Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – …Ye Who Enter Here

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – …Ye Who Enter Here
  • wiki: link

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – ...Ye Who Enter Here

The slow moving progression to the reveal of the hidden city and Skye‘s (Chloe Bennet) reunion with her murderous father (Kyle MacLachlan) moves ever so slightly forward in “…Ye Who Enter Here.” Despite locating the location in the last episode, and racing Hydra to discover its hidden secrets, the team barely gets a couple of steps into a tunnel to the city before the closing credits. We’re also given some foreshadowing about a (possibly nefarious) secondary purpose for some of Coulson‘s (Clark Gregg) new recruits including both Mac (Henry Simmons) and Bobbi (Adrianne Palicki) other than serving S.H.I.E.L.D. that unnecessarily draws your attention away from what little progress is being made to the overall season arc this week.

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The Theory of Everything

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Theory of Everything
  • IMDb: link

The Theory of EverythingTheoretical physicist Stephen Hawking is undeniably one of the brightest minds of our time, a fact that The Theory of Everything struggles to prove while being far more interested in the man’s personal life than his professional breakthroughs. The result is a strong romantic drama between Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) and his wife Jane (Felicity Jones) that is far less insightful of the man’s work.

Dumbing down Hawking’s theories for the audience, the script by Anthony McCarten based on Jane Hawking‘s book spoon-feeds us extremely basic doses of Hawkings theories without ever examining the work that went into studying or proving them. Instead the ideas seem to come from nowhere, take little effort to prove, and are instantly lauded. Does that sound like the cut-throat world of academia to you?

More concerned with showcasing the effects and unique challenges presented to Stephen and Jane after his diagnosis of motor neuron disease, The Theory of Everything succeeds far better here getting the most of its stars (even if the film, intentionally or not, turns Jane into a martyr).

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The Flash – Flash vs. Arrow

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Flash – Flash vs. Arrow
  • wiki: link

The Flash - Flash vs. Arrow

The first-half of the two-part crossover brings Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) and Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) to Central City for Star Labs help in identifying an unusual weapon used in a recent killing in Starling City. Although we’ll have to wait a day for the story behind the boomerang and the official introduction of Captain Boomerang on Arrow, the latest episode of The Flash does offer a different challenge to the heroes who struggle to work together to take down a metahuman with the ability to put his victims into an uncontrollable rage.

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Snowpiercer

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Snowpiercer
  • IMDb: link

SnowpiercerI had a very mixed reaction to writer/director Joon-ho Bong‘s Snowpiercer. One one-hand I’m increasingly tired dramas using the trappings of sci-fi to offer up dystopian futures and thinly-veiled class struggle that offer no message other than the fact that such inequality is wrong and ultimately disastrous to the human species. My rebelling against the form isn’t really Snowpiercer‘s fault other than the fact it adds to the glut of similarly-themed films in recent years. On the other hand the film certainly embraces the literal interpretation of rising above your class to offer a bizarre struggle of less fortunate train passengers attempting to climb their way upward.

At its worst Snowpiercer feels preachy and overreaching in its visual style presenting each train car as a bizarely impossible worlds for the voyagers to walk through. It’s also not well served by a performance so over-the-top by Tilda Swinton it’s amazing she doesn’t hit her head on the roof in every scene. At its best the film does serve its message and offer Chris Evans a role as a would-be hero forced to face the deficiencies in both himself and the world he hopes to make more equitable through his struggle.

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Ten #9

/ / Comics

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Ten #9The storyline of Andrew attempting to resurrect Tara thus unintentionally powering and Old One and sealing the fate of all mankind comes to a close as Buffy and Spike hold off the creature while Willow is forced to argue against bringing the love of her life back to the land of the living.

In a TV series and comic which has already brought back multiple dead characters (Giles, Buffy, Spike, Angel, Fred as Illyria, and ghost version of both Wesley and Anya) it seems fan favorite Tara doesn’t make the cut and like Joyce reminds us that some deaths are permanent even in the Buffyverse. The big takeaway of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Ten #9 is Willow admitting out loud that resurrecting Buffy, for whatever reason, was a mistake and one that she doesn’t plan on repeating.

In the midst of the action the comic continues to pull Buffy and Spike together teasing the possibility of reuniting the couple. And although Andrew admits to his bad judgement he doesn’t exactly learn from his lesson as the final panel foreshadows more trouble on the way. Worth a look.

[Dark Horse, $3.50]

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