Posts Tagged ‘technology and ethics’
DARK/WEB A No Spoiler Review of Chapter 3
My favorite episode so far. This is the 3rd post of 8 in 8 days.
The beginning sequence of this chapter is outstanding, will terrify you, make you nervous and curious and might even make you laugh.
The larger arc is filled out in this episode, with another friend of Molly Solis being added to the mix. To read my previous reviews, click The Pilot
James Woodsley, this friend of Molly’s lives in Madison, WI (my current hometown…so shoutout to my people). James is also sent a short story by Molly. This is viewed in the first moments of the episode.
I can’t say too much more because it will spoil the surprise, but I do want to comment of 4 aspects of DARK/WEB I am appreciating so far:
- Outstanding casting. Multi-ethnic. No stereotypes. I noticed this particularly in the pilot…how various characters were cast to upset stereotypes.
- DARK/WEB is a HORROR/SCI-FI series, so be warned. Like the film Alien follows the haunted house script a uses many of its tropes (down to the solo female facing the monster in the end), this series too uses horror tropes. It is both futuristic and horrific. These episodes have caused me moments of terror and disturbed my sleep. Not everyone likes this…so this is a warning. From lonely dark streets where the character walks and keeps looking behind his or her back, to darkness, to phones that never quite connect with 911, it’s all there in DARK/WEB. I will reiterate, Chapter 2 was especially horrific.
- Roxy Shih, a woman and person of color is doing a brilliant job in the directing, nominated for an Emmy (see below). I’m appreciating her deft touch and so far the writing is very tight. I remind you, these episodes are short…at least they are by film and tv standards, so the creators are accomplishing a lot when they make the audience laugh, cringe and freak out, all in the same 1/2 hour. That doesn’t happen accidentally.
Lastly, here are the Emmy’s DARK/WEB has been nominated for this year:
- Outstanding Digital Drama Series
- Michael Nardelli, Tim Nardelli, Mario Miscione, Allison Vanore
- Outstanding Directing Team for a Digital Drama Series:
- Mario Miscione, Michael Nardelli, Roxy Shih
- Outstanding Main Title and Graphic Design for a Live-Action Program
- Justin Martinez, Tim Nardelli, Mario Miscione, Michael Nardelli
- Outstanding Light Direction for a Drama or Digital Drama Series
- Vasiliki Constantinou, Lars Lindstrom
- Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama or Digital Drama Series
- Jonathan Hartman
- Outstanding Guest Performer in a Digital Drama Series
- Rene Heger
- Outstanding Guest Performer in a Digital Drama Series
- Graham Sibley
DARK/WEB No Spoiler Review of Chapter 2
Hacked
Today marks the 2nd of 8 days in a row of posts. For your orientation, read yesterday’s post which introduced Dark/Web, the 8 chapter (episodic) series on Amazon Prime, to read now click Pilot.
Today’s chapter implied a gruesome scene, so be warned. Though it wasn’t visual gore, the hint of it might trigger some, especially women who have been victimized by violence.
For others, able and willing to view evil head-on, this review is for you.
Molly Solis is drawing her friends together to solve a mystery around the dark web. She is sending them messages via email. Each message is a story. The viewer has met Molly in the pilot during the first few minutes. She appears on video camera, in trouble, though not helpless. The audience does not know much more than that, though they see her capitulate to some kind of authority, despite her protest.
In the first chapter, Ethan, a reporter and old highschool friend of Molly’s reads a story emailed to him by her. The action on screen quickly cuts to the “episode”, which shows the story as it unfolds. The first story is about a ride-sharing app gone haywire.
This second story is called Hacked and comes to Sam, who happens to have dated Ethan recently, though they are currently broken up. Sam is another highschool friend of Molly’s.
This story is about Misty, a young woman working at a burger joint. She is the drive through operations person. When a famous music star drives through to buy burgers, flirts with her, allows her to take a selfie with him and posts this on a platform called Flash, our heroine becomes instantly famous. Her social media account explodes with likes and loves and comments. In this fictional world, not too unlike ours, Flash determines whether you are a worthwhile human. When your ranking goes up, as it does for Misty out of this incident, that makes makes her popular by society’s standards. Following this happy event, Misty’s phone is hacked and a reckoning ensues. Bad actors zero in on her to take advantage of her popularity.
DARK/WEB, Amazon Prime Series. A Review of the Pilot
In the next eight days, I will watch one episode per day (episodes are called chapters in this series and there are 8 total). I will review each one briefly.
Today I watched the first chapter. This story had a few layers. I read a little about the series on IMDb and Wikipedia to orient myself….here’s the IMDb link if you want to do that too.
Is this really Amazon Prime’s answer to Netflix’s The Black Mirror? Some say this is the model for DARK/WEB, but there is an overall story arc that connects all of the chapters, so not exactly like The Black Mirror. I’ll know more in a few days and can report then.
This series is one season only. As of now, there is no indication that a season 2 will be made.
Written by Mario Miscione, Boman Modine and Michael Nardelli, the story begins with a mysterious set of images and screens where a young woman is obviously being harassed via the internet to do something (we don’t know what) she does not want to do. It then cuts to the apartment of a recently laid off reporter by the name of Ethan Neary. He is obviously in a bad spot, sleeping on his sofa, drinking too much, his apartment a mess. He has missed a number of calls from a high school friend (Sam Daniels) who has been trying to contact him. Sam is anxious about repeated emails that have been sent to her from another old high school friend, Molly Solis. Ethan has received messages as well. Is this really Molly? They are both worried about computer viruses, therefore reticent to open the file, but Ethan decides to open the attachment, which reveals a short story that he ends up reading aloud over the phone to Sam…the read aloud cuts to new action, but with different characters.
At this point, the story being read becomes what the audience sees on the screen.
Chapter 1 of DARK/WEB is about a rideshare driver who experiences a glitch in the app supposed to help him perform his job. Now, instead of simply giving him directions, it talks to him about who all the people are he is driving. He’s driving late at night to make ends meet for his young family and it turns out many of the people he is driving are awful folks. The rideshare app knows details about their evil and begins directing him to do certain things to stop these people from exerting their power in ways that will hurt others. You can imagine where this might go.
Three things I like about this chapter:
- Quick set-up that indicates a mystery
- Amazingly fast empathy for the main character (the rideshare driver)
- Tension around the craziness he is exposing himself to while driving…so much so…I needed to pause the recording for bit and think whether or not I wanted to see what I imagined to be a gory or troubling end.
I won’t give anything away, but the viewer does become invested in the driver’s wellbeing and that is an indication of good character writing. It happens fast that the viewer is rooting for him. Chapter 1 was worth the 27 minutes. I recommend if you like tension and dystopian/cyberpunk/mystery.
INTO THE DARK: ALL THAT WE DESTROY, A No Spoiler Review
ALL THAT WE DESTROY is a Hulu original written by Sean Keller and Jim Agnew, directed by Chelsea Stardust.
The series, INTO THE DARK, is a Hulu concept, a horror anthology series in the vein of The Twilight Zone, though each production is as long as a feature film. In the show’s first season, Hulu released one episode per month, for a total of 12 episodes. All of the episodes were tied thematically to a holiday that falls within that month.
The 8th episode was released in May under the title: ALL THAT WE DESTROY. The story is inspired by Mother’s Day.
ALL THAT WE DESTROY is horror, but with a scifi twist. It is a tale in the vein of Ex Machina, the drama unfolding around a brilliant scientist who runs a lab in a remote location. It’s a story as old as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and a trope that will please both the science fiction nut and the horror fan. In other words, this HULU original does not disappoint in terms of revealing a monster or two…
I would rate this film R for violence and language. Trigger warning to those who might be disturbed by violence perpetrated against the vulnerable. This is a monster movie.
Short Review: Four Reasons To Watch INTO THE DARK
- Lots of edge-of-your-seat suspense and mystery.
- The characters surprise, yet for all their weirdness, they are relatable.
- Strong female leads, with themes around motherhood and life-creation.
- The story takes place in a desert hideaway where the sun shines brightly. I found it refreshing to see this setting for such a dark and troubling tale.
Longer Review:
Point of View determines how a story like INTO THE DARK will unfold. In the case of this film, the POV primarily rests with the supposed monster, the creation. In the opening scene, the audience watches her wake up out of a tub of black sludge. The audience learns within the first 20 minutes of the film that this young woman is a clone. The clone is lovingly washed and dressed by the scientist, whose hands the audience sees, but does not meet until later. Instead, we meet the scientist’s son. His mother is the scientist and she is a woman fixated on solving the dilemma of her son. She’s doing this in the only way she knows how, by using her science in what is clearly an unethical way.
The twist in this story, as you might imagine, is that the clone may or may not be the true monster.
Ex Machina was on my mind during much of the viewing of INTO THE DARK
In the case of Ex Machina (which I loved, but still haven’t reviewed on this site), the point of view is mostly held by the visitor who enters the lab. Mystery about what the heck the scientist has created drives the plot, ramping up tension as the visitor discovers (therefore, we the audience discover) the horrors of the scientist’s experiments. This tension culminates as the visitor understands that in order to survive, he will need to escape from the lab before the monster overcomes him. This is where a story such as Ex Machina, science fiction in its vibe, follows the haunted house script. Think Poltergeist, Amityville Horror, The Shining. Survival equals escape. Will the hero make it out?
INTO THE DARK gives the audience a twist on this haunted house trope. The point of view starts with the clone, but moves to the scientist and to the son at various points in the film. The clone is innocent in her birth and clueless about the dangers that lurk. The audience understands those dangers and strongly empathizes with her, is rooting for her.
Part way into the film, a visitor enters the action. It’s a chance meeting, but reveals the vulnerability of the scientist, her son and the ghastly experiment she has been conducting. The finale brings all the characters together. I liked the ending. It was packed with symbolism, but not overdone. A true Mother’s Day tale.
10 Reasons You Want to Watch BLADE RUNNER, The Original
Blade Runner, The Original
I rewatched BLADE RUNNER last night in a friend’s home-theater with a group of folks in their 20s and 30s. For some, it was their first time viewing the film.
I consider myself one of the lucky ones to have seen the original BLADE RUNNER on the big screen during its first weekend release. I was a young highschooler at the time, a huge sci-fi fan and living in Burbank, California. I remember my older brother and I driving west over the Hollywood Hills, as we did often in that era, to make sure we were getting the biggest bang for our buck. Our theater of choice that night was The Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Boulevard.
It’s not easy to describe to a new generation of filmgoers how important this film was at that time. Most folks in the film industry, especially directors point to BLADE RUNNER as ground-breaking. Ridley Scott made BLADE RUNNER after finishing the film, ALIEN. He also made it after his brother had died of cancer. The dark setting of BLADE RUNNER reflects a dark state of mind. Don’t expect cheerfulness here.
YET…you don’t have to be a filmmaker to appreciate BLADE RUNNER.
Here are 10 Reasons Every Sci-Fi Fan Ought to Watch BLADE RUNNER
Oh, and watch the FINAL CUT. 2007 version. There are seven versions of this film. Kind of crazy, I know.
- Cult classics happen for a reason. Following its meh release in 1982, a slow-building respect, awe and cult following emerged.
- BLADE RUNNER influenced the next generation of filmmakers, especially dystopian and sci-fi writers/directors.
- This is a brilliant screenplay (especially once R.Scott took out the clunky voice-over narration), though many fans adore that version of the film.
- Take pleasure in watching a young Harrison Ford perfectly embody the main character, Richard Deckard.
- You like The Man in the High Castle? Philip K. Dick wrote that novel. BLADE RUNNER is an adaptation of his classic novela, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
- You’re a Battlestar Galactica fan? Here is a chance to see Edward James Olmos (Captain Adama) in a role you would not expect.
- Complicated villain. Rutger Hauer…what a performance!
Hauer as Roy Batty
- The sequel is excellent and makes a lot more sense if you watch the original first.
- This is not a movie for the weak, nor is it for the mindless. You will have to think and process the experience after viewing.
- Because of number 9, it’s a great film to see with a group of friends. At the very least, the post-film discussion won’t be boring.
To buy Dick’s novel, click this link Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
If you want to totally nerd out on BLADE RUNNER, I recommend this very long and thorough article in Cinephilia & Beyond
Battle Star Galactica, Check Out This Podcast
My husband and I are watching Battle Star Galactica (BSG) for the second time in our married lives. The first time we watched, our kids were always in bed. It was just-for-parents entertainment…Our daughter was a middle schooler, our son, a couple of years behind her. They’re both out of college now. So it was a while ago.
BSG was created for the SyFy channel by Glen A. Larson and Ronald D. Moore.
There is much pleasure in the re-watching for me. Last night, we viewed The Hand of God, episode 10, one of many amazing episodes in that first season. Our re-watch has me reflecting on what makes BSG so good?
- The writing is absolutely spot on. No-nonsense story-telling that provides the audience with a solid long-term arc of purpose and meaning: humanity, betrayed by A.I. known as Cylons, must leave their home and find another habitable planet. An epic journey in a space ship. Grafted onto the journey narrative are countless subplots that will draw in scifi and non scifi fans. How do the writers do this? That leads me to my second point…
- This story is inhabited by heroic, but flawed characters most of us can relate to.
- The production value is superb. Even in the 2019s, the set, special effects and costumes create a believable fictional world.
- The actors embody their characters well, extra dramatic heft carried by the Commander of the fleet, William Adama and President of the survivors, Laura Roslin (played by Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnel respectively).
- The themes around protecting a way of life, more specifically, a democratic society in the midst of battle, are extremely poignant in our current political environment.
- Ethnically diverse cast of characters and women in key leadership roles.
If this will be your first time viewing the series, or if you’re re-watching like me, consider this podcast aptly named Galacticast to augment the full depth of each episode. It’s a fun and easy way to be extra nerdy about BSG. Click below for the link up.
A Podcast Discussing Each and Every Episode
As an aside, I find myself wishing The Expanse would produce an episode by episode podcast…Sometimes, I feel like I’m not quite getting it. Maybe in the re-watch, I will.
To watch the entire series, click here.
DESCENDER by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen, A Review of Volume 6, THE MACHINE WAR
THE MACHINE WAR
The 6th and final post of a 6-day reading fest. I’m excited to recommend this series…all 6 volumes. I would rate DESCENDER as PG-13. This comic series is pretty mild compared to some of the stuff your kids are exposed to. Parents might want to view volume 4 to get a sense (regarding the one sex scene). Overall, the language was extremely tame. The violence was not graphic…not as graphic as many other comic series.
Also…FYI…don’t piss off you machines, those very helpful robots that make your life easier.
Today, I want to acknowledge my dishwasher, for all the hard work and quality service it does every other day or so…also, my robot vacuum machine. Also…the electric toothbrush, and much much more. Thanks to you, machines…I have more time to read amazing comics/stories like DESCENDER, THE MACHINE WAR.
Really, though, I have continued praise for the story. You can view my previous reviews on allscifi I’ve written a review for each volume. As a novel-writer, I am intrigued by the strengths and weaknesses of the comics genre. The visuals in this epic are so gorgeous and add so much to the understanding and the feeling the story. However, I did find myself missing lovely passages of linguistic poetry and the interior monologue that takes place in some novels and short stories.
THE MACHINE WAR does close with a longer interior monologue. A character the reader has not yet met, but one who makes sense in the story overall, she begins to narrate the post-story of DESCENDER, the pre-story of the coming series. This is the bridge character who will take center stage in the sequel to DESCENDER. The next series will be called ASCENDER.
Final word on the review. If you love comics…you will absolutely LOVE this series. The art and the writing are top notch. Furthermore, if you’re a scifi fan…you ought to read this tome. The narrative adds so much to our morality around how we understand ourselves, our machines, our planet and those who work in the shadows to make our lives easier. Let us no forget that real work has to be done by someone. More and more of that is done by machines…but much of it is still done by humans, people who we can easily marginalize and treat as less than human. This is important for all of us to remember. The best scifi stories teach us to be better humans. DESCENDER does exactly that.
Click here to buy this final in the series: DESCENDER, Volume 6 The Machine War
Click here to buy the first installment of the sequel to the DESCENCER, series ASCENDER, Vol. 1, The Haunted Galaxy
DESCENDER by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen, A Review of Volume 5, RISE OF THE ROBOTS
RISE OF THE ROBOTS
Six reviews in 6 days. Today marks the 5th day and review of volume 5 of DESCENDER. No spoilers for this volume, but beware of spoilers if you haven’t already read the first 4 volumes. You can see my first review of volume 1 here in case you stumbled upon this review as a first exposure to my website.
In RISE OF THE ROBOTS, Lemire delivers a number of answers to mysteries within the story world…not all of them, but enough to open up the possibility of some sort of redemptive ending to the saga. By the way, I don’t know the ending, so this is not a spoiler. I’m reading volume 6, the finale of DESCENDER tomorrow. In this volume, the planet Mata, an aquatic world, takes center stage. Mata itself is a mysterious place. It is less known by the UGC and there are early allusions in the first volumes of DESCENDER to the ruins of a great city in the water’s depths. Water is often a symbol in literature, so I look forward to seeing how Lemire works that thematic angle. You’ll also notice that the cover of this volume is a robot in a hazy blue environment…I’m interpreting that blue as an underwater world.
The unique (in the volumes so far) and fun surprise in volume 5 is a double page fold out. Lemire and Nguyen chose to dramatize the culmination of the RISE OF THE ROBOTS as it takes place across the UGC through the art. 
You’ll notice as you turn toward the final pages of volume 5 that a couple feel thicker than the rest. Be careful when you fold them out, so they don’t tear. This is the third reading of our copies of DESCENDER and so far, we’ve only had one issue with the binding (loose pages). I want these beauties to last a long time, so I am reading them carefully. I also love loaning out great books and I’m sure I will loan these out in the future, but I’ll ask my reader friends to read them gently.
Tomorrow, the final review of DESCENDER.
Click here to buy your copy of DESCENDER, Volume 5 Rise of the Robots
DESCENDER by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen, A Review of Volume 4, ORBITAL MECHANICS
Vol. 4 DESCENDER
Day 4 and the 4th review. I’m tired as I write this because I had a full day and hosted 10 people at my house for a dinner party. They’re all gone now and the dishes are washed or are in the robot machine that cleans them (thank you, Kitchen Aid!)
So, here it goes…The DESCENDER saga continues, a ramping up of tensions across the Megacosm.
Slight spoilers if you haven’t read 1-3 yet. This volume confirms the PG-13 rating. There is a sexual encounter, not explicit, but emotionally portrayed/drawn by the artist. It’s not graphic in that there are no x-rated body parts on display, but still…it’s a sex scene. Some parents will want to view this before passing it onto their kids.
With that said, this sexual and emotional relationship doesn’t seem to be the main thing and doesn’t dominate the storyline from every angle, but it is one angle. The couple that gives into sexual desire has its relevance to the overall plot. I can’t say more without spoiling the story.
What continues in ORBITAL MECHANICS is character revelation while the battle lines become drawn.
Since I’ve written a couple of novels, I will say that the messy middle is the most difficult part of writing something of epic proportions. DESCENDER has the potential to be epic, so this volume works, yes, to pull us in and draw us deeper into caring about the characters and the outcome of the world in which they live.
Highlights for me emerged as curious plot turns took place. Not every turn surprised me, but many did. The story telling and the art are still fantastic. I know I will read to the end.
To purchase, click Volume 4 of DESCENDER
DESCENDER by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen, A Review of Volume 3, SINGULARITIES
Tim-22, used, abused and almost scrapped
YES. Read on, you won’t be disappointed!
I continue this mad and highly pleasurable dash of reviewing 6 volumes in 6 days. Today is day 3, so I’m reviewing volume 3 of the DESCENDER series. No spoilers (unless you haven’t yet read volumes 1 and 2 yet…in which case there are tiny spoilers).
I’m going to have to call SINGULARITIES my favorite volume, so far. It’s filled almost completely with the backstories of all the important characters. If you’re like me, now that you’re hooked on these characters, you have the patience to read back into their histories and you’re going to love it! I also picked up volume 1 again to re-read the first few chapters.
Don’t you admire an author can draw you in with action and plot-driven narrative, when all the while, his/her real aim is to make you fall in love. I do. Kudos to Jeff Lemire for this original and expansive story world inhabited by not just humans, but aliens and robots as well, many of whom we are coming to love.
You will not be disappointed regarding the various bot characters. The backstory of Driller the Killer is included in this volume, as well as that of Tim-22, the sinister and perhaps, alter-ego of Tim-21. In the 19th century novel, Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, evil and gentleness exist in one human, split personalities. In DESCENDER, the two Tim A.I. characters take on the representations. This is a captivating and common archetype in countless narratives we love…think, Darth Vader/Luke, Voldemort/Harry Potter, Edmund/Lucy. Opposite and rival archetypes reflect human experience. We all know we are not pure good or pure evil, we’re somewhere in between, but understanding the extremes must help us in some way, otherwise, why do we crave these stories? Does it help us live a more balanced life and make choices for “good” or not?
I will draw a conclusion by the end of DESCENDER in regard to its moral relevance for the average scifi reader, but for now, I’m enjoying the ride. I hope you are too. Follow the links below to purchase.
DESCENDER, Volume 3 Singularities
DESCENDER, Volume 4 Orbital Mechanics
DESCENDER, Volume 5 Rise of the Robots
DESCENDER, Volume 6 The Machine War