[5.3/10] At some point it becomes churlish to complain about Star Trek’s pacing. The show is what it is, and while the rhythms of a sixties sci-fi show on network television may not conform the breakneck pace of more and more genre shows of today, to some degree, you have to simply take the show as it is.
The other side of the coin is that “Catspaw” is pretty much the nadir of an episode where about 10-15 minutes worth of incident is stretched out to an entire hour. There is a very specific rubric to the episode and it goes as follows. Our heroes come across something weird. They stop and look puzzled about it for a little while. They consult among one another to see if anyone knows what the weird thing is. And then after agreeing that they’re not sure, they wander on to the next weird thing.
Now don’t get me wrong. Part of the Star Trek DNA is the gang encountering some unusual phenomena and having the senior staff debate and theorize what’s happening. But when Kirk and company are strolling through a would-be haunted house, and when that approach is repeated over and over again, it gets tedious very quickly.
There’s also some odd psychology at play that makes “Catspaw” harder to warm to. For one thing, it’s uncomfortable to hear Spock philosophizing with Kirk about the “racial memory,” and the theory that there are certain universal symbols of fear buried in the subconscious of different species throughout the universe is a pretty odd one, even by Star Trek standards. It’s one of those strange attempts to explain an uncommon situation, steeped in 60s-isms, that doesn’t read quite right to a modern viewer.
That said, one of the few things that boosts the episode is the way that it embraces the mystery of its antagonists rather than overexplaining who they are or where they come from or how their powers work. While one could ascribe that to laziness, it creates an air of intrigue about them beyond the fact that they’re yet another set of god-like beings our heroes run across in their travels.
We know enough about Sylvia and Korob as we need to know, and the episode is nicely stingy with the details. They’re trying to study the human mind, which they view as inferior. They’re testing the crew of the enterprise, under the auspices of some unknown elder ones. And they’re not used to feeling things or experiencing things in this way.
That last notion provides the most interesting material in the episode. Sylvia and Kirk’s romantic scene together is the steamiest stuff The Original Series has been able to muster thus far, with Shatner and guest star Antoinette Bower conveying real heat between the pair despite it being part of a deception from Kirk. Despite his usual affections for anything in a skirt, Kirk normally just makes googly eyes at the babe of the week, or has a movie star kiss with his co-star. But here, the more flourished tactile exchanges between the pair sell the way that Kirk is playing on Sylvia being new to such experiences and trying to overwhelm her.
That idea is the core of this episode, and while the execution is lacking, like many TOS episodes, there’s a compelling hook to it at least. The notion of a species for whom such sensations are foreign, even forbidden, to take on human form for the purpose of examining a lesser species only to find that the hedonistic and emotional experiences of that form are too much to give up is an interesting one. By the same token, the conflict between Korob, who wants to fulfill their duty and move on, and Sylvia, who has clearly gone native, provides some sparks for the episode as well.
It also speaks to the odd strain of seeming Macbeth homages in the episode. Maybe it’s just the three witches who initially warn Kirk (who were legitimately creepy and a little unnerving with their disfigure makeup). But there was something about Sylvia imploring Korob to act, and the entire castle setting that seemed to be trying to evoke Shakespeare (and one of his most gruesome plays) as much as it was shooting for a generic haunted house feel.
Many of the effects and ideas that played up to that haunted house vibe came of pretty campy to the modern eye. Again, I’m loathe to complain about the special effects from a show made on a TV budget five decades ago, but it’s hard not to laugh at a fluffy cat running around a miniature set being the big threat at the end of the episode. By the same token, the voodoo tricks the antagonists perform on the Enterprise, heating it or trapping it by use of a cheap-looking starship keychain, couldn’t help but provoke some chuckles.
Even that last stretch of the episode, where Kirk and Spock are desperately trying to escape, feels pretty perfunctory. We’ve done Bones and Sulu being brainwashed and turned against their crewmates before. We’ve done the half-speed scuffle where Spock and Kirk use their Federation Kung Fu before. We’ve done the “Kirk destroys the power source and everything goes back to normal” bit before.
With all of that well-worn territory brought up again, “Catspaw” comes off like an episode with one good idea that it can’t quite stretch out to fill the full runtime, and so the powers that be chose to have the good guys wander around looking befuddled to fill time, and tacked on the standard TOS climax to the end of it. There’s something undeniably compelling about the idea of creatures who do not know the feeling of attraction or betrayal or other such “unevolved” sensations finding themselves enraptured by the opportunity to try it out, but it’s surrounded with a bunch of stalling for time and generic Trek stuff, with a little psychological mumbo jumbo to boot. There’s something spooky enough about “Catspaw” at times, but on the whole, it’s less scary than it is boring, which makes it a tough watch during anything other than the electric moments when Sylvia is plotting, feeling, or cajoling her captives and comrades, like Lady Macbeth might.
An interesting concept that lost most of its entertainment value in its relatively flat execution. This has been compared to a Black Mirror episode: if it were, it'd be regarded as one of the worst. It sure has merits earned through meaningful conversations and thought-provoking themes, but it couldn't hold my attention, despite its relatively short running time.
Nikolai Coster-Waldau, of Game of Thrones fame, gives a committed and transformative lead performance that holds Shot Caller together.
A fairly fun, serviceable crime drama, Shot Caller feels a bit overlong and often predictable, but never boring. Despite some unnecessary subplots and some rushed character transformations, it's hard not to suggest this as a perfectly fine movie night.
Good but not anywhere near as good as the fiirst
The script and direction can be a little rough at times but an excellent cast and great dynamics between a family of characters made The Hollars an enjoyable watch. John Krasinski shows potential as director but he has some room for improvement. Richard Jenkins and Margo Martindale are both excellent.
still a bit raw but i think its going to be amazing! also Ram's actor is really good wow i felt his pain all throughout the episode; just wanted to slide in and give him a hug. poor guy
So I'm guessing cisco's powers are going to help make a lot of deus ex machina situations
4th episode was cheap.
This one was just fucking worse than that... that was even worse than a kid drawing.
This movie is pretty bad ... Compared to the previous one it's bad , not compared to the previous one it's still bad ... (It could interest you if you are a teenage girl though ... )
After waiting two weeks, this episode was a disappointment. The drawings looked awful and the story barely advanced.
laughing tears rolled down my face when James Marsden said something about his makeup guy and someone casually replied "yeah, it's lighter today"
hope to god they stick to making this the last season. It's over, bros.
Man this show really suffers after Andor did both the encroachment of the Empire and a heist in a way that's hard for anyone to follow up huh
I bet board is spelled b-o-r-e-d.
Despite being far from his best outings, Last Flag Flying is very much a Richard Linklater movie, and it bears all the defining traits of the director, from the focus on character-driven dialogue to the expert juxtaposition between humor and drama. The character interaction and their history suck you in and the movie feels much shorter than it is, which is a great accomplishment for the film, especially with it being as dialogue heavy as it is.
Bryan Cranston obviously got the more fun role to play, but I found the standout to be, as he often is these days, Steve Carell. The man is doing some exceptional work and just this year we've seen him in two completely different roles - this and as Bobby Riggs in Battle of the Sexes - and he has absolutely owned both of them.
One of the stupidest scripts I have ever seen, terrible.
Starts off very strong with good characters and dialogue. Lots of good scenes to introduce us to the story and characters. I like some of the relationships.
King of dips in energy and with new stimulating ideas for me. It didn't take me on an interesting enough journey in the second half. Maybe I'll give it another go.
This impressively constructed debut feature shows the last six weeks in the life of Irish republican hunger striker Bobby Sands. With the level of skill that it took to make this movie, its honestly hard to believe its Steve McQueen's first. I mean the movie features an ideological debate between two characters that goes on for 23 minutes. 17 and a half of those minutes being all in one record breaking shot. That's insane! It is very different so I wouldn't recommend it to everyone but if you're quite fond of the criterion collection then you're probably going to like this movie.
Nate Parker's inexperience, but also his passion, really show in this sometimes powerful, but often boring and conventional movie. Sluggish pace, ugly desaturated color palette, generic writing and atrociously filmed and edited action scenes are all signs of a writer/director that has a lot of room for improvement. The character work was also lacking, with Parker asking the audience to care for a protagonist just because he's suffering, while not doing the hard work of actually presenting a likable lead. The religious justification and glorification of violence is also, though sometimes understandable, deeply troubling. The huge historical inaccuracies don't help either, and their connection with Parker's rape allegations are darkly ironic at best, and creepy at worst.
This said, there's good in here. This is a movie that counts on moments, and Parker really banks on those, and they mainly work, as do the performances. But in between them there's just a less gripping 12 Years a Slave.
I can understand people who love this movie, as I can understand who hates it. Personally, I'm in the middle of the road, but The Birth of a Nation certainly isn't the Oscar contender that Sundance would have us believe.
It was alright. 6-6.5 for me. it wasn't amazing for sure.
that was absolutely amazing! great story so far, amazing diverse characters, the doctor cameo and holy shit that opening is on fire
this episode was 7 until that Cottonmouth death, and he was kinda my main character but hey i have my hopes up, :) .. that ENDING though
This was crazy and good. It was crazy good. A magical flatulent bromance.
Ridiculously good show. Was a bit pessimistic about watching this after loving daredevil. David tennant was spine chillingly good as killgrave and the story was just magnificent and really made you think.
CW/DC attempts melodrama. Haha, no.
Note to writers: Stick to fight sequences, because you're not pulling on any heart strings with the emo heavy stuff - I only wanted to pull my eyes out of my eye sockets.
Dunno what was worse - Thea's ninja/zombie jump out of the water or that ridonkadonk sex scene.
It´s like a British Comedy.
Only... it´s not. Nice pilot but gets tiresome after a few episodes. Also, it´s on a network that cancels shows out of nowhere so don´t get to attached =)
The end... yeah we're part of an experiment and were isolated from humankind for 200 years. yippie... idiocy
I hope Roshi gets many "interesting" DVDs soon.
Even by The Following's standards this was a horrendous episode. I'm even kinda mad at the accumulation of bullshit thrown into this. Just how do you do it?!
Decent episode, but this Microsoft product placement's becoming ridicoulous. And I own a Lumia.
