Worth Watching – The Mental Attic

Review: The Flash

The Flash is a new superhero TV series. It’s an adaptation of the DC Comics comic by the same name and a spinoff of Arrow, having the same producers. It follows Barry Allen, The Flash and the fastest man alive.

During Arrow’s last season, we were first introduced to Barry Allen, a nerdy crime lab technician visiting Starling City under false pretenses. It turned out that he’d come to find the Arrow and that he did, leaving at the end of a small story arc but not without giving Oliver Queen a valuable piece of advice: wear a mask. Because we all knew the green eyeliner was kinda dumb, and someone had to say it. The last thing we see of him in Arrow is being struck by lightning in his office.

The Flash’s pilot shows us the complete picture, the events leading to that fateful lightning strike and beyond. Star Labs’ Particle Accelerator goes live while Barry is at the Police Station but malfunctions catastrophically, sending wild energies across Central City, turning the terrible weather into the weirdest storm the city had ever seen. Allen is struck by one such strange lightning and ends up in a coma for nine months. When he finally wakes up, he quickly realizes he can run at incredible speeds, though before he dons the now iconic red suit, he has a few mishaps, such as crashing into a laundry van.

I like the Flash. To be honest, before Arrow, I didn’t even like Green Arrow that much, but I always liked the Flash, especially the short and tragic run with Bart Allen. I still have those issues saved up because of how extraordinary they are. I love it all, from the miniaturized suit in a ring to the Speed Force to the time traveling treadmill.

As I said, I liked this character, and as such, my expectations for this series were at an all-time low. I expected something terrible. You might think that’s odd, that my expectations were low instead of high, but there’s an important reason: I didn’t want to hate it. I have fond memories of the 90s TV show and still think it’s badass. So, I really didn’t want to see this Flash and think, “This is bad!”

But that didn’t happen and not only was I pleasantly surprised, but I was actually impressed. The Flash, unlike Arrow, deals almost exclusively with Meta-humans, people with superpowers, and that means special effects, the wobbly part of most TV shows if we’re being fairly honest here. But the flash manages to do it right. They handle the super-speed effect marvellously, and the different villain superpowers (Weather, Cloning and Poison Gas in the three episodes leading to this review) actually look good, which is what impressed me them most.

As for characters and performances, The Flash does something right: every character in the show is very well defined and grounded. You can instantly relate to all of them, be it because they’re adorkable or because they’ve lost someone and that resonates with your own life’s experiences. Performances are generally very strong, though Rick Cosnett lacks a bit of punch as Eddie Thawne. He’s unconvincing as both a Detective and as Iris’ boyfriend. Her actress, Candice Patton is one of my favourite on the show. Grant Gustin is outstanding as Barry, hitting all the high and low notes perfectly. When there’s an emotionally intense scene, he’ll be pulling on your heartstring without question. Tom Cavanagh handles the duality of his character wonderfully. When Wells is being nice, you can feel the concern he has for Barry’s safety, and when he’s being evil, you can tell this is a guy you don’t want to mess with. It’s really difficult to play a convincing recurring villain, even more so one hiding in plain sight, and how well Cavanagh pulls it off with his performance amazes me to be perfectly frank. My biggest surprise for this show, however, and a pleasant and nostalgia-filled one at that, was seeing John Wesley Shipp as Barry’s father. Why was it pleasant? J.W. Shipp played The Flash in the 90s TV series.

The writing is currently the shows greatest weakness, and it’s not on the stories, those are pretty good. They’re fun superhero adventures with enough emotional and dark moments sprinkled on top to make them very interesting. No, the problem is with the dialogue. For its first few episodes, the Flash is and will continue to try to establish the character as a superhero, and for that the dialogues will often have inspirational conversations where the character will learn some valuable lesson that will shape the hero he’ll become. It’s expected but tricky to get right without being too cheesy. And so far, The Flash’s dialogue has had some very cheesy moments, the worst being the Oliver Queen – Barry conversation in the pilot episode. That one wasn’t only cheesy but also quite painful to watch. I could have complained about casting, about character choices, but I don’t and I won’t. First, any adaptation deserves the chance to make its own mark, to change things up a bit. And second, this show is from the people behind Arrow and if that show has proven something it’s that the changes it makes to “established lore” work really well!

One thing I do give props to the writers for is acknowledging the realities of Barry’s condition. The second episode takes its time to explore and handle his metabolism, with him constantly fainting for low glucose, because his body burns through it like there’s no tomorrow. Also, they at least try to come up with a pseudo-scientific explanation for how the different powers work, which I appreciate. Superhero TV shows get more leeway than other series in terms of unrealistic things, but The Flash’s writers take the time and put in the effort to keep the show as grounded as possible. Another thing I like is that Barry’s not an instant badass the moment he gets his powers. He’s still clumsy and he doesn’t know how to fight, which is why he still gets his ass kicked the moment he stops running. It makes the evolution from guy-with-powers to Superhero feel much more natural.

Iris and Barry...I really shouldn't geek out or I'll spoil stuff! — Iris and Barry…I really shouldn’t geek out or I’ll spoil stuff!

In the end, The Flash proves once more that the people behind Arrow know what they’re doing and they are the best at brining superheroes to TV. It’s an extremely fun show to watch. I give it enormous praise just for not having anyone say the word “Mirakuru” and for giving us decent DC Comics supervillain portrayals (and powers).

The Mental Attic Score: Worth Watching

Review: Gotham

Gotham is a Police Procedural set in the DC Comics Universe, specifically in Batman’s Gotham City, though this isn’t a show about the Dark Knight. Instead it tell the stories of Commissioner Gordon’s early years in the Gotham City Police Department as an idealistic and honest cop in one of the most corrupt cities in DC America.

The series opens up with the iconic Wayne murder scene, with Bruce and his parents walking home through an alley only to be mugged and Thomas and Martha killed. But while other Batman media go from this spot into the training montage and the first Batman escapades, Gotham tells us what happens right after, when the police arrive.

The main cast of Gotham...don't be fooled though, Ivy shows up for maybe 5 minutes in the pilot and that's about it! — The main cast of Gotham…don’t be fooled though, Ivy shows up for maybe 5 minutes in the pilot and that’s about it! Same with Nigma, a very minor character!

The pilot introduces all the major players and the overarching plot line of the season, the Wayne murder and its implications on the city’s balance of power. It also sets all the players and pieces on the board, with every episode thereafter building on them.

On the side of the law, a term used loosely in Gotham, there’s Jim Gordon and his partner Bullock from Homicide and Montoya and Allen from Major Crimes Unit. Bullock couldn’t be dirtier and from his interactions with their boss, so is she. Gordon on the other hand is an idealistic good guy, but his association with Bullock means everyone thinks he’s dirty.

That is precisely the case with Montoya, she immediately flags him as ‘scumbag’ the moment she meets him, and then spends every episode thereafter trying to get Jim’s fiancée Barbara to leave him. She says it’s because he’s not a good guy but there’s a story between them and as the episodes go by, the good Major Crimes Detective falls well into the creepy ex-girlfriend territory. Allen on the other hand is barely important to the show, just there because Montoya needs a partner, even though DC Comics fans know he’s a pretty cool character.

This is character I want to know more about, even if I already know most of it!

On the criminal’s side, there are three notable characters and a whole lot of secondary ones: Carmine Falcone, Fish Mooney and Oswald Cobblepot, already nicknamed Penguin, a name he hates. Fish and Penguin’s roles are to be our link to the criminal underworld. Fish plots takeovers and betrayals and is the go-to girl for the detectives during their investigations, while Penguin, despite his relatively low position on the food chain, sees the bigger picture more clearly than every other character and knows just what the death of the might bring about. And behind his meek behaviour hides one of the most brutal characters in the show. He kills someone at least once per episode.

Carmine on the other hand is there to represent Gotham’s status quo, to let the audience know how things work in the city. And it works, mostly because they don’t show him that often, only appearing to give out some needed advice and punishment.

While his part is small, Edward Nigma is just as riddle-obsessed as you expect him to be!

Finally, the Waynes and Catwoman. This version of Alfred Pennyworth is much more intense than we’ve ever seen him, perfectly capable of snapping at his young ward and call him on his nonsense but stuck between his responsibilities as a parent to the young millionaire and his role as his servant. He worries about what Bruce is going through. As for the young Batman himself, he goes from grieving kid to determined vigilante in training maybe a bit too quickly and every episode has him doing something that depending on your point of view might be extremely stupid or simply badass. From standing on the edge of Wayne Manor’s roof to holding his hand over a lit candle, Bruce challenges himself further every episode, followed by Alfred’s reprimands and Gordon’s advice and life lesson. The show tries to make Jim Gordon into a substitute parent figure alongside Alfred, but so far it’s the show’s weak spot, as it seems too forced.

Selina Kyle, already going by the nickname Cat, is there at the scene of the Wayne’s murder and so far she’s proven both very capable at getting in and out of trouble and that she knows more about the killer than anyone else, even the police. She’s actually one of the most intriguing characters so far, as there is a lot about her that hasn’t been said, a lot of backstory hinted at but not revealed, such as her stints in juvie.

The one thing that struck me as odd while watching the show is the language. You’re dealing with criminal elements yet no one even says a bad word. True, it’s DC comics, but it makes the underworld a little less believable. At least they haven’t gone into “Darn” territory, because if they do I’m jumping ship. A show doesn’t need constant streams of Fs and Cs and any other insult, but when you’re dealing with clearly uneducated and violent individuals, which most of the thugs in Gotham are, you hurt their characterization by giving them a cleaner language than they should have.

The performances on the show are a bit of a mixed bag. Donal Logue’s Bullock is sleazy and dirty and both appalling and entertaining to watch. Ben McKenzie’s Gordon on the other hand lacks strength. It’s not a bad performance, just needs a bit more bite to it. The best actor is definitely Robin Lord Taylor, his Penguin is just perfect and even while being servile he dominates every scene he’s in. Jada Pinkett Smith is seductive, scheming and downright scary as Fish Mooney and her scenes are all fantastic. Victoria Cartagena’s Montoya scenes on the other hand are bland and boring. Every other actor in her scenes, especially Erin Richards during the increasingly creepy Barbara & Montoya scenes, outshines her. I don’t know if it’s her fault, the director’s or the writing, but they need to pick it up because Renee Montoya is a kickass character and she’d not doing her justice.

Camren Bicondova is awesome as Cat and is pretty entertaining to watch. Alfred is another powerhouse performance, from losing his temper with Bruce to simply being the stoic butler standing there. Bruce, David Mazouz, on the other hand is completely and utterly forgettable.

This is the only Gordon-Bruce scene that doesn't seem forced! — This is the only Gordon-Bruce scene that doesn’t seem forced!

As of now, Gotham is in that wobbly first season every superhero TV show seems to go through even more than any other type of show. It’s good and intriguing enough to bring me back every week and the potential for stories in that time period of Gotham are practically endless, especially since they’ve said every episode will have one Joker candidate.

The Mental Attic Score: Worth Watching

Review: The Equalizer

The Equalizer is a 2014 action film starring Denzel Washington. It’s an adaptation/remake of the 80s TV show of the same name.

When the film opens we meet Robert McCall (Denzel Washington), a gentle man working at Home Mart, a Home Depot lookalike. He has a very firm routine: go to work, where he imparts wisdom and helps his overweight co-worker get in shape for the exam to become a guard and keep his younger coworkers guessing on what he did before working there; go home, cleanup and read; and then go to a late night diner to have tea and keep on reading. There he talks to a Russian girl named Teri/Elina (Chloe Moretz) almost every night.

Things are bad in Alina’s life, forced to work as a prostitute for the Russian mafia. When her pimp leaves her in the hospital beaten to the very inch of her life, McCall goes straight to the Russians to try to buy her freedom. When they refuse, he kills them all, and from then on starts imparting street justice every time he feels it’s needed, including corrupt cops extorting money out of his co-worker’s mother’s restaurant. But things get bad when the Russian Crime Lord the pimp reported to sends his best fixer, Teddy (Marton Csokas) to Boston to find the people responsible for the killing.

Every night the same routine, just as Robert likes it!

This is a modern 80s action film and extremely fun. It has all the fun tropes you expect, from slo-mo in the rain to Denzel walking calmly away from an explosion (and not looking back because Cool Guys Don’t Look at Explosions). It’s brutally violent but never crosses into gory, with plenty of blood and bone cracks but never any guts spilling, though some of the latter kills get dangerously close. McCall might be retired from whatever it is he did before Home Mart but that doesn’t mean he’s lost any of his ass-kicking abilities. Teddy himself is an outstanding villain, even more brutal that Denzel and just as smart.

But to be honest, what makes this a fantastic film aren’t the straightforward plot with a literal social justice warrior or the over the top action, but the strong performances you usually don’t expect to see in this genre. When we came out of the cinema, my brother in law commented that it reminded him a bit of Man on Fire, another outstanding Denzel action film.

His performance of Robert McCall is strong and grounded, a man with a slight case of OCD, keeping a tight schedule for all his actions, going so far as using a stopwatch to measure everything he does. He’s a widower and after his wife’s death, he picked up her hobby, constantly reading books with the goal of reaching one-hundred. He’s caring to a fault, often offering advice and trying to get people to be healthier. In fact, it’s this part of him that sets things in motion and even the scenes where he’s fighting with himself, deciding on whether to cross the line and go back to whatever it is he did before (which is never explicitly stated), are very strong and help to further ground the character, to make him more human.

As I mentioned, Marton Csokas’ Teddy is just a brutal as Denzel’s character when it comes to administering punishment, but where Robert is a caring man that just wants to help and see people do the right thing, he’s a fixer, his only purpose to keep things working smoothly for Pushkin, his boss in Russia.

Even if she’s only in the movie for a short while, Cloetz’s performance is one of the strongest and she gets you to care about her character, which is central because that’s what sparks it all and it’s the plot thread everything hangs on. You instantly guess she’s a haunted girl and she’s in trouble, so when something happens to her, you, as the audience, are right behind Denzel hoping he kicks some ass.

The combat scenes are very well made and they’re extremely fast, a flurry of punches, kicks and assault with various improvised weapons and even if the violence gets a bit over the top, it remains believable. Best of all, beyond the combat prowess, they acknowledge that Denzel’s not as young as he used to be, and it’s reflected in the fact McCall rarely runs. There are no acrobatic shootouts or the long sprints we’ve come to expect from action films, but burst of controlled violence, which in itself is what Denzel’s character is, a very controlled man capable of outstanding levels of violence.

Welcome to Home Mart, how should it kick your ass today?

The only downside for me is that Denzel’s character is such an unstoppable fighting machine that there’s no tension as it becomes extremely clear very early on that no one is a match for him, not even the main villains. Bad guys drop like flies and Denzel comes out barely hurt. A few more scrapes, bruises and maybe even a concussion would’ve gone a long way to keep the tension going. There is such a thing as being too much of a badass, and this film crosses that line.

The Equalizer does its best to keep things realistic though it does go very over the top midway through, but when it happens you don’t even question it, because it’s successfully pulled you in for the ride and that is a very big accomplishment. The writing and dialogues are solid, avoiding lengthy conversations and keeping things nice and short, and in this case less is more and it worked perfectly. While there are some issues, and you will call shenanigans on some developments, the plot works pretty well and the issues you’ll most likely forget as just another action film trope.

The music is your typical arrangement of mysterious music for the stealthy parts and beats for action, though you won’t really remember any of it. What you will remember however are all the beatdown sound effects and they’re just a pleasure to hear, as you’ll be whooping with every crack and smack. My favourite part of the music though is its relative absence when it comes to the last battle, as the movie focuses more on sound effects than melodies, which makes the theme song much stronger and effective when it kicks in during the climax.

By the end, the film sets up for the inevitable sequel, as McCall can’t walk away from his new calling, posting ads as a freelance ‘helper’.

The tension between the two of them is fantastic!

The best part of the movie for me though, is they didn’t force the name The Equalizer into the script. There isn’t an awkward dialogue where they say that name and for that I’m grateful (I remember groaning at the forced line in Guardians of the Galaxy when they had to bring the name into the film).

The Mental Attic Score: Worth Watching. If you liked Man on Fire, you’ll love this film as well, and if you didn’t like that one, then we need to find you help.

Review: The Strain

The Strain is a horror TV series produced by Guillermo del Toro, based on his novel series. It follows a team of CDC Specialists (and their supporting cast) combating an epidemic that turns people into vampires. I usually give shows three episodes to reel me in and then I review them, but I haven’t had the chance lately so I’m eight episodes in.

The series opens with a panicked Flight Technician calling another, asking for help with something on the back of the plane. He tells her there’s something moving downstairs in storage, and he’s right and it escapes its confines and assaults everyone on the plane. When it lands in New York, the control tower staff see the ship didn’t land where it should have and it’s completely powered down. Suspecting a biological agent, they call in the CDC, bringing our main characters in.

From there we follow the CDC investigation, the victims, the survivors, the people behind the events and their (mostly unwilling) agents and people that don’t seem to be related to the plot. Over the next few episodes the series slowly builds the storylines for the different characters while slowly furthering the plot. The pace is a bit slow at first, the show taking its time to set things up, but it’s done in such a way that you remain intrigued and coming back for more.

There are issues of course, the main one being that the authorities in the world of The Strain are extraordinarily useless. I get that it’s TV authorities, but the Police and FBI are clueless about everything in this show and it’s almost as if the government can’t do a single thing about the conspiracy. There’s a hacker hired by that bad guys who singlehandedly disables the entire internet and cellphone infrastructure in New York, and it just goes on, as if there weren’t federal authorities who’d be all over this and sending the city into high alert fearing a terrorist threat. Even more baffling are the medical authorities. The CDC is anal about its job, and to see them just dismiss the threat of mass epidemic is just unbelievable.

The Strain is wonderfully creepy. The vampires move as if they’re having seizures. It gives them an unnerving quality. The victims’ gradual transformations get progressively more shocking and the final stage of the contagion, where the person has become a Strigoi as one of the characters calls them, is downright scary. At the start of one episode, we see a matured Vampire put on his ‘human face’ with a makeup kit and we get to see how these Vampires look further down the line and they’re even more disturbing.

The Vampires’ design itself is horrific. Teeth become warped, their eyes get a new set of eyelids (technical term nictitating membrane), and their entire system gets reworked around a foot-long stinger they shoot out of their mouths and latch onto their victims to feed on them and spread the disease.

The Autopsy. That long rubber hose is the stinger!

The show has its abundance of deaths but it never gets gory or disgusting. The ‘worst’ scene in this regard is an autopsy on a newly minted Vampire, and to be honest, it’s mild. Especially so if you’ve ever seen Hannibal. Now that’s a show that sometimes crosses the line. Compared to that, The Strain is beyond tame. But the thing is, the show doesn’t need the gory spectacle to creep you out, the monsters and the different situation do that on their own.

Overall I enjoy the characters, my favourites being three: the New York Pest Control officer Vasiliy Fet, for his dry and total deadpan humour and because of how unique his perception of the situation is. For him it’s not Vampires, but something more akin to rat. It’s an infestation and by the time the ‘main’ party meets in last week’s episode, he’s already had a few Vampire kills on his belt, stating he exterminated them. He’s passionate about his job but is cold and detached in the execution of it. The second is Abraham Setrakian, an Armenian Holocaust survivor and this show’s version of Abraham Van Helsing. He’s portrayed by David Bradley, more famous for playing Finch in the Harry Potter films. Setrakian is a Vampire Hunter and the only character on ‘hero side’ who knows what the hell’s going on and what the endgame is. He’s headstrong and almost fanatical in his dedication and I love every moment when he argues with Ephram about the Vampires. Doctor Ephram is a CDC doctor and he refuses to see these creatures as Vampires and insists that everything must have a logical explanation. For the most part he’s right as these Vampires aren’t supernatural (though they still die exposed to sunlight and the only thing that can really harm them is silver), but his inflexibility in the face of the evidence makes him a somewhat irritating character, though these clashes with Abraham, which almost always end with the old man basically telling him “I told you so,” are extremely fun. The third favourite character of mine in this show is The German, Thomas Eichorst, a very old Vampire. He’s in control of the entire situation for his mysterious Master (whose face hasn’t been seen yet, always wearing his cloak). You can only enjoy this gleefully evil character and his interactions with Setrakian are fantastic. They have a long-time-enemies vibe that just makes their every scene a joy to watch.

I love Sean Astin, I really do, but I hate his character, though I can’t knock his performance and I think it’s the point of it all, that you dislike him.

Every character gets his own share of background and personal plots. Ephram has his failed marriage and custody hearing during the first few episodes. Sean Astin’s character, Jim, sets things in motion to save his dying wife. Gus, a petty criminal, gets blackmailed by Eichorst to do the Vampire’s bidding so he can keep his mother in the country and his screw-up brother out of jail. . Mía Maestro’s Nora, Ephram’s colleague, has slept with him in the past, supports him in getting custody and deals with her mother’s Alzheimer. Every character in this show isn’t wholly dedicated “to the cause” but they have people to care about and protect, or family issue to solve or worry about. The scene where Vasiliy (Kevin Durand) is talking to his estranged father and begging for him to leave the city is outstanding.

I like that. I like that the character’s aren’t just there to solve the problems, but have personal lives to go with it. It makes them human, gives them something to strive for, something that keeps them going even though it’s probably going to get them all killed.

Visually speaking, the Strain is very minimalist on CGI, using practical visual effects, make-up and props more than computer-generated stuff. CGI is used almost entirely on the parasitic worms through which the Vampires reproduce, the stinger through which they feed, and briefly during the first couple of episodes for the Master Vampire. The episodes have fantastic atmosphere, especially the first one, in which the clever use of shadows and darkened rooms and the almost sterile airplane made things seem more dangerous and scary. I’m enjoying the visual/cinematography style of The Strain, I think it’s one of its strongest points, not surprising considering how much of an expert Del Toro is on creepy visuals (Pan’s Labyrinth, anyone?).

I can’t say I remember any of the songs used in the series, or the music (in general) for that matter. But what I will always remember and praise The Strain for is its sound effects. The low guttural growl that comes from the Vampires, in particular, adds to their unnerving quality and makes them even creepier. The cries of the parasitic worms is also great, makes them feel like living beings and as such, nastier and more disturbing.

Gabriel Bolivar during his transformation. To be honest, it's an improvement! — Gabriel Bolivar during his transformation. To be honest, it’s an improvement!

Overall, with eight episodes in, the Strain is an outstanding show and as far as I’ve been reading, a very good adaptation of its source material, though once I get my hands on the novel and read it for myself I’ll tell you for certain.

The Mental Attic Score: Worth Watching. Once you start, you won’t be able to stop.

Tag: Worth Watching

Review: The Flash

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Review: Gotham

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Review: The Equalizer

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Review: The Strain

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