Investigation of the Citizen Above Suspicion

Ah, now there's a snappy title. This sounded interesting so I was looking forwards to this.

We start with the Homicide Chief committing murder. And he also turns up at the initial investigation. However, he's on his way to being the Political Division Chief, so he only looks on from the outside while committing acts on subversives. As events progress, he has to make sure the wrong person isn't put up for his crime, and leads others towards him... but clearly he is above suspicion, so no-one would dare think it's him...

This did make me think of another movie which would probably be considered far campier than this serious piece (that does get ridiculous in places). I'd repeat the opening of the officer committing the crime, but break the fourth wall and include the audience in with activities. It will bring in a sense of complicity that could give a more engaging experience. (Is there already a movie like that?)

Anyway, this movie is mostly well done. There are some moments where the camera man seems to be not quite able to get a good picture, so the image might be slightly out of focus, or have a weird moire pattern on the screen. And the music takes a while to get somewhere, but it did grow on me.

There is definitely a point to this movie, and one that still deserves to be made.

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Enigmatis

Yeah, let's knock another Hidden Object game off, this one Enigmatis. The first thing I want to say is "yay for decent screen handling!"

In this we are a (female) detective, investigating the disappearance of a young woman. We wake up with something approaching amnesia, and need to piece together what we did here as well as what is going on. And there's been a lot more disappearances and something shady going on with the preacher for a long time now. As we try to save the girl, we uncover the truth and find spooky supernatural elements.

The HO part of the game is largely straight forward, but that's what I wanted. I was on regular mode, which meant I didn't get punished for not knowing what the developer thought and object was, and missing it amidst the general art on screen. The images had a rather stylised version, not photo quality, so that didn't help.

The puzzles were largely straight forward, nothing too obtuse. And the map was vital in working out where to go next, there is a lot of back and forth across locations in this game.

In all, a decent game, and now for the sequel.

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Patrick Howling

Sigh, another actor has exited, stage left. One Mr Patrick Macnee, he of The Avengers fame. And pretty much that's his thing, but he seemed happy with that. Even was willing to turn up in that piece of rubbish movie version... but anyway, I really want to see the series again, and I will some time... but until that, let's check out a movie of his I haven't seen.

A news reporter is on the trail of a serial killer, and agrees to meet him, but has something of a mental breakdown. So she and her husband are recommended to go to a retreat under a renown doctor (played by Macneee). However, there are still monsters even there, and the original killer comes back, and everyone gets to be a werewolf! (This is the first movie in which there are many now, and the fact that it's about werewolfs is given away pretty heavily.)

Considering this is 1981 the effects are... varied. Some parts are quite good (the hand, I like). The full monster costume isn't terrible, but it looks more bat than wolf. But the transformation sequences... I laughed. Nope, can't take that seriously.

Macnee is fine, but doesn't really get that much to do. The word 'avuncular' comes to mind when I think of him. Sad to see him go, and this is one of those movies that don't really need to be seen to complete his oeuvre.

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It Fallows

Hey, it's a horror movie. Some good reviews, so let's enjoy!

After having sex, Jay is told that what was following him is now following her. Only she's the only one who can see it, no-one else can (except those who've already been cursed(?)). Where this comes from... who knows. What exactly the rules are around it... are somewhat conflicting. And I have no idea what happened at the end that they were trying to say.

I also spent a lot of this movie wondering how the Tenth Doctor would handle this. Obviously, he'd try to communicate with it, but since other that It following, we get absolutely no sense of what whatever it is is all about, so that wouldn't go anywhere.

While some scenes were good, other parts just felt discordant. And I can't get behind that soundtrack at all, it was also jarring.

Overall, not really a plus from me.

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Second Alias

Let's look at Season Two.

The big schtick this season is that the mother turns up, who was thought to be dead, but don't trust that in this series. But can she be trusted? There's a lot played with 'is she good? is she bad?', and when she appears to be bad is it for good reasons? And when those motives are uncovered,... it just goes on. That's an annoying bit this series does is gives you a little, then says 'but that's not really the case, keep watching another ten episodes for another hint'! If I weren't rushing through these...

Another thing in this season is that they just give up on The Alliance halfway through. All of a sudden, 'hey, we can take them out', and then that's that for that plot line. Rambaldi is still going, and Sloane becomes the enemy for the remainder of the season, and trusted people are revealed to be agents of evil (another common trope here), until the big build up at the end... and the final cliff hanger is jumping forwards two years.

Yep, they just switch up the way the series works. Because...

It's amazing how everything important (mainly related to the Rambaldi plot) is centring around Sydney. Yes, she is the star, but there is only so much backstory you can suddenly reveal... but again, more will be added.

The big thing is really the chance of story format with getting rid of SD-6, but that's nothing to what's in later seasons.

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Cence8

I've seen this being promoted in my twitter feed, so fine, let's give this a go.

For some reason eight people have a connection with each other that some times enables them to see each other as if they are in the same room as them, and sometimes to 'replace' the other person and act as they would.

Why? I don't know. Because I gave up on this series too. What this really meant is that this was the chance to have eight different soap operas going on with different characters and us having to sit through them all waiting for an answer. Naveen Andrews isn't the only reason I'm thinking of Lost.

The few times when it's 'the other person is now there and able to use their skills to help the original person' shows the promise of the premise, but it's just taking too long. Even having the Wachoski's and JMS involved doesn't mean we'd get anything good (*cough* Jupiter Ascendant *cough*).

Maybe I'm just too impatient and with so many things demand our attention I'm not giving it a real chance. But I spent more time remember the one episode of Mr Robot that got out than I spent thinking about this series.

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Waywand Pins

Another series based on a series of books, in which there is a weird town.

We start with a Secret Security agent waking up in the weird town... and I'm already wondering if I should watch Twin Peaks again. Weird things happen, and then his family join him, but he isn't able to connect to outside, and it seems the town is isolated.

And then the truth is revealed to the audience. I'm not going to spoil what it is, I will say I didn't see it coming... because it's really bizarre. And doesn't make a lot of sense. The town shouldn't be the way it is. Sure, people would have trouble believing it, but still there should be more signs of this truth is what's around them.

One person involved in this is M. Night Shyamalan, so of course there's something else going on. What a twist! But this is more late stage M. Night that his earlier work.

I gave it a fair shake... but that's enough. Onto something else.

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