The key aim for the penultimate episode of a good drama series is to set things up for the finale, and leave the viewer wanting more. After the shaky fourth episode, this fifth instalment of Peaky Blinders achieves that strongly, and has left things looking promising for Thursday’s final episode. The looming shadow of the war played its part in the scene that will stick with me – the brawl between Tommy and Byrne....
This Penny Dreadful review contains spoilers. I’ve applauded the chemistry between LuPone and Green several times, we barely missed the rest of the cast in their duet performance last season, but Green’s scenes with Kinnear are transcendent. Vanessa’s desperation is matched by the gentle kindness of her caretaker. The orderly is the only person Vanessa has any contact with at the Banning Institute where she spends her days dragging her nails groaningly against the fabric of the rubber walls....
1.4 Monster Swamp Is that doing a good thing using underhanded means, or is it just an example of yet another person in Annville doing something self-serving? After all, the mayor meets with Odin Quincannon about expanding the local business not for Odin’s good, but to boost the town’s tax revenues. The mayor plays babysitter, but only because he wants to hook up with Emily, who helps Jesse Custer for reasons not yet determined....
Prison Break Season 5 Episode 4 Oh, hell yeah. Let’s face it; the fans wanted a prison break. I applaud the show for trying to open up its world a bit with all the political turmoil but that was only ever a backdrop to give the escape a little flavor. While it took up too much of the last two episodes, here it supercharged everything. Abu Ramal constantly trying to betray the team was a real treat....
Michael Bay, for starters, can get some gold-plated advice on how to put an exhilarating, edge-of-your-seat action sequence together. M Night Shyamalan? He can get a welcome refresher in how to pull a story rug in a way that makes sense and doesn’t feel like some kind of bolt-on. For in that two hours, you get nods to Hunter S Thompson, Apocalypse Now, Blazing Saddles, and an abundance of westerns....
Strangely enough, the Miley Cyrus DTV opus So Undercover survived unscathed, but then again that involved beer and gratuitous Jeremy Piven. I’ll completely understand if you now hold my opinion null and void. As Red 2 begins, we’re treated to the sight of Bruce Willis and Mary-Louise Parker’s characters engaged in a rather unsubtle and comically strained conversation about how she misses the excitement of their previous adventure, while he remains stoic about how she needs protecting and how his previous life is a constant threat to her....
The story revolves around the eponymous hospital in Lewiston, Maine, built on the site of a Civil War-era mill fire in which numerous children died. The first episode basically sets the scene and introduces us to the main characters. They are: the dedicated yet somewhat arrogant Dr. Hook (Andrew McCarthy); Sally Druse (Diane Ladd), a hypochondriac and psychic; Peter Rickman (Jack Coleman), a famous artist; the clearly repugnant and universally disliked Dr....
4.19 Nth Degree Barclay still isn’t feeling confident, but is happy when Geordi picks him to go on a mission to examine a probe that has disabled the Argus Array, a subspace telescope that has been disabled and needs to be fixed. Geordi and Barclay are just getting into their scans when the probe gives Barclay 10,000 watts to the face, knocking him out completely. Back on the ship, Barclay awakes and is instantly more confident in his mannerisms....
3.20 Tin Man Elbrun associated with a famously botched first contact mission, which makes the crew uneasy. Especially Riker, whose friends died in the incident. It also transpires that Elbrun was one of Troi’s patients when she was studying psychiatry, so remember: everything that happens from this point on is partially her fault. The plan is for Elbrun to use his mind-powers to coax the Tin Man away from the star it’s orbiting, which is about to explode....
As a TV detective, you’re no-one in today’s world if you’re not a) haunted by your past, b) suffering from some form of psychological disorder, or c) Scandinavian. Enter Stellan Skarsgård’s John River, pulling an impressive triple whammy in Abi Morgan’s engrossing new BBC crime series. River’s manifests are both pals and pests: former partner Det. “Stevie” Stevenson (Nicola Walker being brilliantly watchable) falls into the first category, while nineteenth century Thomas “The Lambeth Poisoner” Cream (Eddie Marsan) and the small-time dealer River chased emphysemically to his death in episode one, fall into the second....
That doesn’t stop modern adaptations like up this one zushing things up with whizz-bang stuff, sometimes to the extent that it’s hard to hear the play underneath. Russell T Davies’ version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by David Kerr, mostly avoids having the spectacle drown out the words. A few lines are sacrificed for the sake of visual excitement—try paying attention to verse when someone’s dangling off a cliff-edge or blasting lasers out of their palms—but with this much glee in evidence, why carp?...
When it looks like the President’s gun control bill won’t be passed, David uses those handy dandy B613 files and finds dirt on the judge who is not willing to sway sides. Apparently, he hit and killed a woman and her daughter in his past. This was sufficient leverage to threaten the judge enough to send the bill through. They crack open the champagne at the White House; David is in the bubble, the president’s bubble!...
Everyone seems in good spirits following another of year of murder and torture. The Lakewood teens are just looking for a little break from the Halloween hype and decide to venture off to a remote island where they think a relaxing beach getaway will solve all their troubles. Aside from these teenagers’ total inability to spot a bad plan when it is right in front of their face, there were many changes among the Lakewood crew, some that may even play out for the recently renewed, yet shorter, season three....
We live in a world where The Apprentice is accepted as entertainment, with its paper-thin façade of realism concocted in the editing suite. This is where the real magic (so advanced that it’s indistinguishable from increasingly formulaic television) happens. It sure as hell isn’t with the guy who writes Lord Sugar’s one liners. Having said that, look at the confident rich fools making idiots of themselves. Laugh, as they say, out loud at the social media mockery....
Mental illness is hard. Love and family can be harder. At least that is what David O. Russell suggests in his latest blending of familial turmoil and oddball comedy, Silver Linings Playbook. The premise of the film is an uncomplicated one; Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) has just been released from the mental hospital he was committed to for eight months. Recovering from an anger management incident worthy of Bruce Banner, Pat has lost his job, his house and most likely his marriage when he gets out and is forced to move back home with his parents....
Nero knows, can see it on Jax’s face, when he suggests that Nero take Wendy, Thomas, and Abel to the fabled retirement farm. Seriously, who retires to a farm? That shit is nonstop work. Have you seen the ads for FarmersOnly.com? The reason farmers are lonely is because they farm all the goddamn time. After that, Jax sits down with the other SAMCRO Presidents. They talk about Jury, Jax admits the truth, everyone observes that shit rolls downhill, and that Jury’s death was no bueno....
6.12 You Are My Sunshine Tara has run off with Abel and Thomas. Gemma is convinced that Tara has made a deal with Tyne Patterson to get out of Charming and Jax has a violent breakdown at this realization. To further complicate this Tara’s intentions are exceptionally unclear as she not only runs away with the boys but she also seems to have nixed the deal that she made with the DA....
Stan’s grandfather has reached the end of his tether; he’s so old he no longer feels the point of living and wants to die. He constantly attempts to get Stan to kill him, whether by hanging, or helping him stick a fork in a plug socket. When his grandfather demonstrates to him exactly what it’s like to be old (by leading him into a dark room and blasting Enya on the stereo until he begs for mercy), Stan agrees to help end his grandfather’s life – and that’s when the Grim Reaper himself shows up in South Park....
One of the charms of the original series is its ability to have serious and dark stories followed by ones that are quirky and weird. Shore Leave is one of those odd episodes that seem designed to bemuse the viewer rather than tell us anything new about the characters or their lives. Bones is the first to see something peculiar, when he sees a time obsessed white rabbit followed by a small girl with an English accent....
3.19 Counterattack We find ourselves stuck in the middle of another mini arc, comprising three stories featuring a break-in/break-out rescue by our favourite Jedi. And despite the fact that there is virtually no plot development, the latest episode of The Clone Wars manages to conjure up yet more memorable moments. To clarify, the Jedi have sprung Yoda-wannabe Even Piell from The Citadel (a very Death Star-like facility) and are now trying to escape....
