NumberCruncher

Interesting no bump at all from the promo push of Deathstroke's return.

That was the first Flash episode I've seen in nearly two years...and I can't say I miss it based on what I just saw. It was a cringe-y mess, but hey--at least they have finally given Iris something useful to do so there's that. I love me some Katie Sackhoff (TBH, she's the primary reason I watched this episode) but I thought this was a ginormous waste of her talent. Also, they simply cannot write Felicity worth a damn on this show. It's like they take what's charming about her character on Arrow and then plot out all the ways to make that OTT and annoying here. Her persona on The Flash ends up becoming the equivalent of Curtis on Arrow which...is a huge "no" for me. I get that this show is supposed to be lighthearted(!) and fun(!) but if I feel the perpetual urge to smack so many characters over the course of one episode (including ones that I otherwise normally love) then you're doing it wrong.

I don't know how I feel about them at this point. I HATED what ASP did to them in the revival--especially after all of the character growth we saw in seasons 6 & 7 (particularly in Logan's case)--but I can't say I hate them. If they were real people, then yeah I probably would, but this is TV land and the one thing the show keeps reinforcing is that, even despite their large flaws, they are still in love with each other. That said, I don't think ASP would ever write them as getting over all the respective things holding them back from being together (i.e. Logan's family issues, Rory's lack of direction, etc.), so I don't see them ever having a happily ever after. ASP seems to relish her repetitive and unoriginal storylines/themes so I don't think she would ever deviate from the Logan/Rory vs. Christopher/Lorelai comparisons. This point was only reinforced when she made Rory a carbon copy of her mother in the revival.

I would say my rankings are: 1. The Avengers 2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier 3. Thor: Ragnarok 4. Guardians of the Galaxy 5. Captain America: Civil War

Agreed re: Thor. I don't think I have belly-laughed that much in the movie theater in a very long time. Taika Waititi is pure genius. I can't believe I'm saying this about a Thor movie but it's now in my top 3 MCU movies of all time list.

This. I always thought it was downright criminal to have an actor of Elba's caliber and so dreadfully underuse him in the first two movies. It's yet another example of Waititi realizing what a quality cast he truly had and maximizing his assets. Hemsworth does have a bit of a limited range but they finally played to his greatest strength (i.e. comedy) here and it came off beautifully.

Wow...Thor: Ragnarok expected to open at $121M domestically: https://www.comicbookmovie.com/amp/thor/thor_ragnarok/thor-ragnarok-exceeds-expectations-with-a-thunderous-121-million-domestic-debut-427-million-worldwide-a155039 Who would have thought a Thor movie would beat Spiderman?

"Get help!!!" That was just a whole lot of fun though I have to say I'm surprised people are under the impression that humor is the only thing Thor: Ragnarok has going for it. The overall Ragnarok story was quite heavy and even violent. Yes, there's humor but there's also a handful of rather touching family moments sprinkled in. The highlight of the Thor movies has always been the chemistry between Hemsworth and Hiddleston and that's probably at its very best here. Cate Blanchett is amazing (and I daresay sexy) as Hela. A lot of the reviews have rightly pointed her out as a highlight along with Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, though I must say, the true scene stealer is Taika Waititi as Korg. His matter-of-fact commentary about everything was a delight. That's not to say it's any one actor's movie. I felt that all the major players were given solid material and really maximized their screentime, unlike the earlier Thor movies where it sometimes felt like some of the actors were just there to collect a paycheck. I think that's why this movie worked so well for me. Everyone looked like they ENJOYING making it and you could feel that energy. I may need to pay to see it again. I do have one complaint--though it's a relatively minor one--in that Marvel tends to insert random characters in their movies who serve no real purpose to the story at hand. That was especially evident here in the case of the superfluous Doctor Strange scenes which, had they been left out, wouldn't have changed the plot one bit. All it would have taken is two lines of dialogue with Heimdall telling Thor where Odin was and we could have saved ourselves a 10-minute nothing burger. It's clear that Strange was shoved in there simply so the audience doesn't forget he knows an Avenger and therefore can conveniently make an appearance later in the Infinity Wars.

I LOVE that musical. I got to see Zac and Laura B. perform it live on Broadway. I'm so glad PBS broadcast it because it was a pretty short run. I guess I'm in the minority because I preferred Zac as Fandral a lot more than Josh Dallas in Thor. I thought he fit a lot better with the level of humor in Thor 2 that was missing in the first movie. I know virtually nothing about Shazam so I have no idea how he'll do in the role but hopefully the movie allows for some comedy rather than being the typical dark, broodiness DC is known for.

While this episode was the best one of the season so far, it's been a rather boring start as a whole so I'm not at all surprised viewership is down. I do think too much focus on the new characters started the decline last year and is continuing to hurt this season's numbers. I also concur that the recycling storyline of Oliver quitting again (and the general repetitiveness of storylines altogether) are contributing. On a personal note, I don't enjoy the insertion of kid actors on adult shows so I wouldn't be surprised if the William storyline is turning others off as well--even if it's something the show hasn't explored before. I really wish they would have stuck with their original 5-year plan because I just don't think these writers are talented enough to keep things fresh and interesting six seasons into the show.

That's awesome! I loved his score for The Keepers.

Well at least he can at least admit that Stephen and Emily have chemistry so...progress!

That's fair. I don't hate KH or wish her ill will (despite how my earlier post sounded). I think she has sufficiently been slapped around for her blatant egotism and immaturity of her earlier acting days. She even came out and apologized for being a terror to work with, which is more than I can say for so many other Hollywood actors. It is unfortunate that she keeps trying to find a show that has some staying power after taking time off to be a mom to her kids only to have those projects fail time and time again.

Yep. JB sued his manager and he basically never did real acting work again. It wasn't a great idea in a town where the whole industry is built around the actor/agent model. KH was rumored to have been really difficult to work with even back in the Roswell days. Stories existed that she always tried to usurp Shiri's role as female lead. It got especially bad when KH started dating JB. There's a big reason why Isabel's character was brought to the forefront in S3 when she was a such a supporting character the prior two.

Ugh! to the Roswell reboot.

This is me, but I'm petty like that. In fact, it's not just limited to Craig...I'm over here enjoying the hell out of everyone's salty tears. People reap exactly what they sow, and after listening to nearly five seasons of people whining about every non-canon move the writing made and harassing/belittling anyone who didn't tow the comic book line, I'm ecstatic that the EPs pretty much ignored them in the end and did what made sense with what was happening on the TV screen. To clarify, I'm not exactly thrilled with how the show has handled Olicity the past 1-1/2 seasons and was furious that they essentially made Felicity apologize for Oliver lying to her, but I'm just happy that there's finally something positive to look forward to in what has become a rather boring, repetitive, tedious show to watch in general. I was one who really enjoyed the show from the start because of the story, family dynamics, and the stunts and became an Olicity shipper wayyyyy later than everyone else. Who knew that nearly 6 seasons later they would basically be the only thing that's still keeping me even remotely interested.

I'm just going to nominate 1982 version of The Thing in its entirety as disturbing. It's definitely a classic, but it's basically 2 hours of gross-out with the couch scene as the pièce de résistance.

I wouldn't say I really disliked it, but I was underwhelmed. Emma was passable (she's not a very good actress in general, IMO) but it's not like Belle is a role requiring a huge amount of depth. Dan Stevens clearly had the most difficult role and did an admirable job with it. I just found the whole production a bit...unnecessary. I'm not a die-hard fan of the animated version either. In fact, it's actually one of my take-it-or-leave-it Disney productions, but I can recognize that a lot of people hold it as the pinnacle of Disney animated features. Too bad it felt to me like the live version didn't even come close to living up to that legacy.

I happened to catch this movie randomly playing in the background on HBO and was surprised how much I got sucked into it. Tarzan isn't exactly my kind of thing...never read the books, haven't watched the movies, but this actually held my attention. I also liked that it wasn't a typical origins story but rather an original premise which only hinted back to the origins. I agree with others that Margot Robbie was the best thing about the movie. Also, Christoph Waltz needs to branch out from his bad guy roles. He's great at them, but we're now at overkill stage.

There is? I must have missed the louder outrage for male victims...it all seems pretty outrageous from what I've observed. If there's a disparity in the number of male victims vs. female victims reported I would chalk that up to more opportunity (i.e. the prevalence of altar boys dealing directly/privately with priests in comparison to girls) than any kind of media gender bias.

I thought the same thing, until I realized how frequently otherwise rational people fall for strong personalities like Jones's (e.g. Manson, Koresh, etc.). There's definitely something to be said about our susceptibility as human beings to the power of suggestion. It's downright scary. In the case of The Peoples Temple the documentary did a good job emphasizing that Jones was, in part, so successful because he targeted the disadvantaged (economically, intellectually, racially, etc.). If you're someone who has been stepped on your whole life and someone comes along and offers you a refuge of equality and/or acceptance, what do you have to lose? I think the real tragedy is that, upon realizing they would be forcing cyanide down their children's throats, quite a few people realized what a huge mistake they had made in following Jones but of course it was much too late. To this day, the whole thing still chills me to the bone.

Yeah, count me in as someone who enjoys the weekly stank-face we get from as George whenever he doesn't get exactly what he wants. I'm completely aware that book George isn't nearly as villainous as TV George but I'm fine with it because Farthing plays it with such relish that I can forgive the inconsistency. @Jacks-Son - he told George that the mission resulted in one injury and one death and George used that as evidence that the mission was a failure because even by saving Dwight, the net body count remained at zero. That is, until he is informed that Ross & Co. also saved Lord Falmouth's nephew (which results in George's deliciously dour reaction). I really loved this episode, but then again, I'm easy to please. I thought the performances across the board were excellent and I had to fight back tears in multiple scenes. I was sad to see Captain Henshawe meet his end but I think his death added more emotional weight to the scenes versus losing a less conspicuous character. I also really liked the callback to Caroline's scurvy-fighting oranges. This is probably a minority opinion since I know others here don't really care for it, but I find the Drake/Morwenna relationship quite charming so I was heartbroken for Drake after Morwenna's rejection. It was the perfect driver for Drake to take his mind off the situation via the prison break. I think allowing him to make the decision for himself to join the rescue gave the character more depth than simply watching him brood over an unattainable woman week after week. I know mileage may vary, but overall I don't mind the changes the producers are making to the series as I can see how they are trying to appeal to modern TV audiences who may not have the time (or the care) to read the books. This series still very much feels like Poldark to me so as long as the actors continue to give us great character portrayals and TPTB retain the overall spirit of the series then I'll be happy.

The Deep Blue Sea (2011) - Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston navigate a destructive extramarital affair. Deep Blue Sea (1999) - Samuel L. Jackson eaten by a killer shark

Uh, sorry to burst your bubble Guggs, but comparing the cliffhanger to TWD's cliffhanger isn't a way to get people to stay with you. Lots of people may have tuned in to see who died on TWD, but then the numbers took a huge nosedive from there. Personally TWD's cliffhanger was the final straw for me since I found it a cheap, blatant ratings grab that they had already done multiple times that season. You've proven you like to pull that crap on Arrow too and I don't think people will always have the same level of patience.

I demand to see Alice again. Yeah, I know she's "dead" but S4 greatly suffered without her so I'm sure they could work something out, right?