Mike Flanagan's series

[Z Buck McFate]

Frank Langella, I think you got his name confused with Robert Loggia.

Yeah I have no real idea what the details of the accusations were or how quantifiable they were. And that's not me ignoring this stuff happens, I just had no idea what really was going on.

Langella does have a hardness and coldness about him, he can play a pretty nasty character when he wants. I could see him being dour, twisted, bitter, sullen and so forth.

LOL. Yeah, I had the actor confused too. I can remember thinking - when the cast was revealed - that I'd thought the actor died (because he did).

I feel it's more of a spectacle show honestly. Just people tearing up the scenery and crazy shit going on, just cutting completely loose. I mean I don't think I'm going to be "haunted" by it like I am by Bly Manor, but I'm having a great trip watching it, lol. Holy shit.

Which, hey, can be indicative of Poe including House of Usher -- that whole ending where the narrator has to flee the house when the "dead" sister goes after her brother during a storm, lol. Or the Red Death totally slays an entire house of desperate partiers. A guy ripping up the floorboards to expose the corpse he placed there because he hated the guy's creepy eye and now imagines his thudding heart filling all of his senses. It just kinda is what it is.

Agreed. It's still a fun watch, but packs a different kind of punch.

Worth mentioning: I thought Ruth Cobb was a pretty good fit in the Midnight Club (? that Flanagan Netflix series that was geared for teens). I have no problem with the actress, I just question whether this role was a good fit. Times being what they are (and it's definitely preferable to when women could be harrassed and/or worse), *if* she was being too sensitive, it wouldn't be available to dump her and keep Langelle.

The first time I saw Bruce Greenwood in anything was the Atom Egoyan movie Exotica. I haven't met anyone else that likes it, but I loved it and he was a big part of why.

 

[Totenkindly]

Hilariously, I had an oblivious first encounter with him in First Blood, he was one of the guardsmen who trap Rambo at the mine.

Thirteen Days was probably the first real role I saw him in, but I never ever forgot him again once I saw him as Pike in the Star Trek reboot.

I'll have to look for Exotica.

 

[Totenkindly]

Based on our conversation yesterday about Greenwood I was dying in Episode 4 when Roderick gets all flustered while interrogating his daughter running the chimp labs about her sister's death and they get into this awkward banter where he ends up swearing up a storm -- hearing all those flabbergasted gutter swears tumbling out of his mouth was a total experience, I couldn't stop laughing. (Just imagine a guy for whom swear words seem a bit awkward being confused, bewildered, outraged, flabbergasted, incensed, and befuddled, dropping a lot of unexpected swear words and facial expressions at once.)

 

[Totenkindly]

Finished HoU a few minutes ago.

I like the last two episodes a lot, they actually had some emotional beats that were rather moving. (The ending itself, not as much -- and I'm afraid that bit with Madeline coming up the steps kinda veered into silly -- but how can I fault it? It's totally from the story.) The Arthur-freakin'-Pym bit with Verna was actually choking me up, which tells you how great the acting was because Pym is a pretty dry character. Really great outcome.

Okay, the finale has the basement payoff I have been waiting for all series, and I totally knew what was there! I just was so delighted to watch that play out, I knew it was coming and it was glorious. (A few of you might recall my very first username on this and other typology sites was Fortunato.)

Frederick -- damn. That was harsh.

Anyway, even without the consistent richness of the other Flanagan series, this one had its moments. (Madeleine being fucking Cleopatra reminded me so much of the Knot's eulogy in Doctor Sleep.) And Lenore.... And the final meeting at the funeral with Anabelle Lee...

Again, I feel like this was just a one-off "let's go crazy!" series for Flanagan. Something a bit different for him. Not really scary, which is fine; but evocative, and totally off the rails with the craziest plot moments (kinda rivaling that moment in the subway with Frank and Zoe in "House of Cards"). I had a stunned and/or flabbergasted look on my face for much of it. Also, where I think it excelled: It was SUCH a wonderful pastiche of so many Poe stories worked into the same narrative, that was where the creativity was, translated all the most favorite stories and poems into one large narrative and making the definitive plot elements and images work. It was essentially a Poe love letter.

I really have to give a shout-out to Willa Fitzgerald, who portrayed young adult Madeline. I know how good an actress she is because of how different her character in Reacher Season 1 was (and she really stood above the crowd there too!) and she just really makes young Madeline pop, even more than Mary McDonnell (old Madeline) does. Like, when she's on screen, your eyes just go to her -- kind of the Margot Robbie effect.