The creatively twisted minds of two of Britain’s greatest modern fantasy writers produced Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (or more commonly known as just Good Omens). The fruit of a very successful collaboration between Neil Gaiman (“American Gods,” “The Graveyard Book,” and “Stardust“) and Sir Terry Prachett (“Discworld“) published in 1990, Good Omens is a quirky and entertaining novel that tells of the coming of the Apocalypse. The book is chock-full of humorous situations: from a witch’s super-accurate predictions of her execution, the birth and childhood of the AntiChrist in the English suburbs, the coming together of the Four Horsemen, and the mad antics of the legions of Heaven led by Aziraphale the Angel and Hell led by Crowley the Demon (both of whom happen to treat each other as friends) as they prepare for the endtimes.
I first read the book in the late 90’s and I did think the story would translate well onscreen.
A film adaptation was in fact planned in 2002 in which Robin Williams and Johnny Depp were set to star as Aziraphale and Crowley respectively but financing fell through.
A radio dramatization was aired in BBC Radio 4 in 2015, wherein Gaiman and Pratchett had cameo appearances.
This TV series couldn’t have come at a better time, being the new Golden Age of Television, and judging from the recent success of the TV series based on another Neil Gaiman novel, American Gods.
The 6-episode series will be released on Amazon Prime in 2019, followed by a conventional broadcast on BBC Two.
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451 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature at which paper begins to burn.
This is central to the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Considered to be one of the author’s best works, Fahrenheit 451 tells of a dystopian future wherein books were outlawed, facts and history are rewritten, and firemen, instead of saving things from burning, are actually tasked to burn books.
Michael B. Jordan (“Creed,” “Black Panther”) stars as Montag, a young fireman who questions his loyalty to the regime and to his mentor Captain Beatty, played by Michael Shannon (“Boardwalk Empire,” “Revolutionary Road”) after his encounters with Clarisse, played by Sofia Boutella (“The Mummy,” “Kingsman: The Secret Service”).
The film is directed by Ramin Bahrani (“99 Homes”) from a screenplay he co-wrote with Amir Naderi (“Vegas: Based on a True Story”).
“I have always loved Ray Bradbury’s prophetic novel ‘Fahrenheit 451’,” says Bahrani. “The concept is so provocative. Three years ago, I started to think about it again, because the world was frighteningly catching up to what he had envisioned. Bradbury said that we demanded, we elected, for the world to become this way. That’s different than having a totalitarian government take over. I found that to be true, because we have willingly given up our knowledge, identity, books, history, dreams, culture – everything – to tech companies, big business and politicians.”
FAHRENHEIT 451 follows Guy Montag (Michael B. Jordan), the most popular fireman in his district, with a mandate to achieve happiness and social harmony by burning books, physical or electronic, deleting and altering history, art, photos and facts, and replacing words with simplistic emojis. “Natives,” or citizens, mainly stay home, happily interacting with screens and getting anything they need from “Yuxie,” an advanced AI personal assistant that listens to and watches them at all times. “Eels” fight to save books, knowledge and culture. When firemen catch them, they punish Eels in public burnings, which are broadcast to the city on giant building-screens; the Eels’ digital identities and histories are wiped clean and they are banished to Talay City, a poor slum with very little technology.
Captain Beatty (Michael Shannon) is Montag’s mentor and friend, and the head of the regional fireman brigade. He is grooming Montag to take his place, but Beatty also harbors a secret: a desire for knowledge and books, exactly what he trains Montag to burn. Beatty manages to ride a fine line of contradiction to survive within the Ministry. He finds himself losing control of Montag, his prized student, who is haunted by dreams and increasingly questioning his beliefs. Interacting with Clarisse (Sofia Boutella), an Eel-turned-informant, Montag is drawn to forbidden knowledge. The turning point comes when an old woman burns herself alive, in front of Montag, for her books. Now, Montag must know why.
His first step: steal a book. Next: find Clarisse to explain it to him.
Through Clarisse, Montag connects with rebel Eels who are preserving books by memorizing one author’s work and “becoming” that novel. They have developed OMNIS, a way to store all of humanity’s art, history and literature in a microscopic strand of DNA – an advanced form of a technology that exists today. The Eels need Montag to use his status as a fireman to protect OMNIS.
A conflicted and suspicious Beatty realizes that Montag has aligned himself with Clarisse, betraying him and the Ministry. Beatty confronts Montag, resulting in a series of fiery standoffs in which Beatty tries to bring his apprentice and only friend back into the fold. But Montag can’t be saved. He has a goal: save the OMNIS. Mentor and apprentice will have to face the inevitable tragedy that neither friend wants: One of them will have to be destroyed.
Notes Michael Shannon, “This is a good time for FAHRENHEIT 451 to come out, because it seems like we are drifting away from pure information as a society. Everything now is more oriented to opinion and propaganda, and the technology that’s available is allowing us to create a dangerous non-reality. For my character Beatty, it’s not even important whether something is a lie or the truth. That’s an antiquated notion, and that’s something we’re seeing in our culture today. But my own personal mantra is ‘pay attention’ – we think we’re getting all the information and facts, but often you can’t rely on the validity of what you’re reading or seeing these days.”
Says Michael B. Jordan of his character, “He’s the golden boy, you know? And with that type of pressure on him, there’s also a pressure to continue down that path – not to go back, not to turn left, not to make any mistakes. I think the message of the film and the book is very important today, when our freedom of choice and freedom of speech – our rights as human beings – are being tested. Don’t always do what you’re told. Do what you feel is right. That’s something my character Montag learns as he starts to question what the Ministry taught him and slowly but surely begins to think for himself. Know that you have freedom of choice. Don’t rely on someone else to tell you what is true or what your reality is.”
FAHRENHEIT 451 will be streaming on HBO GO and premiering on HBO, the same time as the U.S. on Sunday, May 20 at 8am, with a same day primetime encore at 9pm.
Series and episode details provided by HBO in a recent press release.
Disclosure: I work for SKY and part of my job is promoting its products and services, especially the content it provides to its subscribers. I consider being able to share my love for TV shows and movies and the experience of watching and talking about them with like-minded people some of the biggest perks of my job.
Buy Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, on Amazon.com.
We’re back in Westworld, thanks to an exclusive advance screening held by HBO and SKY.
Held at the Narra Rooms in the posh Shangri-la at the Fort Hotel last April 19 (four days before its TV premiere on April 23, Monday), the event was attended by selected SKY subscribers as well as members of the press and social media influencers.
By the time this post is published, the episode should have aired on HBO. For those who haven’t watched it yet, be aware that there will be spoilers below!
So far, my thoughts on the episode titled “Journey Into Night” are:
The inmates have taken over the asylum. When we left Westworld during last season’s finale, it was on the brink of chaos. Now we see the aftermath: bodies of both hosts and their human guests are littered everywhere, clear evidence of violent delights that have violent ends.
They are out for blood. Former Sweetwater sweetheart Dolores Abernathy (Evan Rachel Wood) has fully embraced her inner Wyatt. Together with her posse which includes earnest cowboy Teddy Flood (James Marsden) and femme fatale Angela (Tallulah Riley, now promoted to series regular) are hunting down the human guests who were present during Robert Ford’s (Anthony Hopkins) presentation of his new narrative (which has the same title as this episode – Journey Into Night), and subsequent death at Dolores’ hands (yes, he’s really dead as evidenced the maggotty rotting corpse in the beach scene which takes place a few weeks after the shooting). Having broken free of the restriction from killing humans, the hosts are rounding up all the other human survivors and shooting them down or lynching them.
A mother’s love knows no bounds. Former brothel madam Maeve Millay (Thandie Newton) is continuing her search for her daughter in her past narrative, despite knowing that “it is not real,” enlisting the willing assistance of notorious bullet-ridden outlaw Hector Escaton (Rodrigo Santoro) and the reluctant one from narrative designer Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman).
Worlds are colliding. Last season, we discovered that Shogun World exists. Now, thanks to a robotic carcass of a giant robot Bengal tiger which the SWAT peeps say wandered too far from home, we can surmise that there’s probably a Jungle World as well.
The Man in Black (Ed Harris) still has something to keep him busy. Last season, he was told by Ford that the maze (the object of his obsession which turned out to be the hosts’ journey to consciousness) was not for him. In this episode, he was told by Ford’s young robot clone that he is now in the game.
Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright) is acting all shady again. We know that this good-hearted head of behavior can be used as a weapon. Seeing him in a series of timejumps, from waking up to security personnel rounding up hosts for the slaughter to his run for survival with Delos director Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson), we know he will prove be central to more violent ends from violent delights.
Westworld Season 2 premiered on HBO (SKYcable ch 168 HD | 54 SD) on April 23, Monday at 9am with a primetime encore telecast at 10am. A new episode airs every Monday at 9am.
New Westworld episodes will also be available for streaming within the same day on HBO Go, HBO’s online streaming service exclusively available to SKY subscribers.
Disclosure: I work for SKY and part of my job is promoting its products and services, especially the content it provides to its subscribers. I consider this privilege one of the biggest perks of my job: being able to share my love for TV shows and movies and the experience of watching and talking about them with like-minded people.
Imagine having to live your life in silence, not as a form of meditation or therapy, but as a matter of survival.
For the Abbotts, a family caught in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by deadly creatures who hunt by sound, silence is a way of life. They walk gingerly along paths marked by sand that muffle the sound of footfalls, or paint that indicate floorboards that won’t creak. They communicate to each other using sign language, a skill they acquired because of a deaf family member, or by changing the color of the Christmas lights that surround their home. When upset or in pain, they hold back their screams. Silence has become integral to the movie that when sounds do come in, the effect is jarring.
Still, the Abbotts have carved a thriving life despite the near-constant fear and the death of one of their own brought about by one of the creatures. Pregnant Evelyn (Emily Blunt) homeschools the children while dad Lee (John Krasinski) studies the creatures and scavenges for supplies that will help them cope. Eldest daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds), though deaf, is independent and willful, capable of venturing off on her own. The surviving son Marcus (Noah Jupe) is perceptive and bright; he seeks to bridge the growing gap between Lee and Regan due to their feelings of guilt, blaming themselves for the death of youngest child Beau.
It is the tension within the family that magnifies our fear for them and the love and cohesiveness among them that makes us root for them, especially when they face the monsters in a final showdown.
Thanks to Diva for inviting me to catch the advance screening of this gripping thriller, magnificently helmed by John Krasinski.
A Quiet Place is now showing in Metro Manila cinemas. View screening schedules here.
For many Gen Xers, the TV show Friends defined an era, our era.
The show started airing in September 1994, during my last year in high school.
Netflix all ten seasons just this month, January 2018, coincidentally my teenage daughter’s last year in high school.
To me back then, the show served as a special preview of “the world out there,” i.e., adult life. For my daughter, with whom I watched some episodes, it serves as a point of conparison between the issues she faces today and those I faced during my formative years.
The story kicked off when spoiled “daddy’s girl” Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) runs out of her wedding and (while still in her wedding dress) goes looking for her high school best friend (Monica Geller).
Monica, despite having lost contact with Rachel after high school, good-heatedly welcomed her into her home and into the gang composed of Monica’s brother Ross (David Schwimmer) who was traumatized by his divorce from his wife who turned out to be a lesbian, the boys who live across the hall Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) who was Ross’ roommate in college and struggling actor Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc), and Monica’s cooky ex-roommate Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow).
Throughout the show’s ten-season run, the six friends navigated their way through life in New York City: found and lost jobs, started and ended relationships, and found and reinvented themselves.
While today, my daughter and her peers found the show’s jokes about “Fat Monica,” homosexual relationships and transgender identity problematic, back then, I was amazed these themes were being shown at all.
I was inspired by Monica’s transformation from an obese teen to a slim and confident chef (and I’m still perplexed as to how she was able to maintain her size despite being constantly surounded by food).
I found the decision of Ross’ ex-wife to raise their child with her lesbian partner, and later Rachel’s to be a working unwed mother brave.
I understood Chandler’s resentment of his father Charles’ transition to Helena Handbasket; after all, the announcement of her separation from Chandler’s mom was done after Thanksgiving dinner when Chandler was nine, hardly the epitome of sensitivity to the child’s sensibilities.
Despite the differences in the lenses that we view this iconic show, some themes are constant: the importance of friendship, acceptance of oneself and others, and growing up.
At last! After nearly a year of waiting, the final season of Grimm is now streaming on Netflix here in the Philippines!
I have faithfully followed this show since it started in 2011, never missing an episode despite work or family obligations. As can be gleaned from the fangirlish tone of various episode recaps I found myself posting, it’s safe to say that I have a (hopefully!) mild obsession for this show. I guess that Grimm can be considered one of my guilty pleasures.
When its final episode aired on March 31 last year, I was almost heart-broken. I knew I would be missing Nick Burkhardt’s (mis)adventures as well as those of his Wesen and human friends. I was overjoyed to discover that Seasons 1 to 5 are available on Netflix and lost no time binge-watching the series every chance I got.
For those who are not familiar with the series, Grimm is a TV show that originally aired on NBC in the US (Universal Channel on SKYcable in the Philippines). It basically consists of modern retellings of the Brothers Grimm fairytales as well as folklore and mythical stories from varied cultures.
The show follows the adventures of Portland police detective Nicholas Burkhardt (played by David Giuntoli) just as he finds out that he is among the line of Grimms, a special breed of humans with the ability to detect Wesen, or supernatural beings. Grimms are tasked to maintain the balance between humanity and Wesen, and oftentimes, Grimms have taken brutal measures against the creatures, making them highly feared in the Wesen community. Nick’s role as a Grimm is further complicated by his being a cop; while he is usually able to meld his duties to both roles, there are times when he has to choose which dictates to follow.
He is aided by a strong cast of supporting characters such as Monroe (his last name was never revealed, played by Silas Weir Mitchell), his Wieder Blutbad (reformed werewolf) BFF, his cop buddies Hank Griffin (played by Russell Hornsby) and Drew Wu (played by kababayan Reggie Lee) and his love interests/nemeses Juliette Silverton (played by Bitsie Tulloch) and Adalind Schade (played by Claire Coffee).
Its setting in Portland, Oregon is also very on-point. Its verdant forests, mild climate and slogan “Keep Portland Weird” provided a lush background for the supernatural situations the characters found themselves dealing with.
I love how this show is able to adapt fairytales and myths into modern situations, influenced not just by Germanic folklore (from which most of the Brothers Grimms’ stories are collected from) but also by other cultures such as Latin American (“La Llorona” and “El Cucuy“), Native American (“Wendigo“), Egyptian (“Anubis“), and, of course, the one closest to my heart, Filipino (“Aswang“).
The show had a few faults, such as the wonky special effects involved in showing how the Wesen morph from their human forms to their mythological forms and vice versa, as well as convoluted side plots involving a European Royal Family and a set of keys passed down from the Knights Templar. I also consider Juliette’s journey to the dark side and killing of a pivotal character the show’s “jumping the shark” moment, as it weakened part of the show’s heart.
Still, what kept me tuned in were the depictions of Nick’s rich and nuanced relationships with his Wesen and human allies. His “bromance” with Monroe, in particular, grew from a reluctant partnership to a deep and abiding friendship that enabled Nick and Monroe to oftentimes defy the dictates of their natures to help each other.
Grimm has been a part of my TV habit for seven years and it left quite a big void: I haven’t found a new series that comes close to its appeal to me.
Until then, I will satisfy myself with watching and re-watching this series on Netflix.
Jellybeans in the City 