by George Gross
This cover is from 1959.
Artwork of the Day: Forbidden Magic (by George Gross)
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Artwork of the Day: True Confessions (Artist Unknown)
Artist Unknown
Everyone’s worthy of a decent man! This cover is from 1941.
Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 12/31/23 — 1/6/24
Happy 2024!
Baywatch Nights (YouTube)
I wrote about Baywatch Nights here!
Check It Out! (Tubi)
My review of this week’s episode will be dropping soon.
CHiPs (Freevee)
Dr. Phil (YouTube)
I watched way too much Dr. Phil this week. Most of them were episodes that I had already seen before and, as I sit here writing this up just 30 minutes before deadline, I’m struggling to remember much about any of them. I do remember that I rewatched the Truthfully Tricia episode. That was a wild one. As obnoxious as Tricia was, I do feel that Phil went out of his way to goad her into having a meltdown on his stage. I mean, he really wanted her to do the dramatic walk-off.
Fantasy Island (YouTube)
I wrote about Fantasy Island here!
Forgive or Forget (YouTube)
“I can forgive but I will not forget!”
Uhmm, it sounds like someone needs to look at the name of the show that they’re on. Pick one or the other!
Friday the 13th: The Series (YouTube)
I wrote about Friday the 13th here!
Hell’s Kitchen (Thursday Night, FOX)
I’m so glad Ryan got a black jacket! I know that Chef Ramsay said that he saw a lot of improvement in Jason and maybe he did and it was just edited out. Just from watching the show, it’s easy to get the feeling they kept Jason around for as long as they did because they needed a good villain. But, at the same time, Chef Ramsay isn’t really one to throw around false praise, either. His brand is being critical and angry so, when he’s not, that usually means something.
Highway to Heaven (Tubi)
I wrote about Highway to Heaven here!
The Love Boat (Paramount Plus)
I wrote about The Love Boat here!
Miami Vice (Tubi)
I wrote about Miami Vice here!
Monsters (Tubi)
Night Flight (Night Flight Plus)
On Friday night, I watched an episode that was all about songs from the 80s that were about working out and the human body. I followed this with an episode about the best indie music videos of 2023. Some of the videos were really good!
Password (Weekday afternoons, BUZZR)
I watched two episodes of this extremely frustrating old game show on Tuesday. Like seriously, how hard was it to guess some of those passwords that they used on that show?
Tattletales (Weekday Mornings, BUZZR)
I watched two episodes of this old game show on Tuesday. William Shatner and his then-wife were on one episode. They didn’t do very well.
Turn-On (YouTube)
I wrote about Turn-On here. I thought I was done with Turn-On but a friend in Australia informs me that it turns out that the unaired second episode is also on YouTube. And, as we all know, I am a completist….
Twilight Zone (Monday, SyFy and H&I)
The New Year’s Twilight Zone marathon finished up on Monday. What a great show! I think The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street is one of the most perfect 30 minute programs ever aired. I also love the episode where Dennis Weaver keeps having the same dream over and over again.
Welcome Back Kotter (Tubi)
I wrote about Welcome Back Kotter here!
Reacher S1 Ep5, No Apologies, Dir Norberto Barba, S1 Ep6
Sorry for the hiatus. I love Reacher, but I also love C8H18 and have to study it ALL THE TIME! Not a lot actually happens in this particular episode- lot of reading, talking, fishing. Yeah, there’s some fishing. We learn that Roscoe’s old boss and mentor knew something was rotten in Margrave, but did not quite know what it was. There’s a river that’s poisoned and we meet Reacher’s old buddy Frances. It does end with a little scare in that Kilner Sr has his throat slit. He was probably a workaholic; so, he was probably going to die at the office anyway.
Episode 6 Papier
The episode begins with the finer points of Venezuelan throat cutting. Charlene is still in a safe house and we learn that Finley’s wife passed away. Charlene’s safehouse is NOT so safe because there’s assassins on trying to kill Charlene and her kids. The question I have is: who isn’t being pursued by murderers in this craphole? Margave is giving Chicago a run for its money! However, we do get to see an assassin killed by his own grenade!
At least, there’s more action than the last episode. I do love the show, but I do think a couple of the episodes were filler and put the bulk of the narrative import at the last 3 minutes. Typically, the show is very tight, but could’ve benefitted from nixing 1 episode.
Reacher decides that he needs to find the people who were helping his murdered brother Joe. Two of them were professors, one is dead. He connects with professor and she explains that Joe was hunting down a counterfeiting ring. It’s all about the paper!!!! They were making the paper for counterfeiting US Dollars in Margrave, shipping them to Venezuela, and poisoning the river to do it!!! DUN DUN DUN! We also learn how Paul Hubbard got pulled into the mob. It’s a lot of…… accounting. So, we’re not going into that.
It does end with A LOT of Reacher- breakin a dude’s leg and stranglin him!!!
Now, with these episodes out of the way, the plot gets goin again!!!
Artwork of the Day: Ecstasy Girl (by Bill Randall)
by Bill Randall
This cover is from 1951.
Lisa Marie’s Oscar Predictions For November
With the announcements of both the Gotham and the NYFCC winners, awards season is finally here! Over the next 30 days, the Oscar race will become very, very clear. As of right now, it truly does appear to be a Oppenheimer vs. Killers of the Flower Moon contest with perhaps Poor Things and Barbie overperforming when the nominations are finally announced.
Below are my predictions for November. Be sure to also check out my predictions for March and April and May and June and July and August and September and October!
Best Picture
American Fiction
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
May/December
Oppenheimer
Passages
Past Lives
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest
Best Director
Bradley Cooper for Maestro
Greta Gerwig for Barbie
Jonathan Glazer for The Zone of Interest
Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer
Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Actor
Bradley Cooper in Maestro
Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon
Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer
Franz Rogowski in Passages
Jeffrey Wright in American Fiction
Best Actress
Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Huller in Anatomy of a Fall
Carey Mulligan in Maestro
Margot Robbie in Barbie
Emma Stone in Poor Things
Best Supporting Actor
Robert De Niro in Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert Downey, Jr. in Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling in Barbie
Charles Melton in May/December
Mark Ruffalo in Poor Things
Best Supporting Actress
Emily Blunt in Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks in The Color Purple
Sandra Huller in Zone of Interest
Julianne Moore in May December
Da’Vine Joy Randolph in The Holdovers
Lisa Marie’s Oscar Predictions For October
Well, it’s that time of the month again! Here are my Oscar predictions for October! To be honest, I’ve been so busy with Horrorthon that I haven’t given the Oscar race as much thought as usual. As of right now, it still appears to be a Killers Of The Flower Moon vs. Oppenheimer vs. Barbie race.
The Bikeriders, which seemed like a strong contender, seems to be in limbo right now. It was scheduled to be released on December 1st but it was taken off the schedule until the SAG-AFTRA strike is resolved. (The studio wants the actors to be able to promote the film, which is understandable given the subject matter.) So, for now, I’m moving The Bikeriders off of my list of predictions.
I’m also pretty confident that The Color Purple will not be the major Oscar contender that many expected, if just because of Alice Walker’s long history of anti-Semitic rhetoric. (Seriously, Alice Walker is a huge supporter of David Icke, the conspiracy theorist who claims that the world is controlled by a group of shape-shifting aliens and Zionists.)
Below are my predictions for October. Be sure to also check out my predictions for March and April and May and June and July and August and September!
Best Picture
American Fiction
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
May/December
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest
Best Director
Greta Gerwig for Barbie
Jonathan Glazer for The Zone of Interest
Cord Jefferson for American Fiction
Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer
Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon
Colman Domingo in Rustin
Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright in American Fiction
Best Actress
Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon
Natalie Portman in May December
Margot Robbie in Barbie
Emma Stone in Poor Things
Kate Winslet in Lee
Best Supporting Actor
Willem DaFoe in Poor Things
Robert De Niro in Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert Downey, Jr. in Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling in Barbie
Dominic Sessa in The Holdovers
Best Supporting Actress
Emily Blunt in Oppenheimer
Sandra Huller in Zone of Interest
Julianne Moore in May December
Cara Jade Myers in Killers of the Flower Moon
Da’Vine Joy Randolph in The Holdovers
Horror on TV: The Hitchhiker 6.15 “Living a Lie” (dir by Bruno Gantillon)
When a bartender steals one of his customer’s credit cards, he learns that credit fraud can lead to …. HORROR! Let that be a lesson to everyone.
This episode originally aired on January 18th, 1991.
Lisa’s Week In Television: 10/1/23 — 10/7/23
This has been an exhausting week. Getting sick with the flu during the last week of September set me behind as far as my Horrorthon plans were concerned and this week has been extra busy as a result. I’ve been working very hard and it’s been very emotionally rewarding but still, I’ve been pretty busy over the past eight days or so. So, I didn’t want much television this week but still, here are some thoughts on what I did watch!
The Amazing Race (Wednesday Night, CBS)
My favorite reality show has been back for two weeks now and I have yet to get to really sit down and focus on it. The first week, I was sick with the flu and I could barely focus on what was going on. Then, this week, a huge storm came up while the show was airing and, as a result, the local weather people interrupted the show and then refused to leave. It was very frustrating! I know the show is on Paramount Plus. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to rewatch both episodes on Sunday.
Big Brother (24/7, CBS and Paramount Plus)
I wrote about Big Brother here!
Check It Out (Tubi)
I came across this old Canadian sitcom about a supermarket on Tubi. I watched the first episode earlier today and my review will be dropping here in about two hours.
Dr. Phil (YouTube)
I watched an episode on Monday that featured a former high school guidance counselor who, after having emergency surgery to remove her gall bladder, fell into paranoia and drug addiction and ended up living in her RV. At the end of the episode, she agreed to get some help but, to be honest, she seemed kind of beyond saving.
Friday the 13th (YouTube)
I wrote about Friday the 13th here!
Highway to Heaven (Tubi)
I wrote about the first episode of Highway to Heaven here!
The Hitchhiker (YouTube)
I continued to watch and pick episodes of The Hitchhiker for this year’s horrorthon. You can find the episodes that I selected on this site, under “Horror on TV.” My favorite thing about this show is, without a doubt, the extremely melodramatic monologues of Page Fletcher’s hitchhiker.
Monsters (Tubi)
Night Flight (NightFlight Plus)
On Friday night, I watched an episode of Night Flight that was about music videos with science fiction themes. I followed this with another episode that dealt with the top “new music of 1985.”
Survivor (Wednesday Night, CBS)
I shared a few thoughts on the first two episodes of the latest season of Survivor here!
Yes Prime Minister (Monday Morning, PBS)
This week, the Prime Minister had to make serious budget cuts, which worried Sir Humphrey as it could have possibly led to the Civil Service not getting their usual pay raise. Fortunately, Sir Humphrey was able to trick Jim into giving him what he wanted. As always, the episodes where Sir Humphrey is the one doing the tricking and the manipulating are the best.
Lisa Marie’s Oscar Predictions For September
Well, it’s that time of the month again! Here are my Oscar predictions for September! The festival season has brought along a host of new contenders.
For instance, American Fiction made a splash at the Toronto International Film Festival and it looks like both it and Jeffrey Wright are going to emerge as legitimate contenders come awards season. In the past, a film like Dream Scenario would probably be considered too strange for the Academy but, after A24’s success with Everything Everywhere All At Once, it seems like anything’s possible. If nothing else, A24 knows how to sell a film.
Personally, I’d love it if Richard Linklater’s Hit Man picked up a few nominations, even though I haven’t seen it yet and I’m not even sure when Netflix is going to release it. (Linklater is the patron saint of Texas filmmaking, so I’ll always hope the best for anything he’s involved with.)
There’s still quite a ways to go until the year ends and the race is very much in flux but we are finally at the point where we can look at a few films and say, with more than a little confidence, “That’s going to be nominated.”
Below are my predictions for September. Be sure to also check out my predictions for March and April and May and June and July and August!
Best Picture
American Fiction
The Bikeriders
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Rustin
The Zone of Interest
Best Director
Greta Gerwig for Barbie
Jonathan Glazer for The Zone of Interest
Cord Jefferson for American Fiction
Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer
Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon
Colman Domingo in Rustin
Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright in American Fiction
Best Actress
Jodie Comer in The Bikeriders
Natalie Portman in May December
Margot Robbie in Barbie
Cailee Spaeny in Priscilla
Kate Winslet in Lee
Best Supporting Actor
Willem DaFoe in Poor Things
Robert De Niro in Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert Downey, Jr. in Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling in Barbie
Dominic Sessa in The Holdovers
Best Supporting Actress
Emily Blunt in Oppenheimer
Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Huller in Zone of Interest
Julianne Moore in May December
Da’Vine Joy Randolph in The Holdovers
Through the Shattered Lens 