Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture

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…

Downton and The Doctor: Christmas Specials 2013

For a TV fan like myself, the Brits have really given us a wonderful (long-running) tradition in the delivering of special Christmas episodes (aired on Christmas day) to both Doctor Who and Downton Abbey. (If you have been waiting for the North American airing of Downton season 4, I will tread lightly on spoilers, but…

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…

2013 TV Characters: Love and Hate

Characters I Loved I guess I’ve proven again that I just don’t watch TV for the characters, because this year I found fewer standout characters that I really loved (and the ones I did find were kind of secondary, side characters who are not fully fleshed-out). On top of that, most of you have probably…

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…

Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Movie Review

Missing hardly a beat from the conclusion of the first movie, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark (played again by Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson) are living in the aftermath of their victory in the 74th Hunger Games, the fictional arena sport where teenagers fight for their own survival, for the benefit of their home district,…

Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor – TV Review

Doctor Who celebrates 50 years of television history this week, though I only joined for the last eight or so (and I’ve probably only really understood about 60% of those eight seasons). Still, it was really exciting to see how The Day of the Doctor would continue the story of this Gallifreyan Time Lord while…

Fall TV 2013 – New Drama

Unlike some previous years where new series became instant classics (I’m thinking of Lost and Desperate Housewives — 2004 was a banner year!), I find this season has some potential new hit drama series but they’ll probably need some time to come into their own. Of new drama series, my favourite is (suprisingly) The Blacklist….

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…