Long Gone Summer

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  • Title: Long Gone Summer
  • wiki: link

Long Gone Summer reviewDirector AJ Schnack‘s examination of the historic home-run chase during 1998 Major League Baseball season is a solid documentary in covering the bases of what occurred, even if it fails for too much of its running time to fully capture the magic of the moment or find a way to better frame events following the exposure of rampant steroid use in baseball (which it saves for a lengthy epilogue).

Scheduled to air Sunday night as part of ESPN’s 30 for 30, the film includes interviews with both Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa along with plenty of video from 1998 season and interviews from the likes of Bob Costas, Tony La Russa, Kerry Wood, and others. It also, oddly, spends quite a bit of time on Ken Griffey, Jr., who ended the year well off the pace McGwire and Sosa set, while barely mentioning Barry Bonds breaking the record again just a few years later.

Long Gone Summer is informative at times, especially in delving into the friendship born of rivalry between the two players. However, nothing presented here is likely to change your opinion one way or the other about the legitimacy of current baseball records.

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Nancy Drew & The Hardy Boys: The Death of Nancy Drew #1

/ / Comics

Nancy Drew & The Hardy Boys: The Death of Nancy Drew #1 comic reviewThe premise for Nancy Drew & The Hardy Boys: The Death of Nancy Drew #1 is simple. After taking down a mysterious criminal organization known as the Syndicate, Nancy Drew has died in an apparent car accident. Months of investigation haven’t lead to single piece of evidence that there was foul play. Most people have moved on. Most people, except Joe Hardy.

Joe provides the perspective here from the first page at Nancy’s grave to the final panel with the expected reveal. In-between the detective continues to investigate, trying to make the pieces fit when everyone else, even his own brother, tells him there’s nothing there. Of course, that’s not what Joe wants to hear.

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Rick and Morty – The Vat of Acid Episode

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Rick and Morty – The Vat of Acid Episode
  • wiki: link

Rick and Morty - The Vat of Acid Episode television review

Not that fans of the show need any further confirmation, but “The Vat of Acid Episode” certainly highlights was a ginormous prick Rick Sanchez (Justin Roiland) is. The entire episode centers around Rick inventing a device Morty (Roiland) has been constantly bugging him about, not as a favor to his grandson but as revenge for Morty slamming Rick’s (rather lame) plan in the episode’s opening that involves the pair hiding in a vat of fake acid from intergalactic gangsters to make it appear they have died. Along with Rick’s legendary dickishness, the other theme the episode plays on is introducing an in-depth, soul-crushing, plot thread for Morty that the show may or may not ever return to. For an episode based on a simple bit, this one really does have it all as events come full circle to reinforce Morty’s understanding of just what a bastard his grandfather truly is.

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A Nero Wolfe Mystery – Die Like a Dog

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: A Nero Wolfe Mystery – Die Like a Dog
  • IMDb: link

A Nero Wolfe Mystery - Die Like a Dog television review

Throwback Thursday takes us back to mid 20th Century New York and the private detective offices located at 454 W. 35th Street. A mix-up, a dog following Archie (Timothy Hutton) home, and the detective’s clever idea to play a prank on his boss which backfires, all lead Nero Wolfe (Maury Chaykin) to investigate a murder without a client. The victim was the dog’s former owner and the motive surrounds a woman (Kari Matchett) who almost all of the apartment’s inhabitants are willing to protect. “Die Like a Dog” features on of the show’s more obvious set-ups as the mere fact the dog follows Archie home exposes the identity of the murder (even though it may take Wolfe a bit longer to expose them). If the mystery is a bit pedestrian for the show, there’s still plenty of fun to be had with Wolfe and Archie’s back-and-forth about the dog and Archie impersonating a police detective in order to question the various suspects in the crime.

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