So, I finally got around to watching Wayward Pines. It was trailed heavily over the summer, and was a ten-part thriller, starring Matt Dillon. He's an actor I've been aware of for a long time, but I've not seen him in anything in a while. I would actually be hard-pressed to name a specific film he was in, but my reaction to the ads was one of curiosity. I thought he may have been doing a Kevin Bacon, coming back in a big-budget show like The Following. The show had promise, I thought, in that Wayward Pines was a weird picket fence type of town, where everyone knew they were being watched. I thought that some sinister shadowy organisation within the CIA was trying to brainwash or reprogram Ethan Burke (Matt Dillon's character), and I was interested to see how it turned out.
The supporting cast were all brilliant as well; I recognised some of them from other shows, again, I would be hard-pressed to identify which ones. Carla Gugino, who plays another CIA agent, was previously in Sin City and Night At The Museum. Shannyn Sossamon as his wife was pretty good too, and she looked familiar, but I can't say what I thought she was in.
There were some good scenes and some brilliant atmosphere-building twists. I thought that with the surveillance, and the disappearing people, and the rotting bodies, we were in for a brain-twisting psychological thriller. I had the suspicion that the series would end with Matt Dillon escaping from the town and getting back to reality, and possibly taking revenge on the people who incarcerated him in the weirdo town. He would be bowed but not broken, and would end up victorious.
But then the show took a weird turn, and all of a sudden the reason for the surveillance [SPOILER] became clear; we were actually in the 40th century and the entire world had been decimated by nuclear armageddon. The town was surrounded by a fence to keep mutants out, not to keep Matt Dillon in. And there was no way to return to reality and take vengeance on those people who imprisoned him in Wayward Pines.
It seemed like two stories jammed together, and maybe that is the case; I have bought the first Wayward Pines book so will be interested to see how that goes. But I was still hoping, right up to the end, that it would all turn out to be an elaborate hoax and reality would resume. There were some vicious bits in the story; finding the dead CIA agent was one, which was a striking scene, and one which will stay with me. Also when the reckoning took place, that again was memorable. The townsfolk were mostly placid well-behaved citizens, but they had a bloodlust which the reckonings met.
Overall, I would say that it was worth watching, but it was ultimately disappointing. There is going to be a second series by the look of things, and if that is a ten-parter I shall probably watch it, but I will still be hoping that the whole thing is an elaborate set-up, and the real world is still ongoing outside of the confines of Wayward Pines.
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Saturday 15-11-21 The Paris Attacks
I suppose I should mention the terrorist attacks which happened in Paris last Friday (13th November). It was a pretty momentous event, where terrorists killed 129 French people who were just enjoying themselves in Paris on a Friday night.
I don't have any particular insights, in fact I can't imagine how an individual can get to the point where they want to commit mass murder and then kill themselves.
Events like the Paris attacks happen frequently in the Middle East, and those events are what is driving a lot of the current refugee crisis. But they're not reported in the western press, because normally there are no British involved or harmed, so they are discarded as possible news events. There's enough going on at home which affects us all that we don't need to be filling our heads with events going on in other far-off lands. That's not to say that I'm not an internationalist, I think I'm fairly up to speed with foreign news, comparatively, but I am aware that those who decide what news items are important discount those events.
Anyway, it was a dreadful thing to happen, and right on our doorstep too - geographically speaking. I've been to Paris a couple of times, not recently, but it is somewhere that I know, and not a city that I've only ever seen on a TV screen. It is much more immediate and close than attacks which have been reported in the Middle East. I even went to the extent of changing my avatar on Facebook, so that it looked like the Tricolor. Then I saw a few posts asking why people were changing their avatars for the Paris Attacks but not, for example, attacks in Beirut. I decided a few days later to remove the updated avatar, and not post political stuff on Facebook. As someone pointed out, it is a social website, to be used to keep in touch with family and friends. I don't think I've posted any seriously political stuff on FB, but I shall make sure and keep it out of posts in the future. And if anyone posts overtly political stuff, I shall probably hide them from my timeline, so I don't see it in future. If I wanted to change the world it would take more than a pithy update on Facebook.
It does seem that these attacks have come at a welcome time for those in government who want to bomb IS (Islamic State) in Syria. I'm not quite sure why, but it seems that they are feeling left out because France and the U.S. and even the Russians are now raining down explosives on identified targets belonging to IS in Syria. After interventions in Iraq and Libya, I am surprised that anyone would want to try again, but maybe it's a case of third time lucky? I will not be surprised, but I will be dismayed, if David Cameron calls for a vote in the Commons on military action in Syria.
We don't have to be involved, and I don't see any reason why we should be. I don't see how the fact that British bombs are falling on Syria, as well as Russian and French bombs, will change anything. But then I am only a mere citizen. I don't have access to the information which the govt does, but I can't see what benefit would come from another military intervention. I'm sure we will see what happens.
TTFN.
I don't have any particular insights, in fact I can't imagine how an individual can get to the point where they want to commit mass murder and then kill themselves.
Events like the Paris attacks happen frequently in the Middle East, and those events are what is driving a lot of the current refugee crisis. But they're not reported in the western press, because normally there are no British involved or harmed, so they are discarded as possible news events. There's enough going on at home which affects us all that we don't need to be filling our heads with events going on in other far-off lands. That's not to say that I'm not an internationalist, I think I'm fairly up to speed with foreign news, comparatively, but I am aware that those who decide what news items are important discount those events.
Anyway, it was a dreadful thing to happen, and right on our doorstep too - geographically speaking. I've been to Paris a couple of times, not recently, but it is somewhere that I know, and not a city that I've only ever seen on a TV screen. It is much more immediate and close than attacks which have been reported in the Middle East. I even went to the extent of changing my avatar on Facebook, so that it looked like the Tricolor. Then I saw a few posts asking why people were changing their avatars for the Paris Attacks but not, for example, attacks in Beirut. I decided a few days later to remove the updated avatar, and not post political stuff on Facebook. As someone pointed out, it is a social website, to be used to keep in touch with family and friends. I don't think I've posted any seriously political stuff on FB, but I shall make sure and keep it out of posts in the future. And if anyone posts overtly political stuff, I shall probably hide them from my timeline, so I don't see it in future. If I wanted to change the world it would take more than a pithy update on Facebook.
It does seem that these attacks have come at a welcome time for those in government who want to bomb IS (Islamic State) in Syria. I'm not quite sure why, but it seems that they are feeling left out because France and the U.S. and even the Russians are now raining down explosives on identified targets belonging to IS in Syria. After interventions in Iraq and Libya, I am surprised that anyone would want to try again, but maybe it's a case of third time lucky? I will not be surprised, but I will be dismayed, if David Cameron calls for a vote in the Commons on military action in Syria.
We don't have to be involved, and I don't see any reason why we should be. I don't see how the fact that British bombs are falling on Syria, as well as Russian and French bombs, will change anything. But then I am only a mere citizen. I don't have access to the information which the govt does, but I can't see what benefit would come from another military intervention. I'm sure we will see what happens.
TTFN.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)