2.16 Samaritan Snare Before the Enterprise can reach the Pulsars, they encounter a ship which appears to have broken down. Onboard are the Pakleds – a group of aliens who Data posits may have underdeveloped language centres. Which means they seem to be about as smart as the average four year old. They want help with their ship to “Make it go”, having somehow misinterpreted Captain Picard’s famous catchphrase by one letter....
When the Mystery Science Theater 3000 follow-up started back in 2006, the big selling point was that they could take on real movies. You want to see them make fun of Transformers or Aeon Flux? Great! Just pay a couple bucks and get an mp3 of their commentary, making it nice and legal. As it is now, the VOD movies are the company’s focus. Personally, I like them way more, mainly because you’re almost definitely going to get better fodder and it’s easier to take breaks and stuff....
1.2 In My Protection The episode starts with the killing of a toymaker. A fourteen year old boy carrying the dead man’s possessions is brought to the police by a group of vigilantes who seek justice for the streets of London. This group is lead by George Lusk, played by Michael Smiley who, as usual, does not fail to impress. Assuming the role as a voice of the people with lynch mob mentality and the kind with lack of attention to details, he stirs up tension among the public and openly taunts Detective Inspector Reid (Matthew Macfadyen), claiming that he and his force are ineffectual and his mob need to do his job for him....
3.2 The Beating Of Her Wings One of the interesting things so far about this series of Ripper Street is how it has stripped away the major historical references to become something much more focused on the detective process and the characters themselves. The previous season felt rather disjointed because every episodefeatured a new aspect of Victorian London that had to be explained considerably before the plot could progress. In some cases, it was handled well, but largely it felt rather clunky and shoehorned in....
This week’s episode of Riverdale included an empowering, infuriating scene of Veronica, Josie, and the Pussycats rushing to Cheryl’s rescue and beating up Nick St. Clair following his attempted rape of Cheryl. Riverdale channeled the late, great show with “When a Stranger Calls.” Not only with a representation of women taking the punishment of rapists into their own hands, no longer willing to rely on the infrequent justice of institutional authority, but with the inclusion of a Broadway tune as some form of catharsis....
Riverdale Season 2 Episode 19 “Mom, where’s Dad?” “He went looking for you, why do you ask?” And with that, a wave of realization washed over Nancy Drew acolyte Betty Cooper’s face that her father is the Black Hood. If this (admittedly a tad obvious) revelation proves to be nothing more than a red herring, so be it. But I suspect that Hal’s way with dealing with his own tumultous inner life is to throw in some green contacts — representing that most egregious of sins, jealousy — and attempt to rid the town of whom he has judged with great vengeance and furious anger....
The thing is, RoboCop’s writer Ed Neumeier was joking, ridiculing the excess of that decade while revelling in it (a high-wire act that few films have walked so well). Rock Of Ages doesn’t want to joke. Not very often, anyway. Most of the time it wants to be very serious about how great 80s rock music is, like an over-eager fan shouting in your ear: ‘Isn’t this song great? Isn’t other music rubbish?...
I was wrong. Sharknado was none of these things. It just sucked. Sharknado turned a great idea for a five minute Saturday Night Live skit, “Land Shark,” into a candy gram. Screenwriter Thunder Levin replaced the wit with humor’s lifeless clone and stretched it out over two hours. Two hours. You know it’s bad when you start counting the seconds in gleeful anticipation for the next commercial break. Mike Cecchini did this to me as some kind of punishment, I’m sure....
Have I mentioned how much I love Katey Sagal? Man, she is good. Gemma, on the other hand, used to be pretty adept. She knew how to play the game with verve. This season she is rapidly losing her touch. After the complete cluster fuck at the brothel, and amid a literal pile of dead hookers, she continues to stick to her guns. Unser, Nero, and even the new sheriff are all under the impression that Lin ordered the hit on Tara and that the massacre was part of the tit-for-tat war escalating out of control between the Sons and the Chinese....
Those who have seen the trailer will know the drill. This is a fast, loud, ruthlessly coloured exercise in pushing CGI to its absolute limit. Combine the superb visuals with a bombastic editing style, aggressive sound design and a rousing score by Lost composer Michael Giacchino, and you have one hell of an assault on the senses. Theirs is a Tarantinoesque world once removed from reality and given a fresh lick of multicoloured paint....
The Statham chose wisely. For writer/director Paul Feig simply gets Statham to play things straight here in his new film, Spy. He plays Rick Ford, a spy who thinks he’s the business, and has the anecdotes to prove it. He’s a disaster area in practice, but doesn’t believe for a second he is. Feig has an enormous amount of fun with this too, writing sweary, punchy dialogue that instantly begins to fill the IMDB Quotes page....
Stan Against Evil Season 2 Episode 7 Stan Against Evil has been somewhat hit or miss this season but it’s a show that always brings a strong, unusual premise forward in inventive ways. The nature of the series allows for more episodic Monster of the Week stories to become its focus, while the heavier mythology takes a backseat. It’s a strategy that proves to work for many shows, but when a Monster of the Week installment misfires, viewers can sometimes feel more cheated than usual....
Phasma the novel also features a near-silent protagonist, but without the visual component, it takes a long time for the story to show what exactly is behind the chrome mask. I had this essay and the ensuing Twitter conversation in mind as I read the book. Would the novel be a character study, or more of a Wookieepedia entry? It turns out that it’s a bit of both, Phasma’s characterization is drawn in reflections as distorted as those on her helmet....
2.7 The Greater Good This episode opens, and you could be mistaken for thinking that it was the same one that was on just a few weeks ago. Destiny stops within range of a ship, and a few of the crew are on the observation deck to see the ships come to a stop next to each other. Episode three of this season (Awakening) opened with almost exactly the same thing happening, only the ship was not of alien origin, but was in fact a seed ship....
Supergirl Episode 20 I’ve been just this side of a cheerleader for Supergirl all season long. I love the cast. I love the tone (mostly). And I love that it strikes exactly the right balance when telling a story about the House of El between optimism and selflessness with plenty of superpowered action. And for the record, no TV show has ever handled Kryptonian action as well as Supergirl has. So, it pains me to say it, because I wanted this show to go out on the strongest possible note, especially since Supergirl Season 2 has yet to be confirmed....
For a generation of children growing up in the 1970s British televison provided a large number of such moments, despite only having three channels. Children’s TV is the first touchstone with the medium and often the richest source of collective nightmarish visions. Doctor Who, arguably at its height in this era, saw Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker’s timelord fighting evil of all kinds and in turn provided some vivid nightmare moments....
Castiel has had a rough time adjusting to the loss of his grace. He now has to eat, sleep, and urinate just like us mortals. It’s funny watching him discover how falling asleep “is a process” and incorrectly using toothpaste. You don’t eat it, Cass. What is great about Castiel being brought so low by his circumstance is how he not only sees how fragile humanity is, but experiences some great kindness....
6.12 Like A Virgin Let’s do the recap first. Sam is in a coma-like state after his soul was returned by Death, while Dean, unsure how long Sam will be out for, is set to investigate a disappearance of a young woman from a light aircraft. Before he leaves, Sam wakes up. Thanks to the wall placed in his mind by Death, he has no knowledge of the past year and a half, including attempting to kill Bobby....
Lunatic Well, after a couple days of closure, Beacon Hills High School is reopening for classes, which means Scott, Stiles, and the rest of the gang can get back to their normal routine. Except for the fact that, y’know, Scott’s world has been turned upside down, Allison feels she can’t trust anyone, Jackson’s finding himself cuckolded and usurped while simultaneously pursuing an emotionally wounded Allison, and, oh yeah, it’s the full moon....
2.10 Fury Stiles and Scott know who is controlling the kanima, and after a brief discussion with the Sheriff, they all head down to the police station to put together the evidence in such a way as to actually arrest Matt for his crimes. Unfortunately for them, Matt’s not exactly as dumb as they think, and when they get to the police station, they’re soon joined by a very angry Matt and a very murderous kanima....
