The Flight Attendant 2

 Let's admit it - I watch the show because of Kaley Cuoco. But season 1 was average - it wasn't memorable and didn't contain enough suspense for me to hook me up. Nonetheless, it was a decent show that delivered some fun, but that's about it. Season 2 though was a remarkable improvement, in my opinion. We've reached a stage where character introduction is no longer needed. We know what's Cassie's problem in season 1, she took a while to figure it out, and then we now look at how Cassie deals with it in season 2. Annie and her boyfriend are a lovely couple that I'm glad given a lot more screen time. Shane is a delight that I really doubt convincingly portrays a CIA agent. 

As for the rest, like I said, it's a better show. The suspense is better. The mystery is also better. But I'll admit the psychological battle or the inner conflicts she suffers is boring and mundane. Grace is a fun character but seriously she isn't a convincing killer, and Cassie should have trusted her instinct better. 

My rating: 8/10

Smile

 I travelled to Sarawak, for reasons I'll find time to elaborate in other posts. But I had free time to kill and I decided to watch Smile, a horror movie I've heard raved and praised for its uniqueness. So I checked the timeslot at The Spring in Kuching and found one about two hours later and bought it without hesitating too much as I knew hesitation and unnecessary deliberation had not been proved helpful most of the time. By the way, though MBO in Spring gave me bad impressions, this time GSC seemed to have improved it.

Anyway I went for the 7.15pm screen but was shopping at Parkson shortly before. I went to the counter and paid for what I wanted at about 7.05pm and thought it would be timely then to enter the hall, but I did not anticipate transaction errors the counter might face. It caused me a delay and by 7.20pm I said I couldn't wait anymore and left - the only problem they had was the inability to print the receipt for me. The product could still be paid for and was successfully paid for. I thus left.

I entered the hall late about 7.25pm and thought the trailers would run for 15 minutes, but I was slightly wrong - it had begun, but judging from the looks of it, only for about a few minutes. Anyway, the hall was pretty empty. And I think due to my rush, I was a little clumsy and noisy and disruptive, especially when I on the torch in my phone to find my seat in an otherwise dark room that was suitable for the genre.

Anyway, to the movie.

It was good, but it wasn't 'smiley' enough. The theme of the movie is about an evil entity that smiles. That's it, but 99.5% of the movies involve no smiling. The main character saw a person smiling at her and then slit her own throat, and she thus is haunted by a ghost that no one else can see. That's the gist of it, and she began her homework to find the root of the evil.

Okay, the movie had tonnes of jumpscares. It relies on psychological tricks and appropriately-timed jumpscares to keep the movie alive - and it worked. It scared the shit out of many people. I was in the hall and many people were screaming, some actually tried to leave the hall. I saw a guy standing by the door, not sure whether he had wanted to go for the loo and decided to stay a little to watch what was going to happen or that he was just scared and wanted to go. 

But the jumpscares worked. It reminded me of the movie Oculus, about an evil mirror that curses the beholders. Movies that deploy psychological trickery, if masterfully crafted, could enthrall viewers in manners others genres could not. And Smiles did - a few jumpscares really worked, and it really made the movie a lot more interesting rather than dulling it by repeating what the viewers could have foreseen.

Though, I must add, for the jumpscares to work, you probably do not want to watch the trailers first. I watched the trailers and found how revealing they were and am glad I did not watch it before the movie.

Overall, I give it a 9/10. One of the finest horror movies recently. Horror movies have been on the decline, especially since J-horror and Thai horror had appeared to cease, and quality horror movies had all but came to a screeching halt other than the Conjuring. Smile is a welcome return of the horror genre.

Marcella

 It ain't that bad a series, but it ain't extremely captivating or fascinating either. The titular character, Marcella, is a detective who had temporarily left the police force to cope with the death of her child. She's had a troubled life - estranged husband and two disconnected children. In season 1 she had to deal with a cold case she worked on. In season 2, now that she's back on the workforce, she's dealing with the disappearance of her son's friend, the discovery of his body, and the uncover of a serial killer.

I wouldn't say it's a bad series, but it certainly is pecular. Marcella is not your typical smart detective. She's antithesis of the typical police fictional character - she's smart, but her impulsiveness triumphs more and is obviously more dominant. She's mentally medically ill and she's leading a dysfunctional life and is not enjoying a stable, blossoming romantic life. But she remains sharp, although largely guided by her impulsiveness so it hadn't been always been receptively entertained.

The good thing about the series, like a typical British series, is that the emphasis of the character's personal growth is secondary to the main theme of the show. You'll be spending more time watching the crime rather than the drama of the character's lives. The bad thing is that Marcella is disturbed and I'm not sure how a person like her actually is a model representation of a hero even though it's obviously fictional.

Nonetheless, I've watched season 1 and season 2, with season 3 next. I know that the online consensus seems to favour season 2 over season 1, but I happened to like season 2 more than season 1. I'm not sure why, but I thought season 2 is underappreciated. The complexity of the crime is obviously few notches higher than season 1's, and the crime itself is just more interesting.

I'll look forward to season 3, but Marcella proves to me that British series has always been better than American series.