Kevin's Watch

Dear god, where to begin...

You know how sometimes you don't have time to do a full character introduction for a secondary character, so you show them in an iconic (ie cliched) pose or action that instantly telegraphs who they are and what they're about?

Every single character in this show is introduced that way.

Tonight was a "special" two hour premier... really meaning it was two regular episodes back to back. The show is extremely formulaic, the characters are cardboard cutouts, the overarching story is uninteresting...

While I wouldn't say I'm a fan of the "found footage" variety of movie, it's never bothered me the way it does some people on this forum. However, after tonight's viewing of The River, I have to say that the handicam style really, REALLY bothers me. At least in other movies I've seen, it either served the plot (Blair Witch, which wasn't as bad as everyone complained it was, or perhaps Paranormal Activity), or at least didn't hurt things (Cloverfield).

However, in The River, I can honestly say that the style hurt the presentation. It would have been more palatable shot in a traditional sense; that being said, I think I need to introduce a "Bottles Rating" system, based on how many beers you have to drink to be able to enjoy it. Fewer bottles means more enjoyable, or at least enjoyable when sober.

I got through 3 beers in the two hour premier, but I felt like 2 more would have been necessary to really get into things. So for my inaugural usage of the metric,

Finely saw this season over two nites on DVR. I liked it. For a horror tv show it was pretty good. I'm not a fan of found footage either, but I ignored that part and just focused on the story told. Had a few good frights; the ep at some abandoned facility was really freaky.

Kinda liked it....
Characters were ok, i like the son.
Each show has a few interesting bits or scenes.

Hey, we just caught up with this one. It was actually quite a bit better than any other Lost-wannabes I've seen. It lacks a little internal consistency tho. (Why did it take them days and days to get to the compound, and then minutes to get back?) But I'll watch it again when it resumes.

I liked it. Interesting episodes, with an overarching goal to tie them all together. The found footage gimmick is a clever way to have flashbacks within the show. I like the sense that we're getting closer as we meet different abandoned members of the crew, each with their own story to tell.

The last two episodes were a let down.

Spoiler

Freakin' zombies??
Main character death + resurrection + demon possession in the span of a couple minutes?

Rigel wrote:I got through 3 beers in the two hour premier, but I felt like 2 more would have been necessary to really get into things. So for my inaugural usage of the metric,

Interesting, this seems like a metric where a high rating would be the result not of min/maxing on but rather the result of a careful balance.