Assignment X

Exclusive Interview: Abi Morgan counts down THE HOUR for BBC America

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 08/17/2011

Dominic West, Romola Garai and Ben Whishaw in THE HOUR - Season 1 | ©2011 Kudos Film & Television Ltd

In 1956 England, the BBC is trying out a different style of TV news program. News producer Bel Rowley (Romola Garai) doesn’t want to toe the government line about the rapidly heating-up Suez Canal crisis. Bel’s relationship with married anchorman Hector Madden (Dominic West) is likewise catching fire. Meanwhile, Bel’s chief researcher/best friend/genius Freddie Lyon (Ben Whishaw) pines for her while investigating a pair of murders that seem linked to a sinister conspiracy. Welcome to THE HOUR, the six-part period political thriller/murder mystery/newsroom drama premiering tonight on BBC America (it just aired in the U.K. on BBC2). Series creator/executive producer […]Read On »

COMMENTS (3)

TV Review: TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY – “The Middle Men” – Review #1

By ARNOLD T. BLUMBERG 08/16/2011

Marc Vann and Alexa Havins in TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY | ©2011 BBC Worldwide Limited

Stars: John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Mekhi Phifer, Alexa Havins, Kai Owen, Bill Pullman, Lauren Ambrose, Arlene Tur, Jonathan Spencer, Frederick Koehler, Jason Brooks, Tom Price, Marc Vann, William Thomas, Ciera Payton, G. Lane Hillman, Lena Kaur, Liz Jenkins, Ernie Hudson Writer: John Shiban Director: Guy Ferland Network: Starz, airs Friday nights Original Telecast: August 12, 2011 In the sixth episode of the all-new BBC/Starz co-production of TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY, “The Middle Men,” the action takes place on two fronts as Gwen (Eve Myles) and Rhys (Kai Owen) struggle to save Gwen’s father from the incinerators at a camp in Wales. […]Read On »

COMMENTS (9)

Exclusive Interview: MTV’s TEEN WOLF star Jill Wagner is on the hunt

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 08/15/2011

Jill Wagner in TEEN WOLF - Season 1 - "Magic Bullet" | ©2011 MTV

On MTV’s TEEN WOLF, which has its season one finale tonight at 10 PM (a second season arrives next year), it may be a toss-up as to which character is the scariest. Sure, that soft-talking homicidal Alpha wolf is menacing in monster form, but Jill Wagner’s beautiful, fanatical, gun-wielding Hunter Kate Argent seems just as capable of destroying the life of good-hearted young werewolf hero Scott McCall (Tyler Posey). North Carolina native Wagner is known to TV genre fans for her roles on BLADE: THE SERIES and STARGATE: ATLANTIS, while reality competition show viewers also know her for her hosting […]Read On »

COMMENTS (5)

Exclusive Interview: Ruben Fleischer on 30 MINUTES OR LESS, ZOMBIELAND 2 and THE GANGSTER SQUAD

By CARL CORTEZ 08/14/2011

Aziz Ansari and Jesse Eisenberg in 30 MINUTES OR LESS | ©2011 Sony Pictures

Director Ruben Fleischer may have come from the music video and commercials world, but his directorial debut ZOMBIELAND proved he could handle great storytelling, absurd humor on top of some highly stylized visual filmmaking techniques. With the critical and commercial success of ZOMBIELAND, Fleischer was looking for something a little more low-key for his follow-up which he discovered with the comedy 30 MINUTES OR LESS. The story follows a pizza delivery guy (ZOMBIELAND star Jesse Eisenberg) who has a bomb strapped to his body by a couple of thugs who give him a short window to rob a bank or […]Read On »

COMMENTS (10)

TV Review: OUTCASTS – Series 1 – “Episode Eight”

By ARNOLD T. BLUMBERG

Amy Manson in OUTCASTS - Series 1 - Episode 8 | ©2010 Kudos/BBC

Stars: Liam Cunningham, Hermione Norris, Daniel Mays, Amy Manson, Ashley Walters, Eric Mabius, Langley Kirkwood, Michael Legge, Jeanne Kietzmann, Moshidi Motshegwa Writer: Ben Richards Director: Jamie Payne Network: BBC America, airs Saturday nights Original Telecast: August 6, 2011 In the final episode of the BBC America sci-fi series, OUTCASTS, President Tate’s (Liam Cunningham) fragile Forthaven colony reels from attacks on all sides: a new virus sweeps the population, Julius Berger (Eric Mabius) uses the crisis to topple Tate’s administration, and the mysterious alien “host force” that opposes the human presence on Carpathia may not be the only threat to humanity’s future […]Read On »

COMMENTS (2)

Exclusive Interview: TEEN WOLF director/producer Russell Mulcahy talks finale and hints at Season 2

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 08/13/2011

Tyler Posey in TEEN WOLF - Season 1 - "Night School" | ©2011 MTV

MTV’s TEEN WOLF has proved itself to be much more than what one might expect of a TV series about a teenaged werewolf. The show is not only sharp and full of adolescent comedy and angst, but also suspenseful, atmospheric and sometimes genuinely scary. These qualities are largely due to the efforts of writer/executive producer Jeff Davis and his fellow executive producer, director Russell Mulcahy. Mulcahy, an Australian native who got his start in directing on music videos before having a massive feature film hit with the original 1986 HIGHLANDER, helmed half of this season’s TEEN WOLF episodes. At a party thrown by […]Read On »

COMMENTS (3)

CD Review: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 soundtrack | ©2011 Warner Bros.

Alexandre Desplat is back in the HARRY house to weave his musical spell with HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2. But if things seemed more than a bit wispy and time-biding after the last two POTTERS, nothing will prepare you for this literally smashing wrap up, especially with a spectacular musical finish that brings John Williams’ spirit back to the Halls of Hogwarts like never before. Having impressed with the epic franchise fantasy scores for THE GOLDEN COMPASS and THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON, Desplat thankfully raises the scoring stakes with his second POTTER big time, his brew […]Read On »

COMMENTS (4)

Exclusive Interview: Eric Balfour finds safety in Syfy’s HAVEN

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 08/12/2011

Eric Balfour in HAVEN - Season 2 - "The Trial of Audrey Parker" | ©2011 Syfy/Chris Reardon

Based very loosely on Stephen King’s novella THE COLORADO KID, Syfy’s series HAVEN is now airing its second season Friday nights at 10 PM. The title enclave is a small town in coastal Maine where most of the residents are a bit more than human. FBI Special Agent Audrey Parker (Emily Rose) came to Haven in the first episode to investigate a murder, but has stayed on to look into various strange events, including the town’s ties to her own past. One of the few people Audrey meets who doesn’t seem to have some sort of supernatural ability is Eric […]Read On »

COMMENTS (1)

On the set with the FINAL DESTINATION 5 actors Emma Bell and Nicholas D’Agosto – Part 3

By A.C. FERRANTE 08/11/2011

Nicholas D'Agosto, Emma Bell and Miles Fisher in FINAL DESTINATION 5 - actors 2 | ©2011 Warner Bros.

Death is nowhere to be seen on the set of FINAL DESTINATION on this chilly December afternoon. In fact, Death is perhaps the cheapest actor working on the long-running franchise, that’s because Death is an unseen force – manipulating the kills in very complex and clever ways, but never showing his (her, its) face. Of course every actor working on this latest installment (once again filmed in 3-D and hitting theaters nationwide tomorrow) is excited by what kind of horribly, gruesome ways Death has engineered for them to die on screen. For Emma Bell and Nicholas D’Agosto, they reveal that […]Read On »

COMMENTS (0)

TV Review: TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY – “The Categories of Life” – Review #2

By SEAN ELLIOTT

John Barrowman in TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY | ©2011 BBC Worldwide Limited

Stars: John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Mekhi Phifer, Alexa Havins, Lauren Ambrose, Kai Owen, Bill Pullman, Arlene Tur, Candace Brown, Tom Price, David Grant Wright, Mark Saldana Writer: Jane Espenson Director: Guy Ferland Network: Starz, airs Friday nights Original Telecast: August 5, 2011 Well, I love TORCHWOOD in pretty any size, way, shape, or form, but the thing I feared the most is blatantly clear in the fifth episode of MIRACLE DAY entitled “The Categories of Life.” The fear that I am addressing is the way a show can lose steam if they are focusing on one single storyline instead of […]Read On »