Pop Culture News, Reviews, and Opinions
As of this week, we’re officially at the halfway point of this new season of The Mandalorian, and so far each little side quest has revealed something about the bad guys master plans. This week is no different, and it brings back Carl Weathers, Gina Carano, and Horacio Sanz as Greef Karga, Cara Dune, and Mythrol from season one.
This week the father and the child end up on an ocean planet and join up with some familiar faces in what might be the most intense episode of the series to date. It turns out that Fan Service: A Star Wars Story leans way harder into the Dave Filoni created television shows than the films. Also, one revelation that I find super intriguing. Let’s take a closer look at The Heiress.
Last weeks western-inspired desert monster hunt sure was a ton of fun, but it did leave a lot of people asking “what about the kid?” It seems like they must have realized that the episode was light on The Child because this second episode is non stop Child-related hijinx.
The Mandalorian is back for new adventures! The second season premiere is packed with action as Mando and The Child head back to Tatooine in search of other Mandalorians. Fair warning, spoilers for the episode to follow.
Season Two of the hit Star Wars / Disney+ series The Mandalorian is premiering tomorrow, October 30th. For those of you who haven’t had time to re-watch season one, good news! A 90-second recap was posted to the Star Wars Canada YouTube page.
“There are two sides to the coin: the gift, and what it costs.” This is the lesson that the janitor tells her. The janitor, Mr Shaibel, spends his free time in the basement of the orphanage he works in playing chess. A young girl, Beth, takes an interest, and eventually, he begins to teach her. This is, in all likelihood, the closest relationship either of them has ever had. Him, a reserved man content to do his work and play chess, and her an orphan who never knew her father and whose mother suffered from severe mental health issues.
This is the beginning of The Queen’s Gambit, the new adaptation of Walter Tevis 1983 book of the same name, brought to the screen by Scott Frank for Netflix. The story chronicles the rise of a prodigy, a true genius at the game of chess. It follows her life through the 1960s as she combats sexism but also the isolation of genius and dangers and draws of alcoholism.
Continue reading “Review: Anya Taylor-Joy is truly magnetic in ‘The Queen’s Gambit’”
We’re two episodes into the new season of Star Trek: Discovery and so far the jump into the future has created an intriguing new status quo for the crew to explore, and both episodes have been good!
The opening credits sequence –already one of the more visually beautiful title sequences on TV– has seen some updates to reflect that new status quo, so let’s take a look at those now.
Continue reading “Let’s Take a Closer Look at the ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 3 Credits Sequence”
The Simpson’s annual Treehouse of Horror Halloween Special had it’s 31st edition this year, one year shy of the 32 years that the series has been running. It has produced some of the best episodes of the entire series and over the years let the writers and performers explore stories that they couldn’t get away with during the regular season.
As any child of the 90s, I watched many of these episodes as a child but gave up sometime around the end of the so-called “golden age” of the series. This year I am stuck indoors though, and 29 of the 31 episodes are on Disney+, so I spent the last few weeks watching (or re-watching) every Treehouse of Horror they have made, including the 31st edition which aired this past Sunday and ranked all 93 segments, from my least favourite to my most favourite.
Continue reading “All 93 Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Segments, Ranked”
I don’t think it’s a secret that Star Trek is my favourite thing. I grew up watching both Captain Kirk’s Enterprise in re-runs and Captain Picard’s Enterprise as it aired. I have seen every episode of television and every film at least twice, and probably more. I’m not telling you this so much to brag as I am to establish my bonafides. I love Star Trek, but I also know Star Trek.
So when I tell you that Star Trek: Lower Decks is a both a good show and good Star Trek, you can believe me when I say it.
Continue reading “‘StarTrek: Lower Decks’ is an excellent show and excellent Star Trek”
The story of the American space program of the 1960s and 1970s is one of the most well-told stories in recent history. This new adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff joins 1983s film adaptation, HBO’s 1998 mini-series From The Earth to the Moon, and 2016’s Hidden Figures, and that’s just if we are talking about the Mercury program.
The ground is well-trodden, but it’s a story we keep coming back to because it’s a story of achievement and a time when the country banded together behind a common cause for the public good. Sure, that goal was beating the Soviets, but the implications of the space program are so far-reaching that maybe that doesn’t even matter. Because the ground is so well-trodden though, each return to it must bring something new whether it’s the visual jazz of First Man or the behind the scenes story of Hidden Figures, something new or extra needs to be brought each time.
Herein lies the issue with this new version of The Right Stuff. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t bring anything new to the table.
Continue reading “‘The Right Stuff’ tells a story we’ve all heard before”
We are, each of us, haunted. Not by ghosts necessarily, but by our pasts and the choices that we’ve made and circumstances we have endured. We not all haunted all the time, sometimes we are the ones doing the haunting. Memories of us cling to the people we love and who loved us and can drag us down as much as raise us up.
The Haunting of Bly Manor is a story about being haunted, but as with the best of gothic romance, it is not a ghost story as much as it is a story with ghosts in it. Each of the characters is dealing with their own ghost. Whether it is an ex-fiance or bad choices, none is immune. Even the house itself, which is haunted in a more literal sense, is haunted because its past cannot let go of it. Each of them gains a way out because The Haunting of Bly Manor is a story about love.
Update: my review of The Haunting of Bly Manor is now live for everyone.
Greetings all! This Friday will be the premiere of Netflix’s new series The Haunting of Bly Manor. As you are probably aware by now I have been pretty hyped for the show, and I had the opportunity to watch it last week! Those of you who are Patreon supporters at the Lieutenant level or higher can read it right now!
Patreon Supporter Exclusive: The Haunting of Bly Manor
For everyone else, the review will run here on Awesome Friday on the morning of Wednesday (the 7th) ahead of the shows premiere on Friday (the 9th).
In the mean time enjoy the opening credit sequence to the show, which was released on Twitter over the weekend.
Kamala Khan is one of the most popular and important new characters in the Marvel comics universe. It was previously announced that she’d be getting her own Disney+ series and now they’ve cast Canadian newcomer Iman Vellani in the title role.
Continue reading “Canadian Newcomer Iman Vellani cast as Ms Marvel for Disney+”
Dozens, if not hundreds, of new shows debut every year now. That might be hyperbole, but it certainly feels true. Every network has original programming now, and so does every streaming service. Everyone needs to offer unique content, and they’re all spending millions of dollars to make their films and series stand out.
It’s amazing then that all they had to do was be nice.
Ted Lasso, the new series from AppleTV+, concludes its first season today. The series has become one of my favourite things of the year and it did so not by being dark, or edgy, or cynical, but by being positive, uplifting, and relentlessly good-hearted.
Continue reading “‘Ted Lasso’ has one of the best first seasons of TV in years”
In case it isn’t already apparent, I am pretty hyped for The Haunting of Bly Manor. The trailer released last week was good, and the deep dive we took into that trailer revealed what looks to be another effectively scary story from director Mike Flanagan.
Now posters have been released for each of the nine episodes, and each one comes with the episode’s title. Each title is that of a story by Henry James, whose classic horror story The Turning of the Screw inspires the main plot of the season. The season also reportedly borrows pieces from other stories by James, so consider each of these posters clues.
Continue reading “Poster Gallery: ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’ posters reveal the episode titles”