Back in 2013 I reviewed the Nebraska Theatre Caravan‘s production of A Christmas Carol and thoroughly enjoyed it. Four years later I revisited the show, and found it to be a bit underwhelming.

The performance is technically fine, and doesn’t stray from the tried and true formula of Scrooge being a grumpy miser, being visited by his late business partner who heralds the arrival of the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present ,and Yet to Come before Scrooge realizes how miserable he’s been to everybody  and set s out to make amends. The sets are functional, and some are particularly nice, such as the town square shops in the opening sequence. The costumes are excellent throughout.

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Reviews

In a world where balance exists between the dark and light sides of the force, forshadowing casts a gray cloud over everything.

What does it all mean?

Hell if I know. THE LAST JEDI will be deconstructed until the next installment is released. This much I know for sure. The internet will be littered with articles that dissect the most miniscule moments. Have questions been answered? Yes. Do we have more questions now that we've seen it? Absolutely.

Rian Johnson delivers a movie that is both action packed, humorous, and full of depth. While some of the comedy is more over-the-top than we're used to for a Star Wars movie, it still meshes well and doesn't distract from the story that's being told around it.

From CBS News:

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday overturned "net neutrality," the regulations ensuring that internet service providers such as AT&T (T), Comcast (CMCSA) and Verizon (VZ) treat all website and content equally.

The meeting was charged, reflecting the public controversy over whether to preserve or eliminate the Obama-era rules. As if to punctuate the drama, attendees at the FCC hearing were forced to abruptly clear the room over unspecified security concerns before Chair Ajit Pai cast his vote.

About a month ago, we had reported the rumors about Disney looking into buying Fox.  Today it looks like that deal was finalized...

From CNN:

Disney is buying a huge chunk of 21st Century Fox in a deal that promises to reshape the media industry and help the entertainment giant fend off digital rivals such as Netflix.

The $52.4 billion deal will combine two of the biggest players in Hollywood.

Christmas comes to Riverdale in this second season mid-season finale. It's time for peace on Earth, and for all the loose threads of the Black Hood saga to finally come to a satisfying closure, with sensible revelations that will allow everyone to finally rest easy.

Yeah, right.

Let's start with Jughead. His life was supposed to take an upturn when his father, FP, was released from jail. But FP has gone right back to leading the serpents, and running drugs for Penny Peabody -- but only because Penny had dirt on Jughead that she was using to blackmail him and all the serpents into doing her bidding.

That stops tonight. Maybe. Because Jughead's finally gotten tired of it, and to protect his father and the rest of the South Side Serpents, he'll go to any measures to remove Penny Peabody from their lives. Get ready for a vision of Dark Jughead (okay, "darker" Jughead) as he extracts his "pound of flesh" with the Serpents rallied around him.

Blip is a happy little robot/console that lives daily plugged into her computer. But when a blackout causes her to trip and unplug (and fall-and-roll a distance longer than any meatball did from on top of spaghetti), she finds herself out of doors, in the sunlight, and learning new things.

Well, basically -- as per the text of the book -- she's doing pretty much all the same things she did on her computer. But she's doing them "for real" and she's having more fun doing so. So much so that, when she ultimately returns home to reconnect to her old life, she finds that she prefers the way things are when she's "unplugged."

Guillermo del Toro makes moves that no one else in Hollywood would ever even conceive of, and that should be considered high praise. The big blockbusters generally follow a pretty routine formula. Most films so. Very seldom does a director write and execute his own script with the clarity of vision and abundant originality of his latest film, The Shape of Water. It’s a love story, a monster movie, and a unique look at a creature that doesn’t belong in this world…and minor spoiler alert—only one of these three descriptions applies to the “monster.”

Derek Fridolfs and Dustin Nguyen continue the SECRET HERO SOCIETY series that casts all your favorite DC Comics characters as middle school students. Told from the perspective of a cynical Bruce Wayne via notes, diagrams, text message continuity, and standard comic book style panels, DETENTION OF DOOM kicks things off with a handful of your heroic students getting academic awards from the Luthor foundation. Clark gets a unique looking trophy for bravery, while Bruce gets a medal for participation. (Other students can be seen in the program, including Guy Gardner for Debate and Dinah Lance for Musical Achievement.)

St. Louis -- Michelle Reeves

(This review contains material that may be considered by some as spoiler.)

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS was slow, as it introduced new characters, and ended with Rey facing the missing Luke Skywalker, thus building into STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI.

Without really knowing what to expect from TLJ, I went in with an open mind.  After a lengthy period of time, Rey finally convinces Luke Skywalker to assist the Resistance, after he initially refuses. He also reluctantly starts teaching Rey to be a Jedi. 

The film excellently portrayed the struggle between good and evil within us.  Rey converses with Kylo Ren, trying to learn about who he really is.  Using the Force, she sees and feels the conflict within Kylo--the same conflict we all face individually between right and wrong, good and evil, restraint and temptation. 

From Forbes:

Nintendo announced today that the Switch had broken 10 million sales. An astonishing number, given the Wii U before it, analyst projections being much lower, and the holiday season still to come. The Switch has been a hardware success story only equaled by Nintendo’s software success stories between The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey both released this year.

To put that sales figure in context, I wanted to go back and see how it stacked up to other current and former consoles. As it turns out, it’s among some of the best in recent memory, as you might expect.

From the Hollywood Reporter:

Fire up your 2-Way Wrist TVs! Heat Vision can exclusively reveal that Archie Comics is bringing Dick Tracy back to comic books with a new series focusing on his early days as a detective, launching next April.

The monthly series will be co-written by Archie Comics co-president Alex Segura and Michael Moreci, whose résumé includes Image Comics’ Roche Limit and Hoax Hunters and the upcoming novel Black Star Renegades, with art from New York-based illustrator Thomas Pitilli, who has previously worked on covers for Riverdale and The Archies.

Welcome back to Critical Blast’s long-running weekly look at what new comics you should check out each week.   Just a warning, I make these picks pretty much a week BEFORE I actually get to read any of these comics, so if something is a stinker, I take no blame on that.  Let's get to it!

When a woman's 911 call reveals the Sinnerman's work is still being carried out despite his incarceration, Team Lucifer determines that the Sinnerman must have an accomplice. Lucifer's plan is to take the Sinnerman out fo custody and torture him into revealing the girl's location, but he has to play along with Chloe's method of going by-the-book and following up leads. Her investigation takes them to the world of roller derby and a skater with whom the abducted girl, Maggie, has had fights. And while she knows nothing of the abuction, Helena Handbasket does know where Maggie parks her car, leading #Deckerstar straight to a booby-trap.

They are many young people out there today who have never heard of Red Skelton or the mirth he brought upon this Earth. And that is a shame. Fortunately, though, it doesn’t have to be that way any longer, thanks to Time Life who brings us the definitive set of Red Skelton.

From TV Insider:

Last month, we told you that Leslie Moonves, CEO of CBS Corp., had told a group of investors that "All Access will be the home of a new version of one of the most iconic television shows of all time – The Twilight Zone." There were also reports that Get Out director Jordan Peele was in talks to executive-produce the revival.

On Wednesday, CBS All Access confirmed that Peele will indeed serve as an executive producer of the series, which will air exclusively on the CBS streaming service, along with Simon Kinberg and Marco Ramirez. The three will also collaborate on the show's premiere episode.

What did we talk about on Critical Blast this week?

Reviews

It's a night of funerals, betrayals...and war!

Sofia Falcone's plans for Gotham have finally put the city on the brink of a gang war with Oswald "The Penguin" Cobblepot. And to put an end to that and keep the peace: Daddy's home! Yes, Carmine Falcone is back in Gotham, and he's there to give his little girl a spanking and cart her cute little butt back home with him. But a drive-by shooting  changes everything.

Operating on the assumption that Penguin's men were behind the attack, Sofia turns to Jim Gordon to arrest him. But without proof of Penguin's involvement, there's nothing he can do to him. But when Penguin confronts Jim in the middle of the GCPD, Jim can do one thing! He can rally the police behind him and take the war to Penguin's thugs. And this he does with great success.