In a pre-pandemic world we all would have seen Free Guy in the theater by now and everyone would have been raving about it since August. Now it’s arrived for a wider audience on streaming platform Disney Plus. Is it worth your time? Absolutely. It’s so much better than advertised, you’re certain to be surprised at the layers of storytelling found in this mix of Ready Player One (but 50 times better) Tron: Legacy, Mr. ROBOT, The Truman Show, The LEGO Movie, Elf, Sleeping Beauty, and lots of other great shows. Yes, it’s another video game movie, but it’s bigger. It’s another Ryan Reynolds action movie. But lots more fun.
Words are power in Scotto Moore’s expansive, mind-bending first novel, Battle of the Linguist Mages. “Power morphemes” are power itself, punctuation marks are aliens, and nothing is as it seems in an almost drug-induced frenzy about a young woman immersed in the real-life politics behind her favorite MMPORG virtual reality universe, Sparkle Dungeon 4. Follow as the Queen of Sparkle Dungeon infiltrates the corporation behind the game in this new Tor release, arriving at bookstores this month, and available for pre-order here at Amazon. How to break reality in three easy steps. Mr. Robot meets Ready Player One and The Fifth Element? Maybe, but the world building is more imaginative and detailed than in Ready Player One, and this story isn’t about nostalgia. The granular level of the world building would feel like something concocted over decades if the subject matter wasn’t so modern. Someone reading it in 1995 wouldn’t have a clue what it’s even about. But it’s an extension of sci-fi storytelling dating back to The Last Starfighter and Ender’s Game. A bit of Avatar--the James Cameron one–but more interesting. It’s ambitious, but mostly a fun ride.
You’ve all been selected as Agents of Nonchalance.
With its critically acclaimed series Lodge 49, which starred Wyatt Russell, Brent Jennings, and Sonya Cassidy, apparently canceled after only two series, the cable network AMC looked to fill the quirky drama niche it left behind. It found Jason Segel′s quirky dramedy Dispatches from Elsewhere, releasing its first trailer this week. This is labeled an anthology series, which typically means individual stories in each episode and different characters, yet it lists its five leads in all ten episodes. So what’s going on here? It’s an anthology to the extent that the series gets renewed–meaning you’ll likely only see the billed cast of characters in the first season, with a new story and characters in subsequent seasons. It’s billed as “a transcendental series about a group of ordinary people who stumble onto a puzzle hiding just behind the veil of everyday life.” That describes Lodge 49 perfectly, too, right?
Dispatches from Elsewhere has similar bits going for it compared to AMC’s departed Lodge 49. It looks like it was filmed on the same paneled set and it, too, features a directionless guy lost in his own world, detached from a meaningful existence, with How I Met Your Mother and The Muppets co-star Segel in that role (along with serving as show creator, director, and producer). And like Lodge 49, with its street cred of actors like Paul Giamatti, Bruce Campbell, Cheech Marin, Bronson Pinchot, and Brian Doyle-Murray, Dispatches from Elsewhere has its own style of actor cred, co-starring Academy Award winner Sally Field, Academy Award nominee (Doctor Who star, new Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker villain) Richard E. Grant, and Grammy-winning musician André Benjamin. Mr. Robot’sEve Lindley rounds out the main cast.
It looks strange in the vein of Lodge 49, Mr. Robot, Russian Doll, or Legion. But is it the good kind of strange? See what you think. Here’s the first trailer for Dispatches from Elsewhere:
The visionary behind the groundbreaking 1997 science fiction film Gattaca has at last delivered his next worthy sci-fi follow-up. The direct-to-Netflix movie Anon is equal parts future crime and noir detective thriller. It stars Clive Owen(Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Children of Men, Sin City) and Colm Feore (Thor,The Chronicles of Riddick,Paycheck) as police detectives in a near-future Earth where smart phone and computer technology has merged with the mind. Technology and science have evolved to allow humans to instantly identify and search their minds and a database shared with everyone as they move through their day–as if Google Glass tech was inside a contact lens wired to the brain. Written, produced, and directed by Andrew Niccol, writer/director of Gattaca and writer of The Truman Show, Anon features a police detective nicely synthesizing Rick Deckard, Frank Bullitt, and Dirty Harry Callahan. Only an actor as unique as Clive Owen could pull that off.
With a world similar to Gattaca–but a colder, stark, and concrete-filled version of a rigid, totalitarian future close to that of the Prime side in the world of the Starz series Counterpart–telling lies has become a thing of the past. The detectives must track down an unidentifiable woman, the anonymous hacker of the title played by Amanda Seyfried (Veronica Mars, Ted 2, Mamma Mia!), sought as the criminal behind a string of murders. This hacker can erase memories and replace real thoughts with replaced images, and we see the best example of this as Owen’s detective pursues the hacker in a busy subway. Oddly, this dystopia doesn’t feel as horrible as that of Mad Max: Fury Road, or Blade Runner, or Terminator. It’s just not that far removed from the wired life of today. Which should be enough of a cautionary warning.
Stark but slick and cool like The Adjustment Bureau, not only the visuals of Anon but the music is haunting and cold, thanks to an inspired score from Christophe Beck (Ant-Man, Edge of Tomorrow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Surreal camera angles and the use of shadow firmly plant the audience in this future thanks to cinematographer Amir Mokri, and you can credit production designer Philip Ivey (District 9, Elysium) and art director Aleksandra Marinkovich (Crimson Peak, Kick-Ass 2, Total Recall) for a stunning, new vision that leaves behind tech noir for something fresh and different.
Fans of the television series 24 and Mr. ROBOT should check out a new series from Image Comics/Top Cow now available at newsstands: Samaritan: Veritas. Written by Matt Hawkins with artwork by Atilio Rojo, readers are taken into a modern world of high-tech hacking and espionage. A woman with a vendetta is about to get revenge by taking down the top tiers of government and the most successful company in the world. Think Absolute Power (Clint Eastwood’s 1997 film about scandal in Washington) meets Tom Clancy’s Clear and Present Danger and you’ll have a taste of the action and excitement of this new series.
Samaritan: Veritas is a good jumping-on point for Hawkins’ Edenverse series, requiring no prior knowledge of the prior books to get onboard. As with Hawkins’ earlier works, Samantha Copeland is the protagonist, this time dead set to take down the man who killed her lover. Hawkins pulls together characters with unclear agendas, taking readers through a shadow world of the “dark web” and underground networks as Copeland formulates her strategy.
Copeland is a tough female lead in the latest twist on a Robin Hood story, much like season one of Mr. ROBOT. You’ll find some edgy tension and thrilling situations, thanks in part to some great environments and sequences by artist Atilio Rojo, who also supplied his own color work.
Even more so than the annual Academy Awards for achievements in film, the Primetime Emmy Awards seem to either award the same thing every year or never get around to awarding series, actors, and creative voices that really push the bounds of the ordinary. Is that a generalization ripe for argument? Of course. But when you watch as much television as we do here at borg.com, at some point years ago we just turned off the TV award shows and never looked back.
So what changed this year? Tatiana Maslany won best actress in a drama for Orphan Black. Rami Malek won best actor in a drama for Mr. Robot. Louie Anderson won best supporting actor for Baskets. And the special Sherlock–The Abominable Bride won for best TV movie. So what poles shifted? What constellations re-aligned? What does that mean if our own best picks align with Emmy voters? Are we finally “in-touch”?
Take Tatiana Maslany, a top borg.com pick three years in a row for best actress in television (or any other medium). Not to slight her wonderful supporting cast, but she’s practically a one-woman show, playing a half a dozen characters each season–and seven this year in her fourth season playing clone sestra–meaning every scene is critical and must reflect Maslany’s work–and viewer believability–as a completely different person. She never gets the luxury of “phoning in” a performance. The result is top-notch television, and the best acting and toughest role we’ve ever seen, executed with mastery. Go Clone Club!
USA Network’s groundbreaking television series Mr. ROBOT returned this week and proved that Season 1.0 wasn’t just a chance encounter. The hacktivist series Season 2.0 opener arrived just as the show and lead actor Rami Malek received Emmy nominations for last year’s efforts. Every bit as compelling as what we liked best about its freshman season, Mr. ROBOT still has it all–intrigue, paranoia, and real-world parallels that should glue all of us to our TVs for another round of drama. And bewilderment.
Season 1.0 had a few slips with episodes and subplots, reminding us it’s not easy to maintain excellence with a program so esoteric in its direction and plotting. So beginning the season with a strong, fresh, and still unnerving first of a two-part story arc, titled “Unmask,” is something of a relief. The show is still jarring in its intentional lack of clarity and slow reveal of what is happening next, yet it’s in part why we keep coming back for more.
The high point makes the viewer want to go back and re-watch all of Season 1.0 to answer the question: Have we ever seen Malek’s character Elliot actually smile or really laugh? It’s such a rarity that it seems even Elliot’s own hallucination of his father (Christian Slater) is suddenly hesitant and fearful of him when Elliot bursts into some maniacal hysteria. Credit goes to showrunner Sam Esmail for revisiting all the series leads in a new way as we wonder what ever happened to Tyrell Wellick (Martin Wallström).
Carly Chaikin’s Darlene, Elliot’s sister, is more confident this year, showing what a female Elliot may look like if he ever was able to take control of his psyche. Will she ultimately be the one to take down E Corp?
Last year television viewers were saying domo arigato to USA Network’s new series Mr. ROBOT, a new show providing a strange, mind-blowing look into the world of a subversive malcontent in the age of high-tech gadgets and shadowy subculture. With top-notch, successful series like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, and White Collar under its belt, USA Network proved it had another winner on its hands, and that you don’t have to be HBO or Showtime to produce compelling television. An intense, psychological thrill ride, Mr. ROBOT was the cream of the crop in a season of new series including CW Network’s Stitchers,ABC’s The Whispers,Syfy’s Killjoys,Dark Matter, andThe Expanse,TNT’s Proof,AMC’s Humans,Netflix’s Betweenand BBC America’s Orphan Black, CW’s iZombie, and Fox’s Wayward Pines.Mr. ROBOT is back this summer and we have the first preview of what promises to be an exciting second season.
Rami Malek (Night at the Museum, Medium, 24, Battleship, The Legend of Korra), returns as Elliot, a tech for a cyber-security consulting firm, a drug addict, a loner, a genius. But what is he really, and will we learn anything true about him this season? Is he Hero, Villain, Vigilante, Cyber-terrorist, or something of each? Will that dark and gritty, fourth-wall breaking Ferris Bueller-style continue?
Check out this preview for Season 2.0 of Mr. ROBOT:
Well it’s been one long year, with plenty to do and see, plenty of good and not-so-good to read and watch, and as with last year we’re certain we reviewed more content this year than ever before. This year was a big year for borgs in TV and film, so we had some difficult decisions to make. All year long we sifted through all that Hollywood had to offer and honed in on the genre TV, films, comics, and other books we thought were worth examining. We went back and looked at it all and pulled together our picks for our annual Best of the Best list.
Today we reveal the entire list–the best genre content of 2015–with our top categories Best Sci-Fi Fix, Best Fantasy Fix, Best Superhero Fix, Best Animated Fix, and Best Borg selected regardless of medium. A dozen properties garnered multiple mentions.
We hope you agree with many of these great creations of the entertainment industries, and wish everyone a great 2016!
Best Sci-Fi Fix – Killjoys (Syfy). Surprised? Killjoys pulled together great worldbuilding, characters and actors in a year of a dozen new sci-fi shows to provide us the closest thing to the next Firefly we’ve seen in a long time.
Best Fantasy Fix – Galavant (ABC); Runner-up The Librarians (TNT). It aired early in 2015 but nothing surpassed Galavant’s medieval high adventure and all-out Princess Bride-style fun.
Best Superhero Fix –The Flash (CW). Of all the Marvel movies and TV series from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to Agent Carter and from Arrow to Supergirl, nothing had us coming back for more each week like the superhero world in The Flash.
Best Animated Fix – Star Wars Rebels (DisneyXD). Compare it to Star Wars: The Force Awakens and see if you think this animated Star Wars galaxy had an even better story and characterization, along with the return of its own group of original trilogy actors, compelling visuals and rousing music.
Best Borg – Pops (Arnold Schwarzenegger) from Terminator Genisys(Paramount). Schwarzenegger created yet another borg that could stand up against his prior successful characters from the series. A cool, moving character in a big year for borgs on screen!
Best Borg Movie – Ex Machina (DNA Films). Incredible storytelling and a small cast of talented actors provided a classic science fiction story and Oscar-worthy film about our favorite subject.
Best Borg TV Series – Humans (AMC). On television the most in-depth look at life as a borg and among borgs has never been portrayed more dramatically than on this year’s surprise sci-fi hit series from AMC.
Best Kickass Genre TV Heroine – Liv Moore (Rose McIver), iZombie(CW); Honorable Mentions: Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen), Killjoys (Syfy); Helena (Tatiana Maslany), Orphan Black (BBC)
Want to know who we picked for best villain and best comic books of the year? Take a look after the cut…
Bummed that you’re not getting your convention fix this weekend because you’re not in San Diego? Never fear, you can watch the weekend’s panels happening across the street from San Diego Comic-Con at the Nerd HQ event online now. Just pull-up your GoogleTV or YouTube app and check out the links below.
Streaming runs live through Sunday, but we expect these to be available on YouTube as with prior years. Here is the line-up for each day:
Thursday, July 9 – Day One
10am: ZACHARY LEVI
12pm: BATTLEBOTS – Alison Haislip, Jessica Chabot, Donald Hutson, Peter Abrahamson, Greg Munson, Matt Maxham, and Chris Cowan
1pm: DEAD RISING – Jesse Metcalfe, Dennis Haysbert, Zach Lipovsky (director), and guests
2:15pm: WILLIAM SHATNER
3:30pm: YVONNE STRAHOVSKI
5pm: HITMAN: AGENT 47 – Rupert Friend and Hannah Ware
6:30pm SUPERMANSION – Bryan Cranston, Seth Green, Matt Senreich, Zeb Wells, Heidi Gardner, Tucker Gilmore, and Tom Root
7:30pm JULIE PLEC, GABE SACHS and Friends
8:30pm LAST SHIP
Friday, July 10 – Day Two
10am: SHERLOCK – Steven Moffat, Sue Vertue, Rupert Graves
