Tagged: FX

John Ostrander: Legion

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And you may ask yourself
How do I work this?
And you may ask yourself
Where is that large automobile?
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful house!
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful wife!

• Talking Heads, Once In a Lifetime

Okay, I’ve finally found a TV superhero show I like more than The Flash, which is saying a lot. It’s Legion, Wednesdays at 10 PM (ET) on FX, and it stars Dan Stevens in a role that’s world’s away from his stint on Downton Abbey. He plays David Haller, a man who may be the world’s strongest telepath and, because of his schizophrenia – their diagnosis, not mine – perhaps the most dangerous.

The show is from 20th Century Fox in association with Marvel TV and is the first to link with the X-Men movie franchise which, for contractual and bureaucratic reasons, is separate from the Mighty Marvel Movie Franchise over at Disney. It’s not only unlike any other superhero TV show out there. In fact, it’s different from any other TV show, period.

What makes Legion so different is the use of the concept of the Unreliable Narrator. That concept means the reader/viewer cannot trust the facts of the story as presented. The device is most commonly used in fiction with a first person narrator, but it can be used in film and television and it’s being used very effectively here in two ways.

The show’s creator and showrunner, Noah Hawley (who also wrote and directed the first episode), wants the show to be told from Haller’s perspective. The story is about him, but since he can’t trust his own memories neither can we. His perception of reality around him may be off as well. David is an unreliable narrator.

At the same time, Hawley skews the design elements so that they match Haller’s mindset and are disorientating to us. His way of presenting David’s life cannot be wholly trusted either. Hawley is also an unreliable narrator.

There’s a key moment in the first episode when David’s being held at Clockworks Psychiatric Hospital (which itself seems to be a nod to A Clockwork Orange) where he is drugged, tested, questioned, evaluated. There’s a strong suggestion of a sinister governmental organization – as if there is any other kind – called Division 3 who seem ready to kill Haller.

David is eventually rescued by his sort of girlfriend named Sid and people connected with a place called Summerland run by Dr. Melanie Bird. There’s running and people shooting at them but, in the middle of the escape, David stops and begs of Sid, “Is all this really happening? Are you real?” She reassures them that it is happening, she is real, and they must run.

Those questions, for me, are the center of the episode and maybe of the series. Is this real? Is this happening? Can David trust it? Can we?

In the second episode, David – now safely (?) at Summerland, is being helped by Dr. Bird and her associates. Dr. Bird insists that David is not crazy; the voices he hears are part of his telepathic powers manifesting and always have been. One of her associates helps guides David through buried or forgotten memories but, again, we’re not certain how reliable those memories are and neither is he.

As I’ve been thinking about the show, I’m now questioning even what I think I know. What if Summerland is not the beneficial place we’ve been told it is? What if kindly Dr. Bird is not all that kindly and the evil Division 3 folks are really the good guys? What if David Haller himself is not a “hero” but more of an anti-hero or even an outright villain? He’s is the Legion of the title and I’m put in mind of the gospels of Mark and Luke where Jesus meets a man possessed of demons who says “My name is Legion for we are many.” David has a lot of voices inside him.

If you know my work, you can see why I’m fascinated by the show. It may not be for everyone; you may prefer your heroes and villains a little more clearly identified. Me, I’m fascinated by it. I like murky.

The character of Legion was created by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz in Marvel’s The New Mutants #25 where he was the son of Charles Xavier, Professor X of the X-Men. The TV show doesn’t precisely follow the comics’ continuity but I think it’s very true to the concept, re-interpreting it for this day and age. I’m fine with that.

The show demands attention and some thought. I hope that it has some answers for the questions it poses, unlike such shows as Twin Peaks and The X-Files). Right now, I’ve settled in for the ride.

And you may ask yourself
What is that beautiful house?
And you may ask yourself
Where does that highway go to?
And you may ask yourself
Am I right? Am I wrong?
And you may say yourself, “My God! What have I done?” 

Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was.

REVIEW: The Americans The Complete First Season

theamericans_s1_bd_spine-e1390401342765-4130455Nadezhda is a stranger in a strange land; recruited young, she was extensively trained by the KGB and then partnered with a slightly older Mischa. Both are brought to America in the 1970s where they pretend to be a happily married couple running their own travel agency. The reality is that they are embedded espionage agents working near the nation’s capital, endangering our peace and prosperity.

fx-the-americans-premiere-e1392313329367-6926383Sleeper agents are nothing new to spy fiction or reality but what FX’s The Americans has done is humanize them so you’re actually rooting for the bad guys. By making it as much about the marriage as it is about spy craft, the show makers for arresting viewing. The Americans: The Complete First Season is now out on Blu-ray from 210th Century Home Entertainment and if you missed this last winter, now is a good time to check it out with the second season due to kick off on the 26th.

America fell in love with Keri Russell and her curly hair when J.J. Abrams introduced us to her on Felicity, where she was a shy and awkward ingénue and as she has aged, she has grown more beautiful and deeper in range as a performer. Her steely cool Elizabeth Jennings is the calculating, logical agent, making the tough decisions for the pair. She is now only now coming to love Mischa, having previously only allowed herself to be emotionally involved with  Gregory Thomas, (Derek Luke), a black militant who has remain her key asset.

the-americans-the-oath_article_story_main-e1392313422173-4266015Mischa, played with verve by Matthew Rhys, an Aussie best known for his work on Brothers & Sisters, has come to enjoy the creature comforts offered by the enemy state. His Philip Jennings has longed for Elizabeth but is now forced to turn an FBI secretary Martha Hanson (Alison Wright) by romancing and marrying her. Meantime, he’s also developed a friendship with new neighbor Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich) who just happens to be working on an FBI task force seeking Russian moles following Ronald Reagan’s Executive Order 2579.

the-americans-s01e07-e1392313382486-7543832The show is about relationships, many of which parallel and intertwine as every couple faces marital strains with adultery an expected part of the job, although in Stan’s case, it happened by chance and has become a tool he and Russian agent Nina (Annet Mahendru). By far the most riveting of these storylines is the tense connection between Elizabeth and her handler Claudia (Margo Martindale) which is exceptionally well handled, notably in “Trust Me”.

The poor children, Paige (Holly Taylor) and Henry (Keidrich Sellati), have no clue their parents are Russian spies although Paige now knows something’s amiss, a thread that will no doubt play out next season.

Weaving in and around the latter years of the Cold War, the show is a snapshot of an America at the cusp of major technological changes. In fact, the state of the art spy gear is downright laughable today although the featurette “Ingenuity Over Technology” does a good job showing what they had to work with.

The thirteen episodes look and sound great. There’s a just-right number of extras including commentary for the season finale, “The Colonel”, from former CIA agent turned executive producer Joseph Weisberg, producer Joel Fields and actor Noah Emmerich. The background leading the series’ creation is covered in “Executive Order 2579: Exposing the Americans” while the many wigs and mustaches used to disguise the agents is given a nod in “Perfecting the Art of Espionage”. There are a handful of deleted scenes for several episodes and a fun Gag Reel.

Win The Americans Prize Pack!

  • News
  • February 7, 2014

theamericans_s1_bd_spine-e13904013427651-8288136We didn’t know what we were in for when FX debuted The Americans last February. The Cold War story of Russian spies embedded in suburban Washington D.C. was fresh and fun with winning performances from Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, and Margo Martindale. With the second season ready to arrive in a few weeks, our friends at 20th Century Home Entertainment are offering ComicMix readers an opportunity.

ushanka-e13904014252271-1335831The Americans, Season 1 blasts its way onto Blu-ray and DVD February 11th. There’s no better way to celebrate than by entering to win a Blu-ray copy of Season 1 to add to your collection, as well as a Russian styled Ushanka hat. Be careful where you wear the hat though, your neighbors may begin to think you’re an undercover Russian KGB spy!

To enter for your chance to win, simply answer the below question.

the-americans-season-1-dvd-and-bluray-americans_s1_352x264_2_rgb-e13904014684781-9895039What year was the U.S.S.R officially dissolved?

A) 1972
B) 1991
C) 2003
D) 1983

Give us your answer by 11:59 p.m., February 11. Open to United States and Canadian readers only. The judgment of ComicMix will be final.

Synopsis

Secrets can be deadly in this suspenseful thriller about undercover Russian spies in 1980s Washington. Philip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth Jennings (Keri Russell) seem to be a typical suburban couple, but they’re actually lethal KGB agents plotting to bring down America. As the Cold War escalates, Philip and Elizabeth must take extreme measures to continue their mission and keep their true identities hidden. But when an FBI agent moves in across the street, they become ensnared in a pulse-pounding game of cat and mouse.

Blu-ray & DVD Features

  • “The Colonel” Commentary featuring Joseph Weisberg, Joel Fields and Noah Emmerich
  • Executive Order 2579: Exposing the Americans
  • Perfecting the Art of Espionage
  • Ingenuity Over Technology
  • Gag Reel
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Trailers

REVIEW: The World’s Endf

the-worlds-end-bd_2d-e1385240963190-1067183After a steady diet of stupid buddy movies, including this summer’s Grown-Ups 2 flop, I welcomed Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s unique take on the concept in The World’s End. After a steady stream of funny and inventive films, this one hewed closer to a traditional premise: five high school buddies reunite for one last blast. However, being from this duo, one could expect something different.

The first forty minutes of the film felt fairly straightforward as the one who refused to grow up gathered his peers, all mired in staid existences, and convinced them to do what they failed to accomplish in their teens. In this case it meant visiting and quaffing a brew at all twelve pubs along the Golden Mile, finishing at the fabled World’s End. We see them struggling to reconnect, all annoyed at their leader for one reason or another. Unlike other films in this manner, the men are archetypal, not caricatures, and you feel the weight of adulthood on their shoulders. Their resentment towards Gary King (Pegg) is also tinged with envy as he has never lost that boyhood spirit, that Can Do attitude that made the next step an adventure.

Then things take an unexpected twist and we’re plunged into an entirely different story that pits these five against an alien threat with the very world’s fate at stake. How they handle this fuels the remainder of the satisfying film, out now on Blu-ray from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Considered the final installment in the Cornetto Trilogy, viewers should be aware it has absolutely no connection to Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. What they do share in common is an ensemble cast and smart, witty writing that never trips over the line into dumb humor or slapstick.

worlds-end-e1385241004136-8608109Wright nicely skewers the horror, cop, and science fiction conventions in these films, always taking ordinary people with ordinary problems and sticking them in extraordinary circumstances. Gary King is the boy who never grew up and as an adult, his actions now appear inappropriate but it is his spirit to never give up that forces the others — — Steven Prince (Paddy Considine), Oliver “O-Man” Chamberlain (Martin Freeman), Peter Page (Eddie Marsan) and best friend Andy Knightley (Nick Frost) – into action. The quiet home of Newton Haven is too quiet and the looks the quintet receive from the patrons borders on The Stepford Wives, even their old college professor (Pierce Brosnan) seem s a little off. When King rips the head off a young punk, he discovers the inhabitants have been replaced with robots out to “civilize” humanity.

There’s a tremendous amount of running, fighting, screaming and humor but in the end it all comes down to King and Andy debating the Voice (Bill Nighy) behind it all. As climaxes go, it falls a little flat but is whimsical in a nice way. And there’s even a touch of romance with Oliver’s sister Sam (Rosamund Pike), the sole major female role in the film, a failing on the Bechdel scale.

the-worlds-end-e1385241044123-1154874The film’s tone is a steady one, despite the rising complications and activity. The performances are strong as one would expect from the cast, who have worked together for many a year, making this one of the strongest and best comedies of the year. Out on a combo disc (Blu-ray, DVD and Ultraviolet digital), the video transfer is fine, matched by sharp audio. Unlike a lot of recent releases, this one comes with an excellent abundance of material staring with Commentary from Wright and Pegg and Wright and director of photography Bill Pope and Pegg with co-stars Frost and Considine. The first is funny and interesting, the second interesting for technical folk, and the third is as hilarious as you would expect.

U-Control Storyboard PiP lets you see the film’s storyboards alongside the film which is interesting for storytellers. Better is Completing the Golden Mile: The Making of The World’s End (48:00) which takes us through the concept to production although you know some of this through the commentaries.

Additionally, there’s Filling in the Blanks: The Stunts and FX of The World’s End (28:00); VFX Breakdown (9:00); Edgar & Simon’s Flip Chart (13:00), a fascinating look at the beat by beat breakdowns writers use to craft screenplays; Director at Work (3:00); Pegg + Frost = Fried Gold (3:00) Friends Reunited (4:00), mostly culled from a press kit; Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy (5:00); Animatics (11:00), for two scenes; Hair and Make-Up Tests (4:00); Rehearsal Footage (6:00); Stunt Tapes (9:00); There’s Only One Gary King: Osymyso’s Inibri-8 Megamix (5:00); Music remix montage; Signs & Omens (8:00); Deleted Scene (1 minute); Outtakes (11:00); Alternate Edits (SD, 5 minutes); Bits and Pieces (3:00), additional alternate takes and shots; and, Trailers & TV Spots including the TV Safe Version. Finally, there are Galleries of photographs, concept art, animatronics, prosthetics, theatrical posters and pub signs and a fun Trivia Track.

By all means, check this one out and enjoy the bonus features which enhance the enjoyment.

The Point Radio: Tim Olyphant Is More Than JUSTIFIED

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Tomorrow night, FX rolls out the start of season four of JUSTIFIED. Series star Tim Olyphant tells us about the changes in his role both on and off screen, plus PSYCHO gets a prequel on TV and The Batmobille gets pulled into court.

Take us ANYWHERE! The Point Radio App is now in the iTunes App store – and it’s FREE! Just search under “pop culture The Point”. The Point Radio  – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or on any other  mobile device with the Tune In Radio app – and follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

The Point Radio: BATTLESTAR Is Back All Shiny & Bloody

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BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: BLOOD & CHROME is finally here, but you don’t know the whole story on how this all came to be. Executive Producer David Eick shares some surprising facts (and a few sneaky spoilers) with us, plus October was another good month in the comic stores, but for which company and THE KILLING rises from the dead.

The Point Radio  – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or on any mobile device with the Tune In Radio app – and follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

The Point Radio: Lori’s Return On THE WALKING DEAD

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We’ve got more with THE WALKING DEAD‘s two latest casualties, Sarah Wayne Callis and IronE Singleton. We cover it all from Lori’s Haters, IronE’s surprise at his fate and the possibility that Sarah might have a chance to return to the show. Plus DC goes digital in an even bigger way and we move two steps closer to that ELFQUEST movie.

The Point Radio  – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or on any mobile device with the Tune In Radio app – and follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

The Point Radio: PARKS & RECREATION Plunges Ahead

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There’s been a lot happening on the NBC comedy, PARKS AND RECREATION including an out-of-the-blue marriage proposal. Co-creator & star, Amy Poehler catches up on all of it plus odds are Jamie Foxx will be Electro and more speculation on Disney and Star Wars.

The Point Radio  – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or on any mobile device with the Tune In Radio app – and follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

The Point Radio: Guiding JAMES BOND

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Since the day DOCTOR NO exploded on the screen, the fates and fortunes of James Bond has been in the hands of the Brocceli Family, first with Albert “Cubby” Brocceli and now his daughter Barbara. We sat down with Barbara to talk about the rich history of Bond and how they work out each detail from tone of the story to the  Bond Girls, even before the cameras roll – plus G4 gets overhauled and Arnold is CONAN again – really?

The Point Radio  – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or on any mobile device with the Tune In Radio app – and follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

The Point Radio: Those COMIC BOOK MEN March On

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AMC has given us another season of COMIC BOOK MEN, and Kevin Smith explains how all that – and the show itself – happened, plus your YouTube favorites are coming to SyFy in a new reality series, VIRIAL VIDEO SHOWDOWN but it’s not quite your regular online videos. Plus The CW gives ARROW a vote of confidence!

The Point Radio  – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or on any mobile device with the Tune In Radio app – and follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

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