Damn Fine TV/Film
“I was blinded by my hope for an ending. Don’t be blinded by yours for revenge”–Katarina Jones to Cassandra Railly “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” —Thomas Edison. Twelve Monkeys premiered back in 2015, and since then I've been an avid fan of the show. The series is intelligent television …
"Black Museum" opens with Nish driving along an empty road in a seemingly anachronistic car, listening Dionne Warwick's rendition of "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me." This should be an immediate clue of what the episode is up to; however, as Nish pulls into an electric charging station, it seems at first that her goal …
Our coverage of Showtime’s The Affair begins with the Season 4 premiere! Tune in weekly for episode recaps and analysis. I freely admit that the return of The Affair to Showtime for a fourth season left me with a bit of trepidation. Season 3 was much maligned for its unevenness, both thematically and structurally, and it ended …
Continue reading "California I’m Coming Home – The Affair: Season 4 Episode 1"
Very much estranged from its source biography, CBS All-Access’ Strange Angel, directed by David Lowery feels like Disney’s The Rocketeer or Martin Scorcese’s The Aviator meets Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut. Influenced by rocketry, pulp fictions, and the occult alike, this series is the story of one of America’s greatest success enigmas: Jack Parsons. This …
Continue reading "CBS All-Access: Strange Angel: Premier Review"
So.. I’m feeling nostalgic (again – jeez, I’m only mid-40’s). It’s a weekend and I’m not in the mood for my current shows – the likes of Jessica Jones, Travelers, or Altered Carbon – besides that, I am trying not to give in to the trend of binge watching, letting myself marinate in a one-a-week …
Continue reading "Through the TV of Future Past – Musings on Nostalgia"
"Metalhead" is a short horror film; or a "thriller" if one wants to debate that terminology. It is reminiscent of a film such as Alien, insofar as it presents a being that is strikingly other and bent on killing everyone. In fact, though, the "dog" in this episode may take things a step further, since one …
While recently rereading Mark Frost's The Secret History of Twin Peaks, I came across this passage[1]: "...it is important that we learn to distinguish between mysteries and secrets. Mysteries precede humankind, envelop us and draw us forward into exploration and wonder. Secrets are the work of humankind, a covert and often insidious way to gather, withhold or …
Continue reading "Westworld Season 2: Sorting Out Timelines and Pleasant Surprises"
“Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is Six Hundred Threescore and Six. Son of Night, you are given authority over the Earth. You will kill by the sword - By famine - By plague - And …
Ask any single adult you know, and they'll tell you: dating is terrible. I don't mean meeting someone and hitting it off - that's great - I mean trying to meet someone and hit it off. Whatever the method - unless one is incredibly lucky - the process is going to involve a lot of …
Twin Peaks is famously a story that begins with the discovery of a dead girl: Laura Palmer. But it was by far not the first story to employ such a device, and has hardly been the last. If anything, one might argue that the trope of the dead girl has significantly increased in prominence in …
Continue reading "Split Screens Festival 2018: “Dead Girls – A TV Obsession”"