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Category: Sam Reviews

Captain America: Civil War (2016) – Review

Captain America: Civil War is as exemplary as any Marvel film about what they can and have achieved. It uses the past 12 films as a huge canvas to paint a personal story. It maintains the insane balancing act of telling, first and foremost, a Captain America story, second an Avengers…

The Walking Dead 6.16: Last Day on Earth – Review

Don’t worry, fellow The Walking Dead fans. The show heard the criticism from this season (especially prevalent over the last two episodes) and responded accordingly – by supersizing the finale to 90 minutes to cram in every single poor storytelling choice and character decision they could. The irony was that they still denied…

The Walking Dead 6.15: East – Review

C’mon, The Walking Dead, Multiple beginnings? I thought Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice had the worst opening act of the weekend but the first ten minutes of the sixth season penultimate episode “East” was rough. A Carol-focus is a good thing but opening flashforward was unnecessary and the montage…

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) – Review

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice has all the problems we feared it would. This is Iron Man 2 on steroids. It’s a stepping stone, a get-rich-quick scheme by by a desperate studio Warner Bros. to ape the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Zack Snyder makes a macho-as-hell film that turns the…

The Walking Dead 6.14: Twice as Far – Review

It was inevitable after a series of strong episodes The Walking Dead would deliver a clunker. It’s not even that “Twice as Far” is necessarily bad but it was more transitory than previous weeks, feeling more like an echo than a song. It had a conflict with the Saviors, some supply…

The Walking Dead 6.13: The Same Boat – Review

The Walking Dead continues its Season 6B hot streak. Most impressively, “The Same Boat,” a Carol-centric episode, was a great example of what Season 6A did not do well: highlight specific characters while moving the plot forward. The episode was laser-focused on Carol and Maggie’s predicament, being kidnapped by the…

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) – Review

First things first, 10 Cloverfield Lane is not a sequel (or prequel, or side-quel) to Cloverfield. The films share some themes and details but they’re all tertiary, evidence of the script’s late conversion into a patented J.J. Abrams Mystery Box. It seems that the shared titles are anthological, akin to…

The Walking Dead 6.12: Not Tomorrow Yet – Review

EDITOR’S NOTE: This review was delayed by life and other things. Complaints can be transmitted by Morse code only to .. . .. … . . .. . . .. .. . All current technologies are prohibited. Solicitors will be summarily executed. The second half of The Walking Dead‘s sixth…

House of Cards S4 – Review

Bouncing back after a lethargic and introspective third season, House of Cards – the very definition of a guilty pleasure – continues to comb the dark recesses of vice hidden beyond the surface of Washington, D.C., embodied by the show’s power couple, Frank and Claire Underwood, unrivaled political operators who…

The Walking Dead 6.11: Knots Untie – Review

The Walking Dead is feeling delightfully retro these days. We got a Rick/Daryl pairing last week, Richonne was consummated, and now this week we got on a mission in an RV. It’s Season 1 and 2 all over again. This time though the big news is the introduction of Hilltop…