Justified, Season 5, Episode 2: “The Kids Aren’t All Right” Written by Dave Andron Directed by Bill Johnson Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX – In case you missed the news, FX’s John Landgraf announced that Justified will end next year with its sixth season. This lines up with what Graham Yost and Timothy …
Justified, Season 5, Episode 1: “A Murder of Crowes” Written by Fred Golan and Graham Yost Directed by Michael Dinner Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX – When we last saw Raylan Givens, he was kicking back – sort of. Having just brushed Nicky Augustine off his shoulder by serving him up to his …
…these actors were fantastic talents caught in a rut of a tragic show – tragic not just in the Greek, dramatic tragic sense, which this series certainly exemplifies, but tragic in how misused many of these superb elements have been lately.
Sons of Anarchy, Season 6: Episode 8 – “Los Fantasmas” Written by Roberto Patino and Kurt Sutter Directed by Peter Weller Airs Tuesday nights at 10 on FX All season long, we’ve been following a pretty lackluster B-plot in Sons of Anarchy focusing on Tara and her subversive plans to get her kids out of the crossfire …
The emotional core of “Sweet and Vaded” comes from a rather unpredictable place. After seeing Walton Goggins return to the role of Venus in last week’s episode, there didn’t seem like there was going to be much a of a follow-up to his appearance. And while “Sweet and Faded” doesn’t exactly revolve around Venus’ story, it is certainly the heart of the episode.
If you were hoping that “Ghosts” might hearken back to the very first Justified season finale, “Bulletville,” just because a gangster threatened to kill Raylan’s wife and unborn child last week, then it may very well have left you wanting. If, on the other hand, you value the thing Justified can dole out even better than gun battles – that is to say, potent character beats – “Ghosts” is more than happy to oblige.
G.I. Joe: Retaliation Written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick Directed by Jon M. Chu USA, 2013 The latest blockbuster sequel to a mildly profitable first film that doesn’t actually have an enthusiastic fan base, G.I. Joe: Retaliation is admittedly not on the same level of terrible as its Stephen Sommers-directed predecessor. It is still …
Justified, Season 4, Episode 11: “Decoy” Written by Graham Yost and Chris Provenzano Directed by Michael Watkins Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX Some of you multiplex-frequenters might have checked out Kim Jee-woon’s The Last Stand this past January, in which a seemingly unstoppable cartel badass has to make his way through a sleepy border town …
Justified, Season 4, Episode 10: “Get Drew” Written by Dave Andron and VJ Boyd Directed by Billy Gierhart Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX The notion of Justified‘s fourth season as being driven by a central mystery has been a flawed premise all along, as it turns out. For a few episodes now, there’s only been …
Justified, Season 4, Episode 9: “The Hatchet Tour” Written by Taylor Elmore and Leonard Chang Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX First things first: if, like me, the title of this episode conjured visions of a hatchet-wielding baddie (perhaps in Detroit’s employ) making Raylan or Boyd’s life difficult, shutter …
Justified, Season 4, Episode 8: “Outlaw” Written by Benjamin Cavell and Keith Schreier Directed by John Dahl Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX Read any interview with Graham Yost and he’ll mention that, in the grand scheme of things, Justified has been conceived as being about six seasons long. That puts us well over …
Justified, Season 4, Episode 7: “Money Trap” Written by Chris Provenzano Directed by Don Kurt Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX With its colorful-but-inept villlainry, reams of gunplay, and swift pacing, “Money Trap” surprises by feeling more like a throwback to Justified‘s first season than perhaps any since Mags Bennett cast an ominous cloud over …
Justified, Season 4, Episode 6: “Foot Chase” Written by Dave Andron and Ingrid Escajeda Directed by Peter Werner Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX Justified is generally wonderful at balancing a ludicrous array of plots and characters, but “Foot Chase” demonstrates that the show can;t function properly without Raylan at its center. With too much …
Justified, Season 4, Episode 5: “Kin” Written by Fred Golan and VJ Boyd Directed by Peter Werner Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX As a preface, can we just…? Along with the outstanding regular cast (and an appearance by underrated ex-regular Natalie Zea), “Kin” finds time for past guests Stephen Tobolowsky, Patton Oswalt, Jim …
Over the years, numerous cartoons from the 80s have been granted a second life on the big screen. Among them was the cartoon G.I. Joe, which saw a rebirth in the form of 2009’s Stephen Sommers blockbuster G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. The film’s success spawned a sequel, titled G.I. Joe: Retaliation, with Jon M. Chu taking over in the …
Justified, Season 4, Episode 4: “This Bird Has Flown” Written by Taylor Elmore Directed by Bill Johnson Airs Tuesdays at 9pm ET on FX Justified is about a lot of things, but one aspect of the show that often gets overlooked is its nuanced take on masculinity, and its subtle rewriting of the Lone Gunman ethos. …
Justified, Season 4, Episode 3: “Truth and Consequences” Written by Benjamin Cavell Directed by Jon Avnet Airs Tuesdays at 9pm ET on FX – In case you hadn’t gotten the memo that Justified‘s fourth season is going to be a vastly different beast from those that came before, “Truth and Consequences” might give us a better …
Justified, Season Four, Episode Two: “Where’s Waldo?” Written by Dave Andron Directed by Bill Johnson Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX If you were concerned that Justified‘s third season may have suffered from a character glut, now might be a good time to check out entirely. Boyd’s new/old pal Colt isn’t going anywhere, and …
Justified, Season Four, Episode One: “Hole in the Wall” Written by Graham Yost Directed by Michael Dinner Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX In a recent blog post summing up the joys of watching Justified, Vulture’s Matthew Zoller Seitz compared the show to Cheers – not because the shows share thematic or structural DNA, …
Sons of Anarchy Season 5, Episode 4: “Stolen Huffy“ Written by Kurt Sutter Directed by Paris Barclay Sons of Anarchy Season 5, Episode 5: “Orca Shrugged“ Written by Kurt Sutter Directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton Airs Tuesdays at 10pm (ET) on FX Episode four sees itself greatly challenged with the emotional aftermath of what might have …
Justified, Season 3, Episode 13: “Slaughterhouse” Written by Fred Golan Directed by Dean Perisol Airs Tuesdays at 10pm on FX “That’s cute.” Among the many virtues of Justified is its sense of dramatic, and even comedic irony. Throughout the third season, there have been countless references to Robert Quarles and his nifty arm-gun. We’ve seen …
Justified, Season 3, Episode 11: “Measures” Written by Benjamin Cavell Directed by John Dahl Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX “Measures” is far from the greatest hour of Justified‘s so-far stellar third season, but it’s a crucial one. After a season full of shifting allegiances, double-crosses, schemes, and new threats, we finally have a …
Justified, Season 3, Episode 10: “Guy Walks Into a Bar” Written by VJ Boyd Directed by Tony Goldwyn Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX In what was easily the best episode of the totally serialized portion of Justified‘s third season, we finally get to see just how freaky Robert Quarles can be. Now he’s …