Midseason TV 2014, part 3

I don’t know if this still counts as “mid”season since we’re hitting spring, but I couldn’t miss the opportunity to talk about a few more cool, genre shows. My previous two updates contained more misses than hits, but I think there are a few this time that have some real potential to stay on my…

The Lego Movie – Movie Review

At first I thought The Lego Movie was going to be like the Lego series of video games where you’re basically watching characters from Star Wars or Harry Potter re-enact their adventures using simulated Lego pieces and minifigs instead of their normal selves and environments. The Lego Movie definitely has a big action-adventure storyline where…

Midseason TV 2014, part 1

Year over year, midseason is becoming more and more my favourite time of the TV calendar. I guess networks figure that fall is the time to hit their biggest audience with new sitcoms or dramas, they save the sci-fi and genre stuff for midseason. That’s exciting for TV geeks like myself who love shows that…

Looking forward to 2014 Movies

As the harsh winter sends us all scurrying indoors, I’m looking forward to some promising movies in the first half of 2014. Don’t be too disappointed in me if the vast majority of these are sequels, prequels, or adaptations. They’re the ones that I know more of what to expect (I’ve been well-trained by the…

Cramming: 2013’s leftover Movie reviews

Over the course of the year, I wrote a few movie reviews on this blog (though not as many as I had hoped). However, I also watched a few other movies that I didn’t get around to reviewing. So, as 2013 closes, I still want to give my two cents on each of them (though…

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Movie Review

Despite a prologue scene that tries to fill in some backstory (and remind viewers about this big quest that the main characters are on), there’s no fooling anyone about The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug being the middle segment of a movie trilogy. Still trying to live down comparisons to its more-epic older brother, The…

Frozen – Movie Review

When I heard that Frozen was going to be based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, “The Snow Queen”, I was excited because I think Disney movies are at their best when they are adapting famous folktales into family musical adventures. After Tangled was a success at reinventing that Disney formula using computer animation instead…

Fall TV 2013 – Returning Drama

Last season’s finales left us with big changes in many drama series, so as we pick those up in this season’s premieres, our favourite characters are probably making some transitions and adjustments. The Vampire Diaries is always good for some plot twists, and the fact that Stefan turned out to be a doppelganger for Silas…

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke – Book Review

I consider it a miracle in itself that I finished reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. After all, the book is almost 800 pages long (and since I listened to the audiobook, it was also over 30 hours long)! While it deals with magic and is set in an England where magic…