Movie Time: Justice League: The New Frontier

 It's Movie Time! 

Today's movie post is about an animated film that was released in 2008 based on the acclaimed graphic novel by writer/artist Darwyn Cooke, DC: The New Frontier.

Based on that book, Justice League: The New Frontier chronicles the gathering of various super heroes and adventurers in 1959 to combat a global supernatural threat. I had an opportunity to watch this movie a few months ago.  

An unknown entity, named "The Centre," is born from the Earth itself and witnesses the evolution and extinction of the dinosaurs, and the rise of humanity.

The Centre does not particularly care for that last bit and decides that humans need to be destroyed.

We meet our various protaganists who will over time come to stand against the Centre's machinations.

United States Air Force pilot Hal Jordan has some serious PTSD from his time in the Korean War. He will go on to become Green Lantern.

Kyle "Ace" Morgan, Hal's wingman from Korea, will become one of the Challengers of the Unknown.

J'onn J'onzz, the erstwhile Martian Manhunter, is stranded on Earth from a science experiment gone wrong and lives among humans as Gotham City Police Detective John Jones.

Slam Bradley is an ace detective and Jones' partner on the Gotham City police force, unaware of his partner's alien origins.

One person who has deduced Jones' true nature is Gotham City's masked vigilante, Batman. 

Police scientist Barry Allen employs his super speed as The Flash to fight crime and help people. And avoid the sinisters machinations of a paranoid U.S. government that doesn't trust this new masked super hero running around. 

Rick Flag is a dedicated soldier and loyal American heading up a secret mission to travel to Mars.

King Farrady is an American spy serving a secret and maybe sinister agenda.  

Wonder Woman is on Paradise Island, ostracized from the outside world she refuses to capitulate to with man's rigid ideas about law and justice. 

Superman is still around and doing his thing because he is prepared to suck up to the U.S. government.

All these characters and more intersect with the Centre's growing manipulation of minds, creating doomsday cults and influencing people in positions of authority.

The Centre physically manifests itself as a flying, living island protected by mutant dinosaurs, attacking Paradise Island where a mortally wounded Wonder Woman barely escapes in her invisible jet to warn the human race.

Then the Centre turns it's deadly attention to attacking Cape Canaveral. 

The Flash, Green Arrow, Adam Strange, the Challengers of the Unknown, and the Blackhawks join forces to defend the Cape after Superman is apparently killed by the monster. 

Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), Martian Manhunter and King Faraday arrive to join the fray as a complex plan is formed to defeat the Centre.  It will involve the require the powers and skills as well as cooperation of everyone.  

It is an epic battle fraught with risks and dangers but (HUZZAH! and, uh, SPOILERS!) our accumulated good guys save the day.

And then after all the work is done, Aquaman shows up. Really, dude? Where were you when shit was going down? Oh, but he has brought Superman back so, never mind, good going Ocean Man! 

In the aftermath of the Centre's defeat, The Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Superman and Batman decide to form the Justice League. 

And we get a flash forward to the coming new age of heroes with an inspiring speech from John F. Kennedy.  

The "It's That Person Who Was In That Thing" Department

This movie has quite an impressive voice cast  

Batman was Jeremy Sisto from Law & Order & FBI.

Green Lantern was David Boreanaz  from Bones.

As the Flash, we get THE Neil Patrick Harris  

Wonder Woman  was Lucy Lawless from Xena Warror Princess and My Life Is Murder.  

Superman was voiced by Kyle MacLachlan from Twin Peaks and Fallout.  

Kyra Sedgwick was Lois Lane and Brooke Shields was Carol Ferris.

And playing himself,  John F. Kennedy (via an archival recording.)

Justice League: The New Frontier is based on one of my all time favorite comics, DC: The New Frontier  written and drawn by Darwyn Cooke and published by DC Comics in 2004. 

The book was a financial and a critical success, winning a bunch of industry awards. 

Sadly, Darwyn Cooke passed away in 2016 but DC: The New Frontier  stands as testament to his talent and creativity as well as the lasting impact of his legacy.   

And Justice League: The New Frontier is a strong reflection of Cooke's masterwork. The animation evokes Cooke's art style and retains the power of his story.  DC animation pros writer Stan Berkowitz and producer Bruce Timm have a steady grasp on bringing Cooke's work to life on screen.

Movie Time: Grand Hotel

Hello there! 

It's Movie Time!

It's the first movie post for a NEW YEAR so naturally, we're gonna start with an OLD MOVIE! 

We're going back to 1932 for a pre-Code drama called Grand Hotel.

The film opens with Doctor Otternschlag, a disfigured veteran of World War I and a permanent resident of the Grand Hotel in Berlin. Hanging out in the lobby, he observes "People coming, going. Nothing ever happens."

Well, he better be wrong because that won't make much of a movie.

And he is wrong.

What follows is a tangled web of deceipt, seduction, theft.... and murder!

The current residents of the Grand Hotel include a mishmash of humanity.

Baron Felix von Gaigern is the scion of a wealthy family that is no longer wealthy after the Baron spent it all but appearances must be maintained. He pads his wallet via card games and occassionally as a jewel thief.

Otto Kringelein is an accountant who is living the life in luxury at the Grand Hotel. He has a terminal illness and he can't take his savings account with him.

General Director Preysing is a rich industrialist who is at the hotel to close an important deal to make himself richer. Here's a coinkidink: Preysing is Kringelein's former employer.  

Flaemmchen is a local girl looking to make good as an actress but takes temporary work as a stenographer for Preysing. She's done some modeling work and shows Preysing the magazine covers she has appeared on. Preysing likes what he sees.  

Grusinskaya rounds out our cast, a prima donna Russian ballerina whose career has reached it's peak.  She has returned from a performance at the theater, paxcing her room and talking to herself. Overwhelmed by sadness and anxiety, she contemplates taking her own life.

But Grusinskaya is not alone. Prior to her arrival, the Baron had snuck into her room to steal some jewelry. While hiding, he overhears her speaking of suicide so he reveals himself to intervene and save her life.

Grusinskaya and the Baron while away the hours in deep conversation as their affection for each other takes root and they fall in love.  They spend the night together.

(Yes, this is pre-Code but you're gonna have to use your imagination if they had sex or just cuddled.) 

The next morning, the Baron returns the stolen jewels and Grusinskaya invites him to accompany her on her tour to Vienna. An invitation he accepts. 

But....

Baron Felix von Gaigern still needs money as he is deep in debt to a gang of criminals.  With Grusinskaya's jewels off the table, he needs another source of cash.

So the Baron's path crosses with Otto Kringelein who is pretty damn proficient at card games. The Baron and Kringelein start up a card game, hustle some suckers into the game and collect a lot of money.  The Baron plans to keep ALL the card game winnings and also steal Kringelein's own stash to clear up his debt with the bad guys. But Kringelein is such a sad sack what with his upcoming death and everything, the Baron lets him keep the money.  

But....

Baron Felix von Gaigern still needs money which brings him to poking around Preysing's room for valuables. Preysing catches the Baron, they get into a fight where Preysing bludgeons the Baron with a telephone and....

Wait! This can't be right!

Preysing kills the Baron?

Well, fuck! I liked that guy! 

(The Baron, I mean. Preysing's a prick!) 

Flaemmchen saw all this shit go down and tells Kringelei who calls the police and Preysing is arrested for murder.  

Grusinskaya departs for Vienna, expecting the Baron to accompany her.

Oh dear, who is going to break it to our forlorn ballerina?

Kringelein offers to take care of Flaemmchen who in turn suggests they seek a cure for his illness. 

Wait! That was an option? 

As all our guests (save for a very dead Baron) leave the hotel, Doctor Otternschlag is still hanging around and opines "Grand Hotel. Always the same. People come. People go. Nothing ever happens."

What the hell. We got a troll review-bombing a movie from within the movie?

Opening night for Grand Hotel
in New York City, April 1932

Grand Hotel gives us Greta Garbo's iconic "I want to be alone" line. It was a line that resonated with Garbo's real life obsession to avoid the public scrutiny that comes with fame.  

Prior to Grand Hotel, Greta Garbo had become quite famous as a movie star in silent films.  

With her striking Nordic beauty, the Swedish born actress captivated movie going audiences.  But when the movies turned to sound, would she survive the transition?

The answer was yes as her Swedish tinged accent was as enticingly exotic as her lovely face.

Garbo's first sound motion picture was Anna Christie (1930) which the film studio promoted with the catchphrase "Garbo talks!".  It was the highest-grossing film of the year.

Greta Garbo wasn't the only big star in Grand Hotel. It was MGM chief Irving Thalberg who wanted to stack the deck with a whole bunch of MGM's biggest stars. It was a risk to put so much star power into one movie. What if that sucker bombed? But thankfully Thalberg's gamble paid off and Grand Hotel was a big success and influenced casting decisions for other movies going forward.   

The cast list for the stars of Grand Hotel

• Greta Garbo as Grusinskaya, the dancer
• John Barrymore as Baron Felix von Gaigern
• Joan Crawford as Flaemmchen, the stenographer
• Wallace Beery as General Director Preysing
• Lionel Barrymore as Otto Kringelein
• Lewis Stone as Dr. Otternschlag

Grand Hotel was also influential with it's multiple intersecting storylines featuring different characters. 

The success of Grand Hotel is considered instrumental in helping MGM survive the ravages of the Great Depression.   

In 2007, Grand Hotel was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Grand Hotel is a classic film that lives up it's reputation as a deeply engaging movie with strong production and powerful performances from a legendary cast.

Now, if you don't mind....

"I want to be alone."

Why Bless Your Heart: It's Your Friday Video Link

Emma Banes is the star of today's Your Friday Video Link.

Emma posts videos offering the perspective of a very Southern woman on various perspectives on life 'n' stuff.

Your Friday Video Link#1 is Emma giving us her New Year's Resolutions. 

In Your Friday Video Link#2, Emma addresses Small Town Gossip for women in the South.

Your Friday Video Link#3 offer Emma's Southern approach to when men get sick and her total lack of chill for his drama.

Your Friday Video Link#4 is a woman living her life and trying to get shit done while Emma offers her Southern fried narration.

Well, bless your heart, I do hope you enjoyed that.

Emma Banes can be found on TikTok @ezsnb and Instagram @ezsnb as well as You Tube @ezsnbofficial

We're back with Movie Time tomorrow.

Remember to be good to one another.  

Is 2026 Really a New Year?

Today is January 1st, 2026, New Year's Day!

Huzzah? 😕

As I look down from this pinnacle of a new day looking into a new year, I can't help feeling a sense of dread.

That everything we endured in 2025 is just an awful prologue for something even worse.

Will 2026 be 2025: Part 2: Electric Boogaloo?

I don't want to be cynical. I would like to be a more positive person.

Yes, I do believe the glass is not half empty but half full.

But I also believe the water is poisoned. 

So I am very cautious, peeking out to tentatively assess the temporal terrain of the year to come.  

Yeah, I don't like the looks of it out there.

But I guess we gotta try.

Happy New Year.... I guess?  

Remember to be good to one another. 

It's Midnight!

It's Midnight here at the Fortress of Ineptitude!

The clock has struck 12 and the year is transformed from 2025 to 2026!

It's midnight and I'm still ready to party!

Bring it on, Ryan Seacrest and the two Andys on CNN!

I'm a dancing fool and I can go all night!

Or not.

Good night everybody! And Happy New yrrmmmm-yawn.....

Everything Is Great

Today is the last day of 2025 and there is good news:

Everything is great!

According to Donald Trump.  

Reality has a differing opinion but we all know that reality is a hoax created by the Radical Liberal Left.  

In Trump's world...

• His poll numbers are UP! 
• Prices are down! 
• Inflation is zero!
• The world is at peace!  

And he did all of that by his own widdle self!

And if there is anything that it isn't great, it's Joe Biden's fault.

We are living in a glorious great golden age of America and it's all due to one, the only, you know 'im you love 'im, you can't live without 'im, der Führer himself, Donald J Trump!!

HUZZAH!!!

Yeah, about all that...

If it does not feel like a glorious great golden age of America instead feels like a headlong rush into a chaotic dystopian era of dread, well, trust your gut on that feeling.

So far Trump's second term is much like the first, with Li'l Donnie displaying a propensity to destroy but made worse by a man no longer answerable to an electorate or thanks the Supreme Court, the rule of law.

• Trump gleefully destroyed the lives of hundreds if not thousands of American citizens who were employed by the federal government when he unleashed Elon Musk and his so called Department of Government Efficiency to recklessly decimate jobs and departments.
• Trump joyfully enacted reckless and destructive tariffs while completely refusing to understand how tariffs work, as a penalty against the very citizens he is supposed to represent. 
• Trump happily oversaw the bombing of fishing boats off the coast of Venezuela while petulantly whining he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for ending wars that have not in fact ended.
• Trump giddily bulldozed the East Wing of the White House for a poorly conceived notion of building a grand ballroom that no one wanted or asked for.
• Trump zealously urged hate against anyone he defined as "other", no matter the size or actual impact of those people.  
• Trump cheerfully urged Republicans in Congress to pass his "One Big Beautiful Bill" that eradicated the safety net for America's neediest citizens and handed his billionaire friends massive tax cuts.

Poll after poll shows virtually little to no support for any of this shit, even among Republicans. Donald Trump's reaction to this lack of support is a big ol' "fuck you" to the American public.

In his world, everything is great.

It is not the world the rest of us has to live in but the consequences of life in der Führer's own little planet of his rabid, ignorant imaginings still reach us out here and sadly for years to come.

But we cannot lose hope. 

Even though it's hard to see and harder still to grasp.

One day this time of terror against deceny, kindness, compassion and the rule of law will be over.

Granted, I thought that during Tump's first term and yet, here we are.

So it's easy to be cynical.

But as we look to a new year and the cold dread realization that our fight is not over, we must somehow, someway hold on to hope for a better tomorrow.

And as always, remember to be good to one another.   

  

Tuesday TV Toucbase: The Year In Television 2025

 

Every new year, my resolution is to "watch MORE television". 

I say this tongue in cheek but damn it if I don't make a go of making that resolution come true.

Today's Tuesday TV Touchbase looks back at what I watched in 2025.

Several things I watched reached a series finale this year.

The producers of Resident Alien saw the writing on the wall and crafted a season finale that wrapped a neat bow on the series if it was cancelled which it was. Andrea and I miss the found family of Patience, CO but if it had to end, Resident Alien ended on a positive note.  

Sandman reached it's end with it's 2nd season. The assumption is the series ended after only 2 seasons due to the scandals surrounding Neil Gaiman but the producers insisted this was the plan all along and given how the series came together and moved towards a definitive end in season 2, I think I believe them.  

The revival of Night Court got handed it's walking papers after 4 seasons without any heads up from NBC. The 4th season ended on a cliff hanger, introducing a heretofore unknown husband for Judge Abby Stone played by Simon Helberg. The new Night Court was always hit or miss and to be honestly, more miss than hit. Still, I think it was a shame it did not get to end on it's own terms.  

FUBAR came to an end with it's 2nd season. The Netflix spy caper comedy starring Arnold Swarzenegger had some good moments in season 2 but the show was not as tight or engaging as it was in the first season and I'm not particularly surprised or sad that it was time to go.  

What the TV gods taketh, they also giveth. New series for 2025 that I watched in 2025 included:  

Creature Commandos, the gonzo animated project from James Gunn set in the TV/film DC Universe alongside Gunn's Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. At turns hilarious, sadly poignant and brutally violent, C.C. never ceased to surprise. 

Daredevil:Born Again, the Disney+ revival of the Netflix Daredevil series. It is a relentlessly grim series, just like the best of Marvel's Daredevil comics.  

Librarians: The Next Chapter follows up on The Librarians. It was a mostly enjoyable continuation of that universe but with a new cast of characters but I couldn't quite shake the notion that LTNC is a secondary substitute for the OG Librarians. I'm hoping that season 2 will better establish the new crew as worthy successors.   

Stumble is not based on anything prior. This mockumentary style comedy is an all new concept on NBC about a disgraced cheer coach from a mid-level community college making a go of it at a lower level community college.  So far, Andrea and I have enjoyed this show a lot and it has some real genuine laugh out loud comedy.  

The Paper is another mockumentary set in the same universe as The Office, set at a struggling Toledo OH newspaper. Andrea and I are enjoying this show as well.   

I decided to give Outlander: Blood Of My Blood a try and found a gripping and harrowing drama set in the world of Outlander.  I did not want to like O-BOMB but damn it! It has me hooked.  

Meanwhile, I caught up on season 7 of Outlander this year and season 8, the series finale is coming up in 2026.  

Andrea and I returned for the second season of these series:

• Happy's Place remains a very inoffensive family oriented sit com. This one is mostly for Andrea
• Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage still has not convinced me that Montana Jordan's Georgie should be headlining a sitcom. This one is also mostly for Andrea.  
• St. Denis Medical has in only it's 2nd season already succumbed to Flanderization of the characters of Bruce, Joyce and Alex centering around their raging insecurities. Still a viable and mostly funny sitcom.
• Brilliant Minds has stepped up it's game in it's 2nd season and deserves better recognition in both audience numbers and critical acclaim.
• High Potential churned out 7 episodes and went on a break. Star Kaitlan Olson is involved with other projects so this series needs to be doled out in chunks. It remains an engaging and witty crime series.  
• Wednesday came back after THREE YEARS (Really?) for a 2nd season. It's a Tim Burton production so the show looks good and feels weird but I think lacks a strong emotional core, relying on style over substance.   

Still chugging along....

I said before that Abbott Elementary felt like it was spinning it's wheels but I think I might reconsider that assessment with season 5 shaping up as a really strong effort with some really funny episodes.  

In 2025, we also watched the episode of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia which featured that show's half of the crossover with Abbott Elementary.  The title of the episode is "The Gang Fucks Up Abbott Elementary" and it's true.

Everytime I think Ghosts is also spinning it's wheels, it finds a new way to surprise me. This year's Christmas tale with Sam riffing on It's A Wonderful Life was an especially powerful episode.  

Andrea and I continue to follow Saturday Night Live even though no one on this show is writing or performing this thing for us. Kudos to James Austin Johnson who is becoming a strong utility performer outside of his on point Trump impersonation. And a sad farewell to Bowen Yang who Andrea has a weird thing for. 

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds did not land a particularly strong 3rd season. 'Nuff said about that.  

Only Murders In the Building continues to deliver it's now traditional "best season ever" or "worst season ever" according to critics.  Nobody ever lands in the middle. For my part, season 5 deserved plaudits for challenging Mabel, Charles and Oliver in a new way with the dire personal stakes of potentially losing the Arconia.  

A big part of our TV diet here at the Fortress of Ineptitude are late night shows that skewer our dystopian political hellscape with comedy.

• Late Night With Seth Meyers
• The Daily Show
• Jimmy Kimmel Live 
• And more.  Click on this link for more about these types of shows: It's Funny Because It's True

Game shows were a constant presence on our TV viewing schedule.  

• Wheel Of Fortune
• Celebrity Wheel of Fortune 
• Jeopardy 
• Celebrity Jeopardy
• Jeopardy Masters
• Pop Culture Jeopardy 

We sampled Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? when Ken Jennings was paired up with Matt Damon for a celebrity edition of the show. Jimmy Kimmel was pleased to have Ken Jennings on the show but not so much when Ken invited Kimmel's nemesis Damon to be his partner. Yeah, Ken did most of the heavy lifting on the way to the million dollar prize for charity but Matt made some significant contributions as well.  

We checked in on the season finale of The Joe Schmo Show without actually watching the episodes before that. Click here for more about why we did that.  

Game Changers has become Andrea's obsession. I find this show to be very amusing but I'm perplexed by why Andrea is so in the weeds for this show. Does she have a thing for host Sam Reich? He does look like a sort of teddy bear.... an evil teddy bear but still. 

Other things we watched this year? 

Secrets of the Penguins as Blake Lively narrates the life and struggles of penguins. 

Elton John/Brandi Carlisle Special

Conan O'Brien and the Mark Twain Prize which may be the last good thing to happen at the Kennedy Center.  

Everybody's Live With John Mulaney defied the rules of TV talk shows.  The season finale featured John Mulaney in a wrestling match with a trio of 13 year old boys. 

Here are shows from the past that we caught up on.

Phineas and Ferb continues to delight us as Andrea and I recently completed season 2.  

I caught Andrea up to season 3 of Arrested Development but stopped short of the 4th and 5th seasons made for Netflix. Subjecting Andrea to those proceedings may be introduced as evidence in any potential forth coming murder trial.  ("You're husband made you watch what before you killed him? OK, you're free to go.")  

Netflix dropped A.P. Bio before I could finish my re-watch and USA Network stopped airing season 1 episodes of Poker Face which I enjoyed a lot but I'm not shelling out money for yet another streaming service to catch up on it. (And Peacock has ended the show as of it's 2nd season.)  

Mike & Molly became part of our weekend viewing. Then TV Land pulled it from their schedule.  

And I got sucked into son Dean and friend Jan's rewatch of  House while they were living here this summer.  

Andrea and I have two re-watch obsessions: 

• Hudson & Rex
• Leverage

Oh my God! That is a LOT of TV!

And I am not done! 

I also watched.....

• Invincible
• My Life Is Murder
• Electra Woman and Dyna Girl
• Hacks
• Peacemaker
• Stranger Things
• Law & Order AND Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

I think I achieved peak TV watching in 2025.  

And since Jan got me Roku for Christmas, I now have MORE things to watch than ever before! 

2026 may find me permanently melded with my couch.

We'll find out in future editions of the Tuesday TV Touchbase.

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.