Manuel's Thanks

Editor's Note: I asked Team Experience to tell us what they're thankful for this year during the holiday weekend. Here's Amir in the cinematic spirit.

Manuel here. This year I'm thankful...

For cinematic girls, be they Gone or Wild. 

For is & Hers performances, be they in quirky suicide dramedies (The Skeleton Twins), Detroit-set vampire films (Only Lovers Left Alive), or fragmented grief studies (The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them).  

For Queer triumphs, be they cross-cultural (Lilting), poignantly local (Love is Strange), or deliciously dangerous (Stranger by the Lake). 

For Oscar-winning actresses on stage, be they doing Genet (Cate Blanchett in The Maids) or Sondheim (Emma Thompson in Sweeney Todd).

For "Lone female" roles in Hollywood hits elevated by their performers, be they comedic (Rose Byrne in Neighbors) or action-packed (Emily Blunt in Edge of Tomorrow) 

For witty nonfiction books by funny ladies, be they by harried working moms (Yes Please) or cripplingly anxious oversharers (Not That Kind of Girl)

For successful second acts by known commodities, be they stage-bound (Roundabout's Cabaret) or small-screen obsessed (The Comeback).

For Angry Julia, be she furrowing her brow along to Larry Kramer's words (in The Normal Heart) or losing an Emmy shortly thereafter. 

For funny ladies on the small screen, be they vice-presidents (Veep), convicted gals (Orange is the New Black), or eponymous protagonists (Jane the Virgin). 

For Hedwig's return to Broadway, be he played by a Broadway supernova (Neil Patrick Harris) or one in the making (Andrew Rannells).  

For Meryl Streep, be she terrorizing Blunt or making unconscionable demands (The Devil Wears Prada Into the Woods)

- Manuel

Related: Nathaniel gives thanks, Jose gives thanks, Amir gives thanks.

AHS: Freakshow "Test of Strength"

I ran into Celia Weston today (I feel like her stalker. Always running into her in the city, I am) and told her that she sure has been causing a lot of trouble on Freakshow. She told me a vague but juicy anecdote about a scene she was prepping for the day before but immediately swore me to secrecy, damnit.

Sorry to dangle that carrot!

Plot threads are getting ever more tangled and destructive as we near the winter break. Lobster Boy springs Bette & Dot from the Mott mansion (our favorite place to be this season - hail Finn Wittrock & Frances Conroy) as all three of them begin to sense danger even if they can't yet put their finger on what exactly is wrong with Dandy. Then Lobster Boy reveals Elsa's lies to the freaks only to be betrayed by the twins he just rescued who are planning to blackmail Elsa instead. The Bearded Lady overhears Richard & Elsa's plans to off the twins and wants to off Dell the Strong Man off herself after he is blackmailed by Richard to kill a freak to keep his queer closet door shut. Etcetera etcetera etcetera while not one but two characters are seeking dangerous operations and so on and so on and so on.

Things are... messy. It's one hour of double and triple crossing as everyone turns against each other, lies to each other, and continues the march toward what we assume is their communal doom. Things are going terribly for just about everyone.

...Especially Ma Petit!

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HTGAWM: He Has A Wife

Manuel here catching you up on the latest #HTGAWM episode so Nathaniel doesn’t have to. 

This is it, everyone. We’re one episode away from knowing #WhoKiledSam (or, an episode away from ABC having to figure out what else to hashtag during the show, at least). Thus, much of “He Has A Wife” felt like watching a rather amateur chess game setting its pieces in place for the eventual check mate as our two timelines finally collided. 

DO NOT LEAVE!”

Annalise may be talking to Bonnie, but I can’t be the only one who week in and week out wants to sneak out the door but is unable to do so precisely because of Viola. Yes, her Annalise pushes incredulity (why go to such great lengths to cover up her husband? I’m hoping she pulls a Patty Hewes and we find she’s been master-minding the entire show all along) but she’s endlessly watchable and every episode has a number of moments that show why this is one of the buzziest shows of the fall.

Five moments after the jump

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AHS: Freakshow "Bullseye"

While Nathaniel catches up with his DVR post-AFI, here's Adam - Editor.

American Horror Story, and in particular this season's "Freak Show," has about as much forward progression as a treadmill. This week's episode trudged ahead with its story by the smallest margin possible that could still be labeled "forward". Miraculously, the episode somehow managed to contain four plotlines: Elsa, further displaying her ruthlessness to survive on her birthday of all days, reveals a dangerous new act for the Freak Show (after surely watching Theo James perform a similar routine in Divergent); Stanley exerts pressure on Maggie to murder the Freaks; Paul indulges in a secret romance with Penny as he juggles his illicit affair with Elsa; and Dandy attempts to woo Bette and Dot much to the chagrin of his mother.

Most Quotable: Elsa dismissing Penny’s entrance into her tent as she consoles a wounded Paul, “Speaking of cheap perfume.”

Best Line Reading: In the midst of Amazon Eve expressing her concern on Ma Petite’s absence from breakfast, she manages to still include her curiosity for her eating habits, “She never misses breakfast – I don’t know where she puts it.”

Best Entrance: A swaddled Ma Petite being opened from her box as Elsa’s birthday gift. 

Episode MVP: Jyoti Amge, the world's smallest woman at 2'6", as Ma Petite. Runner up: Costume designer Lou Eyrich for Elsa's Temple Grandin outfit in the opening scene.

Movie/TV References: The chair Elsa sits in while she opens her gifts resembles the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones. How well do you think Elsa would fair in the world of Westeros? My guess is that Cersei would dispense with her with the same ease that Bette ate that spoonful of caviar.

Body Count: None, right? Unless I missed something, but Paul isn't looking too great.

Funniest Moments: At least this episode had a handful to get me through to the end credits, like Elsa cuddling Ma Petite on her throne, Ma Petite's butterfly imitation with her tiny figures inside a specimen jar. And Paul, accused of pickpocketing Dandy wiggling his fingers and dryly countering, “That’s a laugh.” 

Episode Grade: D. As evidence I list for you the following scripted lines in all their subtlety:

1. Paul articulating his loss of innocence, “Before life stole my innocence.”
2. When prompted by Ethel to blow out her candle and make a wish, Elsa exclaims through voiceover that all she wants is to be loved by another person by saying, “I just want to be loved.” 

previously... 

Tim's Toons: A history of animated Marvels

Tim here. Tomorrow sees the release of Big Hero 6, the 54^th feature made by the Walt Disney Animation Studio canon, and the first time that studio has collaborated with its corporate cousins at Marvel Entertainment. The result is certainly the most prestigious animated project ever based on a Marvel comics title, but far, far from the first. In fact, Marvel superheroes have been showing up in cartoons for almost a half of a century now. I give you a tour of some of them.

The Marvel Super-Heroes (1966)
The very first Marvel TV series, airing 65 episodes in syndication. The first time I ever heard of it was about an hour ago, so I can’t begin to say if it has an kind of rabid fanbase or lingering influence on Marvel writers and artists, but it stands out in my eyes for having extraordinarily cheap animation even by ‘60s syndicated TV standards, basically just waggling still drawings underneath the camera. Seriously, watch that video.

Lasting cultural impact: None, but from now on, if I ever meet Mark Ruffalo, I’m going to chant “watch them change their very shape before your nose!” at him till he punches me in the face.

Classics and new shows alike below the jump!

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