Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Turn, Turn, Turn”

A lot has happened since we last left Coulson’s crew just one week ago.  In the real world, Captain America: The Winter Soldier was released this past weekend, setting box office records and generally getting rave reviews.  In the process it changed almost everything about the Marvel Cinematic Universe and by extension our beloved Agents of SHIELD.  (Needless to say, there will be spoilers ahead for Captain America: The Winter Soldier.)  Never before has a film had this level of impact on a TV show, and tonight’s episode resolved several mysteries, altered the lives of our heroes for good, and set the show on its path going forward.  So without further ado, let’s jump into “Turn, Turn, Turn,” written by our married showrunners Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen and directed by Vincent Misiano.

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Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

I have to say that I wasn’t particularly thrilled by Captain America: The First Avenger.  As the last film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to be released before The Avengers, it felt like just one more piece in the puzzle rather than a compelling story in its own right.  That’s not to say that I disliked the film, or that it was particularly bad (still a big step ahead of Iron Man 2), it just wasn’t as interesting to me as Thor or Iron Man.  It was another solid origin story, with a strong cast and a fun setting, but the end result of the film seemed to just serve as setup for The Avengers.  (In a recent rewatch of that film, I’ve realized that I might have judged it a little too harshly upon my first viewing.)  Three years and four movies later we now have Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which might be the most complex and interesting film Marvel has made to date, not to mention one of the most entertaining, and it’s a game-changer for the universe its predecessor helped to create. Continue reading

Is Agents of SHIELD about to become The A-Team?

Obviously, there are spoilers for Captian America: The Winter Soldier ahead, so wait to read this until after you’ve seen the movie if you don’t want it ruined for you.

Agents of SHIELD has recently been calling itself Agents of SHIELD: Uprising, along with momentarily replacing the SHIELD logo with Captain America’s shield, and the events of the last episode led up to the events of the film.  Clearly, Captain America: The Winter Soldier will have a big impact on the show going forward, not to mention the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I have some quick thoughts about what this might mean for Coulson and his crew going forward. Continue reading

Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “End of the Beginning”

Agents of SHIELD is back once more, this time with the promise of no more funky scheduling until the end of the season.  Last time we saw our heroes facing an Asgardian visitor and ended with the revelation that May has been spying on Coulson and company for some unknown authority.  Tonight our team decided to intensify the search for the Clairvoyant along with pretty much every agent who isn’t Nick Fury or Maria Hill, giving us an exciting episode that upped the mystery level even higher.  All of this happened while simultaneously setting us up for the premiere of Captain America: The Winter Soldier this weekend, which will lead directly into next week’s episode.  So let’s jump right into “End of the Beginning” written by Paul Zbyszewski and directed by Bobby Roth.

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Agents of SHIELD: Lorelei, Ward, and the issue of sexual consent

Trigger Warning: This post discusses rape and issues of consent.

In my recap of last night’s Agents of SHIELD I made an inexcusable mistake Continue reading

Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Yes Men”

Coulson and crew are back again, in an action packed, exciting episode that also shook up our show’s characters all while giving us a healthy dose of humor to go along with it.  Also, we got the show’s biggest tie-in to the larger film world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe yet, with two visitors to Earth from Asgard.  Last week’s episode gave us some answers to some of the show’s biggest mysteries, including what actually happened in Tahiti, but raised even more questions in the process.  And while we didn’t get any real new revelations, the show still has some major momentum going into the rest of the season and I can’t wait to see what comes next.  So without further ado, let’s jump into “Yes Men,” written by Shalisha Francis and directed by John Terlesky.

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Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “T.A.H.I.T.I.”

The Olympics are over, the hiatus is done, and SHIELD is finally back!  When we last left our crew, things weren’t looking good.  Sure, they’d finally captured Ian Quinn, but before they did he shot Skye twice in the stomach, and Simmons was forced to cryogenically freeze Skye just to keep her alive long enough to reach help.  Tonight’s episode picked up right where that one left off, and gave us some interesting new information to chew on, all while introducing us to some new characters and giving us an interesting tease for next week.  So let’s head to T.A.H.I.T.I., written by Jeffrey Bell and directed by Bobby Roth.

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Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “T.R.A.C.K.S.”

SHIELD is back with one of its most shocking and creative episodes yet!  After last episode’s journey to the Academy, where we uncovered some big revelations about Skye’s background and saw Ian Quinn take a bigger role with Centipede and the Clairvoyant, tonight’s episode gave us a direct followup to that while delivering some big punches, some clever storytelling, a juicy tease for Marvel comic fans and a cliffhanger that will have to tide us over until after the Olympics.  So without further ado let’s jump into “T.R.A.C.K.S.”, written by Lauren LeFranc and Rafe Judkins and directed by Paul Edwards.

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Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Seeds”

Hello again, Level 7 Agents!  SHIELD is back after last week’s big episode, which explored the mysteries behind Coulson’s resurrection and the secret of the “Magical Place” from his memory.  Tonight’s episode continued the trend of revelations, this time giving us a partial explanation of Skye’s mysterious past which raises more questions than it answers while simultaneously driving the character forward (as all good mystery answers should).  It also brought back a character from earlier in the season, introduced us to a classic character from the comics as well as giving us a look at the oft-discussed SHIELD Academy.  In all, another solid episode from the show, as things keep building and growing.  So let’s go ahead and jump right into “Seeds”, written by Monica Owusu-Breen and showrunner Jed Whedon and directed by Ken Fink.

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My Top 10 (and Bottom 3) at the Movies in 2013

Now that 2014 is well under way it’s a good time to look back at the movies of 2013.  I went to the movies 40 times in 2013, a pretty low number for me, seeing 32 new films (the other 8 were either movies I saw more than once or classics I got the chance to see on the big screen).  Through a variety of reasons, I’ve managed to miss most of the big awards contenders including 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, Her, Philomena and The Wolf of Wall Street, unlike last year when I had seen most of them.  Instead of simply ranking my favorite films from the past year, however, I prefer to highlight my top 10 (and bottom 3) movie-related things from 2013.  Some of these will be particular movies or performances, some will be scenes or aspects of production, and some are bits of news or interpretations.  I hope you enjoy it, and remember to let me know your favorite (or least favorite) film-related things from 2013! Continue reading