3.4 Bella Will we ever find out whether or not Holmes betrayed a fellow recovering addict to put a murderer behind bars? My money says we won’t, but the revelation’s immaterial because the point of the episode, like that of last week’s, was to explore Holmes’ peculiar personality. Is he man or machine? Warm-blooded creature or automaton? To Sherlock, the AI programme represented an intellectual opponent rather than a mystery....
Dorothy continues to wander around Oz. By the end of the third episode, it’s still hard to get a read on who Dorothy is as a person, which is not an ideal problem to have with your series’ protagonist, especially one as famous as Dorothy Gale. Even when Dorothy makes steps to get what she wants — to go home, of course — they are dictated by others’ actions. It’s Lucas that drags her away from the Wizard’s guard so that she can overhear that the Wizard has ordered her death....
Directed by Gavin Hood (Tsotsi, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Ender’s Game), Eye In The Sky is an ensemble drama-thriller which ambitiously tries to tackle drone warfare from multiple angles: the various levels of politicians, generals and soldiers who authorise the use of missile strikes on targets thousands of miles away, and the spies, would-be terrorists and innocent civilians caught in the crosshairs. At a dimly-lit British army base deep underground, Colonel Powell (Helen Mirren) follows her quarry with a cool, detached eye: a British citizen who’s joined the cause of a terrorist group called Al Shabab....
“Much more action-packed and entertaining than the previous Hulk movie. . .” Early reviews are coming in for the Marvel Studios/Universal reboot of the Hulk franchise, and so far it sounds pretty…okay. The general impression is of relief that Ang Lee’s more cerebral and psychotherapeutical take on Bruce Banner’s tormented dark-side (well…green side) has been abandoned for a more action-oriented approach to the character. The first available review, from scifimoviepage....
This story, Queen Sacrifice, perfectly represents how I feel entirely about this show. Because what it delivered was a mix of storylines, most of which I absolutely hated, and then in between them was an entertaining ‘mole hunt’ story that, when it came back on screen, I really enjoyed, mostly because it wasn’t the tedious other bits. However, the mole hunt sequences almost made up for how dumb the rest was as, with the help of Vogel, Mark determines to flush the person, giving away their next moves to Dyson Frost....
So “Pandemonium” is where we see both the ‘tribute to old’ and the ‘branching out to new’ start to make headway, as well as some tasteful and not at all excessive gore. The changes from the original are good, and some are subtle, and the things that stayed the same I was happy to see as well. For things that stayed the same or were treated respectfully with only minor changes, I have to say my favorite is the band....
Written by showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, in terms of narrative, Valar Dohaeris is more preparatory intake of breath than fiery roar. It clarifies purpose, and deftly re-establishes the allegiances and locations of Westeros with a series of largely static, tense two and three-hander scenes. Minahan certainly can do flash of course, as proved by a playful sequence showcasing Game of Thrones’ impressive CGI dragons, a fluent travelling shot circling the post-battle walls of King’s Landing, and another swooping through the Wildling camp, but on the whole he holds back here, allowing the script, cast and locations the space to piece together their story....
4.7 Mockingbird Fewer characters for longer also creates for smoother transitions between scenes; for example, Dany’s hook-up with Daario 2.0 is matched amusingly with Selyse Barratheon having an in-depth conversation with the naked Melisandre about the merits of seduction and tricking men with potions to force them to see the Red God before giving them the actual power to see the Red God at work in the flames. Even when it’s a story element that isn’t quite as attention-getting (Jon’s political struggle at the Wall), it’s more tolerable because you won’t see it every week, just every couple of weeks; the Jon segments also stay long enough to gather a little steam, rather than just being a pop-up appearance....
4.8 The Mountain And The Viper The fight scene that gives this episode its name, between the Mountain That Rides and the Red Viper of Dorne, is not just a matchup between two of the coolest nicknames in Westeros, it’s also a match-up between two of the deadliest fighters in the Seven Kingdoms. Not that we’ve seen the Dornish involved in any of the conflicts of the War of Five Kings, or had much experience with them at all during our time in Westeros....
Grimm Season 6 Episode 8 “The Son Also Rises” was an ode to Frankenstein, including one of the characters being named Dr. Shelley. Not very subtle on the writers’ behalf for viewers familiar with regeneration and reanimation. Do Wesen have origins in outer space? How interesting it would be to bridge the old with the current as Team Grimm continues along their against-the-clock Angels & Demons research into star constellations and hieroglyphics....
3.6 Dolce I’m going to utterly fail in this endeavour this week. But, really, I don’t think you can blame me. Bryan Fuller has made it clear from the start that he’s never felt bound to the books by Thomas Harris. But at the same time, he has never ignored them. It would be easiest to say that the relationship between the two is that Fuller has committed himself to many of the largest plot points while feeling less married to any of those peskier smaller ones....
It was no surprise then, that Stallone hand picked him to co-star in The Expendables, in what always felt like a generational baton passing – not only had Sly recognised Statham’s work and dedication, but set him up with a franchise for life. Sure, The Expendables might cease production in the next few years either due to the lessening box office that most sequels suffer, or if Stallone pulls the plug, but it can be picked up again at any point in the future, even decades from now, when perhaps we’ll get Stath in charge supported by the likes of Gerard Butler, Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel....
Among the many showstopping moments in Deadpool 2, one of the best jokes in the film occurs shortly after Deadpool arrives at the Xavier School for Gifted Children, a.k.a. X-Men HQ. Arguing in a seemingly empty hallway with Colossus (voiced by Stefan Kapicic), the Merc with a Mouth (Ryan Reynolds) wonders out loud where all the other mutants are — part of a running joke about the lack of a budget to provide more than one or two X-Men in the Deadpool movies....
Impact has made a habit of showing matches from partner promotions featuring Impact talent. Fine. I’m not a fan of it, but fine. But airing a World Title match in that setting de-values the wrestlers and it de-values the title. The bleachers behind the wrestlers on the “hard camera” side were 30 percent full, at best. Not only was it a low-rent indie show, it was a fairly lightly-attended low-rent indie show....
Right after that first time though, she gets out of her car, tearfully gatecrashes a wedding reception and pepper sprays the bride for not inviting her. It transpires that they’re not even real life friends, and somewhere in Ingrid’s grief over the recent loss of her mother, she’s started to invest more in the fantasy of the Insta-perfect lifestyles represented by the ‘stars’ she follows. There’s not a whole lot of nuance in a hashtag, and from the very start, this wickedly funny script, penned by David Branson Smith and director Matt Spicer, digs into everything their lead has compartmentalised with gusto....
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 13 Episode 2 Pretty soon the coverage surrounding It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 13 will cease to be a series of Anchorman-esque “Dennis Watch!” dispatches and instead will start to view this batch of episodes on their own merits. “The Gang Escapes” isn’t necessarily a return to form for the show because the show never really loses its “form” (save for the one baffling awful episode in its run: Season 7’s “Frank’s Brother”)....
Here, Cage plays the title character in David Gordon Green’s second film from his ‘Indie’ trilogy (with Prince Avalanche – read our review here – and the forthcoming Pacino-starring Manglehorn), after the director spent some time making stoner comedies with Joe‘s executive producer Danny McBride. It’s a return to critical acclaim for Cage, and a continuation of form for Green after Prince Avalanche. Sheridan (Mud, The Tree of Life) does well in arguably the trickier role....
So what’s changed? Very little in some respects. In fact, what really amazed me was how few changes to the formula they’ve allowed themselves. This is the same basic petrol-head premise of a heavily resourced individual operating beyond the law aided by his sentient car, except now it’s a Ford Shelby GT500KR Mustang and not the no-longer-made Pontiac Firebird. The Hoff has been replaced by Justin Bruening, who, like his predecessor, is a one time soap star and fashion model....
I was 13 when it took its first airing, and so, it was a little too late on a school night for me! So, it was Ashes to Ashes, some two years later that initially drew me to Life On Mars, not the other way around. In only the first ten minutes out of 52 do we explore Sam in the present day. He’s a straight-laced, squeaky-clean and ‘by the book’ DCI , a model copper....
In all seriousness, throughout this season of Lost, I quietly feared that the success of the flashforward structure would unravel wildly come the season finale, showing us loyal fans that such storytelling traits were really just the Emperor’s new slacks. Too many things had been built up, with various storylines already holding an outright conclusion: Jin’s “death”, Ben’s war on Widmore, Kate’s freaky baby, Hurley’s communion with the dead, that pesky casket… For the first time in Lost history, I felt it was time for Darlton to drop the ball already....
