My Thoughts On. . .

Vampire Sire

Angels, demons, witches, ghosts, vampire hunters and the demon possessed. You get all these and more in “Vampire Sire”, the latest action packed escapade featuring former federal agent and ultra-protective mom, Samantha Moon.

Sam thinks she’s seen just about every weird and warped thing there is to see in the twelve years since she became a vampire. But when a representative from a renowned attorney’s office arrives on her doorstep, she brings news that helps Sam realize how little she knows.

Yes, out of the blue, Sam is provided with an eyewitness testimony of the attack that changed her life all those years ago. And more importantly, she is given the identity of the beast who carried that attack out, and why he did it.

Needless to say, the details presented to her turn her world on its head, opening doors of opportunity she never thought existed.

Vampire Sire: Take a bite from one of the best vampire series in existence.

The Umbrella Academy

Until Netflix thought to introduce me to the Umbrella Academy, I’d never heard of the comic book series created by Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Bá.

My Bad – I’ve missed out on some quality quirkiness!

Thirty years before our story begins, the world is stunned by the birth of forty-three babies to women who weren’t even pregnant moments before! Seven of those babies are subsequently purchased by an eccentric member of the aristocracy, Sir Reginald Hargreaves, who promptly takes them home and turns them into something rather special.

Special? Oh yes, it seems the children have been endowed with remarkable gifts: Number one, Luther, is super strong; number two, Diego can hold his breath for an exceedingly long time as well as control the blades he throws so that they hit any target he desires; number three, Alison, can coerce people into doing what she says; number four, Klaus, can speak with the dead; number five, “the boy” can teleport through spacetime; number six, Ben, can unleash supernatural horror on his targets; number seven, Vanya, can play the violin. (seriously) – and that, it seems, is that!

Growing up, they formed the “Umbrella Academy” – a crime fighting super elite who were renowned throughout the earth. In latter years, however, they went their separate ways and didn’t talk to each other much. It’s not until Sir Reginald dies that the former team have a reason to get back together. Assembling back at the manor where they grow up we find things have radically changed.

For one thing, Luther has been on the moon for years and seems out of touch with society. Diego is now a vigilante, as much in the cells as he is putting people there. Alison became a filmstar, married, had a child then got divorced for daring to use her skill in the wrong place and at the wrong time. Klaus is so high or drunk, it a wonder he hasn’t pickled himself to death. The boy is missing, presumed dead.  Ben IS dead and has been for some time and is the only one Klaus can relate to. And Vanya? Well, she still plays the violin.

Everything is morbidly awkward, until the unexpected return of the boy – now a world-weary time traveler who has spent decades in the future and is trapped as his 13 year old self with bad news. Humanity has been destroyed, and they need to do something about it.

And THAT my friends, is when things start to warp into a splendidly bizarre adventure featuring temporal assassins; talking apes; robot protectors; sugar-coated donuts and wry, self-depreciating humor backed up by great tracks.

(Wait until you see the mansion wide dance sequence at the end of episode 1 and a later department store shootout. You’ll see what I mean.) Brilliant!

This is caped crusader meets John Steed & Emma Peel of the Avengers while visiting the Royal Tenenbaums and getting home in time for tea kinda stuff.

Delightful. Distracting. Dark and despicable. A fantastic way to spend your evenings.

This Week's Reviews of. . .

Tarnished City

Carrying on from the aftermath of Gilded Cage, “Tarnished City” reveals how things take a turn for the worse after the terrible events at the Jardine’s family estate at Kyneston.

Consigned to Millmoor slave town for a crime Luke didn’t commit, his family must now suffer the full force of an unjust system that sees them as nothing more than chattel to be used and disposed of as the Skilled ruling elite see fit.

And nowhere more so is that imbalance exposed than in Luke’s fate. Coerced into committing a murder he had no hope of preventing, he is hung out to dry, condemned to a life sentence of imprisonment and foul experimentation in one of the harshest places thought to exist. And the worst thing of all is that there are those in power who can prove his innocence. But what would be the point of that when the Jardine’s are out to serve their own aspirations?

Yes, their insidious grip on power tightens with each passing day.

What to do, then, in your darkest hour? Give up and accept your fate or fight until the fighting done? As Luke and his sister, Abi, are about to find out, nothing is as it seems. And your allies can be those you’d least expect.

Imaginative; intelligent; barbaric and compelling. “Tarnished City” is all this and more, revealing just how rocky the road to liberty can be, and why you should never give up!

Russian Doll

Before I sat down to watch this new series, I have to admit, I was preparing myself for a kind of “Groundhog Day” reunion. I didn’t know what to expect . . . and boy, was I surprised. This is far, far better than the film everyone keeps referring to.

Natasha Lyonne plays Nadia, a chain-smoking, booze swilling, substance chuffing independent girl about town who’s enjoying her 36^th birthday party one moment, and rolling across the bonnet of a taxi not fifteen minutes later when she’s killed for the first time.

She promptly regains consciousness back at the party, and everything starts to unravel exactly as it did before . . . or does it? (You get a clue from the title)

Nadia sets off again, bewildered and disorientated and wondering what the hell is going on . . . then BAM! She’s dead again. And we’re off, on an existential unmerry-go-round of her trying to sort through whether or not she’s actually dead – and being punished for something she did or didn’t do in life – or high on one of the many substances she likes to abuse in a party environment.

Her subsequent deaths are handled amazingly – and hilariously well (Those damned steps outside her friend’s apartment proving a tremendous hurdle to relife and limb) and every time she meets a grizzly end, something changes. Those changes are slight to begin with, but as the episodes progress, the differences become much more pronounced . . . as does the reason, explaining why the show is called, “Russian Doll”. It peels back the layers surrounding Nadia, and helps you see what went wrong in her life and how it’s scarred the way she avoids dealing with certain problems.

She doesn’t have to endure this nightmare alone, however. During an elevator plunge (a particularly wonderful event, superbly presented) she meets Alan, someone else who, like her, seems to be afflicted with his own version of the same cyclic dilemma.

Of course, they team up, and what follows exemplifies the title even more, as each character has to strip away the weight of their hang-ups to get at the root cause of their predicament. (That’s all I’m going to say. I hate giving away plot points, and I’ve already done too much of that).

But what I will emphasize is that you get a great little show (each episode is only half hour long) where each of the cast members interrelate in a manner that would normally indicate they’ve known each other and all their little quirky foibles for years.

It’s brutal, it’s blunt, it’s raunchy, it’s downright hilarious too, and thought-provokingly poignant (Just wait until the part where Alan realizes why it is he’s stuck in the loop) – and most of all, its great entertainment that’s refreshingly different from most of the other shows out there.

Natasha Lyonne is one of the co creators of this show along with Amy Poehler and Leslye Headland. If this is indicative of their work, I want more :)

What a shame it came to an end so quickly.