Alan Rapp

Reese Witherspoon takes a cathartic trek through the Wild

  • Title: Wild
  • IMDb: link

WildBased on Cheryl Strayed‘s real-life experience of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada, Wild stars Reese Witherspoon as the troubled new divorcee with no real hiking experience who latches onto the unlikely project of a 1,100-mile solo-hike as a means to deal with the mistakes of her past.

Adapted for film by Nick Hornby, Cheryl’s self-driven journey is inter-cut with scenes from her childhood and young adulthood involving her mother (Laura Dern), her promiscuity and drug use, and her relationship with her former husband (The Newsroom‘s Thomas Sadoski).

Director Jean-Marc Vallée offers an interesting character study of a flawed woman’s attempt to achieve a moment of greatness. Dreadfully slow in parts, and often lingering too long on some of its flashback sequences, Wild succeeds as a character-driven drama even if it all feels a bit by-the-book (so to speak). Similar in themes to Into the Wild, Strayed’s story speaks to a rebirth of sorts through nature although without a look forward as to whether or not the transformative journey actually led to lasting change.

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Scorpion – Dominoes

  • Title: Scorpion – Dominoes
  • wiki: link

Scorpion - Dominoes

In the show’s first Christmas episode the team races against the clock to save a boy trapped under a rock slide on the beach before he’s drowned by the incoming tide. While the convergences of several of Sylvester‘s (Ari Stidham) phobias make him initially useless, at least until he gets a pep-talk by the right person, Walter (Elyes Gabel) takes charge eventually providing just the kind of Christmas miracle needed to inspire his sister (Camille Guaty) to continue fighting her illness.

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Top 10 Comic Series of 2014

Top 10 Comic Series of 2014

Heroes, spies, detectives, samurai and ninja, vampire slayers, talking animals, and galactic adventurers. Looking back at the year in comics, these are the ongoing comic book series which continued to entertain, delight, surprise, and fascinate me over the year. It was a good year for women (and crazy gun-wielding raccoons) in comics with four of my top ten comics all helmed by lead female characters and a number of other female characters dominating issues of nearly every title on this list. Here are the top ten ongoing comic series of the year…

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The Mentalist – Orange Blossom Ice Cream

  • Title: The Mentalist – Orange Blossom Ice Cream
  • wiki: link

The Mentalist - Orange Blossom Ice Cream

The Mentalist‘s final season continues with its most anticipated guest-star as Morena Baccarin returns in the role of Erica Flynn in an episode that continues to play on her chemistry with Jane (Simon Baker), which is a little awkward for The Mentalist now that he’s with Lisbon (Robin Tunney) as Jane and Lisbon head Beirut to recruit Flynn’s help with taking down terrorist leader Jan Nemic (Mark Ivanir).

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Once Upon a Time – Heroes and Villains

  • Title: Once Upon a Time – Heroes and Villains
  • wiki: link

Once Upon a Time - Heroes and Villains

After wrapping up the Frozen arc last week, Once Upon a Time‘s mid-season finale bids farewell to both Elsa (Georgina Haig) and Anna (Elizabeth Lail) who return home to reclaim their kingdom, throw a wedding, and eat some chocolate. Of all the casting choices the show has made over its four seasons Haig and Lail are arguably the best at creating living versions of their animated counterparts. With that arc wrapped-up, the show turns its attention back to Rumpelstiltskin (Robert Carlyle) who only moments before achieving everything he’s ever desired sees it all slip from his grasp as Belle (Emilie de Ravin) banishes her power-mad husband from Storybrooke forever (or at least until the show returns from mid-season hiatus).

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