True Detective is a miniseries from HBO written by the up-and-coming amazingly talented writer Nic Pizzolatto who was an incredible career ahead of him if he can keep up with this quality of writing. On the surface the show is about two detectives trying to catch a serial killer, a hunt which spans 17 years. However the show is about humanity, the darkness, the light, the forgotten parts of the human psyche, the struggles and coping mechanisms. The show has a star studded high calibre cast lead by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson.
The show is a slow burner that builds up to a climax with the final episode, very similar to my favourite show of all time The Wire. The show is deliberately paced so that we can study the characters in each seen, get a feel for who there are, where they come from, what makes them tick and why they do what they do. In Rust (Matthew McConaughey) we have a hardy detective in self imposed purgatory while Marty (Woody Harrelson) seems to be a family man with deep feelings of discontent who occasionally has affairs as a way of avoiding the reality of his problems. Their partnership is a fragile one which grows after passing a few tests of the 17 years the series takes us through. The partnership becomes about the job, the one true passion for both of them and the debt they owe (themselves) in not having solved the case earlier.
The performance from each and every actor in this show is of the highest quality but the stand out performance is from Matthew McConaughey who I believe deserves an Emmy. He delivers performances of outstanding quality every episode that makes him the centre of attention in every scene he's in. The level of performance is only possible because of the excellent writing, and it amazes me that one person could have written all 8 episodes. Usually theres an army of writers but Nic Pizzolatto managed to write this master piece all by himself.
I look forward to the next series in this anthology.
Tuesday, 11 March 2014
Sunday, 9 March 2014
Bones Binging
In my injury addled state of boredom I've sought many ways to fill my time, so over the last 11 days I watched 181 episodes of the great show Bones. I caught it on sky living while channel surfing and didn't pay much attention until the interactions between the two protagonists made me laugh so I started to pay attention. The episode was your typical procedural but the dynamic relationship was refreshing, I liked it enough to decide to watch it from the beginning.
The first season hinted at the typical will they won't they story line but the protagonist didn't reveal their true feelings for each other until season 5. They eventually become a couple in season 7 which left enough time for the show to grow into something more than their relationship. The show is about the murders, rational vs. irrational thought and behaviour, the supporting cast and the engrossing serial killers. One such serial killer got under my skin so much so that I was anxious when the characters of the show was suffering from his torment, thats when you know you're invested into a show.
The best thing about binging on a show is not having to wait weeks and months to watch the next episode, this allows for me to see the gradual change in character development. Thats something that can pass you by if you watch it on a weekly basis. I condensed 9 years of great television into 11 days which afforded me the luxury of instant gratification, I'am now suffering from withdrawal symptoms as I have to wait 5 days till the next episode airs. In the meantime I've been re-watching my favourite scenes from old episodes.
The first season hinted at the typical will they won't they story line but the protagonist didn't reveal their true feelings for each other until season 5. They eventually become a couple in season 7 which left enough time for the show to grow into something more than their relationship. The show is about the murders, rational vs. irrational thought and behaviour, the supporting cast and the engrossing serial killers. One such serial killer got under my skin so much so that I was anxious when the characters of the show was suffering from his torment, thats when you know you're invested into a show.
The best thing about binging on a show is not having to wait weeks and months to watch the next episode, this allows for me to see the gradual change in character development. Thats something that can pass you by if you watch it on a weekly basis. I condensed 9 years of great television into 11 days which afforded me the luxury of instant gratification, I'am now suffering from withdrawal symptoms as I have to wait 5 days till the next episode airs. In the meantime I've been re-watching my favourite scenes from old episodes.
Tuesday, 18 February 2014
Pokemon Y addiction
I've been at home off work due to long term surgery (which I'll explain in another post once I've gathered my thoughts) bored out of my mind at times when everyone else in the house has gone to work, college and university. I usually fill my time by watching T.V and playing video games, since I got the PS4 on launch it's all I've been playing, until last week. My brother has a 3DS which he hasn't touched so I picked it up and started Pokemon Y (there are two versions of the game, the other being Pokemon X, the main difference being the legendary Pokemon exclusive to each version). I've never played a 3DS before and the experience was alien to me, I know that its the best selling handheld in the world so i knew it had to be good.
It took me around 3 to 4 hours to get used to the handheld itself, I'm a console game so I'm not used to holding a small device and looking down for hours, the neck and joint pain subsided after the third day, of which I'm glad because Pokemon Y has been one of the best games I've ever played. The hook was there from the beginning due the the nostalgia of a childhood filled with watch Pokemon, buying the trading cards and dreaming of becoming a Pokemon trainer. The game is all about grinding out encounters with wild Pokemon and capturing new ones, levelling them up in order to beat gym leaders so that you can eventually beat the elite 4 and become the Champion. And thats only just a small portion of the game because once you "beat the game" theres a whole world open to catch every Pokemon if you choose, beat the elite 4 again, battle players online or fulfil my childhood dream of having all the Kanto region starters and levelling them to 100.
In order to get all the Kanto starters you have to trade with other trainers because you can't catch the starter Pokemon in the wild so you have to seek elsewhere to find them and trade with players who want something else in return. This is where Nintendo and Pokemon becomes unique (in my opinion) they have a system to breed Pokemon so that you can have the same Pokemon with different personality traits which effect the stat development, or trade with other trainers. I had chosen Charmander as my starter because he's the coolest Pokemon of my childhood. I had trade and get Bulbasaur and Squirtle, I searched through many blogs and joined a few forums to find people to trade with. This game had such power over me that I joined forums and asked people politely....oh who am I kidding! I practically begged and negotiated deals to get the Pokemon I wanted. On my way to getting all that I wanted I learnt how to breed Pokemon, how to maximise the xp from each battle, the strengths and weaknesses of each Pokemon type and most importantly I learned about strategy.
If you like Pokemon and have tonnes of free time on your hands then play this game. It's excellent and very few games offer such experience.
It took me around 3 to 4 hours to get used to the handheld itself, I'm a console game so I'm not used to holding a small device and looking down for hours, the neck and joint pain subsided after the third day, of which I'm glad because Pokemon Y has been one of the best games I've ever played. The hook was there from the beginning due the the nostalgia of a childhood filled with watch Pokemon, buying the trading cards and dreaming of becoming a Pokemon trainer. The game is all about grinding out encounters with wild Pokemon and capturing new ones, levelling them up in order to beat gym leaders so that you can eventually beat the elite 4 and become the Champion. And thats only just a small portion of the game because once you "beat the game" theres a whole world open to catch every Pokemon if you choose, beat the elite 4 again, battle players online or fulfil my childhood dream of having all the Kanto region starters and levelling them to 100.
In order to get all the Kanto starters you have to trade with other trainers because you can't catch the starter Pokemon in the wild so you have to seek elsewhere to find them and trade with players who want something else in return. This is where Nintendo and Pokemon becomes unique (in my opinion) they have a system to breed Pokemon so that you can have the same Pokemon with different personality traits which effect the stat development, or trade with other trainers. I had chosen Charmander as my starter because he's the coolest Pokemon of my childhood. I had trade and get Bulbasaur and Squirtle, I searched through many blogs and joined a few forums to find people to trade with. This game had such power over me that I joined forums and asked people politely....oh who am I kidding! I practically begged and negotiated deals to get the Pokemon I wanted. On my way to getting all that I wanted I learnt how to breed Pokemon, how to maximise the xp from each battle, the strengths and weaknesses of each Pokemon type and most importantly I learned about strategy.
If you like Pokemon and have tonnes of free time on your hands then play this game. It's excellent and very few games offer such experience.
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