Some turmoil of the personal kind of late, but that won’t stop me from sharing a new AMV that has caught my eye. The latest “AMV of the Day” comes courtesy of one TheLastSamurai2011 who seems to realy enjoy making a particular type of video.
This particular AMV creator loves the anime series Black Lagoon and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s an anime series that’s pretty much great not just because of all the crazy gunplay and hand-to-hand combat action, but for the fact that it’s most badass characters are pretty much all women. These ladies are not your typical cutesy “magical girl” types that’s popular with many anime fans. No, Black Lagoon has ladies that range from psychotic, sociopathic, unstoppable killing machines to just plain old badass.
This AMV focuses on the tragic backstory of one of the series’ most intriguing characters. Roberta could only be described as a lone wolf killer. Her violent past and the tragic loss of her original family was only tempered by being taken in by a soldier who molds her to become the protector of his son. Things happen as they’re wont to happen in violent tales. Roberta’s psychotic side soon becomes unleashed on those who has destroyed her adopted second family and she’ll carve of blood trail to find those responsible.
This video does a great job in telling part of her story.
“If you’re not ready to lose one, then you’ll lose them all.” — Dr. Caleb Subramanian
[some spoilers]
As this season’s of The Walking Dead gets closer and closer to it’s mid-season finale it’s time to take stock on what has happened, so far. There human-on-human conflict w hich dominated season 3 has now been replaced by a new and more insidious danger: disease outbreak. It’s a concept rarely explored in apocalyptic stories and barely even mentioned in zombie fiction. We’ve seen how the progression of the disease going through the population of the prison community has become an even bigger danger to everyone. Glenn said it best in episode 2. Zombies and raiders they can take on and succeed, but this disease is something that they can’t see until it’s too late. With the state of medical healthcare in the zombie apocalypse being horrendous at best and non-existent for the most part, this new wrinkle in this group’s survival since the world went to hell was a good move and start for new showrunner Scott M. Gimple.
We’ve seen characters we;ve grown to love in the first four episode grow in surprising and, at times, disturbing ways. Carol has become a hardened survivor who will do what it takes to protect the group from dangers both outside and inside the fences. We’ve seen Rick deal with trying to shed the mantle of leadership for the sake of his children, but quickly realizing (with some help from Carol) that it’s what he’s good at and something he needs to rediscover once again to help the group survive.
Even Carl has shown that he’s not just marching straight into sociopathy in this new world order. He’s realized what his father has sacrificed to try and bring him back from the brink of losing his humanity. So far, it has worked and we see more and more of his father in how he’s handling situations that in the past he would’ve used violence as a solution.
Tonight’s episode, “Internment”, we get to see the opposite image of what Carol has turned into by focusing on the group’s spiritual leader. Hershel Greene has taken over the spiritual and calming guidance that Dale used to provide. Where Dale seemed too entrenched in trying to live life as if the world still operated under the old rules and morality, Hershel has been more flexible. He doesn’t let his idealism get in the way of doing what’s necessary in the end. Yet, he still believes that saving everyone should still be a goal they as a community need to do. He’s willing to sacrifice his own well-being if it means keeping the sick from dying even if it means just providing that calming presence. He’s not just trying to save their lives but give their soul a semblance of hope that things will work out for the best in the end.
The episode played out like a calm before the storm. Some would say that it was unfolding like a throwaway episode that’s trying to give it’s viewers a breather before moving on to the next couple episodes with something more meaty and considerable. But like all slow burns this one exploded into action when we least expected it even though the writers dropped crumbs throughout that something big was about to happen.
Followers of the show won’t be disappointed when that slow-burning fuse finally leads to that gathering explosion. An explosion that once again saw the prison community become smaller and smaller with loses both to the disease that’s overtaken it and the zombies who have awoken inside the prison walls because of it. Showrunner and series writer Scott M. Gimple promised to make the zombies scary once again and in tonight’s episode we finally get the payoff the first four episodes have been working on achieving. Yes, they’re the faceless horde that has made killing them become more a chore than an act of survival, but the way the episode used them tonight made them scary once again. Their numbers will always be legion and this season has shown just how that still remains the scariest part of this show. Human enemies and even diseases are scary as well, but the zombies have once a gain returned as that patient, ever-encroaching symbol for the inevitability of death.
“Internment” has seen one of the more quieter members of the group who was becoming Dale 2.0, but tonight saw Hershel was just as much a badass survivor as Rick, Carl, Carol, Daryl and, his own daughter, Maggie. His faith in whatever plan God has in testing them might have taken a blow, but he still looks to his faith to get him and his friends and family through it all. He hasn’t let his physical handicap slow him and down. He’s even come through the crucible of tonight’s episode with his eyes much more open to the new realities of this new world, but still keeping his faith.
Time to see what the final reveal of tonight’s episode will now mean to the survival of what remains of the prison community.
Notes
Tonight’s episode was written and directed by Channing Powell and David Boyd respectively.
Interesting opening shot of Rick driving back to the prison with a very serious look on his face. Rick almost looked as if he’s steeling himself for the reaction on the news of what Carol did to Karen and David.
Looks like we now know that zombie flesh and blood is not toxic to animals. The two feral dogs feeding on the immobile zombie by the shoulder of the road was a nice detail.
Give Scott Wilson the first star for his incredible performance as Hershel tonight. He pretty much carried the episode from start to finish and there wasn’t a fake or boring section with him in it.
Great to see Rick finally see Carl as someone who is not just willing to provide help and protection for the group, but one who is more than capable of doing so. Carl looked more capable than Rick tonight.
Maggie has been pretty absent this season, but great to see her rush into the teeth of danger just like her father to try and save Glenn and the rest.
This is the second episode this week where half the cast doesn’t get any airtime which more than helps the episode’s pacing.
I still believe that Carol is protecting the real killer of Karen and David by confessing to Rick about it. My money is on scary-sister Lizzie who has taken on some very disturbing habits of treating zombies like pets and then using blood to make patterns on the floor with her shoe. The creepy-meter on this girl is reaching record levels.
Love the use of Ben Howard’s “Oats In The Water” during Hershel’s moment alone after taking down all the zombies in the cellblock and saving Glenn.
The Walking Dead may not be what some critics as great television. Hell, it’s been called boring, pandering and badly-written. It’s popularity has eluded detractors and supporters alike. There’s one thing the show has consistently done well and that’s pick licensed songs to help highlight particular episodes.
Tonight’s episode, “Internment”, is another such episode with a perfectly picked song. This time around the song is “Oats In The Water” by British singer-songwriter Ben Howard.
The song enters the episode as part of the calm which followed one of the most tense and terrifying sequences of the season. Whoever is in charge of licensing songs for this song needs to get a raise because it’s definitely been a highlight of each season.
Oats In The Water
Go your way, I’ll take the long way ’round, I’ll find my own way down, As I should.
And hold your gates There’s coke in the midas touch A joke in the way that we rust, And breathe again.
And you’ll find loss And you’ll fear what you found When weather comes Tear him down
There’ll be oats in the water There’ll be birds on the ground There’ll be things you never asked her Oh how they tear at you now
Go your way, I’ll take the long way ’round, I’ll find my own way down, As I should.
And hold your gates As coke in the midas touch A joke in the way that we rust, And breathe again.
And you’ll find loss And you’ll fear what you found When weather comes Tear him down
There’ll be oats in the water There’ll be birds on the ground There’ll be things you never asked her Oh how they tear at you now
In 2011, a little action film from Indonesia directed by Welsh filmmaker Gareth Evans took the world by storm. The film was called The Raid (The Raid: Redemption in the West). It out-actioned every Hollywood blockbuster action film of that year and still manages to hold its own against other action films since.
So, it’s no surprise that a sequel was already in production by the time that film’s theater run was winding down in the West. Gareth Evans will return as director of The Raid 2: Berandal and so will the survivors of the first film.
With filming all pretty much done and the film moving on to post-production the first official teaser trailer for the sequel has been released and all I can say is…WOW.
The Raid 2: Berandal will be punching people in the face sometime around 2014.
Today, over in NYC a special fan event for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was held which introduced a new one-sheet poster (look above), but also premiere a 3-minute sneak peek trailer to the second entry in The Hobbit Trilogy.
To say that this extended trailer is a vast improvement to all the previous teasers and official trailers for this second film in the prequel set would be an understatement. It still shows the film as being much more darker in tone than the book source it’s being adapted from, but it definitely shows a film that looks and feels much more put together than the first film (still just an assumption, but I have hopes I’ll be correct).
We see more of Luke Evans as Bard the Bowman who looks to fit in rather well instead of looking “too modern” as some feared he would look. I like how the trailer uses the poem, “The King Beneath the Mountains”, but in an altered form to make it sound like it was a prophecy. I know purist will probably rail and scream to anyone who will listen that this wasn’t how Tolkien wrote the poem. If they haven’t figured out by now that these film adaptations have been altering the written work to better fit the story then what have they been watching over the past decade.
I, for one, can’t wait for this middle film in the trilogy to finally come out and come out it shall on December 13, 2013. I saw the first film in every format and watch it in all format I shall for this one as well.
This week the godfather of the zombie genre was interviewed and the question of The Walking Dead was brought up. Well, it would seem that George A. Romero turned down the offer to direct a couple of episodes of The Walking Dead. His answer was that the show was really just a soap opera with the occasional zombie. His answer hasn’t sit well with fans of the show while those who have been major critics and detractors of it feel content at hearing their argument validated. Yet, it’s those very words that probably just gave the best answer as to why The Walking Dead the show continues to get huge ratings and just gain more and more fans with each new season…with each new episode.
Yes, it is a soap opera with zombies and we all know just how ridiculously popular soap operas can be when it hits a particular button with the general public. I think the writers and producers of the show know this to be true.
“Indifference” marks the fourth episode of the new season and it focuses on that very soap opera-ish aspect of the show that Romero spoke about in his interview. Yet, as the show delves more on the character interactions and conflicts with this episode it does so minus the flaws from past attempts which led to nowhere and no growth for the characters involved. Tonight’s episode explores the theme of not just the indifference which has settled on some of the survivors but also the concept of entropy which the zombie apocalypse itself has ultimately brought to the world from it’s very onset.
We see the time spent between Carol and Rick during this episode a battle of wills between two characters who become integral part of the groups survival dynamics since season 1. Yet, we see only true growth with Carol in this season. She has come a long way from the meek, silent abused housewife from season 1 to a battle-hardened leader-type who’s willing to make the difficult decision in behalf of the group. This used to be Rick’s role in the past three season, but the burden of leadership seemed to have weighed too much on this father of two. His decision during the timeskip to stop being the group’s leader and just become a farmer looks more and more like the very indifference and entropy tonight’s episode has been exploring.
Does Carol’s actions in killing both Karen and David make her out to be villain or does it just goes to show that she’s learned not to be afraid to kill if it means saving the rest of the group. She knows that what she did many wouldn’t understand, but she also knows that Karen and David were already dead and a danger to everyone. Her decision to unilaterally kill the two might have been correct when thought through logically, but Rick doesn’t see it that way. His reaction and decision to exile Carol was Rick’s emotional and attempt to hold onto the concept of humanity for the sake of Carl and Judith. Even as he drives away he understand that his decision might be wrong, but his narrow vision on trying to protect his children from calculated and logical decisions was another form of Rick’s indifference at the world as it is now and not as he wants it to be.
There’s change coming on the show’s group dynamics and we just don’t see it between Carol and Rick, but just as important between Tyreese and the rest of the scavenging group, Bob and Daryl and between Daryl and Michonne. We see Tyreese’s continue his change from the compassionate survivor who confessed to not having the stomach to killing the zombies day in and day out. His inconsolable rage from losing Karen (to a certain extent one of his last grasps in keeping his humanity) has made him a liability as he loses focus in his rage. yet, it’s this very indifference to whether he lives or dies that could become Tyreese’s ultimate wake-up call to become a better survivor in the long-run. The same couldn’t be said for Bob who we find out has already seen two groups of survivors not make it through with him being the only survivor. Just like Rick he has retreated back from trying to make things work through the very bottle he himself confessed probably killed Zach in the season’s premiere episode.
The show has improved from season to season. Season 4 looks to be more focused than seasons past. It still has some problems with having too many characters who do nothing but act as cannon fodder and/or plot devices (example Ana and Sam just for tonight’s episode). But even with the show looking like it’s just about talking and more talking it still manages to move the story forward when in the past it led things in circles. Yes, it’s this very dialogue-heavy and interpersonal conflicts that gives the show it’s soap opera label, but this season it’s this very drama that has made it very interesting on top of entertaining.
While Romero’s decision to turn down directing episodes of the show was based on this very soap opera-ish part of the show one has to remember that zombie fiction, even Romero’s very own classic films from Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead to Day of the Dead lived off of the very soap opera-like narrative and conflicts that The Waling Dead just happens to use and mine with each new episode. I don’t think the show will ever shed this part of it’s storytelling style. It’s a major appeal to the legion of fans who love and follow the show. It’s both a pro and con for the series. The question that continues to be explored with each new episode is whether Scott M. Gimple as the series’ new showrunner will be able to sustain this pace and not lose it in the end the way Mazzara did in season 3.
Notes
Tonight’s episode, “Indifference”, was directed by Tricia Brock and written by Matt Negrete.
A great cold opening with Carol doing her best warrior-mom role to make sure Lizzie doesn’t fear what needs to be done to survive. All the while this is happening we see Rick walking through the crime scene of Karen and David’s death and imagining just exactly how Carol did the deed.
Tyreese is really raging in tonight’s episode and doesn’t bode well for his long-term well-being if he continues to put the rest of the group in danger.
It looks like tonight’s episode will only use a small part of the cast which should keep irrelevant interactions to a bare minimum.
Bob confesses to having to bear witness to two previous groups of survivors he’s been a part of lose their fight against the zombies (and maybe other humans). I know that there’s been no sign of the Governor since the final episode of last season, but could Bob be talking of having been part of the Woodbury group.
We get two new redshirts in tonight’s episode with the very happy and wanting to help to a fault Ana and Sam. The story they told Rick and Carol about how they’ve survived in the housing community for so long sounds credible enough, but one could see Rick and Carol (especially Rick) not believing most of what’s being told to them.
It will be interesting to see how Rick will explain to the group in the prison (and to Daryl) just exactly what happened to Carol and whether he will tell them the truth of why she’s not with them anymore.
Talking Dead Guests: WWE wrestler Chris Jericho and Community‘s own Britta, Gillian Jacobs.
In continuing the horror detox from this past month we bring to you one of the more fun film music from this past summer’s slew of blockbusters. The latest “Song of the Day” comes courtesy of Brian Tyler’s score for Shane Black’s Iron Man 3.
The first two Iron Man films had their score composed by Ramin Djawadi and John Debney, respectively. The first score was considered one of the finer efforts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film scores. Djawadi brought a much needed fun tone to set-up the wise-ass persona of billionaire, playboy genius Tony Stark. It also had a very metal and hard rock component to it’s sound that put into the forefront that this was Iron Man.
The second film’s score by John Debney wasn’t as well-received by fans and critics alike. Which just goes to show just how much of a misfire the middle film in the trilogy was. It tried to build on what Djawadi did in the first score, but ended up becoming just a derivative version that brought nothing new to the Tony Stark series.
Now this third film brings a new film composer in Brian Tyler who has had some experience in scoring big-budget spectacles and he doesn’t disappoint with his new take on the Iron Man score. While this third score doesn’t bring back any recognizable leitmotifs from Djawadi’s score it does bring in a new sound that’s more reminiscent of 60’s action spy thrillers like the Connery and Moore Bond films. It actually evokes quite a heavy, fun 60’s psychedelic tone. This is best heard in the film’s main end titles credit sequence which brings an animated look back at the trilogy and it’s many characters.
“Can You Dig It” is just a very fun song and it brings much hope that Brian Tyler being assigned to do the film score for Thor: The Dark World will do for that series what he did to finish off the Iron Man trilogy.
So, another month of all things horror and dark has passed. Time to detox from that month by putting up a new AMV that’s all about fun and extreme action.
The latest “AMV of the Day” is simply called “Ride or Die” and I must say that it’s probably one of the best anime music video’s I’ve ever seen. I have to say that it’s on par with another AMV profiled earlier this summer with “RadioAkshun” in terms of editing and syncing up the lyrics of the chosen music with scenes from the anime.
The anime itself is breathtaking to watch and I’ll be profiling it soon. Redline works almost perfectly with the theme song from this past summer’s Fast & Furious 6. One rarely finds AMVs that uses hip-hop songs to great effect but this video’s producer and creator, Kyssifur, choosing 2 Chainz and Wiz Khalifa’s “We Own It” was quite a genius move.
Ok, less talking and back to watching this video on loop. It’s just that much fun and awesome.
Anime:Redline
Song:“We Own It (Fast & Furious)” by 2 Chainz and Wiz Khalifa
It’s that time of year again when Through the Shattered Lens celebrates it’s favorite month with another screening of I consider the greatest film ever made. This is a film that speaks to everyone at this site in one way or another. To dispute it’s “G.O.A.T.” status would be an exercise in inept futility.
It has horror, heartache, romance, kinky sex, interspecies assault, Disney-esque reenactments, revolution, ninja stars, redneck sociopaths, chainsaws and Jawa-speak. Not to mention it has baby-sitting tips, how to make a knothole in a Christmas tree and an Evil Dead tree reenactment. It’s a film that’s fun for the whole family.
As another October comes to a close it’s another opportunity to give Jason Eisener his due and say, “Good sir, we salute you.”
“You step outside. You risk your life.” — Hershel Greene
The first two episode of The Walking Dead for season 4 has been all about upending the sense of normalcy and serenity that Rick and his group of survivors have fought and worked to create within the safety of the prison. We saw a timeskip of many months from the time Rick brought the survivors of Woodbury back to the prison to show them that they weren’t the monsters the Governor had made them up to be and from there started up this community that the audience was dropped into in season 4.
As we saw with last week’s episode, “Infected”, that sense of civilization and safety was nothing but an illusion. The zombies got into the prison and attacked a major chunk of the survivors and now a new threat has reared it’s viral head to make the lives of Rick and the gang that much more difficult, if not, hopeless. Zombies, even herds of them, and other people this group could handle as Glenn commented to his father-in-law, but the disease which struck Patrick and looks to be burning through those who were in the compromised Cell Block D was one thing they couldn’t fight.
“Isolation” marks another forward step for a show that has had a difficult time trying to stay on course when it comes to it’s overarching story arcs for the season. New showrunner Scott M. Gimple promised a season that was going to avoid standing pat, but reintroduce a sense of mystery and unknown dangers to a group that’s as battle-hardened as any military unit after three seasons of constant fighting. Now we know that one of these new dangers is a disease (maybe a particularly strong strain of the flu or maybe even the plague itself) which has used the cramped living spaces of the prison and a shortage in proper medicines to incubate and spread itself amongst the survivors.
The entire episode works almost like an isolation ward for the main characters and some of the newer ones. They’ve come such a long way to survive this hellish new world and partly due to isolating themselves from the problems inherent in a zombie apocalyptic world, but also in a community that’s one step removed from the disease-ridden refugee camps we see televised on TV on a daily basis. This was a group that had fooled itself into thinking that isolating their little piece of “heaven” from the outside would keep them safe. It has to a certain degree but it also made them complacent. Yes, they’ve become more compassionate (though smarter) about letting new people into the community, but they’ve stopped trying to venture farther out into the wilderness to find other communities who could share resources and help rebuild the very civilization Rick and the council has been working so hard to accomplish.
Now, their isolation will need to end as they must find new sources of medicines to help combat the disease that’s burning through the prison. Their mission has become much more dire in that it’s not just the new additions to the group who have now become infected but one of their in Glenn has succumbed to it as well. And for all the hardcore survival instincts and skills Daryl, Michonne and the rest have honed to a deadly degree the world outside still remains one that could kill them all without hesitation no matter their skills. The pan of the camera to show the oncoming herd (much bigger than past shown herds) on the group of Daryl, Michonne, Tyreese and Bob was something we rarely see in zombie flicks and tv (though World War Z did it through use of CG). This sequence just shows how easily people who’ve isolated themselves from this never-ending danger could easily lose hope as Tyreese looked to have at first glance.
This latest episode of The Walking Dead really didn’t have any of the action we saw in the first two episode of the new season, but it’s been one that avoided the past season mistakes of not moving the story forward. Yes, they’re still stuck in the prison, but the narrative has continued to propel forward. We find out who killed Karen and David (the burnt bodies that ended episode 2) instead of the writers stretching it out over several episodes. The answer to this mystery brings up new questions as to why this long-standing character decided to act unilaterally even if it was for the greater good of the community. The fact that their actions ultimately failed to keep the disease in check still doesn’t change the fact that even the meekest of the group has grown and change to adapt to a world where even something as simple as a common cold or the flu could kill just as quickly as the zombies gathering at the prison fences.
“Isolation” was written by comic book creator Robert Kirkman who has grown to become better in translating ideas he has written for the series’ comic book counterpart and ideas discarded along the way into something that helps the tv show distinguish itself from the original source material. The show has almost become a way for Kirkman to recreate the early days of the comic book source with new themes and characters. With the comic book itself already years ahead of the show it’s going to be interesting to see whether the tv show will skip some of the smaller story arcs that occur after the prison and move the group closer to the timeline comic book readers are currently at.
While short on action, “Isolation” brings to the fore new problems for the group both immediate and moral. Will the admission of one of their own to the culpability of Karen and David’s murder be told to the rest of the council or will Rick keep this secret to himself? Is the brief radio signal caught in the car radio as Daryl and his scavenging group drive down the road lead to the Governor or a truly safe haven?
One thing that’s been consistent with this new season so far has been that the writers have learned to not stand pat with the show’s narrative. Previous showrunner Glen Mazzara preached forward momentum with season 3 but ultimately failed as the season limped to it’s finale. Only time will tell whether new showrunner Scott M. Gimple will do the same or actually finish this season strong and actually stay around for a following season.
Notes
“Infected” was written by source material creator Robert Kirkman and veteran tv director Dan Sackheim.
The fight between Rick and Tyreese was one of several fandom moments which mirrors similar scenes in the comic book, but with the show arriving to the scene in a much different manner. In the comic book, this fight occurred after Tyreese found out about her daughter’s death as part of a suicide pact with her boyfriend and Tyreese murdering the boyfriend and then shooting her daughter after she turned.
The other moment being Tyreese’s hammer rampage on the zombies that surrounded their car on the way to the veterinary college. In the comic book, this scene happened in the prison indoor gym.
We learn more about just how virulent the disease that took Patrick really is as survivors of Cell Block D and some of those who fought to save it succumb less than a day from Patrick dying from it.
I know it’s become a joke when it comes to Carl and his trusty gun, but it’s good that the writers saw fit to not prolong this particular storyline. Rick, more than anyone else, understands that Carl is one of the better fighters in the community and he’s come to regret trying to hamper the boy and in return make the group less effective.
Carl actually listening to Hershel about not having to kill every zombie they come across was a surprise. We’ve seen how leaving a zombie still standing and operating led to disastrous results for season 2. Will Carl practicing restraint come to bite the group again or does it mean Carl has edged back away from becoming a sociopath and into something more like his father and less like Shane. With each passing episode Carl looks to be emulating Daryl more and more and that could be a good thing in the long run seeing how Rick is not what one would call mentally stable.
Nice to see the writers actually giving one of the new characters, Larry Gilliard, Jr’s Bob Stookey, some character growth moments where in the past such new faces were relegated to becoming either zombie chow or cannon fodder. His reaction to finding out that they will be taking Zack’s car (Beth short-lived boyfriend from the season premiere) to their scavenge run to the local veterinary college 40 miles away shows how much guilt he feels at having caused the young man’s death.
One of the best reveals of the season so far has been that massive herd that looks to be in the thousands bearing down the highway and Daryl, Michonne, Tyreese and Bob stuck in their car. A question that rises up from this sequence is to whether this herd is heading towards the prison or will it just bypass their haven altogether.
Carol, Carol, Carol has become the new lightning rod for this season. Some have enjoyed the characters growth into a bonafide survivor in more than one sense. Some don’t like the fact that she’s become too cold and calculating even if it’s for the greater good of the group. Some just can’t get behind the fact that a woman on the show has actually become one of it’s more level-headed characters. I, for one, hope she sticks around past this season. This Carol has become the show’s comic book version of Andrea and that should be celebrated instead of denigrated.
Talking Dead Guests: Series executive producer Gale Anne Hurd, Jack Osborne and Marilyn Manson. Manson definitely made for a unique guest on the post-episode show. To say that he made show host Chris Hardwick more than just a tad uncomfortable would be an understatement.
Through the Shattered Lens 