The Real Housewives of New York City Recap: "Get Off My Jock."

The Real Housewives of New York City, Episode 3: "Battle of the Brunches"

Season Seven of "The Real Housewives of New York City" reminds me a lot of Renewed Ramona from season 3.  It's going out of it's way to remind viewers why they began and presumably enjoyed spending time with these women in the first place.  Step one in this plan was to bring back fan favorite, Bethenny and then do everything they could to put the ladies in situations that brought to mind the glory days of the show's first three seasons.  How else to explain Countess Luann bringing "Jellybean" Kelly Bensimon aka Bethenny's nemesis to "pick up joint" Boutique?  Was anyone buying Luann's "I just randomly ran into her and invited her along" excuse?  Bethenny certainly wasn't and commented that it was a "slithery" move.  Another season 3 callback!  After Luann kisses the proverbial ring and apologizes, Bethenny seems cool and joins the other ladies, Kelly included.  Will this be the last we see of NYC's most infamous socialite?  Time will tell.

Movie Review: Avengers: Age of Ultron

Movie Review: "Avengers: Age of Ultron"

The first Avengers film was an experiment that could have gone horribly, horribly wrong.  It was something that had never been before.  Taking four characters that had headlined their own solo films, toss in two more, and hope for the best.  It was a recipe for over bloated disaster no matter how successful Marvel had been so far.  The whole thing could have imploded and possibly spelled the end of the MCU, but Marvel had other ideas.  They hired Joss Whedon to write and direct the film and he used his uncanny knack to get to the heart of any character to make a summer blockbuster filled with explosions feel like an intimate character study.  It was lightning in a bottle and audiences ate it up.  A sequel was inevitable and now that it has arrived the question is can the follow up re-capture that sense of excitement and wonderment.

Movie Review: Ex Machina

Movie Review: "Ex Machina"

It's a tale as old as time (or at least as old as science fiction).  How intelligent do we want the machines that we surround ourselves with?  What would happen if they gained sentience, if they could think and make decisions for themselves?  How would we react?  Would they deserve to be treated the same way we would treat someone with flesh and blood?  These questions seem even more relevant today as we are surrounded by technology more so than ever before.  Our phones keep getting smarter, algorithms are predicting our shopping activity, tailoring online ads to our interests.  Is it really so hard to imagine that there may come a day when machines are thinking for themselves?