Toisto.net

Silo is Apple’s answer to LOST – and one of the best TV series in ages

In the age of streaming media, it’s almost impossible to reach the kind of zeitgeist that series like LOST tapped into. Not because the shows are worse; culture has just changed. TV isn’t as ubiquitous of a concept and not everyone subscribes to the same streaming services. But more than that, most series come out all at once, resulting in a sort of TV tribalism. Those who binged everything; and those who have to avoid spoilers. Silo feels like a return to that time in the best kind of way. It’s a smart, supremely confident sci-fi thriller that thrives on cliffhanger-driven episodes and a deftly constructed mythology, which unfolds at a deliberate, weekly pace. It is the perfect

Dead Island 2 is like a high school reunion – for better and for worse

If you’re old enough to have gone to a high school reunion, you’ll recognize that one person who never outgrew their teenage years. At best, they’ve still got the same jokes and rough energy. At worst, they’re entirely unchanged, right down to their clothes and attitudes. Dead Island came out in 2011, which, in gaming terms, is a whopping long time. Back then, it wasn’t the peak of originality, either. While generally liked for its tropical getaway setting, desperate survival horror, and cynical, but effective marketing campaign, Dead Island wasn’t exactly a modern classic. So why, after a disastrous MOBA and numerous false starts, was it so important to bring the IP back some 12 years later

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is an unimaginative slog

It’s an old, but so far reliable adage, that game adaptations just don’t work. Every one of them just seems to tumble into the same pitfalls. The embarrassed self-mockery, as if the material was somehow beneath the filmmakers, the shameless advertising, and a disdain for anything resembling a coherent plot. As an audience, we know we’re being sold the extended franchise with the movie. But, gosh, just let us have fun with it at the same time. That’s what the first Lego Movie did. It knew we were all thinking about how this makes us want to play with LEGOS again, but that didn’t stop it from telling a good story in the process. It’s hard to say where The Su

Tetris is an imperfect film about a perfect game

Tetris is a perfect game. Take any aspect from it, or add a new one in, and it loses something magical. In its highly refined finished form, it is as quintessential and eponymous with gaming as chess. In a way, that applies to the film Tetris as well. It’s the true story about the game’s creation in the depths of the Soviet Union, how it was stolen through skullduggery and lies, and how it was won back through tenacity and cunning, is incredible on its own. It is truth being stranger than fiction; it needs no embellishment. So when Tetris adds to that story, it becomes lesser in the process. The truth might not have car chases or an explosive finale straight from Argo, but it is

Hitman: Freelancer is a superlative expansion of the franchise

When I first reviewed Hitman 3 back in 2016, I figured it was the last hurrah for our favorite bald assassin. After all, this was the culmination of the reboot trilogy, effectively bringing the story of Agent 47 and his handler, Diana Burnwood, to a close. Well, jokes on me, I guess, since Hitman hasn’t just endured, but expanded. Its latest update, Freelancer, is the next step in the behemoth World of Assassination the series now calls itself. Set in the aftermath of Hitman 3, Freelancer sees 47 and Diana strike out on their own in the world of international contract killing. With it comes a brand new safehouse, a variety of specialty tools, and a roguelike mission structure that̵

Night Visions Back to Basics 2023 review roundup

Night Visions is nearly upon us once again, and I’ve screened a bunch of their selection in advance. Here are 13 films (with a few more reviews dropping soon) that should interest you next week as the festival kicks off. The Best of the Best The must-see films of the festival. These are the pictures that make Night Visions such a distinct and genuine pleasure to attend. Hundreds of Beavers – ★★★★★ In the vein of Buster Keaton, Looney Tunes, Benny Hill, Monty Python, and The Simpsons, comes this delightfully demented oddity from Wisconsin that defies all explanation. Set during the frontier era of the American west, Hundreds of Beavers plays like a demented version of The Revenant

Night Visions: How to Blow Up a Pipeline is a masterful political thriller

Inspired and expanding upon the book by Andreas Malm, How to Blow Up a Pipeline is a riveting, smart, and intensely important political thriller about the conversation nobody wants to have. Set in Texas, a state where environmental law feels nearly nonexistent, a group of young activists set out to blow up a local pipeline. It’s an act that’s both desperate and desperately necessary. The planet is on fire. We’ve passed all points of no return decades ago. Those who live or have lived in Texas know that we’re not far from it becoming inhospitable to life entirely. Yet the world of late-stage capitalism would still paint the leads as villains. Director Daniel Goldhaber

Night Visions: Project Wolf Hunting puts western action cinema to shame

Take a helping of Con Air, throw in some From Dusk Till Dawn, and mix it up with the Resident Evil video games, and you’re somewhere in the ballpark of this batshit insane roller-coaster from South Korea. Set on a cargo ship somewhere in the international waters between China and Korea, Project Wolf Hunting is one of the most visceral and intense action films in recent memory. It wrings out every inch of its environment, crafting horrific and electrifying set pieces at every turn. Ferociously inventive and committed to spectacle, it’s the kind of filmmaking that makes you wonder why we put with anything less. It’s also the type of genre film where everyone has come out to p

Night Visions: Hundreds of Beavers is like Jeremiah Johnson as told by a lunatic

In the vein of Buster Keaton, Looney Tunes, Benny Hill, Monty Python, and The Simpsons, comes this delightfully demented oddity from Wisconsin that defies all explanation. Set during the frontier era of the American west, Hundreds of Beavers plays like a demented version of The Revenant, where things like realism matter very little. A drunken applejack salesman finds himself without shelter, customers, or even food. To avoid starvation, he starts a new life hunting rabbits, then beavers. Eventually, he finds himself wooing the beautiful daughter of a fur trapper. The plot is familiar in the way that Charlie Chaplin once described his cinema: “All I need to make a comedy is a park, a po

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is a fun and wholesome adventure for the whole family

It’s an undervalued skill knowing what kind of film you’re making. Today, most blockbusters try to be a bit of everything. As a result, they often feel glib and pointlessly snarky. Like they’re ashamed of what they are. Shazam!, released in 2019 amidst DCs “I’m darker and edgier than you” phase, was not that. Instead, it was a heartfelt and surprisingly fun romp that worked because it knew what it was – and who it was for. Four years later, Shazam! Fury of the Gods pulls off the same trick, which is no small feat. Some months after the first film, Billy Batson, Shazam, suffers from imposter syndrome. His family now shares superpowers, but life is pus

Ted Lasso Season 3 is the first season of the show I’ve liked

John Wick Chapter 4 feels like a parody of itself

John Wick: Chapter 4 begins by copying the famous edit from Lawrence of Arabia, where a blown-out match cuts to a blinding sunrise. It’s a kind of mission statement for the overblown madness that follows. This is an epic, it says. But also, it has little personality of its own. Every visual flair or inventive set piece is a reflection of something else. There are lifts from Hong Kong cinema, Italowesterns, and even the Hitman videogame series. By the end, most of Chapter 4 is a repetition of mindless action and barely coherent storytelling. The plot, such as it is, can be summed up in a sentence. John Wick must kill a Marquis, another stand-in for The High Table, to secure his freedom

Extrapolations

Charting the effects of climate change over the coming decades, Extrapolations is a haunting and gorgeously crafted mini-series that doesn’t quite stick the landing. If you go in with that expectation, you’re bound to get more out of it. Written and directed by Scott Z. Burns, who wrote the sublime pandemic thriller Contagion, Extrapolations is even more ambitious and well-intentioned. Its highs are way higher than most TV series ever get. Which makes its lows feel that much worse. As a forward history, the series’ first half captures the horror of what we’re about to face with haunting brutality. The second half, dealing with the fallout, is less successful. Taken to

Luther: The Fallen Sun

Escalation is a fickle mistress. The first series of Luther, released 13 years ago, felt massive. In retrospect, it’s almost quaint how small its scale was. But because it knew the strength of its locale, characters, and mystery, it reached mythic heights on charisma alone. There was a sense that what we’re seeing was an urban legend coming to life. A story of a husk of a cop, a beast pretending he’s still a man, facing a monster so comfortable in their skin it made him question his very existence. Out on Friday, March 10th, Luther: The Fallen Sun is a whole other beast. Bigger, showier, and less effective than any of the previous series. It’s a film so invested in em

Perry Mason Season 2

After three years, Perry Mason is finally back. For most series, that kind of time usually spells disaster. Luckily, Mason proves himself enduring once again. The long wait was worth it. After a superlative revival in 2020, season 2 is a self-assured continuation that brilliantly expands on every promise of its predecessor. Six months after the devastating climax in season 1, Perry Mason is even more of a wreck than before. Fraught with insecurity, he has dropped any criminal prosecution work in favor of low-stakes civil law. Leaving his partners, Della Street and Paul Drake, adrift in a world where white men have the luxury to put a pause on everything – all others do not. But when an

Perry Mason: Cast and Crew Interview

I spoke with the cast and crew of Perry Mason, which returns to HBO MAX Nordic on March 7th. During our roundtable talk, we spoke about masking, existing in a compromised society, and how little humanity has changed in a hundred years. This interview is edited and condensed for clarity. Where do we find everyone this season? Chris Chalk: It’s six months later, and what we were promised last season was a partnership – and Paul hasn’t heard anything back from Perry. So he is still broke. He’s given up his old lifestyle. He’s lost. He’s trying to figure out what this life for a non-cop black man in the 1930s is like. Because that gave him protection, it gave him power. So there’s this compressi

Cocaine Bear

Some films sell themselves on the title alone. Movies like Snakes on a Plane or Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Big ideas, limited budget, lots of blood. Cocaine Bear belongs to that crowd. All you need to know is there’s a bear high on cocaine, and it kills people – mainly because that’s about as much plot as you get. The pitch serves as a litmus test as to whether or not you’ll enjoy the film. Does the thought of a coked-up bear mauling a pack of oddballs on a mountain make you snicker? If it does, you’re in for a good time. All others need not apply. Directed by Elizabeth Banks, Cocaine Bear is exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a new incarnation of a bear-

Star Trek Picard (Season 3)

Picard Season 3 is the best one of the new revival series. But after a messy first season and an abysmal second one, that’s not saying a whole lot. Some moments are arguably worse than in either previous season because they cling to the memory of The Next Generation while simultaneously misunderstanding what made that series so beloved. It’s further indication that nobody, not even the show-runners, knows what they want from Jean-Luc in his old age. Season 3 is a reboot to a revival that is also a sequel, farewell, and groundwork for the future. Calling it overstuffed is an understatement. In the 6 episodes screened for critics, Picard swings wildly between heartfelt ruminations

The Banshees of Inisherin

A banshee is a figure in Irish folklore that heralds the death of a family member. They warn others by wailing and shrieking. To hear one is to know that something ominous is coming. In Martin McDonagh’s masterful The Banshees of Inisherin, that wail is internal. It is the release that none of the men can articulate, even when all it takes is to let go. Meanwhile, across the bay, the Irish Civil War rages on. By now, it’s almost a distraction to those on the island – a daily bit of news. Most can’t comprehend why they’re still going at it; others don’t care. The war exists in the distant roar of cannon fire – a keening for the entire country. On the

Interview: Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett

I got a chance to speak with Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett about their part in The Last of Us and the spectacular third episode, which has taken the world by storm. [This interview is edited and condensed for clarity.] One of the things that struck me with this episode, in particular, is how it softens the stereotypical trope of the hardened, ultra-masculine survivor. Was that something you discussed with the showrunners as you came on board, or was it already in place? Nick Offerman: Most of that conversation went on in the brains of Neil Druckman and Craig Mazin and came into that brilliant script we received. So, there wasn’t a lot more discussion than “this is great”. [He