The River

[Totenkindly]

Anyone watching this yet? It's got an 8-episode run for the latter half of this season, currently.

I saw the first two episodes on Hulu. Not bad. Acting is decent, by actors I don't recognize (except for the off-camera lead, the missing father, who played Pike in the ST reboot + other hings). Basic plot: Looking for a missing famous father lost in the jungle basis, and entering areas of the world where magic and the paranormal still hold sway, using the device of the 'found footage' variety... essentially a fake documentary/drama/horror mix.

The director/visionary, I think, was the guy who did the first Paranormal Activity movie; he's stepped up his game here, although I think the weakest part of the series is still the "hand-held" footage thing. The initial bits of the first episode were annoying as hell due to the swaying camera -- I just can't tolerate that kind of thing for long -- but I didn't notice it as much later. THere is some stuff that plays well (such as finding old tapes and having to sequence them somehow, so there's an excuse to be watching old footage of the main characters when they were 10-15 years younger, accounting for the "flashback" elements); but the visuals themselves can become troublesome being locked into a particular format or potentially being a little too unstable.

Definitely has had its creep-out moments so far, although not yet quite on par of AHS. Second episode involved mom getting sucked under water and taken by a ghost girl whose own mother ignored her a few centuries back, resulting in her drowning... I note a lot of Asian flavor to the ghosts (or at least foreign culture), as opposed to "American" ghosts, which is good.

 

[Lateralus]

I watched the first episode and was really annoyed with the camera work. The plot and acting seemed like it could be okay, but that camera...made the show not enjoyable for me. I haven't watched the second episode. If it has less of that bad camera work, I might watch it. But if this show is going to continue down that line, it's going to be too much for me.

The show also seems to jump around a lot, like the director has ADD or something.

 

[Totenkindly]

I watched the first episode and was really annoyed with the camera work. The plot and acting seemed like it could be okay, but that camera...made the show not enjoyable for me. I haven't watched the second episode. If it has less of that bad camera work, I might watch it. But if this show is going to continue down that line, it's going to be too much for me.

I think it eased up a bit by episode #2, although I'm not sure how much of it was me adjusting. But yeah, that's my biggest gripe too.

The show also seems to jump around a lot, like the director has ADD or something.

The second episode had more of one linear line through, which helped. Not sure how it will pan out until I see another 1-2 episodes. There's a bit of cutting between various camera angles, because of the chosen motif (found footage). I think it might be better, the quicker they drop that approach; if it gets in the way of the story, then it's a hindrance.

 

[citizen cane]

All I thought of when I saw this was the Bruce Springsteen song.

 

[Tallulah]

Just watched episode 1 on Hulu. I recognized a couple of the actors from smaller parts on 24. I don't know--all these handheld camera, Paranormal Activity/Blair Witch type things always seem so self-conscious to me, mostly because they never get the acting down to documentary-level reality, and I don't really care what happens to a bunch of nobody actors and characters I haven't learned anything about yet. I might give the next episode a shot, but I don't think this one's for me.