Posts

Brainwashed into Beatles frenzy by The Beatles: Rock Band marathons and too many repeat listens of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, everyone seems to be talking about the ‘60s icons. However, amidst all the documentaries and column inches devoted to detailing how the Fab Four inspired everything from the invention of apple pie and the music industry’s discovery of facial hair to the Moon landing and the end of the Cold War, there’s something that’s not being talked about....

What’s that buzzing? No, it’s not Brundlefly waking up. No, it’s not those bees that bothered Nic Cage and his bear suit in The Wicker Man remake. It is, of course, Oscar buzz and it’s buzzing out of every media outlet imaginable with a vengeance! Buzz buzz buzz! Fashion, darling! This whole elaborate affair of industry circle jerking, gong giving and Hollywood high society is just an excuse to host a massive fancy dress party....

So, the English actress now has a Lifetime Achievement Award sitting proudly on her mantelpiece next to the plaque that proclaims “you may now call yourself Dame Judi Dench”. (I think you are knighted as such upon playing the Queen of England, but seeing as Dench has starred as Queen Elizabeth I and Empress Victoria in Mrs. Brown, I’d say she deserves a double-honour. Henceforth, she shall be Grand-Dame Judi Dench) What was especially intriguing, though, were her comments after she’d accepted the applause, delivered a speech in Danish and departed the ceremony....

And that, folks — that one line up there — was going to be my entire review of this episode. I am not even remotely kidding. The second I realized what this was, I was ready to punch up the shortest review of my entire career thus far, slap half a star on it, and call it a day. But, I knew damn well that there was no scenario in which I was not going to watch the episode, so I figured I’d write as in-depth a review as I could....

2.1 Rebel Spirit Rebel Spirit sets up what appears to be the central conflict this season: the Southern Water Tribe’s lax spirituality versus the more orthodox Northern Tribe. One of this show’s strengths is establishing interesting conflicts in which the “bad guys” have a good point, such as how the Equalists were absolutely correct that the treatment of non-benders needed to change. However, one of this show’s weaknesses is the inability to explore that to its fullest and make a meaningful statement....

As usual feel free to discuss whether you’re watching along or you’ve seen it all, but please don’t spoil future episodes for anyone in the comments. 1.11 Danger Close Ah, now THAT’s the Punisher. It’s no coincidence that Frank finally embraces his brand in this episode by wearing the skull. Whether or not you agree with mowing down innocent Private Military Contractors who are just doing their job, there’s no denying that it’s fun to see hyper-competent Frank Castle doing what he does best....

This The Simpsons review contains spoilers. The episode opens up promisingly enough with four of The Simpsons’ most reviled and revered villains: Sideshow Bob, Bart’s nemesis; either Kang or Kodos, Springfield’s nemesis; the angry Leprochaun, the scourge of stars, hearts and clovers everywhere; and Frank Grimes, the guy who hated Homer so much he died in a safety drill gone horribly awry rather than accept him, warts and all. Still, Homer greets him with a hearty “good old Grimey” after he finally remembers him....

You certainly wouldn’t know his real age if you’ve been watching him act the arrogant special adviser who has next to no idea what people are actually like, while he nonetheless writes the policy that will run their lives. Because if you give someone who is only, say, 25 a job like that, then they are going to act just like Olly does – like the country is one oversized parlour game for them to play with....

The comments sections for articles about and reviews of The Tunnel’s debut episode all had the same theme running through them: how pointless the show seemed, being a remake of a television programme from only two years ago and following a recent US adaptation of the same. I could certainly see their point having made my only real criticism of The Tunnel that anyone who’d seen The Bridge might have felt it was all a bit familiar....

3.2 The Hybrid The action of the episode concerns another search for the absent Salvatore brother, with Elena using emotional blackmail on her would-be father figure, Rick, to help. He agrees to accompany her to the woods, but is sure to enlist Damon as backup just in case. Seriously, is there a more inappropriate parent for the mess that is the Gilbert family? Well, yes, I suppose there was Jenna....

7.16 Days Of Future Past We’ve literally time-travelled three years since then, and all but one of the aforementioned Heretics has been killed off. What was the point, and did the show ever want us to invest in them at all? Why are we spending weeks on end without either Bonnie or Caroline? The complete lack of female protagonist is particularly strange when you think about what this show used to be and the presumed gender-divide of its viewership....

For a show that’s been wildly successful for AMC, The Walking Dead has been one of the most tumultuous programmes on television. Forget the constant churn of cast – that’s to be expected on a drama full of zombies craving human flesh – it’s the constant behind-the-scenes problems that make The Walking Dead into something more soap-opera than hard-hitting survival horror drama. Going into its fourth season, The Walking Dead has had three different captains directing the ship....

So, Navy doctor Morris Tolliver is dead, and Bartlet is royally (or, rather, presidentially) pissed off about it. While discussing retaliation options with the Joint Chiefs, he dismisses the sissy-boy idea of a proportional response and demands a more drastic plan of action (“You kill an American… we come back with total disaster!”). The hitherto wise and moderate Bartlet appears almost childish here, throwing tantrums left, right and centre and apparently fully prepared to nuke the entire Middle East in revenge....

In “Love and Death,” you feel the castle walls closing in. Now that the expansion period of The White Queen’s game of thrones has gone the way of Lord Warwick, and there are no more kings to be made, the royal world grows smaller. Every woman character on The White Queen is getting the squeeze, one way or the other. The men are still squeezing themselves. Except for King Edward (Max Irons), he’s dunking his crumpets in someone else’s tea....

And the familiarity is, to begin with, comforting for the audience, too. After a pre-title sequence that’s as close to a big screen version of Spaced as we’ll ever get (yes, including Shaun Of The Dead), the remainder of the opening act plays out with a tone that borders on flat out Pegg-Wright-Frost nostalgia. Wright’s signature scene-pans are in place, the dialogue subtly hints at future plot events in the way Shaun so expertly did, and the character humour – as Gary rounds up a dispersed gang of school chums to their home town to re-enact the pub-crawl-that-never-quite-was – is reassuring and comfortable....

You need to enjoy them, though. For once Franco’s house warming party takes a different turn, so does the film. And the fun of a bunch of famous actors playing themselves, riffing off each other and sharing their in-jokes soon makes way for a story of a smaller collection of them facing, pretty literally, the end of the world. This in itself isn’t a problem per se. However, where This Is The End begins to suffer is that while the in-jokes, ribbing and continual references work nicely at first, the screenplay lacks the comedy punch that the film’s opening act packs in....

Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim aren’t for everyone. They push limits beyond limits, subvert at their every whim, and truly stretch the boundaries of what is even considered to be comedy. This installment, “Hole,” sees Eric as Dennis “Murph” Murphy, who has just moved to Pine Street with his family, with Tim’s Brenner acting as the de facto welcome wagon. Brenner seems pretty set on Dennis attending his Guys’ Night, with him being even more concerned with dinner etiquette and what exactly is going to be on the menu as everyone cheers on the Fish....

Timeless Season 1, Episode 1 The promos for Timeless thankfully had already introduced the fact that the show’s supposed villain, Flynn, who stole the time machine from Mason Industries, was working from a notebook purportedly written by the reluctant hero, Lucy. The idea that something in the history professor’s future would cause her to guide someone on their path towards sabotaging the rise of America as a world power was a great way to engage fans of time travel....

Timeless Season 1, Episode 12 Initially, Wyatt was the only character that had a specific set-up for his increased aggression. Visiting Wes Gilliam in prison brought very little closure for the man whose wife was killed, but he got an admission of guilt and a confession for the murders of two other women. Wyatt’s resulting desire to kill Jesse James by proxy is therefore understandable and in line with his shoot-first-ask-questions-later attitude throughout the series so far, especially given James’ reference to Wyatt’s “cause....

This review contains spoilers. At the opening of the episode, Paris and Helen get married, and quite a lot is made of this throughout. Menelaus refuses to accept this marriage, which is unsurprising, as in ancient Greece, women did not have the right to divorce their husbands. Men could send their wives back to their fathers and divorce them, but women had no such right. So technically Menelaus is correct, Helen is still his wife (as much as viewers are probably more likely to take Paris’ and Helen’s side on that one)....