Sony Pictures just released the final poster along with a 30 second Super Bowl spot and a new two minute trailer for Life. The sci-fi thriller was directed by Daniel Espinosa (Safe House, Child 44) and stars Jake Gyllenhaal (Nocturnal Animals), Rebecca Ferguson (The Girl on the Train), Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool), Hiroyuki Sanada (The Last Ship), Ariyon Bakare (Tyrant), and Olga Dihovichnaya (Welcome Home). Sony’s set a March 24, 2017 theatrical release date.
The Plot:Life is a terrifying sci-fi thriller about a team of scientists aboard the International Space Station whose mission of discovery turns to one of primal fear when they find a rapidly evolving life form that caused extinction on Mars, and now threatens the crew and all life on Earth.
There are just five episodes left of The CW’s The Vampire Diaries and it feels like there’s an awful lot of story left to tell in those five hours. Episode 11 found Bonnie and Enzo’s happy ending snatched away by Stefan, and Bonnie paid him back for killing the love of her life by injecting Stefan with the cure. Enzo’s death was heartbreaking and now it’ll be interesting to watch how it affects Bonnie whose grief appears to have caused her powers to return. A vengeful Bonnie is definitely not to be trifled with. Episode 12 titled ‘What Are You?’ is set to air on February 10, 2017 and was directed by Darren Genet from a script by Chad Fiveash and James Stoteraux.
The cast of season eight includes Paul Wesley as Stefan, Ian Somerhalder as Damon, Kat Graham as Bonnie, Michael Malarkey as Enzo, Candice King as Caroline, Matt Davis as Alaric, and Zach Roerig as Matt. Carol Banker directed the episode from a script by Melinda Hsu Taylor and Celine Geiger.
The What Are You? Plot: SAVING SOULS – In order to save Stefan’s (Wesley) soul, Damon (Somerhalder) makes a deal with Cade (guest star Wolé Parks) to retrieve the Maxwell journal. Alaric (Davis) and Matt (Roerig) refuse to hand the journal over as it may contain the key to destroying Cade. Caroline (King) desperately tries to connect with Stefan before Cade goes through with his plan.
Adria Arjona and Oliver Jackson-Cohen in ‘Emerald City’ (Photo by David Lukacs/NBC)
NBC’s Emerald City season one episode five threw in a major twist at the very end, with the Wizard (Vincent D’Onofrio) welcoming Dorothy (Adria Arjona) back to Oz where she belongs. Episode six titled ‘Beautiful Wickedness’ begins by taking a leap back in time to Kansas prior to the Wizard traveling to Oz.
Showing up for work at the Vortex Research Laboratory, Frank grabs his tape recorder (the one now with him in Oz) and checks on the silos and his co-workers from a control room. Dorothy’s mother, Dr. Karen Chapman (Gina Bellman), is one of his co-workers and it’s obvious he has feelings for her that don’t appear to be reciprocated. Jane Andrews (Gina McKee), the doctor who made Jack into the Tin Man, also works at the Vortex Research Lab. They fire up a tube, generating a twister; they’re creating energy out of thin air. Unfortunately, it’s too much energy and their experiment is out of control. The power tornado reaches into the sky and as the temperature climbs, one of their co-workers is seriously injured. They all race to help him as the glass containing the tornado cracks.
Flash-forward to Emerald City where Dorothy questions the Wizard, asking how he knows her. The Wizard reveals he’s known her since she was born in Oz. He didn’t realize she was the stranger visiting this land or he wouldn’t have been trying to have her killed. The Wizard confesses he loved her mother and she wouldn’t approve of Dorothy trying to take him back to Kansas. This shocks Dorothy, and the Wizard adds that Dorothy’s mom loved him.
Eamonn (Mido Hamada) questions Lucas/Roan (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) about his traitorous actions which Lucas still can’t remember. Lucas, who’s now chained up and in a cell, believes only torture will bring back his memories. Anna (Isabel Lucas) places a machine over Lucas’ head which looks like an ophthalmic testing device. She looks into it after Lucas winces in pain.
The Wizard tries to make a deal with Dorothy, promising to answer all of her questions if she turns over her gun. She won’t let go of it but agrees to give him one bullet. Eamonn appears, sword drawn, but the Wizard declares Dorothy is his guest and his friend. Eamonn lowers his weapon and after he mentions Lucas’ name, Dorothy turns her gun on him. She demands to know where Lucas is and Eamonn reveals Lucas’ memories are intact but protected by magic. She asks the Wizard for permission to see Lucas and he grants it.
Dorothy runs into Lucas’ cell, bends down in front of his kneeling body, and kisses him. She strokes his naked chest as if to confirm he’s alive, confessing she thought she’d never see him again. She wants him to lie and say he remembers something, but Lucas refuses. He wants the true answers and is willing to allow them to break the magic to get into his brain. Just then West (Ana Ularu) arrives in the cell, summoned to release Lucas’ memories.
Elsewhere in the castle, Elizabeth (Roxy Sternberg) and Anna want to “read” Dorothy but the Wizard refuses to allow it. He believes Lucas’ locked memories and the King of Ev’s refusal to build weapons are bigger threats to Emerald City. Elizabeth leaves and the Wizard tells Anna he wants her to become the new Head of the High Council in place of Elizabeth.
Eamonn reports Lucas’ memories are still locked up and Dorothy’s visit did nothing to free them.
West threatens Dorothy but now she can’t hurt her because she’s protected by the Wizard. Unfortunately, Lucas isn’t so West can do whatever she needs to to break the magic surrounding his memories. West tells Lucas the process won’t be pleasant, but he doesn’t want Dorothy to ask the Wizard to stop it. He insists he needs the answers, no matter the pain. Dorothy doesn’t want to watch him suffer but she stays anyway as West begins the process. West seems to be sucking some power out of Lucas but breaking the spell doesn’t work. The spell was cast by Glinda and West demands to know what secrets her sister has hidden inside Lucas.
Lady Ev (Stefanie Martini) and Jack (Gerran Howell) walk through the palace, and he runs into Tip. She can’t believe he’s alive, but Jack stops her from touching him. He’s angry she left him to die and as he begins to walk away, Tip says she loves him. She pleads with him not to go, but Jack doesn’t want her around. Lady Ev asks how she knows Jack and Tip says they grew up as best friends. Lady Ev makes Jack show Tip what she did to him, and he opens his shirt to reveal his mechanical heart.
West can’t open Glinda’s spell but she can work around it. She needs Dorothy to slip past his defenses, using a backdoor into his mind via his heart. If it doesn’t work, they’ll both lose their minds. Lucas doesn’t want her to risk it, but Dorothy very firmly tells West to do it.
Stefanie Martini as Lady Ev and Vincent D’Onofrio as the Wizard in ‘Emerald City’ (Photo by David Lukacs/NBC)
The Wizard shows Lady Ev the bullet and explains what it’s made of and what it can do. He wants her to make thousands of bullets and guns, and he’ll take half and she can keep the rest to protect everyone from the Beast Forever. A bullet couldn’t have taken down the last Beast but can kill the upcoming Beast because it’s made of flesh and blood. King Ev interrupts looking for his dead dog. Before Lady Ev and Jack leave the room, she tells the Wizard that if he brings her the gun, they will talk about a deal.
West pours a potion over Lucas and Dorothy’s heads while chanting. The liquid drips off them into a bowl where it bubbles and then clears to show Lucas’ memories. They see Lucas’ wagon being stopped by the Wizard’s guards. Inside the wagon, young girls (including Sylvie) with black eyes vibrate and hum. Lucas won’t reveal the contents of the wagon and it’s actually the children who take down some of the guards, using just their minds. Lucas fights the rest and is stabbed. One of the guards says they should string him up instead of just killing him, and Lucas tells the girls to run which they do. He pops open a ring and swallows what’s inside. West yells, “No, it can’t be!” as the vision ends.
The Wizard tells Eamonn he needs Dorothy’s gun, but he personally can’t make an enemy out of Dorothy. West interrupts their talk to declare, “The mother witch lives and is bringing witches for Glinda!” The Wizard says Mother South is dead but West explains about the young witches and how Glinda cast the spell to conceal them. The Wizard wonders what good new witches would be, and West says they’re not to fight the Beast Forever; Glinda will use the witches against the Wizard and his men. The witches will take Emerald City from him and the Wizard now realizes there are spies in his kingdom. The High Council, Anna, Elizabeth…they have all betrayed him. West wants to rip them all to pieces and the Wizard tells Eamonn to find the young girl who was with Lucas when they captured him.
Lucas can’t believe Dorothy doesn’t think he’s a monster after finding out he’s killed people. Dorothy says he was just protecting those girls, and Elizabeth enters Lucas’ cell to free him. She confirms he also works for Glinda and now he should flee back to Glinda’s palace. Lucas doesn’t want to leave until they find Sylvie, and Dorothy volunteers to track her down. Elizabeth tells Dorothy she’s going to have to choose which side to take. War is coming to Oz!
Eamonn meets Dorothy at the base of the stairs outside the castle and tells her to follow him to retrieve Sylvie.
In a flashback, we see Frank, Jane, and Karen making their way through snowy woods. They encounter the villagers Dorothy encountered years later, and Jane introduces herself as their leader.
Eamonn takes Dorothy to his house and fetches Sylvie and Toto. The young girl is sound asleep and Dorothy asks why he’s helping her. He says he’s not helping “her,” and she promises to get Sylvie safely to Glinda’s. Once outside, Dorothy realizes there are too many guards so she tells Toto to keep Sylvie safe while she gets help.
Jack can’t find King Ev anywhere and Lady Ev is worried.
Dorothy asks the Wizard for help and asks if he’s her father. In another flashback we see Karen and Frank comforting baby Dorothy. Jane returns from a visit with the Wicked Witch of the East where she’s found out by visiting this world, they’ve brought something evil to it and they have to leave in order to stop it. Jane smiles and says East will send them home by summoning a tornado. Karen’s ecstatic but Frank says he’s not leaving. Jane tells him they all have to leave – that’s the deal. Frank admits he locked them out of Jane’s computer and he’s responsible for their stay in Oz. He wanted to destroy Jane’s machine because she treats him like he’s stupid.
The Wizard tells Dorothy her father’s name was Roberto and he was killed in the accident that brought them to Oz. He apologizes and lies that he tried to save Roberto, and Dorothy admits she doesn’t trust him because he lies to everyone. He replies, “We do what we need to survive.” He wants to know where Sylvie is, and Dorothy says if he lets Sylvie go back to the North he’ll be safe. The Wizard has a proposition for her.
King Ev continues looking around the palace for his long-dead dog. He hears Toto but Toto doesn’t recognize him and keeps barking.
The Wizard explains all the power in Emerald City comes from under the city. The vortex chamber they’re standing in front of can send Dorothy home right now, and Frank wants to know if she’s thought about why, after being born in Oz and then leaving, she’s been brought back to Oz. He believes it’s her destiny to save everyone. She says she’s not a savior and he asks if that means she’s just a girl from Kansas who misses her mother. Or, is she more than just the things she’s lost? He wants her to stay in Emerald City and stop Glinda from starting a war that will kill thousands of people and tear this world apart. He can’t use his giants because their power is locked away. She needs to kill Glinda using her gun and then she’ll be able to go home. Their talk of going home is interrupted by screams outside the palace.
Lady Ev’s father has been turned to stone. Lady Ev stares at her dad, now a statue, and looks shaken.
Dorothy and Lucas reunite and join Sylvie and Toto in the wagon. Elizabeth stops them from leaving, telling Dorothy she can’t go with them. Lucas refuses to go without her so Elizabeth gives in but warns Glinda won’t be pleased. She describes their path to Glinda’s palace and Lucas thanks her and they head out.
Anna asks Elizabeth if Dorothy was the witch, and Elizabeth warns her the less she knows the better. Elizabeth says Glinda chose to fight back and Anna was only there to learn the Wizard’s secrets, not help him. After they learn his secrets, they won’t need the Wizard any more.
The Wizard and Eamonn watch this all go down, and Eamonn assures him the guards won’t stop the wagon. Plus, he can guarantee the wagon won’t be followed. The Wizard is counting on Dorothy to stop the war before it starts by killing Glinda. Eamonn’s not sure the Wizard should trust Dorothy but the Wizard shows Eamonn that Dorothy trusts him enough to give up her gun. Instead, she’ll use Sylvie to turn Glinda to stone.
The Wizard, Eamonn, and his men stride purposefully through the castle.
In a flashback, Frank has the villagers captivated using modern-day items to create a light. He makes a battery, telling them it will change their lives. They think it’s magic but he proudly proclaims it’s science. One of the villagers begins singing and Frank’s science project magically moves around. He’s not pleased when she creates a small creature out of rocks and says, “Magic.”
The Wizard and his men arrive just as Lady Ev and Jack are loading their carriage. She tells him they’ll return with her soldiers and wipe out his city, but he blames her father’s death on Glinda. He offers her Dorothy’s gun, telling her it’s strong enough to kill a witch or the Beast Forever. He demonstrates by shooting Anna. Lady Ev and the crowd are shocked as Anna falls to the ground, dead. The Wizard says, “Make these guns! We take them to war – a war on magic for the very soul of Oz!”
Silas Weir Mitchell and Bree Turner in ‘Grimm’ season 6 episode 5 (Photo by: Allyson Riggs/NBC)
Now that Renard and #TeamGrimm have agreed to a cease in hostilities, NBC’s Grimm season six has shifted its focus back to ‘Wesen of the Week’ stories. In episode five titled ‘The Seven Year Itch,’ the Wesen of the week turns out to be a people-eating moth creature who lives in a local park. The episode begins with said Wesen clawing his way out of an unmarked grave.
Eve (Bitsie Tulloch) wakes up in the tunnel and studies the drawings on the wall that match the symbols on the cloth.
Nick (David Giuntoli) has a restless night, reliving his death as Adalind (Claire Coffee) slumbers beside him. He gets up and checks on Kelly who’s sound asleep in his crib and then looks down into the tunnels. Adalind joins him and he tells her he heard something. They talk about how happy they are being back together before heading back to bed.
The Wesen, dressed in shabby clothes, comes upon a stranger in the park and tells him he’s hungry. The stranger calls 911 because he thinks this strange dude is in trouble, but before he can finish the call, the Wesen kills him.
Over at Renard’s new place, he looks through a box of Diana’s dolls and finds the tiny knife she used when she acted out Bonaparte’s murder using her creepy dolls. Meisner turns up once again and Renard (Sasha Roiz) calls him an annoying ghost. Meisner reminds him he was there when Diana was born and Renard angrily thanks him for subbing in when he couldn’t be there himself. Renard wants to be done with being haunted, but Meisner doesn’t want to do this ghost thing half-assed. Renard tries to kick him out of his room and Meisner won’t leave, taunting him by asking if he’s actually there or just in Renard’s mind. Renard heads downstairs hoping to leave Meisner in the bedroom and spots Meisner’s dead body sprawled out on his living room floor. So much for escaping this pesky ghost.
Mothman (as he’ll be referred to until his true name’s revealed) cleans up in a lake, looking refreshed and healthy.
Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) and Rosalee (Bree Turner) visit the doctor and learn there’s only one baby and are assured the heartbeat sounds great. Oh, scratch that, the doctor finds a second heartbeat and then a third. Triplets! Monroe tells his lovely wife he loves her and they can do this.
Nick and Hank (Russell Hornsby) meet for breakfast and Nick describes how it felt to be shot and that he knew he was dying. He feels like he needs to carry the stick, saying it’s like carrying a weapon and without it, he feels like he’s missing a piece of himself. Nick tells Hank he put it back in the tunnel, and Hank wonders if maybe he shouldn’t rebury it further away. Nick’s not willing to until he learns more about it and where it came from. Hank thinks maybe they shouldn’t explore it further and that there’s a reason it was hidden in the first place. Wu calls and tells them to head to the park to check out a dead body.
Adalind picks up Diana at Renard’s new place which has a fantastic view, by the way. Renard overslept but seems to be in a decent mood when he says goodbye to his daughter and Adalind. But then he stops them and is about to ask if Adalind’s dealt with a ghost before but changes his mind after looking at Diana.
The Mothman’s victim was left naked and dead without any identification. They found a pile of rags nearby but nothing else. Hank and Nick try to figure it out, and Nick says maybe it was a sadistic sexual encounter gone bad. Hank asks, “Really?” and Nick says, “No. It’s Wesen.” (Season six and Nick’s sense of humor is sharper than ever.)
The dead man’s fingerprints come back to a man named Jeremy Tauberg and they’re about to head off to his place when a woman screams nearby. Her son fell into a hole and is stuck, and when Nick and Hank pull him out, they discover a skeleton. The roots entwined with the body suggest it’s been buried a few years. As Hank and Nick try and figure out what’s up with this new crime scene, they decide the hole is too big for just one body. Plus, the kid was playing in the dirt, according to his mom, which means something was already dug up in that spot which is surrounded by grass. The partners decide the killer was the digger because it’s too weird of a coincidence. Plus, Hank notices a trail of dirt heading to the other crime scene. They deduce someone emerged from the hole wearing “nasty ass” clothes, killed Jeremy, and then took his clothes and left theirs behind.
Mothman, now fully clothed and super hungry stuffs his face at a restaurant. He carries on a bizarre conversation with the waitress about people not lasting as long as they look like they should.
Renard’s in his office picturing Meisner dead on the floor of his new house. He calls someone and sets up a meeting.
Hank and Nick go over what they know about Jeremy Tauberg at the station and figure out he always walked through the park because he lived nearby. Tauberg was 6’1” and weighed 170 lbs, so they sort of know a description of the perp. Wu (Reggie Lee) says Tauberg’s credit card was used at a diner and Nick and Hank head out to investigate.
The waitress describes the man who used the card as normal-looking, but she does remember the weird conversation they had about him eating things and talking about a woman with a pretty face. It weirded her out. Nick gets a call from the medical examiner and learns the decayed body was a female.
Russell Hornsby and David Giuntoli, and Dana Millican (Photo by: Allyson Riggs/NBC)
Nick and Hank talk to the M.E. who describes the decaying process and that there should have been less skin present since she was buried at least five years. Some of her skin was hardened into a subcutaneous shell, which is disgusting and bizarre. The M.E. also reveals all the organs are gone and there are marks on the bones that look like teeth marks. It’s like every bone in her body was gnawed on. (This Mothman Wesen is one nasty bug!)
Diana draws while Adalind cooks, and out of the blue she asks her mom if she knows Meisner. Renard said his name a lot last night, according to Diana, and she doesn’t know why. Adalind tells her Meisner died after getting into a fight with bad men, and Diana asks if her dad was one of the men. Then Diana says she knows Meisner; she remembers being in a helicopter with him. She thought he was nice and wants to see Meisner again, even though he’s dead. She also tells her mom that Eve is here in the wall and she doesn’t feel good.
Alarmed, Adalind heads into the tunnel to find Eve. Eve’s bleeding from the nose and can barely stand, and Adalind has to help her climb the stairs. They make it to Diana’s bed and Eve’s in horrible shape. She has a fever and when Adalind gets a washcloth, Diana heads into the tunnels. Adalind chases her and sees hundreds of symbols are now lit up all over the walls.
Hank and Nick are looking through the books for a Wesen that matches the killer when Monroe and Rosalee arrive home. They announce they’re having triplets and Hank and Nick congratulate them before showing off a drawing in a book that looks like the Wesen. The description translates to “party animal” and the creature was the inspiration for Dionysius. It resurrects from the earth for one day every seven years…and it’s immortal. During those 24 hours, the party animal Wesen has to find a person big enough to sustain it underground for seven years. Wu sends them the composite drawing of the man’s face and Monroe thinks he’s seen him before. They have to find him tonight or he’ll be gone for another seven years. Adalind interrupts the discussion by calling Nick and asking him to come home, letting him know Eve’s been living in the tunnels and is in bad shape.
Meanwhile, the party animal buys a drink for a large woman at a bar. The woman’s date threatens him and then heads outside for a smoke. The Wesen kills him and heads back inside, walking up to the woman and flirting like crazy. He buys a round for everyone in the bar and says, “Let’s get the party started!” They dance for a bit and then take off for a walk. He suggests that you’ve got to live for the moment.
Eve’s looking better after eating and confesses she’s been in the tunnels for a while. She wanted to leave but her body wouldn’t move. Adalind tells her Diana was drawing the same thing and knew Eve was in the tunnels, also drawing. Adalind apologizes for what she did to her and that’s when Nick arrives. Nick looks at Diana’s drawings and heads into the tunnel with Eve. They look over the drawings Eve did on the walls, and Eve thinks it’s connected to what healed them. Adalind interrupts their inspection with news Hank says there’s another body.
Mothman/Party Animal takes a walk through the park with the woman he picked up. He talks about the history of the park and of Portland.
Rosalee tries to help Monroe figure out where he’s seen the killer’s face before. It’s driving him crazy and Rosalee suggests maybe he was a customer. Monroe changes the hair on the drawing, then adds some glasses, and then a beard. He finally figures it out! They don’t know him, but they’ve all seen him – he’s William Stillman and his statue is in the park. The park is named after him and he was one of Portland’s earliest settlers. They call Nick with the news.
Nick and Hank check out the boyfriend’s body at the bar, and Wu says the people inside recognize the man who bought a lady a drink from the composite drawing. Monroe and Rosalee Facetime to explain the killer is William Stillman.
Renard pays a visit to a pawn shop, asking the Wesen owner for help on the haunting. Renard wants to know if the haunting is real or if he’s losing his mind, turning over his father’s ring and his wedding band as payment. The man tells Renard to step into a contraption known as a spirit vacuum. If there are spirits attached to him, it will pull them out. But Renard has to strip before getting in to make it work.
William Stillman tells the woman to look at the stars and asks if she feels the life around them. He admits he wants to kiss her and seems sad about the prospect. They kiss and he says, “You know, I think we’re going to be spending a lot of time together.” She turns away and he woges and knocks her out. Hank, Wu, and Nick race through the park to the spot where they recovered the buried body. They find the Party Animal and take him on, but he’s really strong and punching him is like punching armor. As they surround him, a Wesen comes up behind Stillman and bites his head off. It turns out the lady from the bar is a Wesen!
Renard, naked, stands in the machine and appears to be in pain as the machine begins working. Meisner’s spirit is pulled from him but escapes the machine while Renard’s still trapped inside. Meisner turns the machine on full power and Renard screams as the glass container breaks. Renard comes to, alone on the floor in the now completely empty pawn shop. Meisner appears behind him, saying, “A mind is a terrible thing to lose.”
The CW’s The Flash season three finds Iris (Candice Patton) facing the very real possibility she’ll die at the hands of Savitar in the near future. However, in season three episode 12 it’s another meta-human who might cause Iris to bite the dust.
Directed by Rob Hardy from a script by Brooke Roberts and Judalina Neira, episode 12 is titled ‘Untouchable’ and will air on February 7, 2017.
The season three cast includes Grant Gustin as Barry Allen/The Flash, Tom Cavanagh as Harrison Wells, Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow, Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon, Jesse L Martin as Joe West, Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West, and Tom Felton as Julian.
The ‘Untouchable’ Plot: THE TOUCH OF DEATH – Barry (Gustin) and the team at S.T.A.R. Labs work together to bring down Clive Yorkin (guest star Matthew Kevin Anderson), a criminal meta-human who is methodically killing people by causing them to decompose at an accelerated rate. Joe (Martin) becomes his next target but it’s Iris (Patton) who is caught in the crossfire. The Flash mentors Kid Flash (Lonsdale) and begins to elevate the newer speedster’s training to another level.
National Geographic just released a special Genius Super Bowl TV spot in advance of Sunday’s big game. The 45-second spot will air immediately after Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl Halftime Show and features Albert Einstein (played by Geoffrey Rush) picking up his violin and playing a new version of Lady Gaga‘s “Bad Romance.”
The TV spot also announces Genius will premiere on National Geographic on April 25, 2017.
“We are excited to take this opportunity to promote our first-ever global scripted series, Genius, starring Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson during one of America’s most-watched television events,” said Courteney Monroe, CEO, National Geographic Global Networks. “It’s a simple and engaging commercial that not only tapes into the zeitgeist of Lady Gaga’s highly anticipated halftime performance, but also perfectly represents the surprising side of Einstein the series captures. We hope it will cut through the noise, force viewers to take notice and give this broader audience a glimpse into the National Geographic brand of premium content.”
“We wanted to create a beautiful commercial that was true to the character of Albert Einstein,” said Eric Silver, Chief Creative Officer, North America, McCann. “We knew Einstein frequently played violin as a brainstorming technique. The timing of our placement immediately after Lady Gaga’s halftime performance felt like serendipity, giving us the perfect platform to bring the adored physicist to life in a memorable way.”
Genius is based on Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson and executive produced by director Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Francie Calfo. The cast includes Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson as Elsa Einstein, and Johnny Flynn as the young Albert Einstein.
Geoffrey Rush as Albert Einstein in ‘Genius’ (Photo Credit: National Geographic)
The Plot:Genius charts how Albert Einstein, an imaginative, rebellious patent clerk who struggled to land an academic post in his early years, went on to become the greatest scientific mind of the 20th century, all while juggling volatile, passionate and complex personal relationships. Ron Howard makes his prime-time television drama directorial debut with the series premiere episode.
“Flo, what have you done to my little brother?! He was six feet tall when you got married,” jokes Jackie Burke (Robert De Niro) during an improv stand-up comedy routine at his niece’s wedding in The Comedian, a comedy/drama from director Taylor Hackford.
Ex-sitcom star and past his prime comic Jackie is struggling with what’s left of his career. After letting a heckler get to him and punching the guy out, Jackie is forced to serve time in jail and perform community service. It’s while he’s helping serve dinner at a homeless shelter, serving up a few laughs along with food to those in need, that he meets Harmony (Leslie Mann). Harmony’s also paying off her debt to society by helping the homeless after hitting her ex-husband with an object during their last fight.
Despite their 30 year age difference, Jackie and Harmony are drawn to one another and an awkward but fun friendship begins. The unlikely pair quickly become each other’s wing man/woman, with Harmony accompanying Jackie to his niece’s wedding where he has to face his brother (Danny DeVito) and his sister-in-law, Flo (Patti LuPone). In return, Jackie agrees to surprise Harmony’s sleazy, corrupt father (Harvey Keitel) who’s a big fan of his from his sitcom days.
Neither Jackie nor Harmony want anything to do with their own families and neither have a supportive group of friends to turn to for advice or comfort. Naturally that leads Jackie and Harmony to wonder just how close they can get to each other and where their friendship will lead.
Robert De Niro plays Jackie as an old grouchy New Yorker whose best comedy moments were scripted in the sitcom he starred in years ago. He still resents not being able to escape its shadow. Leslie Mann plays Harmony as basically the same character she always does, a neurotic, emotional, clingy, irrational and annoying mess. Mann has zero chemistry with either De Niro and Keitel. Harvey Keitel plays her father Mac as a one-dimensional, rich, obnoxious, over-the-hill thug, a character who adds nothing to this laughless movie.
Stilted, uneven, and excruciatingly slow, The Comedian‘s grade-A cast is saddled with a weak script that fails to generate any laughs. The Comedian is a horrible waste of extremely talented actors, and the screenplay credited to four writers (Art Linson, Jeffrey Ross, Richard LaGravenese, and Lewis Friedman) lacks any character development. The writing is especially disappointing in De Niro’s stand-up comedy scenes where, given the film’s title and premise, you’d expect a joke or two to actually land. The stand-up scenes are uncomfortable, forced, and filled with vulgar jokes, and De Niro’s delivery is jarringly bad.
Theaters should follow the example of old-time comedy clubs and yank The Comedian swiftly off the stage with a hook.
GRADE: D
MPAA Rating: R for crude sexual references and language throughout
Laura Haddock and Mark Wahlberg in Paramount Pictures’ ‘Transformers: The Last Knight.’
Paramount Pictures released a teaser trailer for Transformers: The Last Knight in advance of an extended trailer that will air during the 2017 Super Bowl. The new trailer was accompanied by a letter from director Michael Bay describing his experience with the Transformers franchise and declaring – once again – this will be his final Transformers movie.
Bay’s letter also includes the first lengthy description of Transformers: The Last Knight‘s plot.
“I’ve been living in this franchise for over 10 years now. For Transformers: The Last Knight, we put together a writers’ room designed to greatly expand our mythology, integrating our films in a whole new way. Every movie will interlink.
It was a huge task to expand mythology from the beginning of the world throughout history. We had a great team of writers: Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind); Art Marcum & Matt Holloway (Iron Man); Ken Nolan (Black Hawk Down); Zak Penn (Ready Player One); Lindsey Beer (Barbie); Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Tomb Raider); Christina Hodson (Bumblebee); Steven DeKnight (Daredevil, Smallville); Jeff Pinkner (The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Lost); and Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari (Ant-Man).
Through the summer of 2015, they worked in a huge space on the Paramount lot, surrounded by over 10,000 concept images from the franchise’s history: the movies, cartoons, and comic books. They had a life-size Bumblebee, a Megatron head, and many other props staring them down. We pulled from everything. It was a fan’s dream room.
We brought in Transformers historians from Hasbro to educate them on where Transformers has been – so that they could figure out where it can go.
I can safely say that there’s never been a Transformers film with the huge visual scope and expansive mythology as this movie, The Last Knight.
It’s bittersweet for me. With every Transformers film, I’ve said it would be my last. I see the 120 million fans around the world who see these movies, the huge theme park lines to the ride and the amazing Make-A-Wish kids who visit my sets, and it somehow keeps drawing me back. I love doing these movies. This film was especially fun to shoot. But, this time might really be it. So I’m blowing this one out.
It’s a final chapter and a new beginning. Here’s the writers’ log line:
The Last Knight shatters the core myths of the Transformers franchise and redefines what it means to be a hero. Humans and Transformers are at war, Optimus Prime is gone. The key to saving our future lies buried in the secrets of the past, in the hidden history of Transformers on Earth. Saving our world falls upon the shoulders of an unlikely alliance: Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg); Bumblebee; an English Lord (Sir Anthony Hopkins); and an Oxford Professor (Laura Haddock).
There comes a moment in everyone’s life when we are called upon to make a difference.
In Transformers: The Last Knight, the hunted will become heroes. Heroes will become villains. Only one world will survive: theirs, or ours.”
Paramount Pictures is releasing the sci-fi action film in theaters on June 23, 2017.
Friendships were tested and secrets were revealed in the second episode of The CW’s new dramatic series, Riverdale. The search for Jason’s killer drove the action in episode two, but it appears that what’s in store in episode three is much more shocking. The third episode is titled ‘Body Double’ and is set to air on February 9, 2017 at 9pm ET/PT. Lee Toland Kreiger directed ‘Body Double’ from a script by Yolonda E. Lawrence.
The Riverdale cast includes KJ Apa as Archie Andrews, Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge, Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones, Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom, Marisol Nichols as Hermione Lodge, Mӓdchen Amick as Alice Cooper, Luke Perry as Fred Andrews, and Ashleigh Murray as Josie McCoy.
The ‘Chapter Three: Body Double’ Plot: THE GIRL WHO CRIED SHOTGUN — After new information surrounding Jason’s death comes to light, Cheryl finds herself under a cloud of suspicion and forced to come clean about the last time she saw her brother. Meanwhile, Archie makes a tough decision that puts a major strain on his relationship with Miss Grundy (guest star Sarah Habel).
Elsewhere, Betty decides to revive the school newspaper and asks for Jughead’s help in investigating Jason’s death, while Veronica and Ethel (guest star Shannon Purser) work on exposing some of Riverdale High’s football players after rumors of a “shame book” begin to circulate. Finally, after getting grounded by his dad Fred, Archie must figure out a way to make it to the Taste of Riverdale event where Josie and the Pussycats will be performing a song he helped write.
One lesson Supernatural has shown us again and again, the things we’ve done in our past will come back to haunt us eventually. This time, it’s Castiel’s turn to have his previous actions bite him in the rear. Season 12 episode 10 begins in a bar, where a woman is playing a retro video game while the bartender impatiently tries getting her to leave so he can close up. Giving her only a couple more minutes, he leaves to take the trash out.
The woman isn’t alone for long, however. Suddenly a red-haired woman with an eyepatch is standing next to her. The conversation gets tense quickly and the redhead won’t let the other woman leave. She even tries using her powers to make the woman with the eyepatch move out of her way, but it doesn’t work. Instead, she gets a laugh and a statement that her angel tricks won’t work on her, revealing the angel’s name to be Benjamin (Miranda Edwards). They both pull out angel blades and the fight is on. In the end, the redhead wins, trapping the angel against a wall, even giving Benjamin time to call out to her angelic friends for help before finishing her.
Jumping to the stars of the show, Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) are at the bunker, looking at their information on where Kelly is. Remember Kelly? The woman pregnant with Lucifer’s child? Well, they still have no clue where she could have possibly gone to and no leads to follow. Mary is evidently out hunting alone, I’m sure we’ll get more on that in the upcoming episodes. We also find out that Dean and Castiel are barely talking after the angel killed Billie. After all, they were warned that there were cosmic consequences for breaking a blood pact. Now everyone is waiting to see what those consequences will be.
Castiel (Misha Collins) interrupts the conversation to let them know he is leaving to check on an old friend. He had heard the call from Benjamin and is concerned. Sam states they should go with him, and Dean agrees to go after some hesitation. There is some definite tension in the car on the way as neither Dean nor Castiel will talk. Sam puts an end to the uncomfortable silence with some wisdom about needing a plan. It results in some bickering between the other two. Yet, they do find out that Benjamin was close to his vessel, very close. And he would never have put her in danger, which is what was driving Castiel’s apprehension.
At the bar, they find the dead angel, the wing burns on the wall. They also find an angel blade and Castiel is able to identify that it is not Benjamin’s. But then Cas hears the call again, only this time it’s coming from the redhead with the eyepatch. Deciding they need to leave right then, the group goes to a restaurant where Cas is set to meet with the other two angels who had heard Benjamin. Castiel enters the building alone since one of the angels, Ishim (Ian Tracey), is not a fan of humans, leaving the Winchesters in the car.
From the conversation, it’s clear that the trio of angels have a lot of history together but have since gone their separate ways. They seem slightly bitter about having fallen from Heaven, partially caused by Castiel. However, there are bigger problems as it turns out that now two of their group have been killed, which is a surprise to Castiel. Not all that surprising, Dean is too impatient to wait and he storms into the restaurant, followed by Sam, to break up the party. Mirabelle, the third angel, goes outside to see if anyone else followed them to the meeting point and is stabbed by the redhead as soon as she walks around the corner.
Inside the restaurant, Ishim is poking at Castiel, saying he has fallen so far since his glory days as a warrior, as a great angel and managing to insult the boys in the process. He now wants to go to a nearby safe house to talk, where it will be more private. Going to look for Mirabelle, Ishim finds the dead angel and is immediately attacked as well. The woman slices him with her angel blade, but he is able to grab hold of her. An attempt at smiting her fails, which results in a comment from her that she isn’t powerless anymore. Castiel arrives at the fight, recognizing the woman. But before he can find out what’s going on, Sam and Dean show up, the woman creates a bright flash of light and is able to speed off in a car.
The remaining group arrives at the safe house mentioned earlier by Ishim, who now is refusing to have his wounds tended to by Castiel. When Cas asks how the woman could possibly still be alive, the brothers realize that they knew her and want answers. We’re told a story about a time well over a hundred years ago when a group of angels had been sent to earth to take care of a problem. An angel had taken a human wife and had a child, a Nephilim, which we now know is a major no-no. They punished the angel by putting him to death and afterward Ishim entered the house where they lived to kill the child. Lily, the mother of the child, was left alive and now she wants revenge.
Lily is still alive after all this time and she obviously has powers. Ishim explains that it must be a demonic pact keeping her young and strong and able to seek her vengeance. Castiel knows that she won’t stop until she finishes killing them all. Sam thinks it is worth a try to reason with her, to explain that Castiel is not the same cold, heartless angel he was. Cas insists it won’t work but the boys at least want to make the effort. Meanwhile, we see that Lily has wounds of her own to tend to after the fight and is able to heal herself. It’s clear the powers she’s using are not demonic but are angelic powers.
Sam and Dean are able to track Lily to her hotel using the address on the rental car agreement from the car Sam saw her speed off in earlier. She’s immediately defensive yet quickly realizes that they have some of the story very wrong. Yes, it was her daughter who had been killed. But the child’s father was not an angel but a human. Lily had studied angels all her life and come across a spell to summon an angel, bring Ishim into her life. He had taught her everything she wanted to know about angels and claims to have loved her, a bit obsessively as it seems. Akobel, the angel they had killed, was protecting her from Ishim. Then he had come into the house and killed her daughter out of spite.
Dean tries calling Castiel to find out if this version of the story was true but he doesn’t answer his phone. Before doing anything they need the truth, but Dean doesn’t want to leave Sam alone with Lily. The woman assures them both that she is no threat to any human, which they believe, so Dean takes off to get answers. While they wait, Sam questions Lily about the supposed demonic pact only to find out that she is using Enochian magic she had learned during her study of angels. Every time she uses one of the spells, a piece of her soul burns away. Her eye is part of the price she has paid over the years to stay alive and seek her revenge. Eventually, if she keeps using the magic, she will no longer be human at all.
It took patience and she had to wait until the angels had fallen from Heaven before she could begin to hunt for those that were part of her daughter’s death. She warns Sam that Ishim will kill Dean so as not to have his secret come out. And when that time comes, Sam will fight at her side. She’s willing to wait and be patient for that time as well.
Back at the safe house, Dean tells Lily’s story to Castiel and that he feels she’s telling the truth. A newly healed Ishim joins into the conversation, claiming that Lily is a liar, like all humans, and questions who Castiel is going to listen to. It turns into a heated argument, causing Dean to pull out an angel blade when it was about to get violent. But Ishim is at full power now and tosses him against a wall before turning on Castiel, weak from having used his strength to heal the other angel. It’s not even close to a fair fight as Castiel gets beaten nearly unconscious. Ishim offers to rid his old friend of his softness for humans and goes to kill Dean. The hunter has dealt with his share of jerk angels though and has set up a trap to blow the angel away. Only he can’t because Cas is too close and it could hurt him, especially in his injured state.
At that moment, Lily and Sam show up. Now is the time for her showdown with Ishim, and no one is willing to save his butt this time. The battle begins and Ishim gets the upper hand temporarily able to toss her away, then the brothers when they try to help. Lily rises much more quickly than the brothers are able to and begins another angel spell, holding Ishim against a wall. Sadly, he is stronger and is able to resist, slowly inching his way back toward her. Before he’s able to reach her though, Castiel manages to summon enough energy to plunge his own blade into the man and kill him.
As they look down at the now-dead angel, Dean wants to know what happens now. Lily seems unsure, revenge is all that has been driving her these years. Yet Dean insists that she’d better be done. Castiel knows he was partly responsible, even if given the wrong information, and he apologizes, saying that what they did was wrong. And if she can’t bring herself to forgive him after some time, he’ll be waiting for her punishment. Giving him a nod of agreement, Lily leaves.
Back at the bunker, the guys give Castiel a pep talk. Yes, he’s changed, but it has been for the better, and the things he’s done over the last years have taken real strength. Dean also admits to his angelic friend that he’s worried for him, about what the consequences will be for Castiel after killing Billie. The discussion shifts back to Kelly and what they will do if they ever find her. Will Castiel be able to kill a mother and her child? He states that he knows the child can’t live and once he wouldn’t have hesitated to take care of the problem. Now, he isn’t so sure and won’t know until the time comes. Well, I think many of us can agree to having mixed feelings on this topic. Only time (and several more episodes most likely) will reveal how our guys handle the devil’s child.
