I have no doubt that many of you will find it strange, but sometimes I really like blurry photos of a rainstorm. They have a dreamlike quality and, every once in a while, you’ll get a shot that resembles an impressionist painting.
A review of the pilot for Stephen King’s “Mr. Mercedes” (2017)
With all of the (frequently quite poor) buzz about the arrival this summer of “The Dark Tower” and “The Mist,” “Mr. Mercedes” might be the Stephen King adaptation that has slipped under the radar. And that’s a shame, because the pilot episode suggests it might be one of the best King adaptations ever. I’d rate it a 9 out of 10.
It really is that good. The show’s first episode begins what looks to be an intelligent horror-thriller that is surprisingly faithful to King’s outstanding novel. David E. Kelley’s script is excellent. After a brutal prologues that sets its plot in motion, the story proceeds with three-dimensional, likable characters who are well played by their performers — especially Brendan Gleeson in the role of the grumpy, retired-cop anti-hero who is harassed by a mass murderer. (Yes, that is indeed the Dad from 2002’s “28 Days Later.”) Gleeson is just great — even though I found myself wondering why a retired Chicago cop should have a heavy U.K. accent.
The script even surprises us by being incongruously sweet during its odder moments. Like its source material, the show effortlessly sets up characters that are easy to like. (An exchange between Gleeson some kids playing hockey outside his house, for example, was truly inspired.)
The story’s plot-driving horror elements are disturbing, too — both in terms of its grisly violence and its sexual taboos. This is not a show for the faint of heart.
This also seems like it could be a King adaptation that could easily appeal to people outside his usual fanbase. There are no supernatural elements to this story, or any tangible connections to King’s sprawling, interconnected “Dark Tower” multi-verse. (The original novel seemed to show us King trying his hand at a Thomas Harris-type serial killer tale.)
The only reservation I might have about “Mr. Mercedes” is what I am guessing about its pace. The original novel was quite slow, despite being an engaging read. After its gut-wrenching mass murder is depicted in graphic detail, the plot moves forward rather lethargically. The one-hour pilot episode here seemed to mirror that, in its apparent loyalty to its source material. I predict that viewers turning to “Mr. Mercedes” for a fast-paced horror tale will be disappointed.
I think that’s probably a subjective quibble on my part, though. I’d still enthusiastically recommend this.
I spend way too much time on the Internet.
So I’ve been ransacking the cooler at my local Dunkin’ Donuts a lot lately, looking for just the right novelty bottle. Because I am an emotionally disturbed 44-year-old man, with too much time on my hands, and not much in the way of an actual agenda.
This is what my search efforts recently labored to produce. I plopped it down, looked the girl at the counter directly in the eye, and belted out, “LEEROOOOOOOOOOOOY JENKINS!!!”
She looked at me as though I had just demonstrated severe mental illness, like maybe I had addressed her as “Mom,” or tried to pay for my soda with cotton swabs or something.
Is the joke that old? Is the reference too obscure?
I feel certain she knew I was not simply crooning my own real name. I look and sound so much like a New Yorker that I cannot possibly pass for a “Leroy.” Probably not even a “Jenkins.”
Oh, well. YOU people get me.
Cover to “World’s Finest Comics” #286, Rich Butler and Dick Giordano, 1982.
DC Comics.
Advertisement for “The Evil Women Do,” Burton Rice, 1916
The ad appeared in the September 1916 issue of “Moving Picture World.”
Franconia-Springfield Metro Station, Virginia
I arrived here with a friend to pick up a third arriving from DC. These stations are always so much cleaner than their counterparts in New York.
An interview of a former FBI agent who infiltrated white supremacy groups.
I’m linking here to a brief but excellent AJ+ interview of Mike German, who infiltrated white supremacy groups as an FBI agent in the 1990’s. To me, German appears to offer a nearly academic analysis of what such organizations actually are and how they appeal to people — but his explanations are easy for any layperson to understand. He is also critical of both Obama and Trump.
He says some disconcerting things about why these groups are an increased threat in the America of 2017.
A short review of “The Dead 2: India” (2013)
At times, “The Dead 2: India” (2013), seems like a carbon copy of its predecessor three years earlier. Both “The Dead” and “The Dead 2” portray American male protagonists on a lengthy overland trek to reach a wife or girlfriend. Both were shot on location in an overseas setting. (The original took place in Africa.) And both portray a second protagonist who is a native of the country. (In this case it’s a little boy portrayed by Anand Krishna Goyal. Even a curmudgeon like me has got to admit — that kid is adorable.)
I liked the first movie a bit better. This one feels a little hastily put together, in terms of its script and directing.
It does manage to succeed somewhat with the things that made the first film decent viewing. Its desert locations are beautifully shot, and the filmmakers bring back some of the original’s slow-burn horror elements. The zombies here are usually as slow as snails — slower even than the zombies of George A. Romero’s genre-defining early films. But they’re also quiet, and they converge en masse when our hero lets his guard down. And the occasional appearance of a rare feisty specimen leads to some genuine jump scares. The movie also effectively employs what appears to be a low-budget special effect — the monsters’ eyes are of an opal-white, otherworldly color. (I’m guessing those are colored contact lenses?) The trick works, the zombies are scary, and “The Dead 2” successfully provides a kind of “creeping horror” that is rare for today’s horror films.
That wasn’t enough, however, to rescue this movie entirely from feeling like a retread of the original. I’d describe this as an average viewing experience for a horror fan, and I’d rate it a 6 out of 10.
Tonight’s thoughts:
- I wonder how long it will take for people to start referring to the Trump administration as the Turd Reich? I can’t be the first person who thought of this. The pun is too easy.
- “You had a group on one side that was bad, and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent. And nobody wants to say that.” I wonder … is this how he would describe World War II?
- I’m thinking of renouncing my past statements of admiration for the French resistance during World War II. It has been brought to my attention that they were operating with a government permit.
- The Russians. The Nazis. Foreign dictators. It’s like the only people who Trump won’t criticize are the villains from 1980’s action movies. What’s next? Is he going to tacitly defend Zuul from goddam “Ghostbusters?”
[The memes are not my own:]
Northern Virginia Rainstorm, August 2016
I took this video a year ago today. It seems like another age. So much has happened between then and now. It’s feels surreal how our perceptions of time can be so subjective.
This was one hell of storm. Summer thunderstorms in Southwest Virginia seem absolutely commonplace. It is an extraordinary experience watching them roll in over the mountains, each of them a rapid fog ragnarok — and then moving on just as swiftly.
I don’t think I’ve seen a storm around Roanoke yet that can match the wet armageddon below, though.
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 