print
Futurama Review: "Fry Am the Egg Man" (6.22)
The element of Futurama that’s been missing the most since its return is its heart. Not that the show was ever filled to the brim with poignantly moving episodes; comedy has always been its core. But during its initial run the show occasionally took the time to deal with deeper human issues than just outsmarting an alien race intent on destroying the Earth. Episodes like “Jurassic Bark” aren’t something you can repeat, but smaller moments like Fry’s relationship with a Leela-esque narwhal were equally touching. Those little bits of humanity help the show remain grounded in a universe where at... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsFuturama Review: "All the Presidents' Heads" (6.20)
When Futurama began, it had a rule against time travel. That may be hard to believe now, considering how much time travel has occurred in the last few seasons, but it makes sense. Introducing time travel is such a pandora’s box that it threatens to overpower the rest of the show. Why wouldn’t a character always just travel back in time to fix whatever random problem just occurred, or if it’s so casually available, why doesn’t the cast pull a Back to the Future and have everyone win big on the stock market or sports betting?... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsFuturama Review: "Yo Leela Leela" (6.19)
Last week’s episode of Futurama was largely let down by its lack of quality science-fiction elements. Also, and more importantly, the jokes weren’t super funny. But since that’s always much more difficult to write about, let’s go back to the plot, since in a lot of ways this week’s episode, “Yo Leela Leela” was similar but with a wonderful science-fiction twist.... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsFuturama Review: "The Silence of the Clamps" (6.18)
These past few episodes I’ve been trying to put my finger on what makes for an interesting Futurama episode and what makes for a forgettable one. Unfortunately, last night’s “The Silence of the Clamps” landed pretty firmly in the later camp, and I think there’s a number of reasons why.... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsFuturama Review: "Law and Oracle" (6.17)
As a whole, there are two primary types of Futurama episodes, and both of them have had their moments. First there’s the ones that are traditional sci-fi, “What if?” episodes. I’m not talking about the “Tales of Interest” episodes either (although most of those segments qualify), it’s the episodes asking what if Bender could self-replicate into smaller Benders or the crew could travel forward in time but not backwards. The other, increasingly more common, type of episodes are extended sci-fi homages or pop culture parodies, and this week’s “Law and Oracle” definitely qualifies as one of those.... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsFuturama Review: "Ghost in the Machines" (6.16)
Last week I mentioned that the first two episodes of this season had picked up the pace from last season (or half season, as it may be) and given us a pair of rather ambitious episodes. For week two, we settled in on a more ordinary episode of Futurama. That being said it still heavily involved ghosts and explored a weird aspect of the show we’ve never seen before. But because it stuck around the Planet Express office and didn’t feature new characters, it still felt like it was pretty ordinary, which is one of the best things about the... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsFuturama Review: "Neutopia" and "Benderama" (6.14/6.15)
Now that we’re back for either the second half of Futurama’s sixth season or, according to its DVDs, the beginning of its sixth season, it seems like a good time to take accounting of the show’s rebirth. Well, its second rebirth, after the four straight-to-DVD movies that took the place of its fifth series. However you want to look at it, though, season six was its most inconsistent season so far. There were a few instant classics such as “The Late Philip Jay Fry”, “That Darn Katz”" and “The Prisoner of Benda,” but there were also far more fine-but-forgettable episodes... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsFuturama Review: "Futurama Holiday Spectacular" (6.13)
In maybe the earliest holiday special ever televised, Futurama was back on the air last night celebrating the three major holidays of the season commonly recognized in our country. As such, rather than a normal episode they decided to split the show into three independent stories in the same manner as a Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episode or, perhaps more relevantly, the Anthology of Interest episodes we saw back before the show’s first cancellation. Of course, anthology episodes, like anthology movies, are notoriously inconsistent and this was certainly the case with “The Futurama Holiday Spectacular,” which had some nice highs... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsUpdate: Joanna Newsom Will Not Appear on The Simpsons
Update: Apparently, this was just a rumor, encouraged by a widespread misunderstanding of the original Malibu Magazine article. Here’s the official statement Joanna Newsom issued just minutes ago: ""Regrettably, the awesome rumor of my upcoming cameo on The Simpsons is unfounded. I remain, however, steadfast as always in my commitment to the character of Lisa, whom I have of course had the privilege of voicing for the last twenty-one years, in my dreams. Thanks for the memories, gang!" We’re shaking a fist at you, internet! — When Simpsons creator Matt Groening asked Newsom to play his All Tomorrow’s Parties lineup... read more
Found in: Music, NewsFuturama Review: "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences" (6.11)
As much as it would be wonderful to write reviews in a vacuum, it’s got to be said that expectations play a large part in how anything gets received by its audience. ’ve always tried to stay away from trailers or press packets or leaks in the hopes of not changing my immediate reaction to a film, but with a TV show you have an already built-in set of expectations derived from previous episodes. Television’s typically episodic nature has a lot of positive aspects, but one thing it eventually leads to is an episode like the unfortunately-titled “Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences,” which... read more
Found in: TV, Reviews
The 50 Best Movies of 2011
The 50 Best Movies of the Decade…
The 20 Best Movies of 2011 (So…
A Day In The Life Of Seryn
Album Stream: Eisley - Deep Space
Video Premiere: Rhett Miller - "Tower of…
Live From CMJ: Robert Ellis
Song Premiere: Milagres - “Quiet Street”
