A few weeks ago, tech giant Apple refused to create a tool for bypassing phone restrictions that would aid the FBI in an attempt to gain information about one of the attackers of the San Bernardino massacre. This decision is now being taken to court and even has the potential to reach the Supreme Court. Luckily for Apple, they are not alone in the battle. Microsoft announced that it file an amicus brief in the near future in an attempt aid Apple in the case against the U.S. government to help protect what they view as an intolerable act of intrusion of privacy. Other billion dollar companies such as Google and Facebook also announced their support for Apple’s decision and their concern about the security of personal information and online privacy.
Apple’s choice to help their customers remain anonymous is a risky and courageous move, especially in the wake of increasing tensions and hostility between the U.S. and terrorist organizations such as ISIS. While some may view this as a foolish and a potentially dangerous decision, others view this as a breath of fresh air for a major company like Apple refusing to release private information in a world where online anonymity and security has become such and issue. To many, this is a case in which the options are aiding one’s country between supporting individual freedom and rights. However you look at this, it is clear that the ruling on this case could have a gargantuan effect on internet privacy and the United State’s ability to look into one’s personal life through the use of technology. Amidst all the confusion and chaos in this case, one thing is absolute: It is becoming increasingly clear that Apple is not going down without a fight. And it appears the allies of the technology industry are here to aid the battle.
Goose IPA, although technically not a craft beer having sold its stock to Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2011, does have craft brewing roots. So, I bent my own rules a bit, as I’ve done before, to make an exception for this hoppy beer. I should also note that this is the first beer I’ve reviewed that was originally made by an American brewery, Goose Island Brewing—formerly Fulton Street Brewery—from Chicago, Illinois. Don’t feel bad, guys. We can’t all be Canadian.
First Sip
If it looks like an IPA, tastes like an IPA, and honks like an IPA, it’s an IPA. This beer goes after my bitterness receptors making my jaw clench and my mouth pucker. Beware: if you’re not a fan of bitter beers, this will take some getting used to. Goose IPA’s medium carbonation level allows its exceptional bitterness to hit the taste-buds hard.
Last Sip
For IPA lovers, this is a great beer to pick up. Others less inclined toward bitter flavours–those who generally drink lagers–probably won’t appreciate this beer’s bold flavour. As with most of the beers I review, I recommend drinking Goose IPA out of a glass, preferably a clear one so that you can enjoy its honey-amber colour.
Other Comments
Don’t goose yourself, please enjoy responsibly
If you’re looking for a complex IPA, this one doesn’t have too much to offer. Although Goose IPA does have notes of citrus, as most IPA’s do, its predominant flavour is bitter. Unlike some other IPA’s that achieve a unique flavour, this one is pretty straight ahead. That being said, Goose IPA’s bitterness level is excellent, likely a result of using high quality ingredients such as Goose Island Brewing’s hops: fifty different types of hops are fastidiously produced at Elk Mountain Farms in Northern Idaho for Goose Island. But remember, this incredibly tasty IPA is a bit stronger than usual, weighing in at 5.9% ABV, so don’t enjoy too many of these in one sitting or you may end up honking yourself.
Hugh Jackman and Taron Egerton soar into theaters this weekend in Eddie The Eagle, a liberally dramatized true story of British Olympian Eddie Edwards. Even though this film is rife with predictable elements and cliche characters, Eddie The Eagle is an underdog story people will adore.
The 1988 Winter Olympics were the motherlode of underdog stories. The Jamaican Bobsled team reach international acclaim during these games. However, the person that caught everyone off guard was a frumpish looking British athlete named Eddie Edwards. Eddie Edwards caught the world’s attention for being the first British Ski Jumper since 1922. In a field where everyone was out for glory, Edwards was just out for personal satisfaction. Edwards knew he had no shot at winning, and he was okay with it. His attitude was the living embodiment of the Olympic spirit and fans worldwide loved him.
Edwards is played by Taron Egerton. Egerton gained notoriety last year for his role as the tough kid turned secret agent in Kingsman: The Secret Service. He puts himself through a remarkable physical transformation to play the far-sighted Edwards. Egerton contorts his face into any array of grimaces and squints behind owlish glasses. Awkward both socially and physically, Edwards is nonetheless determined to compete in the Olympics.
Of course, in any sports related Hollywood dramatization, we always have that coach who scowls and doesn’t believe in the athlete at first; that part is played by Hugh Jackman. Jackman plays a fictional American, who ends up coaching because Edwards will not stop asking him. Jackman embodies every cliché ever seen in a coach on screen. There’s even part of a “Karate Kid ” like montage complete with a synthesizer-heavy musical score. What’s remarkable is that none of these cliché ridden elements detract from the film.
The reason for this is Sean Macaulay’s screenplay, which puts Edwards innocence and can-do spirit in the spotlight. Instead of sitting through the movie and bemoaning the predictability of the film, we are instead amazed everytime Edwards gets back up after wrecking on the slopes. Rather than rolling our eyes when we see Egerton and Jackman go through a cheesy montage scene, we hold our breath as Eddie ascends the 90m ski jump to compete in the event for the first time during the Olympic Final. Even though this film has all the elements of a movie that normally would be eviscerated, the sheer likeability of its indomitable hero plus Egerton’s winning portrayal of him compensate for these issues.
The director Dexter Fletcher also does a wonderful job capturing the beauty and danger of ski jumping. He manages to capture moments of sheer sportsmanship and sheer terror when a jumper experiences a catastrophic wipe-out. One cannot undersell how important this was to the overall film because, to understand just how amazing Edwards accomplishments were, it is essential to know how dangerous ski jumping truly is.
Eddie The Eagle will leave audiences full of good will and bursting with pride after watching this soaring comeback story.
Eddie the Eagle
Director: Dexter Fletcher
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Taron Egerton, Jo Hartley, Christopher Walken, Edvin Endre, Tim McInnerny
The penultimate episode of the second season of Agent Carter. Let’s see what happened! Part two of this week’s Agent Carter two-parter, “A Little Song and Dance,” started off in a dream of Peggy’s. The dream starts out in black and white. Peggy is talking to her dead brother, Michael. Unexpectedly, this monochromatic blast from the past ramps up pretty quickly into a full-blown song and dance number featuring most of the main characters. The lyrics of the song demand that Peggy end her love triangle and choose between Dr. Wilkes and Chief Sousa. Shortly after these revealing lyrics, though, we see that Peggy and Jarvis are actually tied up in the back of a truck: Agent Carter is understandably upset with Mr. Jarvis who risked all of their lives in a vain attempt at avenging his wife’s injury by trying to kill Whitney Frost in cold blood. We also see Samberley, Sousa, and Thompson get picked up by two of Vernon Masters’s thugs. Thompson pulling a triple-cross is able to convince Masters’s thugs that he’s working with them and demands that the two thugs take Sousa and Samberley hostage.
Agent Carter and Mr. Jarvis escape from the back of the truck by way of a few shoulder slams and Peggy’s “hotwire.” Their civil jabs at one another escalate quickly into a full-fledged pithing contest wherein they both say things they’ll regret, including: “ … how come everyone around you dies?” from Jarvis and “ … you go home to another man’s mansion,” from Peggy. All in all, neither are at their best, but some of it’s forgiven when Jarvis admits that his wife can never have children due to complications from her gunshot wound.
Meanwhile, in the lead mob car, Whitney Frost and Joseph Manfredi seek to coerce Dr. Wilkes into cooperating by threatening Peggy’s life while Wilkes begs to be left alone, so that he can avoid hurting anyone with his Zero Matter powers. It gets worse for all parties, especially the thug Manfredi murders for allowing Carter and Jarvis to escape, when they find the back of the truck empty. And, before too long the truck has circled back and located the bickering do-gooders.
Peggy plays possum and then beats up the thugs that were sent to recapture her and Jarvis. Any time Agent Carter gets to beat up some thugs I’m happy. Her rejoinder to one thug’s “Oh crap,” though was particularly well executed. Having taken control of the situation, Peggy and Jarvis leave the two thugs with a canteen and Peggy directs them to the nearest beach. That done, they climb in the truck and speed off.
Things aren’t going well for Dr. Wilkes. Restrained in Joseph Manfredi’s waste management facility and literally being poked and prodded by Whitney Frost who wants Dr. Wilkes’s Zero Matter, Jason’s pleas to be taken to an uninhabited area fall on deaf ears as his chest is punctured by a very large syringe.
Back at SSR’s LA branch Thompson convinces Masters to let Samberley and Sousa live, also convincing Masters that the prudent course is to attempt to kill Whitney Frost with the gamma cannon, which the team used to close the Zero Matter rift in the last episode. After a meeting, the team decides that Thompson should meet with Frost in order to buy time while they complete repairs on the gamma cannon, intended to be used on Frost. Thompson’s motives become unclear, though, when he tells Frost of the plan to use the gamma cannon on her—a quadruple-cross?
As the team rolls out with the gamma cannon, Thompson and Masters apparently en route to destroy Whitney Frost, Agent Carter and Chief Sousa are unable to start their car. They appear to have been double-crossed by Vernon Masters. In fact, and as the two soon figure out, they’re being quadruple-crossed by Chief Thompson. It’s quickly decided that Samberley must build a gamma bomb detonator jammer to stop Chief Thompson’s plan to destroy Whitney Frost—and the arguably innocent Dr. Wilkes in the process.
We’re treated to a touching scene between Ana (Lotte Verbeek) and Edwin Jarvis (James D’Arcy) in Ana’s hospital room: she demands that Edwin help Peggy. She also demands to know what Edwin is hiding from her.
Sousa, Samberley, and Carter are experiencing technical difficulties with the jammer when Peggy decides there’s no more time and attempts to save Dr. Wilkes on her own. Peggy’s attempt to save Wilkes doesn’t amount to much: Wilkes locks himself inside the building and demands that Peggy save herself. Meanwhile, Jack Thompson executes his quadruple-cross on Vernon Masters, leaving Masters at Frost’s mercy while also leaving the gamma bomb in the same room as Frost. Thompson’s attempt to detonate the gamma bomb, which he hopes will kill Masters and Frost—a quintuple-cross?—is thwarted by the now functioning detonator jammer that Samberley designed. In a tense moment, Thompson demands that Samberley deactivate the jammer at gunpoint. Samberley does so with little hesitation. But, just before the gamma bomb goes off we see Dr. Wilkes barge in on Frost and Masters. He’s in no talking mood and releases his Zero Matter store all over Frost and Masters. Cliffhanger? Check. I’ll see you next week after the season finale.
My Critique
I thought this was a pretty good season finale cliffhanger. It’s too bad that they had to make this part two of the second two-parter. I think this episode could’ve probably stood on its own pretty well. Although the song and dance number were pretty over the top, I thought it was sensible to have a bit like this be used for a dream sequence that a character from the ’40s is having. Some good bits, some good tension, and a cliffhanger.
The attempts to adapt a Video Game into a series or movie hasn’t yielded the best results. Watch any of the video game adaptations by Director Uwe Boll and this point is proven pretty effectively. Unfortunately, when anime has tried to make their own shows based on games, the results haven’t fared much better. Often though instead of delivering a truly terrible adaptation which fans can mock, the result is a bland and forgettable movie or TV series.
What follows isn’t a list of the worst Animes based on Video Games but instead shows which didn’t take any risks, don’t deliver anything essential for fans of the franchise, and really come off as just “meh.”
1. F-Zero: GP Legends
Sure, the YouTube clip of Captain Falcon dying in the final episode as he Falcon Punches a world is cool but what else does it offer? Not much for fans of F-Zero to get excited about. Instead of making it about racing, the show made Captain Falcon some kind of light being who was fighting Black Shadow who was evil and you have to ask if the creators forgot this game was originally about racing.
2. Devil May Cry
A series where main character Dante takes demon related incidents while using his cool powers and weapons to solve the cases should be a recipe for a must see show. Sadly, Dante only uses his sword and twin guns and none of rest of the vast arsenal from the different games and doesn’t even use his devil powers until the last episode. It’s not really worth the wait when he finally uses it.
3. Star Ocean EX
A show to look at the expansive universe of the Star Ocean franchise sounds like a great idea. Unfortunately, this anime doesn’t properly tell a complete story and 5 drama CDs (audio stories featuring the original cast) had to be released to give the show a proper ending. Whenever additional media is needed to finish telling your story, then you know something is wrong.
4. Blue Dragon
You can’t blame Japan for wanting to try a formula which has worked so many times before. Adding the character designs of Dragonball creator Akira Toriyama to an RPG was what made the Dragon Quest franchise incredibly successful. Neither the game nor this anime really caught on with fans in America and no more installments have been announced to the franchise. Best to just let this sleeping dragon lie.
5. Ragnarok the Animation
There was a brief period where the MMORPG game Ragnarok was starting to gain some traction in America. At the tail end of its popularity this series came out. It didn’t help to add to the games populating but didn’t really hinder it either. It just gave a generic story of a team fighting monsters which only hardcore fans will insist is worth watching.
6. Samurai Showdown: The motion picture
Fighting games really don’t make the best anime movies. For every Street Fight II: The Animated Movie which gets made, there is a Tekken movie to remind us to be wary. Samurai Showdown doesn’t really do much but have the different characters from this neglected (there hasn’t been a new game in close to a decade) franchise gather together to fight Ambrosia, a generic God of destruction.
7. Viewtiful Joe
The first Viewtiful Joe game was a classic but didn’t get as much financial success as the developers would have hoped. The anime fares about the same, telling the story of the first game but takes 51 episodes to tell the whole thing but really didn’t inspire others to pick up a copy of any of the games. Considering this show was longer than the entire playtime of both games combined, can you really blame them?
8. Bomberman Jetters
The popular game about a character who loves to blow things up did get his own anime. The show starred the titular Bomberman, called White Bomberman (as there are multiple bomber characters in the show) working with an intergalactic peacekeeping force known as the Jetters. Together they fought the Hige-Hige bandits with a basic “monster of the week” formula and really didn’t win people over. It never even got a DVD release despite broadcasting on Cartoon Network.
9. Wild Arms: Twilight Venom
Each Wild Arms game tells the story of a different group of individuals who each come together using the accent weapons known as ARMS to fight evil. The anime showcases a character called Sheyenne Rainstorm, a man capable of using ARMS who has been put in the body of a 10 year old boy. The entire series features Sheyenne trying to track down his body by getting hints of body shaped treasures. The item specific concept mixed with the less than gripping mysteries makes this show easily forgotten.
10. Power Stone
The popular Dreamcast fighting game did indeed get a cult following as being one of the best games for the system. The anime didn’t receive nearly as much attention. It started one of the fighters Edward Falcon going around and gathering the different Power Stones in an effort to save the world. Considering the license has never been rescued for a re-release it’s safe to say the anime wasn’t a must see show.
Celebrated ham and all around fascinating thespian Bill Paxton has taken a role in the upcoming Training Day TV adaptation. And he will be playing… Alonzo?
It seems this new version of Antoine Fuqua’s brilliant dirty-cop thriller will switch race roles. The eager young greenhorn, played to perfection by Ethan Hawke in the film version, will be the black guy this time around. And Bill Paxton will play the corrupt cop role Denzel Washington won an Oscar for back in the day.
“Described as a reimagining that begins 15 years after the 2001 film left off, the reboot centers on an idealistic young African-American police officer who is appointed to an elite squad of the LAPD where he is partnered with a seasoned, morally ambiguous detective.”
As is the case with any Bill Paxton project, Training Day has the potential to be captivating, if for no other reason than Paxton’s ability to overact while simultaneously being brilliant. There’s one issue, however: this is a series heading to CBS. That means that, more than likely, the show will be homogenized and sterilized in order to reach the CBS demo, i.e. old middle America. We shall see.
Dark Knight III: The Master Race returns with its third issue after being mysteriously absent in the month of January. In the last issue the Kryptonian city of Kandoor was grown to full size and an army of religious zealots sprang up to conquer Earth. Carrie Kelly has been revealed as the new Batman, because Bruce is too old and broken to keep up the fight. Issue 3 moves the plot a long at a faster pace. But, it does raise a lot of questions about the world this takes place in, and what has happened since the last Dark Knight Installment.
Spoilers Ahead
After Quar, the religious leader of Kandoor, grows he threatens the Earth with its ultimate destruction if they do not completely surrender to his demands. The Kryptonians show their power by becoming nuclear bombs and blowing up Moscow. Bruce Wayne realizes that he can’t fight this menace alone, so he goes to the Fortress of Solitude to get Superman out of a self imprisoned block of ice. This scene is actually one of the best scenes in the entire series, as Bruce painfully admits that he needs Superman’s help. It’s funny, and rather touching actually, but it’s keeping entirely in character.
Another fantastic scene in the book.
As the leaders of the world meet to discuss the surrender, Bruce Wayne readies his army of Batmen (in designs similar to TDKR Sons of Batman) to prepare for war. This is where a few questions come up, specifically about what has gone on since The Dark Knight Strikes Again. Has this army always been there? Or did they disband for some reason? The previous two issues imply that it was just Bruce and Carrie Kelly. There’s also the question of what happened to Superman, and why he decided to freeze himself.
We’re getting to a point in the book now where these questions need to start being answered. However, this book does a great job of showing and not telling or explaining things through dull exposition. The pace keeps moving forward, and that’s certainly a good thing for a third issue of a limited series to do. However, some of the news segments are beginning to overstay their welcome. They’re not bad and help establish the world, but some of those pages could have been used to expand the story. But, none of this breaks the story or causes too much confusion. And there are still five issues to tell the story, so they have time.
The art is still amazing, and I think I won’t be using these reviews to retread what I’ve already said about Andy Kubert’s and Klaus Janson’s artwork. It’s beautiful to look at, has that same older Frank Miller aesthetic, and it’s wonderful to look at. The covers are fantastic, they all have a strong use of negative space, but also enough detail for the highlighted elements to pop out. The art alone is worth the price of the book.
So, overall, this issue propels the story forward, and raises the stakes even further. It’s a fun read, and still enjoyable. It’s fun to see Batman and Superman ready to take on the Kryptonian equivalent to the Westboro Baptist Church. The price is still very fair considering it’s a longer book than most comics, has no advertisements, and has a bonus story. So, this is still a book that should be on your list.
Speaking of that bonus story.
Bonus Review: Dark Knight Universe Presents Green Lantern
As the issues get released, a bonus story comes with them. This one is about Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern responding to the new threat on Earth. Unlike the other two issues that featured The Atom and Wonder Woman, I’m not a big fan of this one. Green Lantern is written as a very reluctant, and passive superhero who gets overwhelmed by three Kryptonians, who then end up taking his ring away. What’s bothersome isn’t Green Lantern being beaten by Kryptonians, it’s more the fact that he gets tricked by them. Frank Miller has never really seemed to understand Green Lantern, and that’s very apparent here. Hopefully he comes back in a later issue, but now it’s not a fulfilling introduction to this universe’s Hal Jordan. Luckily John Romita JR.’s artwork is really good, and nice to look at, but of the tie in books this one is the weakest.
Here at the beginning of the second act of season three of The 100, we’ve come to the next natural step in our characters’ healing process:
Pain.
“I just don’t hurt anymore.” – Raven
Dealing with pain is a universal human experience and in The 100 it is inevitably a feeling that all characters will come to understand and seek a cure for. So many big decisions have already been made and so many events out of the control of our heroes have occurred that the long term wear and tear has began to take a real toll on their psyches. In ‘Bitter Harvest’, our characters are finally presented with likely solutions to this pain. Whether it’s committing mass genocide for the safety of your own (Clarke and Bellamy), dealing with the death of your one true love (Jasper), being a prisoner of your own disability (Raven) or understanding that you need the pain as reminder (Murphy), these characters have come to a crossroads when deciding how to use this feeling going forward.
The reality that I think most viewers are aware of is that pain is something that never goes away. This is why we feel frustration over how Jaha has accepted The City of Light and A.L.I.E. into his life. We want to be able to find an easy way out but understand that there is no way out, only reconciliation. But, of course, we must also make mistakes on the path to reconcile our pasts. Jaha has accepted The City of Light as his salvation after his survival of many trials seemingly put in his way via what he deems as divine obstruction. This is his reward for his acceptance of pain.
Problem is, A.L.I.E. represents exactly what The 100 doesn’t subscribe to: divine hope. She was the utter destruction of the world before and will do whatever and corrupt whoever in trying to regain power in a world that has forgotten her. And she has an easily susceptible cast of people to appeal to!
We finally get to see Raven smile again after having accepted The City of Light which is a bright moment that lets us understand immediately why she would do so. She sees herself as an invalid and, though her leg still doesn’t work like it used to, she doesn’t have a constant reminder in the form of pain. This clues the viewer in immediately that what is going on with The City of Light is nefarious. Pain relief without cure is no doubt a signal for eventual destruction. We also get to see the extent of The City of Light’s power as it comes to numbing the pain as Jaha FORGETS HE EVER HAD A SON. This also lets us believe Raven’s nonplussed reaction earlier when Jasper brings up how he scattered (more or less) Finn’s ashes over the field in front of the original drop pod.
The City of Light doesn’t just erase pain, it erases anything that ever reminds us of pain. DANGER WILL ROBINSON, DANGER! RED ALERT! YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BOAT!
Over at Polis, Clarke gets her own comeuppance in pain as Roan delivers Emerson as a gift, knowing Clarke will want to take her revenge. Not only do we get to see Clarke deal with her pain in this instance but also practice what she preaches as it comes to “blood must not have blood.” Lexa, having already called off a retaliation to the Skaikru’s Grounder massacre, is entirely dependent on Clarke’s decision here as if she decides to take Emerson’s life it will leave Lexa entirely vulnerable to a coup for letting this act of vengeance occur. She trusts Clarke, or at the very least trusts the human emotional process. Clarke initially feels that Emerson should die and, conveniently enough, Emerson almost goads her into committing the act.
Emerson is also dealing with his own pain for having lost friends and family (children, two of them) in the destruction Clarke and Bellamy placed upon Mt. Weather. He wants to die in this case and wants to see Clarke succumb to her base needs. Clarke makes the more mature decision when, at the last minute, choosing to spare Emerson’s life and not forsaking Lexa’s rule. Emerson is destroyed by this decision and, although he’s been banished from the lands by Lexa, we can’t have seen the last of him.
The last interesting wrench thrown into this episode is our realization that Murphy has been captured by Titus of Lexa’s court. Jaha previously stated that Murphy was immune to their form of pain prevention because he knows exactly what A.L.I.E. represents. I think this actually is a little deeper than Jaha intimates as Murphy has been the cause of so much pain to others that he’s actually come around as a human and understands how important remembering pain is. If he forgets just what kind of harm he can wantonly do upon others, he’ll revert to that madman we saw early in season one. The 100 gives us characters nuanced enough to have multiple dimensions and are able to be fully-thinking instruments.
John Murphy will represent the vanguard of everyone’s eventual pushback against A.L.I.E. and The City of Light. Once again, this is excellent character arcing from the show’s writers and is the kind of heart punching that doesn’t feel as immediate upon impact but has a lasting blow when everything finally comes to fruition.
Also in ‘Bitter Harvest’, we see the loss of one of our original 100 on the ground in Monroe. As Pike’s people (now including Monty, having followed in his mother’s footsteps) have now found their Farm Station roots useful by discovering fertile land to grow crops, they decide to take this land, occupied by a Grounder tribe, by force. Octavia, with the help of Kane, helps curtail this tribe’s destruction and also discovers a form of poisonous tree sap that the Grounders use to amazing effect in defending against Pike’s attack. Not only is the sap acidic upon touch, its burning also emits a poisonous fume which ends up taking our beloved (though, let’s be honest, kinda forgettable) Monroe from us once and for all. Above all else, we get to see Monty’s true colors as he runs into a poisonous fume to try to rescue Monroe, coming up just short.
As I’m sure The City of Light will continue its stronghold upon this world, the politics between Skaikru and the Grounders grow increasingly volatile by the day. Now that we know some of the earth is fertile, I’m sure the quest for resources doesn’t end here. ‘Bitter Harvest’ represents another wonderful step forward and backward for our beloved characters and the writing has never been more crisp on the show than it is here. This season has found its footing amongst some very tough material and this writing team has further earned my trust and entertainment dollar moving forward.
“My pain ends today. Yours is just begun.” – Emerson
Let’s kick the weekend off with a classic Stone Temple Pilots music video, shall we?
Scott Weiland’s recent passing and subsequent short-change on the Grammy’s got me thinking about Stone Temple Pilots, one of the more influential bands of my youth. They were never in the forefront of the early 90s grunge movement, probably because they hailed from San Diego rather than the epicenter, Seattle. STP hit the scene with “Creep,” which has its own memorable music video. They all did back in “the good ole days.”
“Interstate Love Song” is easily their most energetic video. “Big Empty” had the tie in to The Crow and was a phenomenal tune. But “Plush” takes the cake. And it will forever take said dessert. This is the video that propelled Stone Temple Pilots into the stratosphere, a celestial setting of which Weiland was never comfortable.
The video is nothing special from an aesthetic consideration; plenty of videos at this time were more showy. But this “Plush” video, fish-eyed and unfocused, scattered, sells the lead singer better than any other videos of the time.
Triple 9, one of those gritty heist tales from director John Hillcoat (The Proposition, Lawless, The Road), is set to open in theaters nationwide this weekend. It boasts a fantastic cast and will deliver for audiences with its heart-pounding action sequences and gut wrenching story.
This story of corrupt cops and dirty thieves set on the seamy streets of Atlanta stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Terrell Tompkins, the leaders of a criminal group for hire. Tompkins’ group is made up partly of corrupt police officers. The crew narrowly escapes the opening bank job following a messy and intense highway shootout. They think they’re done working for the Russians (the gang that hired them for the bank job) but they are forced into one last job by a member of their crew is killed. Irina (Kate Winslet), the head of the Russian gang, makes it even more personal by holding Terrell’s son practically captive. Their mission is to rob a Homeland Security building. The group decided the way to do this would be to commit a Triple 9 (shoot a cop) on the other side of town as a distraction and their target winds up being a young detective, Chris Allen (Casey Affleck), who just joined the gang unit. Hot on the thieves’ trail is a grizzled detective played by Woody Harrelson.
Triple 9 has everything fans would want in a film. It’s directed by one of the most talented genre filmmakers working today, and the screenplay is chock-full of intense moments and pulse-pounding action. The cast is tremendous with the likes of Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, and Norman Reedus filling out key supporting roles. With talent like this, it’s no shock that the film turned out as well as it did. Everyone delivers strong performances, but the standout performance belongs to Ejiofor. Ejiofor gives an exceptional performance as the leader of the gang who has the most to lose.
The screenplay written by Matt Cook is full of twists, turns, and plenty of double crosses. Cook develops the characters in the film in such a way that you know just enough to want to know more. He lures you into this seedy world of crime and corruption and rather than try and get out of it; you want to dig further in. And for those out there who may know which way the wind blows here, and think they might have the twist figured out, a scene near the idle involving a central character may very well upend those predictions.
Cooks’ screenplay is rife with subtext; Anthony Mackie, who plays one of the “crooked” cops in Triple 9, starts off morality free when it comes to committing these criminal acts with his crew, but as the film progresses, you begin to spot the development of a conscious. Now, in lesser films we’d see this played out in some heated crime-drama dialogue. Mackie, though, is all body language and contorted glances.
The action in Triple 9 is effectively heart pounding, to say the least. Too often these days, the action is shaky-cammed to death or maybe blocked a bit too perfect. Triple 9’s action is intense from go and it never relents, beautifully messy and kinetic. What enhanced this was Hillcoat’s decision to shoot many of these sequences using tight, narrow lenses. It traps you in the car while the cops chase the crooks. Triple 9 isn’t going to break records or stick around long, but it’s an enjoyable genre exercise with solid character work and plenty of action and suspense to push you through the plot at a breakneck pace.
