2 Swirlies

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pP91HWVXLU

“We have to be cleansed of our past before we can see our future.”

It’s been a little while since I checked out this series, so I thought I’d see what’s what with it.

The fourth episode of this tense, methodical web series is long - just over 11 minutes. And it seems to meander. The Girl starts off trying to teach Brian about how to be saved, but then gets him talking about his past.

I found myself watching the editing and the framing very closely. I guess I felt the same about that stuff as I do about the story - it is like the creator wants us to forget about the bars holding the characters in. Very intense close ups - cutting back to the same, tight shots… but there’s not really much going on. I’m just not sure what I’m supposed to glean from this episode. The music is as moody as ever, but Brian seems to have accepted his imprisonment as fully as The Girl has. So… what’s next? I’m not feeling like there’s any deep character moments coming. Nor does it seem like some epic battle of wits with his captor, like I guess I expected it to turn into when I started watching. Brian isn’t being tortured, or broken down. He’s just… left there.

I think the Girl is a good actresses, but I’m sorry to say that I don’t think Brian is very convincing. I dunno, maybe it is just the role he’s given. He doesn’t really sell me on his bit about being a drummer, it feels like a line from a script.

What it comes down to is I don’t feel like this show is headed anywhere.

From YouTube Description:

Brian lashes out at his captivity, but at the wrong person, as the connection between the captives grows stronger

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The Cell Ep. 4 | A Web Series Review on the Watch List

2 Swirlies

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eENrWSW-xp8

“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

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

2 Swirlies

www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4hlo3x8Fos

“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.

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2 Swirlies

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQHC694igwE

“Pass?”

While there’s still a few good one liners and some other stuff to like about this episode (Like the Captain Power ship! Cool!) it’s too wonky to really get into.

One of the biggest problems of any low budget production is extras. Sure, you can ask all your friends, but bet on only half (at most) showing up and don’t expect them not to smirk through the whole thing. And that’s what happens here.

This zombie apocalypse parody episode largely falls apart for two reasons, one - the smirking zombie extras, and two - the forced concept that these are not-zombie customers that totally act like zombies. And I generally like this show. Just not this episode. It also seems the least polished of the ones I’ve seen, as if the production was more rushed (not unusual when dealing with a bunch of extras).

And plus, this episode lacked the nice character touches that other episodes had. Hopefully the next one will get back into the Joe/Keli will they or won’t they plot.

For some good news, I just noticed that Variants season two just started! We have 6 episodes to go in season one, so we won’t be posting season two as it is released, but some day we’ll catch up!

From YouTube Description:

The Variants Web Series Episode 4 “Passholes” A movie pass giveaway forces the employees in the store overnight. Can they keep back the hordes and survive until dawn?

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

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2 Swirlies

“I hate you both! You ruined it!”

Yeesh.

Here’s another review people are going to quietly hate me for.

This show is one of those shows that you are supposed to love. More precisely, the show that this is a spinoff of, Gold, is a legend in certain wider on the web. I haven’t seen Gold, but I did surprise myself about how much I liked this series.

Until exactly 2:40 of this episode.

When it was about the game, this web series racks. When it become about real life type stuff the show devolves into the most cliched, over written melodrama I have seen in a long time.

There are some shows, like Oh Brother, that have a charm and naivete that makes them enjoyable even if they delve into some well worn territory. This show has proven it knows how to tell a story and set a mood, so to have such a paint by numbers and exposition laden emotional outburst just feels… I dunno. Cheap.

Sorry, guys. Like I said, the stuff about the game is amazing. Oh, and the opening sequence is awesome.

From Blip Description:

As Hicks had predicted, the decision to split the party results in disaster. When Jaz is unable to come up with a solution, Brian’s anger boils over and he forces an out-of-game confrontation.

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Night of the Zombie King Ep.4 “Howls in the Night” | A Web Series Review on the Watch List

2 Swirlies

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDg8mx0b-BU

“He drank the sedatives! Shoot him you morons!”

This episode, while still being pretty cool, lacks the nuance, tension and careful blend of humor that the first episode had.

Although I did quite like the hallucinations Quinn has.

The production is all but perfect, the make up and special effects alone are outstanding. But still, after that first episode I was disappointed. The ending of the first episode felt like an ending, like we were being told a complete story, the ending of this episode was a mid scene cliffhanger type.

There appears to be a bit of a trend in web series to take a short film and turn it into a web series pilot. The problem is that the two aren’t really the same form. Some series can do it really well. Aidan5 surprised me how well they took that short, with it’s very enclosed story, and turned it into an ongoing series.

I think the same thing happened here (I’m only guessing, though). I think the first episode was a short film, and when they decided to do more they conceived of it more as a multi-part story rather than episodic stories as part of a larger arc. Leaving this episode feeling unfinished.

Am I over thinking it? Perhaps. After all, from what I can tell there’s only one more episode in their Chapter 1. I’m sure that has a more satisfying ending to it. But I guess we’ll wait and see.

From YouTube Description:

Drugged, hunted, and slightly silly in a murderous way, Quinn is on the move.

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2 Swirlies

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L712O4dIxA

“Piderman, it’s just a moving tree. Remember?”

I barely understand what’s going on in this series. On one level, it’s kind of exactly how a young child would tell a story. It’s almost pure play. On the other hand… what is up with those weird doppleganger basement dwellers? In the last episode they were presented as if they would have a big role in this episode, the second of the two parter, but their appearances were so short I don’t even know what they were doing. Cooking? Eating cereal? (I only got that from a comment on YouTube.)

It’s surreal, that’s for sure. And I admire it for that. I also admire it for using Batman and Spiderman and not being sued… yet. (So they’re a YouTube partner but using copywritten characters? The internet is a mass of contradiction.) I spend more time trying to figure out this show while watching than laughing. Maybe I’m just too literal a person to really get it.

With millions of views across the episodes, they certainly don’t need for me to get it.

But that thing with Tuba’s Dad wanting Baman to marry Tuba? Creeeepy.

From YouTube Description:

Can Baman & Piderman save Pumkin on Da Journey?

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Baman Piderman Ep. 11 “Happy Winter Friends Part 2″ | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

2 Swirlies

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q60YvPjBrXs

“Is it gone?”

I’m not entirely sure what is happening in the first half of this episode. But I think that Mr. Voice knows more than he’s letting on.

I’m also a little disappointed that the kidnapper, or whatever “it” was, was only around for two episodes, and now we’re back to just a girl in the box with a voice. After 10 episodes, they could have made more of a meal out of “it’s” appearance. I think this series undercuts itself by deflating the tension when it should be raising it.

From YouTube Description:

31 the series: 31 episodes. 31 seconds. 31 days. Transmissions begin 3/31 3:31pm ET.
31 web series: 1st daily Internet Horror Serial combining best of film, tv, and the Internet.
Follow at www.twitter.com/31theseries
Subscribe at www.youtube.com/user/31webseries

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31: The Series Ep.11 “Transmission 11″ | A Web Series Review on the Watch List

2 Swirlies

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFlBShx9xYk

“They’re coming”

This is the second of three back to back postings of 31: The Series for today.

This is the choppiest of all the episodes s far - it really feels like it cuts out in the middle of a moment at the 31 second mark. Was that intentional on the part of the creators?

We get our first glimpse of the people who are behind the kidnapping (or at least we assume they are behind the kidnapping. And seeing how few surprises this series has had thus far, I’m guessing we’re right).

We are now almost precisely one third into the run of this series. It is interesting how knowing how many episodes are left colours how I feel about what has happened. I wonder if we’re at the end of “Act 1?”

From YouTube Description:

31 the series: 31 episodes. 31 seconds. 31 days. Transmissions begin 3/31 3:31pm ET.
31 web series: 1st daily Internet Horror Serial combining best of film, tv, and the Internet.
Follow at www.twitter.com/31theseries
Subscribe at www.youtube.com/user/31webseries

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31: The Series Ep.10 “Transmission 10″ | A Web Series Review on the Watch List

2 Swirlies

www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8vozGjdXSU

“More and more people have gone missing recently. Nothing’s ever found.”

[NOTE: When I first posted this I totally forgot to put in the video! Talk about bone headed. Sorry, Blood and Bone China guys! I have added the video, and I'll repost so that people can see it!]

Here in the third episode, we meet another main character. But we haven’t seen ourselves a vampire since the hints of them in the teaser. This episode is chock full of exposition, but very short on story. I did notice that episode 4, the next one, is the last episode for now. Although their website says the next episode will launch on April 17th. And I did see on twitter a few days back that they were looking for extras to be vampires. So that sounds hopeful.

As always, the costumes are the best part.

From YouTube Description:

Watch Chapter 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFhCYboZNbo

http://www.chrisstonefilms.com
http://www.stokeyourfires.co.uk

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Blood and Bone China Ep.3 “Anna of the Six Towns” | A Web Series Review on the Watch List