The Resolve Ep.1 “First Kill”

The Resolve centers around Mike Patterson (RussCootey), a beleaguered man, gripped by O.C.D. issues with humanity, unleashed by fiery clashes on others. He explains to his therapist Sean Miller (Alex Ballar – War Wolves) how he has found a way to
deal with his compulsion, which is to kill those who he believes are responsible for the misalignment in humanity.

4 Swirlies

“You what was really strange? Watching the lights go out in his eyes.”

Another one of the new series that I randomly came across. In contrast to the previous new series that I reviewed, the production values in this show are subpar, but the total effect of the story is bigger than the sum of its parts. This series entertained and intrigued me

And the acting of the lead, Russ Cootey, is pretty intense. In his conversation with his therapist about his murders, you get the impression that this guy could do those things – and be totally honest when he asks, “Why should I feel guilt?”

Oh, he’s the director, producer, star, executive producer, etc.

There’s an interesting scene at the end, all the more intriguing because I’m not sure what it means. Is he so relieved and relaxed for doing what he sees as right that he’s finally falling asleep? Or is he actually feeling that edge of remorse?

The poor production and the somewhat haphazard (outside of that one great main scene between the guy and his therapist) script are holding this series back, but I’ll admit it – I’m hooked. Are they going somewhere with this? Am I just reading too much into it?

Non-Essential Personnel Ep1. “Corporate Solutions”

Mercury Systems announces a new corporate policy that doesn’t sit well with Jonathan Clark and his co-workers at the Portland office.

3 Swirlies

“Really? How many kills? Per week or per month? Bullshit.”

A twists on the office comedy.

This is a satire of the U.S. military industrial complex, about office workers at a Blackwater type place.

Oh, is it just me, or does Vimeo always take forever to buffer? Waiting… waiting…

Okay, here we go.

I’m not sure if there’s just more new series, or if I’m getting easier at spotting them in the wild, but somehow I suddenly came across a whole whack of new series. This is one of them.

Like many first episodes, this one suffers from being all set up. We meet a lot of characters, but then they each get one or two lines. There’s no development.

My favourite is the main guy’s boss, the ex-general type. He’s the only one that seems to have any actual funny lines.

The production is really great, the camera work and sound editing is good. The acting is pretty good. There’s nothing about it that’s not competent, it’s just not really all that entertaining. Sorry to say, but that’s how I feel.

We’ll check out the second episode and see if things pick up.

Aidan5 Ep.1 “The Rooftop”

Based on the award-winning 48-hr film festival short, AIDAN 5 is a no-budget, sci-fi web series. It has been short listed for Best Original Series for the Vimeo Awards, and was an Official Selection at the Dragon*Con Independent Film Festival and at GenCon Indianapolis. The Original 48 Hour Film short was 2nd Runner-Up at the Miami International Film Festival and has been screened at the Cannes Short Film Block.

This is the first episode of the series.

“At least your damn surrogates know their place around here!”

Cool!

They made this is 48 hours? This sci-fi series features live actors against pencil and charcoal sketch sets and locations.

The story is that of a police detective who has cloned himself 5 times. But then he finds versions of himself turning up dead. Who’s doing the killing?

It ends with a twist that I found a little confusing. The script’s not really the best. Lots of voice over. And I like a good voice over, when it is used well. But all in all, this series is pretty cool.

It looks like they’ll have new episodes in March, 2011. We’ll have to check in then!

Naomi The Show: Ep. 1

In Episode 1, Naomi gets a bus stop proposition.

3 Swirlies

“Okay, six dollars.”

Wow, Vancouver looks beautiful!  Okay, I’m easily distracted.  But visually, this episode—basically one long shot—was to the point, and had the audience asking way more questions than you’d ever imagine from one shot.

Like, why is the young lady sitting next to a bum?  Is that pee running down his jeans?  Is that mountain in the background really that pretty?  (Yes.  Yes, it is.)

All besides the point.  But gotta love the attention to visual detail—the audience always appreciates a little extra funny tucked in there by the filmmakers, especially when it concerns character.

Because this episode was less than a minute (almost like a commercial spot), there wasn’t a whole lot of time to get into either character or story—which is why the visual gags become even more important.

Naomi, the young lady/protagonist, doesn’t even speak in this episode, which is a challenging and an interesting choice by the filmmakers.  Does it work?  I’m not quite sure.  I have an inkling of who this character might be, but no overt confirmation.

But this was just a tease—a brief snapshot and joke– setting up the audience’s expectations for the rest of the series, which we imagine will follow Naomi on her day-to-day encounters with weird people in the city of Vancouver?

There’s really not enough to go on based on this first episode, but I’m definitely open to checking out the next one!

Created by Naomi Dayneswood & Jennica Harper
Director: Nicholas Humphries
Writer: Jennica Harper
Producers: Robert Woolsey & Naomi Dayneswood
Starring: Naomi Dayneswood & Alex Dafoe
Director of Photography: Christopher Charles Kempinski
Editor: Chad Galloway
Sound Design: Michael Scott Schrum
Makeup Design: Alyssa Satow & Katie Satow
Title Credit Design: Christopher Preksta
Music Composer: Chris King
Proudly Supported by Vancouver Film School – http://www.vfs.com

Anyone But Me S01E01 “Heavy Lifting”

Vivian McMillan moves out of the city and away from herself.
Latest episodes and info on ABM at www.AnyoneButMeSeries.com

4 Swirlies

“Do you do hugs?”

Guest reviewer Elize Morgan reviewed a more recent episode, so I thought I would start posting episodes from the beginning for those who haven’t seen it.

Anyone But Me is a perpetual fav when it comes to web series. It’s about a lesbian teenager who has to move away from New York, and the girl she loves, because her father became sick after 9/11.

It’s nice that the internet allows different groups to be themselves. If two girls kissed on mainstream TV it would either be pornographic and/or trigger a massive outcry. (See the latest non-controversy over Skins.) Here it is just treated like it is – normal.

I don’t know if I knew this and just forgot or what, but this is a Strike.tv show – the experiment by the Writer’s Guild of America to make web series during the Writer’s Strike back in… was it 2008? Many of those shows were quickly abandoned when the strike was over and the writers went back to actual paying jobs. It’s nice to see Anyone But Me started there and stuck around.

It’s always hard for me approaching a series that I have heard about over and over but haven’t really sat down to watch from the start. This first episode is a lot of set up and a little slice of life-y. We meet the characters, and Vivian moves in with her aunt, and that’s the episode. I’m not too sure where it’s going from here. But it is nice to add another straight drama to the shows we’re covering regularly on The Watch List – even if I just may be the only person who hasn’t seen this show.

The Varients Ep. 1

The Variants Web Series Pilot Episode. Joe misses out on a limited hardcover and can’t recover a copy for himself.

Watch more of this web series comedy about life at a comic book shop at our site http://www.thevariants.com
and twitter @variants

4 Swirlies

“Yeah. Like I’m gonna go back into Deliverance land and ask Stockroom Guy for his copy? No.”

Here’s a fun little discovery.

Sure, it’s rough around the edges and is a little long for the amount of story in the pilot, but it does tell a nice little story. We get a sense of all the characters without feeling like it is simply informing us about them, like we see in a lot of first episodes. This one is actually about something – a guy wants a new, limited edition comic book badly and, being tricked out of it, has to try to con someone else’s.

Sure, the part in the middle in this episode is a long stall, as all our guy can do to get a copy is ask various customers to give up theirs. But there’s a fun rant about midway, and the ending is a touching twist that I didn’t see coming which, hopefully, points to some heart in this show. I am a little uncertain about where it is going (I don’t want to spoil the reveal by giving too much away) but that’s a pleasant surprise to me. There’s also a few funny bits of dialogue.

So, give it a chance. Stick it out until the end. Now that I told you to expect a surprise, you may see it coming a long time before I did. If you hate me for making you watch this, you can tell me off in the comments.

Night of the Zombie King Ep.1 “From the Shadows”

Jamison “Jaz” Colier is captain of a Goblins & Gold team which has been recently removed from the pro rankings. Frustrated and disappointed, he flees his troubles by traveling from Los Angeles to his hometown of San Jose, where he has not visited for over fifteen years. When he arrives, he is hi-jacked by a group of old friends for a surprise night of gaming.

3 Swirlies

“I know. It’s like looking into the Guardian of Forever.”

The opening titles are amazing – really nicely done. With lots of info without being too long. Awesome.

Old friends get together to pick up the game they were playing 15 years ago.

The production is good (especially the lighting!) but not stellar. The episode, like almost all first episodes, is long on backstory and set up and light on actual story. It’s more prologue than story. We meet the characters, but we don’t really get much a sense of who they are. I’m also not sure of where this show is going – what happens next episode now that the adventure has started.

What does work is the sweetness and sense of nostalgia the characters feel for each other and the game. There’s a hint that the last session went wrong, fifteen years ago, but I’m not sure if the guy they’re talking about hasn’t shown up yet, or if one of the very happy group we meet has a secret grudge.

I guess time, and subsequent episodes, will tell.

We’ll also have to make a note to check out Gold. It appears to be made by the same people who are behind Night of the Zombie King.

More Info:

written by: David Nett, Rick Robinson & Andrew R. Deutsch
directed by: David Nett
cinematography by: Andrew R. Deutsch
edited by: David Nett & Frederick Snyder
featuring: James Ellis Lane, Jonathan Nail, Maxwell Glick, Stephanie Thorpe, Brian Majestic
production staff & crew: Matthew Arevalo, Jamie Blair, Maria Deutsch, Rob Gokee, Joey Harris, Mike Horton, Ashley F. Miller, Shannon Nelson, Sean Oakley, Ed Robinson, Chad Schnaible, Justin Waggle, James Paul Xavier

Space Hospital S01E01 “Happiest Surgeon in Space”

Re: Timeoff Requests per Killing Aliens

Dr. Goode suffers traumatic stress disorder on the eve of his wedding to the lovely Nurse Barbara, despite attempts to self-medicate. Chief administrator Snead tries his hand at surgery in an attempt to impress his assistant, Maggie Morningstar.

5 Swirlies

“Drat! It’s Space Hospital! They’ve come to subject us to unnecessary and expensive medical procedures! Prepare the Saucers to cover our escape!”

As soon as I saw the starship model floating through space – these guys had me hooked.

This show is all kinds of awesomeness – it hit my sweet spot. Retro faux-sixties science fiction, homemade but impressive visual effects and it’s actually funny! It must have taken a long time to make – just to build those sets would take a lot of work.

It’s a little on the long side, and I could do without the hand held camera, but otherwise this show is a slam dunk for me.

Break-ups: The Series “Katy & Ted”

View our latest episode at www.breakups.us

4 Swirlies

“I don’t like you anymore. At all.”

I’m excited to be returning to posting after the past week or so of simply not being able to cram it into my day. Luckily J-Two pitched in with some reviews – thanks, J-Two!

I’ve had this series on my “to Watch” list for a while now. I love the idea for a series – each episode is a break-up scene, each time with different characters. In this one, at least, it’s two people, one shot. A little bit claustrophobic, but that’s the point.

I really like how we come to know these characters and their relationship as the break-up continues. I think it might be improvised, as details come out and are built on through the scene. I also thought the dynamic was very vivid and real – yes, sometimes the person doing the dumping has a harder time of it than the one being dumped.

When I hit play, I thought this was going to be a comedy. Now, I’m not so sure. It is a kind of black comedy – maybe even a dramedy. There are only a few laugh out loud lines (which is more than many webseries than I could mention). I suppose different people will engage with the scene on different levels – some my find it hysterical, and some may find it heart wrenching.

How ever you feel about it, I think we can agree that the scene rings pretty much true from beginning to end.

Hard Drive 13 Ep. 1 “Secrets”

Watch more Hard Drive 13 at http://harddrive13.com

The series starts with a bang as Nomad receives some very intriguing data, landing him and his hacker buddies in some very hot, dangerous water.

3 Swirlies

“My name is Nomad.”

It seems like Vancouver is a hot bed of web series. It makes sense, because Vancouver shoots a lot of “genre” TV shows, but very few homegrown productions – leaving a well paid, highly skilled workforce with few mainstream creative outlets.

In this first episode, we’re introduced to Nomad. Don’t call him a hacker, cause he’s a freedom fighter with a mouse.

Although a bit much with the voice over, this episode is a promising start. Like all hacker stories, Nomad and co. go somewhere they shouldn’t go and get some information they shouldn’t have – and the powers that be come gunning for them.

The series looks great, but – and I think I say this in almost every review? – I’d like to know a lot more about these characters. We’re told Nomad is looking for his father and his friend, but then the story starts with seemingly unrelated information grab. I should also mention that we’re already halfway into the video before the episode actually starts.

I feel like many people are still trying to pace a web series the same way they would a novel or a movie. You’ve got to somehow cram the same amount of story as a hour long TV drama into the much shorter form.

But the clips that hint to where the story is going look promising. Let’s see where number 2 brings us…