1.78:1 Widescreen

When we got aboard the Snowpiercer, it would seem like a new world order was going to be happening. Well, that still holds true for Season 2, but not quite the way we were initially imagining. Did you see what I did there, “got aboard,” because it’s a train. OK, OK; that’s my one joke. Last we saw Daveed Diggs’ Layton, he’d finally managed to seize control of the train carrying the last of humanity following an apocalyptic freezing of the planet. His reign is extremely short-lived, however, as he is almost immediately threatened by the return of Mr. Wilford (Sean Bean) and Melanie’s thought-dead daughter, Alexandra (Rowan Blanchard). I can tell you that after this cliffhanger of a season last season, I was on the edge of my seat with anticipation for the next season. And this season doesn’t disappoint, as the power struggle for the train is continued with a new adversaries, as old adversaries become new allies.
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“There’s a war coming to Gotham, and now there’s no Batwoman stop it.”

Well … that’s halfway true. After just one season in the cape and cowl, Ruby Rose rather abruptly quit the show. That’s a pretty big red flag when you lose your titular star and character after just one season. For many shows that might have been the end of the road. Not true for Batwoman. They had several choices. They could have recast the part and just pretend it’s the same character with a new look. They could have killed the character off and found a new one to replace her. Of course, with the multiverse now closed down, the most likely option of replacing her with another Earth’s Kate Kane might have been the best option.
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It continues to amaze me how well Warner Brothers does with their DC products in the television universe but manage to execute so poorly with their films.  Despite being a bit formulaic, the CW DC shows are still a blast to watch but it’s the more adult oriented shows Titans, Doom Patrol and Swamp Thing that have left me most impressed.  Now they have released Pennyworth for the Starz Network, despite the confidence I have in the other shows I went into this one with cautious optimism.  The biggest question that bothered me was do we need another series that delves into the Batman universe? Gotham recently wrapped up, there’s a Batwoman series, Joker was only 2 years ago and a new Batman film coming next year, not to forget all the other incarnations of the Dark Knight. What had me interested though is the notion of finally getting to see Alfred Pennyworth as the former SAS officer in his prime and the chance to see how he became entangled with the Wayne family.  Was the series a letdown or yet another success for the DC television universe?
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I remember when The Golden Compass came to theaters. I know I saw it because I was a projectionist and had to screen the print, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember anything about the film. Perhaps that’s why that when I first heard about HBO doing a TV series adaption of the beloved book series His Dark Materials, I wasn’t all that thrilled.  I’d never read the young adult series, and considering the amount of awful YA film and TV adaptations that have bombarded us for nearly two decades, it too played a role in squashing any excitement I might have had in different circumstances.  I was definitely pessimistic about watching the , but when I finished Season 1, I was excited about where the next season would take us. I loved the characters, the daemons, and the worlds that the show took us to. Not since Stranger Things had I been more excited about a new series.  Season 2’s can be a make-or-break for a lot of shows. Expectations have been made by the audience, and sometimes things just fall apart, but sometimes there is the rare occasion where Season 2 manages to only get better.  I’m happy to say in the case of His Dark Materials, things definitely improve.
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I’ll come out from the start and say how much I love the film Snowpiercer (2013). I was already a fan of Bong Joon Ho since I had seen The Host at a film festival, and I just thought his career would have exploded after the release of Snowpiercer. The tension created in that film as you see the tail section carefully move their way to the front of the train and the horrors they encounter along the way is engaging, and it speaks volumes.  The stories about cannibalism are heart-wrenching, and the violence is intense. You definitely feel the desperation and are rooting for the tail section from start to finish.  Sure, there was plenty of class warfare on display, but in the film it was very clear who was “good” and who was “bad”. Now we have a TV series inspired by both the graphic novels and the film, and this time those lines of good and bad are not so clear as it spins a new tale for us.  This isn’t simply a TV show version of the movie, which is something I’m thankful for, but instead this is another version of events that could have happened on this epic train that is essential to mankind’s survival.
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