This is Halloween 2! - A Little More of Jekyll and Hyde

Well, this took longer to get back to. This is what happens when you’re wearing multiple hats. Besides, I had to find one more Hyde story to finish this post off. Next on the Jekyll/Hyde marathon, someone decided to market this towards kids with an animated adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Then, Jekyll and Hyde invade the romance section of the library with Mary Reilly. Next, there’s a 2008 made-for-TV adaptation of the story starring Dougray Scott. Finally, we get a Jekyll and Hyde, an adaptation that takes the story in a weird direction.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1986)

First, we make it to the 80’s, and while there is probably a live adaptation around, the animated version caught my eye. Phelous hilariously reviewed it years ago, so it warranted a re-watch. In the movie, one of Dr. Henry Jekyll’s old maids recounts the events to kids she’s watching over. Dr. Jekyll creates the serum that ends up bringing out brings out his darker self named Edward Hyde. He ends up leading a double life. As Hyde, he makes a mess of things and even goes all “Jack the Ripper” on some folk. His friends, Utterson and Lanyon, notice that something’s off with him. As things get worse and worse, Dr. Jekyll tries to find a way to stop Hyde from coming back.

This was one hilarious reaction.

This is Halloween 2! - A Bit of Jekyll and Hyde

For this post, I thought I would finally touch upon a character I really haven’t talked about here. Heck, you could say that they’re two characters: Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Edward Hyde. I first heard about this “strange case” from those Crestwood books at the local library. Man, those books influenced me a lot when it comes to horror! Anyway, they had a book on mad scientists, and it was there where I learned about the story. Since then, I’ve seen a few adaptations of the story as well as some satires. I didn’t realize how many adaptations this story has had, and that’s not even counting things inspired by the story. The Incredible Hulk and The Nutty Professor are good examples of this. I recently listened to the novella on Audible, and it was a pretty gripping mystery.

Today, I actually quite a few on the docket, so this is gonna be two parts. First up is soundless version of the story from 1920. By the way, this wasn’t the only Jekyll/Hyde movie released that year. Yeah, adaptations of this go this far back and even further. Next up is the 1931 adaption that most may be familiar with. Next up is The Two Faces of Doctor Jekyll, a movie from Hammer Films. Last, we have a Blaxploitation version of the story called Mr. Black and Mr. Hyde… yes, I did have a laugh and sigh at saying that.

This is Halloween 2! - Vampires, Bondage, and Old People, oh my!

 Last year around this time, I thought I would share some thoughts on some Horror movies I watched during the year and around Halloween. This year, I’m back to that grind. Maybe I can actually stick to this for a minute since I’m pretty busy these days. So, in saying all that… THIS IS HALLOWEEN 2. First up, I thought I would go through some random horror movies I’ve recently watched. Yeah, it’s a hodgepodge of stuff ranging from cheesy to pretty messed up.

 

Quick Thoughts #3 - "The Early Days of Superman!"

To quote some teenagers from the first episode of Young Justice, “Today’s the Day!” One major reason the blog’s been vacant for a minute is a simple one: I’m getting married today! It’s been a hectic few days, but before I get even more involved with the proceedings, I wanted to quickly go over a recent read and a recent viewing of some Superman-related stuff. I haven’t forgotten that this was Superman Month for me. Today’s picks are Superman: Man of Tomorrow and Superman: For All Seasons.

Superman: Man of Tomorrow

Superman: Man of Tomorrow was released in 2020. It was meant to be the first DC animated movie that would start off a new batch of movies since Justice League: Apokalips War was the end of that run of the DCAMU. By the way, I still haven’t seen Apokalips War, and from what I’ve seen, I kinda don’t want to. Man of Tomorrow is another origin story that shows Superman in his early days in Metropolis. As he’s trying to figure out to protect the world, an alien named Lobo shows up on the scene and wrecks some havoc. Through this, a STAR Labs employee, Rudy Jones, is transformed into the Parasite. Also, Superman’s being followed by a mysterious alien named J’onn J’onnz.

I thought that this was a pretty good watch. While it does take bits and pieces of origin stories like American Alien, Earth One, and Smallville, it is its own take on Superman. It was cool to see Superman interact with the Martian Manhunter, and somehow, this story makes me like Lobo for a little bit. I also liked what they did with the Parasite. He’s one of Superman’s cooler villains, so seeing him get the spotlight was good. Of course, everything involving the Daily Planet and Lex Luthor (voiced by Zachary Quinto?) was good. The voice acting overall was also pretty good.

The animation took a while to get used to though. It’s not bad, and the action does carry some weight, but it’s a little weird at points. I’ve noticed this with the other movies like Long Halloween and that JSA movie. Metropolis looked pretty cool and futuristic though. Also, Superman’s updated suit looked good. I wasn’t a big fan of Parasite’s final form. I guess it makes sense because his origin involved aliens, but dude was looking too much like a Xenomorph to me. It does drag a little bit in some places, but it’s not that bad. Overall, if you’re looking for another Superman origin, this one’s nice.

 

Superman for All Seasons

If you’re wondering, yes, this is a recent read. While I’ve perused the story over the years, I’ve never sat down to read it until now. This 4 issue mini, released in 1998, was written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by the late Tim Sale. It show’s Superman’s early years, which became a theme for this post.  It shows Clark’s life before he left Smallville and his early time as Superman in Metropolis. We get to see what made Clark don the suit and go save the world. Each issue is also narrated by the people most important to Clark.

This story was pretty dang good. While Loeb gets some hate for stuff these days, dude could write some good DC books. I also see yet another inspiration for the show, Smallville, here. The story does a good job of showing Clark grow into one of the greatest heroes. We also see that it’s not a smooth ride since Superman ends up going through some tough times later in the story. Loeb throws a lot of detail into Smallville with some of the better moments of the book coming from there. Each issue uses the seasons to get a point across and it works really well.

The artwork is awesome. Sale brought his A-game to the book.  He might not have been everyone’s choice to draw Superman, but he works. He draws Superman as a powerhouse, but a kind one. He’s a beefy boy, but that happens when you live on a farm. What action we get is handled pretty well. While Superman doing his thing is a treat here, the simple, quiet moments also shine here. The double page spreads are a treat. Overall, this is one of the best stories out there.

…………………………………….

“Well”, as I say in a pretty preachy manner like I’m gonna bring the gospel, I gotta go. These are two good stories that handle the character really well. Check them out if you haven’t. You can go to HBO Max (for now, that whole WB/Discovery fiasco is horrible) for Man of Tomorrow, and you can find For All Seasons just about anywhere. I’ve gotta get ready for the wedding. For now, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.

TV Talk - Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Well, it’s been a while. It’s been pretty busy over here in the House of Williams. We’ve been preparing for a wedding (September, y’all!), raising a son, and doing a lot of work in general. Writing here isn’t the big priority it once was. Heck, it wasn’t that much of a priority to begin with, but I somehow found time to get something out. I still haven’t finished Discovery or even got past the first episode of Picard Season 2. So, how did I skip all of that and watch all ten episodes of Strange New Worlds? I guess the power of Anson Mount’s hair has no bounds. Also, it was pretty dang good!

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds pretty much carries off from where Season 2 of Discovery left it. Folk were so enamored with Anson Mount’s Christopher Pike that CBS made a show around him. One of the best things about Season 2 were Pike and Bearded Spock, so I can’t blame them. It would be a bit of a long wait, but we finally got to see the Enterprise return in all its glory in Spring of 2022. We not only got the return of the original Enterprise crew (Pike, Spock, Number One), but we also got to see younger versions of characters from TOS. I’ll get to them later.

Strange New Worlds (SNW?) takes place about a year after Season 2 of Discovery. Even though he’s reeling from some the events of Discovery Season 2, Pike is tasked by Uncle Phil—I mean, Admiral Robert April, to command the Enterprise again. After the Enterprise saves one of their crew members on a pre-warp world, they start their adventure into the unknown. They face a variety of new worlds as well as some familiar races.

Quick Thoughts #2 - Legendary's Monsterverse Kinda Rocks!

Who knew that Japan would let Hollywood take another crack at Godzilla? I wasn’t totally clamoring for it back in the day, and this is coming from someone who thought 1998’s Godzilla was alright. Yeah, it really lacked the “GOD” part, but it was a fun monster movie at least. It even had a cool animated series.

Unlike what we got before, Legendary brought the might and power of the monster to the big screen in a cool way. I’ve seen both Godzilla films in theaters and would’ve seen GVK in theaters if COVID wasn’t a problem at the time. I held off on Kong: Skull Island though. While I like King Kong, I’m not as much a fan of the gorilla. So, here are some quick thoughts on Legendary’s Monsterverse movies. I just realized that I haven’t really talked about them here. I’m always been like that with Godzilla though, so it fits.

 

TV Talk - Star Trek: Discovery Season 3

We are definitely in another era of Star Trek right now. Star Trek Discovery has ended its fourth season, Star Trek: Picard just finished its second season, Star Trek: Prodigy is out there somewhere on Nickelodeon, and Strange New Worlds has been released. While I can’t say that I’m a big fan of everything Paramount is doing, I can say that they’re at least trying to do new things with Trek. So, how about I pick up where I left off with Discovery here? Previously, Commander Burnham and friends were trying to save the everything from a futuristic evil A.I. Things get wild on DISCO, folks. In order to do that, the crew had to take the Discovery through time to the 32^st century, and it would be a one-way trip. Season 2 concluded with them saving the day and taking the trip into the unknown.

Season 3 starts off with the crew making it to the 32^st century (3188) with some complications. After things are settled, they find out that an event from the century before ravaged the Alpha Quadrant. The Burn, as its called,  basically caused all dilithium in the galaxy to explode in the quadrant. This ravaged Starfleet and other major races. Starfleet has gone silent, and a new power called the Emerald Chain has risen in the Quadrant. Discovery then sets out to find where Starfleet may and what’s happened to the galaxy as a whole. During their adventures, they have some internal shifts and get new crew members.

 

Quick Thoughts #1 - ABC Family was interesting in the 2000's!

I haven’t found a lot of time to blog here much. Between work, family life, and other interests, writing here’s been put in the background. It doesn’t mean I done with some random thoughts, though. There have been stuff I’ve wanted to at least mention somewhere, but I haven’t had the time to do so. So, here’s a bit of a new thing. These will just be quick thoughts on media I’ve recently watched. Somehow, ABC Family (or Freeform now) became the subject since Liz and I have been watching a lot of shows that used to air on there.

The Favorites - 13 Favorite Batman Movies

Well, it’s 2022, and we have yet another live-action Batman film. Yeah, we had Ben Affleck in the previous DCEU movies, but this is the first solo film in about a decade. Not only are we getting Rob Pattisson in the role, Michael Keaton (along with Affleck) is supposed to be returning to the role in the Flash movie. By the way, why is this movie constantly pushed back? Maybe that slo-mo from the Snyder Cut carried over onto that movie’s production.

This did get me thinking about what my favorite Batman films are. I mean, the Dark Knight has had a crapton of films released in over the years, live-action and animated. He’s been on his own, hanging with teams, fighting Joker, flirting with Wonder Woman, teaming up with reptiles, fighting Superman, fighting Joker, sleeping with Batgirl, fighting Joker, in Victorian era Gotham, and last but not least, FIGHTING THE JOKER. I think I sense a bit of a pattern. So, here are my favorite Batman movies. Even though he has a lot, I’m stopping at 13-ish. I’m mainly including primarily solo Batman films here, but I do have a couple of exceptions. First, here are some honorable mentions:

• The Dark Knight Rises – Yeah, this didn’t make it to the main list, so take that, Nolanites! Now, this isn’t a bad movie, but I can’t throw it on the list. While it was the ending of Nolan’s trilogy and had good things with it, I couldn’t vibe with it. Heck, it took me almost eight years to see it again! I’ve seen the other two many more times than that! It just felt phoned in at times. Whatever spark those first two movies had wasn’t here. I also wasn’t a fan of some plot points and other things (those dang hilarious voices). Overall, it’s not bad, but it’s not that good.
• Batman and Robin – This one goes without saying. It was the first Batman film I saw in theaters. While I can find a lotta joy in Batman Forever, I can’t with this one. While I do like a little camp with Batman, this one took things too far for me. It’s not one of the worst movies ever though. It has a couple of good things like the subplot with Alfred. Also, Alicia Silverstone looked nice in that costume… hey, it’s true! As for everything else, meh. I can accept it as a comedy, but nothing more.
• Batman (1966) – I wanted to at least mention the original 1966 Adam West movie. It’s one that I honestly haven’t seen a lot of. I do need to see it in its entirety one day, but even if I did,  it would probably still be in the mentions.

Random Thoughts On... Ultimate Spider-Man Post-Bagley through Ultimatum

I’ve been looking at the blog lately, and I just realized that it’s been along time since I’ve talked about any Spider-Man. Yeah, I may have mentioned him in one post or another, but 2018’s still a long time. Right now, the third MCU Spider-Man movie has been released, and… I haven’t seen it. Yeah, I’m that behind on Spider-Man these days. I still haven’t seen Far From Home, though that could be due to not caring about the Wall-Crawler these days and the fact that it ain’t on Disney Plus. I’ve heard good stuff about No Way Home, so I may see it… someday.

Today, I thought I would return to the world of the pretty defunct Ultimate Universe. A few years ago, I went through an adventure of sorts. I reviewed Ultimate Spider-Man from the beginning to Mark Bagley’s departure from the book. I can safely say that it was an awesome run. Last year, I finally decided to see what the rest of the first run of Ultimate Spider-Man looked like. I started the Bendis/Immonen run and pretty much got to Ultimatum, the event that changed the Ultimate Universe for more ill than good. I actually skipped ahead and read more after that event like Hickman’s Ultimate Avengers.

Today, I’ll just be listing my thoughts on this run of issues. The issues will be Ultimate Spider-Man #112-133, Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #3, and Ultimatum: Spider-Man Requiem. Of course, Brian Michael Bendis is the writer of all of these issues. While Stuart Immonen started his run on the book in #111, he ends up doing his first full issue with #112. Immonen’s been all over the place working on characters like Superman, the X-Men, and many others. Wade von Grawbadger joins the crew as the inker for the book. Grawbadger was one of Immonen’s usual inkers and stays on the book during his duration. The Annual was drawn and inked by David LaFuente, the artist that took over after Ultimatum. Mark Bagley returns to draw some pages in the Requiem mini.

Movie Talk - The Lawnmower Man Movies

So, I was just perusing HBO Max a couple of days ago, and I ended up coming across The Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe’s War on there. I had to sit there and laugh for a couple of seconds because I know this movie has been completely panned. I vaguely remember seeing a trailer for it back in the 90’s (I think it was on the Mortal Kombat VHS) and thought to myself, “That looks interesting.” I was probably also thinking about its predecessor, the Lawnmower Man, which I think I saw at that point. I’m just not sure. All I know is that it aired on NBC one weekend.

The Lawnmower Man was an original screenplay (called “CyberGod”) that took its title from one of Stephen King’s short stories. Other than a weird lawnmower man and death being involved, there is no cyberspace in the original story. Heck, it came out in the 70’s. The screenplay eventually made it to theaters in 1992, and Stephen King didn’t like that his name was on it. He took New Line Cinema to court and actually won the case. The sequel, Jobe’s War or Beyond Cyberspace, was released in 1996. I ended up re-watching The Lawnmower Man Director’s Cut at the hospital after Andy was born. I needed a bit of a break while Liz and Andy were asleep. I just recently saw Jobe’s War on HBO Max.

Movie Talk - The Street Fighter Animated Movies

I’ve noticed that I’ve been in game mode here recently. I guess that’s one side effect of the pandemic: more time to play stuff. Today’s post is still in that mode, but I’m including a bit of anime in this time. Animation and Fighting games tend to have a weird record a lot like live action video game adaptations. Sometimes, they ain’t too bad. Other times, you wonder what narcotic the creators were taking when making the anime. While I like the Street Fighter franchise, I’ll admit that it’s not too high on the totem pole these days. I think one reason for that is the fact that I don’t know jack about these characters. You’d think that the numerous movies would help, but nah.

Some time ago, I decided to re-watch the animated Street Fighter movie from the 1990s on Amazon Prime. I actually owned the movie back in college. It was a collection of Street Fighter games for the PS2, and some jackass stole it back in college along with a few more games and some books. Thankfully, I didn’t need the books that much, but I would’ve loved to traded American History and Psych 101 in. I’ve seen the other movies in bits and pieces on TV and online. I didn’t even know about the last movie, The Ties That Bind, until this week. I also noticed something on Hulu (Round 1: Fight), but that was apparently a motion comic.

"It's a Video Game!" - My Time with Mass Effect Legendary Edition: Part 3

Well, it took a while, but I finally finished my time with Mass Effect 3. According to the Playstation 2021 Year-End thing, I put 125 hours into the whole trilogy. It's time well spent, I say! So, with saying all that, what do I think of this upgraded Mass Effect 3?

Like with Mass Effect 2, ME3 just received a bit of a coat of fresh paint. Not a lot has changed here. While there were a couple of noticeable changes (my crazy dance scene got taken out!), things are pretty much the same. I also know that they upgraded Tali's unmasked face, but I never got to see that since I was romancing Liara in this run. Everything from beginning to end was pretty much the same especially the ending. The baby still plays well. We got some of the best gunplay in the franchise with Shepard being a straight-up beast. The only thing I didn't revisit was the Omega DLC. I may do that some other time. 

The Favorites - Ranked Assassin's Creed Protagonists: Favorite to Least Favorite

Well, it’s a new year, and things still feel like they haven’t changed. 2021 wasn’t a great year, but I can’t call it bad either. It had its usual ups and downs. Anyway, one thing I wanted to eventually cover was who my favorite Assassin’s Creed protagonists were. Even though I still haven’t played Liberation (which actually is now on the PS4 on that AC3 remaster), I want to go on and get this done.

So, what’s the criteria in a good protagonist? I think there are many factors, but the main one is that they gotta be likable. You can even find some likability by playing a protagonist who’s off into some dark deeds like Shay Kormac from Rogue or Haytham Kenway from AC3. Development is definitely a plus in my department. Even when some get one game, the story surrounding them is usually pretty dang good. Throw things like fighting ability, personality, and a crapton of other stuff as well. For a bit of a shock, I’m also including other protagonists like the modern day ones, ones from DLC, and ones we play for a little bit. So, let’s start off with easily the best of the bunch:

1. Ezio Auditore da Frienze (the Ezio Trilogy) – Yeah, you know Ezio is going up top. One of the reasons the franchise got such a kick in popularity was because of Ezio. We got to see him grow (literally, we first see him after he’s born!) from a brat into one of the wisest Assassins. He a lover, a fighter, and everything in between. Even though he wasn’t the first Assassin, he was one of the reasons why I became a fan of Assassin’s Creed. I also have to credit Robin Atkins Dowe for providing some great voice acting.

2. Bayek of Siwa (Origins) – This was a tough one because either Bayek or the next pick was going to get this spot. I just had to do a Wesley Snipes and “Always go with black” on this one. In my replay, I was excited to return to Egypt to experience the butt-kicking Medjay. While Bayek did have a bit of a familiar backstory (he wanted a taste of revenge), there was a lot more to him than that. He was already a protector, he was a husband, and he had a son. Seeing him and Aya lose their son, Khemu, and dedicate themselves to a higher calling was interesting. Abubakar Salim did a great job in voicing Bayek.

3. Edward Kenway (Black Flag) – One of the reasons Black Flag was such a success was because it had a cool protagonist in Edward Kenway. He was a scoundrel who interacted in the Assassin/Templar conflict in an interesting way. Heck, he stays a bit of a scoundrel for a majority of the game since he was a pirate. He only wore the Assassin garb for show and took “nothing is true, everything is permitted” a little too literally. It took losing everything he had (his family, his friends, his ship, and almost his life) for him to change his pirate ways and become an Assassin in the end. Matt Ryan (John Constantine!) voiced him and did a wonderful job.