Old West with sci-fi twist in Westworld
“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” but these days, a guide through the seemingly endless flurry of pop-culture offerings is just what we need. With that in mind, here is what’s on the radar screen in TV and film for the coming week.
MOVIES
Big releases on Sept. 30: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children; Masterminds. Big picture: Miss Peregrine’s is based on an original, bestselling novel, but it’s not so one-of-a-kind. It’s like Hogwarts meets Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
Living outside of time and space, its “mutant” schoolchildren are known as “peculiars” — from telepathic twins to an invisible boy. (Tim Burton, a man likely raised at a similar school for oddballs, directs the fantastical family drama.)
When young Jake (Asa Butterfield) discovers the school, he is quickly pulled into the role of protector, time traveller and wartime leader — a role once inhabited by his grandfather. It seems peculiars are locked in an age-old war with evil forces, including what appear to be bipedal aliens.
Meanwhile, Masterminds is Ocean’s Eleven meets Guy Ritchie gangster meets Dumb and Dumber — and it’s based on a true story. Zach Galifianakis plays David, a mulletsporting, clueless armoured-vehicle driver who is conned by a manipulative colleague (Kristen Wiig) into robbing $17 million for a band of brainless bandits (led by Owen Wilson). When David manages the impossible, the police close in, the conspirators take the loot and he finds a hitman on his trail. Forecast: The weirdos win the day at the box office. But if your kids get confused at Miss Peregrine’s reality-bending plot, just tell them the movie is about The X-Men as kids, dressing as old-time carnies to go undercover. As for Masterminds, I can’t be the only one would have preferred to watch a dramedy called Zach Galifianakis’s Home for Peculiar Children.
TV
Big events: Westworld (Oct. 2, HBO Canada); Aftermath (Space, Sept. 27). Big picture: It’s like Disney World meets The Truman Show meets Lost … meets Games of Thrones on steroids. At first blush, Westworld is about an Old West-themed amusement park of the future. Populated by lifelike robots programmed never to kill warmblooded customers, it’s a fantasyland where humans can play out their baser instincts. Shootouts? Check. Brothels? Check. Brothel shootouts? Check. Saloons on every corner? You betcha. But what if the park’s AIs are more than just toys? What if they can feel, and remember the various indignities thrust upon them in the name of entertainment?
This adaptation of Michael Crichton’s 1973 film pulls no punches with the violence, nudity and sexuality.
Anthony Hopkins portrays Westworld founder Dr. Robert Ford, the Willy Wonka of this deviant chocolate factory. The ensemble cast includes Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton.
Meanwhile, Aftermath is sci-fi drama with a bit of everything. Doomsday meteors. Mass vanishings. Demonic possessions. Plagues. Serpent gods. It stars real-life couple James Tupper and Anne Heche as Joshua and Karen Copeland, heads of a family trying to survive. Forecast: This is how the west was won: quality writing, superb acting, a mysterious plot and a massive budget. Westworld is the show we will still be talking about after GOT’s finale. On a side note, other futuristic robot theme parks I’d pay to enter: Tribbles World (those adorable Star Trek furballs! Everywhere!), Modern Family World (where you get to play a Pritchett or a Dunphy!), Shonda Rhimes World (all murder and annoying flashbacks, all the time!) and Fraggle Rock World (live Fraggles!)