Jessica Jones S1E8 AKA WWJD? Review

This is the best episode of Jessica Jones so far. Nearly the whole of the seventh episode concentrates on Kilgrave (David Tennent) and Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) apart from showing a slice of Hogarth's (Carrie-Anne Moss) drama with her ex-wife and Trish Walker (Rachael Taylor) being the go-to-person whenever Jessica is in trouble. 

What stands out the most in this episode is the chemistry between Ritter and Tennent. They have amazing on screen chemistry and it's captivating. It doesn't matter if Jones hates Kilgrave and can't stand him being in the same house as her, but the back-and-forth dialogue between the characters is mesmerising. 

We also see Kilgrave (sort of) change his psychopathic ways for Jones when we finally get to see what was on that yellow memory stick Kilgrave had Jones dig up the night she murdered Reeva. It was a memory stick filled with videos of when Kilgrave was a child and his parents were doing scientific experiments on him - mainly neurological. Was that a glimmer of sympathy that we saw on Jessica's face?

It's also brilliant of Scott Reynolds - who wrote this episode - to let us as an audience start to explore Kilgrave's past and what made him who is today; it was a fantastic addition to the show and even though it was inevitable for writers to at least show glimpses of his past, to add it into this episode was perfect. 

We see the horror that Kilgrave had to face as a child

Even though we knew that Jessica's plan to hopefully balance out Kilgrave's killings in the past - with him helping people for a change - wouldn't work (he's too much of a psychopath to change), it was nice to see Jones have a tiny bit of control of him for once. She got him to save four people's lives.

What is unclear at the moment is what her intention was during the episode. She wanted to help him be good, but then she injects him with sufentanil whilst they're having dinner together. What does she have planned for him? 

It was a good plot twist to end the episode on and to mirror that action by Jones with Kilgrave pre-conceived plan to give Will Simpson (Wil Traval) his bomb back (which is a live bomb) and kill Jessica's neighbour, Elizabeth De Luca (Kathleen Doyl). The shot of her arm at the very end just lying on the pavement is what Netfflix teaming up with Marvel is all about. Adding gore and grittiness to the Marvel world like they did with Daredevil.  

This is was an excellent episode and hopefully, the next 5 episodes will be just as good.

What did you think of Jessica Jones? Anything that you would like to see? Anything that you want the writers to change? Leave a comment below.

Jessica Jones S1E7 AKA Top Shelf Perverts Review

Jessica Jones continues to impress with it's dark and gripping seventh episode.

In this episode, Kilgrave (David Tennent) makes his dramatic appearance and it feels right. This is what the previous 6 episodes have been building up to; us seeing Kilgrave in the background psychologically manipulating people, then slowly becoming a bigger role by buying Jones' (Krysten Ritter) childhood home, to having a full five minutes on screen with Jessica.

We see how evil Kilgrave can also be, as he manipulates poor but odd Reuben (Kieran Mulcare) to kill himself as Reuben is lying on Jessica's bed. All Reuben wanted was to being Jessica some food. As soon as Jones comes back to her apartment and sees Reuben dead, she knows that enough is enough. She tried to get herself locked in Supermax prison - "Supermax only houses the worst criminals: top-shelf perverts, cannibals, serial killers who make mosaics out of their victims fingernails...It's living hell", as Hogarth (Carrie-Anne Moss) describes.

Hogarth's presence in the show is still not fully understandable and her storyline with her divorce and Jones helping her finalise it makes another appearance in this episode. The writers surely must have a proper plan for Jeri Hogarth and her storyline and hopefully not just make her scenes filler episodes and a useless subplot.

Another part that is starting to lose it's effect is that of Trish Walker (Rachael Taylor). We get it, she's now having sex with Will Simpson (Will Traval), but that's all her scenes seem to be at the moment; that, and trying to convince Jessica not to do the wrong thing for a few minutes. Hopefully, she has a better character development further on into the show.

This episode is based around Jones finally realising what's making her crazy: when she murdered Luke Cage's (Mike Colter) ex-wife, Reeva under Kilgrave's mind-control. The grief is suffocating her and she realises that as long as she's around in the open air, she's also open to Kilgrave holding people that she loves against her to get what he wants. Getting told by Luke that she was a "piece of shit" at the end of the sixth episode has caused her so much emotional distress that she just wants to put things right: Jessica Jones style. 

It's when Jones goes to the police station with Reuben's severed head (yes, Jones actually pulled his head of his dead body) that she starts to put her plan into action - not knowing that it's going to fail. She proves to Detective Oscar Clemons (Clarke Peters) of her superhuman strength to try and get herself into Supermax because she's "dangerous" and that's when another officer walks in to tell her that she's free to go.

Turns out that Kilgrave knew that she was turning herself in and had mind-controlled everyone in the police precinct to hold a gun to their own head or a civilians - it's nice what a man will do for a girl's attention isn't it? No. It's scary. He's scary. It's here when he confesses his undying love for Jones, he's "yearning" for her and wants her to feel the same. 

So Jones does what she thinks she has to do. She surrenders to Kilgrave and meets him at her childhood home that he bought; hopefully she's going to develop a new plan to take him down whilst she's spending 'quality' time with him. 

We're also introduced to a new character. Trish's Mom and Jessica's foster Mom, Dorothy Walker (Rebecca De Mornay). We learn that she's the reason that Trish got addicted to drugs and that she's basically a terrible mother that only cares about herself and uses her daughter and took Jessica in to gain the media's attention. She's a nasty character, but it was interesting to see Jones go and see her. Why was she introduced now? Hopefully Dorothy will get some character development of her own throughout the series. 

This was a very good episode as it showed a new side to Jones that was essentially for the story to develop and have her continue on her path. It was fantastic for Tennent to finally showcase his talent as Kilgrave in an actual scene of conversation with Jones and for some reason, Malcom's (Eka Danville) character is becoming more and more loveable.

Bring on the eighth episode!

What do you think of Jessica Jones? Is there anything you wish you would've seen in this episode? Anything you think shouldn't have been in this episode? Leave a comment below.

Pretty Little Liars S6E11 Review *SPOILERS*

Before you read anything...
 *SPOILERS* *SPOILERS* *SPOILERS* *SPOILERS* *SPOILERS* *SPOILERS* *SPOILERS* *SPOILERS* *SPOILERS* *SPOILERS* *SPOILERS* *SPOILERS*

So Pretty Little Liars is back and we're on episode 11 of season six and boy, was I happy being back in the world of Rosewood and the Liars.

A few things that we've learnt about the characters first:

• The wine mom's got out of the basement, but how?! No Ella to be seen anywhere though...
• Hanna is working as a fashion intern

• Spencer is in Washington DC as a lobbyist

• Aria is in Boston working for a publisher

• Emily is in California as a barista because college didn't work for her

• Emily's Dad died and now her mom has started seeing other people
• Alison is a teacher in Rosewood High 

• Radley has become a hotel/bar (?!)
• Ashley Marin is running Radley

• Hanna is engaged to someone who isn't Caleb

• Aria is in a relationship with someone who isn't Ezra
• Ezra has become an alcoholic 
• Spencer isn't with Toby
• There is a 'Brotherhood of Ex-Boyfriends' 
• Charlotte is released from the hospital
• Mona is working in politics too (?!)

• Veronica Hastings is in politics now as well
• Did we see syringes and drugs fall out of Emily's bag? I don't know

• Charlotte was murdered

I can't even keep up... So much was announced that I might have missed a couple of things out but it was a brilliant winter premiere episode. You feel like you've just fallen back into the lives of the characteres that you know and love but you also feel a bit disconnected because so much has changed in the past 5 years.

It's nice to see all of the familiar faces and it was mostly a happy and cheery episode which was nice. It was nice to see 'drunk Spencer' again and her exclaiming how much she loves the other 3 girls, it was nice to see them mostly laid back and (now they're of the legal age to drink) getting drunk and suffering with mega hangovers the next morning. 

During the winter premiere episode, it nicely paralleled the first couple of episodes of season one. The death of Charlotte reflects Allison's "death" in the pilot episode and how the four girls are at the funeral. The girls turn around to see a mystery person walk through the door - in this instance, we now know that it's Black Widow/Sara Harvey/Shower Harvey.

There's the same credit sequence that we love (even though I heard a rumour that there was going to be a different theme song?) except now Allison's in it which is good since it's about time she made an appearance in the opening. 

Also, can we talk about how good Spencer looks with bangs? All of the girls look so good and even though - in reality - no time has passed during filming, hair and make up have done a fantastic job of making the girls look more mature. 

Even though all of our OTPs are no more, (Ezria, Spoby and Haleb) one of them have to get back together right? There's something weird going on with Caleb and Spencer that I'm quite curious about but then we also see Hanna look at her engagement ring after she has a talk with Caleb. Is she second guessing her engagement?

Aria showed how much of a strong character that she is when she stood up for herself at the court hearing about if the hospital should release Charlotte or not. All the other girls lied to the judge about how safe they would feel if Charlotte got released but not Aria. Aria told the truth and just like Spencer said: "you are small but mighty".

If I wrote about everything that I loved about this episode, it would be the longest article ever. But!! This was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Everything was on point apart from Lorenzo still being in Rosewood?! Can't he just leave? Also... Sara Harvey? Do we have to do this again? But I did no see Charlotte getting murdered coming. At all. I think that might be one bad thing to be honest. Couldn't they keep her alive for a one more episode? I mean, she did just get let out of the hospital...

But no, bring on next Wednesday because I'm ready for my weekly dose of PLL. 

What did you think of the winter premiere? Leave a comment below!

Krampus Review

You would think that the Christmas holiday is the happiest, most wonderful holiday of the year. A holiday where you and all of your loved ones come together to celebrate family and friends.

No. Not in this film.

Krampus is about a family who haven't been blessed with getting along and once extended family come to the door of Tom (Adam Scott) and Sarah (Toni Collette), things start to turn a bit a bit sour With Uncle Howard (David Koechner) and Aunt Dorothy (Conchata Ferell) jabbing at Tom, Sarah and their family, everyone loses it. After Max (Emjay Anthony) has written his letter to Santa Claus asking for their family to get along and then realises that he will never get his wish, he tears the letter up and throws it out of his window. Which is when things start to get nasty. Krampus comes to town.



This is a fantastic film, at times the lighting is bad but you hardly notice. One of the brilliant things about this film - and a lot of people would disagree - is the very beginning. The opening credits. It shows a hoard of people racing into a mega store and fighting over Christmas decorations and presents. People are getting punched, crying and screaming and it's perfect. Because it's true. Christmas shopping is a horrible nightmare, it's chaos and it gets people down. It couldn't have set up the characters and their family environment any better.

Another fantastic element of Krampus is when Omi (Krista Sadler) is telling a story about her experience with the anti-Santa when she was a child. Instead of showing her past with realism and actual cast members, it's shown through animation and the animation is brilliant. It diverted away from the usual way of showing flashback and it added a good twist.

The monsters are brilliant bur warning! If you don't like clowns, dolls, or toys coming to life, then don't watch this film (I'm scared of both clowns and dolls so I was cowering in my seat). Krampus himself was extraordinary. His face was gaunt, his eyes sunken. It wasn't scary but it was well done.

The ending! It was a huge plot twist. You think that everything is ok, everything is going to be fine, they're one happy family and they're going to finally enjoy their Christmas but again, this film surprises the audience and does something that you're not going to expect.

Overall, this film is incredible. It's not perfect (the comical gingerbread men were a bit too much of a push) but it's got a brilliant cast from a range of genres, it's got the jump-scares and it's a good horror/comedy Christmas film.

Black Mass Review

With the brutality, the choice of actors and the fact that it's based on true events, what's not to love about this film? 

The answer is a lot. But we'll get to that in a bit.

First of all, Johnny Depp hasn't been in a role like this for a long time. Playing the notorious Boston gangster, James "Whitey" Bulger, Depp delves deep into this role like he hasn't in what seems like forever. He always seems to be playing caricature characters like The Mad Hatter or Willy Wonka. He's so much more brilliant than that and this film proves it. His acting is brilliant and he embraces the character of the psychotic Bulger perfectly. 

Black Mass -written by Jez Butterworth and Mark Mallouk and directed by Scott Cooper - is about James Bulger, the head of the Winter Hill Gang who dealt drugs to nearly every street in the area and ran an extortion racket during the seventies and eighties in South Boston. Whilst doing all of this, he also worked with the FBI as an informant. The film let's viewers experience the gruesome day-today going of James and how he became the Kingpin of Boston.

One of the best parts about Black Mass was that it didn't glorify the gory details of what the Winter Hill Gang did, it shows them the way that it should be shown: with blood and screaming. We saw people get beat to death, shot in the head and more specifically, when Bulger strangled Deborah Hussey (Juno Temple) to death and you could hear her gasping for breath and gurgling in the background. It's dark and gritty and that works really well.

Joel Edgerton (John Connolly) plays the FBI agent who convinces Bulger to become an FBI informant to bring down the Italian Mafia. Connolly grew up with Bulger in South Boston and thinks of them as close friends. Slowly throughout the film, you see Connolly act more and more like the gangsters he's trying to bring in and see him turn into a corrupt agent as he begins to hide Bulger's and his own activities from his superiors. Edgerton gets almost as much screen time as Depp which was important because Bulger and Connolly were almost 'in it' together. 

However, the film gets a bit boring half way through. It loses it's momentum and it's not fun. It felt samey as the movie carried on, like some of the scenes had just been repeated over and over again. it felt lumpy and disconnected in places which is a shame because the performances from the actors were outstanding. 

Characters such as Whitey Bulger's brother - William "Billy" Bulger (Benedict Cumberbatch) - felt like they needed more airtime. Billy Bulger is crucial to the story of his brother's gangster life because he turned a blind eye to his extra-curricular activities and stood by him as a brother. Cumberbatch's amazing acting skills were left under-used so it felt like he was there in the background. He needed more screen time.

Black Mass was a bit of a disappointment. Underneath all of the brilliant acting and the gruesome, horrific ways of James Bulger, the film felt too long. It didn't know whether it wanted to concentrate on bringing down the Italian mafia or the story of Bulger himself; they needed to use the incredible actors that they cast to their advantage and they didn't. They just left them there in the shadows.

Jessica Jones S1E4 AKA 99 Friends Review

"AKA 99 Friends" is Jessica Jones focused. There's no Kilgrave appearances (apart from an eight-year-old girl taunting Jessica in the street) and it concentrates on fleshing out the characters already in the show.

In episode four, Jones (Krysten Ritter) is reluctant to accept a new P.I case due to the last referral that she had, ended up with Hope Schlottman (Erin Moriarty) being controlled by Kilgrave (David Tennent) to shoot her parents. Officer Simpson (Will Traval) wants to make up for the pain he caused Trish "Patsy" Walker (Rachael Taylor) when he was mind-controlled to kill her, Hogarth (Carrie-Anne Moss) sends people to Jessica who think they have been mind controlled by Kilgrave and Jones starts up a 'support group' for the ones she thinks have been under Kilgrave's influence and Jessica searches for whoever has been following her on Kilgrave's behalf and gets her answer.

One of the interesting things about this episode is Jones' new client, Audrey Eastman (Jessica Hecht). We are made to think that Eastman was referred to Jones by Hogarth's business partner due to Eastman thinking that her husband is cheating on her and she wants proof. When Jessica follows Eastman to an abandoned building, she sees her with headphones on, music up loud and shooting at mannequins. Jones dismisses it, thinking she's getting ready to shoot her adulterous husband and convinces herself that Eastman isn't under Kilgrave's control.

Instead what's fascinating is the truth about Audrey Eastman.

Jessica follows Audrey's husband to see if she can catch him cheating but instead finds out it was a trap and finds Audrey in bed with her husband. We find out that Audrey's mother was killed during The Battle of New York and that she despises people with "gifts" and "abilities".

This is brilliant. It's brilliant how they've weaved in the story of The Battle of New York, but told it from a different perspective. Instead of everyone being grateful that New York was saved, we're shown the grief-stricken side of it, the side where we're told that people's families died, innocent people and it adds another dimension to the character of Audrey Eastman.

But when Eastman shoots Jones in the arm, we're then shown how strong Jones is. Yes, she bleeds but she pulls radiators from the walls and throws them near Eastman, again the show is adding dimension to the characters and it's brilliant.

The one uncertainty with this show is the relevance of Hogarth's marriage. The character of Hogarth herself is interesting and mysterious, especially when she said to Jones that Kilgrave "could solve so many problems with his gift". You start to wonder if she has a dark side to her as well.

But her marriage? Maybe it does have relevance in the upcoming episodes and that's why the foundations are being built now, but hopefully they're not just filler scenes.

Another interesting character development is that of Officer Simpson. We saw him in episode three be mind controlled by Kilgrave to kill Walker - luckily Jones intervened - but throughout this episode, he's trying to make up for his guilt by giving her a gun "for protection". After Walker and Simpson are sat on opposite sides of her door talking, she invites him in and we see the beginning of a bond forming and for the chance for Simpson to be a recurring character on the show.

This episode was again, entertaining and well written. It was nice to have the concentration on Jones for nearly the whole episode. Kristen Ritter portrays the character perfectly. With her one-liner jokes, sarcasm, swearing and the fact that she drinks whisky and energy drinks to keep herself going; she's not your average superhero. Which make her even this show even more enjoyable.