"The Order" is nothing groundbreaking, but still a good deal of fun all the same

...Could you stop staring?  Please?

Show: The Order

Genre: Supernatural Drama

Network: Netflix Original

Premiered: March 7, 2019

From Buffy the Vampire Slayer down through The Vampire Diaries and the host of its descendants, few television genres can claim the same degree of bloated over-extension as the tangled web of productions known collectively as "the paranormal drama." Whether we’re talking vampires or werewolves, ghosts or witches, or all of the above, you can’t throw a stone anywhere in TV Land without hitting someone baring fangs or weaving a magical incantation while tenaciously necking with a gorgeous co-star in between P.E. and Chemistry 101. Netflix, of course, had long ago planted its bi-colored flag atop this mound of fecund dollar returns, with The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Stranger Things but the more circulated shows in this genre falling under its established corporate stamp. And into this nexus of internet savvy, media business, and supernatural fantasy they toss yet another original series: The Order, created by Dennis Heaton, which premiered on March 7th and aims for a slice of the lucrative paranormal pie with an attractive cast and a little twist on the supernatural drama which adds some pop to its wardrobe. Okay, so I’m a little late to the party — as in, nearly a month late — and I'm sure everyone who’d been hellbent on watching it had probably binged it the very weekend it came out. But to the one or two of you out there who missed the memo, or have been buried under Netflix recommends for the past several fortnights, if you’ve missed this little morsel in your lists, it may be worth taking up now and giving the old college look-see.

Synopsis

We're introduced to Jack Morton (Jake Manley), a baby-faced freshman who's “fresh” in every sense, standing over his mother’s grave while he reads aloud a letter fulfilling his apparent lifelong ambition of getting into the illustrious Belgrave University, a school with old money rules and more than a few dark secrets. But for Jack and his maternal grandfather (Matt Frewer), his acceptance isn’t a cue to start a four-year binge of parties and student life. They are men on one peculiar mission: enter Belgrave, infiltrate a secret and powerful fraternal society centered in the campus known as "the Order," and find a way to strike at its mysterious leader Edward Coventry (Max Martini), who also happens to be Jack’s biological father and the supposed nefarious scoundrel behind his mother's demise. But there’s more afoot than mere skulduggery from an oligarchic secret society; the Order hides a darkly magical secret, and as Jack falls deeper into a web of supernatural intrigue, he gets locked in a paranormal conflict way outside what he signed up for.

The Good

The best thing The Order has going for it is a delightful and irreverent sense of humor. Unlike the flood of supernatural series spilling over Netflix and other stations’ time slots, The Order approaches the supernatural with a casual air and a delightful sense of whimsy that somehow avoids reducing or trivializing its inherent danger. Jack doesn’t stumble into the paranormal ring as a hopelessly naive newcomer; though the world of magic and werewolves slips a teensy bit outside his grandfather’s preparations, Jack takes it, if not quite in stride, than with a great deal more grace and wit than the average schmoe. I know “likeable” is about as bland and nondescript a compliment as you can make of a character these days, but the glove definitely fits, and watching him bumble his way through college is more joy than irritation thanks in no small part to Manley's effortless charisma. Jack's misadventures merely set the beat to this deliciously off-key drummer, where the supernatural gets introduced and incorporated with all the flare and gravitas of a dorm inspection, and several tense moments defuse on a cheeky quip or turn of the phrase. Rather than grounds for pulling my hair out, these moments of lightness add flavor to the broth, like the comically PC tour of the modern college campus where freshmen receive both a rape whistle, and a “how not to rape” pamphlet. The show knows not to take itself too seriously, and yet avoids falling into the trap of (overt) self-aware pastiche like the million or so similar series gunking up the airwaves and interwebs. In that happy medium, The Order finds a contrasting voice to the myriad of dark, paranormal, Grimmified fairy tales littering the market.

The Bad

Unfortunately, this lighter shade does come with a few bad palettes. For one, there’s the all-encompassing cheese factor to consider whenever anything like this series pops up. The dialogue, while whimsical and pleasant most of the time, can veer into the obnoxious on occasion. This mainly comes to the fore with Jack’s awkward and janky “romantic” slog with Alyssa Drake, a fellow Belgrave student, campus tour guide, and his eventual superior once he joins the Order, who's played by the generally charming Sasha Grey. Their dynamic feels forced and stiff, like two neophyte thespians reading their lines and the implied emotion thereof on each others’ foreheads. I know they’re supposed to be in college, and trust me, I remember just how little the maturity level of an inbound freshman can differ from the high school knuckleheads they evolve from. But their chemistry sizzles with all the pop of a damp towel, and as entertaining as they are separately, they looked the polar opposite of dazzling at every turn of their screen time together. Thankfully, this little gaffe remains the only stink I’m willing to point out. Adjusting your expectations for this series (it is a paranormal teen drama/thriller, after all) means letting go a bit of the critical scalpel and suspending any comparisons to genre titans and path breakers, like the aforementioned Buffy or The Vampire Diaries.

The Ugly

Good lord, you may as well call this show Your Mileage May Vary: the Series. Though The Order is low-key and innocuous enough to escape the type of hard-nosed scrutiny that leads fans along divisive extremes, so much of its content can be a hit or miss for practically everyone. Is Jack a funny, enjoyable main lead, or an irritating, bland, cookie-cutter protagonist; does the mystery of the plot invite intrigue and speculation, or is it a snooze fest out of place with the rest of the story?  The fact that it doesn’t take itself as seriously as other shows of its kind, while a supreme strength in my eyes, may invite legitimate accusations of derailment due to breaking the atmosphere and heaping piles of cheese atop it. Seriously, there’s something for everyone to love or hate in equal measure, with only your mood to decide which way the windsock blows at any given moment.

To Bing or Not to Binge

Knock yourself out and Binge to your heart’s content.  Yes, the show’s derivative, and yes, it's a hot ticket to Cheesyville at its very worst, but that’s as close to a nadir as you’ll likely get. There’s no ground to break here or new paradigms a-shifting; just good, old fashioned comedy-drama, with a refreshingly irreverent eye on the paranormal. Speaking as someone a little miffed by the borderline apocalyptic tone so many of these series flash like a Boy Scout badge, I find it The Order's fresh humor and fresher protagonists must welcomed divergence.

Review: Frequency

Show: Frequency

Genre: Sci-fi detective thriller

Network: The CW

Premiered: October, 05, 2016

Show business is the ultimate necromancer.  Its ability to dig through the media grave stones and resurrect something in a new form is great enough to make any D&D enthusiast blush in envy.  Take Frequency, for example - I’m sure if someone told me at the beginning of the year, “Hey!  Remember that relatively obscure time travel-ish movie from the early 2000s?  Well, guess what's coming to the CW!” I would have laughed them out of the room.  Nothing highlights the comically derivative and stale fester stew comprising much of entertainment media quite like a good ole' fashioned ill-fitting television remake.  But Frequency surprised me; it didn't exactly knock my socks off, sure, but the intriguing detective mystery at the heart of it stands firm all on its own, even if the time-bending plot leaves you with eyes glazed over.

Synopsis

Detective Raimy Sullivan (Peyton Hist) of the NYPD has an ideal life from the outside: a loving mother, a respectable career, and a charming and dedicated boyfriend interested in taking their relationship further.  But underneath the sparkle is a woman haunted by the death of her father twenty years ago.  Officer Frank Sullivan (Riley Smith) was killed during an undercover sting gone wrong, amidst rumors of “getting in too deep,” with the end result drowning his daughter in years of pain and resentment.  But one night at a family gathering in the old home, Raimy finds her father’s old ham radio and somehow gets a direct line to 1996, just days before his untimely death.  After clearing the air about her unresolved issues and confirming that her father remained one of the good guy to the very end, the two cops set about making a brighter outcome this time around.  And they succeed, but in the process create an even bigger personal tragedy for them both in the future.  Now, father and daughter must collaborate across time and uncover the mystery they helped set into motion.

The Good

Frequency takes the conventional Sci-Butterfly effect and gives it a buddy cop feel - two genres that by this point have grown horribly sour, but in this case somehow blend together quite well.  The talented actors on screen, of course, have a role in this; Peyton List portrays the tough-as-nails Raimy competently, but the real star here Riley Smith, storming in with an intuitive and believable performance as a conflicted detective just trying to make sense of a life spiraling deeper into the Twilight Zone.  This gets expanded as the episodes pile on, throwing in familial conflict and probably the most realistic depiction of a family struggling to readjust to normal life after an extended sting I've ever seen.  The premise sets up an intense, cat-and-mouse dynamic that's constantly in flux due to changing information from the past, which would make an otherwise dreadful and predictable plot have any number of unexpected twists and turns.  But the best part for me is undeniably the music.  Hearing "Wonderwall" blare up along with other alt rock favorites from the mid 90s drummed up the nostalgia beat, and really fit well with the heavy but hopeful atmosphere of the series.

The Bad  

Time travel is always an absolute pain to get across when the science won't cooperate; time traveling radio transmissions are even worse.  Although the show admirably hand waves any attempt to explain the warped reality behind its premise, it still leaves us with a time plot that completely smashes the Good Doctor's timey-wimey ball into a convoluted pile of timey-wimey paste.  It gets worse as Raimy, upon altering the time stream, can somehow remember both her old timeline, and the new one she created simultaneously - something which makes no friggin’ sense whatsoever, and gives you a prelude to an aneurism just thinking about it.  It’s only a problem when it gives the characters a plot-induced touch of idiocy in order to preserve the drama - which is, unfortunately, more times than I’d like to count.  This really is the show’s only weakness, but it’s a pretty damn big one if left unchecked; you can get anyone to wander through your time-induced plot maze as long as it doesn’t overwhelm them too much, but when it interferes with their ability to follow along and piece things together, we have a problem.

The Ugly

 Raimy is a bit of a jerk with a heavy chip on her shoulder, and comes off as pretty unlikeable the first episode or two.  But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  There’s a method and a reason behind all of her madness, especially considering that pretty much her entire world went to hell in a handbasket in the literal blink of an eye. It doesn’t excuse her behavior, especially her continued antagonism and disrespectful attitude towards Frank, but it does lay the groundwork for some semblance of character development - so long as the writers don’t screw it up.  Likewise, I hope Frank eventually grows enough of a spine to silence Raimy when she goes on her tirades of belittlement.  Much as I love his warm and confused demeanor, he takes it on the chin from her entirely too much.  It’s fine for the time being, since he's dealing with an obviously bitter adult daughter who’s a perfect stranger to him in every important way, but watching him get talked down to on a constant basis will get real old, real fast.

Tune In or Tune Out?

Tune in - for now.  The show’s got more than a few squeaky wheels, but it's a solid ride more or less.  I really hope that this is the only season we get, since I can't imagine following this series through another time-altering adventure after this.  Time will tell if the warped time plot gets too insane, but the detective mystery buried under all the sci fi fluff is decent enough to tune in for.

November Releases

 November Releases

We all know it's that special time of the month again.  There are a lot of big-name releases this time around, like the new Bond movie and the triumphant(?) return of Peanuts to the national consciousness.  On the television front, Aziz Ansari's pilot project Master of None is set to debut on Netflix, as well as AMC's Into the Badlands, a martial arts drama that looks like the bastard child of Mad Max and Lone Wolf and Cub.  And of course, every dedicated RPG gamer on the planet is geared up for the release of Fallout 4 in just a few short days.  With all this and more, November's going to be a very interesting, and very entertaining, month.

Movies

http://www.movieinsider.com/movies/november/2015 

Television

http://www.tvguide.com/special/fall-preview/calendar/ 

 Games

http://www.ign.com/games/upcoming?time=1m 

Music

http://www.allmusic.com/newreleases 

Books

http://www.bookreporter.com/coming-soon 

See you at the movies! 

Movie Review: Terminator Genisys

 

Movie: Terminator Genisys

Directed by: Alan Taylor

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke

Verdict:

Terminator Genisys tries to undo the damage wrought to the renowned sci-fi series by Salvation, but while the Governator adds a surprising charm to his tired role of mechanized guardian, the unwieldy time travel plot, mechanical acting, and a serious case of continuity lockout almost had me longing to hop in a time machine and reclaim my lost 126 minutes.

In depth:

I’ve long admired The Terminator for practically codifying the type of dark Cyberpunk that would eventually become such a cliche a decade or two later, so it’s no surprise that I had a strong, visceral reaction to the news that they were coming out with yet another sequel.  Like Jurassic World, Genisys has been smothering box office premieres for the past few months with a cascade of teasers that offered plenty of visuals, but very little story.  I learned well from the god-awful train wreck that was The Last Airbender to be skeptical of any preview that follows this formula, and I certainly wasn’t fond of any attempt to resurrect a franchise that may have served its purpose admirably in the past, but was now better off resting in peace.  But, then again, I had said the same thing about Jurassic World, and while I’d hardly call it a masterpiece, I was, nonetheless, pleasantly surprised.  Unfortunately, I can’t quite say the same for Genisys, for although it works reasonably well as a mindless action flick, even this meager fun is dampened by the stale acting and mind-bendingly convoluted plot.

Like its predecessor, Terminator: Salvation, our story begins in the future, where John Connor (Clarke), the ever crucial leader of the Human Resistance Movement, was set to launch the final offensive against the drone army of the homicidal A.I. system Skynet.  With him as always was a contingent of Red Shirts and the his ever-faithful right hand, Kyle Reese, played this time by actor and living crash test dummy Jai Courtney.   Admittedly, these early battles and the obligatory exposition they embodied were quite enjoyable; as a Terminator fan, I’ve always wanted to get a glimpse at the final few days leading to the future destruction of Skynet, and the time travel plot that set the mythos in motion.  Plus, all of its other soon-to-be discussed failings aside, Genisys doesn't skimp on the action one bit, and proved remarkably proficient at building tension - a key action ingredient many modern movies tend to neglect.  Jason Clarke was perfunctory as the legendary figure, his typically lazy and understated method of acting for once actually adding character by nailing down Connor as a weary, prophetic old soldier.   

On the other hand, I had an...unpleasant reaction to seeing Courtney step up as Kyle Reese. The time-traveling soldier is arguably the great cipher in the Terminator franchise, as he is pretty much the Adam to Sarah Connor’s Eve in terms of root importance to the fate of the future, and yet receives little recognition in comparison - not counting the laughable travesty that was Salvation.  However, I didn’t believe for one second that Courtney could do Reese any justice.  His acting is notoriously wooden, and I predicted that he would likely fade into the background as soon as the plot really kicked off - and sure enough, Courtney didn’t disappoint.  Throughout the first fifteen minutes or so he was barely a presence on screen, being overshadowed by Jason Clarke (yes, really) and filling more the role of a spectator than a participant.  While you may make excuses in the beginning as this being Connor's way of keeping Reese out of the action in order to preserve his own existence, this becomes impossible as the movie drags on and Courtney's stiffness and general lack of charisma grates like nails on a chalkboard.  Michael Biehn may not have been the world’s best actor, but Kyle Reese felt alive in his hands - tense, militarized and unsociable, but still very much alive.  Courtney offers nothing but a pretty face and a well-built physique, and I was both astounded and disappointed by how very little I had to think of him over the course of the film.  

Fortunately, Jai-doll’s co stars were there to help pick up the slack, though just barely.  Emma Clarke was an odd choice as Sarah Connor, but eventually an acceptable one nonetheless, storming in like a bat out of hell soon after Reese and the T-800 are deposited unceremoniously on the streets to inform the good soldier that everything he (i.e., we, the audience) was expecting is wrong.  I was displeased at what I initially thought was a shallow bid for “grrl powa,” the kind of janky, “I don’t need you to protect me!” mindset that seems tacky in a cinema climate that’s far more accepting of strong female characters, even if there’s a long way to go still.  Thankfully, the filmmakers steered her in another direction, giving a sensible reason behind her attitude and even linking it to the series-wide theme of fate and predestination - something the rest of the movie apparently forgot.  Still, Clarke plays a recovering child soldier with little depth or conviction, stifling the desperately needed level of gravitas that had always been a staple in the series, but yet seems mostly absent here.  

There was one star that didn’t fail to slap a smile on my face - and ironically, he was the one I least expected.  There was a lot of buzz both before and after Genisys’ release centered on Mr. Schwarzenegger and his status as a box office draw; his performances since his retirement from politics has been a thoroughly mixed bag in the strictest sense, with a few enjoyable surprises and a lot of trash.  To be honest, I err on the side of the neighsayers, especially since Schwarzenegger hasn’t been the engine of any big movie publicity since, and I’m being very generous here, End of Days. That said, Genisys, much like The Last Stand, shows that the aging action hero still has a certain charm and appeal that will never truly fade.  Although the Terminator character, affectionately named “Pops” in this incarnation, doesn’t allow much in range, the veteran actor knew how to exploit every cranny to either get a good laugh, like his hilariously creepy attempt to fit in by smiling, or to convey the film’s few moments of well-executed pathos. It’s sad to say that he’s the only character who evoked genuine concern over his survival from me.

So far, what I’ve described seems like the makings of a kinda fun if thoroughly "meh" movie.  So what went wrong?  It wasn’t Courtney woodenness, or Clarke’s uneasy grasp of a legacy role she can’t quite fill; it wasn’t Schwarzenegger’s faded Hollywood star, or audience apathy in the wake of yet another Terminator sequel.  In fact, it was all of these things, but wrapped in a convoluted plot that ties itself into an incomprehensibly tight knot, leaving little room for anyone who has not been following this series from the beginning.  I got my first warning sign right at the start; everything immediately after Reese followed the original Terminator through time - where both he and the killer cyborg landed, the reactions of the bystanders, and even the encounter with the hobo in the alley - mirrored the original Terminator sequence of events to the tee.  The problem is that we aren’t quite sure of the purpose for all this: is it a homage to the original film, a little inside treat for the series’ long-time fans?  Or was it a stamp of recognition, letting the viewers know that this wasn’t their parents’ Terminator?  I suspect that it was all of the above, but the execution was so clumsy that the likely result for most newcomers to the franchise was a great deal of confusion.  This, of course, is a serious problem, as a sequel - and most definitely an alternate remake - should stand on its ability to draw in new viewers who need not be versed in the series’ past lore.  Unfortunately, Genisys ignores this basic cinema principle, and I can only imagine how the rare Terminator newcomer must have felt watching it, as I know I would have been completely baffled by the inside references and their annoying prominence on the screen had I no familiarity with the franchise.

If the continuity lockout wasn’t enough, the movie's extraordinarily confusing take on the time travel plot renders any attempt at reaching clarity totally futile.  This is rather sad, as one of many boons of the Terminator series as a whole is the relative simplicity with which it approached time travel; not particularly realistic, but at least it didn’t require a Masters in Physics just to keep up.  Taylor and Co. threw all of that out the window, stacking on the temporal paradoxes like a snow fort, but leaving the foundation just as flimsy.  Just in case you missed what the plot was throwing at you at every second, a brief summation: Reese is sent back a la the original timeline, but the surprise ambush of a new Terminator model, that may be Skynet incognito, on John Connor throws a depth charge in the time stream that apparently, somehow, allows Reese to simultaneously recall memories from both his original timeline, and an alternate timeline where Judgement Day hasn't happened and he’s a sheltered teenager firmly in the bonds of puberty.  He encounters Sarah and "Pops," who apparently exemplify this new change not only by departure of characterization, but by the fact that “Pops” had actually been sent back to protect her from a Terminator attack ten years earlier.  So now, all three of them are hitching a ride to the future through a makeshift time machine - not to the 1997 ground zero of the original timeline, but to the alternate future found in Kyle’s time travel brain haze a few decades after.  Got it so far?  Good.  Makes any kind of sense?  Probably not, and it only gets more complicated from there on.

The sheer unwieldiness of the plot is problematic in itself, but what’s particularly troublesome is the intent behind it.  This film is the first in a planned series aimed at retooling the franchise, a fact so painfully obvious as to render the studio’s confirmation after it’s release unnecessary.  Reboots, in my eyes, are generally a bust, but can be pulled off if done with care and respect to the conventions of storytelling.  Here, though, it's like the filmmakers wanted to clean house as quickly as possible, throwing out much of what constituted the old mythos (i.e., John Connor mythic hero status, if I'm allowed to spoil for a bit) for no other reason than the fact that it's not needed anymore in the wake of this new "vision."  In fact, watching this unfold reminded me of an X-men storyline a few years ago called House of M, which without going into too much detail ended in the termination of a large majority of the comic's known mutants in one form or another.  Such an extreme plot in a beloved major franchise is bound to be controversial no matter what, but what really ticked off most fans was the later admission that its prime reason was to reduce the number of mutants to a more "manageable" level.  While the sentiment enmeshed in House of M is understandable, and it'd be foolish to claim that no fictional storyline had ever been influenced by the pragmatic demands of extra-textual limitations, to have it conducted in such a hamfisted and instrumental manner does justice to no one and nothing, least of all the story.  While Genisys doesn't wear its intent to anywhere near that level of provocation, it can still be quite jarring to anyone perceptive enough to see it.


Genisys is, to a certain extent, a fun film; I didn't come into it expecting to have my mind blown in any way, and Schwarzenegger and the special effects were good enough for an evening's distraction.  I'd even go so far as admit that it contains within the seeds for a better sequel in this inevitable new series.  However, they need to learn from the mistakes of this first foray (and maybe think about getting a better Kyle Reese) if they want the next film to be met with anything other than groans of indifference and confusion.


Grade: D