Arts & Culture

StartUp: Just Another One in the 50 Percent

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More than 50 percent of startups fail in their first five years. Crackle’s new show will likely join that statistic in its first two: StartUp has all the makings of a top-tier prestige drama — dark lighting, sex scenes, cursing, screaming, serious themes — but comes off as totally average. It features strong (for the most part) performances and an intriguing concept, but doesn’t exactly hit its mark. What it lacks in quality, however, it certainly makes up for in heart. It is clear that StartUp is committed to its message but the follow-through just isn’t there.

Annihilation

A Barrel of Apoca-laughs

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I think it is safe to say that we are all pretty familiar with the apocalypse and its effects at this point. Whether it is watching a spunky girl fighting her way through its aftermath (apply this to whichever franchise you prefer), seeing aliens and zombies threaten the earth (again, your choice for this reference) or simply watching ordinary people prepare for the end of times, the apocalypse is not suddenly appearing on our screens. Despite the frequency with which our dear planet meets its end, You, Me and the Apocalypse offers a refreshingly fun and quirky take on the end times that makes it well worth watching. You, Me and the Apocalypse opens its premiere with a shot of the meteor whose impending collision threatens all life on Earth, a surprisingly calm voiceover about how death comes for everyone in the end and the sickeningly sweet tune “I Can See Clearly Now.” The camera cuts to the narrator sitting in an underground bunker, watching the news coverage and wondering how he got to be one of 15 survivors meant to be the future of the human race. So as the episode name asks, “Who Are These People” in the bunker?

Arts & Culture

Breaking the Mold: Netflix’s Jessica Jones

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Jessica Jones treats its viewers to an engaging, suspenseful, neo-noir-inspired crime drama. The title character just happens to be able to lift cars and punch through walls. The emphasis Jessica Jones places on its plot and character development over its characters’ “gifts” makes the show widely accessible to even traditionally non-superhero fans and refreshing among the seemingly endless stream of superheroes. Throughout the 13 episodes released on Netflix, we are introduced to Jessica Jones, a smart, sarcastic private investigator. When a mother and father arrive at Jessica’s door in search of their missing daughter, Jessica discovers that the man who once held her in captivity, Kilgrave, is still alive and luring her back to him through the kidnapping of the current couple’s daughter, Hope.