‘The Walking Dead’ S08E13 Recap: “Do Not Send Us Astray”

March 26, 2018

Summary:
Could it be? Two great episodes in a row? I cannot believe I’ve become so cynical, I was a diehard defender of the show for years. I hope that we are seeing trends here and not momentary improvements.

The Saviors continue their trek to assault the Hilltop with the bio-engineered weapons, which is a fancy way of saying arrows and knives coated in dead guts, with Simon at the helm. Negan, for those who forgot, is a prisoner of Queen Trash and we do not hear from them at all throughout the episode. The saviors finally arrive and a huge battle starts with big losses on both sides. The hilltop is more ready than they appear and, under Maggie’s surprisingly adept battlefield command, repel the saviors but not before taking a number of casualties, including Tara who was shot in the arm with an arrow by Dwight, possibly saving her from Simon who was ready to make the kill. More are injured then dead, both stabbed and shot with arrows, but they will live to fight another day….or will they? In a bit of the most terrifying TV I’ve seen in a long time the biological end of the Saviors attack begins to take hold as the Hilltop lays down to sleep. Starting in the hospital wing the injured begin to die, and the dead begin to rise leading to horror that has not yet been seen inside the walls of the Hilltop. Meanwhile Henry stalks the captured saviors with an assault rifle, hoping to kill his brother’s murderer. The Z-Outbreak throws a wrench in his plan and allows the saviors to escape, with most leaving but some deciding to stay after seeing that Simon wanted to let them die during the earlier battle. In the aftermath the survivors are left to figure out how the Outbreak happened, which Rick is able to shed some light on. All eyes turn to Tara, will the arrow Dwight shot her with prove fatal, or was he really aiming, pun intended, to save her life.

The Good:

The aforementioned Zombie attack was amazing. Seeing the dead begin to rise in such a safe space was truly unsettling. It was shot in almost total darkness leaving much to the imagination. When the attack finally happens it brings back that chaotic notion that anyone can go at any time, a true edge of your seat scene that the show desperately needs more of
Simon stepping up as the leader of the Saviors and highlighting that Negan may not really be so bad after all, even if he is severely mistaken on the best way to do things. Seeing Simon’s psychotic and vengeful take on leadership will bring some much-needed sympathy to Negan’s character in the episodes to come. Depending on how they follow the story it may or may not be needed.
More Daryl. I know it’s cliché but Daryl is, or I should say can be, the best character in the show. He’s a fierce warrior with a heart of gold who’s endlessly loyal to those he’s close to. He just hasn’t been getting anything outside of punching and grunting for quite some time. He leads off the attack against the saviors in the coolest of ways with a machine gun mounted to his bike, ala Machete, and later has a heart to heart with Tara where he brings up his brother Merle for the first time in forever.
Maggie getting a chance to voice the motivations behind her leadership which are, to her, totally selfish, but to her people she is what is keeping them alive.

The Bad:

Maggie’s lack of a baby bump. Yes I know I said this last week but it is REALLY bugging the shit out of me. It’s been two seasons since Glenn died, even with a slowed down sense of time she’d have to be at least 6 months along and even still with malnutrition she’d have to have SOMETHING, right?
They need Jesus in their lives! No, not the bearded fella from Nazarene I am talking about Jesus of Alexandra. When the protector of Alexandria first showed up it was with great fanfare, and the writers seemed to be aware of that for a while, highlighting his amazing charisma and unparalleled fighting skills. Yet, at some point, they decided we cared more about Morgan, or that kid Henry….hell even Gregory gets more screen time. I am reminded of this thanks to a 4-second clip of Kung-Fu Jesus regulating when the zombie outbreak occurred. The stark reminder of how awesome this guy is hurts, make his story matter! Create a reason for him to be a top player! Shit, just create a side story where he and Daryl roam the undead countryside along ala Kung Fu the show.
Henry. We get it, he’s pissed that his brother was murdered and wants revenge. Is this storyline really worth the 10 minutes an episode they’ve been devoting to it?
Finally, Simon’s speech. Is it just me or has he been going to the Eugene school of verbosity. He puts the 3-dollar words on for full effect and really ends up sounding like Damon Wayan’s character from the classic “In Living Color” sketch. “We need to constipate the conflagration of the constitutions amalgamations”

The Dead:

Rejoice, for the prodigal children have returned. As I mentioned in the summary the Z-threat is back in full affect…for the first time since they got to Alexandria. Yes the dead have broken the defenses before but this was different. The fact that they fully infiltrated the house when everyone felt very safe and were sauntering amongst the living as they lay sleeping on the floor was anxiety inducing to say the least. To quote the internet: “MORE OF THAT, MORE OF THAT, LESS OF DUMB STUFF, and MORE OF THAT!”

Steven Spielberg Insists ‘The Adventures Of Tintin’ Sequel “Is Not Dead”, But It’s Up To Peter Jackson

Travis Hopson

March 26, 2018

2011’s motion-capture The Adventures of Tintin was a huge hit internationally, with the Steven Spielberg/Peter Jackson collaboration grossing $375M worldwide. It didn’t do so hot domestically, however, and reviews were pretty mixed. I remember loving it and awaiting a sequel eagerly, but there was always something standing in the way, namely that the next one needed to be directed by Peter Jackson who had other priorities like his Hobbit movies.

While in London promoting Ready Player One, the 71-year-old Spielberg confirmed that a sequel to The Adventures of Tintin is still happening and that the burden is still on Jackson to do it…

“Peter Jackson has to do the second part,” he said. “Normally, if all goes well, he will soon start working on the script. As it takes two years of animation work on the film, I wouldn’t expect to see it be released for at least another three years. But Peter will stick with it. Tintin is not dead!”

Okay, for years every time someone has brought up Tintin to Spielberg his response has always sounded like “Hey man, that shit’s not on me anymore! Go talk to Peter about that. I’ve got stuff goin’ on over here, he ain’t got shit.” And Spielberg STILL sounds that way.

The sequel has long been reported to be based on two of Herge’s novels centered on the adventurous Belgian detective and his dog Snowy, The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun and The Seven Crystal Balls and The Temple of the Sun. We’ll see if it ever gets off the ground, but I’m not counting on it until Jackson says definitively that he’s working on it. Right now he’s got an epic WWI documentary headed for London’s BFI Fest which will be taking up a lot of time. [Premiere]

Podcast: Uprising with the PACIFIC RIM Sequel, ISLE OF DOGS, Nate Parker’s Return & more!

John Nolan

March 25, 2018

On this week’s show I’ll be joined by my northern buddy Chris Bumbray of Joblo.clom and The Beard and the Bald podcast to review PACIFIC RIM UPRISING! Does the these giant robots need retooling without Guillermo Del Toro? Or is John Boyega enough to pilot this sequel to greatness? Chris will also hang around to talk about the TOMB RAIDER reboot and if it’s the start of a new franchise or a dud. Plus, my review of Wes Anderson’s ISLE OF DOGS, Zoey Deutch in FLOWER, and more!

We’ll also talk about Nate Parker’s return to movies, Chris Evans’ saying goodbye to Marvel, and Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek movie!

Tune in and follow Cinema Royale here on Blogtalkradio as part of Critical: The Movie Critics Network!

Box Office: ‘Pacific Rim Uprising’ Rockets To #1 With $151M Worldwide

John Nolan

March 25, 2018

1. Pacific Rim Uprising (review)- $28M
It was inevitable that SOMETHING would knock Black Panther off its perch, and that credit goes to Pacific Rim Uprising. The Del Toro-less sequel stars John Boyega as the son of Idris Elba’s character from the first movie, and it opened with $28M domestic which is only $9M shy of its predecessor. That’s not too bad, and considering the $151M worldwide haul I’d call this a mild success. With a budget hovering around $150M the film still needs to leg it out for a while to truly be called a hit, but the prospect of that happening is better now than it was a couple of days ago. The reviews by critics have been middle of the road while audiences seemed to like it well enough. Who knows? Maybe John Boyega has a new franchise to call his own?
2. Black Panther- $16.6M/$630.9M
Holy crap, Black Panther is now the highest-grossing superhero movie of all time domestically. Think about that. At $630M it has also surpassed Star Wars: The Last Jedi‘s $619M and The Avengers’ $623M. The film now has $1.23B worldwide which I think is more than Marvel could have ever imagined.
3. I Can Only Imagine– $13.8M/$38.3M
4. Sherlock Gnomes (review)- $10.6M
I’m one of the few who apparently remembers 2011’s Gnomeo & Juliet quite fondly, but even I have a hard time justifying the need for Sherlock Gnomes. The original film opened with $25M and managed nearly $200M worldwide. Seven years later and the sequel opened with $10.6M domestic and barely a blip overseas. The reviews have been horrible (including from me) and the attempt to tell a Sherlock Holmes mystery in place of following the characters we liked the first time was a huge mistake. With Johnny Depp playing the titular detective can we count this as another flop for him? Let’s do that.
5. Tomb Raider– $10.4M/$41.7M
The rebooted Tomb Raider with Alicia Vikander isn’t exactly holding on for dear life in week two, slipping 56% for just $10.4M. At $41M domestic those numbers aren’t too great; fortunately thanks to $170M overseas it sits at $211M worldwide. Not awesome, but when all is said and done it should surpass the totals of both Angelina Jolie flicks.
6. A Wrinkle in Time– $8M/$73.8M
7. Love, Simon– $7.8M/$23.6M
Well, I hoped for an extended run for Greg Berlanti’s terrific Love, Simon, and that might be happening. The Nick Robinson-led gay teen comedy fell just 33% and now sits at $23M after two weeks. I’m expecting it to stick around for a while despite the glut of blockbusters due to the strong reviews and genuinely great material. Let’s hope.
8. Paul, Apostle of Christ– $5M
The second of two faith-based movies in the top 10, Paul, Apostle of Christ opened with a solid $5M but was likely cannibalized by the second week momentum of I Can Only Imagine.
9. Game Night– $4.16M/$60.8M
10. Midnight Sun (review)- $4.11M
The latest entry in the “sick teen romance drama” is Midnight Sun, starring Bella Thorne and Patrick Schwarzenegger in a remake of the 2006 film that nobody in American saw. Trust me, the Japanese version is better. Anyway, it’s also very similar to last year’s Everything Everything, and stars Bella Thorne as a girl with a rare disease that keeps her out of the sunlight. Fortunately, Schwarzenegger is just the right shade of hot to keep her comfy and protected. The film opened with just $4.1M and will be out of sight, out of mind fairly quickly.

Venom Faces The Music In Latest Marvel Funko Animated Short

John Nolan

March 24, 2018

WonderCon is taking place this weekend, and I’m guessing there are no shortage of Funko Pop! Vinyl figures being sold and traded on the convention floor. It’s also where Marvel and Funko have decided to debut their latest animated short film, Rooftop Rock, featuring a pitched battle between Spider-Gwen and Venom.

The seventh of eight shorts released in this second season, it finds Spider-Gwen just minding her own business listening to some tunes. That is until Venom shows up spoiling for a fight and Spider-Gwen forces him to face the music.

These little movies are a real treat and I can’t wait to see how they end the season. Hopefully they’ll keep ’em coming.

‘Gotham’ Recap Season 4, Episode 15 – ‘The Sinking Ship, The Grand Applause’

John Nolan

March 24, 2018

In this week’s Gotham
we see the fight for the power of Gotham coming to a head between Sofia and Jim
& co. A lot happens this week that will definitely shift the landscape of Gotham.
Let’s check it out!

Power struggle story arc:
“I killed him because he disappointed me. Just like you” –

The episode begins with Riddler rescuing Martin from Sofia’s
men who are holding him captive. Riddler used Martin’s notepad to give him step
by step instructions on what to do, leading to Riddler taking care of the two
goons and getting Martin out of there. While this is happening, Lee stops by
the narrows to see the way that Samson is terrorizing her people. He is holding
public executions to scare the citizens of the narrows into paying for his
protection…from Samson’s own people.

While this is happening, Jim and Harvey are trying to come
up with a plan of how to proceed. Jim asks Harvey for what seems like the 100th
time to rejoin the force, and this time it finally works. Harvey agrees to help
Jim, but makes it clear that after they take down Sofia Jim will have to pay
for what he’s done. Harvey uses his old contacts and visits a former hitwoman of
Falcone’s to try and get some information that can help him and Jim take down
Sofia. He learns that Mr. Pent, Falcone’s old bookkeeper that was working for
Penguin, was actually double crossing him and working for Sofia all
along. Harvey goes to Arkham to ask Penguin about Mr. Pent and hopefully be
able to track him down. At the same time, Sofia got word that Martin has
escaped and sends Zsasz and Headhunter (who is back without missing a beat) to
go kill Penguin.

Harvey, Zsasz, and Headhunter are in a standoff that Harvey
is surely going to lose. Luckily for him, Riddler helps Penguin escape as
this is going on – sounding an alarm that scares Zsasz and Headhunter off. Riddler
and Penguin go to Lee’s place where it quickly becomes clear that all of them
have the same mission – to take down Sofia. Riddler has the idea to employ
Victor Fries’ talents to freeze Penguin and deliver him to Sofia as a Trojan Horse,
but this idea is quickly dismissed by Penguin. Lee tells Riddler to go recruit
Grundy to help the cause. Riddler doesn’t know that Butch is back
and he doesn’t get the warm welcome he was expecting to receive from Grundy.
Butch ties Riddler up and delivers him to Barbara and Tabitha. Barbara has been
suffering from splitting migraines where she is hearing voices and can barely
stand the pain. She manages to put that aside to deliver Riddler to Sofia in
the hopes that he will give up Penguin leaving Lee with no allies left –
essentially ending the rebellion. Penguin becomes anxious that Riddler hasn’t returned and leaves Lee’s apartment, walking right
into Jim and Harvey who were out looking for him.

Penguin reiterates the fact that he was set up and did not
kill Martin and that he will prove it once Sofia is taken care of and Martin
will be safe. Jim realizes that he and Penguin also want the same thing, to
take down Sofia – although Jim wants to arrest her while Penguin wants her 6
feet under. Jim and Harvey let Penguin know that Mr. Penn is the one who
betrayed him and after a little temper tantrum, Penguin tells them they can most
likely find Mr. Penn at a spa right outside of Gotham. Zsasz and Headhunter
interrupt this reunion and a fire fight ensues. As the firefight is happening,
Lee manages to rescue Penguin and drives him away from the danger. With Penguin gone, Zsasz and
Headhunter lose interest in the situation at hand and retreat.

Lee and Penguin decide to go through with Riddler’s earlier
Trojan Horse plan and go to visit Victor Fries. Fries gives Penguin a heating
device that is set on a timer so he will be able to get out of the ice and
ambush Sofia, killing her. While this is happening, Riddler has been delivered
to Sofia and she is having him tortured to try and find out where Penguin is. Riddler does not give up Penguin’s location and before the torturing can continue,
it is interrupted by Fries delivering the frozen Penguin to Sofia. Riddler
immediately laughs to himself knowing that this is his Trojan Horse plan coming to fruition.
Sofia has no need for Riddler anymore so she orders a couple of her men to take
him to the docks and kill him. Zsasz and Headhunter get to the mansion and tell
Sofia that they overheard Jim and Harvey saying they were looking for Mr. Penn.
Sofia and her men immediately go to get to Mr. Penn before Jim and Harvey can.

Jim and Harvey arrive at the resort and spa where Mr. Penn is,
and needless to say… it is quite interesting. Penn tells the two of them
everything and just as they are about to leave, Sofia and her men show up and
Jim gets shot in the side. Jim tells Harvey to get Mr. Penn to safety while he
distracts Sofia and her men. Zsasz and Headhunter go after Harvey while Sofia
and the rest of the men go after Jim. Lee pulls up in front of the resort and
lets Harvey take the car to get Mr. Penn out of there while she goes to look
for Jim and Sofia. Jim manages to take out a bunch of Sofia’s men, but Sofia shoots him multiple times. As Jim is laying on the ground, Sofia
approaches him at gunpoint and tells him to beg for his life and ask for
forgiveness so the two of them can start over. Jim isn’t the biggest fan of
that plan and tells Sofia to go to hell. Right before Sofia is about to shoot
Jim, she gets shot from behind. She turns to see that it was Lee who shot her
and Lee puts another bullet right between Sofia’s eyes.

As this is happening, Penguin’s heating device turns on and he
breaks out of the ice. He finds out that Riddler has been taken to the docks to
get killed and he forgoes his opportunity to take down Sofia to go save his
friend. He gets there right in the nick of time and they share a great bromance
moment.

Jim awakens in the hospital to see Harvey next to his bed waiting
for him. Harvey lets Jim know that Lee kept him alive until the medics were
able to get to him. Harvey also tells Jim the unfortunate news that somehow
Sofia is not dead, she is in a coma. Jim tells Harvey that it is time for him
to come clean about the Pyg and what Jim knew, but Harvey shoots down that idea. He tells Jim that that would be selfish of him to do – it would clear his conscience, but
would rid the city of the hero they need Jim to be.

We see Lee back in charge at the narrows. She is having her
men beat the hell out of Samson. Right before she is about to let him
go, she decides to take a hammer and return the favor to his hand. The episode
ends with Barbara’s migraines getting more severe. She looks down and sees her
hand is glowing. She turns around to see a vision (or was it a vision!?) of Ra’s al Ghul coming towards
her.

My thoughts:

There was a ton to process in this week’s episode. The
episode featured some great comedic moments like the Riddler rescuing Martin and
then taking him out to ice cream and then some dark ones like Lee taking out
her anger and frustration on Samson’s hand. When the dust settled, it looks
like Sofia has been neutralized for now. It is shocking that she managed to survive
getting shot in the head by Lee. There is a reason that they kept her alive and
she will definitely return in some form or another – in what way
and when that will be, I have no idea, but it will happen. It also seems like
the story line of Jim confessing about his knowledge in the Pyg debacle is
being put to rest as well. I’m glad to see that over with – it was played out
enough by now and we were all ready to move on from it. I’m curious to see how
this angry and dark version of Lee progresses with running the narrows and how
she will interact with Jim from here on out.

Bruce story arc: “Next
time, take the deal” –

Bruce hears rustling around in the kitchen and thinks
someone may have broken in. Turns out it was just Selina searching for food. Selina
asks Bruce for help, which of course just means she needs him to bankroll something for her. Selina feels guilty about the jewelry she stole from the Wayne Enterprises scientist that Ivy ended up killing. She wants to repurchase the items from the
person she sold them too, but she knows it going to be expensive. Bruce agrees
to help her and they pay his shop a visit. As is typical with Selina there is a
part of the story that she didn’t fill Bruce in on. She had tried to rob the
shop the night before to get the jewelry back and the shop owner is not too
pleased about it. He decides that the appropriate course of action would be to
keep the jewelry and rob Bruce and Selina. Bruce and Selina fight side by side
and quickly dispatch of him and his men. As they’re leaving with the jewelry, Bruce
throws the money on top of the guy. Selina asks Bruce another favor – to return
the jewelry to the family she stole it from. Bruce tells her that she can
summon the courage to do it herself.

My thoughts:

Bruce fighting alongside Selina is something I think we will
see a lot of in the future. Selina shows again that while she may be a thief,
she does have a conscience. I very much enjoy the interactions between these
two and the offbeat relationship they have and I am glad we are continuing to
be able to see it progress in the show. Gotham is doing justice to the interesting relationship that Batman and Catwoman have always had.

Next week on Gotham:

It’s looking like Jerome escapes from Arkham and is back on
the streets of Gotham. We see a quick snapshot of Tetch and Scarecrow as well –
could this be part of Joker’s plan that he mentioned to Penguin last week? There
is a showdown with Selina and Bruce against Jerome where Selina has him held at
gunpoint. And of course Barbara’s shiny hand story continues… I am very curious
to see where that is taking us.

Review: ‘Midnight Sun,’ Starring Bella Thorne, Patrick Schwarzenegger, and Rob Riggle

John Nolan

March 24, 2018

What is there to say about Midnight Sun that hasn’t already been said about all movies in the very specific subgenre of “sick teen girl falls in love with romantic, devoted boy; sad things happen”? There is a sick girl. She falls in love with a romantic, devoted boy. Sad things happen. Honestly! There is nothing else to say!

But OK, fine, let’s try anyway. A remake of a Japanese film from 2006 that was a sort of extended music video for its star, pop singer Yui, Midnight Sun focuses on teenager Katie (Bella Thorne), who has the rare disease xeroderma pigmentosum, or XP. She is basically allergic to the sun, meaning she spends her days cooped up inside, hovered over by her photographer father Jack (Rob Riggle), scribbling lyrics in her journal and pining over the handsome Charlie (Patrick Schwarzenegger). Desperate to breathe outside air, she sneaks out of her house at night to play her acoustic guitar, finally piquing Charlie’s attention.

Do they fall in love? They sure as hell do! For weeks Katie meets Jack only at night for frenzied makeout sessions while her secret lingers over their relationship. He rents her recording time at a studio; they make dopey adorable eyes at each other. But a movie like this has a foregone conclusion, and each scene only takes you closer to the inevitable, obvious end.

Thorne is doing what she can with an underwritten, trapped-princess character, and while she goes for a little zaniness and a little slapstick humor, it doesn’t really jive. (And of course, like so many “sick girls” in film, she’s beautiful throughout, with only a slight thrill of danger in a scene where Katie and Charlie stay out too long, and only a more-pale lipstick shade hinting at a downward turn in her health.) And although Schwarzenegger will certainly grab some hearts (especially from teen girls who may remember his relationship with Miley Cyrus) and does the dreamy, committed boyfriend thing well, the character is also kind of absurd — dude, you didn’t realize for weeks that you never saw your girlfriend during the day? Really?

Everything is shot like and everyone is dressed like they’re on a vintage ’90s WB teen drama; Thorne is an okay singer but none of her songs is memorable; and the ending of the film is more of an eyeroller than a tearjerker. Midnight Sun will have a very particular audience, and you’ll know if you’re a member of it. If not, stay away.

Review: 1 out of 5

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Review: ‘Midnight Sun,’ Starring Bella Thorne, Patrick Schwarzenegger, and Rob Riggle

Review: 1 out of 5

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