S3E1: Nosedive - Hayley Atwell really carries this episode and her reactions feel natural and unforced. With only seeing her in the Captain America movies, I didn't realize how talented and attractive she actually is. Domhnall Gleeson plays a good robot. I wonder if he gave Alicia Vikander tips when they were in "Ex Machina" together. The end was super heartbreaking. Everything ends up in the attic.
S3E2: Playtest - I really enjoyed this episode. I appreciated the main character's motivation to remember and experience as much as he could in the memory of his father who died of Alzheimer's. Unfortunately, he didn't value his mind enough and it ended up poorly for him. I liked that the episode kept you guessing and it was almost inside my head as a viewer as if it was aware what I was thinking would happen next save for the twists at the end.
S2E3: Shut Up and Dance - This episode was pretty good and also heartbreaking -- testing the limits of what a person would do to keep their secrets private only to have them released anyway by the hackers and internet trolls that exist in the world. It was great seeing Jerome Flynn aka Bronn from Game of Thrones outside of his normal role. I really like him as an actor.
S2E4: San Junipero - This episode was crafted pretty well as there was no sign of any technology until the end. The episode teased us with a "one week later" card throughout which was revealed towards the end when everything was revealed. It was actually the first episode that had somewhat of a happy ending for the characters involved as it essentially was a digital heaven that was created. I liked this episode, but I didn't love it. It dragged a little too long until the reveal and I wanted more information about the main characters.
S2E5: Men Against Fire - This episode was pretty predictable for me. I guessed early on that they were augmenting their soldiers to make them better. I thought it was just their sight, but it makes sense that the program inside of them would also have to affect what they smell and hear as well. This episode was just okay.
S2E6: Hated in the Nation - It felt like this season finale was trying to top the season 2 finale, but I feel it missed the mark a bit. I liked that the episode acknowledged a very real current problem - the bee population and how doomed we are as a society if bees become extinct. In this story-line, the government is funding the bee project, so big brother installed some backdoor software to help them spy on their citizens. They claimed it reduced crime and maybe it did, but it allowed a hacker/fellow creator of the project to access the bees for his own purpose -- to play a game that ultimately turned out poorly for those targeted and those playing it.
I'll mention two negatives - 1) the swarm of bees special effect looked a little cheesy at times, and 2) I wasn't a huge fan of how the episode ended. There was a glimmer of hope in catching the hacker, but I didn't think that was needed concerning a little twist/lie about one of the British agents. I think it would have been sweet irony if instead they used a bee to track him down and then leave it open ended if it was assigned to kill him or not.
Friday, February 9, 2018
The Future of Star Wars
1) Rebels is starting in 10 days and it'll be over the beginning of March. We have Han Solo coming out this May, and then we don't have Episode 9 coming out until December 20, 2019. The comic stories are limping along. I'm not sure what's coming out novel-wise. So it appears we have somewhat of a Star Wars "drought" coming between June 2018 and December 2019. Is this good? Is this bad?
2) We have Rian Johnson doing his own trilogy. No release schedule, not filming currently, and he's still thinking about ideas according to an article from January 16th. So I'm guessing he's in the writing phase now, will start casting/auditioning/etc later this year and start filming next year for a May 2020 release date.
3) We have David Benioff and D.B. Weiss doing "a new series of Star Wars films." after GOT is over. GOT is rumored to air April 2019 according to Maisie Williams. So they probably won't start writing/thinking about ideas for their films until early-mid 2019. Will their first movie come out in 2020 as well? Maybe December 2020? Two Star Wars films a year from two different teams? Will they stagger the releases to allow the ILM team to do the post production special effects work or will they expand the team? Johnson 2020, 2022, 2024 -- Benioff/Weiss 2021, 2023, 2025?
Final questions and thoughts...
4) What's Filoni working on? [Probably a new show, but when in the timeline and with what characters is anyone's guess at this point.]
5) Do we really want an Obi-wan movie? [I don't. The comic stories involving him all take place on Tatooine and are not very exciting. Leave it as is. He's watching over Luke and doesn't leave the planet to go on an adventure that we need to see.]
6) Will we see Episode 10-12? [maybe in 2026, 2028, 2030]
Now that Disney has made their 4 billion back, it's experiment time. Kennedy likes working with Johnson so we'll see how that gamble pays off in the future. Whether you love, hate, or are indifferent to GOT, in my opinion, it's the best show on television when it's new and I think Benioff and Weiss have a lot of potential to bring us some good stories. Sure, they don't have Martin's source material, but they have the Lucasfilm Story Group and plenty of "Legends" material to cherry pick from and make their own. So in my opinion, this is "fun" time for Disney and when "fun" time is over, they'll go back to the core Skywalker trilogy if there are any Skywalkers left by the end of IX.
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