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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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Blacksad: Somewhere In the Shadows Review

Hello you beautiful people! I have a WEIRD relationship with Noir. It’s weird because i’ve never really dived into the films of type, though I really should, But as a kid I absolutely LOVED the tracer bullet arcs in Calvin and Hobbes, where everyone’s favorite hyperactive and imaginative six year old would plant himself as the hero in a noir pastiche.. ironically like myself Bill Watterson was also not a huge noir buff and just relied on Cliches but hey, it worked.

Still love these. So from fourth grade on it imprinted a lifelong love of a good bit of detective noir. Not enough to you know, get me to read any traditional noir books or watch any noir tv shows or detective procedurals but I still love a good mystery from time to time and some of my favorite comics such as Howard the Duck by Chip Zdarksy and Peter David’s second run on x-factor run on the genre while having fun with it’s cliches.

I also love anthropormphic animal stories. Dunno why, I just do, so once I found out about Blacksad, a comic that combines disney quality art from a former disney animator with gripping, adult noir that rips your heart out... I couldn’t resisit trying it. Telling the tale of John Blacksad, a cynical private detective and the cases he steps into via gorgeous, straight out of a disney storyboard art, the series is by Juan Díaz Canales (writer) and Juanjo Guarnido (artist), the latter a former Disney artist who worked on several Disney films, meeting in the 90′s while working on licensed works and hitting it off, leading to this series. That’s.. really all I could find about the making of the series in English. The only other fact is the series is designed for first release in France, which has a huge comics market, hence the various volumes being called “Albums”, with them later being released in Spain and then english, currently in the latter through Dark Horse Comics, who last year collected the current 5 albums and some side stories into one big volume. And with Dark Horse having infrequent sales including Blacksad on comixology it’s easy enough to pick up all 5 volumes in one complete package on digital for 9 bucks, as it is right now. Seriously I’m not trying to shill for Comixology or Dark Horse, I just love these comics and suggest picking them up. The creators DO intend on new volumes... it’s just both have been busy with other work so they’ve been stuck in development hell since 2013. However given there have always been, if much smaller, the biggest being 5 years, gaps between the Albums, I don’t think the series is dead quite yet and with Dark Horse fully backing it, taking the series from only two volumes getting translated to both translating the first four AND translating the fifth within a year of it’s release, we’ll undoubtly get the next one quickly. The series has also spawned a game, Under the Skin, which i’ll probably also cover some day as i’m dying to play it, but i’m waiting for a sale because it’s around 30 bucks and I can wait. It’s also been nominated for an Eisner three times to no suprise and has had fans in Stan Lee, Jim Steranko, Tim Sale and Will freaking Eisner. Yes the GUY the awards were named after liked the series. So yeah, I love this series and highly support it, but the thought of covering it hadn’t occrued to me.. in part because I already had three comic retrsopectives going, my looks at The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Scott Pilgrim and New X-Men, and simply because I just hadn’t thought of it till Kevin, frequent patron and comissioner of the blog whose paid for tons of reivews, suggested covering the second Album, Arctic Nation, which has our hero searching for a missing little girl he feels has been taken by the titular white supramacist movement.. and if your wondering “Wait how the fuck does that work their animals”, John is black coded due to his black fur, while the white suprmacists are all Arctic Animals.. a touch I really like as I’d honestly never thought of that as a metaphor but it fits like a glove, especially given that most white furred arctic mamals are pretty agressive looking. So yeah I’ll be covering that one next month for Black History Month, among many other things, but I felt I wanted to cover the series in order and since again, it’s only the second of five and I had a free space on the schedule. So without further adew, join me somewhere in the shadows and under the cut as we enter the world of one John Blacksad.

We open as you’d expect for a Noir with a heady narration and a murder. John was brought in by Smirnov, the chief of police and an old aquantice who serves as his Commissioner Gordon. Since the victim is John’s ex, he was brought in to see if he knows anything and as you’d expect warned not to look into it further, as John dosen’t buy this was a simple robbery. His response is exactly what you’d expect.

I mean.. what did you expect? You called him out of bed to see his former lovers corpse, KNOWING he’s one hell of detective, dosen’t give up on things easy, and would probably be curious. For him to say “Cool gonna go smoke some reefer and take in a looney tunes short at the theater, call me when you find the murderer?” Also this series takes place in the 50s. Because of course it does.

So John goes back to his office to brood, reflecting that the office feels like the remains of an ancient civlization because “It seems to be all that remains of the civlized person I used to be”. Hell of a line.

We then get his backstory with the victim, Natalia. She’s a famous actress, who John first as a younger man when hired to investgate some death threats she’d received with a boquet of flowers. John shows off just how good he is at his job in just a few panels.

IT not only shows in just a few panels just how ferocious our hero can be when needed and how good he is at his job, easily having tracked down the man responsible and scared him shitless without breaking as sweat, but how fucking gorgeous the art is. I meant it when I brought up the old disney comparison, as Steranko even mentioned in his introduction to the collection of the first three volumes how it looks like animation cels on the page. IT’s utterly breathtaking and ONLY gets even more lush and beautiful as the series goes on and perfectly fits the noir stylings with it’s realisim, making it’s animal characters feel utterly human and real while still keeping their animal traits in perfect detail.

John impressed her, and as we see in the next page under his narration they not only had really steamy passionate sex, and why yes we do see them naked even if the bits are covered it’s still very much nsfw and we saw Natalia’s naked corpse earlier, so that ship had already sailed anyway, with Natalia taking him on both as her lover and her on staff detective and the two were much in love.. until the fame apparenlty got to her judging from the visuals, and the realtionship fell apart.

Before we move on i’d like to talk about the narration which CAN be a bit overwrought here or there and is a bit overused.. but does have it’s mometns of being utterly effective as with above, contrasting John’s statments about a sucessful job and being hired on.. with the beginnings of his and Natalia’s relationship and their passionate lovemaking. IT’s not BAD and it works for the setting, but it can be distracting, but thankfully the series levels this out as we go and they learned from it so no harm done. Just the kinda thing that happens early in a series life when the creators are getting a handle on things, so no harm done.

But naturally John isn’t going to take the love of his life, responsible for the happiest days of said life, being brutally murdered lying down and is going to find the bastard who did this. So he goes to an old friend, Jake Ositombe, a championship boxer and Nat’s former bodyguard who he recommended to her. Given we see him knock the shit out of his opponent without the slightest effort, yeah good call. Also yes we share the same name and no it’s not weird to type about another Jake, adventure time sorta.. knocked that out of me. Jake dosen’t know much since she fired him a long time ago as one of her lovers hired private security, and the last one he knew of was a guy by the name of Leon. John, naturally, easily finds the guy’s apartment, Leon Kronkski, a screenwriter.. but also rules him out as the guy lived in a humble apartment and clearly didn’t have the cash to hire his own hired goons.

He does find a clue, a matchbook for some place called the Cypher Club.. and another when the man’s sweet mouse landlady shows up, who John charms by pretending to be Leon’s friend and flashing a big smile, finding out a msyterious man with “big bulging eyes”, took him. This scene also to me is great in subtly showing off John’s skill. While the previous flashback showed how badass he is, shoving a gun down the throat of a stalking wannabe murderer with pure rage in his eyes.. here we see a lighter approach, how despite his serious and dour nature.. he easily slips into being cheery and looking like an average joe off the street. He bluffs the landlady not because the plot says so.. but because like any PI he’s just that good at slipping into whatever roll he needs to get the info he needs. He can be his dour self or a charming happy go lucky guy without missing a beat.

So with that he goes to the studio leon worked for where his boss.. is a walrus j jonah jameson?

But yeah J. Jonah Walruson wants pictures of spider-man.. moving pictures.. but he can’t film them with his star dead and his screenwriter indefintiely gone, with the same bulging eyed man having told JJ he’d be gone indefintely. Nothing suspicious about that!

So naturally John’s next plan is to find the guy.. who is already after him as you’d expect with both a knife to slash at our hero with and the fog covering him so he can hit and run. But unluckily for him .. well i’ll let john say it...

John headbutts the myserious snake, who only managed to get his coat before and tries to interogate him.. but gets a quick jab to the gut and the guy gets away.

We soon meet our big bag, who has a big speech about insects and things being usefufl.. and once they stop being useful.. they become dead and collectable, telling the snake man to back off John.. and sending his right hand man to go take care of the Snake who apparently took something from the office. Realizing his numbers up the Snake Man goes to a lizard bar, picks up a package from a friend and runs out the back, knowing he’s being followed.. and we get some hints there’s also racial tension between lizards and mammials here as the bartender, said friend, has the entire bar circle around the guy preventing him from following our mysterious bulging eyed man.

Meanwhile John goes to the Cipher Club, a wretched hive of scum and villiany. Given Nat was a glamorous movie star, it’s very clear she was here to hide from something or someone, and the bartnender, a wild pig.

No not you sweetie. The wild pig tells John leon was indeed here and a local rat, in both senses of the word, offers to take John to him.. though understandably John is supscious of the guy he just met in a seedy bar taking him anywhere except to get some heroin. Did Heroin exist yet? Questions for later. But he’s got a case so he follows. Though suprisingly the guy DOES actually come through and it’s not ENTIRELY a trap: he takes john to a tomb for Noel Krinsok.. an anagram for Leon’s name. Unsuprisingly he’s dead. And also unsuprisingly, two hired goons

Show up. As I said not ENTIRELY a trap but it’s obvious given the rat split moments before that our mysterious big bad knew where john would be headed next, and thus while giving him a clue, also set him up to get his head knocked in. And while John is badass.. these guys are a bear and a rhino, both stronger, bigger, and with suprise on their size, as well as a tombstone to knock john’s head into. They easily beat him senseless and hope he got the message, though john gives a defiant fuck you before being punched out for it. He returns home, feeling like he’s aged 20 years “But no one respects the elderly anymore”, PFFT, and heads home to his rathole, not literally this time, apartment to lay on his cot and think as he gets some rest.

And while the trail for Leon is cold. our mysterious murderer accidently tipped his hand: only someone with a LOT of money and influence could make a man disappear like this, and it tracks with what we’ve seen so far. The guy has multiple henchman and despite being a big star with plenty of clout, Natalia had to hide in a dive bar just to get away from him and even THEN clearly wasn’t so lucky given she and her new lover both wound up dead. But Blacksad has bigger problems.. he wakes up in a jail cell.

Turns out Smirnkov had him arrested.. but for his own protection as the case is getting too hot and while he was late on that front given John’s face is hamburger, it’s clear from his tone and demeanor that while he may of been harsh with John earlier.. the two are old friends, and the Chief is simply worried about him winding up dead, and John takes you know being thrown in prison in stride. Which while not a bad scene it is a BIT suspect that a black coded character was thrown in jail for nothing and it’s treated very lightly and as a simple protection between friends, though given they wouldn’t think of coding john like that till next volume, I brush it off as accidental implications in hindsight.

Smirnkov though also called John here.. because he needs his help. Since Natalia’s Murder Case is pointing very high up, so his superiors have ordered him to bury the case and as he puts it “the bastards know where to squeeze”. And given in volume 3 we learn Smirnov has a wife and children, it’s very obvious where they squoze and to the volume’s credit while we don’t know that yet it’s VERY clear from Smirnov’s body language they went after some form of family. So while he has to give it up.. John does not. So he brought him to jail to offer a proposal: John goes after this son of a bitch and nails him to the wall.. and Smirnov will FULLY protect John no matter what he has to do. Now naturally given the rightful reckoning for police that’s been going on for almost a year, this SHOULDN’T play well. You have an officer outright telling an outside party that he and his boys will cover up his crimes. But.. honestly even in that framework.. it still works. That’s because.. the system has failed here. The higher up and more corrupt cops put pressure on the honest and hardworking family man Smirnov to stop a legitimate investigation into a horrible murderer.. because the guy is rich. And even now we’ve seen time and time again how rich assholes effortlessly escape the consequences of their action: How our own president who actively asked other nations to interfere in our election escaped his first impeachment trial, but hopefully not the second, aquitted. How Jeffery Epstien took YEARS to bring down with his years of ellicit parties involving innocent women and children he fucking enslaved. How Bill Cosby got away with all kinds of sexual assault for decades. The rich are often literally above the law in this country, so having a down on his luck detective, who retroactively himself is a minority, go after him with the full support of an actually GOOD police officer who genuinely believes in these people being held accountable but is held back by his family’s safety.. it works. John isn’t able to skirt consequences BECAUSE of a corrupt system.. but because the system’s so broken and slanted in the rich’s favor, that the ONLY option an honest officer like Smirnov has is to go outside it. And when asked WHY he’s doing all of this, Smirnov merley replies

... I got chills, their multiplyin. So John plans to find the bulge eyed snake after a hot shower.. only for the guy to hold a gun to John’s head, having been waiting for him and wave the murder weapon, in a baggie around, the item he had retrieved, feeling John’s trying to replace him as number two. However before he can do anything our snake pal is shot full of holes by the rat from before, who John dispatches with his own gun.

So the Snake starts to expire.. but feels a kinship with John “We are nothing right cat? Spent so much time waiting for the right chance and when it happens it all falls to pieces”. The Snake explains his roll in things: He was one of the private security our big bad hired to guard Natalia. But being supscious he also hired the rat to follow her around, and thus found out about her affair, brutally torturing and murdering Leon and shooting Natalia in the head. And we finally get a name as our snake friend tragically expires.

The snake’s death and tragic dying moments are something I forgot about.. but damn if their not really good writing, taking a character who before was seemingly just a murderous goon.. and comparing him to our hero. Another working class joe, and one who just caught up with the wrong asshole at the wrong time. He easily could’ve been john in another life and vice vers and it’s a good parallel.

So John’s nightmares finally have name and he naturally goes to confront the guy since he has an almost literal get out of jail free card. Turns out Smirnov is the richest man in town, and has his own big tower. Huh.. sounds familiar, and John simply sneaks his way up and once Statoc’s guards from before hear him rustling about.. sneaks up on them and clocks both one at at time with a fire extinqusher.

Statoc warmly welcomes our hero inside, and has the fucking lizard balls, as he’s some sort of lizard himself, to offer John a JOB

I mean he’s clearly lost a lot of his goons and most of them were incompetent. He fails to realize that John can’t be bought, is here for vengeance and has no intention of selling his soul to some rich asshole who killed someone he loved for the creepiest and most asinine reasons imaginable. He says john’s Concisence is why he can’t pull the trigger and that he lacks “cold blood”.. before we cut to the next page, where John’s shot the fucker in the head and left a gaping hole where his lack of a brain was.

And again what makes this work is the aftermath: John is clearly shaken, having ONLY been able to pull the trigger beause of Statoc’s smug grin and clearly not taking the sight of Statoc’s dead body bleeding out well. And while Smirnov keeps his word, covers for him despite the two guards clearly providing an iron clad argument against john and knoiwng thier blatantly covering this up.. he’s not happy about it.

This is WHY the narrtive still works. Statoc stacked the law against the bad guys. .but despite this being a necessary evil.. it’s still an evil and subverting teh law at this rightly leaves him not in a great place mentally. John himself isn’t even if he plays it off as otherwise, as we get our final bit of narration and one hell of a closing line.

Final Thoughts:

Somewhere in the Shadows is a bit rough around the edges, leaning a bit too heavily into the noir pastiche and Blacksad being a harboiled detective, something the next volume would ease up on. That being said.. it’s still a masterpiece, with gorgeous art and masterful pacing. While it’s the shortest of the stories, like those after it the pacing is sublime and never feels like it has any down moments or stuff that could’ve been cut, and the mystery keeps you on edge the whole time. Having forgot a lot of the details since last read I was on the edge of my seat the entire story and loving every second of it. Somewhere in the Shadows is the perfect starter for the series, introducing an important charcter in Smirnov and the noir nature and giving us a case personal to John so we can see who he was before, what he is now.. and what he WILL be for the rest of the series. The moment that MADE him into an even harder man than the one we follows here.. when he took a life in cold blood. A masterful story, seriously check it and the other volumes out, on comixology, in stores, great stuff. Next time we look into john and as I said, he’s taking down some racists and we also meet his sidekick weekly for the first time. As for me tommorow I dive back into my Tom Luictor retrospective but hit pause on our boy for a bit to take care of some of the larger plot. Until the next rainbow, it’s been a pleasure.

#blacksad #john blacksad #Smirnov #noir #anthropomorphic #anthro #funny animal #somewhere within the shadows #comics #dark horse comics #france #french comics #igor statoc #Natalia Wilford

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lokiseason1episode3full · 4 years ago

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Watch Loki Season 1 Episode 3 [1x03] online free English Series TV

Loki Season 1 Episode 3 [1x03] 2021 full - https://loki-season-1-episode-3.blogspot.com/

When Marvel's Kevin Feige recently spoke about Loki's evolution, he noted that "putting Loki in his own procedural series became the Eureka moment of the show." This became a topic of conversation among fans because Loki was simultaneously promoted as another "six-hour movie" and the two concepts seemed to clash a bit. Would Loki's general story blend well with the elements of a criminal proceeding?

The first episode of Marvel's latest small screen project gave us a bit of good cop / bad cop stuff, with some interrogation room tactics interwoven as Owen Wilson's Mobius M. Mobius took the route of "getting into the mind of a murderer ", and the second episode of Loki continues to adopt the procedural atmosphere.

A fairly traditional teaser sets Episode 2 as C-20 (American Honey's Sasha Lane) and his squad of TVA Hunters arrive in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in the mid-1980s to investigate a reported Variant loose at a Renaissance fair. The team is ambushed by the Minutemen-killing variant of Loki mentioned by Mobius at the end of the last episode, and Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out for a Hero" accompanies the rest of the scene in what may or may not be the deepest. online. cut I've ever seen.

TERRIBLE MISS MINUTES IMPRESSION: Hi! You might be wondering what a "teaser" or an "open cold" is! Let me bring you up to speed. A teaser is a narrative technique used at the beginning of a television episode to intrigue the audience enough to be attentive. In criminal proceedings, it is usually the first building block of the mystery of that episode. A good cold makes us feel compelled to stay and find out "who it is", why or how!

Back at TVA, Loki is learning, or half learning, about what happens when a Nexus event passes the red line and they can't reset it: the destruction of the sacred timeline. During the lesson, Miss Minutes acts like a Gal Friday whom Loki appreciates little despite his enthusiasm, and ends up calling him an idiot. What it is absolutely. However, the scene is delicious. If there has to be a Who Framed Roger Rabbit? remake in our future, put Tom Hiddleston there as Eddie Valiant and you could build a sturdy bridge with my suspension of disbelief.

Some specific temporal energy has informed the TVA that the Loki Variation was in fact responsible for ambushing the C-20 team. Hunters are used to dealing with Variants of Loki, apparently pruning Lokis "almost more than any other Variant". Even though he's a slippery bastard, this stands out as pretty important information. Are these variants like raptors unknowingly testing fences? Also, can we guess who might lead the pack when it comes to variant numbers if Loki is in second place? Keep checking the background on TVA! We've already seen Skrull and Peggy Carter.

Our Loki is being nagged at the possibility that he could snag an audience with the Timekeepers if useful enough, relying on the tried-and-true cop series "you could get immunity or a reduced sentence if you cooperate" . Loki buys it, but it seems incredibly unlikely that this is anything more than manipulative shit on Mobius' part.

One of the culminating achievements of this episode comes when Loki tries to fool the TVA with a nasty speech. A speech that somehow ensnares listeners with the promise of imminent danger and makes the complacency so thick that we lean closer, waiting for the point to surface.

It's a Loki afternoon special that comes when we least expect it. It is also a testament to Hiddleston's iron grip on this character's strengths that the god can still make us believe that he has changed when he is lying so clearly. The reveal that the weather variant is using apocalypse to hide from the TVA is a game changer for this episode in many ways.

Loki can process Ragnorak's events and use the experience to further his personal agenda. Not only does it reveal a huge hole in TVA security, but we can also invest in a particularly interesting aspect of this complicated science of time.

Ultimately, it's the apocalypse that allows this episode to go from mediocre to glorious, as the escalation of the conflict forces the drab tone of Loki's workplace to shift to something darker. The reveal of "Lady Loki" is not as surprising as it is effective in bringing this season closer to madness and potential greatness.

The episode cleverly forces Loki to rely on his powers, only to bring in this character who has a much greater understanding of his abilities. The brief and menacing presence of her shows how little we've explored the God of Mischief beyond Thor's eyes.

And we have no idea if this woman is a variant of Loki, yet another layer of deception. Sophia Di Martino's Lady Loki may be a simple taunt, but she is effective. The rich power dynamics and sinister tricks displayed in the final moments of this episode are reminiscent of a darker tone that Loki has staggered into since The Avengers. It's lovely to see this series celebrate the very traits that have taught us not to like Loki. It has been even more beautiful to see him play with the good and the bad side by side.

This is a story in which the greatest achievements can be summed up in the smallest details; like when Loki joins a holographic Miss Minutes, who casually mentions that it's not quite a recording, how cute and awful!

Loki has been operating with one hand tied in building the world and now that the world has caught fire, it's time to see what this series is truly capable of. We can also spend some time alone with Mobius and Judge Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) in this episode. Clearly, the pair have known each other for a long time, but Renslayer now has the unenviable task of crossing the line between boss and friend. She's firm and calm, but you can still picture her as Loki's own police chief: laying down the law with Mobius, calling him a "loose cannon" for allowing Loki to enter the fold and asking him to hand over his badge and weapon, or whatever. make it the equivalent of TVA.

Her interactions with Renslayer are supposed to be charming, but they're actually a bit unsettling, although I still don't know why. Mobius leaves the meeting even more determined to see Loki pick up his pace. He tries to manipulate the manipulator with his firm but soft-spoken psychology by telling him that the troublesome assassin Variant is a "superior version" of Loki. Our Loki is just a "scared boy". I mean, why are you booing him? He is right.

Loki gets to work in the guts of TVA at the pace of the investigation, perusing the case files and having a fun interaction with a live-action Roz from Monsters, Inc. The stakes are high here. Loki's life depends largely on him finding a breadcrumb or two, and thankfully he succeeds during an emotional scene in which he processes that Asgard, the house he grew up in and later left, is gone. And he didn't even get a chance to say goodbye.

He delves into the destruction of Asgard and finds that no variation energy was detected at ground zero and he has an epiphany (mmm, we'll get back to that, no one here is ready for more of my Miss Minutes hack yet, at least all of me) about which the show seems to hope you don't ask too many tough questions.

Loki reasons that he would be hiding in zero-swing energy apocalypse events if he was evading TVA, and he's excited to prove he's right. Mobius has doubts, but they prove Loki's winning theory in Pompeii just as the city is being destroyed. The police friend's energy is strong on the scene, with Loki acting as the rogue rogue who won't follow the rules and Mobius as his tired older partner.

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constantviewings · 5 years ago

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The TV Show Trials - Criminal Minds

Criminal Minds is a police procedural crime drama televisions series that aired on CBS from 2005 to 2020. Criminal Minds revolves around an elite team of FBI profilers who analyse the country’s most twisted criminal minds, anticipating their next movies before they strike again. As the team evolves together, the Behavioural Analysis Unit continues its dedication to using their expertise to pinpoint predators’ motivations and identify their emotional triggers in the attempt to stop them.

The Big Game/Revelations

The BAU pursues a religious killing team that sets up computer webcams to record their murders and post them online. The teams urgency to find the killer increases when they realise he’s holding Reid captive. Meanwhile, Reid begins having flashbacks of his own troubled childhood while drifting in-and-out of consciousness.

I am not surprised that this pair of episodes ended up at the top of my list because…wow. The highlight of these episodes is easily James Van Der Beek’s performance as Tobias/Charles/Rafael. Biblically inspired killers aren’t anything new, but these episodes bring a different twist to the trope that I enjoyed.

Rating: 4

Mosely Lane

The BAU is called by local authorities in Ashburn, Virginia, to profile a predator who may have been abducting children for at least eight years.

This episode is grim (in tone, not quality) and emotional to its core. This is the first episode that Matthew Gray Gubler directed and it doesn’t stray in quality compared to the rest of the episodes, I really want to know what made him want to direct this particular episode. Also, Evan Peters is always a win in my book.

Rating: 4

Mr Scratch

When three people implicated in murders claim that they were attacked at the moment each crime occurred, the BAU searches for a man who appears to be controlling the suspects’ minds. However, as the search for the culprit continues, the life of one of the team is put in jeopardy.

This is another episode directed by Matthew Gray Gubler, and I don’t like this episode as much as the others. It’s an intense ride, but once the episode is over and you’re able to calm down, the story is pretty standard with nothing too special about it. Clearly, this is an unpopular opinion as it if is the third most popular episode of the entire show, but I stand by it.

Rating: 3

100

When the Reaper returns of Washington D.C., for a final showdown with Hotch, the BAU works frantically to catch him before he reaches his family.

I think a lot of what needs to be said about this episode is communicated through the fact that I had to watch this episode twice before reviewing it because I kept forgetting what happened, even as I write this I couldn’t tell you anything that happened. It’s a fine episode, but clearly not a memorable one.

Rating: 3

Entropy

In its investigation and manhunt of the Dirty Dozen hitman ring, the BAU implements an elaborate strategy to try and take it down, in which Reid plays a central role.

This is my favourite episode that I watched for this review, by a long shot. Aubrey Plaza as a hitwoman holding Spencer hostage to remain one step ahead just by talking is a recipe for my perfect episode. This episode features amazing performances from both Aubrey Plaza and Matthew Gray Gubler as the cherry on top of an already perfect episode.

Rating: 5

The Fisher King

A psychotic killer involves the BAU in an elaborate fantasy game, telling them to unscramble clues and riddles to rescue his latest victim. However, as the team continues their investigation, one member’s life is suddenly put in jeopardy.

The highlight of these episodes is the trail that the Fisher King leaves behind, it’s really unique and I liked getting to see Penelope contribute more of her non-tech knowledge to the team.

Rating: 4

Penelope

As Penelope fights for her life, the BAU’s search for her attacker leads the unit to believe the assailant could be someone close to the investigation.

This episode isn’t anything too special, but I love that it’s centred on my favourite character, Penelope. This episode really highlights the BAU’s relationship as more than just colleagues, but as a family.

Rating: 3

Masterpiece

A serial killer confesses to killing seven people and challenges the team to find five people he has hidden somewhere before they die.

Imagine my shock when I saw Jason Alexander playing a narcissistic serial killer; the last role I ever expected to see him in. Despite that fact that I was slightly distracted by Jason Alexander the whole time, this is a pretty good episode especially Joe Mantegna’s performance.

Rating: 3

Riding the Lightning

The BAU is sent to the Florida State Penitentiary to interview husband-and-wife serial killers set to be executed. After the initial interview, Gideon suspects that the wife may not be guilty of the crime committed.

I’m not the kind to care for fictional (or real) criminals, especially those on death row, but that’s something that this episode that achieved that in spades. This episode did what not a lot of procedurals can do, which is make me care about characters that I’ll never see again. That, coupled with beautiful performances from Mandy Patinkin and Jeannetta Arnette make for a perfect episode.

Rating: 5

Hit/Run

When a gang of lethal bank robbers initiates its latest robbery in Washington D.C., the BAU attempts to negotiate the unfolding hostage situation when the robbery turns south. The stakes begin to rise when one of their own earns the wrath of one of the bank robbers and later becomes a hostage.

This is another good pair of episodes, what lets it down is that one episode is far better than the other. While Run is a satisfying conclusion to the episodes ark, Hit succeeds at building and sustaining tension for the whole episode.

Rating: 3

Zugzwang

When Reid discovers that his girlfriend has been abducted by her stalker, he and the BAU band together to find and rescue her before it is too late.

This is another episode I had to watch twice in order to remember what happened in it. I’m sure this episode is a lot more impactful when watched in sequence with the rest of the series, but it isn’t anything special as a first time viewer.

Rating: 3

Believer/300

When a former VICAP agent is found locked inside a storage unit, the BAU finds multiple holes in his investigation towards an unsub he investigated dubbed ‘The Strangler’. When two agents are kidnapped by followers of Benjamin David Merva, the BAU works to stop a murderous prophecy from being fulfilled.

If you know me, you know I’m a sucker for cult stories and these episodes are no different. Like a few other episodes in this review, these two didn’t leave a lasting impression on me, but they were fun to watch.

Rating: 3

Amplification

The BAU responds quickly after a homegrown terrorist releases a new strain of Anthrax in Annapolis that threatens the public and puts a member of the team at risk.

The ending is what really stands out about this episode more than anything else. A final shot of hundreds of deadly bioweapons locked under federal protection is a morbid reality that I don’t want to consider the legitimacy of.

Rating: 3

Seven Seconds

The unit works against the clock when a little girl disappears in a mall, believing a serial killer has struck a second time and the first girl died within an hour of abduction.

This episode makes it into my top three with ease with its combination of single setting and intriguing mystery. Unlike most Criminal Minds episodes that show the unsub and their victims throughout, this episode doesn’t and that really made it stand out in retrospect.

Rating: 4

To Bear Witness

The BAU meets their new section chief, Mateo Cruz, who, unbeknownst to them, shares a long work history with JJ. Cruz joins the team as they comb the streets of Balitmore for an abductor who leaves victims unable to communicate.

This was the first episode I watched of Criminal Minds and I wish I had a better introduction. The unsubs method of operation, while slightly unrealistic by 2013 standards, is unique and interesting. Apart from that, everything else about this episode is pretty standard.

Rating: 3

Did I like this show? Yes, and I’m bummed that I only started watching the year that the show ended.

Will I continue watching? Yes, I’ve already started watching from season 1.

#The TV Show Trials #Criminal Minds

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iamcinema · 6 years ago

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IAC Reviews #004: Faces of Death (1978) [Retrospective #1]

Warning: The following film contains (real) graphic violence that might NSFL for some viewers; including that of autopsies, animal cruelty, air and road accidents, and simulated death media. If this seems like something that might offend or upset you, don’t seek it out. This retrospect, however, will discuss the film and these aspects without the usage of stills, and is marked safe. Read forward at your own discretion.

Let’s take things in a slightly different direction this time around, and discuss one of the most infamous pieces of shocking and controversial cinema of all time; John Alan Schwartz’s 1978 shockumentary Faces of Death.

While it doesn’t predate other films of a similar ilk like Mondo Cane (1962), Shocking Asia (1974), or even gory, road safety films like Signal 30 (1959) or Red Asphalt (1960), it could be considered to be the first film of its kind to become a household name - a pretty dark one, and bring the term “shockumentary” to the mainstream. Becoming a cult classic that out performed films like E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982) in sales in countries like Japan in the 1980s, the film gained traction for it’s proclamation that it was banned in at least “46 countries” for its raw, graphic depiction of death caught on film in the form of surgical procedures, autopsies, animal cruelty, and news footage or home videos of disasters and accidents caught on film.

Since this year marks the 41st anniversary of the film’s release, why not touch on it again?

Faces of Death in One Gif:

Okay, so shitposting aside, let’s get down to talking about this.

One of the big things that ultimately comes up about the film is a simple one word question.

Why?

What’s so special about this thing that has caused it to remain so relevant and influential that it continued to inspire its own sequels and dwell in the hearts of other mondo/shockumentary based films or series like Banned! in America (1998-2000), Traces of Death (1993 - 2000), or modern day mixtapes like The Most Disturbed Person on Planet Earth (2014-). The film’s connections page alone is impressive, with it being given a nod to in mainstream films and programs like Scream 2 (1997), House of 1000 Corpses (2003), The Houses October Built (2014) and Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988-). This becomes more apparent when the topic of the authenticity of the footage is brought into question, and it ends up being one of the focal discussions about both this film and the rest of the series as a whole - with roughly 40-70% of the footage being staged or recreated.

To some, they can spot the fakes from a mile away without any hesitation, and some end up being genuinely surprised when they find out certain shots were, in fact, staged. This includes the famous alligator attack, the police shoot-out, the electric chair execution that often graces the cover of posters, and the beheading execution sequence that takes place shortly there after. However, not all the scenes are staged. Well, sort of. Some are in fact, genuine, but have tacked on moments to build tension or to pad them out; such as that of footage of a suicide jumper - which included additional footage of firefighters rushing to the scene and close-ups of the aftermath.

Furthermore, due to the quality of some of the footage, it can often be hard to tell and scenes that look cheap and fake end up turning out to be genuine. The content that’s genuine is often quite brutal, and it can be very in your face about it - giving you a true face to face encounter with what your own death might be.

The most infamous of the more graphic content is the unflinching depiction of animal cruelty in a number of settings and situations; including slaughterhouses, family farms, or at the hands of hunters, and poachers. In documentaries and interviews about the experiences from the crew during the filming of such scenes, such as the slaughterhouses. In the Fact or Fiction special about the series, the director talked about how they were once up to their hips in blood and entrails while filming at one of these locations. To state that these sequences aren’t graphic or violent would be a bold faced lie, and this chapter isn’t for those who are faint of heart and can be hard to watch.

Two of the more notable sequences that contain real footage include that of unaired news footage from the famous PSA Flight 182 disaster, a deadly plane crash that took place in the North Park neighborhood of San Diego, which killed several people on the ground and destroyed several buildings and homes, as well as footage captured by the film crew by pure chance of a drowning victim that washed up on the beach after being reported missing for several days.

“Okay, so it’s not all bullshit. So what? But that still doesn’t answer the question of why it’s so popular though to begin with or why it still is.”

Well, I feel like the controversy speaks for itself and maybe people end up just answering their own question.

While it wasn’t the original mondo film, let alone the first to get international attention, it’s my understanding that it was targeted specifically with Western, theatrical audiences in mind. With the boasted reputation it garnered for being banned in nearly 50 countries and the in your face trailer with its depiction of corpses, religious cults, and general mayhem; it can be enticing to the morbidly curious, especially in the aftermath of the Vietnam war and the waves of anti-war footage and photography that had released in its wake. This inadvertently helped to fuel attention, controversy, and attention for the film, which Schwartz said banning it was the best kind of press it could have been given - proving the point that the more you tell people they can’t have something, the more they’re likely to seek it out . Like other mondo and shockumentary films that would follow in its footsteps, it’s also a time capsule of the period; such as with the aforementioned news footage from the PSA 182 crash that had happened barely two months prior to the theatrical release, and a chapter of the film dedicated to capital punishment, which had only been reinstated in the United States two years prior in 1976 following the Supreme Court’s ruling of the Gregg vs Georgia case.

Faces of Death was a product of its time, but did it age well? From a practical effects standpoint, I’d say not really.

As stated before, many moment come off as fake, and several of the ones that are clearly show to the point of it being almost laughable. The publicity fueled behind it resembles that of Snuff (1976) in some aspects, where the team behind it staged fake protests to get the film more attention and infamy for the iconic ending sequence. With that being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the production team drew inspiration from that as a way to gain traction or beef it up for the masses. Just like with that film, the scene may have fooled some people back then, but by today’s standards, the effects are quite amateurish in nature and not something you’d get away with if you wanted to trick people. Even going by the level that’s being met for many horror films these days, there’s no competition; even for films in the independent and underground scenes from the last twenty years that had barely a fraction of the budget that went into Faces of Death.

From a cultural and influential standpoint, I’d say it has in a way.

Without Faces of Death, I don’t think we’d fully be where we are now extreme cinema, even for films that wouldn’t necessarily think of themselves as such; like Death Scenes (1989), which is more of a historical piece and A Certain Kind of Death (2003) being just about the process of death and what goes into how it’s managed. It feels like traces of it can be found in a ton of films, unless that’s just a stretch. There’s also the ongoing debate about snuff films as well, as there had been rumors that people were killed to make Faces of Death, and thus, the legend of snuff continues to live on in films like Cannibal Holocaust, (1980), Guinea Pig: Flower of Flesh and Blood (1985), Man Bites Dog (1992), Niku Daruma (1998), August Underground (2001), and Be My Cat: A Film For Anne (2015).

However, with the advent of the Internet, you can easily find whatever you’re looking for with a quick search with little to no real effort. It’s no longer a serious challenge to find audio recordings from the last moments of mass suicide cults or plane crashes, gruesome crime scene photos, or graphic videos of murders, executions, or animal cruelty. So, why pay (or stream) to see something that’s partially or mostly fake, when you can see something real yourself? With sites that cater to the morbidly curious or the few and far between depraved like Ogrish, Rotten, BloodShows, and BestGore, shockumentaries, even the rawest and unflinching of their kind become outdated and sort of pointless. This also applies to the MDPOPE, which is barely turning five years old as of this being written, which at the end of the day, is a simple mixtape of content you could find online if you’re willing to look hard for it.

Closing Thoughts:

With all of that said, would I recommend watching Faces of Death? In short, yes I would.

To quote Killion over at HNN; “Is the movie entertaining? It isn’t entertaining; it’s a rite of passage.“

Faces of Death is an exploration into death, and since I’ve first seen it roughly 13 years ago, I still see people who come out of it saying that it gave them a new outlook on life or has helped them to cherish their own with whatever time they may have left; which is a similar response I’ve heard from people who gravitate towards sites like BestGore or LiveLeak. If you haven’t seen it or you’re particularly on the squeamish side, I’d say to still give it a fair shot and see how you feel coming out of it.

Rating: 5.7/10

“In a world with no sounds,

Their cries go unheard.

Reality of life becomes totally absurd.

The counting of time is considered a crime,

And the money one earned not worth a bold dime.

So here they will lie for the rest of the night,

Their bodies remain still in darkness and in light.

Don't be afraid for it'll happen to you,

When all stops as your body turns blue...“ - Luther Easton

Closing Theme:

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#faces of death #fod #film #horror #documentary #shockumentary #mondo #mondo film #iac reviews #horror review

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rockmywings · 7 years ago

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Korean Crime TV Series Review#2: VOICE (보이스)

THE MAIN CHARACTERS TRIO:

Lead Male (Moo Jinhyuk “Mad Dog”): A veteran detective from Serious Crime Unit, being demoted as a leader of Golden Time Team under Emergency Call Department.

Lead Female (Kang Kwonjoo “Kang Center”): A profiler who has super hearing ability, The chief of Emergency Call Department.

second lead male Main Antagonist (Mo Taegu “Mr. Mo”): CEO of Sungwun Express, an upper-classman. Psychopath.

PLOT:

Main: To catch the criminal who has murdered both Mad Dog’s wife and Kang Center’s dad and who also committed several crimes.

Sub: To save a life who is in crucial danger from their emergency call.

OFFICIAL ENGLISH TRAILER:

youtube

REVIEW BY GENRES:

1) Various Crimes: There are Serial Killer, Kidnapping/Abduction, Child Abuse, Gangster, Illegal Immigrant, Stalker, Human Organ Trafficking, Corrupted Company, Corrupted Police--so complete. The series touches from individual crime to organizational crime, from marginal society to upper-class community. And the gruesome of crime scene places us in reality how horror the real crime is, why they are deserved to be censored in blur like News do on TV Channel (although it’s bothersome to me who use to see gore scenes in The Walking Dead and violence in any US Crime TV Series). I like how Golden Team looks so smart along with Kang Center herself as the profiler and with a hacking skilled officer to get any information. Though, there’s one staff whose multi-language ability is seriously wasted because what she did most times are similar to the hacker, as she also seeks information through internet. However, because our protagonists come from Emergency Call Center, we see how Serious Crime Unit are always outsmarted, making us wonder if they’re a bit competent in investigating while this one should be their expertise. For example, there’s no forensic or CCTV investigation ever shown here but somehow it makes sense because all of the victims who died here are under the main antagonist’s control who could ask to be covered while Golden Team successfully rescues all victims who made the emergency call.

2) Horror Elements: A part of the success of any popular scary movie is the perfect killer. There’s no other character more interesting in the show rather than the killer himself and I can guarantee Mo Taegu would steal your attention in every of his appearance. Let me explain it: A man wearing a black raincoat with face covered behind hoodie but his devilish grin is walking closer in calm steps, a sinister voice with a gravel-like quality of his jaw cracks then strikes the fear of a tormented fresh-faced woman before brutally murdering her--that’s your first impression of him. But, it wasn’t just a typical random unfortunate person whom a serial killer encounter in the dark street with certain modus operandi, nope!! More the killer is introduced, you realize he’s a type who could appear right in front of your door or behind the window creepily, making a hiss like a dinosaur to enter your room whether he decides to kill or just intentionally scare you--we’d find he did it at least 4-5 times in the series!!! (and my fave is when Kwonjoo met his eyes behind the lookout lens of her door) And behind the mask, there’s a rich, smart, and classy-typed businessman wearing an elegant suit with charming face who enchants everyone--so charismatic. Well, there is one episode that doesn’t really makes sense when he’s brutally murdering Madam Fantasia off-screen. The body is nowhere to be found in the building while he clearly didn’t have enough time to hid it in his car unnoticeable, laundry his suit (I mean, look at how much the blood he spread on floor and wall while he killed her not under his raincoat), peeking on Kang Center who has arrived 10 minutes after the phone call only to see her reaction finding his crime scene, then come back to meeting room he left before. But fuck off the logic, once again, this is horror show; let’s enjoy every killing scene of every bone he’s crushing using his kettlebell, or grotesque art of blood he painted on the wall citing Bible quote, or when he keeps the body wrapped in his house then doing bloodbath like Elizabeth Bathory, it’s all horrifyingly entertaining. Don’t forget that his victims also made a bad move tropes to meet him and give us a death flag. As if it wasn’t enough, Taegu also has some hallucination things, how creepy it is when he stared at the policeman in the car like a supernatural horror and when he’s being murdered on his mind like a zombie scene. Although those all aren’t enough to scare me, I’m sure there are some audiences who maintain to keep watching this show with eyes peeking behind their fingers but you can’t leave it yet to see who he’d murder next and who’d be survived. You’d be surprised when it reveals he commits more crimes through his company and more number of murders he had done for years with many different sizes of his weapon that will freak you out!! And with high status to work with gangster and a certain police to cover it all whom he could just eliminate as his next murdering target if he wanted, I’ll say “Welcome to Sungwun City, Mo Taegu’s World.” He is too complete to be a psychopath, an extremely powerful evil case with intellect brain to know what he does. He could be starring his own horror movie if Voice ever made a prequel. Maybe the only thing he hadn’t done yet (or ever shown) is cooking and eating the victims' meat LOL. But seriously, as the citing bible, doing bloodbath, and keeping body or organs, comes from nowhere (that is kinda different persona from the mysterious killer in eps 1-3); the writer even can add if he was ever cannibal too.

3) The high suspense in every episode: While the main villain is horror enough, the co-villains in some emergency cases also could raise the suspension that makes you hold your chair and grit your teeth. This was the most exciting thing because you could see desperate emotions of the victims transported through the call and how The Golden Team is rescuing them, battle in countdown timer minutes by minutes, second by second. Even after the first two cases that you become to feel every rescue is predictably success, you won’t lose the suspense. Voice is directed in plot-driven like a formula one’s car and once you’re seated there, you can’t stop ‘til finish line. My fave case is the child abuse, we feel so pity and hopeless because the one who makes a call is a little boy hiding in washing machine and bleeding. The least suspense is the rescue of bus passengers as the last rescue case in eps 15, probably I’ve been pretty surfeited of the repetitive rescue (but the case is important to show how crazy Mr. Mo runs his business).

4) Full Packed Action: Well, a premise of a lead male seeks revenge for the murder of the person he loves is cliche and standard in action movies; this how Mad Dog vs Mr. Mo’s confrontation has been lead since the series prolog, we know their final battle should happen. Jinhyuk himself wouldn’t be called “Mad Dog” without reason if this genre were absent. Look how his action is performed throughout the series, especially when he beat up all the gangsters in the meat house—so intense and brutal!! Don’t ever ask his nonstop energy, this is how action genre treats the main hero. Then, I expect a same intense hand in hand combat scene as to how action movie’s climax battle should be handled, main hero and main villain are equal although it’s predictable who’d be the winner in the end. Both Mad Dog and Mr. Mo are canonly brutal, you can see the same of them staring terrifyingly and intimidating when they talked to Nam Sang Tae in different scenes; you see how strong they are. Instead, we just get a short gunfighting?! I don’t complaint the gunfighting, but I mean, can they also make a duel with Jet Kun Do vs Tae Kwon Do as the two actors have the martial art skill for real? The director could make they ran out of bullet, then fight brutally, then the cops stop them to arrest him. It’s a wasted potential because the director even had given Mad Dog’s fight against a South East Asian assassin for two episodes! However, Taegu’s ending in the rooftop scene is still satisfying. Maybe the concept of Mad Dog vs Mr. Mo kinda like Batman and Joker. Despite being evil, of course Joker is powerless compared to Batman’s strength if he ever challenged him in combat. The purpose isn’t about which one is stronger. Same as Joker provokes Batman, Taegu also enjoys provoking Jinhyuk to kill himself even by telling him how he killed his wife, to prove he’s just another monster like him. And although we see how Jinhyuk doesn't hesitate to shoot Taegu four times in the rooftop brutally, he didn’t kill him at the end as he pities his enemy. But audiences would know later how it punishes Taegu in a very cruel way unexpectedly compared to what if he just died in Jinhyuk’s hand as he wishes. And of course, he deserves it.

5) The Drama is about The Victims: As well as how the credit title is presented, it tells us that this show is about the victim’s voice in asking help that used to be abandoned by slow police procedural--including our hero and heroine’s beloved one. But not only that, the profiler’s approach to seeking the Criminal’s motive then trying to calm them, making them tremble, and feeling sympathy really reminds me of Criminal Minds; criminals can be born because they were a victim too in the past--trust me, even you’d pity Taegu in the end!

6) Almost Zero Romance:

Tbh, I don’t like the cliche that the lead male and lead female eventually hook up in the end (although I’m okay with the possible idea) so I’m glad it doesn’t happen with Voice. Even though they start to work together as a team professionally, they didn’t have to fall into an affair like duo Mulder and Scully of The X-Files. Their relationship is amazingly platonic ‘til the end as you watch them developing trust, teamwork, bond, and care to each other.

If there’s any romance ever sparking, two Kwonjoo’s staffs in Emergency Call may be hinted. The woman is cool at first while the guy is cheerful and kind of a flirt. An obsessive fan of him is even jealous of her. But as I said, it was just hinted. Their occasional heartwarming interaction may be made for taking a break in all suspense and violent cases. It wasn’t out of place since it’s just a little and eps 9 could give you space to breathe.

Well, this one depends on interpretation, but Taegu seems to have special attraction/interest of Kwonjoo sexually (of course, in a sick mind only psychopath could describe), for example when he stalked her, caressed her bed, stared at her picture, gave her a gift, happy when she found him, claimed that both of them are different from common herd, and show a disappointment that she doesn’t like it. On her profiling, Kwonjoo said why he’s “soft” at her probably because she reminds him of his mother, the only person he genuinely loves. Their chemistry is something the audiences not expecting before, especially in the rooftop scene as their climax. But I'm sure no one complaints [laughs].

Nah, the only true romance no one can’t debate is Jinhyuk’s love for his deceased wife; how he’s broken, how’s he seeks revenge, and then how he finally let it go.

OTHER POSSIBLE FLAWS:

Voice is an easy story and predictable with those action, suspense, and horror elements (although there’s still a twist); the ending is also clear, not open. The main mystery isn’t something that makes you heavily think to guess who is the culprit or suspect someone. Well, it’s enough to thrill for half series because once Taegu’s character is introduced at eps 8, the focus itself actually isn’t about a conspiracy behind the police/prosecutor institution like TvN Signal or TvN Stranger since the mastermind is the person outside it. Some audience may be fooled or even disappointed about it but I’m not (once again, I said Taegu’s character as psychopath fits more in horror tropes). The procedural pace, the variety of crimes, and the plot-driven won’t make you bored that you probably forget to ask for character development and question the logic; though, sometimes the running clock is too long to make us question if the run really happened just in 5 minutes.

The lead female’s super hearing ability is the reason why all the emergency rescues success where the title “Voice” comes from, it’s full an entertaining fiction, we know real life isn’t like that. Still, it isn’t without flaw; for example, she could amazingly hear the boy’s slow tap behind the wall through communication but she failed to hear the hitting sound Taegu made when he’s smashing Daeshik’s head in the basement right when she’s entering his house. And her ability might be useless if the criminals were smart enough to make sure there's no cellphone being kept in their victim's pocket to be able to make contacts.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Voice is definitely my fave Korean TV Series so far. It isn’t perfect but somehow I don’t feel this is a Kdrama at all. Look at those three main characters:

The nuance I feel around the lead female’s department and how she handles the cases is almost like when I watch US TV Series of Police Procedural Dramas (many felt like Criminal Minds mixed with 9-1-1),

the lead male’s fighting scene is like The Raid, Bourne, or John Wick (also the Surim-dong case reminds me of NCIS: New Orleans’s case “Clearwater”),

the main killer’s approach is like Wes Craven’s SCREAM and his personality is like American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman.

With these references, I don’t recommend this series to those who can’t stand to watch gruesome violence. The age rating in Korea's Standard is 19+ and if it was measured to my country's rating standard (Indonesia), it'd be 21+.

I haven’t mentioned yet that the actors and the actresses, both leads and supporting, are amazing. I don’t watch much Korean entertainment (movie and show) so this is the first time I’m introduced to them all, and suddenly both Jinhyuk’s actor (Jang Hyuk) and Taegu’s actor (Kim Jae Wook) are added to my fave list for me interested to watch their other projects. I also like the veteran actress who plays a granny in Surim-dong incident; she could act as three different characters!

I’m looking forward to Season 2 aired on 11th August 2018. Now, without Jinhyuk and Taegu’s characters anymore as their confrontation story is over; I wonder if this time The Golden Team somehow ever fails to save a life like TvN Signal and have kind of a sociopath as main villain like OCN Tunnel. Who knows? I still can’t imagine someone more psycho and charismatic than Taegu yet haha. And with a different director, it’s probably not horror as season 1 anymore, but more thriller. But most importantly, I want to see and know more about the heroine, Kang Center, she’s at least need character development since she was the core of “voice”.

#ocn voice #kdrama #lee ha na #jang hyuk #kim jae wook #review #tv series

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eddycurrents · 8 years ago

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For the week of 30 October 2017

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #6, by Chip Zdarsky and Michael Walsh, was my favourite for the week. Published by Marvel.

I think I can safely say that “My Dinner with Jonah” is probably the best Spider-Man story in the past decade, maybe longer. Chip Zdarsky and Michael Walsh present a confrontation between Spider-Man and J. Jonah Jameson that’s been a long time coming, building and building since the characters’ inception some fifty-five years ago. And it all comes together in a frank, honest, sometimes funny, and emotional conversation between these two adversaries.

What’s interesting is that this is primarily a talking heads issue, but Michael Walsh still manages to turn it into one of the most visually compelling issues of this series to date, with interesting choices for panel layout, overlapping images, framing, and backgrounds.

Overall, this is a great comic.

Quick Bits:

1985: Black Hole Repo #1 is an interesting digital release featuring an alternate history where the US outright nuked Cuba, they trashed the environment, and the Cold War became that much hotter. In doing so, they also went into space.

| Published by Heavy Metal

Black Bolt #7 is kind of an interlude between the last arc in the prison and the upcoming return home, with gorgeous guest art by Frazer Irving. The voyage attempts to be a bit of a breather for Black Bolt, but there’s a certain amount of humour that he keeps getting interrupted by one crisis or the next. It’s also nice that we do get a bit more insight into his new charge, Blinky.

| Published by Marvel

DuckTales #2 offers up two tales of adventure written by Joey Cavalieri, set before the new show, featuring Scrooge McDuck, Donald, and Donald’s sister, Della. It’s interesting to see her in action before she goes missing as per the television series, managing to help get Donald into some precarious predicaments.

| Published by IDW

Elsewhere #4 closes out the first arc with an assault on Lord Kragen’s compound to rescue Tavel and hopefully find the missing Fred Noonan. There are a couple of interesting revelations, one particular about DB Cooper’s motivations for helping, that add something new to the story.

| Published by Image

Extremity #8 nicely advances the Pazini’s encroachment on the camp, as well as Rollo’s attempts to repair Shiloh. As usual, Daniel Warren Johnson’s artwork is phenomenal and the action sequences, particularly against the beasts Rollo’s team discover in the Black Canyon, are incredible.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Giant Days #32 continues to see the girls grow apart, grow up, and start to move on. Susan and Daisy are growing closer to their respective partners, the problems with their flat are coming to bear, and it leaves Esther in a kind of existential nightmare. This issue also further underlines that Ingrid is incredibly manipulative and probably doesn’t have Daisy’s best interests in mind.

| Published by BOOM! Entertainment / Boom! Box

The Gravediggers Union #1 is a pretty damn impressive debut from Wes Craig and Toby Cypress. The first issue introduces (or reintroduces if you’ve read Craig’s Blackhand) to the members of the Gravediggers Union Local 606, an organization that takes care of the supernatural intrusions that go bump in the night that it became a viable profession. It’s a refreshing take to see monster-hunting being done by average working stiffs and how zombies, ghoststorms, and vampires have become so commonplace to the people that they’ve become desensitized to the news about it.

The art is also amazing. The books opens with a past sequence illustrated by Craig himself, showing hominid ancestors being driven by strange Lovecraftian monstrosities. Kind of like an homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey but weirder.

| Published by Image

Inhumans: Once & Future Kings #4 is the penultimate issue in what has been an excellent series by Christopher Priest and Phil Noto. It also features a hilarious back-up story by Ryan North and Gustavo Duarte that has Lockjaw against Thanos.

| Published by Marvel

No. 1 with a Bullet #1 is something different. While on the surface it’s the story of Nash Huang, the assistant to Jad Davis, the host of an entertainment news show, it’s also about how technology and social affect and change our lives, infiltrating every corner such that both our reality and privacy filters are thrown askew. It’s also really good. The story Jacob Semahn is telling here is quite contemporary and relevant, especially with how social media has overtaken the public.

What really elevates this book even higher is the artwork. Jorge Corona has a style that’s somewhere in between Jason Pearson and the Pander Bros and it just looks amazing. The stylized art, coupled with the muted colour scheme from Jen Hickman, make it stand out as something peculiar.

| Published by Image

Old Man Logan #30 concludes the “Days of Anger” arc in epic fashion. It is the knock-down, drag-out fight between Logan and Maestro that you’re looking for.

| Published by Marvel

Optimus Prime #12 wraps up the mystery of the Cybertronian weapons being sold to humans, as well as spotlighting what’s been going on with Jazz. John Barber sets up a schism between Jazz and Optimus in this issue, playing up the ideas of faith and loyalty inherent both in Jazz’s previous friendship with Optimus in addition to the zealotry of Prime’s religious followers.

| Published by IDW

Paper Girls #17 drops an infobomb that may not be accurate given the unreliable nature of the source, but it adds another layer of depth into what’s going on with time and how everything seems to be getting more and more messed up. As usual, Cliff Chiang makes everything look wonderful as we get some more giant robot madness.

Red Sonja #10 pushes the story forward into the next gear as Sonja and her friends are confronted by La Jefa of the Aranhas gang. Meanwhile while Sonja gets accustomed to Earth, Max tries to settle in to life in Meru, finding out that his cantrips are working again.

| Published by Dynamite

ROM #14 concludes the series, even as it sets up a plot for something much, much larger, incorporating a kind of take on Lovecraftian madness permeating into the Hasbroverse through the Dire Wraiths. This issue is also the last one outstanding before I can now read First Strike, which just published its last issue. The timing on IDW’s releases are way off.

| Published by IDW

Star Wars: Darth Vader #7 continues within the beginnings of the Rebels-era, as Vader starts training the Inquisitorius in earnest. Naturally, his tutelage is brutal. It also sets in motion a confrontation between Vader and one of the survivors of the Jedi Purge, Jocasta Nu, the Librarian in charge of the Jedi Archives from Clone Wars. It’s nice to see Charles Soule bridging continuity like this, making the new Star Wars continuity under Disney feel like a complete whole.

| Published by Marvel

Usagi Yojimbo #163 is the first part of “The Mouse Trap”. It’s a noble thief type story, following Nezumi as he’s framed for the murder of a respected merchant. Playing again into the more procedural, police/crime-oriented tales that Stan Sakai has been telling lately. Which, in itself, is pretty good because Inspector Ishida is a great character.

| Published by Dark Horse

Other Highlights: Agent 47: Birth of the Hitman #1, Archie #25, Astonishing X-Men #5, Avengers #673, Captain America #695, Clue #5, Crosswind #5, Expansion, Guardians of the Galaxy #146, Iceman #7, Iron Fist #74, Lazaretto #3, Lazarus X+66 #4, The Man from the Great North, Noble #6, Power Pack #63, The Schiz, Spider-Man #234, TMNT/Ghostbusters 2 #1, Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse - Mr. Wormwood Goes to Washington #2

Recommended Collections: Deadpool - Volume 10: Secret Empire, Doc Savage: Ring of Fire, Revolutionaries - Volume 2: Power & Glory, Spookhouse - Volume 1

d. emerson eddy does not know the muffin man. Please refrain from asking again.

#This Week in Comics #Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man 6 #Chip Zdarsky #Michael Walsh

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ramajmedia · 6 years ago

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The Blacklist: 5 Best & 5 Worst Episodes (According To IMDb)

The Blacklist is one of the rare network television shows that frequently transcends its channel. It also overcame its somewhat tired procedural premise. That’s because the ensemble of characters on this FBI show are very likable, and the stories eventually incorporate more intimate scenarios. The procedural element is a tough hurdle, but many of the cases are surprisingly intriguing. At its best, the series offers a balanced diet of humor, action, and heart. However, at its lowest, it can have some pretty frustrating issues. Let’s have a look at how the fans have rated all its highs and lows on IMDb. Spoilers included!

10 Worst: "The Vehm (No. 132)" - 7.5

Someone in the writer’s room took Mr. Wallace’s threat from Pulp Fiction very literally, regarding medieval torture. In this episode, a vigilante group that seems to be targeting pedophiles has killed one of Reddington’s associates. It’s very strange to combine silly elements like medieval killings with such a serious subject matter. But even worse, the case unfortunately has very little to do with the more interesting character interactions. Procedurals always run that risk, but by Season 3, this series had more or less outgrown it. Ultimately, if there were a better vehicle for the drama, this episode likely wouldn’t have been rated so low.

9 Best: "Tom Connolly (No. 11)" - 9.3

The second season's finale offered as much resolution as setup, with a refreshingly swift pace. Putting Elizabeth on the run resulted in some of the best stories on the show. It simply gets all of the characters moving around and forces them to act emotionally. The sense of urgency is palpable throughout the episode and Elizabeth’s rash murder is genuinely stunning. In retrospect, it’s reminiscent of John Wick 2, wherein Wick conducts business in the Continental. Elizabeth ends up on the run because she saw no alternative. She also recollects her memories and secures her relationship with Tom. It’s a thrilling, creative, and even daring episode.

RELATED: The Blacklist: 10 Best Characters, Ranked

8 Worst: "The Kenyon Family (No. 71)" - 7.5

This second season episode decided to delve into a predictable case about a cult. To the dismay of all fans, it doesn’t really put any kind of unique spin on the concept. Instead, the story resorts to some pretty familiar and tiresome beats. Furthermore, the culprits of the episode are a group of boys that were cast out of the cult. This show has often made the most of exaggerated villains, in a playful and fun way. But it just wasn’t able to capture that spirit this time around. Instead, the plausibility factor tests its threshold a tad too far, particularly with the manufactured kidnapping. But it features a pre-Stranger Things Gaten Matarazzo, so that's something.

7 Best: "The Director (No. 24): Conclusion" - 9.3

The Cabal isn’t necessarily a very original concept, but the course of events ultimately transpired in a captivating way nonetheless. And even with all the resolution this episode offered, the plot still wasn’t done. Reddington helps orchestrate the Director’s kidnapping, while Tom delivers Karakurt. So finally, the plan to restore Elizabeth’s innocence is successfully completed. This story arc was one of the more effective and engrossing standouts of the show, certainly this early on. It’s exactly the showdown that was promised by the second season finale, and the pieces come together impeccably.

RELATED: The Blacklist: 10 Questions We Still Have After The Season 6 Finale

6 Worst: "Lipet's Seafood Company (No. 111)" - 7.4

This episode directly followed a striking two-part storyline about Alexander Kirk. Liz’s convoluted history, steeped in secrets, has always been a highlight of the show. The Blacklist often went back to that well too frequently, but at least it was nicely executed. But this episode felt like an about-face, at no fault of its own. The series is really effective at top speed, but when it slams on the brakes, it generally doesn’t work out. However, this episode was actually the return after a seasonal intermission. The pacing is slowed for some decent character development, like Navabi’s secret. But the case itself was an uninteresting tangent to the drama.

5 Best: "The Osterman Umbrella Company (No. 6)" - 9.3

This episode almost borrows a page from Mission Impossible's "Syndicate", with a secret world of assassins and ex-agents. But obviously, the focus of this episode is the loss of such a major character. It’s a terrific, tragic sendoff that has sincere, compelling drama instead of melodrama. That’s because it is a willing goodbye, rather than a typical death scene. Also, the episode boasts some of the best action the show has ever offered. It helps that we’re completely invested in this two-parter. Also, there is a looming sense of inevitability as Aram and Samar haphazardly flee such an oppressive force.

4 Worst: "Gaia (No. 81)" - 7.3

Season 4 was a curious outing for the show, equally dishing out some terrific highs and abysmal lows. Everything involving Kathryn was absolute gold, and “Requiem” is arguably the best drama that the show ever delivered. But this episode sticks her in a cabin for a while, and the predicament is frustrating and arguably just plain silly. But the villain was probably the episode’s largest problem. It’s an eco-terrorist, and politics don’t blend well with this sort of entertainment. Certainly these days, and certainly regarding the environment. There’s simply a profound lack of originality in this episode. This includes the romance between Aram and Samar, which doesn’t feel especially organic here. And although fans love a breezy case, episodes that briskly advance the plot generally receive higher ratings.

RELATED: The Blacklist: Most Shocking Moments From The Show, Ranked

3 Best: "Rassvet" - 9.3

Once more, we receive an elaborate history lesson full of answers, akin to “Requiem.” But this is a more intimate and complete portrayal of Katarina Rostova’s convoluted past. Understanding her relationship with the current Reddington provides the answers everyone wanted, and satisfactory context for the entire show. The casting for a young James Spader was actually superb, and the performances were terrific all around. The romance with Katarina felt very natural and was incorporated well. And yet, all of this history comes from a possibly unreliable narrator. At the very least, he could be withholding further truths. The writers understand that fans love their mysteries even more than their answers.

2 Worst: "The Major (No. 75)" - 6.9

This is the Season 2 episode that brought everything to a standstill. Perhaps it would be a particularly useful tool for newcomers that needed a recap on literally everything. Elizabeth is sent to court for questioning in a murder case. As a result, the show reflects on all the most crucial recent events. It’s a clip show, which is unusual for a serialized narrative. Fans weren’t pleased about similar concepts for the finales of Seinfeld or The X-Files. But at least those episodes had a lot to reflect on. This show was barely closing out its second season. Fans couldn’t possibly be pleased with such a non-story.

1 Best: "Ian Garvey (No. 13)" - 9.4

The mystery of the suitcase and whose remains were in it, generated a surprising amount of story. Red’s warnings never deterred Tom, and his utter determination ultimately costs him dearly. It was hard to see that character go, although there were indications that might have allowed fans to brace for it. But Tom’s death is absolutely fitting, sending him out in the only way possible — defending his loved ones against overwhelming odds. What is especially heartbreaking is that Tom’s death is so drawn out. Attempts to rescue him slowly fail, and the reveal after Liz wakes from her coma is the most dramatic possible delivery. It’s a creative, impressive, sincere piece of writing, and deserving of its crowning rank.

NEXT: The Blacklist: The 10 Best Supporting Characters

source https://screenrant.com/blacklist-best-worst-episodes-imdb/

#screenrant

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Loki Episode 2 Holds Out for a Hero and a Villain

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This review contains spoilers for the second episode of Loki

Loki Episode 2

“Up where the mountains meet the heavens above. Out where the lightning splits the sea. I could swear that there’s someone somewhere watching me.”

When Marvel’s Kevin Feige discussed Loki’s evolution recently, he noted that “putting Loki into his own procedural series became the Eureka moment for the show.” This became a talking point between fans because Loki was simultaneously hyped as another “six-hour movie” and the two concepts seemed to clash a little. Would Loki’s overarching story blend well with elements of a crime procedural?

The first episode of Marvel’s latest small screen project gave us a little good-cop/bad-cop stuff, with some interrogation room tactics weaved in as Owen Wilson’s Mobius M. Mobius went down the “get inside the mind of a killer” route, and the second episode of Loki continues to embrace the procedural vibe.

A fairly traditional teaser sets up episode 2 as C-20 (Sasha Lane from American Honey) and her squad of TVA Hunters arrive in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in the mid-80s to investigate a reported Variant on the loose at a renaissance fair. The team is ambushed by the Minutemen-murdering Loki Variant mentioned by Mobius at the end of the last episode, and Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero” accompanies the rest of the scene in what may or may not be the most extremely online deep cut I’ve ever seen.

TERRIBLE MISS MINUTES IMPRESSION: Hi there! You may be asking yourself what a “teaser” or “cold open” is! Let me get you up to speed. A teaser is a narrative technique used at the start of a TV episode to intrigue the audience just enough to stay tuned. In crime procedurals it’s usually the first building block of that episode’s mystery. A good cold open makes us feel compelled to stick around and find out “whodunnit,” why, or how!

Back at the TVA, Loki is learning – or half-learning – about what happens when a Nexus Event passes the red line and they can’t reset it: the destruction of the Sacred Timeline. During the lesson Miss Minutes acts as a Gal Friday who Loki has little appreciation for despite her enthusiasm, and she ends up calling him a jerk. Which he absolutely is. Nevertheless, the scene is delightful. If there has to be a Who Framed Roger Rabbit? remake in our future, put Tom Hiddleston in there as Eddie Valiant and you could craft a sturdy bridge out of my suspension of disbelief.

Some specific temporal energy has informed the TVA that the Loki Variant was indeed responsible for the ambush on C-20’s team. The Hunters are used to dealing with Loki Variants – apparently they prune Lokis “almost more than any other Variant.” Slippery little bugger though he may be, this stands out as fairly important information. Are these Variants like raptors unwittingly testing the fences? Also, can we take a guess at who might be leading the pack when it comes to Variant numbers if Loki is in second place? Keep checking the background at the TVA! We’ve already seen a Skrull and Peggy Carter.

Our Loki is being teased with the possibility that he could snag an audience with the Time-Keepers if he’s useful enough, leaning into the tried and true cop show “you could get immunity or a reduced sentence if you cooperate” trope. Loki buys it, but it seems incredibly unlikely that this is anything other than manipulative bullshit on Mobius’ part.

We also get to spend a little time alone with Mobius and Judge Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) in this episode. The pair have clearly known each other for a long time but Renslayer now has the unenviable task of riding the line between boss and pal. She’s steady and calm, but you can still envision her as Loki’s own police chief: laying down the law with Mobius, calling him a “loose cannon” for allowing Loki into the fold, and asking him to turn in his badge and gun – or whatever the TVA equivalent is.

His interactions with Renslayer are perhaps supposed to be charming but they’re actually kinda unsettling, though I can’t quite put my finger on why just yet.

Mobius emerges from the meeting even more determined to see Loki pick up the pace. He tries to out-manipulate the manipulator with his firm but soft-spoken psychology by telling him that the troublesome killer Variant is a “superior version” of Loki. Our Loki is just a “scared little boy”. I mean, why are you booing him? He’s right.

Loki is put to work in the bowels of the TVA on the research beat, poring through case files and having a fun interaction with a live-action Roz from Monsters, Inc. The stakes are high here. Loki’s life pretty much depends on him finding a breadcrumb or two, and luckily he manages it during an emotional montage during which he processes that Asgard, the home he grew up in and then abandoned, is gone. And he didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye.

He digs deeper into the destruction of Asgard and finds that there was no variance energy detected at ground zero and has an epiphany (mmm, we’ll come back to that, no one here is ready for more of my Miss Minutes shtick yet, least of all me) that the show seems to be hoping you don’t ask too many hard questions about.

Loki reasons that he’d hide in zero variance energy apocalypse events if he were evading the TVA, and is excited to prove himself right. Mobius is dubious, but they try out Loki’s winning theory in Pompeii just as the city is being destroyed. The buddy cop energy is strong in the scene, with Loki acting as the mischievous rookie who won’t play by the rules and Mobius as his older, weary partner.

Hiddleston and Wilson’s banter remains effortless, and I can admit that it works a lot better than Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan’s in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Maybe it’s that Wilson’s “bird noises” bit truly feels like improv being done by someone who’s good at improv – the kind of thing you’d usually see end up in a Marvel gag reel. There’s a lot of fun stuff in this episode, but just passively watching Hiddleston and Wilson’s undeniable chemistry even when they’re having an existential chat about life, the universe, and jet skis has proved to be enough for me honestly.

Speaking of which, Loki uses said chat to plant a much-needed seed of doubt in Mobius’ mind about whether the Time-Keepers and the TVA are really the good guys. I’m on his side here: all that Variant killing and near-religious predetermination has left a whole lot of blood on their hands. ATCAB – All Time Cops Are Bastards! No, wait, that’s Jean-Claude Van Damme erasure. I won’t have it.

Anyway, ding-ding, maybe these two mismatched detectives have more in common than they thought, and it all leads to Mobius having his own Kablooie epiphany.

EVEN WORSE MISS MINUTES IMPRESSION SOMEHOW: A sudden epiphany during an episode is often called a “Eureka!” Moment. The protagonist has some good evidence and the case is almost cracked! All it will take is a little bit of inspiring information to help them cross the finish line. If you’ve ever seen an episode of House, you may already be familiar with these moments, and the look on Hugh Laurie’s face when he finally works out that it’s not lupus or sarcoidosis. Come back soon!

Mobius’ “Eureka moment” places the murderous Variant in 2050 Alabama, so Loki, Mobius, Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), and a bunch of other Minutemen eventually find themselves inside a slightly futuristic shopping haven called Roxxcart. I love that this show could go anywhere and do anything but will just as happily cut to a file room or a barely-disguised Walmart as it will to apocalyptic fucken Pompeii.

The Roxxcart mission indeed unveils the mystery Variant: it’s Sophia Di Martino! And the credits identify her as Sylvie aka Enchantress and not Lady Loki as we may have expected.

Depending on your grasp of Marvel lore, this reveal will be quite surprising, thrilling, and perhaps confusing. Pros: we didn’t have to wait as long for this unveiling as we did for WandaVision’s Agatha Harkness reveal. Cons: no catchy theme song. But the fact that this reveal has come so early on in the series is pretty exciting – it probably means bigger surprises lie ahead.

But it’s here that the episode subverts our procedural expectations somewhat. It’s not Sylvie who is revealing her grand plan upon being discovered, it’s Loki. And she’s way ahead of him. “This isn’t about you,” she tells Loki, somewhat echoing the Ancient One’s dying words to Doctor Strange.

Again, this feels very significant. Ol’ Tilda spent a long time protecting our reality, and her successor is about to deal with a multiverse of madness in his upcoming sequel. And lest we forget how the Ancient One set that truth bomb up: “Arrogance and fear still keep you from learning the simplest and most significant lesson of all.” It feels like Sylvie knows something very important that we don’t, and her own “glorious purpose” goes beyond selfish aspirations.

Loki might be a little closer to shrugging off his self-absorbed nature than Sylvie realizes. In my favorite part of the episode, he checks to make sure B-15 is okay when she’s left unconscious by her possession. This is a guy who just killed a bunch of people, just absolutely has nothing but contempt for people, and he’s concerned about the wellbeing of a Hunter who has shown him nought but derision. Loki isn’t holding out for a hero. He might just be on the path to becoming one.

Or maybe he was just lifting a weapon off her body and I’ll have to take it on the chin next week.

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The post Loki Episode 2 Holds Out for a Hero and a Villain appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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haroldgross · 5 years ago

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New Post has been published on Harold Gross: The 5a.m. Critic

New Post has been published on http://literaryends.com/hgblog/a-series-of-series/

A series of series...

What is the collective noun for a bunch of series? A fiction? A stream? A numbing? A time-suck? A profit? There must be one. In any event, there has been a number of series I’ve plowed through, but haven’t felt they needed a separate write-up, so I’ve collected them here. It is a broad range of subjects and providers in no particular order.

Warrior Nun – An imperfect, but engaging fantasy series that got me to check it out through its title alone. But, as it turns out, they hit the jackpot with some of their casting (though not all). Alba Baptista drives the series, coming across, in a positive way, as a young Ellen Page and very credible American. She’s joined by a few solid, and relatively unknown, supporting actors like Kristina Tonteri-Young, Toya Turner, and Olivia Delcán. The plotting is often weak or ill-researched, but the effects and some of the battles are pretty well executed. And the dialogue is often amusing. I’m actually looking forward to seeing what comes next…even if I curse them for a massive and cheap cliff-hanger ending to the season.

Perry Mason – overlaps heavily (and unfavorably) with City of Angels. It covers the same period of time and with similar nods, but it simply doesn’t manage to capture the era in the same scope. Oh, and yeah, it is only Perry Mason in title… this show just didn’t know what it wanted or needed to be. Couldn’t stick with it despite the cast and my love of murder mysteries.

Crossing Swords – South Park meets Lego. Almost enough said, but I was surprised to see the silly antics and crazy storylines actually form a seasonal arc. For all the insanity, there is a purpose…well, OK, at least a shape. I couldn’t really binge this show, but it was a fun distraction to fill in 22 minutes when needed. And the voice talent is pretty surprising.

Love, Victor – There are a number of solid moments and concepts in this series that make it a sweet and clever spin-off of Love, Simon. But, honestly, it doesn’t earn its stripes, but I’ll get to that. If you haven’t heard of this story, it explores the struggles of Michael Cinimo in the title role coming to terms with himself, similar to Simon in the source material, but with more challenges. Rachel Hilson (This is Us), George Sear (Alex Rider), and the somewhat over-the-top Anthony Turpel (The Bold and the Beautiful) fill out Cimino’s inner circle and focus.

To its credit, the show isn’t quite all rainbows and butterflies…Cinimo’s family is a bit screwed up and the world isn’t a perfect place. It’s simplified, to be sure, but it keeps it from being ridiculous. It also provides it some grist to grind on for the series length with multiple layers on the subject of relationships and love. And the easier resolutions provide hope to their target audience.

However, I do have one, not so little, issue with the story. Our hero Victor, while really capturing the confusing nature of growing up, is depicted as falling for Hilson’s character by getting to know her while really only lusting for Sear’s Benji without much sense of who he is. Realistic? To a degree, but it cheapens the inner struggle and diminishes the message that both attractions are real and equal. And it also costs them any credibility in the season one, inevitable, finale. Which was truly a shame as it could have really had a solid season with a little more effort on the writer’s part.

Killing Eve (1-3) – I never wrote up this series as, frankly, it was getting more than enough press. My thoughts were completely unnecessary. However, having recently completed the third series, I was struck by how the plot has evolved each year. I was impressed with the evolutions of Fiona Shaw (Mrs. Wilson) and the addition of Harriet Walter (Black Earth Rising) in particular. Not that the rest aren’t great and fun, Ken Bodnia (The Bridge) has some particularly wonderful moments, but I’m doing this as a drive by. The third outing is definitely a shift in presentation and tone, but I still find the story pulls me in and the disintegration and remaking of Sandra Oh’s (Last Night) Eve and Jodie Comer’s (Doctor Foster) Villanelle fascinating. I’m very curious to see what comes next and if they can sustain it; but I’m also hopeful that they’ll wrap it up soon and let it enjoy a completion. It can only be milked for so long without completely devolving or getting boring.

Upstart Crow – Such great, silly, and very clever fun. In fact, the series only improved as it went along. From one of the minds that helped birth Black Adder, comes this great social satire through the lens of Shakespeare’s life. With a solid cast and tight writing (and wonderful nods to the canon itself) this is one of the better half-hour concept comedies I’ve seen…if nothing else for the impressive scripts.

Cardinal (series 4) – This could well be the end of the series, though they’ve left a nice trapdoor to keep it going. Previous series were good and interesting, but not brilliant. With this fourth outing, the writing has suddenly gelled even as they wrap up some long arcs that began with the first episode. This is, by far, the best written and delivered tale so far. I’m hoping they get to continue with the stories and these characters, but I wouldn’t feel left hanging if this was the end.

Before We Die – Another Scandinavian police procedural, yes, but definitely with its own unique set of characters and the dark malaise that hangs over all that genre. It starts with a strong statement and quickly knots up the characters into an intriguing tangle that unspools through the series.

#adaptation #Dark Comedy #grrrls #LGBT #Mystery #Political Drama #Romance #Science Fiction #ShouldSee #Suspense #Streamed only #TV Review

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entergamingxp · 5 years ago

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15 Upcoming Indie Games to Put On Your Radar in 2020

January 16, 2020 12:00 PM EST

2020 looks to be another great year for indie games. Here are 15 of them to keep an eye on as the year rolls on.

Last week, we gave you 10 2020 releases that you absolutely shouldn’t miss. However, that list mostly dealt with the biggest games of 2020. What about all the awesome games being made by smaller studios? Well, here’s the list for them. Below are 15 incredible-looking games coming from the indie scene in 2020.

Before we start, it’s important to note that with the continually growing indie space in games, there are hundreds of games that could easily make this list. I’ve capped the list at 15 mostly for my sanity, but the initial shortlist for this article was a mile long. Here are a few extra honorable mentions you should give a look: TemTem, Boyfriend Dungeon, Griftlands, Minute of Islands, Sable, Roki, Baldo, Garden Story, Ikenfell, Knuckle Sandwich, and She Dreams Elsewhere. I also chose to not include Axiom Verge 2, as that was already covered in last week’s article. Anyways, on to the list.

Lenna’s Inception

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This Legend of Zelda-like from Bytten Studio is actually out this week. You play as an unlikely hero in a procedurally generated world that flips from 8- to 32-bit pixel art. It looks to turn the typical conventions of the genre on its head with a wild storyline that features multiple endings. You can also play the game with a friend in local co-op. A Link to the Past is my all-time favorite game, so any game that looks to iterate on that excellent formula is automatically something I’ll be paying attention to.

12 Minutes

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Time loops are all the rage these days after the excellent Outer Wilds took the world by storm last year. Interestingly, 12 Minutes is another Annapurna-published game that explores the mind-bending concept. While Outer Wilds had you exploring an entire galaxy, 12 Minutes’ experience is a bit more intimate. As a husband trying to share a romantic evening with his wife, you’ll discover the many secrets taking place inside your apartment. On the surface, it might not sound like the most thrilling concept on this list, but everything I’ve seen has been very impressive.

Cook, Serve, Delicious 3

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Before seeing this in action, I wasn’t really sure if the world needed another Cook, Serve, Delicious game. After all, how much more cooking, serving, and delciousing can a person reasonably expect to do? And then I saw that the game takes place in the post-apocalyptic US and you play as the owner of a food truck. As you travel across America, you must both cook food and fight off roving bands of evil cooks. It’s hard to imagine a cooking game with a better elevator pitch than this one.

Eastward

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Earthbound-like games are a dime a dozen these days. The SNES classic made a major impact on the developers of today, and we’re seeing that love play out in games like LISA, Citizens of Earth, and, of course, Undertale. However, there’s something about Eastward’s style that really sticks out to me. While other games have done a great job of capturing Earthbound’s charm and gameplay, Eastward also nails the look. If I close my eyes and imagine what Earthbound would look like in 2020, Eastward isn’t far off. Hopefully, the team at Pixpil can nail everything else it’s going for just as well.

Sports Story

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Golf Story is my favorite game for Nintendo Switch. Full stop. And now Sidebar Games is adding tennis and dungeons and espionage and buried treasure and a meeting with a queen? I need this game yesterday. If Golf Story wasn’t up your alley, this probably won’t be either, but for us beings of superior intellect, Sports Story is set to be one of the most exciting releases of 2020. I cannot wait.

The Red Lantern

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The Red Lantern basically looks like FTL except instead of crossing the galaxy, you’re racing the Iditarod with a team of the best boys. When I was a kid, I was obsessed with the book Stone Fox. So, a game that lets me play out the fantasy of racing Searchlight through the Alaskan wilderness is very much right up my alley. My only worry is how brutal the game looks. The trailer has a scene where a bear attacks one of your dogs and I really hated watching it. Hopefully, that’s a rarity or else this might just become an idea I love and not a game I play.

Spelunky 2

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Spelunky remains one of the best rogue-likes on the market. The platforming is tight and the game has so many awesome secrets for you to discover. The sequel looks to be more of the same and I can’t wait to join the community in uncovering all the weirdness that lies within. This spot could also easily go to UFO 50, which is another Derek Yu project I’ve been waiting for with bated breath. Crazy to think both games are likely for 2020.

Spiritfarer

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This is a resource management sim that is all about dying. You play as a ferrymaster to the deceased. As you craft your way across the world, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to improve your custom death ferry. Spiritfarer has a unique setting that is well worth a look. However, the thing that really made me pay attention is the game’s visuals. The hand-drawn art quickly catches the eye and seeing it in motion is even better. I’m intrigued to see if the game’s look and premise are matched by its quality.

Carrion

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Spoiler alert for 2016’s Inside. Carrion is like that ending sequence where you play as the gigantic amorphous blob except that’s the entire game. Oh, and this blob is straight out of a horror movie and is very interested in eating everything. Publisher Devolver Digital describes it as “a reverse horror game” and I have to agree. The way the blob moves through the levels is both deeply unsettling and incredibly cool.

Hollow Knight: Silksong

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Y’all remember how Hollow Knight is one of the best Metroidvania games of the last decade or so? Or how it was a perfect match for Nintendo Switch? Well, how would you feel if I told you Team Cherry was going to do more of that except even more polished? Great news! That’s what happening and it’s going to be great.

Ori and the Will of Wisps

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If you are a fan of sequels to tough-as-nails platformers with Metroidvania elements, 2020 is going to be a great year. Getting both Ori and the Will of the Wisps and Hollow Knight: Silksong in the same year seems like an embarrassment of riches. Plus, Axiom Verge 2 is coming, which is a bit different, but still sits in that same realm. Personally, Ori is the one I’m least excited about; however, I can’t deny that this will probably be great.

Mineko’s Night Market

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Mineko’s Night Market is maybe the cutest game on this list. The “adventure/merchant simulator” wears its Animal Crossing inspiration on its sleeve. However, developer Meowza Games aims to put a much bigger emphasis on narrative and crafting. You play as a young girl named Mineko who has arrived on an island filled with cats. Your options for what to do are varied, but discovering the game’s secrets and preparing for the weekly Night Market is paramount. Mineko’s Night Market looks like it could fill a similar space to games like Stardew Valley. Great experiences to sit back, relax, and let wash over you.

Cris Tales

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Cris Tales is billed as “a love letter to classic JRPGs”, but with a big twist. The game lets you simultaneously see the past, present, and future of your actions, which results in some fascinating situations. Maybe you warp your enemy into the future to make them older and weaker. Or you warp yourself to the past to make you shorter and are able to more easily dodge an attack. It’s an innovative idea that has major gameplay and narrative implications. The best part about Cris Tales is that there is a demo out on Steam right now. So, if you’re interested, you can go check it out and see if this game is up your alley.

Murder by Numbers

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Picross is one of the best types of puzzle games in video games. However, outside of Picross 3D, there haven’t been that many innovations in the genre. Murder by Numbers looks to change that by adding a murder mystery narrative to the game. What a perfect marriage! And the whole thing is set to a score from Masakazu Sugimori who counts Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Viewtiful Joe among their credits. I need this game now.

Emily is Away <3

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Both games in the Emily is Away series are incredibly moving experiences, especially for those of us who grew up in the time of MSN Messenger and AIM. The third game takes the series forward to a Facebook analogue. It’s tough to say if this release will hit as hard as the first two, but given the pedigree, I’m pretty confident in saying that Emily is Away <3 will be worth your time.

Obviously, the number of video games releasing in 2020 is vast. It would be a herculean task to try and cover everything. However, this list should be a great reference point for games to put on your radar. Of course, the best indie game of 2020 might not even be announced yet, but you can rest assured that when it is, DualShockers will be there to cover it.

January 16, 2020 12:00 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/01/15-upcoming-indie-games-to-put-on-your-radar-in-2020/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=15-upcoming-indie-games-to-put-on-your-radar-in-2020

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nickarmstrongfilm · 7 years ago

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OCTOBER 2018: AN EXERCISE IN EXCESS & A HORROR DIARY

Carrie (dir. Brian De Palma, 1976)*

The Rage: Carrie 2 (dir. Katt Shea, 1999)

Duel (dir. Steven Spielberg, 1971)

Pulse (dir. Jim Sonzero, 2006)* For all intents and purposes, I don’t think this movie was at all necessary — what Kurosawa pulled off with the original Pulse was nothing short of miraculous in its terror, melancholy and study of society… but I must admit that the idea of a group of people watching that film and translating it into a mid-2000s American tech-horror movie (aesthetic and all) is highly appealing to me. It’s fun! It’s dumb! Kiyoshi already mastered it so I can’t really get mad at this.

Daphne & Velma (dir. Suzi Yoonessi, 2018) Wholesome live-action Scooby-Doo spinoff with women at the helm, and is about as fun and nostalgic as anything I’ve seen related to Scooby-Doo. Lots of Halloween-y fun!

Captain Voyeur (dir. John Carpenter, 1969) Had been dying to get my hands on this for a long time, so it was lots of fun to finally see it (and complete Carpenter’s filmography!). It’s short and slight and very noticeably Carpenter. He improves on all aspects of this in his amazing career, but this is an inspiring artifact nonetheless.

The Crazies (dir. George A. Romero, 1973)

Something Evil (dir. Steven Spielberg, 1972)

Tales from the Hood (dir. Rusty Cundieff, 1995)*

Uncle Sam (dir. William Lustig, 1996) Anti-American slasher where the villain is a zombie soldier named Sam who dresses up as *the* Uncle Sam. I think that is praise enough.

Hell Fest (dir. Gregory Plotkin, 2018) This one has really grown on me over the month, especially as it inspired me to rewatch The Funhouse, which in turn inspired me the finally read the novelization of The Funhouse by Dean Koontz. As much as I was initially underwhelmed and annoyed by certain aspects of the film, the concept is terrific and it really plays into the uncertainty of the theme park’s dangers for impressively long stretches of time. Mostly dumb but also very fun.

Tales from the Hood 2 (dir. Rusty Cundieff & Darin Scott, 2018) Not even close to as impactful or consistent as the original, and my fear that this was co-directed by Cundieff and co-writer of the original Darin Scott actually turned out to be reasonable, because the two segments he directed are noticeably worse, but it remains passionate and blunt in its manipulation of genre tropes to suit the subject matter. Keith David murders it in the wraparound, and the closing short “The Sacrifice” is deeply powerful.

Stay Alive (dir. William Brent Bell, 2006)

Slice (dir. Austin Vesely, 2018)

Drag Me to Hell (dir. Sam Raimi, 2009)*

The Vagrant (dir. Chris Walas, 1992)

Venom (dir. Ruben Fleischer, 2018)

Dracula 3D (dir. Dario Argento, 2012) Argento’s rendition of the age-old Dracula tale is the umpteenth adaptation of the story, and while it doesn’t appear to make many changes to the narrative, I have to give credit to his formal experimentation — it strikes me as an admirable case of retrofuturism, as he uses the most modern digital filmmaking (I would love to see this in actual 3D) to tell one of the oldest tales imaginable. Lots to discover here, I think, but I really liked it!

Sleepwalkers (dir. Mick Garris, 1992)

The Black Cat (dir. Edward G. Ulmer, 1934)

Parasomnia (dir. William Malone, 2008) William Malone is one of the most underrated figures in horror, and while I can’t fully get behind this one — frankly, I’m unsure of whether it criticizes or endorses its imbecilic male character, who fetishizes a “sleeping beauty” — but his highly unique, Kiyoshi Kurosawa-esque aesthetic shines through in many moments, notably its dream sequences.

Hellraiser (dir. Clive Barker, 1987)*

Crazy As Hell (dir. Eriq La Salle, 2002) Kind of overlong, but cut down it could be a very serviceable series of predictable twists and turns that examine ethics in journalism and hospital institutions.

Hellbound: Hellraiser II (dir. Tony Randel, 1988)

Sorority House Massacre (dir. Carol Frank, 1986) Understandable to be deemed a Halloween ripoff, but it places a deeper focus on friendships and beats the rest of the Halloween series to a sense of psychic kinship which pushes this above being a fairly standard slasher. This is fun!

Soft for Digging (dir. J.T. Petty, 2001) I often think about, from experience, how making your student film silent is a smart but played-out trick to make it feel less cheap… nothing about this really sticks with me, but its lead performance is compelling and the atmosphere is strong at times.

Ganja & Hess (dir. Bill Gunn, 1973)* Just one of the greatest American films of all time, such a layered and nuanced take on the vampire subgenre. I don’t know what else to write except that Bill Gunn was one of the great filmmakers of all time.

Scary Movie 5 (dir. Malcolm D. Lee, 2013) Inarguably the least offensive of the series (a flawed series that I happen to love) and a very pure, frequently funny parody that director Malcolm D. Lee brings a whole lot to — and is as quietly incisive about the genre as some of the best entries are. The best one since the Wayans left.

Bones (dir. Ernest R. Dickerson, 2001)*

J.D.’s Revenge (dir. Arthur Marks, 1976)

We’re Going to Eat You (dir. Tsui Hark, 1980)

Ghost in the Machine (dir. Rachel Talalay, 1993) Incredible technology-focused Nightmare on Elm Street/Shocker hybrid made by the woman responsible for one of the very best Elm Streets. The effects, both practical and digital, are stunning in their own ways, and it’s just so much fun!

Aftershock (dir. Nicolás López, 2012) This feels like exactly how people see Roth’s Hostel, which makes me wonder why he’d take part in this. It is essentially a dumb version of the very smart film he made — which people consistently said was dumb — and he plays one of the assholes in it. This movie is unbearable.

The Funhouse (dir. Tobe Hooper, 1981)* Such an incredible extension of what Hooper examines in his essential Texas Chain Saw Massacre, replacing stumbling into backwoods America with a travelling version of the same horrors. Watching this made me miss writing about Hooper, because each of his works perfects and furthers everything he’s once done. An incredible film that is perhaps the ultimate in self-reflexivity within horror, and one of Hooper’s absolute best.

My Left Eye Sees Ghosts (dir. Johnnie To & Wai Ka-Fai, 2002)

Cat People (dir. Paul Schrader, 1982)* To my mind, this and Tourneur’s original are hard to compare because they perfectly fill each other in — Schrader’s lurid remake dares to show all that Tourneur couldn’t and wouldn’t 40 years later, which makes this a pretty ideal remake!

The Ambulance (dir. Larry Cohen, 1990) Another excellent entry in Cohen’s endeavor to turn the familiar into the horrifying, which I always appreciate as an attempt to alter the public’s perception of basic institutions. Very fun and intelligent.

Gothika (dir. Mathieu Kassovitz, 2003) Not unlike this year’s terrific Unsane in its examination of how all institutions are run by the amoral, and how innocent people are manipulated, victimized and gaslit. Has that ‘00s horror aesthetic I love (this comes from Dark Castle Entertainment, whose horror output I find thoroughly underrated) complete with Limp Bizkit’s cover of Behind Blue Eyes playing over the credits. Underrated and relevant.

Dark Angel: The Ascent (dir. Linda Hassani, 1994) At once a wholesome rom-com, righteous horror picture and an intelligent take on theology.

Love Massacre (dir. Patrick Tam, 1981) This is deliberately barren visually, making the splashes of blue and red all the more powerful when they come — its constant manipulation of genre and colour mesh perfectly with its narrative of violence and entitlement. The only cut that exists has hardcoded white subtitles — in an already very white movie — but for the time being, it actually tends to add to its mystery and minimalism. A masterpiece.

Urban Menace (dir. Albert Pyun, 1999) I’ve never ever ever seen a movie that looks like this — it starts with our narrator (Ice-T, of course) ranting about Urban Renewal and warning our viewers that if you’re easily offended, this movie is decidedly *not for you*. It is not a particularly offensive movie though I would not argue if someone called it a visual atrocity. For argument’s sake, it is not exactly a horror movie, but its intense exposure gives it a very dreamy quality that actually makes it a lot scarier to watch. This movie is probably not good but I fucking love Albert Pyun and I can’t say that I wasn’t in awe of how this was made. Plus it is 1 hour long!

The Card Player (dir. Dario Argento, 2004) Argento’s most blatant satire, this feels like a lampoon of both typical procedurals, as well as the desensitization of the internet age. There aren’t many images in Argento’s oeuvre I like more than a group of police officers cheering and laughing at a game of blackjack with a video of a woman being tortured superimposed over it.

Halloween (dir. David Gordon Green, 2018)* This didn’t work as well for me on a rewatch outside of my first experience at TIFF (full of excitement and yelling) but many of my favorite aspects remain: Laurie’s turn to the typical American defense against trauma (which also manifests in a cat-and-mouse chase in a slasher-proof booby-trapped housed), as well as its use of the sequel’s timing to explore multi-generational trauma, but all of its best ideas are explored with far more character in both Carpenter and Zombie’s iterations.

Lisa, Lisa (dir. Frederick R. Friedel, 1974)

Leprechaun 4: In Space (dir. Brian Trenchard-Smith, 1996) Just the most incredibly off-the-hinges horror franchise there is, especially because the antagonist is anything but scary. I think that the “in space” moniker is the quintessential jump-the-shark move for a franchise, so as stupid and offensive as this movie gets, it truly feels like it is just out of the viewer’s hands and the only responsible thing to do is enjoy the increasingly absurd nature of the films (though I can’t imagine it gets wilder than this).

Leprechaun in the Hood (dir. Rob Spera, 2000) Not only not wild enough to distract me from its horrid nature, but deeply offensive and unexpectedly transphobic (as a major plot point). Not even worth recommending for Ice-T or the Leprechaun smoking weed and rapping.

Hotel (dir. Jessica Hausner, 2004)

Spontaneous Combustion (dir. Tobe Hooper, 1990)* Both Tobe’s superhero movie and his Sirk picture, filled to the brim with bright colors and melodrama that also functions as both a parody and indictment of 50′s paranoia. Another masterpiece from Hooper.

The Return of Swamp Thing (dir. Jim Wynorski, 1989) I love Swamp Thing!! I don’t like this quite as much as Craven’s comic-book gothic romance, but it does lean further into comic-book stylings, and is filled with color and explosions and melodrama!

Chiller (dir. Wes Craven, 1985)

Kaun? (dir. Ram Gopal Varma, 1999) Varma’s use of setting here is so major, eliciting fear and obscurity almost exclusively through camera movements and narrative control. One of the spookiest, most subversive home invasion films I’ve seen (particularly in its exploration of power within the genre). I need to see more Varma.

Fright House (dir. Len Anthony, 1989) Makes absolutely no sense but Ernest Dickerson shoots the heck out of it and in terms of October vibes, it really does the trick.

Faust (dir. F.W. Murnau, 1926)

Reflections of Evil (dir. Damon Packard, 2002) One of the most disgusting and confounding films I’ve ever seen, but how Packard explores the political climates of several different decades, pop culture and capitalism almost exclusively through one man’s foul-mouthed adventures walking through L.A. selling watches is inspiring, especially in its dazzling final sequence. It also explores Spielberg’s immeasurable effect on culture in a way similar to house Spielberg does himself in Ready Player One.

Christine (dir. John Carpenter, 1983)*

Torso (dir. Sergio Martino, 1973)

Scream (dir. Wes Craven, 1996)*

Dracula (dir. Francis Ford Coppola, 1992)*

Nightmare Detective (dir. Shinya Tsukamoto, 2006)

Student Bodies (dir. Mickey Rose, 1981)

Giallo (dir. Dario Argento, 2009) I’m so consistently amazed with how self-reflexive horror auteurs get later on in their careers, as well as by how unwilling audiences who praise their early work are to buy into said work. To hyper-focus on this film’s aesthetic as generic and its violence gratuitous (and the same goes for 2004’s THE CARD PLAYER) is ignoring how painstakingly Argento wrestles with a genre he revolutionized. I mean, our antagonist here is a entitled man who sexualizes violence and whose skin has gone yellow in order to justify his namesake being that of said genre, how much more does he have to spell it out before he can be given credit (instead of using this as an opportunity to, say, jab at Argento for a negative review of the film by saying he is “yellowing with age”, Fangoria…….). Of course, I don’t mean to discredit the film by simplifying it in such a way but that Argento was this obvious in his attempt to self-reflect, it becomes especially evident that he, nor the genre, are taken seriously. I particularly think that this progresses the genre in its equal pathologizing of both parties of its cat-and-mouse game (both portrayed by Brody), ultimately sparing its victim in the end but leaving the originator of her trauma relatively ambiguous. At once, it is obvious that the character Giallo is to blame for his horrific violence, but it never takes the magnifying glass off of the detective character either, nor off of the giallo genre itself. I need to revisit some early Argento because I remember appreciating them for their craft and innovation, but that was much easier to do in the 70s (with regards to the subject matter of other films, at least). What he experiments with in his post-2000 work, however, is even more fascinating to me and will need to be examined.

#horror #october #2018

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afoolsingenuity · 8 years ago

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Five Reasons To Read… The Naturals Series

I know it’s been a good long while, but do you guys recall almost two months ago now I began reading The Naturals series? I adored every page and even though I had some doubts at the end of the first book (I could sense a love triangle developing as soon as I started and I am so not up for that) but the book hooked me in even though it included something I hate and I read the entire series in the space of four days and if that doesn’t announce my love for the series nothing will. It was because of Kaja this book even came on my radar and that was because someone else had recommended the book to her as she enjoyed some Kelley Armstrong books so that’s my sole reason for getting the first book in the series.

I couldn't figure out how to review an entire series because spoilers! And then I remembered I could give you vague highlights in the form of a five reasons to read post (genius, I know).

It’s a Good YA Thriller Series!

Look, I feel that is a totally valid and brilliant reason to read. I can think of zero similar YA reads like this one and I adored it. I am known for being a fan of police procedural dramas and I know they are so formulaic and obvious but I will sit and watch them late at night and I love it. Sit me in front of NCIS or Criminal Minds and I am a happy bunny. As such, finding a really good YA thriller series about murderers just ticked all my boxes (that makes me sound weirder than I actually am, honest). It had an interesting mystery which developed of the books and it didn’t seem weird that the characters had these unique abilities as they weren’t superpowers, they were better observance and the ability to see body language and manipulate folks. It was like being hyper-aware and brilliant so it made total sense.

It Didn’t Feel Like Nancy Drew All Grown Up

Look, as much as I adore Veronica Mars with every fibre of my being, that girl was a grown-up Nancy Drew with some serious sarcasm going on and I adored she was a PI. She was a genius with her episode mysteries which I totally wouldn’t have cracked but you have to admit it’s totally farfetched, a bunch of teens solving crimes. This book series managed to make it at least make sense why teens would be solving murders and it’s not because of an incompetent police force and because they are hiding behind just the right corner to catch the criminal. The ‘abilities’ of the characters totally made sense and whilst recruitment by the FBI sounds a little farfetched I’ve seen more ridiculous storylines.

The Scooby Gang Was Awesome and Not Cookie Cutter Sweet

The MCs and secondary characters in this book are not completely 100% good. They are flawed and interesting and considering they are only teenagers they felt like fully fleshed characters who acted like teens! They all had kind of messed up childhoods, I will give you that. Poor angsty teenagers with their parents removed, but they also didn’t anger me with their teenaged ways (look, I like when teens in YA actually sound like their real-life counterparts but anyone who is passed teen age will realise that sometimes teens can sound a little ridiculous with their woes, they are legit but it also makes them sound ridiculous when you give them context for their problems). And these characters weren’t perfect and I loved how they get their backstory revealed over the course of the four books. They get to develop and grow and it was awesome.

There Was An Overarching Storyline

Often, thrillers don’t have any link to them beyond the characters. They stay in the same world but as a whole, they are pretty standalone books. But then YA series tend to have an ongoing story arch where the characters pursue a goal through a series of books. This series manages to combine those two things together into this wonderful stories. Each book had its main storyline which loosely led to each secondary character getting some spotlight as their backstory gets revealed and developed, and then there was the mystery of the week. At the same time, there was the storyline of Cassie and her mother’s murder and the entire story which develops from her trying to find out what happened to her mother. I won’t say too much on that because of course it gets revealed throughout the books and spoilers! It was insanely good and interesting and I didn’t guess the whodunnit of the mystery too early which would have ruined everything. And that overarching mystery keeps you reading because it’s so damn addictive.

It Wasn’t Afraid to Get Dark

The first few books didn’t get too dark but they dealt with murder and they weren’t afraid to give the details. The backstories of our characters weren't exactly all bright and shiny either so there were such things as abuse happening to characters in their past and it was a touch messed up but it added to the layers of each character and the struggles of their past. And then the fourth book, it got really dark there for a while and I loved how Barnes wasn’t afraid to include the kind of storylines you would expect in adult thrillers. She didn’t dumb down her mysteries and storylines for a younger audience because teens are just as capable of dealing with a darker storyline and you see just the same thing on TV.

So there you have it. I really enjoyed this series and whilst I warn you, you do have to brace yourself for a love triangle. I will say that from the go ahead, it’s there. I do not deny it, but it’s balanced out by a good storyline, excellent writing, and interesting characters. You get sucked in and if you aren’t interested in continuing the series after that first book I am impressed.

Have you read this series? Anyone got some recommendations for some good mystery/thriller type books? I used to read them all the time and stopped for some reason.

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#a fool's ingenuity #books

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