To this day, Ed is my favorite show. It is the perfect blend of a weekly story and a continuing drama. Each week Ed has a court case to deal with, meanwhile he has the bowling alley to run with Phil and Shirley to contend with. And he always has a new way to try and win Carol's heart. On top of all that, I love the relationship between Ed and his best friend Dr. Burton, who has his own family and a surly boss to deal with. It is exactly the right amount of funny without being silly (well, sometimes it's silly but that's OK) and it's just so brilliantly written. All the characters are so real, and having grown up in my own version of stuckeyville, I totally recognize the feel and attitude of a small town. The acting is first rate, especially Tom (I Am Canadian) Cavanaugh. I'm grateful at least that a show this good lasted more than one year, but I would have gladly watched it for ten. I still watch the whole series at least once a year, even though my copy is burned onto DVD from my HDD recorder, and some of the episodes are even captured from VHS. I would pay virtually any price for NBC and Worldwide Pants to finally get the show professionally released, even if just in standard definition. Unfortunately, all the music playing in the background at the bowling alley would need to be cleared and paid for. The producer's just can't justify the expense. Such a shame...
Yeah, a lot of shows have done it. I know of three, scrubs, raising hope and 30 Rock, and I loved all of them. It’s always a joy (in my opinion), even though it is robbing us of story-content (which season two has little to offer anyway). But a musical is a different medium and it’s legit to focus on sound and show instead of deep, well written stories. That is no excuse for the rest of the snoozefest of episodes, but episode 9 is great fun and there are some real talents in the show with great voices.
So, even if this was no real Star Trek episode, only a big stage, this was one of the few episodes from season 2 that I actually enjoyed. It was a fun standalone episode, again contrasting hard with the previous one.
And since SNW feels more like Star Trek than anything that was done in the last couple years with the franchise, I trust that they will find the sweet spot in season 3.
I guess the „exploration of strange new worlds“ is taking place not in space, but in how far you can take a Star Trek episode, and how different each week can be. While season 2 mostly failed in telling good stories, they made each episode totally different, which is great. Now hire some good science fiction writers, maybe from the Orville team, a we’re golden.
Let's be real here. This isn't a good film. And it's flawed from the get-go.
The casting. Dreadful. Hanks is a creation from Batman Returns. Priscilla has none of her beauty. And the most fundamentally unforgiveable issue - Elvis doesn't look like Elvis. Who signed off on an actor to carry this film where the eyes nose and mouth are absolutely incorrect?
The editing. Horrendous and overdone. There is barely a moments peace from the onslaught. However, for this catastrophe of cinematography to only cost 85 million USD is a triumph.
The pov aspect. Why in the hell would you base this around the ridiculous story of Colonel Tom Parker only to then leave out half of the facts? And it's not short on time at 2hr 30.
And finally, the pacing. When Elvis is washed up prior to the 68 Comeback special we haven't been fed enough of him at his peak for the rise and fall to make sense. When he passes, the bloatedness isn't shown and then arrives unexplained but for a single line of voice over. Periods that needed to be shown are glossed over and periods of relative unnecessity are dragged out.
But the real crime is the music. I counted 2 uninterrupted performances. The rest were manic collages or mixed in with - wait for it - modern hip hop... What egotistical mind decided that was a good idea...?
I watched. Now I'll hope to forget. And for anyone who wants an actual representation of Elvis from an actor who actually looks like him and tells the actual story, look for the Jonathan Rhys Meyers TV miniseries biopic.
To paraphrase a Bill Burr routine... Elvis was the first to be a major superstar. He made all the mistakes because he had nobody who had led the way.
Why is that not spelled out?
The 'theft' of black music. The 'child' marriage... I get that 2022 eyes see the world differently but a film like this shouldn't pander to the modern trend for rewriting history. It should provide perspective.
If Elvis hadn't grown up surrounded by black culture and organically witnessed that music, he'd be Pat Boone. But he wasn't. He was a true child of the musical influences. If he hadn't had his career, then it might have been another 20 years before black music found white ears... And it wouldn't have been a black artist who brought it. That's the sad truth. There needs to be a conduit and Elvis was that.
To labour this point... Tom Hanks being cast as a gay man afflicted with HIV (Philadelphia) opened the door to films of that nature being mainstream. Nowadays a gay man must be cast in that role. But you don't get to where we are without Tom Hanks being the conduit. That seems to be lost on people these days.
Progress is a series of incremental steps.
And look at the Priscilla marriage. The age of consent and the times and the location were all a world away. Don't be outraged at this, be outraged at Jerry Lee Lewis or Chuck Berry.
How sad the film was so overwhelmed by its desire to create ridiculous camerawork that it failed to deliver any of the impact of the first major superstar.
5/10
Holy light of The Seven this was intense.
+ Daemon flipping out the horse was cool
- The lady falling down injured isn't cool. She's a trained horse-rider/hunter and should know how to fall safely, especially when she saw the danger coming
+ Daemon using the rock I think is overkill but it can be done to look like an accident
+ Alicent and Otto's dialogue showing Otto is a caring father despite everything that's going on
- Laenor and Joffrey sparring with real swords is both unnecessarily dangerous and bad for the edges of the weapons, but at least they're wearing gambison
+ Setting up Laenor and Joffrey as being "together" right from their first appearances in the episode
+ Handicapped "Grema Wormtongue"-looking guy who was looking at the flowers being enormously condescending and passive-aggressive to Alicent was such a tense scene, where you can clearly tell he's doing it deliberately to unsettle her
+ Laenor and Rhaenyra's conversation about liking "roast duck" vs "goose" confused me at first, but the moment they revealed Laenor's sexuality with Joffrey, I remembered this scene and thought "Oh, THAT's what they were talking about. What an odd metaphor" lol
? If "roast duck" is women and "goose" is men, then isn't Rhaenyra, by saying she prefers "roast duck", saying she's lesbian? If so, why is she in love with Ser Criston? Unless "roast duck" means "heterosexual" and "goose" means "homosexual"?
+ The dialogue between Rhaenyra and Ser Criston's values is amazing. It shows Ser Criston's honour and loyalty to his oaths yet also selfishness asking Rhaenyra to abandon an entire kingdom of responsibility just to run off together. You can see Rhaenyra being tempted, but when she tries to explain the insignificance of simply running away together against the gravity of her obligation to the Seven Kingdoms, Ser Criston doesn't even listen because he thinks his loyalty to his oath of chastity as a Kingsguard was his only redeeming value as a person. The classic battle between responsibility and personal pride
+ Oh my light of The Seven. Alicent and Ser Criston's dialogue was filled with so much dramatic irony. The contexts are completely set up with Alicent coming from last scene with her father, Otto, talking about Rhaenyra and Daemon, and with Ser Criston coming from the last scene talking about Rhaenyra and Ser Criston. Because of how little detail Alicent was speaking with, it was so tense because we know they're both thinking about completely different situations. And then when Ser Criston reveals what he was thinking, Alicent has no idea how to react, and then lets him go. You can see the disbelief on his face. She's probably relieved that Rhaenyra drank the "tea" because of Ser Criston and not Daemon, but she still doesn't have an actual answer to her question here. She just assumed if Rhaenyra did it with Ser Criston that she... didn't do anything with Daemon?
+ The grandmaester rejecting a new treatment for no reason other than clinging to outdated traditions and his own personal beliefs (which are clearly not solving the problem) is horribly stupid, but is very realistic to what many people actually do.
+ Rhaenyra's sarcasm at Lord Jason's sexist joke was hilarious: "Your presence is always such a pleasure, Lord Jason"
+ I love how the interruption of the Valeryan's entrance shows their arrogance and pride very clearly
- There's no in-story reason as to why Ser Criston is the only Kingsguard not wearing a helmet (showing his face to the viewers is not in-story). Why don't they just all not wear helmets for consistency?
+ The tension in the room when Daemon walks in (especially after being exiled) is cool, and this tension doesn't even get time to clear before Alicent suddenly interrupts the speech, inflating even more tension in the room
+ I love that reference to the Hightower green war beacon with Alicent's dress. I'm excited to know what that means for Alicent's intentions here
- I totally predicted that, during the dance, both Rhaenyra and Laenor would foolishly look at their respective lovers while everyone in the entire hall was watching them, and certain people would take notice, because obviously people will notice if you're staring at other people while dancing. This isn't a negative because I predicted it, but because both Rhaenyra and Laenor should know everyone is watching them, but decided to flirtatiously gaze at their real lovers anyway
+ During the dance, I heard music suspiciously similar to The Witcher's, which is awesome
+ I love the interaction between Daemon and Ser Gerold Royce (cousin of Daemon's late wife), and then Daemon reveals his motive for the murder: inheriting Runestone, then showing that Viserys is listening and already knows Daemon is guilty
+ Ser Joffrey using the term "cunt-struck"
+ Ser Joffrey's foolish speech at Ser Criston making Ser Criston think of who knows their secret and the risks of that secret being revealed, setting up tension for what happens later
+ Viserys' focus on Rhaenyra with Daemon looking like they're almost kissing was intense
- When the party was interrupted I had no idea what was happening, which might've been the intention, but I was completely lost, and I didn't even know who Ser Criston was beating in the face.
> At first, I saw a Valyrian with white hair getting flipped, then I suddenly saw a guy with brown hair getting beaten, and I didn't even realize the guy who died was Ser Joffrey (because he had no face) until I finished the whole episode and read someone else's comment about the dark tension between Rhaenyra and Laenor marrying minutes after Laenor's lover was killed.
> I had to watch the scene a second time to realize Ser Criston wasn't defending the party against invaders but started his own fight with Ser Joffrey about him being told to keep the secret (which he may have interpreted as a threat), and then it made sense to me what the hell was going on in that scene and why the panic all suddenly stopped when Ser Criston killed the guy
> I was so confused trying to figure this out that I didn't even notice Rhaenyra was also getting kidnapped in the midst of all of this until watching it a second time
- Yes, based on what I read in other comments, I agree it doesn't make sense why Ser Criston was allowed to 1 continue beating someone with none of the 6+ guards stopping anything, and 2 roam free after basically murdering a guest of honour in front of at least 10 direct witnesses
- What the hell? Rhaenyra was kidnapped during the earlier panic, but then shows up perfectly fine. Now I'm confused again.
+ Ser Criston preparing to commit Seppuku made sense regardless of my confusion earlier, because of already breaking his Kingsguard chastity oath and not being allowed to marry Rhaenyra. But now it makes even more sense after I realized he murdered a guest of honour for his own sake
+++ And with that triple cliffhanger at the end of another Red Wedding is pure Game of Thrones returning to its former glory. Pure George R. R. Martin.
Total -: 09
Total +: 22
The Orville is back! And it looks amazing. Although we maybe spend a little too much time looking at space docks and starships. But they compensated with additional runtime so I take it.
The story is again what this is about. It was great that they picked up on the fact that Isaac was re-instated and what that meant for the crew onboard. Althought I think they are all wrong about him. Yes, it's human to hate and they need a scapegoat. But Isaac did only follow his programming, he did what he was supposed to do just like your PC does what you tell him. But he then overcame his programming, choosing (!) to help defeat the Kaylons. He became more then his program.
The whole story is an analogy about online mobbing and how it can drive people to commit suicide. Claire's words toward Isaac at the end make that clear. It's great to see we still follow that formula and wrap the stories around real problems.
But despite the fact that Burke helped at the end, I still don't like her. That's probably what they wanted to achieve with the character. It would have been easy to make her come around and a part of me is glad the didn't take that road. But for her to get on my good side there will be a lot of redeeming involved.
[7.4/10] There’s a viral tweet that goes...
me: i hate clichés”
author: the grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one
me: [sobs] omg the grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one
That’s pretty much how I feel about Carol and Ezekiel. I was a little skeptical of them back in the day, but they became one of my favorite couples on the show, and stories like the one we get here are why. There may be no more low-key touching scene in the series than the “You make the light” exchange between the two of them. And it works because for however much Carol believes herself to irrevocably steeped in darkness after all she’s been through, Ezekiel not only recognizes the good she does, but the good she is. That means a lot, especially given all they’ve been through.
Their story connects with the broader theme of “Trust”, which is when it’s worth it to work outside of the system to achieve the greater good. It’s so true to form for Ezekiel that even with his qualms about accepting the special treatment thanks to Carol’s actions, he decides to use the extra time to pay the kindness forward one hundred-fold. He creates an off-the-books clinic to help those who otherwise can’t afford the cost of healthcare or refuse to burden their families, a not so subtle commentary on real life events.
Separate and apart from the social critique, I like it as an example of someone like Ezekiel trying to be worthy of the blessings he’s received by sharing them with others. I’m still not a huge fan of Yumiko’s brother, Tomi, because he’s a generic character, but even he has a solid character beat here. After how bad he feels being part of the upper crust, with it apparently affecting his work, the fact that he not only warms his soul working in Ezekiel’s clinic, but that it produces better doctoring from him, is a nice place to take the character. Carol recognizing the good her questionable activities with Lance made possible gives her a win as well. It’s one of my favorite storylines in the show in some time.
The other two plots in this one aren’t nearly as good, but still solid. There’s tension in Hornsby knowing that the likes of Maggie, Aaron, and Gabriel are lying about what happened at that apartment complex, but not being able to prove it. So he parcels out these little tests, each of which the good guys pass, but it drives enough of a sense of foreboding to make weight.
We know Aaron and Gabriel can handle themselves while fighting a bunch of Walkers. But the mere fact that he sends them in as a gotcha moment and then smiles with a faux-pleased “good job” at the end adds to the sinisterness. The tension of him trying to start the car at Hilltop while Maggie looks on speaks to the tone of a well-constructed scene. And there's something downright menacing about him iterating with little Hershel, finding a hat that fits and trying to get the kid to turn on his mom in his own insidious way.
Hornsby’s quickly become one of the show’s best villains, and his ability to play games with the good guys, and seem that much more scary and dangerous when he loses contributes to that. At the same time, it’s interesting to see Daryl be torn between his loyalty to the usual group of survivors and his attempt to fit in and get along at The Commonwealth, if only for the good of Judith and RJ. This whole thing puts him in an uncomfortable spot, and “Trust” plays that up.
That just leaves the various other players within The Commonwealth putting together that Sebastian and others are involved in some shady shit. I appreciate that the show is connecting the dots here after some disaggregated storytelling. Eugene and Rosita go to Connie and Kelly to break the story. Eugene connects with Max who connects with Mercer. I’m doubtful this will all come to fruition before we hit season 11c, but it’s still nice to see things start to lock into place rather than keep expanding out as we head into the show’s last batch of episodes.
The connection here is people confiding in one another, helping them see the right path, even when it’s hard. That’s a little too on the nose with Max and Eugene, but I appreciate the theme of their corner of the episode. Something may be difficult, but when the change is needed, when people are suffering, there’s no other choice but to act to help.
But my favorite part of this one, as has often been the case in this batch of episodes, is Mercer. Some of the dialogue between him and Princess is pretty cringey (especially their discussion of sex, which feels like it was written by thirteen-year-olds). But I love the idea that their connection is more than just kindness and mutual attraction. Princess wants to be there for Mercer, help him deal with the psychic burden of all that he sees and takes in. It’s a great T.V. example of someone being a supportive partner, and speaks more to why they might work than all the meetcutes and other nonsense T.V. shows try to pull.
Mercer’s burden is, again, very compelling. He acknowledges the bullshit of The Commonwealth, but basically feels there’s nothing he can do. He points to the overall good, arguing that just like the old days, protecting fifty thousand people from what’s beyond the city’s walls is worth tolerating the mortal excesses within it. There’s a logic to the argument, but I appreciate Max’s retort that given his standing in the community, he could do something to change it. The show seems to be setting up a coup, or at least the idea that Mercer is the right person to lead this community in a way that works and is more humane, and I’m interested to see where that goes.
Overall, TWD still has its limitations, and the exploration of these ideas is often basic. But the human connections here are vivid, and the acknowledgment that even the people who don’t see themselves as angels can be forces for tremendous good is a heartening one to build the episode around.
Wow. This is just terrible. There's no other word for it other than that.
Firstly, the casting is just plain awful. Diversity for the sake of diversity takes its toll yet again, with people being cast into roles with the wrong ethnicity for that particular part. This is even more insulting considering the fact that the world all of this takes place in, already has tons of diversity in it to begin with. Don't shove it in where it doesn't belong!
Storywise... ooh boy. So much has been changed. And look, I get that book adaptations need certain elements changed in order to better fit a visual medium. And some changes they made, are fine. But let me just list some things that are completely wrong:
The whole concept of the Dragon. The show opens with a very brief description of who the Dragon is. The Dragon is the reincarnation of a male Aes Sedai who broke the world in ages past. Concise, but true. Good enough. But then they go on and say that this reincarnation could be either male or female? That makes no sense at all! The Dragon has to be male, because he's the reincarnation of a male Aes Sedai, and he will break the world a second time, just like he did before.
Finding the Dragon. Nobody knows who the Dragon Reborn is. People find out because he starts fulfilling the prophecies written about him just by being born in a certain place and on a certain time. That's how Moiraine narrows it down to the Two Rivers, by finding out about some young people there that fit those criteria. In this adaptation, all Aes Sedai have some sort of spidey sense that can pinpoint the Dragon. Lazy writing at its best.
The world itself. It should be winter, due to the Dark One's grasp increasing on the world. This is a big plot point, which causes visible distress with pretty much everyone, affecting their doings and thoughts, and in this adaptation they just dumb it down to "something drove the wolves down the mountain". It's spring in this version, and birds can be heard in pretty much every scene.
Characters not acting the way they should. Nynaeve is much too serene, Moiraine isn't serene enough, Egwene is much too mature, Perrin is much too jokey, Mat isn't jokey enough and much too responsible, and so on.
Characters' backstories changed to completely change their personality even further. Mat suddenly has abusive parents. Perrin, who is consistently described in the books as a shy, awkward, careful, peaceloving guy, not only has a girlfriend in this adaptation (his finding his first love in Faile Bashere later on is also a huge plot point that they dismissed by doing this), but he murders her in a fit of blind rage. Nynaeve is suddenly a "lost child", just so they could add her to the possible list of nonsensical Dragon candidates. Because suddenly the Aes Sedai spidey sense doesn't work anymore. Rand and Egwene having a full on sexual relationship while they're supposed to be a coming-of-age story that never works out for them.
Forced edginess. Nudity and sex scenes, while sparse, are shoved in your face so forcefully that you can just tell one of the producers saw Game of Thrones and told the script writers to shove "some of that" in there.
There is a LOT more wrong with this cesspool of an adaptation in terms of story, but those are some of the big ones. Also just overall bad acting and bad CGI. The CGI looks like a videogame from the mid 2010's.
I really wanted to like this, but no amount of goodwill can save this absolute mess of a show.
