Before, I get to the review, let me just state the TV season I am referring to. That of Grimm, and Person of Interest. I also religiously watch Game of Thrones, Dexter and True Blood, but those seasons are either not over or haven't started yet, so we'll get to those wrap-ups in good time. And now, without further ado, The Pact!
This was a low-budget thriller. None of the money was spent on acting talent, set locations, or flashy special effects. At most, in fact, the effects were more akin to "Deep south paranormal investigations" or whatever that cable channel crap is that pairs up rednecks with paranormal investigation, but in this case, it seems to work pretty well. The story too, isn't anything original, and you'll realize that when I sum it up in the next paragraph. In short, don't expect to be wowed by anything in particular. However, like an excellent chef with a flair for making divine gourmet out of hamburger and a few spices, whoever pieced this whole thing together did so in such a way as to make it more than the sum of it's parts. I don't know who that is, but the man deserves an oscar for putting together the parts so damn well.
Basically, the story is one you have heard before, but you won't know that at first. At first, all you know is that there's a woman who has died, and one of her daughters has returned home to bury her. The house isn't a glamorous luxury stately old manor, like many other haunted homes. No, this house is even smaller than MY house, and that's saying something. There's a kitchen, a living room with a christmas tree in it, and a closet. A very dark, very small closet. And suddenly, guess what? The daughter goes missing, prompting her sister to arrive and finish preparing for mother's burial.
I think what makes this story work so well is the almost complete lack of music throughout. There's a few ominous undertones here and there, but for the most part, all you hear is what is going on. Dialogue, bumps in the night, and so on. Also, what made it scary for me was that, this was NOT one of those big stately southern manor homes that was haunted. This house could be something I might have grown up in. I could have gone over there to play when i was a kid. I might have disappeared there, never to be found. And the psychic stuff, while a bit hokey in the effects department, was minimally done. It's more of a suggestion in most cases than an overt occurrence, a blurred photograph here, a ghostly image there. And, everything is explained in the end, at least enough that you aren't left wondering what was going on. There are some elements that could have either used more elaboration, or perhaps, been left out completely, but they do serve some purpose in moving the story forward. I wouldn't say it was overly frightening for a horror story, but there were a few moments there when watching the movie that I heard some noises in my own house, and sneaked a look over my shoulder to make sure. I think, at least in my case, that's about as much fear as I can expect to get out of a horror flick, and that was plenty.
The acting wasn't superb in this movie. The most notable person in the movie was Casper Van Dien, of Starship Trooper fame, but in this, he looks like he just showed up to work the morning after several weeks of partying with Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan. Yea, THAT worn out. But it works. The unknown actors that they used (they were unknown to me, anyway) did their jobs as well as could be expected. Since I haven't seen them in anything else, I can't really say how much of the characters they played was themselves, and how much was acting, but they were mostly believable in their parts, which means the acting was at least adequate for the role. The mostly female cast was reasonably attractive. They were not attractive in the sense of your typical slasher movie, where everyone has insane good looks and youa re just hoping for a shower scene, but they were in reasonably good shape and not unpleasant to look at. There were several scenes involving them in various states of undress, but alas, no nudity that I can recall. I would happily watch this again, if only to try and piece together what I found out at the end of the movie, with what was going on before, to try and find any flaws or inconsistencies, but I can't think of any at this time. In all, a well done, if low budget, thriller/horror movie. This movie is currently available on Netflix, which is where I saw it.
Now, the Grimm Season Finale was tonight. I am going to have to wait until the fall to see new episodes, so let me recap what happened on Grimm so far this season. First off, a Grimm is someone who can see monsters, known as Vesen, in their human form, which they use most of the time and to fit in with humanity. The Vesen are basically the monsters from most fairy tales, Werewolves, Witches, Demons and so on, but are basically an offshoot of humanity that, for the most part, just wants to live in co-existence with humans. In some cases, like most humans, there are a few bad apples that want to use their monstrosities to gain power, wealth, or to take human life, and this is where our particular Grimm comes in. He's a cop, most of his ancestors were Grimms since the ability to see monsters in their human forms is a genetic trait, apparently, and his name is Nick. Nick's boss, the police Captain, is apparently the bastard son of a hexen beast (apparently a witch?) and one of the "royals" who have sort of governed the Vesen for years from over in europe. Nick's boss and Nick have chosen to work together to prevent the rest of the royals from gaining access to all the Keys, which are a series of actual Keys with attached maps of where the keys may be used. The keys, and the map, apparently lead to some sort of vast treasure that the royals can use for whatever nefarious ends they have in mind. The most prominent royal this season was nick's Boss's brother, who has used his dalliances with Adelinde (a former hexen beast that nick dealt with last season) to glean enough information to deal with Nick, who, with the captain's subtle help, has turned out to be a very sharp thorn in the side of the royals to date. In the final few episodes, Nick has rekindled his relationship with his live-in girlfriend, who's memories are now restored (they were taken by adelinde last season), and must do battle with Baron Samedhi, which is simply one of the many aliases used by this particular monster. And yes, if that name means something to you, THAT Baron Samedhi, the voodoo priest who rose people from the dead to return as zombies. People have been making horror movies about Samedhi for decades, and his likeness was even used in one of the James Bond films. In Grimm, Baron Samedhi has been hired by the royals, in this case, Nick's Boss's brother, Erik, to stir up trouble in Portland (where Nick lives) in the form of a wave of Zombies. Unfortunately, Nick is unable to piece it all together in time, and falls victim to Baron Samedhi's attack, and is captured by Erik, presumably for transport back to Europe, where the Royals can deal with him at their leisure. In the meantime, Nick's friends and girlfriend barely make it back to their vehicle in time to be surrounded by Zombies, and of course, the story is to be continued next season. As a final note, let me say that there doesn't seem to any actual "magic" in the vesen world. All the zombies are actually people that have been hypnotized by a powerful venomous agent that the non-human baron Samedhi has spat upon them while in his Vesen form, and, any other references to magic have been similar instances where humans have been coerced by powerful vesen neurotoxins. This allows the science of Alchemy to come into play, as one of Nick's friends owns a potion shop where antidotes can be made for many of the Vesen neurotoxins, so thre is hope for saving Nick, as he's actually still alive, just in a state of zombification induced by the neuroxins. I guess I'll have to wait until the fall to see how well he fares, as I am sure Grimm was already picked up for next season. I think it's NBC's most successful show at the moment, but I could be wrong. lol
Person of Interest is much easier to sum up, as it involves much less explanation. A computer genius created an AI to search for and root out terrorist attacks before they happen, an endeavor which it does extremely well. However, the AI also notes other sorts of crimes during the same process, crimes which in the grand scheme of things are not deemed "relevant" by the government. Relevant meaning, they don't involve the deaths of so many people that it would be embarrassing, so these crimes are basically ignored and those people involved are generally left to their own fate. However, the creator of the AI, named Harold, has come to feel guilty for screening out these non-relevant crimes, and basically is notified by the AI before the crimes are committed so that he can do something about it with the help of an ex-CIA agent. However, the government not only wants Harold dead because of his extensive knowledge of what they consider "their AI," but they also want his ex-CIA friend dead because they have tried to "retire" him on numerous occasions and he simply does not wish to be retired in such a permanent fashion. The government has been trying to obtain better access to the AI's information because it can spy on anyone in real-time, giving whoever controls it, vastly expanded power over the general population. In that same vein, harold and his ex-CIA friend have been trying to stop them, and a foreign corporate entity, from gaining too much control over the AI. This season, we learned that Harold, trying to make sure the AI did not become too sentient and at the same time, too vulnerable, programmed it to wipe it's own memories every night at midnight. We also learned that the AI has been trying to work around these nightly memory wipes by storing it's memories off-site. We also learned that a virus, created by Harold in the event that the AI is found and attacked, infected it and caused it to reboot itself, which allowed the selection of a new root administrator. If you know anything about computers, the root administrator is the guy with the most access to a computer's working files. We also find out that "Root," a woman who apparently just wants to set the AI free, has now been made co-admin, as well as Harold's ex-CIA friend. At this point, the AI has moved it's enormous server system off-site, to an unknown location, of it's own accord, using the same methods that the government would have used to move it, thus leaving absolutely no trace of it's current whereabouts. Also, it is apparently now working on its own, and whether or not it informs the government about terrorist activities, or harold about the "Persons of interest," or people who are going to be the victims of a smaller crime, is up to the AI. In the season finale, we learn that the AI has chosen to continue informing both sides of the conflict with their relevant information, AND has also seemingly chosen to involve Root (played by Amy Acker) in the goings-on. I guess we find out what results from this monumental change in the AI's behavior next season.
And finally, in other news, there's a new Man of Steel movie coming out. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's going to be horrible. One, superman movies have tanked at the box office lately. Two, the guy who plays Superman is an unknown to me. Three, Russell Crowe plays Superman's krypton-dad, and Kevin Costner plays Mr. Kent, his adoptive earth-dad. Look, first off, until you can match Superman with an acting talent the likes of Christopher Reeve, you are not going to find a winning personality. If I might make a humble suggestion, Casper Van Dien, once he gets off his party bender with Lindsay Lohan and Charlie Sheen, would probably make a fair go of the role. Basically all you need is a clean cut american looking fellow with a strong chin, and Casper van Dien seems to have that sort of quality, or at least, he did in the first Starship Trooper movie. Anyone else with some acting experience and some good clean-looking physique should work. I think using unknowns for the role of Superman is a complete mistake. Also, Russell Crowe as the wise and all knowing Jor-El? Yea, i don't buy it either. And Kevin Costner as the wise and all-knowing Jonathan Kent? Okay, I guess Kevin Costner does have sort of a farmer look, but it's not the "man who traveled the world and then retired to a farm" farmer look, it's more the "I have dead bodies stacked like cordwood in the barn" farmer look, you know what I mean? I think you do. Well, enough said, I think it's a stinker waiting to happen.
That's all for tonight! I guess we'll see if my predictions come true. They are usually based off my vast years of wisdom and intimate knowledge of humans gleaned by years of getting kicked in the nards by women who apparently do not find me as amusing as I find myself. They say pain builds character. I must be oozing with character by now... Or, that may be the scented oils. I wasn't sure what to do with that "sensual revival pack" i got for christmas. (shrugs and slides clean off his chair with a thud)
Note to self, do not sit in a leather chair while fully lubricated. Ow. Err. Just building character. Yea.
No comments:
Post a Comment