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Severance (2022)
The Epitome of 'Binge-Worthy'
Like a moth to flame I was to this series. Its 9 episode duration passed by so quickly whilst simultaneously lingering for an eternity after - fitting considering it's subject matter.
Severance is a high concept idea based on the compartmentalisation of a persons work life and home life. There's a resemblance to some of the great science fiction pieces, such as: Brave New World's usage of segregation into macro departments as life roles; 1984's surveillance state and rebellion against authority; and Fahrenheit 451's ideas of restriction of information, books/media not being permitted other than, in this case, the 'holy' book. These make up just a few, but the mutual theme upon these influences is the search for truth. A theme that in my opinion never grows tiresome, as the desire to discover is just so satisfying.
These kinds of high concept stories, especially in episodic format, requires a subsequent deep dive in to the psyche for a post-episode post-mortem. There is so much information to digest and ponder, that it's always best to take small bites and leave the episode marinating in your consciousness and let yourself speculate on the possibilities of the story in the fictitious world, as well as the possibilities of it happening in reality. However there leaves a void after every chapter that proves to be insatiable, and the only way to cure that hunger is to roll on the next chapter. It's alluring. It's hypnotic. It's a tale of Yin and Yang; right and wrong. Fundamentally, it's an exploration into the ethics of how we treat people - which starts with how we treat ourselves. Would you abandon a fragment of yourself in purgatory if it meant the rest of you could be liberated?
The Outfit (2022)
It isn't art, it's a craft.
More or a stage performance than a contemporary film, The Outfit has all its drama unfold within the confines of one location. Despite being a relatively straight forward Infusion of the classic gangster genre and a modern day thriller, there is never a dull moment and always keeps the tension at a high.
The films attached quote of 'it's not an art - it's a craft' couldn't fit any better; the narrative remains in the confines of the genre it is representing, and doesn't wander outside of this box in any form of artistic uniqueness. It is exactly what it advertises and nothing more.
A once again stellar performance by Rylance, though in the presence of a lacklustre and uninspiring rest of cast, results in a decent watch - but it's difficult to imagine many will return for a rewatch.
Windfall (2022)
Not being original doesn't mean not good
We've seen this hostage-ransom story a million times, and this is nothing new in that regard. However the tone and atmosphere that the film provides (heavy lifted by Danny Bensi's 'noir-ish' score) really does make this an enjoyable easy watch.
It's another 'pandemic' film in which restrictions meant there needed to be a barebones cast and one location, but thankfully this flavour of cinema is one of my favourites; you seldom get over saturated plot information in this 'genre' and are left to just enjoy the craft of filmmaking on a mostly technical level. Windfall is no different. Lack of plot, suspect story twists, and a short film script stretched into a feature length film doesn't take away from it being a satisfying watch.
Archive 81 (2022)
An 8-hour episode of Doctor Who
A found-footage psychological horror or a Lovecraftian cosmic sci-fi?.. Choose one instead of both, because this series evidently does not whisk them ably. It seems like a tale of two sides really, it starts off great with some excellent and tense atmosphere pending plenty questions, then switches direction completely and replaces the scary organic cultist atmosphere with corny CGI and complete disregard for the earlier content. There is far more plot holes than plot, which I can honestly usually ignore, though the execution of this really does leave you wondering what on earth led them to miss out seemingly important details from the start.
The writing is very flawed and exhaustingly stretches out the story by padding it out with failed 'character development' that makes you care less about said characters; all just to fill its hour long runtime. At first I thought the unnatural way the characters delivered their lines was adding to the mystery and slight-absurdity of the plot, but after a few episodes it's obvious the cast just aren't good actors (except a couple minor characters). The main two leads are particularly bad - one over acts and one is a bit wooden. Very immersion breaking.
However, the the vague layer of supernatural/paranormal content that the show opened with was enough to make me see it through, and was it's biggest strength. So if that's your thing then perhaps you'll enjoy it!
I noticed during the credits after a few episodes that it's based on a podcast and it made me think that that's probably the way to experience this story. A spooky cerebral horror told fashionably like a camp fire ghost fable seems, to me, much more effective than the drawn out, omnidirectional 8-hour episode of Doctor Who that we got.
The Book of Boba Fett (2021)
Lack of expansion, same old story.
Only one episode in but there's a strong feeling this is purely riding on the coattails of the Mandalorian. Im partially happy that this show exists as many people including myself don't really see Boba Fett as anything but an iconic looking character with little substance, so this is a good opportunity to open his story up a bit. Unfortunately, it's looking like we're getting another narrative surrounded by Jawas and Tuscan Raiders; it could easily expand on the massive universe in which Star Wars has provided, but we're here again.
The production quality is there, albeit the monsters aren't intimidating in the slightest, but that's a creative decision I can understand.
Mandalorian made me anticipate the next instalment from the very first episode, this made me realise I could be doing other things with my time. I'll wait until the season is finished and decide if I want to continue.
Dark (2017)
A marvel of science fiction.
As an enthusiast for time travel stories this show was always on my list to watch, and took a while to get round to watching it. From the first episode I was hooked completely. Not just hooked, but the type were each day not watching this show had the story living rent free in my head.
The issue with time travel/parallel reality/relativity stories is that it often either gets too heavy on the science fiction of it all and the physics that the writers base their ideas on ends up diluting the actual story. That or the opposite; it following some basic romance/action plot and uses time travel as a gimmick to stand out from the norm. Dark does this differently; not falling into the trap that is getting lost in the convoluted gossamer of the time travel web.
The story is well contained with (to my knowledge) no immersive-breaking loopholes, and manages excellently to juggle a handful of timelines without ever leaving you scratching your head in confusion.
From a technical standpoint, the editing techniques of utilising split screen, thematic usages of time, and great period piece production design keeps you enthralled and eager to build a mental image of family trees connected on a detective evidence board.
The pacing of this show is nothing short of perfect, and together with the haunting score makes each episode uniquely tense - leaving you an insatiable hunger for answers.
The easiest 10/10 I've ever given. A science fiction masterpiece. The greatest time travel story ever told.
See (2019)
Everything I didn't know I needed.
To put it bluntly I'm shocked at how much I adore this show. I only joined Apple TV+ to watch Foundation, to which I was so utterly appalled at how weak it was that I watched, what I assumed was a Jason Momoa cash grab, purely to see my week long trial out. This show is really something.
I can't add much that hasn't already been said, but sure the concept has been tackled in multiple other formats before, but the execution is class. The whole cast is brilliant, and it's the first time I've seen Jason Momoa and been impressed by his acting chops instead of purely his physicality.
The overall aesthetic and aura of the show is so immersive; the approach Knight and co have made to explain how humans operate without sight is not too much a stretch of the imagination; and the cultist tribe wars do have a compelling narrative.
As a sound editor, this really does scratch an itch for me, as building a sound world is a carefully constructed art - but making that the focus point of the show makes this pretty well beloved to me. Go see See.
Foundation (2021)
Foundations 'Foundation' lacks stability
This is my first review here so I'll keep it brief. Coming from a big sci-fi fan, and having never got round to reading Asimov's book series, I had high hopes and rough expectations based on the book. These weren't met. Others can elaborate on story changes much better, but ultimately this is an underwhelmingly boring show - not at all reflecting the inspirational content of Asimov's writing.
The irony of the title is that the shows foundation is as stable as a house built from wet bog roll. The writing (mostly dialogue), directing and especially acting are honestly borderline atrocious, with exception to the Empire and Harry. Almost laughably bad, to the point it's an insult to the rest of the crew, because visually it's incredible. Truly a marvel to view, but sadly that is it's only strength.
If you're after a new sci-fi to look at pretty colours and great sound design, give this a watch, if you're after good narrative and effective storytelling, maybe skip this and watch the next thing on your list. The epitome of all style no substance.