Wednesday, October 29, 2014

The Strain: TV Series

Saw the TV series The Strain first season and must say it began in a good way.

The first few episodes were shrouded in mystery which got my attention. The death of all passengers except four in an airline upon landing in the JFK airport. A beautifully carved coffin finding its way into the plane’s cargo and later disappearing in thin air.

The Center of Disease Control (CDC) officials thought it to be an epidemic as they search for answers through the dead bodies when they come across the coffin.

The story revolves around a few main characters in the plot:

  • The CDC officer investigating the cause of the deaths and coping with the break-up of his family.
  • The Jew who runs the pawnshop and only goal is to defeat evil.
  • The German, a true loyalist of his Master and ensure that they succeed in their evil plan.
  • The Dying Man, who is powerful and only seeks his immortality at any cost.
  • The Thug, trying to making a living by committing petty crimes.
  • The Master, the evil spirit that’s out to control the New York city.

The coffin transported to the city happens to be the lair of the Master who has traveled on behest of a dying man desire to attain immortality. Unwittingly he ends up playing in the control of the master putting the entire city at risk.

It’s the Jew who stands between the Master’s plan along with a few accomplices to put an end to it as he shares a past with him.

The series started on a good pace though in between I wondered how the human who were infected ended up being called as vampire. You always see vampires sucking blood out of its victim by its teeth. Here they do it by a tube like organ which could be one or two feet long to suck its blood. My question is why they are called vampires and not any other name especially when people’s perception of vampire has been different.

After a few episodes, I was really wondering what the master was about, but they have hardly revealed anything in the first season. Apart from the encounter of the Holocaust survivor who is out to kill the evil.

There is really a point where one kind of thinks, when there will be an ending given that the concept/story of the series is a straight give away. There is evil spreading across and human spirit is required to stop it.

What got me thinking is how long one can stretch such a concept to probably more than two or three season and that too with the assumption that post killing the master the plot leads to some other mystery that would keep the tv series alive and the viewer’s busy.

The first season has been okay though they have maintained the mystery of the master and its existence. The master not getting killed by the daylight in the last episode does leaves one looking for answers when there are none.


Looking forward for its second season but hope it’s spiced up with more mystery and is not a straight plot that anybody can guess….

Sunday, October 19, 2014

The Maze Runner

When you go to watch a movie, it does not matter who the actors are or what the story is about as long as the movie keeps you engrossed.

That is what the movie The Maze Runner is about.

The movie keeps you enthralled all the time. There is not a dull moment where you think what the hell they are showing.

The Maze Runner is a story about a boy with no memory of his past and is brought into a place called Glade with no memories of the past teenaged boys living surrounded by the walls of a maze.

The maze access is only restricted to the runners group. Runners who enter the maze to study it and try to find an exit out of it but it keeps on changing every night and then there are greivers whose stung can kill one. The boys are divided into a set of a group who has been assigned specific tasks to do.

The curiosity of one boy to get out of the maze and the events followed is the theme of the movie. The ending gives a glimpse of the sequel movies that will follow as part of the trilogy.

The movie lead is played by Dylan O’Brien, a talented actor. Those who have watched his TV series Teenwolf should know.

A well directed movie by Wess Ball

If you have watched Resident Evil series and the Hunger Games, then you will realize that the story is on a similar pattern but different treatment.

This is probably the first installment of the trilogy. Based on a book with same name; written by James Dashner. He has also written the two sequel books on it. The Sorch Trials (movie supposed to be released on Sept 2015) and The Death Cure.

He has also written two prequel books The Kill Order and The Fever Code.

The movie has got my attention and yes I am keeping my fingers crossed that the sequel too is this interesting.


Do watch it. Recommended.