Joe Rogan: Triggered (2016)
Watch Joe Rogan: Triggered on Netflix
Martial artist, actor, comedian, podcaster, and sports commentator Joe Rogan has a few things to discuss.
Monday 31 October 2016
Joe Rogan: Triggered Netflix Comedy Special Review
Joe Rogan: Triggered (2016)
Watch Joe Rogan: Triggered on Netflix
Martial artist, actor, comedian, podcaster, and sports commentator Joe Rogan has a few things to discuss.
Black Mirror Season 3 Episode 1 Nosedive & Episode 2 Playtest Netflix Series Review
Black Mirror (2011-)
Season 3 - 6 episodes (2016)
Watch Black Mirror Season 3 on Netflix
Plot
Black Mirror examines the pitfalls when technology and society intersect. What happens when technology goes off the rails, creating a horrifying situation? Ultimately the questions are, does technology make us happier, is being connected at all times beneficial, and does it do more harm than good?
Black Mirror is an anthology. Each episode is self contained with completely different actors.
Episode 1 - Nosedive
Imagine if Yelp rated people instead of places. Every interaction is rated on a scale of 1 to 5. If you get caught up in that, you try to make every public interaction as pleasant as possible so you receive a high rating. If you don't care how you're rated, you have a low score and can be refused housing, jobs, and basic staples. You become a pariah.
Episode 2 - Playtest
Video games take the next step from virtual reality and augmented reality to indistinguishable from real life. An implant in the base of the neck accesses your brain directly to modify what you see and hear.
Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories Season 1 Netflix Series Review
Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stoires (2016-)
Watch Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories on Netflix
This Japanese foreign language series features a diner that's only open from midnight until 7 A.M., each episode is self contained, following the relationships between patrons and in part the owner.
Also Watched - Free State of Jones, American Horror Story: Hotel
This week I watched Free State of Jones, American Horror Story: Hotel
Free State of Jones (2016)
A disillusioned Confederate soldier deserts his unit during the Civil War and returns to Mississippi where he leads a militia of deserters, runaway slaves, and women against a corrupt local Confederate lieutenant and general.
American Horror Story: Hotel (2011-)
Season 5 - 12 Episodes (2015)
American Horror Story is a horror anthology series. Each season is a self contained story with disparate characters despite using many of the same actors season to season.
Season five focuses on the Hotel Cortez in Los Angeles. The hotel is home to the eccentric owner, a homicide detective, serial killers, and more.
Netflix NEWS 10.31.16
Netflix NEWS
Updates on Netflix original content releasing this week and the announcements from last week.
Netflix Originals Releasing Next Week
The Expanse Season 1 (November 3) - Excludes United States, Canada, New Zealand
Netflix Distributed Series - 10 episodes
Set 200 years in the future when space has been colonize, this book based space drama features Thomas Jane searching for a missing woman and uncovering a vast conspiracy
The Crown Season 1 (November 4)
Netflix Original Series - 10 episodes
Claire Foy plays Elizabeth II and Matt Smith of Dr. Who fame plays Prince Phillip. This series is planned to span 6 seasons/60 episodes covering Elizabeth's marriage in 1947 up to current day. Watch the trailer
Watch The Weight of the Crown clip
Watch the Costume Design clip
Watch the 2 Worlds trailer
Dana Carvey: Straight White Male, 60 (November 4)
Netflix Comedy Special
The Emmy award winning comedian and former SNL star takes the stage. I will always remember him for the worst movie I've ever seen, Master of Disguise.
The Ivory Game (November 4)
Netflix Original Documentary
Activists try to stop poachers and thwart the illegal ivory trade.
Watch the trailer
World of Winx Season 1 (November 4)
Netflix Kids Series
They're fierce, they're smart, they're always fashion-forward. Kidnappers beware, the Winx fairies are on your trail!
Netflix Trailers
Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life - Trailer
3% Season 1 - Trailer
Dana Carvey: Straight White Male 60 - Trailer
The Crown - 2 Courts Trailer
Netflix Previews/Clips
Halloween Doorbell to stop pausing Netflix for trick or treaters
Narcos Season 3 - Pablo Dies Featurette
The Crown - Churchill Featurette
The True Memoirs of an International Assassin - Get in the Game Clip
Happy Birthday Bob Ross Clip
Fuller House Season 2 - Halloween Teaser
Stranger Things - Minute by Minute with Brenda Wood
Netflix Announcements
Netflix orders season 1 of Scandinavian thriller The Rain
Fuller House Season 2 - Official Trailer
Fuller House (2016-)
Season 2 (2016)
Fuller House Season 2 premieres December 9
A second season in the same calendar year. It must have been a hit!
DJ Tanner-Fuller lives with her sister Stephanie, best friend Kimmy, and their kids in this spin off of sit-com Full House.
In the trailer, it's clear the Christmas holiday will play at least some part in the story arc.
Stephanie likes Kimmy's younger brother, to the chagrin of both.
DJ decides between Matt and Steve, but that decision comes a bit too late.
Bob Saget is going to make a cameo, as will Dave Coulier and John Stamos.
Expect more of the same from Fuller House. If you liked season 1, you should like season 2.
Season 2 (2016)
Fuller House Season 2 premieres December 9
A second season in the same calendar year. It must have been a hit!
DJ Tanner-Fuller lives with her sister Stephanie, best friend Kimmy, and their kids in this spin off of sit-com Full House.
In the trailer, it's clear the Christmas holiday will play at least some part in the story arc.
Stephanie likes Kimmy's younger brother, to the chagrin of both.
DJ decides between Matt and Steve, but that decision comes a bit too late.
Bob Saget is going to make a cameo, as will Dave Coulier and John Stamos.
Expect more of the same from Fuller House. If you liked season 1, you should like season 2.
Cockneys vs Zombies (2012)
Genre
Comedy | Horror
Director
Matthias Hoene
Country
UK
Cast
Rasmus Hardiker, Harry Treadaway, Michelle Ryan, Alan Ford, Georgia King, Jack Doolan, Ashley Thomas, Tony Gardner, Tony Shelby, Georgina Hale, Dudley Sutton, Richard Briers, Honor Blackman, Elizabeth Webster
Storyline
A gang of bank robbers fight their way out of a zombie-infested London.
Opinion
I've learnt about the existence of this film only recently and the title caught my attention as soon as I saw it. Unfortuntately, other than a very catchy title, "Cockneys vs Zombies" doesn't have a lot to offer.
Even though it doesn't sound half bad - actually it pretty much sounds like "Shaun of the Dead" which is good because I loved it -, the storyline is quite boring and the two "acts", the bank robbery and the rescue mission, don't seem to work well together.
Another issue with the film is that it's hard to get attached and care for the characters. Whether the attacks were successful or a failure, I just didn't care.
Also it lacks those clever elements that made "Shaun of the Dead" such a great zombie comedy, probably because the filmmakers put more effort into the title than they did for the rest of the film.
However, the film is actually well (and fast) paced, it does have nice killings, zombies make their way into the film early on and some scenes are a great fun to watch - like the slow paced "fight" between old men and zombies, or the zombie hooligans. And the humour, strictly British, is decent.
Another issue with the film is that it's hard to get attached and care for the characters. Whether the attacks were successful or a failure, I just didn't care.Also it lacks those clever elements that made "Shaun of the Dead" such a great zombie comedy, probably because the filmmakers put more effort into the title than they did for the rest of the film.
However, the film is actually well (and fast) paced, it does have nice killings, zombies make their way into the film early on and some scenes are a great fun to watch - like the slow paced "fight" between old men and zombies, or the zombie hooligans. And the humour, strictly British, is decent.
MONDO COMMENTARY: Night of the Living Dead
Join the Horror Duo as they share their thoughts on Night of the Living Dead, the first modern zombie tale. They discuss behind the scene stories, filming locations, what critics have said about the ghoulish classic, as well as their own interpretations of the film and also the zombie films and trends that have followed.
Sunday 30 October 2016
Black Mirror Episodes 1-13 Ranked
Black Mirror (2011-)
3 Seasons - 13 episodes
Watch Black Mirror on Netflix
Created by: Charlie Brooker
Plot
Black Mirror examines the pitfalls when technology and society intersect. What happens when technology goes off the rails, creating a horrifying situation? Ultimately the questions are, does technology make us happier? Is being connected at all times beneficial? Does it do more harm than good?
Black Mirror is an anthology. Each episode is self contained with completely different actors.
Ranking
Black Mirror is my favorite show containing my favorite hour of visual entertainment. Season 3 definitely fit the Black Mirror mold and now I attempt to rate all the episodes. This is all I have until season 4 releases.
What's crazy is that my least favorite episode may have been the most prescient as it has kind of come true. The worst episode of Black Mirror is still better than most of what's currently on television.
1. The Entire History of You S1E3
Black Mirror is about concepts and resolutions. It provides ingenious ideas and devastating conclusions.
What if you could record everything and relive your best memories? What you would really do is re-watch the bad job interview or stay up all night obsessing over little queues your wife may have made with someone else. Instead of thinking nothing happened and moving on, you can obsess over details and watch that moment over and over. Is the joy of seeing the best moments worth the suffering of reliving the worst nightmares? For the protagonist, it isn't.
This episode is superb, and some of the best parts are the little details about how this technology would be used. Babies are their own nanny cam, airport security reviews what you actually saw and did at the check points. This is an incredible concept and resolution attached to an amazing story.
2. Fifteen Million Merits S1E2
I was surprised at the amount of depth the episode has. Anything that's done well, that is new or different will be copied and overused and reduced to a caricature. Bing 'won' the competition after being completely broken, and now he must peddle products for points while holding that same shard of glass to his neck. Being a mindless drone was better than that.
People don't want real they want a gimmick, entertainment. Anything of value will be squandered. You spend every day working for a goal, a goal you're told will improve you life. You're still imprisoned, but the cell is larger and the veil has been removed.
3. White Bear S2E2
The most horrifying thing about this episode is that somebody, somewhere is nodding their head saying we need to implement this system.
A woman is pursued in a park where no one will help her, they just video her pleas.
She has no memory, so she doesn't know what's happening. When she discovers that she was an accomplice in a crime, she's devastated and then forced to do it again, all realizations about what happened erased. It's an eye for an eye meant to break the guilty and provide entertainment for everyone else.
4. White Christmas S2 Special
What if you could transmit everything you see? This has two intertwined stories about a life coach's past and his present at a remote outpost with another man.
If everything we hear and saw could be filtered, you could block other people. Criminals could be marked. Have you ever wanted to remove someone from your life? Here you can.
This also delves into whether digital torture is really torture or is it admissible because it's torturing a computer program. What if the computer program doesn't realize it's not real?
This episode delivers a devastating conclusion.
5. Men Against Fire S3E5
This operates on two levels, the future of warfare and making soldiers compliant, but it also provides a glimpse into the minds of the twisted soldiers and regimes that have committed genocide.
In Gattaca, anyone not genetically screened couldn't find a job. In this episode, they're hunted and killed. Meet the perfect soldier, blind, deaf, and mute.
6. San Junipero S3E4
This episode may have the best story telling of season 3. Each scene unfolds the characters and the mystery of this world. Once you realize the twist, the episode takes on a different meaning. Death has been defeated and it leads to depravity. This is a romance in a way that only Black Mirror would tell it, while analyzing life after death.
7. Be Right Back S2E1
It's another instance where a person can't grieve and thus they don't move on. Is that what technology would do to us? Prevent us from dealing with emotions?
Through social media posting, a company can recreate a lifelike facsimile of a lost loved one. If you could have a loved one back, of course you would do it. It's that feeling of, "It's not real." that would eat at you.
8. Hated in the Nation S3E6
This bookends Nosedive well, exploring the hate on social media. Many people call for the death of someone they hate on social media, but what would happen if it happened? What should happen to the people calling for such a heinous act?
This episode feels a bit too much like The X-Files with bees and the attack, but it explores an interesting topic.
9. Nosedive S3E1
Imagine Yelp rates people. Every maintains a false facade because your rating is the key to getting a good job, apartment, or car. All social interaction is a fraud as society has managed to turn it into a commodity.
10. The National Anthem S1E1
This show doesn't just explore the main question, but the ripples too. Do you save your honor or a life? Politicians profane themselves in private and finally it's done in public. The public realized they didn't really want this.
It's because of technology this stunt was even able to work. This was our introduction to Black Mirror, and what an introduction it was.
11. Shut Up and Dance S3E3
Someone has discovered the skeleton in people's closets and is using the shame of outing them to coerce them to do their illegal bidding. You follow the orders of an unscrupulous person with no assurances that they will do what they say. Fear guides and motivates, because you will do anything to hide those secrets... anything.
12. The Waldo Movement S2E3
This episode feels weak, though the message is as strong as any episode. A cartoon overtaking the polls isn't far off from the current presidential election (when I first reviewed this episode it was primaries, not the election).
Politicians are just actors, parroting the information that will get them elected.
12. Playtest S3E2
This felt the least like a Black Mirror episode. It was intense, but the focus was very limited. It could have explored how virtual reality can alter our memories or even the death of one test subject to benefit million, but it doesn't.
3 Seasons - 13 episodes
Created by: Charlie Brooker
Plot
Black Mirror examines the pitfalls when technology and society intersect. What happens when technology goes off the rails, creating a horrifying situation? Ultimately the questions are, does technology make us happier? Is being connected at all times beneficial? Does it do more harm than good?
Black Mirror is an anthology. Each episode is self contained with completely different actors.
Ranking
Black Mirror is my favorite show containing my favorite hour of visual entertainment. Season 3 definitely fit the Black Mirror mold and now I attempt to rate all the episodes. This is all I have until season 4 releases.
What's crazy is that my least favorite episode may have been the most prescient as it has kind of come true. The worst episode of Black Mirror is still better than most of what's currently on television.
1. The Entire History of You S1E3
What if you could record everything and relive your best memories? What you would really do is re-watch the bad job interview or stay up all night obsessing over little queues your wife may have made with someone else. Instead of thinking nothing happened and moving on, you can obsess over details and watch that moment over and over. Is the joy of seeing the best moments worth the suffering of reliving the worst nightmares? For the protagonist, it isn't.
This episode is superb, and some of the best parts are the little details about how this technology would be used. Babies are their own nanny cam, airport security reviews what you actually saw and did at the check points. This is an incredible concept and resolution attached to an amazing story.
2. Fifteen Million Merits S1E2
People don't want real they want a gimmick, entertainment. Anything of value will be squandered. You spend every day working for a goal, a goal you're told will improve you life. You're still imprisoned, but the cell is larger and the veil has been removed.
3. White Bear S2E2
A woman is pursued in a park where no one will help her, they just video her pleas.
She has no memory, so she doesn't know what's happening. When she discovers that she was an accomplice in a crime, she's devastated and then forced to do it again, all realizations about what happened erased. It's an eye for an eye meant to break the guilty and provide entertainment for everyone else.
4. White Christmas S2 Special
If everything we hear and saw could be filtered, you could block other people. Criminals could be marked. Have you ever wanted to remove someone from your life? Here you can.
This also delves into whether digital torture is really torture or is it admissible because it's torturing a computer program. What if the computer program doesn't realize it's not real?
This episode delivers a devastating conclusion.
5. Men Against Fire S3E5
In Gattaca, anyone not genetically screened couldn't find a job. In this episode, they're hunted and killed. Meet the perfect soldier, blind, deaf, and mute.
6. San Junipero S3E4
7. Be Right Back S2E1
Through social media posting, a company can recreate a lifelike facsimile of a lost loved one. If you could have a loved one back, of course you would do it. It's that feeling of, "It's not real." that would eat at you.
8. Hated in the Nation S3E6
This episode feels a bit too much like The X-Files with bees and the attack, but it explores an interesting topic.
9. Nosedive S3E1
10. The National Anthem S1E1
It's because of technology this stunt was even able to work. This was our introduction to Black Mirror, and what an introduction it was.
11. Shut Up and Dance S3E3
12. The Waldo Movement S2E3
Politicians are just actors, parroting the information that will get them elected.
12. Playtest S3E2
Westworld Season 1 Episode 5 Review
Westworld (2016-)
Season 1 (2016)
Created by: Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy Nolan, Michael Crichton (1973 movie written by)
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Jimmi Simpson, Rodrigo Santoro
Rating: TV-MA
Plot:
A futuristic theme park recreates the wild west for visitors, but bliss doesn't last forever.
Verdict
This episode doesn't provide many answers. We get more information, but it just makes everything more confusing. It's an intriguing episode all the same that makes the excitement for a or the final revelation all the more overwhelming. It could just be that all paths lead to one point in this strange confluence of events. Solid episode, and better than the last one.
Watch it.
Review
Westworld is a western theme parked stocked with androids, this show calls them hosts, that fully recreate the experience for visitors. The creator wants to make the most lifelike experience possible, continuing to perfect the core program even after thirty years. A recent software update has introduced a glitch. Read my previous episode reviews.
Ford (Anthony Hopkins) is talking to an outdated host, the same one from the first episode. He tells a story of a racing dog that caught what it was after but didn't know what to do with it once it had it. I assumed he was talking about a host, maybe Dolores, but by the end of the episode maybe he's referencing the man in black.
Why is it Hopkins prefers to talk to an old host with repetitive responses. Is it that it makes him feel better than talking to himself?
That same voice as before is urging Dolores to "Find me." It's a safe bet she has a few more clues than what we're aware. It's Arnold, but what is he doing and why has it taken this long? Arnold has been long gone. These voices and memories seemed to be triggered by a change Ford made, but that hasn't been referenced lately.
As we learned in episode four, Logan's (Ben Barnes) family is looking at purchasing a stake in Westworld. He is William's (Jimmi Simpson) boss. Logan's hedonistic behavior is widening the rift between he and William.
The man in black (Ed Harris) runs into the same boy Ford spoke to in episode two. The man in black seems certain that fate and destiny are intertwined. His goal is the maze, but he seems to think this is more than a game or theme park.
The hosts can bleed out too. How real it seems, and the man in black laments the fact. Humanity is cost effective. That is the reason this park has made hosts more realistic.
Ford sits down with the man in black. The man in black asks Ford if he's getting any closer. The man admits he always felt Westworld lacked a villain. That is his contribution, and he hopes Wyatt is a worthy adversary, someone to stop him from finding the maze.
The man in black boasts he's the reason the park didn't die when Arnold did. Is it just coincidence that the man in black's quest for the maze coincides with hosts waking up?
Ford asks Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) if she remembers the man he used to be. He asks if she remembers Arnold, the man that created her. He's sure she does. He knows she hears voices, but she denies it. She states her last contact with Arnold was thirty-four years ago. Ford remembers it was the day Arnold died. Once Ford leaves she admits to the voice that is Arnold that she told Ford nothing.
How do they take her out of the park to talk to her and put her back without William or anyone else noticing?
William (Jimmi Simpson) and Logan meet Alonzo (Clifton Collins Jr.), formerly Lawrence of the Man in Black's care. Logan is convinced they're onto a big game. William feels certain Dolores is prescient.
They're robbing a stage coach for Alonzo and William has a big moment where he kills a couple of Union soldiers.
Dolores is having strange visions. She keeps seeing herself, and she even sees a psychic with a "maze" card.
Alonzo double crosses the Confederales and Dolores urges William to chase Alonzo. William ignores helping Logan and witnesses Dolores displays some keen gun slinging skills.
She and William both are defining their own stories.
Evan Rachel Wood does an amazing job in this. She deserves recognition.
Elsie (Shannon Woodward) was told to not investigate the defective host from episode three, but she can't leave it alone. She finds an implant in the host's arm. It's a laser based satellite uplink, and she tells Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) straight away. Someone is using the hosts to smuggle data out of the park.
One of the body techs, Felix, is working on bringing a host bird to life to secure a raise. He's laughed at by his associate. There is no way to climb the ladder at Westworld. This seems like an unnecessary story, where there are so many stories being juggled.
It turns out this does have a point, or at least a lead in to another plot point. Maeve (Thandie Newton) wakes up and tells Felix, "It's time we had a chat" She can wake up at will and knows his name.
Season 1 (2016)
 |
| Westworld - Season 1 Episode 5 - Contrapasso |
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Jimmi Simpson, Rodrigo Santoro
Rating: TV-MA
Plot:
A futuristic theme park recreates the wild west for visitors, but bliss doesn't last forever.
Verdict
This episode doesn't provide many answers. We get more information, but it just makes everything more confusing. It's an intriguing episode all the same that makes the excitement for a or the final revelation all the more overwhelming. It could just be that all paths lead to one point in this strange confluence of events. Solid episode, and better than the last one.
Watch it.
Review
Westworld is a western theme parked stocked with androids, this show calls them hosts, that fully recreate the experience for visitors. The creator wants to make the most lifelike experience possible, continuing to perfect the core program even after thirty years. A recent software update has introduced a glitch. Read my previous episode reviews.
Ford (Anthony Hopkins) is talking to an outdated host, the same one from the first episode. He tells a story of a racing dog that caught what it was after but didn't know what to do with it once it had it. I assumed he was talking about a host, maybe Dolores, but by the end of the episode maybe he's referencing the man in black.
Why is it Hopkins prefers to talk to an old host with repetitive responses. Is it that it makes him feel better than talking to himself?
That same voice as before is urging Dolores to "Find me." It's a safe bet she has a few more clues than what we're aware. It's Arnold, but what is he doing and why has it taken this long? Arnold has been long gone. These voices and memories seemed to be triggered by a change Ford made, but that hasn't been referenced lately.
As we learned in episode four, Logan's (Ben Barnes) family is looking at purchasing a stake in Westworld. He is William's (Jimmi Simpson) boss. Logan's hedonistic behavior is widening the rift between he and William.
 |
| The man in black is the villain he thinks the world needs. |
The hosts can bleed out too. How real it seems, and the man in black laments the fact. Humanity is cost effective. That is the reason this park has made hosts more realistic.
Ford sits down with the man in black. The man in black asks Ford if he's getting any closer. The man admits he always felt Westworld lacked a villain. That is his contribution, and he hopes Wyatt is a worthy adversary, someone to stop him from finding the maze.
The man in black boasts he's the reason the park didn't die when Arnold did. Is it just coincidence that the man in black's quest for the maze coincides with hosts waking up?
Ford asks Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) if she remembers the man he used to be. He asks if she remembers Arnold, the man that created her. He's sure she does. He knows she hears voices, but she denies it. She states her last contact with Arnold was thirty-four years ago. Ford remembers it was the day Arnold died. Once Ford leaves she admits to the voice that is Arnold that she told Ford nothing.
How do they take her out of the park to talk to her and put her back without William or anyone else noticing?
 |
| From Lawrence to Alonzo without a hitch. |
They're robbing a stage coach for Alonzo and William has a big moment where he kills a couple of Union soldiers.
 |
| Is it cliche to say she holds the key? |
Alonzo double crosses the Confederales and Dolores urges William to chase Alonzo. William ignores helping Logan and witnesses Dolores displays some keen gun slinging skills.
She and William both are defining their own stories.
Evan Rachel Wood does an amazing job in this. She deserves recognition.
 |
| Elsie discovers yet another plot point. |
One of the body techs, Felix, is working on bringing a host bird to life to secure a raise. He's laughed at by his associate. There is no way to climb the ladder at Westworld. This seems like an unnecessary story, where there are so many stories being juggled.
It turns out this does have a point, or at least a lead in to another plot point. Maeve (Thandie Newton) wakes up and tells Felix, "It's time we had a chat" She can wake up at will and knows his name.
Fuller House Season 2 - Halloween Teaser
Fuller House (2016-)
Season 2
Fuller House Season 2 premieres December 9
A second season in the same calendar year. It must have been a hit!
DJ Tanner-Fuller lives with her sister Stephanie and best friend Kimmy and their kids in this spin off of sit-com Full House.
Season 2
Fuller House Season 2 premieres December 9
A second season in the same calendar year. It must have been a hit!
DJ Tanner-Fuller lives with her sister Stephanie and best friend Kimmy and their kids in this spin off of sit-com Full House.
Stranger Things - MInute By Minute with Brenda Wood Clip
Stranger Things (2016-)
Stranger Things season 2 premieres in 2017
Set in 1983 where a mother tries to find her son after he disappears mysteriously in the small town of Hawkins, the story continues in season 2, adding a couple of new characters while retaining the ones from season 1. The only actor not confirmed to return is Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), but it's highly likely she'll be back.
Watch this archival news clip from Hawkins, Indiana.
Barb is missing!
Youth steals Eggo waffles!
Stranger Things season 2 premieres in 2017
Set in 1983 where a mother tries to find her son after he disappears mysteriously in the small town of Hawkins, the story continues in season 2, adding a couple of new characters while retaining the ones from season 1. The only actor not confirmed to return is Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), but it's highly likely she'll be back.
Watch this archival news clip from Hawkins, Indiana.
Barb is missing!
Youth steals Eggo waffles!
Into the Inferno Netflix Documentary Review
Into the Inferno (2016)
Watch Into the Inferno on Netflix
Written by: Werner Herzog
Directed by: Werner Herzog
Starring: Werner Herzog, Clive Oppenheimer, Katia Krafft
Rating: --/PG
Plot
Werner Herzog explores volcanoes and culture.
Verdict
I was expecting something more scientific, but as Herzog states early on volcanoes are also magical and he would rather explore the magical aspect. This looks at cultures that worship volcanoes and touches upon Korea, which was founded on a volcano and it's dictators. If you want to learn about volcanoes or explore them, this isn't the documentary for that.
Skip it.
Review
This starts with really impressive imagery, and there just isn't enough imagery throughout. Herzog talks about volcanoes and cultures that worship them, but also discusses two photographers that took amazing images but were themselves killed in an eruption.
Herzog delivers some interesting monologues but this documentary never picks a destination, it rambles for a while and while I get volcanoes are powerful and destructive, that isn't a new revelation. This seems more about Herzog philosophizing than exploring a geological or even socioeconomic phenomenon.
This doesn't try to uncover anything or provide new information. This strays too often to even form a main point. Herzog loves volcanoes and rambles about it for a while.
 |
| Into the Inferno - It's more Herzog than volcanoes. |
Written by: Werner Herzog
Directed by: Werner Herzog
Starring: Werner Herzog, Clive Oppenheimer, Katia Krafft
Rating: --/PG
Plot
Werner Herzog explores volcanoes and culture.
Verdict
I was expecting something more scientific, but as Herzog states early on volcanoes are also magical and he would rather explore the magical aspect. This looks at cultures that worship volcanoes and touches upon Korea, which was founded on a volcano and it's dictators. If you want to learn about volcanoes or explore them, this isn't the documentary for that.
Skip it.
Review
This starts with really impressive imagery, and there just isn't enough imagery throughout. Herzog talks about volcanoes and cultures that worship them, but also discusses two photographers that took amazing images but were themselves killed in an eruption.
Herzog delivers some interesting monologues but this documentary never picks a destination, it rambles for a while and while I get volcanoes are powerful and destructive, that isn't a new revelation. This seems more about Herzog philosophizing than exploring a geological or even socioeconomic phenomenon.
This doesn't try to uncover anything or provide new information. This strays too often to even form a main point. Herzog loves volcanoes and rambles about it for a while.
PODCAST SPECIAL: Eerie Horror Film Festival & Expo 2016 [Day Two]
Halloween Films 2
When I first started this blog, my second post was a list of Halloween Films. They were almost all comedies. Since then I have watched some scarier (to me) films that I would like to share with you:
The Leopard Man (1943) - another Val Lewton/Jacques Tourneur classic, this one came out the year after the more well-known cult-film Cat People (1942). Set in New Mexico, it features Lewton's signature shadows and sounds, and even the same panther!
That moment when you show up to a party in a killer dress and with a panther
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The Uninvited (1944) - starring Ray Milland and Gail Russell, this haunting film is a must-watch. Milland and his sister (Ruth Hussey) buy a cheap mansion that happens to be haunted. At night they hear a woman moaning but no one can ever be found. Gail Russell is a neighbor who lived there as a child - until her mother fell, or jumped, of the nearby cliff. When Russell comes to visit her new neighbors she falls into a trance.
A séance is always a good idea.
><><><
The Innocents (1961) - a classic starring Deborah Kerr, a governess who is convinced that the two children in her charge are possessed by a couple that died there. I only watched a little bit of it on TCM, but I plan to watch the whole film soon.
Have a Happy Halloween!
Frankenweenie (2012)
Genre
Animation | Comedy | Fantasy | Horror
Director
Tim Burton
Country
USA
Voice Cast
Charlie Tahan, Martin Short, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Landau, Winona Ryder, Frank Welker, Dee Bradley Baker, Atticus Shaffer, Robert Capron, Conchata Ferrell, James Hiroyuki, Tom Kenny, Christopher Lee
Storyline
Young Victor (Charlie Tahan) conducts a science experiment to bring his beloved dog Sparky back to life, only to face unintended, sometimes monstrous, consequences.
Opinion
I am a Tim Burton fan, I really am, but I fail to see why others claim this to be one of his best - if not the best - works. Actually I don't really see anything special about it. Why is that? Because "Frankenweenie" essentially is just an average Tim Burton movie that doesn't have that something to stand out from the others.
Even if you haven't seen Burton's 1984 short on which the film is based on, I'm positive the story will sound familiar to anyone because it is an adaptation of Mary Shelley's classic "Frankenstein", only having a boy resurrecting his dog instead of a scientist resurrecting a dead body. And it's a great way to go if you want to introduce a classic to kids. But then Disney stepped in, and ruined everything.
I am not saying Disney can't make good films, but I just don't think Disney and horror make a great pair. They are more family comedy oriented that horror oriented, and the story - especially the ending - suffered from that. Who is to be blamed? Tim Burton, of course. He should have never signed with Disney in the first place.
The film also suffers from the lack of character development, not to mention that it is supposed to be a comedy but there is little to laugh at as the humour is quite mild.
However, despite everything, I have to admit that the story is quite well paced and has some genuine suspense that keeps you watching the film. Some other positive notes are the use of black and white instead of colours, the stop-motion animation, obviously, and the voice cast who overall does a good job.
Even if you haven't seen Burton's 1984 short on which the film is based on, I'm positive the story will sound familiar to anyone because it is an adaptation of Mary Shelley's classic "Frankenstein", only having a boy resurrecting his dog instead of a scientist resurrecting a dead body. And it's a great way to go if you want to introduce a classic to kids. But then Disney stepped in, and ruined everything.
The film also suffers from the lack of character development, not to mention that it is supposed to be a comedy but there is little to laugh at as the humour is quite mild.
However, despite everything, I have to admit that the story is quite well paced and has some genuine suspense that keeps you watching the film. Some other positive notes are the use of black and white instead of colours, the stop-motion animation, obviously, and the voice cast who overall does a good job.
Saturday 29 October 2016
Black Mirror Season 3 Netflix Series Review
Black Mirror (2011-)
Season 3 - 6 episodes (2016)
Watch Black Mirror Season 3 on Netflix
Created by: Charlie Brooker
Starring: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mackenzie Davis, Jerome Flynn, Bryce Dallas Howard, Alice Eve, Kelly Macdonald, Wyatt Russell
Plot
Black Mirror examines the pitfalls when technology and society intersect. What happens when technology goes off the rails, creating a horrifying situation? Ultimately the questions are, does technology make us happier, is being connected at all times beneficial, and does it do more harm than good?
Black Mirror is an anthology. Each episode is self contained with completely different actors.
Verdict
This is a good Black Mirror season. I would take a season full of the worst episodes, but thankfully this season has solid ideas and even the worst Black Mirror episodes are better than the majority of television. It's as bleak and ingenious as I expected. All of the episodes display top notch directing and acting. The nuance the actors provide and the directors pick up really adds to each episode. Nearly every episode feels much quicker than it's hour long run time. The sixth episode is 90 minutes, but never feels too long.
I have to take a break between episodes to digest what I saw and what it means. This just isn't a show to be binged. It's often the realizations after the episode ends that makes this show so good. Few shows cause you, or in this case force you, to think after the episode.
Black Mirror has an ability to nail the ending of the episodes. The episodes don't just end, we get a flourish that has far reaching implications and also makes the preceding hour retroactively better. None of these episode supplant the best Black Mirror episodes, but they aren't at the bottom either.
This season is everything I wanted.
Watch it.
Review
Nosediveis the first episode and is a good introduction to anyone new to the show. It's easier to stomach than season one's A National Anthem. While it seems a little too simple, like any good Black Mirror episode it generates big questions. This isn't a world too far off from the one we're in. That's the line Black Mirror follows, they want each episode to be in a world that's just a couple of weeks int other future. The series asks the question, do you really think technology is going to be our savior? With this series, the benefits are often out weighed by the negative side effects. Technology is used to obscure or mask emotions. In every episode technology has an emotional cost.
Everyone has a ranking attached to their name that determines your position in life. Instead of genuinely caring for each other, every interaction becomes a commodity, a way to boost your score a little higher. If someone buys donuts for the office you wonder why they need to increase their ranking. It generates distrust, because no action is genuine.
It's a testament to this show that the episode with the best story telling isn't even my favorite. The impact from what episodes imply often overshadow what we actually saw. Sometimes its the final image of an episode that makes the already excellent preceding hour even better.
The expanded episode count hasn't hurt this series, and allows it the chance to explore more genres. Playtest is in essence a horror short that questions whether there should be a limit for our desire to have video games indistinguishable from real life. I liked this episode the least from the season because it seemed the least like a Black Mirror episode. There were a few missed opportunities to broaden the audience, but ultimately it stops at gamers. This episode just doesn't take then next step to spread the fear and paranoia.
Episode 3 will make you tape over your webcam and think twice before you download anything from the internet. Somebody, somewhere is out to get you. These characters will do anything to prevent their secrets from coming out.
You feel bad for the kid put in this situation. You get how strong embarrassment can be, but then you realize at the end it's much more than embarrassment. He seemed fairly innocent, but he isn't.
San Junipero has near perfect pacing. It's a well told romance, with a Black Mirror twist, that's wrapped up in the mystery of how this world works or what this world really is. Each scene reveals character and the plot expertly. What do we live for? What do we die for?
This is an episode that had to analyze to feel like I got it. On it's surface it seems like a romance, but like any good episode it challenges you to go deeper.
Episode five is my favorite from this season because it cuts both ways so strong. The evolution of the soldier is to make them less than human and fully compliant, but this provides insight into psychopaths that kill without empathy. You don't want soldiers to see a human being, you want them to see monsters. It's easy to kill a monster, yet much more difficul to kill a human being. The ending of this episode is slightly vague, but fully devastating. While this series knows how to end an episode, this conclusion was stand out.
Hated by the Nation is in essence a movie at nearly ninety minutes. It never felt long, all of the episodes felt like quick watches because this show doesn't need filler. Each story needs the full amount of time, and I like this episode went long to tell the story it wanted.
It needs that time to cover all the topics, cyber bullying, social media trends, government surveillance, the declining bee population, and even celebrity worship to a degree. Words should have consequences, even meaningless internet hash tags.
Season 3 - 6 episodes (2016)
Created by: Charlie Brooker
Starring: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mackenzie Davis, Jerome Flynn, Bryce Dallas Howard, Alice Eve, Kelly Macdonald, Wyatt Russell
Plot
Black Mirror examines the pitfalls when technology and society intersect. What happens when technology goes off the rails, creating a horrifying situation? Ultimately the questions are, does technology make us happier, is being connected at all times beneficial, and does it do more harm than good?
Black Mirror is an anthology. Each episode is self contained with completely different actors.
Verdict
This is a good Black Mirror season. I would take a season full of the worst episodes, but thankfully this season has solid ideas and even the worst Black Mirror episodes are better than the majority of television. It's as bleak and ingenious as I expected. All of the episodes display top notch directing and acting. The nuance the actors provide and the directors pick up really adds to each episode. Nearly every episode feels much quicker than it's hour long run time. The sixth episode is 90 minutes, but never feels too long.
I have to take a break between episodes to digest what I saw and what it means. This just isn't a show to be binged. It's often the realizations after the episode ends that makes this show so good. Few shows cause you, or in this case force you, to think after the episode.
Black Mirror has an ability to nail the ending of the episodes. The episodes don't just end, we get a flourish that has far reaching implications and also makes the preceding hour retroactively better. None of these episode supplant the best Black Mirror episodes, but they aren't at the bottom either.
This season is everything I wanted.
Watch it.
Review
Nosediveis the first episode and is a good introduction to anyone new to the show. It's easier to stomach than season one's A National Anthem. While it seems a little too simple, like any good Black Mirror episode it generates big questions. This isn't a world too far off from the one we're in. That's the line Black Mirror follows, they want each episode to be in a world that's just a couple of weeks int other future. The series asks the question, do you really think technology is going to be our savior? With this series, the benefits are often out weighed by the negative side effects. Technology is used to obscure or mask emotions. In every episode technology has an emotional cost.
|
| Episode 1 - Nosedive |
It's a testament to this show that the episode with the best story telling isn't even my favorite. The impact from what episodes imply often overshadow what we actually saw. Sometimes its the final image of an episode that makes the already excellent preceding hour even better.
The expanded episode count hasn't hurt this series, and allows it the chance to explore more genres. Playtest is in essence a horror short that questions whether there should be a limit for our desire to have video games indistinguishable from real life. I liked this episode the least from the season because it seemed the least like a Black Mirror episode. There were a few missed opportunities to broaden the audience, but ultimately it stops at gamers. This episode just doesn't take then next step to spread the fear and paranoia.
|
| Episode 2 - Playtest |
You feel bad for the kid put in this situation. You get how strong embarrassment can be, but then you realize at the end it's much more than embarrassment. He seemed fairly innocent, but he isn't.
|
| Episode 3 - Shut Up and Dance |
This is an episode that had to analyze to feel like I got it. On it's surface it seems like a romance, but like any good episode it challenges you to go deeper.
|
| Episode 4 - San Junipero |
|
| Episode 5 - Men Against Fire |
It needs that time to cover all the topics, cyber bullying, social media trends, government surveillance, the declining bee population, and even celebrity worship to a degree. Words should have consequences, even meaningless internet hash tags.
|
| Episode 6 - Hated By the Nation |
Warcraft Movie Review
Warcraft (2016)
Rent Warcraft on Amazon Video
Written by: Charles Leavitt and Duncan Jones (screenplay)
Directed by: Duncan Jones
Starring: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Toby Kebbell, Clancy Brown, Ruth Negga, Ben Schnetzer
Rated: PG-13
My rating is simple, Watch It, It Depends, Skip it. Read my previous movie reviews!
Plot:
Humans and sympathetic orcs must stop an invading orc horde.
Verdict:
I think fans of the Warcraft games and novels will like this movie, but if you aren't familiar with the franchise, you're going to be lost. This movie expects you to have an extensive knowledge of the properties.
The pacing is quick and while I know what's going on, it's not always clear why leading me to wonder what's going on. The production design and CGI is great, but this should have been multiple movies or a simpler story. It just doesn't work.
Skip it.
Review:
There must be a lot cut out of this movie, because that's what it feels like. With the very first scene jumps in so fast I feel like a missed the first couple of scenes. Any foundation and backstory was cut to pack the plot into two hours. How many movies was this originally intended to be?
This movie rarely slows down, and even when it does it's incredibly brief. It's a strange scenario where I feel like I don't know what's going on even though I can easily explain what has occurred in the plot. The disconnect is that I can explain the what just not the why. The Orcs invaded a human world sure, but I don't know why. Well, I do but it's too simple of an explanation. There world is dying, but I've never seen that. Nothing visible in this film reinforces the need.
Ben Foster got possessed but I don't know how. There is very little foundation to this, I guess Duncan Jones expected only diehard fans of World of Warcraft would watch this. As someone unfamiliar with the inspiring property. I felt like I was missing a lot.
This is based on the novels World of Warcraft: Rise of the Horde and World of Warcraft: The Last Guardian, which are based on the Blizzard's video game franchise Warcraft.
It's a little too faithful, if I had to guess. Purists will love that aspect, but this movie packs too much into the two hours without proper explanations. There are Orcs, magic, warriors, kids fathers, double dealing mages, Black Hand, and kings. There are so many characters that none of them feel that important. The movie tells me things are important, but that's the only way I would know which makes many of the big moments overwrought.
The CGI and production design is great, but it can't overcome the plot. Ben Schnetzer portrayal of Khadgar was a little rough. He has the young mage part down, just not the believable part. He always felt like an actor, not the character.
Written by: Charles Leavitt and Duncan Jones (screenplay)
Directed by: Duncan Jones
Starring: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Toby Kebbell, Clancy Brown, Ruth Negga, Ben Schnetzer
Rated: PG-13
My rating is simple, Watch It, It Depends, Skip it. Read my previous movie reviews!
Plot:
Humans and sympathetic orcs must stop an invading orc horde.
Verdict:
I think fans of the Warcraft games and novels will like this movie, but if you aren't familiar with the franchise, you're going to be lost. This movie expects you to have an extensive knowledge of the properties.
The pacing is quick and while I know what's going on, it's not always clear why leading me to wonder what's going on. The production design and CGI is great, but this should have been multiple movies or a simpler story. It just doesn't work.
Skip it.
Review:
There must be a lot cut out of this movie, because that's what it feels like. With the very first scene jumps in so fast I feel like a missed the first couple of scenes. Any foundation and backstory was cut to pack the plot into two hours. How many movies was this originally intended to be?
This movie rarely slows down, and even when it does it's incredibly brief. It's a strange scenario where I feel like I don't know what's going on even though I can easily explain what has occurred in the plot. The disconnect is that I can explain the what just not the why. The Orcs invaded a human world sure, but I don't know why. Well, I do but it's too simple of an explanation. There world is dying, but I've never seen that. Nothing visible in this film reinforces the need.
Ben Foster got possessed but I don't know how. There is very little foundation to this, I guess Duncan Jones expected only diehard fans of World of Warcraft would watch this. As someone unfamiliar with the inspiring property. I felt like I was missing a lot.
This is based on the novels World of Warcraft: Rise of the Horde and World of Warcraft: The Last Guardian, which are based on the Blizzard's video game franchise Warcraft.
It's a little too faithful, if I had to guess. Purists will love that aspect, but this movie packs too much into the two hours without proper explanations. There are Orcs, magic, warriors, kids fathers, double dealing mages, Black Hand, and kings. There are so many characters that none of them feel that important. The movie tells me things are important, but that's the only way I would know which makes many of the big moments overwrought.
The CGI and production design is great, but it can't overcome the plot. Ben Schnetzer portrayal of Khadgar was a little rough. He has the young mage part down, just not the believable part. He always felt like an actor, not the character.
Suspiria Movie Review
Suspiria (1977)
Buy Suspiria on Amazon
Written by: Dario Argento, Daria Nicolodi (screenplay)
Directed by: Dario Argento
Starring: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci
Rated: R
My rating is simple, Watch It, It Depends, Skip it. Read my previous movie reviews!
Plot:
A ballet academy is a front for something supernatural and sinister.
Verdict:
From famed horror filmmaker Dario Argento, the DVD looks rough. Tiny, fuzzy images aside, this roughly stitches together horror scenes not to form a sensible story but just to shock you. As a die hard horror fan, this may be worth watching, but for most people if the fuzzy image doesn't stop you, the vapid story will.
Skip it.
Review:
The image quality is lackluster even considering this is from '77. A cleaner transfer would definitely help. I did watch the official DVD, straight from Netflix.
This works well as a horror movie and you can see the influence it had with the horror movie resurgence of the '80s. Much like the films that followed, this movie rejects narrative flow and stitches together pure horror scenes to illicit shocks and scares. It's great at creating a mood and the lighting and use of color really makes this cinematic, something imitators never quite accomplished.
The music and recurring theme adds a nice layer of tension.
If the intention was to capture madness, it nearly accomplishes that. Wikipedia is a real boon to understanding what's happening since the poor quality makes the actors look similar.
This is a film history class movie. It's since been surpassed, The Shining came out in 1980 and is better in all respects, but Suspiria set the tone for what horror movies could be. It's ripe for a remake, and Tilda Swinton is supposedly starring in a remake to be released in 2017.
Written by: Dario Argento, Daria Nicolodi (screenplay)
Directed by: Dario Argento
Starring: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci
Rated: R
My rating is simple, Watch It, It Depends, Skip it. Read my previous movie reviews!
Plot:
A ballet academy is a front for something supernatural and sinister.
Verdict:
From famed horror filmmaker Dario Argento, the DVD looks rough. Tiny, fuzzy images aside, this roughly stitches together horror scenes not to form a sensible story but just to shock you. As a die hard horror fan, this may be worth watching, but for most people if the fuzzy image doesn't stop you, the vapid story will.
Skip it.
Review:
The image quality is lackluster even considering this is from '77. A cleaner transfer would definitely help. I did watch the official DVD, straight from Netflix.
This works well as a horror movie and you can see the influence it had with the horror movie resurgence of the '80s. Much like the films that followed, this movie rejects narrative flow and stitches together pure horror scenes to illicit shocks and scares. It's great at creating a mood and the lighting and use of color really makes this cinematic, something imitators never quite accomplished.
The music and recurring theme adds a nice layer of tension.
If the intention was to capture madness, it nearly accomplishes that. Wikipedia is a real boon to understanding what's happening since the poor quality makes the actors look similar.
This is a film history class movie. It's since been surpassed, The Shining came out in 1980 and is better in all respects, but Suspiria set the tone for what horror movies could be. It's ripe for a remake, and Tilda Swinton is supposedly starring in a remake to be released in 2017.
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