| The River |
[Feb. 8th, 2012|09:40 pm] |
Much to your faithful TV Nerd's dismay, there aren't that many new shows debuting this mid-season that I'm interested in. There's Bizarre Foods America on Travel Channel, because Andrew Zimmern is my hero, and there's The River, which premiered Tuesday night on ABC.
Brought to the airwaves (cablewaves?) by Oren Peli of Paranormal Activity fame, The River employs the same first person camera POV as the film in telling the story of missing popular TV naturalist Emmett Cole (Bruce Greenwood, whom you all remember from Nowhere Man, right?) and the people who go looking for him in an uncharted part of the Amazon, namely his wife Tess (Leslie Hope, whom I last saw as Kristina Frye on The Mentalist), son Lincoln (Joe Anderson from the forthcoming final Twilight movie), and a TV crew that intends to turn their journey into a lucrative reality show. I decided pretty quickly that the first person camera doesn't necessarily add much to the story, but it does add an extra layer of intensity to the creepy scenes, so I suppose the gimmick is worth it in the end. And so far, there sure are a lot of creepy scenes, from an angry spirit stalking their boat at night to a tree from whose vines dangle thousands of old, battered children's dolls. (The monkey with the doll's face on its head was a spectacular fake out.)
The creepy stuff works, and the setting is amazing, but the characters could use some work. The TV crew are all scumbags, the private security guy is your run of the mill macho gun nut, and Emmett's family members and friends are all a little too earnest. Similarly, someone needs to tell them that a little use of CGI dragonflies goes a long way--the more they show them, the worse they look.
But I have to say, I kind of liked it a lot. I'll be tuning in again for sure. Unfortunately, the ratings for the premiere weren't great, so I suspect The River won't make it past this initial eight-episode season. But I plan to be there for the journey. |
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I am going to recognize Joe Anderson from Across the Universe until he gets a better part. But he seems to be getting a lot of parts these days (he was also killed by wolves in The Grey)
I was looking at his IMDB page and couldn't find anything I'd seen!
He's really good in Across the Universe - I definitely recommend it (unless you absolutely hate the Beatles)
I had slight problems with how quickly Lincoln adjusted to the new status quo, but then again, I always get annoyed with characters who have supernatural shit happen right in front of them and still don't believe it, so I probably shouldn't complain. Loved large sections of the second episode, though--Jahel's possession, Lincoln not getting why you shouldn't taunt the doll-tree, Mom emerging from the grave. I like the smoking gun with Thomas Kretschmann's character (are those people he's talking to about "the Source" nazis, maybe? Nazis from Brazil?), actually quite enjoy the heartless British film crew, and Bruce Greenwood being what Nobody from Dead Man would indubitably call a "stupid effin' white man" about Brazilian shamanism cracks me up. Like you, I'm here for the duration.
Yeah, I felt weird about how quickly they accepted the presence of ghosts and the supernatural, too. Expediency, I suppose.
I can't bring myself to watch it. When I saw the commercials at first I was so excited, and now I'm scared of the letdown.
Maybe when I'm less fragile.
BTW you were totally in my dream last night. We decided to be "nerdfriends" and watched The Firm.
That's how you know it's a dream--I would never watch The Firm!
B-b-but... c-can we still be nerdfriends?
Are you implying quoting Community lines at each other doesn't qualify as being nerdfriends?
We’ve just stopped being a study group. We have become something unstoppable. I hereby pronounce us nerdfriends!
How many episodes of this have aired? I DVR'd last week's, but haven't watched it yet. But the guide didn't say it was the pilot episode or anything, so I'm wondering how much I've already missed.
It premiered last week, but with two hours back to back--the first and second episodes. | |
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