- Mad Men Recap: “Dark Shadows” (Season 5, Episode 9)
Posted on 14 May 2012 in Television, The Fourth Wall
This week marks the return of Betty Francis, the wounded whale. Betty, struggling to lose weight, bookended last night’s episode with her strategic consumption. Weiner continued to poke at the plight of the Jews in 1966, and Don’s secret, shameful past is bubbling to the surface without any disturbing effects. There are only four episodes [...]
- Movie Review: Dark Shadows
Posted on 12 May 2012 in Movies, Movies & TV
As Ichabod Crane, as Willy Wonka, Ed Wood, the Mad Hatter, or Sweeney Todd, Depp’s persona is quirky and stiff, wide-eyed and full of suspicion/mischief/barely hidden insanity. The characters into whose skins he slips under Burton’s direction are all beginning to feel suspiciously familiar – and Barnabas Collins isn’t an exception.
- Mad Men Recap: “Lady Lazarus” (Season 5, Episode 8)
Posted on 07 May 2012 in Television, The Fourth Wall
Can you believe we’re already two-thirds through season five? As Pete’s high school crush said a few episodes ago, “Time feels like it’s speeding up.” In last night’s “Lady Lazarus,” Mad Men‘s cast of characters was forced to visit some unappetizing truths. Pete Campbell developed an unfortunate obsession with a pretty, discontented housewife. Peggy snarked [...]
- Movie Review: The Avengers
Posted on 05 May 2012 in Movies, Movies & TV
Not to compare actors to superheroes, but this cast could easily have exploded in our faces; like their characters, each of these actors is famous in his or her own right. Some are A-list while others hover just below, and it takes a persuasive genius (shall we call Whedon a Nick Fury of sorts?) to gather them and get them to fight for a common cause.
- Mad Men Recap: “At the Codfish Ball” (Season 5, Episode 7)
Posted on 02 May 2012 in Television, The Fourth Wall
Sunday’s Mad Men was a bit of a doozie, and I’m late to the ball due to a crazy weekend. So here we go. The women of Mad Men are what make the show worthwhile for me – and this was a very lady-centered episode. Particularly, the focus was on mothers and daughters, on seeking [...]
- Mad Men Recap: “Far Away Places” (Season 5, Episode 6)
Posted on 23 Apr 2012 in Television, The Fourth Wall
In last night’s surreal episode of Mad Men, everybody was taking trips, with or without their loved ones. There’s trouble in paradise with Peggy and Abe, and Peggy’s dancing ever closer to the edge of her patience with being a lady in a man’s world. Roger and Jane take a trip together and come back [...]
- Mad Men Recap: “Signal 30″ (Season 5, Episode 5)
Posted on 16 Apr 2012 in Television, The Fourth Wall
Pete Campbell is a horrible, smug, insecure creature whose very existence makes everyone at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce just a little bit less civil. A good bit of viewers probably rolled their eyes last night when it became clear this was a Pete episode. It’s a credit to Matthew Weiner and the writing team that [...]
- Mad Men Recap: “Mystery Date”
Posted on 10 Apr 2012 in Television, The Fourth Wall
Well, this week’s Mad Men kicked everything into a higher, more sinister gear, didn’t it? We had hallucinations (I think), ghosts of indiscretions past, the Richard Speck nurse murders, bribery, morbidity, and a relationship disaster. Compared to this season’s mostly mellow reintroduction to our characters, this episode was a slap in the face. Any new [...]
- Mad Men Recap: “Tea Leaves” (Season 5, Episode 3)
Posted on 02 Apr 2012 in Television, The Fourth Wall
This season of Mad Men is all about power – who has it, who doesn’t, who wants it, and what they’ll do to get it. Episode three opens on one character whose omission from the first two episodes was glaringly obvious: Betty Draper Francis. Poor Betty, a former model who in preceding seasons used her sex appeal (and occasional enormous bouffant) to manipulate and coerce, has put on a bit of weight. The little Draper kids struggle to zip their poor mother into an old dress – no doing.
- Mad Men Recap: “A Little Kiss” (Season 5 Premiere)
Posted on 27 Mar 2012 in Television, The Fourth Wall
He’s back. Photo credit Michael Yarish/AMC It’s been almost a year and a half since the last episode of AMC’s critically beloved drama Mad Men aired its last episode. Amid whispers of the show’s cancellation and creator Matthew Weiner’s firing, AMC and Weiner conducted backroom talks that eventually (rumor has it) led to slashing the [...]
- Movie Review: The Hunger Games
Posted on 24 Mar 2012 in Movies, Movies & TV
On opening night, the theater was filled with preteen girls carrying bows and wearing shirts that declare TEAM PEETA or TEAM GALE; you could mistake this fandom for something along the lines of Twilight – there’s giggling at every kiss, every meaningful glance. Bella Swan, though, wouldn’t last two seconds in the Hunger Games without her shimmering savior.
- The Walking Dead Recap: “Beside the Dying Fire” (Season 2 Finale)
Posted on 19 Mar 2012 in Television, The Fourth Wall
The writers of The Walking Dead know how to stretch out every sigh, every bated breath, every meaningful glance. After a sucker-punch of a 6-episode first season, season 2 dragged so hard the show lost a lot of viewers. Fortunately these guys also know to put the audience back on the edge of its seat [...]
- The Walking Dead Recap: “Better Angels” (Season 2, Episode 12)
Posted on 12 Mar 2012 in Television, The Fourth Wall
Things are finally happening! In the opening of this week’s Walking Dead, our cast of survivors comb the woods and fields surrounding Hershel’s farm as Rick eulogizes Dale. As Andrea, T-Dog, and Shane brutally, viciously smash and crush the head of a walker, Rick laments the late Dale’s passion for the human race. It’s patently [...]
- Movie Review: John Carter
Posted on 10 Mar 2012 in Movies, Movies & TV
And the budget? Oh, it ballooned. The movie’s credits include so many visual effects and art department crew members your eyes will cross. The end result, unfortunately, is about two hundred million dollars worth of mediocre. Burroughs’s books were pulpy, light, implausible science fiction, and the movie feels the same despite its ostensible scale.
- The Walking Dead Recap: “Judge, Jury, Executioner” (Season 2, Episode 11)
Posted on 05 Mar 2012 in Television, The Fourth Wall
The Walking Dead just lost me again. How many of you out there have read the books? The show has occasionally deviated from the books, but managed to hold its own and wend its way back toward the original plot. Now they’ve taken it overboard and killed the wrong person. Photo credit Gene Page/AMC. Anyone [...]
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