Wise Western Watch: Blood On The Moon (1948)

Watched:  02/20/2026

Format:  Amazon

Viewing:  First

Director:  Robert Wise

Blood On The Moon (1948) is much more of what I expect from Robert Wise as a director than our last watch - Mystery in Mexico.  

Here, Wise is directing a cast led by Robert Mitchum, with Robert Preston, Barbara Bel Geddes, Walter Brennan, Phyllis Thaxter, Tom Tully, Charles McGraw, and a host of actors you've seen in other films.

Mitchum plays a failed rancher from Texas who heads to Utah for a job offered by his buddy Robert Preston - and it seems that job is acting as a hired gun in a cold range war.  Preston has teamed with other homesteaders against big-time rancher Lufton (Tom Tully) and he's trying to screw Lufton out of his range and cattle.

It's kind of wild as I don't know if I've seen the homesteaders cast in this light before - usually it's one of the big-money ranchers bumping off homesteaders (see: Shane).  And there's certainly the idea presented the rancher has been hassling these people.

Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" Turns 40

If you weren't in middle school by 1986 or 1987, I don't care what you think about Frank Miller's four-issue series, The Dark Knight Returns.  Sorry, young reader!     

There was context to when the comic came out, an understanding of what was changing in media and culture and comics, and if you grew up on comics in the wake of Dark Knight Returns, it's like trying to tell people Revolver isn't a breakthrough album after all, or that Citizen Kane doesn't matter (which the internet is always more than happy to do, and seem quite foolish in the process).

I don't do this often - generally I'm a "hey, like what you like, but here's my opinion" guy.  But sometimes The Kids(tm) are just wrong, and I don't think you had to be there at the time - you can just have a reasonable knowledge of recent history, comics history and have read a book somewhere along the line.  And so, in this case, when I have seen 10,000 bad takes by bad take-havers, here is mine.

Mainstream superhero comics have some key years.*  

Tom Noonan Merges With The Infinite

Tom Noonan is one of the best actors I ever saw in a movie.  I've never gotten over his performance in What Happened Was...   

He was never a leading man, but every time he showed up, you were getting something new and unexpected.  Truly brilliant, even in stuff like RoboCop 2, or giving soul to Frankenstein's monster in Monster Squad.  And, really the perfect version of Dolarhyde in Manhunter.  

Over the years he retreated from big pictures and that's how we got What Happened Was...   We got other appearances here and there - he came in to one episode of Louie and blew the doors off.  But his days of playing types in big budget pictures was over.

But, man.  What a performer.  

Wise Watch: Mystery In Mexico (1948)

Watched:  02/17/2026

Format:  Sketchy Russian streaming site

Viewing:  First

Director:  Robert Wise

I have no idea what happened here.  It's totally fine, but a major step down from Born to Kill.  But Mystery in Mexico (1948) is also a lot lighter - frothy, really.  It feels like a B movie at 65 minutes, with a mystery that is mostly an excuse to go to Mexico.  Which - I can blame no one for wanting a little jaunt to visit our neighbors.

Insurance company detective Steve Hastings (William Lundigan) has a colleague that has disappeared with a $250K necklace (that's 1948 dollars).  He follows the guy's singer sister, Victoria (Jacqueline White) down to Mexico City - and he relentlessly pursues her as a sex pest which means he's also there to help her when she gets into trouble.  

The film is a co-production with a Mexican studio, and has plenty of Mexican talent.  It does its bit to show off Mexico and Mexico City as a place of class and adventure.  But it feels super slight.  I get the feeling they were on a vacation and occasionally took breaks to make a movie.  

It's totally fine.  For some reason I thought Ricardo Montalban was in it, but with a 65 minute run time, at 30 minutes and no Montalban, I realized I was very wrong and a bit cross.  Montalban in this era was awesome.  Well, in all eras.

There's a few decent scenes.  Nothing to write home about.  

But Jacqueline White is in two of my favorite movies (Crossfire and The Narrow Margin), so it was nice to see her here as well.  (late edit:  White is apparently still with us at 103 years old!)

No real notes on Wise here other than that this is emotional whiplash after Born to Kill and really marks what I think of when it comes to Wise - he's a chameleon.  He gets what is needed, no matter the genre.  And this one mixes genres with the light-hearted detective and some real threats of violence.

Jesse Jackson Merges With The Infinite

Back in an era when the news media was functional, I was well aware of Jesse Jackson, his history and some of what he stood for.  From a young age, I understood Jackson was a young man who had worked alongside Dr. King, and who was carrying that mission forward.  As he would run for President every cycle, I was aware of the need for him as a voice to speak to issues impacting underrepresented Americans - running knowing his chances were next to zero, but including his messages in the hope of seeing those ideas shape the platform of the Democratic party.

Jackson was an unapologetic voice for rights and for those not represented by mainstream politics.  He could be challenging to the status quo, even antagonistic, speaking plainly about uncomfortable issues like race, socio-economics and the engines that benefitted from a more egalitarian society.  

While figures like John Lewis would follow political paths into office and effect change in those halls of power, Jesse Jackson remained involved via activism and media appearances.  He also led peace delegations and was seemingly omnipresent on the national/ international stage for much of the 1980's and into the 1990's.  

Sometimes controversial, Jackson's vision for how to get to that better world sometimes seemed myopic, but he did have understandable goals.  He certainly had his moments deserving public scrutiny, but it's also hard not to see folks with their own agenda amplifying any blunder he might have had.

During my last years of school, I saw Jackson speak on campus (on the steps of Main) at the University of Texas at Austin, I believe during the Hopwood Decision era. It was kind of amazing to see him in person leading thousands of people.

Jackson remained active well into the 2010's, but was no longer who the press ran to for soundbites.  His legacy of activism and work as a voice for Civil Rights has already inspired generations.  

Kids Watch: Godzilla vs Kong (2021)

Watched:  02/16/2026

Format:  4K disc

Viewing:  3rd?  4th?

Director:  Adam Wingard

What I learned is the power of friendship.  And the power of a right hook to knock someone through a skyscraper

-my nephew, aged 10

Today was the day I knew was coming since Jason and Amy told me they were pregnant.  Today, I watched a Godzilla movie with my nephew and niece.  And, I am proud to say, The Boy was into it.  

Robert Duvall Has Merged With The Infinite

Actor Robert Duvall has passed.  He was 95.  

Gen-X and older have a place in their hearts and minds for Duvall who starred in *something* we loved along the way, and was key to why we loved it.  He has 146 credits listed on IMDB as an actor, 14 as a producer and 5 as a director.  

Like most folks my age, it was his turn as Tom Hagen in The Godfather and The Godfather Part II.  But swiftly after, it was Apocalypse Now, Colors, The Natural, THX-1138, MASH and countless others.  

Duvall has a weightiness to his performances, a believability that served him well in parts like Tom Hagen, but also sold the absurd (see Lt. Col. Kilgore) as real.  Truly one of the greats of his generation - and part of why we were so lucky to get that cast and crew on The Godfather to begin with.  

I admit, there are large parts of his filmography I've never seen - I read Lonesome Dove instead of watching it, for example.  But that's going to happen with someone with so many credits, almost all of which people will say were solid.

He'd obviously slowed down, but he still has one more credit as in post-production even now.  

Here's to one of the greats.  

Fantasy Watch: Red Sonja (2025)

Watched:  02/15/2026

Format:  Kanopy

Viewing:  First

Director:  M.J. Bassett

Jim had been rec'ing this movie at me for a while, and the man knows me well.  

Heads up - most people are going to dismiss this movie, and that's fine.  And maybe my reasons for saying "this is kind of cool" won't add up, but here we go.

I have no idea what the budget was for Red Sonja (2025) but it's certainly not a $150 million.  So, this is a movie that does a lot of "you get the idea" hand waving with FX and sets, etc...  that was part and parcel of exactly this kind of movie when it was starring Brigitte Nielsen and making me stay up way too late on a Saturday in middle school.  And, in fact, I'm kind of wondering if we lost something about the charm and allure of those movies when all they had were talent in front of and behind the camera, where a movie would sink or swim based on story and characters.  And cool ideas.  We couldn't just smother everything with CGI.