The Third Season of Continuum is a promise fulfilled as the show’s central character finally begins to question the role in which she’s been assigned to track down terrorists from the future who hope to remake the world into something more than the corporate oligarchy where she comes from. Alliances would change, friendships would be destroyed, two Alec Sadlers (Erik Knudsen) fight for control of futuristic technologies, and Kiera Cameron‘s (Rachel Nichols) belief in her mission would eventually be shaken to its core.
Highlights of the season include Kiera turning on the Freelancers, an episode set in her past involving Kiera tracking down Kagame (Tony Amendola) and Liber8, the season finale which sets up an entire new set of problems for our heroine, the reveal of the true identity of Kiera’s new friend (Ryan Robbins), Dillon (Brian Markinson) choosing to use his daughter to infiltrate Liber8, the death of a major supporting character, and Kiera choosing which Alec to betray.
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Shot over the course of 12 years, Boyhood is one of the most ambitious projects any filmmaker has attempted to tackle. It’s also easily one of the best films of the year.
Starting the project at age 5 we witness Ellar Coltrane grow-up as Mason over the filming of Richard Linklater‘s latest film which began production in 2002 and finally arrived in theaters in 2014. Over its 165-minute running time Mason’s scripted tale delves into his relationships with both his divorced parents (Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke), the complexities of modern-day extended families, and the journey of Mason from grade school to college.
Begun without a finished script, but with an established beginning and ending, Linklater adapted the story by the changes he saw in his cast over the years. Arquette and Hawke carry much of the early scenes of the movie while Coltrane takes over a larger part of the story as he grows as an actor.
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Notable for being the final non-Hunger Games role of Philip Seymour Hoffman, A Most Wanted Man is a slow-burning espionage thriller involving a secret German anti-terrorism unit tracking a potential suspect (Grigoriy Dobrygin). Although it’s based on the work of the same author, sadly, it’s not Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (which surprisingly moves at a far better pace than A Wanted Man).
The main takeaway from the film is how little actually happens in surveillance and much of what we do see (including a flailing romantic subplot) isn’t always that interesting. The cast is well chosen, and Hoffman leads a group of talented actors (Robin Wright, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe) each providing strong performances, but the movie lacks the will or motivation to put them to better use than we see here. It’s certainly not a bad film by any means, and is certainly worth viewing for the performances alone, but the end result is less than the sum of its parts.
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Slowly working its way to Castle (Nathan Fillion) and Beckett‘s (Stana Katic) wedding day in the season finale, the Sixth Season of Castle features Beckett’s victory over Senator Bracken (Jack Coleman), the return of Castle’s father (James Brolin), and a special episode filled to the brim with 70s style.
Opening with three episodes of Beckett working for the Attorney General’s office (before getting fired), highlights of the season include ninjas, a time traveler, telekinesis, intricate serial murders whose victims were made to look like members of the NYPD, the murder of a professional skateboard artist, a case involving Captain Gates‘ (Penny Johnson) estranged sister (Salli Richardson-Whitfield), Castle’s biggest fan, Beckett getting in over-her-head on an undercover operation, a confession to a murder that couldn’t have happened, murder at a fashion magazine, an arsonist who latest burning building traps Ryan (Seamus Dever) and Esposito (Jon Huertas) in the burning wreckage, and Castle investigating the case of a murderer on death row for Alexis (Molly C. Quinn).
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Although the First Season collection of Batman: The Brave and the Bold certainly has its moments, the Season Two collection is where the show begins to hit its stride and fully embrace the Silver Age zaniness which would become its trademark.
Collected on Blu-ray for the first time, the Second Season set includes not one but two Captain Marvel stories, the classic recreation of the comic story of Batman confronting Joe Chill, a Crisis-inspired tale involving all three Flashes, Aquaman’s family vacation, Booster Gold and the Blue Beetle together again, the sidekicks getting their own episode, a Birds of Prey episode written by Gail Simone, a space race between heroes and villains, and Batman being split into three separate personalities (including one who eats nachos). Unless you already own the episodes on DVD, it’s an easy recommendation for Bat-fans everywhere. Sadly, the set includes no extras.
[Warner Archive Collection, Blu-ray $29.99]
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Although it’s not his best work, Michael Crichton’s 1980 novel Congo is actually a pretty good story. Sadly, the same can’t be said for the big screen adaptation made 15 years later. The film stars Dylan Walsh as a scientist who has raised a sign-language speaking ape named Amy and decided to return the gorilla back to the wild with the help of a bizarre financier (Tim Curry) whose interests in the gorilla’s doodles make him believe Amy could lead the group to the legendary lost city of Zinj.
The movie condenses and jumbles the motives of everyone involved producing a single expedition which also includes a scientist (Laura Linney) looking for her ex-fiancé and his team who were attacked by strange murderous gray gorillas (rather than motivated by the corporate greed of the priceless diamonds lost in the jungle as in the novel), a great white hunter who happens to be black (Ernie Hudson), and a member of the group who you know has no chance to make it out alive (Grant Heslov).
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Building on the groundwork laid in Season Two, the Third Season of Person of Interest brought big changes to the show including the building of a second Machine, the involvement of a terrorist group intent on destroying the Machine, bringing back Shaw (Sarah Shahi) and Root (Amy Acker) – this time as series regulars, and, in a pivotal episode of the season, featuring the death of an important member of the original cast which would leave the team reeling.
Highlights of the season include Reese (Jim Caviezel) and Finch (Michael Emerson) forced to choose between The Machine and the life of a Senator (John Doman), Root’s investigations into Decima Technologies, Shaw and Root’s first partnership, the return of Finch’s fiance (Carrie Preston), a high school reunion, a flashback episode before Finch and Reese met, a two-part episode involving Finch’s old friend old friend (Saul Rubinek) and Control’s (Camryn Manheim) attempt to create her own Machine, the final battle with HR, a girls night out, and death at 40,000 feet.
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Seeing Captain America: The Winter Soldier in the theaters my initial reaction was that the Captain America: The First Avenger sequel was an improvement over the first film and one of Marvel Studio’s best efforts. I’m happy to say the movie holds up on Blu-ray. I actually enjoyed it a little more the second time around.
The wide sweeping conspiracy of Hyrda begins sweeping changes in the overall Marvel Universe, immediately effecting Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (leading to the TV show’s strongest episodes), but more than that The Winter Soldier is a good Captain America story full of strong performances (making great use of Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow) along with plenty of intrigue and action. Sure the movie wastes Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) and the final battle feels a bit too much like a video game with infiltrating and swapping out the chips in hovercrafts of death, but those don’t detract from a strong storyline filled with plenty of comic book goodness. For more on the movie read my original review.
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Elementary‘s Second Season continued to build on the modern day Sherlock Holmes‘ (Jonny Lee Miller) adventures in New York City by introducing new versions of classic characters, returning “The Woman” (Natalie Dormer) to trouble the detective once more, and offering plenty of mysteries for Holmes and Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) to solve.
Highlights include Holmes’ return to London and introduction of Lestrade (Sean Pertwee) and Mycroft Holmes (Rhys Ifans) in the season premiere, murders surrounding an unsolvable mathematical problem, a murder from Holmes past effecting a current case, Watson discovering a link between Holmes and a girlfriend, the arrival in New York of the woman (Olivia d’Abo) who came between the Holmes brothers, Holmes considering returning to London, Holmes working to set things right after he frees a murderer from a frame job he deserved, the attack on Detective Bell (Jon Michael Hill) which threatens the man’s career and friendship with Holmes, and a dinosaur.
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Continuing the adventures began in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. suffers a bit from having to play with last year’s toys and deal with the fallout of the planned Marvel feature film releases rather than make any real strides on its own. Thankfully thee release of 
