Shirking nearly every other casting rumor to come out concerning the part, Warner Bros. has announced that Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) will play the villainous Lex Luthor in Batman vs. Superman. In a somewhat less controversial movie, the studio also announced that Jeremy Irons (The Borgias) would be stepping into the well-worn shoes of Alfred Pennyworth, Batman's trusty butler and confidant.
Unless I’m mistaken, the first 10 minutes of tonight’s Simpsons had more gags per second than the entire season so far. It was a pleasant surprise, because judging from the episode’s title, “Married to the Blob,” I had my doubts. After all, Married to the Mob has been used as the basis for a punny Simpsons’ title in the past, as in season 10’s “Mayored to the Mob” AKA: the one with Mark Hamill. Fittingly, Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con was revisited briefly in “Blob” and with the nerd-based humour that lay at the heart of the episode, including a couple of great cameos, this week’s Simpsons made it clear that you can’t always judge an outing by its title.
It was quite a night for Matthew McConaughey this evening. Not only did the Texan performer win Best Actor at the Golden Globes for his role in Dallas Buyers Club, but his new series True Detective also premiered on HBO. While McConaughey may get the flashier part of the two leads roles, between himself and co-star Woody Harrelson we have what is instantaneously one of the most complex partnerships in modern TV police dramas. The series itself, so far, is a slow burn of an affair. As interested, if not more interested, in how two very different men work together on the job, as opposed to solving a grisly homicide in the coastal plain of Louisiana.
I’ve said before that The Simpsons’ comedy is usually at its sharpest when dealing with political material, but if there’s another fertile ground where the show digs up lots of laughs it’s in its own backyard: Hollywood. In tonight’s outing, “Steal this Episode,” the show quite thoroughly savaged all sides of the issue of pirating Hollywood movies, modern blockbusters, spoiler culture and the current state of venturing to the cinema. Throw into the mix perhaps the largest collection of celebrity guest voices that the show’s done in a while, and you have a recipe for an average though still sometimes amusing episode.
What makes a movie one of the worst of the year? One might think it’s the irrepressible stink of terribleness, but most crummy movies usually have some redeeming qualities, like a cool action sequence, awesome special effects, or Kevin Spacey.
The Simpsons has a long, proud history of Christmas specials, from "Grift of the Magi" (the one with Funzo), "Skinner's Sense of Snow" (the one where the kids are trapped at school), and "'Tis the Fifteenth Season" (the one where Homer realizes his holiday selfishness). Heck, even the first ever episode of The Simpsons was a Christmas special, “The Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.” Of course, this opens up an interesting paradox since the Simpsons themselves never age and they’ve had about 14 different Christmases. So with the exception of that first one, in which the Simpsons added Santa’s Little Helper to their family, I guess each new holiday episode usurps the previous one.
After a one week break for American Thanksgiving festivities, The Simpsons returned with a new episode that didn’t necessitate a trip to the store in order to get your favourite food to eat when disappointed. The focus of “Yellow Subterfuge” is Principal Seymour Skinner, and another scheme to bring Springfield Elementary under his fastidious desire for uniformity with the promise of a field trip on board a submarine. Even Bart Simpson summons the restraint to stay away from pranking in order to gain a place on that field trip, but is mere restraint enough, and has Skinner gone a bit around the bend this time?
Under different circumstances, I might begin by complaining about how The Simpsons is putting a lot of time and effort into making some overly complex title sequences and not investing as much time in doing if not original storytelling, at least comedic storytelling. However, it’s a pleasure to say that this week, the show had all the bases covered. Episode writer Tim Long kept a pretty tight focus on the main story, which was a fairly smart and even-handed political satire that trumpets the grand quality of bi-partisanship.
