With Frank Gorshin held up in contract negotiations over his performance of The Riddler, the series had to create a new villain for this two-part story. Enter The Puzzler. Played by Maurice Evans, the character has a knack for aviation and Shakespeare (and puzzles) and he seems to be in Gotham City to stir up…
Extraction II (2023) – Sam Hargrave
So despite the crap shape Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) is at the end of the first film, he gets rescued, saved, and rehabilitated. In fact, Nik (Golshifteh Farahani) retires him to Austria in a little cabin by the lake, but when an unnamed man (Idris Elba) shows up and offers him a job, one with…
Extraction (2020) – Sam Hargrave
Sam Hargrave delivers a kinetic action thriller starring Chris Hemsworth from a story partly created by Joe Russo from the graphic novel, Ciudad. Hemsworth is Tyler Rake a mercenary who seems to be willing to take any mission that pays in the hopes of some day fulfilling a death wish caused by the loss of…
Hill Street Blues (1985) – Somewhere Over the Rambo, and Oh, You Kid
Furillo (Daniel J. Travanti) conducts his corruption investigation and presents his findings to the committee, though Chief Daniels (Jon Cypher) is less than thrilled about the suggestion that he may be responsible for not curtailing some of the corruption that has permeated the force. Somewhere Over the Rambo was written by Jacob Epstein, Walon Green…
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015) – Guy Ritchie
Guy Ritchie’s adaptation of the classic 60s series The Man From U.N.C.L.E., which serves as a bit of an origin story for the series characters is uneven at best. What could have launched a fun franchise, that wouldn’t equal Mission: Impossible, but could have been a delightful theatrical tentpole fumbles as it proves unable to…
Batman (1966) – The Cat’s Meow, and The Bat’s Kow Tow
Catwoman (Julie Newmar) is back, out of prison and prowling Gotham City. She also has a new scheme. This two-parter was written by Stanley Ralph Ross, and part one, The Cat’s Meow first aired on 14 December, 1966. Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) are on the alert when they learn that Catwoman is…
Family Ties (1983) – Suzanne Takes You Down, The Fifth Wheel, and Stage Fright
We get an Elyse (Meredith Baxter) story with Suzanne Takes You Down. Written by Ruth Bennett it debuted on 16 March, 1983. One of Elyse’s friends, Suzanne (Brooke Alderson) who we’ve seen before with her husband, Ron (Jay Tarses), is having a bit of a tough time. She is suffering from empty nest syndrome and…
Wild and Crazy Guys (2019) – Nick de Semlyen
I loved Nick de Semlyen’s The Last Action Heroes which took readers behind the scenes of the big 80s action heroes, their successes and blunders. When I heard he’s also written one about the big comedy stars of the 80s I sought out a copy of Wild and Crazy Guys immediately. The focus of this…
Sphere (1987) – Micheal Crichton
It’s been a while since I’ve read anything by Michael Crichton. There was a time when there were a number of novels on my bedside table that had his name on them but nothing for a couple of decades, and I thought perhaps I should revisit those I knew and explore the ones I didn’t,…
Batman (1966) – The Penguin’s Nest, and The Bird’s Last Jest
The Penguin (Burgess Meredith) returns to Gotham City, but Batman (Adam West) and Robin’s (Burt Ward) alter-egos of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson are shocked to discover that he seems to be going on the straight and narrow and is currently running a high-end restaurant that has the weird touch of having the customers write…
The Mind Reels 