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1899 (2022)
All the old tricks, none of the charm
The first season of '1899' is enjoyable only if you've never watched another motion picture in your life. In the spirit of 'Dark', a multitude of clichéd tropes and plots has been mangled together to create something new and, while the creators have kept their signature style to the point where identical frame compositions and plot devices have been used (e.g. People crawling into small spaces to end up somewhere/somewhen different, Odd-looking devices used by mysterious characters, 80s music echoing throughout the story, etc.), the series lacks all of the charm that made this formula work previously. It doesn't help that nearly half of every episode is spent in flat silence, filled only with predictable emotional prompts, and most of the other half is multinational characters slamming into the language barrier between each other and asking 'What is happening?'.
In a final unfavorable comparison, for a show that has its entire cast enclosed in a small, albeit ever-so-slightly expanding setting, it feels a lot less intimate than 'Dark', the setting of which was an entire town.
All in all, '1899' has delved into all of the worse tendencies of its creators and tapped into none of the good ones.
Blair Witch (2016)
A worthwhile sequel with a strong core
Yes, the film lacks the authenticity and spontaneity of the original. But it also adds some great ideas that screw with you in an effective way, while keeping the effective thrill of the "bad camera in a dark forest" trope that the original created.
The new stuff that I loved:
- Time has lost meaning - The sun stops rising; Lane and Talia experience more days than the rest; Lane is determined to survive and later, in the house, he seems to know how to deal with the witch and escape her. Lisa creating the video that Lane finds in the beginning of the film confirms this has been a time loop.
- Being in a life-or-death situation with a person who is clearly delusional is scarier than being with a person who is simply immature.
- Having modern technology and still ending up lost in the curse is scarier.
- By the end, when they end up in the underground tunnels, it feels like they've been so scared, they have regressed back to cavemen. And then the witch wants to play a game by letting you survive if you don't look at her. Because she was killed after children set her up to be exiled as a witch. Regression and repetition are a big theme and, in a way, the core of all strong fears.
The movie also includes several pointless jumpscares, a lot of bad sound mixing (cameras picking up the smallest of noises as loud as your TV will go, for cheap scares) and fake video glitches that don't happen with actual video files.
All in all, if Blair Witch (2016) didn't have its shortcomings, it would have been unwatchably scary. And I'm thankful for that.
Web Therapy (2011)
Top-shelf entertainment, to show you how it's done
In concept, Web Therapy is simple and, many a time, dealing with quite real and serious situations. So, how is it so much fun? The show relies heavily on its actors and their improv skills. It's also not said enough - what a kind and intelligent human being Lisa Kudrow is. She must've done years worth of exploration in the nature of human life and relationships in order to portray such a vile person with such detail, hilarity and charisma. And what else can an artist so well-versed in comedy do out of all that, other than a hilarious stream of jokes?
It's the most classic form of sitcom - in that it's heavily partitioned and, essentially, a compilation of sketches, with stuff you don't hear jokes about a lot. Even setting the format of the show aside, it's a true innovation to the world of comedy. One for the textbooks.
If you enjoyed The Comeback or Veep, Web Therapy is your next piece of top-shelf entertainment.