Ahem. Conan the Barbarian is every bit as good a movie as The River's Edge, because (as per the main topic of this article) it understands the limitations of its star and writes around them. Got an actor who physically inhabits the role but can't read lines? Don't give him any! In fact, tell as much of the story…

Something else which can't be said enough is how deft the show's writers are at tackling a large cast and giving everybody enough to do. This was an episode with five guest stars, only one of whom was a returning character, plus five of the six Johnsons and Ruby, plus the core four-person group at Dre's office, and…

It was definitely the "Isaac & Ishmael" of Arrow as far as I'm concerned. (An episode I've defended before, to be honest, but without any desire whatsoever to see it again.)

Yeah, "the perfect solution that doesn't cost either side anything meaningful but somehow solves a seemingly irreconcilable debate" is a standard piece of genre-drama screenwriting, but rings so hollow as to insult the viewer when it's about something as real and urgent as gun control. There is no such solution in…

I sort of had the impression that James had intended Guardian to roll out for more of the street-level threats, your purse-snatchers and jewelry heists, rather than trading blows with aliens and supervillains every week.

I like both of them better than Up In Smoke, which for me was notably short in the laugh-out-loud moments that positively litter NM and ND. How anybody can watch the bit in Next Movie where Chong and Red blunder into the hotel room (through the window, natch) of a couple engaged in some deeply weird foreplay,…

The way Mack's face fell the second Agnes Kitsworth mentioned her diagnosis — not just the layman's version, but the medical terminology — suggests that he's heard it before and there's more Tragic Backstory in play. And the fact that he's willing to quit the mission rather than put pressure on her to save his fellow…

While it's true that montages at minute 49 are unusual for Lucifer, it's always had a way with a score. A couple of memorable Tom Ellis piano/vocal scenes from previous episodes stand out (and provide me, at least, with a pretty good clue on how he got the part).

Illinois contains Chicago, a large city. Being a large city, it contains a lot of people of color. People of color are often religious. The NPR tote-bag heathens cluttering the lobby at the A.V. Club aren't setting all the trends in the state.

But the purpose that Amantha's scene with Jon and Janet's scene with Mrs. Dean serves is to remind us that "the real killer" is essentially irrelevant. Hannah Dean is dead, and there is no form of justice that can restore her to life. The tragedies that shape our lives cannot be undone, so what ultimately matters is…

I think Maul's plea to Ezra specifically includes a promise that they would be "brothers" in power, which I think hints at the particular bond he's trying to recreate. Maul's complicated relationship with Savage Oppress back in Clone Wars — all of the Dathomir stuff, actually — was one of the more interesting aspects…

Evelyn certainly deserves to make her own dreams come true and no woman should be asked to be anybody's baby farm, but given what we have seen of their relationship, I don't buy for one second that she has been "unconditionally supportive, without a word of complaint" of Blip's career. Earlier in this very season she…

I tried to identify Prometheus strictly by the voice. My guess?

The reason that 13 year age gaps generally don't work between couples is that "maturity and compatibility" aren't the only things that make a relationship work. Mike's career is ending; Ginny's is just starting. Mike has an emotional hold on Ginny as a mentor; Ginny seeks his approval in a totally different way than…

Thanks! I really appreciate you taking the time to talk me through this trope and how it reads from your perspective. And now I'm even more upset about the way Firefly ended…sigh.

That is definitely a valid read of fandoms in general, and to be honest it made me feel a little guilty that I tended to reject the often-hyped idea of the Sleepy Hollow leads hooking up, because to me their relationship never read that way. In fact, Abby Mills has always come off as one of the least sexualized…

Setting aside race (as I feel most decent people do). the fact that Mike is the team captain and Ginny is a rookie pitcher, and the (roughly) 15 year age difference are concerns that seem to weight heavily against a serious romantic relationship between them. The chemistry in the locker room is Mike's responsibility,…

Agreed. The writers of Pitch care about baseball in the way that the writers of The West Wing cared about politics, and it's infectious. It was kind of a one-two punch with Ginny being the inspiration for sports-loving girls (and if your heart doesn't melt for a stadium full of sports-loving girls, I submit you…

Another thing I appreciated about the episode: wow, was it jam-packed with characters, and yet it felt like everybody (except maybe Wanda Sykes) was well-served. When you only need to give a character a couple of lines in a 22-minute script to make them memorable, that's when you know you have a top-tier writing…

The Arrow fight benefits greatly from real people as the opponents instead of CGI aliens, and there are moments in the rooftop fight that feel like the heroes are fighting empty air.