Athena

Worf: I am NOT a merry man!!!

I'm not crazy with the D'Artagnan in this series at all. The actor they cast is not doing anything for me. The show's lead seems to be more Athos/Tom Burke, and my favourite character is Santiago Cabrera's Aramis. The series is set in 1630 from show media material. The book was set 1625-31. The Muskteers more or less retired after 1631 and met Twenty Years Later (the novel and the time). Queen Anne has a stillborn in April 1631 so they are following the stories and history more or less. It'll be interesting to see how the show does in 1635 onwards. I'm enjoying the Queen Anne character, but they haven't focused on her Spanish lineage which was politicaly tenuous when France entered the Thirty Years War. Even in the novels, Anne was politically savy. I think they played that in the season finale as well. Though, I do admit to liking the Aramis/Anne subplot a lot. I don't care about Constance and D'Artagnan.

All things considered, Julie was a pretty typical teen. Yes, she was bratty, but she actually talked to her parents and she listened to them. She made mistakes with her boyfriends and that awful TA, but she recovered from that relatively quickly. I think sometimes the writers let the character down, but she was not ungrateful by the end of it. In the finale, she is back in college and engaged to her first love citing her parents as a model relationship for her and Matt.

I hope we aren't being too reptitive posting on both boards, but I liked this button of Joan's was pushed. She has a sensitivity about innocent people dying on her and if she was part of that, if she could have stopped it, etc. It's not rational, but it fit with her past. I also really loved Sherlock talking to her about it. He is her teacher and mentor in a way so it would make sense for him to remind her that you can overdo it or project too much. I read another AV Club commentary about how quiet this show is. Even the humor is understated. I love that the conversations are quiet and meaningful.

So many cute moments this episode including Clyde in costume (x2), Ms Hudson mentions (x2), Sherlock picking Watson's wardrobe, Sherlock getting punched to further an investigation, Sherlock going to sing "Let it Go", and Sherlock asking Joan on vacation! I kinda went aww when he said he'd make her dentures too.

I've only ever really cared about Eric. I'd like him to have a happy or satisfying ending with his family (Pam, Tara, and that new baby vamp of his).

Discuss Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and LGBT in Movies Here!

I really enjoyed the first Transporter movie particularly the fight scene where Stratham's character takes on a bunch of goons in the docklands warehouse. At one point, he gets slicked up in oil making it harder for them to catch him.

He real purdy. I really enjoyed their chemistry, but Tatiana seems to have chemistry with everyone (including herself). I do like the choice of her rescuing him, and of course, the head lean when she arrives. He has shown moments of badassery, but Sarah is the one who rescues him when he is held hostage. It'll be interesting to see where they go henceforth.

The execution was the worse. I actually think they could have made me believe the Robin thing in the first two seasons, but not now. Personally, I'm not a true believer in The One in the sense there is one perfect partner or soulmate out there for everyone. I do think that Tracy is probably the great love of Ted's life though. She is definitely more compatible for him, but she dies. It happens and it also appens that people come together years later. Ted is lucky. I think back to one of the lines I remember most from this show: You only need two things for a relationship: timing and chemistry. Robin and Ted did have chemistry at one point. Maybe not as much as they did with Tracy or Barney. In any case, Robin and Ted liked each other, but they wanted different things so their story resumed twenty years later.

The outrage to this finale made it to work so I buckled and watched. I knew I would eventually, but curiosity got the best of me. As an early viewer of this show, I had affection for it, but it died slowly as the years wore on. As with someone else, it went somewhere around Barny/Robin 1.0. I couldn't stand the triangle and Ted's chasing of every girl for the "One" and Robin. I also really liked Barney/Robin at the onset, but the writers made them both so unlikeable. I felt Barney had no real development at all. I bought he would change for his daughter, but it felt cheap. It didn't change nine years and the only time he felt real was when he was with Robin in the early days to me and then that ended. Oddly enough, I didn't have a strong negative reaction to the reveal. I saw it coming. There has always been strong elements of Ted/Robin as end game. I do feel kinda used though since it has been nine years for this. The good thing was that I skipped almost all of this last season and most of the last couple so I didn't have to drag myself to the end. I'm just glad the show is over. It should have ended years earlier. I like most of the cast so I hope they go on to far better things. I won't tune into the spin off, but I knew that I wouldn't stick with these showrunners long before I saw this finale.

Sixteen episodes for the first season. They have been filming since October so it is a long shoot. The books get even denser as the series goes on so it'll be interesting to see what they cut and add for TV. They are adding some WWII scenes to establish the relationship between Claire and Frank.

"Tea. Earl Grey. Hot."

More or less my thoughts. It's surreal to think Jackie and Kelson would be together. They were not a good couple, and yes, to this day, I still ship Jackie/Hyde and refuse to watch the final season. I've tracked Mila Kunis's career for awhile so I'm happy that she is at least.

The second book is more or less written and will be out November I think which is a great thing to look forward to in the fall.

When I heard it, I went "Really?!" I thought she was doing it as a joke, but no, that was her version of Keith. Her version of Mac and Wallace are pretty good actually. I only listened to the first few chapters on audiobook then switched to the ebook. I quite enjoyed it. The mystery was fine and I could picture it all. I enjoyed all the moments between the main cast, Norris and the mystery had a lot going on. I really like Logan, but I like that he was not around that much after the events of the movie. It showed that even without angst, these two can have an interesting relationship. I love how realistic it was that they couldn't sync up their schedules. I prefer this over their trust issues. The Lianne bit was contrived, but interesting to see how that plays out. Like Veronica, I really would like Keith to have someone in his life. I think it'll be likely that Duncan would return at some point. I'm looking forward to more books as well and more Kristen Bell narration too.

I love that the couch format forces celebs to interact with each other and Graham is a party host more than a talk show host as a result. He tries to ask questions of all of them and has planned segues as well. I actually can't see most of the American hosts (who have their own strengths too) doing it that well. On the shows where some of the guests aren't comfortable or not use to the format, the comedian guest and Graham usually make them feel at ease or just do their best at entertaining the show. I think the Harrison Ford episode where Jack Whitehall is an example of this. Someone who went to the taping noted how Whitehall did his best to be inclusive with Ford and set him up with jokes, etc. I think Lee Mack, Miriam Margolyes, and a couple of other comedians do this to keep the spirit going.

I saw the movie last night. I came into VM late in the game when it aired, but enjoyed it immensely up until S3. I was never a huge fan like some others, but I was very excited for the movie and have been tracking it. Referencing Todd at AV Club's article above, I usually agree with his work, but I felt this movie delivered a lot of satisfaction for me. I think the ending is a much better one than the S3 finale which was sorta just there for me. I became quite indifferent to Veronica by the end of it, but by the end of the movie, I remembered how it felt to love the character again. My main criticism of the movie was that there wasn't enough of it. Not just the fan service interactions with Wallace or Mac or even Keith, but it felt genuinely rushed in parts. It was exposition fairy for a lot of it too. Jason Doring did look skinny but still in good shape. A lot of the movie did feel like a backdoor pilot to either another movie or a series which is fine. It made me want it more, but those going into it without much VM would be confused. All the Carrie Bishop/Bonnie DeVille references took me out of the movie mostly because "That's not Leighton Meester!" whom I've always liked. Things I loved: Enjoyed a lot of the callbacks, fanservice moments, and Neptune in its seedy glory. Like Carrie Ann, I really enjoyed that the movie ended with Veronica accepting who she was. I did not like the addict metaphor, but I agree that a big part of VM's arc has been trying to find stability after what happened to Lilly. Along the way, she changed and her trying to become a safe, corporate lawyer in NYC was her rejecting that change in her. I don't know if she is resigned to it, but she does finally accept that is where she belongs. I liked that she saved herself (love the suspense scenes) in the end without her Dad or Logan in the place. Actually, Logan saved Keith. As with others, Logan has always fascinated me as a character. I loved the growth he showed through the movie. I could see how the military and being an officer especially would give him structure. I don't know if it was in this thread or the TWOP one that people criticised Logan still being in Neptune after it. I actually think staying in Neptune makes sense because Logan has no family, most of his core childhood friends are gone, and all he has Dick. This is strange, but it must be a comfort for Logan to have a friend like Dick who is just constant and unchanging. Considering all the stuff that went on in Logan's life, I can see how he would want a couple of consistent things. I can't really imagine Logan going all the way somewhere else forever. It'd be very isolating even if he was in the military so it made sense his social/home life would be still centered in Neptune. Going to watch the movie again now.

Weitz did an interview the fan site Bridge to the Stars when he first got onto the project. A lot of us were understandably skeptical about how they would adapt the film, but I remember feeling impressed with the way he engaged the fans of the book. He came off very well during the whole process. I guess I was always a realist about film adaptation as I thought it was idealistic if he could get everything he (and a lot of us) wanted. I tend to err on low to modest expectations of any adaptation I hear about. I usually don't bother if the buzz around the film is bad and skip it altogether if I liked the book. Sometimes, an adaptation is entertaining if not faithful which I can be OK with, but I don't want to waste my time on a boring or lame film.

Like you, I looked forward to it. I think they did well with casting, but failed in everything else. I had a feeling it would not be good after I heard how delayed the project was and the religious stuff. Then again, I always knew they could never do a decent adaptation of the trilogy. The Golden Compass is the least complex of the books. Still, it was disappointing to watch in theatres because I had the feeling most of us in the cinema knew around the polar bear scene how truly lackluster the film was.

I really do think we should be drinking while watching the show and while commenting on it. It's in the spirit of it all. I'm glad there are people are coming into this forum! Graham's chat show is too entertaining and funny not to have a forum on it. The show returns April 4th in the UK!

As someone who loves books and likes movies and tv quite a bit, it's fascinating to see what happens when they translate to screen. Some of the most profitable movies in the last few years are based on books especially from the YA sphere. What are your most favourite films based off books? What are your least favourite? What are you anticipating or not anticipating?

I was "Thena" over on TWOP. I was on the old thread since the beginning and had low expectations of the show given that it was a procedural. I am glad it is so much more and is now one of my favourite US network shows. I had some of the best times posting in that old thread and I hope to continue it here.

Another Bitten Kitten? Yes, I love her wardrobe. It's not always to my style or body type, but Lucy Liu can wear clothes very well. I love the Joan's Fashion Show Tumblr.

I also know a lot of the stuff is fake, but I still love it too. I think the show has found the right amount of cheesey fakeness and sincere comedy. The specials are the best for this. The stuff that isn't fake is ridiculous and a bit scary like the time James was injured in Iraq. This time, Richard almost broke his wrist when his five legged pony tried to mount James's mare!