Mr. Robot: eps1.5br4ve-trave1er.asf

mrrobot5What an intense episode this was. Last episode ends with Elliot discovering Shayla has been taken by her drug supplier’s gang. In order to help Shayla, Elliot must break Vera out of jail. A situation most difficult to hack.

Meanwhile, Angela begins uncovering the horrors within EvilCorp – remember that both her mom, and Elliot’s dad died from toxic levels in an E Corp factory. She brings more information to the lawyer who worked on the case twenty years ago. You can tell the lawyer is distraught as she adds scotch to her tea during the middle of the day.normal_mr106_2120Just a complete intense episode filled with emotion, and omg moments. The ending, although I don’t want to spoil it, is just so upsetting. The arc is nearing the top as the season begins to come to a close. The audience is witnessing Elliot’s life fall apart. Elliot has most definitely changed from the first episode. Just when you think he has a grip of everything and is in control, you can tell Vera is one step ahead. I’m not sure where Vera’s story is going, but I do hope he stays away from poor baby Elliot.tumblr_inline_nv3azhnsio1rxvybq_540

One of the highlights (and what seems to be looked over by other reviews) for this episode is the scene between Tyrell and Scott Knowels. As we all know, Tyrell is trying to move up to the position of CTO for E Corp. He plays games with every character, and uses manipulation to get what he wants.

However, it was nice to see Scott Knowels knowing exactly what Tyrell has been playing. Scott shutting this dream down is the best: Tyrell, I want you to accept the hard truth, right here, right now in front of me. You are not going to be CTO. I want to see that look wash over your face. It’s the only way I’ll know you’ll stop playing these silly, silly games. 

Good television makes me happy, even if it breaks my heart in the process.

 

 

Wednesday Listens E15

Going with some nice toe-tapping tunes as I am beginning to feel sick, and a night out dancing is definitely in order.  (Dance Cave round two anyone?)

Loving that 80s vibe. Perfect vocals of course by Matt Berninger (yep, from The National). The drum comes in at the right parts, and just everything is working for this number.

Half Moon Run definitely needs to be recognized more. Great Canadian band based out of Montreal. They know how to layer their music, and make ya feel.

Love to see Death Cab for Cutie back. “The Ghosts of Beverly Drive” reminds me of Plans. Again, it’s because of the use of lyrics and layers.

Doctor Who “Under the Lake” Recap

oooooh. Doctor Who returned to a good classic Who episode. Had my heart racing, hand to mouth, gasping and general feel of emotions.

I think this is a better episode than the first two episodes of Series Nine, because there is a good storyline present (shots fired at Steven Moffat). The monster featured in this two-parter is actually scary and something we have not seen before. The ghosts remind me of the weeping angels given that they can appear at any moment. The episode also succeeds as I already feel attached to the characters (when Lunn is approached by that ghost with a wrench… oooh boy that had me going).

The TARDIS brings Clara and the Doctor to the year 2119 where an underwater mining facility has gone under siege from what appears to be ghosts caused by the unearthing of an empty black spaceship. The ghosts begin killing off the crew one by one.

The episode is well-written, and features strong characters like Cass & Lunn. It is nice to see Doctor Who making an effort to include characters with disabilities. It’s also nice that Cass is not seen as a victim in this episode; rather she’s a person who happens to be deaf — big difference.

Strong episode all around, looking forward to the conclusion next week!

“Every time I think it can’t get more extraordinary it surprises me. It’s impossible. I hate it. It’s evil, it’s astonishing. I want to kiss it to death!”

Mr. Robot: eps1.43xpl0its.wmv

mr_robot_EP5This episode was stressful. Elliot & fsociety find themselves at Steel Mountain. Elliot smooth talks himself inside Steel Mountain for a “tour” and uses the opportunity to achieve what they set out to do.

The focus of this episode is to exploit the thing that sets people apart from each other. We see Elliot tear pour Bill Harper apart by saying he is nothing. Trudy fears medical emergencies in her marriage. Tyrell reduces the life of a waiter to a cockroach, merely existing. In Tyrell’s eyes, Elliot desires revenge for his father’s death. Tyrell clearly wants power and will do just about anything to get it.

There’s a moment where we see Mr. Robot fight with Darlene. I’m still holding on to the fact that he is Elliot’s daemon. It is in this case that I think it was a Fight Club moment in which Elliot was able to remove himself from the fight by believing it was someone else carrying his frustrations out.

Another solid episode using good camera work and distortion of sound.

Wednesday Listens E14

Another Wednesday is here, meaning another Wednesday Listens for you. This week I decided to choose some EDM songs because it’s always nice to get lost in the sounds, and I feel EDM allows you to clear your head more so than other genres.

Pretty Lights are amazing because ONE they have nice mixes. Each album has a theme, and each song blends into the next which is nice. TWO their music is available for free download off their website, which is a nice treat. This song brings me back to Winter of last year sitting in the Waterloo Public Library. I focused on Pretty Lights heavily while I worked through my essay marking for my tutorial class.

I absolutely love Flume’s take on this song. I picture a couple dancing an Argentine Tango to this song (completely random thought but someone needs to get on that).

This song works wonders.

Doctor Who “The Witch’s Familiar” Recap

http://doctorwho.tumblr.com/post/129952204271/admit-davros-admit-the-creator

So much happier with last night’s episode! Finally picked up, and showed more depth with the characters. We also finally see more flawless acting on Michelle Gomez’s part, by her showing the true colours of The Master. MOREOVER we see Twelve display the Doctor’s Curse: compassion.

In sum, this episode is the conclusion for the two-parter, which means it has to tie up in what the Doctor will do for young Davros in the battle-field. Does he kill the young child, or save him? In present time, the Doctor is shown comforting a dying Davros. Davros asks Twelve if he has been a good man (a common theme in Doctor Who). Was Davros a good man in creating the Daleks? The Doctor does not provide him with a solid answer, but shows compassion towards him in his final moments.

0x600Davros wishes to see the sun one last time, but cries out to the Doctor that he does not have enough strength to open his eyes. The Doctor feels sorry, so decides to use some of his regeneration power to fuel Davros. Needless to say, this has been Davros’ trick all along, and traps the Doctor in transferring his regeneration power to rejuvenate Davros AND the Daleks.

It’s clear that this series will focus heavily on the Daleks.

Mr. Robot: eps1.3_da3m0ns.mp4

mrrobotep4

This was a pretty strange episode, but only because we had to witness Elliot going through withdrawal. Because of his withdrawal, we saw some pretty wild hallucinations like his fish talking.

The withdrawal was part of Elliot’s journey where he figured fsociety could destroy back-up files at Steel Mountain by accessing the climate control system. Slight snag in the plan, they have to physically be there. Ensue road trip music.

Meanwhile, Angela experiments with Ecstasy (and Shayla). She then decides to follow through with infecting AllSafe’s system with the disc given to her by Cisco (who we find out is Darlene’s ex). She uses Ollie’s work ID and computer so that the trace will come back to him and not her (obviously.)

Since Mr. Robot is a clever show, we are going to look at what exactly is a “daemon.” Strictly relating to computing, daemons refer to any background process. In Greek mythology it is “a supernatural being working in the background, with no particular bias towards good or evil.” Which begs to ask… Mr. Robot, are you Elliot’s daemon?

So far the show is leading up to this twist and if you are a good viewer who pays attention to the other members of fsociety, they do not interact with Christian Slater’s character. Mr. Robot seems to only communicate with Elliot.

Mr. Robot out of frame holding a book.
Mr. Robot out of frame holding a book.
A wild Mr. Robot appears beside Trenton with no book.
A wild Mr. Robot appears beside Trenton with no book.

“Daemons. They don’t stop working. They are always active. They seduce. They manipulate. They own us. And even though you’re with me, even though I created you, it makes no difference. We all must deal with them alone. The best we can hope for… The only silver lining in all of this… is that when we break through, we find a few familiar faces waiting on the other side.”

daemon definition from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_%28computing%29
quote from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4659980/

Wednesday Listens E13

I always go through Motown phases. There was once where I could only find inspiration for all of my essays by listening to Motown. They just get you in a good feeling, calm the nerves, and make you want to dance.

The Four Tops are one of those groups that have nice sounds. I love this and “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch).” It’s the harmony. And the dance moves.

That voice though. And this is live, like. How does one do that? That audience needs to loosen up though, only critique (they are so stiff).

And it wouldn’t be a Motown playlist without The Temptations. A classic. Am I the only one dancing right now? Don’t answer that.

Doctor Who “The Magician’s Apprentice” Recap

“If someone … pointed out a child to you, and told you that that child would … destroy millions of lives, could you then kill that child?”

901_03121 (2)Series Nine premiered on September 19th with “The Magician’s Apprentice.” Title is a bit of a disconnect, and the phrase is said once during the episode. Nevertheless, this episode is part of a two-parter. Much of the episode – to classic Moffat writing – focuses on the search of the Doctor. Once the Doctor is found by Clara and Missy, we learn that he is ashamed. For what is the Doctor ashamed about though?

The episode sets up for the series, in that it will focus heavily on the Daleks and their creator Davros. The episode also hints at Clara Oswald’s departure from the series, as there have been rumours for quite some time now that Coleman quit the show. Jenna Coleman has decided to leave the Doctor Who family to play Queen Victoria in ITV’s drama Victoria.

Speaking of shame, it is a shame that I am developing a love-hate relationship with Doctor Who now. I will always watch Doctor Who but I’m wary that it will become a task, and not something of entertainment. I feel that, with the involvement from BBC America and increase in budget, the episodes aren’t leaving me satisfied. It is nothing on Peter Capaldi as twelve, he is wonderful and fully entertaining. However, it’s more so Steven Moffat’s writing that appears to be looping. Another “Last Day of the Doctor” storyline? Can a doctor really have multiple last days? Ten had one, Eleven had one, Twelve now has one…

Therefore the episode is alright for me. It isn’t the best of episodes, but isn’t the worst of episodes. I’m trying not to be too negative here, soooo

Three parts of this episode that are worth highlighting:901_46549

  1. Return of Davros is an interesting arc as we haven’t seen him for ages
  2. Twelve showing up with an electric guitar on a military tank during the middle ages is just one for the books
  3. Michelle Gomez plays Missy so well, I can’t help but enjoy her take on the Master’s role

 

Beasts of No Nation

Saw my first TIFF film ever, and what an experience. We saw the second showing of Beasts of No Nation, which is a Netflix original film starring Idris Elba and introducing Abraham Attah (he deserves all the awards). Beasts of No Nation is an adaptation of Uzodinma Iweala’s book published in 2005.

In sum, this is about a civil war in an unnamed African country. It centres on the experiences of Agu, whose life transforms drastically. At the start of the film we see this happy child using his imagination, support from his father and mother, and love for life. His town later becomes unprotected from the military, ensuing complications for Agu: he finds himself recruited as a child soldier.

Going into the movie, I was unsure how much gore would be shown. Compared to my initial thoughts, there were not as many scenes that were uneasy; much of it was tame or insinuated. I would say there are three points during the film that are difficult to watch.  Nevertheless, by making you uncomfortable it allows you to reflect.

I hope to see Oscar wins for this film. Abraham Attah – who is only 14 – is remarkable. It is astonishing that this is his first film as he is able to display a range of emotions on demand.

Beasts of No Nation will be available on Netflix on October 16th, and will be featured in select theatres.