Today was an avalanche of movies and TV. I don't what got into me. I felt like kicking back and turning my brain off. All I had to do was keep my eyes peeled and my ears open. As much as I love gaming, I need some passive activity to numb my hyperactive mind.
Since I skipped out on movies for the last two days, I wanted to catch up in one fell swoop. I started off with a strange one called Society. It's about a kid who feels isolated from his rich family. He eventually discovers that his family and all of high society are of a different species that literally suck the life out of the poor. I'm sure it's supposed to be a metaphor for the class struggle, but it devolves into prosthetic effects overload in the end where the final confrontation has the main character turn the antagonist literally inside out. Who knew the rich were rotten and full of maggots inside?
I dug deeper into Peter Jackon's library with Bad Taste. The premise is simple: aliens have attacked small towns in New Zealand. A small group of badasses move in to solve the problem, which involves copious amounts of gunfire, stabbings, chainsaws, and rocket launchers. It's very dated. YouTube videos have better production values than this, but I suppose it was original and well done for its time, especially with its shoestring budget. To see the progression from Bad Taste to Braindead in terms of directorial skill is quite remarkable. PJ definitely got better with age, although some may argue a regression in recent times.
To round out the cinematic trifecta, I watched "House," a 1977 Japanese film about high school girls being eaten by a house in the countryside. It's a surreal experience that's very much a product of its time, chock full of hand-animated effects, painted backgrounds, and experimental green screen usage. It's briskly paced with all sorts of wipes, transitions, overlays, and a cacophonous audio mix with songs overlapping each other. It is the very definition of a psychedelic trip. Epileptics beware.
I was still hungry for more, so I finished the second season of Hannibal. I chewed through the last four episodes and I can't wait for next season. I've seen all the Hannibal Lecter movies and even read Red Dragon, so I, more or less, know what's going to happen, which is why it's exciting to see the writers throw wrenches into my expectations. Nobody is truly safe. Hannibal remains the most stylish show on TV right now. The cinematography is off the charts. More people need to watch this.
My new show for the season is Gotham. It wasn't the greatest pilot but the foundation is solid enough. It feels like they're really shoehorning in those character cameos though. I like the actor who plays Gordon. He's real solid. It's a standard detective show with corruption as the primary focus. The only other feature of note is the set design. They really went out out of their way to make Gotham a living, breathing, and believable alternate metropolis. The small flashes of the cityscape almost redeems the show for me. I just love the aesthetic.
To close the night, I watched the most recent two episodes of The Walking Dead. I have to say, I already like this season a lot more than the past, although the writers have a bad tendency to press the reset button between seasons.
[Spoiler alert] After all that buildup to get to Terminus at the end of last season, it gets destroyed in one episode. But they remedy this quickly with the second episode, when it turns out, those Terminus folk are still alive. Even more exciting, it seems like they're setting up the "Butcher" as the new villain, who sound suspiciously like Negan from the comics. Speaking of the recent episode, Bob is totally infected and those fools just ate tainted meat. I wonder if they're gonna have Rick kill people by pointing at them like in the comics? Obviously, he didn't kill them with his pointing power, it's because Andrea was sniping (yes, she's still alive in the comics). [End spoiler alert]
There's some solid continuity in this season and they have a concrete goal. My problem with previous seasons is that they're always waffling around in one place, so it might be good to have them be constantly on the move and hunted. On the other hand, they might make it to Washington in one episode. You never know with these writers. Either way, it's a strong start. I might not be ashamed to say I like this year.
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