I Saw This!! What I Have Been Watching (Pt. 4)

For each post I put into this long running "What I Have Been Watching" I remember another show I completed in the past year or so, since I "regularly" updated what I was watching on TV. Some are things I have been watching forever, like Supernatural and some are astounding shows I am surprised I never covered, such as Humans.

But, for now, let's cover a couple of One Episode(s).

Colony, not the, is the new alien invasion show over on USA Network, starring Josh Holloway. This guy is good and deserves something stable, but he keeps getting put into sub-standard genre attempts. This one could be a good one, but I doubt it, as it had quite the lackluster first episode. Lackluster is actually pretty standard these days, as I am not sure what standard TV premieres now hold themselves to. Not everyone can have the wow factor of Mr. Robot had in their first.

The trend right now is to leak, or more accurately, show early. So, while I am still the downloader, this was not a under-the-table thing but fully supported by the producers. They are still figuring out the whole digital age thing.

Josh is an ex-military guy trying to survive in the oppressive post-invasion regime. Things are not horrible Falling Skies alien invasion bad, but more an Orwellian, occupation state. Some foodstuffs seem scarce and there are curfews and stories of the disappeared, but generally people live their day to days. When the aliens came, sections of the world (well, at least LA as its the only part of the world of which we know) were subdivided behind massive walls. And people are rarely allowed to pass from one to the other. Anyone who was in a section when the aliens came, has to stay -- Josh and his wife have lost their youngest son and Josh is obsessed with finding him. He doesn't get involved with the resistance (of course, there is a resistance) but he is using them to make headway into the other zone, to hunt for his son. And things go wrong.

Josh is caught and given an ultimatum --- help the puppet human leaders find the resistance and get his son back. Or take the fall for an attack and be disappeared along with all his remaining family. Seems like an easy decision to me, for you can accomplish more alive than you can thrown away in a hole. But his wife is upset, pissed he has agreed to be a collaborator. She has her own more personal reasons.

The drama was pretty standard fare, and the world being built reminded me very much of the original V series, but that may just be the whole LA vibe. We don't know who the aliens are, what they want or how things are going go, so there is lots left to explore. But I will leave it up to a couple of more episodes before I decide.

The Magicians (and the the is correct this time) is the adaptation of the popular series of books by Lev Grossman, another of the books that all my fantasy reading friends have commented about on Facebook but I never got around to reading, nor even finding much about. I believe it was compared to as the 'adult Harry Potter' but that is probably disingenuous.

So, there is another world of magic just out of our sight. Its not so much as hidden but highly managed so average muggles don't see it. Quentin Coldwater is nerd boy who doesn't fit in, has the perfectly lovely best friend whom he isn't sleeping with (but probably wants to), and an unhealthy obsession with some magic filled books from his childhood -- think Narnia.

Paths cross and suddenly he is made aware he has magic potential. And he has to write an entrance exam into Brakebills College, the Hogwarts of upstate New York? I assume it's on the same location as the Xavier School for the Gifted in this reality. He gets in, his friend doesn't, she gets depressed while he stresses out from studying.

The first episode was very very unbalanced. It was done as if they wanted to get quickly past the whole introduction of magic school idea and quickly into the Potter-esque plot of Quentin being the kid destined to fight the returning evil. We are given clues of how hard learning magic is, but never actually experience the difficulty, just Quentin twisting up his nose and whining while others around him seem to play with magic as a past time, very easily. And there was something very CW channel about all the kids, all being very stylish and very sexy, even the nerd girl was stunning and put her outfits together perfectly. Quentin himself was not so much as nerdy, as he was Brooklyn alterna-kid, ever so stylishly awkward.

I will watch the series if but for enough episodes to see where it is going. And two thumbs up on the number of pairs of thigh high socks. I hope they are a sign of their return to fashion.

So, from urban fantasy to straight up classic fantasy. The Sword of Shannara was the followup book for all Lord of the Rings fans to read.  It was Tolkien-light, borrowing most of the fellowship tropes but creating its own world that became very very popular in its own right. I believe I never got much past book... 3 ? I don't remember but I am sure I have one of those boxed sets of paperbacks on my shelf, from back in the day when those were a thing for Xmas gifts.

The Shannara Chronicles is that adaptation of the series come to TV, very loosely and not starting with the first book but with the latter two. We are following Wil Ohmsford and Elven princess Amberle as they try and stop the magical Elven tree from dying, releasing demons back into the world. They are being assisted by ancient druid Alanon, the patron saint of family drug recovery.

One thing I remember in reading the books was my annoyance at the merging of post-apocalypse science fiction with fantasy. I have always been perturbed by the blending of the genres, except when done from a pulp perspective, such as John Carter. But this show is going to just throw in with the current popularity of teen po-ap fiction and litter the visual countryside with fallen Seattle Needles and ruined buildings leaning against each other. And trolls that wear gas masks and armor made from.... street signs? How very Gamma World.

If The Magicians can be mocked for their pretty characters, then people are going to giggle at the Elves of this world. But for me, its always been the perfect way to depict the unearthly beauty of Elves -- make them 20sumthin super models. How else can you depict perfect beauty unless they are cast ever lovely, ever made up and always in the perfect clothes and of the perfect (??) weight? So, the Elves play out well for me, if they are a bit teen angsty.

Its a by the numbers low man against the evil magic of the world story, and not whatsoever the fellowship of the first book, so no LotR comparisons of yet. The lovely eared Elves are there, no Dwarves of yet and the only real monster was the demon lord Dagda Mor, and a few of his minions. Alanon was great, another perfect rendition of a character I would play in D&D. I will definitely be returning for more, but as for quality?  No, not really there. This is purely genre fodder for me.

Amusing note. I watched it on CTV which so very obviously blurred out the implied nudity from a couple of scenes. Marmy missed it, so she downloaded from the MTV source, and yes, the ever so faint hint of nudity was there --- making it ever so obviously blurred on Canadian TV. Ain't that the opposite.

I Saw This!! What I Have Been Watching (Pt. 3)

Space Opera!! I loves it. It is my favourite kind of science fiction: spaceships, battles, epic plots and ensemble casts. There hasn't been a defining movie for the genre, outside of the Star Wars movies, yet the genre regularly rises up from the dust of Firefly. Unfortunately, most of it is bad bad bad. Sometimes just Canadian bad, but often just bad.

Canadian bad? Yeah, that sub-genre of genre TV made mostly in Canada and starring a regular familiar cast of Canadians and limited budgets. Remember Kevin Sorbo's Andromeda? That was classic bad Canadian scifi, despite its popularity.  More recently there was Dark Matter, a comic book adaptation about a crew of a spaceship that awakens from cryo sleep with no memory. There is the tough chick, the smart chick, the nice guy, the asshole, the exotic guy, etc. etc. etc. Boring boring boring. The ship designs were boring, they set every fucking planet inside an abandoned warehouse and the plots were familiar. I gave it barely two episodes. Maybe it got better? Doubt it.

But then there was Killjoys, which I rather enjoyed but also barely crept above the bad moniker. Killjoys are bounty hunters, licensed by the corporations but standing apart. There is the usual rich planets vs poor planets and a small crew of killjoys as the main characters.

I loved the main cast: Hannah John-Kamen as Dutch, the sexy, grumpy leader of the team, a seasoned killjoy with a secret past and connections to the wealthy elite, Aaron Ashmore as John, her mechanic, pilot and crushing (on her) partner, and finally Luke Macfarlane as D'Avin, John's brother, new killjoy recruit with his own dark secret. Dark secrets are what these shows are always about.

The world building was great if a little limited. They kept on flying between the same three locations but as the season went on, they added some massive spaceships and other offworld locations. The corporate control and the tensions between the haves and have-nots were familiar but for me, it was direction and characters that kept me coming back.

More exciting to me is The Expanse. a spectacularly built world but cheating because they have a popular series of books to draw upon. OK, not cheating but easier for them than Killjoys. Earth, Mars and the populated outer belt of asteroids. Earth is short on resources (thought I am not sure which resource, as they keep on talking about oceans -- desalinization anyone?), but still green (again, comments about us paving Eden and yet all the shots are loverly) and beautiful for the wealthy who can afford it. Mars is mysterious and angry. And the mining colony on the Belt where all the fun takes place is gritty, reminding me of Mars in the Arnie version of Total Recall as well as any other space station movie.  The beleaguered living there are played against their loathing of the Earther elites and their fear of the oppressive Martians. The show likes to play with the little details, like the body shapes of those born to generations in lower gravity, or the pidgin language spoken.

I'd watch this only as a noir detective show for corrupt cop (Thomas Jayne) hiding his Belter heritage behind Earth clothing, but its shaping up to be a political story of the tensions between the three "worlds" with characters from all walks of life on each -- politicos on Earth, cops and bad guys on the Belt and the remaining crew of an ice hauler getting mixed up with Martians and a mysterious, technologically advanced third party.  And its balancing the time until Killjoys returns.

On break, but returning soon, is season 6 of The Walking Dead. I had let the show slide for a few seasons, only grabbing it in bunches when the whim hit. But with some coworkers watching it faithfully, I was inspired to return to it. This season, as well as the last, has felt like one long one -- all taking place in the too-good-to-be-true Alexandria Free Zone. This neighbourhood made compound has been basically zombie free since the beginning of the outbreak, when an industrious leader put up walls and established rules on who comes in and who doesn't. Paradise always falls.

The season began with an explanation of why there were so few dead around the town -- most had wandered into a quarry some miles away and had been penned in by unknowns. Thousands were contained. But Rick discovers that cordon is failing and will leave a massive herd on its way to Alexandria. Finally people are trusting him again, as he devises a plan to lead all the walkers away from town. Of course, the plan fails (not Rick's fault, just circumstances) and it is aggravated by an attack on Alexandria, by the horrific Wolves.

This season is supposed to be about pulling back from the focus that Rick is all, Rick is god, scary Rick can do no wrong. Even his own people are realizing that they cannot always do things his way, if they ever expect to have some semblance of normal lives. But that is Rick's point, that there is no "normal" anymore and believing so is foolish. Life is now about being smart, being ruthless, being safe. His people. His people only. But his people now consider themselves part of Alexandria, so that is creating tension. They wonder what happened to Old Rick, who gathered all of them and kept them (mostly) safe.

When Alexandria almost falls to the Wolves (I am not sure if this is a toss-away group, or more is yet to be explained) and is surrounded by the remaining herd, one cannot help but think Rick is right. Is he?  Somewhat. I have always felt the ideal of a zombie show should be how people retain their humanity even in the light of all that loss. But the crux of the series, the comics and show, has always been that humans will always be much much worse than any monsters can be. How do you retain your humanity when humans won't? I side with the Alexandrians that you just do.  Foolish? Naive?  Probably but Rick's crew used to be that, and now they aren't. Or have not been able to be, of late.

For once, I am playing right into the debate the showrunners are having with the audience. The questions I have are the questions they want me to have. The horror I feel watching them fake us out on the death of Glenn is exactly what they wanted. "Fuck you Walking Dead, fuck you," was what I said when that episode happened. They can kill main characters, and often do, but no, not him. Not yet.

The season returns soon bring a new enemy with it.

Sidebar: A quick ranking of Quentin Tarantino's films

The Hateful Eight is quoted in the poster as QT's eight film.  It obviously discounts any of the films he wrote the script for but didn't direct (From Dusk 'Til Dawn, Natural Born Killers, and True Romance) and it seems to ignore Four Rooms since that was an anthology, as well as counting Kill Bill as one movie (since it was the Weinstein's decision to split it in twain).

So let's list them all out in my preferred order (with any of his written or anthology efforts getting a .5 ranking where they fall)

1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
The film that spawned a thousand imitators that couldn't even come close.  Still utterly unique, a masterful blend of 1930's noir, 70's pastiche and 90's "extreme", with a soundtrack that made soundtracks cool again and a script I still regularly quote from.

2. Kill Bill (2003/2004)

Surprisingly, for as much as I love it, I don't own a copy.  I'm still waiting for the two halves to be joined as the director intended.  Back in the mid-1990's, in part championed by QT, America was introduced to Jackie Chan, John Woo, wuxia and the whole genre of "Asian Action".  Adopting aspects of those film styles into his own common formula, QT created a unique but potent Americanization of the genre tropes packed into an epic Western-style revenge fantasy

3. Django Unchained (2012)
QT had been dabbling with western tropes for some time, with Kill Bill and even From Dusk 'Til Dawn, but this is his first.  But as much as it toys with Western tropes, it goes on further to pull from the near-forgotten slavery subgenre of 70's Blacksploitation pictures, delving deep into America's incredibly racist past (reflecting somewhat on its still very racist present), and providing an incredible catharsis for that seemingly perpetually percolating (and justified) angst.

4. Inglorious Basterds (2009)
 Yet another part of QT's "revenge" cycle, this time the director tackles World War II as a band of Jewish soldiers make a mission out of revenge attacks on the Nazis.  It's his most visually stunning film to date, and full of incredible peaks of tension.  It notably toys with reality with its denouement but is all the more satisfying for it.

5. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Basically the template for all QT films to come... great soundtrack, out-of-step dialogue, shocking violence all within a normally well-tread subgenre.   As a teenager this was, next to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, one of the first word-of-mouth experiences where more and more people started talking about it.  I didn't see it until after Pulp Fiction, but then I saw it *right* after Pulp Fiction.

6. Jackie Brown (1997)
Based on an Elmore Leonard novel, if this doesn't rank as high in QT's oeuvre it's not for lack of being an excellent film, but more to do with not being the purest QT movie of the bunch.  As a result of being an adaptation it loses some of the more famous QT elements, and winds up a bit more of a steeping experience than a roiling boil of one.

 - 6.5 - From Dusk 'Til Dawn (1996)
 This was the first collaboration between QT and Robert Rodriguez, two very different directors sharing an eerily sympatico mindset.  Rodriguez's fast and loose style shouldn't compliment QT's meticulousness as much as it does here, and it works incredibly well.  A two act film that starts out as a Cape Fear-style dramatic thriller and winds up a schlocky, bloody monster movie with an incredibly game cast who navigate the transition perfectly.  It's a fun ride, but feels kind of low brow compared to most of QTs output (staging much of the film in a Mexican strip club will do that).

7. The Hateful Eight (2015)
 As mentioned in my review it's not a bad movie by any stretch, but it's not as focused nor as rewarding or outright enjoyable as most of QT's earlier efforts.  The second act starts to run out of steam when it should be revving up towards the finish. 

 - 7.5 - True Romance (1993)
Director Tony Scott does an excellent job of making a Tony Scott film out of a QT script.  Had this been a QT directed feature it would likely rank a few more notches higher on the rankings.  It's a tremendously enjoyable movie, but I can see the cast being somewhat different, the soundtrack being quite different, and the look of it in a 1970's style instead of Scott's neon-'90's aesthetic.

8. Death Proof (2007)
I don't want to say this is QT's worst film, so let's just say it's not his best.  As part of his unprofitable Grindhouse double-feature experience with Robert Rodriguez, Death Proof feels like the one-note endeavour that it's actually meant to be.  It's a 70's schlock movie done through QT's lens, focusing on the 70's fascination with muscle cars as machines of murder.  The delicious table flipping makes this a film a worthwhile watch every time, but as far as QT's pictures go, this is just the thinnest entry, such that one could often forget it was even there.

 - 8.5 - Four Rooms (1995)
An anthology of four loosely connected films set in a single hotel, QT's entry comes in after shorts from Robert Rodriguez, Allison Anders, and Alexandre Rockwell.  Something in general just doesn't work about this anthology, whether it's the setting that's holding its storytellers back or Tim Roth's virtually intolerable bellhop as the connecting thread, I can't say.  QT's entry feels kind of tossed off, as an example of the kind of dialogue writing he can do in his sleep (and still be more impressive than almost every other screenwriter out there), but it does have an experimental charm, as if QT pushed himself into making something quickly (and doesn't care for it).

nil - Natural Born Killers (1994)
Both Tony Scott and Robert Rodriguez both managed to direct QT scripts and make the films their own, but in doing so showed that they understood the script they were shooting.  It's evident Oliver Stone went into Natural Born Killers assuming he understood it, and came out so far off the mark producing one of the most distasteful, aggravating, and unwatchable films of the 90's.  Where it's supposed to be a commentary on the preoccupation with violence in the media, it simply becomes a celebration of violence in the media.  It's attempts at creative flourishes create a headache-inducing, manic picture that seems to aim to sicken its audience if not through its misguided storytelling than its ugly, awful aesthetic.  Just one of the worst experiences I've ever had in the theatre.   

The Hateful Eight

(2015, d.Quentin Tarantino) - in 70mm

I'd been watching little else than Star Wars movies and TV shows in the 6 days prior, so I needed an adjustment to my brain, and figured a 3-hour, closed room, experimental western would do it quite rapidly.  It's definitely a shock to the system, but then, regardless of the situation, a Tarantino film always is.

Tarantino single-handedly made me a cinephile with one movie.  Pulp Fiction exploded my brain out of an adolescence of consuming little other cinema than '80's science fiction, comedies and kidflicks.  With one film I was introduced not just to one new language on screen, but hundreds.  I owe the man a great deal of thanks.

In recent years I've sort of receded into my comfort zone once again, my cinematic consumption little else than modern blockbusters and sci-fi and kid-related pictures (to tell the truth, this golden age of television we're in has taken most of my movie-watching time away), and I was kind of hoping a new Tarantino picture would once again explode my brain and kickstart a desire to love the languages of film again.

So, yes, I give Tarantino a lot of latitude when making a film, but I also have expectations, not necessarily in what it will be, but in how it will impact me...how I will feel after.

The Hateful Eight is an experience picture by design.  It was shot in now obsolete Cinemascope 70mm, and for the die hards, screened as such.  If a city didn't have a 70mm theatre capable of projecting it, well the Weinsteins have put on a road show (of course the film is competing for 70mm screens with The Force Awakens right now).  Living in Toronto, a filmgoers mecca at this point, we assuredly have at least a few 70mm screens, but only one of them is showing the film.

The structure of the presentation borrows from epics past, with an introductory overture, (allowing Ennio Morricone's Oscar-worthy score it's solo moment to shine) and an intermission between acts.  This really demands and old school single-screen cinemahouse setting, somewhere where the score kicking back in will signal the audience to return to their seats (I have to admit that the break period was definitely welcome ... it's the demands of big cineplexes in the recent past to cram as many showings in a day that has forced lengthy movies to be bladder endurance tests...but with all the home video/VOD alternatives, perhaps the intermission will make a comeback as a unique aspect in cinema).

We suffered our coldest day in Toronto this day in which I saw the film (a suddenly blistering -24 degrees Celsius in the wind) which made for a fairly immersive viewing experience of a film in which many travelers of questionable origins are trapped together in a drafty and remote Wyoming haberdashery, a raging blizzard outside.  The audience (quite sizable for a Monday matinee, post-holidays) largely kept some of their protective outdoor gear on...a hat, a scarf, a coat over the legs.  If the gusts of cool circulating air in the theatre were intentional as part of the screening, it's both cruel and brilliant (though I doubt it).

The film, as noted, largely takes place indoors, but its use of exteriors really hit home the glory of 70mm... unfortunately the format tends to get lost, or even prove itself excessive and extraneous with the majority of indoor sequences.  It's hard to really pick out what it actually contributes to most shots.  It seems like a joke, to shoot a film in ultra widescreen just to do so in one singular, very confined setting, but I bet from a creative standpoint the director enjoyed the challenges thereof... though that creative enthusiasm does not necessarily translate into something much meaningful for the audience.  Some of Tarantino's other enthusiasms, like his love for Morricone and letting his stars show off a little (like Jennifer Jason Leigh strumming a morose tune on a guitar) translate a lot more effectively.

Tarantino is most widely known for his dialogue, and while the conversation here is quite endless, the dialogue at times feels weak (or, rather, plain).  At other times, it's quite the opposite, hitting too extensive heights of floridness, providing too much casual profanity and racial epithets.  Being sensitive to such things in a Tarantino movie seems like a "well, what did you expect?" situation,  but I honestly felt certain exchanges bandying about the n-word ad nauseum were done so just as a middle finger from Tarantino to the people who keep telling him he shouldn't use it (or isn't allowed to use it).  I honestly find his use in many instances character or scene-accurate (not just here but in many of his films) but also I see many uses of it as weirdly self-indulgent and he hits all sorts of uneasy lows here.

As for the story at large, it's decent, a slow burn introduction to a cast of unsavory characters, no real idiots among them, all with a potential stake in the Maguffin... that Maguffin being Leigh, whom Kurt Russell's impressively mustachioed bounty hunter is in the process of dragging in for a $10,000 reward, of which he does not want to share.  Everyone he views as either a co-conspirator with Leigh or against him for the bounty.  As each cast member comes in, the stakes are raised a little more, but who is who, and what's their motivation?

Through 90-plus minutes leading into the intermission it gets tense, right up until the intermission when that tension snaps.  After the intermission things go off the rails... not quite to the same extent as From Dusk 'Til Dawn, but that's a fairly apt comparison for how two distinctive acts of a Tarantino-infused movie can go.  I don't object to the violence, it's kind of expected...but perhaps that's just it...it's Tarantino formula to go there, in that way.  I wonder why gore, not syrupy red spaghetti western blood spatter?

There are elements here that feel like a first draft put to screen, clever aspects like second-act narration (from the director) that feel like they belonged in more spots, or even certain stretches of dialog which just don't sound polished to Tarantino's usual standards.  Even the length feels excessive.  This is really a 2.5 hour movie (less overture and intermission) that could've been pared back at least another 20 minutes, but Tarantino had something he was going for, a feeling, an experience, which I agree he accomplished, but not to its utmost effect.

If I sound disappointed it's because this is a Tarantino film that delivers little more than a Tarantino film.  One always expects gratuitous and shocking violence, provocative dialogue, top notch acting, and snappy banter out of his efforts, but usually there's something more, the truly unexpected.  It is a solidly enjoyable motion picture but beyond Morricone's tremendous score, there's little here truly unexpected. 

I Saw This !! What I Have Been Watching (Pt. 2)

Doctor Who. Season 9.  Well, season 9 of the resurrected series.

I so much wanted to like Peter Capaldi, the post-War Doctor, the older, more sobre doctor with some of the weight of who he has become on his face. Unfortunately I never warmed to him. Capaldi is great, don't get me wrong, but I don't like his Doctor. I don't like the grumpy old man, the haunted man, the angry man. But that's alright, I still have Clara.

And then episode 10.  Fuck.

There is no Big Bad this season, more a loose exploration of The Doctor and his consequences. We have been touching on that the last few seasons but this one wants to take us where his anger, his revenge, his selfishness has taken him and all the worlds he has touched. Sure, the Time Wars and the destruction of the Daleks and Galifrey -- genocide and all that unsavoury stuff, but really it's about his impact in the grand scheme of things.

Kind of. The season really just felt disjointed and confused. We deal with the deal he made with the Zygons back in "The Day of the Doctor". We introduce a new immortal when The Doctor breaks his own rule and saves a dying / dead girl in "The Girl Who Died", which then comes back to bite him in the ass. It seems no matter which side of the coin he chooses, there are always consequences. Point taken.

And for Clara as well. I also have to admit, I loved her in her intro season and while I will always get lost in those big brown eyes, she was not a very interesting companion of late. They have her bouncing between the happy go lucky companion and the one who wants to constantly guilt him. I tired of her as I thought she may have been tiring of him. The closure of her story was satisfactory if shocking.

The season ends on a big note, bringing back Galifrey from the dead (as well as some others) and introducing what I think could be the best side launch of a new series, but one that will never happen. Teasers.

Speaking of big brown eyes whom I completely crush on, I am probably only watching Quantico for Priyanka Chopra. Oh my oh my, those eyes, that mouth. Oh that deep husky voice.

*ahem*

Sorry.

It's a decent premise for lighter side American crime fighting TV. We are simultaneously dealing with a new terrorist bombing in New York while jumping back in time to visit a widely varied cast of FBI recruits in Quantico. Someone in the class committed the bombing, and they are trying to pin the act on Alex Parrish, played my Chopra. She is trying to prove herself innocent while on the run.

And we, the viewers, get constant flashbacks so we will always have a new possible suspect and never ever get enough details to guess who it might be.

It could have been played interestingly enough, but no, we have to visit each and every single fucking classmate and have a reason to suspect them and a reason to clear them. Every. Single. Fucking. One. Well, except for the guy who blows his own head off in episode one. Maybe they will completely plot fuck us and bring him back as the Bad Guy.  I wouldn't put it past them.

The thing that annoys me most about this show, and it's not the poor man's Lost-ian attempt at never ending secrets, but the fact they are all such terrible FBI agents. I know it's a trope these days in episode scripting, to constantly introduce suspects only to immediately disprove their guilt, but for each and every single one, Alex is so utterly convinced they are the suspect, until she isn't. Doesn't she see the parallel of what is happening to her, where everyone is so convinced she is the Bad Guy that they never look anywhere else? Alex never considers anyone an ally until the end of the episode and then she moves onto the next suspect. Plot formulas aside, the only way she could be that dumb is that the kids never really had a chance to go through the entire training course -- is Quantico training really only 8 months long?

We will ignore the fact she also spends every episode in some crying jag or another. I hate the trope where female main characters have to be tough but also prove they are still feminine, by crying. Le sigh.

Why can't they all be like Jessica Jones? She doesn't cry over her broken past and how life is getting her down -- she just drinks heavily and throws people through glass doors. Much less healthy but much less annoying.

I loved Jessica Jones, though I knew I would. I only slightly worried it would not have the same production values as Daredevil and even less worries the story would be lacking. But as Kent said, like Daredevil, you can see that they had a story X episodes long, but were forced to make Y episodes. Leaving that to the side, this was an incredible run. Again I broke my binge rule and watched it all over a weekend.

Jessica is a private dick, not that she does much detecting in the series, but for a show opener which reveals her tragic past. You see, she used to be the plaything of a very evil super-villain. Kilgrave, the not-purple man in a purple suit, has the ability to make people do whatever he tells them. And that is how he lives his life, playing the debonaire, dashing rich man with beautiful women hanging off his arm. Everyone is forced to give it to him. Jessica was one of his playthings until he pushed her too far, and she walked away. And he got hit by a bus.

But he's back?

The series focuses on the PTSD Jessica has to deal with because of him, and then the remorse and guilt she feels at his return. And Kilgrave has become obsessed with her, the one person who was able to walk away from him. So, does Jessica run away or does she confront him?

Sounds more Law & Order than Marvel, but there is one more thing --- Jessica was a superhero, briefly. She has super strength, fast healing and can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Well, no, not actually but she can jump pretty high. The who powered being stuff is behind her, but that doesn't stop her from tossing bad guys around when she needs to. The show takes place not far from where Daredevil is beating up bad guys and a local pub is owned and run by Luke Cage, an invulnerable and also super strong guy whom Jessica has an unsavoury connection to. She makes it more unsavoury by sleeping with him.

The crux of this story is Jessica vs Kilgrave. If she gets too close, he might control her again. If she does nothing, he will run rampant around the city, ruining lives again. The story is really really well told, touching even on the ideas of Kilgrave being sociopathic and a touch delusional, not really understanding that his affections are basically rape, if the parties are unwilling. Consent is not in his vocabulary. He's creepy as fuck. Kristen Ritter as Jessica is spectacular, covering broken & vulnerable as well as strong & valiant incredibly well. The supporting cast, like her drugged out neighbour and her adoptive sister / best-friend are wonderful.

Please include this in your next Netflix binge session!

PC: Fallout 4, Pt. 2

Well fuck me. I just fried my newish video card in my gaming PC which is forcing me on an extended hiatus while the guy I bought it off digs up the original receipt and attempts an RMA. Oh well, I guess I needed a break. And its not like I am at any loss for video gaming, considering I just spent my retroactive raise (woot!) on a PS4.

Back to the Commonwealth, the wasteland of post-apocalyptic Boston populated by Gunners (mercenaries with high quality guns and armor), Raiders (assholes with guns and armor made from spare parts), Super Mutants (mini-Hulks with cannibalistic tendencies) and a plentitude of monsters of the scary kind. Oh, and Settlers --- the vastness of the Commonwealth is populated by average folk just seeking a safe place to live, ground to grow mutated vegetables in and some water that is not too badly irradiated.  These Settlers have become the bane of my existence AND my obsession.

Remember how I said I like playing the Good Guy? Well, one of the first Good Guy things you end up doing is saving some Minutemen from Raiders. The Minutemen used to be a force of good in the Commonwealth before infighting and corruption ended their lofty goals. Stealing their origins from colonial Boston and using laser muskets (yes, single shot laser guns that have to be cranked) and claiming to be protecting the people, the last good Minuteman Preston Garvey begs you to help him out. After a few missions he wants to make you their General. I accepted the goal because he seemed to need the help. And I think he might have a crush on me, because the game keeps on giving me the option to romance him.

So, I am now Minuteman General and one of the responsibilities of that role is to find groups of dirt farmers who need help, kill the monsters that have been pestering them and then convince them to become part of the organization. Basically, it's a join-and-assist-all deal. But other than a few encounters with small Minutemen squads getting their asses kicked, I end up doing all the heavy lifting. And it just never ends. They keep on getting bothered by the before-mentioned Raiders, Gunners, Super Mutants and monsters, the worst of all being the Ghouls. Ghouls are mutated humans, gone feral. Think fast zombies who come at you running, limbs all akimbo gasping and growling. And for each settlement I rescue, who I convince to join up, more monsters are around to bother them. So, come running I must.  Again and again. And again.

Oh, and there is that kidnapping issue I mentioned. Settlers just keep on having friends, and daughters, kidnapped. At first I broke into every single Raider or Super Mutant stronghold to rescue them. But after Mr Abernathy the farmer lost his daughter for the third time, I just started paying off the ransom. I guess the Raiders know a good deal when they see it.

Yes, I have become obsessed with my Settlers. Not only do I have to fight off bad guys for them, but I also have to build up their Settlements. As more Settlers learn I am protecting them, more show up needing more beds, more roofs over their heads, more food to eat, more water and more more more. I quickly realized that they can make use of the guns and armor I pick off the dead bodies of all those raiders, gunners and super mutants I am killing. And killing and killing and killing. But there is always one more Settler who needs a new gun or a new helmet instead of a trilby hat.

"I just want to trade a few things," I say because these fuckers don't seem to know how to be self sufficient. I suspect a bit of codependency on my part, as the false sense of accomplish really hits that needy part of my brain. I can play the game for hours just running from settlement to settlement tweaking their houses, adding in beds and furniture and building whatever they need. It's The Sims: Post-Apocalypse I think I might be wrapped up in. Even after they are all geared-up they still need me to clear out that den, or stop the raids, or kill the neighbours. The only time they seem to make use of all I have been doing for them is when their settlements are attacked. Or a random two-headed deer runs by. Then it's all guns out and chasing down the poor pathetic thing.

Next up, doing mission... oh look, another suit of power armor !!

I Saw This!! What I Have Been Watching (Pt. 1)

Its been a while since I did a TV "What I Am Watching" and many things have faded into the "I Saw This!!" category. So, combined.

Limitless is based on the Bradley Cooper movie, and surprisingly is not a TV remake, but a continuation of the story. Eddie Mora has become Senator Edward Mora and the super brain drug NZT is still out there, but now in the hands of the FBI. Slacker wannabe rockstar kid Brian Finch becomes the new This Is Your Brain On Drugs guy when he gets mixed up in a murder plot involving an old friend who has hit it rich -- with the help of NZT. We think they might be resurrecting the conspiracy from the movie, but no, just a conspiracy of the week which Brian helps solve.

Brian is helped by Mora, who wants him to be his eyes on the FBI. Mora has figured out how to stabilize NZT and has the FBI believing Finch is naturally immune to the nasty side effects -- unlike every other FBI agent who used it, he has not yet died horribly. Mora manipulates him, via henchmen and only a few guest appearances, and Brian has to learn how to juggle the intricacies of the web he is in.

This show actually is incredibly light hearted considering the ramifications. Brian is a manchild and it shows. His knowledge is limited, but he realizes quickly that he can absorb new knowledge pretty quickly. He also quickly realizes his limitations as knowledge-of doesn't always lead to skill-in. FBI partner Jennifer Carpenter (somehow being actually skinnier than she was in Dexter) keeps him in check and shows him what hard earned experienced can do.

Brian is also realizing there is a bit of the Jekyll-Hyde going on, as Brian on NZT can be a bit of a dick. He only sees the connections and has to concentrate to see the people involved. Brian having come down is more empathetic, more likeable and not so overly concerned with how smart he is. With Great Power....

The show isn't deep but is a lot of fun. Stylistic choices as well as some Community style theme episodes (he does a gimmick around play-doh maquettes; and he does a Ferris Bueller episode) keep it light and moving on. And of course, there has to be some deeper conspiracies going on, around Carpenter's dad and the leader of the FBI team and what's up with Mora, etc. Very few shows get by these days without us wondering how many skins the onion has.

Speaking of the good doctor, we just binge-watched the first series of British TV's Jekyll & Hyde. Set in the 30s, with Dr. Jekyll's grandson coming into his inherited traits, it's more of a monster of the week and a whole monsters vs humanity tale than anything. It's amazing how genre TV has become more the norm these days -- my 14 year old self would be in heaven considering how much we have to absorb.

Robert Jekyll has been raised in Ceylon by an adoptive family, a good British boy being raised by a nice Indian (Tamil?) family. He is prone to outbursts but his father keeps him in check with small white pills. But sometimes, such as when lifting a lorry off a young girl, even the pills cannot keep the Hyde in check. Robert is summoned to England to deal with his father's estate and because the pull of his history is too much. But really, he is just being manipulated into joining a great conspiracy between the evil monsters of the Tenebrae and the agents of the British government's monster intelligence agency run by chief asshole Richard E Grant.

It's a fun romp of a show full of monsters and double dealing and mythology. Poor Jekyll gets dragged along by his heart while Hyde (they really only play it like Clark vs Supes, a bit of a hair change and brighter smile) gets all the super strength fun. The CGI is great and the set designs are spectacular; I was particularly fond of the period Batman-ish superhero character called Spring Hell Jack, who was supposed to be Jack Burton's grandson. Also, the centaurish man headed doggy "harbinger" is just creepy as fuck.

Like most British genre series, the arching plot is loose and seems to change as each episode progresses. But still, loved it. Ended with one hell of a cliff hanger, so there better be a Series 2.

Still in the British period genre realm was The Frankenstein Chronicles starring Sean Bean. Set in a world where Mary Shelley exists and the novel is out there, it focuses on the investigation of fledgling police inspector John Marlott, and by fledgling, I mean the police force is fledgling. Marlott is a seasoned member of the river patrol and is hired by a Lord to investigate the appearance of a sewn together young girl on the river flats, i.e. she is a Frankenstein monster patchwork person. Lord Harvey suspects someone is trying to discredit the Surgeons who are about to pass a law allowing them to take any unclaimed body for their cadaver needs. The religious folk oppose it as the surgeons are seen as doing unholy things to bodies in the name of medical science. But better than buying them from grave robbers who can never assure condition.

It's a fascinating story about a point in history where things are emerging: medicine, law enforcement, the rights of the poor, etc. Marlott is just an ex-soldier (the same regiment as Sharpe, as an amusing side note), man of the streets dealing with his own demons. Bean is incredible, playing Marlott as skilled yet dragged along by what is happening, having to navigate the morays of upper crust society. All good mystery stories seem to need to drag someone along. Most of the series has you wondering whether there is any genre element to it at all, or is it just a mystery about murders and conspiracies between the elite of England the beset upon poor.

But rest assured, there is some proper Frankenstein in the story leaving us with a final episode just BEGGING for a new series.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (SPOILER FREE)

2015, d. J.J. Abrams - in theatre

I'm not necessarily an apologist for the Prequels, as I will fully cede that they are not great movies, but I don't hate them.  They were technically well accomplished, densely universe-expanding, and at times sumptuous visual spectacles.  However, they not just failed to meet fan expectations but in many cases demolished that fandom altogether, and I understand why.  Stilted acting stemming from poor direction, continuity gaffes that took endless "Expanded Universe" novels and comics to rectify (for only the die-hardest of fans) and George Lucas' unchecked level of storytelling freedom all led to a product that was less than satisfying.  Beyond that, three immensely expensive films were constructed to get the audience to a conclusion they already knew, and in the end it didn't tell that story very well.  Yet, when you look at how rich the universe of the prequels is in characters, settings, mythology and history, and that depth is extrapolated over a six-season animated cartoon, countless novels, comics and video games, it is impressive and, in some respects, defensible.


But, as much as I can extrapolate some enjoyment out of the Prequels, they were not what I -- nor anyone else I know who grew up a lover of Star Wars -- wanted for the next Star Wars movie.  We didn't want to go back, we wanted to go forward.  We wanted more Han, Leia, Luke, Lando and Chewbacca.  We had waited 16 years for another Star Wars movie when The Phantom Menace arrived, and we continued to wait for another 16 years for the one we wanted. 

I'm so happy (an understatement) to say that with the arrival of The Force Awakens, that film is here. 

Let's get this right out of the way first: The Force Awakens is not a perfect film.  It's not even a perfect Star Wars film.  But if you look back, none of them are.  Fans have nitpicked through Star Wars from day one, in some respects it is the flaws that help make the great films of this series even more memorable.  But if there's one major criticism about Episode VII, it's that it mirrors too conspicuously the rythms of Star Wars ("A New Hope") and borrows too liberally from the original trilogy serving up a bit of a "greatest hits" medley that's not from the original artists.

It's a fair gripe, as this "medley" is so utterly evident in the first viewing.  When the opening title card "Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." pops up, and the opening horn blast from the Star Wars theme erupts, one is faced with the unknown for the first time.  With the established "Expanded Universe" of stories from the past 20 years largely discarded, we enter The Force Awakens with no idea about where our beloved characters are in their life, or the events that have happened to them since we last saw them, nor do we have really any insight into who the new cast of characters that have been thrust towards us ad nauseum for well over a years.  It's an exciting moment, especially for Star Wars fans.  But as the film plays out the sense of familiarity in plotting and structure help ground us in what we know so that all the new seeds planted by director Abrams, and writers Laurence Kasdan and Michael Arndt don't completely overtake us.

The hero's journey is familiar, the settings have definite parallels to the past, the fight between good and bad seems much the same, and even the big evil weapon recalls the Death Star.  But all these parallels are intentionally just surface, with twinges of nostalgia for the longtime and lapsed fan alike.  But beneath that surface the writers and director rebuild the Star Wars galaxy for a new generation, using the formula to do exactly what George Lucas did almost 40 years ago: establish a rich realm of unexplored potential to send the mind reeling, while still providing an immediately satisfying journey.

The biggest sign of this is in the new characters introduced.  While a returning Harrison Ford as Han Solo delivers a game performance in a meaty role (and Chewbacca is at his best here too), eliciting big dumb smiles from Star Wars fans everywhere, he's still outshone (or at least competitively illuminated) by Daisy Ridley as Rey, John Boyega as Finn, and Adam Driver as Kylo Ren (Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron is immediately ingratiating, but just has less to do in the film overall).  I can't overstate how amazing these new characters are, and how endearing they become.  They are not carbon copies of any characters we've seen in the Star Wars universe prior, and they are perhaps an even better acting ensemble than what we got in the original trilogy. So enamored was I by Rey, Finn, Kylo, Poe, Maz Kanata (an inspired CGI character played by Lupita Nyong'o), General Hux (Domnhall Gleeson), and BB-8 that I'm ready to let go of my desire to see more adventures of Han, Luke, Leia et. al.  I want comics and novels starring these new characters far, far more.

The Force Awakens gives us a strong sense of identity for most of the new additions on screen, even though there is still a tremendous amount of mystery surrounding them and their past.  Abrams and company also fill the screen with the requisite amount of visually alluring background and side characters that make the world seem large, diverse, and lived in. 

There's a lot of questions left standing by the film's end, many having to do with the events of the past 30 years, and more still having to do with the background of the new characters we meet.  Even more questions are of the more problematic sort, ones that have you calling into question how things work or how characters do what they do.  But for every aspect that may have you furrowing your brow, there's a dozen or more that will have you smiling, cheering or laughing.  Abrams delivers on the excitement and affable charm, as well as the incredible intensity and spectacle.  Great pains were taken to disseminate what made the original Star Wars work and to repeat that here, it's both obvious and welcome.

The film was released with an unnecessary conversion to 3-D which seems to represent the majority of the screenings. I've seen it in both 2-D and 3-D and found the latter contributed very little (but not altogether nothing) to the experience of the film.  Where it does shine is in showing the depths of hallways and large spaces (such as the interior of the crashed Star Destroyer we see in the trailer) but it's such a nominal boon as to be unnecessary.

For the long time fine, this is a film that demands repeated viewings, at the very least one follow-up watch if only to get past the overwhelming experience of seeing a new Star Wars movie, and allow yourself the experience of soaking up the texture of it.  Where repeated viewings of the Prequels seemed to only amplify the tremendous weaknesses in script, performance, story and directing, multiple viewings of The Force Awakens manage to generate increasing goodwill.  There hits a point of acceptance of any flaws, favor curried by the good time and pleasing stimulation it provides.

 

ReWatch: Open Range

2003, Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves) -- DVD

"Those of us with the knack was made into a special squad," says Charlie Waite, Kevin Costner's freegrazer character, when talking about his past. He is a man with a terrible past, a man who joined the army and discovered a talent for killing. But that was then; he put his past behind him and joined with an honourable free ranging rancher named Boss Spearman. His past still haunts him.

Charlie Waite is the classic anti-hero that became popular in the late 90s and started to fade out in recent years. We are always presented with the anti-hero during the time when he is forced to do death for the greater good, when he is doing right by people who need his skills. We don't see them when death was their mistress, when they chose the wrong side, when they did what was the easiest thing for them to do. We don't get the chance to be horrified by them, the way they are often horrified by themselves. But enough is always related so we get that hesitation, that worry that maybe the beast is still inside the reformed man.

I often think about our fondness for the anti-hero, in pop culture like comic books and games. It says something about the darkness in our own souls, how we see great heroes defeat and arise from that darkness. In any small way we fear our own failings, when we see a man rise above his great ones, to become a hero, we see that potential in ourselves. Or maybe it's just me. When I was young, I saw myself as the hero, the Paladin who would always do right when presented with the hard path. Age points out the naivete in that. While I am in no way as dark as an anti-hero, I can too quickly take the easy path instead of the right one. And if Charlie Waite can do right, maybe then so can I.

Charlie and Boss come into Harmonville with their herd of cattle and headlong into the brutal henchmen of the local rancher. Freegrazers come along with their herds of cattle to feed off land not yet owned by others -- to graze off the free land. They are not popular and the powerful rancher makes sure they know. Boss Spearman is not one to easily back down, but it costs him the life of one of his men and almost another, Button the 16 year old kid played by a young Diego Luna. So, now Charlie and Boss have to do what comes next for honourable men.

This is classic cowboy. Laws are about what is right and wrong but lawmen are as often wrong as they are right. Spearman may not be the law but he knows what is right and how he has to do right by his hurt men. It was never a question for Charlie, as he always does what Boss tells him and he also has his own vengeance to enact -- they shot his dog. You never kill a man's dog. Ask John Wick. But this familiar role is coming down hard on Charlie, who probably doesn't expect to die but expects many many others to die around him, probably Spearman. He has also become sweet on Sue, the doctor's sister and doesn't want her to see what he is under his cowboy gear. But what must be done, must be done.

The fight is both brutal and classic cowboy movie. Many shots go awry but Charlie is methodical. He doesn't get hit, taking down those he recognizes have aim very quickly. The one actual gunslinger, Butler, the man who shot Charlie's friend and Charlie's dog, Tig gets a bullet between the eyes before he can finish his sentence. Charlie isn't waiting for high noon and drawing guns. He is killing.

Cute note. Butler is played by Kim Coates, just another of many recognizable Canadian actors in the  movie, but in Sons of Anarchy, his character's name is Tig. That he killed a dog named Tig in the movie made me grin.

The other note of this movie is how the hero gets the girl. But Sue is no girl. Sure, she is a handsome woman (Annette Bening) but she is no young thing, age and the frontier having made her tired and pragmatic. This is a story of love not known these days; they will get together because they are attracted to each other and because, well, nobody will have either of them. Charlie fears how she will react to who he was, who he has had to become again. But Sue has the maturity here, the strength, for she sees who he is NOW and she is fine with that. Costner and Bening play these scenes beautifully, balancing the gentleness and resignation so well.

This is a Kevin Costner movie, not one of his grand epics that marked his other directorial endeavours. I always forget he directed it. I am surprised he got it made, after the abject failure of The Postman. And he hasn't done anything since. I wish he had done more, more small movies focused on notes he is obviously fond of.

ReWatch: Love Actually

2003, Richard Curtis (Notting Hill) -- download

Damn, it left Netflix.

So, this has become a tradition without it becoming a thing. The rewatch of Love Actually. And I have to retract my previous statement of it not being a Christmas movie; it definitely is, as the whole "countdown weeks to Christmas" thing comes up prominently on the screen as all the stories progress.

If you don't know, the movie is an ensemble cast of characters in London with subtle connections between friends, family and coworkers showing up as they tell the tale of loves. What I love (*ahem*) about it, is that it is not just Good Love, but All Love. It's not just about things always working out for the best. Laura Linney's Sarah and underwear model (really, that's what he looks like) Karl never do get together. And Alan Rickman & Emma Thompson go through an encounter that their relationship will probably never recover from.

Laura Linney has only been working for Alan Rickman for 2 years and they are great friends, smacking each other and having true heart to hearts. He must be a nice guy which makes his downfall all the more tragic. And yes, he does sleep with his secretary -- the screen editor (and Curtis's wife) recently confirmed that.  Pig. Marmy was right all these years.

P.S. Said Screen editor, Emma Freud's live tweets of the show, are great fun.

The Prime Minister fancies Natalie right away. I get it, it is supposed to be very obvious but it shocks me every time. His sister's comment (Emma Thompson) later on makes these earlier scenes make sense, "20 years ago you would have been his exact type." But in that relationship, he may be the Prime Minister but she has all the power and confidence.

Billy Bob is quite the convincing American asshole.

The relationship between Emma Thompson and Liam Neeson (a grieving recent widower) is great; so raw and close. Friends who mock each other and can still be supportive while being brutally honest. And so is the connection between Neeson and his step-son. Obviously, both of them have been preparing for Sam's mother's death for many years but the two share each other's company of grief very well. That they have Sam's crush to distract them is very sweet.

Bill Nighy is always playing such distinguished gentlemen, he must have had a ball playing the washed up, sleazy rock star. And I am pretty sure that is Laura Vandervoort from Bitten playing one of the background singers; though maybe not, as Vandervoort has always been far more skinny than that singer.

Rick Grimes is not as scary in this movie.  Bing bing Keira, it takes you long enough. I would expect her husband to be dense and unaware of the whole attraction thing, but she should have caught on pretty quickly.  BTW, Keira Knightley is 18 in this movie. And she is marrying Chiwetel Ejiofor, who is 26. Where are her irate parents? Lynden David Hall is the singer at their wedding, and yes, we are supposed to know who he is -- Britishism.

Final thoughts on this round is that I still wish the Colin Frissell story in that Milwaukee bar had all been a dream. Its far too silly when compared to the rest of the movie and was probably only inserted to give all the boyfriends, who attended the movie as a favour to their girlfriends, something to chuckle at.

My least favourite stories should be apparent with Colin Firth's Uncle Jamie and his crush on his maid followed by the very cute porn movie stand-ins, starring the not yet famous Martin Freeman. And yes, its a porn movie, not just a movie with sex scenes. I still think his funny walk at the end of the movie (their first kiss) is a boner walk, after him having maintained decorum during all their previous interactions.

PC: Fallout 4, Pt 1

The term MurderHobo comes from D&D. It describes a method of playing, wherein characters are the usual wandering vagrants but with homicidal tendencies. Essentially, everything they see, they want to kill for gold or experience points. Dragons, kobolds, city guards, innkeeper -- all are potential fodder for the murdering vagrants who wandered into town. Staying true to the heroic origins of playing D&D are abandoned for the fun of wanton mayhem.

When I play a video game, I always subscribe my character to the heroic quest.  Despite the freedom most games give you, to choose a path, I always end up choosing to be the hero who is liked by everyone. And yet, because video games, I have to choose to be a Bringer of the Wrath in order to be that guy. I have commented on this before, about how the standard violent paradigm in games leads you to become a mass murderer. But I continue down that path because the game has laid out before me what is Right and what is Wrong, with only a gun to differentiate between each.

And yet, Fallout 4, like others in the "open world" concept, allows you to go against the murderous hero idea and just be... murderous. To be the MurderHobo. Everywhere you look, there are encouragements to be amoral. I want that, so kill that guy and take it. Those people are annoying me (seriously, your daughter has been kidnapped 5 times? Maybe she is not so much as being kidnapped as running away with her boyfriend?) so maybe I should just take them out of the equation. I just waded through the bodies of 25 Raiders, gleefully separating limbs and exploding heads, so why stop when there are so many Settlers around me? As you get more powerful, after you have laid waste to so many hundreds of ne're-do-wells, you start to feel The Power in you. The reasons to do good are pushed to the back. Kill, loot, level up. Being Good is not always as rewarding.

Unlike other games, there is no introspection into the violence of the character. Given the already established premise of you being the One Good Man in a world gone bad, as the game again has you awaken in a vault (highly advanced fallout shelters), a man out of time, a man who remembers a less violent (50s influenced) era, it just goes with that. And assumes it is enough. There are none of the moral quandaries as presented above in the actual play or story line. Sure, you can chose to be an asshole, you can chose to run with the violence but the stories, in order to be progressed usually lead you to do The Right Thing.

By now I would have liked to see some commentary of the death in the game, other than "War, war never changes...." There are some subtle attempts, such as having the Scavengers be people not much different from you, but still marked red as enemy -- likely they are attacking you before you attack them. But like Rick in the latest seasons of The Walking Dead, we have gone beyond hoping the next humans we meet are going to be nice people. We start shooting first, wondering about motives later. If he has a gun and some armor on, he is likely seeking to be shot by your Righteous Authority.

I am about half-way through the game, a very very powerful force of Good in The Commonwealth, the wasteland that surrounds ruined Boston. I have been dragging my ass on the main quest where I seek to find my kidnapped son. I have been too busy doing sidequests and helping out every dirt farming settler who needs my help, and they never stop needing my help.

Next part, I talk about these Settlers and how an entirely new element of gameplay allows me to sidestep the MurderHobo and play The Sims: Post-Apocalypse edition.

3 Short Paragraphs: Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

2015, Wes Ball -- download

Continuing with my (forced) theme of The Post-Apocalypse, I give you the second in the trying-to-ride-MockingBirds-coattails teen po-ap series, The Maze Runner. The first had the ridiculous premise of kids running a maze to find out why the planet ravaging disease doesn't affect them. In this one, the kids have escaped the maze surrounding their idyllic country abode into ... The Wasteland. The world outside is destroyed, but I am not sure it has any impact on them, as they are all without much memory. That was part of the trials inside the maze -- that they not remember who they were nor where they came from. So, they don't know they are from a world ravaged by a disease, which apparently was able to make sand of everything and knock buildings down.

The second picks up immediately outside as the kids are rescued from the blowing sands and... fast zombies? Where did they come from?  Well, the kids are rescued by adults with guns and ushered into what looks like an oil derrick in the middle of the desert. Yay, you kids have survived the maze and escaped the clutches of the evil corporation WICKED (World In Catastrophe: Killzone Experimental Department) -- talk about a committee that starts with the cool acronym first. But kids, guess what? Not escaped yet!  Bwah hah hah hah... evil laughs and all, by the station leader Little Finger , or as I best know him, Tommy Carcetti on The Wire. The kids escape again.

So, we know a bit more about the world now. The Flare is the disease. It turns people into zombies. Or kills them. And it was caused by the ravages of solar flares, thus the ruined cities and desert everywhere. All rather neat for a po-ap background, but even stranger considering the advanced nature of the maze they used for experimentation. Anywayz, this movie was more appealing to me than the first and frankly, it felt more... real. The kids are trying to escape, basically from anyone who wants to use them. But in a po-ap world where everyone is scrabbling to survive, why wouldn't they? And considering the world of WICKED is still pretty clean, well fed and full of high tech, its no wonder not all the kids buy into hiding in a ruined wilderness. Alas, everything is a trilogy so we end on another cliffhanger as the kids find reason to return to WICKED and end their wickedness.

3 Short Paragraphs: Turbo Kid

2015, François Simard, Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell -- download

The Post-Apocalypse. This is the future, this is 1997. That is how Turbo Kid begins. The movie is  a comedic, ultra-violent take on all those 80s/90s terrible po-ap movies. Everyone is going to attach it to something they experienced as a kid; for me, it says nothing more than Solarbabies, which in itself was a ripoff of Mad Max, full of teens. Turbo Kid himself is a teen wandering the wastelands on his BMX bike (everyone rides Mad Max-d bicycles) collecting junk and selling it for comics. The wasteland is full of perfectly fine refuse, seemingly untouched by years after some sort of apocalypse, and bright with indestructible plastic colours!

This is an indie movie just dying to become a cult classic, even more so than its influencers. From its Star Wars-ian poster to the extremely catchy new80z electronica theme music to irresistibly quotable lines, "This is my GNOME STICK !", the movie marketing just wants to be meme-d and social media shared. I am not sure it was successful as it wanted to be, but it got my attention. And wildly so.

So, like all the plots that have come before, The Kid (nameless!) is dragged into a battle against the evil overlord Zeus (Michael Ironside!) and a masked sidekick (Skeletron). He finds the corpse of his comic book hero (Turbo Rider!) and armed with his hero's pew pew fist blaster, he fights the good fight. The fighting is completely over the top, as the original short required, high on the gore factor but so much fun. Alongside Turbo Kid is Apple, a ditzy blonde with her own secrets. And by ditzy, I don't mean curl her hair on her fingers dumb, I mean forgot to take her meds odd but oh so endearing. And she has a gnome stick. There isn't much more plot than that, and really you don't need it. Now, I wonder if it will be released on cardboard box VHS.

3 Short Paragraphs: The Last Witch Hunter

2015, Breck Eisner (Sahara, The Crazies) -- cinema

OMG, Vin Diesel finally made a movie with his D&D character as the main !  I always assumed the evolution of Riddick was him playing to his witch hunter Melkor but, well, this movie he actually plays a sword wielding witch hunter !  OK ok, the D&D player in me loves how Vin becomes "that guy" whenever asked by a talk show host about his D&D playing past, "Let me tell you about my character...." And he has to rein himself in from going on and on about that time when he slew that ghoul and... and... Notice the talk show host looking blankly?  Anywayz, I understand that Melkor could never be used (thanks Tolkien estate) as the character's name but the original script was actually based on Vin's rambling !! I am disappointed that Timur Bekmambetov was not part of it, as originally planned, for I love his vision but the movie turned out pretty good despite the alterations since original conception.

Vin is Kaulder, the member of a D&D party hunting down a witch queen. They look to be Norse warriors but they are led by a priest and it is the Dark Ages, so they really could be anywhere. The Queen is hiding in a massive tree, some sort of bastardization of Yggdrasil, and she makes quick work of the warriors (no +1 weapons I assume) except for Kaulder who takes her down. But not before she curses him.... with eternal life. Flash forward to Kaulder in current NYC as the immortal lead hunter of the Axe & Cross, who no longer just kill witches outright but keeps them in check. Witchery is a bloodline and it's up to them to choose dark or light; if they choose the former, they should expect a visit from Kaulder.

This movie just looks good. The design choices for the witchy ways of doing things were both wild & natural, but also corrupted and altered by magic. So much of it hinted at the choices witches have to make, and at how easily they can become corrupted for the sake of more power. Vin as Kaulder modern is classic magic realism hero with an arsenal at hand and fine tailoring. Rose Leslie (from Game of Thrones) plays the naive good witch beside him, as they seek to uncover the conspiracy raising the vanquished Witch Queen from the dead. I won't be so blind as to say this movie is wonderful, but not as harshly horrible as the critics may lead you to believe. Vin does prove he only has a limited range of emotions he can faithfully play, as some of his memories of his past made me roll my eyes.  This one will definitely join My Shelf.

Nightcrawler

2014, Dan Gilroy (writer Real Steel, Freejack) -- Netflix

I was so used to babbling on as I did with the horror movie posts, I just skipped right past the '3 short paragraphs'.

I just finished a rewatch of The Day After Tomorrow; from my collection, but no, not garnering a ReWatch post -- not yet. The movie is dated, and not just because of the use of really old cell phone technology, but because of a baby faced Jake Gyllenhaal. That was 11 years ago, when he could still play a high school kid. In Nightcrawler he still has a sense of youth about him,  but there is no fresh faced kid in this; this kid grew up into quite the creepy character.

Louis Bloom is another example in a recent string of characters barely surviving in society, definitely awkward but more sinister than Sheldon Cooper endearing. The movie begins with him stealing from a construction site, only to pummel the guard who catches him -- he likes his watch. With metal in hand, he sells it to a scrap yard and has the gall to ask the owner for a job. He doesn't understand why he wouldn't hire a thief. On his return home, he happens across a crash and is exposed to the stringer cameramen, who wander the nights of LA, capturing & selling bloody footage for the TV news. Bloom is inspired.

The key point of his introduction is to make us aware that Bloom is intelligent, very very eager and lacking a certain ... something. Emotional quotient perhaps? That he is in his thirties and not as accomplished as his research leads him to believe he should be says that he stumbles over every interaction, that his belief in how to do something outweighs the social cues he should pay attention to. Until now. This time he discovers an affinity for horrific news footage and makes the right (struggling) connection at the right (struggling) station.

And yeah, he's a blooming sociopath who has found his calling.

Gyllenhaal really sells it as Bloom. Skinnied down, but without the "did he lose weight?" that I ask of almost every Hollywood actor these days, in these days of never-too-skinny. Bloom would be rakishly thin, never eating well, not really knowing he has to, as he moves from one obsession to another. High IQ and low EQ has him gaining knowledge quickly, applying simple social interactions from theory but not getting any real connection with anyone. He really is scary.

Of course, as we know news is cut throat, we know things have to escalate -- one more body, one more death, one more gorey shot. Bloom succeeds wildly, making money and a reputation but has to escalate to maintain it. The consequences are unsettling.

Renee Russo is the news producer desperate to make ratings and accepts Bloom's amateurish but shocking vid. She becomes his conspirator in ever escalating shots, as he wants respect & money and she just needs the ratings to keep her job. She is the aging producer, and I was glad Gilroy had her play to her age, lines and all. In the right lighting and makeup, everyone seems ageless and defiant Nina the producer appeared weighed down by it all.

This is not a movie with a definite ending nor climax, just an escalation to a resolution. We can be shocked at how things sum up or we can look to the coverage of the latest shootings and not be surprised at all.

Every sociopath has his place I guess.