Nobody’s Fool (1994, Robert Benton)
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 20, 2019
Nobody’s Fool takes place during a particularly busy December for protagonist Paul Newman. He’s got a lot going on all at once, but mostly the reappearance of son Dylan Walsh and family. They’re in town at the beginning for Thanksgiving, but Walsh’s marriage is in a troubled state—we’re read more
The Mandalorian (2019) s01e07 – The Reckoning
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 20, 2019
This episode feels like old home week—even though “The Mandalorian” is only on episode seven, it’s been in the weeds for three episodes so even the promise of Carl Weathers (who’s no better than before, though also no worse) at least reminds of when the show didn’t disappoint. Better, though read more
Lodger (2018) #2
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 20, 2019
I may have already read this issue of Lodger. I thought I’d only read (and mostly forgotten) the first issue, but this one seems very familiar. Going into it without having read the first issue recently and not really remembering the setup—it’s about some white guy named Dante who travels around read more
The Stringbags (2020)
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 19, 2019
When I saw the announcement for The Stringbags, after the obvious glee at a new Garth Ennis comic, the publisher stood out; publisher Dead Reckoning is the graphic novel imprint of the U.S. Naval Institute’s Naval Institute Press. So war comics but for war history enthusiasts, which is about the o read more
Superstore (2015) s01e06 – Secret Shopper
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 19, 2019
This episode very nicely balances the sitcom potential of corporate sending a secret shopper to spy on the cast as they work with some character development on leads America Ferrera and Ben Feldman. Feldman has just aced a store policy exam, which he can’t stop bragging about, aggravating superviso read more
C.H.U.D. (1984, Douglas Cheek)
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 18, 2019
The only name I recognized during C.H.U.D.’s opening titles—after the more obvious names in the cast—was casting director Bonnie Timmermann. Timmermann’s an A tier casting director; C.H.U.D. is a B movie with a lower A movie cast (I mean, John Heard and Daniel Stern are both capable of fine read more
Black Hammer: Age of Doom (2018) #8
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 18, 2019
I’m not sure if I’m caught up on Black Hammer: Age of Doom. I might be one issue behind. I know the big reveal, but I don’t know if I missed one since. This issue is apparently a new arc—not really a jumping on point because, even though it’s accessible to new readers (the cast is starting read more
Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (2019) #1
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 17, 2019
Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen has fairly unsurpassable creator pedigree. Steve Lieber’s mainstream superhero outings are always visually delightful since he’s able to infuse a bit of Silver Age glee into his otherwise hyper-realistic (but still very artful) style. There’s this great page where read more
All Rise (2019) s01e10 – Dripsy
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 17, 2019
Lots of guest stars this episode—Tony Denison, Ileana Douglas (who brings so much energy to the show she ought to be added as a regular), familiar-faced Brian Howe, and then Dina Meyer for a scene. The episode’s about Simone Missick having to switch courtrooms due to a leak and then protect the read more
Lockout (2012, Steve Saint Leger and James Mather), the unrated version
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 16, 2019
The funny thing about Luc Besson getting sued over lockout and losing—to John Carpenter, who sued based on the film’s similarities to Escape from New York and Escape from L.A.—is, yes, the film rips off Carpenter’s Snake Plissken duet, but it also rips off Die Hard and Die Hard 2 while seemingly read more
Evil (2019) s01e10 – 7 Swans a Singin’
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 15, 2019
This episode of “Evil” has a particular creative pedigree. Nineties neo-noir wunderkind (albeit flash in the pan) director John Dahl. Eighties and nineties sci-fi guy Rockne S. O'Bannon scripts. Seeing either of their names in the credits for “Evil” just tells of careers gone wrong; seeing read more
Fumetti is never a good idea
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 15, 2019
I love design. I’m just not good at it; I don’t have fine motor enough to draw, I’m colorblind-ish, I don’t know code. But I love design. Hence the new theme on the site, which chases that pre-Bush “Atlantic Monthly” era of youthful memory, and then “Harpers” until… I don’t remember read more
The Mandalorian (2019) s01e06 – The Prisoner
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 14, 2019
It is a dark time for “The Adventures of Baby Yoda.” Second lackluster episode in as many weeks, with the show creators really thinking anyone cares about the adventures of “Mando the Mandalorian” Pedro Pascal when he’s not being an adorable dad with Baby Yoda. This episode’s director, Rick read more
Niagara (1953, Henry Hathaway)
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 14, 2019
Niagara has some noir-ish elements to it—femme fatale wife Marilyn Monroe stepping out on war veteran husband Joseph Cotten—but it’s not about the darkness, it’s about the light. And its location shooting. Niagara takes full advantage of the falls, not just for scenery but for multiple story read more
Watchmen (2019) s01e05 – Little Fear of Lightning
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 13, 2019
Everyone gets everything they want. I wanted a Tim Blake Nelson “Watchmen” episode. And for my sins, they gave me one. Turns out Nelson was in New York for the giant squid attack; as a youth he looked like a cheaper, slightly nerdier Tom Holland and was a Jehovah’s Witness out to preach last minute read more
Alien: Harvest (2019, Benjamin Howdeshell)
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 12, 2019
Alien: Harvest operates at that all too familiar intersection of bad and stupid. It’s a stupid idea badly executed, though it’s not clear whose at fault for each. For instance, the short is about four survivors on a space ship trying to get the lifeboat before the ship blows up in seven (or eight) read more
The Flash (2014) s06e09 – Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 12, 2019
Crisis: Part Three is a scant handful of okay moments surrounded by truly godawful dialogue, sometimes so bad it’s impressive the actors are keeping it together—points to Grant Gustin, Elizabeth Tulloch, Cress Williams, and Candice Patton—one inventive plotting point, a couple big nostalgia deep-di read more
Superstore (2015) s01e05 – Shoplifter
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 11, 2019
The cold open has Jonah (Ben Feldman) and Garrett (Colton Dunn) discovering a dead body in the store, which doesn’t turn out to be foreshadowing because neither Feldman or Dunn have anything to do with the resulting dead body in the store C plot. Dunn’s just around this episode, checking in for read more
Pale Flower (1964, Shinoda Masahiro) (1)
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 10, 2019
Pale Flower opens with lead Ikebe Ryô narrating his first day out of prison. Not what he does—we get to see what he does—but how he feels about being out, what he notices. He’s killed a man, been in prison for three years, and nothing has changed in Tokyo. The dead man’s absence doesn’t matter, read more
Buy the new Ijeoma Oluo book (1)
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 10, 2019
Earlier this year when I launched Visual Reflux as the new everything but The Stop Button blog, I thought I was going to get interested in the technical aspects of blogging again. I was wrong. The technical aspects of blogging are a chore now. At least the first time around, it wasn’t like people read more