Mind Stealers From Outer Space: Parts 1 and 2 and The Deadly Toys.