Both characterisations work for their respective versions of Philip. The first two seasons had a bit more melodramatic sweep than this one. I suppose it’s an inevitable side effect of the way the show works that we’ll have these disconnects between the various ages and stages of their lives. Smith’s Philip was a…

oh no, Hooper is also the wrong director. He’s been filming this with all the panache of a man who got paid to do this job.
There’s just not a very strong or unique creative vision behind it all and it shows in some of the casting, a lot of the design and the score.

Sam Elliot is one of those actors who brings that unmistakable Sam Elliot-quality to every role he plays, but even he disappears more in the character than Lin-Manuel Miranda, who just seems like an excited theater kid in everything. He’s just so excited to be there!

There are a lot of things that make Hooper’s judgment suspect, casting Miranda is one of them. 

Yeah, I’d much rather the show spent some time on making the human-daemon connection vital, so that the Bolvangar section has the proper impact, than all this table setting for The Subtle Knife.

I’m also just confused by the continued drop ins on Boreal and his little side quest. It just doesn’t feel part of the rest of story.
There are some other ways in which I think Thorne has just kind of gotten things wrong. Pullman presented Lyra as this half feral showboating liar, but he also pointed out she doesn’t…

While I like Ruth Wilson a lot in the part, I do wonder how this earlier focus on Mrs Coulter’s vulnerability is going to play out in the latter parts of the season. When she rescues Lyra from intercision in the book it is a big dramatic reveal. It’s the moment she shows she deeply cares for Lyra after all.
The show’s…

I thought that too, but it was Mac Quayle going fully orchestral (or as much as the budget allowed), I noticed some of the musical motifs used in score before.

It fits with the Western-feel of the show, but you can’t really do Sergio Leone on Disney+

It’s hard but it can be done, you have to define him by his actions. Which is where the show is lacking so far, the Mandalorian hasn’t really done anything unexpected yet. The episode was very A to B to C, which on its own is refreshing, but you’re either going to have to give your audience someone to connect to, or…

I’m guessing you didn’t grow up in a country that was under Nazi-occupation. Maybe these were new things for you, but this kind of story has been told before in ways that do more justice to the subject.

I liked the straightforwardness of it, but did think that it needs more to actually become good tv. The scene with Herzog was pretty much the only part that had some resonance.
Mostly the problem is the Mandalorian himself, he’s a big blank at the center of the story. If Boba Fett was a rip off of the Man with no name…

So far the added value of introducing these elements so early into the story is still missing for me. The show hasn’t shown it has a very firm grip on Lyra, and taking time away from her story to build up other elements seems like a questionable choice.

Honestly I’m surprised they didn’t shoot at his own castle.

Since Manhattan is the obvious answer, I’m going to say that the Game warden is a clone of Veidt himself.

The impression I got from La Belle Sauvage, and the various hints throughout His Dark Materials, was that the situation in Lyra’s world is a bit like Iran. With theocratic authority keeping a tight leash on a secular government.

Congrats to Taika Waititi on becoming this decade’s Roberto Benigni.

Waititi’s sense of humor works fine when aimed at something like a Marvel movie. Since his shtick is basically winking at the audience that what’s going on is ridiculous. Deflating the self-seriousness of the Thor movies is fine, it actually turned it into something watchable.
But doing that with Nazi-Germany is the…

I think a head writer who actually grew up in a small town, and doesn’t see the people being made fun of as just hilarious nobodies, would have probably nixed a sketch like that. So I think it absolutely matters that SNL right now is a bunch of rich college kids who seem to see anyone with less money than them as…

Oh come on, if you want to cast a big, blustering sycophant you pick Matthew Broderick. That’s his wheelhouse!
Right?