Black mirror timeline

As a little joke I decided to include this little timeline here. As it turns out the creators of this show love to reference other episodes. For instance the song 'Anyone who knows what love is (will understand)' or the private life of Prime-minister Michael Callow pop up all the time.
So me, being me, decided to put the events in order.

A fun thing that this little infograph of mine shows is the holes. For instance how, in the world, did the world change from a working capitalist society as depicted in The national anthem to a (basically) slave economy in Fifteen million merits? There are obvious blank spaces which I hope the show makers will fill. But, then again, I’ll let them do whatever they want. It’s brilliant anyway.

The way I tackled this timeline is twofold: on a practical side I simply started with collecting some of the easter eggs lists on the internet. So the references one episode makes to episodes previous. Then I accepted the idea of hypes and experiments. As the Rollo character explains in Black museum: laws are changed constantly. So something that might be legal and widely used one moment might be abolished the next year.

The full size image is here. 

Black Mirror season 4 - a review

Black Mirror is back with a vengeance. From the very first episode on I was lost in the same old internal monologue I always get watching this show: “Interesting! But what if…” and then ‘if’ happens.

Each episode of this series is, per usual, a standalone episode. However, as of late I did start to notice the blueprint of episode order being more and more set in stone. The first episode is about available technology taken a step too far. The second episode then is true sci-fi and the third is dark as can get.

Just remember the first season; it was the same order.

In that sense the Netflix watcher who started on this show only last season might notice quite a few similarities between these new episodes and the episodes past.

One could explain this as a lack of ‘new ideas’. I though would (and will) highlight the fact that it’s nothing more than looking at a subject from a different perspective. After all; aren’t all human questions not the same in basis?
Anyway, when you get right down to it one thing always stays the same in Black Mirror: don’t expect to be happy!

Archangel
To start with the first episode: Archangel (directed by Jodie Foster no less).
A few months ago I reviewed the Tom Hanks and Emma Watson movie: The circle (link). Even though that movie wasn’t very interesting as a movie it was, however, chockfull of interesting ideas about the potential/future of new media. One of these ideas proposed in this movie was an implant to track your children 24/7.
An idea that might look benign at first but then, when you turn to your cynical (or realistic) mindset a million and one issues pop up.
The same happens in Archangel: a young mother ‘tags’ her child.
Already, in the very first moment in that doctor’s office, the hair on the back of my neck were on end. Because this magical device can see: everything.
Not only see what the girl is seeing in real time (hello puberty and uncomfortable dinner conversations!) but also a constant control on her medical status. Or as the –a little too kind- doctor explains: ‘Is she eating enough?’

But since this is Black Mirror there is more. Merely questions about privacy or social coercion on raising your child isn’t enough to fill this one hour show. There is also the dual question about ‘life-experience’ and ‘raising by monitor’.

Without spoiling too much I am convinced that the mother character in this episode could have saved herself a heap of trouble if she just had ‘the talk’ instead of hiding behind her little tablet.

The first hour of Black Mirror season four is (like last year’s Nosedive) a nicely small-scaled episode to ease us into the season. There are little recurrent jokes (like grandpa’s God-awful coffee mug) and the whole drama manages to balance neatly between ‘predicable expectations’ (it’s Black Mirror after all –things don’t end happily) and some nice ‘surprises’ (or as I always call those moments the: ‘oh no you don’t!-moments’).

BTW is it me or are the bad boyfriends on television becoming sweeter?

After Stranger Things’s Steve we now have a sweetheart drugs dealer on this show. A sign of the times I guess.

Question: When are you a helicopter parent?

USS Callister
Like last year the second episode is about immersive gaming.
But there’s another previous episode involved: each and every little morality question that was raised by the (brilliant) Christmas special is being re-examined here. It’s not like Black Mirror is copying itself. It rather looks at some of the same questions from episodes past from a different perspective.
In this sense it is utterly fitting that this episode is a direct homage to Star Trek (and even Star Wars).

Which this episode plays with with such utmost dedication it (pretty much) is on the same level as the modern classic: Galaxy Quest.

The clothing, the dodgy effects, the people tumbling over themselves, even the interracial kiss: everything is in there.

This whole episode glimmers with delight from writing to acting.

Again this episode asks the question when something is real enough? It uses the tech from White Christmas and puts it in the hands of somebody fully aware of the moral debauchery.
This brings me to the morality-element which has always been a running thread throughout each season. As it is in this one. But this season appears to highlight it.

In Archangel it is mentioned that the Archangel-project is stopped for various reasons. And with this second episode I feel like it takes place a few years after the events in White Christmas.
It’s like Black Mirror first shows the dystopian possibilities of technology without touching too much on the morality aspect (because the minute you do you lose the drama element). Then, now, ten episodes in, it revisits the old questions and continues the story after the moral-discussion has finished.
At least that’s what I get from this episode: which also has a nice take on the nerd as the ultimate good-guy notion. Again it is a sign of the times that this isn’t a clear-cut case anymore.

Question: If a human could truly be God with all the power that accompanies it; how long would it take him/her to become evil?

Crocodile
The trend continues: the immensely depressing episode.
Some people say ‘the perfect murder only exists in fiction’. I disagree, or there would not be so many unsolved murders. There are, however, two rules of murder to always keep in mind: Getting away with murder can be childishly easy or frighteningly hard. It’s all luck really. Which brings me to the second rule of murder: if it is difficult; how far are you willing to go to get away with it?

Crocodile is a delicious murder mystery with a technological edge: memory retrace. An insurance detective (Kiran Sonia Sawar who suddenly –for me- became the ultimate female Poirot. I loved her) investigates a case that brings her closer and closer to a real life murderess.
Black Mirror is known for its depressing storylines and Crocodile is really trying its best to be the most depressing of them all. Taking all the visual clues from Scandinavian detective series this episodes relies heavily on Andrea Riseborough’s big doe-like eyes which are constantly set on terror and remorse.

As a title explanation I would go for ‘Crocodile tears’. Great that you are crying by you’re still a killer!

Her white skin, white clothing and the snowy desolate landscape speak of a world (this character inhabits) that lacks any kind of colour. There are glimmers of love and sweetness in this world but only glimmers.

Like children performing Guys and Dolls (or Bugsy Malone –what is it with kids plays and mafia?) with laser rifles and Bazookas –hilarious.

Like last year’s Shut up and dance this hour of drama makes good use of the technological (sci-fi) element but it’s mainly a character study to see how far you can push a person. In Black Mirror’s opinion: very (very) far.
I guess I should have known: the minute that song (THAT song) came on I should have know what I was in for.

But then again, the trailer of Jurassic World 2 started with the same song…

As for the final twist…it could have done without. It reminded me of that famous QI question: “Why do pigeons don’t like cinema?”

Question: If the truth always comes out –what lengths will people go to to hide it?

Hang the D.J.
I’m liking the new happy episodes. Maybe I’m a romantic at heart.
Hang the D.J. is probably the most predictable episode of the bunch. But that doesn’t matter since it is so sweet (and funny). Basically it is tinder (or grinder) in the extreme. But without the possibility of swiping.
Selling it as a small love story (that rather reminded me of The adjustment bureau) it moves from A to Z in a comfortable manner. This episode takes its time to play with all the those little mannerism people have that break or make a relationship. But at the same time it isn’t afraid to skip a few ‘months’ to speed up the story.

But getting right down to it this episode hinges on the fact that the two actors have to be believably in love. And I certainly believed that. When is the wedding date?

SPOILER: Stones skipping four times. Nobody strangling their partner in their sleep. The clues are everywhere.

 BTW I would argue that these simulations are the basis for the tech used in White Christmas.

Version 1.0 as it were. Only later would the computer upload the entirety of personality.

Question: How do two people know that they love each other?

Metalhead
A new cinematic style to play around with this episode: it is in full glorious black and white. In a post-apocalyptic landscape military (or perhaps security) robots have gone rogue.

Though I do wonder what use a security robot has with a tracking bomb and knife wielding capabilities.

As any post-apocalypse movie teaches us it isn’t necessarily the ‘why’ that matters but the ‘how’ and ‘getting away with it’. Placing the timeframe a mere (I guess) two years after the initial events it is refreshing to see that the three people we meet aren’t full-scaled robot killers yet. But they aren’t completely out of their depth either.

In fact, casting an older woman (Maxine Peake) in the leading part herby helps the overall tension of normal people in a dire situation. A John Conner would have known what to do, this woman only knows parts. She’s learning as she goes along. But, alas, in such a world most people don’t survive long enough to learn all.

What I really enjoyed in this episode –which is basically the Terminator all over again –is that it lifted one scene directly from the World War Z-novel. Like Black Mirror wanted to show the creators of the movie-adaptation how it should have been done. And I would most certainly agree. These forty minutes were far superior than the two and a half hour Brad Pitt extravaganza.

Question: If we teach robots to kill. Is it so strange to think that we might teach them to wipe use out?

Black Museum
And the season comes full circle: morality.
In each and every little segment I wrote here I could’ve included a paragraph about morality.

I didn’t because it would me make me repeat myself even more than I usually do.

Even more than seasons previous this season of Black Mirror asked about the consequences of technology and human action. What is the consequence of the Archangel-project? And, as Black Museum show, what is the consequence of having quite the silly amateur psychopath holding the powers the each episode plays with?

Taking quite the shine from the anthology horror movies of the ‘80s Black museum does what Black Mirror does so well: it eases you in. Mr. Rollo, at first seems like a lovable chap. But the minute he placed those mouses on the table I knew that this wasn’t a nice person. By the time he was sweating I also knew how the story would pan out.
Not because it is entirely predictable but rather because Black museum is more than the other episodes a complete call-back to episodes previous from fifteen million merits on. Except that the morality questions this time ‘round have already been asked. There’s no real new angle.

This is a shame really. However, it does work nicely with the whole carny-angle. It makes it all a bit silly, which I am certain this particular episode was trying for. But as a standalone Black Mirror episode Black museum has too little to offer that is either fresh or unique.

Question: Is it true that what one person might see as progress another might see as degrading?

Conclusion:
So which episode was the best? How would I rank this season of Black Mirror? There is no real standout episode for me this time ‘round. Black Museum however I would rank last because it didn’t really bring anything new to the table. USS Calister then, even though it is a brilliant episode did leave me with more questions than answers (still if I’ve I had to grade it it would be a solid 8).  Archangel would be next as an example of the perfect Black Mirror-episode. Then in tied place Crocodile and Metalhead because of the attempts to use the anthology format the branch out in new visual styles of storytelling. Making me, this year, end on the happy episode of Hang the D.J. The world is a dark place sometimes. We could all use a little bit of love…

Final conclusion:…even though that love breaks the hearts of a million ones and zeroes.

Trouble at the Queen-movie set.

I’ve been (am) quite the fan of the British rockband: Queen. I honestly believe that Innuendo and I want it all are the best pop-songs ever written.

However, my love for the band has suffered quite a lot after the death of Freddy Mercury.
It has everything to do with the remaining band members continuing on as Queen with some random lead singer replacing Mercury for yet another concert tour. This would be fine if they actually made some new (good) songs. But basically the ‘new’ Queen is playing its greatest hits like a bad cover band.
But what really irks me is that whenever they are questioned about this they reply with something like: ‘This is what Freddy would’ve wanted!’
Now, truth be told it are mainly Brian May and Roger Taylor making those statements. John Deacon is happily retired. But from what the two main ‘culprits’ have stated Deacon is behind them all the way.

As far as you can believe those two.

I don’t like it when people start saying things like: ‘this is what he/she would’ve’ wanted.’ It rubs me the wrong way.

David Grohl simply started a new band The Foo Fighters after Kurt Cobain passed away and he’s quite successful with it. You don’t hear his saying stuff like: ‘This is what Kurt would’ve wanted.’ So why didn’t Queen do this? Why not accept the fact that nobody could replace Mercury and move on to the next challenge?
This is my view on the Queen revival of the last decade or so.

Getting the band together.

The movie
Then there were the  talks about a Queen movie dating back all the way to the early 2000s. My first reaction: Awesome!
Here we have a story fit for film. A flamboyant front man who –in his insecurity- never showed his true self to anybody. A person who is struggling with his sexuality. All of this set in the dangerous (for free love at least) ‘80s.

The movie writes itself: Mercury joins May’s band Smile. Smile becomes Queen. Wembley happens. Mercury dies. End of the movie.

There was even talk of Sasha Baron Cohen playing the lead part. A perfect fit in my opinion. This man is the definition of flamboyant and unafraid. And that’s not all: He actually looks like Mercury. He can act and sing (though I doubt anybody could copy the vocals of Mercury). It seemed like a match made in heaven.
But that wasn’t meant to be. Cohen left due to ‘creative differences’.

Now, normally, the phrase ‘creative differences’ is all a movie journalist gets. But this time these ‘differences’ were named in the press. As it turned Cohen wanted the movie to be all about Mercury from his youth to his death. While the remaining members of Queen (again: I don’t know if Deacon was involved) wanted the movie to be about the resurrection of the band after the passing of its lead singer.

So, basically, Freddy succumbs to his illness halfway through the movie and then we, the audience, have to sit through another hour of the remaining band members getting back together again.
That’s a difference in ‘wants’ that can’t be bridged.

As I wrote a few articles before: a first book adaptation should be close to the source material. Then, after that story is told, people are free to explore other nooks and crannies.
Whenever a movie of a known story comes out people desire ‘that what they know’ before ‘alterations’.

The same goes for bio-pics. You first tell the story straight and then you move on. In this sense the remaining members of Queen were already three steps ahead. And, by being this, they desire a movie that nobody at this current moment in time: wants!

Sufficient to say that each and every respond I read on the internet disliked this idea. Why? Because they (like me) want a true Freddy Mercury bio pic; not the stuff that happened after. But, then again, the Internet isn’t in control (yet) (thankfully). So we have to listen to what the remaining members of Queen want:

‘It’s what Freddy would’ve wanted!’

Going ahead
Finally after years of struggling to find the right studio Queen settled on Fox movie studios.
There they found a director in Brian Singer and a lead actor in Rami Malek.

There was even a rumor that Daniel Radcliff was going to star as Mercury. A rumour –leave it up to Radcliff- he hilariously debunked.

This already troubled production –with a very low ‘want’-factor- could finally get underway. Years after the initial plan was brought to the media.

The official plan was brought in 2010. Production started in 2016.

But then more troubles began. The main actor Malek and director Singer got into some serious fighting on set (a persistent rumour has Singer throwing stuff at the actor). And then Singer started to disappear from the set altogether for days on end. Now why is that?

The current MeToo event

Now, currently, there’s something going on in Hollywood.

Famous actors and produces are getting tackled left and right
because they couldn’t keep their zipper zipped.

One person in particular is constantly being fingered as the next one to fall.
This man is director Bryan Singer.

Rumours have been going on for years about the man and his fondness for younger folk.

But it is all rumour, all hearsay.

And, I for one, don’t want to brandish a person a sexual assailant without proof.

But, sufficient to say, basically the whole of the internet is waiting for the ‘hammer to fall’

* Sorry, I had to do this one.

So now the story goes that Singer has been fired from the Queen movie set because he was absent too often.
Three possible reasons are given for this: the fights with the main actor, the illness of a relative and PTST-syndrome due to difficulties on the film set.
It all sounds a bit strange to me to be honest. I can’t help but think that there is something else going on. But, then again, maybe the official statement is true? Maybe you can get PTST from a movie set?

You certainly could in John Ford’s day (look it up).

Whatever the reason being. Singer’s behaviour isn’t helping an already troubled movie.

He does look the part.

Fox being bought by Disney
Now there is news (as I had this article ready to go) that Fox has been bought by Disney. Whatever you wish to say about ‘the house of Mouse’ they do know their game. Disney has always given the audience what it wants and has rarely broken the mould. So for Disney this Queen-biopic will sound just as silly as it does to me.
I’m guessing they’ll release what they’ve got (under the Fox logo) and then release their version.

The state of the Queen
So to sum up, what do we have: We have a version of a movie nobody really wants (Mercury dying halfway through the movie – no thank you), a lead actor that would have been perfect leaving. A production riddled with fights. And a director who has issues overtaking his life/job.

‘It’s what Freddy would’ve wanted!’

I think Freddy is upstairs somewhere pulling all kinds of strings to prevent this movie from being made!

Strange movie deaths quiz 4

Shall we play a game? 

One of the perks of watching a lot of movies is that you see screenwriters getting more and more creative as time goes on. Writers always try to come up with something that hasn’t been attempted/done before. And nowhere has this been more apparent than in the morbid niche of movie storytelling that is: the death scene.

I must have seen thousands of people meet their maker on the silver screen during my short life on this earth. Explosions, gunshots, you name it. But there are far more creative ways to kill a human –as movies tell us.

So here I wish to have a little (morbid) quiz. I state ten causes of death and in the spoiler tag below it is the movie it came from. See how many you get.

Theme: Deadly jewellery.

"That necklace loses marvelous on you!" the hangman said to the convict. This time around I’m looking for things people wear; jewellery mostly. I’ll be specific when I have to be.

1. Death by explosive necklace.

Wedlock.

2. Death by magnetic collars and a sharp discus.

Wild Wild West (I still like this movie- don’t know why really)

3. Death by whip necklace.

Teen agent.

4. Death by poison in ring.

The iron mask (difficult to actually find this trope in cinema – I know it featured in an Asterix comic).

5. Death by bracelet.

Moonraker.

6. (Almost death by) cursed necklace.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood prince.

7. (Almost death by) cursed bracelet.

The Mummy returns.

8. Death by necktie.

Frenzy.

9. Death by pearl necklace.

Deep red.

10. (Almost death by) Chinese finger trap.

The Addam's family.

No Final Destination-death in this one for a change.

Why did I stop watching the Walking Dead?

This was intended to be a short article. But then something happen that I found rather intriguing so I included it.

So let’s start with the question from the title: Why did I stop watching the Walking Dead?

The short answer: because I ran out of comics!

When the Walking Dead first started I, being a big fan of Frank Darabont, decided to give this show a go. So…I watched the first season and then I immediately went to the comics to see ‘what happens next’.

I lived that way up to, a little bit more than, issue 100.

That’s when Negan showed up and, to me, that’s about the time this new world ‘settled’.
The comic continued. Abraham died, Glenn died. Suddenly we were at war with humans and occasionally some zombies showed up. It’s basically The bold and the beautiful non-so-beautiful.

This is by the own admission of the writers.

In fact –to their admission- even Rick is fair game.

Which strikes me a bit strange because why then would he be the main character?

My favourite storyline came and went.
So why did I keep watching the show then? (I mean, if I knew what was coming up?)
That’s because one of my favourite storylines of the comic is when Carl loses his eye. That was something I wanted to see for myself.

To elaborate a bit this storyline is actually better fleshed out in the comic.

In one issue Carl kills a boy because the boy has lost his mind and killed his twin (much like that ‘look-at-the-flowers’-girl in the show). Then a few issues later Carl is in ‘Alexandria'. There another boy challenges Carl about his father Rick courting his mother. Now, this new boy doesn’t have the first clue about Carl and what he's been through. So Carl  dismisses the other teenager with some harsh words. The boy leaves the room crying.
This is a boy that never lived beyond the walls. This is a boy that never once had to make a hard choice. Carl had (to).

During the (now) legendary second season –

when the kid couldn’t sit still for a second-

poor little Carl started popping up on all kinds of Internet lists of ‘actors that has to be removed from a show a.s.a.p.’

Which always struck me a bit as ‘grownups being mean to a kid’.

I think the producers decided to have some fun with this ‘Coral hatred’

because ever since the opening credits have this wonderful phrase next to the actor’s name.

Then, in issue 99 (I believe), all comes to show. This new boy has no experience going through a zombie-maze and thus dies (in a gut wrenching tragic way). And due to this Carl loses an eye.
I liked this in the comics. The fact that Carl is so messed up that he, unknowingly, set the events that would cost him his eye.

So I stayed on the bandwagon for that to happen on the TV-show and then I stayed some more. Get myself a dose of some Negan smugness. Which was/is enjoyable. But at the same time you also get filler episode after filler episode. So when the show returned this year I figured I’d postpone the episodes until I feel like it (never a good sign). And I still haven’t gotten around to it.

But what happened?: the haircut spoiler.
Having said all that doesn’t mean that I stopped reading the online comments about the show. And then the mid-season finale happened. Spoilers from this point on:

Spoiler

Coral got bitten! There you have it. Now there are several ways this storyline could go. Carl dies (turns into a zombie or goes out on his own terms). Or Carl lives (it was a Whisperer who bit him, the boy is immune, a spacecraft lands and cures him – take your pick).

What I find interesting here is the fact that the actor playing Carl (Chandler ‘I hope he was named after Mathew Perry’s character in Friends’ Riggs) is planning to go to college. So he might be written out because he wants to move state. Or, perhaps, this whole ‘college and shooting a TV-show aren’t combinable’ is just a charade to keep the audience guessing and Carl will be back this year.

The thing I wish to point out here, though, is the ‘haircut-element’.
Carl has long hair so it can cover his lost eye. So there’s a reason for him looking like Bigfoot’s twice-removed cousin. Now a few years back when Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) ‘died’ on Game of Thrones. The actor joked that he could finally have a haircut – which he, then, did not take because he was set to return. Carl/Coral/Chandler, however, did take one...

Anyway, we won’t know for sure until the next episode. 
I guess I’ll read about it how it all goes down. It’s a lot less frustrating to read a summary here and there than to sit through another poorly written Sasha/Rosita episode.

UPDATE: The character died!