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Category: The Slog

Sam Flynn’s 7: The Week in Pop Culture – May 9-15

The week is long and hard, that’s why every Friday, you can relax and catch up on everything you need to know in Hollywood and beyond with Sam Flynn’s 7, my breakdown and analysis of the week in film and TV. It’s May and that means the end of the networks’…

Ex Machina (2015) – Review

Ex Machina is the Die Hard of artificial intelligence movies. Now that’s not exactly an obvious comparison, it is apt. Stay with me. Every single location, single man thriller that has aped the Die Hard formula (Under Siege, Speed, Air Force One, Olympus Has Fallen, White House Down, etc.) is…

Game of Thrones 5.5: Kill the Boy – Review

Every season has a flavor and, for this one, it’s swiss chocolate. While many bemoan the (necessary) changes to keep the show going at its breakneck pace, this week, to me, proved that David Benioff and Dan Weiss are THE best people to bring this story to the screen.As with…

Sam Flynn’s 7: The Week in Pop Culture – May 2-8

The week is long and hard, that’s why every Friday, you can relax and catch up on everything you need to know in Hollywood and beyond with Sam Flynn’s 7, my breakdown and analysis of the week in film and TV. NOTE: Apologies for my missed Friday deadline, for those of…

The Hollywood Echo Chamber: Inverse courses of the ‘Captain America’ and ‘Thor’ franchises

Welcome to a new, semi-regular column where I analyze movies past, present and future that seem more-or-less separate at idea-birth. Hollywood is a great big bubble (or womb, to keep the metaphor going) and some ideas keep repeating and cycling out. Or, in this column’s case, franchises can directly affect each other.…

Game of Thrones 5.4: Sons of the Harpy – Review

Game of Thrones continues its rampage of change in the fourth episode of Season 5 this week. The changes are good because the echoes in other plotlines are more pronounced. It makes for more concise storytelling, in line with the ‘convergence’ theme showrunners David Benioff & D.B. Weiss have repeatedly said…

Sam Flynn’s 7: The Week in Pop Culture – April 25 – May 1

The week is long and hard, that’s why every Friday, you can relax and catch up on everything you need to know in Hollywood and beyond with Sam Flynn’s 7, my breakdown and analysis of the week in film and TV. 7. Anime & Video Games: The Final Frontier With comic…

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) – Review

Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 1 , 2015) If you’re playing music, turn down the volume. Steady your breathing. Can you hear it? That’s the sound of Ultron breaking box office records like he breaks buildings in the superhero sequel. It’s already racked up $200 million overseas and it poises…

Sam Flynn’s Summer 7 – Preview

Here are the 7  (and a couple others) you should absolutely give your time to this summer at the cinema and on the home screen of your increasingly varied platform of choice: HONORABLE MENTIONS:  Sense8 on Netflix – June 5, 2015: Returning soon after their original sci-fi actioner Jupiter Ascending…

Game of Thrones 5.3: High Sparrow – Review

Ah it wouldn’t be Game of Thrones without weddings and we got one today (between the boy king Tommen and the twice-widowed Margaery) and a promise of another (in a shocking swerve from the source material). The Wall: Jon & Stannis Jon has made Olly his squire. So there’s that.…