An Amazon Future Hit: The Last Tycoon

I have recently stated that streaming media is the way forward and one of the companies that are capitalising on the phenomenon is Amazon. The way they're doing it is more ingenuous than the others, by giving viewers the options of watching all the pilots they order and asking them to leave feedback so essentially they choose what the viewers want. This is great because the studio manages to engage viewers even before a show officially launches and if a show is a dud then they find out before they waste time and resources on it. Its such a simple idea and I find myself wondering why more studios and television networks don't do this. This first look is one of the reasons I enjoy using Amazon Instant Video, even more so than Netflix. Yes, I said it. Flame me.

One of the latest offerings the service has is The Last Tycoon which is based on an unfinished novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Last Tycoon follows Monroe Stahr (Matt Bomer), a film producer, as he tries to make creative and innovative cinema following the death of his actress wife Minna (Jessica De Gouw). The only issue is that it's 1941 and around then there was a little movement called the Third Reich, and during this period they made attempts to interfere with Hollywood productions. As Hollywood was in the midst of it's golden age and other countries weren't focusing on output in entertainment because they were suffering through a war. Hollywood films were what the majority had access to so of course the Nazi's attempted to filter it by making sure nothing defaming about them and their 'cause' was put in the films. They also wished to cleanse the work force in Hollywood of Jews and a lot of studios relented, including Monroe's.

UnREAL: Addictive Behind The Scenes Drama

In my adolescence I ingested various different reality television series like Big Brother and I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! but I've matured over time and that type of drama doesn't appeal to me, the only reality-eqsue show I watch avidly is The Apprentice. Due to this I found it surprising just how much I enjoyed UnREAL. First of all it's on Lifetime and in England the only exposure we usually get of their offerings is television films that are on weekdays on Channel 5. Nobody watches Channel 5. Secondly, it follows the cast and crew of a reality dating television show that is eerily similar to The Bachelor (so I've heard). Lifetime/Channel 5 and The Bachelor were never even on my radar, the closest I had ever gotten to a dating show was Beauty And The Geek, and even then it was just a few moments, yet UnREAL has become must see television for me.

The show follows Rachel Goldberg (Shiri Appleby) who is a producer on the fictional reality television show called Everlasting. Rachel previously had a breakdown whilst working on previous seasons of the show due to the pressure placed on her to create drama for the series, exposing the truth of what sane human beings already knew. Reality television is fiction. Rachel works under Quinn King (Constance Zimmer) and Chet Wilson (Craig Bierko) who are the executive producers and show runners of the series and has to deal with the demands from the two as well as their constant bickering and struggle for control. She works alongside (more like competing against) other producers including Jay (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman) as they each manage a group of contestants, manipulating them into following Quinn's story for the season, making them become a "villain" or "wifey" for the male suitor.

The Pill: Unlikable, Yet Likable

A few years ago I found myself watching The Pill, a romantic comedy that was released in 2011 starring Noah Bean and Rachel Boston. The film followed Fred (Bean) and Mindy (Boston) as they engage in unprotected sex on the night of their meeting and the following morning Fred has to convince Mindy to take the morning after pill. As the morning after pill consists of two pills, the second to be taken 12 hours after the first, Fred has to spend the day with Mindy to ensure she takes the second pill. I bet you all think you know what will happen. In my initial viewing of it I thought it was a fairly decent film, I didn't hate it but I also didn't believe that I would make an effort to watch it again. That was until Z Nation planted a sour taste in my mouth and I found The Pill on Netflix and decided that a second viewing of that might make me feel better. It did, but not because I was watching idealistic characters play out a love story that we'd all dream of.

Why Is Z Nation Not Dead In The Water?

*Spoilers from the first episode of Z Nation*

Z Nation has been on my watch list for a while and after watching the first episode last night I can swiftly remove it.

Z Nation takes place during a zombie apocalypse and initially follows Lt. Mark Hammond (Harold Perrineau) as he transports Murphy (Keith Allan), who may be the only person that can save the human race, to a lab in California with the help of Citizen Z (DJ Qualls). Along his travels he encounters a group of survivors including Sergeant Charles Garnett (Tom Everett Scott) and Lieutenant Roberta Warren (Kellita Smith) who decide to aid him in his quest. If you hadn't already noticed I love zombie fiction and even the stuff I admit isn't quite good *cough*Fear The Walking Dead*cough* I make attempts at watching more than one episode. That isn't the case with Z Nation. I did wonder if it was because The Walking Dead has ruined any zombie show for me but I've come to the realisation that that is not the case, Z Nation is just plain bad.

The Path May Lose Its Way

*Spoilers for season one of The Path*

Streaming media seems to be where it is at these days, auteurs are given greater creative freedom and aren't bogged down by the standard run time and censorship that conventional television stations have to adhere to. Some of the shows that they come out with are great, some are more questionable, but one thing that is certain is that viewers are lapping it up. When you think a streaming television service everyone's mind jumps firstly to Netflix and secondly to Amazon Instant Video, especially in the UK because they seem to be the only two major ones we have access to. There are actually others out there, including Hulu and I heard about one of it's latest offerings and was intrigued. The Path starring Aaron Paul, Hugh Dancy and Michelle Monaghan to name a few premiered in March and was quickly renewed so I had to check it out.

The Path follows the exploits of a "religious" movement *cough*cult*cough* called Meyerism, and although the creator has denied that Meyerism isn't inspired by Scientology it seems an awful lot like Scientology. Go ahead, flame me Scientology interweb dwellers. The protagonist Eddie Lane (Aaron Paul) begins to have doubts about his faith following a religious retreat in Peru, this is a complicated matter because his "religion" doesn't take kindly to people that doubt their faith, dubbing them deniers and ostracising them. Due to this he has a fear of speaking out as his devout wife Sarah (Michelle Monaghan) and children also belong to the "religion" and leaving the movement would mean also leaving his life with them, and this is the only life he knows. If matters weren't worse already he also has to tend with the cult leader Cal (Hugh Dancy) who has feelings for his wife and would do what he can to plant a wedge in between the two.

When Marnie Was There

Over the weekend I had a tough choice to make, I'd received a voucher for 50% off at Odeon and I had to decide what film I wanted to watch. I've started to favour a small Odeon in Covent Garden, it never seems too busy even with big blockbusters but because it's smaller it means fewer screens and less choice. My options were The Nice Guys, X-Men: Apocalypse and When Marnie Was There. All I knew about The Nice Guys is that it's a crime comedy starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe but I wasn't prepared to waste a voucher on a film that could be stupid funny rather than genuine funny. The obvious option with me would be X-Men: Apocalypse, I ingest a lot of comic book adaptations and this would just be adding to the list but something put me off. Probably the fact I knew it would be absolute rubbish. When Marnie Was There was the winner.

When Marnie Was There is a animated Studio Ghibli film that was originally released in 2014. I've never been inclined to watch the work of Ghibli, not because I'm not a fan but because I've never been that interested in animated features. Whenever I did watch them it was usually in passing, I never actively sought them out. Other than Finding Nemo. And Toy Story. Tears. After watching When Marnie Was There I had to message an array of people to recommend the film and they in turn recommended other Ghibli flicks to me so if I don't post for a while it's because I'm hoarding Ghibli works and locking myself away with them. I've been late to the game before (a lot) but I've never regretted it this much, I wish I had gotten into it earlier because the film was superb.

I Really Wanted To Love The Strain

I have stated my adoration with Guillermo del Toro before, I think I fell in love with his work even before I knew I loved film. Even though I have an obsession for him I put off watching the 2014 adaptation of his co-written novel, The Strain. I did still purchase the season one DVD when it was released and ever since then it has been gathering dust sitting atop my shelf, but the summertime slump in television got to me so I picked it up and binged. I almost loved it for a while there.

The Strain follows Dr. Ephram Goodweather (Corey Stoll), a doctor for the CDC (Centres for Disease Control and prevention), and his merry band of misfits as they fight a growing strain of a vampire virus that it sweeping over New York. Eph's group includes colleagues Jim Kent (Sean Astin) and Dr. Nora Martinez (Mia Maestro) who have made the discovery of the virus with him and are attempting to find a cure for it. Others adopted into the fold include Vasiliy Fet (Kevin Durand), a rat catcher with an admiration for dynamite, and hacker Dutch Velders (Ruda Gedmintas) who inadvertently aided the vampires to take over New York and has now switched over to the good side. The group are aided in their quest by the ever watchable Professor Abraham Setrakian (David Bradley), a holocaust survivor who has an in depth knowledge of the virus and has a long standing grudge against patient zero and the loyal servant that aids him, Thomas Eichhorst (Richard Sammal).