david-klompas

When my girlfriend told me that she wanted to watch Mike & Molly with me, I was very apprehensive. Why do I always have to watch these sit-com/rom-com series, I thought to myself?

Well, it turns out that the series isn't half so bad. The pilot is good - I find that we can watch it over and over again and still laugh out loud at the gags and jokes. The production is great, but the acting is more than a little corny. It comes off as far too cheesy to be taken seriously as a classic TV series in my eyes. Much like the comedy of Friends, though, Mike & Molly ends up winning us over with adorable characters and really funny situations.

It isn't often that an action film which tries to defy its genre actually succeeds in doing so. Kong: Skull Island happens to come pretty close to succeeding.

A fascinating prologue rewrites some history and sets up an alternate universe in which the existence of a massive gorilla seems somewhat plausible.

Brie Larson (the Room star who blew audiences away with her performance of a mother forced to raise a child under terrible constraint) gives a wonderful performance which plays a large part in lifting this film out of the trash heap. At first, I was skeptical about her choice to take on the role of Mason Weaver. But after a breathtaking helicopter scene, her presence begins to make sense: Larson clearly sought a fun role after the depressing elements of Room. And she is able to have fun while still bringing a sense of immense presence through a performance that will have audiences laughing out loud. Her co-star, Tom Hiddleston, is equally funny as a witty tracker looking for riches. The final piece of the puzzle is a wonderful performance by Samuel L. Jackson as a vigilante of sorts.

Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts does a good job of pulling this all together. But the real star of the show behind the scenes was the sound technician for giving the film one of the greatest soundtracks since films like Watchmen and games like Mass Effect reignited my belief in the film soundtrack as an art.

The result is an exciting return to Kong's universe that reignites an otherwise wilting franchise. Audiences of most persuasions will appreciate this as a strong entry into the annals of genre-defying action cinema.

American Dad was a very good concept right from the beginning of this first season, but it took a few episodes for the show to really find its feet. By Roger Codger, the team have taken off.

While Haley's antics in the previous episode are hysterical, it is only when Roger is able to take on a character outside of the Smith household that this show really becomes excellent. The jokes become sharper and the stints become richer.

Stan is forced to let Roger out of the house when stress forces him into a coma, and the alien goes on a surprisingly wild adventure with a bunch of old women. The results must be seen, for words cannot do justice to the sophisticated hysterics and hysteria of this episode.

Overall, Seth McFarlan outdoes himself on the fifth episode of American Dad's first season. Roger Codger raises the bar and sets the standard for what will come later in American Dad.