Lindsay Ellis is an American video essayist and film critic with degrees in film from NYU and USC. She condenses complex critical thinking and academic theory into entertaining and humorous YouTube essays on everything from a Film Studies through the Lens of Transformers to Product Placement and Fair Use. She is also the host and writer for PBS’s online short series It’s Lit! You can check out all of her content for free on YouTube!
For those who missed it, Part I is HERE
Ladies and gentlemen, TVWriter™ is proud to present a classic TV critic in top form. Here’s how it’s done:
A remarkable plethora of talent is resplendent throughout, behind the camera and on screen for Mary Poppins Returns, the new Disney sequel to the studio’s 1964 motion picture classic.
The ghost of Walt Disney and Julie Andrew’s original interpretation of the mystical nanny is prevalent in all the right places and frames of this thoroughly modern magical mystical tour de force. Sharing the screenwriting credit with David Macgee and John DeLuca, Marshall is clearly a fan of the original Poppins, as he makes certain Returns adheres to the visual and storied mythology of the revered first take (helmed by Robert Stevenson).
Writer Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, Mystic River) explains what it feels like to win an Oscar an a Razzie on the same weekend, why he thinks writer’s block is a myth, and reveals Clint Eastwood’s unique powers of persuasion.
Brought to us by BAFTA Guru, a service the British Academy of Film and Television Arts…for which TVWriter™ is mucho thankful!
The CW has been doing annual crossovers of some or all of its DC shows each season to the point where the characters themselves are commenting on it. They like each other well enough but they know each situation is going to involve a BIG Bad and they’re not always keen on it. Kind of a funny, hip, self-aware thing.
In fact, there was a lot of humor in this year’s Crossover Event which was titled Elseworlds. It involved only the Big Three of the CW/DC shows – Supergirl, Arrow, and the Flash. Legends of Tomorrow (which has been a LOT of fun this year) and Black Lightning didn’t get to play which I can understand – by the time you get not only the main characters but significant amounts of the supporting casts it can get a little crowded and unwieldy, especially since they try to advance some of the subplots running in each series.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. BBC’s Writers Room is one of the interweb’s best places to go for behind-the-scenes info on BBC shows.
Of special interest to writers (and we’ve said this before too) is the Script Library, which keeps on adding to its collection of BBC TV, radio, and feature film scripts.
Here’s a sample of what’s available…and, yeppers, we’re especially excited to note the two Doctor Who Series 11 teleplays that have joined the fold: