Most filmgoers don’t know Richard Linklater’s name but his effect has been felt through the American independent film scene since the debut of Slacker in 1991. For the star-studded cast of commenters sitting down for some insights into Linklater, it’s hard to imagine a world without him. He is the unicorn who managed to build an entire career of passion projects that most filmmakers never get to, or let toil in production hell.
One would expect, given the title of the series, that Arrow would focus mainly on Oliver Queen as The Arrow (or Green Arrow or The Vigilante or whatever). And that’s true, for the most part.
Though “Red Door” is full of exposition–both visual and vocal via Esther–quite a lot still happens to progress this season’s story forward. Season 2 is very heavy with information about the original family, but a family as old as the Mickaelsons has an awful lot of exciting and emotional and interesting stories to tell, both in the past and in the present.
Despite the title, “An Innocent Man” isn’t about the men of Scandal, it’s about the women. Mellie, Olivia, Abby, and even Quinn all have significant wins, making the episode a nice departure from the past five. Also, it’s the first time any of the women have felt like their old selves in a long while, particularly Olivia, who hasn’t been fully herself since the arrival of her father to D.C.
Daniel Radcliffe could not be doing more to dispel his Harry Potter image that so many movie fans still hold onto. From ages 12 to 22 Radcliffe personified the beloved children’s book character, but he’s moving on. He’s played beat icon Allen Ginsberg, he’s played a cynical romanticist, and he’s played a terrorized attorney. Based on the novel by Joe Hill, Horns, is truly the cherry on top of the typecast-busting sundae because no one will be thinking about Potter when they see this.
The Originals loves its dynamic cast of characters, and the show especially loves playing with new teams and one-on-one pair-ups for an extra layer of character development. While “Live and Let Die” does stick some old friends together–Cami and Klaus, Marcel and Elijah–the episode also introduces quite a few new, and very fun, partnerships, like Hayley and Marcel, Elijah and Gia, and Josh and Aiden. The end result is an extremely satisfying hour of character-driven television.
Rather than shirking the long-term trauma of it all, “The Lamb and the Slaughter” confidently shows what a thing like the plague does to the characters in this series.
“The Key” opens dark and remains dark throughout the course of the episode. In what is continuously proving to be an excellent decision, Scandal refuses to let the deaths of James, Jerry, and Harrison be forgotten.
The majority of “Every Mother’s Son” is a set-up for future episodes, and the episode is pretty good for what it ultimately is. A lot of grade-A decisions are made during the hour that’ll only make future episodes better and more compelling. After only three episodes, this season seems to be on relatively-solid footing, and “Every Mother’s Son” does a good job fleshing out what to expect in the forthcoming weeks.
Finally, all of the cast members are slowly being brought back together onscreen after a brief three-episode split. The first three episodes of this season were good, but they were still a little lacking, namely because everyone had gone their separate directions. “Like Father, Like Daughter” brings everyone under the same roof–though not yet back together–and the episode is stronger for it’s effort, if not for its overall execution.
The Originals is so much more fun with the whole family around. Despite being named after the first vampire family, The Originals began with only half of it’s namesake present; of course, the majority of them were dead. But, it’s a good thing the show found a way around this minor problem, because no other family on earth is capable of creating the same level of drama as the titular Mikaelson’s.
It’s not exactly surprising that Reign decides to gloss over the claustrophobia of the plague by having “Drawn and Quartered” move past it, since the series doesn’t slow down to linger on may plots.
Scandal’s very much a show where you love and root for characters based on their charm rather than their morality. No one is wholly good or evil, but that doesn’t really matter at the end of each episode–what matters is how likable each member of the cast is, how intriguing their storyline currently is, and how well they interact with other cast members on screen. This isn’t an insult to the audience, but rather a compliment to Scandal and the show’s creators–it has to be hard to make such morally-reprehensible people so compulsively watchable week after week.
There’s no fear of the sophomore slump here–The Originals is a show that clearly knows what it’s doing. The second season opener is just as intense, well-acted, and well-shot as the very best episodes of the first season. Even comparisons to sister show The Vampire Diaries are no longer relevant here, as The Originals is quickly becoming its own beast.
The pleasures of Reign don’t require a full comprehension of its history. The fun is all there to be had in the moment, and “The Plague” is anything but short on entertainment.
One of the best decisions Scandal is making this season is allowing the deaths of Harrison, Jerry, and James to hang heavy over the characters. Rather than quickly moving past everyone’s grief, as fast-paced shows have a tendency to do, season four is keeping the dead present in almost every scene. As a result, this season is much darker than past seasons, and Scandal is already better for it.
Apparently, all Olivia Pope (and Scandal) needed was a vacation to return to form. Gone is weak and defenseless Olivia, who was last seen running away from D.C., and her problems, at the end of season 3. In her place is the Olivia Pope the audience came to love during the show’s stellar first two seasons–she’s back fighting for injustice among women and turning down her own happiness (and island escape) to help a helpless intern.
The digital age has changed television dramatically within the past two decades. With the advent of cable channels, home video media, dish on demand and the internet, the average TV viewer has a variety of venues to access television programs. With all these ways to access television shows, the viewing audience has become more aware …
After such a solid final season, True Blood’s finale is almost a disappointment. Too many storylines feel forced or rushed, and the ending, though happy, rings a little false. Of course, the show didn’t exit without releasing a few more shocking surprises–including a pivotal moment that involves the death of a major character since series’s beginning.
The Giver Marco Beltrami Sony Classical For how many years has Hollywood endured the YA novel onslaught? Five? Ten? When was Twilight? It’s strange to think of The Giver as merely the latest in a string of adapted young adult fiction given that its source material, Lois Lowry’s 1993 bestseller, precedes the publication dates of Divergent, City …
Last week’s True Blood was very slow in a dull way, but “Almost Home” rectified last week’s lack of intriguing story by simultaneously wrapping up a few loose story threads, tossing in several heavily-reflective character moments, and setting up the season’s–and the series’s–final two episodes.
True Blood’s final season has been excellent thus far–the writing’s tight, the story line’s are cohesive even when they branch in various directions, and the acting’s been lovely. After so many solid episodes, there was bound to be a dud–“May Be the Last Time” is, arguably, the weakest contribution to the series’s final season.
The best way to tell when the creators and writers of a show actually have a plan and a structured story path is how well they bring back storylines, or even mere moments of story, from the past and mesh them with current storylines. Several episodes ago, when Sookie was splashed with the blood of several Hep-V vampires, it felt like little more than True Blood engaging in the gross-out gore it’s used since the pilot–but no, it actually had much larger and more heartbreaking reverberations that are just now making themselves known.