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Reviews
Surrogates (2009)
There is no compelling reason to pay money to watch this film.
In a movie about robots Bruce Willis tenders a typically robotic performance playing a rebel cop fighting the system. No surprises for anyone there. The most ludicrous casting was casting Irving Rhames as The Prophet. Rhames has one skill: to try to impress people how important he is. Any fame he earned from Pulp Fiction was due to the actions of other actors and nothing he did. This film does nothing to improve his standing. The only humour in the film comes from laughing at Rhames.
With the exception of Radha Mitchell and Rosamund Pike, it is hard to tell the difference between the robots and the real people in this dud.
Rosamund Pike puts in a reasonable performance as the wife of Bruce Willis and it is not hard to see why her character is a pill-popping wife, who would rather live her life through her surrogate. Radha Mitchell is the police officer partner of Bruce Willis and she too prefers to do her work through a surrogate.
It would be less painful to experience this film through a surrogate.
Castle: Wrapped Up in Death (2010)
Richard Castle gets picked on and the murderer gets caught.
Richard Castle is a very successful writer, yet his continually being cast as a buffoon is ridiculous.
One again Kate Beckett, the infallible super detective, is unnecessarily mean and nasty to Richard Castle and once again a female guest actress puts in a better performance than her. Navi Rawat as Rachel Waters shows Stana Katic you do not have to try to be the centre of attention in every scene to be effective.
The crime seemed to be wrapped up very quickly and Kate Beckett was scripted to be a fantastic achiever in the end.
Alexis had some nice scenes interacting with Richard Castle and Martha was also reasonable to him.
Nathan Fillion as Richard Castle endeavoured to add a little colour to the episode, but it is otherwise predictable and unremarkable.
Castle: Boom! (2010)
Kate Beckett is no match for Nikki Heat or Jordan Shaw.
Richard Castle solves the puzzle posed at the end of the first part of this two-part show and effectively saves the life of Kate Beckett, the infallible super detective. However it is too much to expect her to be grateful and remember this fact.
Special Agent Jordan Shaw continues her very impressive role, whilst Kate Beckett, the infallible super detective, is her usual selfish, everything must be done her way, self.
The serial killer plot is predictable and conveniently the computer technology makes the task of finding him considerably easier than might ordinarily be the case.
The serial killer continues to interact with Nikki Heat, not Kate Beckett, the infallible super detective. Jordan Shaw is taken hostage by the serial killer and Kate Beckett has to work with Richard Castle to save the day. Richard Castle saves the life of Kate Beckett, the infallible super detective, again and this time she is almost grateful. Kate Beckett quickly forgets these life-saving incidents and promptly returns to ridiculing Richard Castle.
Special Agent Jordan Shaw offers some sage advice to Kate Beckett, the infallible super detective, about Richard Castle, but Kate Beckett is not interested. She offers the extremely clichéd "It's complicated" in reply.
What is not complicated is that Jordan Shaw is the real deal and Kate Beckett, the infallible super detective, is merely a pretender in her company.
Castle: Tick, Tick, Tick... (2010)
Nikki Heat is the famous detective not Kate Beckett, as Jordan Shaw takes control.
Moves are afoot to turn the novel Heat Wave into a movie. Richard Castle shares this news with Kate Beckett, the infallible super detective, and she is her typical rude, insulting self, reminding Richard Castle that she really does not want him around.
The focus then shifts to the new case which involves a serial killer who is obsessed with Nikki Heat, not Kate Beckett, the infallible super detective. This provides an opportunity to introduce the impressive Dana Delany to the show as Special Agent Jordan Shaw. Jordan Shaw is clever and talented. She also has a large team and lots of great equipment. She works well with Richard Castle and acknowledges his assistance, something Kate Beckett, the infallible super detective, routinely struggles to do. Beckett becomes jealous of the working relationship between Castle and Shaw and in contrast to her attitude at the top of the show, wants Castle to share everything with her before he shares it with Jordan Shaw.
This two-part show has a cliffhanger at the end speculating whether Kate Beckett will survive.
Kate Becker clearly has a long way to go before she gets to the class of Jordan Shaw, both professionally and personally. Whether by accident or design the very impressive Jordan Shaw represents very serious competition for Kate Beckett, the infallible super detective. However this theme is very rarely touched upon by the writers in the show.
Castle: The Mistress Always Spanks Twice (2010)
Try as she might Kate Beckett, the infallible super detective, is no match for a real dominatrix
The Mistress Always Spanks Twice (2010) is yet another attempt to establish Kate Beckett as not only an infallible super detective, but also a sexual goddess, superior to all those around her. The attempt fails as Lady Irena (Dina Meyer) shows Kate Beckett how to evoke sexuality and capture the attention of a man.
Javier Esposito gives Kevin Ryan a hard time (again) about his girlfriend, Jenny, but is put in his place by Mistress Sapphire (Azita Ghanizada playing a very different role to the one she plays in Alphas). He was all thumbs when undoing her boots. Kevin Irish Ryan subsequently performed the task without incident. At the end of the episode Kevin Ryan introduces Jenny to the team.
It is also interesting to contrast the forced nature of the Kate Beckett character with Megan Hunt (Dana Delany) in Body of Proof: Doubting Tommy (2013). Co-worker and former flame Detective Tommy Sullivan (Mark Valley) acknowledges Megan Hunt to be a very sexually attractive woman. Megan Hunt agrees to engage with him and treats him with some dignity.
Alexis toys with the idea of being a cheerleader, which meant Richard Castle got some parenting advice from Martha Rodgers and Kate Beckett, the infallible super detective (there is nothing she cannot do).
Kate Becket goes through her usual routine of ridiculing and insulting Richard Castle, but ultimately has to concede "In the end Castle was right". Of course that fact will be forgotten very quickly by everyone and Castle will be ridiculed again. Kate Beckett also got her theory of the crime wrong a couple of times, but that will be ignored, because Kate Beckett the super detective is infallible.
As usual the rights of suspects are not a priority for the writers, nor is the concept of admissible evidence.