Welcome back to the We Have Always Lived in the Kraken, a pop culture blog transmitted directly to you from the belly of the beast. Here in the Notes we’ll show you this week’s posting schedule, but first, a little Seafood for Thought.
Prestige movie season is in full swing! With The Martian and Sicario, Hollywood is finally serious about releasing good movies. This comes at a good time, as it is around now that a lot of people are starting to wonder how we should view the 2015 movie year as a whole. Up until now, whether you viewed this year favorably came down to how many indie films you have been able to see. The summer season was hit or miss in terms of quality, with ridiculous highs (Mad Max: Fury Road) and abysmal lows (Pixels, anyone?), which makes it hard to evaluate the year on average. If you’ve been able to see a lot of indie films, the year looks a lot better, which is just how the industry works now that anything aiming remotely for quality in a mainstream genre comes out during October, November, and December (outside of Wes Anderson, who has the spring release down). I have found this year to be a little uneven so far, but it seems likely that it will end strong, just like many of the past year in cinema (outside of 2011, which was truly a bad year for movies as a whole–guys The Artist won an Oscar for Best Picture in 2011). I am looking forward to a lot of movies this year, including Bridge of Spies, Hateful Eight, and The Revenant, so there is certainly still hope for 2015 to turn things around.
David Robertson
Meanwhile, the first week of the blog went very well, and we can only hope we can build on this early success going forward. So check out what we have planned for this week!
Monday:
- Killtoberfest 3 continues as Kyu brings us his latest review: Suicide Club, a Japanese chiller about a killer fad sweeping the nation. Plus, if you have ever wondered about the Killtoberfest that began it all, we have great news! All of the original reviews from Killtoberfest 1 will be up by the end of the day in our feature archive and ready for your perusal.
Tuesday:
- TV Roulette Catch-Up continues as I jump back into the recent past once again to look at an early episode of this season of NBC’s Emmy-winning The Voice (oh lord, I can’t believe I typed that). How is The Voice holding up in a world that is trending away from reality singing competitions?
- Killtoberfest 3 continues with Hong Kong’s answer to The Sixth Sense, 2002’s The Eye.
Wednesday:
- My week-to-week TV Roulette continue to be strangely fitting for the upcoming holiday, as this week I cover SyFy’s Face-Off. I have never seen this show before, so it’s time to make up for that. (I am not proud of what I just did…)
- Killtoberfest 3 keeps on trucking with the excellent and gory Korean serial killer thriller I Saw the Devil.
Thursday:
- Our old blog, Drunken Thieves, may be gone, but it is not forgotten. Drunken Thieves mainstay feature The Anticipated makes its debut at the Kraken as I examine Crimson Peak. I struggled with whether I would actually see this movie or not, so we’ll see if I made the right decision.
- Killtoberfest 3 knows the only way out is down; follow it into the depths with last year’s found footage film As Above, So Below.
Friday:
- Nothing’s scheduled for today, so why not reread something, catch up on Killtoberfest, or tell your friends about us? please tell your friends about us.
Saturday:
- Baturdays! Kyu continues his challenge to read and view all of the Batman from the very beginning. Join him as he swoops in to look at the second Batman comic ever, Detective Comics #28.
- Killtoberfest 3 continues with 9 Better Movies that Afflicted should have been.
Meanwhile, Killtoberfest 3 continues. Kyu’s mad quest to watch and review one horror film a day is proving difficult, but he’s still trying. Check out the list of upcoming reviews here.
Spotlight on Blogs Past:
With Killtoberfest 1 now added to our archives, we especially want to draw your attention to Kyu’s climactic Killtoberfest 1 essay, an in-depth look at the cinematography and gender themes in The Silence of the Lambs that should be a great read for all you cinephiles out there.
Catch of the Week:
Each and every week the residents here in the Kraken will offer one recommendation for the week that we think you all would enjoy. It might be a movie. It might be a book. Who knows? This is your… Catch of the Week.
Kyu: My October-y recommendations continue, as my catch this week is the remarkable ouvre of Japanese horror manga creator Junji Ito. Ito’s restrained black and white line-work sets a complacent tone for scenes of normal life before shattering it with shockingly bizarre images of body horror. A master of surrealism, Ito draws his ideas from a nightmare realm all his own–instead of vampires or zombies, you’ll learn to fear spirals (Uzumaki), a girl’s hair in (Tomie), and even dead fish (Gyo). Want a bite-sized look at Ito’s style and unique brand of horror? Check out his chilling short story, The Enigma of the Amigara Fault–but be warned, Ito always brings the nightmare fuel.
Keskel: Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans. A modernization of Gundam’s “war is hell” (with mecha) ethos, this is the rare show with amoral child soldiers who really act like child soldiers. It just started, along with rest of the final anime season of 2015, so check it out whenever you can!
David: Do you like comedy? Are you tired of shows about love that always feel a bit too tidy? Then you should watch the best comedy currently on television, FXX’s You’re The Worst. Stephen Falks’ comedy is in the middle of its second season, and gives an honest look at relationships, being an adult, and, well, people who are the worst. It is well worth your time, so get to watching.
That’s it for this week. We hope you continue to find the Kraken to your liking so far. The monster certainly has enjoyed the company, but watch your step. We are still looking for the guest blogger that got lost in the portal room.