Review by J ASTRO

RAGE was handed to me for review with no cover art or explanation, just a plain white disc with red lettering in a clear plastic cover.  Within roughly the first ten minutes of watching it, it occurred to that I had actually heard of this movie before, having noticed a few reviews of it on various other individual blogs and sites in the past few weeks.  RAGE has been getting some solid attention recently, and deservedly so, because it is a standout among indie horror efforts.  It’s by no means flawless or my new favorite movie of the year or anything, but it sure beats the hell out of most other “home grown” horror-thriller exploits.  And I was happy to go into it “blind” at least for the first few moments without having any preconceived notions of what to expect.

Not that the plot is that much of a “surprise”, at least initially.  Dennis (Rick Crawford) kisses his smiling, pleasant wife Crystal goodbye & heads into town one beautiful day to run a few errands.  Y’know, the usual Saturday afternoon stuff… grab some milk, swing by the hardware store, maybe stop in for lunch with a pal, and – oh yeah, almost forgot! – break off illicit sexual affair with another jealous woman named Dana.  Major “oops” on that last one, it turns out, as she takes it none too well.  To his credit, Dennis tried to be “nice” about it, but let’s be honest, fellas – just about any time you give a woman the ol’ heave-ho, she’s bound to hold a bit of a grudge, no matter how “noble” you might claim your intentions to be.  So after this awkward little exchange, Dennis heads off to meet his lunch buddy Stan.  Through several shots of Dennis here, you get the idea that he’s mildly regretful but ultimately feeling like he’s got the situation under control and he thinks everything is pretty much resolved.

Aaaaaand of course he’s wrong.  Because, boy oh boy, has Dennis pissed off the wrong guy now.  A mysterious motorcycle-riding antagonist, who remains hidden behind his blacked-out helmet, as if he thinks he’s the guy in Eddy Grant’s “Electric Avenue” music video or something, has been watching Dennis.  He begins to taunt Dennis, messing with him at traffic stops, zooming off and then and popping up again in intersections unexpectedly, beeping his horn and making other provocative gestures.  Eventually, Dennis makes it to lunch with Stan, a guy with some connections downtown.  He offers to look into matters for Dennis, as it is revealed that Dennis’ newly jilted ex-lover also happens to have a dangerous ex-boyfriend who might be fresh out of prison and looking for revenge.  Through a few clumsy “inner dialogue” moments Dennis arrives at the conclusion that the biker bully must be the angry ex-boyfriend fella.  Case closed?  And since he’s just eighty-sixed that Dana broad, his troubles with her ex should be over, right?

Nope. The biker ramps up his aggressive harassment, eventually accosting & delivering a nasty beat-down on Dennis in a service station bathroom.  As the frazzled & bloodied Dennis becomes more paranoid, he sees the biker everywhere, enduring a few hallucinations as he tries to hide from his new stalker and wait it out in a parking garage.  Finally he makes it home, much later and much more bruised than expected, and after he delivers a lot of badly-crafted lies to his warm, trusting wife, he hops into the tub with a beer and relaxes.  For a few minutes, anyway.  But then the biker shows up, to no one’s surprise (at least no one who has ever seen a movie like this before), and Dennis’ b.s. story of a car wreck falls apart and he has to kinda-sorta admit to his affair as the angry biker dude breaks in and proceeds to further terrorize Dennis & Crystal.  From here, things get rather messy with hostage-taking, a nerve-wracking rape sequence, and ultimately some chainsaw carnage when nosy neighbors try to intervene.  Eventually the fight between Dennis & Crystal and their unwelcome guest reaches its stabby climax and we find out near the glum ending that perhaps things have not exactly been what they seemed all along.  Not that it makes things any “better” for those involved, because infidelity is definitely a mood-killer when your wife finds out, and a chainsaw-wielding attacker breaking into your home will pretty much ruin anyone’s day, regardless of who it turns out to be.

This is an extremely well-done low budget film.  It looks very professional throughout and it takes some solid (if well-worn) thriller tropes and executes them effectively.  Obvious comparisons to Steven Spielberg’s 1971 classic “road rage” opus DUEL are addressed quite blatantly in a scene where two background characters are discussing that film while Dennis (named for DUEL star Dennis Weaver?) paces in the foreground.  RAGE enjoys playing out the various scenarios between Dennis and the stalker, really seeming to savor the “a-ha!” moments when Dennis thinks everything is gonna get better, only to encounter his pesky biker foe yet again.  The film also delights in its ultimate misdirection as it tries its hardest to keep viewers guessing about the true motivations of the villain.  And the biker cuts a pretty fearsome figure, as a sleek, silent menace who conveys clearly malicious intent with his every movement.  He’s simply not a very nice guy, and whether or not Dennis “deserves” such brutal treatment as a karmic response for his own selfish misdeeds becomes irrelevant when we realize that this biker fiend could be something that any one of us might be forced to deal with, in some fashion, some day.  But the sad fact for Dennis, and maybe even worse for his trusting wife, is that to some degree it IS Dennis’ fault; he has unwittingly led this destructive force into their happy home as a result of his own dumb actions.  He might as well pass along a nasty case of syphilis or herpes to Crystal, while he’s at it.  What a jerk.

And speaking of jerks, here comes the inevitable part of the review where I act like one and complain about the things I didn’t like.  I found the soundtrack to be especially dull and uninteresting; I think more memorable music would have gone a long way towards making this flick a real home run.  I mean, c’mon man, look at that awesome poster! This movie demands some equally-awesome screamy metal stuff, some catchy punk hooks, or maybe at least a few wicked synthesizer arrangements, to get the blood flowing in my ears as well as onscreen.  Anything but the sentimental piano noodling or super mellow keyboard “drama” swells that we are served, when we get any musicat all on the minimalist soundtrack.  Nothing turns me off faster than piano noodling or excessive ambient noise (crunchy footsteps, dripping noises, crickets, etc.)  And we have both here.  Ugh.  The last few minutes of the picture finally gets the musical vibe right, with some fast-paced, ominous “grabber” tones and a pretty neat remix of the film’s key dialogue bits & some grisly screaming over the end credits.  But the fact is that the majority of the film is set to a painfully weak score, which really makes 85 minutes seem much longer than it should.

While I’m on the subject of “slow”, I might add that I was also put off by the plodding first half, simply because an awful lot of time is spent with the camera just lingering on Dennis in various positions, angles and facial expressions he sits in traffic, sips his coffee, and takes in the sights and sounds around him.  I realize he’s the primary character, but I also got rather bored with him by the time things started to heat up and I’ll be honest – I was glad to see him get punched in the face.  Familiarity breeds contempt, they say.  A little bit of this frustration also creeps into the finale of the film, as all of the main characters act particularly weak and defenseless.  I realize the biker is supposed to be a menace, but someone could at least fight back a little.  It takes far too long for anyone’s real self-preservation instincts to kick in during RAGE, and more than once I found myself annoyed and yelling advice at the screen; after all, when he’s on his bike and is clearly serious about putting a major hurtin’ on Dennis, why wouldn’t Dennis just use his car to knock the guy off his motorcycle and then run him over?  That would be my natural reaction if some thug accosted me.  But then I again, I grew up watching Charles Bronson movies, and I might be a bit of a violent sociopath, besides.  Maybe Dennis’ parents weren’t as permissive as mine, I dunno.  Silly pacifists.

In any case, despite my criticisms, RAGE is probably the best independent film I’ve seen in quite some time.  Sure, there were things I wish had been done differently, but all in all, it delivered an engaging and thought-provoking angle on tried & true material, and there is enough truly visceral nastiness going on here that you can tell the director has a real flair for this stuff.  If Christopher Witherspoon expands on what he has accomplished here and brings some more pain to the indie film scene, I’d certainly check him out again.

Other reviews by J Astro:

DON’T OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS DVD
FINAL DESTINATION 5 DVD
HORROR EXPRESS Blu/DVD
HOSTEL PART III DVD
ROMAN’S BRIDE DVD
DEF-CON 4/HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN DVD
NOT OF THIS EARTH DVD
THE WOMAN IN BLACK 

]]> http://famousmonstersoffilmland.com/2012/02/06/j-astro-reviews-rage-dvd/feed/ 0 Rage_poster Rage (6) Rage (7) Rage (3) Rage (2) Rage (1) Rage (4) J_Astro_2012_s http://famousmonstersoffilmland.com/2012/02/02/j-astro-reviews-the-woman-in-black/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=j-astro-reviews-the-woman-in-black http://famousmonstersoffilmland.com/2012/02/02/j-astro-reviews-the-woman-in-black/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:09:25 +0000 Justin http://famousmonstersoffilmland.com/?p=52295 [Continue Reading]]]> THE WOMAN IN BLACK
2012   UK   95mins
Director:  James Watkins
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Ciaràn Hinds, Janet McTeer, Misha Handley, and Liz White

Hammer Film Productions

Review by J ASTRO

Atmosphere, atmosphere, atmosphere.  That is the key to THE WOMAN IN BLACK, legendary English studio Hammer Film Productions’ first original big-screen venture in decades.  The Hammer brand, so infamous and beloved from the late Fifties and into the early Seventies for producing titillating tales of the macabre that helped to redefine classic monster icons and to introduce the fright genre en masse to the likes of Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Oliver Reed and countless others has returned, after lying dormant for many years.  Upon being resurrected by its new backers, Hammer has recently had a hand in unleashing LET ME IN on theater-goers, which was the English language remake of the popular Swedish vampire chiller LET THE RIGHT ONE IN.  Hammer has also released two direct-to-DVD thriller efforts since, WAKE WOOD and THE RESIDENT.  Having not seen the bloodsucker redux (I stuck with the original) or the latter two offerings as of yet, THE WOMAN IN BLACK is my first experience with the new Hammer aesthetic.  And I certainly can’t say I’m disappointed.

After a disquieting, dream-like opening sequence in which three little girls meet an unhappy fate, we are introduced to the star of our show.  Daniel Radcliffe, in one of his first major performances outside of his titular role in the extremely lucrative HARRY POTTER film franchise, plays Arthur Kipps, a sad man with few options left to him in life.  He is flat broke and about to be fired from his job, a heartbroken widower, and trying his best to raise his young son in a gloomy Victorian setting.  Even the boy (Misha Handley) recognizes Arthur’s defeated nature… when showing off some of his crayon artwork and asked by Arthur why he drew his father with a frown, he replies with childish simplicity: “Because that’s what your face looks like.”  Indeed, when not staring with wide-eyed panic at the horrific events to come later in the film, Kipps’ main facial expression is one of endless, harried consternation.  And things don’t get a lot better when his boss at a local law firm (V FOR VENDETTA’s Roger Allam) assigns him the do-or-die, one-last-chance-or-you’re-outta-here task of selling a foreboding old English estate known as Eel Marsh House. A most unenviable task, to be sure.

If you are familiar with many of the original Hammer offerings, you’ll notice similarities instantly.  Upon his arrival to the small, dismal hamlet, Kipps is made to feel most unwelcome.  In much the same way as frightened villagers turned away outsiders in the old Hammer DRACULA or FRANKENSTEIN outings of yesteryear, Kipps is treated coldly and pretty much brushed off & asked to leave.  There’s obviously something secretive & nasty going on that no one wants to talk about, and interlopers are not taken to very kindly.  Luckily for Kipps, he is eventually taken under the wing of a wealthy local man named Sam Daily (Ciaràn Hinds).  Daily is a large, weathered fellow with distinguished features and, despite his outgoing charm, a distinct air of sadness of his own.  Daily and his eccentric wife live in a fine house with a few servants and a couple of very spoiled dogs, and they own the only motor car in town, yet they are both grief-stricken at the loss of their own son some time ago.  Kipps finds the other villagers are extremely protective of their offspring, shooing them inside when he passes by and locking their doors.  After an awkward dinner experience, Kipps and Sam engage in few sobering moments of conversation about the possibilities of life beyond the grave.  It is a topic Kipps is fascinated by, seeing it as perhaps his one chance to be reunited with his dearly departed wife again.  Sam, on the other hand, dismisses the idea of ghosts, at least outwardly, and attempts to dissuade Kipps.  After thanking Sam for his hospitality, Kipps heads to Eel Marsh House to begin his paperwork.  Sam lets him go rather uneasily, knowing that Kipps will be cut off from any outside contact overnight, because the only lonely, desolate path to the Eel Marsh estate is submerged under tidal waters that flow in each evening.  So when the rain storms come and the marsh rises and spooky stuff starts goin’ down, there’s nowhere to run.

The film up until this point has been a soggy and fairly somber affair, and now it gets downright oogy as Kipps meanders about the haunted house.  Dark shadows and flashes of lightning serve to highlight the vine-twisted, weed-filled overgrown graveyard on the property and the ghastly faces which appear in and out of flickering lights.  THE WOMAN IN BLACK relies on a lot of by-the-numbers ghost movie tropes here, but it does ‘em enthusiastically.  Fake-outs and jump scares, sudden appearances of eyeballs peering through keyholes or human shadows in corners, bloody writing on the walls, creepy yellowed photographs, cruddy old wind-up toys that play themselves, rocking chairs that rock under their own power, and plenty of mysterious knocking sounds and jiggling doorknobs.

The inside of the house is sinister and with only a few candles to light the way, you’re pretty much visually trapped there, straining to see just about what Kipps himself sees in most cases… except for maybe when you notice something particularly ghastly over his shoulder. Many of the terrors that Kipps will endure happen on an exhaustive one-night spree, and it is only when he finally makes it to the light of day that he learns of the true consequences of his being in the house.

THE WOMAN IN BLACK plays its hand so straightforward that, at first, little nuances in the plot may go unnoticed.  Initially, I was skeptical of Kipps’ intentions; for a man who has so many chores to do in order to avoid a pink slip and a trip to the poorhouse, he never seems to do any actual work.  He immediately falls under the spell of the house and its sad, wicked past, poking around through old papers and locked trunks.  I was ready to call b.s. on this, but as I thought about it more afterwards, it made sense.  Arthur Kipps is, above all else, obsessed with his departed love and with a futile dream of bringing his family together once again, and if he can prove to himself that life after death does exist, then that gives him a faint glimmer of hope for his own situation.  The finale of the picture bears this out nicely, too – Arthur’s ultimate “reward” and/or punishment for meddling in the business of the vengeful spirit is either dreadful or redemptive, depending on your perspective.  Maybe both. So as I absorbed the whys and wherefores of the plot later, it seemed only natural that Radcliffe’s character should behave as he does.  His performance as Kipps is a rather one-note affair, but that’s all the character is really written as, and he handles it with a convincing enough mix of fear and curiosity.  Hinds is a bit more magnetic as the elder friend, and I think a lot of that has to do with his screen presence, which really feels authentically Hammer-ish.  He just looks the part.  The majority of the supporting cast is comprised of either sullen, worried townsfolk or grisly apparitions.  The special FX are forceful when needed, but never painfully obvious or fake.

The lush and morbid surroundings and the overall maudlin, chilly overtones of the movie are the real attraction, here… again, it’s all about achieving the right atmosphere, and they nailed it.  THE WOMAN IN BLACK is a super-obvious take on conventional, modern haunting movie ideas ranging from RINGU to THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT, and that can be a risky proposition, considering the ubiquity of standard “haunted house” cliches.  But it transplants these ideas into a beautifully-shot, classic haunted house jaunt, and by the time the titular harridan comes shrieking out at the characters onscreen and viewers in the audience, you get the feeling that you are in fact on a very detailed and finely crafted carnival ride, one on which no soul is safe from the retribution of the damned.

My principle concern with this film is that audiences will find it derivative and brush it off with a “been there, done that” attitude.  But I liken it to a really good glass of chocolate milk.  I’m not always in the mood for chocolate milk, and I’ve had it lots of times before in varying degrees of quality and quantities, but when I get a craving for it and I have a fantastic, frosty glass of the stuff, it truly hits the spot.  And that’s the way I feel about THE WOMAN IN BLACK as a superior ghost flick; it satisfied me all the way, even though I already knew approximately what to expect.  That’s not to say that those of you who are lactose intolerant won’t enjoy it as well, but – well, there I go, mixing my metaphors again.  Pick whatever analogy you like.  But it should suffice to say that THE WOMAN IN BLACK is an exemplary specimen of the well-worn ghost sub-genre, not because it does much that hasn’t been done before, but because it does it particularly well.  Recommended, and a solid, worthy return for the continuing Hammer legacy.

Other reviews by J Astro:

DON’T OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS DVD
FINAL DESTINATION 5 DVD
HORROR EXPRESS Blu/DVD
HOSTEL PART III DVD
ROMAN’S BRIDE DVD
DEF-CON 4/HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN DVD
NOT OF THIS EARTH DVD 

VENOM #13

Story: Rick Remender
Art: Tony Moore 

Review by Holly Interlandi

One could argue that Marvel comics are always at their best when they don’t take themselves too seriously. Venom #13 is a shining example. The first issue of a team-up of sorts called Circle of Four, the story provides a plot as trite and hyperbolic as the Son of Satan using a Vegas nightclub to harvest souls and bring about Hell on Earth. Sound familiar? But with the way Rick Remender handles his four characters and their coincidental meeting in Sin City, you spend far too much time being amused to worry about originality.

Flash Thompson, AKA Venom, has gone AWOL from the army and has been shacking up in hotel rooms with a bottle of whiskey. X-23, clone of Wolverine, has taken a job at the previously mentioned nightclub to find out who stole a vial of her blood (presumably for cloning purposes). Red Hulk has been dispatched by Captain America to capture Venom and recover his stolen symbiote. And Johnny Blaze, former Ghost Rider, has been attempting to show Alejandra, current keeper of the Spirit of Vengeance, exactly how to do a flip on a motorcycle.

Bring all these characters together. Add demons and some stylized artwork. Stir until smooth. Or maybe not smooth, exactly, but certainly entertaining. As an example, see the very last panel, in which each of these four will be forced to fight an enemy that is the antithesis of him or herself—meaning, in this case, an angel, a cheerleader, an evangelical preacher, and a giant mass of brain matter. If only all mainstream comics were this cracktastic.

FRINGE

“MAKING ANGELS”

Season 4, Episode 11

Review by Andy Greene

It’s taken four and a half seasons, but the writers of Fringe have finally given the spotlight to one of its most underappreciated characters, Astrid (the delightful Jasika Nicole), and the result is one of the best episodes of an uneven season thus far. Hopefully this week’s episode is a harbinger for things to come.

Our story begins on the Other Side, with their Broyles (Lance Reddick) summoning Fauxlivia (alternate Olivia, Anna Torv) and Linclone (the other Lincoln, Seth Gabel). Turns out, someone from their side has used the bridge between worlds without authorization. Who is it? None other than their Astrid, or as Jasika refers to her, KickAsstrid. Fauxlivia volunteers to bring her back.

A man is given a 95% chance of survival when an early form of cancer is discovered in his body. Waiting for the bus on the way home, he’s approached by an Asian gentleman we’ll come to know as Neil (played by The Dark Knight’s Chin Han), who plays out the man’s future, claiming that he’s the unlucky 5% and the rest of his short life will be pain and suffering. As the bus motors past, the man’s lifeless body is splayed out on the bench.

Walter (the brilliant John Noble) and Peter (my man crush, Joshua Jackson) bicker in the lab, when KickAsstrid enters. Olivia and Astrid quickly follow, as Astrid confronts her doppelganger for the first time. KickAsstrid is distraught, as her father has died, and wants to know if our Astrid has suffered the same heartbreak. Really, she just wants a friend and is clearly curious to see what our Astrid is like and how our world differs from her own. Given the limelight, Jasika shines as essentially a more brilliant Rain Man-type autistic savant as the other Astrid, and the sweet, always helpful Astrid of our own side. When Fauxlivia arrives to inject enthusiasm and a welcome sense of humor, we’re having fun watching Fringe again. The two Other Siders assist the Fringe Division with their case, creating an interesting dynamic. Walter hates Fauxlivia (the pair’s back and forth is priceless), but loves the innocent genius of their Astrid, even calling her by the correct name to the chagrin of our Astrid. Fauxlivia just likes to stir the pot, and I love her for it.

As more bodies pile up with seemingly no pattern to connect them, we see that Neil is putting these men and women out of their misery. Each have a bleak future ahead of them, and before they can enact it, he kills to “save” them. Neil sees himself as a saint, and his ability to see the past, present and future calls to mind the Observers, and their connection is one of the cooler moments of the episode, as we’re finally gaining new information rather than rehashing old twists. Along the way, Their Astrid makes knowing commentary upon the nature of our division’s lab and the group’s dynamic, and we get some genuinely touching moments between the two Astrid’s, ending with some insight into our Astrid’s home life (we finally realize there’s more to her life than being Walter’s nanny).

Written superbly by Akiva Goldsman, J.H. Wyman and Jeff Pinkner, this episode succeeds in large part due to Fauxlivia and KickAsstrid’s appearance on our side. In many ways, we know Fauxlivia more than our side’s Olivia, because this season, other than poor Peter, the main characters are another wrinkle away from their actual selves (plus Fauxlivia is undeniably more fun). Having subtracted Peter from both timelines, it’s like introducing us to these characters all over again, and they simply aren’t our favorites anymore, or as interesting. Unlike when we first found out about The Other Side and their counterparts and wanted more, this third slightly twisted time line just feels stale and leaves me yearning for them to remember Peter already. I feel like the Fringe writers tried to gain a new audience by essentially rebooting the series this season with Peter’s disappearance, and in so doing, they alienated its loyal fan base. There are easier ways to create a new love triangle (new Fringe agent Lincoln clearly fawns over Olivia and the feelings appear mutual; Seth Gabel as Lincoln makes for a good addition to the cast regardless). Like Abrams’ other shows (Alcatraz and Person of Interest), the balance between the oh-wow serialized moments and the case of the week is precarious in Fringe, but for Fringe especially, the more twists and bizarre mythology to absorb, the better. Unfortunately, that may also mean cancellation. But I’d rather have the Fringe we know and love than a pale imitation of it, even if that means fewer episodes. I’m willing to wager that the writers know that, and for all I know, have been planning a big reveal all season long that will make me swallow my words.

SPARTACUS: VENGEANCE

“A PLACE IN THIS WORLD”

Season 2, Episode 2

Review by Andy Greene

The show that put Starz on the map for original programming has finally returned, albeit without its star lead Andy Whitfield, who succumbed to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in September of last year (R.I.P.). Much of the hubbub and discussion of Spartacus’ newest season will begin and end with his replacement Liam McIntyre. It’s impossible to ignore, especially so early in the new season, but for now, let’s get on with the episode.

“A Place In This World” was written by show creator Steven S. DeKnight and already shows improvement from the bland premiere, if only because it puts a spotlight on one of its best and elusive characters, Doctore (the excellent Peter Mensah), providing a glimpse into his past. Friday night’s action begins with a blood bath in the pits, a match between a massive white man and a skinny, lithe black man. This black man is Oenomaus, the man who would become Doctore and lanista for the house of Batiatus, the esteemed trainer for Crixus, Spartacus and Barca alike. The battle is as bloody and gruesome as any that we’ve seen on the show (especially its climax), and that’s a bold statement. For fans that watch the show solely for this kind of gore, it’s a welcome sight, even if it’s perhaps a disturbing commentary on our society.

Spartacus and Crixus (Manu Bennett) continue their grudging alliance in an effort to free Roman slaves and in particular, to find Naevia, Crixus’ lost love. Crixus’ transformation from hated villain to perhaps the character you root for most (that includes Spartacus), especially after the excellent prequel series Gods of the Arena, is a testament to the writers and of Manu Bennett’s underrated work as the conflicted Gaol. The two lead separate factions simmering with tension, and right now, their undisputed leadership of the clans are the only thing keeping the two clans from war. Something tells me that will change in the coming season. But for now, they roam from villa to villa searching for leads to Naevia’s whereabouts, freeing slaves in their bloody wake. After a Dominus’ body slave named Tiberius makes an attempt on the life of Spartacus, the two leaders come into ideological dispute over what’s to be done with the boy.

While Spartacus’ company is exalted by their freedom (witness the Gaol’s excessive ribaldry replete with flopping genitalia), one man isn’t: Oenomaus. In last week’s premiere, he refused to join Crixus and Spartacus on their vengeful path, and has returned to the only place deserving of a man who has lost his honor: the pits. As we learn in flashbacks, Titus Batiatus (Jeffrey Thomas) rescued Oenomaus from his eventual bloody fate in the pits and set to teach him honor and train him in the art of gladiator fighting. Obviously, the man would succeed, and it’s another example of how much better a dominus Titus was than his volatile son Batiatus (John Hannah). Speaking of which, this show misses the side-splitting verbiage of Hannah as the lovably villainous Batiatus almost as much as Andy Whitfield, after his beheading in the first season finale. He had the best lines and deserved an Emmy for his work, and without Ashur (Nick Tarabay) to this point, the show lacks much of its vigorous dialogue and gusto.

As Oenomaus looks for death in his return to the pits, Claudius Glaber (Craig Parker) exhausts every possibility to stop Spartacus. This includes calling a meeting with hated rival Sepia in an attempt to join forces and to heed the words of new town savior, Lucretia (the great Lucy Lawless). Because she survived the massacre in her own house, she’s the lone survivor against Spartacus’ scourge on the countryside and is seen as being touched by the Gods. Of course, Lucretia is insane (even more so than before) and to this point, doesn’t remember much of the past, but calls for a sacrifice to the Gods to find the path to seize Spartacus and his gladiators. Ilithyia (Viva Bianca) sees her as a threat to her safety, not just because she betrayed Lucretia, but of the secrets Lucretia’s restored memory holds of her many transgressions. There were many, none perhaps more significant than that she actually slept with her husband’s mortal enemy Spartacus and with news of her pregnancy, may even hold his child. I doubt her hubby would like that.

I don’t envy Liam McIntyre. Andy Whitfield was a perfect Spartacus, capturing the brutal but moral hero to the core. It would be hard to replace someone like that under normal circumstances, but a man’s death makes it nearly impossible to match up to the task. I vowed to go into this new season with an open mind, because I feel sorry for Liam and want him to succeed because I want to continue to love Spartacus. Judging by this week’s episode, I will soon be able to. In the premiere, I wasn’t very hopeful, but this week, Liam captured Spartacus’ highly moral sense of what’s right and wrong in the scenes with troublesome Tiberius. Punishing the man for acting on his freedom would go against what they are fighting for, and would make them no better than Romans, and Liam delivers this sentiment well.  The only hurdle that remains, and it’s a big one, is his believability as a beast in the arena. Compared to everyone else, Liam is a skinny white boy. He lacks muscle tone and the aura of awesome required of their leader, and I just don’t believe that he’s the incomparable Spartacus on the battlefield. There’s time to be sure, and with the stellar characters around him, including the return of a vile fan favorite at the end of tonight’s episode, and the promise of Gods of the Arena standout Gannicus’ return, there’s more than a glimmer of hope that Liam McIntyre and Spartacus can continue its bloody good run, despite facing the kind of odds that the historical figure upon which it’s based could’ve empathized with.

FATALE #2

Story: Ed Brubaker
Art: Sean Phillips

Review by Holly Interlandi

Brubaker and Phillips are a team well-versed in the world of comics noir, being responsible for the popular titles CRIMINAL, INCOGNITO, and SLEEPER. Their new series FATALE is unique among them, however, for bringing supernatural weirdness into the fray, in the form of Lovecraft cult worshippers and Elder Signs written in lipstick by a mysteriously immortal woman named Josephine. FATALE #2, however, like the first issue, continues to read very much like a classic mystery—twisted and text-heavy.

The positives of such a complex plot are that each single issue covers a great deal of ground. There are very few action sequences, as this is a story about intrigue and infidelity, and Sean Phillips’ art is strictly story support with no splash page in sight. The drawbacks of the complexity are those you might expect: a narrative that is difficult to follow at times, a level of random name-dropping instead of true intimacy with a character, and the imagery taking an inevitable back seat instead of providing any kind of ‘wow’ factor.

The art’s realistic softness does enable the final page to become suddenly horrifying in a one-panel payoff. Whispers of cults and murder cannot prepare you for Phillips’ sudden foray into the blatantly monstrous, and it’s truly chilling. Even in the rest of the book, the shadows and Lovecraftian undertones make it very difficult not to get caught up in the cult of style that FATALE provides. It’s a slow burn, for sure, but this issue in particular hooks you with its unexplained mysticism.

SWAMP THING #6

Story: Scott Snyder
Art: Marco Rudy 

Review by Holly Interlandi

Scott Snyder has a knack for taking things up another notch, even when you think you’ve reached the veritable climax. DC’s new SWAMP THING, in which Alec Holland has been on the run from a horrifying force called The Rot, has thus far been a nightmarish trip of backwards heads, exploding tumors, and pigs fused into giant monsters. But if Issue 5 was intense, Issue 6 makes 5 seem like warm up.

Now we discover that someone Alec assumed was an ally is in fact his doomed enemy. The issue is narrated as a chess metaphor, of discovering the most powerful piece in the game when you least expect it, and where there are no fight sequences or exclamations of metahuman justice, there is a real sense of terror. William, child servant of The Rot, gets progressively more creepy; the Rot becomes more red and, well, rotten; and Alec Holland is looking less and less like Swamp Thing and more like a lost biologist out of his league.

This is real horror. There is a tension building, burning like the forest in so many of the middle pages, spreading across William’s face as it obscures every part of him that was ever human… and one more surprise in store—one last event to leave things truly hopeless. Snyder has really hit you over the head this time, and Marco Rudy goes so far as to draw living chess pieces out of warped bodies. Don’t be fooled by the DC logo, or the suspicion that SWAMP THING is a cheesy superhero comic. It’s disturbing, unique, and vivid as a car crash.

ONCE UPON A TIME

“FRUIT OF THE POISONOUS TREE”

Season 1, Episode 11

Review by Andy Greene

I’m not going to mince words here. I had no intention to watch Once Upon A Time. But upon receiving this assignment, I found myself immersing myself in fairy tale land, and soon, less grudgingly by the week, enjoyed my time in the fictional town of Storybrooke, Maine (of course it’s set in Maine).

With spotty acting and a premise that requires several leaps of faith and an open heart (aww), the show could’ve been a disaster (there are still moments, like when you meet the ill-fated eighth dwarf named “Stealthy,” when you question yourself). But creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis (both co-executive producers on LOST), found the successful tone and formula for the show early on, and haven’t strayed from it. And people have caught on, as this week’s episode was its highest rating of the past eleven weeks at 10.8 million viewers, and with “reimagined” fairy tales becoming pop culture’s newest fixation, that may not change any time soon.

The show, in many ways, is LOST meets Disneyland (Jiminy Cricket is not a fairy tale character. But hey, ABC is owned by Disney!). Each episode follows two inextricably linked timelines, one “our” world, and the other, in the enchanted forest of Happily Ever After (it’s not actually called that, but you get the point). Like LOST, OUAT has a huge cast of characters and a mythology that grows by the episode, and each week there’s a specific focus on one or a couple fairy tale characters and their origins told in glorious LOST flashback mode, and what they’re up to in Storybrooke.

Its newest episode, entitled “Fruit of the Poisonous Tree,” a title that has obvious roots in fairy tale lore (and the greatest fairy tale of all, the Bible) and its double meaning becomes transparent if you’ve taken a law class, is written by the aforementioned creators of the show and directed by Bryan Spicer (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers). The episode focuses on the origin story of Sidney Glass and his fairy tale alter ego, played by the fantastic Giancarlo Esposito of Breaking Bad fame. To this point, in part due to the nature of his character (he’s the face of the Queen’s mirror mirror on the wall), he had been grossly underused. Until now.

Turns out, he wasn’t always trapped in the mirror to advise and be a pithy sidekick to the Evil Queen. He was a genie of Agrabah (the first of many nods and hammers to the head references to Disney’s Aladdin in the episode), who is discovered by guest star Richard Schiff (West Wing) in full blown regent’s regalia as King Leopold, adding yet more royalty to a rather muddled fairy tale hierarchy.

After hearing the Genie’s plight (like everyone else in the show’s two worlds, the Genie just wants to be loved), the King incredulously reveals himself as the greatest human being on the planet. Not only is he completely happy and “wants for nothing,” having found the lamp and given the three wishes by our Genie, he wishes for the genie to be free, and with his second wish, wishes for the genie to have his third and final wish. He didn’t need a whole movie and an accompanied Disney soundtrack to reach enlightenment; he got it done before the credits, and there you have the setup.

Our Genie is tickled, obviously, and vows not to use the wish, because, as any watchers of this show know, magic “always comes with a price.” But we all know this is codswallop. He’s going to use that wish, and (of course) regret it. Things heat up when the Genie follows King Leopold to his kingdom, where we discover that he’s Snow White’s father and is sharing the sheets with the (perhaps) Pre-Evil Queen. Followers of the show know the King meets a tragic end that is one of the catalysts for Snow White’s banishment from the kingdom and subsequently every big event in the series to this point, we just didn’t know how. Rest assured Sleeping Beauty, you will by the end of this episode.

Meanwhile, in the “real” world of Storybrooke, Sidney, no longer the town reporter (“disgraced” is bandied about a lot), approaches Emma Swan (House’s Jennifer Morrison) with a plan to reveal Regina as the, ahem, evil queen that she really is. There’s $50,000 missing in the town’s funds and the records of its transfer are conveniently missing. While they plot against her, Mayor Regina Mills (Lana Barrilla, as always, rocking it) continues her quest to be the world’s worst mother. After a storm hits the town and causes damage to Henry’s “castle” on the beach, she decides to destroy her son favorite hangout spot. The castle was also the hiding spot for the all-important book of fairy tales, and when Henry and Emma reach the construction (or destruction) site, the book is gone. Ruh roh.

As this all happens, Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin) and David (Josh Dallas), following their first kiss at the end of last episode, continue their adulterous affair (how Grimm and naughty) and a happy ending of their own. At the very least, OUAT is an ingenious cross promotion tool for its sitcom Happy Endings. While I still don’t get the appeal of Goodwin, she’s undeniably solid in the show. Not only does she have to balance two (mostly) unrequited love storylines but also two bad hairstyles.

This episode highlights how far the show has come since its inception. While Emma gets her usual screen time, she is hardly the focus, and other leads’ Snow and ‘James’ Charming are relegated to the background, and the usual writing crutch of using Rumpelstiltskin as the reason for every evil wrinkle in an origin story is forgotten here (though you can’t blame the show; Robert Carlysle as Mr. Gold/Rumpel is a delight and he’s missed in his relative absence), and the result is still a solid romp. There are, of course, flaws. Emma and Henry are terrified of what may happen if Regina gets the book in her clutches, but she’s already had it before, and the important pages about Emma’s true identity have been burned long ago. King Leopold goes from a saint to a pervert who reads other people’s diaries. But it doesn’t distract too much from the action.

The end of the episode has a collection of fair(l)y major implications, from Sidney’s true intentions and more information about the shady new stranger in town (Covert Affairs’ Eion Bailey) to consequences for Emma’s relationship with Henry and of course, how the Genie found himself trapped again, this time, in the Queen’s mirror. It’s a testament to any show when you can make an episode with an obvious ending still prove entertaining, and Once Upon A Time, against all my preconceived notions about it, is just that: a fun way to spend Sunday evening until Mad Men and The Walking Dead return.

THE WALKING DEAD

“PRETTY MUCH DEAD ALREADY”

Season 2, Episode 7

Review by Andy Greene

It’s been a couple months since the midseason finale of The Walking Dead, and with AMC’s hit ramping up just in time for Valentine’s Day, it’s time to look back at “Pretty Much Dead Already,” an episode that proves to be a turning point for the show and many of its characters.

TWD is one of the best shows on TV, and that’s even if it sometimes devolves into scenes from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (albeit with zombies). Every single plot and subplot of this episode involves an argument between two or more characters. But it works because these characters are so rich, their emotions so real; the struggle to retain one’s humanity when in hell is really the focus of the show, not the (external) monsters they are fighting, which sounds a lot like a play to me.

The season so far has dwelled on the growing heat in the rivalry between former best buds Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Shane (Jon Bernthal) and who is the best leader, who/what is right and wrong, and what’s best for their group. It has also focused on the search and rescue for Sophia, and the growing heroics and complexities that color Daryl (fan favorite Norman Reedus) as he spearheads the task. In this episode, we (finally) get the answer we were looking for with Sophia (one that many won’t expect), and perhaps an answer in the Rick and Shane debate.

The action begins with Glenn (Steven Yeun practically jumps from the panels of Kirkman’s comic book) telling the camp that Herschel has been keeping live zombies in the barn this entire time. Obviously, this sparks uproar and reignites the debate over Herschel’s rules on the farm, particularly between Rick and Shane in another in a sea of moments that highlight both Lincoln and Bernthal’s Emmy candidacy. Rick clings to the notion that they are guests and must obey Herschel’s wishes against arms to stay in this haven they’ve found, whereas Shane doesn’t see the point in staying somewhere that clearly isn’t safe with zombies lurking and without guns at hand to kill them.

Daryl packs up again to go off looking for Sophie perhaps too quickly after his recent injuries, and Carol (Melissa Suzanne McBride) expresses concern over his safety. Daryl’s not used to anyone’s concern, especially when he’s trying to find Carol’s daughter, so he blows up in her face. Rude.

Moral compass Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn), like clockwork, expresses concern over Andrea’s (Amy Holden) association with Shane and what he’s become and whether she really wants to be like him. As always, it blows up in Dale’s face. This time, he responds rashly by grabbing the remaining weapons to hide them in the woods.

Off to the side, Maggie and Glenn continue their adolescent tiff over Glenn revealing the secret about the barn, but their burgeoning relationship proves to be the only (and very much welcome) bright spot in the series right now, and Glenn’s speech to Maggie is the cutest darn thing you’ll ever hear. Yes, I love them, which probably means one or both will be food soon enough.

Rick goes to Herschel (Scott Wilson) to discuss the news about the barn, ever the diplomat. Naïve to the danger of the outside world, Herschel refuses to negotiate, believing his “conscience is clear,” and that they should be on their way in the coming days. Rick reveals his ace in the hole that Lori is pregnant and stomps off to get in more arguments. Maggie (the luminous Lauren Cohan) overhears the dispute and lets her father have it for wanting to leave Rick’s camp out in the cold. Herschel decides to show Rick what they do with the “sick” in a final effort to get their clan to follow his rules.

There’s a great little scene between Shane and Carl (Chandler Riggs), where Carl stands up for Sophia and what he believes is right, and with Rick’s sheriff hat on his head, is symbolically mini-Rick. He’s clearly chosen his father over his father figure. This, coupled with news of Lori’s pregnancy and how he’s (again) dismissed by Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), brings Shane past the point of no return and off to get his weapons back, which leads to one of the best and most tragic sequences of the series that wraps up all of the disparate elements of this episode and of the season so far all together in a bloody bow.

At times this season, WD has plodded along as slowly as the “walkers” themselves, but even so, these characters have been a treat to spend a tension filled hour with every week. But I think the end of this episode signals a pickup of the pace, and that even direr moments loom. That’s bad news for Rick and company, but good for us. This episode, and really, ever since the middle of the first season, this show has made a statement that it is a completely different entity than the excellent Robert Kirkman comic book upon which it is based. It takes guts to stray from sacred source material, but to this point, it’s been a shrewd move (most likely due to Kirkman’s direct involvement), and has made WD unpredictable for everyone, even for those who thought they knew what was going to happen next.

ALCATRAZ – “CAL SWEENEY”

Season 1, Episode 4

Review by Andy Greene

JJ Adams and his production team Bad Robot’s newest creation is FOX’s Alcatraz, the third show after Fringe and Person of Interest that attempts to jazz up the TV procedural a little bit by infusing LOST-like mythology into the mix. As Sam Neil tells us in an ominous voiceover during the credits, Alcatraz didn’t shut down in 1963. The inmates and guards all disappeared, and now, almost fifty years later, they are coming back, without having aged or changed their predisposition to killing in the slightest.

Created by LOST alum Elizabeth Sarnoff, as well as Steven Lilien (Kyle XY) and Bryan Wynbrandt (Kyle XY), the show has potential with its intriguing high concept. But right now it’s simply a mediocre procedural set in San Francisco with only hints of the overarching storyline. In the mold of Anna Torv (Fringe), Sarah Jones plays the tough and sexy Detective Rebecca Madsen, who’s involved not just to catch bad guys but to find clues about her grandfather (SPOILER: he’s one of the un-aged and killed her partner in the pilot). She’s joined by great LOST alum and Weezer cover boy Hurley, ahem, Jorge Garcia, as Dr. Diego Soto. He’s a comic book nerd with two doctorates and an Alcatraz obsession, and they need some humor to distract from Sam Neill’s stern face. Neill is Emerson Hauser, the mysterious benefactor with an unknown motive to track these guys down (but we do know he was one of the cops who first discovered Alcatraz’s big secret).

Now on the fourth episode of the show, Alcatraz still has some work to do. This week’s installment, “Cal Sweeney,” is written by Robert Hull (Gossip Girl) and directed by Fringe veteran Brad Anderson. While it’s still clearly early, the show hasn’t found the correct balance in terms of procedural and serial storytelling to this point. In the episode we follow, guess who, Cal Sweeney (played by Eric Johnson of Smallville semi-fame), who has a soft spot for safety deposit boxes and tellers. Cal finds lonely middle aged tellers and preys on them, seducing them during bank hours and luckily finding himself in the safety deposit vault where he then drugs the lady, and robs the boxes, not the cash (or else the Feds get involved). As a former employee at Bank of America, it’s hard to describe how wrong and insulting the idea that any of this would actually work, even with the help of a besotted teller (tellers rarely have access to vaults, they can’t turn off security cameras or the alarms in the vaults, and if they could, everything is under dual control with another employee, etc.). Let’s say Cal’s present day accomplishments would’ve been better suited for the 1960s, as would the whole plot because maybe we wouldn’t have seen it before.

As in every episode, the criminal’s return in present day is paralleled with his time in Alcatraz in an attempt to learn more about our villain in mini Criminal Minds fashion. We find out that Cal runs an illegal business selling and distributing contraband through the prison’s laundry system, and is showing young Harlan (Steven Grayhm) the ropes. Soon, the Kyle MacLachlan look-alike Deputy Warden E.B. Tiller (Jason Butler Harner) is onto him after tossing his cell and demands 50% of Cal’s cut or else he’ll reveal Cal’s business to the Warden. With the help of Harlan, Cal hatches a plan to recover what E.B. stole from his cell and to change his mind. The plan is to get E.B. alone at his birthday party and talk him out of it. Really.

Meanwhile, Rebecca and Doc track Cal, who pays a visit to the owner of one of the safety deposit boxes because he gets off on knowing why these objects mean something to him/her. It all has something to do with the missing object in his cell. It doesn’t ruin anything to say that the object is an empty tin box, except maybe your hope of this being an exciting episode. Finally, on the third bank heist, things go wrong for Cal when an alarm is tripped and he’s forced to go into hostage mode, and Rebecca has to go in rather than let regular law enforcement do its job, because Cal is supposed to be dead, or at least 87.

By the end, Cal’s locked up and the day is saved as in any procedural, and while there is a twist in his jail cell past, it’s nothing too surprising. Most importantly, at the very end we do get a couple nuggets that add to the overarching puzzle of the show, but unless the case of the week is interesting (like last week’s), I’d wager that fewer and fewer people will keep watching to find out what these mysterious keys mean, who is giving the orders to these Alcatraz escapees, what Hauser wants, and why Lucy Banarjee and Doctor Beauregard haven’t aged either.

I understand the difficulty of weighing the balance between deepening a show’s mythology and its procedural formula. It’s all about ratings and corralling a larger fan base rather than alienating them with a thick backstory, but by hewing mainstream a show risks boring and losing viewers that adore high concept serials. Fringe still struggles with this in its fourth season. Person of Interest is a hit because its procedural format is interesting and doesn’t leave the average viewer encumbered with backstory. However, many viewers like me find the mythology the most interesting thing about these shows. The difference is that even when Fringe was (and now is again) merely a case of the week, it is appointment television due to its delightful cast of characters, and to this point, there’s nothing that draws me in about Rebecca, our lead. Unlike Doc, who has been given enough quirks to start a hobby shop (or a comic book store) so we don’t spend the whole hour wondering why he’s even there, Rebecca is merely the tough girl cop cliché. The mystery of her grandfather is the only thing we know about her, and that’s not even about her specifically. The previews for next week look like the writers will be addressing that story sooner rather than later, but right now she’s not a complex character you have a stake in. Plus, Hauser (I find it really hard not to just say Sam Neill) is simply a one-note mean boss despite the mystery surrounding his intentions. I’m assuming they got Neill for a reason other than his over the top voiceover, because it’s a shame to waste him as they have to this point.

Right now, Alcatraz is essentially a mediocre procedural with dabs of supernatural and serialized moments sprinkled around every episode. While it may doom its ratings, to be a good and exciting show, it needs to find a better balance, because the Alcatraz prisoner of the week storyline will become rote pretty quick until they inevitably break out Capone. But with the pedigree of its creators, a solid cast and a good hook, there’s still plenty of time for optimism.