- Mad Men Recap: “For Immediate Release” (Season 6, Episode 6)
Posted on 07 May 2013 in Movies & TV, Television
Pete Campbell, a vindictive child, tells his wife about her father. He sits Trudy down at the kitchen table and tells her he saw Tom “with a 200 pound Negro prostitute.”
- Mad Men Recap: “The Flood” (Season 6, Episode 5)
Posted on 30 Apr 2013 in Movies & TV, Television
A tragedy truly does cause one to reach out – but the stupidity of this move is very un-Don-Draper. Trying to contact his mistress by calling her husband with no real reason for it? What’s happening in his head? Did he fall in love when he shouldn’t have?
- Mad Men Recap: “To Have and To Hold” (Season 6, Episode 4)
Posted on 23 Apr 2013 in Movies & TV, Television
Don asks Sylvia to remove her cross. She tells him she won’t, and he turns it around so he can’t see it. She tells him she prays for him to find peace. What she doesn’t yet realize (or maybe she does; Sylvia is an interesting character, beautifully played by Cardellini) is that Don Draper will never find peace.
- Mad Men Recap: “The Collaborators” (Season 6, Episode 3)
Posted on 15 Apr 2013 in Movies & TV, Television
All the main characters are tangled in complex collaborations, whether willingly or unwillingly, sexual or chaste. Everyone’s wrestling with guilt in this episode, handling and mishandling situations as a result. Don Draper is, as ever, standing at the center of the tempest, acting as though he’s a port in a storm when really he’s rocking harder than anyone else.
- Mad Men Recap: “The Doorway” (Season 6, Episode 1-2)
Posted on 09 Apr 2013 in Movies & TV, Television
In the opening scenes of the episode – up until about seven or eight minutes in – everybody else is talking at Don, and he, that master of manipulation, doesn’t say a damn word. It’s eerie, actually. His wife, who’s evidently come into some fame from TV roles, is voluptuous and sexy in a way Betty Draper never was – and she’s reveling in it.
- The Walking Dead Recap: “Welcome to the Tombs” (Season 3 Episode 16)
Posted on 01 Apr 2013 in Movies & TV, Television
After a frustrating third season full of jerky accelerations and sudden brakes, The Walking Dead brought the crazy to a jarring, effective halt in last night’s season finale.
- The Walking Dead Recap: “Prey” and “This Sorrowful Life” (Season 3, Episodes 14 and 15)
Posted on 25 Mar 2013 in Movies & TV, Television, Thrillers
The last few episodes have unsteadily balanced a number of storylines whose interest is waning. Andrea finally chose a side, even as the Governor remained a static, iconic villain (he’s like one of those creepy clown punching bags – you hit him, he doesn’t stay down). Glenn and Maggie made up and provided a little, suspicious ray of sunshine in the midst of death and destruction. Rick waffled and moaned and still isn’t the hardass he tries to be. Michonne is still a frighteningly observant hard case.
- The Walking Dead Recap: “Arrow on the Doorpost” (Season 3, Episode 13)
Posted on 11 Mar 2013 in Movies & TV, Television
We already know how the Governor functions, and we don’t need more evidence of his shortcomings as a human being. We don’t want Michonne to lose any of her badassery as she becomes more attached to Carl and Rick. We know Rick likes to play the hero. We didn’t need an entire episode to pound in these aspects of our characters.
- The Walking Dead Recap: “Clear” (Season 3, Episode 12)
Posted on 04 Mar 2013 in Movies & TV, Television
In last night’s episode of The Walking Dead, a happy little family took a delightful road trip. No, wait, this is the zombie apocalypse. Michonne, stone-faced as always, drives Rick’s dusty SUV while Rick rides shotgun and Carl perches in the backseat.
- The Walking Dead Recap: “Home” and “I Ain’t a Judas” (Season 3, Episodes 10 and 11)
Posted on 25 Feb 2013 in Movies & TV, Television
If there’s one thing The Walking Dead does well, it’s to remind us that in the zombie apocalypse, the real danger isn’t zombies. It’s us. Loyalties shift from day to day, power takes precedence over mercy, and everyone has guns.
- Movie Review: Dark Skies
Posted on 23 Feb 2013 in Movies, Movies & TV
In the suburbs, there’s a feeling of camaraderie. If you need a hand fixing the minivan’s broken taillight, Joe from next door can help you out. If you’d like a date night for Italian food and a romantic comedy in theaters, Christine from up the street can take the kids. No one ever shows up empty-handed to a neighborhood barbeque. With so many families packed into such a tiny space, who could possibly feel unsafe?
- The Walking Dead Recap: “The Suicide King” (Season 3, Episode 9)
Posted on 11 Feb 2013 in Movies & TV, Television
Meanwhile, back in the village, the citizens of Woodbury, once dressed in summery, shimmery clothing, gossiping about one another, and congratulating themselves on the state of their sunny little town, now fear for their very lives.
- Movie Review: Side Effects
Posted on 09 Feb 2013 in Movies, Movies & TV
Side Effects is the twisty story of Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara), a depressive young woman whose wealthy husband (Channing Tatum) has been in prison for insider trading. Upon his release, Emily begins to flounder.
- Movie Review: Zero Dark Thirty
Posted on 12 Jan 2013 in Movies, Movies & TV
Despite Bret Easton Ellis’s claims to the contrary, Bigelow is an interesting filmmaker because of her talent and perspective. Certainly, she’s beaten a path through the Hollywood boys’ club and been the first female to win the Best Director Oscar. These things are notable wholly because of her gender. More important, though, is the fact that she continues to produce work that amazes us with its artful tension, nuance, and complexity. In this sense, you may feel, watching Maya face off against the men in suits, barreling a hundred miles an hour toward a seemingly impossible goal, that you’re getting a glimpse at Bigelow’s own struggles.
- Movie Review: West of Memphis
Posted on 27 Dec 2012 in Movies, Movies & TV
Damien Echols was a “strange” young man. His long hair was dyed jet black, contrasting with his pallid skin and piercing eyes. He wore black and scribbled childish graffiti under overpasses, some of it punctuated with pentagrams. Echols considered himself Pagan.
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