As Above So Below

Movies

AOSB

What a fun horror movie! As Above So Below turned out to be way better than I thought it was going to be. We go along on a expedition underneath Paris into the catacombs where the remains of 6 million people lay arranged in macabre shrines or otherwise stacked like long forgotten debris. While it’s the perfect setting for a horror movie, why would anyone go wandering around down there alone?

Treasure! More specifically, the Philosopher’s Stone, the legendary holy grail of alchemy. The Stone is said to be able to turn base metals into gold and has incredible powers of rejuvenation, including immortality. I love alchemist lore from watching Full Metal Alchemist, so having that hook turned out to be a real draw for me.

Scarlett is obsessed with finding the Philosopher’s Stone to finish her late father’s work. She gets a young man named Benji to document the last leg of the journey and finds an old flame (George) to help her translate a major piece of the puzzle that she nearly died to get her hands on. Soon, they believe they have found where Nicolas Flemel put the stone, in a hidden section of the catacombs under Paris. With three guides who say they know their way around, they go in together. It isn’t long before things get weird. And then crazy dangerous. There’s a reason this thing was hidden away hundreds of feet below ground generations ago.

This journey to the outer rim of hell is presented as footage captured from the cameras the characters brought with them. While in the  “found footage” genre, the movie doesn’t stick to any presentation rule. It’s more like you’re going with them and jumping from camera to camera to get the best view of what’s going on as it’s happening. It’s kind of like being a character and a omnipresent observer at the same time. I think it works well, as once the movie goes underground, you’re crammed in with this group feeling like if they don’t get out, neither will you. There’s a Dante’s Inferno tilt to the movie mixed into the lore of the Philosopher’s Stone that I think worked really well together.

The darkness, weird audio and the unrelenting claustrophobia really sell the tension and fear. There are some crazy good ideas in As Above So Below, the creativity was a blast to watch (kudos to the special effects work) and direction is often great (absolutely loved the last shot).  I liked all the characters and aside from them reacting to the early crazy stuff too calmly (and continuity problems with people getting wet and dry), it all felt believable.

The Descent (2009) is the easiest comparison to this movie, but I think that’s much more of a monster movie than this. The motivation and history used for As Above So Below make it stand on it’s own and totally worth checking out. Of the horror movies I’ve seen recently, I dug this as much as Afflicted and VHS 2. Remember, the only way out is down!

Justified S6 E5

Movies

Sounding

Hale gave Ava a much bigger scare last week than I thought. Thinking her cover was about to blown to Boyd, Ava tried to pull a runner. With just a few bucks and no real plan, she tried to get a new car from Ellstin Limehouse. Frantic to get things back in order, Raylan gets Constable Bob Sweeny to track her down before she can get too far and ensures that Albert Fekus isn’t going to reveal that Ava is a CI to Duffy and Hale. Boyd is still gung-ho on breaking into the vault and looks for help in a rather risky person, Avery is now more than annoyed that he can’t buy up anymore property thanks to some meddling. That fortunately puts Calhoun in the cross hairs for giving out information he shouldn’t have.

The three moving pieces of the show have been spinning like tops right next to each other for a few episodes now. I can almost taste the tension in the air. With seven episodes left, I can’t really see how this is going to pan out yet. It feels like the collision is happening really soon, but if it happens in the next 2 episodes, what’s left to explore? And if it doesn’t, the build up may feel like it’s going too long. We keep bumping into the same walls. Ava feels like jumping ship everyday, Duffy and Hale are swooping around like vultures and Boyd is slowly trying to get a working plan in order. With Avery being poked so much by Raylan, it can’t be much longer before he acts to take some people out. Raylan just wants to finally catch Boyd, but he’s really on a timer to get it done now.

Shameless S5 E6

TV

Crazy Love

Not a fan of this episode.

I don’t like what they’re doing with Jimmy. He kept a lot of secrets, but he always remained like able. He broke the law in much the same ways as the Gallagher family, but he wasn’t a scumbag. He and Fiona were a good match until he was forced to leave do to his shady deals.  Now, he shows up out of no where and won’t explain anything. Angela has been floating around for awhile and it sounds like she’s basically his keep keeper. Jimmy seduces Fiona away for a night (not a surprise) but his almost manic need/desire to get back with her makes him a very different person. Is it no more than wanting to move in with her so he doesn’t have to take off with Angela again? How could that be an out to whatever he’s involved in? I hope they give us some much needed answers so his angle makes some sense. After the train wreck of their last coupling, some major work needs to be done. It was incredibly uncomfortable to watch and puts an incredibly negative light on them even being in the same room together now. I guess it’s up to Fiona now…if she gets Gus involved, would it make things (Jimmy) go away, or will it break their relationship? Cheating usually doesn’t end well.

Frank’s back to the bottom of his yo-yo life style. He either takes care of himself or he dies. Everyone’s made it pretty clear that he’s the least of their problems.

With no place to live, Sammi and Chuckie moved into the house. Sammi is trying to plant her flag down as a mother figure to get a bit of shelter security and so far it seems to be working. Debbie is now swimming in the High School pool, so it’s an all new social game she has to figure out. Being internet famous for fighting girls may or may not go in her favor.

Very brief update on Kevin and V…they’re separating and it’s a V’s fault. I’ve got Kevin’s back on this one.

Again, the Ian and Mickey plot is the best of the show. We follow Ian around with his non-plan of kidnapping Ian’s son until he makes a decision so bad it brings heat on him. If there is every a test for a relationship, it’s with mental disorders. Mickey’s concern (and understanding) for Ian was something to watch unfold. That mix of love and anger is hard to pull off, but Noel Fisher keeps knocking it out of the park. Ian recognizes he’s hit a new and scary low and agrees to get help. They’re all lucky things didn’t go even worse or Ian would be going to jail for a really long time. His life would be over, there is no way he’d get the help he needs in the prison system.

Seeing Lip race back home for his family was great too. He wants to get out and move on, but he still has his heart. His relationship with Fiona is now much more mature, but Fiona has been pulled so far from the family to her own world that I’m afraid something horrible is going to happen because of her again soon. I expect a lot to happen in episode 7.

The Purge: Anarchy

Movies

purge2

The first Purge movie left little mark on me. I wrote two sentences about it. It was made for next to nothing and pulled in nearly $100 million at the box office worldwide, so it managed to get a sequel. I have no idea how The Purge did so well, I can’t believe word of mouth didn’t kill it. But here we are and as all the buzz I heard about it said, Anarchy is a much better movie.

The Purge: Anarchy is what the first movie should have been. Way more interesting, way more engaging. It’s the exact same premise as the first (once a year, from 7pm to 7am, all crimes including murder are legal in America. The Purge is a holiday), but it follows three groups of people who’s paths intersect.

“Sergeant” is a man armed to the teeth with a kitted out car to accomplish his mission. Eva and Cali, mother and daughter, get pulled out of their home by an organized group wearing combat gear. Shane and Liz are a couple who get stranded downtown by a different group of organized masked men who seem to be abducting instead of killing as well.

With these characters, they each come from different areas and circumstances. There’s a lot more meat to this movie than the first. Anarchy takes a bigger picture exploring the wealth disparity and class warfare that is growing in the US. The reasons, effects and new mutations of the Purge come to light. While there is a significant amount of murder and mayhem in this movie, the most disturbing part is thinking that something like this actually happening doesn’t seem all that far fetched. Now that I think of it, The Purge is the American take of Battle Royale.

The Purge is this crazy system put in place by those that are supposed to know what’s best for the country (and they were voted into government). One of my favorite parts of this movie is that rational people are starting to fight back. This Purge is the 6th one to happen and the growing dissent is taking an active approach to stopping the madness. A revolution from those being crushed must happen to change the system. The set up for the third movie is an exciting one.

I can’t think of many movies that their sequel was so much better than the original. The Purge is a good idea on paper, it just didn’t come together right. Anarchy is the execution matching the idea. By all means, skip watching the first. You won’t miss a thing. In fact, it’s really easy to just forget the first exists, just call Anarchy the first Purge movie.

Shameless S5 E5

TV

Rite of Passage

Starting with my main complaint from last week, Sammi and Chuckie appear to show they are alive and well. The explosion at Sheila’s was way smaller than it looked like when it happened. The only visible damage shown is scorch marks on Sammi’s trailer, the house actually looks fine. No word on the dead man or Sheila.

Sammi’s problem now is that the person who owns the lot she’s got her trailer on is selling, so she’s getting kicked out. Frank promised her a new trailer with the insurance money, but it’s gone and Sammi still isn’t wise to how much her father actually lies. She does at the end though.

With Sheila gone and no money, Frank has no place to stay. He hatches an idea to use Wade’s weakness about his son’s death (Frank has his liver) to crash at his place. It almost works until Wade’s wife veto’s the growing insanity…until she pulls out her own crazy card.

Fiona and Gus make plans to tell Fiona’s family about their marriage, but when Jackie OD’s, that puts the plans on the back burner. Despite being surrounded by drugs her entire life (and the worst they have to offer) it makes Fiona fear for her future.

A big part of Shameless is how no one talks to each other. They keep things to themselves until it’s often too late. Everyone is off doing their own things and getting in trouble. It isn’t until the law catches wind when it blows back on everyone and it can’t be ignored. Fiona  and Lip finally find themselves time to actually talk, where Lip says he going back to school early. Working a horrible construction job and realizing that his hometown life is one of a circle of misery he realizes his only way to take really take care of himself and his family is to get out. It started right when he got home talking to his old friends and solidified with the stunt with Mickey (hope that AK doesn’t get dusted for prints, you shmuck). If anyone has a chance to get out, it’s Lip. Here’s hoping.

Carl is awful at math so he’s still awful at selling drugs. Debbie is going all out to be a prize fighter to impress her crush. Brother and sister to join forces to make money filming cat fights. This is not going to go well, Debbie is going to meet the wrong girl and get dropped.

Kevin and V’s side story continues to push them apart. Everything V says and does is stupid and giving the go ahead for Kevin to take off. Her last line to Kevin was pretty shocking (despite being a small part of the show, both actors do great work with what they are given).

Mickey and Ian are straight up broken now. Ian’s mind pushes him into unsafe decisions that freak out Mickey so bad he tells Ian he has to see a doctor. It’s been building every single episode and the ultimatum finally came. Ian bolts with Mickey’s son and now there is no telling what’s going to happen. Who can Mickey turn to? No way he’s going to call the cops. He didn’t know how to handle Ian before now, kidnapping is a whole new level. Ian is now a danger to others.

Let’s see, what else? Oh, Jimmy is back! Enjoy handling that monkey wrench Fiona!

Justified S6 E4

Movies

The Trash and the Snake

This episode turned out to be more set up than any major moves. Raylan has put things together: Avery is buying up land for potential marjiuana farms. He’s betting on the future legalization and wants to have the land to grow huge crops. By out the folks for cheap->profit. He’s going for it at all costs, if an owner says no too many times, they get into a rather horrific accident. So Raylan, being the good guy, isn’t going to stand for this guy stomping on his hometown for profit at any cost. He has a fantastic confrontation with him at Loretta McCready’s house. Huge bonus points for getting Dickie Bennett back, even if it was for only a short scene.

Ava spent the day with Hale, who is basically the combination of a pit viper and a bloodhound. She’s a complete nut with an ax to grind so she’s super dangerous. Hale implied that she knows about Ava’s arrangement with Raylan which Ava (rightfully) freaks out about. She’s managed to keep it together with Boyd, but this new angle of pressure isn’t going to  help any.

Boyd is still on the path to rip off Avery with Hale and Duffy. He knows where and what kind of safe he needs to break into, but he needs a new demolition source since his was shut down last episode. He find one through Duffy and…they gotta find another one. Don’t do drugs folks, it can make you absent minded when you really need to be paying attention.

That leaves us with the heist still being in the early planning stages and Raylan making it clear to Avery that he’s not going to get what he wants (for the first time in his life?). Hale might be swooping around Ava, but I think Raylan has the biggest target on him right now.

The Walking Dead

TV

The walkers return from their mid-season hiatus in spectacular form. One of the most cinematic episodes of the series and a shocking final episode for a great character. Beth’s death in episode 8 was a brutal hit to the group and I didn’t think we’d see another one being taken so quickly.

The show is never up-beat per se, but things are looking crazy bleak right now. It’s been a long time since anything positive has happened and it now feels like death is closer to them all now. They’ve been on the road for a long time now and it’s grinding them into the dirt like chalk underneath a boot.

There was a lot of nice foreshadowing this episode, director and all around special FX wizard Greg Nicotero really cranked up the visual story telling. Red hearings for the funeral, bits in the beginning come back to make sense and the overall spiritual and reflective tone worked well despite all the surrounding carnage. There was a lot of shady things about what happened to that neighborhood (the wall being knocked down from the outside, the oddly mutilated walkers all over the place) which means some real psychopaths are close by. Really great touches to raise the anxiety level.

Great return for the show, it’s keeping up the run of this overall great season. Really looking forward to what’s coming next.

John Wick

Movies

JohnWick

John Wick is about as straight forward of an action flick as you can get. Someone crosses a line and bodies start stacking up for the next hour and twenty minutes. Retired assassin John Wick crosses paths with Iosef Tarasov shortly after his beloved wife has died. Iosef is the maniac and blithering idiot son of Viggo Tarasov, who was one of Wick’s employers. Iosef doesn’t know who John Wick is (or was) when he meets him at a gas station and after feeling slighted, follows him home. Iosef and his hired muscle go on to quite possibly do the worst things you could do to a man. Big mistake. Revenge drives Wick to come at Iosef like the grim reaper while Viggo does everything he can to try and save his son’s life.

While the movie is about as simple as they come and everything is laid out in 15 minutes, sometimes that’s all you need. John Wick just wants to be an action movie, it isn’t concerned with being anything else. The sides are drawn right away, those on Wick’s side are cool, everyone else is dead. Once he gets into gear, we go from location to location with another great action set piece.

The director, Chad Stahelski, has been in the movie stuntman game since 1991 and it shows (check out his resume, it’s stacked. He’s got a long history working with Keanu Reeves).  There is some downright phenomenal stunt work, fight choreography and action direction on display. Guns, blades, multiple martial art styles, car chases, it’s all here and it isn’t shot and edited together like the crew was trapped in a three month long fever dream. You can see everything, the framing and continuity all flows together with long, wide takes. It’s easy to see and understand what’s going on (and to who) when mayhem breaks out. Keanu did most of his own stunt work and teaming up with many of the Matrix team really shows in his comfort and execution. Really impressive stuff. One of the things that really stuck out to me is that when cars crash, they don’t explode. I’m so used to Michael Bay style fireworks and gas bombs for everything that it was rather refreshing to see a car just smash up.

John Wick is a grounded action movie (aside from a comic book style hotel that caters to assassins) like the old Die Hard movies. It seems plausible, the hero takes a beating and at the end we all feel better knowing that justice has been dished out to scum bags. Looking for a solid action movie? Take a ride with Mr. Wick.

Justified S6 E3

TV

Noblesse Oblige

This week we find Raylan sniffing around leads to prove that Boyd is responsible for the bank heist. Explosives were used and Raylan has an old friend that may be able to point him in the right direction.

While Raylan is in full detective mode, Boyd and Ava are given the spotlight for this episode. I absolutely love when these two are given screen time together by themselves. In the past they were Bonnie and Clyde, but their relationship now is (to put it mildly) on the rocks. It’s upsetting to see these two not on the same side. They are both pretending to each other and it’s really sad. The scene where they are drinking all night at the bar is one of my favorites, seeing them genuinely enjoy each others company.

Ava gets squeezed by the marshals near the beginning and she’s honestly giving it her all to get some info out of Boyd for them. They say she’s too slow but give her some space! Boyd can smell rats from a mile away (and he’s suspicious). I was happy to see Raylan speak up for her, it’s reassuring to know that even when he’s still connecting dots, he’s not stupid about pushing things that shouldn’t be.

Things got really ugly for Boyd and Ava near the end and for some reason it made me think Boyd was going to pack up and take off. I guess it’s a testament to how fantastic of an actor Walton Goggins is as seeing him being kidnapped and threatened, really put on his ass, freaked him out. Plus, he finds out he was being used by Hale and Duffy (more Hale maybe?) when the offered the heist to him. Avery isn’t the kind of guy you want someone to shove you in front of. Boyd didn’t have all the info to properly prepare. That really makes him mad which brings out old Boyd in full force (Duffy telling his muscle to make sure he takes Boyd’s cigarettes when he shows up was perfect). Walton brings out the fire in Boyd in that last scene, telling Hale and Duffy that he’s going to go for Avery full tilt. Great ending to another quality episode.

Shameless S5 E4

TV

A Night to Remem– Wait, What?

I have my first problem of the season with this episode. Last week, Frank blew up Sheila’s house with a man inside and Chuckie was presumably in the trailer right next to it. This week, that entire thing was completely ignored. A guy died in a destroyed house and Sheila pulled a grand theft RV and there is not a word about it. Sammi and Chuckie don’t appear and Sheila is presumably on the run, but never mentioned. Sheilas’s house is in that neighborhood, how does no one even mention it?

So instead of continuing a major plot point, A Night to Remem…opens with Frank waking up next to a park fountain covered in pigeon droppings. He’s really excited to go pick up his insurance settlement from breaking his leg last year. When he goes to collect, Lou tells him he already came by yesterday and had his money wired into a bank account set up for him. Frank can’t avoid being Frank when he comes into money. He went crazy that night when he got his hands on the $121,000 and spends the day retracing his footsteps to find out what he did (spoiler: a lot of really bad decisions).

Fiona and Gus are in loooooooooooooove! Their bliss turns into a shotgun wedding which seems like a poor idea. No one really knows yet, so we gotta see how things shake out when they do. Since getting married in less than a day was so easy hopefully a divorce will be as simple to do.

V and Kevin also got a bit of time, with V kinda, sorta cheating on Kevin. V is ruining their relationship with her nonsense, she could be doing irreparable damage now (and I don’t think anyone will side with her).

Carl spends some good time with Frank after dipping his toe into dealing drugs. Unfortunately, he’s an idiot and manages to screw it up on his first go. Turns out Frank is great with fractions, but it remains to be seen if Carl can get himself out of trouble…he should be able find a scam to cover the $100.

I was hoping for more out of Debbie’s sex scandal, but it makes sense when I think about it. Matty isn’t going to say anything to anyone. A man getting date raped is almost never reported so I don’t think anything is official is going to happen over it. But word did get out about from the kids at the party and when Debbie gets called out by her ex-friend, Debbie goes on the offensive and starts swinging in true Gallagher fashion. This leads her to her next crush, which leads to her picking up boxing. Not sure what’s going to happen to her, but this could lead to better choices. Come to think of it, Fiona is lucky Deb’s party didn’t get her sent back to jail for breaking parole.

Lip took off for Miami to visit his girlfriend (?) Amanda where their true wealth is shown off. A ridiculous house with a nanny for each of Amanda’s younger sisters. Considering her dad paid him $10k to take a hike, you’d think he’d be more angry with him there. In a surprising revelation, Amanda’s dad is an engineer and smokes pot, something Lip both admires. They hit it off, Lip genuinely excited to talk to a successful adult he can relate and look up to now. Amanda even seemed pretty stoked about it (for now anyway).

Finally, Ian has another manic mood swing. After a piece of lost luggage get’s delivered to Mickey’s, Ian gets the great idea to go back to the airport and claim more luggage. By night time, he’s taken and organized the contents of dozens of suit cases. The stuff is spilling out of the house. Mickey is genuinely shocked and without his sister for support, is starting to realize that Ian is really sick and that it’s beyond anything he can really help with.

Justified S6 E2

TV

Cash Game

The plot thickens!

Boyd doesn’t get what he was looking for from the bank heist (a boat load of cash) and goes to his partners to shake their trees. He wanted this to be quick and easy so he could take off with Ava. Along with this, we find out that the guy looking to buy up all the property, Ty, is part of a para-military group. This guy is a problem. His not so subtle threat to the older couple would put anyone on edge. The three guys (so far) served together and are working with someone to fund them. This, of course, has the guy Boyd’s partners wanted to rip off (Calhoun) right in the middle.  Calhoun realizes that his life is more important than money a little too late…maybe Raylan can help him.

So this revelation brings Raylan into close proximity to Boyd. Nipping at his heels really. Any scene with these two automatically means great things.

1) The talk Boyd and Raylan have outside the office was just delicious. Amazing writing and acting. It’s the stuff that this season will be remembered for.

2) Ava and Boyd confrontation. Holy animal, when Ava comes back home with the paper work Boyd hid in the shed! Raylan freaked her out when he implies Boyd wanted her to find that stuff (he didn’t). She decides to go on the offensive and it works. So intense, so good. When he leaves she practically passes out when she gets back into the house.

3)Choo-choo! Oh my god this new character is the best! I love him! Awesome introduction, he should just get better and better. He looks to be the muscle of the Ty group, but man is he funny. I’ve never seen Duke Davis Roberts before, he’s a hell of an actor. Perfect fit for the show.

Shameless Season 5 Episode 3

TV

The Two Lisas

This week’s title refers to the lesbian couple that are trying to buy up all the property in the neighborhood. The gentrification duo who are Frank’s nemesis…but not enough of of threat for Frank to deal with directly because he’s too busy with his basement brewery. He enlists Carl to come up with some scare tactics to get the Lisas out of the neighborhood, but it doesn’t work.

This was a major relationship episode, everyone is getting twisted up:

Sheila wants out and she wants it now. with or without Frank. She goes as far as getting a down payment from blonde Lisa. She starts to look into getting a swank RV to live in and Frank manages to talk her down until his brewery plan blows up in his face. Plus he basically pimps out Sammi, who rightfully flips out on him. One of the best Shameless arguments in the street from this.

Kevin and V are still at odds over their kids. The rub and tug over the bar gets shut down by the cops so V takes matters into her own hands to get a new lucritive buisness up there which takes up all her time (which Kev is not too happy about).

Moving on from any potential relationship with her boss, Fiona agrees to a date with the singer of a band that keeps hitting on her. He turns out to be a quality liar, but hey, she finds out right away and can spare herself the drama. She strikes it up with the bass player (who is an amazing singer) so maybe they can be happy together (probably not).

Mandy’s crap boyfriend gets a job out of state and tells her she’s coming with him. Mickey and Ian object and Ian turns to Lip for help to convince her to stay. Lip’s non-ability to commitment and fear of feelings push her away. The scene where they are together for the last time (?) was heartbreaking.

The Carl and Debbie raging teenage hormone battle reaches new heights. Carl has developed a skill that gets the girls to give him a hilarious nickname. Debbie’s idea to throw a party pushes her into a crazy realm of adulthood that she had no clue about. Her age and rush to grow up has made her life worse, not better. She has no idea which way is up now. Pretty ingenious idea from the writers, this is the most intense thing happening aside from Frank’s catastrophe.

Great episode, some really crazy stuff happened. Next week should see a lot of fallout.