Castle Review: “Hunt”

C: No. No-no-no-no-no. You cannot do this to me. No! No no no! That’s Robin Scherbatsky, summing up my reaction to this episode. Guys… did Castle just jump the shark?

E: Er, no?  I will agree, though, it was a very disappointing conclusion to last week’s rather thrilling kidnapping episode.

M: As you guys know, I was out of town last week, and not only missed doing the recap with you guys, but didn’t see any TV. So I watched the two back to back, and while it was a disappointing second half, I didn’t think it was as bad as C is making it out to seem. It was HORRIBLY predictable, though.

Oscar 2013 Postmortem: Who Won, and How I Did

E: I have to tell you, I feel pretty damn great about that.  Especially after the nominations proved so fiendishly difficult, I’m feeling pretty satisfied.  And exhausted, because I was too excited to sleep last night – but mostly just happy.  I was a bit dubious about Seth McFarlane, but in the end, I thought he was pretty terrific.  Oh, sure, his monologue went on to long, but the song and dance numbers were fantastic (Charlize Theron and Channing Tatum!  Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Daniel Radcliffe!  Alex Wong! the L.A. Gay Mens Chorus singing about boobs!), the sock puppets killed it, and way more of his jokes made me laugh than groan. Let’s talk Oscar!

Oscar 2013: Who Will Win?

E: 2013 has proved to be one of the more challenging Oscar seasons in memory.  Some seasons, dreary after dreary award show passes with the same four actors and the same clump of producers. But this year, three of the top six categories are in complete chaos!  Amazing!  It makes my job harder here, but it’s going to make the ceremony WAY more interesting. Much as I enjoy them, this year it’s not just going to be about the gowns and speeches; there are some genuine mysteries here.  Ladies and Gentlemen, fasten your seatbelts – like the lady says, it’s going to be a bumpy night.

Oscar Talk: Django Unchained, Amour, Flight and Skyfall

E: Rounding out the last best picture nominees, and the remaining films with the highest nomination total, I have an odd little quartet for you today.  An extravagant Western fantasy, a heartbreaking tale of a marriage’s ending, a tale of heroism and alcohol, and James Bond’s zesty new installment.  Yes, that’s right.  Skyfall is a five time Oscar nominee.  A Bond movie – because it’s a really, really well made Bond movie.

Castle Review: “Target”

C: If you read us often, you’ll probably be expecting exclamations of horror at yet another serious episode – and Alexis Endangerment of all things. Yet somehow, I’m not horrified. In fact, it was a pretty well-written episode.

E: You’ll be more surprised to hear I’m not horrified either.  Maybe it’s because they don’t overplay the Alexis Endangerment card.  Maybe because I just don’t have any damn idea what’s going on.

C: Ha! Fair enough. It was a pretty confusing plotline.

E: Not necessarily in a bad way.  We just – have very few clues to go on, so far. To start the episode, we watch a young guy stand in an alley, facing down a charging van.  He shoots, emptying round after round into the van, which keeps coming.  He doesn’t turn away.  He loses the game of chicken.