A writer's musings on random bits of culture
It’s been awhile! Though this page was usually dedicated to horror movie reviews, I’ve decided to put up one of my latest short stories, published on Theme of Absence.
You can find it here (https://themeofabsence.com/2021/02/everyone-else-is-gone-by-william-dyson/)
I hope you all enjoy it!
It’s that time of year again; an excuse to finally get your significant other to watch that horror movie they’ve been putting off!
Since yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the film, I reblogged a post about Night of the Living Dead. I said many great things that have been said before, but I couldn’t help but doing so. It’s one of my top five horror movies and still holds up to this day.
One zombie movie makes me want to watch another, so what better way than to start the second day of October with The Cured. The Cured, released in 2017, staring Ellen Page and an all Irish cast, is a different kind of zombie film. This time we aren’t thrust into the middle of a plague, but with the after effects. A cure has been created that turns most of the infected back into humans, but there are still some that can’t seem to become human again. Whether it’s because they still are flesh-craving maniacs or they just miss the old times is another story.
I don’t need to tell you just about every zombie story has been done. The idea of former zombies being reintegrated into society isn’t new, BBC’s In the Flesh does it best, but it is a less explored topic than our typical end-of-the-world scenario.
The Cured begins with Senan (Sam Kelley), a former zombie, being released into the custody of his sister-in-law (Page). Page’s husband was killed during the attack (eaten whole it seems), and Page has decided to stay in Ireland with her son.
Many of the great horror movies have messages. There’s nothing wrong with a film that’s just about a crazy masked man killing promiscuous teenagers, but these don’t tend to have the same impact as a film like Night of the Living Dead. The reintegrated former zombies in The Cured are treated like third class citizens; they are given meaningless jobs and beaten if they raise a word of protest. Many family members who may have loved the infected disown them because they attacked people when they were under the effects of the virus.
Conor (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) was Senan’s zombie partner and the pair remain friends when they become cured. The two hold a dark secret and Conor doesn’t have the same appreciation of his refound humanity. A former politician, Conor quickly becomes a symbol and rallying point for the cured who feel like they’ve been wronged by society.
The part of The Cured that I found unique was the zombies who were not fixed. Senan is given a job as an assistant to a doctor working on a second cure for the rest of the infected, and we see the conditions the undead are left in. They’re flesh-eating maniacs, there’s no doubt of that, but is it right to keep them chained up like animals? Especially when we know they’re just one shot away from becoming a normal human being again?
The Cured is never exceptional, there’s something in the plotting that holds it back, but it’s a worthwhile film for horror enthusiast looking for something different on an October night.
The Internet has been a part of my life for almost 20 years. I remember the first time I used AOL Instant Messenger, putting up thinly veiled song lyrics about my crushes in my profile. I remember the first time my mother told me to get off the computer so she could make a phone call (yes kids, back in my day, you couldn’t Internet AND make phone calls at the same time).
It’s impossible not to incorporate technology and Internet into a modern day movie. Part of the lure of directors and writers’ recent 80’s nostalgia in film, other than people who grew up then, is the ability to get rid of the “why didn’t they just Google it?” or “why didn’t they just text someone?’ plot hole.
Two films have come out in the last two months that use the Internet and technology in fairly unique ways. Unfriended: Dark Web, a horror sequel that shares little but the name and shooting style of the first film, and Searching, the tale of a father who is trying to find his missing daughter, each create a modern film about technology that never moves the viewer’s perspective away from a screen.
The first Unfriended was a horror movie about a killer ghost shot entirely from the perspective of a single computer screen and its webcam. I found it to be quite forgettable, but the way the movie was shot and designed seemed new and innovative. Unfriended: Dark Web uses the same style, showing the webcam of our protagonist, Matias, and his computer screen during a video chat game night with his friends. Matias has stolen a MacBook from a local Internet café (they still have those?) and he quickly finds out he has inherited more than just a new computer. Since it is a horror movie, I don’t need to tell you, but things quickly go south for him and his group of friends.
There’s something riveting about watching the movie unfold on a computer screen. Matias is getting iMessages, he’s reading articles, he’s using Spotify (the only soundtrack in the movie). The computer mouse moves like you yourself are there and you can spot little interesting things in each corner of the screen. For most of us that spend our days on our computer, it’s easy enough to follow. I’m not sure how someone of my parent’s generation (in their 70’s), would handle watching this style and I can’t blame someone for finding it too different than what they are used to in a film to enjoy it.
Unfriended: Dark Web is decidedly dark. It shies away from most violence on camera, but the movie showcases all of the purportedly terrible things that happen on the “dark web”. People kidnapped and tortured for others entertainment, murder, it’s all there. The bad guys use Bitcoin to pay for things and remain anonymous (as someone who knows a little about cryptocurrency, this is a bit naïve and frustrating), and even reference the second most popular crypto, Ethereum. It’s a movie doing its best to let you know that all the evil things you’ve heard about the “dark web” and “cryptocurrency” are true.
These aren’t particularly fair criticisms. Horror movies are made for entertainment, not for accuracy. I don’t get angry when a teenager stabs Michael Myers and Myers pretends nothing happened as he chokes the life out of a couple of kids trying to get laid.
Searching opened in limited release last week. My theater was about half full on a Saturday showing, and the audience didn’t make a sound the whole movie. The film starts with a montage of a life through technology; the beginning of a marriage, a child, and an eventual death. It’s told all through the computer screen; videos of a mother and daughter cooking, first day of school photos, even a funny bit of nostalgia when someone clicks a popup on addictinggames.com and crashes their whole computer. 15 years of exposition told in a five-minute montage in a new creative way we haven’t seen before.
John Cho is the lead of the film and he does a fantastic job of a father slowly losing his cool as he realizes his daughter has disappeared. It starts with a couple texts, a phone call, and then he is going through his daughter’s entire list of phone contacts and Facebook friends to figure out what the hell is going on. Debra Messing is the lead detective in the search for Cho’s daughter.
Most of Searching is told on the computer screen, but there are inventive ways to inject information; news reports, YouTube videos, surveillance footage. The movie uses these in a way that never feels like it’s cheating.
I will not spoil anything about Searching, but it is not as decidedly brutal as Unfriended: Dark Web. There are no videos of awful torture for Cho’s character to find. There is no entity or organization that kills for fun. The real villain is something more horrifying; the loneliness that someone can feel despite the fact they are a click away from billions of people. The horrible things that people can say on the Internet that hurt others in ways they couldn’t imagine. The awful comments that takes seconds to post but leave impacts for years.
Searching and Unfriended: Dark Web both use technology to present their plots, but the subjects they handle could not be more different. There are a few laughs to be had in Searching, but whatever laughs I got from UDW came from a lack of understanding of the “dark web” or cryptocurrency. Searching opens nationwide today and I recommend you see it. Unfriended: Dark Web will soon enough be on a streaming service and it’s not a bad way to kill a rainy Saturday or lazy Sunday. Either way, I’d recommend you put something over that laptop camera and take a second before you post that hateful Facebook comment on your friend’s post. You never know who may be watching.
There’s a glut of content in the television space today. You turn on your Netflix, you click over one or two rows with your Apple TV, and next thing you know, you have a whole row of 20 shows about British small town murders. Is Britain really this unsafe? Is it full of towns like Murder, She Wrote where hundreds of people get murdered despite the tiny population and yet no one moves?
Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and all the television channels we had before provide us with a lot of options in the space. There’s never been a better time to watch TV than right now. Below are some of what I’ve been consuming (and with bingeable TV, that’s really what it is)
The Rain (Netflix) – The Rain is the first original Danish program scripted for Netflix. You wouldn’t know any of this if you just tuned in and started watching in an English-speaking country, because the show is set automatically to English dub. If you decide to embark on this journey, make sure to return the program to the original Danish audio. I think this might explain why some of the top reviews on IMDB say the show is “so poorly acted”. I’ve always been a proponent of watching content in its original language; when you listen to the dubbed track, you are depriving yourself of the actual performance on the show. You miss all the voice cracks and little inflections on certain words that the actor wanted you to hear.
I’ve found that watching subtitled material makes you a better viewer. There’s no break to zone off and check Twitter on your phone. A moment or two of drifting and wondering whether you need to do laundry and you need to rewind. It demands your full attention and that’s not necessarily a bad thing in today’s multi-tasking world.
I just wrote a hundred or so words under the heading of The Rain and not one mentions the quality of the program. If you’re a post-apocalyptic junkie like myself, you’ll be frustrated by the first episode of this show. There’s idiotic choice after idiotic choice that results in characters put into positions they should never be in. It’s enough that you might want to just turn off the television and rewatch Survivors (a remake of post-apocalyptic viral British show from the 70’s that deserves its own post), but stick through another episode. The characters still have their moments of stupidity, it’s inevitable in a show like this, but it’s understandable and doesn’t detract from the quality of the show like the first episode.
The Rain begins with an ominous shower that leaves two siblings trapped in a bunker on their own. As with all end-of-the-world shows, they can’t stay in the bunker forever and the second episode begins with them connecting with another group. The lead character, Simone (Alba August), can have a bit of an idealistic streak that leaves veteran viewers of this material annoyed, but she comes into the situation late like The Walking Dead’s Rick Grimes or 28 Days Later Jim. We’ve seen enough post-apocalyptic shows that we know shooting the bad guy is usually the best recourse, but Simone leads a sheltered life in a bunker and it’s not hard to understand why she doesn’t want to go about living the veteran post-apocalyptic life.
The Rain is a great binge. It’s only 8 episodes and most are around 35 minutes. Once you get past the pilot, the show picks up and is a thrill ride. If you’re a fan of post-apocalyptic and genre material, it’s worth checking out.
The Terror (AMC): The Terror combines two of my favorite subjects; History and Horror. The opening credits do not mince words; The Terror and it’s sister ship Erebus went looking for the Northwest Passage and never returned. What follows in the show is a mix of history, at least as much that is known, and a creature feature. You can think of the show as Master and Commander meets Stephen King, except there’s a couple ships stuck in ice and no Russell Crowe with long flowing hair.
The Terror benefits from a great cast. Jared Harris, Tobias Menzies and Ciaran Hinds are our leads. If you don’t know those names, I guarantee that within a couple minutes you’ll be muttering, “oh, that guy.” There are also a few supporting characters, particularly Thomas Hickey (Adam Nagaitis) and Thomas Blanky (Ian Hart), who make an impression within minutes of their arrival.
The show doesn’t treat the audience with kid gloves. There are a lot of names to remember and not much exposition, so many at times you may be wondering who is who. After hearing about the show, I decided to read the novel of the same name by Dan Simmons. It’s one of my favorite reads in recent history and I can’t recommend it enough. The television show may drag at times (I’m through 4 of the 8 available episodes online), but it’s well written and the acting is impeccable. If you’re a history and horror buff, The Terror is a match made in heaven.
3% (Netflix) – I already discussed The Rain, Netflix’s first original Danish program, so it’s only appropriate I also talk about it’s first Brazilian show, 3%. The first season of 3% came out over a year ago and I binged it all in one day. 3% feels like an adult take on a young adult premise; 3% of the population is granted exclusive privileges after passing a series of the tests. The rest of society is stuck in the gutter. While it sounds like it could be at home in the Divergent or Hunger Games universe, 3% takes its premise seriously and doesn’t shy away from violence.
The second season of 3% came out just over a week ago and I’m looking forward to starting. If you haven’t seen the first, I recommend streaming a few episodes on Netflix. I have a feeling you’ll be hooked.
And Before We Go……
What I’m Reading: I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about what I’m reading. As someone who started this blog to have a place to list all of my literary work (the published stuff is on the side bar!), I’d feel awful without saying what book my nose has been stuck in. Well, in this case, it’s over my kindle, but you know what I’m saying.
Harry Potter – Yes, I’m re-reading Harry Potter. I’m on The Chamber of Secrets, and it’s just as magical as when I read it when I was 8. You may have enjoyed the books as a kid and thought they might be ruined on another look….. they are not. Please go re-read them because there’s no one else on the Internet to talk about Harry Potter with.
Thoroughbreds opens with a shot of a young girl and her horse. She strokes the horse’s head, a calming gesture for a loved animal. It’s only when we see the knife that we shield our eyes in the seats of the theater, prepared for violence that we thankfully don’t witness.
Thoroughbreds is the debut film of Cory Finley. Originally written for the stage, it’s something that makes sense once you reflect on seeing the movie. There are acts of violence in Thoroughbreds, but there’s rarely any footage of the carnage. Most of the film is two or three people talking in a room. I would be interested to see a stage version of Thoroughbreds, but it would take away one of my favorite parts of the film: Erik Friedlander’s score.
The score of the film is jarring and fitting. It does an amazing job of raising the tension, yet it isn’t the most notable sound in the movie (that would be the rowing machine of Lily’s (Anya Taylor-Joy) stepfather). I’ll stay away from spoilers, but the film uses the sound of the rowing machine in a masterful way.
Anya Taylor-Joy is a joy (I am so sorry, I had to) to watch. Coming off The Witch and Split, she is quickly becoming one of the more interesting young actresses in Hollywood and an indie darling. Though New Mutants, the supposed horror take on the X-men series, has been pushed back, I would not be surprised to see it as her breakout role to mainstream audiences (though one could certainly argue that was Split). Taylor-Joy does a fantastic job of portraying the girl who should have it all, but underneath you can tell that things just aren’t right. Her performance reminds me a little of Elle Fanning’s in Neon Demon, another smaller film that I thought flew under the radar.
Olivia Cooke plays Amanda, who is introduced to us in a long take when she enters Lily’s house for a tutoring session. It’s an interesting shot that gives us the lay of the land for the home, something that will factor into the film later, and lets us see Amanda trying on a smile in a mirror like someone who only does so when it is expected of them. Thoroughbreds is an amazing well shot and technically proficient effort for first time director, Cory Finley, who also wrote the film. He builds the tension of the movie in a way that has you on the edge of the seat. I am looking forward to seeing more work from him.
I couldn’t discuss this film without mentioning Anton Yelchin, who tragically passed away in 2016. Thoroughbreds is his last performance, and another example of why he was such a promising young actor. He isn’t in the movie for long, but he makes an impression in every scene he has as Tim, the drug dealer who both of the girls try to manipulate. If you haven’t seen Green Room or Odd Thomas (an underrated gem), I recommend watching both. Yelchin starred in studio hits like Star Trek, but I truly think he would have been the star of many great indie films for years to come. His filmography had many interesting choices and seeing him on the screen in Thoroughbreds makes you smile at his talent and feel sadness about his passing.
Thoroughbreds is a movie we need more of. A young cast of actors who will likely go on to do big things, a talented fresh director, it’s what we all want to see in theaters. Sadly it hasn’t done particularly well in it’s theatrical run (a little over 2.7 million dollars in around 550 theaters) but I hope we get to see more movies like it on the big screen. I think with the success of Netflix and Amazon studios, these types of movies will continue to exist through streaming services, but they deserve to be seen in theaters. If you haven’t seen Thoroughbreds, please do. It’s one of my favorites of 2018 so far.
It’s the big night. We’ve heard the cases of why movies should win; Shape of Water is a “technical” marvel, what shouldn’t win, Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing Missouri because of its “problematic” story, and what would be a great story, Get Out, a movie that came from a February release to a serious best picture contender. Now we get to see what the Academy has decided.
I’ve compiled some of my thoughts on who should win, who will win, and what should win even though it wasn’t nominated. The latter category is (mostly) a joke and my way to talk about some of the forgotten great movies from this year.
Best Supporting Actress
Who Will Win: Janney
Who Should Win: Metcalf
Who Should Win Even Though They Aren’t Nominated: Elizabeth Olsen, Wind River
Allison Janey is the runaway leader. According to Bovada, an online betting site, she is a -600 favorite. If you’re lucky enough not to be cursed with the gambling gene and don’t know what any of that means, god bless you, but essentially if you bet 100 dollars on Janney to win, you would get back 16. Those are some pretty stacked odds.
I haven’t had a chance to see I, Tonya, so I can’t comment on the merits of Janney being favored. Metcalf has the second best odds to win. A veteran theater and television actor, Metcalf turns in a powerful performance as a mother in Ladybird. I actually have some problems with her character and have trouble relating to her, but that doesn’t make it any less well done.
Taylor Sheridan’s Wind River is a forgotten gem of this year (I’ll talk more about this later), and Olsen turns in a dramatic role that’s worthy of praise as an FBI agent trying to figure out who killed a young native American woman.
Best Supporting Actor
Who Will Win: Rockwell
Who Should Win: Rockwell
Who Should Win Even Though They Aren’t Nominated: The Cast of Kids in It
Sam Rockwell has been one of my favorite actors for years. He’s absolutely hilarious in Galaxy Quest as the crewman who always thinks he’s going to die. He puts on a showcase in Moon, a movie that is literally just him on screen by himself almost the entire film. Rockwell’s also amazing in Choke, which is sneakily a well done adaptation of Chuck Palanhuik’s novel about a sex addict and his various schemes. And I haven’t even mentioned his role in Iron Man 2 (ok, I’m kidding about that one).
People are upset about Three Billboards and especially Rockwell’s character because they see the film as a redemption arc for a violent and racist cop, who quite frankly should be in jail. I don’t think of it that way. Rockwell’s character changes throughout Three Billboards, and he makes some positive steps, but the film far from forgives him for what he’s done. Sam Rockwell deserves this award, and don’t listen to anyone who tells you otherwise.
Woody Harrelson also does a fantastic job in Three Billboards. He plays a much more sympathetic character with less screen time, but it’s a well deserved nomination. I’m no fan of The Shape of Water (whoops, I said it), but Richard Jenkins is the best part of the film. In a movie about repressed people who are forced to live on the fringes of society, it’s much easier to relate to a persecuted gay man than a fish person. I haven’t had a chance to see All the Money in the World or The Florida Project, but the nomination for Plumber seems to be for the message Ridley Scott sent by recasting Spacey’s role after the horrible accusations came out.
It wasn’t nearly as scary as I had hoped, but they couldn’t have cast the movie any better. Wolfhard steals a lot of scenes as Richie, but all of the kids are perfect in their roles. I obviously wouldn’t take this away from Rockwell, but I can’t help but mention their performances.
Best Actress
Who Will Win: McDormand
Who Should Win: McDormand
Who Should Win Even Though They Aren’t Nominated: Seo-Hyun Ahn, Okja
This award is about as locked up as anything being given out tonight. Frances McDormand is going to win, and she deserves to win. We already knew she was an incredible actress, but the main role in Three Billboards is written to highlight all of her talents. She makes the movie, and is about as unlikeable at times as someone can be for what she’s gone through (especially in her scenes with Peter Dinklage).
Streep’s nomination doesn’t need to be discussed. It happens every year and in a movie that had the talent on paper that didn’t translate to screen, it was inevitable she would get nominated. Sally Hawkins does a lot with no words and Ronan proves once again she’s one of the best young actress, but it’s impossible to contend with McDormand.
Okja was a victim of its platform, Netflix. If released by a major studio, I honestly think it could have been a best picture nominee. Part of the reason for that is Seo-Hyun Ahn, the 14 year old actress and main character of the film. If you haven’t seen Okja, you should really should. It’s only a click away on Netflix.
Best Actor
Who Will Win: Oldman
Who Should Win: Oldman
Who Should Win Even Though They Aren’t Nominated: Robert Pattison, Good Time
If I told you that Daniel Day Lewis was in a Paul Thomas Anderson movie and that he announced it would be his last role, what would you have bet he would have won best actor? I would have probably bet anything you wanted, but alas, it seems that the once-in-a-generation talent will not be taking home the statue tonight.
Oldman disappears into a historic role of Winston Churchill. It’s quite surprising that a chameleon like Oldman doesn’t have an Oscar, and this was the perfect chance for him to get one. I haven’t seen Roman J. Israel, Esq., but it seems that Denzel’s in the same boat as Meryl Streep; a decorated actor nominated for a role that isn’t in his top half of performances. There are rumors that Chalamet could win, or even Kaluuya could sneak in for Get Out, but I have a feeling this will go to Oldman.
Robert Pattison had a great year. Between Lost City of Z and Good Time, he has gone the route of other child stars like Daniel Radcliffe, choosing roles that he finds interesting and no longer going for a box office haul. If you haven’t seen Good Time, it is one of the most unpredictable movies of the year. There was not a single point in which I knew what was going to happen in that movie. Pattinson’s character is such a slimy, unethical crook and he plays him to perfection.
Best Director
Who Will Win: del Toro
Who Should Win: Nolan
Who Should Win Even Though They Aren’t Nominated: Taylor Sheridan, Wind River
Del Toro is a heavy favorite for The Shape of Water. I am not a fan of the film, it feels like a worse version of stories he’s told before, but I understand the praise. He shot most of the film on the set of The Strain and it is a good looking and well polished final product.
Nolan is actually the second betting favorite for Dunkirk, but I don’t see a scenario where he wins this award. I think the sleeper pick here is Get Out. People are huge fans of the film and giving a first time director an award for a thriller/horror movie would be a statement.
Wind River is possibly my favorite film of 2018. Taylor Sheridan has wrote Sicario, Hell or High Water and Wind River in the last three years. Wind River is the only one he has directed, but it may be the best of three. It has literally just got on Netflix, so there’s no excuse to not watch it. The fact that the movie was produced by Harvey Weinstein took any chance it had from getting nominated away (Sheridan and the rest of the producers acted quickly to have Weinstein and his company scrubbed from the credits when news broke). Wind River has a pair of the most intense scenes I’ve seen on film this year. I don’t usually get squeamish while watching movies, but one of them made me want to turn away. The film is a hell of an accomplishment and I can’t wait to see Sheridan’s new series, Yellowstone, on Netflix.
Best Picture
Who Will Win: Three Billboards
Who Should Win: Three Billboards
Who Should Win Even Though They Aren’t Nominated: Wind River, but since I spoke about that already, I’d include Okja and mother!
This is a three horse race between The Shape of Water, Three Billboards and Get Out. The latter is much more of a long shot, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it bring home the Oscar.
I think that Dunkirk, Get Out, Lady Bird and Three Billboards would all be satisfying picks. The Shape of Water would not. Pans Labyrinth is del Toro’s masterpiece, and I would even argue that Crimson Peak, while far from perfect, is a more enjoyable film than The Shape of Water. Most of del Toro’s films are about monsters that are truly more human than people, and The Shape of Water is all of that presented in the most formulaic and crowd-pleasing way (I never thought I would say a movie that fish people making love to humans is crowd pleasing and mainstream).
Three Billboards has the best performances of the year. It will win two trophies for acting, and it has a compelling screenplay and story. I personally don’t think it deserves the controversy it has behind it and I believe it should be the best picture.
There were a lot of good movies this year, hence my three other movies I could have seen as best picture. mother!, Okja and Wind River were some of the best films of the year and the latter two are on Netflix. If you haven’t had a chance to see them, I promise you will like the latter two. mother! will invoke some sort of reaction from you. Whether it is good or bad, I cannot tell you, but it’s a film that I enjoyed.
That’s a lot of words, so I’ll stop writing. Good luck to everyone tonight (except Shape of Water)
I don’t need to tell you that now is one of the best times for television content we’ve ever had. You’ve probably had someone tell you all about “that show you need to watch”. This week, it might be Altered Carbon. Last week, it was The End of The Fucking World. A couple months back, it was The Handmaiden’s Tale. All of these are the latest and greatest from streaming giants Netflix and Hulu. Amazon would like to be included in the conversation, but they don’t really have anything most of us would consider “must watch” TV. The fact that they’ve commissioned a few new series and a paid a couple hundred million for the rights to Lord of the Rings means that the cult of Bezos is painfully aware of this. We haven’t even discussed Apple, the most valuable company in the world, who hasn’t yet aired a scripted show, but has one in the pipeline from Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon.
And that’s only the streaming giants. There’s HBO, Westworld is returning this year, Showtime, yes, I’m as surprised as you are that your friend still watches Homeland, and all those networks shows your mom and dad love (shout out to NCIS). It’s an overwhelming amount of content and probably the reason we have so few of those “water cooler” shows anymore.
I’ve always been a fan of watching a finished product, or at least waiting until a whole season is ready to binge. Netflix, Amazon and Hulu are filled with hundreds of great shows that are ready to watch. Below are a few of the shows I’ve watched in the last month or so.
I’ve been of the SYFY (I still want to call it SciFi, silly name rebrand be damned) network for almost my whole life. Instead of growing up on SpongeBob and Doug like much of my generation, I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation. I watched Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. And yes, I did watch Power Rangers and Pokemon.
If you ask most people what the first great show on SciFi was, they’d tell you Battlestar Galatica. They aren’t wrong. BSG is one of my favorite shows, a classic that every fan of TV should watch, but it’s not the first great show SciFi produced.
Stargate:SG1 started out on Showtime, but it moved over to SciFi in 2002. It spawned two other spin offs (Atlantis and Universe), the former of which almost ran for over a hundred episodes. I owe this franchise a deeper dive, but I don’t think it’s unfair to say this inspired a wave of science fiction TV that had fun, but still took itself seriously at times. You couldn’t help but loving the snarky Colonel O’Neil, or enjoying Teal’c say “indeed”. There’s a reason the show ran for almost 200 episodes.
Travelers was written by Brad Wright, the creator of Stargate: SG1. The show’s tone is a little more serious, not as dour as Stargate Universe, which garners a lot of hate among Stargate fans, and hits the perfect tone for a bingeable program. The premise of travelers is simple enough; Time travelers from the future take over bodies of people who are just about to die. Their goal is to change a future that has gone wrong, all their actions guided by a supercomputer they call “the director”. It stars Eric McCormack, of Will and Grace fame, as FBI Agent Mclaren. I don’t think I’ve ever seen McCormack in a serious role before, but you wouldn’t recognize him from his Will and Grace part here.
If you love science fiction, Travelers is a great investment of your time. The first two seasons are on Netflix, and we can only hope the Canadian production is picked up for a third.
The Expanse (2 seasons streaming on Amazon Prime)
The Expanse has been called Syfy’s (ok fine, since it’s a current show, I’ll use the new name) next Battlestar Galactica. It hasn’t seen the same commercial success as BSG, but the show is well produced. You can certainly tell that SYFY busted out the checkbook for this one. I’ve only watched the first couple episodes, but I have had the chance to read the first two books. From what I know of the story so far, The Expanse is going to get a lot more exciting. It’s well cast, who doesn’t want Thomas Jane as a futuristic noir detective, and has a well established world that is so deep it’s almost overwhelming at times.
The Road
Ok, I’m reading this one for a second time, but if you haven’t checked out Cormac McCarthy’s work, you really should. There’s even a great film adaptation staring Viggo Mortensen. The Road tells the story of a boy and his father trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic America. McCarthy’s writing style can be jarring and challenging, but The Road is him at his most accessible (if you want a real challenge that pays off, read Blood Meridian. Many consider it one of the best pieces of American literature). The Road is about how far you are willing to go for love. It’s about how far other people might go to survive and what humanity really is. It’s a short novel, but it’s essential reading for anyone who enjoys literature.
I’ll continue to do these as I consume other content. If you have any thoughts or other suggestions, you can reach me on Twitter.
I saw the trailer for The Ritual a couple weeks back. There was something about the trailer that really clicked for me. Maybe I just need to watch enough scary things happening in the woods so I have an excuse to stay on my couch all day?
I’m one of those people who always checks to see if a movie or TV series is based on a book. I can embrace that each production is a very different thing, but I like to have a reference to what exactly the TV or film adaptation is working on. Writing a novel is a lonely experience, but television and film tend to be more collaborative. It’s why it’s not surprising that they can become so different when adapting a book into a screenplay.
I picked up Adam Nevill’s The Ritual from the Kindle store on Thursday. It’s around 430 pages, but I was finished by Friday afternoon. Nevill writes with an unique style for a horror novelist. He’s very descriptive, but the depictions of violence never seem pornographic, only showing us what the main character is seeing. It’s a style that is engaging and one I haven’t really seen much of in the horror space. I have not read any of his other works, but after The Ritual, I will be checking them out.
The book puts four middle-aged friends who went to college together into the wilderness. Our main character, Luke, is the one who has seemed to have progressed the least. He has gone from job-to-job and never had a serious girlfriend or children like his three friends. It only a day or two into the trip that he realizes that he doesn’t really fit in with any of the men he had considered brothers years ago.
Nevill writes Luke with a sense of rage. Luke loses his cool many times, even striking his friend, Dom, in a situation where that’s the last thing you need to do. It’s clear that Hutch, the seeming glue of the group, is the only thing keeping the friends from completely falling apart.
Hutch is usually the protagonist in this type of story. He’s the good guy, the one that everyone likes and has the most survival experience. It’s why when SPOILERS Hutch ends up the first victim that we’re so surprised. It’s an enjoyable narrative decision from Nevill.
The first part of the novel ends with Luke alone. All of his friends have been picked off and he collapses in absolute exhaustion. END SPOILERS
This is a good place to talk about the main narrative difference between the book and the film. In the first scene of the movie, Luke goes into a liquor store with Robert, the fifth friend of their group. It’s seconds before Luke realizes that there’s a robbery in progress, backing away slowly down the aisle to leave Robert alone with the thieves.
Robert is beaten to death for his wedding ring while Luke hides at the end of the aisle. It’s easy to say that you would have ran into the fray to help your friend, fighting off two thugs with lead pipes, but it’s impossible to know until you’re put into that situation. One of Robert’s last ideas is to go on a hiking trip to Sweden together and the group decides to go in his honor.
This is an interesting narrative change from the book. Film Luke is a coward, or at least afraid to act when it counts, while Novel Luke is impetuous, quick to strike out in anger. Each version has their merits and I can’t help but enjoy them as unique properties.
I don’t want to go too far into the details and give everything away, but both the novel and film are an experience worth having. I’m happy I checked out both.
SPOILERS There’s something a little less scary about actually seeing the monster in the film. Our minds can always imagine something worse than what we see, which is why I enjoyed this part of the story on the page more. END SPOILERS
You can find The Ritual streaming on Netflix. Check it out. Maybe you should also cancel that hiking trip you had.
The story of how The Cloverfield Paradox got to Netflix is more interesting than the final product. For most people, sitting in the comfort of their home as they watched the Eagles beat the Patriots (thank god), the trailer dropped in the first quarter of the Super Bowl was the first time they had heard of The Cloverfield Paradox. When they saw “Coming Very Soon”, all they needed to do was go to Netflix and find out that the movie would be airing right after the game.
This is an unprecedented and awesome move. It is great to see Netflix have the power to buy a studio movie and decided to release it with little to no fanfare right after the biggest sporting event in the United States. Netflix has always been cagey about their viewing numbers, but I would be interested to find out how well this movie did.
The Cloverfield Paradox was not always that. Originally it was The God Particle, slotted to be released in February 2017. It was pushed back to October 2017 and given more time for “post production”. This isn’t uncommon for heavy visual effect films, but when the movie was moved back to February 2018 and then again to April 2018, it was safe to assume there were some issues.
It wouldn’t be unfair to assume the delay from February 2017 to October 2017 may have stemmed from the release of the movie Life. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds, the film was basically an Alien-like space movie that only grossed 30 million dollars in the US on a 58-million-dollar budget. Perhaps Paramount, producers of The Cloverfield Paradox, saw one space movie bomb with larger star power and decided they needed more time to fine tune the final product.
The Cloverfield Paradox had budgetary problems of its own. It was reported that Paramount initially budgeted the movie for 5 million dollars, but it ended up ballooning to 40 million. They were “concerned” that type of budget would make it difficult for the movie to be profitable in theaters.
In late January, Paramount made a deal with Netflix to pick up Annihilation, the upcoming Natalie Portman sci-fi epic based on the hit novels, for streaming outside of the US. This was quite a surprise, considering many of us thought the Alex Garland (Ex Machina, The Beach) film would be a tent-pole and potential franchise (the book series is a trilogy). This deal likely paved the way for Netflix to pick up The Cloverfield Paradox, except in this case it was for streaming across the globe.
I love the idea of a movie just coming out with little to no fanfare. In this case, the movie wasn’t made in secret, but a troubled production that a studio thought would bomb. After seeing the final product, I can’t blame them.
The Cloverfield Paradox currently sits at a 37% on Metacritic with a 6.0 user score. To put that in perspective, Life, a film with two massive movie stars, received a 54 Metascore and 6.3 user score. We could argue whether Ryan Reynolds and Jake Gyllenhall drive theater-goers more than the Cloverfield franchise, but either way, this doesn’t sound like a hit.
None of what I just put in the above paragraph matters to Netflix. They bought up this movie, they got one Super Bowl commercial spot, and before Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes or your friend from down the street told you it wasn’t very good, they released it. It completely bypassed critics, and anyone who was interested in the franchise probably watched the move in the last two days. This says nothing of those who just wanted to watch The Cloverfield Paradise to see what the hype of what the movie was about.
I’ve written a lot about the release and marketing of The Cloverfield Paradox, but what about the film itself? If you haven’t figured it out already, it’s nothing special. It’s quite clear that someone wrote The God Particle script, Bad Robot (JJ Abrams’ production company that produced Cloverfield) bought it up, and decided that it could be in the Cloverfield franchise with some tweaks. SPOILERS TO FOLLOW
Our main plot follows Hamilton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Black Mirror, Concussion), and the rest of her team in a space station. From the opening newscast, we know that Earth is falling apart. They’re out of resources, wars are near breaking out, and the only salvation is our crew and the space station. The station, the Cloverfield, has the potential to create limitless energy from space. Unsurprisingly, there are people on Earth who claims this may have consequences that we haven’t thought of.
The cast is quite impressive. David Oyelowo (Selma) plays the head of the team, Kiel. He’s joined by Daniel Bruhl, Chris O’Dowd, Ziyi Zhang and a group of other actors who you have seen over the years. Their performances give a weight to the material that is probably undeserved.
The B plot is Hamilton’s husband, Michael, Roger Davies, stuck on a Earth where things are starting go South. I could elaborate on this, but there’s nothing here really worth talking about. There’s a moment where Michael goes to a bunker and you think it might be a connection to 10 Cloverfield Lane, but it’s not. It could not be more clear that all of Michael’s scenes are included to make this a “Cloverfield” movie.
The Cloverfield Paradox asks some questions worth asking. If you could save your children in another universe from dying and not go back to your own universe, would you? Would you kill a handful of people from another universe to save your own? These are the types of questions we like to see in good science fiction, but the tone of the film is too uneven to give them weight. Chris O’Dowd loses his hand, the movie is a comedy. A guy goes crazy when he is filled with worms and explodes and the movie is horror. The Cloverfield Paradox doesn’t know what it wants to be.
There’s a movie here that may be very good, but it’s in desperate need of an editor and a cohesive narrative. Cutting Michael’s story on Earth doesn’t make it a Cloverfield movie, but it makes the film better. If you include a B plot like that, it needs some sort of narrative payoff.
The Cloverfield Paradox is worth a watch if you enjoy the franchise or sci-fi, but don’t expect anything out of the ordinary. Cloverfield fans have Overlord to look forward to, an entry into the franchise that will have American soldiers finding more than they bargained for behind enemy lines on D-Day. Nazi evil inter-dimensional space beings? Sign me up.
I like it. It’s a love story mystery.
Maya Hayes
I saw Definitely Maybe on a date in high school. I invited a girl I worked with to see it with me because I thought Definitely Maybe was the type of thing she would like. Little did I know, the girl brought along three other couples that I had never met before. It was our first and only date, and barely a date if I may say, but I still remember Definitely Maybe.
If you watch Definitely Maybe (DM), you can’t help but notice the star power associated with the film. Ryan Reynolds, Rachel Weisz, Elizabeth Banks, Isla Fisher and Kevin Kline were all stars at the time. Weisz may have been at her all-time peak, coming off The Mummy series and an Oscar for The Constant Gardner. Elizabeth Banks was just at the beginning of a breakout that would put her in supporting roles in The Hunger Games series and the Pitch Perfect franchise, the latter of which she directed an entry.
The other thing you can’t help but notice is that Definitely Maybe is How I Met Your Mother in under two hours. HIMYM came out three years earlier than DM, which makes me think that someone saw the success of the show and decided it could easily be a movie. When Hollywood sees a story idea that is popular, they flock to make as many clones of it as they can.
DM came at an interesting time in Ryan Reynolds’ career. A year after DM, Reynolds took his first crack at Deadpool in X-men Origins: Wolverine, another romantic comedy with Sandra Bullock in The Proposal and a small bit part in the indie favorite Adventureland. Reynolds seemed to be trying all sorts of different roles to figure out what his career might be.
I don’t need to tell you that Ryan Reynolds is good looking. I also don’t need to tell you that he does a great job with witty dialogue and playing a charming smart aleck. His character in DM, Will Hayes, plays to all his strengths and Reynolds’ is perfect for the role. In parallel universes where this movie is made three years later or earlier, we’re watching Gerard Butler or Hugh Grant butcher the movie.
DM is nothing without its supporting cast. Reynolds’ three love interests, played respectively by Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weiz and Isla Fisher, are perfectly casted. Each woman plays a unique character that has more depth than we usually see in romantic comedies. There are moments in each movie where you would be happy if any of the girls were Reynolds’ daughter’s, a young Abagail Breslin, mother.
Rachel Weisz plays the strong-willed journalist who is always ready to have a back and forth with Reynolds. She also gets some fun scenes with Kevin Kline, arguing over the merits of love and corrupt politicians like any high-society sophisticated New York writer would.
Fisher is the one who steals the show. Two years previous to DM, she played the sex-crazed sister chasing after Vince Vaughn in Wedding Crashers. It’s a hilarious role in a movie that I never stopped laughing at in the theater, but she isn’t the one you remember from the film. In DM, she’s the nuanced female friend who you know belongs with the main character. There are multiple points at the movie where you just want to yell at Fisher and Reynolds character to tell them they should just date already.
I quoted the line in the intro to the piece, but the “love story mystery” angle of the movie is what keeps DM fresh and intriguing. Everyone has seen the guy trying to decide who the love of his life is, but it’s different to watch him tell the story to his daughter. Hearing her yell at him for smoking or being a slut is a funny aside that sets it Definitely Maybe apart from the genre.
If you haven’t checked out Definitely Maybe, you should. I’m not usually a fan of romantic comedies, but this film does it for even me. And if you saw Definitely Maybe when it came out ten years ago, it’s on Netflix. Throw it on and watch it again. You won’t regret it.
Selected Thoughts and Other Interesting Things 