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Grantchester (2014) s06e06
This episode toggles between being a thankless bridging episode and a reminder late fifties England wasn’t just a hotbed of homophobia–there’s also a bunch of rampant, violent misogyny. Plus, old people are bigots. Plus, religious zealots are different kinds of bigots, even if they’re Black. Religion… an intersection of garbage. Though religious nonsense does often… 📖
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A Fantastic Fear of Everything (2012, Crispian Mills and Chris Hopewell)
It’s so easy to pick on A Fantastic Fear of Everything there’s basically no fun in it. The only thing worse than co-director Crispian Mills’s script is his and Chris Hopewell’s direction. For the first half of the movie, when Simon Pegg’s basically all by himself making a mocking impression of someone with paranoia, the… 📖
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Outlander (2014) s01e01 – Sassenach
I’ve been operating under the misconception the home video version of Sassenach was an extended cut, and they’d added all the nudity. Nope, it was apparently in the original Starz version. Cool. The nudity’s all of star Caitriona Balfe, who’s the narrator and protagonist of the show, but when it comes time to drop her… 📖
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Superman & Lois (2021) s01e07 – Man of Steel
“Superman and Lois” has a toxic masculinity problem. Not a huge toxic masculinity problem, but enough of one, it affects creativity. Maybe it’s more a male stoicism problem because then we can wrap Alex Garfin’s super-hearing subplot into it. The primary toxic masculinity and male stoicism issues hamper the Wolé Parks storyline. But there’s enough… 📖
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My Life Is Murder (2019) s02e07 – All the Better to See You
This episode is one of those “for my sins they gave me one” situations. Most of the episode is character work for Lucy Lawless, and it’s really cool for a while, and then it goes to pot. It’s a bummer. It’s also not a particularly good mystery. Malinna Liang’s script has got all the right… 📖
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What If…? (2021) s01e09 – What If… The Watcher Broke His Oath?
During the first half of the fight scene, I felt bad this episode wouldn’t be any good because there was some genuinely inventive stuff in the fight. The creative material doesn’t last long, but there are some legitimately cool moments. The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) has brought together a bunch of characters from throughout the season—including… 📖
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Doom Patrol (2019) s03e04 – Undead Patrol
It took me a second to realize returning guest star Jon Briddell is not Robert Carradine. It took another second to remember the last time Briddell was on the show—they quickly remind the audience, but it was still the first season; it’s been a while. The keyword there being but. Or butt, as it were.… 📖
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Frasier (1993) s06e23-e24 – Shutout in Seattle
“Frasier” has had some excellent season finales, but Shutout in Seattle might be the best so far. Definitely when taking into account it’s an hour-long and because it addresses previous plot lines. And because it has an elaborate set-piece conclusion, which director Pamela Fryman sublimely realizes. The episode opens with David Hyde Pierce and Peri… 📖
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Evil (2019) s02e12 – D Is for Doll
I’m getting more and more curious about what happened to “Evil: Season Two.” Something clearly happened. Because Mike Colter all of a sudden gets his becoming-a-priest arc back, complete with Leon Addison Brown returning (from eight or so episodes ago) as the Black reverend who’s trying to convince Colter to give up on the Catholics.… 📖
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My Life Is Murder (2019) s02e06 – Sleep No More
Lucy Lawless gets an arc to herself with brother Martin Henderson this episode, and it's almost enough to make up for a lackluster murder. It seems like it'll be enough, but the epilogue is a weird whiff and reminds of the show's inability to land certain things, like jokes at Lawless's expense from Ebony Vagulans.… 📖
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Doom Patrol (2019) s03e03 – Dead Patrol
Let’s see how well I can couch and caveat the following statement: comics-based superhero shows have an advantage doing backdoor pilots. Superheroes have been guest-starring in each others’ comics since 1940; the guest spot has been baked into the medium, whether to bolster a series’s sales with Batman, Wolverine, or Spider-Man or to gin up… 📖
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Grantchester (2014) s06e05
Half this episode may be setting up for a regular villain—at least semi-regular villain—arc for the rest of the season. “Grantchester” doesn’t do Moriarties. Or, if they do, I’ve forgotten all of them. But the potential return nemesis isn’t important—not even to Robson Green, who has to sort of shrug it off—because it’s Al Weaver’s… 📖
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What We Do in the Shadows (2019) s03e06 – The Escape
I can’t decide if I’ve actually been bearish on “What We Do in the Shadows: Season Three”—Rona filming and Jermaine Clement leaving the writers’ room being the concerns—or if I’ve just been bearish in general and it infected “Shadows.” Because Escape, the show has cemented its third season. It’d have to crap out in unimaginable… 📖
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Superman ’78 (2021) #2
I think this issue may actually be worse than the last one. Because this time, it’s not just Robert Venditti who disappoints with the writing—and, wow, does he disappoint; it’s a terrible script. Like if he were writing Mad Magazine’s Superman II (literally, since it repeats many story beats). But also Wilfredo Torres’s art. Oh,… 📖
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Blow-Up (1966, Michelangelo Antonioni)
Blow-Up is a day in the life picture. It opens with protagonist David Hemmings on his way out of a flophouse; he’s not a tramp; he’s a wonder kid fashion photographer who’s been undercover all night to snap pics. The film reveals all those details gradually. It takes until about halfway through the picture to… 📖
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Superman & Lois (2021) s01e06 – Broken Trust
A couple significant “Superman and Lois” details this episode. First, Metropolis seems to be in the Midwest. Smallville High School is in the same conference or whatever as Metropolis High School. Second, Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman might be as old as forty-eight; at least, if he spent eight years at the Fortress a la Superman: The… 📖
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Doom Patrol (2019) s03e02 – Vacay Patrol
In this episode, there’s a scene where Diane Guerrero and April Bowlby are sitting in some lounge chairs on a pretty lake and talking about how they’re coping with the revelations of the traumas Timothy Dalton put them through. They’re at the pretty lake because Bowlby has an extended panic attack and has reverted into… 📖
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What If…? (2021) s01e08 – What If… Ultron Won?
Well. This episode’s mostly cheap, rather badly written (Matthew Chauncey gets the credit), rather badly acted, and the entire thing is just a setup for a cliffhanger with a very special guest star. The episode’s ostensibly about Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Lake Bell showing Scarlett Johansson is actually better at this part than… 📖
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Doom Patrol (2019) s03e01 – Possibilities Patrol
I’m very jealous of the folks who are going to marathon “Doom Patrol” without a break between seasons two and three. This episode is last season’s finale, only delayed because of Rona. It took me a while to catch back up. I didn’t forget the big things, but I did forget the community theater production… 📖
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The Phantom Carriage (1921, Victor Sjöström)
Victor Sjöström directs, stars, and adapts The Phantom Carriage. He gives himself a great showcase. Most of the film is a breathtaking character study of an abject bastard. The film throws reason after reason for Sjöström being an irredeemable, abject bastard, and none of them stick. He’s always ready to deliver more bastard. It’s his… 📖
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Evil (2019) s02e11 – I Is for IRS
There are a few enormous, series-changing swings in this episode. It starts right at the beginning, a montage set to Andrew Bird’s song, Fake Palindromes (I Shazamed it to see if it was an original song since the action fits so closely); the montage ends with one of the regular cast apparently murdering someone. Doesn’t… 📖
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Grantchester (2014) s06e04
Despite having a frustratingly bland main plot, this episode of “Grantchester” also has some of the best material I can remember ever being on the show. The episode picks up an indeterminate period from the previous; Al Weaver is awaiting his trial for “gross indecency” and spending his days—presumably unable to perform duties as curate—in… 📖
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What We Do in the Shadows (2019) s03e05 – The Chamber of Judgement
It’s a very situational comedy type of episode, with the cast pairing off again for side adventures before coming together at the end. The main plot is Kayvan Novak and Natasia Demetriou’s first time meting out justice at the Vampiric Council. Right after they decide who gets to sit on the throne. It’s a series… 📖
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Frasier (1993) s06e22 – Visions of Daphne
I was zoning and missed both the writing and directing credits, which turned out to be good. The first distinctive joke in the episode is John Mahoney talking about spying on a woman’s cleavage through security cameras. Rape culture Martin Crane continues. And the opening scene was more amusing than jokey. Peri Gilpin’s getting David… 📖
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Grantchester (2014) s06e03
This episode succeeds in ratcheting up Al Weaver’s arc to an almost intolerable point. The cliffhanger is less shocking than the last couple of episodes. Despite being abbreviated, it actually relieves some stress in its rush. Things go from bad to worse, as a boulder of fifties bigotry strikes almost everyone in the main cast.… 📖
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Superman & Lois (2021) s01e05 – The Best of Smallville
Way to go on the distracting cliffhanger, “Superman and Lois.” After a reasonably complicated—so many emotions—episode, the cliffhanger is a hard, survive-or-perish number for one of the characters. Maybe not the most fragile character, though the episode does put likable if uneven Sofia Hasmik in more danger than is preferable. But still. Hasmik’s got the… 📖
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What If…? (2021) s01e07 – What If… Thor Were an Only Child?
I was surprised when Chris Hemsworth showed up for this episode, but even more surprised when Academy Award winner Natalie Portman’s named came up on the titles next. Especially since the part is entirely a girlfriend role, even more than I remember her part being in the first Thor movie. They’ve also got Tom Hiddleston… 📖
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Grantchester (2014) s06e02
The “A plot” involving a seemingly mercenary adoption provider (Christina Cole) ends up being almost incidental thanks to the cliffhanger. See, “Grantchester” isn’t wasting any time with the season arc involving blackmailing camp staffer Michael Abubakar coming after Al Weaver for a pay-off, so the world doesn’t find out the local curate was wiping a… 📖
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Evil (2019) s02e10 – O Is for Ovaphobia
All right, seriously, is Mike Colter okay? He’s literally only the episode as a sidekick. He’s in an interview montage, he and Aasif Mandvi follow someone, he goes into the fertility clinic for a non-scene with Mandvi and Herbers, and he’s there for the initial team meeting. Otherwise, he’s not in the episode. Wait, he… 📖
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Manchette’s Fatale (2014)
I wanted to read Manchette’s Fatale because Jacques Tardi never finished his and Jean-Patrick Manchette’s adaptation of Manchette’s novel. They only did a few pages, and I got curious about where the story was going. And while the novel’s been translated to English… well, I mean, I don’t read read anymore. Come on. So I… 📖
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Grantchester (2014) s06e01
It’s summertime in “Grantchester,” and still newish vicar Tom Brittney is fully invested in his work but worried he’s missing something. He apparently gripes about it so much, curate and friend Al Weaver suggests they go on vacation. It then turns into the entire “Grantchester” cast at a fifties holiday camp. They even bring along… 📖
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The Longest Day (1962, Ken Annakin)
The Longest Day picks up when the Normandy beach invasion starts. It happens maybe ninety minutes into the three-hour film. There are the overnight paratrooper drops, which have such dull action scenes it seems like the film will never improve, but then it turns out the large-scale battle choreography is exceptional and could potentially make… 📖
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Superman & Lois (2021) s01e04 – Haywire
Okay, the show’s getting to the family part of the family drama—not to mention real Superman action (James Bamford does a good job with it, despite the costume colors being too muted and Metropolis being a little too on the cheap)—and it’s the best episode. “Superman & Lois” is on the precipice of being genuinely… 📖
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What We Do in the Shadows (2019) s03e04 – The Casino
One of the things about “What We Do in the Shadows,” back in the first season, was the high number of standout episodes. Thanks to the lack of overarching narrative, week after week, the show could deliver these great done-in-ones. This episode is the first (and hopefully not only) great done-in-one for Season Three. It’s… 📖
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The Element of Crime (1984, Lars von Trier)
During The Element of Crime, it never seems like the mystery will be particularly compelling. The film and the detective’s investigation are compelling, but the mystery itself seems rather pat. A serial killer has been targeting young girls selling lotto tickets, earning the moniker the “Lotto Murderer,” and the police are stumped. So they bring… 📖
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Frasier (1993) s06e21 – When a Man Loves Two Women
Credited writers Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck wrote the shittiest episode of “Frasier” ever (thus far) earlier this season, and so I was dreading this one. Especially since the logline seems primed for a bad episode—Kelsey Grammer hooks up with not one but two women (consecutively, not concurrently) and has to pick the one he… 📖
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What If…? (2021) s01e06 – What If… Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?
What is it with this show’s abject inability to land the foreboding epilogue? This episode is another series highlight—not just in terms of voice acting, but also budget (they don’t skimp on any of it, including a big battle scene in Wakanda)—but they somehow miss the most obvious ramifications of the change. The episode’s all… 📖
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Batman ’89 (2021) #2
So it’s not Batman ‘89, it’s Batman ’93? As in, set after Batman Returns… is it just Sam Hamm’s Batman Forever? If so, it’s still okay. I just wasn’t expecting the returning character at the end of the issue. I also wasn’t expecting Hamm to do a deep cut to the original script—and the Craig… 📖
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What If…? (2021) s01e05 – What If… Zombies?!
Even with the trite, albeit genre-appropriate conclusion, this episode of “What If…?” is definitely the series high. And not just because Jeffrey Wright barely has any lines. It’s an actually good script—credited to Matthew Chauncey—with good action set pieces, better voice acting, and some good twists and turns. However, after a strong start with Mark… 📖
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My Life Is Murder (2019) s02e05 – Crushed Dreams
While Covid-19 doesn’t exist in “My Life Is Murder”—seriously, how long does it have to go on before someone might think they should address it even for reruns; we had to deal with flag pins for a decade—Zoom has still become a thing. Unclear how Zoom became ubiquitous in a world without lockdown, but since… 📖