When I posted my first Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. review, I lamented that it was up against Supernatural.

Oops. I was wrong. Supernatural actually airs at nine o’clock, as it always has. I’d read some incorrect reports about its time changing. My bad. This works out well for me, as it gives me a Tuesday of television watching.

First of is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., now settled into its third week. It’s getting to the point where the show should be demonstrating what it is really made of.

Continue reading Reviews: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D 1×03 and Supernatural 9×01

I am a Marvel Zombie.

Not one of the flesh-craving heroes that have been published by the company since the zombie revival– no pun intended– was big.

But I am a huge fan of the Marvel universe. Now, I admit, I haven’t been reading much in the past few years. It was on a steady decline for me after Civil War and once Marvel Divas hit, I pretty much gave up entirely (seriously, Marvel? A Sex and the City homage a year after the movie came out and five years after it was actually culturally relevant?)

Despite my current estrangement from the comics, I do try to keep up with Marvel in other media. I quite enjoy the cinematic universe, which I feel distils many of the good ideas from the various incarnations into one interconnected story.

But you guys are pushing it now.

Continue reading Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 1×02: 0-8-4 Review

I initially hesitated in watching Once Upon a Time because I was a fan of Bill Willingham’s Fables, which I thought OUAT was blatantly playing on. Through later research I discovered that  ABC actually owns the rights to Fables and that my fears were unfounded. While both stories have fairy tale characters in the modern world, they took very different approaches to it.

Also, I became very uncomfortable with the blatant right-wing rhetoric Willingham liked to jam into his character’s mouths.

OUAT has a lot of things going for it that appeal to me: Complex, interwoven storylines, morality issues, many strong female characters and Robert Carlyle.

Continue reading Once Upon a Time 3×01: Heart of the Truest Believer Review

WARNING: As this review talks about procedural dramas, there is discussion of rape, imprisonment, cannibalism and violence.

 

I was debating whether to review these, as I didn’t really know if I had enough to say about them. That’s why it’s taken me a few days to come out with anything. But I figured if I reviewed them all together, I might have enough for a proper review. So think of it as the “Procedural Post of Doom” or something.

I have long been a fan of procedural police shows. Since my parents started working from home, it seems like they’re on in the house for most of the day. These three are my favourites and the ones I will actually go out of my way to watch.

Continue reading Procedural Premiere Post of Doom: SVU, Criminal Minds and Elementary

In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode The Zeppo, Cordelia Chase– upset Xander has cheated on her with Willow– lashes out at him, calling him “The Zeppo”, after Zeppo Marx. She insists Xander’s hero friends are fine without him getting in the way.

Xander then proceeds to battle zombies intent on blowing up the school, loses his virginity and gains a new confidence while his friends pop in every once and a while, dealing with the opened Hellmouth.

Continue reading Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D 1×01 Review

I don’t often write full-out movie reviews, but I have a lot of thoughts about this flick. I am a fan of the zombie genre. I am a loyal reader and watcher of The Walking Dead. I especially like inventive takes on the genre. I thought Warm Bodies was a revelation, paying homage to Romeo and Juliet and spoofing Twilight. I will defend to the death Zombie Strippers as a brilliant flick, as who would’ve thought you could adapt Eugène Ionesco’s Rhinocéros with zombies and porn stars playing strippers and make a commentary on the American government?

Being a fan of inventive zombie fiction, World War Z by Max Brooks (son of Mel and Mrs Robinson) is one of my favourites. I’ve read the book and listened to the audio several times. It is not an action tale. Inspired by Studs Terkel’s The Good War, it comprises of personal accounts of The Zombie War. It’s an engaging and chilling tale of the collapse and rebuilding of civilization due to a zombie plague.

Just to put this up front: I was NOT thrilled with the idea of the movie. The book is such a product of its medium, I knew it wasn’t going to translate to film. It is not popcorn movie blockbuster flick material. One of my favourite chapters is actually about Arthur Sinclair Junior from “Department of Strategic Resources” describing the conservation of resources and the retraining of the potential workforce from CEOs to repairmen. It comes off as something more suited to an apocalyptic West Wing (Which is aided in the audio by the character of Arthur Sinclair Junior being played by Alan Alda). Actual battle scenarios, fighting against the zombies, are actually few and far between, focusing on the human survival and socio-political ramifications of such an outbreak. That is what made World War Z unique. The only way to do a proper adaptation would have been as a pseudo-documentary miniseries, in the style of Ken Burns. Having people recount their stories with pictures and footage (both “real” and “recreated”) punctuating the narrative.

However, I thought I’d give the movie a shot. I knew it wouldn’t be like the book, but maybe, possibly it would be a decent zombie flick. The fact I wasn’t too thrilled about it can be seen that it’s been out for a while and I’m only getting to it now. But I thought I’d give it a chance.

Nope.

Despite stripping away everything that made the book unique in favour of an action-packed popcorn flick, it’s boring. The fighting is dull and mostly just people running while a shaky camera follows them.  The parts without zombies are tedious.

(SPOILER WARNING! I’m giving the entire plot away. But the movie is so tedious, I’m saving you fourteen dollars and two hours of your life)

Continue reading World War Z Review