Streaming Standard: Agatha All Along (Episodes 3-9)

 Clearly, I planned to break this up more.
Then you know, we had 2 Hurricanes hit my Home State, so...I was busy.

Let's wrap up our look at Disney's newest Streaming hit...

All of the Coven is united.

They are on The Witches Road.

What follows are Trials for each Witch, which gives the Producers an excuse to get fun outfits for everyone and new Sets.

Of course, the Trials aren't easy and the group will learn many things along the way- even what they don't want to know!

Each Witch has their own backstories and motivations.

They each want something different- will this put them at odds?

On top of that, they won't all make it out alive!

We eventually learn all about the Teen- which I won't SPOIL for anyone not in the know.

He gets his own Backstory Episode, which is tradition for any Prestige TV Show.

Can the Coven complete the Trials?
Who will make it?

If they do, will they get what they want?

To find out, stream it now.

An MCU Show that really delivers both in quality, but variety.

A common complaint I've seen is that 'MCU Shows are just long Movies cut into pieces.'
I don't really agree, but I can see why some people say it about Shows like, for instance, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

This one has a strong, episodic format though.  Each Episode builds nicely upon the last, using the breaks well.  They aren't arbitrary.

If we're going to call every Streaming Show just 'a long Movie,' then many others need to have this 'complaint' lodged against them.

Everyone shines here, from Zasheer's attitude to Lupone's grace to Hahn delicious evilness that slowly changes.

I was worried that the 2-Part Finale wouldn't work, but it sold me.  I don't talk about it here, of course, because major SPOILER potential.

Agatha All Along is a strong MCU Show that fans of Witchcraft and unique TV need to see.  Plus, it still has time for a dumb joke...

A really strong Show that builds and builds throughout its run.  The Show sets many interesting things in motion for the MCU to take advantage of.

Streaming Standard: Batman- Caped Crusader (2024)

Warner Bros' folly is another Streaming Company's gain.

Bruce Timm is back to make another Batman Cartoon.  This is on Prime because, as noted, WB apparently passed on it.

How are they losing money again?

Regardless, let's see how this new take on Batman turned out...

It is the 1940s and Bruce Wayne is a big time industrialist.

Gotham City, meanwhile, is still as corrupt as ever.

That's why he spends his nights fighting crime as Batman.

This one is based mostly on the early version of the Caped Crusader, minus his purple gloves (which were mostly like a coloring error).

The City is also beginning to fill up with criminals that aren't Mobsters or Gun Runners.

That's why he needs the help of Alfred, who doesn't seem to miss any meals in this version.
(which is how he looked before he was written as skinny to match the TV Actor).

Keeping the law is Commissioner Gordon and his Daughter Barbara.

Harvey Dent is the DA and wants to be Mayor, but he's more corrupt than he lets on.

Batman must rise to the occasion to stop the more outlandish villains that show up.

For instance, a version of Golden Age Clayface, Firebug and new versions of Harley Quinn and The Penguin.

On top of that, some new (to Batman) villains are entering the fray.

Onomatopoeia's wordless evil and Gentlemen Ghost's far more verbose villainy must be stopped.

To find out how Batman does, watch the Show now.

A really good Show that bridges the gap between nostalgia and being a new property.

It is a tricky thing, as the Show is based loosely on the Golden Age Comics, but also updating key aspects for a modern audience.
It gives us new content, while also reminding us nicely of the classic Animated Series.

The Show gives us another great iteration of Batman, which is great to see in the ensuing years since we lost Kevin Conroy.

The Stories are fun and the serialized nature works well.  You can watch individual Episodes on their own AND be rewarded with a through-line of a Story that connects all 10 Episodes.

The variety of Villains is nice, as we get some classic one likes Penguin (below), new riffs on ones like Harley Quinn and classic DC Villains like Gentleman Ghost facing off with Batman for the first time since The Brave and the Bold.

All in all, the Show is really damn good.  As a kid raised on the Animated Series, I'm both the target demo AND the hardest group to please.

It is good and I can't think of any reason to be mad at...oh, right.

I would have gotten to this sooner, but I wanted to ease my withdrawal by putting off the last 2 Episodes.  Now is the great time to watch it!

Holiday Flix: Trick or Treat (1986)

 Better than Circus Peanuts, that's for damn sure!

This is 1986's Trick or Treat.  Of course, my copy is a foreign one (it was digital) and is titled Ragman.
No biggie.

The Plot involves a scorned Teen, a dead Rocker and the power of an evil spirit to control electricity.  That sure is a popular Plot, from House III to Shocker to this (which came first).  Hell, they're still doing it as of 2019's Star Wars- The Rise of Skywalker!

Can the Lead from Attack of the Killer Tomatoes IV save the day?
Is he metal enough for Riki Rachtman?

To find out, put down the candy and read on...

Eddie (aka Ragman- although I have no idea why) is big into Metal.

He's also bullied by some 22-year-old Students and pushed naked into the Gym.
Will he turn out to be The Rock too?!?

He practically worships a Singer named Sammi Curr, who fronts a fictional Metal Band.

The one problem- Sammi is dead!

He meets with his DJ Friend (Gene Simmons in a Cameo) and they share in their grief.

He gives Eddie a Demo Copy of Sammi's last Single, which he will play on Halloween Night.

Bye, Gene- we never see you again!

Eddie falls for one girl (who looks like Milana Vayntrub) and is invited to a Pool Party- the School one, to be exact.

He's bullied again and that's the last draw!

He plays the record backwards and gets 'advice' from Sammi.  It is super vague at first, but he's 100% into it.

His friend doesn't believe him.

He nearly decides not to save the bully, but does sneak a tape of Sammi's to the guy's girlfriend.

It makes great energy surround her and put her in the hospital...somehow.

This is NOT the kind of Film where you ask questions.

Ozzy Osbourne has a random Cameo as an Angry Preacher on TV.

Neat.

Of course, that means that many DVDs give him and Gene Simmons top-billing.

Playing the record more and using its power finally allows Sammi to break on through to the other side.

He now has full-on electric powers and is pretty much a walking Ex Machina.

In a strange moment, he reaches through the TV (below) and presses Ozzy against the edge of the TV, which...kills him...maybe...I guess.

Eddie tasks his friend with destroying the tape.

He plays it instead and is made to play it at the Halloween Party.

This summons Sammi again, who plays well...but then starts killing people with his ghost lightning powers (including the Director in his Cameo).

He turns on Eddie- although Eddie was clearly not on his side anymore anyhow- and tries to kill him at his House.

Through luck, throwing a light box at Sammi makes him trip and it reveals his weakness- water.

He's temporarily trapped with his hand in the toilet, something that Freddy Krueger would not stand for!

They have another face-off with him, but make it to the Station.

Simmons is not there (he's dead- I guess) and they can't stop the tape playing with Sammi there.

Eddie baits him and crashes his car into the river, destroying Sammi and somehow NOT injuring him in the slightest!

The End.

A fun Film, even if it barely makes a lick of sense.

Do you expect real logic in a Film like this?  A Rock Singer comes back from the dead as an Electric Ghost.

Shakespeare never wrote anything like that- he didn't even know what the hell electricity is!

The selling point here is Eddie.  He's supposed to be relatable.  He's either you (a metalhead), your son you don't understand or your friend.

For his part, our Lead does a good job.  The Actress who plays Leslie does as well.

Is Sammi a good replacement/substitute for a Freddy Krueger or a Jason Voorhees?  No, but he tries.  The late Actor/Dancer Tony Fields really shines here.

He's definitely better than the guy in Slumber Party Massacre II (although that Guitar/Drill is nice).

All in all, this is a Film that can certainly be a staple of an '80s Horror Fan's Library- as long as you know that Simmons and Osbourne are barely in this.

In case you didn't know that this was the '80s, here's a guy dressed as Rambo and Eddie's Mom as Madonna.

Happy Halloween.  As for me, I enjoy getting lots of Candy for half price- diabetes be damned!

5,100th Post Celebration: Repo- The Genetic Opera

Well, it is another Milestone number.
What should I do for it?

How about something different- a Musical?  Maybe one that has a Cult following and was not a hit.

This is Repo- The Genetic Opera, a 2008 Film which doesn't tick many boxes for me personally.  

I don't *hate* Musicals, but the structure confounds me.  

I don't hate Darren Lynn Bousman or his work, but I'm not going to watch a Saw Film anytime soon.

Why not go outside of my comfort zone then?  Because it is just that, comfortable?
Well, too bad!  Let's check out this thing!

The Plot is all sorts of bonkers, involving a massive corporation skirting the law, buying their way into make crime legal and using human beings as tools that they can dispose when they see no worth in them.

Such a Science Fiction Plot!

Will I learn to love a bizarre, gory Musical?  Let's find out...

The Film takes place in a dystopian future where every place looks like the neon green streets of Gotham City from Batman Forever.

Everyone out there dresses like a combination of The Lost Boys or the cast of Cats.

GeneCo (who spent 10 seconds coming up with that name) makes a power play.  They buy their way to allow themselves to copyright/patent new organs and then repo them if payment isn't made.

Paul Sorvino is the Boss and has three kids (or more?) vying for the spot when he dies.

The Repo Men are allowed to catch you and cut out the organs.  These Repo Men are not be confused with the Leads from the 2010 Film Repo Men (which was somehow being written in 2007 based on a Novel from 2009?).

Nor should they be confused with Repo Man...or Repo Chick.

Our Lead- although we seem to have about 7- is Shilo.

Her Dad is a Doctor and she has to stay inside due to her rare blood disorder.

Like everyone, she sings about it.

Plot Twist- Dad is actually a Repo Man!

The Wife died while giving birth when he tried to cure her of her disorder and he was blackmailed by Sorvino into working for him.

I have to imagine this was fun for Mr. Head after dealing with all of the teenagers on Buffy for so long!

The Film also features an omniscient Narrator who talks directly to the Audience.

I think you're required by law to have one in a thing like this.

Confusingly, he also interacts with the Leads in a key way...so is he just Deadpool seeing through the structure of the Film itself?!?

The whole thing, of course, builds up to the titular Opera.

All of the Sub-Plots- killer Dad, evil Dad, sick girl, lady with holographic eyes- all come together in a bloody spectacle.

Curiously, almost nothing is actually resolved and many bad guys walk away, so this is either very nihilistic or they expected to make a bunch of Sequels.  

The End.

This one didn't do it for me, but I'm certainly not here to take this away from the fans.

The Film was hard to follow for me, with the heavy exposition mixed with Comic Book Panels, random people popping up, the singing and the Narrator.

They spent $8 million on this one and it didn't go into this part it seems.
It seems to have gone to all of the vinyl clothing and fake body parts for gore.

One thing is going to really decide how you feel about this- the Singing.  The performances vary.  I really liked Sorvino here- he nailed the role.  Others like Bill Moseley and Ogre aren't great.  I think it was a choice they made (as opposed to a lack of talent).

With all of the stop-start storytelling for Songs, it got hard to tell how much was really happening.  I joked on Twitter that I was waiting for the Plot to start about an hour in.

There is one, but many Plot Points overlap.  For instance, one lady dies from being poisoned and a different one was also being poisoned.  Getting both reveals in the Finale muddles things a bit, no?

All in all, I totally get why some people are *really* into this one.  I'm not here to tell you to hate it or anything.

For me, I just didn't really connect with the whole thing.  To be fair, the last Opera I watched was Dario Argento's.  Take us away, Dystopian Future Guy who looks like Present Day Vince McMahon.

A Film that absolutely has fans and I take nothing away from that.  I just never got 'hooked' by the whole thing.

Shudder Day: The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)

 Like most Americans, I really liked Andre Ovredal after Trollhunter.

I've enjoyed other Films by him, so let's see this 2016 one too.

The Police find a crazy crime Scene!

The House is full of bodies.

There's no clear motive and nobody seemed to have broken in.

On top of that, they find an unidentified body half buried in the basement.

Said body is sent to the Father-Son duo of  Morticians, who seek to identify the woman and find a cause of death.

The Sheriff needs answers by morning- since he has none now!

They do their best, but find all sorts of strange things about the body...

They find strange things about the inside of her as they go through the autopsy.

They also find strange things ON the inside of her.

The duo start to see things, especially the Son.

Can they solve the mystery of the strange body before time runs out?

What about when they lose power...or gain a massive fire?

To find out, stream it now.

A real creepy Film that definitely delivers when the credits roll!

The Film is one with a unique premise.
How can the 'killer' in your Film already be a dead body?

That's the hook here and I won't SPOIL the details.  Believe me- it is hard.

What's not hard is to praise our Leads.  Brian Cox is great when he's not selling McDonalds and Emile Hirsch holds his own.  He doesn't get enough credit.

Is it because he was in Speed Racer?  Probably.

If you're a fan of big, fun and gory Horror, this won't be your thing.  It has some gore, but is far more about building and simmering tension.  

The moments really work when you get them, but you don't get them all of the time.

Autopsy is a really good Film with a unique feel and it is definitely worth a look if you're still in the dark about it like I was.

Just maybe avoid the more SPOILER-y alternate Titles and Posters.

A freaky Film with a neat hook.  The Pacing and Tone won't be for everyone, but I was a fan.

Remake This?: Toolbox Murders (2004)

 A Film remade, ironically enough, by the guy who inspired the Original in the first place.

A Producer saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre make a ton of money on the cheap and said, 'Let's do that.'  26 years later, a Studio got the rights to make a new version of The Toolbox Murders and hired Tobe Hooper!

This 2004 Remake was also produced by an odd couple- Tony DiDio and Jaqueline Quella.
One was the Producer of the Original- and seller of the rights- and one was the person picked by the Studio to make this...and she hated the Original.

As such, they bought the naming rights and made something completely different.

Was that a positive?  Let's hope so!

Rather than summarize it here, let's just dive right into the grime...

After a logo that looks like it was designed for 2004 Windows Media Player, we see a woman move into an Apartment Building in L.A.

It's...Sherri Moon and she's eventually killed with a hammer.

It's noted that she did this as a favor (thanks to Rob), but isn't, you know, being a Tobe Hooper Film enough.  Kind of a passive aggressive dig, no?

We next meet our actual Main Character- was this supposed to be like Scream or am I reaching?- and its Angela Bettis.

Her and the Husband are NOT wannabe Actors (like others), but they are nosy.

To be fair, they can hear EVERYTHING through the walls.

Instead of a cheap Apartment Building, this one is a big one with a Doorman and a Super...but also super cheap.  Pick one!

It is full of random people, including a guy who spies on his neighbor via 144p Webcam.  There's no nudity in this one, however, so I guess he just likes to watch her walk around in grainy, blue tint.

She meets the oldest Tenant- Rance Howard- and he tells her about how old the place is and that there is vague, weird stuff about it.

This comes into play later, of course.

Angela hears someone screaming bloody murder and calls the Cops, but it is the Super and an Actor doing lines.

Now she's not going to call them again and she's...on the hook for the broken door?

What kind of lease did you sign, lady?!?

The kills are far more spaced out here, which is better and worse.

They're also (generally) bigger and sillier.

The Nail Gun Scene, for instance, ends with her being shot at like a woman in the Carnival with a Knife Thrower...and it gets sillier.

Who is this masked killer?

Is it the Husband?
The Doorman?
The Super?

Howard talks to her again about the Building and she's led to look deep into its past.

There are no 4th Rooms (104, 204, etc.) somehow and there are symbols everywhere.

What does it all mean?!?

Here's the big reveal(s)- the killer (credited as Coffin Baby) was born from a dead woman and needs to kill to survive.  The runes/markings give him power...or something.

Look- he's a masked brute who doesn't talk, so everyone does it for him.

He kills everyone but the Couple, has the 'one last hurrah' moment and then disappears for a Sequel that wouldn't come for 9 years due to a ton of rights issues.

The End.

After watching a Film like this, I feel like I need a tetanus shot!

Everything is yellow tinted, moldy and just looks unpleasant.  Lots of it is lighting, so I can't blame this on Color Correction (the accidental bane of Cinema since 1999).

Positives- focusing on Bettis is good.  The kills in the Finale are brutal enough for this Film's audience and the vague lore about the killer is interesting.

Ultimately though, this has about a dozen Characters, barely a Story, a villain who just grunts and just really failed to hold my attention.  On top of that, is this a Remake?

As I discussed with Bob the other day, this Film just bought the name and the idea of a few kills.  Was it a big name?  Were those kills that famous?

I'm glad Hooper got to keep making stuff- especially after his Credits were excised mostly from the 2003 Remake of his most famous Film- but this is both half-baked and over-done.

The execution of the Plot is so-so and the forced lore for this grunting rando killer is silly.

Speaking of silly, old Coffin Baby hid the Nail Gun kill from the cops this way...

Next up, I guess it is time.  Let's go from a Film inspired by Tobe Hooper to a Remake by Tobe Hooper to....a Remake of Tobe Hooper.  Stay tuned...