Empty Seats Film Reviews

Empty Seats is a weekly podcast where we talk professional basketball and review shows and movies. 

Lovecraft Country Ep 2 and 3 review (30 Minutes - spoilers)

Empty Seats is a show that talks NBA basketball, reviews movies and shows, and talks video games. 

Lovecraft Country

Created by Misha Greene, and produced by JJ Abrams, and Jordan Peele production

Today we will discuss the first episode titled, Sundown.

(15:10 spoilers)

Lovecraft Country

2020 HBO Drama-Horror series adapted from a 2016 novel of the same name by author Matt Ruff. The story is about a young African American who travels across the U.S. in the 1950’s in search of his missing father

Starring

Jonathan Majors- Atticus Freeman

Jurnee Smollett- Letita ‘Leti’ Lewis

Courtney B. Vance- Uncle George Freeman

Michael Kenneth WIlliams- Montrose Freeman

First episode was a pretty solid opener. It did a good job of establishing the tone of 1950's America before going to H.P. Lovecraft on us. I really felt like this pilot episode was meant to be a LOTR Fellowship of the Ring type episode where Jonathan is Frodo and he leaves the safety of the shire, Chicago, to embark on a dangerous quest to fulfill his destiny. The beauty of this episode is that it transplants trolls, goblins, and Balrog’s for Jim Crow segregation and racism. Our heroes have to be quick, smart, and lucky in order to escape and make it to the safety of Lothlorien (Ardham, or that big mansion at the end of the episode). Really though I enjoyed the beginning because it becomes so crazy so quickly with War of the Worlds type dreams while fighting in the Korean War. Also, his conversation with the woman on the road about the Princess from Mars AKA JOhn Carter, is basically him.

Empty Seats is a weekly podcast that normally talks movies and TV show; however, this week with the start of the NBA season looming we discuss our greatest NBA players of all time

Empty Seats is a weekly podcast where we review TV shows, movies, video games, comic books, and talk sports

Watchman TV series HBO

Directors: Nicole Kassell 3 episodes

Stephen Williams 2 episodes

Step Green 1 ep

Adrij Parekh 1 ep

David Semel 1

Frederick E.O. Toye 1ep

Writers:

Cord Jefferson

Jeff Jensen

Claire Kiechel

Damon Lindelof (Lost) - creator

Alan Moore (wrote the original comic book but distanced himself from this project)

Stacy Osei-Kuffour

Nick Cuse

Actors:

Regina King as Angela Abar/sister night

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Cal Abar and MM

Tom Mison/ Mr. Phillips/ Game Warden

Sara Vickers as Ms. Crookshanks

Jeremy Irons as Adrian Veidt

Andrew Howard as Red Scare

Louis Gossett Jr. as Will Reeves

Jean Smart as Lauri Blake

Tim Blake Nelson as Wade Tillman/Looking Glass

James Wolk as Joe Keene

Hon Chau as Lady Trieu

Don Johnson as Judd Crawford

This is a show that tries to be complex in its portrayal of systemic racism and interpersonal violence against people of color. However, at times it doesn’t know if it wants to simply reenact racism by leaning into stereotypes and fears held in American society for decades or expose the false beliefs the behaviors reveal. Optically, it presses the shame button multiple places in the story, white man versus black man, white woman versus black woman (competing affections for the same black man - hits the “why did this fine and blessed black man pick a white woman and the competition that ensues). God as a black man. Etc. Ultimately, It didn’t strike an empathic cord, it was visually explicit, but the story narrative lacked the edginess of the visual effects. At one point I wondered if I was watching a porn video. Regina King and Hon Chau save the story with their portrayal of believable and amazing female characters. I’m not sure that even their heroics save this story from being an exploitive, manipulative, mess.

Watchman TV series is about systemic racism in that it depicts white supremacists and racists in different era’s committing racist acts on multiple levels.

Empty Seats is a weekly podcast where we discuss science fiction and fantasy shows and movies, as well as, video game, comic books, and sports. 

Hello everyone! Today we wanted to change up our usual format and take a break from dedicating a whole episode or series of episodes to one show or movie. Instead, we are starting our new segment, “Quarantine Watch”. A simple premise where Tom and I reveal what movies or shows we have been watching in order to stave off our descent into an isolation induced depression and psychosis.

Eric’s topics

Underwater- Janurary 10th, 2020

The Dead Don’t Die- June 14th, 2019

Rick and Morty: Season 4, 2nd half

Creator: Dan Harmon

After Life - Nefflix Original; Ricky Gervias. Its a British comedy that follows a man after the death of his wife of 20 years due to cancer.

Homecoming - Amazon Prime. Julia Roberts, etc.

War - DC animated movie prompts the question: why can’t the live action movies be this good?

Empty Seats is a weekly podcast where we talk about the shows we love to watch. Most weeks those shows involve fantasy, science fiction, or horror topics. However, this week we talk about the ESPN documentary Last Dance. 

The Last Dance

Direct by: Jason Hehir

A 10-part Docuseries covering the Chicago Bulls last championship season and the career of Michael Jordan, widely accepted as the best NBA (if not all of sports) player of all time. AKA the G.O.A.T.

What makes a good documentary?

First lets discuss how we feel about the documentary as a documentary. Did we like it, was it informative, and was it paced well.

Now on to the actual content.

Set the stage: when were you when..the Bulls won their first title? Jordan Came back 1996..and came back..2001 (standing ovation at the United Center when he played his first game as a Wizard)

Empty Seats is a weekly podcast that reviews fantasy, science fiction, super hero shows and moves. We talk video games, comic books, and sometime Chicago sports. 

Westworld Episode 8: Crisis Theory

Recap

Delores is brought back to life by Caleb and she realizes she made the right choice in Caleb. She anoints Caleb as the leader of the revolution and then tries to get him to Incite HQ to upload Solomon’s plan. This doesn’t go as planned and she fights Maeve again, but this time wins before the Ghost of Charlotte ceases all of her motor functions. When awoken she` is linked directly to Rehoboam to find the key that is supposedly in her brain. Caleb is captured by Maeve and brought to Serac and Delores, but not before Maeve figures out that Rehoboam is actually in control and Serac is basically a puppet or mouthpiece. Serac kills Delores by deleting her memories, but not before she opens her mind to Maeve and shows her the reason behind her plans all along which was to save the human race. She chooses to see the Beauty in humanity and not its evil. Maeve turns and saves the day. Delores gives Caleb control of Rehoboham and he tells it to delete itself. The war is over….or is it? Everything else is pretty much inconsequential to the overall plot.

What a season finale. Delores gives her life to save humanity.

Westworld Ep. 7: Passed Pawn

Musashi is killed by Clementine and Hanaryo while Charlotte hangs in the background with a partially reconstructed face.

Dolores and Caleb make it to the reeducation center in Mexico. They find Solomon there who is the father of Rehoboram. This obsolete AI program tells Caleb about his past as an outlier who was brainwashed into becoming a hunter of other outliers and the Riot app is run by Rehoborahm to find and apprehend outliers. Maeve soon arrives and Dolores and her get into a duel which ends with Dolores having her arm blown off before she can activate the EMP that kills her, Maeve, and Solomon. This is not before Solomon is able to generate a revolution strategy for Caleb who is now the leader, and the one to overthrow Rehoboram (and possibly the human race).

MEANWHILE, Bernard and Stubbs are with William and they are searching for something. After figuring out about he outlier program and how Serac has been treating them like hosts, the 3 of them seemingly travel to find Caleb out in Mexico when they stop at a gas station. William finds a shotgun and is holding them hostage or is about the kill them

What can we expect in the season finale? Trailers have revealed that Dolores and Maeve are very much still alive and in for one final face off? Will we have any resolution for the plot lines of this season? I honestly have no idea what to expect at this point.

**could the Caleb set up have been handled in one or two episodes?

**Couldn’t they have involved William earlier or not added this - again

**Is this the first season of a “new show”?

Empty Seats is a weekly podcast that reviews science fiction, fantasy, and horror shows and Movies. We also discuss sports video games and other things impacting our lives. 

This is a review show and we will spoil the episode. Please watch the show before listening. 

Empty Seats is a weekly podcast that reviews science fiction, fantasy, super hero, and horror shows and movies. 

Tiger King: Netflix documentary

Directors:

Rebecca Chaiklin

Eric Goode

Carol Baskin

Joe Exotic

Bhagavan Antle

Jeff Lowe

James Garretson

...host of criminals and personality disordered individuals

Tiger King is a documentary covering the ownership, exploitation, and abuse of exotic animals in America. It also covers the rather unbelievable lives of the owners of these exotic pets who’s lifestyles often seem scripted as they incorporate Tigers, drugs, polygamy, Murder for hire, and running for political office among other things. Also since it is easily the highest rated show at the moment and the one everyone has been talking about since we all have been quarantined in our homes.

Westworld Episode 4: The Mother of Exiles

Title is pretty self explanatory after watching this episode. All of our main characters are trying to figure each other out, and the audience is just trying to figure out what the hell is happening.

All of this culminates in a beautiful 3rd act where we find out who all of the hosts are. They are all copies of Dolores inhabiting other hosts bodies. William ends up at the center of the maze, broken, alone, and still trying to figure out who he is.