Big Little Lies

Who Dies On 'big Little Lies'? The Premiere Kicks Off With A Mysterious Murder

... Bronwyn Gayle/HBO. The wait is finally over: the new HBO limited series, Big Little Lies, premiered Sunday and with a bang. The mysterious teasers led us to believe that something shady was going to happen, and the premiere only confirmed it. From the outside, the series may just be about a group of first graders and their helicopter parents; from the first few moments, though, you could tell that would not be the case and that's mainly due to the fact that a murder has occurred, or at least will occur at some point in the story. So who dies on Big Little Lies ?  In an interesting twist, both the killer and the victim remain unknown. For those of us (yours truly included) who read the novel for which the show is based on, you already know. I know, you're biting your tongue not to scream out who and why and where and with the candlestick ...

Big Little Lies

... ’s endless need to be respected — except her territory is not New Jersey’s sanitation services but Monterey’s first-grade social scene. In one example of ruthless pettiness, she undermines her rival Renata ( Laura Dern ) by drawing invitees away from Renata’s daughter’s sixth birthday party. Indeed: The characters know each other because their children all attend first grade together. The story of “Big Little Lies” is a story of mothers living through, for, and around their doted-upon and organically fed children. It means that the drama is more often than not driven by the vagaries of spoiled six-year-olds wielding i Phones. At the same time, the children are guilty mostly of being too much like their parents — of repeating their mothers too accurately. When Jane is asked, again, why she and her son, Ziggy (Iain Armitage), moved to Monterey, Ziggy interrupts to deliver her too-pat explanation with weary, word-for-word familiarity. And in another scene, Madeline’s daughter Chloe (Darby Camp) cheerfully yells “motherf—cker!” ...

Big Little Lies’ And ‘the Good Fight’ Premiere

... 8:00 p.m.) – The long-awaited Good Wife spin off is here. The show picks up a year from when its predecessor left off and though Julianna Margulies is notable absent, plenty of other characters have stuck around for a second turn. The story picks up with promising young lawyer Maia Rindell (Game of Thrones star Rose Leslie) beginning her legal career while fighting against her tarnished family name. She teams up with her godmother Diane (Christine Baranski) and Lucca Quinn (Cush Jumbo) to begin working at one of Chicago’s pre-eminent law firms. Billions (Showtime, Sunday 10:00 p.m.) – Billions returns with a slow-simmer for its second season. Crooked hedge-fund titan Axe (Damian Lewis) and morally compromised federal attorney Rhoades (Paul Giamatti) are still at each other’s throats sure, but this season doesn’t begin with a golden shower or a paranoid meltdown. Instead, Axe is trying to repair his reputation and taking his time plotting his revenge against Rhoades, who’s in trouble with the Attorney General. Grimm (NBC, Friday 8:00 p.m.) – The gang celebrates Monroe’s birthday with a surprise getaway but things take a ...

Big Little Lies' Paints A Compelling But Terrible World

... and Zoe Kravitz, there’s no denying this show is stacked with big names. But does its star power make it worth the watch. Shaw thinks so. “This is what happens when you have all the talent in the world, a wonderful writer in David E. Kelley, and a brilliant director in Jean-Marc Vallée (Wild) and an incredible story,” she raves. “I could not get enough of this.”. Shaw continues to sing the show’s praises: “I loved the characters; I loved the gray area that each one of them existed in; I loved the dynamics between them, the friendships, the adversaries; I loved the mysteries,” she says. “To me it was perfect, it was absolute perfect television and how often do we see something like that?”. But Touré feels the opposite. “Perfect television?” he scoffs. “Wow, no. This is like a French pastry: It’s light, flaky, rich, self-serious and ultimately there is nothing inside…This is a bunch of rich women snipping and bitching at each other.” He goes to express his dislike of a show based on a “bulls—” inciting incident. The show kicks off with a kindergarten-age kid getting hurt at school and the ...

Hbo's Big Little Lies Ranking

... Bonnie would sign a petition against the town's production of Avenue Q. 1. Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon). For: Just being herself? OK, a few specifics. She has so many one-liners, including Bonnie giving "mint-flavored organic blow jobs" and ordering "something chocolate that won't make my ass look fat," and is flattered by accusations of plastic surgery. She also gave birth to Chloe, the coolest kid with the best taste in music. Against: She also gave birth to Abigail, TV's latest angsty teen out to annoy viewers to death, and allows her husband Ed ( Adam Scott ) to have that beard. And while she's able to give Jane a full rundown on the school and each parent, Madeline's tendency to have her nose in everyone's business will definitely come back to bite her. Mom on Top: Madeline! Seriously, this may be Witherspoon's best role ever (she also serves as an executive producer, along with Kidman). It's like Madeline is a wine-soaked Elle Woods meets Tracy Flick, just with some ...

Big Little Lies Is All Surprise, No Suspense

... rich tech gurus, hedge-fund managers, lawyers, and the like. “Injustice” here is either a political cause that you write tax-deductible checks to solve, or a localized spat between parents projecting their psychological baggage onto their kids, who attend a public-school district so awash in wealth that it might as well be a coalition of private academies. The show’s other three leads — Laura Dern’s queen bee, Renata Klein; Nicole Kidman’s Celeste Wright, who’s stuck in a passionate but volatile marriage to a domineering stud (Alexander Skarsgård); and Zoe Kravitz’s Bonnie Carlson, a much younger woman of color who married Madeline’s ex-­husband, Nathan (James Tupper) — are also obscenely rich but carry themselves with the granola-and-yoga-mat intensity of suburban soccer moms. The only ­working-class regular character is Shailene Woodley’s single mother, Jane Chapman, a ...

Big Little Lies,' 'star Wars,' Twin Peaks

... left, meets Monterey newcomer Jane (Shailene Woodley), right, as Madeline (Reese Witherspoon) looks on in HBO's 'Big Little Lies.'. (Photo: Hilary Bronwyn Gayle, HBO). She counts Lies stars Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman among her friends; worked with Witherspoon and director Jean-Marc Vallée in Wild; befriended Shailene Woodley, another Lies star, while acting in 2014’s The Fault in Our Stars; and is a frequent Lynch collaborator (1986’s Blue Velvet, 1990’s Wild at Heart, 2006’s Inland Empire). “It would be completely impossible for me to ever say no to David Lynch, completely impossible for me to say no to Jean-Marc Vallée and working with this incredible group of women and completely impossible to say no to Star Wars,” she says. Review: HBO's 'Big Little Lies' offers big stars, but small pleasures. Dern embraces Renata, a complex character “you love to hate" in Lies, which focuses on the lives and secrets of a group of California women whose community is ...

Big Little Lies' Opening Credits Song Is The Perfect Anthem To Hbo's New Drama

... song is the perfect anthem to what this show is all about. The song is called "Cold Little Heart" by Michael Kiwanuka and it's all about suffering/persevering through the pain of life and the regret and despair that comes along with it. Just to give you a little taste of what's being said — you know, in case you were distracted by all the stunning visuals going on throughout the opening sequence — the singer laments about "All of the pain, so much power, Running through my veins, Bleeding, I'm bleeding, My cold little heart, Oh I, I can't stand myself." It's a pretty dark and morbid tone, for sure, and yet it's also very beautiful, much like the overarching theme of the show itself. Check out the song in full below. Granted, this is just the beginning of the episode itself — heck, it's even just the beginning of the season — so it's hard to parallel specific storylines with this song, but here's what we do know: a murder occurs in a beautiful, serene town full of beautiful, serene people, and someone's to blame — but who? That sounds like there are dark agendas and secrets lying under ...

Big Little Lies’ On Hbo Sees Nicole Kidman Become Executive Producer

... feel. Let them choose to have their responses.”. So I never like to tell people what they should take. I think you put art out into the world, and sometimes it’s divisive, sometimes it’s embraced. Sometimes people cry, laugh or have complicated reactions. I feel there are so many issues in this that are topical; you are dealing with divorce, domestic abuse [and] single mothers, but there’s a very tricky tone to this piece. So you are balancing the tone. That’s what I feel David [E. Kelley] and director Jean-Marc Vallee did beautifully. Q: What do you love about producing. A: I love storytelling. I love stories, and I love the way in which we connect through stories. I have seen films, read books, seen pieces of art that, when I had been in very, very bad places, have lifted me. As a child, my whole life was books. They were my fantasy. That’s where I could go. That was a lot of times [what] saved me. So I’m interested in storytelling. I love being an artist now and connecting through art. [As a producer] it’s the stories of women that I know, and it was a way in which we could go to other women and say, “Here’s a great role. There’s five great roles here. They’re all ...

The 'big Little Lies' Cast Is Stacked With Oscar-worthy Talent

... Pleasantville, Cruel Intentions, Election, American Psycho, Legally Blonde, and Sweet Home Alabama. She'll next appear in Ava Du Vernay's adaptation of A Wrinkle In Time as one of the three witches, joined by Oprah Winfrey and Mindy Kaling. Her TV credits include a guest stint on Friends as Rachel's sister Jill. Shailene Woodley as Jane Chapman. Source: Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/HBO. Woodley received a Golden Globe nomination for her feature film debut opposite George Clooney in 2011's The Descendants. She translated that success into starring roles in indie dramas (The Spectacular Now), literary adaptation (The Fault In Our Stars), YA franchises (Divergent), and prestige biopics (Oliver Stone's Snowden). She has a long history on TV, including her star-making turn as Amy Juergens on ABC Family's The Secret Life Of The American Teenager. Alexander Skarsgård as Perry Wright. Source: Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/HBO. Outside of his native Sweden, ...