“The Haunted Mansion” (2023) finally gets the Disneyland ride juuust right…

*****SPOOKY SPOILERS AHEAD!***** First Time’s Not Quite the Charm… Before I get into 2023’s “The Haunted Mansion,” I wanted to drop a few lines about the first live-action version of “The Haunted Mansion,” which debuted 20 years ago (feels like both yesterday and forever ago).  2003 is a time when formerly R-rated comedy superstar Eddie…

The Mandalorian, Chapter 17: “The Apostate” ushers in the third season…

******BANTHA-SIZED SPOILERS!****** The third season opener for Disney+’s “The Mandalorian” is available to stream now. While Chapter 17 “The Apostate” isn’t quite on a par with the “Return of The Mandalorian” (an episode of the otherwise forgettable “The Book of Boba Fett”) it does manage to offer a few nuggets for Star Wars fans in…

“The Orville: New Horizons” deserves a renewal…

*****QUANTUM-DRIVE SPOILERS!***** Charting a Course. Writer/producer/star Seth MacFarlane’s “The Orville,” which debuted on the Fox TV network in September of 2017, had a longer than expected hiatus between its second and third seasons, due to the chaos caused by the global COVID pandemic. When the series finally returned in June of 2022, it left Fox…

“Hocus Pocus 2” (2022) brings home the Halloween treats…

*****SUPERNATURAL SPOILERS AHEAD!!***** “Hocus Pocus” (1993) As longtime readers of this column might glean, I am a huge Halloween geek. Even into my golden years, it’s still my favorite holiday. This has been the case for as long as I can remember. That said, I never caught the original “Hocus Pocus” in theatrical release. As…

The case for Marvel’s “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” (2022)…

******BIG GREEN SPOILERS!!****** Old School Smash. As a kid, I was a huge fan of the comic books and TV series based on Marvel’s “The Incredible Hulk” (1977-1982). The TV series kicked things up a notch by taking the story of latter-day Jekyll & Hyde, Dr. David “Bruce” Banner (an amazing performance by the late…

“Stranger in a Strange Land” opens the Book of Boba Fett…

*****BANTHA-SIZED SPOILERS!!***** Written by “The Mandalorian” veterans Jon Favreau (“Iron Man”, “The Chef”) and directed by Robert Rodriguez (“From Dusk Till Dawn,”), the first episode of “The Book of Boba Fett” is now available for streaming on Disney+. Clocking in at a brisk 39 minutes, “Stranger in a Strange Land” (in a possible nod to…