Reviews of movies and TV focused on women
It’s a day for emptying out short thoughts on this and that. I’ll give you a quick wallop about season 5 of Queer Eye, the end of Vida, and the new casting on Batwoman.
Continue reading “Brain Dump: Queer Eye 5, Vida, and Batwoman”New series begin, established series return. A few comments on several of these TV events are required. Let’s talk about Diary of a Future President, Batwoman, and Emergence.
Continue reading “Brain Dump: Diary of a Future President, Batwoman, and Emergence”Good heavens, people, Batwoman is doing revolutionary things in every episode. I’m talking about gay pride, about openly being a lesbian superhero.
Continue reading “The Revolutionary Vibe of Batwoman”Batwoman is pop culture for the masses. And, as a representative of the masses, I couldn’t be happier with it.
Continue reading “5 Reasons to Love Batwoman”The fall TV season starts very soon. Will there be many good new women-led shows this season? Well, I can think of three. If you have more in mind, speak up in the comments.
Continue reading “Watch This: Fall TV Shows Starring Women”The unlikely group of underdogs in the Barden Bellas a capella singing group are at it again with Pitch Perfect 3. Continue reading “Watch This: Trailer for Pitch Perfect 3”
Around the Block is an Australian Hamlet story. It’s set in a Sydney high school where the students are mostly indigenous or Maori or Pacific Islanders. It’s beautiful and tragic and full of unforgettable images. Beware the spoilers. Continue reading “Review: Around the Block”
Orange is the New Black season 4 puts viewers through the wringer. Abuse, murder, death, mental illness, surviving rape, corporate greed. It’s dark and horrifying. There are moments of hope, of light. There are ways of dealing. I thought it would good to end my series of posts on the latest season of Orange is the New Black with something brighter. There are spoilers ahead. Continue reading “Orange is the New Black: Finding a Balm for Your Pain”
Season 4 of Orange is the New Black is on everyone’s mind now. I’ve barely had time to watch it all. This post collects some random observations and stray musings on season 4. It is not meant to be a review of the season, but there are some spoilers. Continue reading “Orange is the New Black: Musings and Observations”
Dark Matter stars Roger R. Cross, Jodelle Ferland, Anthony Lemke, Zoie Palmer, Melissa O’Neil, Marc Bendavid, and Alex Mallari Jr. as the characters Six, Five, Three, The Android, Two, One, and Four. Here are 3 reasons why I love this sci fi space drama.
Six people and and a ship-running android find themselves awakening in space with no memory of who they are or where they are going. Unlike stories where strangers get stuck in an elevator or on a bus or a ship, these people are not only strangers to each other but to themselves. They assign themselves numbers because they don’t know their own names.
Personalities, character, and backstories are revealed slowly. We get to know everyone as they get to know themselves. It’s a delightful concept. The characters turn out to be badasses or wusses, sweethearts or assholes, brilliantly inventive or overly aggressive as problem solvers.
As storytelling devices go, this one works beautifully. Every new situation, every new memory, every new learned fact adds a layer to the characters and the direction of the story as a whole.
Obviously, The Android is not human. Other characters may not be human, either, but I won’t spoil it by revealing names (or numbers). The Android speaks in a somewhat mechanical voice, sports a ridiculous curl atop her head like one of those hard plastic baby dolls from the 1940s, and controls the entire running of the ship with some sort of bluetooth messaging service from her brain to the ship’s computers.
She’s more than a machine however, and shows signs of emotion. She listens to criticism and develops new characteristics. In one episode she creates a default version of herself and has a conversation with her default personality (a clone scene!) to determine exactly what is different about her now.
She gets jealous when another android, played by Ruby Rose, is found in the hold and assembled.
She’s not merely well-toned. This android can toss a much bigger person right up against the hull of the ship like a wet towel.
Roger Cross plays Six. Six has an open, tolerant, kind heart. I’m firmly in favor of men being sweethearts, especially big, strong men like Six. (See Give Us More Charming and Lovely Men on TV.) Six is always the one with the kind word, the generous gesture. Make no mistake, he’s no wimp, he can be tough when it’s needed. Still, it’s nice to have a male character like this on television.
I’m so happy that it’s Roger Cross who got this role because I’ve loved him ever since he donned an evening gown and stole Kit Porter’s heart in The L Word. I’ve watched him play all sorts of gun-toting bad guys, soldiers, businessmen in suits, and Mrs. S’s favorite former fella in Orphan Black. He’s been in almost every sci fi series to come out of Canada and a whole lotta movies.
The one role I always wanted Roger Cross to have was an incubus opposite the succubus Bo in Lost Girl. I’m getting a little squozzy just thinking about Roger Cross and Anna Silk making blue eyes together. Why, oh why, was Roger Cross never in Lost Girl? (Nothing personal against Anthony Lemke or Zoie Palmer, who did get to enjoy Anna Silk at her blue-eyed best in Lost Girl.)
SyFy is just about the air the season finale of Dark Matter, but it isn’t too late to catch up on this series, because all the episodes of Dark Matter are available at the SyFy site. My fingers are crossed hoping for a season 2 of Dark Matter.
If you’ve been watching all along, please share your reasons for loving this series.
Images © Prodigy Pictures
