review
Reviews of the top geek movies, tv, and books in the industry.
Villainess Review: Jackie and Allie Armstrong (The Plot to Kill My Mother)
What a treat! As this year's Divisional Playoff came to a close, Lifetime came through with their latest thriller, The Plot to Kill My Mother, which starts with a young woman, Teresa Russo, ending up in Witness Protection after surviving an attack from her lover, Lorenzo Bruno. Not only does she have to uproot her life, she has to uproot her baby daughter's as well, meaning that all she would ever know is the new life that Teresa had to live in for her own safety. 21 years pass, and the now-grown Elena Russo, is informed by Teresa that she had to go visit her ailing mother back at her hometown, though all that does is draw questions from Elena--questions that Teresa couldn't answer.
By Clyde E. Dawkins2 years ago in Geeks
Villainess Review: Kate Kelsey (Good Wife's Guide to Murder)
Tubi's penchant for releasing their Lifetime-esque films vastly increased in 2022, and I'm glad to see that they're not wasting time with this trend in 2023. On January 14, Lifetime aired the true crime film, How to Murder Your Husband: The Nancy Brophy Story, a retelling of Nancy Brophy's murderous plot against her longtime husband. Shortly before this, Tubi gave us this film: Good Wife's Guide to Murder.
By Clyde E. Dawkins2 years ago in Geeks
Villainess Review: Charlene Crawford (Reba McEntire's The Hammer)
Out of Lifetime's first batch of upcoming films for 2023, I actually looked forward to Reba McEntire's The Hammer the most, and the reasons were simple. It's epic enough that Reba McEntire, a country music icon and actress was behind an actual non-holiday Lifetime film, but we get the added bonus of a blast from the past. We get a Reba sitcom reunion, as Reba co-starred in this film with Melissa Peterman, who portrayed Barbra Jean on Reba's self-titled sitcom. Also part of the cast is Rex Linn, who is Reba's real-life boyfriend, and while I always think of CSI: Miami when it comes Linn, he and Reba are currently stealing scenes on ABC's Big Sky.
By Clyde E. Dawkins2 years ago in Geeks
Reviewing "Disenchanted" and its "Wicked Good" Quartet of Villainesses
I remember how excited I was when the news broke that a sequel to the 2007 film, Enchanted, was coming. It was in May of 2022 that the sequel, Disenchanted, became official, and it was announced for a November premiere date on Disney+. Finally, on New Year's Eve, right before I watched the College Football Playoff games, I hit Disney+ to watch this. I had seen the first film 15 years ago at the theater, and I remember enjoying it so much, so I figured that the sequel would totally shine as well, and lo and behold, I was right.
By Clyde E. Dawkins2 years ago in Geeks
Top 10 Lifetime Villainesses of 2022 (Part 2: The Top 5)
As I said while writing the first half of this list, it was hard to whittle this down to the top 10, and even the top five was difficult, a contrast to last year, when I had my top five decided. It took a lot of thought and a lot of time, and a lot of time, but I finally have my top five cemented. With that said, they are as follows:
By Clyde E. Dawkins2 years ago in Geeks
Top 10 Lifetime Villainesses of 2022 (Part 1: #10 - #6)
Wow! This is my second year doing this list on Vocal, and as amazing as 2021 was, 2022 truly gave us some immensely memorable and awesome Lifetime film villainesses! I did have a devil of a time devising this list, as there were so many I could feature, so whittling it down to the top 10 was quite a task, but I managed to do it. Regarding this year's list, I decided to do something different this year. How different? Well, I can't tell you that. You'll just have to read on and see. One similarity: the top 1o list will be split into two parts, and Part 1 goes as follows:
By Clyde E. Dawkins2 years ago in Geeks
Villainess Review: Chelsey Parker (Blue Bloods)
If there's one thing I've learned while binge-watching the long-running CBS series, Blue Bloods, it's this: the series is chock full of deliciously sinister villainesses. My story collection on Vocal is proof of that, as I've done profiles of four different villainesses from the series, which has aired on CBS since 2010 and is ongoing. The villainess count has been quite low in recent seasons, but it's still pretty high overall, and it includes quite a deranged one in the episode, "Lonely Hearts Club."
By Clyde E. Dawkins2 years ago in Geeks
Villainess Review: Ann Merriweather & Virginia Grant (Thriller)
The late 1950s-early 1960s featured quite a trend on TV: horror/suspense anthology series. It was the period that gave us the original Twilight Zone, as well as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but the show that I'm focusing on in this review is the underrated series, Thriller. I had been familiar with the show, it popped up in reruns on all sorts of channels, but I didn't actually watch this show until two years ago--August 2020, to be exact. The pandemic was at its highest peak, and the sports pause allowed me to watch a lot of other things, including doing some binge watching. Among the number of shows I did enjoy watching was Thriller, which aired for two seasons between 1960 and 1962.
By Clyde E. Dawkins2 years ago in Geeks
Villainess Review: Rose (Supernatural)
Season Eleven of Supernatural had quite a memorable storyline, and that's an understatement. Not only did it kick off what would be the final one-third of the series, but the season's centerpiece was The Darkness, which was released after Sam and Dean actually killed Death in the tenth season finale. Yes, you read that right. The Winchesters actually eliminated Death, and that led to The Darkness being released. So the brothers and their allies had a lot on their plate during the 2015-16 season, which I enjoyed watching every Wednesday night. Even with all of that, as we've seen in every season, we still had the "monster of the week" episodes, with one of them being "Red Meat."
By Clyde E. Dawkins2 years ago in Geeks
Villainess Review: Alex (Dhar Mann Studios)
You know, I've been watching Dhar Mann's films for just over two years now, which is about right because it was right when the pandemic was at its highest height, and those vids (among others) got a lot of attention. I have enjoyed a lot of Dhar Mann's vids, but in recent months, I've had the same thought: "You know, some of these vids need the Lifetime approach." Dhar Mann's vids have the family friendly approach, but other platforms who have "borrowed" from that same diagram have told darker stories and featured some immensely heinous villains.
By Clyde E. Dawkins2 years ago in Geeks
Villainess Review: Brianna (It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder)
Weeks ago, I went on The Futon Critic (a site I've gone to for a long while regarding info on upcoming Lifetime movies), and saw this title for an upcoming film: It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder. I had to do a double take. A Lifetime Christmas thriller film?! Those don't happen. Granted, Lifetime Movie Network does air the typical thrillers while the main network celebrates the holidays with sweet-natured films. But I think this is a first: a Christmas-centered LMN film that is also one of our deliciously wicked thrillers! An absolute miracle!
By Clyde E. Dawkins2 years ago in Geeks
Villainess Review: Linda Fusco (Monk)
One of the craziest developments and swerves in Monk's eight-year history occurred during the show's sixth season, but to properly tell this, I have to go back to Season Five. The episode, "Mr. Monk, Private Eye," centered on just that: Natalie had coerced Monk into going into the private eye business, despite Monk's aversions to the idea. Sure enough, the pair receive their first client, a realtor named Linda Fusco, who hired the pair to investigate a minor accident involving her car. Sure enough, the accident ends up evolving into a case regarding an unrelated murder, and Linda is along for the ride, which included her first meeting with Capt. Leland Stottlemeyer.
By Clyde E. Dawkins2 years ago in Geeks
