Category Archives: Some Spoilers
Liz Tells Frank What Happened In “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic”
Dear Frank,
Fun fact: My mom knows about Bronies. I found this out when I mentioned to her that I was telling you about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic this week: “That’s the show they like?” she asked, and I said yes. I did not say whether or not I understood why this group of young Internet-savvy men liked the animated rebirth of the franchise, because the honest truth is I don’t, really.
And I say this after having watched the two-part pilot episode of the series, written by now-legendary Lauren Faust and featuring no shortage of charm, adorable ponies, and surprisingly complex backstory. In fact, the plot for this show is so complicated that I’m going to leave the understanding-a-very-strange-subculture stuff for later. Right now, let’s meet some motherfucking ponies! Read the rest of this entry
Liz Tells Frank Stuff She Forgot About “Love Actually”
Dear Frank,
Happy holidays! A time of shopping, togetherness, and debating whether Love Actually, Richard Curtis’s 2003 Christmas romantic comedy to end all Christmas romantic comedies, is the absolute worst or the absolute best.
Every time I watch it, I’m not really sure of the answer. I mean, I adore some percentage of it, and I loathe some other percentage, and because the movie is fundamentally schizophrenic, that percentage is never the same twice.
But there is a lot to love, especially if you’re like me, and looking up cast lists on the IMDB is like breathing. EVERYONE is in this movie, Frank. Read the rest of this entry
Liz Tells Frank What Happened In “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries”
Dear Frank,
Today is a first: I’m telling you about a web series, which I’m fairly sure has never happened before (on this blog, anyway — I’m pretty sure I’ve told you about stuff in person, but of course that doesn’t count because it didn’t happen on the internet).
But Frank, as you are a man who appreciates transmedia narratives and Jane Austen (at least, I think you appreciate Jane Austen), you’ll be glad to know about this.
There are more adaptations of Pride and Prejudice than there are stars in the sky, but The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which premiered on YouTube last April, is the only one that updates the characters as young, Internet-savvy vloggers, and uses multiple social media accounts to offer multiple perspectives on the classic tale of gossip, misunderstandings, stubbornness and (eventually) makeouts. Read the rest of this entry
Liz Tells Frank What Happened In MTV’s “Teen Wolf”
Dear Frank,
As you know, there are no depths to my dedication to telling you about stuff. Well, maybe there’s a depth. Speed 2: Cruise Control was pretty bad.
But over the last three months, I have noticed a surprising uptick in the number of people in my sphere discussing the MTV series Teen Wolf — which would normally inspire me to watch it, except that for some reason I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. (I’m trying to catch up on Damages, Frank! I’ve got a lot on my plate.)
Fortunately, one of those aforementioned Teen Wolf fans agreed to hop on IM and talk me through what actually sounds like an intriguing post-Buffy dramedy, with a strong social conscience and frequently shirtless young men. Below is the edited result of my discussion with Megan Westerby. It’s all her fault.
Liz: LET’S TALK ABOUT TEEN WOLF.
Megan: Okay!
Liz: First off, let me say what I know. Which is that Teen Wolf is a show about a teenager who is also a werewolf.
Megan: Well, they did manage to re-use a rather descriptive title. TEEN. WOLF.
Liz: It doesn’t leave much to the imagination. Read the rest of this entry
Aaron Sorkin: The Skip It/Watch It/Stop Watching Guide
Friends and/or faithful readers of this site will know that I have a lot of complicated feelings about Aaron Sorkin, Academy Award-winning screenwriter and bane of my existence. Not because I don’t think he’s talented — I think he’s crazy talented. Not because I don’t love his work — some of the shows he’s created and movies he’s written number among my absolute favorites. But his particular combination of genius, ego and laziness has a way of crawling under my skin, even when I really am trying to give his newest project a chance.
I try to let these feelings go, y’all, but then some lady Sorkin dated writes about how she was used as the basis for the gossip bitch Hope Davis played on The Newsroom and I see something like this:
Liz Tells Frank What Happened In... 