Yes, they do, but the shows can be accessed in other ways. I like Johnny Dollar when he announces his expense account items …. Not big on the comedy shows, though.
I am a fan of Larry McMurtry. I watched The Last Picture Show again. It was a couple of years ago. I also watched Texasville and liked it, but I loved his other three books that followed The Last Picture Show.
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I hate watched season 1, not sure I will watch season 2. Is it any better than season 1?
What time frame are you talking about? I remember Wolverine, but wasn’t really relating to the most recent movies until you wrote that.
BTW I’ve been working my way through about 7 seasons of Shetland.
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The 90’s X Men movies were largely based around the early 80’s Dave Cockrum run as writer, when a new roster that included Wolverine, Collusus, Kitty Pride, Night Crawler became part of new and major revitalization of the title. That period saw the ‘Dark Phoenix’ saga (done TWICE in the movies and once in the 90’s cartoon) and also had the first Wolverine four issues limited series by then wunderkind artist/writer Frank Miller.
The most recent movie has a LOT of direct references and easter eggs to that period that are essentially nothing except “Hey nerds, remember this?” Which is a sentiment the movie makes ACTUAL text.
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read, and still have all those comics. I think you mean Chris Claremont
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You’re right. I did mean Claremont. Dunno how I missed those two up.
Cuckoo (2024) - dir. Tilman Singer
When her mother dies, American teenager Gretchen (Hunter Schafer) is sent to live with her father Luis and his new wife in an isolated resort in the Bavarian Alps that her father is opening with the enigmatic Mr. König. But Gretchen’s new half sister is mute and experiencing strange seizures brought on by a weird shriek emanating from the woods. And Gretchen is attacked by a strange hooded woman on the way home one night.
And from there, things just get WEIRD.
Some movies are less about the plot, and more about creating an atmosphere. Lynch’s Eraserhead is less about the actual goings on on screen, but more about the sense of foreboding and anxiety that those events produce. What actually is going on with that weird baby creature and the woman in the radiator isn’t the point. It’s about creeping sense it all gives you that things are WRONG and you have no way to make them right.
Cuckoo seems trybto do this, not an easy trick, and it ALMOST makes it work. The Alps, that should a beautiful and scenic location, are unseen. The characters are either enclosed indoors or shown to be on the edge of a dense, dark forest, constantly closing over them, giving everything a trapped, claustrophobic vibe. Something is definitely not what it seems here.
Alas, there IS an explanation for it all, and while it’s not cheap or a cop out, I almost wish they would have left things dangling and a bit more mysterious.
There are other films that manage this trick. Panos Cosmatos’ Beyond the Black Rainbow and Mandy are both firmly in the “operatically weird” section of the horror shelf. Benson & Moorhead have their whole filmography, with titles like Resolution and The Endless being much more about ‘the vibe’ than the actual plot. Most recently I Saw The TV Glow by Jane Shoenbrun made a whole trans allegory through a movie that was all about the overall mood.
Cuckoo doesn’t quite commit to this, so ultimately things are spelled out, and that always leaves one with a bit of a let down.
But apart from that quibble, there’s a lot to like here. Schafer’s performance is outstanding, the cinematography and sound design are all top notch, and there are some really creepy raise-the-hair-on-the-back-of-your-neck moments. And clocking in at a relatively brisk 1:45:00 runtime, it doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Catch this in the theater if you can. Or more likely, watch for it on streaming, since it will probably fall out of theaters this week or next.
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Any fans of the tv series Plan B? Season 2 has a new cast and storyline. Season 1 was really interesting.
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I’m not sure how I feel about this. I really enjoyed the first season until the last two episodes. I just hope they make it less confusing with all of the multiple versions of Joel Edgerton.
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Smart scripting, and the casting is dead on.
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Double feature last night. First up: the creepy & almost Cronenbergesque 2005 (!) Irish horror flick Isolation, which got surprisingly little attention at the time of release. Well-made, and the cast includes John Lynch & Sean Harris when they were … well, almost 20 years younger 
Second, the absolute garbage and time waste that was The First Omen. We kept watching in the hopes of something HAPPENING, but it didn’t. I have a soft spot for the original with Gregory Peck and that creepy MFing boy, as it was one of the first horror movies I saw.
This was a steaming pile of shit. Avoid at all cost.
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Another pizza & movie night with our pesca buddy. This time, we chose wisely.
Very well done.
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Rip Alain Delon. Perhaps time to revisit some of his classics. Last movie with him I saw was The Eclipse, 2 years ago. I have always had a soft spot for him, me being someone who appreciates style and fashion. And classic European movies.
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He was absolutely gorgeous 
Huge crush as a teenager.
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Same. The movie Borsalino was my introduction at the Los Feliz theatre on Vermont. He was the epitome of cool.
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Started watching Blue Ribbon Baking Championship on Netflix last night. It reminds me of The Great American Recipe, and the Great British Bakeoff with a lot more food coloring and co-host Jason Biggs making bad American Pie jokes. Sandra Lee is the other host and she dresses like an overdecorated Christmas tree.
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I was also fairly unimpressed with First Omen. It LOOKED lovely, with that great 70’s ‘patina’ in the film processing, but mostly it was just a bunch of callbacks to the original where it suffered by comparison. The contortions the plot went through to smoothly hook up to the original just made me roll my eyes hard enough to see my own brain.
If you’re looking for a slightly better Catholic Convent Pregnancy horror, Immaculate with Sydney Sweeney is airing on Hulu in the US right now. It’s no masterpiece, but it does generate some creepy atmosphere, contains some REALLY standout white knuckle scenes, and even has relatively coherent feminist/anti-patriarchal themes which it more or less earns.
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Thank you, added to our watch list. Lisa Frankenstein and Double Blind are on it as well.
Lisa Frankenstein is kind of adorable. A lot of Beetlejuice/Heathers Winona Ryder vibe. A romcom for goth teens…
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