Sahara (1943)

starring Humphrey Bogart

directed by Zoltan Korda

97 minutes

A rag tag group of Allied soldiers in the Libyan desert in June 1942 attempts to escape back to friendly lines after most of their units have been wiped out. They are led by Sgt Joe Gunn (Humphrey Bogart), the commander of an three-man American M3 tank crew. The group includes three English, one Irish, one French, one Sudanese, one South African. They also have two prisoners, one German and the other Italian. 

The first half of the movie is about the search for water and the gradual accumulation of characters who make up the makeshift unit of Allied soldiers and their prisoners. The second half is about their efforts to defend the well at Hassan Barani. Things get progressively worse as things don't go exactly as they hoped they would. A battalion of German soldiers attempt to take the well. One by one the Allied troops are picked off.

Orange Is the New Black 5.01

Riot FOMO

The riot begins in earnest. Daya has Humphrey's gun and she shoots him in the thigh. It looks like things might get worse, she might kill him, but she doesn't. She does hold on to the gun.

Nichols and Morello go looking for druge. They have to deal with Angie and Leanne who are also jonesing for something. Nichols eventually find a key to the room where the drugs are kept.

Taystee, Black Cindy, Watson, and Abdullah take Caputo and Josh hostage. They force Caputo to read a message that they record on Josh's iPad. They post it on the internet with some help from Josh. The message is a more explicit version of what happened to Poussey. 

Hapakuka hides under bed. Big Boo and Doggett hole up in the commissary. Judy King and Soso wind up in the library. Judy tries to comfort Soso who is still crushed by Poussey's death.

Some of the guards try fighting back. They lock up some of the inmates in the kitchen and then lock themselves in there too when lots more inmate come looking for them.

Beth tries hiding in the bathroom. Chapman and Vause finds her. They take her hostage but they get tired of her and try to lose her. She begs them to look after her. They find her a uniform and tell her to put it on.

Atlanta 3.01

Three Slaps

Two men are on a boat, fishing in a reservoir, at night. One is Black and one is White. They talk about the reservoir. The White man tells the Black man a story about the reservoir. It creeps the Black man out and then it gets creepier.

Loquareeous is a young boy about 10 years old. He acts up in school. His mother and grandfather are called in. His mother is tired of his act and gives him a hard time. His grandfather slaps him, three times. One of his teachers sees all this and calls child protective services.

An agent from CPS shows up at Loquareeous' mother's house. His mother has had enough. She throws him out and tells CPS to take him. He is placed with a white couple, Amber and Gail. He is just one of four kids, all Black that the two women have taken in. They make them work. They don't send them to school. Loquareeous tries acting up but it doesn't get him anywhere.

CPS shows up at the house. It isn't the same agent whom Amber and Gail are used to dealing with. Gail has a private chat with the agent. The agent disappears. Amber and Gail decide to go on a trip and take the kids with them.

The episode ends with Earn waking up. He has a puzzled look on his face.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power 5.10

Return to the Fright Zone

Adora, Catra, Perfuma, Netossa, and Melog go to the Fright Zone to look for Scorpia. They find her but she isn't the only one there. Scorpia is still chipped. She attacks them. Adora and Perfuma try to subdue Scorpia. Catra and Melog fight with Mermista. Netossa fights with Spinerella, her girlfriend.

Glimmer and Bow go looking for Lance and George, his fathers. They find their home in bad shape but they also find a note that leads them to the ruins. There they find Bow's fathers. Lance and George have uncovered a piece of First One's technology that is activated by the word Eternia. It includes a reference to a failsafe device for the Heart of Etheria.

Perfuma and Adora encounter Horde Prime. He orders Scorpia to kill them, but she doesn't and they get away. Glimmer teleports in and joins the fight just in time to help get the others away from the Fright Zone. Netossa overcomes Spinerella and removes her chip.

Party Down 1.06

Taylor Stiltskin Sweet Sixteen

The Party Down team works the party of the daughter of a big shot Hollywood director. Ron gets high by accident after going to talk to the entertainment for the party. Constance and Casey are tasked with talking the birthday girl into actually showing up for her party. Roman hits on one of the teenagers at the party. Kyle just had his teeth fixed and they are hurting a lot. The wife of the host comes on to him. She offers him a part in her husband's next film if he will sleep with her. He tries but his teeth are hurting too much. Henry runs into someone he knows from acting school who tries to help him get a part in Leonard Stiltskin's next movie.

Columbo 4.03

By Dawn's Early Light

Columbo investigates the death of the chairman of the Board of Trustees of a military academy. 

Thoughts

Patrick McGoohan plays Colonel Rumford, the director of the military academy. I know him best from The Prisoner but I have probably seen him in a few other things.

This episode takes place in California but it was shot on the grounds of the Citadel in South Carolina.

The father and son team of Bruce and Bruno Kirby have small parts in this episode. Bruce Kirby was also in an episode of the Phil Silvers show that I watched fairly recently.

This was a decent episode but the ending was kind of abrupt. I was not fully satisfied with it. I think I wanted more than this episode had to offer. Having not watched Columbo in quite some time I'm not sure how typical the ending to this episode is.

The Phil Silvers Show 2.11

Where There's a Will

Gregory Chickering, one of the guys in Bilko's platoon, gets discharged from the army. Chickering's uncle dies. He thinks he stands to inherit quite a bit of money, but all he gets is a parrot. Chickering turns to Bilko for help. Bilko shows up in disguise with four of his men (Barbella, Doberman, Henshaw, Fleischman). They pretend to be part of a gang with whom Chickering's uncle used to run. They fool Chickering's relatives into thinking that there is buried treasure somewhere in the world and only the parrot knows the name of the island where it can be found.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

starring Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, James Hong, Jamie Lee Curtis

written and directed by Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert

140 minutes

Evelyn Wang's (Michelle Yeoh) life takes a turn for the weird on lunar New Year's Eve when she is dealing with an IRS audit of her family's laundromat business. IRS agent Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis) doesn't have much patience when it come to dealing with the Wang family. Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), Evelyn's husband, who is getting ready to ask her for a divorce, seems to be become someone else. He tells her that he is from another universe and that he has come for her. He and the group he is working with need her help to prevent the destruction of the multiverse.

Joy (Stephanie Hsu), Evelyn and Waymond's daughter, seems to be behind the attempt to destroy the multiverse. Gong Gong (James Hong), Evelyn's father, also seems to be playing some sort of role in hastening the destruction of life as Evelyn knows it.

Flickers 1.06

Episode 6

Arnie and Maud aren't sure where they are going to turn for money. Arnie gives the actors a hard time for not trying harder. Arnie talks the owner of a funeral home into investing in the studio. The banker who walked out of the party in the last episode returns and is interested in learning more about the studio. He also decides to invest in the studio.

Corky Brown is at the studio late one night, goofing off with a friend, when a fire breaks out. Corky dies in the fire. The studio burns to the ground. Everything is lost except four reels of the movie on which they were working. The new backers of the studio decide to stand by the studio. More movies are made and the studio thrives.

Stagecoach (1939)

starring Claire Trevor, John Wayne

directed by John Ford

96 minutes

June 1880 - a group of nine disparate people travel by stagecoach from Tonto, Arizona Territory to Lordsburg, New Mexico. They are initially accompanied by a troop of US Army cavalry soldiers who are expecting to meet up with another cavalry unit at Dry Fork, the first stop. The soldiers leave them head back when they discover that there are no soldiers at Dry Fork.

The stagecoach moves on to Apache Wells, expecting to find soldiers there but once again they are disappointed to discover no soldiers waiting for them. Lucy Mallory, one of the two woman riding in the group, gives birth while they are in Apache Wells. Doc Boone, who has spent most of the trip drinking whisky, sobers up just in time to deliver the baby. 

There are Apaches in the area. The group has been warned that they are taking a big risk but they press on. They are eventually attacked, by Apaches, but they prevail, thank to the US Army and make it to Lordsburg. None of the passengers are killed but some are injured. 

Schitt's Creek 1.13

Town for Sale

Johnny finds someone interested in buying Schitt's Creek. He tells his family. They are overjoyed. They start packing and making plans. Alexis tells Ted. He proposes to her. She turns him down but says she would marry him if she wasn't about to leave. David starts making plans to move to New York City. He invites Stevie to come with him. She isn't so sure about it.

Johnny meets with Andy, the buyer. Andy is ready to sign when Roland suggests that Andy come over for dinner that night and then sign the papers. Johnny doesn't like it but goes along with it. 

Alexis finds out that Mutt continued to do community service even after he was done with the court mandated service. She confronts him about it and they wind up having sex. Stevie turns down David's offer. Andy goes into a coma before he can sign the papers. 

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power 5.09

An Ill Wind

Adora and the others (Glimmer, Bow, Catra, Entrapta, Wrong Hordak, Melog) find the Rebellion's secret hideout but no one is there. They head to Erelandia. The people there aren't chipped but they are in fear of what the Horde might do to them. Adora and the others try asking questions but it gets them nowhere. Spinerella shows up. She is still chipped and she attacks them.

Adora and the others try fighting Spinerella. Netossa shows up and joins the fight against Spinerella. They are unable to overcome Spinerella. Glimmer teleports the group away but they don't stay away for long. They return and this time Spinerella is the one who flees.

Netossa leads Adora and the others to the Rebellion's new hideout where they are reunited with Perfuma, Frosta, and Swift Wind.

Also in this episode: Horde Prime visits one of his former selves to try and learn more about the Etheria. Hordak still has the piece of First Ones' tech and starts to remember pieces of his former life.

Deep Cover (1994)

starring Laurence Fishburne, Jeff Goldblum,

directed by Bill Duke

Russell Stevens (Laurence Fishburne), a cop from Cincinnati, accepts an offer from Carver, a federal agent, to work undercover. Stevens moves to California, adopts the name Hull, and works his way into a drug dealing operation. He partners up with a David Jason (Jeff Goldblum), a lawyer who bankrolls some of the drug dealers and is unaware that Hull is really a cop named Stevens.

More than one of the people Hull and Jason deal with turn out to be working for the police. They escape more than one attempt on their lives as they try to get closer to the top of the drug dealing food chain. Taft (Clarence Williams III), a local police detective, crosses paths with Stevens on more than one occasion. 

Carver gives Stevens orders to back off after he interferes with a sting operation but Stevens refuses. He has gotten too close to David and Betty, his business partner.

Flickers 1.05

Episode 5

Gwendolyn Harper is angry because the male lead, who is much younger than her, won't give her the time of day.

Llewellyn objects to the way Arnie treats Maud and Letty. He threatens to quit but Arnie convinces him to stick around and to keep an eye on Letty.

Maud argues with Arnie about Letty. He does enough to convince Maud that she means more to him than Letty does.

Arnie throws a party in the hopes of mending some fences. Things don't turn out exactly as planned. Corky makes a scene and gets thrown out. Casey, the camera man, arrives at the party drunk and proceeds to throw up in the plants in front of everyone. The potential investors in Arnie's company walk out early when they see the kind of shenanigans that are a foot. 

Captain Harlock (1978) 1.20

The Extinct Planet Jura

The Arcadia is passing near Jura, Miime's home planet. She is the lone survivor of her people. Jura was overrun by giant plants that killed everyone except Miime who holds out hope that there are others who survived. She talk Captain Harlock into a side trip to Jura.

The Arcadia arrives on Jura. It is very green. They look around without finding anyone or any animals. They don't know it but they are being watched, by the Mazone. Miime cuts some flowers and takes them back to the Arcadia with her. They flowers release seeds which affect almost everyone. Only Dr. Zero and Miime are unaffected.

The Mazone show up while most of the crew is still reeling from the effects of the flowers. Miime helps Captain Harlock make it to the bridge. Together and with some help from the ship's auto defense system they destroy most of the Mazone fighter craft.

Miime goes back to see if she can find any signs of her people. She meets someone, a Mazone, who looks just like Fuure, her childhood friend. It is Georgibell, a Mazone whom Miime has met before. The two women fight. Miime uses the sword/gun that Captain Harlock gave her. She defeates Georgibell but then is saved by the Arcadia when Georgibell's Mazone troops look ready to kill her.

Schitt's Creek 1.12

Surprise Party

Moira's birthday is coming up and Johnny decides to throw her a party but it has to be a surprise because otherwise she won't show up. He puts David in charge of planning the party. Johnny gets Roland to make it seem as if Jocelyn is having a fund raising event.

Alexis was supposed to go to Chicago with Ted for the weekend. She desperately wants to go to Chicago but when Ted finds out about Moira's birthday he insists that Alexis stay in town.

Moira attempts to take over the planning of the fake fundraiser, unaware of what is really being planned. She gets on everyone's nerves. David finally tells her the truth before the party.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power 5.08

Shot in the Dark

Adora, Glimmer, Bow, Entrapta, and Catra find out from Wrong Hordak that there is something that Horde Prime fears. They track it to a desolate planet. Entrapta stays on the outside while the others search for the signs of life that she detected with her machinery. They eventually make contact with the creature, which looks like an etherial cat.

Castaspella and Shadow Weaver cross paths. Shadow Weaver has a plan. Castaspella is reluctant but winds up going along with Shadow Weaver who insists that they need to get Micah back.

Adora and the others learn from their encounter with Melog, the creature, that Horde Prime is vulnerable to magic. They invite Melog to come with them and together they head back to Etheria. There is a blockade surrounding Etheria but Melog uses their magic to sneak all of them past the blockade.

Doctor Who (1963) 6.05 Extras (Part 3)

Monsters Who Came Back for More! (2010)

16 min

Nicholas Briggs (Voice of the Daleks; Executive Producer, Big Finish) and Peter Ware (Assistant Editor, Doctor Who Magazine) talk about recurring monsters from Doctor Who. The talk begins with the Daleks but quickly branches out to include Cybermen, Sontarans, Ice Warriors, Weeping Angels, and more. They also talk about some monsters that they really like who only appeared once.

This feature is divided into the following chapters

• Shadow of the Daleks
• Why Do Monsters Come Back?
• Do the Best Monsters Come Back the Most Times?
• Everyone Has a Favourite Monster
• If I Was in Charge of the TV Show

Humpday (2009)

starring Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard, Alycia Delmore

directed by Lynn Shelton

Ben (Mark Duplass) and Andrew (Joshua Leonard), friends, decide to make a porno in which they have sex with one another. The first catch is that they are drunk or high when they decide to do it. The second catch is that are both straight, Ben is married but Andrew is not.

Ben tries to tell Anna (Alycia Delmore), his wife, but he chickens out. Andrew ends up revealing their plan thinking that Anna already knows. Anna is not happy when she finds out. She and Ben have been trying to get pregnant.

Ben and Andrew both try to give each other chances to back out but they are both determined to go through with it. They say that it is for the art festival to which the movie will be submitted. Eventually they come to see how stupid they are being. They aren't interested in one another that way. They are friends but there is no sexual attraction.

Party Down 1.05

Sin Say Shun Awards Afterparty

The Party Down crew works the afterparty of a porn awards show. Casey is stressed and takes some ecstasy. It helps her to relax. She's starts feeling horny and wants Henry to take some. He spends most of the episode trying to find some.

Kyle tries to coach Roman in how to talk to talk up the women at the party. Roman doesn't get it.

Ken is approached by a producer who wants him to star in a porn film. Ron is very shy and uncertain about it.

Flickers 1.04

Episode 4

Maud gives birth. Arnie continues to work. He doesn't come to see her and the baby until after she has been visited by Llewellyn and Clive. 

Arnie and Max argue over what direction they need the company to move. Arnie is concerned about how much they are spending. Max is concerned that no one will be interested in their picture if it isn't long. They decide to hire a stage actresss, Gwendolyn Harper, in the hopes that her name will help to generate interest.

Arnie sends Llewellyn to find Letty. Arnie abandoned her before he got married. She isn't feeling very charitably toward Arnie but she comes back.

Max and Arnie agree that Clara Brewer should be in their next picture. Dotty Brewer isn't very happy about it. Jack and his wife are concerned about the interest that Max is showing toward their daughter.

Maud and Arnie hire Captain Sandbeck to write a script for them. He has written stories for magazines. They want him to produce the script very quickly. 

Captain Harlock (1978) 1.19

Queen Lafresia's Trap

The Arcadia gets closer and closer to the Horsehead Nebula. Tadashi becomes aware that there is an asteroid following them. It is Base No. 2 Deathshadow Island. Captain Harlock orders the crew to get some rest while they approach the nebula. 

Queen Lafresia is obsessed with learning about the enemy. She has Akias, one of her warriors, probe the Arcadia with electronic equipment. She wants to know who is the 42nd member of the crew.

Tadashi and Kei awake and go to the bridge where they find Miime. She tells them the truth about the ship and the computer that sometimes sleeps. 

The Arcadia penetrates the Horsehead Nebula. It eventually comes out the other side to a region of space that looks very different. The Arcadia gets pulled toward a world that is covered with volcanoes and seas of molten lava. The Mazone send a meteor to try and destroy the Arcadia and Deathshadow Island.

Captain Harlock foils the aliens' plans. A Mazone ship is destroyed when it crashes into the sea of lava. Queen Lafresia contacts Captain Harlock.

Schitt's Creek 1.11

Little Sister

Dee Dee, Moira's sister, comes to visit. Moira does not want to deal with Dee Dee. Moira and Johnny helped Dee Dee out when they had money but Moira doesn't want Dee Dee's help now. Moira tears up a check that Dee gives her.

Twyla is composing a song for Mutt. Alexis finds out that Mutt is tired of Twyla

Jocelyn asks David to talk to one of her students who is gay. David does but the teen doesn't want David's help.

Stevie shows some interest in Grant, the local handyman. David thinks that he and Stevie need to set some guidelines to their friends with benefits arrangement.

The Phil Silvers Show 2.10

Doberman's Sister

The families of the men in Bilko's platoon are coming to visit. Bilko wants all the men to pair up with the sisters of their fellow soldiers. No one wants Diane, Duane Doberman's sister. Bilko tricks Fielding Zimmerman into offering to take out Diane.

Bilko starts to have second thoughts about tricking Zimmerman into agreeing taking Diane out. Bilko wonders if she is really as beautiful as he made her seem. He convinces Zimmerman that he was wrong about Diane. Bilko cancels a date he had with Sgt Hogan and goes to meet Diane Doberman at the bus station, only to discover that she greatly resembles her brother.

Doctor Who (1963) 6.05 Extras (Part 2)

Sssowing the Ssseedsss (2003)

Musings on being an Ice Warrior

Three actors and the makeup supervisor talk about what it was like being an Ice Warrior and what it was like to help make them come to life. 

The people in this documentary feature are 

Alan Bennion - Slaar

Sonny Caldinez - Ice Warrior

Bernard Breslaw - Ice Warrior

Sylvia James - makeup supervisor

They talk about

• What it was like playing ice Warriors.
• The making of the Ice Warrior costumes.
• The makeup for the Ice Warriors
• Inability to see through the mask
• What it was like wearing the costume

Kirby at War: La Guerre de Kirby (2017)

directed by Marc Azéma and Jean Depelley

54 minutes

This French documentary examines the effects of Jack Kirby's experiences in World War II on his work in comic books. Roughly half of this documentary is focused on the time Kirby spent in the army. It looks at where he went, what battles he was involved in, and what happened to him. The story is told through his letters to his wife, interviews with people who have studied him, and uses Kirby's comic art in telling the story.

The documentary is made by a French company so presumably the original version was all in French or subtitled in French. The version that I saw is mostly in English. All the voice overs are in English. The only parts that are still in French (with English subtitles) are the parts where someone is talking in French on camera.

Thoughts

There are a few people in this documentary that I have seen on panels at either Baltimore Comic Con or Heroes Con: Mark Evanier, Jon Morrow, and Rand Hoppe.

I like this documentary for a couple reasons. First I like the presentation of Kirby's experiences in World War II. I had heard stories which weren't terribly specific and sometimes contradicted one another about where exactly he served. This seems to set the record straight on that score. Second, the documentary gives some context to the impact that Kirby's experiences had on his art and his storytelling.

Where's Poppa? (1970)

starring George Segal, Ruth Gordon, Ron Leibman, Trish Van Devere

directed by Carl Reiner

Gordon Hocheiser (George Segal), a lawyer, finds and then falls for a Louise (Trish Van Devere), a nurse whom he hires to take care of his aging mother (Ruth Gordon). His attempts to romance Louise are foiled by his mother who keeps asking the titular questions. Gordon's mother doesn't seem to realize that her husband is no longer alive.

Gordon turns to his brother Sidney (Ron Leibman) for help with their mother. Louise tries to be understanding but she seems to get scared off by Gordon's mother's behavior.

Flickers 1.03

Episode 3

Arnie and Maud get the studio built so the company can start to produce movies. They are short on cash. Arnie wants to turn to Cyril for money. Maud says no. Arnie wants to sell the house. Maud says no.

Max starts to shoot a movie that stars Corky Brown. Max gets into a fight with Corky. The fight is started by a stunt that Corky refuses to do. The double brought in to take the fall is much taller than Corky, who decides he's had enough and quits.

Casey, the camera man, and Clara, Lily the child star's older sister, flirt. Casey suggests that Max should put Clara in a movie. Max shoots down the idea, at first, but then asks Casey to take her picture.

Maud gets Arnie to dress more nicely. He goes to the bank to try and get a loan but that doesn't get them anywhere. Maud comes up with the idea of having Max direct a melodrama and letting Corky direct his own picture.