Terror Trips

Spoiler Alert!: Some of the endings to these short stories are revealed in this review
by Courtney Hilden

Terror Trips is a collection of three Goosebumps stories done as graphic narratives. "One Day at Horrorland" chronicles a family's misadventures at a theme park, "Deep Trouble" is about a boy visiting his scientist uncle and meeting a mermaid, and "A Shocker on Shock Street" is about two kids trying out a new theme park ride.
Each story stands up at least reasonably well within the graphic narrative (or as the kids would probably read these call them, comics.) There is plenty of action and monsters to make each story fun.
The two stories for "Deep Trouble" and "One Day at Horrorland" are predictable. "Deep Trouble" has the hero, Billy, comes to the inevitable conclusion that the mermaid, captured for scientific study and confinement, should be released. "One Day at Horrorland" is slightly less predictable, with the children remembering a detail about the theme park that leads them to the discover the weakness of the monsters that are about to kill them. It is the sort of detail that seems to obvious in retrospect. In terms of the storyline, the impressive one is "A Shocker on Shock Street," which has an impressive Twilight Zone-esque ending. The story starts out with the assumption that the two children are completely normal, but in the end, it turns out they were like their father's other creations: robots meant to emulate something else. The ending was well-handled, fast, and devastating.
The art work for "Deep Trouble" is particularly beautiful. The artist, Amy Kim Ganter, created an adorable mermaid, one that I would love to follow in further adventures. The artwork for the other two stories was serviceable for the story but not as eye-catching as Ganter's work.

Trouble

Spoiler Alert!: Certain details of the latest episode of True Blood are revealed in this review.
by Courtney Hilden

Given the nature of True Blood, with it now multiple storylines all moving at once, it seemed more effective to simply work through each plot instead of trying to analyze the work has a whole, which it in some ways is not. Let's get started:
-The scene with Franklin texting for Tara was funny, but still very squishy, given how messed up Franklin is. It was such a relief to see her get out of her robes and make a run for it, especially since watching her confined episode after episode was disheartening. They're obviously working the battered woman syndrome, where Tara feels genuinely bad for hurting Franklin, though he's obviously the one hurting her.
-Kenya is so smart and capable. Hopefully we'll see more of her soon. Given the storylines with some many female characters who are submissive to men, it is nice to have one who demands respect from her co-workers. Also nice is the power that Sookie appears to be developing. Hopefully this will allow her real power amongst the mostly male supernatural characters.
-Looks like Jason is not going to leave the whole "being a cop" thing. It's too bad, because after last season, I was hoping that Jason would evolve as a character, and instead he's doing the same thing he always does, just with more resources at his disposal for trouble. Although it seems clear from his running Crystal down in a cop car that he at least understands what cops do in porn films, so maybe that is a sign of progress. In the books, the "romance" between Crystal and Jason is mostly physical, but here they have decided to change it so that it is more of a Romeo and Juliet style story, in which both of them are from different groups of people. Of course, what Jason does not yet know is that she's not just from Hotshot, she's also supernatural, and will change him into something supernatural. The actress who plays Crystal is lovely.
-Would someone put a gallery together of all the great outfits Lafayette wears? That man has a great sense of style. Lafayette being so unfamiliar with romantic attention was so cute.
-Also dealing with romantic attention was Jessica. Hoyt showing up to her workplace with a girl was the ultimate in hurtful.
-Sam's family problems are so hard to watch. Sam is not stupid, which given the majority of the other characters on this show, is refreshing. It's good to see that he at least sees things as a problem, unlike Jason who does not even try to improve or Sookie who runs into everything and every man that looks like a bad idea. Again, Sam's family problems seemed centered around abuse, just a slightly different abuse than the one poor Tara is experiencing.
-Speaking of family, Eric is clearly worried for his vampire daughter. His loyalty to his own is admirable, especially considering how everyone else concentrates on what a jerk he is. His backstory about being a Viking prince has been, by far, the only interesting backstory this entire series. Not that we need more of them, since they generally do not illuminate much about the characters they show.
-And finally, Terry Bellefleur is so sweet. Watching him cry over his about-to-be normal life was so darling.

The Big Bang

by Courtney Hilden

Usually, with the second part episode, it picks up exactly where the audience left off. Doctor Who decides to open in media res, with young Amelia, a believer in stars, goes to a museum and opens up the Pandorica. If you watched the last episode, you'd expect the Doctor to be inside. Instead, Amy is, flipping the audience back to Roman Britain, when Rory is given directions from the Doctor.
The only bad thing about this episode was Amy's attire. It's too bad that given the controversy over Amy's wardrobe that she was forced to wear pants instead of her cute, and totally normal, skirts.
This finale included some well-planned and perfectly executed time-travel. The writers behind the show must have realized how exhausting, and now boring, the quicken exposition is, so they took their time now, even joking that it wasn't slow enough for Rory. The episode also included a great reference at Richard Dawkins, saying that he was a cult leader. Somehow, that feels totally right, which was just like the rest of the episode. Cheers to the people behind Doctor Who for writing story arcs that go beyond just one season and for integrating all of our favorite things, including River Song. Can't wait to see more of her.

The Blue Geranium

by Courtney Hilden
Spoiler Alert: Though the murderer is not revealed in this review, other details are.

"The Blue Geranium" is a unique episode of the latest Miss Marple series. Instead of opening up solely with the crime, it opens up with the second crime, then moves forward in time by six months to the trial of the believed killer. Miss Marple, at home and doing some gardening, realizes that the wrong killer is on trial, and then tries frantically to get to the Old Bailey in time to save the day, since the killer, if convicted, will be hanged.
The original short story, one which this episode is based, actually had Miss Marple telling the story to a group of friends and amateur sleuths at her home. Deciding not to introduce these characters, the episode opted instead for Marple to be narrating many of the events to an old friend. This is a nice change-up from the typical Marple episode, in which things are not told from any character's point of view. It also makes the mystery harder to solve, since changing from time to time means the audience has to put together a coherent timeline before even getting to the crimes. In addition to that, the audience has two murders to solve and two mysteries (who is the real killer and who is on trial).

The rest of the story is sadly not as interesting or as engaging as past Marple outings. Toby Stevens, playing the believed killer, Mr. Pritchard, and Claudie Blakley, playing his ex-girlfriend and sister-in-law Phillipa Pritchard, give serviceable performances. Sharon Small plays Mary Pritchard, Pritchard's wife, and she brings the crazy. People on the edge of insanity are often unbelievable, and this role is difficult because she has to be both irritating enough that the audience can see why Pritchard would hate her, but can't over do it. Small manages to make Mary unlikeable, but keeps the full-blown crazy to a minimum. More than anything, she's just unpleasant and paranoid, saying nasty things to the maid and harassing the police inspector. The costumes and set are decent, though the eagle decorated podium within the church was far too much.

It Hurts Me Too

by Courtney Hilden
Spoiler Alert: Some of the twists from this episode are given away in this review.

The next installment in the plotline juggling show that is True Blood started out with a literal bang: Sookie shot at a werewolf that had let himself into her house. (Is her house possibly some supernatural magnet? Seems like a lot of bad guys just waltz all over it, including Marianne, who turned it into a brothel mixed with a cult headquarters last season.) There were some other fun twists in the episode, including the revelation that Arlene is pregnant, not with her boyfriend's baby, but with Rene's baby. (For those of you not in the know, Rene was the villain from season one.) It also looks like Jason will become a police officer. It's a smart move, since it'll allow the audience to see more of the Andy/Jason bromance that brought so much comic relief to the last episodes of season two.

Alexander Skarsgard once again gave a stellar performance. He perfectly blends Eric's bad boy posing and his inner romantic. He gives great small touches too, like the patting of the funeral wreath after he buried the dead werewolf in an already recently-buried grave. But make no mistakes about Eric; Skarsgard can still give the menace. He's a brilliant leader, one that Machiavelli could be proud of.
Good quotes were brought to you from Lafayette, of course, who commented that it must feel new when Jason said he had a lot on his mind. Talbot had a good zinger too, telling Cooter that it was insulting to boxes to compare werewolves to them. It's hard not to love sarcastic, teenager little brother, who noted that if Sam threw a punch, he would "totally be one of them."
It might be interesting to see what they're going to do with the Sam storyline, since Sam's little brother seems surprisingly like a sociopath. It's nice that they brought Sam's family to Bon Temps, instead of having the rest of this season's Sam storyline happen elsewhere. My guess is that Sam's family is going to abuse their relationship with him, sucking money from him.
Also making an appearance is Alcide. He's a much more attractive man in this show than I thought he'd be. The other new-ish man, Franklin, is total scum, since he's clearly into blackmailing poor Jessica and Tara. He's not much of a villain, since the only thing lamer than Franklin's come-ons is his theme music.
The plotline that is the least interesting? Bill's. It's hard to care what happens to him, even with the information that he is important to Sophie-Anne. It's hard to even believe he's that important to her, since Sophie-Anne said several episodes ago that she was happy to hear he was out of the way. The flashback featuring Bill and Caroline was decent, given the flashbacks are usually dry and uninspired on this show. It's too bad we can't spend more time with Bill and Caroline, because they're a legitimately interesting couple. Lorena's lines are as terrible as Franklin's, like her whole "Your only loyalty is to your own sentiment," which she said to Bill.
Other not good things about this episode included the stilted post-coital dialogue between Tara and Franklin. It sounded more like a bad film from the forties than two modern adults talking to one another. (Bill and his wife Caroline were also somewhat stilted, though not nearly as bad as much of what came out of other vampire's fang-framed mouths.) The lack of chemistry between Tara and Franklin was particularly noticeable given the easy and sweet dialogue between Sam and Sookie and Tara and Jason. This episode was not as good as the first two of the season, but still fun and with some interesting changes to the storyline of the books.

Sex and the City 2

by Courtney Hilden

Does this movie need an introduction? Sex and the City 2 is based on the television show hit of the same name, where four women (Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda) all interact with one another and the city (most importantly, apparently, its men) around them. In their latest outing, they head to the Middle East to scout out a hotel for Samantha to represent.
All well and good, right? Hardly.
Since this review is coming so late, it seems silly to take it down in all the ways it deserves to be: as homophobic, racist, and other miscellaneous forms of insensitive. Stanford and Anthony, two gay men who previously hated each other, are getting married. This would be fine, if Anthony didn't insist that he be allowed to cheat. For a movie written by a gay man and created by various LBGT allies, it still feels the need to create a stereotype of a gay man. And once again, New York is incredibly whitewashed, with one African American woman playing Samantha's assistant. And the section of the movie on the Middle East is filled with every stereotype they can find about Muslims. (They're so sexually repressed! They hate women!) Why this movie had to go to the Middle East and not somewhere else, where the story could have refrained from such poor depictions. (The franchise has managed to make it to L.A. and Paris, why not London, Rome or Milan, all big fashion cities?) The movie exists in a universe where yes, the recession has hit, but not realistically, since Carrie can still afford her old apartment and the girls can complain about having to fly couch. The movie was conceived before anyone apparently realized that depicting people's lives, even rich people's lives, this way was going to smart with an audience that is not so lucky.
The problem with these movies, other than their cultural fails, is that they remind the audience of how much better this material works in a television series format. At least there the audience has time to explore the storylines that get sidelined, allowing them to unfold at a more leisurely pace. The movie is long, but because it keeps moving, it rarely feels so. And mostly, it still works, since the girls are, despite their flaws, fun to be around.

Beautifully Broken

by Courtney Hilden

The latest episode of True Blood continues each of the separate storylines the audience has been watching. Lafayette shows Tara what happened to his mother (and answering the question of what Lafayette does with all the money he makes off of V), Jason and Andy bust a meth lab, Sookie continues to search for Bill, and Sam reunites and bonds with his family.
Lafayette's Mom was the most interesting part of the episode, since she brought a subtle crazy to her character. (And also illuminated why Tara's Mom is such a pain in the ass.) The friendship between Jason and Andy continues to be both funny and sweet. Meanwhile, the audience got to see a flashback including Eric and Godric. It's a pity Godric is dead, because he is far more interesting than so many of the other vampires, since he is so much more cool-headed than most of them. But Eric is no longer a one-note character, and beginning to see his vulnerability to Sookie, who he has some connection with but doesn't know how to express.
The most boring parts of this episode? The main characters: Bill and Sookie. Bill has been kidnapped by the King of Mississippi and Sookie tries to desperately search for him. At this point, it seemed obvious that Lorena was going to show up, though not that he would try to burn her with what looked like a kerosene lamp.
Although this episode is important in terms of setting up other storylines for the show, it was, for the most part, boring. It's almost too bad there are so many storylines in the air right now, because it would be better to just follow the interesting characters, and leave others to rot with the King of Mississippi.