absnow54

Jan was wearing Bobbi Mohan-Culp's striped dress during the "Jew or not a Jew" sketch!

Why do I feel like this episode was written by Hillary Clinton? Have they almost run out of season 1 episodes from the vault? Because it's always really jarring when they try to slip them in as new.

I've been watching too much of The Clone Wars cartoon, because during the combat scene I kept on shouting at them to use the Force whenever they lost their weapon.

I really liked Clarke's adventures in Polis, it was like the best parts of Game of Thrones, and a lot of fun. The rest of the storylines are killing me though. I'm completely over Jasper and his pain. I don't usually wish death upon characters, but he can seriously go at any time. Bellamy's story is beyond frustrating. I guess my main problem is that Gina was such a non-entity on the show, that her death inspiring Bellamy's betrayal has no weight. Perhaps if she were a more well developed character I would have cared more, but she was just a two episode plot device, so Bellamy being all heartbroken over a character we don't even know feels fake. Now if Raven had perished in Mt Weather, that would have been another story (one that I don't want to think of because Raven is awesome.) I just have a really hard time that Bellamy would betray his sister, and the friendship he's formed with Lincoln, and the guidance he's taken from Kane. I'm sure his acting out also has to do with Clarke choosing to stay in Polis, but I just hate everything about this story. I miss Murphy.

Yeah, his 1986 performance of Donald J. Trump was huge.

I figured they had filmed Allegiant and Ascendant at the same time.

I was going more off the similarities between the weather vane and the torch, but you raise a good point about the height, because I don't think there's a comparable building in the Baltimore/Washington/Annapolis region. I think the tallest building in Maryland is 40 stories, and it looks nothing like the tower. Anything with a passing resemblance tops out at 250ft, which suggests that the tower doesn't yet exist, which is kind of boring, but is probably not something the average viewer cares about, nor does it effect the story outside of the handful of people who watch and think, "I know where they are!" The Maryland State House would have been an interesting connection, as it's the oldest capitol in the country, which seems significant in 100 land, but based off additional landmarks in episode 3, a suburb around Baltimore seems more likely.

I assume it's this image, which most likely stands for Linthicum Heights which is a neighborhood outside of Baltimore that is very close to the NSA and BWI airport. An air traffic control tower makes more sense for the setting of Polis than Inner Harbor Baltimore which is dense with taller buildings that would make it unlikely that only ONE tower is left standing. Currently all the stations around that area are light rail and above ground track, and I don't think BWI has a subway system between the terminals, but, the future, I guess. I'm curious about the Polis connection, do you have a link to it? There aren't any rail lines that go to Annapolis, unless that's where the P and L lines from the 100 Universe's map is supposed to terminate. The point where the S, P, and L line all intersect is where Linthicum/BWI airport is, and since the P line is entirely fictitious (the other two lines are extended off existing above ground light rail lines) could understandably be built underground. Sorry for over thinking this, but the Easter eggs connecting the 100's Universe with modern times is fascinating to me.

Yeah, I don't see how Star Wars could have cost the movie $50-100 million when the film was released a month before Star Wars' premiere. Although with Avengers and Jurrasic World also coming out in 2015, it's possible that people were tired of spending money on action flicks. I think Mockingjay suffered most from an over saturation of YA adaptations, a two part finale that didn't have the content to fill 4.5 hours (there's a 10 minute scene where Katniss does nothing but run down stairs!), and a terrible advertising campaign for the last two movies. Granted they made more money making two than they would have releasing one, but stretching out the franchise definitely affected the individual performances.

Chris Christie really just needs to do SNL a favor and drop out of the race, because Bobby's impression of him is so good that he's shackled to the character while he's running. I don't think Taran's Cruz is terrible, and I don't even remember his Rubio impression, but I think that Rubio is a big enough contender that they need to replace Pete Davidson who seems like the kid that was picked last in dodge ball in these political sketches. The "I'm younger and 100000x less dramatic than the rest of the candidates" punchline was amusing, but won't cut it if he snags the nomination.

I was convinced it was Baltimore based on the Washington/Baltimore rail map and the star spangled banner written on the wall (although it's still possible that Ice Prince captured Clarke around Baltimore and they were heading toward Annapolis) but now I'm convinced it's Annapolis and the tower is a stripped down version of the Maryland State House. In episode 3 you even see the crumbled columns at the base.

They're going to have to add an "Actor looking exceedingly worried to be in this mini-series or made for television movie" award for the next Emmy's between all of David Schwimmer's concerned terror and Paul Dano's utter confusion throughout the War and Peace adaptation. The Kardashian pandering didn't annoy me too much, but it definitely took me out of each scene. Like is it really important to know that Robert Kardashian was divorced other than to give the audience context about Kris already being a Jenner, or to know that Selma Blair is KRIS JENNER and not just one of Nicole's friends who was aware of Nicole's abuse (like I had no idea who Connie Britton was supposed to be playing, but I understood her role,) or the fact that OJ was in KIMMY'S room when in any other show "not my daughter's room" would have been enough. I don't know how I feel about John Travolta's performance, but watching him go up and down the hall while twisting his entire body because he seemingly had no range of motion in his neck dramatically calling out "Juice" was a highlight for me.

I don't think it's an established musical, and technically, the Passion of the Christ is an adaptation of the Passion Play. It's been a looooooooong time since I've been to church, but around Easter the church usually puts on a play depicting the final days of Christ, and in between scenes thematically appropriate songs are sung. That's what I think Fox's production is supposed to be, except they are going to adapt the story to modern times.

I feel like they used the Wikipedia page to write the script. Everything has been done well, but it's all been so quick, like they have a mile long list of plot points that they need to cram in. I disagree about Pierre and Natasha though. Ever since the first episode when he went to see her instead of going to his sick father's bedside, the seed has been planted. It's the only relationship the show has portrayed that has any depth other than the friendship between Pierre and Andrei. All the other relationships have been nothing more than brief blips of infatuation, even the grand love affair between Andrei and Natasha (that I still got swept up in because they're both so pretty.) I really felt for Natasha in this episode, even though her actions were entirely her fault. Her family, while still accepted in society are treated like outcasts, her fiance skips town for a year and his family is icy and unwelcoming toward her (not to put fault on Maria who is dealing with her own shit), and she's been raised in a household where Daddy will clean up all the kids messes. Of course she's not going to think twice when Tall Dark and Handsome comes knocking. I don't agree with her actions, but Lilly James played the arc well and I really sympathized with this young girl who made a bad decision.

I just watched the performance again, and they cut away from the car for quite a long time before the changed versions are revealed. They had all of Kenickie's verse and a bum scooting dance solo to change it the first time, and then a second dance interlude to change it back. Every time there was an awkward camera angle (like when Marty was getting ready to perform Freddy My Love) you knew they were doing some sort of tight transition for the next scene.

Grease lands somewhere between The Wiz and The Sound of Music.

It would be naive to think that the studio heads were the only racists in the equation. One needs only look at twitter in the aftermath of John Boyega being cast as a lead in Star Wars, or Michael B Jordan being cast as Johnny Storm, or Amandla Stenberg being cast as Rue in the Hunger Games (a character that was actually written as black in not so subtle terms.) The question, to me, is why is this the audience that's being catered to when there's another large and vocal audience that want a more accurate depiction of American culture today. Was casting a bunch of white people as Egyptians in Exodus: Gods and Kings a formula for success? Or casting Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily for Pan? I think it shows that audiences are changing, and execs have been slow to acknowledge that white washing a film with big name movie stars isn't the formula for success that it had once been.

This observation has made my life. I thought it was a really ambitious production and was certainly entertaining. They should have let Julianne Hough dance more, because she was truly in her element during those numbers. I don't think the chemistry really clicked until the final two numbers, which was disappointing. Rizzo and Kenickie were the only couple with any spark. I was convinced that Pink was singing the opening number until I saw Jessie J's name in the credits. Where can I start my campaign for Anna Kendrick as Stephanie Zinone in the Grease 2 production?

Imagine they raced golf carts around the lot for the big street racing scene. That would have been amazing.

Yay Zack Woodley! His choreography was great on Glee, and it's been the highlight of this production.

I did not realize that was Eve Plumb playing Mrs. Mudock. She's great! And yes, Mario is the perfect amount of smarm and charm for this.

Aaron Tveit looks like the T-Birds creepy 35 year old friend

Kether Donohue as Jan is stealing the show for me.

He's actually one of the few redeemable things about Girls (along with Ray.) I find Adam Driver unconventionally attractive, but his character in Star Wars really didn't do it for me.

The other examples may not be action movies, but they're examples of shows and movies who found an audience and made money (although, as much as I love the Mindy Project, calling that show successful is a stretch.) I understand why you point to Action movies as the primary money maker because the genre dominates the lists of box office record holders, but calling the "White Guy Action Thriller" formula a safe bet is ignoring all the massive failures the genre also sees. John Carter, The Lone Ranger, Jack the Giant Slayer, just to name a few. The safe bet for the genre has relied on adaptations, remakes, and sequels as of late. What will be interesting is to see how he DC comic films perform since they're comics with built in fan bases and they aren't afraid to cast POC or produce a women led action film, while Marvel has been comfortably playing it safe. Based on the quality of Man of Steel, though, I'm not holding my breath on them making great films, since the studio seems to lack any sense of humor.