Thanks to the increasingly crowded and varied TV landscape, it’s hard to pick out the exact thing that puts Banshee above other shows that overlap with its general shtick. As a setting, Banshee, Pennsylvania has an interesting Appalachian vibe, but it’s one more vividly felt a few states south on FX’s Justified, where you’ll also find more flavorful dialogue spoken by far more distinctive and well-realized characters. The long term damage of too many years spent in prison was more hauntingly portrayed in last year’s Sundance series Rectify, and if you’re looking for knotty, double-life plot shenanigans, you should probably be checking out The Americans instead.
The amount of good TV this year was really kinda ridiculous. Like, truly unfair. I don't know whether it's an accomplishment or grounds for psychiatric evaluation that I managed to fit in over 30 shows this year while working a full-time job, but the real crazies out there are the ones responsible for making my viewing habits look casual compared to the hours and days you'd need to commit to really be on top of your TV game in 2013. To wit: there was a ton of no doubt great programming out there that never had a chance at making my Top 10 list, simply because I didn't have time to watch it. I walked out on Boardwalk Empire (mistakenly, it would seem) after Season 1, and haven't been in the mood for Masters of Sex just yet, to name just a few of the shows popping up on "Best of" lists right now, but not my own.
Saving Mr. Banks uses a spoonful of sugar to force down this new history of Disney and 'Mary Poppins', but a better film would have needed just a pinch.
With a stacked cast, and sharp scripting and direction from Russell, American Hustle makes for a highly entertaining guide on how to fake it in America
If it had something more to say about the economic and moral misery it so thoroughly realizes, Out of the Furnace could have been one of the year’s standout American dramas,but it spends too much time establishing a worldview instead of actually exploring one. Bale is at his devastating best, making for the film's saving grace, as well as its greatest liability. He earns his spotlight at every turn, shining a separate one on the rest of Out of the Furnace that can't keep up with him in the process.
Stephen King and boobtube fans alike can finally return to Chester’s Mill today, with the release of CBS’s Under the Dome on Blu-ray. One of the biggest new shows of the year, Under the Dome is a 13-episode adaptation of the mammoth 1074 page Stephen King novel of the same name released back in 2009. Set in rural, Anytown USA, the series follows the lives of locals and strangers alike after the quiet little of idyll of Chester’s Mill becomes a supernatural pressure cooker. Premiering to huge numbers in late June, the series made a name for itself thanks to its big sci-fi hook, and weak summer competition. But is the first season worth investigating if you’re new in town, or is this set just for those already under the dome’s spell?
Likeability is never an issue, but the strongest narrative Thor: The Dark World builds is one in which Marvel films fall victim to the sophomore slump.
Ender's Game is a surprisingly accessible YA adaptation that boasts a great lead performance, colourful visuals, and the toxic fingerprints of an author that might well doom the whole thing.
