Thus far, each episode this season has left me with a number of questions. Some have been of the welcome sort already mentioned, relating to the morality of Dexter's devilish deeds and where this season will take him and Deb, while others have had a more critical edge to them. During "Run," the critical began to outpace the welcome.
This week's episode of Sons of Anarchy, titled "Small World," can be summed up in all of three words. Lies all around. Sutter's series, about to enter the back half of its season, has always dealt primarily in deceit, but now the lies are becoming more plentiful by the second.
Seth MacFarlane is all too familiar with criticism. At the same time, however, he knows success just as well, as evidenced by his domination of Fox's Animation Domination and now by the record-setting success of his first foray into feature filmmaking, the R-rated original comedy Ted.
In weeks prior, commenters have made mention of what seems to be becoming a trend as of late on Dexter, that being the general messiness of Dexter's actions. There appears to be little left of the calculating character who was so adept at evading anyone and everyone.
No differently than the season or, for that matter, series as a whole, "Orca Shrugged," this week's episode of Sons of Anarchy, was a somewhat mixed bag, offering up much in the way of satisfying resolution, yet not being without a couple moments that stood out as feeling forced.
Among the select few who've never played a single Silent Hill game, you'll find me. I might have for a short period that one night I stayed over at my sister's place when she was dating a video-game obsessed man-child, but my memory that far back's so spotty that I could've been playing anything.
Due to not having played the series before, I had no preconceived notions about what the resulting film adaptation would, or should be prior to the day I was introduced to it by some friends. Without any bias influencing me one way or the other, I found myself quite impressed by Silent Hill, at least visually speaking.
Once more, Dexter seems determined to tackle the issue of whether its protagonist, Dexter Morgan, is beyond saving or if he's capable of undoing the damage done by that earliest of his memories, being found inside a shipping crate sitting in a pool of his mother's blood.
Star Trek fans are, suffice it to say, a pretty rabid bunch. So it comes as no surprise that with Star Trek Into the Darkness, a sequel to J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot of the series, due out in May 17th of next year, they're prepared to pounce on any and all news, no matter how tiny.
Of all the recent comedy actors who've become their own brand, of sorts, Jack Black is by far my least favorite. Yes, I put him below Adam Sandler, mostly on account of pretending his more recent movies just don't exist. During my teenage years, I loved Tenacious D, but now that I've grown up his shtick has become tiresome. In nearly every performance of his, he comes across as simply trying way too hard. Given the right role, though, Black's shtick can be made to work. Look at his bit role on Community or his starring role in The School of Rock, for example. If he's not the focus, or if the writer is successfully able to reign his shtick in, it really can work.
Thus far this season, my main complaint has been that Sons of Anarchy felt as if it was at a standstill, with a number of its storylines turning cyclically and never reaching (or so much as nearing) a resolution. More than a couple times I found myself wondering out loud where this or that would go and if it would happen anytime soon. It's apparent Sutter likes the slow burn, letting his characters stay as long over the heat as the meat my dad grills. But, by the time he's taken them out of the fire they're virtually unrecognizable; blackened char more akin to hockey pucks that my dad has the gall to call hamburgers.
