Eli's Space

Tag: reviews

  • Endings: Scavengers Reign (2023)

    Released in 2023, Scavengers Reign oozes with creativity and, well, ooze.

    It came out on Max (HBO Go? Go?), and it flew under my radar until this week, when a coworker gave me a resounding recommendation and I saw another post on X that raved about it. When the universe speaks, I listen.

    I finished the series in a day. There’s only 1 season. There should be more, but it wasn’t renewed. Some preliminary research suggests the showrunners have more story to tell, but I’m not getting my hopes up. I’m going to treat it like it’s truly finished, and if this post turns out to be preemptive, all the better!

    Here come the spoilers. A quick summary of the plot: at an indeterminate point in the future of some universe (maybe ours, maybe not) a massive colony ship loaded with cargo and destined for a new planet runs into trouble. While most of the passengers are in cryo-sleep for the long voyage, a few of the awake crew members manage to escape down to a nearby planet. Their escape pods are scattered far and wide across a strange, diverse, alien landscape.

    The story follows a few different people coming from different areas as they get the giant mothership to land, and then head towards it to attempt to rescue those in cryo-sleep and to use the shuttle to get off world and find help.

    Flora and fauna are the stars of the show, and scene after scene introduces us to vegetation, habitats, and complex interconnected behaviors of species that could have been inspired by a 5-year-old’s crayon scribbles. Thankfully, I never had any trouble with my suspension of disbelief. Why couldn’t an alien climate give us acid-spitting birds, parasitic lemurs with mind control, and fungus that breathes life into electronics?

    The plot line is simple enough as we watch the survivors attempt to survive. Not all of them make it. In fact, death is a constant in the show, alongside that sense of discovery. As is often the case with science fiction, the audience is given a rich tapestry of philosophy and thought to munch on (alongside the gorgeous visuals). It’s not heavy-handed though. While some of the themes are dark (including one particular plot line around guilt) generally the show leans more into light, whimsy, wonder.

    At some point, a passing ship hears a distress call from one of the stranded crew, and they join the fray. Slowly, steadily, everyone inches towards the recently landed mother ship: Demeter.

    And that brings us to the ending. When they get to the Demeter. It wouldn’t be television without some friction or drama. In this case we have the crew from the passing ship (hoping to loot some cargo for their own home colony) going head to head against the crew of the Demeter who wants to wake up the survivors. Simultaneously, we’ve got aforementioned psycho lemur running around trying to murder everyone that moves. Did I mention it has telekinetic powers?

    Unfortunately, one of the looters manages to hop in the sole remaining shuttle and takes off, leaving the rest behind and removing any hope of getting off-planet for quite some time. Much more fortunately, a surprise ally (previously presumed dead) shows up and saves the good guys from psycho lemur (who is actually a parasitic lemur and one of the crew members in a strange symbiosis, but don’t sweat the details).

    We see many of the cryo-tubes have been destroyed, but there are still a dozen or more sleepers who the crew dutifully wakes up.

    Some time passes, and we cut to a future view of the grounded mothership surrounded by a little village. The humans have been diligent. The mysterious ally I alluded to is off redefining what machines and life are. And while the planet isn’t any less harsh, it’s also no less wonderful, and I got a sense that the colony was thriving, despite the fact they hadn’t quite made it to their intended destination.

    The show could have ended there very neatly, but clearly the showrunners had a thread of hope for renewal, and the final scene shows the looter’s shuttle being captured by a giant religious consortium ship floating through the stars. There’s little dialogue, but the imagery suggests mad monks and ritual sacrifices. As they board their captured shuttle, they find that some of the flora and fauna from that mystical planet left with the shuttle, and grew out of control. I believe we’re being set up for a season where the mad monks see the life-giving power of these plants and animals, and attempt to capture and/or control it.

    Maybe one day we’ll see if I’m right. But for now, let’s properly review the ending.

    I knew going in that it was cancelled, so my expectations for a clean cut weren’t super high. The imagery was so instantly engaging that I knew the art would penetrate into my soul and stay with me even the plot was awful and the ending made no sense.

    Lucky for me, the plot was coherent, and the ending answered most of the important questions. Don’t get me wrong — there’s still plenty of questions that have no answer, but it feels like a Tolkien world-building approach. It didn’t leave me infuriated and exasperated as much as I found myself starry-eyed and dreaming about this vast planet of possibilities.

    Maybe it was a bit rushed in the last few episodes…I can imagine some of the plot lines were ready to run for a few seasons, but I appreciate the creators doing their best to give the viewers some closure.

    In terms of twists, there was maybe one real surprise with the plot, when our surprise ally showed up. The planet already provided ample surprises.

    Twists: 5/10
    Execution: 8/10
    Satisfaction: 8/10

    Bottom Line: Clocking in at about 6 hour in total run-time, this is described as a mini-series on IMDB and I think it works in that lens. Yes, there was room and hope for another season, but I believe anyone looking for psychedelic, ponderous, and delightfully imaginative fare will be quite happy with this show and its ending. I know I’ll be keeping an eye out for whatever the creators do next!

  • Endings: Lessons in Chemistry (2023)

    Miss me?

    Released last year on Apple TV, “Lessons in Chemistry” is described as “in the 1950s, Elizabeth Zott’s dream of being a chemist is put on hold when she finds herself pregnant, alone, and fired from her lab.” It tackles the challenges of a 1950s female chemist in a male-dominated world.

    It’s a strong, 8-episode mini-series. Brie Larson (of Captain Marvel fame) delivers a strong lead performance, and the cast is rounded out with a string of A-list faces you’d recognize. The writing is excellent, flowing naturally (mostly) and flexing as the narrator changes from episode to episode, including substantial and delightful narration from the family dog at one point. bow WOW!

    Thematically, this show’s twin foci are sexism and racism, and I believe the dialogue portraying these issues.

    Until we get to the ending.

    Within the space of about an episode and a half, miracles occur that defy belief. I can’t blame the showrunners; I imagine they just wanted a happy, neat ending, and on that premise they deliver in spades. Every plotline you care about is wrapped up nicely. However, the show moves beyond the bounds of reality in the name of “girl power” as a series of increasingly unlikely events occur.

    It’s not that any of the single events is impossible, or even a bad story choice on its own. You’ve got the woman who transitions from a housewife in a cooking show’s audience to being a medical school student within the course of a month. Maybe she already had a relevant undergrad and she’d recently become an empty-nester. Or discovering your child’s grandmother, previously presumed dead, is, in fact, alive, rich, and a patron of the very field (chemistry) you’ve dedicated your life to. That’s the kind of deus ex machina moment that can brilliantly wrap up a story, a cute twist. My problem is the cumulative layering on the “girl wins, guy loses” sub-plot after sub-plot had my eyes rolling by the credits. Maybe it’s a bit much, but it does aim to leave you smiling.

    Overall, I still enjoyed it, and can appreciate that women have art like this to boost their confidence and spark inner greatness. I’m sure that was one intent of the fiction, and in the context of the show, a very marketable and profitable intent. I suspect the oft-mentioned pendulum is now swinging back, however, and we’ll start to see more balanced work, once the momentum of all the projects started under peak wokeness are subsumed.

    Twists: 5/10
    Execution: 8/10
    Satisfaction: 6/10

    Bottom Line: Anyone should be able to enjoy the first 75% of the series, with a well-spun yarn about overcoming the odds, but some may find the ending sacrifices a little reality for the sake of women’s empowerment.

  • Spooktober 2021 Wrap-Up: Ghoulishly Good

    Spooktober 2021 Wrap-Up: Ghoulishly Good

    Greetings ghouls and goblins. We’ve just wrapped up another lovely year of our friendly little movie festival (details here) and it’s time to share some notes. At the least, future me appreciates the reminders!

    We watched 28 movies (officially), totaling 48 hours, spanning 7 countries and stretching across 5 decades.

    The top rated movie, on average, was unsurprisingly Stanley Kubrick’s masterful The Shining (1980), garnering 8.3 stars (out of 10).

    Family time!

    In last place, and well deserved, came Stephen King’s Maximum Overdrive (1986), with an outstanding 3 stars (still out of 10). A famous anecdote tells us that when asked why he never directed another movie, King replied, “Did you see Maximum Overdrive?!”

    All of us were ready to gouge our eyes out halfway through the first act…and it kept getting worse.

    Overall, the highest ranked theme was “based on comic books” and the lowest ranked was “based on video games”. It appears to be quite difficult to adapt a very imaginative, animated video game to a live action film in particular. However, personally I was both impressed and pleasantly surprised by Doom (2005).

    I can’t be the only person who assumed The Rock would end up becoming Doom Guy, right?

    With an excellent cast, steady pacing, and good visual effects, it did justice to one of my favorite video game franchises. I suspect that my own familiarity with the games helped me gloss over some under-developed plot points, but, as my best friend and I often proclaim, “there’s nothing wrong with fan service!” At the least, it’s gratuitously awesome first person shooter-inspired scene greatly outdid the other movie on our list to try that: House of the Dead (2003). Not constrained by live action, the Japanese Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008) succeeded with plenty of the conspiracy and monsters that Resident Evil fans know and love.

    At least Uwe Boll movies have a bit of production value…and boobs.

    The other notable movie we all agreed was excellent: Candyman (2021). More of a sequel to the original 1992 film than a remake, it delivered a slick, complex expansion of the story that leaves me hoping we’ll get some more entries in the series soon.

    Ultimately, why do we watch horror? The answer is personal, unique to each person. Maybe it lets you dip into the darker side of your emotions in a safe, controlled way. Maybe you savor the effects, and enjoy comparing and contrasting zombie makeup from over the years. Some people have a fond memory of a loved one who introduced them to their first slasher; others use it to help process pain inflicted by those in similar close proximity.

    Personally, upon my own reflection, I decided that horror is the “other” genre. Stories and characters that don’t quite fit anywhere else find a loving home in this genre that stretches from belly laugh-inducing comedy to deeply unsettling existential examinations that stay with you for months afterwards. This “otherness” attracts the viewers who themselves lack a clear genre, classification, home.

    I’m deeply honored to have made it through one more year of our little marathon with my closest genre-less friends. A special shout-out is due to Emm, master of trivia and burgeoning designer. Also, Linh, who watched most of the movies with me at home while we were locked down made the experience 100x better as we both laughed and cried and gasped at the same moments.

    🎃 Until next year 🎃,
    Eli

  • Endings: Nekromantik (1987)

    Endings: Nekromantik (1987)

    Jörg Buttgereit created this film as a statement about censorship in Germany. When viewed through that lens it doesn’t disappoint, but just about any other perspective will leave you wanting. Plot? Shakey. Character development? Sorta.

    To briefly summarize, the film centers on a young street cleaner whose business seems to primarily focus on cleaning up after gruesome car accidents. Luckily for him and his necromaniacal girlfriend this provides access to plenty of corpses. Typically stealing an eyeball here, a heart there, he amasses a collection of body parts in jars in his humble apartment. These play a delightful role in his sex life, but the real prize is a full corpse he manages to sneak back.

    Sadly, after a brief period of triad bliss (boy, girl, and corpse, ooh la la) the gal makes a decision and absconds with the mummified fellow. Sorry dude, but how could you possibly compare to the rusty length of pipe installed between Sir. Always Up’s dried out legs?

    Naturally this makes our street cleaner upset. Eventually this angst drives him to find another corpse to sport fuck, albeit one that starts his date alive. Once he’s finished there he returns home and we’re left with a wonderful final scene of him masturbating to completion and then some, as he cums buckets of semen and blood from a penis that gives new meaning to “wood”.

    The real surprises here come from the subject material, but then in hindsight the escalation of events seems only natural. The twist occurs just a few minutes in as we realize how serious the movie’s title was, and the rest follows suit somewhat predictably. Sooo…low points for offering a surprising ending.

    Similarly, we don’t find out what happened with the girlfriend and Sir Always Up. And does our humble street cleaner face any consequences for his murder/rape? Does his job ever notice the missing organs? All of these loose ends detract from the general sense of satisfaction, but on the other hand, cumming blood?! Maybe the sequel (which I haven’t watched yet) will handle the rest. Okay, some points are added back.

    Which leaves us with…

    Twists: 3
    Execution: 2
    Satisfaction: 7

    Bottom line: Give it a pass unless you’re a big fan of the gore genres, anti-censorship, or, uh, you find corpses sexy.

  • Endings: House M.D.

    Warning: Here be spoilers! Read on only if you a) don’t care about spoilers or b) are well familiar with the ending of House.

    I’ve had an idea. I want to record my thoughts and feelings on different pieces of artwork/media, but I didn’t want to just do normal reviews. I was re-watching House for the second time and as the final season concluded my existence was punctuated by that special bittersweet melancholy that pervades in moments of finality. Whether it’s a great book series, an epic movie trilogy, or a silly procedural drama centered around a fake (albeit excellent) American accent, you can find that special feeling as you credits roll or last pages are turned.

    So, let’s try this out.

    House M.D., hereafter just “House”, is one of the shows I grew up on. Spanning 8 seasons from 2004 – 2012 I remember enjoying the paradox of a misanthropic healer immensely when I’d manage to catch an episode. I didn’t follow religiously though, and in a pre-streaming era it wasn’t as easy as it is now to make up a missed episode here and there.

    As a result of this uneven exposure in my younger days I returned to it years later to watch from beginning to end. Most recently I finished a complete re-watch for the second time. There are not many shows that I could tolerate twice, but there’s something about an extremely predictable procedural that hits a sweet spot for something to watch when you don’t want to think. Folding laundry has no better accompaniment.

    At the conclusion of the series we see a few arcs tied up neatly.

    Taub’s family of twins is seen united and happy complete with two mothers, a happy ending to a story of man who shirked relationship responsibility for many years of his life.

    Chase inherits the diagnostics department, a few episodes after leaving the hospital with a sense of graduation. He’s cast as the son House never had, the longest serving staff member under House. We watched him grow and discover himself and what he wanted across the series. From a hot, surfing womanizer to a man with a few more wrinkles and a lot more depth, Chase exemplifies the idea that House’s improper methods can yield tremendous results if you can just learn when, exactly, to ignore him.

    The major arc, starting towards the last 1/4 of the season centers around Wilson and his diagnosis with cancer. After a good college effort he finds out the cancer is terminal, and he has only five months left. House takes the news predictably horribly, and a fight ensues lasting a full episode between House (“don’t give up and keep taking horrible chemo so you get a few more months” and Wilson (“I’ve seen the end results of that too often to want it for myself”). The irony of a oncologist turning down treatments he’s prescribed countless times to others is ever present.

    Eventually, House capitulates just as Wilson does. They both come to terms with things outside their control, and we reach the final episode with House having turned the spotlight of mind internal as he knows the real issue was never Wilson, but his own fears. The patient of the week is a heroin addict, and although the details are a little sparse eventually House ends up in a veritable crack den with this patient, high as a kite on some sweet, sweet opiates. What happens when House is particularly high? We’ve seen it time and time again: hallucinations, whee! House sees a steady stream of his biggest hits, starting with those who killed themselves over the course of the show, and leading up to Dr. Allison Cameron. A fire is seen burning in the background as they talk to him, and it grows steadily. Eventually Cameron’s bit of reverse psychology seems to do the trick, and he makes an effort to escape the burning building.

    Meanwhile, alarms have been raised. House has been missing, sight unseen, for 2 days, and this just after he’s been told he has to return to prison. Naturally, the remainder of his prison sentence (6 months) is just enough to ensure he’d never see his best friend again. People assume the worst, knowing that House hasn’t always gone for the happiest of coping methods.

    We come to the climax of the show as Wilson and Foreman show up outside the crack den. Wilson sees a figure emerge from the smoke through the glass of the front door, but before House (now clearly visible) can reach the door a beam seems to fall on top of him and the fire consumes everything within our (and Wilson’s and Foreman’s) view.

    Cut to the funeral, and the greatest hits of House’s (still ambulatory) acquaintances say saccharine things about him. Wilson closes out the eulogies with nice comments…then pauses and starts to say true things about House: He was an ass!

    It’s all sad, and poignant, and a bit funny watching Wilson disparage House, and then a cell phone buzzes. Surprise, surprise, Wilson sees a text with an acerbic message that could only have come from a very particular medicine man.

    Cut to Wilson seeing House outside his apartment, and pointing out that House is in huge trouble for letting his death be assumed. House shrugs it off, and asks Wilson what’s next, looking ahead to five months of being the best best friend he’s ever been. Wilson smiles in a huge way and we come to our final scenes, flashing through the aforementioned narratives of secondary characters we had to wrap up.

    In addition to Taub and Chase, Foreman is seen stumbling across House’s name badge in an auspicious location in his office. He pauses to think, confused, and smile grows across his face. “The madman actually did it.” Foreman, perhaps the smartest person House worked with understands what’s happened and is happy that House is alive, all their difficult history aside.

    I think Foreman’s reaction is what I was feeling as well when we get to the final scene, a typical “into the sunset” affair with Wilson and House seen clad in leather atop classic chromed-out hogs. Wilson starts to make a request to House regarding his end of days but House cuts him off. They’ll deal with that when it comes, but today we’re living out our dreams as best friends. Someone who has spent years finding reasons to be unhappy in the moment has shifted his focus 180° to instead highlight the joys of life. He’s truly selfless, and even though maybe it’s just a short-term act to make Wilson’s final months happier, I felt that it indicated a truly changed person.

    In the end isn’t it change that we want to see? A view from the peak is made more enjoyable when you can just barely make out the starting point below you. Similarly, in this show we see every character end up happier, stronger, and better off for having House in their life (that is, every character that hasn’t killed themselves). Is it realistic? Not at all. Should we even allow a story of a generally horrible human being end so happily? Maybe not–we don’t want people to think that saving lives, or any other positive thing justifies being an ass. However, if you had made it 8 seasons with House, you’ve given up on reality a long time ago, and if you’re going to enjoy a fantasy, why not make it end happily?

    In the end, I think I took a few lessons or thoughts away from this series. One, everybody lies, but that doesn’t make them bad, only human. Two, that we can choose to let the world tear us down and make us angry, or to resist negativity and find happiness. And third, that this happiness is always going to be based on the people in our lives; our relationships define our lived experience perhaps more than any other thing.