'Castle Rock' Episode 1: 'Severance'

In addition to the new season of "Attack on Titan", the first few episodes of Hulu's original series, "Castle Rock" also landed on Hulu a couple of days ago.  Apparently, I didn't have enough shows in my rotation.

I hadn't really been following the development of this series.  I knew it was a thing and that the idea was to incorporate several of Stephen King's books, taking advantage of the "shared universe" aspect of his library, but as far as the characters or plot, I was pretty much going in blind.

Having just seen the pilot, I have to say I'm intrigued.  The episode did a good job of pulling you in with a strong sense of atmosphere, an effective soundtrack, a strong cast, and some compelling plot points.

The plot centers on Henry Deever, an attorney who gets called back to his hometown after receiving a call from a Shawshank guard regarding a mysterious person found in the sewer tunnels of the prison.

Deever himself has a bit of a history in the town, having vanished without a trace for almost two weeks during a cold winter and then returning unharmed with no memory of what happened.  It makes him a great audience identifier, being an outsider who is just coming into town, but also helps fuel some mystery and intrigue about the show's upcoming plot.

"The Kid" (the aforementioned found person) is also a barrel of intrigue.  Skarsgard doesn't say much, but he still manages to make his unnamed character rather memorable.  He's much creepier here than he was in "It".  I'm guessing he's the villain of the piece, what he did to the guards lends credence to that, but it's too soon to say one way or the other.

Speaking of, if he could have done that, why bother waiting around this whole time?  We'll see.

I was surprised by the amount of humor that the episode employed.  It doesn't go too far with it.  There are only a couple of one liners here and there and a lot of it is of the dry variety, but it was definitely a plus. 

Really, the only negative criticism I have is putting together a very strong supporting cast and not really doing enough with them.  Scott Glenn as Alan Pangborn is given the most to work with.  He's fun to watch.  I did get some "Stick" vibes from this take on the character, but that could just be me.

Sadly, Terry O'Quinn and Frances Conroy are pretty much wasted, with only a minute or two of screen time each.  I'm hoping both get more screen time in some fashion as we move deeper into the show.  It would be a shame for two such strong presences to go unused.   

Still, this was a strong start.  The next two episodes have already dropped so it shouldn't be that long before I dive into another episode.  At first I found that strange, I was expecting one episode a week.  The more I think about it, though, the more sense it makes.  It gives you a good binge to get started and subsequently get pulled in.  This episode alone did a solid enough job on that front, in all honesty, but I'm still looking forward to what's to come.

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'Attack on Titan' Season 3, Episode 1: 'Smoke Signal'

The third season of "Attack on Titan" premiered recently.  I'm not going to lie, I don't really remember what was happening.  It's one of the downsides of shows taking lengthy breaks in between seasons.

Right off the bat, the show changes things up with a new theme song.  I'm not crazy about it to be honest.  I mean, as a song, it's fine.  It just doesn't scream "Attack on Titan".  It doesn't even have that trademark chant that the first two theme songs had.  It's pretty jarring.

Of course, if this episode is any indicator, it seems like the plot is shifting.  There is the occasional reference to the titans, but they almost seem to become an afterthought, as the characters talk about food rations and a potential government conspiracy.

Said conspiracy centers around...Christa's secret heritage? Or the wall? Something about Eren? I don't know.  It seems like they're interested in all of it, but I'm not particularly interested as of yet, so it's kind of hard to care.  They do kill Hange's informant and make an attempt to kidnap Eren and Christa, so they're not messing around, but it feels like a strange turn for the show.

Things do pick up, as Mikasa and crew's rescue attempt goes off without a hitch. The fact that the perps had nabbed body doubles shows that this was just a ploy to draw out their enemies.  It was good tactics on Levi's part and both Mikasa and Sasha get some nice highlight moments as a result of it.  Poor Armin, though.  That must have been awkward on several levels.

There is an interesting plot twist, as Levi realizes that this has been too easy and maybe the players were really the playees.  He suspects somebody else is involved.  This leads to the revelation that, apparently, Levi used to live with a serial killer.  Said killer is Levi's prime suspect and it turns out that he's 100% right.

This was a bit of a clunky twist, but it isn't helped by the fact that the killer's nom de guerre is "Kenny the Ripper".  Using "the ripper" alone was eye roll inducing enough, but Kenny isn't the most menacing name they could have picked.  I'm not sure what name would have worked, to be honest, but that name doesn't exactly strike fear into the viewer's hearts.

It's a shame too, because otherwise, Kenny has a lot of potential as an adversary. He's clearly cunning and capable, but he also has a personal connection (and a vendetta from the sound of it) with one of the main cast.  He might just be a hired gun or he might be an independent wild card, we don't know.  The fact that he seems to have a squad backing him up would suggest the prior, but it could still go either way.  Unlike the government stuff, this has a lot more intrigue behind it and it ends up being the more engaging plot element.

Overall, though, I found this episode to be disappointing.  After such a long break, this episode needed more umph.  There are still 23 more episodes, leaving plenty of room for plot progression, but alas, this wasn't the most auspicious start.

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'It' (2017 Movie)

By and large, people are weary of remakes.  It's hard to build up hype for something that's already been done.  This is even more true when re-adapting something like, say, a book.  We saw what happened when Hollywood tried to bring Carrie to the big screen for like the third time.  Yet, when it was announced that another take on "It" was in the works, people were generally excited.  The 90's TV mini-series has its charm, but fans of the book can't be faulted for being excited at the prospect of another go around, especially when it has a much bigger budget to work with.

The results are...mixed.  This is definitely a much darker presentation than what came before.  As a result, it feels closer in tone to the source material.  We also have a Pennywise who comes off as much more monstrous.  Curry's Pennywise was creepy, but had a bit of a silly flair.  I remember watching "It" the first time and wondering why the kids were so scared.  Here, you see why.  He is legitimately terrorizing the kids something fierce. 

That being said, I think I still lean more in favor of Curry's take.  Maybe it's nostalgia goggles, but this take on Pennywise really didn't do it for me as much as one would hope.  It just seemed like he was trying too hard to be creepy.  He's so blatantly and obviously evil that it feels a bit one note.  He has his moments, but I largely came away with a feeling of "eh".  This isn't helped by the fact that the movie is heavily reliant on jump scares.  It works sometimes, but it does start to feel repetitive as the movie progresses. 

The movie makes up for it with the Losers themselves.  The new kids take a little getting used to, but once they come together, you totally buy the bond that's formed and its extent.  It gives the movie the heart it needs and ends up being one of the film's strongest factors.   Oddly enough, there are times when it seems like the horror elements are getting in the way.  This isn't the first film to do this.  I recall similar things being said about "Batman Begins" with its superhero elements and the recent "Power Rangers" film.  It's still a strange thing to see.

I remember back when the movie was in production, a lot was made about the time jump. The argument was that the 50's made more sense given Derry's idyllic illusion and that the 80's didn't really have that.  It makes sense on some level.  Watching the movie, though, the move to the 80's really didn't make that much of a difference.  There are some references to things, you see movie titles on marquees and Richie compares Bev to Molly Ringwald at one point, but the narrative plays out pretty much the same.  Ultimately, that wasn't a thing with which the fans needed to concern themselves.  It really didn't change things that drastically.

I'm torn on the ending.  The slingshot is removed, probably due to not being as prevalent in the 80's, and so too is the silver vulnerability.  As a result, the kids win the day by just beating the monster down with chains and a bat.  Considering one scene had Bev impale the monster through the head with a steel rod to no effect, the fact that this is ultimately what brings the creature down seems out of left field.  I know, the implication is supposed to be that It is weakening as a result of the kids no longer being afraid, but it still feels a bit lackluster.  OK, lackluster may not be the right word.  The climax is more action heavy, so it's satisfying to watch on some level, it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. 

I am kind of curious to see how the sequel plays out.  For one thing, the kids overcoming their fear now seems like it would undercut the horror of confronting It again.  Most of the movie shows this ordeal as being traumatic in spades, but given the nature of their win, it does change things.

The story also remains somewhat grounded here.  There are a couple of nods to turtles, which make for some nice Easter eggs for fans, but no hint of the sort of cosmic force that comes into play in the book.  This entry is a pretty straight forward monster movie.  From what I hear, the larger elements are going to be brought in for the second chapter.  I have a feeling it's going to make for a jarring watch, especially when people decide to watch the two parts back to back or if/when they do the "director's cut" that combines the two into one cohesive narrative.   

Overall, this was OK.  I was underwhelmed by Pennywise, which is sad considering he's one of my favorite King villains, but the cast and script made up for it in other areas.  It has its shortcomings, but if you're a fan of the book, this is worth checking out at least once.

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