Category: Reviews

‘Game of Thrones’ Thrills and Frustrates In Its Penultimate Season

It’s seventh season, the HBO original series continued to excel with its epic scale but faltered in its storytelling.

After a longer-than-usual break, Game of Thrones returned to HBO in late August with its penultimate, 7-episode, seventh season, and to say the anticipation was high would be an understatement. For the past six years, the conflict between the great houses of Westeros had been building and building, and it seemed like events were finally coming to a head. Well…they didn’t really happen. What season seven of Game of Thrones gave us was a collection of great moments strung together by a flimsy story with an increasing lack of narrative logic.

Spoilers below…

Continue reading “‘Game of Thrones’ Thrills and Frustrates In Its Penultimate Season”

Netflix assembles ‘The Defenders’ in the superhero crossover event

Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist team up in this eight-part crossover event.

Everybody loves a good team up. It can be a ton of fun to watch different sets of characters crossover and butt heads over their differences whilst fighting a common enemy. We’ve seen Marvel do this to great success twice now with The Avengers and now their TV arm is getting in on the action with The Defenders. So was the team up of these street-level heroes worth the wait or were they better off on their own?

Continue reading “Netflix assembles ‘The Defenders’ in the superhero crossover event”

The Warren Room Roundup – 06/28

A quick look back at the recently-concluded seasons of American Gods, Better Call Saul and Fargo.

Welcome to The Roundup! You’ve stumbled upon a special type of post where I provide mini-reviews of shows I’ve been watching. As much as I wish I could, I just don’t have time to give every show I watch a full write-up. So this is my attempt at a compromise. Going forward, my intent is to balance these mini-reviews with longer, more in-depth posts when I have the time. Each of the three shows I’ll be reviewing today more than merit discussion, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t share my thoughts on them.

Today, we’re taking a (spoiler-free) look at three shows that concluded their seasons this past week: American Gods, Better Call Saul, and Fargo. So without further ado, let’s dive in.

Continue reading “The Warren Room Roundup – 06/28”

What’s this about ratings? A look at the metrics that power the TV industry

When I first began to develop an interest in TV, one of the first things I did was learn as much as I could about ratings. I’m not talking about critical ratings, but viewership and demographics. I sought to learn how TV shows turned a profit and what metric was used to quantify their success. I discovered the answer was far from simple. Nonetheless, I’m going to try and simplify it for you today. Hopefully, after reading this post you’ll understand a little bit more about how TV works.

Continue reading “What’s this about ratings? A look at the metrics that power the TV industry”

Amazon’s ‘Bosch’ Delivers a Riveting Crime Show Anchored By A Stellar Cast

Amazon’s ‘Bosch’ is a well executed cop show that makes for a good binge.

There’s something satisfying about watching a TV show that isn’t particularly revolutionary but simply does what it does well. With more TV shows than ever available to us, each is shooting for the ceiling trying to capture our interest with unique premises and grand scopes. Unfortunately, many of these shows fall flat due to reasons like poor pacing, bad writing or a story that can’t sustain itself. Amazon’s crime thriller Bosch avoids those pitfalls by simply executing a fantastic version of the crime drama.  With season three recently released on Amazon Prime, I thought now would be a good time to take a look at what made Bosch stand out to me in this crowded TV landscape.

Continue reading “Amazon’s ‘Bosch’ Delivers a Riveting Crime Show Anchored By A Stellar Cast”

‘Logan’ brings the story of Wolverine to an emotional close

In an age where every superhero movie seems to be all about delivering the biggest spectacle Logan, directed by James Mangold and starring Hugh Jackman (in his final turn as the titular character), is determined to give you the opposite. This is not a superhero film. Logan is an intense and moving film that features comic book characters. Yes, there’s some great action set pieces but by and large, this film is focused on bringing the story of Wolverine to a fitting conclusion.

Continue reading “‘Logan’ brings the story of Wolverine to an emotional close”

’24: Legacy’ Is More Of The Same, Just Without Jack To Anchor It

It’s second verse, same as the first from this reboot of the classic series.

Nostalgia is a powerful force. We are naturally attracted to the familiar; it brings us a sense of comfort. So it’s no wonder that the entertainment industry traffics in nostalgia. Hollywood is built on sequels and remakes because they belong to pre-sold properties. They have to work less to get people to see/watch them. The TV industry is no different.

Revivals have become quite the trend in recent years with shows like Gilmore Girls, The X-Files and Heroes all coming back after multiple years off the air. The reception for this revivals has been mixed at best. If anything this practice has proven how hard it is to recapture the magic that a show had while it was on the air. In the case of 24: Legacy, we get a new cast transplanted into the same stories that the original told nine times over between 2001-2010 (and a miniseries in 2014). While this reboot shows signs of bringing new perspectives to the old 24 model, the three episodes I’ve seen suggest this new incarnation is simply more of the same.

Continue reading “’24: Legacy’ Is More Of The Same, Just Without Jack To Anchor It”