Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden S01E04 “Yasmine’s House” | A Webseries Review on The Watch List

A Drama Webseries

4 Swirlies

“It’s like the Circle of Hell that Dante forgot.”

I love this webseries.

My only complaint is that some of the acting is… not great. And for all of its rough edges, everything else about it is so amazing. The storylines are original, sharp and more character than plot. I love the chemistry between the two main girls - I love that feel like outsiders even while doing everything with the same group of girls. The writing is top notch, and some of the framing and the way it is shot is really nice. Sure. there’s a couple of shots, especially covering the dialogue, where it kinda feels like the camera was just plunked down, but then there’s many shots, like the one with the girls looking at the house, that are rich with drama and emotion. The shots of the girls swimming were so natural that I started to feel creepy, like I was intruding on their privacy.

I like this episode like I liked the first one. Well, okay - almost as much. For some reason, the scenes in Bishop’s Garden don’t seem to work as well as scenes set somewhere else. I dunno why that is.

I’d like to come back to the acting for a second. I shouldn’t just leave a blanket statement like my earlier one lie, because the truth is that the two main girls (at least the two I think of as the main girls) are actually quite good. There’s four seasons of this show, which is an amazing accomplishment right there. I’m eager to watch each episode, but I’m also excited to see how the cast and crew improve during all those episodes!

Thanks to Otessa Ghadar for making such a wonderful show!

From YouTube Description:

While the parents are away, the kids will play. Yasmine’s parental units go out of town and a party ensues at her ridiculously fancy house, complete with Olympic-size pool and some stealing of beer from her college-guy-neighbors… *Plus* things are looking up for Sarah & Jake…

French Subtitles by: http://www.univers-l.com/

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Orange Juice in Bishops Garden
Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Tyranny Ep.13 “Y2K” | A Webseries Review on The Watch List

A Sci-Fi Web Series

4 Swirlies

“The love of money is the root of all tyranny.”

This is one of those episodes that leaves you with a real sense of… huh.

Huh. It’s not exactly a cliffhanger, but it did leave me wondering what would happen next. There’s a weird effect at the end, but we know that the world doesn’t end, cause we have seen scenes from the future. It’s a sweet episode, that feels like we’re taking a breather before the fit hits the shan.

From YouTube Description:

Episode 13 of Tyranny the Web Series:
“Y2K”
As the clock ticks down to the end of the millennium, Daniel realizes he must know for certain whether Isabelle can accept not only his eccentric view on life, but his possible hallucinations.

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Tyranny

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Casual S02E04 “Fragments” | A Web Series Review on the Watch List

A Romance Drama Web Series

5 Swirlies

Casual 2.4: Fragments from Altermotion Pictures on Vimeo.

“It doesn’t work. Whatever you’re running away from comes back.”

Another great episode – with lots of back and forthing in time.

I’ve gushed over this show so many times. Let me just say – everything is at the same high quality as ever. We get to see a bit more into the main characters’ work lives, and get teases of the things that I assume caused them to break up. Lot’s of great lines and moments in this episode, again – as always.

There’s two more episodes left in Chapter Two. I hoping that the cliffhangery ending of this episode drives us to the end of the series and some answers about why they’re no longer together, and whether they’ll try again. I also noticed that season 3 of Casual has just been released! Go guys go! I’ll keep posting and hopefully catch up to you in four weeks or so.

From Vimeo Description:

Casual Episode 2.4: Fragments
Starring Lauren Marini & Brian Thomas Smith
Guest Starring Mary Jo Deschanel
Featuring Regina Saldivar, Victoria Brianne Ramirez and Jon Lewis
facebook.com/​casualseries

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Casual

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Night of the Zombie King Ep.5 “Thoughts of Darkness” | A Web Series Review on the Watch List

A Drama Web Series

3 Swirlies

“Back then, it was the last time that I felt like I was good, you know?”

Okay then.

If I could split up my review, I’d give the first half of this episode of Night of the Zombie King a 1 and the second half a five.

I don’t get it. How can one scene make me want to just skip posting it, and the next scene make me want to sing its praises from the hilltops? When it is the real world, drama stuff it is at once cheesy and artificial. When it is the game stuff… the series soars. Is it just the music that gets me? Maybe, but I don’t think so.

When it comes to the real world stuff, I keep wanting someone to shrug and say, “We were kids. Now we’re adults. Let’s deal with some adult stuff.” I got nothing against adults playing games, I do have a problem with adults obsessing over some poor choices they made in high school and crying because they wanted to recapture the magic of sleep overs.

And when it comes to the game play stuff, I’m surprised and delighted, despite the fact that I’m struggling with myself not to turn it off. It grabs me, it drags me back in to the fiction, it makes me like it. It works, it feels more real than the drama scenes. But then, you couldn’t really have a show that was just a group of people playing the game? You have to have the game resonate with what’s going on the actual lives of the characters. That’s where the game play adds a strong dramatic value.

From Blip Description:

Jaz pursues Hicks, trying to coax him back into the game. Hicks explains his difficulty in coming to terms with the past, and they stumble upon a plan to salvage the adventure. Featuring music from Bellavista – www.thevue.com/bellavista

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Night of the Zombie King

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Throwing Stones Ep.6 “Death Beds” | A Web Series on The Watch List

A Teen Horror Web Series.

2 Swirlies

“He knew he was dead. You could just tell.”

Okay, there’s only two episodes left in this series, and I’m still kinda at a loss as to what, exactly is going on. How did they go from the detention to running screaming and bloody down the hallways? It’s not like it is a mystery, cause the characters certainly know what happened. But I feel cheated as a viewer because the creators are deliberately just not telling me, in favour of the characters sitting in the dark telling me how hard their lives are.

There’s also some confusion for me during one of the character’s stories when she saw someone die. He stuck his watering pipe in the ground… and started to shake… and what? I’m assuming he was electrocuted in some way. If that’s the case, how? Was there some wiring buried in the field? Or did he have a seizure?

I get it that this is supposed to be The Breakfast Club, but I feel like we barely had time to get to know these characters, and now we’re supposed to be bonding with them. Plus, they shoved that girl out of the room, and we’re not even told what happened to her. (At least, not yet.) In the Breakfast Club, we come to understand that each of them, in their own way, is struggling with their role in the world. And together they help each other to overcome the limits of those roles. But here, they just take turns telling hard done by stories. Sure, your parents hating you for being gay and seeing a guy die before your eyes are terrible things to experience… but then as a film maker/web series creator, show us those stories. Show us their struggles, don’t just tell us bad things that happened to them.

Throwing Stones started so cool, I was so into those first three or four episodes. But since we got stuck in this room… I’m the one who wants to escape.

From YouTube Description:

Throwing Stones is a horror story about a group of high schoolers who have to attend Saturday School and find they must work together to overcome their differences in over to survive when students end up missing. As if, high school wasn’t scary enough! The series stars Lindsay Seidel (Lionsgate hit The Final), Cherami Leigh (The Mist, Fast Food Nation, HBO’s Temple Grandin), Rebekah Kennedy (upcoming horror features Blood is Blood, House Hunting, and Season of the Witch w/ Nic Cage), Chad Cox (Powder, ER, Spin City, The Good Guys), and Kayla Carlyle (From the Dark), Lynn Andrews III (MTV’s: High School Stories). Writers Bart D. Van Bemmel and Jason A. Wheeler have five feature-length screenplays in production including their dark comedies BUTTERSCOTCH, SWISHER, ANGELS AND DUST, their teen comedy RUSHED, and their teen horror THROWING STONES (which this web series if based on).

Watch this web series at KoldKast.TV or Mingle Media TV.

Win SWAG while Watching the “Throwing Stones” LIVE beginning Wednesday January 5, 2011 8 PM EST from CCS.com, Eastbay.com, Creative Labs and ComfyGirl.com at http://www.minglemediatv.com/ThrowingStonesWebSeries.html. The eight episodes that make up the series will be released on a regular schedule and available on-demand.

To find out more about “Throwing Stones” visit: http://www.throwingstoneswebseries.com.
Follow on Twitter @StonesWebSeries or LIKE us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/throwingstoneswebseries

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Throwing Stones

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Vampire Zombie Werewolf Ep.9 “Meta-Morphosis” | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Comedy Horror Web Series

3 Swirlies

“Half vampire, half werewolf and one third zombie?”

There’s a really cool special effect at the end of this final episode, I honestly have no idea how they did that.

There’s a few really funny jokes in this episode, especially with the Vampires justifying their existence to the producer. My favourtie parts of this series was the producer dealing with the blood thirsty vampires, especially finding out his buddy was a vampire.

Where this series didn’t connect with me was all the stuff about web series. I can’t even really say why, except that I felt like it was out of place with everything else that was going on, and it was only kind of a MacGuffin to get the plot in gear… but the story never really evolved beyond it, like a typical MacGuffin. I never cared if they came up with a web series concept, but I did care if the producer got eaten by the vampires. On the same thought, I didn’t care if he got eaten by Tad and Bunny, because then the story would be over, and also the producer did very little to avoid being eaten by Tad and Bunny, while with the vampires it felt like a very present danger that he was struggling to avoid.

But KATR Productions did make it look and sound nice - a very slick and well produced project. I haven’t gone back and watched their previous effort yet, Life From the Inside, which is spoken about very highly from web series fans.

If someone from KATR Productions is reading this, we’d love it if you could leave a comment talking a little about “the head shot” and how you achieved it, or maybe just a hint about what your next series might be?

From YouTube Description:

Teeth are bared, hackles rise, and everything comes to a head. The thrilling conclusion of Vampire Zombie Werewolf Season 1.

Watch the Entire series! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXiK_2JhBxw&feature=li…

Watch Vampire Zombie Werewolf at http://www.vampirezombiewerewolf.com/

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Vampire Zombie Werewolf

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Orange Juice in Bishops Garden S01E03 “Boys Night Out” | A Webseries Review on The Watch List

A Drama Webseries

4 Swirlies

“We’ll be talking. Everything will be going so great. It’ll be so perfect. And then she’ll realize that we’re actual talking. That we’re actually having a conversation, and she’ll get all weird and quiet and man, it sucks!”

In this episode of the slice of life webseries Orange Juice in Bishops Garden, we get to know the guys.

I still like the first episode best, and there’s some rough “I’m drunk” acting, but the dialogue is what really shines. In the last episode, I felt like the plot was drawn from real life, but in this episode - although it could have been, maybe - I really get the sense that the writer/creator Otessa Ghadar really understands her characters, and just characters in general. And for all it’s simplicity, the sound and camera work is good, too. I’ve probably said it many times, but sometimes the hardest thing to pull off is having your camera and sound help tell the story without getting in the way. And shooting at night without a budget isn’t easy. It is actually lit very nicely - I wonder if they used their own lighting or if they made good use of the existing lighting? Either way, it looks great.

I feel like there’s not enough webseries out there like this one - honest and small but still being accessible and universal.

From YouTube Description:

It’s a boys night out at Bishop’s Garden. Jake wants to talk about the ladies, ahem, Sarah… but Trip is too faded to be of any help. Meanwhile, Travis takes the stage and tonight’s showing - “The Kauffman Family Dsyfunction’s Greatest Hits”. Should be a riot.

French Subtitles by: http://www.univers-l.com/

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Orange Juice in Bishops Garden
Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Casual S02E03 “Elephants” | A Web Series Review on the Watch List

A Romance Drama Web Series

5 Swirlies

Casual 2.3: Elephants from Altermotion Pictures on Vimeo.

“I think if you don’t start taking chances you’re gonna regret it.”

Out of the 9 episodes I’ve watched so far, two were rated at 4, the rest were 5s. Every time I go to watch one of these episodes, I think that they just can’t keep being a 5 swirly episode every episode. That there will be some misstep, some tiny wrong note that will make me think “It was good, but it was no previous episode of Casual.”

And then, I watch the episode, in the short length of time that I’m allowed with each one, I’m transported. And it’s not like a whole heck of a lot happens. In fact, almost nothing happens in this episode. You get no closer to knowing why they broke up, or whether they are going to get back together, but you do get some rich, perfectly executed character moments.

I hope this series goes on forever.

From Vimeo Description:

Casual Episode 2.3: Elephants
Starring Lauren Marini & Brian Thomas Smith
Featuring Janna VanHeertum, Jessica Rich, Derek “D-Bone” Reckley and Michael Hobert
casualseries.com
facebook.com/​casualseries

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Casual

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Broken Toy Ep.3 | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Thriller Web Series

2 Swirlies

“You are a sweet little monkey. NOW GIVE ME A HUG!”

I don’t know.

The production, especially the special effects, is really strong. Some of the explosions towards the end look CGI-y, but a lot of it is awesome. The fights scenes are pretty well choreographed, and the acting on the part of the main guy is good. But the script… the script…

That first episode was so well written. Now each episode is just a drawn out fight scene and special effects showpiece. Especially since this guy is a psycho superhero that can’t be contained, but he’s the main character… well, we’re kinda just waiting for him to escape. Even when the twists come, such as they are, we don’t care because we’re not invested in anything or genuinely surprised. Nor do they particularly make sense.

A lot of work by a lot of people must have gone into making this web series. It has to be way more than the four people listed on the website under team. (Who did the make-up? And all that blood effects?) I wish that I liked it more. I’m going to keep watching, if only to see what happens now that we’re not in that same building.

From YouTube Description:

Bigger. Badder. Better. Don’t call him Frankenstein.

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Broken Toy

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Bob and Andrew S02E01 “Fallout” | A Web Series on The Watch List

A Comedy Web Series

4 Swirlies

“I understand a lot of things. Science, Kodiak bears, etc.”

One of my favourite buddy sitcomy comedies is back!

This episode of the Vancouver based web series Bob and Andrew pulls back on the wacky comedy of many of the episodes in the first season. It’s funny, but funny in a more dramedy, character based way. After the blow up of the last episode of the first season, Bob and Andrew aren’t on speaking terms, and they both seem to have messed up their lives.

The production seems to have stepped up a notch, with some really nice lighting and great sound work. It feels very crisp and sharp. The bar ambient sound background is nice when you take a moment to listen to it, which takes a lot of work to sound full without intruding on the dialogue.

While I think the writers, Bob and Andrew, did something smart in introducing new character dynamics, I miss the interaction between Bob and Andrew, It was their clear chemistry and back and forth – ‘we’re friends even though we almost never agree’ – that really drew me in. I miss them being together as much as they do, which makes me want to know what’s going to happen next, but I hope that it doesn’t take them the whole season to reconcile.

As with the first season, the writing is the real stand out in the show. Like I said, less pure out zany situational and more edging toward drama, but still strong.

From YouTube Description:

We pick up Bob and Andrew a while after the first season ended. They haven’t spoken in a while and so they’ve had to find a way to cope without the support of each other.

You can find us on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/wwwbobandandrewcom/30448589791 And you can also find us on Twitter @bobandandrew

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Bob and Andrew

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page