Justified Season 3 Episode 6 – “When the Guns Come Out”
Well everything is coming to a quick head here in this episode. What’s going to happen to Raylan now that Winona’s gone? And what will be the fallout from the summit meeting between Boyd and the Motor City’s newest madman? Read the rest of this entry
Review: The Woman in Black
Spoiler Alert
This is not so much a review which encourages you to avoid or to see this film; it is predictably tense, Daniel Radcliffe is predictably average and all the supporting cast are predictably more engaging than he. It is an average film.
Yet there is one strange and ( at least for me) unpredictable feature of the film that made it quite interesting. It is simply this Read the rest of this entry
The Other Shows: Death Watch Edition
So the latest ratings are out and…well TV isn’t doing well at all. I think most of us had a feeling that things were in trouble. There really weren’t a lot of shows people got excited about. But when you look at the ratings it really is bad.
If you like Once Upon a Time feel good because that shows almost certainly safe. Grimm. Well things look Grimm. The best it has to offer is that nearly all of NBC’s shows look bad except for The Voice.
Since most of the stuff on TV I can’t stand I’ll just focus on the shows I do like (or once liked).
Justified – Season 3 Episode 5 – “Thick as Mud”
This is a really cool episode, with a ton going on and some amazing dialogue. It answers some questions (we know Detroit Guy’s name now: Quarles) and raises some others (Just how dumb IS Dewey Crow?) and we get to see Quarles in a confrontation with Boyd that is pure genius (Here’s a preview: they don’t become bowling buddies, but they may start a book club), as well as some great scenes contrasting Boyd’s relationship with Ava and Raylan’s relationship with Winona. The episode, “Thick As Mud,” is based on a story that is in Elmore Leonard’s new novel “Raylan.”
Oscar Snubs
Brad Williams returns with another guest post
With doodies like Moneyball and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close managing to bag a few Oscar nominations, it seems appalling that so many other great films missed out on any real award recognition for the Oscars 2012. What follows are some films which I feel lost out in some way this Oscar season, with suggestions where they could have got a nomination or two. Read the rest of this entry
On the Morality of Watching Concussions: Or, My Personal Battle Over (American) Football
Last fall, Scott invited me to post here at Kulturblog on sports. After promptly forgetting and/or procrastinating for several months, I decided to finally write something. Unfortunately, I don’t think my first post here will be that popular a message with sports fans.
One hundred and twelve million people tuned in to the Super Bowl last week, and I admit I was one of them. (Well, at least the first half of the game; halftime came a little after 1AM here, so I went to bed instead of staying up to watch Madonna and the Giants come out as victors.) I admittedly enjoyed the game, though not as much as I enjoyed watching the BBC commentators try to explain American football to a British audience. (Especially when they attempted to explain the “safety” rule when Tom Brady was sacked in the end zone–that was comedy gold.) But I’ve felt guilty for the rest of the week over watching the game, and I still feel bad for tuning in. Why? Because I’ve been somewhat outspoken in my critique of football as a destructive sport that thrives on legions of fans watching top-notch athletes beat each others’ brains out to a point that many will likely die an early death, or at least suffer serious repercussions for much of the rest of their life. I have increasingly grown more strident in my belief that there is something seriously and morally wrong with American culture’s obsession with football, and yet I still gave in and watched the crowning moment of the sport in question. I have sincerely felt troubled with this hypocritical slip, and one of my cousins even called me out on it on facebook. Read the rest of this entry
New Music: Band of Skulls – “Sweet Sour”
Band of Skulls has been one of my top five favorite bands since their debut, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey discussed here, and they are also in my top three of bands to see live (discussed here). So you can imagine that I have been awaiting their sophomore album with great anticipation. Sophomore albums being what they are, however, I have tried to keep my expectations in check. Read the rest of this entry
Justified – Season 3 Episode 4 – “The Devil You Know”
We’ve seen a lot of different things from Boyd Crowder in this show, but usually his more extreme impulses are tempered buy the better angels of his nature, as another backwoods philosopher once put it. Rarely have we seen the sort of cold-blooded behavior that this episode shows us. And yet, you can’t help but still be on Boyd’s side, especially in the conflict that approaches him in the person of the man from Detroit (they still haven’t told us his name have they?). The first move of that conflict takes place in this episode and, as per usual, it looks like Boyd may have been underestimated. The question Boyd asks at the end of the episode is a good one:
“Knowing me the way that you do, whatever led you in your imagination to believe that you could pull this off?”
Guest: Shoe Box Classics #1: Gone Baby Gone
Another review from Brad Williams; an inveterate film buff who also writes for WhatCulture.com
These will be films which I loved, and still do, but which seem to be forgotten by most people – the type of films that sit in the DVD wall of a minority, sparingly loaned out and shared with close friends. But films none the less, which deserve true recognition. Some are reasonably current, others slightly older, but each and every one, in my view, a modern classic.
Gone Baby Gone opens like a documentary, on the sweeping yet claustrophobic streets of a Boston neighbourhood known as Dorchester. Throwing us into calm and surprisingly visceral realisms, sophomore director Ben Affleck leaves no misconceptions about his intention to ground the film in an urbanised pragmatism one comes to expect from low budget independent affairs. The two hours that follow, are not only a consummately empathetic depiction of dark human drama, but also the blossoming of a true talent in Ben Affleck. Read the rest of this entry
Superbowl XLVI Open Thread
Here we are folks, back at the Superbowl for another orgy of advertising, patiotism, consumption, and oh, yeah, there’s a football game too! What’s your prediction? Will the Patriots avenge their loss four years ago? Will the Giants prove their superiority? Will Madonna have a wardrobe malfunction? Will someone actually remember the words to the Star-Spangled Banner? Find out here!
Steve Evans
RJH
Scott B.
John C.
Susan M
Aaron Brown
ninemoons
arandomjohn
kulturblogadmin
Kyle M
Brad
KulturBlogGuest
MCQ
Wm
Rebecca
Ivan
Geoff J
btdgreg
Clark Goble
Aaron R.
Tim J
Ben
