Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

We don’t just go see superhero movies in this household, no we do not.

Lately, looking for something that my wife was likely to enjoy, or at least be interested in, off we went to the cinemas for the whimsical Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, which I recently discovered is actually the fourth cinematic adaptation of the 1958 novel by Paul Gallico (although that was called Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris).

Spoilers!

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Recently, the MCU expanded to reach it’s 30th film–Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Though this is the second Black Panther movie in the MCU, a lot has happened in the MCU since the character’s first feature-film starring role back in 2018–both fictionally and in real life. The lead character died for five years of fictional time (along with the half of the rest of the MCU), and then returned to life in time to help defeat the big bad of the day, Thanos. But then, tragically, starring actor Chadwick Boseman died of cancer at the young age of 43, something which took almost everyone outside of the man’s inner circle by surprise.

In response to this, Marvel and Ryan Coogler opted to continue with the Black Panther sequel without recasting the role of King T’Challa or relying on recent CGI technology to re-create the actor’s presence in the film. The result is a movie which deals head on with the emotions related to grief and death, and explores the impact of what it means to have lost a beloved brother, son and king. It’s in this emotional space that the film is the most successful, and we really get a story that is quite unique amongst all the others that the MCU has brought to the big screen, and that is genuinely worth telling.

Spoilers Ahead

Fictional Cats that weren’t played by real cats (and who might not even be actual cats at all) [Random Pop Culture Top Fourteen]

As I said in a recent post that was posted in the recent past, I have longed loved cats.

That recent post was all about fictional cats (normal cats, or cats that at least appeared normal) who were played by real cats (that were presumably were normal). This is the follow on–about Fictional Cats that were not played by real cats at all, and in some cases were not even real cats, and did not appear to be so.

The Web of Fear [Classic Doctor Who]

Doctor Who has long been my favorite show, but until recently rewatchings of old episodes have been few and far between.  This has changed in the last couple of years as I have been using birthday and Christmas money to buy some of the old episodes, usually enjoying them with one or two of my nerdier daughters. This year, though, my wife and I bought a year of Britbox for each other as a gift, which gives me access to nearly all of classic Who.

Black Adam

Oh, I saw Black Adam, on opening night I think.

Spoilers ahead.

Doctor Who: The Power of the Doctor

And now, after many moons, the Chibnall-Whittaker era of Doctor Who has come to an end. My thoughts are many.

I have not been the biggest fan of this era of the show. Jodie Whittaker is appealing enough, but I have found her performance too broad to be actually engaging. In spite of the occasional bright spot, Most of the stories have been either underwritten or badly written, and filled with bland characters and uninspiring plots. There have been a handful of “shocking plot twists” that were memorable for all the wrong reasons, which leaves one tempted to rant that the last three seasons haven’t only failed to move the show forward in a positive way, they have actually done the series a bit of harm.

But of course, that’s just a grumpy old fan ranting away. What about The Power of the Doctor itself?

Spoilers Lie This Way

Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes

It was way back in 2006 that I was on an international flight heading toward the United States where I first came across a movie which quickly became one of my favorites–my absolute favorite Japanese slapstick time travel comedy, and one of the most talked about on this blog: Summer Time Machine Blues, directed by Katsuyuki Motohiro and written by Makoto Ueda (see here or here, for example).

Now, thanks to another blog I follow here, I’ve became aware of another project that is also written by Ueda, and is a clear winner for my second favorite Japanese time travel comedy–Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes. It doesn’t have quite the charm of the earlier project, but boy does it come close.

Spoilers ahead!

Quantum Leap – The Last Gunfighter [4.14]

Sam leaps into Tyler Means, an 82 year old former gunfighter who gets by through tales of his famous exploits, especially the story of a notable gunfight. However, he is suddenly confronted by Pat Knight, a man from Tyler’s past, who claims to be the real gunfighting skill behind Tyler’s legend, and is out for revenge for the way that Tyler has dishonored him through his stories. Sam finds himself having to face a real gunfighter in a genuine shoot-out on a dusty Western street.

Stuff I’ve Read, Watched, Done – October 6, 2022

It’s been months since I wrote one of these posts. But considering how much I’ve neglected this blog in the last week or two, I felt like it was time to go come back to these parts again, mostly because I’ve actually been doing stuff lately (and not just watching TV).

The Wild Wild West 1 – The Complete Series – The Night of the Inferno, The Night of the Deadly Bed, The Night the Wizard Shook the Earth, The Night of the Sudden Death

For my birthday this year one of the things I directed my money toward was a complete series collection of The Wild, Wild West that ran for four seasons in the late 60s. Like I did with The Avengers a little while ago, I thought Id write up some mini-commentaries on different episodes as I watch through them.