Daily Archives: November 4, 2019

Mr. Robot S4E05

TV

Method Not Allowed

Hacking! Lots and lots of hacking!

It’s been a while since we’ve gone on an elaborate hack with Mr. Robot but gadzooks did Sam Esmail pull off another one. These episodes are always a ton of fun and some of the most riveting to watch. There’s some crazy direction going on in the entire hour (Esmail could direct a fantastic action movie) and I think there were all of five lines of dialog spoken. Some gap filling is done with text messaging but besides that, this was a kinetic episode right from the start that rarely slowed down. After last week’s slow moon groove, this was like holding on to a rocket ship.

Darlene finds Elliot right by the crashed Dark Army van and he hops in without a word–and without Tyrell. Zero word on what happened to him which is the biggest disappointment for me. The Alderson’s have a busy day ahead of them, so they speed off back to the city leaving the burning van far behind them…

With the Cyprus Bank servers located in a company called Virtual Reality, the siblings get to work at 11 am sharp. Being Christmas Day, there’s no one in there except for two security guards and a handful of people in the gym that’s right off the lobby on the main floor.

Darlene and Elliot’s plan is elaborate, to say the least. I won’t be able to do that half hour of screen time justice, you have to see it. I will say there are fake IDs, fingerprints, and a whole lotta fast typing and running involved. They do all of this without a word too, which worked surprisingly well. Considering what Elliot has been doing, it’s safe to say Darlene came up with most of the plan and by the time they drove up to the doors, they had the plan memorized to the second. They basically sprint to each step, knocking down each barrier as they come to one. The best was when Elliot wordlessly ran distraction for Darlene and she improvises her own way out.

In addition to getting this huge step done, other important plot progress is made:

  • Price finds when and where the shareholder’s meeting is. The timer for that has started–8 hours.
  • Vera finds Krista as she comes home from running errands. He’s going to get dirt on Elliot. How horrible he is to get it remains to be seen.
  • Dom is ordered around by Janice, the world’s most chipper taxidermist/shadow organization handler. The Dark Army put her onto finding out what happened to their van and to do everything she can with her FBI credentials to cover up any evidence about them. When Darlene got Elliot away from the scene of the crime, she ran a red light, which took their picture. This puts Dom back onto a head-on collision with the Alderson’s.

A lot of plot threads are now being held by the same hand and are we’re beginning to see them be pulled together. Dom has been separated from Elliot for some time now and Vera has been out for a few seasons. It’ll be interesting to see how these roads intersect, the big question is when. Eight episodes are left and that’s quite a bit room to move around in. The obvious next event is the shareholder’s meeting. That’s just a few hours away in the show’s universe, so will we see that next week? Or will next week be devoted to Dom and Vera’s movements? I’m also wondering how far past Christmas this story will take us.

Elliot and Darlene are in the dark about Dom and Vera so they are going to be wildcards being thrown down. I don’t think Darlene really knows Vera, so when he shows up it’s going to send Elliot for a loop. Vera’s goal seems simple in comparison to what else is going on, he as no idea about the Dark Army. So will coming into Elliot’s orbit put him into the DA’s crosshairs? The go-to scenario for Dom is for her to work with Elliot and Darlene but with Janice on her tail, that’s going to be a challenge. There are a lot of possibilities.

2019 Scary Movie Season Part II

Movies

Better late than never edition!

Gehenna– This was a fun low budget horror movie. A real estate developer goes on a location scout where she and four others find a bunker from World War II. Once inside, they become trapped by evil spirits and the race is on to figure a way out.

Mostly a ghost story, Gehenna uses darkness and claustrophobia to great effect. The excellent make-up effects are also worth bringing up. Since the movie called for very few locations, it looks like a bulk of the budget was available for quality creature effects which are quite gruesome and do the most to sell the story. The worst quality of the film is the acting, which slides around from good to bad through the entire runtime.

Storywise, it’s a neat little tale that’s revealed through the objects that the characters find in the bunker. And since this is a ghost story, the evil spirits bring out the worst fears in the unfortunate people who found this damned space. The secret of the movie is set up well but it’s easy to figue it out long before the characters do, so I ended up waiting a while for them to catch on. I think the secret works well but the movie treats you like an idiot as it holds your hand and spells it out exactly for the last few minutes. I don’t know how anyone couldn’t figure it out on their own so the last bit felt like a waste of time. So yeah, this movie does have its fair share of flaws but it’s a good watch.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe– This is a surprisingly great movie! Father and son coroners, Tom and Austin, get the body of a young woman from the police who just found her at a crime scene. Along with the multiple murders at a local residence, she was found half buried in the basement. It’s a strange crime scene and the police ask Tom to finish the autopsy and get the report to them in the morning so they have something to tell the media.

So Tom and his son get to work on Jane Doe and with each step, they discover more bizarre clues. For example, she has no trauma visible on the outside–her skin is in perfect condition–but the internal damage is shocking. As they get closer to the truth the secrets of Jane Doe start to come for them.

The concept for this movie is terrific and each element is done really well. Fantastic make-up effects, the pacing is perfect, and it’s really creepy. Much like Gehenna, the entire movie takes place in almost one location so a lot of the budget went to the terrific special effects. Unlike Gehenna, the acting is terrific, the very small cast lead by Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch.

The gore is limited, kept mostly to the autopsy work, and the movie doesn’t rely on it for its scares. It’s much more location and the growing presence of an evil force that creeps up on you. I really liked the reveal of who Jane most likely is and the end works really well. A treat of a movie.

In the Tall Grass– This one lands right in the middle of the road for me. A good concept that is probably better off as a short story as there’s not enough to it. Even at about 90 minutes, it felt too long.

Becky and Cal are siblings driving through Kansas on their way to California. Becky is pregnant and Cal pulls the car over when she gets sick. On the side of the road, they hear a boy in the field of tall grass yelling for help. He can’t find his way out, so the two decided to go in to help him out.

With the story by Stephen King and his son Joe Hill, you can pretty much guess what happens. The field is not a normal field, it’s inhabited by some kind of being or spirit that’s sole purpose is trapping people for…some reason? And the people drawn into this field, maybe they have some secrets of their own? Yeah, they do.

There’s a good amount of backstory to the characters strewn about to give more depth to people teleporting around a field which is…okay? I can’t think of a stand out scene and I didn’t find it scary at all. Every angle of this felt like it’s been done before and done better elsewhere. Digital effects take over in the last half and they look alright. Gore and violence are middle of the road with the exception of one grisly death. If you skip this one I don’t think you’re missing anything.