Icarus File No. 21: Reach Me (dir by John Herzfeld)

Posted on April 1, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 2011 film, Reach Me, opens with a rapper named E-Ruption (Nelly) appearing on a morning show and talking about how, while he was serving a prison sentence, he read a self-help book called Reach Me. It asked him to consider whether or not his childhood self would be happy with his adult self. The book was written by a mysterious man named Teddy Raymond. No one knows who this Teddy Raymond is. He’s never appeared in public. People film themselves reading the book online and then upload to YouTube as a way of sharing Teddy’s wisdom. I honestly can think of nothing more annoying and boring than watching someone else read a self-help book but whatever. I live in Texas. The movie takes place in California.

Tabloid editor Gerald (Sylvester Stallone) takes a break from action painting to order one of his reporters, Roger King (Kevin Connolly), to track down Teddy Raymond. Roger wants to write the great American novel. He doesn’t care about self-help. He meets Teddy’s associates, Wilson (Terry Crews) and Kate (Lauren Cohan) and Wilson talks about how Teddy magically cured Kate’s stutter. Roger then wanders around the beach, asking random people, “Teddy Raymond? Are you Teddy Raymond?” Oh look! There’s a guy named Teddy (Tom Berenger) who reluctantly cures Roger of his smoking addiction by ordering Roger to yell at the ocean …. over and over and over again.

Collette (Kyra Segdwick) has just been released from prison. Reading Teddy’s book has inspired her to try to become a fashion designer. Collette’s daughter, Eve (Elizabeth Henstridge), is an aspiring actress who was earlier groped by a sleazy star named Keating (Cary Elwes). Collette and Eve literally crash their car into a car being driven by Wolfie (Thomas Jane), a sociopathic undercover cop who enjoys killing people and who goes to confession after every shooting. (At the start of the movie, he guns down Danny Trejo.) The alcoholic priest, Father Paul (Danny Aiello), refuses to hear any more of his confessions.

Meanwhile, wannabe mob boss Frank (Tom Sizemore) is upset because another mob boss, Aldo (Kelsey Grammer), doesn’t treat him with any respect. Frank sends two of his hitmen, Thumper (David O’Hara) and Dominic (Omari Hardwick), to kill a man who owes him money and to also shoot the man’s dog. Thumper has been reading Teddy Raymond’s book and doesn’t want to shoot the dog. Dominic realizes that his heart isn’t into the mob life so, taking the book’s message to heart, he calls Frank and says, “My heart’s not in it.”

(Don’t try that with any real mobsters.)

Eventually, all of the characters do come together. They don’t exactly come together in a plausible manner but they do all end up at the same location so let’s give the film credit for that. Let’s also give this film credit for leaving me seriously confused. I have no idea whether this film was meant to a parody or a celebration of the self-help industry. At first, I suspected that it meant to be a parody because all of Teddy Raymond’s advice was painfully shallow and the type of basic crap that anyone could come up with. I actually found myself losing respect for the people who claimed that Teddy had changed their lives. But at the movie progressed, I realized that I was supposed to take Teddy and his advice seriously. This was a film that I guess was meant to have something to say but who knows what exactly that was.

That said — hey, everyone’s in this movie! Director John Herzfeld was a former college roommate of Sylvester Stallone’s and, once Stallone agreed to appear, that apparently convinced a lot of other “name” actors to take the risk as well. There’s a lot of talent in this film but little of it is used correctly. Kelsey Grammer as an Italian mobster instead of the editor? Sylvester Stallone as the editor instead of the Italian mobster? Thomas Jane as a sociopath who has a girlfriend by the end of the movie, one who smiles and tells him, “Try not to shoot anyone?” Kyra Sedgwick as an ex-con? These are all good actors but just about everyone, with the exception of the much-missed Danny Aiello, is miscast.

It’s a true Icarus File. It was a just a little more self-aware, this would have been a Guilty Pleasure. But, in the end, self-help cannot help itself.

Previous Icarus Files:

TV Review: The Walking Dead 11.14 “The Rotten Core” (dir by Marcus Stokes)

Posted on March 31, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I’ve always wondered how little Herschel would react when he eventually met Negan and learned that Negan was responsible for killing Glenn.

I mean, we all knew that it would happen eventually because, let’s face it …. Maggie and Negan are totally in love! It’s going to take them a while to admit it, of course. Maggie’s busy ruling Hilltop like a dictator and Negan’s got a new wife. Plus, there’s the whole thing where Negan savagely murdered Glenn and then spent a few seasons gloating about it. I mean, it’s going to take a while to move on from all of that. Taking all of that into consideration, Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan still have more legitimate chemistry than anyone else on this show and Maggie and Negan are definitely in love. Plus, they’re scheduled to get their own spin-off, where they both move to the most romantic city in America, New York! Not only does that mean that Hilltop is probably screwed (because why else would Maggie leave) but it also means that Maggie and Negan are destined to fall in love while listening to Dean Martin sing That’s Amore.

And the question has always been, how would Herschel react? Well, this week, we got our answer. After discovering that bratty little Herschel had snuck into the Apartment Complex, Negan agreed to keep an eye on him while Maggie and the other Hilltoppers continued to fight off a combination of walkers and Commonwealth soldiers. It didn’t take long for Herschel to figure out that Negan was the man who killed his father. Herschel pointed a gun at Negan but was eventually talked out of shooting him, proving that Herschel is ready to forgive and it’s time to let the healing begin!

Just as Herschel was discovering that Negan killed Glenn, Darryl was discovering that the Commonwealth isn’t as much of a paradise as he perhaps originally thought. He and Rosita was ordered by Sebastian to enter his old house and retrieve his cash. The only problem was that the house was full of walkers! In not very subtle terms, Sebastian threatened Darryl’s children. Inside the house, Darryl and Rosita discovered that they were not the first people to be ordered into the House of Death. There was also April, whose children were also threatened by Sebastian. Apparently, threatening people’s children is Sebastian’s thing. Fortunately, Carol and Mercer showed up to help. Unfortunately, they still had to give the money to Sebastian because he’s Governor Milton’s son and, as a result, doesn’t have to face the consequences of his actions.

This was an okay episode, though it was hard not to feel that the whole thing with the Apartment Complex was a bit overextended. The Complex invasion could have been wrapped up in one episode instead of stretching it out over two weeks. That felt like a throwback to the days when almost every episode was Rick talking about something that he was going to do in a future episode as opposed to just going ahead and doing whatever needed to be done. The Walking Dead has often had a bad habit of stretching things out a bit too far. As far as the other subplot was concerned, we already know that Commonwealth is a bad place so devoting an entire episode to Darryl finally figuring it out felt a bit superfluous.

That said, the important thing is that this episode reminded us all that Negan and Maggie are totally in love, even if they won’t admit it. Good for them. The world may end but love never dies.

TV Review: The Walking Dead 11.12 “The Lucky Ones” (dir by Tawnia McKiernan)

Posted on March 16, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s confession time!

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I was never a regular Walking Dead viewer in the past. And, after Carl Grimes died, I actually stopped watching the show all together. It was not until this current season started that I once started to regularly watch The Walking Dead. So, I have to admit that I had actually forgotten that Hillside and Alexandria were separate locations, with separate leaders and separate governing philosophies. I guess I just assumed that Hillside was a particularly trashy party of Alexandria. But, no …. I was wrong! It turns out that Alexandria, Hillside, and Oceanside are three separate communities.

Go ahead. Take a moment to laugh at me and then we’ll move on.

Done?

Well, we’re moving on anyways!

This week’s episode found Governor Milton and Lance Hornsby visiting each of the three communities and trying to bring them into the Commonwealth. Milton offered security and access to better goods. Alexandria saw that this was a good idea and signed up. Oceanside, on the other hand, said, “We’ll do whatever Hillside does.” Well, why don’t you just become a part of Hillside then!?

Not surprisingly, Maggie didn’t want to join up with the Commonwealth. Maggie was indeed tempted but, when she saw the difference between how the leaders of the Commonwealth lived as opposed to how the community’s workers and soldiers lived, Maggie said no deal. Or, at least, that’s what Maggie claims happened. Personally, I think it has more to do with Maggie not wanting to surrender any of her power. For all of her concerns about the way the Commonwealth treats its citizens, it’s not exactly as if Maggie is running a democracy herself. After Maggie refused to enter into an alliance with the Commonwealth, a few members of Hillside left the community and, quite frankly, I don’t blame them. Hillside’s a dump! Not even Negan is willing to live there.

Anyway, at the end of the episode, we learned that Gov. Milton isn’t as bad as everyone tends to assume. She was okay with not being able to bring Hillside and Oceanside into the Commonwealth, even saying that she expected that Maggie would ultimately refuse. Not okay with Maggie’s decision was Lance Hornsby, who not only takes a disturbingly sadistic glee in shooting walkers but who also is apparently obsessed with controlling everyone. Honestly, I don’t think anyone was really shocked to discover that Lance was not to be trusted. Josh Hamilton hasn’t exactly been giving a subtle performance in the role. Actually, just the fact that Lance was being played by Josh Hamilton should have been our first clue about not trusting him.

Meanwhile, Ezekiel was operated on and Eugene and Max got to know each other. Needless to say, Eugene was not happy to discover that Stephanie didn’t actually exist and he was also a bit freaked out to to discover that Max is Mercer’s sister. By the end of the episode, though, Eugene and Max seemed to be growing close. Max offered Eugene some advice on his novel. Eugene admitted that he had destroyed his only copy. WHY DID YOU DO THAT, EUGENE!? Eugene is never going to succeed as an author with that attitude.

This episode felt like the calm before the storm. While I don’t know if we needed to spend as much time on Gov. Milton’s travel as we did, at least the show managed to get to all three communities in one episode as opposed to stretching it out over six episodes, like they used to do back in the Rick Grimes era. It seems obvious that there’s an invasion coming, it’s just a question of who is going to strike the first blow.

Horror TV Review: The Walking Dead 11.7 “Promises Broken” (dir by Sharat Raju)

Posted on October 8, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s been such a busy week that it was only about an hour ago that I was finally able to sit down and actually watch last Saturday’s episode of The Walking Dead.

As I watched Promises Broken, I found myself asking one question over and over again. Can Maggie and Negan just kiss already? Seriously, it’s totally obvious that Maggie and Negan are in love. Even if the writers didn’t necessarily plan for them to be in love, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan definitely have the right chemistry for some Maggie/Negan action. And I know some people are going to say that it’ll never happen because of what happened in the past but listen …. Glenn’s been dead for a long time. Because of the time jump, he’s been dead even longer on the series than he has been in reality. The world of the Walking Dead is a different place and traditional periods of mourning no longer hold much currency. It’s time to move on.

This week, Negan did convince Maggie to stop plotting to kill him. That was definitely a step forward. Then he taught her how to wear a whisperer’s mask. Awwwwww! But then he said that he should have killed Rick’s entire party when he had the chance and that …. well, that was awkward. I know I’ve been critical of the way the show has used Negan in the past but, this season, he’s gotten on my nerves a lot less and Jeffrey Dean Morgan finally seems to have a handle on the character.

As for the Reapers …. eh, who cares. Pope sent Daryl and Leah on a scouting mission. They came across a family of survivors. They didn’t kill the survivors like they were supposed to. Pope will probably be pissed off but Pope’s always pissed off so who cares? The Reapers are like totally squaresville. Real melvin.

Meanwhile, in the Commonwealth …. well, listen, I just love the Commonwealth! There’s just something so brilliant about this gated, suburban community just sitting there in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. So far, this season’s best scenes have been set in the Commonwealth and that continued to be true this week. In the latest episode, Eugene and the Gang had to do community service by killing walkers. Unfortunately, this led to Eugene and Stephanie interrupting a date between Sebastian Milton and his girlfriend, Kayla. Sebastian, who is basically the preppy from Hell, got mad about the interruption. Words were exchanged Eugene punched Sebastian. Uh-oh! Sebastian is the son of Governor Milton! Eugene ended up getting thrown in jail, where he was informed that he was going to stay imprisoned unless he gave up the location of Alexandria. Is it is possible that all of this was just a set up to get Eugene to turn snitch? Bravo, Commonwealth, bravo!

Interestingly enough, Sebastian Milton played a small but key role in the final few issues of The Walking Dead comic book. After Rick (who was still around in the comic book) took over the Commonwealth and started to form an alliance with the recently deposed Governor Milton, a jealous Sebastian ended up killing him. On the TV show, of course, Carl is dead and Rick is believed dead. Unless the show is going to go super dark and kill off either Judith or Rick, Jr., there are no members of the Grimes family for Sebatian to kill. In theory, who would Sebastian kill? Ezekiel, with his leadership experience and his messianic tendencies, seem the most likely to take power in the Commonwealth so he might want to watch his back.

Next week is the finale of the first half of season 11. So far, season 11 has been a bit uneven but it’s started to pick some momentum with the previous few episodes. Hopefully, that momentum will continue to build and season 11 will give this show the conclusion that it deserves.

TV Review: The Walking Dead 11.5 “Out of the Ashes” (dir by Greg Nicotero)

Posted on September 24, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

As opposed to what we’ve previously seen since the start of the 11th season, this week’s episode of The Walking Dead focused on multiple storylines.

At the Satellite Outpost, Negan and Maggie continued to argue about whether or not anyone else in their party would be smart, lucky, or brave enough to join them. At this point, Maggie and Negan pretty much sound like an old married couple and, considering the chemistry between Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, that could very well be what they end up becoming by the time the show ends. Sorry, Glenn! Anyway, this time Maggie won the argument because Gabriel and Elijah eventually showed up and proved that people could be depended upon. Yay, Maggie! Unfortunately, if Gabriel’s the best you go, you probably have bigger problems to deal with than just a philosophical disagreement.

At Alexandria, Judith tried to keep the other kids from taunting the Walkers and potentially getting everyone killed. Judith had a point but seriously, no one likes a snitch.

Aaron, Carol, Lydia, and Jerry returned to the ruins of Hilltop on a supply run. It turned out that Hilltop was also being used as a home by the last surviving Whisperers! Their leader, Keith, insisted that the Whisperers were no longer a threat. Aaron didn’t quite buy that and he wanted to torture and then kill Keith. Fortunately, Carol talked him out of it. Keith lost an arm but he got to keep his life. And he also told them where Connie’s hiding! Now, of course, is where I should remind our readers that, until the start of this season, I hadn’t really watched the show since Carl died so I’m not exactly sure who Connie is. But I guess I’ll soon find out.

Meanwhile, at the Commonwealth, Eugene and the crew got to watch a really neat presentation on VHS tape that welcomed them into the community. Eugene then went for a walk with Stephanie and nearly screwed everything up when he broke into the radio room and tried to contact Alexandria! Or did he? See, my theory is that the Commonwealth is still setting Eugene up. They’re manipulating him to reveal everything that he knows about Alexandria but they’re doing it in a way that makes it seem as if they actually don’t want to know anything about Alexandria. They’re manipulating him into contacting Alexandria by pretending like it’s something they don’t want him to do. It’s all very clever and it’s the type of thing that Eugene always seems to fall for, despite the fact that he’s the smartest guy on the show.

This week’s episode, which was directed by Greg Nicotero, was a definite improvement over the past few episodes. I liked the fact that it focused on several different groups, as opposed to getting bogged down with one repetitive storyline. I liked that it revisited the Whisperers and showed that, as far as they were concerned, they were the heroes and the Alexandrians were the villains. (The show has always been at its best when it has acknowledged that even the bad guys are just scared, lonely, and trying to survive the end of the world.) The Judith subplot was handled well and showed that some things — like obnoxious children –are never going to change.

Mostly, though, I just liked the Commonwealth stuff. From the minute I saw that introduction on the VHS tape, I was all about the Commonwealth. The intro may have looked cheap and all the happy scenes were obviously staged but, seriously, it’s easy to see why some people would find it appealing after spending years fighting other humans and trying to avoid Walkers. I loved the way the tape went from celebrating community to celebrating “security.” It felt very relevant to our current times, a true libertarian’s nightmare. You want to have ice cream and watch your kids play? Then you’ve got to accept the legion of armored men watching everything that you do. And, as always, I loved the oddball intensity of Josh McDermitt in the role of Eugene. I would seriously watch a spin-off that was just Eugene going to different communities and voicing his disappointment with their life choices.

This was a good episode, one that took a look at how different communities are trying to find some sort of normalcy in the face of the zombie apocalypse. The remains of the Whisperers are just scrounging to survive. Alexandria is trying to balance the needs of the collective with the need of every human being to be an individual. And the Commonwealth is living in denial, embracing the myth that random chaos can be controlled by strictly enforced order.

I’m looking forward to seeing where things to go. After a few weak episodes, The Walking Dead might be able to reclaim some of its lost narrative momentum. Here’s hoping!

TV Review: The Walking Dead 11.2 “Acheron Part II” (dir by Kevin Dowling)

Posted on August 30, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

As a show, The Walking Dead has lately suffered a bit from the fact that there’s only so much you can do when civilization has collapsed and the world is full of zombies who only care about eating every living they come across. You can set up a little community of the living, one that will inevitably collapse because death is an unavoidable part of life and all it takes is one zombie to start an outbreak. You can keep moving, which might keep you alive for a little bit longer but still, death is inevitable. Or you can go batshit crazy and set yourself up as a dictator, which means that you’ll soon be as dangerous, deadly, and feared as the undead.

The lack of choice when it comes to what to do during a zombie apocalypse is one of the key parts of the genre and the best zombie films — like Romero’s Dead films for example — explore what happens to people when they find themselves in a hopeless situation. From Night of the Living Dead to Survival of the Living Dead, George Romero always remained consistent in that the undead were ultimately going to win. You simply can’t outrun death.

The first few seasons of The Walking Dead managed to capture that feeling of inescapable doom perfectly. However, now that The Walking Dead has started its eleventh season, it’s hard not to notice that there don’t seem to be any new stories left to be told. The Walking Dead has done it all and the series now often feels as if it’s just repeating itself. Last night’s episode was well-directed and well-acted (particularly by Lauren Cohan, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Josh McDermitt) but it just all felt a little bit too familiar.

Once again, we had Maggie and Negan coming to an uneasy truce while seemingly trapped in an inescapable location by a bunch of walkers. Even Maggie’s decision to leave Gage to be killed by the walkers felt like a replay of the same stuff that Rick used to do in almost every single episode. I felt sorry for Gage but I could see Maggie’s reasoning, just as I could understand Negan’s reasoning for leaving her behind last episode. It’s a dark world where only the ruthless and unsentimental survive. We already knew that, though. A few season’s ago, Gage’s death would have been shocking but, after 11 seasons, everyone watching should have known Gage would eventually end up dead. Darryl, of course, saved everyone because that’s what Darryl does. At the end of the episode, we met a new group of masked villains, the Reapers. And, again, we’ve been through all this before. There’s always a new group of villains showing up and they always announce their presence by killing a minor character. Sorry, Roy. The plot mechanics demand that you die.

Meanwhile, Eugene, Princess, Ezekiel, and Yumiko have been accepted as citizens of the Commonwealth which …. hasn’t this happened before? Again, it all felt very familiar and rather expected, right down to the sudden introduction of a woman claiming to be Stephanie, the woman that Eugene was trying to find. At this point, it’s pretty obvious that the woman is not really Stephanie and Stephanie probably doesn’t exist but was instead an elaborate ruse that the Commonwelath came up with to trick Eugene.

The sad truth of the matter is that all shows eventually run out of stories to tell and they end up recycling. Just think about the final three seasons of The Office, where everyone was suddenly developing an unrequited crush on a coworker in an attempt to recreate some of the Jim/Pam magic of the first four seasons. Running out of new stories to tell is especially likely to happen when your entire show revolves around how impossible it is to avoid death. As well-directed and well-acted as last night’s episode was, it still left me with the feeling that The Walking Dead has run out of new stories. The actors will always hold my interest but, from a narrative point of view, it’s definitely time for this apocalypse to come to an end.

Playing Catch-Up With Four Biopics From 2017: All Eyez On Me, Maudie, A Quiet Passion, and Victoria and Abdul

Posted on January 7, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Continuing with my efforts to get caught up on the major films that I saw in 2017, here are my reviews of four biopics! Two of them are very good. One of them is so-so. And the other one … well, let’s just get to it…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFttQtY_AVM

All Eyez on Me (dir by Benny Boon)

All Eyez On Me is a movie that I think a lot of people had high hopes for. It was a biopic about Tupac Shakur, who died over 20 years ago but remains one of the most influential artists of all time. Starring Demetrius Shipp, Jr. (who, if nothing else, bore a strong physical resemblance to Tupac), All Eyez on Me followed Shakur from his youth as the son of activist Afeni Shakur (Danai Gurira), through his early stardom, his political awakening, his time in prison, his eventual association with Suge Knight (Dominic L. Santana), and his still unsolved murder in Las Vegas. Along the way all of the expected people pop up. Kat Graham plays Jada Pinkett and tells Tupac that he’s wasting his talent. Someone who looks nothing like Dr. Dre is introduced as being Dr. Dre. Another actor wanders through a scene and says his name is Snoop Dogg. The film last 2 hours and 20 minutes, with some scenes feeling oddly rushed while other drag on interminably.

The main reason why All Eyez On Me fails is that, unlike Straight Outta Compton, All Eyez on Me never figures out how translate Tupac’s legacy into cinematic form. For instance, when I watched Straight Outta Compton, I probably knew less about NWA than I knew about Tupac Shakur when I watched All Eyez On Me. But then there was that scene where NWA performed “Fuck That Police” while surrounded by the police and, at that moment, I understood why NWA deserved their own movie. There’s no comparable scene in All Eyez On Me, which gets so bogged down in going through the usual biopic motions that it never really comes to grips with why Tupac is such an iconic figure. Combine that with some less than stellar performances and some amazingly awkward dialogue and the end result is a film that is massively disappointing.

Maudie (dir by Aisling Walsh)

Maudie tells the story of Maud Lewis, a Canadian woman who found fame as a painter despite suffering from crippling arthritis. Working and living in a one-room house with her husband, a fisherman named Everett (Ethan Hawke), Maud Lewis’s paintings of flowers and birds eventually became so popular that one was even purchased by then-Vice President Richard Nixon.

Maudie is a very special movie, largely because of the incredibly moving performance of Sally Hawkins in the role of Maud. As played by Hawkins, Maud may occasionally be meek but she never surrenders her dream to create something beautiful out the often harsh circumstances of her life. Hawkins not only captures Maud’s physical struggles but she also captures (and makes compelling) the inner strength of this remarkable artist. Ethan Hawke also gives a remarkable performance as the gruff Everett. When you Everett first appears, you hate him. But, as the film progresses, Hawke starts to show hints of a sensitive soul that’d hiding underneath all of his gruffnes. In the end, Everett is as saved by Maud’s art as is Maud.

Directed by Aisling Walsh, this is a low-key but all together remarkable and touching film. If Sally Hawkins wasn’t already certain to get an Oscar nomination for Shape of the Water, she would definitely deserve one for Maudie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh-XATkaRl0

A Quiet Passion (dir by Terrence Davies)

You would be totally justified in assuming that this film, a biopic of poet Emily Dickinson, would have absolutely nothing in common with The Last Jedi. However, believe it or not, they actually do have something very much in common. They are both films that, on Rotten Tomatoes, scored high with critics and not so high with audiences. When last I checked, it had a 93% critical score and a 51% audience score.

Well, you know what? Who cares? The idea that you can judge a film’s worth based on an arbitrary number is pure evil, anyway.

Personally, I’m not surprised to hear that audiences struggled with A Quiet Passion. It’s a very challenging film, one that is more concerned with mood than with traditional narrative. The film is much like Dickinson herself: dark, uncompromising, sharply funny, and, on the surface, unconcerned with what people might think. Much as how Dickinson retreated into her Amherst home, the film retreats into Dickinson’s head. It’s not always the most pleasant place to hide out but, at the same time, it’s so alive with creativity and filled with such a sharp wit that it’s tempting never to leave.

In the role of Emily, Cynthia Nixon gave one of the best performance of the year, bringing Emily to uncompromising life. Neither the film not Nixon ever make the mistake of sentimentalizing Dickinson. Her pain is just as real as her genius. Ultimately, though, both Nixon’s performance and A Quiet Passion stands as a tribute to Emily’s own quiet passion.

Much like Emily Dickinson’s poetry, A Quiet Passion will be appreciated with time.

Victoria & Abdul (dir by Stephen Frears)

If there’s ever been a film that deserves to be known as “generic Oscar bait,” it’s Victoria & Abdul.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not a bad movie or anything like that. Instead, it’s a very respectable film about Queen Victoria (Judi Dench) and her servant, Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal), an Indian Muslim. While the rest of the royal court is scandalized by Victoria’s close relationship with the foreigner, Karim teaches the Queen about the Koran and encourages her to enjoy life. The royal court is played by the usual collection of distinguished actors who always appear in movies like this: Simon Callow, Tom Pigott-Smith, and Michael Gambon. Victoria’s heir is played by Eddie Izzard, which should tell you all you need to know about how the future Edward VII is portrayed.

As I said, it’s not a bad movie as much as it’s just not a very interesting one. You know that Abdul and Victoria are going to become close. You know that the Royal Court is going to be a bunch of snobs. You know that Victoria is going to get a chance to express anti-colonial sentiments that she must surely never actually possessed. Indeed, whenever the film tries to make any sort of larger statement, all of the characters suddenly start talking as if they’re from 2017 as opposed to the late 1800s.

This is the second time that Judi Dench has played Victoria. Previously, she played the Queen in a film called Mrs. Brown, which was about Victoria’s friendship with a Scottish servant. Apparently, Victoria got along well with servants.

TV Review: The Walking Dead 8.8 “How It’s Gotta Be” (dir by Michael E. Satrazemis)

Posted on December 10, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

SPOILER ALERT! DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW UNLESS YOU’VE WATCHED THE LATEST EPISODE OF THE WALKING DEAD! SERIOUSLY, I’M NOT KIDDING!

Right now, I would say that 75% of The Walking Dead fandom is heartbroken. The end of tonight’s episode has generated some very real angst among some people.

As for me, I’m actually feeling rather proud of myself because I predicted that all this would happen. I predicted it way back on November 5th and I’ve even got the tweet to prove it. But, before I go on, I think it might be good to consider the words of a song from 1965. Here are the Poets with That’s Way It’s Got To Be:

See, it all gets back to what has always been the underlying theme of The Walking Dead. Nobody is going to get out of this show alive. It doesn’t matter how good you are. It doesn’t matter how likable you are. It doesn’t matter how much the audience loves you. Everyone on this show is eventually going to die. The only question is whether someone will be around to keep them from reanimating afterward. Negan, Rick, Maggie, Carol, Daryl, Michonne, Eugene … none of them are going to get out of this alive. Death will come for everyone eventually and tonight, it appears that it’s coming for Carl.

As I tweeted on November 5th…

I don't think they have much choice but to kill Carl off on #TheWalkingDead. Chandler Riggs is aging faster than the show's storyline.

— Lisa Marie Bowman (@LisaMarieBowman) November 5, 2017

Tonight’s episode featured a lot of Carl. When Negan and the Saviors showed up at Alexandria and demanded that Rick be given to them, Carl is the one who offered to sacrifice his life so that the rest could live. (And, of course, we now know why Carl was willing to do that. He literally had nothing to lose.) When the Saviors were blowing up Alexandria, we watched as Carl made his way through the flaming wreckage of his former home. Throughout the show, we got flashbacks of Carl arguing with Rick about Rick’s harsh philosophy. Tonight, we saw more of Carl then we’ve seen in a while and I spent the whole show assuming that meant that Carl was probably not going to come to a good end…

But still, it’s hard to overstate the emotional impact of seeing Carl there at the end, bitten by a walker and fighting to breathe. As Chris Hardwick and Khary Payton stated at the start of Talking Dead, Chandler Riggs really did grow up over the past few seasons of The Walking Dead. It’s always kind of been easy to make jokes at Carl’s expense. Early on in the show, it always seemed inevitable that he would end up getting lost or picked up the by the wrong people. Whenever I live tweeted those early seasons of The Walking Dead, I almost always suggested that the ideal solution to almost any problem would be to sacrifice Carl. But tonight, Chandler Riggs showed why Carl has become a favorite of many fans of this show. The episode ended with Carl still alive but fading. Will he die? I really don’t see how he can’t. He’s been bitten on his side so it’s not like they can just chop off a limb, like they did with Herschel. If the show is to have any integrity, Carl has to die and he will be missed.

Up until that final scene with Carl, tonight’s episode could have just as easily been called “Everyone Better Do What Rick Says.” Darryl took it upon himself to crash that truck into wall of the Sanctuary, which is actually what Rick did not want him to do. As a result, the Saviors escaped, were able to launch a counter attack, destroy Alexandria, and take over The Kingdom. Carl, meanwhile, went off on his own, helped out Siddiq, and ended up getting bitten for his trouble. From now on, everyone better listen to Rick.

Rick got the line of the night when he asked Negan, “Don’t you ever shut the Hell up?” That’s something that I’ve been wondering for a season and a half now. Tonight, Negan actually lived up to his fearsome reputation. As for the other Saviors, Simon made me say, “Oh God, this fucking guy again…” as soon as he got out of that truck and Gavin came across like a teacher trying to control an unruly classroom. I guess Dwight is officially a part of Rick’s group now.

This was sometimes a hard episode to watch, not because it was bad but because it literally took place in the dark. All of the action played out at night and the show actually did good job of using the darkness to its advantage. There was an eerie and horrible beauty to scenes of Alexandria burning to the ground.

But you know what?

In the end, all anyone is going to remember about this episode is that final scene with Carl.

That’s the way it’s got to be.

And with that, The Walking Dead is on hiatus. Season 8 will resume in 2018 and so will our coverage!

TV Review: The Walking Dead 8.6 “The King, The Widow, and Rick” (dir by John Polson)

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Oh, the world of The Walking Dead. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

This season started with everyone finally standing up to the Saviors. For once, Rick and his allies had Negan on the run and, regardless of what you think about season 8 overall, it was certainly satisfying to see the Saviors starting to get a little desperate. Personally, I don’t think it was necessary to devote five episodes to just one battle but the Saviors are such a loathsome group of people that it’s definitely enjoyable to watch them get their asses kicked.

However, even with Rick and his allies declaring full out war, I knew that the action would eventually have to be interrupted by an episode of mourning. Every season of The Walking Dead has at least one episode where everyone looks depressed and either thinks about a lost loved one or obsesses on whether or not there’s room for kindness and compassion in a post-apocalyptic world. When the series started, the mourning episodes were a part of what set The Walking Dead apart from other shows. (Remember when kindly old Dale Horvath was gruesomely attacked by a zombie?) But, eight seasons in, it’s become a bit predictable. Any episode where something big happens is going to be followed by an episode where not much happens at all.

“The King, The Widow, and Rick” is a mourning episode. Everyone has returned from attacking the Saviors and now, with no bullets flying and several minor characters dead (and SHIVA! I’m still sad about that…), it’s time to sit around and reflect. This time, a bit more happened during the reflecting than has happened in previous mourning episodes. Even if this episode still felt like it stretched things out a bit too much, it wasn’t quite as slow as some of the episodes that aired during season 7.

This episode opened like a Ken Burns documentary, with everyone reading letters about the war against the Saviors. It ended with Rick naked and locked up in a shipping container and I was definitely okay with that. Don’t get me wrong about this. I do like Rick but occasionally, there is an arrogance to him that just strikes me the wrong way. He’s a lot like Lost‘s Jack Shepherd. He gives a good speech. He is trying to do the right thing, even if he sometimes resents having to be the leader. But Rick is always so sure of his ability to sway everyone over to his side that it was somewhat satisfying to see the Trash People respond to his latest speech by shrugging their shoulders and then locking him up. I’m not sure why Rick felt the need to, once again, go over to the garbage dump. The attack on the Saviors was a success without the help of the Trash People. My theory is that Rick just can’t accept that not everyone wants to be a part of his alliance.

Meanwhile, at Hilltop, we had another one of those patented Walking Dead debates about whether or not people can survive the end of the world without losing their humanity. Jesus was going out of his way to treat the Savior prisoners humanely. Gregory said the prisoners should be executed. Maggie responded by tossing Gregory in with the prisoners and then saying she would keep them alive so that they could be used for prisoner exchanges in the future. Jesus said he was happy with her decision and … you know what? I like Tom Payne’s performance as the character but I feel like an idiot whenever I call that guy Jesus. Yes, he has a beard. Yes, he’s kind. BUT HIS NAME IS PAUL! The whole “They call you Jesus” thing is so heavy-handed and kinda stupid. Last night, one of the saviors said, “Well, Jesus, I’m no angel,” and I’m glad I didn’t have anything nearby to throw at the TV when he said it.

Anyway, I could have done without all the debate about how to treat the prisoners. We all know that they’re going to end up dead, regardless. The only prisoner that Negan might exchange would be Father Gabriel and, honestly, is getting Gabriel back worth the trouble? Maggie should have just listened to Gregory.

Ezekiel was depressed, as well he should be. SHIVA’S DEAD, DAMMIT! Carol told him to stop feeling sorry for himself and to lead his people. The best part of Ezekiel’s subplot was that Jerry was still standing guard, even though Ezekiel told him to go home.

Carl is apparently not dead. Or, at least, he’s not dead, yet. Instead, he ran off and spent some time hanging out with Siddiq, the man who Rick previously chased away. They killed some walkers and bonded over shared pain.

And, of course, Rosita used a rocket launcher to blow up a savior. That made me cheer. Maybe Maggie should step down and let Rosita lead the Hilltop Colony. There certainly wouldn’t be any debate about what to do with prisoners then! However, for now, Rosita, Michonne, Daryl, and Tara are just doing their own thing. Rick probably wouldn’t approve but Rick’s in a shipping container right now.

Anyway, this wasn’t a bad episode. It may have been a mourning episode but at least it wasn’t just Rick sitting around in a catatonic state while Negan circled around him, giving a speech. That’s the important thing.

TV Review: The Walking Dead 8.3 “Monsters” (dir by Greg Nicotero)

Posted on November 5, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Before watching tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead, I was starting to worry that I might be impossible to please.

I spent all last season complaining that The Walking Dead was too talky and slow-paced. Then last week’s episode was pretty much nonstop action and I ended up getting bored out of my mind, largely because I didn’t feel like I had any sort of emotional stake in any of the characters. When tonight’s episode started, I was literally wondering if perhaps I’m destined to never be truly satisfied with anything that happens on The Walking Dead.

When the episode started with the attack still going on and Morales and Rick still talking, I was a little bit concerned. I was really worried that the entire episode was just going to be the two of them discussing what constitutes morality during the zombie apocalypse. I honestly didn’t remember much about who Morales was so I have to admit that I wasn’t terribly affected by his tales of woe and death. Morales explained that he lost everyone. Rick mentioned that he had lost a lot of people that he cared about. (Rick didn’t mention that most of them died as the result of Rick being a terrible strategist but no mater.) I was really starting to get concerned that the conversation was never going to end but then Daryl showed up and killed Morales. Thank you, Daryl. From now on, whenever a minor character threatens to hijack an episode, Daryl kills them. That’s the new rule.

The episode definitely picked up after the death of Morales. In fact, thing got so much better after Morales died that I almost felt as if, by killing Morales, the show’s producers, writers, and directors were specifically telling us, “Don’t worry. We learned our lesson last season. We’re not going to let random characters wander in and take over the show this season.”

As for the rest of the episode, I know that many would probably say that the fight between Morgan and Jesus was a highlight and I’ll agree that it was a very well-done sequence. (It helped that it was combined with scenes of Rick and Daryl fighting their own battle, for once giving us a chance to understand where all of these characters are in relation to each other.) The scenes with Aaron and Eric were definitely the episode’s emotional high point and the sight of Eric wandering around as a walker served as nice reminder that, before it all became about Negan and Alexandria, The Walking Dead a show about … well, the walking dead.

For me, though, the best part of tonight’s episode was Gregory showing up at Alexandria and begging to be allowed to come back in. Maggie, of course, immediately noticed that Gregory was driving Father Gabriel’s car. Gregory lied and said that he had just found the car. (Of course, we all know that he deserted Gabriel, leaving him with Negan.) When Maggie said that Kal had told them that Gregory went to see Negan, Gregory announced that Kal couldn’t be trusted.

Suddenly, Kal leaned over the side of the wall.

Gregory looked up at him. “Kal,” he sad.

Kal gave Gregory the finger.

Now, it may be a case of me being easily amused but that one hand gesture made the entire night for me. It was so simple and yet so appropriate that it was pure genius. If Gregory had been caught telling lies about Rick, Rick would have launched into a speech about why no one is allowed to lie in this new world. If Gregory had been caught telling lies about Negan, we would have had to spend three episodes listening to Negan’s lecture. Gregory got caught telling lies about Kal and Kal responded quickly, silently, and efficiently. Everyone on The Walking Dead should try to be more like Kal.

Anyway, Maggie did let Gregory back into the compound. Rick probably would have shot Gregory in the head. Maggie does things differently.

Speaking of which, at the end of the show, Rick promised a savior that he would be allowed to escape if he would just tell Rick and Daryl where they could find a case of guns. The savior told them and Daryl promptly shot him in the head. I can’t say that I blame Daryl. That’s just the way things work in the heartless world of The Walking Dead.

Anyway, despite a shaky start, this episode turned out pretty well. It was certainly a huge improvement on the previous two episodes of this season.

Allow me to end this review with a question and prediction.

First, the question: “Where’s Carl?”

A prediction: The first half of season 8 will end with a zombiefied Carl walking towards Rick. I know that would be a major departure from the comic book but, honestly, it makes sense. On the show, only two or three years have passed since Rick woke up from that coma. In the real world, it’s been nearly 8 years and Chandler Riggs isn’t getting any younger.

We’ll see what happens!