Once again, George Clooney gets to play out his real life midlife crisis on screen in The American, only this time he gets to bed a beautiful Italian woman and drink a whole lot of watered-down espresso. Kind of like what he does every day, except this time George plays Jack/Edward, a multi-pseudonymous American assassin/secret agent kind of guy who is on the run from some Swedes who want to kill him....
Fortunately, it all turned out to be a pleasant surprise. So before you could say Kiss Me Kwick, the teams settled down to work out who should project manage. Howard and Debra both wanted to lead Empire, and Debra emerged from that tussle victorious. On Ignite, Yasmina took the lead, and off everyone went. I must admit, I thought Empire’s idea of rebranding Margate to appeal to the gay market was quite a good one, whatever Nick’s eyebrows had to say on the matter....
At the start of the episode, I must admit, I couldn’t tell you who was going to win the series. I could tell you who isn’t, as, if Baron von Sugar employs Stuart, then not only would it debase the idea of the TV programme somewhat (based on what we’ve seen), but it might just bugger up his businesses, too. But three candidates were set to go. So then, out came the interviewers....
8.17 The Colonisation Application The Big Bang Theory has always done an admirable job introducing new characters, to the point where it’s hard to even remember a time when the central group was one of five rather than the seven-piece (plus, periodically, Stuart) it is now. That said, I think we all know that something isn’t quite working with Emily and, even worse, the show doesn’t seem all that bothered with fixing the issue....
The Boat That Rocked is set in a defanged, exaggerated 1966, ‘the greatest era for British Rock and Roll’, where everyone is beautiful and everyone loves music. Apart from the government, that is, whose square and backward old ministers, led by Kenneth Branagh, conspire to shut down the immensely popular Radio Rock, which broadcasts from a ship in the North Sea and spearheads a movement of pirate radio stations that beam great music into the country....
Payne’s latest, The Descendants, introduces George Clooney’s character, Matt King. He may be a successful lawyer, a resident of a beautiful Hawaiian island, and about to inherit a fortune once he’s sold off the huge tract of unspoiled land that belongs to he and his cousins, but he’s as awkward and faltering as the leads in About Schmidt and Sideways. First, Matt’s wife Elizabeth is in a coma following a boating accident....
Between the two of them, they’re a complete, functioning person, and that’s why they work so well together. Early on in the movie, Ronny tells his lovely girlfriend, Beth (Jennifer Connelly), that Nick is his hero, mostly because Nick has been with his wife and college sweetheart, Geneva (Winona Ryder), for 20 years. It’s a simple enough story made needlessly complicated by all involved in the production. In an attempt to be too many things to too many people, The Dilemma manages to be nothing to anyone....
1.17 Tricksters I’ve never been a huge fan of these ‘tribute’ episodes, mainly because I’m not well-versed enough in comic book lore to understand a lot of the references, and I like my TV shows to remain my TV shows without leaving me behind for an entire week. It happened a lot on Smallville, especially in the later years, but so far the Arrow/Flash universe has resisted the urge to do the same....
2.21: The Runaway Dinosaur That shock comes mainly from the fact that this season, while rarely being actively bad, hasn’t had many standout hours. This episode was an event for a lot of people simply because Kevin Smith was on board to direct, but that’s no guarantee of anything. However, Smith appears to have tapped into something of the show that’s been missing for a while. We start where we left off with the gang mourning Barry and discovering that Jesse and Wally have been hit with the particle accelerator explosion....
“The Messenger” begins with Mike’s father’s funeral, with somber Max and Ryan in attendance. The earlier rift between Mike and Ryan has all but disappeared as the writers have slowly made them more and more similar since the premiere. Though they’re inching forward like two slugs trekking through molasses, Max and Mike have the chemistry that could make them a really intriguing couple…not that couples have too great a history on The Following....
“Unmasked” begins with Carrie Cooke talking about Lily Gray (still on the lam, off-screen) and Joe Carroll on the news, which turns out to be Ryan’s plan to lure Joe out. Simultaneously, states away, Micah tells Carroll how much money Carrie is making off of Joe as they watch the broadcast. Micah unwittingly spawns Carroll’s evil plan/return to prominence, at his own expense. It also wouldn’t be a Following episode if there wasn’t sexual tension between Stroup’s Max and Ashmore’s Mike, Max walking in on a nearly naked Mike this week....
3.4 Home & 3.5 A Hostile Witness There’s something to be said for making someone wait for something. Instant gratification is great, but a slow burn for something, especially when it’s something you really want. What I’ve wanted from this season of The Following is the return of Joe Carroll. What we haven’t gotten this season has been a lot of that colour that James Purefoy brought to the show as a sort of arch-villain....
1.3 Late Happily—which almost certainly isn’t the right word—The Handmaid’s Tale doesn’t have any qualms about pushing us too far. Nor does it display any interest in cushioning its blows. Quite the opposite. Episode three picks up Ofglen’s story following her shock disappearance last week and tells an even more sickening tale than in the novel. It also leaves us with an even more sickening image. That image is Alexis Bledel’s character waking up in a surgical ward to discover she’s been the victim of genital mutilation....
But Ross has done more than churn out a faithful adaptation of the book. His vision of the world of The Hunger Games is bigger, scarier, darker, and more political than the books ever dared to be. Thanks to the insane popularity of The Hunger Games trilogy (and an aggressive publicity campaign) you probably already know the basic premise of the film: in a post-apocalyptic world, each of the newly established Districts must offer up two ‘Tributes’ – one boy and one girl – to fight to the death in a televised tournament known as the Hunger Games....
Hearing Raquel’s voice again reminded me of those exciting and dangerous times. I had followed the trail of thousands of miscreants trying to escape their European problems, to South America. It wasn’t all that desperate, I suppose. My husband, Tonio, was well in with the Argentine motor racing fraternity as well as being international correspondent for the now defunct newspaper, La Razon. It was his suggestion we lit out for pampas new....
It is hard to understand why the Vampire has such a hold on our imagination. By repute it is foul smelling, fester popping, halitosis sharing, un-fun loving, party pooping nerd with only the flimsiest, most tenuous grip on life – or if you prefer, Undeath. At least that is the bag of the classic Vampire. Lord George Byron’s creation, Lord Ruthven, named by Dr. Polidori and filched from Lady Caroline Lamb, was more robust than Bram Stokers’ Dracula....
Firstly, when a film showing is pencilled in for 8.10pm, I’d expect the main feature to begin earlier than 8.30pm. Yet, we were treated, if that’s the word for it, to twenty minutes of glossy adverts and loud, overblown trailers before the BBFC certificate appeared and the previously chatty audience piped down. No such off-screen activity at Inception, no doubt as the audience was trying to keep up with the breakneck speed of the film, particularly during the elongated heist sequence....
You know what they say – exacting bloody revenge on your sworn enemy is all a lot of fun until somebody takes it too far. After that thrilling assault on Dunholm, everybody was having a grand old time watching Ragnar Ragnarsson avenge his family by defeating Kjartan, then he had to go and ruin it by falling into a berserker’s frenzy. Suddenly it was goodbye Kjartan the Cruel, hello Kjartan the pulpy mass of teeth and bone....
Kuvira, formerly of Zaofu, broke away from her city not long after the defeat of the Red Lotus and formed her own army, traveling the Earth Kingdom and “stabilizing” it. Offering protection from the roving gangs of raiders in return for loyalty, it’s a very attractive solution for some, but others resist. “After All These Years” is mainly the story of one such Earth Kingdom state, Yai, standing up to Kuvira and refusing her contract with the support of Kai and Opal, who arrange to have farms in several neighboring regions donate food....
