Mr. Robot: New Series on USA

                                                         

 

When I first saw the trailers on television, I thought the main character was a robot. Wow! I love robots, and everyone who knows me, knows that I do and, you can learn why, here. I was able to watch the first episode the other night on Demand, but the show was not about robots.

Mr. Robot is a drama and psychological thriller created by Sam Esmail. The Show is scheduled to premiere on the USA Network on June 24^th. The executive producers are Sam Esmail, Steve Golin and Chad Hamilton.

Plot

Rami Malek plays the part of Elliot, a cyber-security engineer by day and a vigilante hacker by night. Elliot is recruited by and underground group out to destroy the corporation that he and his friend, Angela, work for. Elliot’s job is to protect the E Corporation from hackers, but he’s decided to join forces with a man called Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) to expose and destroy the forces that are ruining the world.  

                                                                      

There is just one itsy bitsy problem, Elliot has problems. He suffers from social anxiety disorder and chronic depression and he is prone to delusions...but does he? The series also stars Portia Doubleday as Angela, Carly Chaikin as Darlene, and Martin Wallstrom as Tyrell Wellick.

Conclusion

Even for a tech challenged granny like me, I was able to follow all the computer speak as Elliot and the other cyber security engineers try to stop hackers from infiltrating multinational corporations.

                                                                  

Cyber-crimes are a real problem for the private and public sectors and, as witnessed with Sony’s run-in with North Korea over the movie The Interview; no one is safe from hackers. Mr. Robot looks like the kind of show I enjoy watching. Check it out

 

True Detective and Why I'm Hooked

                                                                           

There are television series that you can take or leave and then there is True Detective. This is a HBO series that has captured my attention and loyalty. I watch and study the two main stars Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey who play Detectives Martin Hart and Rust Cohle as though hypnotized. The stories are well written and the two actors have gone way beyond their normal limit of acting strengths and range, to make the characters that they play so much more alive and believable.

                                                                

 

True Detective is crime thriller at its best. Last night’s episode called After You’ve Gone reunites the two detectives after a falling out many years ago. Rust Cohle has enough evidence to convince Hart to join in a secret investigation of a powerful family who might be responsible for the deaths of many women and children.

                                                                    

 

The main suspect is Reverend Billy Lee Tuttle, a powerful man with powerful secrets. Is he behind the molestation and death of children? Who is the Spaghetti Man? Is he the serial killer or is there a group of serial killers working under the cover of religion? And, who is the Yellow King?

                                                                        

 

See what I mean. The story gets under your skin and you can’t shake it. You find yourself cheering on the two detectives who are very human, full of faults, and have made this case more important than life itself. I’m hooked and like a dealer trying to sell the next high, I keep telling my friends to watch this show. Watch the show and let me know if, like me, you are held captive by this show.

                                                                      

                                                                     

A Taste For Syfy and Geeks

                                                                       

There are a lot of great shows on television; some are brand new like Helix. Some never seem to get old like The Big Bang Theory, which  is now in its seventh season. I never getting tired of watching the antics of my favorite geeks. Last night’s episode was about Valentine’s Day and how some men just don’t get it. I’m talking about Sheldon (Jim Parsons) who is so smart that he’s dumb. Dumb to poor Amy’s (Mayim Bialik) attempts at romance.
                                                                               

As a Valentine treat, Amy took Sheldon on a train ride and not any old train ride. She booked dinner for four on Napa's Wine Train in Napa California. I've been on that train several times with my family and let me tell you, I was just as excited as Sheldon to ride the Napa Wine Train.
                                                                               

While Howard (Simon Helberg) and his sweetie, Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) enjoy the great food on the train, Amy is left to fend for herself because Sheldon finds another train fanatic to talk to. While this is going on, Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Penny (Kaley Cuoco) mess up big time while babysitting Rajesh's (Kunal Nayyar) dog, Cinnamon.
                                                                                 

                                                                 

In the end all is well and Amy gets her kiss.

Helix
I've finally caught up with this amazing science fiction show on demand. Helix will be on tonight at 10 p.m. and I can't wait to see what happens next. I just watched the episode called "The White Room."
                                                                               

                                                                    
You're never sure who the good guys are. One of the characters, who I thought was good, Major Sergio Balleseros (Mark Ghanime) just killed another of my favorite characters, Dr. Doreen Boyle (Catherine Lemieux). Major Balleseros is under orders to find Dr. Hvit and Dr. Hatake does away with unhappy dissenters.
                                                                          

If this wasn't confusing enough, we finally find out what the white room is. Duh, it's the artic itself. When Major Balleseros goes outside of the compound looking for the mysterious Dr. Hvit, he finds the good doctor.
                                                                                  

                                                                             

 Well sort of...Dr. Hvit's head.
                                                                              

Wow, it seems the Governor from "The Walking Dead" isn't the only one collecting heads. Watch the show it's well written and keeps you guessing.

 

The Night of the Hunter

                                                                           

Even though I love watching and writing about things that are scary, like zombies, aliens and vampires; there are a few movies that can spook even a horror aficionado like myself. One of these movies is the 1955 hit, The Night of the Hunter.
                                                                              

                                                                                 
Directed by Charles Laughton and starred Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters and Lillian Gish, this movie is taken from the book of the same name by Davis Grubb. Now here is the freaking scary part. The book and movie are based on a true story.
                                                                                   

A man named Harry Powers was responsible for wooing, marrying, and then killing two widows and three children. He did it for the money and because he’s a sick bastard that got what he justly deserved; hanging. But, let’s review the movie, which is sometimes shown on TCM.

                                                                           

Plot

Ben Harper (Peter Graves commits a robbery in which two men are killed. Before he’s caught, he has a chance to hide the money where no one will ever find it. Only his young son, John (Billy Chapin) knows the secret. While awaiting his execution, Ben Harper makes friends with another prisoner, Reverend Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum). Powell is trying to find out where the stolen money is, but the only thing Ben will tell him is “A child shall lead them.”

                                                                           

It’s not much of a clue, but Powell knows that the children are part of the secret. Robert Mitchum is a wonderfully talented actor, but he scares the shit out of me. He outdid himself in this movie, giving me nightmares whenever I watch this movie. His character is a sickie alright with his tattoos of ‘Love’ on one hand and ‘Hate’ on the other hand and his smooth talking ways. He searches out Willa Harper (Shelley Winters) and woos her. Blind to the Reverend’s evil ways, Willa marries Rev. Powell.

                                                                              

John and Pearl

John Harper (Billy Chapin) can see right through the guise of Rev. Powell. Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce) is a wee one and doesn’t understand why her brother doesn’t trust the new daddy.
                                                                                   

John is a survivor and very protective of his little sister. When the Reverend questions and threatens the children on the whereabouts of the money, Willa overhears him. That night, she pays with her life.

                                                                               

But John and his sister, along with her doll, escape the Reverend’s clutches and take off in the boat, floating down the river until they come to the river’s edge and sanctuary.

                                                                         

                                                                       

Rachael Cooper

Rachael Cooper is played by the marvelous Lillian Gish. She gracefully moved from silent films into talkies. Rachael is a good soul, a tough old soul, who takes in the lost children of the world. She feeds, heals wounds; seen and unseen, and she protects like a mother grizzly bear. When John and Pearl come to her half-starving and fearful of their lives, she opens her home, arms and heart to them. Before long John and Pearl are part of the growing family that Rachael has gathered to herself.

                                                                        

Conclusion

When the Reverend tracks the children to Rachael’s farm, he mistakenly takes Rachael for a weak woman. He’s mistaken, big time. Shotgun in hand, Rachael sends Reverend Powell running with his tail between his legs and the police in close pursuit. Rachael sums up the whole horrible events that John, Pearl and the other lost children had survived before reaching her protective arms with this message, “Children, they abide and they endure.”
                                                                                 

 

Watch this movie if you get a chance and tell me if Robert Mitchum wasn’t scary as hell.