Review: The River Ep. 1 & 2

If you haven't seen The River, NBC's newest show, then you should. Just in case, I may touch on some minor SPOILERS, so be warned....

Let me first off acknowledge that I fall for the shaky-cam technique the same way Charlie Brown falls for Lucy holding the football; it gets me every time. So when I saw the trailer for The River, a TV series done in that format by the director of the most successful movie using the technique, Oren Peli from Paranormal Activity fame, I knew I was probably going to like it. Is it bias? Yep. Should you run and tell the critic police? Of course. I'm ready for 'em! That being said, let's discuss.

So, you find out Dr. Emmett Cole (Bruce Greenwood) is the spearhead of a nature show, where he brings his family along in search of wonders and magic. His catchphrase is "there's magic out there." Think Steve Irwin without the accent. After his small son grows up, the family drifts apart, until Dr. Cole leaves for a secluded area of the Amazon and is never heard from again. After 6 months, his beacon is triggered, leading Dr. Cole's wife, Tess (Leslie Hope) and his now grown son Lincoln (Joe Anderson) and a camera crew to race out there and save him. Simple enough, right?

Now, from that, you would assume the whole series would be about finding the beacon, and the father, but the show does a slight zig-zag. They find the beacon pretty early on, along with Dr. Cole's boat, and a whole bunch of archive footage, but they also find something else, which is the focus of the episode. It's this zig-zag that will be the running part of the show, with the finding of the good doctor being the overall story-arc.

The second episode goes even further, when they find a possible path the possibly late-explorer took, they find something incredibly terrifying that won't let them leave until it gets what it wants, and what it wants is for someone to die. Pretty serious stuff, and it has little to do with the search for their father, rather more about survival. We also get a bizarre possible hint the doctor is still alive through an almost demonic possession of the mechanics daughter, leading us to believe he's out there, but the search is going to be rough.

The episode used the guerrilla-filmmaking style, or shaky cam well, without over-doing it. Some of the scenes were purposefully degraded to make it look more authentic, but it actually just made it look silly. You don't get a lot about the characters in the first two episodes, with the exception of the son and wife, with snippets of old footage to help you along.

That being said, I found it incredibly eerie, and successful in using the same formula that made Paranormal Activity such a hit, that less is more, and this show does it perfectly. Each episode was an hour-long horror movie that opens, scares and closes nicely.

Overall, it's set for a season pass on my DVR, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens next. There's some things I would like to see happen, and I don't know how it will happen in 7 episodes, but I can't wait to find out. There is magic out there, and I think The River could be it.

What did you think?

Love, Death, Taxes and everything in between

I am recently married, as you all know. It's been three and a half amazing months, which still puts me in the newly married column. I am not sure what the exact amount of time is to move you to the 'married' column, but I guess I'll figure that out. Anyway, things have been going really well. Both my bride and I have tried to work really hard at making our relationship the best it can be in stressful times, and I can say that new feeling in a relationship still hasn't gone away. Today, I figured out my first problem with being in a relationship with the one, true love of my life.

We have lived together for nearly a year, and been together longer than that. I wake up next to my beautiful wife; easily the highlight of my day; I kiss her goodbye as we leave for work, and when I get home, I kiss her on the way in before doing our evening ritual. If you're noticing a pattern, then you're good, because it's something that doesn't really hit you until something happens that points it out to you. Today, that happened to me.

At my place of employment, there is an older lady I've known for a few years now. We exchange pleasantries at the elevator, and as we pass in the hall. She's come to me for assistance a few times and now knows my name. There is something that has remained unspoken between us, however, that everyone in the office knows about, and it's her husband. Her husband has been in the hospital for years, suffering from liver failure, amongst several other things. It's a tragic, horrifying tail of one man losing the quality of life over several years. It's hard to hear, and I have never discussed it with my coworker, who has remained stronger than I could ever be. Sadly, today, my coworkers husband of over 20 years passed away.

I never knew the guy, and I am one who doesn't let the death of someone I've never even met affect me. I deal with death a hundred times a day in my job, and as such, have developed a bit of insensitivity for it. So, you would think the death of someone I didn't know, related to a coworker I barely talked to would just pass through one ear and out the other. Strangely, you would be wrong.

I'm not sure if it was the news being heard the same time I got a text that said "I love you" from my wife, or if I'm just getting sensitive in my old age, but this one bothered me. Here, this older lady had to watch the person she loved more than anything slowly die. When he finally passed, she is now left in a big house they recently bought, alone. It's a sad thought, but never one I contemplated until now.

My wife is my world. She makes me happy when I'm sad, she is my biggest fan, and supports me in everything I do. She is a passionate, loving woman, and I have said everyday that I'm the luckiest guy in the world. But, with the news this morning, I put myself in my coworkers shoes, standing in a house, alone. I never do that. My shoes are comfortable enough, I don't like trading, and here I am, fighting back the horrible feeling of being left without the one I love.

It's a nasty thought, and that is when it hit me; the problem with getting married, or really just close to the one you love is that you realize that there is no possible way you could live without them. Love is the forbidden fruit that once you eat it, there is no turning back. It's a poison that kills your love for independence and makes you realize that the life you had, on your own before, can never be returned to. It frankly, makes the thought terrifying because those simple moments of kissing your wife goodbye in the morning, or making dinner with them could be gone the very next day.

I guess, this incredibly long-winded blog could've been condensed to say that you really do have to cherish those moments, because they could be gone at anytime. The thought is terrifying and I hope it doesn't happen to anyone, especially me, because that person that existed pre-wife is long gone, and is never coming back, and I would be lost without her.