Seth Harris

TV Reviews – Game of Thrones, Veep, Silicon Valley

Game of Thrones: Season Six

game of thrones

I almost dropped Game of Thrones during seasons 4 and 5 but kept trucking along. I am incredibly glad I did. This season felt like the well needed payoff for the set up for the previous two years. We saw characters coming together who we had anticipated meeting. There was resolution to a number of plots, not the least of which was the wandering and pointless “Girl With No Name” antics in Davos. That particular story did bring something to the table for Arya but it took way too damn long to get to its point. But overall, I was incredibly satisfied with this season.

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Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016, dir. Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer)

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016, dir. Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer)
Popstar is in theaters now

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Never Stop Never Stopping is the second film from the comedy collective known as The Lonely Island. And it is a funny film. You will laugh a number of times. But, like cotton candy, it will be dissolved and forgotten by the time you walk out of the theater.

The film is mockumentary based around Connor4Real (Andy Samberg), an obvious Justin Bieber/Justin Timberlake analog. Connor was once a member of a boy band in the late 1990s/late 2000s that fell apart when he went solo. He still keeps band member Kid Contact (Jorma Taccone) as his DJ while Kid Brain (Akiva Schaffer) clumsily runs a farm in Colorado and still holds a grudge. Connor’s latest album has dropped and the conceit of the film is that we’re watching a mega popstar on the downfall.

I have never been a huge fan of The Lonely Island. I can imagine had I been a bit younger, watching them in my dorm room, but I think I was a little past their peak. I’ve found their music and accompanying videos to vary in quality. It’s often pretty sophomoric humor, with the occasional interesting progressive edge, but usually dick jokes. They are one of those comedy groups that are seemingly obsessed with nostalgia for the 1990s and so their humor, like Family Guy, is more referential than actually satirical.

This means Popstar becomes a missed opportunity to create a This Is Spinal Tap for the modern pop music industry. You’ll likely see this film being compared to that seminal mockumentary but it is nowhere near as cutting. If you were to create a scale for these types of pictures you’d have Spinal Tap on the satire side, Walk Hard in the center, and Popstar on the inoffensive end. And this has been my issue with the comedy coming out of Saturday Night Live for a few years now. Even when the humor is based around political events, the writing seems scared to actually approach a point. So the humor is derived from a shared recognition of a mannerism or voice, instead of making a point about an ideology.

If you go to see Popstar to laugh, they you will get what you paid for. Don’t expect any relevant insight into celebrity or the music industry. Nothing is truly mocked beyond “Hey, aren’t holograms silly” or “Rich people can be silly with their money, right?”. The Lorne Michaels produced comedies as of late have this as a common theme. In the need to appeal to everyone, they lose any relevant voice that comedy should always have. They aren’t bad, they’re just light, fluffy, irrelevant comedy.

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014, dir. Matthew Vaughn)

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014, dir. Matthew Vaughn)

Purchase Kingsman on Blu-Ray or DVD

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Kingsman is a reinvention of the James Bond concept, based on a comic book by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons. The story’s focus is on Eggsy, a young British man whose life has not turned out as he would have liked. Primarily his mother is brutalized by a brute in the estates. Eggsy ends up in trouble with the law but calls in a favor from a mysterious man who visited the family after the unexplained death of Eggsy’s father. It turns out his dad was part of a secret society of gentlemen who fight against global threats. Eggsy is enrolled in the program and must see if he can pass an increasingly deadly series of tests. Meanwhile, Galahad, the man who is now mentoring Eggsy, discovers a plot to wipe out humanity and must race against the clock to stop it.

I’ve had fairly positive feelings about the work of director Matthew Vaughn. I am a big fan of X-Men: First Class, it is without a doubt the best X-Men film we’ve had to date. I enjoyed his debut feature Layer Cake and Stardust was alright. I am not a fan of Kick-Ass which brings us to Mark Millar. Mark Millar is a comic book writer I’ve had very mixed feelings about. His Kick-Ass comics, and most of his more recent titles, have been way too mean-spirited for my personal tastes. His Marvel works has ranged from wonderful (Old Man Logan) to mixed (Fantastic Four) to outright terrible (Marvel 1985). There’s just a little too much irony in everything he writes, but occasionally he will come out with something that subverts my ideas. Kingsman seems in line with most of what Millar writes, but I think Vaughn’s work with the material is what elevates it.

I enjoyed the film quite a bit, despite sometimes messy plotting. Eventually the plot become so convoluted and silly you have to just sit back and enjoy the pretty and crazy things on the screen. The film is not scared to go super violent and within the first 10 minutes we have someone sliced down the middle. If you had always wanted James Bond to be heavier on the blood and guts then you have it made. The action sequences are enjoyable, though one over the top moment in the middle of the film goes on for just a few too many beats that it goes from laughing out loud in shock to really wanting things to finish already.

Kingsman is happy to compare itself to James Bond and goes very meta with the comparison. Galahad the big bad villain even have a tete a tete where they talk about their childhood dreams to go grow up and be differing roles in a Bond film. A death in the film even brings up the trope of a death trap that gives the good guy time to escape. The film walks the line between a classic Bond picture and a spoof a la Austin Powers and manages to come out fairly balanced. It never falls into outright farce but it knows it is a dumb fun movie and revels in that.

Kingsman isn’t going to change your life, but it will fill a void for classic Bond that the current Bond films seem to have forgotten, especially Spectre. While Spectre was Bond with the absence of any levity or humor, Kingsman is the adventures of a foul mouthed James Bond Jr. It fulfills the promise of those pictures with the English spy with the license to kill, a good two hours of spy gadgets, crazy villains, and fun action. With a sequel in the works, I’m interested to see if this franchise falls into the same formula as Bond, or carves out its own unique and cheeky niche.

Comic Book Review – Omega Men by Tom King

Omega Men (DC Comics)
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Barnaby Bagenda, Toby Cypress (#3)
Omega Men: The Complete Series will be released August 30th, 2016

omega men kalista

You’re meant to be disoriented when you start Tom King’s Omega Men. You’re tossed into the midst of war, specifically a military strike on suspected terrorist outpost. Even if you had followed previous incarnations of the Omega Men, you will feel just like the soldiers on the dropship: jostled around, anxious, not exactly sure what happens when the door drops down. Omega Men follows the titular outlaws of the Vega System, composed of Karna, Hy’nxx, Voorl, Ogyptu, and Changralyn. You will explore these planets in light touches over the course of the series but never truly know them. In the same way, you will explore aspects of our characters’ pasts but never really know them. In fact, the protagonist of the series, former Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, won’t even come to the forefront til the third issue. Omega Men subverts expectations you have about “superhero” comics at every turn, mainly because it is not about superheroes.

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Cinematic Immersion Tank #1: Martha Marcy May Marlene

Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011, dir. Sean Durkin)

Purchase Martha Marcy May Marlene on Blu-Ray
or Rent on Amazon Video

martha poster

This is my first stab at the Cinematic Immersion Tank, so I decided to go with doing a write up after each viewing. In future, I may do something more comprehensive, more of a critical analysis that isn’t as fragmented, but that would take a little more time. In the meantime, please watch Martha Marcy May Marlene *before* reading over this. I hope you find as much beauty and sadness as I did in this amazing film. My biggest take away from this film is the power of Elizabeth Olsen’s acting (she has some of the most powerful eyes) and the amazing supporting cast that surrounded her in this film. Every actor pulls so much depth out of their role.

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Podcasts You Should Be Listening To #1

I have been a huge fan of podcasts since I discovered them back in 2005. They are a great thing to have if you have a long commute and, if you are super lucky, you have job that let’s you put in earbuds and forget things around you. Here are some that I love to listen to.

Limetown (Two-Up Productions, Host: Annie Sage Whitehurst as Lia Haddock) – http://www.limetownstories.com/

In the vein of Serial and The Black Tapes, comes this intriguing audio drama. Lia Haddock is an American Public Radio journalist who has a personal connection to an incident that occurred decades ago at neuroscience research facility in Tennessee. Three hundred people vanished without a trace and the government has worked to cover up the truth. As Lia digs deeper, she uncovers a vast horrific conspiracy. A beautiful artifact that immerses the listener in this dark parallel world. Only six episodes with a companion prequel novel in the works.

Spontaneanation (Earwolf, Host: Paul F. Tompkins) – http://www.earwolf.com/show/spontaneanation-with-paul-f-tompkins/

spont Paul F. Tompkins (Mr. Show, Best Week Ever) hosts this series that is half-interview show, half-improv show. Each episode begins with Tompkins interviewing a celebrity guest. In the second half, the guest offers up a location and Tompkins and his improvisers create a longform improv based on both the suggestion and tidbits from the guest’s interview. These are some amazing improvisers and they produce hilarious comedy.

Episode #3 (http://www.earwolf.com/episode/a-secret-society/) – Jason Ritter talks about his Nirvana obsession and insecurity with Choose Your Own Adventure Books

Episode #10 (http://www.earwolf.com/episode/the-student-lounge-at-a-performing-arts-high-school/) – Weeds’ Justin Kirk talks about acting school and the improvisers play out the cutthroat shenaningans behind the scenes of a student play.

Episode #52 (http://www.earwolf.com/episode/the-last-blockbuster-video-store/) – Ghostbusters screenwriter Katie Dippold talks about the reaction to the film’s trailer and we meet a sister-wife cult out to return tapes to the Last Blockbuster Video before their daddy-master gets upset.

Hollywood Handbook (Earwolf, Hosts: Hayes Davenport, Sean Clements) – http://www.earwolf.com/show/hollywood-handbook/

HollywoodHandbook_1600x1600_Cover1-300x300 Hayes Davenport and Sean Clements aren’t industry douchebags, they just play them on a podcast. Each episode of Hollywood Handbook begins with the duo in media res humblebragging through a story that involves a mid-tier celebrity (think Elliot Gould or Anne Heche). What’s most cringey/captivating about Handbook is how real these characters feel. I’ve never worked in the entertainment industry, but even I can feel the genuine nature of the smarm coming off these characters. The target of their passive aggressive sneers is poor Engineer Cody. A classic duo of episodes are the dueling interviews with comedian Chris Gethard (whose podcast is featured below). Hayes, Sean, and a few friends also made an amazing appearance on Earwolf’s flagship Comedy Bang Bang podcast.

Episode #118 – Chris Gethard, Our Close Friend – http://www.earwolf.com/episode/chris-gethard-our-close-friend/

Episode #138 – Chris Gethard, Sean’s Close Friend – http://www.earwolf.com/episode/chris-gethard-seans-close-friend/

Comedy Bang Bang, Episode #351 (http://www.earwolf.com/episode/cbb-the-movie/) – The Hollywood Handbook crew does a readthrough of their Comedy Bang Bang movie script.

Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People (Earwolf, Host: Chris Gethard) – http://www.earwolf.com/show/beautiful-anonymous/

Chris Gethard sits in a recording studio and receives an anonymous phone call. He cannot EAR_BeautifulAnonymous_Cover_1600x1600_Final-2-300x300 hang up, the caller can at any time. After one hour the call will automatically end. From this simple premise comes some of the most beautiful and funny human interactions you’ll be witness to. Callers often feel awkward at first, but there is inevitably some moment where they make a revelation about themselves. From there you can’t help but be pulled into the story.

Episode #10 (http://www.earwolf.com/episode/4-kids-0-sex/) – 4 Kids, 0 Sex – A male caller got married young and four kids later he and his wife are on the verge of a separation.

Episode #13 (http://www.earwolf.com/episode/married-to-a-monster/) – Married to a Monster – A female caller talks about learning she was married to a child molester, now imprisoned, and how she deals with letting their son know what is happening.

Episode #15 (http://www.earwolf.com/episode/the-hardest-part-is-that-you-love-me/) – The Hardest Part is That You Love Me – a young woman in the midst of a quarter life crisis talks about her vagabond boyfriend and the tug and pull of being young and dumb with growing up and being responsible.

Games for Two – Lost in R’lyeh & Sushi Go

After attending Origins 2016, I returned home with a decent assortment of new card and board games. This year I focused on smaller games that worked with two players, as my wife is my most common playmate. Expect posts through the next couple months as I play these games.

Lost in R’lyeh (Atlas Games, designed by Kedrick Winks, Illustrated by Kelley Hensing)

lost in rlyeh

Lost in R’lyeh is one of my favorite games I played at Origins for couple reasons. First, we got to play it with our wonderful friend Renee who was putting in many hours at the Atlas Games’ space. She did a great job laying out the game and it’s mechanics. Second, it was a game that my wife and I picked up quickly and, when we returned to waiting at the Games on Demand area, were able to get out and play a couple games of.

Lost in R’lyeh is a Lovecraftian trick taking card game. The premise is that the players are all trapped in the realm of Cthuhlu and must escape. This involves laying out cards, trying to create matching sets of numbers. Numbered cards have effects and the more of them in a row the more powerful the effects become. There are also Elder Sign cards that are like Wild cards in Uno. They can be played at any time and can be very disruptive to other players. Certain Elder Sign cards duplicate numbered cards, force the entire stack of cards onto another player, allow you to take the stack and all the tricks within it, and more. The game ends when only one person is left with cards and they are trapped by the Elder Gods.

As I said before, very easy to learn and Renee even mentioned Uno as she was explaining it. So think of it as that classic card game with effects added if you stack up similarly numbered cards in a row. I can see it being one of those warm up games before a roleplay session or a great way to kill some time. We were lucky enough to buy a copy at Origins before the game dropped for all consumers. Good news, Lost in R’lyeh is available as of today!

Amazon link – https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Rlyeh-Kedric-Winks/dp/1589781635/

Cool Stuff Inc link – http://www.coolstuffinc.com/p/227156

Sushi Go! (Gamewright, designed by Phil Walker-Harding, illustrated by Nan Rangsima, Tobias Schweiger, Phil Walker-Harding)

sushi go

When I went over to the Cool Stuff Inc booth on Sunday morning, looking for last minute slashes in pricing I didn’t find anything that caught my eye. Then when I looked to the register and smaller card games I noticed the little tin box for Sushi Go! I’d seen it before online, my wife likes sushi, it was only $9, so I bought it. Our friend Mark expressed a lot of enthusiasm over the game when he saw it in my bag so I wondered what this game was all about.

Sushi Go! is a “draft and pass” card game. Each player has a number of cards in their hand and chooses one and plays it face down. Once every player has done this they reveal their card and then pass their hand to the player on their right. You repeat drawing a single card face down and then pass. Your goal is to create sets. Different sets are worth different point values. Maki have either 1, 2, or 3 on them and at the end of the round the player with the most Maki gets 6 points, the next player down gets 3. Nigiri has a set value, but that can be multiplied by three if you play Wasabi first. Every two Shrimp Tempura offer up 5 points, every three Sashimi offer up 10. Chopsticks allow card swapping and Pudding stays on the table through every round and is used to add 6 points to the holder and take 6 points from the people without Pudding.

There is quite a bit of interesting strategy here. You can go for the quick points, just dropping Nigiri on the table, or set up larger point drops for later, laying out Wasabi or putting down Sashimi. If you only have two players, there is a Dummy player variant listed in the instructions. Playing this with two players has a much more subdued and direct strategy. I suspect with a larger number of players things get crazier and even more fun. Simple, easy for everyone to pick up on and play.

Amazon link – https://www.amazon.com/Sushi-Go-Pick-Pass-Card/dp/B00J57VU44/

Cool Stuff Inc – http://www.coolstuffinc.com/p/188409

Book Review – Greener Pastures by Michael Wehunt

Greener Pastures by Michael Wehunt (Published by Shock Totem Publications, 2016)

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Greener Pastures is the debut horror short story collection from author Michael Wehunt. This was my first encounter with Mr. Wehunt’s work but the latest in my over year long focus on horror short fiction. What I found was a very strong variety of stories that touch on various types of horror. Everything about this book feels nothing like a first timer, but someone who is very confident in their craft, of weaving themes into narrative and building characters who react in real, human ways to terrifying situations.

Highlights from the collection were:

“October Film Haunt: Under the House”, a found footage story. Ever since I read Mark Danielewski’s House of Leaves, I have been a sucker for representing visual media in text for horror. There’s something so effective about reading a transcript of found footage that is much more terrifying than seeing it. There is such distinct imagery in this piece, but the meaning is left ambiguous. I read this story a few days before the release of the Resident Evil VII demo that also features found footage in a haunted house, and this story is much scarier than the decent jump scares of the video game. The cover of the book features an image from this particular story, a dog emerging from the woods holding a wooden crown in its teeth. Something that bears such horrifying weight in the context of the story.

“Deducted From Your Share in Paradise” begins with a number of women falling from the sky and crashing into a dystopian trailer park. The narrator is on the outside of the core events but he sees enough to inform us about what is really going on here. This story felt very much like one of Terry Gilliam’s darker works. Not pure existential horror like some of the others, but a bit of fantasy mixed in with the uncertainty of these women’s purpose in our world. The climax is satisfying but like all good horror leaves lots of questions on the table.

The title story, “Greener Pastures” is all the things I love in a good Reddit NoSleep piece. It’s concise, it is able to build mood in a short amount of time, when the horror is revealed it cuts right to the core of the protagonist, and we end on an open note. The setting of a lonely truckstop diner in the middle of a pitch black night is just one of those perfect settings for a good horror tale.

The final story in the collection is “Bookends” which I wouldn’t even classify as a horror story. It’s a deeply gut wrenching character piece on a man who is left with a newborn when his wife of thirteen years dies. It’s a reflection on grief and how blinded we can become when we experience a love that potent. The places the story goes are very dark and should be careful before you delve in due to the emotional weight and very real events present.

The stories here are all signs of a talent that is ready to go. Everything is polished and tight. Not a single story feels like filler and they all have shared thematic threads, grief in particular. A collection worthy of your time that will provide a satisfying experience.

DC Rebirth: Weeks 4 & 5

Book of the Week!!!: Batman #1 (Writer: Tom King Artist: Matt Banning, David Finch)

batman 01 Continuing threads laid in Batman: Rebirth, our story begins with Batman and Gordon meeting on the police station rooftop to discuss a raid on a nearby military base. The police have not located all the stolen weapons and fate would have it one of them is launched and strikes a commercial airliner over Gotham. The rest of the issues is tightly written action sequence that has Bats communicating with Alfred and his new partner, Duke Thomas (formerly of We…Are Robin). Alfred and Duke runs ops from the Batcave and guides Batman through the process of literally lassoing the plane and steering it around Gotham. The big twist is the final panel introduction of Gotham and Gotham Girl, apparent Superman and Supergirl analogs? The weakest part of this issues is some of David Finch’s art, I have never been a huge fan of his work. I definitely disliked his recent Wonder Woman run and really hated his Batman: The Dark Knight ongoing. There’s some stronger panel structure here and it does look like he is working well with Tom King. Probably the DC ongoing I am most excited to keep reading, mainly due in part to what a phenomenal writing of Tom King!

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YouTube Channels That Are Worth Your Time #1

Movies with Mikey on Chainsawsuit Original

mikeyneumann

Movies with Mikey is hosted by Mikey Neumann. Neumann is the Chief Creative Champion at Gearbox is responsible for a lot of the writing on the Borderlands game and has worked in video game development since he was 19. He’s been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, suffered a stroke at the age of 29, and is openly asexual. Why do I share all this with you? Because I believe his personal experiences and journey have given him an amazing perspective on life and as a result films. Neumann is putting out some of the most interesting and thought provoking film content on YouTube and it is incredibly funny as well. Below you can see his reviews of Mad Max: Fury Road and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Full disclosure, his Star Wars review almost made me cry, very touching and meaningful.

Mad Max review –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh_eIReMeNw
The Force Awakens review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVZGUV77aRg

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