Cabin in the Woods needs an "altquel"

Sequels, prequels, reboots, remakes and franchise mergers are the meat of Hollywood's content-generating engine. From AvP to Rise of the Return of the Revenge of the Reinvented Reinstantiation, the modern cinema is all about rehashed revisionism. So, when I watched Cabin in the Woods, I immediately started to wonder: how can there be a sequel to this movie? Of course, I can't even explore why that's a difficult question without spoiling the film, and I won't do that in this posting. However, what I can say is that a sequel would have to be a very different story, and might not interest the same audience. A prequel could be interesting, but it might be slightly predictable, since we're told at a certain point in the film, pretty much exactly what has transpired before.

This is where I lit on the idea of the "altquel". That is, a sequel that follows the same events from the first film (perhaps from a slightly different perspective) up to a critical moment in the film, where a key even causes the two films to diverge. Essentially, it's the story of an alternate timeline or universe in which the same events lead up to very different results.

So why an altquel for Cabin in the Woods, specifically? Without indulging in spoilers, all I can say is that there is a moment in the film where we get a glimpse of what might have happened, had any one of several other actions been taken. It's a perfect jumping-off point for an altquel!

But, Cabin in the Woods is really more than just a horror movie. It's a postmodern, revisionist take on the state of the horror movie genre, so why go with a straight altquel? Why not tell all of the stories at once? How? OK, that will require spoilers, so let me give you some time to go watch the movie, first...

Quite possibly the worst film-review of all time

Sometimes reviewers just "don't get it". That's OK. I don't demand that they understand every sub-genre as well as its fans do, and it's still possible to review a film well when you don't understand the conventions of the sub-genre. Acting, writing, cinematography, costuming... these can all be evaluated in a semi-objective fashion, regardless.

That being said, professional reviewer Rex Reed recently decided to abandon all pretense of doing his job and submit a review of Cabin in the Woods which is so bad that it actually deserves a review of its own.

Before I get started, let me be clear: there will be massive spoilers in this review. See the movie first, then read this for the lulz. His review actually makes the movie a bit more fun, if that's actually possible.

Thinking about The Avengers' trailer

If you haven't seen the trailer for The Avengers yet, here you go:




All set? OK, let's talk about what it says about the film. Joss Whedon's name is on this one, and there's something he does better than, I think, anyone else in Hollywood right now: he uses other people's material. Buffy drew on vampire movies and it didn't apologize for them or "reboot" them. It had one thing to say: what if the cute blonde in the alley kicked the monster's ass? Beyond that, it just rolled with the genre. When he did Firefly, he didn't constantly rub your face in the fact that it was a planet-of-the-week show, a concept pioneered by Lost In Space and Star Trek, but that's exactly what it was. He didn't need to tear apart the Star Trek idea and tell you he was doing so; it was its own show, and proudly part of its genre(s).

So, what does that bring to The Avengers? I think the primary thing it brings is a respect for the existing films. Tony Stark's (Iron Man) snarkiness comes through loud and clear in this trailer, making it clear that the humor of the first Iron Man movie (and to a lesser extent, the second one) inform his story in this film. It's not going to be a case of "re-imagining" Iron Man and making him Joss Whedon's Iron Man, and that's really important. Whedon's voice will come through loud and clear without having to beat us over the head with it, so he can use what the other films gave him.

On the down side, we get only a taste of Loki, but he does have that Master/Evil Spike (Buffy: The Vampire Slayer) sort of feel to him. The overwrought arch villain, which is something Whedon does well but his best villains have always been the very slightly sympathetic sociopaths like Saffron (of the Our Mrs. Reynolds and Trash episodes of Firefly), The Operative (from the Serenity film) and of course, lovable Alan Tudyk as the deeply disturbed killer, Alpha in Dollhouse. These maladjusted but brilliantly competent characters who could easily have been the hero, but for some wrong turn in their pasts, are what I look forward to in any Whedon work. Indeed, we even get to see the creation of one such villain in what I think is Whedon's best work to date: the farcical, musical short film, Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. So, it's with some disappointment that I note that so far The Avengers lacks that sort of villain.

A few other observations: others have pointed to all of the civilian eyes pointed at the sky in this trailer. I won't divulge the currently hot rumor as to why that is, but suffice to say that there may be quite a lot of plot that you don't get wind of, here. Also, I'm not yet sure what they'll be doing with Black Widow or Hawkeye, but my guess is that they're going to be the cynical military types at first who our super-powered heroes need to win over in order to create a real team. That can feel tried and worn or it can build a sense of larger purpose. We shall see...

And when talking about S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, we can't skip over Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson. With his shaved head and long, black leather jacket I can't help but be reminded of Fishburne in The Matrix. Especially as he's coming out of the helicopter with his extra-large collar. The facial hair and the eye patch are the only things that make him not a caricature of Morpheus. Still, Jackson was a brilliant choice, and leather coat or no, he's entirely capable of playing Nick Fury to the fullest.

The trailer is clearly about the Iron Man character, and I expect you'll see a new trailer every month or two, now, that will focus on each of the others. I can't wait for the Hulk-focused trailer. His story is probably the trickiest in the movie, and can fall flat quite easily.

One last note on Downey: I'm always impressed with his comic delivery, but the "genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist," line is delivered with such ease and yet the sense that he's thinking about it and ticking off the boxes in his head... it makes it feel like wit and not just ego. Stark hasn't thought about the answer to that question before, and he's probably just as surprised by the answer as we are. That's comic gold, and it's what Downey delivered over and over in the first Iron Man movie. I can't wait for more.

Dollhouse: Epitaph One and Pilot review

Note: I've previously reviewed the first season separately, so if you haven't seen it, you might want to look there. This review is just about the extra episodes on this DVD set.

Last night, I got the Dollhouse Season 1 DVD set in, and immediately sat down to watch Epitaph One, the unaired 13th episode. First off, I want to warn people who might buy it: do not buy the Blu-Ray version of the season unless you want to for reasons of archiving the rest of the season. For Epitaph One, the grainy video that it's shot it (to good effect, mind you) would probably be a waste to get on Blu-Ray.

OK, that said let me do the non-spoiler review first. When the episode opens, you're thrown into a flash-forward. I won't discuss what's going on, as that's a minor spoiler, but the episode happens from the point of view of Felicia Day's character (you'll know her from Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, The Guild and some rather persistent appliance commercials). She's perfectly cast, here, as the every-woman thrown into extraordinary circumstances.

As the episode progresses, it switches between the flash-forward and (from their point of view) flashback. Some of the flashbacks are from before the series, some are soon after the first season's events and some are quite a bit forward. All of them are pretty amazingly significant, and frankly you might be squeamish about knowing so much about where the story is going. Myself, I'm an old Babylon 5 fan, so I recognize the technique. Straczynski took great pains to show us clips from Babylon 5's future that would lead us to believe that events unfolded in one way, only to show us a far more interesting path to get to the same signpost later on. So, I'm not worried that Whedon (either of them) just spoiled his own show. I do, however, enjoy where he wants to see it turn.

Performances all around are phenomenal, but special note must be made of the actor who was given the sweetest bit of work in this episode, and really rose to the occasion: Fran Kranz as Topher Brink gets to play a scene in which he gets to break through everything we've seen of the character before, and do something radically different. It's so effective that I might actually have a hard time seeing the character the same way again. Just perfect. Everyone else who was involved did a fine job, given that they were being yanked around between filming this and Omega (an episode I now I have new respect for, understanding its constraints). Eliza has to recite a fair amount of Russian, and while I don't speak the language, she emulated the accent well enough that I could have taken her for one of my Russian co-workers.

The episode ends on a song (played over the scene, not a musical number), and what a song it is! Episode authors Maurissa Tancharoen & Jed Whedon also wrote and performed the song, Remains, which should, IMHO, earn them a Grammy. It's the perfect combination of vocal performance and meaning-layered lyrics with an almost droning musical backdrop that makes me think of the theme from The 4400 (one of the other very few TV scores I've purchased).

In conclusion, the episode is slightly shaky in ways that aren't always easy to put my finger on. It's filmed very differently and follows the main characters in ways that we're not used to. It also introduces many events without context, so you have to work to keep up. Still, it's worth trying to compare to other episodes, and I think it comes out well, there. Omega and Man On the Street were better episodes overall, but Epitaph definitely ranks well in the series. One thing I will complain about bitterly: Jed and Maurissa are now married. That's great to hear and I'm happy for them, but that's where it should end. There are details on the commentary that I don't think I needed or wanted to be privy to. Also on the commentary are some spoilers that I think should have been left as hints for the fans, rather than explicitly called out. One deals with an imprint that I think gave away too much. So the commentary is probably worth skipping.

On a brief side note, I want to mention the pilot (Echo) before moving on to the rest of the spoiler-version of the review. You've seen much of this episode, because it was chopped up and sprinkled liberally over the rest of the series. However, it's well worth watching. The only down-side is that, when you're done, you'll be grinding your teeth and ranting about how Fox killed the best possible pilot for this series. One that, in all likelihood would have yielded a much larger audience for the show. Bastards.

OK, moving on to spoilers:

The episode opens with Felicia Day (how else?) and quickly establishes the survivors' fear of "tech." Side note: they do a good job of introducing these not-quite-new terms that have evolved over the last 10 years. Nice touch. You see, the world is now a flaming ruin, left over after the Dollhouse tech was used as a weapon. In an instant, half the population of every major city was turned into an army and used against everyone who "didn't answer the phone," as Topher puts it. So horrible was the aftermath that it's driven Topher insane. Later in the episode, this leads us to his flashback, which is easily the most powerful scene of the episode.

All of the players do amazing jobs, but you certainly are left wanting more Echo. Of the excellent performances, I feel I should call out Adair Tishler (Molly Walker on Heroes). For a young actress, she manages to pull off her own duplicitous role and then play Echo beautifully. I was stunned, and it's just too bad that she won't have a part to play in the rest of the series!

The core development of the episode is definitely the fall of modern civilization to the Dollhouse and how that came to be. It's also clearly the central plot of the series overall. What we're shown tantalizes, but they do make it work well. Finally meeting the head of the Dollhouse (well, sort of, given that he's in Victor's body) was a creepy moment. He's clearly insane and power-hungry. He's also clearly devoid of even a shred of morality. Perfect combo.

If nothing else, this shoestring-budgeted episode has convinced me that Dollhouse season 2, which is going to be on a financial diet, will do well indeed. These are people who know how to make good TV on the cheap. Of course, if Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog didn't convince you of that, nothing will.

So go! Grab yourself a copy of the DVD set and enjoy!

Dollhouse Epitaph One Song: Remains

Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen have a new single out from the epilogue to Season 1 of Dollhouse: Epitaph One. The single is called Remains, and it's a nice bit of mood music that sets up a rather dark expectation for what is to come. Personally, I can't wait to see the DVD!

Dollhouse Season 1 Review

Update': I now have a review of the extras from the season 1 DVD up.

Update: I wrote this with the target audience in mind being people who had never seen the show, and were considering it for DVD purchase. Then it hit Whedonesque ;-) So, to those who have seen the show: there are extras including the unaired epilogue episode titled "Epitaph One" on the DVD set which make it worth getting, even having seen the aired episodes.

Now that the Dollhouse: Season One DVDs are about to come out, I feel it's the right time to post a review. If you haven't been watching the show, this is Joss Whedon's latest series. He's the creator of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and Firefly (which became the film, Serenity) among other work. He's earned a reputation among the science fiction and fantasy fandom world as a "geek's geek" who can bring humor and drama to mainstream television without watering either down. He's also a fan of tackling hard problems. He started with the unlikely heroine: the quintessential stereotype blond cheerleader, put her in a dark alley with a scary monster and... watched her wipe the floor with it's creepy carcass. In Firefly, he tackled the western in space... a hard sell by any measure.

Now comes Dollhouse. This show's premise is simple: there are a group of people who have figured out how to replace someone's memories and personality including complex skills like fighting or hostage negotiation. They then "zombify" supposedly volunteer subjects, give them a blank slate for five years (or so they say) and periodically rent them out on assignment to the rich and powerful for everything from sexual encounters to something akin to special forces operations. It's all a matter of what you want or need and what you can pay for.

Needless to say, this is a tough subject. It's pretty hard to sell protagonists who work for a slavery ring that rents men and women out as mindless slaves. Of course, some in the Dollhouse aren't very likable. Some are, and this leaves you wondering why they're willing to do what they do. But ultimately it all comes down to the dolls themselves, and the show stands or falls on the shoulders of its main character played by Eliza Dushku: Echo. She's a doll, and she's not quite right... she's starting to wake up from her technologically induced stupor that the dolls are put into between assignments. Gradually, throughout the season you get more and more of a sense of who the real "Echo" is, and what she's going to want to accomplish.

The other characters aren't throw-aways. There's Topher (Fran Kranz), the genius behind the process that creates the dolls and gives them the memories and abilities they need for assignments. He's a bit of an odd character. Of all of the members of the Dollhouse, he's the one you might expect to be bothered by what they do, but he seems to be too enthused with the technology to realize what he's actually doing. In short, he's a tragic character, and I'm sure that in future seasons, he's going to have to make some hard choices.

Next up is the FBI agent, Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett), whose career is on the rocks because he won't give up on the Dollhouse, which he alone believes exists. His arc is complicated, and I can't get into it without spoilers, but suffice to say that he's our Window into what the Dollhouse really is and why it exists. As he learns more, so do we.

I could analyze all of the supporting characters, but suffice to say that they all do excellent jobs, and each and every one of them deserve to be on the show.

So, is it worth buying the season one DVDs? Yes, I believe it is. This show has a lot going for it: rich plot, witty dialogue and a cast that just keeps on giving. It's also been renewed for a second, though lower-budget, season that I have high hopes for.

For his part, Whedon has said that the show definitely is going somewhere. It's not just an episodic excuse to explore the whims of the rich and powerful. Certainly such was not the case with the first season, but he seems to be implying that the series has a much more complicated story to tell. Here's hoping it's as rewarding as the first season!

Dollhouse Likely To Be Renewed

After the amazing season finale of Dollhouse, I was pleased to hear, today, that it's likely to be renewed. For those who haven't seen Dollhouse, here's the scoop: imagine if a company found a way to wipe out a person's personality and "upload" a new one. What would it be used for? At first, like all new technologies, it would be used to satisfy our baser interests. "Dolls" as they are called are given slave-like personalities and sent into various sorts of "gratification" roles with rich clients.

But soon, anyone with this technology is going to realize that they have the keys to the kingdom. Don't like someone? Wipe their minds and have them run around singing your praises for the rest of their lives. Want to live forever? Have your memories and personality put into another body (willing or not). It's scary stuff, and our heroes (a doll named Echo (Dushku) and an FBI agent named Ballard (Penikett) who's out to save her) are caught up in the machinations.

Season one started out rocky. Episodes 1-5 probably aren't worth watching if you're a new viewer, but 6-12 are knock-outs. If you go to iTunes, Hulu or Amazon to pre-order the DVD, I recommend seeing episodes 6-12 first and then going back to see 1-5 if you feel you need to complete the season. Episode 13 may or may not air. It's not the season finale (that's #12), but rather an epilogue that hints at what will happen in the future and might even give some clues as to a possible spinoff series.

Update: Dollhouse was officially renewed, and will remain on Friday nights.