When last we saw Frank, he was just about to bed the spunky reporter Zoe Barnes fresh off of leaving her job at the Herald. Showing the sex scene between Zoe (who I have a major crush on) and Frank would of have been overkill and it is far more enticing to think about just how the little minx was in the sack. She is not sleeping with Frank to advance her career; she is smart enough to do that on her own....
It turns out that my instincts were right, but I can also say I found just a bit more respect for Claire Underwood as a result of Chapter 17. But what she does next is a triumphant return to form and I found myself rooting for her. Claire blames the aborted pregnancy on a military general, and is able to use the fact that she was raped as the political out she needs to explain the abortion....
A very vocal and large segment of that fanbase is female. Many of the Voltron cosplay meetups are dominated by women dressed up as various characters, from the Paladins to minor characters, and their enthusiasm is infectious. When asked why the series attracts this level of passion from women, co-executive producer Lauren Montgomery delightfully observes, “they have good taste.” Executive producer Joaquim Dos Santos believes that the show’s characters are what this large segment of the audience finds so appealing....
2.13 Marshall Pucci The second season finale opens with Ilsa in her office, thinking about Marshall’s affair, when Chance shows up and they kiss. The next day, it turns out Ilsa is moving back to London and the team are all gathered to say goodbye. As Guerrero is leaving, he is confronted by Julia (Emily Foxler), the girl in the photo with Marshall, who asks for protection. Chance races to the airport to stop Ilsa taking off, telling her they’ve found the mistress and that she knows who really killed Marshall....
Apparently, Adam has stumbled across a war that has raged across time between demons and gargoyles, who have been empowered with the light to kill demons courtesy of the Archangel Michael and communicated to us through exposition and voice-over (the movie is very heavy on voice-over, particularly in the beginning). The vicious demon prince Naberious (Bill Nighy) needs the creature for his nefarious plot to reanimate the soulless dead and inhabit those bodies with demons, driven to crush the gargoyle queen Leonore (Miranda Otto) with the help of researcher/brilliant dupe Terra (Yvonne Strahovski) and a bunch of crazy looking scientific equipment prone to sparking with arcs of electricity....
Last week’s review expressed concern that In The Flesh’s second series was spiralling uncontrollably away from the compact power of the first. Its multiple new characters and plot threads – went the argument – were threatening to replace human truth with shallow allegory and distract the drama from the emotionally shrewd storytelling that made such a success of series one. Whoever wrote all that must be an idiot. Episode three was a tremendous hour of teen drama, succinct, honest and involving....
It plays as a coming to life of the tale as relayed to Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw) by ol’ Thomas Nickerson (Brendon Gleeson). As we see it, young Nickerson (Tom Holland) struggles to find his feet on board The Essex, a ship on an expedition to collect whale oil. A whale attacks the boat, and Nickerson observes the tensions between the crew, not least those between first-time captain Pollard (Benjamin Walker) and first mate/chiselled hero Chase Owen (Chris Hemsworth), dissipate as they face an increasingly dire quest for survival....
There’s a sense that for Joaquin Phoenix’s Larry ‘Doc’ Sportello, the conspiracy at the heart of Inherent Vice is pretty slippery, too. A pot-smoking private investigator who has an office located at the back of a beige doctor’s surgery for some reason, he’s drawn into a tangled web of corruption, drug running and other intrigues by an old flame, the wayward Shasta (Katherine Waterston). There are neo-Nazi bikers, a league of dodgy dentists, drying-out communes and colourful neckties with pictures of naked ladies on them....
2.5 Nana’s Party Following a harried paramedic to the door of house number 9, before flitting back to the start of the tale with an ‘Earlier that day…’, the episode introduces a pretty standard (and recognisably well-observed) middle-class, white, formula-family. There’s the obsessively clean and uptight mother Angela (Clare Skinner) organising the party; father Jim (Pemberton), who’s desperate to get one up on his sister-in-law’s practical joke-playing husband; and their teenage daughter Katie (Eve Gordon)....
Den of Geek: You went from working on Coach almost directly to SpongeBob SquarePants; did the role of Dauber on Coach influence your portrayal of Patrick? The audition for SpongeBob happened around ’97 and we first went to air in ‘99, but there was a big lag-time in there between the time we did the pilot and when Nickelodeon said “okay, we’ll take a few of those.” It’s not always done that way, so I was actually able to see a finished version of the pilot before we commenced on production of the series, which was really great....
Smartly dressed in a suit, his hair now its natural colour instead of the blonde rinse he showed off in the latest 007 movie, Bardem nevertheless carried with him the residue of a Bond villain’s stillness, and there was even a bit of a nervous pause before the first question was asked. But when Bardem began to speak, it was in a gentle tone, and his opening revelation about Scotland and puffins immediately put everyone at ease....
Jennifer (Megan Fox) is the alpha female of her high school. She’s beautiful and a cheerleader, which makes her just about perfect. Except, of course, for the fact that she’s kind of pushy, shallow, and manipulative, but whatever. She’s gorgeous, and everyone knows it, especially Jennifer’s best friend/sidekick Needy (Amanda Seyfried). Needy’s the semi-cute smart girl, which you can tell because she’s got glasses and a slightly goofy boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons)....
In Joshua Grannell’s All About Evil the shy and retiring Deborah (Natasha Lyonne) inherits her father’s movie house. The drawback to her inheritance is that The Victoria Theatre is in financial jeopardy. The situation serves as the catalyst for Deborah’s more mercurial and murderous talents to come to the surface and her snuff movies become massively successful on the San Francisco B-movie circuit, garnering thousands of gore-crazed fans. The Sarah Connor Chronicles and forthcoming remake of A Nightmare On Elm star, Thomas Dekker, plays Steven with Cassandra “Elvira” Peterson as mom and the excellent Mink Stole (Dottie Hingle in Serial Mom) as the ill-fated Evelyn....
The destructive potential of blind workplace loyalty is laid bare in Jed Mercurio’s work, from his terrific hospital drama, Bodies, which showed doctors closing ranks in the face of mistakes and complaints, to Line Of Duty, which exposes the most damaging end result of devotion to a work clique. Professional loyalty is a quality prized by coppers and criminals alike. It makes even the most principled of men, as Ted Hastings was cast this week when he refused to break his marriage vows, complicit....
We’re waist-deep in it now, Line Of Duty’s fast-flowing river of ‘Huh?’, ‘But I thought…?’ and ‘Well, blimey’. Dig your feet in for purchase, there’s work to be done. There was one scratch on her, a wound inflicted by Tim Ifield as the last gasp act of a true forensic scientist. Knowing he was a goner, Tim tried to get his killer’s skin under his fingernails to point investigators in the right direction....
If we’ve learned anything from Line Of Duty, it’s that stuff isn’t always how it looks. Good police lurk under bad fringes. The lanky chilli-making DI who seems so laid back is secretly sweating in the pocket of organised crime. Neil Morrissey didn’t even need a walking stick. And that enthusiastic new secondment who keeps popping her head around the door to say “Sorry ma’am, I couldn’t help but overhear…” isn’t just keen; she’s there to prove you’re bent....
Luckily, one rubbish Jack episode aside, season 4 of Lost has been crammed full of revelations and plot twists that have retroactively justified 3 years of relative water-treading. Lost has finally tipped itself over the hill into being overtly science-fiction, but even if it’s a little jarring, it’s not something I can complain about too much. After all, how else can we explain that smoke monster? This episode reintroduces two elements of the show that fell into the background in this season – first, the numbers return to haunt Hurley after he returns to the mainland, foreshadowing his eventual return to the mental health institution he eventually ends up in....
Michael Fassbender coolly conveys the various stages of Macbeth, a soldier who schemes and murders his way to the station of king in 11th century Scotland. We watch him shift from saucer-eyed receiver of his bloody fate to cold-blooded assassin, heartless tyrant, aided and abetted by Marion Cotillard’s magnificently imposing Lady Macbeth. The supporting cast are all superb in their smaller roles: David Thewlis as King Duncan, Paddy Considine as Macbeth’s ally Banquo and Jack Reynor as Malcolm, Duncan’s son....
One of the great things about Mad Men is its ability to constantly shift in pace and tone without compromising its inscrutable identity. For one thing, it’s great to see advertising Übermensch Don Draper back on form. He’s still drinking – and the episode’s overarching Japanese theme sees him knocking back more than one glass of rice wine – but he’s once again slick, confident and winningly shrewd. With Pete already rising in stature with last week’s acquisition of Vick’s, he wins further respect in this episode, proudly announcing that he’s secured a shot at getting Honda on board as a new client....
What makes Man of Steel different from 1978’s still-classic (and yet to be bettered) Superman is the movie’s tone and esthetic, which are dictated by David S. Goyer’s screenplay and the presence of producer Christopher Nolan (who also worked on the story with Goyer). Of course, these are the two men primarily responsible for the “dark, gritty and realistic” nature of Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, and they’ve imprinted that same worldview on Superman, with varying degrees of success....
