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juushikaAntiviral, film, 2012, dir. Brandon Cronenberg
In a celebrity-obsessed near future, one company will sell you unique diseases harvested straight from a celebrity source. Heavy-handed in commentary, stark to the point of coldness in tone, but abundantly compelling—a different style of the grotesque, one medical but not fetishistic, futuristic but bodily and bloodily human, a fantastic aesthetic and, under that blunt commentary, in moments surprisingly profound. In my notes I wrote, "never will rewatch but did enjoy," but upon reflection I think that's a lie—Antiviral lingers and its aesthetic is remarkable; no matter its flaws, this one of my favorites of my most recent viewings.
Teen Wolf, season 2-3, 2012-2014
Season 2 is unremarkable except in how indicative it is of the show: silly, embarrassing pulp with an indulgent atmosphere and a few hidden gems, largely created by the cast. I watch Teen Wolf for its consumability but enjoy it for the smaller and more effective touches that defy the overstretched werewolf mythos and blandly-written teen drama: Lydia's character, multiple strong women, the witticism that come out of the usually corny script. Season 3 is more memorable: The first arc, which introduces an all-alpha pack, stretches the show's werewolf mythos to is breaking point and things grow downright silly; Lydia steals the show here, not because she's particularly well written but because Holland Roden portrays her so well. The second arc reiterates season 2's focus on a non-werewolf antagonist and has the same sense of grasping at narrative straws—but it's a more refined and darker take on the series, violent and psychological and threatening; Dylan O'Brien's increasingly complex portrayal of Stiles is phenomenal. Teen Wolf will never be a great show, but it improves itself in season 3 and I much enjoyed it.
Sleepy Hollow, season 1, 2013-2014
Tim Burton meets National Treasure. There's some fantastic horror elements, but they clash with all the silly faux-history. The plot has admirable urgency and scale, but never convinced me; the characters are delightful, diverse and intimate—the bond between Crane and Mills in particular is forged without any restraint or subtlety but is nonetheless utterly engaging. But it's a strange combination, the horror and witty quips and hysterical revised history and transparent heartstring-tugging and clumsy overlarge apocalypse plot; I wanted it to work, but found it too silly to be successful and I probably won't watch the next season.
The Day After Tomorrow, film, 2004, dir. Roland Emmerich
Global warming precipitates the next ice age. I watch disaster films for a number of reasons, and this film engaged about half of them. It's a lush, extensive spectacle of tsunamis and flash freezes and national monuments drowned in snow, and the CG has held up. The ensemble cast is functional but unremarkable—there are no poignant studies of humanity's responses to disaster here, but there's enough varieties in cast and in the script's tone to keep things interesting. The moralizing is short, sweet, and unobtrusive. This film entire is overlong and too desperate for action sequences, but to be honest I enjoyed it—it's not profound, but it's a watchable example of its genre.
In a celebrity-obsessed near future, one company will sell you unique diseases harvested straight from a celebrity source. Heavy-handed in commentary, stark to the point of coldness in tone, but abundantly compelling—a different style of the grotesque, one medical but not fetishistic, futuristic but bodily and bloodily human, a fantastic aesthetic and, under that blunt commentary, in moments surprisingly profound. In my notes I wrote, "never will rewatch but did enjoy," but upon reflection I think that's a lie—Antiviral lingers and its aesthetic is remarkable; no matter its flaws, this one of my favorites of my most recent viewings.
Teen Wolf, season 2-3, 2012-2014
Season 2 is unremarkable except in how indicative it is of the show: silly, embarrassing pulp with an indulgent atmosphere and a few hidden gems, largely created by the cast. I watch Teen Wolf for its consumability but enjoy it for the smaller and more effective touches that defy the overstretched werewolf mythos and blandly-written teen drama: Lydia's character, multiple strong women, the witticism that come out of the usually corny script. Season 3 is more memorable: The first arc, which introduces an all-alpha pack, stretches the show's werewolf mythos to is breaking point and things grow downright silly; Lydia steals the show here, not because she's particularly well written but because Holland Roden portrays her so well. The second arc reiterates season 2's focus on a non-werewolf antagonist and has the same sense of grasping at narrative straws—but it's a more refined and darker take on the series, violent and psychological and threatening; Dylan O'Brien's increasingly complex portrayal of Stiles is phenomenal. Teen Wolf will never be a great show, but it improves itself in season 3 and I much enjoyed it.
Sleepy Hollow, season 1, 2013-2014
Tim Burton meets National Treasure. There's some fantastic horror elements, but they clash with all the silly faux-history. The plot has admirable urgency and scale, but never convinced me; the characters are delightful, diverse and intimate—the bond between Crane and Mills in particular is forged without any restraint or subtlety but is nonetheless utterly engaging. But it's a strange combination, the horror and witty quips and hysterical revised history and transparent heartstring-tugging and clumsy overlarge apocalypse plot; I wanted it to work, but found it too silly to be successful and I probably won't watch the next season.
The Day After Tomorrow, film, 2004, dir. Roland Emmerich
Global warming precipitates the next ice age. I watch disaster films for a number of reasons, and this film engaged about half of them. It's a lush, extensive spectacle of tsunamis and flash freezes and national monuments drowned in snow, and the CG has held up. The ensemble cast is functional but unremarkable—there are no poignant studies of humanity's responses to disaster here, but there's enough varieties in cast and in the script's tone to keep things interesting. The moralizing is short, sweet, and unobtrusive. This film entire is overlong and too desperate for action sequences, but to be honest I enjoyed it—it's not profound, but it's a watchable example of its genre.
