3.13 The New Supreme If you properly want to depict magic on television, then American Horror Story has been a great example of just how to do that and make it look grounded and realistic (in spite of the whole magic being fictional thing). The powers put on display during The New Supreme are both impressive, and on a small enough scale that it’s not approaching Harry Potter levels of magical ability....
Murder House There’s a lot of stress at home. Things seemed like they were improving, but with Vivien’s pregnancy, Ben’s little problem back in Boston (Hayden, as played by Kate Mara), and the fact that the Harmons sunk their entire savings into a giant house where dozens of people have apparently been murdered, it looks like the light at the end of the tunnel was simply the oven light. Last week, while his family was in peril, Ben was off trying to get Hayden an abortion....
And then crazy Dave came along and ripped up the rule book. Well, it was less a rule book and more a napkin with a couple of bullet points scrawled on it with biro, but still: we all understand the subtle context that Dave is a loveable rogue. Dave, the thinking supposedly went, is a good name for a channel because ‘everyone knows someone called Dave’. The problems with such thinking are myriad....
Anno Dracula is set in an alternative time where Dracula is seen as the man who brought vampires to the public eye. Francis Ford Coppola is shooting his version of the events behind the hidden history as a follow-up to The Godfather, instead of Apocalypse Now. The cast is the same. The on-set problems are the same. Dracula even has splotches of Apocalypse Now all over the final shooting script....
“Kim Kardashian pours her curves into a white dress after saying she’ll lose weight.” Those are headlines taken from the fashion section of a well known British newspaper, and illustrate the sort of obsession with celebrity and image Brandon Cronenberg satirises in his stark, unsettling debut feature, Antiviral. In this distorted, heightened parallel of the early 21st century, clinics collect and sell the synthesised diseases of the rich and famous....
Atlanta: Season 2 Episode 10 A flashback episode is a novel, if a bit clichéd way to beef up your characters. You can easily explain that they act the way they do now because of something that happened to them way back when. Or, you can introduce a completely new element to their past that instantly changes who they are now (for example, in season three of Community it was revealed that, as kids, two of the lead characters had gone to the same school)....
2.10 The Dying Of The Light Broadly speaking, things are not going well in Atlantis. Our heroes are on the run and not getting on, Pasiphae isn’t the happiest of monarchs as she hunts for Ariadne and tries to keep her secret… secret, and the darkness could very well be about to consume Atlantis. With Medusa dead, Pasiphae has confessed her secret, sending Jason on the dark path prophesied by The Oracle....
1.1 Pilot The opening episode of the latest US TV concoction produced by Six Feet Under and True Blood’s Alan Ball sets its stall out from the get go and takes no prisoners. The unnamed lead in Banshee – Anthony Starr, who looks a bit like Colin Farrell, is seen being released from prison. A determined walk away from the penitentiary gates tells us that this is a man with things on his mind....
But the film doesn’t open with him. Instead, we’re flung straight into the centre of France’s capital while Richard Madden’s Michael sneaks through a throng of distracted Parisians and pickpockets the lot of them. Madden is playing against type as a sarcastic street criminal, but enough of his Prince Charming/Robb Stark charisma shines through and urges you to root for him. Enter Mr Elba as Agent Briar of the CIA, a moody monolith of a man with the intimidating shape of a brick outhouse and a gruff personality to match....
1.8 A Boy and his Dog Taxidermy. A bizarre art, but rather useful in its own way. It’s nice that Norman has found a hobby that can occupy his time, but there’s a grim destination for his new skill. As we saw man’s best friend, guts pulled out on Mr Decody’s table, it’s difficult not to see the potential for the same treatment of a boy’s best friend. If this show is intent on dovetailing with the 1960 movie, then there’s likely to be some rather hideous taxidermy taking place sometime in the future....
3.1 Lia I’ve championed Being Human ever since the pilot episode aired back in 2008. It felt like a breath of fresh air, a promise of what a fine showcase for British talent BBC Three could become. While BBC Three itself may have struggled for periods to live up to expectations, Being Human has only gone on from strength to strength. The show’s success was underlined for me this week when I saw the cover of this week’s Radio Times....
3.1 Mabel It’s arguable that Walt was always more or less the person he became by the end of the series. Jimmy McGill, on the other hand, is a more tragic figure because he wants to change but he just can’t help himself and, as the cold open shows, even going on the run and losing everything won’t alter that. Confronted with the choice to protect a petty criminal and risk exposing himself when caught in the lie or to be a law abiding citizen, Jimmy/Saul/Gene first makes the smart choice but, seconds later, as the cops lead the youth away, he jumps to his feet and explodes ‘get a lawyer!...
3.3 Sunk Costs That much is immediately evident from the cold open. We see the kind of weathered vista so familiar to anyone who’s ever watched an episode of Breaking Bad; the bullet ridden signs, the cracked road, the unforgiving landscape, the faded shoes hanging from the power line. Then into view rumbles a Los Pollos Hermanos truck, shaking the ground as it continues on its way. Once it is gone, the frayed laces of the shoes snap and they fall....
Kim, still in a cast and sling from her car accident in season three, steps through the front doors and enters the familiar lobby. In front of her are two unfamiliar enormous copper structures: one in the shape of a cowboy on horseback and the other of a looming cactus. Kim considers them then continues on to a meeting where her client talks about how he wants his business to expand, and expand, and expand, and expand....
From the very start, Black Mask Studios wanted to be different. Founded in 2012 by Steve Niles (30 Days of Night), Matt Pizzolo (Godkiller), and Brett Gurewitz (guitarist and songwriter for Bad Religion), Black Mask was created as a small, transmedia press company that would disrupt traditional comic distribution models. The publisher would connect readers directly to their books in any way they could, be it through trade paperbacks or the rapidly growing digital market....
Marvel movies are steeped in lore, both their own internal lore and that borrowed from the comics. So it is that you may come out of their movies wondering whether you missed something, or didn’t get a reference you were supposed to. Black Panther is no different. As ever, we’re here to try and answer any questions you might have. When does this movie take place? The bulk of the movie (aside from flashbacks) is set exactly one week after the events of Captain America: Civil War, so 2016....
In fact, so predictable are Bonekickers‘ events that I felt confident enough to compile a list of the final episode’s occurrences before I’d watched it – and here they are: This week’s Macguffin will, of course, be Excalibur. The college’s Head of Archaeology, Professor Mastiff, will turn out to be the ultimate villain in a cover-up that extends back to Arthurian times. 4.This being the final episode, the writers will throw in two or three grizzly deaths....
4.2 Thirty-Eight Snub This episode found our characters attempting to deal with the horrible situations they have found themselves in, and explored the vastly different coping mechanisms that they have developed in order to keep going. Jesse has invested in a monstrous sound system, a pile of cocaine, and loads of pizza, before launching into an epic three-day bender with old pals Skinny Mike and the welcome return of Badger (“Bodacious sub-woofers, yo!...
Then, Brock Lesnar showed up. That’s what we thought after SummerSlam, when Lesnar lost the Universal Title — cleanly, mind you — to Reigns in the main event. From there, reports were that Lesnar was heading back to the UFC where he would almost immediately challenge for the company’s UFC Heavyweight Title. But here, in a surprise twist to close out Hell in a Cell, Lesnar returned. The Minnesota brute kicked down the Hell in a Cell door and entered the ring, hitting both Reigns and Strowman with F5’s as Paul Heyman sprayed Mick Foley, the special guest referee, with mace....
