Category: TV/Film Projects

Much Ado About Nothing

Ah, the romantic comedy: A genre when presented as an evening’s viewing option has sent many an otherwise lovey-dovey couple to opposite ends of the couch. I have to say the romantic comedy has never been my first stop when Netflix surfing. Actually, it’s rarely my choice at all, unless When Harry Met Sally is on (the last great romantic comedy, IMO) or the least appreciated but my personal favorite of the Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks vehicles: Joe vs. the Volcano. [The guy falls for different versions of the SAME woman; how much more romantic (and comedic) can you get?]

William Shakespeare knew a thing or two about romantic comedies. In fact, he invented the genre! The formula of boy meets girl, they run up against some obstacles, surmount said obstacles with the help of a jocular coterie of friends, and live happily ever after: That’s Shakespeare! And perhaps the most seminal of his romantic comedies is Much Ado About Nothing. The plot and characters gave rise to many adaptations and permutations. There was the beautifully hilarious big-screen adaptation in 1993 with real-life couple-at-the-time Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson. More recently, in 2012, there was another lovely big-screen adaptation, this time by Joss Whedon, set in modern times but true to Shakespearean language. And between those two, in 2005, our very own Damian Lewis starred as Benedick in a BBC adaptation of the story, set in modern times with modern language, for their series Shakespeare ReTold.

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Life with Charlie Crews, Season 2, Episodes 16-18

Happy Tuesday, everyone! We are coming down to the end of our summer with Charlie Crews! Thank you so much for watching along with us, we’ve had a lot of fun re-discovering this series.

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I’m tasked today with episodes 16, 17 and 18, today. Let’s get started!
Episode 16 starts with the “vroom-vroom” of Charlie’s beautiful car. It’s a car that always causes my husband to make happy noises when he sees it. Charlie may not be attached, but here in my house, we love a good V-8, and we ain’t talkin’ ’bout tomato juice! California is a “hands-free” state, where you need to use cellular phones in a “hands-free” mode while driving. Charlie’s not excused from following the law, though at times he might behave as such. He’s on the phone with a very professional tech support agent in a far away land. She’s doing her best to keep Charlie, and his ever-wandering conversational style, on point. Keeping Charlie on task is not an easy job. Continue reading “Life with Charlie Crews, Season 2, Episodes 16-18”

Billions Season 1: Music (updated with playlist)

imageedit_2_4522049397From the opening scene of the birds eye view over lower Manhattan to the closing credits of every episode, you know that music is very important to the show runners behind Billions. The underlying score, a sort of industrial ambient techno riff and drone, is composed by Los Angeles based electronic musician Eskmo. The general mood set by the score is one of dramatic tension and urgency. Like, what the heck are these people going to do next, is the thought the music puts into your head.

Peppered throughout nearly every episode are carefully curated tracks. chosen for the way they match a scene or a mood or a character, or simply because the show creators really dig the music and wanted to make a place for it in their creation. We get to hear an eclectic mix of hip-hop, techno, pop, Italian pop, alt-pop, alt-country, punk and metal. From classic rock to classic punk to classic motown. I think that’s it, but I probably missed some! They cover it all!

This post is the result of my binging all 12 episodes again, this time with Shazam in hand to identify all the musical bits I didn’t already know. Just as each of the 12 episodes had a unique core strength to them, so do the selection of songs backing them up. Whether the music is straight up mood inducer or meant as an ironic statement, there’s nary a dud in the bunch.

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Life with Charlie Crews, Season 2: Episodes 13 – 15

Episode 13 “re-entry”

Charlie Crews, the cop and Charlie Crews, the con. Which is nowhere and which is somewhere? That is the question.

Source: CBS
Source: nbc

Dani is questioning Charlie on who shot him, but he is sticking to the story that he doesn’t remember. He also thinks it would be rude not to take the bullet that was used to shoot him because “someone gave it to me”. Question answered.

Charlie and Dani are investigating the death of William Ellis, a retired astronaut who owned his own Company, selling rocket fuel. He has been found dead in a helicopter landed in the middle of the street.

Suspicion falls upon his son, Dean, who is the typical son who cannot live up to dad’s expectations. He can’t fly because he is afraid of heights, he has started at the bottom in the company, being responsible for waste removal and Charlie picks up on the fact that his father never spoke to him like a man. It transpires that his dad was selling the Company to pay the Russians so he could go back into space one last time. Continue reading “Life with Charlie Crews, Season 2: Episodes 13 – 15”

Billions Season 2: What do we know so far?

DRUMROLL! David Nevins, Showtime Networks CEO, shared the good news at TV Critics Association’s Summer Press Tour: Billions Season 2 is hitting our screens on February 19, 2017!

Source: Showtime
Source: Showtime

The season premiere may be six months away but given they have been shooting Billions for more than a month and a half in New York, we believe it is time we start talking about what we know so far about the new season! Are you ready?

Should we start with how a day on Billions set is like? And, for this, we owe big thanks to Brian Koppelman who opens a window for us all through Twitter and Instagram. We LOVED his series of tweets about a day on Billions set and JaniaJania storified it for us – fantastic job, partner! Continue reading “Billions Season 2: What do we know so far?”