September 26, 2013

Sleepy Hollow, episode 2 "Blood Moon"

Ratings

Episode 2 has slipped a bit from the episode 1 numbers of 10.10mil to 8.59mil. This is a typical drop, and not unexpected. If it can hold around here, or even settle and stabilize in the 7mil range, it should be okay for another season. Still way too early to tell, though, as I've seen shows hold around here for a few weeks, then take a sudden plunge into 5, 4, sometimes even 3mil. Here's hoping they keep it in this timeslot, as it's just up against sitcoms and reality competitions, giving it an edge for people looking for a drama at the time.



Recap

Night. Ichabod is racing through the woods, the Horseman at his heels. Three other Horsemen, their armored shapes lost in shadows, join in the chase. Ichabod runs into a thicket, where the branches come alive and pull him into the ground. Ichabod finds himself in a catacomb, where Katrina appears and repeats his mission objectives, with the addition of, "Before the Four Horsemen can ride, an army of evil will make way for their arrival. The first dark spirit rises before the blood moon. She's one of us. You must stop her before she kills again!" Katrina disappears. Looking up into the thicket hole he came through, Ichabod sees a charred woman with red eyes looking down at him.

September 25, 2013

Castle Rock Cash-In presents... Firestarter 2: Rekindled

This is a tie-in to Angelle Tusa's Castle Rock Companion series, which explores the cinematic adaptations of the works of Stephen King. Her review of Firestarter can be found here.



Documents relating to the Lot 6 experiment have been released to the public thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, but have been quietly tucked away in library archives instead of creating a media scandal. Nonetheless, a class action lawsuit from the experiment's survivors is quickly launched and settled, and the legal firm for which Vincent Sforza (Danny Nucci) works is tasked with tracking down everyone else related to the experiment so the settlement earnings can be properly processed. Following a paper trail to the basement of the late Dr. Wanless (Freddie Jones in the first film), Vincent encounters a secretive young woman named Tommy (Marguerite Moreau), who's also rooting through the files to dig deeper into the actual drugs used in the trials.

September 19, 2013

Sleepy Hollow, episode 1 "Pilot"

I have a horrible habit of really enjoying TV shows that I know going in probably won't last to the end of the season. My Own Worst Enemy. Surface. Invasion. The Event. Flash Forward. Alcatraz. Zero Hour. 666 Park Avenue. Etc, etc. These are mostly nutty, convoluted genre shows with bizarro concepts which, while they may fail to light a fire against the broader joe public, always snag my attention when I'm looking at the fall previews. I've been burned, with most of these shows ending on massive cliffhangers that sneer in the face of closure. It's a burn I've gotten used to, though, and I keep going in, knowing I'll get a good mix of ideas interesting and crazy, sometimes executed well, sometimes not, but most often well enough to entertain.

September 9, 2013

This Week In My Merry Marvel Read-Thru

The Amazing Spider-Man #48 (May 1968)

"The Wings of the Vulture"
By Stan Lee and John Romita.

With the Vulture dying in prison from a workshop accident, his flight suit falls into the hands of his cellmate, Blackie Drago, a ruthless gangster looking to score big. Spider-Man is quickly on his tail, but in the snow-covered winter season, Pete is again feverish, and he's ultimately left lifeless on a rooftop as a laughing NuVulture flies away.

September 1, 2013

This Week In My Merry Marvel Read-Thru

Tales of Suspense #86 (February 1967)

Iron Man "Death Duel for the Life of Happy Hogan"
By Stan Lee, Gene Colan, and Frank Giacoia.

Iron Man and the Mandarin throw down, Iron Man wins and saves Happy, and I couldn't be more bored. Stan's writing is wordy and dull. Gene's art is still an uncomfortable fit for the series, with Frank doing an awful job on his heavy inks. There's no energy, no flow to the fight, no personality to the characters. It's just a lifeless jumble of lines on a page.

[Midnight Movie Exchange] Leonard Part 6 (1987)

Check it out here.