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review

13 Aug

Star Trek: Lower Decks Episode 2 Review: Envoys

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This Star Trek: Lower Decks review contains spoilers. Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1, Episode 2 If you didn’t like the first episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks, the second episode is not here to walk anything back. Structurally and tonally, “Envoys,” is actually so similar to “Second Contact,” that there’s an argument to be made that it should have either aired third or as part of a two-episode debut night for the season premiere. Lower Decks is poised to tell several different types of Trek stories. That said, “Envoys” mostly settles on familiar territory: The concept that some aliens…
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13 Aug

Dirty John Season 2 – The Betty Broderick Story Review: Trashy True Crime With Tragedy Underneath

Netflix, New DVD release, , , , , ,
Before Dirty John, the Netflix dramatisation, came Dirty John the wildly popular LA Times podcast featuring the real voices of Debra Newell and her family and hosted by award winning journalist Christopher Goffrey. The podcast has been downloaded over 50 million times and while the Netflix version starring Connie Britton and Eric Bana had a glossy, trashy appeal it couldn’t live up to the podcast both for being not actually real, and also too tethered to the real, never quite being able to reach the full on bonkersness of fiction series like You. Dirty John was the nickname of John…
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13 Aug

Agents of SHIELD Series Finale Review

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This article contains Agents of SHIELD spoilers. Agents of SHIELD Season 7 Episodes 12 & 13 With apologies to The Grateful Dead, it’s been a long strange trip for fans of Agents of SHIELD which just concluded its seven season run with a finale that neatly ties up enough loose plot threads to keep even the staunchest critics happy and still leaves plenty of room for requisite fan service. Nevertheless, no one can accuse the writers of leaving any cards unplayed. The awakenings, the sacrifices, the reunions, and the redemptions were all completely earned and worthy of this final installment.…
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13 Aug

The 100 Season 7 Episode 11 Review: Etherea

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This THE 100 review contains spoilers The 100 Season 7 Episode 11 A full ten episodes into its final season feels like a strange place for The 100 to finally bring one of its lead characters fully back into the story and use him to stage a debate about faith and religion, but, hey, Season 7 has been pretty darn weird so far, so maybe that actually tracks. Yes, “Etherea” is The Bellamy Blake Episode, wherein The 100 confirms what we all already knew and had mostly guessed – that Bellamy is, in fact, not dead, and merely marooned on another Anomaly…
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11 Aug

Lovecraft Country Review (Spoiler-Free)

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Imagine yourself and some friends traveling on a road miles outside of a major city, passing fields of green, the car cutting a line between the blue sky and the gray asphalt. There are few other cars around and you are some distance away from the nearest town that you’re sure is a safe place to rest. The sun is slowly descending on the horizon, and the trees that lined the road are suddenly looming and ominous. Now a monster has caught your scent. You speed down the road, careful not to spook your pursuer, and just barely make it…
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10 Aug

Stargirl Episode 13 Review: Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. Part Two

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This STARGIRL review contains spoilers. Stargirl Episode 13 Stargirl’s first season, on the whole, is one of the strongest ever attempted in the DC television universe. There’s so much to love about this series, from its sunny, optimistic vibe and charming characters to its willingness to push boundaries, trust its audience, and make bold storytelling decisions. That its Season 1 finale doesn’t entirely stick the landing is probably expected – honestly, most of the Arrowverse shows never do finales terribly well anyway – but the emotional moments are as top-notch as ever, and “Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. Part Two” does a…
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10 Aug

Perry Mason Episode 8 Review: Chapter Eight

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This Perry Mason review contains spoilers. Perry Mason Episode 8 “No one confesses on the stand,” Hamilton Burger (Justin Kirk) advises the title character on Perry Mason‘s season 1 finale, “Chapter Eight.” And it’s a shame. Not only because this is the very thing which made the iconic TV series character legendary, but because Perry Mason (Matthew Rhys) is doing so well with it in rehearsal. At least that’s what he tells himself and everyone else around him before clearing out the room to fit his ego. The battle is over whether Mason should put Detective Ennis (Andrew Howard) on…
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10 Aug

The Alienist: Angel of Darkness Episode 7 Review – Last Exit to Brooklyn

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This The Alienist: Angel of Darkness review contains spoilers. The Alienist: Angel of Darkness Episode 7 It’s hard to believe, but we’ve already reached the penultimate hour of The Alienist: Angel of Darkness. It’s unclear as to why TNT wanted to burn through the series with two episodes a night; perhaps the network knows the show will do better on streaming platforms and is just speeding up that arrival. Regardless, we’re at the end of the line for this season and though there’s been some missteps along the way, solid performances, immaculate production design, and a dash of campiness has…
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10 Aug

The Alienist: Angel of Darkness Episode 8 Review – Better Angels

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This The Alienist: Angel of Darkness review contains spoilers. The Alienist: Angel of Darkness Episode 8 If the penultimate episode of The Alienist: Angel of Darkness kept up a spirited pace with a heavy tone, then the season finale “Better Angels” doubles down, providing more thrills, heartbreak and another clean, definitive ending for our characters. Though Kreizler’s arc felt rushed due to his uneven placement this season, John, Sara, and even side characters like Lucius and Byrnes see satisfying conclusions to their stories. The episode is also carried on the backs of Emmy-worthy performances by Dakota Fanning and Rosy McEwen,…
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10 Aug

NOS4A2 Season 2 Episode 8 Review: Chris McQueen

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This NOS4A2 review contains spoilers. NOS4A2 Season 2 Episode 8 One of the strongest relationships in NOS4A2 has been the father-daughter connection between Chris and Vic McQueen. They fought, certainly, and Chris undoubtedly made a lot of mistakes, but there was no mistaking the bond of love that they shared, and the closeness that they once had. Vic, as seen in the opening moments of “Chris McQueen,” always seemed to be her father’s shadow, chasing after him even when he ran away. Eventually, through the twin forces of time and her own motherhood, she stopped. He kept pushing until she…
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10 Aug

Wynonna Earp Season 4 Episode 3 Review: Look at Them Beans

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This Wynonna Earp review contains spoilers. Wynonna Earp Season 4, Episode 3 In last week’s review, I commented that the episode could have been a (great) season finale. It follows, then, that this week’s episode, “Look at Them Beans,” would have the vibes of a season premiere, which it totally does. New setting! New characters! And new problems for Team Earp to deal with. (That last one is not getting an exclamation point.) Setting doesn’t just refer to a story’s location, but also a story’s time. Therefore, time jumps are effectively ways of switching up a TV show’s setting in…
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08 Aug

Muppets Now Episode 2 Review: Fever Pitch

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This Muppets Now review contains spoilers. Muppets Now Episode 2 Last week, Disney+ started its new series Muppets Now, hoping to keep the beloved Jim Henson franchise relevant in modern times. Sadly, they didn’t put their best foot forward and the debut episode was a lacking experiment. The concept of it being an unscripted Muppet show was more than overblown and the actual improv stuff was empty. Luckily, this week’s episode “Fever Pitch” is enough of a step up. The format is pretty much the same. There are four unrelated Muppet segments and the only framing device is Scooter trying…
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06 Aug

Doom Patrol Season 2 Episode 9 Review: Wax Patrol

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This Doom Patrol review contains spoilers. Doom Patrol Season 2 Episode 9 “Let the past die. Kill it if you have to. It’s the only way to become who you were meant to be.” Kylo Ren’s quote in The Last Jedi could just as easily apply to the Doom Patrol season 2 finale, “Wax Patrol,” as the team not only confronts toxic imaginary friends from their childhoods, but Jane uncovers Miranda’s own buried past – and Dorothy is forced to leave her life behind as Niles’ innocent little girl.  Still, despite being a good episode, “Wax Patrol” feels more like…
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06 Aug

The Rain Season 3 Review: A Mixed Send-Off For The Underrated Dystopian Drama

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Danish Netflix show The Rain has returned for its third and final season in the middle of a very real global pandemic, and has landed in a landscape that’s suddenly thinking a lot more about what might happen to the world a few years after a deadly virus has wiped out most of humanity. A cheery thought? Absolutely not, but a concern that surely permeated the late-stage creation and marketing of the show. From the first episode, it’s clear that there have been some revisions in the writers room since last season, with the driving force for the characters proposed…
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06 Aug

Agents of SHIELD Season 7 Episode 11 Review: Brand New Day

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This review contains spoilers for Agents of SHIELD. Agents of SHIELD Season 7 Episode 11 There are certain narrative advantages to Agents of SHIELD experiencing a different timeline in its final season. The changes to history can be catastrophic, but even if it’s not all undone, the show is ending anyway, allowing the stakes to be much higher. Fortunately, those cards are being played during a penultimate episode that also features some surprising emotional turns, but it’s nevertheless difficult to see how the series can provide satisfying endings for all of its principal characters. That doubt springs from Agents of…
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06 Aug

The 100 Season 7 Episode 10 Review: A Little Sacrifice

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This THE 100 review contains spoilers The 100 Season 7 Episode 10 With every episode we watch, The 100 tussles with what its ultimate legacy be. A show where in the end, characters grow, move on, and fill their wounds with love and redemption? Or one where everyone is doomed to inevitable violence? Will Hope and Echo be able to turn toward their loved ones and heal from their respective ordeals, or will Hope become exactly what her mother tried to shield her from, while Echo commits an unnecessary Mt. Weather-level genocide in vengeance? At least for tonight, the answer is toward…
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05 Aug

Midnight Sun Review (Spoiler-Free)

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Like Edward Cullen, Midnight Sun is older than it looks. Stephenie Meyer’s retelling of Twilight, her iconic YA novel of female desire, from the perspective of the smoldering vampire lover was first teased back in 2008, around the release of the final book, Breaking Dawn. At the time, Meyer announced that she would not be finishing the manuscript, as the first twelve chapters had leaked online and she felt like she had lost control of the story. By the time she warmed again to the idea, over the intervening years, the project was again derailed by the emergence of E.L.…
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05 Aug

Little Birds Review: Intoxicating, Lavish 1950s-Set Drama

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This review of all six episodes is spoiler-free. If proof were needed that TV drama can be anything it wants these days, Little Birds is it. The Sky Atlantic series is a confection of wild ingredients – glamour, satire, feminist fantasy, postcolonial politics, espionage noir, sex, violence and comedy. It’s a heady mix, not all of which coheres but which leaves you with unforgettable images and a distinct sense of having been transported.  Set in 1955 Tangier, the six-part series is inspired by a collection of erotic short stories written in the 1940s by Cuban-French author Anais Nin. It’s not strictly an…
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04 Aug

Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall Review

New DVD release,
Poe Dameron’s criminal backstory in The Rise of Skywalker surprised a lot of people. For Latinx fans who found casting Oscar Isaac as a drug-runner an offensive stereotype and comic book readers interested in Poe’s New Republic days, the backstory just didn’t seem to fit. Unfortunately, Poe Dameron: Free Fall, the new YA novel by Alex Segura, expands on the spice runner backstory with dull sincerity, producing a functional space adventure that doesn’t particularly feel like it’s about Poe or even Star Wars.  Stream your Star Wars favorites right here! The son of Rebel heroes, Poe grew up on Yavin…
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03 Aug

Stargirl Episode 12 Review: Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. Part One

New DVD release, , ,
This STARGIRL review contains spoilers. Stargirl Episode 12 The Injustice Society of America’s plan to brainwash and take control over 100 million Americans across a dozen states finally kicked off in the penultimate episode of Stargirl’s first season. After last week’s emotional outing, it’s hard not to feel like “Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. Part One” is kind of a letdown, precisely because so much of the hour serves as little more than table setting for the big season-ending battle to come. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that, as viewers, we’re simply inclined to look past this installment toward the finale.…
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DVD Guide reviews current dvd releases of movies and TV shows. The reviews of these dvd releases are my thoughts and understandings of the movie, dvd releases or TV show and not be taken as fact.

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