Showing posts with label Ed Harris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ed Harris. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Re-Enter Into Westworld - Season 4 Premieres on HBO Asia and HBO Go, 27 June 2022


HBO's dystopian science-fiction series WESTWORLD is one of the most confounding yet intriguing study on human psyche as well as the concepts of consciousness and freewill. The TV series created by husband and wife team Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, expanded on the 1973 film written and directed by Michael Crichton. Michael Crichton is known for his techno-thriller books like The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Disclosure and Prey.

As a local islander, Red Dot Diva found WESTWORLD'S Season 3 an interesting visual experience because her city-state home was transformed as future Los Angeles. Familiar spots like Lasalle College of the Arts, Oasia Hotel Downtown, Marina One, the Atlas Bar and even Pulau Ubin, were featured prominently in several scenes. Red Dot Diva never realised Red Dot Island could look so sleek and cinematic!

In Season 3, the hosts Dolores, Maeve and Bernard are no longer in the theme park. The setting shifts to the real world, mostly in a near-future Los Angeles, with Dolores aiming to start a revolution. In this timeline, humans like a man called Caleb, had to live with specified outcomes and futures determined by an AI called Rehoboam. The story was a mirror of the Delos theme park where the hosts were kept in repetitive narrative loops. In the Season 3 finale, after finding out about Serac, one of the creators of Rehoboam, as well as battling with Maeve, Dolores sacrificed herself for humanity. But not before she chose Caleb to lead the revolution.

There are several unanswered questions after Season 3's ending, like: Is Dolores really dead? Or, how did the revolution led by Caleb play out after the destruction of Rehoboam? What did Bernard find in the Sublime, and how long was he in there? And, what other nefarious deeds have the Man In Black host been up to in the real world? The answers you are seeking for may be revealed in Season 4 of WESTWORLD, which will debut at the same time as the U.S. on Monday, June 27 at 9 AM SGT only on HBO and HBO GO. There will be a same day encore on at 10 PM SGT on HBO.

Sunday, March 15, 2020

HBO's Westworld Season 3 Is Sleeker But Still An Intriguing Reboot


"A new narrative awaits" teases one of the social media promotional tagline for HBO's WESTWORLD Season 3, and after watching screeners of 4 episodes for this review, Red Dot Diva agrees that the show feels like a reboot.

In the new season, creators and writers Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy (they are also the show's executive producers) have taken viewers out of the dystopian theme park into the real world, where android Dolores Abernathy (Evan Rachel Wood) has escaped to, after a bloody revolution in Season 2. Within the setting of future Los Angeles, with its glistening tall buildings, iconic palm trees and modernised ghettos, the show's storyline is less convoluted, has fewer time jumps, and is also more focused on corporations vs mankind.

This show of corporate greed and control is embodied in a new villain Serac (Vincent Cassel), a trillionaire all ready to pounce on and use the data collected by Delos through the Westworld theme park. His plans are constantly foiled by Dolores, who has an agenda of her own, and so, Serac asks the intelligent android Maeve (Thandie Newton) to find and kill her fellow theme park mate.

In fact, one of the early episodes that focused on Maeve's storyline is Red Dot Diva's favourite. Thandie Newton is a deft actor, and beautifully chews up her scenes depicting both human emotion and robotic efficiency.



Monday, March 9, 2020

The Androids vs Humans Battle continues in HBO's Westworld Season 3, Premiering on March 16

It was such a thrill to be able to recognise locations from our Red Dot Island in the Season 3 trailer for HBO's Emmy® winning drama series WESTWORLD.

Hey, that drone shot is filmed at Marina One. Oooh, isn't that the National Gallery? And Oasia Hotel too? Awesome!

There will be more opportunities for fans to "spot the local landmarks" when the series returns on 16 March at 9 AM, same time as the U.S. telecast. The 8-episode season can be watched exclusively on HBO GO and HBO Asia on Starhub and Singtel TV.

In the last 2 seasons, WESTWORLD revealed a theme park in the future where androids, who were made to satisfy human's darkest desires, were becoming conscious. The battle between artificial life form and humans intensified in Season 2, with the oldest host in the theme park Dolores breaking free and entering into the real world.

Here is where Season 3 begins. In future Los Angeles (with many familiar Red Dot Island buildings and locations!), Dolores is still attempting to start her revolution against humans. Maeve, who was left as "dead" in Season 2's finale, is still in the theme park. She has been tasked by this season's Big Bad named Serac to hunt Dolores down and kill her.

Main cast members Evan Rachel Wood (Dolores), Emmy® winner Thandie Newton (Maeve), Ed Harris (Man in Black), Jeffrey Wright (Bernard), Tessa Thompson (Charlotte), Luke Hemsworth (Stubbs), and Rodrigo Santoro (Hector Escaton) return to WESTWORLD Season 3.

The series, created for television by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, will have brand new characters in this season. They are played by Aaron Paul (Caleb), Vincent Cassel (Serac), Lena Waithe (Ash), Scott Mescudi (Francis), Marshawn Lynch (Giggles), John Gallagher Jr. (Liam), Michael Ealy (Jake) and Tommy Flanagan (Conells).

Friday, February 16, 2018

It's Chaos in Westworld Season 2 - Premiering 23 April 2018 on HBO Asia


The violent, dystopian world of make-believe in HBO's award-winning series "Westworld" was one of the most unforgettable, provocative shows in 2017.

The scifi show about the complex interactions between humans and androids in a futuristic theme park, had Red Dot Diva at the edge of her seat as plot twists and surprises were slowly revealed layer after layer in each episode. 

Credit had to go to the stellar cast of actors consisting of Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, Ed Harris, James Marsden, Tessa Thompson, Clifton Collins Jr, and many more. Their performances, especially the actors who played the hosts,were nuanced and haunting.

Season 1 of HBO's original series "Westworld" wrapped up with a satisfying yet tantalizing finale that offered up a few twists (one in particular) that most fans did not expect. After those last shocking few seconds, Red Dot Diva has so many more questions about Ford, the future of Delos Incorporated now that the hosts are awake, and the repercussions of Dolores' and Maeve's actions.

Some reprieve from all that unresolved suspense came in the form of a Season 2 sneak peek released at SDCC 2016. The teaser showed a series of bloody massacres happening in the park and in Delos, with a vengeful Dolores going on a rampage.



Sunday, September 25, 2016

HBO Asia's "Westworld" Premieres 3 October 2016 - Man vs Machine in the Wild, Wild West


When best-selling author Michael Crichton passed away in 2008, Red Dot Diva was utterly devastated. She was a big fan of his writing and have devoured several of his geeky scifi, medical, techno-thriller-based books - "Jurassic Park", "Timeline" and "Prey" being her favourites - with relish. Many of Michael Crichton's stories were set in a not too distant future and hence, they were like a chilling warning of possible outcomes due to medical or technological advances. It was a little like Black Mirror before there was Black Mirror.



So, when HBO announced that they will be adapting Michael Crichton's "Westworld" movie to a TV series, Red Dot Diva whooped with joy. The 10-episode series, produced by J.J. Abrams, Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, has attracted a cast of fine and award-winning actors including Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris (mmmmmmmm... another of Red Dot Diva's favourites), Jeffrey Wright, James Marsden, Rodrigo Santoro, Clifton Collins, Jr., Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, Tessa Thompson and Sidse Babett Knudse.