"It wasn't a dream; at least that's what I believe. The thing is I felt hurt and plenty sad, and there were times when I thought I couldn't go on. But I know I'm not the only one suffering. I want to protect everyone's future. I need to keep pushing forward. I feel that more every day."

Ultraman is a huge part of Japanese culture and pretty much has been since the original live-action show in 1966. Perhaps Godzilla started the ball rolling, but Ultraman brought us these monsters on a regular basis. In Japan, Ultraman is like our Superman. He’s an iconic hero and a huge part of the pop culture. Since the 60’s he has appeared in many forms, most of them animated. But it is this 1966 series that made a ton of us kids fall in love with him and an entire genre. Yes, there were many from the era: Space Giants featured a giant fighting robot who fought monsters and sometimes converted into a spaceship (yes, before transformers were ever thought of); Johnny Socko had his giant robot; and the list goes on. But it was Ultraman who started it. Eiji Tsuburaya, who created the original Godzilla, formed a new company outside of Toho Pictures. Ultraman was pretty much the first thing out of the new shop.

"There are no industry secrets. We can always meet our life partner out in the wild or swiping on apps, but the happy ending to a first date is not the second date. It's changing each other's diapers and burying each other. You're looking for a nursing home partner and a grave buddy. Who our partner is, it determines our whole life and how we live not for one, two, ten years, but forever." 

Celine Song delivers her second feature film from the director's chair. She returns to basically the same themes of a woman trying to decide her romantic destiny between two men, but this isn't the same film as Past Lives. Materialists is a much more serious film, while still playing in the same gene pool as the rom-com. I don't think you'll find yourself laughing in this one, and it's a rather clever way of presenting those same themes and ideas. In Materialists, we're introduced to romance being distilled down to a mathematical equation. I expect that's not very clever, as computerized dating has been around since the 70's, but Song attempts to put more of a human element into those equations. It's AI without the AI. Marvel fans will appreciate that the three leads here are Chris Evans (Captain America), Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic) and Dakota Johnson (Madam Web). It wasn't likely intentional, but if it was, it wasn't a terrible idea."One day, for no reason in particular, you two will start to hate each other. You'll resent each other, you'll take each other for granted. You'll stop having sex, somehow manage to make a couple of kids. And then you'll get sick of each other, and one of you will cheat on the other. And then you'll fight. At first, not in front of the kids, but then in front of the kids. And then you resent the kids for seeing you fight. And then you file for divorce, and you fight about who owns what and who gets the kids when until it's all over."

“Since 1970 a rogue group known as UFO Sweden has been investigating unexplained phenomena. This story is inspired by that determination to answer humanity’s ultimate question: Are we alone?” 

So, I don’t want to make this film out to be more than it was intended to be, a movie intended to capitalize on the nostalgia of Pitch Perfect fans by bringing together three of its stars (Rebel Wison and Anna Camp of the original trilogy, as well as Gigi Zumbado appeared in Pitch Perfect 2) in what amounted to a lackluster comedy. In addition, the film was to capitalize on residual popularity of Rebel Wilson, who won over so many with her quick wit and unique brand of humor. However, the film came off as more of a mash-up of already-seen Rebel Wilson movies, specifically Bridesmaids and The Hustle. And while I commend Rebel Wilson’s nunchuck skills as well as most of her own stunts in the film and her commitment to filming despite getting injured on the final day of filming, this wasn’t a movie that really did it for me. There wasn’t enough originality to keep my interest. The plot essentially felt like a rehash of another average wedding flick that shotgunned a hostage situation. Even with the addition of Justin Hartley and Stephen Dorff, this film felt like more like a direct-to-streaming movie than a theatrical release.

Wilson stars as Sam, a secret agent whose job begins to impede her maid of honor duties, much to the chagrin of her best friend, Betsy (Camp), who, as expected, is unaware of Sam’s job. When Sam’s latest assignment prompts her disappearance from the party, this leads Betsy to drunkenly name her fiancé's sister Virginia as maid of honor instead. Ostracized from the bridal party, Sam's attempt to comfort Betsy backfires, and she slips away after Betsy suggests they have grown apart as friends. Things come to a head at the wedding when a mercenary group crashes the party and takes the guests hostage. Sam must jeopardize her cover in order to take down the mercenaries and keep her friends safe.

This episode collection was all right with me, but in the eyes of my son, it could do no wrong, and as he is the one actually in the age demographic, this will be the one time where I defer to the opinion of a three-year-old. In this ten-episode collection, Marshall takes charge and leads the pups from everything from a blaze at a lemonade stand to saving a lost penguin. This disc marks the first time that my son has willingly sat through the watching of something from start to finish. It’s not all that surprising, as he was a fan of the series before this disc, but I still found it significant, because he does remain selective about which episodes he watches. Fortunately, Marshall is among his favorite of the crew, especially now that Rubble is off doing his own thing. Luckily, Rubble also featured in this episode collection, so my son got the best of both worlds.

For those not in the know, though I suspect that is very few, Paw Patrol is a Canadian animated series that focuses on a young boy named Ryder who leads a crew of search and rescue dogs that work together on missions to protect the shoreside community of Adventure Bay and surrounding areas. Each dog has a specific set of skills based on emergency services professions, such as a firefighter, a police officer, and an aviation pilot. They all reside in doghouses that transform into customized vehicles, or "pupmobiles", for their missions. They are also equipped with special hi-tech backpacks called "pup packs" that contain tools relating to the pups' jobs. The series has completed 11 seasons (which many of the episodes in this collection are from) and has spawned at least three feature films along with a spin-off series featuring the popular character Rubble.

In 1887, readers of the popular periodical Beeton's Christmas Annual were to receive quite a special treat. There wasn't much fanfare or hype to the event. Inside the pages of the magazine was a story called A Study In Scarlet. It was a detective story, perhaps like many published before, except for the detective himself, a certain Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Together with his faithful companion and chronicler Dr. Watson, Holmes would win the hearts of those holiday readers. It might have been an ordinary day, but the world was about to change. Sherlock Holmes would become the most famous detective in the world. His stories would remain in print nearly 130 years later. Over 100 films would be made featuring the character. There would be television shows and cartoon spoofs. No other character has appeared in more productions. When his creator dared to kill the beloved detective in order to move on to newer stories, his very life was threatened. It would seem that Doyle was on the verge of becoming a victim much like those in his stories. There was only one man who could save him from such a grim fate, and he did just that. It was Sherlock Holmes himself, but if Doyle had actually been harmed over the ordeal, he wouldn't turn to his iconic detective; he would need the services of Dr. Watson.

Holmes has been depicted in many ways on television, but we haven't seen a show that focused on his faithful companion and chronicler Dr. John Watson. So now we have a television medical show that channels the spirit of the great detective in medical mysteries. They say it hasn't been done before, but I must have just imagined the seven seasons of House I watched recently. The name might be Watson, but the idea is familiar.